← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
Wemby’s Big Night & More w/ Noah Eagle, Plus the Darryn Peterson Mystery w/ Eamonn Brennan
01:35:22
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- [00:00]
A
Hey Rosilla listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.
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B
Out on the course, they're the PGA tourist best players, but in the arena, they're prime time. And season two of TGL presented by.
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A
SoFi is back with lights, cameras, action.
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C
We're talking big moments, big personalities, big.
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A
Names in the stands all on the big screen. Big time matchups with shot clocks, Hammer drops, timeouts, overtime and playoffs. It's city versus city, squad versus squad. Ah, this sport just hits different under the light.
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B
It's TGL presented by SoFi.
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A
Keep up. It's golf. Tune in to every match only on espn. The Ryan Rosilla show presented by DraftKings. We're talking hoops of Noah Eagle, who is from the NBC family. He's got some really good stuff on Wemb. Seeing him in person after his big monstrous night against the Lakers. We're going to talk a little bit about the suspension news as well as trying to figure out the east at all because that's going to get harder and harder to do. Or maybe it gets easier. We also have Eamon Brennan on college basketball. What's going on with Peterson in Kansas, a little St. John's for you and a ruling down in Alabama. And just kind of a bigger picture. Look at where college hoops is right now. We've got an alliance from our good friends at DraftKings and Life Advice. Every week in the NBA, stars rise and legends are made and one player rules them all. The DraftKings sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, is bringing back King of the Core. And now it's every Tuesday of the season. And here's how it works. DraftKings is putting up 1 million in bonus bets each week. Opt in, apply your token and place a $5 pregame bet on the NBA star you think will dominate each Tuesday. If your pick finishes the night leading the league in points, rebounds and assists, they're crowned King of the Court and you will win your share of 1 million in bonus bets. And this season, there's a new way to track the action. The King of the Court leaderboard inside the app before tip off, see the top 10 stars in PRA. While games are live, watch your pick climb the ranks. And when it's over, find out exactly where your star stacked up. And if you've been crowned a winner, download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the Code Ryan Ryen. That's Code Ryan Ryen. To win a share of $1 million in bonus bets. If your player is king of the core in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours.
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C
Gambling problem call 1-800-Gambler in New York, call 877-8-HOPE&Y or text hopeny 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Pass through of per wager tax may apply in Illinois 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Boyd in Ontario, one token per customer that expires at the start of the final NBA game. When offered winning shared is $1 million in bonus bets that expire in seven days.
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A
Restrictions apply terms@sportsbook.draftkings.com promos I think the trilogy is complete now. We we've had Robbie Hummel, we've had Austin Rivers and joining us now, Noah Eagle, part of the NBA on NBC Peacock coverage. Of course, he does the Big Ten during the regular season for college football and college hoops. And he's also going to be a part of the Olympics coverage and the All Star Game, where the All Star Game will be on NBC for the first time since 2002 and the youngest broadcaster of it, which I'm sure you're probably sick of hearing that record every single time. Noah Eagle, on the podcast, good to see you.
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B
Good to see you too, Ryan. Yes. I also, I want to know where they confirmed that stat. Where do you check on that? Where do you find out that I'm the youngest of anything? Like how do we know that there wasn't some 14 year old that did an alternate broadcast? I don't know, doesn't exist. So I'm just going to rock with it, I guess because NBC says it and we're just going to go full steam ahead and hope it's true.
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A
Yeah, I've got to imagine like there's probably some Providence baseball team, the early 19, late 1800s, maybe there was somebody younger than you or like the Tri Cities had like a, a guy that filled in. So I don't know. I'd stay with it though. I mean, don't shoot it down. You're part of history now. So.
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B
Yeah, no, I'll take it. I'm 100% taking it, no doubt. But no, it's good to be here, man. Appreciate you having me and looking forward to All Star Weekend for sure.
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A
I want to get to that. I want to get to your career in a Little bit of this stuff, but the access, the access that you have in this role, like anybody that we talked to, we saw women, Yama go off last night in the Lakers game where they weren't going to have a full roster of guys. So initially it was like the game I wanted to watch. But he makes up for almost anything. It's like, hey, if there's a lull in the night, let me just check and see if he's in the game at this point. You've got to see him up close. You've had some access to him. What is it like watching him and then also watching him with two other players that are just like everyone else, in awe of what he's capable of doing?
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B
Yeah, I would say that, you know, I've seen him now a bunch, so I saw him when he was a rookie. I did a Nets game they actually played in Austin, which is awesome. If anybody has a chance to go to a Spurs game when they do play in Austin, it's an amazing environment and those fans get really excited for it. It's cool. But he had a couple plays and Nick Claxton is known to be a pretty good defender. You know, especially even two years ago at that point, it was still on kind of the tail end right after the, the Durant teams. And it still felt like it was a team that was competitive with Bridges before they made the trade. And so a lot of it was like, Claxton's going to do a good job against this skinny kid. And there was one play that I'll never forget, this was my first time seeing him where he caught it in the post probably about 8ft away. And Claxton is just all up on him and he literally just turns and he doesn't move. He's flat footed and he just banked it over the top of him. Didn't jump, didn't bend his knees, nothing. And I literally, and this is the worst thing to say for my job, but I literally didn't have words. I said, what just happened? And Sarah Custock said, I don't know. So that was my first experience. My second experience was that summer at the Olympics and I think it was the second game we did. It was either the first or second game that we did, period. And it was so. It was Dwyane Wade's first time ever seeing him. And it might have been his first game on real broadcast television, doing a real game. You know, he had done like the Rising Stars and the All Star Game, but he never called a real game. And I said to Dwayne, I was like, dude, just know we're in France, so it's already going to be crazy. But two, like, you haven't seen him up close, you've seen him on tv, you're kind of in awe from afar. It's a different level when you're right there, when you're courtside and you can truly see all the things he's doing. It hits. And so sure enough, an hour before the tip off, they were playing Brazil. And so Brazil, you don't necessarily think it's going to be a great game. And France eventually ran away with it. But an hour before tip the entire building and we were in a place in Lille where it was, I think there were 35 to 40,000 that they could get in. So you had a full 35 to 40,000 people an hour before tip off in this building. And Wemby comes running out and he just grabs the ball with his. I don't even. You want to call it a claw, whatever you want to call it. His hand, it looks, the ball looks like a tennis ball. He kind of just suction it up and he flings a shot from half court and it hits nothing but net. And I've never heard an arena louder for like a non game moment. And it was louder than most NBA games in the biggest moment an hour before tip off. So he has that type of impact as is to your point, the awe factor. He's like one of three guys probably in the NBA at this point that I would say I would pay whatever it takes to go see them. Him and Steph are still at the top of that list to me. But he's, he's entered that Steph category for me. But yeah, he's, he's different and like his. We've talked to his agents who are really incredible and smart and so I think he's got great people on his team. I work a lot with Jamal with this NBC crew and Jamal Crawford worked directly with him before his rookie year. And he said on multiple occasions that he is the most impressive young athlete he's ever been around from a mental perspective, which is 100% true. And you can see it in the way he plays the game. And then we were talking about it before, but the defensive impact without even having to touch the ball, I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen second guessing from all world professionals, you know, Chet Holmgren, elite rim protector. But guys challenge Chet, you know, I just had the thunder the other day, guys are going right at him and sometimes he blocks, sometimes he doesn't. And we've seen it. Even when Mutombo was at his peak, guys were willing to challenge him. Ben Wallace, you're willing to challenge. Go Bear. They want to go right at they. They know at this point by the end of his rookie year they learned around the NBA. If he's even close to the basket, just figure something else out because you have no chance of finishing over the top around his reach. He has an 8 foot wingspan which I didn't even know was possible. It's unbelievable to watch. So yeah, I will do any game that he's involved in as long as I can. And the hope is he can stay healthy for 15 years and we can get this at the highest level and he can be one of the greatest players ever. But I'm just trying to enjoy the present with him because it is a different level and I'm hopeful again, as he did it last year, that he's going to play his ass off in the All Star game.
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A
If you look at the San Antonio OKC matchup and those games, San Antonio was winning the beginning of the year and it was one of the few times it was like things seem a little harder for, for Oklahoma City, which is really what I always look for with them is that depending on what the lineup is and you know, Jalen Williams is now back with this hamstring thing that's costing basically half the season. So even with their great start without him and then him being in and out of the lineup, I guess there's a bit of a. I think sometimes we just argue against the extreme versions of things where they, they run through the playoffs last year, but there's still two game sevens in there. They get off to this start and then it's like so are we now looking at some all time type stuff where last year maybe easy ahead of schedule and this is the fully formed version and then you can get into the last 30 games or so and go, well that. What's up with the record? I never worried about that with the Thunder necessarily because I know when they're all there they can flip a switch defensively that compensates whatever concerns you have about their offense because that happened to them in the playoffs last year. But it was so strange to see Oklahoma City's calling cars like we are now going to make it so hard on you offensively for like eight minutes. This is where the game is going to be decided. That's what it felt like for the Thunder against San Antonio's defense and after a bunch of losses, they get him. The most recent matchup doesn't matter. OkC was missing basically everybody, which I also was like, are they trying to do some sort of like, you know, because Sometimes I think LeBron would do that during his peak where they'd be going up against the team that he may have to see and just to screw them. He wouldn't play in that game thinking about the playoffs and all that kind of stuff. So I don't know if that's what OKC was necessarily doing. But the bigger basketball question is, how open are you to the idea San Antonio can get them in the playoffs?
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B
No, I am open to it. We were discussing this the other day before Lakers Thunder and Brian Scalabrini was with us on site and he's like, dude, the thing about San Antonio is I've just come to the realization now or the conclusion that they can win it all. He's like, they are a capable team of winning it all. He goes, not that doesn't mean they're going to. But if everything breaks their way and they can stay healthy for a full playoff run and Wembanyama's on the floor for legit minutes, like that's the other part of this, is he's still only playing like 30 minutes or less in every game. Can he, for a seven game series play 35 to 40 minutes every single night and be durable enough to be at his best if there's a game seven? To me, that's the biggest question for San Antonio. We haven't seen it yet. To your point. We saw it with Oklahoma City last year. They took their hits the year before. And then last year to get through Game 7 against Denver, to then get to the finals and go to game seven and have the wherewithal even without Halliburton for the rest of that game? I mean, Indiana was up at halftime in that game seven and Pascal Siakam looked unbelievable and N. Smith was tough all series and N hard was unbelievable and Miles Turner was making big plays. Like that team was still really good and still playing with confidence and they still find their way through. So I think there's, there's two aspects of it. There's the physical side and then there's the mental side. It's a San Antonio team that just hasn't been in the playoffs yet. And we did. Reggie Miller and I did the, the fourth matchup. There's five of them, I guess, of San Antonio, Oklahoma City. It was the one OKC win And the one thing that stood out to me is how much they took Wemby out of that game. Now for Victor, again, the minutes restriction was a thing. The rhythm was tough. But what they did and what we've seen now a couple teams do and Dylan Brooks is, I know talked about this publicly and it was essentially what Oklahoma City did in Game 7 against Jokic, where they put a smaller guy on Jokic who was Caruso, and you force him to have to deal with that like a stronger, sturdy. They've got Dort, they've got Caruso. Casen Wallace will swipe at the basketball and is an unbelievable deflection and steals guy. And you just dig at him and you just make life miserable from the perimeter as opposed to letting him catch it inside and go over the top. And they did that all game. They were so physical with him. And the officials allowed the physicality on both sides because San Antonio was doing the same thing with Oklahoma City. And it was. It felt like a playoff game. And Oklahoma City in the second half just dominated and ran away with that game. They were up I think 20 in the fourth quarter. And so I am curious to see come playoffs. I still would give a major advantage to the Thunder just because again, they have the experience. I still think it's OKC and Denver if fully healthy as the best two teams in the West. But man, that team in San Antonio, to Scowl's point, if they can break it right and if Wemby can actually be durable and he can figure it out on the fly, which he's proven that he can. Yeah, they are more than capable of beating any of those guys.
- [14:20]
A
Mandatory Lakers question because you just had him and that was a good game. No sga, no Luca. I feel like the Lakers, it's the way we talk about them is incredibly like too simplistic, you know, because it happened. I mean, I can't believe this happened because I was on part of my take and then I think Big Cat or PFT had asked me, like, how soon post football are we to a segment on the Lakers having a run? It's like, are they title contenders? And literally, I think face first take did it the next day, which we clearly didn't know because we'd already taped it. And you're sitting there just going, you know, this is. It's the standard of the Lakers, which, you know, sometimes like, hey, you can. You can have a standard. You can want a lot of things, but it doesn't mean that it's going to happen for you in A way that it's not going to happen for other teams that are clearly behind. I would say a handful of teams in the west and I don't really care. The standings say that they're a four seed, but that's kind of how I think of them. If everything is right. And there's certainly not a team that I'm going to give like the, the injury benefit of the doubt, but being around it, having access to the team. Like, do you think we're perhaps, perhaps just talking about an above average team with much better branding and not admitting the fact that like no one should be taking this team seriously as a title contender?
- [15:38]
B
Yeah, I, I, I guess I, I'll be curious. We just haven't seen a large enough sample size of Luka, LeBron and Reaves together. I think they've only played 10 games together this year, which is pretty crazy to think. And Luka's been unbelievable in terms of scoring and, and he's had huge numbers, he's had huge games. I just, I just don't, and this is me talking less about them behind the scenes. They have a, a clear belief in talking with jj. They've got a clear belief in what they are and their identity and continuing to build that towards the postseason. And I think they do feel like they haven't gotten that chance yet because they just haven't been on the floor together. But when I watch them and I felt this way to start the season, I think my biggest qualm is still in the front court. You got to go against, if you're getting into a Western Conference playoffs, you're going to have to go against Jokic, you're going to have to go against Wemby, you're going to have to go against the twin towers of Chet and Isaiah Hartenstein who are just really challenging. And then you bring in J. Will off the bench and he's high energy and mucking the game up himself. And you're going to battle with Deandre Ayton and Jackson Hayes. And I just, I go back to that Luka team that went to the finals in Dallas and what they did so well is they just surround him with shooting and they have multiple lob threats. And I just like Jackson Hayes is essentially their best lob threat because Ayton doesn't dive to the rim. He's a short roll guy. It's where he likes to operate. His best shots are either the push shot or a little pull up jumper at the free throw line. And so I think that's still, my concern with them is over the course of seven games, are you just going to get pounded inside? And you might, and that's okay. And you might say, okay, well then we'll go small. But is that small ball lineup good enough to overcome with 41 year old LeBron who is still playing at an incredible level, but a 41 year old LeBron over the course of now, having to play 40 plus minutes every night and having to be extra physical and having to crash the glass and having to defend inside with an Austin Reeves who isn't necessarily known for grabbing 12 rebounds at his size. Those small ball lineups around the league, like I think about it when I was doing games for the Clippers and they went to the Western Conference finals and TLU went small ball, but he had like Kawhi is an elite rebounder at his position when he wants to be. And Paul George was willing to crash the glass at that point. And when Kawhi goes down like Nick Batoon can come in and play center and was playing his tail off and getting every board like the warriors small ball, I mean Draymond's just clearing space and I don't know if they have that in a small ball lineup. Now maybe Rui Hachimura develops into something like that where he turns into this just elite board guy. Or maybe like the move they made and their move I guess at the trade deadline to get Luke Canard I think really helps them, but not for something like that. So that's still my concern for them. But they're talented, they have ability when they're at their full strength to go out there and to put up major points. But I think they would have to outscore teams more than anything else. And I'm just not sure against the elite defense of Oklahoma City, San Antonio and then when Denver's fully healthy and even a Minnesota, I just don't know how that would work.
- [18:53]
A
Yeah, I wouldn't pick them against any of those teams. And I think it's fair. If you're a Lakers fan going, hey, let us have our three guys, that's going to be the plan. If we have Reeves, we have luka, we have LeBron, it's probably a really small lineup. I think they probably prefer Jackson Hayes energy. I mean there's a play, I forget, I think it's the okc. I think it was the OKC game that you guys had. Ayton gets into the paint, he's got a size advantage and I'm telling you right now, it never goes forward. With him. Like when Ayton has a close catch the ball and all those options are still open, whatever defender is in front of him. It was like the greatness of peak Al Horford against Embiid defensively, where Embiid would always get this lean into, you know, and then be able to separate or he would overpower you. I mean, obviously the peak version of Embiid could do literally whatever he wanted, but Horford would always keep him flush. Horford would always keep him parallel against the baseline because he was just smart and he was strong enough to be able to do it. Ayton could have TJ McConnell in a fucking switch and somehow Ayton is not going to get closer to the rim. And it happened on an OKC play. He kind of bobbled a little bit, was hesitant, did not get any deeper where he should have just been able to overpower the guy that he was going up against. And JJ got em right outta the game. Yeah. And I went, yep. So that's again why I wouldn't pick them against any of those teams, even fully formed. Before we move on with the show, a quick word on the tool that keeps people's workflow tighter than my takes. Microsoft 365 copilot the world moves fast. Your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more@Microsoft.com M365Copilot Little on Detroit here. And then I want to do a little no Eagle retrospective as well. The suspensions just came down. I love the Charlotte Detroit game. I used to joke all the time, like living out here, Manhattan beach. And I'd get a little reading in at the beach and I'd be like, oh, four o'. Clock. Like, let me get back inside. Hornets, Pistons are on. Because it was like, it felt like they played each other 30 times a season. It was likely going to be the worst game. You're just like, all right, you know, get in there. This is the job. Get your eyes on this stuff now. If it's Hornets, Pistons, I'm like, I can't wait. I was so excited about that game. It felt like a playoff game. The first quarter was incredible and then you have the fight again. The suspension's announced. Big Stu, seven games. Miles Bridges, four games. Musa Diabody four games. Jaylen Duran two games. I also enjoyed the jockeying afterwards where I think Bicker staff's done an awesome job with this. But for the Pistons to act like they are the victims league wide right now is its own topic. But I actually think those that with Stewart's rep and prior's and the roles of everyone in there, I would agree with those suspensions. I'm fine with it. I don't like arguing like no, it should have been nine, this should have been four, this should have been three, all this different stuff. There's a bigger Pistons question here and that is who do you think is the best challenge to them in the East? Because two through however deep you want to go in these, this entire standings I think could be flipped upside down in that conference. I, I, they're in their own tier for me and I'm still not even sure I have a definitive answer on who their greatest threat is.
- [22:25]
B
Yeah, first of all, love the humble brag on doing some reading on the beach. That was elite work by you. Just kind of slide that in seconds.
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A
Yeah.
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B
To answer your question, I would agree with you. I think Detroit has separated themselves from the pack. I think we've seen that now. Just in terms of consistency alone, I think a lot of people would want to say New York. I'm still just not sure on how I feel about the Knicks overall in terms of being a legitimate title winning team. They're probably capable at their peak form, but do we, do we believe that they're going to be at their peak form again for a full seven game series? I would say Boston is a question mark now with the Tatum thing and him coming back and practicing with the G League team. It sounds like he's his belief and his intention is to be back at the same time. What does that do for them? I've had Boston a ton the last couple weeks and the brand of basketball that they've played this year is really good. I actually did the Pistons Celtics game in Boston, so that was, that was probably December or January, early January is one of the two and that was a high level game. Like that one felt like, okay, this is what it's supposed to feel like. And Cade just makes big plays late, he makes a couple huge mid range shots and they win by four or six points or something like that. But it felt like, okay, this is a team that at least knows how to compete. And now you bring Vuch into that and maybe he helps and he can be a guy who plays 15 to 20 minutes for them and just provides a nice little scoring boost or whatever. It might be an extra rebounder, but I do think they would need Keita more in that series than they would need Vuch. I think they would need Keda to be really big because Duran and that pick and roll with Cade could torch him. I think my concern still with Detroit, even with Kevin Herder is the shooting and the consistency of the three point shooting. And we've seen Herder have huge playoff moments. Like I think about what he did when Atlanta went to the conference finals and then I think about his Game 7 performance against Golden State when he was with Sacramento. And so it's which one are you going to get? Because if you get the Atlanta version, that's huge. And if you can get the Miami finals run version of Duncan Robinson, now you feel like you just have two snipers that can be in at any time. That definitely changes the equation a little bit. But outside of those two, you know, Dennis Jenkins has been a great story and he's shot it well at times for them. I just, I would say that the shooting consistency in a playoff series is probably still the one area where you say, okay, this is where you can beat them if you just hope that they miss a ton. But defensively they're so good that it almost doesn't matter. You know, they, they're, they can go into stretches, especially when Duran and you're, you're saying you're good with a two game suspension for literally palming someone's face, you're in on that.
- [25:16]
A
Yeah, I'm okay. Cause it's not a, I mean if a punch is four, then a palm should be two.
- [25:20]
D
Yeah.
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B
All right. It's half a punch is what you're going with. I love. I'm all in on a palm face. I think that's more disrespectful. Honestly. Straight palming somebody's face, that's among the most disrespectful things you can do as far as I'm concerned.
- [25:35]
A
Yeah. But I think the other part of the suspension, because I know the Charlotte side is going to be like, well, how come he got. So it sounds like you might be on the Charlotte side of these things. Dern is backpedaling. He is trying to get away. He turns early even after the Bridges thing and turns away from everything. But Diabate stayed angry longer than I think I've ever. Yeah, I mean he still after the Stewart Bridges part of it and then it was done. Then they go to the tunnel and Diabody's still trying to just chuck security guards off of himself.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So I think part of that isn't just the definition of punch versus Palm. Duran tries to de escalate early and nobody else between Bridges and Diabate. They. They want, they want more.
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B
Yeah. Two, two things on that. One, I guess three. One, I would say that's probably an app description. Two, you just made me believe we need a last two minute report for fights because we need to hear exactly what they're thinking. And three, I, I have been waiting to be on a call of a game that this happens in for now as long as I've done this for. Because I feel like that is. You don't get those very often. Right.
- [26:47]
A
Like imagine you have some more opportunities.
- [26:51]
B
I'm going to have some opportunities. But I got so close this year. We had, we had. It was towards the end of the cup group stage. It was a cup game. Orlando in Philly. Orlando beat him by 40. Anthony Black had like 35, 10 and 6 or something like that. And at one point the game was going so poorly at the end of the first half, it was like already a 35 point game at the end of the first half. It's going so poorly for Philly that Andre Drummond just said, I'm just going to pick a fight with Wendell Carter and the way that he squared up. I've never seen a pro athlete square up and look like Popeye before, but that's what Andre Drummond did. Like he, he did one of these which, the circular punch motion, I've never seen that. And so then after that I was like, all right, well that was a joke. But it was fun for about 15 seconds. But I got really excited. So I'm looking forward to the day that some chaos ensues in one of these games. But yeah, to finish on the Detroit point. I do. I just think that to your point, Boston, New York, now what does Cleveland look like with the James Harden stuff? I haven't seen Toronto in person, but I would find it hard to believe that they're on the same level as the Pistons. And then who else is realistically in that conversation in the Eastern Conference that am I missing a team? Because that would be 2, 3, 4, 5. And then who would be outside of that? That's like six, seven, eight. I know Miami has been weird per usual. Chicago is now out of there. Atlanta maybe if they can turn it up with.
- [28:23]
A
Orlando's going to be eliminated.
- [28:25]
B
No one.
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A
I'm going to be like, I still like him.
- [28:26]
B
Yeah, Orlando. Yeah. Orlando is probably the most interesting. The problem is, like, Paolo has just looked bad. And I do think he's. We've seen him great. I love Anthony Black. I really like Suggs, I really like Franz. And if Paolo can be what we expected him to be, they turn into something. But, man, I don't know. There's something off. There's just something off. And when I've seen them, they've looked great. Like I said, they beat Philly by 40. I guess Philly is the other team that I'm probably not thinking about. It's another one that you just say, can you get four great games out of this team? Because if you can't. And I've had them where they've been world beaters, and then I've had them where in the Orlando game, they lost by 40. Now, Embiid and George didn't play in that game and obviously George is out for a minute here. But they at full strength when they're at their best. And Embiid looks more like Embiid. And now Maxi's been off the charts and edge come adds like a huge edge that they. They really needed. Like Dominic Barlow's good. They're. They're intriguing at least. Although I still can't believe they just basically gave away Jared McCain and then he looks like he's moving like Jared McCain again. But, yeah, I don't know if I believe in them as like the same tier as what Detroit is, but at full strength. Can they beat them four times out of seven? They probably could. So I don't know. It's. It's going to be weird. It's going to be one of those weird years. I could pretty much guarantee that.
- [29:55]
A
Yeah, I think it's going to get really weird here in the east. Or maybe we'll. We'll see a close here with Cleveland or we'll go like, hey, why did we think that this was this big of a deal? And New York wins nine of 10. You throw on last night's game against the Pacers. Granted, they don't have og. They're not playing Mitchell. But for the Tanking Police, you love that game from the Pacers last night because they. Oh, yeah, they went for it. They closed with their guys. I'm like, are they not going to bring Siakam back in? And then, you know, next thing you know, it's Siakam and Nemhardt just cooking. And then cat fouls out. He gets booed, and you're like, this cat thing is just. It is turned even during the winning streak. And it's not just the shooting numbers where I'd say this. I think one of the more fascinating things I've ever seen in the NBA is that it took the NBA like, a season and a half with Kat to be with the Knicks for them to realize that he was doing the underarm hook on drives. So he gets called for one of those in an overturn, and then the other one was like an elbow thing, which, you know, they gave him, I think the call on that one, but I was kind of surprised. And yet this cat underarm thing, right? He's just. They're going, we're not going to let you do this. They haven't been able to figure out with hard in, like, 15 years for some reason.
- [31:06]
C
Right.
- [31:06]
A
But with Cat. Cat, it was like, sorry, we. Like, only Jim is allowed to do this, But, Cat, you're done. You're not going to. So as I was watching that game last night, I'm like, so. I love it. This is a ridiculous thing that happened. You should have never been as the ball handler, be able to hook the defender's arm and then put the shot up. And they're like, hey, Mark Jackson, there's contact there. But in this case, they just. They're like, you don't get to do it. Jim will. He's been. He's been grandfathered in because he starts so early. All right, a little backstory on you. I met your dad over 20 years ago. I'm sure you hear a million different versions of these stories. I was still in my 20s, working at a radio station in Boston, that it's not going to go down. It's not going to be known historically. And I would just go through the NBA blue book, and if the Celtics had a team coming in, I wouldn't even necessarily do it. To book the guest, to book your dad. I would just be like, hey, what's going on with the team? Sure. I remember him being like, who is this again? Like, what's. What's going on with the team? You know, like, he's like, all right. And he was, like, walking around, and he talked to me on the phone, and. And he was great. And then we met. And I'm sure over the years, you know, we've had him on a little bit, so I'm a huge fan. He was always super nice to me. A long time ago. Was there any. Did you apply to any other schools besides Cuse?
- [32:30]
B
Yeah. So first of all, you said he would walk around on the phone. That that was the big thing for him, we used to call it office hours at my house where we had this front yard and it was a circular yard. And every now and then, you know, when I was 12 or something, I'd be like, oh, where's Dad? I was like, office hours. And I would look. There was a window on the second floor of our house and you could look down and he, He's a fast walker. But this was pre Fitbit. Once he got the Fitbit, his calls skyrocketed even more. Like he's a guy who spends an hour and a half on the phone as is. But now the Fitbit came in, he's like, I gotta get 10,000 steps. I'm like, yeah, but you're getting just steps in a circle outside. He goes, doesn't matter. Like sometimes if it was winter time and he couldn't do his full office hours outside, now the kitchen became office hours. So we could, we would hear the call. So I'm sure I would have heard of him telling you about why Carrie Kittles is just so strong with his right hand. You know, it's just that was a.
- [33:26]
A
Thing we talked about, Kittles.
- [33:27]
B
I'm sure you did. I'm sure you had Keith Van Horn, Kittles and everybody in between. Those were some of my favorite teams. But anyway, yeah, I did apply to a couple other schools. I. I actually went and visited. So my parents met at Syracuse. And for me, I think probably when I was first looking, I was like, I don't. Don't think I want to go. I don't want to do that. And so I visited there. It was the first school I visited. My mom took me and we did the normal tour and everything like that. And we're driving back and we're 15 minutes into the drive home. It's a three and a half hour drive. And my mom says, what'd you think? And I said, yeah, I'll never come here. I'll never go to school here. And she's like, oh, okay, yeah, well, then we'll go to other schools. So we went and we visited Maryland, we visited Miami, we visited USC and ucla. I just wanted to see different stuff. And then after I visited all the other schools, I went back to Syracuse and toured it without going on the real tour. Like, my mom took me there and she goes, this was the first day of classes my senior year of high school. And it was 85 degrees, sunny, people are out, it's the first day. So everyone's smiling, happy to see each other. We go through. We go and get a bunch of stuff. And my mom said, I'm gonna take you on my tour and show you the actual real stuff that you would do. And so she showed me all, you know, the college stuff, the college life stuff. And I also. Actually, the first time I went, the first person ever show me around was Jason Benetti, who was at the time an adjunct professor at Syracuse while he was still doing the Syracuse, now the Syracuse Mets. At the time there was the Syracuse Chiefs. And so he was the first person to show me around. And then Jay Alter, who works at espn, is. He was the second person who showed me the radio station at waer. He was three years older than me, so I got good perspective from them. Get back in the car. Second time around, my mom said, what do you think? And I said, I have to come. I'm going. Early decision here. So I did apply, and just based on when the applications came back, some of them got back to me before the early decision. So I applied to Indiana, Maryland, Miami and Syracuse. Very different in terms of weather. Miami, when I visited, I was like, I don't know how anybody could focus here. I literally said. I was like, if I went here, it would be a problem. I think I would become a degenerate. So I. I would say I probably made the right choice there. I really, like, I think Maryland was probably my second choice. I. I enjoyed it there. It. It was just massive. And I was like, man, getting around here is going to be crazy. And, you know, the sports were good, but Syracuse, at the time, basketball was still in a really good spot. They had still come just recently off a Final Four in which I went to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in D.C. my dad was actually doing radio with John Thompson. And all the Syracuse fans were, like, screaming at John Thompson after they won the Elite Eight game against Marquette. They held him to 39 points with Michael Carter, Williams and that team. And I turn around and John Thompson, I'm sitting right next to him, and he's just like, I couldn't be happier for all of you. And he's like, winking at each Syracuse fan. I'm like, this is awesome. This is the coolest moment of my life. You know, Mike Hopkins. Everyone's like, mike, don't go anywhere. Don't leave us. It was. I was like, this place is. This is great. So I think at that point, like, the sports side of it, I was like, man, I don't know if you can beat the Syracuse basketball experience. And so at that point, I was. I was all in, and it was the right decision for me. But, yeah, there are definitely alternate universes that I'm curious how it would have gone if I went to the other. Other spots. Yeah.
- [37:10]
A
And look, I. I was at ESPN when Mike Golick Jr. Was there, and I. I remember. I always. And he's a sweetheart of a guy. And I remember maybe I'm reading into it too much or maybe he was reading into us. He's probably looking at us, looking at him being like, what's going on here? And I felt like sometimes. But he was such an unbelievable kid. And Michael Looks sr. And his family, they just did a great job raising him. And then it's like, oh, he's good, you know? And I think that's a brutal spot. But at the same time, it's like, I can't imagine being a father not wanting to do every single thing I could possibly do for my son. And then I can also realize how tough this business is and go, well, what am I supposed to do? Apologize for getting, like, a head start? Like, you guys can get mad about it, but I'm taking the opportunity. And I know. I don't think with you. I know with you, the first time I heard you, I went, oh, okay. Well, he's awesome. So, like, that's it. It's over. There's no. And I'm sure you had to deal with this, and I don't know if you talk about it with your friends or whatever, but, like, at this point. And again, this is. Even now, this is like, maybe 2019, when you were trying out for the Clippers TV thing, I was like, what is going on? I'm like, damn. And then the first time I heard you on a game, it's. It's done in a minute. You just go, well, no one should have any hang up about any of this because you're a gifted broadcaster just like your father, and you're not there, which you already know. For any other reason than. I think maybe you're just on a fast track, man, because you've been terrific from the jump. So I'm happy for you.
- [38:43]
B
No, I appreciate that. And it's very real, man. I think that if that stuff affected me, then you can't do it. And you ask any of the other sons, whether it's Joe Buck or Kenny Albert or Mike, or any of these sons of broadcasters, daughters of broadcasters, Olivia Harlan, that have decided to follow in the footsteps, I think they would tell you the same thing. That if it got to you, you will never succeed because it's never going to go away. It doesn't matter how great of a job I do at a game. Doesn't matter if I literally have the best call of all time. Someone is still going to say, well, he's only why I wonder how he got that gig. You know, I wonder how that happened. And so I don't, I don't care. I get it. And in fact, I probably agree, like to your point, it's, it's real. I'm not going to say that.
- [39:38]
D
Oh, wow.
- [39:38]
B
Well, I mean, I'm sure that they just hired me at 22 years old because they're like, this kid has the goods. You know, there were factors there and I got lucky in terms of timing and circumstance with the Clippers job opening up and having a professor at Syracuse whom somebody reached out to and asked for recommendations and being just one of very few recommendations that she put down. But then the second part of that is, well, the trust factor of a 22 year old comes because they could trust that I had seen it up close and that I was going to handle myself the right way and that I had the firsthand experience. And I'm not sure if I didn't have all of that stuff, I think it would be highly unlikely that they would have pulled the trigger on it. But the second part of that was probably the best. The biggest source of pride for me, Ryan, is that when I did the job, I get there 22 years old, I did it for 4 years radio with the Clippers and I had a blast. We had really good teams, we had really good people. I learned so much about basketball and I thought I knew a lot and I probably did for somebody who didn't play at a super high level or anything like that. But when you sit down with Tron Lue and talk about games, before a game, after a game, it's like, oh, you learn stuff that you never even dreamed of knowing. Or the rest of our coaching staff, which was really good. We had Kenny Atkinson for a year before he went to Golden State. And you know, I had known him a little bit from Brooklyn. I really didn't even get to see him all that much that year because it was the post bubble year, so we weren't really around as much. But then guys like Jay Laran, Brian Shaw, Larry Drew, been around the league for a long time and then you get like different perspectives of Dante Jones and others. All that's great. But the biggest source of pride for me was I knew I had to do well, right away, because if I didn't, it was going to be a problem for anybody who was young trying to get a job after me. And so the best thing that happened was I leave and the next person they hired was a new 22 year old who has no sports broadcasting connection. And Carlo Jimenez, who is going to be as big a star as you're going to find in this world, has taken it and he has taken it even further than I had. And so that, that was the coolest part for me was that, okay, I didn't completely screw this up and I got the opportunity, I did enough with it. So now this organization and hopefully more organizations and we're starting to see it where younger people are getting hired, are willing to give others that same chance. And so it's just been cool to see that.
- [42:12]
A
Our guy has the All Star Game again. Coming up February 15th on NBC. He's going to be with Reggie Miller, Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, three time six man Jamal Crawford. And again, Noah Eagle, the youngest in the history of the All Star Game broadcast as far as our research could tell, and NBC's research could tell getting the game back for the 75th version of it since 2002. Noah, you're the best. Thanks, man.
- [42:37]
B
Yeah, you got it. Last thing, I'll add the youngest thing. They said the same when I did the super bowl on Nickelodeon two years ago. How do we know spongebob or Patrick are not younger than me? I don't, I don't know that for sure. So I will confirm as I get back to Bikini Bottom and let everyone know.
- [42:53]
A
I kind of get the reference enough to just nod and go, SpongeBob.
- [42:58]
B
You got no SpongeBob. No.
- [43:00]
A
Come on.
- [43:01]
B
Secret formula plankton. Mr. Krabs, I know you're in. I know you're.
- [43:05]
A
I know I aged well, but I, It's a, it's a bit out. I remember coming home to visit and all my siblings were all over it there. But yeah, age wise, I don't know what the origin story is there. I mean, who knows? Who knows how those guys age?
- [43:17]
B
They age gracefully. That's what I'll say. Those guys who do that game, who do that show. I should say Elite. Elite. So shout out to Tom and Bill.
- [43:27]
A
Thanks again.
- [43:29]
B
You got it.
- [43:30]
A
That segment was brought to you by Microsoft. Microsoft Copilot, the AI assistant that actually helps you get stuff done. Copilot works across Microsoft 365 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, turning chaos into productivity. Need a presentation. Copilot builds it need a summary of a meeting. You definitely zoned out in. Copilot's got you. Let copilot do the heavy lifting. You just take the credit. Learn more@Microsoft.com M365Copilot we're going to talk some college hoops. There's a couple topics I have to get to here with Eamon Brennan who joins us. We've talked to him in the past. Go back ways. Yeah. With espn and now has a substack buzzer which I was reading this morning. Just subscribe to. Don't exactly love the Chris Paul heckle as the, as the banner there, but that's okay. We'll, we'll let that one go. What's up, man? Good to see you again.
- [44:21]
C
It's good to see you too. Yeah. Thanks for having me on. Excited to chat some hoops with you.
- [44:25]
A
Yeah. So let's talk Kansas and I want to talk Peterson because we were just kind of talking about it the other day, just going what the hell is going on with this guy? The great thing for Kansas is 11:5. They beat Arizona over the stretch. They go into 19 and 5. They've beaten number one, they've beaten number two. They beat BYU, they beat Texas Tech when they're both ranked 13th. So the fact that Peterson doesn't play in this Arizona game, they take down number one. When I watched him, I think I've watched two full games of them now and then spatterings of other games, the Baylor game early on just because of Peterson's first half and everything like that. It's clearly a very deep team to even pull off an upset of number one Arizona. So when you look at them and basically where they are now versus the Star, are they on a short list of teams and win the whole thing?
- [45:08]
C
I don't know if I'd go quite that far because I do think they have, you know, there are some flaws there. I think without Peterson, they, they can get a little scattered and a little out of whack on the offensive end. Although I will say, you know, the, the steps that, that that roster has taken without him from the beginning of the year. You know, you're coming into the season and you're looking at this roster and you know you pull Melvin Council out of St. Bonaventure where he was a really high usage, not particularly efficient, kind of your classic mid major up transfer, kind of wondering how that's going to work. And even early in the year you watched him play or just like if I was a Kansas fan, this Guy would drive me insane just because he's clearly talented but does wacky stuff with the ball in his hands when he gets out in the open floor. You look at him now, he's much more controlled, a much better overall all around player like Bill Self's done a great job with the overall fit of the roster and a bunch of guys like Bryson Tiller was a four star recruit, not particularly high expectations. He's a fantastic sort of stretch four that makes him work for Badunga's taking a huge leap. So the interesting thing with, with Peterson in Kansas overall is how, you know, if you look at their lineup splits and you break them down, they are a better, more effective team with Peterson in the lineup, which makes sense, right? Like he's, he's a very, very good basketball player and has been fantastic mostly when he's played, you know, with some bits here and there, but the ball stops with him. They are a different team with him. He, he is, you know, he takes 35% of their shots when he's on the floor which is a super high number for any college basketball player that's not playing at like Mississippi Valley State or something. You know, you have these one off guys but a high major guy at a place like Kansas taking that many shots per trip is, is a little wild and I think without him they flow a little bit better. They're still putting up really good offensive numbers. The ball moves and I think it was almost in some ways beneficial to not have him for that Arizona game because it made them a little bit more dynamic and a little bit trickier and more difficult to stop. So it's a weird thing in that I think their peak version of this Kansas team is with Peterson in the lineup sustainably, but he's not. And every which game you don't know whether or not you're going to have him. And Bill Self just kind of had to figure it out on the fly.
- [47:21]
A
So we were just talking about it yesterday with Cerutty and I thought he had a great line and call him College Kawhi. I guess the other one is DNP because the initials that's going around Kansas a little bit. What the hell is going on? Because I always feel like in life I don't know if it's an American thing or not. We always seem to want to believe it's the worst version of what it could be. What's the most nefarious thing that handlers, that agents are involved with this, that if he's not 100% that he's not going to play. But then you're kind of like, well then what's the point of playing at all? Unless there's some sort of understanding that he would have to give some of the compensation back. So what's your best, I would say informed guess on how bad this dynamic actually is?
- [48:06]
C
My best guess, and I've kind of evolved on this because I think early in the year I was maybe a little bit more willing to, than most people to give the benefit of the doubt or just take things at face value. And it's like, you know, whether it's technically cramping or tightness in his legs or whatever it is, you know, he doesn't feel right to play. Don't play. Like that's fine. You know what I mean? Like, I can take that at face value. I don't think it's, I didn't at, at least at the beginning think it was this nefarious, like, oh, his. He's picking and choosing his spots and his agent wants him to be super careful and he's basically, you know, what, what you hear, I think even from some Kansas, I don't have a ton of inside baseball stuff with this. They've kept everything pretty, pretty tight lipped for the most part is, you know, the sort of suspicion that he's just building his highlight reel, establishing himself as a number one pick in college at the sort of, you know, playing the fewest possible minutes, that you can do that and still get away with being the number one overall pick and then sitting back down anytime things get a little tough. The interesting thing is that he's missed some of the biggest games that you would think a guy doing that would want to be in. You'd think he'd want to play against Arizona. You know, if you're going to pick and choose your spots, Arizona at home with all the talented freshmen that they've got and the undefeated number one team in the country coming in, that would be a game that you'd want to play in. You know, he missed the BYU game, which was obviously a showdown with AJ Debanza, who's the likely number two or number three picker or however things play out. And that's kind of like, you know, the AU Peach Jam Showcase. Like, oh, the number one and number two guys are like, those are the kinds of guy like games these guys tend to want to play in.
- [49:41]
A
So I mean, he missed, he missed the second half, right. Because that, I mean, in that first half.
- [49:46]
C
Yeah, he sat down. Well, yes, he started the first half and then sat down, which is even, you know, kind of weirder.
- [49:51]
A
You could argue he did enough work in the first half. And that's part of what I was thinking is like, is he just going, I'm so good? And this is so. Because Devonta didn't have a very good game. He wasn't aggressive, and Peterson was just another level. And it'd be totally unfair to do that of going like, hey, if there was any one, two debate, it's over after 20 minutes. But that's how it felt.
- [50:10]
C
Yeah, I mean, I think. I think the 1, 2 debate for me, just in terms of, like, watching both guys on the floor is kind of over. Like, when Darren Peterson has played, he has been sensational and looks aesthetically like a future, you know, all NBA player. Like, he's just the ease with which he gets to the rim against college defenders is just a joke. The problem, again, is that you're not just looking for aesthetic splashes or really impressive numbers in short minutes. You're putting the future of an NBA franchise, and I don't talk to NBA people covering college basketball primarily would be really interested to see kind of what they think and what the fear is here. Either it's he's taken at face value, he's worried about his body or doesn't trust his body, or you take the sort of slightly not conspiratorial, but just more cynical view of it, which is that he's doing this kind of intentionally and like I said, playing as few minutes as possible to still be the number one overall pick. Either way, if you're an NBA front office, you would like the guy who really, really wants to be on the court and is like, I'm hurt, but I'll still play. And even if that's not a great idea, you know what I mean? It's just like you want the guy who died to be out there because it's that important to him as a sort of future franchise guy. And so that's what's interesting to me in the dynamic and, you know, depending whatever Kansas does from here and however he plays, the kind of narrative is set with him and it'll be very interesting to see how it plays out draft wise.
- [51:37]
A
Yeah, it's a really fascinating internal debate because if you're asking a GM be like, what's worse? Someone that is just diabolical in their approach to this and that means they're actually healthier, or that they have this strange leg cramp thing that I guess goes back to some of the high school stuff like this is. Yeah, exactly new because I was watching some press conference from some high school team that he was on and the coach was like, hey, this is my decision. We want to protect the guy. So I was like, okay. So as I'm doing more research on the sport and getting ready for the draft a little bit, you're just kind of like, I think it's probably worse long term if you're a gm. Like, the wiring of this guy, it's not this, this mysterious leg thing, that the wiring of him would be okay in doing this. But I don't know. You know, again, none of us necessarily have the answer, but I would agree in the times that I've watched him, you know, like, okay, this guy's incredibly special. Are there guys around? Because I don't know that there's any debate anymore. The number one thing, maybe if he were to just check out of the Big 12 championship game or not playing the tournament or something like that, like, that could still all be in play. Does it change the conversation? Do they have enough information that they're like, we're not even worried about it. But whether it's debonce, whether it's Boozer, whether it's Fleming's, like, are there other players that you've watched in that group that you think are closer to him or worthy of like, everyone listening now's attention as we gear up for the postseason?
- [53:04]
C
Yeah, sure. I mean, look, I think still from what we would have said in the preseason is pretty. Still holds true for me. Like the other guy that I've seen that most obviously looks to me and my, you know, non draft Nick kind of eye like an NBA player playing against college kids is debonza. You know, he is for whatever struggles he and BYU have occasionally had. And it's a little bit like the Peterson thing or it was earlier in the year, maybe not to such a degree because DeBonsa plays like he's always available. It's just the balance between playing the way BYU played last year on offense, even when they had another lottery pick with Demon in the lineup, they are a little bit more this year inclined sometimes to just hand him the ball on the wing, clear out and let him score. And it's not a terrible approach because he's very good and can usually score against college defenders. But BYU at its best is like everybody, you know, Rob Wright, Richie Saunders, Demeza, all getting downhill, you know, playing with a little bit more flow. And they've kind of fixed some of those issues. But Just in terms of, like, you know, eyeing up a guy and watching him play against even really good collegiate defenders against, you know, Houston, you know, your Houstons and your Arizona's and your other Big 12, you know, sort of high end teams. That's the guy that looks like to me, like Boozer is kind of breaks my brain a little bit because he is, you know, he's a one and done freshman. He is the most productive, like, best, most effective college basketball player by like a distance this year. You know, he should win the national player of the year award pretty handily if, if things continue the way they're going right now. And he's obviously a top five pick or whatever and has been for forever. And you watch him play and he looks like a guy who's been in college for four or five years. You know, he looks like an old school. Like my podcast guest Tate Frazier likened him to like Tyler Hansbrough, which I think got Duke fans really mad at him. But it's kind of what he looks like when he plays. You know, he can step outside. He's a, an extremely good passer, so like, the intuitive skills are next level, but he's pushing people under the rim, he's getting on his shoulder, he's getting offensive rebounds and put backs. He's not doing things that look like, oh my God, this guy's a, you know, a freak athlete, NBA, obvious talent kind of thing. He's just a really awesome basketball player. That maybe doesn't jump out to me in the same way that like, you know, a super athletic wing like Tabonsa would.
- [55:29]
A
Got to talk about. St. John's taken out Yukon now in first place because they have the tiebreaker over Yukon in what isn't a great Big east this year. They hang on. Against Xavier earlier this week, they've won 10 straight since that Providence loss. That was inexplicable. You know, watching that game, being like, how are you going to blow this game to Providence? When they loaded up this offseason, whether it was the preseason hype and the rankings, everything, and then it just was kind of this, what? Why isn't this team better? And that's probably the downside to this approach where it's like, we're just going to throw a bunch of these guys. I know Zubi had already been there a couple other players, but it's. It just felt like it took time. Does it look right? Does it look the way that it was supposed to look before the season started to you?
- [56:09]
C
I think it looks, you know, with the exception of. Of a bit of a letdown night on Monday, which was kind of to be expected after they beat UConn. And then they had Xavier come in and it's Patino versus his son. And you kind of going into that game, I didn't. It would have been a wise one to wager on because you could just imagine them kind of having a little bit of a letdown, which they did, but they survived. I mean, I think recently, and we saw it against UConn. It looks to me about as good as it's gonna look. And I don't mean that in, in a particularly negative way. I just think coming into the year, the more you dug into what the roster was, it had a lot of the Patino stuff carried over from last year, like an emphasis on really athletic wings with Hopkins and Mitchell. Sort of the visual idea you have of Patino defenses just swarming at you and guys being able to, you know, guard multiple positions and trap and do all the stuff that he wants to do. What he has not had at any point really is a high level point guard. And the big sort of original sin in the off season was bringing in Ian Jackson, telling everyone, Ian Jackson's going to be the point guard. Ian Jackson's no one's idea. I think he had a 7% assist rate last year at North Carolina. He's a shooting guard. Like, he catches and shoots. He's not a ball handler or, or a playmaker in that way. And pretty quickly in the off season abandoned that idea. I think once he got him in the gym and started working on stuff and said, actually the point guard position just doesn't really matter anymore. We're going, we're going new age, positionless, Cooper flags, playing point, like, et cetera. And that hasn't really worked either. I think they've looked their best and did against UConn specifically, when Dylan Darling has been on the floor, he is the most point guardy of, of the players Pitino has at his disposal. But yeah, you know, when they are super high effort, super focused as they were against UConn, their top end scenario is, can make an absolutely, you know, a deep tournament run, potentially a Final four run. They're, they're good enough, I think, you know, man to man on the defensive end and can make things happen in the open floor. Offensively, it's just a half court. Offensive stuff, when things get tight in games, you just wonder, like, can you run a ball screen that's going to work with 30 seconds left to go? In a second round game because you don't have the same kind of playmaker at the top of the key that Patino's teams typically do.
- [58:32]
A
A story I think everybody was paying attention to, even if you're not the biggest college basketball fan is Betty Oko and Nate Oates in Alabama. After the Najee story of Baylor. You're like, what is going on now? Like, guys are eligible to come back to college basketball. But these stories, or at least the eligibility requirements were very different. And now a judge has ruled against Alabama. And I thought your piece this morning was terrific on it. So I always wonder how far can the sports push us? And then I think ultimately they know we always get over it and move on and then continue to watch the sport that we grew up with or the thing that we're passionate about enough to spend this many hours each week. Like there's almost. I always wonder, like, is there nothing they can do to us? And this Bedioca ruling felt like it was a turning point just because it was going to set a precedent that was even more absurd than anything else we'd seen in the past. But the ruling was important for college basketball. For what reason?
- [59:30]
C
For you, it stops what has been five or six years of just loss after loss after loss for the NCAA in courts. You know, the ability of the NCAA to regulate who gets to play and whether or not they'll be compensated and how that compensation should work has just had holes blown in it left and right for the last five or six years. Now the ironic thing is, and this goes to what you're talking about, the product on the court has never been better. Like I sit down and watch college basketball, you know, nightly essentially, and nine times out of 10, there's a really, really good, entertaining highlight. And not just because it's a close game or because the fans are loud and it's a good arena. It's like this is really good basketball where if you look back 15 years ago and saw the actual product and compared it today, it's like night and day. But the off the court stuff has been, you know, it's challenging for fans, like you said. I mean it was around the turn of the year that Baylor announced that it, it had gotten James Najee eligible. Now, he never entered college athletics in the first place. He was drafted straight to the NBA, didn't, you know, stick there was in the G League. And technically, based on the rules the NCAA has, has kind of on is this thus regarded similarly to like a European guy who played, you know, A little bit and whatever, the Adriatic League. And there's a lot of those guys coming over now because of the money in college basketball. The Betty O Thing is different. He was a college basketball player. He entered the draft, which under NCAA rules means you forego your remaining el. Like, you stay in the draft, you're done, that's your eligibility is done. And that's the way it's always been and that's the way it still is. And, you know, Alabama and NATO saw the Naji situation. And in fact, NATO said the genesis of the idea was he remembered Betty Oko sitting next to Naji in the draft in 2023 because they were selected right around the same. You know, he, like, had his visual in his head. I think this, like, irritated him. Like, why is this Naji guy available? And I can't bring Charles back. We need some front court help. And so they, you know, applied to for the waiver with the ncaa. The NCAA said, no, that's not what our rules are. What are you talking about? Of course this guy's not eligible to play college basketball. So they sued, got a. A judge who people that, you know, discovered soon after the ruling is also an Alabama donor in Tuscaloosa. He eventually recused himself from the case to rule that, you know, the NCAA had to let be AO play temporarily, you know, with a temporary restraining order and that it couldn't punish Alabama in any way for doing so, blah, blah, blah. And so he's played five games. Alabama went 3 and 2. He averaged like 10 and 4. He's fine. He's Charles Beaco. Like, he's a rim running center that does the stuff Alabama wants him to do. Didn't meaningfully change their fortunes one way or the other. What it did do is briefly threaten the, like, last vestige of, no, you cannot be an NBA player who was drafted from, like, from the college ranks and then come back after the fact. You get one shot shot at college basketball, and then if you stay in the draft, you're done. And so that was a crucial distinction. And it was kind of a. I think what really got people fired up about it besides the visceral reaction to, like, we cannot have NBA guys coming back to play college basketball. This does not work. Right.
- [62:45]
B
Is the.
- [62:46]
C
The way Alabama went about it, which was to kind of, you know, intentionally muddy the waters. Like, well, you got all these European guys. These, you know, like, he's been referring to them as mercenaries. Like, oh, they come over for six months. They're pros. Like, we got you know, hundreds of pros in college basketball. What's different about Charles, and the difference about Charles is those guys are allowed by the rules. This guy isn't. If you want new rules, then, you know, call your athletic director and your commissioner of the SEC and form a committee and change the rules. But forcing it through and then kind of making the argument to everybody and turning into this like tribal thing was in addition to the attempt in the first place was not a particularly like.
- [63:22]
A
Edifying spectacle for the sport.
- [63:24]
D
Yeah.
- [63:25]
A
And San didn't even want it, so. Right.
- [63:28]
C
And the SEC commissioner to, to, to come out and write an affidavit opposing Alabama in any athletics related way is pretty, you know, you've, you've maybe overstepped.
- [63:38]
A
Final thought here because I think you hit on something great. We all know my deal. It's, it's the NBA every single night. I used to, I'd say like early ESPN days, I'd probably have a split, you know, big Monday. I wasn't going to watch any NBA games. You know, that was just what I was going to do. And I was going to keep it on until the last Pack 10, Pack 12 game was over. So there was a time, and look, this has happened with baseball here a little bit. The NFL is king thing makes it feel like at times it's like you're not allowed to feel good about anything that your sport is doing. Your ratings stink compared to ours, which obviously drives me crazy because I just, I don't think that that's the way we should look at any of this kind of stuff, especially when you just talk about the volume of product or some of these other sports. But I would say there is a. Whether it's the momentum that we felt in baseball now when you think about that product and you're like, hey, were those just some lean, worrisome years and this thing is on the upswing. Would you say that there's a parallel there with college basketball where it's like, we may not have the regular season thing that we had, but we have an awesome product that still is on people's radar for like, well over a month beyond the guys that are locked in every single night?
- [64:47]
C
Yeah, for sure. I mean, like I said before, the product in my view, and I think there's plenty of stats you can pull to back it up in terms of pace, efficiency, the stylistic diversity. Now, you know, college basketball used to be really physical, really could be a tough watch if you wanted to see games that weren't 60 to 55 every night. And played at a 60 possession type of pace. There are teams that still do that, which is, I think is a cool thing about college basketball. There. There are teams that can grind you and will like, want to play that way to, to an extreme. But there are many more teams now, particularly at the high end of the sport. Speaking of Alabama, you know, looking at a team like Illinois, you can be super, super effective playing fast, up tempo, you know, enjoyable, efficient basketball. And so there's that element to it and there's the element, like a lot of the things that have, that you would think would drive away or at least really annoy and have annoyed traditional fans of the sport, like, oh, we're paying guys 2 million, $3 million a year now in nil money, and guys are transferring in the off season. And the process of understanding who's on your roster and who's not is much more complex and difficult. Fortunately, the college basketball season has a long off season, so people have a little more time to get accustomed. But, you know, it's, it's bewildering, I think, if you're, if you're a person who's been watching college basketball since like the early 80s or something. But it has sort of counterintuitively produced the most entertaining form of the sport we've seen in a long time. And it's, it's one of the, the weird ironies. But if you are kind of like me, able to compartmentalize some of those things or those things don't bother you, like, I don't. It doesn't bother me. I think it's good to. The guys get paid. I think they should get paid, you know, like it. I've been saying, you know, saying that for 20 years or whatever. So that doesn't bother me. And the movement in the sport and the way it's allowed talent to kind of filter up en masse has made the, you know, the top 30, 40, 50 teams not just better, but way more entertaining and fun to watch on a nightly basis. So it's been a great season and you throw in all these freshmen. You know, there's like 10 or 12 awesome freshmen, whatever they go on to be as NBA draft picks as freshmen right now. Like a guy like Darius Acuff at Arkansas, Nate Amen at Tennessee. You mentioned Flemings at Houston, who's been a revelation. Keaton Wagler. Illinois was ranked like 250th coming out. He's one of the six or seven best players in the country. So you've got all these veteran Guys who've been around forever who are college basketball players with a capital C and a capital B. And then you've got these freshmen filtering up through. It's just the whole thing has been really spectacular and it's going to be an awesome tournament.
- [67:18]
A
Well, let's have you on again before the tournament again, Eamon Brennan. You can check out his substack buzzer and maybe he'll change that Chris Paul avatar there at the end.
- [67:27]
E
I will.
- [67:28]
C
Yeah, maybe. We'll see.
- [67:31]
A
The gametime app gives the advantage back to the 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 and and at the best price. Plus fees are always included. So what you see is what you pay. I was looking at tickets for Maz Lakers on Thursday and I see tickets starting at $80. And like I say, when I had to buy tickets recently, my favorite part of it is pricing it out, staying on it. Maybe I'm not going to buy right.
- [68:01]
B
Away, but I'm going to look, I'm.
- [68:03]
A
Going to check the market, I'm going to stay on top of it. I'm going to sign up for alerts and then that way you know, you can see where the market is going. You'll feel better about your price because you can compare it to some other tickets that may be going beyond what you want to spend that night. So it's an awesome way to just monitor it and feel even better about the transaction. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code RESILLO for $20 off your first purchase Terms apply again, create an account and redeem the code resillo R U S S I L L O for $20 off. The alliance marches on. We have a king of the court winner to announce on top of everything else. Light slate last night in the NBA, but we'll get you a three leg for you tonight courtesy of our good friends at DraftKings. So Rudy.
- [68:51]
E
Yeah, no, I was the only one to have not won a king of the court yet. And Wemby last night, I mean it was an unbelievable game. My only concern was it wasn't even a competitive game and they kind of sat him. So he had, I think, I think Brunson finished with 53. And I want to say Wemby had 47 at the half or 46 at.
- [69:08]
A
The half and I was just not points, but like. No, just total points.
- [69:12]
E
Rebound, assists. Yeah. Is he going to play in the second half? And I went to bed because the game was terrible. Woke up and yeah, he, he, he beat it by one. So I have. Ryan has two, Kyle has one. Now I have one.
- [69:23]
D
Well, I'm happy for you because when you explained this to me when we first came on board, you're like, actually it's pretty sick. I've won it a couple times. And then we've just, it's been a drought. So like you actually you get credit for those wins that you allegedly had now because I believe you.
- [69:35]
E
Oh, wow.
- [69:36]
A
Okay, here we go. That doesn't sound very friendly. I don't like that I screwed up.
- [69:40]
D
That he's still upset about the bats win.
- [69:42]
E
That's fine.
- [69:43]
D
I screwed up our last bet.
- [69:45]
A
So did I.
- [69:46]
E
Don't worry about it.
- [69:46]
D
Still screw it with me.
- [69:47]
E
No. I'll go over the standings now. So the. We finished football. Kyle, you still won. You were three and one. Ryan. I were two and two and I still believe. Let's see, overall, Ryan, six and eight. Kyle, eight and six. And I'm what, seven, five or two bets that have been nullified even though Kyle hates that.
- [70:07]
A
So no, I'm not.
- [70:09]
E
We're back on our NBA grind tonight. Let's go.
- [70:11]
A
Okay. All right. So the board's yours. Ceruti, you are the king.
- [70:16]
E
Thank you. Appreciate that. Just, you know, there you go. I'm going to take the heat or underdogs. I know it's in New Orleans, but.
- [70:24]
A
I'm just going to bet on cranking.
- [70:26]
E
They've won two straight. Cranking seems aggressive. I'm betting on that streak to end. Listen, I'm just gonna. The heat need this game. Like they gotta stay, you know, at least in the race in the must win. That's not a must win, but like you know, Magic playing a little bit better. I think they, you know, it's, it's a, it's somewhat important game before the all star break. So I think their underdogs are one and a half point underdogs. I'm gonna take them to win outright. Minus 105.
- [70:49]
A
Okay. All right, Kyle.
- [70:51]
D
Well, when I was doing my daily Google search about who should I pick? Are they even playing? I stumbled across a really compelling NY Post article talking about Kat's new revamped role. So I'm going Cat 11 +rebounds tonight. Okay, we're going to hit that one.
- [71:08]
A
All right. And I like the total in Sacramento, Utah tonight over 230 and a half. I don't know what you do with the Jazz lines. I mean, that's a, that's a tricky line because if you look at who Sacramento is right now, who's playing, who isn't, it's only Utah minus five and a half. But if you feel good about Utah laying points right now, again, this is not a criticism, but I don't know how you. I don't know how you play aside there on the Utah things, unless you think they're going to take Utah to three borders.
- [71:38]
E
That's what you do.
- [71:39]
A
Oh, nice.
- [71:40]
E
Can you do that?
- [71:41]
A
I'm sure you could find the line. But unless you think you can be like, hey, do we close with everybody tonight? Because again, I'm not criticizing anybody for tanking Howard, the ethical tanking debate. The Pacers are your squad because they, they tried to win that game last night. Even if they have maybe even more incentive to make sure they have more losses based on the protection that they gave that pick for this year's pick to the Clippers in that Zubotz trade. Okay, you can check out all the odds on draftkings.com you want details?
- [72:13]
E
Bye.
- [72:14]
D
I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [72:18]
C
What's up?
- [72:20]
A
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible.
- [72:30]
D
Let me tell you what's required.
- [72:31]
A
A reminder, everybody. Friday feedback. We're taping a full episode of that with no basketball games next week. So again, Friday feedback. Rrmail.com Life Advice is life advice. Rrmail.com and we've got a few. I have a story that I need to tell you about a friend of mine who watched a movie recently. I don't think I'll do it here. I know Ceruti knows.
- [72:52]
D
This would be awesome.
- [72:53]
A
Okay, I know that sounds like.
- [72:55]
C
Really?
- [72:55]
A
Why don't you open the show?
- [72:56]
D
Yeah.
- [72:57]
A
Wait, dude, that's amazing. Your friend watched a movie. It's so bad. It's so bad. What happened that I kind of need to tell a story. I don't know that I have time for it today because I want to tell this story about a gym guy I ran into. And we have an email here which the headline here, you want to talk about cutting through us being like, which emails do you pick? Do you not pick? How do you not pick this one headline? Jim bro knows my name and I don't know his. You have to help me because it's Black History Month.
- [73:28]
E
All right.
- [73:29]
A
As soon as you see that, you're like, you know what? Right.
- [73:32]
D
Anyway, I can't help.
- [73:33]
A
Yeah, been listening since the dual threat days. Congrats on the new pod. Five seven, five eight and a good day. About 190. Would like to get back to my fighting weight of 180. African American. Not relevant. But everyone online is a white male until proven otherwise. Makes a fair point.
- [73:47]
B
Great point.
- [73:47]
A
Yeah, that's a great point, dude. No real pickup Comp, but have a 325 Comp. Standard bench. No weak butt lifting you see on Instagram. So this guy's pushing some weight. Haven't pushed squat. Deadlift much because of injuries. I'll be 30 in less than a month. At the gym, everyone is, dude, buddy, that guy or man, I don't really know people's names, but there are plenty of guys I would chop it up with regularly. So somehow this one guy knows my name, but I have no idea what his is. How do I go about finding out his name without seeming like a jackass? He's pretty big, but super friendly. All right. He also gave us a PS on where he is from, which we will leave out. But I read it. Recognize. Hit up a couple lumber yards.
- [74:33]
B
All right.
- [74:36]
A
This is pretty simple. Can't you just get with a trainer? Can't you just get with a trainer and be like, hey, what's that guy's name again? Like that. And then when the person says their name, because again, I. Of all the things I'm good or bad at, I am a record setter. And shaking the hand, getting the name and immediately forgetting it what it is. So I've tried to do a little.
- [74:52]
E
Bit better multiple times.
- [74:53]
D
It's so sad.
- [74:53]
A
Yeah, it's.
- [74:54]
E
It's.
- [74:55]
C
It's like you just sign something out.
- [74:56]
D
Is that a sign of something down the road? Like, I don't want to get too heavy, but like, that's crazy. It seems like other people can do this.
- [75:02]
A
No. And I'm really working the Trent and Thunder. The general manager at one point when he mistakenly forgot something and then tried to pretend it was me, it was before gaslighting was even a term. And he would just gaslight me into thinking. And he was like, I'm 26 and he had fucked up something, told me it was my fault, was just lying to my face, and was like, you need to get checked for early onset Alzheimer's.
- [75:21]
D
What?
- [75:22]
A
Yeah. In front of people.
- [75:24]
D
Oh, man, this sounds like one of the worst places. Just like the piecemeal of different stories. It sounds like one of the worst places to work.
- [75:30]
A
He told me he was worried I may have early onset and he was being sincere about it. He wasn't, like, fucking with me.
- [75:39]
D
That is like major league gaslighting. Now that I know exactly how to use that. That's like major league when you're like, you should get checked out, Kyle.
- [75:46]
A
I'm glad you definitely say it. I'm not 100% sure I knew what gaslighting was for the past couple years.
- [75:51]
D
Yeah, we've been over this on the.
- [75:52]
A
On the podcast.
- [75:53]
D
That's exactly what it is. But it's like, dude, you are crazy. How do you not get. And it's like, no, you're crazy.
- [75:59]
A
I had a. I. There was somebody I was dating was like, you're just gaslighting me. I was like, I can't. I don't even know what that is. How can I be doing it to you? And then I was like, oh, unless.
- [76:07]
D
That'S a major form of gaslighting right there. I mean, we could go in circles.
- [76:11]
E
People have been gaslighting for years. We just finally figured out a cool.
- [76:14]
A
Term for it, you know, thank you to the OGs.
- [76:17]
D
All right.
- [76:19]
E
I don't know.
- [76:19]
A
You know, the only thing you can do, like, moving on, if you, like, if you meet Van Lathan, right? Like, hey, my name's Van. I don't know why I picked a black guy. Maybe it is February. But if you're going, hey, I'm Van. And then you just go like, nice to meet you, Van. And then in your head, you scream, van Halen.
- [76:34]
D
Like, you have to Michael Scott in this thing.
- [76:37]
A
Yeah, but.
- [76:38]
E
Yeah, that's not out loud. Yeah, that's not how it works for me, though. Like, I feel like I'm too worried.
- [76:43]
A
What are you doing?
- [76:44]
E
No, I'm not. I'm not. It's not working. I'm telling you why I fail. It's because I'm too worried about, like, making the first impression of, like, from my side that I don't listen to anything the other person says. And then I just. It's just like, when is my turn to talk and then not embarrass myself.
- [76:56]
D
You know, like, you have lines that you're going over in your head or.
- [76:59]
E
You'Re like, kind of, you know, you're just like, all right, don't screw up. My name is Steve.
- [77:02]
D
It's like, this equals that.
- [77:03]
E
Don't screw this up. You know, like, don't say something wrong.
- [77:05]
A
I don't know.
- [77:06]
E
It's just like. It's. I don't know if it's like a social anxiety thing. Who knows? I think we all kind of have.
- [77:09]
A
A little bit of that, but.
- [77:10]
E
Yeah. So there's easy ways to fix this, though. Like ask.
- [77:13]
A
There are. There are things like. There's a sign in sheet. I've never seen any like it. He would just remember everybody's name all the time and flex. But you don't have an intelligence thing.
- [77:26]
D
Our email doesn't know this guy. Can't you just be like, hey, I never got your name?
- [77:30]
C
No, it's too late.
- [77:31]
E
Too long.
- [77:31]
D
Is it too late? He doesn't even know how this guy knows his name.
- [77:35]
E
Yeah, but I would guess he's asking because the guy knows his name. They've obviously interacted a bunch of times, and it's probably being able to ask what his name is.
- [77:43]
A
There's a second for you, do you think? I wonder if our black audience would say, generally, if you're the only black guy in the surrounding, everybody remembers your name. So actually, massive advantage.
- [77:58]
E
Maybe.
- [77:58]
D
Could be that whole thing.
- [77:59]
A
Yeah, it could. Could be.
- [78:01]
E
Yeah.
- [78:01]
A
Never thought. I've never thought about it until just now. Yeah, I think you just get with a trainer. You just get with a trainer, figure out. Or you break into his locker, look through his identification.
- [78:10]
E
That's definitely not what you should do if you have to Front desk James Bond, like, hey, maybe he comes in right before you. Hey, you know the guy's name. Just.
- [78:17]
A
I don't know if they're supposed to do that. Not supposed to share that information. I don't know.
- [78:20]
E
I feel like that's.
- [78:21]
A
And what if the girl behind the desk is banging the guy and then she's like, hey, did you know that.
- [78:28]
D
Cool icebreaker with maybe a. Maybe a gym girl that's there? You'd be like, listen, this guy, I need you to help me out here. That's like a cool single, right? It's like, you know, this guy. I mean, I. I feel like I'm in a tough spot and whatever. Like, there you go. Now you're a nice guy who doesn't want to hurt people's feelings, and you just broken the ice with somebody. I mean, I don't know if he's.
- [78:44]
A
Single or not, but. Do you want to spa and watch Marty supreme later tonight?
- [78:48]
D
Is that the movie?
- [78:50]
A
It seems neutral enough.
- [78:52]
D
You know, I meant from the story.
- [78:53]
A
That you're maybe gonna tell, right? Like, hey, you want to come over watch Caligula? You know, it was like, what the that was a weird movie. When you were a kid, you're like, movies.
- [79:02]
E
People were upset about the Teen Wolf thing.
- [79:05]
D
Okay.
- [79:06]
B
Yeah.
- [79:06]
A
But that's just a generational thing. I'm gonna stick up for you guys on this one.
- [79:10]
D
Yeah, it's just I. I wasn't renting it when I was doing my Blockbuster Fridays when I was a kid. And it's like, as time passes, it just becomes less appealing to be like, let's jump back there. Unless it's like, that's sort of like a cult movie. Not like, dude, you haven't seen this one. It's not like I didn't see the Godfather or something. Like, it was. Sorry, just kind of two ships in the night.
- [79:32]
A
You know, me and James.
- [79:33]
E
It's good if I told this story, but, like, yeah, if something was in.
- [79:35]
A
The Acrefly, Rosillo, go ahead.
- [79:39]
B
If there was a movie in the.
- [79:39]
E
80S and I didn't see it, certainly now, like, it's just. It's just likely not happening. Like, probably five, 10 years ago, I was like, you know what? I've never seen the Goonies. I'm gonna watch the Goonies.
- [79:47]
D
Oh, that's a good one.
- [79:48]
A
Yeah.
- [79:49]
E
Was it.
- [79:50]
A
Oh, no.
- [79:53]
D
This is where I get off. This is where I get off, by the way.
- [79:56]
A
Do you want any pieces, Kyle, or.
- [79:57]
D
You just get off the bus right now?
- [79:58]
A
Do you have a formal announcement for this take?
- [80:01]
D
Really enjoy the Goonies. And I think Sean Astin, really.
- [80:05]
E
I like Sean.
- [80:06]
A
I love Sean Astin.
- [80:07]
D
We wouldn't have Sam in Lord of the Rings without what's his face.
- [80:09]
A
The Goonies just think too, like, not the one, not the other one. But that girl, she was a smoke show to us back then. She's like, oh, she's perfect.
- [80:19]
E
Yeah.
- [80:20]
D
Not the other one.
- [80:22]
A
Sorry, sorry. To the other one. Yeah. By the way, I have a gym story that I just have to get in real quick. So I'm kind of cycling through two different gyms. Not a steroid reference. And there was a guy from the jump who stood out based on the way he was acting. Like, I couldn't believe this guy. You know that like, kind of shuffleboard thing game they have at bars?
- [80:49]
E
Kyle is like that in San Francisco. I think you said that that was the best game at bars. And I threw darts out there.
- [80:56]
D
And you and I stood tall on shuffleboard.
- [80:59]
A
So that's what it's called in a bar when it's a bar top version of shuffleboard.
- [81:02]
D
And in the old folks homes, it's also called shuffleboard board. And that's just how it. It's how it is, right?
- [81:06]
A
Two different things. But, yeah, maybe based on, you know, the geometry of it all. Anyway, so one of the gyms has one in this lobby. It's like a little bit more family type deal. And this kid rolls in. It has to be early 20s, and takes one of those sliders, the pucks, whatever. What do they call them? Kyle, you correct anything here? Because I don't. I played it. I don't know any of the technology as far as that, or I should say technology terminology. And first thing he does is he grabs one on one side and throws a Randy Johnson fastball at the other side of it. And this is not the kind of place you do this. You want to do it at a bar, late. You know, maybe people are like, all right. You know, it's pretty predictable. Like a guy punting the football at the park. Like, eventually somebody's going to crack and do it. This guy's doing it midday, and you're like, whoa. All right. Throws on the headphones and starts pulling his shirt up and biting on the shirt. But he's kind of skinny, fat, so it doesn't really make a ton of sense. And then he's kicking a ball around in the stretching area, and the ball is, like, going over to the treadmills and the ellipticals. And then he's going back over, and a couple people are looking at each other and be like, is this. The only thing I can think of is, like, this? Would it be like, I guess if you just got hammered and went to the gym in the middle of the.
- [82:24]
B
Day.
- [82:26]
A
He should have been in somebody's basement listening to All Eyes on Me or something. Like, it didn't make a ton of sense. And I was waiting for it to, like, when's he gonna just completely cross the line? When's somebody else gonna go, what are you doing? Like, who brought you here? So I went off to another area anyway to do what I needed to do. I didn't encounter him again. I was fascinated by him for 10 minutes because it was like, entry, lobby, bathroom, back out, stretching area, kicking the ball around, pulling the shirt up, biting the shirt, walking around. I thought he might take a swing at somebody. It was fascinating.
- [83:04]
D
I have two theories then. I have two theories. Maybe you said he's skinny, fat, he's in the gym. Maybe this is the best he's looked in a long time, and he doesn't know what to do with himself. Could be that. Could be. Like, he would never do the maybe he's just like trying to get people's attention. And even though his brain thinks he looks one way and everyone else is like, what the hell? Or could this be like an intro to no explode or C4 or something? And he just doesn't know. It's just like he's never had these feelings before. I remember when I first took no Explode in high school. I was mowing the lawn and it.
- [83:37]
A
Was like, good time to take it.
- [83:37]
D
Let's fucking mow this lawn, dude. I don't know what I look like. I was certainly out there. I was in it. I'm not saying it's like a drug that makes you like, what did I do while I was on no Explode? But it might be more like it's just influencing his already.
- [83:51]
A
Maybe.
- [83:52]
D
Or maybe he's one of those out there guys and this just push it over the top.
- [83:58]
A
Then I saw him the next day at a breakfast spot and he saw me walking across the street and he was eating by himself, shout out. And he looked at me and goes, nice build.
- [84:07]
D
No way.
- [84:08]
A
That was 24 hours later. All right, different part of town.
- [84:10]
D
Never mind.
- [84:11]
A
He's out of completely different part of town.
- [84:14]
E
I'm gonna, I'm gonna profile this guy. I feel like, is he, he feels like maybe like the rich son. I assume this is a nice gym.
- [84:22]
A
Yeah, that's a good assumption.
- [84:24]
E
Is he just like that rich kid who parents probably pay for this and he's just like oblivious to everything around him and just doesn't really care? Like he's straight out of central casting with that, you know where he just goes in there. He like makes everything about him. He makes a mess. He ruins other people's routines and he just. Cause he's like, he's a rich kid and doesn't really know. Maybe he's an only child kind of thing and that's just who he is?
- [84:45]
A
I don't know. I don't know. I, I, I. If I knew, if, if I felt really strong about your assumption, I would be like, yeah, you nailed it. I just think there's other factors here too. Like, I think it, it might be even beyond anything we can comprehend.
- [84:59]
E
So, quick Aside, speaking to C4, did you see the Mike Frable C4 story?
- [85:04]
A
Yes, I did. Missed it.
- [85:06]
E
Do you see this, Ryan?
- [85:09]
A
I missed it. No.
- [85:10]
E
What was it? I think Connor Orhad is from Sports Illustrated. Basically he's a big C4 guy or whatever, but he goes around telling players in the locker room, he'd be like, I'm C8 right now or I'm C12 depending on how many he's had that day ever. Like most meathead football guy thing ever. So like hey C12 right now.
- [85:29]
A
Ha. I thought I loved him before. That's perfect. We need to start using that. You start using that and then if you're just not feeling it's like I'm C1 yeah. C1 yeah. What are you at right now? That might just be the text thread.
- [85:45]
D
That's awesome.
- [85:45]
A
Check ins.
- [85:46]
E
What level you at?
- [85:48]
A
C8 yeah get in the game with college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cash back at some of your favorite brands with Venmo Stash Rewards. Upgrade your Superfan status with special edition school designs so you can pay for your game day wings and rep your team at the same time. You can add your Venmo debit card to your mobile wallet as soon as you sign up and pay online and in store right from your phone. And the best part, the card is tied right to your Venmo account. Got paid back for dinner. Immediately access the money in your Venmo balance and spend it on what you want. Game day, snacks, tickets, new merch. You can easily split purchases in the app and there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash. Sign up@venmo.com college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA Select Schools available Venmo Stash Bundle terms and exclusions apply at Venmo me stash terms max $100 cash back per month. All right, another email. No, you know, I think that's a better. I think that's a better email for a different show. Let's see. Wife thinks I'm cheating. Here we go. 35, 36, 5 seven man male, 170. Limited gym stats since having kids, but I swing the kettlebell occasionally and generally I'm pretty active with the kids. Basketball comp is Jose Alvarado. Sneaky defender, streaky three point shooter. Wife and I have been married for 12 years and have two elementary school aged kids. We've never had any problems with jealousy or concerns with infidelity. Until now. Backstory that may be too long. I've been working on my dream job for 10 years. Developed a couple of amazing friendships at work. These two guys are easily my best friends. The only catch is they are several years older and are hinting at retiring in the next few years. That age gap also creates some gaps in the friendship, such as kids, future career ambitions, overall drive at work. They've settled and I'm happy for them to have that level of comfort. I'm not there at all. I want bigger and better things in my career while also planning on staying at this company for the next 30 years as I grow into more leadership roles. Flash to 6 months ago when I attended the same work conference with a co worker who's both my age and a woman. She's been around for a few years and on my floor, but we haven't had much beyond the casual workplace conversations at this conference. We connect, really click as friends, and I'm 100% serious that it's purely friendship. This has carried on throughout the last few months and my wife started to grow worried and weirdly jealous. Wife and I have had our share of troubles recently and things haven't been good. Divorce or separation has been brought up, but really that's not something either of us wants. We're just in a bad place right now. Obviously that has made her concerns grow to a breaking point. One night during an argument, she straight up asked if I was having an affair, which caught me totally off guard. I denied because I'm pretty. Excuse me, let me rephrase this. I denied because I'm very much not and it has never crossed my mind. Pretty much not. Would have had a slightly different tone.
- [88:46]
D
We have long hugs, but that's it.
- [88:50]
A
Like a second base, even cheating. I love my wife to death and really mean it when I say that she will be my last relationship regardless of how and when it ends.
- [89:00]
E
Wow.
- [89:01]
A
Well, that's different. She doesn't totally buy my denial and goes through my phone the next day without me knowing. And reading my text to the coworker, she becomes more convinced of the affair or looming affair and confronts me. Apparently my texts have been open, vulnerable and flirty. Wife says that if I'm unhappy I can just go sleep with a coworker since that's what I want to do anyway. Well, that sounds rational. That's a fun one. I love when you get to that point of it. Like, all right, well let's definitely sit down and have a mature conversation for the next four days. I don't know what the fuck she's talking about. I'm not cheating and won't cheat. In a bad move by me, I delete all texts with co workers so there's not a risk of having to dig through them again and explain each Thing I get how this hints at me being dishonest and hiding things, a move I regret doing. Quick timeline and text in case it's confusing. Wife and I fight. She reads text the next day. I get mad at accusations. Delete texts. We fight again. I tell her. I tell her about deleting texts. We fight about that. Coworker is the first friend my age that shares my ambitions and plans for improving the company long term. It's awesome to share those ideas and hopes of someone at work. Plus, we click on humor too. My wife sees all of this as emotional cheating and is now bringing up the worries of more cheating every other fight we have. After the long winded backstory, here's the ask how can I convince my wife that I'm not cheating and don't want to, while also convincing her to be okay with me and coworker attending the same conference again this summer? It's a great professional experience for me. I get paid extra for going. Plus, the selfish part of having a week off from real life is appealing. I won't mention that part to my wife, though, who will be solo parenting that week. Thanks for the read. Followed since 2010. I think whenever you're tasked with this, because it's just, it's an incredibly frustrating spot that you're in. Obviously I haven't had it with the wife and the kids part of it, but you just go. You have to just try to cut through all the bullshit that you're going through right now and be like, what is going to convince you that this isn't true?
- [90:54]
D
Don't talk to her anymore is the.
- [90:55]
A
Only thing I can think of.
- [90:57]
E
But you can't do that.
- [90:58]
D
I know you can't do. I'm just saying, having been in one of these, not this exact situation before, that's just sort of the answer. Like, there's no. Like, because it's like, oh, I'll just be a fool. I'm like, yeah, I'll be okay with this. You continue on doing what you're doing and I'll just be a fool. That's like how they're going to think of this.
- [91:15]
E
But then it's the next thing. It's like, hey, there's. There's inevitably going to be some other.
- [91:19]
D
Is it the next thing? I mean, where did this come from? I don't, like, I don't understand.
- [91:23]
E
She's unhappy. She's fishing for stuff. We are. We also went over this a couple months ago. I think, like, if didn't we do this? Like, if Someone's really aggressively accusing you of cheating.
- [91:33]
B
Is there like, yeah, we had that guy.
- [91:35]
A
And then we got like, 10. No, not 10. It was more than 20 emails from other people being like, hey, tell that guy. But it's like, so we're going to read 20. This guy's not bummed out enough. Hey, let's read 20 emails from listeners that are all telling you their versions of the exact same thing. That your wife is cheating. If it's not that the wife is already cheating, it could be that there's some emotional immaturity that you're dealing with. All right? Or that in her past, she'd been cheated on. And so her level of trust, whatever's in there, it's just. There's just not enough. Like, you need to have. There's this leap that you have to kind of take when you're marrying somebody where you can't start at this. You have to be willing. It's kind of like that Gladwell thing that I'm already referencing pretty soon here. But if you just went into it immediately being like, I'm going to suspect everything of you from the first days, like, then you're just not going to be in a good marriage. You're not going to be healthy about this entire thing. You need to figure out a way to cut through all the bullshit high school stuff that you're doing right now, which is, again, not to insult the level, because it all turns into high school all over again. I guess we should probably just rephrase all of it and call it, like, high school slash adult stuff. Yeah, but you can't. You can't spend more time or more hours. Like, wasting time on what is never going to get to some sort of conclusion. Like, you have to put her on the spot and go, what is going to make you feel better about this? And it might mean not going on that summer trip, buddy.
- [93:06]
D
Well, be nice to have a dude friend at work, too. Maybe you could work on finding one of those. We've got friends. Oh, they're about to bounce. Right?
- [93:14]
A
So, I mean, look great today, Dave.
- [93:17]
E
This might be a hard question.
- [93:18]
A
Nice build, but, like, nice build, Mulaney. Jeff. Were those two shoes killer?
- [93:27]
E
Are you sure you want to be with her?
- [93:30]
D
Oh, buddy, we're talking kids, marriage, elementary school.
- [93:34]
A
Well, he said it's been bad.
- [93:35]
D
He does want to be with her. He says it'll be his last relationship regardless of how this goes.
- [93:38]
A
So that's just a hard thing.
- [93:39]
D
Those are tough talk right now. Probably won't be the Truth. But.
- [93:44]
A
It'S the. Yeah.
- [93:44]
E
I mean, you seem very. You like this career. You like the. We don't know what it is, but, like, you like the trajectory that you're going to be on. You're ambitious. Like, that's a. That's a big part of your life.
- [93:53]
D
He just wants everything to stay the same.
- [93:54]
B
That's the email.
- [93:55]
D
It's like, I want to work at this company for 30 years. I want to die being married to my wife, and then I'm happy.
- [94:00]
C
That's it.
- [94:01]
D
So a lot of girls just saying.
- [94:03]
A
You know, like, I mean, this guy's already on record saying, even if this ends, that's it. Yeah. No, I know that seems aggressive.
- [94:09]
E
That seems easy to say now. I don't know. It's just.
- [94:13]
A
I'm just throwing it out there.
- [94:14]
C
Yeah.
- [94:15]
A
So if you were to separate divorce or whatever, I'm just. I'm gonna keep hammering it. You're caught in this traffic of pointlessness.
- [94:27]
C
All right.
- [94:28]
A
Because that's. That's emotional. She's accusing you. You're being accused of lying all the time is the worst. And you were just like, all right.
- [94:36]
E
Well, a lot of times it's not.
- [94:38]
A
You have to turn this through stuff. You have to turn it back on that person and go, what is going to make you feel better? Like, what can. Like, none of this has worked. We've been going through the cycle, the arguing, and you can look at the text and the whole thing and, yeah, I mean, the deleting the text things, but she already saw all of them. So you can be like, I'm just don't. I don't feel comfortable.
- [95:01]
E
Like, she's like, I didn't go back far enough.
- [95:03]
A
Yeah. Play this game all the time with you.
- [95:05]
D
So sometimes honest guys have, like, the.
- [95:08]
B
Worst reactions to this thing just too. It's like.
- [95:11]
D
It's like stuff that makes sense in there, but brain, it's like, well, if that's what's making you mad, I just.
- [95:15]
B
Got rid of him.
- [95:16]
D
And it's like, no, dude, it looks terrible. But if you are that honest guy, I could see how that would make it seem like, oh, we'll just cut out the problem. And it's like, no, we've got a new problem now.
- [95:26]
A
And you have to ask yourself the bigger thing. If her ultimatum is, I don't want you to work with her. I don't want you to talk with her, I don't know that this summer trip thing sounds like a great idea. I think you're going to have to be in a better place before you're like spring, dude.
- [95:37]
D
Yeah, you got to do some serious work.
- [95:41]
A
I've got my half zips, my quarter zips, vests. It's on.
- [95:47]
D
Oh, man, I love a work trip, too.
- [95:49]
A
That sucks. Love another one in Chicago. All right, Good luck, man. All right, that'll do it for the show today. Thanks to Tom, Kevin, Ceruti and Kyle again Friday feedback rrmail.com yeah, we're going for it. We're going to do that next week. Tape it to Thursday.
- [96:09]
E
Tape it tomorrow for next week.
- [96:13]
B
Hurry up.
- [96:14]
E
Yeah, Thor, Bjorn, we'll throw a tweet out there. Yeah, Thor, next week.
- [96:17]
A
Next week we talk Iceland, psalm, Super bowl week. So that'll do it for the show. Thanks for listening and please subscribe to the Ryan Rosillo show. Barstool sports. Sam.