Jeff Passon (13:47)

Well, the thing is we've had baseball and normally this time of year there is no meaningful baseball. It's just spring training playing out the string until opening day starts. But yeah, the WBC was pretty awesome. It was great to see like after last time and the way that it ended with Mike Trout striking out against Shohei Ohtani. Can they go and one up that and I don't know if they one upped it, but I think at very least it was as exciting and as good as the last time around.

Ryan Rosillo (14:20)

Yeah, once I gave it a chance, you know, I knew I was like I'm just not going to have a time the amount of time I need to watch every one of these games. And then I, you know, it was just great because you got people texting you about it that you didn't expect to text you about baseball. And in a weird way, I think it works because how much fun it was in the drama of the final with Venezuela, almost is doing the regular season a huge benefit. Despite that. I know how disrupting it can be to spring training and trying to get your starters lined up for opening day and some of the restrictions, even Venezuela was dealing with their closer. But it's probably going to be something that you would think would carry into and the momentum in general that baseball has. But let's just stay at least with the World Baseball Classic because I know that you were covering it and probably to this point it's doing the regular season start. Probably a huge benefit.

Jeff Passon (15:10)

Enormous, I think, because it's just like storylines that get to carry over into the regular season now. And it can be as small as something like what Italy did. And Vinnie Pasquintino, who is in the Kansas City Royals clubhouse every day, and Salvador Perez has been around there for a decade and a half right now and is the unquestioned captain of that team. So Vinny Pasquatino, for the first time in his career, actually got to see what it was like to lead. And, you know, like, leadership can be an extremely tough thing, especially of young 20 somethings who have minds of their own. But watching them all gravitate toward him and take on this idea that we want to make baseball in Italy a thing. You know, on that roster, Team Italy, there were three Italian Italians and like 24 Italian Americans. And yet the way that they embraced it, everything from celebrating home runs with espresso shots to giving out bottles of wine to the players of the game, to wearing suits and trying to look like fine Italian gentlemen, they were fully bought in and they made it to the semifinals. And, you know, and Gazette del Sporte in Italy, all of a sudden you have baseball on the front page like that. That's the point of this tournament. It goes beyond what we have here in the United States and in Japan, where it's like very clearly a huge thing that Netflix was willing to pay nine figures for or one time. Yeah, dude. Yeah. Like, it's, I mean, it's a big, big deal over there. And even more so, I think, in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, where national identities revolve around baseball. And it's what I love. And it's why I think we saw the passion that we did and we saw Daniel Palencia shedding a tear before he threw the last pitch that won Venezuela that game. Like, these are second and third world countries where the infrastructure is just not there to support a lot. And yet baseball has been able to thrive amid that and become something that is their proudest export. And to see it given the stage that it had and to see both of those teams play the way that they did and spread this joy that they have with baseball, that sometimes feels like it's missing from the American side, I think it just shows people and illustrates that baseball can be fun and baseball can actually be cool. And the confluence of that and the pitch clock and all of these things that have happened over the last half decade or so, I think has put baseball in a position to really capitalize on that.

Ryan Rosillo (18:03)

I want to stay on this because I know Ethan Strauss put together a pretty good piece. It's just something that people are talking about and kind of the race for who's behind football here between baseball and the NBA. And as more of an NBA guy, certainly anyone listening to this understands there are things that I don't like about the NBA. I think anybody that is honest with how I talk about certain things, but it doesn't mean it's enough for me to not care or watch or be entertained. So sometimes it feels like when you pick a side, it's like, well, I never want to be critical of the thing that I'm defending all the time. And that just, I think is very disingenuous. But one of the mistakes you can make with, with basketball is that it's so omnipresent in social media. It's just endless. So then it's like, okay, is this an actual indicator of where it is in our everyday consciousness? Is that where the value is? Or you just go straight up to ratings, where I think then some of the arguments against the NBA, I think, are completely. Whether it's politically driven, which I've talked about in the past, where it's like, hey, look what Yankees Dodgers did against what OKC in Indiana. Like, I mean, are you being fair when you're talking about markets, when we're comparing championships? So it's like, I don't actually want to pick apart baseball because I love baseball too, but sometimes I think the social media part of it, because I just don't see a lot of people going like, hey, I, I, you know, I don't think Kevin Brown, you know, he wouldn't be able to pitch today. We, we just don't have that kind of content with baseball. And by the way, Kevin Brown could pitch an air any single era. I was just trying to think of somebody in my head that wasn't like one of the all timers, but

Kyle Cerutti (19:42)

I

Ryan Rosillo (19:42)

was trying to think of somebody who's been retired. Mark Portugal is always like this default old, old school pitcher. They'd be like, Mark Portugal couldn't even pitch in today's game. And then conversely, somebody might say like Mark Portugal would strike out 300 in today's game. I don't know that you have that generational on each other that basketball has more so than any other sport. But then again, does that mean it's more popular? Because more of that exists versus the other sports where it doesn't exist at all. Like that's probably a terrible indicator. So I would ask you, like, where do you think this is in the race or I guess the belt for what is always going to be number two.

Jeff Passon (20:19)

Boy, that's such a tough thing to measure because you do have all of these different signals. Signal one is going to be television ratings. And television ratings are going to drive money coming into each league. And look, the NBA did awesome in its TV deal. Like it's. You cannot look at the NBA's TV deal and think it's anything other than a win for the league and for the players because baseball is significantly far behind on that. And it's why after 2028, when MLB's national TV rights expire, they could potentially be packaging that with the local television rights as well. Since, you know, MLB is running half the RSMs essentially these days after the collapse of Diamond Sports or whatever it's now called. So you have TV ratings here, you have social media elsewhere. And yeah, there's not as much engagement with MLB content though I think more and more it's grown in that respect.

Ryan Rosillo (21:21)

And by the way, all that engagement stuff and the impression numbers and other like the majority of it's complete bullshit anyway. Yeah, I don't even know what the value is of it, but go ahead.

Jeff Passon (21:30)

Yeah, that's. I mean it's, it's. The value of it is, is not a whole lot. It's just in the idea of zeitgeist. Like, like what is present in our sporting minds right now. And that's where I think baseball is winning. Now we need to acknowledge that the NBA is in the middle of a bad regular season. A regular season where there have been. Where the storylines and the conversations have been around tanking, have been around load management, have been around injuries, been around all These things that have negative connotations to them. So I think fixing like the dialogue about fixing the NBA versus holy shit, Major League Baseball is running this awesome tournament right now. I don't think the mid season tournament has done what what the NBA had hoped that it would necessarily. And baseball coming off the World Series that it did, transitioning into the WBC has that momentum right now. And it's just, you know, I've been covering the sport for 23 years now and I might just be a prisoner of the moment. I might just be looking at all the things that I see as positives and acting like that there's some noise to the signal. But I'll say this. Pat McAfee went to the WBC final and has been talking about it on his show, which is almost an entirely football based show. Stephen A. Smith had me on his radio show for a half hour the day after the WBC final and was talking about how he hasn't enjoyed baseball like this since Reggie Jackson hit three home runs, which was 40 years ago. So what we have media personalities. Acknowledging where baseball is right now isn't in and of itself an indicator that the game has turned a corner necessarily. But what I think it does is it makes baseball okay in the minds of fans. Where for years baseball had this connotation around it that was just negative. It's slow, it's boring, it doesn't have any stars. Well, it's not slow anymore. You can have baseball games that are faster than NBA games these days. It's not boring. And I think a lot of that frankly is due to the fact that 20 years ago major League Baseball and the Players association dreamt up this idea for the wbc. And that in the two decades since, what has happened is that the cultures of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela and Japan, which are different than American baseball culture, have not just infiltrated the sport, but have changed it. Bryce Harper a decade ago is not flipping the shit out of his bat after he hits that home run. Bryce Harper this time chucks the thing into the air and by the time he comes around the bases and, and salutes, going around third base and is pointing to the flag on his shoulder going into home plate, all of his teammates are there. The American dugout would not have emptied in years past. And yet because the Dominican dugout does, because the Venezuelan dugout does, because all these other teams show that baseball doesn't need to be so self serious, I think the Americans, especially the younger ones, have taken that lesson and said, you know what? We can have a little chill. We can be cool, too. And that's how a game changes. It's not by brute forcing it. It's not by shoving it down their throat and saying, you must be that way. It's by looking at the response to all these other people in the way that they're doing it and saying, we can have some of that as well. And that's where I think baseball's winning right now. All the things we're talking about in baseball are positive. The game is faster, the game is cooler. We have stars like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. And I could go down the list with a dozen more guys who people look at and you're like, yeah, I like that guy. And it's a bit odd to me, as somebody who covered baseball as long as I have and was trying to spread the gospel to the world, like, there are cool things here to see it finally happen. And baseball has a moment right now, Ryan, and it cannot miss. And it has to capitalize on that in the race, as you said, to be number two to the NFL.

Ryan Rosillo (25:58)

Yeah, I think it has. I think the fact that we're doing this after years of. I mean, if you want to talk about, like, the league that has overtaken baseball is how can we fix it? It's the NBA now. I do think some of it gets really disingenuous when somebody screen grabs a bunch of box scores this late in the season. You're like, look how shitty this product is. You're like, all right, you know, I get it. But, like, do you want to do it on a Sunday during baseball season? So if there's like three 12 to 1 scores, do we go? This sport's broken now, granted, because the taking. The tanking part of it, it's more pointed. And look, none of us like tanking. None of us like it. But the thing that I think is unfair towards basketball, it is the toughest transactional league in all of American sports. And when you have this many restrictions on what you can do and you go, hey, I can't really trade anymore. And having cap space is sort of pointless because the guys just sign and then they have to demand trades. And now we can't really trade the way that we used to with the first and second aprons. So the only way to turn this thing around is the draft and prioritizing the draft. So you can't really blame the teams for going ahead and doing it. And look, I just don't.

Jeff Passon (26:59)

This is. This is an important point, I think, to make that, that's a failure in looking forward and seeing what the effects are going to be. Unintended consequences I get can be problematic, but you need the most forward thinking people in those positions that are negotiating the collective bargaining agreement. And that's why the basic agreement in baseball expiring on December 1, 2026 to me is going to be such a seminal moment for baseball because you can chart the course positively or you can do things in pursuit of trying to keep things even and trying to keep things competitive that wind up making it worse.

Ryan Rosillo (27:38)

I guess I just don't want to hear from football guy bitching about a Sacramento King score in late March when he wasn't. He didn't care anyway. Like he, he just, he didn't care anyway. So I don't, I don't understand that part of it. But I think that the momentum, even as baseball is not one of my primary things. Like everything around it just feels like it's heading in the right direction. And you know, we can talk about the malaise of the regular season, but I think with the attention spans that we have now, throughout the younger generation, certainly, but even those of us at our age, you know, I'm guilty of it too, or it feels like unless there's something significant, unless it's event based, you know, you just don't feel it's as much of a priority. So certainly this season, these next few months are going to be littered with games that don't necessarily matter, but it's building towards what, again, I think is still one of the best products in all the sports is the post season and the postseason that we just saw was like, it was one of those things where I found myself going like, I don't care about anything else right now. Like, I only want to see what's happening with these games. Even without the backdrop of the previous six months. Drama night in and night out. Let's pivot to 25, 26. Well, 2526 is basketball. Let's pivot to 26. See, I let that. I don't even think there was anything behind that slip. A Dodgers, a Dodgers third World Series means what for the sport?

Jeff Passon (28:54)

I think it continues to mean interest. I also think it continues to mean anger. And, and there's, there's such, there's such a delicate balance with the Dodgers right now in the same way that there was with the Yankees in the late 90s. You get to the point where when you're fans that you think you almost cross this precipice of has it gotten too uneven? Is it unfair? Do we have any hope? What do we need to balance things out and feel like there's not this team that can just go out there and outspend everyone? And it's not that simple. The Dodgers do outspend everyone and what they've done is they've taken advantage of a collective bargaining agreement, Ryan, that has a loophole. And the loophole is very simple. The penalties at the top end do not have anything to do with the product that's on the field. The penalties are simply cash. And in baseball, the difference between teams is, is whether you have cash flow or whether you are not going to say break even. Because if you are breaking even running a professional sports franchise right now, you suck and you need to do better. But more than that, it's the Dodgers have Guggenheim money and endless billions of dollars that they can go and spend in cash. And so going over that top Steve Cohen tax of the competitive balance tax and getting penalized 110% on every dollar you spend for the Dodgers, they look at it like so we're getting return on investment here, both on the field as well as in our business where we became the first franchise in baseball history to cross a billion dollars in annual revenue, which is a lot of freaking money. And a lot of Shohei Ohtani jersey sold and a lot of tours at Dodger Stadium and a lot of sponsorships from Japanese companies. The Dodgers cracked the business code. But you can even Ryan, look at the San Diego Padres who are about for the most of any baseball franchise in history. And compared to the NFL and even the NBA, the 3 billion plus dollars that the Padres are going to sell for isn't a lot. But the Padres went out and said we feel like if we put money onto the field with this team, fans will come and you can tell me all you want that San Diego only has one professional sports team right now. Acknowledged.

Ryan Rosillo (31:19)

True.

Jeff Passon (31:20)

But that doesn't mean that fans are going to come out. That doesn't incentivize them to do so. What does is getting excited about what they're going to see at the ballpark. And the Padres have done a tremendous job of that. Even if the success hasn't been there quite the same as other teams that business wise like they are cashing in. So you have the Dodgers here and everybody hates them just like everybody hated the Yankees in the late 90s. And I don't think that's a bad thing. But there's just a balance there. And I do wonder if it's pushing a little bit too far that the Dodgers. Everyone feels like the Dodgers are going to win every year. I know facts versus feelings. Like that's a. That's an obvious thing to point out. But the fact is the Dodgers have won two in a row at this point, and they go into this season as the overwhelming favorite. It is 1 versus 29. Right now, everybody is chasing the Dodgers, and that's going to be the prevailing storyline, I think, in the 2026 season. Can anyone unseat the Los Angeles Dodgers?

Ryan Rosillo (32:26)

That's value to me. That's a valuable thing, though, like when there's a central enemy that everybody's rooting against, much like those Yankees teams, which is a perfect analogy to it because I just remember thinking like, well, it doesn't matter even if they lose in the playoffs, that means they're going to be even more motivated to spend in the off season. And sometimes I'd want them to win so they'd spend less the next year. But then you start thinking about the playoffs and the Dodgers are going to be in it and you're going to have. I wouldn't. I don't like the word casual, but just guys that don't even have any attachment to it may be motivated to be just tuning in to root against something that they don't want to have happen. So I think there's actually a value there. If so many other people are arguing that it's a broken sport because of their dominance and the way they're able to build, but they're also incredibly smart on top of everything else, because we've seen teams try to do this in the past and not even come close to the same execution. If we stay with the Dodgers and then expand it out right, the parody that this sport actually has had way more parity than it ever gets credit for. But right now it feels like that's a hard argument to make because of their dominance in the last two World Series. If we had to come up with a list, and I know you're a really positive guy, so I don't know that we want to do 15 teams here, but how many teams do you think can win this thing?

Jeff Passon (33:34)

Let's go division by division if we could. Let's start American League East. I think any of the top four teams in the American League east, whether it's the Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox or Orioles, you can make an argument. I know the Orioles are coming off a 75 and 87 season, and yet bringing in Pete Alonso and trading for Shane Boz going out and signing Chris Pad. Like they have quite an infusion of talent there. And I think Gunnar Henderson is going to take a big step this year. So I look at four teams there. AL Central, reasonably two teams. Detroit in Kansas City and, you know, Detroit signing from Valdez to bring in alongside Tarek Scubal was a great move. Kansas City, I'm just really bullish on. I don't know if it's because I live there, but I think they're going to hit this year. AL west probably won. It's probably Seattle. I really like Seattle. I hope we can talk about them more. But, you know, you could see Texas on the periphery. You could see Houston on the periphery. The A's are going to bang this year. Like, they have a tremendous lineup. Full year of Nick Kurtz growing into his own. I just don't know that they have the pitching. NL East, Philadelphia, absolutely. The Braves. If, if things go right with the Braves, they have the chance to be really, really good. But we haven't seen it for two years from them. And then the Mets, I don't know what the hell to think of the Mets. I could see the mets finishing with 75 wins. I could see them finishing with 95 wins. It's the biggest delta right there. Central, Cubs, Reds, Brewers. A. I don't want to, like, get too far out over my skis here, but the Pirates pitching is just so good. And it's not just Paul Skeens. Bubba Chandler is a guy. Jared Jones going to be back from Tommy John surgery. I think Braxton Ashcraft is super underrated. Not haven't even gotten to Mitch Keller, who's as steady as it gets. And then out West, I mean, clearly the Dodgers. I don't know if I feel like any of the other teams, like San Diego could go on a run, but there are weaknesses there. San Francisco could be good. They're just one of those solid but not spectacular teams. And then Arizona, the same. So I think I probably named 18 to 20 teams and I suppose Ryan, in doing so, that suggests that baseball maybe does have a little bit more parity than the league wants to suggest out there. That all of these teams, if things break right, have the opportunity to go and be something special this year.

Ryan Rosillo (36:18)

All right, so I have thoughts. We'll run through the divisions on all of this stuff. Clearly, with the Yankees, the investment in the pitching part of it, like, it's all about Garrett Cole, right? So if he's available, when's he supposed to come back? Is it may for him?

Jeff Passon (36:34)

Oh, dude, he threw an inning this week. Like.

Ryan Rosillo (36:36)

Oh, he did?

Jeff Passon (36:37)

Oh, yes, he threw an inning and he looks good. I mean, he's. He's going to be ready. And you add him to a rotation that already has. Max Freed. We saw what Cam Schlitler did during the regular season or during the postseason rather, last year. Carlos Rodon's going to be out for a while, but, you know, he'll be back July, August, September, and most important, October. And then beyond that, they've just got a ton of depth starters. Have you seen this spring, Carlos LeGrandje, the Six'7 kid?

Ryan Rosillo (37:07)

Yeah.

Jeff Passon (37:08)

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Ryan Rosillo (37:09)

I mean, like, so what's the story with this guy? 101. Yeah.

Jeff Passon (37:13)

I mean, just sit in 101 to 102.

Ryan Rosillo (37:15)

Sits at 101.

Jeff Passon (37:16)

Yes. Sits at 101. Yeah, that's. You know what, dude? That's. That is one going back to, like, the social media element of where the NBA has dominated. I think where baseball has made improvements is that guys are doing wild shit all the time now. The average fastball in MLB is creeping up on 95 miles an hour, which is insane to think about. But you've got a guy like LeGrandhe who, you know, as he's coming up through the minor leagues. If you're the Yankees, you're just like, please throw strikes, Please throw strikes, please, for strikes. Because if he does the stuff once it gets to that point, like watching a video of Carlos Legrande just porching a guy with 101 slider that, you know, breaks a foot and a half off the plate and then 101 up in the zone and no one can catch up to it. Like, that's compelling. That's kind of fun. And we're seeing that more and more. And the Yankees have gotten excellent at pitching development. It's not just Legrand. You know, Elmer Rodriguez pitched for Puerto Rico and the wbc. They got him in Carlos Narvaez trade last year. Narvaez goes out and plays well for Boston. It's like, what were the Yankees doing? Well, they got a good arm out of it. And the secondary arms, whether it's Will Warren or Clark Schmidt or Luis Heel, whoever it may be. The Yankees have an absolute surfing of pitching right now. Like, they're in a great position with that, whether it's withstanding injuries like they have or going out and using it as trades. That's why I'm as bullish on the Yankees as I am, because the offensive side, like, there are some questions There.

Ryan Rosillo (38:57)

Yeah. I mean, Shitler. What? I can't say his name to save my life. Schlitler.

Jeff Passon (39:01)

There you go.

Ryan Rosillo (39:01)

Schlitler. Yeah. Shitler would be less popular, although maybe more people know who he was. Cam Schlitler. It was so good in that postseason game against Boston. I was like, there's no way this guy's not going to be good for like 10 years. And granted we've had glimpses of things that were lies in the moment of seeing it, but the fact that he was from Mass and then on top of everything else, like all the social media stuff that was going through shit too. Yeah, it was great. I don't know that I've had a most favorite Yankee, but he would be it right now because he was absolute nails and was just unhittable. And you're like, how is this guy not going to have this stuff the rest of his career, especially to have it in that spot. Roman Anthony for the Sox. Usually if you're special as a position player, it happens pretty quick. And this game is littered with like, you know, whether it's 19 to 22 year olds and you're like, this guy could potentially be an mvp. What is the ceiling for Anthony in comparison to the other best position players in the sport?

Jeff Passon (40:00)

I think the comp that people throw around most is Christian Yelich, who, remember, won an MVP for the Milwaukee Brewers. And I think Roman Anthony, even at 21 years old, is going to be right in the mix for American League MVP this year. And what the Red Sox have needed to do, they have an interesting group of hitting coaches in a hitting development process there where they are leaning completely into the idea that is backed by both science and logic that the more you pull the ball in the air, the more production you're going to have. And the idea is very simple, Ryan. When you're swinging a bat right, the longer the bat is going through the zone, the more momentum and speed it's generating. So when you're pulling the ball, think about it like if you get jammed on a ball, your bat stops right there, right? If you're hitting the ball up the middle, your bat stops right here, right? If you're pulling it, you have to find it out in front so your bat has traveled, traveled, traveled, traveled and gain speed. And when it meets the ball out in front, you're going to have potentially the highest exit velocity and the greatest ability to hit it hard. And is that weird because we've fancied opposite field hitters as being like the apex of hitting ability for so long. Yeah. But I think the Red Sox are leaning heavily into that. And the one thing Roman Anthony didn't do last year is elevate the ball. So I'm going to be super curious to see if in service of trying to do that, it changes things for him where he starts popping balls up more if he can't find that happy medium. But we saw him go out pretty good in the WBC against some of the best pitchers in the world and hitting the game winning home run against the Dominican Republic. This is a 21 year old kid who was called in as an injury replacement and showed up and looked like he belonged with the best players from this country, which is saying something. So I'm a huge Roman Anthony fan and I think the Red Sox, what they have now is a lot of depth and that puts a lot on Alex core, like figuring out how do you get at bats for Anthony, Saddam, Rafael, Willier, Abreu, Masataka, Yoshida, how do you manage a pitching staff that you have seven, eight, nine potentially starters? And what does Craig Breslow, the president of baseball or chief baseball officer had fucking titles.

Tom Haberstroh (42:26)

We get them all wrong.

Jeff Passon (42:28)

Greg Breslow, what does he do with all this pitching? Does he keep it around or does he eventually try and cash it in maybe at the trade deadline, maybe even earlier than that to go and fill a weakness?

Ryan Rosillo (42:41)

What do you think losing a World Series like that does for the Blue jays going into 26?

Jeff Passon (42:47)

I think I'm not gonna say it motivates them. I think what it does is it shows this organization that for so long had been snake bitten that they can do what they set out to do. You know, they lose on the Shohei Ohtani bidding after the disaster of Ohtani's on a plane and everyone in Toronto is getting excited, they lose out on Juan Soto and I think signing Vladimir Guerrero for 14 years and $500 million did something psychologically to that team. That said, this is a guy who wants to be here and if he wants to be here, then others are going to want to be here. And by the time the World Series came around, the vibe in the Jays clubhouse was immaculate. That team legitimately loved each other. Ernie Clement at one point was like, you know, part of me doesn't want to win the World Series because I know that I'm going to be separated from my friends. And I mean, losing the World Series kind of does that too. But the point was he didn't want that to end because it was such a good group and trying to Replicate that. It's like when you're out with a group of friends and you just have a night. Matching that night again is a difficult thing for anyone to do just because it is so special. So how do you go about matching that night again? How much do you invest in making sure that even if it's not going to be the same night, even if it's not going to be the same season, it's similar and the Blue Jays have done a good job. And I keep going back to this, Ryan getting pitching depth. Pitching depth. All of these teams that we're talking about that have a chance to be really good, have like six or seven or eight or nine starters. And you know, Jose Barillos has a stress fracture at his elbow. Trey Savage starting the year on the injured list because of a shoulder. Shane Bieber gonna be out with arm fatigue. And yet they're coming in with Kevin Gosman. They signed Cody Ponce this offseason. Dylan Cease. $210 million like JJ's are going to be just fine. And the Al east is just a really, really nasty division to have to

Ryan Rosillo (44:53)

work through if we go to the Central. And you know, I, I probably am not as excited about Kansas City as you are, but I also understand I don't have the depth chart necessarily down the way you would as well. We know Cleveland's offense thinks Chicago is, you know, they're not going to be as bad as they were last year. But I wondered about the Fromber signing for Detroit because you're looking at like a really nasty one too with Skubal. But is there anything that tells you, hey, that signing means they're invested or this signing means that it's a backup plan if Skuba wants north of 400 million and they're a disaster this year and they decide to trade him earlier because of value, like, how does it. Am I letting myself get too creative and thinking about this?

Tom Haberstroh (45:34)

No, no.

Jeff Passon (45:34)

I think. No, I think it's both, Ryan. I think that they are investing in this season because they understand that a, this is an extremely winnable division. And if you can go into the post season with Skubal and from at the top of your rotation, you're going to be in a really good position to win some playoff series. But beyond that, Detroit's starting to graduate guys. Kevin McGonagall is the number two prospect in baseball right now. He is just an exquisite hitter, has power to all fields, has bat to ball. And he's like, he's a dick in the best way too. Like, he's incredibly competitive and, you know, on the field, he wants to choke you out. Like, that's just how he's a Philly kid. Like, you know, you're raised in certain places. Like, you're raised in Venezuela, you're raised in the Dominican Republic. You have certain approaches to baseball. You're raised in Philly, you got certain approaches to sports. And Kevin McGonagall, the baseball phrases, he's got the ass. And when you have the ass, that means you are. It's short for, like a red ass. Somebody who's just tough. Like, Pete Rose was the ultimate red ass. Like, he wants to run you over on the field.

Ryan Rosillo (46:48)

And so how did that get shortened? I mean, I'd heard red ass for decades, but he's got the ass is new to me, and I'm going to try to use it weekly now. I think, think.

Jeff Passon (46:57)

Let me put it this way. I don't know when it's going to be, but on the new podcast that I'm doing, I'm doing an entire ass episode, and I'm really looking forward to, like, looking now, looking into, is it

Ryan Rosillo (47:11)

going to be the Jeff Asin podcast?

Jeff Passon (47:17)

Sources tell Jeff Asen. I like that. That would be good. Yeah, we're going to. We're going to explore a series and important topics on this podcast. Let me tell.

Ryan Rosillo (47:27)

I'm telling you, I never stop scouting. You know, you start looking around and be like, that guy's got some baseball ass to him, you know, and you just know. You just know what it is. Double B's. Absolutely. College roommate. He played baseball at uvm. It's like, he just. The rest of us, it's like, man, he's just got this baseball ass to him. Like, you don't want to. He might. I don't want that guy to punch me. Look at his ass. There's just a lot of power in there. You know, that's the thing.

Jeff Passon (47:49)

You know, you know, the hips. Like, that's the thing. A good punch is not delivered from the arm of the fist.

Ryan Rosillo (47:56)

There you go.

Jeff Passon (47:56)

Delivered from the hips. And so, yeah, I feel like baseball guys could be good fighters in that regard. And McGonagall, I imagine, would probably throw a pretty mean punch, even though he's like 5, 9, 5, 10. But Detroit's been looking for that foundational star on the position side for years. Riley Green's a really good player. Kerry Carpenter, really good. Spencer Torkelson, great year last year. And AJ Hinch, as a manager, does an awesome job of working platoons and understanding his players, which is why I think at the end of the day, the Tigers do win that division. But I am bullish on the Royals because maybe this is like World Baseball Classic recency bias, but Mikel Garcia was the MVP of the Finals. He's the lead off hitter. Bobby Witt Jr. You saw everything he did. He's the third best player in baseball behind Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. Vinnie Pasquintino captaining team Italy and doing the job that he did. A couple of young left handed hitters in Carter Jensen and Jack Caglione who have a ton of power. Salvador Perez, and they're moving the fences in a coffin stadium this year. So I think that offense is going to be a real problem this year. And they have a lot of pitching depth and have been very good at developing pitchers. So to me, it's two team race in that division. Which is a shame, Ryan, because Cleveland, I love what the Guardians do every year. They outplay their payroll, frankly, they outplay their talent. Steven Voets, as good of a manager as you're going to find. But they finished 29th in batting average on base percentage and slugging percentage last year. And they didn't do shit this offseason to sign offensive players. And I just think that's a dereliction of duty by ownership to a fan base that frankly deserves more. I was there in the 90s when the Indians had Albert Bell and Kenny Lofton and Carlos Bierga and Eddie Murray and Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez. And I can go on and on about those teams that to me were the best teams to never win a World Series. And knowing that Cleveland can have teams like that and the way that they were filling up Jacobs Field at that point and knowing now that the fan base is disillusioned as it is because there's no investment from ownership. It's just a shame.

Ryan Rosillo (50:01)

Yeah, that Cleveland lineup from the 90s making the rounds again. Manny's batting seventh in that thing.

Jeff Passon (50:05)

Insane.

Ryan Rosillo (50:06)

Just let's try to. Let's try to do the best service that we can to the other remaining contenders because I know you have to leave in seven minutes. So let's, let's do that, Seattle.

Jeff Passon (50:15)

I don't have to leave in seven minutes. Actually, I'm happy to stick around. Are you blaming me? Yeah, that's what it is. You were just gonna hold on. You were gonna put that on me, motherfucker.

Ryan Rosillo (50:30)

I was trying to do like. I thought you were gonna get the vet move of like, oh, he must have another taping no, no.

Jeff Passon (50:36)

Absolutely not. All right.

Ryan Rosillo (50:37)

It wasn't like to blame you. Yeah. Let's talk. They have the third best World Series champ odds, and it's a complete disservice to just say it's only because of how favored they are in the division. Obviously, it's an awesome team.

Jeff Passon (50:49)

No, I. I'm picking the Mariners to go to the World Series this year. Their rotation is deep and nasty, and especially if Bryce Miller, who's thrown two and a half miles an hour harder this spring and has his fastball back, you know, he's had a little oblique thing. But if Miller's there with Kirby and Wu and Gilbert and Castillo, that to me is the best rotation in baseball. And the lineup, Cal Raleigh doing what he did. Julio Rodriguez, and it goes deep now with Josh Naylor coming on board. Love the Mariners. Love, love, love the Mariners.

Ryan Rosillo (51:23)

Let's talk Atlanta because there's a version of this rotation that gets you excited and sail, becoming kind of Chris Sale again later on in his career, but it's. It is all over the place. So, like, I can look at the depth chart and go, hey, this could be really good in a couple months. But you're making. You're rounding up on a lot of players.

Jeff Passon (51:44)

Absolutely. And on the offensive side, too. Like, on the pitching side, they're missing Spencer Schwellenbach, who I really like. Bone chip removed. They're missing Hurston Waldrop, who was fantastic at the end of last season, and we don't know what Spencer Strider we're going to get. I will say keep an eye on Didier Fuentes this spring. So far, eight innings, no hits, no walks, 16 strikeouts. I don't know if he's going to start the season in the rotation, but young, big, powerful arm, and the Braves have big plans for him.

Ryan Rosillo (52:13)

All right, Philly. If we were talking 1, 2 with Detroit, is Philly the best 1, 2, 3, 4, 5? I don't know. I mean, you can just keep going with the rotation.

Jeff Passon (52:23)

A lot of it depends on how much Zach Wheeler bounces back. You know, when you're coming off thoracic outlet, you don't know how a guy is going to recover. But Christopher Sanchez, Wheeler, Jesus Lizardo, it doesn't get a whole lot better than that. You know, you look at maybe Seattle, maybe the Dodgers as well when they're healthy. But Billy ran it back, and Phillies fans, like Yankees fans, are mad. I'm like, you're running back a 96 win team. There are worse outcomes to doing so.

Ryan Rosillo (52:52)

Every time I Read about him. I'm like, wait, am I missing something? Like, they're going to be bad. And then it's like, oh, no, it's just disappointment. And then, yeah. You look at the roster and you go, okay, I know it's a little bit older and I know, but I mean, what. Aaron Nola's projected as your fifth. The fourth or fifth starter here. I mean, give me a break. Now I feel like I've ruined the mood a little bit because I told you to try to get through the rest of these teams because of our own schedule. Now I feel like there's animosity. Now I feel like there's no.

Jeff Passon (53:18)

I'm excited for the challenge and you're filibustering. So let's move Rossello.

Ryan Rosillo (53:22)

Come on.

Jeff Passon (53:22)

Let's get this out of the way. By the way, who is the guest that I'm being bumped for?

Ryan Rosillo (53:27)

You're not being bumped for anybody. It's a scary. We've got an NCAA tournament going on. I'm dying. Sor. You seem spicy when it comes to the Pirates. You seem like you want to pick them to do something this year when, you know, everyone else would probably say, look, Milwaukee and Chicago, Cincinnati are all ahead of this team.

Jeff Passon (53:49)

I do think Chicago is the best team in the center. And what I love about the Cubs is that their baseline is, like, up here. Like, excuse me, their floor is up here. They're just good everywhere.

Ryan Rosillo (54:01)

I do wonder for the audience. Audio audience. Yeah.

Jeff Passon (54:04)

Yes. They have a high floor. I wonder what their ceiling is. The Brewers. I just never know what they're going to be year over year. Jacob Mizarowski needs to be a guy. They need Brandon Woodruff to stay healthy, but they just get how to win. Pat Murphy's a really good manager. Cincinnati, if they can get into the playoffs again and get Hunter Green back healthy, they can be a real problem. If you have Hunter Green, Andrew Abbott and Chase Burns, who I think is going to be a breakout star this year, just premium stuff. I just. Maybe it's that I want the Pirates to be good. Maybe it's that I like Paul Skeens and want him to win and stay there long term, that I think Bubba Chandler's phenomenal. And, you know, even in the minor leagues, they have Hunter Barco, who's a nasty lefty who has, like, six good pitches. It's just going to be a matter of offense and defense with them, which that's. That's a lot to ask for. But Connor Griffin, like, he's a guy. Ryan you're going to love Connor Griffin and I don't know if he's going to break with the team, but he is 19 years old and he looks like Cal Ripken. 6, 4, 2, 25. He's faster than Cal. I mean, I don't want to put an Alex Rodriguez comp on him because that's not fair. But just in terms of like the raw tools, he's one of the most talented players we have seen in baseball in a long, long time.

Ryan Rosillo (55:25)

All right, let's finish with the NL West. We've already talked, touched on the Dodgers here. It seems like you're more bullish on San Diego putting together anything here than you would be.

Jeff Passon (55:36)

Not really.

Ryan Rosillo (55:36)

Well, more so than Arizona, San Francisco. No,

Jeff Passon (55:40)

I just think that because there are more potential like star level talents there. Like I want to see a real Fernando Tatis Jr season, like a pre steroid test Fernando Tatis Jr season and see if he has that in him still. And I think Manny Machado's got things going. Jackson Merrill to me is really going to be the key to this club and he be his rookie yourself. And we see the 30 homer guy. Can he stay healthy? So if Merrill is that good and if they get pitching, pitching is going to be such a question for them, you know, is Joe Musgrove going to actually be out there? There are some concerns at this point about just how much they can get out of Musgrove. But if the Padres can get pitching, I think they're going to have a real shot at what to me is going to be a pretty wide open race for those extra playoff spots in

Ryan Rosillo (56:29)

the NL World Series. Pick Dodgers. Mariners. Dodgers over the Mariners.

Jeff Passon (56:36)

Yes. I want to choose someone else, I really do. When it comes to these picks though, I feel like I've got to be kind of chalky and just go with what my gut tells me. And my gut tells me that there's not a team as good as the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2026. And I know that angers a lot of people. And baseball like Major League Baseball, just the way that the sport is played, I don't think it's as easy for the Dodgers to get through. They got taken to seven games in the World Series by a much less talented Blue Jays team last year. So it shows you can lose those Series. They got swept by the Diamondbacks three years back, but yeah, I think at the end of the day, I'm just banking on the talent. And the most talented team is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ryan Rosillo (57:18)

You're a talented Guy and I know the new pod. Tell us about it real quick. So we make sure everybody checks it out. Because when you were telling me about it, I was excited for you. And sometimes I fake my excitement for other guests, but this is sincere.

Jeff Passon (57:30)

I'm excited, too. We haven't announced the name yet or anything about it, so I'm going to. Assassin hasn't ringed yet.

Ryan Rosillo (57:36)

I keep it.

Jeff Passon (57:37)

I'm gonna keep it a little tight at this point, but the whole point is this. Baseball's going through an enormous renaissance right now. And I want this to be a show that not only brings in die hard fans, but that helps educate casual fans and people who are new to the sport. So when they are at parties or when they're watching a baseball game with someone or when they're at a bar, they can say, this is what I know about this. And so every episode's gonna have a very specific topic where we're gonna bring in the. To tell us about it and. And to help us learn. And it's gonna. It's gonna be fun. Like, that's the good part about it. We are not gonna take ourselves too seriously. This is not gonna be like the baseball show that has unwritten rules to it. There are no rules. And that's what's gonna make it great.

Ryan Rosillo (58:25)

That's the wrestler in you. That's the wrestling fan. No rules. Jeff Passon. I can't wait, man. Thank you so much for the time. We'll check in again this season.

Jeff Passon (58:34)

I'm just so glad that you kept someone else waiting. Ryan. Thank you. It means a lot.

Ryan Rosillo (58:39)

I'll let them know. Picture this. It's Monday morning. You open your laptop. Outlook hits you with 87 unread emails. Your calendar looks like a game of Tetris played by a toddler. Your boss wants a report. Your team wants a presentation. You want a nap. Enter Microsoft Copilot. Copilot summarizes your emails. Boom. You're caught up. It drafts your report in Word. It builds your slides in PowerPoint. It even pulls insights from your Excel data. Suddenly, you're the office hero. People think you're organized, responsible, maybe even promotable. All because Copilot did the stuff you didn't want to. So if you want to reclaim your time or at least pretend you have your life together, try Microsoft Copilot. Copilot. Because sometimes the smartest move is letting AI do the work. The alliance marches on. Cerutty, Kyle. Tough one. Santa Clara, Kentucky. That wasn't a blast. It cost us that one And I did apologetic that it was my leg. Felt pretty good about that pick. Thought they were going to win outright and they got two and a half.

Tom Haberstroh (59:49)

I mean they should have probably won the game. I mean that's a tough feat. It's a tough beat for the group.

Ryan Rosillo (59:54)

That's March.

Tom Haberstroh (59:56)

It is.

Ryan Rosillo (59:58)

Well played.

Tom Haberstroh (60:00)

But we are back at it.

Ryan Rosillo (60:01)

But.

Tom Haberstroh (60:01)

Well, first we got to get to. You did win king of the court last night.

Ryan Rosillo (60:05)

That was easy.

Jeff Passon (60:06)

Someone say it was.

Tom Haberstroh (60:06)

Yeah.

Ryan Rosillo (60:07)

You guys asked for the pick. And I was like, there's only four games tonight, so I better hurry up and get Joker before. Yeah.

Kyle Cerutti (60:13)

You never, you never answered quicker than that.

Ryan Rosillo (60:15)

I've never answered quicker in my life. What was the payout on that? Considering there's only four games. Because we should. I probably should have promoted that a little bit more being like, hey, we needed to. You need to lock in. Look at the matchups. Although Mitch wasn't great.

Tom Haberstroh (60:30)

You know when you pick the favorites. Like it was 43 bucks, I believe for Jokic last night.

Ryan Rosillo (60:34)

So change a weekend for me. My 20s could.

Tom Haberstroh (60:37)

Yeah, I had Paulo.

Ryan Rosillo (60:40)

I apologize.

Kyle Cerutti (60:42)

50 Cent Nights.

Ryan Rosillo (60:42)

Yeah, dude, I'll, I'll.

Kyle Cerutti (60:44)

It's on me.

Ryan Rosillo (60:46)

Nothing like going out with a 20 and haven't changed. Yeah.

Kyle Cerutti (60:49)

Get an extra Ranch Cup.

Ryan Rosillo (60:53)

Sorry.

Jeff Passon (60:53)

Sorry.

Ryan Rosillo (60:53)

Saruti. You're trying to do. No, you're good.

Tom Haberstroh (60:55)

I was just saying. No, you're fine. I, I had Paulo. He was leading until, until Jokic took it. Apollo what I think had like almost 300 bucks. So that would have been. That have been pretty awesome.

Kyle Cerutti (61:06)

I don't get style points for that. I wanted Donovan Mitchell, but I was like, let me change it up. But I don't get style points for that. But I, I, it was in my head and then I saw that. Do you see what Donovan said to Paolo after the game? Johnny's about to bust your ass riding with this guy. Rick.

Ryan Rosillo (61:24)

So.

Kyle Cerutti (61:24)

Thought that was cool.

Ryan Rosillo (61:25)

Yeah. Thanks for not going to St. John's Spider. The fuck is that? It's super embarrassing for me to have not gone there and care this much. He went to Louisville.

Kyle Cerutti (61:37)

Yeah. Shout out Rick the Ricktator. He's just back at his guy.

Ryan Rosillo (61:42)

Yeah, I know, but come on.

Kyle Cerutti (61:45)

All right. Should we do our picks?

Tom Haberstroh (61:47)

Yeah.

Jeff Passon (61:48)

All right.

Tom Haberstroh (61:49)

We're back on the college football or the college basketball wagon. Ron, you go first.

Ryan Rosillo (61:54)

Arizona, minus the seven and a half

Tom Haberstroh (61:58)

fading.

Ryan Rosillo (61:59)

I think Arkansas is going to be a bit of a wake up call for them. Although, look, they've had a really nice run off the SEC tournament and Everything. But, yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna go with the. The weighted. I just. I just think Arizona's nasty. So there you go. Fair.

Tom Haberstroh (62:17)

Kyle.

Ryan Rosillo (62:18)

I tried to do the cool guy pick with Santa Clara. Now I'm like, no, I don't want to do that again.

Tom Haberstroh (62:23)

I still don't hate the pick. I mean, call timeout, do anything I like. Apparently they tried to call a timeout.

Ryan Rosillo (62:28)

You.

Tom Haberstroh (62:29)

You text us. Because I'm like, you were watching live and did the coach try to call a timeout? I think he did, but they just didn't give it to him. And then he hits it like a half.

Kyle Cerutti (62:34)

It's been happening a lot this tournament.

Ryan Rosillo (62:36)

I was at the gym.

Kyle Cerutti (62:37)

I hear the players call it early and it's like, oh, damn. Yeah, I get it. You guys are college kids, but that sucked.

Ryan Rosillo (62:42)

But I was in the cafe, so just a bunch of guys huddled around and it was like the start of the tournament. I was getting shots up at the

Kyle Cerutti (62:51)

gym for the start of the tournament.

Ryan Rosillo (62:53)

Well, I'm going to be on the couch for 12 hours and it's like if I don't get out of the house and do something active and I have a. They have these things for some TVs where you can record stuff and then go back and watch anything you missed.

Kyle Cerutti (63:04)

Okay. All right, got it. I'll give you my pick now. I picked Houston. I'm taking the money line. I don't think their story ends here. I think it ends in a heartbreaker. And like the Elite Eight or. Or Final Four, I like to coach better. Yeah, so we'll just take. We'll take the Houston money line.

Tom Haberstroh (63:24)

I said this before. I think that game's in Houston. Right. So I do love this Illinois team, though, which is not, not surprising to

Kyle Cerutti (63:29)

anyone but Euro Ceruti.

Tom Haberstroh (63:31)

Yeah, they're just fun to watch, man. They score. I don't play a ton of defense, but they score, they move.

Ryan Rosillo (63:37)

You're rolling the city. And see Smallman at one of those weird, like, alumni bar pop ups.

Tom Haberstroh (63:42)

No, no one, no one rides for St. Louis, Missouri and Champaign, Illinois more than Michelle Smallman. So, yeah, listen, give me a time and place. I'll be there. Plus, you know, listen, there's a soft spot for some of those Illinois teams I love, you know, the Darren Williams. Was it Deep Brown?

Ryan Rosillo (63:59)

Yeah.

Tom Haberstroh (63:59)

Right. Love those teams. Who's the other guy I'm forgetting? Luther Head.

Ryan Rosillo (64:03)

Yeah.

Tom Haberstroh (64:05)

Who was the big guy in that? Was it Augustin? No.

Ryan Rosillo (64:09)

I'm gonna look it up.

Tom Haberstroh (64:10)

It was there. They had like one big team. Oh, it's awesome. I picked him to win it all that year.

Jeff Passon (64:15)

Heartbreak.

Tom Haberstroh (64:17)

Waldorian looks that up. I'm gonna take the under in Iowa. Nebraska. Big Ten basketball, baby. Under 132 and a half. I think that's going to be just a grind. It might even be a Nebraska home game again. Who knows? Those fans travel. Shout out to them. But you know, the Iowa fans travel too. This is a pro Iowa podcast, as we've said before, but I think that's gonna be a low scoring type game. So give me the under 132 and a half. And those three put us at plus 146. I'm sorry. Plus 461.

Ryan Rosillo (64:39)

Oh, Jesus Christ.

Tom Haberstroh (64:40)

Yeah, I'm dyslexic today. Sorry, guys. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night.

Ryan Rosillo (64:44)

Yeah, the kids.

Tom Haberstroh (64:46)

Yeah. You know, I think I've said this. We transitioned to the big kid bed. She's just doesn't like to stay in there and then you end up in there. So I've slept in there for a few hours last night. Not great for the back.

Kyle Cerutti (64:57)

She worked better with bars on her bed. Is that what you're saying?

Tom Haberstroh (65:01)

The group was great because it did. It was basically like jail. And then now. Now she's got free reign. Not ready from downstairs. It's not great. So, you know, do you scroll?

Ryan Rosillo (65:11)

You must just doom. Scroll, right? Kind of.

Tom Haberstroh (65:13)

But she's like, really perceptive to you being on the phone. So she'll like.

Ryan Rosillo (65:17)

If I roll over. If I roll over.

Kyle Cerutti (65:20)

What's going on?

Tom Haberstroh (65:20)

I just like, feel her head on my back just like looking over at the screen. I'm like, all right, it's like 2:00am I got to stop doing this I

Ryan Rosillo (65:27)

just love watching video games stuff. I can't. I feel like such a loser. But I'm just going to admit it.

Kyle Cerutti (65:31)

Some of you, because you won't allow yourself video games, but you'll watch other people.

Ryan Rosillo (65:35)

I mean, that is. That's it. Yeah, I'm. Since you're loser. Shit.

Tom Haberstroh (65:39)

Honestly.

Ryan Rosillo (65:40)

No, I get it. Hey, not everything is cool over here. All right? Sorry to disappoint, but yeah, some of these medieval battles and I'm like, so what the. You get to just organize these entire things and like you're sitting there like

Kyle Cerutti (65:54)

that looks like fun.

Ryan Rosillo (65:55)

When all you have to do is

Kyle Cerutti (65:57)

like, sign up for a Steam account.

Tom Haberstroh (65:58)

Well, he did. You did play Call of Duty for a bit, right? A couple years ago. I remember we talked about this because I think Chris Long was Playing it or something too. And I was playing was Verdansk. You know, we were playing Warzone.

Ryan Rosillo (66:11)

Yeah, I was in. I mean one of my favorite things ever was just, okay, basketball's over. You know, a 45 minute video game chill out session. I was doing that for a while

Kyle Cerutti (66:22)

and then 45, that's pretty regimented. That's good for you. You set an alarm.

Ryan Rosillo (66:27)

Because it was also like two in the morning.

Kyle Cerutti (66:29)

Oh, right, I see. You're saying basketball is a serial killer for the night. Not like the season's over.

Ryan Rosillo (66:34)

Okay, well. Cause I was still amped from all the hoops I needed, you know. And then again I was on the east coast, so I would usually be at work by 9, so it wasn't like I was waking up at 5:30 or 6, you know. Although the sleep back then, it's just. I don't know, I've slept, I would say better since I've moved. But yeah, once I decided there was other stuff that I wanted to do that's obviously kicking ass, I was like, I can't justify all of these hours of the video game console. And then Covid, I was like, let's go. And then I was that motorcycle guy against the zombies and. And I was like, I think I got this stuff down. It's like I run towards them and then I get close and I can run away and then I gotta turn around. And then I was like, I got it. Did you say something about that ship game? Yeah, yeah.

Tom Haberstroh (67:17)

Have you seen the video? What's it called?

Ryan Rosillo (67:19)

I've watched the full trailer.

Tom Haberstroh (67:20)

Thieves, where these dudes are just on pirate ships and they like are screaming because there's just like boats coming out of nowhere. I'm like, this looks like the most fun thing that's ever happened.

Kyle Cerutti (67:27)

Yeah, I tried it. I didn't love it. I deleted it really pretty quickly. Yeah, I mean it's one of those. It's a game where you don't get off the pirate ship. You know what I mean? Like there's no like your pirate life ends there. Like there's no like exploring or swashbuckling. It's just like shooting cannons at other ships.

Ryan Rosillo (67:44)

So, so is it just like trailers can get you.

Tom Haberstroh (67:47)

Yeah, well also like they have the streamers that are just like really into it and they start yelling. So like when they don't see a ship coming out of nowhere, they just start screaming and it is kind of funny to watch, but. So you're basically just like trying to avoid the Black Pearl for a while. And that's the game.

Kyle Cerutti (67:59)

I gotta say, I didn't. I didn't play it too long. I was just like, so this is it, huh? And I was like, is there seriously nothing else? And everyone's like, yep, there's nothing else. If you really love steering ships and selling cargo at different ports, then this is for you. All right, maybe when I'm older.

Ryan Rosillo (68:16)

I thought you were talking about Seafarer. This is new. I don't think I've heard of that one.

Kyle Cerutti (68:22)

It's a simulator.

Ryan Rosillo (68:23)

Yeah, some sort of simulator. You can learn how to drive all these different than eventually. You're, like, doing cargo ships once you move up barges. I was telling my brother, I'm like, will you please get this, please? He's like, that looks so boring. I was like, all right. But, yeah, I'm not. I can't do it. I can't justify. There's even a console downstairs, but I've never put it. I've never plugged it in. It's just from one of my brother visits.

Kyle Cerutti (68:48)

It's nice that you're scratching that itch through other people.

Tom Haberstroh (68:50)

Just.

Kyle Cerutti (68:51)

That looks great.

Ryan Rosillo (68:53)

Yeah, I can't. This medieval thing, I can't stop right now.

Tom Haberstroh (68:57)

All right, let's even send us clips of that. Yeah, this is. Anyway, that's DraftKings. Shout out to DraftKings.

Ryan Rosillo (69:01)

Yeah, shout out DraftKings. Check out all the. All the odds on DraftKings. Sportsbook. 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. It can analyze data, rewrite emails, brainstorm ideas, and even help. You sound like you know what you're talking about, which, frankly, is a miracle. So stop pretending you're going to circle back or touch base or whatever corporate phase you've been faking. Let Copilot do the heavy lifting. You just take the credit. Microsoft Copilot. Work smarter, work faster. Work like someone who actually read the instructions. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

Jeff Passon (69:52)

What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

Ryan Rosillo (69:57)

I have every. Every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid.

Jeff Passon (70:03)

So now you know what's possible.

Ryan Rosillo (70:05)

Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. The email address, lifeadvicerrgmail.com. also, if you want to get into our 10 good minutes. Our NBA mailbag is NBA mailbag, rr, gmail.com. we have life advice, too, if you

Tom Haberstroh (70:17)

want to email life advice, just probably bang one of those out soon. So throw it on YouTube.

Ryan Rosillo (70:21)

What do you mean? Like, right.

Kyle Cerutti (70:22)

Friday feedback.

Tom Haberstroh (70:23)

Oh, Friday feedback.

Ryan Rosillo (70:24)

Sorry.

Kyle Cerutti (70:24)

My God.

Tom Haberstroh (70:25)

I'm telling you right now.

Kyle Cerutti (70:26)

All right, I'm in charge of the show now.

Tom Haberstroh (70:28)

Your boys, I'm going to sit these out. I'm going to sit this out.

Ryan Rosillo (70:34)

Getting a lot of Aerosmith, NBA comps.

Kyle Cerutti (70:36)

So many.

Ryan Rosillo (70:37)

Yeah. I. I feel like they're. Some guy said mellow. Somebody saying mellow's their favorite player makes all the sense in the world. Mellow's an awesome, fun player. Even with the deficiencies and the fact that he came home to New York, there were some people being like, westbrook. Westbrook. Being a kid's favorite player is the easiest thing ever. Like, Westbrook was fun. It was, like, ridiculous.

Kyle Cerutti (71:03)

But a kid's favorite player, though. That's right. I mean, you're saying if a guy told you Aerosmith is my favorite band, that's like, you know, if a kid. You're like, what does a kid know? He's, you know, this could be his whole life right now. He's a.

Ryan Rosillo (71:13)

No shit.

Kyle Cerutti (71:14)

Okay.

Ryan Rosillo (71:15)

But if later on, like, you still, like, Westbrook was your first basketball lover. Mello was your first basketball love. Okay. And then you still liked him. College into your 20s or whatever. I mean, you know, now we're talking like, 15 years from teenager to 30. I mean, not impossible, but I could understand how that guy's like, yeah, my first favorite player was. Was this.

Tom Haberstroh (71:37)

And.

Ryan Rosillo (71:37)

And, you know, he's still my favorite player of all time. Like, that, to me, makes a lot of sense. Aerosmith still being somebody's favorite.

Tom Haberstroh (71:46)

I feel like Westbrook is like, Nickelback.

Ryan Rosillo (71:50)

Where. Come on, that's. That's. Can't do that to Nickelback. I'm kidding. You can't do that.

Tom Haberstroh (71:55)

I didn't know who you thought I was dissing there. I think it's appropriate. Like, I think it's fun in the nick.

Ryan Rosillo (71:58)

It's great.

Tom Haberstroh (71:59)

Like, I don't know that I'd advertise it, but, like, yeah, I have. I had fun watching Russell Westbrook play basketball, for sure.

Ryan Rosillo (72:05)

Did you ever have a Nickelback cd?

Tom Haberstroh (72:06)

Hell, yeah.

Kyle Cerutti (72:07)

My mom had several. That's what we used to in the truck.

Ryan Rosillo (72:10)

Her mom likes them.

Kyle Cerutti (72:11)

Yeah, she had several.

Ryan Rosillo (72:13)

Give me your mom's top five bands right now.

Kyle Cerutti (72:16)

Oh, top five bands. It's probably all 70 stuff. Definitely all seven. She was big Tom Petty.

Tom Haberstroh (72:21)

Oh, Ryan.

Kyle Cerutti (72:22)

But. But, yeah, there was Nickelback in the truck. I don't know what to tell you.

Tom Haberstroh (72:26)

Nothing wrong with that.

Kyle Cerutti (72:27)

It's like, can we listen to the other Nickelback cd? And she's like, I guess so. You know, I was like, can we listen to the earlier one today? But, you know, there was a lot of driving in my youth, and we were. We were in the truck with Nickelback cigarettes and homemade iced tea. I mean, that's just. This is what reminds me of home.

Ryan Rosillo (72:46)

I think it's Jeff Hornacek for Aerosmith. You're like, what? I like Jeff Hornacek. Hell of a player.

Tom Haberstroh (72:57)

I don't think he's, like, flashy enough,

Ryan Rosillo (72:59)

you know, but it has to be. Are you serious? Because music, it makes a little bit more sense to cycle in and out of stuff. Like, I had to Kiss double platinum tape. I thought it kicked ass. Then I turned 11, you know?

Kyle Cerutti (73:14)

You know.

Tom Haberstroh (73:14)

You know, videos would make in the rounds, too. That I. I did not know about is when I. When Kiss just took the makeup off and tried to, like, rebrand themselves.

Ryan Rosillo (73:22)

Oh, yeah, that was a big deal, man. What dudes, when was that?

Kyle Cerutti (73:25)

When was that?

Ryan Rosillo (73:26)

Like, the 90s?

Tom Haberstroh (73:27)

Oh, I gotta send you this video. It's unbelievable. Gene Simmons. That's his name, right?

Ryan Rosillo (73:31)

Yeah.

Tom Haberstroh (73:31)

He looks like a creep. It is the scariest video I've ever seen in my life. And these dudes think they're like, all right, the makeup's off. Oh, Bob. I'm like, you got to put the makeup back on.

Kyle Cerutti (73:40)

What time frame was that not working? Were they super old or were they just, like, weathered now?

Ryan Rosillo (73:44)

They've been around for a while. My guess is, like, it's. I'm trying to think. I remember because it was a big deal when it happened, but I was already out. I was out on them. I pivoted over to hip hop by them. I'm gonna guess, like, 89.90 when they took it off. Okay, Is it mask off, too, or is that not somebody else? It's a rapper that's future.

Tom Haberstroh (74:03)

I know. I gotta find this video for you, Kai. It is outrageous.

Ryan Rosillo (74:10)

Oh, my God. 83 found it. Yeah, not even close. Maybe it just made its way. Maybe it was still, like, a generational thing. People still referenced in 7 6, seven years later where I was from. Like, I still haven't gotten over it. But, yeah, it was a pretty never forget. Like, hey, nobody likes us anymore. Let's take our makeup off. Like, they're very calculated guys. And that was the part of it that was, like, just wasn't as cool as the other bands.

Tom Haberstroh (74:42)

You have to watch this video.

Kyle Cerutti (74:43)

All right, I'm doing it.

Ryan Rosillo (74:44)

I know. It's making the rounds. I can't believe I got the years wrong. That bad? Well, you know. Damn. All right.

Kyle Cerutti (74:55)

They're taking a while.

Ryan Rosillo (74:56)

Just.

Tom Haberstroh (74:57)

It's worth it. Trust me. I'll tweet this out today. Maybe.

Ryan Rosillo (74:59)

Should I fast forward?

Tom Haberstroh (75:01)

It's only 30 seconds.

Ryan Rosillo (75:04)

We've got a time sensitive. Sweet scene. Let us know when you see the video. But it's not.

Kyle Cerutti (75:10)

It's not great. No, it's not great.

Ryan Rosillo (75:12)

Just saw it. They used to have, like, these. These movies and stuff. Then there was the cartoon. Yeah. Scooby Doo.

Kyle Cerutti (75:21)

They were showing up.

Ryan Rosillo (75:21)

They were like, everywhere. Yeah, yeah. All right. Don't use my name or employer below. All right. Six foot 190, bench 275. Four times one rep is stupid and bad for you. All right. D3 Ithaca football player. Had a jersey, didn't play a lot. Still laced him up, buddy. Still ran out of the tunnel. Basketball, high school. Daniel Tice. I got that 30 now. You're back, you're warmed up, you're ready to go. No, you had one of those recently, but that's me. Had to work twice as hard for maybe three quarters of the skill. Was once asked during a post college men's league in Northborough, Mass. If I was a cop because of the tenacity of my defense and then my shaved head.

Kyle Cerutti (76:04)

It's probably more the haircut.

Tom Haberstroh (76:06)

Are you a cop? Is that like the most disrespectful thing you could say to somebody on a basketball court?

Kyle Cerutti (76:11)

Basketball, hard. Oh.

Tom Haberstroh (76:12)

Although maybe it's not. I don't know. Yeah.

Ryan Rosillo (76:15)

Be like, no, I'm a. I'm from Stuttgart. I'm a skinhead for Germany. Perfect English. He said, say, Daniel Tice, did you get hit in the face all the time and never do anything about it? I love when you bring up, I work in the sports industry. My wife works for an athletic department. I think we're going to just be a little more vague than you were in this email. Well, I can't really read the. I think he's going to get. All right, all right, man.

Kyle Cerutti (76:51)

You have free will at a certain point, right?

Ryan Rosillo (76:52)

I mean, don't use my name or employer. Right. But you tell us that your wife works. Well, I can't do any of the email unless. All right, well, we'll figure it out. Wife works in the athletic department of St. John's for the last eight years. We made it through the end of the Mullen, Chris Mullen run, Mike Anderson spurt. And we deserve all of what Rick has bestowed upon us. We go to eight, ten games a year. Carneseca in the Garden. We were in Providence last year for the Cal debacle. She's almost 30 weeks pregnant. Wait, is this a picture of your pregnant wife that you're sending us?

Tom Haberstroh (77:31)

The first.

Ryan Rosillo (77:35)

I kind of can't figure this out because it looks like it's a dance team member, so I don't. I don't know what's going on here. Well, no, I think it's just a random picture. I don't know. I'm just afraid I don't want to get it. Last thing we need is this kind of energy before game against Duke. All right, so she's 30 weeks pregnant. She does not want to travel to D.C. for the Duke Sweet 16 game. The car is too long for her to be sitting, and planes are a mess with the TSA things, so no guarantees will make it. Then I have her hanging in an airport for hours. Potentially. It's happened to us multiple times this year already. Between the two of us, we for sure have connections to Weasel some tickets on the arm. We both love watching the games together. And if she's not going, I can still figure it out with some friends, coworkers, hers or mine. We're also just Big Johnny's. There's no way I can leave her at home for this, right? He asks. Absolutely. Signing my death warrant. Two and a half months before our first son is born. Right. Unless she. You should go. Unless she says you should go and mean it. She won't. I don't think she's wrong for. Not really, but I just want to go. Just need to root from Queens, Right? Please have a workaround. I'm not seeing. Boom. Go Johnny's.

Kyle Cerutti (78:45)

Rent an RV pre family vacation.

Tom Haberstroh (78:50)

It's a baby moon at the sweet 16.

Ryan Rosillo (78:54)

Yeah. Oh, okay, first of all, there's more pictures. So the picture's just in the arena.

Kyle Cerutti (79:01)

They're at msg, proving who he is that he's telling.

Ryan Rosillo (79:04)

And there happens to be either a dance team member or somebody dressed like one. And then his wife is on the Jumbotron. Gosh.

Kyle Cerutti (79:16)

All right, Steve, you've been around the block twice. What is the. What is the closeness to the due date before you can, like, disappear for a day?

Ryan Rosillo (79:23)

Is it, like.

Kyle Cerutti (79:23)

Is it three months out? Just shut it all down like what is the closest thing where it's like, obviously, I'm not going to miss an emergency here, but it's just the vibes are off. You shouldn't be taking this trip.

Tom Haberstroh (79:33)

I'm trying to think if I, if I cut anything kind of close. I mean, the biggest hang up for me was like, the golf stuff towards the end. It's like, hey, you're going to be gone for 12 hours today, and I'm just home with the kid and I'm pregnant. That's a bummer.

Ryan Rosillo (79:47)

12 hours.

Tom Haberstroh (79:48)

Well, you know, because we meet halfway and then, you know, it ends up being a long day. I'm not going to lie.

Ryan Rosillo (79:56)

She thinks serious wife this whole time thinks the golf is 36 holes. Well, one of my. What is one guy out there?

Kyle Cerutti (80:02)

The greatest job ever?

Ryan Rosillo (80:04)

There's one guy right now whose wife believes that golf is 36 holes. She has no idea, but go ahead.

Tom Haberstroh (80:09)

One of my friends wife thought golf was free. She's like, oh, you just buy the clubs, you just go to the course, right? They're like public courses. And it's like, no, that's not really how that works. So she got a little bit of a rude awakening when he got into golf and was like, this isn't what I signed up for.

Kyle Cerutti (80:23)

Wait, you have a golf credit card?

Ryan Rosillo (80:28)

Part of my property tax.

Tom Haberstroh (80:33)

I'm trying to think. I don't think I really cut any clothes. I didn't certainly leave anywhere for like, multiple days.

Ryan Rosillo (80:38)

I.

Tom Haberstroh (80:39)

This is a tough one, man. The other thing about this too, is it's something that you both enjoy. So for you to enjoy it more than her when she, like, has obviously a legit reason to not go and stay home, I feel like you kind of gotta stay with her through this, you know, like, enjoy it with her. Watch on the couch with her. She's gonna be like, imagine your wife just sitting at home watching the St. John's game by herself. And you're at the game. Like, that's a huge bummer. I. I don't know that you could do that to your wife. So I. I know it sucks, and I know it'd be fun. And you said, all right, yeah, maybe she'll let you go even if she doesn't fully mean it. I think you gotta kind of just. I think you kind of just gotta take one here and just say, hey, I have to be with my wife here.

Kyle Cerutti (81:15)

All right, But, I mean, I said it earlier in a joking tone, But New York, D.C. it's not the craziest drive in the world. What is that, like seven hours, maybe eight hours. And what if you do get like just rent a, rent a, whatever. One of those things. We had a family member who had to get them. Well, there's like, what?

Ryan Rosillo (81:31)

There's a version of like a car.

Jeff Passon (81:33)

There's a, there's a sprinter van.

Kyle Cerutti (81:34)

Yeah, there's a version of a sprinter van that is outfitted with like a straight up bed. There's a, you know, there's a bathroom that you try not to use if you have other options because it's, it's tight quarters in there. But I had a family member that had to get down to Florida, couldn't fly, the regular drive thing wasn't working and they did this sprinter van thing. It's possible, I mean you could also do like a smaller version of like a Winnebago or something. It's, it's a lot. But you're asking, is there any way you can pull this off, which is bringing her there. And if the travel is the problem, then there is another mode of travel. She could just lay down, you power through this drive and you're there if you really want it.

Tom Haberstroh (82:09)

She said 30 weeks pregnant, right?

Ryan Rosillo (82:12)

Yeah.

Tom Haberstroh (82:12)

Not terrible,

Kyle Cerutti (82:15)

right? Not terrible from the non pregnant person. This is the way you can guarantee that you get there. So I don't see any other way. Unless you just. Somebody loses. If she just thinks that this is enough to just put this matter to bed. And then you're like, you come out with this Hail Mary and it's like, all right, what if we rent an rv? And she's like, are you serious? She might have thought this was enough to be like, yeah, not a good idea. But as far as we know, that's not the case.

Ryan Rosillo (82:40)

Yeah, I mean, you're not just dealing with the pregnant part here. You're dealing with, she loves the Johnny's man and she's going to want to watch this game with you. So, yeah, you're going to live in the same house. Like my guess is some of these weird commuter, private flight things, if you monitor it, you can get like a really good deal. But I don't think there's going to be any deals from New York City to D.C. before the tournament. You know, anybody else is going to take all those up. So I'm not suggesting like a private plane, but I'm just trying to figure out like in your head, if you're doing the math, it's like, okay, I'm not spending on this, I'm not spending on this. I'm getting the tickets for free. Is there a way where you go like to her, hey, we spend this much on this. But I'm only talking about like this thing being a couple grand for an extra couple seats on some of these flights that are already going that way already. Like, stuff like this does actually exist. Like I've looked at it because I cannot afford to fly private. I'm never going to be able to afford to, to fly private. But you'll look at like some of these jump flights from LA to LAX and you go, oh my God, like, why didn't I think about this? Because it's so much more convenient. It's not that much more. And then you're just buying a seat. It's not like you're showing up like me solo asshole with an eight seat plane landing and going like, yeah, that was worth 50 grand. Which I'm again, I'm never going to do because I can't afford that. But I don't know, I don't know if that's worth rigging it, but I just can't. You're going to. As much as it's going to be awesome. You know, it'd be one thing if they were the one seed and maybe Duke was the four or five because there's also a chance you go in there and go, hey, St. John's when they can't score for five or six minutes, which is going to happen in this game. Are they down 8? Are they down 18 after that happens when it looks like they're never going to score again. Like, what if they're down 18?

Kyle Cerutti (84:24)

Just thinking about driving that sprinter van all the way home tomorrow, it's like, what the fuck?

Ryan Rosillo (84:28)

Well, I'm not even talking about that. I'm talking about her being home by herself.

Kyle Cerutti (84:31)

Oh yeah. I think you have to watch in the same place. I think you have to.

Tom Haberstroh (84:35)

Yes.

Ryan Rosillo (84:36)

Yeah.

Tom Haberstroh (84:36)

You can't leave her hanging.

Ryan Rosillo (84:38)

And so sprinter van might be the best idea out of all of these, but you cannot, you cannot leave her because she cares about the game. Like, there's a part of it where it's like, if she likes the Johnny's as much as I do, she totally understands it and I have tickets, all this kind of stuff. But I don't know, man, that's a tough one. Kind of a fun deal for people to chime in, then go. It's two and a half months away, dude. You can do stuff. But those probably weren't.

Kyle Cerutti (85:04)

Yeah, those probably aren't female women though.

Tom Haberstroh (85:06)

That's not Going to come out of my mouth, I'll tell you that right now. Yeah.

Ryan Rosillo (85:12)

Okay. I thought we had one. I really wanted to do here. Yeah, here it is. It's unique. It's different. I'm Jeff Passon's neighbor. Awesome. We know Jeff loves life advice, so maybe I can get a text from him or something.

Tom Haberstroh (85:38)

He did text me yesterday. Just for those that didn't know, by the way, we taped this earlier. So, like, we didn't tape passing the same day. We're taping all this stuff. So we've had this in the hopper for a bit, but he does listen to the pod and he. He is a big Israeli couscous fan. Big Israeli couscous fan. Gave me a couple recipes. He also said barley is underrated. Said it tastes like Pharaoh Passins, like

Ryan Rosillo (86:04)

12 and also 75. I do love myself some Jeff Passon, though. All right, so this works out perfectly, right? Because we had already taped with Jeff, and I didn't realize that was today's episode. Cerutty produces this stuff, you guys. I don't know.

Tom Haberstroh (86:24)

I don't know if I deserve credit today, but.

Ryan Rosillo (86:26)

All right, so he's Jeff Passen Sabre. He offers us an address. We're not going to read it just because he's like, if proof is needed.

Tom Haberstroh (86:35)

He wasn't.

Ryan Rosillo (86:36)

I don't think he was. He's like, can provide more detail, but don't want to. At the risk of sounding creepy, we. We're just going to take your word. Yeah.

Kyle Cerutti (86:44)

Hit the sweet spot, buddy.

Tom Haberstroh (86:45)

Jeff's going to know who this is, too. This is interesting.

Ryan Rosillo (86:48)

Well, I don't know if he's going to know, so Here we go. Six, one, one, 70, bench, 180. Yep. Got the two and a half out. Fucking love it, dude. Dr's every week. I got the one and a half cell during COVID I was like, sitting

Tom Haberstroh (87:04)

there, didn't know they made those.

Kyle Cerutti (87:06)

And you bought them for your garage, so funny.

Ryan Rosillo (87:11)

You ordered them. You added them to the order.

Kyle Cerutti (87:14)

Is it one of those select all deals when you were getting your setup?

Ryan Rosillo (87:19)

Just like, yeah, I was ordering all sorts of stuff back then. I just was like, I was thinking about even opening up a small business, secondhand stuff. And then I tried to get into the Craigslist game of selling used gym equipment, and I was like, I'm out. We had one transaction, and that transaction was fine, but the haggling with everybody else and everything, I was like, you know what?

Kyle Cerutti (87:42)

Too many factions can't do it.

Ryan Rosillo (87:43)

Yeah. Do you have a veterans discount. Like, hey man, I respect who you are, but all right, here we go. Six one. We said that already. One and a half. Excuse me. 150 half marathon, which I think Wargon would say. Meh. What would Wargon say? I don't know. That's not bad. Not bad, but not good. Player Comp. Injured Washington Wizards Ron Baker Whoa. Shout out Writing in because I recently discovered I am Jeff Passon's neighbor and jog by his house very frequently, especially when I want some hill work. I saw him outside once and knew he lived vaguely in the area. I don't live in a house directly beside him, but close enough. You all answer celebrity interaction questions frequently, but wondering what protocol here would be. Am I allowed to tell him I'm a big fan and ask his opinion on if the Braves will suck again this year? Or should I just wave and keep on going? I know he likes to do life advice, so hoping to maybe hear his opinion as well. Big fan of U3 or 4. Thanks so much for reading this.

Kyle Cerutti (88:48)

Thinking about this episode and how much he's loving, like baseball going like the graph going up. I think that would. He would also look at it that way if you're like big fan of your coverage of baseball. I think it would. I think he would absolutely welcome it

Tom Haberstroh (89:04)

if it wasn't opening day. I feel like we should call Jeff and just bring him on, but I think he's kind of busy right now.

Ryan Rosillo (89:10)

He is busy.

Tom Haberstroh (89:12)

The reason we taped this early is because he's busy today, but we wanted to run it today. So thanks to Jeff for being accommodating. I feel like Jeff, I mean, I don't want to speak for him, but we're going to right now. I feel like Jeff, he's such a nice guy. I think there's no way he wouldn't be like, happy to meet a neighbor and chop it up about baseball. I don't be like insane and start like texting him questions about your fantasy baseball league. But I think. I don't think this is an issue at all. Your neighbors, it's not like you're just like coming in from a different town, hanging out around his neighborhood, hoping to see him. You live in the same area as him.

Ryan Rosillo (89:46)

I think next time you're jogging, you see him, you run at him full speed, hug him and say I love you. And then when there's an awkward moment, you just go. Priscilla said.

Kyle Cerutti (90:00)

Priscilla said it's okay.

Ryan Rosillo (90:01)

Yeah, Priscilla said it's fine. I think Patsa now because of the email you're good. Next time you jog by, you just go, hey, I'm the emailer. This was a smart one, you guys. You guys are going to be barbecuing in two months.

Kyle Cerutti (90:19)

Hell, yeah. Yeah. This is a happy ending story. Totally.

Tom Haberstroh (90:22)

I'm jealous, actually.

Ryan Rosillo (90:23)

Yeah, I'd imagine a picture at some point. Maybe hold off on the brave stuff. Don't start right in on that. A little background.

Kyle Cerutti (90:32)

Why?

Ryan Rosillo (90:32)

The Ron Baker reference. Maybe ask him for that Israeli couscous recipe. Munk beans.

Kyle Cerutti (90:42)

Mung beans or monk beans.

Ryan Rosillo (90:45)

There's two different versions.

Kyle Cerutti (90:48)

I don't think you know if there are or not.

Tom Haberstroh (90:50)

I don't either.

Ryan Rosillo (90:51)

Yeah, I said it wrong. Yeah. No, there are not two different versions.

Kyle Cerutti (90:59)

I only knew that because of Creed in the office. And they were like, what does that smell? And he's like, I sprout mung beans in my desk. Anyway,

Ryan Rosillo (91:15)

I almost read the Latin thing and that was going to be even more wrong. I'm glad we didn't do that. I think this guy's good. I think he's good to go. I think you're going to be. But just wait. Wait until the episode posts. But again, how would he know? Because he couldn't hear it until it's actually posted. And then maybe give him the first week of baseball launching off. He might not even be there. He's probably going to be on the road the entire time. But, you know, maybe we wait until we get into April.

Tom Haberstroh (91:38)

I was gonna say you're pro. The email is gonna probably listen to this before Jeff listens to it. So if you came before that without the knowledge. Yeah, you're right. But he. It is again, busy time of year. You know, he's got a sports back

Ryan Rosillo (91:49)

in season, but this could be a break. Like I can't do. You're right. The listener probably listen to this before. All right, abrupt ending. Let's go. Thanks to Tom, Kevin, Kyle, Steve. Please subscribe Tomorrow we have, uh. Oh, we're bringing on a dangerous character on the show tomorrow. Tom. Yeah. Shout out Westport tacos or what? I think we might let him go at it with. With Ceruti on Paolo.

Tom Haberstroh (92:24)

Oh, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. I'm out. I can't do this anymore.

Ryan Rosillo (92:29)

You're out on who?

Tom Haberstroh (92:30)

I just. I don't want to have this conversation anymore. It's such a. The season's such a bummer. The Paolo conversation is such a bummer.

Kyle Cerutti (92:36)

Almost came to the court. What are we even talking about.

Ryan Rosillo (92:38)

He was awesome last night.

Tom Haberstroh (92:39)

He was. They've also lost six straight, so I don't. I think it's just next year, man. We're just going to punt this to next year.

Ryan Rosillo (92:47)

Would Paolo get 20 in the 80s?

Kyle Cerutti (92:49)

I was going to do something like that, but I said the cmp would

Ryan Rosillo (92:56)

you get bench for some of the shots? They be like, what the are you doing? Imagine Cotton Fitzsimmons be like, what the hell is this 17 foot turnaround thing? Early in the shot clock. All right, that'll do it for the show today. I already thanked everybody. Subscribe and Tom Haberstro. Tomorrow again, shout out. Great. Call Staples. Staples is always on your mind. And I'm not talking about the paper supplier.