The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Are the Clippers Going to Win the West? Plus, Super Bowl Prop Bets and Senior Bowl Standouts With Todd McShay.

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Russillo starts the show by explaining why he’s high on the Clippers come playoff time (0:33). Then, he’s joined by Todd McShay to break down the Super Bowl, share some of his best prop bets, and reveal his favorite players from the Senior Bowl (23:10). Plus, Life Advice with Ceruti and Kyle! How can the man who bought a boat without telling his wife reveal his purchase (60:07)? The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Todd McShay Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fired up about the pod today. We've got a lot of basketball. Why I like the Clippers. We'll talk about the rest of the top of the Western Conference. Some scoot stuff. And McShay, speaking of the draft, we've got him post-Senior Bowl, but he goes deep on some of the stuff he's looking for in the Super Bowl. So a little Super Bowl prep for you. And life advice went really long today. So enjoy it.

Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets.

Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Before we get to McShane, a lot of football stuff and extended life advice today, I want to just do a little NBA open. See app for details. to win the West. And I mean that in the playoffs. I'm not talking about the one seed. The way this team is constructed right now, and from what I've seen and who they are and this absurd run, like if they're healthy, if it's Kawhi and George and they have all of their guys, I think they're going to win the Western Conference. They're that good. They were in a tight one with Miami. They got down early. They had a Saturday night Miami. They were like, what's going on here? And then they completely took over in the fourth quarter and, you know, a limited Miami offense without Hero in the game. There's also some Butler stuff going on that was part of the

broadcast of him saying like he needs to be more assertive when you look at his shot attempts. If you actually look at the game log, you're like, man, that guy's still putting up numbers because he gets to the free throw line so many times. But it also led to a separate thing where if I was really hurting for content, I might do a what's a better approach, the Embiid approach, where he cares about the regular season, wanted that MVP last year, wants the 30 and 10s this season, goes for it, then gets hurt, and then he gets criticized for maybe going for it a little bit too much.

It really has to do with the fact he doesn't have the playoff success. Or a Jimmy Butler who looks like for, I don't know, a month or so, you just didn't feel like he was super engaged. Even though if you just go game log numbers, I think there's a difference there between watching the heat a lot and how well the stat lines look for Butler. Cause there's just a lot of games with him where I'm like, sort of kind of out of it and be like, Oh, he got his numbers. And then he misses games on top of everything else. So I don't, I think I know like, Hey, maybe we should give the guy that plays the game with a ton of passion every single night, as opposed to just warming up. And that's another reason why you look at the Miami offensive numbers and you look at some of the standing stuff. You're like, wait, I'm supposed to be

afraid of you again, just because of last year. But maybe that's all kind of baked into the Miami heat experience. I know Terry's had a bit of a struggle adjusting to what that is. But anyway, look, the Clippers pull away in the fourth quarter. I am not going to do a rant about the Clippers being in the free throw bonus at 852 of the fourth quarter. I am not going to bring up the and ones from three for Harden. I'm not going to tell you I almost turned it off because it was raining, so what the hell else was I going to do besides write my memoirs? So look, man, there's another part of this too.

We'll get to all of it. Paul George, I think he's turned the corner in the playoffs, at least the way I looked at him. 2018 game six elimination game against the Utah Jazz. Thunder had no business, Utah Jazz, Thunder had no business, zero business losing that series against that Jazz team. He had a cool 5-3-8 on 2-16 from the floor. That was in Game 6. They blew the 3-1 lead to Denver in 2020. Elimination game, obviously Game 7. He had a 10-4-2.

Those are totals. 4-16. But it felt like the 2021 series against Utah, Kawhi was out after the first four games, so missed games five and six. That felt like it was all on George. That was a really good regular season Utah team. Gobert worked a bit on all the different defensive things that they were asking him to do, protect the rim,

and then race to contest to the corner. But George had some big moments in there where prior to that, and I know that's not like the biggest series ever, but prior to that, I kind of had him in that hardened category of like, yeah, all right, cool, awesome, all-star game, dude. But what are you going to look like in the playoffs? So I feel better about George that way. Um, look, the hardened part of his playoff career, like he doesn't even, he could have an awful playoff game and it, it will happen. Um, but it won't matter because he's not going to be the number one guy. Like he was all the years in Houston or the number two guy with Philadelphia and then hurt with Brooklyn. So even if you get one of those absolute hardened duds for five minutes in the game, you go, okay, so we're doing this today.

He could have that game for the Clippers. And if Kawhi and Paul George are out there, it's not going to matter as much. So they're 25 and5 in their last 30. Kawhi's on pace to play the most games he's played in six seasons. But even though the numbers are really, really good, we're still not quite peak crazy Kawhi numbers. He's 32 years old. His usage is the lowest since his fourth season in the NBA. So some of the numbers that even the analytics can turn into counting stats and

usage and opportunity and everything. So he's not matching like his peak, peak performance, but they're actually keeping his usage on the court down in these games because Harden having the basketball, of course, and George playing well as well. He's 45% on threes and the defense from Kawhi. I didn't know that we were ever going to see this again from him. It was incredible for a long time. Then it was slipping. And then it was kind of reputation where you're like, what's going on with him? There are moments now through the stretch this season.

I was like, wait, is he just back to being that guy again on defense? to being that guy again on defense. The 45% on threes, he is one of 49 players this year shooting 40% or better on threes. 10 years ago, it was 24 players shooting 40% or better. Norm Powell, my main man Norm, always looks like he always has something he'd rather be doing on the court. I think that's just his disposition as a non-smiler.

I'm cool with it. He's taken under less than 10 shots per game. If Norman Powell was on a bad team, it's the 18 shot rule. Or if I look at a young player on a bad team, think Jalen Green, you're like, oh, okay, well, yeah, I mean, I know he got 24 a game this year, but he took 18 shots or more. So when you get to take that many shots, shocking, you get to score more points. Norman Powell could be like getting 26 a game for a bad team. That's how good he is offensively. And that becomes your fourth scoring option

when it's the other three guys that are out there. Whether they want to go big with Zoo, Plumlee is serviceable. They also have Coffey who they'll throw at you, who just runs around like a madman wreaking havoc. They've got Mann as an option. I mean, they have five-person lineups that can go small where you're really worried about everybody with the ball in their hands. Powell's also shooting 40% from three. It's the number one three-point shooting team in the league. So why are you so certain?

I shouldn't say certain because every part of the season, different snapshots, it's not a great health bet. It isn't. So to say, I know right now the breakout video should not be, the Clippers are winning the West, see you in June. No, things could change. Guys could get hurt and they have guys that get hurt a lot. So we'll see. But you have to look at that in comparison to everything else that's going on in the West. So let's do that. Best three-point shooting team, the Clippers. The number two three-point shooting team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Let's talk about Minnesota.

They're 35-15. Technically, OKC is the one seed today because of division record. Then it's Minnesota. Then the Clippers a game and a half, or excuse me, a game behind that one seed. And then Denver's right there. So it's kind of these four teams that I want to talk about in those spots in the race for one. Oklahoma City is not going to get that much attention as of right now because he did a huge deep dive on them not that long ago. If you look at where Minnesota is, we could have some late seed hunting where no one's actually going to want the one seed, or could we have

seed hunting where they're looking for Sacramento more than they are Phoenix? Would a team rather fall to four than have to play Phoenix? Maybe. It all depends on where Phoenix is. Maybe they end up being the five seed in all this. Could a team go, you know what, New Orleans or Luka for just a series? I would still think New Orleans if they're right and they look good, but who knows, they're also not the greatest bet to have all their dudes all the time. Would a team go, we'd actually rather play the Pelicans, so we'll take a lesser seat. So the race for one may not be about home court at all. Even with Denver, you could see some jockeying there. We saw that before

with the Clippers, right? So Minnesota could have the headline of more days in first place, even though technically being tied, they're out of it with the tiebreaker. They were 17-4 on December 8th. Since then, 18-11. Minnesota's offense since December 9th, which is where that breakpoint of the 18-11 second half of their season, the second half of the first half, however you want to phrase it, 20th on offense, still number one on defense. Fourth quarter, offensive efficiency, 27th. Since December 9th in the fourth quarter, it's actually getting a little bit better. It's 24th. The defense has slipped, though, 9th. Since December 9th, they are 24th on offense in clutch games.

This is not a surprise to anyone that has watched multiple Timberwolves games late. Early on, I was like, might be an issue. It's an issue. It's a real thing. They shot 5 of 20 in the fourth quarter against Orlando. How about that lineup? Paolo, Franz, Wendell Carter, and Isaac out there wreaking havoc. It's just a massive, massive group in Minnesota had a really hard time. But the problem is it wasn't just that matchup. They're having a hard time figuring out who they want to be on offense late and tight games. I know they destroyed Houston. Congrats. Maybe Mike Conley needs another week. Maybe he needs the all-star break. He hasn't been terrific.

I'm always going to worry about Rudy clogging the lane a bit, some key spots. And I think with Anthony Edwards, he'll just go, all right, I got this. This is who I'm supposed to be. This is who my talent tells me that I am. I'm going to get this. And some nights it's really sweet. And some nights it's really, really forced. I'd like to ask what Jaden McDaniels does. I know that sounds entirely unfair because here's what we know that he does really, really well. He is as good on the ball defensively as you're're gonna find he is all over it all right he also fouls guys a lot um he's huge he's long he's all those things the rest of it isn't great i watch it a lot you know when i did a

little bit of a rant on you know the gobert trade last year uh i know we talked about it a lot but it was okay. But down the road without having the draft picks and who knows, maybe all those picks will end up not even being that good and it won't matter. I mean, that's the moving price of all of these picks that have been handed out the last few seasons. But I didn't mention McDaniels is like a real building block of the future and Timberwolves fans are very upset about that. I understand who he is defensively, man. But the late game decision-making with him where you can tell he'll just kind of, I don't know, whether it's, you know, you don't want him to ever not initiate on-ball stuff.

But if it's a tight game, I'd rather he not do it. And he'll just have a moment where he decides, like, I guess I'll just do this. Then there's a pass where you're like, what the hell was that? And then, of course, the foul against Paolo where they were ahead of the game and shot clock. So they were going to have a difference of about five seconds if they were able to get the defensive rebound. You never know. It's not a guarantee, but they played out most of the possession defensively. And then he just went and fouled Paolo anyway. And Finch couldn't believe it. Finch mentioned it in the postgame presser. He's's like we told everybody not to foul

he's obviously very frustrated apparently they had a big film session on everything that broke down in that fourth quarter so if you have somebody in Jaden who's really good defensively but he is simply and he has a really good three-point percentage but he is simply just somebody that provides you a little bit of spacing with the town stuff where the numbers are really good but you know I don't it's just're going to have to be better in the fourth quarter for me to be picking them to win the West is what I'm telling you. And I just like the McDaniel stuff to look a little cleaner. I know he's not going to have the offense run through him at all, but you, you know, that's the thing is if you're not going to have that much pressure on you

offensively, you shouldn't be making that many mistakes. And he does. So Oklahoma city, the only two things on them, and they had the double overtime law, uh, win, excuse me. They came back and beat Toronto last night. Uh, I have alarming Scotty Barnes minutes that I may not share with you right now. I don't think I'm going to, I don't know what was going on with him last night. I'm going to look into it. A lot like he was looking at quickly dribble the air out of the ball for like a fucking hour straight. Yes, he was guarding SGA, and then he was guarding Chet. I'm sure that was tiring.

I am not accepting that I'm so tired that I just don't want the basketball the rest of the time. The plan cannot be for Scottie Barnes to be in the corner on this offense now with Quickly and Barrett out there. I have more to do on that, so I'm not going to do it all right now. So Oklahoma city, it's an age and it'll be a frontline depth thing because watching check just get beat up in that Clippers game. Again, just one game was, was a little concerning. So that leaves Denver, right? If I'm, if I'm talking about the other contenders with the Clippers here, that leaves us Denver. Now, Denver last year, they were not the runaway one seed throughout the course of the season. There's a bunch of

stars going through the standings as it played out over the year. And I was kind of looking at it. So right now, Denver is 35 and 16. But how do they feel? Well, it feels a little bit different, right? Because they're not clearly the one seed and there's these other two teams and Minnesota is new and Oklahoma City is new and Sacramento doesn't get any love is sitting there, the five seed with a nice record. You still wonder what's going to happen with Phoenix. I think it's easy to write off LA and I wrote off Golden State weeks ago. We talked Dallas. Look, I don't have to run through the entire Western Conference to get the point. So Denver's at 35-16.

Last year, through 51 games, 35-16. The exact same record. They were three games up on the two-seed, wait for it, Memphis Grizzlies, who were 32-19. So everybody comes back healthy, add another draft pick. Maybe Memphis is good again next year. Very easy to not remember, to forget it, the better way to say it. The West was just different. Sacramento was five games out as of the standings around this time last year. New Orleans had a weird little run where they were the two seed up until New Year's Eve. So is Denver different even with the West being different? It's just with West, you're like, wait, what's up? Is Memphis actually going to be at one seat? Is New Orleans going to stay healthy? Then what's going on with Sacramento? All of that kind of felt new too, right?

Well, the offense last year for Denver was second in the NBA at 117, 117 points per 100 sessions. Well, it's eighth this year, but it's actually better on offense than it was last year. That just keeps telling us how absurd the offensive numbers continue to get. Defensively, they were 15th at this time last year, this year 12th, almost the exact same number. Last year, they were 14 and 12 on the road. This year, they're 13 and 12 on the road. So it's the same thing. Jokic is just as good. There's literally zero drop-off. You can maybe find a number if you want to, but the four-year run of these numbers are off the charts. He took 15 shots last year. He's actually taken more shots

this year at 17.5. I know that Minnesota is supposedly built to shut down Jokic, and his three games against them last year was 25-10-13. That's what he's averaged. They have three more games against each other this year. It is going to be later. It's way at the end of the year. And then the playoff series five games where it was kind of like, man, Minnesota kind of gave it to Denver there a little bit. He averaged 26, 12, and 9, shot 49 and 50% from the floor and three, and had a 43, 11, and 6 game and the only loss in that series.

Now, visually, I will concede it felt like with that size, at least there was just a way to make it harder on him. There's not a number in there that tells you they got his number because they don't. So that's kind of where I'm at with it, with the Clippers. If I'm comparing it to it, I'm worried about Minnesota's offense and again I didn't do a lot on the Thunder here because I just did a huge segment on it not that long ago and almost all of it is really really positive and they have somebody that's going to be able to get you out of a lot of bad possessions by just getting you a good look with SGA when when that happens in the playoffs like the stuff that works for some players that I don't think is going to work in

the playoffs like SGA have zero concern with that whatsoever. Although I'd say in that Rockets Thunder series, when Chris Paul was still there, he didn't look like the most comfortable playoff guy, but he was a lot younger then. And it's all on him now. So I'd be shocked if all of a sudden he looked like Jalen Johnson in the playoffs last season, which is just an observation because I love Jalen Johnson now with the Hawks. So as I was watching the Nuggets last night, I'm like, hey, isn't it? It's the exact same. It's the same record. The stats are kind of the same, but the Clippers are there. Or instead of Memphis and New Orleans, it's Minnesota and Oklahoma City. Instead of being the one seed of the four seed, but they could be the one seed with a good week. So how different

is it really? It kind of isn't. I know Brown isn't there, but with some of these younger players, you know, Peyton Watson's kind of all over the place, but when it's good, it's pretty good. I think Christian Brown is better. And Aaron Gordman, that guy plays his ass off. He's just undeniable, like the effort that he plays with. So as I watched them close out Portland last night, there was one last thought that I wanted to share. My main man scoot. My main man scoot. I told you I was worried about him early in the season. Well, I am more worried. I should say I'm still worried. I loved him before the draft. It's documented. I do think some people are rooting against him because they want Bill and I to sound like idiots, which is not a new thing. But even when it's good, it isn't that good. He had a great drive left side, got past the defender, got to the rim. Nope. It was actually like a clear look. It wasn't even like that contested. He had a breakaway where it looked like he was going to finish. Didn't. He had an incredible drive where he beat his guy and went for the wraparound pass against the contest at the rim, turnover. The shooting is actually better than it looks if you look at the numbers. He shot it like a pretty decent clip the last couple months. I mean, from three, not overall from the field.

I know he had a lot of assists last night but you know some of them are just he has the ball at the top of the key and he's thrown into the break and the guy makes a three so you're like all right i don't even really know that that that happened or was was like vision it was just hey now i have to pass it to you it's just that it's not that the stats are bad if you look look at the analytics, your computer just freezes. He just turned 20 this weekend. Happy birthday, Scoot. I'll never give up on somebody that I like this much that is this young and is this new because some stories have real bad first chapters, but it's just no denying that I mean even even some little stuff like bobbles the basketball and you're like what is going on here and then I like I'll time it

out to watch certain I'll be like oh hey I got time I'll get Portland on a tv like Scoot's gonna check in I know this is substitution pattern and I'll be watching it going man uh this will go down as one of the all-time misses all time uh but i can't imagine that this is who he's going to be i mean even when i watched like and amen thompson right you cannot shoot the basketball for houston he has moments physically where you're like whoa like if this guy kind of figures out some of the stuff. Like, okay, I know what I'm building on here. I think the most alarming thing with Scoot sometimes is like, God, I didn't think he was going to look this small. And athletically, I don't feel like I see the same guy.

Or maybe it's just being next to NBA people. It's like all of a sudden, it's like, hey, yeah that's it so uh yeah continued alarm now 50 games into this the stats are bad and some of the bad stuff just looks really bad it's just an entry pass somebody grabs it you're like what was what was that um but my official statement is no definitive conclusion talk to me in April of 25. Let's talk football. Happy Super Bowl to all who celebrate from FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook.

If you're like me, Super Bowl Sunday is all about scoring the best seats on the couch, grabbing your favorite football snacks, and placing some super bets. Okay, I am not picking against Mahomes again. So I like it at two and a half. It was at two and a half, one and a half, one. It's back to two and a half here. So that's going to be my play.

I don't want to touch the total in this thing because who knows? Although, you know, these teams have both been in some big games here. So I don't know that you're going to get that super tight first quarter that you can get sometimes and just ruin the over for you. A prop that I feel like is a

little tempting because of the payout, because it's plus 290. Chris Jones and Nick Bosa to each record a half sack or more. So they each have to go half sack, not a full sack each, half sack. I can see Chris Jones late if it's close or if the Niners were down. You know that he's getting his, so really it's about a Bosa bet. He got two last week, even if you would say that the O-line for Detroit felt like they were in control of a good chunk of that game, but Bosa did get himself a couple. If it was even money, I would stay away from it because you get two players in play here for this one, but the fact that it's almost a 3-1 payout at plus 290 as of today is one of the ones that I'll be going with when I'm out there in Vegas. If you're new to FanDuel, join today and you'll get $200 in bonus bets.

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We got Todd McShay on a Monday again. He's been breaking down some tape and of course the Senior Bowl wrapping up. So there's a bunch of different stuff that we want to get to, but I know you've been looking ahead now to the game between the Chiefs and Niners. Give me some game plan breakdown stuff that you're noticing. Yeah. I mean, just looking at the 49ers defensively,

right? We've talked a lot about all the big names on the defensive side and obviously linebacker. There's not a better inside linebacker duel than Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. But I don't think their run defense, and I don't know if you've seen this, but to me their run defense, I think they're like 4.1 yards allowed, which I think was in the top 15 of the league during the regular season in terms of yards per carry allowed. it was in the top 15 of the league during the regular season in terms of yards per carry allowed but I just don't think their run defense is as good as people think and I think we saw with

Detroit right like Detroit came out and and ran the ball and that was that was their attack they they ran the ball nine of 16 plays so like we've talked about the 15 play script, right? Like coming out, offensive coordinator spends a week game planning. What do you want to attack? And clearly for Ben Johnson, Detroit, it was, we want to run the football on them. Nine of 16 plays, as I said, were run plays. They had a hundred yards rushing on their first nine carries. That's 11 yards per carry. And even if you take out that 42-yard reverse from Jamison Williams, they still averaged 7.3 yards. So I think you're going to see something similar from Kansas City.

And remember last week we talked about the Chiefs, their first 11-play scoring drive, their first 15-play script. It was all about quick game and running the football. It was screen right to Kelsey. It was outlet pass to Pacheco left when he was flexed out. It was screen pass to Rasheed Rice. And then it was running the ball five out of six times. So it's something that Kansas City's comfortable doing.

Their offensive line, as we keep documenting, is much improved from a year ago and continues to get better. I think Isaiah Pacheco is going to be the difference in the run game for Kansas City. I completely believe that that will be the plan for the Chiefs coming in with Andy Reid. And you look at what Pacheco's done, 63 carries in three playoff games, 255 yards. It's an average of 21 carries for 85 yards in three playoff games. I'm not, we'll get to a couple of props because everyone likes betting props. But like, to me, if I was, if I was betting and trying to pick out like, who are the players that are going to stand out in this game, I'm going over on Pacheco rushing yards, which last

I saw was 67 and a half, and I'm going over 16 and a half carries for Pacheco. So to me, like there's a couple things I want to attack if I'm Kansas City and the cornerbacks, we'll get to that next, but I don't know what you see, but to me, Ryan, like Pacheco has a chance to be a huge part of this game plan. And I think especially early on as Kansas City is trying to establish what they're doing offensively, look for Pacheco to be a big part of it. I agree with you. Well, if you look at the numbers and it's only the playoffs, so you're talking about two games to the Niners and then a bunch of these teams only playing one game, but they're the second worst rush defense so far ahead of only Pittsburgh averaging,

well, the opponent's averaging almost like 160 yards per game. And I think the transition and what to expect from Pacheco is perfect here, because if you look at the balance on the end of the box score after the game is over, you're like, man, Kansas City had all this great balance. You're like, yeah, OK. But in the second half, it came to a point where I've argued I don't think they were trying to take a knee on five straight possessions where they punted in the second half. It's Baltimore's defense.

But clearly balance and then running things out and knowing, okay, you can rely on Mahomes when you absolutely need it, like you did on that sixth possession where they go to victory formation. But I loved the balance on those two ridiculous drives. Those first two drives for Kansas City were 15 minutes combined.

It's a quarter of football on their first two drives. And it felt like they wanted to show them everything and to keep them honest. And even though every handoff inside feels like a wasted attempt at Mahomes doing something spectacular, which is what football is today. And with some of these quarterbacks, I don't necessarily blame teams for getting like crazy pass happy. But man, was I impressed with those drives and it just it felt like we're gonna show you as much as we can show you here early on and then pacheco runs again he's he's this no one's charlie garner to me but that's the ferocity with which he runs with okay he runs and remember joe Tooney was out too at guard.

Like they're one of the best guards in the league and he was out and they still were able to establish the run. Yeah. And I'm not telling you I'm locked into the right guard the entire time, but. Come on, you know you are. It's one thing to get pushed back,

but it's also another thing to become a liability. And that's a little bit what I saw from the backup, but, you know, maintaining something and keeping the guy engaged in the block. So it wasn't this massive problem. And I'll admit too, we spent all preseason going to the Ravens have enough talent up front. And then they leave the league in sacks. They've got all these incredible pressure stats and this is probably a little unfair because there's so many different parts of the game but it was like yeah that felt pretty

neutralized and also Mahomes has a lot to do with it and then I thought there was a stretch where maybe they were getting to him a little so look man I'm with you because it's it's easy to think of all the names of the Niners but based on the way the two playoff games have played out and just knowing how important Pacheco is. And again, every carry feels like somebody, they break the huddle and they go, this is going to be the last carry of your life. Yes.

Yes. And that's how he runs it. And he runs like he's, like, he's afraid of like someone's chasing, you know, like his life is on the line every time. It's awesome. So you mentioned the corners. Give me some more on that, because that's something that we saw, look, in the Green Bay game.

And then, you know, you were wondering, you know, Detroit likes to live in the middle of the field a lot like Shanahan's offense as well. So, you know, it's not like you're just going to be hitting these deep shots down the seams. But against Kansas City, what do you see there with the corner matchup for San Francisco? Well, Ambry Thomas came in and took over for Isaiah Oliver, who turned out to be a bust as an acquisition at that number three corner spot. That was around midseason, maybe a little bit after midseason. And coverage has improved for San Francisco, but it's still not great.

This is not a group where I say, and clearly Steve Wilks, the defensive coordinator, you watch some of the things they do defensively. They've got to protect themselves, and that leads to some of the problems or issues they've had versus the run at times. Charverius, Ward, Demo, Lenore, they're the starters, and Ambry Thomas comes in, and Lenore, I think, covers in the slot. And Thomas goes outside. But Thomas is the number three when they're in nickel,

which is a high percentage of the time, like most teams in the league. Again, they've been okay. They haven't been great. The question is, there's no question that when they try to attack these corners, it's going to be play action. They're going to try to establish the run. There's going to be play action. They're going to try to establish the run. There's going to be some early short game, quick game stuff. But there's got to be some times where you say, we got to take some chances against these

corners. When they do it, how they do it off of play action will be a big thing. But I guess my question is, if you're Andy Reid, and I don't know, maybe it's just because I'm a weirdo and i love this stuff but like if i'm sitting in andy reed's office this week and last week especially as you're like studying and game planning how do we attack that weakness do we trust valdez scantling you know mbs comes out he had that big game ceiling catch week, but it was like everyone took this deep breath, and he made the play.

But history has shown us throughout the season that he's very inconsistent at best. And so Rasheed Rice is a quick game hero. Get him the ball three yards out, get him the ball on the screen, quick slant those sorts of things let him work after the catch like to me Rashid Rice and what he's done 12 catches in the last two playoff games he's and you look at all the other wide receivers MBS has led all the other receivers with four catches in the last two games two in in each of them. It's been the Rasheed Rice show at wide out for Kansas City. But I look at it like there's two parts to Rasheed Rice's success.

First is Andy Reid getting him open, screening him, quick game, moving personnel around, motions, doing all these different things to allow him to get quick separation. And then where Rasheed's talent comes in is from the catch and the quick transition up the field and creating after the catch. But find me a guy on that team where you say, you know what? We can line him up one-on-one. Get Ambry Thomas.

Get Traverius Ward. Get Demo Lenore one-on-one off a play action where we know we're going to get the safety to bite and we believe in what we can do down the field. That to me is the question mark. I looked at it with MVS, his over-under is 19 and a half receiving yards. I don't think he's going to have a big game, but I'll be surprised if he doesn't have a 20 plus yard catch, like one or two catches in this game for over 20 yards. So if we're looking at some of these props, I don't think he's going to have a big game, but I think he's going to have one or two big catches in the game just because of San Francisco's weakness at corner and the fact that they know they've got to take away the run

and they've got to do something. Everything they have to do is within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, really. You've got to limit Kelsey. You've got to take away the short game as much as you can from Rice. And you've got to slow down Pacheco in the run game. So I expect to see those safeties walked up a lot. I expect to see crowded boxes. And San Francisco, even though they don't trust and love their corners, they've got to believe in them enough versus these receivers in Kansas City that have been inconsistent all year and don't run good vertical routes, don't run good intermediate routes at all.

So like that, and I know everyone's going to be watching the Super Bowl and you've parties and all that, but like when I'm sitting down to watch the game, I'm studying like, what is Wilks doing? When does Andy Reid want to take his shots off a play action? Who does he target with them? How many times does he do that? Or does he just say, hey, we've got to win by running the ball and trusting that Kelsey's going to come out

and have a big game? Because listen, everyone knows Kelsey's their guy. Everyone knows that Kelsey did not have the season that we expect to see from him. But in playoff time, this guy finds a way. And Mahomes trusts him more than anyone on the field, period. Over six and a half receptions in six of the last eight games in the playoffs. Over 69.5 receiving yards in 12 straight playoff games for Travis Kelsey. That's the longest streak in NFL history. So the one thing that you can count on if you're Wilks, the coordinator for San Francisco, is that Kelsey's going to be

involved. He's going to be highly targeted. We saw last game was what, 11 catches? I think he broke Jerry Rice's receptions in the playoffs record. So you know he's going to be targeted. How do we limit the effectiveness though though, of Kelsey while limiting Rasheed Rice and limiting the run game? We do that by playing man-to-man on the outside and trusting that Valdez, Scantling, or the other receivers are going to make mistakes, and they're not going to win this football game. I mean, MVS has had more than two catches once all season,

where he had three against the Chargers. So he had a 32-yarder against Baltimore, and it's huge. And despite what – Kadarius Toney's been the guy the headline don't trust, but MVS has had his moments as well. But it's like, okay, but who do you think? He's just never going to have a big catch ever at any point. But when you start looking at the prop part of that and you start looking at his history, like it's a tough over to take.

All right, give me a couple of your favorite props here on FanDuel. looking at his history, it's a tough over to take. All right, give me a couple of your favorite props here on FanDuel. Well, I told you, I think Pacheco is going to be over 67.5 rushing yards and over 16.5 attempts. I think that would be number one. Christian McCaffrey is interesting. If we switch over to the 49ers game plan, they've got to run the football. We know that that's the weakness of the defense for the Chiefs.

And I was really surprised. Like Baltimore, and I know that Lamar was supposed to take over that game. They trusted him coming off that 100 yards rushing in the first playoff game. They only handed the ball, right, to their running backs six times. And they got behind early, started to panic. They just were forcing things. But against this Chiefs defense, you've got to run the football. So my mindset is McCaffrey's got to have a big game running the ball.

But the other part of it is Spagnola, the defensive coordinator, knows that. And if you've got two weeks to prep for this game, the number one thing is take away McCaffrey as a receiver, as a runner. If we can limit McCaffrey, we got a really good chance of winning this game. We saw if we can limit the rushing for Lamar Jackson, if we can blitz him and confuse him and give him different looks and take away that first look, we have a chance to beat Baltimore. And that's what they did. So you give Spags two weeks to prepare for that.

I think McCaffrey, even I don't ever expect San Francisco to get away from the run game or to kind of abandon it. But I think it's going to come to a point where the focus shifts to Debo versatility, Kittle at tight end, different, you know, Brandon Ayuk at wide receiver, Purdy running the football. I think those are going to be more of the things as the game plan goes on and as it evolves throughout the game, I think McCaffrey will be involved, but I think that's going to be the number one priority for the Chiefs is to limit him. So, you know, under 18.5 rushing attempts that McCaffrey has had in five of the last six playoffs game. The only over, they did come against Detroit in the last outing. But he, in the playoffs, has been typically under 19 rushing attempts and under 90.5 rushing yards in three of the last four playoff games. And the Chiefs haven't allowed a 90-yard rusher in 15 straight playoff games. So

while McCaffrey will absolutely be a focus and they'll try to figure out ways to get him involved, I think the Chiefs historically have done a good job of taking away the number one rusher for the opponent. And I think they'll do it in this game game so while I'm going over for Pacheco with the rushing yards and rushing attempts I would go under for McCaffrey I really would I think the Chiefs are going to dial into that and to me like that that's going to be a critical part and then the one that I love the most and I just I of mentioned it, Brock Purdy. We saw in the second half, I think it was 48 rush yards. His only 48 rushing yards in the game, the last outing against Detroit. When he started to run the football, that's when the offense took off.

It was like that one extra. We've got Ayuk. We've got Debo. We've got Kittle. We've got McCaffrey. But we have to utilize so many resources to bottle those guys up or protect ourselves against those four, that when Purdy is decisive, looks his first read, decides it's not there, and is willing to tuck and run, that's when this offense starts to click.

And I looked at it before. I had it here. Oh, 11.5 rush yards. I get the sacks and all that stuff, but 11.5 rush yards is the over-under for Purdy. I think his legs are going to be a big part of this game. I would go over on the rushing yards for Brock Purdy. Let's transition then to the Senior Bowl. I know this is a big part of the prep. Let me ask you this real quick. Sorry to jump in. Okay. Who do you like? Kansas City. I'm just not going against Mahomes three weeks in a row. I'm never going to do that again. Yeah, it's brutal, isn't it? I'm not trying to be super – although I don't know if anybody's ever gone from the GOAT to then it'll be overrated. Because just a year ago, it's like, well, if Mahomes doesn't get this one, then he's one and two in the Super Bowls.

How can you really say this? And now basically we're just looking at Mahomes going, I think you're lying to yourself. You think anyone's actually played the position as well as he's ever played it. But to be on pace for Brady's resume, which is actually in play here, is an insane thing. But then that's a lot of assumptions just based on pace, which is not really the way sports work out. pace, which is not really the way sports work out. But if you were to lose, I don't know if we've ever had somebody go from like, Hey, this early, we want to make you the goat to Monday being like, a little overrated, missing throws. So, uh, I love the Niners talent. I love all this stuff. I just wish that front match the name recognition. I don't, I don't feel like I know Bosa got a couple last week. I don't feel like there is pressure that is wreaking havoc on an offensive game plan the way the names would think you.

When you look at the depth chart and you're like, oh, my God. But, you know, if you watch and I've watched a lot of Niners this year, if you watch them enough, you're like, how come that just isn't more of a weapon? Sam Fran has a better football team. I'm convinced of it. They're more complete. I agree with you on the front four defensively. They need to play bigger and better. Let's just do it.

Let's do it quick. O-line, who's better? Chiefs right now. Right, but it's their interior against the tackles. Correct, yes. Okay, all right. So D-line, who's better? Oh, I still think San Fran, but it's close.

It's real close. With the way Karloftis has come along? I mean, Chris Jones is better than any single defensive lineman for San Francisco. Okay. I agree. Linebackers. San Fran, easy.

I like Kansas City's linebackers, and I'm not even going to discuss it. Secondary's Kansas City. Secondary is Kansas City. Secondary is Kansas City. Receivers is San Francisco. Big time, though. Like, huge, huge gap. And that, to me, is the biggest difference in this game. Running back, we like Pacheco a lot, but obviously McCaffrey.

Quarterback is Mahomes. Right, if you're including the tight end part of it like as much like kittle's the more complete tight end i mean kittle gets some of these blocks off against these defensive ends and he's but i mean in a playoff game if in a one game playoff game i'm taking kelsey over kittle but if you combine kittle with iuk and debo versus what kansas city has in terms of past past catching weapons but also like here's the deal You combine Kittle with Iuke and Debo versus what Kansas City has in terms of pass-catching weapons. But here's the deal.

San Francisco's a better football team. If I were betting this game, I would want to take San Francisco, but I can't get over this. Mahomes, as an underdog, is frightening. 10-1-1 against the spread as an underdog, including the playoffs where he has nine outright wins, including the playoffs, but nine outright wins in terms of his 10-one-and-one record in his career as an underdog. And he's 3-0 straight up as an underdog in the playoffs. 3-0. So like all these matchups, all the different things the weapons that sam fran has to me like

they're the more complete football team and if that front four plays you know gets a little bit if sam fran gets a lead in the front four starts to to hunt like i i can see san francisco san francisco winning i just can't bet against my homes yeah it sucks i tried to do it the last couple weeks was a great time. The whole time I did. The Bills thing was like a Bills moment and picking Niners Bills for the Super Bowl in August. And then, you know, against Baltimore, I just knew. I was like, whatever you say is going to be wrong here.

I just thought it was the big step up. We already covered all this stuff, listeners of the pod. Okay. Let's do a little Senior Bowl here and some draft stuff. I know that everything I sent you this morning, we may not even need to get to all of it. We can just do it another time, but senior bowl specific. And then also with Kingsbury going to the commanders. So let's just go in any direction you want on the senior bowl. Um, you know, there were a lot of guys that jumped out and I don't want to, you

know, waste a lot of time on it. We have, we've few months to get into all the draft stuff, but I thought of all the quarterbacks and it was kind of an underwhelming week to be out like spencer rattler from south carolina played really well in the game i thought he got better as the week went on very talented quarterback but has had his ups and downs and you know we can get into all that but i thought my like during practice watching it throughout the week and sitting here this ip iPad studying the tape that we got, you know, from every practice, which is awesome, by the way, like just sitting down and watching tape from every practice, like every individual practice. And I'll just show you like, it's incredible what you can do not even being there. Cause you wouldn't let me go down this year. You, you

prevented me from, from having the opportunity. You were asking me to go to mobile alabama days before i have to go to vegas and then um wherever i end up going for all-star break which would not be indianapolis anyway i won't go punching the password and all that right now but the bottom line is pretty cool to be able to break break it all down but i thought there were a handful like of the quarterbacks michael pennix during the week was the best quarterback there beau nix i thought kind of struggled throughout the week got a little bit better towards the end played limited in the in the game pennix did not play in the game he he had a one good drive bo nix did but i thought pennix in terms like just the way the ball comes out the accuracy throwing when he when he wasn't able to step up and throw, he just – but it's all going to come down to his evaluation in terms of the durability.

You know, we've talked about that before. But in a very deep quarterback class, Penix, to me, is one of the most polarizing. We've got Caleb Williams. We've got Drake May from North Carolina. We know about Jaden Daniels from LSU. The season he's coming off winning the Heisman. You know, Bo Nix is Bo Nix. J.J. McCarthy, can he be a better pro, more productive than in college when that, you

know, where he's limited by the system, but with such a great, you know, team player. But Penix, to me, is one of, if not the most pure passer. But the limitations we saw in that championship game when he doesn't have protection really scare you with the lack of ideal mobility and then the durability issues. Like there's a lot to kind of sift through there with Michael Penix, but he absolutely is a pull. I think it was Bruce Feldman, our buddy Bruce.

I saw him last week going back in the story that Penix had and what he's been through and had to overcome. It's remarkable. And you love that because you want to see a guy with character, game experience, having a transfer, playing his best football late in his career. Those are things that matter in terms of what you're getting from a character guy. But some scouts are saying, you know,

we've got a day three grade on him. We wouldn't draft him. Some scouts are like you know we've got a day three grade on them we we wouldn't draft them some scouts are like uh maybe late first second round like that's for a quarterback this late in the process like careers old and we're not talking about like we've had guys recent years like 13 starts right like where like people are all over the board because you just don't know and maybe i don't like we know what mich Penix is. He's got all the tape out there. And still to have scouts from different teams going to Bruce and Bruce getting actual grades, guys saying late first, second round, and other guys saying sixth, seventh round, free agent, undrafted, pretty remarkable at this point. So he's going to be a fascinating guy to

watch in this year's class. Darius Robinson, defensive lineman from Missouri. I mean, not a household name. He was dominant. My favorite part about the Senior Bowl is you get these one-on-ones and these group drills and then these team drills, and then you've got the game. You, like, every single year I walk away from the Senior Bowl, I'm like, all right, those, whether it's seven, nine, 11 guys,

whatever it is, it's always less than 15, usually in like that six to 10 range of players. These are the best football players. We saw it on tape. We know they're good, but let's put them, you know, best versus best one-on-one drills, these group drills where you can actually see the skillset and see them work day in and day out for three straight days. There's always the cream that rises to the top. And Darius Robinson, to me, you know, was the body type, the versatility, a three technique, a five technique. Robinson's a name to watch, and I think he's going to be a first-round draft pick coming out of Missouri.

Another name that people don't know, Quinion Mitchell from Toledo. This cornerback class, you get two corners from Alabama, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Terry Armstead. We've got some big name guys. Quinion Mitchell showed this week he was the best defensive player, I thought, at the entire senior bowl. And maybe is in the running, let's say, in the conversation to be CB1, if you will, the top cornerback in this draft class coming out of Toledo. So that's a pretty remarkable story. Brandon Fisk, a defensive tackle from Florida State, short arms, 31-inch arms, but my goodness, he's quick and explosive. And every single one-on-one drill, it felt like he won with quickness and explosion.

And then the guys that I think, this wide receiver class, and I know we've talked about it before that 2020 group where we had Jerry Judy and, um, and CD lamb and Justin Jefferson and Michael Pittman, like that group was loaded. I think this year's class might be as deep. And you start with Marvin Harrison, Jr. might be as deep. And you start with Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabors from LSU, Romo Dunze from Washington, another LSU guy in Brian Thomas, Adonai Mitchell from Texas, Keon Coleman, Florida State, Troy Franklin, Oregon. But then the guys at the Senior Bowl that stood out, there were three of them. I think they're all in day two conversations.

We're talking round two and round three. Ladd McConkie from Georgia. In that system, you don't get a ton of opportunities, so he didn't put up big numbers. His route running, his speed and acceleration, his ball skills are second to none in this class. I think he's got a chance to be maybe a late first-round pick, somewhere probably more likely an early second round.

But he's one of those guys, plug play, slot receiver right away, Puka Nakua type, you know, who comes in, has, I'm not saying he's going to have that production. It was record setting for a rookie, but I think he's going to be a big time contributor, plug and play starter right away. Roman Wilson from Michigan, another similar situation to McConkie at Georgia, right? again. Another similar situation to McConkie at Georgia, right? A lot of tight ends, the production's not there. Only, I think, 46, 48 catches this past year, but Roman Wilson is explosive, and he showed it throughout the week. He stood out as just a different level of speed and playmaking ability. And then Malachi Corley from Western Kentucky. Don't know that name now, but people will know it as we get closer to the draft. He's the closest thing we have to Debo Samuel in this class.

Versatility, built like a running back in the lower half, really explosive after the catch, really strong running after the catch. So to me, McConkie, Roman Wilson from Michigan, Malachi Corley from Western Kentucky were the three real standouts in this wide receiver group that has a chance to be one of the best we've seen in like a decade. Cliff is, look, I know him a little, so I'm a little biased. So I defend him when people think he did this awful job in Arizona, when I'm like, the franchise stunk. They actually started winning games. He was brought in to develop Kyler Murray.

I think there was even a time where I really liked Kyler. And depending on however you feel about him or all the bullshit that seems to be around, like who is he, is he going to get mature enough to actually be somebody the locker room respects because that's certainly been a real thing with him um i just think he's going to get hurt all the time because i think when he takes a hit it hurts him more than other quarterbacks so even if you liked him and love the tape and all that stuff that's a that's a big commitment and what are you going to get so now he comes in as an oc for the commanders uh what does this mean for you it's interesting i mean colin cowherd right comes out with a report that that caleb

williams and his camp they do not want to go to chicago makes that report several and and listen colin's not the guy i listen to for reports but he's you know he's a usc guy he's out in la with you and you know manhattan beach and and saw him yesterday saw him at the grocery store we were talking about yeah yeah we're at bristol farms bonds no dude come on no you're better than that went to bristol farms because this most underrated because the most underrated grocery store in los angeles okay who is there an official list that we can double check but i agree with him on that one all right so go ahead i'm i'm with you like if it's an sc thing and it's cowherd i'm like okay he might know

something right so i'm listening a little but then he but then he comes out a few days later and apparently someone from from caleb caleb williams camp said you know we're not saying we don't want to go to chicago we don't want to go to a place apparently like they don't love football there's not a great passion for Chicago has that passion, whatever it was. So he walked that back. Listen, if I'm Ryan Poles, the GM for Chicago, and I've said this from the beginning, it's a no brainer. As long as we've worked through the character stuff, the immaturity questions that have been raised, and we have months to get into all those things.

And I have great insight and we can talk about all of that stuff. And especially as we get closer to the draft and more people want to talk about what's being said in their war room, like you and I will get news that most people are not getting. And this is the only place that I'm going to share it. Right. But there is a there's a narrative out there about is caleb ready to handle this like we've talked about like crying with mom in the stands i don't care about that no i know i know no i know but i'm telling you i just can't believe people bringing that up the fucking guy lost a big game and crying i understand but i'm saying there are people in the league that are concerned about how is he gonna he didn't want to talk to the media after some losses, like all those things, like, how's he going to,

is he mature enough and ready to be that guy? I'm just saying, if they, if you get through that process and I tend to agree with you based off the information we have, and you say, yes, he can be that guy and he's mentally mature. And I truly believe he can be that guy physically. He's the closest thing to Mahomes that we've seen come out in the draft, okay? So if you're Chicago and you're saying, if we develop this guy properly and we protect him the way that Kansas City protected

and nurtured Mahomes early on in his career, we got a chance to get a special, special player. And we've got him on a rookie contract for five years because of the first round and the fifth year option for first round players. This is how you rebuild your organization. This is how we take the next step versus paying Justin Fields a boatload of money just because he's coming off of a really strong end of the season. So I think that's the play. But if you're Chicago, you're picking at one, the Carolina trade. You're also picking at nine in a class.

I just listed off all those great wide receivers. Marvin Harrison Jr. is going to be gone. But very likely, the first three picks are going to be quarterbacks. You've got great offensive tackles in this group that are going to go pretty quickly as well. And you've got Brock Bowers, who could be one of the picks. So when you get to nine, if you don't get Malik Neighbors, you're probably getting Romo Dunze. You've got a chance to get one of the picks. So like when you get to nine, you're probably, if you don't get Malik neighbors, you're probably getting Romo Dunze. You know, like you got a chance to get one of those guys. So now all of a sudden we can get a Caleb Williams at one. We can hopefully get into Dunze at nine or maybe like a Brian Thomas. We can move back, whatever it is. Or do we get even

more picks for an organization that's still rebuilding. Move back even from one to two. And if we have a close grade with like Drake May compared to Caleb or Jaden Daniels, which a lot of teams are in love with Jaden Daniels from LSU compared to Caleb Williams, let's move back one. Let's get another first rounder next year and a second rounder this year and a second or third round next year. Let's get even more picks and continue this rebuild and get a quarterback that we still absolutely love at number two and let Washington move up I mean that really will be the the big discussion over the

next couple of months you know in the next three months really February March April that that's what we what Chicago is is looking Washington, listen, just because they brought in Cliff doesn't mean the only guy he can coach is Caleb. Yeah, that's insane. Like, I'm glad you finally said it because I was going to bring it in. It's like, oh, well, maybe this means the commanders are going to be like, well, I mean, sure, maybe they could if there's a price. But here's the thing.

Now, Caleb didn't have necessarily his – he didn't have his best year with Cliff there, you know, this past year. But if he loves Cliff, is there – like, quarterbacks like Caleb coming out are the only ones that have kind of any power. We saw with Eli Manning. You know, we've seen a few times in the past. People go back to, like, Elway and all that. Like, it's the only time in the NFL that you – coming out in the draft that you have any kind of power is if you're one of these elite, elite quarterbacks. And so if Caleb really does want to

be with Cliff, he can put up a stink and make it uncomfortable for Chicago. Where do they get to the point? Like, you know what? Fuck them. We're going to move out of number one. We're going to go to two. We're going to get a bunch of draft picks. We're going to get a guy that wants to be here that we love, that we believe in, and we'll let Washington move up and go get that pick. So that's the only twist I could see is if Caleb decides to make this real uncomfortable for Chicago over the next few months, and that's why this hire makes it interesting, right? Like Cliff comes in, and does Caleb want to be with him that much?

And yes, Caleb played at Gonzaga, and I played with a bunch of guys from Gonzaga in college, and it's a big prep school and a big college football factory in D.C., and he knows the area and from there, all that stuff. But that's not why you draft a guy, and that's not the whole thing. It's does he want to be with Cliff that badly? Because you're reading all this stuff, like Schefter's putting out Gonzaga High School.

Really, it comes down to is he going to put up a stink to the point where Chicago is like, beat it. That's fine. We're going to move on. We're going to get more from moving out of one to two and get our quarterback anyway with all the extra picks than we are just staying at one, taking Caleb and having them kind of pitch a fit.

Yeah, see, that just made it interesting. Now it all just made it interesting. So we have three months now where speculation and rumors and how does Caleb respond? And Caleb's dad's a little overbearing. And everyone knows that he'll get his message out there through their camp and all that stuff. So this is going to be fascinating, I think, for the next few months because of that Washington pick with Cliff there sitting at two, trying to rebuild that whole organization, new ownership, all the excitement. Are they going to be willing to make a push and are they going to work the back door with Caleb and say, hey, this is what we need you to do to kind of wear down Chicago where we can make a deal with them? That like we don't see that.

We always have draft drama and all sorts of stories and who are they going to pick? But rarely do we have a player in a position that could be working behind the scenes with an organization picking it too to try to make this happen if he wants to make it happen. That I don't know yet. I don't know how much he loves Cliff. Maybe he's like, I was with Cliff last year. Didn't go as well as I hoped. And maybe I'm better off in Chicago. We'll see. Yeah. It didn't go as well last year because the team wasn't as good. I understand that. I just don't know how much he loves him. Right. The whole thing turned into a mess. But I think the most important thing as far as like Cliff being named is maybe all that, the machinations, like all these things.

But I was like, oh, so now if he gets Drake May, it's like, why did we bring in Kingsbury to run the offense? Like, I think you're going to be all right. Like, I think it's okay. There wasn't just one guy. Yeah, and same with Jaden Daniels. Like, whoever it is, he can coach any of them. Right.

It's going to be fun, man. Look, I know we have more that we want to get to. Let's save a little of it, and we will watch the Super Bowl, and then we'll talk soon, all right? All right. Can't wait. I'll talk to you soon. You want details?

Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible.

Let me tell you what's required. Life advice, the email address is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. What is up to Kyle? What is up to Steve? Okay. Kyle repping the Johnnies today. See that see that yeah a couple big losses but we got we got depaul coming up that should be a get right we got depaul coming up get easy i like it though yeah it sounds like you might not where is this coming from i didn't know you

were into the johnnies uh i kind of was like a man without a country and then i was like you know what let's pick something on the ground floor. I've been fascinated with Patino for years. I mean, really, really got into it during his, during his, well, I said fascinated, but sure, yeah, I'm a fan. Really got into like the Greek when he was over in Greece and that insane owner. And I was just like, I'm on Patino watch 24 seven.

And I feel like, you know, New York is the place for him. And here we go. And I'm excited for Marquette after we get right against DePaul. I saw something recently about him complaining about the NIL and Transfer Portal. And his entire team is Transfer Portal players. Is that true? Hey, dude, you got to be even handed.

You never know which hand is going to stab you. I like that. Cal's got Drake and he's picking up dudes by the day and rick's like pitbull's my guy now he's got pitbull courtside and uh he was trying to get tommy yeah mr 305 yeah and he saw you know he tried to jump on the tommy devito train uh as soon as it happened he knew you know it was going to be short-lived so he's he's doing everything he can st john's it's it's the arrow is pointing up the arrow is pointing up also big east is so back i don't know if you've been watching big east basketball it's so back it's never going to be back well it's not that back but it's back from

last couple years very sensitive subject for me yeah i know all right i was thinking about it the other day no it's okay like the roman empire just told me i was actually thinking about big cat i was thinking about big cat. I was thinking about how absurd college football is. And he tells me how I'm wrong because there's always been realignment. You're like, yeah, this is normal. You know? And if I'm a big 10 fan or an sec fan, I'm less likely to be bothered by all this stuff. So I started thinking of his selfishness and I started thinking about how he tells me like, Oh, she is. Yeah. Right. It's always, Oh, it's always been this way.

It's always been this way. Yeah, because Wisconsin isn't disrupted. Wisconsin is an Oregon state right now. You're going to tell me Beavers fans are like, no, Big Cat's right. This is fucking cool. And so then I started thinking about the Big East and how I would watch Big East Monday over any NBA game.

It didn't matter. You could offer me tickets to an NBA game. I'm home watching Raph, Billis, and McDonough. I wasn't going to miss those games. Big East tournament, I shut it down. You don't even – You're not going to hear from me. I'm going to be watching Seton Hall and Providence.

I don't care if it's the first game. I don't care what the seeds are. By the way, those games are still really fun now with Seton Hall and Providence. I don't care if it's the first game. I don't care what the seeds are. By the way, those games are still really fun now with Seton Hall and Providence. They are, but it's just... I know, I know, I know. I'm just saying, if you want to dip your toe back in, it's not a bad time.

You're still kind of in the ground-up phase. Basically, I taped St. John's Yukon because I was like, wait, the way my day works here today, I go, I'm just going to tape it. And I told my father, I was like, don't tell me what happened, even though I kind of knew what was going happen but uh i don't have one of the coolest things that you could have ever had to grow so i grew up you know i was in high school 2002 2006 and one of the coolest like flexes you could ever pull on anyone was like hey my dad pulled me out of school because we're going to we're going to the garden to watch the big east

tournament today and like i my dad was never a big sports guy so i was always like incredibly jealous of those guys but i had so many friends that would do that it was just like that was the time every year where people would do that and go down i mean the names and the players and the teams like i'm i live in yukon country my wife went to yukon i'm not a yukon grad i'm not a yukon fam but actually hurley lives in the town i live in so see him around every once in a while shouts out to him he's an awesome coach but uh it's just that that era, like it's just there's nothing like it. There's just not. And I get we get the realignment.

We get all that. Why that stuff happened. But it was one of the coolest sporting things of my entire life. I just remember in college, the Iverson Ray Allen thing. And there wasn't one guy that clearly we were at UVM. So we're not at any big East schools. And whatever was going on that day was just it didn't matter. Like it didn't. Now't now granted it's not like

college kids aren't watching college basketball but to have 20 guys getting together because they all grew up with the big east and it meaning what it meant and look it's selfish because it it meant that to us growing up and i can't well i don't know. It was objectively cool. Even if, even if you weren't in that, like the group who like watched it, it was objectively cool. No, I mean, they had, they had runs that go back even, even longer where it was just this absurd kind of like SEC dominance. And then I remember just always, you know, doing the bracket and I'd be like, ah, you know,

I'm going to put a couple of big East teams a little bit further. Cause it always felt like they outperformed. Pit always went further. Yep. Yeah. And then Syracuse would have that zone and you just feel like, ah, you know, I'm going to put a couple of big East teams a little bit further because it always felt like they outperformed. Pitt always went further. Yep. Yeah. And then Syracuse would have that zone and you just feel like, yeah, they're good. Pencil them into the 16, even though they didn't even look that good this year. So, yeah.

I don't know. Whenever it comes up. I love the hoodie, though. Shout out. Where'd you get it? Did you get it? I imagine you didn't pay for that. St. John's Bookstore.

I wanted to go right to the source. You paid for it, ordered it and everything? Yeah. I got some more stuff coming they're sending it in in waves i think they've got a really bad system over there uh and it's and it's like it's actually like materials you've never heard of like it's like sports stars or whatever like it's just a you know it's not not like the big brand so i like helping out the i like going straight to the source i ordered in the late 90s i ordered the

jump man like the first jordan stuff and like the shooting shirt and would wear it around like i wouldn't wear it out on a friday night but you know i would just kind of wear it i mean be like what are you in the layup line be like i don't care yeah maybe me and bootsy thornton gonna get some shots up that's like a guy now who wears like the compression under armor or like dry fit shirt just like with pants and like a belt. You're like, wow. I love that. I went from, I mean, it's such an incredible move.

I think I see it at baseball stadiums more than anywhere else where it'll just be long sleeve under armor compression. Maybe even the tact inside of the forearms just in case you're a receiver and just you know a little extra traction there yeah and the guy almost always has a gut too and yeah that's crazy and like at first when it first started happening when under armor was like on top of it right like they were the ones like i have a couple pieces that i think i finally moved on from but i was like remember how badass you thought this thing was to wear underneath something like okay you know personal records today and then guys just started wearing them out like leaving the house and at first you're just like what a clown and then i just 180 the

whole thing and just went you know what i have so much respect for a guy that just goes yeah you guys you guys want to go out tonight yep all right hold on let me throw on my full compression long sleeve do you want to see every worst angle i've ever had because uh it's coming at you wait till i bend down and tie this shoe just walking up to him like i need a kidney and i think you're a match or is it like a spanx for men thing where it just kind of holds everything together it doesn't though no it doesn't man maybe we need to make that even the extra strong one it's still it still rounds you out you know right because then they started doing stuff with like the the the stomach area where it was like this different

texture yeah like i haven't eaten healthy in 30 years but let me throw this on all right like do you think we'll have to wait in line yes i do all right let's read a couple emails here we got a female chiming in we love that excuse me woman yep and um i saw some of that from the michael porter jr's w nba comments i was like i opened the comments just to find one at ryan ever so i didn't find one but i was like there's got to be one in here no but then i i read it gave me a little bit more perspective something i i didn't quite understand uh nothing that michael porter jr gave me a little bit more perspective something I didn't quite understand nothing that Michael Porter Jr. gave me more perspective I think we can just

kind of put him in a category of like hey man do we need to spend a ton of time breaking down his thoughts on stuff I just think we could all do ourselves a favor by just going with certain news

it is kind of amazing that dudes keep stepping on that landmine but then by just going with certain dudes. Give us a fuck what Ja Rule thinks at a time like this, man. Yeah, right. It is kind of amazing that dudes keep stepping on that landmine, but then it's like the people who are just looking

for that kind of concert are like, yes, perfect. I have my entire Twitter feed planned out today. This is going to be great. Yes. Okay, Thread. One of 74.

You're like, hey, we agree with you but like what were your expectations here remember when he's getting his car towed he's like we're supposed to be brothers like it's boys in the hood and the guy's like i'm from puerto rico dude i don't know i may have i'm not 100 sure if that's entirely accurate but that was the that was the general theme of that interaction that we saw. Okay. Um, this has to do with,

well, she writes female listeners. So we're in the clear 31, five foot one 25, a workout daily to stay toned and in shape from kickboxing, weightlifting, endurance, the whole nine. My husband loves to make fun of me when I called myself an athlete years ago,

we started dating. So I love to quote Daniel Ricardo. I'm a high performance athlete, athlete sweat. Um, it just sounded like she was a real, real keeper. Uh, so we're happy for her husband, but you know, it's always a bit of a letdown for the show. I'm following up with the email with the guy hugging his superior. My husband and I listened to that episode together and he said, this would be exactly what I would do, but I wasn't expecting it to be so soon. I just started an awesome job as a sales administrative assistant. I came from a corporate job where you had to overthink every interaction with people. Very good point. The new place is family owned. Everyone just says what's

on their mind and extremely laid back. So it's been an adjustment that I absolutely love. The owner, whom I had a brief in-person interview with, hired me on the spot. Within five minutes, he said he really liked me and could tell I'd be a great fit at the company. On my third day, I was sitting down in my office when he walks in, exclaiming and excited. He comes over and puts his arm around me. I'm a hugger. It's just an instinct for me. I wrap my entire arm around his belly and squeeze. And he's standing and I'm sitting. He's super cool and laid back, but as it happened, I became mortified. Once he walked out, I instantly sitting. He's super cool and laid back, but as it happened, I became mortified.

Once he walked out, I instantly thought back to the previous emailer. Oh, so this just happened after we listened to it, or you listened to it. Only this time, it's me, that gal, hugging my male superior. I told myself it's not a big deal because he acted like it wasn't, but since then, instead of giving normal side hugs,

he does with everyone. He's just fist bumping me. Are we overthinking it? Is there a way to bounce back i love this new place and i like to think sometimes i'm one of the guys because i'm extremely laid back but now i'm overthinking everything love the pod my husband and i love listening thanks in advance now he's keeping your arms length huh wow fist bumps from here on out such a great perspective yep uh imagine though you're just sitting there and you don't really know what to do and you just reach over and it's just all midsection yeah just a baseball gut you know imagine if you was at a full compression uh

god i was hoping you're gonna say that yeah just be getting it all over you like hair sticking out fighting its way through that thread count uh he definitely remembers i don't know if he cares but he definitely remembers you have to figure this out because you're not gonna stop over i'm not i'm not gonna stop overthinking it um maybe next time he's seated no that's not gonna work i don't know what to do here i mean you, you could just say something, but it's going to be so much worse if he's like, what are you talking about? Right? Wait, did she say that he fist bumps everybody?

No, hugs everybody. Oh, he hugs everybody. Yeah, she's been put in a lane. Like, you're a fist bump person now, which clearly sucks. There's no way it's not a thing. So he can act like it's not if you call him out for it and say, hey, I'm really sorry about that.

But it's a thing. Maybe there's a cool down period is the only thing I could say is maybe he's like, we just got to, we need to cool down. We're too hot and heavy. The midsection hug was just too much. And maybe he's just got to let it balance out again. But yeah, right now you're definitely in a zone. You're definitely in a zone you're definitely in a zone

separate from someone else i think you just got to take the fist bumps for a while and then you can gradually work your way into more meaningful forms of embrace contact whatever you want to call it uh and then work your way back to potentially being a hug person again but right now like you've been sent down to the minors like you got to figure your stuff out. You've got to, you know, one day maybe, maybe you can get called back up, but you're not a little soft. Yeah, man. I don't know. This is,

I would just say the best thing you can do is to not think about it, even though that's not going to happen. And just let's get through these next two, three months, right? Let's just see where you are. Hit us back up. It's going to be really funny.

I mean, I don't know what kind of vibe it is at the workplace, clearly, because it's just an email, but could you talk to the other people and be like, should we make a thing of this? Like I gave him a side hug, got all belly. Now I'm in the fist bump lane, as Kyle said, and everybody else is still in the hug zone. like let's keep track of it. Let's keep track of it as like a fun thing. And then after a couple of months when everything's great and you're doing a good job, you can just be like, hey, how do I get back in the hug zone?

I'm a hugger. I just am, but I was seated. Or do you just start hugging other people in the office too? And then he sees that you're not a weirdo and you're a normal hugger. And then he's like, oh, all right. Yeah, maybe it was a one-time thing and just kind of put that out there too yeah or you could just go the other way right just start back hugging people just be the weirdest hugger ever and be like oh when i when i grabbed your torso like i just have weird

i have like i'm like kyle anderson just weird sounds like it's a small company so so there might not be an HR department, but I might not recommend that. Just walk up behind somebody's back and put your arms around them, your head on their shoulder. Be like, how are you? What are you doing for lunch? I'm a toucher, yeah. Yeah. So just make it even weirder so that one wasn't that weird.

Yeah, that'd be great. You'd be like, oh, that's just people's energy. Yeah. I wonder what your hair would smell like burning i'm gonna get lunch okay bought a boat didn't tell my wife came to the right guy well not really came to the wrong guy actually gym stats 31 years old 64 20'4", 205, bench, 295, squat, 435, dead, 475, former walk-on D2 hooper, poor man's Lamar Odom. I'll get hot from three, great passing, big with handles, big for your average pickup game, obviously. Yeah, 6'4", 205, that's big. I like Lamar a lot.

Peak Lamar Odom is a terrific goal. How'd he end up at Rhode Island? All right, jumping right into it. My wife and I both love boating and I grew up with a boat, the wakeboarding, wake surfing type of boat, not sailing. We have three young kids and my wife has been nervous about having them on the boat, but I think it will create great memories and they'll learn responsible boating at a young age. Summer 2023, we're expecting baby number three. So I imagine this isn't that old of an email. baby number three. So I imagine this isn't that old of an email.

I think he must've meant 24. I think I wrote 1999 the other day. So we're expecting baby number three. I have a great couple's trip to Lake Powell and the wife's on board with getting a boat. So I start looking, oh, oh, wait, this makes sense. He's taking us back to summer of 2023. Okay, cool. They're expecting baby number three. All right, so we get the point here. Baby is born. Post-pregnancy hormones follow. Wife is no longer on board. The problem, I found the boat.

It's a steal. Buying it in the fall after boating season. I can get it for about $10,000 under market. The seller lives nearby and will store it through the winter and throw in about $7,000 worth of gear and aftermarket accessories. So I buy the boat for a cool $92,000. So he bought it. Okay.

So we all on the same page here. Summer 23 is coming. Baby number three is coming. She has the kid in the fall. She's not, she's not ready to, to sign up on the, or she's just not changed her mind on the whole deal, but he bought it anyway for $92,000. Relevant to know that I've been successful financially making, whoa, 700K to 1.3 mil over the last five years with a clear path to earn that in the future. Buying the boat doesn't cut into savings or disrupt our other financial plans and my wife hasn't ever once checked a bank account

so i bought the boat and it's been in storage since october whoa bro she doesn't even check my bank accounts it's cool the question how do i tell her current plan is to soft pitch the idea over the last few months seems like she's warming up but definitely not a green light yet i'm thinking big red bow on valentine. I would love the crew's feedback. That's what I was thinking too. Paint a new name on it. Paint her name. Well, now you have to like it. The kids will all see it. Everybody's excited.

You can't be sad. I got you the DeWalt 20V. It'll be for all of us, but you get to open it. The question, how do I tell her? So we already covered that. Side note, there's a growing pool of people who know and side bets in the office on how it'll turn out. It's been quite the ride.

Yeah, I mean, look, it just depends really on her. If you said she's warming up to it, I mean, it just depends. Is she going to be somebody who's like, it's not that you spent she's warming up to it i mean it just depends like is she going to be somebody who's like it's not that you spent the 92 grand it's that i didn't want to and you did it anyway and that's the deception it's not even about the boat anymore it's about the act and it's really you know some wives will get over it and others won't but you got three kids with her so you know she's kind of stuck with you and you just got a boat. So you got without a boat. You're a catch. You're a fucking catch dude now. Right. Kind of deceived me, but God, that thing's sweet. So I think you, you have to, what I would, I don't

know what I would do. Cause this is one of the reasons why I just don't understand if I'm making a million bucks a year, why I can't buy a fucking boat. You know, I that's, that's one of my main problems with a lot of this stuff. And by the way, if my wife were making a million bucks and she's like, Hey, I've always wanted a boat. I'm like, all right, you make a million bucks a year, buy your boat. Like it's fine. And I know what you're saying, planning and 401ks and you know scholarship funds and all this different stuff and you know look i get it but i would defer to the person that was making all of the money um i do have a side theory though other boaters and i've talked about they're like do you think there's any place in the world where right now there's only women on a boat maybe a canoe canoes maybe a canoe now kayaks and canoes are out what an answer

it's a great answer i mean i asked you we got an option yeah some yeah there's some woman somewhere on a canoe um is there a boat twin diesel engines where there's no man on it anywhere in the world you're not you're not saying this like in a in like i think like a landmine sort of way yeah no i know what you're saying because you're kind of... It's not a sexist thing. It's an observation. You're just saying that dudes are more likely to make the irrational decision to love boats.

Women are the winners, by the way, in this question because they're the ones going... Yeah, they have the freedom to not have the boat. You fucking idiots could go buy those things. They've never thought about barnacles once in their life, right?

Right. Like, wait, the teak has to be done again? We just did that. Wow. Look, it's just a question. I think the answer is probably yes, but... Well, of course, there's going to be one. All right, Michael Porter Jr.

I'm not saying it should be equal pay. It should be equal vote. Equal vote. Somebody out there should have to pay for a registration. What do you got, guys? What do you got? I wonder how mad she'll actually be. I'm not in a situation where I make all the money and it's like uh she

doesn't you know care about what's in the bank accounts um i don't know if this woman has a job or not it sounds like she doesn't if she has if she has her job is raising a family yes but i'm like okay an income we are sorry i'm not sure if this woman has an income considering she he says she never looks at the bank accounts but so i wonder if she like i it might not be the the you spent the ninety thousand dollars but it might be that you didn't like it's kind of like jim bought pam a house and like uh this just happened in in uh yeah that she didn't like in desperate housewives too my wife's watching that and you there's a flashback where uh whatever the guy's name bought lynette a house house and it's like, who the fuck does that? This is not as bad as that, but it's still

like, I think you do have to do like, I did this for us and maybe just play like a fool who like, I knew you would love this, I know, but maybe think about all the great things and show her like boat weeks around the coast, up and down the coast, be like,

oh man, this will be great. And then... Yeah, but you can't overdo it. Why not? This can't be like a six-month slow presentation where you're just... It's after you already did it. It's after you show her the thing. You're like, and I've got all these great plans

for us this year. It's like, and then we... Man, tuck it. Boat week or something. I don't know. And then she could shoot you down. It's like a lake boat. There's nothing you can do.

There's nothing you're going to be able to do that's going to, like, calm the. Because she should be mad. Like, you know, these are decisions that you're supposed to make as a couple. Like, I understand it. So, like, she's going to be mad. It is what it is. There's nothing you could do, I think, to, like, prep her for that. What you can do is, on the the back end not totally screw yourself so like

be on top of the boat at all times don't make her have to do anything with it make sure the thing is safe as fuck all the time like the kids are know what know what the rules are you're always like on you know on edge you're just watching everybody like it is your job now to make sure that that you don't regret this decision by something like having there be a fuck up somewhere and i keep swearing too much so apologies the guy yeah lots of emails from here but you you can't be you don't regret this decision by having there be a fuck-up somewhere. I keep swearing too much, so apologies to the guy who emailed us. You can't screw this up from here on out. It has to be clean

or else it's going to create more and more and more animosity the years that go by, or you're going to be selling this boat and probably taking a loss in two years. You've got to just tell her it's going to suck at the start because she's going to be like, wow, cool, you didn't even consult with me, but you've got to nail everything in the next, like probably year to two years and have that thing be safe as hell and have the kids, you know, have

a good time on there and have an ease her mind a little bit, because right now there's nothing you can do. I agree. But I do think it's also a good idea to throw as much good intentions out there as you can so that she might be like, fucking idiot thought I was going to love this. She probably isn't that, she probably isn't that like stupid that she would just be like hook, line, and sinker. Like, oh, I mean, I said I wanted this and he got me that. Like, she's probably not that.

Yeah, like you start buying her diamonds and she's like, something's going on here. Well, no, I just mean you put it like, the way you pitch it is like, you really thought this was for both of us. I know you said you didn't want it, but that's because you're you're so responsible and like i think we just need to live a little bit you deserve this we deserve like i think you like you just we deserve we deserve this is a great line you throw as much like good intentions to where she's like oh it's just misguided good feelings how mad could you really be i think maybe that even though that's we both know that's not what's going on here but i think if you put out enough of it and you you seem like you mean it enough it might she might just be like ah it's just my dumb guy he thought he was doing something good you know it could be it could be something like that

also take care of the boat he's a good looking guy i saw this picture here the avatar here's what you do name it after her yeah totally easy that's the first thing you do paint it repaint the back of it name it after her you're like surprise and then you could also say hey here's the plan i did something i shouldn't have done i got excited about it was an incredible opportunity i know you'd kind of change your mind on the whole thing but um it's not a pattern of behavior i just freaked out and if you hate it after six months we'll keep it this summer if you hate it after six months i promise you i'll sell it and then you can buy yourself whatever you want as as uh that's also tax right yeah we'll take the money we'll take the money from the boat sale and you can buy your one irresponsible thing and

then if she's really tough she'd be like i would never do that because i care about the family's finances you get that kind of answer you're just fucked man email it up email a different show all right uh we got another female checking in here woman oh for two yep well they write email in so i'm just trying to read they want it whoa dude even even when guys aren't even saying anything bad today, it's like when I said that our job was raising the family, I could already see how that can be a landmine because it's like, oh, you don't think that she's a skill

to be in the workforce? You're like, didn't say that. Nope, nope. But now you did. You wanted me to, though. Yep. Dangerous today. All right. Yeah, I i mean you would have thought this was like a friday and two thirds of the show went out last night or something you know it was monday fresh ready to go i got a rainstorm jumping in the cold tub at 5 30 in the morning needed to clear the head

i mean i might have to jump back in. Okay. Where is it? Okay. Here we go. Hi, Ryan, especially Kyle. I've become a recent life advice addict actually because the guy I'm about to ask you about. I'm a 24-year-old female, 5'8", 127. I used to be a volleyball and squash player, but now I stick to Pilates and boxing. NBA player comp, a much slower Spud Webb who can't jump. All right. Short. No, she's 5'8".

Spud Webb is 5'8". All right, fair. Yeah, but I think on the... You're right, you're right. She played volleyball. She can't jump. Short for a female is, what, five right. She played volleyball. She can't jump. Sure. For a, for a female is a, it's what?

Five feet. So she's tall. She wasn't a libero. That's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what's going on here. The spud web thing has the antenna up.

Uh, all right. This past year, I somehow landed my dream job as a travel writer spent almost a year exploring the globe i came home to see my mom for the holidays for a few months decided to go on a hinge date just to make some friends in a new area out of boredom i was just spending three months with family before getting back on the road again the hinge date ended up going so much better than i could have ever imagined isn't amazing just when you're at least expecting it

not even looking for it we kept hanging out and by our third day he asked me to be his girlfriend well you sent in these pictures and if this is you and they're real i'm surprised it took to the third date because the pictures which i have not shared with kyle or steve um who would have thought are they like the classic ones that like an extortionist would want to send out like are they that good like um they're good yeah she's attractive all right i just sent him to kyle then just me this is this is all in house i don't know serene's email is not up. I don't know what to tell you, man. Sorry. I'll take your word for it.

Do you have it yet, Kyle? I'm waiting on it. This is – Why are you just talking? I'll let you know. Well, just so the emailer understands. Like, only Kyle gets – Like, anytime there's a picture sent in,

they're never shared unless it's a vending machine. But for the context of – I got him. On the way to you steve all right thank you all right um so kind of a red flag but it didn't scare me he's nine years older than me so maybe things are different at that age we've continued hanging out and he's now coming to visit me in upcoming travels in south america the possibility of a relationship was not really something in the books for me this year. I have a new career and also less than a year out of being in a previous long-term relationship. However, things with the new guy seem to be going in that direction. And I'm not sure if I should try to be

logical and realistic that it might not be time to get in a relationship or if I should just go for it and be more spontaneous that sometimes the best things aren't expected. This guy also travels a lot for work. So continuing our relationship. I too will be in Buenos Aires for a Zoom. This call, wait, excuse me, travels a lot. So essentially be planning a lot of future trips regardless. I know this probably sounds ridiculous coming from a 24-year-old, but I fear it could be a mistake to get into a serious relationship, not knowing if long-term this aligns with my professional career.

Or is it a mistake to not let myself explore my feelings in the first place? I know that I probably want to have a big family in my early 30s and need to think critically about this time for myself in my life beforehand. Love the pod. Listen every day. Just to life advice. No problem. We're not. You missed some good western conference breakdown stuff top

four seeds might want to go back rewind so i didn't even click on the instagram thing uh look you did yeah is it real i think so are we getting fucked with here i think it is yeah i don't you know she's definitely very attractive um okay so the advice part uh i think when you're younger you you can definitely fall into a pattern of thinking like all of these things are supposed to happen when they're supposed to happen all right i mean this is not the most insightful thing older people no shit. But when you're younger, you kind of don't really know any better. You're like, all right, I'd like to be in a position to be able to do this. I'd like to be able to, you know, if I want a family prioritizing, but I don't want to do a too soon and all these

different things. And that's just not really the way life works. And so many times in life, when you think you are supposed to have this thing, or you really want this thing and it doesn't work out in the moment, you're devastated by it and you're all thrown off. Then you'll look back because life took other turns. You're like, you know what? That was the best thing ever that this didn't work out or this did or whatever. So we're not telling you to break up with this guy. All right, let's get that out of the way. But, uh, as long as you don't feel like, again, my goals were very specific. I was determined to not let anything get in the way of what I wanted to pursue. And for whatever reason, I kept moving the goalposts on and on and on and probably still do now.

But that's me. That's not you. That's not everybody else. posts on and on and on and probably still do now. But that's me. That's not you. That's not everybody else. But I was early on, once I decided what I wanted to do or what I was trying to, the couple of things that I was trying to pursue, I didn't want anything necessarily to get in the way. And I'll never forget, I was hanging out with a college roommate. He'd just gotten engaged, really like his wife. We were somewhere together. We were out like on a beach and we were in the water. And I think I've

shared this story once or twice before. So Saruti keeps me in check with the repetitive stories, but he was kind of like, Hey man, don't you think it might be time to like kind of settle down and everything? And I was like, I just don't want anything to interfere. Okay. I don't want anything to, I never want to have to have a conversation where I like, Hey, I have this opportunity where the funny thing is when I started off doing what I was doing, I was thinking like, I'm probably going to have to move. I'm going to have to go to all these different cities. I was up for a Texas Rangers postgame radio show once. Did not get it. I know what could have been. I could have been your, I could have been just your

Ranger Rangers go-to guy. So, um, he just turned to me and was like like don't you think it might be kind of cool to share that with someone else i was like what the fuck uh but it was a great point and the funny thing is is despite all the times i thought i would have to move that i actually lived in two places for a very long time what would have been totally normal if i just dated somebody, say in Boston, or then lived in Connecticut. That's a really long chunk of my life where I wasn't really jumping around. But I also knew kind of in the back of my head that I always wanted Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles at some point. And I never wanted to be in a spot where the other person's like, I don't want to do that. I can't do that. So the reason I tell any of that backstory is that it sounds like you have very

clear and defined goals. And the travel writing thing is a dream job. I mean, if that's your passion and you get to do it and all this different stuff, and that's not going to be easy for everybody in the relationship. But as long as the other person at least understands it in this phase, then, you know, look, he may be lying about it. You could be the cat on an all time catch here. And he's going to tell you everything you possibly want to hear. But if you really care about this person in a way that you haven't cared about somebody else before you feel there's this connection, you know, you don't have to have these, these like ultimatums of, well, I can only do this if I'm doing that. And that's definitely what I was

guilty of, like pretty much my entire life. So let's just be honest. So I'm not saying, look at my advice or listen to my advice because I figured it out. I'm just telling you, you probably shouldn't do it the way that I did it because I was so like convinced I couldn't have any other distractions. Most people can't. Okay. If this is that special, you'll figure it out. Or you're that hot that he'll just say yes to literally fucking any scenario in this relationship. This is kind of a long distance relationship, right? I mean, with the amount that he's traveling and you're traveling, it's like, it's not obviously like, not like you never see her and you have to do these you know six month planning things to to get a weekend together but it can

end up feeling like that especially with when stuff gets with you know the schedules gets jumbled and it's like holy shit you're gone for two weeks and then you come back and i'm gone for four days or something like i don't know why why he's traveling but i mean nobody wants to hear like hey it's just we're to be moving around a lot. And I just think it'd be cool if we keep our options open. But if you could say like, nobody's gonna be like, Oh yeah, totally understand that you're going to be on the road. Who knows who you meet? Things happen. Yeah. You're, you know, your job is to explore, right. And I mean, I'm not, I'll just leave it at that. But like, what is that? You think that

means you're not going to meet people when you're just, you know, running around in Ireland or Turkey or wherever your job's taking you like um so i think i think if you could if you could say like i'm just i'm not really into this long distance thing even though technically we could we could live together if we wanted to but like there's just so much time apart you could just you might be able to say like hey you think while i figure this out we can just i'll look you up whenever I'm in town or something like that? Dude, you realize you should listen to this too, right? Did she commit?

Well, yeah. I'm just saying like you signing up for fights. By the way, yeah. He is listening to this. You're just like, hey. You guess what? Take this one. Right. I mean, you're basically just signing up for fights and stress, right?

I mean, you're traveling and I hope you guys are never in a fight. I would say don't put the stress. Don't put that stress on you. You like hanging out with them, hang out. Be like, hey, I'm going to be gone sometimes, right? I mean, you're traveling and I hope, hope you guys are never in a fight. I would say don't put the stress, don't put that stress on you. You like hanging out with them, hang out, be like, Hey, I'm going to be gone sometimes.

Okay. Right. And if you're cool with that, let's, let's see how this goes for the next six months to a year. And that's fine. Like, you know,

you're 24. I mean, in general, we all put way too much pressure on ourselves. I'm like, what something is supposed to be specifically defined, you know? And I don't,

I don't think you should do if you like hanging out with him just keep hanging out with him and he'll adapt to whatever it is right yeah as kyle said his his lifestyle though like he should be more understanding of this and you know not that like not that you shouldn't not pursue other sort of like things in life or whatever your travels are. But like, you know, if he's still around, then that's great when you come back and you still want to hang out with him. But I don't think you have to like make anything official if you don't really want to. I mean, my biggest question here would be like, do you do you really like this guy? How much do

you really like him? If you really like him, then I think it's worth giving it a shot. But it looks like you're trying to find excuses for why your life is more important than this guy. And that might tell you the answer that you need. The other life is more important than this guy. And that might tell you the answer that you need. The other stuff is just more important to you. And that's totally fine. It doesn't mean the door is shut on this guy because clearly he's still hitting you up all the time. And he's a traveler as well. So it sounds like you have your answer.

You just don't want to maybe make the difficult decision to just tell this guy no. But that's kind of where I think the vibe is leaning. Yeah, just imagine being in like a poorly timed fight and he's like are you seriously about to go to spain right now it's like yeah yeah enjoy cedar rapids dude yeah do you want to do a feature on iowa we can go together how come you never get assigned to the midwest but as i'm reading and we're talking about this, you realize he's going to be in the car listening to this. Do they listen together?

Yeah, I think so. God, that makes it even worse. I don't know. Good luck, you two. Yeah. Hope it works out. See if you can work remote, guy. Thanks to Cerruti, Kyle, and Mike Wargon.

It's the Ryan Rosillo podcast. We will be on... What are we doing, Saruti? I don't even... I forget to say it. Every show you're saying, like, what are we doing now? No show Wednesday.

We... Because you're going to be on with Bill for the Thursday trade deadline special. There's probably going to be two parts to that. Something always happens feel like Wednesday

or early Thursday before the deadline. So you guys do a pod, then you'll do one after the deadline as well. And then we'll be back on this feed on Friday with a Superbowl preview. Okay. So the show this week, today's episode, no Wednesday episode,

mega episodes, Thursday. And then Friday, free Superbowl. Okay. All right. That's the plan. We'll talk right back. Must be 21 and older Present in select states FanDuel is offering Online sports wagering

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