The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Free Agent QB Rankings and the Karl-Anthony Towns Injury Impact. Plus, Jamal Mashburn.

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

Russillo starts the show with a reveal of his top five free agent QB rankings, then shares his thoughts on the Karl-Anthony Towns injury (0:45). Then he’s joined by Jamal Mashburn to discuss players in the media, how it felt going against Jordan, and what was special about playing in Miami (25:47). Plus, Life Advice with Ceruti and Kyle! How big of a problem is it when the in-laws show up unannounced (63:27)? Check us out on Youtube for exclusive clips, live streams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast 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: Jamal Mashburn Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode of the podcast, I'm going to rank the top five NFL quarterbacks as far as free agency is concerned. Also some news and notes from just some of the minor basketball stuff last night, but the major part of it, the cat injury for the Minnesota Timberwolves. We're talking hooves with Jamal Mashburn, Kentucky legend played in the league a bunch of years. We'll talk about his transition from Dallas to Miami, his business stuff off the court, and some patino stories as well. And we've got life advice, including in a side, a departure of life advice is Kevin Durant, Dune. Before we get to Jamal Mashburn, there's a few things I want to do here in the open. I have some minor NBA stuff, although Kat's injury is not

minor. That's devastating news, depending on the length of what's going on with his knee injury. Although earlier this morning, at first it felt like he was out and then it was like, hey, they're going to reevaluate and maybe he can play with this meniscus injury. But we'll see. So I have some thoughts on that. Not a tails from the couch. I wouldn't do that to you twice in a week, but just a couple of thoughts on some of the games last night.

But I want to start with the quarterbacks in free agency. We'll go through and rank them because we love to rank stuff. And I've got five guys for you. The number one guy is still Kirk Cousins. He'll be 36 in August the Achilles injury happened on 1029 So I don't know if just less than the year window is enough for him to feel like he's gonna be all the way back He's definitely somebody that's been sacked quite a bit So you worry about it and you wonder even back to like

22 that season he was sacked the third highest total of any quarterback in the league I've personally had a long history and talking about her cousins. Well, he's been around for a long time I think I joked at one point if Daniel Jeremiah's podcast was called move the sticks Kirk cousins would have a podcast called short of the sticks He's always had big stats But I've always felt like the stats are a little bit bigger than his game. I mean, he completed 70% of his passes here in 23, but he's only won one playoff game in his entire career, and he was really good in that game. But I liked him this past season, and I don't know if something changed.

It likely changed for me in more so than he was just a different QB. Although, look, I thought there were certain games this year where I was just more impressed with him in certain weeks this season than in other weeks. But it's also fair to suggest that maybe I just accepted who Kirk Cousins is because Kirk is someone for a team that's drafted a couple of players or signed somebody else. You know, maybe they've had three or four quarterbacks and it hasn't worked out. And they're looking at him going, okay, look, we know he's not perfect.

We know there's still some limitations. We know the numbers are probably a little bit better. And I, you know, maybe teams would disagree with me, but I feel like the numbers, when you look at the baseball card, right? The idea of that, like, man, this guy, it's like had a hell of a career. In, that like, man, this guy, like had a hell of a career in, in, I would say like, in basketball,

he probably ends up being a Hall of Famer. Okay. In the NFL, you usually have to have way more playoff success, but you can have just a ton of playoff success and maybe not even be good as statistically as cousins is in the regular season and still make the Hall of Fame. But he provides just a stability. Now, I remember years ago, we did the quarterbacks as girlfriends podcast. I think it was in 2018. The only reason I remember that whether it was 18 or 19 was because there was a writer that was really upset with us for doing it. People are like, seriously, guys, it's 2018, and we're still doing this. Like, I don't know what rule was passed on that one. But if we allow it just one more time with Kirk, it's like your buddy who just like, man, you might have to start looking at different options for

companionship, you know, like, maybe stay out of the entertainment industry. Maybe stay out of the late night entertainment industry. I think your girlfriend hates you. Are you constantly worried about where you're at? Where cousins is, yeah, I've known her since junior high. She lives down the street. Family gets along, parents have always been friends. I know what I'm getting and she knows what she's getting. And there's just like, yeah, maybe I could do, but I want to stop worrying about it all the time and that's what I think her cousins is

the other part of it is early on I Don't I don't love some of the stuff from back when he was in Washington and my guy Cole McCoy was there I don't know I think at that stage of his career, if you're a younger quarterback, you really should be looking out for yourself. But I don't know that it was always the greatest there, but at 36, if he's coming in,

and if there is a younger quarterback, you know, he might just be looking at this as like, look, maybe it's a two year deal anyway. I'd be surprised if Minnesota just turned the page from him knowing that they don't really have a solution on the roster and they're not in position draft wise to give one of the top guys. So I still think Kirk is number one in this class. Number two is Baker. He'll be 29 in April. He had the lowest QBR of any qualifying quarterback in the 2022 season.

He played with Carolina, seven games with them, five games with LA, and then ends up on Tampa. And there will be demand for him if he makes it a free agency, if he doesn't work out a deal with Tampa, even though the reports were that they were slowly, quote, slowly working on a new deal. So they got a less than a week to figure this out. But it feels like evaluators still like him. He's, I don't know, it's better than the Sam Darnoldt here, but it's one of those quarterbacks where you feel like the people that did the evaluation for his draft class. Looked at him and liked him. I mean granted. Yes, he went number one. So this isn't exactly a mystery, but the fact he keeps getting that many chances. There has to be something on film there from him in the NFL. The teams can talk themselves into it. He played all 17 games this season.

It's his first full season since 2020. In 2020, he was really good. 26 and 8, touchdown interception split, 10th in QBR. And if you're having that internal debate about Baker being your future quarterback, I remember having Eric Mangini in studio with his back at ESPN. And I love, we need to get Manggini back on. Lois loved talking to him in total 180, getting to know Mangini in person versus the perception of him when he was a head coach. But he said something that was really simple, but I think just beneficial in understanding the philosophy of these decisions. We were talking about some other quarterback. I think it might even have been Matt Castle. And I was like, what do you do when you're looking at somebody going, all right, we probably

could do better. We don't know if we'll have the option to do better. We're going to be competing with other teams with the same guys. We bring in somebody who's never done it. Then there's always the question of can this person actually do it. So there's actually a lot of value in somebody, especially at the stage of 29, despite the injury history of Baker, where if you look at Man genie's philosophy, and I'm sure he's not the only one that feels this way, the simplicity of, at least we know that he's

done it. Okay. And he wins a playoff game this year against Philly with Tampa. He has the 2020 season. So I don't know if he's necessarily going to break the bank with all the guaranteed money. There still might be some protections for Tampa because it feels like Tampa still just kind of has to get this done. But it's a little cousin's light in that the other teams would go, all right,

our other options are just not very good, whether it's where we're drafting on our own roster, who we'd be able to afford and free agency. At least we know that he's done it at a certain level. And remember, when I went through all the first round quarterbacks who ended up on a second team, there were none of them that won, and it had to be within the window of when I did the study. I think it was like 20 years of first round picks, maybe it was 10, I don't know. But the point was is we had had like a decade plus gap

of quarterbacks that were first round picks that had not won a playoff game with their second team. And we had Baker do it this year and Gov, who didn't just do it, almost got to a Super Bowl and is now the face of a franchise in a way that I didn't think he was capable of. So two guys getting it done in ways we had not seen in recent history. Number three, I'm actually going with Justin Fields over Russell Wilson. All right, he turned 25 this week. Happy birthday. He was still 23rd in QBR this season. I am always a little surprised at how much it feels like social media loves fields.

In 2022, I got it because he was running all over the place and the runs were absolutely incredible. I mean, his numbers, rushing football, 160 carries, 1100 plus yards, 7.1 yards per carry. This year the yards per carry, the overall yards, they both dipped down, we know he got hurt. But he did cut this year the yards per carry the overall yards they both dip down We know he got hurt, but he did cut down on the interception rate, which is a nice little jump for him He got beat up again. I mean if there's not a lot of offensive talent more was pretty good for him

But we get the point that it's not an ideal situation for developing a quarterback, but even though I'm surprised a quarterback. But even though I'm surprised that there just maybe it's just what I'm seeing, but I am seeing enough of it to be surprised by it, that there feels like there's still a lot of support for Fields that he deserves the fourth year with Chicago. I can't imagine ever passing on Caleb Williams for him to do the fourth year. I don't worry about any of the contract stuff, because okay, fine, the fourth year option is cheap and then the fifth year thing that you have to make a decision on later this year, yeah, it jumps up, but it's one year of guaranteed money when the salary cap went up almost 50 million in two years.

So it's not really that big of a deal. And I'd rather have him prove it in 24 and then have to pay him. And then if he gets the free agency and I'm worried, like, that's actually a good thing because he played well enough that we have to worry about paying him money down the road. So I don't really look at it as a negative at all. But I'd like to have seen a bigger jump because it's been three years of, you know, I think early on some of the interceptions, the first two years, I'm like, is he seeing it?

You know, that pick that I talk about when you're throwing it to one side and the safety just staring at you, waiting to make that throw and you're like are you not seeing that safety there? I mean it's one thing where the ball is tipped it's one thing when it's late in the game and you're forcing the issue because a game score and time it's left But some of the picks were just really really alarming So I think he got better at that the numbers bear that out But for three years in to have faith for him to be the next starter for a team I just like to see a little bit more

I'm not saying he needs to be Josh Allen or he would be Josh Allen, but Josh Allen's significant jump after those first two years of like, is this guy gonna be the guy? It was a massive jump in that third year. Now he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I don't know that we see the third to fourth year jump

all that often. I need to dig back into that. But here's another positive with Fields. His teammates seem to have his back publicly. Whenever I'm thinking about a player or a coach or something, we're like, hey, do you ever notice that there's never really anything positive coming from teammates other than the after the game locker room standard cliches that we hear all the time? His teammates, there's a group of teammates or Fields with the Bears that seem adamant about wanting him to stick around.

That is a perfect transition as I talk about the personality of Justin Fields to my number four quarterback And that's Russell Wilson stop saying he was better last year than he was in 22. You're right. He was There's a lot of people that are better after they're terrible and that's what he was in 22 was the fifth lowest QBR in the NFL Anyone else with his numbers in 22 would have been benched or would have been a rookie. Get up actually had a segment, I think once when Denver started winning games this year where it was like, Hey, do we need to apologize to Russell Wilson? The answer is no. Denver won games because of their defense and the turnover margin that they had for like a month straight and because Patrick Mahomes was sick. He plays a position scared. The one good number that I could find when I dug through all of it, and look, for quarterbacks,

you can kind of find, you know, usually find a couple good numbers. You can find some bad ones. I mean, there's even one number where I look at the aggressiveness of throws. Mahomes was the least aggressive by next-gen stats of any quarterback in the NFL this year. Usually that's not a great sign, but Mahomes is just not the guy that fits any single mold. So there was a number for Wilson on pickable passes where only 2.65% of his passes were considered pickable passes. Bailey Zappi was number one.

Joe Flacco was number two. I think Mac Jones was four. So New England had the rare feat of having two quarterbacks in the top five of the same stat. But just because he wasn't throwing a lot of pickable passes, actually telling more of a story because his average area yards was seven and half, which isn't good. His QBR was still 21st. And so when you watched, he just didn't want to raise the level of risk.

And I don't know if that was protecting his stat line. I don't know if it wasn't seeing things. I don't know if it wasn't being comfortable in Peyton's offense. But I think that's why you saw constant frustration with him where it was like, hey, there's just throws out there that you need to start making. And I think physically he's fairly diminished from where he was in Seattle. I mean, he's taken a million hits over his career. I think some of it, you can blame the offensive line, but sometimes it was just really hard to block for Wilson because he keep plays alive and you wouldn't even know where he was behind you and then therefore which blocking angles to take.

So I was also surprised to see the amount of sympathy for him once he was benched because maybe it was just a management employee thing. I don't know. I don't know. But it was the rare case, like all of a sudden everybody seemed to be sympathetic towards Russell Wilson side of it. But the bigger issue about Wilson as a free agent signing is like, I don't even know if it's which quarterback are you getting? It's which, which version of him are you getting? Because the only version that we've seen has been one of the most calculated,

I would say disingenuous public speakers we have in pro sports. And that's maybe a nice way of saying it just feels fraudulent all the time. The only time he's ever given us any depth, like any real depth and an answer when, when he was explaining the timeline of being threatened to be potentially benched, if he didn't want to move around some of the dates of the clause with his contract. benched if he didn't want to move around some of the dates of the clause with his contract. And really what he was doing was making sure that his version of events got out there to then get that sympathy which he actually received. You can go back and look at the timeline of all the benching stuff and all the news and notes of that.

Like look, I guess Denver could be nicer. Peyton could be nicer to Russell Wilson, but ultimately they've given him this extension, which by the way, an extension that he'll never technically play a snap for with Denver once the extension is kicked in this year. But people lost their minds on this story. He wasn't good. He hasn't been good. It's a massive disappointment. It's going to go down as one of the worst trades in NFL history.

And they were like, well, it's been so bad and we don't see it getting any better. Imagine when Peyton's watching the film, what he's seeing for them to come to this conclusion that they're going to eat this much money. Okay. So Denver was supposed to be nicer about it when we all realized players and then the teams constantly remind us that we don't need to be reminded that it's a business over and over and over again. So I don't care about the nice part of it. I thought it was just very interesting that it was like, wait, we're actually getting a real answer from Russell Wilson here.

Oh, why are we getting it? It's because he wants to make sure that his story is being told as opposed to it's just, hey, Russell Wilson is being benched. The reason I bring up all of this stuff and again, this isn't news. I mean, the interviews over the years are absolutely brutal to listen to. Is if you're the next team, like, am I getting that guy? Where all of it is about his brand and his image and this portrayal of this like superhero figure, because that stuff is all right when you're winning and

you're the face of the franchise and you're playing in a couple of Super Bowls in Seattle. That stuff is really, really grating when you're not that good at position anymore and you're losing games every single week, as we saw multiple times at Denver. So if I'm the next team and thinking, okay, he's, there still has to be something there. I've actually always really liked him the quarterback except for the last two

years. But are you coming in humbled or are you coming in with the same bullshit? Because he's going to be really cheap because of the offset language in his contract. Whatever dollar he gets paid now is a dollar Denver doesn't have to pay him. So I mean, honestly, he might be motivated to sign for even less to make sure Denver has still has to pay the entire thing. But you get the point. This is not going to cost a lot of money at a chance at somebody one year. I argue for the MVP But I don't know if I'd get an honest answer with him with his people about like are you coming in here?

With a slightly different mindset and some alteration to your personality that sees to drive people fucking crazy Because if you still think that you're going to get away with that stuff somewhere new now after what you've done in Denver the last Two years, then I'm good I'd still take him over Mack Jones number five Ryan Tannehill 36 in July kind of ran out of guys here His stats for two years. I remember looking at those at Tennessee and going, wait, these stats are incredible. Don't know that I really believed it, but it's been two years. He's been beat up a lot.

And again, better than Matt Jones, Tana Hill number five, couple NBA things here. Houston's really high in my league pass rankings. I just like watching the Rockets. I like trying to figure out how good the young guys are going to be. I like that they have all of these different options. I don't need to give my full Jabari Smith breakdown for the 12th time this season. I loved the Cam Whitmore when he got elbowed by Hardin. It was kind of a nasty elbow on a box out from an opposite side. I think Van Vleet took a three.

No, van Vleet made the three and then the next part of the play. So there was the ball was up and Harden kind of threw Whitmore this nasty elbow. And then when the van Vleet three went up from the right corner, Whitmore just went blindside linebacker on him and was hit with the foul even though the three counted. Nice comeback from LA who looked just dead. I don't know what they did in Houston night before, but they looked out of it in the first half, but then they come back, Kauai still unstoppable.

It was really taking it to Jabari there late. I think Jabari may have had five fouls anyway. But that was a nice comeback from them. By the way, when you're looking at the pick part of this, Houston has the Nets pick, so the Nets aren't playing for their own pick. So they're going to play out the string. Houston doesn't have their pick. I think it's projected to be the 10th pick to Oklahoma City. Now, Oklahoma City has like two late lotteries still on top of everything else. So we have this weird deal where some of these bad teams, because all these trades where they threw in multiple firsts and the swaps and all that kind of stuff, you're like, okay,

bad teams that normally would be tanking, they didn't really even care because they're not in control of their own pick. It's something that's worth going through and looking at again. To close the game, I don't know if this is a term, was it too van Vleedy? Can the Rockets be a little too Van Vleetie? But then to be honest, to check myself, do you, does that mean you want more Jalen Green? Cause you don't always want that.

Do you ride? Uh, Jalen Green only have one field goal attempt though in the fourth quarter, cause I was tracking it from 430, 430 on, I think I was like, all right, let me see what you, and it was actually a lot of Van Vleet stuff. And this shooting percentage numbers just overall, uh, kind of disappointing. Golden state, let's not treat basketball like football. I sometimes I wish we didn't treat football like football or whatever happened the day before has to completely change the course of what we think the team can

do the rest of the way. But I think that's kind of the lesson in that Boston, Golden State game. I mean, it was just a troche of Steph was bad top everything else. They were awesome last night the ball movement the energy the full roster of guys for the most part Trace Jackson Davis's defense on Giannis I mean

I can't believe some of the things that he was doing not just blocking his shots But blocking him twice in the same possession got him again on help and then faced him on like a baseline post where Yanis was trying to turn him because he's just so much faster than anybody that gets out in a post defensive day and he just ended up turning it over. So that was a really, really in dream on the effort on Yanis doing his work early, trying to stop him from all of the stuff. That was just a really, really nice win against a Milwaukee team that has really changed their defensive profile since the All-Star break. So doesn't mean the end of the world for Milwaukee.

It's just a nice win for Golden State. The big news is the cat news this morning. So there's a knee injury. The first news that we saw this morning was that it felt like he was done for the year. That does not seem to be the case as the story is developed and that you're going to see where we're at, which sometimes just means, hey, we know it's bad news, but we're not going to give it to you right now. Clearly, if you listen to this podcast, I'm not in love with Carl Anthony Towns, but this

is a big blow for me because the size part of Minnesota is you looked at how they potentially matched up against other teams. Just taking this away, very simple, is it changes who they are as a team. And if you look at the true shooting percentage numbers of bigs, especially a big that's not glued to the rim, a guy like Towns that's all over the floor and provides you so much spacing, like his numbers are just, they're always statistically, when you look at all that stuff, it's always really, really good. It's not the peak stuff from all the volume that he'd had, maybe three or four years into his career. But

across the board, it's good. And I think there was something that was working there clearly, defensively, because the numbers back it up, that when Towns was by himself, pre-GoBear, it was just, it wasn't going to work. But whatever it is with the two of them and GoBear, maybe cleaning up everybody else's mistakes, because he's been so good defensively maybe player of the year defensively. That across the board like you could just see the jump in the box score stuff is all kind of plugged into who you're playing with as well but i just think he was. It was a big part of their identity so even though i don't love them i think both things are true here don't love them. But it's not good assistant assistant like a good thing And then when you start to think like, Oh, well, you know, is Denver having easier time with them because they're just less size is Oklahoma City. Now look at it

is like, okay, Chet's not going to have to deal with two of these guys out there in those closing moments of a big playoff game. Is it a change thing for the Clippers, you know, potentially worrying about how they want to play big or small and not having a second really big option other than having because they couldn't play big or small and not having a second really big option other than having because they couldn't play two of their big guys at the same time. It just would never work. So that news sucks for a team that's been a lot of fun to watch this year. We'll see where it's at. But I think it likely changes what we think of their ceiling in the playoffs. Beth, the NBA with a no sweat, same game parlay from Fanduil every Thursday with TNT Thursdays.

It doesn't matter if you're new to Fanduil or already have an account, you'll get bonus bets back if your same game parlay doesn't win on any NBA on TNT game. Same game parlays are the perfect way to combine your bets for a chance to score a bigger pay day. All right, we owe you. Last one was not great. Let's get to it. I'm kind of looking at the Golden State,

loss, post, Boston deal, and then having some pride and winning in pretty convincing fashion against Milwaukee last night. All right, so that's something I'm going with here. So I like Boston plus one point after blowing the game to Cleveland. I like Jaylen Brown, depending on the defensive matchups, figuring he's gonna get 20 or more tonight.

And then Yokic, who we lost on the plus eight assist on a previous same game parlay, he averaged 10 and a half assists in January. Single coverage against LA, shot at 25 times, which is right up there with maybe the highest. It might be the single, maybe the second most. Yeah, I took 32 shots against the Clippers in December. But as far as that shot total, then 31 shots against Houston in November. All right, we don't need to go through his entire game log here. That is not the point. But the assist numbers have been low in the previous two games. I'd imagine more complicated defense than what we saw against the Lakers being straight

up with him and Phoenix being straight up with him, which I imagine is going to lead to some more passes. So we're just going to go back to that because he hasn't been over eight assist in three straight games. So give us Yokic over eight assist, Jalen 20, more than 20 points, and the Celtics plus one is some kind of prideful get back after blowing that game to Cleveland. Staying with that, I also kind of like Golden State minus a pretty big number tonight against Chicago, both coming off a back-to-back, but I thought Golden State showed us something against Milwaukee that just was kind of like back to that brilliant version of basketball for them.

And Chicago had to hang out all night fighting off a Utah Jazz team that came back and really sent that down to the last possession. So Golden State being at home in the back to back, Chicago having to travel again. Don't like laying that many points in general, but you're going to have to with some of the scoring. Although it feels, it feels a bit like, is it weird? Is it, is it just me or is the game feel just a little bit more physical? The last couple of weeks, is there an adjustment on the totals to be looking for that? Again, the people that really studied all the time are more on it. However, you want to play, just head to fan duel.com slash Ryan, RYE and to bet the NBA with a no sweat, same game parlay with TNT Thursdays That's Fandall dot com slash Ryan make every moment more with fan duel an official sports betting partner of the NBA must be 21 and older

and present select states gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or visit the ringer dot com for RG minimum three leg parlay required refund issued is not with travel bonus bets with the aspire seven days after seat max refund $5 unless otherwise specified restrictions apply see terms. It's course book dot fandall com As soon as we saw this we were really excited This was my dude back in the day at ESPN the early years It is Jamal mashburn Kentucky legend NBA legend and and at one point like he was my dude back in the day So what's up? I'm doing good, man. It's good to see you, man.

It's been a long time. Life has been good, man. I remember when we had our radio show, we were at a cutting edge at the time, man. You know, three hours on a Sunday or a Saturday, I can't remember it was, but man, I love you, man. It's good to connect with you again, man. So here's what's funny about Jamal.

You know, for me especially too, because like I just started working at ESPN and I'd been around. You know, guys that played at that point because I've been working in Boston for a few years. So I started at the very beginning of 06 and then yeah, they gave me this NBA show Jamal. where it was early Sunday mornings and then I would do the baseball show. I go back to the hotel and then I come back and do the baseball show the same day. Look, I loved it. But we would always be at the residence in in Stubbington. Yeah.

Okay, because that was like the sneak tip upgrade if you were like, give me the residence in because it used to be the clarion that smelled like dead people that was directly across the street, but that's been upgraded. I think it's a double tree now. So Jamal and I would be like sitting around in these New England winners with just time to kill because I did a show on a Friday, I would just stay because I didn't want to drive to Boston and come back and then you guys are

usually there two or three days. So we were bored one day and I decided I was like, Hey, I'm going to start bringing my Xbox, but I only had one controller. So Jamal and I jump in the car and we drive to Walmart and Jamal grabs the remote and we're at the checkout line and I was kind of like, it was obvious I was going to be keeping the controller. And Jamal turns to me, he's like, I got this. Yeah, not a big deal, man. Not a big deal. It's only 80 bucks. We're good.

Yeah. Cause then, you know, you were always kind of funny because we'd always talk about like the contracts and all that stuff. And you were just sizing me up in the reality of this situation that I think it was a hundred dollar an hour guy then. And that's just when you were on the air and you were like, I'll pay for this. Yeah, I got you. That was still, that was gonna be a hit for me.

And then we would sit there in our sweatpants and play video games all day waiting to go back over. So, yeah, you were one of the original guys that I connected with more so just because we were stuck there so long. So. Yeah, we were stuck there for so long. And then also too, you know, go,

if people never been to ESPN, they had the studio side and then you had the radio side. You know what I mean? And we were always bumpy to each other, especially the late, what was that NBA show, it like one o'clock in the morning or something and I'll be coming through there and stuff like that. I really enjoyed, you're one of the highlights for sure of me working up there to ESPN. You know, there's only a couple and you're one of them. Okay, so that's a good transition because Jamal's an incredibly smart dude, has had

a lot of success off the court as well, was always planning. There was a lot of stuff that you told me then that I didn't quite understand, but it was like always thinking about your options and planning your next move. It is not so much planning your exit, but when your exit happens having these other moves Knowing you then in looking back on it. Did you even like being in the media? You know? No I didn't make so it was um, you know, I was a communication major in college at the University of Kentucky and When I retired in at the University of Kentucky. And when I retired in 2005 from the NBA,

Turner was, TNT was the first group to reach out to me. And I didn't want to do anything after that first year. So then ESPN reached out to me the following year and I decided to go ahead and do it to try to put that communication thing to work. The thing that I didn't enjoy about the media was the production meetings, you know? And how they wanted you to shape the conversation.

You know what I mean? It always felt like a drama. It always felt like we were even talking about LeBron or something else. And there was so much, much to offer other than just talking about LeBron. But as you get involved in the business, you understand why, you have certain draws and different things like that.

And it seemed like the content and everything that I was saying became repetitive throughout the whole day. You know what I mean? It's just constant, the same thing, the same conversation. And a light bulb went off in my head when they wanted to add, I think it was 50 more days. I had a 50 day contract with them. And after my third year, they wanted to add 50 more days.

So that would have been a hundred. And that I would have to travel from Miami to Hartford. And I pitched them on early on, hey, let me find a sponsor and I can do this remotely. And they didn't want to buy into that. But they actually wound up doing it in COVID, essentially, you know, taping people remotely. And that's when I just decided to leave.

They weren't thinking very entrepreneurial. And I just had so much other stuff going on. I started to look at my calendar and say, well, I'm spending 50 days a year including travel and prep in order to prepare to go and talk on it. It's too time consuming, and I don't enjoy it that much. And then also one of the philosophies I live by is what does it lead to? Am I going to, and at the time I was there with Jalen Rose, and I can see Jalen how he wanted to be there. He would do any and everything.

And I was a little bit more structured with my time. You know how it is up there at that place? It's a free-for-all. And if you don't set boundaries, they won't care about you. But I didn't see myself doing that long-term at all. I just wanted to put that communications work and see what it looked like on the other side. But what I will say is the benefit that came from that was it allowed other people to transition along with me outside of basketball.

And that was important to me because now people weren't just asking me at that time for my autograph because of my career. They were asking me about my opinion on the game because they see me on television talking about it. So that allowed and helped me transition beyond just being an athlete that just wore a jersey to a person that can actually communicate things above and beyond the sport. So I do credit that ESPN time for allowing people to catch up with my transition, so to speak. What I really liked about what we did is, you know, I was trying to, you know, I was always enamored with

anybody that was successful and wanting to know more about them. But I also really just wanted, I wanted honest opinions on players. And it's hard, you know, it's hard for some former players because you look at the media and you're like, So really just wanted, I wanted honest opinions on players. And it's hard, you know, it's hard for some former players because you look at the media and you're like, all right, even though I'm technically with the media, I don't like align myself with you guys. Like you're just a bunch of nerds who never played, right? So I could understand if I had been a pro athlete,

I would not like the media because I'd be like, you got this wrong, this is inaccurate, you know, but I don't think you want to be somebody who's just a complete jerk to everybody all the time. But there would be players that would come in and say, this is happened with coaches, probably more so than even with players that would come in acting like they weren't really working there when they worked there. And what I always liked about you is that you didn't have any hangups. Like if I asked you a question about a player, you were going to tell me exactly how you felt you weren't going to play

this role of like, hey, I'm a former player, so I always have to stick with all these guys. So the reason I bring that up is that when you see the content now that is so different and how fast this has moved and all these former NBA players with podcasts, and you see it now, like, I know you don't feel left out, but are you surprised how often, like, let me just put it this way. There's so many times where I'm like, even though I can put all this time into it, I can't really know if I'm right about everything, what's going on with the team because I'm not around it every day. I'm not actually on the staff or any of that kind of stuff. But then I'll see guys that used to play say the team because I'm not around it every day. I'm not actually on the staff or any that kind of stuff. But then I'll see you guys that used to play say shit and I'm like, well, I'm okay.

Now I'm not that worried about it because I can't believe how crazy some of the opinions get from the guys that actually play. Yeah, I think you know, I actually saw the transition when we were up at ESPN, when they were talking about cable and how expensive cable was and people were cutting the cord and getting away and they were gonna be streaming packages and different things like that. So I started to notice that players also,

along with social media, Instagram, Twitter and all these different things, they wanted to control their voice and their narrative. And they didn't want it. Usually that voice was controlled by the beat writer of the team, you know? Or the marketing agent or whatever it may be, or the sponsor would contribute to that as well.

So, you know, once social media started to arrive, and now you can have direct access to the player and he can have his own opinion, I think it had, at that time, is a little bit more authentic. Now it's a little bit more commercialized at this particular point where people are just getting people on their podcast or creating these podcasts. They really don't have any structure. They really don't have any structure. You know, they really don't have, the best thing that they do have is their contacts and their relationship with current players.

That's the currency that most of these guys have. And you can be a little bit more outlandish. And I think the pro athlete has recognized nowadays that, you know, with the cable channels and the news channels have always recognized that drama and outland just talk sales, you know, with the cable channels and the news channels have always recognized that drama and outline just talk sales, you know, that click sell. So the further and further you can be outside of the norm, you're going to draw people to

your particular landing page or your to your particular platform. I think the one thing that they have to be conscious of, and if I were them getting involved in media, you know, I would have a background in journalism and structure it in a way to make yourself unique, to ask the right questions, to be thoughtful, to pull the right information. Because sometimes I watch guys and I'm like, well, dang, why you ain't spanned on that? Why you ain't asked a follow-up question? You know what I mean?

Or take them down this particular path. So I think we're at a crossroads now. And I think with gambling and all the promotion that is behind that, you're going to see a lot more podcast platforms pop up with former players. But then I think you'll have the slimming effect where the ones that are serious about it and really work on that craft, they'll be the ones that'll be standing the longest. Let's talk some hoops. You're down in Miami. Obviously, you played for the Heat. You traded there from Dallas. I imagine you're not even remote. I was going to ask, like, who are you more surprised that's still in the game? Your college coach, Rick Patino, or Pat Riley, still running this organization back when you played for them, coming up on 30 years here. But I don't

think it's surprising that either are this Still plugged into the game. You know what I I knew When the first time I met uh rick patino When I first got a hold of him was five star basketball camp when he was the head coach of providence college And he used to do these motivational things and teaching clinics at five-star camp where all good players would go to. It was like a rite of passage almost. He's a lifer, man.

He's a lifer, man. He's a... He'll be coaching, I don't think he'll ever retire. You know what I mean? Pat Rowley, a little different. The way he's positioned himself with the Miami Heat, he can't afford to retire. So he is the Miami Heat.

So when people think of the Miami Heat, it's a very unique situation where, just like San Antonio, when you think of San Antonio, you think of Greg Popovich. Ever since Tim Duncan and David Robinson, Malinj Nobli and Tony Parker have left, have moved on, you think of Greg Popovich, you know, ever since Tim Duncan and David Robinson, Miles Nobley and Tony Parker have left, have moved on, you think of Greg Popovich. Same thing with Pat Rowley.

You think of the Miami Heat, you think of Pat Rowley. And those guys are life for wealth of knowledge. I'm a heat season ticket holder. I sit right there on the floor right in front of Pat Rowley. So I come in and say hello to him all the time. He's a lot more calmer and milder than these days, now that he's not coaching me. Okay, but let me, what was the immediate wake-up call of like, okay, I'm not with the Dallas Mavericks anymore?

You know, interesting story. So this is how I knew I was with the Dallas Mavericks. When I got to the Dallas Mavericks in 1993 from the University of Kentucky, the Dallas Mavericks was the only team, was the last remaining team not to have a charter plane or a private plane. We flew commercial. And at the University of Kentucky, we flew private. So, this is how I, first let's lay with that one, you know what I mean?

And then when I got to the Miami Heat, and no shade on the Dallas Mavericks when I was there because they went through ownership change. They went from Dom Carter to Ross Perot Jr. A lot of things happened, different coaches, different things like that. The one thing noticeable difference with the Miami Heat was

they were a professional organization. It felt like professional basketball, you know, the accountability, what's the expectation was laid out for you, the work ethic, all that stuff you were immersed in that heat culture at that particular time and it was all about winning at the end of the day. And that's what Pat Rowley cared about. As you know, Ryan, not a lot of teams are all about winning in the NBA. They talk about it, but they're not really about it going through their actions.

And Pat Rowley and the Miami Heat are all about winning. It's all about the front of the jersey rather than the back of the jersey. Even though in the NBA, you need stars to win games, you have to buy into that heat culture in order to be successful. the front of the jersey rather than the back of the jersey. Even though in the NBA, you need stars to win games, you have to buy into that heat culture in order to be successful. When you were there, you ended up facing off,

you get through two rounds, you take on Jordan the Bulls and the Eastern Conference Finals, they'd won 69 games that year, so it was in what, the 96-97 season. I remember just being super locked in in college and just kind of watching all those Bulls teams. It wasn't like I was rooting for him, but you didn't I mean basketball fan, right? When you know you can't win What's that feeling like?

Yeah, you know, I think there's a lot of people throughout Michael Jordan's career who feel gonna gonna understand this feeling it's almost like Gordon's career, who feel gonna understand this feeling. It's almost like, how do you say it? You almost have to take the approach like you're running a marathon. Seconds, not that. You know what I mean? It's like, win, place, or draw. You know what I mean?

It's kind of one of those things where you've realized, and especially for us, when we played the Chicago Bulls and the Eastern Conference Finals, I think we won one game. It was 4-1. And what was interesting was, you know, Michael Jordan played golf during the day before he played us. So it's kind of like, you know, this dude ain't even really thinking about us that much. He going out in the golf course, but that was just his MO. They were just so great all around with Scottie, Dennis Rodman, and Phil Jackson, and Doudin, and Michael Jordan being the greatest of all time, in my opinion. You're always playing

for second with him. I mean, Axe came a lot, Jordan. I'm sure he loves Michael Jordan because if Michael Jordan didn't retire, Houston Rockets would not have two championships for sure I don't know if Jordan gets eight straight though. He may have been exhausted from that. I don't know man. I don't know man I mean I mean To put it like this. Have you ever seen a guy leave a sport? Play another sport and come back and then five games later get 55. I mean There's a possibility he might have got eight in a row. I can't rule it out But just knowing how exhausted they were in the third season of the second three Pete

But then you go, okay But what if you threw in two more prior to this that it's just automatically like eight in a row like I don't I don't like suggesting that He's incapable of doing something on a basketball court, but Going back and watching the beginning of the third Season of the second repeat it felt like they were kind of like mentally on fumes But just the toughness of that team like and I think that was one of the things about your heat run that I liked I didn't think you were more talented. You had those battles with the Knicks,

but you certainly were tough enough. And I've always wondered like, when I'm watching great teams now, and I don't like the dismissive like everything soft now and there's no hard fouls. I mean, the guys are so much more talented when it comes to just individual shot making than we've ever seen.

It's the evolution of athletes. I've given the speech probably too many times, But getting to that point where it's like, hey, we actually have a toughness about us that makes us a tougher out despite the gap in talent. I know part of it's the heat thing that we've already touched on in Pat Riley, but is it Lonzo? Is it all the guys? How do you build that with it being a real thing as opposed to just something up on a t-shirt or a whiteboard? You know, it actually starts with the head guy. It starts with Pat Riley at the end of the day and it doesn't start in training camp. It starts with precinct conditioning throughout the summertime. back in the day, I would say a few years

before I got into the NBA, a lot of guys were getting in shape during training camp. But when you play for the Miami Heat, you had to be in shape because you had a conditioning test you had to do. So the mental toughness part to me was instrumental during the summertime or when you're preparing for the season. So everybody had to buy in and when you hit the training camp, you had to run 5-17s and

hit your time and then you're off to practice. I will say though that the toughness part, especially the mental part, is more harder than the physical part, and it does grind on you throughout the season, you know, and especially in the NBA season with 82 games. It grinds on you. So to me, it's one of those things where you have to have a coach who knows how to pull a lever

to take some time off throughout the middle of the season. And one of the things that Pat Rowley did, and I think the NBA doesn't allow it now, is I remember one year we had won like, I don't know, it was like 16 in a row or something like that. And then we had lost the game and he just jumped off a cliff. And the captains had to go to Pat Riley like, dude, we won 16 in a row. You acting like we were over 16. We just lost one game. And the captains had to go to Pat Riley like, dude, we won 16 in a row. You acting like we were over in 16.

We just lost one game. So that following year, Pat Riley changed his MO a little bit. Was still tough on us, but he was throwing like little perks. Like he would, we were in, I forgot we were at, we were playing somewhere on the West Coast and we had a two days in between. And mid-flight, that dude was like, we're going to Vegas. And he rerouted the plane to Vegas, took us to the hotel, everybody has their own villa,

do what you got to do for 24 hours. We're practicing, get back on that plane, all she wrote. And I think the NBA outlawed that perk after they heard that part of it. But he understood by listening to his players and especially a veteran group of guys of you can can't have the gas pedal all the way down to 90 miles per hour, you can back it off to 65 sometimes and let the guys kind of recover a little bit and just that that mental grind. But it wears on you after a while, and especially back in those 90s and early 2000s, it was a defensive basketball. It was half-court basketball at its best.

It was physical. Not to say it's not physical now, just a different type of physicality now. But, you know, you had to be on your peas and queues, and we were all about winning the championship. That was the focus. It wasn't getting to the Eastern Conference finals. It wasn't making to the playoffs. It wasn't about the Atlantic Division title and anything like that. That was a part of it. And goals you had to reach in order to get to the ultimate goal of winning the championship. But unfortunately for that group that we had,

Michael Jordan was in that era. What was Alonzo like as a teammate? Alonzo, one thing about Alonzo, Alonzo is a teammate. He was tough. Alonzo, he could be difficult to deal with sometimes. You know what I mean? He could be booty and stuff like that. But that's just a part of it.

I mean, but when he got on that court, there was nobody else that I wouldn't want to be in a foxhole with. He came to play every night and his motor at that size, 6'11", what he can do shot blocking wise. I enjoyed him as a teammate. When we get on the bus, he would sit at the last row and I would sit right in front of him so we would have conversations and different things. So I got to know him on a much deeper level. Great teammate would do anything for you, always has a great advice for you. I remember Lonzo would drink like these gallons of waters, man. He'd be like, you gotta drink water, man. I mean, okay, I missed a fitness guy. But he was awesome.

He was awesome to be around. I still see him. He sits right next to Pat Rowley because he's with the heat staff or an organization and stuff like that. And what's interesting is all those players that I played with from Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Morning, just PJ Brown, Sean Leonard.

I'm watching, I've known Timmy Jr. since he was a little ball kid at our practices where his head was bigger than the basketball. And I know also Trey Morning, and I see him at the games, went to Georgetown, played a little bit of professional basketball. But what's special is that how old you're getting and all the kids that have grown up that you watched

since they were small become men. Awesome time. Well, that's a good transition. Your son's at New Mexico. Yeah. I know he started at Minnesota, so it's his fourth year in. I know he's a Brewster Academy too. Like what was his experience like for you now? Look,

when you were recruited, it was a different level of attention. It was also a different era, but what's it like for you watching your son, hope to have NBA aspirations and all of it, man? Yeah, he'll get an opportunity. Don't know if it's NBA or overseas, but he will be playing for money at some point. We haven't decided if he's going to take a fifth year. They're still in the hunt for the tournament. So I kind of let that kind of play out a little bit. You know, what's been interesting is his trajectory and how much he's improved. Jay, you know, I had him in the school down in South Florida.

You know, he played varsity as a eighth grader and different things like that is sophomore year average about twenty eight points a game. And i challenged him i said son i love you man but you ain't that good you mean so now did you think look if you're fifteen and you're scoring twenty eight and he's got your last name. like there's probably a time there where, you know, it's a balance of I want him to be confident, but I also like, hey, your dad was taller. So, you know. Yeah, he's six too. And you know, one thing I do give him credit for is that, you know, I try to keep him away from the game

as long as possible. He started, I want to say at 10 years old, which now is late for a lot of kids. A lot of kids are starting at three, you know what I mean? Dribbling the ball. I put him in everything else besides basketball. He came to me and said he wanted to play it. And we took that journey.

And one thing I will say about him, he's very competitive. And the thing that I kind of stress to him is that we are going to seek out the best possible competition and we're always going to play up. So when it was the opportunity for him when he was at that school in Miami, it's called Gulliver, and I challenged him. I said, I think it's time for you to go to a prep school outside of Florida because basketball is a little different in Florida. It's much more football state, especially in Miami down in Dade County and Broward County, much more football.

So I said, you wanna go to Brewster Academy? We looked at IMG, we looked at Mount Verde, and he said, yeah, he seeks out competition. You know what I mean? He, I had him playing, you know, when he was 15, he played 15s on an underarmor circuit, and then I moved him up to 17s on an underarmored circuit. And then I moved them up to 17s on an underarmored circuit. Then he jumped to the Nike circuit at 17 years old

as a 2020 kid, learned so much. And, you know, I think for me, I have to strike the balance between being a dad and also a guy that has a resume that played college basketball at a high level and played professional basketball at a high level and play professional basketball at a high level so. I approach it from the standpoint where I'm here if you need me. I'll help guide you along the journey but you're the guy in the driver's seat and this is your journey and you know don't compare yourself to me. He never does. He just has to be the best version of himself. He's probably a better scorer than I was and a better shooter than I

was as a kid because I had nobody to teach me the game on mechanics. I worked strictly with him on his mechanics when he was a young kid. So he had some advantages that I didn't have, but you know, I also grew to be 6'8 and he's 6'2. Yeah, that's it. I mean, you know, 6'6, 6'2. Yeah, blame his mother. Blame, blame my ex-wife, don't blame me. There's a little tone in there. We're gonna just move on to the next question. One of the things that I always like was I was asking you about like the business side and, you know, I know you had all these investments and everything. You didn't have like a straightforward

agent, right? No. No, I had a... How'd you handle that? So when I first got, was about to leave early, one of the mandates that Coach Patino had, he was like, okay, Chimal, we're gonna research or interview four agents. And by the way, Rick told you to leave, right? He told you you can't come back to Kentucky. Yeah, yeah. It's not that he didn't want me to come back. Sure. Yeah, you know what I mean?

I think me and Rick struck a relationship up on honesty. And that was the main thing that I wanted to kind of, as the laying foundation for me and his relationship was honesty. Whatever it is, let's sit down and have a conversation about, let's chat about it. And that's unique for a kid that's 17 years old going to college to have a coach that's willing to have that type of relationship with you.

And one of the things when I got, you know, it was about to sign with the University of Kentucky, I said, hey, you got to let me know when it's my time to leave. If I'm a four year player, I'm a four year player, all good. But if I can leave early in that, let me know. And he held his word, and he always looked at it as what's the best interest of the player. The program was going to be, the program, when I came, we were rebuilding and we established it, so he understood that he can get other recruits to come in and everything like that

to replace me. And Antoine Walker came in later and different things like that. But, Coach Patino sat me in his office after I came back from the first dream team experience. And we worked out against them and beat them the first day and they kicked our butts the rest of the six days. And he said, Jamal, you're gonna be no less than the fourth overall pick in the following year's draft, which is after my junior year.

And he said, after that, we're going to sign an agent, and we're going to do a business manager. So after we lost in the final four to the Fab Five in New Orleans, Coach Pantino flew back with us and the whole team on that. I think it was that Monday or Tuesday, because we actually watched the championship game. And we had interviews set up. I chose a business manager who's today is still my business partner.

He's only one of my business manager. After two years of that, we became partners and we grew a portfolio of businesses from car dealerships, waste management, to fast food restaurants, and different things like that. And then I went through the agent process. I hired an agent and he came to me and was like, well, what do you think you want? I was like, you know, I'm on 30 million. And he looked at me like 30 million.

Then he went to the Dallas Mavericks and negotiated with them and came back with 19 and a half, right? And I'm like, well, we're a little bit far apart. And that previous year, Jimmy Jackson was selected fourth overall by the Dallas Mavericks, and he got 19. So I'm like, dude, you know, you gonna give me $500,000 more than Jimmy Jackson? I mean, it's supposed to be a significant bump from that. So I let him go. And then my business manager at the time, I said, can you go in there and represent me? He wasn't an agent or anything like that.

And he came back with 33 and a half. Yeah. Cause there was no rookie scale back. Correct. Correct. There was no rookie scale. You can sign a like a 10 year deal, but you would have options. You know what I mean? That's the Glenn Robinson thing. Like the Glenn Robinson one was, I think the last one where they were like, okay, this is, this is control, uh, which, you know, whatever we can debate it all we want. But one of my favorite parts of your story is the last extension. Yeah. Yeah. You want me to tell that one? Okay. So I'm in Charlotte, right? And

with Miami three years, they trade you. They trade me and they trade me in the summertime. And I'm actually headed to a concert called the Up in Smoke Tour with Dr. Dre and all those guys. They were performing in Fort Lauderdale and comes across the ticker that I've been traded to the Charlotte Hornets. And I'm like, wow, okay. That's interesting.

Didn't get a phone call or anything. And eventually Pat Riley called me and different things like that and said to me, you know what, I think I'm gonna regret this down the road. And eventually Pat Raleigh called me and different things like that and said to me, you know what? I think I'm going to regret this down the road. And he actually did because we've swept them into playoffs the following year. So I get to Charlotte. He started scoring again too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, at freedom then, you know what I mean? I wasn't no longer the third wheel on the team that only can score 88 points. You know what I mean? So yeah, you're scoring. I errors and jumps a little bit. So I get in there and you know

how you working out in the preseason and stuff like that. A lot of guys coming back. I'm playing pick up basketball. Paul Solis tells me he's like, Hey, listen, you got the handcuffs off. Let's play now. So I plan two weeks go by. I walk into Bob Bass's office and at the time he was the president of basketball operations. He said, hey, Jamal, how you doing? What do you wanna talk about?

I just nothing is doing. I'm still in sweat gear, like just sweating your wealth to court. I said, Bob, you like me? He's like, yeah? I was like, I like you. He's like, yeah? I want maximum years and maximum dollars.

And he said, okay. That was it. And then I called my business partner at the time, 24 hours, it was done. Did you pay commission on that? No. No, he's my partner, man. Here's the other one.

Were you hurt when you asked for the max deal? No, I wasn't hurt at that time. I had gotten my first micro fracture surgery was on my left knee and that was my second, no, my third year in Dallas. Third year, right with Dallas. Yeah, my third year is the Dallas Mavericks. I was healthy.

I really got healthy with the Miami Heat. That's where I got healthy. Pat Rowley was instrumental in that. He was like, Jamal, I know your knee is bothering and different things like that. Let's get the proper rehab for you. So he was very instrumental in that. He was actually the first person to introduce me

to a personal trainer that traveled with me. Pat Rowley was ahead of his time on that part of it. So I took that traveled with me. You know, Pat Rowley was ahead of his time, you know, on that part of it. So I took that trainer with me to Charlotte and he traveled with me and he was basically my rehab guy. So I wasn't hurt at that particular time. And then actually, if you look it up, 11th and MVP at 30 years old and your first All-Star.

Yeah, you know, and that's after microfracture surgery, man. And that was my 10th year. That was my 10th year. Yeah. And people don't realize how that impacted my game. If you watched my games when I got drafted, I would attack the basket and different things like that. But when I said I had that surgery, it was just, I had no explosiveness.

So I had to become more of a mid-range guy, back you down, fade away, different things like that, and be able to use my ball handling to get around people because I couldn't no longer just explode by people. So guys that have had that surgery from a Murray Stodder wire to Penny Hardaway, they'll tell you that you have to become a different player. You have to become a different player. I think people would be blown away,

although it's a super popular sort of beat-in-the-death content intro of Kids Don't Remember, but you're three-point shooting. I mean, touching on 40%, over 40% to the last year there with Miami, like there just weren't, it wasn't like you were taking one a game either, you know? Like these are impressive three-point numbers

for somebody who started off as just murdering the rim. Yeah, you know what I found was, that when I had that microfax or surgery and also getting down to the Miami Heat and being the third scoring option, I had to figure out where my spots were going to be where I can be effective. And what I figured out was, it was a long, long morning, I was going to get double teamed in the post. So I used to always shoot to the other side of the corner. So I worked specifically on corner threes because you know, as the ball swung,

they're going to be running out at that corner, man. And that's probably the easiest three point shot to take and make in the NBA, because it's actually a little bit closer than when you get around the arc part of it. So that's where I established that. So, you know, for me, I was very dialed in into the detail, the specific part of it, because I couldn't do a lot of physical activities. I had to be mentally on it and really figure out

how can I adjust. Final thing before we let you go, March is CRC month. This is a big part of your media availability. It's a cancer that I know that you are definitely passionate about. So tell us more about what you're doing. Yeah. So I partner with ExactScience is to really spread awareness for people that are 45 and older to get to get searched, to get understanding, to get their screening done.

You can go to boxoutcoloncancer.com for more information and why it's near and dear to my heart. And I don't, you know me better than anybody in this media world, Ryan, I don't do a lot of things, you know what I mean? I'm not readily available and not really a big media guy, but this touched me from the standpoint that my mom dealt with colon cancer

and that was my 2003 All-Star year. And my mom was in remission for 18 years, passed away not from colon cancer, but from a heart issue of pre-COVID. So I've always been on the mission ever since she passed to honor her and spread the message of things that we experienced together that can help other people. That's what she would want me to do. I'm an only child and I was raised by a single mother in Helen Mashburn. So anything that I can do that shares her experience,

what we went through, and if we were to detect it early, she probably wouldn't have to deal with some of the, had to deal with some of the healthcare obstacles, meaning like, you know, feeling like when you're in the hospital and she was dealing with colon cancer, she felt like she was just a chart. She didn't feel like a human, you know? And I think a lot of people experienced that in our healthcare system. So I want people to get screened earlier if you're 45 and older, because it's a preventable disease, you know. And I think we often, as men, need to have more conversations about our health and our

awareness of health and really chat about it and not be so taboo because I'm under the impression that, you know, you want to be around here as long as possible for your loved ones, watch your grandkids grow up or have more of a time with your wife or girlfriend, whoever it is. So there's things that are preventable. So that's why I partnered with ExactScience is to talk about the screening process. So boxoutcoldincancet.com if you want some information, my friend. Right. And on Twitter, at ExactSciences and at Blue Hats for Colens. And that is the number four. and at Blue Hats for Collins. And that is the number four.

Hey, this was far too long, man. It's been years. I don't know how that happens. It's just what happens, but we'll stay in contact. Thanks so much for doing this, Jamal. Man, thank you, Ryan, man. I appreciate you, man. You got the number, man.

Use it, man. All right, sounds good. We'll be in contact soon. All right, man. Have a good one. Talk to you later. You want details? Fine. Alright man, have a good one. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. The email address is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. What is up to Kyle?

What is up to Steve? We have delayed Kyle, who's supposed to be in North Carolina for a live show. So what's happening? It was the deets. American Airlines just this morning when I was getting ready to take my early cabs, you got pushed three or six hours and I tried to check the change flights, but everything else is gonna add a stop and your boy flies direct now So don't take the bus and I don't do stops next stock private. Let's go PJ check it out. You won't connection you won't fly with a connection

I don't know if I'm going to Hawaii or something, maybe, but yeah, if we're talking Durham, I think that's a one stopper or it's a non stopper. What are the connections to Hawaii? Well, I guess when I lived on the East Coast, it was different. I don't do a lot of traveling outside of work, so it's been like Missouri, North Carolina. Those are the trips your boy's taking lately. We got you to Vegas. We got you there. Yeah. Come on.

All right. Let's do some emails here. I would normally not read this one, but I had a few people chime in and I feel like I need to. When we were talking about the pet names and we got to Urie, right? Was there a Urie in there? Yes. My dog Moose's name when we got him was Yuri. That's right. And I said, just like the expose mascot. Um, but I didn't know that.

No, it's UP, which is, oh, okay. Didn't know that either. I don't know why I said it that way. I obviously was trying to make a joke. I didn't think anybody was going to get and somebody got it and they were like, that was, I don't even think it was that funny because I don't like, I can't imagine how many people even remembered what it originally was. But you said Yuri, I knew it was stupid.

And so I said it, but I had people from Montreal essentially going like, what the fuck is wrong with you? And, you know, knowing I'd had so much family back in the day. I guess you weren't. Yeah. Most of them aren't around anymore, but I had your boy had deep numbers in Quebec On one side of the family. So, you know just out of respect to uncle John and the crew I felt like I just had to make a statement and statement the statement is finished. I Said a quick Google search of our guy. is it you be you said you yeah, yeah

Interesting looking mascot also the Canadians mascot is he is he? Looks like he's in two uniforms here. So I didn't know that learn something new every day. Yeah, okay Yeah, actually, I think I regret this part So I think I regret this part more than. So. The air initially. Yeah, yeah. I should have just let it live and let people be confused as to why I would think it was your, I didn't even know why I thought it, now I don't even think it's funny telling

the story, but there was somebody you emailed in specific about that. And I thought, you know, and maybe it's just worth cleaning this up in case there's any second cousins straggling around Laval. All right, or BB Plain. Anyway, all right, here we go. Hey guys, six, three, two, 50, not in the gym much anymore as I've aged. A couple of car accidents have taken the toll on my body.

NBA comp would be Mehmet Okor, good one. Great in high pressure situations. Pretty good three-point shooter. Reason for my emails, my girlfriend's parents are struggling. Is my girlfriend's parents and struggling? With frequent visits from them, their constant pop-in visits have left me feeling overwhelmed with a lack of personal space. While I respect the relationship, the constant presence is becoming challenging to manage.

I've brought up to her several times how I don't appreciate the constant unannounced visits by her mother or father. Sometimes they visit as much as five days a week. Eww. Got a real everybody loves Raymond situation here. What was the plot of that show? Just moved across the street from your parents. You know, got two momma's boys. The mom's like kind of the evil mastermind, but she's makes great food and she knows how to be sweet. I don't know. I think that's kind of it. Did everyone in fact love Ray?

No. Ray was like sneaking maybe one of the worst ones of all. He's like pretty selfish. He's a lot of the problems arise because he's a little narcissistic and he's lying for things that could you just could have told the truth if you wanted to have a 10 second conversation about it. But I enjoy the show. It's like a sleep show for me. We put it on. Sleep show. Haven't seen one episode. So I can't really chime in. Sorry. That'd be a good show. It's like a sleep show for me. We put it on. Sleep shed. Haven't seen one episode. So, wow. I can't really chime in. Sorry. That'd be a good show. Sleep show rankings.

I used to always put it's always sunny on when I go back in the day to sleep. I watched Dune again. I did too. To get ready for Dune too. Don't know if your boy will make it to the theater, but obviously I needed it. Just circle back on Chalamet. I had a weird epiphany. And I think both might be wrong. Watching Durant again this week, I've granted he hit the three to send it to overtime. They hung on and won it overtime

after having another brutal fourth quarter. But for as much as I love to rant, I'll admit, there's certain little moments that creep into my head and it's like, okay, they need a bucket, they need you to do something. So like, what's going to happen now? You're going to let some guy get in your chest just outside of the elbow, and then you're never going to get free from it and then come back and get the ball. And then, you know, can you get into more than just your pull-up jumper? Is he as great as I think he is? Have I overrated? Like, this is how I watch almost everything. It's probably a little annoying, but at least I'm not talking to anybody about it.

I've been just sitting here thinking about it. But I've had some weird Durant moments where I've gone. Is it like, what if I had to argue, actually, he's not as good as those other guys? Why do I bring this up? Well, watching Durant so much this week, and then watching Dune again, I was like, what if Dune actually sucks and is really stupid?

And I've been tricked by the amazing visuals, the incredible audio, and watching stuff land and take off and dune is like just another level of enjoyment. When they come to talk to the house of tradies and they're like, I, you're going to dune and you're gonna take over the spice thing. Just seeing that orb land, it's incredible.

The director's amazing. We know everything he does is incredible. But there's a moment where I'm watching the fat guy just come back to life in a tar bath. And then some of the weird shallow me speeches at the end. And then when he fights one of the Freeman or fremen, excuse me, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Fremont, excuse me, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Fremont, in that night fight, it's potentially kind of stupid. So, yeah, I don't know, I was like, hey, you like this movie, you've watched it multiple times, you will see the second one, you love a lot of these actors, Brolin's got a few lines in there, you're like, what?

I was like, what if, I was like, yeah, look, I love real, but I had a moment where I was like, what if you watch this determined to say, Dune actually sucks? Could you do 30 minutes on it? And I think I could, but I don't think it sucks. I wonder if the this knife fight might seem stupid because the movie ends like right after that. Like if that was just the thing that led to the next thing. You know i think i would you wouldn't be like what the fuck was the point of that i think it's like it's the one piece of action we've had in a while since like the big. You know the big like attack and then you're like oh so that's it all right cool i think if that was like there was forty minutes forty more minutes to an hour left of the movie wouldn't be talking about tonight fight.

40 minutes, 40 more minutes to an hour left in the movie. We wouldn't even be talking about the knife fight. So again, haven't seen the second one. I'm trying to see it as soon as possible. I don't know when. Well, we just had a lot of stuff going on at the house recently, but I understand. So by all accounts, like the second one is supposed to be awesome. Like it's supposed to be really good. I've read the book.

The book is really good. It's kind of a tough read because it just, it just isn't, I don't know, just is like, it's, it's a different, like, how many pages? I don't even, it's not even that. It's like, I just found myself googling characters constantly to try to figure out like who's who and like who aligns with who. Like at that, it was like almost like a textbook read in some ways. But I enjoyed the book.

I do understand why people didn't like the first one though. I mean, here's the thing. It's like you build this movie as like a Chalamet and it's Zendaya, right? And it's this action movie. And then you watch it it's Zendaya, right? And it's this action movie. And then you watch it and like Zendaya is barely even in the first one. And there's not a lot of action that's going on. You're right. It looks beautiful.

There's like, you know, there's not really a lot necessarily moving the plot, but that's what happens when you have to split a book in two, right? Cause it's, it's, it's kind of like the same thing when people, it isn't the same thing, but it also is like, remember when people were like, oh, the fellowship with the ring sucked, like that's the worst side of the three. Well, it's like, yeah, but it's like, it's cause you gotta set up the rest of the thing. Like, you need the fellowship to have two towers,

to have return of the king. So like, I understand, like, it's not the most action-packed, incredibly awesome movie, but it's necessary to tell the entire story, or you can have a five-hour long movie that nobody's gonna watch, cause everyone's mad about Killers of the Flower Moon and all these other movies that are,

that are creeping up on the, on, creeping up on three, four, five hours. So I get why going in, people would say it sucks, but it doesn't suck. It definitely doesn't suck. And Durant doesn't suck either. True. Come full circle. There you go. Okay.

All right. So this guy has people coming over all the time. Sometimes they visit as much as five days a week. Came to head the other day when I woke up at 6.30 to get ready for work and walk out of our bedroom, only to be nose to nose with her mother in nothing but my underwear. Hmm. My girlfriend spoke to her mother about this and her response was simple. I want to visit my grandchild and my mother did the same to me. While this behavior may be appropriate to her, it's incredibly invasive on her personal space and her parents just don't seem to

understand. Fresh friends. We've implemented a breakfast brunch or lunch date with them every Sunday, so it's not like we're preventing them from seeing the grandchild who's nine years old. FYI, oh man. He's nine. I would love your guys advice on how to establish boundaries and communicate effectively with them to ensure their time together is enjoyable and respectful of each other's independence. Any insights or strategies you would be greatly appreciated. Uh, shout out to roots and Kyle.

So this has been going on for nine years then. This is like, this isn't, this isn't like a new thing. You're like, how do we nip this in the bud? Right. This has been going on since there was a grandchild. That this is an incredible twist. Because you're just reading it, you're thinking, all right, they just had a kid.

You know, maybe the kid's worn or two. He's fresh and new, yeah. And you guys were like, he's 15, and they're just like, hey, we bought him a chain jacket. This sucks. What do you got? You want it? You guys go first.

Well, the twist changed everything for me. I was going to say, like, oh, you know, maybe walk around naked. And then they maybe like, wow, we don't want to deal with that. But you've got a nine year old. I think at this point it's only, it's like a stern conversation or like, maybe not stern, but like, you know, maybe this is like you take him out to a nice dinner or something. I don't know.

But this has to be like head on. Like, I know you think shit's been cool. And I know you, you thought that when you said no, when I asked you to stop doing this so much, that that was it. But this is actually not it. I think it's always tough because it's in-laws, and you probably don't have as much cachet as if you were talking to your own mom or dad about this. But I think the only way is tackling this head-on.

I'm going to start this by saying, saying obviously love my parents. They're incredible They're incredible things for me But there was a thing where we did have to sort of we had a life advice What was it a couple weeks ago where it's like how do you parent your parents and I kind of had we kind of had to do That when we had the kid and you know, they did show up on an ounce one day Now we don't live close to them anymore, too so they come back for periods of time, but they just like showed up one day and That's just really not our vibe around the house for my wife and I and we didn't live close to them anymore too. So they come back for periods of time, but they just like showed up one day. And that's just really not our vibe around the house

for my wife and I. And we didn't appreciate that. And we had a conversation with them being like, listen, we love you guys. I appreciate everything you've done, but there aren't, there's not gonna be just like showing up at the house. But the problem is like, I grew up in this like

they kind of family. How did that go? How did that go? They totally understood. They're like, my dad even made a joke about it. He was like, ooh, Maddie, you know, my wife, was she yelled at us. But my dad like thought it was kind of funny. Cause I think he sort of believed you too. My dad even made a joke about it. He was like, oh, Maddie, my wife, she yelled at us. But my dad thought it was kind of funny,

because I think he sort of believed me, too. Yeah, Joe was a great dude. My mom, she just loves love, and she wants to be around all the time, and I get that, and it's incredible. It's what makes her a great mom. But we would just like to know when you're going to show up, because we have busy lives, we both work from home,

we're home, but we're not always available as well. They don't really kind of get that vibe. They just think we're always around to do stuff, which isn't true. And they took it really well. But again, we did it before our child turned one. Like, it sounds like the boundaries have already really been put in place.

It's like she has a section in your kitchen for like. Yeah, like I just don't know at this point if there's really much you can do. And you can be really stern about it and be rude, but they're going to be like, cool, like what have we been doing the past almost decade then? Why is this this issue now? And maybe they're going to be even more offended by it because you didn't do it early enough. You have to do it early.

So I don't love this. I don't love it here. I'm going to be honest. I think you have to sit them down and tell them how you feel, but you had to do that eight, nine years ago. Okay. I interrupted those. You would started to detail a little bit about your own upbringing though.

And cause this is the part I think that's always a little unfair for the parents is that we never told them like as the, as the children, we were like, we're going to make an appointment here. And then now as we get older, we're telling them that, which seems a little unfair, but also completely understandable. Yeah. So I grew up, you know, my, I have a big Italian family. My dad's one of seven.

My mom's one of five and everyone's kids, grandkids, all the cousins, like everybody was just in the, eating each other's shit all the time. And we would go to my grandmother's house and nobody announced when they were going to her house, we would just show up and she had food on the table. And it was just like, it's a very old school vibe. So they grew up in that environment where you are just, you know, the family, like the other thing too was like, do you, does the family come to the hospital during the birth?

That was like a big thing. We did not want any family there. We wanted to just come home and, you know, kind of like have that moment to ourselves. And that was like a kind of a foreign thing to my parents, because I think everyone was, it was like aunt's uncle's cousin, they were all at the hospital.

So I'm ticketing for them. So I do sympathize with them because it is a change. I think millennial parents are just different in that way. They just don't want everybody up in their business all the time, which I think is fair, but you have to lay that groundwork early on in the kid's life. You can't do, I don't know, doing it now. I think I think the ship is kind of sailed on that. By the way,

I'd like credit for not asking which cousin we decided to stop making cousin jokes. Thank you. Yeah. No, there's a stern look from Sururi right now. By the way, if you want to watch these life advice, as you can check them out on our new YouTube channel. So please subscribe to the Ryan Rossellow podcast on YouTube. Uh, we have a couple of things planned, some different things that won't be on the podcast, but I think we're going to put life advice in there to bulk up the content there. But that's the last time I'm ever going to mention it because in the moment, immediate impulse, like Michael Scott, I was like, and I was like, don't,

it's over because he still doesn't like it. And that's it. It's established and we're never going to touch on it again. So where were you? Your grandchildren, where were you? Because the other night, I was watching the Clippers, the Houston thing, as you mentioned in the open, Daniel Tice playing defense gets elbowed in the face after he's called for the shooting foul. They review it. And I was like, I'm going to tell my grandchildren that I was there the day Daniel Teiske elbowed in the face and then actually got a call and they didn't overturn it. And the ref said, the contact was unfortunate, which I've never heard before.

All right, establish because I'm losing Saruti right now. I'm losing him. I can tell you this My dad did this. So therefore I did this you just show up. You just show up Um, and then I realized hey that was really not awesome Like it's not awesome because then my dad started doing it to me. I didn't even have any kids Man, there was one time he came to visit me in Vermont and I was like dude. What this is real early, bro like we're kind of cleaning up from the night before. Like, you gotta, I live with people.

You gotta tell me what is going on here. And then you get to look like, oh, really? You know, like, you know. Yeah, your own father. It's like, yeah, right. Yeah. I don't want to, I'm not, it has nothing to do with that. It's just, I like to know, I have a schedule, you know?

People have schedule. People are busy these days. There's more things to do than ever. We just need to know. The last thing I would ask is like to know, I have a schedule, you know? People have schedule, people are busy these days. There's more things to do than ever, we just need to know. The last thing I would ask is, you know, early on in this child's life, did you lean on the parents a lot? Where you're like, they love babysitting, we love going out and doing stuff on the weekends.

Was this like, was this like you needed someone to like really watch this child and really pay attention? And it wasn't like, I'm trusting, you know, the 16 year old neighbor to do it. You're like, you know, this is really important. And were you leaning on them a lot? And because they loved it so much, you're like, this is perfect. We're basically doing them a favor. You know what I mean? And then now it's like, we're not really into this so much. I just would ask yourself that, are they not going to even get this because you leaned on that relationship so much and they felt so comfortable that they

could come in and start opening cabinets and you know just open the door or not even ring the doorbell and be like hey what's going on so I would I'd ask yourself did you indulge in that and like is this going to really be coming out of left field? So honestly if you're new to this podcast and you want to be a part of history where it's like, what's the longest those guys have ever gone talking about an email without ever really answering it. This is the new record. I think nine years in, it's not like it's new. It's not like you just, well, apparently it's your girlfriend. So clearly you're in the game for the long haul, all right? For as long as you were with her, the kid is nine. I think you're cool with going, we need to dial this back or just go so aggro the other way, show up to her house in your

underwear, sit on the couch and go, What's for dinner? Don't, don't tell him ahead of time. Just reverse it. Now, granted, you're not really going to do that. But I'd have to think with the kid being this much older, like, this doesn't, you're not wrong. And I just feel like you have more leeway here to say, especially if the girlfriend is on your side to go, we don't, but I really think she needs to do it. I think she needs to deliver that message. And if she can't, I think it's completely different from like, you're not going like, you're not going anywhere.

They're not going anywhere. It's all going to work out, however it works out, but to a far lesser degree because you can't live this way. This is brutal. Just five days a week on announced pop-ins, 6.30 in the morning, you're walking out. Then you're walking out And then you're like maybe next week it'll just be one maybe it'll be two and it's like no it's four Every day I'm good a a mom. That's not really my mom. You know, you don't need that nobody needs that so we're on your side very least

okay Drinks with an X let Let's do it. 27 gym stats. I lost the key to the get into my neighborhood gym and that's what's stopping me. That's the phase he's in. Had a rough breakup two years ago. I thought we'd get married, but a lot of factors, different stages in life, both of us dealing with quarter life crises, etc. Let her breaking up with me. Two years later, I've had made some changes in my life for the better. It sounds like she has two. She, all caps, suggested we grab drinks and catch up. I know we were both single and haven't seen anyone serious since we broke up. We've exchanged

texts every once in a while, but nothing past that. In ideal world, I'd love to get back together. We meshed well, had a lot of fun and good memories, and she was, is still slash way out of my league. But I can see this more so just being catching up with someone you haven't seen in a while. Should I go to drinks or do some self-preservation and not get my hopes up at the potential of us getting back together? Okay, Ben there. Most of us have. Some of us made a living with this move, catching up with the old ex.

It's the best, Kyle. Why is it the best? It's the best. There's like the least work you ever have to put into on a date. You could skip right to the good stuff. Like you got stories and stuff like that. And if you're feeling like you want to, you know, take the next step of the night, like it's probably not it's not a huge risk, you know, you're not like, oh, should I kiss her? What do I do? Like, it's, it's

great. I mean, this happens with like, what happened for me, like coming home from college and stuff like that, just, it's just, it's perfect. It's a layup. If you're into it, it's great. If you're not into it, no one's like, whatever, your feelings hurt. It's okay. Like we broke up.

So I think- Yeah, but there's more at risk here. This isn't coming home while you're at college. You know, we're talking about- No, I get it. You wanted to marry this person. And it sounds like it was a tough breakup for him. I would definitely go to Jackson.

She dumped him. He's 27. So I think what he's telling us is that there is a potential emotional roller coaster that he could be signing himself off for. Right, right. So Rudy? Yeah, that's what I would just, you know,

do you really want to go through this again? Because that's probably what's going to be the end game. You're just going to get heartbroken again, and you're going to be miserable. So you could have the hope that it's the hope that kills you, right? It's like, oh yeah, we're going to get drinks. Like maybe this will work out this time. And then you get your hopes up and, you know, there's a good chance that you're just going to be miserable in a couple of weeks when she decides that this is,

that you broke up in the first place. And that's why, you know, it's not going to work out. So I, I don't know, man. I, I in a vacuum, I'm with Kyle'm with Kyle, like yeah, what is it hurt? Like go see your ex, go get your ex, you never know. Like especially if you're young. But if you are really that heartbroken, she was the one and then you're bottling,

all these emotions are coming to the surface again. You have to feel them for a second time and then likely get screwed again a second time. I don't love that for you. I don't love that for you emotionally. Iron sharpens iron roots. We all know it. The more heart breaks that for you. I don't love that for you emotionally. Iron sharpens iron roots. We all know it. The more heart rate is better. Iron. Yeah. I was going to say, I don't know.

That doesn't mean. Beat over the head by a tree also, you know, it'd be one thing if it's a random, like if it's a hookup, whatever. And it's like, yeah, just let's go out and see what's he out through where the night takes. You can take the terms though. That's the other thing. You could like decide which way you want it to go. I don't know. See what the night brings us.

I think we know a way. He wants it to go. But we know what way he wants to go. We know which way he wants to go. And I would say the most important thing is don't be weird. But I don't know. Some of us are incapable of not being weird. Like trying to be chill.

Like you're not thinking about all those things. What if it works out? What if it works out? You have to start brainwashing yourself that this means nothing. Okay? You can't, he won't do that. Right.

He's already, in his head, because I would probably do the same thing. He's like picking out the wedding day. Being like, I missed my chance the first time and this is it. And I don't know, I don't like that. I'm gonna give Kyle a little more credit than that. I think he's telling us, Kyle, that he probably isn't capable of,

like you just need to go in this with no expectations. You almost have to be, but then if you can't be too much from like, you try to put on this act that you're so cool about it and this is chill and you had no expectations or whatever, then that could be the wrong play. Cause then she's like, oh, this guy isn't even really all that interested What you don't want to do is be on your third negroni Going after inhaling some gin going I've never stopped thinking about you. You know what I mean? Like you can't fast forward into like weirdo

Unless she invites you to weird town, you know, and I'm just talking about the conversation part of this It's just going to be very hard when it sounds like she had all the power. You're telling us she's way out of your league and still is way out of your league and that she wants to meet up for drinks. It could be the awesome thing that it happens. It happens all the time. This could be the meetup where it's the awesome thing and all the awesome things are going to happen. But I think for you to do this, and I'd say go ahead and do it. I could let us know it goes, but do it for the story. Try to try to convince yourself that it doesn't mean anything.

Not gonna happen. But are you afraid, Saru, that if he does that, then he just ends up acting even weirder because he's not himself. This wouldn't be funny. I don't know what the right word is, but like, yeah, if you went into it with zero expectations, not giving a fuck, and then she actually likes that version of you, but that's not who you really are.

That's a problem too. No, I mean, whenever anybody gets dumped and then they're trying desperately to get the person back, you end up becoming some version of you that's even more unattractive to the person that actually gets dumped. Yeah. You're like, you know what?

I was sort of over him, but he's wicked, desperate, and whiny, and just a total bitch of a human being now. I think I'm gonna give him another chance. You know what? I was sort of over him, but he's wicked desperate and whiny and just a total bitch of a human being now. I think I'm gonna give him another chance. You know, that's a 10 straight text that I haven't responded to, but you know what? The 11th one. That's it. That's what data for me. Yeah, right. Looks at every one of my stories. I think he saw me out on a date. He was at the bagel shop just standing next to a tree, but I don't know if he's paying for parking or what was going on. So yeah, you can't, um,

you can't let yourself take it. You know, this is, we hate the cliche with sports, but this is a one day at a time deal. A just go in, try to limit what you think it means. And if she goes there first about wanting to get back together, then awesome man. What a great, great story. Um, but if you do to get back together, I'll tell you, getting dumped the second time by the same person stings less because you've already been through it. It's kind of like, you know, right.

If you start working out and you're like, oh, my legs are so sore. Well, they're going to be sore the next time, but they won't be as sore because you've already done it. Yeah. It. Yeah. That's great. You just, you get dumped by the same person a second time. You just be like, well, fuck it. Whatever.

So it does get easier, man. Let us know. All right. That is life advice again. Check out the YouTube channel, the Ryan Russell podcast. Thanks to Mike. Thanks to Suryi. Thanks to Kyle. Please subscribe to both. Must be 21 and older.

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