The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Joel Klatt on the CFP Quarterfinals and Big Picture Playoff Debates, Plus Jimmy Butler’s Value and Defending Russell Wilson

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

Russillo opens the show with his thoughts on Jimmy Butler, another edition of Tales From the Couch, and a defense of Russell Wilson (0:48). Then, he’s joined by Joel Klatt to preview the next round of College Football Playoff games, discuss the blowouts in Round 1, and question what the playoff format could look like in the future (23:31). Finally, Kyle and Ceruti join for Life Advice (63:40)! What should I do with my dreams? 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 visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Joel Klatt Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode of the Ryan Russo podcast, we're going to dig into it with Joel Klatt, specifically picking the playoff. His thoughts on all of the four matchups for next week. And then we're going gonna talk about all the drama and all the nonsense with it as well. We'll see if we can be civil. I've got some thoughts on an NBA week, all of the news, a little sprinkle of tales from the couch.

I didn't get to Atlanta's comeback, but just shout out to them. And I defend Russell Wilson, my guy. We've got dream recaps and life advice. I want to start with some NBA stuff and then I'll get to an NFL argument. I did not think I would be tasked with having to make for everybody. Um, but we'll get to that at the end. I want to start with Jimmy Butler.

It's been kind of a drama free stretch of the NBA, which I have a big ratings thing, calls have been made. I'm trying to figure out the fairest way to do that a big ratings thing. Calls have been made. I'm trying to figure out the fairest way to do that, but it's been something I've been teasing, well, not to you guys, but with my own internal conversations about like what I want to do, but I'm not ready to do the ratings thing yet. So I'm going to start with Jimmy Butler, a couple other things from last night and just kind of the week in the league with the odd schedule. All right.

So the Butler saga, this has been kind of ongoing here. Shams from ESPN reported essentially like you can't officially declare publicly now for trade because it's defined, but people close to the situation, all that kind of stuff. I do love when it's reported and this isn't even Shams' fault. It's just the verbiage of the times that other teams are monitoring the situation, like I want to know who isn't. I want to know like, yeah, you know what, just not interested. holidays got stuff going on, family commuting.

I just can't monitor what is going on. What does monitoring even mean? If you really think about it, but it just sounds good. Um, so Riley came out and that this is why this story's so interesting is then you have Pat Riley coming out and I'm just paraphrased the whole thing. Like we're not trading Jimmy Butler, which is kind of weird because I would ask why?

Why wouldn't you want to trade him? And we'll get to that. This has also been building with Reilly and Butler for a little while. And I also think when you do Jimmy Butler business or business with Jimmy Butler, this ends up being the end. Riley, if you go back, I'm gonna play that cup for you right here to the Celtics Heat playoff series

where Butler didn't play and Butler talked shit. And then there's even a video of him at some party later on saying he would have ended Boston, would have ended New York, whatever. It looks like he had a shard or maybe a sob in his hand. So I'm not going to get on his case for it, but Pat Riley had this to say. You know, for him to say that, you know, I thought, is that Jimmy trolling or is that Jimmy serious? You know, if you're not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against New York Knicks, you know, if you're not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut and your criticism of those teams.

That's pretty pointed. Like that's, that's something only Pat Riley can really get away with. I mean, other guys could say it, but when Riley says it, you're just like, okay, well, it's Pat Riley. And he, I guess, has the right to go ahead and criticize one of his own guys. His own guy who has a player option for next year wants another contract extension. It seems like Miami doesn't want to do it. So here's some facts on Jimmy Butler. He's 35 right now. He's played in 20 of 28 games this season. Last season, he missed 22. He's played more than 60 games once in the previous six seasons. Granted, we had a couple of short ones there with COVID. Um, but if you watch Butler this year, he goes these long stretches where he

looks like he'd rather be somewhere else. His 11 shots per game are the lowest since his third year in the league in 2014 with Chicago. His advanced stuff is still really good. Um, but it has a lot more to do with this free throw rate and how many free throw attempts he's still taking because that's kind of what he's become. It's not as egregious as some of the other free throw merchants because he's actually getting fouled, but you have to when Jimmy is near the hoop, you have to stay on your

feet. He's almost never going to release it on the first move. You have to be ready for it. Maybe in a playoff series, you're more prepared for it, but night in, night out, everybody falls for it. He's obviously really skilled and you're worried and you're going up for the contest, but he's taking like seven, eight free throws per game. So that bumps up the advanced stuff because a lot of the other stuff is just, it's just, you know, the usage is, is like right back to where he was at Chicago.

So I don't really know what he's doing some nights where he'll be in the game and there'll be a, you know, a substretch where he's in there and you're thinking like, Oh, he hasn't even done anything here in a while. Um, now if you're going to come back at me with playoff, Jimmy, I'll give it to you, but he didn't play in the playoffs last year in 2003, excuse me, 2023, although he has been around for a while. 23, the run is so impressive against what he did against Milwaukee, what he did against Boston, that it kind of shadows over the fact he wasn't really good against Denver in the finals there. But I get it. This dude's a warrior. He's ready to battle. He doesn't think anybody's better than him. When you're the number one option, your shooting isn't

always going to be great in playoff series because you're just tasked with bailing out the possession all the time. And you want a guy like that. Like even if he's never really been, you know, cause we've, we've struggled with what to do with him when we talk about top 10 players, he's never been top five. I don't even think he's been close, but he's has these big boy moments where you're like, okay, is he actually better than a bunch of these dudes that we think are just better than him because they have better regular seasons. So there is obviously a ton of value in that.

And this heat team that's not exactly stacked over these years, been really good competitive, have probably outperformed most of our expectations in a bunch of different seasons. But I'll get back to it. Like Riley can make this statement, but I'd ask the heat, like, why, why wouldn't you want to trade him? It's clear you don't want to do the contract extension that he wants. I don't even know what a real contract extension would look like for him.

If he opts out of the player option for next year at 52 million and then just hits free agency, is there a team with cap space that goes, we want to get in the Jimmy Butler business at 36 years old. So I think that's why Miami's like, we're not just grandfathering you in and giving you the deal that say the Lakers have done in the past and also the guys the Lakers did it with have done a lot more for their franchise than Jimmy's done for the Miami Heat. Um, so maybe that's the, the cat and mouse of this all where Miami's like, you can, you can go to free agency, but we're not worried about it.

And maybe it's a two year deal with less than max money with an option, team option on the third year of it. Maybe there's a way to construct this. I just don't think it's some four year max that's sitting out there for a guy turning 36 years old. The trademarked part of it is kind of weird too, because when I think about where he would land, Golden know, golden state's a mess. They started 12 and three, it felt flukey. It is flukey. There are three and 11 cents and they have real problems. And if you add a Jimmy Butler to that, does that mean you actually have that number two guy offensively that you can count on, maybe in the playoffs, but not

this regular season version of him, or maybe he's just motivated and whatever. But you know, you're going to ask yourself, is that really the solution? And then you'd also have to ask yourself the same thing the Lakers are asking themselves is, is he the best we can do? We know it's not perfect. We know the negatives, but is it the best that we can do? I also think the trademarked part of this is one of those deals that shouldn't even be close to what we're kind of accustomed to when it's a big name and they're moved and it's the four picks and it's

a couple players, you know, whether it's salary filler or not, I think it's two picks, probably both protected. Maybe one's a little bit nicer, maybe one's far enough in the future, you have no idea and it could be a ton of value, but it feels like two picks and some salary filler. If Butler would even be moved, but even if I'm desperate, I have to ask, like, how do I think it's going to go for me? Because I need to know Butler's motivation. And this is the part of having representation

where you can figure this stuff out ahead of time. Because there's it's just really easy for me to even sit here and dismiss and be like, I wouldn't want to be in the Jimmy Butler business because the Jimmy Butler business ends poorly every single time. But at this time when it ends, it's probably going to be when he retires. So maybe it's a little bit different.

But he was pissed at Chicago. I actually kind of understood his position during his time in Chicago. I think it was frustrating for him for a bunch of different reasons. He took a blowtorch to Minnesota. Now look, did I laugh a little bit when it became apparent that part of his problem with Minnesota was going at Kat Wiggins, essentially saying those dudes are soft. When I thought at that time, he was probably telling the truth. Sure.

And as we know, especially in the NBA, I mean, it doesn't really work for the rest of us, but if you want to end your employment somewhere and you have enough juice to be wanted somewhere else, you can't be a good employee. Like I'd really like to do something else, but I'm going to be awesome to work with the entire time. In the NBA, you have to be impossible to deal with." And he got his way. Philadelphia made the wrong choice. They should have invested in him, but at the time, you could understand the investment in Simmons and Embiid. You go back to when that bet was made in Miami, ending up with him. By the way, the luck

with all that, you know, you can understand it. It ended up being like Butler with Embiid would have made more sense. And again, this version of Simmons that we see today in some clips and workout videos is not the version that Philadelphia was making bet on back then. But now we have it again in Miami. And he's probably pissed. Look, he's been difficult there the entire time, but he's been there guy. And he's been, as I said, when they got him from Philadelphia, this is the best we can do. So I wonder if other teams will look at it and they'll have to figure out some sort of number because you can't just bring them in for a run here and then

let them go to free agency. You'd have to make some sort of investment in because he's getting older. Like he's looking for that last contract. Um, the best part of all this is I think Riley's the only guy out of 30 teams, the only guy that can go out and say what he said at the playoff series last year, say what he said this week, but I just keep asking him, why would you not want to look at closer to the deadline, another team that's willing to give you assets for somebody that you probably don't want to extend at the number that he expects to get at this point.

And Riley has as much respect and equity of anyone running a franchise that can say whatever he wants. And that's what he did. And maybe they're just fucking with each other this entire time. A little sprinkle of tales from the couch from last night. The game I was most locked into Pacers, OKC. Pacers had won five straight. OKC keeps winning. And the Pacers, 10 and 15 to 15 and 15. They lose that one last night. So they went into the night, three and a half games behind Orlando for the four seed. So it's still three and a half games that Orlando's lost to Miami as Orlando finds a way to keep battling in every one of these games despite missing all their dudes. Some of the main dudes, you can already understand that.

I think four is probably like the seed ceiling for the Pacers, but you may not love them. Over the five games, when they put together this winning streak, they were fourth on offense. We expect the Pacers to be really good on offense. They were fifth on defense, which is a massive improvement for where they are on the season. They're 20th defensively on the season. They were the second best shooting team in the league over the winning streak, also the assists and some decent wins in there. But against OKC, as this was a game, they're league over the winning streak. Also the assists and some, some decent wins in there. Um, but against OKC as this was a game, they're in it the entire time they're up. And then you're watching the fourth quarter and it was very OKC ish.

They're smart on every possession. Uh, they were looking to attack miles Turner, every possible chance. Look for Boston to see if they do that tonight, whether they start with it or try to close with it, sometimes teams will like an advantage, but they don't want to go to it too much. You know, the Pacers maybe could have figured out a way to have their defensive assignments a little bit different, but the thing is with the way Oklahoma city is constructed. If you change who miles Turner is guarding to try to hide them in a switch, then they're probably just going to change how they initiate what they're doing on offense. And the other part of, uh, other part of that, okay, see that's so impressive.

And it's night in and night out with these guys. Uh, not only they're great defensively when they have the first action, like say they get the switch and Jaylen Williams decides that he's going to drive or, you know, SGA who has a career high 45 last night. And I know we ended up with 11 free throws, but it wasn't, it wasn't really until the fourth quarter and the end of the game when he started taking on the free throws, I think he only had three free throw attempts through the three quarters that he played last night.

So it wasn't like a big free throw game, even though the final box score says that, but back to the point that I'm making here is that, okay, see, we'll have, you'll see other teams do this. They get the switch, they know what they're supposed to do. And then the guy just drives at the dude, hoping it works out without any thought that there's still players on his team that maybe have a better look at the hoop. And OKC's first thing that they do, they, they still are aware of all of the moving pieces around them and because everybody can handle it, everybody can pass and

everybody's kind of a decent decision maker or a terrific decision maker, it just works. And they still don't have Chet. You know, Caruso wasn't part of last night. And so I, I'm just, every time I'm in awe of them and the one time the Pacers looked like they played their best defensive possession during the closing moments of that game, they cut off the first SGA thing, they cut off a Jaylen Williams drive, they get it back to SGA and he hits a three with a dude right in his face. And there you go, ball game.

One thing I would look for tonight against the Celtics depends if it's a close game or not, but just whether or not it was a matchup thing, the Pacers liked better with Nemhart than Halliburton's matchup. Halliburton just had nothing going offensively at all. And it looked like Nemhart was their preference to initiate whatever they were trying to do offensively, but they were struggling because of OKC's D. And just, even though the score was close, the Pacers were up. Those last few closing minutes, just as you would expect between these two teams, you just saw a massive gap. Did I watch Wizards hornets last night? Sure did.

You knew I was excited for that one. Uh, did Alex are take a three in a massive spot with nine seconds left on the shot clock? Yes, he did. Jordan pool taken awful three with 14 seconds left on the shot clock and brick it. Yes, he did. Did he brick it again later it. Yes, he did. Did he brick it again later on?

Yes, he did. The thing about the Wizards, man, they have like between Bob, Kulabali, George, there's a sprinkling of really athletic, aggressive guys that are, they're fighting their ass off. I'm not telling you the Wizards are good, but they don't know that they're this bad. There's a bunch of young dudes on this team that don't care what you think about how bad they are. I know that sounds kind of stupid, and as I said it out loud, I was like, what are you actually saying here? I guess I'm just giving them credit because we know they're terrible, and it's one of

the least exciting rosters in the league. Then you have to play with Jordan Poole pool who's sabotaging so many of these possessions. What's funny though, guess who had a tip in that was huge. Sar guess who hit essentially the game winning three pool. Did he care about the two previous bricks with way too much time on the shock block? Nope. That guy doesn't care. I, that guy, Jordan pool shows up to confession and it's like, I have

nothing to say again this week out. Um, I want to end with some in deed thoughts. Rough week. I know they beat Boston on Christmas Day. Terrific game out of them. Maxis just impossible to deal with when he's going like that. But in beads week, you go back to the Charlotte game where he decided to play and had like 34. They had no Lamello.

They had no Brandon Miller. They had no Mark Williams. who's back our long national nightmare over Mark Williams playing basketball again. I know he's been back for a few weeks, but I'm happy about it. Uh, no Grant Williams, if you really want to get down to it. So Embiid plays in that game. And then the next night against Cleveland, guess who doesn't play. Embiid.

Then, uh, because all of us were pumped up to see the Wimbledon Yama matchup. They were definitely staggering the minutes Emb B was against them sometimes, then he wasn't. It looked like maybe they were trying to coordinate the minutes there a little bit to see how they would line up. It was a weird game with the officials. Drummond got thrown out because Jenna's thought she saw something and then they were like, you're not thrown out. So look, at least the refs change it, but it's in Philadelphia.

So they were going to be super chill about it. And they bring Drummond back. So I don't know if that planted the seed for him being furious because he gets called for a charge, which was an offensive foul as he drove right at Wemba Nyama and hit him with the forearm shiver. And then Embiid loses it on, uh, Jenna again. And then he gets thrown out of the game and you're like, dude, you know, like, let's get some minutes, buddy.

Let's go. And then there's the Boston game where he gets hurt warmups. And then you're going, well, what now? What? And he got hurt again in the game. Like you're just like, I'm not, I mean, he's had incredibly bad luck. And he's also heard a lot, right? The nasal fracture isn't because of conditioning, but Philadelphia came back

when indeed wasn't a big part of what was going on at all. And I just worry about where this is going because this may be, you know, if the Sixers can put it together with this team, writing them off with a bad start as if they weren't going to be in the playoffs was just ridiculous because the East is what it is. So I never felt that way. It's like, can the main three guys play together for a month before we start saying this team can't make the playoffs? Because that's just not what had happened. I guess, like, I don't know what's new about what I'm going to say, but I have an image in my head

and they're two different things. They tell two different stories. And one is the sit down with Embiid. Like say they put together a nice second half of the season, they make some noise in the playoffs. I wouldn't pick anybody in the East against Boston, even with their dip the last week or so. But say they have a nice run, they're competitive and beat is just back to being in beat. And it's the sit down with a reporter and we're going to the 25, 26 season. And we'll look at these last few weeks, start of this season, not being healthy, they're getting suspended, you know, the, the drama around him being hurt, even though he's back out there because he's clearly still hurt. So I, I feel a little guilty beating up in some of the play that I see, because he just

doesn't seem like he wants to move unless he has the ball. And if they turn this season around to respectability, I'm not even talking about winning the Eastern NBA title. There'll be some one-on-one sit down and be like, how rough was that November or December for you in 24? Or he's on another team. And they're like, when did you know it was time to get out of Philadelphia? Was it November or December of 24? Let's just hope the start of 25 is a little bit better for the big guy. I have some football to talk about because we had football this week. We had a lot of football and extra helping on Christmas. I didn't think I would have to be the guy to defend Russell Wilson, but hell I'll do it.

I'm your Huckleberry. So I've seen the online argument about Justin Fields because the Steelers are now struggling and they have a losing streak and it wasn't pretty this week, right? I would say as an aside, Justin Fields may have more support for a quarterback who's done nothing. Then any quarterback that would fit into whatever tier of quarterbacks that he is. And yes, he throws a really nice ball.

And there was some stuff in the beginning of this year. I'm like, man, that looks pretty good. He was terrible his rookie year. It's fine. He was, he was productive sort of his second year. He ran the hell out of ball, ran for over a thousand yards, a bunch of touchdowns as well. But whatever the ceiling was, it felt like it just wasn't going to be there. And then there's just this anti-Caleb thing that we've already discussed on Monday.

So some of it is the history of Chicago and their quarterbacks. Um, but there's, there's just this very strong Justin Fields Armada out there and they're asking for him to take over for Russell Wilson. Let's look at some of the numbers here. All right. So, Fields went four and two in those six games he started. And look, I kind of wanted Fields to win the job and keep it. If you've listened to this, this corner of football discussion, because I thought he would win the locker room. I thought he would be everybody's favorite guy, but Russell Wilson had the injury. So there was a lingering thing here.

It wasn't going to work out. So, um, he throws five touchdowns in six games. He also ran for five touchdowns. So you got to throw that in there. But on third down, the team was converting 39% of third downs, or that was 19th with Russell Wilson, they're still only converting 39% of third downs, or that was 19th with Russell Wilson. They're still only converting 39% of third downs. I say still only because it's the same number, but it actually is a much higher

ranking as the rest of the season has played out and third out versions aren't as easy that is 12th best. So it's the same number, but better compared to everybody else. The red zone touchdown part of it. Um, that's not something where Russell Wilson, because he can't run like Fields is going to tell you that, you know, Fields is the wrong choice, but they weren't exactly killing it in the red zone on touchdown percentage. Anyway, they were tied for 19th getting touchdowns half the time and it's

dipped down a little below 50%. So it's still kind of the same. Here are some things that are really important though. If you're calling for Justin Fields, you are being completely disingenuous about the other factors. The defense, okay? The defense. In the 4-2 start in the six games for Fields, the defense allowed 14 points per game. Over the 10 games with Wilson, they're giving up 10 more points per game. Now 24 points. Something's happened in this defense and it's fallen apart.

And you're hearing quotes from TJ Watt came, Hey, we're respectful guys. Massive resumes going, we need to fix this. And as we pointed out on Monday, as Mike Sandow pointed out, this offensive stretch for Wilson, for the Steelers is one of the worst three game stretches, I think going back 20 years, but it's without George Pickens, who did come back this week. So if you look at, yeah, I mean, look, you can even get in a schedule. Okay.

There's six and four with Russell Wilson. I'm not telling you he's great, but, and I've even told you, I'm not picking him in the playoffs against anybody really good, like Kansas city, Baltimore or Buffalo. And you could even argue, look, Baltimore's only a game ahead of him in the division. And that's still in play of something weird were to happen here close, but they played Philly Baltimore in Kansas city in this three game losing street. Three of the best, I still think Baltimore is one of the best

teams in the league because of Lamar. So it's not that Wilson's awesome. The pick six, I get it against Baltimore. He just got smashed on the fumble. You know, it happens every now and then I can understand coach Tomlin deciding I want to go with somebody that's done this before in the playoffs in big spots. Even if we don't think that there's a massive gap, even though it seemed kind of unpopular at the time.

So maybe they end up being the five seed lose the division. Maybe they beat Houston, but to win two games in the playoffs. I think you're lying to yourself. You think like fields is going to bring this magic to this team that has nothing to do with fixing the defense or Pickens being available. So, you know, me, I'm Russell Wilson's guy. So maybe you're not going to take my word and think I'm just too biased on this one, but this is an argument that needs to be put to bed.

We are excited to have them back on again this season and look ahead to four awesome games for the college football world. And we want to remind you, Joel Klatt tonight will be on Fox, a Yuletide showdown in the DirectTV Holiday Bowl as the nation's leading passer Kyle McCord, the number 21 Syracuse football team take on Washington State, clad on the call tonight with Gus Johnson, of course, and Jenny Tapp from San Diego. Again, that's 730 Eastern on Fox. What's up, man? It's good to see you. It's great to see you. I hope you had a great Christmas and holiday. Yeah, I did. A little travel and ready to get back in time for the games because that's yeah, it's like luckily, luckily only football in the NBA. We're on Christmas.

All right. So let's look at these four. There's a million things that I want to get to here, as you know. But I want to make sure I give enough time to the actual games first and foremost of the four matchups. I probably already know your answer, enough time to the actual games first and foremost of the four matchups. I probably already know your answer, but give me the one you're struggling the most with of trying to figure out like which way you would go picking the game. Yeah, Oregon, Ohio State. I mean, that's I know that's the boring answer. And that's the one you're going to get from most people. But man, that game just looks so good.

I think in a lot of respects with the way that Ohio State looked against Tennessee, I think that there's at least in a lot of our minds, a good chance that these are the two best teams in the sport. You know, that these are the two best teams in college football. They played a one point game in Eugene. If Ohio State uses a game plan that plays in space and throws the ball, you would think that, you know, they can play with and maybe beat anybody. And yet Oregon's had the best season of anybody in college football. I can't wait for that. I'm actually gonna take my boys in.

I'll be at the Rose Bowl. Yeah, that's the answer. And I mean, any of us that have watched the entire season play out, like you have, and watching what Ohio State did to Tennessee, where it was a Tennessee team that, I don't know what they were trying to do in the backside of their coverage. I can still see their sophomore corner just like

on every Smith route turning back around to everybody being like, are you guys serious? Like this is, this is the plan. We just stopped for a moment and be like, if you're building a game plan, if you're building a game plan against Ohio state, you dare them to run the football. Just like put four guys in the box and just dare them to run the football. That's essentially what Michigan did and Ohio State took the bait. And the fact that they were playing Jeremiah Smith with single coverage was wild. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. And as soon as I saw the defense, I thought to myself,

well, this margin is gonna be however big Ohio State wants it to be. That's exactly how it played out. Yeah, I mean, that was ugly. And I try not to go too much into the body language because I don't think anybody down three scores that quickly all of a sudden is gonna look like they're having a blast on the sideline,

but Tennessee looked cold. The only thing that worked was Nico scrambles, which means all the other things. You couldn't run it, you couldn't throw it, you couldn't defend it. And it was a mess and it was so dominant that I'm like, wait, and this happens to us all the time. And the recency of it is, you know, I picked Oregon this summer to win the whole thing. I thought they would split with Ohio State, lose the first one, win the second one, whether it was in the Big Ten Championship game, obviously, you know, could play it out the play again.

It's hard to go with Oregon because of it, because of what Ohio State looked like, but, you know, I don't want to just dismiss everything that we saw from the Ducks this year. Although I think, Joe, there's like a little lingering thing with that Penn State matchup where that defensive line for Oregon that I like got pushed around for an entire night by Penn State.

But the problem is Penn State just couldn't defend what they were doing once the Ducks got the ball. I think what's fascinating for us, and you know, you and I have watched this sport for a long time, and here's the hard part this season for me, is that there isn't a great team. And normally in college football, at least in recent vintage, since like Saban got to Alabama,

and maybe even before that, you know, even back to like USC, like there's always a team that you're like, I know they're great. They have no weaknesses, you know, like they do everything well. And this year, it's not the case. And that's not to throw any cold water on what Oregon did this year, but you are right.

I don't think that they're a dominant defensive line. You know, like we've seen from Michigan and Georgia and some of these other teams over the last couple of years. So, like, do you think that they can just go through and run this gauntlet unscathed? I think it'll be very difficult. I think that there's more parity at the top of college football this year

than I've seen in quite some time. And because of that, you know, every team has their flaws. We've seen the flaws with Ohio State. We haven't necessarily seen it with Oregon, although they had the favorable Big Ten schedule, so it didn't pop up. I will say I don't see either of these teams running away and hiding the speed on the field, the talent on the field is going to be

premium. And I think it's going to be a close game. The one thing that I will say though is, is like, in these games, when you get teams like this, generally speaking, you got to have a quarterback that outplays the other quarterback. That's what happened in the first matchup with Dylan Gabriel. And Dylan Gabriel is a guy for playing as well as he has this year for the best team in America.

Boy, we don't talk about him a lot, do we? And I don't know why, and maybe that's an indictment on us, but I don't think we talk about him enough. And when you look at what he did against that pass rush from Penn State getting himself just those little reminded me of Michael Pinnix a lot against Texas last year just moving ever so slightly and manipulating the pocket ever so slightly to get himself in a position to throw the ball down the field that's dangerous against Ohio State because they rely on that pass rush getting there. And here's what we do know is that Oregon has the speed to outclass Ohio State's corners. So that's a matchup that if you're the Ducks, you really want to lean

into. Okay. So coming off the Penn State part of it, because the audience already knows this, so I'm just sharing it with you quickly. This is probably the best I've felt about Penn State. And it had more to do with how they played against Oregon than certainly the SMU game. Because like, who do you think is a tougher opponent, SMU or Boise State? Scottie Lugavere Yeah, people think I'm a gentie hater anyways, but I think SMU is the more difficult opponent. I mean, you know, rather than get into all of that, because everyone is, oh, you know, why do you hate the group of five?

I don't hate the group of five. It's just like Boise's not, they're not as good as SMU. SMU was more balanced. They're more explosive. I mean, SMU drives down the field on the first series. If they complete that fourth down ball, it might be a different game. You know, Jennings has an off day. Boise is very one dimensional. That's just is, it is what it is.

They don't have the speed to match up. So I feel great about Penn State. I am with you, man. And here's the deal. So I think of bigger arcs rather than just this season. Think of it, just pair yourself back a couple of years. If you go back a couple of years. If you go back a couple of years, James Franklin and Jim Harbaugh really, they had to point at Ohio State and say,

well, how are we going to beat Ohio State? James Franklin wanted to go in and he said, let's do it with speed and athleticism, try to match what they're doing on the outside. So let's play man coverage, let's get length, let's get pass rush, let's do it that way and recruit heavy. And Jim Harbaugh went the opposite direction. He said, no, no, no, let's go in there and get big and rugged and the offensive and defensive lines and let's beat them at the line of scrimmage and see who wins. Well, it worked out for Michigan.

It did not work out for Penn State. Here's what's happened over the last couple of years is that you've seen a Penn State team not lose to teams that they shouldn't lose to. They just don't. I mean, you can say what you want about what they do in big games. And yes, they have fallen short against Michigan and Ohio State, namely, in their conference. But they beat the teams that they should be. And they they generally do it handily. So I don't fear for them in this matchup against Boise. And then this year, in those games that we look at as the bigger matchups for James Franklin, think of it this way. A couple of years ago, Michigan ran them out of the building. Ohio

State ran them out of the building. This year, it was a lot different against Ohio State and Oregon. They have a fourth down on the goal line to tie the game against Ohio State. They're right in the game of the Big Ten Championship game. I think Penn State is as close as they have been the Big Ten Championship game. I think Penn State is as close as they have been since Kerry Collins to being like a legitimate national championship contender. I could see them coming out of that side of the bracket. I very much could see that. And the way they played against Oregon, and you're exactly right about that. The way they played against Oregon in a loss is what makes me actually believe in them more than what they did against SMU at home in the first round.

Yeah, that's really where I was because I have not liked it for a long time. I felt like, especially before the Big Ten expansion, it's like, okay, we'll dig into the schedule and Penn State has this nice record. And I'll admit on the broadcast, I've done a few eye rolls when you guys were like, hey, look at, and it wasn't you. It was the graphics department.

They would have made six of the previous 12 playoffs. And I'm like, cool. Um, maybe that says more about the 12 team thing than it does. But yes, I mean, Aller, that fourth down throw against Oregon and you know, people that were making fun of him for saying I'm coming back like, Oh, cool. So now people don't have to worry about a fourth rounder. It's like, man, I think you're being way too dismiss cool. So now people don't have to worry about a fourth rounder. It's like, man, I think you're being way too dismissive, dismissive about his

progress. It's not about the stats of the guy that we saw last year and this year. It's just the dude. Like I see a different guy and you know, maybe it's, it's not a first round grade in the 26 draft, but I'm with you. Like, I just don't know how you could watch Penn State all of these years, then watch them this year. And I know the Ohio state game is super frustrating and playing out the same

way over and over again. I don't know how you'd watch that team this year and not feel a little bit better about them. Um, you know, and especially in that side of the bracket, you know, I mean, like they can beat Notre Dame, they can beat Georgia. There's no doubt. So, I mean, they could, they could easily find themselves out of it. And I would be remiss if I didn't just mention their offensive coordinator.

Andy Cotell-Nickey has infused this confidence that rises when the best players have the football in their hands at the right times. And that was the way that James Franklin hired him. And he said, it's not just a request. That's a mandate. He didn't do that against Ohio state net loss. And I remember going in and talking to him afterwards. And he was like, I can't believe I did. I can't believe Tyler Warren didn't touch the ball inside the five.

And, and it was like a total brain fart. And that lesson is going to pay off in a huge way for him moving forward. So we've talked about that side of the bracket, so we could get to some of the seating thing, but I just want to make sure we do something with Arizona state here, okay, because we know they're without Tyson, they're leading receiver with a collarbone thing and going into the big 12th part of it, I didn't, I didn't feel as bad about it as certainly I do now. And they're also going to be without Simmons, their top cover corner for the

first half with a suspension carry over. So, you know, Texas is defense is the thing that I've been able to bank on. Like I can just list all the talent just like you can. I think the Ewers thing is, is kind of strange. And then against Clemson, which, you know, I think there's a good version of the Clemson story for this year, like that was actually a pretty good football team and not saying they're great, not seeing that they're tier one, but from some of the non-conference stuff that happened to them, I think it was easy to kind of overlook, like that's still

a good team and Club Nick and having some receiver weapons that developed over the course of the year. So they hung in there with Texas because even if like you expect Texas to have the game that's frustrating, it's going to be the red zone nonsense in the, you know, the touchdown percentage, which is abysmal, which just doesn't make any sense with the talent, the line and a smart quarterback, but it just hasn't worked out. Um, but for Clemson, it not looked like they were shut down at all, but I can't pick Arizona state in this one, but they're just, they've been Arizona

state has been so much fun. The Texas defense, which is the one thing I thought I could bank on with them, was alarming against Clemson. You know, the issue, though, is I don't feel like you can just run the football on Texas. That's so and I know their past defense was a lot better this year. But Club Nick in that passing game got a little bit loose. And I think you got to give a lot of credit and you were alluding to this, to Clubnik. Like he played the best of any road quarterback by a wide margin in the first round, which is what you have to

do. If we look at the NFL playoffs, what do we always talk about quarterback play? Why? Because it's difficult to go into a road environment and play well as a team if your quarterback isn't playing great. And club Nick went in there and played great and gave his team a chance. You know, they were one possession late in that game. Now they ultimately, um, obviously came up short. I believe Texas is defense is the most underrated defense in the country. I know that that sounds crazy, but we talk about Georgia a lot. We talk about Ohio State and their defense a lot, and rightly so. But this defense for Texas, I think it takes

a remarkable effort to get after them, which is what Club Knick had. No one's really done that this year. And so then I look at Arizona State and I'm like, do they have the pieces to threaten this Texas defense? No, they don't because you need multiple pieces. You need more than than Scadaboo. As much as I love this guy, I mean, I love watching this guy play and who knows,

maybe he's gonna prove us all wrong and put the team on his back. But if you're looking at a player that you can focus on and try to take away, I think Texas will have a really good plan for him, a really good plan. One thing I would say, because it's not specific to this game,

we've covered this sport long enough to know you rarely get back to back great performances from any team in college football. It's very rare. So what we're asking teams to do in this playoff is something that we've never asked college football teams to do. We ask college football teams to get up for huge moments

and play their best in these individualized huge moments. Very rarely during the course of a regular season do we ask them even to play back to back road games in conference play on consecutive weeks. That's incredibly rare in college football. Now we're asking teams, so all these teams that looked great and we feel like, oh man, we really know what we're going to get from Ohio State and Penn State and Texas or Notre Dame. History would suggest one of these teams is going to go lay it down in this next round. I'm just telling you right now, one of these teams is going to go out there and not play their best in this next round. Totally agree. I think when you looked at the spreads and I noticed this with the

conference championship games, I went, wow, like everything's a field goal here. Okay. And then when the first round of the playoffs came out, it's like, they want you to take some of these dogs because it's seven and a half, it's eight and a half across the board, which again, speaks to the matchups and seating that maybe if we have time, we'll dig into, I feel like both of us have done so much on it. I just want to make sure we previewed some of the games, but I also think like when you look at some of the stats.

Arizona State's 30th defensively opponent's yards per play, and you can dig into some of the schedule stuff and go, okay, well, who do they play? Like, you know, maybe we'll get to Indiana here. They were third in the country behind Ohio State and Texas. Um, so sometimes it can be a result of your schedule, but it's an interesting comparison there when you go to Boise State and you got to keep scrolling down to 56 with that schedule. So defensively, you know, maybe it speaks back to the mismatch that you

think you see on the Boise Penn State side. Okay. Georgia, Notre Dame is another one because I think the Stockton quarterback storyline in the SEC title game, it becomes easier to be like, he gave him a real spark when there was a couple of decent possessions, but he also through the disastrous pick. I know the run was huge, but they were clearly afraid to let that guy throw the football and for good reason. So the way this game is talked about as if he's this massive positive because of the dual threatness of it. I don't know if it's the dual threat thing as much as,

I just think people are being incredibly convenient the way they're talking about Stockton's impact in this matchup. Yeah, he's getting a Georgia bump. He's getting a Kirby smart bump, right? If this was Stockton playing for Arizona State or for, we would all just be, it would be a total throwaway.

And we'd be like, well, that's not going to happen. Yeah, exactly. You know, and so and listen, maybe that's correct because Georgia has earned that and Kirby has earned that. But the the difference is, is that the supporting cast around stock then has been really bad. And I know that that's everyone's like, man, you just hate Georgia. No, no, no, they led the country and drops.

There's a reason Carson Beck had a poor season. They led the country and drops. If you watch some of their games and, you know, the game that they struggled offensively against Georgia Tech or some of these other games, their skill position players don't give Beck any help whatsoever. And now you're gonna tell me that a quarterback is gonna go in there and make his first start

and all of a sudden they're gonna be better offensively? That's not a thing. That's not a thing. That is hoping for hope's sake. That is believing in the logo and not actually evaluating what's gonna go on. If Georgia wants to win this game, it has to be a low scoring affair.

Notre Dame's defense is one of the better defenses in the country. They're fast, they're athletic, they're physical. Georgia's not going to run up and down the field on them. This is not an offense that goes crazy and goes berserk. I don't think that they're going to be able to just sit there and run the football with their dual threat quarterback. That's also not a thing.

So the pressure is going gonna be on their defense to stop Notre Dame. And I personally believe that Riley Leonard is a better version of Haynes King. This Georgia team struggles against mobile guys who are willing to run and can be a threat in the run game on the outside. We saw that with Haynes King.

We saw that with Jalen Milro. This matchup to me very much favors Notre Dame and it's not just Stockton. It's everything. If Beck was playing, I would pick Notre Dame. And now Stockton is playing and I'm like, well, I'm definitely picking Notre Dame in this game. Yeah. I can see how you get there because the Stockton thing's a complete unknown. I just feel like it's being rounded up because of how that game played out specifically. Maybe you think it's because of the SEC part of it, but I have not liked Beck in so many games. And I thought the Georgia Tech game, it was very telling. Tate Ratledge brings him over to the sideline. He's talking

to him because he knows. He's like, you're flat right now or you're not seeing it. He didn't see it against Bama. That game could have been even worse for him. I thought he was actually terrible in the Texas game. He wasn't good in the Texas game. No, they're only driving the Texas game. They needed a trick play. Other than that, they got the ball at the 35, you know, every series. Again, you're not gonna make a lot of hay in this business

picking against Georgia, but this Georgia team is different. This is a totally different team. And I think Notre Dame beats them. I am worried about Georgia's receivers getting separation against these corners for Notre Dame. Because every time like we get the nice replay because we're watching the TV broadcast, I just feel like there's so many times where I just love the way the defensive backs for Notre Dame compete.

And good players man. You know, this is not this is not the most challenging group all these guys. Okay, so I wanna do some bigger picture stuff because I'm glad we got through all the games. You're right, like Georgia is not the standard of what Georgia is, right? But they also played an absurd schedule

and I think that to get through that with two games would have been fine. If this were the BCS and it's the Joel Klatt talk show, which two teams would you want playing for a national championship? Oregon and Ohio State. So you would look at the resumes of George and Ohio State. Well, I just think if this is the BCS and I'm just saying like who do I think before the first round. Can we do it before the first round? Yeah. So the two teams that would have earned their way into a BCS game would have been,

we would have had an Oregon, Georgia, BCS national championship game. That's kind of what it would have been and I wouldn't have liked it. I would have looked at teams like Texas and Ohio State and Penn State and just wondered in the back of my mind and thought to myself, boy, you know, like,

what could have been with those teams? Which is why I'm actually a huge proponent of this 12-team playoff. I was hyper frustrated with the commentary surrounding the playoff in the first round. Hyper frustrated because- Tell me what specifically made you so mad. Well...

Because I know I said some of it, so we'll talk it out. This idea that the results on the field were an indictment of the losing team, and that that somehow meant that they didn't deserve to be there. I thought that was ridiculous. And in so many ways, what we what we fail to realize is that in our dreams

of perfection in a college football postseason, we don't see the imperfections and all the things that we love around it. The imperfections of the NCAA basketball tournament, the imperfections of the NFL playoffs. You know, I did this stat on my show. Last year's wildcard round of the NFL playoffs, the average margin of victory was 17 and a half. There was one, one possession game in the six games in the wildcard round, won. And yet I didn't hear anybody start laying blanket statements on what teams should have or shouldn't have been there. Now, granted, I understand that there's an automatic qualifying path. And so because of that, you can't

say who deserves and there's a subjective nature to our sport in college football, which is why we love it. There's certainly that, but this idea that we were gonna tear teams down for what they have done and tell them in retrospect that they didn't deserve to be on the field, I just vehemently disagreed with that stance. We agree actually on that. We were aligned, I don't think it's fair,

to just watch the one game and then write everybody off as if there was four magical teams. For the record, if you didn't hear it it at the end of the year, I was not banging the table for Alabama. I was kind of over them, even though at one point I think I bumped them back up. Old miss, you know, the head to head of South Carolina makes it tough for me to make the South Carolina argument. I think I like South Carolina and I think a committee could have argued

them in, um, if you wanted to get, cause I think that's if we have a committee, right? If we have a group of people, they're supposed to be able to talk all this stuff out. And it felt very records based, just as if it were standings. And you're right about the NFL part of it, but the NFL playoff structure's never gonna be criticized

the same way because it's not based on opinion. You know, it's just based on our- It's an automatic path. Right, so whenever you factor in a human element to it, there's nothing in our society where people are like, oh, those 10 people decided on that, nailed it. Nailed it. No, you're right.

You're exactly right. And once you agree that the structure was more flawed than the teams they gave us, and I think that the frustration with the structure of how teams are seated and who got buys and who's playing and where, I think is definitely more of something I'm willing to have a conversation about. You know, like, what's the structure of how we're doing this? But if you're arguing between like a three loss Bama or Ole Miss or South Carolina and an Indiana or SMU.

Like you kind of lose me because none of those teams I can sit there and pound the table and say they definitely deserve it over that team. They are all flawed at that point. They're all flawed. So what, you know, we're going to let Alabama go and get their brains beat in like they did against Oklahoma on the road. You know, so it's like Kentucky won one power five game. It was against Ole Miss at Ole Miss. And we're just going to like look away. The other rhetoric that I got frustrated, and I hesitate to go down this route just because you get labeled so much, but it did seem so heavily weighted towards the SEC. Like these people are like, oh, the SEC, this and that.

And it's like, well, they were awfully quiet after Tennessee got run out of the building on that Saturday night. They were awfully quiet. And I just, I was really frustrated. I thought that that was a time to celebrate what was an incredible weekend of college football. We had waited for this. I thought that the expansion of the playoff made the regular season so much better. And the expansion of the teams that were like in it and fan bases that were engaged, like our sport has never been better with all the problems we have. It's never been better. And we're going to sit there.

I just, again, like I'm at a loss. We have one year of this, so we don't know what it's going to be like. Give me 10 years of it and then maybe we'll start to see how it leans. I think the committee loved the big 10 this year. I'm not normally I would be banging the table for an SEC team, but it was hard for me to do that after the disaster Saturday night where you have the, even A and M losing to Auburn in there too, on top of Ole Miss, you know, Florida and then the Alabama Oklahoma game.

Uh, it's a guess. I think Alabama would have been better against Notre Dame than Indiana was. But again, it's a guess. And with the three losses, like I'm not going to win that. I mean, not a Milro throwing the picks like he did against OU. You know, I mean, and by the way, Indiana is going to play that game a lot differently. If work just makes a better throw in the first series, you know what I mean? Like these games, they go either way. Yeah. I think my problem with Indiana is that, well, it's two things. They didn't beat anyone.

And I don't think you should be able to play for a national championship when you beat no one. That is totally out of their control though. Think about this. They're on their schedule. If you and I did this show in August and we said, hey, who's got a tough schedule in the Big Ten? We would have said Indiana,

because they had to play at Ohio State, they had to play Michigan, and they had to play at Ohio State, they had to play Michigan, and they had to play Washington. Those two teams just played for a national championship. So like it didn't play out that way. If anything, again, this is shining a light on the flaw in these super conference structures in terms of conference schedules, because there's no way you can know even in August who's going to be playing the in August, who's going to be

playing the great schedule and who's going to be playing the easy schedule. Um, I would push back on that because in August Washington returned, what, one guy out of the entire 22 starters and the coach was gone and the NFL first round QB and the three NFL receivers. So I was going to be surprised if Washington was really competitive. I also didn't love Michigan, uh, this August. And I know other people did. I got that one right. I get plenty of stuff wrong. You have a coaching chain, your NFL quarterback was gone. And they went to three different quarterbacks this year and they couldn't throw a pass. So when I looked at the schedule,

and you're right, it's not necessarily their fault. And maybe it was Signetti with me a little bit. Like I watched the YouTube page, which I would encourage everybody to check out that's great When signity came on with you guys in the podcast to talk about like the out of conference and he took the swipe at Alabama For playing Mercer which everybody who hates the SEC loves pointing out at the end of the year Conveniently forgetting the out of conference games that they'll play against other power for programs like I just think it's a tough look for Signetti when you play what Western Illinois, Charlotte and Florida international, and they're not going to play it. So, you know, and then Signetti went on game day, I've already covered it.

And like, I get what he has to do. He's in Bloomington. It's one of the worst histories in the history of college football. And much like Lane Kiffin and much like other coaches that were like, Hey, pay attention to me. I need the attention. It's good because you're talking about us. I will, it has nothing to do with the Hoosiers specifically.

It will be a fundamental belief. I will always have that if you get a chance to play for a national championship, I'd like to see a beat one team and in the two teams that played that were good. They got destroyed. And this is the problem though, is that all those Indiana fans had to hear it from the three SEC fan bases and then 24 hours later it came back to bite all the SEC fans in the ass

So essentially and they had to hear it during the game on the broadcast exactly well alright come on So you didn't like that from McDonough and in McElroy? You know Is what it is. You know what? I don't want you to think I was being unfair. I guess the way I asked that, it seemed like I was gonna put you in a spot

to criticize colleagues, which you obviously didn't really like during it. Okay, let's do this. Do you think the SEC is, no, I'm just kidding. Do you think it's held to an impossible standard actually, and people are unfair about it. I wish that in all of college football, to minimize the impact of these conference schedules

that are going to be imbalanced. I wish we could get to a place where we were all playing more conference games. Every conference, I think that everyone should play 10 conference games. And that's the only way to really know, who are the best teams in your conference? What are the seedings?

And if we do that, I do believe that in the future, we are going to get to a place where we have a model that's not resembling more of what the NFL is, but in the instance of defining paths to the playoffs. I don't think it's going to be as subjective in the future as what it was this year. I do believe that we're going to have a bit of a tweak to the structure, maybe by 26. I think they're going to add two I do believe that we're going to have a bit of a tweak to the structure, maybe by 26. I think they're going to add two teams. I think we're going to go to 14. I think leagues are going to play more games and that we're going to have more automatic

bids. And I think that the SEC, rightly so, and the big 10, rightly so, will get the bulk of those automatic bids. And there will be more automatic bids also for the Big 12 and the ACC. And because of that, I think that defined path is going to put a lot of this to bed. Well, it's never going to put it to bed because, I mean, we'll just then we're going to have arguments from teams 15, 16, and 17. And then if it's a conference thing and it becomes very political, you know, it was just an incredible cycle of hate directed in all directions of 20. And then everybody got it. Like no one was absolved from any of it. Here's what I, and look, you know this better than I do,

because I think you're talking to the power brokers far more than I am, but it felt like this system was the compromise to get everybody even again after like, it would seem absurd thinking back to going to go 14 playoffs. It's like, how did everyone agree to this knowing at least one conference was going to get hosed? And in the years where the SEC had two, it's like, so what, what did we agree to here? So this was about being as egalitarian as possible. And I think they were like, everybody gets in and then we're doing automatic bids and it's going to be great. And you're going to get

these buys. And then you have Ohio State, Oregon in a second round matchup. And then you have Boise as a three seed. So do you think that that will be enough just the result from this year to motivate change? Would you want reseeding or something? You know what I mean? I don't know. Yes. So the first thing is, is that this was built with a bunch of constraints, a bunch of constraints.

And one of the constraints is the bowl system that had to be fit into it. Right, on top of everything else you're trying to figure out. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then the other constraint is this idea that they were all not going to agree unless they felt like the value of their conference championship game was going to be upheld. Because that's a big deal for all these conferences because that means a lot of money.

They sell that game. That is a moneymaker for these conferences. So the idea that there wouldn't be buys for conference champions was a total non-starter because all of a sudden you would say, well, now our game doesn't matter, the conference championship game. And so that's how they landed on that you have to be a champion to have a buy, is to try to retain the value of that championship game. When we go to 14, I think there's going to be two buys.

I think the SEC and the Big Ten are going to take those and they're going to tell the other conferences, like, hey, figure it out. Tell us how you want to give us your two teams. And that's honestly what's going to happen is that you can only appease everybody for so long before the people with the most power at the table start flexing those muscles. That's what's gonna end up happening over the next few years. Yeah. I don't know. You know, there's just so many things and look, it happens in the NBA.

It happens in the NFL. We spend all of July fixing baseball on talk shows. As soon as we get something that's like, well, okay, this is how. Do you like the golden batter? Do you like this idea? I would just be afraid if I were baseball of trying to make changes that get people that don't watch it to watch it.

I think what happens here, and I said this years ago about baseball, it's like, if you're not watching baseball now, why would 120 game season make you watch now? Like if you're not watching, why would less of something motivate you then to watch it? I mean, you can get into the scarcity of the NFL product against all the other leagues, and that's certainly a massive advantage and you know, the, the ability

to watch it essentially on one day, even though I think the NFL is going to be on every single night here coming, you know, I don't know how many years it'll be, but I think that's ultimately what the plan is. But whenever there is some structure to something like, look, this is not new. We hated the original system. We hated the BCS. We hated the four team. You're right on the playoff on the 12 team. We cared about the outcome of games in a way that we never have before. Georgia Tech was a really important football game and that would not have been, and Georgia even with that ridiculous schedule

would have been eliminated probably from the sky. Oh look, they lose that game, they're eliminated from the conversation entirely. Let me give you another one. Let me give you another one. Colorado at Kansas. Massive playoff implications. And it's just like, that's good for the sport.

What I didn't like is in the, excuse me, we don't have to talk about Indiana anymore. What I didn't like was Ohio State, Michigan not mattering and it matters. Look, you're there, it's incredible and I also think like I wish were, been a local Columbus reporter. Cause I think that that being around that program and how mad they were for two weeks was a big part of what we saw against Tennessee. It's like, you know, you guys, like you have no idea what you're about to face and all the bullshit that we dealt with two straight weeks. Um, which I thought, I thought Herb Street Fowler did a good job in a blowout of filling and telling that story and giving that kind of perspective. bullshit that we dealt with two straight weeks. Um, which I thought, I thought Herb Street Fowler did a good job in a

blowout of filling and telling that story and giving that kind of perspective of like, they were sharing some stories being like, this was a, a pissed off bear here. Um, but what I, what I don't think, what I think as much as I completely agree about games that we would not have cared, would not have been on the national radar, that part is a massive win. I guess I think back to like the LSU Bama games for the division, I think Ohio State and Michigan and it's like, yeah, but now you can just lose it and it doesn't matter.

So I don't know if I love that trade off, but it's better for eyes and it's better for awareness, it's better for a total number. That trade off is a win business wise, even if some of the rivalry stuff I think can be diminished because as much will not be on the line. There's, there's always going to be unintended consequences. Unfortunately, you know, cause listen, I'm with you and I love to, and I'm incredibly lucky. I think about those three games that I called and like they were one versus two, two versus three, two versus four with everything on the line for three straight years and that was incredible. You know so yes I I get what

you're saying and I don't know if there's a great fix for that. I really don't. No because we're not fix for that. I really don't. No, because we're not going the other way. So I need to go to bed. And I think there's a lot of like 24, 25 college football segments I need to retire for my own, for my audience's benefit. Even if I'm just railing.

Look, you know how much I love the work you do and how much I appreciate you on the broadcast. And again, a reminder for everybody here tonight to check out on 730 Eastern Time on Fox, Direct TV, Holiday Bowl, Syracuse, and Washington State and Joel Klatt's podcast as well. Enjoy the rest of the bowl season, man, thank you. I appreciate that, and thanks for having me on, man.

I love coming on here and chopping it up. This is great. I even wore my Big Ten sweatshirt, the Oregon symbol on it for you. Look at you. Look at you. You're fair and balanced. I tell you what, fair and balanced.

That's what I think of when I think of you. I don't know that any of us think that about the other person, but I like you saying it out loud. That was good. That's right. You can turn it into a sound bite. Thanks, man.

All right, bro. into a sound bite there, right? Thanks, man. Harvah. Couch money research is on fire. Seven and two last three weeks. The only two losses are fading the public. So couch is three and O sharp picks are three and O. So let's take a look at the board.

Uh, here's what we have right now. The lions are getting 96% of the public money. They're getting 87% of the public bets. That means you're taking the Niners plus three and a half. Um, there's no information sharp wise as far as like that came. I am going with Green Bay plus one and a half at Minnesota. It's just kind of a continuation of the Green Bay thing. And we have a deal with FanDuel as far as another Green Bay pick for all this.

So look, Green Bay, Superbowl, NFC reps this summer. So riding it out in a big time Vikings matchup. The sharp play here is going to be the Broncos plus three and a half. So Denver at Cincinnati, everybody loves Cincinnati right now, except the people getting three and a half points with Denver. So there you go. And that's couch money research. All right.

Our FanDuel four leg parlay is built around the Packers in Minnesota. Here's what we're doing. Packers alt spread plus three and a half Jordan Love over 175. Passing yards, Justin Jefferson under six and a half receptions. Ryan, why would you do that? He's gone for seven, seven, seven and 10 in the last four games that he's played. Receptions, he had six against the Packers. Well, I guess if I like the Packers,

I have to figure out how they're going to beat Minnesota. So maybe they limit him to only six catches and then we go to Josh Jacobs, anytime second half rushing touchdown. Actually second half, any kind of touchdown. That's plus 697, you can check out all of the odds on sportsbook.fandole.com. You want details?

Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. Life advice. RR at gmail.com. Update on the golf game found out. Kyle just broke the shaft of the, what is that, the R11 I gave you the tail of the day? Yeah, it wasn't the burner. I've been using the burners, but I switched out the drivers

and now I'm gonna go to the burner driver. I gave you the old, old burner too, that has a dent in it from our 2001 Moose Golf Spectacular back in, I think it was Rocky Ridge, rolling to Vermont. And one of the guys I worked with was likely blacked out and said, let me give your driver a shot. And I was like, I don't love this. And he put a huge dent in the top of it.

And then when he came back to society, he was like, man, that's a huge, I was like, yeah, you did it. And he's like, no, I to society, he was like, man, that's a huge, I was like, yeah, you did it. He's like, no, I didn't. I was like, awesome. Well, this wasn't too much swing oil. This was just the ball, the bag was falling

and I tried to grab it because I have a new card only bag and I should have just laid it on the ground. But the bag was falling. I just did, it's a new bag. I didn't want it to hit the dirt and I'd reached out and the only thing I grabbed was the fucking driver head and just snapped right there on the second hole.

So a little bummer early on in the round, but still playing better than I ever have. A card only bag is such a baller move too though. That's a- I know I have three golf bags now. Like who the fuck does that count? I don't walk. Yeah.

Well, it's just, you put it in the push carts. I go to Roosevelt and it Well, it's just you put it in the push carts. I go to Roosevelt and it's a walking course and you put it in the push carts and it's just like, you know, with the, with the standard on it, it's just kind of, it doesn't, it doesn't sit still. So, I don't know. I guess the next move is just to buy a cart because you can't run them after 130 at Roosevelt.

Guys. Golf carts, big these days. I see all the quarterbacks should buy them for their offensive linemen, right? Oh, well, yeah, it's adam i'm thinking like a fold-up push cart, but well, I mean I don't even know if that'll fit Oh, there you go. You're gonna get the golf cart game. No, no, no charles south carolina riding around hollywood Not delusional yet. I knew immediately that's not what he meant because I was gonna be shocked. That would be awesome though. Kyle just Got the things souped up. It's got rims and a sound system.

It's going to be awesome. Yeah. I actually thought a lot of people have them in Manhattan beach and there's parking spaces for them. So when I first, first moved, I was like, I'm going to do this. And then I went, no, I'm not like lasted two months. Um, I'm like jealous of old people in those communities that just use golf cards for like 90% of their stuff. And then maybe they load up the Buick

to get paper towels and toilet paper, once every two weeks, but pretty much everything else, their daily driver is just like an old golf cart. Sounds awesome. I just think there's massive DUI possibilities there, as you would just be like, whatever. Is it a gray area or probably not at all, right? Probably not a gray area at all.

No, there's zero gray area. I mean, if you really want to get down to it, I think there's some rules against being on a. I mean, if you really want to get down to it, I think there's some rules against being on a bicycle. So, right. I know. Um, if somebody really wants to horseback horseback's totally fine. Shout out to Paul Revere.

Yeah. Oh, hi. Couple of shards. Really painted the picture for me there. Yeah. Like, is it wrong for me to ride Jasper home after three sobs? Can't leave him here with the-

No. You can't get him tomorrow. Yeah, right. See you tomorrow, do I get a ticket on this? It's cold out. PETA's gonna be on my ass, yeah. Yeah, we want you to ride drunk, you can't leave the horse.

Yeah, it sounds like you gotta move to Ocean Reef or Catalina later on, buddy. Yeah, Mesa, Arizona, I'm looking at you. I'll start getting some pamphlets out there. I'm getting a phone call. What is going on with my graphics? All right. Okay, we'll see. We'll see what's in the shaft deal.

We got a couple of follow-ups here that I think are worth us visiting. The Tucson Shock Guy. We had a lot of people, a lot of people, a shocking amount of feedback on what perhaps was going on with a really well-crafted email, um, basketball comp, Aaron Boone, sounds like somebody blew up their knee six, four, two, 10. I'm a former wildcat can tell you there's a 0% chance a girl bought this guy a green tee shot based on my experience. It was definitely an older 60 plus year old local dude. Also weird bar to go to if you're not a student.

That's part of it. Here's another one quick and short here. I was at a Christmas bar crawl with a scavenger checklist recently. And one of the items to check off the list was to buy a random stranger, a shot. Just a Merry Christmas. Or maybe just says Merry Christmas. Um, that's probably what it was. Yeah.

I didn't even think of that. A Christmas scavenger hunt. Sorry. You're our bar crawl guy, dude. You're a scavenger hunt guy, you know, never participated in a bar crawl. Uh, I've met people. I don't know. It just seems like, you know, that actually makes sense.

I'm not leaving. Just got burned up. One drink, he's fucking crazy. He's not mobile, yeah. Like I'll meet you guys at my favorite one on the stop. I think I've done a couple, but I haven't like, you know, forked over money to get a wristband and then, you know, just leave all the time. I don't know,

there's part of me where I can see Kyle in the full Santa garb just doing the Santa bar crawl deal. Never did this, I had a few friends that were like, going down to New York City to be Santa with, you know, a thousands of others and I just, I don't know. Anything that seems like too much effort, you know, for a novelty like that, I'm just kinda out on. Not a big waiter in lines, not a big like, you know,

gotta order this costume, I don't know. Maybe that's just something I gotta work on. It's hard for me to get in the, I like your approach better, you know, kind of order this costume. I don't know. Maybe that's just something I got to work on. It's hard for me to get in the. I like your approach better. You know, some guy behind the bar and suspenders named Lance. And you're like, how could I just have one drink and not get to know this guy?

Right. It's like, oh, this is only for well. Okay, got it. The pink wristband's only for the well whiskey. Got it. Hmm. There's also this one. We're being criticized, not Kyle, The pink wristbands only for the well whiskey. Got it. There's also this one.

We're being criticized, not Kyle, but no stats. I'll make it quick. Kyle glazed over his bed bug story a few episodes back and we have him expand on that one. Seems like a gold mine. From personal experience, I'd rather get long COVID than bed bugs again. Lived in a dump with three bros in my late 20s, an absolute nightmare.

Yeah, I mean, he's not being critical, but as I read it, I was critical of myself. We did not even scratch the surface on the bed bug stuff. It just kinda happened, and then we kept it moving. Maybe it was a time thing. Do you have anything to add to that, Kyle? Yeah, sure, I'll give you the Cliffs Notes. So it was probably my second year in Los Angeles, and I had that weird roommate situation

where it was my aunt's esthetician who needed a roommate right around when it was my aunt's esthetician who needed a roommate right around when I was coming out here in 2016. So I just like her roommate moved out and I just kind of got shoehorned in there. And then I don't know after six months she was like, you know, I'm actually I'm actually going to get out of here, but my brother needs a spot. So he's going to take over my room. So it's a guy I barely know. You know, we're kind of feeling each other out. I don't think he liked my humor and I don't know, I just thought he was boring.

So I just was like, we're not gonna be best buds. But so we just weren't, we didn't say a whole lot to each other. He goes away, I think it was like Mexico for his family. He went somewhere, he comes back within like three days. I'm like, dude, are you like itchy? Like, I feel like something's going on. He was like, oh, I don't know.

And then I looked at my mattress and I'm like, oh my God, there's bed bugs. And it was like not too long after he got back and I hadn't gone anywhere outside of my usual haunts. So I mean, I guess I could have got him from the dark room, but no one else in the dark room had bed bugs. And he just was kind of denying that he brought them back. And I was like, man, this sucks.

And then you have to go through the whole thing. You take all your clothes, you put them in fucking black garbage bags, you leave them in the sun, you know, tea tree oil everywhere. My friends were giving me like advice, like you got to put a ring of salt around your bed. That sounded crazy. It was terrible. It was terrible. No one wanted to be around me. You know, Bill was like, you're not coming over for Sunday football. I'm like, totally understand. It was like a leper for a while while and he just never admitted that he did.

It was really upsetting that he didn't admit that like you came back from some strange place. Yeah. And we got bed bugs like three days later. You think we'll ever get to a place where there's like leprosy islands again, not necessarily leprosy, but they just go, hey, you guys, you guys over there. I don't know. It seems seems like it would be, yeah. I feel like there'd be a lot of discussion about it.

I did at a preschool teacher, there was lice outbreaks like two or three times and she had to go through all of the stuff of bagging up every piece of bedding and then you have to bag it and everything dies. Then you have to have it clean and it's just, it was brutal. I think about being ostracized, lice check day at school.

It's like, that was like, I was more nervous than taking big tests. I didn't study for it. That was like, please just don't let it be me. I could see today, it'd be like, it's just wrong to do that to kid self-esteem. Let them have lice. Uh, all right. Let's keep it weird. This is a weird one.

Life advice, dreams. We don't normally do the dream stuff, but this one's pretty specific. Love the pod, seeking some advice on dreams. Male guy, 5'9", 215, gym stats bench, 185. I can find an open rack at the local Y. Otherwise 200 on the chest press machine, squat at 275 on the Smith machine.

I hate Smith machine squats, I really do. I mean, unless you're doing some like intense quad stuff, working those teardrops, but I just see a lot of people with some bad angles. I took a bad angle on one once. All right, anyway, PlayerComp, Bryce Drew, one day I'll have my moment that everyone in town talks about for 30 years.

I've always been a dreamer, but lately they've gotten weird recurring nightmares like me falling off, like me failing my last class in college and the university revoking my degree years later, by the way, I still have that one. Mine is there's a class I've been registered for the entire year, didn't know or the entire semester. And then I find out I have to take the final. I don't, I think it's one of the most common dreams ever. I think it has to be, at least for me, regret that the first half of my college career, I did not have a plan. I straightened things out later on and was a pretty good student

towards the end. But I don't know why that one doesn't go away, but it just, it happens all the time. So I think that one's really normal. I have a similar one where I, it's not even like a dream too. Like sometimes I confuse myself of whether I still have a test, like a paper due in a class. And I haven't been in college in 15 years. And I like still like think in the back of my mind,

like, oh shit, I didn't do that paper. And it's so weird. I have no idea like why that happens. Mine's always like, I was supposed to read some, you know, Shakespearean, whatever, something super hard to just, you can't just read it in the night. And yet in the dream, I'm like, I'll figure this out.

And then I have to go and talk about it like in depth. And the dream is me trying to survive bullshitting on the most important part of the entire semester. And I don't know, it's like very specifically about the challenge of it and is bummed out as I am I'm just like okay I got to do this and then dudes are like just run away you know like quit everything anyway so I wouldn, I know at least what it is for me. It is some kind of guilt years and years later that I didn't show up in college.

Cool shitting your way through college. Like I think about if I had to take classes now, I think I would get great grades because I'm just better at studying. Time management. Yeah, I'm just, and I also have way less friends and cool shit to do. So there's that.

You bust through a turnout, you could probably handle a textbook no problem, right? I mean, bring it on. You also become more interested, like I would love to, I just think of my modern project class. I'm like, man, I would be so much more into that now than I was then. I mean, I always liked history, but I'm like,

I would just, damn, I would watch the history, I watch documentaries now, this would be so much more into that now than I was then. I mean, I always liked history, but I'm like, I would just, damn, I would watch the history chat, watch documentaries now, this would be an incredible thing. I'd love to write a paper about Genghis Khan. I know, I'm looking for a really good Alexander the Great book, but the most recent ones that I've seen out, like I don't want, hey, I'm gonna write the Alexander the Great book that has everything to do

with the parts that you don't care about. So, you're right. You should write the book that's great, like about. So, you're right. I mean. Great like historical figures compared to NBA stars. There you go. That should be the book. We're gonna do that. Who is Genghis Khan?

Sulla. Trying to figure that one out. Nero. Yep. Cool. Nero's a tough one. Yeah, that's it. I immediately almost had an A.

I got one in my mind. You gotta get the legal team on that. I have one in my mind. Gotta run that one through legal for you. I'm gonna had a name. I got one in my mind. You gotta get the needle team on that. I have one in my mind. Gotta run that one through legal for you. I'm gonna spare. Yeah, I mean there's an automatic neuro comp. Sure, sure. And you just go, all right, keep it moving.

Maybe this is dangerous. I think it'd also be funny to be in class now with like 20 years of organizing thoughts. That's basically my job, organizing thoughts and trying to have a strong position on something and just sitting there with a professor being like, sure about that dude? Yeah.

Like, did you watch? Did you even watch? Well, I actually had a buddy. Are you reciting this or like, did you watch the fourth quarter? I've told the story about my friend who didn't go to Quinnipiac, but was kind of between schools and he just would show up to classes.

So part of that story is he argued once with my professor about the proper pronunciation of Genghis Khan, whether it's Genghis Khan. She kept calling him, I think, Genghis Khan. Genghis, I've heard Genghis. And they had an argument. He didn't even go there. Like he didn't even go to the school. He was arguing with my professor about the pronunciation

of this like real dictator. That sounds like something that would be incredibly funny at that age in years removed. Oh, I was still telling that story all the time. I'm telling it now. Yeah. Right. But if I were him, there would be some moment at like 25

turning into 26 where you'd have this realization. Cause that's another thing that'll happen to you in life where you go, that story doesn't play as well now. Yeah. Cause it just makes me look like a loser. All right. So back to our dream guy here. Oh yeah.

That guy. Yeah. What happened? Four one-off dreams. Like the time I was the head of a game of Thrones house in Northwest Westeros. And I had to lead my army against an invasion from the Iron Islands. That sounds awesome.

Last night's dream was another weird one. Sounds made up, but I assure you it's legit. My family and I were in the hospital exam room waiting for a diagnosis. In walks Dr. Ryan Rosillo, who proceeds to give an hour long open monologue on health and wellness. An hour? We usually try to keep it to 20, but I don't remember much more other than at one point the closest door open and there were Sarudy and Kyle producing the sesh. So you guys are taping my analog. That's great. Good content. Tales from the ER. Let's go. Here's what big media wants you to believe about what I'm about to tell you. All right.

Two thoughts when I woke up. One, that was weird. Two, it wouldn't be all that bad to have a doctor with the monologue skills of the greatest of all time like Vince Vaughn or Ryan. Anyway, not looking for advice on the specific dream, just dreams in general. What should I do with these?

Unpack them more, keep a dream journal, see a specialist. My wife agrees my dreams are weird. My three and a half year old son loves them. He's three and a half. He probably loves any of this stuff. Probably start making up some stuff. Journal I think is out. If you dream journal, great.

I got shit to do. I can't recap and outline every weird thing that happened. Like look, I had a little piece of key lime pie way too late when I was watching Hawks Bulls, which I didn't even get to in Tales of the Couch. Shout out the Hawks and Reese Shea playing awesome in the board. I didn't have time to even put that in the monologue, but I had

a late night key lime pie thing. Cause I was like, it's the holidays and your boy lost a ton of weight this week, cause that's what happens. And, um, must be nice. Yeah. It must be nice. And I just, I knew I'm like, you shouldn't have sugar. You shouldn't have it this close to bed. You are tired.

And we just went in a full, I was being chased the house on the hill, that this weird old like front porch that you're not supposed to go into. I was being followed. People were like, you murdered somebody. I'm like, I definitely didn't. And they're like, they're waiting to see you slip up. That's most of my dreams. Should I not be eating before bed?

That's most of my dreams. It's some accidental murder and I'm running I'm on the run and it's like oh shit I had to kill this person to keep going and I don't unpack those. Just like hey that's not you you know that's not you. I also had better get out there. I'm doing it right now. I'm dreaming this guy right now. I'm out dreaming him. So I was at a church and somebody was annoying me and my buddies were like, this guy is so annoying. And I was like, watch this Muay Thai elbow that I know now it's going to be awesome. And I hit the guy flush in the face and the forehead. It's actually right in the forehead.

He was blonde spiky hair, hard elbow, right to the forehead. And it didn't, he didn't move. He was like, what was that? Yeah. Right. So there's that. Now you're punching underwater. Come on. Yeah. right. So I don't know what the punch missing thing, some sort of frustration. Here's what I would tell you to do. I wish I could delete

the last minute and not share that with you. But we can't. We're going to keep it in. I'm just talking too much now. What would you guys do? Cause I don't think a journal, good for you, for the journalers. I just, I got other stuff going on. Bottle her up. I don't know if you got a therapist that you already go to, like maybe set aside seven minutes of your 50 to do that. But other than that,

there's no one I would want to talk to about it. Yeah. If you don't like the way it makes you feel, just bottle it up, right? That's what we all do. Well, the only way I think you can ever really figure it out is when you're like, why are these main themes happening over and over again?

And I don't know, I mean, you can Google some of the stuff. Yeah, it's about as far as I'd go. But even that- But I'm sure it's just like the last, there's like some method to the madness, right? Like you clearly, you know, you've been thinking about something. There's a more like you're gonna dream about it it's in it's on your mind and your dreams are just ways of I don't know like making sense of her clearing that out I I

Would say I actually in Proger I don't journal myself I've never been a journaler But I did read this thing because you know how like people, I mean, this isn't anything new, but people online are just way too comfortable sharing intimate details about their lives now. And somebody was like, we need to bring journaling back so people stop sharing so much weird shit about themselves. And I was like, I agree with that.

So I'm actually, I'm not a journaler myself, but I am pro-journal. So if that helps you, and honestly, sometimes, if you write that shit down and you're a creative person, maybe you go back and you're reading, you try, maybe that'll be fun to try to like interpret these like a couple months or weeks out from when it actually happened. Maybe they'll make more sense to you. It wouldn't be for me,

but I actually don't think we need to throw the journaling thing out. I think it's a decent, uh, a decent idea. I think it's fine. I just would say personally, like if I'm going to use my time on something, it's not going to be that. I think what you have to figure out is the root cause of consistent themes, but you're right. Normally the dreams are influenced by something that you're thinking about more often than not.

Are you listening to the pod before you go to bed? Are you doing it regularly? Because there you go, boom. You start binging a TV show, next thing you know you're going to bed, you're in it. Which could be great if it's an awesome show. Three's company. Priscilla just dreams about being in succession. He's just hanging out with Tom and Greg. I don't know if I could trust Tom, but I sure would like to hang out with him. Okay. This is probably one of the weirder ones. Um, just because of the way we're doing this,

they're not super straightforward. I don't think we were a huge help to that last guy either. Solo traveler. This guy's on a solo mission, I guess, as we speak. So he wanted to let us know. 61180 haven't hit the gym or the court in a long time. I'll drop different stats below. I quit my job running a fine dining restaurant late August and left for an

eight month solo sabbatical, three months in Japan, a week in Taipei, a month in Vietnam, three weeks in Cambodia, a month in Thailand, a month in Australia, three weeks in New Zealand hiking. Milford, thanks for the inspiration. Finishing with a 16 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania, I'm a professional extrovert, which is to say my job was to be social for 15

years. So as I've gotten older, my preference is to spend time in rather than out. Figured I'd be okay solo for this whole sabbatical thing, but at the halfway mark, I'm struggling. I'm reading a bunch, keeping up with my pods, hiking, generally seeing as much as I can. Hell, I've even been on a few dates. Any advice on how to persevere? Thanks. Side note, we still can't recommend solo traveling Japan enough. Not sure if you've been, I do wish to make it to the Japan's and Japan. Yeah. Dudes. My friend group is still the same in the Japan's at any possible moment. Uh, maybe February, maybe February for the all star break trying, but I really don't want, I want like a couple weeks into Japan's. So we'll see. Happy holidays. All right.

Dude, you're gone for eight months. I'd imagine it was like 16 to 20 days is my longest. You're traveling. Quite a bit. I wonder what time does it feel like you're doing time? Like at what point are you like marking things on the wall? Like how much is left? Would you do it Kyle? No. Eight months solo?

No. No way. What if you weren't married? No man. I don't think so. Eight months? What the fuck? I'm with you.

I need a home base to go back to. Come on. Yeah. I remember the honeymoon, two weeks, and that was a, I was gonna go home at the end. Right, I'm trying to think what age I would have to be for you to convince me. Like maybe fresh out of school.

Fresh out of school. Like 22. It's like, all right, I guess sometimes people take a break. Maybe I've convinced myself I've earned an eight month break. I don't, I don't know. Just sounds too daunting. Sounds like eventually I wouldn't like it and I probably wouldn't. I would never pull the trigger.

This guy's going on dates, though. Yeah. Well, I would also think about like, I don't know, I would, I'm not like an anxious worrier person, but I'd be like, oh man, what happens when I'm done with this? You know, what am I doing? What's my life gonna look like? I just wouldn't like the uncertainty of where my life was at.

Also a lot of the places he said, like the first four or five places he said, I'd be like, man, my guts are gonna be bubbling. What were those first four or five places he said? Like I'd be so, I mean, I have trouble in Hollywood. So I'm just trying to think like, I can't imagine, like, I don't even know if I can be on the streets.

So Taipei scared you a little? I don't know. Well, we're like the first couple of places he said. Cambodia, Vietnam. Yeah, come on, man. I don't know. I don't know if I have the constitution for that. I think he said El Paso.

Here's what I would say to our guy that's in the midst of this. That was a really huge, like, that's a I would say to our guy that's in the midst of this. That was a really huge daunt. Like that's a long, long track, but I think part of the reward is not the day to day of right now it's looking back on this going, I actually did that. And I saw these places and you're kind of come back like every time I go on a trip and then I come back, I think one of the best parts about living in the States is how much you can appreciate it.

Um, you know, the United States is actually pretty awesome. Careful. I'm just kidding. Yeah. Like Andy said, Merry Christmas. Have you seen our literacy rates? Look, I could do this, but I would have to have like something. I'd probably write some C plus travel book. Look, here's the thing about Taipei that people don't understand about the. Forest. Um, because Iceland, I think Eric, the Viking was a big reason why there weren't

any trees or like, we'll take their trees. But these guys, I forget some of the Viking names, so I couldn't have that one wrong. Don't look it up. The reward is not right now, a part of it is, but the reward is going to be that you, you did this in years later. Like this is going to be a defining timeline of our defining moment in the timeline of your life where, uh, you're going to be, I don't know. I just think you're going to be a more well-rounded person by putting yourself

through this. I mean, maybe it could have been six months and you would have solved or not solved, but accomplished just as much. But whenever I think about these windows of time of like, oh, I could have done this. There was definitely a stretch when I had left the radio show for 18, because I still was under contract. I could have not worked for 10 months, made good money and not done anything. But I was tempted. I was really tempted to be like, this might be the only time you'll have in the rest of your life to do something like this. And as you get older, those windows either never exist or like, I don't know if I'll ever have that kind of window again, but I knew at least for me where I was professionally, I'm like, I don't think for what you do and what you want to accomplish, you can

just go ahead and travel for 10 months and then be like in September going, all right, who's, who wants to sign me based on zero momentum? But I have a ton of perspective right now. So look at it that way. Uh, because you're right, being by yourself a lot, never having the home base that Sarudy's talking about. I think the home base thing is super, super important to feel like something that you can come back to.

Some people just don't need it. They're complete nomads. And it sounds like you're not necessarily that. But understand this is probably the only time in your life you'll ever have a chance to do something that so many other people that are adventurous think about and know they'll never get the chance to Alright, that'll do it for life advice. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Trudy. Thanks to Wargon who was silent today. Guy loves Christmas

We will be back next Monday and Thursday wrapping up the bowl games Thanks to clap for stopping by as well. Check out our YouTube page and subscribe Ryan our podcast. Must be 21 and older, present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.