The Ryen Russillo Podcast - The Dud CFB Weekend, the Indiana Convo, and Ohio State’s Title Chances With Bruce Feldman. Plus, Who Is the NFC Favorite?

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

Russillo opens the show with Bruce Feldman to discuss Indiana and SMU getting routed, how Ohio State turned things around following its loss to Michigan, and what teams should be on upset alert this weekend (0:38). Then, Russillo shares his NFL thoughts after Week 16 and dives deep into the Chiefs' win (47:36). Finally, Kyle and Ceruti join for Life Advice (65:16)! Where should I eat my lunch at work? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, 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: Bruce Feldman Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're going to wrap up week 16 in the NFL, taking a look at the NFC, the Kansas City story, which does not change throughout the season. This is still make you feel good. A lot of college football, 45 minutes of Bruce Feldman. We'll recap the weekend. We'll recap all the arguments, we'll talk Indiana, talk about the head coach and where I'm at with that.

We'll also preview the next round of college football games and we've got life advice with a weird one in there. I don't know that it's great, but it's definitely different. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC optimum points.

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I'm really excited to talk college football with Bruce Feldman because we had a first ever this weekend, first 12 team playoff starts off. It was a dud, even though I was really into it, you know, and I was kind of saying that the entire time about, I don't like it being 12 teams. Everybody's heard me say this before, but it doesn't mean that on Friday night, when you have that opening shot South bend and here we go Friday night, football, the playoffs, like, like anybody else I was into. So Bruce Feldman joins us now, the athletic, more importantly, Fox sports, not to rank Fox sports ahead of the athletic, but it's just, I think this is

a good perspective along the way. Um, let me just start with this statement and I'll, I'll get it to you. Uh, I know all the games were bad. I don't think it's fair to look at a one game matchup, whether it be Indiana, whether it be SMU, um, you know, the Clemson game was competitive, but then you have Tennessee just getting work, which I should be embarrassed about cause I thought they had a chance in that game. It doesn't mean that it's like, okay, well, Indiana didn't deserve it. Now SMU didn't deserve

it. And then by the time Tennessee plays, like they didn't deserve it either. It's like, all right, folks, we can't keep doing this. Although I understand that Indiana fans who got beat up for 24 hours, then want to come back at SEC fans when Tennessee was horrendous at Columbus. So it's all cyclical, it's all political and it all makes a ton of sense. But I think people are conveniently forgetting that we had 10 years of playoff games that were blowouts as well. So I really, I have my thoughts on Indiana. I have my thoughts on Tennessee SMU. I've had thoughts on all of this stuff, but I think to just look at a blowout

game and then act as if this entire slate this weekend was a waste of everybody's time. I don't know that that's a fair conclusion. I agree. I was with you. I mean, look, both of us are on the West Coast. Both of us grew up in crappy weather in the Northeast. And I was excited when I saw pictures of snowy South Bend and frigid Penn State, because that feels like football. You know, it feels like the whole, you know, we grew up on the the NFL and you remember, I remember being at Lambeau for the Randy Moss Moons Lambeau game. That was awesome frigid, cold football weather. A lot of what we get in the playoff in college football is dome stadiums or love the Rose

Bowl, but it's obviously perfect weather out by us. So I was excited for that. I actually thought the team that would have the best chance of maybe pulling an upset the first week, and I'm not considering Tennessee, I didn't think that would be an upset one way or the other, was Indiana, right? Because we'd seen Notre Dame stub their toe.

Notre Dame doesn't have a great passing game. We'd seen them not just this year, but in past years. I mean, they lost to Marshall. They lost to, obviously lost to NIU this year. And Signetti went in there and he talked his talk. I mean, look, he's been great for Indiana and been good for college football. I didn't watch that much of game day, but I happened to catch him on the set where he went in this little mini Signet ish rant where it was like, we don't just beat top 25 teams, we beat the shit out of top 25 teams. And I was sitting there thinking about that and being like, you know, Nebraska wasn't technically ranked when they played

them. Right. And you know, who was ranked when they played him was Ohio state and Ohio state beat the shit out of Indiana. I should ask if we can curse on this podcast. I should have asked before. We can, we're fine. There's a few guys that don't like it, but you'll be fine. Okay. So yeah, but that's the thing. Like they went in there and then the final score was close relatively,

but it wasn't close at all. It was 20 to three, you know, you know, into the game, not that far. And I think unfortunately for Indiana and look, our friend Lane Kiffin certainly stirred it up on social media by like kind of mocking the committee in Indiana by tweeting something out about like, this is lopsided. And I think, you know, because Indiana, it's not their fault that the two teams

who played in the national title game last year, who were on their schedule, Michigan and Washington, were nowhere near as good as they were the year before. It's not they didn't schedule the games. I mean, they had one opponent in the regular season who was a good team, Ohio State, and they lost badly. But almost every other game they played, except for Michigan, they blew everybody out. They won by two touchdowns.

So it wasn't like they were sputtering around. And my point to this, and certainly Delane Kiffin was, you lost three games. You also, one of them was to Kentucky, who didn't beat anybody else. If you want to be an Alabama, if you're an Alabama fan, and you're grieved about this, you lost three games, and you got smoked by a really mediocre Oklahoma team by three touchdowns in the second to last week of the season. On top of that, that's an Oklahoma team that didn't beat anybody else in FBS football other than Alabama since September. They had their chances, multiple chances, and they didn't make the case.

The reality is when you're going to 12 teams, you're going to have teams with a bunch of flawed resumes. I want to, I want to save some of the Indiana stuff because like I could go into the signetti thing, but I have something for it and it's also really ironic too of like signettis routine and how much it basically mirrors lane's routine, especially like Tennessee lane. Like it's, it's basically the big 10 version of Tennessee lane where he just was like, look, I need all this attention. I'm going to do all this stuff. And you know, it's unfortunate for Indiana fans. Cause like you start going

through that history and they were even putting up the graphics. You're like, oh, they have 711 program losses. The losingest, I heard that multiple times, the losingest team in college football history. Yeah. So this was, this was a fun year, but it was also like it reminded me, Cignetti specifically, not the kids on the team, but Cignetti reminded me a bit of like a buddy of yours. You go to college in the Northeast, small school does pretty well for himself. And then everybody graduates and it's been a couple of years and you invite them to go out in the meatpacking district in New York city and you're like,

like, just so you know, like your, your whole routine junior year, hey, do you want to see a magic trick? Like that shit's not going to work. So just understand that there's levels to this stuff. So I, let me, let me hold off because I, I don't want to get derailed and turn it all into like Indiana in the first 10 minutes, but I think there was an overriding just reaction to all of it, where it just ends up everybody's pointing at everybody else and you're like, look, all of you teams got

smoked for the most part, Tennessee. Speaking of cold, I can't believe this. And I know like big 10 fans over the years be like, well, if the SEC didn't get to play in Atlanta and New Orleans and all these spots, it's like, okay, would you think those teams were bad? Tennessee looked cold. They looked physically cold. Receivers are going out, running backs are going out, offensive lin receivers are going out. Running backs are going out. Offensive linemen are going out.

And as great as that win was now, cause everybody's looking at Ohio State being like, that might be the team. Like it'll be funny if the Michigan loss actually propels them to a national championship. And then as weird as that rivalry is like our Ohio state fans still going to be upset because they lost to Michigan instead of winning a national championship because they rolled in that game. There's also a part of me, I'm going, where are these Jeremiah

Smith shots against Michigan? Now, I guess the coverage is different and Tennessee thought that they could survive on an island in that one. But you know, if there was one part of it where I felt like Tennessee, Hey, that D line front, the questions about Ohio state's offensive line being exposed to times. Like two plays on the first series. I was like, okay, Tennessee is going to disrupt this a little bit. And it's like, nope, that's the only time it's going to feel right. And other than a few Niko scrambles, they were completely outclassed in that game. And actually Ryan, the score was

probably not even indicative of how much of a blowout it was because you had Jeremiah Smith, there's a pass in the red zone where he looks like he's clearly interfered, and Tennessee player makes a great interception to get his feet down. So they, instead of giving up points in the red zone, they get the ball back. And then there's, and I guess you can do this on a lot of plays, but there's a bad roughing the passer penalty where Ohio State doesn't get an interception in the red zone. Tennessee gets a little momentum. So one point is 21 to 10 when it felt like it should have been like 31 to 3.

I mean, and the truth is, like, you're right. They did look, they did look cold. They didn't look really prepared for this game to go like the way it did just because I felt like once once Ohio State started to get rolling you sat there and looked at you know I've had coaches who played Ohio State say this to me or at least one in particular as a DB coach I know said you know until you actually see Jeremiah Smith on on the field you don't realize just how talented he is. You realize he's a big receiver who can run, but you don't see... He's 225 pounds.

He's not 215. He's not 205. He is a huge receiver. You have to see him in person to realize just how different he is. Ryan Williams is a phenomenal young receiver at Alabama. He's 175. This guy's 50 pounds bigger and probably like four or five inches taller. And he's not quite as fast, but he's faster than almost every other player on the field.

So he's a mismatch for everybody. Now I think what's the Michigan game with Ohio State is interesting for all sorts of reasons. I think the biggest one was Ohio State was determined to go, we can be more physical in them. And they just kept on banging their head against the wall. But the other thing that you talk to people at Ohio State, and I don't think this is an excuse or as much as an explanation, there was a hit early in the game that Will Howard

takes. And it just didn't, from, from there, they didn't think he was just the same guy after that. I don't necessarily think that it's like, Oh, this is concussion protocol or what that, but like, they just thought he was just not, just not the same after that, that day. And if you look at what he has done, and I'm not saying he's going to be a first round talent or anything like that, but I think he's a, he's an underrated quarterback. And if you look at what he's done now in games against ranked opponents, he's completing 79% of his passes against they played four

top 25 opponents, really good teams. Cause obviously they played Oregon, they played Penn State on the road. They just played Tennessee, which you know, it's in bad weather. It's cold and frigid and obviously he's fine with it, you know, but, and he's played Tennessee, which, you know, it's in bad weather. It's cold and frigid. And obviously he's fine with it, you know, but, and he's played really, really well. And I think when they cut it loose and they say, hey, we got better guys on the perimeter than anybody else does. Yes, our offensive line is banged up still, but we can take our chances. And I think they exploited Tennessee in ways that Tennessee just did not have answers for them.

Tennessee looked like once they got punched in the mouth a few times, they just were not checked out. They were just lost. I don't know if that's a team that just hadn't been in that kind of element, whether it's the weather or just in a playoff environment. I mean, credit to Josh Heiple. He dragged that program out of the ditch. They were awful for a long time, but this was a different kind of stage for them.

I know they play Georgia every year, but this was just different than I think out of their comfort zone. And they were also, look, I mean, they were also missing for most of the game. They're a best player Dylan Sampson and he was on the sideline, I guess with a hamstring injury, he played barely. So I think that they were just out of, out of sorts and Ohio state dominated them. And I think that was one where this Ohio state team, if they play like this, they can absolutely win the national title.

Yeah, that's how it feels. And, you know, I wonder if that Michigan loss is going to be the thing that leads to them winning a national championship because clearly they were pissed off about a lot of stuff. And I think throughout the broadcast, like Herb Street's perspective on this is as unique as anyone. He played there. He'd lived down the street from the stadium. We used to all go visit him whenever they would have a college game day in Columbus. And we'd all go there the night before, hang out, grab food. I mean, he was just an awesome host. And then it got to a point where I think it was like untenable for him to live that close to

campus, because if he went on TV one year and was like, Hey, I don't think this Ohio State team is as good, that fan base can become unhinged. I mean, there's an element of the Ohio State fan base that is as difficult, I'm being nice here, as difficult as anywhere else in the country. I'd put it up there with any other SEC crew of like, what is up with you guys? It's not everybody. And so for Herbstreet to understand that experience and then to sell that storyline multiple times during the broadcast with Fowler where they were getting into it and they were

talking about like this come to Jesus moment. And he was kind of like letting the fans have it. And then he even took a shot at first take or suggesting Ryan Day should be fired, which again, I don't go to first take for my college football. It's not really what they do, but Kirk wanted to make sure he, he made that comment. I thought that was him. Like, I wish I had known that before the game, because it felt like this was a boiling with rage program for two weeks, not just because of losing to Michigan,

but everything that everybody was saying about day and who he wasn't and what they needed to do. And it's something that really Herbstreet can speak to with a much more specific experience than anybody else that would be in media. Yeah, I mean, you're right. I mean, I don't know, it was probably a dozen years or so ago that he moved to Tennessee and he talked about it. He left the area.

And I think because the game was such a blowout, Ryan, there was a big opportunity, there was fill time for him to kind of elaborate on some of this. And he has a unique perspective. He played there. His dad was a coach there, you know, and he, I think because he was at game day and saw, whoa, this is like the biggest, you know, rival fan base infiltrating ours. It's like, what's going on here?

I think there was a lot of, it was a complicated dynamic because, you know, you and I both know Ryan Day probably better than we know a lot of other coaches. I think by all accounts, whether he's a decent guy, and I think his players feel that. I think that because of that, I think they also felt like our Fox crew did a lot of Ohio State games. You could get a sense when it felt like we, our Fox crew did a lot of Ohio State games and you could get a sense when it felt like they were tight. They definitely looked tight in that Michigan game.

And I think, even Kirk, I think probably can't exactly put himself in the shoes of Ryan Day's family as the head coach of having young kids, of being in the middle of it. I think he has a better perspective than the rest of us for it. But I just think, you know, what that life is like for them is, because you're right, it is a unique fan base in this regard. It has all the elements of the SEC, except there's nobody else in the conference that is really like you. Because Alabama has Auburn, has Tennessee, has LSU, you can certainly throw Georgia and Florida in there.

But they're all kind of punching at the same thing. Michigan's different than Ohio State. It's not saying Michigan isn't a great program, but it's different. Oregon is different. There's nobody like, State, you know, is not quite like Ohio State. Ohio State is the one school that has not only expects to be great every year, but they've been, you know, except for that like year Luke Fickle had to step in after

Trestle was forced out. That was about it, you know. And then when the guy who Ryan Day followed and took over for Urban Meyer, everything about Urban has been about beating his chest about 7-0. And I think because of that, that only ratcheted up the whole Michigan dynamic there, that it becomes toxic in the air there. And so I think a lot of what Kirk was saying, and look, you know, having been at those the last two games, we know, two years ago, and then this year, where it's just you leave that leave the shoe at disbelief that they lost that game. I, you know, I think

it's hard to say how that was going to play out, certainly with the fan base and certainly with the Buckeyes. But now that they exercise some demons, I mean, they're a really dangerous team. Remember, they almost beat Georgia. Now they had CJ Stroud in the playoff game. I think Will Howard's good. I don't think he's great. I think CJ is great, but this is a more talented team on the defensive side of the ball.

Now you look at what they've done. You look how they got after people. Um, you know, that they're, they're really interesting coming out of this. I think I was a little surprised how much traction the Kirk comments got. But as you said, you throw the first take dynamic into it. It's like ESPN on ESPN crime. But as you know, ESPN is so big and has so many hours to fill. There's so many voices in there. Like you said, I mean,

I don't think anybody goes to Chris Russo or Stephen A. Smith for college football, but they're still thrown out there and I think they have a big microphone and that's, it's not like that doesn't get traction. Is Clemson just good and that's a nice win by Texas or Is Clemson just good and that's a nice win by Texas or is this Texas thing just kind of alarming still? Because I love that defense. I thought Clemson fought back in that one. I think Klebnick's been really good. Clearly the development for some of the skill guys we saw over the course of the year, because

it felt like Clemson was just down at the playmaker positions. And I wouldn't say this is still like Pete Clemson. We were like, look at all these dudes they have to throw to, but it's better now this year than it's been the previous couple. Um, so you factor that in, you factor in, you are still not looking like he's all the way back from his oblique injury midway through the season. I guess it just felt like, Hey, finally Texas cannot get Georgia. And yet I think I should feel better about Texas, but they advance and maybe I'm being too hard on them. No I think it's fair look I thought Kate

Klubnik was the most impressive guy in the playoff on a losing team I thought he kept them in there this was a Texas pass defense that only gave up four passing touchdowns all season he got him for three I thought he played terrific you're right about the receivers West Coast it's bright West Coast a really talented true freshman and you saw those. You saw those guys blossom as the year went on. I certainly, Kate Clubnick did remember. Phil Mafa, who's a good running back, he was banged up. He barely played.

I think the biggest issue why Clemson is no longer Clemson is because their defense has gotten a lot worse over each of the last four years. They are really, really bad run defense. I mean, it used to be, four years ago, it was really, really good. They had those, a dominant D-line. They're not good at all on that side of it. And they ended up giving up a ton of rushing yards.

You could kind of see it coming. If you looked at what almost everybody did to Clemson and Trey Weisner has become a really good running back He gets a lot of like six and seven yard carries and they just had a lot of busts and gave up big runs I I'm with you. I'm not sure like I Think Texas is a good team very good the part about it that I'm a little skeptical on here is, you know, yours is still very inconsistent.

I think the best thing he did in that game the other day was he made really smart decisions audibly into the two long runs. You know, he can make some really good throws, but then you see some other stuff where you're like, you know, like, and I think it's not his fault that the recruiting guys on the online world anointed him as like the highest ranked quarterback recruit ever. He's not that. I mean, I think depending on, you know, you and I both have buddies who were in the NFL draft world who are like, yeah, he's probably a third or fourth round talent. That's not what, you know, he was hyped up to be. He could still be good enough to lead them to a national title, but I think, you know, I just have like probably you that Georgia game in the first one especially,

but even the second one where I'm like, man, you know, I don't, I think they're good enough to get there. I don't know if they're good enough to win it unless he, you know, is at his best for four quarters, because if he's not, I just feel like, you know, there, there's something else will pop up, you know, I just, again, I don't, I, Clemson's was the 12th seeded team for a reason. And that was the one game that was remotely competitive. Well, the most alarming thing is there are a hundred and third on touchdown percentage in the red zone at 79%.

And you go, okay, well, how does that happen? Well, all lines really good. Okay. What about the running backs? Both the running backs went off against Clemson and Weissner's terrific blue is really good. You were just been around. So you have a better.

That should be great. They have Gunnar. Yeah. Gunnar Helms and awesome tight end. And you know, sure. Their number one receiver isn't number four in Columbus. Uh, nobody is by the way, but there's still a bunch of dudes who I really like at receiver over the course of the season.

I don't know Bond didn't play in the Clemson game, but you would just think with Sark and the combination of everything we just laid out, like, how are you a hundred and third in touchdown percentage and this is continuation. I mean, again, the A&M game should have been, if I'm being nice, it should have been 28-0 and I think that defense, the A&M game should have been, if I'm being nice, it should have been 28-0. And I think that defense in the A&M game was a defense that I didn't necessarily see against Clemson. But maybe they just knew what they could do.

You know, 40 plus rushes, these guys can't stop us. And then your defense starts feeling that a little bit, not the sense of urgency because they just didn't feel like Clemson was going to stop whatsoever. Let's get to the last game. Then I kind of have some final thoughts before we look ahead here. If you're going to get a bad Jennings game with SMU, you have no chance. And so I don't think Penn State needed to control the line of scrimmage. I still think that Penn State Oregon game, even though it was like, yeah, but Oregon gets the ball back. So like how much faith do you have in Penn State of getting back to back stops here?

But I liked Alor in the game. I love their offensive line domination of an Oregon front. That's pretty good. You know, I, I don't know that we would put it in the top five of college football, but I mean, all of these little things and observations and they just, it's all irrelevant when Jennings is going to be that bad. Yeah. I, I, you'd be hard pressed to find a, uh, considered a really good player play as bad as he did in that game. It was, you know, he was rough.

Yeah, I was like, it was painful to watch. At first he had the game, the play. It's a fourth down conversion, and he's going to run for it. And then he decides to throw it. And so they turn the ball over. Then it's like a couple of horrible interceptions and you're sitting there thinking, okay You know Preston Stone was the starter of the year. We know he's leaving but still

You got it, you know, like this is not working out. This is getting worse And it just felt like he was compounding his mistakes. I do think that again, not just I don't I'm not saying SMU didn't belong there, but I think the People got a little over their skis i think i'm jettings because if you look at. They didn't play really any very good defenses this year the two best defenses they played were probably duke. And why you really struggled in those games i think also what happened here is they played five road games this season. Now, I think also what happened here is they played five road games this season. And probably if you packed all the fans that attended those games, whether they were in Charlottesville, Virginia, or Louisville, or those really smaller venues they played

in, they would only had about 140,000 fans in all five games combined. They have like 110 in this one game alone in this massive structure and it's frigid coal. I think those are two elements that SMU and Kevin Jennings had never fathomed was that kind of crowd noise and that kind of coal. And also, Abdul Carter is better than anybody else he had been on the field with. And there's probably four other guys who are probably better than anybody else he had been on the field. And there's probably four other guys who are probably better than anybody else. You know, Louisville has, I don't want to completely knock it, Louisville has some good DL linemen and some talent there.

But you know, it was just a different ask. And I just felt like you had a quarterback who was really rattled. And Penn State won. It was almost, and I'm not saying Penn State didn't deserve to win because obviously they did. But I just felt like that was like, oof, that was one guy having a horrible night on a big stage. So let's get back to kind of the original thought that we opened here with is that, you know, there's nothing easier than if you're an SEC fan and you watch a Friday

night game with Indiana and you're like, Hey, uh, they don't belong. I'm like, okay, cool. And then it's like, Oh, SMU doesn't belong. And then all of them are pissed off at the sec because then Tennessee gets smoked and you know, we've already covered this, so it all made a lot of sense. Um, I will never defend a team like Indiana with that resume again. Ever. And I feel I'm mad at myself for even having them in the top 12 cause I just kind

of gave up, you know, I didn't have any sympathy for Alabama. I was fine with Alabama not being in. And you know, you want to sit there and say, oh, Alabama would have given Notre Dame a better. Okay, fine. But like don't lose the Oklahoma game on top of everything else. I don't love it. Just lose. They got blown off the field, by the way.

They got embarrassed. Right, right, right. Ole Miss with the head to head to South Carolina. I understand it a little bit, but the Kentucky loss and it was awful. Like Jackson Dart had a chance there at the end and he was a disaster on that last series. I think to have a committee of people, right? The whole point of having a committee is to talk these things out.

And you should have said, Hey, South Carolina got kind of hosed and they just beat the ACC champ. And the LSU game, Lenora Sellers goes out, Robbie Ashford's in there, who's been on like four programs, can't throw a pass. Like, can we talk this out? And maybe, but then it just became the records over and over again. And for Cignetti, like the first time, like good for him, first of all, I'll start, I'll start with a positive. If you're going to become the head coach of Indiana and you want to start saying Google me and like getting attention and all that stuff, that's kind of the job for a program

that's never had any attention and plenty of coaches have done it in the past. And even though it can be annoying, I think we all understand what the game is. And so who is he supposed to apologize for winning games and wanting attention and all that kind of stuff. All right. Then he goes on game day and says that about not just beating the top 25 teams to your point earlier, we beat the shit out of them. Nebraska wasn't ranked.

Okay. And then he had to go back four years to come up with the other time they beat the shit out of a top 25 team when he was at James Madison, they beat coastal Carolina 47 seven coastal Carolina was 23rd in the country. They also were missing Grayson McCall, the quarterback. All right. So, I mean, you know, Google it. We also have Google.

So when he said that I was at home and I'll admit, I was like, I hope they get smashed tonight. Because this is whether it was the Mercer comment about Alabama, you know, which all the big 10 guys love doing that and be like, Oh, look at, look at who Bama's playing. Well, you know who else Bama played? They went on the road and play wisconsin you want to talk about your out of conference. I want to sit here and brag about your extra big ten game because you play nine scc's playing eight like you played the bottom half of the eighteen team conference. And so they were during the broadcast have a little indiana stat up where it's like a number one and points and look what they've done here it's like, Hey, number one in points and look at what they've done here. It's like, it's all, it's all irrelevant.

So I don't know if there's an Indiana lesson in there. I mean, the funny thing is that Penn State had lost to SC, which they could have. If Indiana gets destroyed by Oregon in the big 10 championship game, would the committee have kept Indiana in again? Because they kept SMU ahead of Clemson after they had lost the AC. Like the committee was so married to not penalizing teams for the extra game, which I kind of admire, but you also can't be married to any of these rules

or any of these processes to try to sift through all this stuff. And I think we're getting further and further away, even with 12 teams, of watching games and caring about what we see and just going through it and being like, hey, it's just standings and this is what we're going to do. There will never be an SEC team that'll be 11 and one

with the same kind of opponent strength of schedule as Indiana. It's just not gonna, I don't even know if it would happen in the big 12, to be honest with you. We'll see what happens with a team that has that Indiana profile moving forward. But 11 and one, I don't know if the Notre Dame game is gonna make a different group of

people in the room, change their mind about this, but this is my point for months that none of them seem to ever be able to decipher the difference between what was their schedule experience and what was another team's schedule experience. And I don't have a great up, but hell, I was at the point going, maybe I should have argued for Miami. Not that my voice matters at all but. I know moving forward like i don't want i never want to give in again for a team and honestly just put the frosting on the top of the entire disdain that i had for it with his routine on saturday and the fact that he coach the game is scared he did against ohio state. Putting on for down down three scores and i'm thinking does he think the committee recedes next week? Like, what is

he doing? And so you're going to talk all of that shit, and then coach scared against the two biggest opponents all season long. I'm just not going to have a ton of sympathy for you. Yeah, I think the couple things there, I thought the, the, the coaching scared when you put when he did, because that basically said, hey, we have no chance to actually win this game if we do this. And he was okay with it. I mean, ultimately, you know, that's the because he talks so much and talks so big before the game. That was disappointing to see how he handled that.

Now the flip side to me on this is there was nobody else that had a good, you know, like if you, I don't think you can put Clemson. I'm sorry, I don't think you put South Carolina in there when they had got blown out by Ole Miss who would have the same record and you got out, like it's, it was almost like untenable. You have to put somebody in there. You can't put Alabama in there. It's like, they have three losses and honestly, two of them are bad loss. You can have one bad loss, but you can't have, you know, like for them, they give up 40 points to Vandy. Vandy is six and six. It's a nice story that they're improved, but it's still Vandy who was six and six.

And then to get embarrassed at the end of the year by Oklahoma, if they had lost like 24, 23 or 23, 21, I think they're in, but they got embarrassed. And then on the Ole Miss side of it, not only did they lose at home, but then after Georgia where you're feeling good about them, then they lose to Florida where Jackson Dart throws three picks. Don't turn it over. Don't pee down your leg in another big... You got another chance and then you squander it. I think Florida's good, by the way.

Yeah, but still, it's a seven and five Florida team. It's, all three of their losses were to unranked opponents. All three of them. They were two different teams. I mean, Florida was a different team in the second half of the season, but look, I wasn't pounding the table. I wasn't, I don't have a great option to go,

hey, I feel so great about this team. I'm just telling you, and it's not even about the Hoosiers. It's about a team with that profile competing for a national championship. And that was my point before we even had the expansion. I do think they were 11 and one in a big 10, you know, in like a power. I don't think the big 10 is, and I'll say this,

I don't think the big 10 is as good or as deep as the SEC. I don't think that's like a big revelation, but I do think it's better than the big 12 because I think you still have Ohio State, you still have Oregon. They didn't play Oregon, but they did play Ohio State. And I think when you look at it, the regular season has to count for something. You know, like the people who are going to say, hey, if you. Play it on a neutral field or Vegas says this, or the NFL draft guys say that I don't like all that. Yeah. Yeah, I just think that values what happened because honestly,

if that was the case, like a lot of this, like Ole Miss wouldn't have lost to these teams that they lost to. Vandy wouldn't have scored 40 against Alabama. Alabama wouldn't have gotten embarrassed by Oklahoma. You know, it's still like, what happens on the field has to count for something. And I think what we're talking about here is you're going to get, and this was my point in the column I wrote the other day, now that the field is up to 12 and if it expands to 16, you're going to get teams that are really flawed in there.

You're gonna get probably some four loss teams in there. I'm actually surprised, and if you had told me before the year that a three loss SEC team would have got left out of the playoff, much less a couple of them, I would have been shocked. But I would never have thought that they would have

the construction of it. Like if Ole Miss loses three games, but their third loss isn't at home to a team that went, you know, like if Kentucky was even, you know, six and six, then I think they probably, but it was just such a bad team they lost to. And it was such a bad loss that Alabama had, you know, like, I mean, if it's crappy to say it like this, but if like, if Ohio State plays Indiana and Indiana was like, looked pretty good for the first half hour of the game. And then after that it got away from them. I mean, it was like, what's the first quarter was fine. The first quarter. I'm not sure.

Cause the drive took so long, but I don't know man. Still then, I mean, they forced them to a field goal after that, whatever. I'm just saying if that game was like, they lose 31-17 or whatever. And I know the score was not, you know, they had a, like a last, you know, a gift touchdown late in the game or whatever, but still, I mean, are we really doing that where it's like, okay, did they not get embarrassed like still, I mean, are we really doing that where it's like, okay, did they not get embarrassed like that?

I mean, they only had one loss. I think if Cignetti didn't come in with all the bluster, he did that before, but as you said, I mean, it's a great point about the Gracie McCall thing. I didn't even, because it's so long ago, I didn't even remember that game. I remember the Nebraska game because it was this year and we were at it.

Well, because as soon as he said it, I went, well, he had to go back four years to come over the other one to this resume of just we beat the shit out of all these top 25 teams. Unless he's thinking about teams in the FCS when he was in the FCS. Well, I don't know that you should be going to the FCS reservoir for that.

Look, all my points, Bertie, I'm sick of saying them. I'm sure some of the audience is sick of hearing them about, well, cool. Like this is, this is what it's going to be. And I think it should be special to have a chance to play for the national championship. Um, I think you should have to do one thing. Like I'm asking for one thing I can look at. They're like, that's an awesome win.

That's a nice win. You know, that's a nice win there, but probably have 16 teams here soon enough. All right. Moving forward as we finish up here, do you have like a big change in how you feel about the next four games based on what we saw this weekend? So before the tournament started, I picked, game that was going to be in the bracket. And I had Oregon winning the national title, which was like a flip-flop for me because in the preseason, I had Ohio State. And even at midseason, after Oregon had beaten Ohio State, I still had Ohio State. But coming out of that, I said, you know what, who do I have the most confidence in a quarterback?

And it's Dylan Gabriel by a long shot, right? And I felt like, and I should still feel this way, despite what Ohio State did and how they Who do I have the most confidence in a quarterback? And it's Dylan Gabriel by a long shot, right? And I felt like, and I should still feel this way, despite what Ohio State did and how they look, I still feel like Oregon has been in kind of the sweet spot where Dan Leining has a good feel for this team. They seem to play fairly loose. Like I said, they have a quarterback who's played in a ton of big games and plays well in big games.

Like if you want to go back to a year ago, and I kind of brought this up, like when he was at Oklahoma, he beat Texas and he ran for like a hundred some yards and Texas had a good defense then too. It's not like they didn't. So I just have, I'm going to stick with Dylan Gabriel and be the team that comes out of there. I know that they didn't have Jordan Burch when they played Ohio State the first time, but it was also in Austin the first time. And now maybe, you know, I'm going to be at the Rose Bowl.

I cannot wait. To me, this is, this feels like it should be the national title game. It doesn't mean that the other teams who are involved, you know, whoever wins this is going to be a lot. Cause I think, you know, when George is on, we'll see what they're, what Gunnar Stockton looks like in a, in a big game now. Cause he's, you know, when teams have time to prepare for him, the Georgia backup quarterback who now is going to be the guy. But you know, I don't know to me, it's like that Rose Bowl. And then, you know, if Notre Dame,

I'm having a hard time buying all the way in on Riley Leonard, you know, passing wise, but they do have good running backs, they're really good on defense. And Georgia, except for that Texas first game, they played been pretty inconsistent. And so that's the part that's given me a little bit of pause on them, you know, but yeah, give us, come on, man, give us some good Georgia info here. What do I do with this team right now? And so I have, I have somebody really dialed in at Georgia and they keep saying, that's why I asked, yeah, we're going to smoke these guys. And I was like, yeah, you know, like if Michael Williams and those guys get after, you know, but the thing is they get after a still fairly inexperienced offensive line who has played very well.

I mean, this isn't the opener at Kyle Field anymore for Notre Dame. They have two explosive running backs. They have a good tight end. And I think, you know, what bodes well for them is they're used to playing like this, you know? think what bodes well for them is they're used to playing like this. This is a style like, like go back to the Georgia Tech game. We saw Georgia when they should be rolling. They had all sorts of problems with Haynes King and a running quarterback.

If you ask me right now, I think Haynes King's actually a really good college quarterback. I think he's a lot like Riley Leonard. The difference is Notre Dame, I think has a better defense and Notre Dame has more explosive running backs. Like if it wasn't pick against Georgia, like right now, I'd be, I'm very tempted to pick Notre Dame just because I have that Georgia game in my head where running quarterback who's a willing runner who can run and you again You know I think you'll see a lot of the same things that Buster Faulkner the Georgia Tech

Offensive coordinator who by the way spent more time on Kirby smart staff than probably anybody else who's who's you know in this playoff I think they're gonna they're gonna try to snag a couple of things like that and implement. Kyle Sivers The biggest win for Indiana in that game was that I don't think they got gashed. I thought the USC game, Notre Dame's offensive line, I was like, all right, this is there because the Riley-Lender part of it is not something I would put at the same level of some of the other, you know, obviously passing attacks that we see in college football and look, Notre Dame didn't necessarily need it because they smashed so many teams this year. Um,

but you can look at the total yardage for the Irish in this and say it's 35 for one 93, five and a half a carrier. That's pretty good. But you know, 98 on the Jeremiah love touchdown where they're backed up. So this was not a front that controlled Indiana. No, but Indiana did have, Indiana was very well coached on defense. They had the number one run defense in the country. Oh, they did. They had an awesome regular season stat. I'm not being fair. Well, maybe I am being fair, but there's like three guys on that D line. You saw throughout the course of the season, you were like, okay These guys like look like real players here

The problem was there. I mean, that's the best I think I've seen Notre Dame's defensive Season in that game. So that's part of like when I start thinking about I get the skepticism. Yeah Right going to overwhelm them Because Notre Dame didn't really overwhelm Indiana in that part of the game, even though I know some people look at the total staff part of it. But yeah, I think the Stockton part of it is the hardest because I think people look back at that Stockton game against Texas and be like, he gave him a real, he gave him a real spurt. He did. And then they stopped trusting him to throw the football and then he threw one of the worst picks you would see that weekend,

which is to be sort of, I don't know, man, he had three guys in the middle of the field and they threw it all the way to the right. It was like, what the hell? He just freaked out. He obviously freaked out, not used to that situation. And then he has the run where it looks like he gets decapitated and he gets back up. So I don't, I'm like, George is really tough for me because I just want to pick him because the D-, O line matchup in this one. That's not even about Notre names. Yeah. I think the thing, and I had a NFL person go through Georgia and the thing he said early

in the year, and he said that front seven guys, they're as good as you get. And the old line is big and the old one was banged up for a while this year, but then it gets back to receivers are pretty average. DBs, one great safety, DBs are pretty good. They're not great. Linebackers are big. This guy did not think they were great. He was like, the guys in the trenches, that's the wow.

But then you take out and also, you and also this is when Carson Beck was there. I think the question for me is, is Trevor Etienne, who was in and out most of the year, is he equal to Jeremiah Love? I don't know. I mean, I feel like my hesitation at this point is he's not quite as dynamic and not quite as good. And to me, he's the wild card in this. If he looks like a special skill guy, because that's the difference. Like before they had a complete game changer in Brock Bowers and another high end receiver

in Lad McConkey. They don't have like anything like that right now. And now you're putting in a quarterback who, you know, I think he probably caught, you know, the other team off guard a little bit when he had to jump in there and he made some plays. And I think he was, they were all amped up to pick up for not having Beck there. Now you have, you know, two weeks for, and I think Al Goldin, you know, Miami fans may want to vomit at this, but Al Goldin has been a really good hire as a defensive coordinator there at Notre Dame.

He's done a really good job. I mean, you know, if we do this podcast for another hour, I will talk myself into Notre Dame winning this going away. But I, I, I'm not, yeah, I know. I know. Thankfully not. Thankfully for no signetti and thankfully for me not talking to Notre Dame. But like I can see, definitely see a scenario here where Notre Dame ends up winning this game.

You know, we're running through it and I'm thinking about all the different matchups unit wise and everything and I'm going like, I love that secondary for Notre Dame. I just love how they battle. I love that they can hold up in single coverage and the distance that they seem to cover. Watts is a magnet for the ball. I mean, just, and we've been talking about George's lack of like playmakers or receivers.

So you factor in Stockton and the receivers is like how much, how many wins are those guys going to have against Notre Dame in the secondary? But again, maybe coverage won't be the factor if, uh, that, that Georgia front is peak disruptive. Cause I'll never be able to forget that night in Austin when they just destroyed everything that Texas had planned for. All right, last thought here, better chance of an upset.

Boise State or Arizona State? Arizona State, Texas old big 12 rivalry. So it's good to see that one back in the mix. Give us your upset. Better, you don't have to give us an upset. I'm not forcing you like sports. Yeah. I mean, you have, you have two great college running backs here. Um, I just think, man, I wouldn't be surprised if you got Superman out of Genti, they get them the ball different ways. He's a great receiver out of the backfield. Like,

Boise has a belief still, even if coach Pete's not there, I do think there's something like, it wouldn't shock me if they won that game. Arizona State, you know, they're a hot team. And I think, you know, I look up big Scataboo story coming out this week. And I mean, there's some amazing stories about him, like just blow your mind stuff. But, you know, I just still think they're gonna have a hard time with, I think Texas takes the game over in the second half. It's the genti part of it. Like, I don't know.

I, it wouldn't shock me if they pulled an upset here just cause I think he's really good. They actually have a pretty good D line and I think they can get some pressure. I'll say Boise State. I don't think they're going to win but I think they have a legit chance of pulling an upset. It would be nice if we got through a second round of college football playoff games where the lead story isn't one of these teams didn't deserve to be in the playoff because I think at this point, but the Boise state where to get

smashed, the Arizona states get smashed and we can do it all over again, folks. Uh, but look, even though the games weren't close, you knew that when the lines came out for the conference championship games, everything was a field goal when it came out for the first round of the playoffs, everything was a touchdown or more, so Vegas was telling you, Hey, look, this could be a possibility here, but despite all of my complaints and warnings and things, I will still not change my mind on it was a lot of fun, cold setting. Football Friday night, Saturday.

It was the, I know the game sucked, but I was at least for 10 minutes when he thought there was a chance it could be a game. It was a lot of fun. So I still enjoy it and can't wait to see the rest of this goes. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Oh, it's pleasure. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Oh, it's pleasure. Thanks, Ryan

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was kind of a statement game both ways here, and that's Kansas City beating Houston at home. Now they're leading 24-19 in the fourth quarter. We know the Mahomes bad ankle story. The guy gets carted off. He's back out there. His toughness can never be questioned. And then of course, like the beginning of the game runs it in for a 15 yard

touchdown, seven nothing statement. I mean, look, 33 rushing yards. Does it mean he was terrific on the ground? No, but it's actually the most rushing yards he's had in a month. And I've talked about it a few times this season, but just what kind of beating he seems to be taking back there and how many hits when you look at those total numbers, he's like the top of the list for NFL QBs. But this use in defense has been really good this year.

There's a lot of stats to tell you. I mean, it's right up there where they're ready to yell. It's I don't know that we talk about them that way, but on 27 dropbacks in the first half of my homes, there was 12 pressures, Kansas City is on their fourth left tackle of the season, but on the last drive of the game to look to go up two scores and put this one away, my homes converts two third downs, granted one was a rushing yard, so you say Kansas city converts to third downs and I think this is a nice question.

Guess who leads the NFL in third down conversion rate. I'll give you a few minutes to answer that one. So despite Houston's O line issues and and the tank del injury, that's obviously devastating because when they're healthy receiver, it's a really nice group. Uh, I actually felt good about Houston throughout the game. And then after the game, um, because I'm like, look, they were competitive against Kansas city. But then you run through the resume of Kansas city at home this year.

It's like, so is that the standard competitive at Kansas City? So now you feel good about them? Well, do you feel good about Baltimore week one? Well, yeah, of course I felt good about Baltimore all season long, despite having more losses than some of the other top teams. Does that mean you feel good about Cincinnati? Yeah. Most dangerous below 500 team in the NFL.

What about the Saints? It was 16-13 in the second half. Hmm. Well, I don't, yeah, I don't, I have to feel good about them too, based on this Houston standard. What about Tampa? Competitive game. What about Denver?

The Raiders? It was a 1917 win for the Chiefs. Well, they always have problems with the Raiders. How about the Chargers? So the point is, if you look at the eight home games that Kansas City's played this year, now they're done because their last two games are on the road, they're all competitive games, which kind of blows my whole Houston feeling good theory out of the water because that's just how it was.

And in Houston, it's just been kind of strange for me. And I think it's been strange for a lot of us where when you're new and it's exciting and CJ looks just from the jump as a top pick to be the quarterback answer, which is kind of rare. There's these ups and downs. There's also guys that light it up early on. And then you're like, man, that was kind of misleading. I don't know that any of us said that about CJ, uh, because I still think

physically there's just some really special stuff that he does. So I'm sitting there watching a game for three and a half hours being like, all right, whatever Houston laws in Kansas city, it's not that big of a deal, but at least they're out there competing with their own O line issues. And yet you go through the games and this is just, this is what it is every time Kansas city plays at home this year. Um, which leads to other Kansas city questions that we would have, because I keep asking myself, are you going to pick Buffalo in a rematch

in the playoffs against my homes? Because Buffalo has beaten them in the regular season and going into last year with all the Kansas City offensive questions, like I picked Buffalo last year and then every time you pick against my homes in the playoffs, which I haven't done often, but last year I did it twice until I finally smartened up. In the Superbowl, you know, it's, it's leading to this all over again, where haven't done often, but last year I did it twice until I finally smartened up. In the Superbowl, you know, it's, it's leading to this all over again, where I'm already prepping myself for what I'm going to put into whatever pick if those two teams end up facing each other, because there's obviously some other AFC

teams that could change things up. Uh, let's talk about this KC offense for a second, because Bill Barnwell of ESPN put together a really good timeline of who the Chiefs have been offensively because we thought it was bad last year. There's some stuff happening on deep balls this year that makes it even worse. So post Tyreek Hill now. Hill's been with the Dolphins for three years. The Dolphins in another game this week where I go will this mean anything, any outcome whatsoever beating the Niners and I'm just kind of like I don't know.

I don't know what to do with them. I don't have much dolphins for you today. So anyway, Barnwell points out that Mahomes was 10th in QBR of throws traveling 20 plus yards in the air in 2022. All right. So 10th, you're like, whatever, you know, deep throws that, that makes sense. And it's not that big of a deal. He was 27th last season when we started thinking like, what's going on with this

team? Well, they're 28th now or my homes is 28th now, as far as quarterbacks on those throws, he's 11 of 44 for 387 yards, four touchdowns, four interceptions. His deep passes have an 8.8 yards per attempt average. Uh, in 2018, those deep throws were 16.4 yards per attempt. All right, 8.8 puts them ahead of only Cooper Rush and Deshaun Watson this season, although the Cowboys keep winning.

And last year it was the drops, because I know some of you are thinking like, hey, there was a huge drop yesterday. Well, it's not really the case. Last year it was the case, a 10% drop rate on those D passes in the air. This year it's a 2.3% drop rate, which is below the league average on those. So it's the same as last year, if not worse and less of an excuse.

But remember when I asked you about the third down conversion, you probably figured it out because the Chiefs lead the NFL and third down conversion rate at 51%. And ultimately, even though aesthetically it doesn't look like it used to look like from the homes, that might be the only number that really matters. On the NFC side of things, Detroit takes care of Chicago. If Detroit were healthy, I think we'd all look at them as the favorites to win the NFC. And Vegas certainly still does. If you look at the FanDuel sports book odds this morning, Detroit's plus 200 to win the NFC, Philadelphia's plus 310, Minnesota's plus 550, Green Bay's plus 650. But I feel like it's way more of a toss up with those four teams in the NFC.

And the odds can change here, depending on how the last week shakes out and how the seating shakes out and if Detroit ends up retaining that one seed to buy in the home field advantage. But with their injuries that weren't going to be exposed against the Chicago team, it's just a mess now. After the good start, they can't win a football game. Their defense is regressing big time. Detroit gets up early. I have a couple of things on Caleb that I'll get to here. But we know the story with the Detroit defensive numbers, what's happened injury wise. And I think yesterday when they listed the inactives like IR combination, and some of that stuff can be a little different depending on what number you

want to look at to prove your point. But I think Detroit started the week going into Sunday with 16 inactives of like projected starters, which I don't even know if that just means that there are other players that at one point were starters replacing the other injured guys. And you have some teams with like three guys on that list and Detroit goes into it with 16. So it's, it's not just about Detroit's injuries. It's also the depth of what else is going on in the NFC because Minnesota

keeps the division and the one seed alive with a great touchdown drive down 24, 20 at Seattle 421 left. There's a play where Donald gets the face mask, which at first it looked way worse, but look, the defensive lineman got his hands in there. The rookie out of Texas, the defensive lineman, and then Justin Jefferson 39-yard touchdown to kind of not put this one away because Seattle did line up for a 60-yard field goal attempt, but they had no choice at fourth and 15. But now Minnesota is eight and one in one score games.

The Darnold narrative, and I despise the word narrative because I think we need to update sort of the modern definition of what it means is that narrative kind of becomes something that's probably true that you don't really like that's being said about something you care about. But if you'll allow me to use it here, and I really regret even using it in the beginning of the year with Darnold looking terrific in Minnesota, putting together all these wins, it was like, well, he hasn't thrown many passes trailing. Um, that thing is just done.

I think it was at least interesting to bring up because you were wondering if this was sustainable for Minnesota. You wondered if Darnold was actually going to be this guy, which leads to a whole other dynamic with the quarterback question with JJ McCarthy, which I think is fascinating and what the market for Darnold is. He's got a great old line in Minnesota. He's got the receiver options, tight end, the whole deal.

So would he really want to go somewhere for every last dollar somewhere else? Maybe he would. I wouldn't really blame anybody for doing that, but it could be one of those deals like is 45 million worth more than 35 million to go somewhere else that's unknown and have to start all over again after getting to this point in your career where everything seems set. Who knows maybe just like the idea jj mccarthy not costing much and having faith in what they're doing like him enough to draft and maybe that's where that goes like darnell's. Is not gonna win the mvp and i don't always love you need to be in the conversation is that just means like you mean the guy nobody's actually going to pick his mvp but you feel like it's just nice to win the MVP and I don't always love, he needs to be in the conversation because that just means like, oh, you mean the guy, nobody's actually going to pick as their MVP, but you feel like it's just nice to mention them. But that's who he is.

And with the trailing thing no longer being a concern because look, they were down 19-6 to Arizona, they come back and win that game. They're tied 27 a piece, Chicago late drive to get the field goal there. I don't know what to do with the seven-six game. It's Jacksonville because there's still plenty of time and that game was just a mess of a game, but it also led a lot of us to go, what is going on with Minnesota? Well, what's going on with them? Is there alive?

They've got the Detroit rematch. They lost on a final position field goal, 31 29. We know that weeks ago. And then once we see the outcome of that game, then I think those odds, whether it's Troy winning the rematch and going 2-0 and just staying clean in the division. No, maybe that's what happens, but I think all of these teams are alive. And that even speaks to Philadelphia who I don't put anything in that loss yesterday to Washington.

Um, you know, they have a game where Hertz throws four pass attempts, picket is in. He's certainly not ready. Washington's gifting them the ball, five turnovers for the commanders in this one. I actually think in a weird way, if it had just been Pickett and the Eagles get smashed and there aren't the turnovers, it's like an easier loss to digest for the Eagles, but it still doesn't really mean anything because Hertz isn't out there playing, I think it just speaks to Jane Daniels game winning drive on that touchdown. You could bring up some concerns about a Philadelphia secondary or not expecting that Philadelphia defense to give up that touchdown in that spot, but Jane's done it a few times before. It's a nice little reminder of what he's been like as a

rookie and the throw was against the linebacker, which we all love on this podcast, his throws against linebackers that get turned around. So ultimately I don't really like ding Philadelphia for any of that. And they're in that conversation with Detroit, with Minnesota, with green Bay, with Philadelphia. If you are adamant about one in one of those teams being far superior than everybody else, good for you. Cause I can't get there with it. Finally, Baltimore, if they hadn't beat Pittsburgh yesterday, man,

I would have given up. Everybody knows I like Baltimore more than Pittsburgh and they don't beat them except yesterday. Finally, or except, excuse me, two days ago, Baltimore second win against the Steelers in 10 tries for those games were without Lamar up 24 17 feeling good. Lamar throws his worst interception of the season into triple coverage. They go right to the offensive coordinator, which I want after bad interceptions, I want to see the coordinators in the booth. And it was like a lot of like, what is he doing? Uh, which is weird about a guy who may win MVP, but it feels like

Alan has surpassed him in that race. But I'm, I'm watching that game play out. Just being like this again, because again, I like Baltimore better than Pittsburgh. There's no way if they play each other in the playoffs, I'd be picked from Pittsburgh and yet it felt like Pittsburgh. Here we go again, but you have the fumble by Russell Wilson, which really wasn't, he just got blasted on a great run play where he was just extending the play. Looked like he might've gone into the end zone.

He gets worked. So I wouldn't really ding them there too much. And then there's the pick six, but there's something else going on here with Pittsburgh and that look, a win yesterday would have clinched again. I keep saying yesterday, cause I'm lost in all the football. A win this weekend against Baltimore would have clinched the division forum, but then now both the 10 and five. Pittsburgh does currently have the tiebreaker over the Ravens because of a

better AFC record, seven and three to the six and four for Baltimore. But really for Pittsburgh, the reason why I'm not too freaked out about any of this is that it's a third straight game without George Pickens. And Mike Sando, the athletic we have on all the time, points out and he looks at the EPA on offense here. This is the third game in a row for the Steelers with a negative 10 or more EPA on offense, right? That's the worst stretch for the Steelers since 2003 in the regular season. Why? Because Pickens isn't out there. And when you have that much of a drop off

from your number one receiver to whoever you want to name as number two for the Steelers, you can just see it. And you can see the reluctance for Wilson to make the same kind of just deep. He's just not going to take the same chances that he will with Pickens because Pickens wins so many balls.

All right, Oregon, stats. Stats to impress people. So Caleb Williams put up some numbers. I thought he was okay. And I think the entire rookie season for Caleb Williams is actually a win. The coach is fired. They changed the coordinator.

This wasn't ideal. There was a lot of skill at the receiver stuff. The O-line hasn't worked out, but overall, like when this rookie season is done, I, maybe that's because I liked him too much and you don't want to hear from me. So it's confirmation bias, but I think we need to kind of just step back and go, you know what, like there's a lot of rookie seasons have been a lot worse. And, um, when it's all said and done with, with his full rookie resume, I think it's, it's a decent enough season, still feel good. And again, we'll see what happens with the coaching staff.

But he has a number here that seems awesome as the headline, but you know my rule with not throwing any interceptions. So it's this nine straight game for Caleb without a pick, which is a Bears record. 326 attempts without a pick, the longest in NFL history for a rookie. That sounds, I'd rather that than, hey, this guy threw 40 picks. But it also tells me that there's some throws that he's leaving out there. Whether he's reluctant, or he got beat up so much

at the beginning of the year. I mean, he's gonna end up being what? Sacked 60 plus times this season. So I think it's a nice headline. And look, I'm a Caleb fan, so I could be just screaming it from the rooftops being like, look how good this guy has been. But when you're avoiding interceptions that much, like there's a positive and there's also maybe an underlying negative that he just doesn't want to pull the trigger on some of the other throws with that group.

We'll see. Um, final, final thing here, the SVP approval award. Some of you may remember this story. Uh, and it's always kind of a funny story. There's no like animosity about it, but they did a survey and some kind of study. And it was nice enough that ESPN did that for us because it took money and it took time and resources put into it to try to like have a real kind of like consumer feedback to SVP and I doing the radio show. And they started with Van Pelt. They were like,

you're one of the most well-liked people at ESPN, which is deserved and also one of the least surprising things ever. And then they got to me and they were like, oddly people liked you. And then they got to me and they were like, oddly people liked you. Like, okay. And they're like, yeah, it was weird. I'm like, what was weird about it? They're like, I don't know. You know, you never know with some of these numbers.

And it was just, and Scott and I talked about it afterwards. He was like, that must've been fun for you. I was like, yeah, that was sort of weird. Like I felt like I was doing a good job and you know, maybe the audience would respond to it. And yet they did. And it was like, yeah, that's weird. They liked you. I was like, yeah, that was sort of weird. Like I felt like I was doing a good job and you know, maybe the audience would respond to it and yet they did. And it was like, yeah, that's weird. They liked you. Um, the approval rating stuff for Caleb Williams and Bryce Young.

They're connected because of storyline. Granted Caleb's a rookie, Bryce is on his second year. I just find it interesting. It seems like there is no neutrality with Caleb Williams or either a guy like me who used to be a Baris fan, who thought he would be good, thought he should be the number one pick and still has a ton of faith in him. And if you're not one of those people, it seems like you hate him. I don't know if it's the painted nails.

I don't know if it's crying. I don't know if it's the bullshit rumor that really didn't have as much to do with him as it had to do with his representation about hoping to own a team. Because he caught a ton of stuff. And I'll still hear that like brought up every now and then. It's like, I don't really know that that's something we should get that excited about. But people seem, if you don't like him, you hate him. We're on Bryce Young and the other side.

I think that's an awesome story because it seems like everyone likes him. It seems like everyone likes him. It seems like everyone is rooting for him. And he was terrible a week ago, bounces back in a big way, some great plays, gets smashed, throws a deep ball, smiling, looking at the defensive player that knocked him on his ass. There is a collective appreciation. Um, maybe that's not the right word. It's just, maybe they're rooting against the Panthers or they're so mad about the way the Panthers handled him.

But I mean, does anybody want to admit that maybe the Panthers sitting him down for a bit and giving him a mental reset? Cause he looked shot to build his confidence back up. Just give him a break has kind of worked. And I know last week was ugly, but I mean, think about what the standard was for Bryce Young and what we were hoping for just like, Hey, can you not look like you'll never play in this league again but i mean think about what the standard was for bryce young and what we were hoping for just like hey can you not look like you'll never play in this league again and it looks like he could be the starter going into next week and it feels like

everybody's all for which i think is great it's nice when everyone is collectively positive about one thing but it is a vastly different experience for the other number one pick in kayla Williams for the other number one pick in Caleb Williams. 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. The email address, even a holiday week, very excited the boys have enough time to be able to do this with this live advice, rr at gmail.com. We've got Monday, Christmas, Saruti and Kyle and Worgon, who knows, may check in with him

because we're also taping Fridays. So that's the schedule this week, a Monday and Friday. And I thank my staff for being available to do that. Although maybe, you know, one day we'll all get successful enough and be like, we'll see you guys January 15th. We're doing trimesters this year. Uh, all right, let's get to it. Do I need to check in? You guys got anything, any updates, anything going on?

Um, I think this is the first time golf might be becoming a problem in my relationship. This was the first time I told her I was golfing today and there was like an eyebrow raise yesterday. It was like the 23rd. This was like the first one I was like, wait a second, was this, is this not a constructive thing in your eyes for me anymore? So I don't, I don't know. I think I'm just going to have to like put my golf cooler in another place. I think once, once she put two and two together that like you guys are drinking out there sometimes. I think, I think she was like, well, this isn't the extracurricular. I thought it was.

Wait, wait, wait. I'm, and I mean this with like all due respect and keep your privacy wherever you want to keep it. Is it like, she's cool with the midday frolic room scene though? Like that's not an issue. I'll tell you what, uh, dudes are like calling me are like calling me like a lost soul. They're like, dude we haven't seen you in a long time. It's like yeah dude, changing my life. Huge golf guy now. You're just drinking in a different area, you're outside.

It just kind of felt like a cheat code until it was like, oh wait, this isn't, you don't love this for me as much as you once did. I think she's still happy that I'm like getting out there and you know spending time outside but I think I think it's starting to become what a lot of dudes significant others think when they go golf and I think the honeymoon period is almost over but you know get what you can while you can I guess. So the frolic room crew is upset about your lack of attendance they don't like that you're outside drinking. No they're they're smart enough to be like hey that guy's doing something for himself. Good

job. You'll be back. But you know, that's the I was there yesterday and watch the to watch the middle window games. And it was like, everyone was like, dude, you're here. So anyway, it's not it's nice. I still get like a big round of applause when I go in next. Did I save Kyle's life? You I was gonna say that use golf clubs. I go in there. Huh? Did I save Kyle's life? You, I was going to say that use golf clubs. I don't know. It's a good, we don't know yet.

Well, yeah. We're still a game of these clubs. Like, honey, I have, I have to use them. Why don't I use the gift that he gave? Yeah. Like that's just, he's never coming up here ever. Uh, I'm glad I asked. Yeah.

I glad I'm glad I asked. Okay. Let's do a simple one here. I love this one. Lunchtime etiquette, five, seven, 170. Two weeks back into my pickup hoops return, no real comp, working my way to high school era Jimmer for debt.

Jimmer was throwing him down, two hands. I remember just watching him dunk at the combine. I was like, damn. And now we're best friends. With the Northeast College National Championship talk. I wanted to shout out the Clarkson University women's hockey team, three times national three time national champs. I know about Clarkson.

Hashtag slew sucks. Oh, it's fine. I didn't go there either. It's okay. I think I don't know, but I've always feel like we're such a positive slew. Odd. I actually think. Yeah.

But no, shout out to Clarkson, like Quinnipiac,. Uh, I actually think. Yeah. But no shout out to Carson, like Quinnipiac, UCAC, great hockey conference. So, um, you know, what's up. I'm not trying to be like SEC guy, but you know, you see, it feels a bit like SEC guy, like you've got Quinnipiac in there. Wait, do you think it's wrong to have pride in a conference that wins a bunch of national championships and multiple programs? I don't know. Yeah, that's what the see that's what the easy as he does so no There you go. All right with here we go. Have a simple one

I wanted the brain trust take on I work for a small company less than 60 employees We have a small kitchen break room Some people eat there every day others at theirks, in their cars in the parking lot, or elsewhere off-site, I tend to mix it up. What do you think is the most normal option? What would you do if you worked in an office setting? Thanks, love the pod. I'll let you guys go first,

because I know specifically what my answer is on this. I think lunch is super malleable. I think you can do it anywhere in a box, with a fox, whatever. I think you can have it anywhere in a box with a fox, whatever. I think you can have lunch anywhere. Some people are like, I'll have a salad. And some people are like, I'm getting a footlong from Subway. Been both of those guys. Mostly the latter. Just like I changed my plane stance on where to sit, I'm changing on what you should be eating in the middle part of the day. But I think it just depends on what the culture

is. Jim Cunningham hated me eating in that little shared office we had together. Just hated it. And he was disgusted. He just didn't think food should cross that threshold if there's any odor whatsoever. It's not like I was bringing in a hot tuna sandwich, but still, he didn't like it. So I would just eat on this little outside patio, but I think it just matters like what the people around you are doing, but you know, as long as you can enjoy whatever you're having,

I think just do what feels right as long as you don't feel like you're offending anyone. That's the thing is, you know, don't do the tuna fish, the egg salad scene where you're like ruin everybody else's day. I personally am a very shy public eater. Like I don't really like to eat unless I know eater. Like I don't really like to eat unless I know you well. I don't really like to eat. Yeah, even we had a little fine quarter. Well, we had it. Yeah, I mean, we had a function Saturday night with some family, you know, some cousins or whatnot brought the daughter over play with the other kids. It was fun.

And we got like just a ton of Italian food. And like, you know, if I was at home, like I'm taking down the check the whole chicken farm platter, but like, I just, I don't know, I just feel weird about like eating a ton of food in front of people. So I'm just kind of weird about this. It's not the act. You don't want people to be like,

that guy's eating a lot. It's all of the above. It's all of the above. Cause then I'm like, oh, what if I get messy or like, I don't know. I just, I'm like very self-conscious when it comes to eating in public. So I would find a place all by, I like,

I love being by myself. I love being by myself. Find a place all by I like Yeah, like find a little nook, you know, are you near a park can you just somewhere there it's like public but also like no One's gonna come and bother you. That's why where did you eat at ESPN? Would you just go to your car? What would you yes, man was weird? No, no, cuz I had I actually had a group that was like we it was weird My ESPN schedule was so strange where I wouldn't eat breakfast. I would go in at like 10.30-ish and we would eat lunch at like 11, 11.30. So I'd get in, settle down, like go right to lunch.

Because then I worked till like 7 or 8. But we had a good group of guys that would do that. And you know, you had like dining halls, whatever. So it was kind of like, that was a little bit different. But I don't know, like it's, I wouldn't necessarily get like a huge pasta platter though. So you're looking for a safe space. When lunch rolls around, you're looking for a safe space. Alright. Definitely. I wouldn't necessarily get like a big pop of lettuce. When you're thinking about, when lunch rolls around, you're looking for a safe space.

All right. Definitely. Definitely. I couldn't be more. Car's insane. Car's insane. It's a little bit of a loner move. Yep. Like people might put you on a watch list if you keep doing that. I don't know, I think more people do it than you think.

Well, it depends on what kind of car you have too. Like if your entry level, your job, you don't really care. No, but I mean, if you have a really nice car, do you want French fry grease all over your dashboard and your steering wheel and everything? I mean, I know there's like a level of car. Wait. Quick aside, quick aside.

Kyle, you think I'm. No, no, I'm not saying anything. I'm just laughing here. That just brings me, like you ever watch all those Instagram TikTok videos, these people just like eating Chick-fil-A in their car doing a taste test. It's like, what are you doing?

Like this is a- Those cars are stunt cars. Yeah. I don't believe that goes with the real cars. There's just shit out for us. Yeah, that's a rental 100%. It's like the private jet tube that you can go hang out in Los Angeles.

Like, oh my God, Tulum, so excited. Anyway. Wait, so you're, well, look, obviously Kyle's a car eater, but do you think you'll grow out of that? Yeah, I think just like anything else, I think so. I don't know, I just, I don't want to eat in my car, man. Yeah, I mean, if time doesn't permit, you know, it's not like I would leave, wasn't sitting at Modell's in my car, you know,

eating in my car, but if time permits, and it's like, God, I gotta do something, I'm gonna be booked for the next five hours, we can just pick up something on the way. Yeah, I'll do it, I'm gonna be booked for the next five hours, we just pick up something on the way, yeah, I'll do it. And I'll eat it really fast in the parking lot and then feel gross so that I don't have to eat and drive. Listen, I got stuff I'm working on, just like anyone else.

But all those college young adult jobs, I remember when I was at Sports Authority, I would just go to Wendy's for my lunch break for half an hour every single time. Wendy's is so fucking clutch when you have a shitty job. Sit by myself, get the $5 meal, you get a sandwich, fry and a drink, and you're break for half an hour every single time. Like I would sit by myself, get the $5 meal, you know, you get a sandwich, fry and a drink and you're there for half an hour. Just me and my, cause I don't want to talk to anybody.

I'm talking to, I'm trying to sell people protection plans on basketball hoops. I don't even believe in. So like, why I don't want to talk to anybody else while I'm eating lunch. That's got to be a plan. That crazy. Kyle, did you believe in the plans? No way, man. No way.

Van believed. I've almost felt bad doing that. I think it was, I've probably been talked to like, man, you got believe in the plans? No way, man. No way. Van believed it. I've almost felt bad doing that. I think it was, I've probably been talked to like, man, you gotta push the plan. I'm like, come on, pretend you're trying to put a loop up. I'll tell you what, this basketball doesn't work in two months, guess who's coming back, plan or no plan? Yeah. Uh, I, look, I think the desk thing,

it's probably the most efficient, but I think, you know, I've talked about how my high school was really weird because I lived on an island. And if you played sports, you left school early so that you could make an early boat, get to the mainland in time, play early back-to-back games, JV varsity, and then make it back for the last boat. Like the whole thing was based on making it to the last boat

because the high school school budget redundant. Didn't want to have to pay for like dude staying at hotels all the time and missing the last boat. And then coming back to the main or coming back to the island in the morning and then going back and changing the whole thing was disruptive. So because if you played, especially if you played three sports and if the classes were the same structure the entire time, you would just miss your afternoon classes every time there was a game. So what they did was they did this very, and it was great. If you had like ADD or anything, they would change.

You would have cycles and every few weeks the cycles would change. So your first class would be your last class and they would reverse it. And they'd have all these four different cycles. The point is, is that at a very young age, my teenage years, some of my formative years, although that was sort of pre formative years, like the pre workout of formative, I loved that it was being changed all the time. I liked that disruption because it kept me kind of thinking about the day instead of becoming redundant.

And so to sit at your desk, I think you need to break it up. So if it is a car, I mean, if you are lucky enough to be off site, like apparently Saruti was at a minimum wage job where they just let the guy go to Wendy's or maybe they were so psyched with a minimum wage job that he showed up the next day all the time that they were like, take your time, eat as many nuggets as he's got to brother. The only time I've really had anything that resembles a corporate job was the minor league baseball thing. And even though the ESPN radio show was nine to five, the eating part of it was

weird because I would eat in the morning, eat in my office, and then usually it was always like a rush to get chicken and rice and then it'd be in the hallway. And you'd be smashing it during commercial break just for the calories, um, which then could be dangerous if you took a couple of bites right before you start to come back on the air, which all of us as hosts did all of the time, crack the mic realizing you haven't even swallowed all the food yet. But when I worked for the baseball team, those were really long hours during the season and so lunch became really important.

They let us go and get food off of site because there was nowhere else to eat. But then it was kind of understood that you would come back and eat it at your place and you know, desk was the move for a while. And then the shift started to be from 8 a.m. until like 10 p.m., 10 days in a row for the home stands. I was so depressed towards the end, I went into the third clubhouse and would sit in an empty locker,

in an empty baseball locker, and sit there with Baseball America and read as I ate my chicken chopped up on top of a salad. I would fucking disappear for 45 minutes because I needed those 45 minutes and that salad and baseball America for my own sanity. Um, cause I was like, so I'm making what a week, making 200 bucks a week. And I worked like 89 hours this week.

So at that point I had made a, there was an agreement that I had made with myself where I was like, cause there was another time I would go in the break room. And if I went in the break room and the manager would be like, Oh, taking a break again, like you know, I'm going to, there was an agreement that I had made with myself where I was like, cause there was another time I would go in the break room and if I went in the break room,

then the manager would be like, oh, taking a break again. Like he was just gonna ride you no matter what you did every single time. You couldn't make the right move. And it never started with, oh, this reminds somebody else, Sarudy and I know,

every entrance into the room was, I'm just gonna give you shit about something. And you're like, cool, man, can I finish my salad now? So towards the end, the last couple of months, I was in a pretty dark place. And there was the home clubhouse, the visitors clubhouse and the magical third clubhouse, and I used to take my salad and baseball America and read about Kavelli crisp and just park it in there for 45 minutes. And I didn't give a fuck. If no one knew where I was, maybe the most defined I've ever been as an employee.

All right. It checks out. Yeah. And it's stunk in there too. for 45 minutes and I didn't give a fuck if no one knew where I was. Maybe the most defiant I've ever been as an employee. All right. It checks out. Yeah, and it's stunk in there too. So the answer to this guy is just follow your heart. Yeah, we didn't even really answer that. We just talked about it for 10 minutes.

Just to bring it back to right. Also took me an hour and a half to realize that my camera was wrong. So that's good. I think it looks good. I like that Providence shirt. Oh yeah. No, we're big, uh, Rossello family, a lot of Providence ties. Okay. Didn't have a Cocoa Crisp reference in this pot, but happy it's there. Yeah. It used to, it used to be Cavelli Crisp back when I was around,

you know, when he was coming up Eastern League. But I think that's a, I think that's a good one. Ooh, we got a PJ invite here that somebody sent me, but we're not going to read that one. Uh, let's see. I think we read all of those. Gosh. Um, I think we talked about Indiana enough today. I'm not going to read any college football ones. All right.

Blind one 35, five, 10, 160, no gym stats, basketball comp, 2025, tie loss and 2025, tie loss. I kind of like that. Current claim to fame is bicycling from Kansas City to Washington, D.C. this past summer. Dude. Congrats, dude. That's a commitment. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Hey. Probably have an awesome bike seat if you're going to do that. What kind of bike seat would

you need to be like, I'm just going to be on the road for weeks or days, however long that takes. I would need like a couch bike seat. I feel like, I can't imagine. I was gonna say a side car. I can't imagine. A motorbike. Get your way 230 and do that. Let's, yeah, leg power.

I feel like that's, yeah. Leg power? Yeah. Hey look, you mentally, to be able to do something like that, we're not, we got nothing to say except praise brother. All right. Uh, I ran away from my home to winter. Oh, I thought I was like, how old is this guy?

Whoa. I'm 14. Ran away from home. Just wanted to ask you guys, uh, ran away from my home to winter in Tucson, Arizona, under the guise of being an anthropologist. under the guise of being an anthropologist. The old Pueblo is muy bueno, muy caliente. What?

I don't, I already sort of, well, I guess we have to finish it at this point. You should screen some more emails at lunch today. Yeah, no shit. During my research at a local watering hole, I was watching a Thursday night football game, it was being antisocial by writing a postcard to my grandma. A waitress came up with a wry smile and said someone on that patio would like to get you a green tea shot as a high functioning idiot.

My response was, is there alcohol in that? Kyle, is there? There is. Okay. You wouldn't taste it though. So it's a smooth one. Nice. Kind of like a smooth one. Nice. Kind of like a woo woo in the nineties.

Of course I accepted the drink when the bartender made it. Even she seemed to tag Giddy delivering the cocktail. I did not down the shot immediately. I looked around the bar for anyone making more eye contact than normal or even a group taking shots themselves. Nobody stood out. Nobody claimed responsibility for their good deed. Once I finally started sipping on the gift, the questions kept piling up in my head.

Who sent the shot? Was it a girl or a guy? Was it out of the simple kindness of their heart? Or was it a pity shot for the loaner writing snail mail? Asking friends who have been bartenders and other bartenders during other research trips, no one has a good answer. I've thought the shot itself was particularly ambiguous. Seems girly on its face, but it's made with Irish whiskey. So gents, I thought the shot itself was particularly ambiguous. Seems girly on its face,

but it's made with Irish whiskey. So gents, who sent the shot? And please do tell about the last time you sent a drink to a stranger. All right. He's got more details here. Uh, wearing a lavender, purple, long sleeve shirt. I think I look good while wearing it. This email is so fucking crazy. I actually like it now. You're asking us who we are right there. Who sent us the shot? Right, right. There's still more facts. Don't worry. The bar was gentle Benz brewing next to the University of Arizona campus, but had a good mix of all ages that night. I was not in the club upstairs. There was a Santa's sleigh bar crawl going on that night where the college crowd was trying to get to a dozen bars over the weekend. The t-shirts they were wearing were the ticket and had the bars listed on the

back recipe for a green tea shot equal parts, Irish whiskey, peach schnapps, sour mix, a splash of citrus soda. The sour mix is going to just ruin the taste of any alcohol by the way. Right. I mean, especially talking gun sour. Come on. The white tea shot uses vodka. This will be added to my booze rotation.

Also, I am not an anthropologist. Mahalo for your time. One of the weirder emails. No green tea and a green tea shot, okay. No, same thing with a little. We're supposed to tell this guy who sent it? I don't know. Well, in my experience,

it's been women that ordered green tea shots, but really the only time somebody's bought me green tea shots, it's been a dude. So this is a real conundrum. So I gotta say, how did you, like she just vaguely pointed to the patio. She's like someone on the patio, this mystery person. So it makes me think there's like no ulterior motive

for that person to want you, like no motive for the person to want you to know who it was. So I don't think it was someone trying to hit on you. I think it might be a girl playing a joke. I just saw this thing on the internet, the internet, on I think Instagram about these girls set a group of guys, something that looked like tequila shots,

but it was water and they laughed. So maybe that was a joke they made. So it was like- They laughed and laughed. They laughed and laughed. So it was like, maybe that's what it is. Maybe it was like a group of college girls, like, let's send that guy a green tea shot. But they didn't actually want to follow up with you.

They didn't want you to be like, oh, hey, okay. It wasn't college girls. College girls are too into their own deal. Now, granted, you know, some colleges are different. You go to the Walrus in your 30s, you're not an outcast. There's other places where, dude, if a guy who's 26 started talking to our college crew, you'd be like, what is wrong with this guy? Like, Hey grandpa, fucking beat it.

Right. So it also depends geographically where you're at. I think Arizona has no rules. That's been established, but I still don't think it would be college girls sending a dude a green tee shot that was there by himself. Maybe you're a really good looking guy, but you also said you were 35 and a lavender shirt. So I just don't see the college crowd kicking in.

I think it was probably a bartender and you just didn't realize it. But he said somebody on the patio. Like why would he send you on this? Maybe that was just a disguise of like, hey, you kind of look lonely. What a weird disguise though, man. Why would you just be like, hey, I got you that one.

And then maybe that works its way into your tip. Like, oh, that guy's not, like, why would you, why would you do this whole goose chase thing? Especially you're gonna put this image in the guy's head. Like, who wants me to have this? Is there someone out there that likes me? Like, that just seems like really fucked up if it was a bartender, I don't know.

I also think there's an age where you probably just go no. You would say no, I know that for a fact. Yeah, no thanks. Well, it could be an Indiana fan. They're like, hey, put something in this and then send it to that dickhead who's by himself. A quick Google of who drinks green tea shots. The AI Google machine says millennials and older men.

So there you go. He's not a blind. He's not only green tea shots and older men. He might just be an awesome. Does this whole anthropology thing makes me think he has a little, maybe he was just good looking and charming and they were like, he's by himself and let's do this.

And he's writing out stuff. Kind of interesting. Like with a pen. Yeah. I mean, granted there was a guy that kept a journal at one of the bars I worked at. Yeah. Yeah, but it was also like his move.

We were just like, get the fuck out of here with your journal. There was also another guy who did like these mazes. He used to draw mazes and shit. And it's like, I don't know, just ask somebody how they're doing. You know, that's pretty cool. That's interesting. Oh really? Yeah.

Yeah. But see the follow-up room, it would make people very often. Yeah. When's the last time you bought a girl a drink that wasn't your wife? Uh, well, the last time I bought anyone a drink was when my buddy hit, it was this last summer, my buddy hit somebody with a golf ball in the group ahead of us and he was kinda like, hey, we kinda owe them, so we all just chipped in

and bought drinks for the guy or the group. But the last time I bought a girl a drink that wasn't my wife, oh man, 2013? I don't know, 2012, I don't know, a long time ago. I don't remember. Dark room for me. I think in college, I was just too poor to like, I'm like, that's not how I'm going to win.

I'm not going to win by buying drinks for girls. I'll find another route. That's just how I just changed my game a little bit. I think in LA, I was like, all right, you got to do something. You got to have to be a drink guy. You got to show that you make some money out here,

even though you don't. So I really had a very short window of like actively, like using that as a move. So yeah, college, it was just not an option. Fair, totally fair. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I get stuck with tabs all the time now. So.

So. Like way too many. All right. That'll do it for the pod today. Thanks to Wargon. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Saruti. Merry Christmas, everybody. We'll be back on Friday. Check out the YouTube page even though we didn't put anything new on it. But some of this will be on there and you can see the awkward camera angle. I rocked for the first hour plus the pod. And of course, as always, subscribe to the first hour plus the pod. And of course, as always, subscribe to the podcast, Ringer Spotify. Must be 21 and older, present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star

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