Andy & Ari On3 - If you storm the court/field, you LOSE?

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

When it comes to making the best hamburgers around the basics matter and Wendy’s?... well they’ve really got those burger basics on lock and boy does it show. So what’s the secret to all those hot and juicy hamburgers? Simple. Wendy’s always crafts their hamburgers with that fresh, never frozen beef they’re famous for. The result? Hot and juicy beefy hamburger perfection - every time. No matter which hamburger you order from the Wendy’s menu, you already know that thanks to those Wendy’s burger basics, it’s gonna be exactly what you were craving. Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada; not available in Hawaii.  This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Prism football card series a vibrantly paralleled base and insert roster featuring college football’s brightest former and current superstars. Panini sets include NIL autographed cards from players including Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net.(0:00-3:03) PaniniAmerica.net(3:04-16:12) If you storm the court/field, should you lose?(16:13-20:30) Mr. Brightside, Other Solutions(20:31-23:13) Closing the court/field Storming Discussion(23:14-25:18) Breakout Teams in 2025(25:19-27:40) Florida(27:41-30:55) Clemson(30:56-34:15) Louisville(34:16-36:32) Iowa State(36:33-43:09) Big 12, Illinois, Oklahoma(43:10-45:44) Jim Tressel Inspiring our Civics Test(45:45-53:58) Ari Goes to School(53:59-57:38) Ari's Results(57:39-58:39) Basketball this Weekend(58:40-1:06:07) SEC's Dominance in Basketball(1:06:08-1:09:44) Wendy's, Sodas(1:09:45-1:11:11) Conclusion, JD Pickell's tweet Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne has proposed giving an automatic loss to teams whose fans rush the court or the field after a win. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who has tried for years to stop court/field storming, isn’t ready to go that far, but he said the idea has support. Does anything need to be done about court and field storming? And if penalties do get more severe, is reversing the result a viable solution? Plus, Ari reveals his potential breakout teams for 2025. Florida, Illinois, Iowa State, Louisville and LSU fans will want to tune in. Finally, our Friday Grabass segment features Ari taking a very basic high school government test. Will he pass? Judging by the conversation earlier this week when Jim Tressel was named lieutenant governor of Ohio, he might not. Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/UaWy-gz_O70 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River BaileySpecial thanks to Nick Winstead for providing the Civics Test

This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. I was going through my office and I found a prism card that I pulled from a pack several months ago and hadn't really thought about in a while. But let's let's show that card as a Julian Sam Julian Prism Rated Rookie. Now that's a base card. So there are some probably more exciting Julian Sayen cards out there for me to grab. By the way, I do have two unopened Prism packs that we need to rip on the show next week. But this is one when I pulled it,

it was the middle of the season, I wasn't really thinking at all about Julian Sain. Now we are talking a lot about Julian Sain because he is potentially the next QB one for the Buckeyes. Yeah, they actually have a National Treasures Duel Auto of Julian Sain and Dylan Raola. Like if you're like a futures guy, like that could be, that could be a card where one gets great

and one doesn't or both get great or neither do, but it's always fun, uh, you know, to get into the weeds of it. And like, that's my favorite thing too. It's like, I have an entire dresser as you've seen full of cards. And sometimes I'll go through what I have and I will forget that I have certain ones, certain autos, certain pretty big cards of guys that weren't that good or weren't that big at the time that I've had like really good years that I'm like oh my god I didn't even realize I had this nuke in my in my uh in my dresser so you know that's the the fun thing about it too like you can collect uh you know from NIL

now and get people from high school days all the way through college and then into the NFL. That's what I love about this because you know it's fun to collect the the pro, but I love that you can get guys that are still in college or guys that had not like, when this Julian saying card was printed, he hadn't even gotten to Ohio State yet. Right. Right. So that's what makes it fun. You know, is an interesting ride.

Cause you know, if he turns out to be a really, really good player, wins a Heisman or something, then you're sitting on something completely different than you are today. And then one day Andy, when, when players reach their peak, you know, you turn into one of these here. That's a Jordan love a rookie select autograph. I'm trying to get the light on there.

Oh yeah. That's number two 25. And now I'm kind of a Packers fan. So, you know, you uh when you get to to my level of sickness, you root for everybody all the time because you've got everyone's card but um yeah, it's really really fun and and I'm really envious that you are somebody who could have two unopened packs on your desk and not

touch them. That's like I'm doing one of these when that's happening. So, uh you know, I'm doing it for the show. It's for the show. Trust me. I want to rip them. I definitely want to rip them. Now, we mentioned Julian saying Panini's also got DJ Lagway. They got Dylan Riola, who you mentioned, Cam Ward, Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning. So go to PaniniAmerica.net and start your collection today. net and start your collection today Welcome to any are on free is time to storm the court We are we are waiting we're about to run onto the court, but

The SEC keeps trying to stop this the the, the, the, the storming of the court or the field. And this week, very interesting quote from Alabama's athletic director, Greg burn in an ESPN story. And basically he said, if we said to the home team, if they storm the field or the court, they're going to lose the game right then and there. That will stop it. And I'm like, I get that the SEC wants to end this because the liability concerns, they're worried somebody get trampled.

But Ari, we're showing video from you and I in the middle of a field storming at Ole Miss this past year. Did you feel unsafe at any any moment? from you and I in the middle of a field storming at Ole Miss this past year. Did you feel unsafe at any moment? No, the most unsafe thing that happened to me on that field was that the white Air Maxes that I was wearing got ruined by the dye that came up off the wet field. It was raining.

Yeah, it was raining and the dye from the end zones got on my shoes and ruined them. No, like that's the thing that's so interesting about this. And it's like a lot of things in college football in general come down to this. It's like on one hand, field storming in those moments are what make college football great. Like being on the field when Ole Miss won that game

was a really amazing feeling. It was really cool to see people happy and to get on the goalpost and do all these things. And it's like, as you try to strip college football, piece by piece, away from the things that make it unique and different, you know, it's becoming more and more sterile. Now that said, I'm also an adult that understands liability issues. And I know that if somebody were to get injured or something terrible, you know, happened, then, you know, the schools are subject to a lawsuit or something, you know, majorly financially, you know, the schools are subject to a lawsuit or something, you

know, majorly financially that they want to mitigate, like, I understand that too. So, like, I don't know what the right answer is, because like, you can simultaneously understand the financial ramifications of these things, while also not wanting the sport to change. Right. And this is the one thing, like, there have been some changes in college football, where it's become more like the NFL that I don't mind structurally like the expanded playoff the expanded playoff was more interesting

than the shorter playoff the one that the playoff that looks like the NFL's playoff is more interesting but the thing is like the NFL the NBA they don't have people storming the field of the court that's not part of their DNA. It never happens. It happens in college sports. It's fun when it happens. It's always exciting when it happens. And I just, I, the, the thing I get, especially in the basketball ones, because it's, it's so much closer and there's so many more people going into a much smaller space. I understand the concern about getting the visiting team off the court, but you can have a plan for that.

And like Vandy did this a few, I think it was a few days ago or a few weeks ago, where they had a countdown clock and they're like, you can come, but you gotta wait till this clock expires. And that way the visiting team's off the court. Right. And basketball and football are different. The one thing that I would say about football,

which is maybe not a popular pick or thought, is that like when we were at Ellis, I mean at Ole Miss, and we were on the field, it was fun, but some people put themselves in very compromising situations on the goalposts. Like, I don't know if you saw that, but like when you're on the goalposts and you're stomping on it, like you't know how that thing is going to fall. Or if you fall off the

goalposts and break your ankle, that's on you. Or if you fall off the goalposts and land on the wrong direction, you could get paralyzed. You're up there pretty high and it's swaying back and forth. I remember when we were on the field there, I was like, I hope that those guys don't get hurt because it looked a little dangerous. So like, I don't know if there's like a way that you can meet people halfway of like, you know, you can storm the field and celebrate with the players and the coaches on the field,

but you can't touch the goal posts. Cause they have the goal posts that drop now too. So you don't even have to worry about it. But also too, the people who were standing underneath the goal posts that could get hit by the metal as it falls over, like, you know, there are things that can happen with the goalposts, I think. But like also to the joy of it is grabbing the goalposts and carrying it out of the stadium and throwing into a lake somewhere. Like, so it's just like, I don't want it to end. And if

you've followed the show or our conversations over the years about things like this, Andy, you know that like I am preserve college football's uniqueness to the core, you know, and I don't know if that always extends to, you know, celebration tactics and things like that, more so like rules and regulations, like I don't know, like I feel like the more it gets like the NFL, it might be more functional, but you're always the one that tells me that the dysfunction of this is the whole beauty of it, right? Like I want it to be. And that's why I'm saying this is one of the things I would say protect rather than try to get rid of. And I just, I've been on the field for a bunch of field stormings. I've never felt unsafe. The first one I think I was ever on the field for was 2009 Oregon State at Oregon. Oregon beats Oregon. They are playing

for the Pac-10 title in that game. Oregon beats them and it's just a sea of people. It was just amazing. It was a beautiful sight to see. It was so cool to be a part of. And, you know, I've been in a bunch of those since then. Actually, that's not true. First one was 98 Florida, Tennessee. I was not on the team anymore at Florida. I was covering the game for the school paper. And I had to make my way through the carnage to get to Florida's locker room to interview people. Yeah, it's funny because every during my career as a beat writer, every single time Ohio State lost a game on the road, the opposing team stormed the field. So every time Ohio State lost, like I was in the middle of a really challenging situation in terms of how to cover the away team.

a really challenging situation in terms of how to cover the away team. But when fans storm the field on the home side, it's great. Now, I don't know if there's a way that you could write into the ticket language, something like if you buy- It's already written, it's already in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you buy the ticket, you consent to not holding the stadium or the university liable for any injuries that could happen while you're doing this activity, then I guess that that would be the solution to me. But obviously we don't want anybody to get hurt, but at the same time, it's not like

it's like a mosh pit at an Ozzy Osbourne concert either down there. People are jumping up and down and celebrating and taking pictures. It's not like it's, it's, it's getting onto the field. That's the dangerous part, not being on it. I like, I like J.C.'s idea. If you beat Yukon in basketball, you get to fight Dan Hurley and the winner gets to have bourbon with Jim Calhoun. That's a good one.

Now I will point out, and this is probably more basketball than football, cause I think people are just not that stupid with football, but If you accost a visiting player as they're trying to get off the field After they lost and they punch you that's your fault Yeah, that's totally your fault. That's not their fault. They shouldn't get in any trouble You should get punched and then get in trouble. Yeah, there needs to be like a law of like, uh, circumstances in which you're allowed to punch somebody in the face. Like if you're taking too long at the self checkout line at the store,

like I should be able to punch you in the face. Yeah. If you can't figure out where your seat is on an airplane, I get to punch you in the face. Or if you spend five minutes getting your overhead bag in the overhead, and then you just stand there looking at your seat like, what do I do now? Yeah, while everybody waits behind it? Yeah, okay, that's acceptable. We'll make, that's actually a good Friday grab ass topic. It is Friday, it's grab ass day.

We will have Ari taking a civics test later today, but that's another grab ass Friday topic. What, what transgressions should allow the average citizen to just punch another citizen in the face. And this is one, when you, when you go onto a field or a court after a big upset, if you try to make fun of the visiting player, or you even worse try to touch a visiting player, they are allowed to do whatever they want to you. You're in their space.

Yeah. That's a really good list. Like a punch you, somebody in the face card. Yeah, where you do it and somebody comes up and punches you in the face and you're somebody in the face card. Yeah, where you do it and somebody comes up and punches you in the face. You're like, ah, I did. It's on the list. If you ask more than three questions at a rental car line checkout. JC says rushing the field is like swimming without a lifeguard. It's at your own risk. Exactly. It's on the back of the ticket. It says you're trespassing if you enter the playing surface

at any point and then whatever happens to you, they're not liable for it. It already says that in the language on the ticket. So I, now you wanna hear some galaxy brain stuff? You ready? Yeah. Now, Greg Byrne has said this before. I will say Greg Byrne, the athletic director at Alabama

has said this before last football season. So I'm not saying he's saying it for this reason, but I'm saying there's a little kernel in there probably. If you're Alabama, if you're Georgia, if you're Ohio State, if you are any school that when you get beat, the fans typically rush the field. If Alabama had automatically won the Vandy game because Vandy rushed the field, Alabama would have made the playoff.

Do you imagine the playoff discourse? If a team lost lost a game but then got it on their resume as a win as a result of that? Could you imagine? You think it's unhinged now? Brad from Macon would have been all over your ass. Oh Brad from Macon. I guess Paul Feinbaum by the way like reversed the decision on the show yesterday and said Brad won so congratulations. Revision is history. We're gonna have a round two with Brad on this show. We've already, I've already, Brad and I are in touch. And when Brad comes on the show, there's going to be a, uh, uh, some language on his ticket through StreamYard that says if you get injured or assaulted on the show, it's not, it's not Andy,

Andy and Ari. You're overconfident. Yeah. You're over. Now you have the Dunning Kruger effect. Well, I mean, the one thing that we we that we didn't discuss about that whole thing Andy is how you like went on the show after me and we're like basically pumping up that guy's Appearance as if like I'd like lost or something like an ad. No, I'm Don King. I got to pump up the rematch I understand But if you want to pump up the rematch and say that I failed because I didn't personally attack the man enough Then I'll take the gloves off you want to bring them on the show and I'll just start. I know that's not who I am. But I think you'd be okay with that. But yes, just imagine because so Alabama did

Tennessee rush the field after they beat Alabama because Because Oklahoma did. I don't recall. I don't remember. So Alabama would have been. Oh, yeah, they should have. River would remember. They shouldn't have this past year. Twenty twenty two, it was warranted, but not this past year. So Alabama would have been 12 and 0 in football under this plan.

Twelve and 0. If you think that the big time programs that people get super excited to beat already had an advantage to get in the playoff, now add this into it. Yeah, I hate that rule. I hate, you know, forfeiting. It's never gonna happen. Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, who's been Mr. Stop the Storming for years years goes. Yeah, that might be a little too far. Well, I also feel like forfeiting a game that happened is every bit as stupid. If not more stupid than the vacating of games as a penalty. I was wondering if you really make that yeah it is.

You're right thing. It's like oh yeah, they lost on the field, but they get the win. It's like OK, dude, like no one that's not the spirit of competition. So, I mean, I don't know if you want to do bands To people who storm the field if they get caught or no longer to go like are able to buy or secure tickets Although I don't know how you enforce that it's kind of like if you get banned from a casino I've never really understood like how they're able to track it thousands of people that go into them every day. Facial recognition. Facial recognition. Are we going to start tossing that into Tiger Stadium there in Baton Rouge? I don't know. So Ferris Khan is a Michigan fan says, and this is important, like know your fan base too. You can mitigate these things if you just know your fan base. During the Michigan rush field situations,

they play Mr. Brightside again. This actually causes the fan to stop moving around too much. You see everyone singing all the phones out to capture the moment. See, just kind of understand your people and what they're like. And you know, at Michigan, they like a song about a guy super paranoid about what his girlfriend's doing with some other dude.

Is that what that's about? It's pretty obvious. No subtext to Mr. Brightside. I mean, I know the chorus I don't know the the lyrics Jealousy turning things into blue stick. Yeah, so yeah coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine But gotta gotta be down cuz I want it all Started out with a kiss had it ended up like this. It was only a kiss. It was only a kiss fine, but gotta be down because I want it all. Started out with a kiss, had it end up like this, it was only a kiss, it was only a kiss.

Now she's falling asleep, now they're taking a cab, now he's having a smoke, now she's taking a drag. Now they're going to bed, now my stomach is sick, but it's all in my head, but she's touching his chest now, she takes off her dress now, see? I don't get it though. Like is he in the cab with her or not? I do not get that.

Is he in the cab? Well, the question with Mr. Brightside is, is this happening and he's going insane because it's happening? Or is it in his head? Is he imagining that it's happening? Is he imagining that's what's going on and just being jealous? Yeah, that's an interesting question's an interesting so no jealousy at all I don't know how

you are with that I don't get jealous you know what my thing is because you're over you're super confident no no it's not that if not overconfident the thing that I know for sure is that my wife gets hit on incessantly when she goes out like especially in business settings because you know how people in business are. This is another. It's acceptable to punch someone in the face rule, but I don't get mad for hitting on the obviously married woman. Yeah, I mean, you know men are I'm not going to be able to

stop men from being men, but my my thing is this. And it's kind of. How I deal with it and I don't know how most guys do, but like in my opinion, getting married, if you marry somebody, or you decide to marry somebody, that in doing that, you unequivocally trust them 100% with everything. We share bank accounts, we raise a child together,

we live in the same house. And until she gives me a reason to question whether she's trustworthy, I'm not going to waste my time questioning that. That's that's my thought. And like, I know her and I know that's not happening. And I feel like if you ever started to freak out about it or wonder about it, then that might make it more likely to happen because you'll create a strain in your marriage that then turns into whatever.

So like for me, it's like I trust her with everything and why do I have to worry about it? And then if anything ever happens because things do happen to people, we'll cross that bridge, but I'm not gonna torment myself every single time she's not home, that's insane to me. I don't know how people do that.

You're a very secure man. Kellen Johnson with a great idea. Following the Mr. Brightside point, Colorado should just have Ralphie run again after the game. Don't want to get trampled by a Buffalo. It's a bison, but the point stands. Exactly. Just turn Ralphie loose in, sit full of some field.

You don't have to worry about anybody messing with the visiting team. Yeah. Do they let the bison go once they're on the field or do they just let them run? No, they do not. There are multiple handlers hanging on for dear life. When Ralphie's on the field. The players and coaches are still on the field too, guys. So, it'd be a hell of a way for your star quarterback to blow his knee out after the game's over. When he's on the players and coaches are still on the field too guys, so Then be a hell of a way for your star quarterback to blow his knee out after the game's over running away from a bison

Bison are incredible athletes by the way, there's a reason why so Ralphie's always Ralphie's always a female Because if Ralphie was a male people would die Yeah so Here's the deal. There has to be a safer way to do this a more reasonable way to do this. You can't. You can't make the team that just upset the favorite team lose because their fans got excited. You want their

fans to be excited. You want them to keep coming. You actually want that image on TV because it makes it look cool. It makes your event look cool. Yeah. So stop trying to figure out how to stop this and start trying to figure out how to manage it because. Everybody a guardian cap who goes onto the field. The thing that's so funny about this too, Andy, is that like, have you ever been in a football facility? How many field storming pictures are like framed and matted all over those facilities?

All over the place. They're the coolest pictures. So stop trying to stop it. You're actually trying to take something away that is cool about your sports. There's way there are ways to manage it and if somebody sues you. Show them the language on the back of the ticket. Well, there's no back of the ticket anymore, but it's in the it's in the fine print on your e-ticket. Yeah. They don't have a leg to stand

on legally. Like, yeah, just stop trying to stop it. One, you're not going to because you've been trying for years. It's not going to stop and two, you don't actually want to stop it. Let people have fun. College football, college basketball are fun. Let people have fun. The Ole Miss fans who attended the Georgia game have a more enriched memory as a result of rushing the field than they otherwise would have had. And that was an early field storm. I had to remember they

had to wave them off. The video we're showing right now is of when it actually hit zero and they were already on a field. But I just, that's the part, because I do understand where they're coming from. They're trying to keep people safe. They're trying to make sure none of their players get hurt. I get that part. There's a way to manage it without taking it away. Because if you take it away, you take away something that is unique to college sports, that is incredibly fun, that you guys have marketed for a long, long time. So just chill out about it. Figure out how to manage it.

Ari, you put out a list on on three today, a potential breakout teams in 2025. So these are these are teams that their fans probably shouldn't be rushing the field when they beat a highly ranked team because they're we think they're gonna be pretty good so do we want to uh although we want to go down that list lovely yeah I feel like teams rush the field when they I don't know like what would have to take for Florida to rush the field the reason why I'm bringing up Florida's they're the first team on the list okay there's not a home game that Florida plays next year that would

just, but Florida, Florida won't the mechanics of Florida stadium, actually the, the way the swamp is set up, it is, it's actually one of the tighter sidelines in America. Yeah. It's so tight that they can actually ring it with cops. And in most cases, like you saw in the chat where he said they weren't stopping us They would stop Florida. They would stop them at Florida because you can't get over that that walls a pretty steep drop And you can't get over it fast enough Before you get tackled and zip tied and they'd see like four guys get zip tied and they'd be done. Yeah, right

So everybody on this list are in different places. There have been a few that have won national titles in the not so distant past. There's one team that hasn't won a conference title in 113 years, but we're all in a different spot here. And to me, I feel like breaking out isn't just like coming out of nowhere and being good. It's also having the season that your fan base has been craving for a while. So, let's start with Florida. Okay. Florida has been down. They've been down.

They had bad news yesterday. They did. Will Harris, the DBS coach headed to Miami. Yeah, and he's also like a pretty important recruiter for them right and a valuable asset in the state So yeah, it also because Miami's not in the SEC you do worry about if there are players in his position group that particularly like him You might lose them after the spring. Yeah Yeah So that's that's a tough break but

In the middle of last season, as you guys know, Florida seemed to be ready to move on from Billy Napier. They stuck with him. DJ Lagway, Blossom, they won their final four games. You look at the way that their talent developed a year ago. And some of the players that they're bringing in to elite level receiving prospects and Vernal Brown, the third in Dallas Wilson. Their young running back runs really, really hard. Like DJ Lagway, I think might be the top three, if not the best player in college

football a year from now. And I think they have a real opportunity to break out. And what does breakout mean? I think breakout means winning 10 games and making the playoff. I think they have a real shot at being much better than people think. And obviously. I think they have a real shot at being much better than people think and obviously I think they have a pretty rough six game stretch there between the LSU, Miami, Texas, A&M, Mississippi State and Georgia stretch but I feel like if they can if they could win four out of those six they should be in a pretty good position to make the playoff. So I have some confidence in them and this isn't 10 teams that will break out. This is 10 teams that I think have a chance to. And I think that if you go into the offseason without

feeling like Florida has some ingredients there, especially because I think their lines are pretty good. Like that's the thing. They are and loan off the ball a year ago against Miami in the opener. I think that they in Texas A&M. Yeah. And they've gotten much better over the yeah, the time. I think that they- And Texas A&M. Yeah, and they've gotten much better over the time period. I think if you look at Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, and Ole Miss, those games, the Lions held up fine. Texas is kind of a throwaway, it's hard to say,

because DJ Lague wasn't playing Aiden Mizel's receiver. Aiden Warner, the walk-on quarterback was in. And so it's kind of hard to judge how Florida's lines would have held up in a game that was a little more evenly matched. I think Texas would have beaten them anyway if Flagway had started, but I don't think it would have been a blowout the way it was. But yes, they were very competitive on the line of scrimmage against teams that had good line of scrimmage play at the end of the season, which was a stark contrast to how uncompetitive they were on the line of scrimmage against Miami and Texas A&M. So I am very interested to see what they do. I want to point out another one on your list because Dave's here in the chat doesn't understand why they're on your list.

Clemson was in the playoffs and won their conference last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know if you want to go in order, but yeah, Clemson. Go ahead, Andy. I know we're going to say the same thing, but. Well, I think we're talking about teams that can, that are moving up a level or we think we'll move up a level. Right. Clemson backed into the ACC championship game because Miami lost Syracuse. They beat SMU. They got an automatic bit of the playoff. They didn't get into the playoff because they won a ton of games. So this, what we were thinking is going to happen this year is a different version of that. This is, we're thinking Clemson can win the ACC and Clemson could be the two seed or the three seed but not the three seed

because they're just automatically brought up to the three seed but because they're the number three team in the country. Yeah here's here's how I view it. Clemson is not what it was five years ago period okay. Clemson is a very good team. They won the ACC last year. They played Texas and I think marginally tough in the playoff. But Clemson was a very good team last year that scared no elite teams. And that's not who Clemson is or has been under Dabo Sweeney for much of the past decade. And if you've been watching Clemson, they have had a steady slide from the team that scares the shit out of everybody to the team that isn't scary at all. They still win 10 games, but they're not what they're supposed to be.

It's more it's more a function of their schedule, the winning 10 games than than them just beating the crap out of this year, I think that Clemson has a chance to be scary again. And even if it means winning the ACC and making the playoff again, I don't think that anybody was under any imagination that Clemson was going to make a deep run last year. And of course they lost their first game. This is a team between their quarterback and Cade Clubnick who had a great year last year and is coming back another year. They've got two really good receivers, you know, in Antonio Williams and Brian Wesko. Their defensive line might be the best defensive line in college football with Peter Woods, TJ Moore, and Purdue transfer Will Helt. And Dabo Sweeney has already

proven unequivocally throughout the course of his career that he knows how to scout and develop his players. So even though they have all these great players, I don't even talk about Sammy, the linebacker Sammy Brown and Tom Allen coaching them defensively. Like Wes Goodwin was brought up, you know, kind of promoted up through the ranks at Clemson and there were complaints about him for the last couple of years. Tom Allen, say what you will about him as the head coach in Indiana. No one has ever complained about him as a defensive coordinator. Yeah. So

like and also too who's going to pop out that we're not expecting because Clemson does that every year like that's the other part of this. So like to me, I've been down on Clemson for four years like this is the first time I'm heading into an off season thinking this team actually has a chance to to be not only very good and to win the ACC again, but has a chance to make a deep run in the college football playoff. And I think if they become that again, that's

breaking back out fair enough. I I agree now. Let's stay in the ACC because you have Louisville on that list and Louisville had probably the hardest schedule of any team in the ACC in terms of who they had to play. They had to play all the they had to play SMU Miami and Clemson and they also had to play at Notre Dame last year. The Louisville situation is much better. Yeah, that was last year lost four games last year and three of those losses. Notre Dame SMU in Miami or by seven points. Jeff Brahm, I think is a coach that I have actually since

regretted not putting on my top 25 list when we did that exercise last week. Yeah, you take you take a team like Purdue to the Big Ten Championship game. You probably ought to be on that list. They brought in Miller Moss to play quarterback. They have a lot of important returning pieces like running back Isaac Brown, who by the way, broke Lamar Jackson's rushing record as a freshman last year.

Freshman rushing record, not total rushing record obviously. But I feel like Jeff Brahm deserves a bigger benefit of the doubt. I think their schedule eases up a little bit this year. If they, and Miller Moss, like him or not, probably is their best quarterback that they've had. I don't know what you think about Shuck, but I think that you could say that Miller Moss under that development might be a step ahead of that.

Well, and let me throw another one out there. Colin Lacey, who is the South Alabama transfer receiver who was supposed to be huge for them last year, he gets hurt early. He ends up opting out late in the season to preserve his red shirt. Comes back and plays in the Sun Bowl and looks awesome. Like he has a chance to be very good this year. Yeah and also they took 20 transfers. So you gotta think, I don't know, like if somebody like Jeff Brom who we respect takes that many transfers, do

you view that as a positive or a negative? Um, I think Louisville is going to be one that's going to be a transfer destination and a place you transfer from. I don't know that because they, they can't, they still aren't in the place where they can recruit like on Clemson's level. So they're going to be the ones kind of looking around to see what they can get out of the portal that can help make them play near that level and they still like really they just lose Notre Dame. They still have to play Clemson SMU and Miami.

Yeah, but SMU might not be the same challenge that it was last year. We'll see. I still think that they're going to be a very good team. Miami isn't going to be as good as they were last year. I don't think. I know some people might have actually put Miami on this list. I thought about it, but wasn't sure that the trajectory of their off season was me. I was going to say, breaking out from Miami would be better, be being better than last year. And and I'm not sure I'm there with them yet. So that's why they weren't. But yeah, like Louisville has an opportunity. To be in the CFP discussion in November.

Um, yeah. And I think that like, if they win one game or a 50, 50 shot, um, goes their way, they might be in a position to play for an ACC Championship, which I think would be breaking through. So I think that they were a worthy candidate to be on this list. Yeah, I let's go to the big 12. Because you got Iowa State in there and Kansas State.

BYU I I've been very clear how I feel about BYU because they bring so much back. I think BYU is probably going to be my pick to win the big 12 going into the season. But let's talk about Iowa State because they bring back Rocco Beck, which is huge. Mm hmm. They lose. No, well and Higgins. Yeah, two receivers losses who are going to be probably second, third round draft

picks like they're really good. They're both really good. Yeah, two receivers who are going to be probably second, third round draft picks. Like they're really good. They're both really good. Yep. So Iowa state's offense has to change, but I'm at the point now where I think I have so much faith in Matt Campbell that they're going to be in the mix for the big 12 title. Yeah.

And I don't think that there was any replacing Jalen Noel and Jayden Higgins, but they did go out and get Xavier Townsend from UCF and Chase Sowell from East Carolina. And those guys are pretty good. And like, here's the thing. There are so many teams there. What? How many are there? Three big 12 teams out of 10 on this list because you know, last year Arizona state broke through, like, you know, you, you might've been like, where's Arizona state? It's like, I think they just did breakthrough. Like, I don't know if they're going to,

Oh, they did. Yeah. But that now who's the next group for them would be going to the semis the semifinal so and maybe they will but like that's not that wasn't I didn't feel strongly enough about that to put them on the list. But if you look at the big 12 in general you have six teams going into the year and ever any given year that can win this conference now and it's really hard to tell which one's gonna be which, but like Matt Campbell has been as consistent of a coach

at a place that has been very hard to win at for a very long time. I mean, I don't know if you know the stat, I read it. It's the first time in 113 years they would win a conference championship if they were to do that this year. So breaking through for Iowa State Means getting one step further than they got a year ago and winning the big 12

Which I don't think is out of the question. No, and they have a chance to do something they haven't done in over a century It's insane. They've been there a couple times under Matt Campbell too, and I think that's that's really impressive I this is a really fun assignment here from trip So we have the whole list on the screen. Florida, Louisville, Illinois, Auburn, Clemson, South Carolina, Kansas State, BYU, LSU, Iowa State. Trip wants us to stack rank the starting QBs for those teams. So for me, the first two are really easy.

DJ Laguay, Eleonora Sellers are the best two quarterbacks. Well, actually, well, you got a couple of K club Nick, K club Nick. So the best three are DJ Lagway, Eleanor sellers and K club. Nick is third on my list until until proven different. That's fine. They played head to head. Lenore's is team one. Like that's fine. I'm good with that. So where the next set, I think would be Luke, Illinois, your every, I'm sorry, Jake Ratzleff, it at BYU, Garrett Nussmeyer at LSU and Rocco Beck to Iowa State. Like I think that's a, that's a really good set.

Yeah. And then Avery Johnson is somebody with a pretty high ceiling who didn't scratch that ceiling yet. And then of course, don't forget about my guy potentially in Jackson Arnold. Like I'm personally about it. If Jackson Arnold even wins the job. Yeah, if he wins the job.

But they have Deuce Knight, there's guys on that team that there's a three way quarterback battle. So Auburn, who no matter who they land on Hopefully will be more improved But yeah, I think that Garrett Nussmeyer might actually be somebody that you put in the same tier as the top three there I'm not necessarily sure. Yeah, I think we should Yeah, yeah, yeah, but let's hear it. That's my up and then but the Altmeyer Retzliff

Yeah, but let's hear it. That's my up and then but. The Altmeyer Retzlef. Rocko Beck group is pretty damn good too, but here's the thing that and I'm happy that this question got got brought up. What's the one thing that every single one of these teams have in common? They all have a pretty functional

quarterback either a great quarter. Probably functional. We don't know if Auburn does yet. Yeah. Well, I think that by having three options, that means you could probably find one. So I'm, there's a lead for faith there. And I think Auburn has more of everything else than most of the teams on this list. You know, Florida, South Carolina, Clemson may have more than they do. Yeah.

But Avery Johnson, I don't know if there's going to be quite the same hype train around Kansas State and Avery going into the off season, but like he almost I think he counted for almost 4000 yards last year and I don't think he played particularly well. So if he has a next year, another year of experience, another year of development and comes out and is better than he was a year ago, then Kansas State is going to be really, really good too. And I know they lost DJ Giddens, their sensational running back last year, but Dylan Edwards is electric with the football.

And I know he's a smaller body guy. But yeah, K-State always has somebody who can carry the ball. Always. And Dylan Edwards, like a smaller guy who carries the ball well at Kansas State, where have we seen that before? Yeah.

So that's not unusual. I do spawn showed you that can be very effective. So yeah, I think yeah, I think good about this list is like. Illinois to let's give them their flowers. We had Brett Bielema on the show, but they returned their entire offensive line Luke Altmeyer. I think all three linebackers they have basically their top five players back likeyer. I think all three linebackers they have basically their top five players back like Illinois. I don't know.

Their left tackle who they thought was for sure leaving for the NFL and then the Diego Pavi ruling happened and they said he came back. Yep. Would you like to run it back? Yeah. They added West Virginia's leading receiver on the portal Hudson Clement which is like getting better. You know what I mean? So I don't know how Illinois is going to do with expectations. Like everyone wants to compare them to Indiana. And like, I don't know if you're going to be able to be Indiana when people are expecting you to be good. I don't know that everybody was expecting Indiana to be what they were last year. And I think it's been 15 years or so since Illinois has won back to back gain years with nine or more wins in a season.

So it's going to be difficult, but I think that their schedule, though more challenging probably than Indiana's was a year ago, is still navigate. Is that is navigatable word is still easier to navigate and maybe navigable? Yeah, oh here so like Illinois is is really really good so here's the thing and I Made a mistake probably and I know this keeps happening But like oh you is a team that probably should have been on that list Because I actually think that OU is going to have a very, very good year.

And I might actually write a column about this and break OU off of this list and just write about OU by itself. Because they have a really, they have a chance. Yeah, with John Matier and Arbuckle. Like that's a team that I wish we could put into the graphic, but that's a team that's going wish we could put into the graphic, but that's a team that's going to be getting a lot of love

for me this offseason. On a Kuno says no stop. No, that's an OU fan saying please don't jinx this. Please please let please let OU fly under the radar. I'm not the curse. I've been the one that you guys hate because I've been critical. I'm back around.

I think that I don't think they hate the critical people anymore. Ari, I think because fans are more critical than anybody who's outside critical and I think they were in a little bit of denial early last season and then as it went on, the OU fans were like, yeah, you're right. This is not good. So I think they're there.

They're a little more cautiously optimistic, maybe than even we are, because we saw a lot of John Mateer last year and my thing is, whoever got John Mateer is going to be really good on offense. Yeah, John Mateer might be somebody who's in New York next year.

Like that's where we're at with him. So they're going to be really good on offense. Yeah, John Mattier might be somebody who's in New York next year. Like that's where we're at with him. So they're going to be better. And I'm expecting a lot. And it's a big year for Brent Venables. So yeah, we'll get into that quite a bit this year. But Oklahoma and the SEC might be one of those teams that kind of was in the position that South Carolina was a year ago of like, yeah, well, we weren't really necessarily sure where they were.

Lenora Sellers emerges, they win some big games and they're in the playoff conversation at the end of the year. John Matier, I don't know if you would put him in the same category as Lenora's in terms of people being aware of him, but I don't think that like a general fan watched him play last year and I don't think that people realize who they got. Ari, it's Friday. You know what that means. It's time for grab ass. Today, Ari goes to school. We'll set it up. So earlier in the week we were talking

about Jim Trussell being named Lieutenant Governor in Ohio. And there's actually more to this now because the athletic put out a story yesterday about how maybe Trestle will eventually run for governor and Tatu Gate may come up again and keep him from being elected governor. I'm telling you right now, Tatu Gate is not going to keep Jim Trestle from being elected governor.

You ready for Andy the political consultanary? Yeah. Andy the spin doctor? It's a c-span. So yeah, so I'm going to be Jim Tressel on the campaign trail and somebody brings up me lying to the NCAA about tattoo gate. I saw him River. Yeah, I can just see it now. The reporter thinks they're asking the gotcha question like, I can just see it now that the reporter thinks they're asking the gotcha question like Mr. Tressel, why did you lie to NCAA investigators about your players trading memorabilia for tattoos? Jim Tressel doesn't need to feel bad about this. He just needs to go. I was simply protecting my players from an immoral and probably communist organization called the NCAA that was denying them their basic economic freedoms in violation of the

Sherman Antitrust Act. That was not a lie. That was an act of civil disobedience. Vote for Jim Tresson. I disagree with the notion he'll even be asked about it. Oh, hey, somebody will bring it up. I don't know how it works in political rings, but like I think in politics, right? And we're going to find out how little I know about it.

But like that is such a nothing burger of an issue. Like you would think with the actual issues that the state of Ohio is facing that that's a very minuscule blip on like I don't even know what we're talking about here it's not it wasn't even a crime like well I mean if you really want to get at Jim Trestle just ask him why he didn't recruit as hard as urban Meyer did. That's why he wanted to play Kyle Rudolph as a tackle. Yeah. Ask him, ask him why he wanted to punch so much like that. That you get it Jim Tressel tattoo gay questions are going to get you anywhere. All right. Nothing

good. Get to the questions. Quit stalling. Yes. Okay. So what we have here is a basic US government quiz It was sent to us what level? I'm about to tell you. Okay. It was sent to us by Nick Winstead the defensive line coach from Eagleton College and Career Academy in Merrillville, Tennessee who also in a past life was Rivers High School government teacher and D-line coach. So. He's moved schools, but he still got this test. This is the test he gives on day one.

OK, I'm going to be good at this. I'll be fine to see just how bad bad the semester is gonna be for him. So okay. So what what grade are we talking like somewhere in the middle of high school? Well, like when I was in high school, you took back you took Governor Government and Economics as a senior. My son as a freshman takes it this year. I took this as a sophomore or a junior junior. Am I am I smarter than a 13 year old basically or no 15 okay 16 16 whatever. All right okay let's do it. Here we go. Now this is a freebie because you missed this question the other day you better know it now name the three branches

of government. Judicial because I can't say that word executive and legislative. I know that. And I know what those three things do now. Alright, you're one for one. Here's another one. If you miss this one, God have mercy on your soul. The United States declared independence from which country? A, Great Britain, B, France, C, Russia, D, Germany. Let me ask the question.

We're really like Jeopardy. You can't buzz in until I stop talking. We've got podcast listeners who Let me ask the question. Yeah, it's back. You can't buzz in till I stop talking. Hey. We've got podcast listeners who need to hear this, hear the choices. So, all right, this is a fill in the blank. So you're ready?

You're two for two now. What is the supreme law of the United States? Freedom of speech. The constitution. The Constitution. Alright. 2 for three. What is the highest court in the United States? Supreme Court, correct? 3 for four. How old must someone be to vote?

A 18 B 21 C 25 or D 30? A. 18. Okay. All right. See you moving right along. The system that keeps one branch of government from becoming too powerful is known as what? Checks and balances. Yes. I was worried about that one. Yeah. Yeah. Are is on roll. Who is the first US President A Abraham Lincoln B John Adams C George Washington D Andrew Jackson C George Washington. Alright. Okay. What are the two parts of the United States Congress? The House of Representatives. Uh-huh.

And the Senate. Correct. Correct. I was worried you were gonna say the Senate and the Congress, which is what a lot of people say. Yeah, yeah.. So bonus question. This is not on the test. That is called a what kind of legislature? No shot. Bicameral. Bicameral. Yeah. No shot. Two chambers. All right. Here we go. How many senators come from each state?

Two. Correct. You're doing great. Yeah, these are pretty easy. This isn't. If the president can no longer serve, who becomes the president? Is this a joke? There are people who don't know this. Okay, vice president. Bonus question. Okay. If the vice president can't, who is it? No, no idea. Speaker of the house. Okay. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? A Abraham Lincoln. B George Washington C Thomas Jefferson or D John Hancock. A Herbie Hancock that is C Thomas Jefferson that is correct.

Alright, I'm killing this man. Yeah. Who is commander in chief of the US military? Would that be the president? That is the president. You are right. What does the presidential cabinet do? These are the people that are like getting sworn in right now, right?

Correct. I don't know all the positions. I'm just like obsessed with RFK's into popping and I know that he's in the cabinet, right? Or he's going to be did he get sworn sworn I don't know if he did or not yeah health so there's one there's one for like um there's one for health and human services I mean I don't know if I'm getting this right or not I don't know all the positions what do they do like what's what's their function uh they are the right hand men and women to him to run certain things in our country. That's good. So they advise the president on their particular area of expertise and they run that department. But I don't know how many cabinet members there are or what all the positions are. I just and the only reason why I know this is because it's a very contentious topic in our somewhat in

flux right now so that that's fine yeah list two of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment would that be oh by the First Amendment mm-hmm there are five freedoms guaranteeing the First Amendment written out specifically life mm-hmm is this right am i am i life liberty not going to give it away one way or the other give me your answers list list to liberty and pursuit of happiness that's either a kid cutty song or the Declaration of Independence oh yeah this is a first amendment would be freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances. That's what this is. Okay. Yeah, that was confusing because I thought freedom of speech and right to bear arms and all that stuff were different ones. I didn't know they were all in the same. They are different ones. Bear arms is second amendment. Yeah. Okay. I didn't know that there were five in one amendment is what

I'm saying. It's very sneaky. Yeah. Yeah. No quartering soldiers third amendment who signs the bills that make them into laws. Senators. No. The president signs the bill. Oh, they sign the Senate and the House approve it. Oh, cuz they can they can veto veto it. Yeah, OK, that's not another question. By the way, I've noticed. What is the judicial branch do?

Isn't that what oversees like the judges and the judicial judicial system in our country? Right, what is the judicial system? What is that like the courts? There you go. Perfect. Yeah. Good job. Which branch writes or creates federal laws? What the, I mean, this is stupid

because it's literally the name of it. The legislative branch. There you go. The answer's in the question. What are the first 10 amendments to the constitution known as? Bill of Rights. There you go.

How long is a presidential term? Four years. There you go, one more. All of that might be coming into question now. Essay question, here we go. Essay question ended. Explain federalism. No idea what that means.

It's that the federal government and the state governments share power. But yeah, I was I was hoping you just black out like Will Ferrell in old school. There's a concept. Yeah, Alexander Hamilton wrote the Federalist Papers. So 16 out of 20 are, you got an 80. I think I did okay. I think I did okay. 80% as a like I'm sure there's probably people in the in the chat that would have

just gone 100% but I feel at least like I'm not a complete moron but also too at the same time like those are like quiz questions that you learn when you're in high school and like, just kind of like common sense stuff. Like I think if you asked me a legitimate questions like that an adult should know, I wouldn't know any of them. Like that's like, so thank you for making it easy. Here's the thing, and this is what I wanna talk about

because I think there are people who think we're doing this just to make Ari look dumb. Yeah. I had somebody call me this morning who listens to our show and this person is incredibly successful. We're talking like seven figure salary, successful. And they said, I went to a good college. I'm sure I knew that stuff at some point.

I don't know any of that stuff. And I don't need any of that stuff to be a successful, you know, productive member of American society. See, because like to me, like, and this is my thought on education, and this might make people screech, but you know, I feel like all college is, is a place for kids, unless they're going to be a doctor or a lawyer or something, is a place for kids to leave home for the first time, be given responsibilities for the first time, and then do what they can to fulfill those responsibilities?

I don't know if it's so much as much about remembering. It's baby adulthood is basically what it is. Yeah, right. Is it actually the curriculum that's important, or is it showing that you can exist in an environment where there is a curriculum and then doing the work in order to pass through it? Like that to me is what's, I think it depends on the, it depends on the major. Like if you're majoring in engineering, a lot of stuff is not theoretical. Yeah. A lot of stuff is not theoretical. It's like this or like building

construction. I was talking to a friend and his son wants to go into a building instruction major. Like that is a very practical, here is how you do this. But even with that, and maybe I'm wrong on this, but I feel like if you become a medical doctor or a lawyer or an architect or somebody who is in a position like an engineer, that you're still taking baseline fundamental like math

courses and stuff that everybody does in college and then you learn all the skills that are necessary for your specific field in graduate school. Like I feel like having an undergraduate degree is just a baseline a baseline necessity in order to earn the right to to get into a school that teaches you the things that you absolutely need in your field. Like I mean, like I said on the show a million times, like I went to journalism school at Arizona, and I'm not sure that I could go back in time and either pass, I mean, I probably passed journalism tests because like I do it, but like, I didn't learn how to do this job in class there. I learned it at the student newspaper. But yeah,

like yeah, that's right, Scott,arning a degree is just proving to the employer that you have the capacity to learn and do what you were told. No shame in that. No shame in that. But like, yeah, like also too, it's like, how many tests do you think you could go back in right now from college and just go pass like off the cuff? Just because you passed the test when you were 22 because you were able to study for it doesn't mean you know any of the information now. It's of the information now. It's been 15 years now. It's been a lot more than that for me, are you? Yeah.

Ruby Hancock. It's been 25 years since I graduated from college, so we got a big big if you are going to be on a college campus this weekend, big college basketball weekend coming up. Some some huge games, the Iron Bowl of basketball, which is arguably bigger than the Iron Bowl of football right now. Alabama and Auburn are both top five teams. I don't think either one's going to storm the court because they're both really good and they both expect to win. But you got that game. You got Kentucky coach Mark Pope, who I love coaches like this because Mark Pope totally

gets it. Like this is a guy who was going, speaking of higher education, was going to med school and it was like, you know what, I don't know if I want to be a doctor, I'm going to be a coach. But he very much gets the point of all this. So Ari, are you familiar with the SEC's conference record in basketball, the SEC's record in basketball since January 4th?

Have you made a record? Yeah, so River, do we have the original tweet from Mr. Pickle? So a few weeks ago, Jacob Pickle on X put this out out. Now this was on January 26. So the numbers have changed. Wow. The quote unquote best conference in the history of college basketball is 54 and 54 since January 4th. ESPN once again showing their SEC bias for some teams that can't get above 500. So many people fell for this, Ari. So many people. Like you get the joke, right?

He's gonna say they're playing each other. So correct, be a winner and loser in every game. I didn't make any sense. Every conference is 500 cumulatively in conference play. And not everybody got the joke. This includes Carl Ravitch, the ESPN announcer who had the Alabama Texas game the other night. So think about it. We know how dominant they were in the non-conference season, the SEC. They were one hundred and eighty five and twenty three. Since January four into Tuesday. The SEC teams are eighty two and eighty two.

It's not as if one team or two teams or three, they're 82 and 82. Like there's been no ability to pull away. There's no dominant group of teams. First, I want to be like, no, he's just trying to make the joke here and he didn't make the joke. He didn't land. But the list, I've listened to this like 10 times and he's not joking. He came back on on Twitter and said no. No, I was just trying to make a joke. It just didn't it didn't didn't land correctly. No poorly constructed.

He's not joking. Yeah. Yeah, because like a team like the five best teams in the SEC could have all the wins. Right. It doesn't record is every conference is like this when they play each other. It's it's my favorite. The thing that I don't know about college basketball is, is do they play non-conference games in the regular

the conference schedule sometimes? Occasionally. Yes, there's a yeah. ACC Big Ten challenge coming up there. The SEC and the Big 12 would do a challenge in February. So that will skew the results a little bit. But yes, my favorite thing in college football preseason is to take the people who do the conference record predictions for all the teams

and add up the cumulative conference record because invariably the conference will wind up like 20 games above 500. Which of course is impossible because everybody wants to make the team they're writing about look good. Yeah, it is a you know how what I say about stats stats are stupid. They're malleable and they can they can sound and be whatever you need them to be to prop up your argument. But like

that is funny. Well, the SEC is actually really good at basketball, but I wanted to ask you this, you know, as you teach me basketball as we head into March, do people perceive there to be an SEC ESPN bias for hoops too or is that a football thing? I think they're starting to get it for hoops, but the thing is like when you have Jay Bill is saying that this is the most dominant any conference has been in a season since the mid-80s ACC, I don't think they're blowing smoke.

The SEC was bad at basketball a few years ago. They brought in Mike Tranghizzi, the former Big East commissioner, to just basically yell at all the coaches. Be like, stop playing such garbage non-conference schedules, start playing good teams, and now they're pretty- I mean, they've got five teams in the top eight, so I mean, what- Yeah, they're pretty good now.

So Mark Pope, the Kentucky coach, got asked by Jacob Polacek, who's at Kentucky Sports Radio, our on three Kentucky site, he got asked about this, and Mark Pope definitely understood the assignment. Coach, everybody talks about the SEC being the best conference in college basketball, but the conference is just 500 since conference play started. What do you make of that?

I think it's been a really disappointing start to conference play. I feel like we should, you know, I feel like we're not living up to the expectations just being at 500 as a conference. And I just, you know, I'm kind of looking around at the other programs in the league and be like, guys, we got to pick this up. This is embarrassing. And so we'll find a way.

I believe in this league. I think we definitely have an upside and we're gonna work really hard to get there. That man could have been your very tall doctor, but instead he's coaching his alma mater. He does look like a doctor though, doesn't he? Doesn't that look like somebody would go to? I can just imagine him in the white coat coming in and being like yeah yeah yeah I'm prescribing you a Z-Pak. Yeah. You've got a sinus infection. So what let me ask you this because I don't know that you were going to talk about this but what do you think of the the Coke Zero

ad there while sipping on the DC during the. That's a great question. How does like, cause clearly Coke Zero or Coca Cola, the Coca Cola company wants them to promote Coke Zero and he's drinking a diet Coke. Now I have many thoughts on that because why you would drink a diet Coke when Coke Zero exists is beyond me because we for what 25 years drank diet coke and then somebody came up with the

brilliant idea of why don't we just put more fake sugar in it and it will taste like actual coke you know zero was born you know that like this is a very highly contentious topic amongst the Coke community, right? There are loyalists. I'm aware. Yeah, I'm aware. But if you're a diet Coke loyalist, your taste buds don't work. I don't know. Zero is so much better. It's not even close. I don't know how you could possibly be on the DC side of it. But like also to people who drink diet Coke, like love it. Like, I used to love regular. Yeah, very disappointed tabs not around anymore.

They were big tab fans back in the day. Would coke diet coke taste to me like if you were to take a sip of regular coke right after brushing your teeth? It's like, yeah, I don't know. Like it's a I don't love it. I but like I will have a diet Coke if I need carbonation and they don't have Coke zero. There's a lot of, there's a lot of restaurants out there

that only do that only do diet Coke and don't have Coke. Yeah. Get rid of this. This is, there's another pet peeve of mine. If you're running a restaurant and you have a choice, like first of all, just stock them both. Cause I would imagine at this point in time, you're probably getting more orders for Diet Coke

and Coke Zero than your regular Coke. But if you have to choose between Diet Coke and Coke Zero, just pick Coke Zero. Cause if you keep serving Coke Zero to the Diet Coke people, they will realize how much Diet Coke sucks and they will stop and then order Coke Zero to the Diet Coke people, they will realize how much Diet Coke sucks and they will stop and then order Coke Zero. Yeah, I also feel like we are pretty far into the freestyle machine era

and I don't understand why every restaurant in America doesn't just have 25 different soft drink options like you do at the movie theaters or at, like I think Wendy's is a place that always has a freestyle machine. That's right, Wendy's is a big freestyle place and it is it is glorious. Like they should have they were doing a deal a few weeks ago with the 99 cent any size drink. Which was

unbelievable. Like you just get the big old bucket size large and freestyle machine. And before we get out of here, why don't you guys step into Ari Wasserman's investment advice? Okay. Section Coca Cola. Jim Cramer. Yeah, yeah.

Coca Cola is a stock that I have been buying and accumulating since I was 18, 19 years old and it is a wonderful company and a very profitable one from a dividend standpoint and even moderate growth. If you are somebody who wants to get into investing, owning Coca-Cola is a really good position to have and I like am very, very much into it. And it's also the reason why I gained so much weight. So like, I don't know, pick what. I was legitimately addicted to regular soda before

this diet journey. And I think that that's been the single biggest difference in my body weight. So drink Coke Zero, everyone and invest in Coke. They don't even advertise with us. But Coca Cola Company, come on. You just heard that ringing endorsement Sorry, I love condemnation. No. No, I mean like I I think that like, you know, we play this game and you know We're gonna have to get in this is still the grab ass. But like if you could make anything on earth zero calories What would you pick? Pizza I would pick coke

Pizza because people think that's not so like oh my god, how could you possibly pick a drink? I would pick Coke. Pizza. Cause people think that's nuts. They're like, Oh my God, how could you possibly pick a drink? But if you could, if you could give me a regular Sunday red tiger Coke can, you know, that's what people call it the Sunday red. Cause that's a snack you can have,

take with you and have at all times. That would be my pick. Or if you can make all regular soda, zero calories, like a regular Mountain Dew. Oh my pick. Or if you could make all regular soda, zero calories, like a regular Mountain Dew, oh my God. Have you had Mountain Dew Zero? Yeah, it's nothing like it. It's incredible. I'm not having this conversation of-

Diet Mountain Dew was already one of the best diet versions and then Mountain Dew Zero came out and it's even better. But I'm not gonna have a conversation about how diet drinks are better than regular ones. They do a good they do a job that they're intended for, which is for you to enjoy. You haven't been off the regular stuff long enough to make that statement. Trust me, when you've been off the regular stuff for 10 years, you will not feel that way. I thought I kicked the regular stuff in my 20s for three or four years and then I got

back on it. Yeah, the regular stuff. Once you've been off it for a long time makes your teeth hurt. Andy, that's not true. And it might might have happened. But like, you're also like, discounting that the regular stuff has sugar in it, which is basically cocaine to most people. So like, I don't think you can't, you can't tell me that's something that doesn't have sugar. It took the actual cocaine out and just replaced it with a different white powder that does almost the same thing. So yeah but I'm a big diet DP guy. This is what's gotten me through the coke addiction and like diet DP. Dr. Pepper zero. Yeah. The better. And the Dr. Peppers because Dr. Pepper sponsored the national title game and they had like I guess like Dr. Pepper's kind of like Oreos where they have all these insane combinations that you didn't even know existed. These zero calorie Dr. Pepper drinks are very, very good. But don't ever look at me in the eyes as a former fatty yourself and tell me that the

non-sugar version is better. It might be the jar that's not better. I'm telling you right now, you come talk to me when you've been off them for 10 years and you will sing a different tune. Before we go, one more thing. Our guy JD Pickel took a little issue with your breakout teams. You forgot one. He's added the Cornell Big Red. And I mean, look at that.

Look at that man. Look at that piece of meat on Valentine's Day, ladies. Yeah, he's an Ivy League with the flowing blonde locks, and he's able to do that because that's a multiple flex for him. One, he's a pretty jacked individual and has that blonde hair that you would see on Baywatch. But two, he played college football, which is an attractive quality.

And then three, it was at Cornell. That's like the number one flex I've ever seen. Ivy League student, college football player, buff with blonde hair. Is that called the triple crown right there? Is that correct, Dexter? Well, all I know is Ithaca is gorgeous. We love you.

We'll talk to you Monday. And happy Valentine's Day for those who celebrate. Happy Valentine's Day. That's right. Go on your dates. Monday, all people join the special Panini edition of the show. What card would you wanna pull out of that pack

you just ripped? Break down the best players in college football for 2025. Little Panini slam. We'll talk down the best players in college football for 2025. A little planini slam. We'll talk to you then.