Andy & Ari On3 - Let the Madness begin! Dia Bell is ready to THRIVE at Texas

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Hosting a party for the big game? Are you about to have a house full of hungry people with painted faces looking to you for food? Have no fear, nothing saves a party from hunger like the Burger Box from Whataburger. It comes with 10 single or double patties (with or without cheese), all the fixings (like lettuce and tomatoes — which you can customize) and sauces. Perfect for whenever, whatever, whoever. Order online from April 4-7 and earn double reward points. (0:00-1:09) Introduction(1:10-3:46) Previewing Dia Bell(3:47-14:11) 5 Star QB Dia Bell joins(14:12-17:19) Behind the Scenes with Andy & Ari(17:20-20:21) Whataburger(20:22-27:34) Dear Andy & Ari - NIL(27:35-36:02) Ari's Theory on BYU(36:03-40:29) NCAA Tourney Team(40:30-48:03) College Football's 2025 Version of John Tonje(48:04-56:27) Team most likely to take a step back in the SEC(56:28-1:01:28) Coke, Soda, or Pop?(1:01:29-1:02:02) Conclusion As the Round of 64 officially gets underway TODAY, Andy & Ari give you a crossover episode, as we start with an interview with 5 star QB Dia Bell, son of former NBA star Raja Bell. With Dia Bell committed to Texas, Dia Bell discusses expectations in Austin, along with incorporating his game into Steve Sarkisian's offense. Next, Andy & Ari kick off the mailbag segment with an in depth question on the NIL scene and how the house settlement will affect the overall landscape of the sport. After that, Ari goes in depth on his theory regarding BYU being a sleeping giant in the world of collegiate athletics. More questions include...Who will be the CFB version of John Tonje in 2025?Which SEC team will take a step back in 2025? Lastly, we conclude with a discussion on calling it soda, coke, or pop. What do you call it? Watch us on YouTube, LIVE M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/Cw3T5nFbBuU Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy and Ariane 3. It is one of the happiest days of the year. The first Thursday of the NCAA basketball tournament. It's 930 a.m. Eastern time. The games are tipping off in about two and a half hours. It's going to be spectacular. We're going to have some fun today. We had the hardcore preview with James Fletcher III on yesterday's show because we figured if you listen to podcast forums, you didn't get to it to your afternoon commute, you might not be able to get a preview that dropped right now before the games actually start. So we gave you the hardcore to make sure you got that

before the game started. Now we're gonna have some fun mixing up our favorite subject, college football, with the subject that will dominate this weekend, college basketball and football and basketball in general, because the crossover, pun intended, is pretty spectacular. And Ari, you talk to the perfect person for this kind of crossover when you're at OT7 this weekend. Yeah, one of the sons of one of the Phoenix Suns, seconds or less like the Steve Nash, Sean Mary and Rajah Bell teams is five star quarterback Dia Bell, Rajah Bell's son. He is committed to Texas. He plays at Fort Lauderdale American Heritage, which has had a lot of good players over the years

and is the five-star quarterback who is set to step in after Arch Manning. So, no pressure. At the OT sevens, looks really good, played well. Got to be a special type of person to willingly walk into that situation. But I also think too that it's just a testament of like what Texas is doing as a build. You know, getting these types of guys in, having a plan for after-arch, all those things. And of course we talked about his dad. I think they called him Son and Gun. You know, Fun and Gun. I don't know.

That's an offense in football. But you know, the seven, second to last thing. Yeah. Mike D'Antoni's teams were just get up and down the floor. It was a track meet. It was awesome. But I do wonder, you know, Roger Bell, having been in that environment, having been, he was a big star in his own right, but he played with some even bigger stars like Steve Nash and Amari Stoudemire. And so probably has a lot of really good advice for his son as he handles this process. And now Rajabell, it's interesting,

was not as big of a recruit as Dia Bell is in football. Rajabell in basketball went to Boston University first, then he transferred to Florida International, and then went to the NBA from there. Was not being recruited by all the blue chips like his son Dia is. But this is a fun one and watching some of these clips of Dia Bell working out, that dude is ready to roll. He's throwing medicine balls like 20 yards

as part of his workout. And I do think that there's a correlation between where you come from and who your parents are to how likely it is that you are successful at your sport. And I know that Rajah played in the NBA, but from a seriousness standpoint, a workout standpoint, a buy in standpoint, all the things that you need from an intangibles, uh, situation to be very good, I think that he possesses so I think that that Texas is getting a really good player and somebody who certainly knows first hand what it probably takes to be a pro athlete. Well, let us hear from Dia Bell with you at OT seven. And now joining Andy and Arion three is Dia Bell, five star

quarterback out of Fort Lauderdale, but you're really out of Phoenix, right? Yeah, I was born in Phoenix. Yeah, I don't know if you guys know this, I'm assuming that you do, but his father was a childhood idol of mine, Phoenix son, Rajah Bell. You know I grew up in Phoenix, you're born in Phoenix, so what do you think is nicer, Florida or Scottsdale? Weather-wise I'd say I like Scottsdale a little little bit more in Arizona than Florida because Florida is a little unpredictable.

Yeah, yeah. That's the right answer by the way. Scottsdale is the place. That's one day we're moving back there. So what's it like playing in these tournaments and these events and getting to showcase your talents? Yeah, I mean it's a great opportunity other than actually playing and getting a feel when you're on the offseason just to meet new people. I mean a lot of people come to these tournaments from all over the country. I mean it's a great recruiting opportunity for me being committed. So I mean there's a bunch of things that go into it but it's a great opportunity. Yeah, so the thing that I think is really interesting is that your dad obviously was very good at basketball. I'm assuming that you get this a lot.

How did you find football and what's it been like, you know, being in a household with somebody who reached the highest level athletically, just in a different sport? I mean, I grew up playing football and basketball. I mean, I've tried everything because my mom played soccer too. So I played all of it. I really found my love for football when COVID came around.

We couldn't get in basketball gyms anymore. I couldn't be in condensed spaces. And I told my dad, I was like, this is something I really wanna do. And he was fully supportive of it. I mean, he probably felt some type of way a little bit, but fully supportive has always held me through this entire process.

Obviously, like you said, with him being playing at the highest level, he's always helped me through all the recruiting process and everything from NIL to just knowing what coaches are best for me. Yeah, and it's like an interesting thing because you know, sports are sports, right? Yeah.

And your dad was a professional athlete at the highest level. You know, whether or not it's the same exact game, I'm assuming that he helped you understand the business side of things, right? Like what you need to do in your own personal time, the effort that it takes to go into it, the pressure of performing on the,

what's it like just having a consummate professional guiding you? You know, I've always looked up to him because I have no older siblings, I'm the oldest, so my idol was always him. You know, I watched how hard he worked to get to where he is today and I've heard all the stories. So I try to emulate with that with me because I might have a better opportunity than he did when he was younger, but I still like to act like I'm in that situation,

so I never lose my hunger for what I'm doing. So you've been committed to Texas, and that's a pretty big time place. Was the color scheme of the suns an influence on you? The color scheme of the thing you were going with? No. That's funny, no. It's not, my thing with Texas was, I mean,

they obviously have a great offense, it's pro style. Definitely NFL ready, and they obviously have a great offensive pro style, definitely NFL ready, and they also have a great track record with Coach Stark and Coach Mill with the quarterbacks. So I felt like if I could play for them, I'd get the best development needed to get to the next level that I want to be at, but also just the relationship I built with both of those coaches and the entire coaching staff was a big deal. Texas is fascinating for a lot of reasons. One, they're on the Ascension as a program, right?

Like they're kind of every year, you know, knocking on the door, winning a national championship. And they also have the most hyped prospect in the history of recruiting, going into his first year starting this year. Like what's it like to, you know, as a person and a future steward of that program, watch its development, watch what they're going through now

and even how they've handled Arch and what's ahead for him, I its development, watch what they're going through now and even how they've handled Arch and what's ahead for him. It's been great. I mean obviously like you said I've been able to watch Arch grow in that offense with me coming up and visiting and watching them practice and you know they coach really hard. I mean that's what they do and they get the best out of you and Arch has grown a lot and their entire team has grown a lot with the coaching staff and like you, we're always knocking on the door now, and hopefully this year is the year we come on top.

The handling of Arch, I think, is interesting, because he hasn't even really played yet. He's this super famous guy, huge NIL deals, all the stuff. Yeah. How do you think Texas has done, from a professionalism standpoint, of just helping him along in a pretty uncomfortable and probably tough situation? Yeah, I feel like they've done a great job.

I mean, obviously like you saw, they didn't play much. And I feel like that was loyalty towards the, so it's Quinn they had before and they're gonna be loyal to him as he's a starter as well. So that's always a big thing. They've been great with developing quarterbacks that don't usually hit the portal. So he's not gonna have a problem with that at all. So they're really dedicated to the person they have that's leading this team and leading that room of quarterback so they've done a great job. I'm assuming that you have thought a lot about like what it's gonna

be like for you in the future when you're in his position that he's in now going into going into the next phase of things and it when becomes your program yeah let's assume that Arch Manning is awesome. He goes on to win the high spin. It's the number one overall pick. Have you like put yourself in a position of like, that's gonna be the expectations that I have to fill, as if the expectations at Texas aren't already high enough?

Yeah, I mean, I didn't really even think of it like that. I mean, now that you say that, my plan was always to come in, whether or not he stayed an extra year or not Was to come in and compete to the best of my ability and learn as much as I possibly could To be prepared to play whether I do or not. I want to be Where I need to be if I am starting or if I'm not and just ready to play Can you tell this podcast world?

What it's just like to be a five-star quarterback in today's age I I mean like forget like where you're going, where you're visiting, where you visited all that stuff, but like what's it just been like on a daily basis for you to go through this process with the NIL stuff, with the visiting, the pressure, it's a business now, you have a dad who's played in the NBA, you're very fascinating. Yeah I mean it's a lot that goes into it, I mean my dad has definitely helped out a lot in that space because he's able to give me all the advice that I need to keep my head level. And you know, at the end of the day, when you're a five star quarterback, you got a

lot of people that look up to you, so you got to uphold yourself to a different standard. And as long as I, I know that as long as I take care of what's to do on the field, everything outside of that will come. Yeah. Was it hard still going through this? You know, I know it's probably a little bit easier now that you've made your decision. But is it hard when you have money being thrown at you

and you have big time programs wanting you? I mean, they're all really great. Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, you can't really go wrong when you start picking. How do you even parse through that? You know, I mean, you try and take as much visits as you possibly can to get a feel for who you feel most comfortable with and who you think can get the best out of you. And I mean, at the end of the day, like you said, it's really hard now that they have

money that they can throw at you. You've got to choose whether or not you want to take as much money as you can now or if you want to go somewhere where you'll still get a good amount of money and get the development that you need to get to Where you ultimately want to be which is that NFL so there's a lot to yeah, how much do you think during your recruitment? You know being a teenager still and going through this process. Did you have to think about money? honestly, my dad and my agent took a Took a big part in that so I didn't really have to worry about as much as shout out to them

But um so I could just focus on mainly playing football and being a teenager, like you said. And like when I was a teenager, all I cared about was going to a place that I wanted to go to school with my friends. Really, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? And I assume that like even though you guys

are high profile athletes who are being interviewed, you know, that like you also, there's an element to you of like I wanna go where I wanna go, where I wanna have fun, where I can be me. And like I feel like that used to be 80% of it and now it might be 30% of it Yeah, and maybe coming from a family that's already gone through this helps But I've always wondered like how can you just be a kid when you have to make a business decision? Unfortunately at this point for us. It's been that we had to grow up a little bit and mature a little bit earlier

I mean, but that that's where we live in now and we got to adapt But I mean for me I was still able to pick a place where I know a bunch of people and I'm friends with a lot of people like KJ Lacey, I'm great friends with Jamie French is from the same state as me. We know each other very well And then all those guys in 25 class, I've met them on my visits stuff like that So I'm real close with them So I'm still able to pick a school that I know a lot of people and feel really comfortable You know what I think is interesting in In college football for so many years,

it was taboo to talk about money. It was taboo, it was against the rules. And I think that as a society, we've been brainwashing to thinking that if a kid wants money, that he's a bad kid or that he's not good at football, all the things that go into that sort of thing. But now it's okay, as it should be. But people are still afraid to talk about it openly.

Why do you think that is? And do you think that it's just gonna take time? Or why can't a kid like yourself be like, you know what, they offered me the best compensation package and this is why I like them for X, Y, and Z. Why is everybody so afraid to openly discuss it, you think? I mean, everybody has their own situations. For me, luckily, I grew up well off.

I didn't have to worry too much about money. But for kids that are just trying to get their families out of tough situations that they've grown up in, I mean, money is a big thing in their recruitment. So I think people are a little bit scared because you might not be picking the school that will ultimately get you where you wanna go, and they're just thinking short term.

But at the end of the day, everybody comes from a different situation and they have to pick what's best for them. But why is it so bad to talk about it? Honestly, I don't know. I mean, that's just, I guess, like I said, for us having to adapt to be more mature at this age, I guess more people are gonna have to adapt to that as well.

Yeah, so you said that your dad, at the beginning of this pod, told you some stories that you helped learn from. Do you know, have any off the top of your head you can share with us? I mean I know a bunch. I mean as when he was young he was born in St. Croix, moved to Miami. And with basketball when he was growing up it was always he had a chip on his shoulder. He was always trying to pick out the best people in the area or the best people that were going to be in the area. And that was just kind of kill-less to say so.

He wants to go out and dominate those guys and show why he should be who he is. And that's the same thing for me. When I get out here or if I get in a real game or if I go to a camp and there's top quarterbacks like me, I want to go out there and show why I'm actually the number one quarterback. Okay, so everybody thinks that Texas is Arch Manning's program. He's next in line. Why don't you give your Longhorn Nation a little bit of a preview of what's to come? You're the guy, right?

Yeah. It's not Arch, you're the guy. It will be my time eventually, but you just know that I'm coming to put the work in. I'm coming to uphold the standard and win us national championships. So that's what y'all can expect from me. I really appreciate you, Dia. Thank you so much for joining me, man. Thanks. That is Dia Bell with Ari.

Ari, I'm so glad you got that camera fixed up in time to do those interviews at 027. Those were awesome between Rider Lions the other day, which by the way, the Rider Lions interview produced a question for today's Dear Andy and Dear Ari. And then we had Dia Bell today. It was awesome. Very glad that you did not give up because you almost gave up when that camera broke and I'm proud of you. I almost resigned from the company. To be honest. Hey, after the seven phone calls and multiple FaceTimes, I'm very proud of you, Ari. I was in the middle of Auburn, Tennessee, SEC tournament on Saturday.

Eyes glued to that. My phone was just, Ari calling. Ari calling. I didn't even know that that was happening. I apologize. You're the only, I wasn't going to call Andy and waterboard him while he was on vacation. I think he was even traveling. But I was driving the family down to spring break. So it would have been fun because everybody would have gotten to hear you freak out on the phone while we were in the car. So the thing that you have when we go on trips, when you're the camera guy, is this big red box.

And I don't really know what that is. That's intimidating. But I have a very good handle. Yeah, I don't know what the purpose of that is. But we don't even use the mixer most of the time. We only use the mixer when we have to because the camera handle has the XLR port. So yeah, I'm gonna teach you what everything is

and how everything works. But I don't worry. My point is that I think that now, and I bought a camera bag on Amazon, I think that I have a pretty firm understanding of how to do this now. So that's a good thing. So it took me gathering a $500 piece

that you could only buy with the camera or I have to replace that myself. I'm not going to build a company for that obviously. If it's less dedicated, I think there's other people who would try to expense that, especially in our past employer. Yeah, I don't know that anybody we work with currently would try to expense it, but I can think of a lot of people who would have tried to expense it at I'm trying to get the little straight in what I work there

so what I did was I bought the camera from a Electronic store because you could only get the piece that you needed to plug the microphones in if you bought the camera So I paid twenty five hundred dollars For the camera so I could get through Saturday, but I returned that camera with that piece this morning after I used it one time. Now I need to find that replacement part. I found them on eBay. The one that you sent me on Amazon was 500 bucks.

I found ones on eBay that are 199, but they come from China. So I don't know if they're cheaper because they come from the technological like apex of the world, or if they're cheaper because they're pieces of crap. So I need your advice on that, but either way I'm going to replace that piece. Buy the genuine Sony part, please. Okay, yeah. So it says genuine in the description, but I don't know what that means.

It could be. I haven't checked. It might have been made in China anyway. So I will check on my camera after we get done. But right now we got to talk a little football-basketball crossover. Got some great questions from you guys. But first, I'm gonna tell you how to bring home the W. The ultimate tailgate package is how you bring home the W. And that is from Whataburger. It's the Burger Box.

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It is infallibly open 24 hours a day. I don't, well I'm not going to guarantee said because it's not part of the reads. Go for it. It is infallibly open 24 hours a day. I don't well I'm not going to guarantee that because I don't know about all of the non-Texas Whataburgers. If they are all. All I know is if you want a cheeseburger at 7 a.m. Whataburgers got you and I don't know who these people are who are like at Love Field Whataburgers actually under who are like at Love Field, Whataburger is actually under construction. I think they're rebuilding it so it's nicer. The facade, I mean. And I would go to the airport

and get a Whataburger meal at 7.30 in the morning and people would be like, oh, why would you, who are these people who are anti-burger at 7 a.m. Andy? Oh, no, I wanna know what that is. I don't think we should ever, like we don't, I don't discriminate against any good food at any time of day I like I was right who would eat fried chicken and green beans for breakfast and people like that's it That's a dinner like I don't care or eat a waffle for dinner. Like that's a breakfast

No, it's delicious food and it's good at any time and I'll tell you like There was a moment. I Was I was struggling as I had was a moment I was struggling. I had covered a Texas A&M game, I was driving from College Station to Houston, I had a very early flight, the next morning was gonna be one of those where there's a hotel room that my stuff is in,

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for being there for me in the middle of the night. And the toast, if you wanna make dinner, breakfast more appropriate, just something to put out there. Okay, let's get into the questions, Andy, come on. I like it, I like it. the questions, Andy. Come on. I like it. I like it. We got a lot of good questions. First one comes from Jay, who watched Monday's show, and heard us talking about what Ryder Lyons said. Now Ryder Lyons, the quarterback recruit, who's being pursued by a lot of people. And

he said, Look, the reason we don't talk about NIL is because if I say something, everybody's gonna be all over my butt on social media saying, you're just out for the money, you're greedy, blah, blah, blah. So Jay heard that segment and asked this question. In response to your comment, why are people obsessed with not talking about NIL? Well, as soon as we all admit that NIL is all that matters,

we go back to only the richest schools matter. There'll be no hope for my small school to ever get a great player because we can't afford them. Also, I just think it's not true. Sure, everyone's getting a bag, but we've seen so many examples of teams that throw bags at players and it doesn't pay off. Doomsday are here, but will this house settlement

just take us back to college football in 2010? Okay, so there's a couple pieces to that, and this works for basketball as well as football. The teams you're gonna see in the. Okay, so there's a couple pieces to that and this works for basketball as well as football. The teams you're going to see in the NCAA tournament and actually probably even bigger disparity between say the NIL that the Duke players get versus the NIL that the players on the 15, 16 seed teams get but also the ones at the good mid-majors who are going to be 10 seeds in this tournament. Here's the thing. It has always been the case where the richest schools get the best players or have the best chance to get the best players. It does not

matter how you set up the rules. It doesn't matter what you legalize or what you make illegal. or what you make illegal. The schools that care the most and thus are willing to pay the most are going to get the best players, regardless of how the rules are set up. That does not mean they will always win with those players though. And I think that's the point that Jay makes

in the second part of his question is you can throw bags at people. Ari, the 2022 Texas A&M reverting class in football. Best example that I can think of. That's the number one class in America. What did it do for them? Nothing. Will you read the last part of the question again for the audience so they can re-visualize it?

I think it's just not true. Sure, everyone is getting a bag, but we've seen so many examples of teams that throw the bag at players and it doesn't pay off. Then the last one. And then Doomsday are here. Will the house settlement just take us back to college football in 2010? I have an answer for that too, I think. But if you're a small school, do you want to go back to college football in 2010? Well, he's saying he doesn't. But what I'm saying is his small school doesn't have a chance at the best players now and didn't have a chance at the best players before. Yeah.

Those are conflicting ideologies. The first part of the question says that it doesn't matter or that that NIL has rendered his small school hopeless. But then at the same time, he said he doesn't want to go back 15 years. So which one is it? Well, that's and that's part of the problem is people can't seem to separate any of these things. They don't understand that.

It's what I was just saying. It doesn't matter how you set up the rules. Alabama and Ohio State are always going to be competing for the best players because they care the most and we're willing to spend the most money. However, they spend it, whether they're spending it on locker room waterfalls or directly on players,

they're gonna find a way to get the money where it needs to go to make sure they're the most competitive because they care more than everybody else. So your small school, which doesn't care as much, is going to be where it always was. Now, if you hire the right coach and you manage your money well, I still think you've got a better shot in this environment than you do in the 2010 one.

And the house settlement, we can talk about that. So for those who don't know, house versus NCAA is the court case that is being settled where the settlement is gonna set up the revenue sharing plan where the schools can pay the players directly. Now the schools is gonna set up the revenue sharing plan where the schools can pay the players directly. Now the schools are gonna try to cap that

right now at 20 and a half million dollars a year per school. They're also trying to create a third party that's run by Deloitte, which is an accounting firm, that's gonna look at all outside NIL deals. So NIL deals that are not part of the revenue share, so not coming directly from the school. And what they're going to attempt to do is police these deals and say, well, you can't have a booster give this guy this extra NIL deal because it's not market value. I am here to tell you that is going to get sued into oblivion. It will never work.

They think it will. Common sense will tell you that it won't because all they're trying to do is recreate the NCAA, and it's not going to work. If Shannon Terry wanted to pay me $5 million a year, that's his prerogative. Correct. You're not worth it. If he wants to pay it.

My wife thinks I'm worth it. Absolutely. Absolutely. But no, you make the perfect point. Whatever somebody wants to spend on somebody is their business and the people who would be doing the paying in this situation. Because here's the thing, the schools and the players

have to opt into this settlement. So they do have to abide by the terms of it, but these other people don't. And so if I'm a person who wants to give a player 10 million dollars because I want to give the player 10 million dollars because I feel like him doing a commercial for my tractor factory is going to just make it take off to the moon, which we know it won't.

But if I think it will, it's my prerogative to do that and it's nobody else's business if I do that. And so if you say I can't do that, I'm going to sue and say that you are infringing upon my rights and you're also infringing upon the players rights to make that money. And guess what? I'm going to win. So until they collectively bargain this stuff, they're not going to be able to rein that in. And also to the point of the discussion in the column that I wrote wasn't to say that it's the only thing that matters. It's to say that we should talk about it as a factor and the funniest

thing about that is and it kind of echoes your point Andy of the smallest schools aren't competing for the players no matter what the rules are. It's like if you look at the school lists for these five star players and I asked the question to including Ryder Lyons, I don't know who the question author roots for, but his small school is not in their final list. So like it still doesn't mean that they can't discuss and talk about NIL and who's creating and giving the best packages as we break down who they're actually going to go to.

So whether we talk about it or not doesn't change your existence on the food chain. You can ignore it and pretend like it doesn't matter so that you feel better. But that's not the way it works. And also too, if a middle tier school really wants a kid, they might be able to throw a bunch of money. They might not be able to get anybody else. Right. And then what everyone's making fun of the Cincinnati Bengals for right now, they paid three max spots to players and now can't afford to fill out the rest of their team.

Like that's something NFL operations are doing that now. So like Andy said, you are in a much more advantageous position now than you were in 2010. And lastly, now that you're showing that picture of BYU on the screen, River, I do have a theory that if BYU... BYU, by the way, which has the number one basketball recruit in the country coming in next year because they threw a hellacious bag at him. Probably the wrong word to use for BYU. But yeah, how much is the Mormon church worth?

Okay, $265 billion is the estimate. What is the number one way to promote something in America? Sports. If BYU and the Mormon church decided they wanted to throw a million and a half dollars at 85 people, it wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket in comparison to what that organization, that religion is worth. And then also too, I'm assuming there's crazy tax benefits to that. They don't pay tax as a religion. Like, if they really wanted to, couldn't it be why you become Alabama? Like, you know, I tried to call somebody at the Mormon Church a few years ago when they ran the 60 Minutes thing. I don't know if I've told you this. Tell the audience this. Because like, Chris Camrani at The Athletic and I are obsessed with this and we talked about it all the time.

But like, so here's the thing. There was a 60 minutes episode, and I might have called it the worst time, that was insinuating that the Mormon church had more money than people thought, even more than the estimations, and had it in ways that maybe they don't want to talk about. Okay, whatever. Your opinion on the Mormon church and how they got their money is your own opinion. But they have it. They have a bunch of land, they have a bunch of shopping centers, they have a bunch of investments, they are worth billions and billions of dollars. So I called somebody, made a few calls to try to get in touch with somebody who has any say whatsoever on like how the Mormon church spends its money. Just to get an idea of like, hey, would you guys ever be interested in maybe you know doing an il you know anyway it led to a lot of hangups and we're not interested

which is probably what would always happen if you tried to do it but also at the same time like 60 minutes ran like the week before so i'm sure that they were probably a little bit squirrely about talking about money with a person who isn't in the church but about talking about money with a person who isn't in the church. But I still have a crazy conspiracy theory, and maybe they're doing it with basketball first, because you have to pay less players, and they have an amazing class coming in. But if they ever decided they wanted to throw a million and a half at everybody, then they got the best player at every position. It could be why you not run the Big 12. If you actually want to talk about that, like the you know, we had a conversation, the three of us once about we had a conversation, the three of us last week about what teams are kind of like Maryland and who did I write about last week? Oh, Texas Tech. They have an oil baron who is last week? Oh, Texas Tech. They have an oil baron who is sponsoring their NIL front and Texas Tech got the best transfer class in America and might be able to hold on to recruits now in a way that they weren't in the past. Could Texas Tech ever run the Big 12? If BYU's church or the Mormon church

decided we're going to create and assemble the greatest collection of talent this university has ever had, they would run through that conference. They would run through it. Can I give you a basketball example of this with BYU? So AJ Jibonsa is the number one basketball recruit class of 2025. He's coming in for next year. He's potentially the number one pick in the NBA draft in 2026. Who did he pick BYU over? Alabama, North Carolina, and Kansas. So yes, if you want the player bad enough, you can outspend everybody. Now, just so I understand this, the church isn't taxed, but if you make money from a church, you're taxed as income, right? Yes. Here's the thing, the money's not coming from the church, Ari. The money's coming from private donations.

Now, remember, there's some highly motivated members of the Mormon church who want to promote the church's mission through BYU. But doesn't the church, isn't BYU's entire like, university run through the church's funds? Correct, but they don't have to do this. However you want to phrase it, but it is all. I mean, he's yeah. Yeah, and he's also got deal. Remember, the thing about being the potential number one pick in the NBA draft is there are many, many companies willing to throw money at you.

So he also has deals with Nike and Red Bull. So, but the point of it is you, you talk about, well, if, if it's like this, it's the, the small school is never going to be able to get anybody over the blue bloods. Well, two blue bloods in an sec school wanted this guy and BYU got him. So what is reality telling you? Reality is telling you that if you want the player, you can go get the player. And just for perspective, Nike's market cap as of right now, as we record this, is 108.57 billion. That means that the Mormon church estimated to be at least three times more valuable than nike pretty good then i know that they've got a lot of things they're spending their money on and stuff but like the mormon shirt like byu could be the most flush

university with cash in the entire country kalani satake is like ari you are speaking my language let's go let's make this happen now you have to here's the thing, it's a podcast for all friends, we got to be honest about it. There's a code of conduct at BYU that's really hard to adhere to for most college students. You can't have sex, you can't drink soda, there's no drinking, like there's a lifestyle sacrifice that you have to make in order to go there. Okay, but listen, I once had a, I've had a five-year ongoing debate with my friends about whether or not if somebody gave me a billion dollars if I could eat turkey sandwiches for every meal for the rest of my life. And I feel like food is a small sacrifice. You would turn into Nick Saban where he ate the same salad every day for lunch. Do you think you could eat turkey sandwiches for every meal for the rest of your life if the reward for that was a billion dollars? Yes. And I say that and you know

how much I love food and I say that I would do it happily. So like I think that like if you're a like listen if you're playing basketball at BYU and you're going to be a one and done player you're only refraining from those things for four months. It's not, you know, for the amount of money you're getting. And then also maybe it'll help you focus on basketball. But it is a culturally different place. So there are some people that may be, you know, reluctant to go all in on that with those limitations. But at the same time, too, if the offer is big enough, you know, you could do those things.

So and I don't know how like the code of conduct expands. Like if you're home for the summer and stuff, like, do you still have to adhere to the BYU code of conduct? You're supposed to. You're supposed to. And if it gets back to you, you can't get kicked out of school from BYU if you like drink soda or whatever or do whatever. I don't think I don't think the soda is in there anymore.

I think that you might have loosened up on some things. You could go back and read the code of conduct, but it is still very strict compared to most other schools. What's the Utah, Salt Lake City soda chain that's really big? Black Rifle Coffee Company? No, it's called... It's a very famous coffee company. It's called Swig. It's like this huge store and

all it is is caffeine free sodas. Yeah. Yeah, it's the caffeine. It's not the soda. So yeah. And also too like have you ever had caffeine free Coke? Tastes the same. Tastes the same to me. Well, you can get it when you go to Utah. A lot of the restaurants have a caffeine free Coke option at the fountain. Just put that out there. And I feel like if you have caffeine, yeah. Caffeine free. Sir, is there caffeine in my Dr. Pepper Zero here?

Yes, there's caffeine in your Dr. Pepper Zero. Okay. All right, next question comes from Nick. Which NCAA tournament team would be the best college football team? Which college football team could feel the best college basketball team? I'm gonna go, so we talked a little bit the other day

about one of my favorite pastimes during the NCAA tournament is finding the guys who play for the mid-major schools who really should be playing football. And we don't know why they're not playing football. But I'm gonna go with a more generic answer just because there's a coach in college basketball who I feel like would be the best recruiter of football players. And so I think the things he values and the

things his team values, his program values, I think would make very good football players as well. I'm going to say Michigan State and Tom Izzo. Tom Izzo would recruit football players really well. Like he's all about toughness, selflessness, and also athleticism, being a dog. Like all of the stuff that Tom Izzo values is very valuable on the football field. You know, Steve Mariucci, former NFL head coach, is one of his best friends. He, Izzo and Saban got along great when they were both coaching together at Michigan State.

Like I think that Tom Izzo, you take his team and put them on the football field. Now, obviously you're gonna have to find some linemen because most of his players are not built to be linemen. But he'd be great at recruiting those tweener guys like the hybrid edge linebacker guy or the hybrid safety linebacker guy. I just think his players, like you put them on a football field, they would automatically be like, imagine Matin Cleaves as your quarterback Ari.

Yeah. I mean, Tom Inso is like the consummate college coach, right? Yeah. Did I use that word right? I think you, I think absolutely. You mean just general, in general, college coach, football, basketball, softball, you name it. Yeah, I agree. Athletics coach, yep. And, and I, so I would trust him to recruit a football team. Now, which college football team would make the best basketball team? I'm trying to think, who has this just absolute biggest set of freaks in college football? It's Ohio State or Georgia, right? You want to see Jeremiah Smith play basketball?

I would like to see Jeremiah Smith. It's Ohio State or Georgia. It has to be, because they have the freakiest athletes. So I'm just going to find the five freakiest athletes and put them on the floor and be like, figure it out. Yeah. Jeremiah Smith is the player that jumps into my head. But as a homage to the question, I think that we should go through some of the best two sport athletes of all time. And I think number one is probably Julius Peppers

who played basketball in North Carolina. And then you had Antonio Gates played basketball Eastern Michigan in Kent State from the Mac. Then you had Jimmy Graham, the former New Orleans Saints tight end played basketball at Miami. Donovan McNabb played a few games and scored in the NCAA tournament for Jim Bayheim at Syracuse. And then of course, Terrell Owens at Tennessee Chattanooga. Those are guys who- Oh, let's not forget Tony Gonzalez. Tony Gonzalez was one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history, played on a Cal team with Jason Kidd

that beat Duke in the NCAA tournament. So. So yeah, but I like- Man. Jeremiah Smith was the one that popped into my head because I think Jeremiah Smith might be the biggest alien on the sport, but there's probably also some like really jacked edge rushers that could be really good power forwards in there too, you know? If we took either the whole Ohio State roster or

the whole Georgia roster and just went because there are guys that probably don't even play on those teams that are such freak athletes that if you saw them in the in the gym playing rec basketball like you'd be like how in the world is this guy not in the NBA like that I guarantee you Ohio State and Georgia have that up and down their football roster so those are the ones that I'm taking a basketball team off of. You know the legend has it that Chris Gamble the former two-way star from Ohio State's 02 national title team was a hell of a basketball player. Like, he would go to the rec and play in games with the current Ohio State basketball team apparently and just like smoke people. So that doesn't surprise me. But like, Travis Hunter too would be, he's not in college anymore, but I would love to see him, you know,

play four quarters or two halves, I should say, in the NCAA tournament as well. He could do it. He's the champion of stamina as we know. Next question from Craig. Dig deep and give me your 2025 college football, John Tonje. So he's the completely unheralded transfer who turns into an All-American, he plays basketball for Wisconsin and we're gonna be watching Wisconsin

here in the NCAA tournament very shortly. Now, I think with these guys, where the basketball guys seem to come out of nowhere, Dalton Connect to Tennessee was this guy last year, where absolute superstar came from a school that nobody had ever heard of. Like that is going to happen more often in basketball. I think it's probably easier for us to do this in football because even though the average fan might not understand,

like John Tojay played for Colorado State. So he was playing at a high level school. Colorado State is also in the NCAA tournament this year, by the way. But I think for us in football, this is easier because R.E. you and I cover the coaches and the recruiting people and the personnel people. So we have an idea of who at the lower levels they really want. They really like. So I've got I've got some answers for you that I feel like pretty easily off the top of my head.

And there's a few other ones that we might be able to get into, but, uh, Cole was new ski is one. If you not heard of him, he played at North Dakota state. He was injured most of the last year, but was, was a FCS all American in North Dakota state. He is going to Texas tech. That class we talked to Joey McGuire about this, the top ranked transfer portal class in America. This is a guy who they think is gonna be one of the centerpieces of their defense.

You heard Joe McGuire on our show last week say his secondary was not good last year. This is one of the guys they think is gonna make it a lot better. So Cole Wozniewski is a name you need to know. You ready for another one? Another safety with a crazy name. Zechariah Poyser.

Zechariah Poyser is a safety from Jacksonville State. He's long, he's range-y, he's from Wildwood, Florida. This is a guy that everybody wanted when he hit the transfer portal. He's at Miami. So another team that needed to improve on defense. This guy is going to help them improve on defense. So, uh, and you ready? You ready for another one, Ari? Yeah. McQueen's grace. McQueen's grace is an edge rusher, 255 pounds, transferring from South Dakota to Kentucky. Now he took a visit to Georgia when he was in the portal, ended up picking the Wildcats. The reason I picked him is because he's from Cincinnati originally. And Ari, you and I have talked a million times

about Mark Stoops, Vince Mero, back Kentucky staff, how well they recruit Ohio and obviously Cincinnati, just a hop, skip and a jump from Lexington, easy drive. These guys probably said, okay, this guy's an FCS All-American at South Dakota, let's check with our contacts back in Cincinnati. Is he the real deal? Is he legit?

And they went all in on him in the transfer portal. So my guess is they know this guy's gonna be good. Yeah, so how deep into the rabbit hole did you go with this? Cuz there's certain guys that pop off into my head that aren't huge. I mean, do people know who Isaiah World is? Like, does that count? I don't want to see, I thought about him because I don't know that they do,

but I think if you followed the transfer portal recruiting at all, like Isaiah World was one of the celebrities of that, that sphere. So Isaiah World is the most appropriately named offensive tackle, whoever lived. He was at Nevada last year. He's a, he's massive. He's like, he's like he's like 673 30. He's going to be

Oregon starting left tackle this year and they went and that's who they're replacing Josh Connerly with but Isaiah World is one when he went in the portal, every blue chip school offered him. So it's hard like he is probably and an NFL draft prospect already. So I don't know like he's unknown to the fans, but he's also an impact player. So very known in the world of college football. Did you like go down all the way to the list of guys who were just not rated out of high

school who rated smaller like I didn't feel like I needed to do that because I could I could give you three or four names that you even, like our audience is very hardcore college football fans, but I'm willing to bet that 75 to 80% of the audience had never heard of any of those people I just mentioned. Yeah. And like also too, like even guys who played at big time programs,

like Rocco Spindler to Nebraska, like that's another one. Do people know who Rocco Spindler is? Recruit Nicks do, cause he was a top 100 player when he was a recruiter. Notre Dame fans do because he started for Notre Dame last year. Yeah. Yeah. And then had to go because there's not enough spaces there. But like, I feel like he could be a really important piece. Like, what about Keishon Silver? He's a former five star defensive end from North Carolina who didn't really find footing there. Who's going to USC? Like, could that be somebody who's like... He went to Kentucky first Like, could that be somebody who's like Kentucky first?

He was playing alongside Deanna Walker at Kentucky last year. That's right. So, you know, I don't know, like guys who were recruits who kind of fell off into the, into the abyss, but also to Tanner Cozy, all of somebody I had as a pre season, all American, a tight end, the ball state transfer to Wisconsin, I think he's the leading tight end yardage returner for this coming year.

And I got some mixed emotions about him being on that list over some guys, but you know, anybody who's coming from the Mac to Wisconsin to play Wisconsin football, is a pretty exciting. I mean, you can go down this list and you can find guys who are, you know, and another one who we've talked about on the show multiple times, like, do people who will help this,

this guy's to be awesome. He's a monster. He is Purdue transfer who went to Clemson. He's an edge rusher. Uh, he, he was excellent at Purdue last year. So remember Nick Scorton leaves Purdue last year to go home to Texas A&M. Nick Scorton was from Brian, Texas. He goes home to play for Texas A&M for his last year in college.

Will help who was had been at Purdue a year with Nick Scorton, goes into his second year and just tears it up. And he is a monster. And he's gonna be on Clemson's defensive line. He's gonna be playing alongside Peter Woods. That's gonna be fun. Two more that are going into IU, and I just don't know. did people watch Cal play but Fernando Mendoza is a quarterback who I think is going to be really good. And then of course Pat Coogan our guy who was on the show from Notre Dame the four quarters of fuck you football guy they're both going to Indiana.

So just things to to you know pacify a little bit but there will be guys like this that that emerge in a big way at college football next year. Oh yeah, yeah, no, this is this is gonna be very interesting and there will be people, yeah, like John Tonje who maybe the the average Big Ten fan had not heard of him before this year, but everybody in the Big Ten knows him now. I think a lot of those guys we mentioned are gonna be at least household names within their conferences, if not throughout the whole country. Yeah. I guarantee you that people like the random casual fan does not know who well health is yet and will know everyone will know who he is by the middle of the season.

Yeah. Yeah. It's and look, it's funny because we had to have a lot of people like he didn't really use the transfer portal that much. I'm like yeah but if this one's gonna this one's gonna be pretty big so yeah especially joining that defensive line too like even if he's not as good as people think he is just joining uh Peter Woods and the other animals on that line he'll be he'll be in pretty good shape to to get some pressure this year. I cannot wait to see it now from one transfer portal conversation to another, I think, because I think we're going to talk about a team that has been very active in the transfer portal, at least I am. I don't know who you're going to answer this question with. This question is from bigboogie underscore TD.

Which team is the most likely candidate for a serious step back this season in the SEC? Ari, I'm going with Ole Miss here just because that was probably the best roster Ole Miss has ever had last year as a program. And even though there are number two transfer portal class this year, they lost a lot of talent last year. There's a lot of Ole Miss dudes at the combine. Well, Ole Miss is the layup answer because of how much they lost

and how much they invested into their roster for last season. I've got two that are going to make people mad. I mean, half the SEC can't go backward after what happened this year, but let me ask you this one, and I'm going to duck, okay? Okay. Is it possible if Keylon Russell isn't the savior and that they have a quarterback issue that Alabama goes eight and four this year? It's only one more loss than last year. Major, major step back. It would be, it would be a cataclysm at Alabama if they go 8-4 because they're just so used to being

great under Nick Saban. Just go with me on this. Auburn is much better. Oklahoma is much better. LSU is much better. South Carolina is just as good as they were last year. Tennessee is very good. Mizzou gets their act together.

Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida State is much better. Now going eight and four against this schedule would be rough. It's kind of hard to find four losses if Alabama is who we think they are. Right, because are we sure Alabama is going to be better? We don't know about the quarterback situation yet, but we do know Alabama is gonna be going everywhere else.

So it is hard for me to predict that even if the quarterback situation does not work out. I don't want this to turn into already thinks Alabama is going to go eight and four, but they are in a position where they have to be outstanding to improve from last year. And if they are the same as they were a year ago, but the ball bounces in the opposite direction in one more game, you go. The South Carolina game is a good example of that. Yeah. I'm just saying it's not out of the question that Alabama falls into a, cause like

when you look at regression, it's like, I guess everybody would be like, ah, South Carolina got lucky last year. They're going to suck this year. It's like, okay. I think when or sellers is only on the upswing, Florida doesn't have very much to drop. Auburn doesn't have much to drop. Arkansas, Kentucky, Mizzou, Mississippi State.

Like, there's not a lot of options here. So when I'm looking at, like, teams that could take a real step back, like Alabama losing nine, what if they, I mean, what if they go nine and three again? Like, is that a step back because that's multiple years? Alabama doesn't play by the same grading rubric. Right. Well, here's another one that doesn't is Georgia. We don't know who's gonna start a quarterback at Georgia. We assume that because they recruit so well, they're going to just be right back in it. But will they? Yeah. And I think maybe Georgia would probably have been even a

better answer than the Alabama one just from the sake of like, if Georgia goes nine and three. than the Alabama one just from the sake of like if Georgia goes nine and three. Yeah, that's a step back. We don't know if Gunnar Stocken is the guy yet, but they've also got Ryan Puglisi there who you know, I feel about that where Ryan Puglisi did not care that Dylan Raiola was committed to them. Like I love the guys that feel like it doesn't matter who else shows up. I'm coming anyway. I'm a fan of that.

Gunnar Stockson clearly beloved by his teammates. So I think they're going to be all right, but I'm coming anyway. I'm a fan of that. Gunner stocks and clearly beloved by his teammates. So I think they're gonna be alright but I don't know now on the how about for the show you want me to go viral? I'll go viral. Oh boy. Here we go. Uh one of Alabama or Georgia will miss the playoff next year. I mean one of them missed the playoff this year. I don't think that's that year. I mean, one of them missed the playoff this year. I don't think that's that hot of a take. One of them will reach the regression thing

that we're talking about this year. They're both not gonna be great. Okay, that is not, you know, you're right. People will get mad about that. I don't think it's that hot of a take. I don't either. Because that hot of a take. I don't either. Because I think it's hard. We've talked a bunch on this show over the last few months

about how hard it is and how impo, well, not just hard, impossible it will be to recruit in the way that Alabama did under Nick Saban or the way that Georgia had been doing under Kirby Smart. It's just not possible in this era to stack talent in that way. So it wouldn't shock me at all if one of those two teams did regress. But I think you're right. I think it would be a shock to most people who are not paying as close attention who are probably going to be like, well, no, no, Alabama and

Georgia are always good. What do you mean one of them is not gonna be really good? That they're not, so, that's, it's gonna be fascinating to watch because I think you're right. And we always assume that when somebody's riding as high as they were, that that, you feel like that's gonna last forever, but it just doesn't, it doesn't.

Yeah. Now I will go the flip side of the old miss one because you and i were at the georgia game last year and we saw that drive that austin simmons got thrown in for yeah it just maybe that austin simmons is that dude and old miss doesn't drop a bit like yeah that's it's entirely quarterback's not the quarterback with them. The quarterback scares me at Bama and Georgia. The quarterback doesn't scare me at Ole Miss. It's everybody else they lost. Yeah, what I worry about with Ole Miss is regressing back to two years ago

where Lane Kiffin said, you know, we just weren't good enough on the line of scrimmage when we played Georgia. And that is, you don't want to go back to that because they clearly fixed those issues last year. Losing Walter Nolan and Trey Harris is pretty pretty brutal. He lost a lot of talent. That's not even scratching the surface of just those are just the two that stick out to me but like I mean like Chris Paul like I don't think people understand how good Chris Paul was for

them last year and he's going to be a good NFL player, too They just they lost a lot of talent and it's it's hard to replace that especially if you're not at a place like Alabama Georgia, Ohio State where they have Just brought in you know top five class after top five class so now look we've ranked on three Has ranked all Ole Miss's class number two among all the transfer portal classes. So it may be that Elaine Kiffin just reloaded again, but we shall see. We shall see. Producer River pointed out there is a lot weighing on Nico Iamali Aba's shoulders at Tennessee this year too. Oh, yeah. Ten and two team that made the playoff. They lost some really good defensive linemen. Now they

were super deep on the defensive line. I'm still not that worried about Tennessee on the D line. Offensive line, we'll see because they are replacing some really good players there. But that's one there's a lot of pressure. The question they have to have about Tennessee is out of Nico than they got out of him last year. Well, they don't have receivers that are proven yet. No, no, it's it's five star. Mikey Matthews and Chris Brazel. You know, Mikey Matthews has got, I mean, I think he could even make the case that he has more on his shoulders than Nico. Right River?

Yeah. Well, boo and boo Carter also don't don't discount him as a two way player because I wrote this in my spring practice Intel column last week. It sounds like boo Carter is going to get legit snaps on offense like not not Travis Hunter type playing the full game on offense and the full game on defense. But they feel like he can actually help them as a slot receiver and I think that you're going to see him a little bit on offense. I call my wife, boo. Yeah. He hits harder than she does. Maybe slightly.

She's a, she's a, not a powerhouse, not a very big person, but when she's mad, it's pretty uncomfortable for everyone. She is a powerhouse when she is angry. That is true. All right, one more question. This one comes from Jackson. Do y'all say soda, Coke, or pop? One right answer, but I'm curious to hear it from y'all.

Now, the way Jackson wrote his question, I already know what his right answer is. I already know. And it's the answer I'm gonna give. If you have a bubbly carbonated beverage, it's Coke. It could be a Dr. Pepper. It could be an orange.

It could be a 7Up. It's still a Coke. I'm gonna go get a Coke. We're gonna get a couple of Cokes. Is that what you say? That's what I grew up saying. Now my dad called them Coke holers, but yeah, we, we, we said Coke and I think if you're going to get a Mountain Dew, you saying I'm going to go get a Coke.

It's just, it's just to talk about the category. You're talking about the category. If you say you're getting a Coke, but you're not actually getting a Coke, that requires another question to be asked, right? Yeah. River, you're from East Tennessee. Why are you questioning me on this? Like, oh, you're a person who does this too.

I've always called you a soda. Here's the thing that you're not understanding about this question is there are certain products out there that have been named what the brand is. Like if you're getting a Band-Aid, nobody needs a follow-up question. A Band-Aid is a brand. Right, which actually for the Band-Aid company is annoying because they don't want other people's bandages

to be called Band-Aids. They want you to think of only them. But they're not, they're called bandages. But Band-Aid, my daughter thinks a Band-Aid as every Band-Aid. Everybody calls, no one says what kind of Band-Aid are you getting? And most people think that. And did you know that Dumpster is actually a proper noun? Dumpster is a company name.

Okay, exactly. So here's the thing about that. Like Coke does not get that for soda. It's just not... It does if you grew up in South Carolina or Georgia or Alabama. It does. Now, if you're from somewhere else, you may say soda. Or if you're from the Midwest, you may say pop.

But if you say pop, you're from Wisconsin. And that's it. I've never heard anybody say pop before. Oh, plenty of people in Illinois, like Chic Illinois like Chicago and they will get some paps. No I it's the answer is soda and I guess there are pockets of areas of the country where they do it wrong but like the majority of the country says so to it wrong. I guarantee you Jackson his right answer because the way he wrote this question I guarantee you his his right answer because the way he wrote this question I guarantee you his his right answer is coke now he threw up a hook him so I'm guessing he's from

Texas which I didn't realize that was a Texas thing I thought that was more of a deep south thing but well I'm gonna have to follow up with Jackson on on Twitter and and see where he's actually from and get the whole lineage there because I'm fascinated by this. But no, like when I was growing up, you'd be like, we're gonna get a couple of Cokes. And you're talking about two carbonated beverages with sugar in them

that don't necessarily have to be Coca-Cola. Yep. Yeah, I mean, I just, I don't want, like River said it best. If you're if your communication requires more questions, you're communicating ineffectively. We don't listen. You don't need further communication. You just it's telepathic. And River, I'm shocked. Get up here, River. I've never heard from deepest East Tennessee. Like they don't do that there?

I never did. I was just always like, what do you want? Oh, I want a Dr. Pepper or what kind of soda do you want? Do your people do the southerner thing of adding an apostrophe yes to everything? Like we're not going to Panera Bread. We're going to Panera's. Yeah. I mean, they got a restaurant called Pals with an apostrophe s with it. So so yeah But do they say they're going to the Kroger are they going to the Kroger's they're going to the Kroger's they're going to the Walmart. Yeah, the thing that I had a friend that called it the Walmart's Yeah The thing that you need to go back to a soda is that Mountain Dew which is probably the best soda out I mean, there's three sodas out there, Coke, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper.

Those are the three. But Mountain Dew throws a wrench in. Just throwing Pepsi to the wind here. I love it. Yeah, I am. You wanna check stock prices? No, I'm a Pepsi guy. I like Pepsi, but it's not on the campaign

on upgraded sodas. Unless Pepsi wants to advertise, then I'm a Pepsi guy all the way. Yeah the sodas unless Pepsi wants to advertise and I'm a Pepsi guy all the way. Yeah, that's like what Dave Chappelle said. You know, if Coke's paying me more than I'm sponsoring Coke and if Pepsi's paying me more, I'm

sponsoring Pepsi. Proof is can't even taste the difference. I mean, well, it's good. It's just not, you know, it's not in the top three. It's all coke to me. Ari, go to Vegas. Cannot wait to see you, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, Friday morning, 6.30, Las Vegas time.

We're gonna break down all the games, all the action. Hopefully there's some buzzer beaters. Hopefully there's a bunch of upsets. Of course there will be. What time is it on Vegas time again? Uh, that'd be 6 30 AM. You're going to be there and you're going to love it. Enjoy the games everybody.

We'll talk to you tomorrow morning.