Bussin' With The Boys - Taylor Lewan, Michigan & Nebraska, Titans, Walker Zimmerman + CJ Sapong Interview

Episode Date: November 3, 2021

Recorded: November 2, 2021 | It's Victory Monday once again, but the mood is different this time after the Derrick Henry injury news hit Nashville. Titans Update: (6:33 - 8:02) Taylor's Michigan video: (10:17 - 23:45) Matt Barkley & NFT's: (25:05 - 29:25) Nebraska: (32:50 - 41:00) Interlude: (48:50 - 1:01:07) Walker Zimmerman + CJ Sapong Interview (1:07:09 - 2:14:24) Taylor joins the boys this week and after a quick recap of the game we immediately dive into virtual beatdown that Michigan State fans are trying to give him. News flash, The Boy is unfazed by any of your words on Twitter. Next, and for the first time ever, Will doesn't have a reason (excuse) for why Nebraska lost this weekend. He takes this loss on the chin but does put Ohio State on upset alert when they play Nebraska. Taylor makes an early exit, but Will welcomes a couple of first-time guests on the bus, Nashville Soccer Club studs Walker Zimmerman and CJ Sapong. Comp gets out in front of himself and quickly tells the boys he knows nothing about soccer except for what he has learned from Ted Lasso. After everyone gets acclimated we find out that Walker might be one of the top fantasy football GM's in the country and is trying to get any kind of inside scoop he can out of Comp. Next, CJ explains how the youth system in the US works and as far as Will is concerned, the US essentially is selling kids and that's that. Walker tells us about the full circle moment he put on the captains' arm band for the national team, and what it's like balancing playing for the national team and Nashville SC. Towards the end CJ opens up about his lowest moments as a pro, how it led him to meditation, and how he's grown as a player and person because of it. Another solid pod in the books for the boys and as the NFL season goes on and Will remains a free agent... could he be the next Ted Lasso?? ----- EARN YOUR WOLF: Want to be featured on our Instagram Story? Screenshot this episode, tag @bussinwtb, and share it to your Story. The Boys will take care of the rest... ----- SHOP: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/bussin-with-the-boys FOLLOW THE BOYS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bussinwtb Twitter: https://twitter.com/BussinWTB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BussinWTB Website: https://www.bussinwtb.com ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: Chevy Silverado: The Strongest Most Advanced Silverado Ever FTX: Investing for the Crypto Generation Georgia Boots: Head over to https://barstool.link/GeorgiaBootsBUSSIN and use code BUSSIN for 20% off. Hooters: Visit https://barstool.link/HootersBarstool and use code BARSTOOL for $10 off $50+ orders Rhoback: Go to https://barstool.link/bussin, and use the code “BUSSIN” for 20% off your first order! Sport Clips: Visit https://barstool.link/SportClipsBSS today to find a Sport Clips in your neighborhood!For more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, it's us The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. There are times. when the mind becomes a difficult place to live. This is David Eagleman with the Inner Cosmos podcast, and for Mental Health Awareness Month, we'll talk with singer-songwriter Jewel about anxiety. I started living in my car and then my car got stolen. I was having panic attacks. I was agoraphobic. This is a month of deeply personal and honest conversations about what happens when the brain goes off course. Listen to Inner Cosmos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move.

And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I feel it. I feel it. Fuck, I'm tired. I'm almost like a little tired myself since you've sat on the bus.

Oh, yeah. I was like, yeah, you know, what are we, uh, how are we going to get to this pod? Are we rolling or we're going? It's nice to see that Bloss has picked up his game since I've left. I never sleep well after games. And last night especially, it was like a 2 a.m. piece. I was still up. At 2 a.m.?

Dude, I was up until 2.m. I can never sleep after games ever. No, noon game. I know you got back at what time like eight? Because you ran, you called it like trick-or-treating. Yeah, I got back at like 6.45.

First one off the plane, sprinted it to my car. I'm like, boogie in. Kids are going trick-treating. Go to the Tomlin house, shout the Tomlons, and make it there right after the done trick-or-treating. So I missed the trick-or-treating. But I got to see the kids, which was cool. So.

Were you dressed up? I was dressed up like, guy who just finished a football game. I was just, you know. No, I was a football player. It was a tight. You know. You put some webs on a dead football player.

Dead football player. Classic, that classic Halloween thing. Yeah. Just use the jersey. Whatever you are, just put death over you. Just put a little blood on it. Yeah. I'm dead now.

You want to, uh, you know, let the people know about Chevy? Yeah, I love to let the people know about Chevy. Chevy, uh, it's, it's, it's hard to argue. It's hard to argue. It's not, it's the greatest vehicle ever made in the history of vehicles. Am I right? Yeah. I'm dressed like a Chevy driver.

You are just like a Chevy driver. You know why? He looked durable. You look reliable. The ankle stability in those boots? Your ankles aren't going anywhere. Nope. Those are Georgia boots?

Yes, they are. I'll tell you what. That's a two-for-one spash, as Mike Vrable would say. You know, those look beautiful. The Chevy Silverado is the greatest, most affordable, dependable, reliable vehicle in the entire world. Are we reading this thing? Silverado is strong, advanced, dependable, and hardworking. I just said that, but we're doing it.

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yeah, you can't curse. Leave those out. Leave them out. There's a primary tailgate which opens with a push of a button on the key fob

of your the inner gate folds to a large step for easily getting in and out of the bed. Dude, I just, I'm 30 and I can't read. There is easy access configurations where the inner gate folds down, allowing you to reach farther into your bed. It's just, listen, the Chevy Silverado does it all, right? There's a ton of grit. It's a beautiful thing.

Your boy, you're spiraling about two and a half minutes into this podcast, but I'll be honest with you, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't Chevy. Why? because any other vehicle I would have got and probably wouldn't have started up. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, we love Freeland.

What's that? We love Freeland. We love the boys of Freeland. Now, we're not just about Freeland. Like, us personally, it's our favorite Freeland Chevrolet. But any Chevrody dealership in general just has it right.

Yeah. They know what they're doing. National. It's a beautiful thing. Am I missing anything? No, you did great. I probably, now that when you were reading it, I was thinking to myself,

like he was concussed us. I should probably thought about having them reading ad. Yeah. It's been a 15 days since I was knocked out with three minutes. So, you know. Yeah. Oh, it's good to be back, dude. It's nice to be back.

Miss the hell out of you. I miss you, dude. If you're listening, you're probably like, hey, what's wrong with the boy? I'm just, I'm just tired, man. So the energy is going to be a little lower today. You're going to have to keep me going here. I'm piggyback and I'm riding your coattails today on the energy train. I think everybody's a little down, though.

You know what I mean? Like, the boys won. It is victory Monday. Like, we're excited that we're six and two as a ball club. Yeah, it's exciting. stuff. But we lost the boy. Oh, oh, until we get confirmed, until we get confirmed, we're not here to

I have no clue. And for people that are listening, like Taylor and I were telling each other we miss each other, we really don't see each other a whole lot. No. We don't see each other a whole lot, and we put a whole game of phone tag last week. He didn't really talk at all. I know. What did I do? I accidentally called you yesterday, like FaceTime, and then I hung up,

I said, oh, that's my bad, and you said, wow. Yeah. And then he goes, we've been playing phone tag all week. All week, dude. He goes, you've been ducking me all week. is what he said. And so I sent him a screenshot of our calls to where I called him. He called me.

I missed it. I called him twice. He missed it. I called me back. I didn't, I missed it, but I didn't end up calling him back. So who called you last?

You called me last. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? So if anybody's in the wrong, you know what I'm saying? I think we're here to take accountability. Like, you know, we can both.

I'm not here to take accountability. I'm going to run from my problems today. You know what I'm saying? I don't think we need to talk about the boy. I don't think it's appropriate for me to speak on his behalf. Yeah, you definitely can. What he's got going on right now.

But what I can say, just talk over Taylor. Yeah, you can't, but me. I will say that, I'm looking at these notes here. It says Derek Henry hurt. The biscuits are, is OJ to blame.

If true. OJ. Might be to blame. What do you say? Nobody has separated themselves from the next player in their position like King Henry has. And, you know,

Dickinson and I have had a talk. We discussed a few times this year with 17 games if he's going to break his record. Well, we got different opinions about that, but we'll just have to wait and see and talk about that a little later. In any event, hey guys, wear your mask. If you haven't got your shots, go get it. Take care. That's wild, man. Hey, listen, OJ, you sound like me talking about Michigan, Michigan State.

Like, let's just pipe that thing up a little bit. But, hey, regardless of what's going on with Derek. dude regardless of if he was a football player what he was doing that i mean he's the man we love him yeah he is i love that guy my heart breaks for him whatever the situation is he's the fucking man dude so i'm i mean i'm bummed out for the boy man i'm bummed out when when he when i talked to him yesterday after the game about what was going on and uh i i teared up a little bit dude that's how like not because we lost a back or whatever just because like there because a person how hard everyone knows how hard he works everyone sees how hard he works everyone sees how hard he

works and it's just tough to see that happen, man, for a guy that doesn't deserve that. And that's a huge bummer, man. But, I mean, Titans are 6 and 2. We'll put ourselves in a good little position. Boys are first in the EFC. Yeah. I'm riding high right now. You're riding high right now?

I'm riding high. Hey, that little Instagram you put up yesterday of you and the exact uniform. Hey, right? At the Colts? All white. That's funny, dude. I was like, was Will here? I don't know.

That boy was actually in that day. And David Long, who, by the way, is playing like a stud. That man is all over the place, huh? I do. I enjoy watching David. He's just banging that drum over and over again ripping around. Yeah, yeah, he is. I'm a big, big David Long Jr.

I'm a big fan just because of, like, two, like the journey he's had since being in the league. Like, being a lower round dude, like, he's been somebody who's always, who's, like, had to wait his turn. And even last year, remember, I was on Peace Squad, you had torn your ACL by this point. And we were watching that Thursday night game. Remember, he gave up that punt. Yeah. Against the Colts. And then, you know, everybody, like, wants to cut him and do all this stuff.

And then he gets COVID during the week that we go to Baltimore. And then I get to play in the Baltimore game and play well. He's probably at home, like, like, damn, like, I would have got to play this week. Like, I would have played well against the Ravens because he did in the playoff game the year before. Yeah. But just knowing, like, how far he's kind of came. I just know, like, all the energy he plays with. Like, you just feel like you know where it comes from.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, no. He's a hungry-ass dude. He is, dude. He's, yeah, you've said it all. He's a stuck.

I love the guy to death. Transitioning a little bit from NFL, we've got to hit college. We've got to talk about college football for a second. We got to talk about it. And I will say, like, I do enjoy, like, I enjoy, like,

I guess you guys are losing a little bit. But when you guys aren't playing Nebraska, I legit, hang on, hang on, hang on now. Let me finish. But you're about to talk. You're like, already, started, I enjoy you guys losing a little bit, but, and now we're talking about both sides of our mouth. Well, can I explain myself first? I mean, you can, but it's going to be the same thing.

I feel like the only reason I, I guess I enjoyed seeing you guys lose was because of how much division we kind of created amongst ourselves during the Nebraska, Michigan week. You mean after we said, we're mending, like, we literally said it's over. Exactly. Yeah. So that's what I'm speaking to. That's what I'm speaking to. Yeah, but we said it was over. Right. Right. So ultimately. So both sides of the mouth. But no, no, keep going. I was going to say like, go ahead. I was going to say I do want you guys to win I wanted Michigan to win

I wanted Michigan to beat Michigan State beat Ohio State start bandwading with the boys a little bit only because of you not to bandwagon like I'm a Michigan Wolverine but like you know my other half I want his team to do well you know what I mean

after Michigan beat the breaks off in Nebraska I went come on be real though I do get like we're going back and forth you guys didn't beat the breaks off of us Yeah, I mean, whatever. We won. Oh, yeah, you guys won the game. By being the breaks off you guys.

Okay. After we dominated Nebraska at Nebraska. And we did our little tiff and we mended fences. I followed Nebraska football on Twitter. Why? I'm a corn husker too now. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

They're my other team when they're not playing Michigan. Now, in the locker room last week, was your boy talking? No question. I was getting a lot of jaw sets in. Yeah. Every single person, oh yeah. Every single person on the Tennessee talking. wanted Michigan to lose this game.

Really? Yes. They were all praying. Your boy took a dent in his pocketbooks, all right? We took a dent. What are we talking here? Well, you know, per NFLPA rules, it was $250 max. So I lost $250.

Yeah. But it was just saying it was a dent. You know what I'm saying? It hurt a little bit. And then the presser comes up. I'm actually excited to talk about this. Great job, by the way. Thank you.

Yeah, great job. Because when I was, walking away and like oh i'll tell you we were going to ask you about michigan michigan state now before that chris bryant who is uh he works for you of them now i i actually hosted him on his recruiting visit i love it his family's amazing uh he's a good friend of mine he asked me okay step man what's that then go ahead oh what is my hairline receding no no stephen a smith we we joke my hairline running away no i'm not step you know what i'm saying so anyway he's like I know him. He's a very dear friend of mine. I love his family. Yeah.

But big Chris Brian friend. Anyway, he sends me a text or a DM. He's like, hey, can you make a video to send to Michigan for the Michigan State and how much you hate Michigan State? Which I do hate Michigan State. Did. You know what I'm saying? Like, we'll remove so far at this point. It's fun for me to hate on Michigan State. And then I just go back to living my life. So I'm leaving the presser. And as I'm walking away, like, hey, we were going to ask you. about Michigan, Michigan State. I'm like, oh, I'm supposed to do a video anyway. And actually, I'm supposed to do a video on that. And Ashley, the girl who works at the time, she's like, this is the camera right here. So I go on, do my rant, Michigan by a billion, whatever. But Michigan State. Yeah, yeah. Great. Yeah, I don't want to say the F word, but Michigan State. Yeah. Michigan State is our little brother. Now, I know what you're thinking. In 2009 to 2013 when I was there, did Michigan State donkeys? Yes, there's no question. And I'm not here to talk about when I was there. I'm here to talk about now. Michigan's number two defense in the country. I'm

here to talk about Georgia's number one. Michigan, Michigan, the boys in blue are the number two defense in the country. Our offense, yeah, they say we're run heavy. They say we do that, but our past games are really coming along. Overall, Michigan State is going to get donkeyed at home in East Lansing, whatever that podunk count is. They're going down. Michigan's going home, taking Paul Bunyan, and kindly, I'm not going to say the F word, but Michigan State, you know what I'm saying? not going to say the F word, but Michigan State. Okay. And I knew in that moment when I did that video, even before I did that video, I was like, if we win, great at age as well.

If we don't win. Now, I'm strictly talking about my video and what I said doesn't fucking matter at all. Why? Because my Twitter, there's still bombs going off on this phone right now. it's on fire oh it's on fire and i just listen it's not even on right now haven't read one comment because these people are burning my house down my twitter house down and i'm sleeping easy baby it doesn't matter it doesn't matter at all did you see the young man you inspired oh i can say whatever the fuck i want about michigan state because i don't go there anymore you know what i'm saying

i can say anything i want but you're your michigan state wolverine i don't i know i'm a university of Michigan Wolverine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My boy, hey, listen. A lot of dents in the head. You know what I'm saying? We've taken some hits. I'm just saying, like, I said those things,

people got mad, doesn't change my life. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's the transition of what happened. So do I apologize for what I said? Nope. Not even a little bit. Not going to say the F word. No.

But no. You know what I'm saying? Like, it doesn't change my life. Yeah. It was fun. I got to get in there. got all fired up on both sides Michigan guys loved it

Michigan State guys used it as fuel it was a great game we lost that sucks my heart breaks for the Michigan Wolverines I will say it seemed like you guys are playing against the refs a little bit oh standard pretty standard you know what I'm saying

aside from the Nebraska game yeah yeah exactly we were playing these reps then too right no you weren't yeah it was hard but I don't know who this this kid is and I'm he said thanks Luan seems like a good kid he seems like a great guy and you know what as an athlete myself if I can go and inspire one young gentleman

to play a little bit harder, regardless of what team, I'm an inspiration. I might as well have YouTube videos of motivation coming up. You should look into it. Yeah. I might as well start doing that shit because now this guy,

he took LeWan and he's like, I'm going to play harder because of it. Good. You've changed his life forever. I changed his life for the better. And I think I saw some redhead cat, some ginger cat ripping around the stadium after the game.

And he's like staying and they're like, what are you thinking? I think at the end he's like, I'm not going to say it, but Michigan. And I was like, I'm a fucking inspiration, dude. Yeah.

I'm an inspiring individual. And now, you see, there's dudes even making remixes to your video. Are they really? Yeah, I want to say it was,

who did I see? Acho? Manuel Acho. Oh, he did? Oh, the funniest shit. Yeah,

he was chopping up your video. You, like, would say a little bit, then he'd play a play of Michigan State beating Michigan. Yeah. And it'd say a little bit more of your bit than show something else.

Oh, that's hilarious. Number two defense in the country, you guys getting scored on. Which is hilarious. That running back five tussies. He's a Heisman candidate, right? Hey, I'm an inspiration. You know what I'm saying?

My light doesn't change it all. I love Michigan. And we should have won that game. We should have won that game. That sack fumble, that Aiden Hutchinson should also be a Heisman candidate. Big fan of him. Pigs up the ball, falls in the end zone.

overturn, kick rocks. Like he should have, that should have been a touchdown. Yeah. No pass interference call at the end? Wild. So listen. But hey, what I do? Went to sleep that night.

Sle like a fucking baby. Oh my God, dude. Not on Sunday. On Sunday. You said you didn't sleep that well. Yeah, I don't sleep well after games. Well, we go play the Colts, catch a dumb. And so in my life, everything's all good.

Right. You know what I'm saying? Now, Michigan State fans. You're making waves. When you're making waves like this, it's not a bad thing. I guess I don't like, now that you're saying all that, I want to go back on my words. I'm not happy when you guys lose.

I think I just enjoy. I enjoy watching all of that unfold on Saturday. Oh, yeah. Like I'm ready to go. I can't wait. I mean, I kind of hope they lose because I just want, I want to see stuff like that happen. Yeah.

And I mean, people are, people are, I mean, I don't read the comments, but when you go to your mentions, you're going to catch one or two. You could read a few. You're going to catch a couple of a little bit. Yeah. No, no, no, I don't scroll the thing. Just a little bit. mention you might a little bit it's fluttered might a little bit yeah not all not reading all of them

but might a little bit some guys like you put your fucking foot in your mouth you're such an idiot but you feel like a fucking doofist for saying that nope not at all chuckle like it yeah i don't care yeah you know i can say anything dumb because it doesn't matter i know i think chris de lea said it best twitter is if you're serious on twitter fuck yourself right well chappelle chappelle said it recently too like it's a fake world. Oh. Twitter's not real. It's not real.

Like just, just have fun and enjoy Twitter. I probably got people saying to kill myself over that. Oh, yeah. Did that one sting up? Just a tad? No,

because you know what? A tad. No, a tad. I mean, I'm not going to say the effort, but no. You know?

Because William Golston, first off, that man has a great straight, like that right, that right straight fist. Yeah, that right there. Like, he's a had ducan you right there.

And back then, it hurt physically. and emotionally. You know what I'm saying? Like back then that shit hurt. That's like 12 years ago. That's his new profile pick. He went to his profile.

He follows me. And he probably subscribes and rates five stars. Hopefully, hopefully. We'll love to have him on. I don't know. He's a boy. He's a boy. I don't want him on.

No, William Goldstein calls. Don't care. Don't want him on. Don't care. I don't know. I don't hurt my feelings. But if he ever comes on, be pissed. No.

William, come on. Come on. a bus dude and I can do I'll just sit here and I want him to tell him to fuck myself you know yeah I'll just sit here and I'll just eat verbal punches not physical I'm over that shit you know I'm saying that little glass jaw over here I and he starts to throwing them bows verbally let's go yeah yeah because it doesn't fucking matter dude none of it matters it doesn't yeah I love it it's his profile pick I love the little delete this picture oh that's my favorite

that's so funny to me but it's so hilarious how people just take this so seriously. Now the rivalry is what it is. Do I like Michigan State? No. I don't. When I was there, did I hate them way more than I do now? Yeah, because you're drinking the Kool-Aid. You know what I'm saying? You're drunk on being a Michigan man.

Yeah, you guys, both teams were undefeated. I mean, it was an awesome game. It was a hell of a game. Yeah, it was an awesome game. It was everything it was supposed to be. I wish Michigan won, but just once again, the video. They are saying, Hardball is what's his record,

two and 19 against teams. in the top 10. That's tough to hear. I might be misquoting that, but it's something along the, basically it's along those lines of like, it seemed like it was going to be different for Michigan this year, but now it just seems like the same whole story again, because it can't beat the premier teams in the Big Ten. But listen, we lost one game. So you think you should be fired? No. And the thing is, is I hope. Did you see Taylor's made? No. Yeah. I'm not going to say the effort, but no. Dude, wait, when Portnoy was on here, I said yes, right?

And that's the beauty. And people don't realize that people can just change their minds about shit. I don't know about that. Like people think like if you say something publicly forever, that's your stance.

Forever. That is. In the summertime, Portnoy said, do you think Harbaugh should be fired? I said yes. Oh yeah. And I double down.

Should Harbaugh be fired? No. And I didn't that? And I fucking changed my opinion. Why not? Hey, why not now? What's your opinion? You know?

We've only lost one game. The guy's turning around. He's doing a great job now. Do you think you guys losing one? We were two and four last year. Let's lower the voice. Let's play. Just a little.

Do you think you saying we might lose one game this year on that podcast after the Nebraska game? Do you feel like that might have played into the loss? No. Not at all. Why? Words. Hey, it's just a question.

I'm not playing the game. I'm not playing. I have zero effect on anything. I'm just a guy with a microphone. And people subscribe right. And we love you to death. Hey, let's take it easy. We love you to death tier ones.

And I know you're bringing those tier two's up. And the tier two's are hoping the tier three. It's like a ladder. All right, we're all just climbing it together. And I appreciate you. Listen to me. Say things.

But here's a deal. This, the words I say, fluid. It could change it anytime. If you think I have a stance on something, it'll probably change. You know,

I can just, I can say whatever the fuck I want. I'm like in my head, like trying to think of a stancey sad. I'm like, so what about this? Yeah. And I'm like, opposite now.

even if I don't think I can just say whatever I want that's a crazy shit about this whole thing right I can say whatever I want people are going to listen to it they're either and I hate it or love it and then tomorrow I'll change it again and they'll flip-flop you know life is beautiful life is fucking beautiful dude I feel like you're talking at me so heavy right now I'm just you know what it is my face like that too I'm like sitting here I was dying I guess you're talking about it so much

so now does it mean something I'm like just even more and we're like, hey, it doesn't fucking matter. What's on there? The reason why I'm talking like this is because when I got here, I was so damn tired. I was like, how am I going to even do this podcast right now? I am pumped the energy's up now. Yeah, and now like it got my motor running a little bit.

So I'm like, I'm enjoying the banter. I am too. You know what I'm saying? I, yeah. I don't want to go and set. I've already said it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the video, the presser, all the fun stuff that came about from it. Right?

All of it. Yeah. Because it helps the boys. You know what I mean? It kind of... Oh, cool. Oh, cool. You know?

Yeah, and then I hated it, but I also respected it because it was a good move on your part. But you saying, I deserve whatever I'm about to get. Instead of like leaning in and playing in with more people, which I enjoy doing more, Taylor just ended up saying, hey, I did this. I deserve whatever. Go ahead and give it to me. Well, we're on the plane. And I'm like, man, fuck, bro.

Go back and forth with some people a little bit. No. Blame some people. No. I love it. I loved it, dude. And people are like, you know, I don't read it. But people are like, oh, he's owning it.

He's owning it. Dog, I know. Hey, I clicked on your quotes. He's all like, these motherfuckers are somebody. Love some accountability. This guy's a straight shooter. No, I just don't give a shit. Like, go ahead, destroy my Twitter message.

I love this guy's accountability. Yeah. I don't read it. I saw it, you know. Yeah, yeah. I don't read it, but I didn't see a couple. Yeah, I said it clicked on the quote. Sometimes I do like to read it.

I do like to read a couple. Hey, and there it is. I just fucking did it. I lied. I fucking lied five minutes ago. Dude, I just lied. I flew with my fucking teeth. Oh, dude.

And I did it. I flipped in the middle. Here, it's a perfect example, dude. And it doesn't matter. Oh, bro. It doesn't matter. It doesn't. Guys, a straight shooter.

Not really. Not really. Not really. Not at all. May not really. He's taking accountability. No, I just don't give a fucker about any of this. You know what does matter?

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It's on the app in the app store for free right now and start trying to make that money. beautiful I had a conversation about cryptocurrency the other day with Matt Barclay apparently the guy's real into the cryptocurrency Can you give us something? I got nothing

God, dude It bothers me that I don't know He was using big words And I got mad at him That he thought he was better than me You know? Yeah He just kept saying

I'm like Hey man Down if you were having a conversation Every third word I have to like ask Siri What that means Then we're lost Yeah

Like just say smaller words That I can understand But really the whole thing Started with the NFT thing. And he's like showing me these pictures of like monkeys with like stumbles and a cigarette coming on their mouth. And it's like $200,000 like American. You know what I'm saying? Domestic. I'm like, I fucking just pay a guy to make that a sticker for me and I own it physically. You know what I'm saying? Right. It's just confusing. And then these NFTs, you have a gallery apparently and people can go and

check out your gallery as if you have your own little museum. There they are. Apparently these things are out of hand expensive. I seen them. You can only. You can only. You can only. You can only check out of your gallery. You can't. You can Some people have them as a profile pick. What's the, what's the currency, the, the cryptocurrency that you have to buy these with? Sure. Yes, that is it. That's the one. What was it called?

Ethereum. Okay. I don't understand it at all. But I'm thinking, I got to get one of these monkeys now. They do look sweet. Yeah. Is that $250,000 sweet? No, but I don't, I don't get what makes that valuable.

It's like diamonds. Yeah. Like, why are diamonds expensive? Yeah. And it's collectibles, I guess. Yeah, but it's just... The only reason why things are expensive because we put value on it.

What? That guy's wearing 1994 3D glasses. That's it. There's nothing special about that. It's not even that well done of art. Yeah, I just... Some guy out there is a lot of thing in our face right now. I know a lot of people I feel like are.

But that shit don't make any sense to me. Now, do I want a monkey? Yeah. Not physically. I guess I'll just own it on the internet. You know what I'm saying? But Barclay's all, he's all about that shit.

He's all about it. There's just a lot of NFT stuff happening. Like, Des Bryant's doing like a, is it Players Corner? Personal Corner? Where essentially he's creating NFTs for athletes so athletes can outright own,

I guess, whatever they're creating in NFTs. Personal Corner. Personal Corner. So can we make NFTs? Yeah, we can. Okay, let's just do one then. But I, that's the thing.

I don't know how. Well, somebody who's listening, send us to somebody who can make an NFT. Done. You know? Yeah.

I would love to get Des Bryant on and see what he's actually, like what's going on because I've seen he was with Max. Crosby, he's making stuff for Max. But apparently his team makes, like,

say you're with him. His team makes you NFTs for you to sell. Those things continue to get sold, right? But you always have a piece of ownership in the NFT. So it's not like,

I have a baseball card and sell you a baseball card. Now the baseball card, yours, there's still a percentage, like there's still ownership that I have forever now, depending on how it goes up. What? You get a percentage of that resale. Yeah.

So anytime those monkeys get sold, whoever the originator was is going to have that percentage for life. Correct. Brad. I just don't get it. I get what you just said. Right. It's like, but I don't get by this is a thing.

You know what I'm saying? It seems like something we want to be in. I think we're showing our age. I think we're just old. You think we're what? We're showing our age. A little bit. There's a lot of people I feel like our age.

I mean... Yeah. I think Steph Curry got one of those monkeys. He did... Boom. I want to be cool with Steph Curry. Yeah. You need to get one of those, dude.

You know what I'm saying? You got a lot of animals at the house. You might as well add somebody in the digital world. Might as well. Might as well, dude. Yeah. What we have next? That's the one he got.

That's the one... No monkey's so stoned. A little suit on him, too. That's dope. How much that one cost? Are you kidding me? I don't know, man. I have like FOMO.

I feel like we're missing out on something. You know what I mean? I feel like that every single day with this bus. We got to get a... I always feel like I'm missing out with you guys. Fucking miss you guys all the time, man. We miss you too, bro. Yeah, my opinion can change in five minutes, though.

You better just watch out, dude. It's probably just you just see the internet and you're probably like, oh, those boys are having a great time. Yeah. We argue all the time. Yeah, you and JP got a little, like, a lover's... He's being around that man? No.

Look at his face. Day. Day. Hey. Yeah. People have been loving your deal of the week. What was the deal of the week this week? Oh, let's do it.

This week. I've been giving people food the past three weeks. You want to sit in the chair? We want to keep going? We can. You're nervous because Taylor's here, huh? That's what it is. You're nervous because Taylor's here.

I want to sit by Taylor. Come on, man. Do your deal. deal of the week. I got to sit here next to him. Should he sit on the couch? Go ahead, bro. Hey, grab that camera, Will. This will work. Here you go.

You just got to keep this. This is incredible. Talk to him. Yeah, Will had a voice crack last week. All right. This shit better be legit. Hey, this is a good one. Is it?

Yeah, it is. It is. So I've been doing food, right? Okay. Voice crack. Hey, he's this man. spiraling in his head. No, no, no, no, no, I'm not. This week, the deal of the week, you know how we were all at AMC movie theater the other week? Yeah. So I heard. Oh, yeah. So this is word of mouth. Yeah. No, I do know it's real. I called. Oh,

you called? Yeah, I called. My man does his homework. Yeah, come on. So movies are expensive, right? Allegedly. Allegedly. I mean, what, to produce one or to go watch one? To go watch one. It's like seven bucks to go watch one. No, man. How much is a movie ticket now? If I'm trying to Matt and that. You got like a $14 ticket for a regular. Oh, God for bet. It's $14. Yeah. Usually it's $14 on Tuesdays at AMC. $5 for your movie ticket and $5 for popcorn and a drink. That's a hell of a deal. Oh, it's not over. It's not over. You do have to sign up to become a rewards member. It doesn't cost you anything. but you just got to sign up

yeah you just got to sign up and then it's free you don't have to yeah you don't have to yeah use code H-O-V use code H-O-V use code H-O-V but yeah AMC five-dollar movies the end of the week damn that's a solid one I would use that I would definitely use that let's go remember jelly last week

you like cascadias yeah tacos you like wings he said I'm not good like yeah he goes you like have price oh too many people wait five dollar Friday at smoothie King's done ever since the deal of the week came out. Your ending ship.

Here's the deal. I like his deal of the week. He just seemed real nervous when he's talking about it, though. Yeah, I know. He, you know, probably the presence. Well, he needs to have a little presence. You know what I'm saying? Don't be worried about the presence around you,

focus on your presence. You know what I'm saying? Drink that in, bro. Take it in, dude. And that's your deal of the week. That was free. I appreciate that. Nebraska law, yeah, I mean.

Yeah, yeah, let's talk about that because I know we got Dennis Kelly. you got to deal with that. Yeah. He went to Purdue. Lost 200 to Dennis. The only thing Purdue's got is they had a great aviation school. That's it.

When you fly... I didn't even know that. You fly to Purdue, you land on the campus. Do you know that? You play at Purdue? You never played at Purdue. No.

Oh, really? I think we just host... I don't know if I ever played against Purdue. They were one of those teams where you know how you play a team like every two years or three years or something. Yeah. They were one of them and so it wasn't part of my...

You fly right in campus. other than that there's nothing the the the the field's awful they have their paints like burnt into the ground you hit that you hit the floor on that thing brutal absolutely brutal anyway that team just beat your team and that's tough but i think what was even tougher is that little joker thing you put up saying you're going to have to yeah the best three wins team continue to continue to say with the best three win team in the country look man what happened i didn't even watch it seemed like it was a close little deal too many turnovers tough and i love agent and Martinez, dude.

Yeah. Love the guy. You guys refused to have any quarterback without the last name Martinez. We do. And, uh, you know,

we just lost, man. We fucking lost. We're stuck in. You guys got beat or did the refs do anything? Was it a special team's thing? I'm waiting for the excuse.

No, I don't really have an excuse. Really? Because we lost the Minnesota before the biweek. That's tough. You're coming against Purdue. Now Purdue's not like a... You lose the Minnesota before the biweek.

That's a tough buy week. That's a tough by week. That's a full padded buy week. Right. especially after coming after out of the gauntlet of like you guys, Michigan State and Oklahoma, and we're all feeling like, you know, it's going to go on our way at some point. Like, you know, you think we'll beat Minnesota, we'll beat Purdue and then Ohio State toss up. Yeah.

But I'm saying the trend that they were doing, the way that they were playing all three you guys in the top 10, like close, like down to the wire. Yeah. You beat those two teams. Like you never know like Ohio State could just be another one of those top 10 teams. Yeah, Michigan had overcome the refs and your team. But. No, no.

Yeah, we can flip-flop. What's done is done. You guys won that game. I think everyone who watched the Nebraska Mission game knows that we were playing against the refs. Okay.

But I got nothing, bro. I mean, we might not win a game the rest of the year. Oh, my God. What do you want me to say? I've done, I'm doing everything I can. And now he's talking to me like I was just talking to him.

See that? Yelling? Yeah, but you can because it doesn't matter. You know what I'm saying? It means something to me, man. you got you got on me about saying Michigan might lose a game this year but you guys were undefeated but you just said

we might not win a game the rest of the year 100 I see what you're trying to do but we have no wins to I have no wins to build on I have nothing young cats are watching this just hoping and praying that they have some support and you just let them down oh I'm bleeding red till I die I bleed red shit corn do like I'm ready to go for life corn is tough to die So I understand. You shit and corn for real. Yeah, but I'm just saying like, all I meant by that was,

I have no momentum to build on. Like, we dummy Northwestern. We go on to you guys. Like, I legit- Nothing to be proud of. Okay. We beat Northwestern worse than you guys beat Northwestern. We beat Northwestern.

We beat Northwestern. Okay, but we still beat the shit out of them. Okay. Well, we still beat them worse. Like, I see what you're saying. If we were undefeated like you guys were, and we just got them beating you guys, and we're a top 10 team in the country.

I'm not saying, what I'm saying is oh we're going to the natty not we we know we'll probably lose one this year yeah why realist you know what I'm saying that's just gonna happen you know how hard is to go undefeated extremely hard it's fucking tough but again those kids were watching you like damn we might lose one this year and they just creeped in a little bit of doubt creeped in and then boom they blew it against michigan state oh yeah it was me no will it could have been no but to to go back to me with leadership like Aidan hushinson with leadership like that no chance that that's team is rock solid rock solid yeah big aiden fan big aiden fan but also um do you think all i'm saying is

do you think nebraska will like when when do you think nebraska will have the potential to be a top 10 team again next year will live in reality buddy a couple years two three years possibly i mean i mean adrian's still there next year at the minimum what's that adrian is still there next year who's adrian adrian martinez oh that's his name yeah martinez yeah martinez is still there next having a great year? Up and down. I mean, okay, okay. I'm not here for a roller coaster ride. You know what I'm saying? Before this last game, he's like the number one QB and the Big Ten. All the numbers.

All the numbers. I mean, I'm pretty sure that's facts. I watched. He had a couple of turnovers. While he's looking it up, all I meant was we might not win another game is because we just dropped to Minnesota and Purdue, right? And next week, we have Ohio State. We have Wisconsin. Tough. And then we have Iowa. Yeah, Wisconsin just donkey to Iowa.

I will say we could beat Iowa. Iowa's like this, look like Tarzan, play like Jane type of team. Like they snuck in the number two team in the country. They're all hyped. They probably parted their ass off because they knew we're never going to feel this again for the rest of the year.

And since they got to number two, they haven't won a game. Yeah, that's true. That's tough. Yeah. What are they ranked now? What's Iowa ranked? I don't know.

They should be out of the top 25. Oh, like that? It's like, it's like I would have failed, but I need these big 10 teams to stay in the top 25 so that way we can claim us being superior, yeah. How the mighty have fallen. Yeah, bro, they were ranked number two, bro. Well, it's Michigan 9?

Then you lose the who Purdue and Wisconsin? Where's Nebraska on that? We've had a tough year, man. We went to the gauntlet. We had a tough year. Now, if the Nebraska team that played against Michigan, Michigan State, in Oklahoma shows up against Ohio State, you never fucking know.

Yeah, according to you. According to you. That's according to you, you just said that. Would you say the same thing? No. Why not? Because I think Ohio State's a much more superior. You think Ohio State's like,

legit about that life. They just dropped one game. I mean, they've been donking everybody. Besides, they lost that game to Oregon. Right. Yeah. So you think they're, you think them as a one-lost team

is a different look than Michigan's one-lost team? No, I think Michigan can absolutely beat Ohio State. Who you think is going to win that game? I think Michigan's going to win that game by a billion. Oh, yeah, forget. It doesn't matter. No, no, no. I'm being serious. For now.

By a billion fucking points, dude. I really think Michigan beats Ohio State. I'm pretty sure it's in Columbus. Is it not? No, it's at Michigan. Tough look. By two billion. You know?

We're going to fight. We're going to beat the shit of that team, and I'm going to have the Michigan fight song playing all throughout the hallways and make Mike Vrable listen to that the entire time. Yeah, I want Michigan to win just for that. Yeah, 100%. I need Vrable to slip.

And you know what? The thing about Vrable with Ohio State is, he acts like he doesn't care. He's like, yeah, whatever. We can... Vraib acts like he doesn't care about pretty much everything. Everything. But you know he cares about all of it. All of the things.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, listen. Braves. Coming back. Who listens? Who listens? Who listens and probably subscribes?

Yeah. We're coming for you. Yeah. And it's going to be beautiful when we beat that ass. Yeah, you guys got Indiana, Penn State, and Maryland. And you guys should, I mean, Penn State was kind of like, they're kind of like the same as Iowa. They kind of looked like Tarzan a little bit, but you kind of knew. Like they went into 30 overtimes against Illinois.

Illinois. And it was like they were, it was like who was trying to fail. Like I forgot Illinois was in the Big Ten. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Illinois is a garbage, champagne, Illinois. Nothing says champagne about the town of champagne. No.

It smells like manure at the stadium. They're make-a-wish football team. Okay. I love how, I love L.A. Every time you say that. Hey, every time you like tansson, you're out. That's the joke that always like, ah. That's the joke that always gets Taylor.

Okay. I mean, Illinois, in Penn State. It's just Penn State frauds. Iowa. Frauds. Michigan, not a fraud. Michigan's no, no, no. You guys are a good team.

Yeah, we're legit. Yeah, you guys are a good football team. Michigan State, we play that game again. We win that game by a billion. You know what I'm saying? But see, now that's fake. Now the lucky, like, that's fake too. Their high-sman guy, I went for 100 and what, 90-something yards and 5 TDs. You play that again? Play that again, Edgewall Swarm.

They're taking advantage. I'm sure that's why, since he's a He's aman candidate, I'm sure that's what they're preaching all week. You do it better the next one. You know what I'm saying? Now the de-coordinators stand up there. They don't want to take what we did in the practice field to the field. That's a tough deal. That's not what we teach.

That's a tough, tough deal. It's hard to see that for the boys. It broke my heart, DeMarsson. I was, so I was playing against Quitty Pay, Quitty Pay yesterday. Number 51 for the Colts. He was a first round pick out of Michigan. And there was a play yesterday.

It was a pick, fumble, we recovered. In the next play, we scored at AJ. He had that 57-yard run or ass. Yeah. Well, so they're like getting this dude on the cart or whatever, and I'm talking to Quitty. I was like, hey, man, brutal loss. Brutal loss yesterday.

And he looks at me, then in the eyes he goes, I cried. Like, my man cried about that game. That's fucking wild to me. But he's still in it, you know what I'm saying? Like he's a rookie. Yeah. He was just in it last year. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's still that college. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, dude, it's going to, it'll get to easy. Not that you shouldn't care, but it's just like. No, you definitely care. Right, right. You always care. But my day is not being made or break by someone else doing something.

You know what I felt. I felt for him. Oh, I cried. Yeah. And I was like, well, we got, I'm about to block you in this next place. So let's let's go. You know? Keep that.

attitude, you know what I'm saying? Keep that emotion. Yeah, that 51-yarder by AJ, dude, just Oh, dude, they were so hot after that too, because they just got a pick. I was hot. Ooh. Because I was playing against AJ in fantasy. Oh, were you really? Yes, bro. I was like, get the motherfucker out of bounds and give the ball to Derek because he was on my fantasy. Doug, I want AJ to do well, just not on the week down to play no fantasy. I get it, dude. Because you know it's bragging rights in those group chats, too. Oh, and I'm, I've lost every game but one of my fantasies. I'm the worst GM ever

You care about your fantasy though The first couple weeks I do And then it kind of gets away from me And then I'm watching Thursday I'm football going oh shit I probably should do my lineup I got three guys on bye And I got another

You know what I'm saying Yeah now that I'm not playing I care about it so much Yeah yeah yeah So much Like we're friendships Friendships are riding on the fence After games bro

Like we argue hard Yeah I'll tell you what you can't argue About is Georgia boot You know what I'm saying Georgia boot Boot It's the world's most

comfortable boot Georgia Boot is America's hardest working boot for 60 years, Georgia's. Georgia's been making boots that work as hard as you do. Tough enough for your job, cool enough for everything else. Look at those things right there. You know, it goes together great. Georgia Boot and a Chevrolet. Georgia Boot makes super good looking and super comfortable boots so comfortable.

And they do the thing again where they do the dash and the able. You never want to take them off. I went over to Will's house three days ago. he was taking a nap just in his underwear and these boots and I said I go will what are you doing he goes helps me sleep better because they're so comfortable yeah it's like a blanket over your feet yes it's like a blanket over your feet that you can walk as many miles as you want it's like a gravity blanket

you can go billions of miles dude in those boots yeah you're gonna die a starvation before those boots break down yeah you know what I'm saying boot my way down these boots will hold up in any condition without sacrificing comfort and has the control technology of an athlete shoe packed into a great-looking boot. Great-looking boots that are wildly comfortable at a price you can't afford.

It's beautiful, dude. I think I already said it once in this podcast, but of rabelism, it's a two-for-one spash, comfortable and affordable. A couple abys for you. No quash. Let's see. Okay, okay, okay.

Every time I wear these boots, people ask me where I got them. Georgia boot.com, right? That's probably the easiest way to say it. You know, where'd you get them? I don't know, God. From the heavens. This is what I like to say,

because how comfortable they are, right? like a lightning bolt was shot down into my hands or Georgia boots. That's how amazing it was. Whether you're working on your feet all day, working around the house or grilling out with your friends, these boots won't sacrifice comfort or style. Georgia Boots offers the best working boots, wedges, and loggers around. Whether you need a waterproof boot,

steel toe, soft toe, square toe, met guard, non-puncture shank, non-sliptoe, they've got it. Head over to GeorgiaBoot.com and use code bussen for 20% off. they're already affordable. Like they're always, like if you went and you've never even listened to Bus One of the Boys

and you went to Georgia Boots. You're buying because you're like he's a well-priced boots. Now 20% off, you're buying two or three pair because you got a nice little deal head around. We're making you money.

Yeah. You're welcome. You know what I'm saying? Your feet are going to thank you. Your friends are going to be like, wow, my friends are waystiles. They're going to brag about you. They're like, oh, hey, have you seen Will?

Yeah, I see Will, but have you seen his boots. You know what I'm saying? It's a beautiful thing. People help me people. That was a great That was a great ad read And not to

Because I know we we hashed it the last time You're on the pod But I know you've had a deal happen In between that time But you can read six points You can you only have to read six of those points I know I've said that before I like to read them all

Okay I got to get better at reading I'm saying I love the fucking accountability I love the working My fucking helping Georgia boot out I'm helping my brain out Yeah

You know what I'm saying Especially when you're knocked out for three minutes You're working like a Georgia I am. Georgia boot and a Chevy. It's 1222. I'm out of here. Hey, so Von Miller's to the...

He's just done. Yeah, I thought we were going to laugh a little more with that. He's a stud. Zoom in on Taylor's face. What? All right. What up? Oh.

What about it? Because Rable goes of sports clips? Yeah, Blas is telling me that Vrab goes of sports clips. Oh, yeah. Oh, by the way, Vraib sniffed out Bloss like it was nothing. That's what Bloss said. He said. He said guy dug in his phone on the hood.

Yeah, he's a guy in the hoodie dug in his phone with a lake tat. I'm like, holy shit. Hey, take it easy. I know your awareness is a 99 on Madden. Yeah. It's got to be. Outstanding. I was the only one in there.

And him. Oh. We got to get sport clips on business. There's only you two in there. I told Braves you use a bus and you might get stuff a nice little deal. Tell them that's for the MVP experience. MVP experience? The MVP experience.

That sounds like a nice little bit. We'll do the ad later. Yeah. All right. Well, see up. Hey, it's been fun. It really has. Yeah, dude, it's been awesome to see you.

Hey, just because Michigan lost. Oh, I got a tweet, even though I don't read them. Michigan State wants their own, the boy shirts. Like, can we get the boy shirts? Who was asking you that? I don't know, some random person on. Was there several people? I saw, I mean, I don't read them, but I saw a couple.

We're actually looking at doing, like, rivalry week. Yeah. So in Ohio State one? Yeah. An Iowa one? No. Let's not do a Michigan State one this year. I'm going to double down on my stance next year,

and we can... We'll let people sort it out not only in the football field, but online as well. We'll see if Michigan wants to outdo Michigan State I'm buying the boy shirts. Yeah, we'll need an ambassador. Maybe it's William Golston. Maybe.

Maybe. If he works as hard as he punches, we're going to be all right. All right, boys. Great sign on. I love each and every one of you. Yeah, that was amazing. Boys, I'm gonna miss you. Do your thing.

All right. Taylor just left. It was great to see the boy. It was good to see him. The boys are six and two. Like I said, we're all right and high. We're also a little low. Because the king, as we know, could be battling a Jones fracture.

That's just what I'm hearing on the internet. And I also heard we're signing an AP. Is that confirmed? Where's Jack? Is that confirmed, Jack? Per Jack McPherson. Oh, easy. Per Jack McPherson, which is also per Adam Schepter,

the boys are signing an AP. Trade one angry runner for another. Trade one goat for another. We reload in this motherfucker, dude. And I think that's what'll happen. Hey, could you imagine? Because Tanna Hill had a little bit of a neck deal yesterday. And I do want to clear the air on something.

something. It is hard. It's a little more difficult to talk about tight stuff on the boys on because if I'm talking about, even though I can speak for myself, if Taylor's sitting next to me, it could be perceived or a narrative could be painted that like, I'm an extension of what Taylor is, which is not true. So that's why we're going to wait until he's gone so we can talk shit or do, you know, whatever we got to do about the boys. No, but for real, like, it's, you hate kind of talking about injuries and all that stuff with like, they're going down. It does stuff for the boy, man. Um, but to, to, to, what can I say, to like, guess, what am I trying to speculate, to speculate,

what if the boys go from the win that they just had against the Colts, Tanna Hill, Derek Henry, to we're going next week. We got, we got Logan Woodside, and we got Jeremy McNichols. It's as gritty as you get, dude, going to L.A. We're going to see a good game, too, because the Rams are, the Rams are beefy just like the Titans, just like the boys. Could be a Super Bowl preview, because the Rams are going to come out of, The division.

The NFC West? The NFC West over the Niners, which is, I know it's tough for you to say, Blas. But yeah, dude, you know, this guy's not falling. It's not like Derek Kenrues the entire team. Jack, how are you feeling? I mean, obviously everyone's upset. Jesus Christ, bro.

Dude, I'm telling you, each Monday, my voice gets worse. I thought I was going to have a break yesterday, but it didn't by that fourth quarter going into, O-T. It was just, yeah, you can hear it in the voice. But it's devastating. As a man of the people, what is a state of mind

most Tennessee fans are in right now? Like, where are you at mentally? We need to check in with the boy, man. I mean, worried about you. Hey, it's a next man mentality thing. You know, next man up. We're just trying to get to each week. I think, what they're staying in locker room

just week by week. Got to go out there, show them with those 11 guys in the field playing. It's going to work out. You know, we got a tough matchup probably coming up this week, especially with Vaughn Miller getting traded. It's scary. I'm a little nervous. So that's confirmed, too, Von Miller's going to the Rams.

I know we were joking with Taylor, but that's... No, that's officially confirmed. So we got our work cut out for us next week, but I think that... I saw a tweet that said when Ryan Tannahill's only game he's played without Derek Henry. He was like one of his highest QBR passer ratings and three TDs. him and AJ have been

Lincoln up the last couple of games. I feel like they're like hitting stride midseason. So that's big, especially if Julio can come back from this injury and get in there. I think we shake things up. People think we're always about Derek Henry, so it's a really versatile moment for our franchise

to prove to everyone in the NFL that we can compete without our king. It's devastating that he's not going to be with us, but they're saying that there's a big potential he comes back late in the season. And if he can be healthy right the playoff run, I mean, that's the scariest Titans I can think of.

We've been playing down the whole season, you know? I've had 30 guys on the IR. You know, it's been crazy. So we're just going to keep running and gunning, I think, you know. Taylor's sitting here. He seemed pretty confident. Just saw a tweet, like, 20 minutes ago, that Tana Hill is feeling good,

which was my biggest concern with Derek being out. If Tana Hill was going to be out, we'd be really in trouble. But Tanyl says he's feeling good. So I think we just keep pushing forward, man. It'll be good. hopefully my voice gets better. I thought, hey, T's and P's to your voice, bro. Hey, that's the man of the people right there.

That's well said. You don't need, yeah, you don't need nothing else. What happens, though, if AP comes in here and is averaging like 150 yards a game? What do you mean what happens? I mean, does that change? Does that change how we feel about Derek Henry and what he does? No. I mean, Derek, like, what man at that size is running 22 miles an hour out there?

No doubt. But I'm saying that would mean he's reprimed. replaceable then. Well, anybody in this league's replaceable. You know what I mean? Sure. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. What? Looking at what Derek's done over the last two years here, three years. Yeah. Well, it's like, okay, if AB comes in and rushes and averages what, 1.40 a game for the rest of the season? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely like, oh, shit. That's best case.

Yeah, that's best case. Yeah, because then the boys are rolling. If we're talking from the side of, like, us all being fly. hyper gas and disillusioned by Derek Henry. I mean, I don't know. It's a tough little question. You're trying to put the boys in a negative headspace right now. I'm not negative.

Just something to think about. Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know. I'm not a football guy. I don't think. I'm not a football guy. Yeah, I think like, say Derek being a 2000-yard rusher, it's that dude, I mean, if you watch the guy run,

he's breaking, he's breaking tackles. Like his, his, a yak was number two in the league up to some point. You know what I mean? It's like there was nobody doing that. There's nobody doing that. I mean, I guess if AP comes back and does it, it's not a question of like, oh, Derek Henry's replaceable. It's just like, oh, who's this mad?

Who's got this Benjamin Button juice of Adrian Peterson? And is he back to, you know, 2010 form whenever, however long he's played? Also, think about how many. Was it back in 2010 when he's just wrecking dudes? And AP's a legend. We need to get him on the bus. What we need to do. And now you need to start thinking about,

do we get Derek Henry as a co-host on Buston with the boys for the rest of the season? If that's the case, or until he gets back to health. Well, even to double down on what Derek's done, like think about how many great offensive lines there have been in this league with, you know, strong running backs behind him and nobody's doing what he's already done. Right. And he did what he did last year and that was without the boy, without Taylor.

Not saying like Taylor is a huge part of that line, that line was balling out. But, you know, Derek is, he's put up incredible numbers and it's not like he's went untouched the whole time. Like he's the one breaking those long runs. He's the one hitting 22 miles an hour. He's one stiffy and dudes. What is that one dude say?

It's like a shotgun to the chest. He's deleting dudes with pump shoddies out there, as Jack would say. But yeah, Derek's like, he's the fucking king, dude. What else do we have? I was thinking of something before Alex just threw off my little vibe right there with that. This interview that we have lined up. Yes, yes. I don't want to butcher CJ's last name.

Sapong. CJ Sapong. CJ Sapong and Walker Zimmerman. Two guys for the National Soccer club studs dude i'm not gonna lie i was telling them when we got done with the interview i was like fellas i was nervous because i had a little bit of anxiety because i didn't i don't play soccer i don't really watch soccer i don't do really anything soccer related other than watch ted lasso and i didn't want to look stupid asking certain questions and there was two of them now's

you know no pause i was in between both of them trying to go like go back and forth It was getting dicey in the mental for a second But dude, it really was a cool interview We learned a lot about soccer They sell kids apparently They develop kids in this academy world And they sell them off when they get developed They groom them up

They groom them and then they sell them But the business of soccer seems pretty wild And I had no clue there were so many leagues I thought Europe was like the league Like, I thought Europe itself was a league. You know what I mean? They started rattling off Italy, Spain. I'm like, oh, I just thought those were the clubs.

You know what I mean? I didn't not know those were leagues. So if you're like me and you don't know a whole lot about soccer or you just know a little bit, I ask some questions to where you're going to learn a lot about soccer by the end of this thing. And they have some cool stories. I know Walker talked about his time getting traded, getting called late at night and like, hey, we're trading you. And he had no, he was not prepared for it. And what's up?

and then CJ's mental stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And CJ is going to be a mental coach of his own one day. It was awesome hearing about him and his mental health, the growth of the sport. I want to say it was in year four when he was, like, down bad and was getting introduced to meditation. So we have some really good mental talk as well

about why both of them's driven and stuff like that. But it was just a really cool interview. And again, I learned a lot about soccer. I feel like all the boys did. JP, you're a soccer buff, right? Yeah, big time. So you kind of knew all about that. From your perspective, how do you feel like that went?

If you're a soccer fan. Like, were you sitting there? Like, oh, this is good stuff? Or were you, like, I already kind of know all of this. I think it's a lot of good stuff for people in America because not a lot of Americans are real soccer fans. But getting to hear about what happens when you're traded and that type of thing. Balancing the international and the MLS.

It's just cool to see. And to see, like, from their perspective, how it changed. When they were in high school, they're trying to go to college. Now that these kids, or the kids in high school now are trying to go to the academies. Yeah. And two different crops of players and just their perspective. I thought it was interesting, too, like when he's talking about his mental state,

when he gets done playing for another team and then he comes back to Nashville, and he might not have a day off or he didn't play a lot in that game, so he has more energy or he did play a lot. So he's a little physically exhausted and how he tries and balances playing for multiple teams. Yeah, I mean, because he could play a game in Costa Rica on Thursday and have to come back and play for Nashville on Saturday. that's that's how it can happen it does not happen this week but that happens for those players it's a gullible i'm like tomorrow he's going to goz-rigger right now yeah it's wild i which is ignorant

on my part but like the boys are like going to the playoffs yeah hell yeah so nashville a we got rep the boys ns cc baby i'm going to start hitting uh my man cj's yeah his little namestay celebration i like the interview dude i thought it was good like i said i was nervous i just didn't feel like I was going to know a whole lot, and I didn't want it to. We were kind of alluding to at one point, like how they're sitting in certain interviews. At times, and people just, like, aren't prepared. And you kind of just sit there awkwardly. And I'm like, thank God that was not happening.

Because we're pros over here, I bust with the boys. But without waiting much longer, here you go. Here's the interview with CJ and Walker. Go follow the boys. Shout the boys out. This episode, if you're watching on YouTube right now, hey, here's a great time. Here's a great time. Leave a real comment.

Tell us maybe how your trick-or-treating went. Your Halloween went. tell us how you support the boys, how you pub, National Soccer Club, or the Titans. Maybe leave a comment on the whole situation going on

how we're six and two and still rolling. I mean, I do hope, we are going to get into the interview. I just kind of ring a bell on something. I do hope the boys keep it fucking going,

though, because they are number one, the AFC. Raiders are what, number two, three, they're tied for two. The good thing is,

like, again, this is all business. This is just all, it just is what it is. Just like the boys are next men up. mentality. If something were to happen throughout the year, I got to be next team up mentality. 51 is ready.

51 is ready. I'm ready to go play ball. And if I'm not playing ball and the boys go down, but the Raider boys come up, like, you got to be next team up mentality. You know what I mean? You just got to be ready at any point to jump ship and go with another team. Just really lay into that, lean into that, like just a fraud. No, I do hope the boys fucking crush it. Yeah, look, Titans won Raiders too. All right, here's the interview. Well, I appreciate you guys Coming on This is my first time

Honestly talking with soccer players And you guys will have to teach me as we go I got to know a little bit about you guys But like I've watched Ted Lassow And that's about it You know what I mean? It's a good starting point

It's a good start it is You guys watch Ted Lazo? How much to this Now obviously all the writing involved But as far as like the The life around the locker room and everything like that. Like, how does that relate to you guys?

Is there similarities? I think they pick up on, like, the really small things that actually do happen and then blow them up to, like, make it a real storyline. So it's like even guys getting, like, rookie haircuts or, like, doing little,

the types of pranks and the types of jokes they make are pretty similar to what goes on. Yeah, I think the inside of, like, the different cultures is really on point. Because you got so many different walks of life in the locker room.

And, like, the cultural diffusion is in Ted Lassau. They really hit the nail on the head. Yeah. When, like, as far as the way Ted Lassau as a coach seems not, I don't know, it's not disconnected, but I guess removed from the coaching side of things to where it seems a lot more player ownership than it would be in, like, a football locker room. Like in football, you know, you're sitting up there.

It seems like when you're coaching soccer as a soccer team, you're kind of like asking your guys, like, what's the best route to go? or the soccer guys kind of know a little bit more about what to do than what, not saying football guys don't know what to do, but you're really leaning on your coaching and what plans they're going to make, what adjustments they're going to make. Like, is that a, is that a, is that a, okay.

Oh, is that a topic? Let's go. You know, the thing about soccer, like, once you get on the field, players have to navigate, you know, the game and the adversity. And for the most part, our team, I think does very well at managing that. But I would say in Ted Lassau, that's maybe exaggerated because a lot of coaches want to have, you know,

complete control over what they're trying to do. And you got to be careful. If you veer too far off, like the path the coach is trying to set, then, you know, it might be tough for you to stay in the lineup and to perform, you know, to the exact specifications of what the coach wants, you know. It's different for every coach, too. Like, some coaches want to have, like, it's more of a dictatorship.

And it's like they have their way. They have the way that their ship wants to sail. And that's it. And there's no communication with players. Then you have other coaches who may be, like, completely player-driven to where, like, they don't want as much responsibility. Let the players have it a little bit more. So then there's a fine balance, you've got to find.

Are there guys like, like, what's his name, Jamie Tart? Are there dudes like the Jamie Tart? I know those are like, like, I know those are like, as an athlete you know those that role in the show is a little exaggerated but is that is does that happen in soccer because i see i can see soccer being a little similar to like basketball in the way that like one player can kind of like be a stud and maybe you guys can correct me if i'm wrong on that again i'm very new in the soccer world i don't even play fief i mean they definitely get that stereotype but they yeah they give the stereotype that he can like we're going to let him do whatever he wants

like i know in football like there's not a dude who can just completely act like that like maybe the only example that might be close that we would have had in recent years is probably like when A.B was on the Raiders, right? When he goes in and he's like got camera guys around him. He's doing his own thing. He kind of doesn't give a shit. Like I've heard stories about all that stuff. But is there, is there characters like that in the soccer world? I think so. I'm trying to think of MLS guys, though. I don't know if there's like that many. I think the difference is like in MLS. You don't have like these superstars of the world, whereas like NFL is like the best league in the world for the sport. So I don't think you can have guys in MLS who can have like that big like Jamie Tart type egos because they haven't really made it to the very top of their sport.

Gotcha. So yes, you'll have like the arrogant players, but it's not, it's not going to be like Jamie Tart. Okay. Yeah. I mean, in Europe, I'm sure every team has a guy like that. But in this country, this league, a league that's really been built by like domestic players anyway. Got a bunch of grinders. Yeah, grinders, like guys that are willing to.

fucking go, they're some blue collar motherfuckers, dude. It's going to be hard for somebody to come from outside the league onto a team, have an ego, and still succeed, you know? Yeah. A lot of guys, they'll come and maybe in the first couple, you know, kicks, they're like, oh, this is easy. Like, I'm about to run shit over here. But after a while, like, just the culture of soccer guys start getting against you.

And then once coaches see that, you could be out of the mix pretty quickly. Damn, okay, I got you. Where is the MLS compared to like Getting to is Europe the biggest league? This is how dumb I am like There's probably soccer fans on you're like god damn it People listen like god damn it cop This is how you learn though

There's so many leagues in Europe Italy, Spain, England Those are all leagues All their own leagues And then they got divisions within the leagues You got like the Bundes League of one two Three England has like

So where's the MLS? Where's the MLS? Well, if you ask MLS, they'll say like probably, I don't know, man. It's the number one league here. And I know MLS, the goal is to be like a top 10 league. They want to be a top five league. I think they said 2024 was like their whole campaign like maybe five, 10 years ago. Yeah.

I would say we're definitely probably a top 10 league at this point. you got to think EPL so it's got Spain, Italy Germany I mean you can argue some maybe a South American or Argentinian but the problem is like some of these leagues

have such good top teams their top four or five teams are like better than MLS teams would be but then their lower half are trash but it's like you know is that league really better if they have four or five teams that are probably better than MLS teams but their lower half is not

it's hard to say but Is that, I mean, the quality is improved. When did you come to the league? 2011. Yeah. So, I mean, like, since 2011, I came 2013, it's night and day different. Like, the quality, the types of players they're bringing in. It's gotten a lot better.

How do you think they get to where they, they, they reach the spot to where they're a top five league? Yeah, I keep paying. I keep paying the players. Is that pretty much what it is? It's just all the money? It's got to be the commitment from, from ownerships in the league to keep increasing salary cap, keep increasing the money that they're spending, because that's going to attract

other bigger players. And they're doing it. But, you know, if they want the rapid growth that they're talking about, then got to dish out. Yeah. And I guess to generate the revenue, you kind of just need the popularity of the sport to grow. Do you feel like, like, America's doing a good job of growing the sport or the popularity in the sport? Yeah. From, again, from when we started until now, I mean, social media has definitely helped a lot, too. MLS. importing players from different countries, very popular players. The quality on the field is elevating. So it's getting to the point where now, like, a typical fan who's used to watching football where there's big hits, touchdowns, basketball, slam dunks, like, there's crunching

tackles, there's like close shots, like almost goal scoring opportunities. So it's a lot more exciting. That's what the league needs to continue to propel itself forward. it's a good time for us to be in the league you know we've been able to see it grow and i think me and walk are similar and we're guys that like to just grind it out and in battle so it's i fucking love that yeah chevies it's really cool yeah so it's cool to be a part of that it's interesting to see how far it goes but i mean shit stuff like this you know helping you understand a little bit more getting it out to more people i think it'll it'll just organic continue to grow. Yeah. Just to give perspective, like when I was growing up, um, or like my high school

didn't even have like a soccer team until I was like a senior in high school. And you guys know the whole stereotype too, like football players growing up. Missouri. Okay. Really? Yeah, Missouri. And like, you know, growing up the whole stereotype of like, oh, why would you play soccer when you can play football type of thing? And I don't feel like I got rid of that myself until I was probably like in college and realize like, damn, at the time it seemed like closet soccer fans, right? Because they would have the jersey. Some of my teammates would just be all about it when the World Cup and stuff would come on. And I beg, how are you so into soccer? Like, bro, you're not into soccer. And it just seemed like it was huge to some of these guys. I'm like, where did they even grow up

or learn that soccer is like, you know, soccer is life. And now I feel like, now I feel like where we're at now in like in 2021, especially with like shows like Ted Lasso coming out. And I feel like just the notoriety you guys get a little more, how much more it's publicized. I feel like it's trending the right direction. Because again, coming from my ignorance self growing up in Missouri, it's just like, oh, damn, I didn't even know this was like extremely popular like this. And then the, I mean, World Cup, 2026 is going to be massive when it comes to the U.S. I think that's going to be like a huge turning point where everything so far in MLS is kind of building to 2026,

like when the World Cup comes to the United States. And then I think you're going to see an explosion of like even more interest, even more publicity. Even you look at like Nashville, you know, becoming a franchise, becoming a club, getting the soccer specific stadium. It'll be 30,000, which is going to be perfect. You know, it's going to be homey, the biggest soccer specific stadium in the country. And, you know, our fans, yes, it's great. It's awesome having, you know, 20, 25,000 fans at Nissan Stadium. But, you know, then you have 50,000 empty seats.

Like when you pack all those people into one place, I think we're going to have a pretty cool environment. So you're seeing a lot more of those kinds of environments where, you know, they're getting, specific stadiums and they're selling them out. And so that's what's just going to keep going after the World Cup, I think. How do you guys feel about like Nashville, like the expansion team coming to Nashville? Because you guys got, did you guys get traded here? Did you kind of move with the team? Well, you got traded.

I signed as a free agent. So I guess, yeah, for me at the time, I just wanted a team. I wanted a team that would fit my playing style, but also it got a fit. fam so wanted them to be comfortable and you know kind of like what walkers talking about was it being a new franchise new organization they're building the right way you know and it's cool to be a part of something that's getting built where the team itself we're a very cohesive group I'm very excited about that there is definitely an opportunity for Nashville to become a bit of a dynasty in MLS it just takes a little time and you know we're pushing for the playoffs right now we're in

playoffs we're trying to get some silverware yeah that's the number one way you can really propel your your franchise to where you you wanted to get to um but yeah i love nashville uh it's different i was in chicago before it's not as big of a city but oh no especially from chicago chicago is a great city shout out to chicago um but nashville definitely i like it good for family and like i said when the experience for us as players when the experience on the field in the locker room. It's top notch. It makes it a little easier to, you know, get up every day and do it.

Yeah. Yeah. Feel the same way? Yeah, for sure. You like Nashville? Love it. It's been a great fit. And I think when you look at kind of your life and the transitions that come along,

like the timing of Nashville for me and getting traded, it was like an absolute bomb dropped on me and my wife. We were out in L.A. Yeah, I was going to say you came from L.A. We felt super secure, like with where we were. I thought we were going to be there for a long time. Random call one night. out of the blue,

um, and you're traded to Nashville. And we were just like, what? Like, we thought I was going to be there for a long time. So thankfully it was Nashville.

Um, we got here, fell in love with the city, even amidst COVID, like not being able to do a lot of stuff. Like, when was that? When did you get the call?

So I got the call on like basically mid-February. So it was like pretty late in terms of trades. Because we were like in the middle of preseason at that point. And we were preparing in L.A. for, you know, first match in 10 days. it was.

Yeah. And then I got traded. Call was on a Monday night, got to Nashville on a Wednesday night. I was on a contract on a house Saturday. It was with the team Saturday afternoon in Tampa for preseason, like the second half of preseason. That's what I'm. It was insane. And then we got back, we closed on our house the day that everything shut down in Nashville.

It was like March 16th or something of that. Yeah. So it was a crazy experience. But now especially, you know, everything's opened up again. We love our neighbors. love our neighborhood. We're in Green Hills. I mean, it's sweet.

I love how convenient it is, too. Right. It's like the 20-minute city. Yeah, yeah. We're in 20 minutes. Every single place. And whereas L.A., it's like we couldn't even drive to a stadium on a weekday game. So you have to take the metro.

Were you pretty pissed off when you got traded? I was, dude, honestly, I was like, I felt every emotion within like a two-day span. It was like anger, frustration, sadness, confusion. like I mean me and my wife were just like bawling leaving the apartment I'm like it was just I didn't even know what was going on it's hard it's hard for MLS players too because when we get traded like we have to take control of so many of the logistics like I've heard really so like yeah I've heard from like NFL players NBA players like when they get traded like everything is sorted you get to your you get people calling yeah maybe you get to the hotel everything's already set up you're just worrying about playing Whereas, like, we, you got to figure out the moving. Like, yeah, a lot of the expenses get taken care of, but you really have to, like, take control of that. And you explaining that, I'm like, oh, I'm just imagining, like, right before season starting to, you know, not only, like, are the colors of your jersey changing, but you got to go get a whole other house. And then mainly you're, like, leaving, like, Sally basically got to take care of the whole move and stuff because I go straight into preseason.

So it's like, now I'm in Florida for two weeks. She's still in LA. She has to do all the stuff. And like, she's had to do a lot of that. Yeah. You know, it's just like, I can't imagine. Was that kind of the first big thing, pivotal thing that happened in your career? I had gotten traded from Dallas to L.A., but that was more of like a mutual thing.

Kind of knew it was coming in the off season. So we had time to kind of prep it. Then, yeah, I mean, that was really the first, yeah. That was the first, like. Where you just see the teeth of the business for, like, yeah. Like, damn, I'm just. just, I'm just a shoe on a shelf,

dude. Going the next day and like the whole team, like obviously they're all surprised too and you're just like never really seeing them again. Right. Just like, hey, it was real like,

I'll see you guys next year. And then it's like, with COVID, we didn't end up playing L.A. Right. So like, I haven't even seen that team in like two years. That's crazy.

Bro, you'll like dad people up and you'll be like, you know, you'll just kind of say the comfortable thing too. Like as players like, yeah, like we'll stay in touch, man.

Or, you know, we'll get up in the off season. know. Yeah. And honestly, like, you might not see those dudes in LA ever again. I was, I was in Dallas. I went to the movies with Kyle Becker.

We wouldn't see a movie on like a Wednesday night. Thursday morning, he comes in. He gets called in the coach's office. Everyone's already out training. So I hadn't seen him yet come in that morning. And he left because he got traded that morning. I haven't seen him since. We went to the movies.

And I show up at training. And he's gone. Like he leaves. I haven't seen him since. Like it's crazy. I was like six years ago. Bro, seven years ago,

I mean, hell, at the end of the day, they're playing fantasy just like us. Yeah, yeah. Someone gets hurt

on our, our fantasy rosters, you know, you're dropping them. You're going a different route. Yeah. I had to let Derek Henry go. Dude.

I already put my claim in for McNichols. Is that the right move? I think so. I mean, they got Adrian Peterson coming. But, uh, Oh, no.

McNickles will still... Are you in a PPR league? Half PPR league? Half PPR? Yeah, yeah, that's your using four leagues. But, I mean, if you're in some kind of PPR league, like, McNichols is never a bad play because he gets all the third down stuff.

Yeah, but I don't want a third down back. I need the guy. I need the workhorse. I think that, you know, that could shift a little bit toward AP. I mean, at the end of the dude's 37. He can't be the workhorse. I need to cancel my name right now. I put like 31 waiver bucks on this guy.

Really? Yeah. Because I mean Thankfully my team's kind of stacked in this league So I don't I don't really need him But I want him if he's gonna be the guy He could though It could be somebody you get and you see for a couple weeks

Because he should get a good He's thinking he's thinking now I'm going through my light up in my head I'm like okay well do I play Gaskin over like a AP or I don't know I mean AP I just don't think he'll be AP Coming right out of the gate Yeah you know what I mean

You never know I hope he is I'm like I'm talking business with my man right now I want the boys to win. Like, I'm pro-Tayy. I need Michael Thomas coming back. I just had him sitting on the bench for all season. He's going to be out at least another week, but then maybe week 10. I got Montgomery, bro, who I'm waiting on him to return from Chicago.

I've been waiting on him to come back, dude. Sheesh. All this extra stress bar. It actually makes it so fun now, like, thinking about, like, if we were to play MLS fantasy. Like, the fact that you get to, like, play with all your boys, like, you can draft your friends. Like, that's fucking funny. Or, like, just... Bro, it's so funny.

Because I had heard... Drop them and, like, send him a screenshot. You're not doing it from me. You are like, I remember when I was playing at Washington, I'd go up to Jordan Reed because I'd have Jordan Reed on my fantasy team as a tight end. I'd go up to Jay Reid, like in the middle of the game. Like, hey man, I'm going to need a little bit more out of you.

I'm going to need a little bit more out of it. Or when he was hurt. Yeah, yeah, when he was hurt up, hey, so. You playing this? Yeah, I got to make some decisions now. We need you. We want you on the team. But when I heard about Derek last night,

like immediately went to our group chat. I said, hey, Derek's on the blog. And I said, I said he's only got me 22 points these last couple weeks. So, you know, I'll take, I'm looking for a top 10 running back and a top 10 wide receiver. Got a request trade for Austin Eccler and Mike Williams. And he wanted Derek Henry and A.J. Green. And immediately hit Accept. Of course.

So the trade's going through. But right now it's getting veto because everybody's finding out about Derek now. And, you know, they think it's slimy of me. But I'm like, yo, shame on you for it. thinking I'm a high integrity player in this business. Like we got to make moves. You know, talking to Derek. Like, yeah, man, let me know if you need anything.

Get out of the phone. Like, hey, man, Derek's on the block. Shit, sending packing. Oh, man. What else we got? Hey, Alex, can you make sure and let Peggy know that we won't do Mercedes? Bontair biscuits. No, I know.

You know yours. Oh, yes. I'm like fired up Bontair biscuits, bro. It's a good day to be a biscuit, man, because we're winning right now. I'm actually interested to hear this too. I'm four and four right now. But our league is built around four and four. We got a lot of teams in the middle.

We got one team that's seven and one. The rest are like four and four, and then you have a couple there, like two win teams or one-win team. So I'm going to go to five and three in two leagues. I need to go to hopefully six and two and one. That's the Nashville League that right now the projections is within a point. That's the one where Boswell's hurt and it's Mahomes, Butker. The other one I'm going to go to six and two if Mahomes and Butker put up 25. So you're saying nice.

I'm in a really good spot. Henry will hurt in this Nashville league. I have some depth, but like that means Gaskin's the everyday starter. And I don't know if that's what I need. Because Josh Jacobs, like he's, he's always questionable. Right. Like, he's like the Julio Jones are running backs, you know, like you're basically, I don't even know if I want to play him as a questionable tag. If Julio Jones is questionable, I'm not playing him.

I mean, I love him. I love seeing the GM come out of him, dude. I mean, how many hours a day would you say you're spending on your, not a lot? Not a lot. No. No, Sunday. Sunday, I am like this. Yeah.

Just refreshing at all time. Going from team to team. I'm not even looking at the TV. Like, Red Zone. be on and it's just this. And it's in the charger because it lasts like 20 minutes. Yeah. It is,

it's so funny how different you watch the game. Like just, man, like yesterday I was telling Taylor, like I was playing, the dude who I was playing against had AJ Brown. And obviously I want the Titans to win every game. But when he was going on that long run,

I'm like, you just fucking push that motherfucker out of bounds, dude. Like you want him like, all right, now give Derek the ball. The good thing about Derek going down is I also have Jonathan Taylor and he's been playing well recently.

You know, or the Titans fans. listening like again it's just business it's just like it is it's just like it's just the name of the game everybody else knows it titans fans probably have johnson taylor on their team anyway there's no loyalties to to actual teams when you're in fantasy football right the lollities to the biscuits yeah what are your team's names so my Dallas league team name is coy's daddy because boy's daddy coy was basically a rookie when i was there and took him on my wing and just kind of yeah come here So beating him this week.

Hold the pocket. Hold my pocket. I'm playing him this week. So taking care of that. Next league, injected into my veins. Okay. I got,

ha, yeah, is another name. Oh, yeah. And then, Nashville league is milk me. That is great.

The milk me. Wow. Well, good. What do we go from here? Hooters at. Yeah, Hooters at.

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Hey, we're all a little tight like, man. Has there water back there? Episode 123. That's crazy. Bro, yeah, it's been nuts, man. It's been nuts that we've had a podcast for this long. Since mid-2019, since like June of 2019. We do like one a week.

Taylor and I, when we first did it, the bus was sitting on this gravel parking lot. Everybody started the story. that's like listening to her. I was like, all right, we got to hit the story again. And,

uh, we backlogged like probably five to eight episodes. We ran them and we were only going to do the podcast for the summer. Like we were just going to like, because again, we were like the first pod where active players are sitting here and you're kind of letting it fly like the way we do. Like we're obviously super nervous and had anxiety about it.

But we're like, all right, we'll do this in the summer. And then when it's football, like we'll just play football. We won't do the pod. Um, because,

you know, you don't want like the distractions, like all that stuff. Yeah. You guys don't want to talk. talking about. And I remember getting on the phone with McAfee, Pat McAfee, who does the Pat McAfee show. And what's up? Well, I'm just saying, they, they, they, he brought, do you know who Pat is? No. See? You're like, damn, Will, will, will's over here flex and will's over here, name drop.

Oh, you know, he's got his name on the show. But, uh, he was like, if you're going to do it, be consistent. Like, if you're going to do one a week, try to get as many as you can to be consistent all your loan, because the name of the game. is like being consistent about it. And since that conversation with him, Taylor and I was like, yo, we need to start getting pods in the library to last throughout the season. And so that first year, I remember one week,

we did like 12 pods in one week. Like to say, you guys would come on, then we'd have somebody else come on after. We would do like three, we would do like three in a day, bro. And you know how it is? Like, you can only say so many, there's only so much humor and jokes on your mind in the day.

Toward by the third one, you're kind of just like, right. What are we laughing about? And so, yeah, we did that. And then once we got into the off season, We're able to do a lot in the offseason, then COVID hit. So then we did start to do Zoom. But yeah, it's been wild.

And then it's a weird thing because Taylor Tours ACL last year. And I was on the Titans as well. And two guys couldn't be on the bus at the same time. Like you couldn't have two players. You couldn't be seen outside the facility with a teammate. Because they had all those COVID regulations. You guys know what I mean? Like, we couldn't give a guy right home.

Like if you were tier one in the building, you couldn't be with him after the facility. So Taylor was the only one that could do the podcast. And honestly, like, as far as speaking from busting with the boys, it was almost like a blessing that he was able to do some pods until I was able to start doing them again. But we just, like, kept it rolling, dude. That's crazy.

You guys thought about doing a pod? I thought about it before. I just don't know that I have the ability to stay consistent, you know. Yeah. Especially with a fan. You'll be hearing kids. screaming in the background. If I could get like a spot that's off-site, you know?

This would be dope. Like, I would definitely look forward to to coming here and just, like, shooting the shit. But it's a commitment. Bro, it really is. That's something like you definitely sleep on. I slept on, like, coming into. Like, you think you're just going to, like, do a show, like, talk on mics. How hard could it be?

Like, let's take our conversations in the locker room and just have them on the show. And then, like, when you're first starting, I remember Taylor and I had to redo our first episode, like, so much. because we're like, you know, what are we doing? Like, what are we talking about? Like, we're forcing our conversations. And then it's really hit or miss.

I did a couple in L.A. They had me do a couple of different pods. Yeah. And it's like pretty hit or miss with like guests too. Yeah. Because then if like, if it's not flowing pretty well, you're kind of stressing yourself and you're like, okay, let me just go to the next question.

And it just becomes like, like. Yeah. And then it becomes at that point, it's like a, yeah. Exactly. And it's no good. And then you still have to put it out there because you're like, right, be consistent with it.

Exactly. And then you're putting out stuff to where it does, it seems like scripted are like, now we're actually sitting in an interview, and you kind of just feel weird. We hit a block, and I was like, real anxious about, like, oh, man, what was my next question? Instead of just being like, where do we go from here?

Exactly. Or how about Ted Lassow? A little low on water, so. Oh, man. This is perfect right here. This is great. Yeah, yeah, this is probably. Yeah, he's probably, it's serious.

He's got Peteylight for all. of us too though that's nice yeah you guys can pour that and revitalite best drink best drink man it's the adult version of the other stuff in the store that we don't talk about not like that but it's like instead of saying the other instead of saying the competitor the idyllite competitor we just use revitalite which is like the adult version of the kid stuff you see in the grocery store you know what I mean do we have a revitalite ad well there you go revitalite no free shoutouts oh yeah yeah yeah you think it's way to put us back on track yeah uh okay uh okay I'll start.

Yeah, youth academies, when it comes to soccer in this country, I mean, anywhere, honestly, that's how teams develop their talent. And, you know, the game, that's where a lot of the profit comes from. You develop players from a young age. They get to an age where they're becoming successful or have a lot of potential. You sell them to another team. Rinse. Jesus.

Yeah. And it sounds kind of wild. Yeah. You get to where, oh, they have potential, sell them. Yeah. 10, 11, 12. You have 12-year-olds getting paid by academies, you know. They're doing their schooling on site.

They are getting paid. Everything is paid for. Everything is getting paid for. On site, you know, they're getting the best of the best in terms of coaching, training, stuff like that. And this country, the academy system is definitely. definitely developing to another level. The MLS has already had quite a few players get sold overseas.

And I mean, the return on investment there is outrageous for them. So I'll let Walker, you can follow up on that one. You get sold overseas. The profits are astronomical. Yeah, it's the business. No, no, that's true. So it's like, it's basically like 10 years old, maybe 10, 12 years old, the modern, like, academy system. completely different when we were growing up playing youth soccer.

Now you have MLS teams that have their own academies. Right now I'm helping out the U-17 Academy team coach them on the side. So I'm hopeful that when we sell them, maybe a little bit of that comes back. I don't know exactly how it works, but maybe I'll put that plug in now.

You got rights, bro. Honestly, though, that happens a lot though. If a MLS teams academy develops a player and they sell him, if that player gets sold again, they can get kickback from that next sale too. So it's like an NFT.

Yeah. It's like it's going back to the coaches, which honestly they should put something in their contract. Like for every kid they get sold to the Europe. Because they're the ones that actually develop. Yeah, they're the ones doing all the coaching. So something to think about. Did you guys get sold?

No. Like I said, the system was different for us. We're talking about selling kids. We're talking about developing kids and then selling them overseas. Soccer, yeah. This is great. Wow. Yeah, so the system, probably 10, 12 years old. So I was kind of borderline my age group of, it was the first year kids were starting to go to Academy, like at U-17. I stayed on the team that I was with, like, my club team. And then I was already committed to college. I was like, I don't need to go now to this new academy system. And because I was already committed. But basically all the years after kind of my age group, 1993's, you see. started seeing the top talents go to these academy teams and then now it's like mLS academy teams so you have Atlanta United for example you have Atlanta United

too which a lot of their academy kids can then go play for Atlanta United too same thing sporting KC Red Bulls DC Philly now Nashville like all the teams basically have Academy teams starting at you 13 you 15 17 19 whatever it is and then at some point if they're like developed really well in the age groups like if they get to where they're good at they could sell them early you can either sell them but majority of the time you're probably signing them to a homegrown contract and so that means incentive this see we're going to get we're going to get real wacky because you're going to learn a lot about MLS rules if we go down this road so think hey I think it's interesting so if you see like say you guys

are beasts right and I'm like head of the academy or this team and I'm like you know these two are savages at what's the youngest age 16 usually 15 16 would be the youngest. It would be the youngest. It would be the youngest to get into an academy. Would be the youngest to get where you sign a homegrown contract. Okay. But if you would do a homegrown if you realize like, hey, these dudes are going to be monsters.

Like get them under contract now for cheap and then we got them locked up. And the perk of the homegrown contract. And then the kid doesn't kind of, you know, the kid and the family doesn't know because they're finally like, oh, we're going to finally start seeing a little bit. So now you get the mechanisms of how MLS works. So now it's like you look at the salary cat. So the incentives for MLS teams is if you sign. a homegrown player, their contract doesn't count against the salary cap. So it's the incentive to then have a rostered player that you aren't actually

hitting against the cat. So have to pay them, but it doesn't count. So how would the team benefit, how would the other team benefit from getting it? Why wouldn't the homegrown team just keep the kid? They would. Like, if you sign a homegrown contract, then you're staying with the academy team. Like, they get your first rights. Okay.

So if there's a Nashville kid, he's a baller. They signed a homegrown deal. He has to stay with Nashville. He couldn't even sign with another MLS team because Nashville owns the rights of all academy kids. Okay. So you can't like have a Nashville player be like, oh, I can go pro.

I'm going to go play for LAFC. And then just leave. It's like, no, he is owned by Nashville. So they have the first rights to sign him and basically make money. What if like another league, like what a Europe league wanted to sign him? Then they could leave,

but Nashville would have rights to get a percentage of the transfer fee and all that. And then MLS on top of that just takes their transfer fee. Because MLS is single entity, right? So MLS owns basically, well, MLS pays all the contracts. So when there's a transfer, I'm not sure what the rule is now, but just in the last CBA, MLS gets two thirds of the transfer fee and the team gets one third. In Europe, if you get transferred, the player gets 10% of the transfer fee. Here, no, you don't get nothing. do you wish there was some like

rules applied that are over in Europe over here in the US I mean for me like are there some rules you guys look at and like damn that you know I wish we had some of the benefits in that league there's quite a few

honestly it's just all we want to see is for a kid that is going to essentially forego their whole upbringing to put the effort into soccer

perhaps they're trying to feed the fam I think every dollar counts and if a kid is able to play their way to a position of having potential to succeed outside of MLS and gets transferred they should get a little bite of that

oh yeah and then when you're looking at the fact that MLS is getting two thirds of the fee and then the teams are only getting one third that starts messing with the fee they're willing to accept So imagine paying a kid 60,000 and a team wants to pay $2 million for him. But now everybody's like, well, my two-thirds is only this much.

We want $3 million. So that's where it can get real messy. But ultimately at the end of the day, these players are in this country, are getting an opportunity to maximize their potential overseas, which helps our country develop soccer. And as we're seeing with the men's national team, we're starting to have more and more younger talent develop their way into that squad.

And by 2026, we're looking pretty good. And we'll see when that time comes around, it'll be easier to kind of measure where we've gone, you know, from the start of these homegrown wheelings and dealings. Yeah, no, that's great. Covered it all. To interrupt this episode, the shout out Roeback, Act of Where, you all know Roeback, the boys at Roeck.

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Is it kind of like, like would you say kids grow up playing soccer in America, they're wanting to play in the MLS? Or are you trying to go over to Europe? When I was growing up, it was wanting to go to Europe. But I think now MLS is definitely a good destination. I think the stigma is like you can't be the best unless you go to Europe. But I'm not sure that that's true anymore, honestly. Yeah, narrative is probably shifting a little bit.

I think if you're a kid and you're always dreaming of like, I want to play in the World Cup or I want to play in Champions League, If that's still like the dream and it's true, like then yeah, you're going to want to go to Europe. But like at the same time, you know, the quality in MLS has gotten so much better that it's going to be pretty hard for most kids, even if they're going to become professionals to just go straight over. Like there have to be really, really talented players to succeed right away in Europe. So I could see a lot of, especially when you look at homegrowns, like guys getting a chance to join a great league in MLS, get a lot of minutes under their belt. in a professional environment and then make the jump. Because I think it is a pretty big jump if you're going from just 15, 16 year old,

going overseas. It could be a little bit. Just because the competition is higher. And then the other factors are like, okay, now you're just moving away from home. Like, you're still a young kid. Like, you don't know how that's going to affect different kids in certain ways. So there are obviously success stories of kids who do it, but it's pretty rare. Yeah.

Are there many Americans that are over in Europe right now? Yeah, there's a lot of young guys. So within our national team, we probably have, of the last couple qualifiers, say we have 25 people on the roster, probably 12, 13 are guys who are playing in top good leagues overseas. It's probably pretty split in terms of the roster. Got you.

Maybe a little bit more European than MLS. Now, when it's worlds, like when you do the big, the international or the world tournament or whatever, do you got to play for the the country in which you like grew up in is it kind of like the Olympics well you can have it's just what i mean you can have different passports just the don't football player asking questions yeah no it's because again you have some some guys will have a grandmother that is from a certain country like what you'll see a lot for like a spain italy england teams that are always high in terms of global rankings it might be

harder to get on that roster. But hey, my grandmother's Jamaican. Oh, so let's try and manipulate her kind of. So then, even though I grew up in England, my grandmother's Jamaican and I want to play on the world stage. So I'm just going to get a Jamaican passport and I'll play for Jamaica. You see, like that kind of stuff happens a lot. I mean, even with the U.S., you have guys that grow up on base in Germany and spent maybe

a year in this country in their whole life but they're most likely not going to, you know, make the German national team. So then it's like, oh, well, I'll play for the U.S. Yeah. I mean, a lot of the white dudes in America are like German anyway. It's like, hey, I'm German.

I'm going to play for the German team. I can say that because, yeah, I got some German in it. You know what I mean? You might too. You're blonde. Yeah, you might have some German lindies. Zimmerman's a German name. I mean, I don't know how far back it goes. All I know is.

I do not qualify for a passport. So that's also a little frustrating. You know, sometimes you, if you don't have passports, it's harder for you to go over and play in Europe. So based on their work visas and things like that. So it's easier if you have, so I'm like, man, maybe we should go have our next kid over in Europe and then give him the opportunity if he wants it

to be able to have a more flexibility in that career. Yeah. How does college fit into everything? If you say you went to college, Did you go to college too? You went that route? Yeah, so how does... James Madison.

James Madison. Oh, yeah. Yeah, let's go. Went to a Halloween party there once. Oh, yeah. You guys get down now. You had a great time. Yeah.

Yeah, JMU. It's a fun little party school. Great school. But yeah, how does college fit in all this? Okay. Let's just say, how did college fit into it when you guys were coming up? And how does college kind of fitting into it now? Yeah.

So, again, when I was coming up, academies weren't that big of a thing. whereas today you're most like these 16, 17 year olds that are in an academy. They have chances to go to college, but there's usually somebody above telling them, nah, you don't want to do that,

just stay here. You're going to get everything you need. You can develop. Whereas for me, I think that was the best thing that I could have done was go to college because kind of what Walker was saying for these young kids to like go up through these systems

and then all of a sudden be on their own having to manage themselves. as a professional, like the daily things, not having your mom, you know, cooking clean for you, those are things that I learned in college. And like, sometimes, you know, I've really had to rough it, like learning budgeting, like, $40 a week. Like, am I going to get subway or am I going to get a beer? Like, you know, those are the experiences in college that I really, really enjoyed. And I think looking back, I'm very thankful to have had that experience. I think the kids that are coming up these days, college isn't always the number one.

You know, for them, if they can sign a homegrown deal at 16, 17, 17, they would rather do that. Got you. Got you. Yeah, I think that's where some of the problem is, is like, some kids, yeah, they're probably talented enough to become professionals, but the problem is, like, the top 1% should probably go academy and try and maybe for a go college if they, like, really have to be. potential to make it because it's going to be better training it's going to be better for their development as a as a pro athlete or a future pro athlete because the you know with the academy system like that's the goal is to develop guys who are going to probably not even go to college but guys who go straight from the academy of the first team the problem is when you start signing a bunch of

homegrown guys and some of them aren't necessarily that good now they're risking their college education to go pro for a minimum contract on 70,000 bucks yeah and they're going to get cut after two years, and now they're like, oh, gosh, I got to find a college, but now they can't play college because you're already been a pro. So I think it really depends on if you're the absolute, like, cream of the crop, I think you've got to develop Academy Pro. But for the guys that, you know, maybe they'll make it one day, it's like it's a big risk if you're trying to sign a small deal to become a pro and you forgo college. So college soccer, I think the quality overall is probably dropping a little. bit because you're losing some of the very top talent to the academies to like the academy

stuff to the academies but it is still relevant in the sense of like you know even national for example we got some great draft picks that are really big contributors so two years ago we drafted a officer johnston he's become a mainstay on the canadian national team um been a starter for us for two years jack mayor uh from indiana played you know two years of college and didn't play a lot last year but now he's played like 20 games this year so it's like you can see you can see you can see still find talent in college that can contribute to you, you know, whether they graduate early or leave college early. But it's just, I'm scared for the guys that are chasing this dream of being a pro athlete. And then they choose to, you know, they're a little by disillusion with their

capabilities. And they become kind of washed up, lost in the system a little bit. You feel like the disillusion comes from, like you were saying that people telling them they're better than they might be their parents or maybe coaches or trainers that maybe aren't necessarily with the team but they're trying to make their money as well saying hey you need to come I mean it's that or like imagine being 16 and you're like oh my gosh I can make like a real salary I can get money I can get money for my family or like you know myself it seems like 60 or 70 000 it's kind of like that's a that's like the minimum all right in the league so it's like they're pretty much unless again unless they're like you know really really top you're thinking

I can make 70,000 as a 16, 17. And live that pro-life, not have to do school. You're going to, that's, like, super tempting. Yeah. But the problem is, it's not thinking ahead. It's not thinking ahead. And there's not enough resources available to them that project their, whether, even if we're just looking at career, right?

Yeah. Are they being spoken to about, okay, let's just say you pay for 15 years, like, you should be saving this much every year, you know? These kids are right on stock X, icebox, NFTs now, you know, like, which, hey, whatever. Like, at some level there has to be a little bit of risk. And, you know, you're in a position where you can take that kind of risk. But ultimately, like he's saying, 16 years old, you sign a homegrown deal. You basically, some guys, they'll just train, right?

They don't play in games. They're just training every day, every day, two seasons, three seasons, never playing a game. and then boom you're cut you haven't gone to college you have no degree you haven't even thought about what you would do besides soccer because you always thought that soccer was the only thing that was you're not like going to like a routine day throughout a routine day of like class or balancing this and hard to go back to that you're literally just training thinking you're going to do something and then you're then you're done and you're like oh damn that would be yeah what was I thinking yeah what am I going to do now you know and and and again again and again

again, a lot of the teams, they're not sitting there like, yeah, you know, you're not with us anymore, but here's some resources for you, like hope everything, nah, peace. Thanks for your time. You ain't lying, you're not lying, bro. You know, like, that's wild. Yeah. Who's fault is that? You know, I don't even know. Yeah, it's like, how do you even, how do you even try? Is that like a, is that a big thing that happens? Like, there's a lot of kids that do that route. There's plenty of cases. of guys who probably should have gone to college

and then either played a couple years and then they probably got cut from the MLS team and they're like, well, I don't know what else to do. I'm going to drop down to the USL, which is like the league below MLS. Now they're probably making closer like, I don't know, 25. 25, 30, like something that's just like.

Yeah, you're right, right, right. Yeah, having to juggle two different things to get by. You're kind of like in the minors of baseball at that point. Yeah, exactly. Then they just become. And there's always like the glimilar. of hope that they hold on to of like making it back up and it's just so rare to have guys who drop from MLS, USL and then get back up.

Yeah. Like very rare. Shit. Yeah. To go pro. Yeah, you can go pro at any time from college. So you could be a freshman and be like, be a freshman, play your freshman season and you're out.

So did you go? I went, I went all, well, I left after three and a half years, but I played four seasons. Right. college. I had an opportunity to maybe go pro after my junior year, but I was still like, well, hey, I still want to get this degree. You know, I put in all this time and effort. And I still ended up not getting it, but. You didn't get your degree? No, but you have three and a half years? But I had three and a half years. I have two, uh, well, it always comes down. And somebody's like, I got two or three classes left. I'm going to do them online. That's

crazy. And fulfill my promise to my grandma back in the day. Basically, right? My dad was like, will they honor, like, if you get it from, like, S&HU, would Jim you get it? No, because my major switched to a different major in my last year. So kinesiology switched to sports management. If I was to go to another school, I would have had to, like, redo, like, two years worth of credit. Yeah. Which is just awful. But, I mean, we'll see, you know.

Maybe I'll go back and get that piece of paper that's definitely going to get me a job. You know. That's definitely going to get me a job. Well, it's got to feel good. How long you've been playing since, what, 2011? So you're over a, you're like over a decade. Yeah. Yeah.

This is my 11th season. What is, like, the average lifespan of a soccer player? I got out of football. It's like 2.8 years playing in the NFL. Damn. Is that long? That's pretty bad. Yeah.

I'd say around like 10, 11 years. It depends on the position you're playing too. Goalkeepers can play for 15, you know? Um, forwards, midfielders, defenders. Yeah. No, we'll do that. 3.2 to 3.5 is your guy. But that's like, I mean, that's not like they're playing career, but that's like

staying in MLS, or like, St. MLS, right? Wow. Congrats, bro. Thank you, man. You're raising that. Triple the career length. I feel good. Damn.

How about you? How long did you go to college? Did you go all? I left that to my sophomore year. Oh, big dog. Hey, come on. Hey, come on. Hey, big dog.

Okay. You guys are both drafted in the first round, right? Yeah. Big dogs. So, I mean, it's a little different than, like, NFL first round pick. Is it? How many rounds are there in MLS? Basically, two.

And then it's like third and fourth are, like, supplemental draft picks. And, like, a lot of those picks probably don't make the roster. Wait, wait, wait. So there's only two rounds in the MLS draft? Yeah. And then there's... How many picks per round? How many teams are 28?

27. Well, fuck, you guys are big dogs. What do you mean? True. I mean, if you look at it that way. relatively it is it's kind of like the NBA dude yeah it's yeah they had so yeah so yeah so the process of like the college stuff there's like a thing called generation adidas lebron and dway right yeah Kobe uh so there was a thing called generation adidas it's

still going on and that's like an incentive for another MLS mechanism that they use to help teams draft these players but uh every year in college they usually pick like seven eight guys that they identify as like freshmen to juniors who can qualify for like a generation Adidas basically salary or pick whatever and so the perk of that is if you draft a player that's Generation Adidas that MLS will basically again it doesn't count against the salary cap

so it's incentive for the teams to draft those players so I was one of those players you're just trying to have a reason why you're drafting them so would you know? That's why I was drafted the higher is because you know they don't have to Yeah. Same what years is for you? Yeah, you're on year nine?

Yeah, same. Yeah. That's my ninth year. We have this running joke because I'm currently a free agent. Don't know if I'll play the rest of the year. But I always just hashtag like year nine. Like I'm in year nine. No problem.

No problem. You know what I mean? The U.S. national team. How do you make it? Walker can tell you about, well, you got to be a beast like Walker, first of all. So when does it happen? When does worlds and all that stuff happen to where the U.S. national team, you know, I guess shows themselves. Is it like every four years?

We need to start saying World Cup. Yeah, please. What am I saying? Do you know what the World Cup is? I know what the World Cup is. My brother is obsessed with FIFA, bro. That dude loves soccer. Yeah, but he loves soccer.

Like he gets some little jerseys and stuff like that. And like he's all about it. But yeah, okay, World Cup. My fault. When does the World Cup happen? Every, like, four years. Okay. So we got it coming up in 2020.

Right now we're in qualifying. So the big thing was last cycle for the 2018 World Cup, we didn't qualify. And that process this year looks like there's eight teams and you play home and away against every team. Top three will automatically qualify. The fourth will have a playoff against another like region. That's the thing, the tricky part about it. So the region, Concaf, is North America, which is Canada, the U.S., Central America, which is

many different countries. No, El Salvador, Panama. Honduras. Honduras. So, Costa Rica. It is hard to understand. Yeah.

For sure. So we have eight teams right now that have made the final round of qualifying. We've played six games so far within that. So we have two more next week, really. We play Mexico and Jamaica. So that'll be eight games in. But right now we're in second. in the table for the qualifying process.

But yeah, you have 14 games because you have seven home, seven away. We played six already. And you guys are sitting in second place. So right now you're looking to qualify. Yeah, looking to qualify. So two big games in a week and a half. And then we have basically three at the end of January, early February, and then three in March.

And then it's done if you're in the top three, you're in. You feel good about it? Yeah, feel good about it. It's a real young team. We have a lot of inexperienced in terms of like World Cup qualifiers or even like, you know, World Cup since they missed the last cycle. Were you part of that? So I was on the bench. You guys missed the last cycle?

I'd gotten called into some camps. I was on the bench for some qualifiers, but didn't play in any. And then we got to play in some of these the cycle. Some of them or all of them? Some of them played in three out of the six. All right. Captain. Yeah, the captain band.

Boston. Oh, you got the captain band. So you break down the huddle and everything like that? Like Ted Lashow? Yeah, a little speech. Just little stuff. A little speech. Believe sign, hang the belief sign up.

Hit it boys. Whatever motivation it takes, but we lost one zero. So I guess I don't know. Guess it wasn't a good enough thought. Was that like a cool feeling though? Like was you like kind of dream of being like captain? Yeah. Yeah.

No, it's for sure. Obviously being a part of the national team in general has been a dream come true. being the captain another dream come true i think i told this story like a little while ago on something some interview and i like vividly remember a time i was training probably before it's probably i was in college in the off season just training to go back to college or either before my first year in mLS and i was like working out the ymca local ymc a local ymc a back home snowville georgia lawrenceville georgia and i was on like the bike i was doing like little triathlon type training for myself just to stay like really fit yeah so i was on the last thing

I was on the bike and I was like basically just doing some positive self-talk, you know, like, like, like, grind. I'm like, I don't even want to just be a part of the national team or the U-20 national team. I want to be on the full national team. I want to be on the full national team. I want to be the captain of the full national team. And remember, like, that moment of saying, like, that is, that's the standard that I want to set for myself. It's like not just being there or being a part of it, but like being a key player, being a captain. And so, like, when I was the captain of that game, it was, it really was like full circle.

I went right back to that place and was like, man, all of the hard work, all of that suffering, like that's how you get to accomplish these kinds of dreams. And so, again, we lost the game, which was a bummer, but I got to keep the band and going to have that. Lesson and visualization right there. Yeah. For all the youth, speaking into existence. That's right.

That's right, man. So going to have that band up in the room and the house. Man Cave. Yeah, the Man Cave one day. And that'll be a good. No, dude, I love that, bro. Because it is. It always feels squableness.

corny to talk about. Yeah. Because it's really just like you and yourself and you're just coming up with all this shit. But no, that's, that's dope. That's cool that it kind of came full circle. Yeah. It's definitely, you know, it's not corny. You feel that way.

You're sitting in front of a couple dudes. You're like, oh, this is like, I'm... Vulnerability, bro. Yeah, I know. Vulnerability, dude. It's fucking real. We're real. I like it.

I'm revitalized, by the way. Shoutout sport clips. No free shoutouts. This is a very important announcement. Why? Why should you care? Because here's why. Mike Vrable listens to the podcast, and Mike Vrable confirmed goes to sport clips.

Our producer, Blas, was there the other day, right, Blas? And he saw Mike sitting in the chair. He was actually getting this haircut that we're about to talk about, the haircut experience. But Blas, you can, I need you to grab the mic. I need you to come on. I need you to confirm that Mike Vrabel gets his haircut at Sport Clips. Mike Vrable was indeed at sports clips this week just before the game. It is confirmed that he comes there every Thursday.

Oh, don't say the time. I'm not going to say where, but he comes every Thursday to make sure he counts on the, on the, on the employees at sports clips to have him a fresh, nice cut before every game. And here's why he enjoys sport clips. A haircut shouldn't feel that relaxing, but it does at sport clips haircuts. You can ask Coach Rabel. That's because stylists don't just wash your hair. Rabel gets a seven pressure point massaging shampoo technique that is so relaxing, he melts in his seat. and the hot steam towel.

Oh yeah, that boy loves the hot steam towels because it's infused with tea tree oil and perfectly steamed, leaving you feeling like you just left a Swedish sauna. Vrabba's words, not ours. And to top it off, you get a pinpoint cut. Stop by Sport Clips today and ask for the MVP haircut experience or just as for the Vrabel.

The most Vrable player haircut experience. It's so ridiculously relaxing. Sport Clips, the pros. and men's hair. How do you balance MLS play with international play? That's, yeah, it's difficult. I would say normally, if it's not World Cup qualifying,

if it's just a friendly, it's, I don't really think twice about it. Like, you just come back from the camp. You're with all of one team, but you're excited to be back with your club team and vice versa. These qualifiers, though, have been different for me, like mentally.

Like, the first window, we had three games, two are on the road, one was it in home. And I remember I didn't even play a minute. I came back to the team and I was exhausted in Nashville. Like mentally, I think you're so, the importance of the games and like the responsibility that you feel of having to get results, like it does weigh on you a little bit. And you don't realize it until like you finally get back and you're out of it. And then it's like you finally breathe and you're like, whoa, I'm like, I'm exhausted. Like mentally that was a lot.

And so I felt that. And then the second time around obviously played. So then you're like physically tired. I know at least in our case Nashville, we got five days off during the international break. But like if you were on an international break, like with the national team, you didn't get any of the days off.

So like everyone was at the beach, like in New York, like in Miami. It's just like, we enjoyed those five days. Yeah. It's like, CJ's saying you photos.

I hope you're doing well, man. No, you're looking on Instagram. All your boys are like all over the country. Like just freaking lounging. Margaritas in hand, pool size. and you're like just on a bus to training, you know, like a normal day. So that's where like you don't get that mental kind of tune up that after a long MLS season,

like you need a couple breaks here and there to just like really, like it was probably great for everyone to get ready for like the last final push before playoffs. Yeah. Whereas if you're involved with national team, don't get that. But never trade it for the world. Yeah. You wouldn't want to be anywhere else. What do you guys cling to talking about when you were talking about,

the lesson that he was given with the vulnerability and stuff like that. What do you guys cling to mentally? Because obviously athletes were training all the time physically, but what do you guys cling to mentally to help kind of keep you from, whether you're in a tough mental spot or, like, overcoming something or just anything in general, being a professional soccer player? That's Mr. Namaste. Oh, yeah, for sure.

Me, meditation, meditation and yoga. Yoga, obviously also for the mind, but just physical, keeping the body elastic, obviously playing for 11 years. Like I got to do everything I can to, you know, keep giving me an edge over these younger cats coming in. Yeah. But the biggest thing is the meditation. And I think that comes in many different forms. It comes, you know, when you're training and you need that extra push, you know, to get the most out of your workout.

The ability to do that on a consistent basis is not easy. It's something that has to be practiced. and I think you see with professional athletes, they're usually guys that mentally are strong, but I think if we can move to vulnerability in that space, then, you know, you're one, going to make sure that you're in the right mindset because we all know it doesn't last forever, you know. I've definitely heard of guys after soccer or any sport,

definitely struggle with, you know, whether it's not, you know, having value, to the world or, you know, not having something to take their mind off of, you know, the dark, the deep dark shit that we all have in our heads because we're human. So for me, yeah, meditation, just kind of increasing my own self-awareness, taking moments to just breathe, you know, and be in silence has definitely helped me a lot. That's good, man. I think, you know, for me, a lot of it comes, I think, I have a big faith background.

So I think when I think about that and impact it's had on my life and my career, it's like wanting to be the best version of yourself and utilize those gifts that you've been blessed with like on, not the field. And so I think that kind of framework is a big part of like, you know, doing every rep in the gym, doing every rep outside on the field, like not cutting corners because one, like you want to be responsible with what you've been given. But then two, you want to be like, you know, encouraging for your teammates to get the best out of them as well. And so I think we have a really good group in that regard of like guys are trying not to cut corners for the most part. You always have a, you know, a couple cases here and there that you got to get on a little bit. But it's good. It's a really good group. And I think that's kind of what has been a key to our success is guys who take it seriously, like on an individual level to do their work.

But then you also have the guys, CJ included, who will like hold guys accountable to, you know, even, you know, for example, the other game. like we started out in Cincinnati we were playing the team it's one of the bottom teams in the league and we go down to zero and guys are kind of yelling each other on the pitch and CJ's like boy he's like just positive vibes you know like

it would be yelling each other like to a team here come on and all of a sudden like two goals or however many goals he had later and we win six three and it's just like you need guys who can understand situations and find the right balance of like you know feeling good pulse of the team

When's the right time to push? When's the right time to bring them together? And so I think, you know, we do a really good job of that. That's awesome. That's really good, especially like when you're talking about awareness and everything else because guys identify with what they do so much. And especially like, you know, guys retire or they get cut when they're not ready to be cut. They're so, you know, wrapped up and, oh, what do I do now?

I've been this my whole life. I'm letting my family down. I'm letting people down around me. And they kind of like lose their own self. Defined by stats, man. That's what led me to meditation. honestly because I've always been a good teammate right that was placed on me and like I always tried to fulfill that but I was giving aspects of myself to everybody else and then again like

ultimately if I didn't perform I wasn't on the stat sheet being a forward like you want to score so like the more games you're not on that score sheet you're like oh my gosh like I'm the lowest person on this earth yeah crazy that how powerful the human mind is, right? Because I found myself in that position. I mean, my first three years in the league, I had an Open Cup, which is a domestic tournament, that all American professional teams are able to participate in in an MLS Cup.

So, you know, in the first three years, some guys play a whole careers and don't get that. Right. And yet I found myself the next season, like, getting down to myself because I didn't score. you know enough goals and it was from that dark place for me that i was i literally just went in google and was like how to deal with like depression and it's interesting because meditation always shows up i was scrolling past it bro i'm like meditation what want me to close my eyes and sit

quietly for for what you know i want the quick fix the instant gratification which i think that's our problem as people you know we don't want the slow and steady route but all I know is I saw hell of buddhas and people making little stances the namestay this is literally my celebration now you know and it's an opportunity for me to bring um awareness into the sport and um also gratitude you know every time I get a goal namaste to the fans and you know it's definitely uh it allows me to tap into a different different field for sure I fuck with that. That's awesome.

Like the fact that soccer doesn't get as much recognition here, you guys don't get as much recognition here, respect maybe as soccer players as you would in other countries? I don't. I like being able to just go get some ice cream and my sweatpants. No shape up, you know, and not worry about it. Because other guys come from other places, and then they're telling us, like, wait, you guys go out?

like after you lose a game like yeah why like nah like we can't do that you know in other countries i i remember uh kaka he's a famous soccer player i don't know if you know he's a Brazilian soccer players played in world cups won a world cup he was talking about in italy after he lost a game he went out with his fam to go get some dinner and like he just happened to look outside and there's fans outside literally burning his jersey and like yelling up seenities at him. Just out to dinner, you know?

So I don't want none of that. I'm fine. I'm fine with it. And the sport, I think eventually we'll get there. But by then I'll probably be just chilling watching everybody else. Shoot, you'll probably be a mental leader

for a lot of guys. You never know. Is that something you want to do when you need to play? For sure. I'm already building towards that. Doing my life coach, I'm getting my life coaching certification. I'm building a digital marketing representation company that focuses on aligning endorsements with guys' life goals. You know, I think a lot of times, you know, hey, if you're getting paid well, you'll smile for pretty much anything.

But I just want to get in there with players. And like, again, let's project outward. What are your interests? Do you have any financial interest? Do you want to start a business? Okay, boom. Get all that understood. And then now when we're looking for deals,

we're coming from that vantage point, right? We're going to get you deals that are tied to, you know, your life goals. Yeah, working towards. Hey, there you go. Shout out social sports. Sorry. No, go ahead.

Plug. Blood. No, go ahead. Plug. What's that line of me? Yeah, no free shoutouts. We just say, like, since you guys are one of the boys, like, if it's a boy, you shout them out, they get free shots.

But if it's a brand, you just say no free shoutouts. You're not trying to shout out the brand. But it's coming from him, so you can promote whatever you want to promote, dude. What is it again? It's all clear now. Social sports. Is there a website? Is there something that people can go check out?

Team social sports.com. Boom. You got anything? I'm just going to go check it out. I didn't look at it. I knew he was working out, but I haven't seen the website yet. I appreciate you guys coming on, man. You got to, one of you guys got to be somewhere too, right?

Yeah, so I'm getting my coaching license through U.S. soccer because... You're trying to sell some kids. I don't know if I wouldn't be associated with that. But, you know, if we can work out some kickback, no. Get into contract, you've got to pave the new way for coaches. So I have a mandatory coaching call at 2 o'clock. and that's just one of those things you've got to do. Yeah, no doubt.

It'll allow me to coach college and then hopefully work up and get my A license, but I think college coaching is kind of what I want to end up doing. Nice, man. Well, I appreciate you guys coming on. Hey, I'm a fan. I need to get to a game. You guys are about to be in the playoffs. Yeah.

Look at me, dude. You're running out of time. That's all right, though. We show up for the playoffs now. We have one home game left, one regular season game left, one home game, and then we should have a home playoff game as well. So you got like for sure, for sure won, 99%, well, strong chance that you got a home playoff game to come to as well. Okay.

That's where we're focusing on. We got to get on board with the board. We'll bring the boys to the game. Hey, that's all saying. We're bringing the boys, baby. Yeah, we're sure. So our last regular season game is the seventh next Sunday. And then we're thinking it will be the 23rd of November will be the home playoff game if we.

Bring your first game. family's Thanksgiving week, dude. Dude, it's also kind of why I have to get back. I'm doing a Friendsgiving right now, or a Navesgiving. Got my neighbors over there, and I was like, I'm hosting Thanksgiving for the first time for my family in Nashville. So my grandmother passed away this summer. We always went to Birmingham, my whole mom's side of the family.

So this year, new traditions, Zerman household in Nashville. So I got turkey right now on the Trigger that's being smoked. Oh, wow. Wait, what? A month early? Yeah, because I'm, today is the nabesgiving. It's the trial for me. Oh, I was going to say, what kind of shit we're here?

We got a shit of Zambol. We're smoking that thing for a week. I never heard of that. No, so I'm trying out. The turkey. Sitting at 80 degrees right now, we've got a few weeks. I got a sweet day of casserole that's in the fridge, squash casserole as well, peanut butter pie that I made this morning.

So, like, I got my things. Peanut Butter pie? Yeah. Hey, I need to check that out. I haven't never heard of that. I love peanut butter. He's looking for an invite. I might have to check that out, man.

Wow. Good for you, man. Yeah, so I got a lot of work in the kitchen this afternoon as well. All right. I love that. I got to love that. And then also you post a picture of that peanut butter pie. Yeah, of course.

Drop it on your story or something. So, you know, we can exchange a little bit. You know what I mean? Get the recipe. I don't think, the recipe is so easy, by the way. Don't give it. Don't give it away. Come on.

That's a secret. The recipe is. secret recipe. Passed down from generation. My family. All right. Well, I appreciate you guys, man. This is a lot of fun. This is a lot of fun. Photo in front of the bus.

Good. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being a ask questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but you know, tired and sick.

Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. There are times when the mind becomes a difficult place to live. This is David Eagleman with the Inner Cosmos podcast, and for Mental Health Awareness Month, we'll talk with singer-songwriter Jewel about anxiety. I started living in my car, and then my car got stolen. I was having panic attacks. I was like, we're aphobic. This is a month of deeply personal and honest conversations about what happens when the brain goes off course. Listen to Inner Cosmos on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your husband is not who you think he is.

Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.