PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - What will the Philadelphia Eagles’ home stadium look like in 10 years?

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

From Devonta Smith-Jahan Dotson conversation to Jalen Hurts’ ranking to the future of Lincoln Financial Field, Zach Berman and Rich Hofmann go through a series of topics with the Eagles, the NFL, and outside of football. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Happy Friday. This is a summer Friday edition of the PHLY Eagles show. I'm Zach Berman. That's Rich Hoffman. Because it is a summer Friday edition of the PHLY Eagles show, we are doing Tick Zach Bo. But instead of Tick Zach, but we're doing Rich Zach. We're doing Rich. We're brought to you by True Mark Financial Credit Union. Rich, it's great to see you on the PHLY Eagle show because we have seen you everywhere this week, including our inbox. for the Daily Newsletter. How you doing? I'm good, man. I'm a little bit tired. As you know, those draft shows can be pretty long. Especially the first round was, you know, that was like four and a half hours for us. As you know, that's, I mean, look, that's easy work for you guys on the second night of the NFL draft. But yeah, a little bit tired, happy it's Friday, happy it's over, and kind of happy to talk about a little bit more of, you know, just a grab bag of stuff. I will say, I am happy that you have adopted the rich Zach Toe format too.

I could never get Bo to kind of mix the two of those together. So I appreciate that. Yeah, I prefer just like a summer grid. Maybe we will call it that. Yeah, you went out of your comfort zone. I like that. I like that. Yeah, we know you don't like it, but I appreciate you did it.

Our names in there. But this is, yeah, this is a fun conceit, as Bo would say, because what this is is it allows us to explore a number of different topics. For those who don't remember, it's a structure that we did every Friday last year. And it's a grid of Eagles, NFL, and miscellaneous. And then would you rather convince me and predict the future? So for Eagles, NFL and Miscellaneous, we have one of those categories that prepared questions for each of them should be fun, quick conversation.

and so you can kick it off with you want Eagles NFL or Miscellaneous to begin. I guess we should start with Eagles since it's the Eagle Show. I actually liked your first one. I forget what category it was on. It was about the wide receivers. Yeah. So would you rather? Eagles, would you rather?

And this is an interesting concept here. Would you rather a big jump this year from Devante Smith or a big jump this year from Jahan Dodson? Rich, what do you say? So I'm curious what you think on this, Zach, because to me, it's just a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. I actually think it's Jahan Dotson, because I think if Jahan Dotson is getting the ball more frequently, it means that the Eagles offense is even tougher to stop. Like I feel like within this question, you're still getting the same Devante Smith that we are getting, that we did get over the past few years. Now, I understand the other side of this where it's, okay, hey, look, if Devante Smith takes, to step up, then you have two 1,300, 1400 yard receivers.

I mean, that would be excellent. And obviously, DeVante is one of my favorite players as well. So that would be really cool. But Jahan Dotson, he makes basically two catches in the playoffs that are pretty important. So the first one is against Green Bay on that first drive. That one didn't feel replicable. That was the offensive line gave Jalen Hertz like 40 years to throw on that. They do a scramble drill.

He breaks free. Okay, great. The first throw, though, in the beginning of the Super Bowl, I think it was the second drive of the Super Bowl, sets up their first touchdown. And it just like, I almost fell out of my chair on that one, Zach, because that was Jalen Hertz looking at Jahan Dotson right away. When he throws that ball, I think he had Jalen Watson on him one-on-one. John Dotson not open yet, right? He's got one-on-one coverage, but it's a complete trust throw from Jalen Hertz. And he's like, you are going to break open.

And it's just, it's something we have not seen from Jalen Hertz throwing to his third wide receiver for a few years, number one. And especially to Jahan Dotson, who was completely invisible for the rest of the year. And of course, Jahan Dotson breaks open, great throw by Jalen. I don't think it was a coincidence that Jalen Hertz had this unbelievable game in the Super Bowl. When he starts by throwing off or throwing the ball to Jahan Dotson doing something he really had not done the entire year and saying, okay, he's the first read on this play. I like what I'm seeing on that side. I'm going to trust Jahan.

And then he goes on to have an amazing game. Now, some of that is the chiefs really sold out to stop Sequin Barclay as well. But as an Eagles fan, I think the offense would probably function a little bit better if defenses really had to account for Jahan Dotson. And that would obviously require a breakout. So that's my answer there. Yeah, that's good insight there because that's really the way I was looking at this is that. If Jahan Dotson reaches a new level, the dynamic of the offense changes. You have now five skill position players on the field that you really need to worry about, right?

That is, and the way it's kind of been, I think if teams are looking at how they can defend the Eagles this year, one of the things they'll try to do is funnel targets to Jahan Dotson, right? Now, it's easy to say that. It's harder to kind of execute that. but if Jehan Dodson takes a jump this year and he's a, let's say, a Nelson Agalore-ish number, you know, a number three wide receiver or slot receiver. Well, he's not really the slot, but the number three wide receiver. That changes quite a bit.

And so we kind of look at it saying Devante Smith has room for growth, right? Last year was a down year, relatively speaking, his first two years, or his first three years, he was a thousand-yard wide receiver or near there. And so I think that the easy answer here is, well, yeah, Devante could be a 1,400, 1,400 yard player. But we already know what this offense looks like when Devante's rolling. You have no question about that. If Jahan Dotson takes that step up, the entire offense and the way you defend it is different. Yep.

I completely agree with that. And look, like, I think Devante is completely capable of being that 1,400, 1400 yard receiver. And there are probably like 10, 12 teams in the NFL where he's the number one guy and he's getting that level of volume. He just has to play with AJ Brown. He has to play on a team that figured out last year. All right, we're going to run the ball a lot with Seekwon Barkley to set it up. So the idea that Devante could have a breakout season and it would be excellent for the Eagles. I completely agree with that. I just think Dotson would change. It would just change the way defenses defend the Eagles. Whereas Devonte, it's more just about more, more

volume and getting him the ball more. I think they're plenty worried about Devante Smith right now. But like, look, Devante's, uh, I think Devante, a lot of people would say he is, uh, the fan favorite. Like he's, even if he's not the best wide receiver or the best player on this Eagles team, he's one of everybody's favorite players. He was a guy they drafted right away. So to see him break out would be amazing for the offense. But yeah, just, just throwing to the number three wide receiver a little bit more. I think it would make Devante and AJ and, and, and say, Juan even more dangerous, frankly. I appreciate all the contributions in the chat.

If you have your super chats, we will read them and we'll read comments throughout as well, including Shea, loyal listener. Appreciate you, Shea. He says, has Zeebe commented on Rich's Backwards Hat yet? No, if Colin Calhord was on here, he would. I, or if, if Cedric Cowan was doing the show, he might. That was funny. Yeah, but no, I mean, Rich is, I'm telling you, I've seen Rich.

all over the place. I watched all our Sixers draft coverage. My favorite thing every morning is when that PHLI newsletter comes in. So, yeah, no, I like the backwards hat. Rich can pull it off better than me. Well, I saw somebody say Dan Quinn vibes as well. I appreciate that. How do you do fellow kids, everybody?

I appreciate that. I have a PHLY hat here. There you go. Yeah. I can't really pull off the backwards hat the way you can. But maybe the end of the episode. I'll flip it backwards. Love it.

Here you go. So Eagles NFL miscellaneous, would you rather convince me predict the future? You already hit Would You Rather for the Eagles? What's next on the list? Let's do the Eagles for everyone's segment. So let's move on to, let's go NFL miscellaneous.

Oh, sorry. Those are the same thing. Yeah. I forget the categories. Would you rather convince me or predict the future? Let's do NFL convince the future. I'll convince me here. NFL convinced me.

Who's the NFL's version of VJ? I'm all over the place right now. You can tell I've been a podcasting for my brain is scrambled. In the next few weeks, what am I doing? These next few weeks we are, you know, we're rolling different combinations out here. So it's, it's going to be fun. We're going to miss Beau for the next, you know, three plus weeks. So I'm excited to do some shows with Rich, the shows for Jamie.

some shows with Fran as well. Who's the NFL's version of Vijay Edgecombe? So I'm kind of going to lean on you for this one. The one, the guy that really stuck to me because Vijay Edgecombe, a big part of the whole Sixers experience over the past few years is that they are drafting guys that are hard workers and have quote unquote high character. And look, they throughout the process, there have been, let's call it mercurial personalities, guys that did not get much better throughout the year.

So it's funny. The other night, Zag, BJ Edgecombe, I think he's going to be a pretty good player. He's very athletic, all of those things. But a big reason that I like him is that whatever his ceiling is, now I don't know, maybe it's not that high. Maybe he's not skilled enough. He's going to hit that ceiling. He's going to work really hard.

And it just has not been that sort of thing for the Sixers for a long time. Now, I was struggling a little bit with the NFL because with the Eagles, it's been like, eh, we're going to draft a lot of Georgia guys. over the past few years. And while a lot of those guys have excellent personalities and also have gotten better under the Eagles, which has been awesome, that really hasn't been the selling point when they came into the draft. It's been like Georgia, athletic, fast, mean, you know, all of those things, which is, look,

it's worked out splendidly, right? We're talking about a Super Bowl champion in part because of that. So the one guy that kind of stuck out to me, I just keep seeing, like, great stories about Travis Hunter, where he just is like, just seems like he's a, a, a, pretty good guy, even when, you know, he's on an airplane or he's dealing with, you know, some of the behind the scenes people at Colorado that they seem to have very high grades on him. Now, look, he's a little bit different than VJ. Edgecom because he is the most talented player probably in this past draft where I don't think VJ, that's necessarily

the case. But I do think like freak athlete and and somebody who people speak highly of Travis Hunter was the best I have. I'm sure you'll have a better answer than I do, though. No, no, Travis Hunter is a good one here. And especially when you look at him being, you know, top five pick, that certainly makes sense. And as Shea says, another Shea reference, he was a member of my team last Friday that you can go back and you watch into YouTube archives when we all picked our teams. I'm going with an Eagles comp here. I'm curious what you think. Nolan Smith, okay?

And the reason I say Nolan Smith is athletically, like freakish, right? like Nolan Smith was off the charts athletically. On top of that, the nonstop motor, that's what you heard about Nolan Smith and like really strong football character. But there were, you know,

these war to Nolan Smith's game, if you will. Like he was a bit undersized when he came out. Like if you're looking at VJ Edgecombe, he's not this like 666-67 wing, right? No. So that's one thing you look at. Nolan Smith has the athletic tools but needs to refine the pass rush moves.

B.J. Edgecombe needs to, you know, you've seen him hit threes, but he's not knocking them down at the same rate as Trey Johnson, right? So a little, so when I look at it, I think Nolan Smith, who's a cornerstone player for the Eagles now, but maybe he had some of those hiccups early on, but one of the things you kept hearing now, it didn't actually work this way, but that he was going to find a spot on the field early on in his career just by effort, alone. And there are times when you see Nolan Smith, he'll fit the run. He'll, you know, he'll do everything you need. But the pass rush ability was a little later to come. So that's why I thought Nolan Smith and Vijay Edgeco made sense. And if you want to hear more from Nolan Smith, make sure you check out exciting mics, the most recent one, between, you know, when, when you had

Nolan in studio with Cooper DeGine and Reed Blanketship. Great plug, by the way. I'd also say, like, man, if Vijay Edgecombe develops like Nolan Smith did over this past year, sixers are going to be all right. They're going to be, they're going to be okay because Nolan Smith, his development over this past year was phenomenal. It was. And, you know,

as a late first round pick, it's somewhat similar to when they drafted Vijay, where it's like, okay, Nolan Smith, if he was, you know, this six foot five pass rush,

okay, he would got drafted in the, you know, first five picks with, with all the rest of his physical tools. You have to, you have to look at whatever weakness this player has and you have to bet on either that player correcting that weakness or just the other

strengths in his game completely overcome that weakness. But yeah, like it started out as Nolan Smith was an effort guy. He was somebody who I think in the middle of last year, I started to notice him more against the run. He would have these, you know, these tackles would try and block him and he would just completely set the edge. And Zach Bonn would come flying in. But, you know, Fran on the, on the film review, the next few days was like, look, Zach Bonn, great. play. Nikobi Dean, great play. But watch Nolan Smith on the edge here. Like, they're working in tandem. And then the sack started to come as the year went on. And, and he started to use his speed. I mean, the sack he had against Jaden Daniels and the NFC championship game where, you know, I rewatch that. I'm sure a lot of

people in the chat also rewatch those games a bunch too. But it's like Brady is like amazed at how he, he saw that it was a fourth and 11, fourth and 12. And Nolan Smith, he, he starts way outside. He's like outside of Terry McLaren on the snap. And he just runs around, I believe, what, what's the Washington tackle's name? Brandon. Brandon Coleman, right? Yeah. And he just completely runs around it. It's the widest of wide nine sets that he has. And he just, he just runs Jaden Daniels down at the end of it. So I think Nolan Smith is a very good one. And I just, I hope VJ develops like no one did because look when i look at the eagles player development over the past year there are a lot of examples of of guys on that defense just getting better as the season went on but nobody like no one

smith that that was just a great story this past year well said well said so let's let's keep this moving here um i i guess you want miscellaneous here if you've already hit eagles NFL what's your miscellaneous before the first break let's do miscellaneous a few future. Predict the future. Okay, this is a good one. On the topic of VJ Edgecombe and also on the topic of what's going on tonight, make sure everyone checks out our Flyers draft coverage, okay?

It is best in class. You know, I mean, Charlie's always always working on all pHLY.com on the shows with Bill. Make sure you check that out tonight, our Flyers draft special. But I want to ask you here, predict the future. Who has the better career? VJ Edgecom or the Flyers pick at number six tonight. So I've been following the Flyers coverage a little bit, Zach, and Charlie, like you said, I mean, the work that they do on their podcast with Charlie Bill and Kelly,

but also Charlie's writing on the site. Like if you're a Flyers fan, man, like become a diehard. It's worth it for that alone. We have great writing in all the other sports as well with you and Fran on the Eagles and Bo every once in a while. And, you know, we have, we have Sixers writers as well with Kyle and Derek who do a great job. Philly's writing with Jim Salisbury. But he's just kind of taught me a little bit about the top of this draft class.

I actually think BJ Edgecombe is going to have a better career than these guys. It seems like outside of the top few players, a lot of these guys are going to be, there are question marks with them. Now, I do think like the Flyers, there are a couple players there that have dropped there's a guy from, I think he was from Boston College. His name is James Hagan. Yeah, James Higgins, be you, right? Is he, no, BC, you're correct.

And he was the top guy coming into this year. Yep. And yeah, well, look, they're both, they're both good at hockey. I would like them to take a swing on him because he seems like the guy who, now I'm kind of being contradictory here. Like, you don't know if he has that dog in him and you don't know if he has the, the ability to grind through and play in tough playoff games. It seems like he's a very skilled player, though.

So that would be nice. but I'm pretty VJ-pilled right now, man. I got to tell you, I just, I love the athleticism. I love the personality. If you look at some of the tape, he played with the Bahamas, which, you know, that doesn't seem like a very good team, but they actually had some NBA players, Buddy healed, Eric Gordon, the Andre, yeah. So, and they, he was killing it in like Olympic qualifying games, high stakes games.

These are not, you know, guys going half speed or, you know, it's not. the NBA Combine or McDonald's All-American game. He was very good in that setting. And, you know, I'm hoping that the Baylor situation was a little weird. So I'm going to go with VJ as the best player from that crew. Look, I'd take for all the Flyers people in here, I'm taking Michkoff over all the young Sixers guys. Don't get me wrong.

But you give me VJ versus the Flyers guy here. I'm going to take VJ. I am curious to see if James Hakins is the pick. That's the player that I would go after. as well if he were to fall to six. I said on a previous show, Roger McQueen intrigues me. I like that one too. Big guy.

Yeah, James Hagan's injuries. Flam dunk pick if he's there at six. Hagan's over O'Brien. I say that. I'm not a hockey scout. I defer everything to Charlie O'Connor, but the Hagan's profile intrigues me. Now, after this break, we are going to be talking about the future of Lincoln Financial field.

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and use code B-B-P-H-L-Y. Say that again, BB for branded bills, P-H-L-Y for 15% off your first order. So, Rich, you know, the great thing about when Bo hosts is it's like jazz, right? And you never know where it's going. And when I host, it might be a little more paint by numbers in that, you know, it's structured. We go, we make sure we hit boom, boom, boom, boom, right? So we do three topics in the A block, three topics in the B block, three topics in the C block.

In this block here, I want to get to, I'm going to pick this one here because this was the thumbnail today. And I think it's a fun. I see in the chat of jazz and pay by numbers comparison does not make any sense. Yeah, I was picking that up as I went along. predict the future here. What is the Eagle Stadium situation in 10 years? And I want to give a little context to this. Okay, the Eagles lease goes through the 2032 season.

Jeffrey Lurie at the Super Bowl discussed this very topic because, you know, we've always kind of wondered what the Eagles thoughts would be for a new stadium. Jeffrey Lurie said, quote, I love outdoor football. I love the cold games. I like the hot games, like the snow games. On the other hand, Philadelphia deserves to host the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four. Lots of great events. It's an incredible sports city. Does it deserve it?

Yes. So we have to balance all those things. This is something Bill and I spoke about back at the owner's meeting. So at the Super Bowl. And I'm asking you this on a week when Lincoln Financial Field is in the spotlight because there's high level soccer there. And there's some, they're playing in some rough temperatures this week, too, by the way. It comes in the context of, I believe Governor Josh Shapiro was discussing last week about

the stadium situations in Philadelphia and in Pittsburgh. So there's a lot here that is kind of going on behind the scenes. And the context, too, is that we know that the Sixers will be in South Philadelphia with the Flyers. We know the Phillies and Citizens Bank Park. That's not changing. So the future of Lincoln Financial Field is suddenly the big stadium question in the South Philly Sports Complex. I'll ask you, Rich, you know this city well. You know the sports teams well.

You follow this closely. What's your prediction for the future of Lincoln Financial Field? I'm going to tell you what I want them to do. Okay. Because I think the link is fine. And I would just put, can you put a retractable roof on the link? That would be, that would be something on four. Now, I will say this though, Zach.

Yeah. And as you said that, that quote that Lurie gave out, obviously you can't have the big events here. If you don't have the roof, you can't do the final four, can't do the Super Bowl. I got to say, the groundswell of support for, you know, make 32 don't. and just have, you know, you know, natural, just the same conditions for everybody. That's not what football is to me. And to me, when I look back at this Super Bowl run for the Eagles, the most memorable play of this run is Jalen Carter slicing through the snow

and sacking Matthew Stafford. Like that, that is football to me. I don't know. Maybe it's just because I grew up in the Northeast, and that's been the Northeast for forever. It's been, look, you get home, playoff games, if you're one of these teams in the northeast part of the country, it's cold weather football. And, you know, maybe there will be rain, maybe there will be snow. But I just enjoy playing

in the elements. And by the way, it's not just for, for the Eagles as well. Look, the Eagles a long time ago, they lost a game once when nobody could see more than 10 yards away from each other. And it is a legendary football game. And it's just, it's part of the sport. I think people in Philadelphia are are still bummed about it, but it's something to talk about, right? The fog bowl, that's something we talk about. So that would, that would bother me. Now, I will say, like the Eagles, I just know the way that these owners think and, you know, there's always a race to keep up with modern facilities and try and get the state-of-the-art

field with all of the luxury boxes and all of the amenities. And the Eagles don't have that right now. They have an older stadium, even if it doesn't feel that old to me. So I don't have a prediction. I think I would love to just see a retractable roof because that makes it seem a little bit easier. Now, by the way, I wouldn't use that retractable roof for Eagles games. I want a retractable roof on it for the final four. You want to put it on for the Super Bowl?

Great, whatever. But that's how I would handle it. Here's the question for you, Zach. Do you think that they would consider just building a new stadium altogether? The answer is is yes. Now, where is the question? And how is, you know, how is the question? It's fascinating to me.

And I truly think this is going to be one of the bigs, you know, if you said, Zach, like, predict some of the big Eagle storylines in 27 and 28, I think the stadium situation is going to be near the top of that list because I think this is going to be a general. genuine conversation. When you think about 2032, the period when you kind of have to start to put those plans in the motion is 26, 27, 28. So I agree. I don't think they're going to go with the translucent roof route. That's what you see a lot of these teams do now. For instance, that's what it is in Los Angeles. That's what's in Minnesota, where it feels like you're outdoors, but it's the glass ceiling, if you will. I think they will have a because I do think they want those elements for football, but they want to host other events.

Now, the question is this, does it come as a renovation to the current stadium or do you build an entirely new stadium? And the other question, too, is if you follow, whether it's stadium architecture or stadium trends, the big trend now is really what you see like the battery down in Atlanta for the Braves where it's not just the state you put stuff around yeah it's the entire stadium district and the Eagles brand is extraordinarily valuable and so uh would the Eagles want a stadium district type situation that's 365 days a year entertainment uh or could they team up with the Phillies and Comcast and you know and and and Comcast and the Sixers ownership um for a 14 stadium Village, right? Kind of like what Xfinity Live was originally thought to be. But I think that whether

it is a new stadium or renovations to the link, I am expecting Lincoln Financial. I'm expecting the Eagles to have a retractable roof in 10 years because I do think they're going to want to get into the fray for the Super Bowl for major events. And I just think that the, you know, the conditions make that problematic. And so it's, it's, the other part, too, that's important to watch here is what's happening in Washington because obviously the commanders are building a new stadium, you know, Bo's best friend, Josh Harris. And that's going to become a northeast destination for these types of events because that is going

to have a roof. And, you know, when you think about kind of big economic drivers for franchises, these state and the stadium complex is part of that. So it's not as if Jeffrey Lurie told me this is going to happen, but that is my prediction because I just think that's the next step for the franchise. It's just the tough thing, again, building a stadium is hard. We saw that with the Sixers and frankly, like I am very much on the side, like pay for your own stadium too. But a football stadium is so big too, Zach.

Like the Sixers and the Flyers, they look like they're doing a thing where they're going to build to the side of the Wells Fargo Center or the, or the Xfinity mobile arena, whatever it's going to be called, get the brand name right, whatever, whatever that arena is called, they're going to build to the side of it. Like with the Eagles,

it's a big stadium. I don't know how they're going to be able to pull that off. Like you said, the battery, and that seems to be the big trend and not just the NFL. And like, you know,

I went to, when I covered the Sixers, Sacramento is not exactly a destination type place. And they're not a very well-run basketball team. But Vivek, Renadeeve, he renovated the whole area around the new beautiful arena that they have out there. And there's like a lot of fun stuff to do. So I'm sure on a much bigger scale, that is what the, what the Eagles would want to do.

I don't know how exactly they'll be able to pull it off. It was interesting too. They stayed out of the whole Sixers Flyers Squabble too, right? The Phillies joined up with the Flyers and said, like, we're going to build, you know, all this crazy stuff, you know, around the sports complex. and the Eagles, I'm sure they were consulted by the flyers. They stayed out of those plans. I mean, those plans were, look, I think they were mostly for leverage.

They were honestly pretty crazy, in my opinion. They required a ton of taxpayer funding. But it was interesting to see the Phillies joined up with the Flyers on that. The Eagles did not do that. So I think you're right. There will be a retractable roof one way or another. It's just, unfortunately, it's the way of the world. And I will be sad because I like cold football games in January.

I promise you this, this won't be the last. time this is discussed on the PHLY Eagle Show. Next one on your list, what do you have? Actually, you know what? I'm going to pick this one too, and then I will let you pick the rest, because I want to stay on the topic of the link. I'm going to go miscellaneous, would you rather? Okay.

And so I'm going to give you a little family dilemma here, or not family dilemma, but a few weeks ago, I purchased tickets to this game tomorrow, the group of 16 games. game in the Club World Cup because there was a chance to see Messi. And I thought, how cool would it be for my son to see Messi, right? And the way it kind of worked in the groups is that Inter Miami did not make it. But instead, or they did not make it. I'm sorry, they did not make it to the Philly game. But instead, there is an incredible game here tomorrow that I'm taking.

read to and that is Palermo verse of I'm sorry if I butcher the pronunciation, Badafogo, okay, two high and Brazilian clubs that fans are rapid. So let me ask you this. I know you're not a father, but you're a sports fan. I'm taking my son to this. What's a better environment? The soccer atmosphere, would you rather, the soccer atmosphere at the link tomorrow, which is going to be an unforgettable atmosphere or the chance to see messy, which one? So those are two different questions, I think. I think you'd rather have him see messy because you're like me. You're like a sports and all sports historian, right?

That is a cool thing. He is probably the greatest soccer player of all time. I don't know. We could argue about Pile. I don't have the expertise on that. Anyway, one of the greatest athletes of his generation, it would be pretty cool to see him play. You can probably still do that. I don't know how long he's going to play for Inner Miami,

but I'm sure he'll come back to the Union Stadium in Chester. They play them. As far as the atmosphere, though, I have been following some of these games in Philadelphia, and it feels like the Brazilian fans. Yeah, yeah. And, Jack, just walking around Center City, I don't know which one of the Brazilian teams this is.

There is one of them that has, they have a striped jersey with red and black stripes. these guys are all over the place and they're making noise and you see them see them out and about and bars kind of near near where I live. They're shopping. They're doing all this stuff. Anyway, I've seen some of the videos from the games. It feels like they're playing home games because their fans are a psych to be there.

And, you know, some of the English Premier League sides that, you know, I know much better because, you know, you watch them. They're on TV throughout the years. They have these world superstars. Yeah, their fans are not as prevalent at these American games. you know, they, as far as the, the advantage, the, the teams that come from, I think there was also a team from Morocco as well that traveled very well for a game in Philly. But the teams that are not in the Premier League, these major leagues, like their fans are, you know, I don't know whether they're traveling for somewhere in America or just traveling from Brazil, but they're going nuts. And I think as far as Reed experiencing the atmosphere, the two Brazilian teams is going to be way better in terms.

of, okay, maybe you're not going to get to see messy, but you're going to see some, some chance. You're going to see some, some TIFOs, some signs, some stuff. So that, that'll be fun. Yeah, I'm excited to take read. All our viewers know, I appreciate the Brazilian culture after my, my two days in Brazil back during the set. You're an expert, man.

But the one thing, I did buy Reed the jersey of the team that, that occupied the stadium where the Eagles played in, okay? And that is the rival of Plyermis. So I know Reed cannot wear that. Don't wear that jersey, Reed. Yeah, he will wear, I think he'll wear either his messy jersey or he will wear his USA jersey. But this is going to be a fun atmosphere. And if anyone is at that game, look for me.

I'll be the short guy in the Ph.LY shirt, probably. Nobody's going to fight you with the Ph. Yeah, that, yeah, that's the thing. I'm debating whether they wear the PHLY scripture or, yeah, there's a few different options. By the way, you can get all our merch on all pHly.com as well. So let's let's tackle one more before the break. Pick one from NFL. Do you want to go with, would you rather or predict the future?

Let's go. Which one? I like let's say predict the future till uh to the next segment so let's do would you rather okay so um you're kewin more you you're the head coach of the norland saints derrick car retired um would you rather have a trade a pick for for tanner mckee bow's boy and turn the franchise over to a quarterback who's intriguing but you worked with for a year or you know or roll with what you have. That's that's Tyler Scheld.

That's Spencer Rattler. And the option of going into next year's draft. Which one is more appealing to you? For me, if I am Kellyn Moore, because I think the Saints are going to be pretty bad. And it's not going to be Kellyn Moore's fault. They just don't have a lot of talent. Obviously, that was a, I mean, that was a job, Zach, that like a bunch of guys turned down. They just didn't like the situation.

By the way, Gail Benson, what is she doing right now? now. I mean, just two very poorly run teams. I mean, what the Pelicans were doing over the past few days. You don't like that on the protected pick. Yeah. No, I don't like that. I don't like that, especially because the guy, Troy Weaver, you would actually like this. You might be a type of GM. He just picks guys from the DMV. You know, you would just pick guys from from the Philly area. Now, you wouldn't trade an unprotected pick, but it's a very bizarre type of thing. But that is neither here nor there for this, for this discussion. So for me, next year's quarterback class is supposed to be pretty good, right? Yeah, Arch Manning.

But we don't know if Arch Manning is going to be in there, but Lenora Sellers is a strong possibility. It's a good class. Yeah. And I mean, now I know Drew Aller is pretty highly thought of. I'm like a little more. Maybe I'm just somebody who's watched enough Penn State games and I'm maybe a little overcritical of him, but I don't know. I'm not sure I quite see it with him, but I certainly see the size and the arm talent.

but let's say Arch Manning is in the draft next year. Let's say he has a great season of Texas, as a lot of people think. And let's say the New Orleans Saints have the number one pick. Now, the Manning family, they have a, they certainly have a history of picking their destinations. And if they don't like a certain spot, they won't do it. They're going to like New Orleans. That's where they're from, right? That's where these, his grandfather played for that team for a long time.

So I would wait out this year if I were the Saints and I would say, okay, what are we, you know, what type of player can we get? Maybe they get the number two pick. Maybe a team like the Giants gets Archmanning. I'm sure they would pick that one as well. But maybe Lenora Sellers establishes himself as, you know, a Jaden Daniels or a Drake May type number two or number three. And it's like, all right, we're going to roll with this guy. If I'm an Eagles fan, I am rooting for the Saints to be not one of the worst teams in the year. I'm rooting for Kellyn to have a decent year.

And then maybe the quarterback play falls apart a little bit down the stretch because I'm sure he likes Tanner McKee. And maybe if they're not able to trade up and get one of those players, the Eagles will have a lightly used Tanner McKee available for them for, you know, second round pick. I'm just thinking in my head right now, those quarterbacks go for a little higher, you know, thinking back to the AJ Feely's, the Kevin Cobbs, you know, Matt Shaw, went for a couple second round picks. if I remember. That is what I am rooting for. But, you know, if the Saints wanted to compete this year, I mean, I'm, I'm with Beau. I think Tanner McKee's pretty good.

I think he has the talent to be a low-end starter in this league, at least. Like, I don't think that bar is particularly high with the current crop of quarterbacks. And he's just, I don't know. I just like the way he throws a football. So that's where I'm at. Yeah, that's, that's good insight there. I think that to give a lot for Tanner McKee probably wouldn't be the way to go. I would if I were telling more to trade a mid-round pick right now or even a late-round picket for for Kenny Pickett.

Obviously, the Browns have a surplus. I would bring Pickett there and have him compete with Tyler Shuck. Okay, I screwed that up. Thank you, Christopher of Waters. Shuck me. I screwed that up. and I will know now what that name is. But the Eagles don't play the Saints this year, right?

So we won't need to discuss Tyler Shuck much until that. Now, after the break, we will be looking at the Eagles starting quarterback, Jan 1. We got three good ones. And find out where Jaywin Hertz ranks in Rich Hoffman's quarterback ranking. Stay tuned for that. All right, Fran, here's an impression of me from yesterday. Okay. that's me walking into my house, sweating like a pig,

because it is feeling like a sauna in there. Yeah, I mean, you know how it is. This time of year, it's a fully heat. It's no joke. So, what do I do? Like, uh, do I go jump in a lake? It's not going to happen. So I just went, got a bunch of ice, like, held it,

rubbed it on my face, stuffed it down my shirt, stuffed it down my pants. The only way I could think to cool down. I mean, stop being the stereotypical dad, though. Like, it turned on the AC. It's time to fire that thing up. I don't want to be, uh, I want to waste money, the energy efficient. Well, look, instead of icing yourself out or jumping into a lake,

you could just check out Pico's energy-saving rebates. They've got deals on Energy Star cooling equipment that actually work and cut down on your bills. So, no more ice down my pants? No, you could skip the ice, save the ice, and you throw in my drinks when I come over. The same ice? No, we'll change the ice up. Okay, fine. That's what's up.

All right, well, just head over to pico.com slash ways to save. They've got tips for everything. heating, cooling, lighting, you name it. That was a pre-recorded Pico ad. But I want to tell everyone now about True Mark Financial Credit Union. They sponsor the show, and they've been with us for a long time here. And I'm proud of True Mark Financial. It's also headquarter to where Julia went to high school.

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So before the summer rush kicks in, this is a great way to help your kids build smart money habits that'll stick with them for long after the season's over. Head over to trumark.com slash greenlight, get all the details, and sign up today. Don't miss the chance to set your kids up for financial success. I still think we're going to have to figure out these smooth adjustments here now that we have to go into because we're so used to these organic. ad reads, right? And then with Pico, you're going to get that fresh Fran fade whenever we talk about Pico. That is awesome. There's nothing more organic than me and you staring at each other for like 10 seconds. It was fun. It was fun. And both introductions to the ad reads are awesome. So 15 minutes left here before overtime. Let's get to you. We have three fun ones here. Eagles,

convince me. We have NFL predict the future, and we have miscellaneous convince me. Which one do you want to go with first? I like all three of these, Zach. I think it's going to be a nice final segment, maybe a little bit of overtime as well, just if we get there. Let's do, let's go in order here. Let's go Eagles first. Eagles convince me. Okay, this is, this is the hot summer topic. If you watched our show on Monday, we ranked quarterback rooms for building a franchise going forward. But I want to know from Rich Hoffman here. It's the first time you've been on the show this week. This is quarterback ranking season. Okay. So where is Jalen Hertz on your quarterback rankings? So a lot of these lists have come out, Zach. And it's the, I don't know if you've

seen the meme. It's the Tom Hardy from Mad Max. He's like, that's bait. It feels like there's a lot of bait going on. People are just tweeting out their rankings, no explanations. They put up a graphic and the amount of people arguing under those tweets, those, those blue skies, whatever, people are going crazy about those. I do think in quarterback ranking season, Jalen Hertz is going to be the most hotly debated QB this year. And I think for a good reason, because a lot of these people, a lot of these national writers and analysts, they're going to have him pretty low. for a guy who just dominated in the playoffs. So look, I tend to be, I think, pretty rational about this.

We talked all season about how the passing game struggled. In December, A.J. Brown talked about, man, we got to be able to pass the ball better. That said, and I'm so happy I can be on this side of the argument for once. I think the playoffs matter. Like, I think the fact that you play your best ball and not just, oh, we won the game. No, no, no. You play A plus football in NFC championship games and Super Bowls. I think that matters. And I think from a lot of these national writers and a lot of these analysts that I'm seeing, there is a little bit of revisionist history about this loaded Eagles roster.

You know, a lot of people, if their roster was this loaded, why did you not pick them to beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl? If it was that obvious then, I don't understand how we look at it now and say, oh, man, Jalen Hertz. I mean, that was easy. So, and also Conan mentions this too. Do I actually like care if somebody ranks them low? No, not really. Like whatever, you want to rank jail and hurts low? That's fine.

I'll take him to be my quarterback any day of the week. That said, let's talk about it. I would definitely rank the four AFC guys ahead of him, right? I think Lamar, Alan, Mahomes, obviously, and Joe Burrow, although I will say, like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, like, you have some talent around you. Like, you can beat Kansas City one of these. years in the playoffs and and let's see that and then after that like i keep seeing jalen not in the top 10 of these rankings and i could just throw my hands up at that like justin herbert who is the guy

that everybody has loved for years like what is he done what what is he done on on a big stage uh i think matt stafford maybe i actually like watching matt staffer play not much of a running threat but certainly is a a fun quarterback to watch uh when when he's going but there are are a lot of guys that get ranked above jalen where i'm just like all right back like yeah maybe two years ago but no i i don't see joel any of these any of these rankings for the NBA right now like dac was was hurt and not very good last year jill had won a super bowl you know cj stroud i'm still seeing ahead of him he was a disaster last year what are we doing uh Trevor lawrence like gino smit like give me a break so we mentioned the backwards hat i actually think uh baker mayfield is

probably being shortchanged in some of these rankings. I think just these last couple of years have been bad. Anyway, I'll put Matt Stafford ahead of him of the other guys. And I'm going to put him six. I just think like, look, man, like, if you dominate in the playoffs, like, I think that, that deserves a certain amount of respect. And, you know, other people want to put Jordan Love ahead of him. Fine. I don't care because Jalen Hertz has a Super Bowl. But I would have him, you know, in that five to 12 range, I would have him more towards the, towards the top because he has the playoff success and just has been an absolute baller in the biggest games. Yeah.

You know, it's funny. I was speaking at the play-by-play camp at Illinois University yesterday. It was fun meeting all those kids and reping PHLI there. And afterwards, a few of the kids came up to me and they were doing like, you know, their own podcast, if you will, they held up their phone. and they wanted the question from me. And they're like, rank your top five quarterbacks. And I went with Mahomes one, Allen two, Jackson three, okay, Burrow four, and then my number five was Janwin Hertz. Sure.

Because to me, the Super Bowl matters. I've seen the high-level production, you know, two years ago, his, you know, or I should say three seasons ago. the 2020 season. I never know if we should consider like this upcoming year or this year that just passed this year. The 22 season, Jalen was outstanding. Took a step back

2023. Obviously run heavy offense, 2024. But I don't think there's a clear number five over Jalen Hertz. I have that top four. I'm putting Pearl over him, putting Lamar over him, putting Josh Allen over him, and obviously Mahomes over him.

But I have Jalen Hertz number five. on my list right now. That's, I completely think that's fair. And then look, if Jane Daniels, and I think that'll segue into the next question we're going to talk about, like if he has another year like he just had, okay, if you want, if you want to bump him up, I would find that, you know, it would be arguable, but I wouldn't, you know, go crazy about it. But I mean, some of these quarterbacks that are getting ranked ahead of him, I'm just thinking,

like, come on, guys, what are we doing? These guys, they haven't won a bunch of games. Like they're putting up stats in past heavy offenses that lose games. So, yeah, Jalen Hertz, I would have him high, I think. Again, you can't emphasize enough. I cannot emphasize enough. Like the fact that he has dominated in three of the four biggest games of his career, three of the four biggest games you can play, that's a huge deal to me.

Well said. So you teased it there. Let's get to the next question on here, which is from the NFL, predict the future. Predict the NFCE standings, because this is actually another question that I received at that play-by-play camp yesterday. And I went Giants fourth.

I went commanders third, Cowboys second, and Eagles first. And people were surprised when I went Cowboys over commanders. So I'm curious, your view of the NFCE standings. Well, you are picking the first repeat champion in over 20 years. I mean, it's unbelievable that streak. Like the Eagles collapsing in 2023.

They had it. All they were in 11 and 4 teams, Zach. All they had to do was beat the Cardinals at home and the sad sack giants on the road. And they couldn't do it to continue. I have the same exact standings. And I think Washington is probably the team that people are curious about with that, with those standings. So two things that stand out to me for Washington. um jaden daniels who i think was incredible last year i really worry about his play style man he had

he had a great rookie year but remember he got dinged up in i forget the exact injury in the middle of the season and for five or six weeks he turned into immortal again and running is such a big part of his game and he's just he's just not a very big dude like the i i remember the first i guess i'm by myself now so i'm i am here i'm i'm here i'm here So if you remember that first Eagles game, Zach, he was banged up and he was missing throws that were uncharacteristic of Jaden Daniels, not the throws that we saw in the NFC championship game. So good for him bouncing back, but I worry a lot about a smaller dude who runs that much and

really puts his body on the line. Like, look, a very fun player to watch, but I've seen that time and again where you've got to be able to protect yourself. So that's number one. And number two, shout out to. our friend Jimmy Kempski and his must-read dumpster fire series, which it's dumpster fire week, everyone, at Philly Voice. Anyway, I thought this was a very interesting stat.

And I know he's a little bit. He's cherry-picking the age, but Washington has 30 guys that are 29 years old or older. And I think the next highest is 19 in the entire NFL. You know, they get Debo Samuel. They get, I'm blanking, what's the name of the tackle from, from Houston? Yeah, Tunsell, Laramie Tunsel. Tunsel who's, okay, that actually, I can see the, there's a little bit of boomer bust nature to that,

but I can see the logic behind that one. That actually seemed like a good move to me, but they have a lot of older players on that defense, in particular. And like we've seen this time and again, like old teams, they, they tend to fall apart very quickly in the NFL. that's not a good spot to be. So I agree with you. I would have Dallas ahead of Washington. Of course, the Giants are going to finish last.

So, yeah, that's why. Yeah, I do think there's going to be a repeat championship this year. Or for the first time in, in what, two decades, I just think the Eagles are superior. And now there could be an injury. A quarterback that affects things, injuries on the offensive line that affects things. I'm not as sold on Washington.

I think they played above their talent last year. I think Dallas played below their talent last year. I think people are sleeping on Dallas a bit too much. Dallas was a team that was winning, what, 12 games, three years in a row before last season when there were some injuries. I'm not enthralled, you know, enamored with the coaching change there. But I do think that the Cowboys are going to be a tougher route than people realize. And I mean, this isn't really going to, I think Dallas also has a slightly easier schedule with the, with the three teams that they have to play from finishing later, or finishing third in the division last year.

I mean, look, everyone in the division, they have a tough schedule. When you have to play the AFC West and the NFC North, that's, that's a tough schedule. The Eagle schedule is frankly insane. The fact that their three extra teams are Rams, bucks, and bills, I believe, especially, because the Eagles, they're never going to win a game in Tampa. They could be the greatest football team of all time. I don't think they're going to be able to win in Tampa. So, you know, Dallas will have a slightly easier schedule than the Eagles in that regard.

But yeah, I'm with you, Zach. I think Dallas, they've been very much, we have a great year. Then we take a little bit of it off here for a while. So I think they bounce back, but I also think the Eagles are talented enough to break the the 20-year run here of no back-to-back champions. So before overtime here, let's sneak in, and we might be interrupted by the final question on our list here, which is miscellaneous category, convince me. It's June 27th. Training camp begins July 23rd.

Okay. So this is the quietest time of the year for me, in addition to doing the Ph.O.I. Eagle shows, and I'm teaching my class at Colorado State. I also want to check out some summer movies. This is the thing. I went to my movie app today, and I didn't know many of these movies that were out. I do know there's some blockbusters coming,

whether it's Superman, whether it's Jurassic Park. Let me ask you, Rich, what summer movie should I be seeing? So I want to know what, you know, are we looking for more of a blockbuster? Are we looking for more of a sports team movie, Zach? There are a lot of options. Now, there are some of them that have already come out that I'm going to reference, but are you looking, I assume, I think I'm more in step with you on that.

I am more of a blockbuster. I'm less of an indie movie person, unless it gets like great ratings and becomes a cult classic. Yeah, that's a bow thing. Both for the movies that you call films and not movies. Okay, so I'm looking for a movie, not a film to watch. Are you looking for more sports? Do you care about that or more? action type movies? I just want to be entertained for for two hours in the air conditioning,

you know, on a on a summer night or maybe it wouldn't be a summer day, but yeah, maybe a summer night. Okay, last one. Do you care? Do you like horror movies? If it's entertaining, yeah, I just, yeah, I just want my, I want something here. This is the criteria that I will give you. I want something that I should see in a theater as opposed to waiting for it to come out and to watch it on a plane ride this, this season. So I think it's kind of passed. The biggest blockbuster of the summer,

I assume, you know, I don't know if Jurassic Park or Superman will beat it, but Mission Impossible, those movies do really well at the box office. And I will say, I appreciate Tom Cruise for the fact that he has really taken on the mantle as probably like the last huge movie star that still exists.

Maybe, you know, maybe Will Smith is still kind of like, that as well. But as like the last huge box office draw, he has really taken on, he wants people to go to movies, even if they're not his movies. And there was a great movie that I unfortunately have not seen yet, Zach. And I am, I'm bummed.

I have not seen it. It's this guy, Ryan Coogler, the guy who did Creed, did Fruitvale Station, Black Panther as well. He made a movie called Sinners with Michael B. Jordan, who was in a lot of his movies as well, that apparently is just spectacular. It's kind of like the best blend of you got to see it in a theater, but it's also just a very unique original story. And I think we're, are we getting up on that time? Oh yeah, we are in overtime.

Thank you for the reminder. No problem. So that movie Sinners is that one, I got to, if it's still playing in theaters, I'm going to go see it in the next couple weeks. I'm sure I'll be the only person still there because it's been out for a couple months. to give you a football tie in.

Josh Allen's wife now, Haley Steinfeld, plays one of the big parts with Michael B. So that is one option. Mission Impossible is another option. There is this movie F1 with Brad Pitt. I want to see that. That's pretty good. I believe on Netflix in a couple months,

if you're looking for an old favorite, Happy Gilmore 2. I don't know how good it's going to be. I mean, look, Happy Gilmore 1. That is one of my favorite. favorite movies growing up, so I would have pretty low expectations that it would meet Happy Gilmore One. And there's one other movie that I am very interested in seeing. I believe it comes out in August.

I forget the guy who's directing it, but it's called weapons. And it's basically the trailer was, I'm not usually the biggest scary movie type of guy, but it just, it looked like such an original story where it's basically in this small town, there's like a supernatural element where just a classroom of kids just completely disappears. And nobody knows what's going on. You know, nobody knows what happened. But the reason I think the movie weapons and the movie sinners, those would be the two I would recommend, is that they're new stories, right? A lot of the things that I told you, Happy Gilmore 2, Mission Impossible, 8, like they're just running back the same thing over and over again.

And that's a lot of what Hollywood has done with sequels. And, you know, they don't let filmmakers take chances like they used to a few years ago. That's not the way the business works anymore. So I am down for supporting kind of the new storytelling because I want to see new movies. I want to see, you know, even if they turn into franchises, new franchises pop up. So those would be the two, I would say, sinners and weapons. Okay. Yeah, I do want to see sinners.

I've heard great things about it. I will put the weapons on my, the weapons movie, I should say, on my list. I don't want that to be clips. and then I am you know look I'm a sucker for Superman I know it's not an original story but from my understanding

and I guys I saw a short on this the Superman character is a Philly guy this year from Philly yeah yeah so look I got to support Philly guys you know whenever Mount Joy is playing I want to listen to Mount Joy

I've been listening to them this summer and I'm not a music guy but I'm a Mountjoy guy So I always like Superman. Superman's my favorite superhero, in part because he's a journalist, right? So I appreciate that. And I will probably see Superman in support of Philadelphia. Of David Corrin's sweat, I think, is his name.

I do think that is cool, Zach. And I think as a tie-in as well, I think he, obviously he's got to go to L.A. I'm sure he's going to become a big. Once you're Superman, I think you're probably set for the next 20 years in terms of getting different movies. So I'm sure he's going to have to fly all over to get a different role. But I'm pretty sure he lives still in Philadelphia with his family, which I think is pretty cool. Somewhere in suburban Philadelphia with his family, which I could support. I'm down.

I'm down with that. That's awesome to know that I could be in my local Wawa and bump into Superman, right? I mean, that's- Well, you wouldn't know what he looks like, though. you got to see the movie, I guess, to get there. Yeah, he probably looks like Clark Kent is my guess, right? I mean, you know, I'm curious when he's out if he wears the glasses with the Clark Kent. What, you think he's going to have like a newspaper in the Wawa underneath his arm and look nerdy?

I think Ball knows Paul, right? You know, Clark Kent, Clark Kent sees a reporter. He knows a reporter. So, yeah, so that's. He's treating the role like Daniel Day Lewis with Trit Lincoln. Yeah, he's really getting into character. He's just Superman at all times. Exactly. You know, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's all in my, my, my, my, my wish is that like, be, well, I should say always my wishes. Um, be, um, you know, a reporter by day and have superpowers by night, right? Um, so, uh, we have one super chat here.

Uh, this is from Chase Daniel. Please, you was JFK out of pocket nominating his brother as attorney general. Why did Bobby Kennedy authorized wiretaps on Martin of the king? just the topic we want to be talking about a 305 on a summer Friday afternoon. You know what, Chase, if you email me at Zach at all, p.hly.com, I can, I can, if I still have it in my computer, I wrote a thesis in college on Robert Kennedy. And it was, it was on how Robert Kennedy changed after his brother's death or how he was affected by his his brother's death, but I did have a lot in there on his time as Attorney General. But I don't really have a strong opinion or an opinion

worth sharing about his nomination as Attorney General, nor do I have the information necessary to comment on the wiretaps on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., unless you had something on that one, Rich. I don't. That was a great answer, though. I'm excited to hear about your thesis when we see a person. So I'm kind of a, I mean, by this point it shows history, we, we know that I'm a nerd. And I added a history minor. So I was, I was a, I was a magazine journal as a major and a political science major. So dual major.

Okay. And then I added a history minor because you can do a semester thesis. So that was like not a full thesis. that was like, it was like a 55 pager, I think it was. And I just wanted to write that, right? And so I took that class and I wrote that. I remember like the pride when I submitted that piece. It was Professor Stinchcombe.

My senior year, shout out Professor Stinchcombe. I doubt you are watching right now, but I really enjoy that semester thesis. That's no notes. Wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, and people in the chat saying only 55 pages casual flex, that's not a flex. That's actually respects the people who write full theses, which are, you know, like 100 plus pages, right? This was more of a semester piece. And then Shea, who's a PhD, like, yeah, I mean, what I did pales in comparison to anything that Shea did, David B.R was a history major. Yeah, I respect all. look, I am not flexing at all. I respect all of you guys. Shea did 150 pages.

Shea, I will take your 150-page thesis and I will raise you three, 300-page books. How about that, Shea? Yeah, I was about to say, how does the thesis compare to the franchise or leap here, which you can buy wherever books are sold, by the way? Yeah. Like in terms of words, how does it compare? It was like, it's like four chapters of. of, or, you know, or it's actually, it's a quarter of, of those, of those books.

So if I, I would have an easier time with my semester thesis at this stage of my life because I am better equipped to write to that length than I was back in high school. Oh, I'm sorry, in, in, in college. But I can say that leap year was, was of the three books. This was, this was an, this was an, a, a, um, a, um, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a fun process and enjoy, you know, I'm excited for this finished product. I think there's, this was a fun season to relive, right? And so that's going to come out on September 23rd. We done here?

Yeah, yeah. Any good, any good weekend plans? I am going to the shore, actually. Okay, there you go. So I don't think the weather is going to be that great. I mean, it's been like, it's kind of weird. Like, we have like the worst of both worlds where it's, it's 98 degrees here for three days in a row in the city. And then you go down the shore during the weekend. And it's like, you know, it's like rainy and 70 degrees or whatever. But yeah, hanging out with some family and some friends down the shore.

I will be, yeah, I'll be monitoring all the sports. Hope the Phillies win a game this weekend. That would be nice, like score more than one run. But yeah, nice relaxing summer weekends, EB. What about you? There you go. I will be at that soccer game tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that.

You can find me in my Ph.LY shirt. If you are there, excited for a little father-son memory with that. I'm going to try to sneak down the shore after that to have dinner with some family tomorrow night. And then, yeah, I'll be prepping for Monday's show. So looking forward to that. We have a fun week next week. We'll be having a number of different hosts working together. So Fran should be back.

We'll see about Rich's schedule. We'll see about Jamie's schedule. Looking forward to that. Until then, Rich, this has been an outstanding week for you. Make sure you subscribe to Rich's PHLY newsletter every morning. It's the top thing to read. Make sure you check out our PHLY Flyers coverage tonight. And make sure you check out all our shows next week.

As always, Julia, did outstanding work. As always. As always, we love you. I will say we will do better on Monday. Thank you for watching. all silly like the mayor