Rates & Barrels - 2021 Favorites + A Holiday Adjacent Movie Draft

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Eno, Britt & DVR share their favorite baseball and non-baseball stories from 2021, as well as their top moments from the show this year, before proceeding to a five-round draft of movies that take place around the holidays. Follow Eno on Twitter: @enosarris Follow Britt on Twitter: @Britt_Ghiroli Follow DVR on Twitter: @DerekVanRiper e-mail: [e-mail] Subscribe to the Rates & Barrels YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RatesBarrels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Rates and Barrels, it is Wednesday, December 15th, Derek Van Ryper, Bert Giroli, Eno Saris here with you, take two of this episode, which you wouldn't even know, I don't know why I said that. It's a stupid thing to say. Big, dumb idiot. New mic. New mic. New mic wreaking havoc.

The old hardware-software interface gone wrong. But last three-player booth of the 2021 season here on Rates and Barrels. Two more episodes after this one. It's been a great year. It has been. I love you guys. It's been a lot of fun. I love both of you as well.

It's kind of bittersweet to end any year just because you kind of wish there was more, but this year in particular, actually on the heels of 2020, a little easier to turn the page on this year in the baseball world given that we're in a lockout. Kill it dead. Kill it with a knife. Right. Until about

three weeks ago, it was like, hey, okay. Yeah, yeah, like the future is looking good. And then it's like, ah, crap. But we've, you know what, we've, we've ended a year on a worse note and it wasn't that long ago. So our favorite baseball stories, our favorite non-baseball stories, cool stuff that we actually got to maybe eat or see or do or places that we actually got to go once people were able to start really going places again a little bit. And then we are also at the very end going to have a draft of what I thought could at first be Christmas movies. But then I realized everyone's definition of a Christmas movie is super vague. And then I realized there are other holidays. And it's basically just movies that take place in winter months when Christmas occurs in the movie, I think is going to be the definition. That doesn't sound smooth, but that's mostly what we're going to draft. So we don't get into an argument about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Yeah, we don't need to fight that battle here. That's been fought on the internet for 20 years, probably.

So, you know, consult with hot dog, a sandwich or not. Oh, I'm, I still, you know,

I think this is one thing you and I disagree on. I think you think it's a sandwich and I don't, I don't either. Is it, is a meatball sub a sandwich? Yes. Yeah. So hot dog is now.

Okay. Well, I just ruined my own argument then maybe here's my controversial part of it maybe is i don't care yeah call it whatever you want i don't care call it a sandwich sandwich maybe but you don't go to a sandwich shop and find hot dogs so like you know there is that is a bit of a tautology, but I just don't care. True. I do like that it's the kind of debate that they would have on the office in the bullpen, right? It's that sort of thing.

You take it really seriously, but don't take it that seriously. Same with putting ketchup on a hot dog. I don't care what you put on your hot dog. You're eating tube meat. Do whatever you need to do to enjoy it as much as you possibly can because tube meats are meant to be enjoyed. Yeah, my kids put ketchup on broccoli. Oh, wow. That's a twist. Not all the time.

Alright. Well, I think we should begin with some baseball. I wanted to ask each of you, what was your favorite baseball story? You could have more than one, but if you have one that really stands out on top, what was it? I'm going to go to you first, Britt. Mine has to be Trey Mancini, guys.

I mean, everyone knows his story coming back from colon cancer. Watching him at the All-Star Game in the home run derby, I know he didn't win, but he made it to the final round against Pete Alonso. And a year before that, he had been undergoing chemotherapy. And a year before that, he had been undergoing chemotherapy. I mean, how do you get more like feel good, inspiring than a guy like that who, you know, I know fairly well. I covered in Baltimore. Just a terrific human being, a terrific ambassador for the sport. And I thought that was one of the cooler moments of that whole week in Denver.

Yeah, I mean, it's a comeback story. It's a real good one. And he seems like a really decent guy. I haven't spoken to him too often, but he seems pretty level-headed and kind and caring. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, it seems like. Those are, I think, among the best feel-good stories of the year for sure. You had one that we saw on the rundown. We're like, okay, that's a good story,

but why is it your favorite baseball story? I had Charlie Morton's broken leg down there, and you guys were like, why is this a feel-good story? He broke his leg. I don't have an answer for that. I mean, it's a story of perseverance. He's a player that I really enjoy talking to that I just think is an underrated pitcher who is really in touch with his emotions, which is rare for a player. on a broken leg and strike two more batters out.

I think it actually spoke a little bit to the Braves as a larger story, which is that they lost their best player and they managed to persevere. So I kind of thought that that was kind of a cool way to kind of tie in what the Braves did. It was an iconic moment. And then also just when it happened, I was, it's the one thing I remember, you know, I guess Shohei Otani comes close. Those are the two things this year where I was like, what? Like, holy crap.

That's, that's, that's what I was looking for. It was like the holy crap. And, you know, him, him hitting 95 and striking two guys out on a broken leg was, was my for was like the holy crap uh and you know him him hitting 95 and striking two guys out on a broken leg was uh was my holy crap of the year okay yeah okay so so your feel-good moment wasn't that he broke his leg it was that he kept pitching for a little while right which is also kind of weird because you're like no stop pitching your leg is broken but but you know it was it was cool and it was a kind of a holy crap moment yeah no i like that and i agree someone had to mention otani i mean how do you top that right it was just

that was a really cool i didn't steal yours did i yeah you did yours oh why don't you take two you know oh i'm sorry i opened the door i opened the door for more than one. You didn't write it in the rundown. Yeah, I looked at the rundown. I didn't see any Otani. A late edition. It's in there. It's there. Oh, it's on there now.

I didn't put it in there because what I wanted to make sure was if Otani was your story, that you guys had the first choice and I could pivot to my next favorite story. I was trying to be a kind and gracious host and Eno spilled a glass of wine on my carpet. What was going to be your pivot? What was going to be your pivot was gonna be a pivot marcus simeon because i think in in the same vein of shohei otani doing amazing things that are really in their own stratosphere nothing we've ever seen in our lifetimes and maybe unless he's able to repeat or come close to repeating something we will never see again like he might be a great two-way player for the next 10 years, and none of those seasons will reach the levels that he reached in 2021.

In a lot of ways, I feel like I didn't see enough of it. I'm mad at myself for not tuning in more often. I think I go back to my default excuse of, well, the Angels weren't playing a lot of meaningful games, so I was watching the more meaningful games instead. Yeah, that's true. But I wish I had experienced more of it as it happened and less of it in the form of the highlights

that were coming through on Twitter or watching it the next day on MLB Network as he was on the loop throughout the afternoon. But what an amazing season he had. Well, just on Otani real quick, it was really fun uh at the uh all-star game to be there live for it uh but it was it was a really uh interesting feeling to live through because he was the all-star game like he like he was the guy with

most people around him uh he was the guy that got the most questions he was the everything seemed to be set up for him he was starting as a dh a pitcher no one's ever done that before uh you know it was all set up for him to kind of win the the derby i think you know and then he came out and he just fell on his face like he was terrible it looked like didn't it it just looked like yeah it looked like too much like it was just so much for him that he was just like but then he kind of got it going and the crowd like got into it and so um i think he would just he only won his first round or something but like uh the fact that he did even win that first round because it he went like oh for his first 10 or something uh and then he started hitting bombs like over our head and uh and everyone started to really get into it fan wise that was that was my

favorite like sort of lived experience of otani because too like it just it seemed like it came from a place where he was exhausted and tired of all the attention and like you know this he'd rather just go back and play you know at some point i think the the fun part about otani too though is like we three of us have lived in an era of sports coverage where hype is through the roof all the time and it's not often warranted and to see it be warranted and have that really be validated this year from Otani that to me was also a nice nice part of the story but the Marcus Simeon thing is one of my favorite stories of the year because he bet on himself with the one-year deal, maybe in part because he had to. Had such a disappointing short in 2020. A lot of players

did, but it was so easy to look at 2020 in contrast to 2019 for him and say, okay, Marcus Simeon had the best possible year he could have. He played in every single game in 2019. It was the year of the rabbit ball. He got over 30 home runs for the first time. There's nowhere to go but down. And he comes back and has the season that he has in 2021, ends up getting a massive deal in free agency prior to the lockout. I like being proven wrong with player performances because I think it makes fantasy baseball and watching baseball fun, right? The element of surprise adds something. And I think Marcus Simeon coming back with the year that he had in Toronto, I mean, I imagine there'll be Jays fans who are younger fans that haven't been watching this team for 20 years. They've only watched him for a little while, who will have similar feelings about Marcus Simeon that I have as a fan of the Brewers about CeCe Sabathia. He was a Brewer for less than a season, and yet he's one of my all-time favorite brewers. I think that's the sort of impact Semien had. Unfortunately, the Jays didn't have as much success as a team, as fun and watchable as they were in 2021. But that Semien year, I mean, a 45 homer, 15 steal season for a guy that literally everyone I know thought couldn't do better than 2019 was

a great story. Yeah, it's a good pick. That's a good backup pick, honestly. After Eno stole yours. I like that one. I do. So there was still some good stuff that happened this year, if you think about it, because we could probably go down the list. I mean, there's tons of kind of unexpected performances,

starting with, as Eno mentioned, the Braves winning the World Series. So there were some good things that happened this year. There really were. Yeah, and I like to go out on a high note because, look, we know there was bad stuff that happened. We're not hiding from the bad stuff that happens in baseball all the time. It's probably a bigger part of our future than we'd like it to be.

We reported on a lot of it. Yeah, yeah. We didn't pick any of our own stories. No. Good call. lot of it yeah yeah so it's just we didn't pick any of our own stories good good call uh let's open this up a little bit favorite non-baseball story and it doesn't even have to be a sports story from 2021 because you know the internet is such a weird and wild place uh you know i'll start with you on this one because what you put on the rundown has me very curious same oh well you know it was a pretty big phenomenon. I don't know.

Maybe it just didn't reach the sports world. But there was a story about this person called a bad art friend. And it was just this amazing story that I think was in The Atlantic that just – it went places. It was one of those things that evolved. I can't just describe it all. I will try to sum it up. But it was one of those stories that unfurls. And as you read it, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

And you have to kind of reevaluate what you think of each of the characters in it as the story unfurls. But basically, the summary is that there was this lady that was a writer that had been in a friend group with other writers. And she also was trying to do some good on the side. And I think she donated a kidney or something and then wrote a really heartfelt letter about donating the kidney. And then someone in the group used that for a story and basically took the letter verbatim and then made the character unsympathetic in her story as sort of demanding attention for this good thing she'd done and sort of demanding ownership over the person that got the kidney

sort of having wanting to be the white knight, the savior and so there was this short story sort of trying to look at savior what it was to be a savior what it was to think that way what it was to kind of think that way um and so everybody in the story comes off really terribly because the person who wrote the

letter comes off terribly her letter comes off like it's kind of sticky and terrible the person who wrote the piece got like a uh got like a job out of it and like was like a like a writer in in residence somewhere because of it it was like a like a writer in in residence somewhere because of it it was like a big like one of the biggest short stories of the year um and so it's like this whole terrible thing uh the reason why it uh resonated with me is that um i think it was this year i don't know when i found out about this exactly but but my biological father wrote a book about trying to get in touch with me. And he left my name as Eno in the book. He told everyone I'd lived in Menlo Park and that I wrote about baseball.

So he left in all the details about me, and yet he did not try to contact me because I am eminently contactable. You were very easy to find. I think if you Google baseball Eno, you would probably come right. Yeah, emails, Twitter. There's an email in the Twitter bio,

like a direct line right to the person you're looking for uh so i had like this sort of bad art friend moment where it's like oh oh and then here's the best part i didn't tell you the best part the way i found out about it someone sent me a review from uh from die stern which is like a uh you know like a magazine in germany and the review panned the book, just absolutely destroyed it. The first line of the review is, the first lesson you learn in writing is show, don't tell. Someone forgot to teach this author this lesson.

Wow. Wow. Wow. So, so this bad art friend isn't, is it wasn't like a, it was a story, like a made up article story or? No, it's a real story. Yeah. And, and the, the, all the characters in it are real, but the, the, the, the tension is between this person who wrote a story based on her friend's life. And then there was real-life questions about what is plagiarism in creative writing, right? Because we take inspiration in creative writing from real-life events, but was there a line crossed because there were some actual words that were in her letter that ended up in the other story?

And then there was a final version where she'd like kind of change some of the words and then said otherwise no it's fine for me to like take inspiration from from real life um and so yeah i guess it's fine for my father to take inspiration for real life uh to me it was like well you didn't even put in the effort like you know fine write about me if you actually come out and, like, you know, or at least give me a phone call or something. And then if you're not going to do the effort, then at least change my name. Like, at least change some frigging details because you didn't put the effort in.

So, you know, I just thought it was uh it was an interesting moment and if i wrote about it i could actually be more like bad art friend because i would be taking inspiration from a real life event and like and continuing this sort of dichotomy but where was this article in you know the original story i think i think it's the atlantic let see. I'll do a quick search. Interesting. I thought Bad Art Friend was going to be just like this trend of people having friends who were trying to do – they have an artistic outlet and they had to try and support people that were just clearly not good at the things they were passionate about, which is really sad and shouldn't necessarily be laughed at. But that's what I thought it was. good at the things they were passionate about, which is really sad and shouldn't necessarily be laughed at. But I, that's, that's what I thought it was like this community of people that had a bad art friend who were all supporting each other and like, Hey,

look like it's important to keep helping people here. That is part of the meaning because the person who is doing the good, uh, they don't think her art is good. Oh, so, so they, they had already,

the, the, the artist group had already been talking to each other about how bad her art was right but bad art friend is really interesting uh way to construct it because bad art friend so they have the bad art friend right but then they they are also being bad art friends to their friend by either not telling her her art is bad or just talking about her behind her back or then also using her bad art as inspiration. So I also think it's a fun sort of word construction there. This podcast is taking an unusual turn. So I'm going to just get to it with my story. It's going to be a lot less personal a lot more

concise uh yeah okay sorry I rambled but check it out if you haven't it's a it's a really interesting story um my favorite non-sports or non-baseball story of the year wasn't non-sports it's just non-baseball with Simone Biles um and everything she did for the mental health. Really crisis that's going on right now. I thought for somebody like that to kind of put, you know, Michael Phelps did this somewhat too a few years ago, but to kind of push to the forefront the fact that mental health is as important as physical health on that kind of a stage, I just thought was a really cool story that, know hopefully has some resounding effect not just now but years to come on athletes and young people and old people and then you know we're kind of redefining um how important it is to be okay between the ears you know and how

just because you don't look hurt doesn't mean you're not hurt and I think baseball in particular is one of those sports that really needs to take mental health more seriously. I think coming off the pandemic, everybody needs to. I just thought that was a really refreshing take and a very bold move for someone like her. I see a through line between her and Naomi Osaka. And then also, just generally, Osaka, and then also just generally all of us re-evaluating our relationship to work. I know it's about mental health, but it's also sort of like we have all these expectations put upon us. And I think in the last couple of years, we've really re-evaluated how many of those expectations we think are onerous and just like ridiculous and you know Naomi Osaka being like you know if I go if I go and lose a terrible match I'm still you know I'm still you know it was a huge match it's a finals match and I'm still

like you know I'm emotional I'm you know I'm crying about it I'm I'm sad I'm sweaty and then I have to go stand up in front of you and answer these questions. It's kind of a ridiculous setup. The whole thing is a setup. I have to play your games. I have to do it your way. And I think both Noam Uysaka and Simone Bailas were like, no, I don't want to play it your way. I want to put my health first.

And I thought that was remarkable. to put my health first. And I thought that was remarkable. Yeah, I think for me, that's the great resignation is the broader story of 2021. That I think is, it is exactly that it is the reevaluation of how work is in our lives and what, what people are going to be willing to tolerate. And that, that has changed. The pandemic has changed that forever. I think the reason why it's my favorite story is that people are standing up for themselves. And I think people are doing it together, which gives it a chance to actually lead to some sort of change. And I think it pushes the responsibility to people outside of those work situations. It's how do people who aren't in those situations help those who are in those situations? Do you spend your money at places that treat

people that way? And becoming more aware of how bad conditions are at different places is one way to have a better understanding and taking action is a small way to continue helping. So I just think that there is more of a community feel to it. Whereas I think we've all, at some point, I think all three of us have had part-time jobs or jobs when we were younger that were like those jobs. Awful. They weren't good. They were not good jobs. To know that those conditions have been much worse than probably what we experienced back then and people have to try and make a living in that and knowing that they're not willing to just keep dealing with horrible circumstances anymore.

I find it inspirational. I know it's going to be messy. It's going to take a long time to make it right. But I'm glad the beginning of change is actually happening on that front. So it's a big, dark story that will last probably a decade, if not longer, before there's true resolutions. But just people having the courage to stand up and say,

you know what, my life is worth more than being told what to do and doing a measly job for a small amount of money. Everyone's life is worth so much more than that. So I found that to be, again, very inspirational. Let's go to our favorite moment on the show, which I think is probably my favorite question on the rundown, just because there's all sorts of random things that happened. And I wonder if the people listening even remember the things that we chose as our favorite moments on the show. And I'm sure people listening maybe have favorites of their own.

So if you have those, feel free to drop those our way on Twitter. I'll go first on this one. I think it was pretty recent. It was after Britt went to the general manager's meetings. It was right in the beginning of that episode, when she was explaining the went to the general manager of meetings was right in the beginning of that episode when she was explaining the the uniform of the modern gm you know with the the lulu lemon uh shirts and the backpack with the hand sanitizer clipped to it the casual like they're not dress shoes but they're not sneakers which i i have a pair of those you know i've seen

them i wear them most of the time when i go out around this area because it's like, well, I got to be comfortable. But I kind of need to look like I'm not just kicking it here. So here's what I've got. So that cracked me up. I think that we saw responses on Twitter. People loved that moment. That was probably my favorite moment on the show all year. I recently thought of that because I was talking about possibly joining a team and then I was like,

do I have to buy those clothes? Or do they just send it to me when I get the job? It's standard issue. Starter pack. Here are your half-sips and your khakis. It's true. Yeah, that was good. That's funny. My favorite moment was also a Brit moment

when she just ran all through us and just destroyed us at predicting during the playoffs. The Cardinals call. I mean, that was probably the single best call about a team or a player on the show when she said the Cardinals were going to go to the playoffs in, what was that, late August? I mean, it was maybe even mid-August.

And I was just like, no way. We both cackled. We audibly laughed at Britt on the show for the prediction, and then it happened. We did. We did. Gosh, what is this, the Britt hype show? I feel like you guys are making me sound smart. I say a lot of dumb things. Does anyone anyone listen to the show also is well aware um so i don't know that one particular moment eno's rooster story stands out to me it's like this

indelible moment that i can't ever shake um me me chasing the roosters in jamaica and trying to catch them yes i forget i don't know how that comes up on a baseball podcast, but it did. Yeah. I don't know how much of what we talk about comes up on a baseball podcast, but it does. And then also, I don't know if enough people know just the,

the good idea slash the slog that the playoff podcasts are. And just like the three of us being like, all right, what time are we signing on? Like not as much this year because we did them the next day, but the first year us being like, all right, what time are we signing on? Like not as much this year because we did them the next day, but the first year when we did them at night, there was just all these delirious,

ridiculously fun moments in there. And I wish I could think of more of these one-liners, but all I can say is we laugh a lot on this show. I think somebody wrote in the comments once, like you guys laugh too much, but if that's going to be your criticism of the show, because we're having fun and we're funny, then so be it. So I think there's a lot of good moments on this show. Yeah, I don't know if I'd ever want to actually work for a person who said I laugh too much at work.

I mean, if I worked in a morgue or something, then I'd understand. Yeah, well then. You know, sure. Yeah. Be inappropriate, but otherwise, like having fun is kind of part of life

and you should try and enjoy what you do as much as you possibly can. So yeah, that's a good call. I forgot about the rooster. They say I sing too. I think it was when

a whole world story. Oh, the singing. I think the rooster story was in Hawaii when I got really mad at the rooster. Is that true? That might be the rooster story. How did that come up, though? I still don't remember.

No idea how we got there. The King of Waffles thing was kind of a good thing. That was definitely my plan. It didn't really work because everybody remembered my betting articles picks and nobody remembered the ones from this show. So in my comments on my pieces, somebody was like, I hate your analytics.

And somebody else in my comments was like, oh, you know, his analytics are the best. And the third comment was like, yeah, they were really great. Allowed him to get 55% wrong on the playoff picks. I was like, ooh, touche. Oh, gosh. Amazing. Good times. We've had good times on this show. Derek has moved pretty much

across the country. You know, and I did a little wiffle ball meetup with the All-Star. Maybe next year we can do, the three of us, a live Rates and Barrels show that's still on the old bucket list. In person. An and in person show. We're going to be doing some stuff in the spring, probably live here at breweries.

So if you wanted to come out for that, I like it. We could do, we could do an all-star game thing again. That would be fun. All right. So we've got another category here before we move on, you know,

popping out against Peter Moylan was a, was a good moment for me this year. In your baseball career, where does that rank as an all-time moment? Is it like a top five? It's utterly appropriate. You were there for my hit, right? I got a base hit. Trevor Plouffe and

Peter, and you also all saw it. Yeah. I think I got a hit off of Plouffe, but Moylan has that sidearm funk. He does. It's deception. How about this for a hypothetical? So let's say it's the 2022 All-Star Game week, and another wiffle ball game has been created,

and you're going to hit a home run off of a former player. Who do you want that former player to be? Pick a former player that you want to hit a home run off of. It could be anyone from any era. It could be old Hoss Radborn if you're really weird about it. Mariano Rivera. He gave up so few.

That's a good one. I also was going Yankee, Roger Clemens just because I think he would get really angry. Even now. Yeah. That's the key. You want someone who takes it seriously. If he tossed the bat at me, dude, that would be just amazing. I think I'd go Randy Johnson because, I mean, he's the key. You want someone who takes it seriously. If he tossed the bat at me, dude, that would be just amazing.

I think I'd go Randy Johnson because, I mean, he's the guy that if it were a real baseball, I would not want to step into the box against him. I'm a righty, too, and I still wouldn't want to be anywhere near the plate with Randy Johnson pitching, but I'll take my chances with a wiffle ball. I'd be doing the crook, waving at with the hat backwards randy johnson's just here i mean i'm talking about showalter because he's in the mets managerial process and buck used to always kind of talk about how absolutely terrifying randy was even to manage like he just stayed out of his way it's like all right randy whatever you want yeah and not just on the

mound right like just generally terrifying i was standing next to him at some sort of media event and i was and i thought you know people were asking some you know certain questions i thought i would be the guy who asked like the baseball the question which sometimes works for me right you know like the the nuts and bolts question so i was like what was the real like what was the real adjustment that like you know that that led to the and he was like a damn split finger and i was like okay thank you thank you for the answer i think pedro martinez would be a close second i i like pedro i just think he'd i feel like it would actually bother him like oh this this stupid podcaster just hit a home run off me i gotta live with that for the

rest of my life yeah he's he's just a lot more fun to talk baseball about i just yeah i just think you'd have a lot of fun with it in in the end but uh our next question a favorite 2021 discovery it could be a place you visited it could be a food that you found somewhere it could be a book or a video game literally anything a thing you didn't know about before 2021 that you found somewhere it could be a book or a video game literally anything a thing you didn't know about before 2021 that you found and really enjoyed well so many um currently i'm binge watching yellowstone which is a great show i also visited four new states this year i'm up to 43 in my quest to go to all 50 before i turn 40 so liking those odds they're all the non-baseball states that are left pretty much but Nebraska yeah like Arkansas Oklahoma I think we're gonna go to a concert in Arkansas to bang

that one out sometime this spring it's like what's he gonna do there uh but Alaska was beautiful that was my favorite state that we visited this past year we took a belated honeymoon there for 10 days and um just a spectacular feel like you're in another world kind of state so how did you get around did you do like a cruise or did you did you we drove we drove everywhere aren't like cars like an issue like getting a car um they were but um we got lucky we got a car uh my husband loves to drive so we ended up putting uh i want to say a couple thousand miles on that car. A lot of hours of driving, right?

Yes, but it's so beautiful that it doesn't matter. You're like, cool, three-hour drive, but it's scenic the entire three hours. So it's a fun drive. You drove to Alaska and back? No, no. We drove around. Even driving around Alaska. Yeah, it's huge.

It's super spread out. Okay. I'm not a big fan of cruises in general. I grew up in Jamaica. I'm not a big fan of uh of of cruises in general like i grew up in jamaica like you know i'm not a big fan of cruises in general but i have heard that uh that in particular alaska is kind of it makes sense to do a cruise because there's so much driving and the cruise kind of allows you to kind of see a lot of it and then get off and then get back in and have some fun i have a fear of cruises though there There's too many people. Imagine the COVID outbreaks this year.

Also post-COVID, yes, cruises are doing really badly. They're also super cheap now so maybe now's the time. Now's the time to go. Get a booster right before and jump on. Nah. I'm still not ready to cruise.

Sorry. They are kind of cesspools. Yeah, no. I also don't do well in all-you-can-eat scenarios. Cruises aren't for me. Wait, follow-up question. What do you mean you don't do well in all-you-can-eat scenarios? Does that mean you eat too much or you don't like the food?

Stop. No, I mean, there's no limit. Britt, you've lived in the Midwest. That's called getting your money's worth. That is okay. That's true. I know here it'd be frowned upon, and maybe on the East Coast it's frowned upon too, but in the Midwest, you're getting your money's worth.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, Vegas is the closest I've gotten to that. Never want to eat that much when I'm there. It's hot and gross. How about you? You know, favorite discovery 2021. I think the beer collaborations were really, really fun. I guess that's a discovery of some sort

is the discovery that I could just hop on a Zoom call with some people that knew more than me and say some stuff and they'd make a beer based on what i said and do all the hard work i mean that that was pretty amazing uh but uh and this might be another weird one but i think my favorite discovery this year was short hair okay okay that's more comfortable day-to-day much easier. It is so much easier. My hair used to take like four hours to dry. That's a long time.

Your wife didn't clue you in on this long ago. Long hair. No, she's been yelling at me about it. In fact, her hair at some point was shorter than mine when she said, come on. shorter than mine was when she said, come on. Well, I think everybody, everybody at some point in the last two years probably set a personal record for the longest time they went without getting a haircut, regardless of short hair, long hair, whatever. So everybody found a new look at some point in the last two years.

But I think my favorite discovery, which is weird for a person that drove most the way across the country, I was kind of going for speed rather than tourism tourism though. It was a YouTube series called Binging with Babish. It's been around for several years and it's my brother-in-law that told us about it. But it started off where this guy decided to kind of make his own YouTube channel. He had a background in video, didn't have a background necessarily as a chef, but he started recreating food from movies and TV shows. So if you think of like Parks and Rec, like there's the meat tornado burrito, right? There's an episode where he makes a meat tornado burrito and eats it. And of course the channel's morphed into a bunch of other things. There's basics with Babish now and he's, he's become a very good chef over time.

And the videos are really well produced. He does a great job. He voiceover, he does a good voiceover on them. So they're, they're pretty calming. Like calming like they i don't know i guess in the same way that like a episode of fraser is kind of a good late night random thing to just throw on because it doesn't wake you back up it's really good that way but you can also discover some pretty cool food along this is filling the hgtv niche in your life yeah yeah it is my wife makes fun of me because when we hop into bed at the end of the day all i want is hgtv on for like 45 minutes get the reveal fall asleep get the reveal it's mindless it's a it's a it's a way to i like yours better though because it might actually be

a little bit more practical we've already finished the renovation in our house and i'm absolutely have no abilities in that arena to the consternation of my father who is the general contractor i i think the there's a few things i like about it i mean it connects back to the the great resignation at some point he gave up the job that he had started better himself and won big like he's got a great following now, and this is his career, and he's set for a long time, but he's grown that in a way that is just, it's fun, it's engaging, it's highly worth your time. Binging with Babish,

he didn't pay me to say that. He doesn't have to. He's got more followers than I'll ever have, so definitely check out his stuff. If you're just looking for some ideas, inspiration for new meals, or you just like seeing people cook ridiculous things, there's a movie called Big Night that I've never heard of before.

What is it called? Big Night. It came out in the 90s. And it's about two brothers who run an Italian restaurant. And there's this dish called Il Timpano. And I've never heard of that either. It's this Italian dish. It must be from a different part of Italy than where my wife's family originally came from and everything.

So it is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen anyone make on any food show ever. So I would say if you want to start with one that's just really impressive. What makes it ridiculous? The amount of meat or? The amount of time that had to go into making this thing. It kind of looks like a giant wheel of cheese, but it's made out of pasta and meat and fillings and things, and it's just incredible.

I think it took him a couple days to actually complete the entire process and everything. Some of the stuff's a lot more... Many of the things are a lot more straightforward than that, but that was one of the things he made, and I was like, well, that's cool. I never heard of that movie, so maybe I'd actually like that movie so definitely give it

a look if you're curious about some food things on YouTube. Alright should we do our winter Christmas holiday ish movie draft? I cheat sheet. You get a cheat sheet for this? How many rounds? There's only four on it so

I'm in trouble if it goes wrong. How many rounds are we doing? Five? I thought we were doing five. Three? You only want to do three? You want to do five rounds? Yeah, why don't you draft a movie you haven't seen if you only have four that you like? No, I just don't like Christmas

movies. Three. I got four. We can go to five. Alright, Eno. Go ahead. We'll go to five. It'll be a stretch at the end. Clearly, Eno has the shortest list of things he wants here. I feel like we should just give him the first

pick as a result. Go ahead, Eno. Die hard, baby. I want that one. I'm not surprised. My fifth pick may just be another Die Hard movie Alright Fair, fair, okay You're gonna give me the second pick? Sure

I will take A Christmas Story I don't think it's necessarily the best Christmas movie But it's probably If it's not my favorite, it's one of my favorites And it's the one that I can watch on a loop Probably because I've been trained to watch it on a loop. Thanks, TBS and TNT. Is that the one where he has a pop gun?

Yeah, he's got the BB gun and a little kid growing up in Indiana. That's the one my family watched the most. I think everyone's family, if you watch Christmas movies, probably has one that they gravitate toward. See, that's the problem. We were usually in Jamaica, and we were not watching TV, and we were not watching TV and we were not watching Christmas movies. There you go.

I have to draft that one first for its re-watchability, not because I think it's the all-time greatest Christmas movie. I'm going to go with a classic, Rudolph and the Red-Nosed Reindeer. All-time classic. I used to watch it as a little kid. Awesome. Eno, round two.

We're going to snake it back. You get another one, Britt. Oh, gonna snake it back you can have it you get another one oh geez uh maybe i'll pair that with a more current film uh let's do national lampoon i like another vacation yeah christmas vacation that's the first that's the first one that i would have put on my list there we go another good classic one you can watch a million times put on my list. There we go. Another good classic one. You can watch a million times. I enjoyed that one.

I enjoyed the, uh, the, the like bad eighties neighbors. Oh, yes. What's her name? Um,

Julia Louis. Yeah. Yes. They might be my favorite. She, uh, she wouldn't have a better career than the actor that played her husband or boyfriend in that movie.

I know his name's Todd in the movie. I don't even know what his real life name is. She's great though. She's great in Veep. If you haven't seen Veep, go binge Veep. It's a hilarious political satire. I'm looking for something to binge. I did catch an episode of Veep.

I don't remember. I was traveling or something. I just threw it on the TV and it was on. I was like, oh, this is actually good. I think I'd like this. It's hysterical. It's hysterical and it only gets better. It's great. It's a great show. I'm going to stay in the more modern era. A movie that is older than I think people realize, though.

I'm going to take Elf as my second pick. Oh, you took one off my list. Oh, no. Some of my battleship. Ito's going to end up with three diehards. Yeah, he is. No, Elf is hilarious. Elf is great. It's held up very well.

Casting is great. Perfect use of Will Ferrell, right? No matter what you think of Will Ferrell's movies overall, that's just an ideal fit for his style of comedy. Just well done. Ridiculous person. Agreed. Agreed.

Eno for two. Eno for two. Eno for two and then I'm going to be done. I'll be doing some quick searching while you guys are talking. I'm going Home Alone. Classic. I like Home Alone and

I just watched Home Alone 5 I think. Is that on your list? No. and I just watched Home Alone 5, I think. As we get with the kids. Is that on your list? No. It was really, really bad. I was going to say. But they do keep the Christmas theme through, I think, all of the

Home Alones. It's probably the most Christmassy of my movies so far. And of the movies that I will pick. So I'm going Die Hard, Home Alone, and Trading Places. Oh. There we go.

I haven't seen Trading Places. That's my top three, and I'm going to look at a list now. Yeah, frantically find some other movies to draft when it comes back to you. You only need one more, right? You only need one more. You can do it.

No, we're doing five. He's got four. We're going to do five? We'll do five. Oh, he picked three. He's got three. He's got Die Hard, Home Alone, and Trading Places. Ah, that's right. I got one before Brit gets two, so I have to be careful with this one. I've got to make sure

if there's one that I think Brit's going to take that I like, I have to get it now because I won't be able to get it with my next turn. There are some legit classics out there that we have not even gone near. No, I know. It's kind of surprising. All right.

Anticipating what I think Brit is going to do, I'm going to take Home Alone 2 right now. I don't want to get shut out on the two. There are two good Home Alone movies. I think everything after two is worthless. Well, I guess if you have kids, maybe they're not worthless because they'll watch anything. Five was as bad as you think it was.

I mean, how do you even keep coming up with ways to leave a child at home? And especially in this era, like if that took place in recent times, my goodness, it's so much easier to not do that now than it probably was in the 90s. But I'll take Home Alone 2. I think it's actually a worthy sequel.

I think finding clever ways to harm people trying to murder you when you're in an unfamiliar city as a child shows an incredible amount of resourcefulness. I think Kevin McCallister's ingenuity is awesome. I hope he's building roller coasters or something in adulthood right now. I'd watch that movie. But I think Home Alone 2 is almost as good as Home Alone 1, and people that hate on it probably are like, well, I'd watch that movie. But I think Home Alone 2 is almost as good as Home Alone 1,

and people that hate on it probably are like, well, it's the same movie. It's like, well, yes, it just takes place in a different place. Of course it's the same movie. The weaponry used in Home Alone 2 is more impressive for a child. This is his weaponry.

I love how Derek's been staunchly defending each one of his picks. I think they sound good to me. Sounds good to me. I've got a good lineup. I've got Christmas Story, Elf, and Home Alone 2. I think they sound good to me. Sounds good to me. I've got a good lineup. I've got Christmas Story, Elf, and Home Alone 2. I'm in good shape right now. I'm going to go with Santa Claus.

Nice. Classic Tim Allen movie. With a E. Yeah. And then I'm going to go with The Holiday because I love that movie. I'm a sucker for the little old guy in that movie. He's so cute. I love Jack Black.

I love Kate W winslet i love cameron diaz i like jude law like i'm sorry i'm a chick i'm gonna sit there and watch these holiday movies that have happy endings at the end and maybe get a little misty eyed i love i love some of these sappy i think i've seen that one it's i think it's the movie that gets watched every time i go somewhere in December. So usually if I travel for the winter meetings, Steph watches it then. Exactly. She's like, oh, I watched that while you were gone.

I was like, really? You don't want to watch it now? She's like, no, it was fine. I watched it while you were gone. Going to watch it tonight because John's out of town. So that is the exact function of that movie. It's almost Christmas and I'm home by myself, which is weird that Home Alone's not that movie given the title

and everything, but hey, I get it. Totally understand. Santa Claus, I think that along with Home Alone 2 especially, those are the two picks that really just lock in the fact that we grew up in the 90s. That is the clearest thing ever. And people that grew up in

the 70s are sitting there and they're like, how are you guys not drafting the actual classic Christmas movies? The ones that were on TV in that era. I'll take It's a Wonderful Life as my fourth round pick. How could you not? I mean, if we're talking about movies that could be the truly best Christmas movie out there, I think you'd find more agreement on that than you would on any other movie that we've picked so far in this draft. Sure. Oh, yeah. I'm sure there are people who are looking down their noses at my list.

I mean, I drafted Home Alone 2 before I drafted It's a Wonderful Life. Let's just let that soak in. I was very concerned Brit was going to take Home Alone 2. Lost in New York. I probably would have. You know, I'm intrigued. All right. I'm doing one that's totally in line with the rest of mine.

So I went Die Hard, Home Alone, Trading Places, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Ah, that's a good one. That's a good one. That is actually kind of a Christmas movie. It's like trying to get home for Christmas. Yeah, that counts. Absolutely.

And then my last one could be controversial. I don't want to say that I think it's one of the best movies of all time or super great or anything, but it's a little bit sappy and I kind of like it. And I'm going to put my name on it, I guess. Love Actually. Oh, I almost picked that one. But The Holiday is a slight favorite. But I love that movie.

I love that pick because it was so unexpected. Yes, it definitely sticks out. Die Hard, Home Alone, Trading Places, Plane Trains, and All the Movies. And Love Actually. Do you really like that movie or did you just Google Christmas movies and pick one? No, no.

Once I saw it, i was like yeah it's a you know the first time i saw it was with my wife in england uh i think on at a christmas that we weren't going home or something um and uh so it kind of reminds me of a of an interesting time and in our lives um and uh i just i i haven't seen it again recently so i don't know that like it stands the test of time but i saw it like a couple years ago and i was like you know this is not so bad oh it's good it stands the test i love it it's another really good movie yeah it's a fun movie all right you got one more brit wait i got one more i gotta go i gotta go before you i'm not gonna take that one.

I got a different one. Such a good one. I'll take The Grinch. I'll take How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That's a classic too. Ages pretty well. Notice I didn't pick any other than Home Alone I didn't pick any that I would be watching with my kids. Mostly because I just feel

like I'm forced to watch movies with my kids all the time and they don't usually stand out for me. They don't, they don't always pick the best content. No, they pick some terrible, terrible crap. Home Alone 5. I mean, I chose bad content until I was like 25 years old at least. So I have no ground to stand on here. You chose Home Alone 2 over It's a Wonderful Life.

Maybe you're still doing it. That was, you know, as well as I do, that to stand on here. You chose Home Alone 2 over It's a Wonderful Life. Maybe you're still doing it. You know as well as I do that that was draft strategy. That was getting everything I wanted from that draft position. That's amazing. Well, I already said mine. I'm going to close on Jingle All the Way. Classic.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is great, but you know who steals that movie for me? It's Sinbad as the postal worker. The insane postal worker. I just saw it the other day. It was on TV. I did just see it the other day. Yeah, it was just on. Just a great movie. I don't know.

Just a fun, I don't know. Preposterous. Totally preposterous. Just a fun, lighthearted movie. I do always watch that during the holidays. Yeah, we usually have a diehard trilogy watch at some point. Yeah, it seems like a good tradition to have. I'm looking at the movies we didn't take, the classics.

Miracle on 34th Street, the original, which is interesting because there's a Rotten Tomatoes list for this, of course. There's probably a billion other lists ranking Christmas movies. The original Miracle on 34th Street is their number two movie for Christmas movies. The one that we all saw as kids is like the second worst Christmas movie. And of course, that's the one I saw first. So I've never wanted to watch the original.

So I've never actually seen the original. I don't think I've ever seen the original. Like seeing how people who take rating movies very seriously are looking at it i think it's kind of important that i actually go back and watch the original miracle on 34th street and you know erase the few remaining memories of the the one that came out when we were kids uh holiday inn is high on that list i've seen i've seen that it's pretty good toy story high on that list we used to watch that growing up. They didn't put Toy Story on it.

Not Toy Story, the regular Toy Story. Isn't it like the Land of Toys? They've got another version. I didn't see that one on there. The other one that's really high on the list, it's an old movie. It's called The Shop Around the Corner. It came out in 1940.

I've never seen it. Not familiar with that one at all. I saw Meet Me in St. Louis on some of these lists. I studied that in school and I've scrubbed my memory of the movie. I just remember parts of my essays. Why it was meaningful. It was one of the first colorized movies.

It had something to do with the expo. Interesting. The without santa claus i like too and i went to dc has like a big christmas movies um interactive exhibit and they did you know elf and they did um christmas story and uh christmas vacation they also did polar, which I've never seen. Is that like a classic Christmas movie? You know, have you seen that? Yeah. Kids like that one. The kids also, one of the ones that the kids like that I do like was called, and it's so

funny that this is a Christmas movie, Rise of the Guardians. Rise of the Guardians as a Christmas movie? Guardians of Christmas. And so it's like the characters in it are Jack Frost and, you know, and like the Easter Bunny and the Nutcr Christmas. Oh. And so it's like the characters in it are Jack Frost and, you know, and like the Easter Bunny and... The Nutcracker. Oh.

But they're animated and they're at war. It's like a definite, like a modern version of a movie where like, you know, like there's a big screen with like, you know, an evil mastermind. Do they use paint cans to hurt the bad guys? No, but no, no. They have like magic and like effects and like, and they can like hurt each other. Yeah. Wow. Do you have, okay, so before we sign it off from this segment at least,

do you have any movies that you wanted to draft but you were actually ashamed to draft? Because I have one. I have one that we've watched every year for at least the last five years that I think is a modern Christmas movie that is actually a bad movie, and I keep watching it and I keep laughing at it. So it must not be completely terrible because I'm getting some kind of enjoyment out of it. That movie is Four Christmases. It is a Vince Vaughn

Reese Witherspoon movie. What is that? They're an unmarried couple living in the Bay Area. And they are supposed to go on a trip to Fiji, I think, for Christmas. They're ignoring

their family, but the fog in San Francisco keeps their plane from taking off. Flight gets canceled, and they're seen on TV, so they have to go and actually spend Christmas with their families, who all live within an hour or so,

so they can see everybody all in one day, and they freak out about it, and their families are all like everyone's family. They've got their issues, but it's stupid, but somehow kind of relatable.

So I don't know. I end up watching Four Christmases like every year now, and I don't think it's good. I don't think it's going to end up on any list like this ever as anything more than like a throwaway movie that makes the list longer.

I don't know. I think it made the top 20 on this one list I'm looking at. Oh, boy. It must be cut up. Right below Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. Wow. Quite a list.

And there's an infinite number of, I don't know, lifetime and freeform and just poorly budgeted Christmas movies that have been cranked out over the years. If you throw on Netflix or Hulu, there are movies you've never ever heard of that were somehow made in the last few years that are just the absolute worst there's a whole channel

what's the channel the Hallmark channel it's just the sappiest stuff horrible I tried to watch one of those just to kind of laugh at it and I couldn't even do it any other holiday thoughts I know we talked about cookies last year and I feel like of those just to kind of laugh at it and i couldn't even do it i just couldn't do it uh any other holiday thoughts i know we talked about cookies last year and i feel i feel like because

of the move i didn't get the opportunity to partake in that tradition with staff's family and then i offer you my kitchen do you i'm sure you probably have a stand mixer right yeah you need a big stand mixer to pull this off. That's okay. Maybe this can happen. Let me think about this. I get cookies. Any other traditions, any other stuff you guys got going on?

We do the German thing of a couple gifts the night before. Okay, that's cool. In fact, I think some Germans do all the gifts the night before. Okay, that's cool. In fact, I think some Germans do all the gifts the night before. We're not German, and we did one gift the night before. We also have, from Maggie's side of the family, enchiladas.

Oh, okay. So that's the Christmas Day tradition? Christmas, big thing is christmas enchiladas that's not great yeah that sounds really good it's a good recipe yeah yeah we don't have a fixed food it's kind of like whatever recipe sounded good that year is the thing we have we don't have one thing we go back to every year it'd be cool to have that whether it's a ham or enchiladas or something else entirely i'd like to have a meal tradition to start one started this year. I might have to,

it's going to be like kale chips and California foods, but it'll no, it'll be something a little better than that. Uh, before we go. Yeah. I hope you guys have great holiday season. Hope everyone listening out there has great holiday seasons as well.

Uh, of course, as always, there's 33% off a subscription at theathletic.com slash ratesandbarrels. On Twitter, Eno is at Eno Saris. Britt is at Britt underscore Droli. I am at Derek Van Ryper.

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