So... Alright - Geoff accidentally plays hooky, but not really

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

Geoff goes on a bike ride that triggers a few childhood memories. he also does his best to cope with the Celtics loss, and discovers the best year of music in his life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and I just attributed it to. A lot of the stress of getting the office off the ground and the one year anniversary and just all of that stuff going on in the background and just, you know, trying to get a shitload done. But I think more than anything, I just have been too sedentary and I haven't been getting exercise. I've been taking walks in the evening sometimes, but not like, you know, a 20 minute walk is a little different from a two hour bike ride, you know?

And and I've just been kind of walking around, kind of feeling like I'm in a fog, not able to shake it off and starting to wonder if maybe I'm in some sort of aged mental decline. I think I just needed to move my ass a little bit. God damn, I had the best time riding my bike today. And I came up with a bunch of ideas for regulation, which was the whole goal of in the first place. But I did land on some things that I thought would be interesting to talk about here. First, though.

I begin a lot of emails and social media posts and comments from people asking how I'm handling the Celtics exit from the playoffs. I'm handling it fine, honestly. We won a title last year. The idea that we would win back to back is it's it's not hasn't it hasn't been done often this last 20 years or so. And the chances were stacked against us. I'm not going to sit here and make excuses and say that, you know,

if Jalen Brown hadn't had a partially torn meniscus and Chris steps, purzingis hadn't been dealing with some sort of an immuno compromised issue from a from a virus he wasn't able to get past. And Jason Tatum had torn his fucking Achilles that we would have won. Honestly. born as fucking Achilles that we would have won. Honestly, we got our asses kicked those first two games against the Knicks. I hate to say it. We should have won both of those games and we didn't.

And I'm not gonna be one of those people that says, the Celtics lost, the Knicks didn't win. Clearly the Knicks won. I think they are not as good of a team as a healthy Celtics. I think they are not as good of a team as a healthy Celtics. I think they are not as good of a team as a partially healthy Celtics, but they clearly were hot at the right time and they clearly wanted it more than we did.

We looked defeated early on in that series. I don't know. I think it was just the accumulation of miles on bodies and you know, you think about it, NBA season, if you don't make the playoffs, your NBA season stops in mid April. And then you're off until, you know, training camp probably starts up again in September.

So you've got some time there. Make the playoffs, you go deep in the playoffs, you're playing until mid June, if you make it to the finals and then you say your last game is June 17th, then you're you're off until September. Meanwhile, the rest of the league has been off since April. Resting training, working on new moves, taking time off just to enjoy their families, whatever it is they're doing

to recharge and get ready for the new season. If you're a team that's perennially competing, you're going deep into May, maybe June every year. It wears people out. That's why Jason Tatum is so high on the list. Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown both are so high on the list of points scored all time in playoffs. It's because they have played in a tremendous amount of playoff games in their young career. Now that would be my excuse. But I think the counter argument to that would be, well, what about the Golden State Warriors? They seem just fine with it.

And I agree. You know, the Celtics should be able to continue to compete at that high level. I don't know. We just didn't have it this year. Maybe it's chemistry. Maybe it's the case of not wanting it bad enough. Maybe it's the case of. Decline in ability and skills for some players, I don't know. But at the end of the day, the New York Knicks wanted it a hell of a lot more than we did, I think.

And best of luck to them going against the Indiana Pacers. I didn't in a million years think the Knicks would beat the Celtics. I don't in a million years think they'll beat the Pacers, but who knows, man? Who knows? I will be rooting for either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Minnesota Timberwolves, though. I'm not going to root for either East Coast team. A lot of respect for for the Pacers. But fuck them. You know.

Can't support an East Coast team. Definitely not support my fucking Knicks and not just because they beat us, but because they're one of our biggest, most heated rivals. You know, 76ers, Lakers, Knicks recently heat, but they're a shell of a team. So not too worried about them anymore. Anyway, I guess I'm rooting for an SGA or an Anthony Edwards NBA title. I think either those would be pretty cool to watch. Not as cool as Celtics running back to back, but who knows?

Problem now is, of course, that we are entering into the offseason where we are going to have to make some serious changes to our roster to get under the second apron. I think I've talked about that in the past a little bit, but there are salary caps for a team. And when you break those caps, you go into what's called the first and then the second apron. And when you're offending at that level by essentially spending too much money on your players, there's like an eight and a half times tax, like for every dollar you spend over a certain level, you're getting charged like eight and a quarter,

eight and a half dollars. I want to say it's brutal. No team is able to live that deep in the luxury tax now, the second apron, as you will, for more than a year or two. So probably Port Zingas is gone. Probably drew holiday is gone. Probably Sam Houser is gone. Hopefully we keep Derek White. I want to keep all of them. Don't get me wrong.

I love every single one of them. But, you know, Horford is he's 103 now. Drew's getting a little bit older and he can still provide a lot of value. I'm sure he's a very valuable trade asset. Poor Zingas when healthy is amazing, but I just can't count on him being healthy. You know, I'm hoping that we can keep Brown and Tatum. But Brad Stevens, he's a brilliant coach. He's a brilliant front office man. I have no fear. You know, his

predecessor Danny Angel was famous for extracting the most value out of trades. They called him Trader Danny and nobody wanted to trade with him because he had such a reputation. Brad does not have that reputation, but every trade he makes is kind of low key brilliant. And so I wouldn't be surprised. He's also fearless. I wouldn't be surprised if Brad made some pretty big moves in the offseason. Celtic is going to look a lot different next year.

Of course, Jason Tatum will not be playing next year. That's the real tragedy of these playoffs is that Jason Tatum in game four of the Celtics versus the Knicks, he tore his Achilles, which is, well, it used to be considered the worst injury in basketball. There's been a lot of advancement in how it's treated over the last few years.

But it's still a major, major injury, and he is following in the footsteps of Kobe Bryant, who tore his ACL, and that was that's pretty much it for him. That was a wrap on him. DeMarcus Cousins was never the same again. Kevin Durant tore his and went on to have just as successful of a career afterwards. Although he did say he thought it took him about 700 days to feel like himself again. Seven hundred days. That's almost two full years. Jason Tatum is entering into the prime of his career.

Mostly this happens to players, at least traditionally it happens to players on the tail end of their career. It shortens an otherwise brilliant career. It's pretty rare for it to happen right smack dab in the middle of your prime years. Tatum was looking at 28, 29 years old at the maximum of his physical abilities

sitting on the bench with a torn Achilles. That's brutal. It's also becoming an epidemic in the NBA. These are the players who tore their Achilles this year, who are currently on the injured list for this injury. Jason Tatum, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, De'Jonte Murray, Isaiah Jackson, D'Anthony Melton, Mo Wagner, and Drew Smith all have torn Achilles.

I don't know what the fuck to do about that. I don't know how yet. It's like, it's becoming the new Tommy John surgery, except you don't get to repair your tendon to be as like, you get a Tommy John surgery sometimes preemptively so that you can continue to have a long, successful career pitching. And sometimes people get them twice.

Nobody comes back 100% from an Achilles tear. Jason Tatum will not be the same athlete when he comes back. He may be 94, 95, 96% of the same athlete, but he won't be the same and he might be a lot less. However, much like Kevin Durant, Tatum's game is varied enough and he is talented enough that I think that he can alter his basketball game to more than make up for Whatever minor loss in physical ability he may have

But we will see regardless Interesting and dark days ahead for the Celtics at least in the short term, but I have faith in Brad Stevens I think our future is still bright I think he's very very smart and I wouldn't be surprised if he made some bold and exciting and unexpected moves in the offseason. And I probably won't talk too much about sports going forward. I am going to be watching the NBA finals when we get there. I'll watch the OKC Minnesota series.

Probably won't commentate on it. You know, I'll probably commentate a little bit on the finals, but we'll see. We'll see. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it.

I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it.

I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. I'm not going to comment on it. or with briefcases or dressed up, headed towards offices and traditional nine to five jobs. And me being on my bicycle,

essentially weaving in and out of the city, made me feel like I was about 12 years old again, and it made me feel like I was playing hooky. And that got me so nostalgic. I remembered the first time I ever played hooky. It wasn't the last time I ever played hooky. It wasn't the last time I ever played hooky. And to be fair, it was a it was a officially sanctioned hooky. But I was in sixth grade and we were going on a school field trip.

This one I was living in Jacksonville, Florida. And I want to say there was like a unexpected bus strike or something, but it was on a Friday, we were supposed to go to the field trip and we all got to the school and there were no buses to take us to the field trip. And so we all had to like mill around for about an hour while the grownups and the teachers figured out what to do. And the decision was made to push the field trip back two weeks to a later date, which we eventually ended up going on,

and to just send all the kids home. I remember my mom was at work, so I got a ride home with a friend's mom who was picking him up. And we were home, I want to say, because it was an early day. I want to say we were home by like maybe 930 in the morning on a Friday and my other three friends and I, Keith and Solomon and Joseph, we had a day to do whatever the hell we wanted when we were supposed to be at school.

This was hooky and I'd never been brave enough to play hooky before. Every kid fakes being sick a little bit, but very rarely do you coordinate with all of your friends to fake being sick at the same time and then run around the streets like you know, like in the movies. But we essentially had that day and we got on our bikes and we rode all over town

and we had all kinds of adventures. And at one point, one of the coolest things in my life to that point happened. We saw a hot air balloon and we followed it through neighborhoods and it kept getting lower and lower. And then eventually, I swear to God, it landed in a cul-de-sac.

And we drove up to it and we talked to the guy for a bit and he let us touch the fabric. And then I don't know why he was landing. I don't remember. I wish my memory was better. I didn't feel like it was an emergency landing or anything, but he clearly landed in the middle of a neighborhood, which seems ludicrous to me now thinking about it and incredibly dangerous with power lines and everything.

But it happened. And then we went on about our day and had more adventures. And I remember thinking that day how truly free I felt I was supposed to be somewhere else and I wasn't. And I got to do whatever I wanted to that day unsupervised. It was a free day that wasn't supposed to exist with no teachers, no parents, and no fear of reprisal or getting in trouble because I was allowed

to not be at school, right? I got a taste of that for the first time and I can't remember how long when I was riding around downtown today. And it was so delightful to be transported back to that time in my life and to feel like a little kid again who was getting over on the world in some way. Got me thinking, what are what are the best feelings in the world?

And I mean, obviously non-sexual, right? We're not trying to get weird with it, but like what are we celebrate on the regulation podcast? We stream every Friday at 4 p.m And we end at 5 1 p.m because that is the best moment of the week 5 1 p.m It's the first minute of the weekend Even if you love your job like I do you're still incredibly excited because you have the maximum amount of time Between this second and when you have to go back to work and be a responsible grownup again, or a kid and have to go to school again. So 501 PM is obvious, like seeing that clock

tick over to 501 PM is an amazing feeling. Playing hooky unexpectedly is an amazing feeling. What are your just best feelings, you know, when you were like, like I had another one today actually. I was in my head thinking about stuff and riding my bike kind of on autopilot. And I looked up and I realized I had gone the wrong way for a bit. I had just, I mean, I was riding and being responsible.

I wasn't, my eyes weren't closed or anything, but I just like my head was somewhere else. And my body was on autopilot. And I had gone off course by maybe a mile and a half. And it was just like, it was an old trail that I used to ride, you know, all the time and I don't anymore. And so it wasn't unfamiliar territory for me or anything. My body just had the impulse to go left

instead of straight at one point on the ride. And I was, when I came out of my thoughts, I was like, holy shit, I'm not supposed to be here right now. And that felt cool. It was like, oh, I just got lost. I lost, I got lost. I remembered I used to love to play this game when I turned 16 and I got my car. I would take a quarter and I would flip it heads or tails every time I went to an intersection and then I would go in the direction of the coin flip and I would just drive until I ran through like every CD in my car. I was 16 so I probably had like three, you know, but I'd ride for like an hour and a half or until I couldn't afford the gas anymore and I'd go home or my

curfew or whatever. And it was just so fun to just amble through the world, flipping a coin to let chance determine where I went. And I have played that game a lot in my life since then. And that's another, I think, low key underappreciated joy getting lost in a good way and being pleasantly surprised at where you find yourself. But what about you? What are your best feelings? Send me an email at ericatjeffsboss.com.

What am I not thinking of? What am I missing? What is it? What is it for you? Because those five one p.m. getting lost pleasantly and playing hooky, those are up there for me. I saw a TikTok recently about how 1982 was a particularly good year in punk music.

And so I got to think of what is the best year in music in my lifetime for me in terms of like the bands that I love. Like what year did the best albums come out for me? We covered the summer of 98 on the Regulation Podcast and that was actually, it turns out a really good year for me, there was a ton of my favorite music came out in 1998. But piggybacking off this take, I saw I went through most of my life and I think it is 1982. The amount of bands that released albums, classic seminal albums to me and my

development in 1982 is insane. I encourage you to go through and find the year that the Most of the best music of your life came out you might be surprised listen to this may not mean anything to you But these are for me. These are such heavy hitters. It's Startling that they all came out within 365 days of each other Fear the record bad brains first album it's called the yellow tape But it's the one where Lightning is striking in the capital. Milo goes to college by The Descendants,

one of the best albums of all time. X, Under the Big Black Sun. Talking Heads, the name of the band is Talking Heads. Clash, Combat Rock, which is one of my least favorite Clash albums, but it's still a Clash album. The first MDC album, Just Millions of Dead Cops. Misfits, Walk Among Us, the best Misfits album. Circle Jerks, Wild in the Streets.

Black Flag, Everything Went Black, which was a compilation album, essentially, of all the seven inches of the band up to that point and is fucking awesome. How Could Hell Be Any Worse by Bad Religion, which is one of my favorite all time albums. Stiff Little Fingers, Now, Then, which isn't one of their best albums,

but it's still really good. Crass, Christ the Album. Dead Kennedy's Plastic Surgery Disasters. Each album is better than the last. Angry Samoans, Back from Samoa, The Damned Strawberries. If you've never heard of any of these albums, check a few of them out.

These are classic albums from classic bands. Exploited, Troops of Tomorrow, Anti-Nowhere League, Discharge, GBH, Flipper, Who's Skir-Doo, Blitz, The Attic. Crazy to think that the year I turned seven, I was probably enjoying. Well, I was probably enjoying the great space coaster and Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers, but people 10, 12 years older than me were recording albums that I would discover in about.

Seven years that I was going to end up listening to for probably the rest of my life. Kind of funny to think about. I used to think that I was born five or six years too late and that I missed a window in punk rock that I was meant to hit. But I no longer feel that way. I'm pretty happy with when I grew up. Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think the best year of music in your lifetime was.

You may not be into the same kind of music as I am. I have no idea like what year was a banger for country, for instance, but I'm sure somebody out there will inform me. Send me an email, as always, to Eric at Jeff's boss dot com. Next week, I'll probably do an email episode. I've been getting a lot of really good ones, a lot of stuff that I wanna share with y'all. So look forward to that. Also, I think I'm back on my bike every goddamn day now. I think I need it.

If you are feeling lethargic or you just can't, you just can't get out of brain fog and you don't know what it is, maybe try a little bit of exercise. I hate to say it. I hate exercise. That's why I ride a bike. It's the only way I can trick little bit of exercise. I hate to say it, I hate exercise. That's why I ride a bike, it's the only way I can trick myself into getting exercise.

But man, I feel completely and totally rejuvenated today just from that. And I have gotten so much done. After I finished the bike ride, I went to a coffee shop and I sat down and I wrote out a list of things to do and I compiled everything that I needed for this podcast today. And I've compiled some really good notes for regulation tomorrow that I feel really good about and I got this

laundry list of other shit that I need to do that I don't want to do. You know, all the administrative stuff, all the phone calls you got to make, doctor's appointments, you got to schedule, talking to CPAs and accountants, dealing with insurance, all those things that just float kind of nebulously and you mean to do, but it's so easy to forget. I put them all down. I listed them in order of importance. I gave myself deadlines, a bunch of shit that I probably wouldn't have done if I hadn't gotten on my bike today. So if you if you're looking for a little boost of enthusiasm, I hate to say it, but maybe hop on a bike or something. I clearly need to be doing it for five days a week because it is a it's just giving me the boost of energy that I need to get through the day.

Speaking of getting through the day, let's do it with a song. What if we picked for this week's song of the episode? Oh, a song I just discovered not too long ago from a band that I'd heard about for a while, but I had I guess I'd never bothered to listen to. They're called Boilermaker and the song is slingshot. I'm really into it right now. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do. Hopefully you will also check out the regulation podcast

regulation gameplay channel on YouTube, the regulation Patreon, as well as fake Jeff on Twitch. And of course, if you need a cameoo I am on cameo at Jeff L Ramsey and if you don't I get it I wouldn't need one for me either. Hope you guys have a fantastic fucking week and I can't wait to talk to you next time. Alright. This is the end of the show.