The Bill Simmons Podcast - As the NBA Turns, 2024 Teen Culture Awards, and Million-Dollar Picks with Joe House and Zoe Simmons

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

The Ringer's Bill Simmons reacts to Pat Riley's statement that Jimmy Butler will NOT be traded this NBA season, before Joe House joins to discuss this year's NBA Christmas Day games, the NBA's superstar paradox, and check in on some of their preseason win-total predictions (2:20). Then, they run through their favorite games on the NFL weekend slate (29:59) before making the Million-Dollar Picks for NFL Week 17 (57:52). Finally, Bill's daughter Zoe joins for the final 'Year-End Teen Culture Awards' before she enters her 20s (1:03:48). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Joe House and Zoe Simmons Producer: Kyle Crichton The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ringer Sunday pregame show is my favorite Sunday morning show. You can watch it on YouTube TV. Just subscribe to it on YouTube TV. It pops up at 11 a.m. ET, 8 a.m. PT. You can watch it on Feendal TV. You can watch it on Feendal's Fast Channel as well.

JJ, Raheem, House, Cousin Sal for an hour and a half breaking down all the games that are about to happen in the NFL on Sundays. Special guests. I pop on there from time to time. Playoffs are blown out. We're gonna be Saturday, Sunday, the first two weeks. We're gonna be live in LA on Saturday and Sunday in round one.

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Mitsubishi, drive your ambition. a lot of the clips and videos from this podcast on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel. Hope you had an awesome holiday. The sports is really fun. We're about to talk about all the basketball and the rest of the million dollar picks, which we did a little early batch, me and house on Tuesday for YouTube only. Probably should have, probably should have given more of a heads up on that, but we wanted to get some Christmas picks in. We did really well.

Now we're going to keep the magic going later in this podcast. After we talk hoops, after the very top, I'm going to talk about this Jimmy Butler Miami situation for a second. And then last but not least, my daughter who always comes on near the end of every year to do her teen culture awards. And it's a bittersweet year because she's coming on and this is the last year we're doing teen culture because this is the last year we're doing Teen Culture because this is the last holiday she's gonna be a teenager.

She turns 20 next year. So we had a lot of stuff to cover. It was very, very fun. We actually did it as a video piece this year too, which you'll eventually be able to watch on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel along with all the other stuff we're doing on here. It's all next.

First, our friends from Pearl Jam. Recording this Thursday mid afternoon, it was after I had already recorded the rest of the podcast, but something happened with Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler that I had to mention here at the top. House and I had talked about Jimmy a little bit later. We took out the part that is irrelevant anymore because Pat Riley came out and he said definitively the Miami Heat are not traded Jimmy Butler. He's going to be on this team for the rest of the season. Came out and said it, put it out in a statement so people could read it.

We don't see NBA teams do this that often, but I think it speaks to a bigger picture thing that we've discussed on this podcast a couple of times now this month with this new first apron, second apron, and how much harder it is to do trades. The NBA is starting to look a lot more like the NFL. It is so much harder to deal somebody during the season than it used to be, which is what Riley said. We're not dealing him during the season. We'll figure it out during the off season.

Butler's 48 million and then $52 million player option next year, which odds are he's going to, he's going to exercise because nobody has cap space this summer. The only team is Brooklyn. He's going to go to Brooklyn. They're going to be rebuilding and just sign Jimmy Butler. I mean, it's conceivable. I just would have bet on it. And Pat Riley is looking big picture and looking at an NBA that now operates way more like the NFL where it's way harder just to do big complicated deals and he didn't like the deals that were out there and they

clearly kicked the tires with a bunch of teams. Houston I think came out and said they weren't interested. I think they're holding out for Darren Fox, which House and I talked about in a second. But you go around to Golden State, what's the point of them trading for Jimmy Butler? They're not even really a contender right now and they're gonna give up all these assets so they can try to be the fifth best team in the West on a very short window. I'm not doing that if I'm, if I'm gold state, you know, I'm sure Phoenix would talk about Bradley Beal for Jimmy Butler, but why would Miami want to turn Jimmy Butler into Bradley Beal?

Why would they want to do any of these trades? They already have somebody who, when he's pissed off and playing well, he's a top 30 guy. They're not just going to take more contracts. You know, you go around the league, like what if Sacramento wanted to make some crazy bid for him with DeRozan and Keegan Murray and a first round pick? Well, you know, do you want DeRozan's contract for the next couple of years after what we've seen from him this season? So you just look through the league and you can't find the trade.

And I think that was the situation Miami was in. Houston was the one team that made sense and it just didn't seem like they were interested in him. So I think Riley is trying to flip this. The narrative is so strong that something was going to happen that he went the other way and he was like, no, he's going to be here the whole season. So now Jimmy knows he can't go anywhere. So if he could really just blow this up now, that's not great for him.

That's going to make teams less, less, uh, excited to sign him in the summer. Um, it could veer the other way where now Jimmy's like, well, if I'm going to be here, I might as well make the best of it. Um, he could start playing better. Other stuff might happen. There might be some teams, some star might get hurt. Some situation might go sideways. And then Miami in the early February can go, hey, listen, we didn't think we were gonna trade them.

We thought he was gonna be here all year, but then this offer happened. And they cover their bases. But Pat Riley, he's, you know, he's, I think he's late 70s, early 80s now. It's like that old Seinfeld joke when old people are just like, fuck it. And they just start backing out of the driveway and they don't, uh, they don't

care if somebody's coming back and out of the driveway. Here I come. Pat Riley's been at this point for a while and it's really fun to watch somebody like that run an NBA team. He had obviously had it with these other trade rumors and just was like, you know, what, there's no good trade for this guy. We're keeping him. Here's my statement.

And it was old school and I kind of loved it, but this soap opera is probably not over, I'm guessing. Anyway, we are now throwing to me and Joe house talk at basketball, million dollar picks, and I'll be wearing a different shirt. You can look forward to that. All right. We're taping this. It is 10 30 Pacific time.

Joe house is here. It's a stripped down BS podcast this week, you know, two pods this week. We did something for YouTube. We put some million dollar picks up there. A lot of sports yesterday during Christmas day. How'd you handle the family Christmas day, how to consume sports while also pretending to be a family member part of Christmas? Well, the nice thing is my family tradition, we get together with my parents in the house

we grew up with. Yeah. And with my brothers, my sister. I've stayed in the attic of that house many times. You have. And so we just do that the first part of the day. So we were done by kickoff one o'clock. Yeah.

And when we got home, my wife and my kid wanted to play with his stuff. My wife went right back to bed. And so I was left alone to watch whatever I wanted to watch. I had full control of the dial with Netflix. Great job, Netflix. Not great job by the games, but the broadcast was fine. And then NBA had a really good day. I was thinking though, the Wemby Knicks game was so good.

And I was just thinking big picture about, you know, there's been so much what's wrong with the NBA stuff, and some of it's founded, some of it's stuff we've been complaining about forever, and then some of it is real issues, which is basically how do you find these under 30 American stars that people are gonna give a shit about

like they care about Steph and LeBron. And yet, the Steph LeBron thing last night was the solution and the problem at the same time. Because it was the same thing for the Olympics too, right? It was awesome watching those guys. Hey, the old guys, look at it, they still got it. But it's still coming at the expense of everybody else. Like even yesterday, it's in that eight o'clock,

it's in the best spot, it's after football's over, and that's the signature game, and it's basically two 500 teams, and it's guys that have been in the league since 2003 and 2009 respectively, and yet OKC wasn't on Christmas Day. Giannis wasn't on Christmas Day. Wemby was buried at the beginning of the day,

and this is like, you're kind of doing this to yourself, but at the same time I get it, because Stefan LeBron was awesome. So I don't really know what the answer is. It's like, you could, you could go glass half full glass half empty on it. But, um, the fact that the Stefan LeBron game was so good and sucked up so much oxygen from the day is actually kind of part of the problem. Well, this is the, the, the sort of predicament for the rest of the season. I mean, this is what happens when you're in a transition moment and the most resonant stars and this is the, the, the Olympics really, you know, validates the idea of putting those

guys on the main stage. Cause the Olympics were effing incredible. Right. Those last two games, the semifinals and the finals were incredible. And it was because of those guys So if you want to let them have their You know their Retirement journey, which is really what we're on I think with LeBron and you know, this is probably it looks better since the eight-day sabbatical

Well, he got that who wouldn't curry look great. Yeah. Well you say this is the journey we on though Like I still go back and I talked about this a couple weeks ago, but like the Olympics are a chance to showcase some of the younger guys and give them some new memories that they can, they can make a foundation of our experience with them as superstars. And yet that those moments went to the old guys Christmas, still going to the old guys. And I just think they're stuck in the middle. I remember when we were in college in the early nineties, this transition

felt a lot more organic to the MJ, Barkley, Hakeem Drexler, all the, all the Stockton and Malone, Sean Kemp, GP. It just felt like it was organically shifting generations. It doesn't feel as organic this time around. Well, only because we don't have an American superstar that's jumping up and grabbing the ring. The guy that's jumped up and grabbed the ring is effing Wembe.

He served notice. 12 noon, Madison Square Garden, Christmas Day, welcome to the world. Like everybody's been talking about Wembe. Last season, this season, he keeps having these inspiring milestone performances right out of the gate and yet you know the mother effort was flopping on Monday I know we got a got a bit got kicked out and got kicked out and drumming got pulled back in the game I mean if we're

gonna you know we need a guy who's gonna come come out and kick ass and not fall over when the wind blows. Well, he is French. That's part of the problem. It's literally part of the problem. Well, Wemby, I was talking about this with Van and a couple other people on text this week. Wemby has two things going against him that historically has not been great for somebody really captivating the American public. One, he's tall. tall people in our lifetime. It's never really totally worked.

It's hard to identify with centers. You know, it's, it's why you have shacks of one of one. Yeah. But even Shaq, we were there in the nineties. Shaq was pretty polarizing in the nineties, right? People were, well, he was a huge superstar. He put up huge stats, but it took a while. Char charismatic, I mean, he was, but it took a while. I really feel like it was the three at Lakers titles that was like, all right, shacks arrived.

But remember, there was like the 96 Olympics, like some of the movies he did, some of the rap albums, like the Lakers. Maybe I know, but did you feel like he was the most popular guy in the league? I didn't like it was MJ's league and then MJ retired and we were like, who's going to be next? And I don't think anyone thought the answer was Shaq. Well, you know, Shaq understood this, which is why he went to LA and it was Shaq and Kobe and that was an unbelievable era. Yeah.

But that the point is Shaq. So Shaq's probably become the closest, but it's usually a perimeter guy. Yeah. But that the point is Shaq. So Shaq's probably become the closest, but it's usually a perimeter guy. Sure. That becomes, that's why like the AJ Devansa. Anyway, the, the Wemby thing, he's got that and he's got the foreign thing, which is another huge thing. You know, we've, we've never really seen a foreign guy captivate this country. We can see worldwide. it might be great. Who is the most popular? Who would you say is the most popular? We've had some great ones. I mean, you're the historian.

Well, Hakeem, I think was the best foreign player of all time, right? Okay, sure. Dirk. Yeah, right there. Janis is in there, Jokic. Yes. Yeah.

None of them are face of the leagues. Jokic right now is on the best offensive heater this decade of anyone in a long time and nobody, I mean, part of that is he's not Mr. Personable, but, um, yeah, it'll be interesting to see with one big. We've just never seen it. Like we we've watched a lot of centers come into the league since we've loved this league Walton was probably that one and we were kids when that happened. But when Walton and the Blazers, that felt like, it felt like he was the face of the league for a year,

but Kareem never resonated. We watched Ewing come in and it just kind of never happened for him. He also wasn't like amazingly fun to watch. Samson had a blip and then it just wasn't gonna happen with him and you go on and on. It just, centers are tough. White Howard, Howard. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, yeah, it was incredible and beloved, you know, by global. Yeah. But globally became great. Yeah. I think what the thing that I'll tilt it for Wemby is if he keeps just having crazy games like the one yesterday, he's going to just have these 40 point 10 block and then like he's in the playoffs and you know, he's putting up like 40 15. If it's just stuff we've never seen before that might actually work, but it's going to take a while. It needs to be on that national stage.

You know, we had them as a, we, I think, did you go under for them before? I went under. Yeah, I went under. I just, you know, I, I look at that roster even today. There aren't guys on that roster that make me say, Oh yeah, this is a 500 team that's going to be threatening for the, you know, they're going to be in the play in mix and they're going to be potentially fighting for an eight seed. I look at their roster and I don't get there. They're an 11 seed, but they're 15 and 15 in a really hard conference.

And there's a feistiness, they play defense. They have a guy who's not afraid of whoever the other team's star is. And I'm prepared to chalk that up to a loss, that San Antonio thing. I think they'll get over 35. And they also, there's trade possibilities with them too. You know, I mean there was a lot of the Darren Fox stuff started last weekend.

It really shouldn't have started a month ago. You know, he's this year, he's a free agent after next year. The team feels like the DeRozan thing just, it's not happening. They tried. So you started thinking of Fox and the Fox stuff is so much more enticing for teams like Houston and San Antonio than Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler is 35. He's been unhappy the whole year.

Fox is a different animal. Like that's like, if you're Houston and you could turn Fred Van Bleet in your picks and Terry Easton in a Fox, like you're doing it. If you're San Antonio and you have a chance to add Fox to your mix and you think you can resign them and put him with Wemby and Castle and some of your swings and you just give up the, the pick strobe you have, like you, you're probably thinking about that, but this is to get a top 15 guy who's a point guard who's in his prime.

This is about as interesting of a trade piece as we've had, not counting like when Durant suddenly becomes available, but a younger guy on his way up, like, I don't know, you think of it for DC. We trade all your picks. No, five picks at Jordan pool plus seven swaps. Oh, it makes no sense whatsoever. And I also really sort of wonder about Fox to San Antonio because it's like, where, where, where is it? Where do you get this season? Where are you next season? It's, it's like, where, where, where is it? Where do you get this season?

Where are you next season? It's, it's a decade play. It's not a this season play as much as a, we now have a guy. We need a, we need a perimeter guy, preferably a guard, somebody who can handle his business, run the team, play off one B who's like a clear, awesome number two. I mean, Fox is about, he's a top 20 player. That's about as good of a number two as you're gonna get.

Right? And he's available, potentially. If I was the Kings, I wouldn't trade him. I would be like, no, we're not, we're keeping you, sorry. And that makes more sense, honestly. Because they're still right in the thick of things, playoff-wise, I mean, you know, for sure. Well, they have a deRozan issue, though.

I think they might have bought a car that they might have, the odometer was turned back on. It was like, I thought this car had 95,000 miles on it. Maybe it was 195,000. Where are we? I don't mean to derail it. Where are we this week in Jimmy Butler? I think he'd be gone already if there was a trade. I just don't mean to derail it. Where are we this week in Jimmy Butler? I think he'd been, I think he'd be gone already

if there was a trade. I just don't think there's a trade. And the most notable thing that seems to have happened the last couple, maybe the last week or so is that Houston doesn't seem interested in him. Like they're like, we're good. That is interesting. Because Washington is out there auditioning players.

Valenciunas, Brogdon, K, Kuzma can't get on the floor. Uh, yeah. Kuzma being in any trade rumors is hilarious. You've been watching him. I don't know what his trade value is, but I'm guessing it's low. No, it's, it's, it's high because he has an incredible contract. He was like, you know what? Just a few years, 20 million bucks. Sounds great, man. It's an incredible contract. He was like, you know what, just a few years,

20 million bucks sounds great, man. It's an incredible contract that he signed. So he's very valuable if you can get a version out of him, get him to be committed to playing. If you can get a version out of him that hasn't existed for two years. Yes. So the Warriors have been mentioned with Butler

and I just, I don't know what the point is house because I just don't know if that's making a huge difference for them. You can talk yourself in a curry dream on a Butler, the old guys, let's make a run, but I just think the league's too good. They started out strong. They've gone the other way. They have a lot of like tradeable pieces that have the minutes are all over the place. Buddy healed now all of a sudden scores five points a game.

Podzemski is in the same asset. So I don't, I don't know why Miami would want their stuff or want to pay Kaminga however much I don't know what else you had, you had under for them, right? I had under for them. And it's because, you know, they, they had pieces that they added in the offseason that were supposed to create depth and what you know Melton got hurt and yeah But none of the pieces really moved the needle Oh buddy. Yeah, it's only it's a shocker buddy He'll is only averaging five points Like he couldn't stick in in in Philly different needs. Yeah, Philly needs a guy that could score from the perimeter

I feel like the Golden State situation You know it requires what we got with the Christmas game Which was Steph Curry's scoring eight points in 26 seconds and right and then they lose on a layup And it wasn't just like a hard for Reeves. It was Olay. It was Olay defense. My man got right to come on So they are where they are Yeah, and there's a I think we talked about this before the year I got right to come on. Come on. So they are where they are. Yeah. And there's, I think we talked about this before the year when we were trying to figure it over and over.

With the West, there were so many good teams. Some teams were just going to end up not being happy. And right now it's Sacramento and it's Golden State and San Antonio is a little better than we thought. Denver is a little worse than we thought. Minnesota is a little worse than we thought. But we knew it was going to be some, at the NFL was way more easy to figure out this year I think than we thought. Denver's a little worse than we thought. Minnesota's a little worse than we thought, but we knew it was going to be some, at the NFL was way more easy to figure out this year.

I think the NBA, the Celtics you went under, I went over and I am not going to overreact to anything with the Celtics yet. Um, you were on it a little more about how hard it is to repeat. That was part of your undercase, right? Just in terms of like bringing that energy, they, there was, you know, all their core guys went to the Olympics, except for Jalen Brown, who wasn't invited, but you know, like going from the finals to the Olympics, to an NBA regular season and 58 wins in this era is still like excellent.

So if they win 58 games and they certainly can, I still win my bet at 58 and a half to 59 and a half Whatever the total was but it's just hard. It's a slog and I don't begrudge them You know sort of going through peaks and valleys over the course of a regular season knock on wood. There'll be plenty healthy come April and really the only thing that was interesting to me in terms of a regular season outcome is like is And really the only thing that was interesting to me in terms of a regular season outcome is like is Tatum Gonna put himself into that MVP conversation. Is this the right moment for that even? Yeah Well, so glass half full Tatum and Brown are healthy

Athletically physically they seem great Brown's little hero Bollie this year. Their shooting stats are down with him a little I Haven't loved that There's little stuff I don't love, but nothing I'm super concerned about. Like they lost to Orlando on Monday night, this depleted zombie magic team. Orlando played great. I watched the game. Like the Celtics tried hard.

They played well. Orlando just played awesome. They made big shots. They were super feisty. They were really fighting and it was a really good game. It was an okay loss. The Philly game yesterday, um, that was Philly treated like a game seven. They came in, they really wanted to prove something.

They couldn't have played harder and the Celtics couldn't match it. And you know, I'm not, I'm not weird about that either. I think whites has been the same all month. Holiday was her. Poor Zingas keeps getting these dumb little injuries. Prichard sometimes just doesn't show up yesterday. He sucked. Um, I'm not going to really evaluate the Celtics team until the west coast trip next month.

That's when we'll know. All right. That's when we'll, we'll have a feeling for them. I don't love that they're four back from the calves, but, uh, but yeah, that's, so those are the big NBA storylines to me is just Milwaukee is better. Like Milwaukee, I think has moved back into contender ish kind of feeling. Denver clearly needs to do something and I don't know what the fix is for them. Um, Phoenix, I guess is the one kind of what's going on with this team that we

thought was a contender. And I just, it just seems like they have the worst centers in the league and they can't keep these guys in the same court. But, uh, but for the most part, I don't think there's been any, any major surprises this year other than Minnesota being as bad as, as they've been, even though they won yesterday. Yeah. And they, they may figure it out. They won yesterday because you know, Luca went out and the w when he went out and he's going to be out for

an extended stretch, which is not concerning, but you know, the West, the thing that, that makes it super hard for the teams we're talking about your Lakers, your Denver, your Golden state warriors, your Minnesota Timberwolves is the early good performance by Memphis, the early good performance by the Clippers and the, uh, and he's somewhat exactly our anticipated. We all liked Houston. I'm surprised. Did anybody take the, uh, Houston over as a lock?

You, I think you and Rossello both did. Oh, great job. So that, yeah, the surprises were Houston, Memphis, Clippers, and then, uh, just San Antonio being a 500 team. I'm still not, if it's okay, I'm still a little dubious of the Clippers. They're only 17 and 13. I mean it is okay. Yeah.

They're only 17 and 13 and they put a lot on Harden. I also think the way the NBA did this NBA Cup schedule combined with the Christmas schedule, which hey, news flash, I'm going to criticize the NBA again. I just think they've completely mangled all of this. Like, why aren't there Christmas Eve games? Why are they just punting on a day where there's no sports? Why are they punting on these days when there's clearly no sports? When instead of like, they load up the Monday, there's like 14 games on Monday.

You can't even watch them keep track of anything. And then Tuesday, nothing. It is weird, because Christmas Eve is such an underrated night. I went out to dinner, and the place we went to was effing popping. It was butts to nuts, packed from when you walked in, the bar is packed.

People wanna be out. And an NBA game is super fun. Yeah, have a couple games at a bar. To go with your family. Go with your family to an NBA game, and then dinner, whatever. Yeah. Kind of weird. Yeah. So the reason I bring that up with the Quippers, the way they've structured this December thing, I think it's been good for the old guys. You know, like people like LeBron, Harding,

Curry, you're not playing like four and seven. You're not playing five and eight. You're not, you're not having these back to backs. You're not nursing these little injuries because you're not playing that much basketball, but now we're about to hit this stretch, especially when we get to January where the schedule just gets really hard and it's going to advantage the young guys that's going to advantage the team like San Antonio that has Wemby and castle and the cell and all these young dudes. And I think it's going to hurt a team the Clippers. Because the amount of offensive responsibility they're putting on Harden,

I don't know if it's sustainable once we get into these 16 games in 29 days kind of territory before February. So I'm watching that. I think it's good for teams like Oklahoma City, Houston, Memphis, even a team like the Celtics that are built around two younger guys, Cleveland, you know, um, but then you look at a team like Orlando, 19 and 12, but really depleted.

And once you're depleted and you get into these schedule things, kind of a nightmare, Milwaukee, it's good for it. Cause Yannis is an alien. Um, Atlanta, it's good for it. Cause they're built around all these young guys, Indiana, a team that we bet on earlier this week. Um, I think it's good for it because they're built around all these young guys. Indiana, a team that we bet on earlier this week. I think it's good for them. So anyway, I would, I would watch out. If you had to pick a final, so who would it be? Boston, Oklahoma city. Yeah, I haven't waived on that either.

To move off of it. Yeah. Any, did Philly do anything yesterday that, that intrigued you big picture or do you just, you're just not going to take it seriously? No, I do take it seriously and it does intrigue me. They're like fighting hard to get an identity and that level of like competitiveness that they showed against the Celtics on the national stage. It was good. Yeah. Seven and three over their last 10. They're still the net differential still isn't great. But they're still yeah minus, still, yeah, minus four net differential, but they're like,

they're pushing in the right direction. If they could just get, you know, two of those three guys healthy for a stretch of time, all, all, every time all three of them play, it's, it's an absolute bonus, but I, they're headed towards, I could see them rip something off in January, be right around 500. And then as like February turns into March, there are a couple of games above. And then they're like a real formidable playoff though. Well, we'll see because they have, I mean, they have a pretty, they have a wet,

they have a West coast trip coming up and then a whole bunch of games in January. I mean, they just in January from January 1st to the 19th, they have 11 games and that's not counting two games at the end of December too. So, you know, the way they're constructed, there's no way Embiid's gonna play more than half of those games, I would assume. I don't love what I've seen from Paul George. I'd like to throw my voice into that chorus.

Just doesn't look as comfortable. He doesn't seem 100% healthy to me, so I wanna wait a month on that. But competitively, they looked really good. The Caleb Martin is just like a Celtics killer at this point. I don't know what it is about Boston, but he rises to the occasion on it. So their season looked dead, now they're 11 and 17.

The problem for them is they have no room for error. That's right, no more margin for error at all. Yeah, like that, like one more maxi three week ankle sprain or Embiid goes out for a month and all of a sudden you're looking at like the 10th playoff spot because there's teams like Chicago and Detroit haven't really gone away and I don't know if those are trade teams or not.

Everyone thinks Chicago is, but they're not gonna be able to trade Levine. Who's taking Levine at that money? And he's playing hard. Somebody desperate enough. Somebody desperate enough. So maybe it's Vucevich? Sure.

Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm trying to think how they could hurt themselves. It would be trading one of those two guys. Denver and Golden States, right? The, those kinds of situations where it's like one last gasp. Let's see if we can do it. Or, or maybe the Lakers, if the Lakers keep scuffling around 500, they still have that one trade piece with the, with the pick.

One thing that's a little different with the Lakers is Max Christie, who looked like a zero. He's actually been pretty good for them for the last couple of weeks. He's been okay. He's been passable. They can play him in crunch time. He might actually make an open shot. He can play defense a little bit, but it's, it's something they didn't have a month ago. Anyway, all right. That's our NBA report.

We're going to take a break, come back with a million dollar picks. Sometimes a basketball 30 points could be worth more than 30 points. And now you can get a 30% profit boost from the ringer with Fandel's 30 on 30 during Friday's NBA action. We're teaming up with America's number one sportsbook to give you a 30% profit boost. When you either pick a player to score more than 30 points or bet on our new exclusive 30 on 30 special markets

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of a homemade meal in no time. Visit hellofresh.ca and use code Spotify for your exclusive offer. All right, million dollar picks, we're already up house. We won $300,000 on Christmas Day, thanks to the Ravens. Merry Christmas. And thanks to the Chiefs. And we still have a Seahawks bet.

We're taping this before the Seahawks game, but we have a Seahawks bed with Baltimore minus nine and a half adjusted in the Seattle Moneyline. That was plus 312. So we could be up another like 155 K after tonight. I like some of the games this week. I know you already did ringer and gambling show. I didn't hear it yet because it's not up, but, um, the big game and the hardest one to figure out in a while.

And I think the most even great matchup we've had all season is this Vikings Packers game in Minnesota and the Vikings it's, it's around one, one and a half. Right now it's Vikings one and a half. You can make really strong cases for each team. I think there's a lot of public kind of love and affection for the Packers right now, which would make me a little nervous for them. Um, Green Bay lost to them earlier in the year and Green Bay is 10 and two in the last 12 weeks with two Detroit losses.

And people are leaning Green Bay in this house and we have to treat it like a playoff game means more to Minnesota. Cause if they can win this, they beat Detroit next week. They're the one seed. Right. Green Bay is pretty locked into, um, the five or six seed. That's where it matters. Where are you leaning on this one?

I'm, I'm inclined to look at that green Bay side, um, mainly because of just how effective they've looked on both sides of the ball. Their defense has just been so impressive. They're able to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They're still generating turnovers. There was skepticism earlier in the year. I'll put my hand up, um, about, you know, their, their defense was producing what felt like an outsized number of turnovers.

And that was the way that they were, um, able to, to look so good defensively. Um, but they, they, they've continued to do so. And now it looks like their offense is healthy. And now Jacobs is really, they're really pouty, you know, leaning into that run game and it looks like last year Where Green Bay went on this run at the end of the season when Aaron Jones was finally healthy and they were he He led the NFL over the last five weeks and into the playoffs Aaron Jones for Green Bay in rushing And I kind of feel like they're they're gearing up in the same direction with with Jacobs

It's not intended to be disrespectful in any way, shape or form towards Minnesota. I mean, it is, the line I think is super fair. And I think, you know, the money line is minus 108 for both teams. Like that's not even in the book. And I think that's totally appropriate. Green Bay outgained Minnesota the first time they played.

I watched that game though that game was over They were like four touchdowns and then there was a lot of garbage time stuff with Green Bay and it it kind of belated They somewhat became a game but not really. Yeah, okay, but it was a lot of end of the game shit These teams tend to split against each other just as door. Yeah, it's an important division game So mine my lean would be Green Bay, but if the Vikings go win, like who's going to be shocked. So I guess where I've landed in this game is if it was in green Bay, I would like green Bay and because it's in Minnesota, I like, I like Minnesota more.

I just think these teams are dead even. Yeah. And you throw in the home field. There's one other piece with Minnesota though. Um, first of all, I do think they're better than people realize. And I, I, and we've talked about this a bunch on this podcast, but it's, it, they became a yeah, but team and we've had yeah, but teams before that I thought was justified, like there was that cousins Vikings team a couple of years ago that

we were like, what? This team's not good. What? This record's ridiculous. Look at it, they played. The Vikings are eight-nil with Hawkinson. Yes. Which I think matters.

Yeah. The Vikings are sixth in DVOA, Green Bay's third. The Vikings are second against the Run. They're first in creating turnovers. They have a top five pass rush. But the thing I really like the most about them is these two receivers they have with Hawkinson. I always feel like they can get a drive if they need it.

And if this game's in the fourth quarter in their home, I just like their chances to go down the field. One stat that I think is, I saw this and I was like, how is this the best total? But it is. They lead the league in least amount of percentage. They've trailed when they're on offense in the game. They've only trailed for 22% of their snaps on offense.

They've been trailing in the game, which basically means they're always ahead. They're always in charge. They're always in the lead, which is good for home. But then they also have the ability at the end of the games to get a drive if they need it and to make a big play if they need it and green Bay is going to do cover to like they, their defense actually matches up pretty good with the Vikings, but I like this v vikings team. And to me, it's like, if you believe in this Vikings team, you kind of

have to take them this week. So if you don't, you're basically saying, I don't believe in this thing. I don't know. Do we go that far? Yeah. I think this is a playoff game. I do. I think, I think this is playoff rules this week.

I think we have to approach it like playoff manifesto. I don't know. I don't know what's green Bay, um, you know, doing if it really is a playoff game, right? Like that's a problem. I'm saying from Minnesota, it's a playoff game. They win this game. They have a chance to be the one seed. They play Detroit.

There's also conspiracy bill would like to enter this for one second. There's no Sunday night, week 18 NBC game right now. It's either Minnesota, Detroit or Rams, um, Seattle, which we might not get if the Rams just beat Arizona this week, which we're gonna have coming up in million dollar picks. The only other possibility is Minnesota to trip on Minnesota has to win this game. And if that doesn't happen, now we're into,

who'd you have, Carolina versus Atlanta? Yeah, Atlanta. If Atlanta loses this week. Carolina, Atlanta, Sunday night. Yeah, Atlanta. If Atlanta loses this week. Carolina-Atlanta Sunday night. Yeah, but that would be good because then you'd have Bryce Young against Michael Pennex. How is that good to have Carolina-Atlanta as the last game of the season?

That's not good at all. Carolina has four wins. It would be hilarious is what it would be. Carolina's just funky, but go ahead. I just wonder, does Minnesota get some calls in this game? Well, they will be at home. They'll get home calls, you expect, for sure. I don't, you know, this one

is just a stay away because it's not even, I don't get any value on it. Can't stay away. This is, we have a big little nest egg of million dollar picks and this is the best game in a while. We have to put a bet on it. Go ahead. Can I give you, let me give you something that I thought was interesting.

Green Bay since week five, they're nine and two with two Detroit losses. Right? Yeah. Here's who they beat. Matthew Stafford in week five with no puka, no cup. Yes. Kyler Murray. CJ Stroud, no Collins in that game.

Trevor Lawrence, barely beat him. He had his best game of the year. He threw for 300 plus yards against them. They won by three. Caleb Williams. They were up, Chicago's up the whole game and should have won and then green Bay won it late Brandon Allen on San Francisco

To a on cold weather on Thursday night Thanksgiving Geno Smith and whatever the fuck was going on with the New Orleans quarterbacks last week. Those are all their wins They haven't made anything remotely approaching Sam Darnold, Hockinson, Addison and Jefferson and Aaron Jones. This is by far the best complete offense they've played. Now do Minnesota. Well, I know Minnesota is the same thing, but I'm saying you can't use that case against Minnesota and then not use it against Green Bay.

Well, I think they're in very similar positions because this is a gigantic step up in class for, for Minnesota. Minnesota's defense hasn't seen anything like this Green Bay offense. Look at these, these offenses that, that Minnesota has seen since they lost to the Rams, uh, in, you know, week six or seven, whatever it was, they played the Colts with Anthony Richardson. They played the Jaguars. They was. Yeah. They played the Colts with Anthony Richardson. They played the Jaguars. They played the Titans.

They played the bears. They played Kyler and the Cardinals, which was a huge comeback game. Right. The Cardinals were up. That should have been a Cardinals win. Not a great Vikings game. They got Kirk cousins and the Falcons in his triumphant return to Minnesota, which ended his career in Atlanta and maybe his career in NFL

football and the Bears and the Seahawks the best game the best win was going into Seattle and going coming down to the wire and that's the irony of this both team both teams most impressive win the last like two and a half months with Seattle who also might not be good well they, they're kind of like, they're good enough to be fighting for a playoff spot. But yes, yes. If we're going to do that, we have to do it for both, both teams. And the interesting thing to me, you made the case for Minnesota's offense looking good. You want them with the ball at the end of the game.

I think it's, I would say the exact same thing about Green Bay. It's, to me, it's not that dissimilar from the handicapping of that 30 Thursday night Detroit Green Bay game Right came down to which team had the ball at the end great game, right? I don't think there's a wrong answer I'm just like people have tilted more toward the Packers and I feel like it's dead even and I think favored Well, they're gonna have the Home And I think. Well, Minnesota's favored. Well, they're, they get the minus one half because they're home. But I'm just saying. If this was in Green Bay, Green Bay would be minus one and a half over Minnesota.

True. But I bet like the public hasn't jumped in yet with, with, with a big perspective. So you're thinking it's a stay away. I mean, if you want to put something small in it so that you can say we did it and it's fun and then Minnesota wins. It's like, excellent. Now we have Minnesota and Detroit and week 18 for the one seed. So we're taping this at 1117 Pacific time, December 26th, Thursday.

The line is completely flipped. It's now green Bay minus one and a half over Minnesota. So somebody stepped in. That's a syndicate play. It's now Green Bay minus one and a half over Minnesota. So somebody stepped in that's somebody stepped in Yeah, that's a syndicate play. So the line moves three points and now it's Minnesota minus 102 plus one plus 1.5 And Green Bay minus 116 Somebody's taking a stand Does that make you nervous or, or what?

I honestly think that we're going to see one or two more of these over the course of the next two, two days, I bet I go the rivals. So you think Green Bay is going to get to minus two and a half? No, I think somebody will come back in on any other direction and you know, well, it'll, it's going to flip again. Vikings being plus one and a half means they're now in T's territory. Yeah, that is you. You would want to do it right away, right away. Well, we can do it right away.

We're taping million dollar picks as we speak. Good point. Um, any interest in throwing them in with the Miami dolphins in Cleveland? Mm. There's going to be rain. Miami down to. Miami down or we could basically do, yeah. Tease my, what is Miami?

Six and a half? Yeah. Yeah. Tease Miami down to Moneyline and do Miami plus seven and a half. The only thing that would concern me about the Miami situation. Well, there's a lot of things that concern me. I don't know. You're going to go with only, um, the single most prominent is if DTR,

anything happens to him at quarterback. What I want to see is where Jamis is listed in terms of, did you read, I was on Brown's Reddit today, which is one of the darkest places in the internet. Absolutely brutal. There's even on Brown's Reddit. places. Oh, poor guys. It's just absolutely brutal. There's even on Brown's Reddit. There's even, should we make a run at Kirk Cousins this offseason? No. Yeah, that's a thread on Brown's Reddit. Oh my god. Yeah, it's dark, man. It's some of the darkest shit you'll see. But Brown's Reddit was saying that apparently Jameis is hurt too. And if anything happens with DTR, it's Bailey's Zappie time.

Oh, well now I'm feeling better. Okay. Yeah. We can do Miami. Fine. Now, now we're good. It's Bailey's Zappie injured Jamis or it's DTR who has one touchdown in nine career picks.

Well, I thought they already said that DTR is going to start. My concern was that DTR would start something would happen to him. Yeah. And Jamis would come in and DTR is going to start. My concern was that DTR would start. Something would happen to him and then Jamis would come in and throw a four touch. Not a hundred percent healthy though. Well, I mean, I just need to make, I want certainty that Jamis will not come in because if Jamis comes in, then I feel like a, for some reason you're worried about Jamis. I, to me, it's, I'm not worried about Cleveland's offense in this game.

I'm worried about the dolphins in the rain, just doing a classic dolphin stink bomb. We don't have to put them in this game. I'm worried about the Dolphins in the rain, just doing a classic Dolphins stink bomb. We don't have to put them in the teaser. I mean, there's other good legs. Dallas is a pretty good teaser leg. Well, the reason I brought them up for a teaser is just, you know, at some point these teams, the franchises are kind of steering them toward a top five pick, right?

I don't think the Giants want to win. The Raiders are stupid. They couldn't help themselves last week. But there's certain teams that I just feel like are good with not winning another game. And Cleveland to me feels like one of them. Like if you're Cleveland, Bailey Zappi's the move this week. We had Bailey Zappi on the paths.

He is not a confident quarterback. You want to put him out the move this week. We had Bailey Zappi on the paths. He is not a competent quarterback. You want to put him out against Miami next week. You want to bench, or you want to rest like a defensive starter who's a little banged up. There's subtle stuff you can do to make sure you don't win again. Because. For sure.

Because there's a couple, Tennessee plays Jacksonville. Both those teams are three and 12. One of them are going to be four and 13 after four and 12 after that game. So Cleveland can jump up a spot there. The pats might beat the chargers for all we know. Like they, they might be able to nudge up. Yeah. That was what I was thinking about.

And plus Miami really needs the game. They're still in the playoff race. Yeah. Still in the race for sure. So maybe, cause I have another tease I want to do with the two LA teams. Okay. So maybe we'll mark down a something with Vikings, dolphins, just for fun. Uh, next one.

And I'm split on this one too is Bengals Broncos. You said on the ringer gambling show that you like Cincy at home minus three in what's going to be bad weather. They're kind of technically alive still. Denver needs a game. This is weirdly a playoff game in some ways. Right, right. No, I think both teams will treat it like a playoff game.

And this is exactly why my handicap is in favor of the Cincinnati Bengals. That's why I prefer the Bengals. I like the team with the players that have actually like played in the playoffs. The team that doesn't prefer the Bengals. I like the team with the players that have actually like played in the playoffs. Yeah. The team that doesn't have the rookie quarterback and you know, uh, Bo nix these nuts, they have been, they have been throwing the football all over the place.

And we're seeing the version of him that kind of makes sense, right? He's, he's throwing picks, multiple picks, uh, every week. Uh, Bo nix these nuts and the Denver Broncos the only thing would be with their defense. They're getting Riley Moss back So they had two of their last three games They gave up they gave up 32 points to Jamis and they gave up 34 points to Justin Herbert Their secondary was getting eaten up if Riley Moss comes back and they he's able to go up against Jamar chase That's an incredible matchup.

But I love all the other weapons that Cincinnati. Moss is back, by the way. I was checking in with my buddy Gus. My buddy Gus, who's my only person in my life who truly knows the Broncos. And he was telling me when Moss got hurt, we're in major trouble. This guy Levi Wallace is a disaster. Yeah. Levi Wallace has been cut. Released. He's not even on the team anymore. So long Levi. Moss is back so I feel like

that I know it's one guy but I really feel like that's gonna flip their secondary. He's an important guy. Yeah. There be no doubt. There's some other cases for them. Do you have more on your case? No that's it. I'll stop now. I mean Cincinnati hasn't been good at home so I prefer to not lay any points at all. Just let them, you know, win the game. Cincinnati money line was my preferred play. Last six weeks, Denver's fifth in DVOA, despite some of the secondary stuff and despite some of the turnovers by Knicks. Cincinnati's 29th against the run, their defense.

Cincinnati's 30th QB hits. So basically this is the perfect team for Denver to play with Bo Nicks with the way kind of how up and down they've been. This is a team that will not pressure him, hit him. They're just not going to do anything. Denver's defense, they're, you know, first in hits, first in hurries. They're going to be able to pressure the Bengals to offensive line, not exactly like a juggernaut. Nope. Nope. I mean, you know, a strat, uh, a strip sack fumble last week against the

Browns that, that helped, uh, me lose a nice teaser bet on, on the Cincinnati, uh, team total. Well, and then it was 24. Well then the Dallas game the week before Dallas was going to beat them. Yep. Right. Dallas was going to pressure them and doing stuff. So I look at since he's wins here, the quarterbacks have you done this? No.

Quarterback since he beat this year, Andy Dalton, Danny dimes, Deshaun Watson and Thompson Robinson. Same game. Cause I think that was the one Watson got hurt. Minshew Cooper rush, Will Levis, Thompson Robinson. It's not great. I don't think since he's good is where I'm really landing. And I think we think they're good.

Cause Burroughs good. No other real aspect of their team is good other than the receivers and Burrough. Now you can make the counter case when they have chase and Higgins together with Burrough. They've just been really good and been able to move the ball. I get it, but I kind of like the Denver plus three. I don't mind the points. I really don't mind grabbing the points.

And there was a minute when it was three and a half and that got stashed up. So it's down, down to three. And I really do kind of understand the case. It's, it's a, it's a rookie quarterback on the road in bad weather game. Right. In bad weather. But if you want to argue the other side, they've been good on the road. The Denver has been good on the road this year.

They beat Tampa in Tampa, but they beat the jets in New York. 10 days rest. Yeah. Extra rest for Sean Payton. Nine days rest. Where they play, they're playing Saturday. It's extra rest for them and short rest for Cincy because Cincy is on Saturday game.

Sean Payton versus Zach Taylor. Yep. Well, Zach Taylor did coach in the Superbowl. This one, this one I love the all LA money parlay. Yes, this is wonderful. Great Rams home for the Cardinals. All the Rams have to do is win and they win the, uh, when the NFC West chargers at the paths, all they have to do is win their minus four and a half.

And there's some subtle cases against them, right? There are offenses in that kid. They have trouble getting first downs. It's the type of team, like even if they had a lead, Drake May in the second half, like doing stuff. There's a lad McConkie piece that I don't think can be undersold with the fact that the Pats had that pick.

Traded back three spots for a guy who basically doesn't play, who had played three snaps, Macaulay's, just him running a mock in this game is almost a lock. I don't know what the player props are for him, but, uh, chargers need the game. Rams need the game. And it feels, it just feels like a classic LA money parlay and it's minus one 14 on Fandle.

And I would like to partake. Well, let me ask you this. Let's go ahead and do that and let's do it in a meaningful increment because we both are believers and that's some fantastic, I mean, you know, the other sort of side to this, remember how good favorites have been. Moneyline favorites have been absolutely crushing

this season. Favorites 75% since week five in terms of outright wins. And favorites have been covering it nearly like 56 or 57% since week five. Like both of those are, you look back 25, 30 years and then those rates are all the way up there. So we're just doing the thing that's staring us in the face that helped us make money last week, helped us make money on Christmas.

We're going to make some more money on Saturday, but I want to just add another wrinkle. Let's go ahead and do whatever you want on that Rams chargers. We have to put the Colts in Colts have to be a leg in every Moneyline parlay that we do every really any kind of combination. The Colts have to be in every one of them just on the money line. Colts beating the Giants outright has to be an element of it. Well, that and that goes back. I had the Colts that goes back to what we talked about earlier,

which is certain teams are just done winning games this season. The New York Giants are the Giants. I assure you we're out. We are done. We are done. It's a wrap. You had them in the Ringer Sunday pregame last year. Or last week. Last week, yeah. And I was choosing.

It was dumb. I had already chosen Carolina as my underdog. No, it wasn't bad bet. It was plus 350. It was like you knew within a quarter. It was like, oh, the Giants are done for the season. The pick, the Juulock pick six. That was it.

That was it. That was the end of it. So are you saying we anchor strategy a little bit with Chargers Rams? Oh, anchor strategy. Okay. To me, the anchor is the Colts, because I'll put the Colts with anybody. Here's what makes me nervous about that. Anthony Richardson, I just can't get there. If there's any quarterback who's ready to just single handedly kill all of our week 17 parlays and teasers, it's him. So I just want to proceed with caution. Think about that. Like him, not Michael Pennex last week, but Anthony

Richardson this week. Yeah. So a couple things with that Rams game really quick. Rams are sixth in DVOA last six weeks. Thanks, Darren, shots for that. They've won eight of their last 10. And I don't think people realize how grim this Cardinal situation got. Missing both of their starting tackles on offense. They're like, they're pulling practice squads in, practice squad guys in that are now

gonna be starting for them. James Connor is hurt. Might play, might not play. Their defense is falling apart. Hubbard had 152 yards last week. Carolina scored 36 on them. Sure did. It just is grim.

And there's a reason the line is where it is. And, uh, cause initially I was like, oh, cards upset maybe. And I looked at all the numbers. I was like, oh my God, this is no way they're winning. Layer on top of that, all of the McVeigh stuff. 15 and two against the spread in his last 17 December games. 25, 10 and one all time in December McVeigh. The Rams against the Cardinals. The Rams kicked the Cardinals ass. 12, 4 and 1 against the spread over the last eight years against Arizona. 10, 2 and 1 when they're a favorite against the spread, the LA Rams. I'm laying the points with them. They're in the Moneyline parlay. They are part of our anchor strategy.

We love the Rams. Their defense also kicking ass. Last two weeks held both the Jets and the 49ers under 10 points. Now you say, Oh, look at where those well, offenses to the most disappointing teams in the NFL, but still holding NFL teams on the road to under 10 points. That's impressive. Chargers, Pats, the case for being nervous about this would be the pats played

well against Buffalo for about an hour and a half last week. Um, I would just point you to 10 horribly game managed, coached, uh, executed plays. They can't help themselves. They, they surprisingly did not have a lot of penalties last week. Those penalties will come back. The Pats are just incapable of playing three good hours in a row. Okay. So for them to beat the chargers,

the chargers would really have to fuck the game up. And I don't know if they're a fuck the game up team. I mean, that would be, you would have Jared Mayo beating Jim Harbaugh. You would have that. You would have a team that would decide in week 17, maybe we shouldn't throw backward passes inside our own 10. Maybe we should punt down 10 with eight minutes left. Like I, something would have to dramatically change with the penalties, the coaching,

the execution. Um, I could see them potentially back to recovering that minus four and a half, but I've not see them winning. Yeah, I'm good. We're on the same page. All right. And then the last one I want to talk about, you mentioned the, uh, the Colts giants.

I mean, we don't need to talk about that. Eagles Cowboys. That line has dropped too. It was not, it was 10, nine and a half all week. Now it's seven and a half on Fandual. And I had had a bet that I mailed you last night or this morning. Oh, hold on. I see six and a half on Fandual and I had had a bet that I mailed you last night or this morning. Oh, hold on. I see six and a half.

Oh, shit. It's still dropping. Something's going on. Yeah. Six and a half. Well, Hertz might not play is what's going on. Okay. There we go.

Um, and I had enough uncertainty. Yeah. I'd wanted to do an alternate, um, alternate bet with Dallas to four and a half when it was nine and a half, it was like plus one 72. That's now plus one 26. Which I still like more than the six and a half. But, um, so if we had the Cowboys and we do an over of like, what? 37 and a half.

I don't know. What are you thinking? The total is at 39 and a half. In that game, uh, as it is, I, I don't, I'm, I'm worried. Um, what are you worried about? Just messing with that game at all. At all? Yeah. What, what you think all the values gone?

Cause of the Hertz thing? Yes. Yes. That's exactly what I think. I would have loved Dallas. I loved Dallas at eight and a half. I loved them at nine and a half. The 10 was an incredible number.

Now they're at six and a half. I kind of don't want to mess with it. Because Philly got enough with Pickett of like, he's like, Pickett can play now, right? He got three quarters of real live NFL football High stakes high leverage and they'll run an offense. What are you doing right now? I'm not talking make a kenny picket case. No what it's just like philly being ready for the game case That's that's what I mean. That's all i'm saying he's not a guy that's like playing with the first team starters for the first time

In practice this week. That's all that That's all the observation that I'm making. I have had enormous success riding with the Cowboys and I'm so upset that they lost to Cincinnati on that money night. Stupid punt thing. Their defense since Parsons has come back has been legit good. And their secondary is legit good. Legit good. So I couldn't interest you in Dallas plus 10 and a half with the over of thirty and a half at minus 115

Oh, well sure that yes. Yes, because now we're talking that that's those are the numbers. Okay, great. Yeah, I'm into that That's a good one or doubt. Yeah, cuz I don't want to tease Dallas with another team I want to confine it to the game great good. Good. Yeah. Me either. That's fine. Dallas. Dallas like nothing better than the go beat Philly. Dallas plus 10 and a half with the over of 30 and a half. And Philly's done, right? They don't, there's, there's no, nothing for them to play for. I think it would be insane for them to play Jaylen Hertz.

I don't understand why they would do that at all. Just play picket. I agree with you. I agree. All right, it's time. Million dollar picks, part two, holiday week. We're already up $300,000. Plus we have this Seahawks bet coming that we could win. All the Seahawks have to do is win on Thursday night

and we're up another $155. Come on, Gino. Come on, Gino. Our big bet, we are doing an all LA parlay. The LA Rams to finish business against a cards team that is arrow pointing down. Rams have been really good last six weeks. Rams just to beat the Cardinals. Just to beat them.

That's it. Just all you have to do is win the game. Parlayed with the LA Chargers in New England against my beloved New England Patriots who are feisty but are incapable of playing well for three straight hours. Chargers Rams just have to win. Minus 114 House. Are we going big? We love LA! We love it! We love it! By the way, I've somehow figured out a way to be more furious that the Pats won this game and knocked themselves out of a top five pick.

I don't want the Pats to win anymore. Let's just get weapons. Let's finish in the top two and then we can trade back for a team that needs a quarterback and get a lot of assets from my guy Drake May. Please don't win this game, Pats. We're putting $250,000 on that. Chargers, Rams, minus 114. We talked a lot about Bengals versus Denver

and Cincinnati in the rain. Cincy minus three, Cincy with no good wins whatsoever. Cincy, a team that just loves to shoot themselves in the foot. I'm gonna take adjusted Broncos plus seven and a half. Oh, okay. And I'm gonna put that with the chargers and the Rams for 50K. That's plus 169 house. That's fine.

So you want to be in business. You want to be in business with Bo Nix Deez Nuts. I'm not going to get away with that business. It's a Sean Payton, Denver. That's your business. The secondary is good again. Like just a little sprinkle. Love it.

Two more that we like. The Cowboys going against this Eagles team that Jaylen hurts, we don't know what's happening. The line is dropping as we're taping the pot on Thursday morning. Uh, the line dropped from nine and a half to six and a half for the Cowboys plus six and a half. We're going to bring them back up to Cowboys plus 10 and a half with the over 30 and a half minus one 15 hundred K.

That's fine. I mean, if you want to do smaller, that's fine. 50 K. Let's just put 50 K. All right. Yeah. 50 K and a little division, divisional rivalry. It'll be fun.

Philly hates Dallas. That'd be great. I mean, Dallas has been playing so good over the last six weeks. The Parsons effect. Yep. Michael Parsons, the only guy with a podcast is playing well. Only athlete podcast is actually succeeding at sports these days. Jerry might have to buy that podcast for $250 million.

So they could afford to pay him and keep them under the salary. What would happen if Jerry formed a media company and then just paid a hundred million dollars for the Michael Parsons podcast? That'd be an interesting idea, House. It's a collective bargaining agreement violation, I'm sure, but still. Last one, Colts against the Giants. We both love the Colts. We do love the Colts.

The Giants do not want to win football games anymore. They do not. They have told us. They're done. It's a wrap. It's a wrap. Colts, first half game, they have to win the first half,

they have to win the game, combined with the Vikings plus seven and a half,. They have to win the first half. They have to win the game Combined with the Vikings plus seven and a half because we have to have some sort of scratch on this incredible Vikings Green Bay game Now we argue about you like Green Bay a little bit more. I like the Vikings a little bit more The line has shifted. It was Vikings minus one half all week as we're taping this. It's Green Bay Minus one and a half now. We're gonna grab Viking points, bring them up to plus seven and a half. That is minus one 13. I would like to put a hundred K on that if we could. Okay. Okay.

Fine. I don't mind rooting for a close game between Minnesota and Green Bay. That's fun. And then we also have this dolphins game that we can completely stay away from dolphins and the against the Browns and the rain, some Bailey's Zappie potential also too. And bad weather dolphins need the game. Probably a stay away.

I think it's a stay away. Okay. I'm fine. Staying away from, uh, from the dolphins. Good. So that's it. And we should mention one of the reasons I like Minnesota is because the NFL needs a very good week 18 Sunday night game.

In Minnesota, Detroit would do the trick. Collinsworth, they'd have to hose them down. Well, I can't wait to see them. And then Sam Darnham, I haven't seen anything like this. We got him with my guy, Jaden Daniels and Michael Pennex this coming Sunday night. Atlanta in Washington, 8.30 on NBC, prime time Jaden against the Pennex. We're gonna see it.

Notice we steered clear of that game. That is a stay away. I wish you the best. Anyway, we are up 1.764 million for the season pending the Seahawks game. And hopefully the LA parlay will take us over the 2 million bark. Those are the holiday edition part two million dollar picks for week 17. House, I hope you ate a lot yesterday.

I did. If we hit this LA parlay when I'm out there two weeks for the ringer pregame show, we'll celebrate with an LA parlay. With the la parlay when I'm out there two weeks for the ringer pregame show We'll celebrate with an la parlay with that la parlay of food Yeah, we'll go to momo fuku for lunch, and then where we're gonna. Go for dinner. I have like a smash. I'm at major Domo I have a smash burger place for you. All right. I have a talking Indian food place for you Oh, I have I have a I have some wrinkles for this trip You can you do salads for the week before you get here? Ooh. I have some wrinkles for you for this trip. What a parlay. Can you do salads for the week before you get here?

I'll try my best. You gotta like really clear the intestines. I'll try my best. I've got a lot of stuff planned for you. I can't wait. How's great to see you. Happy belated Christmas. Happy holidays to all.

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Shop the Level Up sales event today at Canon.ca. All right. We are taping this the day after Christmas. It's an emotional time here on the BS pod. My daughter Zoe Simmons is here. We're doing the end of the year teen culture awards, which I think we've done every year for the last few years. We might have missed one. You've been doing this since, I don't know, you were 12, 13, something like that, but

this is the last year. You're 19. Next year, you're not a teenager. Yeah. No awards for next year. Really appreciate this one while you have it. No, we'll call it the 20 something awards next year. And I feel like it retires itself at that point.

You're hanging it up? What's gonna happen to you? Teen Culture Awards. All right. Turn in a new leaf. This is it. So we call it the Young Woman Awards? What do we call it?

The Young Woman Awards? I think not. Young Adult Awards? We'll see if it figures itself out next year. For now, this is looking like it. Thanks for putting no thought into that. Alright, so End of the Year Awards. We have a whole bunch of categories. I'm just going to set you up.

Most important category every year is the TV show of the year. What was it this year? This year we selected Tell Me Lies as my TV show for the year. Reason being, this is probably the most emotional a show has ever made me. Why? Because it kind of depicts perfectly like a super toxic college relationship. I think it struck a chord within a lot of people my age, especially as a college student. And the show actually casted people that look like the age that they're supposed to be playing. So that's a big thing for you that.

For me, that's the most important, the most important thing that a TV show can do. The people on the show have to look like the age that they're trying to play. Like that actually makes it a much more emotionally difficult situation. Like Sex Lives and College Girls. I'm not sure those girls look like college girls. Yeah, I haven't even watched it yet because I've seen the cast and it's just like, this doesn't look like people that I'd be running into

in my ethics class next week. Like this is not, these people are like the older people coming back to college trying to figure it out. So what, so tell me lies. There's a lot of sex in it, let's be honest. It's not a show I would watch with you. Yeah. That's okay. That's for sure, that's for sure.

But with my girlfriends, my best friend from college, my roommate, we would sit there and wait for each episode to come out every week and watch it together with our headphones individually and our computers and just completely jaw on the floor every single time. Oh wait, because you don't have a TV? We don't have a TV. So you press play at the same time?

Yeah, we'd like sync it up. But it was, I mean, jaw dropping every single episode. It just, it got so crazy. But the manipulation of the main character, Steven, that he does to his little girlfriend, Lucy, is like, he almost makes you think that you're crazy because of how good of a manipulator he is. But the show is incredible and that was made true with like all the attention it got on TikTok. And they actually renewed it after they were going to cancel it before it got all the attention. It did get pretty much canceled. Yeah. So TikTok really saved this show this year.

Can you explain how TikTok saves a show? Because this is, and there's some other parts that we're gonna talk about later with this, but TikTok taking a show either in a good way or a bad way. It's weird because now that social media is such a prominent thing, even a shitty TV show can become super popular, even a shitty song. Like no matter what it is, if people will ban behind it,

that's what makes a song or show successful. And I've been talking about it a lot with my friends and it feels like a lot of producers of TV shows and song makers or whatever it is, they're trying to appeal to the social media eye rather than the critics or the other people that actually like establish whether a show or a music video is good enough. It's more about like if you get the TikTok people behind you, that will make you successful. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, it's definitely made the content

that's being put out there worse. Yeah. Because it's catered to all of these people that like have short attention spans or whatever it is. But this show caters exactly to people like me who found it through TikTok. I didn't even know about the show until I saw a little clip of it on TikTok

and then I binged through the whole thing. It checks a lot of Zoey boxes, including we go back and forth in the future and everybody's older and younger. Yeah, I like a little time sequence, but the show is phenomenal. It was easily my top number one show this year. I think as a college student, that really was what hit home for me.

So that's great. So like when I was in college, 90210 hit home with all of us, which was a relative normal show. You're saying for your generation, a super toxic guy, fucking with all of these different people on the show. This is really resonated with your generation. That sort of thing has never been depicted.

And it also uses social media as a tactic of manipulation that the main character uses, which a lot of TV shows don't incorporate social media. It's kind of like a blacklisted, you can't do it because that will take the characters out of the show, whatever, but people like me, we're always on our phones. Like, it's not realistic to have a TV show that doesn't incorporate, like, the use of manipulative text messages

or Snapchats or whatever it is, and, like, this show actually has that. Or non-texting. Right. Or ghosting. Or being ghosted. So it's like, this is the most realistic depiction of, like, a toxic college relationship, which is why I loved it so much. Do you think you like toxic relationship shows because all of your relationships

have been non-toxic and pretty normal? It's like, Oh, this is what it's like, but I know it hit home for a lot of people. Okay. All right. So that's TV show of the year. Favorite content of the year. Do you want me to read the list? Yeah, go ahead. So some of this has to do with shows you binged. Yeah. Because you like binging shows.

Right. You like either you're doing homework while a show's on or late at night. Yeah, I like white noise shows, is how I'd put it. Well, number one is The Gilmore Girls, which you finally stumbled into. I know.

What was it about this show? Well, I always, I stayed away from it because I knew I would love it. I tried to start it a few different times and was kind of bored while watching it. But this year, again, my roommate was like, you need to watch this show. You will love it. So I sat myself down and I watched the first season. The first season wasn't the most interesting because Rory, the main character, was like

a fresh high schooler in New Haven, Connecticut. And I was like, what is this? This is not my jam at all. But then as the show continues on, it kind of just, it feels like a warm hug is how I'd describe it. I think a lot of Gilmore Girls lovers would describe the show as just like a warm, comforting,

like when you're in need of feeling like you're around family or you just need your spirits uplifted, that's where you go. Mom, daughter show. Mom Mom daughter show. Which. What would be your mom daughter show? Just mom getting mad at you for some time. Thing about Gilmore Girls is like it's supposed to be a perfect world and Lorelai had Rory when she was like 16 years old. So there's a really short age gap between them, which makes their relationship more like sister to sister.

But the show itself is incredible. It's definitely unrealistic, but it kept me interested for seven seasons. Each episode being like- Didn't it stay too long though? The last two seasons were not great, right? Yeah, I mean, some parts could have been cut out, but honestly, the last two seasons were my favorites

because Roy was in college going through college, which once again is my favorite form of TV show when the main character is going through college. And she was having boyfriends and all these different things and whatever. So I actually liked the show as it progressed, but I loved Gilmore Girls just as something to fall back on when college days were getting hard.

Well, one other binge watch show was This Is Us. I don't like when you watch shows that are sad because you assume the mood of whatever the show is, which thank God you didn't assume the mood of Tell Me Lies, but This Is Us, it's an emotional journey. So you were kind of an emotional person as you watched this. Yeah, but this is different. I don't think it was a Grey's Anatomy COVID situation where I was just completely put out and like unable to like act every day. This show definitely hits the heartstrings.

But in a good way, I loved this show. This, it kept me interested and it was so unrealistic to the point where I almost wasn't emotionally affected by it because it's like, when would this ever happen? Ever. Right. Okay.

Next one, the Unfiltered podcast. This is one of your favorites. It's basically unfiltered. Basically unfiltered. What is it? It was the merging of two different podcasts that I really like on Spotify. The Unfiltered podcast is hosted by Zayn Hajazi and Heath. They were like two of David Dobrik's best friends

who kind of diverged and made a podcast. And then the other one was pretty basic, hosted by Remy Cruz and Alicia Marie. And they like joined forces and made this podcast altogether. So that's what it is. What do you like about it? You're not telling us anything.

We don't know who these people are. Well, I was just explaining what it was. Well, Remy Cruz has a salad that you pointed out when we were walking around. It's a tuna bowl, a salmon bowl. But I've loved all of these YouTubers. It's like more of a nostalgic thing for me because I've watched them since I was like 13, ever since I started watching YouTube. And they joined forces and they have a Patreon page, which I really love. And they'll go and do like, they'll film a high episode or a mukbang episode or them like going to, like on Halloween time, they went to the Halloween like Scare Fest, whatever. It's just like a really fun, airy, light podcast where it's kind of like girls versus boys and they'll do challenges and stuff.

But it's just easy to watch. I like it. Video pod. Video pod. We live in time is the next one on the list. I don't even know what that one is. Those the movie that came out. Oh, the cancer movie. Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. I loved this movie. I saw this like a month or two ago. And needless to say, I think mom will watch it like 15 times once she finds it. But it was it was great. I love Andrew Garfield. I love your Florence Pugh. I love British accent. Everything about the movie was phenomenal. I tried to watch this movie with the two of you and left after like 40 minutes. Yeah. Which I don't know why because it was also a cooking movie, which is like that's everything that I need

Cancer cooking Andrew Garfield British accent. I'm in Wow. That's your algorithm I skipped that one blink twice Chaney Tatum, this was great. Did you see this one? I did I really loved this movie because I'm a big Psychological thriller person. I prefer that much more than I do a slasher. You love Get Out as an all-timer for you. Right. I love Get Out.

I love all those types of movies. So this one I thought was phenomenal. And I love when a movie takes me on a vacation. This movie was on a great resort. Things kinda started to get weird. We didn't exactly know why. It kind of revealed itself. Channing Tatum's gorgeous.

It was a beautiful combo of things. I loved this movie. Speaking of going on vacation, you did a White Lotus rewatch that you put on favorite content of the year, even though you've already seen the show. A hundred times. And I would watch it again and again.

I think this is the single best TV show series ever. Ever? Okay, The Goat. To me. I think it's- Granted, you've missed a lot of great TV shows. Right. So you Okay, The Goat. To me. I think it's- Granted you've missed a lot of great TV shows. Right. You didn't watch Sopranos,

you didn't watch Mad Men Breaking Bad. I said to me, I didn't say to anyone else. This is- I'm just saying there's some meat on the bone. This is my number one. And rewatching it back, all of the little details and the things that I missed the first time I watched it, it's like wow, this show is phenomenal.

The Therapus podcast? Therapus. Therapus? first time I watched it, it's like, wow, this show is phenomenal. The therapist podcast. Therapus. Therapus. Therapus. This, this pod is great. I think this is a perfect example of like new upcoming podcasts that are kind of trying to take like the TikTok vibes and bringing it over to a podcast. This is hosted by Jake Shane, but he just brings on all of his celebrity

friends like Sophia Richie, who I love, all sorts of different celebrities. And he does this segment called the Tell Me What's Wrongs, and he'll have his fans send in like a bunch of things that have happened to them, crazy things, and then him and the celebrity will give them advice on how to deal with it and then they'll prescribe them with different things to like fix that situation. But he's just so funny and light and airy. I love his podcast. I just, I enjoy listening to it. I like happy things.

When you say the TikTok piece of it. So it's a lot of people like trying to self diagnose, figure out what's wrong. Yes. And it's like an interactive podcast where his fans are basically like the basis of the podcast. He's answering people's questions and giving them advice with a celebrity, which I think is super effective.

And it's personable. Like when I listen to it, I feel like I'm his friend. LA, where is he taping that out of? LA. Okay. Waiting for an invite from Jake from Theropuss. Jake Shane? Theropuss or Theropuss? Theropuss. Like octopus.

Okay. The idea of you. Another content of the year choice for you. I think mom watched it about 50 times over. Yeah, should I be concerned about that? That she was obsessed with the movie about a woman meeting a younger guy? Anne Hathaway is phenomenal. And she only gets gets more beautiful and this movie, it had to happen

and they executed it perfectly. Like it was about time that a movie like this came out where a celebrity falls in love with a hot mom whose life has fallen apart. I like that. So I happened to watch this one with mom and the ending was kind of pushing it. Yeah, it was pushing it. Can we spoil the other thing? People have probably seen this.

So they agree to break up because she's what 15 years older and he's becoming a pop star. And basically they break up because it's screwing up her daughter. Her daughter's having an issue with it, so she's like, five years from now, my daughter's in college, give me a call. He's like, all right. And then she's watching some TV show when he's on, he's like, I'm going to LA, it's five years later.

Of course, she's still single, even though she's gorgeous. No guys can be seen for her. Just hanging out on a Thursday night, sees it, and then all of a sudden he shows up at the end and they have kind of a look. Yep. And it's a happy ending. Happy ending.

And then he gets to go through menopause and all the great old lady stages with her. Happy for both of them. Interesting that the daughter piece in that movie, like a selfish mom making a decision to get involved with a celebrity and then ruining her daughter's life, which actually happens a lot in real life. So I liked it. Your last one for favorite content of the year. I see long legs is on there. I didn't realize you like long legs. We're really doing this again. Oh my God. You like long legs?

I like long legs. You guys love this. We saw this together in the theater. I was not as big of a fan, but you in bed. Yeah, I don't know why. I saw it like four times. Did you really? I did. I saw it four times. Well, you're a bad judge with movies because you have a movie theater,

right around the corner. 50 yards from where you go to college. So you can just go at 10 o'clock. But I thought this movie was really good. Out of all the horror movies that came out this year, this was my number one. Again, because I really don't like gore. I haven't even seen Smile 2 yet. I know you guys have seen it and I should see it.

Smile 2 was good. But there's something unappealing about it to me. You know why Smile 2 was good? Cause the lead actress is great. Right. But it's like, that's just not my long legs was much more my type of movie. I also like being on the side of the detectives.

Yeah. I like like kind of trying to figure it out with them. And I thought the girl that played the main character was phenomenal. And you liked Heretic too. Heretic, yeah. Heretic? I haven't seen that one. I love Hugh Grant, I think he's great.

And seeing him in this sort of light was really interesting. It added a lot of depth to him as an actor. So you like detectives chasing something creepy. Something's wrong with the house. And the whole vibe of that movie was good too. Just the way it was filmed, like the lighting, every attention to detail hit the check box for me. Alright, we're gonna take a break

and then come back with the rest of your awards. Celebrate all the little moments of cheer and togetherness at Starbucks. Pair your peppermint mocha with a cozy game night. Sip your chestnut praline latte at a holiday movie marathon. Or take your caramel brulee latte along on your impromptu catch up. These are sips worth sharing. So come together and find your holiday magic. Only at Starbucks. All right. So we're continuing the Teen Culture Awards. Last year we were ever doing this,

my daughter turns 20 next year. New category, show you'd most wanna go on. What's the answer? This was the Mystic Kitchen's last meal show, which I've binged every single episode, even of the celebrities that I don't care for, and I find it the most interesting thing that I've ever watched in my life. Because you think about how weird your last meal would be,

where it's like cottage cheese, pickles, hummus. That, but it's like, it's such an intimate thing to find out about a celebrity. Like, this is the last thing that you would eat. Like, I was watching... I'm trying to think of a good episode that I really love. But I mean, every celebrity that goes on there, it's just like, what are you putting on your plate right now? So you feel like compared to Hot Ones,

where it's just people like they're mouth burning from chicken wings. You wanna know, you feel like this is a window into their actual personality. It's like this is the last thing that you would put into your body on the planet. And I think the host, Josh, I don't know how to pronounce his last name. He's great too. He's really intelligent.

What's your last meal then? I wish I would have had more time to think about this one. I think a huge Caesar salad with some sort of chicken on it would absolutely be up there. But you'd have to have pickles. Right. Pickles, cottage cheese, all the works, hummus, carrots. But that's like, am I really going to eat that on my last meal?

I think I'd need a huge cheese board and a Caesar salad with chicken on it and a diet Dr Pepper and a milkshake. All right. The last meal. I'll check that one out. Breakout stars for this year for you. Yeah. You had three for this year for you. Yeah. You had three people. Trinity Rodman. I love her. I watched her on the Call Her Daddy podcast last week. Not only was that episode

super moving, I just think she is so smart and so cool and so normal considering her entire situation. Like as for a celebrity, this is the one person where I'm like, wow, I could actually see myself being friends with her. Like she's so normal and cool and stylish, and I just, I really love her. I idolize her, honestly. And she, we really need her for the US Women's World Cup.

And she's a phenomenal soccer player on top of it, which is just. She's the best forward we've produced probably since Abby Wambach. She's great. I truly love her. So what did you like about that episode? Just the way she talked about her dad of it which is the best forward we've produced probably since Abby Wambach. She's great. I truly love her. So what did you like about that episode? Just the way she talked about her dad or just like her perspective on fame? Like what was it? Yeah I think that was a really tough topic for her to talk about and she'd obviously never talked about it for a reason. The dad. Yeah and even while having that really tough conversation, she still remained so classy.

And like, even though she was airing everything out, she was never speaking poorly on him because she knew there was no point in doing that. So I just like appreciated the way that she approached that situation, the way she held herself. Like, I just think she's going to be, obviously she's already really successful, but she's going to continue to be super successful.

I like her too. Next one is Sophia Richie. I love her. This is Lionel Richie's daughter. What does she do? Like does she have content? She has a TikTok. Her wedding was like the Royal wedding last year. It was like, there was so much stigma around it and she looked beautiful and

she's phenomenal, but she's a, an influencer type. I don't know how to categorize her. I don't want to because I don't specifically know what she does. What do you like about her? Is she funny? Like what is she? She's hilarious.

She's like the most normal celebrity that similar to Trinity Rodman that I've ever witnessed. She's just so normal and down to earth, but I also really like her style and the way that she dresses and carries herself. I like to emulate the outfits that she does. I just she's like the epitome of an influencer to me, like how all the influencers should be normal.

But people are coming back. Right. Normal people are. And she's funny. Crazy. Not not as successful in 2024. Right. Graydon Cutler and Haley Batchelder? Who are they? Haley just joined the Call Her Daddy force or the Unwell content, but she has a new podcast on Spotify, which I really love called Extra Dirty.

Extra Dirty? What does that mean? Because it's like a sex podcast. It's kind of like how Alex Cooper used to be before she got married. Before she found love. Right. But I really like her. I think she's super funny. She started off in short form videos on TikTok talking about all of her quests out in New York City, the guys that she would meet,

the things that she'd do, whatever. She's not, I don't relate to her all that much, but I really like watching her content a lot. And Grayden's her best friend who's always making weird food combinations, which you know I love. Okay. Storyline of the year, you went with the TikTok ban. I just thought this is so interesting because what's going to happen to all of these influencers? I really don't know. You mean if TikTok goes away in like April. Right. It's like all of these people that have given up their jobs

and have been making their livelihood by making TikTok videos, now what happens to them? Like I genuinely don't know. Instagram Reels? I guess so, but like I'm never even on Instagram Reels like that. I like Instagram Reels, but like TikTok is, it's so, it's such a well-oiled machine.

Like it really reels you in. And now that there's this whole TikTok shop thing, which is Amazon equivalent, I can see how it's so detrimental to little kids because all of these videos will be promoting things that you can buy on TikTok shop. You'll literally watch the video and you can click on the thing at the bottom

and you're purchasing something all of a sudden. So it's definitely an evil thing. Yeah. But I'm most curious to see what will happen to all of these influencers and people that have devoted their lives to making TikTok videos that are no longer going to have any job. I'm good with TikTok going away. Favorite developments.

We had, you mentioned Patreon earlier. So you're talking about like special Patreon only, like this special content. Yeah. Favorite developments. You mentioned Patreon earlier. So you're talking about like special Patreon only, like this special content. This really feeds into like the secrecy feeling like you're friends with your favorite influencer. Obviously I have to pay $10 a month or whatever to have the Patreons of the people that I'm subscribed to. But it's so interesting because it's almost like a whirlpool into what old YouTube looked like before all of the

monetizations and whatever were put in place. It's like you can really just lay it all out with no care at all. Okay. So you're saying I should start a Patreon? I don't know if I want to see whatever you do on Patreon. Thank you. Spotify video is another one. You were talking about you like when Spotify, which is good because we're tripling down

on this, but you like either watching or listening to a podcast depending on where you are. Yeah, I think it's a great advancement and it's really helpful to see the person that's talking's face. Yeah. Like that's just something that I connect their words so much better with whoever they are by watching the video and I'll just put it up on the treadmill if I'm working out or if I'm in the car, I won't watch the video, but like I like that you have the option.

I think that's a really good advancement. All right. Well, you're going to keep getting it. Most fascinating trend. So two things here. You have the last days of original influencer content. What does that mean? I think we were talking about the canceled podcast when we- Well, so we can- the canceled podcast- Dodged that one down. ...is the other piece of that.

Right. So you're talking about there's the end of some sort of era that people don't even know it was an era. People know. It's like the YouTube Vine era of like all of the way that old social media used to be the way that influencers used to behave. It was like so much more raw and like upfront and people were openly crazy. Yeah. And Tana Mongeau is like the face of that when I think of old YouTube because she is just like the epitome of she's been everywhere and done everything similar with Trisha Paytas. So people beefing, getting canceled, coming back, declaring war on each other. Right. It's like the cockroach syndrome where it's like you can just be openly crazy and there was really no problem with it.

And you'd get canceled and you'd come back and it would just be a continuous loophole where now cancel culture is like you're canceled for whatever it might be and you're done. Yeah. But the canceled podcast, similar to its name, it really was like the last era of that, it felt like because Brooke Schofield and Tana Mongeau would like air out all of this shit that happened, all these crazy stories of living in LA, going out in Hollywood, whatever it was. And now Tana's in a happy relationship, so is Brooke. And they just kind of are diverging

into like this regular influencer, whatever the new Spotify world of influencers is. So do you have to basically not be in a healthy relationship to be a good podcaster? Apparently so. Or just to be an interesting influencer. Because I asked you what would happen if Alex Cooper just got divorced and you got super excited.

You're like, whoa, if she started dating again, that'd be amazing. Well, that was her whole bag. All of her podcasts and stories were about having random hookups and running around New York City and being a degenerate and whatever. And now she's happy and super successful and I'm so happy for her. Yeah. But her content definitely reflects that. Right. She's doing more interview stuff. And I love like her story about hooking up with the Red Sox guy. And like her story about her times in Paris, like all of when she does the old stories about everything that used to happen to her, I was like, wow, this is good content, like this, I miss this.

Next category is couple. I want to break up because I'm jealous. Couple I want couple I hope they break up, I guess. You're not literally hoping for a breakup. But no, but I'm just jealous. I wish I could be Olivia Jade. He's dating Jacob Elordi, but she never talks about it, which is really interesting to me. You're dating one of the hottest guys on Earth. And he's tall, which you love.

Right, and Australian. And he's not in any of her content. She's still alive. I love her YouTube videos. I'm a big fan of Olivia Jade. Interesting, big comeback for Olivia. Yeah, she's also a good influencer where she just keeps it classy.

She's not too crazy. I really like her content a lot. And a hell of a rower. Right. Right. Okay. But I do like her a lot and I'm jealous of her. Grossest internet moment of the year. We had the, you had the Sydney Sweeney body shaming stuff

from a couple weeks ago. I don't wanna say like grossest, like I was grossed out, like grossest, like wow, society is really horrific. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, this was awful. I don't want to say like gross is like I was grossed out like gross is like, wow, society is really horrific. Yeah, this was awful. Because I saw TikTok videos alluding to it, but not the pictures just being like, wow, what happened to Sydney Sweeney, like all this stuff. And I was expecting to see something horrible.

And she just looks completely normal. And she's filming a movie about a female boxer. Yeah, she's like actually putting some muscle on. Like she looks similar to how most females look. And I was just like, this is ridiculous that in this day and age with all this cancellation stuff, people will still talk like that. I found that super disheartening. What did you think of her post refuting all the...

Or did you see the post she did? I've always been a big fan of her. I think she's wonderful in White Lotus and I love Euphoria. And her straying away from the character that she usually plays is an interesting thing to me. I'm excited to see the movie. I thought that her response definitely

made me like her a lot more. Yeah. Well, two people you didn't really like. Few to the year. Although I guess you're on the Blake Laveley side. Blake Laveley versus Blake Lively versus Justin Baldoni. So this was a big thing. This situation is gnarly.

This has been like a nine month story on social media and now it blew up again. Well, there's been a lots of back and forth because originally when the movie was being promoted, Blake Lively was kind of promoting the show up in your florals to the movie and Justin Baldoni was taking more of the domestic violence awareness side. And people were- But they also weren't promoting it together.

Right, and people were really criticizing Blake for not, for being insensitive of the entire intention behind the movie, but turns out that there was some reasoning behind it. I think the situation is horrible and looking at the intimate details of it, it's really, really weird. So I know all the mainstream journalism media angles

reporting on it. What is the TikTok Instagram version? Well, people have been saying that he was being very strange during all of their sexual scenes. And even the girl that played the younger version of Blake Lively, he was making really crude comments being very strange during all of their sexual scenes. And even the girl that played the younger version of Blake Lively, he was making really crude comments about her sex scenes with the younger character that was supposed to play Atlas.

And on top of that, he walked in on her, in her trailer. This is a legend we should mention. Multiple times, yeah, a legend. But a lot of really disgusting sentiments came out of this, just like really uncomfortable, seemingly like minor versions of sexual abuse, but it's really disheartening. Well, the fact that she had that meeting

and put all that stuff in there, like from now on, we will no longer, you will no longer add kissing scenes. And people are really trying to turn it on Blake Lively at the beginning, like Blake Lively's an asshole and she's like, me and the reporters and everyone was turning on her, but it seems like there was a lot more to the situation.

It's really sad. What's your generation's relationship with Blake Lively? For a second there, people weren't liking her, but I think she's widely loved because of Gossip Girl and all of the movies that she's done. I mean, I like her. She's a friend of Taylor's Cliffs. That movie did really well.

I think she's in good shape. Yeah, but I don't know. She's not within my area. All right, we're gonna be delicate with this next one. By the way, mom's take on Justin Baldoni was, I never liked his face. Yeah, I don't like his either. That was it.

You just never trusted his face. He played the role that he played a little too well. Yeah. 2025 career advice is the next category. Right. And I just have in the notes, dangerous Disney. You don't like when the Disney stars hit this phase when they get older and then they have to prove how dangerous they are. Well, it just seems like this is like a common thing that happens between Sabrina

Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo and like all of these really popular Disney influencers that are now trying to like desensitize themselves and like escape from the like Disney world. By being super provocative. Right. Yeah. And like in a lot of ways it works and I support it, but then there's times where it's just like this feels like it's kind of over the top. Like you're trying to prove something here. And sometimes it's like feeding into that Disney thing is not always a bad thing.

I just think that sometimes it's a little too trying to get out of the box. Do you think Zendaya did that? No, I think she played her cards perfectly. Yeah, I think she's the role model, right? Right, because she's super sexy. Like, I think she's beautiful, but she was a Disney star for a long time. And she kind of like shifted over to being who she is now from who she was then. Really seamlessly. Right.

And in a lot of movies and stuff. Right, but that's the way to do it. Like, that's the poster way to do that. I don't know what the answer is, but I have written down makeup tip of the year as your big makeup person. I don't even know if we came up with this one. You don't have one?

All right, we'll move on to the next one. College food and drink, weird budget MVPs. This is stuff when you're in college, you're racing around, especially like you, you're playing sports, you have only like 30 minutes to eat, 20 minutes to eat, 10 minutes to grab something. Uh, I have a bunch of food here. So what do you want to start?

I want to start off by saying Starbucks saved my life. Okay. The dining hall usually closed before soccer practice would be over. And there were countless times where the Starbucks next door to me would provide my meals. I think I ate strictly Starbucks for probably two months straight. So you support the Starbucks? I support Starbucks.

So you have, I wrote down Starbucks, egg bites. Yes, absolutely. Spinach feta wrap. Yes, yes. And matcha latte was a big one for you this year? I love a matcha latte. I'm obviously a college student and I need as much energy as I can get yeah and coffee Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for it and matcha it actually like gives me the caffeine boost

Boost that I need without the come down because sometimes from coffee all like get tired a few hours after having it. Yeah. Matcha like makes my entire body feel fantastic and it's a good healthy energy boost because it's green tea. In that Starbucks that's next to your dorm. There's probably what? 10, 11 people that work there. How many of them knew who you were? We're friends. I have a friend every morning that I say hello to.

It's wonderful. Um, chopsticks? Oh yes. Chomsticks. I'll put hummus on them. Can you explain what Chompsticks are? It's a meat stick. I guarantee you most people know. It's like a long meat stick. It's like a jerky.

Yeah, it's a jerky, but it's made out of turkey. It's delicious. Me and mom were on the ski mountain the other day and she was appalled because I was putting mustard on my Ch, but chopsticks. I don't regret it one bit. Chomps takes are my MVP in 2020. So that would have been, that's the answer to the question.

Weirdest thing I did with my food in 2024, putting mustard in a public place. Or like the pickles steps in the cottage cheese with the hummus. I don't know. Yeah. That was the last MVP was hummus, pickles and cottage cheese. So you would just walk to this Trader Joe's in Boston, buy a bunch of weird food, and then cram them into a small college refrigerator.

Into my little fridge. And no one would touch that fridge in my suite. They all knew. They open it up and it's like, this is a crime scene. Yeah, there's like, is there any pizza in there? Yeah, that's why I'm like a good, good as a roommate because no one wants to eat my stuff. Yeah.

Like even if anyone was trying to eat my things, no one would want to. Last category. Advice to my younger self as an athlete and future strong woman. Oh, future strong woman. I don't know. I was projecting. Things you learned now that you're 19 and a half. Things you wish you could have told yourself at age 12, 13, 14. Sure.

Well, I think on a relationships standpoint, because that was partially what I was thinking of when we wrote this down. And this is advice that I give to my friends a lot of the times. In a relationship, you have just as much power as the other person and succumbing to like whatever they want at all times is super unhealthy. And I think that that's definitely something that I've learned over the years, just like not folding over. I've definitely become a lot more feisty since I've gotten to college. I think in middle school, as you know, a lot of people walk all over me. Because I am a nice person.

Yeah. And I would allow that to happen, but standing up for yourself is something, obviously, that you learn with age. It's been nice to have you home when we taught you how to be bullied again, but me and mom just telling you what to do and yelling at you.

Exactly. It's good, complaining about you. Right. As a soccer forefront, or just sports in general, I think you cannot continue on if you don't love it. That's something that I have learned to be true. I've gone through injury last year where I thought I might have to quit.

There's been lots of times in my life where it's like, I don't wanna miss any more birthday parties or any more friend play dates. I feel like I'm losing friends. Like, I don't wanna do this any more birthday parties or any more friend play dates. I feel like I'm losing friends. I don't want to do this sport anymore. And pushing through that and knowing that you have the love to push through the sacrifices is the most important thing. You won't make it if you don't.

Yeah, you know, that's interesting because I think that's the number one thing I learned as a parent, too, that if the kid doesn't love it, there's nothing you can do as a parent. You can't make someone love something, you'll burn them out. Like I've seen it. You had two real injuries, and each time you could have said,

I don't wanna play anymore, it's not worth it. But each time you really wanted to keep playing and you fought to get back and healthy, which you did again recently. But I've seen other people, are there? Well, I've seen it happen time and time again, where it's like people I've played with that are dying for it to be time again where it's like people I've played with that

are dying for it to be over. Because it's like they either feel like they were forced to do it or like they were doing it for somebody else. And in part, I'll always play for you because I know how much you love to watch me play. But I mostly play because of how much I love it. And if I didn't love it, I would not be able to do it for as long as I have. Yeah. And you're playing, I mean, you're in a more physical position too. So it's not like your body's pretty banged up by the end of the season if you're

playing big minutes. Right. But I think that also feeds into like the, um, giving yourself the right nutrients and like being a healthy person in general. Because there's a lot of like, I don't know, on TikTok especially, it's like what I eat in a day as a fat person is literally like all over my For You page. Like there's a lot of people promoting really unhealthy eating or like what I eat in a day

as a skinny person. Like these are literal headlines of videos that I've watched. Like this lady Liv Schmidt, who was canceled all year because she was underweight and kind of promoting an unhealthy eating style. It seems like she's adapted a more healthy eating style. But with social media and with TikTok, there's a lot of promotion of the way that people eat.

And it's not anything like we've ever had before because social media was never so big. So I think- Well, it's also making people think about food more than maybe they would. Right. It's like, it becomes people's entire universes and I've definitely dealt with that and as an athlete, it's important to give yourself the right nutrients. I think that's important too.

That's what I've learned. The more, like the more time we have with social media, I do wonder if it re-emphasizes things that are potential problems anyway, like food, or if you think you have some sort of hangup or something wrong and then- Well, yeah, it's like people self-diagnose themselves all the time. People change, and it's hard because when you feel like

you're in a really tough place and you don't know what's wrong with you, and then you see somebody else that might be having similar symptoms to you, and you finally feel like you're in a really tough place and you don't know what's wrong with you and then you see somebody else that might be having similar symptoms to you and you finally feel like you're being heard or like you found a solution, that's a really gratifying feeling, but in the end of the day, it's probably not what you have.

And it's like people go down this rabbit hole and social media was not something that we were intended to have as human beings. And it's like, you have all of this insight on people's lives that you would never cross paths with otherwise. So it like creates a really weird universe for a lot of people like me where it's like,

I'll be seeing all these food videos or all of these like, whatever sorts of videos that I normally wouldn't ever see or pay attention to. So it's just weird. Well, one other thing you learned in 2024 is you could be a good nurse. A good nurse? Yeah, I could, honestly. Your boyfriend hurt his leg. He was in a cast for six weeks.

And you had to take care of him. Yeah. But you did. You did a good job. It seems like you did a decent job. I tried my best, but that's something I had to learn. Rolling someone around in a wheelchair is not as easy as it looks. You finally got to be in a Grey's Anatomy episode. I know.

I almost pushed him into the traffic a few times. All right. Anything else before we go? I don't think so. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Good to see you. That was it for Teen Culture.

I guess we'll have to come up with another name if we do this again. Yeah. We'll fix it up. You turned 20 in beginning of May. Yep. I don't know what we'll call it at that point. Yeah, we'll figure it out. All right. Good to see you. Bye.

All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to Joe House. Thanks to my daughter, Zoe Simmons. Can't believe I was able to book her. Thanks to Saruti and thanks to Kyle. I was able to book her. Thanks to Sarudy and thanks to Kyle. Thanks to you guys for listening. Don't forget, Sunday, me and the Cuzz are going to be going live on YouTube after all the Sunday games. And you can watch the Cuzz and everybody else

in the Winger Sunday pregame show that morning. I will see you on Sunday night. Enjoy the weekend. It must be 21 plus in President-elect states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in President DC. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-887-897777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here, visit Gambling Helpline, ma.org, or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts,

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