The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 10: NBA & NFL w/ Joe House

Episode Date: October 16, 2015

HBO's Bill Simmons talks Week 6 NFL gambling plays, Pats-Colts blowout predictions, and Lamar Odom's tragic downhill spiral with Joe House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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America's Nightmare continues. I don't have entrance music, but I do have Joe House. It's our annual Friday NFL picks slash NBA slash whatever else podcast. How are you? Our weekly Friday. Look, Ice Cube has something to say. Ice Cube wants to talk about Friday. Yeah, Ice Cube's here. He has something to say.

Oh. I don't think, I don't remember clearing Ice Cube. I guess he's just in the background With terrible production bias Thanks Ice Cube Everything is popping We're ready It's Friday

And everything is popping Was Ice Cube the one in Anaconda? I think he was He was definitely in Anaconda I like his action movie choices ice cube uh so i don't even know being a gentleman i don't know where to begin um let's begin with this you had a busy week you're all over america you're on the airwaves on the east coast uh um top and bottom right yeah i finally got to do mike francesa's show it was it was a it was a huge

huge opportunity for me i was very excited he's the best uh no it was good it was um it was really fun you know the shame of it is and i get why espn does what they do or they they steer espn people just to the espn radio podcast right right? Or ESPN radio shows and all ESPN things. Yeah, yeah, ESPN media. But Francesco's like the guy in New York, and he's been the guy there for 25 years now. Really? New York and all the way up to New England. I mean, he's not the guy in New England,

but he's a presence that extends all the way up. Yeah, I was talking to my old Grantland friend, Jay Kang, about it on Wednesday. He was saying how, you know, Francesco's the guy, but it's not just that he's the guy now. It's that he's been the guy for that long, and it's really rare to have the title. You know, I think like in the 80s,

Lupico was kind of the guy. Sure. I was going to high school in Connecticut in the 80s. to read the post and the and the daily news all the time but that was back when the only way to consume lupico was by reading him right and he was a great columnist um and he was the guy and the decade before him dick young was the guy in the new york post and i think he wrote for the daily news a little bit too but fr Francesco, when him and Dog took over, they collectively became the guy. And they owned New York for, you know,

up through the end of the 2000s. And then they split up and now Francesco's the guy. And, you know, for me, it's just, it's good for me to go on a show like that because I'm reaching a whole bunch of people that might not even know who I am or might not read me. Oh, no, they know who you are. They hate you. The New Yorkers are surprisingly kind.

Yeah. But anyway, so that was nice. And then I also did in Boston, I did Toucher and Rich, which was this morning show that pretty much heated up like in the late 2000s and became kind of the show. And I wasn't allowed to go on that either. So that was fun too. Yeah, you knocked out a couple. Also, speaking of old Grantland friends and Zip recruiter, I mean, you had a few friends, you know, join the mission, right?

Yeah, we had a few hires. Yeah, it's been definitely an interesting week. Who's the guy, right? Yeah, we had a few hires. Yeah, it's been definitely an interesting week. Who's the guy in Washington? Because he used to be Tony K for years and years, but now he doesn't write anymore and he's got the local radio show, but is there a guy or is it still Cornhazel Woodbine? There isn't a guy.

It is Tony K. It's still Tony K. He's, for one thing, he's been around now for 25, 30 years, and it went from print to radio. He was the guy on radio when he was doing his radio show on ESPN back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The TV gig necessarily made him divide his loyalty a little bit, but he's still the guy here. I'll put it this way.

Everybody my age and older listens to him. Now, the sports junkies are also wildly popular here in D.C., and with good reason, because the homies roll it proper. I mean, they've been at it now for, it's got to be like 15 years, maybe even longer than that, 16, 17 years. That's another show I want to go on. I want to go on the sports show.

I wasn't allowed to go on that one either. You've been on the Junkies once. They let you go on that to promote your book. Yeah, like a million years ago. I know, one time in like 17 years. But the Junkies bring it home. Yeah, you love the Junkies. A bunch of local donkeys that do it proper.

That would be an interesting blog column, like who's the guy in every city, because some cities don't even have a guy. I don't think L.A. has a guy. Right, because L.A. just does all of the kind of serial national programs, right? No, first of all, you're way off. That's the dumbest thing you've said.

I thought it was all national figures. No. L.A. is like relentlessly and painfully local. Oh. Like they would rather, the Lakers could be 15 and 48 and name a local show. They'll spend the first hour talking about the Lakers over anything relevant.

So this is a good... I've been out to L.A. probably 30 times since you moved out there. Not once have I ever heard a local radio program in your car. So that's all. My friend Damoshek got a drive time show for ESPN Radio, ironically. I'm saying this was like in 2007 or 2008. Oh, okay. And his whole pitch for the show was, yeah, yeah, we're not going to do the local stuff. We're going to go national.

We're going to go a little broader. Like, there's so many transplants here. We can reach all these different people, and we don't just have to talk about the LA teams all the time. And they were like, great, that sounds awesome. And within three weeks, they were like, hey, talk about the local teams. Don't do it. The way you pitched us, we don't like that anymore. You're going to talk about the local team.

Like Sarkeesian, the coach who has a drinking problem. The USC coach just dismissed. Yeah, that and the Dodgers, that's it right now. And the Chosen Rosen, a little bit of that, too. That all makes sense. Yeah, that's that and the Dodgers. That's it right now. And the Chosen Rose and a little bit of that, too. That all makes sense. Yeah. That all makes sense. The Dodgers.

You know, I tried to tell Sal this on Monday, and I think he thought I was being a dick. The karma of the Utley slide, it had to come back and haunt the Dodgers. It just had to. That's how the law of baseball. That is the law of baseball. I totally agree with that.

I thought maybe, um, that karma was delivered in, uh, um, Monday night game, the way that the Mets hit 17 and a half home runs, uh,

and one 40 to, to whatever the score was. I thought that was, um, the baseball gods evening, evening it up. But, you know, um, last night was pretty interesting. I thought that was the baseball gods evening it up. But, you know, last night was pretty interesting.

I don't think the Dodgers were very good. They had two great pitchers. Other than that, did you think that was a talented team? Like the no-preak thing really hurt them. The only guy in their lineup that scared me offensively was Justin Turner. Yeah, that's not good. Think about what you just said. I understand.

That's a problem. Puig ended up not, for whatever reason, having a great series. And that's kind of the difference. I love DeGrom plus one. I tweeted this. I like DeGrom plus 135 with Falcons minus four. And I knew one of them was going to lose. I didn't bet it, though. Falcons. I got this. I like the Grom plus 135 with Falcons minus four. And I knew one of them was going to lose. I didn't bet it, though.

Falcons. I got scared. Yeah, the Thursday. I made a rule this year, and it's one of the better rules I've ever made in my life. It's just don't bet on the Thursday games. Just stay away from them. Yeah, Thursday games are out. Absolutely. Atlanta invented 17 ways to lose that game.

I didn't see it. Did you watch it? It was painful to watch. I switched away upon each mistake, and there was a dozen mistakes. So I kept turning away. I kept pulling and going back in just to see if there was any spark. Mistake, mistake, mistake, that's it. Turning it off.

Put back on the baseball game. I'm in two auction leagues. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm in one auction league and then one – my East Coast Fantasy Football, which is like all my friends from high school and college. And then the West Coast one, which is the auction league, which I care about a little more because the skill is higher. In those two leagues, I spent a combined $140 on Chikandrick West

in my free agent auction. I spent $71 on one league and like $68 on the other. Oh my gosh. In the West Coast League, I have like a monster team and I was just thinking like, if this guy makes it,

I win the league. If this guy can be 80% what Jamal Charles is, I win the West Coast League. The East Coast League, my team's terrible and I was like, I need a miracle.

So either way, I'm in the Chikandrick West business. Chikandrick? Chikandrick? No, you're it. Don't ask me. I didn't even know who he was on Sunday. Don't ask me. But these are the guys that swing leagues. Yeah, that's right. Like Lou Rawls.

I have Devontae Freeman in one league. Oh, yeah, Devontae. But he got drafted, though, right? Oh, yeah, I drafted him. I mean, you're right. He wasn't a free agent pickup, but there was still some possibility that Tevin was going to be the primary feature back for Atlanta when the season started.

That's why I hate fantasy football. It's one of the 97 reasons. I remember liking Devontae Freeman going into my draft, and the day before it seemed like Tevin Coleman or one of the 97 reasons. I remember liking Devontae Freeman going into my draft. And the day before, it seemed like Tevin Coleman or one of them. All of a sudden, there was ambiguity with the starters. And then somebody ends up getting him at the end of the draft. And he's the best player in fantasy football. Fantasy football is evil.

It's the dumbest of dumb pursuits. Yeah. So, all right. Speaking of dumb pursuits. Yeah, gambling. What's dumber than gambling? So, before we get to football, quickly, the baseball. Oh.

Yeah. Blue Jays minus 155 over the Royals. And the Royals have home field in that series. And then the Cubs minus 160 over the Mets. That seems like... I don't like either one of those. I like the Royals and the Mets. I feel like I know a lot about baseball and sports.

When was the last time the Cubs made the World Series? Does it happen in our lifetime? No, they have not made the World Series in our lifetime. Tate. I'm calling out Tate, our new producer. Our new producer, Tate Frazier, who's sitting there staring

at me. Can you find out when the Cubs last made the World Series? Tate's on it. He looks very serious right now. Tate, 22-year-old from North Carolina, buttered me up by claiming that one of his favorite ACC games was

Maryland versus North Carolina, even though he was like minus eight when it happened. Nobody told me that. That's obviously straight to my heart. Yeah, I know. I figured. So, I would say Blue Jays-Mets. But I don't know if I'd bet it, but it just seems too improbable that the Cubs would make the World Series. How would that happen?

I'm just so happy that it's Mets-Cubs. It's a great story. I'm happy for the story. It's so good. I love it. It starts-Cubs. It's a great story. I'm happy for the story. It's so good. I love it. It starts when? 1945. Oh, 1945 the Cubs made it. Jesus, my dad wasn't born in 1945.

Was Dick House born in 1945? Yes, he was four years old, I think. Detroit Tigers. A young Dick House. Yeah, they played the Detroit Tigers and they obviously lost. Dick House was not impressed. We have the Blue Jays at Royals tonight. So, well, if I had to pick, I'm going to give you the odds for the matchups, too.

Wait a second. Where are those? If I had to pick, I would say Royals, Blue Jays. And you would say, I'm sorry, say Royals Blue Jays. And you would say, I'm sorry, Mets Blue Jays. Yeah. And you agree with that?

No, I would say Mets Royals. Why do you like the Royals? I like that they, this is the dumbest of dumb reasons. I am so prepared for all the criticism of this. They were there last year. That's it. That's all. That is the dumbest there last year. That's it. That's all.

That is the dumbest of dumb reasons. That's so stupid. I said so. Wait, I'm going to trump it. I have a dumber reason. I like the Blue Jays' chemistry. They have great chemistry. I like Bautista. I like Encarnacion. I like Donaldson.

Because chemistry in baseball is so important. Oh, it's great. It's an individual sport where you can't rely on your teammates in any way. And I love their chemistry. Chemistry is about as important in baseball as it is in swimming. Right. But I loved when Bautista hit the bat flip homer and the Blue Jays charged out of the dugout. Like it was literally great.

That never happens. That was awesome. It's tremendous. I'm in. It's tremendous. I'm in. It's tremendous. The best. So what fan base would you be happiest for? Cubs?

Honestly, yeah, the Cubs. That's not even close. I was going to try and make an argument for the Royals, but no. It's got to be the Cubs. How could it? 1945. No, not 1945. It's like to be the Cubs. How could it? 1945. No, it's not 1945. It's like 1908.

Well, no, 45 since the last time they were in. I was talking to, I talked about this with Francesa, actually, where I think the Cubs are different than the Red Sox fans in that we were so tormented the whole time, Red Sox fans. Whereas the Cubs seem like at peace with the fact that the Cubs fans seem like they're at peace with that they're never going to win. Well, their regional tormentors are St. Louis, the Cardinals, right? That's their local rival, the way the Yankees are for you.

But the Yankees aren't really our rival anymore because we've dominated this century. We measure ourselves against some of the other teams now. Congratulations. Hey, speaking of measuring, football last week, I'm having a good year in general, but I

lost last night. Right now, I'm 42-32-4 for the season with picks. Oh, I didn't pull up my thing. Let me see if I can figure it out. I went 11-3 last week against this spread. Yeah, you've had two really good weeks. My Sunday best bets, which I've been posting on Instagram and Twitter, 10-4-2.

But last week, you went 3-1-1. I went 2-2-1. Yeah. So I'm now, as between on this podcast, 5-4-1 on best bets, which is not great. Well, we're going to ramp it up this week. Let's quickly go through the games that we did not pick. Sure. I thought about taking the Cardinals minus four in Pittsburgh, at Pittsburgh.

I gave it a long, hard look as well. Yeah, Cardinals might be good. I don't think might be. I like them quite a bit. And Vic is such an impairment on Pittsburgh. It hurts so much to watch that game Monday night. But I honestly think the home field thing is what's kept me away from banging the cards this week. I'm picking the Cardinals either way, but they're not one of my best. Yeah, and the thing with

the cards is that, I'm sorry, with the Steelers, is that they have so many guys who are scary that are on the field. They make me nervous. They got Bell, they got Bryant, they got Antonio Bryant, they got these guys who can bust these 65-yard touchdowns. I don't know. I don't feel great about betting that one.

Yeah, I thought Bell was unbelievable Monday night, by the way. I can't sing his praises enough. It looked like he was a video game player in that game. Yeah, he was awesome. And, you know, they're a little something-something at home, too. Vikings are minus four at home against my dude, Chikandrick West, and the Chiefs. Chikandrick's and the Chiefs.

Chikandrick, he's going to have nine carries for eight yards, and people are going to make fun of me, but that's fine. I like the Chiefs in this one. Yeah, I'm probably taking the Vikings. I don't have a feel for it. I almost took the Bengals minus three and a half in Buffalo. E.J. Manuel's playing. I'm not sure the Bills are even good, but, um, man, something,

something just scares me about the Bengals. Even last, I mean, it was 24-7 that game. I don't know what happened in Seattle in that game, but, uh, it's, this just feels, couldn't you see like betting the Bengals and then Andy throws the pick and, you know, somebody runs for 70 yards. Sammy Watkinsins who was bitching about getting the ball this week he makes a play it's something scares me about this one i could see it which is why i would i'm definitely taking the bills yeah i almost they were in in my my small stack for potential best bet but i didn't i didn't put them in but i love the bills getting three and a half at home yeah i haven't decided yet uh lee The Lions are minus three at home against Chicago, which is basically Vegas is just like, look, whatever.

These teams suck. The home team gets a field goal. Good luck. Good luck, everybody. I have no idea. I have no idea what happens in this game, and I don't care. And I feel the same way. I think the Bears are a little bit better than they have appeared.

Their defense is pretty good. They have a couple dudes. Pernomic, these look good this season. I'm with you. I'll probably take the Bears. Why would you take Jim Caldwell and Matthew Stafford ever? I will be taking the Bears. I mean, Matthew Stafford got set down.

Coach's decision last week. Yeah, he really did. During the game. Well, he's a young quarterback. Oh, wait. He's been in the league seven years. Broncos. Minus four and a half at the Browns. I like the Browns. Not enough

to bet on them, but especially who's out on the Broncos? DeMarcus Ware? He's out for a couple weeks, right? That was a big part of what they were doing was their pass rush. That's their whole all of their success has been defensive. This is the first time at this stage of the season,

well, it's a dumb thing I'm about to say. It's so obvious. Peyton has more picks than touchdowns. Yeah. Did you know that? Look, they've been winning because of their defense. Their DVOA, they have the 32nd offense. Right.

I couldn't believe that. Football outsiders. This paid me anything. But week after week, I think he's due for a game where he just throws five picks and single-handedly loses the game. I don't think it's this week, though. I don't think it's this week, either. I'm probably taking the Broncos. Really?

I think that lines up maybe a point too high. It feels like that should be Broncos three and a half. Jags, Texans. The Texans are reprehensible, but obviously people think the Jags are worse because they're not even getting three at home. They're all giving one. Oh, I thought pick them in one thing.

Well, whatever. I'm taking the Jags. I'm taking the Jags as well. I'm not taking Houston again until. They stink. They stink. I just can't take them. It hurts me. They stink.

Titans, Dolphins. A hard one, because, you know, there's a lot of. Oh, wait. That's one of my picks. So let's just get to our real picks. I didn't even know we're there. We're there. We've arrived.

There's only 14 games this week. Right. And we just did one, two, three, four, five, six. And then we have... I'm missing a game. Oh, boy. Well, at least I'm not prepared. Is Ravens 49ers one of your games?

Yes. Oh, okay. It, at least I'm not prepared. Is Ravens 49ers one of your games? Yes. Oh, okay. It wasn't one of mine. And Falcons was last night, so we only have 13 to go through. Okay, so we're good. Okay, first game. We both agree that this is a game we should pick. The Jets are home.

They're laying six points to the Washington professional football team. What's your take? The D.C. Grudens, this is surprising, right? I've been slowly warming up to the D.C. Grudens this year. They've outgained four of their five opponents this year. Defense, sixth ranked overall. And I like the spot. The six points is just a hair too many for me.

Oh, it's not a hair. It's a full head of hair. It's a full head of hair. It should be minus four. It's too many. So we're in agreement on this. I didn't know that you were going to agree with me. I like their defense.

I like their offensive line. I think they can run the ball. I thought last week was really impressive against the Falcons. What are the odds Kirk Cousins was going to kill you in a big spot? Right, right. That was an all-time Watfo. We knew that was coming. But still covered.

Covered the seven and a half. That's really all that we care about on this podcast. And it's Kirk Cousins versus Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yeah, I have a really dumb stat that I like to trot out as well. NFL teams off a win in London are 1-7 against the spread at home in their next game. That's a very dumb stat, but

1-7 is not good. I went to London for the Olympics and it took me like a month and a half to recover when I came back to America. I can't even imagine what it's like to be a football player. I just think that these teams are relatively even. That's my view as well.

They're two 8-8 teams. And I don't see how the line's 6. I'm grabbing the points. I'm with you. Next game, this is just you. Packers, 10.5 at home. Chargers, who do you like? I like the Chargers.

Oh. And it's just, look, a few of these games, the lines moved. Muted? The lines moved by huge, huge swings during the course of the week. This is one of those games. This one opened at nine and climbed all the way up to ten and a half, I think it is now, 80% of the early spread bets on the Green Bay Packers. And, you know, this is just a contrarian play.

It's a straight-up contrarian play for San Diego. There's a bunch of great stats that support double-digit underdogs in this position. And you'll be surprised to hear this little nugget. Phillip Rivers, 3-0 as a double-digit dog. Well, here's the other thing with the Chargers. You'd actually rather take them on the road. Absolutely. They have the opposite of a home field advantage since their quarterback had to use the silent

count on a Monday night game at home this week. It was terrible towels all over the house. It was awful. What is going on out there? It's got to be so depressing that that's your home fans and 40,000 of them are rooting for Pittsburgh. It would be understandable if the Chargers were like the D.C. Grudens here and terrible for like the last 10 years.

And so opposing teams can have their fans come. And especially here, Pittsburgh is so close to Washington. But what the hell is going on out there? Doesn't make sense. And you have, I watched the last two Packers games. They scored 17 on the Niners. Really couldn't move the ball that much. And then they scored 24 on the Rams.

One long touchdown, one long pick six. I think they only had one other, like, traditional multi-play drive. What Rodgers is doing this year reminds me in 06 with Brady. When we had, like, Rasheed Caldwell and Jabbar Gaffney as the two best receivers and Daniel Graham as the tight end and Lawrence Maroney as the running back. And Brady was so good, he kind of patched it together and was able to drag the team to the AFC title game. They had the big lead. They blew it to the Colts. I just don't see any weapons for Rodgers.

Yeah, we're not seeing big separation. The Packers receivers are not getting open. Not open at all. And I think the reason he loves James Jones is because when he's scrambling around and James Jones can kind of get open by a half inch. And he makes a play, James Jones. But it's not easy for Aaron Rodgers. And this is just a lot of points.

With that said, I don't think the charges are good, and I'm not taking them. To me, this is a stay away. I could totally see the Packers winning by 30. Yeah, honestly, the line at 10.5 is what convinced me to pop it in there. The 10.5 number. At 9 or 9.5, I almost certainly would have taken the Packers, but once it jumped over 10, I'm on San Diego as a contrarian play.

That's terrible logic, and I look forward to it haunting you. Thank you. I have the Titans minus one and a half against the Dolphins in Tennessee, and I'm taking the Dolphins, plus one and a half. Oh, interesting. Yeah, I think their coach, I think that was a really bad situation for them. Okay. I thought they looked sluggish.

I thought they looked sloppily coached. I didn't think they seemed enthusiastic to be playing professional football in any way. And I actually think they have some talent. And a new coach comes in. We're going to knock some heads. We're going to have hard practices again. They just have more talent than Tennessee. Tennessee's coach sucks.

I think that's a bottom five coaching staff. Wow. Watching that, because I picked Tennessee last week, and I bet on them. I had that game on one of the four TVs, and they should have beaten Buffalo. That was a coaching malpractice game. And this is the biggest game of the year for Miami, because right now Miami is only 1-3. They're not out of this.

9-7 could be a wild card in the AFC. And they're going, they have at Tennessee home for Houston at New England on a Thursday night throw that one away at Buffalo at Philly home for Dallas at the Jets but they could be 3-3 for that Pats game

they could be 3-3 for that Pats game so if I'm Miami I'm like come on guys we have two games against the AFC South let's do this we're going to be 3-3 in eight days. Come on. So even though I'm not a Ryan Tannehill fan, and even though they haven't been impressive, I don't know. I'm just playing them this week.

Well, there's a nice stat here for you I'll drop that supports your theory here. Teams off a loss in London who dumped to the spread by 10 or more are 5-0 against the spread in their next game. What about teams that lost in London and took a dump on their coach? Is there a track record for that? All I know is the Philbin hedge is going to go down as one of our gambling highlights this season. I still hate you for it. That neither one of us actually went and played on.

I actually was talking to somebody a few days ago. I can't remember who. And they were like, I listen to your podcast with House. Why'd you let him bully you into that Dolphins pick? I was like, I need therapy to get over that. Because of the Philbin Hedge. That was the reason. You're a dick.

Yeah. Seahawks are laying seven at home against Cam Newton, a bunch of nameless, faceless receivers, and the Carolina Panthers. Who do you like? This is one of your five. Yeah, this is one of my five. I love Seattle at this position, in this angle. Seven is exactly the number.

We're finally at a point in the season where the power rankings start to have a little shape to them, start to make a little bit of sense. There's enough of experience, you know, a third of the way almost through the season where you get a quarter or a third of the way, depending on the teams. And you have a little bit of a feel. In the power rankings, these teams are like six to six-and-a-half points apart, and I just love Seattle in this position after last week's gack. I loved Seattle last week, and it ended up being a push.

They had every reason in the world, every opportunity in the world, to win that game. Andy Dalton did the regular season Andy Dalton thing, which is, you know, drag his guys from behind in a game early enough in the season where it's not a tremendous amount of pressure. That felt like a dig. And everybody's prepared for a loss. That felt like a dig. That felt like a dig against Andy. Oh, it was a dig.

So I just, I like Seattle here. Okay. Here's, I like Seattle too. I didn't like them enough to bet on them because I worry that there's something funky going on with them. To blow a 17, well, blowing a 17 point lead makes me nervous. And it doesn't seem like they can block. It doesn't seem like they can block it doesn't seem like they can protect leads we saw two straight games now where they had a double digit lead that they squandered which makes me

nervous carolina's four wins this year were jacksonville houston new orleans and tampa bay and i'd like to offer them a hearty congratulations for those four nail biter wins so we have no idea if they're good and this is the four of the five worst teams in the league. Yeah, and this is the perfect time of the season where somebody just looks at the record and goes, oh, 4-0. But I really feel like this line should be like 8.5 or 9. I feel the same way.

And you know who agrees with us? Vegas, all the Sharps. There's a couple stats out there that show that the majority of plays so far have been on the Panthers, but heavy money. So people, you know, the volume of plays is on the Panthers, but all of the money is on Seattle. So that's just the classic Sharps versus Squares gig. All right, I'm about to become the biggest hypocrite of all time

with my next pick, which you did not join me on. The 49ers are getting two points at home against the Baltimore Ravens. A week ago, I had a whole impassioned monologue about how excited I was to bet against Colin Kaepernick every week and how he was going to be a Section 8 and, you know, this is our last chance. You said bad things about Colin. I said a lot of bad things. This is our last chance. Rarely do you have a gift given to you like this where you can just bet on

against somebody for three straight weeks whose career is clearly going in the toilet. I was so excited. Then you watch him in that Giants game. If there's no pass rush, he's fine. The Giants don't have a pass rush. You know who else doesn't have a pass rush? The Ravens. The Baltimore Ravens? Yeah. You know who else doesn't have a pass rush? The Ravens.

The Baltimore Ravens? Yeah. You know who else isn't good? The Ravens. They're not good at football. They keep making opposing quarterbacks. They keep offering up to opposing quarterbacks record-setting weeks. In fact, this is a true fact.

Tyrod Taylor is out this week for the Buffalo Bills, my starting quarterback, one of my fantasy teams. The quarterback I picked up was Colin Kaepernick. Yeah. So the Ravens gave up 37 points. Oh, no, I'm sorry, 33 points to the Raiders. They gave up 28 to the Bengals. They gave up 20 to Michael Vick. The 28 that they gave up to the Bengals,

by the way, was with the game on the line. They were up late in the fourth quarter and gave up a touchdown to lose the game. They gave up 33 to the Browns and Josh McCown threw for like 570 yards. They don't have Steve Smith. I just don't think they're good. I don't think they're good at football.

I think they're a bottom half of the league team. And, and I'm just going to grab the points here. Because I really feel like the line should be like Niners by one and a half or Niners by two. The Niners can do stuff. Like Carlos Hyde can run. They have linebackers who can make plays. They're not horrendous. I think they're horrendous if you had a good defense that was just chasing down Kaepernick.

I think you'd fall apart. But that's not going to happen this week. We keep saying San Francisco's defense is good. I mean, they're, they're, they're legitimate as way I'll put it. They're not awful. No, they're not awful. So they had, well, they gave up. Now, you know, it wasn't impressive was when they gave up the game winning draft to the giants. When Eli Manning only had Shane Vereen to throw to. I wouldn't say they have a good defense. They've had their moments.

That's a better way. I said legit. Yeah, they've had their moments. Yeah. Hey, speaking of moments. Yeah. I keep telling you about SeatGeek, a familiar name and sponsor of my podcast, as well as the best app for sporting or event tickets. House, I tried out SeatGeek recently.

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That's a great deal. $20 to use on gambling. Yeah. You could actually use that $20 to gamble on the game you went to when you bought the ticket at SeatGeek. All right. How much fun is that? Our last two picks. the two night games, and we both have these marked down as two of our five picks.

The first one is Sunday night. I'm sure we're both 100% in lockstep on how this is going to go. Sunday night, Pats giving 10 at Indianapolis. Andrew Luck probably will play. Good, good, even better. Yeah. They can't make the line high enough, and I'm fine with it. It could be 14.

I'm betting the Pats. They've destroyed the Colts the last four times they've played them. They have extra incentive in this game. I just don't see any scenario. If this Pats team is a good team, this will be the week that they lay the smack down. Now, the one fear I have here, Nate Solder went out, left tackle, out for the year. Yes.

Marcus Cannon replaces them. Pat's offensive line has been a little up and down, shaky in general. And that worries me a tiny bit. That's it. I have no other concerns. I like how you're going to do the calm and collected gig. I'm going to be the one that gets excited on this. I mean, this is, you know, I said this last week, the Patriots.

Until further notice, you play the Patriots every single week, no matter what the line is. This line should be 20 points. The Colts stink stink. They have been outgained in every game they've played this season. They are 0-6 straight up and against the spread in the last six games against the AFC East. And in the Andrew Luck era, the Patriots are 4-0 and have outscored the Indianapolis Colts by 189-73 points.

That might be the score this week. I love the Pats. And you know who else loves the Pats? America. America annihilated the opening line in this game. The opening line for this game was seven and a half points. It's ten and a half points. Three points. throat if you've made them angry in some way now the luck part here's here's the case you can make for the colts like luck luck has had a habit we've seen the colts i can't even remember how many times in the pagano era where they fall behind by 17 to 20 points and then luck makes the late run yes so you know that could happen in this game it could could happen. And, I mean, that's every single handicapping analysis runs in favor of the Colts.

It's just way too many points. The 7.5 would have been the right number of points. The public pumping it up to 10.5 make it like an all-time contrarian play. All the money is on the Patriots. That's where value comes in. Did you know the Patriots pay a 4% mortgage on Andrew Luck? Because they own him. Thank you.

I'll be here all week. Awful. Thank you. Last game, Monday night. I think the Eagles suck. Now they're laying four against the Giants. I'm so glad. I just think they suck. The Eagles suck. They do suck laying four against the Giants. I'm so glad. I just think they suck.

The Eagles suck. They do suck. They suck. They stink. I know they won like 39-10 against the Saints last week. They were supposed to do that. The Saints really suck. I don't believe in the Eagles.

And by the way, nothing from last night changes my point of view on that. So the Giants are getting four Monday night. I like this Giants team. Now, Beckham's going to be healthy, right? That's the indication. You know, we'll see come Sunday whether or not he's all the way 100% healthy. But I think he's probable right now, right? Yeah.

My fear is that he seems probable. My fear with this game is just that the Giants have no pass rush. And Sam Bradford, who is another guy who you hit him twice and he's done for the game, you know, getting a little comfortable, feeling himself a little bit. Yeah, they may not be able to hit him twice. Yeah. The power rankings have the Eagles slightly ahead,

one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half point favorites. But the reason that you bang the Gi5 to 2.5 point favorites. But the reason that you bang the Giants here is because it's four. Four is a crazy number. Yeah. And Eli has this crazy great dimension to him. In division games as a dog, off a win, 10-2-1 against the spread, and 5-0 straight up and against the spread when against a 500 team or worse.

Yeah, I was going to say, I like Eli on the road in his own division for some reason. So do I. I have no empirical evidence to back that up. You just trotted some stuff out. But it always feels like the Giants are always frisky when they're at Washington, at Philly, at Dallas. I had the exact same feeling.

All right, so to recap, we both have the Washington professional football team plus six. DC Grunes! You have the Chargers plus ten and a half in Lambeau. You're going to lose that one. I have the Dolphins plus one and a half in Tennessee. You have the Seahawks minus seven at home against Carolina. That's going to be a push.

Yeah, that feels like a push. We'll just tease that. We'll make money from that somehow. I have the 49ers plus two at home against Flacco and Harbaugh and the Ravens. I have the Pats minus 10 in Indianapolis, as do you. And we both have the Giants plus four. Oh, we have the Pats at 10. We don't have them at 10 and a half?

No, we have them at 10. I'm giving them to us at 10. We don't have them at 10 and a half? No, we have them at 10. I'm giving them to us at 10. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, so it really seems like, should we just do a deflate gate parlay and just take the 49ers and the Patriots? An FU deflate gate parlay? How much do we, yeah, so that we get.

We'll figure it out later. Last thing, I want to talk about Lamar Odom really quick. Okay. What a sad story. It's a sad story. How weird that in 2015, somebody who was in the NBA finals five years ago, it basically sounds like he had a legitimate drug problem. Yeah, he has a drug dependency.

And he hasn't been able to have the right combination of people in his life or his own, you know, I don't know what trait helps a person kind of come to grips with their problem and address it. But he needs help. Wow. Yeah, that goes without saying i mean that that it really seems like he had so much tragedy in his life that it kind of broke him you know he just one thing after another and that car accident and his son died and i know he had a tragic childhood and his dad had problems and it just seems like at some point there, he just kind of gave up.

And he's a loved guy. People love him. Yeah, I was surprised reading all the stories and the feedback this week. It seems like everybody whose life he passed through, just really genuinely cared about the guy. Yeah, rooting for him. Yeah.

I just can't believe in 2015 a las vegas brothel with drugs in your system and like we buy himself in a brothel for several days that's that's a sad moment that that's like something that would happen to michael ray richardson in 1981 you know it just doesn't it's not something that happens in 2015. I felt really bad for him. I saw Van Pelt's monologue about how he's not the guy from the Kardashians. Did you see that? No, I missed it. I heard about it.

I didn't see it. I think what people forget is for a lot of people, he was the guy from the Kardashians. A lot of people don't watch basketball. It was a completely different audience. That was why it was kind of depressing to see him on the Kardashians. A lot of people don't watch basketball. It was a completely different audience. And that was why it was kind of depressing to see him on that Kardashians show because this guy was the third best player on two straight title teams. He was definitely one of the most unique forwards of the last 20 years. And he got involved with that family. And it just doesn't seem like once people pass through that vortex,

it just doesn't seem like it turns out great for anybody. Right. And then, and he had the best kind of framework to be able to survive it. He's achieved genuine professional success in his life. Right. I mean, he should have been able to withstand it. Remember that year? What was it? Like the world basketball championships in 2010 when, uh when he was kind of one of the leaders of the team? It was like Durant's first, I think that was, or maybe Durant was 2012, but one of those years in the international hoops, he became one of the leaders of that team.

And there was a lot of stuff about the mature Lamar Odom, all that stuff. He was really good at basketball. I think to be the third best player in a finals team, or a back-to-back finals team, it's a real thing. What feels like it's kind of a shame is he was slightly ahead of his time. Like the kind of player that he is. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, you're right. He's a stretch four now. Right. And could face the basket and shoot. And if he'd really focused on three-pointers, could have been. I mean, his stroke was perfect. He could be devastating in the way the game's being played right now. Yeah, you look at that Lakers team.

I'm conflicted on that Lakers team because in 2009 I thought the Celtics had the best team that year and uh and KG went down halfway through yeah and then you know we all thought LeBron was going to be there in the finals remember Orlando just got hot they just started making threes and Dwight Howard was doing Dwight Howard all of a sudden they were in the finals I never felt like that 09 Lakers team was like a monster team or anything. But the one thing that was interesting about them was when, you know, just to have Gasol and Bynum and Odom was such a rare thing. And Odom's flexibility and his ability to be able to play, you know,

he could play a small forward, he could play the forward. Now, if you took 2009 Lamar Odom and put him in the 2015, the way Styles played now, he might even play a little five, right? Oh, he could play the five for sure. Yeah. Absolutely. And he's one of those guys that he definitely had bad luck with teams for a long time, just who he was playing with,

where you just think, like, if he had, like, let's say he was on Phoenix in the mid-2000s. That would have been so great for him. Yeah. You know? Right. He could have been Amari. He could have had all of that. Yeah.

Or Sean. He could have had that Sean Marion kind of second banana forward. But, you know, the offense runs through him and Nash. But definitely, it was something I hadn't even thought about until all this stuff happened. But definitely a unique player. I don't even know who you would compare him to. He's like one of those one-of-a-kind basketball players.

Yeah, multidimensional. He felt like he was those one-of-a-kind basketball players. Yeah, multidimensional. He felt like he was a little bit evolutionary. He was smaller than Derek Coleman, but I always sort of thought of him as a logical extension of that skill set that Derek Coleman had. Yeah, and this is going to sound weird, but I always felt like he was like left-handed Billy Owens. Like all the stuff Odom did in his career

was kind of what I wanted Billy Owens to be. We're doing Syracuse, guys. That's funny. Yeah, yeah. But Billy Owens, yeah, he never got there. Right. Odom, what was interesting about Odom

was when they would run the offense through him. And then all of a sudden, you go down and post up. And it just seemed like there's certain guys in the NBA who you always wonder wonder in a pickup game how much fun they would have been able to play with and how many things they could have done like I'm going to talk about NBA just like if you just randomly playing with them in the playground

it seems like he would have just been amazing yeah right that the all the skills that led to him being a guy that that teams trusted to run the offense through would have been extraordinary on a pickup basketball court. So much fun. You know, and he also, a couple good what ifs with him. Like, you know, he's there on the Clippers. He's about to resign with them. And that agent, Bill Duffy,

is supposed to renew Anthony Carter's contract. Gosh. I think this was 2003. I'm looking it up. Yeah, summer of 2003. He's supposed to renew Anthony Carter's contract and forgets. The deadline passes,

and Anthony Carter becomes a free agent. His contract gets wiped off the Miami salary cap. Pat Riley now has enough money to make this last second run at Lamar Odom and gets him. Gives him like six years, 60 million or something. So now he's on a team with Dwayne Wade, who's a rookie. And I forget, was Tuff Juice on that team yet? I don't think so.

Yeah, he was. Oh, okay. So he's on a team, Eddie Jones, Rafer Austin, Brian Grant, Dwayne Wade, Tough Juice, Udonis Haslam, Rasul Butler. Not a bad team. They only went 42-40. They won first round, and then they lost to the Pacers in round two. Okay, that all makes sense.

But pretty good situation for Lamar Odom, right? He's there with Dwayne Wade. Yeah. This is great. With all that money, too. All right, Kobe and Shaq fall apart. Now Lamar Odom gets traded to the Lakers. Now it's just him, Tough Juice, and Kobe.

And Kobe's in 35 shots at game mode for like three years. And you could see Odom kind of checked out. Is there a worse situation for him than that? Just being the appendage for Kobe Bryant?

What a shame. If he'd been on that Miami team with Wade and, you know, tough juice, like if that shack trade never happens, I think that's a much better basketball situation for him. For him.

Absolutely. Um, and then finally when they got Gasol, that team fell into place, but it took a couple of years. Yeah. But, um,

yeah, it missed his prime. Yeah. He should have had, there should have been one awesome Lamar O'Meara. So his best year was, I guess in 05, his first Lakers year, he was 15-10. He was 17-10 for the 04 Heat. And then on the 08 Lakers, he was 14 14 10.6 rebounds three three and a half assists

yeah wow in uh in 06 he was 15 nine and five and a half assists it's pretty good pretty good per always like in the high teens makes perfect sense I don't think he was close to being a Hall of Famer, although nothing would surprise me anymore. With some of the people that are getting in now? Well, yeah, right. I mean, Jesus. We've had our discussions on...

Maybe 12 years from now he might be a Hall of Famer. No. Never made a Real-Star team. Always a guy that was a plus for the teams he played on. Never made an All-Star team. Perfect situation.

Never made an All-Star team which probably prohibits his Hall of Fame. I think so. If they're going to add seven guys a year every year, at some point everyone's going to be in the Hall of Fame. What wizards and bullets do you want in the Hall of Fame what wizards and bullets do you want in the Hall of Fame cause they're all gonna make it

is Phil Chenier is he ready to get in now at this rate is Bobby D in the Hall of Fame I don't know the answer to that I don't think so

let me look him up yeah probably not alright well anyway I hope Lamar Odomar is out of this yeah we're rooting for him and it makes me sad that it makes me sad that he clearly seemed to be struggling for years and years,

and nobody could figure out how to get to him, and he would just disappear and fall off the radar, all that stuff. I would say being found in a coma in a Las Vegas brothel is almost as low as it gets. Well, honestly, I'm glad he's survived so far. Me too. That story typically begins with found dead of drug overdose. Right, true. 99% of the time.

He's still got a chance. We're rooting for that. All right, thoughts and prayers to Lamar. All right, Hass, we're going to call the J-Bug really quickly, but we will talk to you next Friday. Thank you. Awesome. I'm letting that ice cube take me out. Get the cube going. All right.

All right. It's time for our biggest mailbag question ever. We love tracking statistics with players and teams, so why not do it with our cars? Automatic is a small adapter that plugs into your car's diagnostic port and works on nearly every car made after 1996 with automatic you can keep track of any relevant stat from fuel economy to trip logs to how much you're spending on gas you can even figure out what that annoying check engine light means take your driving and commuting to the next level with Automatic. Normally it's $99.95, but with the discount code BS, it's 20% off. That includes free shipping and a 45-day, no questions asked, return policy.

Just go to Automatic.com slash BS. All right, I have my buddy J-Bug on the line. He's in Massachusetts. Longtime Pat season ticket holder. And here's the biggest mailbag question ever. How many points are the Pats going to beat the Colts by this Sunday? Are you asking me that one? Yeah, I am.

I'm asking you. I'm putting you in the spot. I'm a homer, man. That's 72-10, 60, 60 points. That's what I'm thinking. Can you describe the attitude of the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts and the region of New England right now with this Sunday night game?

Oh, man. I mean, last year it was FU mode, right? It's the same. It's carried over. And I think we're overconfident at the same time. We haven't lost to the Colts this decade. And we're two months away from being six years in to this decade. And with Lockett quarterback, I think the closest he's come to beating,

I said we, I mean the past. No, say we. I like when you say we. So I think the closest he's come to beating us is a playoff game. I think it was like 21 points. I think that's the closest that Lockett, closest he's come to beating us is a playoff game. I think it was like 21 points. I think that's the closest that Locke, assuming he's starting. He might not even be starting. We've beat him by over 20 points every time we've played Locke. Or the Pats have won by over 21 points every time they've played him.

And they haven't beat us once this decade. So that's just regular old know, regular old Colts path. Now this week, oh, man. The thing is they're taking Gronk out. They've been taking Lewis out. Oh, you worry about running, like from a running up the score perspective. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the last time Patriots fans have been this overconfident about a game

was Super Bowl XLII. So what could go wrong? I don't know. Yeah a game was Super Bowl 42. So what could go wrong? I don't know. Yeah, don't. I don't know what could go wrong. This is true. It could. This is a little bit different.

But, yeah, you're right. I mean, we're all way, way, way, way overconfident. So, all right. So let's talk about things to worry about. We lost our left tackle. We did. That's a problem. We are very, very thin.

I think we have Cannon and we have Vollmer. And I think they're going to have to move Williams over to tackle. I don't know what they're going to do. They're going to go with Chandler and Williams. They're going to get a lot of playing time, I'd imagine. We have a couple guys in the defense that I'd never heard of like four months ago. So that's maybe a slate problem, not a major one. Never a good thing. And from what I understand, Brown is out or, you know, he's not playing.

We're thin at quarterback too. So, you know, Hightower's got his ribs. I think he practiced this week, but I don't know. I'm not sure if he's going to be there. But Mayo stepped in, so we're fine there. I don't know. And then the other the other minor issue it's not even that it's less than minor but brady gave uh you know gave a

mildly eccentric interview on monday and got talking about how coke is evil for kids all i actually agree with him i think soda is terrible for kids but it is It is. And again, you know, I don't know how much behind-the-scenes talking he does. So he specifically said, you know, look at our Super Bowls. You know, look at the advertisers. It's soda. It's poison. It's poison for our kids.

And I thought, oh, crap. Has he been preaching this stuff? And, you know, I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but, you know, when you're taught... I don't know if he did that intentionally because of the deflategate stuff, and it's like, all right, I'll not a big conspiracy theorist, but, you know, when you're taught, I don't know if he did that intentionally because of the deflate gate stuff. And it's like, all right, I'll fight back, too.

And I'll go at some of our sponsors. But, man, when I downloaded, I didn't hear it on the radio, but I downloaded it because I had heard about it. And it was like, I listened to the whole thing. It was, I think it was 40 minutes. It's the longest I've ever heard him on the radio. And he was passionate. I'm going to use the word passionate instead of another word. Yeah. Some others have used to describe that conversation. And not to get on, not to get off track, but speaking of, you know, radio, great,

great job on Toucher and Rich. Oh, you like, you've been, you wanted me to go on that show for seven years. I know. And I know they come on at like 3am where you are and I'm not sure how often you get to listen to them, but they, they literally almost kill me once a week on my way to work. They're, they're that, they're that funny. And I, again, I don't know. I mean, yeah, they don't need any, they don't need any plugs from me, but the bit they do, they're just funny. All right, good. I'm glad you liked it. You've been pushing for years.

I have. Good job. So you like the Pats laying 40 against the Colts. And what about the Celtics over-under for wins is 44 seems low. I like the over. I like the over. But, the over, but again, hey, they're in the east. You know, I mean,

it's not like there's anyone, who are they? Even Cleveland is vulnerable, right? I know Cleveland. LeBron's getting shots on his back. We're opening up against Philly, man. We're opening up against Philly and I don't know. And then you like, you're rooting for Theo Epstein deep down,

Jed Hoyer. Absolutely. Yes, 100% yes. What an amazing, I know people have made this point, but man, if Theo brings a World Series to the Red Sox and a World Series to the Cubs,

that's like the all-time mic drop as a GM. Nobody's ever topping that ever. You just get walked into the Hall of Fame, I'd imagine, right? Yeah, I think people should just feed you grapes for the rest of your life. You should just walk around as servants feed you grapes. What can be better than that?

I love Theo. I thought he was great. Yeah. I thought Theo was great here. I mean, he got forced. I think he got forced to do a lot of things that were you know, based on the sizzle factor and things that he might not have really wanted to do. And now you're seeing it with the Cubs. He brought in Lester, but for the most part, he's making smart decisions.

And we like John Lester, too. We're rooting for John Lester. Absolutely. Yes. Of course we are. Of course. I love Lester. Bug, we have to go. I just wanted to get your quick take.

That's it, man. I think path 7210. All right. Thanks, buddy. Talk to you soon. All right. See you, pal. That's it for today's BS report. Thanks to Automatic.com for sponsoring today's podcast. With Automatic, you can keep track of any relevant stat with your car from fuel, condom, or trip logs to how much you're spending on gas. Take your driving and commuting to the next level with Automatic. Normally it's

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To redeem your promo code and get $20 back with your first purchase, download the free SeatGeek app and enter promo code BS. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the football. Enjoy the baseball. Enjoy everything. We will be back next week.