The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 41: NBA & NFL w/ Joe House + JackO

Episode Date: December 17, 2015

HBO's Bill Simmons plays a special edition of "NBA Trades: Who Says No?" with Joe House starring fake trades for Dwight Howard, Memphis (14:00), Carmelo (22:00), D-Rose (26:00) and Boogie Cousins (28:00). From there, they discuss the Rondo/Kennedy incident(31:00)and make NFL Week 15 Best Bets (38:00). Then, JackO discusses the last Republican debate(54:00), Chris Christie's 'John Kerry' candidacy (59:00)and the potential of President Trump (1:02:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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MeUndies.com slash BS. And we're off with a new name for our podcast. Let's do it, Tate. Joe House on the line. Is Joe House on the line? Joe House on the line. Friday rolling. So, House, we gave you your own logo.

Is y'all ready for me? I'm humbled. I'm touched. We have a Friday rolling logo that if you're watching it on SoundCloud or iTunes or wherever, not watching, but if you're listening to it and that little logo pops up, now you'll see a car Friday rolling in Joe House's name because we decided to give you a little something something for the holidays. I really appreciate it. Yeah.

It's way cooler than I deserve. Yeah. Looks like the kind of car people would think you would drive where actually you're driving like a minivan. I'm not commenting on the minivan thing. We're going to get to NFL lines in a little bit, or NFL best bets. And as usual, you tried to cheat with the lines, which we're going to talk about. But first, I want to talk some NBA.

The Wiz and Dwight Howard. Would you trade for Dwight Howard? Because there's a trade. If you go through all the 30 teams, you go through the NBA trade machine. There is a trade that works out the best for your team that matches with all the salaries that actually makes sense.

It is Marcin Gortat, who you just signed, Nene's expiring contract, and I think you have to throw in a protected 2016 pick, maybe like top five protected, and you get yourself some Dwight Howard. Would you want to throw in a protected 2016 pick, maybe like top five protected, and you get yourself some Dwight Howard. Would you want to do this house? Look, I feel like you're trying to bait me. You did this like a month ago,

and I responded in emphatic and unambiguous manner, saying absolutely not, under no circumstances am I interested in Dwight Howard. What about his resume over the last four years suggests that he's the kind of guy that's going to come into a situation and improve the overall prospects of a team? He's not reliable health-wise. It doesn't seem like he gets along with coaches, and he's not a great wise it doesn't seem like he's he gets along with coaches and he's not a great locker room guy but other than that yeah sure sign me up well he was a center on a team that came within two wins of making or three wins of making the nba finals last year he was the second best player in that team he was playing at%, and he didn't play in every one of those playoff games.

He put up 16 and 14, 2.3 blocks in 17 playoff games, and was playing at like 70%. So when's he going to be playing at 100%? He might not. He's got a—let's see what year he is. He's in—yeah, it's year 12 for him. So here's the thing. The main problem I have with the idea is it looks like we're just shuffling the chairs on the deck.

Yeah. I don't think that Dwight Howard moves the needle for this Washington professional basketball franchise, you know, taking out Gortat and Nene. It doesn't look like any kind of an improvement for Washington. And I'm not sure what Houston gets out of it other than getting rid of Dwight Howard. Yeah, and the salary cap flexibility for next summer. And the fact that the way their team plays, you could argue maybe they're drifting away from a Dwight Howard situation.

I mean, that would be an argument for Gortat. He's very good pick and roll. He's a decent finisher. He and Wall had a really nice thing going last season. They've struggled a little bit to get it going again this season. Well, if you don't want Dwight Howard, then how are they trading Dwight Howard? I think they're stuck with him.

And they can't trade Harden either. He's one of the best 10 players in the league, even though he's been disappointed this year. I don't know what my boy Daryl does. There might be a situation out there for Howard. But where? Miami? Go through all the teams.

No, Miami doesn't have the salaries. If you Go through all the teams. No, Miami doesn't have the salaries. If you go through all the teams, it becomes increasingly clear that they're kind of stuck with them unless they can get your boys to bite. Really? It's just Washington as a counterpart? There's teams like, you know, you have your Brooklyn and Philly type teams. But, you know, if they trade, let's say, Brooke Lopez for Dwight, something like that. If I'm Dwight, am I happy about going to Brooklyn? If you're Brooklyn, do you want unhappy, sulky Dwight on your team?

Well, it hardly matters because he's already said that he intends to opt out. He has a guaranteed $23 million last year, and I'm pretty sure I saw this week him saying he intends to opt out of his contract and get on the market again because of all the free agency money that's flowing in. And somebody will probably overpay his dumb ass. Well, I may or may not have had this conversation. Let's say you were running Houston and we knew each other, and you had a chance to sign Dwight Howard a couple years ago.

What would I have told you? Do it immediately, I think., what would I have told you? Do it immediately, I think. What else would I have told you? Get out of nice, big, fat insurance contract. No. I would have said, you have to do this, but just know that this guy might get you fired. Sure.

Okay. That's great advice. It's a risk that you fired. Sure. Okay. It's a risk that you have to do. It's like Chris Ryan and I were preparing for the Heat 20th anniversary podcast that's running next week. Which I have to say is one of the best pods I've done in a while. If you like the movie Heat,

it's really good. If you don't say so yourself. No, it's just we went all in. If you're going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Heat, you've got to be fully committed and you've got to be into it and you've got to be ready to rip off quotes and lines and weird theories. And we were ready. Both of us brought our A-games.

It still stands the test of time. I mean, the shootout sequences feel like they could have been shot, you know, this year. They're immortal. So there's a scene in that movie when they know the heat is on them, and they all have the meeting. It's De Niro, Sizemore, Val Kilmer, and Danny Trejo. And they're deciding whether they should proceed with their plan to rob the bank, even though they know it's become much, much riskier. And Val Kilmer says the bank is worth the risk. And during the bank shoot, of course,

gets shot and almost dies and shatters his clavicle. It was worth the risk for him to take down the bank, even though he knew there was like a 50% chance it was going to fall apart or be terrible or he was going to die or go to jail. I think that's what happens when you sign dwight howard from the lakers after the unhappy year he's had with the shoulder stuff and you just know it's like all right there's nobody in the league like this guy but this also might not turn out well and now it's not turning out well but last year they're in're in a Warriors series, and they're very close to getting to the finals

to play this disemboweled Cleveland team, basically. They would have had a chance to beat Cleveland in the finals. And if you'd asked that in this hypothetical conversation, if you'd asked that GM, we're going to take the addition of this guy is going to help the franchise get to a place it hasn't been in 15 years. From a credibility standpoint, competitive standpoint,

now you have two franchise guys on your team. Now you're a contender. They had to do it. Yeah, right. Think about all the good things we were saying about them six weeks ago, eight weeks ago. Yeah, we thought they were going to win 64 games. I will say that—

We need rubber underpants. I think Darryl made a mistake. I think he thought that this J.B. Bickerstaff was going to be able to calm everything down and give them a little— And I just don't think— I think this is a very tough team to coach. It's certainly not a team that somebody who's never coached an NBA team before can handle, I don't think. Whether it was a mistake or not a mistake, I think it's a little early still because we're only 25 games in, 27 games in.

And, you know, they have the talent to rip off, you know, a streak of, you know, they could go 22-8 over the next 30 games and all of a sudden, you know, the ship has been righted. I don't disagree with the idea that something had to be done to change the chemistry. And it's always the coach that's the easiest piece of the puzzle to swap out. JB so far does not have a very distinguished record. Well, I don't like that they're not showing up for games. Right. That's bad. With the way the season started, you change your coach.

You can't then also still mail in games and lose to teams. More losses to awful teams. Yeah, you can't lose to Denver. Another loss to Brooklyn. Yeah, you can't lose to Brooklyn. They've lost to Brooklyn twice. That's fireable right there. I think when they knew they were going to get rid of McHale,

I think they should have gone to Tibbs and made him a huge offer. Who says they didn't? I don't think they did. All right. I mean, Tibbs may put it out there that he's enjoying his break.

I don't care. I'm flying him to Houston, and I'm offering him $30 million for four years and be like, save us. Tibbs comes in. Those guys are going to hate him, but he would have gotten an awesome, awesome performance from them defensively. I guarantee they would have run back on defense. The team doesn't run back on defense. How old is Jerry Sloan now?

Oh, I like where he's too old and cranky to be able to handle Harden and Howard. Well, that's right. But maybe those guys need that. He really earned some respect around the league. He's been out of the game for coming up on five years, six years now. Would you trade James Harden? No. No.

No. No. No. No way? No, no, no, no, no, no way. No, that was six notes in a row. No. Okay.

No. Um, yeah, I'm not giving up on them either. I think, I think that I think they're in a real danger zone though, and they need to get going now because you don't want to be seven or eight. If you're seven or eight,

you might as well just play for the lottery at that point. You're not beating the Warriors or the Spurs. You're just not. So unless you can get in the top six and guarantee yourselves top six, you're screwed. The West is first bad West year in a while. I guess when you have the Eastern teams all picking the lottery for 75 straight years, it's going to eventually turn.

But the West is like Houston andver in the playoffs right now it turned into super duper top heavy because i i okc deserves to be in the conversation now uh they really look like they've they found something they're they're on a six game win streak now and they're not just winning games there's some beat down aspect to the tool this little mini streak they're on right now yeah um so i'm i'm i'm you know i'm excited about what i'm seeing out of them um but yeah that uh the west turned pretty quickly too so you're excited that i'm going to look at their last six wins. Trailblazers, Jazz, Jazz, Hawks, Grizzlies, Kings. Not bad. Yeah.

The best thing they have going for them is the Westbrook Durant. Just like, as long as those guys are healthy, they're in the conversation. And it doesn't even matter who the supporting cast is. They're in the conversation. Harden and Howard used who the supporting cast is. They're in the conversation. Harden and Howard used to be like that, and they aren't like that anymore. And it's still a good supporting cast. Serge is there. Serge is there.

I like Serge. I'm not sold on some of those other guys. It's amazing to me that they don't have a D and 3 guy. Where were they with Nick Batum? Where was everyone with Nick Batum? You and I would have traded for Nick Batum. I, I, I, I've loved him in Portland and still love him. Yeah. So right now you have Houston at 12 and 14 at the seventh seed and Denver at 11 and 14 is the eighth seed. And you got Memphis at 14 and 13 as the sixth seed. And that team's miserable,

which brings me to my next fake who says no trade. You're going to like this one. This might get a little. Zach Randolph for Pau Gasol. Yeah, see, I absolutely love that. I have been reading all of the positive press on Powell this season, how committed he is, and his performance has been great for the Bulls so far. It's a contract year.

It's a walk year. And, you know, the idea of him playing with his bro is like the coolest thing ever. And I think their games are so complimentary. It would be really, really fun and cool to watch. Yeah, you're getting a new out of me yeah the chicago would have to throw in a small contract to make the salaries work but uh listen i've said this for a few years with memphis and it never made sense but i think now it makes sense because you saw indiana realize that their style and that whole, like, big guy banging bodies, slow the game. Like, that style's out.

The Warriors have ruined those teams. And you can't win a title that way anymore. And Indiana realized it last summer and they changed their team. Not that they're a title contender now, but at least they've given themselves a chance to compete in the way the game's being played now. Memphis does not have a chance with the style they have. They have no chance to beat a team, you know, these three. The Golden State, San Antonio, they have no chance. So we're inching toward my dream,

which was for them to just get all the Spanish guys. Yeah, because Calderon is still available. Yeah, so is Rubio. You can get Rubio. Get the Gasol brothers. Just can get Rubio. Oh. Get the Gasol brothers. Just start snapping them up, man. Bring Rudy Fernandez back.

They're going to be singing ole, ole, ole, ole at Gus's, huh? They're going to be singing. Can I get some Juan Carlos Navarro? Where is he? Is he in China? Yeah, just start snapping up the Spanish dudes, man. Those guys know how to play together. That's your chance. I really like it. You like that play? Yeah, just start snapping up the Spanish dudes, man. Those guys know how to play together.

That's your chance. I really like it. You like that point? I mean, I really like Pau and Zeebo. The rest of it is just, you know, a curiosity. You know? But Pau for Zeebo makes sense. It makes sense for the Bulls. It really makes sense for the Bulls.

Well, that's the thing, because I don't think you can play Noah and Gasol together. You can, but I don't love it. And I don't 100% love Noah and Randolph either, but in my head it makes more sense. You know? Yeah, I think the Bulls could really use that extra bit of toughness that Zeebo brings. Yes. I'm not calling them soft by any stretch. No, you just did.

Well, but they're well-positioned, too. I mean, the Bulls have been, to me, 15-8. They transitioned pretty quickly. I thought they were going to have a little bit of a hard time because you're the unknown constantly of Noah's health and D. Rose's health and Hoiberg coming into this. But 15-8 is legit. Let me look at their team rating. Oh, don't get fancy on me.

Yeah, come on. I got basketball reference open. So I was thinking if they do Powell for Zach, there's a follow-up trade with Conley, Rubio, but I think I need a third team to send Conley to. If I'm Memphis, I'm trading Conley. I'm trading him right now. I'm dubious that he's going to resign with me.

And I'm also not sure I want to pay Mike Conley $27 million a year or whatever he's going to end up getting in this crazy summer. So why not move him now? Minnesota clearly just wants to tank the season because that's the only explanation now for Sam Mitchell, still being the head coach. Again, he's a caretaker. No, but it's wrong. You have to have a real coach for this team. You have Towns and Wiggins.

You have two possible franchise players. You can't fuck around with that. Sorry for the language. We don't disagree. You can't have a terrible that. Sorry for the language. We don't disagree. We don't disagree. How are they supposed to pivot when their head coach died? What was the pivot move? I know, but you know, I get it. I get

the whole thing, but now those guys need a coach. We're headed toward the holidays here. They're going to throw this season away. This guy's playing towns like 25... I haven't done this yet, but I guarantee if you go to the Reddit Timberwolves board or whatever the Timberwolves message board is, I guarantee all those fans are going crazy about Sam Mitchell right now. I don't think you can mess around with the formative years of good players.

And if I were them, that's another team. What are you not liking about Towns? He threw up a 25-10 last night. I know. I don't feel like that team is well-coached when I watch them. Okay. They might as well just not have it. If you're going to have Sam Mitchell, just don't have a coach.

Just have a player coach. Make Tayshaun Prince your player coach. It's ridiculous. Well, KG is there. That's exactly what they've done. They've installed a group of veterans around this youth. That's exactly. They're nurturing the team, and it does make sense for them to throw the season away

and acquire one more asset through the lottery. It's their great and good fortune that the youngsters are proving to be ahead of the curve in terms of their development. Wiggins and Towns are already formidable. They are formidable. And Rubio's, you know, been healthy mostly. So, you know, they're interesting. They're really fun to watch.

Rubio's, I think he officially clinched being the worst shooter of all time for, like, somebody. Tate, can you look that up? Somebody wrote about that recently. And he's a 36 career shooter but it's now like a six-year sample size he's basically the anti-steph curry i would still trade for him i still like rubio i don't care if he can't shoot but uh no i that's another team that should just say to tibbs what here here's 30 million maybe they will in in this next off season

when they have another lottery pick, another top 14 pick. This is where you and I disagree, and this is what bothers me about what Philly's doing too and some of these other teams. I don't think it's good when you have young players in their formative years to put them in a bad situation. I don't see how that helps them.

I get the whole, yeah, yeah, we're building for it. It's like there's a middle ground. It doesn't help those guys to have the worst coach in the league. And it's either him or Byron Scott is the worst coach in the league. I'm not sure which one, but they're in the final two. It just doesn't, it's not good for them. It's not good for towns to not learn from somebody and to not, like, he played Sunday, look at this. Every story I read is about him learning from KG. He's taking, he's getting all this inspiration from KG, the work ethic. Explain this to me, House.

He played 18 minutes on Sunday against Phoenix. How does that help anybody? We're not, look, we're not inside the clubhouse there. Who knows whether he's got a nagging injury. We don't know anything about the circumstances on the ground inside the Minnesota situation. So I'm not going to sit and look at cherry-pick minutes. Play the dude, man.

I agree with that. Play those guys. But anyway, I think there's a Rubio Conley, some sort of third team. Rubio's 34%. Rubio's 34% right now. 26% from three. Oh, my God. 26% from three.

They should probably electrocute him. Not to kill him, but just a shock every time he shoots a three. Just put a little bracelet on his leg. How long did it take Jasonason kidd to get a a reasonable shot a reasonable nba shot he had to be traded twice and and faced a serious domestic violence uh incident and somehow he was able to make threes after that i don't know what happened uh all right i have more trades for you 2008's when kids were about 40% of the time. So,

let's say I call the Knicks right now. Okay, let's say. I offer them the rights to my 2016 Brooklyn pick, unprotected, James Young, and my David Lee and Jonas Jurebko expiring contracts for Carmelo Anthony.

I just put that on the table for Phil Jackson. Here you go. I'm giving you a top five pick. James Young, who's only 19, and some expirings. And you're going to get, you have to give us Carmelo and you're going to get a ton of cap space this summer. And you're going to make your own team worse, which doesn't help you because you don't have your pick, but whatever.

I think it's a spectacular deal for the Knicks. I really do. I don't think they're going to do better than that. And I'm, I don't care about the Celtics. I dislike the Celtics. I grew up rooting against the Celtics. So this is not me jumping in your Homer boat. Yeah. But I think a top five pick for Melo is terrific value for where Melo is in his career. What if I said it's top one protected?

I don't know. I'm not sure if I'm the Knicks. I wouldn't have any impediment to my ability to really drastically improve the talent. I mean, that means I'm losing Ben Simmons. I'm losing out on a shot at Ben Simmons. And that would tip it for me. I would say no to that if I was the Knicks. Can the Celtics make the Eastern Finals with that trade? What?

Can the Celtics make the Eastern Finals if they traded basically expiring contracts and James Young for Carmelo? You just said if they add Melo, can they make the Finals? Yeah. The Eastern Conference Finals? Yeah, of course they can. Are we the second best team if we make that trade? Sure. Does Cleveland want to play us in a playoff series if we're trotting out Avery Bradley, Isaiah, Carmelo, Jake Crowder, and Amir Johnson in crunch time?

I mean, a player of Melo's caliber is too much to dream for. But that's the kind of player that the Celtics team is missing. They were missing it last year as well. A reliable scoring threat in the fourth quarter of close games. They're missing it now. Well, you saw it in the Warriors game. Isaiah has been good in crunch time, but missed two game winners in regulation OT. Then you saw here's what worries me about

and maybe it shouldn't worry me because the Celts aren't a title contender, but Isaiah Thomas can't play against Amon Shumpert. Isaiah has now, we have now a giant sample size of him being terrible against Cleveland because of their size. The thing with Cleveland

and this is why I think they're, you know, I know everyone's giving lap dances to the Warriors and the Spurs right now, and rightly so. And I know everyone is also being patient with the Cavs. Oh, we don't know when everybody comes back. But the thing that's interesting about Cleveland to me is how long they are. You know, they can just throw out all these 6'6", 6'7", 6'8", 6'9", guys at the same time, except for Kyrie.

It's precisely how they leveled the playing field against the Warriors in that finals last year. That's what made the finals so intriguing and by extension so disappointing when Kyrie got hurt at the very beginning there. Yeah, for a team like the Celts, they're just not beating Cleveland in a playoff series, really, until they get a guy.

They need a guy. Yeah, as currently constituted, that's exactly right. And Mello, by the way, is a guy. Mello is a guy. I like it a lot. I just don't think the Knicks could agree to it if you try and protect that top five pick at all. But otherwise, it's very fair.

It's a lot of value for Melo. All right, here's one more three-way for you. I know you like three-ways, House. I left it alone. I left it alone. So let's get Ryan Anderson. Chicago gets Drew Holiday and Jerebko. Jerebko.

I still can't say his name. His expiring. And they would save about $5 million on the cap and with tax, which is key for them because I think they're like $5 million over the tax right now. New Orleans would get Derrick Rose and Jared Selinger. So New Orleans basically would give up Drew Holiday and Ryan Anderson's expiring And they would have to Roll the dice with Derrick Rose for this year and next year And they'd get Jared Sullinger out of it

I feel like Chicago is the team That says no to this Chicago? I'm getting rid of Derrick Rose for them They're going into next year now with like 10 million less in Capspace slash luxury tax. They can go out and actually get somebody.

So that's the tension that they're confronted with right now. They're the second best team in the East by record. And things appear to be clicking. And D. Rose is looking pretty good. He's not looking awful. Now, you know, there's always an injury risk there. But the same is true pretty good. He's not looking awful. Now, you know, there's always an injury risk there, but the same is true of Holiday. And so you're upsetting something that might be coming into view here.

Maybe you're finding this version of the Bulls. You're finding yourself. There's an identity that's emerging, and all of a sudden you're going to undermine that, potentially sabotage it by getting rid of D. Rose and bringing in Holiday. Well, all right, so the bigger question. If you're the Bulls, do you cup bait with Derrick Rose right now? I don't think so.

Okay. Because he took – we talked about this a few podcasts ago, but the broken orbital bone I think is a bigger thing than fans realize. And I only know because it happened to me. You're terrified to drive into the paint when your face is broken, basically. They talked about it last night. He's still not seeing 100%. Yeah.

I wouldn't trade him. I think that's the only type of trade that they're going to make if they do trade him is something that would help them with the luxury tax this year. Give them cap space this summer and give them somebody who's like a 40% replacement which is Drew Holiday basically. So we'll know, we'll have a lot better information as

the trade deadline approaches in February about whether or not that's something that's worth trying. Alright, last fake trade. I'm Vlad Aade Divac. You're running Orlando. And I call you and I say, hey, house, I have a trade for you. I'm going to offer you boogie cousins. Oh.

But I want. Keep talking, Vlade. I want Hazonia back. I want Vucevic. And I want your number ones in 2016 and 2018. Are there any other bitches I can give you? You can have every bitch under the tent here in Orlando. That's it.

I want Hazonia, Vucevic, and I want two first-round picks for Boogie. What are the years, 16 and 18? Yeah. I would do it. You'd do it if you're Orlando? I would do it. This is the thing, right? It's the same kind of proposition as what we just went through with Daryl.

When a top 10, top 12 guy comes available, it's a risk. But you have to do it. You have to get the talent. It's a league that's so driven by the talent. The talent makes all the difference. Team chemistry is is crucial and all of the stuff is all secondary to having the very best guy so when a very best guy comes available you have to go get the very best guy i would do it if i'm orlando but i would put

protection on the picks i would go i would go like top six protected for both of them. I think Orlando's on a trajectory here. They have an awesome young nucleus, and I think, you know, Hazonia, you're not giving up anything. It's a trade that you're getting boogie for Vucevic, and, you know, Vucevic is a very nice double-double machine, but the talent of boogie, the only thing you have to ask yourself if you're Orlando is, how are Boogie and Scott Scalise going to get along? Because you know that Boogie's going to get the ball.

Peyton is going to get him the ball. I like Orlando. I think Orlando needs to make a 2-for-1 or a 3-for-1. They're a little like the Celts, actually, but a better version of it. The fact that Hazonia can't play for them. Hazonia and Fournier are redundant. If I was any other GM, I'd be trying to trade for Hazonia right now. They just don't have a spot for him.

Yeah. And then the Vucevic to Boogie is the obvious upgrade. All right. Last thing. to boogie is the obvious upgrade but all right uh last thing um did the the rondo thing was kind of crazy earlier this week right yeah and i don't know what adam silver i tweeted about this not sure what adam silver could have done differently and it's a dead story now it kind of came and went but um that felt like a gay bashing. I felt like we watched a gay bashing incident in a basketball game and it kind of just came and went.

It disturbed me for some reason. Normally I don't get all PC with stuff like this but this one had an edge to it that I just didn't like. It made me uncomfortable and I wasn't really satisfied with how it was resolved. Well, it got resolved I think the only way it could get resolved. I liked your Twitter suggestion that Rondo do something extraordinary to disprove that this is his character. Because the reason I think you're having the response you're having and the problem that Rondo has already got a reputation of being a dick. Yeah.

And, by the way, wants a big contract next year. It seemed willful because, you know, all the stories that came out afterwards indicate that it was pretty well known inside the league that Kennedy's gay. And so to use a gay slur... To use it in a way that you'd use it if you knew... Like, what bothered me about it was... And who knows what he was thinking, and who knows if he knew.

But the way it played out, it looked like he was using it in a way like, I have information on you, and I'm going to bully you right now with that information. That's what I didn't like about it. Yeah. I don't know. And I don't know what Adam could have done differently because if he gives

him a five game suspension, everyone's like, why the league's never done this before. What's going on. And then you have the added bonus of Bill Kennedy comes out. So whatever happened, he felt like, I'm just going to announce my preference. It's like, well, maybe he didn't want to do that that weekend. So whatever Rondo said to him pushed him to the point that he had to come out.

That doesn't sit right with me either. Well, that warrants, that's why your observation that Rono needs to do more is right, and I agree with. But it also, to me, validates what Silver did. Silver left Bill Kennedy the option of doing it on his terms and with his message. And I think that was the honorable thing to do. It was an awful situation for the commission to be in, but he handled it with, you know, used best judgment and did what he could do within the parameters of that situation.

It was a shitty situation, and Rondo needs to come correct. He ought not to be such a big dick if he wants a great big contract next year. Well, it seems like he's certainly shown the behavior that exhibits it. I find it hard to believe he didn't know because whatever happened with Kennedy and Doc six years ago, I've heard variations of that story, but they all have the same central theme behind it, which was he said something to Bill that that hit way too close to home and rondo played for that team so unless he just you know put his beats by dre headphones on 24 7 and had no idea what was going on with his team he would have known in 2009 i didn't like it i

thought it was the first unwinnable situation for adam and if i. And if I'm a gay basketball fan and I watch how that whole thing unfolded, it doesn't sit right with me. Like Wesley and I were texting about it a few days ago and Wesley was really upset. And Wesley loves Rondo. And now Wesley doesn't like Rondo. I'm going to have to have Wesley on at some point

to talk about it. But he just didn't sit right with him didn't sit right with me either i you know and i i don't really know what the nba could have done differently but the one thing that should have happened and this speaks to you know what a messed up organization the kings are right now because this is where you need a leader in the organization whether it's the owner whether it's the gm whatever this all unfolds Rondo's got to do better coming out of the gate. If you're doing two different apologies for the same incident, you know you fucked up. That's right.

That's the point. That's the disappointing thing, the disheartening thing. You have an opportunity when you made a big mistake like that to show your character, to show who you are. If you want to prove to everybody that that's not what's in your heart and you don't do this trite apology that if, you know, there's a template for the effing apology now. Just Google, you know, slur apology, and you get this template,

and you pop in, you know, the act of contrition, and it's total bullshit. Do something genuine and be public about it. Do something genuine and generous. There's plenty of organizations out there that you could make a donation to. You could make any kind of a statement to demonstrate that that's not in your heart. Just do it.

Do the obvious and easy, you know, human thing. Yeah. It's a tough one to swallow. I didn't like it. And it was said with so much anger behind it that it's not like he was calling him an a-hole. There was a lot more going on with how it was said. It was almost a menacing aspect to it. was calling him an a-hole there was a lot more going on with with how it was said though it was almost a menacing aspect to it and uh i don't know very very very dark moment i think that's

the first unwinnable thing from a pr standpoint for silver since he took over there's nothing you could do with that story that that to spin it or help it or whatever other than to get on the phone with ron and tell him to fucking step up but he didn't and uh and it is what it is but i feel bad for bill kennedy because i don't think i don't think somebody should come out that should be on your terms 100 it shouldn't be because some incident happened where somebody repeatedly threw the f word at you. Anyway. All right. House, before we get to our week 15 best bets for NFL,

I wanted to mention HBO, not just because they were nice enough to give me my own television show that launches next spring. Thank you, HBO. Go to www.12daysofhbownow.com right now, House. Not right now, but maybe after we hang up. Hold on.

It's a little holiday promotion. Every day, you can send friends and family members the premiere episode of one of the 12 most famous HBO shows for free. You can send one of your buddies Curb Your Enthusiasm

first episode right now for free. They can watch it on HBO Now. And we should also mention, don't forget about J. Cole's new documentary miniseries, Homecoming. A new episode premieres every Wednesday exclusively on HBO Now. And

Newsflash, you don't need cable. You don't need satellite to watch HBO anymore. Just download the HBO Now app. Start your free one-month trial today. I wish you could mail any episode from HBO Now. Like you could just pick 12 because I would have mailed you the crazy eyes killer. Crazy eyes killer from Curb.

Well, the fact that you can send the first, I mean, Gil Bang would be the number one. Welcome to the house that Cumb built. Wendy wheelchair is in there also. There's too many. There really are too many. We got to do like a 20 episode Curb. Maybe we should just create a Curb Your Enthusiasm pod. So many times.

Can we have Chris or Andy in? I mean, that would be one. Yeah. All right. Let's get to football picks. Week 15. We're taping this on a Thursday, even though it's Friday rolling. Friday rolling is off to a bad start because it's Thursday.

Yeah. Whenever we're together, it's Friday rolling. Yeah, it's always Friday rolling. We're Friday rolling all the time. So here are the games that we picked. We both have Vikings-Bears, which the line now is 5.5 Vikings favored at home over the Bears. Who do you have? I have the Chicago Bears.

Me too. Oh, interesting. Why do you have them? I think the Bears are decent, you know. They're always in games, and I'm not sure the Vikings are that good, and this feels like a three-point game to me. Same division. So my notes are the exact same thing.

Last week was their fifth loss by a field goal or less. This game feels like a field goal. The Vikings opened as a four point favorite, which is closer to a line that we might be agreeable to. And then the public went crazy and 74%

of spread bets for the Vikes and the number went all the way up to five and a half. A little bit of value on the Bears. Yeah, it feels two and a half points high. Packers, Raiders, we both have this one too. This is in Oakland. Green Bay is favored by three and a half.

Who do you have? Oh, it's up to three and a half now? Yeah. I still have the Green Bay Packers. Okay. I've been out on the Packers really all season long. I've been so unimpressed. They finally, first time since, well, first time this season,

and honestly the research indicates first time since 2009, both rushed for over 200 yards and threw for over 200 yards in a game. The more important thing to me is the defense played well. Now, Matt Castle is a guy that should be playing in the Arena League. He appeared to be playing as though he did not want to be injured in that football game on Sunday. That's how I would play, too. I would play that way every week.

I'd just turtle on every sack. The best job in football is the third-string quarterback. You know, a career third-string quarterback. Tell Matt Hasselbeck. We talked about him last week. Oh, I went Phil Simms. Remember, I picked the Jags solely because I thought Matt Hasselbeck, he's 40 and he'd played five games in a row.

I was like, there's no way he's not in severe pain right now. And then what happens? He gets hurt. Yeah. Well, there's some good angles for the Packers. Historically, Green Bay owns the Raiders. Yeah. 6-0 straight up, 5-1 against the spread with four wins by 28 or more.

Aaron Rodgers loves to front run in December when the Packers are good. Aaron Rodgers teams 9-0 straight up and against the spread since 2010 when his own team's win percentage is over 700 in December. So I just like the situation, and the points seem small enough. I wouldn't like it as much if it was like 6,

but I love it at 3 or 3.5. I'm staying away now. You talked me out of it. Oh, you liked the raiders before i did okay as you were talking about the game i realized that uh i have too much at stake with aaron rogers because i'm in fan the fantasy playoffs this weekend and he's my quarterback and i don't want to pick against aaron rogers no no no no so i lose deon lewis i lose julian edelman and then i lose laguerre the artist formerly known as laguerre blunt but at least he got carries and scored touchdowns every once in a while my starting running backs and i did the best job of anyone in my league everyone else can fuck off because

you know that's oh these were all guys on your fancy team you were just talking about patriots no no yeah but i had all Patriots. What a surprise. I loaded up on that. I thought they were going to score 40 points a game. It's smart. I had Edelman, Amendola, LeGarrette Blount, and Deion Lewis on my team. Yeah.

But yeah, I did the best job. Everyone in my league knows it. Sal, all those damage. You all know I did the best job this year, and I got killed by injuries. And now I'm starting Charkandrick West and Brandon Bolden in a fucking playoff game. Really makes me mad.

I hate fantasy football. Why do we do it to ourselves, Huffs? Why? It's not fun. What's fun about fantasy football? Nothing. The only thing is having the occasion to be in touch with your buddies.

That's really it. Good. If there was any other. That's really it. Good. If there was any other kind of vehicle for it. Then let's all go away for the weekend. Then I don't have to be annoyed because LeGarrette Blanc got hurt. So stupid. By the way, this is the angle, and this is the future. These daily fantasy things that are now in trouble legally all over the country,

they do have a capacity where you can create your own little thing between you and your buddies and do a weekly pool, and everybody may or may not pony up a little bit. I like that quite a bit. That's so much better than doing a draft at the beginning of the season and watching three-quarters of the guys get hurt and all that other silliness. I'm figuring out, is there a way to split up fantasy football into, like, three trimesters or something?

It sucks that you get stuck. Like, in my East Coast league, I had Andrew Luck and Jimmy Graham. I'm done in like week five. What's fun about that? Shouldn't I have had a chance to re-pick a team? The big complaint I have with the traditional beginning of the season goes through the end of the season. The guys who win are the guys who have the most time on their hands

to pay attention to the waiver wire and research. Yeah, Alan Hearns is on your team or all these other schmucks, have the most time on their hands to pay attention to the waiver wire and research the second and third. Yeah, Alan Hearns is on your team, right? All these other schmucks, like whoever started for Carolina this week. Jags-Falcons. Jags minus three at home over the Falcons. The Falcons, I'm just going against them until they win. I think they're terrible.

I'm really embarrassed for them. I think they're one of the six worst teams in the league, and I really like the Jags. I think Bortles is good. I'm going embarrassed for them. I think they're one of the six worst teams in the league, and I really like the Jags. I think Bortles is good. I'm going to say it. Bortles is good at football. This is a true fact. I attempted to acquire him in my fantasy league this week and was honestly disappointed

that I wasn't high, and somebody outbid me on the waiver wire. Bortles makes plays, man, and he has decent receivers. He's got a running back that can catch the ball a little bit. They're putting up points, and they have an outside chance to actually win the AFC South. It's weirdly a playoff game for them, and they're only giving three. I don't get it.

I just think people just assume the Jags suck. I thought this line was going to be six. I love the Jags this week. Oh, yeah. I'm going to take a long, hard look at this. I like what you're talking about here. Panthers, Giants, Panthers favored by six in New York. Who do you have?

It's all the way up to six? Holy moly. It was at four and a half when I was looking at this last night, and that was off the Westgate Super Contest lines. Yeah. I adore the Giants in this situation. Me too. I'm off the the west gate super contest lines yeah um i i adore the giants in this situation i that i switch i've switched my i'm off the raiders i'm with the giants that line seems high panthers weird running back situation guys are hurt uh they're right in the range of do

we really want to go 16 and oh we're just going to play through the whole season and just play all the plays like i could see them stepping off the gas pedal if they got behind in this game. We also know the Giants are always up for these big games, these situations where teams with an awesome record come into, I was going to call it Giant Stadium. What's it called now? MetLife? MetLife. Whatever it Giant Stadium. What's it called now? MetLife? MetLife.

Whatever it's called. And the Giants are always up for that moment. Eli, 4-0 against the spread in his NFL career in games against teams with an 8-0 or better record. Yeah. Also, bad angle for Carolina here. 13-0 or better teams are 1 and 11 against the spread since 1998 when they're going up against a non-division opponent so i i just you know six is if it was three i wouldn't mess

with it six i i love the giants getting six seems high and the giants can score points you know they can move the ball those are you always want home dogs that you know can put up 30 points in a game. I think it's going to be a high scoring game. I have the skins plus one at home over the Buffalo Bills. Guess what? I think Rex Ryan's going to be on TV next year. Thank you so much.

So thoughtful of you. I don't mind your team. Your team's not bad. Makes plays. You have some you can do things on both ends. I don't think the Bills are very good. The Dallas game reminded me of how silly it is to start investing in any Washington, the D.C. Bruins, until they're finally over the hump, until it's week 16 and we're playing Dallas. But why are you a home dog in this game?

That doesn't make sense. Buffalo. Buffalo... Buffalo what? What's good about Buffalo? I don't know. I'm not sure. Buffalo's last four games. Lost to the Pats. Lost to the Chiefs. Beat the Texans by

nine. Lost to the Eagles. What am I missing? Yeah. I just don't think they're very good. I think the league's kind of caught up with Tyrod too. What do you think, Tate? Yeah. I think they figured him out. Virginia Tech's not that good.

Yeah. Tate's down on Tyrod. It's like, all right, we get it. You can run around and you can throw the ball 40 yards downfield. He threw one of the worst passes I've ever seen in my life last Sunday. It was a big third and 14 and Sammy Watkins was wide open and he almost killed the guy holding the third down marker.

He missed him so badly. It was way off. I don't trust Tyrod anymore. Anyway, I like the skins. Chargers-Dolphins, which is probably the worst game on the board other than Saints-Lions. Yeah, it's bowl season. Time for the toilet bowl.

Why do you have action on this game? Who do you like? Because we've been talking about it all season long. There is no scenario under which San Diego should ever be favored under any circumstances against any professional football team at home. So just the idea of anybody coming into San Diego and getting points, I'm in. I'm in. I'm all over that. We've seen it. San Diego

hasn't covered at home since week one. They're 1-8 against the spread in their last nine games as a favorite. I like getting points. That's all. That's the kind of guy I am. Here in this toilet bowl, I'm taking Miami. That's pretty good. I can't argue with that logic. I don't know if San Diego's maybe won once at home this year,

and they have the saddest fans in football now, and I feel bad for them. I have the Broncos. I really like this week, by the way. I like the underdogs this week. I have the Broncos getting six and a half in Pittsburgh for a couple reasons. I don't think the Broncos,

I don't think Osweiler's as bad as people seem to think he is after that last game. First of all, Khalil Mack was like, looked like a guy in high school who's, you know, 22 years old, who stayed back five years and he's just demolishing freshmen and sophomores. It looked like a 12 year old playing with third graders. Yeah. It was like a fluke freak performance. He completely changed everything Denver was doing. But if you watch that game, they had three huge drops where they had wide open guys. Thomas dropped two.

Vernon Davis dropped one. They were all just gut-wrenching drops at the worst possible times. And they were also missing their two running backs. I think C.J. Anderson. Does C.J. Anderson come back this week, Tate? I think he does. One of those guys comes back. I don't think Denver, people are off Denver. Meanwhile, this is a must win for them because if they lose this game, the Chiefs are lingering now for AFC West. You know, if the Broncos lose two of their last three and the Chiefs run out, I think the Chiefs can win

the AFC West. They have to worry about the one or the two seed because they play Cincinnati next week. And everybody's just writing in Pittsburgh. It's like, oh yeah, Pittsburgh team, you don't want to play. They're getting a lot of smoke blowing up their ass. I just like

Denver. I think this is a good spot for them. Too many points. I like Denver as well. I almost put them on here. I'm not ready to say. I think this is a good spot for them. Yeah, it's too many points. I like Denver as well. I almost put them on here. I'm not ready to say. I didn't put them on because I couldn't sing after that performance last week by Osweiler. That's fine. He's a young quarterback. He had a shit game.

He had one shit game. I'm not ready to give up on Osweiler. I think the Raiders figured out how to rush him up the middle and do some stuff, but I'm also not sure Pittsburgh's that good. I like the points. It's way too many points. And Tomlin? Do you trust Tomlin laying six and a half to Denver?

Denver's lost three times. That line seems just out of whack to me. So, anyway, I'm taking the Broncos. Last game on Monday night, you have the Saints-Lions. Boy, you went after all the shitty games this week. Saints favored by three and a half. I went after value. I went after my plays.

By the way, last two weeks, three and two with the best bet, six and four, 60% is putting money in your pocket, America. So just, you know, I know over the course of the season, we're probably hovering around 500 on this stuff, but, you know, maybe there's a little hot streak here. We'll find out. So you like, let me guess, you like the Lions plus three and a half because their power ranking is better than the Saints

and this is good value and you think they can win the game outright. No, I don't. Ah, okay. What is the Lee Corso thing? No, I don't know. Hold your, whatever it was. No, I love the Saints. Okay. I love the Saints. Okay.

I love the Saints. Drew Brees owns the Lions. 5-0 against the spread in his career. Detroit, for whatever reason, 0-8 straight up, 1-7 against the spread when they're playing the NFC South in recent history. There is a terrific angle for New Orleans in this game on Monday night. They're a home team coming off a win, and they're going up against a losing team that is coming off a loss where it was favored.

And there is this terrific angle that's like 18-2 since 1980 for a situation like this. And I just like, you know, when I'm sitting, I picture myself for this game. It's Monday. I'm chilling. It's Christmas week. Everything's, you know,

getting good. And it's just going to be an old vintage Saints beatdown, you know, on a Monday night. Yep. That's what I'm imagining. House, our successful first episode of Friday Rolling

is done. It's complete. We're going to call Jacko because I need his Donald Trump thoughts really quick. Oh, my God. That's going to be so good. I can't wait to listen. All done. It's complete. We're going to call Jacko because I need his Donald Trump thoughts really quick. Oh, my God. That's going to be so good. I can't wait to listen.

All right. Enjoy the weekend. Good luck with your picks. You too. Thanks, buddy. Before we call Jacko, I want to mention our friends at Personal Capital. They're free financial tools. Make it easy to manage finances, track investments, grow your net worth.

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complex litigation this is John Johnny what's up buddy how you feeling man I'm worried about you. It's the holidays. You should be in a good mood. And Trump's gaining steam. I know you're upset.

I know you feel like the world's ending. I just want to give you a chance to vent for a couple minutes. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, I am despondent about the state of our country and politics. But yes, it is the holiday season. And I have my health and a beautiful family, so I'm trying to look on the bright side here.

Even though the country's going to hell in a handbasket, at least I'll go there smiling. So you had nine people on the stage the other night? Yeah. Which seems a little ambitious for mid-December. Yeah, I would hope. Should we have weeded a couple of these people out by now? Oh, my God, yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's one of the big problems, really, is there's too many people in the race.

And I think what happened is in 2004, John Kerry came from way back in the pack. Howard Dean was seemingly running away with the nomination, and John Kerry came from nowhere. So I think all these candidates that are seemingly hopeless in the polls now think that, oh, I can do the John Kerry thing, and these polls are wrong, and anything could happen, and I could catch fire. And even though I'm at 2%, I could be the nominee. But that was a very odd circumstance. Kerry had a lot of things going for him that these candidates don't. And I think they're fooling themselves and they continue to be in the by continuing to be in the race and stretching out the field. You allow Trump to, you know, basically suck all the air out of the room and continue to be on top rather than

congregating the opposition in a couple of people that could maybe take him down. What about, what's that guy, Kakich? Kakich, yeah, the governor of Ohio. So he's sitting there, like he's eating dinner with his family, like, you know, this could heat up. Just never know. I could get out of a run here. It's crazy enough that some, like you said, the nine people on the main debate stage, but then they have the undercard for people that didn't make whatever the cutoff point was,

which is maybe like 5% nationally or something. I don't even know what the cutoff is. But you have guys like Mike Huckabee and George Pataki, Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum lost running for Senate in 2006. It's nine years ago. He hasn't been a senator for nine years, and he thinks like, oh, yeah, I'm what America needs. They've got Jim Gilmore, who was the governor of Virginia for like a minute and a half, 10 years ago. His own family doesn't know who he is.

He thinks he's going to be president. Give me a freaking break. George Pataki was governor of New York. He stopped being governor of New York in, and i believe 2008 and was wildly unpopular and he thinks oh yeah i'm what the republican party really is looking for is george pataki yeah come on i mean i don't understand why these guys some of these guys run all these people run you know even and then poor jeb bush figured he had the bush name and he has a100 billion in PAC money. But nobody wants a third Bush.

Nobody. Nobody wants a third Bush. And yet he continues to stick around because he has all this money. And he's like, but I'm a Bush. It's ridiculous. Well, when you're that charismatic, you want the big stage. Exactly. So I wish some of these people would wake up and pack it in, throw in the towel.

It's just not happening. There's other jobs you could do. If a Republican wins, you could become an ambassador somewhere. Maybe you could get a cabinet position. That's a pretty good gig. You don't have to be president. Not everybody has to be president. Our big mistake was you not running.

We could have just leveraged your Twitter feed and my podcast, and I think you would have been like seventh right now. I would have been a springboard, no question. You just would have come in, you would have just mocked everyone else, worn suspenders. O'Connell 2016, a troubled man for troubled times. You could have done the Dukakis, the John Lovett says Dukakis. I can't believe I'm losing these guys. Yeah, just repeatedly shaking your head. Exactly.

So does anyone actually have a chance to pull John Kerry? No. I mean, the reality is the nominee, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Republican nominee is going to be one of three people. It's either going to be

Marco Rubio, it's going to be Ted Cruz, or it's going to be Donald Trump. Oh my God. It's a crazy, crazy world we're living in. But the nominee is going to be one of those three people, and everybody else ought to see the handwriting on the wall and get out.

The one guy who maybe potentially could do something is Chris Christie. I was going to say, isn't out. The one guy who maybe potentially could do something is a Chris Christie. I was going to say, isn't Chris Christie the one guy who has a little bit of John Kerry potential? Yes, he maybe has a little John Kerry potential because he's a governor and he's kind of the poor man's Donald Trump and that he could be blustery and bloviating as well. So if that's your cup of tea, but you're like, Trump doesn't have a fucking idea what he's doing. Can I drop an F-bomb on the podcast?

Yes, absolutely. Especially in this case. He doesn't have a fucking idea what he's doing. You may decide to go, you know, if you want bombast, you may want to go with Christie. Now, he has a lot of negatives in the Republican Party because he's too moderate. He latched on to Obama after Superstorm Sandy in 2012. People sort of blamed him for Romney fading at the end and in some ways not doing enough for Romney. So I don't think he's quite popular enough, but if everybody else sort of takes each other out, he may come up through

the middle. Yeah. Remember when people thought the bridge thing was going to kill Christie? Yeah. And now it's like in play that Ted Cruz would say, hey, you know what? Internment camps for Muslims aren't a bad idea. It's like, yeah, the bridge thing's looking really good right now. Right. Really good. Right.

And when you have the Democratic nominee, punitive Democratic nominee, who's under investigation by the FBI, and everybody's just like, eh, whatevs, then closing down a bridge by comparison doesn't really seem like that big of a deal. Yeah. It feels like it's going to be Rubio, though. I don't know.

I don't know. I'm thinking the last couple days I've been thinking it might be Cruz. And actually, I still can't talk myself out of the fact that it might be Trump. I mean, you look at these freaking polls and he's like double and triple everybody else. He's the crazier, stupider thing he says, the more he goes up. All these Tea Party people are so ridiculously naive or see him as their champion or whatever it is. But if they actually come out to vote, I mean, if these numbers are true, I don't know. And their establishment, you know, the Republican Party, such as it is, is so stupid. And they should have nipped this in the bud a long, long time ago.

And now it's gotten too out of control. And so I don't know if they can stop him now. I really don't. It's frightening. But I just don't know if they can stop him. Hillary Clinton and Trump debating has the potential for some of the worst moments in the history of this country. It's literally a Saturday Night Live skit come to life. It's unbelievable.

Just being feared the whole time. He'll definitely go, he would go chauvinist pretty early, right? Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, look at the statements he's made just in the primary. What's he possibly capable of in a general election? This is amazing. It would be really hilarious if the future of the next four years of the country wasn't kind of in play. Not kind of. Oh, it's in play.

Oh, yeah. Whoever wins this gets to run the country. As I've come to the acceptance stage that he may actually be the Republican nominee, I've been wondering to myself, what's worse? If he beats Hillary or if he loses to Hillary? What is worse? What's worse for you? For me, for the country, for the earth?

Well, what happens to you? Do you move? Do you move to another country? What countries are you thinking about? Canada? That's the problem. I don't know. I guess I could take the family to Ireland.

I don't have to learn another language. Oh, you'd be happy in Ireland. You'd be happy in Ireland. That'd be great. Yeah. Yankees games would be on really late there, though, because it's five hours ahead. Oh, so you've thought about this. I've given it too much thought. Now, I'm an American.

I wouldn't leave America, but it would just be so utterly ridiculous. And basically, if he gets nominated, what essentially happens, not essentially, what definitely happens is it's the end of the Republican Party as we know it. There just will not be a Republican Party because some astronomical number of the party is not going to vote for him. They're not going to come out to vote. And he will lose the Electoral College convincingly and overwhelmingly. And the Republicans probably lose the Senate. And then the recriminations and finger-pointing will last for a decade. So, yeah, now I'm just confused.

So this really could—he can't end the party. You're saying it could ruin the party. Yeah, it would ruin the party until somebody came to save it down the road. Yeah, exactly. It would be in the wilderness, as they say, for years and years. Because people could look back and say, remember when you nominated that fucking idiot for president? Didn't know what he was doing. He was completely clueless and said outrageous and hideously awful things.

Yeah. God help us, God. Did you see he went on Kimmel last night? I did. I saw somebody sent me a picture of Cousin Sal with his Make America Great hat again next to Trump. Yeah. I think it was an ironic picture. I would think so, yes.

Which everybody understood except Donald Trump. If you're Hillary, you just have to really be enjoying all of this, though, right? It's the greatest thing that's ever happened. I mean, I don't like to give the Clintons this much credit, but maybe they're Machiavellian enough where they actually put him up to this because there's this mystery phone call from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump right before he got in the race. Yeah. And he's always been a big Hillary supporter and donated to her campaign. He's donated almost exclusively to Democrats, except within like the last five years or so when he's decided he's going to be a Republican.

So it's very shady and odd, his relationship with the Clintons. And he always seems to, you know, call out Republicans by name and bash them on Twitter and bash them personally about their looks and what have you. And he never he seems to have the kid gloves on when it comes to Hillary. And he's totally bare knuckled when it comes to Republicans. So what could happen is he might just get nominated to be the Republican candidate for president and then just decide to endorse Hillary. That's a possibility, too. That would be amazing. I see my favorite part of this whole cycle is going to be when you talk yourself into Trump, which I think will be like March. No, that is never, ever going to happen.

I will never vote for him under any circumstances. You talked yourself into A-Rod? Well, rooting for a baseball team is different than the leader of the free world. Or is it? I know. What kind of fan am I? You watch 162 Yankee games a year. That's 500 hours.

That's almost as important. That's true. That's true. But the country is, you know, 24 hours, 365 days a year, Bill. See, what really scares me about the Trump presidency is if you think about it, like in a sports term, the moment he takes office, aren't we the most vulnerable? Everyone that ever wanted to mess with America in any way just comes right at us? Of course, because he doesn't have any idea what he's talking about or what to do. He's going to get the best people.

He's going to have people look at that. That's his answer to everything. I'm going to have somebody look at that. Best people. Oh, my God. This is a guy who hired Ivanka Trump to be his number two for The Apprentice. Exactly.

And who went bankrupt in the casino business. When you open up a casino, people come in and throw money at you. With like a 99% chance you get to keep that money. He somehow went bankrupt multiple times running a casino.

He kept fighting back, though. Everybody's like, oh, he's such a business genius. He's a genius. Well, he inherited some like two billion dollars from his father, who was, you know, the slumlord of New York City or something and made all this money, which he gave to Trump. And I've read things that if Trump just put it in an account, basically, a savings account or 401k or some sort of investment-bearing account, he would have had $10 billion instead of $8 billion. He decided to actually do things with it on his own and actually lost money. It's ridiculous. He's a brilliant genius, business leader. Give me a freaking break.

We should mention you love the Republican Party. I've never seen you more disenchantment. I mean, it goes without saying, this is more disenchantment from you. This is the apocalypse. I know. It's the notion of him. And I say this every time we talk about this, but how anybody could watch him for more than 30 seconds and not, like away laughing and screaming and but people will go to his rallies watch him pound his chest and say like i'm number one in the polls say these completely ludicrous

ideas that just like spit out of his head and cheer wildly and are like enraptured i just do not get it in the slightest well i'm glad we gave you a chance to vent, Johnny. Thanks a lot. Now I'm depressed for the rest of the day. It's the holidays. I have to call my kids and tell them Christmas is canceled. Yeah, go buy some gifts for your kids or something. Yeah, cheer me up.

I'll go see Santa at the mall. We'll check in if this gets worse, more interesting. Whatever happens. You're our political correspondent for the Republican Party. Oh, fantastic. It's great. Good times. If I don't talk to you before the holidays on the pod, happy holidays, my friend.

Thank you. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you and yours and all of your listeners. All right. I'll be here down in the bunker. Talk to you soon. Bye. That's it for today's episode.

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