The Bill Simmons Podcast - Green Bay is Done, the Brady Zone, Philly’s Big Month, '72 Dolphins Fatigue, and Week 8 Lines With Cousin Sal

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss yet another loss for Packers, the Buccaneers’ loss to the Panthers, Jaguars-Giants, Seahawks-Chargers, the impossible-to-predict AFC South, Tom Brady’s ugly season, Lamar Jackson’s contract outlook, 49ers-Chiefs, Steelers-Dolphins, and more (1:59). Then, they guess the NFL lines for Week 8 (51:33) before closing the show with Parent Corner (1:17:22). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Cousin Sal Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, Taylor Swift released a new album. It's called Midnights, and our Every Single Album crew got together to deep dive everything that they thought about this album. Nathan Hubbard, Nora Princiati, listen to it, every single album, Midnights, two hours plus discovering Taylor Swift. I like that Antihero song, by the way. That was good. It's the Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel. Football is in full action. FanDuel's highest rated sports book is the best place to bet at all. We've been doing pretty well on million dollar picks this year. I love the first month of the season because you have to go into the season thinking, I think Pittsburgh's going to be good. I think the Chargers are going to be good.

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What a tumultuous time for Philly. So glad we launched this podcast. Tumultuous in a good way, mostly. Philly's made the world series. Eagles undefeated. Sixer season falling apart. Go check out that podcast.

Don't forget about New York, New York, New York with John Jastrzemski as he licks his Yankee wounds and moves toward the Jets and the Giants and the Knicks. So there you go. New Rewatchables coming Monday night.

I was not on the last three weeks of the Rewatchables. I am back this week. It is a 90s action movie. And that's all I'm telling you. It's me and Van Lathan those are your hints me, Van Lathan, 90s action movie and then next month

we're going off the rails next month I'm just telling you now coming up on this podcast Cousin Sal and I are going to talk about week 7 NFL a little baseball a very raucous parent corner, and just a lot to discuss.

The 72 Dolphins, Joe Buck. Oh yeah, this is a good one. It's on next. First, our friends from ProJet. All right, Cousin Sal is here a little bit after 8.30 on Sunday night. Sal, how's your marriage? There was a lot of sports this weekend. I always worry about you. And there's college football, a full basketball slate, baseball playoffs, and

football. And then you were working on a Saturday. How's the family? It's not great. I mean, and sports has nothing to do with it. Oh, is this a phone call? Or is this actual podcast? It really is hard.

It is hard to stay on top of everything. And UFC during the day yesterday. I don't know. How much do you give it on Saturday? So you don't have to worry about college football or anything like that. So you at least give it the puncher's chance on Saturday for having a full-fledged marriage. Yep. I always pick like one college football game to watch.

But it didn't seem like it. The LSU one was the best one yesterday. But that was like whatever. I ended up watching a lot of NBA and then football today. I, I, something magical happened to Sal. This is really never happened that I can remember in October.

I put basketball on one of the TVs, the four TVs, the Lakers. I'm so enchanted by this Lakers. What a disaster this season has been for them that I couldn't resist. I had to watch like the last quarter and a half of, to see if they'd go on three. And of course it couldn't have gone worse. Westbrook they're up one.

He tries to get a two for one pulls up the crowds going. It was like watching a little kid walk toward a pool, bricked it. Portland comes down. They ended up winning it. And the Lakers are now 0-3. That took the Texans

Raiders TV out of my four TVs. I was like, good luck. Really? Josh Jacobs, I'll never know what happened. I'm more interested in this.

Wow. That is, I mean, you'd be even more interested if you bet them to not make the playoffs. I think it's down to like minus 110 now,

but do it now because they could be like 2 and six before this is all. Wow. We're really talking NBA? No, this is how we're not in NBA. Now we're talking football. We're talking football. I mailed you a list of least believable things

through seven weeks. Here's that list for the listener. The two New York teams are combined 11 and three. Tom Brady's I guess farewell season is just in flames. Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay are just no longer good. I think it might actually be over. I don't think that's an overreaction.

The Russell Wilson trade is starting to look like the Herschel Walker trade. And then Seattle is a piece of that too. So those five. The fact that Seattle, who right now is plus 550 on FanDuel to win the NFC West, even though they are leading the NFC West. But the fact that they're a contender. So out of those five storylines, what is the least believable to you? Remember we made a joke after Seattle was in first place

before they had even played on Monday night against Denver. They were thinking, just hold on. Just hold on now. Just hold on Pete Carroll. Don't blow this. And then they won. They beat Denver. And I had them to beat Denver that week. And I didn't like Denver all year from the beginning of the year. So I wouldn't say that's

that was believable that Russell Wilson would come down to earth. Seattle being in first place, not very believable. The Bucs, I don't know what the hell is going on other than I just keep losing money on them, but still in first place. So I can't, odds-wise, I can't be too disappointed in them. I have to go Packers.

I thought they'd be in first. They're three and a half games behind Minnesota. And you're right. I don't know that they make it back. You can't just say, oh, the Bucs and Packers, they'll figure it out and go like 10 and seven or 11 and six. I think one of these teams may not make the playoffs. I was looking at the division odds today, and I was stunned that at least on FanDuel,

Green Bay was plus 490 to win the division because it feels early, right? It's seven weeks, 10 weeks left. The Chiefs were three and four last year. We've seen this before, but for Minnesota to be minus 550 in that division when nobody that I know really believes in that Minnesota team, it's more a reflection of Green Bay because you look at where they are now, they're at Buffalo, at Detroit, home Dallas, home Tennessee, at Philly. The next five, right? So they might have eight losses by the time we get to December.

And they play the Philly game as a Thanksgiving night game. I don't know that they're making it. They seem so uninspiring. Roger seems like he's half-checked out. They have no weapons. The coaching's awful. I mean, you can tell with some of the play calling, but then special teams is always a good sign.

If you're special teams, it's just complete dog shit. You know that's Basaccia, right? What's his name? The Raiders ex-coach. I know. I know. Pit boss Rodgers is letting us down. So, yeah. I mean, Green Bay

before this season, they were my Super Bowl pick. They're 12-1 to win the Super Bowl. They're minus 500 to make the playoffs. They were minus 155 for their division. They're minus 270 for 10-plus wins. I think that ship has sailed. They're 5-1

for the first seed. And I think you're right. Although, I will say, if we had said after week 7, the New York teams are going to be 11-3, I think both of us would have thought that. Yeah, that's absolutely absurd. I did pick the Giants to go over 7.5 wins, but now this is getting dumb now.

The Jets have 5 wins and the Giants win. Every game they win is a one-possession game and they're at 6 already. Yes, that's hard to overcome there. Well, I stayed away from that Giants-Jags game because to me that was the talented team that does dumb shit versus the untalented team that over and over again pulls out these close games.

And I'm like, you know what? This time around, I'm not going to be on the side of the talented team that does dumb shit. And of course, they go for fourth down three times. They go one for three. They have a crucial moment. And this is like the analytics debate, which we keep talking about. It's not even analytics. It's more like common sense. They're up 17-13, the Jags. 11-30 left in the fourth quarter. They're on the 20-yard line. They're up four points. Fourth down. I'm just taking the three points. I'm making the Giants have to come down and tie it on a touchdown.

Even if they tie it, I'll probably get the ball back. Peterson just, he's just at the Philly special has given him confidence for life. I think that that worked in the Superbowl. By the way, as I've said before, every fucking play worked in the Superbowl. The Pat's defense was a sieve. But since then, it's like he just is levitating above us with these aggressive plays. Doesn't get the first down. Giants come down and score. All of a sudden, they're up three and they blow the game. And so I'm sure the model was like, oh, we slightly favor Jacksonville going for it. But to me, the play call has to be part of it too.

And they just run dumb plays. It was the same thing for the Chargers in the first quarter against the Seahawks where in the first quarter, they get a pick. They get kind of stuck on like the 39. It's fourth and two. What is the play they run? Well, Seattle stacks the line

and the Chargers go, cool. We're going to run our 5-7 running back, Eckwer, on a dive into 14 guys. I wonder if this is going to work. He's like, no, that actually didn't work. He hasn't figured out, Staley, the second part of the we're going to go for it

when we shouldn't go for it thing, which is assign a nice play to it with the high probability of working depending on the talent. You don't have the personnel to get a fourth and two dive play. You don't have a single running back on your team that can get that. So you better have an awesome play but that I do feel like the plays

have to factor into the analytics but Staley and Peterson over and over again are just too aggressive and it feels like it hurts their team. Jacksonville losing to the Giants is stupid. Here's my analytics. Yeah. We sat here a week ago and we went over Jags-Giants.

And I was off on that line by five and a half points. Right. I said the Giants would be giving points. They're five and one. They should get the, what is it, Jacksonville two and four? I don't know what it is. And by the way, Jacksonville, remember we were racing to the window to bet Jacksonville to win that terrible, that dreaded AFC South. Yeah. Even to get it at plus 150, we thought, after the second week when they went out and beat We were racing to the window to bet Jacksonville to win that terrible, that dreaded AFC South.

Even to get it at plus 150, we thought, after the second week when they went out and beat the Chargers. Whatever week that was. Like, oh, we got to do this. But I was five and a half points off. So I was like, I don't care what happens. I know what to do now. I have to bet the Jaguars. And they were disgusting. It really is hard.

That whole division, you deserve what you get if you're betting it. It really is hard. That whole division, you just got to, you deserve what you get if you're betting it. You just, it's too unpredictable. I think it's like if you walk your dog, when you walk your dog, your dog goes after some dogs. Yeah. Right? But other dogs, it doesn't really care. Like, why

are you going after the Chihuahua, but leaving the St. Bernard alone, but then you go nose to nose with the pit bull. It doesn't make any sense. Just stay away from the AFC South. It's going to cost you money. I like that analogy. I thought that was one of your better ones.

Thanks. I thought it through. Yeah. All of our dogs have different type of dogs that they just really dislike. Yeah. The AFC South right now, Tennessee is minus 115 to win the division. Indy's plus 165. The Jags,

who I think got bet almost to even at some point. Now they're 5-1 again. I look back. I thought I had a Jags bet. I actually didn't. It was a Panthers bet. Really? I don't know. They're 2-5, but do you like anyone in that division, I guess? You're like, give me a teal team. Panthers, Jags, I don't care. I'll two and five, but do you like anyone in that division, I guess? You're just like, give me a

Teal team. Panthers, Jags, I don't care. I'll check it later. Who's that? Eddie Teal. But they're two back from Tennessee. I mean, Tennessee, the one thing that they had like a big boy drive at the end of that Indy game. And that was the classic. It had all the makings of Matt Ryan

cutting it to two and somehow covering, but Tennessee wins. Then if you bet Tennessee minus two and a half, which we did on Million Dollar Picks, you're like, I had the right team and I lost, which just happened. But Pittman has a fumble, and then it ends up going to Tennessee,

and it's like, all right, Tennessee's going to run out the clock. They big-boyed Indy in a way that I actually thought big picture might matter a tiny bit because I have the unders for Tennessee for the season. And I think you were down on them, too. I thought they would both win nine games and it would be a tiebreaker situation, nine and eight. But Tennessee owns the Colts. There's like some weird AFC South stuff like the Jags don't ever win on the road against the AFC. The Titans dominate the Colts. and it was 19-10.

Yeah, that's the one thing I thought about this game. I was like, all right, they're going to be able to run on the Colts because the Jags at least ran on the Colts last week in that ridiculous game where Matt Ryan dropped back 58 times and wasn't sacked. And they put him down like three times, and they did enough. And yeah, so now they're kind of in the driver's seat in that garbage division.

Yeah. So Indy and somehow I teased Indy because I had Tennessee and million dollar picks. I teased like five teams with the Pats. Indy was one of them. Teased them to plus nine or plus eight. Oh no. No, plus eight and a half or plus nine and a half. No, plus eight and a half. You better figure it out because it's important.

No, I lost. I teased them to plus eight and a half, and they lost by nine. Yeah. But it had all the makings of the classic Matt Ryan pulling another game out of the deep recesses of his sphincter. This time, Pittman let him down. So Indy the rest of the way, because Indy, this was a good regression week.

Atlanta was 6-0 against the spread. That wasn't going to last. Indy, like, had these crazy DVOA stats where it was like, this is

the worst team with one of the three worst teams with a winning record in 40 years according to advanced metrics. So now, maybe that ship's been

right a little bit, but Indy's got home Washington next week at New England, at Las Vegas, home Philly. So I feel like that team's going to go south. Tennessee, they have at Houston,

who's suddenly the worst team in the league, at Kansas City, home Denver, at Green Bay, home Cincy, at Philly. A stretch that I think looked way tougher than maybe now that we know Green Bay's not that good, we know Denver's not that good. And then Jacksonville, I just,

I would recommend no, but they do have two more home games in a row. They were home this week. Then they have Denver and Vegas. Denver's in London. Oh, did I blow that? No,

no, I had that written down. You're right. Um, but somehow Tennessee, they lose AJ Brown. They draft Berks who didn't even play. He was in the IR.

They have this mass unit at receiver, and it doesn't matter. They just have the infrastructure. Yeah, I guess so. This is more than I care about the AFC South. I don't know. But no, their point differential is minus 13, Tennessee, at 4-2. Wait, can I answer you in the NFC South? Let's do that. We can do that

because I still... Every team's... Panthers and Saints are a game behind the division leader. Is that what it is? We have two 3-4 teams and two 2-5 teams. Unbelievable. Tampa, who's minus 270 as the favorite.

We have Atlanta's 4-1. We have New Orleans plus 850. And we have Carolina, who's a game out at 20-1. And if you watch them today, they didn't miss McCaffrey at all. And the Foreman-Hubbard combo was actually really effective. And if you really look at it deep, it's like, well, they lost their running back and their quarterback. PJ Walker is not worse than Mayfield was. Mayfield was the worst quarterback in the league. And McCaffrey, as much as I think we all like him, it wasn't like he was this dominant guy.

So, I don't know. Them at two and five, their defense was really good today. PJ Walker and Heineke are XFL players. And they beat Brady and Rodgers. It's stupid. I don't know why I'm stuck on this point differential because I don't usually care,

but in the division, the Bucs are at the top at zero, Falcons minus eight, Panthers minus 25, Saints minus 25. I think with the Panthers, I think that you'll still look at them and they'll still be about a three-win team at the end of the year, but there's something that happens and it's the, what do you call it? The Ewing theory. I don't even know what you would call this when they lost McCaffrey. This is Ewing theory. The coach changed, but you're never going to get a group of 53 guys more in tune and more psyched to win than you will the Panthers who everybody counted them out. Oh yeah.

Our best player's gone. Let's get together guys. Really? We have a new coach. Oh, we're going up against Tom Brady. I feel like you'll never have that enthusiasm in one setting as you did today with the Panthers and the Bucs.

The more points against you, the more you feel like you get a group effort out of everybody. That's exactly what happened. Evan's drop in that pass was despicable. If your son dropped that in high school and Benson was like, sorry, we'll let you keep the jersey, but you're off the team.

That's how it would be. But aside from that, you're right. They got beat up on the ground. Maybe getting rid of Robbie Anderson. He seemed like he was kind of a cancer. So Carolina, they lose to Cleveland on a 59-yard field goal. By the way, that guy

hasn't made a big kick since. The Cleveland kicker. They lose to the Giants in week two. Another close one. So they're two and five, but really, I think they're two plays away from being four and three.

The next couple games for Carolina, they're at Atlanta, at Cincy, home Atlanta, at Baltimore, home Denver. They're not a cross-off team to me anymore because I think this division, eight, nine could take it. And we should really have the Brady conversation. Let's take a quick break. And the NFL week right on Monday night

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Sign up now. Just search Movember. All right, we were talking about the NFC South. This Brady season, I was thinking about all these different farewell seasons. Yeah, I think Ali, we're old enough to remember Ali Holmes, which Sports Illustrated did the cover and there was no words on it. It was just Ali on the stool with like a black eye. Just like completely dead inside.

And that's to me a 10 out of 10 on how bad a farewell year can go, right? Barry Bonds was a good one where everybody basically put their hands up and they said, we're not signing you. It's like, really? AL team? You don't want this guy as a DH

who had like a 480 on base last year? Nope. We're all out. We're blind out. So that's a bad way for it then. You have those things like OJ and the Niners, Emmitt Smith on the Cardinals. When the guy has the last year of his career uniform and it's just kind of sad.

Like Patrick Gilliam was on Seattle. Shit like that. So you think no matter what, this is it. This is his last year. Well, I'm going through all the scenarios. Favre, second. Oh, this is definitely his last year. Favre, that second Viking season when his body fell apart.

Kareem and the Lakers when they made the finals, but he was like bald. Kind of like weird body Kareem. Like he just wasn body Kareem. Like he just wasn't Kareem anymore. Iverson's last two NBA years were horrible. Mario Lemieux came back. He played for like five more years. Sure.

On the Penguins. Remember that? Like they didn't make the playoffs. He wasn't Lemieux anymore. There's all these different ways it can go. I think that LeBron, LeBron's could be pretty bad too. He could be set up for something. I know, but he's at least still,

he's at least still good at basketball he could still put up 30 points Brady seems dead inside super skinny bad luck all over the place he's getting divorced and I think it's finalized is the word in the street everything

about this has been like wow I wish I hadn't come back but we have 10 games to go and And I've just never, I've never seen a farewell season like this, I guess is my point of view. Like, rack your brain. Have you thought, have you seen anything this weird? This is the most famous player in the history of the sport. No, I agree with you. There's a ton of distractions and, you know, obviously sitting out a week and he took shit for that in the preseason. And then, you know, I think going to Robert Kraft's wedding is like, wow, this guy found true love.

Why can't I do it? Why can't I look at this couple? But right now, but honestly, I don't I don't know. Should we give Bruce Arians a little more credit? I don't want to give him too much credit because he had the crazy old man vibe towards the end. We were starting. It was looking like he was going to beat up his own players. So I understand why they had to get him out of there. Yeah, yeah, a little bit.

But did he keep things in line and order a little bit, maybe? I don't know that he had all that influence over Brady, but it didn't hurt, that's for sure. The play calling is awful and like I saw Leftwich was trending on Twitter

and I thought maybe he got into it with Mike Evans or somebody so I clicked on it like what'd he do and it was just

Bucs fans complaining about Barrett Leftwich for like hundreds of tweets in a row of like we suck we run the worst offense in the league.

So I don't know. I saw that drop by Evans and I was like, oh, that's, but he's going to get open 45 times and there's going to be a blowout. It just never happened again. They just couldn't get it going again. Then he kicked the field goal down 14,

nothing stupid. That was weird. They played Baltimore on Thursday night when we'll do Guest Alliance. We'll talk about that. They play one of the LA teams in Week 9. I assume that's the Rams.

Oh, no. That's the Chargers. Yeah, they're home for the Chargers. Then they have a London game. No, I think it's Germany, actually. Or Germany. Week 10. They're playing Seattle.

Does Brady leave the country well I could see him being like you know I don't skip this one I don't I don't feel like going away either doesn't leave or doesn't return one of the two right but that's the thing with this Brady season like I can't believe I'm saying this but I feel like he's moved

into the Tyson zone yeah like if a story came out on that Monday, I was like, Tom Brady has decided not to go to Germany. He'll, he's going to wait and he'll be again. He'll rejoin the team next week. And there,

when they return to America, I wouldn't be surprised. Would you? I guess not, but also he's all right. I'll let me play devil's advocate. He's in first place. Um,

they're not going to get a buy, but he could probably, what'd you say? They were minus 500 still for first place. Like they're minus two 70. It's at least I'm Fando. That's not a, not a slam dunk. They could stay at 500. They could stay in first place.

He can, because the other thing is, where's he going? If, if things are not good with the wife, like at least with football, you get to yell at 300-pound men and throw tablets all around. It's the only place where it's acceptable. You're not going to be able to do this anywhere else. I don't know if this is a fun thing for us. I don't think you can have distractions like this as a quarterback, is my take.

You think about how his life was carefully constructed the last 10, 12 years, post ACL surgery, as he gravitated toward TB12 and the diet, and he's fucking making avocado ice cream. And every piece of his life is just carefully thought out. And now it's in complete flux. Everything is different. And I think it's definitely screwed him up. I don't, I just thought I, we talked last week. He just doesn't seem like Brady on the TV. He says, he make a call to grump.

I mean, we've said this and they've hinted that it's not going to happen, but that might be what salvages this whole thing after everything. A few people have made this point. It's just like that. Not the type of team that he normally succeeds with. Like he loves throwing over the middle, right? Who do you trust over the middle other than maybe Godwin?

Who's like the James White on this team? They don't really have one. They did a poor job of constructing the team. And I think the play calling's been pretty bad too. But this Thursday night spot is brutal. They have four days rest to play Baltimore. I think Lamar is like the hardest guy to prepare for in the week.

Like he really, he ate up the Patriots a few weeks ago. He's not even playing well last few weeks, but to just have four days to prepare for that dude, not crazy.

I don't understand this defense. Like, you know, whether it's a quarterback running or, you know, Donta Freeman and Trouba Hubbard had, what'd they have? Like 180 yards

combined rush? That's the one thing you could never do against Tampa. A healthy Tampa defense and Vita Vea is run against them. It didn't matter. They didn't score any points this week. Yeah, I thought they'd be better with Bulls and they're just not. So, if you had to punt on Tampa or Green Bay, I think we would

both punt on Green Bay, right? I think so. Well, they're looking up at a team that's three and a half games ahead of them. Well, they might end up with the same record as Tampa. I hate both these teams. I keep betting them every week. I was like, all right, what teaser? What Tampa's not going to

be the biggest favorite two weeks in a row and lose on the field? Yep. I was going to ask you that. When was the last time a double-digit favorite just lost outright two weeks in a row? Because last week, Pittsburgh was almost 4-1. Today, I think the Panthers were, what, almost 5-1? That line got to Tampa by 13

because they didn't want anybody to tease it. Did you tease it? I could ask my accountant because I know I was on it whenever it happened before this, but yeah, for sure. Yeah, Tampa and Green Bay, everywhere. Is that why you seem down today? Did you have Tampa and some teases? I just need the Astros to finish off the Yankees.

What's the score? Kyle, give us a score check. Because the one thing I can't have... I have it on the far TV. I can't, what is it? I can't have Astros, I can't have Phillies, Yankees in a World Series, because I'll just walk out of the room whenever anyone's talking about it. Well, so who are you rooting for, Yankees-Astros?

I landed on... Six, five, and nine. I have to root for the Astros. Oh, you're rooting for the Yankees? No, I really wasn't rooting for either. I was rooting for maximum pain for one of the fan bases. So the Yankees getting swept is like a great outcome. Yeah, right, exactly. The other one I was rooting for was the Yankees getting swept is like a great outcome. Yeah. Right.

Exactly. The other one I was reading for was the Yankees knocking the Astros off and then losing in the World Series, like to bring their fans hopes up. Those were the two things. But I think the Yankees getting swept, like today there were some stories about how they were talking about the 2004 Red Sox,

like as a motivational thing. Yeah. They showed them tapes. They have some like mental coach that comes in and showed them tapes of the 2004 Red Sox like as a motivational thing. Yeah, they showed him tapes. They have some like mental coach that comes in and showed him tapes of the 2004 Red Sox. That was the biggest win of the season for me. They sat there and watched that?

I can't believe it. Oh, it was so great. Oh, I was so happy. It's been the worst Red Sox season, especially like Schwarber being good on the Phillies was just such a punch to the gut because we still don't know why we let him go.

But, um, to have the, I know you play for the same team, you play for the same team, but that's like, if your podcast, your ratings slipped a little and Spotify is like, Hey, let's go watch Joe Rogan. Go watch this inspirational. Like I can't, I don't even know what to compare it to. And they sat there and watched the Red Sox. Yeah. Remember they did this to you?

I loved it. Everything that's transpired over the last few days has been great. You knew they were in trouble when it took them five days to five games to beat that crappy Cleveland team. Well, now it's great. Although they're scoring runs tonight. But they were striking out all over the place, right? They had something like 30 strikeouts in three games. It was great.

Every batter started with an 0-2 count. I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about baseball so much. Wait, so you hate the Phillies then? I hate the Phillies, so I can't have Phillies, Yankees, the Astros. Here's the thing with the cheating and the Astros. Garrett Cole's on the Yankees, okay? So he benefited from that cheating as much as anyone, right? So you can't really separate the two at this point. And's on the Yankees. So he benefited from that cheating as much as anyone. So you can't

really separate the two at this point. And I hate the Yankees anyway, so I have to have Astros. And I have a 10-1 ticket with the Astros. I need the Astros to beat the Phillies. So there was some, I guess somebody bought it at MGM in April. There was some Phillies

Astros ticket that it was like, I don't know, $500 bet, but the guy wins like 125K. Wow. It's like 250 to one. It was when the Phillies were kicking the curb. I always liked those stories. It always gives people like us hope

when we're making dumb bets on some sort of future. I'm like, remember that guy, the Astros Phillies? Yeah, but we wouldn't hedge and then the Phillies... No, we would have screwed it up somehow. We didn't screw it up that year with the Warriors, did we? When we had the Warriors, third and one? I think that was the biggest one. No, yeah.

We probably did. We probably hedged at the wrong time. The Phillies thing has been pretty fun, I gotta say. I don't really have an opinion on the Phillies. You're a Mets fan and they they're in a division you dislike them. But I've kind of enjoyed it. Well, yeah. I mean, I'm going to have, if the Phillies win the World Series,

it's going to be the Phillies, the Braves last year, Dodgers were before that, and then the Nationals the year before. So three out of the four years was teams coming from my division. Can you imagine if Tampa Bay won, and the Jays and the Yankees won three, three out of four years. As long as the Yankees didn't win. Yeah. If you gave me the choice of the Phillies to win the world series,

but the Sixers season is a complete dumpster fire. I'm taking that every time. Wow. Like Sixers are 0-3. They lost at home yesterday to some shitty team. I can't even remember who. And, and the Doc Rivers watch is on.

All of it's great. I love all of it. More football. Lamar's contract gamble. I have that one written down. Hench was texting us about that. How Lamar did the bet on myself thing, but his last four weeks have not gone awesome.

Hench had a great line. He's like, Times Square should put up a tote board and show how much money Lamar Jackson continues to lose by not signing, having signed a contract in the offseason. He has been awesome.

I mean, the thing today was they were blitzing the shit out of him, the Browns. Right. Yeah. And that was one of those, that was a kitchen sink game for the Browns. I stayed away.

I had no anything on it. I didn't know what to expect from the Browns, but they fought and as usual came down to Bursette unable to kind of orchestrate a fourth down thing. If you put Watson in there the whole year over Bursette, they're probably like five and two, four and three, I think, right?

He's cost them two games. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think if they now they're going to fight to 500, I think by the time he gets back there, but you're right. It is always Brissette blowing it at the end or actually Cade York. I'm pretty sure that the coach has like really just gets a kick out of watching this guy just miss bomb field goals. Like, right. They got moved back to 60 yards on a false start. Cade York comes in. I was blocked. Everyone finds it hilarious. And the Ravens survive. He's another terrible game manager, Stefanski.

Stefanski, Staley, Doug Peterson, Dan Campbell. What was Stefanski? I think Damage Egg was saying Stefanski's best moment coaching by far was when he was in his basement with COVID, right? Against the Steelers. The highlight of his career. That's it. Maybe he needs to get COVID again. COVID Against the Steelers. The highlight of his career? That's it, yeah. Maybe he needs to get COVID again.

COVID's going around again. He should start going to some weddings. Give Cade York COVID. Try to get it. Yeah, the Lamar things, that's fun. We mentioned Green Bay, how they have a chance to have a four-game losing streak, which will probably happen

because they're playing at Buffalo. So that's going to be a whole story. Casey and Cincy have righted the ship. I thought Casey was awesome today. And we could talk about some of the issues with San Francisco. But Casey, they had a pass rush. Really, really good play calling. It was just one of those games you could tell pretty early

they kind of were on it. The receivers were flying around. It was the first time I felt like they just had speed everywhere. And if Skymore didn't muff that punt, that was like the only downside. But I think they scored like five out of seven touchdowns at a series or six out of eight at some point, something like that.

And they're somehow better on the road. Like I know that Colts game. Yeah. Throw that out for a second. But I think they put up 40 against Arizona, 40 against Tampa, maybe 41, 44 today against the Niners. Top-ranked defense. When it's healthy, I get they're missing some pieces.

But the big thing is Juju Schmitz-Schuster and Valdez Scantling, who we know are decent. They're at least decent receivers. If he gets in tune with those guys, just get out of the way. Really, it's them and the Bills. Feels like it's happening. Yeah. And they're getting more out of Edwards way. It's really, it's them and the Bills. Feels like it's happening. Yeah. And they're getting more

out of Edwards Hilaire too. That was an interesting one because there was like a, I let go of those money sites that say, you know,

just to make sure the public's not. Which way it's going. The Chiefs were really, I mean, they had like 80% of the bets wherever you went.

And that just, so then the Niners went up early. I was like, oh, here we go. And then, Jimmy G, up early. I was like, oh, here we go. And then Jimmy G, that throw in the end zone,

it felt like that swung the game. And he does, we've always talked about this. Jimmy G has that one horrible throw each half. That one was like a kick in the nuts. And his new thing is taking safeties, whether he's stepping out of the end zone or just like stepping back there.

He just doesn't, there's not that sense of urgency at all with him. So I am so back and forth with Jimmy G. I don't know. I know. I feel like people are too hard on him. But then also it was like a couple plays away from winning a Super Bowl. And then.

But I don't know. And then there are days like this. Like, oh, that team doesn't have a chance with him. Well, Trent Williams came back today. And I thought. Right. Here we go with the Ninersers and I think a lot of people their division odds moved their Super

Bowl odds moved I think a lot of people thought they were pretty lined up we talk about the McCaffrey trade in a second but if anything now this would be the time to get into the Niners after that loss because now the division odds have dropped I still think they're the best team in that division

you know it's seven game mark we've seen this happen over and After that loss, because now the division odds have dropped. I still think they're the best team in that division. You know, it's seven game mark. We've seen this happen over and over again where you just can't overreact too much. But the McCaffrey trade, I really liked it. For who? Well, I liked it for both teams, but I liked it for San Francisco because I think when they have them completely acclimated,

a couple people have made the point about it just allows him and Debo and Kittle, there's just so much variance to any possible play, those three guys out together. You could feel it a couple times in the game today. I like it. I thought it was a good swing.

I like that they didn't give up a first, but what did you think? They were asking for two ones, right? And they ended up getting day two draft picks for the next two three years whatever it is so that even that's a big haul and today's you know if you're going for a running back who's been injured and you know these guys only last three or four years but that said if you're going to make a run this year and you look at jimmy g and you're like all right this guy has trouble throwing more than four yards downfield. What could I do to help Christian

McCaffrey? A healthy Christian McCaffrey is definitely the answer. I wish we had been in the Panthers war room for that trade because I would have gotten Mitchell back. Like, you know, it would have been like when we make fantasy trade, right? You have to get a running back. Throw me Mitchell back. What am I going to do?

Just throw him back. You don't even need him. Do one of those. That was like the trade we almost made. What was that? Chase for Ramondre and Waddle? I should have done it. I needed to get that. And Chase went nuts.

You just didn't push me hard enough. Now he's going crazy. I should have. I thought I was being smart. And now Ramondre is going to have like four carries tomorrow. So the Niners play both LA teams coming up. And then they have a nice little stretch of at Arizona,

New Orleans, Miami, Tampa. All three of those are at home. Yeah. They finished the season week 17, 18 at Las Vegas, home Arizona.

I, I don't love the odds. I think if you're just going pure odds, I don't know why Seattle still isn't the bet. What did I have? Seattle at they were plus plus 550 to win the division because they play a lot of crappy teams coming up.

Out of the hard games, they got San Francisco once. They're at KC in week 16. Other than that, they play the Giants this week. Yeah, so they're what? This is like seven weeks now they're doing this

so they're definitely in it I don't want to say they're for real they're a couple is this the year is this the they're a couple plays away from being dot dot dot year where you could do that with any team and come up with a ridiculous

like the Chargers are a couple plays away from being five and one or six right I just feel like we've never been doing that more than with this slate that's why when you read me well they have this team coming up this down like all right I don't know everybody could beat

everybody at this point yeah New Orleans is a good example of that right but I don't know. I look at the Seahawks. Raiders. They deserve to beat Denver in week one. They outscored Detroit.

I thought they handily beat Arizona last week. And then they handily beat the Chargers today. To me, it's a legit four and three. The shocking thing to me is I just really like how Geno's playing. I know he had a couple turnovers today, but his ability to kind of extend the play, it's like what

Wilson needs to do for them. I think his receivers have let him down a little bit. Then Metcalf got hurt at some point today. But he hasn't been going nuts anyway. But I think the best point to make about the West is it's not great. There's not going to be a 12 or 13. You can almost guarantee there's not going to be a 12 or 13 win team, right?

So if you can win the division at 10 and 7, yeah, why not? Why should the Seahawks get around 8, 9, 10 wins this year? Well, how many 11 win teams are we going to have? Yeah, not that many. Other than Philly, would you even say there's another 11-win team in the NFC at this point?

In the NFC, there is. It's from your division. No way. I mean, I guess the Vikings can keep getting lucky, but I don't see it. Pittsburgh tonight against Miami.

Just quickly. I felt like if they... I thought they were going to steal that game. Collinsworth was on it the whole game. Mike, I've been here before. You got to put them away early, Mike. You got to do it. And they needed one throw from Pickett. And he couldn't make the throw.

Or one long run. I feel like they said he had like 20 yards of daylight when he threw that pick at the end. It reminded me of the Zappy-Green Bay game where it's just like, just make one play. And he just couldn't do it, right? Because they had the ball. Miami punted, I think, four times in a row there. They didn't even go for it on fourth and three on the 40,

which I was surprised by. But Pittsburgh just couldn't make the play. If it were me, I'm granted these guys probably know more about running an offense than we do. But you have Pickens, you have Claypool. Aren't you just throwing the ball down the sidelines and having those guys

jump up and either try to get past interference? I would just do that with Pickens eight times. Under throws, all that stuff. Just put pressure on one of the sidelines. I agree with you. And that's funny because we saw Andy, some of these older quarterbacks or the newer quarterbacks, they rely on the shallow crosses.

And when Andy Dalton, I was watching him Thursday night, I'm like, you know what? He's as good as anyone with the shallow crosses. I'm like, you know the problem with the shallow crosses? Someone eventually gets a hand up there, and it's tipped, and it's intercepted, and it's your fault, or it isn't your fault, and then you got to figure out. And then Andy Dalton had like three of those. It's like, oh, what's going on?

But I think you're right with that. I was surprised. I thought both with Tua and Dak, I was like, I can't believe I haven't talked to the Cowboys, but I thought they're both going to get off to slow starts. The Dolphins scored on their first three possessions, and then it was nothing, right? They had 13 after the first three possessions, and I think three the whole rest of the way.

So give the Steelers credit for sticking in there, I think, defensively. I think they're very well coached. I think they figured out within about a quarter that Miami was just trying to get rid of the ball fast because they didn't want Tua to take hits. They just kind of moved everyone up. They needed to corral one of those six or seven interception attempts

they had right there. That was the only thing. I mean, that's the thing. Has anyone ever had more drop picks than Tua? I've never seen anything like it. It's like he's throwing, it's like he's Gaylord Perry throwing like a spitball. Right. These guys,

it hits both of their hands, it bounces in the air, they drop it a second time. Yeah. I can't believe it. The guy should have 20 interceptions this year. Yeah.

Well, yeah, I know. He's got enough problems. So, yeah, I don't have, I don't have a lot of confidence in them. Me neither. What? Well, they did win the game,

but I guess, what are they? A game behind the Jets even at this point or two? I think we have a lot of confidence in them. Me neither. What? Well, they did win the game, but I guess, what are they? A game behind the Jets, even, at this point? Or two? I think we have a pretty good feel for what that AFC playoff picture

is going to look like. I don't want to jinx it, but I think... Because, like, Brees Hall got hurt today in the Jets, which was the most devastating injury

of the year because that guy was so much fun to watch. And it really felt like he was breaking out. And just classic Jets, right? Jets fans can't have nice things. They just can't.

So they have this guy who's like a fucking comet. And oh my God, we finally have the most exciting offensive rookie in the league. And then he blows out his knee. But they're 5-2. But I don't think that's survivable without him because that was the X factor for them. That was their big play guy.

Let me ask you this. AFC East, NFC East. If you're going to ask to make an over-under on how many playoff teams? I think you get three from the NFC. Yeah. Three from the NFC East. Yeah, I do. Wow.

So you're going to go at least two from... Wow. Think about I do. Wow. So you're going to go at least two from... Wow. Think about what you're saying. Five from those two divisions who everybody left for dead. Maybe six from... I don't think you're wrong. I think it is like four and a half is the over-under. It's right there.

I think my team is a playoff team, but if we're not a playoff team, then Miami... There will definitely be at least two. Cincy and Baltimore playoff teams. One from the AFC South. And that's the thing. It might only be one

from the AFC West because the Chargers, they are like the weirdest four and three. I don't feel good about that team at all. We need to take a break and then I want to attack

the 72 Dolphins. When you ride transit, please be safe. Yeah, be safe. When you ride transit, please be safe. Yeah, be safe. Because what you do, others will do too. Others will do it too. So don't take shortcuts

across tracks. Don't do that. In fact, just don't walk on tracks at all. Not at all. Trains move quietly so you won't hear them coming. You won't hear them coming.

See, safe riding sets an example. Yeah, an example for me. Because safety is learned. It's learned. Okay, give it up. Give what up? Really? Really, really. This message is brought to you by Metrolinks.

Alright, before we get to Guest Alliance, I'm so tired of the 72 Dolphins, Sal. Has anyone ever really dove into the 72 Dolphins season? It's only been 50 years. What are you tired about? 50 years.

They celebrate. Every five years, they're celebrating it again. They celebrate it when somebody has an undefeated season that falls through, we have to deal with them. Nobody's ever dined off a season more than these guys. So I looked at what happened. They were 14-0 that year, right? 14 game season.

For some reason, the NFL that year had this, it was expansion, right? So the AFL and the NFL, they merge. So the league's all out of whack. It's very similar to when the 96 Bulls won 72 games because there were too many teams in the league. For some reason, the East divisions had five teams instead of four. So the Dolphins play eight of their 14 games against the Jets, who finished seven and seven, the Colts five and nine, Buffalo four, nine and one,

and the terrible Pats three and 11. They also got to play the Oilers who were one and 13. They played the Chargers who were four, nine-1. And they played the Cardinals in the other conference who were 4-9-1. So 11 of their 14 games were against dogshit teams. And I went on this deep dive. I sent it to you. The Jets in week 10. Zonka fumbles. They call it a fumble after the whistle.

The game's over if the Jets get the fumble. Dolphins punt. Guy runs into the punter. It's like five seconds after the guy. Nobody's ever run into the punphins punt. Guy runs into the punter. It's like five seconds after the guy, nobody's ever run into the punter later than this guy runs into the punter. He's like rolling into him. You sent me the video.

Yeah, yeah. Keeps the drive alive and the Dolphins go. And I'm just like, God damn it. If that fucking asshole hadn't run into the punter, we'd never have to deal with like

Larry Zonka with the cigar again. Jesus. And then if my team, if my team had pulled off in 07, we'd never have to deal with these guys because then it would be like, oh, well, and then somebody else did it. But no, every time,

here they are again, 72 Dolphins. 50th anniversary. Fuck this. First of all, this might be elder abuse on your part. What do you care? What do you know? They kick the Patriots ass my entire childhood. So I just,

I don't like the other thing. What, what if someone does this in 40 years about, uh, about your Patriots and looks at it and there's a Bill Simmons is like, Hey, did you realize the best quarterback in the Patriots division for 12 years was Ryan Fitzpatrick?

It's very easy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you can have cases against anything. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, it does suck. I've had enough of it, too. I'm with you. 1972.

For the year, the Dolphins threw 17 passing touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Those are the regular season stats. Is that what it was? Yeah. Wow. They scored 385 points. What? No, I want to get champagne for the Astros

beating the Yankees. Come on. 6-5. They take it. A sweep. Beautiful. Minus 180 to beat the Phillies. I thought when I got older I wouldn't have so much contempt for the teams that I don't like, but I have the same amount of contempt that I had two, three decades ago. That's what makes that I don't like, but I have the same amount of contempt that I had two,

three decades ago. That's what makes sports great. I know, but I also feel like I pick up three teams a year that I want to hate. And I don't see, I think with basketball, that's what's good with you. You could find whatever,

if it's LaMelo ball and they have like, I like Charlotte, I like watching them or whoever, you know, you don't, you don't really pick up. I, I never find a team like, oh, they're great to watch.

I hope they win unless it's my team. But I definitely pick up two or three teams every few years who I dislike. That you dislike. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm running out of teams. I'm never happy with any playoff situation when my guys are out of it. Well, I have this Lakers situation, which is just like a gift from the gods

that they brought Westbrook back. I think he's shooting 30% for the year. They were making a big deal about, you're going to have to earn your way into crunch time this year. Then they're just putting him out. Darvin Hams, they're doing the exact same stuff Vogel did, but I'm really loving.

And the fact that they don't have their pick is just the absolute best. All right. Oh, I had one more thing for you before we do guest lines. I miss Joe Buck. Yeah. The fact that they don't have their pick is just the absolute best. All right. Oh, I had one more thing for you before we did guest lines. I miss Joe Buck. Yeah, for sure. I know he's on Monday Night Football, but I really felt... You mean for baseball?

You mean for baseball? Yeah, for baseball and even for the Sunday late afternoon game on Fox. I just feel like Chiefs-Niners just feels bigger if it's Buck and Aikman on that Sunday at four. And it's just, we should be able to vote on this. It gets announced, Buck and Aikman are thinking about going ESPN. We should have a vote. The same way we would vote on laws or whatever. Where we'd be like, so wait a second, we lose Buck in baseball?

And we lose him on those four o'clock awesome Fox Sunday games? Yeah. But I get them on Monday night when I'm I can also have Peyton and Eli and I'm you know worn out from football anyway like I just would rather buck on Fox. They got to trade him back. We got to go back. I miss him too. I think he will go back. It's like loss. We got to go back.

We got to go back to the island. We need Buck and Aikman on Fox. I don't even know who these announcers are doing the baseball games. They're all like these generic white guys. I don't know who's who. No, I know. It's like, I'm Joe. I'm Jim.

I'm John. I feel bad because I kind of know all those fox guys. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring the bad position. No, it's all right. But you're right. You're right. It's like an institution, right?

It's like it's not Vin Scully, but it's right below it. That's the thing. We had Buck for the first two decades of the 21st century and it's just like the baseball playoffs are here. Here's Joe Buck's voice. Yeah. And now we don't have Joe Buck's voice. We don't have Vin Scully either. And it's like, who's the voice now at baseball? We don't

have a voice. Well, they threw Costas back at us after however many years. I ask you again, who's going to be the voice? Costas was like, here's my voice. I'm going to say a lot of words. I love Costas, but to me, that's producing. I'm going to tell. You don't need to talk the whole time.

I'm going to tell a story about Stan Musial. And listen, I'll get back to you in the fifth inning with the score update, but this is how it's going to be. Well, that one time when Gonzalez came up in the extra inning game on this Saturday, and it's like do or die, two outs, and Costas was telling a story. They flashed back to his two other hits, but he was at the

plate. And I'm like, I don't need any more setup. Can I just watch this at bat? This is do or die. You don't need more drama here. He's telling a story. They're putting a tarp on the field, Bob. They're getting ready for game three. Listen, Joe Buck, it's lost.

We're all Jack with the beard on. We just went with Evangeline Lilly. We just got to go back. Just need Joe Buck back. Why can't he do the World Series? I don't know. He can't take Why can't he do the World Series? I don't know. He can't take two weeks off and do the World Series? Look, I thought everybody could do anything, right?

I just thought like, you know, Strahan does Good Morning America and does Fox. He jumps from network to network. Why can't Joe Buck do it? You know what, Joe Buck, if you're listening, you're selfish. That's what you are. You're selfish.

Now you're turning on him? He didn't care about us? No, he didn't care about us. No, but the one thing... I will say, the one thing I like, I like that they moved as a unit. I like that he and Aikman moved over as a team. I like that too. That's what Collinsworth... Michael should have done to Collinsworth.

He should have brought him with him. We can go over all the things you can't believe. I can't believe Al Michaels is excited about doing Thursday night football for the rest of the year. I just don't see it. That's the thing. Al Michaels won't leave.

And then Joe Buck's like, all right. She's like, I've worn out. I can't handle this October baseball slate anymore. It's like, you're the best announcer. We can't lose you yet. It's not like you're 70. You're like 52. Right.

His father went to lose him. Come on, Joe Buck. I'm going to have to have Joe Buck on the podcast, so just berate him for 20 minutes. Joe, come on. I'm just going to yell at you. All right. Guess the lines. What's the record? I don't know. You're winning. It's not good. Now you're at the point where we're not even

3-2-2. It's not that bad. You won 3, I won 2, and we tied 2. Isn't it 3-1-2? No. 3-2-2. It's not that bad. You won 3, I won 2, and we tied 2. Isn't it 3-1-2 in house one? No, you won the house one. Thursday night, Brady and the Bucks playing the Baltimore

Ravens. This could be another 20 total point game on Thursday night. I think this is going to be a great night because we get to live vicariously through Kirk Herbstreit as he watches Brady and Lamar Jackson for the first time. It's going to be really special. Harking back to their college days.

This time Brady, I didn't realize he was this tall. He didn't do this at Michigan. I remember when he was battling Drew Hudson. And I remember Lam battle with Drew Hudson And I remember Lamar at Louisville Bucks are home And I have Bucks minus two against the Ravens Yeah, you were closer I said two and a half

And Vegas throwing their arms up This is lazy of Vegas They made it a pick'em Oh, wow They don't know what to expect for Brady. Very lazy. I mean, he might just retire on Tuesday. That's it?

Yeah. Where is he going to go? He's in the Tyson zone. There's no Tom Brady story. He's going to go somewhere great that's going to piss everybody off if he has an early game this week, right? If he has Thursday, what's his Friday, Saturday, Sunday look like? Stay tuned.

Yeah, that's going to be pretty fun. Probably leaves the country, I'm guessing, at least somewhere tropical. Sunday marquee game. Hold on to your seats, Sal. Mm-hmm. I have Seattle hosting the New York Giants. Wow.

I think that's the best game of Sunday. That's not a night game or anything, right? Yeah. I mean, you're saying best game on the day. Best game on the Sunday board. The one I'm the most interested in. Really? Better than Green Bay?

Two playoff teams. Wow. Okay. Yeah, I don't know how interested. I got to be honest. I don't really love watching Green Bay this year. All right. Yeah, you're right. I don't think they're a fun hang.

You're right. What do you think the line is? I have favored by three and a half over the Giants. So we're going to split this. I said one and a half. It's two and a half. Again, I guess this makes a little more sense than the Jaguars being favored by three. They're saying Seattle's equivalent

to Jacksonville was last week? I still don't know. Giants fans are going to be outraged about this. The 6-1 Giants are on the dog again. One of these games, Daniel Jones has to remember that is Daniel Jones and just have a bad game, right?

Law of averages. Could be this week. He could have a bad game. He's Law of averages. Could be this week. He could have a bad game. He's still running the ball well. I can't believe how well he's running. He's such a big part of that rush offense. It's not just Saquon. We haven't seen this before so consistently.

He's like discount Josh Allen. Yeah, he is. But you're right. All six wins have been by one possession. So we got the... Well, that just has to catch up to him. The Seahawks are not going to beat themselves in this game. So the Giants will actually have to take this one. That would be my only prediction.

I will say that... Yeah. The rookie running back, Walker, I think he's got it. He's really good. He is a classic. If he can get six yards out of a three-yard run, he gets

the six yards. He'll beat people. He's always just going forward fast. That's exactly what it was. He's a star. He's hit behind the line of scrimmage, and he'd make it like a four-yard gain. We haven't seen too much of that on offenses and behind offensive lines that don't practice and stuff like that.

Yeah. He's a breath of fresh air. He's a star. They nailed their draft. I think that's probably a playoff team. Seattle. As amazing as that sounds. I gave our friend Lewis bad information. He said, do I start Jonathan Taylor or Kenneth Walker?

And remember, he famously sat JT last year and Taylor went nuts. I was like, oh, you got to start Taylor. Walking one crazy. Oh, no. And he played you. Yeah, he was a beat me this week. I'm going to have like 150 points. All right, I feel bad.

If Burrow and Chase explode, I'm winning the week. That's like the best thing about having both those guys. If those guys have a big week, you're not beating me. The London Poopfecta game. The Jags

and the Broncos. Man. These are two... This is a borderline... It's definitely a loser leaves town match. I think whoever loses this, they're done.

It's also who can shoot themselves in the foot more match. Right. And it's going to be ugly as all hell. Denver plays the worst, least entertaining football games of anyone in the league. Just excruciating to watch. Poor Gus, our buddy Gus, flew to Denver with his son Jack this weekend to go see a Broncos game. Oh, he did go? And he gets fucking Brett ripping, and he gets the Jets, and it's like 26 total points.

He's like, no, no, have a great time. Let Brett rip. Oh, he did it. Yeah, he said that. He's like, look at these punts. Jack, look at that last punt. It was so high. Brett and Nathaniel, maybe not the combination we thought it was going to be.

But what I love about this game is they hung a line on it and they're not even waiting to see if Russell Wilson's coming back. Well, there was a time when Russell Wilson, the starter, if you didn't know Sunday night, if he was playing on the following Sunday, you're going to have to wait a few days. No, not much difference. We're going to put a line on it.

No, yeah. He would be like the eight-point swing if he got benched. He's got two pretty severe injuries, right? He's got a shoulder injury. He's got a partially torn hamstring, they said today. So would you rather have that or a healthy Brett Rippon? Well, I don't know. I mean, they still waited until what?

Friday or Saturday? They still waited until Friday to make a decision. The Gervonta thing, people are going to blame Russ, but the Gervonta thing is the worst thing that happened for them. Yeah, I guess so. That's another one who had a chance

to be pretty special and just take him out in like week three. All right, three watchables. Wait, you didn't pick a line. Oh, I didn't pick a line. I have Jags minus two against the Broncos.

Oh, so I get this. I said four, it's three and a half. Oh, come on. Jags shouldn't be favored by three plus over anybody. Brett Rippon on the road? Really on the road. The Jags are this year's advanced metrics team that make no sense compared to what the actual result of watching them is, right? Because just like they'll get first downs, they can move the ball, they can get a couple of big plays.

Everything looks okay when you look at the stats, but when you watch them, it's way off. They turn it over. Awful, awful times. Yeah, stupid plays. They love to turn the ball over. They love killer turnovers on the other teams, like 30. I have three watchables this week.

First one is Jets-Pats. Hard one because I think if the Pats crush the Bears tomorrow, I think they'll end up being favored in this Jets game. But right now I don't think you can have the 5-2 Jets as a home dog. So I'm going to say Jets by 1.

Where does this put it? I think I get it. I said Patriots by 2. It's Patriots are in fact favored by 1. So you get it. Mm-hmm. I was going to say, are you thinking that far back? When was the last good Jets-Pats game? 1972. Same year the Dolphins won. The Jets lost to the Dolphins.

Like Rex Ryan era Jets? Yeah, that sounds about right. That sounds about right. When was the last time both of them were above 500 heading into a Jets-Pats game you're not afraid of them yeah but you're not afraid of them without Brees Hall the point you made was good I would have been absolutely petrified of them with Brees Hall

Zach Wilson it's funny he's he scampers around I'm going way back but he looks a little Fran Tarkenton-ish sometimes. He just has Katerin Ozag the other way and then he'll just throw it into seven guys.

Yeah, right. I'm not a huge fan, but he's not horrendous. He's not like watching Trubisky. Their over-under for wins was five and a half. They're there already. They got five. Wasn't that the most heavily banged?

Was that one of the heavily banged overs of the summer, right? Yeah. I think so. Next watchable. Vikes hosting

the Cardinals. It's funny. Nobody likes this Cardinals team. And nobody really likes this Vikes team. They were destined to play. Even though they're in the same division.

It's like they had to meet on a football field at some point just so we can be disgusted by both of them. I have the Vikes by three and a half. We're going to split it. I said four and a half. It's four. Put it right there in the Vegas zone for us. I loved Kyler yelling at Cliff on Thursday night.

I really, really loved it. It was so great. The best part was the look on Cliff's face is the same look like that we have when our wife is really mad at us and we deserve it. Right. And you just kind of have to sit there, that like glazed look on your face.

I was like, okay, what is this? Get me done saying, okay, great. He's the last person who has faith in Cliff Kingsbury I think Kyle yeah just like let me do my thing let me run

around take this stupid play sheet you look at he looks at it so intently Kingsbury and McDaniel for the

Dolphins he does it too except when McDaniel when he looks at it it's like someone handed him a subpoena

and he's like he's like just staring at like it's the first time he saw it. He's like, I have to show up on Main Street at noon? What is this? But yeah, Kingsbury's another one. These guys have their heads buried in it. And it doesn't really matter with Kyler Murray. And it doesn't matter when Andy Dalton's throwing two pick sixes either, which was the difference in that game. Has two quarterbacks ever been on the same team like Winston and Dalton

that are just capable of a four touchdown five interception game in any game? Dalton had four touchdowns and three picks two pick sixes in one game. Yeah, you don't see that stat line a lot.

I tweeted about this tonight. Have you caught how the announcers talk about McDaniel? They clearly think he's a fucking weirdo, but they don't say it. But they're like, yeah, we talked to Mike. I mean, he is definitely different. He is definitely different. Really smart guy.

Smart guy. Really, you know, he's an amazing mind. But man, like Tariqo said today, it's like, if you had 50 coaches that you thought who could be an NFL head coach, he'd probably be 51st. I'm like, that's definitely insulting. Yeah, you can't say

he's just out of place. Meanwhile, they'll tell all their friends, oh, I saw this coming a mile away when they're not on mic. Right. Urshelwalker's a great guy. It doesn't make sense, but I mean, he's going to be running Congress soon.

Yeah, Mike and Chris are having like a steak last night. Chris is like, I don't know about this Mike Pantano. I just, there's a look in his eye. I think he's got bodies in the attic. I really do, Mike. But yeah, every, every,

they have speech writers that sanitize their actual takes on these guys and they don't probably don't think are going to stick around. Yeah. Well, they're never going to say in the broadcast, we met with Mike, but Danny yesterday. Woo. He's weird.

What a nerd. But anyway, yeah, it's a good read between the last stuff Rams hosting the 49ers okay

this threw me for a loop curious to see what you think this is I did Rams by one and a half I did Rams

by three it's 49ers by two come on well the Rams are I mean the numbers are really rough so what three. It's 49ers by two. Come on. The numbers are really rough. Start with the quarterbacks. Why is Jimmy G favored

in SoFi? Give me a break. We'll have a lot of Niners fans in that game. A lot of Seattle fans at that Chargers game today. Right. I don't know. The Niners didn't show me a lot today.

I think they have a lot. They have like 11 guys on IR, 11 starters. It catches up to them for sure. I was shocked by how much of a push over their defense was. I guess they weren't even close in those series. If they lost this, I guess that's the thing,

right? Because they lost. They lost row if they lost this. I guess that's the thing, right? Because they lost Atlanta. They lost today. I think this is an unequivocal stay the fuck away from this game. Do not bet this game. Yeah. Stay away. Stay away.

Don't even go to it either. Don't go. Don't go. Don't bet it. Fairly watchables. Atlanta's hosting the Panthers, the frisky Panthers. I had the Falcons by four and a half Vegas on baby. That's exactly what I said.

They jumped it up to six and a half. They think the Carolina run is over with, but it seems like a lot. I think that Panthers defense is pretty good. Like they can, as long as they other team doesn't have like a 10 point lead, they can kind of hang around. Yeah.

I don't know, man. I don't like this. PJ Walker, Mariota. We're going to have to go crazy about one of them. Yeah. Stay away. Dolphins are at Detroit. Poor Detroit.

What a run. Coming off hard knocks. Fun offense. Now your team, I mean, that game wasn't even worth talking about. You just picked the wings off them. game wasn't even worth talking about. You just picked the wings up. We didn't even talk about it. Dan Campbell 0-11-1 on the road with the Lions.

If you look at the numbers, it was very it was a very even game, except for the five turnovers for Detroit. Almost every number is exact. Total yards, penalties, time of possession, all of it. But that's what they do. They either turn the ball over, they do dumb fourth down calls

or any way that they can ruin the game for themselves. Goff against your defense was an awesome matchup for a pure Detroit fan. Right. So I have Dolphins by three. Yep, we all have three. It's three and it is three.

Saints are home for the Raiders. Saints are two and five somehow. I didn't realize that until I was looking at the standings. They felt a little three and fourish to me. I think we said New Orleans, Arizona was going to be a loser leaves town. But do we want to give New Orleans one more week? I think we have to. Actually, they're a game out.

They're a game out. Yeah, we have to. We have to. Everyone in that division gets another week. I have the Saints by one and a half over the Raiders. I had pick, and it's Raiders by two. I have no idea. So I get that?

I get that, right? Yeah, you get that. You might win this week. Look at this. What is this? Seven to six. I have the lead right now. He might win this week. Look at this. What is this? 7-6. I have the lead right now. So the Raiders,

they played Chargers Arizona at Tennessee. And the at Tennessee loss seemed terrible because we thought Tennessee was terrible, but it turns out they're not terrible. Denver at KC, the game they should have won. And they beat the hell out of Houston. I don't feel as terrible about them as I did.

I think if you're going to ask me who is the team that you could be like, whoa, remember they started out 1-4 and now they're 10-7 and they're in the playoffs. That would be my pick. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I just think they have a lot of talent. Well, but what we said is probably no one's going to be 11-6, right?

I mean, the Chiefs, you have to think, might run away with this division. And then they'll compete. I think the Raiders can if they win this game with some of these other teams are going to be, like you said, 9-8 or 10-7. Yeah, they'll be in that 9-8 range. Eagles, Steelers.

Can you believe this Josh shape? I don't think we, people make it enough. Josh Jacobs and his, his last, like he was awesome. I think his last four games, we haven't seen a contract year guy like this in a very long time,

but I know he has close to like 600 yards in the last four games. Crazy. Well, speaking of crazy, the Steelers are somehow big underdogs again they're playing Philly now rough stretch for the Steelers this is in Philly Philly coming off a bye it has to be double

digits I'm going to say Eagles by 10 you get it exactly I said 10 and a half good pull there even things up what do we do that feels like a three teamer we got well there's another one coming up but I don't know who the third what do we do? That feels like a three-teamer. We got, well,

there's another one coming up, but I don't know who the third team was. Well, all right, God, there's, there's a couple, there's a couple double digits.

I'll tell you. Colts, Washington. It's in Indy. Nope. That's the last fairly watchable. Washington with Heineke. It's just, there's a spirit to the team when,

when he's out there. Poor Wentz. Wentz is, I don't know what happens to him, but it doesn't seem like. Poor Joe House. I mean, there's five good quarterbacks in the draft here. And the commies are going to scratch their way to like seven and 10 and not get any of them. Crazy.

I had them. I did underdog parlays with them in Seattle today and them in Pittsburgh. Nice. And I'm going to say both. The Pittsburgh one was like 10-1. But I thought they outplayed Green Bay. I actually thought they were a better team. I didn't feel like that was an upset. I don't feel like Green Bay was like, wow,

how did we blow that? Washington actually should have won that game by double digits. Packers got a late touchdown. I don't know if it means they're decent, but because Heineke kind of does this every year right then he beat

he beat Tampa at home too I got a couple big plays no Bakhtiari the Washington pass rush I thought was as effective as we all

kind of had predicted but I thought Washington was better poop factor quickly Cowboys and the Bears it's in Dallas I have Cowboys you didn't you didn't say Washington.

We didn't pick it. Oh, we didn't pick Colts-Washington? I had Colts by four. Colts by four is right. Damn, I should have let you just skip it. I had three. You got it exactly. I could see Washington giving them trouble

with the pass rush they have. Oh, why not? Yeah. Matt Ryan's taking a lot of hits this year. Cowboys, Bears, and Dallas. I have Cowboys by eight. All right, I'm going to get this one. Wait, I think.

Oh, no, you get it. You shouldn't get it saying eight when it's double digits, but I said 12 and a half. It's 10. You're pulling away now. Anyway, Cowboys are going to win that game. That's before they're by, right? So Dallas wins that. Yeah, that's how many points Cowboys are going to win that game. That's before they're by. Dallas wins that.

How many points are the Bears going to score in that game? Right. They're over on the... I was trying to figure it out. We'll probably be about 13.5. The Bears. Dallas, Philly. We need a third team. Keep going. Titans are the other proof of the game. Titans at Houston. I think three weeks ago,

this line, maybe Houston would have been either favorite or would have been a pick them. Now I think it's Titans by three and a half. Oh man, you're going on some run here. I had five and it's four. Damn it.

Why did I screw up? I feel like the cheating sets, you just, you know, just the time that I just grind it out. I activated the, like that poker lady who people thought her seat was vibrating. Yeah.

With that whole poker scandal. Is that what's going on? Did you follow that scandal? That was amazing. I did. She admitted to it, right? Or did they? Nobody knows.

Everybody's taken, it's become like the JFK assassination. Right. I don't know if she admitted. I haven't followed in the last week. Well, she offered him his money back. That's admitted, right? Yeah, that was suspicious. But who knows?

Maybe he was intimidating. Kyle, check Simmons' chair right now. I want to see if it's vibrating. So today, bills are home for the Packers. I can't win now. Yeah, go ahead. I don't see how this line is lower than eight.

I think it has to be Bills at least by eight. Is that what you're saying? I'm saying Bills by eight. Yeah. I said nine and a half. It's 10 and a half. Oh, Jesus. Who loses that three-teamer?

Bills over Packers just to win. Cowboys over Bears just to win. Or what was the other one? Eagles over Steelers. $75,000. Catch up. I'll catch up on everything. That'd be great. Here's what I want to see from Rodgers. Kyle, turn the TikTok camera. Rodgers being irrelevant this season.

He hasn't been irrelevant in a while. They were bad a few years ago, but he's been really relevant the last couple of years. I think he's going to be irrelevant this season. How does he handle it? Yeah. Like, does he, does he try to do the celebrity thing where he tries to plant the stuff that

gets people talking? Does he start dating some celebrity to get people talking about that? Change the hands hands like have some crazy mcafee podcast or he just right completely off the rails talking about tom brady like or does he just fade into irrelevance for this season because the team doesn't have it i don't see him fading into anything it is incredible now that you say this, and I look at the board for MVP. He's 13th. He's 75-1. Wow.

It's week seven. He's 75-1. It's not a good team. It's not a world coaching. And he's swearing. I think the ayahuasca wore off, though, because he's actually swearing at the press conferences. So he cares. He definitely cares.

I wouldn't say any of these guys don't care, but 75-1. How many years in a row can somebody play before they can't dine on the same Super Bowl anymore? I think he won in 2010. This must be 12 years since he won a Super Bowl. The 72 Dolphins have done it for 50 and counting. Oh, my God. They're here right now. Hold on.

They're wearing gold jackets. They went 8-0 against the AFC East in the expansion season. Let's pour some more champagne. Oh man. Poor Aaron Rodgers. Monday night, Bengals at the Browns.

Bengals, a little bit of a late bloomer for them, but they can block now. They couldn't block before. All of a sudden, they can block. And Burrow is on a bender. Running the ball a little better.

They had some injuries today, though. They already were missing DJ Reader, and then Hendrickson got hurt during the game today. So something to watch. This is a Browns. They can't go two and six. So this is the biggest game of the year for them now. And I think the Bengals will be favored, and I would

be scared to bet them. I have Bengals by 1.5. All right. I got this one exactly. It's 3. I lose 10-9. So close. That was like I went into prevent for the last couple of picks. You really did. You laid it on. I don't know what it was.

That was Giants-Ravens, how you just took over that fourth quarter there. But yeah, I'm with you. What do you have? 345 yards passing in the first half? Nothing else really matters if he's going to keep that going. See, that's what everyone thinks Herbert's going to do. And he just can't do it anymore. Now they have

47 injuries piled up. But he sits back there and he's not going to have four touchdowns, Herbert and 300 yards and borrow, borrow is he's a capable quarterback who could throw long. It's unbelievable in this league. There is a, I really like Herbert and I enjoy watching him.

There's a disparity between the way he's treated in online dialogue with the media, the whole thing versus what the results have been. There's no question. Completely overpraised. Completely. I mean, just from look at the odds, he's sixth for MVP.

Is he doing that much better a job than Aaron Rodgers right now? The thing is calling somebody overpraised isn't even an insult. It's just the reality of the situation. Yeah, I don't want to say overrated. It's not his fault. He's not asking people to praise him.

Yeah, just keep doing what you're doing. You're doing great. I just don't like the way they use them, and I don't really like watching the Chargers on offense or defense, but especially on offense. I don't get it. They should just be flinging the ball,

man. I mean, your guy J.C. Jackson went out, and on the play he went out, it was big, because he couldn't jump. Had he been able to jump, that would have been right back in the game. That sucks, but that team's not going anywhere. They got him, and it seems like he's been hurt

even before the season. It always makes you think, when Belichick lets these dudes go, I would always be nervous. He knows, right? Especially the defensive players. Yeah, and there hasn't been a lot of guys come back to hunt the Patriots. His draft record has obviously been checkered over the years, but

his knowledge of when to cut ties with somebody is pretty crazy. And coach-wise, too. There haven't been too many guys that come back and hunt them, right? But yeah, I felt really bad for JC because everybody says he's a great guy, but he was playing hurt.

And it always seems like the guy who's playing hurt, those are, and then it's like, oh no, now he actually has an injury, but that sucks. Anyway. All right, let's take one more break

and then we'll do some Paracorner. Today's Paracorner is brought to you by our old front CarMax. Car shopping can be a hassle but not with car max car max lets you shop your way shop online or check out a store near you and finally find your perfect match get a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can see if the car works for you or return it if you need to for up to 1500 miles see carmax.com for details. CarMax. Car buying reimagined. Parent Corner Time.

Sal, start us off. All right. So I spent two hours and the main two hours really of Sunday, right? When those eight games are ending, like from 11 to 1 on the West Coast right there. So I have the eight box from DirecTV on my iPhone and my vision is terrible. And I'm also watching my eight year old play pony league baseball. So, and we're playing our, yeah,

so it's great. And I'm sit there and Melissa, my wife, you talk about, she hate, like I'm, I'm all hooked up. I have the earbuds in,

like I'm not talking to any of the parents, but anyway, except for when my kids up or my kids pitching. So I'll cut to the end, but it was very emotional. We're playing our crosstown rivals. It's like a travel. Yeah. And we even And we even know the parents on the other team, but somehow that makes it much more intense, the situation. So we're down three in the fourth.

We score five in the fifth. So now we're up two. There's another game waiting. So this is the last inning. And my son Harrison has to come in to shut it down. Up two in the last inning. And now at the same time, the 1 p.m. Eastern games are ending. So I'm a wreck between losing money on the Bucs for the ninth week in a row to my son being in a high pressure spot. So first batter, fly ball to right,

nice catch, Kellen Wheeler, one out. Second batter, strikes out looking great. He's on top of the two out. Third batter, he walks a kid, gets squeezed on three and two batter, he walks a kid. Gets squeezed on three and two. Fourth batter, same thing. Gets squeezed on three and two. Walks. Now I'm losing it. We couldn't get one of those.

Don't you want to go home, ump, and see the end of some of these games? You don't care. All right. So it's first and second. We're still up to... By the way, if the ump was making like 25 bucks for the game, it's 89 degrees. It's like when those no-hitter calls when it's like the ninth inning if the ump, like, let's make it like 25 bucks for the game. It's 89 degrees. I'm calling.

It's like when those no hitter calls when it's like the ninth inning. Right. And the ump's calling everything a strike. I'm out of there the last inning. I'm like, ah, it looked like a strike. I'm out. Let's go. You're not getting overtime.

It's October baseball. Get out of there. Get out of there. Right. All right. So anyway, they'll call three and two twice. So now it's first and second. We're up two.

Ground ball to first. Two out. First baseman, Sisko, takes it. It's going to be one of those plays where it's close. Should he take it himself? Should he flip it to the pitcher? So Harrison covers first. Sisko's running for the base.

And then the kid's running. And it's going to be very bang, bang. And it's actually bang, bang, bang. Because all three of them run into each other. And the kid is called safe. The umpire hesitates and calls him safe. And now there's a carousel. The kids on first and second are both scoring.

And so now it's a tie game, and Harrison is very upset. I could see he's trying to keep it together. He's wiping away tears, and I'm like, oh, he's done. You might as well put Sister Jean out there to pitch right now because he's a mess. So our coach is talking over and send the second run back to third. So now he's got life because we're up one with two outs, bears down, two strikes, kid pops up to Clay Peterson at second, ends the game, dingers win 12 to 11 and I yell at him all the way home for crying and

for the Jags blowing the game. I blame him for both those things. So that's it. That's my parent corner. This is a pivotal thing you just broke. Tell me, what did I do? The amount of crying with little boys in baseball from age 8 to age

10 or 11 is one of the most startling things of my entire parent experience. Really? It needs to go down, right? It's too much. No, everyone cries. You can't even believe it. The amount of breakdowns and pitchers

and just how sensitive everybody is. You watch it from the stands. You're like, is this child abuse? We're having our kids play these sports where they're having emotional breakdowns. It's like, is this a good thing? I don't know. I was always startled by that when Ben played baseball, how many kids got really upset during the games. When does it end? What age is it? Like 12? Well, but you want them to suffer, not suffer, but you want them to go through some like, kind of like, right.

There's gotta be some conflict in their lives, right? That's all fine. But when it's, when your kid is like crying or close to tears, there's nothing worse when you're like the baseball parent. You're like, I know. Please don't. Don't cry. No.

Come on. Hold it. Get it together. It is an absolute nightmare. Yeah. I'd rather have him have like a sprained ankle or something. Right. I'm a terrible parent. I really am. I really am. And then I'd rather have him have a sprained ankle or something. I'm a terrible parent.

I really am. And then I yell at him on the way home. And I think two weeks ago I came on. I'm like, oh, parents need to calm down. I'm not making it, Simmons. This kid's eight. I have 10 more years with him playing. He'll play something through high school, I'm guessing. I might not make it that long anyway myself.

But you're going to read about me on TMZ like Kimmel's cousin, a Saltz fan. You're definitely going to see that in the next 10 years. I was very scared for you with this baseball thing. I've been on the record over and over again with this. It's the worst parents. It's the most sitting around. It's the most

ways to get agitated by other people. And yeah, I was concerned. And also, we think we know it all, right? Because we've seen 700,000 baseball games in our lives. How much did you spend on the chair? Because you really got to get a good chair for the baseball. I didn't get it. No, I walk around too much.

Oh, you do the nervous pacing thing. That's always good for the kids. There's Harrison's dad doing circles in right fields. I try to stay out of his eye line, but it doesn't usually work. My daughter had to write... She's got to finish her application for college. She had to write the essay. She overthought it.

So she wrote like four different essays and it's just been going on. She already knows she's going through the school. She just has to finish the application. And she did like four different versions and four different angles and she's driving herself crazy with it. She's like, just fucking pick one. So one of the ones she wrote was about,

apparently, I didn't read it, but it was about me and her and soccer. And she tried, and then she's like, no, no, I'm gonna, and she ended up doing something different. But I was like, I don't think I wanna read this. She's like, no, no, no, it's great. It's all about how, you know, 12 years of soccer and all the trips and stuff and all the times you got mad at me. And I'm like, wait, no, it's great. It's all about how 12 years of soccer and all the trips and stuff and

all the times you got mad at me. And I'm like, wait, what? How many times did I get mad at you? And she's like, well, that time coming back from Palm Springs when you didn't talk to me for two hours. And then that time in Bakersfield when I kind of mailed in the scrimmage and you were really mad and you said you're never going to go again. And she listed like four things for the last 12 years. And I'm like, I'm the worst. I felt like a terrible dad, but I'm not a terrible dad. But she, I don't know, out of like 400 trips, she picked the, she specifically remembered the four times and where we were leaving from and why I was bad about her. And she was like, ultimately I decided that wouldn't work as an essay,

but she apparently wrote it. Now I'm afraid to read it. Do you think she just listened back or someone's like, oh, just listen to a few parent corners if you need to. I remember you telling some of these stories about you giving her the cold shoulder. The Bakersfield one made me really mad because I was like two hours away and it was like during COVID and nobody was wearing a mask. So she was throwing off and she was, and I was like, we just drove two hours. You're not even like running.

Well, maybe you should write a rebuttal essay and send it off to her college. Yeah. That's what I'm going to do. I'll do that after. Smart. Back into writing. The only thing I had, I had a parent corner about my mom really quick. Yeah.

So this is like, you have the Jewish mom. So it's like a different kind of guilt, but the Italians and the Jewish moms, I think very similar. I think they swim in the same pool with a lot of the stuff,

like with the grudges. I have an Italian father. So yeah. Right. You get it. Yeah. You get it. There's that weird thing

about the guilt trip. So maybe your dad does this cause he's Italian, but the Italians, they just feel like they have to be together at all times. They're like a puppy litter. And then if you don't go for a couple of weeks, God forbid, that's not the first thing mentioned when you see whoever like,

Oh, what a pleasant surprise. It's like immediately. Yeah. So like we, Ben and I went to see my mom the other day and it was the same thing. It was like, Oh, what a surprise. It's like a dig immediately. Yeah. So like we, Ben and I went to see my mom the other day and it was the same thing. It was like, oh, what a surprise. I

never expected you to come. You know, it's like instantly you're on defense. And then at the end, it's like you got to, you should come by more often. And then they tell you how great it was. But the whole time you kind of feel like you're just a bad son. That's what it is.

So are we going to do this? Because we have Italian blood. That's the next thing. That's exactly the next thing. So I have a list of things. I don't have it here, but I wrote down a list of like, you should write down, oh, what a surprise. I say to my wife, I'm like, Melissa, this is what we have to do to avoid being annoying to our kids. How we roll our eyes at our parents and they roll their eyes at theirs. You have to learn from it. Otherwise, you're remembered the same way. So I have a list of all these things. Phrases? I really concentrate. Yeah, phrases and just things and just situational things that I like to

stay away from. And guilt trips is 80% of it for sure. But yeah, I think that's a good exercise. And at least it's right there in front of you. So you know what bothered you. And then you can look at it 10, 15 years from now or minutes, whatever. Or when they drop the, I hadn't heard from you. Yeah, right.

Right. So what do I owe this surprise? We're definitely going to do this. I know our kids are going to be in college next year, and I'm going to be furious if I don't hear from my daughter every day. At least something. Yeah. A text, tell me what's going on.

Hey. You know, two days pass. I'm going to be like, oh, look who's calling. Or, oh, you must need money. Like, there's all these little things you can do. I just don't want to end up doing any of this stuff. Anyway, I'm sorry I was mean about, I'm sorry I was mean coming back from Bakersfield.

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How are you doing on NBA bets? Good? Bad? Mediocre? Listen, I'm happy with the, I put a bunch of futures in. I'm happy with Zion at 18-1, the one most improved. I did it last year.

I was like, you know what? I got to do it again this year. It was such a mess. He was too fat to play. If he wins, I'm going to be so mad. What do you think of that? I'm so happy with that bet right now. Not only is he most improved, he's the most, oh my God.

Is that the word? The most, oh my God? Yeah. He looks exactly like he looked two years ago. It's incredible. Great job. I love it. I have a shot. I have a shot. Yeah. Yeah, we'll talk NBA. We'll talk NFL, Major League Baseball, and

against the odds, extra points. Minus three, Megan Fun of Sports, Lemon Pepper Parley, Waver Wired, Covered in Glory. Lots of sports. Lots of sports. Gambling Talk. Check it out on Extra Points Podcast Network. We're on Spotify. You have an account, right? I do have a Spotify account, yeah. Good.

Who's favorite in the World Series? Is it like Astros minus 170? What is it? Minus 180. Minus 180. I'm sticking with them. I liked them this time last year against the Braves. And then just, I don't know, the National League pitching just kind of mows you down.

But I think they win. I think they win in six. Well, you know who's not going to care? Joe Buck, who left us behind, ditched us. Poor Joe. Joe Buck just went to his 17 Monday nights, didn't care about us. Didn't care about being the worst in baseball anymore.

You know what I liked about Joe? When someone would foul back a pitch, he'd be like, strike one. I was like, yeah, nobody else does that. You know, the guy today, whoever called the Bryce Harper homer, I thought that was a great call. Who was it? Was it Joe Davis?

Was it Joe Davis? I don't know, but he had the, it's gone, the swing of his life! Yeah, it was a good call. I thought that was good because it really was a nice swing. Joe Davis. It was Joe Davis. Yeah, that was a very good call. Good job, Joe Davis. Maybe you can fill Joe Beck's shoes.

He can be the new Joe. All right, so good job by you. Good job by you, buddy. All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Kyle Creighton for producing, as always. Thanks to Steve Cerruti and Dylan Berkey as well. Thanks to Cousin Sal. I will see you on this feed on Tuesday.

Don't forget about Rewatchables Monday night. Me and Van Lathan, 90s action movie. Those are your hits. See you then. I don't want to see them on the way so I never say I don't have feelings with them. On the wayside, on the way so I never say I don't have feelings with them.