The Bill Simmons Podcast - The Super Bowl 56 Recap Show With Cousin Sal

Episode Date: February 14, 2022

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss the Rams' Super Bowl win over the Bengals. They discuss the Rams' struggles in the run game, Odell Beckham Jr.'s injury, Cooper Kupp's MVP performance, the Bengals' offensive line struggles, some key sequences, Super Bowl subplots, good bets and bad beats, the experience from SoFi Stadium, Parent Corner, and more. Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Cousin Sal Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up, Sal and I went to the Super Bowl. We raced home like it was a Fast and Furious movie. And now we're about to do our annual Super Bowl podcast. I think this is the 16th one for us. It's coming up next. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, Miller Lite. I've been a big fan of Miller Lite, man, since college days when I was allowed to have beer. I think nephew Kyle is a fan too.

Miller Lite keeps it simple for us. Undebatable quality, great taste. Picture this, it's game day. All the gang's here. You're tailgating outside the stadium. It's a great time for beer. Or how about when you're standing at the grill and the smell of sizzling burgers is in the air?

Moments like that. Or when you want a light beer that tastes like beer, that's delicious. You don't wanna load up on those heavier beers and then you only have two of them. Then you feel tired. Your stomach feels full. Miller Lite, it's your friend. It just accompanies whatever else you're doing. You're super happy with it. Opening an ice cold Miller Lite can signal the beginning of Miller time. Miller Lite is the light beer with all the great beer tastes we like. 90 calories

per 355 mil can. So why not grab some Miller Lites today? Your game time tastes like Miller Time. Must be legal drinking age. 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. I think Seattle's going to be good. And then trying to back what you think in those first few weeks and then zag the other way. If you were wrong, you could bet on new and fun markets on FanDuel, like to catch your pass, same game parlays, highest scoring game across the Sunday slate, offensive TDs, the next drive. They have so much stuff. It's crazy. The app is safe and secure and easy to use. And when you win, you'll get paid instantly. Plus look out for FanDuel squares this season. Here's what you have to do. Visit FanDuel.com slash BS to download America's number one sports book. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming.

Please visit RG-Help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. You must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem called Win 100 Gambler or visit RG-help.com.

We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network where we have a new rewatchables coming on Monday night. It is Parenthood, the third installment of F'd Up Family February. Parenthood is a fantastic movie. I would highly recommend you watching it before we do the podcast because it's really good. Plus there's no football anymore.

If you want more Super Bowl coverage, go to theringer.com. Bunch of great stories there. You can go to The Ringer NFL show, put a podcast up pretty fast. Ryan Rosillo has something coming up on Monday, and we'll be covering all the fallout. We'll see if Sean McVay retires. Sean McVay, we got a flying coach. Whole podcast for you. Come to The Ringer. We're here. We're here for you. We're going to talk about Sean in a second. We are going to talk to Cousin Sal about the Super Bowl game we both attended. First, our friends from Pearl Jet. All right, we are taping this at 9 o'clock Pacific time. It's a little late after the Super Bowl because the cousin and I went.

Sal, we were there, fast and furious, driving home. I was knocking people over, trying to get out of there. It was great. It was a weird game. It was a dramatic game. It was poorly played. It wasn't really well coached. And I changed my mind on who was going to win,

I would say, 10 different times during the game. But the big thing for me, it was sitting there for Burrow, especially at various points in the second half. And then that last drive and he gets to midfield right away. And I was like, man, he's going to fucking win the super bowl. This is like,

we're back. This is like Tom Brady territory again. And then all of a sudden it was fourth and one and they weren't getting it. And the game was over. How many times did you change your mind during this game? I think I sent you, I think I sent you live odds when the Rams were down four or whatever and they're down. I'm like, all right, they're minus 110. And then they punt the ball. I'm like,

all right, they're plus 140, even down four. I didn't know what was going on with them. And I felt the same way with you. It feels like the easy way to analyze these games. Like, all right, who has the better quarterback? But by the end, neither team can run the ball, especially the rams i don't know what they're doing i don't know how many yards they did they end up with um 33 rushing 36 rushing 20 23 for 43 and cup had one for seven right cup had the seven which by the way i think that was what won him the mvp i mean obviously the two touchdowns were great. Keeping that drive alive because he had to get mauled every play down the stretch, right, to stop him from scoring and eventually scored anyway.

It wasn't that hideous pass he threw. I mean, we have an MVP with a 39.6 passer rating. I don't know if we'll ever see that again. He almost killed somebody in the third row, I think. Yeah, but they couldn't run. You and I were texting each other, what the hell is going on here? Give it to Sonny Michel. Do something.

How is this team not able to run at all? I thought we had like an hour of bad football there right after the Bengals came out and scored and then scored again after the Stafford interception. We had like an hour of bad shit. Bengals TD to start the third quarter on an obvious offensive pass interference. I texted you, Gronk was called for

100 worse offensive pass interferences in his career than the T. And we couldn't even see from our seats that he also face-masked them, but it was a clear push-off. With something like that, let me just say one thing. I used to do this thing where I'd have friends, if my friends and I

were taking an elevator ride, and it stopped at a floor and someone got on the elevator with us, I would turn my head a little and I'd say, oh, look at this fucking guy. And the person who got on the elevator never thought I was talking about them because it's so outrageous that anyone would say that to him. I felt like the same thing happened

with Jalen Ramsey. His head swung so much and was thrown so feverishly to the ground that the refs were like, no, that can't be. He must've tripped over himself. Like, I don't know how otherwise they would miss that call. It was such an obvious pass interference that I thought they called it and he was running down the thing and we had people standing. So I couldn't see the ground around where Ramsey was. And I don't think Ramsey complained enough. Honestly, I felt, I feel like that's what I thought think Ramsey complained enough, honestly. I feel like the team

got even crazier. And I was just like, oh, that's coming back. And then all of a sudden, it wasn't. So anyway, they get that. Stafford throws a pick. This is like, the Bengals had this moment where all of a sudden, it seemed like they were going to go up 11. They couldn't close the door.

Ends up being a field goal, I think. And then it was just an hour of some of the worst football we've watched, where it seemed like over and over again, the Rams had good field position, did nothing. You could tell, I was telling Saruti before we came on, like, you could tell every time they're going to run the ball. It was like, oh, Cooper Cupps moving

closer to the tight end, run play. There was no trickery. There was no anything. And at some point, it just felt like the obg obj we were texting each other and obg yeah we were texting each other about is this the biggest super bowl injury of all time because i went it seemed like the rims are gonna get 50 points they're gonna you know get the over the whole thing he goes out their offense collapses right the other white guy comes in non-. I just call him non-cup.

Skoranek? Skoranek. I'm not even going to say his name. Isn't it Skoranek? No cup. And it was like every play to him is a disaster. He gives an interception at one point. But cup was heroic. That last drive, I put on Instagram that run

play you mentioned. Because it was clear, if they don't get this, the game's over. I thought they were going to run the dive play, and we were going to be like, wow, Sean McVay. Oh, my God. He did it again. Another horrific coach. But it was a great play.

Gets them, get the momentum. And you mentioned how Cup was getting mauled. Just in person watching, I don't know if the cameras are picking up, but it just seemed like the Bengals were like, we're just going to basically tackle him on every play. Then they finally called it when they had to on third down. But didn't it feel like he was getting mauled that whole drive?

Yeah, it kind of did. And that's like, talk about someone who wasn't complaining. He just really kind of goes about his business. And eventually he's like, all right, I'm going to get you eventually. So it doesn't really matter. But you're right. I mean, it was so much that OBJ, that injury, first of all, was underthrown by uh stafford that more than the terrible two interceptions were probably the worst pass because he was having he was on his way to a great game

underthrown same knee as the acl we don't know what it is but enough to knock him out of the game and now you're looking at like you said that bryson hopkins i know he's a tight end he became their second best pass catcher right like know. They had to overcome that. They had to overcome that bad non-PI call. They had to overcome not being able to run the ball at all. Akers 13 for 21. I want to know what happened with Sonny Michel. I mean, he only had two yards on two carries,

but that's a veteran. He has seven playoff touchdowns, scored his team's first touchdown three times. Give him the ball more. You don't have to worry about him fumbling. So there was a lot of weird shit with McVay and the play calling. But yeah, you're right. Like for an hour, we were like, hey, we're definitely not looking at the best two teams here. Right.

And then it did not feel that way. It was close and it was fun. Yeah, we had Akers, Jefferson, and Skoranek, a.k.a. not Cooper Cup. 26 carries slash targets for those three guys for 56 yards total. That's a disaster. That was like basically 40% of their plays were three guys that were doing nothing.

But I thought Cup, it was clear that whole, if it was like if they score here and they win, Cup has to be the MVP because watching it, watching how they were trying to defend them, it felt like there were three people attached to him at some point on every play, right? And that key play, it was like a 25 yarder over the middle that really got the momentum. I just don't know how he got open. And it was the Stafford's best throw of the day too, where he's, it was basically a button hook. Two different guys were around him

and then a linebacker was right there. Stafford had to miss the linebacker. Kup had to make this play over the middle. And then he caught two touchdowns on the drive. One got called back where he got hit in the head. And then he gets the other one. But man, just the Mets. I don't want to say, you know, I gave him, brought him good luck by hugging him Thursday night at NFL honors. And my cousin, Jimmy presenting with the trophy. I mean, it's obvious.

That's what, that was the good luck charm. But, um, I think he's coming off the greatest year receivers ever had. Right. I mean, between winning offensive player of the the Year and MVP of the Super Bowl, probably should have been considered more for regular MVP. And just the yards that he put up was just insane. I have the numbers. Go ahead.

178 catches. 2,425 yards. 22 touchdowns. He won the Triple Crown the regular season. He had the most catches ever in a postseason, 33. 32? Yeah. Or 32. Offensive player of the year, Super Bowl MVP. And it got to the point where he loses Woods. They have no second option for him for a few weeks. That OBJ thing happens. Finally, that opens it up for him. OBJ disappears, what was that, midway

through the second quarter. And from that point on, it was just like, it's basically cup or nothing. And I didn't understand. I think he had two touches in the second half before that final drive, but just sitting there going, just get it to Cooper Cup. Like, bubble screens, reverses, whatever. Like, just get the

ball in his hands. And then finally, in the last drive, that was, it's so funny because betting wise, he went under his total, right? It was like one Oh two shot up to one Oh seven. So we're like, great game, great game. He's the best. I think people bet him and, and lost on him. But, um, yeah, I, I don't, I don't, I mean, we were looking at it. So if they don't win that game, McVay's put together like two of the worst Super Bowl offenses,

depending on how you look at it, right? The one against the Patriots and then not being able to run at all against this Bengals. Yeah, I want to nitpick with some of the coaching stuff. I think like to finish on Cup, I was trying to think like people I've seen in person, best receivers. I never got to see Rice in person, but Rice is always going to be my number one. Moss got to see in person, especially in 07. Could not do all the things Cup did on a field. T.O. in the Eagles-Pats Super Bowl when he's playing in the broken leg was completely unstoppable and it reminded me a little of that where it's just like we can't stop this guy and I think Cup has moved into that whatever stratosphere it is because he actually did in the postseason like I just think you have to move him past people like Calvin Johnson or whoever

like because it's different when you have the regular season resume, but then you go up a level in the postseason. And what he did that last drive, I just thought it was nuts because all they had to do was take him out and the rims were done. Who else are they going to throw to? The third string tight end, Skoranek, Van Jefferson, whose wife was going into labor at halftime. But it was like, that was it. They couldn't run the ball.

They were done. And he had to make all the plays, and he basically did. Yeah, it was like that was it they couldn't run the ball that they were done and he had to make all the plays and he basically did yeah it was great to watch and yet you shit on him in that fourth down play we were going back and forth arguing i thought it was a good play yeah anything out of the box that doesn't work the pass i told you so cup should not be throwing a staff i was like he was wide open he had a clean pocket he was on the run a little bit why isn't that a good play i hated the play well i'd do that on second down. Don't do it third and four when you're down seven. They couldn't run.

There were no run plays. That would work. You have Cooper Cupp, who's sprinting with two guys about to tackle him, throwing to Stafford, who's just not athletic. It was like, what are the odds that was going to work? If the Philly special didn't work, you would have been like, terrible, terrible call. Sometimes these things just don't...

I didn't like it. I'm not going to like it. But at least that was the one time they got tricky. Because I didn't feel like they were tricky nearly enough. Well, the fourth and one sweep, which again, they're going for it on their own end. But what, five minutes left? They don't make that. Bengals have them dead to rights.

Well, that's the thing. I mean, one of the things I wrote down was the Bengals have them dead to rights, right? One of the things I wrote down was the Bengals almost stole the Super Bowl. You think like you go through the four weeks where that Raiders game where they're holding on and

if Carr doesn't spike it, I still feel like the Raiders would have scored it, at least would have gone to overtime. But the Raiders do everything wrong in that game and still are in it and first down and goal for the nine. The next week, Tennessee just over and over again. It's like, no, no, please take the game. We're trying to give it to you. And then they finally do. Casey,

I don't know what the fuck they were doing in that game once they had the 21-3 lead. Honestly, one of the most bizarre strategy, coaching, the Mahomes performance, all of that stuff. And the Bengals still barely win. Chiefs get the ball on OT to start it, and you think, like, that's done.

And then this game, they get the Beckham break, which was basically, I mean, the whole reason I picked the Rams was I was like, I think Kup and Beckham can win this game. Beckham's removed, and I'm like, do I live bet this? The Rams aren't going to win now, especially when they're only up three at halftime. Then they get the touchdown coming out of the gate, the Bengals.

I was just, man. They still had the best player on the field with Kopp, right? So I know Beckham was huge, and you don't want to lose him. And by the way, that sucks for him. It really does. It sucks that the Browns cut one of the best players in football, too. They just let him go. Or they didn't cut him, whatever.

That's weird. But Beckham's 29 looking for a contract. Injured the same knee that busted him up last time. There's like four or five decent wide receivers. So I guess he'll get paid. But yeah, you're right. They almost stole it. You look at this

Bengals team and we talked about it. It's hard to tell. Would you say 65-35 Bengals fans? Well, you figure what, 25% of the people at that game could give a shit about either team. They're just there to be there. Get rid of them.

The Bengals fans, I was shocked by the number of orange jerseys and just orange in general before the game. I was like, wow. I thought it was going to be like, of the people who cared, I thought it was going to be like 80-20 Rams-Bengals. Right. But the Bengals fans flew out. They were there.

They were loud. When the T. Higgins touchdown happened, that was probably the loudest point of the game. Yeah. The stadium doesn't let you enjoy the loudness of the fans because they immediately pipe techno music in, you know? And it's like, oh, all right. Can you let it breathe?

Can you let this game breathe a little? You know, go clubbing just yet. But yeah, I was impressed with them. I got there early. I know you did. And all I saw were Bengals fans. I mean, I got there three. I was having nightmares last night about this traffic.

Like people like, oh, traffic, shut up about the traffic. It's a real thing. I lost sleep over it. And I woke up and at 8.30, I'm like, we got to get the hell out of here. My wife's like, what are you talking about? Game starts at 3.30. I'm like, we're six miles away. Waze says 22 minutes.

I couldn't be happier with the traffic. I got there in 28 minutes. I got home in 27 minutes. It made my, I'm so, I feel like I freaked out studying about a final exam and it was like, yeah, I aced it. Like that was so easy. I, it's such a major win and I totally forgot that football's over and that I should be depressed as a result. I did the same thing. We, we got there like basically 1140 and I was like, I don't care that we're this early. We, we just farted around, went to some places and, um, I was like, I don't care that we're this early. We just farted around, went to some places,

and I was just so happy not to be sitting in. I was so scared of the traffic. And I think the traffic was bad. Plus, there were rumors that the truckers were going to try to shut down Crenshaw, the 405. I heard that, yeah. But that didn't happen.

All right, we're going to take a break and talk more. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance. Look at Travis Kelsey. Before he rocked that Super Bowl ring, he rocked that super soup strainer. Grow a mustache for Movember. You'll do great things too.

You won't win the Super Bowl, but your fundraising will support mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate and testicular cancer research. And if you don't want to grow a mustache, you could still walk or run 60 kilometers, host an event, or set your own goal and mow your own way.

Do great things this November. Sign up now. Just search Movember. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend that powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days. And the ability to reach further with access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. Redefine Possible with Business Platinum.

That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. Coming back, we're talking about the Bengals. I hadn't been to a Super Bowl in eight years. It's really, I really felt, because the worst thing about the Super Bowl is you just want to leave, right?

It's like a bad one-night stand when your team loses. You just want to get the fuck out of there as fast as you possibly can. But you can at the Super Bowl. And the two times I was there when the Pats lost to the Giants, it was bad enough being there, just getting kicked as hard as possible in the nuts.

Like two really, really rough losses. But then you kind of can't leave your own funeral. You're just like, I just can't just get out of here. And you're just walking and there's people and half the people are celebrating and half the people are like catatonically depressed. And it's like 35, 40 minutes of just trying to get out. And I was, I was so many Bengal fans there. Well, when were they going to leave? They couldn't leave until the very end. No, They couldn't leave until the very end. No, you couldn't leave until the very end. Right.

So there, everyone's filing out in mass and the Bengals fans were just crushed. Yeah. Because they knew it's like, wait, first of all, they hadn't been there in 30 plus years, but you know, they knew like they had the game in all these different ways. And then on top of it, they're at midfield. It's first, first down McPherson. Like they're basically almost in McPherson range. Right.

So it's like just seven. I'm thinking the same thing. I said nine yards and they're in field goal range. And I'm like, Oh, they're going for now. What we don't know is maybe they see that the defense is spent. Like,

all right, let's go for it. Let's go for the touchdown here. Why do we have to risk the Rams getting the kickoff and scoring and covering and everything else? But yeah, I thought the same thing. Field goal's almost automatic there. What are we doing? So that last drive,

they get the first down on that chase play when it felt like he ran out of bounds like five yards too early on that play too. Right. Right? So he gets to the Cincy 42. Burrow throws to Boyd for nine.

Then that second and one, there was like a miscommunication, I think, with Chase and he threw deep, but Chase wasn't

going deep. Yeah. So now we're at third and one. This is the worst play. You're about to say it.

Third and one, shotgun, and they give it to our guy Perrine for a yard. That play, I need your best play on that situation. If you get a first down there,

now I can get four more yards and McPherson, I don't know if you watched him warm up. He was hitting like 54 yarders where they were hitting like the net. Right.

So I think he was good for 60 and then Aaron Donald makes the big play on the fourth down. And they don't even really. I obviously didn't block him, but also if he gets that sack, does he win MVP? I know it ended up being incomplete. Three sacks. It would end up with three sacks.

He was very, I don't know. It would have been close, but yeah, they needed something better for Burrow there. I feel bad. So he got sacked seven times plus that thing at the end that really could have been a sack. I mean, so we're talking almost Titans numbers, and he still could have pulled it out. Warren Sharp tweeted that Burrow was pressured on 43% of his dropbacks. Jesus Christ.

He averaged just 6.3 air yards per attempt, And the Bengals line got absolutely annihilated. I think they set the record for... Burrow had 19 sacks in the postseason, which was seven more than the previous record holder. So if you're going to say, why didn't this team win the Super Bowl? You would start with, they couldn't block. You saw in the post-game press conference,

in the post-game where he said, I wish we had drafted Penny Sewell over Jamar Chase. I thought that was controversial to say. Meanwhile, you have the Rams. The Rams averaged 1.9 yards per rush. ESPN stats and info said, it's the fifth team to average fewer than two yards per rush in the Super Bowl, but the only team that won.

Which brings us back to the initial question we were batting around. than two yards per rush of the Super Bowl, but the only team that won. Wow. Which brings us back to the initial question we were batting around. This just wasn't a great Super Bowl, and I'm not even sure these were the two best teams. I really wonder if Bill's Chiefs was kind of, in a lot of ways, the Super Bowl. Well, what do you got to... All right, I'm sure you're not counting the halftime.

In totality, I it like a B minus because well from a drama standpoint yeah it's close if the ending if it's close I don't care what color jerseys they're wearing or how we got there but if it's down to the wire if the very last game is down to the wire you gotta give it some credit there the halftime

show was good you had some big name players yeah I'm just talking quality. I'm talking quality. I know. There was that hour. Like I said, it was just absolute shit

with sacks and drop balls and rushes for losses. Well, that's why if you're going losers today and obviously the Bengals start, start there. Everyone who had the Odell Beckham different bets,

like our FanDuel parlay that we did for Million Dollar Picks, the same game I was so fired up for. It was cup 80-plus yards, which hit Beckham 70-plus yards. He had 50 when he went down. Beckham scores the TD, Rams win. It was like plus 672 or something, and then Beckham's down. By the way, he goes on to have that game that we thought he was going to have

and diamond cleats all over the place. Everybody's wearing diamond cleats. Oh my God, he was wide open for a quarter. Going backwards, with that Bills-Chiefs game, if the Bills just handle that 13 seconds,

I think they had the best team. If you're going to rank the teams, we just watched a whole 17-game season that felt too long, and then the postseason. And you're leaving the season, and you're like, who had the best team?

I think it's probably Buffalo. Yeah. Well, I think that goes to your point as to why Bengals fans were so upset. Of course, you're going to be upset anyway when your team loses, but it's a longer walk when you know there were two better teams potentially

in the AFC who didn't make it. And the Chiefs gave it away against the Bengals, and the Bills gave it away against the Chiefs. And those guys are in it, and Justin Herbert's in it, and who else knows who's coming to the AFC next year. Yeah, you're never getting a better... Especially, like, this team

that couldn't block, that over and over again, huge issue, couldn't really run the ball. I mean, they didn't run the ball the whole postseason, didn't run it well today. And it seems like you could move the ball on them. And they get this incredible break with Beckham, too, man. But yeah, I think Cincy fans, number one, most bummed out.

But I would say Buffalo fans have to be, too. And then, yeah, Rogers had to be watching that going. Oh, my God. We would have beaten this team, too. Yeah. Yeah. He's another one. Well, screw him, though.

I mean, I'll never be able to dig out of the Moneyline money bet I lost with the Packers. But did you find eighty three thousand dollars? No, no. No, thanks to you. You can't even lend. It's push me? No, no. No thanks to you. You can't even lend. It's pushed me in the right direction. I'll lend you.

You know, back to the Bengals thing. They might not even get out of their division next year. I don't want to say this is a fluky thing, but you're right. It really had to be this year. I'm not counting borrow out by any means. They're going to be strong. But right now on Fandle,

they and the Ravens are the same number to 21 to one to win the Super Bowl next year. So they might not even be the best in their division. They're not thought of as the best. I don't know. Their overall is probably like nine and a half wins. It can't be a lot. It's not gonna be 11 or 11 and a half like the Bills and Chiefs.

Well, they have the receivers and the QB and the skill position guys are there. And I think it's easy for them to add around the fringes. It's a little, going to be a little easier for them than some other teams. The Rams, I think we're even more of a, it has to be this year team just because the way they're constructed, who knows,

you know, they, they went all in and so many different ways. I don't know how sustainable that is. Felt like maybe one more year after this. No, I get it. I mean, even if Russell Wilson go, I mean, not that they were that great anyway in Seattle,

but Kyla Murray goes, I mean, who knows with San Francisco, that could be one of the easier divisions all of a sudden. Yeah, with the rant, well, there's McVeigh rumors too. Yeah, what'd he say? He's getting married. He might take off.

Sean McVeigh, come to the ringer. We got you. Make $15 million a year doing TV and then do a pod with Schrager. We're good. Just come on over. You have a home here. You already did 10 episodes. Yeah, but with the Rams, I feel the same way. This was a great window where you had all these monster teams that were just gone for whatever reason, right? Your team's going to be better next year. The Pat, the, what if Brady's on the Niners next year instead of Jimmy G?

Right. You know, what if, um, I don't know. What if Pittsburgh gets an awesome QB? What if Russell Wilson or, uh, Kyler Murray, one of these guys gets traded to a team that's already good. There's too many quarterbacks on the move. There's only 12 quarterbacks that are set really you know and it doesn't look good for the afc or you know it looks good that how strong they're going to be but i wouldn't want to be there

you know what uh was a sneaky moment from this game and i think i had a better feel for it being there than i would have on tv when burrow got sacked. It was like either late third quarter, early fourth quarter. He got sacked and they kind of got pretzeled a little bit. Remember the Bengals got the roughness right after, and he limped off and we were, I had really good seats. We're sitting right behind the Bengals sideline.

Well, you're going to Frances us now. I'm not, I didn't mean to Frances. I'm just saying we great seats, great seats. But I saw Clemens pitch four feet away. I mean. I'm just saying. Great seats. Great seats, though. I saw Clemens pitch four feet away. I'm not talking.

But we could see them on the sideline, and Burrow was not the same after whatever happened. I wouldn't be surprised if he sprained an MCL. You watch someone limp off, and it's like, all right, that first step is good. Ooh, that second step is bad. Oh, he got it bad. The third step's okay.

Well, we're going to see him again, but yeah, I'm with you. He took some monster hits. He almost fumbled by the goal line to get out of that debacle. I mean, he's spectacular. He really is, and he's fun to watch. It's just that offensive line is so bad. Well, after he got hurt, the next series and the people I was sitting with in the row and I was like, I bet

they'd run the ball because I don't think he's right. And they ran the ball mixing like four straight times. He did okay to start the next drive. And he did good. They moved it, but I don't think Burrow was the same after that. He threw that incomplete ball

to chase, right? It was like third and 12, third and 10 or something. It just short hopped him. But yeah, I was like, ooh, that's actually his fault. You don't see that much. The shocking coaching mistakes in this game, and I'm sure they're going to be broken down in detail by somebody tomorrow, but like just basic

situational football stuff that we were texting about like the five minutes left in the first half the rams get the ball they're up three and the bengals are getting the ball to start the third quarter and if i'm if i'm running the rams i'm my goal is for the bengals not to get the ball back at the in that half right and it's like if we get two first downs and stafford runs the clock down runs the play clock down on each play we get two first downs and Stafford runs the clock down, runs the play clock down

on each play, we get two first downs, the Bengals do not get the ball back in this half. Stafford's going up there and they're snapping the ball like 25 seconds left. And then they had that play

right before the two-minute warning. They didn't have to snap it. They didn't have to snap it and he snaps it anyway when they should have waited until after the two-minute. And it was like, there was like 15 moments

like that where it was like basic shit you see like Jacksonville do in week six. It's like, this is the fucking Super Bowl. It didn't hurt him, but Zach Taylor calling a timeout with 37 seconds. Oh, that was the ensuing drive. That was terrible. The Bengals get the ball back. They get a penalty.

They're on like the eight. What was it? Second or third down. Zach Taylor calls a timeout like 40 seconds left. On second down. It's like you The Bengals get the ball back. They get a penalty. They're on like the eight. And it's like, what was it? Second or third down. And Zach Taylor calls a timeout. Like 40 seconds left. On second down. It's like you lost this drive. The referees pushed you back because of the, you know, whatever. And this is it.

The drive's over. Don't take it. And then the Rams have the ball at midfield. And now it's fourth and one. There's 12 seconds left. Run a play. You're going to be able. I was all right with that. Yeah. I don't know. But if you run a play. You're going to be able... I was alright with that.

If you run a play, the play takes six seconds. Bengals get the ball on their own 49 with six seconds left. You got a great kicker, though. If you can get a six-yard pass in two seconds. But I know what you're saying. Do something. Or run a play that takes eight seconds. Do you think he could have made it from 67?

No. I just found myself disagreeing a lot. The coaching doesn't get better as the calendar turns from December to January to February. That's for damn sure. They got rid of the DH, so we should be okay. What do you mean they got rid of the DH?

In baseball. I'm sorry. I mean, they got rid of pitchers batting. Yeah. They added the DH. Yeah, right. And then the Rams not feeding cup was really strange. All right. So a couple subplots.

Actually, let's take a break and then we'll do some subplots. All right. So a couple subplots. Alright, so a couple subplots from the game. We had a botched PAT leading to the Adam Carolla theory of if you're going to fix a Super Bowl, go after the snapper or the holder. So the guy

botches the hold and now it's 13-3 instead of 14-3. And then the Rams win by three instead of four. And everybody knew it. Everybody knew that if they're winning, they're winning by three, right? No chance. The moment it happened, it's like the Rams will now not cover.

There's just no scenario. I don't care how the game's going. There's no way they're going to cover now because of this Miss Pianti. You just knew in the stadium. And how many podcasts did you do this week where you're like, it's three and a half. If it goes to four or if it goes to four and a half or like, it doesn't matter. It's like they made it three now.

Everybody with the minus three and a half and fours are out. I hated the four. My goal when we did, we did really well on million dollar picks, but my goal was just don't bet the spread. And then the only bet I made in real life was the Rams to win with the adjusted line under of like 56 and a half. And that was it. That was my one bet. Cause I didn't really have a feel for the game other than I thought the Rams are going to win, but it, I just, the closer it got to the game, it just felt like, man, I wish that line was three instead of four.

And then the line moved up. It ended at four and a half. Yeah. Well, everybody and their mother wanted. I was getting calls from people. They're like, Rams, Rams, Rams, Rams, Rams. I'm like, yeah. I don't know why everybody waited to the last minute to bet the Rams. So it seems like Vegas cleaned up.

Well, I think whenever it's not an over, and especially with these same game parlays and you have the Odell's and the cups going under you know as good as cup was yeah Vegas does well when the game goes under the favorite wins but doesn't cover Fando was saying

was telling me that Odell as the first TD scorer was their worst outcome and I think a lot of people had that a lot of people just liked Odell in general first TD scorer was their worst outcome. Oh. And I think a lot of people had that. I think a lot of people just liked Odell in general. Is that plus 850? Yeah. Cup getting two touchdowns, I think.

I had that plus 310. Screwed up some stuff. Yeah. But then Chase never got a touchdown. He gets tackled on that bomb. Right. Rams that had no rushing touchdowns. And then Odell didn't hit any of the overs for yards.

So I think I knew I was in trouble with the same game parlay I did for Fandle when Drake had a very similar version of the bet. I had a couple of friends text me. I was like, you know, Drake had something similar. I was like, I did mine on Tuesday before I was able to see Drake's betting card.

But, but I thought that was like having Carolla come in on top of your bet. I'm sure Carolla must have had Rams minus four and a half. He stayed away. He didn't do it. He stayed away from the game. He stayed away from taking his son to the game. He stayed away from...

I had Stafford... I'm sorry. Let me just brag a little bit. I had cup two or more touchdowns plus three 10. I had orange Gatorade, which by the way, why don't we ever find out what the other team had in Gatorade? Like it should be like millionaire. Like, Hey, I don't want to answer this question. Okay.

But what would you have said? Oh, I would have said B. Oh, it was D. What do we ever find out? What if, if orange, I mean, a lot of money on orange Gatorade and it's fricking blue, but, um, we didn't, I didn have said B. Oh, it was D. Did we ever find out if orange? I mean, I had a lot of money on orange Gatorade. It was freaking blue. But I didn't hit that. I had a bunch of these, but 23 exact points for the Rams was 19 to 1.

I had that. I had Stafford to throw an interception before Burrow. That was minus 128. So Stafford had two picks. Two picks, yeah. But that was pretty high odds. Yeah, that was like plus 250, something like that. Both teams have scored touchdowns in each half,

and I lost on Chris Evans. I don't know if you were paying attention, but one of the first times he was pressured Burrow,, he lofts it up and Chris Evans gets behind the linebacker, I think was covering him. And he just got overthrown. Oh, that would have been glorious. Would have been 11 to one odds for Captain America. I was I didn't realize that was Chris Evans. Oh, you didn't?

No, I didn't. That's you didn't see the shield and the star. There was a... Both QBs will throw an interception that was like plus 180. That was a good one. Burl never actually threw one. Yeah, that would have been good.

For million-dollar picks, I hit on Rams win with the under 57.5. I hit... This was one of my favorite bets, and I didn't do it in real life because I screwed up, but the no QB will win MVP was plus 230. I went the other way, you son of a bitch.

You did? Yeah, for a little bit, not too much, but I knew right away. That was smart. Who did you think I was getting? Defense or wide receiver? I just felt like Cup, Beckham, Chase, or Aaron Donald, or McPherson.

I just wanted all five of those guys. It felt like it's more likely to me all five of those guys. It felt like it's more likely to me that one of those five guys will win over... More like you put McPherson in there. 120 to 1. I know, but the odds dropped on that one. There's a scenario where the Bengals win

15 to 14. It's like us. We're talking about it. Why not take a flyer on it? The reason I didn't love Stafford for MVP was basically what we saw today. He just has a few bad passes a game. He had two picks. One wasn't as far, but he missed near the end.

He missed in that last drive. He had Jefferson wide open in the end zone, missed him. I thought he had, what would you say, six or seven really bad throws in that game? Yeah, I would say that. And you know what else I'd say? I think he's going to the Hall of Fame. I think he is. I think that puts him over.

I don't think so. I think there has to be an element of... Although, like, Cliff Branch made it over Stanley Morgan. So now at this point, just compare those stats. You're butthurt because a Patriot didn't get in? No, Stanley Morgan versus Cliff Branch is like, they're the same era, and Stanley Morgan has just better stats across the board.

Yeah. Well, Stafford's got the numbers, and now he's got a Super Bowl. In a way, it was a bigger game for him than Joe Burrow. What was the bad beat, you think? You think more people had the over or the under? I have the 66% were on the over, according to Fandle.

But the bad beat's the extra point. I mean, if you have the Rams, although it seemed like more people on Fandle had the Bengals. I wonder if that was a bet. Could you bet that Sean McVay was just going to keep running the ball for no reason at all? Higgins, oh, a non-quarterback touchdown pass. Brother Bri had this on our show.

14-1. So when Mixon threw it to Higgins, that was 14-1. It feels like that's happened in at least three of the last eight or nine Super Bowls. Yeah, more than once every 14 years, right? So another subplot. I live here, but I also don't really like the LA sports teams, as you know. Yeah.

They've now won titles in every sport in the last eight years. Kings 2014. Lakers bubble season. Right. Dodgers was, what was that? 18, 19, whatever. And then this one, pretty impressive. That is pretty good.

If you can win four in each sport over the span of, you know, basically less than 10 years, that's pretty good. Well, the Lakers, I mean, there's always going to be spend, spend, spend, right? And basketball, football, and baseball. Look at those teams. Hockey's a little luckier, I think. But I don't know. Yeah, I get home and my wife's singing, I love LA.

I'm like, what the hell do you care? She's like, I don't know. If our teams aren't going to win, I might as well root for LA. Oh, man. You got to sleep in the guest room today. That's horrible. Boston had Celtics in 08. Pats in 05. I don't know if they were able to do it in eight years.

Bruins were when? The Celtics 08. I guess you could say, because if you go Bruins and Red Sox were in the early part of the 2010s, and then the Pats were 2015. So I guess that's seven years. Yeah, Bruins were 2013. No, 2011.

Yeah, right. No, they were 11. And then the Red Sox were 13. But I wonder what the record is for shortest years where all four teams won. Because I think Boston had four and seven. New York must have had something where everybody won at some point. That might be it. Yeah.

Although maybe not because they wouldn't have needed the basketball one. Well, it'd have to be Islanders won in 83. Mets won in 86. But then you don't get any. Yeah, Chicago wouldn't have had it because they only had the Bears in the 80s. Maybe San Francisco? But then, no, they have no hockey team. There's no Miami.

Unless you count like San Jose. No, no. Yeah, I think Boston has the record. Another record for us, Sal. Is that what that was about? That 10 minutes? You knew the answer? We figured it out.

Will McVay quit? What would you put odds on that? I don't know. That's great. I don't know. You look at John Madden and he retired so early. That doesn't make any sense. One of the greatest winning percentages of all time.

He doesn't strike me as someone who's going to quit. He's got to be up at 5 in the morning scheming. Another subplot, Aaron Donald, who had, according to PFF, eight pressures on their first review, which was the most by defensive linemen in the PFF era they've been measuring since 06.

Do you count that pressure when he shoved Burrow out of bounds? I love that. I'm so glad they didn't call a flag on that. I know. Yeah. So he now moves into the, on the pyramid, he moves to the top level with defensive players.

Yeah. Like he needed the Super Bowl, but now he's up there with LT and Reggie White and whoever else you want to throw. Do you think it's his build is why he doesn't get the LT? Like LT was so slender and seemed so fast. I think he gets that. But if you really just rate them side by side,

he's every big as good as LT. I think he really is as impactful. I have no, I couldn't agree more. LT is still the greatest of the LT and rice are the two greatest football players I've ever seen. Brady's probably the best. Neither of them played for Boston. How are you going to say that?

I just think that those guys were just unbelievable to watch. I've just never seen anything like it. But I think with Donald, if we were his team, image team or whatever, I think some cool facial hair or something would have really helped him.

Like a long chin beard thing or some way to stand out. There's something about him where he doesn't stand out face physically. You know, LT always, he was just so unique, everything about him. Yeah, Aaron Donald hardly ever gets hooked on cocaine. And it's really, it's working to its detriment. Yeah, or maybe he needed some sort of vice or just something.

But if I was like, give me three Aaron Donald stars, I'd be like, he's awesome. What does he look like? Ah, you know, normal guy. Double teamed all the time. But then when you watch, there was a couple times in the game just where he's chasing Burrow.

And honestly, you're fearing for the quarterback. He had an Indomitian Sioux anger today, right? He did. Just like a force. That was a terrifying force. I don't know if this can be backed up, but it felt like when he shoved Burrow out of bounds and the Bengals got mad

and the 10 guys were around him. After that, it felt like he went to another level. It just seemed like they couldn't block him after that. The Bengals, they took some weird penalties, right? I don't know. I got shit for it. But what happened? What was the celebration penalty?

Someone came in street clothes and celebrated after the interception? Oh, that's what that was? I think street clothes and celebrated after the interception. Oh, that's what that was? I think so, because I blame the referees. I'm like, oh, here the referees go. And people are like, what? Somebody came in on a hoodie. And what is the ref supposed to do?

But they were like the second least penalized team. And they took some big penalties that took them out of drives and really dumb things there. Personal fouls. There's going to be a lot of takes this week about the Rams gamble paying off. Both in one? Yeah. No, just in general. Like giving up all those draft picks and it paid off and they did it and all that stuff. And it's true. And I've said it on my pod.

I'm sure you've said it on one of your nine pods. The thing is, though, when you do all the gambles that they did, if they're crazy, I do think that has to be just like a footnote when you talk about the gamble. Like if we go to Vegas with Daniel and Daniel just goes on craps

and he just like, they just, just making crazy bets and a few of them win. Is it more, I can't believe that worked or is it like, wow, what a,

what a genius Daniel was, craps with those, when he bet the double ones and then it hit. I, man, he did it again. Or are you watching it going?

That's insane. I can't believe this worked out because with the Rams, I'm like 60%. Yeah, great job. And then 40% like that was still kind of insane. All those pictures gave up. Well, why don't we crystallize it to a season that we can compare this to the Chargers coach Staley, right? Like how many times did he fly too close to the sun and it worked, right? Yeah.

First half of the year, every fourth down decision was the right one. And then it really came back to haunt them. So, yeah, you have the same thought with that. Is this guy lucky or he's a madman? I feel like Belichick's the only one that could pull it off with any sort of big percentage of success. Because they've made some really dumb trades. They gave up a first rounder for Brandon Cooks

who we watched for a year with the Pats. And we were like, wow, we got a first round pick for Brandon Cooks? I didn't trust him at all in a big game. And they just let it fly around. The Stafford thing, I guess that's the one where you get the praise. Beckham wasn't a risk, right? Whatever.

I mean, if he's a cancer in the clubhouse, that's one thing. But Vaughn Miller got his contract paid by Denver mostly, didn't he? Well, they gave up a second and third, but he had a couple big plays today. Yeah, but nobody else would have been able to make that cap-wise work. But how funny would it be

if McVay retired after this game where it's just like they trade all these picks. They do. They basically leverage everything just to win this year. They're like, I'll see you guys later. Right. Enjoy the Super Bowl. I can see it. I felt really bad for Beckham.

Yeah, I did too. I thought it was such a great story. I'm not even a giant Beckham fan. Kevin Wilds tweeted, if you ever wonder if you can make a difference, a Browns fan produced an 11-minute YouTube Such a great story. I'm not even a giant Beckham fan. Kevin Wilds tweeted, if you ever wonder if you can make a difference, a Browns fan produced an 11-minute YouTube video of Odell always being open, and now the Rams win the Super Bowl.

That's not wrong. I mean, in a weird way, the Browns kind of help the Rams. I wonder if that YouTube video never happens. Does it get released? Does it turn into a thing? What happens? Yeah.

Well, Beckham's father has to be, you know, hired on the ringer, right. Is to run the social media now. And that's the big thing. Well, then you have the Browns and the Bengals who it's like,

they hate each other, but the rivalry has never really gotten going, but they end up, um, the Browns end up kind of screwing the Bengals. At least Beckham, that touchdown, the first touchdown,

that was an unbelievable catch. It was so much fun to just see that live. We were like, wow. Off balance. Well, you had really good seats, so tell us about it more. I think everyone in the arena enjoyed those things. Can I tell you what bothered me most about the game? Can you do it after this break? No.

Yeah, go ahead. I'll do it. We're going to take a break. All right. All right. What bothered you most about this game? West Coast Super Bowls. I'll do it. Take a break. All right. All right. What bothered you most about this game? West Coast Super Bowls. I don't like that it's light for two and a half hours. And in fact, even the halftime, it was still light during the halftime show, which was great, by the way. But I don't like, I don't know. There's no finality to it when it's shadowy and the sun is out

for the first two hours of the game. Right? Does that bug you at all? It was weird. I thought the stadium itself, like that greenhouse thing, everyone was predicting it was going to be so hot in there. It wasn't at all. Let's talk about being at the game.

The halftime show was absolutely electric. I loved it. The best one we were at, right? We were at Janet Jackson. That wasn't as good. I'm trying to think of the ones we were at. This was the best one. I thought that, I didn't go to it, but I thought that J-Lo Shakira Super Bowl was fantastic. I thought that performance, I thought they were great. This was

kind of amazing. Especially at the end when they were all in the same thing together and saw these legends. Especially Giant 50 Cent, seeing him on the Jumbotron, being like, whoa, look at that. Right, right, right. I thought Eminem, Lose Yourself, was just a fucking banger. It really sounded good. And Kendrick Lamar sounded great.

It was an awesome, awesome half-time show. I felt like they could have lost two of those guys and it would have still been one of the best we saw. Like if they lost Kendrick Lamar and Eminem, like Dre and Snoop, it still would have been phenomenal. I would have lost 50 Cent given Kendrick a little bit more.

Yeah, because Kendrick, you know, doesn't really usually do stuff like this. So to see him out there, I was surprised by the song choices too. I thought he was going to go a little safer. Well, he worked out for this 50 Cent. I mean, he really was getting ready for a movie. Eminem was

legitimate. He really was gigantic. It was a conversation in the sections. Eminem was way better than I expected. I really felt like he was throwing in the high 90s. But yeah, that was cool. You run the risk of being made fun of because we're older guys, right? And these are guys we kind of grew up with.

I don't know. We weren't kids when these guys were big. But there is that thing going into it. Like, oh, why are they using these 50-year-old guys? Who cares anymore? And for it to come together, you really couldn't say anything bad about it right fantasy tweeted how he feels about this halftime show the same way his dad felt when it was the blues brothers and zz top and major 97 which i thought was a good way to put it but yeah i just thought

it was cool to see all those guys it was also cool how fast they got that stage up. Oh, yeah. Right? If you're watching, again, I didn't have nearly as good of seats as you, but I feel like the way they constructed this stage, when we're not subject to a commercial, in fact, we didn't see any commercials, which kind of sucks, but the way they get it together so quickly was spectacular.

Every time, I think that was my eighth super bowl watching how fast they put the setup is like the secret best part to go to the super bowl it's like honestly awe-inspiring to watch like a pit crew right yeah i'd like to see how they rehearse that or practice just that part of it. So that was my first time in that stadium. You'd been there before. Yeah. What do you think? Easy to get in. I thought it was, the Jumbotron was cool, but I also kind of missed just having a normal Jumbotron.

It's like this weird circle thing around. I thought it was a little hard to see some of the replays. The stat stuff was great. That was amazing. It was the best stats experience. They had these next-gen stats. What was your favorite one? They had percentage.

They had air yards and stuff. They would pop these up and repeat them every 45 seconds. Yeah, I took a picture with 43 seconds left when it was fourth and one. They had this one thing at this next-gen stats where it was like average time to throw. Rams was 2.82 seconds. The Bengals was 1.94. Right.

Average separation, Rams 4.1 from Bengals 2.8. So this is the best though. Rush yards over expectation. The Bengals were 2.8. This is the best though. Rush yards over expectation. The Bengals were 9.3. The Rams were minus 37.2. They had 37 less yards than they were expected to get on the plays they called. Why can't we see

this in regular telecasts? God forbid. If they don't want to refer to it, it's fine. Just run to the bottom of the screen every now and then. They had seven sacks, 16 pressures, 40% pressure rate. This was 43 seconds left. It was so interesting. It was like everything I wanted as I was watching the game.

I loved it. I didn't think they had enough individual stats, but that was cool. The food's great. The food was all over the place in the right ways. They had a bunch of pro shops. Bathrooms were easy. They've really, last few years, have figured out these football stadiums. Let me just say, we got lucky getting out of there with traffic. We really did get lucky.

If I had a left instead of a right, we would be doing this podcast in three and a half hours. I just got lucky to get out. We knew we had to hightail out of there, too. Well, what would have been the best time to leave your house? Like you got there four hours early. I know you were fine with it, but I went through it in my head a million times. I'm like, if I leave an hour after I'm thinking, I might miss this game. I learned this when I did the Olympics in 2012 when I was there.

I was like, I'd just rather be early and know that I'm going to get there and not have to worry about it. And I'll just figure out what to do that extra hour. And it's fun. It's also fun to be there as it fills up too. Isn't there an insurance commercial with like 75 year old husband and wife

and they see someone rushing for their plane and like, oh, he should have left earlier. Is that what you've become? Is that what we are with sports? Yeah, but I'm the opposite with the airport.

I'm like, as the latest I can possibly get to. I know people that will get there like three, three and a half hours. Like my dad will get there three hours. Uncle Frank used to sleep over at the airport because he didn't trust missing an early flight. Well, that was like his biggest fear, right? Oh, yeah. Being late for a flight was his number one fear in life. It's like Uncle Frank, you know there's another Southwest flight to Vegas like 37 minutes after this if you missed it, right? Oh, yeah. Being late for a flight was his number one fear in life. It's like, Uncle Frank, you know there's another

Southwest flight to Vegas like 37 minutes after this if you missed it, right? Is that right? From LA. The crazy thing about this Super Bowl to me was the masks. The masks. Being told, oh, you got

to wear your mask. We went down to this club in the bottom. It's like, you got to wear a mask unless you we went down to this club in the bottom. It's a get to wear a mask. And then you're less you're eating. I'm like, what are we doing? We were, did you, what's going on? Did you hit the tailgate experience before? I, we, we had the ticket, but skipped it. Cause it, it was like 80 degrees.

You had something better. Big in this sun. No, but that was, it was fine, but no, but it was outdoors. And every 10 feet, someone was holding a sign that said, you cannot enter this area without a mask and no one wore a mask. So all these people are holding this sign for no reason. It's outdoors. It's hot. People are having trouble

breathing. They're going to be stuffing their faces with shrimp quesadilla in these tents where you can't get a seat. No one's going to wear a mask. We've lost our minds. I just can't get over how dumb this is. Honestly, what are we doing? The numbers are going way down.

What are we doing? And there's nobody in charge of any of it. And then there's pictures online today. The freaking L.A. mayor, Garcetti, sustained a suite, no mask on, talking to people. It's like, so... Oh, is that from today? From today's game? So I have to have a mask on but if i'm eating mask off so what are we doing yeah honestly it's the dumbest

thing i've ever seen in my life is spotify gonna get mad at you if you don't have this take i don't know how it works anymore i agree with you it's nuts keep that in the pod Kyle honestly this is nuts I can't wait to like my kids are going to have to you know wear masks in school tomorrow and pass the COVID test again it's like what are we doing hopefully we're winding down a little bit

before we wind back up is anyone awake are the lights on anyway I just couldn't believe I had to I'm at a football stadium before we wind back up. Hopefully. Is anyone awake? Are the lights on? Anyway. I just couldn't believe I had to wear... I'm at a football stadium where basically outdoors and I have to wear a mask when I go to the bathroom?

Yeah. And I've already had COVID and I'm boosted. What are we doing? I don't know. We're not talking football anymore. I know that. Are you sad? Did the sadness kick in yet

yeah no it hasn't kicked in it definitely hasn't kicked in um trying to think i will say this the fact that it's a week later now march madness is you know now we only have to wait three weeks for before the conference tournaments which which i love and nba is heating up. Is anyone going to step up? Well, the bummer was that the trade deadline should be this week. They should have moved the trade deadline so it was like Wednesday, something so that they didn't conflict with Super Bowl. It would have been way more fun if the heart had traded.

I'm going Bucs to win the East. I don't care. Oh, look at this. They're favored now to win the East. I took it last week. They were right after the trade. They were third in line. I don't care. Oh, look at this. They're favored now to win the East. I took it last week. They were right after the trade. They were third in line. Now they're favored.

This is good. I mean, I have an incredible amount of info on that Harden trade. Well, it already happened. We needed it before. No, I just... It made me even more skeptical that it's going to work for the Sixers this year.

Yeah. I'll save it for a podcast later this week, unless you want it now. No, it's fine. MB is going to get hurt anyway. I don't know if you found that out. The crazy thing to me, so looking at the... I can't believe we switched to basketball. I'm so happy.

Shit, it's my fault. The crazy thing to me is the Bucs are plus 550 and the Nets are 6-1. The Nets aren't winning the title. I'm just looking at the East. Why wouldn't you just take them for the East, the Bucs? Ben Simmons is going to come back and be an important cog of the freaking Nets.

Kyrie, who once again was going at reporters today and seems like he's about to unravel. But Ben Simmons, we just watched him completely unravel in the playoffs and then take his ball and go home for eight months. You don't think he's been practicing chucking it behind the arc? No, I don't. I don't think he's that guy. I don't. I don't think he has the work ethic to do that. I don't think he's been spending the last eight months shooting free throws

and being like, I'll show everybody. I think he's been kicking back. And then the Heat are 11-1 to win the title. And then my Celtics are 42- one who have been quietly kicking ass. I knew you, I said it, I predicted it.

I was like, you're, you're, they're going to win four out of five and then that'll be just enough for you. I am as well documented, one of the last believers, but this team's kind of sucked me in.

They're not that far away from like, you know, they're, they're all games behind the three seed. Yeah. They're not that far away from like, you know, they're two and a half games behind the three seed. Yeah. They're playing really well. All the net rating,

all the stuff with them has been good. What did you see for, what do we have for the Super Bowl odds for next year? Well, I think it's Chiefs

and Bills at the top. Yeah, Chiefs 7-1, Bills 7-1, Rams 12, my Cowboys 12, Packers 13 for now, 49ers 15 for now. And like I said, Bengals and Ravens are 21. So Broncos are 22-1 because of the Rodgers possibility. Yeah, they can't make that too crazy. Chargers, 24-1. The Titans at 24-1 is

intriguing to me just because I wonder if they make a QB, something happens on that. They would have to. I mean, if they got Russell Wilson, is that good enough? Does that bump them into the 18? That's the thing. Yeah.

I mean, you could basically, you could take all the teams that need a QB and just bet the long shot odds and hope one of them gets Russell Wilson or Kyla Murray or whoever. The Raiders at 55-1 I think is intriguing too because that could be another Rodgers team.

Yeah, that's a fun one. I'm looking at commanders. It just doesn't look right. I'm still... That's going to take a while. One of the dumbest names anyone's come up with. The Steelers 70-1. What if they just traded three first-round picks for Wilson? Yeah, they could win

that division, sure. Then the long, long shots, I wouldn't go there. Everyone's like, alright, who's next year's Bengals? There doesn't have to be 121 to make it to the Super Bowl every year. We've not seen that really a lot.

Tell us about Harry had the Bengals to win the super bowl yeah and he had a ticket and then he cashed out what did he do prop swap yeah he put it on prop swap but he um stupidly it was for it was 235 dollars at eight to one so it's going to cash almost 2100 bucks if uh the bengals win Super Bowl. But you should at least get almost 600 for the ticket, right? For 235 before the Super Bowl. He sells it for $99. It's like, what is he doing?

And luckily, the CEO caught it. He's like, hey, do you want to do this? I was like, he's an idiot. I apologize for making him do it. He paid 235 and he sold it for $99? He tried his, yeah, he couldn't figure it out on the app. And it's easy to do the app. I don't know what his problem.

He's a lunatic. That's pretty terrible. All right, it's time for Parent Corner. Today's Parent Corner is brought to you by CarMax. Our friends at CarMax have reimagined car buying with their Love Your Car guarantee. Imagine having 30 days and up to 1,500 miles to love your car. Return it for a full refund. It's a game changer. Learn more at carmax.com. CarMax, car buying, reimagine. I don't have a great one other than, so I get two tickets and you do last

week at this time. And whenever we talk Tuesday, Wednesday, I wasn't going to go. I was like, I'm just going to sell them because I know I'm going to lose a lot of money in prop bets. Maybe I can dig myself out a little, just selling the tickets that I got for presenting at the NFL honors. And then our publicist, Louis K, read me the riot act. He's like, this would be very bad for you if you sold these tickets. He's like, am I going to end up in jail on the Super Bowl, like Eugene Robinson and Barrett Robinson? I don't know. Is it better or worse than when Lewis gave us the national anthem under that time

and just reached about nine rules? No, nothing's ever worse than that. Well, actually, when he benched Jonathan Taylor, that's probably worse. Yeah, that's pretty bad. And fantasy. But he's going to love this. But no, I didn't know it was in a suite.

So I was like, all right, of course, I'm not going to sell it in a suite. So I'm like, who am I going to take? I should take, I'm going to take my oldest, right? That's what I told you to do. Take your oldest. Sometimes the oldest has to get some. He likes football the most.

He's a Cowboys fan. Obviously he has no skin in the game with the Rams and Bengals, but I got to take the oldest. And then eventually I'll make it down the list, you know? So the middle one is like, all right, the younger ones, it's like, i don't know what are you going to get me there daddy i'm like well i have to get you something can't we just whatever so now i have to get them something but i come home and the middle one is furious with me

it's like i didn't know eminem was going to be there you know i love eminem archie doesn't give a crap about these two teams eminem should have been the difference you should have taken me and not him i was like whoa, whoa, hold on a second. That man was on for seven minutes. What do you want me to do? Maybe less. I don't know what to do now, but it does become a numbers game.

I guess I make fun of you for being an only child, but I think that's the way to do it, parents. If you have three, get rid of two. I think you should have had more fun with the whole thing.

You think you're the guy who invented the vote somebody out of the fantasy. Yeah, right. I do feel like you could have created some sort of something where everybody had to pitch to go to the game and you could have made that a podcast or all three kids had to pitch, including Harrison. You're eight. Yeah, I know. I just, you know, it was going to be the kids. The staff thought, like, my staff was like,

oh, you should have like an Olympic event and the winner goes to the game with you. And I was like, what am I going to say? Damoshek hula-hooped more than Megan,

so sorry, Archie, you're out. You can't go to the game. Like, I don't even know what to do. But yeah, I should have, I should have played it better. I think the Archie move is the right move because Archie's going to be going to college in 18 months from now and you'll never

see him again right right except when he comes home and just sleeps the entire time and eats and yeah hi and then that's it so it's getting like that you'll have a memory with him for your whole life i took um i took nephew kyle and my son, who wore one of his homemade shirts. And it was his odd future shirt that he made. And somebody said to him during the game, I love the shirt, man. And he was sky high. But obviously he's one of the most

unappreciative human beings probably ever lived. Great day. We ate some food. He got to go to the Superbowl, the whole thing. Um, but I was sitting in a different section though, cause I had to do some Spotify stuff and I was in the same row with Freddie Gibbs. Freddie Gibbs is one of Ben's favorite rappers.

He's somebody who I think he is going to come on the pod in a couple weeks, but is a great guy. Indiana native. Huge sports fan. And I sent Ben a picture of me and Freddie during the game. And he was outraged

and really upset. And it ruined the game for him. It did? It was all he talked about on the way home. I saw him. I was like, what? I caught up with him and Kyle because we met at a location to leave

and it was like, what a game. And he's like, I can't believe this Freddie Gibbs thing. He's furious, swearing at me. Now, was this one of the things where you thought, oh, I'm going to look cool to Ben if I send this to him? Or did you know this was going to piss him off? No, I kind of knew it was going to pay. It's partly my fault.

I should have just waited until after the game. I did the sound thing. I had the tongue in my cheek. Good. Good job by you. Yeah, I knew it wasn't going to make him happy, but Kyle, can you pop on for a second? Yeah. Can you give some of the highlights

sitting next to Ben at a Super Bowl? Well, I feel bad for Ben because he was stuck between me and like a 400-pound guy who just couldn't stay put. So that was tough. But the great thing about Ben, you told me,

is he never has to go to the bathroom. He's like a camel. He sat in the seat the whole time. He didn't want anything to drink, to eat. He didn't have to go. Ben has this rare, he's an incredible packer. If you're like, hey, we're going to go, in five minutes, he can be ready. He's ready to go.

He's great to travel with. He always has his stuff, never loses anything. And is just this easy travel companion. But when you take him to a sporting event, he doesn't need to eat or go to the bathroom. We were at that WrestleMania in New York that year. Remember that? It was like the seven-hour WrestleMania.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was like, if you went to the bathroom, you'd be back two hours later. And he just, that was it. He was locked in the whole time. So it is one of the, I've told Kyle, that's one of his skills. He did it. He was locked in the whole time. So it is one of the, I've told Kyle that's one of his skills. He did it.

Tell Sal about the skateboarding thing. Well, you know, some of those breaks for commercials were pretty long, but I just, even that was too much for me. I looked down and he was playing a skateboarding app on his phone

and I just, I swatted at his phone. At that point, I was done. I can't allow this. I can't allow it. skateboarding app on his phone and i just that i really i swatted at his phone at that at that point i was done i can't afford it bro our kids can't allow it our kids such a short attention span that they can't handle like three minutes of commercials in a row i love it hey has ben ever gotten into i think the answer is no but i'm gonna reach out to him on the side and and uh try to get him involved in this has Has he gotten into nunchucks? No.

Because that shit's going to happen. I could see it. Nunchucks? Yeah, nunchucks. Yeah, whatever. However you say it. Yeah. Nunchucks.

All right. I'll get him some nunchucks. Yeah, yeah. No, let me do that. Let me do that. That'll be my gift. Yeah. That was my first football game since the last Super Bowl I went to

the breaks are really long yeah oh yeah there was a couple that felt like it was like what six seven minutes yeah I don't want to sound like an old man but they fill it with that music and it's just no

break it's blaring I mean it's either that or hear Carolla analyze the commercial. So I don't know. It's just trading one headache for the other. I had to tell my son to thank me as we got back to the house. Kyle was a witness to that. My son has been to just multiple incredible wrestling events. He's been to the World Series.

He's been to the Super Bowl. The Olympics, right? NBA Finals, All-Star Game, all kinds of things He's been to the Super Bowl. The Olympics, right? NBA Finals, All-Star Game. All kinds of things. He went to the Olympics. Didn't you take it? Was he young? Yeah, he was at the Olympics.

He's had all these great things. And just don't feel like he's very appreciative. Just wish I'd had that one more chance at a son or a daughter. Well, nunchucks will put him over the top. Trust me. Nunchucks could be a thing. All right.

That was Parent Corner. Today's Parent Corner is brought to you by CarMax. At CarMax, you can shop, test drive, and buy a car your way, whether that's online with home delivery in select markets or checking out cars on the CarMax lot near you or maybe a little bit of both. No matter how you like to shop, you're in the driver's seat at CarMax. Learn more at CarMax.com. CarMax car buying reimagined.

All right. So, Sal, another season in the books for us. That was season 14? 16. Was it? Really? Season 16. We started in 2007.

Yeah. And now we're through. But you'll pop on a couple times. I'll be on. I love March Madness. We'll do some NBA. I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to make a vow. And it's partly because I was a loser in real life betting on football this year, as I think were you.

I am going to dedicate my life to being ready for these playoffs in the NBA. Really? You know when I get really into it. Like the bubble, I was really hot. Remember, I was watching a lot of, I was really watching everybody and I had a lot of good bubble

when I was at Miami. I'm doing it again. I'm rededicating myself. All right. It's going to be hard. I think we're going to get a lot of 44 and 38 teams in there and just good luck

sorting it out. I'm sure it happens. At least the Lakers stink. I do want to say, it came up. I had to do some clinic or something for serious. I don't know what I was doing. Name drop. Jesus.

But anyway, it came up. How did you and Bill, how did you meet? Whatever. And I said, I'm like, wow, we have been doing this. We've known each other for over 20 years. Have we learned anything? Like, I know, I know we've learned things about betting, but have we changed our habits accordingly?

I would like us to write down like one or two things we do differently that we've learned through the year based on what we've learned through the years. This would be a good YouTube video. So I feel like we have learned a couple of things. Really? But do we apply it? I don't think we necessarily listen to those things. Alright, here's an example.

We now don't bet overs. For big games especially, like in Futures. Futures for sure. Everyone goes over. Okay, that's fair. Steer toward the unders and if everybody's on Odell Beckham and Cooper cup for the over for the thing,

it's they're going to Jack them too high. We're lucky enough to know some of the fan dual people that they tell us like, yeah, the overs like that's, those are our biggest exposures. That's why the same game parlays, they push people to do the overs.

They're going to love this. No, I'm saying like, cause people love the overs. Yeah. Like you don to love this. No, I'm saying like, because people love the overs. Yeah. Like you don't have an under option on same game parlays. It's like over, over, over.

I think that's fair. And I think they, it taps into the psyche of the fact that it's not fun to root for unders. Absolutely. It's not fun to root for Cooper Cup to have 58, whatever it is. It's not fun to root for

a low amount of points. Yeah, if it goes from 102 to 107, it's like, who cares? The average is 133. Right. So your instinct in general is to go over. You've started zagging against this. You were doing March Madness,

there would be no buzzer beater and stuff like that. I love them. The anti-fun bets. Yeah. So I do feel like we've learned that at least. Don't gravitate toward the fun bets. The fun bets, they jack them up.

Stay away. I think we've learned at least to acknowledge that if you're making an obvious pick, that there's some real risk because that's why casinos keep adding wings and that's why FanDuel and everybody else seem to be cleaning Yeah, but you know what? I feel like if we, you and I will stay away when we've guessed the lines, we'll stay away

from obvious ones. Like, oh, that's too low. I'm staying away from that. And like three in a row of those will win, you know? Like, ah, that's too low. I have to take the underdog or I have to stay away. And then we go full in on and we talk about zigging and zagging. We never catch up with that part of it.

Well, the teasers, you know, when the teasers will get hot with those in the first two months of the season, and we should know by now, just don't do teasers in November, December. Just don't. Every week, oh my God, oh, crazy. Can't believe this happened.

I feel like we know better at that point but we we still we still do it and then you know i i really feel like the underdog parlay stuff is kind of the secret sauce like if you can put two underdogs together in whatever in basketball football anything and get the odds to like six to1, 9-1, it does seem like those hit. You minimize your risk too, so it's nice. You don't lose minus 290 on a quarterback to win MVP. Yeah, it's good. Was that one of your bets?

Yeah, sure. Minus 290 that one of the two quarterbacks would win the MVP? Yeah, you had the other way. You had that any other position would win, right? Did you bet on the Rams will run a trick play that actually worked, but the guy fucked up the pass and then I would immediately text

you saying it was dumb? I knew it was coming too. I was like, oh, second guess Simmons. Didn't like that one. Second guess Simmons is a good gimmick for me. It's second guess Simmons. Why did he throw it so hard at a bound? It was right in front of him. But that's why I don't love the play.

There's two things that can go wrong. One, you have Kup running full speed towards Stafford where you have to throw a touch pass, but he's being chased. And then it's not like Stafford is athletic. You know, at this point of his career, he's like his limbs are going nine different directions. I know, but they practice this stuff, and they want to use it once a year.

And so that was the time. I get it. Well, the other trick play was that cup handoff that ended up basically winning them the Super Bowl. If they get stuffed on there, it's like 350 left. Bengals have the ball on the 30, their field goal at least, and

they probably win. Yeah. Now I'm missing football. This sucks. Cuz, a pleasure as always. Hope to see you soon in person. Another great year for us. Let's get it together. Do some plugs. Let me just plug Against All Odds on the Extra Points Podcast Network.

We have that Cash or Splash Challenge. We're going to tally it up. The winner gets $1,056. The loser last place out of 700 people has to drink Harry's brother's bathwater. And he is a hideous, hideous figure. He's a farmer in upstate New York, an onion farmer. And we are going to hold people to that. Otherwise, they lose their dignity, which is worse than anything else.

I'm going to plug the fact that Kyle's a witness that Ben made a Super Bowl bet With his friend Sidney that he lost And I wanted to say what the bet was On the podcast And Ben said he would kill me in my sleep If I did So at some point Future Paracorner just remind me Maybe two years from now

I will reveal what that bet was Was it something you could bet, actually? It was, it's, like, little kids make, not money bets, but more like, if you win, I'll do this, but it was a good one. And then Kyle and Ben made a

bet that, because Ben had the Bengals, because he likes Joe Burrow for some reason. He goes, Joe Shiesty! So Kyle won the bet and the bet was, Kyle, what did Ben have to wear for a solid week in school?

Oh, I see. He has to wear Hollister polos and brown khaki shorts and flip flops a whole week. For a solid week. So Ben's really upset because he's very fashionable

at school. He's a trendsetter. He's making his own shirts. Yeah, so now he has to dress. I thought that was fun. If Ben won, what did you have to do, Kyle? I had to go to some weird

smoker festival or something. That should have been in Paracorder too. It's called the Smoker Festival because there's all these artists that he loves that are there. It sounded like

freaking not a place a 14-year-old guy should go. We're going to have to hold the camera on that. That's great. Just a lot of options in all different directions for that kid. All right, Sal. As always, good job by you. Good job by you, buddy.

All right. That's it for the podcast. It was produced by Kyle Creighton. As always, we'll be back on Tuesday on this feed with another podcast. And don't forget, Rewatchables, Monday night, Parenthood. You still have 24 hours to watch it. I will see you here on Tuesday.