The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - POSCAST - On the Move!

Episode Date: June 16, 2024

Our intrepid nomads Joe and Mike are taking their nonsense to a new land. On the way out they talk about the Celtics domination (until Friday), the Mariners dreams and the right way to answer the phone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thank you for having me, Joe. Hi, welcome to the POScast. I am Joe Poznanski and with me is Michael Schor. Michael, welcome to the POScast. I am Joe Poznanski and with me is Michael Schor. Michael, welcome. Thank you for having me, Joe. You are so welcome. This is crazy. Let me start by asking you a question.

Everybody knows that we have done the POScast for 48 years. Well, actually we determined, I mean we- Started in 1976. 7076 is when we started. But we of course did, we did earlier renditions of it in 68. Everybody remembers that. Yeah, our first big story was Will Bob Gibson's ERA. That's right.

1.2 for the season. That was the first like theme of season? That was the first theme of the- That was our first emergency. We knew that was crazy. And we've been doing it. So we've done it for many, many years. We've also done it for many, many different entities and people, would you say? I figured it out the other day.

I think I counted that we've done this for 16,400 different entities. I believe that's right. 16,000. It started back in 68, we were doing it for NASA. Remember that? I went to a hosted, the first host of the podcast back in the late sixties was NASA.

We had a federal grant. It was what? Right, right. And then it was a GE. Do you remember by the way, that our first, we didn't even know, like we were, didn't even have microphones then, but our first guest quote unquote guest was Buzz Aldrin. That was so crazy. Yeah. I mean, it was really wild.

Well we had microphones, but they were those, they were the really long skinny ones that they used to use on like, let's make a deal. That's right. That's right. That's right. Yeah. And we, you know, we did it for Electro Star Enterprises. Oh, remember that? The Electro Star days. Those were. Yeah, early 70s. Yep. That was crazy.

We did, we did it for, who was the appliance maker? Whirlpool. We did it for Whirlpool for a while. Whirlpool. We did it for Whirlpool. Yep while. Whirlpool, we did it for Whirlpool. Yep, and then when Whirlpool, like somehow, I don't remember, it led directly to us doing it briefly for NBC. That's right. But it was the last black and white show.

Yeah, well, Don Pardo was our announcer. Don Pardo's saying the one last meaningless thing. That's right. So we've done this for a lot of different entities. And of course we have been doing this for, for Metal Arc for these last few months or I don't even know how long. Finally, I mean, look, it was inevitable. They finally realized this show is pointless.

Like why would they want to have any connection to this show at all? I think my guess about what happened, and we don't know the details yet, but my guess is that they unfortunately listened to it. That's right, that's right. I think they thought this was like a real podcast. And like, that's why they were like, oh, this is great. They're giving it to charity. So we'll keep it on.

And then they listened and they said, no, no, this cannot. No, no. It just said, oh, no. So we are still maintaining a relationship with the Metal Art people. We're still gonna do some stuff with them, but we are now taking this podcast, here's what we decided. This is the reader, this is the listeners' podcast. We decided this, we wanna take this directly to the listeners, right?

I mean, I don't know. In order to inflict maximum damage on our listenership, we're taking it directly to you, the listeners. So here's what we're doing. Yeah, go ahead. Here's what we're doing. So of course, look, the podcast is still as it always has been.

We are giving the money to charity and we've got charities lined up that we're gonna be working with, which is really fun. But instead of, we just wanna go directly to you. So here's how we're doing this. We are going to have a newsletter sub stack related directly to this podcast. And that is going to be it is already up. You can go there. It's sub stat the sub stat. Excuse me. The podcast. I

don't even know what I'm saying. The podcast. That's POS P-O-S-C-A-S-T, but it is the. That was the thing I was confused about. ThePoscast.substack.com. So it's theposcast.substack.com, pretty easy. You can go there, all of our shows going back to 1979, I think. We didn't get some of the earlier ones recorded. If I'm remembering right.

Back then the tape was also expensive and they just erased it after we were done. Well, they were just like, yeah. We were doing it live. And then they would just, none of these tapes are expensive and they would just record over them. Just record right over them.

Archives back to 79 are available and they will all be available on this new site. By the way, how perfect is it that we're announcing the new home-based location for the POScast and you immediately got the address wrong? Oh right, right away. And by the way, we'll continue to get it wrong. I'll like say it as you know POScast without the the in front of it. And there's we're not going to get it right. But if you happen to find it, it is the podcast dot sub stack.com. And we are we are going to have subscribers, we would love for you to subscribe all the money's going to charity. So so we're not, we're

not gonna, you know, we're not gonna badger you, it's completely free. The podcast is not changing. If you listen to it on on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, you'll still get it. Nothing changes. But we are going to try to create a little bit of community here. There's going to be a chat feature there. Occasionally, Mike and I might stop in. We might do a couple of events. We're going to try to really kind of create this because here's what I found.

I was just in London as part of the London series and then releasing the book, Why We Love Baseball in London, it was great. There are people in London, in Europe, not just in London, but I heard from somebody in Hungary and somebody from the Czech Republic and somebody from Germany and various other places who listened to this stupid show. And frankly, I think that probably for society's sake, we should make sure all of the people

who listen to the show are in one place, right? Like, I think that we should just be sort of enclosed in one spot. So you guys can join up. We would love to have you. And again, we're doing this all for charity. That's what this thing is. So so you sign up. I think we're going to we haven't even come up with a price yet.

I think we're just going to make it the same. I think the basic is 60 bucks a year or $7 a month. I think that's what we'll probably end up doing. And with the money going to charity. So we would love for you to join. It's the thepodcast.substack.com. And that's it, that's all. And we're also recording this on a new platform.

We're rather than doing the Zoom thing that we have been doing it, we are now doing this on Riverside, which at least we are told will allow us to do kind of some cool things with video and some other things. But what it really will do is it will definitely not record. We don't know how to use this Riverside thing at all. So there's a very good chance you are not even listening

to what we are saying right now. But in the unlikely event that you are, meaning that we have figured out how to actually do this, the fun thing is that in the future when we do things like say open baseball cards for charity, January will actually perhaps have a video of us opening the cards, which would be a good deal more fun and interesting than just listening to us go, ooh. Look at us showing each other the cards. Like, ooh, look, look at this. Look at this Tony Gwyn I just got.

Yeah, so I think that's gonna be super fun. By the way, there it is. There's the Tony Gwyn right there. Look at that. So yeah, nobody, well, actually maybe if we're doing this right, maybe people will see that. That's kind of fun.

So, yeah, so we'll see how it all plays out. By the way, one day we will be, when we actually do have video of us doing the baseball cards, we will constantly remind the people, the listeners, that for the first two years that we did that, we did not show the baseball cards. We did many, many baseball card opening podcasts without ever showing a single baseball card that we were opening. That was, how did people, why do people listen to that? It's unclear. Let's not question it. Let's just move forward into our new era here on riverside.fm

And I'm I for one. I'm excited to begin this new era of POScasting with you. Yes, our 16,000 401st different medium and Let's it'll be it'll be fun. It will be continued to be the same pointless enterprise that it's always been. And we're off and running. What are we talking about today? We have a lot to get to, although we didn't prepare anything, so I don't even know what it is that we're getting to. We do. And as per usual, as per usual, podcast thing, the thing I want to start with is something that almost certainly by the time this thing is posted will either be determined, decided.

Like there will be no connection to what, because we are recording this on Friday. Tonight is game four of the NBA final. If you are seeing video, you are actually seeing Mike in his Celtics gear, which is incredibly obnoxious, but great, no, I mean, but great. No, but I do want to talk about this, the series. I mean, first of all, we need to hear how you're doing

because this is a glorious moment for you. I think in many ways, I mean, the Red Sox are not going to probably be very good for a while now. And the Patriots are not going to be good ever again, but it doesn't matter. You kind of lost your taste. I would say the thing, the strand that has grown within you, and you tell me if I'm right or wrong on this, because your love of the NBA has just been peaking more and more and more over the last few years. Yeah. I would say that this particular Celtics team, as good

as they are, at the moment they're up three, oh, they're going to win this series in my view, Mike will never say that, but they're going to win it and probably win it tonight. Where are you, man? This is, this has got to be like a thrill. This has got to be like childhood thrill like for you. That's a good way to put like a thrill. This has got to be like childhood thrill-like for you. That's a good way to put it. Yeah. So there's a few things going on. First is tonight, it's really hard to sweep any team in the finals.

Of course. A friend of the POSCAST, Howard Bryant, told me a stat the other day, which is the Celtics, obviously, as many people know, tied with the Lakers with 17 NBA championships in their illustrious history. You know how many sweeps they have in the finals? Oh, good question. This is how many sweeps the Boston Celtics have had. And the funny thing is, I mean, like I can't go through all of them, particularly in the

60s, but I don't have one in my memory. I don't think there was a sweep in my lifetime. There was not, you are right. The answer is one. And the year of the sweep, I believe, let me check his text here, but I believe it was 1959. Here we go.

Yeah, there you go. So they swept the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959. Sure. And here's another crazy stat. They also only have three five game finals victories. Oh wow. Yeah, 61, they beat St. Louis, 64, the Warriors, the San Francisco Warriors,

and 65, the Lakers. I was gonna say, I couldn't remember a one, a five game series in my lifetime in that one either. 63, 68, 76, 81, 86 in 2008 were six games. Six games, yeah. 57, 60, 62, 66, 69, 74 and 84 were seven games. I mean, that's pretty wild. Like, Bill Russell won five game sevens in the finals alone, just in his era. Probably every single one against Jerry West. Against Jerry West, yeah.

By the way. So, but you know, even the Celtics specific history notwithstanding, it's just very hard to beat a team four games in a row. In fact, in the last, I think 20 or 25 NBA finals, I think there have only been two. It's like the Warriors beat Cleveland that year, that LeBron year.

And San Antonio beat Cleveland in sweeps. Of course Cleveland is the loser of the two sweeps of the last 20 years. I fully expect Dallas to win tonight. They're at home, they're playing desperately. They were, you know, what happened in game three, a couple of things to say about this, what happened in game three was really wild and dispiriting because they, if you go on a 20 to two run or whatever it was in the fourth quarter of a finals game at home and lose, and by the way, don't lose by one on a buzzer beater. No, no.

You just play seven points. You just lose seven points. Pretty much lose, yeah. Yeah, you just lose. Well, I thought even more dispiriting for them. I mean, obviously, you know, the Celtics just locked on psycho defense in that third quarter was ridiculous.

But what I thought was more dispiriting for them was we talked the day of the game. And one of the things we talked about was, look, they're gonna have a game where Kyrie and Luke are both gonna go off. And then, well, they both went to have a game where Kyrie and Luke are both going to go off. And then, well, they both went off. They both totally went off and they still couldn't beat the Celtics. Yeah. I mean, the thing that this, that the first, so I was at game two, I took my son to game two of the NBA finals. I had never seen a finals game before. I had never seen a playoff game in Boston, which is a really wild thing to say

for a 48-year-old Celtics fan. And it was wonderful. We had an amazing time. Obviously, it was so fun. Peyton Pritchard hitting that insane half-court, quarter-ending buzzer-beater three. It was like a six-point game and suddenly it's a nine point game. Those things are so magical when they happen. And just the whole game was just incredibly fun to watch. But here's what, here's my analysis of this and tell me if you agree. What this first three games of the series have really made me think is that Minnesota blew it. Yeah.

Because, so Minnesota, obviously they're a pretty young team and they have zero meaningful playoff experience and so at some level you're like, all right, it's a little harsh to say they blew it. But there's a specific way that I think they blew it. And that way is when the Dallas was on defense, in my memory, basically, Luca hid in the corner. They put him on one of those, you know, lanky athletic 6'9 guys that Minnesota has who ran to the corner. And Luca just stayed in the corner and thus was allowed to rest for a very long time. And then when they were on offense,

when Dallas was on offense, Minnesota blitzed him over and over again. They had this like, this guy isn't gonna beat us thing. And so they would send a double team, which ironically forced Luca into not indulging in his bad habits. And so they would double team him. He's a preter naturally great passer.

So he would like find an open guy, whip the ball to that open guy. Then they would pass the ball around the perimeter and it would end up with PJ Washington taking a corner three and he would drill it. And that happened over and over and over again. And what the Celtics are doing, excuse me, is saying, okay, we have Drew Holiday and Derek White

and Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, and we're not sending a double team. We are gonna fight over the top of screens. We're gonna stay on Luka one-on-one and he's gonna score 27 points or 30 points in the game. But what we're not going to score 27 points or 30 points in the game, but what we're not going to do is let him do the thing he's probably the best at, which is pass. Out of a double team.

So a couple things are happening there. One is they're forcing him into the tougher version of his shots, and they're also forcing him into this really boring and bad ISO offense that Dallas runs. And then the extra thing on top of that is that if you're Luka and you're getting the ball with 19 seconds left and you're dribbling and dribbling and dribbling and you're stopping and starting and you're crossing over and rushing forward and then kind of, and dribbling, and dribbling, and you're stopping and starting, and you're crossing over and rushing forward, and then, by the way, pushing off with your left arm on every play.

They're really not, that's a separate issue, we'll get to that in a second, of how much the refs are swallowing their whistles here. But he's working so hard, and then when the Southwicks are on offense, they are calling for switches, and getting Luca on defense one-on-one on every possession. And they are making him run

back and forth and chase Tatum. And Tatum and Brown are blowing by him on every play. Every single play at some point one of the Celtics ball handlers blows by Luca and then he tries to pull, as Bill Simmons put it the other day when we were talking about this, he tries to pull that old man YMCA move of letting the guy go by and then trying to poke the ball out from behind. Right, right. So they're working him so hard and what you're seeing is the first quarter of a couple of

these games, Luca has been Luca, he's been, he has, you know, 13 points on five shots and has hit a three or two. And then he's in, he's hit a bunch of mid range shots. And you're like, here we go. This is, this is what this guy does. By the middle of the third quarter, he looks like what you and I would look like if we tried to play in an NBA game,

which is to say utterly gassed, completely out of breath, no legs, he's front rimming everything. He's something like, I don't know, at this point he's like 9 of 17 from the free throw line. He's front rimming free throws. He is running out of gas. It just makes me think that Minnesota must be watching this and saying, we are young, we are athletic, we are long. Why did we not trust our guys to guard him one on one and not allow him to find the open guy on offense? And why did we let him walk to the corner and stand there for 20 or 30

seconds per minute of playing time because it allowed him to stay fresh through the entire game and I yeah I think for you know there's a lot of reasons that Boston is is up 3-0 some of them involve just their starting five even without poor Zingas is just better than Dallas is starting five they're starting five even without Porzingis is just better than Dallas is starting five. They're just a better team. They play better defense. They have five shooters on the floor at any given time. And so like some of this, I think is just like this is on paper the way that maybe you thought the series would go. But in the two close games, in game two and game three, to my eye, the difference has been them making Luca work on defense and them not allowing him to be the distributor that he was against Minnesota

when Dallas is on offense. And as a result, they've won two games by seven points. And I think the difference is found in the way that they've handled Luca. Yeah, well, I mean, look, I don't wanna be disrespectful to a great, great player like Luca, but it's almost as if Minnesota, like everybody else, I mean, this guy was, I don't know where he finished in the MVP voting, but right up there, everybody else kind of looked at it as we don't want to let that guy beat him. And the Celtics seem to be

looking at him as he's the reason we're going to beat them. Yeah, you know, I mean, like he's become I mean, he's not here. Here's, here's what I would say. I mean, and again, you know, basketball statistics can be misleading or whatever, but basically in every victory that the Dallas' have throughout the playoffs, Lucas plus. He's a plus, you know, he was plus 21 in game five against Minnesota, plus nine, plus three, plus one. I mean, he's not always super plus.

He's minus 32 for this series, and he's minus seven at least in every one of these games. And I think that's, I think that's the strategy. I think the strategy was not, let's not let that guy beat him, but let's let him do what, let's let him be Luca. We're going to guard him pretty much straight up. I mean, what they've been doing, you and I talked about this which is crazy

And that's only the Celtics can do this Minnesota couldn't do this when the Celtics switch on Luca They're putting a better defender like like there's no there's no three man You know game with him or two man game with him where you can get a switch where you're gonna get a worse defender You're probably gonna get a better defender on you, you know? It's like, which is only the Celtics. I mean, only the Celtics can put five guys on the floor that are just better defender after better defender after better defender.

But, so they made him not only work so hard so that he's exhausted in the second half, which is clear, but also work so hard so that he's exhausted in the second half, which is clear, but also work so hard that there are very long periods of these games where he looks bad. I mean, he just looks like he's kind of- He just has worn out. Yeah. Yeah, he looks worn out, but he also looks like he's taking bad shots and he's missing, like you were saying, it's not just free throws. He's missing some mid-range shots the guy never misses.

He was 11 for 27 in that last game or, you know, and it just, I thought he looked, he looked tough, you know, he looked rough. And then, and then Kyrie is like a whole other thing. So Kyrie will just be like a, just miraculous for, as he was that first half the other day, where it's not just that he was scoring like crazy, he was hitting bonkers shots,

which is what Kyrie does, right? Where he hits these threes with like that are impossible, but much more to the point, he goes to the basket and does some sort of goofy, whatever thing, and somehow the ball goes, you know, nine feet above the rim and then goes sliding through. But he's not able to do that in the second half either. And I mean, it's really, it's fascinating

to watch two great players kind of get a little bit overwhelmed, which they were then. You know that you're gonna get, and I'm fully prepared for this, and I think this will happen tonight, and I'm prepared for it tonight as like emotionally and mentally prepared as I can be. There are going to be moments where Kyrie has the ball and he dribbles around and he crosses over and he makes a move and the defenders like stays with him because it's a good defender whatever and then he like dribbles into the lane like at the top of the free throw line

and there was that shot against I think it was against Minnesota where he hit like a like dribbles into the lane, like at the top of the free throw line. And there was that shot against, I think it was against Minnesota, where he hit like a running, floating 20 foot left-handed layup somehow. Like when you watch it on GameCast, the people recording the events of the game don't even know how to describe it.

You know, like it usually says like, Kyrie hits 22 foot jumper or whatever. But when you watch the game, it's like Kyrie does something hard to explain. He kind of shot it underhanded from a with his back to the basket from the free throw line on a step back. Like they it's he make he's the possibly the best shot maker in the game. Like, I don't I don't know that there's anyone who routinely makes more new kinds of shots that you've never seen before, right?

To the point where if you're not a big NBA fan and have not followed Kyrie, you would think he was the luckiest player in the game. Yeah. That's the thing that strikes me is he hits these shots that you're like, oh, come on. You know, like sort of like when you're playing on the playground and somebody hits some bank

and you're like, yeah, okay, ridiculous, you know? Wild. And you're like, there's no way, but he does it every time. So it's like, clearly this is just what he does. No, it's a repeatable skill. The impossible shot is for Kyrie a repeatable skill, which isn't for anyone else.

But there are also moments, like there was a moment in game three, I think it was game three, that really sort of typified, I think why Boston has had success so far, which is Tatum was on Luca, and Luca like dribbled and dribbled, dribbled, dribbled forever. And then he drove past him and he got all the way to the hoop, but Tatum was kind of on him.

And he dribbled sort of under the hoop to the point where he would have to be the sort of a reverse layup, right? And he up faked and Tatum didn't move and he up faked again and Tatum didn't move. And Tatum was just standing right behind him with his enormous seven foot wingspan arm in the air. And Tatum and then the shot clock was at two and no one know what to do. And then Luca had to kind of like step forward away from the basket and turn around and try like a little eight foot sort of like. Yeah, yeah. I remember this shot.

Yeah. And it, and it missed like it front rimmed, it barely made the rim. Barely made the rim. Exactly. And it was like the way, and this is, this goes back to the other point, right? So the, the, another reason why I think the

Celtics have had success in the series so far is that the refs are just absolutely swallowing their whistles. There have been multiple times where a, like on a breakaway or like a two on one, it has led to a Celtics dunk. Tatum the other night, Derek White a couple times, and multiple times where the Dallas defender came in, tried to swipe the ball night, Derek White a couple of times, and multiple times where the Dallas defender came in, tried to swipe the ball away and just absolutely slaps the Boston dunker on

the arm as hard as he can. And there's no call. And I have, of course, been losing my mind when this happens. My son actually said, in the Tatum one the other night, my son said, when they showed the replay, that is like, if you look up foul in the dictionary, that's the picture they show. Like it just, it was like, it was like Gafferty's hand or someone fully hitting the forearm of the dunker of Tatum.

Yeah. And so, but they, and they don't make that call. And then on the other end, they're doing the same thing. There have been dozens of calls that in a regular season game are called against both teams. Like the, called the Celtics have been fouling. Juralade fouled Luka the other day when he was under the basket and they didn't call it and Luka lost his mind.

And they fouled all, they've found the Mavericks are fouling the Celtics and it's because it's the finals's the finals they're just like sorry we're not going to turn this into a free throw shooting contest and so they're not calling them and I think that part a huge part of Lucas game is drawing contact and I think Celtics are being really disciplined and not biting on his up fakes and jumping in the air so that he can then lean into them and shoot and just go to the free throw line. And I think this is why Jimmy Butler has not led his team to a championship in the last couple times he's been there. I think when you get to the finals and the refs start swallowing their whistles,

the people for whom their game is largely dependent on getting fouled and getting free points at the charity stripe. I think that is a big issue. I think that's a really big issue for Luca. I think that, by the way, getting fouled and having there be like two minutes where you're just standing there and getting some rest is a big deal. And I think that, I think, you know, he's not the best free throw shooter in the world, but he shoots 80%.

And so you're talking about over the course of a game, you're talking about eight or 10 more points that they would normally have and they're just not getting them. And you know, the Celtics are a very good free throw shooting team as well. They're not getting as many free throws as they normally do, but I think it's a bigger deal

that Dallas isn't getting those free points than it is that Boston isn't getting those free points. Yeah, I think that's a good point. I mean, certainly, Lucas game just feels off and I think that's probably a big part of it. I'll also say this. The games feel a lot more free flowing because they're not making those calls. I mean, I'm not saying that they shouldn't, you know, referee the games or anything, but the games are not, they're just not a lot of stoppages as there used to be, you know? I mean, it just feels like the games are moving at a different kind of pace.

And especially guys, I mean, Lucas, one of, he's certainly not the king, but he's one of the kings of just kind of going up for a shot and getting fouled. And that's kind of was the whole purpose of what he was doing. You know, he wasn't, you know, and that's just not working now. They're just not doing. And I, that's, you know, from an entertainment standpoint, that's, that's not that entertaining to watch. Right. Here's the, here's the last thing to say about this. Then we can move on to another subject. The other thing that the swallowing the whistles effect is having is

for a long time, the main Celtics fan complaint about Tatum is that every time he drove, regardless of whether he hit the shot or not, he would turn around and throw his arms up in the air in the universal NBA symbol of how could you not call that? Of course. Yeah, of course. Right? Right. And oftentimes would jaw and bark and whatever. And meanwhile, the other team is playing five on four at the other end.

He has largely stopped doing that. Like he still does it occasionally, but generally speaking, he has stopped doing that, at least to the degree that he used to, you know, who has not stopped doing it, Luka Donchich. Yes. And there are, there were at least two, uh, five on four Celtics baskets scored in game three that were five on four because Luca was barking and jawing and not getting back on defense.

And they must drive Jason Kidd and Mark Cuban and Miriam Adelson insane if Miriam Adelson even watches basketball. I'm not sure if she does. This is a giant tax dodge slash gambling gambit for her to buy the team, but it must drive them crazy because you know, look, he's a bad defender right now. Anyway, he's like, even when he's actually back there, he has been a traffic cone and he has gotten blown by so many times.

There, there were a couple, there was one play in game three where by so many times. There were a couple, there was one play in game three where Jalen Brown had the ball, called for a switch from whoever was, Luca was guarding. The switch, the screen came and Luca just decided to not play basketball for a second. He just was like, I don't know, just go ahead. And Jalen Brown drove to his left right down the the lane. And Luca just watched him go. And it was like, hey man, it's a pretty basic thing on defense that when your guy goes to a screen and you're playing switch and you're switching,

you're not fighting through that screen. That's your guy now. The ball handler is your guy. Like I think that most people in the NBA kind of intuitively understand. They do, they seem to get it. And he just kind of watched it happen and like just didn't even allay the ball handler,

just didn't even engage. Like just sort of stopped and turned and watched from like eight feet away as Jalen Brown drove right to the hoop. And so he's bad anyway. He is not a great defender. At least right now he's not. And look, to be fair, where he's had a knee injury, he's not a back injury.

He's had a sternum injury, he's tired or whatever, but it is absolutely. If you watch, I mean, it's why Brian Winnhorst went crazy on him. I don't know if you saw that after the game. Yeah. Winnhorst absolutely called him out and was like, that was an unacceptable effort from him. That was absolutely not a championship effort. And he pointed to the two tunnels. And he was like, that's where the Celtics, that's the tunnel where the Celtics are coming out from.

That's where the one where Dallas is coming out from. And if that tunnel, he pointed to the Dallas tunnel, is ever going to have a champion walk out of that tunnel, it's got, Luca Dondrzyk has to wake up and be a better basketball player. And that just fully laid the game three defeat at Luca's feet. And I think he was right. I think he was right to do it. It's like, I mean, obviously he fouled out with four minutes left, which was kind of like, and when that never done ever, I mean, that was weird. I thought he was, I mean, you talk about tired. I mean, those were very tired fouls at the end. Okay. One, one crazy detail. And again, by the time anyone hears this,

this will be so long ago that it'll barely matter. But one weird tiny detail that my son and I both noted when it happened was he had three fouls in the second half. Yeah. And at one point, uh, ago that it'll barely matter. But one weird tiny detail that my son and I both noted when it happened was he had three fouls in the second half. And at one point, uh, I think early in the fourth quarter, maybe you're late in the third, it was like Peyton Pritchard got the ball, uh, inbounded from the baseline and Luca picked him up full court. And I was like, what is he doing?

Like, this is, this is weird. And then he like, he like guarded him full court. And as soon as Pritchard got across half court, Luca had a take foul. He just fouled him the way that you would foul with someone if you had a foul to give. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was his fourth.

And I was like, what in the world is he doing? Picking up his fourth foul. Like if you need to stop the clock, if you wanna get different personnel on the floor, whatever it is, like why are you sending a- You wouldn't have Luca do that foul. If you need to stop the clock, if you want to get different personnel on the floor, whatever it is, why are you sending a- It wouldn't have Luca do that foul. No, no. Yeah. Absolutely not. Yeah. But it was very clearly a kind of intentional, like I'm fouling this guy when he crosses half court. And I would love to know the answer. Now, to be fair, it was, I believe, right before they started their crazy run.

They went on a 10-0 run right after that. And part of the reason they went on a 10-0 run is because they caught the Celtics in a personnel problem. And I think Prichard was on the floor and they subbed it. They went big. And like a couple of possessions later, like they switched and switched and switched. And like, I think Derek Lively was under the rim

and Prichard was guarding him. So it was like a foot difference, you know? And Prichard to his credit just wrapped him up and fouled him so that he couldn't get a dunk. And then, and they went on a 10 hour run. So I was like, okay, maybe that's why they, maybe that's why he fouled him because the idea was if Prichard comes in here, we're going big and we're going to find these mismatches.

Okay, fine. Why did they send Luke to foul them? Why, why, why did Derek Jones Jr. not go and foul them? Why did anyone but Doncich with three fouls go and foul Prichard? It makes no sense. But I think also, but Doncich is such a smart player. I think they just thought he could play with four fouls. I mean, he's not going to foul out of this game. And, you know, they, they challenged the sixth foul,

even though it was clearly a foul. Yeah. And it was a very, very tired and pointless foul. It was what? 40 feet from the basket. It was just, it was a terrible foul. I mean, I don't know. Something was Donjic just did not not seem in in to the game at all like something something seemed off with him anyway beyond probably exhaustion probably something else. But you know they did catch not Dallas's strong suit, but they really locked down for a few minutes there and had the Celtics, you know, kind of, kind of buzzing, yeah. They were Dallas,

after they made their mid season acquisitions, after they picked up Gafford and started playing lively at a different position and everything else. They were by most metrics one of the best defensive teams in the NBA for the second half. Which is crazy considering when they started. Yeah. They started bad and they got much better and I think that they figured some stuff out with personnel but also with like hiding Luca in the corner and stuff like that. Right. And so like it's not this is partly why I expect them to win tonight. Like they're, they are certainly capable of both offensive and defensive greatness.

And they have, um, they have schematics and plans and, uh, that, that are effective against basically anyone. They have the ability to do what they did in the fourth quarter, which is not only score at will, but also really play tight defense, really, really lock down. It's just that they, that requires all of their star players, their really, their two star players to be in control and doing their thing in the way that they know how to do it.

And when Luca just look, the other, the last thing to say about Luca, I keep saying this is the last thing and then I promise we'll move on. But the last thing to say about Luca is he's 23, 24 years old. He's so young and it is pretty typical that guys that young have flaws in their game. If you go back and look at the difference between Jalen Brown against the Warriors in the finals two years ago, and Jalen Brown now, a significant leap has been taken.

If you go back and look at any of these guys, Tatum or Derek White, or any of these guys, like the Celtics are better right now than they were by a significant margin, in part because they're star players who could have coasted at the level they were coasting at and probably like made the hall of fame because they were good, decided to improve themselves. And you know who is exactly as good as he was three or four years ago? Drew Holliday, because Drew Holliday is 34 and he's fully hooked as a player. And,

and so I think that what you're seeing right now could potentially be with Luca, a situation not unlike Michael Jordan scoring 63 points in a game against the Celtics in the late 80s and his team losing versus like coming back a few years later and scoring like 35 and his team winning six championships, right? Like, Luca has without question has it he's Stan Van Gundy referred to him recently as the greatest offensive basketball player he's ever seen. And I think you could make that argument. I think that when he is really clicking offensively and he won the scoring title, or maybe he was second this year, I think he won it. No, he won, he was number four points again.

Yeah, absolutely. But like his average game when he's clicking is like 34, 12 and 12. Like it's hard to imagine a better offensive force than that guy. But I don't think he's going to be a potentially like multiple championship level player until there are the aspects of his game that are weak are he works on and buckles down and like becomes a, like gets into maybe a little better shape and maybe avoids injury and like becomes a, like gets into maybe a little better shape and maybe avoids injury and just becomes like the guy

that everyone sees he can be. And right now he isn't that guy. And that's, I think the difference between, that's Alex being up 3-0 and being up 2-1 or down 1-2. Like I, seven game series, man, like the tiniest margins can cause huge shifts in momentum. And that 20 to two run they went on in the fourth quarter could easily have led to the Mavs stealing game three. And then suddenly we're like, okay, it's it's we're on. They're

like, help. They're holding. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. No, I think that's right. And look, there have been times during these playoffs, that Luca has been that guy. Yeah, where Luca has like carried that team in in every way because he is so versatile offensively can do so many different things offensively. But he's being exposed. They just the Celtics are exposing him during this during this. It's a really good they have a really good game plan. And we'll

do if we'll see if the Mavericks adjust tonight. And it's also possible by the way, that Luka just overcomes their game plan and has like a 40, 15 and 12 night and they win game four. Again, I'd expect them to win tonight. I think it's just, it's very, very, very hard to beat anybody for four games in a row. It is, it's also really hard to pull maximum effort out

when you're down three oh, that's just a really difficult thing to do, especially for pretty, you know, they're not overall necessarily that young, but they've got, you know, this is sort of an inexperienced team. They start a rookie in their lineup, like Derek Wiley. They do. Derek Wiley is, you know,

like he's straight up a rookie. Here's the wildest thing about the Mavericks. Tim Hardaway Jr., their third leading scorer in the course of the season, can't get on the floor. They don't play him. They literally don't play him. It's really wild. Like I know that the rotations get short

in the finals for obvious reasons. And there are guys who, you know, the Celtics have had to play certain guys some minutes because poor Zingas went down and you know, Xavier Tillman step on up. Like you're gonna get in this game now. But you know, the Mavericks third leading scorer

for the course of the season has been not on the floor at all. Not on the floor? It's wild. It's really wild. All right, I've got a baseball thing that I want to talk about. And this is something we have talked about before. I'm not gonna, I don't want to talk about the Yankees.

It's a new era for the podcast. I don't want to talk about the Yankees. It's a new era for the podcast. I don't want to talk about the Yankees this time. I want to talk about how I just kind of keep getting, of course, I've had this feeling many, many times before, but I kind of keep getting this feeling that this is Seattle's year. I just kind of keep, yeah. That team is now fairly comfortably in the lead

in that the American League West because nobody, everybody else in that division is terrible. At least at the moment, right? Everybody's sub 500, even the Rangers, the Astros apparently are not gonna figure it out, or at least, you know, not here in the first half They're not gonna figure it out And the Mariners are not playing that great. But here's here's what I in my mind got thinking They're they're leading this division

They've been a second half team like these last few years, right? Like they've they've they've always been trying to dig themselves out of that early hole that they put themselves in. Julio Rodriguez is just beginning to kind of turn back into Julio Rodriguez after a absolutely dreadful start. He homered off like 101 mile an hour pitch yesterday. I know, it was wild. It was pretty wild.

I mean, he's beginning to look like himself a little bit more. Their pitching is kind of good. I mean, they're starting pitching with with Castillo and Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, even Bryce Miller's pitching well is kind of good. I don't know. I mean, here's the thing. I think it's a poscast dream to get Seattle to the World Series. They've never been to a World Series, which is an absurdity. They're the only team, right?

The only team in baseball that's never been to a World Series. And I don't know. I think I'm ready to invest fully into this team. What do you think? I mean, I wish I could go along with you, but they're hitting, it's been terrible. It has been terrible, but it shouldn't be.

It's been, they've been underachieving at the plate in large part because Julio has been so bad. It's not just them though. Crawford has been terrible. Crawford has been terrible, you're right. Mitch Garver has been terrible. Mitch Garver is hitting 173 as a 627. I know, with not a lot of right. Mitch Garver's hitting 173 as a 627 OPS.

With not a lot of power. Mitch Hanniger has not been, he's been terrible. 621 OPS, they cannot hit the ball. But those guys are better than that, aren't they? Yeah, of course. But Julio, and Julio who's, like you said, he's come on recently. He's slugging 354, how about that?

That's astonishing. He's got a sick 71 OPS. I mean, look, his last seven games, he's been better, I guess. Like, you know, if you wanna, in his last 30 games, he has a 325 on base percentage. Like, he has not yet fully ever become the guy that we really thought he was going to be.

And again, much like Luca, he's 23 years old. There's a long way to go here. Yes. Yes. But this leads to my question about Julio specifically, which is, who have you been more shocked by how much they've struggled this year? Julio Rodriguez or Corbin Carroll?

Because they're both 23 and they both have been kind of abysmal this year. So- Honestly, the answer for me is Carroll. The, this to me has absolutely come out of nowhere. Like, I mean, OK, here, I'll throw some stats at you. So last year, at age 22, he scored 116 runs. He had an 868 OPS.

He had a splash, 285, 362, 506. He stole 54 bases. 54! He had 10 triples. He's still 54 bases, 54. Yeah. He had 10 triples. He had 25 home runs. Okay. We are now more than a third of the way through the season, a good deal more than third of

the way. We're almost halfway through the season. We're, you know, he's, he's played in 67 games. He has two home, he has two home runs, two home runs. He's on pace. He's on pace for five home runs when he hit 25 last year. What is his OPS right now? His OPS is six Oh one.

That is 267 points lower. And almost all of that while at 200 points of it is slugging. He cannot hit the ball. It is the weirdest thing. And look, sophomore slump, call it what you want. Like it's not, he wouldn't be the first guy to burst onto the scene in his first full year have an incredible year then the league adjusts to him and He but this is this is not a small fog. This is this is going from

Literally, I mean an MVP finished fifth in the MVP voting last year To a guy you can't have on the field. I mean, he's playing badly enough, you can't even have him on the field. I think he's like, he's not quite negative, he's not quite replacement level, but he's like only a tick above replacement level, right? Yeah, man.

I mean, the Red Sox called up Sedane Raffaella, who's like one of their top prospects, incredible fielder, swings at everything and people were like, this is a project, he's a project at the plate, whatever. He's got a higher OPS this year than Corbin Carroll. I mean, it is wild. And like Julio has had in his three years or whatever it's been, he has had chunks of time where we've been like,

what's going on with that guy? Like he's 700 open. Yeah, that is true. That is true. And then he'll get really hot and then he'll cool down or whatever. Corbin Carroll did not seem like that kind of guy. Corbin Carroll seemed like, okay,

he is a fully formed hitter at age 22. He is a guy with power and speed and he makes contact and he's got 30 doubles and you can pencil him in for 30 doubles and 10 triples and 25 homers every year. That just seemed, and maybe we were all wrong. Maybe we left to conclusions. Maybe he's got a nagging shoulder injury. We don't know. Yeah, that's the thing. He could be hurt, but you're right. It wasn't just that he had this unbelievable year. He was the number one prospect coming in the last year.

Everybody knew he was going to be great. And he was greater than we even thought, like quicker than we thought. So I don't understand it, but those are the two guys I think that I'm most baffled by in baseball and both of those teams. Well, Arizona is, you know, sub 500 and

and who the heck knows, you know, what's going to happen there. They weren't that great last year until the postseason. But the Mariners, despite Julio being hugely disappointing, at least for a long stretch, they are in first place. I just think they could get hot. I want to believe. They could. That's certainly possible. I hope it's true. It would be really fun if that were the case. A big reason, honestly, why they are where they are is that Texas has a couple more of those guys who you thought were like, Oh my God, here we go. Right. Evan Carter comes up here and slugs six 45 and has a thousand OPS in his 25 games.

And then like, so good in the postseason, you were like, Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Rips through the postseason. You're like, Jesus, this guy's 20 years old. Like, Oh my God, he's hitting one 88 this year. He's a 633 OPS. And then in, and it's only 45 games, but still then in the off season, then Wyatt Langford shows up and you're like, Oh my God, they've got two of these guys.

These, these kind of like can't miss hitters who were, who just mash everything. And he's worse. He's got like a 600 OPS, like he is terrible. And I'll tell you what has been killing them to is a Dolis Garcia. We thought he was like, like, OK, this is a top 10 player of baseball kind of thing after his postseason last year. And he's been kind of terrible. I mean, I don't I mean, they're they are another team in my mind.

I mean, Corey Seeger now is hitting well, he's hurt a little bit, but he's hitting again. But they are the kind of team I think that could get hot. Right. I mean, like, it sure seems like they ought to like they they their lineup looked so their lineup looked so kind of like rock solid. It's Semyon and Seeger and Carter and Langford and Garcia and Jonah Himes seemed like he was pretty reliable, certainly for a catcher. Like, okay, that guy's gonna give slug. He's gonna, he hit 18 homers last year at 95 RBI.

And then all of them, just everyone. There are those inexplicable years where just a lineup that you think is pretty solid and reliable, everyone for some reason takes an enormous step backwards. Like the entire team, it's so weird. It's like the entire team is like a hundred and fifty points of OPS worse than they were last year. It's bizarre. I don't know, but what explains that?

Maybe random variance or maybe, I don't know, maybe they're just all fighting injuries. Who knows? But it does feel, of course it's random variance, right? At the end of the day, that's always the right answer. The answer is always, you know, small sample size, random variance. It does feel like though that teams, like this is what I thought about the Astros and you know, we'll see. I mean, Kyle Tucker's her now, so we'll see where they end up. But the Astros to me reminded me so much of last year's Padres team. Like everything just kind of

seemed to be going bad. And when it goes bad, it goes bad for everybody. And that team just kind of just fell off and have never figured it out. The Cardinals last year, another example of a team that just started going bad and then it just never got any better. So maybe that's part of what's happening, but it's really strange. You look at the American League right now, and again, we're not talking about the Yankees, even though it has to be said that Aaron Judge and and Juan Soto have a chance to become the first players, teammates to have 200 OPS plus, which is basically double league

average and OPS, essentially. The first teammates to do that since who? Who do you think is the last teammates to each have 200 plus OPS? It's probably like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig or something. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, that is absolutely 100% right. So that's scary. The Orioles are great. They're just really, really good. I mean, like they kind of have so much talent that like stuff can go wrong for

them. And they're just really, really good. I think Cleveland looks like they're kind of for real, which is bizarre, but they've, they've got it going together. The Mariners are leading the Royals are somehow in like, like the number two wild card at the moment or something. I mean, so that I don't know how long that can last. And then you got a bunch of teams that are just like, who knows Minnesota, look, Boston is sort of in no, they're not. But they, but they sort of are not because of how good or not they are. But because unless Texas figures it out, I mean,

somebody's got to get that third wild card spot, right? So it's got to be somebody. So I don't know. But as crazy as that is in the American League, it's way worse than the National League. Yeah, the National League, you've got the Dodgers, everybody know they're, they're, you know, they're gonna run away with that division at the end of the day You have Philadelphia which is apparently gonna run away with that division and you know now that the Braves are hurt beat up I mean, I don't and are also having one of those years like we just talked about where everyone is worse than they were Everybody's somehow is worse, right? The Braves will probably still make the playoffs

But there that's not a lock for them. And then you got Milwaukee running away with that central and the Cubs are talking about disappointments that team has just been. But then it's like, all right, well, who's going to make the wild card. So you've got you've got Philadelphia, Milwaukee and LA probably at this moment looking like pretty good, you know, teams to win those divisions. Now you're looking at who else has a plus 500 record, the Padres and the Braves.

That's it. Those are the only other two teams with plus records with over 500. And again, the Braves have been playing pretty badly since since their spate of injuries. And now it's like, all right, the Cardinals? Really, are you buying them? Are the Cubs gonna kind of figure it out? Cincinnati's in position? The Giants are weirdly around 500?

Baseball has weirdly, in the National League at least, turned into football. Where like, you know, in the middle of a football season, you look at the records of the team. There's like, you know, one team is is nine and one and a couple teams are eight and two. And then everybody else is like six and five or five, six and five, five and six. And everybody's like in the mix for the playoffs. So here here are some records of National League teams.

Okay. 33 and 34, 33 and 35, 33 and 36, 32 and 36, 32 and 36, 37 and 35, 34 and 35, 33 and 36. That's more than half of the National League. Yeah. It basically has the same record. It's the- Right. Then the Nationals, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs,

Pirates, Padres, Giants and Diamondbacks all have the same record. They have the same record. Friend of the- There are two teams out of it. Well, if let's say the Mets are out of it. So three teams, Mets, Marlins, Rockies, that's it. That's it.

Those are the only teams that are like, and I don't even know if Mets fans, I mean, they're only seven under 500. I don't even know if they- Yeah, that's it. That's it. Those are the only teams that are like, and I don't even know if Mets fans, cause I mean, they're only seven under 500. I don't even know if they're not, they're kind of not out of it. They're three games back of a wild card slot. They're not out of it at all. Friend of the POSCAST, Justin Halpern,

Psycho Padres fan, told me the other day who, who. We have to have him on by the way. We do, we have to have him back so we can talk about the Padres. He told me the other day that the Padres are on pace this year to absolutely shatter the all time MLB record for most days at exactly 500. It's like they, they, I can't remember what the record is or what they're on

pace to like double it. They're, they're currently 37 and 35. That's awesome. But that is like a, what a wonderful stat, but like, by the way, a team that might, uh, contend for that record But like, by the way, a team that might, contend for that record, the Boston Red Sox, who every day win a game after they lost. They're currently 35 and 34. They are absolutely a five, they're the definition of a 500 team, but there are eight of those teams in the national League. All of those teams are basically the Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Pirates, Padres, Giants, Diamondbacks, and then Nationals are only four under 500. Then in the American League, you have the Rangers and the Twins and the Tigers and the

Blue Jays and the Rays and the Red Sox. Every one of these teams is within two games of 500. And obviously, look, some of this will shake out. The trade deadline will come. A bunch of these teams will be sellers. They'll get rid of a bunch of guys. Other teams will step up. But it's just a weird, very NFL-like year where you basically have the Yankees and Orioles

and Guardians in the American League. To some extent, the Mariners, but not even really. They're only 40 and 31. Then you have the Phillies who have had a very easy schedule. Even the Dodgers, even the Dodgers with their $7 trillion payroll, they're only 42 and 28. It's not like they're not running away with the West right now.

They have a six game lead, like you assume, you know, of course the Dodgers always do this. They are underperforming their expected win loss. They're, they're expected when loss is 46 and 24, there are four games under that. The Yankees, of course, they're expected to win loss is exactly what their record is 49 and 22, same with the Orioles, uh, 45 and 23, but in, you just have this morass of mediocrity in the National League. Look, I think the Phillies are great. I think they're going to win that division. They had

the easiest schedule of any team in the first half. Of course. And I think that'll tighten up a little bit. Of course, some of the reason they've had the easiest schedule is because they beat up on these teams. I mean, that's the other part of it. Yeah, absolutely. I do wonder if the Dodgers would love to just win that division comfortably, but not win a hundred games. You know what I mean? Like they always win a hundred and then, you know,

it's like, what difference to make? It's almost like you almost want to prove a point. It's just nothing matters until the playoffs began i just i'm just i'm it's it's fun it's it's goofy but it's fun to try to figure out which of these exact same teams are actually going to like finish seven games over 500 and win a wild card spot because it kind of could be any of them. The Padres right now are the only other team other than Atlanta in the wild card race who have a plus 500 record. They're also the only team that is being led by Jurikson Profar. is being led by Jurikson Profar. So is that their record?

I mean, is that really their record or is that not really their record? And meanwhile, I mean, if you're a fan of the Nationals, I mean, it seemed like that team was gonna be just terrible and they're not terrible. They're, you know, I mean, CJ Abrams is so much fun to watch, but they've had a couple of guys who are like doing pretty well. Nick Sensles at hitting.

I mean, you know, they've got this Jake Irving guy pitching who I honestly had never heard of. Never heard of it. I'd never heard of him physically really well. Like he's like, he doesn't ever walk anybody. I mean, he's pitching great for them. And, and, uh, I, I don't know. I mean, it's in a way, it's a lot of fun in a way.

I, I miss sort of this attempt for excellence that I think used to mark the baseball season, because if you were not truly excellent, you couldn't get to the post season, but that's gone truly excellent, you couldn't get to the postseason. But that's gone, we're not going back to that. So let's sort of embrace the chaos. And for me, I just want there to be like a seven way tie for the final wild card spot. Why not?

Let's just get all these teams in there and see if- As long as the Rockies and Marlins are so much worse than everybody else, it could happen, right? Yeah, let's get, I mean, look, the problem I have, and I know we said we weren't gonna talk about the Yankees, right? Okay, but the problem is, is like, you look at these teams and you're like, who is beating them?

Who's beating them? Right. Or that, if you had a playoff series between the Yankees and the Guardians right now, where's your money? It's on the Yankees. Yankees Marin between the Yankees and the Guardians right now, where's your money? It's on the Yankees. Of course. Yankees Mariners, Yankees Royals, Yankees Twins, we know how that would go.

That one we can say for sure. If it's Yankees Twins, we know exactly how that's going to end. It should be noted, by the way, as we wrap things up here, they have played their entire series already, six games. Shockingly, the Yankees were 6-0 against the Twins. They won series already, six games. Shockingly, the Yankees were six to no against the Twins. They won all six of those games. Won all six of those games. Pretty convincingly, yeah.

Yeah, like most of the games were four to one or five to one or six to nothing or three to nothing or whatever. There was one game I think the Twins scored five runs. Unfortunately, the Yankees scored nine or 10. It continues. The most inexplicable thing in sports, which is the Yankees' 22-year dominance over the Minnesota Twins, continues, not just continues, but seems to grow stronger every year.

It seems to grow stronger. And the Twins are not, they're pretty good. Again, the Twins are good if not for their six game, you know, the loss to the Yankees, they'd be well over 500. I mean, there are a few games over 500 now, even with those six game losses. If they had split that six game series, they would be actually, they would be two and a half games up in the wild card. And instead they're like,

they're tied for the third wild card currently. Yeah, exactly. It really is like, I mean, I don't know how many times you and I can talk about this or you can write about it, but what's exciting I think is we're almost at the point now where I think it's closing in on a full 162 game stretch. Yeah. It's like, oh, I think we passed 162, didn't we? I mean, I thought there was, there was a moment where I thought it was like 120 and 42 or something. I thought

you'd be wrong. I thought we were still like three or four games shy of a full. Okay. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll do the math and we'll, we'll get back to you. Uh, if you come to our new sub stack and the podcast dot sub stack.comack.com, we'll give you that stat. We'll give you the, we'll find that Yankee twin stat. It's the best, every year is the best stat that you can come up with. It's amazing. It's incredible. It's incredible. All right. It's time for One Last Meaningless Thing to end this meaningless thing. One last meaningless thing To end this meaningless thing

We talk about sports and we draft things we know Like how beaches are terrible places to go No hot fruit for Michael, no Diet Coke for Joe The postcast war, it's one last war, the most thin. I'm going to start because we've actually already had this conversation between ourselves. When I answer a telephone, and I don't know the last time anybody's called it a telephone, by the way, but when I answer my phone, my cell, I of course know who is calling me at all times. I mean, you know, we all get that information before we even get started. And, but I still answer like, hello, like I don't know who that person is. This is how I've been answering phones

for my 58 years on earth. And that's how I'm gonna continue to answer the phone probably. However, it's ridiculous and outdated and stupid. And this was brought to my attention by one Michael Shure who called me the other day and I said hello, and you were almost, would you say you were taken aback by the fact that I said hello? So it's a thing I've noticed about you before, but in this case it was sort of doubly noticeable

because I had said, hey, I'm getting in the car in a- Yeah, I'll call you in five minutes. I'll call you in five minutes. So you both knew that I was calling you and also when I called you ostensibly on your phone, it says call from Mike. Yeah. And so the phone rings and I hear you pick up and you go, hello, like, who is this?

Like this could be anybody, yeah, yeah. And so instead of saying, hi Joe, it's Mike, I just launched into a tirade where I'm like, you know it's me. Why are you saying hello as if you don't know who's on the other end? And then we proceeded to try to calculate, and this is a good reader listener question. What is the youngest age of a person who still says,

hello, as if they don't know who's calling? And I mean, so I'm 48 and I have transitioned out of that. You have transitioned. You've broken free. When I get a call now and I see it's Joe, I go, I pick up the phone and I'll say like, hey buddy, how's it going? Or, hey man, or whatever, because I know it's you.

So I think I'm probably right on the edge where for the first 20, call it 20, when did I get a cell phone for the first time? Probably 1998 or I don't know. So for the first 23 years of my life, I had to do what everyone had to do, which is pick up the phone and go, hello, and wait for the information. And then for 25 years of my life,

I have lived in the other world, right? You had, call it 30 years of my life, I have lived in the other world, right? You had call it 30 years of saying hello and then, and now have had 28 years. So you're, you're almost at the halfway point, but I think I'm more than halfway of my life in the world of knowing the information. I'm guessing that I'm roughly speaking the youngest person who still has like a- Your age bracket, right there. Yeah, right there, 47 to 49.

If anyone is younger than me out there and still answers the phone by going, hello, please let us know and let us know. This is an important, we're doing a scientific study on this. Sociological research, yeah. But here's my question, can I change? Can a person change? Can I start answering the phone with saying hello

to the person like, hey, hey buddy, or how's it going or something? I don't know. I mean, I think you ought to give it a try. You ought to try it on for size and see how it feels. See how comfortable it feels. Yeah, it might, it's going to seem weird and awkward at first, but I think you should, you should try it because it's,

I think it's actually now you're at the point where it's more disconcerting for the person on the other end. Yeah. When I didn't know what to do in that moment. Yeah, I think that used to be my sort of disconcerting thing is that if I said, hey, Mike, that you would have been taken aback enough that you would have been like, oh, hey, hey,

rather than what you had come in plan to say, which is, hey man, this is Mike, right? So yeah, I don't know, you're definitely, you've transitioned, I'm gonna see if I can make that transition, see if that's possible. Excellent. All right, my one last meaningless thing concerns this category of decorative objects. Okay.

Okay, so you're a man in your 50s, I'm a man in my late 40s. We have been married both for a long time. And in our homes, there are a number of decorative objects. These are things like interestingly shaped bowls that sit in the center of a dining room table, or sort of like little pieces of art that sit on like a, you know, on a side table in your living room or something like that, right? So here's the thing I realized recently

about the decorative objects in my home. I have no memory of buying them. I don't know how they got there. I don't know what purpose they serve anymore. I've started to have like an existential crisis when I stare at them of like, what is this? Where did it come from? Why is it here?

What do I do with it? Do I just leave it alone or do I, and if I want to get rid of it, do is, does it have value of any kind? Do I put it on eBay? Do I sell it? Do I throw it in the garbage can? Can it be recycled if it's a glass bowl?

Do I put that in the recycling bin? Can it be recycled if it's a glass bowl? Do I put that in the recycling bin? Does it have some kind of sentimental value to me that I have just simply forgotten? Like, because it was given to me as a wedding present or a birthday present or something. I have close personal friend that I don't now remember. And you just collect these things. Like I have this very oddly shaped bowl, this glass bowl

that I wouldn't strictly speaking say is an attractive object. It's like a, it's a clear glass bowl, but instead of it being a bowl, it's got a sort of bowl shape in the middle, but then it has like, I don't know what you would call them. It's almost like fingers that come up out of it in like irregular shapes around the edge of the bowl. So it sort of has a, so I think like,

something's coming like sort of like, like almost a almost a sand structure kind of coming out. Yeah, yeah. So at the, so the, the, the, the outer ridge of the bowl is a lot of individual, like little sort of tendrils of glass that are rounded. And it's clearly like a thing that you put in the middle of a dining room table and then you fill with like plastic or like porcelain or glass fruit, you know? Or something like that. Right, you could put fruit or those little stones,

those decorative stones. Decorative stones, yeah. And so recently it was, recently it was on this coffee table and I was like, this thing is ridiculous. Like I don't want this anymore. I don't know what to do with this, but I don't want it. So I removed it from the coffee table and I put it on a chair near the coffee table.

Okay. And as a way to like, I was like, I just want this off the coffee table. So I put it on this chair and now it's just been on the chair for like three weeks and no one can sit in the chair. And my wife was like, what is this doing here? And I was like, oh, I just didn't want it

on the coffee table. And she's like, so you put it on the chair? And I was like, you're not wrong, this makes no sense. But I legitimately don't, it feels wrong to throw it away because I'll bet it cost $135 for either me or the person who bought it for me. Bought it for you, yeah. But I don't want it, I don't want it anymore, Joe.

I want it out of my house and I'm stymied when it comes to the moment where I try to figure out how to remove it from my home. Does, does, does JJ have any memory whatsoever of how this object? No memory. We don't know who gave it to us or if we, I don't think we bought it. Neither of us has any memory of buying it. And it's certainly not the kind of thing that if I saw it in a store, I would be like, Oh, I definitely need that clear glass.

It's a gift. Yeah. I don't know that does anybody ever buy those sorts of decorative things for themselves ever? I mean, like maybe if you're in like, uh, you're, you're in an antique store or something and you'd something catches your eye, but you would remember buying. I would remember it. I did not buy this object. I'm sure of it, but I don't remember who did. I guess if anyone who knows me is out there

and bought me this bowl, can you get in touch with me? Because that person will feel so flattered about the way you're speaking about this gift that they got you. The other thing about these objets is that they are eternal. Like I don't think they're- Oh yeah.

I think it's always been there. I think it was on, it was in my house somehow before I was. Like it predates me. And I think if you, it's like the shining at the end when Jack Nicholson, when you zoom in on the photos and there's photos from like a hundred years ago and Jack Nicholson is also in those photos. Right, right.

I think if you went back to like, if you saw a photo of like, my house was built in I think 1920. And if you saw a photo of like, my house was built in, I think, 1920. And if you saw a photo of the house in 1920, the bowl would be on the dining room table in that house. It's always been there. And Scott Fitzgerald writing something on it.

There's a painting, and there's that object. Yeah. And so that's part of what the problem is in terms of getting rid of it is like, I feel like maybe it's entering the numbers into the computer on lost. If I remove it from my home, does the earth collapse into a void or something? I'm scared. I'm legitimately scared by this bowl. All right. Well, so now this is going to have to be, we're just gonna need weekly updates for where this object is,

because it is clear you are now at a point where this object has to go. Like, you are now fully at that point, and I don't think that object ever will go. I don't think there'll be any way for it to happen. Here's what I'm thinking, and by the way, we are, for those of you waiting for your baseball card prize packages, we're very close.

Very close. Let me just say that the holdup is Jason Kander because Jason Kander promised signed copies of his book and he hasn't sent them to me yet. And that's all we're waiting for is signed copies of Jason Kander. Oh, you know what? Nobody wants that anyway.

I know. Just send them off. Just let's go. It feels weird not to include them. He swears they're in the mail, so when we get them, we'll send out the thing. But maybe next year, maybe next year, when we do the baseball card opening raffle,

one of the special prizes will be- Is this item. That is the best idea ever. Let us each get rid of one piece of one object that you and I do not know where it came from, how we got it. But we are, and then that person will, they will always remember how they got that object. That's right. That's right. That's it. We'll imbue it with intrinsic value, not because it itself is valuable, but simply because the person who owns it will now know where it came from.

You don't even know that might be valuable. You don't even know. It might be a- Maybe it's worth a million dollars. I have no idea. That's what I'm saying. Isn't that what people take to that roadshow, to the antique roadshow? They just take objects that they're like, I don't even know what this is. Not that I should do. I should take it to Antiques Roadshow and have a bunch of experts look at it and say like, this is a glass bowl manufactured in 2006. In Kmart, yeah.

Sold at Pier One Imports for $48. Oh, amazing. All right, well, if this recorded, then you'll be able to not only hear it, but maybe even see us. And we're excited about where we're going with the POScast. So Mike, as always, thank you. Thanks for having me.

POScast, P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-POScast. Thank you for having me, Joe.