The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Are Sports Headed for a Free-for-All? Donovan Mitchell’s Stock, NBA Summer League Stories, Plus Catching Up With Adnan Virk.

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

After the fallout from the LIV Golf tour, Ryen discusses why we may be headed for a very different future in how sports and leagues operate (0:27). Then Ryen talks with Adnan Virk of MLB Network and the 'Cinephile' podcast to discuss their passionate feelings about the Paramount+ show ‘The Offer,’ and Matthew Goode not being nominated for his portrayal of Robert Evans (11:30). Then they discuss MLB, including: Shohei Ohtani, the Yankees and the Astros poised to meet in the ALCS, the Dodgers, what went wrong with the Blue Jays, and more (32:57). Finally, Ryen shares a quick NBA summer league story (55:49) before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:00:48). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Adnan Virk Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today on the podcast i want to talk about things that are changing in sports that we may not like but might be the right things also add in verco to talk a little baseball midway point but probably more importantly matthew good being snubbed from an emmy nomination for his work and the offer and life advice a couple updates you know that I've talked about college football realignment, expansion, mutiny, however you want to describe it. And you know that I'm just not changing my mind on this one, right? I'm not. When I look at people that do like it, maybe I should describe that as a combination of like or indifference. It's usually Big Ten or SEC fans that are like, man, we're cool. I don't have to worry about it.

And it makes sense because a lot of our opinions can be, whether we admit it or not, selfishly motivated. But we are, I believe, I was going to run through a bunch of stuff here. I think we're at the beginning. I don't know what the timeline of this is, but I think we are at the beginning stages of unprecedented change in sports. All the things that we care about, pro sports leagues, players, all of this stuff. I don't know what's going to

change, but it's going to be challenged. It's going to be challenged in ways we've never seen before. I started thinking about live golf. I'm not your golf guy. You don't come here for golf, but live, by the way, room and numeral for 54, which would be a birdie on every hole of a par 72. It's backed by a sovereign wealth fund by the Saudis. Saudi involvement, you could say for Live Golf is problematic, or you could say, hey, it's actually not problematic at all considering their track record of human rights violations. But this is their investment and they're starting their own tour. And the money's insane. And it's a problem for the PGA. And if you are in the golf world, it is a daily headline.

Phil Mickelson in his book actually called the Saudis, quote, scary motherfuckers to get involved with. He then signed a contract with them for $200 million. I'm not sure that I entirely get the financial model of Live Golf. It feels like quite a cash burn with these huge bonuses and contracts for a handful of PGA Tour members. The purses, the reported purses. So I don't know what the financial model is here. Maybe it's the next new app or they just burn cash. Keep telling everybody they're going to make money. But if somebody can cover the cash burn, it would be this kind of fun to do it. Now, if you're looking at

this entirely from a golf perspective, you're an American. You like the PGA Tour. That's your Sunday. You probably don't like this because it's messing with your golf. You're like, I just want all the best golfers to be on the same tour, and that's what I want to watch. I don't want this separate thing. I also think that there's another layer to this when you look at the Saudi angle that you could probably not to say that it's apples to apples, but you could probably find some relationship on a business level of some league or maybe even star player that has something where you're like, yeah, maybe that's not great.

Does that make it right? No, but it makes the conversation a little bit more real. And that's why I'm not going to derail all of this by heading down that road. The U.S. Department of Justice is now investigating the PGA Tour for, quote, potential anti-competitive behavior. So what's right? Is it right for the tour to mess with PGA players saying, all right, you're ineligible for our tour. You can't play in our events. I was reading something yesterday that talked about how the Department of Justice is investigating and hoping to get guys off the record, tour members, and asking them, what kind of way has the PGA tried to mess with you? And I think some people would look at this and say, well, that's right. They're protecting

their product. But is it? Especially when we're not even talking about team sports here. We're talking about individuals. Individuals who are among the greatest to do what it is that they do. So if you remove the backing part of it, say this were a Swiss tour, right? Switzerland. Like, hey, we get a fund. We fucking love golf.

Did you guys know that? All right, we're starting our own tour. We're raising the stakes. Bigger purses. Bigger bonuses up front. It messes with your Sunday if you're a fan of golf. So you may not like it, but does that mean it's right?

Probably not. We have a ton of examples of this in American sports. Is a salary cap right? No. Imagine telling the owners, you can only make this much when you sell your team. It's not exactly the same thing, but the theory, the capitalist theory of the entire thing is like, wait, so I'm LeBron James. I'm one of the best people in the world, maybe the second best person in the

history of the planet to ever do what it is that I do. And the most I'll ever make in a year is $45 million, which is what he's under contract for this next year. If he gets some kind of extension, he's going to make more than that. He's going to clear over $430 million, I think, in career earnings. The simple answer to that would be like, dude, $45 million, that's a ton, $400 plus million. But that's not really the point. The point is that he works in a business where there's a mechanism in place that says you can only make this much, even though you are this special. If there were no salary cap, what would LeBron James make? And that's kind of what we're looking at here with golf. Again, not the same thing because these are individuals who can go and take their skills almost as

mercenaries and go out there and make money where the team sport, the structure of an entire league makes it a little bit more complicated. But I wonder if these things are going to be challenged. We've seen some attempts at challenging these monopolies, the NBA, NFL, not so much with baseball. Whenever I think about reading some of the USFL stuff Jeff Perlman's book which is incredible it was always kind of funny because everybody goes in like a plan is great on paper until you have to live it Sam Hickey is the best example of this hey this is what we're going to do we're going to lose all these games we're going to ask the

rookies to sit out I'm going to have d-league players not even g-league D-League players on half the roster, and we're just going to do it for like three years. It'll be cool. Don't worry about it. And it's like, that's awesome. This is amazing. This guy's going for it. He's unapologetically going for it. And then once you're in year two of the plan, you're like, this isn't that much fun, right? Plans are easy to plan, far harder to live with. So when these other leagues will start up like the USFL going back decades, the owners were like, look, let's do this. Let's make sure none of us go overboard. Let's make sure none of us spend too much money. Let's lay a good foundation. Let's stabilize the league. Let's get better TV deals,

which by the way, the NFL in their dealings with the networks that gave television rights to the USFL messed with them later on. I mean, it's just in there, all the stuff's in the book. Is that right? No, of course it's not right, but it's business. But then when I think about the 50-50 revenue splits that we have in professional sports, NFL right now is like 48%. Basketball is 50%. At one point, the NFL was 60%. Basketball was close to 60% not that long ago. I mean, you had to go back years, but it wasn't like we're talking about the 80s. And when I think about that, it's like we just are married to the concept of 50-50 because it just makes so much sense.

Like you start a business with somebody, all right, we're going to split all of it 50-50. Does it mean everybody's doing equal amounts of work? Usually not, but it just sounds good. What if a new league just said, you know what? This is about the players. It's not about us. Sure, we're taking on debt and we have to structure all this and there's so much business side of this, but we actually think to be competitive and to lure other players to our league, we're just going to do a 70-30 split. What if we had just had 70-30 revenue splits for players all the time because the owners make so much, the appreciation is so much on the value of the franchise? I'm not saying this will happen, but I think we can at times become married to these outdated things that make us think that we're actually like operating the right way now granted if you were splitting 70 of the revenue with the

players your franchises would not be worth what the nba franchises are worth right now the nfl has a ton of mechanisms that are probably all wrong but we actually probably liked them when i only cared about the nfl from a fan perspective well long before i was in the media i like the salary cap that cool. Nobody else can spend more than my team. I liked that all the TV money got cut up 32 ways. This is great. Competitive balance. Everybody has a chance. Franchise tag of my favorite players

flirting with free agency. They could just tag him. He can't go anywhere. Non-guaranteed contracts. Awesome, because guys get hurt all the time. I don't want my team stuck with a guy that's hurt making $12 million a year because he has guaranteed contracts. Are any of these things right? Probably not.

MLB revenue sharing. It's bullshit. The Orioles, the Red Hot O's, they have a team payroll entering the 2022 season of $32 million. $32 million? That would have been the fifth lowest baseball payroll in the year 2000.

Now, selfishly, if I like a team, I don't know, like the Pirates, like the Hat, if I like a team that isn't that good, doesn't have a great local market, doesn't seem to generate a ton of revenue, I like revenue sharing because I feel like it gives me a chance when in fact, it just means that owners are in business with other

people that don't care enough about their franchises. Like, cool, you're going to pay for my payroll because I don't make as much as you. I don't know that any of these things are right, but they all exist. The ESL, the European Super League that we were flirting with with soccer a couple of years ago, right? Top 20 teams were like, we're just going to form our own thing. We're not going to share all the money with these lesser clubs. We're going to get a better TV deal. We're just going to go Super League this whole thing. Guess what that was met with?

Massive criticism. Six teams immediately were like, we're out. Then I think like another three, and then finally the whole thing was done. We're like, all right, we're going to revisit this and figure it out later. It's probably going to be revisited at some point. But guess what? Everybody hated it, much like I hate college football realignment. Because you're like, why do you need to do these things?

It's a little different, but it's also just another sign of how unpredictable this stuff is becoming. Now, would it be better if the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball were all challenged? Selfishly, no. I don't want another fucking league to have to pay attention to. But is that right? I don't think it's right. I don't think it's right for the players.

I don't think it's right for the employees. When I think about NFL competition, we just had that AAF, right? We're like, all right, here we go. A week after the Super Bowl, I'm going to see if we get this thing off the ground. It didn't last eight weeks and it went bankrupt. We've seen two versions of the XFL.

The point that I'm trying to make here is that we are now at the beginning stages, I believe, of sports being challenged in an unprecedented way. We've already seen it with college sports, the NIL. Finally, everybody's like, you know what? Actually, maybe that isn't that bad. It isn't that bad. The transfer rule, right?

They finally loosened the restrictions on that, but selfishly looking back on it, it was like, oh, my favorite team has this player and he's really good. I'd like some mechanism to be in place to deter him from maybe transferring to another school, heaven forbid, of school that's within the conference. And now you're like, okay, again, desensitized to a lot of these different things. I don't know if the NBA, MLB, or the NFL are ever going to be challenged the way the PGA Tour has been. But with media rights deals being what they are and thinking about the way that we've just become accustomed to accepting so many things that are probably just fundamentally wrong with just being employed in one of these leagues, a lot of us are probably going to have to come to grips with things that we don't like that are actually probably right.

We've got Adnan Virk. He's a tough get. MLB Network, NHL, Cinephile, terrific podcast, so I actually want to talk the arts as well with Adnan before we get to the baseball stuff at the halfway point. MLB All-Star Weekend out here in Los Angeles. You're not coming though, right? No, I wish I got the call, but I kind of knew I'm not a big enough deal at MLB Network. We got Greg Amsinger,

Fran Charles, Robert Flores, MLB Central. So I preemptively pulled the well, I'm going to take family vacation anyways, but I don't feel snubbed. I don't feel like Austin Riley being snubbed here. So family vacation, I've always wanted to go to South Carolina. Our boy Danny Connell, I believe, if not honeymoon, spent some time in Charleston.

Dari Noka, similarly, big Charleston guy. John Skipper, big Charleston guy. I'm going to Charleston. Kids, no interest in Charleston. Four boys, 14, 11, 5, and 3. Why are we going to Charleston? We want to see the beginning of the Civil War. As a Canadian, I'm fascinated by this war.

Fort Sumter, the first shots fired, Confederacy attacks. No interest. Yawn. We're going to see a bunch of cannons. So Charleston for a day, then Hilton had three and a half days on the beach. Have you as a worldly guy ever been to Charleston, South Carolina, had any interest in that area? A lot of interest, never been.

Maybe a lot of interest is inaccurate. Interest just wasn't in the works. South Carolina wasn't good enough for a college game day, however it broke down when we were traveling and I was doing all that stuff. It's still one of the four SEC schools. I guess I should say, well, no, actually, that's right, because I've been to Texas and Oklahoma. I think on the new

alignment of it, I'll have been to 12 of the 16 SEC campuses, but South Carolina is one of the ones I haven't been to, which I do. I'd love to check it out. I heard that town's awesome. Good for you. You, Sif, will enjoy it. Yes. 14 years old now. He's graduated high school. I was going to say, man, high school, that's incredible. It's like some of those old military guys that went to Harvard at like 15. I was like, this would be inspirational.

I could use a little impromptu life advice because he's going to high school in the fall and wants to play football. And I'm like, buddy, no, I've never let him play football. Very cautious father. He's like, all right. So he's doing a mini camp right now. The coach assured me no tackling. They've got helmets with no chin guards. What would you do? Ryan Roussel as a father, would you let your son play football? Yeah, I think I would. But is he into it? There's two different mentalities where you either like hitting people or you can't stand people hitting you and i think it separates people pretty quickly yeah and that's the thing i would always worry like if my son looked like somebody who liked the contact i'd

feel better about that versus the you know a lot of guys who like they think they like it and then they're like you know what this isn't that fucking great so he's tall and wiry like there's not much girth there i'm like buddy the first time you get your bell wrong you're gonna realize this isn't fun like you have to enjoy the violence as dick butkus once said so i think you're gonna answer pretty quickly no i look i remember in a kickoff return i brought up the right sideline and i ended up all of my limbs in the bottom rows of a bleacher like you know those old like youth parks and so nobody was even sitting in it. It was like rusty.

It was turned the wrong way. Right. And I don't even know what happened. Like, I was like, I'm going, this is six. And then somebody got me and I remember being tangled. Like people had to come help me get my limbs out of the bottom rows. Right. And I remember being like, whoa.

And then the other guy, the other kickoff returner was just as horrified as i was because then he would look to me and be like yours yours the coach is like i got two pussies back here you know we're young we're really young and i'm i'm like man i'm just i'm just wiry dude i don't know what to tell you none of these guys look like they should be playing any position. So the guy's sizing abusive. He's taller than me. I'm 5'8".

He's probably 5'9". He's like, well, he's a buck 50. He's like, all right, you'll be our linebacker. I'm like, what? How? What are you, Ray Lewis? This team, you should not be a linebacker. Maybe you're running back maybe a quarter.

They've got some 5'6", heavyset guys in offensive block. I think it's because he's short and fat. I don't know if he knows how to block. I just think it's a freshman team. What can you get? fat I don't know if he knows how to block I just think they're coming to freshman team what can you get but I don't know it could be dicey all right well I'm I'm for it I'm for it but I think you'll know right this problem may solve itself that's why I like the idea of camp hey let's just figure it out first let me get your bell rung oh you know what regular season coach ain't gonna happen thanks okay all right Good life advice.

I'm not even going to start with the baseball. I'm so upset right now. I'm so upset. So the offer is a television show on Paramount+. Check it out. It is a good watch. I think that's the best. It's not the best TV show you're ever going to see. It's a good watch.

I enjoyed it. I think you had an unbelievable description of the OJ series when that came out. Do you remember what you said? You were like, I can't tell if it's a... Yeah, I remember the line that you liked was about Travolta. I said, I can't tell if it's a great actor giving a bad performance or a bad actor giving a great performance, but either way, it's riveting. And I couldn't stop watching it. I think I've watched that series a second time. I think I got stuck somewhere in a hotel for a while and I was like, you know what? I'm just going to throw it on and just put it on. You're packing

up your clothes. It's sort of in the background. It's one of those shows. The offer is the story of making the Godfather, which there's a book out. Al Ruddy's played by Miles Teller. Teller in this show basically has to play the straight man, which is good. It's a leading role. He does a great job

with it, but it doesn't allow him to explore the space like some of the other actors. Because some of the performances are over the top. You could say some are a little bit too much. But what we both agree on is the Emmy nominations came out yesterday. Is Matthew Goode playing the legendary Paramount producer, the head of the studio, Robert Evans. The character, this is one of the best characters I've ever seen in the history of television. His performance is that good. He steals every scene.

I've gone back and just watched his scenes. I didn't know who Matthew Goode was a little bit. I remember him from Imitation Game. I'm debating watching Leap Year just because of him. I listened to his Vanity Fair podcast. I went and read the Robert Evans biography.

It stays in the picture. Love that. Dude, that book, it could end. I've never read a biography where after 30 pages, he's like, well, I used to sleep with showgirls when I was in high school. He's like, and then I ended up becoming best friends with Errol Flynn, and then I had to leave Cuba because of the mob. You're 30 pages in. That's 30 pages in, and it could be done, and you'd's like, and then I ended up becoming best friends with Errol Flynn. And then I had to leave Cuba because of the mob. You're 30 pages in. That's 30 pages in and it could be done.

And you'd be like, you know what? That's pretty good. That's pretty good. So I know I rambled here forever. He wasn't nominated. I don't know if you feel the same way about me, but I was incredibly disappointed because I do think it's that special. What he did impersonating and playing this character and the depth, it wasn't just an impersonation for nine episodes he was all over the place so there is my opening salvo i love it every year when the nominations come out there's always the one nomination i'd like to see happen and then i don't think it's going to happen and scott feinberg does an unbelievable job the hollywood reporter and i checked his preview and he said matthew good is probably not going to get it he says in the outset looking in and you were like, what? That's a no doubt nomination.

I would think for sure. Limited series. I think he's a supporting actor, even though Robert Evans was such a larger than life character and he has so much screen time. You could have nominated him as a lead actor. But regardless, I think they put him as a supporting actor. Because like you said, our buddy Miles Teller

is ostensibly the lead of the show. Although I agree with you on Miles. He's a great actor and a great guy. But that show, he's the straight man. He's a very sturdy kind of lead role. Mr. Fix it, Al Ruddy, Evans, Matthew Goode particularly gets a lot of room to shine. And a guy playing Mario Puzo, Coppola, all those guys are, like you said, more colorful characters. What I found fascinating is this, Dexter Fletcher, who is one of the executive producers of The

Offer and directed the first two episodes, I had him on Cinephile. And like you, I raved about good. And he goes, well, here's the crazy part. He said, most of the show was already cast by the time Matthew hopped in. He goes, we had a Hollywood actor who was attached to the project and then dropped out. And we had to quickly scramble.

And Matthew Good said, yes. Now, this is a British guy. Like you said, I don't really know his work that well. My wife's like, oh, I love him. He's in Downton Abbey and other stuff you and I wouldn't watch. I'm like, okay, cool.

And he's phenomenal. I think he was in the Queen's Gambit, cool. And he's phenomenal. I think he was in the Queen's Gambit as well. And the way that Dexter told it was he just hopped on the train that was already moving. He had to quickly find out who is Robert Evans. He had no idea. Most actors would have an idea of who this guy is. He goes, no, I'm British. I know who he is. Okay. He produced The Godfather. And like I said, the studio head of Love Story and China 10, all those great seventies films. So he said he started listing the audio book of The Kid Stays in the Picture. And so, okay, this is helpful, but it's an old man looking back on his life.

I need to find Robert Evans at that time, 1972, 50 years ago. So he started looking on YouTube, looking at clips. And I think of Olivier one time when he said, you're doing a performance. Sometimes you go from the outside in. Method acting is in your life, Brandon. Larry Olivier, he said, from the outside in. Method acting is in the right brand of Larry Olivier. He said, you go outside in. A famous example about Anthony Hopkins and Nixon, which you and I have never talked about, but it's a great performance because you think, well, there's no way Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor can play quintessential American. I am not a

Kirk Richard Nixon, but it's amazing. He goes outside in. You get the facial gestures, you get the look of an invention, you go, hey, no, he's kind of like Nixon. So similarly with Matthew Goode and Robert Evans, you're right. It could go wrong in so many ways because he's such a juicy character to play from the permatan to the glasses to the accent. Hey, Bubby. You know, the fact he's always sipping on a martini and having a smoke. I mean, this could very quickly veer into parody. Like this seems like an SNL sketch waiting to happen. But I think that's the greatness of good is originally at least early on it seems like kind of a goofy character and he's a little bit like we said larger than life but by episode

four or five you really kind of settle into a group of the character by the end you're generally moved by and I remember if you ask me I remember from the kids days in the picture the book and the movie was how heartbroken this guy was when she left him when Ali left him and she left him for Steve McQueen and this guy was generally heartbroken about it.

And he was a true ladies' man. He was a raconteur, as you and I might say, of a different era. He's an incredible storyteller. I remember I just read this book about Chinatown, which is awesome, which you would love. Robert Evans had something like 14 telephones in his house. This was obviously well before cell phones and stuff.

And he always wanted to be on the phone making deals happen. So if you picture Robert Evans in the offer, that's exactly what he was. The satin silk robe on the phone, dart, and he's got a martini making deals. But the only thing I'll say about the offer is this. I knew what I had some quibbles with. I thought it was a little too long,

a little too cute for its own good. You know, cannoli line, Apollonia resetting the days of the week. I'm like, I got it. There's enough winking nods here to all the Godfather fans. All right. It kind of makes Al. I'm like, I got it. There's enough winking nods here to all the Godfather fans. All right. It kind of makes Al Ruddy look like he did everything.

Coppola gets zero credit. Robert Evans gets zero credit. He's just heartbroken the whole time. But wait, this was a more collaborative process. But in fairness to the offer, Al Ruddy probably never has gotten his due. It's always the stories, Brando and Pacino and Coppola and Evans. So, hey, Al Ruddy does his producer. He gets some love here, which is certainly notable.

But I thought that at times they made Evans look like he was just too hopeless that he wasn't able to get things done. Now, famously, did not want to cast Pacino. That is true. He's like, no way. I don't want this midget in the movie. That was his words. And he wanted Ryan O'Neill, who he had cast from Love Story. He wanted Robert Redford. He said he could have a Northern Italian. But Evans was a brilliant guy. I mean, Chinatown's an incredible film. I know you and I agree on that. It is not only impactful and still resonant today, but Love Story is one of those big, sopping melodramas.

So super smart guy. I don't like Love Story, so we could just put that one to bed. I wouldn't have liked that then. I wouldn't like it now. It schmaltz. It is schmaltzy. And then the Ryan O'Neill part of that, when you find out later on, like Ali McGraw starring in

this movie evans is married to her they they stick up for o'neill the the other people above basically it's gulf and western and these other people telling bob evans like you shouldn't do this you shouldn't do this the whole time and he really did have kind of an artist's eye of it because the craziest and we're talking about evans here which is fine which is kind of what i wanted to do this is somebody that was running around new york city as a kid and his father's this like brilliant piano player but he's a dentist and they're doing all right but his dreams or his father's dreams are thwarted because you know he's supporting a family here and bob evans is this kid who just apparently has all the angles at a very young age.

And he's incredible with women, you know, and he's not. And the thing is, is in the book, like I remember reading the Anthony Kiedis biography and I'd be like, oh, cool. You got laid. You're the fucking lead singer of the red hot chili peppers. All right. Love sex magic.

I got it. Yeah. Yeah. Ooh, wow. They loved you on the road. Did they? right love sex magic i got it yeah yeah oh wow they loved you on the road did they um evans in his book is so delicate about essentially his womanizing but it's almost classy in the way he just like he's on that era that dean martin listen it was a cool thing to do yeah and and here he is he's like a teenager and he's going around town

doing like he's radio acting he's basically an actor reading these lines and then he's a he's a really good looking guy uh which certainly helped and then he's involved with women's clothing because his brother starts a fucking company where they're trying to make the suit pant like a normal thing and the company starts blowing up and he's this really good looking guy at a pool in beverly hills at a hotel and he's on the phone and this woman who is married to this legendary producer actor i believe right like discovers him and she's like who are you you're not an actor and he's like i am bob evans yeah what's going on and then she's like casts him and he's in he's in hemiways the sun also rises and he's playing a bullfighter

and nobody wants him in the movie nobody ava gardner writes a letter to the studio being like get this schmuck out of here and he sits in front of the partnership of the producers the two people that did want him in and they're like right, show us as a bullfighter. And he's like dancing around. I guess he was a good dancer too. And they go, the kid stays in the picture. Yes. All right.

And then I think he's dating Ava Gardner six months later. Right? I think that's to believe because he kind of casually writes. And then six months later, we're hanging out. This man's story. And then the fact that like all these other actors, like Errol Flynn, he has a line in there. He's like, you don't want to talk to Errol Flynn after 2 p.m. Because he was going to be drunk.

Arrying Errol Flynn. But he does it in a really elegant way. Like Errol Flynn loved him. I'm kind of fascinated by guys that are in the world. And then like Jack Nicholson, he kind of discovers him and fights for him. And then Jack is like his friend it's it's like his one of his closest friends during these incredible down times where he almost has him in the chinatown sequel so um this is somebody that had all of these layers and yet i don't know good good kind of nailed it and after reading about him after the fact, I just kind of,

like I was, I'm in this real Bob Evans phase here now for a couple of weeks, is my point. Well, since you mentioned Ava Gardner, again, one of the great tempestuous reliance is ever with my guy,

Frank Sinatra. Ava Gardner, one son of Sinatra, he only weighs 115 pounds, but 10 of those is his dick. So Ava Gardner, also a very volatile woman. I mean, her and Frank together

was amazing. The fact that Evans, think about this, he was with Ali McGraw, who was with Steve McQueen, who was a huge heart volatile woman. I mean, her and Frank together was amazing. The fact that Evans, think about this. He was with Allie McGraw, who was with Steve McQueen, who was a huge heartthrob Sinatra, who every woman is swimming over. He was with Allie McGraw.

Like that shows you the kind of playground that Robert Evans is dealing with here. So anyone's like, was he really a ladies' man? Well, yeah, he was hitting top shelf home runs with these starlets. And it makes me think of a couple of things.

One, by the way, real quick on the Sinatra thing, doesn't, isn't Ava in a movie later on? Or is this another Sinatra wife where in the book Sinatra is like calling Evans going, hey, like she starts filming with me in November or I'm fucking divorcing her. And Bob's like, hey, hey, Frankie. He's like, hey, hey, man, we're just going to make the movie, man.

It's going to be fine be fine and then you know because he explains this all in the book all the dialogue and then evans tells the wife like don't worry about it i'll be fine and then she wasn't clear to start filming and he filed frank sinatra filed divorce papers on his wife that day like reading these hollywood stories you're like this shit is insane right and normally you'd call BS on so many of these things. You go, that never happened that way. But actually, with Robert Evans, this is really, this stuff kind of pans out.

And as you said, the guy was so handsome. It's always a shock that he was a producer. Why wasn't he Warren Beatty? He should have been Warren Beatty. He should have been in 100 movies, should have made Oscars, writing, directing. But it's like, no, as an actor, did not have his talent. Thank him for supporting what his real talent was, which was producing. Bringing people together, being the master collaborator. And I think a lot of people, no, as an actor, did not have his talent. Thank him for supporting him to shoot what his real talent was, which was producing. Bringing people together, being the master collaborator.

And I think a lot of people, Ryan, think they can do this. Watch a movie, a rough cut, and then give you 10 things to nitpick. And probably seven of those are bang on. And three of those, if you don't do, it's not a big deal. And Evans could do that. That, to me, is amazing. That's a skill. That he could watch an entire film of a rough draft and go, okay, here's what you got to

change, this, this, and this. And on Chinatown, it's amazing. He watched it and goes, listen, the music's off. Like this music's horrible. And he told Polanski, he's like, the score completely ruined the movie. And Polanski's like, well, whatever you want to do. I'm in Poland. Like I'm doing my thing.

You know what you want to do? And he knocked on the door, Jerry Goldsmith, who was a legendary composer. And he goes, I need you to fix my movie and I'll give you whatever you want. And here's the movie. And we got three days to do it. And Goldsmith watches like, okay, I know how't want to fix it gives that big brassy score it's perfect for trying to the opening credits so evans was the guy and he was a huge fan of period music and how important that was to his story so i i think of that often that it's like one major

mistake and completely crushed the movie and evans was the guy that could just change that change that change that okay now we're good okay then what do you believe about the final edit of the Godfather because in the tv show there's the push from the Colin Hanks character which is basically the same every single scene where it's just like I don't I just don't I don't want to do this I don't want to do that there's a bit of it in the tv show it's like the movie's gonna get made no it's not it's gonna get made it's not and you're like okay all right I got it like especially we already know that the movie actually gets made but in the book it feels like evans is taking credit for the final edit in the tv show it feels like coppola has this vision that's the artistic one that's the right one but then the higher ups

above evans at gulf and western are saying no it can't be this long because we need more turnover uh in the theaters i know you've read all of it because we need more turnover in the theaters. I know you've read all of it because whether it's the movie, the book, or the book about making it, or watching the TV show, or the Evans biography, there's a lot of debate, it feels like, over that final cut and who deserves credit for it. Yeah, I think that one goes to Coppola

because I think Evans was definitely a fan of the artist and would push for the artist as much as possible, but he was ultimately a businessman. I mean, he's a studio head and the simple mathematics of a week, this two hour movie, it can air, you know, four times a day.

If it's two hours and 50 minutes, we're losing a showing a day like that's simple arithmetic. So to me, Evans, as strong as he was as an artist, I think ultimately he was a businessman and Coppola was the one that pushed him. There's no way this has to be done this way.

I didn't say, okay, I'll take care of it. But the suits above both those guys definitely didn't want it that way. So I go to Francis on that. We'll finish on this. There's a moment in the book that is real in the TV show

where he has to basically convince Gulf and Western executives in this boardroom, don't sell Paramount. He basically has this open dialogue. Actually, it's a monologue of a few minutes and apparently that really happened right like he pitched it and at the end of his story at least in the book because again he's he's been dead now for a while in

the book i think he wrote like 20 years ago yeah um he somebody says to him like hey you're still just an actor and that's why you were able to trick everybody as a producer and the scene in the offer is him admitting as he does in the book that i kind of put the acting chops back to work and did this long and passionate like the american people man they love they like stories they want they want to they want to feel something they want to feel love they want to feel and he's doing this whole deal. He convinces them all to like to keep Paramount because basically it feels like Paramount's going to be gone

every other episode of the TV show. But that was, I thought, a great way to kind of describe him is that you're right. His roots were as an actor. People just didn't think he was good enough. He becomes a producer at a really young age. It doesn't make any sense. Paramount's last

of the nine studios and then he survives this he puts together some of the american classics that we'll ever have in film and that people were like you never actually stop being an actor you just happen to be a producer the whole time and maybe i don't know it's crazy because it wasn't just this producer he was part of the scene it felt like as much as you can have like when these guys are all coming over your house to hang out and you're their friend. Nicholson brings him to the Academy Awards when he's down and out, brings him to the awards. And he's like, I don't want to go to that. He's like, no, you're coming. And it was like his friend announcing that through all the bullshit,

you're back. And I've gone back and watched now these YouTube videos of his interviews and everything. And they're crazy. I wish I had known more about him earlier on. I just didn't. I think actually that helped your enjoyment of the show, because this is where you can say, wait, who is this character? This guy really stands out. For me, I'm already bringing something to it. Okay, is he going to do an impression of Robert Evans? It may have been more enjoyable for you to

rediscover it backwards. This guy's fast. I'm going to go dig in and dig in on this guy. It's an amazing character. Like I said, it really could have gone into parody. And I wish Evans could have seen it. It's amazing. He tried to have like a late act. I remember the movie Sliver with Sharon Stone and Billy Baldwin.

I remember reading the Entertainment Weekly. And I'm like, why am I interested in this movie? I'm like, oh, it's Robert Evans, a legendary producer. Like when you're 16, I don't know who this guy is. And I'm like, oh, wait, he did all these movies before. They thought Sliver would be his big comeback. I'm like, well, unfortunately, Sliver was not the great second act that Robert Evans was looking for,

which famously William Baldwin was asked about kissing Sharon Stoney. He said, thin lips, okay breasts. But hey, they can't all be winners. Right, Bubby? What a great transition into baseball. Let's do a few minutes on this. We got to talk about Shohei Itani first. Since June 1st, he's

6-1. The Angels are 6-1, excuse me, in his starts since June 1st. They're 6-26 in games he doesn't start. His last six starts, 39-2, 20 hits, 58 Ks. You throw in the games where he gets a couple RBIs. We're seeing stuff that hasn't been done since the Providence Braves.

Every now and then, I'll see some Itani thing and then it's like, hasn't been done since Side Providence Graze. Every now and then I'll see some Otani thing and then it's like, hasn't been done since Sidecar Jones doubled for... Orville Oberle or Orville Odberg. Noodles Han, all the old favorites for our radio show days. Right. I don't know

what the question is with Otani. We get it. He's amazing. If you were in a different market, would it be different? I don't know. I know there's other discussions about it, which I think are canceled out by the fact that Mike Trout's as American as it gets, and nobody seems to care as well. So maybe it's an Angels thing or not. He's incredible. The team isn't again, which seems to be the same old story.

Yeah, it's so frustrating. I called the Angels against your Red Sox May 4th. I remember talking with Joe Maddon, with Tom Berducci, and Maddon was in such a good mood. He's like, dude, we've got this. This team, we're feeling good. They play defense great. We're starting pitching's figured out. We've got Syndergaard and Detmers and these guys can finally supplement Otani. And I'm like, okay, great. And then they went on the 14 game calamitous losing streak and that was it. Cost Joe Madden his job and they've got too big a hole now to dig out of. But I think he's the best bargain in sports. That's one of the angles to me, which I find fascinating. He makes $5 million a year. And if you look at him as a

hitter, he's on pace for 37 home runs, 103 RBI. It's about 255, but his on-base is decent. He walks enough. Because he could be like JD Martinez. You could say he's a solid slugger. So 20, 23 million a year. As a pitcher, he's like Garrett Cole. This is what his numbers are like. He has a 2.38 ERA this year. It was over three a year ago. So he's cut down his ERA by 0.8 from a year ago. He's striking out more guys. He walks less batters. So as a hitter, he's a little less than last year.

But as a pitcher, he's appreciably better. And last year, he won the MVP. And the whole talk was judging him in MVP. And I'm like, well, judges hit buck 86 in his last 17 games. He's kind of fallen off a little bit. And Jordan Alvarez is leading in OPS, OPS plus,ugging percentage. So to me, I'm like, I understand that people want to think of something different, but Otani's still the guy. But back to my point, if JD Martinez makes 23 million and Kira Cole makes 36 million and Otani does both,

well, he should be getting $60 million a year. It's insane. And he only has a year and a half left on his deal. What are the Aims going to do? They're paying Trout $35, $36 million. Rendon, which is a horrific contract, $35, $36 million. $72 million for two guys. Batani's going to go, yeah, I want at least $40 million. I think that seems fair. I'm going to go from $5 million to $40 million. Three guys are going to be making $120 million.

It's insane. And as you said, the Angels aren't anywhere close to the playoffs. But he's worth it because he's giving you so much in terms of advertising and revenue. And those stats you gave are great. This one, I love too. Fifth pitcher to have at least 50 strikeouts and allow one or fewer earned runs over a five game span since 1913. So we're talking 120 years, Chris Sale, Clayton Kershaw, R.A. Dickey, Randy Johnson, all newish guys, but his consistency is amazing. And I just don't know how you can do that as a pitcher to look around at the rest of the staff and go, all these guys stink.

Okay, I guess I'm the stopper. Again, six straight starts, and like you said, he's been lights out. I don't know what it'll be like in New York. Say he ends up in New York or L.A. I remember reading articles about Aaron Judge going, oh, can Aaron Judge save baseball? Or he'll be the face of baseball. And you think like, hey, great personality. can Aaron Judge save baseball or he'll be the face of baseball?

And you think like, hey, great personality, his features alone, just being that big, his stature in New York, the whole deal. And you're like, I don't know if that exists. I don't know if that player exists. Like if Mike Trout were in another market, Mike Trout is going to be the same guy. And if Otani's in another market, does it mean all of a sudden maybe there's more interest for that specific franchise? But I don't know that it has the carryover appeal the way you know say a top nba player would have or you know the attraction of what were the home run races that everybody feels guilty about after the fact so i see that

article kind of pop up every six months or so about what it would mean but it's going to be a crazy number it's going to be a crazy number that he deserves when he's doing both things it's a little bit different than levion bell saying i should be paid the combination of a top running back and wide receiver because i line up in the slot so many times uh this is different and so i don't i don't know what that'll mean i know what articles i know what they'll say and what they'll ask i just don't know if it's possible for one player to try to just get all these people paying attention to the sport again that haven't been for the last few years yeah i think it's the kind of situation where i go hey if you're into it and you love it cool and if you're not that's totally fine too like as you and i've talked about baseball will always be a great sport

and it'll always be a sport you and i both love but it has become regionalized like where i lived here north jersey people are losing their minds yankees and mets are both in first place matches had a big series against the braves they took two or three uh subway series is coming up later this month i mean it's there's passion here, you know about the Red Sox passion. Even Phillies fans are right here. Fired up about Schwarber ever since Girardi got fired. So I think on a national level, it's tough for those guys to cut through. But certainly in those markets, the TV money is still huge.

The local money is big. I went to San Diego. I called the game there. I'm like, damn, the Padres are hopping. It's crazy. The Chargers leaving is the best thing that could have happened to the Padres. They were fourth in attendance last season. They're third in attendance this year.

That's a team that's never won a World Series. And yet, again, if you're the one-town team and you really love your baseball area, it's great. Houston, you and I both know, Texas football, crazy. But they love the Astros right now. They're selling out left and right. And they've got passion about what could happen with that team, Astros, Yankees. So yeah, if you and I were doing a show back in the old days and I said, let's talk Jordan Alvarez, probably not going to cut through.

But in Houston, they love that guy. Okay, so let's go to that then because it stands now, you know, Astros record, Yankees record. We're talking about the two best teams with the Yankees being ahead of them, but the run differential is like an 80-run difference here. We know about the starters for the Yankees, their catcher, their lineup, the O.P. I mean, it's just, there's basically, the Yankees feel like they accomplish everything

that you would want. Clay Holmes at the back end, just unbelievable. So how much of a gap do you think is between the two teams? Like the record not necessarily saying there's a big of a gap is maybe the way we talk about the two teams all year. It's funny how a week can change everything because a week ago it was, oh, Yankees are on the second best start ever in Yankees history. Only team better was the 98 Yankees that won 114 games. They're on pace to win 119 games. Okay, got it. But then you look at

the standings, you go, oh, the Astros only three games back in New York. So it's not like they've created so much distance between themselves and everybody else. Within the rich history of the Yankees, yes, this is one of the best teams we've ever seen so far. But a big part of that is health. You mentioned their starting staff. What I think is remarkable is just the health that they've been. Now, Severino got hurt last night, left with tightness in his shoulder. I'm curious how that develops.

But up until now, all their guys have been horses. Again, you've seen that with your Red Sox. Sale finally came back. Prior to that, Garrett Whitlock's been a stud for them, either as a key piece in the pen or a starter. He got injured. Evaldi hurt. I'm like, man, like all of a sudden you got Winkowski and all these rookies coming up. The Yankees, you can slot them in. It's been a stud for them, either as a key piece in the pen or a starter, he got injured. Evaldi hurt. I'm like, man, all of a sudden you've got Winkowski and all these rookies coming up. The Yankees,

you can slot them in. It's been Cole, it's been Severino, it's been Montgomery, it's been Nestor Cortez. All these guys have been able to deliver. So I am curious as far as their health goes just down the stretch. Can Judge stay healthy? He's the kind of guy that needs a day off here and there, but you're right about their depth. I mean, it's pretty nuts

when you look at their lineup. When Joey Gallo has been as bad as he's been, he's been a buck 64 hitter as a Yankee. It's been a year now in New York. It doesn't even matter. Like, yeah, whatever. It's fine. He's a guy, a number nine hitter. Plays some decent defense. He's okay with speed. Like, we might DF him at some point, but it's okay. Like, Donaldson kind of left for great defensively. Rizzo's had

an excellent year. He got an 850 OPS. Stanton and, obviously, Judge are all-stars. And Trevino's a backup all-star. So their offense is obviously good. You mentioned Clay Holmes, who's been remarkable as their closer. But for Houston, their starters are amazing. Verlander is very much in the conversation for another Cy Young, which is a guy in there, purging, turning 40 is insane. Christian Javier is filthy. You've seen Luis Garcia's stuff. Framer Valdez is an all-star again. So those four stars, if you match it up, Astros, Yankees, you might go, kind of feels like a toss-up.

Okay. Offensively, Alvarez is remarkable and just as good as Judge offensively. Kyle Tucker's in a great year. He's an all-star. Altuve has got an 850 OPS. He's an all-star again. I think the bullpen favors New York, particularly Holmes. But I think Astros, Yankees would be a very compelling ALCS.

And it always happens, Ryan, you go, well, it's never going to be Yankees, be a very compelling alcs and it always happens ryan you go well it's never going to be yankees dodgers that would just be too good right too good for its own truth as far as big markets and what box we want etc there's always a team that surprises i thought the breaks would get knocked out the first round last year and somehow they won the world series but i would be astonished i really would if it's not astros yankees in the alcs i know homes got roughed up against the Reds this week, but that is the third time he's allowed an earned run in 40 appearances this year. Yeah, he gets up four runs, which is crazy.

And that's more easy to get up all year. Like in his previous 40 appearances, he hadn't done that before. So he's allowed to have one flame out. The action on his pitches, I think, is where you're going to go. It's crazy. That backdoor slider, the way that thing's flying all over the place, I don't know how anybody hits that stuff. No, it's ridiculous watching him.

Toronto, I thought, was probably the most exciting roster coming in. They fired their manager yesterday, Charlie Montoyo. Manoa is a stud. You started talking about some of the Cy Young stuff. I know he's gotten dinged a little bit recently in the last couple starts, but he's been incredible. But then when you look at the rest of the talent, the quote was pretty clear.

We're not playing to our talent level. I thought on paper, looking at that, and especially as the pitching sort of developed in Okinawa last season, I'm like, I think they have all the horses, despite not having the traditional payroll of the other teams and what's a ridiculous AL East. What went wrong with the Blue Jays? Just underachieving from their best players. I mean, Vlad Jr. has had a really good year. He's going to be an all-star. But Boba Shett, it's deceptive. Just because he was in the mix of the all-star berth, he hasn't had an all-star type season.

He drives in a lot of runs, which is great. But other than that, he's been a little bit of a disappointment. Teoscar Hernandez was hurt, hasn't played a ton, has been up and down. Lourdes Gurriel as well. They've had these surprises. Alejandro Kirk's been incredible. I mean, this guy with a body that only a mother can love.

Oh, my God. The catcher. If you watch him, you're like, he's unbelievable. Yeah, and if you're getting into baseball in the second half of the season

and you look at Toronto's catcher, you're like, who's this like double-A emergency guy? And you're like, no, he's actually mashing. Sean Casey, one of our MLB Network analysts,

his buddies with Shapiro and Atkins, close with those guys a couple of years ago in Dunedin. Kirk comes out of the dugout. He's like, who's that, the bad boy?

And they start laughing. They go, he's actually our best hitting prospect. He's like, what? There's no way. And he hits lasers all over the field. He's like, this guy's pretty good. And Jansen was actually having a really good year before he got hurt. He's now back as well. So catching is a position which is really poor right now in baseball. Real Muto's got a sub 700 OPS. Sal Perez is in a bad year. The Jays have two catchers who are both outstanding right now in Kirk and Jansen. But Espinola's been good. He's stepped

up. Again, it goes back to pitching, Ryan. You would have said on paper, hey, Gospin's a stud. This guy's top five. Last year in the signing voting, the NL, he comes to the American League. He replaces Robbie Ray. Great, right? Okay. Manoa, as you said, underrated, outstanding pitcher, what we've seen so far in his career. But then Ryu gets hurt.

Kikuchi stinks. And you go, man, I think we only have two starters in this team now. This got scary in a hurry. And Stripling's actually been very good stepping into that role, former starter of the Dodgers. But their bullpen's only got one guy, which is Romano, who again is great, but the rest of the bullpen has issues. So I think the management looked around and go, huh, every single team right now in the American League East is 500 or better. The Orioles have won 10 straight games are in probably two games out of a wildcard spot, great bullpen, Adley Rutschman, future face the franchise, love Trey

Mancini, et cetera. So they looked around and go, um, the Mariners just swept us and they've now caught us for the third and final walkers. But should we just wait a couple more weeks and see if this turns around or do we just gas Charlie now? Because that's the easiest move to make. And as you and I both said, they've been underachieving. So I'm amused by some of the people who are like, wow, I mean, the Jays, they're in the playoffs, bottom of my pro. They're three games over 500. This is not what people were expecting.

As you said, you and I both and many others said, this could be a World Series team. They haven't performed like that so far. Okay, last one here, the Dodgers. Finding a way, no Walker Bueller, missing other starters here and there. Clayton's turned it around. Like, they just feel like they always have so many arms,

despite never feeling like they have the five guys that they expect. Even the last couple years, they'll be like, okay, here are their five. Holy shit. And you're like, oh, they're missing this guy. Then you're like, well, who's this guy? Especially if you're like me, who's kind of in and out of it while basketball still goes, and I pick it up here for the rest of the season.

We know the payroll. We know the talent. They're never going to not be in the mix for somebody. But to not have Walker, who I love as a starter, and continue this role is really impressive. He's got a real cockiness about him. I remember I was talking with Rick Ankeel yesterday

on the show and it reminded me, because we were talking about Adam Wainwright, and when you and I interviewed Wainwright, he came to ESPN Studios and you sent him at the end, hey, you got Harvey on Thursday. And he looked at I interviewed Wainwright, he came to ESPN Studios and you said to him at the end, hey, you got Harvey on Thursday. And he looked at us and goes, well, he's got me. I've never forgot that.

Like that, that confidence. I've told this story to Mark Mulder. Yeah, that's like Wainwright. That's definitely, like he's got an edge about him, that cockiness. I'm like, yeah,

Ryan didn't say it negatively. He just goes, oh, you got Harvey on Thursday. He's like, he's got me. I'm like, yeah, damn right. And Walker Buehler's like that too. Like there's certain players like, well, I don't care

about pitching. They got to do with me. And he's obviously a stud, Vander like, yeah, damn right. And Walker Buehler's like that too. There's certain players like, I don't care who I'm pitching. They've got to do it with me. And he's obviously a stud. Vanderbilt guy for the Dodgers. What's shocking to me is Tony Gonsolin's been their best starter. Now, he got rocked up against the Cardinals yesterday. We did a 1.62 ERA going into yesterday. And you go, hey, listen, I get it when it's Buehler or it's Kershaw or it's Arias.

But when Tony Gonsolin is the best pitcher in the National League, that doesn't seem fair. I think Alcantara, by the way, should start in the All-Star game because he pitches more innings than anybody else, and he's a stud. But Gonsolin and Tyler Anderson have been great for the Dodgers, and nobody would have expected that. Kershaw was hurt for a little bit, still really effective, goes to the All-Star game.

But their lineup's filthy. Freeman's not an All-Star, but still great. Obviously, Justin and Trey Turner. Mookie Betts is back. Will Smith's a great catcher. It gets a little unfair, a little gross when you look at how much talent they have. And again, I root for different stories.

Like I like seeing the Mets play well. I have Buck Showalter. I worked with the DSPN. I'm happy to see the impact he's had with the Mets. But I'm like, ultimately, Mets Dodgers is still going advantage LA. I'd love to see San Diego.

I adore Tatis. Hopefully he's back soon. Make a push to the Padres. But who's betting against the Padres? Like Padres and Dodgers head to head. LA's beating them 5-2. I mean, it's really going to be hard for a team to take down the, but who's betting against the Padres? Like, Padres and Dodgers head-to-head, LA's beating them 5-2. I mean, it's really going to be hard for a team to take down the Dodgers, ultimately, in the National League.

I can't believe I would have known who Adam Wainwright had coming up in a couple days back then. Because I used to look at the pitching matchups for every series every morning. You said it so casually to him, too. Like, he was totally cool. You kind of just threw it off the cuff. I go, you got, you got Harvey on Thursday.

He's got me. But you're right. I do remember it. He wasn't, he wasn't a dick about it at all. He just was, he was kind of being funny really more than anything, but that was it.

It was the end of the interview, all those little moments off the air and stuff. Like I'll just never forget, like even, you know, when Schilling would come by and would talk to you about a pitcher just nobody would say a word yeah like he would just go oh man like he loved waka like he was just like oh if you see this guy and then i remember like

harvey we barely harvey he would go nuts for yeah harvey was barely on the radar and then he would just be like you know whatever you think ofilling, but it was just always one of those moments where you'd be like, okay, Schilling's talking about a starting pitcher that's sort of off the radar and we were waiting to come back from commercial and you would just shut up because you would just go like, all right, here we go. You can see

Adnan on MLB Network. Subscribe to Cinephile. Check that out. He does awesome work on all this stuff. It's good to catch up again, man. Great to see you, man. The laughs off the air are always better than the laughs on the air. One thought for you, I've got to say, your best tweet in recent memory as you and many others locked into Wimbledon, especially the men's final. I don't know how many people are watching

it. You and I have it on during the day, early rounds, etc. Obviously, if our boy Federer was there, which, by the way, I've never been. I'm already pushing the wife. I said, if Roger plays next year, family trip. Forget about South Carolina. We're going to London next year, and I'll get an early round match. God forbid Serena loses in the first round. I'll get a first round match better

at the All England Club. Hit up Weissman maybe for tickets, but regardless, your tweet men's final, you said, Curious is the kind of guy that would be a real pain to call a foul on and pick up basketball. The whole time that guy is talking to himself,

I think it's entertaining for maybe 10 minutes. The first 10 minutes I was watching the men's final, I go, hey, man, I love his passion. Yeah, he's temperamental, a little goofy. Hey, Mark Fidress used to talk to himself in the mail. We all got quirks, right? There's all guys who are tempestual. After an hour, I'm like,

I don't know how Jokic doesn't slam the ball down this guy's face. Even late in the match, when you knew Jokic was going to win, he's still gesturing to his box. How do you think his box feels? He's just constantly yelling and berating them. I'm all for new blood, but like, dude, take it down a notch.

I don't love it. And, you know, there have been times where it's pointed out, like, oh, would you like Jimmy Connors? Well, I was a little young for the Jimmy Connors show, and I can tell you, if you know me, I wouldn't go like that either. I didn't like the McEnroe stuff. I didn't care. I think it was like single digit still.

I like McEnroe as an announcer. I think the problem is the third step for Kyrgios. It's like, oh, so you're just going to let yourself get broken here. Like you've decided to stop competing. And he has too many moments like that. So yes, is it fun? Does it make you go, oh, Kyrgios is on. Let's see if he fucks up and goes crazy here like i know that's not cool but it's the reality of like the way entertainment

works and so i'll check it out and then i felt like there was there was media arguments about like rooting for him rooting against him that i didn't really necessarily want to get into but i'll admit like because i was at the hotel i was watching it and then as i was getting ready to get some other stuff started i watched him be interviewed and i felt bad for him i felt bad for curios because i do think that there's something with him that that is getting in his way everybody's talked about his talent forever so i don't sit there say oh this is awesome because i think it's a little ridiculous sometimes i think the challenging part of it is so dumb with a lot of the players not just nick and that you're just mad and you're like, all right, I'm going to challenge

it. And you're like, cool. At least it's fast. We don't sit there forever, like at the end of an NBA game. But I actually, it's the first time I felt some real sympathy for Kyrgios after him talking because it felt like he was a totally different guy that if you just get past whatever it is that gets in his way mentally during these games, the guy could probably have a have a couple slams and i don't know if that's ever going to happen for him because that third set like it's hard for me to like a player that goes up third set things

aren't going to my way i'm going to start complaining more i'm going to start yelling more i'm going to start calling it out the chair up all these different things you're like you're about to get broken and lose the wimbledon final like do you not understand that right now and i think he does but he can't help himself. Yeah, I'm with you. Pity definitely is a feeling that I've had when you're watching that guy. But somebody said to me, why aren't you in for Curios? I said, well, it's real simple. I'm a Fed guy, and if Djokovic beats him, then he will pass Federer

an all-time major, which we can get into another debate another time. I don't think majors should be the only way you'll point with the greatest of all time in. Not anymore, now that Federer's being challenged, right? Correct. Now I'm saying why it's irrelevant. I'm like, in the past, Rod Laver never tried to win majors. Like, the Australian Open wasn't even a major until the early 80s.

Like, it's interesting. If you ask Ben, I'm sure Ben Peltwood said this too. In the past, Arnold Palmer, it'd still be considered by some as the greatest golfer of all time. Now we just go majors. We go, oh, well, Nicholas is 18,

Tiger's 15. There we go. So Nicholas is the best. I'm like, yeah, but somewhere, some guy's ranting saying Sam Snead is the greatest of all time. So similarly in in tennis it's tough to argue those eras labor if you ask people the sir ergo dude he was like gretzky back in the day it was incredible i'm like but he's not even mentioned now in the top five because you go well by the majors who can't be him big three plus

sampras that's it i love this zag are we anti-majors now that's coming up next two more before you get me go oh i gotta shut No, the rewatchable is great. I mean, how much? I got to credit Bill. What the timing? They just did him and Koppelman did Misery. And then the next day,

James Caan dies. Just incredible timing that I happen to be listening to them waxing poetic about Jimmy Caan. And Misery is a great movie. I'm sure you and I love it. William Goldman's script. But I thought Bill did

a really good job breaking down Koppelman. You know I love fantasy. Fantasy is my soulmate. One time he said Scorsese is the most important filmmaker of the past 80 years. I go, this guy's incredible. And of course, Chris Ryan and the Pacino stuff is great. But we're going to have you more on the rewatchables. Like, you're

there occasionally. You've popped in and out. Spotlight, you were great. Spotlight good, especially on Ruffalo. I think you also did the program with those guys. I did the program. I did Spotlight. I did what was the Clooney, Jennifer Lope, Out of Sight? We did that with Bill Lawrence.

I did the town. I think Vision Quest is the one that ended my run because it got a little heated. I think PR people at The Ringer were like, we don't need Rosillo getting into battles with Matthew Modine on Twitter. Modine was very upset about me criticizing his lat pulldown form, which I kind of was like, you're fucking Matthew Modine. Who cares?

Like, it was and you lifted like a fucking spaz. It's not my fault. I think of how irrelevant Matthew Modine is now. Like, how many? No, I see. I think he is relevant. He's a street. We use in Stranger Things.

No, I think he is relevant. He's in Stranger Things. So I'm actually arguing for him, but his form wasn't very good. And then, I don't know, he wasn't thrilled about it on Twitter. So I don't know. I would like you more on the rewatchables.

That's my volley for you. I think this is about you trying to get on the rewatchables because I only have you at nine shout outs today. I kept track of them. We got four name shout outs within 30 seconds. I was like, all right, I'm going to keep track and see if we get to 30. No, we had four, and then we had a massive gap, but we got to nine at the end. I made sure I had Weissman at the end.

Do the Raptors get Durant? I wouldn't rule it out. You're not optimistic. You think he stays with the Nets? I just think he's a problematic guy to trade for because even with the contract, you've got to make sure he's happy. And I don't want to turn this into an anti-Toronto thing

because we know that's... Chris Burse already did that. Right, right. Although I'd like to also point out, it seemed like there was a ton of blue checks from Canada shitting all over this country during COVID because they were acting like comparing one country with 300 million more people was

as easy to execute the same plan. I don't know. Is it okay for me to point that part out? I do get annoyed at Canadians, and I won't mention this. I'll tell you on fair, but there's somebody who I follow who's tweeted on Canada Day so proud to be from a country with universal healthcare and welcomes immigrants and

treated the COVID crisis so well. And I wanted to say, as a non-American, but someone who proudly lives here, well, then why don't you go back to Canada? Like, I never understand people crapping on the country in which they live. So on the 4th of July, I proudly tweeted, everyone knows I'm a proud Canadian, but I am proud to live in this country for a dozen years. My wife's American. My kids are American. I'm going to go check out some U.S. Civil War history. And we almost deported you. That's American. My kids are American. I'm going to go check out some US Civil War history. And we almost deported you. That's right.

The best part of that story, as you know, is Mark Rose said, you have to leave tonight, but your family can stay. What? He's like, you guys all have to go. My wife's American. Okay, well, she can stay, but you have to leave. First, do the shift, though. Do baseball tonight, and then first thing tomorrow morning, you can leave. Like, okay. So this isn't an immediate deportation. Finish your shift, if you don't mind. We couldn't cover you. Do thing tomorrow morning you can leave. Like, okay. So this isn't an immediate deportation. Finish your shift if you don't mind. We couldn't cover you. Do it tomorrow morning. No problem.

Do baseball tonight and then we're going to have you go back to Canada. Maybe you can do some stuff for us with TSM. We'll see how it goes. Actually, Mike and Mike, we got, could you come in at eight? They're taping something. All right.

Thanks, man. Good to see you, Ryan. and something. All right. Thanks, man. Good to see you, Ryan. Before we get to life advice, I have a quick thing,

just some observations from Vegas Summer League that I wanted to touch on here. One is, after everything kind of settled down with Donovan Mitchell, let's pick back up again. If the Knicks get him, great. Does he win you a championship?

No. Is his stock probably the lowest it's been since he's been in the league? Yeah. But he's a really good player. Is he guaranteed top 10 guys? Does he guarantee you anything? No.

But this is the whole point of the Knicks and some of the staffing and some of the stuff they were always trying to do, whether you're hearing the Booker rumors years ago or Carl Anthony Towns. And then finally, if they end up with a Donovan Mitchell, it makes sense. And I'm not saying it's a lock because it seems really complicated, especially after the Gobert deal and people saying, okay, well, that means it should be. I saw Bobby Marks have something where it was like five picks and three swaps. So eight picks coming back. Again, I don't know that that's going to happen.

But Mitchell, despite some of my frustrations with him, I still really like him as a player. And if you can add that to your team, whoever you are, I think that that's a win. I do, because I really think he's that dynamic when things are right. And then the other side of Utah, with Gobert, you're probably winning close to 50-plus games. I don't know what you'd be in the playoffs without him because he's such a regular season impact player.

Now, I don't know if they are in the top eight. Probably not. Again, somebody who's not going to be healthy. There'll be a couple teams that have some injury questions, regular season impact player now i don't know if they are in the top eight probably not again somebody's not going to be healthy there'll be a couple teams that have some injury questions so maybe conley mcdonough and mitchell and everything else maybe it's enough at least to be competitive because i do think mitchell is good enough to maybe get you to 500 but if you want to just say hey what's the point we've already tried that we're going in the wrong direction and you think to yourself should we get into the whim by yama thing where you're like, all right, let's do this. Which I also think like a sneaky part of the whole part of Utah, if they were to end up with like the number one pick and be like,

hey, we ended up with a foreign guy and maybe he's going to be a little pro Utah or a little bit less anti Utah than somebody who's an American guy. I think these are all things you would have to factor in. One thing that may not seem relevant, but I thought was. So I was in Vegas for four nights. I stayed at the Wynn and there's two different gyms. I'm like, oh, cool, you're telling us a gym story. Awesome, dude. depending on which team was where, because teams were using both of the gyms, the win side that I would use, I just liked it a little bit better. But the Memphis Grizzlies as a team would use it.

Now, this gym usually would have, in the morning, all sorts of front office people. You're running to people left and right. Shout out to the Cavs on one of the members of the Chicago Bulls front office. Seems like he's really working on those. But the Grizzlies would have their equipment guys in and their strength and conditioning guys,

maybe not all the equipment guys. I think you understand what I'm saying. All the different trainers, maybe three or four different guys. And there'd be between five or seven players, including a couple that make real money in play minutes, that'd be in this room. And there is something about that team, man. And I thought of it last year and just how much they seem to like each other. I saw it even with their summer league stuff with how much energy they have.

They were nice to everybody in the gym. And this may seem so stupid and not important, but I actually expected the opposite. Like your NBA players, there's housewives kind of trying to get it to a dumbbell or using that equipment, are you done? These guys set up their deal and were so friendly. They were getting after it. They were supportive of each other, but they also weren't dicks to people because, hey, I'm an NBA guy and I'm in this public gym and I can just use up this whole space and do whatever I want. They weren't like that at all. I don't know, maybe it's because I didn't expect that

just from not specifically them, but any NBA team. I was so impressed. And it's this constant thing with the Memphis Grizzlies where I find myself going, this team seems to have this personality that is so rare, especially with younger guys, usually trying to jockey for position. And maybe there's an expiration date on it at some point

where a player goes, all right, maybe now i'm not enjoying this that much but i at least thought it was worth pointing out because i was just really impressed i was in there like i think three straight days with that same group and i was watching the work that they were putting in i was watching how everybody was like determined to just figure out the task you know it wasn't a very big room let's make make the most of this. And the trainers are doing a great job with it. I just kept watching how these guys were interacting with each other. And I was just, I think like it's just an extension of everything that I think of the Grizzlies and that this is a team that gets it, especially in an era where it seems like

all of the best players are incredibly unhappy. They remind us of their unhappiness all the time. Sometimes there's sympathy from us. I think a lot of times there isn't, which is also understandable, but here's an NBA team that is on the rise that had a great regular season injuries, maybe derail the playoff hopes, uh, and a collection of personalities that all seem to be on the right page.

Not to say that, you know, there aren't going to be some missteps or, you know, some challenges for them. Cause that happens with every organization, but just something I left Vegas going, man, I'm impressed with those guys. So there you go. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house

in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. Life advice is rr at gmail.com. We've got a couple follow-ups here. A little housekeeping. Congrats to the people that did figure out that the last life advice that we gave out on Tuesday

when I gave the example of the guy that was delivering food and sleeping with older women. That was Patrick Dempsey, Loverboy 1989. A lot of people did get that. Do you like doing that to us? Is that fun for you? You know,

Saruti doesn't like old movies. I probably wouldn't have came across that movie by my own self. I just thought it was a cheap shot or something like that. A little salt. That's fine. Did you do that

like anticipating that we would get it or did you think that neither of us would just go right over our heads? I knew there was no way you guys were going to get it. Yeah.

There's a good chance if a movie was made in the 80s like there's like a 99% chance I have not heard of it or certainly seen it. It's a great movie. I mean, Can't Buy Me Love,

Lover Boy, Back to Back, Pack of Dempsey, just heat zone. All right. I don't know. You might have another one in there in between yeah all right totally i'll get it man maybe not fair maybe uh good job by you dude good job by you but i'm telling you like i didn't do it going oh i'm gonna get kyle he's never gonna get this that wasn't that wasn't the point i did it once

before or maybe twice i think at espnPN. So I'm averaging, I think, one every two years. And the best one was the Bourne Ultimatum one where, to be entirely transparent, the TV-only segments that we did at the end of the hour for SVP and

Rosillo and then Rosillo and Canel, they didn't always go great. I would say it was one of the least successful segments in the history of espn the amount of times we had a plan and then the execution of that plan so it went so bad i don't know how many meetings i had about it and then finally like somebody's solution was well maybe we'll just take you off tv which i used to always love and be like hey this tv only segment like kind of keeps getting fucked up every single time. And it's super embarrassing. And then you're just sort of on the air for like two and a half minutes trying to fill and a lesser version.

I would say like me at the beginning of my career, that would have been the most horrifying thing ever. And luckily, you know, I'd been around doing it enough, getting your reps in, but then you would go to management and be like, Hey, can we figure out something here? And then management would be like, why don't we just take you off TV? That was like when we did the Fort Worth. Van Pelt and I did a week of shows. We decided to do a week of every single show. We were just going to blow out Sundance Square. Shout out to ECU.

That's where that started. And everybody was freezing to death. And instead of a heater, they had a smoker behind the set. So not only were we cold, we were getting slowly barbecued and we stunk. And then we were covered with blankets and guys like faces were dripping. And then a couple other shows got done inside, you know, for the simulcast because they would just move the equipment around. And I remember I was like, hey, is there anything we could do here? And then the guy was like, well, you could just go home.

You go back to Bristol. And I went, cool. All right, that's cool. You're right. I could do that. That's fucking cool. Maybe I should just quit. Just change careers too, I guess,

if you wanted to. And then one guy who had no fucking business talking to me the way he did said, because that's just the way it works, right? If it's a higher up, I realize you could talk to me a certain way. And if you're at another level, then I'm probably not going to be thrilled with the way you're talking to me. I mean, it's just life.

Sorry. And he like really got into it. He's like, that other show's out there and whatever. And then you're, you know, you wanted to be on the, it just, I was like, wait, wait, you can back off. And the point was, I was like, we're on for three hours, man. We're on for three hours straight. So I don't hear about some 60-minute or 30-minute fucking show going out there and being cold.

We're there for three hours. Instead of heaters, you got, you know. A Traeger? Yeah, we got a Traeger behind us on full blast. Good job. Good job. Good job. So, all right.

Um, anyway, all right. Rant over. Yeah. Not quite over though. It's not quite. But wait,

there's no, cause I didn't arrive at the point yet. So I know it's the path is going to be huge. So the reason I did a born ultimatum movie thing where I pretended it was my friend was I was so pissed. I was so pissed because it was another TV-only segment where right in your ear, you're like, five, four, three. We don't have the video. We don't have Phil. Phil.

And you're like, hey, we're back. The number of times that happened where it was like, okay, is this the plan? All right, we're going to do this. Like the all-timers, the 2016 LeBron block on Iguodala. And we're like, hey, let's do it. They're like, let's play the Iguodala block. And they played like a block from the second quarter. And we were just out there.

Okay. Okay. All right. out there okay okay all right and so uh that one day i just internally instead of snapping outwardly i just internally was like okay and then for whatever reason i just started saying that i had this friend that was into the outdoors and these wolves are chasing them you know that that turned into a full recap of the born i think if there's a better version of that in there i'd love to get that audio one day, but I'm sure.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. After that rant, there's probably not a ton of people that work on the show. It was like, let's help that asshole. Um,

just didn't work, man. I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. The results weren't great. Okay. The results here. Great.

Let's get positive quickly. One year follow up. Remember the guy that was driving to Mexico for a date? That was a year ago. Wow. Oh my God. Time flies. Am I right? I know. guy that was driving to Mexico for a date? That was a year ago. Wow. Oh my God. Time flies when you're driving to Mexico. Hey guys, one year

ago, July 22nd 2021 episode. That was with Dan Patrick. You read my email about crossing over to Mexico for a date. I'd already gone on the first date when I wrote the email, but the fear of Border Patrol made me question everything. I asked you guys whether I should continue doing this. The three of you gave me different types of advice.

Suri, how long have you been on the show? Over a year. Is it May of last year? No, I think it was March, I want to say. I was involved, but I don't remember exactly the advice I gave on this. I think I said stay away from Border Patrol.

I think that's what I said. But now I think that was probably closer to what I would give myself advice instead of this guy so i hope what did he do well he has the recap for us we don't need to do that uh ryan looked closely at both sides of the argument well there you go does sound like something i would do pros and cons but ultimately leaned on the side of dissuading me i do remember that i just felt like really you're already telling us you feel uncomfortable we did get some heat some blowback on this one very low number of people but it was kind of like hey i did this and it worked out and it was like okay all right that's great it worked out for you i don't know um kyle was very much against all of it but was much more concerned about the door panels

of my car being ripped out than actually my well-being yeah that sounds right i do remember steve completely zagged and suggested i think that's why we did we get a little bit of shit for that one too um steve completely zagged and suggested i moved to mexico for a couple years to explore and find myself while i continue to date her steve you crazy son of a bitch that doesn't sound like steve if i yeah i mean i wouldn't do that but but if I remember, he was... I thought he could work remotely or something. There was a reason that he was flexible. He said he could live down there, I thought. I was like, yeah,

just go check out Mexico for a little bit. Why not? Everybody was working remotely still. That sounds like pre-father Saruti. Yeah, I wouldn't tell my daughter to go live in Mexico for a couple years and just try it out, but hey, you know, as a parent. Update.

He has an update for us. Things worked out. By the time I heard the episode, I was already on my way to date number two. I learned that instead of driving, you can park your car and walk in and out of Mexico. Much less searching. Yeah. Much less searching and scrutiny. After a few dates, what is the Tijuana Bridge,

Olavu? I just think you can walk across the Tijuana Bridge, obviously. I mean, I think at Kenny Powers he does it too, doesn't he? You haven't been to Tijuana? You know, I just thought it's one of those things that sounds so great. And then it's just like, maybe I'm not the guy to do it. Like, it's just my first time. I know what I was worried about. And I don't know, like, the right crew to go with.

And I don't know. I just get worried about what will happen. All fair points. I too have never been to Tijuana. All right. So things worked out. He was on his way to number two. He's walking over now after a few dates, made things official.

And it's been a wonderful year together. We've traveled, eat amazing Mexican food. I've learned a bit of Spanish, too. We've even bonded over some episodes of life advice and Border Patrol doesn't give me a wonderful year together. We've traveled, eaten amazing Mexican food. I've learned a bit of Spanish too. We've even bonded over some episodes of Life Advice and Border Patrol doesn't give me a hard time anymore. Things are looking up

and there's even talk of a long-term future together. Hopefully, I hope she knows that and doesn't listen to this episode and she's like, hey, this has been fun, but come on, dude.

Hopefully, the next time I ask her advice, it's about the wedding party, home renovations, or finances. He doesn't mention HOA in here, but maybe that could happen too. But it won't be about dating or how to reassemble the door panels in my car. Thanks for reading. There's a picture of him here.

I got to tell you, this is a good looking couple. Really? Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Good looking couple. Love what it works out. Can I segue into a burrito thing or does it feel like I should

do one in between? I don't know what we can do anymore. All right. Let's go with this bartender thing. Hello, gentlemen. 6'1", 220. About 25 pounds overweight. So fuck all the working out credentials. I don't even know why people include those, but I feel obligated. I don't know really why it happened either. Shout fuck all the working out credentials. I don't even know why people include those,

but I feel obligated. I don't know really why it happened either. Shout out to the Dan Patrick show. Two shout outs. Same time. I used to live with my best friend since the second grade. Wow.

Did you move in at seven? Yeah, what? Oh, no, they were friends. I was going to say, you don't meet a lot of second graders that get an apartment together. All right. And at the time, it was him and his girlfriend of four years.

Okay. All right. So a little threesome housing situation. Not the movie. I lived with both of them for three years without any issues aside from normal living with a couple's bullshit. I've since moved into my own place. I've been living here them for three years without any issues aside from normal living with a couple's bullshit. I've since moved into my own place and been living here going on three years. About a year and a half ago, I was working out a lot, going to the bridge alongside downtown, running four or five days a week.

Naturally, I was way more confident, started looking better, feeling better, and women were taking notice. One drunken night, my friend's girlfriend came with me to my house and we did something we shouldn't have done. And I've been living with the secret ever since they have since broken up and are working on moving into other living situations only problem is that he asked me to get a house with him in february once uh both our leases are out i've declined a few times but every time he drinks he asked me about moving and getting a place together over and over again dude we should just do it we started remember second grade um obviously i shouldn't get a place with him but is there any good way to let him know about this thing that happened uh with his then girlfriend maybe years down the road or should i just bury this dark secret and take it to my fucking grave and let it haunt me forever

well yeah i mean i don't know i just think about the other guy all the time. You know what I mean? Like, imagine you're super fired up and then other people know about it. I know this is kind of a shitty way to look at it, but how many other people know? You know, because there's like I've mentioned before that I think most people are going to have something like this happen to them at some point. If you're the boyfriend in this situation, not the newly jacked runner or at the time was then jacked and now. I guess you could say, you're overweight so you're not going to sleep with his next girlfriend right so maybe you could move in together uh that'd be one way to look at it but the reason it bothered me so much when it happened to me was

that everybody knew about it and it went on for a really long time and i then had to have all these people be like dude i just didn't know what to do didn't know what to do didn't know what to do you're like yep okay, okay. That makes me feel like an asshole. It's not a great feeling. So if you want to really worry about that other person's feelings, but I also understood why certain people weren't going to tell me. So I had to chalk it up to just a big L

in the game. So if no one else knows, you know, they're not together. I mean, this is, there's no real good answer for this thing you're saying it haunts you so that's kind of cool that you care enough because other people are so terrible they'll just be like i don't even care i don't even think about it like yeah man let's split it up i want the better parking spot maybe you could do little things like that move in together and be like yeah you can have the carport let's go park outside you know slowly become a sidekick right what's the square footage of

that bedroom 315 verse 325 you can take the bigger one charge yeah yeah you just do like little secret things for them all the time because you feel all this guilt and so maybe that's the way you get past it i i just don't really have i'd love to say hey you need to tell them it's been second grade dude but i'm not going to tell you to do that. So stuff it down, bottle it up. Just be sad for a little while. This is crazy. Yeah, don't.

What? No, just no. And don't move in with them either. I mean, things you said you've been living by yourself for a couple of years and it's been great. Like you don't have to backtrack either. I think healthy distance, continue to be friends and don't tell him the secret to him or anyone else. And hopefully she doesn't tell her friends.

Tell him you sleepwalk. Just be like, I could crawl into bed with you one night. You won't even know. I'd just rather live alone. Yeah, I guess you have to assess the situation, though. As Kyle just said, is she going to spill the beans on this? Is she going to tell other people? Because that would worry me um but if you don't think

she will and you guys just kind of go your separate ways you you kind of hit the jackpot here because like if you got if they got end up getting married then then i mean you think you feel bad now like then you're gonna feel even worse if that happens you you kind of it's kind of the best case scenario in the situation yeah i don't think there's much to add on this one like it it doesn't matter you weren't seeing her it was a one-off you were hot then yeah you feel bad about it like you know you're beating yourself up over it like you're you seem like a decent dude you know yeah who's it helping the the easiest thing here is right like to say i'm not i'm done having roommates right like that's the easiest thing. That's just a personal choice. That's the way I chose to live now.

So I know that it'd be cool for you. I'm just out of the roommate phase. Unless he has a roommate right now, which I don't know. He didn't sound like he did. I don't think it sounded like he did. Yeah, I think he got his own pod. Yeah, I think that's totally fair.

Just not going back. That's all. Okay, let's get to the Chipotle one here again. This is not the same. A lot of people on that sauce controversy still. They factored into the cost. Not if everyone takes a bottle. A burrito would cost $3 more.

All right. 62250. Leave out my name. You can refer to me as Big Hoss. Gladly. I don't like that. I don't think we're gonna do that yeah i'll say it in my head i'll say it in my head pal all right hey guys long time listener um i recently started a new job real estate consulting firm last week it was my first big pay raise in addition to getting the chance to shoulder more responsibility. So I'm very grateful. That's awesome. So far through my first week,

everything's been great. Today I went to Chipotle for lunch when our HR rep, let's call her Stacy, sees me waiting to pick up my order. In addition to being the general HR rep for the company, Stacy's also the person who twice interviewed me and ultimately hired me. For context, I had ordered for pickup through the app and she had opted to simply hop in line and order at the restaurant. As Stacy makes her way through the line, she receives her food before me. If you know me, I'm never going to complain to an hourly employee at Chipotle who's clearly already swamped with a huge line and no doubt many more pickup orders that I didn't get

my food right away. However, Stacy takes it upon herself to say very rudely to the cashier, excuse me, but my friend ordered ahead and still hasn't gotten his food. Why is that? What's taking so long? I'm mortified for a few reasons. One being that I've only worked at this company for three days, so I'm already unsure what to say to Stacy. Secondly, I found it weird that she complained on my behalf when I was fine waiting quietly and politely. Again, considering how many people were there and given that the cashier was clearly swamped at the moment. Lastly, and more importantly, when I checked my app to confirm the order, I realized that I had ordered to the wrong Chipotle. Big yikes from Big Hoss. Later, when I returned to the office, I told my manager what had happened

and they said, Stacy has done this sort of thing before and is known to be overly assertive. Definitely. People know about Stacy when you go to Chipotle or other food venues. When Stacy stopped by my desk to ask about my order, I explained that it was my mistake and not Chipotle's and that the reason I didn't get my food was because I ordered at the wrong place.

She shrugged it off and said, no worries. I get Chipotle two, three times a week for lunch. So we'll just go another time together to make sure you get it. My question is, how do I decline Stacy if she asks for lunch in the future? I'm not a passive person. I consider myself unafraid of confrontation, but it's an entirely different situation when I'm so new at the company. And Stacy is technically my superior. Let me know what you think.

HR really your superior? Let's be honest. I got to tell you, that was the first thing i thought i think come on guys oh man sorry sorry the hr people out there um i feel like i know stacy i've known her her whole life oh my god i know i know exactly who she is uh i know stacyacey whose name is Stacey. That's how many there are. So what does Big Hoss do here, guys? Don't go to lunch with Stacey.

And you could have also, I mean, probably immediately apologized after she got her order and left. Probably be like, yeah, sorry about that. And also totally sent it to the wrong thing. I'm sure that happens to everyone. So, sorry. I. And also totally sent it to the wrong thing. I'm sure that happens to everyone. So, sorry. I think your hands are clean. Even if you come back there, just don't let her speak for you.

Even if you have to be there in the same place at the same time, I mean, people can tell who's cool and who's not. And if you're cool, none of this stink's going to be on you. Yeah, always be five minutes late when you're going to Chipotle with her. don't get in line without me i'll order after don't worry about it um no stacy's gonna want your order though she's gonna want your orders like i'm gonna take care of this she's real hard real proactive in that sense yeah she sounds like she

points over the glass no no the porn very accurate right oh so when you said corn i was going to go to something else that you needed to point out the corn part and stick your tentacles over the glass uh yeah i mean this is really you're gonna be fine here i think kyle made a great point that if you're worried about the chipotle people from now on and you having like a damaged rep in there they'll probably know the deal um it's weird to me to think that she like is there something about you where she felt like she had to be so assertive on your behalf uh or is this the way that she always is as you explained you talked to somebody else about it and they said yeah she's kind of like this so i think all things all the factors here are on your side um and it could be she just

wanted to take you to lunch or go with you to lunch because it's your first week. She interviewed you twice, as you said. I don't think you're going to be getting lunch with the HR person all the time anyway. It could be just, hey, new guys here, let me do something nice so he's not eating lunch by himself. But there's plenty of ways. I mean, you just run through a list of things. Oh, I'm i gotta i gotta you know the printer's acting up you know tons of office stuff that you can figure out a way to get out of any future lunch i would i would not immediately cut off lunches forever with her though i would i would maybe play the game a little bit if you're worried about that part of it um but you know i don't know that i would tell on her too to other people like my first week. So maybe you're confiding in somebody

that you trust a lot or whatever, but I would be a little cautious with that new guy there going, fucks up with Stacey at Chipotle, man. Yeah, and by the way, if the office people are like Stacey's like that, the Chipotle people are like, yeah, she comes in Wednesdays and Fridays. Two to three days.

Sneaking in as Tuesday. Exactly. So everybody's on the same page here. You're just the new guy. You'll figure it out. Don't worry. All right. Good luck with that.

Thanks to Kyle and Steve. As always, we're going to do a couple taped ones next week. The book club episodes. We got two books that we did. The Led Zeppelin book and our first Civil War, American History.

And we're going to do a life advice episode. So there you go. Thank you.