The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Best and Worst Teams in the NFL With Albert Breer. Plus, Craig Kilborn on His New Podcast Venture.

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

Russillo is joined by Albert Breer to discuss the best and worst teams in the NFL this season, which QBs are in a prove-it year, and what rookies to keep an eye on (0:29). Then, Craig Kilborn comes on to preview his new podcast with 30 for 30, discuss his preparation for the role, and talk about KAT’s playoffs (40:16). Plus, Life Advice With Kyle (1:15:57)! Should I become the villain of my tennis league? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Albert Breer and Craig Kilborn Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, Mike Wargon, and Jonathan Frias Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fun pod today. We're going to talk football, NFL football, go through a bunch of off season storylines with Albert Brewer, who we love talking to. And we've got Craig Kilburn stopping by. You never know where that's going to go. Probably some Bob Evans and life advice before Wargon's big day. He's one of our favorites to talk to and he's doing it while he's on vacation. So we appreciate his effort. Albert Brewer, si.com, Monday morning quarterback. And you can check him out with us occasionally

throughout the season as well, man. Thanks for doing this, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. How you doing Ryan? Good, good. All right. So let's get through kind of like, as we ramp up for camp here in the preseason schedule, which is a few weeks away, let's talk kind of generally about where we're at right now.

Who do you think had the best, give me the collection of teams you thought had the best off season. Yeah, you know, it's, you look at some of the contenders and, you know, it's, you look at some of the contenders and, you know, I, I actually look at the teams that did the best to kind of build some momentum for themselves going into the year based on where they were last year. I think one that to me is at least interesting.

Now they still have one outstanding contract issue would be Buffalo because they had, I think really like what was a reset year last year, they still made it to the conference title game. They're able to get a lot of their contract situations taken care of. So they just got really good momentum going into the season. Now, you know, is there some sort of over the top move that they made? No. But I really like where they are. New England's an obvious one. I think basically what they did was a carbon copy of what Washington did last year, where they went and brought in guys who are sort of middle of the roster guys that'll help lay a foundation.

And all of those guys have connections to coach a coach or coaches on their staff. Carlton Davis played for Terrell Williams last year in, in, in Detroit. Spillane played for McDaniels in, in, in, in Vegas. And you know, it was with variable before that in Tennessee, Harold Landry played for variable in Tennessee. So you go down the list of the guys they acquired. And so much of it's like guys who are going to at least get you up to level ground at certain positions. And you had background with, which is again, exactly what the commanders did a year ago. You know, and then, you know, looking at like the teams in the NFC, I, I think what Minnesota

did now, a lot of it's going to ride on JJ McCarthy, right? But I really like how they, they, they dove into like what got them beat last year and dove into like where they felt like their weakness was. They felt like they weren't tough enough in the middle of the lines. And so they went and they got Ryan Kelly and Will fries from the Colts. Then they doubled down on the first round of the draft and draft Donovan Jackson, you know, for their offensive line, Christian Daris, I was coming back from the torn ACL and then they had Jonathan Allen to their defensive line. And so I think, you know, you look at what Minnesota did and I think that there's a real logic to what they

did. We'll see how JJ plays. Same thing with Chicago. You know, Chicago really went in on their offensive line and bring him in Jonah Jackson and Joe Tooney and Drew Dahlman. You know, I just, I look at like the, and they're not sexy moves, but I think, you know, those teams like really kind of built a foundation for themselves. You brought up something that I think is really interesting and very specific to the NFL and that's when new coaches, new coordinators are in place. It's like, all right, how many guys can I find

that have played for me that I can bring over here? And I think it's very specific for certain units where there's pass rushers. You can be like, what happened to that guy? It's like, well, they're asking him to do something entirely different. And in this system, he's gonna be a force. And in that system, he's gonna be invisible.

I think guys in the secondary, it can be very similar. Probably a receiver receiver or it's like, well, if you're asking this guy to beat somebody on go routes on the outside all game long, like that's not really who it is, but we have to find ways to get them open maybe in the middle of the field and then he's an entirely different guy. But I also think it can come down to maybe the evaluation of the previous coach having somebody going, no, no, let me get him back because I know what he's good at already. But also the addition of having somebody who understands what your system is and what your philosophy is to then coach it to the other players. I think that's incredibly unique.

And I mean, basketball, it's just like, look, you can have a system, but it's it's pretty straightforward. Baseball is pretty straightforward. The NFL, it feels like the first thing new coaches do when they get into a place is like, let me find three or four guys that know how I operate. Right, and Washington, I think, that was what was so smart about what Washington did.

Now, I don't know that anybody could have predicted Jaden Daniels would play as well as he did. They loved him, obviously, coming out. You don't draft him second overall if you don't love him, but the idea that he would do something historic, that obviously is gonna to exceed expectations. And that's what gets them to 12 wins. And the conference was like a little, the NFC was soft last year.

So I think that gave them a little bit of a window to reach a conference title game, although they did beat Detroit along the way. But the names are not wrecking. No one, no one at this point last year said, oh, Washington crushed the off season because they signed Dorrance Armstrong and Dante Fowler who Dan Quinn had in Dallas, because they brought back Bobby Wagner who Dan Quinn had had in Seattle all those years ago.

Even like an Austin Eckler who was with Anthony Lin, right? Like when A Lin was the chargers coach, you just know what you're getting. You know what I mean? Like there's no projection. It's like, I know how I can use this guy. We're not expecting too much out of him. And he's going to be able to go into that room and be a teacher of what we're trying to accomplish to the rest of the players. It really gives you a chance to get up and running fast. And so I think Washington did a really good job with that.

Again, like no one was sitting here last year saying like, oh my God, look at Washington. They got, you know, they got Jeremy Chin and they got, and they got Dorrance Armstrong. And now they're going to the NFC title game. But like the, the, the sum of all of those moves was we hit a bunch of singles and doubles and now all of a sudden we put seven runs on the board. You know what I mean? So to speak.

And I think that there's just, there's a logic to that that, I mean, again, like, like you said in football where, you know, how you use a player can be so different from system to system, like the amount of certainty that Washington was able to build up and doing what they did, I think it was a huge part of them having the improvement that they had. And I think, you know, again, like, I think New England is the sort of facsimile of that this year where they've done something that's very, very close to what Washington did a year ago and trying to get up to a level ground at a bunch of different spots

and knowing exactly what you're gonna get out of the players you're bringing in. If I said, okay, you got about a hundred bucks and you have to do, you get to pick these two things you're more confident in, picking the three best teams in the NFL after the season's over or the three worst teams? What would you be more confident?

I would say maybe three best, but that's tough. Like I would say if you, if, if I had to say a hundred bucks, three best teams, I think the obvious thing to do, the safe thing to do would be to say Philly, Kansas City, Buffalo probably, right? Like am I missing anything there? That's probably it. I think the obvious thing to do, the safe thing to do, would be to say Philly, Kansas City, Buffalo probably, right? Like am I missing anything there? That's probably it, I think. No, cause I mean, this kind of plays into something else. I mean, if you look at the over-unders on the season, there's four teams that are 11 and a half,

and it's the three you said, Baltimore's also in there. I've seen Buffalo at 12 and a half wins, but only one book. Cause of the schedule, right? Like their schedule's really soft, yeah. So, but basically like across the board, where we're at right now in season totals, it's those four teams.

So, it's hard. Like I almost feel like Kansas City because they get stomped in the Super Bowl. That, does it feel like everybody's kind of off of them? Collectively, I don't think anybody thinks they're gonna stink, but there's just, I think there's just a different feeling about it. Go ahead.

I think Kansas City could be better than they were. Like I know like Matt Nagy had a vision for the offense last summer that was, all right, we're gonna have, we're gonna reintroduce like, cause they went away from, I mean, it's obviously part of a league wide trend, but like everybody was looking for their Tyree kill, the chief's trade Tyree kill. And part of their logic was, well, everybody's running shell coverage

and to try to prevent those guys from making a big impact. So, and they're putting tons of DBs in the field. So how are we going to combat that? We're going to be bigger and more physical at the skill positions so we can throw the ball underneath and break tackles and all of that. And then last year they sort of swung back around where it's like, okay, we're they draft savior worthy, they bring in Hollywood Brown. And the idea was we're going to clear out space with the two guys over the top and then have Rashi Rice and Travis Travis Kelsey running underneath into open space. And I think that happens. I think that could happen this year. They, they, they had, they had, uh, they had rice

for what I'm in front of me a month last year, but they felt like he was trending to be a top 10 receiver in the league by the end of the year. Um, when, when he, when he got hurt, we'll see what happens with the disciplinary stuff. Obviously that's a factor too. Um, you know, and then Hollywood was hurt for most of the year. Hollywood and Rice never played together. You know, Xavier worthy, you can start to see what he was becoming by the end of the year and maybe all this comes together. Pacheco back healthy again.

And I think you can count on Steve Spagnolo having a really good defense. I like to me, like they've got a chance to be a lot better on offense. They were, than they were a year ago, which sounds crazy to say. And I think, again, like, I think they're going to be really good on defense because there's a good base of talent on defense. The two X factors, I think, you know, and this is just an age thing is like, is there a drop off with Kelsey? Is there a drop off Chris Jones?

But as long as those guys are playing well, I think the Chiefs could actually be better this year than they were last year. Okay, let's just go then to the Super Bowl winner off of this. Yep. If you go back a year ago, the Philadelphia stories, pretty crazy, you know, going into it. It's like, we know how talented they are.

The additions, it just feels like they're so aggressive and they're aggressive in the right ways. When they're like, hey, if this is somebody who we think is elite at that position, let's go for it. I think that they, I love their draft board in the way they go about it too. It's like, what are we doing? Like, why are we screwing around with this?

Granted, you know, Carter was available because of all the issues. So sometimes people can revisit draft history and be like, I can't believe this guy. I know, like, is this not be there? I love that. Like, look at these idiotic teams. It's like, do you think Jalen Carter would have worked out

the same way if like he's playing for the Bears? If he was playing, probably wouldn't have been as easy to keep that thing on the tracks, you know? Well, there's that part of it, but I'm more like just the inaccuracy of like, I can't believe the league let us get this demon. And you're like, well, there's a reason why he was available to you. But I think it goes, it's not just the Carter pick.

The Carter pick is its own little box. It just feels- That's a reward for your success. Like that you can do that, you know? Right, right. And I think that when how he puts together the board and just goes like, why are we making this complicated? Like, I think this guy is just a supremely talented dude.

And you know, the depth that they've possibly built here with the youth on the D line would be an incredible, like turning the page from what they've had before, and then just transitioning a unit with that talent is just so hard to do. So anyway, but back to what it's like, Hey, you know, Hertz was clearly hurt last year, they have that great start, but something felt weird. And so it was this kind of hangover from 23 into 24. And you're like, how long is Sirianni going to last? Is Hertz really the guy?

And Hertz, as we've learned, doesn't necessarily have to be the guy in that elite class of the top five or six quarterbacks, but that is writing a ship with massive expectations and incredibly tough market. It's hard to say, hey, they didn't get enough credit when it's like, well, dude, they won the Super Bowl. Everybody's pretty aware of how special the Eagle season was. But it's worth remembering how tenuous that entire situation felt. And I wonder what it's going to be like feeling none of that because they accomplish what they would set out

to accomplish. Yeah, and I think like, I mean, it's like, I'm not breaking any new ground here by saying it, but it's just what they've done on the lines of scrimmage and like having guys ready to go when they've lost other guys. And, you know, whether it's, you know, if you want to go back, it's like,

they tried to replace Jason Peters with Andre Dillard, and then they had Jordan Malata behind that, like when Dillard didn't work out, they lose Jason Kelsey, and they have really two answers, Cam Juergens or Landon Dickerson could have played center if they needed him to, and then on the defensive line, losing Fletcher Cox and having Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter there, it's just like their draft and develop machine,

it just keeps churning. And it's like, you know, we mentioned Jalen Carter, like Jihad Campbell was somebody that a lot of people felt like was a top 10 player in the draft, but you know, he's got the injury issues. And like, are you okay with the fact that like, oh, he's had one shoulder done, he might have to have the other shoulder done after the year.

Well, if you're the Eagles, you can take that risk because it's not the end of the world. If you swing in and you miss on a guy at the end of the first round. So like I am interested to see what this looks like without the and it's there's never going to be no pressure in Philly, but now you if you're Nick Sirianni, you've been to two Super Bowls in three years,

you've won one, Jalen Hurts, same thing. Like what does this look like without the unrelenting pressure on them? And can they keep winning the same way? Their offense is a little unique and different. This is going to be their fourth offensive coordinator in four years. That's a factor. You know, like what does that look like?

You're going now to Kevin Petullo after having Kellan Moore last year. You know, so there are some, there is some natural attrition and everything else. But I mean, I, it's hard not to look at that roster and say the arrow is still pointing up in a lot of areas and like all these places where they were getting old a couple of years ago, they've now sort of reset and replenished and have ascending players. So it's hard to imagine the Eagles not being like a 12 or 13-win team. San Francisco feels like a reset.

You know, the bill was come and due for Purdy. The number comes in a little bit lower average annual salary than some of his contemporaries, but you go, can they pull this off? And there's still a lot of projections. And I think of Buffalo last year, where it's like, okay, they're kind of having their reset year financially. I mean, other than winning a Super Bowl,

I mean, it's gone so well for Buffalo. I'm wondering if, it's not a blueprint question, but does Buffalo's success and then where their position now, because that's the kind of thing San Francisco can look to and say, Hey, this can happen where you can still be a contender despite knowing you're going to have to change up your roster here. Yeah, for sure. I think it's just, it's actually like pretty simple though. I think, you know, I think a lot of it's just drafting and developing well, you know what I mean? Like you, so much

of it is like, well, you know, if you're going to take on 60 million in dead cap or 70 million in dead cap, how do you, how do you get around that? You, you have a cheap player who's playing way above his contract because he's still in his rookie deal, you know? And so for Buffalo, like that's Khalil Shakir coming along. That's Dalton, Kincaid and Dawson Knox helping replace some of the production you lost when Stefan Diggs was, was, was gone. It's getting as much as you got out of James Cook. It's Greg Russo becoming a top end pass rusher, even though, you know, Vaughn Miller wasn't everything he thought he was going to be when you signed him. Um, you know, it's all of those things. And that's what

the Niners are going to need this year. You know, like it's where's Ricky Pierce all look like? What are you getting out of Juwan Jennings? What's why you look like coming back off the knee? Cause you don't have Debo anymore. What is, do you have enough depth at running back having lost Mason, who was a really good backup for, for McCaffrey. So much of it, again, so much of it comes down to like what you're developing behind the guys that you're losing. And they've drafted really well there over the years. And, you know, I still think like you, you take the top five or six guys in the roster, like their core guys, you know, and that'd be like pretty

McCaffrey, I,uk, Bosa, Warner. And then I guess now, you know, Lenore's going through some stuff, but Lenore, they just signed him to a contract. It's like, that's still a pretty good core, even without some of the guys they lost. And so, yeah, I mean, it's gonna be on Kyle and his staff now to sort of develop the guys,

have the guys ready to go. But I think in that division, the schedule that they have, like I would think that that's, I mean, they should have the expectation that Buffalo had going into last year. They'll still be a playoff team. You know, no, that doesn't mean they're going to get back to a conference title game or a Super Bowl, but they should still very much be a playoff team based on on on their core on the young talent they have there and the division they plan a schedule they play. How bad are the bottom three then? Because if we bring it back around to it. So what are we talking about Tennessee?

New Orleans, New Orleans. Cleveland has more talent than these teams, but they have four quarterbacks. The quarterback situation could, I mean, like, yeah, like New Orleans has like, what could be a really good offensive line, which, you know, if you're good on the lines of scrimmage, you can be competitive week to week. They don't play in the toughest division, but I- They're just a tough team to figure out,

like, what's the plan? There's no quarterback. I mean, that's what it is. I mean, unless Tyler Shuck becomes, you know, like, oh my God, like the only reason he fell to the second round was because, you know, he's four years older than the other guys. Like, you know, maybe, maybe that's the answer. But I, I, I think, I think New Orleans is in this weird spot where, well,

they've got like Mickey Loomis is the GM who doesn't want to bottom out. But I do think there are some people in that building who would like to like, hey, at some point we have to reset this. At some point we have to start over a little bit. And I think the car thing kind of pushed them further in that direction. And now, I mean, this would be the year where,

I mean, it's funny, cause you look at like the draft next year and I don't think Arch will come out, but would it be tempting to him if the Saints had the first pick and he played really well? I mean, you and I both know like Arch still has a lot of work to do before he's the number one pick in the draft, but you know, Garrett Nussmeyer is the Saints offensive coordinator's son, you know, so like there are a lot of reasons like for the Saints to be looking at next year's quarterback class.

You know, and then, and then I would say Tennessee's probably in that group where, you know, if you're them, like the expectation is like have Cam Ward playing really well by the end of the year, who else would be down there? See Cleveland, I think Cleveland, like you're talking about their quarterback situation, holding them hostage, right? Cause I don't think they're that bad.

They were, they won 11 games two years ago. Are they that bad? Uh, no, clearly I think they have more talent than a Tennessee or New Orleans. I just, I don't really know. I mean, the thing is, if you go on the totals and it might have more to do with schedule, it's the saints and Browns on the totals and it might have more to do with schedule, it's the Saints and Browns at the bottom at four and a half. The Browns, the front end of the Brown schedule is brutal.

I think it's like, I remember looking at it. I'm like, it's hard not to see 0 and 6 here, you know? Like it's, that doesn't mean they're going to go 0 and 6, but it's like, it's like hard to find wins early in their schedule. It's Cinti at Baltimore, Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota. Yeah. Those are your first five. And then you're at Pittsburgh, which, you know, division game, maybe. Yeah. You know, it's the NFL too. They're not going to, they're probably not

just going to start. Yeah. I mean, what does Indy look like? Yeah, there's, I mean, other than having like their own triplets. Yeah, the skill positions, which I don't know that there's necessarily posters of those three guys. Maybe they're available at the airport in downtown Indianapolis. But yeah, it sounds I mean, the Daniel Jones thing, like he's going to win the job. Yeah, unless Anthony Richardson all of a sudden is incredibly healthy and a completely different person. And this is a long stretch, which you kind of understand

is like, we still have to kind of figure out what we have or what we don't have. I think it might be one of those things where everybody else knows what you have and you're hoping you have something different in Richardson. And I don't know what's gonna happen to that group, obviously with the passing of ownership too. Yeah, the Dolphins are another one who like,

they're like really funky spot. This felt personal, cause I was reading one of your like kind of summer hangout, like here's a bunch of thoughts on all these different teams. You're right, okay? Cause I think there's also a conversation of like kind of make or break year for QBs

and we can get into it. I don't even know that Richardson is on that level. I think Trevor Lawrence is there, but clearly like to a season here kind of make or break year for QBs and we can get into it. I don't even know that Richardson is on that level. I think Trevor Lawrence is there, but clearly like to a season here, probably sets the tone for like, what is his future actually going to be with Miami? Or are they looking to make some sort of change?

And the way you framed that, you also seemed like you were getting a ton of shit from Dolphins fans. Like I could already see you being pre-defensive. So state your Dolphins case, the position of why you would have them this far towards the bottom. So I'll compare them to Pittsburgh, right? So like Pittsburgh, I think looked at it like and this is why they looked at Stafford and then eventually

acquire Rogers is because they saw it as alright. So we have like this. We have have this group of players at the time it was TJ Watt, Minka Fitzpatrick, you know, like, and you're looking at it and you're saying to yourself, and Cam Hayward's obviously at the end, are we ever going to be able to win at the highest level with these guys? Because we've gotten to the playoffs with them. We've been competitive, like, but we haven't won a playoff game since 16. So if we're being honest with ourselves, with Justin Fields as the quarterback, are we going to be able to get to a point where

we're going to be over the top and we're going to be competing with Baltimore and with, with Cincinnati and with Buffalo and with Kansas city, teams that have been to the Super Bowl or knocked on the door at the Super Bowl. And I think they said to themselves, you know what? We maybe have a year or two left, let's just go for it. And that's like every move of their off season shows that, right? I think the Dolphins were honest with themselves quietly,

honest with themselves in another way where it's like, maybe we're not getting there with this group, you know, and maybe now is the time to retool. And so Teron Armstead retires, which was a big deal, replacing left tackle is not easy. They're gonna have a second round pick from last year and Patrick Paul playing left tackle. Tyree Kill had his least productive year in,

you know, since he was a rookie. Jalen Ramsey is now gone. And they had the two edge rushers who can't stay healthy and Bradley Chubb and, and, and Jalen Phillips. So what are they? Like, where is the strength? By the way, isn't, wouldn't you rather have Minka though, still back instead of Jalen?

I think so. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. I mean, I, I think having Minka back gives them, stabilizes them a little bit. And it's very specific to what they are in defense with Anthony Weaver and like they've like in Baltimore when they read the remade the defense under Wink, you know, and, and, and Weaver was there at the end of that, like when they remade the defense under Wink, they really empowered the safety.

So they always, they've, it's been a priority. I have a really smart safety. So that was, it's been a priority to have a really smart safety. So that was Eric Weddle for a bunch of years. It was Kyle Hamilton more recently. And so like Anthony Weaver gets that on defense with Minka coming in. But is Minka the type of like over the top difference maker where he's going to just change the fortune of the team? I don't know. And I just, like, this is the question I've asked people on them. How many players are on that team right now are going to be there in two years? I can come up with two. Three, if you count two, right? Jalen Waddle, Chop Robinson. I think those two guys will be there in 2027.

I like I you look at the Ross like how many other guys can you say that about? There aren't very many, you know? And so like that kind of, I think it kind of illustrates where they are right now, you know, like where it's like, this is sort of like a soft reset for them, which I think is, which by the way, to all the Dolphins fans out there listening, I think it's the smart thing to do. I think you had topped out with that group, you know? And now I think this tests to his ability

to have a little bit more on his shoulders where it's not just go out there and play point guard where you have to carry the team a little bit more, which is what happens when you get paid like you got paid. Yeah, I think that's the thing I'll, I don't know, I'll ever figure out what quarterbacks, like I don't know if I'll ever, as many years I've been watching this sport,

like who are the guys that are just following a script. But it's, and then who are the guys like, cause I think there's a Bo Nix conversation. It's like, is this guy actually this good? Or is it just crafted perfectly? Because I mean, the numbers, I mean, for a rookie quarterback to have the season he had, if you're in Denver, you're like, why are you guys debating this anymore? Like we've got our guy for the next 10 years. I'm not sure anybody. I'm like, do people realize how much dead money the Broncos were carrying last year? Yeah, they didn't even get a chance. Although the dead money conversation, and I think this is something that's always worth to bring up when you look at the cap spike from each single year, like these are way easier to swallow. They are.

Than I think, like they're not necessarily the death sentence that we used to think they were 10 years ago. But they were like a million. Yeah, look, it's a massive, massive number. I mean, the Broncos, I mean, the Broncos, like I just don't know, I mean, like, the guy, I think what was really impressive about what Bo Nix did was like, I don't know, like, I think what was really impressive about what Bo Nix did was, like, I don't know,

like, who is Stefan Diggs to Josh Allen there? Who is, you know, Tyree Kildo, Patrick Mahomes there? You know, like, who is that guy for them where you're like, man, they really like have, like, difference making players around him. Their offensive line's good, not great. Like I think Bo Nix deserves a little more credit for what he did last year. And Cortland Sutton's a good receiver.

I like their young guys. Like I think they've got a chance to be good players. You know, Vailay's got a chance. You know, Franklin's got a chance. But I just, like I don't, I don't know that people like look at them for now. Their defense was really good. That makes a big difference. Uh, but even then like on defense, it's not like they've got all these big money players that those are all guys they drafted

and developed through the system. So I think bone next, like had to carry like a little bit of a heavier weight than people are giving them credit for their now you had Sean Payton and that's a huge advantage, no doubt. Yeah, but I like that. I like the way that you said it. So let's, Bo Nix is not in this group, but I think Tua, Trevor Lawrence, who else would be, I don't know if it's fair to even put Darnold in this group of like- Prove it, you mean? Like, is that what you're saying? Yeah. Well, Jordan Love's going to be the starter for the Green Bay Packers no matter what in 2026.

Yeah. So yeah, I understand your point. It's a bit like with love going, hey, that high-end stuff that we saw, you need to continue to build on some of that. And it felt like you were holding the team back, which is not what that contract means. And it's the Packers too. If the Packers gave you that kind of contract, that's not the kind of organization that's just like, all right, whatever, we've got our starter and let's just pay him what everybody else gets paid. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit there. I'm just wondering what that list would be, or maybe I'm thinking about a late August podcast monologue too.

It also could be that. Because even Darnold's deal, three years, a hundred million, a half of it's guaranteed with Seattle. Minnesota was totally fine moving off of them. Clearly they love JJ enough to have drafted him. So it makes sense that they're like, Hey, great year, we're moving on. We're going to stay on the rookie quarterback part of it too. There's, there's always, look, there's always a group. But like.

Baker. Really? I thought we all liked him. I think Baker's proved a lot. I think Baker's proved a lot. I think Baker's proved a lot. But what's interesting about Baker is like, so like he, next year will be a contract year for him. So you know, now you're talking about, cause every year, every time you come up to that

juncture in the contract, it turns into it, like, do we want to hitch our wagon to the guy again? You know, once they get paid like that, it's like's like, and that was part of the equation for the Vikings with Donald, you know what I mean? Do we want to hitch our wagon to him? And I think so much of what the Vikings did in offering Daniel Jones what they did and wanting to bring Donald back for another year,

so much of it was, well, we'd love to have the insurance policy based on the team that we have. Like this isn't a rebuilding team that can throw a year overboard in the name of quarterback development. So we want an insurance policy, but, um, you know, we don't want to like just jam on the pause button on the JJ McCarthy area and not give them a chance to, to compete, which is part of why they said no to Rogers. Right. and not give them a chance to compete, which is part of why they said no to Rogers, right?

And, you know, I just, like, I think anytime you're coming up to that point in a quarterbacks contract where, you know, the Bucks are with Baker, like, this'll be a critical year and people don't realize it yet, but it's like, he's gonna be looking for a new contract after the year. So how do you handle that?

You know what I mean? Like, where are they at with them? Um, and are they willing to, are they going to be willing to do an even bigger contract with them after the year? I think it's an interesting spot to be in too. Cause there's a couple of problems in all of this, right? Yeah, totally. I mean, the Darla contract is new.

So with the guarantees on it, it's probably a two year deal. Uh, cause that's just the least of the way I was kind of thinking of, or if the presentation of this question is, is this guy, no matter what the starter in 2026, then that's not really a question of it's a make or break season. I think you can even make the argument for two, if two is healthy and they're not that good, he's probably just going to be the starter again, because it's going to be hard to find somebody else. Unless, unless it goes bad enough where they feel like coaching change

and the whole thing and I don't have the contract in front of me either to know if there's an out on it. What makes it interesting though is like with Miami, right? Like with a team like that, like it doesn't even mean like does he not going to be on the roster in 26 because like let's just say theoretically that all the quarterback and I don't think there's any like quarterback that the NFL is looking at right now and saying, yes, that guy is going to be a top five pick. Right. But there's a handful of them that could be if they play really well in the fall. Right. And you follow this stuff probably closer

than I do, you know, but Garrett Nussmeyer, Lenora Sellers, I mean, Arch, I guess we can throw him in the pile. Drew Aller, that guy may be missing somebody here, but there's like, I think four, five, six guys like where does this look a little bit like the 24 draft or the 21 draft, right? Where there's gonna be multiple options at the top. And then if you're Miami and you're not very good and you wind up with the fifth or sixth pick in the draft,

you have to consider that. Where it's like, two of them may still be on the roster in 26, but it's with the first round rookie behind him. You know? I don't know. Yeah. I mean, there's a few other names, but man, it's always a little funny looking at some of the stuff

in July and then the draft. I mean, I hate to bring up the Matt Barkley example every single time we do this, but from top 10. I had somebody the summer before he came out, like a team guy, not like somebody in the, a team guy, compare him to Troy Aikman before he slashed your SC. So I don't think that guy got in a close enough look yet.

No offense to Matt Barkley. Yeah, no offense. No offense, Matt. Great guy, wouldn. Great guy. Wouldn't be offended. Two quick things before we let you go. Rogers, Pittsburgh. They replaced like one version of annoying

in Russell Wilson with an entirely different brand of annoying with Rogers. It's not a ton of money. The Steelers don't like to hit the reset button. There's tons of talent on the defense. They switch out Pickens for DK and they have no problems giving DK the contract that Seattle didn't want to give him. But this is really going to hinge on like, you know, Roger's, it'd be one thing if he was just all in about the team.

And I would say that Jets experience proved that, you know, he's the priority before the team is the priority. At least that's the way it felt to me. And so I don't know how that fits in Pittsburgh. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I mean, they were able to do a lot of relationship building, I think, and just the trust that they had between, you know, March and then him signing.

And I would think it was early June, if I remember right. And I do think a big piece of what appealed to Aaron about Pittsburgh was that there were more guys that he could kind of look at as his peers in Pittsburgh. And really, when he's looking at his options and this is me putting pieces together on some of it. But like, I think, you know, you look at his option and what his options were in March when he really did make this decision. And it was the Giants, I think, were a lot of what, like, he was part of with the Jets, where it was a promising young core players.

You got Dexter Lawrence there, Brian burns, cave on Tibbado, um, you know, Malik neighbors, Andrew Thomas. So you've got like this, this, this, this, this promising young core players has never really done it, which is exactly what he walked into with the jets where it was like, we want you to come in and elevate this place. Whereas with the Steelers, think about what that defense did though in that Zach Wilson season for the Jets, you know, two years ago. I was looking at that again, because Sal is back in San Francisco and you go, okay, fine. Maybe he was a great head coach, but it felt like. The defense was, yeah.

That defense at one point was so nasty and you had Zach Wilson just giving you no chance whatsoever. So it should have, look, if Roger stays healthy, maybe in 24 and this whole thing, maybe it's a really successful year and we all feel better about Rogers, but continue. Yeah, but Alex, but what I'm saying is like, I think what he was being asked to do with the Jets was take this young core players and elevate it, right? Like take this young core players that doesn't know how to win yet and lift them up, right? And I think with the Giants, it would have been the same thing. Like a lot of guys who are really good players who haven't won yet and like come in and be like the the the agent of change.

Pittsburgh's not asking him to do that. Pittsburgh's asking him to come in and play quarterback, right? And I think that's why this has a chance to work because they're not asking him to be like the bellwether for the team, like as he goes, so goes the team. And if he's having a bad day, then the team, like they don't, Pittsburgh isn't gonna be like that. Like that locker room is full of established veterans, good leaders, Aaron just come in and play quarterback.

And I had a conversation at the end of the summer last year with Aaron, and it was about like his appreciation just for playing football, you know, and like it was actually really interesting having this conversation with him because it was coming off the trip to Egypt and all that. And he was like, you know what, like, he's like, I spent so much energy

over the course of my career trying to show people that I'm more than just a football player. It's almost like I forgot how much I love football. And like at this point in my life, I just want to enjoy playing football. And that's stuck with me because I think the Steelers are going to give them the opportunity to do that without all the noise around it. Just come in and be the quarterback.

And like there are games and just talking to teams, like not the Steve talking to other teams who are evaluating him, like they looked at him at the end of the year, the games against the dolphins, the game against the Jaguars in particular, and the same, he still has a lot of it. Like he did, like, there's not like a huge decline in skill here. So, you know, I think, I think he's gonna be a good personality mark match for Arthur Smith. And I think just what they're asking of him, which is like, you don't need to be Superman here, dude.

Like just come play quarterback. I think it's gonna give him a good chance to succeed. Here's the other thing about the difference between him and Russ. Like Aaron, one thing you notice about Aaron, and I kind of respect this about him, Aaron punches up. Like the people below him actually really like him. Like some of the guys that are like the support staff,

everything else, like some of the lower level players really like him. Aaron's problems were always with people above him. Like Aaron's problems were always the front office, sometimes coaches, like, but he always punched up. And I think like that's not gonna happen in Pittsburgh because of who the Steelers are. Yeah, that's a really good point.

All right, real quick, before we let you go here, give me a rookie, uh, because everybody loves their rookies, which is one of my favorite things in the NFL, they get them in the camp, they've run them through and then local news is like, oh my God, we liked them, but like, we really like them. It's like, well, you just drafted them two months ago. So there's a pretty good chance you weren't going to completely dislike them, but give me a team that you trust on a rookie, any position. I'd actually prefer an oppy quarterback where it's somebody who you feel like,

Hey, this group is raving about this guy that's come in. That's worth at least sharing with us. Yeah. All right. So like, you know, I think Gent is pretty obvious. I think Hampton and, and, and, uh, and with the chargers is a, is one you'd really look at and say, yeah, I bet that'll work. Like I said, I like Donovan Jackson with the Vikings.

I think he's going to be able to make a difference. I think one of the more intriguing ones to watch the pass rushers in Atlanta and like that, how does that Jalen Walker, James Pierce thing work? And like how many eggs they put in that basket to fix what's been a real problem for them over the last five years or so and trying to generate pass rush. But there's an undrafted for in Kansas City, Jake Briningstuhl, who they've been able

to develop tight ends there. It's not just Kelsey Noah Gray has become a really good player as a young guy. And just talking to people there, I remember the way they were talking about about about Isaiah Pacheco a couple of years ago. And like you always have your radar up. Like, you know, okay, is this guy going to be Mr. August? You know what I mean? Like, and like, you're just worried that like, yeah, the guy's going to flash in the, in, in, in, in training camp and the preseason and then never be heard from again.

But you know, when the chiefs talk about some of these young offensive guys, they bring in, um, they've generally been like, they generally become something. And so this, this guy, Brian, who, like no one's ever heard the name is one that had a really strong spring and I think I, it might be hard for him to get on the field because of Kelsey and gray there, but I think they eventually think he's going to become something. Love it.

I love that stuff. My favorite answer to the entire pod. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. You could check out Breer, the MQB podcast, very positive run through the conference, or excuse me, the division previews. And you can always check out his work again on si.com. Thanks, man. All right. Thanks, Ryan. This episode is brought to you by DZONE. For the first time ever, the 32 best soccer clubs from across the world are coming together to decide who the undisputed champions of the world are in the FIFA Club World Cup.

The world's best players, Messi, Holland, Kane and more are all taking part. And you can watch every match for free on Dazon, starting on June 14th and running until July 13th. Sign up now at dazon.com slash FIFA. That That's d-a-z-n dot com slash fifa. It won't take long to tell you Neutrals ingredients. Vodka, soda, natural flavors. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral.

Refreshingly simple. I have to introduce him because it just makes sense on a podcast. His name is Craig Kilborn. He looks terrific. His lamp looks even, I don't want to say it looks better than Craig. It's different categories. He has some basketball news. He's hooked up with our guy, Adam McKay, ESPN's trailer for Chasing Basketball Heaven, a new

30 for 30 podcast that premieres July 22nd. So we want to make sure we get the word out there, but I would like you to take over right now. Host a little bit. Well, in a second. Well, let's talk about the project and then I'm gonna dive into, it's either a compliment to you or a backhanded compliment,

which are kind of my favorites. Yeah, I've got a plan. Backhanded compliments concerning our friend, Carl Anthony Towns. But I just wanted to say, they've announced it today. Does this air on Thursday? I don't know. Yeah, we're cool. We're day of. Yeah. So I'm a basketball junkie and I'd never heard of Martin Manley.

He's the Bill James of basketball. He was an analytics guy and very odd bird. Only drank Pepsi, only listened to James Taylor disappeared very eccentric and so that's a six-part series podcast series on ESPN 30 for 30 I get to play Martin Mandlin. Interesting. How are you on JT's catalog? JT? James Taylor. I don't listen to, I mean, I know James Taylor is great, sweet baby James, but in all honesty,

when I'm listening to my America radio station, driving up the coast, I skip a lot of JT. Sorry about that. Come on, that hurts. He's great, he's great. I think he did Wichita Lineman for President Obama, which is a great song anyways.

I went to go see James Taylor with his daughter and there were other people involved, yeah. You mean you were with his daughter sitting next to her or he was performing with his daughter and there were other people involved. Yeah. But you mean you were with his daughter sitting next to her or he was performing with his daughter? No, he was performing and we were with his daughter. Uh, there was a group of like four or five of us, you know, there's a big vineyard connection and then it was a subdued crowd at that stage of James career, you know, it wasn't a raucous group.

I think he even had the Phil harmonic, which usually sets a tone for a concert that you're not gonna be yelling Freebird at it. But she said, she was like, when there's like a really quiet part, let's all yell Coco Cabana as a request. And we were younger, libations did flow. And we waited just the perfectly quiet part and we just screamed Coco Cabana and he laughed

because it was like a joke that he had with the daughter. A lot of people around us didn't laugh. I wonder if the joke was about the song by Manolo. Was that what it was or not? Yeah, yeah. It was like we were yelling as if we were just this crew of people saying, if you're doing requests. We wanted to hear Coco,

oh, that's funny, that's funny. Yeah, but you know, then we got some nasty looks, but I think once the daughter gives you the go ahead to go ahead and do it, you're allowed to do it. Then backstage, but it was, again, it was pretty chill. How old were you at the time, and what part of the show, the concert,

did your shirt come off? I guess those are the two obvious questions. 21. I don't think I took it off at that show, but it was off probably on the car ride home. Because there was no way we were gonna make the last boat. It was just a real quick summer vineyard, let's shoot up, let's do this.

I love James Taylor. So I've just looked, I'm trying to, summer vineyard. Let's shoot up. Let's do this. I love James Taylor. So I've just looked, I'm trying to, this is all back work for you. I know that the part is mostly about basketball and analytics, but just, just think of the depth that you have now. Can you explain to me what, so what are you're doing? The voice character. This is a, a drama that like, it's a little different here. It's pretty unique. There's a really talented audio producer in New York, John Delore, the

Reverend John Delore, and he just put this together. So there's this guy, Rich Levine, and he has a partner. They're from Boston. Rich is probably in his early 40s. Big Celtic fan, big Kilbourne fan. He reached out to me. I, you know, people reach out sometimes and say, hey, you want to do something. And I'd listen, but this sounded so interesting and unique

that I said, sure, it's a six, it's a six part podcast series. I can do that. I got time. I can do that. I got time. I can do that. And... Are you still taking acting classes to stay sharp? I'm always, you know,

as Jeff Goldblum told me years ago, you just work on it every day on your own. Bogart was self-taught. By the way, speaking of acting, I find this fascinating. You know how people are opinionated. You know, Ray Liotta did not like Clint Eastwood as an actor. I don't know if you've heard of him. I just saw that clip.

I just saw the clip with Andy Cohen. Yes. Good friend. Yeah, and no one can match Clint's career, obviously, and he's got a presence and, you know, he's different. He's a director and he's an actor but he's so charismatic he has such a presence. But then I was looking up some, do you remember that guy, the actor's name, very easy, Jim Rockford, what was his name? It's very easy. James Garner?

James Garner. He didn't like Steve McQueen as an actor. He said he's merely a movie star. So I find that kind of fascinating that people, some of these, Steve McQueen, I mean, he's like Clint. He's got a presence. He doesn't have to say too much. Yeah, I was reading the Bob Evans book and I love that part about how McQueen's with Bob's lady

and Bob was, I wouldn't say he was a connected guy, but it was clear guys in the mob liked Bob so much. I mean, Bob, after I got done reading the Bob Evans book, I felt like I should do more stuff. I was like, if you're a man that has desires, you're like, I've never felt more boring after I got done with that book. He's with his mob buddy who's a tough guy and Bob says to him, just so you know, if you go up to McQueen, he knows. And I know you don't like swearing. And the guy turns to Bob and goes,

Bob, he's a fucking actor. Now, this is, I know I've asked you this, but when you, the Bob Evans book, kid stays in the picture. You listened to the audio, correct? No, no, I gave my, I read it. And so what I've decided to do is after you told me about the audio,

cause I know he became a friend of yours, uh, which makes a lot of sense that I was going to wait, you know, I wanted the retention levels to go down so that I can revisit the story. So I wanted to give it a few years. So I'm going to listen to the audio. Yeah, it's legendary. Cause he, it's his voice and he's just hilarious and I know we talked about the offer the 10 part series of Miles Teller and then Matthew Good played Bob Evans

to a tee. I just I rewatch things and I rewatched it the 10 part series last week, third time I've seen it and it is better than ever. It's better than ever. I loved it. I loved it. And Matthew Good is so good in that. Did you hear about his tryout?

Apparently he read for James Bond and he went really dark and they were like, we're good. And I want, I just want Matthew Good to do something again. I wouldn't be shocked if like, if he didn't get it, he's really, so he was so good in that. I'm sure he can figure out some other stuff, but it's not like he's this headlining actor and all these different things.

He's so good as Bob Evans. I wonder if there's just a spinoff of him being Bob Evans. I would watch that. And I think he does have a new show because people told me about it. And I started the first episode, but I have to continue because it was late at night when I started. I go to bed early but it's called what is it called? Department Q or something like that or H. I'm on it whatever it is I'm writing it down.

Yeah he has a new uh Matthew Good has a new series but um I remember I one of my other favorite series uh six-part series called the Knight Manager with Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. And I hadn't really seen Hiddleston. And they said that he said that he wanted to play Bond. This was, you know, five years ago or so when there's a new Bond, he, he wants to be up for it. And I, I really believe I read the producers were like, no, we want someone a little more masculine.

Try to find an interro thing. I'm all for that. I also think if you're in the Marvel universe, I don't know that you should be James Bond. I'm protective of James Bond. Like I like idols. I like the way the music makes me feel, but the lyric about dissing JB, you know?

I mean, he's also fictional. So you probably shouldn't get too worked up about it. But Idols gets worked up about a lot of stuff in their lyrics. So I just hope the Bond pic is the right pic. I don't know if Good could have pulled it off or not, but hearing that he went with something a little dark, I don't know.

We're off on one of our tangents, so bring us back. Well, it's called, I just looked it up, it's called Department Q is the new Matthew Good series. I heard it's good. And then, so I did this thing, I said yes to this six part series, and I think you'll enjoy it. And I think in episode one, I'm only in it briefly,

and then I do a lot of work in the four, five, and six, and it's very unique is what I would tell you. Very unique character. Martin Manley, he's from Kansas. I do a little bit of a very subtle Kansas twang because I was born in Kansas. I grew up in Minnesota and I'd visit my cousins and they had a little bit of a Southern twang down in Kansas. Interesting. And so you're the lead. Is it normal the lead is named in the third paragraph of the press release? It's funny.

I just saw the press release and did a joke to someone and said, I didn't know I'm in the third paragraph. But you know, I, I, uh, I'm a humble servant, not necessarily a lead in it. Uh, I mean play the main character, but it's just, I think the guys, uh, rich Levine and his partner, I, I, his partner is a, is a wonderful guy that I haven't met yet. And, uh, his name is Nick. Yes, Nick.

And all sorts. I don't know if I got that last name right, but that's why you didn't do it. Oh yeah, pronounce it again. I don't know. I gave it one shot. I'm not trying it again. So any who, a very fun project,

July, yeah, Tuesday, July 22nd, it drops. And I'm happy to be a part of it. Helping out the young people, 30 for 30 ESPN. Now Mr. Rossello, you said something during the NBA playoffs that I heard and it made me laugh. You were on with Bill and another gentleman talking about the Knicks. And this is what you said, because I got guys in Minnesota who don't like cat. I got buddies.

One of my buddies goes overboard, but he also went overboard on Kirk Cousins, hated Kirk Cousins, mainly the contract, top five contract, 15th best quarterback, et cetera. This is what you said. I just don't like watching cat. I just don't like watching cat. I just don't like watching cat, but you know what? The production's there. That's on me.

So you said that's on me. And I like that you said that's on me. Yeah, it sounds like me. And then the production wasn't there by the way. Well, he's, he's, he's, you know what? I think like the Randall Cat 25 playoffs were very fitting. Not telling, they were fitting.

They were the second or third installment of a movie that we know exactly, you sit down 90 minutes, I know exactly what I'm getting, it's over. And that with the excitement about Randall in the first two rounds, the letdown of like, we need you to take this up to another level. And it's like, I probably am not that guy consistently throughout a series to have that kind of level. And then when I can't provide it, then everything's that much harder for Ant. And the way OKC loads up on Ant, you know,

I think there were some Ant things that I didn't necessarily love, but I thought it was a very challenging series for him based on everything that's happening. And then when you get to Kat and you're like, are you going to make some threes here, man? Like where are the threes? And the lows for both a Randall and Kat remind you why they were ever available in the first place while the highs kind of lead you to believe you can't got this guy for the other guy. So I think they're actually like a perfect pairing. I can almost a year later in that trade. Let me unpack what you just said. Yeah.

First of all, I want to emphasize again, when you said that's on me, I have a friend in New York, Hank Perlman. He came up with this, a sports center campaign in the nineties when he worked for widening Kennedy. Now he's has a very successful commercial directing company. They direct Superbowl commercials. He directs them very opinionated. He likes to complain and his big thing is he doesn't like Paul McCartney.

So he rips on McCartney and says he's the fourth most talented Beatle and he's crazy. He's very irresponsible, but he's just being a provocateur. And my friend, Mike Gibbon, said, that says more about Hank than it does about Paul McCartney. So when you said it's on me, then you're saying it's on me that I don't like cat. Now, I respect that. I don't know if you're being serious that it's on you,

but you just take a shot at cat. Cat is bothersome. And my friend who doesn't like him in Minnesota, will rightfully so say he picks up silly ass fouls, and he does. He's weird that way. He reaches down, he doesn't move his feet, he has size 22, he doesn't.

But then my friend will say, I don't like his changing his voice during the interview, so he'll talk about not just the playing, but the personality. My thing is I know Kat can be polarizing. I still remain stunned at his offensive talent. I know he can't do it all the time. I know he forces drives and runs over people and hooks.

But in this year's playoffs, he did things that I have not seen where he had two unbelievable playoff games, mainly two fourth quarters. At Detroit, he hit two bomb three-pointers, he hit a baseline fallaway jumper over the backboard on the right side, and he doesn't shoot those kind of jump shot,

turnaround jump shots. And then he had the game at Indiana where he scored it. We called it Rally Cat, New York Post headline Rally Cat, where he scored 20 in the fourth and had the whole Statue of Liberty dunk. Best playoff performance I've ever seen the guy have is to those two fourth quarters. So I know people want more. I know he bothers people. Third team all NBA. I thought he had a great season. Sorry, buddy. Great. No, I had a great season. Totally understand it. You've been,

you've been a big supporter of his. The zestiness does not bother you as much as it bothers your friend. I ignore it. Yeah, that's fine. You choose to ignore something that I can't get past. And I think that's with wisdom. I don't wanna call it age. I wanna call it wisdom.

You know, the gap in our wisdom, maybe it's showing itself right now. Well, by the way, do you agree that we would watch games and there were guys back, the other guys in Minnesota who liked Kat and we all said, why don't they give him the ball? I mean, Jaylen Brunson would not look for him at all. And I'm surprised he scored as much as he did in the regular season.

They didn't look for him. They didn't run plays for him. And then occasionally they would and he'd score. As great as Brunson they would and he'd score. Yeah. As great as Brunson is. And he's so great. Unreal. There, there becomes this reliance on it. And as the stakes raise and the intensity raises, you kind of just default back to

like, all right, what, what likely gives us our best look because Jaylin's just so good at getting space and you know, the foul baiting too makes them, it's a bit like the hardened stuff. Nothing's as bad as the prime hardened foul baiting. But when you're in that mode as a defender where you go, I'm, I'm likely, if I try to contest anything, I'm going to compromise myself and be in a bad position here. So then you become like even more effective as an offensive player. But I, I just noticed it too often where teams

will become predictable because they're afraid of trying something that likely is less efficient on the math of make sure this guy has the ball. And look, basketball's a very connected sport. And if you just keep doing that over and over again, even in playoff moment, like guys don't like standing around and watching other people shoot all the time. I'm not even necessarily blaming Brunson.

Maybe that's why Tibbs isn't there. Who knows? But you just have to figure out a way to be able to balance a little bit more. And I think we've seen that more often than not with the teams that win, is just having a little bit more balance on offense. So you mentioned Julius Randall

and he had a really slow start with the Wolves, and he can be infuriating. But man, did he play well against the Lakers and took it to Draymond in the second round against the Warriors. Interesting player. Able to penetrate in the half-court offense, break down that defense. I think just to be just totally honest, I'm a purist and I love turnovers and the wolves will turn it over

because they've got some guys, the Jay McDaniels and the Nas Reeds and all these guys. They just, they don't always pass that well. They don't take care of the ball and OKC exposed, you know, the turnovers. So I don't know, man, we're I'm sure Tim Connolly, I know he was trying to get Durant, but we were hoping they'd go after a Kobe White or Darius Garland,

or if somehow De'Aaron Fox was available, make a trade for another ball handler. And it looks like we're running it back. So the pressure's on my guy who is, you know, I think kind of inconsistent and flashy, Rob Dillingham. He's gonna get some run next year. And he can handle the ball, but he also turns it over. He's a fly, he's not the steadying force like young Mike Conley was.

No, not polished yet, but twitchy. Hey, I want to pivot because you mentioned Casablanca and Bogart. Yeah. And I just watched it. I just watched it. I'm going through a classics phase right now. Cool. Cool. Yeah. Very excited. And it works. Maybe the action scene at the very end wouldn't hold up for a 2025 audience. Really that guy just moved behind something and they're shooting at each other. But look, we're talking about 1942. Yeah. Premier American release, 1943. So I think deserves a little leniency on maybe some of the action scenes, special effects. Are you going back and watching any of these things?

Are you thinking about, like I could see you in another life owning a Rick's Cafe, but maybe you wouldn't want to be front and center. Maybe you'd want to be behind the scenes guy, but younger Kilborn was a one, he wasn't a two. So I just, are you going back and watching it in preparation for this audio role? Yeah, I think Rob Dillingham, no I'm just kidding,

that was a transition by the way. That was a quick one, but I like it, I like it. Just so I understand, have you seen Casablanca many times or you just decided to rewatch it or what? I had watched it, but never like with the writer's eye. Yeah, yeah. I think when I first saw it, I was like, well, I saw it in college, but I know I saw it before that.

But when I really watched it in college for some class, it was like, oh my God, I've heard every one of these lines before. You know, we'll always have Paris. I mean, all this stuff. He says, here's looking at you kid, I think four or five times. I, on a rewrite, there might be somebody coming in. Like, McKay might go, did I use it too many times? 43 at plays, 43, the crowd's going wild for all of them.

Yeah, like I think my viewing experience is very similar. I should count this as the first time I've really watched it. Has it been on before when you're at your grandparents or your mom's like, leave me alone? This was the first time where I just was like, I'm really going to dig into whole Bogart. I almost ordered a biography, but I was afraid I was going to be getting the wrong one. Do you want to, I don't know, do you want to,

we could do some lines. Do you want to try a line? Well, I'm a big Bogart fan. I just wanted to let you know. And I've seen Casablanca at least four times, but I watch other stuff. Like he did a Dark Passage, which was a film noir up in San Francisco with a very young Lauren Bacall. When you say do the lines, you want me to guess the line or just try to say lines that are famous or what? Yeah, I don't know. How about this one?

I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her. Now, wait a second. What movie is that from? That's not from nodding. No, nodding Hill. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

I never saw that movie. I'm proud to say is that Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts? Nailed it for somebody who's never seen it. Yeah, I've never seen it. Um, you could have promoted it. Did they come on? I'll give you a line from a famous Hitchcock movie. Not very sporting using real bullets.

Not very, not very sporty. You know what? You know what movie that is? That window. That's James Mason in North by Northwest. James Mace, James Mason, not very sporting using real bullets. North by Northwest, my favorite Hitchcock movie. Oh, you know what I love is your Christian Bale Ferrari.

Yeah, that was just, those come and go. It was just, I, it threw me off the trailer, how strong his, his dialect was there. It just was really, Oh man, for all in a, Oh man, for all right. It was very funny. So you're off, but tell me more, tell me more of the old movies you're watching. I love that. Uh, Lawrence of Arabia. What's that? If you ever have a chance,

you probably won't do it. But watch Beckett, which is- Bend it like Beckett? They actually spell it with one T at the end, Beckett. And he plays a king and he's with Richard Burton. They both were nominated for an Oscar in 1964 and lost to Rex Harrison and My Fair Lady. He should have, Rex should have won that.

Yes. I've seen that. Yes. He killed it. Totally. Yep. But this is what I find interesting. But this is what I find interesting. I watched it. I talked to my neighbor friend who used to do film reviews for down in Orange County. He's a writer.

I said, you ever seen Beckett? He said, yeah, I wrote down a bunch of words there that I hadn't heard before. And he said what I felt, though. Peter O'Toole is better in Beckett than he is in Lawrence of Arabia. Now, the reason is he's despotic, he's a king, and he's yelling, and yelling most of the movie, and it's Shakespearean, and it's very dynamic.

So have you ever get a chance to see Beckett? And my dad's favorite actor was Richard Burton. I don't know if you've ever seen any movies with Richard Burton. Richard Burton, Richard Burton. Anywho, do you think the NBA fans are enjoying this? Yeah, I mean, I want to get to some of the groupings for the NBA Cup if you're ready for that.

They just announced those. We can table that, We can table it. Maybe we do that one. If we do it after. Your audience is diverse and they like movie talk, right? Yeah, it's also July. So I think they know what they're getting when they hit play. Wait, I just want to see.

So you watched, I just thought you were gonna say other old movies besides Casablanca that you're rewatching other classics. Well, it's not every night. Yeah. I've got you're reading all those books. Yeah. Yeah.

Sorry for learning. Sorry for learning. I love that you did that. You tweeted, sorry for learning. Those are books. He's just moving around his house down in Manhattan beach, just moving there from shelf to shelf. Sorry.

I mean, the thing, the thing was, is that I stacked up my entire turnout catalog cause I interviewed Ron Chernow a few weeks ago. Yeah. So I, you know, was, was really excited. So I took a picture of those books and I do think the public figure, check out my summer, like look with all the books that I read, it's, is it about like, what's that really about? It feels a little narcissistic.

Well, it's showing off. It's, it's showing, it's showing off. I'm going to do it by the way, this summer, end of the summer look out. But then it's like, am I doing it because I'm going to do it by the way, this summer, end of the summer, look out. But then it's like, am I doing it because I'm trying to be funny and make fun of other people? Or I'm actually trying to show people that I'm going to try to get through like three Susan Bowers, you know? So

who knows? Can I go back? You said something that I liked and it triggered a thought about writing where you said, here's looking at you kid. They said it, you said this four or five times and you said, I wonder if someone would come and say, we're saying it too much. So my brother who was loaned valedictorian of his graduating class of 500 software engineer, Chris Kilburn, uh, beautiful calves,

had the high jump record for 15 years at Hastings high school, went to Rice university. He loved F Scott's Fitzgeraldgerald, the great Gatsby. And he doesn't, I don't even know if he ever watched the movies, the Robert Redford one or the Leo one because he goes, I like the book too much. I don't want to watch. But he loved the writing.

Long compound sentences, very descriptive. And I also would say, well, do you like Hemingway? Because those are shorter. It's pretty cool how Hemingway is able to paint a picture with these simple sentences or seemingly simple sentences. And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I asked him a question, I was writing something, I said, you know, you don't want to say,

I don't want to say the word beautiful, you know, five times in my script. You want to say other words, lovely, and you know, all these different, attractive, whatever you want to say. And I asked him about, I asked him about F. Scott's Fugereld and he said, he uses all these different words, but it seems like he only uses the word once.

That's how it reads. Like, in other words, if he does use a only uses the word once. That's how it reads. In other words, if he does use a word a couple of times, it doesn't seem that way, which is a high compliment is what it is to the writer. RG Yeah, that's, I hadn't really ever thought of it that way. CB I'm going too deep. You want to go back to Dillingham shifty? RG No, I actually wanted to finish on this. You had a dinner with John Butcher-Gross and I felt great to be included

except for the part where I wasn't invited to the dinner. And I'm not, I am not for the record doing a how come I wasn't invited move because I would have done that privately. Too long a drive for you. Was there ever a thought of, do you think he would come to this or should we head down to Manhattan Beach for a nightcap?

He would have, he was staying downtown and I made fun of him because I go to, I left, we left and said goodbye from Rayo's Hollywood and I texted, I said, that was great, I'm sure you're having a nightcap and he sent me a picture of the nightcap that he was having downtown in his hotel. But I had never met John.

My instinct is he wanted one-on-one time initial meeting with Kilburn, that's my guess. If you had never met, there's no way I should be at that dinner. Correct, we had never met. Yeah, zero. And man, did we include you with some texts and some jokes.

Posts, multiple posts on multiple platforms. Yeah. So, but then it leads to my rep and they're like, did you actually turn down a dinner for those two guys? And I was like, actually, this is,'m first I'm learning of it as well. And then it was like a twist. Then my friend group was like, wait, you were, they were posting, but then they never really reached out.

I go, you know what? I think that's a certain age. Men shouldn't hold men to any kind of standard when it comes to this kind of thing. So he was a great, I never, he's a great guy. I had him on my pod. He was a great, I never, he's a great guy. I had him on my pod. He's a, I like his positive attitude. He enjoys life.

He was doing a lot of baseball analogies to the bartender about, this is my lead off hitter. I'm going to have an espresso martini. And I said, I don't think she follows baseball. And I don't know, but he likes doing that. Could not believe I gave him crap about an espresso martini. And I don't think any human being should have, I know they're popular, do not have an espresso martini.

Caffeine, sugar, just have vodka or gin and just keep it simple. I don't think, he doesn't mind that I tell people what he had, cause he's really, he's really, he's in good shape. Really good. Yeah. I think he said his waist was 31, which is, you know, that's, that's a 27 year old Kilbourne. I mean, I can't, you know, that's ridiculous. But I told him about another drink he had, he had an espresso martini, he had a Negroni, he had red wine with his veal parm, and a bartender told me recently about a drink called The Last Word, which is gin-based, but you can use vodka, tequila,

whatever you want, mezcal. It's got green chartreuse in it, lime juice, and some bitters. But it's a really fun drink. A friend of mine who likes martini said, Craig, I've never told you it's my favorite drink. The last word, green chartreuse. Very, very interesting. Not too sweet. I felt like I was drinking a green juice from the health food store. Anyways, so he tried it and he liked it. The last word, Beckett and A 30 podcast. Yeah, you've seen by the way, I have the life gorgeous podcast My favorite thing is my Instagram very creative creative flow. Mr. Craig Kilburn feel free to follow that but

Have you've seen three days of the condor? We've talked about that, right? That's from the 70s with Robert Redford. Really good movie. Faye Dunaway. Please make sure you watch that. Three Days of the Condor. Righting it down. I'm sure you've seen Day of the Jackal from the 70s. They now have a television show. I have a lot of holes. Eddie Redmayne. What's that? Yeah. I have a lot of holes in the 70s stuff,

which some have said is really peak cinema. So Godfather. Jaws. Jaws. One-on-one Robbie Benson, Spike Lee call it the worst basketball movie of all time. Well, I don't know. I don't know that.

I don't know the answer to that. Life Gorgeous pod out every week during the summer or are we taking? Yeah, yeah. Proud of you, brother. You had a compliment for me earlier or did we recover that? Well, it was that you said it's on me that I don't like that. That's right.

That's right. I had it in my notes. Is that a backhanded compliment? No, I just like that you're listening, buddy. And make sure you check. The wolves are still good, right? The wolves are good. By the way, you don't know about the two seven footers

we drafted, right? They're supposed to be projects, but they're talented. Beringer. Yeah. I actually liked him. Oh, you did. I liked, yeah. I mean, just, he set a screen and a guy on one play that was so vicious that they

called the foul on him for setting the screen just because the other guy like looked like he ran into a wall. I think it was a legal screen, but it was almost a sympathy whistle. I think the first eight cuts I saw of him, they were all just dunks, filthy. This is what I'm here to do. I'm not going to try to make this complicated. He already catches it better than Rudy does, which I know is, you know, I know that hurts you to hear that.

No, that's a low bar. Yeah, obviously. that hurts. Right. Hurts you to hear that. No, that's a little bar. Yeah. Obviously these guys are athletes. They both, the other guy is an Australian who's seven, three, nine, seven, reach Rocco. I guess it's Zekarski and he's lefty and he's interestingly, he can shoot threes. I mean, he has a nice little, he has nice form. He's not as raw, I don't think, as Berenger. But when he, I was watching highlights and he was running up and down the court and my brother's watching highlights. I said, does he remind you of Bill Walton running?

He goes, yes, he does. So it's kind of interesting. So we got these two seven footers. I'm not sure what the plan is. See who develops and replaces Rudy, I guess, right? Well, it is the Twin Cities, but maybe the, I don't know what you do, because I don't have a nickname for you right now,

I'm sorry, I'm not good with this. That's okay. Thank you for this, and we'll make sure we get the word out for the 30 for 30 again, anything with McKay. Obviously we're huge fans as well. So thanks, man. Thanks brother. See you, man. Colgate Total is more than just your favorite toothpaste. It's dedicated to advancing oral health. The new Colgate Total Active Prevention System features a reformulated toothpaste, innovative toothbrush, and a refreshing antibacterial mouthwash, all designed to work together to fight the root cause of common oral health

issues such as gingivitis, plaque, and tartar. Use the full routine twice daily and be dentist ready. Shop the Colgate Total Active Prevention System now at Walmart.ca. No frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum Points on your first five orders. Shop now at NoFriels.ca. 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 can 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. Our email address, lifeadvice.rr.gmail.com. Couple days away, big dog, war gone. Getting ready. Dressed casual today, I like it. Yeah. Why waste any good looks? I know.

A lot of pressure on the looks going forward. Why's that? I feel like I'd be judged. I don't know, it just feels like a lot of people are gonna be looking at me. Getting your haircut today? No, I'm just rocking with this. I talked to Melissa. She was like, it doesn't look good when you first get a cut.

It's got to grow a bit after that. You could get a cut at different lengths. But you know what? If you're happy, I'm happy. It sounds like Kyle doesn't know the way your hair looks. I'll throw a little gel on it, it'll look okay. No, it was just like when I had my wedding, it was like my wife had like, you know, there was the hair person,

I think there was a different makeup person, and then there was a photographer, and I was just like, I just gotta make sure I get to my barber like the day before. And that was like my big checklist, you know? And she was like, if we have time, maybe I can go get a spray tan, and I'm just like, I hope that guy's got my 11 o'clock

still good on Thursday. I did it late last week, so somewhat fresh. All right, no, I mean, hey, looks great. Thanks. I don't know, I just, I don't know. Now that I'm thinking back to the way Kyle said it, it was like, hey, are you getting your haircut? And then- I'm just thinking back, you know, I'm just thinking to the way Kyle said it, it was like, hey, are you getting your hair cut? And then.

I'm just thinking back, you know, I'm just thinking about me, that's all, what I did. Right, but then Wargon's like, no, I'm going with this, and then we got like a whoa. I just, the thing is, I think Wargon, I don't know if, unflappable, like I don't know you well enough, I mean, we didn't talk a lot of ESPN.

Yeah. You do, we didn't talk a lot at ESPN. Yeah. You do, you do. Okay. That was a good line. I mean, at the end of the day, right, you're just kind of the guy in the suit. No one's looking at me, right?

Literally all my groomsmen were dressed exactly the same. I think Seinfeld has a good bit about that. It's like if the groom gets cold feet, everyone just takes a step to the right. Because they all, they look identical. The one thing I am worried about, it's gonna be like 90 degrees, I think on Saturday. Dude, I was thinking like,

what kind of shirt can I wear under the suit? You know, the invitation wasn't very specific. So I packed a nice long sleeve, but you know, whatever, it'll be fine. All right, we, real quick feedback here. The 7A pod, so that's just a couple days ago. 6-2, 2-10, current player comp, post Golden State Warriors, Boogie Cousins.

Not looking for advice, just wanted to say the 7A pod with Van was an all-time great. It should be on the RR podcast. Rushmore, curious if you guys have specific episodes that you would rank above the others. Wow. And then come to mind, Kyle, what was your favorite? We know Mike's got nothing.

I'm thinking, yeah. He's like, he just uses that brain wipe as an excuse to never remember anything. Whoever we had on, yeah. There were like moments that I liked, but I don't know about like the overall theme. I actually listened to the first 20 minutes of that today. You guys went deep early.

First of all, how dare you talking about religion like that. But no, there are moments, but I don't know about full conversations where I was like, shit, that one's gotta be in the top four. Yeah, I don't know, sorry. I don't know. I'm not gonna do the, I wipe my brain like Mike says, but I just don't know what I would say.

You live it, you move on. Chris Long's were good. There were some Chris Long's early on where we were like, I thought we like, we ended the call and we were just like, holy shit, that was pretty awesome, wasn't it? So. Yeah, that was pretty good. I always loved having Chris on those Mondays.

I did really enjoy, just at least for me personally, when it hasn't come out yet, it comes out next Tuesday, but the Ron Chernow thing, just because I'd been looking forward to it for years. So I know Kyle, you weren't on that taping. Warragon, I know, is more of a theatrical guy, but that must've meant something to you to know what went behind Hamilton,

what went into it, right? We made a little Hamilton breakout, that'll be coming out sometime next week, but that was one where it ended and we were like, that was really good. Okay, good. There was a cowherd one in my house, the first cowherd at my house when I first moved here,

that was really good. And I think for a while that had been the highest downloaded episode I'd had for like the first few years, I think that I was here. So, okay. How about a couple emails? Because I seem to be not getting to it in time. Let's see.

All right. That's not the one I wanted to read. I don't think so. Sometimes you guys will share your player comps. It'll be two paragraphs of just player comp and breaking down whole thing. It's gotta be. Yeah. Well, I appreciate the thoroughness, you know, because everybody's out there. Man scout. Oh, it's nice

to have about it. But you know, yeah. Okay. 25 living in New York City 59 five, nine, one 90. I know what you're thinking. I don't know. Truth is I'm recovering offensive lineman. I'm not as fat as you're picturing.

Five, nine, one 90. Oh line. I wasn't even thinking you were fat though. I wasn't picturing. Yeah. I wasn't even thinking about you. They're playing eight man football, right? I mean, you could, you could fit in anywhere today.

Player comp, George Niang, body without the height, play style is crossed between Kyle Anderson and Kyle Lowry. I can play as a big or a guard depending on how tired I am. One of my best friends from growing up invited my girlfriend and I to his new girlfriend's beach house just outside of the city. Never turned down a beach house invite, right Wargon? When you live in the city, get away outside of the city. Never turned down a beach house invite, right, Worgon? When you live in the city?

Get away from all the garbage. Well, look, garbage, hot garbage in New York is a different kind of garbage. Yep. Right? Smells stronger. It's warm here right now. Yeah, there you go. A little toasty, toasts up the waste.

They've been dating for a couple months and while we met once before, this was a big step, an entire day together, and the four of us hit it off. We're even supposed to go on a trip altogether later this month. This is great. We share the same sense of humor.

It felt very natural. However, her dad was another story. To set the scene, the house is on one of those gated communities that requires multiple, knowing multiple existing residents to move in. As you can imagine, years of this process have led to a rather exclusive community. My friend gave us fair warning that our, my girlfriend and I's political friends to move in. As you can imagine, years of this process have led to a rather exclusive community.

My friend gave us fair warning that our, my girlfriend and I's, political views would likely not align with a lot of people we'd be meeting. Something I think the 15 don't tread on me flags surrounding our beach chairs gave it away. For context, my friend and I don't share the same political and religious views, but we've made sure to never let it come between us. How, you might ask? Simply put, we don't discuss controversial topics. A healthy diet of sports talk and stories from growing up allow us to remain best friends. A few flags and occasional comment I don't agree with was well worth time at the beach considering we're usually surrounded by concrete. That was until her dad took it to another level. Sorry, I'm rambling, Ryan. You can take a water break.

I gotta keep reading, dude. The WNBA came up in conversation, uh-oh, to which his only comment was, dude, I can't read this. I mean, I mean, what the guy said is terrible, but even me rereading it and all of us agreeing that it's a terrible comment. So we can all use our imagination.

Yeah, we can figure out what he said. It's pretty aggressive, aggressive enough to stop me in my tracks. Okay. So. That's you reading it or that's you saying it or him? No, me right now reacting to it and the difficulty of me kind of pre-reading.

Like if I get a blind one, acting to it and the difficulty of me kind of pre-reading. Like if I get a blind one, I'm pre-reading while I'm reading. That's a good skill. Yeah, it leads to some clunkiness every now and then when you're reading and speaking on a podcast. But yeah, I'm just not even, because I'm just gonna be guilt by association on that one by even repeating something somebody else said. I heard.

Yeah, there you go, perfectly said, Kyle. All right. No, I'm not doing that one. What is going on with us today? Oh, we're just bailing on the whole email? Paul McCord. I thought we were just gonna pretend like we all heard whatever this guy said,

and then we'd get to the solution. But I guess without knowing, it's hard to get to the solution. But I guess without knowing, it's hard to come to a solution. Okay, let's try this one. What's up guys, six foot one, 260. No impressive gym stats, dude. You don't need to, 260. Do you know the hockey player that chucked the kid?

Yeah. Everybody knows this video now, Tarnaski. We're calling that guy a kid that went in the pond? Well, I think he was a little man. I think he was just a little man. What's that guy's been like? Oh my God, dude. Can you imagine? Like, do you even go out? No, I couldn't imagine. Someone wants to know his name, right? I mean.

I'm sure there's probably people that know or have been all over it. I mean, clearly the guy was hammered, but I really was wondering, because when they were yelling at him, they were like, you've been at the T-box like 20 minutes? And so I don't know if he was trying to blame the group in front of him. 20 minutes is an insanely long time. So I'm not even sure if that's necessarily true.

But then it gets back to kind of one of those things I've always thought about. I think there should be some baseline thing that you should be able to do for you to be approved and that you should be able to do for you to be approved. So I'm not even sure if that's necessarily true. But then it gets back to kind of one of those things I've always thought about. I think there should be some baseline thing that you should be able to do for you to be approved to get a full arm sleeve. And then when you're going at an enforcer in the

NHL, which by the way, I looked him up, he was listed at six, two, two 20 when he played he's clearly more than two 20 now, but he's two 40. But if he's like in the video, that guy looks like he's the mountain. He looks like he's six, six, two 70. So that means the other guy is what. Right. Hey, look, don't talk to me about an angle.

I think some guys need to really take a look at themselves. How have you played your last seven rounds of golf? Maybe we, maybe we can expand that or contract it. But when it's becoming like, um, I don't know if I should, but I'm not sure. take a look at themselves. How have you played your last seven rounds of golf? Maybe we can expand that or contract it, but when it's becoming like, I don't know, if I should tee off yet and we're dealing with backups, like be honest with your game. Are you gonna fly the green

or are you gonna go over there in the woods and get it? And maybe we could get this show on the road. I understand you don't wanna hit into someone, but at a certain point, you don't have to wait till people clear the whole, clear the green if that's not where you're going, buddy. Yeah, you're asking for the grain on a three-pot. You know?

Come on. What's the grain here? Anyway. Yeah, no, it's fair. Maybe that'd be more important than just an updated handicap. Like what's your social golf rating last seven rounds? Yeah, cause it's like making traffic. Like you can see, you can watch how it builds up

and then, you know. I re-baked Alaska at the turn. All right, so let's get back to our guy here. 260, fat and happy, I'm married. Like it's straight to the point, so I don't have to apologize for a long email. 47, so I've hit the age where all my friends are either already married or probably not getting married.

The last wedding my wife and I attended was about seven, eight years ago. Why'd you laugh at that, Kyle? Smash cut to the last month. I received a saved date for a wedding this fall for a relative little backstory. She was doing her surgical residency at the hospital I work at and needed a place to stay.

I offered a park guest room and she was with us for a few months. Both my daughters adore at and needed a place to stay, I offered up our guest room and she was with us for a few months. Both my daughters adore her and have never been to a wedding. They're both psyched. Wow, this all sounds great. My relative is about a year away from being a surgeon and her soon to be husband is a commercial pilot.

My wife and I both have great careers, but safe to say we won't be in the same tax bracket as the future Mr. and Mrs. Redacted. My question is this, what's a suitable wedding gift these days? A couple hundred bucks doesn't even seem like it would cover the cost at dinner for a family of four. And I've been out of the wedding game too long to know

what's proper these days. Any advice on the high council, from the high council could offer up, greatly appreciated. Love the pod, already bummed that the schedule's about to get lighter. Can't wait for football season. Okay, thank you. Thanks for listening.

Look, I think a lot of it has everything to do. I think you're using the tax bracket analogy here. Your tax bracket is the deciding factor and the people getting married should understand what someone is capable of. They shouldn't be holding everybody the exact same standard. So like, let's face it.

I have guys, I have guys that I don't think I even got wedding gifts for and was just like, how long do I have guys that I don't think I even got wedding gifts for and was just like, how long do I have? It was like, oh, you have a year. It was like the best news ever. I was like, that's awesome. The smart thing should have been, pick something to wear the registry.

If it's a spatula and it's a nice one, fucking get it, get on the books. Get your name on that list. Yeah, exactly, exactly. The number of wives during my 20s that were probably like, he didn't send anything? Now, did I make up for it? And did it end up costing me?

It was almost like I had a horrible interest rate on it because then once I started doing like, okay, and then better. And then I think one guy was like, we were close enough friends that we could laugh about it. But I was like, hey, throw, he came to visit me and I was like, I have a bunch of stuff for your wife. Like just tell her, we're gonna do this nice stuff. And he came to visit me and I was like, I have a bunch of stuff for your wife. Like just tell her, it was nice stuff.

And he was like. It's a good spatula, dude. Right, he kind of just looked at me like, I don't know if this is worse. Should we reopen this wound? Yeah, so Wargon, I know, especially since I'm not gonna be making it, you'll do all right for me. So, you know, there's that part of it.

I'm here to tell you that. Yeah, Kyle can back me up on that one. You give whatever you can give. Yeah, right, exactly. Don't put yourself in financial hardship for, especially a family member. They're related, he said, right? I don't know how closely, but don't put yourself

in financial hardship. There's four of you, so take that into consideration, but like give what you can give. I think think about covering your plate, right? And I don't know if you're like, I like that Kyle. I don't know if you're the hip to the planning of this, but you know, if it's, you know, I think a general normal,

I don't know about a pilot and a surgeon, if they're going to $120 a plate thing, but that's sort of what we were hovering around. And you know, the only thing that stands out is when your fucking buddy brings a girl and he gives you 50 bucks and it's like, huh, all right, didn't cover half of it, got it. Didn't cover a quarter of what you took up. We're operating the red.

Yes, yes. Oh great, his brother came too. Same deal. Great. But I think that's really the only way it stands out. So yeah, whatever you feel good about, as long as you're not in that, you know, I think no gift is better than bad gift. And so I think you should be able to figure it out. And then maybe you'll know what kind of wedding this is and you'll have a better idea of what four people would cost them. Speaking of Kyle, you see your guy, Drake May? Do you know any of his wedding gifts?

Of course I did. Yeah, I did. Yeah. Yeah, things are going so well. I didn't even want to like repost that. I just think there's too many good vibes. It looks like Stefan Diggs is almost smiling in some of those photos. So I'm like, this could be good.

I wish I understood the registry thing better when I first got into the game because it's on the registry, right? You're not assigned something specifically, right? You could choose cash or you can pick something there. You're from Dedham, okay. Like he got us not the waffle maker, but a slate for pancakes, right?

Right. Right. You're from Westport. I will say. Maybe a little restoration hardware, you know, so. My wife went pretty hard on that registry and I was like, remember we live in an apartment, cash is good.

And then I'm like, oh look, salad spoons, nice. Someone's off the hook with $28 salad spoons from anthropology, awesome. I even checked to see like, oh wow, look all those little guys got ticked off the box real quick, there's a lot of happy people out there that are happy to give us some napkin rings. We don't have napkins, Why did you put that on there?

But anyway, that's why I go with cash, because I just remember being like, God damn it, they got the napkin rings. Shit. Shit. Right, as long as this is like most reasonable people, I don't know that you really need to worry about this. However, I would warn some of you that make gifts,

you better be really good at what you're doing. A craftsman. Yes. Cause sometimes you're like, well, no, I'm just gonna make the gift. Like, okay. Like, yeah, this is a cookout bib. You can wear it at your cookouts.

It says, I'm with her. I don't know, whatever. All right. I become the villain in my local tennis league. Hey, this could be off of our golf thing. What's up fellas? First time, long time stats, 5'11", not afraid, 2'05". Used to be the Marcus Hall of my CYO league until I stopped growing at the age of 13 and everyone else caught up and I forgot the guard skills. I grew up occasionally hitting the old tennis ball around my dad and my sister and even went to a couple week long camps way back then

but never played an official match until last year. That changed when I joined a USTA rec league in a Boston suburb since the spring of 24. It's been a ton of fun and a highlight of the week for me. The league has a mixed bag of competition for mixed doubles. Some people look like Johnny Mack out there and some look like they've never played before. I'd like to think I'm somewhere in the middle. I can't really serve or hit for power, but I'm pretty quick in the net and have a reliable backhand. Maybe this puts me in the upper echelon of the intro rec league.

Okay. This past spring, I think I've become vilified. I think I became vilified within the league. The league coordinator actively roots against me during the matches, clapping and cheering any of my unforced errors. Some random dude was parking his car along the core and stopped to check out the scene and even he started booing some of my winners. What?

What did you do, man? What did you do? Yeah. What did you do, man? What did you do? Yeah, just so we understand that a random guy who parked his car decided to watch a few points. And then after he watched you, he started booing you when you did well. Everyone is on the same page with sports hating you, which is the easiest type of hate to get on board with, which sucks for you.

In the championship match last season, which our team had no shot of winning, one of the opponents type I hate to get on board with, which sucks for you. In the championship match last season, which our team had no shot of winning. One of the opponents stopped the match to tell me out loud, quote, you are really annoying to play against. I don't like playing with you at all. End quote, which I found weird for a rec league tennis match. Where's the UTA, USTA spirit. A little later on in the match, she took a lob from me and smacked it down.

It gave me a prime Serena Williams inspired fist pump and her team beat mine in straight sets. I get some personal reflection. I'm a bit self-constructive on the court towards myself saying things like, come on Pacino, got to have that. We're exalting, damn it, on a miss. But that I believe is the only real criticizing of myself and not hurting others. Maybe others perceive it that I think I'm better than them, but that is not my intention. I'm afraid of not being asked to play in this league anymore and having to find a different league. The only problem is the next closest league to me

is a level up where I will definitely be a small fish in a big pond. My question ultimately lies with a personal dilemma. Do I embrace the villain role? Should I start putting my hand up to my ear like Alcara when people start booing me or on winter smack downs at the net. Do I need to tone down the action at the net

and live self critique or do I bite the bullet and join the more competitive league and get washed there? Did you ask what the hell is going on? There's something that we don't know. When that person said, you know you're really annoying to play with. I think there's something he doesn't know. I think we got it.

Yeah, yeah, that's what it sounds like. Maybe you should find out. I know, maybe I get you don't wanna be like, you know, you don't wanna cave to the haters or whatever, but you might at least wanna know what they're hating on. I think it sounds like there's something. There's something. I don't know.

Something's amiss. I haven't played tennis really since I was like a little kid and it didn't really take to it then either. But like, I don't know, Something's amiss. I haven't played tennis really since I was like a little kid and it didn't really take to it then either. But like, I don't know. Are you like smacking it at people's feet? Like, is there something that like you can do, but it sucks? Like, I don't know.

I don't know what that would be for tennis, but maybe you're just like, you think you have an edge and actually you're like cheating or I don't know. Cheating you would have been called out for, but I don't know. There's gotta be something, man. He probably never stops. I've referenced it a few times, but when Agassi in his biography, which I think is

worth reading, even if you're not a huge tennis person, I didn't even really like Agassi after the book, I loved him, but he makes an incredible point is like even golfers have a caddy, right? If you're playing tennis and I used to play against, um, against Sarah and Matt when they lived down the street, we all started getting into it. The funny thing is Matt was more athletic than me. I thought I was better, but then usually his athleticism would win out. Then Sarah would hit it right in the middle. She would hit it back to you right in the middle every time, and you're like, I'm going to kill her. It came back in the middle every fucking time, zero unforced errors.

It was fun. Like the three of us would have these matches and what you don't realize, like especially if you're competitive and clearly Matt pitched and Sarah played college soccer and I'm just a lunatic, but you are talking to yourself so much. And that's Agassi's entire point.

Like you may be able to look at your coach in a big match and like look at him and he's looking back at you, but you were sitting there with your thoughts. It's like a way cooler version of painting. That's the reason why I always hated painting, because you were just sitting there with your thoughts, painting for eight hour shifts. It just drove me fucking crazy. I think the real goal is to learn how to just chill out a little bit. But what's happening here is like, you're down, you're down love 30 or something, you're just like, okay, this, I have to win this point, I have to win this point, I have to win this point.

So you're building up like all of this mental tension with nowhere to release it other than the outcome of the point and then when it doesn't go your way, you're just clearly verbalizing this in a way that's incredibly- It's either fuck or fuck, yeah, right. No one likes either one. Yeah, so I can, like you're just clearly verbalizing this in a way. It's either fuck or fuck. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. No one likes either one.

Yeah. So I, I can tell what you're doing, but man, I mean, think about it. A stranger who had no affiliation to anybody watched a few volleys and decided to start rooting against you. So you have to be all time annoying. And I think, you know, that you are, but you don't maybe because you understand your intent better than anybody else. And you're thinking like, I'm not actually doing this to that you are, but you don't maybe because you understand your intent better than anybody else. And you're thinking like, I'm not actually doing this to show anyone up, but

if somebody yelled at you and said, Hey, you're really annoying and granted, maybe because it's outside of Boston, somebody else is a little bit more willing to tell you how annoying you are. If you live somewhere else geographically, they would just be like, what's wrong with this guy? But you, you have to probably pay a little bit more attention to how verbal you're being throughout an entire match. That's just, you know, these things we can pretend and say, Hey, none of it really

matters, but you're not joining this kind of thing unless you're competitive. But I do think tennis brings out something in competitive people that makes them crazier than anything else because it really is such, you can talk about sprinting, but then it's over. Swimming for the most part, I mean, depending there's a thousand different distances and all that kind of stuff, that's its own different challenge. But tennis can go on forever. And then you're talking yourself into being just convinced I'm going to win this point and then you don't. and you're just clearly freaking out, and your vibe is an entirely different level

than everybody else that's in this group, and it's probably driving everyone crazy, and this is where you're stuck. I wonder, what are you wearing? I'm trying to think, is there a version of the guy who shows up to pick up with the shooting sleeve and a headband, and maybe a matching outfit? No, I'm not saying a Knicks top and bottom, but maybe it's like, wow, this know, like a, no, I'm not saying like a Knicks, you know, top and bottom,

but like, maybe there's like, it's like, wow, this whole thing's a little coordinated. And then he's like, maybe he shoots a little more than you think. And it's like, maybe that part alone, if the guy was just chucking a little bit, you'd be this much angry, but because he looks like a douchebag,

you've like, it raises everything up. Is there like a version of that for tennis? I don't know. You played. Like, could you be showing up just already pissing people off? No, I know what you're saying. I mean, as somebody who wore a shooting sleeve during the early two thousands for a little stretch.

I mean. Everyone bought one. I mean, the question is, do you have stones to wear today? Yeah. Do I regret it? I don't. When I, when I first graduated high school, I was on the high school golf team.

I was pretty good. I could drive the ball like 300 yards. I would show up. Not anymore. I haven't played in years. I would show up wearing the all orange Ricky Fowler gear, hat, shirt, pants. People would look at me and be like, who the fuck is this? Now do we have a picture of this?

I don't know. I don't know, I don't know. But it was hilarious. I think it's a great question, Kyle. Great question for a lot of sports too. I wonder if there's like one for swimming. I can't imagine, but I don't know. I'm trying to think.

My question would be, I wonder if there's some like heavy grunting going on on like every single swing. But that's a, people kind of accept that though, with tennis, I don't know about any other sports. In amateur tennis, do you though? Yeah, Monica Seles at Wimbledon, even that was a little annoying.

Right. Yeah, okay. No, you're right, we're covering all bases here. You gotta ask yourself a lot of questions. If you're not gonna ask anyone else who seems to hate you, shouldn't be hard to find someone to ask, it seems like. So I don't know. Okay, all right, that'll do it for us.

Wargon, congrats. Have a great weekend celebrating your love and celebrating loneliness has taken an L this weekend, buddy. Yeah. And Kyle. Wheels up tomorrow. L this weekend, buddy. Yeah. And Kyle. Wheels up tomorrow. Comfort plus, baby. I'm coming in in the right head space.

I might even get upgraded. I just said yes, anywhere and first. Are you doing a little Poughkeepsie run off of this, I imagine? No, I'm doing three weeks of Poughkeepsie in early August, so it's tempting. One of the guys might shoot down and meet me for dinner tomorrow, but.

So you're going straight in and then right back to LA? Yeah. Kyle's a legend. Have you hung out with Kyle in a social setting other than the Coors Light we all shared at my house? I think that's enough. Coors Light, I saw him at Philly when we did the live show. Yep.

I think that's about it. All right. Yeah, we'll report back. It's coming in hot. Back in his, back in his local haunts. I can't wait. I can't wait to hear a full recap. Unfortunately, he might even have to tape something next week. I don't know. But we can't do that. No offense to your wedding or Kyle. I just don't want, I don't know if we can do wedding recap right off of to your wedding or Kyle. I just don't want, I don't know if we can do wedding recap right off of churn out same episode.

I think we have to let churn out. We gotta just let them ice out. Yeah, if that's okay. That's okay with everybody. All right, you guys are the best. Thanks to Wargon. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Frias, Ryan Roussela podcast on Spotify

and also YouTube and thanks for listening. They were gonna name me Michael Jordan. My dad was like, I don't think he can live up to it. Silhouette podcast on Spotify and also YouTube and thanks for listening. They were going to name me Michael Jordan. My dad was like, I don't think he can live up to it, so they named me Michael Jared. Must be 21 and older in present and select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in present DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gambling help

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