The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Big Cat on CFB Playoff Picks and Life Advice

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

Russillo and Ceruti give their thoughts on the early front-runners for Worst Take (0:25). Then Ryen is joined by Big Cat of Barstool's 'Pardon My Take' to discuss the start of college football season, early playoff picks, realignment and expansion, transfers they are most excited for, and more (12:28). Finally Ryen and Big Cat answer some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:07:38). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Big Cat Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We've got Big Cap for about an hour and a half. We're going to talk a ton of college football, including our playoff picks, other storylines. And then we just ended up kind of doing life advice with them. So that was fun. And an open on people loving the worst take and all the submissions just a week into the process. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything?

Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets.

Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Before we get to Big Cat on the pod today, because we go pretty long with him, we'll just make this brief. The worst take stuff is already very, very popular. So we appreciate the submissions. I don't know that we're going to go ahead and nominate the podium stuff. I think we should at least

wait until the first week of the NFL season. Maybe. But we're keeping track of the submissions, so you can still hit us up against Rudy. I don't know what your handle is off the top of my head. Isn't it just at Rudy or something? Just at Rudy. Yeah, we have three. I mean, we could fill a podium today if we wanted to. I don't know

if it was people, the word got around that we were doing this segment, so dudes were excited to get on the podium. But we've got, I mean, we could fill a podium today if we wanted to. I don't know if it was people, the word got around that we were doing this segment, so dudes were excited to get on the podium. But we've got, I mean, between the Gilbert Arena, it's just absolute fire Mount Rushmore. Bad take of all time with his take on Giannis versus LeBron. That was great. We had Kendrick Perkins, I believe, saying that Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverly

could be the best defensive backcourt in the league. And then we had, I think it was, was it Desmond? Was it Desmond's college football four picks? He had like Pitt in there, A&M. I think he had Michigan. It was just like all over the place. Yeah, he had Pitt, Michigan in there. So a hot start, honestly, if we want to do a podium today.

But I think you're right. I think we start week one of the NFL. Yeah, the Desmond playoff picks. I kind of respected Pitt. He was just trying to do something different out of the ACC. And I don't know if you would go with Pitt over NC State if you were trying

to be different in that conference. Baylor, too. Baylor was the fourth one. Yeah, but Baylor's not crazy. The Michigan one's probably weirder than that. But I remember I did that Desmond Howard. It wasn't even a rant about him. It was about the bias that we have as the former players

when they're talking about college football. So many of the former players scream bias, bias, bias about networks and all these different dealings. And it's like, no, the players are way worse about it than anybody else is. I love Joel Klatt. It's very clear how much he hates the SEC. The Cannell stuff we've been over.

But Des one year, I think Michigan had just lost and he kept him in the playoffs, like ahead of somebody else, like towards the end of the season. And I brought that up as part of the rant. I was like, that didn't even make any sense. Like,

no, there was not one other person that would be like, you know what? I think I still keep Michigan in the four there. so the playoff picks i i respect somebody trying to do something a little bit different because even when i do them with big cat later today and i'm going through it i'm like try to figure out one team to be different and even then you're just kind of like maybe i'll just do clemson ohio state georgia and alabama again it just doesn't even feel like utah i like utah better when people aren't talking about Utah,

but now Utah is being picked as kind of a playoff team. And again, respect it, trying to be different, get a PAC 12 team in there. So that one doesn't bother me as much. The Russell Westbrook being good on defense thing blows my fucking mind. It blows my mind that anyone could have either spent any time watching

basketball or in perks case played and not understood what an absolute fraud westbrook is on defense um i remember people falling for it years ago you know because he was active yeah and he was athletic it was all the steel numbers are probably high but like he gets beat all the time his instincts his breaking the rules of what you're supposed to do defensively it's been going on for years. I could cut up a million clips of it. It can't be debated. So the funny thing is the irony of the Westbrook video going around

saying that Beverly's been fooling all of you. And I would argue that some of the Beverly stuff maybe can be a little hype, although there's some stats that show Beverly in contesting shots. It's like at the top, top of the class for his position. show Beverly and contesting shots is like at the top top of the class first position Westbrook calling out Beverly as some sort of fraudulent defender

is the most ironic thing of anything you're going to hear so again is it a podium finish I don't know I'm saying early that's what we have to work with right now it's not here to stay but we have a solid three early and then I mean we didn't even get into the Gilbert Renis one.

Because that's the worst one. I was saving it for last. I want a Zipruder film, Matt. Like, every minute of that, it just gets better and better. Let's just tell everybody what's up. First of all, the American players have a hard time with foreigners. Not every American player, but a lot of the American players have a really hard time with the foreign guys. It's just they do.

They do. So there's a lack of respect. There's discrediting the accomplishment. Now, if that video had come out two years ago, I actually would have agreed with Gilbert on a couple of things. Because I think a really skilled offensive player dribble shoot and some of that shot creation, all that kind of stuff. I think they'd look at what Giannis is as a player and go, there's still some limitations there. And I don't think that's necessarily an outlandish thing. But after 50 in the finals, and then the stuff he just does by sheer will, because I think he's like the perfect personality

that you'd want in a star. Steph is different as a perfect personality, but like the fierceness that Giannis plays with. That's why ben simmons stuff always drives me fucking crazy when i never anybody's like well why can't you just do like a ben simmons yannis thing it's like because they're two completely different people the way they're wired that might be my worst take of all time i said that to you multiple times i mean i didn't think like i didn't think ben yeah but but that was before ben simmons decided to just like work out and have Nick Friedle take a video of him and then be like, we're going to be scary. And then he dunks in a fucking video against nobody.

And then Friedle tweets it. And we're like, what are we supposed to do? He's like, oh, and by the way, the guy's not going to play. But he did have back surgery. It's like a guy running routes on air. It's like guys running routes on air. It's like, all right, man, cool. There's no separation.

It doesn't matter. This means nothing to me. So you're screwed. There's no cuts. You can run routes one-on-one with those safety you should win every single time the quarterback knows what side he's throwing it to and then they'd be like oh smoked you and then 700 kids stand and point at the defensive back who's like down in the end zone and you're just like what what is this shit um garbage content is what it is all right so back to uh the arena stuff yeah yeah like it's at some point and so back to the arena stuff. Yeah. Yeah, like, at some point,

and even I, as I was listening to him talk, I kind of felt like, you know what? I get what he's saying. But at this point, after the NBA Finals, and for what it was, like, this is just disrespectful. It's just, it's just, you're not giving him enough,

whatever you're dinging him for on some of the traditional basketball skills, you're not giving him nearly enough credit for how just dominant he is. You know, it doesn't, it's not holding him back clearly. And they might've won a title of,

again, they might've won back-to-back Middleton plays. And I don't think that's a ridiculous thing to say because i can't i have no idea what the hell golden state would have done with janice none two things that from that that stuck out to me one i think my favorite part was when he's talking about the minutes discrepancy where it's like lebron 38 minutes a game and janice was only doing that in 34. We're going to sit here and act like LeBron and Giannis' minutes are the same. LeBron, this isn't disrespectful. The guy's 37, 38 years old. He hasn't played defense in like three years.

His 38 minutes a game or whatever is not the same as what Giannis does in 34 minutes. That's a basketball 101. I watch a couple games and I can see that very clearly. The second thing is just like, this should just put to rest. It will never be put to rest because it's always going to be a thing.

But the like, oh, you didn't play. You will never understand kind of thing. You know, whereas like Gilbert, how how could you how could you have that opinion? And I liked him when he came on the pod. Like, I'd like to have him back on the pod. He's an interesting guy.

He says stuff like I think he seemed like a good dude. But that is so incredibly wrong. And there are so many, you know, and there are a lot of really good former players that are good at analyzing the game. I'm not saying it's just like a thing, but this idea that incredibly wrong. And there are so many, you know, and there are a lot of really good former players that are good at analyzing the game. I'm not saying it's just like a thing, but this idea that like you can't understand the game if you didn't

play is just, it's so stupid and dumb. And like some of the worst takes come from guys that used to play in the league because they're so biased on things like that, as you said, against some European players. But it's weird for me though, because Giannis is like the least Euro guy. He's not, he, I know he is a Euro, but like, you know, the way he plays, he's not a finesse guy. It's not like it's Jokic or L Euro guy he's not he I know he is a Euro but like you

know the way he plays he's not a finesse guy it's not like it's Jokic or Luka where it's like you know bodying and drawn fouls like he is a powerful American style player that's that's what's so weird to me about the honest thing and him coming from a Euro perspective yeah uh look I agree with I agree with everything you said there at the end but you know the player i do think there are things that we don't know there's plenty of stuff that we don't know as guys that didn't play you know i i'm okay with that but what i'm not okay with is like you know when drew hanlon was on his whole mb bullshit and he was like all the voters should be you have to make a left-handed layup or like

whatever he's just making fun of all of us that didn't play um you're like dude jalen rose a really nice player i love jalen rose you have kairi irving third team all nba you know what i mean so like look um guys that play guys that don't play we all fuck it up but if you're a guy that would when you're a guy that didn't play it's like oh i can i can point to you and be like oh this is why you can't figure it out and then as we said like this is there's just so many times or next like anytime somebody taught like there's a certain handful of players when a when a former player is talking about those players i'm like how could you have played in this league this long and not known this like how could you have seen it this way and that's that's maybe why we

keep talking about this shit in circles because we never were never I guess we should say this we're never out of surprises what's the ruling so is this is this allowed or are we are we officially waiting like this is this is like a preseason take or what are we thinking

let's we let's wait until prior to week. We'll do it because it's not going to be an open like this. Today's podcast is different. We're going to do it this way. We'll do it the week leading up. We'll unveil it the week leading up. So these are all eligible to be nominated for the podium.

Right. Yeah. So yeah, leading up to week one and then we'll have a whole different batch of them after the first week, that Monday kind of after week one of the NFL. Are we all on the same page here? Yeah, that's good. Sounds good.

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Oh, what's the LSU line? At home, sort of, New Orleans against Florida State, minus three and a half. All right, there we go. LSU, minus three and a half. Still loaded with talent. Incredibly talented team last year, despite the frustrating record. And I'll, there we go. LSU minus 3.5. Still loaded with talent. Incredibly talented team last year despite the frustrating record and outcome week to week. You know I had to go with LSU in the first one

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Free bets that expire 14 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona. 1-800-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut, 1-800-GAMBLER. Or visit fanduel.com forward slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey, PA, Virginia. Or 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, 1-800-270-7117.

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I'm ready. College college football it's finally here week zero always is a tease scott are you pro are you pro or anti week zero i'm pro week zero because i always find myself needing one week to uh get my brain set of like the constant action like the six or seven whatever games it was that i bet on on saturday it was a good teaser of like remember how stressful this is going to be remember the chaos that you're going to be under so it's like you know everyone needs a pre-season it was a nice little pre-season for me and then on saturday i'm just going to spray the whole board and it's going to be great yeah because for me it was like how, you know, those, once it's real, it's like, okay, you

realize this is, it's over until January, you know, for the most part, like it's real, real. You're like, this is it. This is what you do. This is all you're going to do the 20 plus hours by the time Sunday night finishes up. And so for week zero,'m like i'm gonna watch but i'm not gonna be intense about it like if i want to go outside if i want to leave the house if i want to go get lunch like i'm not gonna feel like i'm completely missing out like i think yukon they didn't play like the 129th best team in the country that's a mad group of huskies from what i could tell and i'm glad i saw it i had yukon i bet on him because jim mo Moore Jr. says that he has ghosts in his house. Friendly ghosts.

Friendly ghosts. But the real Week Zero, I mean, Scott Frost, you got to stop. Well, he's not going to be at Nebraska much longer, but holy shit, man, stop scheduling Week Zero games because literally everyone's watching Northwestern Nebraska and Ireland because everyone wants real football. And that guy is just, he's hilarious. Western Nebraska and Ireland because everyone wants real football. And I, that guy is just,

he's hilarious. I hope he has a job for life because the fact that he finally got a special teams coordinator and also gave up play calling duties. And then after the game through his plate, his offensive coordinator under the bus, and also basically admitted that he was the one who called the onside kick. Like he just, he always just screws

up something it you know it's like oh this is going too well let me see if i can make it harder for us for that to be a big 10 opener and be in dublin and be week zero you know we've always talked about the monday night theory that like if you're a quarterback like my all-time favorite is geno smith had like a decent game against the saints i think and then tuesday turned into oh you know you got something here and like whatever you are or aren't is multiplied by 10 when you're the monday night guy so the monday night theory that's times 100 when it's week zero and it's the only like major conference game going on and then it's an onside kick so everybody's just trashing Frost the entire time.

And I'll tell you, when I see still pictures of Frost, I can't believe he's a bad coach. It'd be like Superman having a lisp. It just doesn't make any sense to me. No offense to anyone with a lisp, but we're all rooting for you. But when I look at Frost, I feel like I might zag hard

and want this to work out now. After years of trying to tell Nebraska fans, it's never happening again. You do understand the level that you were at in the 90s. That is gone forever. It does not exist. It will not be repeated. But I still can't believe that it's this bad.

And I think I'm in. Because you and I would text last year being like, have you watched Nebraska at all? They'd be like, yeah, they're actually good. They would just basically be in every game, and then there would just be one huge mistake that would do them in, usually a special teams play where they, again, Scott Frost just this year decided we might need a special teams coordinator.

We might need a coach dedicated to this. But Nebraska, I know we're going to disagree with some things in a bit, but I think that you would agree with this. The reason why guys like us love college football is something like Nebraska, where you have the history, you have the prodigal son coming home, you have all these things. And it's like every team has these stories that you can just dive into. And it's so fun to dissect, like, not just the games that are played on the field,

but everything that comes with every season and the fan base and the expectations and all that stuff. That's why college football is so great. Yeah, that's why I always, you know, I probably like college more than the NFL because I like the idea that Lincoln, Nebraska has something that matters this much to them.

And it's this one thing. But, you know, I'm not here to keep going over all the recent history and how bad it is. But for a week zero game and everybody is firing off their jokes because they have no other games to make fun of. They have nothing else to talk about. It's just a beating, a beating for a fan base. Yep, yep.

I mean, I always talk about just dreading any primetime game that any of my team because you just know like it's if it goes bad, it's going to be open mic night on on your ass for like 24 hours and there's nothing you can do. You can't hide from. Yeah, I think now I think now because of what happened on Saturday, I'm going to be more pro Nebraska than I've been in years. And maybe ever, maybe ever, but we'll see. Maybe it could be a little bit like the Harbaugh thing. Everybody keeps wondering, like, why is this guy here now? Harbaugh didn't exactly go three and nine, but he did have his contract reworked. Maybe, maybe a little of that Harbaugh juice. Let me ask you a quick question on Harbaugh and Michigan fans in general. Has there ever been a fan base that is dreading a

game more than Michigan versus Ohio State on the Michigan side? Because they get like 365 days of just shoving it in their face, but they know Ohio State's going to kill them this year. Like, kill them. And if you're a Michigan fan, it's like, I just don't want that game to ever come. Harbaugh almost left. He literally almost left.

He almost was like, hey, I won it. Finally, I'm out. I'm going to coach the Vikings. Like, that's how much he doesn't want it to come. Harbaugh almost left. He literally almost left. He almost was like, hey, I won it. Finally, I'm out. I'm going to coach the Vikings. That's how much he doesn't want it to come. That would have been awesome. Because that would have been the most Harbaugh move ever. It's like the office where they're playing basketball and you're like, well, what's the score? I'd be like, I don't know. Whoever was ahead

wins. It's like throwing a sucker punch and just running away from down the street and just being like, I got the last one in good it's a good little reminder on the harbaugh thing because you're like there was a week there where people were like no it's done it's gone like the rumblings behind the scenes were that that was a done deal and he was going to leave and you're like did he leave so he doesn't have to play ohio state again after he finally beat him after after he beat him and also said ryan Day was born on third and thought he hit a triple. Like he not only beat him, but he really like turned the screws on him after he beat him. And

now he's got to have to go to Columbus this year and face which we'll get into our college football playoff predictions. But I think everyone has Alabama and Ohio State written in at this point. Ohio State's the largest favorite of any team to win the conference of any conference in D1. And it makes sense. And it makes sense. Alright, so do we both have, do we want to just do it this way where we have our playoff picks or do we want to get to other stuff first? Alright, let's

do the playoff picks first. Go ahead. So I think we're both in the same spot where we're trying to figure out who could be a fun fourth team because if you went just purely on like who we expect it to be

it's going to be Ohio State Alabama and probably Georgia and Clemson because Georgia doesn't have to play Alabama in the regular season and you think that the SEC championship game if both those teams are undefeated they'll both probably get it right so? So trying to figure out

who the fourth team's going to be, I don't want to go chalk, so I think my fourth team, I'm going to kick out Georgia. They'll probably still make it, but I'm going to kick them out. I'm going to keep Clemson. My fourth team's going to be Oklahoma. Would you like my case? Yeah, because well, I mean, look, when I went into this, first of all,

I can't believe there's this little parody for this long, all right? So, for whatever people want to argue, like, I don't like, it's kind of like the East Coast, or excuse me, the Eastern and Western Conference thing in the NBA. For the longest time, they're like, hey, should they just take the top 16 teams and say, screw the conferences because the West was so much better than the East?

And I was like, look, things are cyclical. They'll figure it out. Don't start making grand sweeping changes in the entire format. And then it went on for like 15 years. I was like, maybe, maybe we do need to tweak some things. Go ahead. I think the parity, though,

is going to fix itself in the next few years, not because of NIL. Everyone's like, NIL is going to fix the parity. I think the parity, though, is going to fix itself in the next few years, not because of NIL. Everyone's like NIL is going to fix the parity. I think the parity is going to fix because you finally have what seems like some strong coaches in important places. Like Cristobal at Miami is very important. I don't know if Napier is going to be good at Florida, but let's just say he is.

Sark and Venables in Oklahoma and Texas is important. And Lincoln Riley at USC is important because the reason why there's been no parity or a lot of the reason why there's been no parity is Alabama and Clemson and these schools have been able to just pick off talent from

California or Texas. Instead of saying the NIL is going to fix it, root for strong head coaches in important areas that will hopefully stabilize where all the talent goes. Because if Alabama doesn't get those extra five stars or four stars from California and Texas, if those guys stay in the region,

it will kind of flatten out on its own. I just can't believe that you have this kind of Bama run. And honestly, we'd be talking about Clemson's run historically if it weren't for Bama. What Clemson has done, obviously, last year was a disappointment. We're going to get to that a little bit because of the offense and everything. The NIL thing, I've heard it argued for parity, or it's just going to be like, hey, the big boys are just going to do it right

and do it better than everybody else, so it's not going to be parity. I think the scary thing is when you look at the transfer portal and how much it's opened up. When Georgia Tech's running back decides, I'm going to go ahead and play at alabama that feels so incredibly unfair right right and that's the same thing i'm talking about like when cj stroud goes from california to ohio state or two it goes from you know hawaii to alabama like those if those guys go stay at home in usc and it kind of ifens out. You're right. If Lincoln's there and not Helton, then DJ

Tua, certainly. There was this wait a minute, how's Clemson and Alabama end up with these guys that should be playing at SC? Right. And if Texas can get a little bit stronger, those Texas players will start staying home a little bit more. So I think it's, and Miami I think Cristobal, you know, what he did

at Oregon recruiting-wise was the best he surpassed what he did at Oregon recruiting wise was the best. He surpassed what Chip did at Oregon recruiting wise. Definitely recruiting. Forget like how they actually performed in big games because that's a different conversation. But Cristobal is going to recruit the state of Florida better than it's been recruited in a long time. So all these things like if you're rooting for parity in college football, root for coaches, strong coaches to be in key places and have success. That's how

we get there. So you got Bama? Yep. Ohio State, Bama, Ohio State, Clemson, because I just think the ACC is that weak and Clemson, like I think even if they have the one bad DJ game to then make the switch. So I think DJ will be better, but they obviously have a freshman now that's going to be awesome.

And then I have Oklahoma because I think, one, Dylan Gabriel's underrated. Like, he's a very good quarterback who you would think would turn the ball over a ton in UCF's offense didn't like he's he's pretty it's pretty good with the ball and I think Venables like the idea that Oklahoma can't play defense is more of a new thing when he was there before they were playing good defense when he got to Clemson they went from a bad defense to a great defense so I think he will stabilize it. I think they will. The Big 12 has some good teams this year, like Kansas State's going to be a good team. Obviously, Texas, everyone's got Texas as their dark horse.

I feel like Oklahoma State's always like pain in the ass. Baylor. Baylor's got a lot, you know, obviously. Baylor's got a good quarterback. Yeah. But I just think Oklahoma, like what Venables will be able to do with that defense, and not the Oklahoma, you know, we had a couple years where Oklahoma would have a great defensive game

and be like, oh, shit, is Oklahoma back? No, I'm talking about consistently good defense. That will be my pick. So Oklahoma's my fourth team, because I didn't want to go straight chalk. I didn't want to do the same chalk thing either. It was really hard. So I have Bama to go straight chalk. I didn't want to do the same chalk thing either. It was really hard. So I have Bama and Clemson.

Some Bama notes here. They're going to be awesome. They're going to also be... Their edge guys are going to be horrifying. Go ahead. The crazy thing about Bama this year, I think they're going to run the ball like they used to when

they would win you know whatever it was 10 years ago where they would just fucking shove it down your throat and oh yeah they have the Heisman quarterback to like a nice addition there yeah and I like I like Young a lot because of his poise I thought the Auburn game despite the fact you're like are you really gonna lose to Auburn like what he did towards the end there his command of things, like that extra little juice that you want out of your quarterback who calms everybody else down and says, I got this. Like, he already had that last year.

And, you know, the receiver depth takes a hit based on what you had with the best version when they were healthy with Jamison and Mechie, which was not the case towards the end of the season. So it's not going to be the same there. But I just think their defense is so loaded. Battle, they bring in Ricks from LSU, who was actually awesome for them at corner in an LSU stretch where it's been pretty disappointing

after the title. So I'm with you on Bama. Ohio State, I can't find somebody outside of the Big Ten. I just can't. I can't. I tried. I go through it all. Now, I'd say this.

The offense we know is going to roll. It's insane. They're stacked. Maybe Stroud wins the Heisman. The defense, though, last year, they can switch out the defensive coordinator, bring in Jim Knowles. Anybody who can consistently compete on defense in the Big 12,

you're going, all right, bring that guy in. And, by the way, former head coach of the Big Red, Cornell. I don't know if you knew that. It's pronounced Colonel. So they bring in him, and then this is kind of what happens. Every time a contender brings in the new coordinator, it's like, man. It's never a negative. It's always a positive.

It's insane. Now, I'm pro Knowles as far as that part. I don't know if they have the talent, though, and that was the frustrating thing for Ohio State. If you look at their front seven defensively over the years that's where ohio state to me was like the difference maker and they didn't have that group um yeah they've got the one kid um you're right the bosa brothers chase young like whenever they had those guys who would just be absolute game wreckers that's when they would go to the next level. Yeah, like I was looking at the pro prospect stuff, Zach Harrison, the 6'6 kid.

He's the only one that I saw on a pre-watch list. Now granted, there's other five-star defensive linemen that they'll have in and now maybe all of a sudden it's fine and it's their time and they're a year out from draft eligibility. But I still don't think that that front is as talented as it has been where Ohio State's just putting another top 10 pick in there, or at least a first rounder. But even having said all that, I think their offense is so far superior to any other group when you think about running back, number one receiver,

tight end, and quarterback. I don't know who matches that in the Big Ten. Well, the answer is no one does, and that's why I'm picking them. Yeah, yeah. Okay, and then so you have Clemson, you have Alabama, you have Ohio State, and are you going to do something crazy with your fourth? Yeah, I'm going to go Georgia hangover, and I'm going to go A&M. Oh, okay.

I don't know where the Georgia loss is coming from. I wonder if all the stuff... The Stetson-Bennett story is kind of funny because it's like, man, everybody doubted this guy. It's like, well... Yeah. I think it's okay. We didn't think he was as good as the NFL guys

or the guys that would win a Heisman. That's all. Not a big deal. There was a moment in that national championship game when he had that fumble where it's like, oh boy. This is way too big for Stetson-B better he obviously you know came back and made some big throws but so my only question with the texas a&m and alabama so how's it going to shake out because if alabama beats texas a&m texas a&m is not going to be let's say alabama runs a table texas a&m is not going to be the sec title game how so you're danny canal just punched his

wall when he heard what you just said because you're now going to have a team that's not even in the title game go to the the college football playoff yeah something really stupid would have to happen with georgia where they're going to have to have a loss and then they're going to have to lose to alabama in the sec title game right and that's it m's going to have to play close in tuscaloosa one of those games that we love where it's like, oh, like I almost wanted to pick. Good loss. More good loss. Look out for that team. Part of me, I wanted to make the case for Oregon. I don't think they have enough.

I'm very excited to see Bo Nix, Pac-12 after dark. Like he was meant for that because he's always good for one game where it's like, what the fuck just happened? Bo Nix. Oregon having a good loss against Georgia week one could be big for them. You know, like if they lose by three to Georgia, everyone in November would be like, well, look at Oregon. They played Georgia real tough. That's a good team. How weird is it going to be when they're doing Oregon Bo Nix highlights

and then they can't show his dad in an Auburn uniform anymore? Do you think TV broadcasts, like we don't even want to put this game on TV because then we can't talk about his dad playing? Bo Nix, this is the year. He's putting it all together. This is going to happen. Yeah, the irony being that I can't believe he beat Oregon when he first played that first game

where you were like what the hell is going on here and then it worked and you're like this is weird it was like tebow in the nfl you're like wait this worked yeah yeah no it's true i had oregon in that game i was so mad i was like who the fuck is this guy why is he why did that pass work yeah right exactly like he has a few of those moments every year. That touchdown pass he threw against LSU last year. Like he is built for Pac-12 after dark. He's built to go to Arizona State at, you know, 11 p.m. and make a stupid play out of his ass.

And everyone be like, wow, bonus. Yeah, he was 13 to 31 against Oregon in that game. His first his first game as a starter. OK, so the other thing I have with A&M here is not only all the talent that's coming in there because you're like, what are you going to talk about the quarterback? Haynes King was going to be the starter. He gets hurt in the Colorado game.

Calzada comes in. Calzada, who lost a starting job to Finley at Auburn, which I still can't make sense because I watch Finley enough to be like, wait, this guy's good enough that he's going to be starting somewhere else at Auburn. I don't know. Calzada had that unbelievable game against Alabama. It's just not really who he was.

It's not really who he was. Haynes is the athlete. This kid is dynamic. Granted, he got his leg absolutely crunched because he was running around out there like crazy. So I'm going with A&M losing to Bama and then missing out on having to play anybody in the SEC title game. Georgia having some weird loss.

Just one weird, hey, we think we're awesome because, you know, we wanted this group on a title last year, even though half the defense, if not all the defense is gone. But they still have plenty of guys that are still NFL draft picks on that side of it. The tight end room is insane. We'll see if Eric Gilbert, the LSU transfer, ends up being as good as he looked as a freshman, but Bowers is good enough. Even though I like a lot of the Georgia stuff,

I was trying to do something a little different, so I'm going to go ahead and pick A&M as my fourth team. I like it, and I also like the Haynes King is an important thing to mention. I like Max Johnson, the backup now. I think he is an upgrade, obviously, in in backup and if like he goes haynes king goes down again you're not going to have that like crazy drop off where like how the

hell are we going to win games and move the ball yeah right because because calzado as you watched if you watch them all season you're like i can't believe this guy had some of the throws he had against alabama right like just sometimes a college kid will have that night we are like whoa is this real and then you know you watch the other games and you go I don't think it is all right so not a ton that's different there let's just jump back on Clemson real quick because you mentioned uh Klubnik there the the freshman Bruce Feldman was writing up Clemson and he brought him up as potentially replacing Ugalayla. And I thought like, well, he's Bruce is pretty plugged in with the elite 11 guys. I thought that that was the kind of nugget where since I know how tight he is and I went to the

elite 11 thing to watch this kid throw and he was pretty impressive. But again, I don't know. It's drills and cool. uh i thought that that being mentioned when it looked like dj might be somebody that's going to be a top 10 pick after that notre dame game a couple years ago i feel like that's just the kind of thing where i'm glad i know bruce and i'm i'm presenting it as more than just a nugget right right and i think that they're going to they're basically going to go with dj and if he has one bad half or something like that they have an option now that they can throw in there that could I don't know you know quote unquote save their season but I also I I'm a little higher on DJ than a lot of people just because Clemson's team last year

was so bad on the offensive side of the ball they were so so bad and that offensive line was bad and they couldn't run the ball. I don't even think they had a yard against Georgia, which obviously Georgia was incredible defense last year, generational defense. But to think that Clemson had such a down year and they ended up winning 10 games

is pretty crazy and speaks to what Dabo... That's when you know you've made it, is that your down years are now 10 wins. And it's like everything goes wrong and you don't have your powerhouse team. It's like Alabama last year. Alabama was...

At times, people were talking about how they were in a rebuilding year and they went to the national championship game. That's when you get to, as a program, you've stacked on so much talent that even your down years are like years that every other team would dream of. Glad you brought up the defense.

We'll finish the playoff part of it on this. Clemson's defense, I was looking it up again this morning, they gave up 18 offensive touchdowns last season. 18. They were so good. Number two in the country, Georgia, allowed only 13. They didn't even play anybody.

They won a national title. They didn't play one team all season long. Right. Yeah. They literally did not play a single team. They played 14 games, 15 games, but didn't play anybody. It's crazy. So Clemson's opponents yards per play number three in the country behind georgia

and your wisconsin badgers every season when you'll see like the defensive stat ranking stuff like start looking for it kids you're gonna see those graphics pop up on big noon or some other thing and it's like defense defense defense badgers yeah like you're just always like last three years last five years badgers everyone keeps being like well we lost a lot of talent this year i'm talking about wisconsin now and it's like yeah but they'll be fine i mean that's what they do they just i don't know they'll figure out a way to just slow a game down and be good defensively because jim leonard is that good so these insane clemson defensive rankings, and you're like, wait a minute,

what happened to them again last year? They were 100th on yards per play on offense. So bad. Awful. So like, how does Clemson finish behind 90 plus schools on yards per play? Yeah. Like, how is that possible?

Right. So if they just get a little bit better, they're in the playoff. Do you want to do anything else on the Big Ten? Have you figured out your side of the division? Or your side of the conference? I do think it's, I mean, the Big Ten West is pretty ripe this year. Obviously, I've now convinced myself that what if Graham Mertz is just good this year? So that tells you kind of where I'm at, that I'm just having those thoughts.

You could name Minnesota could win it. Iowa definitely could win it. Wisconsin can win it. Nebraska, your Nebraska Cornhuskers could win it if they turn it around. I think it's going to be fun in the Big Ten West. Purdue's pretty good. They're a frisky team. I think it's going to be a very fun year in the Big Ten West. Purdue's pretty good. They're a frisky team. I think it's going to be a

very fun year in the Big Ten West, which always gets shit on, but what are you going to do? This is how it's set up. I'm not going to apologize for who we play. You've got to play your schedule. Yeah, that's the thing that always drives me nuts about your division. You hate it.

I hate your division philosophically it's not it's not because of any team in particular there's just i have a philosophical problem with the big 10 west existence um because there's just always this one team that i'll watch and again you know like i'll watch that team and i'm like wait what are they ranked yeah no i'm like that's the big 10 west of it it's like they played three terrible non-conference games and then they had crossover maryland and rutgers right right now they have they have 12 wins and we're in november late november yeah they got a late they got a late turnover in the game they were supposed to lose it's fucking great and now

they're they're nine and one and i'm supposed to take them seriously as a playoff contender and i know it sounds a little bit like i'm talking about iowa and some years it is that i was talking about iowa but other years it was the bow palini corn huskers when they weren't my corn huskers when i'm like do you guys pay it because some people bring a palini now and be like hey it wasn't that bad we're like you lost every game that mattered yeah ever like you just you never played anybody and then you'd be able and then once you had to like play a real guy game it wasn't it wasn't even close so the record actually looks a little bit better than frost so yeah

it happens and i know big 10 fans are super prideful that nine conference game thing you keep telling yourself that i will keep all right i will and i do not care all right let's get to our you can't hurt me. We're just appetizer to the biggest disagreement. You and I, and now it's been months on this privately, you want to speak philosophical differences. Where are we right now on the conference expansion, realignment, land war?

Okay. Yeah, we do disagree. You're very upset, and I understand why you're upset uh you're mad you're triggered i get all the reasons why big time big time no no i am i take a a like an approach to it that this is not new if you know any history about college football it's been happening for 30 years now. Like this is when people are like, how can Texas and Oklahoma leave the big 12? Well,

do you know that Texas was like a second away from joining the sec in the late eighties? But the Texas legislator was like, no, you can't like you have to take Texas A&M as bring those guys back. Don't mess with Texas. Right? Like this all has been happening for a very long time.

I will agree with you. I don't like how it keeps happening. I'm of the mindset that I just want it to be settled. But I also understand that it's probably never going to get fully settled because this is just what college football is. The geographical like having UCLA and USC in the Big Ten is weird. Yes. I expected it though. The minute Oklahoma and Texas left for the SEC

I was like the Big Ten is going to do something and this one made sense. I have a fix for you though. I think they need to just rip the bandaid off. They need to get the Big Ten and the SEC to 20 teams and each conference should play five team

pods where it's like geographically you're close and you play those four teams in your pod every year and then you play a crossover pod every year in your conference so it's similar to the NFL schedule so it's like the NFC East plays the AFC West or whatever

do that and then have everyone else that's left out, create their own, their own conference as well. So it's 20 teams, big 10, 20 teams is sec. The rest is, I don't know, you can call it like 24 teams or whatever. And then you figure it out from there. And then you also get, cause the college football playoff, think we all agree we want more games that mean a lot if you do it my way so it's let's say there's a big 10 central or sorry big 10 north big 10 east big 10 central big 10 west right add a couple teams oregon washington to the big 10 big 10 central feels redundant but i'm working with you yeah that's true so you start the season and it's like we win our win our division, we get to play

in, there's a semifinals and then a finals. So we win our division, we have a chance. And that's really what it comes down to, is you want every team to start in the beginning of the year and be like, here is the path to us getting to a college football player. Win your division, win your

semifinal game, win your championship game, you're in. That's it. It's a bit like soccer grouping, but instead of taking two from the same group, you're taking one. Yeah, you're taking one. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I actually wrote it out.

Let me just give it to you real quick. You tell me what you think. This is just Big east rockers maryland penn state notre dame michigan state yeah we got we got notre dame no big deal central is michigan ohio state purdue indiana illinois the north is wisconsin nebraska iowa minnesota northwestern and the west is washington oregon cal usc ucla play your group Win your group. Play in a semifinal. Maybe at a home stadium. Play in Indy for the Big Ten championship game. Boom. You're in the playoff.

Super easy to get around. Alright, so the West was what again? USC. USC, UCLA, Cal, Oregon, Washington. So you basically said, screw the Civil War, screw the Apple Cup,

and then Stanford-Cal is over too. You just ruined three historic rivalries with one grouping. Yeah, I actually, also, the rest of the teams that are left out of the Big Ten and the SEC, I actually think that they should just combine Washington State and Oregon State into one team.

Because then they would be a lot better. So I'm going to do some shit like that. And there's a couple teams that are left out. But yeah, that would solve all the problems. I get why people are upset. I love the differences between the conferences. I love the styles of plays. I love the history between the conferences. I love the styles of plays. I love the history of college football. I just, at the end of the day, this is what's been happening for

30 years. So it happening again is not surprising to me. And it's going to happen even more when the ACC figures out, you know, like how these teams can get out of their contract. And like, it's just going to keep happening. If you want to say, let's flash forward to the finish line and figure out where we all stand, I'm for that. But I also am not going to sit here and just be worried about realignment when I know this is the reality of the sport for the last 30 years. Yeah, since 1992, I think it's 41 teams that have changed of the power conferences, meaning either teams coming in or going out so you may

have not been technically power five then became one a little bit later i just think it's gone too far when you ucla and usc is in the big 10 then i'm i'm over it and the same thing with texas and oklahoma in the sec well so i i'll say let's back up the timeline that was the first one where i was like all right this is stupid yes i think this one's even dumber. And I think that you're an elitist. I think that because you are part of the Big Ten group, that you're just like, as long as we're good, I really don't care. And I think that's the root of your entire change. Okay, so I agree to that. I have a bias in the fact that I root for a team that is safe. And I understand, like someone actually posed that to me like, hey, if you were a fan of Oklahoma State, which poor Oklahoma State gets brought up in like all these conversations because they're the epitome of the team that's kind of left out.

But yeah, it's kind of like Oklahoma State's like the Eric, the enemy of power five schools. They're a good football team. And everyone always is like, well, what about Oklahoma State? Yeah. And if I were an Oklahoma State fan, I'd be pissed. I agree with you that there is a part of me that's speaking from a spot where I know that I'm safe and that Wisconsin is going to be in the Big Ten no matter what. The Big Ten

is going to be safe as long as Ohio State's there, which they're going to stay. I don't have any retort to that. There are a lot of fans that are in my position who root for teams that are safe. And yeah, it sucks to try to figure out, shuffle the deck, but it will get there.

We will get there. Like the Big Ten will expand some more. The SEC will expand some more. There'll be a group of teams that will figure it out and maybe create like a conference across the country. But if you do the pod system I'm talking about where it's divisions you then you then can figure out like how to how to keep some geographic semblance here because i the part that you're talking about it is weird that usc and ucla are in the big tent like that's that is weird i'm excited for it because now maybe wisconsin can go win at the rose bowl but like it is what it is

this is right but when you say safe there are degrees of safe and what i would say is i don't know how close you were to being unsafe like what's unsafe the second most stable conference and a check for 70 plus million a year instead of 90 million a year like it's like buying a house on the top of a mountain and going well at least now we know it's not going to flood and you're like well like i don't i don't think it was going to and again maybe flash floods we, well, I don't think it was going to. And again, maybe flash floods. We'll get some guys in here, some real meteorologists checking in

saying actually, actually flooding. So I don't want to get into a flood debate. I just thought you were safe already. And as somebody who experienced the Big Ten destruction as a fan, I just think that there's a line that has been crossed. And despite the history of teams moving all the time the line is crossed the different lines of oh this is weird, oh that's different wait a minute, Penn State's joining the Big Ten

I remember being annoyed about that I would say that we weren't so you say safe, but the way the SEC operates, I don't know if the Big Ten was safe until they did. I think they always have to be answering what the SEC does. Because would you? In business and all of that, you're right. You have to.

You can't sit around. Sometimes my approaches, I know it would never work. If I were running baseball, I'd be like, hey, we're a great regional product. Stop worrying about it. Right. Wait a minute. You don't want to grow you don't want you're not worried i'm like now you know let's just be happy about what we're like with college basketball it's almost like i think our regular season attraction is over we should just be thrilled we have something that consumes the entire sporting audience for three weeks and that's what we

have like we have our moment um but that's not just it's just not how anything works so the big 10 can't say hey we're the second best this is fine we've got honestly like when you look at the rated games and why i always got you know for multiple reasons why i got annoyed about this espn sec accusation it's like if we wanted to fix things we'd want ohio state and michigan in every single game we'd want those teams in every single game. That's why I think the Big Ten had to answer. Because the way I approach the realignment is, don't trust anyone. If the Big Ten didn't add USC and UCLA, and in three years' time,

it comes across Twitter that the SEC has expanded again, and they're adding Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Notre Dame. Would you be shocked? I wouldn't. I wouldn't. And you have to do it. If you're the Big Ten, you have to basically stay one step ahead so Ohio State will never, ever look what's going on down the block

because I'm a realist about all this stuff. Ohio State drives the big 10. Like that is what the big 10 needs to, to the Ohio state needs to be happy. And the big 10 works that way. And so I, I just am a realist about all the realignment that it's going to keep happening. I want to get to the finish line. I want to be like, this is what we're set with, but I also don't get, nothing shocks me at this point. I was, USC and UCLA shocked me 0% because I knew the minute Texas and Oklahoma went to the SEC, the Big Ten would do something, and this is what they did. Years ago, I joked around that to solve all the NBA problems,

you just redraft the entire league every single year. It'd be the biggest event sports the draft where every single team has a chance every year depending on how your draft goes um it actually would make more sense now like cool you can't ask for a trade because you're just going to get drafted again next year right we'll pay we'll pay your max money every single year but now it's one year deal so here you guys go you get all the freedom you want. You'll be in a team every year, and it won't matter because we care less about jerseys than we do stars in the NBA.

I think the younger NBA fan is just enamored with different players that he likes, dislikes. She or he. With college football, what if you just said, all right, every year the five power conferences, you just draft new teams? all right, every year the five power conferences, you just draft new teams. Because here's what I would say. Somebody who sat in those NCAA meetings with Bill Hancock,

who used to really frustrate me, is that they'd be like, well, we can't do this many games because of exams. Never cared about that. Because remember, they were at 11 games, and they were telling us they couldn't go to 12. Right. And we can't do conference championships. That's not what we do.

Okay. We can't change this around because of the rose bowl okay nope didn't care about that we can't have a playoff because of this okay you couldn't do that every time college football has told us so even you theorizing like what if notre dame ended up in the sec like remember how people used to go oh that doesn't align with their academic beliefs nobody cares about fucking any of the stuff that everyone has used as an anti-argument uh or i should say an argument against all the things that have happened everything the people in charge have argued that can't happen it's all happened right so i don't i don't want to hear any of them on anything anymore so so yeah and that's i think

we're actually finding ourselves to be we We're finding the middle ground right here. I hate it. You hate it less than me. Yeah, I've always heard the arguments, and I've always thought they were bullshit. They were bullshit. They were always bullshit. Nebraska joined the Big Ten like, well, academics, who the fuck cares?

So I'm in the who the fuck cares, just figure it out. I'm expecting more change. It is what it is. I'm still going to watch on Saturday. That's really what it comes down to. I'm still going to watch every game on Saturday. If an SEC game in five years,

you're watching 3.30 in the afternoon, ESPN, they go live to Tuscaloosa. It's an SEC game in early November. Alabama versus Notre Dame. I'm fucking watching. That might happen. I'm fucking watching. And that might happen. So I'm just like, buckle up.

Let's fucking go. I'm still going to watch. Just figure it all out. As somebody that traveled, though, for all these games, I just cannot... I don't want to lose that geographic identity, the culture of what each conference means. And now it's going to be over.

So that's the other thing that I'm fighting against. And I think because of my experience a little bit different than maybe everybody else, because for six to really 10 years, because Scott and I kept doing it and then Danny and I were doing it after that, we just kept traveling and traveling and traveling. It was my favorite part of the entire ESPN experience for me. It was getting to learn about what it meant that this, these places, that Saturday means so much more to them than anything else. And because there isn't that other thing, you know, like where, whether the major cities that have pro franchises, oh, well, my hockey team sucks. Well, let's see what happens with our football team, basketball, baseball, like, no, no, no, this is it. This is it. Right. Like, you know, Autzen, it's, it's really one

thing now, you know, yes, I know's really one thing now you know yes I know the basketball team's pretty good too and all the other track events but you know I'm not I'm not here to get into their relay team um all right rapid fire here real quick give me your transfer you're most excited about okay we mentioned Bo Nix uh yeah's high up there. I also want to throw out Adrian Martinez because it's going to be a very fun... Does he suck or does Nebraska suck? It's similar to your Belichick-Brady poll that you do every week.

If Adrian Martinez is awesome at Kansas State, you'd be like, wow, Scott Frost really sucks. So that one's going to be fun. And then my favorite one, which is going to be great to watch college football fans. I think there's a lot of college football fans who might not follow every

single transfer, but the fact that the backyard brawl is kicking us off on Thursday night and it's Keaton Slovis versus JT Daniels pit West Virginia is fucking awesome. That's unbelievable. I love that guy.

Could you imagine telling those guys in 2019, both at USC, being like, hey, you guys are going to be playing a game in a couple of years for Pitt and West Virginia for a rivalry that hasn't been played, I think, in a while that means a lot, that people love to get into you guys are going to be playing against each other for pitt and west virginia like what the

fuck it's it's great it's it's absolutely great so when you you know whether it's basketball or whatever and the mental break i'm taking from depth charts and paying attention to stuff to just see the the usc quarterback shotgun spray yeah all over the country on old miss that's my guy that's my guy like of the transfer that i am so excited about it's jackson dart at old miss because that kid has a sack on him all right i'm not telling you he's the greatest quarterback ever but when i watch him him for SC, when he came in, I'm like, who is this guy? He's the most confident dude in the entire. Now, he got the shit kicked out of him in two games because he didn't quite know,

hey, you've got to protect yourself a little bit better in this. But him with Lane and Ole Miss, I love that. I can't wait to see Jackson Dart. He's the football version of a boy named Sue. Like, you name your kid Jackson Dart, he's playing college football, and he's going to have a sack on him. Like, that's just what – when he flashed on the scene, I was like, wait, his name's Jackson Dart?

Holy shit. Like, how is this real? And so, yeah, I'm very excited to watch him at Ole Miss. I think he was a one-eye black guy too he might have been yes or did he have yeah yeah no it wasn't he went like the braveheart line across down i might just start doing that when i go out maybe saturday mornings just put it on just get you get your game face on to sit on your couch. Yeah, yeah. He went like a Braveheart thing, almost like a little Clockwork Orange deal on the right eye. So he was doing it on the right eye there.

Yeah, Jackson Dart, Ole Miss. The Ole Miss transfer portal, I was going through it again today, and I'm like, this team just went. It was like a rich kid at Toys R Us, and they were just like, no, whatever you want. I love it. I love it. I love it. I mean, this stuff,

this is what I'm talking about when it comes to like the change of college football. Like, okay, yeah, things are going to change, NIL, conference realignment, but we're still going to find great things to talk about.

And the team that just goes, hey, why don't we bring in like 15 new guys that started somewhere else last year and see how that works. It's going to be great to watch. Okay, before we get to life advice, I think Big Cat Neat has one he wants to submit. We want to do a quick roommate game because it plays

into the transfer portal perfectly because you're like, alright, who would I be living with? Can I have a single? So I'm going to throw, we're going to throw a couple roommate scenarios at each other. Alright, are you ready? Yes. Summer house, throw we're gonna throw a couple roommate scenarios at each other all right are you ready yes summer house separate bedrooms let's not you know his same bedroom is you know freshmen living russell wilson or pj fleck okay this is this is actually a guy that we debate a lot privately. I, um, I think I would go with PJ Fleck because I think PJ Fleck, I think you could be like,

Hey PJ, like, listen, you're not a press conference. We're not on the sideline. Like dude, just chill out. Like just,

just be normal. And I think he could do that. I don't think Russell, I think Russell Wilson has gone so far off. Yeah. I don't think he come back to being normal. I think PJ Fleck, you just be like,

dude, you're not recruiting right now like we're just gonna sit we're gonna fucking hang out we're gonna play some beer die whatever we're gonna do i'm not hurt you don't have to run over immediately to me i'm i just sat down i'm okay right and he'd like look over his shoulder be like are you sure there's no cameras like there's nothing going on i don't have to row the boat um i think pj fleck would be the answer there it's a really good answer did you catch any of the russell wilson one last night it's the rule of threes and he's the only person that has ever talked this long publicly who never knows where the senate what's going to end like the thought

as russell wilson is talking he has no fucking idea how he's going to land the plane he he russell wilson when he's talking it it seems like he's uh like his mind is scrolling gary v's instagram feed being like what what can i come up with next that will inspire the nation uh when really they're just asking me about the third preseason game that i i played sparingly in yeah i watched it i mean it just happened to me on, I was like, let me get a little Broncos country. And I, I, you know, I was like, here we go. How weird will this one be? And I just, I feel so good about that. Like if I was able to invest in things like that, I wouldn't be working today. Cause when I was so early on it, people were like, what are you talking about?

Are you sure? And it's like, he'll do three things that he compliments. And then he can see in the moment, he's like, what am I saying again? And then it's like,'ll do three things that he compliments, and then he can see in the moment, he's like, what am I saying again? And then it's like, just tell everybody how excited you are again. Just finish with excitement. All right, I like that answer. That's probably the right answer. PJ, calm down.

All right, go ahead. Yeah, I got one for you. Harbaugh or Dabo? I've been a big Harbaugh defender throughout all of it because I was like he gets talked about like he was just losing every single year and you can say well he loses Ohio State that's all that matters everybody before him lost to Ohio State all the time too like they they don't beat Ohio State that often and they just did finally where Dabo has been so miserable about it that I think I'd rather have Jim. Yeah.

Because we could come up with feats of strength. We could do different contests. We'll be like, hey, do you want to throw a tennis ball against a barn for seven hours and keep track of it? Like, I wouldn't mind doing that. I mean, I used to love doing that kind of stuff all the time. And then he does it. I think he and I could do that where Dabo would be like, you were at ESPN, you're the enemy.

And it would take forever to break through with that. It might be like Labor Day where Dabo Dabo would be like you were at ESPN you're the enemy and it would take forever to break through with that with it might be like Labor Day where Dabo finally says you know what you're actually not a bad guy right see you later summer's over I Harbaugh would be my pick also because like I mean say you say you you know knock up a girl he will take care of the child so you have that you got a built-inin father figure that will take over. The only con on Harbaugh, he definitely, everyone knows that guy that you went to college with

who when everyone gets a little too drunk and you're just sitting around like 3 a.m., it's like, hey, why don't we wrestle? Someone's going through the wall. Someone's got a black... Harbaugh, if you go into a summer house with Harbaugh, you know that you're going to get a couple random injuries that are going to suck that but i might want to start

doing that again right so that's i'm okay with it okay myself all right uh roommate option here chris or kyle long oh that was mean of you. Shit. That's tough. I can make an argument for either of them. I think I can too. I think I knew Kyle before Chris, so I think I have to go with

Kyle just because of that. Also, Kyle, I think we've told this story, but we went to interview JJ Watt. Uh, it was like maybe year two or three of pardon my take. And we went and stayed at, uh, Kyle's house in Lake forest. And I think we could have stayed forever because he just didn't like when we left, we came came up we were staying in the basement and we came up and he was like playing video games we're like hey man we're out of here and he's like oh you guys are still here like it didn't matter so i think i think we could just fucking hang out

forever and he would not like if we had our own space and he had his own space like we could hang out or not hang out you know what i mean and those are the best roommates where it's like you don't feel like you have to do anything with them. You can just kind of exist and everything's cool. Yeah, I think Chris was asked this question once and he had like Kyle fifth behind like four other options,

which freaked me out a little bit about how would you pick it? I think he may have said living with Kyle is like living with a bear. Yeah, you're just not 100% sure. But look, that was probably a long time ago. So I think there's something to be said about if Kyle is that hands off with it, that that might be preferable. I'm obviously closer with Chris and he's a good friend. We get along. But I feel like Chris is probably my answer answer but i could understand that

like with kyle it may not matter and with chris i feel like things are going to have to be on his terms a little bit more than they would be with kyle yeah yeah which isn't necessarily a bad thing but yeah um all right my last one for you um you have to pick two of these four. Okay? So you got to pick two of these four. Dana Holgerson, Scott Van Pelt, Lane Kiffin, Stanford Steve. Two of four. Two of four.

You have to live with two of four of those guys for the summer. I'm going to pick Steve first because I've spent, there was a six-year window there where I spent more time with him than any other person on Earth. That's easy. Agreed. The only thing, though, is if you are in a hotel room with him where a couple times he got dicey and we got stuck together in the same room

because of travel, he puts the thermostat at like negative four kelvin and oh I love that I love that yeah I'm in for that no it sucks I mean it totally sucks when you're not ready for it woke up throat the whole thing I was like cool now I'm sick awesome like we couldn't just have it sort of cold it had to be like ice chest cold yes yep but other than that and maybe like 7 a.m. T.I. When you're hung over to the airport on Sunday.

That, you know, you'd be like, hey, can we can we not go club MTV on the way? Is this like John Prine or something on the way to the airport here? Maybe ease our way into Sunday. But if those are the only negatives I can come up with Steve then that means he's my first pick I don't think Van Pelt's going to mind not being picked here because he's at a certain level now where

yeah now I'm okay with it that's kind of fucked up but yeah sure we'll see and now I understand why you guys split up I don't think he's going to be picking me either. Just because we're wired differently. Well, and also you guys get drunk and like, Van Pelt would probably not pick you because like you get drunk and it's,

it's 3 a.m. And similar to the Harbaugh analogy of like wrestling, Van Pelt just sitting there and you'll be like, really dude, my name wasn't on the show for a couple of years. Like, yeah, we're going to have have this conversation again like he would hate that just emotional late night drunk repeat like questions about history those are always good you know like you go to you go to a wedding and somebody's like seven you'd be like hey remember that thing you did seven years ago you're like oh great this is gonna be fucking fun this would be a fun way to close out the night

i love the rossillo van pelt relationship i i don't think i've told this story i don't think you've told this story but when we were for super bowl we went from downtown la to manhattan beach it was me steve rossillo and scott in an uber and you could tell scott was like where the fuck are we going like that's why i'm not living with them because that's that's what i mean it's not we're we get along great we're great friends but i don't want to live with them and i was sitting in the front seat i think it was i think it was i was sitting in the front seat i think rossillo was in the back way back and steve and scott were in the middle and i just started texting scott being like is rossillo fucking serious where the hell is he taking us no i

knew where we were going and i was excited to go, but I was just stirring the poppy. And like, is this guy fucking for real? Like, where are we going? At Tijuana? What's going on here? And he was just his anger was going up and up. It was great. Ended up being a great night.

Young out. We all hung out. It was a great night, but it is fun watching you guys interact. Well, because I was like, hey, I told you the plan. Like the whole plan was this and it's LA. So from where we were having dinner at this event, it was going to be 30 minutes. And we should be thrilled it's 30 minutes because it would have been an hour 20, the normal time of the day.

And I want to go out in Manhattan Beach with you guys instead of like chasing around and be like, hey, I think I know somebody at the EA thing. And we're like, no, no, we're just going here. It's going to and be like no no we're just we're just going here it's going to be very simple it's going to be very easy and it's going to be fun and it was all those things but big cat knew because once you're on the highway like 20 minutes he just starts texting me up helping like this is bullshit and then scott starts going like hey how long how much longer how much and i was like don't act like and it just he was just over there fanning the flames the entire time all right it was like this is fucking crazy like i never would have agreed to get in this uber if i knew how far

it was and while you had no problem and knew how far away right i was already planning on going to manhattan beach we stayed out to like four or five it was great it was perfect all right so last one here billy football or an alligator that's only at three feet? An alligator. Easy. That one was easy. Wait, who was your second? Was it Dana or Lane? Oh, oh, oh.

I can't tell if Lane would be the best or the worst. Yeah. Dana's fun. Yeah, I'll go Dana. I'll go Dana. Just because, at least with Dana, I know exactly what I'm getting. With Lane, I don't. Yeah.

So me, Dana, Stanford Steve. And Dana's not an early riser, so you can go and do your little squats or whatever you do in your garage, and he won't bother you. Well, that's good, because I do get up early. I like to get up early and take care of business. Yeah.

TCB. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari. 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids,

I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. You got a life advice that you wanted to throw us? Yes, I have a life advice I want to throw you. I love life advice. Obviously, everyone loves life advice. I did have one note about the gambler you guys talked about a month ago.

The guy was putting in bets, parlays for his friends because I think it was Ohio and Indiana. And that one was such simple. The guy was basically putting on a tax because anyone who's ever gambled in their life, they have the friends who are like, hey, can you put in this bet for me? And if it wins, you got to pay them and then you end up losing anyway down the line. So that was simple to me, the tax plays. My life advice is, so I got a little bit of a situation i have i know these two guys i know one really really well i know the other one i've hung out with them a couple times but don't know him super well uh so the guy who i i know not as well hit me up and he was like so

he hit me up with a message and he said i'm doing my best to hang out with the first guy. So I'm friends with both these guys. I'm doing my best to hang out with the first guy. Next time you come to LA, let's go to the comedy store during the week. All the good comedians leave on the weekends. I feel like you're the one who can make this happen, pal. So he's a big pal guy, which is terrible to begin with. So he's a big pal guy, which is terrible to begin with.

But I don't know what to do because he's basically asking me, like, I want to be closer friends with the guy you're close friends with, but I don't have an in. So can you bridge the gap here? And how do I do this? Something tells me that I'm the guy that's being talked about and that the are the texts from Kyle or Titus? Uh, they're from Kyle and I still don't Kyle.

What the fuck was that text? What were you saying to me? Oh, every once in a while, you just want to have one back. I was probably 15 steps out of the frolic room after a long day. And I was like, you know what? He didn't answer me. Thank God. And I think I texted Ryan maybe 20 minutes before that. And,

uh, I was just like, Ryan was like, sure. Or something like that. And then I was like, didn't love that. So I was like, all right, got to get big cat on this. And then I think, I don't know, maybe like the next morning I was like, wait a second, what happened? I was like, he didn't answer. Maybe he forgot about it. And then it was like, Big Cat's coming on next week. I was like, there's no chance he's going to bring this up. But here we are. So thanks for that, pal. What do you think we should do, Ryan? And now that it's all out there. It's all out there. And yeah,

I didn't respond because I stared at it for like 25 minutes. And I was like, what is he asking me? He works with Ryan. He talks to him multiple times a week. He just asked me to come to la so that i can get them to hang out first of all i said next time you're in la yeah let's be and then ended it with how father or two you can't just be going to la all the time how's a big

how's a big pal guy by the way last time we hung out he paled so much that i wanted to be like listen pal stop like this is a lot guy this is a lot on kyle from monday morning the nice thing by the way. Last time we hung out, he paled so much that I wanted to be like, listen, pal. Stop. This is a lot on Kyle from Monday morning. The nice thing about pal is it's gender neutral. That's why I've been trying to go like gender neutral. Bud, pal, friend. It's throwing

hands, though, when you pal someone too much. Chief? Pal is definitely like, when someone pals you, I assume like that guy just wants to kick my ass well now maybe now that we're now that we're all here in this fun way so that was the same that was the same night that i got a like hey you should come up to the comedy club you know what this all was because titus's brother was in town this Friday and he wanted to go to the comedy store and I was like, wow, maybe I could parlay this whole thing

together. I knew Big Cat wasn't going to be in town for that but I was like, yo, maybe next time he's in town he'll remember this when he goes to be like, yo, what's up? I'm in town or something which like never happens. But I was like, maybe that'll be the next message he sees. He'll remember. We'll all get, we'll all just be like a big happy family and I'll see Ryan in person for the first time

in two years. Has it been two years, Ryan? How long has it been, pal? Yeah, I think it's actually starting to get a little testy on the like, by the way, we've never hung out. Yeah. I think I saw you for the Pats draft when we didn't take Lamar Jackson and then maybe one other time.

I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, you guys are upset we didn't take lamar jackson and then maybe one other time i don't know yeah yeah you guys are upset they didn't take lamar that year um is that the last time we saw no i don't think it is i mean no no that's not true i used to see you for the show but i don't know about like maybe i saw you for a pats game or something like last season or two seasons ago no yeah no probably not it might have been the last time we were doing the shows live in Bill's place when we were doing them towards the end of basketball. Perhaps. Yikes.

So this is like, this is the real life advice for this podcast that we got to figure this out. Like what's going, like the fact Ryan that I'm getting, if, if Hank ever texted you and was like, Hey Ryan,

like next time you're in New York, I really want to hang out with Big Cat. Can you make it happen? I'd be like, what the fuck are you doing, Hank? Communication is broken down. So this is my life advice. How do I get this back together? I don't hate that video. Yeah, I got to get him that video now that you remind me uh

now I feel bad I feel like a bad teammate but I mean you know with me like I don't really you know I'm not like captain weekend you know so I never quite know where I'll come together like a last minute where I'm like oh yeah maybe I'll sneak out tonight for a little bit or something like that and then a month will go by before i do it again so invite them over daytime is great for me by the way daytime is i'm not a i don't i don't do that not a weekend not a day i can't go to a dive bar in hollywood at two o'clock during the during the week and be like all right let's let's fucking best traffic unload you can do it to save a friendship apparently not yeah no there's there's been some developments because there was a text and then i was like well you're gonna come down and get the clubs and then i think titus was like hey we're

all gonna be in manhattan beach and i was like oh have a good time i'm like here text this guy let me know if you need anything and it was kind of like no we were asking you asshole like are you around i was like oh i'm in france like i'm not even there and so then that fell apart um you know what though i feel like the mirror you know i don't even feel like i'm gonna zoom anymore i feel like i'm looking in the mirror and i got some questions for myself so i think i think there's an awareness now just because of this conversation today's the first day of the rest of our lives that's how i feel i love it i love it so that life advice hopefully uh you know figured this whole thing out because we got to, hopefully, uh, you know, figured this whole

thing out because we got to get, we got to get, you know, just every now and then, just every now and then just to hang out. Like it's good for the, it's good for the show. Like we don't, we don't, part of my take, we don't hang out on the weekends. I got kids and everyone's doing their thing, but like when we travel, you know, we'll do a night out. We'll all go to, you know, we went to the sun sundown saloon in Boulder. it was fucking awesome played darts till like 2 a.m that kind of shit that sounds great do that once we'll love to be a part of that sometime well you i mean if you want we we could oh no not i mean no you're great but i'm not no you're great but i just that's not what i mean yeah yeah it's tough i was gonna let you go but we you go, but we have a life advice that I have to read for you.

All right, let's do it. Yeah. All right. Blake Bortles hit and run. What? 6'4", 220. No gym. Push-up game only.

What's up? I was an intern during the summer of 2015 for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The position was operations and logistics intern, but 80% of the time I was a glorified taxi driver driving the players to and from the football facility and the Omni Hotel downtown. Julius Thomas would always have me blast energy from Drake on repeat. Outside of that, there was no verbal interaction between us.

Nice. A pretty fun deal for a summer during college. All the players are relatively talkative and nice. The interns, there were five of us, got to hole up at the Omni as well and eat all of our meals with the team, as well as use the facility during our off hours. So my conundrum was this. There was always one intern who had to take the 5 a.m. shift in the morning for the few players that wanted to arrive at the facility early. I was set up across the street from the hotel in the morning for the few players that wanted to arrive at the facility early i was set up across the street from the hotel in the narrow parking lot uh we were told to wait it so our guy was was the guy that day like clockwork bordles would be the first player out of the hotel around 5 30 but always elected drive himself in his lifted white raptor nice chad henny the backup

also drove one as he was making a right turn out of this very narrow parking lot he clipped the back of my idle tahoe he stopped for a few seconds made eye contact with me as he recognized it was an intern he had just hit and then proceeded to drive i i see no problem with this i panicked as i racked my brain for what i should do i shuttled players for a few hours knowing the last person i had to drive each morning facility was my boss as my boss Approach I decided I would deny that the dented backside of my Tahoe Claiming it had been like that when I started this morning He immediately noticed and called me to the backside of the car to question me I'm a bad liar and probably spoke way too fast. It was an unpleasant interaction

And although he didn't call me out for lying. he became suspicious of me for the remainder of the internship. Yes, it was a team car. Yes, I was an intern. Yes, I followed the number one rule of football, always protect the quarterback. But did I do the right thing? Bortles never acknowledged me or what happened in the fateful parking lot, and I never earned back the full trust or confidence of my boss.

The Jags went 5-11 that season, and I never got back the full trust or confidence of my boss the Jags went 5 and 11 that season and I never got a job in the league was it the right thing to do morally for my career I'd be curious to hear your thoughts wow so it was a team car yeah Bortles hits it according to this allegedly hits it according to this email, and his white Raptor lifted. Makes eye contact with the intern and realizes what he's done and is like, I don't care. And then this kid... So once we realized it was the team Tahoe

and then he had to lie to his boss about it was like that when the boss knew he was lying. What do we do? Are you texting Borda? I'm going to ask him, yeah. Where is he right now? He's in Florida. You know what? I'm going to call him. I'm going to call him.

Because the way I know Blake, he probably was like, yeah, it wasn't that big of a deal. And this guy should have just been like, yeah, Blake hit him. What? Protect the quarterback, though. I kind of like where this kid's cut. Yeah, but it's a starting quarterback. They'd be like, oh, that's no problem. It's team on team crime.

What are you going to do? It's like a fight in training camp. Let's just, yeah, okay, cool. No one's getting cut. We'll just go on with it. All right, let me call him real quick. Let me see if he picks up. This will be very funny if he's like, yeah, oh, yeah, I knew.

I just figured he's an intern and he'll figure it out. Calling Blake Burrows. I also, I'm going to say right now, I don't believe any of this I just figured he's an intern and he'll figure it out. Calling. I also, I'm going to say right now, I don't believe any of this because Blake is a standup guy. Just want that on the record. He's probably at the gym getting ready for it. Probably is at the gym.

Yeah. Blake. Um, really weird question for you. I'm on with Rosillo right now on life advice, okay? Yeah. Okay. Do you remember in 2015 accidentally maybe clipping an intern's car?

An intern for the Jaguars? Yeah, an intern for the Jaguars. No, I don't, but that's not to say it didn't happen stand-up guy this guy basically says he was an intern for the jaguars he would drive players from the hotel and one morning at like 5 a.m you clipped his car just a little bit made eye contact and kept on going and the guy basically is like he he protected you he didn't say it was you and he's like i didn't get a job because my boss was was suspicious of me for the rest of the summer oh man hey tell him i apologize i don't like i would like to think i'm a better

person than that but there's no time yeah okay i i listen i had your back i was like look the intern like it wasn't a big deal it's it's team on team crime you figure it out like blake would if yeah blake was asked if that is true i'm sure i looked at it probably just like that yeah exactly okay perfect all right well thank you. So, so apology if he did it, but if he didn't, then what the hell is this guy's problem? Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. That was it. Thank you, Blake. Love you. All right. There it is. That's the answer. We got right to it. It would probably buff out. This guy's probably going crazy about a little scratch in the back of his car. But he doesn't have a football career. Well, that was it.

I have a feeling that this guy might have not been hired for other reasons than just a little dick in his car. Really? Yeah. But, you know, you do make a decent point that he's drafted 14. You know, he's coming in. If it's 15, that means he's coming into a sophomore season. He could have lit the thing on fire. Right. And they'd be like, we're just psyched he's coming in. If it's 15, that means he's coming into a sophomore season. He could have lit the thing on fire. Right.

And they'd be like, we're just psyched he's at the facility so early. He's a leader. But if you're an intern, you're not going to be thinking that way. You're like, hey, he was this top pick. He's only played one season. The team's going to have his back no matter what. You know, and in the moment, we can all sit here years later and say, you should have done this.

You should have done that. Like he could have said, hey, a player hit it and he kept it moving i'm not telling on the player that's what happened but i don't know that i would have thought of that immediately and i definitely don't know that i would have thought about it as a scared college intern throughout the entire time but blake's a tough guy to get mad at so no he listen from what i understand what blake just told us that was not a big dent or scratch. And I think that if you're... He hit the car, though.

Graze the car. Let's go with graze right now. I think if you're an intern in a spot like this, you are better served to just tell the truth. And you can also protect him a little bit, like you just said. The perfect answer is like, yeah, a player dinged the the car but i don't want to get him in trouble and then kind of just let him deal with it you know what i mean elevated to the proper uh you know spot in the organization and then let them figure it out that's what joe pod did. Just go right to Tom Coughlin and go, I'm not selling out anyone on this team. Right.

But doing like the half in half out where you're trying to be admirable, but it's clear that you're suspicious to your boss. That's the worst way to handle this. Wouldn't you agree? Either tell him what happened and you can still protect Blake or just be like, Oh, I actually like, you could even make it up be like, oh, I actually,

like you could even make it up like, yeah, I did that. Like I hit someone by accident. Like you did the middle ground and the middle ground in terms of the boss is always going to be like, this guy's like a piece of shit. He's just not telling me the truth.

Gus Bradley was the head coach then. Gus would have been fine with it. Look at this. We do life advice and I get right to the to the scene of the crime for you guys i don't even want to do another one how the hell can we top that unless we go through this like any other athletes in here we always do have a few athletes like so and so this happened i usually don't read them because i don't want to get the athlete in

trouble you know i'm kind of like this intern right uh but that one was that one was just too that was tailor-made for you. And the fact that you got him on the phone immediately and he answered, like, I don't even know. Yeah. Yeah.

No, I think that's it. Yeah. Shout out that one guy who completely blew up his own spot with the Ian Rappaport story. That was the minute you started telling that story. I was like, Oh,

Mississippi state. Whoops. Like, dude, you're, you're, everyone can figure out you started telling that story. I was like, Oh, Mississippi state. Whoops. Like you're, you're, everyone can figure out you're in Starkville. And now everyone's like, you just have Ian Rapport's phone and you're going to, I liked your advice though,

because I find myself in that spot. Even today we're like, I'm obviously I've accomplished, you know, something I'm, I'm, I'm at a point where I feel confident but when we were trying to get

Rogers to interview him, I was texting with him and I had to be like at one point I'd be like, dude, I'm not going to bother you like this. I'm just trying to get the interview. I'm not this annoying because whenever you text someone like that

there is the fear that you're the annoying guy and they're Like, I'm not this annoying. Because whenever you text someone like that, there is the fear that, like, you're the annoying guy, and they're going to be like, fuck this guy. So you have to play it well. No, it's a really, I mean, this is a whole other conversation, but, like, I had somebody who I got their number recently, and I go, just so you know, I'm not going to be texting you. Right. Like, I appreciate the number.

We're going to set this up. I'm going to coordinate it. I go, but I'm not going to be your text buddy, so don't worry about it. Like I'm not going to be a text buddy from now on. But I also have somebody else who I've gone a couple on responded to texts and I'm almost finding joy in being annoying. And I, I did something and I was like, wait a minute, why, why would like, maybe that isn't funny? And now I'm like, I could grade, if there was like a color-coded hot cool

zone on where your relationship is with non-friends of famous people texting, I'd be all over the map right now with a couple different people. My rule is three blue bubbles. If you got three texts sitting out there lingering, it's probably over. I didn't talk to Anthony Rizzo for

six months because I had three out there. He called me one day. It was fine, but it was like, I'm not going to go with the fourth. If I go with the fourth, he's going to see the other three and be like, what's going on here? Yeah, I got Dierks Bentley playing here next weekend

and I think I got too unresponded to and a non backstage at a previous show. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know. It might be over. Yeah. It might be over. But I also realized like he's on tour with a family and every other damn thing. So like, I was like, man, he's in my backyard. I should probably hit him up. I go, oh wait. I go, I didn't, I didn't get too response. Like one was a dumb late night text about something from a million years ago. And he's had a pretty incredible life. So he's probably not focused on those things anymore.

And then another was, uh, was a C long pick an eye. And I was like, wow, he didn't even respond to that. Like Chris is way cooler than I am. And so I'm like,

you know what? I don't, I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think the Redondo beach life festival is going to be me with my, my former buddy there. So we'll see. It's also the beginning of college football too. So, and the, you know, so I don't know. But media, going to be me with my former buddy there. So we'll see. It's also the beginning of college football too.

I don't know. But media companies should do text training because you don't want to ever get stuck in a spot where you have... If you think you're texting too much, you are. If your inner thought process is like, ooh, am I texting this guy too much? You are. And you don't want

to get in a spot where one of your producers is texting a guy from a different company being like, I just want to hang out with the host of the show that I produce for. That's a very awkward spot to be in that you probably can never come back from. Very John Mulaney to bring it around

like that at the very end. Kyle, are you okay? Do we need to... It was one time, pal. And every other time, Big Cat hits me up first, so I think maybe you should ask if you're texting me too? Do we need it? It was one time, pal. And every other time, Big Cat hits me up first. So I think maybe you should ask if you're texting me too much. I was just throwing you a bone there, pal. I think I'd pick Kyle

in a fight against Big Cat. Well, Kyle and I have hung out more recently than you and Kyle. That's also true. That's true. That's also true. You know what? Before we let you go,

let's just do an extra one because it plays to this we had the chicago dad who's trying to figure out how to meet people and i said you asked the single worst human being about meeting people and becoming friends with people later on i know you're good at this yeah yeah i remember this um from a couple weeks ago so the answer is is very simple that it's i think saruti even said it like it's just gonna be your kids friends like that's gonna be it it's gonna be your kids friends you it's the truth like i'm already in that zone where like i'm having to meet my kids friend or sorry my kids parent

kids right because that'd be young yeah yeah right that would be weird I'm already in that like awkward birthday party I've told the story but my son his birthday's in June and I think two years in a row it's been the Preakness or maybe the Belmont and so we've had the birthday party at my house and the other dads are like

this guy's just firing on TBG at like 2 o'clock what's going on here so I think you just have to, you have to just wait till your kid is at an age where you can just start meeting dads. And I'll say this, every dad who has a kid that's like trying to find new friends,

you're all in the same boat. Like we're all in the same boat. So don't feel weird about it because I think most dads are like, yeah, it'd be nice if my kid, you know, had some, some friends that had some cool parents and we can just do stuff together and then we don't have to like, we can go to the park, we can drink some beers, watch a game. They can play in the basement.

They're all in the same spot. So don't stress. It will happen. Okay. Noted. Or go to the dive bar like you said that was you have a couple people in that group that you're like can't believe i have to be friends with this guy um there's yeah there's a couple yeah but there's there's also yeah yeah i mean there's of course you you know let's say like hey what, hey, do you guys talk about that guy? Yeah, like we should get together.

It's like, well, should we? I don't know. Maybe not. Do you guys talk about that guy? That guy with that team? Do you guys talk about that on your show? Yeah, the show stuff is always weird. And I also had one moment when I think there was a guy,

I think golf was on for one of my son's birthdays, and the guy was like, hey, Bryson, he's pretty cool. And I was like, no, I fucking hate him. And then I had to stop and be like, whoa, you're at a fucking two-year-old's birthday party. Like, chill out, dude. Like, you're not doing a show right now. So I'm probably not the best guy to make friends with in these situations.

That's Big Cat. Big thanks. Thanks for big cat. Big. Thanks. Uh, thanks for doing this man. And, I'm sure we'll, cross paths and I'll be on again with you guys soon. So thanks a lot.

Yeah. Well, I'll, I'll come out to LA and then, we'll get Kyle to meet you. So keep your chin up, pal. We have an update in this Blake Borel's hit and run story.

It is now about eight hours after we originally taped. Blake Bortles was alerted of this. As you know, he joined us earlier on the podcast, but then we get some further information about what may or may not have happened. So we're going to bring everybody back onto a Zoom and get to the bottom of this. Please enjoy. So as you heard from the intro, we have to dig a little bit deeper into the evidence.

This case against Blake Portals hit and run from 2015. Blake Portals joins us. Big Cat is with us again. We are doing this later in the day after the original taping today. So you understand the timeline. That's why we had the sound effects. So we're just going to jump in and get to it. All right. So Blake, the accusation is that an intern in 2015 summer for the Jags, he had set up and let people into the facility. Credit to you. He said you were one of the first guys in every day, 530 in the morning. He said that you hit his Tahoe that was a company, was a team vehicle, and that you looked right at him and just kind of kept it moving. And then basically he didn't want to tell on you.

And then a higher up with the team was like, what's with this dent? And the kid's like, well, that was there. And he said, he's a bad liar. The higher up employee knew he was lying. And he's basically accusing you, Blake, of ruining his football career because he never got a job again in the industry.

It's been seven years. This guy may not have worked. So who knows what's happened to him. But again, the evidence was that you made eye contact with him as you drove in your white Ford Raptor truck that apparently had a lift kit in it, which I assume that you have to have if you're buying a Raptor, it has a lift kit. So the floor is yours. it has a lift kit. So the floor is yours. Well, like the first, I mean, worst case scenario, if it happened by some miracle, I do apologize to this kid or this man that has hopefully not

been unemployed for the past seven years. But first of all, my truck was black. There were two black truck, dark windows would have been hard to make eye contact at nighttime because it would have been dark at 5 30 in the morning you wouldn't have been in there's no eye contact um there were i know for sure two white raptors that were in the players parking lot i won't throw any names under the bus um but i just i mean he says chad henney had the other one and that you and chad henney had the white raptors chad had one and then i guess since you already threw chad's name under the bus uh josh scoby who incredible human great kicker i think he's like the all-time leader in jaguars points maybe he had the other

raptor and i think both of those guys are stand-up dudes and wouldn't see them partaking in a hit and run um but also like as the intern dude you're like nobody's gonna get in trouble like just immediately rat out whoever it was like we all play for the team they immediately would have been just come to us and been like, hey, did this happen? You know, so I think by him not telling the truth to whoever he was reporting to, it's kind of like this dude maybe went on a joyride and dinged up the company

car. Wow. So blaming the kid now that none of it even happened. So Blake, listen, couple things. I was literally giving my son a bath at like 630 tonight and I love Blake. I was literally giving my son a bath at like 6.30 tonight. And I love Blake. I love Blake.

Like, part of my job is to make sure that everyone knows that Blake is one of the coolest, if not coolest, professional athletes I've ever had the joy of hanging out with. I've slept at his house. Good friend. Great human being. So I was sitting there and I was like, I should have asked Blake what color his truck was. So I texted him and I was like, Hey, just as an aside, were you driving a white Ford Raptor? And he's like, no,

two other guys had that. Mine was black. He sent me a picture of his truck. It is a black truck. And I was like, I have to get this this right I have to clear his name because when that email was read I was like there's no way that was Blake and also I agreed with what Blake just said and that just say it like just say it was a player and you you won't get in trouble because like it was you know 5 30 in the morning just like yeah player hit it they go to the player I don't know a couple grand to buff it out or whatever. You guys are all on the same team. So I'm just happy that my hero, Blake Portals, did nothing wrong here. And his name needs to be cleared once and for all.

I appreciate that support and the justice you're providing here. But also, there was security cameras in the parking lot. Because guys used to just flat out run into the gate all the time. And barely get to work. Because, dude, you're half asleep driving in there at 5 a.m not paying attention and just you run right into the gate and then like skip our security guard would come walking by and just be like hey bud we're gonna dock your paycheck a little bit today because we got to fix the gate you hit this morning so so did you ever hit the gate no i. I mean, I might have nicked it with a mirror or so, but nothing.

I never damaged the gate. All right, because the sentence again reads, like clockwork, Bortles would be the first player out of the hotel around 530 and would always elect to drive himself in his lifted white Raptor. So it doesn't add up. I think Blake is cleared here. It's wrong from the beginning.

It's not even the right color. Yeah. I did do it i do apologize because you know i like to think i've matured to become a bit of a better person over the past seven eight years you know and at that time at least whoever did it made eye contact with them in between those two they acknowledged it to each other and the guy was just i'm gonna listen blake is your defense attorney let's not do the if i did it thing oj didn't really work out for him so let's just say we didn't do it we didn't do it we wrong car this guy has spent seven years basically motherfucking blake's name thinking that he hit his dinged his car and cost him he probably would be the gm for the jags right now. Instead, the reality is

Blake had nothing to do with it. He's a completely innocent man and I need his name completely cleared and also follow up. He's the man for even hopping on and addressing an accusation seven years old of a car he never even owned.

A lot of strong evidence and the fact that you would come on and face it hours later, nothing to hide. Although I do think to tell isn't exactly the lesson here because I like that the emailer was the number one thing is protect the quarterback. So he thought he was protecting you, but maybe he was protecting

a kicker this entire time. I do protect that move on his behalf. You should have asked him to hop on too. Dude, what's going on? kicker this entire time yeah i do expect that move on his on his behalf i wouldn't you should have asked him to hop on too yeah him just be like dude what's going on imagine if he just hopped on this it was like we got blake here what's your beef um one last thing ryan yeah i i have to have blake just tell the quick story about when he moved to LA and the car that he purchased, because we're talking about Blake's cars and the reasoning behind it. Blake, do you want to share with Ryan? Because he'll appreciate this.

Yeah, sure. I actually, side note, just got rid. I bought a Tesla. I guess I'll start from the beginning. I bought a Tesla. First of all, if you go on Tesla's website, I'm not sure if it's still the same. I bought it'll start from the beginning. I bought a Tesla. First of all, if you go on Tesla's website, I'm not sure if it's still the same. I bought it in 18, I think. Well, I was bored one night on their website and you can full on design the whole car where you get

to the end and there's just a buy now button. And it was like, dude, it felt like I was on Amazon bagging a thing of toilet paper or something. And I was like, yeah, sure. I'll buy now. So I hit buy now. I immediately get an email like, where would you like it shipped or something and i was like yeah sure i'll buy now so i hit buy now i immediately get an email like where would you like it shipped yeah i was like wow this worked out great you know and i was fired up to have a tesla bit but um two two reasons i bought it one was i was moving to la i was going to play for the ram so i was like let's fit in a little bit also help the environment out we care about that and the other reason was uh i i dipped for a long time i dipped since i was like 12 or 13 years old i was like if i own an electric

car there's zero reason to go to a gas station yeah so like this will help me uh quit dipping and then i got out to la and ended up just driving my tesla to the gas station to buy dip. But I actually, not long ago, just traded a plan for another truck. So I worked for the environment. That would have been amazing if that worked out in Elon Musk. Like part of it would be, and if you're trying to quit dipping.

Yeah, I know. Quit dipping. I've kicked the bad habit, but the Tesla really didn't help all that much. It was a great... That's Blake Tesla really didn't help all that much. That's Blake. Blake bought a Tesla to quit dip. It's a great car. It didn't work.

Not near as well as I thought. And I felt like an idiot, like parking at the gas pump with a Tesla so I could run it and replicate my dip. This is the best guy in the world. I'm you this is why he's my favorite so uh well thank you to both of you guys and if you're ever accused of anything we'll reach out directly to you again i appreciate you guys having me on to clear my name thanks blake anytime okay thanks to saruti and kyle for today's podcast as we crank it up and get you ready football starting here

we got a bunch more guests lined up that we're excited about so please subscribe Ryan Ruff's little podcast ringer and Spotify Thank you.