The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Bruce Feldman and Le'Veon Bell | Dual Threat With Ryen Russillo (Ep. 12)

Episode Date: November 15, 2018

Russillo hits on Le'Veon Bell and the Steelers before talking with Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports about Alabama, fixing USC, and a strange story surrounding Ohio State. Then Russillo talks about his recent trip to Vegas before this week's Chris Fowler Trivia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, let's do this. Back in L.A. now, the Dual Threat Podcast. Thank you for subscribing, downloading, rating, review. And a special thank you to everyone at the live podcast show, the crossover event with myself, Kevin Clark, Robert Mays, from the NFL show, The Ringer Pod, the NFL show. Kyle, do Clark, Robert Mays from the NFL show, the Ringer pod, the NFL show. Kyle, do I have that right? You got it right. It's Ringer NFL show. There you go. Ringer NFL show. Because I thought of a bunch of different names after

we named this one dual threat and I knew that one was taken. So I wasn't allowed to do that. So we're going to have Bruce Feldman on from Fox. Also The Athletic. Check out some of the athletic stuff, by the way. Good stuff there. And I could probably do 30 minutes on Draymond Green and Durant, but that's not what this podcast is called. It's just not. So this is what I want to do. I'm going to do a little bit on Le'Veon Bell because I find this story fascinating in that it feels like so many of us didn't actually know what was in the CBA. I can handle the NBA one, guys. I can't be held accountable for knowing the NFL CBA. Okay?

I need the rest of you NFL reporters out there to figure that stuff out for me. So we're going to get all of that down. There was really not much change in the college football playoff rankings. That's why we delayed the release of this end because I was flying back from Vegas yesterday. And I think we may do just a fun little Women of the Night deal, Vegas style. We'll keep that one away from the reads, perhaps. Okay. For like 10 minutes in between.

Yeah, not my own personal experience, just as an observationalist, I guess. Yeah. All right. So that's what we're going to do. But first, what's up with that Yahoo Sports app? I'll tell you. What's Thanksgiving without football? It's like the moon without stars, macaroni without cheese,

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Okay, on Le'Veon Bell. This thing is really interesting, and it's actually borderline crazy and very unprecedented how this thing all came together. Okay? So at the beginning of it all, Le'Veon, and we'd known for a while like this was going to happen. He doesn't show up, even though a lot of people thought he was going to show up. And I think the biggest reason why his teammates were so upset and his offensive line called him out in a way that I just don't really see pro athletes call each other out like that. And we found out later it's because Le'Veon Bell told him he was coming to play. OK, so, yeah, see, there's nephew Kyle going, oh, I get it.

Now I get it. So that was some of that angst. I am not a Le'Veon guy. I'm not a running back guy. So, yeah, see, there's nephew Kyle going, oh, I get it. Now I get it. So that was some of that angst. I am not a Le'Veon guy. I'm not a running back guy. I would have taken Quentin Nelson over Saquon Barkley. I wouldn't have paid Todd Gurley this money. And everybody that goes, what are you kidding?

Todd Gurley's awesome. He just had to touch. It's not an argument about whether or not Todd Gurley's awesome or not, because he's awesome and I love him. And he's a great dude. And he gets it. He's the kind of guy you want to pay. But the Rams paid him before they had to. And that can't be really disputed. And I don't, I don't understand paying a running back that much money because there's so much evidence. James Connor alone is evidence that you don't have to pay Le'Veon Bell 14 and a half million

for the franchise tag or the supposed, I mean, some of the numbers for Bell were absurd over the years when he wanted to be paid as much as a running back and a receiver. And some of these numbers were being floated out at like 20 something million. And you go, okay. And then it was like, no, it's the guarantees. And I have all this stuff written down. Okay. But here is what is the most important thing to understand. Cause I was talking to a league source about this the last couple of days. And it wasn't like, Hey, what's Le'Veon going to do? It was all of a sudden the information that, the information didn't change, it just became more clear. So most of us, right, that care about the league,

care about this kind of stuff, we sit there and we go, all right, so he needs to come back, he needs to play those six games for this year to count, so therefore he can be a free agent, right? That's what all of us are going on. That's what all of us thought. Okay, he's going to sign.

He's going to be franchise tagged. When he comes back, he'll make the prorated version of the six games that he comes back so that he accrues a season. And then like a week ago, you hear, oh, actually, he doesn't have to do that. You're like, wait a minute, what? These last two months have been a lie. And like I said, I'll take care of the NBA stuff. And maybe I'll get some of that stuff wrong from time to time.

Because it's really complicated to go through and read this. But because the Le'Veon Bell thing is so unprecedented, and I was reading a Dan Graziano piece that said, you know, maybe we'll look back and judge Bell differently in years. And I'm going to get to that in a little bit. But I think it was Big Cat Williams, and then, oh, damn it. It's another big dude. They kind of like sat out, but they were sitting out for salaries of like a million, okay?

So in the new CBA, apparently, as all of us have, well, look, I'm not going to take the L on this one, but some of you guys should have known this. All of a sudden, it's leaked out that Le'Veon Bell doesn't have to come back and play in those six games for the season account. So here's the working theory that I have now from a league source who understands this stuff better than you and I. What if, and we don't have this confirmed or anything, but what if the Steelers didn't want Le'Veon Bell back?

Right? What if they go, Connor's been great. The team is winning since our tie with the Browns and this whole thing was weird. And we'll just ride this thing out and then we'll get the franchise. Excuse me, I think it'd be the transition tag on Bell so that way we get the compensatory draft pick later on

and he can go sign with somebody else. What if they were like, we actually don't want him back, but they didn't want to say that because some in the locker room who may not have turned on Bell or supportive could have been annoyed by that and maybe the fan base is going, wait a minute.

We like, we don't want one of the best running backs, maybe the best running back in the NFL back. Because that's the whole thing. Even though I'm not a huge living on Bell guy, he's amazing. He's awesome. Okay. So I'm not, don't think this is more about the personality, the timeline, the track record and the contract demand. That's, that's my thing. I'm anti running back more than I am anti a dude.

So Bell's like, wait, I don't have to come back? Well, I didn't want to go there anyway. I've been in camp in two years. I played last year, and I threatened to retire right before a playoff game against the Jags that, oh, by the way, we lost. So I'm not super into this whole team thing anyway. Like, yeah, I could come back and scrounge up some of the money. But then if the Steelers were to inform either Bell's agent or the media, and I know that Maurice Jones Drew had mentioned

this on a podcast too, that in the new rule that nobody seemed to know was that he doesn't have to come back to get the year to count. And there's also this uncertainty that I wasn't even able to confirm because some people have written about it, but I don't know that anybody has this 100% yet, is that would this year count as a year towards the franchise tag, meaning it would be a third franchise tag, which would then mean the Steelers would have to pay them quarterback money

north of $20 million for one year. Because if that were true, the Steelers wouldn't want to do it, and then they would also want to inform Bell and his reps, hey, by the way, next year, to tag you at 20 plus, we're definitely not doing that. So they get one little piece of asset back for what's been a huge annoyance to him the entire time. Now, I've read some other people say, and I like Jim Trotter a lot, but his headline was kind of, hey, it's his life.

Let him do his thing. He's a man. Come on, man. What are we all doing here? All we're doing is judging people like my last 15 years is having an opinion judging other men and sometimes women very rarely though doesn't go over as well now in 2018 um there was another writer jason reed who made it about race said it was i think the sharecropper mentality that we just have a hard time with guys making a lot of money.

I would have thought that was his worst tweet, except he had said before the draft, he'd wonder how high a draft pick would go if he were black. There were footage of him running away from cops like Baker Mayfield. And almost everybody immediately was like, are you seriously going there? Like Jameis Winston went one. So I'm getting sidetracked right now. So I'm going to get myself back on track. Le'Veon Bell's history is this. What?

He's this guy who came out of Michigan State who, again, a body transformation, a running transformation guy who's incredible. And he immediately, he's terrific, okay? We know how good he is. He's even better than we thought. Let me put it that way, okay? He gets suspended for the DUI. Then he gets suspended again for missing a drug test. And then

he started saying all sorts of stuff. He had some rap songs that he was releasing. He was saying it's going to be 15 mil and the price is going up and all that stuff. And you know what? Like, I could see how a team would go, maybe we don't want to give this guy a ton of money. And then it's been debated that he actually wasn't offered the $30 million guarantee that he was looking for because it was over two years. Well, the way that works, and I did some digging on that too, is that you could say technically he wasn't offered that. But I went back and looked at some of these deals.

That's, you could say technically he wasn't offered that, but I went back and looked at some of these deals. Some of the deals that he was offered, it was the three years 45, but the second part wasn't guaranteed until the first day of the second year, which means you're going to get that money. Okay? That means you're going to get that money because anybody giving you that kind of signing bonus or that kind of money guaranteed in that first year, they're not going to just cut you after the year unless you did something incredibly stupid. And even Bell, the team stuck by him because he's a terrific talent. So when I read, oh, he was only offered 10 – what I've noticed in this Bell thing like everything else is that if you're arguing he's only offered like 10 or 12 million guaranteed from guaranteed from the Steelers, and technically it wasn't really the $30 million guaranteed, you're arguing the side of Le'Veon Bell. You're pushing for that part of the Le'Veon Bell, even though letter of the law, you're kind of right.

But realistically, a lot of these deals, that's the second-year money that kicks in on day one of the new NFL year. All those guys are always going to get that money. They just are, because the team wouldn't put that investment to you and then say, hey, you know what we want to do in 364 days? Cut this guy. That, I think, may be what this is. I don't think the Steelers wanted him back. I think Le'Veon didn't know the rule because I don't think anybody knew the rule.

I don't think the agent knew the rule that he didn't have to come back for the six games because nobody had written about it. Then all of a sudden you hear, like, wait a minute, these first two months have been a total lie about what's going on? So now that it's leaked, that the tag thing isn't even defined, and let's just say it's north of $20 million, and the Steelers are like, we're not even going to tag you,

so why even bother coming back? I mean, unless Bell were just bored and wanted to try to make something on this year's $14 million and a half that he passed on, right? Like, hey, I'll come back, make $5 million and whatever. But it's pretty clear that his math that he's doing is not that. And that's what I can't figure out. Is Bell thinking that passing up on $14.5 million this year that he will then make it back in a new contract? Okay, the second highest annual salary running back before the Gurley deal was Freeman at like

$9 million. Okay? So if Bell gets three years, and you're just going to do it that way, a guaranteed money first three years of a new NFL deal, if Bell gets $45 million in the first three years of a new deal, and say it's just flat $30 million guaranteed, new team, $45 million in the first three years, forget the fake four and five year. Does that mean that Bell's math is like, look, that's cool. I got that 30 million guaranteed.

I avoided some kind of injury that possibly could have happened in 2018. I don't know. Because don't you think if you're Bell and even if you're playing 80% of the snaps over the next four years, wouldn't you have made more with the 14.5 this year and then what the money would have been in the next three years? Or is someone going to argue, well, by staying healthy in 2018 and being healthy for free agency in 2019, that means he gets an extra guaranteed year that he may not have gotten? I could see how you could get to that argument, but that would be really hard. If I were the client, if I were Le'Veon Bell and my agent were saying

sit out the year, and I don't think that's what's happening. I think Le'Veon Bell is calling all of the shots here and the agent's just kind of left at the mercy of the client, which is actually what's supposed to happen, and it's kind of weird when it doesn't, right? But I think what's happening is Bell just goes, I can lose $15 million this year and I'll make it up.

And I'm not saying there's not going to be some team with the cap going up and all the NFL TV deals about to happen. There's not going to be some team that stinks and wants some sort of splashy headline and signs somebody to a big, big, big number for the wrong reasons. But I don't know. I'd be thinking about, man, I could have made $15 million that year, and now I'm making this. I wouldn't be going, well, it doesn't matter that I lost $15 million because now I'm making this. I'd be going, I want it all. I don't want to miss a year of

earning opportunity. And I know the counter to that, again, is that the NFL is a little different and health and all those different things, but you can't just, I don't know. This whole thing was really, really weird. I think one of the interesting things is the Steelers, if this is true, coming to the conclusion that they go, you know what? We don't even want him back. Let's get this information out there, and let's hope he doesn't want to come back. And Shocker, the guy that hasn't really been about team the last two years, didn't come back.

And by the way, anybody that tweets upside-down letters, I wouldn't want to give a long-term deal to anyway. Bruce Feldman next. Burrow makes clever, uncompromising furniture for modern life at home. Just got my couch pretty fired up. And as the days get shorter, the weather gets colder and football,

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It's couch is like a 401k, you know, that's going to suck if you're 60 and, you know, like somebody's like, Hey, it's never too late for 401k. And you're like, it kind of is kind of too late for me. Should have done this 40 years ago. All right. So now that you're depressed from that by couch, you can get your living room ready for fall and save 10% off the entire site.

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like, you don't even know what a write-off is. So good work on that. That's not where I want to start this conversation. Just saying hello. How are you? I'm good. I appreciate you hooking me up with Eric in the first place because honestly, I covered college football and I didn't know how it worked. And so it was kind of fascinating to talk to him and bounce a lot of stuff off him.

And it's an interesting little rabbit hole to go down. There you go. Right. So check it out on The Athletic. A lot of good stuff there. I am a subscriber and I didn't even ask anybody for free login. That's how much I believe in my friends over there. The rankings come out last night and they're

unchanged from the playoff committee 1 through 10, which has never happened before. Not a huge surprise that that's the way it played out necessarily. There's a few issues but I do want to start at the top. And now that I've seen Bama in person, and as good as Tua is, and as good as the stats have been, and you could even argue, okay, whatever, he's getting hit a little bit more the last couple weeks,

Bruce, he's just, it's even more impressive in person. And I know statistically he wasn't brilliant in the LSU game, but seeing it firsthand, how do other coaches and maybe some of the NFL contacts that you have talk about Tua and what he adds to this Alabama run of 10 plus years? Yeah, I did a story going into that LSU game talking to guys who faced him about what they thought. And one of the guys I talked to was a longtime coach who spent a lot of years in the SEC. And I said, is he as good as the hype? He goes, he's even better than the hype.

Seriously? I mean, right now, the hype is out of control. He goes, he is able to see things that the other quarterbacks are not able to see. And his release is so good that he has made Alabama a completely different animal. And he said, you watch him in warmups. He's telling guys,

you lean into this a little bit. It's almost like a coach out there where you see a lot of other kids who are college quarterbacks. They're just warming up to basically get warm. And what he's doing is, you know, just finessing little things and nuance stuff. And this coach said, you know what they, when he's in the game, the running backs run better, the receivers run better routes and the old line blocks better. It's just different. And I would make the case. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on, on LSU with that. Oh, you're on there. That LSU is actually better than they were last year, but the gap between LSU and Alabama has wide. And a big, big reason for that is because Tua has made them just a completely

different animal than they've been at any point, as great as they were under Nick Saban. They're different now. And I think the gap between them and the rest of the college football, not just LSU, has widened. Yeah, watching him, you know, there was a play where he's flushed out to his left and I was on the Bama sideline towards the goal line. So, you know, they were maybe inside the 30. I mean, I could get real technical and go look this up, but I don't want to bore everybody, including you. But it was a third and eight or a third and nine,

and he got like eight yards. He was a yard short of the completion. That was one of the most impressive things I saw from him all day. It was so athletic, but yet his ability to run, he doesn't use it. It's not something he's planning on doing, but yet it sets him up a little bit like Mahomes in the NFL where Mahomes runs to throw. Tua does some of that stuff too. And one of the most interesting things I'd heard that whole weekend that I was down in Baton Rouge, because I was there like Thursday through forever, and David Pollock and I were hanging out over at the football facility,

and he goes, you know, what do you think of the game? And I go, even if I like LSU's defense and all the personnel, and I do think that they're a better team, that between Judy, who's nuts, and Waddle and Ruggs, like one of those guys is going to break. And that's not even including some of the other guys that have big numbers at receiver tight end. So I don't know how you can contain all of them.

And Pollock goes, you know, classic Pollock way. He almost makes you feel like a dick, like you got something wrong where he'll go like, oh, you think it's the receivers? Well, wait a minute. I go, I think that they're super deep. And usually it's like one guy. And he goes, it's all Tua. It's all Tua. And all Tua and he goes they had

Ridley last year you know and I go all right well fine um you know I didn't say Tua was bad and he made this point Bruce he goes um all the tape that he's studied of quarterbacks over all these years the Pollock's watch guys because Tua has this mechanism in his throwing where he's he flinches his shoulders so it's not like he's just looking you off. He goes, but when you watch the All-22, you'll see safeties and defensive backs darting off of his shoulder read and jumping away from where he's actually throwing. He goes, it's really unique, and NFL guys don't do it,

and it's a huge weapon because it's really, really natural, and the fact that he's left-handed, he just does things that mess with defensive backs that he hasn't even seen before. I thought that was really in-depth, even after I stopped feeling like I got the answer wrong. Yeah. I mean, I think there's some nuanced stuff that's really fascinating about him.

Like, first of all, you know, you said, mentioned his numbers when he went up against LSU has the best defensive backfield in the country. I mean, Grant Delpit's a great safety and both cornerbacks, not just Rudy Williams are really, really special. So, you know, to do that there on the road in that environment, as amped up as it was, that's not like just winning a regular game against a top 25 opponent. you know, our friend Trent Dilfer and the Elite 11 guys, they've known about Tua for a long time. And I sat in on one of these Friday night sessions where Tua, both Jalen Hurst and then Tua addressed the high school quarterbacks.

And somebody had asked them, like, how were you able to come into this situation last year where you're basically just got to school, you are from Hawaii, all school. You are from Hawaii. All these other kids are from, all these other guys are from other places. You had a lot of seniors and everything. How did you just kind of fit in?

And his whole answer was very telling. It was just like, you know, I don't see it that way. I'm just, they grew up playing the game they love. I grew up playing the game I love. It's just in a different part of the world, different part of the country. That's it. Like, I think with his mind,

a lot of times quarterbacks overcomplicate things. They think about all this other stuff. It's almost like a bad golfer will have all these swing thoughts going through their head and they end up topping them or something. With Tua, it just seems like somehow the way he's wired, he's only thinking about the stuff that really only matters. He doesn't overcomplicate it.

He's just very, very even keel. I know some guys in that program who are coaches, and they just are kind of blown away by his temperament. Those things are hard to measure until you're in the middle of really high-pressure situations, whether it's a national title game or Saturday night at Tiger Stadium. And that's a hard thing. You can talk about how great his arm is. You can talk about how fast the guy can run and all this other stuff. But if you can just be really calm in the middle of things

and see everything and anticipate things, oh, man, that makes you special. And that's why I think he's so good. So if we go further down the rankings, it's Bama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan. And the thing I always struggle with every year is, and I think the committee, as they've said from the beginning, is it's the best four teams, it's the best four teams, it's the best four teams, which I thought was what everybody wanted and since they've done it, that's clearly what no one wants because they're all worried they're going to get left out.

I would pick Georgia against Notre Dame or Michigan in a neutral field. But the cost of a loss has to mean something. So as I debate best team, I have to then go, well, wait a minute. Why do we play this? Why do we keep track of the score and all these things? How would you... Would you pick Notre

Dame or Michigan to beat Georgia for you on a neutral field? I might pick Notre Dame. I would take Notre Dame out of this argument Georgia for you on a neutral field? I might take Notre Dame. I would take Notre Dame out of this argument. I know I kind of felt for Reese and the ESPN guys last night because I was like, man, they got an hour to talk about kind of nothing. This is the same place we were last week. Try three hours a day.

And so the debate started to kind of morph into Notre Dame or Michigan. I don't think we're there yet because Notre Dame actually played Michigan and beat them. And let's see if Notre Dame loses before we're at that point. Because I do think, you know, this isn't UCF. I mean, Notre Dame plays a big boy schedule throughout the course of the year. And they did beat Michigan. I think they haven't lost. They had their hands full with Pitt

and a couple other teams, but they haven't lost. Whereas Georgia lost by 20. They got blown out by LSU. So I think if you want to make the case who should be four, whether it's Michigan or Georgia, I think that's a worthwhile argument's a worthwhile, you know,

argument to have at right now. I mean, the truth is that part of it's probably going to get sorted out too, though. Now I know they don't play each other, but if Georgia beats Alabama, that's going to be the best one of the season. If Michigan ends up beating Ohio state on the road, that's a really good win. They're not going to get a huge push because they're probably playing Northwestern, who probably won't be ranked, or maybe it'll be like 24th in the Big Ten title game. I think Georgia could leapfrog potentially Michigan if they beat Alabama. And I don't think

they're going to beat Alabama, but if they do, that would be, I think voters would look at that and go, man, they're playing better than anybody. Look who they just beat. Nobody would have a win like that. But we're not there yet. I think we're just now kicking around the hypotheticals. But for me, the most interesting one is Georgia-Michigan at this point because I think that's relevant.

You know what, you're right. Because the Notre Dame thing keeps coming up. And as of now, even if I think Georgia's better than them, I should not include them in that kind of debate. If Michigan ends up beating Ohio State, though, and look, if Georgia loses again, all this mood, it doesn't matter if Bama's undefeated. I think the real scary thing is that,

and this is where the conspiracy theorists are out there, whether they feel like they're keeping LSU propped up so they can support Alabama by having LSU. Right, but here's the thing. If it's a close loss and Bama loses to Georgia, so that means Georgia has to be in, and then you'd leave out a 12-1 Michigan. If it really is about the best teams,

I wouldn't have had a huge argument about it. But I think this is where the conspiracy theorists lose their mind too much, is that do you really think the committee having LSU at seven makes the argument to keep Alabama in at four in a close SEC title game loss?

It's a more acceptable argument than say if LSU were 11th? Like that's splitting, it doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter. I think people are getting over their skis with that one. I think the LSU being seven, I was a little surprised to see it.

I mean, they struggled against an awful Arkansas team on the road last week. Yeah, but throw out the records. Throw out the records when it's in Fayetteville. But I think looking at all this, I think what they're seventh is because they blew out Georgia, who the committee really values. To me, what I wonder about, I don't know. Every year the committee makeup changes a little bit. But do people look a little more skeptically at Notre Dame than they do at Clemson? Because, you know what?

We've seen a Dabo Sweeney team not that long ago, not just hang with Alabama, which they did one year, but they beat Alabama. The last time Notre Dame, albeit much different players, but with Brian Kelly was in this situation, they played Alabama and got blown off the field. And so I think for a lot of people, you're going to get the benefit of the doubt to Clemson. I think you're going to give some of the benefit of the doubt to Georgia because we saw them go toe to toe with them. Whereas if you're Notre Dame, you know, I don't know if I wouldn't call that conspiracy theory. I just think that's a little bit of human nature.

Unless you're a diehard Notre Dame fan, if you're thinking objectively, the question you posed to me a couple of minutes ago, do you think Georgia would beat Notre Dame? I know they had a close game last year in South Bend, but I just think it's harder for people to go. I could see Georgia having a shot at Alabama. I don't think they'd beat them.

I don't see Notre Dame having it. And so it gets into that best versus most deserving. And so I can see why people are kind of already tensing up for this because they could get to that point pretty easily. But I think Alabama is going to handle their business. And then I don't think the Georgia or the second SEC team is going to be a relevant factor. Yeah, but if you're bringing up six years ago getting destroyed by Alabama and Miami, I think that's unfair.

And even if it is human nature. I think some of the people do that. I do too. It'd be hard to think that not one person in there wouldn't think of it that way. But, you're right. I mean, that is human nature. That's why, as much as they say it's week-to-week, each rankings, each room is different every single year, we bring in no preconceived

notions, you can't help yourself. You just can't. And they don't just do it with Alabama. They do it with a lot of the teams that were successful, really successful the year before. Did you have more on that? Because I feel like I cut you off a little bit. No, I mean, I just think it's, you know, I think a lot of times this stuff feels manufactured where it becomes a talk show.

And I think a lot of fans and even some media, you know, sit there and they watch, you know, Reese and the guys kick around stuff and they feel like there is like the conspiracy theory kind of feeds into it where people are going well they're talking they're kicking up the dust and now all of a sudden they're going to influence people to think this way or the people behind there think that way and in reality i just think that sometimes they just need stuff to talk about to fill an hour um it's fun though right i mean that's what we used to love doing on the radio show is we come up with three teams for one spot and then make up their resume at the end. And, you know, at this point, even if I mean, the weird thing would be like, look, we'll see what happens in Notre Dame and Syracuse, because after the Stanford win, where I felt like Stanford, Stanford was seventh, but they'd won that game against Oregon. And I know I've already done this in the podcast with other people. So I don't want to do it for all the listeners over and over again. I've already done this in the podcast with other people,

so I don't want to do it for all the listeners over and over again. But at that point, I'm going, you know, Notre Dame's all right, but this schedule will end up being completely underwhelming when it felt like on paper it was impossible to navigate. And that was back at the end of September. Looking ahead, you go, you know who might be the toughest game left is a game at home against Syracuse. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see what USC looks like at the next couple weeks.

You have them this week? I do. It's Chip Kelly's first game against these guys as the UCLA head coach. They're both limping to the finish line. A lot of drama out here in our neighborhood here about Clay Helton's future after they lost to Cal. So we'll see. What do you think happens there? Who would be the guy to fix it for USC? That's a tough question because USC always kind of goes to somebody they know, and it's usually an underwhelming move. You know, you look at USC, like at one point people said, oh, some of the people who Lin Swan listened to really want to see Hugh Jackson. You're like, what? Hugh Jackson?

But it's like it's USC. You can kind of see some of this kind of bizarre thought process. You know, Jack Del Rio is another guy, former USC player. I hear him all the time. I've been hearing that for like 10 years with Jack Del Rio. Yeah, you know what? Only if he brings the

eight-ball jacket back. Yeah, I don't see USC being, thinking like, hey, you know what? Jeff Roms is a really smart coach. Let's go get him. who brings the eight ball jacket back? Yeah, I don't see a USD being thinking like, hey, you know what? Jeff Brom's a really smart coach. Let's go get him. Let's go see if we can get Matt Campbell. I could see like Ohio State if they had the coaching search do that. I could

see, you know, if you're USD, do you go get Stanford Steve's favorite head coach and try to go see if you can get James Franklin back on the West Coast? There are options. You're USC. They're like, I don't want to say it's the easiest job in the country, but it is, it is built in a way that no other place like a power program is because if you're at, if you're at Ohio state, you still have Michigan. And for like, that is a one in one a, if you're in Alabama, you got LSU, you got

Auburn, you got, you know, Florida, Georgia, there's a lot of other heavyweights. Even if you're at Texas, you have Oklahoma. When you're at USC, there is no one. All these kids in Southern California grew up wishing to be Trojan. You have such an advantage. Um, one of the guys used to have Pete Carroll staff had told me, I ran into him not that long ago and he said at USC you don't recruit you just evaluate all the other kids want to be here um so I don't know what they do I mean from everything I've heard Lynn Swan would like to keep Clay Helton and give him more time if he can now if he loses this week and ends up on a three-game losing skid against Cal, a down UCLA program, and then Notre Dame and gets embarrassed, I don't know.

All bets would be off, I think, at that point, because I think it becomes hard for them to sell tickets going into 2019. Being out here now, it is amazing how frustrated everyone is. But then, as you say, other programs go, well, no, we just expect to go get the guy. And by the way, there's just not nearly as many guys. I can't even think of how many hires recently that program went.

Yep, we're pumped. Like how many times in the last 10 years has a program gone? Absolutely nailed it. Ohio State, Saban would have been before that. I think Tom Herman would be some of that as well. You're talking about

a big, big time. You're not talking about Purdue goes and gets Jeff Rahm and everybody. I'm not talking about Dave Doran. No. The guy across town is that way. Chip was the right. I certainly think Washington got that

when Chris Peterson kind of fell on their lap when USC took Stark off their hands. I think that it's just, it's USC. For as great as the place is, it has a really kind of warped sense of things when it comes to these decisions. And so, you know, if I'm a USC fan, I'm kind of scared to death when I hear, wait, they think Hugh Jackson's a good idea. I was like, what now? I mean, and, you know, you'd hope somebody has talked them off the ledge. Um, but who knows? He was out here last week. He was out here. I met him at the Fox green room last week. He's technically, he might be a colleague of mine for all I know right now. That would be weird. First take, Fox,

USC head coach. Although it works out that way. I've had guys be like, hey, is so-and-so going to make his 145 hit? And they go, well, he's actually interviewing with the 49ers right now. And you're like, oh, okay. Can you give me one minute on Chip, how that's going? Because I watched all the first half games.

You know what? I think we had a Nebraska Ohio State game the other day, and it was Nebraska gave them all they could handle. They are a two-win team. Scott Frost has them on the right track. They have a great young quarterback. I say that to get to this point. I think the expectations were really low for this team.

Chip Kelly did not inherit much. They start one senior, I think, on offense and one on defense. It's going to get a lot better. I think it's a big culture shift from where things were running out of gas under Jim Mora. You know, it's been underwhelming, but at the same point, I think if I was a UCLA fan, I'd be excited about where it's going just because you know his track record is too good and he's too smart of a coach not to get this thing cranked up. And the Pac-12 style is definitely there for the taking. Look how bad it is right now.

I want to do another coaching kind of topic because it stirred back up again, and that is the former assistant Zach Smith for Ohio State who went on a bit of a tweet rampage this weekend. He's calling out Tom Herman for all sorts of stuff, then showed a DM that he sent to Herman, basically saying, I'm going to call you out on everything you've done. And then Herman just DMs back, hook him with the fingers in the air. What is going on with this guy? Well, it's a nutty kind of combination.

I don't know if exactly the two stories are connected. I mean, in fairness, the allegation was that Zach Smith had used a racial slur towards one of his players who ended up leaving and transferring to Florida. I mean, that story in itself, I'll be honest, and I worked with Brett McMurphy. I consider him a friend. That probably should never have been published. Um, I just didn't think that story was buttoned up to go with, I mean, that accusation for all the horrible things you could say about Zach Smith and they have been said, and, you know,

I wouldn't take issue with them. Um, the idea of the, you know, that was one piece of it. And the idea that Urban Meyer would look the other way after a racial slur, you know, think about how much upheaval that could cause within his program. I mean, you can say a lot of stuff about Urban Meyer and be skeptical. That's one thing I don't think. And the other thing I, I, that struck me about that story was, you know, I spent a bunch of time around Columbus in the last year and got to know some of their players, especially the leaders of the team or the receiver group, the Johnny Dixon, the Paris Campbells. I follow some of those guys on social media. They speak out about social media, social justice issues and race issues all the time. I find it unbelievable that they would have heard their position coach slur one of their teammates and they would not, they would have looked the other way. I mean, to me, those players are actually more credible than I think the coaches are in this regard. So it was a nutty story. It was, again, I think it left a lot of us scratching our heads how it got into print.

But then the other part of this, the subplot to it, which could ultimately, you know, who knows where it's going, because Zach Smith seems so unhinged, is he's bringing up Tom Herman's, you know, alleged indiscretion and stuff that goes on out on the road. And, and who knows what the heck Zach Smith may have, whether he has it in, in, in pictures, right? I don't know what, you know, that stuff.

You just don't know where it's going. I mean, he's tweeting at Tom Herman's wife about this too. Um, I mean, it really is like the Springer show comes to life in college football. And I think if you're a Texas person, if you're a Texas fan, or if you're certainly not just Tom Herman, somebody who works for them, you're like, I don't know what this guy has, but it's kind of

unsettling to think that this guy can kind of throw a, throw a, you know, a, a social media grenade out there and you don't know what kind of effect it's gonna have you know um you know who knows i remember a couple of i happened to be in austin texas when there were reports about uh the night out that tom herman and zach smith went to a strip club while they were out recruiting and look i'll be honest i mean it's a weird story to even process because in the media you're like all right what am I supposed to do with this I had no issue against them yeah it's not against the law to go to go into a strip club I'm sure you know the ADs wouldn't be thrilled about it

but it's like these are football coaches I mean how many times have you been out with I mean I'm not putting you on the spot here but Hugh Jackson is strip has tripped club zero times. Okay. I've been out with co-workers where we've probably been in some places where we probably shouldn't be. But, you know, that's the reality. And so I think this would... This potentially could go

into a different place. But just the idea where Tom Herman, who's one of those guys you said, was a rock star at the University of Houston, goes to Texas. He starts...

He's got that program headed in the right direction. And now you've got this completely unhinged guy from his past rock star at the University of Houston, goes to Texas. He starts, he's got that program headed in the right direction. And now you got this completely unhinged guy from his past. You know, it feels a little bit like, you know, like kind of a creepy movie that has an aspect of it. Yeah. Where Zach loses me. And there's a few parts in the timeline, right? But he started doing the whole, I haven't, I've never done anything wrong thing. And you just go, all right, you know, I got to even know what you have or what you're saying or not, but he started doing the whole, I have, I've never done anything wrong thing. And you just go, all right, you know, I got to even know what you have or what you're saying or not, but I can understand, uh, being upset. I can understand almost being vengeful at some point,

but then you also have to kind of look in the mirror a little bit and go, you know, what parts am I responsible for? And, uh, clearly he, he has no concept of that at all. And I don't know. I've kind of got a thing about guys. Like if you don't like a guy, that's one thing. But to do this kind of stuff, to go with somebody's family, I don't know, man. It was just so weird. You know, maybe more importantly, is Ohio State any good?

Because they're 9-1. They're 10th in the playoff rankings, but we know the path back. I didn't think they were impressive at all at Michigan State in that 26-6 win. I felt like the Spartans kind of gave it to them there at the end, not to say they couldn't win it. They'll beat Maryland. Then they finish up at home against Michigan. The other side of the Big Ten West isn't good.

Northwestern's going to be playing in that game. And I hear stuff, I don't know if all of this stuff, this offseason, the urban suspension, if it's part of it, that's classic us to go Ohio State doesn't look like themselves. Well, it has to be, and we draw the direct line to it has to be all the Urban Meyer stuff and all these

things. I've heard some stuff that Shiano can be more difficult now, that his sort of self-repairing thing is over and he's back to being a little bit more difficult. And then even Haskins, who in the first few weeks you go, oh my gosh, maybe those recruits that were yelling for JT Barrett to be benched were right. And now he's had moments where I don't think they look good. And let's face it, the Purdue loss, they got smoked. They got kicked around by Purdue.

So even though I can go, you know what? They could be back in this thing at 12-1. Maybe that's what the committee's rooting for because maybe they don't think they're going to be any good at 12-1 despite a win against Michigan. So I guess it's a really hard team to give up on because of that talent, because of Urban. But there's been a few – it's been more than a few games. Well, I would say it this way. It's more than just one game where they haven't looked like a team worthy of being in the playoff.

Yeah. I mean, we did them their game, the week after they got the game after they got blown out by Purdue and everybody expected them to just destroy that two win Nebraska team. And it didn't happen. I mean, they were fortunate to get out of there with a win where if you look back last year, you know, we also had them after they got blown out at Iowa and they destroyed Michigan

state the next time out. So there's something a little off with this team. They don't run the ball consistently. Well, like most urban Meyer teams do they're shaky and pass protection at times. And they give up a lot of big plays. And I think, you know, inside the program, one of the things that comes up a lot is some of these guys who, you know, they lost a lot of big plays. And I think, you know, inside the program, one of the things that comes up a lot is some of these guys who, you know, they lost a bunch of three and out guys. And then they had other five-star guys who people expect would just jump right in. And there wouldn't be, there wouldn't be a hiccup. Well, there's been a lot of hiccups, you know, and you look at, you know, they, they have their hands full against TCU. TCU had a bunch of big plays and,

and had over 500 yards. TCU, that team, turned out to be not good at all this year. So I think there's been more warning signs. It's just when you look at this team, you still see Dwayne Haskins, who can throw as well as just about anybody. You see a bunch of speed. Even without Nick Bosa, who they do miss, but even without him, they got some really good athletes from the D-line.

So you're like, okay, they got a puncher's chance. I think it's hard sometimes for us to kind of let go of a team that's underwhelming but kind of keeps winning a little bit. It's a little bit like that Florida Jameis team, you know, at the end of his time there where they got the benefit of the doubt because they find ways to win kind of ugly, but eventually it became their undoing. And I think that's kind of where we are with this Ohio State team.

They're good, but I don't think they're close to great. And I'm not sure they can get there. But, you know, I think that Michigan game, just because Michigan hasn't been able to overcome them since Harbaugh's been there, you don't know what's going to show up there in Columbus that day. Final thought. I had this thing that I've been talking about, and I've been doing it kind of everywhere,

is that with this NFL evolution of what people are looking for, that owners are just going to go, hey, I want the next young guy, and I don't even care if he's been, at least give me Cliff Kingsbury as an offensive coordinator, but Tech has actually been better.

You've been writing about them. I know it's not the record people are looking for, but I think anybody watching Texas Tech this year has to argue that they feel like they're more competitive this year. What's the next – who's the next guy? Because you do this really good job of still talking to a lot of NFL people about it too. Who are the names that come up that go, you know, if I have this NFL team and I have a young quarterback, this is a list of three or four names of people at the college level that I want to just go ahead and grab and maybe pay an absurd amount of money to try to look like the Chiefs look or look like so many of these other

young teams, because that's what's going to be. I mean, I really think that's what's owners, owners are going to find that to be the next quick fix and have them are going to get it wrong. Yeah, you know, he's not all that young. But if I'm an NFL team, I go, you know what? Forget Louisville. I want Jeff Brom to run my off. He is really smart. You talk to smart people in football.

They'll talk about who they think is really smart. Jeff Brom's name almost always comes up first. You know, if you look at I'm glad you mentioned Cliff. who they think is really smart, Jeff Brown's name almost always comes up first. You know, if you look at, I'm glad you mentioned Cliff. Cliff is a guy who spends so much time studying film of good NFL and good college. And, you know, he's one of these guys who, out of the league's tree, but a little different from Dana Holgerson, where he's really good with matchups and different things. I think Cliff would be a really, really good NFL offensive coordinator.

But I don't think it's going to come to that. Another name to me, you know, people know about Matt Campbell. I wouldn't say he's like one of these, you know, offensive mastermind kind of guys. His teams just play hard and he knows how to develop and get everybody ready. I mean, the fact that Iowa State is 5-2 in their last seven games against top 25 teams and 3-0 on the road is remarkable. I mean, it's friggin' Iowa State. Yeah, shout out to Ames. Yeah, he's really good.

And then the last name I would say is Neil Brown. No one in the NFL is going to hire the guy from Troy, but he's 38. I mean, he's won, I think he's like 29 and seven there. And he took over a team that was under 500 the previous couple of years. He's going to get a much bigger job sooner than later. He's just really, really smart attention to detail guy who everybody around him talks about how he develops, not just players, but people around him.

And he, he originally played in the Halmahmi Air Raid, but he's not a pure Air Raid guy. He does a lot of other different stuff. I think he should be on people's radar because he's just really, really sharp. Have fun this weekend, man. You're the best. And let's finally try to get together.

Yeah, let's get together once the season dies down. So you got USC, UCLA, right? Yeah, and then we got the Apple Cup. That's right. The Apple Cup for all the apples. Thanks, man. All right. You're right.

Okay, before we get to Chris Fowler trivia and some of the stuff we're going to do at the end here, I want to thank the people at Belvedere. No kidding. Them being a part of the live show at Caesars this past Monday was incredible. Also, if you want to go to the Ringer podcast page, if you just go to the live show at Caesars this past Monday was incredible. Also, if you want to go to the Ringer podcast page, if you just go to the NFL show, they're posting the live show as one of their podcasts. So I think they're probably going to do another one, too.

But you can check out that live show if you want to do that. And we're going to keep these things rolling because Belvedere, they were awesome. we're going to keep these things rolling because a Belvedere, they were awesome. I'm not, you know, trying to do the, the kiss butt thing here, but they were really just a cool staff and everybody that came out.

Jasmine was there. She was a big fan of the show. So that was really, really great to hear from her produced in one of the world's longest running distilleries. Belvedere vodka is the world's finest, all natural vodka crafted by a collective of master distillers. Belvedere is made with non-GMO Polish rye,

pure water, and no additives. Recognized for quality, Belvedere was named the ISC World Vodka Producer of the Year in 2015, 2016, and in 2017. Belvedere's unparalleled quality reminds me of a run that my favorite basketball player of all time. See, this is written for Simmons.

See? Leave this in. Okay? The script says, Belvedere's unparalleled quality reminds me of a run that my favorite basketball player of all time, the legend Larry Bird, had in the 80s when he won the MVP award three years in a row, 84, 85, and 86.

In addition to two NBA Finals MVP awards in 84 and 86. In addition to two NBA finals MVP awards in 84 and 86. Of course, topped off by titles in those years as well. Look, I like Bird a lot, but anybody who knows me knows that Chuck's my guy.

All right? I'm not talking about Chuck Daly. Charles Barkley is my favorite player of all time. He's my favorite athlete of all time. Maybe we'll have him on to talk college football.

That'd be fun. Bird in the Celtics. No, look, I'm really happy with Belvedere. I think Belvedere's happy with us, but you know, I can't be reading the lie to you people. This was written for Bill. Did Bill decide? Alright, we'll talk to Simmons about this later. Everybody makes

a joke as soon as Bill comes on. They're like, he came on to talk about Saquon Barkley. It took 30 seconds for him to mention Jason Tatum. Bird in the Celtics of that era. Played a brand of basketball. Was the utmost quality. Just like Belvedere vodka. Enjoy a delicious cocktail with Belvedere vodka today.

And remember to always drink responsibly. I think the thing is, is that if you're Belvedere, you don't want to say that our run was much like Charles Barkley's run of first round or second round exits with the Sixers and then forcing a trade to Phoenix. That's fair. Right. That's fair.

What would the Charles Barkley vodka be? Well, you know what? We're not going to bring him up because we don't want to name anything. I don't think we're allowed to. As far as I'm concerned, there is no other vodka. It's only Belvedere. Okay, before we get to my new deal with Hopsi, pretty excited about them. I was in Vegas for, let's see, I got there Sunday day, Sunday night.

Yeah, so I was only there two nights. So I was flying in from Norman, Oklahoma. Nice win, by the way, Bedlam, great game. And we didn't bring up Oklahoma at all with Bruce. I'll do that next week, okay? Sooners fans, I promise. I don't really have a lot because I kind of got out of there and I was in bed McShay and leaving those guys stayed in Oklahoma city. And I was so spent. And from the night I've

had cigarette smoke issues all week. So the first night I was in my hotel in Norman, I woke up at 3.00 AM and with all the fire news going on out here, and I've had a couple of family members affected by the whole thing. They're safe. Everything's fine. I think one guy lost his house though. Obviously super close. But I woke up at like three in the morning and I'm all messed up different hours. And I'd been only, I'd only been home now. I counted up five days of the last 28. I think that's, I think that's the number. So now I'm home and I'm gonna be here for a little while and I'm happy about that. And I'm not complaining or anything like that. You know what I'm saying? It just a lot, a lot. And at 3am I'm in the hotel. And by the way, I want a hotel. If I ever open up a hotel chain, I don't know if the beds are going to be good. I

don't even know if there'll be clean. I don't know if we'll charge you for parking that you didn't use and do what half the hotels I check out of do all the time. I don't know what I can promise you, but what I would, what we'd be built on, our mission statement, our brand, be like, we're Sillow Hotels. You know what they're good for? The remotes on the TV work. And I'm not talking about the batteries being dead. I'm talking about whatever messed up thing happens in a hotel room with the remotes where you never have the right angle. So you're tired in your bed, but what you're doing is this weird forearm workout, like you're rowing because you're just trying to read, all right, how does this remote interact with a TV? And the remote will

interact with a TV just enough that you don't give up. Keep you hooked. Yeah. Except that it's going to suck the whole time. You're like, oh, the channel's not going to change. And then you go rapid fire channel up. And then all of a sudden it's this massive delay. And then it shoots up 10 past the channel that you wanted. Then you're trying to find its way back down. The volume goes up great, but it doesn't go down. Our hotel rates may be bad. Okay?

We may gouge people during awful things. You know, I'm just saying our remotes are going to be great. So I'm in this hotel with the remote not working, so I actually ended up opening up the laptop and threw on a movie that way. And then as I toss and turn, I pick up the laptop. I'm actually going to elbow this laptop into just a total sleep deep REM deal and be like, what happened to my laptop? I'm like, oh, yeah, whatever.

So cigarette smoke just pouring into, yeah, well, whatever. All right. So cigarette smoke, just pouring into the room, pouring like a vent. Okay. Kind of like oceans 11 where they make that guy's room. Oh, wait a minute. Oceans 13. Yeah. Sorry. Many people don't confuse oceans 11 with oceans 13, but I just did. Uh, When they have the guy that's reviewing the hotels... Wait a minute. No, no. It is Ocean's 11. No? Now, Ocean's...

Oh, my God. This is terrible. This is terrible. I'm going to say it's Ocean's 13. Yeah, it's Ocean's 13. Yep. It is. You got it got it go oceans 13 smell scene and they put bugs in the guy's room that's the other thing too is i have a massive a massive bed bug rash all over my legs it sucks i got up super early and jumped in the ocean this morning

to try to kind of feel like salt water fixes everything by the way really cool site i'm sitting there reading uh a book this morning. And the beach is always empty in the morning. People look at me like I'm a weirdo because there's no one down there. And I jump in and out of the water. There's no one there. And a guy was jogging by. And he goes, hey, Russillo, listen to Dual Threat right now.

How's that? As he was jogging. And I went, oh, hey, man. I'm just sitting here, shirts off, reading a book. What's going on there? I'm a bad Googler. I keep going. I remember Ocean's 13. I don't remember that. Research is terrible a book. What's going on there? I'm a bad Googler. I keep going. I remember Ocean's 13, and I don't remember that.

Research is terrible right now. It's not great. The IT department sucks for this show. Smell scene. Not super descriptive, but... Yeah, they try to make sure that they're not going to get the five diamond rating, so the guy that comes in and...

I see pheromone scene, but that's something else, isn't it? That's Damon. Yeah, that's Damon, pheromone. Speaking of natural pheromones. So as you looked that up, yeah, cigarette smoke came billowing in. And then what happened was it was some Sooner fan just puffing darts up into their bathroom vent next door to me. Oh, nice. And they turned on the vent and then it just billowed into my room.

And then, I don't know, I couldn't sleep the whole time I was there, and I didn't even go out. I didn't do anything. I just had a really bad order with a chicken place. I got super upset. I staked out for like about 90 seconds. I threw it in the garbage in front of everybody. It was about two hours late.

The soda, I didn't even order a soda and they sent me one and all the ice had melted. And the guy even was kind of like embarrassed. He's like, yeah, we kind of screwed up your order. And I went and I opened it up. Everything was ice cold and they put the wrong thing on everything. And I had a total, I don't take steroids, but I had a real roid rage for about 90 seconds, threw it in the garbage and then took a deep breath and said, okay, you know, let's reassess where we're at here and get some dinner because you got to watch the rest of, uh, the hell game was I watching? Oh, LSU Arkansas after, um, it's 13. It is 13. Yeah. Yeah. I let myself get my head there, but I'm glad that I came back with conviction. Hookers. That's the point I was

trying to make. Okay. Uh, I love watching it all go down. I'm, I'm not a voyeur. Like I'm not going up to the room with you. All right. And I'm never like anybody that's a big prostitute guy is never going to say, you know what I am? I love, I love, you know, I love fiction and hookers. You know, you're not going to meet a guy that says that, like, if you're into prostitutes, you're likely not going to tell many people about it. All right. So me saying I'm not into it, like you may not believe me, but I just, I'm just telling you,

I'm a cuddler. I could never, I could never be into that. You know, I like to cuddle too much. I was just a big cuddler. What can I tell you? And prostitutes from what I've heard aren't super into that part.

So, um, I, I think, uh, watching the lobby thing go down. Cause you can't really be like, Whoa,

is this some smoke show from Iowa just hanging out on a Monday? And that's always the sad thing, because if you're there with your convention, it's the one convention of the year and your name's Dale. And let's just say you're divorced. All right. And it's been a slow go. And Tinder isn't what you thought it was going to be because you're 40. And it's been a slow go. And, you know, Tinder isn't what you thought it was going to be because you're 40.

And this girl walks up and you're just, you see the guy and he's so, he's like, wow, look at this. And then no one in the group knows the deal. And all the guys are like, wow, Dale, she's hotter than your ex-wife. You're like, well, no kidding. And then just kind of watch it all play out. And then sometimes I feel bad for the prostitute. Cause then the guy will say like, oh, I'm sorry. Like, I didn't know. I didn't, I didn't know the deal was, I thought you just picked me because of my brown dress shirt. You know, like, hey, are you Dwight Schrute? No, no, I'm Dale. I'm here with the Polaris Convention. We make the best damn snowblowers you've ever seen.

And, you know, I kind of watch. I had like a drink and I watched in the lobby for a little bit. And I just, I don't know. I'm just fascinated by all of it. I think I have more to say, but I mean, I guess this is the ringer pods. I can kind of do what I want. But I like to watch the interaction. I like to see how hypnotized the dudes are. I like to see kind of do what I want, but I like to watch the interaction. I like to see how hypnotized the dudes are.

I like to see kind of the sell. I like to see when it's like really aggressive. Let's just put it this way, where it doesn't look like they'd ever be a match. And you go, whoa. And the guy's like just sort of scared and intimidated. And then sometimes you'll start to see the haggling over price. Downstairs. Yeah, right.

And then, you know, is this, is it a Kimbrel deal or is it Mariano? You know, where like eventually the elevator's still in play and the transaction happens,

but along the way, like you can tell when it's going to go down and then there's a Kimbrel where it's just, I don't know, what the hell, are you going to get out

of this inning or not? Are you just going to be standing there the whole time? And then I start thinking, like if I lived in Vegas, I'd like to become friends with the prostitutes? Are you just going to be standing there the whole time? And then I started thinking, like, if I lived in Vegas, I'd like to become friends with the prostitutes. Like, I'd like to be, you know, I don't know where they would hang out on off nights,

but I'd like to be there. I'd like to just talk and share stories. Like, well, let me tell you about the time Steve Levy made a mistake on SportsCenter. And then she goes, oh, that reminds me of two weeks ago at the Cosmo. And I'd be like, that was a weird transition. And she and she's like well I thought we were talking about our jobs like oh that's right sorry Dawn talk about fans right right yeah you know lingerers I know I sound um I don't know if

I sound creepy right now I think I just I'm an observer of people and it was something I hadn't seen in a while and I saw it this week and I could have sat there and watched it the whole time. Cause then you always wonder too, much like your buddy that thinks the stripper likes him, you, you kind of have that like, well, I'm in shape. like probably just she probably just like me you know probably probably not even gonna get charged you know this would be like a good hookup like uh you're probably off the clock now right you know i'm trying to do? I was trying to sound like Archer there at the end. And Archer, how bad does Archer look now that he's doing sandwich ads for Arby's? That guy looks terrible.

I never, I was like, you know. Too much bread. Yeah, just too much, too many carbs and whiskey and tequila and vodka and everything else. And I'm sorry. and vodka and everything else and i'm sorry i get the brian from family guy far more than i've ever gotten to archer i want people to say that i sound like archer but i don't i could i think i'm like i have it working my head right now where i'm i'm trying to like figure out a good line i kind of was doing a little archer thing at the end there yeah Yeah, I know. I saw it. That's kind of what I was doing, but now people are going to accuse me of having that inner dialogue. And now I

already know like three texts that I'm going to get. The internet's great. Yeah. Uh, I was just hanging out watching the Clippers. But I guess we could hang out. That's about as close to Archer as I can get right now. Okay. Let's do Chris Fowler trivia,

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