The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Can Ben Simmons Be Saved From Philly? With Bill Simmons, Plus Booger McFarland Talks CFB Week 1

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

Ryen is joined by Bill Simmons to break down the messy situation between the 76ers and Ben Simmons and why it’ll be hard to find a solution to their pending breakup (0:35). Then, he chats with ESPN college football analyst Booger McFarland about some vulnerable teams at the top of the rankings, his Week 1 predictions, and some stories from his LSU days (35:25). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:03:15). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Bill Simmons and Booger McFarland Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Okay. Two guests today. Very excited. So we're going to get right to it. We've got Bill Simmons joining us. We've been going back and forth like, hey, what do you think of this Ben Simmons deal? So we're going to try to cover all the angles of the story and figure out if there's actually any real trade that'll happen, which again, you always have to have an open mind for the unexpected in the NBA when it comes to transactions, because we've learned that lesson millions of times and some college football preview stuff and some LSU stories as well from Booger McFarlane of ESPN. And then we'll finish it off with a healthy dose of life advice. You may remember our guest here from page two, ESPN's page two with Bill Simmons now has his own podcast. Yeah. And he joins us now. What's up, man? I texted you. I want to talk about Ben Simmons

because I'm doing football the next couple of pods on my pod. And I just have like a 20 minute Ben Simmons conversation to me that might, you know, expire over a, I don't know what the time sensitivity is on it. Who knows if something will happen over the weekend, but I'm just so fascinated by this story. And I don't even remember if it has a parallel in recent NBA history. Okay. And that's where you always, I think kind of lap the rest of us, the historical perspective of like,

Hey, this is happening. It's Newsy. We've got all these tidbits and rumors that we're going to get to and, and who's in charge of this deal. But historically what we're talking about with somebody this young, this many years left on the deal and basically saying, hey, you guys think I suck anyway. So what's the point? And then the threatening holdout thing, which I'd heard about

about a month ago. And I think it was met with kind of indifference, like, all right, go ahead, hold out, man. But we don't know. So why don't you take it in any direction? You think the headline part of this story is right now? The headline part of the story is I think both sides have a right to just want to move on from this, right? And I think everybody else, unfortunately, knows that for the two sides. But you have this starts when they try to trade him for Harden, you know, and you can make Simmons the bad guy. You can make Clutch the bad guy.

There's all kinds of takes you can do with this. But it starts when they try to trade him for Harden. And when you try to trade somebody, you go down the road, you actually think you got him, which I think both of us had intel that day that Harden was going to Philly. It was a wrap.

And Simmons knows all this. So it starts there. Then you have, this is kind of Embiid's team. It's Embiid City. He's always resonated in that city more than Simmons has. So you have, this is kind of Embiid's team. It's Embiid city. He's always resonated in that city more than Simmons has. So you have that piece too. Whether those guys get along or not, I don't even think that really matters for this. Then you have the playoffs, really a historic no-show from him. Who's supposedly a top 15, 20 guy, right? I went

into the last season thinking he was one of the best 16, 17 guys in the league and an elite athlete and elite defensive player, somebody who made everybody better. He took such a step back and the playoffs, they're like crazy stats. Like he had the lowest free throw percentage in the history of playoff basketball for anyone who took more than 70 free throws in the playoffs ever. This includes everyone dating back to like 1946. So you have that you have the famous stat about, he only took three field goals in seven games against the Hawks in the fourth quarter. And then you have the eye test, which is like, this is a guy who just looks scared, who looks

like he's afraid to fail. And I think when you have the afraid to fail as a phrase, which we've discussed on my podcast multiple times here, other teams see that and they're like, all right, so here's this guy who's basically a max player who has four years left on his deal, who has clutch, who is the toughest agency of all these agencies to deal with, who's going to expect to be the guy when he comes to our team, but also hasn't shown that he's gotten any better in the last four years, or that he could be the best guy on a championship team, or that he's not going to be completely terrified in the last six minutes of a game seven. And I'm supposed to give up something for this? And then you have on the flip side,

you have Philly, who's like, clearly he can't come back. So when I bring back the history of this stuff, I don't remember a situation where neither side had outs. We've seen guys get unhappy. We saw Jason Kidd in Dallas in 96, where it was like, he probably needs to go. They found a team. It was a lot easier back then. It's easier to make deals with caps. Nowadays, with the amount of money he makes, with what you'd have to give back, and then how teams probably feel about how iffy he is as the number one guy. It doesn't seem like they have a market for this guy. So now he says, I'm going to hold out. All right, I guess you are.

I guess you're going to hold out. On top of it, this is happening in Philly, the craziest city this could happen in, where if they're out on you in Philly, they're out. They're out in the meanest, worst way possible. I respect it. So you have all these things leading to our training camp, which suddenly is, what, three weeks away?

And I don't know how this plays out. And I don't think they have a trade. And I think he's going to hold out. And I think this really has a chance to be one of the ugliest kind of player moments with the team that we've had in the history of the league. So that's why I wanted to come on and talk about it for 20 minutes. Perfect summary. Perfect summary.

So let me add my personal element to this. As I see this story play out, I'm pissed off at literally everyone involved. Yeah, there's no winners. I don't want to root for anyone. It's like having if I knew more about FIFA government, it'd be like, hey, who are your favorite officials at the top of FIFA? And let's pick whose side you want. I don't want to argue any one side because it starts with Ben Simmons. You know, if I have to see one more fucking video of him taking jumpers in the offseason

in some pickup game at L.A. Like it, no one cares, man. No one cares. It doesn't, it doesn't. And it doesn't mean you have to have that, but stop. And when I went back to the pod that I had with like guys who I asked Jalen Brown and Ben Simmons, and I should have done more of them. I didn't, but I did this whole thing breakdown from front office guys being like, Hey, who would you take? And it was shockingly pro Jalen Brown. And there was one guy in particular was just like, Hey, all this stuff I was shooting coach and all these hours is like, it's all bullshit. It's all bullshit. The other part of it was that Embiid and Simmons are actually tight. And I know Embiid is like, Hey, that's my guy. It's like,

no one believes that no one's ever believed it. Anyone that's ever had any information, whether you're a beat guy or somebody like us who talks to enough people, like they don't look, they don't have to be in love with each other. They don't have to be best friends, but we always knew that that relationship, because of whose team it was and all that kind of stuff, it was always going to be a little strained, which is not specific to them.

And it was the two sons in the city, basically, where it's like the city's going to like one guy more than the other guy. It's just the way it goes. The same thing happened with Durant, Curry, and Golden State. It's like no matter how good Durant was, it was Curry City, and that's just the way it is. And sometimes when happened with Durant Curry and Golden State. It's like, no matter how good Durant was, it was Curry City and that's just the way it is. And sometimes when you realize that when you're the other guy, you become the middle brother versus the older brother. And we had, you know, the years of the hinky sycophants telling us they could play together.

It was a perfect fit that all of us that thought from a basketball standpoint, it was a strained fit that we were idiots. It's like, no, we weren't. And it doesn't mean it was a strained fit that we were idiots it's like no we weren't and it doesn't mean it was incapable of them necessarily being a better team but there's just too many damn possessions throughout the playoffs when i did that whole breakdown and closing out those atlanta games you're like ben brings it up they set a screen ben's defender never leaves the elbow and beads swallowed it's a two-man game with curry and bead simmons watches and now doesn't even want to shoot like that's a real thing. So don't tell me. He was P.J. Tucker if P.J. Tucker brought the ball up for the Bucs

and then just ran over to his side and said, all right, I'm out. If he attempted layups. Right, right. If he attempted layups. And then, look, I get what Daryl's job is, but nothing annoys me more than when, like, Daryl will tweet out some stat that shows that ben

simmons is like the eighth best player in the nba or when koc for ringer did that incredible breakdown kind of arguing like how much more valuable simmons was during the regular season and his passes inside the shooting pocket and then daryl retweets it and is like on it so like i personally have have been offended by almost every element of the story. Well, and we didn't mention Clutch yet either. And Clutch, because they think they have everybody in the NBA just in fear of them at all times. And they just feel like they can strong arm this situation and get him somewhere else. The problem is nobody wants to give up 100 cents on the dollar, 90 cents on the dollar, 80 cents on the dollar for Ben Simmons. I would even say hundred cents on the dollar, 90 cents a dollar, 80 cents a dollar for

Ben Simmons. I would even say 70 cents a dollar. Like I was talking to a friend the other day and it's like, if you're Sacramento and Daryl, this gets so ugly three weeks from now. And Daryl's like, I just got to trade this guy. Like this could actually ruin the season. He's going to hold out. We're getting nothing for him. Like I have no more outs. Clutch basically pulls it off, gun to the head. You're actually going to trade him and Daryl Caves. I feel like the best trade that they could get would be Halliburton and Buddy Heald. And that's it. And I don't even know if Sacramento would want to give up Halliburton, but you can make a case. They would because they know they have Mitchell. Mitchell,

it was a surprise to us, but he looked great in summer league. So they know they could replace Halliburton's minutes and they could gamble on Simmons, who we all thought was a top 15 talent a year ago. I feel like that's the best trade out there. I don't think they're getting Zach Levine for him. I used to think that a couple of months ago, this is too ugly now. They're not getting Zach Levine for him. They're not getting anybody who's in the top 30 for him. So that's what they're looking at. They're not getting Zach Levine for him. They're not getting anybody who's in the top 30 for him. So that's what they're looking at. They're looking at, is Sacramento willing to trade Tyrese Halliburton or not? Otherwise, where does he go?

I have no idea. Golden State's not trading for him. Well, the clutch part of it is important to bring up because it's probably the desensitizing to what new NBA realities are. When a guy had a year left on a deal, we're like, oh, this guy's just going to tank or he's not going to resign. So now he's demanding a trade you know whether it was lebron leaving as a free agent a decade ago which was actually a lot better than mellow or was it worse than what mellow did to denver because everybody was at that nuggets team was like this sucks the guy's showing up to work every day and we get to talk about for a month straight and they were good

out yeah they were good and he's like he wants out of here but he doesn't care that he's going to the knicks and stripping them but is he actually doing us a favor because he's like, he wants out of here, but he doesn't care that he's going to the Knicks and stripping them, but is he actually doing us a favor because he's telling us he's going to leave? And now when anybody does that, nobody cares. It's a bit like college football players transferring where it's like, oh, that's ridiculous. Just suck it up. Now they defend the players.

They're right. It's their right to sabotage their own team for a year. I'm fine with the guys. You're talking on the NBA thing. Everybody defends it now. So is the new normal, whether it was Anthony Davis with a year plus going, I'm fine with the guys. Oh, you're talking on the NBA thing. Everybody depends on that. So is the new normal, whether it was Anthony Davis with a year plus going, I'm out of here, where you got to go nuclear option, and that's where

Clutch steps in. And honestly, other agents have done this too, so it isn't specific to them. David Falk way back when. David Falk invented it and that was in the mid-90s, so Clutch wasn't the first. For whenever there's like the persecution complex from the Clutch part of it, I'll just be like, look, no one's like Scott Boris complex and the clutch part of it i'll just be like look no one's like scott boris for 20 years okay no so whoever is can considered to be the most powerful that just goes with the territory it's like being a high school principal they're

just they're you're not going to be loved in this role especially if your role is to push your weight around and force a situation that isn't adaptation advantageous to the franchise or the fan base in philadelphia because the new normal may very well be, hey, I'm doing the four-year extension and I don't give a shit. I'm not going to wait until a year out. I'm going to demand a trade with four years left on a contract,

which likely is the new normal of the NBA, even if it pisses everybody off because this is new stuff here. Well, with Simmons, on the one hand, I get it because they try to trade him. And I think once you get traded, we've seen this happen with Boston teams, like some of my favorite teams where the guys have been in trade rumors or they knew they were almost on the way out.

And it really affected, I think, the makeup of the team in a lot of ways. So I get it. It's like, well, fuck you guys. You try to trade me for James Harden. On the other hand, he hasn't gotten better. The free throw thing is indefensible. It just is. He's making $30 million a year. He's supposedly one of the top 20 guys in the league. And he makes one out of every three free throws in the playoffs with a big sample size, not like one series.

This is like, he's bad at this. And we've never seen a non-center be that bad at it. The, how scared he is at the end of these games is a real thing. And I was talking to somebody from one team about it, about like, what would be your biggest hesitation trading for Simmons? The same hesitation I have in the same hesitation you have. Do you want somebody as one of your best guys who seems like he's afraid of big moments? And everything we've seen from Simmons is like, this guy actually seems like he's afraid of big moments. And everything we've seen from Simmons is like,

this guy actually seems like he's kind of afraid in big moments. And it's like, yeah, you can put people around him. You can put shooters around him. You can make them the focal point, this point forward, and you could ride his defense and how incredible he is on that end.

But if he's kind of scared to be there in big moments, what am I getting? And can I win the title? I just feel like I don't trust him in a game seven. I'd want to see it first, which I think is where all these teams are. It's like, show us, show us the upside of what we're trading for.

I'm not trading for the pipe dream that he's going to figure it out. Because at this point, it's like quarterbacks, right? We always talk about, at some point you kind of know with quarterbacks, like you and I both know Daniel Jones sucks. He's not going to figure it out. Because at this point, it's like quarterbacks, right? We always talk about, at some point, you kind of know with quarterbacks. Like you and I both know Daniel Jones sucks.

He's not going to be good. You know, in two years with quarterbacks, he just sucks. He's not going to be good. So you like my Daniel Jones, Killian Hayes comp? Well, Killian Hayes, if he doesn't look good this year,

I'm out. Yeah, right, right. It's too early to do the Killian Hayes thing. Yeah. And on the flip side, my hero, Mac Jones, at some point, if you're good, you're going to show it pretty early. There's going to be signs and seeds. And I think with Simmons, there were signs and seeds, which is why people don't want to give up. He's a devastating

defensive player. He's awesome. But if I'm trading for him, if I'm Sacramento, I'm putting real thought on this. What am I ultimately trying to do? Am I trying to win a title? And can this guy be out there when it really matters? And you and I don't know the answer. Yeah. So let's dig in more on the trades. Cause I was sending some stuff back and forth to you. I saw a Minnesota thing that was like, you know,

yeah. What is that? Who are they giving up? No towns, no Edwards be hesitant to include D'Angelo Russell. And they can't trade their pick. Cause they just lost their pick. So they can't trade this year's pick. what are they trading I'm like what world would a team

like if I was Daryl I'd be like I'd rather you send me nothing than D'Angelo Russell so like no we're not doing that um Sacramento like we can understand the posturing where it's like okay we're gonna start with this you don't get Fox you don't get Halliburton. You also don't get Davian Mitchell. It's like, okay, we're not getting anybody. We're not getting anybody. Here's Harrison Barnes. We're getting Barnes and expiring and healed. And you can even argue like, all right,

does it actually help your depth? And now you're putting more shooting around and less dominant ball handling. Is there a version of it? It's kind of like the McCollum argument. Doesn't McCollum make the Sixers better with his fit? Yes. But asset-wise, Darryl's not looking at McCollum as equal value, even in a depressed Ben Simmons market. And also, if you're Portland and you make that move, you trade McCollum and you trade, who's the guy they just got? Larry Nance Jr. And they're like, let's call it in two for one. Covington. Yeah. One of those two McCollum and one of those two for Simmons.

It's a two for one. And then Simmons has the deer in the headlights again in the Portland series and Portland loses. What happens next? What does Dame Lillard do? He's out. He's like, I'm out of here. He's like, I'm out. This guy's a loser.

I'm done. So you can't even risk the Ben Simmons trade for Portland because if it doesn't work, you lose that and you lose Dame Lillard. And that's the thing. The other piece I should have mentioned in my almost perfect summary at the top. If you're Philly, you need to get people back that can help you win the title. You're not looking for picks. You're not looking for Killian Hayes.

You're not looking for like asset. You're not looking for Kaminga. You need guys. You have this guy who Embiid when he's healthy in a playoff series is one of like the six or seven best people to have in a playoff series. And you have shooters around him and you have one of the most expensive coaches in the league and you have pretty deep bench. You can't give away Simmons just for a bunch of stuff that can't help you this year, which is why this is so hard. And that's why I just look at Halliburton and Heald as the only one that, and I don't even know if that makes sense, but that's the only one I could come up with. It's not like Orlando is going to have something that helps Philly this year.

Boston's not trading Jalen. Going down the line, Porzingis makes no sense. Go through every team. Everybody's like, oh, it'll be easy for them to trade him. Go through the teams. Tell us the trade. It doesn't exist. I'm not going to agree with you on doesn't exist i'm going to say it's really challenging because we've always learned something though

with the nba come up with it then if it doesn't exist yeah but i mean how many times are we surprised about when we think that's all this is impossible you're not gonna be able to do this you can't do this and it's like asians get involved relationships start working out like think about even some of the free agent deals you're like why would you do that like why would you who are you competing against with that kind of number you know like oh well they wanted maybe something down the road so that's why i wonder there's the occam see occam is the other one i guess we should mention because i'm sure there's still some teams that still think simmons is awesome i'm i i'm serious he's he's actually the perfect kind of guy

to trade for as long as you're really not risking something if you're Sacramento I would do it because it's like Simmons you and I both thought he was top 20 hitting in the last season and we both think he's if not the best defensive player in the league

in the top 2 or 3 and you could argue new scene new city new motivation gets away from Embiid in the top two or three. And you could argue new scene, new city, new motivation, gets away from Embiid. Like there's some upside there. Yeah, there's a version. If you have shooting,

you're letting him run the show. That's why there's also an anti-Portland argument that it's like, is Lillard really going to want to play off the ball that much with him? And he does a little bit with McCollum, but you can't, you have to have a situation

where Ben's not off the ball. So you'd have to spread it out. I mean, honestly, the best fit for him would be a non-Draymond Golden State, which is, I think, from what I've heard, what Simmons wants.

Like, Ben Simmons wants to be in LA. It's not happening. The Lakers to-do list has been completed. The Clippers are going to just try to figure this out. He's not old enough for the Lakers. He's 10 years too young. And you can't get in the way of Mello's minutes.

When is Ray Allen coming back? Could Ray Allen come back in the Lakers? I'm waiting on it. I guess now not with Rondo, maybe not. I would say fitness-wise, Ray's probably, well, it's obviously not happening, but I can't imagine that guy ever having more than 7% body fat.

Yeah, I agree. The Golden State part of it i i would think there's interest but the price that we've all seen floated out there is pretty much what daryl asked for it's an insane price and you're like all right and then in a playoff game i don't like the idea of draymond and simmons being on the floor together at the same time i just think that's that part of it's ridiculous but it kind of gets back to the four-year thing. You're like, so wait, you're going to hold out. You don't want to be here, and maybe you're justified in all of this, but then you're going to tell us where you won't go? We can't trade. You don't want to go to Minnesota, even if Minnesota were to step up

and offer whatever package it is. Did he do that, though? What's that? Did he tell them there were teams he didn't want to go to? I never knew what to believe with that. I mean, I wouldn't put it past Clutch, but I didn't know that there was a do-not-trade list. I don't even know.

Does it matter if there is one? Yeah. You know what I mean? And then it's the other team where I think if you're Sacramento and you go, hey, we miss out on the playoffs every single year, we're stale. Let's throw in Halliburton. I could see it maybe getting to something like that.

Well, and they're Sacramento. Well, they did include a pick in the Tristan Thompson deal, which I still didn't quite figure out. I'm always ready for anything with Sacramento. If you're Sacramento, I think you could talk yourself into it because you're just like

selling really high on Halliburton. Halliburton was good last year. I think we both really like him, but it wasn't like he was, you know, be telling my grandkids about his rookie season. He was good. Got hurt. He was fine. I really like him. I love him as an asset, but you know, for somebody who was a top 20 guy a year ago, if those are the two things they're ready to trade, but he healed for what Kuzma and Caldwell Pope. It's not like he's a major asset. And then if you're the Sixers, could you compete in the East next year

if you turn Ben Simmons into Halliburton and Heald? I think you'd have a better chance than having the drama that Simmons is going to bring. I don't, the Simmons thing, do you think there's any chance he just goes back to Philly and it's like, oh man, remember how crazy that was? Now everything's great. I don't see it.

I don't think there's any chance that happens. I would not ever put that at zero. I as likely as that seems right now but you know what i wouldn't do percentages four percent what i wouldn't be doing if i were running the sixers go okay i have no trade i want to do like there's nothing that's even close yeah and they're saying they want to hold out in August, now September. All right, we'll see. But, hey, the city's mean. It's a mean city, and the city's going to be mean to them, so I can't have them.

I don't care. Was it nice before this? That's just the deal. That's what you sign up for in Philadelphia. So I wouldn't let the meanness, I would try to not let the noise of the situation impact the decision. And I think Daryl, for the most part, is immune to that stuff. But it's also something that you could then go back to if the trade isn't that great. And you're

like, oh man, this market stinks. This doesn't work out. I don't mean to say the Philly market stinks. This trade stinks. And now I can say, hey, we couldn't bring him back to this market. So I need more sympathy on a trade that on paper doesn't look like it was that great. Well, you also have with Simmons, you know, a good thing to always ask about people in your life, people you work for, whatever. Just at some point, you just got to strip everything. You go, what are their wins? Like, what are their wins? What were so-and-so's wins at whatever place you work at

with Simmons it's like what are your wins when basketball when the game or the series actually mattered did you have a moment is there something I can point to and there just isn't in every postseason

he was okay he kind of disappeared in the last six minutes. And it's like, at some point, you kind of are who you are and he's in his mid twenties now, you know, and that's the piece. And Jackie would come on my pod and talk about like, she really felt like he was afraid to fail. Like he could make these shots. He was just afraid to fail. And it's like, that is in a weird way of skill, not being afraid to fail, especially when you're an athlete, like take Wiggins. Wiggins is frustrating as hell, right?

We saw him in those playing games. He had some heat check moments in that last Memphis game, right? Where he's like, what the fuck are you doing? Why are you shooting that? But at least he wasn't scared. You know, it's frustrating

that he took some bad shots, but at least he wanted to be out there. At least he was playing hard. At least he was trying to do shit. Whereas I think, feel like Simmons would have just avoided it for the fourth quarter. And until he shows differently, I think that's how we have to judge him.

It's a huge assumption. If you're the new team and if you're lucky enough to get into some playoff games here and you know, I don't, I don't know what it would mean for Sacramento. You're like, does this now mean all of that mental baggage is gone? Or is it just going to follow him around?

Because you're right. Him being scared is the scariest part of this equation. Because it was real. We say it with players. Oh, this guy, he did all these different things. He had a fucking sweatshirt on that said, I'm petrified out here. Yeah. Please don't pass to me.

And I'll see it in glimpses with some guys every now and then. Yeah. And please, please don't pass to me. And, you know, I'll see it in glimpses with some guys every now and then. Yeah. Like Harrison Barnes, the last two games and the 16 finals, when it started to go sideways, became unplayable in game seven, right?

He just, he got in his own head and they kind of had to take them out and put in Festus. They're like, we can't play this guy anymore. It happens. But for Simmons, it's happened in every postseason he's been in. And that's the difference.

And whenever you think about like, okay, well, what version of him is unlocked? You know, we kind of, I mean, we've talked about it. It's been brought up. This isn't exactly some new theory, but could he be this Giannis type where he's handling, there's all this spacing, you know, his passing is better than Giannis defensively. He holds up and it's like, look for whatever,

whatever limitations that we would still see in a, in the best version of Giannis offensively, which the timing of this after winning a title is a great, but look, they're there. They exist. If you're being honest with yourself, Giannis has never been scared of anybody.

It's I'm so glad you brought this up. It's his single best quality other than being one of the freakiest athletes in the history of the league. He's completely unafraid. He has no memory of what just happened. He carries no baggage with him. And he's always aggressive and just trying to do shit. And he's fine if he looks bad. If he airballs, the fact that he was airballing free throws in the finals and not rattled by it at all and would make the next one, that's his best quality. And I feel like

Simmons is kind of on the other side of the spectrum of that. If Simmons airballed a free throw with like eight minutes left in a game seven, we'd never see him again. He'd be running from the ball. So until he shows differently, I just think it's really hard to give more than 60 cents in the dollar

for him. And I think Halliburton and healed is like as high as I would go. And I can't think of another team. You would know this part of it better than I would. I only know when I'd heard about the holdout thing for the first time. And from, from the way it was relayed to me, it was kind of like they were just going to drive at each other

and see who, you know, play a game of chicken on it. Where it wasn't like, please don't hold out, don't hold out. When was the last time we've seen chicken with an NBA team and a player like that? The team always caves. Houston caved with Harden. I don't think Philly's going to cave. I think they have the doc piece of it.

Darryl, like the owners. That's what I want to ask.illy's going to cave. I think they have the doc piece of it. Daryl, the owners. That's what I want to ask. We're not caving. So you think... See, this is where it gets... It's like, hey, do you want checks or not? Do you want your check this month? Come to practice.

You're not coming to practice, you won't get a check. It's really going to be that simple. And Clutch can stomp their feet and do the whole thing. And Ben can have whoever's going to write the profile that tries to make us feel bad for Ben Simmons. They can do all that stuff. But if Philly just says,

come to work or we're not paying you, what are they going to do? By the way, what a great call. I can't wait for the first. Oh, the sappy Ben Simmons piece? The Ben Simmons you don't know. Yeah. You don't understand why he was so afraid of these games.

Here's my feature. I can't wait. By the way, he did it in college too. Let's be honest. He checked out at LSU and it's like, you could say that's an isolated thing or you could say that ties into all of this too. It's like when has he come through on a big stage? And I think that LSU team was a mess.

I get it. They were a mess, but I'm one of his biggest fans. You've heard me talk on a podcast over and over again that how much I value him as a player and even I'm like wavering now. It's like that Atlanta series is really tough to get past. We've had,

you know, Magic Johnson had the tragic Johnson 84 finals. The legend had some bad series. Like, I get it. People have bad series.

This was different. This was different. We were like looking into his basketball soul and he just kind of didn't want to be there. I don't know if he's going to be open to a trade to any place that steps up which is i

think the weirdest part of it because you're just that's where there's this uncharted territory of of player empowerment where you're like wait you have four years left you're going to tell us where you're not going to go and so then does the other team say wait wait a minute, do we want bummed out Ben Simmons here? And that's the other part of the math for Minnesota or Sacramento. Rasheed Wallace, this happened, right? Portland's like, we got to get him out. And Atlanta was like, here's the first road pick. Portland's like, cool.

Took it. And then Rasheed went to Atlanta. He's like, no, not going to do it. And then Atlanta traded him to Detroit. What, like three days later? So that's an example. So we could see something where somebody trades for him

and then flips him a week later or two weeks later, I guess. I don't know. Darrell would already know about that. You were really quick on the Zach Levine thing. His contract thing's a little weird. I wonder if there would be any play here. I'm just keeping an open mind about this.

This isn't based on any information. Philly definitely has to throw in more in that, I think. Like, more. And that's why the Maxie thing got so weird, because then we had this thing where it's like, Maxie wants out because he's also a clutch client, and they want him out of there. And then we're saying that he had events

that were being canceled for appearances. I was like, that seems kind of quick. Like, the season is still a month away. And then the guy reported it. Oh, and then New Orleans Noel wanted out. I was like, that seems kind of quick. The season is still a month away. And then the guy who reported it. Oh, and then New Orleans Noel wanted out. Oh, no. He was suing Clutch. My bad.

I got my facts screwed up. Go ahead. That's right. But then the guy that had that was like, and look, I don't believe media people make up stuff. I think, like all of us, you can get a really good source who gives you bad information. And on that one, there was a total backtracking of the Maxie part of it. It was like, no, he loves it here.

And I was like, what the hell is going on there? Because at first on the surface, you're like, oh man, Clutch is really messing with these guys saying, hey, we want Maxie who's been there a year. In the future, we will want him out of there as well.

Because the part of the relationship agent game, every time, like I'll hear a story where I go, wow. And there is so much work that happens because of the relationship with the agents. Like when LeBron was saying that he was going to go to Philly, or they were not going to Philly, but Philly was a landing spot for him when he went to LA.

Okay, remember that? It was like, hey, Philly's in play. They might be third behind Cleveland. I remember that. I fell for it. I fell hook, line, and sinker. He didn't even meet with them. He didn't even meet with them. And when I finally got to the bottom of it, I was like, what is up with this year-long Sixers charade?

Because the Lakers thing had already happened. And I think they were trying to throw people off the scent because people knew he was going to Lakers. I was like, oh, what if it's Philly? It was one of those. But it was another part of it where it was like, we want to be respectful to the

Sixers because Ben Simmons is a client. And I was like, what? Yeah, what are you talking about? And then I remember talking to a team that brought in Darius Garland to work out a day before the draft. And I called the team and I was like,

why you guys aren't taking him. What are you doing? And they were like, look, if the Anthony Davis thing goes sour and you know, he doesn't like laying with LeBron or somebody gets hurt and then he's up. And even though it's a certainty, he's just going to resign.

It's like, look, we still think he's going to resign because it's not like clutch is going to bring Anthony Davis to play with Lebron and then be like hey we want you to explore all your options fuck yeah they want to help lebron win titles um but yet there was an there's an excessive amount of energy put into stuff the teams will do and it was like we want to make sure we take care of the clutch client work him out and that way you know maybe a year from now if anthony dav Davis decides he does want to bounce,

we'll at least have planted the seeds to how respectful we'll be to the process where this with the Sixers, I think all that, all that stuff's like irrelevant now at this point, because there's so much damage going on. There's one other team that I'd just be remiss if we didn't mention San Antonio. Only because they have all kinds of contracts.

They could basically pull off a pretty good three for one, right? I don't think they have high expectations for this year. I think their over-under in Vegas was like 29. And if you're them, could you talk yourselves into, we can rehabilitate this guy we'll put him in the spurs infrastructure doesn't totally seem like the spurs type of guy but if he's for a discount and you're the spurs and like we did that list where we were doing what do we do on my podcast our favorite two-man teams and the spurs were like 38th we had teams that had multiple two men yeah over having a Spur.

And if you're the Spurs, you're like, hey man, this guy, wasn't he an All-NBA guy two years ago? Like, let's fucking go for it. And you do like Murray and, I don't know, Keldon Johnson, something else. Do it that way. You know it's bad if they were like, we can't put Keldon in a Super Bowl.

Yeah, Keldon's... No. Lonnie Walker, yes. Keldon Johnson, no. Drew Eubanks, we'll throw in. No, when we got done with that exercise, the best two-man units,

the real headline of it was the Spurs, as it sits right now after the draft, they have the least interesting roster in the NBA. Yes. I think that's how they're selling it to their fans this year. We have the least

interesting roster in the NBA. Tickets available. Come see us. What would be a way of, like, the best PR guy in the world could spin that, where he would say, we may not be interesting, but we'll be here. That's on the cover of the media guys. We show up every game. That'd be a good one.

It's all about showing up. I think they should just start retiring numbers. Because that was a classic mid-90s Celtics move where it's like, God, we suck. Whose number can we retire? You just grab someone out of there. You could have the Robert Horry retirement. They could pull that one off. Maybe Fabrizio Alberto, get him up there.

Because the Grizzlies are retiring Tony Allen's number. And I just feel like all bets are off now. All due respect to Tony Allen. I love Tony Allen. But him getting retired and Veragiao getting retired really opens the door for role players for every team that's won a title, I feel like.

It's a big new ownership move, too. Totally. Remember, who did Wick retire? Maxwell? Cedric Maxwell. Wick bought the team. It was like, Maxwell retired. You know what's funny about that? As I was working at the Celtics Affiliate at the time, as you know, and the guy that is i was working at the celtics affiliate at the time uh as you know and the guy that like they put together this huge max tribute thing because his number was being retired and we were all going to be there and everything it was a funny night

too because then like glenn ordway got introduced the whole place boot him what the fuck like i didn't know and there was a kid that was editing it who was like a Celtics just historian. And I was like, hey, what do you got going on? He's like, this stupid, stupid fucking Maxwell retired. He's like, he doesn't deserve his number retired. I was like, I'm glad you're in charge of this. I don't think my dad went. He was still mad that Max didn't recover in time

for the 85 playoffs. He was still mad. He still felt like it cost us the title. I was like, maybe it was also Larry Bird's bar fight that might have also hurt us that year. But yeah, he was still mad. He's like, I'm out. All right. I gotta go.

This was good. Okay. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Thanks for indulging my Benson. Do you have anything to promote? You guys got anything going on? Hottest take? New podcast, Rewatchables, Monday. Doing the first TV show we've ever done on the rewatchables yellowstone miami vice calderon's return part one and two chris ryan and i are gonna be breaking it down the greatest two-part episode in the history of television that show had a vibe to it back then man people don't really realize. Thank you.

Let's talk some college ball and maybe a little NFL too. Booger McFarlane, who's always been a great guest here, good with his time on the show, part of college football coverage on Saturdays and also Monday Night Countdown. Let's start with the college stuff because I think you and I enjoy that a little bit more with the

conversations. That is as much as I've asked every guest to try to go against the big four, at least the top four in the AP, and the same teams that seem to play off all the time, do you see any of these teams being derailed? Do you look at any one of them and go, actually, I don't see it with some of these top teams? No, I don't. And, you know, if one of them is going to get derailed, I think it would have to be because these young quarterbacks, especially at Alabama, at Georgia, at Ohio State, these guys getting broken in are going to falter. Like that, to me, will be the only way one of these blue bloods

that we consider the big four don't get in. I think Spencer Rowlett, Oklahoma, you know, him being a guy that's experienced, has been there. So he's kind of the elder statesman of this big four group. He will be he will be OK. But the rest of them, I think there's still some question marks about. Really, so you feel like you didn't see enough from DJ last year, Clemson? Yeah, I mean, DJ only played, what, one or two games? And I get it.

I mean, it was against a Notre Dame team that defensively – I mean, let's be honest. Notre Dame's defense left a lot to be desired, especially from a skill standpoint in the back seven. Their defensive line was outstanding, okay? But the back seven has still been a little shaky. Now, DJ's got to come back, and, you know, Dabble does a great job of kind of scheming that offense up

to fit the skill set of the quarterback, and that's going all the way back to even when they had Taj Boyd and Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. So I think DJ will be fine, but I still need to see more from him. Like, one or two games is not going to tell me, hey, this guy's going to be a bonaafide star as much as we like to think that Bryce Young is, is,

is legit because he's a five star and DJ is going to be the, uh, the top pick in the draft in 2023. Let's see a little bit more of these kids before we, before we, uh, crown them, uh,

superstars. No, it's a fair point. And it actually, you know, over the years, I would always think it was kind of funny that like whatever new recruit came in, we would just put a number seven in front of the team and go, all right, you know, they'll be fine. But it's actually been so remarkable to see how many young guys step right in and do what they've done at the position that we kind of assume it's going to happen with everybody. I mean, look, there's a Notre Dame game where they lost in double overtime. And that was really Clemson's defense, why they lost that game. I mean, Bougalole threw for 439 yards.

Right. And he ran it. He ran it in as well. I think with him and his physical gifts and the recruiting profile and everything else with him, I would have a hard time believing that he would be the reason that would hold Clemson back, especially when you look at the schedule. Now, I don't know if they were to lose to Georgia and then run through it. I mean, some would argue the schedule so bad and the gap is so

ridiculous between them and the next ACC team, which we still don't know. I mean, maybe Miami hangs with Bama and maybe lose that game. You know what I mean? Like maybe there's another team that emerges here. It certainly can happen, But I don't see him being the problem. Even with Young at Bama, we know what his recruiting profile was. Some people thought he was going to beat out Mac Jones. But I mean, I have far more questions about him and who he is than I do about Clemson's quarterback situation. Well, here's what I'll say about that, Ryan.

If you look at Alabama, I don't think Alabama is going to ask Bryce Young to be the superstar. That defense that Nick Saban has this year is as nasty as he's ever had down there. I mean, they are legit. The front seven on the back end led by Joe at corner, they're going to be outstanding. So they're not going to ask Bryce Young to come out and beat Mac Jones and throw for 450 and spread it around, especially early in the season.

I think they're going to pound you. You know, they're going to run the football, control the clock, allow Bill O'Brien, a new offensive coordinator, to kind of get his footing. And they're going to bring him along slowly. Now, when you look at Clemson, like DJ, I think he's got to play, man, because if you look at Clemson's defense, now the front line is outstanding. They got five or six guys up front that are going to be number one or number two picks. But, man, if you're going to tell me that James Skalsky and Nolan Turner are going to be covering man to man,

I'm going to tell you Clemson's defense is going to give up a ton of points. So DJ is going to have to score and do more. That's why I think I need to see him do that in a pressure situation against some elite competition that he's going to see because Georgia's defense is legit. Way better than any defense he saw last year. Better than Boston College. Better than Notre Dame. So he's going to steal legit defense

with speed everywhere and he's going to have to perform where Bryce Young, Bryce Young can go 10 for 19, throw for 180, and Alabama still probably will beat Miami by 21 points this week. And any team that they play in the first two to three weeks, they'll be able to do that until Bryce Young gets his footing.

DJ's got to throw for 3,400, I think, this week against Georgia for them to win. Okay, so does it sound like you think Georgia has a real chance to win in this first week? I think Georgia's defense is legit. My biggest question about Georgia is the same question that I know you probably have is, can the Todd Munkin offense put up enough points? Like, that's been Georgia's biggest question mark for the last three or four years. Kirby recruits all these five-star guys, but for some reason he's missed on the quarterback because he sent Fields to Ohio State and he kept Jake Fromm, which we all know was probably a mistake.

And I get it. Jake Fromm is coming off a tremendous season. But you have to have the forethought to say, OK, this guy is more talented. But Kirby has yet to be able to take the offense at the quarterback position and the wide receiver position and take it to the next level and put up 30 or 40 points. Remember what Nick Saban said last year. Nick Saban said, football has changed. There was a point in time where we could win with defensive special teams, and that time is no longer. You're going to have to be able to score 30, 40 points to win against really, really good teams.

I don't know if Kirby and Todd Munkin are ready to play that style of football and do that, but we'll find out, especially this Saturday against Clemson. style of football and do that but we'll find out uh especially this saturday against clemson yeah the from thing is is tough because i know everybody likes watching fields and seeing from trying to hang on to a roster spot and going you know how do you make this decision but i mean georgia was coming off i mean their own deal where it looked like eason you know what you mean like from steps in and i don't know i feel like that part of it has always been a little unfair, except for the part that you're probably going to counter with, is that if you have somebody in specialist fields coming in,

you think the guy's just going to wait around. In today's version of college football, when we had, I think, 2,500-plus players in the transfer portal last season, you're going to lose the guy. If you thought you were going to be able to keep fields, you read it wrong, but I still feel like people have retroactively beat up on Fromm, not realizing or like forgetting, being convenient about it, that, you know, they're coming off

a chance here to win a title. And Fromm wasn't like a bad quarterback. I mean, so I don't know. That one, that one I think is a bit revisionist, but you can always blame Kirby for playing it wrong, thinking Fields is going to be patient because it's just not the way the guy was. You could tell that's not what he needed to be, and he didn't have to because he went to Ohio State and did what he did. You make a great point, but here's what I'll say, and I'll use Alabama the same way. I mean, Jalen Hurts was playing outstanding, and then, you know, here comes

Tua talking about lower, and Nick doesn't hesitate to pull Jalen and put Tua in because he knew that Tua was a better passer. Tua did things that Jalen couldn't do, even though Jalen was a winning quarterback and led this team all the way to the national championship game. So you got to be able, Tua was a better passer. Tua did things that Jalen couldn't do, even though Jalen was a winning quarterback and led this team all the way to the national championship game. So you got to be able, as a coach, to, regardless of what happened in the past, play the best player in the present day. And I thought Kirby failed at that point.

Yeah, and I think that they had, you know, they had played in the national championship game and they're thinking all right you know we're probably not going to do this i mean they were 11 and in one i think until they played bama in the title game from through for 300 you know then that texas that bowl game the sugar bowl uh that was that was stunning how how bad it ended up being against texas in that one but anyway look um instead of going through all that other stuff, all right, so give me your Ohio State breakdown,

not only personnel, but in relation to the rest of the conference. Well, first of all, let's just be honest. Ohio State is head and shoulders above anyone else in the Big Ten. You know, C.J. Shroud,

I think a quarterback, gives them a guy who can play in a similar way that Fields played. You know, dual threat guy is going to be electric. He can do a lot of the same things that Fields did. The receivers, Garrett Williams, a lot of them are outstanding. The offensive line will be good. The defensive line, Larry Johnson, who's the defensive line coach, he's going to have studs everywhere. The biggest issue for Ohio State is going to be showing up every single Saturday, week in

and week out. If they do that, I don't think there's a game on their schedule that they shouldn't be favored and favored big in. No one in the Big Ten should stay within a touchdown 10 points of Ohio State if they show up and play the way they can play because they're just that much better than everybody in that conference. And then, you know, what does that do? That puts Ohio State in a very similar position that they were last year, which is in the college football playoff, where at that point they would wind up playing teams that have equal ability all over the field. And that's when some of their weaknesses would be pointed out. And last year's weaknesses were really simple. They couldn't match up on the back end against Alabama.

You know, you had Werner, one of the linebackers, trying to run down the middle of the field with Devontae Smith, and we're all watching the National Championship game like, who thought that was a good idea? Like, no one thought that that was going to work. So they'll run through the Big Ten, man. You know, it may get tested for a Saturday or two just because you're dealing with 18- to 22-year-old kids,

but there's nobody in the Big Ten that should give them a challenge. Some people are saying that we're sleeping on Wisconsin. They're preseason 12 in the AP. They were wracked by COVID last year. Statistically, it's, I think, the worst offense they put together in about 17 seasons. But they've got Penn State at home.

You know, they miss Ohio State. They have Michigan at home. So the schedule steps up for it. I mean, if you look at it right now, after Penn State, they do have Notre Dame, but that's at home too. So it at least sets up a little bit.

And I think there's – to say, hey, everybody's sleeping on Wisconsin might be wrong, but let's not let 2020 influence us that much because I still think Mertz is probably a better quarterback than he's getting credit for in comparison to the other guys that we're talking up here. Well, you know, I just remember the first time I saw Mertz again, I think it was Illinois he opened up with, and he wowed us, what he had like four or five touchdowns.

Like if that guy continues to progress and he's made some strides, then Wisconsin can play a different style of football. Like they can open the offense up. You know, they're not going to be able to line up and, you know, run it 39 times and compete against the big boys they're going to have to let the quarterback show his maturity open the offense up now yeah you still can be physical you still can own the line of scrimmage you still can be ultra aggressive on defense however the name of the game today uh risillo's you got to score points

man i don't care where you are and and I didn't believe it until I started really listening to Nick and then going back and studying. You got to be able to put up 35, 40 points when you face good competition because defenses are very challenged now because the game is so wide open. Like the field is spread. You got to make so many tackles in open space. And inevitably, you're going to miss a tackle. And now it's a house call. So are they going to let Mertz open the offense up, and can the wide receivers on the outside make plays against elite cornerback competition when you go against Penn State,

when you go against Michigan, when you go against Ohio State? That's the question for Wisconsin. If they can do that, then yeah, they got a guy in Mertz that can make some plays. He showed us when he wowed us on that opening Friday night, but he's got to come back and do that week in and week out for them to be consistent. Let's go back to your playing career for a second here at LSU.

So, 95, 98, drafted 99. You start immediately as a freshman. I guess this is a tougher question to ask as a freshman, but I can't imagine you as a freshman because you're so outspoken. Were you quiet as a freshman or were you like, hey, it's a good thing you're good because you're annoying? No, I was pretty quiet, man, because I hadn't kind of, as the kids would say, I hadn't let them hang just yet.

So I came in the LSU, dude, and I still had like a little teeny-weeny afro. My teeth were all out of whack. I mean, I was just a kid coming from Louisiana, 17 years old. And I started out 10th on the depth chart. So here I am, first day of practice. I look and there's nine guys in front of me at defensive tackle. And I'm like, man, it's going to be a fun year.

I get to kind of sit back and relax. And like the initiative wasn't there. And I'll never forget there was one practice. My defensive line coach just walked up to me and he said, hey, man, you can beat any of these guys out, but I'm not going to give it to you. You got to go out and show me. And so it was one of those practices. Like he just threw me in for a rep or two against the ones.

And I'll never forget going against guys like Alan Fanica, man, and Ty McClure. And I'm like, okay, I actually made a play or two. And so that kind of opened my eyes to I could compete and I could play now you put me back at 10th in the depth chart and it took me three and a half weeks to work my way back up but I started the very first game of my college career at Texas A&M it was about 115 degrees on that turf Leland McElroy was the tailback I'll never forget A&M broke the huddle and Leland McElroy comes out.

And obviously I had been watching Leland McElroy for years in high school. And I was like, holy shit, I am on the field with Leland McElroy. Now I'm dressed like number 85. If you don't know who number 85 is, it's a poster that's in every football locker room. The guy's wearing number 85 that teaches you what to wear and what to put on, like the butt pad, the hip pad. So I got everything that number 85 had on, and I am burning up. And I got baptized that day. Coach pulled me at halftime, and he said, Son, you'll have better days, but today's not one of them.

And that was the day that I knew, A, that I could play, but I also knew what it was going to take for me to play and play at a high level in the SEC. Okay, because you guys were all over the place that year, and then you end up winning a bowl game against Michigan State. You shut out Arkansas, who was 14th in the country. I mean, you actually hung with Bama at their place, but it was a low-scoring game. And the reason I ask this is, were you the kind of guy that you could always tell who you were going to be coming out of camp? You know, cause there's some teams right now I can

talk to a different team and they're going to be like, man, we are hungry. We are mad. We are this, we are that. And then I check in and they're two and three and some teams know, and then some teams lie to themselves. What were the things that you could pick up on as you went through spring, as you went through summer, and you would start a season? Because you ended up going 10-2 that second year. I'm just wondering how well you know. Because, I mean, obviously you know the game really well, and now you talk about it a little bit.

What was your perspective on how often you could figure out what kind of team you were going to be? Well, I didn't start figuring that out until later on. Now, you know, as a freshman, I mean, I didn't know. I was just following. But, you know, but the one thing I learned is you can always tell what kind of team you're going to have by the leadership, meaning the guys who are setting the tone, setting the tempo.

Like, those dudes have to be some real dudes. I don't mean the clubhouse lawyers that get out there and break you down every day. Like those guys that scream and yell, like those guys don't matter. I need the guys that actually going to step on the field and make plays. Those guys have to set the tempo.

And when you get those guys, when they are your hardest workers, when they are the guys that don't cut corners, when they are guys that do things the right way, now you got a chance. And of course, you got to have talent.

That goes without saying. But it starts with the work ethic, man. And your leaders have to be the hardest workers. And then the young guys have to be willing to follow. And so my second year, I knew we were going to be pretty good. A, because the class of 95 with Paul, myself, some of the guys that we had, Tom McClure, we all were a year older and we all went through an entire offseason. But more importantly, everybody was following the right people. And I'll tell you something, man, that's kind of funny.

You can ask coaches, are they going to be good? And sometimes coaches will hit and miss. But the one person that I found out that can tell you whether or not a team is usually going to be good is the people that spend the most time with them. Like the equipment staff, the trainers, the strength staff,

because those guys understand what the makeup of the team is. Like, you know, you can go out and you can be a rah-rah guy. You can do all these different things at practice. But you got to actually have some good dudes, man, that are smart, that are leaders. I'll never forget Jack Marucci, who's the trainer. The year before LSU won the national championship, I was talking to him in, like, July.

And he said, hey, we're going to be really good this year. I said, what do you mean? He said, no, no. He said, trust me. We're going to be really, really good. He said, what do you mean? He said, no, no. He said, trust me. We're going to be really, really good. He said, our best players are our leaders. They're the smartest players. When we do all the IQ tests, these guys score really, really high.

He said, so we have a chance to be really, really good. And next thing you know, LSU wins a national championship. So the coaches may lie to you, but the people that are around the players a lot more in a more intimate setting those people usually know the real deal okay what do you think of lsu this year uh i think lsu is going to be a hell of a lot better than a lot of people expect i think the players from a talent standpoint are a lot better lsu's biggest question mark for me is not on the field it's off the field with the two guys calling the play because, you know,

you're trying to rekindle the magic with Pete, who's following, you know, the Joe Brady tree. He's going to try to rekindle that magic. And you got Deron Jones, who's trying to call plays for Bo Pelini, who didn't want to be there last year anyway. So if the two coordinators can, you know, kind of let them hang a little bit and be aggressive and be true to who LSU is, LSU is going to be dynamite. Because LSU, from a talent standpoint, yeah, they'll be young in certain areas,

but there's going to be only one team on the schedule that they can honestly say is more talented than them, and that's Alabama. Because Alabama's roster will be loaded. But by the time LSU plays Bama, I mean, that's alabama alabama's roster it will be loaded but by the time lsu plays bam i mean that's nine ten eight nine ten nine games down the road so they got a chance to be really really good if the two coordinators can uh kind of grow up really really quick yeah i mean that's that's kind of i'll leave you here because i don't spend a ton of time on him but when they beat florida last year i wasn't as surprised just because i felt like when you watch them from a talent standpoint, there's still all these guys in LSU flying around, even with opt-outs.

And there's no way it can be any worse than it was at defensive coordinator last year with no one being on the same page. And I would think they're so pissed off because of what happened last year. That's going to be motivation enough. But I don't want to spend a ton of time on them. Give me a Texas breakdown here because we know it's Sark. Hudson Carr's named the starter here, which I swear parents in Texas must name their kids

being what gives our kid the best chance of being the starting quarterback. That name, Hudson Carr, it screams Texas quarterback. He's another Lake Travis kid. But we know Johnson, he's technically still a freshman there at running back. They didn't use him a ton last year. And they're playing a good

Louisiana team to start the season. I mean, they're only ranked a couple spots behind them. But your thoughts of can Texas finally now with a new approach and Sark become somebody in two years maybe that we're taking seriously like these teams at the top? Yeah, I do think they can. I think Sark's biggest challenge is not going to be on the offensive side of the football because he's got the players, he's got talent led by Robinson. I think the running back's got to touch the ball more. I think his biggest issue is going to be defense

because if you go back to when Texas was Texas, especially under Mack Brown, they had dudes on defense. They had difference makers. And so now you got Joseph Osai. He's gone to the NFL. So who's going to be that next dude over dudes on defense. They had difference makers. And so now you got Joseph Osai. He's gone to the NFL. So who's going to be that next dude over there on defense? They got to turn that side of the football around.

I think it's going to take Sark a couple years to do that, to kind of cycle through some recruits. But if he can do that, then I think he can get Texas back to being an elite team. Because it's a ton of dudes in Texas. Now, something that we haven't talked about that I think is going to become a big issue, if the state of Texas doesn't resolve all their stuff, all their issues with the NIL, then a lot of

these dudes in the state are going to leave out because they can make more money going elsewhere because of the laws and the way the government is governing NIL in the state of Texas. That's something that goes above and beyond the play and the coaches on the field, but it's something that's going to play a factor, especially just look at Quinn Ewers,

who left, went to Ohio State. He was the number one, one of the top quarterbacks in the country, and he's from right there from the state of Texas. So they got to resolve that before they can truly go back to recruiting and dominating those ranks in Texas. Give me a team. We always respect that you're stern, but fair. Is there a team that's in the top 10, flirting outside of the top 10, that you're like, I

don't want to hear about it? I don't want to hear, you know, is it Notre Dame? Is it Carolina? Oregon? Maybe Florida? I don't know, Miami this week? I think Florida is a team that I think people are kind of overvalued. I'm not sold on Emory Jones, a quarterback.

Dan Mullen is a great coach. He's a quarterback whisperer. You go back to everything he did with Dak and Kyle Trask, I get it. I'm just not sold on his ability to take that dual threat guy and kind of take him to the next level. And I'm not sold on Emory Jones at all, from a talent standpoint. I think Emory's got some talent.

I just don't think he's going to be the second coming or what a lot of people think he's going to be. And if that offense is not led by Jones, man, it's going to be a long year in Gainesville because I'm not a fan of Todd Grantham You know, third in Grantham is something that the Gator fans talk about for a long time Like that defense has struggled for a while under Grantham I just think a lot of people are overvaluing the Florida Gators

And everybody's pointing toward that big game It's almost as if we turn back the hands of time Alabama at Florida It's going to be in the swamp and everybody's going to go crazy. I don't think that game is going to be anywhere close to a competitive game. Just because I don't think Florida, from a

talent standpoint, can compete, nor do they have the quarterback to compete on the level with the elite teams. So if we just look at this week, it sounds like Bama, Miami, not competitive. Right? Is that what you're saying?

Right. Yep. 14 points or more. Okay. Texas, Louisiana. Louisiana in the upset. Okay. All right.

I think Stanford Steve liked that one, too. Clemson, Georgia. You sound far more positive about Georgia. I don't blame anybody for just kind of going at whatever Clemson, because it's kind of Bama light here. Nothing's Alabama, but just going into a season, assuming Clemson's going to have it all figured out. I mean, look, we're going to be surprised eventually at some point.

To be honest with you, this run is so not surprising that it's surprising. But you are definitely, of anyone i've talked to you you seem higher on georgia in this matchup than anybody else but i don't know that you're picking them no well i i'm definitely high on them i'm not picking them just because uh i've gotten burned a couple times on kirby and kirby's offense like like kirby kirby hasn't shown that he's willing to do what some of the other coaches, head coaches have done, which is, hey, I'm going to step out of my comfort zone. Like it took Ed Ogeron to get Joe Burrow to step out of his comfort zone and throw the football 40 times a game.

Like Kirby hasn't shown he's willing to do that consistently. And if he doesn't, then, you know, I mean, he's going to have to score consistently and if he doesn't then you know i mean he's gonna have to score some points man against clemson like clemson is gonna score because dabbo is great tony ellie like those guys are great at scheming and they got dudes um i just think that especially if ross is healthy like they got dudes on the outside kirby's got to open that thing up But if you ask me to bet some money, I would definitely bet money on Clemson. But I do think that game is going to be a close.

I just want to see a good game. Like, anytime you got two top 10 teams in the first game of the year, the last thing we want to see is a blowout. Okay, let's do a couple other quick ones. The two Big Ten games, Penn State at Wisconsin. And then, you know, this one may mean a lot for Iowa and then what it means for Iowa State

because Indiana travels there as well. And I think all of us just respect Indiana's talent level. You can just see it. I mean, it's one thing to talk about the coaching and being a more competitive team, but the talent level, you know, Indiana would always have like

a couple receivers. You know, it always felt like over the years, and you'd look at the record and be like, whatever, it doesn't matter. I just think their talent level is the eye test alone tells you it's a different group

that they have there, which is, you know, not something we're accustomed to with Indiana. Right, yeah, I think, I like Penn State. I do, I mean, Penn State finished the year on a high note. I mean, they started out terrible last year, but they finished strong. I'm sold on Clifford, because I know what he is. He's not going to be great, but I think he understands

how to play and who he is now. And listen, I just love Indiana. Everyone loves the coach. I said last year, I tweeted out, I would love to play for him. It's a great program based on where they started

and where they are now. I think they've made a ton of improvements. So I'll take Penn State. I'll take Indiana. Does UCLA make him competitive with LSU? Absolutely. Chip has finally figured out, I think, who he is. Chip is a running football team regardless of where he goes. At Oregon, he was a running football team.

UCLA, he's a running football team. UCLA, he's a running football team. That game will be closer than the experts think just because he's got 20 or 22 seniors that are starting. So he's got a lot of experienced dudes, man. Like he got dudes that have played a ton of football. So those dudes are going to be fired up. Those dudes are not going to be afraid of anything that they see from LSU.

It wouldn't surprise me because UCLA has played a game. LSU hasn't. It wouldn't surprise me that if UCLA comes out and it's 10-7, 14-7 UCLA. Now, I think in the end, LSU's got way more talent. Now, that talent has to play. And you've seen a lot of first games, Rusillo. First games are really, really tricky because you hadn't played in a long time. You're kind of filling out the whole process.

LSU's got to go through that where UCLA doesn't. I still think LSU wins, but it's not going to be a blowout. Let's talk football. We'll talk some NFL a little bit later this season, all right, because I don't want to take up with the college stuff now. That was too important. So I can't wait to check you guys out. Looking forward to it, man, as always.

Thanks for the time. Anytime, buddy. Just hit me up. 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 can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice, rr at gmail.com, life advice. Okay, so we've had a lot of reaction to the pull-up. I don't want to call it a controversy here on the podcast, but it just kind of turns into the CrossFit world getting mad about

their pull-ups not being respected. But then it can turn into something else where it's like, hey, some people think I've been very respectful of CrossFit. Other people think I've been dismissive. I will say this. If you are in there putting in the work, I have all the respect in the world for you. I mean, unless you take forever on shit and don't put stuff back like this girl in the squat rack in Maui who took 45 minutes, had every single brace imaginable, some weird ankle thing that was going on, knee brace, competition belt. She also had the iPhone tripod camera thing to get at all different angles. We're talking five minute rest for one rep.

Took up the entire rack, the only rack that was there. And I started saying, hey man, it's starting to bother you. It's starting to now impact your workout. And you don't want that. That's not who you are, right? Worry about your own reps. That's what we say in the podcast all the time. And I was like, look, just focus on something else.

You're not doing squats today. Today's her day. And then, I don't know, 35, 45 minutes later when she was finally done. And no, no exaggeration. It was one of the worst hoggings of a squat rack I've ever, ever seen. And again, people can kind of pitch a 10 to the squat rack now with, with the way things go and focus on that, you know, movement, which is great, you know, congrats to everybody. And then a guy walked right into it to curl. And I went, you know what? This is actually perfect. There's one scrap rack here. He waited that

whole time. But I'd already focused. I was like, I just got to go do something else. It's not going to happen for me today. So, like I said, even she was in there making it happen. And so I think I'm respectful about it, but the pull-up thing is just nobody... I don't know. I'm respectful about it. But the pull-up thing is just nobody.

I don't know. I'll read. I'll read one here. Former Marine, 29, 6, 1, 2, 25. Classic dad bod. Look like I lift, but don't run because it's true. Bad knees. Okay.

Anyway, I wanted to comment on Ryan saying 30 pull-ups is a ton. 30 normal pull-ups is like there's almost no one walking around that can do 30 total pull-ups is a ton. 30 normal pull-ups is like, there's almost no one walking around that can do 30 total pull-ups. Jeremy Scott, our fitness guy heard about the pull-up controversy. He reached out to me where I think we actually ended up giving each other our max pull-up numbers, which we said we weren't going to do, but we did. Um, and that the movement is completely different and then it's not even close to the same thing. Uh, I think he said he got to 26 at one point at 210 pounds. He's also a fitness model who's like a real one and really good at it. So he goes, there's also not many people keeping track of him. I don't know. The emails would tell us differently that people are

keeping track of these. So our guy said, I spent five years in the Marine Corps after I dropped out of college. Marines have this thing called a physical fitness test. It's broken down into three events, three mile run, pull-ups, and crunches. Each event's worth 100 points, so logically a perfect score is 300. Everyone gets full points on the crunches because it's a joke. No one gets full points on the run because that means three miles in 18 minutes. No one does? That actually surprised me.

There aren't submarines that are going to run an 18-minute, three-mile deal. I mean, obviously the math there is six minutes each. There's going to be some guys. I don't even want to get too deep into it. Cause then we're just going to turn into how many guys can actually do three miles in 18 minutes. Uh, congrats to you. We don't need an email on it, whoever you are. Um, why would I ever need to run three miles in a t-shirt on a battlefield? That's a whole different conversation. Although I do know that there was this one seal test that I think I was like, Hey, let me see how many of these I could do.

And there were some things in there. I was like, that's never, ever going to happen. And then I thought one of them was a sprint for 10 minutes. So whatever you could do full max, like clearly not a hundred yard dash, but the idea being if something really went down, you would have to be able to run in one direction for 10 minutes at whatever pace you could keep. There was also a rolling part of it too that I actually tried to get. It was, I think, 7,000 meters in a certain amount of time. That didn't happen for me. And then there's a couple other things. I was like, that's cool.

I could do 20% of these. I did not sign up for the SEALs though based on that. All right. So we're rambling here a bit, but it's been a bit. All right. So now the pull-ups. A perfect score is 20 for the Marine test. A perfect score is 20. So the organization that prides itself on fitness and being the best says the perfect Marine can do 20 dead hang pull-ups.

When I was ultra motivated, I could do 26. See, this is awesome. Guys are like, yeah, this is a great number. By the way, I broke it. So saying that any random dude in the street couldn't do 30 is probably the most accurate thing Ryan's ever said. I actually don't know that there was a ton of people saying that they could do 30. Um, but for the CrossFit people that think I was being dismissive, I just, the pull-up is not the same. I think it kind of stems back to, I think Sir Rudy can help us with this. Will Kane, this is what it was. Will Kane was like, I, there's going to be something I can beat you at physically. And I was like, Hey, I haven't thought about it ever.

And Will's like, and you got to know Will. Will's the kind of guy you don't think is going to punch anybody in a fight. And Will's going to punch you. He may get his ass kicked, but Will will punch you. And that's what I learned about Will and respect him a little bit. So he'd have a thing with me a little bit, be like, I can't get you in this. I can't beat you in this. I was like, dude, you played water polo. I would drown before I'd be able to do that. And, you know, lifeguard certified, not a big deal. 17 years old. Don't know if that certification is lifelong or if they revisit that one. But he was like, I think I get your pull ups.

And then that's what happened with the Hasselbeck thing. And that's why this whole pull up thing is even gone on. And honestly, I can't believe I spent this much time on it. So now let's go ahead, Saruti. But now I regret going this long. I just can we get a definitive answer on the like what whether CrossFit is good for you or not? I feel like there's this contingency of people who just say, oh, it's terrible for your body. You shouldn't do it. But then there's a bunch of people that are in really good shape. So I don't like me.

I have no idea. I don't know. I don't want to do it because we're going to get a ton of emails where people are saying it's great because it is about the specific movements that are power and strength and the pace of it. And you're in and you're out. And then there's other people saying the chiropractor business has never been stronger between bird scooters and CrossFit. So, you know, they're both are going to make really strong arguments. It gets back to my original point. If you're in there doing anything good for you, because you're way ahead of most people, just, this is it it the pull-up thing is being put to bed for those don't know just youtube what the pull-ups are um you're like flailing your legs

around like that's the problem i i'm not trying to take a side here but i will say like if you're working out and you're getting the heart rate up good for you if it's crossfit happy for you it's good your heart health is important but if you're flailing your legs around and you're saying you're doing 30 pull-ups i just feel like that's, there should be like an asterisk there, right? That's just not, that's not a real pushup or pull-up. Yeah. People are going to come back at you with, Hey, it's a different movement. It's a different exercise. You guys are looking at it wrong. It's not exactly the same thing. I just think there's some guys out there and it's the same thing with the box jumps that everybody screws up is you stack up like, you know, five feet worth of height

and then you lift your legs up and the people are like, holy shit. Have you seen this guy's vert? And you're like, eh, that's not it. So I think we've covered this too much. I actually needed to stop and apologize to people for being repetitive on it

because I just got too sidetracked, but I couldn't help myself. Okay. What's your pull-up number real quick though? Do you have, you offered up Jeremy's, but what was yours? You're not really built for pull-ups.

No, but I got 20 at 225. That's pretty good. Not bad. You know what? I'll check in. You know what I'll do? I'll build toward it and ruin the rest of the workout. I'll try next week. You never know if I'm at 230 or 225.

I'll see how many I can do for the podcast. You should get on IG Live and do that. It'd be a good call for you. Yeah, definitely. And then people can talk about my forum and DM me that they can help and all these different things. They're like, you know what? We're doing all right.

I'm not worried about it. All right. Kyle, I imagine you have no... Are you still awake, Kyle? That's probably the better question. Yeah, yeah. I'm here. I'm here. Didn't really have much to say. Um, I just, I guess CrossFit is sort of like, it is what, like, I don't want to sound like an idiot, like I did with the HOA

thing, but like, is it like, is CrossFit like a, just sort of a school of thought or is it like, it's a training style. Is it like your local HOA, your local CrossFit? I don't know. No, I mean, for some people, dude, some of these people that are doing this and the amount of shit they put themselves through and how many changes of like how different the exercises and the number that they're trying to do in a short amount of time. It's insane how impressive. It's like, yeah, it's unorthodox. Basically, it's just anything that's like unorthodox is CrossFit.

No, I wouldn't. No, that's not what it is. Actually, a lot of the stuff's very traditional. But what it is, is it's combining these different movements in a very short amount of time. Like if you ever watch these competitions and you look at what these people are doing and you can see the veins behind their eight pack, like, you know, and some of the women, how strong and, and the endurance level it's, uh, yeah, I'm not going to sit here and sound like an asshole just because I don't like the pull-ups. I have a ton of respect for those people. So there you go.

Let's get to a couple of dudes asking about stuff. Six feet, 180. Mostly body weight stuff at home though. Sucks. Always a big fan of the show. I was hoping to get your thoughts on this. A couple of years after college, I moved to the States for a job. So I think our guy lives somewhere else, obviously, but I don't think he says where. Okay. White collar, good pay, prospects, et cetera. After I moved, I mostly lost touch with my buddies from back home, smallish town, in particular, my best friend since like fourth grade. It wasn't anything personal. Our lives just moved in separate directions and society is pretty terrible about teaching guys how to check in, talk to each other just casually. I think I tried calling him once just to say what up, but it was awkward. I didn't really try again. I think he makes a great point there about, I don't think society it's on them to say, hey guys, be better to each other. But I just

think, you know, some of our wiring is the way it is and it's probably never going to change no matter how many posters or specials you want to do. Guys handle being friends with each other differently than women do. Women are better at it. Last time I visited back home for Christmas pre-COVID, I made a big effort to hang out with a multiple text, et cetera. He responded with stuff like, yeah, sure, and definitely, but then was always busy whenever I tried to actually make plans and he never offered alternatives. I eventually got the message that he wasn't down to see me, so I stopped trying. He must have heard through the grapevine I'm visiting again soon because he actually texted me out of the blue to say we should hang out when I get in town. Part of me thinks, yeah,

sure, we can grab a beer, but another part of me wants to keep my pride because I tried last time and he basically ghosted me it sounds messed up but i don't really have a lot of gain from the relationship our interests are different we're in totally different careers he's more blue collar like a lot of folks back home should i hang out with him or just let it go i'm curious if you had to deal with this i would i could tell you're not from the states but i would i would have thought if you didn't give me some hints there that you were from boston because this is a classic thing with our boston group of guys be like hey are you going into town yeah did you hit up guys but yep did you hear from anybody nope um and you just accept it uh this feels like australia maybe hull for the north water fans out there uh you're making a bigger deal out of this than you should what you're not doing even though i get your point um when it comes to guys but you don't know or you didn't share with us like maybe that

was a really bad stretch for that guy for some reason you don't even know you know try to think about the other person sometimes with this so if you cared enough to be bothered about this and this one time where you were back home and he kind of blew you off, if it were happening for years and you went 0 for 5 on every time you asked him to do something, then that's fine and you can move on. But if you're as close as you're saying you are, despite whatever your career paths and locations are now, you care about this person. So wouldn't it be way better just to get back together with them to ask what's up? And then maybe after a few beers, you can say, hey, last time I came through,

was anything going on? Because I didn't hear from you. And it could be as simple as a stupid misunderstanding or maybe something was going on with his family. So try not to always think about these things as the decision is always about you. When a lot of times the decisions can be made that involve you that have nothing to do with you. So this is a very minor one. And again, like I said, if you care enough to even write an email about all this stuff, you clearly would like to repair whatever the relationship was. So the pride part, like this guy didn't sleep with your wife. He blew you off around Christmas once. So I would say let that go. But I also am somebody who is at least with my friends. I'm very forgiving or just, you know, like, hey, man, whatever.

Like, you know, we had a bad year for our friendship and you want to hang out. Yeah. All right. Cool. Like I liked hanging out with you at some point enough to still stay in touch with you 20 years later after college. Like there's plenty of guys from college where it's like, oh, hey, I was supposed to come see you here.

I was supposed to do this, this and that. And then it doesn't work out. And it's like, well, so that when i do deny myself of having fun with that guy that i actually enjoy hanging out with because something didn't work out one time i mean that's actually i think a big overreaction and i would say hit him up for that beer next time you're in perth totally nailed it i don't mean to say other than you're right just when i would come back from school and stuff and even come back from California was just like people got lives. A lot of my friends had kids early and even the ones that didn't like, you know, they work two

jobs or whatever. And it was just like, you can't, you can't be worried about like you, it just didn't work out and you'll be a lot happier if you don't take things like that. So personally, and then just, you know, getting where you fit in, dude. Yeah. You should give him a second shot. Cause he texted you back. If he didn't, you know, get in where you fit in, dude. Yeah, you should give him a second shot because he texted you back. If he didn't text you back, you live your life and you forget about it. But I don't know.

You still like this guy and you want to, you know, there's some sort of relationship to be had there. Try it out. If he burns you again, then you never have to worry about it for the rest of your life. Yeah, I mean, it does seem like the emailer here is indifferent enough where if he ended up ending the friendship, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

I don't know. I think that's an easy one it would be an easy one sometimes the best thing is to not overthink of it or over overthink ever like oh why and all these different like you know how many times there's times where you'll think like oh this guy doesn't like because of this thing and then you get in your own head about it and then you start creating this whole fucking storyline that's not even real it's fiction and then you know a year can go by and get to the bottom of it look there's a guy who worked on college game day on the television side who i thought hated me for whatever reason and so then of course i'm like fuck that guy then and we we'd stare each other down it went on for like almost two years and i even said to somebody

like that guy's what's his deal? I know he doesn't like me. I don't know what the hell I could have ever done to that guy. Then he was like, do you realize that guy's one of the shyest guys going? If you ever talk to him for two minutes, you guys would be completely, you would immediately like each other. Then I made the effort the next time

because it had gotten so awkward. It was like, oh, Russillo's looking at at me and then I'm looking at him and he never talks to me. And I just took one small interaction and turned it into something else. And again, I could always work myself up into quite a lather when I felt like I was being dissed at ESPN. But I then talked to him and he ended up being one of the best guys I've ever known that worked at the company.

It wasn't like we were summering together after that, but it was like a complete overreaction to one simple transaction that he and I had that went bad. And then I was like, oh, okay. And that was the starting point. And then I created this whole version of it that wasn't even fucking true. So again, that's a bigger lesson for other people on other stuff. That's far more extreme than anything that's going on here now, but we all could do a better job of like not letting something grow inside of us that ends up being this fictional novel about what's going on with you and somebody else in your life or where you work or, you know, even, even, even at the gym. So I don't know. It sounds like you want to jump back in through it because I got one more. No, I just love the idea of you and this other random dude just like

throwing looks at each other thinking that the other one's going to start something and actually end up becoming friends. That's kind of like Twitter in a nutshell. Yeah. Except they never have to see each other.

It's kind of like the person that responds after the guy tells you you're a fucking moron. He's like, oh, man, I love your show. You're like, I had more respect for me. You just didn't like me. Yeah. Just tell me you don't like me.

I don't care. Yeah. Yeah. The guys that do that, I think, are way worse than the guys that just be like no i still hate you and your show suck okay respect all right this is a longer deal here but probably more important it's titled the guy's name so i i don't know if he changed the name here um i'm just gonna change the name here. I'm just going to change the name. I'm probably going to mess it up because his name comes up a million times. Let's call him Sam. It's called Sam the Sometimes Fuckhead. Male, 37, 175, 4 to 5 times 30-minute cardio weekly.

All right. Daily light kettlebells. Cool. Wants more fly fishing content. Not sure what to tell you. In a fantasy football league with mostly homies from high school, started in 05, 12 dudes were all doing pretty well, some better than

others, obviously, but obviously no dead weight. Financially speaking, every year late August, we have a destination draft and golf trip. I hear about this. A lot of guys do this. Good for you. 10 of the 12 are relatively tight. Two aren't necessarily outcasts, but have just maintained distance over the years. No issues there. Good dudes, but just don't often come around. Might see them at weddings. One of the 10 core dudes, let's call him Sam, is what you would call the wild card. With Sam,

you never really know what you're going to get. Could be a great round of golf, few beers, relatively chill, or it could be, and this was years ago, unknown amounts of substances, booze and Xanax, a fist through a window, 25 stitches, months of physical therapy, or as recently seen, lots of just being a plain asshole. Being around Sam is like hiring a new

guy at a fly shop. Could be a great day or total dog shit. Very little middle ground. That's actually now I understand the fly fishing request. It should be noted that when Sam got married, he moved 1,500 miles away from the core group. We really only see him at our draft. So he looks forward to seeing all of us once per year and it seems to be inevitable that he just

can't control himself with the booze or whatever else around and turns into the close talking prick none of us want to be around. Yeah, that's a really good factor there. He's the one guy that moved away from everybody else. Like he looks forward to this weekend and wants to smash about 20 weekends into one weekend. So that's probably part of the problem. Three to four, maybe years ago, group texts were started without Sam, much like in real life. Sam's texts can be overwhelming and too much to deal with. So we started a Sam-less group

text that would forego any unsolicited input from them. This is extremely helpful when planning group get-togethers like the draft in any situation that benefits from a salient adult decision, from salient to adult decision-making. Last night, after Sam had been in the Red Bull and vodka since his 9 a.m. flight, he showed up to the Airbnb in one of his notorious close-talking fingers and chest moods. See, he sent pics of this. He was right up in our other guy's grill here. Sam is the Baldwin. One of our buddies, the most laid-back of all of us, lost in chest mood. He sent pics of this. He was right up in our other guy's grill here. Sam is the Baldwin. One of our buddies, the most laid back of all of us, lost it on him.

Smacked the F out of him. Told him about the group text without him. Let Sam know that he wasn't the same anymore and hasn't been for a while. He's been crying and pitching fits in person and individually to each of us in texts. Deep down, we all love Sam.

We've known him since we were kids. In some cases in preschool, we know his family. They're all first-class humans. We have some fond memories of Sam. But where do we go from here? Cat is out of the bag. He's obviously hurt more than anything. We feel bad for him.

We definitely don't want to see him spiral. So there you go. It sounds like, I think the big thing that you're working here, the foundation of it is deep down we all love him, right? You said that. So this guy matters to you. But this could be, you would hope, and it just depends. I mean, sometimes it is the case and sometimes it isn't. It just gets worse. You would hope that the realization that, hey, you suck enough right now, dude,

to the point where we have a whole other operating procedure without you. And again, being left off a thread if you think there isn't one can be kind of like a wake-up call. Like, whoa, you guys have a whole other thread without me? And everything he's doing here is his fault. We all have the 9 a.m. Red Bull vodka get on the flight guy because he's finally getting away from his family.

And you can do it a few times. But if you're the lock, like Vegas doesn't even offer it on the board that you're going to be that guy every single time the boys get together and you don't keep it together. I mean, it's one thing to be a mess, but then you're also doing stupid shit all of the time. It's just going to wear on people. And even a person with moderate intelligence has to admit like, Hey, I'm the one doing this. Like I'm the one,

like my actions led to this decision. And again, being left off a test text thread is far more lenient than all of you guys just saying, hey, dude, we love you. We grew up together, care about your families and all the stuff that you point out. We just don't want to hang. You guys are still hanging out. So really, I'd ask what your goal is here. Do you never want to hang out? You're not saying anything about never wanting to hang out with him again, but it sucks. And by the way, as I scroll down, with him again, but it sucks. And by the way, as I scroll down,

they sent this email in and then later that day, he put a golf cart in a tree with a picture. Yep, and there it is. Golf cart in the tree. So they sent that email the day of. I don't know. Seems to be a little too convenient I sent the email like you sent an email while you were heading out to this trip boy this is either really bothering you

or you were hoping to get this email read and then laugh about it during the weekend or maybe you were revealing enough here that he was going to know this I don't know I don't know that's weird but there's a golf cart in a tree yeah you get to a certain age and it's kind of it just stops being funny anymore you know fucking up golf carts even

though now i look at it and think hey that's somebody's business and who the hell are any of us to do that kind of shit in your 20s you laugh about it it's just the way guys are you know unless you grew up around golf courses where we had one friend that was like hey can you be a little restrictive of the course and we're all 21 and shit face that senior week going loser. And he was right. But in our 20s, that guy wasn't going to be right. Some guys is going to go to your 30s. I would say by the time you're in your 40s, people are just like, look, I don't want to hang out with you anymore. So let's just hope that that text realization, as much as he cried about it and all that kind of stuff, maybe he gets on that flight home after that weekend and it sinks

in a little bit or maybe he follows up with one of the guys in the core group that he's closest with and be like hey you can give me the lowdown let me know what's going on or it's not gonna be enough of a wake-up call and he's not gonna give a shit he's gonna continue to spiral and get worse and worse at all these events i don't know i can't predict the future on that one kyle i mean this really comes down to that fucking guy who let him know about the whole thing. I mean, he's like only a small part of this email, but God damn it, dude, you really fucked everything up. Did he? Or was that great that he actually said it? See, I'm you're right. Cause I didn't really look at it that way, but you might, you might be like, would you have rather him just never have

known if this was your group of friends and you guys continue on this and there's never any hinting at like hey the way you carry yourself sometimes really sucks and this is what it's led to no i don't like that i'd rather they just keep him in that group chat and talk shit about him in it like if they're like that kind if they're that kind of guys like that's the kind of guys i hang out with like they're like oh yeah you're fucking fat dude like that's like that's the stuff that we do. No, it's not nice, but my friends aren't nice, but we love each other

and we hang out all the time. So I don't know. I think it's a sticky situation, but I think if like, if like friendship is like important and it kind of conquers all and you guys want to keep this thing together, like just, I don't know,

just like it's now it's out in the open. Like just talk about it. Like it's like a thing that everybody knows about now. I don't know. Maybe that's bad advice, but that's like how I'd prefer to do it. I'm with you, actually, Kyle.

That's my first thought is this other guy is creating a necessary drama that the rest of the friend group didn't necessarily want to be in. And now they have to sort of like patch this thing up and figure out, you know, what to do with the guy they actually still like and don't want to not be friends with. So I just I don't know. I think that guy kind of overstepped his bounds. But it's also just it's a separate text thread. I feel like every friend group has like little niches of separate sort of people like we've got a group of five we've got a group you know of there are three of us around there are two of us around there are four of us have on one it just depends on what

the topic of conversation is it's not that big of a deal so i kind of feel like you can you can this thing could blow over pretty easily i don't know if it'll be a wake-up call for the guy at all but i don't think it's like, it's not a friendship ender. Like he could just, you know, just kind of get over it. Look, we had a friend in the group, you know, was going to run through it in college, came by the house, put on football pads, smashed his body through a soda machine that had beer in it.

Cool party, college. And we watched him destroy himself and the soda machine at three in the morning. And we thought it was funny. Um, later on, he went down a spiral staircase a couple of years later in the town we were in drunk in the middle of the day and was naked down a spiral staircase and there was families in there. And a lot of us still thought it was funny. And a guy who was a local finance guy did not think it was funny. Cause he's like, I can't be seen with you anymore. Like I'm doing 401ks with people in town and you're naked in the middle of a day who was a local finance guy did not think it was funny because he's like, I can't be seen with you anymore. Like I'm doing 401ks with people in town and you're naked in the middle of a day

at like a restaurant. Um, some of us still thought it was funny and then it kept happening and it was on and then it was getting less funny and less funny, less funny. And there was like some push back. We were like, Oh, well you think what I did was bad. And like, how about, you know, this, this, and then you'd just be like, okay, that's fine, dude. Like, that's fine. But like, if you think whatever everybody else in the friend group has done is the same as some of the shit you're doing, like you're just, you're only lying to yourself in this. Like there's not even, there's no debate on any of this stuff. And then we'll look back at it now and we just go, Oh, and you know,

unfortunately there was never really a moment where, uh, the guy was like, Hey, I can can't i can't do this stuff anymore you know and and i don't i mean that's that's just a different topic altogether probably on kind of where guys are at and how they're wired with certain stuff but there's a very clear line you can see as you get older trust me on this one of where there's always going to be a guy that thinks the stuff they did in the past still holds up and most people are going to be like look this just isn't fucking funny anymore like it just isn't and there's guys that can get away with it at an older age if it's not part of their DNA. But if it's all the time, if it's every get-together, your friends as you get older are just not going to think it's cool. There's just not. And some guys, it takes them a really

long time to learn that. There's a real wake-up call when you graduate from college and you're actually in the normal adult world and you're telling stories from college and all of a sudden you realize like co-workers that are a few years older than you are like why are you telling that story at work like what the fuck's wrong with you and you're like oh i just i don't know 22 i thought dudes told stories at work like not like that they don't i mean forget i mean for me that's 20 years ago i mean forget today the stuff that you would or wouldn't talk about at work. But the same thing applies to a lot of the friend groups. And if a guy has a family and has real problems and you're kind of a mess, he doesn't want to have time for your bullshit anymore

because he has real things at home that he has to worry about when he crosses the threshold. And those things, that's why having a family can be like one of the greatest things, even though it's stressful, it's a real stress that matters. And it's the people you care the most about in your life where somebody who doesn't have that thinks their bullshit actually matters when it's like, no, none of this stuff really does. And as I get older, and if I'm talking about a person from the family perspective, it's like, I don't have enough time for you. I get sick of your shit. How could I look at it any other way? Like, hey, my kids at practice today or didn't make the team or is going to have to stay back or whatever. Oh,

you left your debit card out last night. I don't care. I don't care about your stories anymore. This isn't funny. You ended up in a strip club before. Ooh, cool. No one gives a fuck, man. I got two kids at home. And there are people that have a very hard time understanding the other group. The guy without the family has a very hard time understanding the other group. I will tell you that for sure. All right. I think that does it. All right. Lifeadvicerr at you that for sure. All right. I think that does it. All right. Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com.

All right. We come back three days a week, three Brasilo pods each week, and it's going to be mostly football, but we're not going to steer away from some of the authors that we were doing. You know, it won't be the stretch

like we had in August where I bounce for a bit, but we're still going to do some weird stuff. And then, you know, with the Simmons pod today, the horrifying start date of the NBA being like, this camp shit's going to be opening up here in weeks is crazy.

So we will make sure we have it all covered. Please subscribe. We have some great football guests planned, some regulars as well. So we're already kind of loaded up the first month of September. So we're really excited about it and a great plan. And NFL, we all know that that will be the priority. So that's going to be a lot of next week,

even though I did probably a little bit more college football. I was just trying to balance it out before the season started up so as always appreciate it and we'll talk to you on monday Thank you.