The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Claiming NCAA Titles, and Willie McGinest on Belichick, Cam, and “Be the Change”

Episode Date: July 16, 2020

Russillo opens the show discussing claimed college football championships (03:00), before former Patriot Willie McGinest joins the show to discuss the transitions from Parcells to Carroll to Belichick (18:15), Cam Newton's potential uses in New England’s offense (28:00), and his work with Julian Edelman for the Be the Change campaign (33:00). Lastly, Russillo gives some Life Advice before signing off (36:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's episode of the ryan rossola podcast on the ringer podcast network is brought to you by state farm just like basketball the game of life is unpredictable talk to a state farm agent and get a teammate who can help you navigate the unexpected. Not unpredictable that somebody would call the hot line, the snitch line down in Orlando on Dwight Howard for not wearing a mask. That was one of the most. They took it off the board. You can bet on it. Get a teammate who can help you navigate the unexpected.

Talk to a State Farm agent today. Today's plan, Willie McGinnis. We're going to talk to him on the Cam Newton topic, what he should expect from Belichick. And then Willie, who was drafted by Parcells, played for Pete Carroll. And then Belichick, who was obviously before his coordinator, but then him coming in as head coach.

So we'll get to that. And some of the stuff that he thought about Brady very early on, knowing that Bledsoe was the number one pick in 93, and McGinnis, I believe, was what, the fifth pick, fourth pick in 94. So we'll do some of that. And then I have an open that I'm excited about. And we're not going to do any Dak Prescott stuff, because as we told you on this podcast last fall,

Dak was offered in the neighborhood of four years, right around $140 million, $100-plus million guaranteed. It doesn't look like that offer changed much at all. Between the Zeke Elliott and the Dak Prescott contract topic amount of stuff, it's arguably some of the most boring content out there. Start, bench, cut, sucks. That's the dumbest shit going. But Dak updates. I get it right up to the deadline but the story never really moved

it never really did anything and it depends on what you believe I mean Jane Slater NFL Network who is somebody that I trust a lot on the Cowboy stuff seemed it well didn't seem but she was reporting basically like Dak last minute there was a push but they couldn't make it by the deadline but the parameters of the deal I don't really think ever changed from where it was last fall. And whether it was Dak betting on himself in a big way or betting on himself in a big way and then was willing to concede at the very end, I don't know. I don't know. And I don't blame Dak for betting on himself a little bit.

But some of that salary cap stuff that we talked about that I spent a lot of time on in the projections, and it goes up 10, 12 million every single year, and here's where quarterbacks are going to be. I even brought it back with some of the Mahomes stuff with his extension. I don't know what's going to happen, at least in the short term, with some of the cap numbers, but being franchised back-to-back years is not a bad thing. It isn't. The franchise tag is terrible because it exists, but it's actually not terrible once executed for quarterbacks that want to bet on themselves. And most of the guys do stay healthy. So you can't just say, well, what if he gets hurt? Odds are he's going to last most of the season. He's a really durable guy to begin with. And

even if he is hurt and they think he's going to make a full recovery and he's their guy, hurt and they think he's going to make a full recovery and he's their guy uh it's not like they would just move on from him anyway you know unless it was uh like a devastating kind of injury that just doesn't really happen all that often although because it still happens people argue the exception so we don't have any DAC stuff for you we have some college football national title stuff for you though this week's open is about claimed national championships in college football national title stuff for you, though. This week's Open is about claimed national championships in college football. I made a predictable Bama joke last week where I said if Bama never gives up on the season

and everyone else does, does that mean it's their 18th national title? Because Bama has 17 claimed ones, most of them very legitimate, but a few that are like, come on, man, are you serious? And by the way, the reason Bama gets this joke is because they have the most, and let's face it, this decade plus run by Saban, I don't know will ever be repeated by another coach at another program. Never is a long time,

but five national titles in the mix for a few more in this kind of run every single year being in play for a national title. I mean, everybody has a down year and this guy just doesn't. And I can't imagine anybody else is going to do this anytime soon. So that's the problem for Bama fans is that you're going to be in the crosshairs of these kinds of jokes. But I remember the first time somebody explained this to me. They're like, do you not understand how the claim national championships work? I go, well, look, I'm from New England. I don't really get worked up about this stuff. Like, no, go back and look at it. If you look at Wikipedia, they say that there are 22

different entities. And essentially these are different publications, whether it's actual real voting media, the first versions of the coaches poll, or people that just like math that went back and retroactively handed out a bunch of titles. There's one guy that's a gemologist that was just super into college football, and these are recognized. I think Wikipedia recognizes 22 different places that are okay giving out national titles that actually count like it really exists out there. I've counted as high as 24. Who knows how many there are?

So let's look at a few of Bama's to explain this whole thing and how it expands in bigger ways around college football's history. Bama's first disputed one, 1926, tied Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Bama finishes 9-0-1. Stanford finishes 10-0-1.

There were 10 different things going on there as far as voting. A bunch of votes for Bama, four for Stanford. Michigan, Navy, and pesky Lafayette also. Lafayette just in the mix a bunch throughout this historical lesson. So, you know what? That one's fine. That one checks out. 1930, 10-0, plus a Rose Bowl win.

No problem for Bama on that one. 34, a little more controversial 10 and 0 rose bowl victory but nca recognizes 8 and 0 minnesota minnesota just haymaker in the field mid 30s and early 40s minnesota had some real titles they have a few too that they're like there's a few minnesota ones that are so bad even minnesota's like you know what we're not even going to claim those so that one's in dispute but not horrible 1941 problem minnesota the actual champion recognized historically but the holgate system don't know if you know about old deke holgate wwii air force vet usc statistician uh seems like a hell of a guy but he was like no

my system says bama at nine and two is the champ no one really seems to like that one except for the Bama SID that I think is at the root of all of this 1964 Bama loses to Texas in the Orange Bowl finishing 10 and 1 but still the national title yes because the media voting was done before the bowl games so even though the NCAA recognizes Arkansas Notre Dame and Bama they were like wait should we keep doing this? I mean, just think of not having the foresight to go, hey, is that ever going to screw us by voting for the national champion before the bowl games happen?

Well, it could, but let's just wait until it actually happens, then fix it. And that's what the media did. And by the way, that is a harbinger. That's a big word. Not really, but 1965, 9-1-1. Bama beats Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. A bunch of votes for Bama, but more votes for Michigan State. So the NCAA just says, ah, whatever, co-champs.

A lot of this stuff becomes, you think the geographical bias is bad now? It's off the charts historically. 1973, this one is very problematic for Bama fans. 11-1, but their loss was to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Bama won the coaches' vote, which is the UP. It was the United Press thing, and the coaches' polls changed names a million times. But Notre Dame is recognized by the NCAA in this one because they finished up 11-0 and beat Bama. Now, if you say as a Bama fan, hey, those are the rules, because they were voting.

The coaches' poll was voting before. They couldn't realize, hey, didn't a decade ago this stupid thing happened? Yeah, and guess what? They changed the process the year after this happened and for any Bama fan that pushes back on this how would you feel if earlier this decade when Bama rolled Notre Dame in Miami I was there it was ugly it's as ugly as any I think playoff or title game I've ever gone to and um you said hey yeah nice win but actually before the game started we all voted for the irish to be national champs so please recognize that 1978 11 and 1 bama beats penn state in the sugar i think i counted 24 different places that named champions that year um eight picked oklahoma

the ncaa split it with usc and bama But the problem is that would never play out for Bama now in today because USC went to Birmingham and beat Bama by 10. And somehow they were co champs by the NCAA. Now, is this all anti Bama? No, it's anti takes. What I realized was that all of these different entities, these publications, this is the origin of the shit hot take. It's like Skip Bayless just sat around and was like, let's go through a decade of history and handle out awful fucking titles left and right. Cause that's what this feels like. Cause yes, I get that a lot of it is rooted in math and different things, but if your math says a team that's eight and three is the real national title winner over the 12 and O team, unless it's a team from like Lafayette's conference, it doesn't really make a lot of sense. Like, Hey, guess what?

Sometimes your math is wrong, but sometimes math guys are so excited about their math, even when the answer staring in their face doesn't feel great, they're like, hey, math checks out. But here's the lesson. This isn't even anti-Bama. Princeton is off the charts. If I were to just go through and recalculate this and take a couple back from Bama, you may have to take all of Princeton's. Princeton claims 28. Harvard only eight, by the way. 101 years for Harvard since their last title. Feeling like a bit of a drought there after a nice run in 1910, 12, 13, and 19. But Princeton claims 28 of these bad boys. It starts in 1869. Be patient. The home and home of Rutgers. The first college football game ever. That's at least what history says.

It was just a bunch of guys. There were actually different sets of rules. There were Princeton rules, and they did better in that game than the London rules, I believe. So a one-on-one split with Rutgers, but scoring differential. The math goes in Princeton's favor. Let's give them a national title for 1869. N70.

N72. N73, where they went 1 and 0 1 and 0 1 and 0 in 1874 they went 2 and 0 another title 1875 2 and 0 another title 1877 2 0 and 1 another title 1878 princeton really scheduling it up out of conference. 6-0, big win there. And they started expanding it. They had no coach in 1879. That's another title that happened again a little bit later on. They had 20 titles before 1900. Now, here's the best part. The Billingsley Report, another one of these publications, handed these titles out retroactively in the 60s.

So we're like, hey, what do you want to do this weekend? I don't know. Do you want to give Princeton football 20 national titles? Let's get to work. When Princeton finds out, how does that go over? Do they have a meeting? Do they call guys and be like, well, they're all dead, so we can't have a reunion party. Good point. What about the 94 class? All right, I'll check. What was that? Lexus Nexus. I think that's what it's called. Do you make shirts?

I don't know. I don't think you do, but it just seems weird. And again, I understand that it was a different time and no one was really playing. There was one school called Stevens. Their last season was in 1924. That program, the school was run by Alexander Crombie Humphreys. If you see a picture of him, not a football guy. He was more of a water and gas plant guy.

And he goes, look, we're getting smoked out here. They're the original Citadel, right? The original FCS school. And they just said, we've had it with this. We can't hang because it was all these Ivy League schools. It was a bunch of smaller new england new jersey new york state these kinds of schools all over the place and again lafayette who i don't know why there were certain years would be like lsu i don't know navy um alabama national title and then some math guy would be like yeah actually lafayette was another one of the champions there in 1925 um i may be lying about 1925. I've done a lot of research, but I don't want you going around

saying, hey, do you guys remember that 25 Lafayette team? No, I'm sorry. That was Alabama, Dartmouth, and Michigan. They were all champs. Yeah, excuse me. 1926, Alabama, Lafayette, Michigan, Navy, Stanford, all recognized as national champs Detroit not the Pistons Detroit 1928 splitting with Virginia excuse me Georgia Tech and USC honestly like some of these years where there's six titles maybe you just say no to all of them 1921 California Cornell Iowa again Lafayette Vandy and of course that Washington and Jefferson team led by Greasy Neal. They played their ball out at, I believe, Cameron Stadium. And who'd they beat?

Bethany, Bucknell, West Virginia, Wesleyan, Carnegie Tech, Lehigh, Syracuse, Westminster. Yeah, they went out the road there and started playing those schools. Some of these teams would just play like four at home and then eight on the road. And then Princeton would play like eight home games and one road game. So I don't know what to do with Princeton except kind of lean towards maybe you take all of them away. But again, that doesn't seem fair. But the Billingsley report deciding 60 to 80 years later, hey, here's a ton of titles. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Some schools are better than others when it comes to this. Nebraska actually is really good. Nebraska has a couple where they're like, no, you can have them. Minnesota has some real titles in there.

They have a couple probably they could give back, but hell, it's Minnesota. When's the last time you go to Minnesota football? Although P.J. Fleck does bum some people out, so maybe that will turn back around. P.J. Fleck would definitely claim extra as I'm starting to think about it out loud right now. You know, Michigan has the scary thing about michigan in their history michigan's got one since 1948 but most people think in 97 that nebraska was the better football team so if michigan didn't have the 97 split can you imagine michigan football walking around like they do and going your last one was really 1948 maybe michigan should just find some more maybe

they should hire a new math guy from the Midwest to retroactively give them some more titles because Ohio State's actually pretty good at not claiming too much of this. Newt Rockne in 1926 asked a mathematician named Frank Dickinson, said, hey, could you go back and look at our 1924 undefeated season? Hey, Newt, it's Frank. Got good news.

You guys are national title winners. Damn it. That's great news. Yeah, Nebraska, as I close with this, there was another entity called the NCF and Nebraska who finished nine and three in 1981. They lost to Clemson in the Orange Bowl. That was an undefeated Clemson season where they're recognized as the AP and the UP. And that's the UPI at this point as the national title winners. But somehow this Mike guy behind the NCF gave Nebraska,

Clemson, Pittsburgh, SMU, and Texas. He recognized all of them as national champs because of the hypothetical of Clemson allegations. But Nebraska had three losses despite beating six ranked teams before their loss to Clemson. Don't you think that you might be wrong there? Now, I researched this, and the response was, well, with those allegations, you can't rule out a bunch of things. But then in 1993, the Florida State-Notre Dame season, where Notre Dame beat Florida State head-to-head and lost to BC because a UVM kicker transferred to Boston College to kick, the NCF gave Auburn a title, Florida State a title, Nebraska a title, who lost to Florida State at the end of the year, and then Notre Dame.

I think the rule should be this. Is if you as a fan look at the claim title that's staring you in the face and you go, this doesn't really make any sense, then don't print a shirt and don't claim the title. Before we get to Willie McGinnis, the Ryan Rosillo podcast is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Look, there's a reason FanDuel is America's number one sports betting app. They've got all the odds on all the biggest sports. They make it simple and intuitive to place your bets.

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Go to www.1800gambler.net. In Indiana, call 1-800-9-WITH-IT. Or in Colorado, call 1-800-522-4700. 15 years in the NFL, Pro Bowl defensive, and Willie McGinnis now with the NFL Network as an analyst and a guy that I've followed for a long time, living in that part of the country. I want to get to the Be the Change program that you are part of

with some other guys as well, Willie, and knowing how close you are to everything that's going on out here in Los Angeles. But because Cam's with New England, and I'm sure you've been asked different versions of this all the time, but you came in in 94, you go from Parcells, three years of Pete Carroll, and then Belichick.

What was your first impression of Belichick once he became your head coach after, you know, you'd been in the league a bunch of years? Yeah, well, I had Belichick. Remember, he was the DB coach after you know you'd been in the league a bunch of years yeah well i had belichick remember he was the dp coach and assistant right defensive coordinator um when we went to the super bowl and uh and he's a little different of course as an assistant than he was the head coach because he was in total control um but i would say very smart, very calculated, somebody who was very dedicated to his job, who talked about preparation and the different things that you had to get ready. He was always making sure that there was no rock left unturned. You know, a little different as far as parcels. Talking about personality and the way he communicated,

but still very effective. And I think that when you talk about Pete Carroll, too, the personalities are contrasted. They're totally different. So I just think Belichick was still figuring out and putting the pieces together. And when he became the head coach in Cleveland, he just started to assemble and things started to come together for him. Then when he came back to New England, he was a football mind.

He was like one of those guys you're like, where's all this stuff coming from? He has the foresight. He has the knowledge. He knows how to assess talent. I can go down the line. And it was just, you can just see the making, you know, of what he is today. And I knew that, you know, with the relationship before, like coordinators are just going to treat you differently, especially like if it's your position,

it's almost like they want to be your buddy more than they want to be your coach. With Bill, like people were really anti it in town i remember that but then again everybody thought like pete carroll was this terrible head coach and yet we've now seen what he's become so that was kind of weird i mean did you guys when you had pete and it's impossible to follow somebody like parcells but did you in the moment feel like actually pete's a really good coach it's just not working out as the team kind of like slowly started going backwards record wise well you got to remember that was Parcells team so all those guys on that team pretty much fit the personality and DNA of Parcells he had brought in all his different guys from the Giants he had a mix of guys that he

drafted I was one of those guys um and the coaches that was on that staff so all those players were pretty much I would say, used and conditioned to build for ourselves. And then when Pete Carroll comes in, here's the guy with all this energy. Here's a guy that was always smiling. His approach was different. The way he communicated was different.

Everything was different. That didn't make him a bad coach. I think the problem with our team was that we had a lot of immature guys that took that for granted, that didn't really think that he was effective or a good coach because of his approach and the way he communicated and the way he prepared in different things. And, you know, when you got guys that are immature, when you got guys that are not being professional that don't buy in, and then you got half the guys that buy into whatever leaders in front of them, it just makes it difficult to win. But Pete has always been a really good head coach.

Of course, you see him now years later. He's still winning football games, still being one of the best in the league and still doing things the exact same way of course he's gotten better at it but um i just didn't think our locker room was ready you know for p carroll at that time and it was really hard you know in the moment because it's it's after like i say something like parcells but it's just it's one of the great turns turnarounds in coaching history to go like oh you'd want p carroll would be no further than fifth on your list of guys that you'd want to be the head coach of your team and at the time you know that city being in boston is like revolting every single day going who is this guy all right so bill comes in in 2000 and you mentioned that it was different as he was a

head coach did you have any issues with him early on once you became because you're this leader you're part of this veteran crew, you've had this taste of success, you obviously haven't won a title. Did you have any issues, any pushback with him from the very beginning? No, I just knew that he was going to do things a certain way. He made that clear. He identified a group of men on that team that was going to be the core and the foundation, the Troy Browns, myself, the William Malloys, the Teddy

Bruschis, the Ted Johnsons, those type of guys that were the tie-laws. He recognized that early. He had a conversation with us and told us what he expected out of us, what he expected as a team, and how we were going to do it. I think that the great thing about Belichick

is he explained and he laid out the blueprint of what this team should look like, how this team should play football games, the type of team he wanted, tough, physical, smart, accountable. And most importantly, he really emphasized team over individualism. And once all those things got in place and that was our cornerstone as a team and that was our foundation, he slowly just started to move guys in and out and bring those type of character guys in draft and bring free agents that fit pretty much what the

perception of the team would be and what he saw as the Patriots. And, man, 20 some odd years later, I mean, look what's going on now. Yeah, I mean, it still is, it seems crazy after that first year for this to then be the next two decades. Were you, as somebody who comes in in 94, Drew comes in in 93, were you always on board with them going to Tom? Or were there any reservations with you and some of the older guys? I would say the way our team was built at the time,

the message and the way Belichick approached everything, how it was handled. I was on board with making sure the defense was doing what we needed to do to hold up our end. Drew was injured and he was injured for a number of games. So, you know, you know, in a physical sport, when somebody's not out there, the next guy coming in has to do his job and has to hold his own. Now, the only thing with that, remember, that same year, Drew signed for $100 million. So in the back

of our mind we was like drew's not going anywhere he's the franchise guy he just he just signed his blockbuster contract he's the quarterback uh no i don't know what belichick saw uh the foresight uh the ability to see what tom was or what he was going to be. But the way that this team transitioned behind Tom and played under Tom, when we had that team meeting and Belichick said that he's staying with Tom and this is what we are going forward. When Drew got healthy, I think a lot of guys turned around and looked at each other and we shook our hands like, all right, let's go. He eliminated the distraction right off the top. There was no media circus about it.

There was some talk. Of course, we're human. You know, we see this sudden change. But we had started to play a certain way. We had started to play a certain way. We had started to perform a certain way. And he had the insight, man, and he had the vision. So we didn't question anything. We were just working, and nobody knew Tom was going to be what he is today.

No, that's definitely – I can imagine some days you must have been like, is this dude really going to take over? Because Bill didn't really let him do a lot of stuff in the offense early on. I mean, it was your defense. It wasn't like he was asking him to go back there and throw it. He didn't become that guy until years later in his career. I think that's always something that's lost a little bit, especially with the way the game played out offensively back then too.

It's like two different styles of game anyway. Yeah, it was different. I mean, we were a tough football team. Our defense was, you know, was the, I would say, our strong point at the time and our foundation. But I think with any young quarterback,

when you're trying to develop and incorporate a system around him, the one thing you want to do is make sure he's in a good environment and that you're game-planning things that cater around him. The one thing you want to do is make sure he's in a good environment and that you're game planning things that cater to him. And you slowly, gradually build. You see this for Russell Wilson his first year,

and you see this with a lot of different quarterbacks their first year going into their second, third, and fourth year. You don't want to overload them. You want them to take care of the football. You want them to have clean vision of what the goal is. You want them to go out there and play at a certain level. You don't want a whole lot of thinking. You want them to take care of the football and do a lot of other things.

So if you overload their plate and you don't know what the guy is right off the top, I think it was smart how they brought him along. And that wasn't saying anything negative about Tom. Like he couldn't handle it or he wasn't that guy. It was just what we needed to do as a team to play complementary football, to go out and compete and win at a high level. So what do you think Bill's going to do with Cam here if Cam ends up being the starter, which I think most of us assume will happen if he's healthy?

Well, I think Cam's in a great situation. I think Bill has a lot of respect for Cam and what he's done over the years, especially when he's played against the Patriots. I think he's a lot of respect for Cam and what he's done over the years, especially when he's played against the Patriots. I think he's 2-0, one of the few quarterbacks in the league that has a winning record. And I think if Cam is healthy and at 100%

and has the right mindset, the sky's the limit. I don't think we'll see a lot of gimmicky, crazy plays, but where the game is today and all the things that when you look at Cam, the intangibles that he offers as a player at the quarterback position, strong arm, can throw the ball down the field. He's proven that he can make those plays in the air.

His feet definitely being 250, 260, a big quarterback that can run, that's physical. Where the game is today, moving the pocket, the RPOs, the boots, the sprint plays, getting out of the pocket, keeping defenses off balance, I think Josh McDaniels, who is the architect of this offense, is going to have a field day because he's so versatile that as a defensive coordinator, you really don't know what to prepare for.

You really don't know what you're going to see. And when they run the ball effectively with all the running backs and, you know, the tight end positions, you saw them go out and get tight ends and Edelman, everybody will have a role. And the one thing with the Patriots already is the game plan changes from week to week. Now you put in a guy like Cam and you say, okay, what am I going to see this week? How are we going to use him this week? Like, where are they going to attack this week and how?

And I think Cam gives you that ability to do a lot of different things. If he comes in, has the right mindset, he buys in and he listens. Those coaches are proven. They know what they're doing. And the one thing that that staff is probably better than any staff for the last, like I said, 20 something years, it's putting guys in position to play at a high level and cater to their strengths and hide their weaknesses. Do you think there's a part of Bill that can't wait to see what happens this year without Tom? You know, I don't think it's about Tom.

I think Bill has always been, you know, one of those guys that after a win, after a loss, after something happens, move forward. And, you know, make it about the guys that are in that locker room or that are on that football field now. They've had great history together. They've won a lot of football games together. I know they have a family love-hate type of relationship, like all family members do that spend years and years together.

But I think they've had a lot of success, and there's a lot of respect on both ends, coach and player. And I think that they both are excited to see, you know, what they can do without one another. I just think that's being a competitor. I think that's being competitive and having belief in yourself and your ability, whether it's a player or a coach, to say, I got a different opportunity. I'm in a different place now.

And as players, we want to prove to the team that we're not with anymore. I left. Remember, I went to Cleveland. I wanted to prove to the Patriots that I still had it and I could still play at a high level. Coaches, sometimes when they lose certain players and they get criticized about it, especially probably the best quarterback to ever do it ever, they also have goals. And those competitive juices come out of them

where they want to show that they can still move on and win games and play at a certain level or change things so dramatically that they're refacing that offense. They're going to change a bunch of things and you're going to see how the game is changing. Same with them. They have to change and incorporate those things. So I think there's excitement from both parties,

coaching and player to show that they're still pretty relevant and still can play at a high level and have success without one another. Was I politically correct on that? Yeah, no, there's a way I could turn that title into something that would get you in trouble, but I'm not going to do that to you. I think what you're doing is you're explaining a lot of the stuff that I think anybody that's been around it for a while knows that, you know, I'm sure Tom's still pissed off he's not there. And, you know, I'm sure Bill would say,

I could cite about 10 different numbers the last two years that would say it's time for me to move on. But I'm not going to do that to you. Because he's just not going to say any of that kind of stuff. So I guess I'm always going to be a little surprised that Tom's not there, because no other franchise would have done this to a Tom Brady. But it's kind of the most predictable thing ever

that the Patriots would say, yeah, it's okay. You can go move on and do something else. And now Cam Newton's a million bucks, and I think it's a great fit for both guys if he's ready to go. So, yeah, you haven't said anything right that I would disagree with. I did want to get to this. You mentioned Julian Edelman, and I know you're working with him on the Be the Change program.

What are you guys doing to get together and really get people involved and making sure they get out and vote this fall? Well, Julian, he's a great friend of mine, man. And if you look at his posts lately, he's always trying to be the change and create change and do the right things and bring people together. And he's helping us out. Be the Change is a campaign that we're dealing with. Our team dealt with Legends apparel and After Leisure Wear.

And Be the Change is when you look at all the players and what they're talking about, using their platforms, whether it's protesting, whether it's marching, whatever they're doing to try to create that change. The biggest change is going out to vote. And players have a huge platform, and a lot of people listen, and a lot of young people don't go out and vote. And players have a huge platform and a lot of people listen and a lot of young people don't go out and vote. So Be the Change right now, this initial campaign is a collection of superstar athletes, entertainers, Snoop Dogg's involved in this, the Black Music Coalition is

involved in this, different organizations in the NFL, NBA, MLS, NHL, they're all guys are coming in just to put on a hoodie and say, I support being a change and go out and vote if you want to be the change. And the reason why that we're creating these hoodies is when people come out to register to vote, we're going to give them a hoodie. You know, people like free stuff. They do. From legends? Yeah, from legends so it's good stuff too yeah it is good stuff so you know um for everybody at these events when it's cova you know it's covet uh ready um we're gonna give out hoodies to people who come out to register

to vote just to support these players man and all these huge voices that we have and telling people, if you really want to make that change, you got to, you got to go out and do something. You can do a lot of talking, but voting and actually getting with law enforcement and getting with community leaders and talking with the people in the communities, the leaders and the Congress women and men and, and the political leaders, and actually doing something is what's going to make the change.

You can follow Willie's stuff. It's at Willie McGinnis for both Instagram and Twitter. And, of course, you'll see him on NFL Network as well. And, Ryan, could I just say, like, you can go to Legends, LegendsBrand.com, or you can go to at legends and dm them uh we'll have the hoodies up pretty soon um all the all the hoodies that people buy we're going to take that money and just pour it into into these events that we're doing to get people out there put it right back into the people to get them out there and give away the hoodies if you come to register you'll

get a hoodie there you go i mean and again i know i see willie and some of the guys from legends that have all this gear all the time this stuff is uh stuff but obviously it's it's a much better cause than just the hoodie as well and on those hoodies uh make sure again you check out the legends brand.com and uh on instagram as well at legends okay, let's do one life advice before we call it a week. They say money can't buy happiness. Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby.

You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible.

Let me tell you what's required. This is George, and he's overseas. He said I can use his name, but not his full name. I don't think anybody would know. Whatever. It doesn't matter, but we're going to keep it at George. All right? So I'm 25 25 I'm in England

I've been doing my teacher training this year and I've been hanging out with a girl on the course a little language barrier here for all of us here in the state state side on this so I imagine he's in some course for becoming a teacher and there's a girl that he's hanging out with since January alright you know what we got that We're both placed in the same school for our placements, but it was pretty convenient deal for both of us having similar schedules.

She's always had a boyfriend throughout this, but that didn't really bother me. Hmm. Sure. What if it bothered the guy? Not really an issue as this is just a casual arrangement and he lives in the next town over. I've now got my first teaching job after qualifying and I had my induction this week via Zoom and I was assigned my mentor to work alongside next year. Sticky situation is my mentor is the boyfriend of the girl I've been hooking up with for six months. Whoa. He seems a decent enough dude and is keen to meet up over the summer for a few beers before we start working together. And we've been exchanging texts. Oh my God. At some point I'll have to hang out with

him outside of work. I haven't yet told the girl that I'm now working with her boyfriend. What's my play here? Stop hanging out with the girl in case he finds out. Stay silent and hope he never finds out. My friend says I should confront the issue, but I think that's more harmful. Okay. Wow. Wow. Okay. The first observation from this email is you don't even mention the girl really. So my guess is you don't really care about her that much. We could make you seem like a bad guy, but that probably makes this less problematic. Like you didn't mention that you care about her. You, it seems like if this ended tomorrow, you'd be fine. Um, and yeah, this is really weird. Like the mentor, I don't know, like I would hate you if I'm him. So here's,

here's what you, here's the, here's the delicate part of this. Um, the first option to just keep hanging out with her while she's dating your mentor is the, is the worst option. Just don't do that. Like, don't be, don't be a dick. Um, I would, I would probably physically assault you if I were the mentor and you were doing that to me and I would lose my career, but I, it would be worth it for at least 30 minutes. So I, yeah, don't, don't do that to another guy. And I, you know, like there's some guys out there that just don't care at all. Like it's like, whatever, dude. Um, I never quite get that. Like the guys that sort of got off on the idea of hanging out with a girl that already had a boyfriend.

And then sometimes like guys that as soon as the girl like didn't have a boyfriend, the girl, the guy would lose interest. Like somehow the challenge wasn't as great so uh the guys that are wired that way um i've really you know you guys can all kind of collectively go fuck yourselves so the other part you always got to think like if you were the mentor how would you feel now you know if you've had that happen to you where a group of people know something that's going on and you don't know, and then maybe you find out like a year later, it sucks. It's an awful, awful feeling. And maybe you're too young enough or too young to, to even process that. Um, you seem pretty self-centered on this whole thing. And, and maybe that's, that's good. I think

the second part of this, um, I would just end it with the girl and be like, Hey, I'm not going to keep hooking up with you while like, this is your career. Okay. This is, I imagine you care about your career or maybe you don't, I don't know. Um, I don't think you should just want to do this to other people. And I'm not doing this to pander to the audience. I just think it's kind of shitty to do. And I don't think you care about the girl at all. So if you were in love with her and wanted to be with her longterm, then maybe you would have to go to her and say, Hey, I want to be with you. And then go to the school thing and go, Hey, this, this weird kind of personal thing came up and I don't want this guy to be my mentor or just turn it around. But like, I also don't think you want to break it

off with the girl and then tell the guy either. Like he's not your friend. So I know I'm kind of throwing a bunch of different things at you here. All right. So let me just recap here as I'm thinking out loud. Don't keep dating her and have this guy be your mentor by screwing him over because you're going to end up being around this guy all the time. And that's just not cool. Option two, if you do actually care about her and you care more about her than you do this guy being your mentor, then you guys are all going to have to have a real, real difficult conversation. But you also don't want to jam up your career path here or look like a jerk in whatever program you're in and maybe have that. I don't know if any of that's applicable or if they would just assign you another mentor and say, all right, keep it moving.

People date and things happen. Um, but if you're not going to stay with her, which you shouldn't while this guy is your mentor, I don't know how the hell, unless you're the smoothest Ferris Bueller dude of all time, how you're going to navigate that where you could be like, Hey, look, just a quick thing about me. I've been hooking up with your girlfriend this whole time, but I can't wait to get this mentor mentee thing started up. So we're done, but let's start cracking the books. Um, because that guy's never, ever going to look at you any differently than the guy that was hooking up with his girlfriend the whole time.

And most guys don't like that. So there you go. That's my advice. Okay, if you want any life advice, stateside or not, the email lifeadvicerr at at gmail.com everybody be safe this weekend and we will talk to you next week Outro Music