The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Harden for Simmons Shows Daryl Morey Was Right, More Trade Deadline Talk With Chris Mannix, Plus Super Bowl Stories With Damien Woody

Episode Date: February 11, 2022

Russillo shares his thoughts on the trade that brought James Harden to the 76ers and Ben Simmons to the Nets (0:26),before talking with Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix about the Mavericks trading Kristaps Porzingis to the Wizards, the Celtics trading for Derrick White, the Trail Blazers trading CJ McCollum, and more (10:47). Then Ryen is joined by two-time Super Bowl champion Damien Woody to discuss the Bengals-Rams matchup in Super Bowl 56 and stories from Damien’s two Super Bowl appearances (37:55). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:02:40) Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Chris Mannix and Damien Woody Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

nba trade deadline recap and super bowl breakdown we have chris mannix and all the latest news damian woody on super bowl stories and his pick and i've run through what feels like the final chapter of this simmons harden saga and. And life advice. The headliner, the one we've all been waiting for now for I don't know, it's all ramped up here quite a bit the last week. Ben Simmons goes to the Nets. Philly sends him out with Seth Curry, Andre Drummond,

a 22nd first that also can be deferred to 23, and then a 27 first that's top eight protected. The 76ers finally get their man in James Harden a year plus after they thought they were getting him from Houston and they get Paul Millsap.

So on the surface, you go, hey, the Nets won the trade. All right, they get the picks. They get Curry. Sure, they needed size. I know Drummond gets a ton of rebounds, man, but I've just watched it enough to go. He's almost like that scorer on a bad team that gets 20 something you're like hey is he good you're like i know

look rebounds are harder than scoring and he's massive but i was watching him really closely the last couple weeks and i just whatever so then now they have him right but now they've both been able to kind of reset what has been a problematic situation for both we're going to get to all that stuff now if you look at kd kairrie, and Harden, this grand experiment, you got 16 games total. 16 games total. I saw that number and I knew it was eight last year and I go, yeah, that's right. Checks out. But it seems ridiculous to think you only got 16 games with these three guys together. plugging simmons into that from a basketball standpoint like this should be good for him there isn't going to be any pressure to break

people down and being a scoring option you get to set screens and roll think of the way bruce brown thrived as like this 6-5 inverted center on all these cuts because there was all this shooting around and granted the joe harris thing is this huge problems it looks like he may have to have the second surgery and we're not sure what's going to happen but now curry is in the mix you got patty mills so depending on what you do with simmons defensively there's a lot of different options here but simmons life is going to be just a lot easier less pressure and let's face it brooklyn actually from an nba fan base standpoint just an easier place to deal with that stuff than in philadelphia so from a basketball standpoint and the assets it does make a lot of sense for Simmons. But this

doesn't mean that it's just some, okay, everything's good. Durant gets hurt all the time. I love the guy. I fucking love him. He gets hurt a lot. Kyrie, he has missed 22 of the last 40 playoff games that his team is involved in. Now you could chunk out the Boston stuff and then start to clock again, but then you start getting a regular season games to just pencil in Kyrie's availability beyond what the mandates will be. Cause it feels like this stuff's all going to start loosening up here pretty quickly because that's kind of how we are.

Like one state does this next state does that. And I'll start, I mean, other than Florida being his own program, I'm not trying to make this political, but you understand the point. Like we saw it with the leagues already. Remember how everybody was testing positive for Omicron?

And then all of a sudden, like nobody was testing positive because they're just like, we're over this. We're not going to announce what we're doing because then the optics of it are bad. But this is what we're going to do. And that's why all of a sudden all the NFL playoff games are fine. That's why the bowl games, all of a sudden, the playoff games in the college system, you're like, okay, this is good.

You notice we're not getting COVID updates all the time? No, because this is what it is. So I can imagine that by the time the playoffs roll around, maybe the Kyrie situation is entirely different, but that is different than him being available with his injury history. So it's not some certainty, even though on paper and what Vegas has done for the Nets and their title odds. On the 76ers side of this, having Harden instead of nothing, and again, Curry is part of this, the calculation, but let's just put it this way. Waiting on Simmons, having it way on the franchise,

the day-to-day, the questions, and the players have done a fantastic job of this. Embiid may win an MVP fighting through what's just a nonsensical situation with the guy being out the whole time because his feelings were hurt. So from that standpoint alone, that is a win for Daryl Morey and the Sixers.

And this is where I think Daryl deserves a lot of credit. You know, he traded Ben Simmons for James Harden. Again, I'm not the biggest Harden fan ever. I'll get to that, but that's so much better than, okay, CJ McCollum or De'Aaron Fox or Domas Sabonis, you know, like that's Daryl sticking to his guns, being patient and deciding, I don't care what everybody's saying. I don't care how impatient everyone is.

As long as ownership front office staff, as long as we're all aligned, I think we can wait this out. But then this is where the pricing kind of kicks in, right? Because I said at the beginning of the week, I go, if you're Sean Marks and you're Daryl Morey and you're going back and forth, and I'm sure that whatever the start point of this discussion was, Daryl's thinking that he needs the sweetener because he's arguing, well, look, your guy Harden can opt out. And then maybe I can move some pieces around and I get him for nothing. And I'd trade Simmons somewhere else. So, you know, and Marks goes, okay, cool.

Your guy doesn't play. Your guy doesn't play. He abandoned the entire deal. You need to add the sweetener to me and that's exactly what happened. So even though I liked more his patience and then he finally got his way and then he ended up getting a much better player than people thought they were going to get

as everybody was saying, oh, his value's destroyed. That wasn't the case because things change. There are constantly things happening in this league. Leadership, front offices, the next player that's mad that we now have to update that list. Things happen very quickly, even when it can feel like it's taking forever.

So Morey deserves credit for getting his guy. And the thing that led to this is a real difficult proposition that all of us will deal with at some point, all right? Is Darrell Arge, you play tough guy. You can talk about opting out. You can talk sign of trade. You can do all those things.

But really, I'm offering what you want right now. You can have it right now. Do you know how hard it is to say no to that? God, I don't really like the price. All right, but maybe I could wait. Yeah, but this is what you want. I'm giving it to you right now. You can say yes and it's yours. And Daryl said yes. So really, I don't think it's a trade necessarily like, yeah, the Nets, if you were going to grade this, you give the higher grade to the Nets. Simmons is under contract. He's younger.

He's not as good as Harden. The Harden contract is horrifying when you look at what the opt-in will be, saying he's going to opt-in, by the way, and the four-year extension. It starts tagging him at like 60-plus million at 37 years old. Oh, and by the way, the cap's going to go up. But I look at this trade very simply. I go, it's not what you got to get better. It's what you got rid of to get better

because both teams got better getting rid of things more so than what they brought back. And this is the part of you to allow me to just go through this exercise where I think it's fair to say I like the NBA. Spend a lot of time on it. But as I've pointed out with a lot of things, I can understand the other side of the argument.

Because if I hated the NBA, I'd go, you know, big hockey guy. And I'd look at what happened this week with this trade. And I'd go, wait, let me get this. This is probably what I would say. I'd'd go, wait, let me get this. This is probably what I would say. I'd go, okay, so let me get this straight. That guy from Houston, he's the guy that was out of shape all the time. And then he was out of shape the next year.

That guy, that's Harden, right? Yeah. So he quit on his team in Houston because Chris Paul couldn't play with him. Westbrook couldn't play with him. Wall couldn't play with him. Westbrook couldn't play with him. Wall couldn't play with him. And then he just started chucking the ball out of bounds towards the end of that Houston run. Showed him completely out of shape. Broke all the protocols.

And then he actually got his way and got to go to Brooklyn instead of Philadelphia. And then he comes in out of shape this year with what will challenge modern science Philadelphia. And then he comes in out of shape this year with what will challenge modern science with the lack of recovery rate for his hamstring. Career-worst shooter. And then he decides he doesn't

love it, which I think, to be fair to Harden, could be slightly attributed to Kyrie's presence. And then Harden's like, you know what? I'm going to start playing bad here on purpose too. I would submit the Sacramento game if you feel like throwing up in your lap while you watch basketball.

And so a year later, Harden does it again. Then he gets a contract extension. Okay, that's how that league works. What about the other guy? What was his deal? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's never learned to shoot because he doesn't really put in the work,

but he'll post some Instagram videos. He was terrible in the playoffs, like physically just looked scared to death to be out there, which is kind of what the money's for. It's to get buckets, maybe stop people from getting buckets, and then also to not look horrified

in the second round of the playoffs. And then he got super mad when guys weren't over-the-top supportive of him because he played bad. And so then he said he wanted to be traded. And then the team came out to try to talk him out of it, have everybody settle down. And then he didn't meet with anybody and ignored everybody. But then later said that he wished they had done a better job trying to track him down in a story I read this week. He's like, yeah, you know, I kind of ignored him, but they could have done a better job coordinating time. And so then when he didn't get traded in the summer, he showed up to practice and was petulant and threw a ball and stormed out because he wouldn't get into a drill. up to practice and was petulant and threw a ball and stormed out because he wouldn't get into a drill. And then, only then, did he bring up that he was struggling with his mental health, which I,

as I've said numerous times, my sympathy towards people that struggle with mental health challenges, I felt the timing to be convenient, if I'm going to be nice about it. So yeah, he just stopped. He just didn't want to play. He wasn't going to play for him ever again, even though he had a four-year extension, four-year max extension too that just kicked in. And so then what happened? Oh, no, he got his way too. And then I actually saw somebody talking about

and let's not lose sight of the mental health aspect of this because he will continue working with a therapist. I'm predicting a healthy turnaround. If I didn't like the league, I'd go, that's what happens?

But I love the league. And they've got me. They know they've got me. But I can understand somebody going, that's how that league works? The trade deadline is behind us now, and it was a nice run of action there. Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated, covers the NBA,

does a great job, joins us now. All right, a bunch I want to get to. Let's start at least with the headline part of this. There were rumors kind of going in all different directions. It felt like the league, the momentum was going towards it. And Woj had the piece where it was like hold off and then it kind of picked back up. So I don't know. Your take on the fit, stuff you had heard, this thing finally

happening. Yeah. The Harden camp started to kind of stop. I think the Harden camp realized in the last 48 hours that there's a chance a deal might not happen. And that's why in the last 36, you started to hear more stuff about Harden wanting out.

Before then, it was Steve Nash saying James Harden's not going to be traded. Harden not saying anything at all. But in the last day or so, it started to pick up some momentum on Harden making clear that he wanted Philadelphia to happen, which I think put a lot of pressure and did put a lot of pressure on Brooklyn to find a deal that worked. Otherwise, risk sabotaging the rest of this season and in all likelihood losing him at the end of the year for nothing. So that's kind of what I heard in the last 24 hours about how this sort of came together. I am

endlessly fascinated by Philadelphia's obsession with James Harden. I mean, like, Daryl Morey got his man, right? This is who Daryl targeted all along. He's been wanting a reunion with James Harden since he took that job in Philadelphia.

But there's a pretty reasonable argument that it's not the right deal to make. Harden's 32. He'll be 33 next year. They're likely going to lavish a contract that's going to be for the next five years that's going to be the neighbor of $270 million

on him in the offseason. And we're talking about a guy that in his last two stops has thrown fits to get out of these situations and whose numbers this year have regressed from previous years. So I would argue, Ryan,

that you could make a pretty strong case that maybe turning to Atlanta and saying, all right, give me John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovich, a couple of draft picks, that would have been better for Philadelphia short and long term than the trade we saw culminated today. No, it's a really good point because in the open, I'm like,

both teams kind of won because of who they got rid of, not so much what came back. Even though I think we all kind of feel like asset-wise, Brooklyn did a better job. And who knows, the blessing in disguise here may be that they never have to make the hardened contract decision now, which is pretty horrifying, pretty scary, especially with the 32-year-old version that we've seen from Harden. But I also wonder, Harden's better than what you've had when that guy doesn't want to play for you.

But from a basketball standpoint, it's not like they're going to run post and then Harden's just going to try to feed him. Although Harden's probably going to be the best passer that I would say entry pass wise, because Simmons was kind of all over the place, even though he'd made great passing plays. I'm not sure. I think it changes who they are defensively a little bit because now you're, you're making up for them. Maybe this being dive plays more because you feel better that you can keep a bigger guard out. I, you know, I am not, I like it. I like that both teams were able to move on. I don't like how we got here. I think that's another thing able to move on. I don't like how we got here. I think that's another thing that's alarming.

But there's so much uncertainty about how it all fits in. Probably more challenging for Philly than Simmons, who comes in with way less pressure on him. I think a lot more challenging for Philly. You mentioned the fit with Embiid. They'll be really good in pick and roll. That's as good a combination I think you have in the league right now because you can't really switch it.

You got to go under it. There's a lot of things, a lot of challenges that's going to present for defenses if they get rolling in that set. But I look at a guy like Tyrese Maxey and what kind of impact does this have? Big question. He's had the ball in his hand a lot in his time this season. And he's become this beloved

figure in Philly because of it. He's the guy that wanted to be there. He's the guy that slid into Ben Simmons' spot and has thrived in that place in the rotation. Hypothetically, if Harden comes in and there's a little bit of some bumps along the way and Maxie's play

tails off because of it, the honeymoon for Harden could be pretty quick out there in that city if they don't get off to some kind of fast start. So look, Darryl's forgotten more about basketball than I'll ever know, so he gets the benefit of the doubt. But

this is not some kind of home-run fit. There are several other trades that were out there and certainly doable from Philadelphia's perspective that might have made them a more complete team than what James Harden does yeah there's just so many different ways to talk about

this trade because if everybody is happy then it probably doesn't even happen how about this though how about like is there not like I don't know how petty Kyrie Irving is but would it not be like some just big fuck you to James Harden for him to get vaccinated tomorrow? And just start like,

we know the Nets are, are, you know, the draft where nobody, you know, Kevin Durant picks Rudy Gobert over James Harden and the all-star draft. And like, you know,

Kyrie, you know, James Harden has been kind of like, he hasn't been talking to Kyrie through the media, but he kind of has when he suggested like, we need this line up together all the time. Like, I just, I'm not sure if Kyrie's a petty guy or if this will push him over the edge, but like, Kyrie's got vaccinated tomorrow. Wouldn't that be like just a tremendous story?

Like Kyrie gets vaccinated, can play in all these games. Simmons comes back and you get to the playoffs, Kyrie and Kevin DeVrent offensively, Simmons chasing Harden around potentially defensively. I mean, it's a pretty fun story. The petty part of it would fit in perfectly with this league thought. But I just feel like him being a voice for the voiceless is still really important. So, you know, I'm fucking with you right now. I'm just kidding.

Voice for the voiceless, yeah. All right. Do you think then, by the way, do you think the Nets, if they had it their way, would have rather not done this deal? Just have Harden engaged, want to play, give it a shot with these three guys that barely played together. That feels like that's what their preference was, right? Yeah.

I mean, that to me felt like their preference as recently as Tuesday night. I mean, I wrote something for SI.com on Wednesday kind of as a lead-in to the deadline. Everything I was hearing privately echoed what people like Steve Nash were saying publicly, that we're not trading James Harden because we believe that a return of Kevin Durant

solves a lot of the problems you're seeing out there right now. We'll figure out the Kyrie stuff. You never know what can happen with New York City and how they handle this vaccine mandate. You never know with Kyrie Irving, how he's going to handle this vaccine mandate. And we believe going into the playoffs,

we're pretty tough when it's Harden, Durant, and Irving. And we've got some evidence from last season to kind of back that up. So they were, you know, I feel like feel like that front office went to bed on Tuesday night thinking that this was the path they were going to go. But as I said, things started to change publicly. It started to get out. Harden doesn't want to alienate the fan base,

but he does want to get to Philadelphia. Philadelphia believes it can get James Harden. Things started to change publicly on Wednesday morning and into Thursday. And I think that is what shifted the thinking significantly inside that Nets front office from believing we can fix this, just get past the deadline, all will be well, to where they are right now with a new player on their team. What did the Lakers try to do? I mean, for the better part of the last month,

they've been trying to get someone interested in this, you know, Taylor Horton Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, poo-poo platter that they were sort of handing, offering around to the league. I mean, they tried, they made a run at Jeremy Grant. That didn't work out. They basically called across the league trying to find something real

that they could get back because as much as anything, they know in LA that what they needed was some kind of influx of new blood, like something to shake up the status quo. It didn't have to be necessarily a game changer, but it had to be something different, a rotation player that would shake up this mix.

They just couldn't find anything. There was nothing out there for him. There obviously was nothing out there for Russell Westbrook. Even if they're willing to attach that first round draft pick in 2027, there really wasn't much of a market for Russell Westbrook. I suppose Houston would have done it to get that first round draft pick,

but that never really reached any kind of serious talk. And again, there just wasn't any real interest in Horton Tucker Nunn package, especially since Nunn Tucker has dipped this year after looking really good last season. So, you know, they made a lot of, they've been a lot of phone calls and put a lot of effort in, but there just ultimately wasn't anything that could, you know, significantly change the team,

which is why, I mean, I don't know what they're going to do. Honestly, you know, watching them lose to Portland was tough. Like that was, that wasn't the Blazers.

That was like Anthony Simons and, you know, a bunch of guys from the Y like it didn't, it that wasn't the blazers that was like anthony simons and you know a bunch of guys from the y like it didn't it just wasn't a it was just as bad a loss you're gonna get now they're gonna try to regroup with the same group after the deadline this is it's gonna be tough that's for sure this is a big anthony simons podcast but i'll agree with you on the rest of the stuff uh i love simons no him and and the cast of grown-ups out there. Yeah. Nurkic looked like...

Nurkic went on Anthony Davis like he insulted his family at some point. That was unbelievable how hard he was going to AD. I don't know. The Wall thing, I'm sure Houston would ask for Sweetener because by moving Westbrook out and bringing in

Wall who can play they just don't want him to play at this point I don't know to me and I think the Lakers had this perspective on Wall like you don't know what you're going to get from this season like he's been working out but not working working out like he's

in good shape but not basketball shape left with two months left in the year, what are you reasonably going to expect from John Wall? And going into next season, he's not Westbrook, but he's kind of Westbrook-lite in a way that he's not a great perimeter shooter. He's a guy that needs the ball

in his hands to be successful. There really wasn't a huge appetite in LA to make that swap, thinking that they would get better because of it. Yeah, no, I understand. But I think Westbrook's at a point where him being around and playing is worse than not playing at this point. And I can't imagine his negatives being, well, I would put it this way,

Wall's negative attributes, they're not as damaging, I would say, at this point of what we've still seen from Westbrook trying to figure this out. Okay, Dallas and the Wizards pull off a deal. Dinwiddie, who nobody likes playing with. If you watch him play, you know, he's a talented guy. He can score. I mean, this is somebody who a couple of years ago, he had 21 a game, 19 and 20 in 64 games. I was looking it up. He still didn't shoot at all that great.

He had a 30% usage rate. Once you start going north of 30, that's like really, that's exactly how he plays. Which on top of that, he's owed, what do I got? 18 million, 18.9.

And then it was really 10 million guaranteed on the fourth year of an extension that he just did. And then Bertans, who's been atrocious this season, and then he had an $80 million deal. His money left. There's a partial guarantee in the last part of it. I'm just kind of sharing this. It's $38 million with the guarantee if you were to waive the final of the extension, which is three

years from now. So they're taking on a lot of money because it's also Przingis who's owed a ton of money. I think we can go ahead and suggest he'll pick up his player option in two years for $36 million. It was moving a bunch of money around for players that i know luca wasn't cool with perzingis i can't imagine he's going to be cool didn't witty maybe they think they can reclimate burtons at this point which i don't think is a completely lost cause as bad as he's been this year but i as i tweeted out i cannot wait to see din witty wave luca off and tell and say i this. Because it's going to happen. I agree. I guess in a way, Dinwiddie is maybe Jalen Brunson protection for next year.

If you lose him as a free agent, I guess that's one way to look at Dinwiddie there. And maybe you can revive him into the player the Wizards thought they were getting when they signed that contract in the offseason. Wizards had to move him if they could. His numbers alongside Bradley Beal are horrible. He's such a net negative alongside Beal.

Presumably, the Wizards are going to be offering Beal that big contract in the offseason. I agree with you on Berton's. Maybe a change of scenery does him good. Maybe you can get back to the player you saw the last year in San Antonio, the first year in Washington. Maybe you can revive him.

And having a floor spacer like him at the power forward alongside Luka would be incredibly valuable to that group. I just, you know, they clearly believe that Porzingis and Luka don't work. They don't, like you said, like each other. So this was the best they could possibly get for him. And now it's Washington's problem to try to revive or be the latest team to try to revive the talent that's in Porzingis.

So it's just a lot of question marks in that deal for both sides. What was your take on the Celtics who looked like they were dancing here to get under the tax? They got under it. They bring in Derek White. I mean, my feeling on this is that it's a manageable number. He can do a lot of different things.

He can defend. He can initiate your offense. He hasn't shot it great this year. I think he's like 31% this season. But last year, on seven attempts a game, last year he was at 35%. So maybe that's kind of where they feel.

I guess their argument would be, all right, I guess we're going to go back into the tax once they have to fill out the rest of the roster. So correct me on that, because I think right now, I've seen people write, oh, they got below the tax. I'm like, yeah, but I think roster wise, they have to fill it out, which may push them back over, which could cost them $10 million in the luxury tax sharing with, I think, like 20 teams.

But the way I think it didn't explain to me was, okay, sure, they threw out a top four protected pick, but they're making the playoffs. So does the protection really mean anything? And Derek White is the kind of guy that we're not going to have cap space for. And it allows the outlet that they desperately needed when Tatum and Brown are blitzed. Somebody else you can create, we can trust to shoot, even though it's been down this year.

I like Derek White. He's a nice player. It's not going to be a headline for anybody in Boston, but I think people won't say see him. This is a nice basketball player. I think it was done with limited options to change who the roster was. Yeah, I like the deal too. I mean, you lose a

mid-first round draft pick. Okay, well the Celtics' most recent first round draft picks have been stapled to the bench over the last few weeks in Langford who went out uh Neesmith who's been bad Pritchard who maybe gets a bigger role with Dennis Schroeder gone maybe not I don't know but they uh they're not they're not too concerned about losing that draft pick because Derek White I think is what 27 years old under a decent contract for the next few years.

And he does bring something you mentioned, playmaking. That's been a big problem for this team all season long. Marcus Smart, for all that he does well, playmaking is not one of them. He's just not a natural playmaker. Now, Derek White isn't Chris Paul, but

adding another playmaker to that backcourt is only going to make the lives of Tatum and Brown that much easier. On top of that, Richardson was such a big part of what they did defensively. They don't really lose a lot bringing White in because White's a very good defender as well. So they're able to keep their identity while adding something that they've been sorely lacking over the last couple of months

since Marcus Smart kind of took over as the primary playmaker. I was a little surprised they couldn't get more for Schroeder. Daniel Tice is whatever. He's familiar, I guess, to that team and that organization, that roster. But I kind of thought there'd be something more out there for Dennis Schroeder. But the Celtics were... and I wrote this as well on Wednesday, they kind of went in the last two weeks from sellers to buyers to wanting players on the roster to help them kind of make this push

in the final two months of the season. Maybe they think Daniel Tice, because Rob Williams can be unreliable physically, is someone that you can plug and play on this roster with this group of guys. No, it's a really good point. And I think there's such strong support for Rob Williams that sometimes it blinds people to how bad it can still be at times. I think he just has a hard time maybe staying with the scouting report. I was reading The Athletic. I forget who it was, so I apologize for not giving him credit. They brought up a great stat throughout this run where it was like when you take the four guys,

Tatum, Brown, Williams, I think Smart over the stretch, like their per 100 has been absurd with those guys. And that may even include Horford. So I'm not doing the best service to this. But there's some numbers that tell you. But then I think if you keep watching it all the time, you're like, okay,

I think there's, I think the Tice thing was almost a bit of an insurance, not just the injury, but maybe they feel like after they played better, do they need somebody that's a little bit more locked in? If they're actually going to try to do something in the playoffs, which I still have a hard time believing the run has been great. By the way,

Mannix, you deserve a lot of props when there was no one rowing in your direction where you said this team's identity is going to be defense first. And by the end of this, it'll be a top 10 defensive team. You got some pushback for that, and it's been even better. But then you look at this last month plus with these great stats and all this stuff. Now, I don't think they've beaten a top eight seed in over a month.

So it's, you know what? It's a big improvement from what it's been, but I still don't know really what it means for them. Yeah, I had a conversation the other day with someone in the organization who was saying, like, we're great at beating the crap out of bad teams. Like, they're on a run on beating up on teams that are having injury problems or whatever they are.

So I guess it's better than the alternative. I mean, they had some bad losses in the month of December, even before then, games they should have won, games the month of December, even before then. Games they should have won. Games against teams that were ravaged by COVID. I remember the Minnesota loss was especially painful when they went on the road and lost to the zombie Timberwolves and a couple more that were like that.

So at least they're winning games that they're supposed to win. I like what Jalen Brown's doing. Smart has been good for them as well. And I do, again, to bring it full circle, they're never going to be a great offensive team. Brown's doing smart has been good for them as well. And I do like, again, to bring it back, bring it full circle. Like, you know, just having like, they're never going to be a great offensive team. That's just like,

Tatum's a great offensive player. Brown's a good offensive player. The rest of them, you know, whatever streaky at times white, at least bring someone that can move the ball around. It's right around five assists. I think per game,

um, that's just going to make smarts life a little bit easier. Tatum's life a little bit easier. And maybe that can give them just enough of a push offensively that their defense will carry them to wins against good teams. Yeah, right. I think that's it. Especially after that Minnesota loss. I think back to that Thunder loss last year,

and you go, what is wrong with these guys? At least they're beating these bad teams right now. Of the other deals that I was sifting through, I can just hear Detroit fans being excited, thinking Marvin Bagley's not the guy that probably is the same guy. Held out to Jeremy Grant, though. Surprised they held out to Jeremy Grant.

Are you? Well, I mean, I guess he offers... They still have him another year? Yeah, and there's... From what I was able to understand, there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen in Detroit, right? I'm not exactly sure who's in power at any given time like troy weaver should be uh because he was hired for that

job and he's got the experience but you gotta tell him they're at the tops mother people around troy as well that have big voices troy was a was and is a big jeremy grant fan um and you know him not getting traded maybe tells me that his voice carried the day. Now, at one point, I was told that there was discussions over a Jeremy Grant-Miles Turner swap

with Indiana. Indiana didn't want to do that, especially after the Sabonis deal because they believe Turner is someone that can anchor a team now that he's not flanked by Sabonis. But that was the only interesting Grant deal that I heard of

that made me kind of wonder, like, all right, well, that might make some sense for a young team to add a versatile big like Turner into that mix. Yeah, that's an interesting one because I just feel like

if you're Detroit and you find anybody that's cool with being there and even, you know, Grant was cool taking 20 shots and putting up bigger numbers than he ever had before. And you can say you're developing the rest of those guys,

but I don't know. If somebody wants to stay in Detroit right now, I'm not sure that I'm in a hurry to trade that guy. It's now obviously shifted to Cade Cunningham, but after they signed him, they made him the marketing face of the franchise. He was the guy out there. He wanted to be there.

He was coming off a successful run in Denver. They want him to be the de facto face of the franchise. He was the guy out there. He wanted to be there. He was coming off a successful run in Denver. They want him to be the de facto face of the franchise. I'm a little bit disappointed that Portland didn't go all out for him. They picked up a draft pick in that CJ McCollum deal. They had some pieces that maybe they could have

made an appetizing offer. All the Blazers really accomplished in the last week was shedding salary. What did they gain from Norman Powell, Robert Covington, and CJ McCollum? Jason Hart and Josh Hart in one draft pick? Is that enough for your three marquee guys?

I think to get those guys, you had to send out, what, two or three draft picks in the first place. I didn't... To me, the Powell and the Covington deal happened too quickly. Were the Clippers going anywhere? That offer was going to be on the table

on Thursday at 259. Nobody else was taking Eric Bledsoe. Nobody cared about Keon Johnson. That was going to be on the table I would have liked to have seen Joe Cronin a new GM maybe show a little more patience in that moment and you know wait

to see if something opened up where somebody would give you a first round pick for Robert Covington where they would give you a first round pick for Norman Powell maybe you couldn't get anything more than what you got for CJ McCollum but that felt like a pretty light return for a player of McCollum, but that felt like a pretty light return for a player of McCollum's caliber. Now you're going into the offseason

and what exactly are you selling Damian Lillard on? Capspace? A, when was the last free agent to sign in Portland? That's been a pretty long time as far as I can count. And who are you trading for into that Capspace? I just... I don't see the plan right now.

It's just to create as much flexibility as possible, invest in Amperty Simons, and that's it right now with the Blazers. To me, not getting somebody to add to that mix like a grant hurt them after this deadline. Portland is probably... I don't know if you agree or not, but if you said the five worst free agency

cap space destinations, I think it's in the bottom five. And back to when it was staffed a little different, I know that that was a major concern. It's like, why do we want cap space? Nobody's coming here. That was very much a concern of the Neil Olshay regime. There's no doubt about that. That was actually vocalized, I think, during the Neil Olshay regime. There's no doubt about that. Yes. That was actually vocalized, I think, during the Neil Olshay meeting.

The Neil Olshay regime. I don't know that he's... Right. By the way, he's not wrong. He's not wrong. Look, another deal, the Ibaka stuff. I feel like if you're a Bucs fan, you haven't paid too close of attention since they beat you in the playoffs a few years ago. You're like, that's awesome. We got that guy. He fights his ass off. I mean, Ibaka was

essential to the Raptors winning that title. What he did in game six at Golden State, it's kind of lost and all the other things that happened. He was incredible. But he is, after back surgery, he's even in the lineup. So you can say it's Brook Lopez insurance. The shooting numbers are actually probably a little better than you'd think. But we're talking about 15 minutes a game from a guy that's in and out of the lineup. So I thought it was just sort of minor insurance, which, you know, there's a lot of different pieces to the DiVincenzo thing. But it felt like they were kind of desperate to just do any moving of the deck because the Brooke Lopez thing is still an uncertainty. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how you can count on Lopez coming back at all at this point. I mean, coming off.

And when he comes back, what kind of player is he going to be? That's a real surgery, having back surgery there. And Ibaka, I think he had the same thing, right? He had a back problem, back surgery. He had back surgery, yeah. Yeah, so. And look, I've watched him a little bit, having watched some Clippers games. He had a couple of good games, I think, in the last week or so.

But he's still, if you're playing Serge Ibaka more than 15 minutes a game, you're having a... You have a problem. You have an injury issue or a foul trouble issue with a guy that's out there on the floor. I mean, he's almost... Forget Lopez insurance. He's like Bobby Portis insurance, basically. If something goes terribly wrong with Portis, at least you have Serge Ibaka

with playoff experience to fall back on. But at this stage of his career and physically where he's at, I just don't think you can count him to give him one spot duty in the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, unless he gets healthy here down the stretch or something like that, but I would just warn

Bucs fans that maybe haven't been super locked into some of the Clippers rotations lately, which is certainly a possibility. You're not getting the guy that you saw three years ago in the playoffs. Anything else that was interesting? I'd heard a bunch of stuff on Atlanta, but nothing felt solid. And there you are. I'd heard like John Collins, I felt like has been available for such a long time.

And then he kind of wasn't. It was all right. It felt like it was more aggressive. You had to be more aggressive to get him than maybe in the past. I think there were concerns about Herter and Bogdanovich and closing groups, but that's not really going to happen anyway. Maybe. I think there were concerns about Herter and Bogdanovich in closing groups, but that's not really going to happen anyway. Maybe. I don't know. I also could see them looking at their team going,

we got off to a bad start. We've kind of figured some things out here. Obviously, they need to get better defensively, but teams like Atlanta or even Golden State or Phoenix or Memphis are like, maybe we don't want to switch up a ton from where we were. If it ain't broke, don't go fixing it. I think if you go back to when

Atlanta was really struggling and Travis Schlenk was radio call-ins down in Atlanta tattooing his team, that's when things were at peak panic. To go back to Simmons, that's when you probably could have extracted

a King's Ransom out of Atlanta at that point for them to want to shake things up. But they played better basketball in the last month. And there really wasn't much out there for that John Collins-Bogdanovich package that they were talking about that would have made a difference. The Knicks tried some things, but they don't really have anything.

Nobody wanted Julius Randle. Nobody's giving you anything for the Fournier-Kemba Walker package. They tried Toronto on that. The Raptors had no interest in a tragic deal. a Kemba Walker package. They tried Toronto on that. The Raptors had no interest in a tragic deal. Yeah, they just don't. Outside of R.J. Barrett, there's not

a lot of guys on that team with any real value, especially when you consider Randall's contract at this point. So they're next to another team that really could have used something, like something new into that, injected into that group. They didn't get it, so you'll probably see more of the same

from them the rest of the year. Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated. Get some rest, man. Appreciate it. You got it. Damian Woody, ESPN, a Super Bowl week veteran joining us here on the podcast.

What's up, man? It's good to see you. I'm good, man. I'm good. It's always good to catch up with you. All right. What's up, man? It's good to see you. I'm good, man. I'm good. It's always good to catch up with you. All right. Let's talk about this game first, then we'll get to Damian Woody's story time

because the people have been demanding it because every time you come on, you deliver. All right. I've talked with, we've had a bunch of offensive linemen on the show here recently. Joe Thomas, you had Mitchell Schwartz, Richard Slater, that's the whole deal.

You're smart. Boy, the fact that you got a bunch of Husky guys, that means it's going to be a hell of a show. Yeah. No, it sort of worked out that way, but that's all right. You guys are great at this. I keep looking at the Cincinnati part of it, and do you feel like they figured out anything after Tennessee

against Kansas City? Because I think some of you could be argued personnel-wise, Simmons alone, even though I personnel-wise, Simmons alone, even though I love Chris Jones, Simmons alone was on a mission that day. But do you think any of the things you've seen are fixable in the face of what this Rams front brings? No, it's not fixable.

You can't fix personnel at this point. And the Rams have better personnel on the defensive line. Like, I can see Aaron Donald could easily be the Super Bowl MVP in this game. Like, that's how disruptive he could be against this Cincinnati Bengals offensive line. Then combine that

with Arn Miller. Oh, by the way, Leonard Floyd. Like, they got three guys that can really get after you. You can't double everyone. So, you know, that's the main storyline everyone's kind of – I think any smart football person is running with right now is, I don't know how the hell the bank is going to be able to block up these guys. They can do things schematically to try to help those guys out.

Screens, run the ball – try to run the ball at them, change the tempo and make those guys tired. But ultimately, better talent wins. So we'll see how this Bengal offensive line holds up. What do you do with Donald? Man, that's a tough one, man, because... What would Skarnackia tell you guys? Because I always thought Skar could fix everything.

Yeah, listen, he would just try to devise a game plan where there would be four hands, two people on him at all times. If we could take him away, we got a chance. We got a chance. So he's public enemy number one. We want four hands on one. We want four hands on him. We want eyes on him

at all times. We want to do some dirty stuff to kind of let him know, sending him a message that you're not going to be the one to wreck the game. We might let other people wreck the game, but you're not going to be the guy that's going to wreck the game. That's basically what he would say.

Okay, who was the toughest interior guy you dealt with back in those days? Probably Warren Sapp. Warren Sapp was... Actually, I faced Warren Sapp my second year in the league, I believe. The dude was

incredible, man. His low center of gravity could get off the ball quick as quick as anyone i've ever seen in my life strong as hell like country strong like he had a complete package and he knew how to rush the passes so that was a lot for you for a young buck coming into the league basically were you were you like after the game like wait a minute a bit of a wake-up call or just it's a good thing? I don't know.

We're in the AFC. I won't be seeing him that much anyway. I don't know. Listen, I'm like, you know, sometimes you're like, damn. Yeah, I know I'm good. You know, I'm in my second year. Things are settling down. And then you go against a guy like that, you're like, man, I ain't shit.

I got to get like, I literally got to get, there's a whole lot of things I got to get better at. But at the same time, in retrospect, you're going against the Hall of Famer. Like, those guys are rare breeds, but you know, the great thing about Warren Sepp was, after the game, he told me like things like,

big fella, you a hell of an athlete, you a hell of a player, this is the things you need to do. These are the things you need to work on if you're going against a guy like me or someone similar. So he took the time out to give me some advice on that. No kidding. What did he say to you during the game, though?

I'm sure it wasn't as friendly. Oh, he just talked trash. Oh, boy, young buck, I'm going to wear you out today. I'm going to wear this ass out today. That's basically what he was saying the whole game. And you were a talker, right? You were a talker. Did you say anything to him?

Well, it's hard when you're hanging on to your ass out there. It's like, this dude is talking, but I can't really say anything right now. Like, it's hard. But it was like, honestly, after the fact, I was laughing. During the game, it wasn't funny. Yeah, I know. It's tough to come back when you're just physically getting dominated, you know? Yeah.

You're about to tap out and you're trying to come up with comebacks. All right. On the other side of the ball for Cincinnati, I think the weirdest thing through all the Joe Burrow love, and I love it too. Like, I get it. I love guys like this. I feel like nobody talks about how bad the defense

has been. Is it that bad? Statistically, it's that bad. When you shut down the Chiefs at their place in the second half, you're probably doing something right. Is it a fluky 30 minutes? How do you see the Cincinnati defense? Because I feel like that part of the lead-up has been maybe one of the most

overlooked. I think that what the Cincinnati Bengals on defense has done, they've done a really good job of adjusting in-game. Because in the first half against the Chiefs, I thought the game was going to be over at halftime. The Chiefs basically were doing everything they wanted to. They did everything at will. But here's what I would say also

is that when the Chiefs didn't get any points at halftime, that changed the whole landscape of the game. It gave the Bengals momentum going into halftime. And I think the Bengals said at halftime defensively, you know what?

We're playing a lot of zone. We're trying to keep Patrick Mahomes in the pocket. That's not working. So what we're going to do is we're still going to try to keep Patrick Mahomes in the pocket. We're going to spy him, but we're going to play man. We're going to get on these guys. We're going to play man, and we're going to force Patrick Mahomes

to hold the ball some. That's exactly what they did. They were tight coverage on the back end. Patrick Mahomes was kind of, you know, when you got a quarterback, you know, patting the ball, you got him. And it allowed the Cincinnati Bengals rush to get home. That was really the

that was a big adjustment by the Bengals in the second half, going from zone to a lot more main coverage on Kansas City Chiefs. When you're playing O-line in the man zone thing, how much does that really change what you're doing? Because you're sending people in motion.

The quarterback's trying to figure through. You're making this call. You're turning back to him. How much does that impact what your job is? Well, a lot of times, if you're a team and you use a lot of motion, Kansas City uses a lot of motion, when teams aren't manned, what happens is it changes the strength of,

you know, it changes the strength. So, say, for instance, the strength of the formations to the left. Well, if a guy goes in motion, now it changes the strength and it changes potential calls that we have up front.

So like you always see offensive linemen identifying the mic first. That's where everything kind of goes as far as protection is concerned. So when teams do all that motion, it changes our calls up front to let everyone know this is the mic this this is where we need to go on protection guys know where they're you know receivers know where their hot snows type of things are so you know that's what that's what happens with motion a lot

of times did you have any part of you like where have you been as a stafford guy i don't know if there's a common a commonality amongst you to be like hey man detroit huh uh you didn't have him there though kit was here last year yeah i left i left the um the year before he got there yeah so i never i never crossed path with him now i was with megatron, and I'm like, yeah, this dude, he's going to be a Hall of Famer. You could just tell by the way he moved, he was going to be a Hall of Famer. But I think Stafford is a guy that, I think he's a really good quarterback.

I always felt like he was a stat stuffer, though. Like, he put up a bunch of numbers. There's no question about it. But he just, I mean, he couldn't win a playoff game. Now, quarterback is the most, you know, dependent position in sports. But at the same time, it's like, this guy can't elevate. He can't elevate this team like some of these elite quarterbacks

that we've seen, you know, Patrick Mahomes, you know, Josh Allen can, you know, can put a team on his back, those type of things. But once he left Detroit and went with Sean McVay, I'm like, okay, that's going to be different.

Sean McVay knows how to, Sean McVay's a hell of a coach and knows how to use his talents, okay, that's going to be different. Charmian Vade knows how to eat. Charmian Vade's a hell of a coach and knows how to use his talents, especially a quarterback like Matthew Stafford. I'm not surprised to see him in a Super Bowl at all. What's the biggest difference that jumps out with the way these two teams run their offense? The stuff they want to tease you with

that they may come back to in the second half? want to kind of tease you with that they may come back to in the second half? I think at Sean McVay's core, he wants to run and run play action. He wants to be physical. That's what Sean McVay wants

to do at his core. That's why he traded for Sonny Michelle because he needed that aspect to the offense. He didn't want to just have it all on the quarterback's shoulders because, honestly, you put it all on Matthew Stafford without any semblance of running game, you ask him for trouble. You know, we saw some of the turnovers during the season.

And so I think, you know, Sean McVay wants to have that balanced attack, wants to be able to run the ball, play action, all those type of things. Zach Taylor actually comes from that similar tree. But when you got a quarterback like Joe Burrow, I think he, I think Zach Taylor's like, we got a special cad at quarterback. And, you know, we need to make sure that the ball is in his hands, you know, most of the time. So I think they're built a little different. They have Joe Mixon, their running back, Joe Mixon.

Joe Mixon adds a different element at the running back spot. He can run the ball. I mean, to me, he's a top two running back in the AFC, one of the best backs in the league. He can run the ball. He can throw them to him in the passing game. But I think the Cincinnati Bengals with Joe Burrow, I think they lean more heavily on Joe Burrow than I think the way Sean McVay schemes his offense up

with Matthew Stafford. There's been some Burrow-Brady stuff, which is just disrespectful. Let's give it a little while here. But I understand at least the personality, the way they carry themselves a little bit. Although I think actually Burrow's even more, he's more subdued than Brady is.

I think Brady actually gets after guys a little bit more than maybe we've seen from Burrow. Let's go back to that year. You guys go on that run. You win the Super Bowl. But he's backing up Drew. We know the story. What did you think of Tom when he was the backup? Were there any signs?

Of superstardom? You know, you can never predict anything like that. Here's what I did see, though. I saw a guy who was – remember when Tom came in, Tom was a fourth string quarterback. So this is a guy that methodically worked his way up from fourth string to being Drew Bledsoe's backup. How often does that happen?

And so, you know, you could see the intangible, like the dude had command in the huddle. He was smart. He knew the playbook. He knew, you know, pretty much where to go with the football. A lot of it's just opportunity, you know? And, and then once Tom got his opportunity, you know, during that Jets game,

I think Tom was managed well and was allowed to develop properly. You know, during that time we were led by a defensive running game. We weren't a quarterback centric team, but as Tom grew into it, you know, during that time, we were led by a defensive running game. We weren't a quarterback-centric team. But as time grew into it, you know, and I would say especially like the Super Bowl, that last drive, man, that's what, to me, that's what propelled him to kind of superstar. Did you guys laugh when you went back and heard the broadcast

and Madden thought you guys would take a knee? Of course. Like, of course, because it's just like, you know what type of competitor I am? Like, why in the hell would we take a knee and, you know, cede all the momentum to the St. Louis Rams at that time? They had all the momentum. We were like, listen, we're playing the greatest show on turf.

We were like 14-point underdogs. We got a chance to etch our name in the history books with this drive. So let's go do it. There wasn't any question at that time what we were going to do. Yeah. As the Tom thing grew though i always felt like they didn't trust him that much to throw the football in the beginning you know that that first playoff run was it his physical development was it just more trust like how did that pivot to now we're going to actually let you

get be be the focus of the offense where clearly I think he might have been after defense in the running game, he was like the third priority on that team that won that first Super Bowl. Well, I think trust is earned, right? You know, you can't – people don't give it to you. You have to earn it. So I think through Tom in the process, you know, it's all about – that's what development is all about. Development is about not only your physical improvement on your physical skill set,

but also earning the trust from your coaching staff to be able to, you know, trust that you're going to make the right plays, you're going to make the right calls, and ultimately you're going to go out, you're going to be the one to go out there and execute. So I think that's what Tom did over time was, you like that, Tom over time. That's what he did over time was you like that tom over time um that's what that's what he did man his is he earned the trust of the coaching staff to be able to you know gain more responsibility and once he wants that once that started happening man he took it and ran with it like hussein bolt when he retires do you have to send a text or i know your personality you probably like i don't

i don't need to do that like why do i need to do that like like yeah bro like i'm never the type of guy to like you know shoot somebody shoot somebody hey bro congratulations on retirement like that's so corny to me, man. It's like, we're going to chat, something like that, but I'm not the type to send somebody a text. Now, every time I see you have a good segment, I'm going to say congrats, Wood, on an awesome... You were great on Get Up. You were so good on Get Up.

Happy for you, my man. You deserve everything. All right, let's go back. Let's do a little story time then. What's your favorite playoff game? Is it the Raiders game? Is it the Tuck rule game? Oh, man, that's one of them.

Yeah, that's probably top two. Because that's going to go down in history. You know, that's part of history right there. You know, everything that's great about football, and I always say football is nothing but reality TV. Everything that's great with football

is encapsulated in that game. You got the weather, you got, you know, the big bad Oakland Raiders at the time. You you know the events that happened during the game what happened because of that event during the game i mean you couldn't you couldn't have written a better script um from that game so that's that's a that's a top two game in my in throughout my career okay i know everybody always asks guys that have been to the Super Bowl this, which is probably kind of annoying,

but I feel like it's a rule in whatever radio audio thing you're doing. Your first Super Bowl, New Orleans, you mentioned you're a huge underdog. Did you guys think you were going to, like, let me put it this way. I also know this way. You can sit there in a room and say,

hey, we can beat these guys. What did Damian Woody, 2001, 2002, what did you actually think about playing the Rams? Oh, we felt like we were going to beat them. We were going to beat them. Because remember, we played them during a regular season. I think that regular season game was the reason you beat them because you played it completely.

You blitzed them all day long, and it was like the best loss you could have possibly had. And then you totally changed your approach defensively too. So we played them, you know, obviously in the regular season, they had a big, bad, you know, hot flying circus. And yes, we lost the game, but we learned a lot about ourselves during that game. I mean, we went toe-to-toe with them the whole game.

lot about ourselves during that game. I mean, we went toe-to-toe with them the whole game. And so, after that, we were like, this is the greatest show on turf. Like, we can beat these boys. And then when we happened to play them again in the Super Bowl,

I knew we was going to beat them. I knew that the coaches were going to put together a hell of a game plan just based off the last time we played them. And we feel like we had the personnel to go out there and beat them. Yeah, I think it's the same thing with the Giants when they beat the undefeated Pats because they played them competitively. They scored on them at the end of the regular season.

And I think that really – I don't care if you're a grown man, pro athlete, whatever, when you feel like, wait, this is, we did it. We lined up against these guys. They're not superheroes. We actually go ahead and do this. So what were the rules when you were on the road? It was a long time ago, but what were the rules when you get into a town like New Orleans and you're traveling for the Super Bowl? How does that work?

Well, usually, see, this is how it usually goes. Like, the way the NFL does our other leagues don't count but the way the nfl does it those cities that they deem dangerous or have too much fun you would always get in late so they eat up all your time you know when we go we go to places like New Orleans, Miami, you know, when you play the Washington football team or teams like that, there's a lot of just distractions. We would always get there, you know, late. So wait, the team would line up the team flight to have you land so late that it wasn't really even an option. Yeah, like your time was eating up. Like you weren't going out and running around and do a whole bunch of things

because they knew like we can't have all this time for our guys to mingle around in this city. Like you're asking for trouble. Now, when we played Buffalo, Green Bay, we would get there hella early and be sitting in the hotel all damn day because there's nothing to do in those cities. So that's how they would play it in the NFL. Okay, but the problem here is this isn't a one-day stop. You're going to be there the whole time.

So they can't, like at some point, you're going to be on the loose. So what would the team tell you like, hey, if we get here Monday or we get here, I don't know, what do you get on the weekend before? So, and you didn't have the extra bye week then. So wait a minute, you didn't have the bye week, right? It was immediately

because it was after 9-11. Wasn't that true? And then they were kind of like making up time that they'd lost. I think that's true. So you had to get there probably a little later based on that anyway.

But what's the team protocol of like, okay, Monday, Tuesday are yours or Wednesday? How does that work? Yeah, so I believe like Monday, we did have like one day where we got to kind of, you know, hang out and chill and stuff like that. But Bill had us locked down for most of the week. Like we were locked down, like hard, hard curfew. Like, our curfew was like, I want to say maybe 11, if not earlier.

Like, we were locked down. The Rams, they didn't have that. They were out all week. You know how I know this? Because all my family members saw the Rams in all the venues on Bourbon Street in the middle of the night, partying, doing all the venues on Bourbon street in the middle of the night, partying, doing all types of things while we were on lockdown. So we had like one night where we could get out and, and, and enjoy ourselves and be out on the town. After that,

we were, we were locked down. Oh, that's interesting. Okay. So you, do you went out though? Right. You had to have big wood at that age, what, 23 years old or whatever. Like you must've been out at some point. Yes, I was out. So did you break curfew?

I was in the streets. Did you break curfew then? No, like, no, I didn't break curfew because it was like it was so late like they gave us a lot of flexibility so it was so late it was no breaking curfew i just had a good time man and then once i got tired i'm like i'm taking it back to the hotel okay all right you were i think 24 25 just to do

it just so we keep any investigative reports here we just want to make sure we're buttoned up here. Okay. But then what happened? Because you had family with you. I did. I had family with me and I had my younger brother. My younger brother's like nine years younger than me. And so we're out, you know, we're out and about on Bourbon Street and going to different

places and he's with me. So nobody really messes with him. Okay. and he's with me, so nobody really messes with him. Okay? So, you know, I'm like, so it's starting to wind down for me, and my younger brother is, like, out with, like, my cousin and stuff, but he was supposed to come back to the hotel with me.

All of a sudden, he disappears. Like, he disappears out of thin air. And I'm like, where the hell is he at? And so I'm like, okay, I'm going back to the hotel because I ain't got time to be looking at all this other stuff. And come to find out, my younger brother's in the strip club. Like, he's all of, like, 15. Like, he's, like, 15. And he's, like, in the strip clubs and all this other stuff.

Because I brought my grandparents down too. My grandparents was pissed, were pissed. Like my parents were pissed, but it's New Orleans. It was like Mardi Gras season two. So, I mean, what could you do? Did they actually get mad at you? Yeah, they tried to get mad at me. They were like, he was supposed to come back to the hotel

with you what happened I'm like look he ran off with our cousin I ain't got time for this I'm trying to enjoy myself before I gotta lock in on the game like y'all gotta take care of that not me so but

he had a great time he indulged in everything that is New Orleans. And if you talk to him today, that was one of his most memorable experiences that he's ever had in his life. Did he make it through the rest of the week, or was he... Oh, he made it.

He made it through the rest of the week, but let's just say it was an eye-opening experience for him he aged in years in just one night yes he did yes he did hey look enjoy the game enjoy all the work this week and i always appreciate you taking out the time man you're the best oh man man. Always good talking to you. You got a pick? I'm going Rams. I think the Rams get it done.

All right. I can see how you get there. Talk soon, man. All right, man. 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. Before we get to life advice, videos circulating last night, social media, I think we need to life advice, videos circulating last night, social media. I think we need to have a little – the soft jabs may stop after watching Kyle outside of a bar last night or inside.

It looked like a hybrid inside-outside situation because he was firing darts and tanking some beers. And he was hitting the one punch machine there. I don't know what the name of that one is specifically. He was putting up some big numbers, 730, and I think we get to 744. Big, powerful overhand right, sized it up, kind of at the apex of the thrust. Big drag off the cigarette on the second punch,

the record-breaking second punch, and then just turned on it. And so, yeah, there's people demanding a reassessment of who you are and what you're capable of after watching these videos so really props to kyle again thanks all i can say back's better felt good to get back out there start punching the old machine again if you know what i mean um um uh it was outside by the way it was outside um yeah that's what i figured i mean i didn't know if there's maybe a canopy over or something like that but i didn't think the frolic frolic room doesn't let

you smoke darts inside right no definitely not i mean probably once upon a time and probably after the doors closed maybe you know just one of those places that the smells it's like who would really know if you smoked a cigarette in here uh six hours from now who knows but no is there anything else that we need to know about what what's the name of the machine i don't know i don't know i mean it looked just like every other machine it was covered when i first got there and then it magically became uncovered like an hour later so uh my buddy jim cunningham was with me and i just used all the singles well the rumor was weren't the weren't the part of my take guys was there something going on

with them last night because i i i kind of feel like maybe it was there was a point to prove about like the fighting in thing that we were talking about a couple months ago about who'd win a brawl and i think you had a point to prove is that what's going on definitely not dude i went there to see big cat because um you know he and all ryan's other friends went down to manhattan beach a couple nights ago and you know i got a late invite, and it was going to be hectic to get over there. So Jim told me that he was going to be at Saddle Ranch doing the yak thing all week. So I just went there to check him out.

I got off early from work. So I did that for a little while, but I was at a table by myself, and I kind of didn't really know many of the other guys on stage, not to be mean or anything. I just, you know, I know Big Cat. That's kind of who I know. So I was sitting at the bar a lot. You know, the wait staff was a little

stretched thin, we'll say. So I just figured, you know, I went to the bar a couple of times. So yeah, I was just sitting there and that's what I do. If there's a punching machine, regardless of who's doing a show and who's there, I'm going to punch the machine.

You know what I mean? Well, regardless of if you meant to send a message or not, I think a message was sent. I think we can all agree. I hope not. I hope not, guys. That's what dudes are saying. Dudes are saying, huh? Dudes are saying that messages were sent.

Yeah, the streets were vocal. All right, let's get to it. LifeAdviceRR at gmail.com. All right, let's get to it. Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. All right, let's check in with a hot guy here. 6218023, cycling instructor at my gym, keeps flirting with me despite my attempts to rebuff her. Parentheses, I have a girlfriend. I recently took up Saturday and Sunday morning cycling classes at the gym.

I prefer to work out in the morning and the weekends, and this class is the only one that fits with my schedule. The class composition is roughly 75% female, 25% male. Female instructor who works both classes, let's call her Veronica, will not stop making advances towards me. This poor guy. Some examples.

One, she found out I like Taylor Swift. Who doesn't love setting a personal record while blasting some red? That's, of course, Taylor's version. Did that Peloton ride. It was a good time. Yeah. Do you got anything on that song? No, I just... Well, listen, we all know I'm Team Jonah Hall,

so that album was a little bit sensitive to me because I am Team Jonah Hall. So, all too well, I'm not a huge fan of that song, but I'm a Taylor fan in general. Did we find another skinny white guy with hair that you like, by the way? Did we text about this? Well, no, but I was thinking of other guys

after we talked about this. Pattinson fired up for the new Batman movie. That guy. The list is long. The list is way longer than we've touched on here. You could probably not even get all of them in in your top 10. No, there's too many guys. Pattinson would be in there.

Honestly, Hardy's a little bit different because he's shorter and more stocky. He's my favorite actor. But Pattinson's been wrong. I mean, listen, he was in Tenet, which I thought he was awesome in. And he's in the new Batman. I'm fired up to see that movie. So he's another skinny guy, good hair, a little bit edgy.

I don't really know what his deal is. He was in some, you know, Twilight. I didn't see any of those movies, but he was in them. So he's rising up the rankings pretty quick. Were you a big Heath Ledger guy back in the day? I actually, like... I liked him as Joker,

but no. No, it wasn't really my scene. I don't know. We'll see. Good hair, though. Good hair guy. That sounds fairly dismissive of Heath Ledger. Okay, back to the guy who women can't control themselves around.

All right. So now every time she plays a Taylor Swift song, she calls me out by name in the class. Quote, this one's for you. I'm not going to say the guy's name. She then proceeds to stare at me for the rest of the song. She calls me out by name in the class. Quote, this one's for you. I'm not going to say the guy's name. She then proceeds to stare at me for the rest of the song. Maybe she's just trying to set a personal best. The power move. After class, she walks right up to me before I have a chance to disembark and ask me about my plans for the weekend.

Number three, I am the only person in the class. Veronica does this too. I should know that I've never leaned into her advances. In fact, I've alluded to my girlfriend several times in the hopes that she will take a hint and stop. She has not. I've yet to tell my girlfriend about the situation as I doubt it will go over well.

Hey, babe, go to that cycling class with the instructor that constantly flirts with me. Me for some blue bottle after, though. I see it as I have three options. Explicitly tell Veronica to stop flirting with me. I'm worried she will gaslight me, though. I used that correctly did he i think so i'm not totally clear either i just don't know if he did but i'm not 90 percent of what that term means i just hear it a lot all right um sounds cool yeah yeah no it's not people love using it and i was like i think i said

it's somebody like dude i'm just gaslighting you. He's like, asshole. And I'm like, wait, what? I thought, all right. I'm like, imagine if you had gas lanterns back in the day, that would have been a huge improvement to your town. But I don't think that's, I think there's a different, that might be the fourth definition.

Old English, Oxford. Okay. Or Oxford English, I think. Yeah. All right. So,

and then she's going to say that I'm imagining everything. Two, bring my girlfriend to class with me. I worry that say that I'm imagining everything to bring my girlfriend to class with me. I worry that Veronica will flirt with me in front of my girlfriend. Three, stop attending the cycling class and start city biking everywhere. Okay. All right.

Look, um, not the biggest problem we've ever tried to solve here on the podcast. The, the only question that matters here is how much do you love this cycling class? Like, is this the only one like you said you like doing in the mornings okay you're doing a saturday sunday routine is this the only one now i think you said it's equinox in here i don't think you know there's plenty of them so i don't think that this is too weird um i imagine you know look if you like equinox and that's your equinox then it's probably too far to the next one although the city you know a little if i don't know if this isn't the city he said city bike so i'm just kind of talking out loud it doesn't mean it's probably too far to the next one. Although the city, you know, I don't know if this is in the city. He said city bike,

so I'm just kind of talking out loud. It doesn't mean it's actually New York City. So because if you tell your girlfriend, she's not going to want you to go to class. If you bring her to the class and then you think the cycling instructor is going to start flirting with you even more, if that actually happens, DiCaprio,

then your girlfriend's not going to want you to go to the class. So if you love this class and you're not doing anything wrong, and it's not that you love this attention because clearly you don't, which is actually pretty rare. So actually, you know, a couple of claps for our guy here. Then the prioritize like, OK, cool. She's going to hit on me a little bit i'm just gonna ignore every time and it's not that hard to ignore somebody that's flirting with you you know there's a lot of guys going yeah exactly that is true um so let's try it yeah right like i i think like you're right ryan i've noticed that when do, I don't always get a reciprocation. So look, I would, I would, it sounds like this bike class really means a lot to you.

So I wouldn't tell anybody about it and then have a fucking cute cycling instructor pay attention to you every now and then, you know, it's not that big of a deal. And you can keep saying over and over again, I have a girlfriend, I have a girlfriend. And guess what? If she's a cycling instructor at Equinox and she's attractive, there's a pretty good chance she's going to pivot somewhere else and get attention somewhere else. So this isn't that big of a deal. But if you do tell your girlfriend, based on what you've alluded to here, it sounds

like you're not going to be going to this class anymore. Next thing you know, you're going to be at Orange Theory, you know, counting shit down, keep a track of your heart rate. And that might not be your speed. Who knows? Yeah. Orange Theory looks a little small, aren't they? They always send them out on the block to run around.

So usually those places are a little tiny. And they just use the world around them as part of the gym. Cannell used to go a lot. He was super into it, right? I think so. Is that the one where you're staying like the Orange level? I don't even know what the class is. Basically, you work out a certain level for an entire 30 minutes.

And that's the point of the exercise. I don't even know. I think it's more about the interactive part of it of like you're sort of competing and you can kind of see what everybody's doing a little scoreboard situation yeah right which is why canel probably loved it but then it was like probably try to figure out a way to break the rules so i i would say you got to figure out how to like this pal i just figure out a way to like it man figure out a way to just boost your ego a little bit and you know what if you don't this is karma for the 99 percent

of times this happens to women and you just have to take it for the dudes like if you don't like it then this is karma well you know not everybody wins even though somehow you're winning and feel like you're losing pal yeah it's not a ton of sympathy for you probably in a lot of corners here um taking it for the dudes might be a great t-shirt slash hoodie could be misconstrued i think i don't know he's a hero uh he did by the way use gaslighting correctly um so congrats to him uh do you want to lay a definition on me real quick so i yeah it's basically like gaslighting happens when like basically like someone tries to like change your sense of reality so they like say you're do things that you didn't do right so so if he went up to her and was like hey like i don't really like this

sporting you should be like what i'm not flirting with you and then you're like what what the fuck yeah you are flirting with me for me every time i come in this class and then it's just kind of like messing with your head it's an abusive tactic essentially such a broad word man i don't know i'll never use it correctly but thanks for trying yeah i had to look it up trust me i shout to the google machine but no there's plenty of people freaking out right now that we didn't have the definition I'll never use it correctly, but thanks for trying. Yeah, I had to look it up. Trust me. Shout out to the Google machine. There's plenty of people freaking out right now that we didn't have the definition nailed, but I've heard it used so many times incorrectly now that I was like, yeah, I kind of thought that's what it was.

I think that's what's been throwing me off. It's the incorrect use. Yeah, I've been getting gas lit my whole life. I'm starting using it now. Did he say that the instructor knows he is dating someone? Yes. He knows that he...

Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, so clearly she doesn't care. Hard on moves. Respect it. Right. I mean, he even said if he brings his girlfriend, he feels like she's going to turn it up a notch.

You should. You should... Well, actually, you shouldn't do that. Don't say. I would want you to do that just to see what would happen. But the thing is, this... Ryan, you're right. This will pass at some point.

At some point, she's going to get bored because you're not getting her attention or some new hotter guy is going to come in that she's going to probably bother. And you're not going to be able to find her in the equinox. It's probably close to you. So I think you just got to stick it out. Right. I mean, I could make some other assumptions here that may seem insensitive in these times. So I'm just making the right assumption that I'm pretty good chance she's equinox cycle

instructor. And by the way, I've been to a few gyms in my life. You probably could find another class. You know, if it's this big of a deal. Part of me thinks you just wanted to tell the show that you have a fitness instructor after you. Cause it's great. It's a great time.

It doesn't happen to many of us, but when it does happen to me once, one time. Oh boy. Look back fondly on those years. All right. I would say this thing could come and pass before your girlfriend. He never needs to find out. Just one of those things that you dealt with

that didn't have to be brought up anytime. Take it for the dudes. That's what Kyle said. That's right. Let's try to do two more here. What's up? 2359175. This past weekend, two of my buddies and i went

out to a few bars in the town we grew up in in new england uh i know the area i'm not going to say where it is great town we stopped by this somewhat hipsterish bar to grab a couple espresso martinis as a sort of pre-game for friday night get that energy up um when we got to the bouncer at the front of the bar he checked each of my friend's ids and handed them back when he got to mine he immediately started bending it and looking at it back and forth, a somewhat annoyed look on his face. He asked me my date of birth, et cetera, and was like, this ID doesn't even look like you. To which I told him, in fact, it was me, but just a picture of me when I was 16 because I renewed my ID online to avoid having to spend hours at the DMV. My friend's going to kick out

of this. And we were laughing out loud as the bouncer shit on my license. He insisted that I needed to get a new ID because this was really not acceptable to which i told him he was the first person who ever had an issue uh when i handed him my license this only seemed to annoy him even more yet he begrudgingly led us into the bar um because the three of us are clearly all over the age of 21 i gotta tell you when you say the line clearly all of us are over the age of 21 when you're 23 i don't know that that's like the clearest thing that's ever been observed, but I'll just keep going here. I felt like that was an important detail because there's also one other thing that happened here that I think is really important that most people are going to pick up on. All right, continuing.

But that's not the end of the story. As we're walking to our seats towards the back of the bar, one of my buddies remarked, quote, that guy fucking sucks. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Not loud enough for the bouncer to hear, but loud enough for the people around him to hear. Not loud enough for the bouncer to hear, but loud enough for the people around him to hear. And one of the busboys overheard it. And immediately they booted us from the bar because they, quote, don't tolerate that kind of attitude. We were incensed, but we left without issue.

Pretty much spent the next hour sulking about it, or at least I did. They still thought it was pretty funny. I suppose all this is to ask, are we the assholes for thinking the bouncer was being a jerk? This is the first time I've ever gotten a second look at my ID. It's just a picture of me only with a mop of hair rather than the short haircut I have now. Also, how long should I wait before going back there? I do love that bar and don't want

to have to give up visiting it because my friend made an off-color remark. But I also don't want to show up at the door and look like an idiot when they tell me to get lost either. Love the show, especially Life Advice. All right. Okay. I, especially Life Advice. I'd give it a month.

I'd give it a month. You didn't stab anybody. It's not that big of a deal. You're not actually the one that said it, but if it's the same bouncer, he's probably going to remember because he's going to remember your ID. I think that the assumption that you had made was, why are you going to give me a hard time about my ID? I mean, look, at 23, it may have looked weird.

So part of me sides with the bouncer. If this place is strict, you know, you got like, dude, 23 instead of 21 or 20. Like that shit's all over the place. I've seen 18 looked like 25. I've seen 25 look like 16. I mean, it's just weird. You know, it's just science, man. Um, again, it's dependent upon how strict the place is. I would say that I didn't work in the most strict areas when I used to card people, a couple of places, but most of the time no there is something very telling though uh one you said it's the town of New England which I know the town the other is that if this guy's working the door and it's clearly a real ID and he's looking at you and he's thinking the picture doesn't add up which I don't think is that problematic like I think that makes sense that you don't you admit you don't look like the guy in the picture doesn't add up, which I don't think is that problematic.

I think that makes sense. You admit you don't look like the guy in the picture because it's from so long ago, which is your own house that you want to deal with. But that he was bending it and kind of doing the bend. Is this thing fake or whatever? You don't do that with a real license. You don't bend it. You either know it's fake or it isn't because you've seen thousands of them like i got to the point where i could tell immediately all right and i might do the bend if it was a night where they were like don't let anybody in because the

liquor inspector's coming i was like all right fine i'll be i'll be tough about it tonight um until like 11 and then you know i might i might bend and flip it around not like ruin it like some assholes but i'm doing it like it's a poker game and i'm seeing if you're gonna crack i'm watch i'm not even doing anything with a license i'm watching you pretending i'm not watching you to see if you crack and then whatever um in this case if he's a guy that's been doing this a long time and he's fucking around, he's bending it, that may lead me to another conclusion. Is that all door guys? They're not all of them are super cool. I know that blows your mind.

Some guys love being a door guy more than fucking anything. And for whatever it is that they went through, maybe they weren't the coolest guy. Maybe they didn't make the football team. Maybe they thought Paul Blart was a documentary. There are guys that are so fucking pumped to have that power now that sometimes they do, as your friend said, fucking sucks. But I can't make a ruling on this because the fact that your friend would say that, and again, in your early 20s, the guys in my group, we would have said it. We would have said it. So I'm not judging you there.

I'm not saying it's great, but I'm not going to be a hypocrite about it either. I think the whole lesson in all this is that there's all sorts of factors. He could have been the worst and you guys could have been right. You guys probably could have been dicks. He might have just been simply doing his job at a stricter place. It was like, this is sort of weird. It doesn't look like you. I don't know why he'd be bending it because he should know it's a real license versus a fake license. I don't even know

what fakes would even look like anymore. I imagine the technology is off the charts. And then again, if you'd be scanning stuff anyway, I think, right? Yeah. You'd be scanning stuff, which basically eliminates all the stuff that we used to have to do back in the day where dudes started taking erasers over stencils. I mean, this is like prehistoric times. So that's a whole part of the game. And I don't even aware of other than just now playing it back my head that I've seen that a bunch ruling give it a month. And if he's still on your case, then I think we've answered

a lot of questions about where his head is at. Yeah, a couple things. One for me when the new the new New York State came out in 2014 when it went from like looking like this one to this one when the new New York State came out the guy at Mahoney's which you looking like this one to this one, when the new New York State came out, the guy at Mahoney's, which, you know, we've got a checkered pass,

but I'm still good there. That's the one where my buddy's been banned for, you know, 10 years and counting. But so when these new ones came out, it was like fresh. It was fresh. I think because mine was issued in October of 2014. And I think I was home for Thanksgiving or something. And this guy's been working there for probably since I was in diapers and still just loves every minute of it, the bouncer who is in question. And I went there with the new ID. And he was like, this is a fake. I was like, no, this is the new New York State. The new IDs have been out for a while. He's like, it's a fake. It's a fake. And it's like, pal, do you see all these things on the back? Do you have anything to scan or whatever? He's like, no, we don't have a scanner. it's a fake it's a fake and it's like pal do you see all these like things on the back do you have anything to scan or whatever he's like no we don't have a

scanner it's a fake pal i don't know what to tell you and i was like i was really upset it's a little emasculating but again it's like what are you gonna do you're gonna knock him out and then knock three other bouncers out and then settle up at the bar for a whiskey like no that's never gonna happen so you just kind of have to take the l there and try not to you know ruin your chances to come back so you did that and yeah it feels yucky inside for a moment. He's got the power and he feels great. And you feel a little emasculated and it's not because you, you know, don't feel like you could take them. That shouldn't even cross your mind. It's just that nothing good ever, like you won't get your way no matter what, if they're not letting

you in, there's like almost no room for negotiation. So yeah, you should have just have just you should have just kept your mouth shut and even though it sounded like it was one of his friends i'm just saying it it happens when you're not wrong at all and you just have to just have to roll with the punches so yeah i think you can go back soon because you didn't say anything other than what was overheard no if he's still on right if he's still on your case a month later because one of your other friends said something the only reason i think he would ever even remember is because the id part of this whole thing would be like oh you're the kid that looks like he's 15 15 but it's a real picture the whole thing hey didn't one of your friends say this then if he's like no you can't come in a month later after your friend said something then you kind of have your

answer about his entire program that we've initially been asking about the first time but you've also said some things too you're like well i don't want to go up and then get turned away and look like a loser all right what's how long is that transaction 12 seconds yeah like you will get through that you will get through that you know you find it then you know where you stand all right so there you go you just have to go somewhere else for your espresso martinis pregame and sometimes bars can get like you know they might just be fresh off a raid like everything seems good and then it's not and then it's fresh off for raids well whatever it's called it's like you know i don't know i don't know how this happens, but guys, you know, especially guys

who are really, really, you know, into being a bouncer. It's like, hey, if if anybody's in here caught, you know, I'm going to lose my job and this is my whole life. But like sometimes it's just the cops come in and they're like, we know we know for a fact that there's 19 year olds running around in here. I don't think that's what this bar was like. Yeah, we had SWAT here on Tuesday, guysuesday guys well it could even be it could have been a month ago too who knows i'm just saying like you never know why those bouncers are the way

they are but you can pretty much give a good guess why we got raided i was managing a bar we got raided on a wednesday night it's awful never opened again it was a college bar right though yeah yeah i was managing it i was uh two years out of school, but I was still up there. I've told this story before, but there was a huge weekend incident overcrowding, people freaking out about it. So the town hall was like, all right. And the police, the whole way it works, just seen out of the wire, less at stake. They're like, all right, first busy place you see crack down. And we got run over. And I'm just standing at the door going, uh-oh, this is probably not

good. And I was in charge. The owner wasn't there. It was just me. And I'm 23. I had guys, girls were jumping out of the... We had a garage door that opened that was on a patio, but it was more of a window. So you couldn't go in and out of it. People were jumping over the railing, getting out of there. It was mayhem. The cops were actually... They were like, where's your your your occupancy thing and i just said i you know i don't know in a drawer he's like you don't know your occupancy off the top of your head i was like no and the thing is is no one ever enforced it ever and then they decided they were going to make an example at a first busy place and it happened to

be us because we had an alpha chi 18 and over party that was hosted so that was that was even worse like then they carded every single person. They corralled everybody and carded everybody on the way out. And they were like, we counted 120 underage people or something like that. I was like, yeah, it was 18 and over. He's like, most of them were shit-faced, dude. I was like, well, you know. Not my problem.

Yeah, we can't keep track. Can't keep track of it all. Yeah. Proof they got it here, yeah. Yeah, man, it was lit. Vibes are tight in here. I don't know what to tell you. They all came in drunk. Must have been got it here. Yeah. Yeah, man. It was lit. Vibes are tight in here. I don't know what to tell you. They all came in drunk.

Must have been a party around here somewhere. We're playing the belly soundtrack start to finish. It was going off. It was closed forever then? Was the fines just too big because they hit you with every single one or something? Did you say it never opened again? Yeah, I actually had to sit in front of town hall like on this community access channels and I'm sitting here like talking on behalf of the bar to open up and I'm 23 and they just, I mean, I'd lost before I ever sat down. Although it was funny

because I'd walked around town and I ran into like a few adults. They're like, you were really good on TV. Like you held your composure, even though you had no chance to win. And I was like, well, I went in with a plan, but you know, basically what they did is they enforced stuff. They had, I know there's some people listening right now being like, how did you not know what your occupancy was? That's the first thing you need to know. I would agree. In 1999, I think it was 99 when this happened. I don't know. It could have been the fall or spring, so I'm not sure off the top of my head. No one cared. No one knew it. No one enforced it. Everybody's supposed to have their certificate up by the front door.

They didn't have it. And it kind of changed everything from that point on because at that point on, then there were lines. Everybody did abs counters. They had fire departments coming in because the previous weekend, there was this supposed riot in Burlington, which wasn't really much of a riot. A couple of rugby guys that I knew got into it with the cops and people freaked out. So they spent a couple of days. Then we were the first place that was busy because it was a Wednesday. So had we not had that party, we would have been dead. And then somebody else would have gotten popped on Thursday. So I had to go to these town hall things and argue the case because the owner was like, I don't think I'm opening back up again. He's like, the rent has always been absurd. I've got a family. He just got married.

He's like, I think we're good. So then the landlord, who was an asshole, because he stole some equipment that was mine that was in there and never gave it back to me. He was a fucking piece of work. DJ equipment? Yeah. Nice.

And the thing was, I was like, can I get that back? And then he's like, oh, well, it's my understanding that it belonged to the bar and i was like you found an understanding that worked out for you like it's my guess like me bro yeah right exactly well done kyle and here's anybody that thinks like all right you know what's the other side of the story i'll leave you with this example so he decided well i own this bar they've just redone it because the other side of the story? I'll leave you with this example. So he decided, well, I own this bar. They've just redone it because the other owner brought in another owner as an investor and they've spent money remodeling it and changed everything around. I don't know. It was kind of a weird spot because it used to be a dive, but it was everybody's favorite dive. And then they tried to make it more of a dance thing. And so we would be dead at quarter of midnight.

And then for the next two hours, it was a flood. It was like a stress test from Bar Rescue. And it would go so hard for two hours. So you really worked for two hours. But the register still did pretty well. So we were like, this isn't great that no one comes here anymore until later because it's no longer the dive but we do really well because everybody's just already pre-game for such a long time so anyway the owner the guy who owned the building was like well screw it i've got a turnkey bar i've lost out on the rent the rent for that place

was like triple the nicest bar in town i don't know why they ever did the lease the way they did it and he was like well screw it he called it another bar made up some polo shirts made everybody wear a uniform because back when i managed it i was like i don't care what i mean guys backwards hat like t-shirt right yeah packing dips for you know i was like i don't care do whatever the fuck you want back there. And I'm not making that sound like I ran a tight ship, but I actually was good at running it. I believe it or not. I know that seems impossible after I just said the thing got raided and shut down.

I don't blame you for not believing me. But the owner, after like a week, started seeing these college kids banking like 100, 200 bucks each in tips. Okay. So he's like, wait, what is what's my liquor cost which you didn't understand and he's looking at all the numbers and he goes i should be doing bet he's like wait so you four guys and the waitress are splitting up almost a thousand bucks a night in tips and the guys were like yeah these are sick jobs you know it was really hard to get those jobs and everybody wanted them i mean you could work one night as a college kid and you'd be set for spending money for the week. Hell, you were rich. And he was like, all right, no, no, no, that's not the way it should work because he didn't know

anything about the bar business. He would take all of their tips and he kept half and then he would hand them out. So then all the kids, no, well, I mean, I guess you could do it if you were the owner. So basically he did a thing where he's like, if you're only working two to three hours, then it should be an hourly. He's like, I think it should be like 10 bucks an hour is fair. So guys ended up, it was worse than half. I think a couple of guys were like, yeah, everybody's quitting. He goes, we're making like $40 a night now, bartending.

Because he just was like, that's absurd that you guys make this much money. And it was like, yeah, no shit. Why do you think people have a hard time leaving bartending? Because it's quick it's it's great money and you know your friends are in there and everybody's kind of you know figure it out you could do really well so there you go all right memory lane uh i would pay multiple thousands of dollars to have one night there again right now because uh you probably just noticed in my voice yeah maybe i'm just gonna frolic room you're not over it. You're not over it.

No, I miss, I miss, I don't know. I'm going through a weird phase right now where I'm missing that. Actually, I don't miss that night or I don't miss those nights. I just miss the hustle and bustle. It was a bit of a grind, but I miss that phase. I miss that phase, even though there's a lot that I shouldn't miss. Okay. Have a great Friday, everybody.

Enjoy the Super Bowl. We have Trent Dill for for you on Monday. We've got some big things cooking here. Look out, is what I'm telling you. Thanks to Colin Steeve, Ringer, Spotify, Ryan Russo Podcast. Please subscribe. Thank you. you