The Ryen Russillo Podcast - In or Out on Top NBA Players, Austin Rivers on Jokic and His Own Ups and Downs, Plus Van Lathan on CFB Recruiting, Joe Burrow, and Brian Flores

Episode Date: February 4, 2022

Russillo shares his thoughts on the stars of all 30 NBA teams (0:32). Then Ryen talks with Nuggets guard Austin Rivers about playing with reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, the impact of the NBA schedule on player health, growing as a player and teammate, his time on the Clippers, and more (19:07). Then Ryen talks with The Ringer's Van Lathan about CFB signing day, NIL's impact on college recruiting, LSU fans' support for Joe Burrow in the Super Bowl, Brian Flores's discrimination lawsuit, and more (56:24). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:47:19). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Austin Rivers and Van Lathan Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

coming up on today's podcast we are loaded austin rivers going to talk about his time transitioning from expected star to role player to almost out of the league back to good role player van lathan on the brian flores story and some Super Bowl stuff with his now Cincinnati Bengals. I'm going to go through all 30 teams and tell you whether I'm in or out on their top players and life advice. As we get closer to the end of football, I thought, you know, it'd be great. Let's run through the entire league. We're 50 plus games in. I'm going to tell you how I feel about almost every significant player for all 30 teams. You're like, wait a minute.

How long is this podcast? How many parts? I only saw one part. I'm like, no, we're not doing a seven-part here. We're going to do one part. And I'm going to run through the entire league with a very basic premise. As I look at their top players, the players that matter, kind of each team's big three. And there's some rule-breaking in this as well.

I'm just going to say in or out. Very simple. And some I'll give you more context. And some guys, I'm just going to keep it moving. So I have no idea if this is going to work or not, but we're going to give it a shot. So if you're just catching up with the NBA, you're like, I wonder how Ryan feels about everyone.

Well, here we go. I'm going to go by standings as of last night. Starting to E, Chicago. DeRozan in. Didn't like the contract in. He's been incredible. Levine wasn't always in with him. Didn't love the decision-making in now.

Lonzo Ball in. I guess I could go Vooch. I didn't really want to say out about Vooch. I kind of like Vooch, but I also kind of don't sometimes. Miami. Jimmy Butler in. If you tell me he's top 10, I'm out. Kyle Lowry in for what he brings to a team. Watching it out. Bam, all the way in. Speaking of just absolutely in, is in, maybe not peak first team in, but Embiid is in. Not just because of the way he's played. Yes, I know at times during late game situations, they'll run a double and he may turn the ball over every now and then.

I'm okay with it, all right, because it's been incredible. And actually, when you look at some of his clutch numbers and how many shots he's having to take in those clutch situations, he is absolutely carrying this team. Couldn't be more in than I am right now with Embiid. Speaking of the Sixers, Tobias Harris out. I know what the stats say. I know everybody loves the guy. I'm just out on it. Ben Simmons, I don't think you really need an answer here. So let's just say Maxie in. Milwaukee,

Giannis in. Probably above Embiid levels because his attitude is everything I would want in a competitor and the face of my franchise. Middleton, I'm in, but don't tell me I should be more in. Drew Holiday, I'm in. The whole thing I'm in on, but he's missed 13 games this year. And I think he's, yeah, he's only played 70 plus games once in the last four years. Cleveland Cavaliers, Darius Garland in, Evan Mobley in, Jared Allen in in love that team Brooklyn Kyrie out

Harden out probably not a shock to those that have listened to the podcast once before Kevin Durant in major love affair there as has been stated

numerous times Charlotte Horenz Lamello in I cannot believe how it's not just the numbers it's not his his highlights it's the joy that he plays with

it is that you know we have a lot of guards that are ball dominant and can dribble and his start stop start again for his size is off the charts but he pings the basketball around like he gets everybody involved like even though he's bringing it up and he could just go high pick and roll all night on you, he actually wants to keep the ball swinging, drive and kick, out the top of the key, doesn't take a dribble, swings it to the other side. That's an incredible understanding. And I'm telling you, it was not exactly the guy that I saw on film prior to that. And as I've watched him be even better this year, I'm like, you know what? With Golden State, it would have been scary because I actually think he would have played really well

with all the shooters and perimeter players because he actually enjoys moving the ball. He's not looking to just dominate the way that I thought he was just such a ball-dominant player in the past. So there you go. That's a lot in. Miles Bridges in. He's the leading scorer.

His shooting's falling off a little bit outside from three. He was 40% from three last year, but I like his attitude and everything, and I just like him as a player. The front line, though, as we all know if you're a Hornets fan, just collectively out, and that's going to be their undoing. Toronto. Fred VanVleet in.

Scotty Barnes in. I feel guilty. Siakam, I think I'm out. He's 21, 8.5 boards. He's 21, eight and a half boards. He's over five assists now a game. From three, he's down a bit. Last season, he didn't shoot it well either, so the shooting's down a little. Maybe it's just him going up against Semmy Ogilvy

and feeling like Ogilvy figured him out. That may be totally unfair, but because of the rest of Toronto, I'm just in on. Precious in. Gary Trent, five plus games with 30 or more points in. OG in. Nick Nurse in. Masai in. Assistant coach Adrian Griffin in. A lot of ins for Toronto. Boston. Tatum in. Brown in. Smart in the last month or so. Haven't always been a smart guy. Collectively out.

Couldn't be more out. It's a weird team. It doesn't work. Maybe they figure it out. I don't know. We're about two plus years of a 500 team that doesn't seem to have a lot of attitude. Atlanta, Trey Young in. Wasn't always in.

In now. I'm just going to say Okongwu in. I love that guy. Kevin Herger, I'm too close to the story, so it would be biased. Let's say DeAndre Hunter N. New York, I used to defend Julius Randle all of the time, everywhere he went, even when it wasn't great. I'm like, there's still some stuff there. To see him do what he did last year, I was so happy for him

and for Knicks fans in New York, Just the vibe, the juice, right? The juice in that building as Trey Young ripped their hearts out. But out on Randall this year. R.J. Barrett is my own personal riddle. Every time I'm out on him, then he goes on a tear. And I'm like, no, he's pretty good. And then I'll lock in and go, okay, how good could R.J. Barrett really be? And then I'm kind of out again because then it'll be bad.

So I'd say on the surface in franchise changing player superstar, I'm kind of out again because then it'll be bad. So I'd say on the surface in franchise changing players, superstar, I'm kind of out on that idea quickly in Cam Reddish, the philosophy of trading Cam Reddish to a Tom Thibodeau coach team out on that philosophy. Washington Beal out. He can score with anybody, but for him to be thought of as a one, he might be, if it's a really good team, he might have to be the three. I'm willing to debate that. Dinwiddie out. Not going to debate it. Kuzma wasn't always out.

I've had some moments of in. I'm in again. The boards, the assist numbers, the big shots that he hit during that stretch for a couple weeks. Washington, though, with the cutoff to that amazing start, we knew they weren't that good, but it's been bad overall. Pacers, have fun with this one. So bonus in, Levert out. He had eight shots. I mean, I don't know. We'll ask the Rudy during the Magic Minute here. Levert was like, yeah, I'm just going to take every shot again here. It's not fun. Brogdon, when he plays,

I'm in, but he doesn't, so I'm'm out he's had six seasons in the league now only one of those 70 plus games 24 games right now this year with the Pacers um I think he's missed 24 excuse me and that's why Milwaukee didn't do the deal with him that's it he was one of the all-time red flag guys before the draft that's why he went in the second round when he plays it's not flashy and you look up you're like this guy's got 21 and 8 again and he's making the second round. When he plays, it's not flashy, and you look up, and you're like, this guy's got 21-8 again, and he's making the right read and all these things. So he's a really good player, but there was a reason why Milwaukee was like,

all right, go ahead. You want to throw him that kind of money? We're out. And by the way, if you're a Pacers fan, you had a Taylor from Austin Peay last night, Sykes from Green Bay, Dwayne Washington Jr., Ohio State. They are creeping up into first place in our all-Google team rankings.

That was a lot of Pacers talk. Detroit, Cade Cunningham in. Sadiq Bey. I'm probably more in maybe than I should be. I'm not as in as I was last year. His shooting's just kind of down, and he's 39% overall, but I still like him. Grant, I used to always be out. Thought he was overrated.

Now I'm in. He was out since December 10th. He is back now. Orlando, Fran's in. Sugg's too early, not worried about it. Cole in for this role, but on a good team, I don't know if he'd be allowed the freedom. But so far he's a win because of the

expectations to him pre-draft, but I don't know long-term what he is, so I'll say in for now. Okay, let's go out west. Phoenix, Chris Paul, I'm in. Now, that's shocking. By the way, side note, who will Russillo root for if it's a Western Conference Finals? Phoenix and Chris Paul against Steph Curry at the Golden State Warriors. I'm already pre-worried about it. Aiton in, Booker in, and one of those things that I did mention a little bit earlier about Booker and the shooting is that the way he is thought of as a shooter,

and I would always say, yeah, but the actual shooting numbers aren't there from outside as consistently as you would think. Not that they were bad. He's 38% this year. That ties a career high. Golden State, Steph in, Draymond Green in, Clay in. He's been back 10 games. He looks like a guy who hadn't played basketball in 900 days.

Career lows right now, though, shooting 41% overall, 33% from three, not worried about it. You know he's two free throw attempts per game for his career. That's the thing about Clay. We all love him, but the rest of the stat sheet, this is not somebody who you go stat sheet filler. He's like three boards and two assists, two free throw a game.

That's what he is for his career. I'm not worried about how bad it looks right now. Ja, if he were a subscription, I wouldn't try to ever cancel it. I would be like, hey, there it is again. Here's a subscription. It keeps coming up on my statement. That's fine. I don't even want to know how to cancel it.

That's how in I am on Ja, Morant, Desmond Bain in, and Jaron Jackson in for this year. He's played 53 of 54 games. The shooting's worse the last couple seasons than where he was at, but the rebounding numbers are up to a career high. Utah, Donovan Mitchell in. I know there's some mini Westbrook moments in there

where he can force it. I'd still rather have that aggressiveness and some of the mistakes than guys that are passive, but then again, there's a line that you can smash through. We've discussed this in the past. Go Bear. I don't want to be in or out. I just want to watch it.

You know, if I was at a party and be like, hey, do you want to do this? Do you want to do that? No, I'm just going to kind of stand here. Doesn't mean I'm not having a good time, but it doesn't mean I might leave at some point. That's where I'm at with go bear. Conley, I'm in lighting it up from three this year. And I'm in for Conley because of what I just expect out of Conley can play off the basketball. I know he's getting a little bit older, slowing down a little bit.

But I'm fine with that. Dallas. Luka, you're in. And that playoff run, what he did in the last two years against the Clippers. Go back and just look at those numbers once a month. Because that is all-time stuff. But there are moments in every Luka game, I wouldn't want to say out, but I'll go, what are you doing right now?

I mean, and he complains nonstop. Porzingis, this one's tough. It hurts. I think my Porzingis position was the earliest of anyone out there. I would have Porzingis founder on my Instagram profile if I wore more vests. But outish. He's got a career-high PER right now, but he's 28% from three. He's played 50-plus games once in the last five years

and that's including missing an entire season Jalen Brunson in love that guy Denver Jokic never been more in he's the MVP of the league don't care about the standings he's the MVP of the league Aaron Gordon I'm in for what I think of Aaron Gordon I'm out for how everybody else thinks about Aaron

Gordon Jeff Green I'm in but with concerns. But he's only 35, so there's still a chance. Carl Anthony Towns, more in this year than I have been recent years. Been out in the past. I'm in. I think I'm just kind of like, hey, they've got a little bit more fight. Finch is

figuring things out. There's more talent. They're playing better defense, so I'm in. He's not going to be the peak Anthony Davis that we've seen in the past. He's never going to be that guy. At least some of the rumblings about what he could possibly be forcing his way out of there, I don't really know that we hear that as much now. Anthony Edwards, also a major in guy for me. Top five league pass ranking. D'Angelo Russell, I was as out on him as any single player in the NBA that got major rotation minutes. Starters, you know, top eight guys.

He's in review. Let's just leave it at that. Clippers, Kawhi, in on the player. Out on the other stuff I don't really know how to frame. Like, hey, are you going to play? You're going to come back? I don't know. We don't really talk to him.

I'm kind of out on that. Paul George, regular season in, top 10 player out. Playoffs was always out. He kind of took a turn towards in with what he did last year trying to carry them. Reggie Jackson, I'm mentioning him. I know the shooting is down kind of

dramatically from where it was last year to this year. I'm also out on Paul George quotes. Forgot to mention that. But I'm in on Reggie Jackson in this mold of the player who comes in who I don't like because they're in control of an offense and even though they're talented I'm like it doesn't really seem like it's going to work it reminded me a little bit of Dennis Schroeder early Atlanta stuff where

then it's like no once the player figures some things out fits into the role doesn't want to run the offense anymore and a guy like Reggie Jackson who's had some nice playoff moments supremely talented I'm like you know what I'm kind of in on those guys now that rediscover themselves when they really have no other choice Lakers LeBron in but I'm like, you know what? I'm kind of in on those guys now that rediscover themselves when they really have no other choice. Lakers, LeBron in, but I'm out on his defensive rotation blaming. Anthony Davis, I'm still in. Sorry. Give me all your Anthony Davis stock. I'm going to buy it back up

as ugly as it was before the injury and him coming back. Russ probably could guess this one, that I'd be out, and he shot the technical free throw last night. Weird call on that one. I need more. I need more. I got to dig. I want a 30 for 30 on that. Portland, Dame in, CJ in, be out. And he shot the technical free throw last night. Weird call on that one. I need more. I need more. I got to dig. I want a 30 for 30 on that.

Portland, Dame in, CJ in, roster out. New Orleans Pelicans, Brandon Ingram, I'm in. New Orleans is 2-12 without him. I don't think he's going to be a top 10 player ever, but he's good. He's just good. That's all right. Zion, very few people I've ever been more in on. Remember him with the Duke quotes when he came back after he blew out his sneaker and people tried to pretend that Nike stock prices were actually going to be devastated long-term by that?

Well, it didn't happen. But the point is that when Zion came back, there was a lot of pearl clutching about, why would he come back? Why would he do this? And he's like, hey, I want to play. I was like, this is amazing. He just, I don't know, shockingly wants to play North Carolina because he went to Duke. He wants a chance at winning an NCAA championship.

I don't know. That actually shouldn't be thought of as that weird. And yet now that he's a pro, he's the opposite. He set a record last year for points per 36. A record. But I'll admit, I don't love his approach to all of it. So I can't say out because I was so in, but there's some bad balance sheets coming through

on it. San Antonio. DeJounte Murray in. I don't know who any of the other players are, so this is an incomplete grade. The Spurs are ranked 30 out of 30 right now in the league pass rankings at the estate. Sacramento. Halliburton in. Fox. I'm out. End of game stuff. He's got

the worst advanced numbers in the last three years. Clutch time, he hasn't made a three. He's only taken seven. I in the last three years. Clutch time, he hasn't made a three. He's only taken seven. I guess this is not as bad as Tatum. Tatum is 2-21 in clutch moments this season. Again, five minutes, five points either way. Davian Mitchell, I'm a little

worried. It's too early, but I'm a little worried that they may have drafted a top-ten player who's going to be a third guard. But that's still too early. It's not fair. Oklahoma City. Shea Gildress Alexander for what he is with this team. They're in.

Josh Giddey. In. See, Giddey tweeted me. My career is going to fucking blow up now. A famous guy tweeted at me. Draft picks. I guess I'm in. Let's say Lou Dort in.

14 points in overtime. Bit of a recency bias on that. I mean, you know what you're getting with Lou Dort. You'd want a Lou Dort on. 14 points in overtime. Bit of a recency bias on that. I mean, you know what you're getting with Lou Dort. You'd want a Lou Dort on your team. Would you want him taking a million shots? Probably not. But Oklahoma City doesn't care because it's going to be a tank fest here the next 30 plus between Houston and Oklahoma City,

I would imagine. Speaking of Houston, Wall out because he's out. Jalen Green too soon. Not doing it. Christian Wood I've always been out because he's out. Jalen Green, too soon. Not doing it. Christian Wood, I've always been out on. Super talented. Not into it. But the thing is, there's all these other things I like.

Sangoon in. Tate in. Kenyon Martin Jr. in. So I actually like a bunch of little role guys here. So there you go. I bet you Cerruti could have guessed almost all of those. If I ever end up dead somewhere and they'll call Saruti and be like,

hey, can you come down to identify the body? And Saruti would just say, well, what was he doing ahead of time? He'd be like, he was at a restaurant bar sitting by himself. And the guy asked him if the pasta was good. And he was like, it's not the best I've ever had.

And then asked if we could change it to the Pelicans game. Be like, yeah, that's him. I don't need to fly down. He was like, that's not the best I've ever had. Then I asked if we could change it to the Pelicans game. He was like, yeah, that's him. I don't need to fly down. He's dead. Or he was at the beach rehearsing some lines. I think that would be another dead indicator. By the way, there are a couple that did stun me, though. Marcus Smart

and Reggie Jackson in. Do I even know you? Wow. That surprised me. I think Smart is trying his hardest right now to try to make this work and that part i appreciate uh but i still think on a very good team marcus smart's a third part potential hot take we got to talk about anthony davis i don't like his body i don't like the way he plays okay lebron's getting older. Him as a solo guy on that team, as the guy. I'm not saying I'm out on Anthony Davis,

but I think we've seen the best of Anthony Davis. And you're telling me he's the best player on the team post-LeBron. I'm probably out on that. Third highest career PER in NBA history in the playoffs behind LeBron and MJ. So I just, all right. So maybe we saw the peak and we're on the other side of it.

When do we get to get concerned? When do we get, when does, when does Russillo get really concerned about Anthony Davis? One year from today, mark it down. February 3rd, 2023. I'll put it on my phone. It's in my calendar.

And I'm also just, I'm also disappointed. I need a ruling on Terrence Ross and Gary Harris just for the magic minute. Are we going to get a first round pick for those guys in or out i am currently working on a uh spreadsheet on trade value because i feel like it's shifted quite a bit and i look at the fournier one as a template where like think about this you can't get a first rounder for fournier, but in free agency, you get $70 million. That's fucking crazy.

Terrence Ross has only been available, I don't know, for a decade. He can help a contender. Somebody give us a first round pick. Gary Harris, 26 last night, no big deal. Even though I think first rounders in the league is caught up. I shouldn't say to me, but the league has kind of come to a consensus that first-rounders, especially later ones, are completely overrated. But it's weird.

Whether it's a Dennis Schroeder or all these players that I hear that are available, and then every team's like, oh, we want a first rounder. It's just weird that a guy that would end up making eight plus figures in free agency who can actually still play because he's getting that kind of contract.

This idea that there's all these first rounders just flying around that's available for these guys, it's not actually accurate. So, I don't know. There's something to think about. Austin Rivers, Denver Nuggets. A vet now. Yeah, that's one way to put it.

It's gone by quick, man. I'm trying to get used to that. I know. I want to go over some of that stuff with you. I want to start, though, with the game a few weeks ago. You beat the Clippers in overtime, and Jokic throws that pass to Aaron Gordon.

I still have, I cannot believe how amazing that play was. What was that like? Oh, man. I mean, he's, I just remember watching that from home. I was sick at the time. And he had, I mean, mean yoke just he sees everything so he saw him all the way on the other side of the court through a laser to him over a double team and then you know you know aaron hits a big shot man you know i mean it's it's one of those where you know when he has the ball into the game when you're the other four players on the floor

you just know you have to be ready because the ball into the game, when you're the other four players on the floor, you just know you have to be ready because the ball is going to come to you, possibly. I mean, if you're open, he's throwing it. You know, that's just who he is. So Aaron was ready. He hit a big shot, but that was a big win for us. What's the best way to describe playing with Djokic? I mean, he's like a seven-foot point guard.

You know what I mean? It's like you just, instead of bringing it up and doing pitfalls, it's like our pick-and-roll version is through the post. You know what I mean? It's like you have most, you know, you have Chris Paul

who like kind of runs that team in Phoenix, and then we have a center who kind of runs ours. You know what I mean? It's just, it's crazy to think like that, but he has that type of vision. I think he's the best passer in the NBA.

It's just, he's 7'4", he sees over everything. It just allows him to have a bigger advantage. Even when double teams are... Even when he's double teamed on the floor, like you've seen in that clip versus the Clippers, he's 7'4". He sees right over you and just

throws those laser passes. he's seven foot. He sees right over you and just throws those laser passes. It's pretty incredible. I promise the entire interview isn't going to be about Jokic here. We're all used to the MVP, man. Probably either him or Joel, probably right now, are going to be in that race

for the MVP again. We're used to it. i do have a couple then because i noticed at least in that game um you know zubats looked like he was just trying to pick him up at half court just put his body on him like okay we'll try this you know we'll see doubles we'll see people come like you can't really double them in the post because then it's over. But what are some of the things you've noticed or maybe the opponent talking to you about trying to figure out ways to slow him down or stuff that you see in film or adjustments because it seems like a lot of people are throwing everything at him now.

Yeah, it's actually hard to play with sometimes because we just see different defense every night. I mean, every time we go into a game, it's like we don't know how they're going to guard him. So, like, as a player, you don't sometimes know how to play around him. You know, it looks a lot easier from the TV. You know, you're like, oh, cut here, move there. But he doesn't like movement.

You know, Jokic doesn't like us cutting and moving all the time. He likes us staying still. And then he likes him going to work and waiting for them to make that read. And then he just reads the defense. He likes to see what they're going to do. So, it's tough. You know, just from hearing other see what they're going to do. So it's tough. Just from hearing other players, they don't really have anything, to be honest.

I mean, it's either he scores. If it's a one-on-one, if he's guarded one-on-one, he's going to score. He can't guard a one-on-one. There's a couple guys in the league that have length that can bother him a little bit. You know what I mean? DeAndre Ayton. There's a couple other guys

who are tall that can bother him, but nobody can slow him down. I don't think anybody can guard him one-on-one. Yeah, it's tough. Have you got to know the brothers at all? Because I've heard

on Good Authority that there was a Nuggets staff pickup game. I guess Conley's still really good in it, but that the older brothers are banned from it. Are they really?

I haven't even heard that. I don't doubt that because those boys are, you know, they're some wild boys, man. But they love their little bro. I mean, that's just like they come to the games and they won't smoke really with anybody who messes with a little brother, man. Which is dope. I didn't know there was a ban from the pickup game, so I got to ask

Tim about that one. Investigate that one. I haven't heard that story yet. I'm surprised. Maybe I wasn't supposed to tell it. I think I'm okay. I think I'm in the clear. I don't think the brothers care at all anyways. They probably like it for the street cred.

You know what I mean? Banned brothers care at all anyways. They probably like it for the street cred. You know what I mean? Banned out of the practice facility. This is a team that it felt like, you know, it's building towards something. The Western Conference Finals appearance not that long ago, two playoffs ago. You know, Jamal gets hurt. I think the front office has done a really good job

of trying to keep this together. You know, Jokic sort of takes it to another level. But what's it been like for the team with the injuries, not feeling whole? You're really on the cusp of building something special here. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. You know, I just got here a year ago. You know what I mean? So I was with the Rockets when they went on that West Coast run in the bubble.

And then obviously Jamal goes down. Michael goes down. I was here for those. And I mean, people haven't really given us enough credit for like just staying afloat. I mean, we've had our second best player go down and our third best player goes down. You know, and we've been able to maintain, obviously, like you said, starts with Jokic. We've been able to maintain. Obviously,

like you said, it starts with Jokic. He's been spectacular, but I felt a lot of the guys just step up. Sometimes our numbers don't reflect that, but the guys have been pretty solid. We're in the middle of the pack of the West. We're going to finish in the playoffs 100%. We have no doubt about that.

It's been tough. Everybody wants to know what we'd be like at home. We don't know. I don't know. I haven't played with Jamal yet once. I got here two days before he had toured ACL. Then I was getting

ready. I was excited to play with a player like Jamal. Then he toured versus Golden State. Obviously, Michael's been tore it versus Golden State. And then, you know, obviously, Michael's been handling all these back issues. So we've just been, I mean, hindered by this all year, which most teams have. But it's been a product, in my opinion,

to the quick turnarounds at the NBA. Two quick short summers in a row. Not a lot of rest. Guys are getting sick left and right. We're traveling more. I mean, our schedule's been ridiculous i've never home um it's just uh i don't think it's good for for the body you know to be uh completely honest so i it's been tough a lot of players share that opinion with you just what everybody's trying every i don't know a player or coach in the league who doesn't

who doesn't uh agree with uh what i'm saying right now in terms of the scheduling, the quick turnarounds. I understand what had to be done had to be done. I mean, you know, I could point the finger at the NBA, but their reply back would be, what do you want to do to not play? You know what I mean? So at the end of the day, you know, we got a job to do. Obviously, we all get paid to do it. But with that being said, there's two sides to everything. The other side is at the expense of us obviously working like this,

which obviously I'm thankful to do, it's been just a hell of a year, man. I mean, look at the league. Look at the league. Go to every team. Every team has key players out or they've been on protocols. We're playing teams without coaches. Their second coach is sick. Their first coach is sick. Their first coach is sick.

We had our trainer sick. A week ago, our equipment manager was sick. I had to go get my own damn sneakers before the game. It's just crazy right now. We're maintaining. We're already past halfway through the season. We're a week and a half away from All-Star break.

I think everybody just cares about being healthy towards the end of the season. And the playoff team is just trying to hit stride right before the playoffs. I want to go back to what you had said, though, because you joined this team last year, and that was after you were with the Knicks. You get traded, but then you're waived.

So you're out of the league for like two months, and then you get the 10-day with Denver. Was there a moment where you thought your NBA career was over? No, no. The only reason I got waived was because the OKC was over. So that was, and I don't think at the time, after everything had ended with New York, the way it ended, my reputation in terms of who I was as a locker room guy was in question. So you're talking about an OKC team that I'm on an expiring contract.

So it's not really like a tradable asset to where like they're looking to trade me. asset to where like they're looking to trade me. They're starting over and they got a group of young guys with a player coming in that they don't know what type of guy he is. And because of things that have been said, true, fair, not fair, whatever the case may be. So I knew once I had got to play to the OKC, I wasn't going there. No disrespect to that organization. That wouldn't have been a great fit for me anyway.

You know, I'm not, there's a reason you look at their team right now. No disrespect to that organization. That wouldn't have been a great fit for me anyway. There's a reason you look at their team right now. There's no veteran players on their team with the exception of Derek Favors. They have all young guards. They're trying to rebuild. They're trying to get draft picks. They're trying to tank or whatever it is they're doing. That doesn't fit anything that I'm trying to be a part of right now anyway.

So when I got waived, I just knew it was a matter of me getting picked up by a playoff team and for the first time in my life i knew if anything it wasn't a question whether i was going to be in the league again um it was a question of i had to the first time really start having conversations with coaches and get outside my box like get outside my cover zone because things are being said about me um that just weren't true you know what i mean and you you i mean think about this concept you work with a million people i'm sure you've worked with a million people in your life right do you have you gotten along with every single person that you've ever worked with no no okay right so it's no different especially in competitive sports you know i mean people have different ways of thinking about things. So, you know, I don't get along with one coach

or I don't see eye to eye with one coach or whatever the case may be. That's all it takes is for someone to say something to somebody. All these coaches talk before the games. When we play another team, everybody's shooting before the games. Assistant coaches are talking.

Player development coaches are talking. It's a very, very small league. The NBA is like a big high school, you know what I mean? And things get around very easily. I tell all the young guys this. You don't think people are watching, they're watching. So a couple little mistakes that I have in D.C. and New York, that's all it takes for a reputation to be built.

You add it to my last name and where I come from, you know, it's a bad recipe for things to be said. So for the first time in my life, I was worried that I had to like, man, I got to really get out here and start talking to people and having conversations with coaches, GMs, not politicking, but like getting my character out there. People can actually be true judges of who I am instead of, oh, Austin's, you know, if he doesn't play a lot, he's going to have a problem. Or if he's not a starter or if he's not playing, if he's not getting the ball, like these are things that were being said.

You know what I mean? So I obviously had an issue with that. And I had to work on that. That's the only thing I was really concerned about. Because it's like, it'd be one thing if I got waived because they're like, hey, you're not a good enough basketball player you got to work on this at least i know what i can work on it's a hard thing to be told it's a character issue because you don't even know how to work on that you're

like how do i what i but i go to the gym and work on my character like how do i how do i how do i show people who i am like when i go to my instagram live and start talking and explaining to people this and that like there's no way to do it. You know what I mean? Especially it doesn't even matter if it's true or not true. Perception is everything. You know what I mean? So I really had to go back to ground zero, start having conversations with people.

And that's kind of what I've even done here in Denver. I'm thankful Tim. I knew Tim from when he drafted me in New Orleans. He knew who I was. So the first thing he did when he called me, he was like, this is crazy. You know, a player like you should never, ever be in a situation where you're waived looking for teams. I mean, how do you go from being

waived to starting in the playoffs and playing the way I played and then obviously resigning a whole year deal now and the sixth man off the bench from being waived? So it's just like that stuff had to do with everything but basketball, which was hard hard for me it was very hard for people to attack my character um like that and i had to i gotta you know i've had to work on that and um i've had to

like rebrand myself man you know i mean which has been tough especially when you're 10 years in the nba uh but it's a crazy league and you know you don't got time for to feel bad for yourself you just got to do what you got to do. What was the worst thing that you had heard someone said about you? Oh, man. Let me think. Worst thing I heard someone say about me. I mean, I've heard from he's a whiny tyrant to someone called me, I mean, the word asshole,

things like that that just like are so ridiculous. I mean, I've never talked to anybody, high school coach, even the NBA. I've never gotten in a fight with a teammate. I've never gotten in trouble off the court ever. I mean, I've never fought a coach. I might have had a disagreement with a coach. You know what I mean? But like I said, that happens every day on every team. Austin, do you think there was a moment, though,

maybe when you were younger, that you got into the argument with the coach and it just, that's ballooned? You know what I'm saying? Like, do you have like a moment where you go, oh, maybe that's where all this started? I've never had a hot moment with the coach. I've only ever had like conversations

about this, about that. By the way, we're talking about one person. I'm not going to say his name, but that's the only... I've only had one instance with the coach, really. I've gone along with any coach I've ever played for. That's just part of your job, honestly, as a player, is to have a relationship with your coach.

Even if he's right or wrong, you've got to have some type of correlation and rapport with the guy who's calling the shots. I've only ever had, you know, probably not the best relationship with one coach. But again, like I said, you're not going to get along with every, I've been in the league for 10 years. So we're talking about one person. That's not too bad. I think it changed after I played for my dad.

after I played for my dad. After I played for my dad, a lot of people I felt didn't like that or it rubbed them the wrong way. And then immediately after that, I went to DC where that situation didn't work. But I got traded to a team that was on the verge of blowing up. I mean, I got traded to that team

with John Wall, Brad Beal, Oubre, Markeith Morse. That whole team was like, you know, ready to kind of go at separate ways. And I got added to that like a month before. I was only there for like a month. So, you know, that's, I think after that, it just changed.

And then I signed with the Knicks because I went with the Rockets. Everything was great. Right after that, I played Houston for two, three years. Had a great time there with D'Antoni, James, Russ, Chris. We had a with the Rockets. Everything was great. Right after that, I played Houston for two, three years. Had a great time there with D'Antoni, James, Russ, Chris. We had a good run. Just didn't work out.

And then I went to New York and that situation just didn't work out either. So again, our reputation builds because, oh, this happened. DC didn't work out. New York didn't have it. Is it Austin?

Is it? You know, and then I do think my last name hinders me with a lot of this stuff. And people who are in the NBA cannot disagree with this. I do think I get a lot of slack. I get a lot of BS, man, just because of my last name. That's a fact.

It just is. With that being said, I don't complain because there's a lot of perks I've gotten to have grown up having that same last name. I had access to being around NBA players. I had access to seeing how the NBA worked. So it all evens out. So that's kind of how I look at it. What's it like playing for your dad? You know,

it was cool. And it was, you know, it was kind of like one of those bittersweet things. I had a great time playing for him because at least as a player, knowing the coach has your back, like at the end of the day, whether he's arguing with me, yelling at me as a coach, you know, telling me to do something. I know at the end of the day that this guy has my back, this is my dad.

You know what I mean? So to play for someone like that and have that confidence, go out there and you play loose you know what i mean so that is the upside that i had i also think my pop's unbiased i think he's a pretty good coach so i i think that was um just a great fit obviously for those reasons but then everything else man was was hell bro i mean imagine playing imagine being in a locker room where, like, say guys are talking about the coach. This happens on every team, you know what I mean? Because not everybody's playing or, you know,

not everybody's getting along with the coach. This is on every team. You got players getting into it with coaches. That's just – I've never been on any team where it hasn't happened. But the coach is my dad. So I got to sit here and they don't know if I'm going to say something or if I'm going to like, there's just a dynamic that's just weird

there. It's just a weird dynamic. It's something that I never planned on being. And I never grew up ever to me and my dad to talk about me playing for him. That was never even in the conversation. And I think he knew I was probably going to go pro in like ninth grade when I was like the number one player in like ninth or tenth grade. I think at that point it was safe to say I was probably going to go to the NBA.

We still never talked about it. And then when the opportunity arose, I remember that call like it was yesterday when they called me. He was like, would you ever consider doing something like this? Like, we don't have a backup guard. He's like, Chris needs somebody. He's like, I know how good you are. I know this would be a better situation for you. You just got to get out of New Orleans.

I was sitting there like, man, I would really kind of just like to go somewhere else, man. I don't want to be under that name or that shadow or that LA press and all that, the media, how they were going to take it. I don't know how people were going to take it. And they took it. It's just how we thought we were. Some people liked it. Most people didn't. You know what I mean?

So it's just like everywhere I played, I got a lot of people liked it. Most people didn't. You know what I mean? So it's just like everywhere I played, I got a lot of heat for it. You know, everybody, oh, you're in the league because you're dad. Like, bro. I had to deal with that. That comment I've heard too many times. You know what I mean? And my response would be the same thing that I say to everybody. Why isn't

there any other coaches in the league? Why isn't there a GM in the league? Why isn't there a president in the league? Why isn't there any owners kids in the league? You know what I mean? I've been doing this. I played with my dad for two and a half years. I've been in the league for 10. You know what I mean? There's a reason why, and that's because I'm one of the best basketball players in the world. But when you play for your dad, that shit just gets credited. It's as if they forgot I was the top player in high school. I was a lottery pick. I went to Duke. That all went under the rug when i played for my dad nobody gave a because they're like oh he's playing for his dad and like it just created this narrative that i've had to like

deal with um so like i'm thankful for the times i had in l.a like my god i've had to like fight that off for like sorry i don't know if i can cuss in here i apologize if i'm um don't mean to use that language. But I had to fight that stuff off for, okay, okay. I've had to fight that off for years. And it's been hard just because as a competitor, as an athlete, like if people only saw how hard I worked or how much dedication I put into this, you know, they wouldn't be saying the things.

Well, they don't say it too much really anymore. But it's more so like way back in the Clippers days when i used to hear those comments really but um it was tough man this is a good segue though because you know i remember first hearing about you from your dad it's one of the few times i traveled with your dad when i was covering the celtics because i filled in and did a game and he and i were at the hotel gym in New York City and we were talking about Jeremiah. Then he's like, yeah, but Austin. He's like, Austin's going to be the one. I was like, oh, no kidding. Really?

I think, again, it was when all the recruiting stuff starts happening very early on for you. Ninth grade shit. Maybe it could have been even junior high at this point when Doc was telling me the story. You get to Duke. We kind of know you're a one and point when Doc was telling me the story. And you get to Duke. We kind of know you're a one-and-done guy.

You go in the lottery. What's that adjustment like where in your head you're probably thinking you're the next Michael? You know what I mean? I'm not saying you thought you were going to be Michael Jordan. But as a kid, hey, championships, MVPs, all-stars, all this stuff, my own shoe. And then it's like, no, you're going to be a role player. How was that working through that as a rookie to where you're at now? It was hard, man. I didn't get it right away. Up until this point, I've been the best player wherever I've played. High school, college, I've always been better than everybody

else. So when I came to the NBA, I'll be honest with you, I knew there was going to be a learning curve and I knew there was going to be adjustment and physicality and just playing with grown men. But in my mind, I was like, man, I'm about to come here, be rookie of the year. I'm about to be an all-star. And I came in with Anthony Davis. I still didn't really give a fuck. You know what I mean? I just, I, that type of confidence I had, you know what I mean? That's just, you're young and, you know, you just think,

I'm about to come in here and just do whatever I want. And then reality sets in and things weren't easy. And I wasn't playing a lot. And I, when I was, coach just wanted,

you know, at the time, Monty just wanted me to be a defender. You know what I mean? I wasn't, you know, Gravis Vasquez

ended up being a starting guard. I was a guy who came off the bench and would just defend guys. I didn't get to show any of my offensive package my rookie year. I had zero faith offensively to really go out there and be who I thought I could have been or the scorer I know I can be. who I thought I could have been or the score I know I can be. So I had to buy into being a role player and playing a role, you know, and then after my rookie season, I want you to think about this. I missed 30 something games my rookie year. I broke my hand. I'm rehabbing, I'm getting healthy. My whole mindset is, okay, I'm going to, I'm probably gonna go to summer league because I, you know, that's usually what happens,

especially because I'm going into my second year. I wanted to dominate. I did. I played really well in the games I did play. They played me like three or four games throughout the Summer League and then that was it. But I crushed it. I played well. I'm thinking about, man, I'm about to have a big season. Big second season. Most improved. I know I'm that good of a player.

They bring in Drew Holiday Tyreek Evans this is prime Tyreek Evans um and we have Eric Gordon there so now my minutes are like I mean if they weren't already kind of hindered before now they're like they just kind of gave up this is my second season man you know I mean this is going into my second it was done I mean I didn't even get a chance to like... So at that point, it's just everyone's paths in the NBA are different. You know what I mean? Some guys you see get drafted to bad

teams and they just get the keys or they get the ball rolled out to them. They say, hey, we're going to be bad. Go make mistakes. Go figure it out. Go have your learning curves. Blah, blah, blah. Mine was in a situation where we are a bad team still trying to win games um and i wasn't really allowed to really make too many mistakes man like so i had to become a

defensive stopper um so that's what i did um and it's just tough man like buying into being a role player like i've never had to do that in my life um you know people have people have no idea how hard it is to come up the bench and only get two or three shots a half. That means some guys start out the game missing their first two or three shots before they get going. When you come up the bench, you miss a couple

shots. That's it. That's why your percentages are lower. Guys average seven points a game. It's not that they're only good enough to average seven points a game. It's because that's the situation they're in. Being a role player is hard. It's easy being a starter. It's so much easier when you get to play 30 minutes

and you get to miss your first four or five shots, get a rhythm, you get the confidence, knowing you got that green light. I know because I've been that before. It's much easier. Playing off the bench is hard, man. It's hard in the league. You got to be super consistent.

You got to be efficient. You got to get right to it. You don't have time to ease into the game. If you make a couple mistakes, you're coming out. These are things that I had to really adjust my game around. And then, not to talk too much, but then I get traded to New Orleans. I mean, to L.A. And after I got traded to L.A., every team I've been on has been with superstars. So that role of me being a star ever again really passed.

You know what I mean? I went and played with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and that team from there. I went to James Harden and Chris Paul. And, you know, then it was James and Russ. Then I went and played with John Wong, Brad. Now I'm on the Nuggets with Yoke. You know, it's just like and Jamal's coming back soon. So it's just like I've had to find my way throughout the league of just being a role player, which is fine. You know what I mean? You know, knowing your role can change your life.

So, which it has for me, you know, people always talk about what I wasn't. You know, you were a lottery pick. You weren't an all-star. That's fine. There's only 24 of those in the league. You can still be a great player in the NBA. You know, so that's kind of just been my focus is just trying to be the best, you can still be a great player in the NBA. That's kind of just been my focus, is just trying to be the best role player. You've got a role player signing a $90 million contract.

Miles Bridges is a role player, and he's a stud. You know what I mean? He's a good player. There's a lot of guys that are able to accept a role and be the lead at it. I've tried to just find my way and work my way around that. We were going over your resume and you mentioned it a little bit with Washington, but that was leading towards,

all right, this is probably going to break. You had the same thing with Clippers and Chris and Blake and DeAndre at some point. And then you even had it with Chris again and Harden when it was in Houston. What's that like? Which one was the most dramatic? Which was the one you were like,

okay, this isn't going to work out? Clippers. I knew that was the... All right, tell me why. I just think because our team was really good and the expectations were so high. And we play in LA and I think we thought we were the best team in the league.

You know, or one of them at least. One of the teams that were fighting for a championship, rather. And I think the media put that out there as well. But I think that's also, like, in combination with us talking like we were one of those teams. You know, that was the whole aura, the Lob City, you know, everything that we had going. It was just a, we had a lot of, that was during a time period also when the Lakers weren't the greatest team. So we were kind of dominating LA. You see how much the Lakers press gets now and how they're on their head.

That was kind of us because the Lakers at the time were in rebuild mode. So it just – when it fell apart, it just fell apart. And then it just was like a weird team. It was like me, Tobias, and Lou Will. And we still almost made the playoffs that next year. We were two games out. We lost us and Denver, actually, funny enough. We got knocked out by Mota and Jimmy

Butler and that team for the eighth spot. But we still were like 15 games above 500 that year. That's the year. Anyway, so... Yeah, flippers take the cake on that one. It wasn't, like, dramatic. It's just, like, you knew it was coming to an end. When we lost that 3-1,

when we were up 3-1 to Houston, there was, I think, a mutual feeling. I mean, JJ's touched about this many times, you know, that it was like, I don't know if we're coming back. I don't know what the future holds for this team. Are they going to trade guys?

And then you start hearing Chris and Blake, you know, want to go in different directions or this or that. And then after that, it's just like, you know, that's just how it goes, man. How real was the Chris or Blake stuff? We all heard it from the outside, but we didn't know. It wasn't like they had issues with each other. It's not like when they came to the locker room, they were like, man, fuck that dude.

You know what I mean? It's not like that. You know what I mean? They were cool. It was just more so like, I think they had a disagreement, maybe just in the direction of how they wanted to play. You know what I mean? I think Blake wanted to do it this way sometimes,

and Chris wanted to do it this way. What people don't talk about enough is how great they were still together. You know what I mean? Look how dominant Chris and Blake and DJ, look how great DJ was with Chris. You know, I think a lot of that might stem from, you know,

a lot of things. I think we undervalue Chris, honestly. I think the league did. I think the whole league has undervalued Chris until he's got to not. And I, when I say that, because obviously Chris is a superstar,

but people have really realized how his impact is on winning. With the Phoenix situation, Phoenix was not even a playoff team. And then they get Chris and they're like, you know, top two or three teams, one, two or three team in the NBA now.

And that, that's, I, I think it's cause of Chris.ris he just didn't he just puts everything in order he had our team in order um but you know the directions i think weren't the same and when that's happening guys want to go their own way you know what i mean it's but it wasn't like a hatred thing i've never seen chris and blake even get into it i honestly like they they'd have like little like back and forth but like i've never seen Chris and Blake even get into it, honestly. They'd have little

back and forth, but I've never seen Chris and Blake get an argument or a fight in practice. I've never seen them go at it. People just wanted that, though. Everybody wanted the Chris and Blake thing to be such a hate thing, but it just wasn't.

I just think the directions were different. You know what I always thought about that team? And I remember back when I was working with Van Pelt at ESPN, we were trying to come up with the definitive list of other teams that hated that Clippers team. Because you guys had beef with everybody.

Like, Portland, you would get into it with them. You know, Golden State, obviously. Houston, you had to. What was it? I'm not wrong on this one because I saw enough of the games to be like, oh, you guys are getting in with these guys. What was it about that group that always seemed

to have either issues or everybody had issues with you guys? Because it always felt like there was a little bit extra whenever it was a Clippers game against some of those teams in the West. We were definitely not the most likable team i i don't i don't even i don't know what played into that i mean i guess i know what it was i'm gonna give you that chris chris is a little chris is a feisty player chris is a you know you know people

say he's a dirty player whatever case they might say but you know chris is like that isaiah thomas type you know i mean He's an ultra competitor. So you got that. Then you got Blake, who also was the same type of way, but Blake gets into it with a lot. He's very physical. You got a DJ, an emotional guy. We had Matt Barnes.

You know what I mean? We had my whole thing with my pops. I don't know man we had a weird team i mean we just got into it with we did we got into it with a lot of teams um i'll give you i'll give you a couple one as much as i've loved to get to know your dad over the years he complains non-stop um and then i think it trickles down to everybody else and i've asked him about it and then blake used to do something that was very underrated and how much it would piss you off as a player is he would dunk on you.

And then he would kind of give you this zombie stare, or he would look at you if you thought, if he thought you fouled him and he would just look at you. And I think that would set guys off too. I mean, look, Chris Paul's the anchor of the whole thing. Cause he just drives everybody crazy and he does some shit.

That's annoying. Even though I love him as a player and appreciate him um it was a perfect it was a perfect storm of personalities and and yeah and tendencies on the court that nobody was going to have fun with you guys yeah that was and i do hit it on the head the uh the complaining thing we we complained more than anybody. That team, I mean, all that team, the whole bench, the whole guys on the floor, oh, what the fuck? I mean, it was every play

to where like other teams would just kind of get exhausted and be like, yo, can y'all just play basketball? You know what I mean? So I thought we did. We did complain a little bit too much on that team for sure.

Because I remember that's what the media and just people used to talk about the most when it came to like not liking the Clippers was just like they got a bunch of cry babies on the scene i mean that's what everybody used to say which you know obviously it's not true but actually say everything we did complain a lot you know what i mean so uh that didn't help i think you nailed on the head with that one for sure i'll finish Um, and I appreciate the time today, man, but are you kind of at a peace now with this and who you are as a player, who you are as a person, you know, the challenges of it, of it all that you can talk about it must feel like that's, that's progress, but do you feel

kind of at peace now with Denver know exactly who you are and everybody kind of knows how you fit in? I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm happy as can be. Like, people always talk about, like, always come up to me and, you know, talk about, like, you ever da-da-da-da-da. I'm like, bro, listen, man, if I could go back and change things,

you know, make a couple decisions, you know, hey, man, like, that I would, but, like, the fact is, nobody can. And, man, I try to look back at my rookie year. There just wasn't a lot that I was really doing wrong, man. Like, you know what I mean?

It's just like sometimes guys get drafted to a situation that's just really not the best. You know, and then from there, once that, you know, as a rookie, you get a little time period to be that guy. And then once that's passed, you got to be what teams need you to be. You know what I mean? Because now you're getting traded to teams. They're not trading you to be an all-star.

They probably already got one. Especially if you go into a playoff team, which I've only ever been on. You know what I mean? I've only ever been on playoff teams with the exception of who I got drafted to. So it's just like after my first couple of years in New Orleans, which didn't work out, and I'll blame that to stuff in my control because you always got to take blame for that. But then there's a lot of things

out of my control in New Orleans that I do feel like hindered me in being who I thought I could have been in terms of a score, especially a score offensively in this league. But that's just the way it goes sometimes. So you got to pick up the pieces and figure that out.

And that whole situation taught me to play defense, taught me to become something I didn't know I could do because I damn sure didn't play defense at Duke. I did not play any defense in high school at Duke, but then I got in the league and that was the only way I could get minutes on that New Orleans team. So I found out I could do something elite that I didn't know I could do. And then I've become, I mean become a good role player, man.

You know what I mean? That's just who I am. And that's my role, and I'm okay with that. I mean, I've come to peace with being a role player. That's what I'm going to be for the rest of my career. I'm not going to go anywhere and be an all-star. Again, you never know. I mean, Fred Van Fleet might be an all-star this year,

or Darius Garland could be an all-star this year. I mean, you just never know a situation. I'll never count myself out. I think I'm too talented and good of a player for that. But at the end of the day, I also know the reality of my situation. And I'm totally comfortable, you know, being a role player, man. I mean, that's fine. I get to play basketball in the NBA.

I plan on playing another five, six years, seven years, hopefully I'm 29. I'm 29 now. I'm in my prime. This is my 10th year. I'm just gonna keep going, man. Just keep playing, keep enjoying the game. Keep being a defender, looking for my opportunities as a scorer and playmaker when I do get them. I'm trying to help the Nuggets team win as many games as possible. And that's just my role. You know what I mean?

I'm cool with it, man. I'm happy. I'm happy. I just want to keep getting better. And, you know, I got about another, you got like three or four years in that prime span, like from 27 to like 33, depending on how you take care of your body. Those are like your best years, I think,

when your mental peak and your physical peak like hits that, well, not your mental peak, but your physical peak is hitting that time where your mental is still on the way up. I think that's, that's that where I'm at right now. I feel great physically and mentally. So I'm just trying to make the most of these, these next four or five years before you start getting into that real vet role where like, you're not really even playing, but you're just kind of more of a a leader mentor um and i'm i'm not there yet i'm still i still got another four or five years in me i think of my best basketball so i i just want to maximize this and uh yeah be a role player bro you know what i mean i have no problem saying that you know i'm not an all-star never have been

one um i do think i have that type of talent and that ability, but that hasn't been my journey, man. You know what I mean? I've made mistakes, but I've learned from it and it's led me here. I'm on a good team. I got a big role. I play good minutes. We're in the playoffs.

I'm not going to complain about it. You know what I mean? I'm super thankful. I just got to keep pushing myself, bro. You've hit this stretch the last few years, Austin. You're like 36%, 37% from three. You're a guy that everybody has to guard. You're closing out in a playoff game. So it is something to be proud of, man.

So thanks so much for this time. Appreciate it. And I just got to keep building. I appreciate you taking some time out. Thank you. Van Latham. What's up? What is up?

What's up, my friend? All right. When we originally booked, we had a few thoughts. The Burrow to Chase dynamic. It's also signing day. So I think, I don't know. You're so fired up. I want to get to a bunch of different things.

So let's just hang out for a bit. What do you want to start with? Let's start with signing day. NIL and all of the hubbub that went on. Let's talk about it. All right. Let's do it. Okay. All right. Oh, I'll go. Yeah. So here's the thing. let's start with signing day nil and all of the hubbub that went on let's talk about it right let's do it okay all right oh i'll go uh yeah so here's the thing uh lsu yesterday went into the day with six big targets six targets uh it's gonna be very funny to a lot of people that the guy

that danny lewis the three-star tight end from here in Louisiana that Brian Kelly was dancing with, he went to Alabama. So all of the hubbub over that video, and we still lose the guy out of state to Bama. Rumors there that there was a $25,000 NIL deal that led him to go to Alabama when he got offered nothing to LSU. I think yesterday in college football was the first time that everyone got a chance to see just how big of a deal NIL is going to be to the sport. I think the most interesting case of that isn't with Harold Perkins, who's the five-star linebacker who signed with LSU. It's actually of Jacoby Matthews. Jacoby Matthews, safety out of Ponchatoula. This is, to me, the

five-star example of what NIL does. Anybody that you talk to, anyone that you talk to, will tell you that Jacoby Matthews wanted to go to LSU. His best friend, Jordan Allen, has recently signed with LSU.

One of his other super close friends, Harold Perkins, signed with LSU. He wanted to be a Tiger. He had been committed to LSU for a while, wanted to go there. Couldn't pass up the money. Comes from a family that's not incredibly well off. The rumor out there is that he got $400,000 initially from Texas A&M, and then after the bidding war that went on when he visited LSU's campus, that that number was north of that.

So we don't even know how much money. And I think NIL is going to be a problem for schools like LSU who are deeply rich in talent. But if we're being honest, that talent comes from a group of people who socioeconomically aren't doing that well. Louisiana is a talent-rich football state where a lot of the Black kids that would go there are poor. And LSU is their way to get out of their financial situation and get to the NFL. But now you're going to have schools like Texas

with crazy endowments. You're going to have schools, not that the NIL stuff comes from the endowments, but it's indicative of the money of the alumni base. You're going to have schools like Texas. You're going to have schools like A&M. Alabama has even got their NIL stuff together a little bit better.

The fence around Louisiana is going to be a lot easier to jump when you throw a half a million dollars at a kid. His family has to make that entire decision. All right. You are way more into the recruiting thing than I

am. I pay attention to it, but I also am like, let me know when the guys are there, and then I'll get ready for college football season. Right, right, right. You're from the area, too, so you understand it 100 times better than I do. The only thing I'd say, though, is that I've been to some parts of Alabama and northern Florida that I wouldn't exactly call ritzy. So the idea that A&M, right.

that I wouldn't exactly call ritzy. So the idea that A&M... Right. So A&M, we can go, hey, the A&M alums have had enough and they're backing up. And Jimbo went off the other day. And it's like, Jimbo, you're going off. But Jimbo also,

one of the things that annoyed me about him is when he went on his Florida State rant about how the SEC was in bed with ESPN and that's why the Florida State wasn't ranked as high. And you were just like, whatever, dude. What are you talking about? So the point is that there's still

other schools that don't have rich cities, suburban areas that are getting players though. See what I'm saying? Like there's guys from Alabama. I get it, but what I'm telling you is that there's two folds

what I'm saying. Number one is LSU has to get its NIL situation together like I got that part I figured that you know what I mean LSU has to get its NIL situation together what I'm trying to say is that the competition for these kids in all of these places right it's now going to be really beholden on whether or not you can get your local business community together and offer them something beyond development for the NFL. Alabama obviously has this a little bit more together. Obviously, you've seen Alabama. I think the Eli Ricks situation, the transfer,

was probably an NIL-related situation. And the bases in Florida, Miami, Trevante Citizen, running back out of Lake Charles, who had been committed to LSU, decides to go to Miami. NIL implications. None of this stuff is anything more than an observation that says, in a place like Louisiana or any of these other places, if you don't have your shit together on the NIL,

it doesn't matter what you offer the kids in terms of development, in terms of playing time. Danny Lewis at tight end was going to be a day one starter at LSU. Our tight end room is bare. We don't have any guys. We got another guy. We signed another guy. We signed Mason Taylor

who's Jason Taylor from the Dolphins. We signed his son. But other than that, we don't have anybody in the tight end room. He was going to be a starter next year at LSU. He was going to get the chance to play right away. He went to a place with a crowded room because he got $25,000. So I think yesterday, when you watched all of the commits, it's just indicative of how this is going to affect college football. And you have got to have it together.

And if you're LSU, or if you're Florida State, or if you're Miami, if you're Ohio State, if you're Michigan, really having an infrastructure to be able to get kids on the NIL bandwagon is just as or more important than having a coaching staff who can recruit them, and that much is clear. Yeah.

This is like a whole nother branch of, of figuring it out. Like you should be wowing kids with like, Hey, here's how we're going to manage your social media. Here are the connections that we have through audio and visual stuff. You know, like I remember I was looking up something the other day,

like Draymond Green's named to the TNT thing. Right. And he did some stuff during the season. He's going to be doing stuff during the season. Do you remember when Josh Norman five years ago signed the deal with Fox to be part of the Sunday pregame and people actually got mad about it? Because they're like, well, this guy's playing and he's in season.

And Norman's going, well, wait, it's filmed during the week. It's on my off day and then it airs on Sunday. What's the problem? I remember doing radio thinking like, wait, is this cool? And now I wouldn't even think of it. I'd be like anybody that would argue against it. Like, what are you talking about? It's not the same, but it's the same principles of the NIL where you would have to say, no,

no, instead of pretending this is still weird, we have to embrace it. We have to staff it. We have to start finding people that understand branding and marketing and managing your social media and all of these different things. And the universities that take it seriously ahead of the other ones are the ones that are going to succeed. Although it still feels like it's going to be the same programs because they take it the most seriously. Like Alabama is very clear. What are the rules? Okay, these are the rules.

Let's go. And they don't fuck around. And that's why Bama has this run. round and that's why bama has this run that's why and that's what makes what jimbo fisher said to josh pate when you know he was asked by josh pate whether or not the nil had anything to do with it and he basically said no that's just not a lie it's a fucking offensive lie like i love jimbo fisher always have he used to be the office of coordinator. I sold his wife a TV one time when I worked at Best Buy. It's one of the crowning moments in my life. I love that memory. She's like, hey, Fisher. It's like, hey, Jimbo Fisher's my husband. I was like, what? He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, he's going to watch a film on this TV, maybe. He's going to

watch the film. I was very excited about this. But it's so disingenuous to say that Texas A&M, full of big money boosters, who just signed, they didn't just sign a recruiting class, bro. They signed the greatest recruiting class in the history of college football, if you go by sheerly by the numbers. And to say that NIL didn't have a hand in that is just totally ridiculous. And I think it actually did a lot of it.

What coaches should be doing is they should be embracing it wholesale, like you're saying, and just being transparent about the fact that, hey, we have these resources at our disposal. And this is what we're being able to do with them because it's all legal now. So I just I to me, I will honestly, man, Jimbo answered it like he didn't know it was cool now. Like somebody should have been like, hey, Jimbo, you know, we're allowed to do this now, right? Yeah, you know, it's not it's not James's like hey Jimbo you know we're allowed to do this now right

yeah you know it's not it's not Jameis' recruitment Jimbo this is not you know you didn't have to throw any silent Camaros in there like Reggie Bush or anything like that but so it's just weird but even still it the blue blood programs are still the ones that

are raking in the recruits and the have nots still have nots. So we'll see if NIL really does change a lot in college football. Yeah, by the way, A&M's done really well with recruiting before any of this stuff. It's just an absolute dream team coming in this year. So it's not like out of the blue. And I'm not going to name another program

because I just want to get into it by naming a random program to make a point that I'm not even saying anything about. All right. What does the Super Bowl mean for you? Where are we at as we transition out of LSU signing day into LSU studs battling it out for a title? LSU's in the Super Bowl. That's what it means for me.

I'll be honest with you. I appreciate what Odell does. I appreciate what Whitworth does over there on the line, LSU Tigers. I appreciate that. But let's be honest the bingles are lsu be i love odell i'm happy for odell but the bingles are lsu lsu's in the super bowl right now that's what it is uh lsu's joe burrow jamar chase you know what i mean they're in the super bowl uh Joe Burrow defined, we hope that he defined, the modern LSU athlete and Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson.

And to see two of those guys in the Super Bowl, it's fucking amazing, bro. All right. Were you week one Cincinnati? How did you feel about Cincinnati before Joe Burrow ande burrow jamar chase were there let's start there of course you know about the prediction ryan you know what i said you do slow news that you know about the prediction well i'm trying to tee up a little bit right i feel you i predicted that joe burrow would have them there within six years of him being drafted. Now, I understand that six years is a pretty wide window, but I said within.

And the reason why I said within is because if you watch Burrow, if you watch him take every snap at LSU like I saw him take at LSU, especially that second year where he was unstoppable. He wasn't just unstoppable. He's the perfect football player. He really is the perfect football player. Every single play, Joe Burrow is like a Swiss army knife. And the reason why I say that is because his mind calculates so quickly

what the most successful option on that particular play is. I never saw anything like it. People talk about the game against Alabama. The play that won the game against Alabama that year is not any of the big glitzy plays. It's not the back shoulder to Jamar Chase. It's not even the rope that he threw at the end of the first half to Clyde Edwards-Hilaire. It's another pass to Clyde Edwards-Hilaire.

I think the score is 33-27. Alabama makes the right call on defense. They blitz. And when I say the blitz is coming right up the center gap into Joe Burrow's face, he is going to get destroyed. There is no play except for one. This is going to get destroyed. There is no play except for one. This is on third and 10. There's no play except for one. Wings the ball out left to Clyde Edwards-Alaire, who makes a fingertip catch and fights for 10 yards up the sideline. I watched that play a million times. He gave LSU its only chance to be successful. Its only chance

to be successful. And he put the hands in the, put the ball in the hands of a player that can make a play. And he made a play. When you look at a quarterback who looks at the game, when you need five yards on the scramble, he gives you five yards. When there's a one-on-one, he recognizes it. And the confidence that he puts into all other guys on his offense,

it was just impossible not to build a winning team around that. And I know it seems like hyperbole because the guy played for LSU, but if you watched him, he was just, he was perfect. He hardly made a mistake. And more times than not not he made a play where there was no play to be made i just didn't see it not translating to the nfl yeah i was lucky enough to go to a bunch of games that year um as you know and i was at that texas game in austin and when he hit jefferson for that 61 yard touchdown on third and 17 nuts that was like i mean he got he got chilled on that play and i because i was over there and i i mean i thought i thought he was an outer space man and that's i mean it's hard because you know i've talked about this a million times about evaluating quarterbacks trying to get

it right and figuring it all out and thinking you know a guy and then focusing on the wrong things which i think we've all realized now but it's like okay do i want a guy what do i want now i want a guy who gets his ass kicked and keeps throwing the football outside so well there's plenty of guys who get beat up on saturdays doesn't mean we want to take them number one overall but he is the perfect combination of all these things that every week he would always have a moment at lsu where you were like, okay, he just did that all on his own and saved them, but in a way still wasn't reckless. There's guys that can save you through a play, but then you're worried about what they're going to do wrong.

He did it also while having the best efficiency in the history of the position. By the way, and beyond that, what he's done is still crazy. He's still better than I thought he would be. He has a Cincinnati team. Again, they were 10-7 this year, and they go into Kansas City down 21-3, and he's cool. That was kind of my takeaway maybe on Monday,

and I'm not even sure, Van, if it's right. But I go, maybe getting your ass kicked all year and then against Tennessee when you're down 21-3 at Kansas City, you're like, all right, whatever. You know, like, we'll be all right. And that's the interesting thing about him, right? There are two types of, I've never seen him once because remember, we all know there's this guy named Tom Brady. He's very competitive.

I don't know if you've heard of him. And you feel it coming off of Tom Brady, right? Guy runs the wrong route, doesn't turn around and do the right timing. Tom Brady is in his fucking ear on the sideline, right? Guy runs the wrong route, doesn't turn around with the right timing. Tom Brady is in his fucking ear on the sideline, right? Offensive coordinator makes

the wrong call, whatever, whatever. Tom Brady going at it. He wants to win, and that is like contagious. Everyone understands how important it is. Michael Jordan, same way. You're going to hear about it. I've never once seen Burrow like that. Not his way. He seems to have this attitude so it's like oh fuck it we're gonna we're gonna figure it out and everyone seems to be it's almost like and I didn't get to watch a ton of this guy

because I'm only 41 it's almost kind of like how Joe Montana was when you know they're making that drive against the Bengals and and Joe Montana, hey, is that John Candy in the crowd? And everybody like relaxes like, hey, it's going to be OK. I'm behind center. And the fact that he that he seems to be on the same core with all of his players, they want to play for him. They want to make plays for him. And there's a difference between staring a rushdown, getting your ass kicked,

hanging in there and making the throw, and staring a rushdown, getting your ass kicked, standing there and making the right read. He still makes the right read under pressure.

He's not staring it down, throwing in the double coverage, getting it tipped and picked. If it's a check down, it's a check down. If he's got a one-on-one, it's a one-on-one. He sees game in a different way the guy really is all of that now we could say this and this could be the only fucking super bowl that he ever makes you know i

mean it happened to marino at that thing like second year went to the super bowl never went back but i just think he's a winning football player he's like a winning football player now that he's got chase there those guys are gonna light it up for a long time, Ryan. So this is going to be an emotional game for you. This is what you're telling me. If Cincinnati were to lose this, you're going to feel like, look, it's not a Bama loss, but what is it? Maybe an Ole Miss

loss on the road? It's a Texas A&M loss. Oh, that's not a good one then. That's not a good one. No, it's not a good one. It's after Thanksgiving. You're still kind of eating a chicken turkey sandwich there, and you don't want to see LSU lose. I'll be honest with you.

It's kind of fucked the Rams right now. And it's hard because I'm agnostic about the Rams. I don't give a shit. I don't give a fuck. But right now, and, you know, I would love to see Odell get a ring, but not this year. You know what I mean? It's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of fuck the Rams right now.

And I'm sorry for all of the people that live in LA. You know, if they won, great. All of that stuff. I'm not a big Stafford guy. He fucking went to Georgia. You know, so. No, you're not a big Stafford guy. By the way, I don't know. I think you're way too hard on him.

You're one of those guys that just is waiting for two picks to fire off 10 tweets. He threw it. He didn't catch the ball. He threw the – be honest. Be honest. Matt Stafford, I'm never a hater. Matt Stafford, big arm. Disliker.

Disliker. Hold on. Ryan, Matt Stafford, big arm, made the throws. He threw the ball away like I knew that he would the 49ers just didn't catch the ball all right if Matt Stafford goes on to win this is my problem with that I'll be honest with you I don't like big armed pro quarterbacks who get lauded for all of this stuff but never win shit and I've seen that guy before like Matt Stafford was at georgia they taught they every single game he would be in there playing they would talk about how great he was he

how great he was and they never fucking won anything at some point at the most consequential position in all of pro sports you have to have your team being in an elite position and so right now i guess he's proven that his talent is worth that type of talk i think there are cases where there aren't two categories there's ten and he was in the category of maybe it's eight cat i don't i don't know i haven't finished my category thesis yet but his category would have been monumental lack of support for a decade in the other facets of a football game and he was a good quarterback but i also know that he was never in that top top group which means that you're going to have some weeks that look ugly and as we've said serene i always

talk about it's perfect it's like you can outside of the top five guys you're going to be right about all the other quarterbacks every other week whether you like them or hate them you get to come on money i mean this is the core this is the foundation of sports talk programming is that you're gonna be right half the weeks no matter what so right um what else is going on with you man what else i i almost feel like we should just bullshit here a little bit but i do want to i don't know bullshit i don't know like we we should bullshit here's the thing man like i did realize something i did realize that like i'm too into college football when just now on the pod or no no no my girl told me she was like she was like just do tuesday And she goes, you know, you're pacing. Like, what's wrong?

I'm like, tomorrow's signing day. And this is a pathetic conversation. I'm not going to lie to you. It's a pathetic conversation. And she goes, what's signing day? And I looked at her. I'm like, thinking to myself, are you the one? How could it be this many years and you not know what this is?

Is this really the right situation for me do i need to re-evaluate who i'm here with because really what i would expect is that you would know that it was signing day so when i came in there would be essential oils going and all of that kind of stuff like that like stuff to calm me down um but no i said i told her i was like uh so tomorrow high school players around the country are going to make their decisions about, you know, where they're going to go to school. They're going to go to college. And she was like, so you're thinking about kids and where they're going to go to college. And that's got you nervous at 41 years old. I'm like, yeah, it's the next four years of LSU football.

She's like, babe, I really think we got to think about this. How long is this going to go on? How long is this going to happen? And she left all day Wednesday. She was gone. She didn't want to see me do it. I went nowhere. I was on the bed, refreshing tiger droppings all day long, trying to see who was doing what. I watched the live stream of Jacoby Matthews. I watched the live stream of Harold Perkins. So I've decided that this year I'm going to move into more of a casual fans perspective. Bullshit.

Don't shake your head, Ryan. It's just not going to happen. It's in you. Ryan, I have to, Ryan. I have to. I have to move into. I have to. I have to move into a casual fan's perspective. I can't, I could run you down the guys that are on our watch list for 2024.

It's too much. I can't do it anymore. Like, she won. Like, yesterday, I was so up and down with who these guys were going to choose. And they did that stupid fucking hat thing over and over again we got to outlaw the hat thing ryan you know what i'm talking about where they put the hat oh i know yeah i know why they're not they shouldn't be allowed to flip the hat they i don't think

you just started sweating by the way yeah i'm yeah i'm perspiring yeah i'm very upset about that i'm very upset about the fucking hat very i'm very upset about the fucking hat thing i don't like they've been doing the hat thing for years i don't fucking like the hat thing man um okay let me let me let me stop you here though so you're you're pacing around like you're in on the real estate deal about to close and you actually are not in on the deal you're just you're just waiting your emotions are attached and this investment emotionally um do you tweet at kids when they don't pick your school i don't tweet at them when they don't pick the school all right you got a smile on your face here makes me think there's some level of guilt tweet at them before?

Like, hey, young man, come on down to LSU. Because I have LSU Tigers as one of my topics on Twitter. And I only tweet encouraging things to kids. I never, ever will never bash a kid that doesn't go to LSU. I think it, but I will never say it. kid that doesn't go to LSU. I think it, but I will never say it. I think you can't bash the kid that's trying to make money for his family and

trying to make the best decision for his future. It's just bullshit. I'll tweet at you saying, hey, Baton Rouge is a great place. You see the verified checkmark, maybe you think, hey, I'm more important than I really am. you know what i

mean and maybe you come down to lsu so i will tweet at the kids encouragement and stuff but i definitely won't bash them after that's that's that's too far right can i double back to something here what were you what was van layth and the best buy employee like amazing what kind of service could i have expected okay you can expect all kinds of service like let's talk about this real quick so let me tell you where i worked my way up from and best buy i started off as uh one of the cashiers okay like front operations is where i started off you know i just needed a job you know start off operations you come through and this is what they do in operations right when you buy your xbox i have to sell you the product replacement plan on your xbox right

so rossillo comes through he's buying an xbox back then the big game was uh so calm although i think that was on the playstation so you come through you're buying so calm i'm like oh man i fucking love this you got all the the uh the accessories that you need to make this because you're gonna need another controller you're gonna the, the accessories that you need to make this. Cause you're going to need another controller. You're going to need the SOCOM stuff. You're going to need the headset and all that stuff. It's over in media. You're like,

yeah, I got all of that. I'm like, bruh, here's the crazy thing about SOCOM though. Like a lot of times there'll be glitches in these. Cause this is like the first generation of this. So we have this thing here that,

you know, if you, if you pay what, eight bucks, even if your shit glitches up dog dog, and depending on who I'm talking to, I code switch, right? So if it's Ryan Russillo, I talk regular to you. I talk van language. Hey, your

shit glitches up, man. You just bring it in here, and we'll give you a brand new one. I appreciate that, by the way. No problem, man. That's what we do. You know what I mean? We're here to make sure. By the way, just to let you know, I don't work off any commission. So I'm not making anything for this. we're here to make sure by the way just let you know i don't work off any commission so i'm not making anything for this i just want to make sure is that true because i would ask you okay very true yeah i'll work off any commission i just want to make sure

that like you know you can play this game especially during the time that we might be closed around the holidays and stuff like that you're not gonna be able to come back in here and get another one and you're like oh man now i'm worried. Yeah. Yeah. Now I'm worried. Eight bucks, 12 bucks, whatever it is. Sure, I'll do that. Boom. I sold it. One day, I sold 35 of those on a shift. That's, I didn't even, I would have been here all day guessing.

35. So you know what they said? They said, hey, this is what we should do with Van. It's a fast talker, silver tongue. What we should do with Van. Fast talk, silver tongue. What we should do is we should take him and put him in home theater. Okay? We'll put him in home theater and let him sell

the big boy items. And Ryan, I'm telling you, I started mashing shit. I had this thing that I would do. It was called the big ticket fake out. Tell you what this is. If you come to Best Buy,

if you go to Best Buy right now, I don't know how things are now because, you know, I don't go in there anymore. I don't go in there because I see the kids and the job that they're doing now and all I want to do is like

teach them and sculpt them. So I don't go in Best Buy anymore. Just order my shit and come to the house. But if you go to Best Buy and you buy one of those big tvs and you don't buy the service plan some accessories some cables and all of that that's actually a bad sale for best buy like a horrible sale if you don't attach anything to what they call if you don't attach a service plan if you don't attach them search protection if you don't attach anything to it, they call it. If you don't attach a service plan, if you don't attach some service protection, if you don't attach all of that stuff, because they don't make as much money on the television as they do on all of those other accessories and

stuff like that. So if you sell it, they call it selling something naked. That's actually almost worse than selling the TV itself. They would rather not sell the TV if you're not going to sell anything with it because it just looks bad it hurts the numbers so when a customer would come in they would be all ready to buy the television set if they wouldn't buy the stuff that came with it

I would tell them to sleep on it I would say don't buy the TV are you in Magnolia? Was there a different vest in the Magnolia section or pre-Magnolia? Pre-Magnolia. Pre-Magnolia.

They would say, they'd say, oh, they go, really? It's that serious? I'm like, yeah. It's that serious. You want the Monster Power Center, sir,

because you want the cleanest power coming to this television set. See, it's not going to show like it shows here in the store if you don't have this Monster Power surge protector because this surge protector is filtering out all of the dirty energy that's going into this television.

You also want these HDMI cables because what's the point of watching this television on component video when it shows at a higher resolution if you use this HDMI. You just want all of these things with the TV so you make sure that you get the picture that you're seeing right now.

I can't in good faith sell you this TV and not recommend that you get these other things because when you get it home and it doesn't look like this, you're going to call up old van. You always want to put the old on there if you're selling to a white guy over 60. Because it's a good old boy, right?

You're going to call up old Van and you're going to say, hey, Van, my TV doesn't look the same way. And now I look bad, right? I want you to make the best purchase. And the best purchase is this television with these accessories to make sure you get this picture.

If you're not ready to do that today, don't sweat it. It's completely okay. We're going to be here. I'm going to be here. As a matter of fact, you don't even have to see me. We don't work on commission. If you come back in here tomorrow and Josh is in here, buy everything with Josh. Don't even have to tell him it was me. It doesn't even matter. But I don't want you to be dissatisfied, sir. But I don't want you to be dissatisfied, sir. 95% of the time, after you run it down to them like that, they buy whatever you tell them to buy. Right then.

The man. This is, I mean, I thought you were overselling your status a little. Not that I doubted your abilities, but now I'm wondering why you ever left. Well, you know know i was fired so oh wow okay all right see there's still a serious topic that i want to get to today but i can't get off of this now i i do this now right i was fired um so what ended up happening is and i want to give i want to thank the guy who fired me, the general manager of Best Buy Store 495 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His name was Arlen Bethea.

Arlen Bethea, me and him got into a very serious argument at a Buffalo Wild Wings one time. We had all gone there as a company trip, Buffalo Wild Wings. We went there. The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Jacksonville Jaguars in one there the pittsburgh steelers were playing the jacksonville jaguars and one of the most physical monday night football games i've ever seen before in my life they were crushing each other out there we were talking about the best running backs of all time and i said barry sanders and all in bethea the manager who had played he played uh uh at a little

school called worship or something like that i can't remember the name of it. I can't remember the name of the school, whatever. He said that maybe as a pure runner, Barry Sanders was better. But all around, as a running back, Emmitt Smith is a better running back than Barry Sanders. I was so triggered, I looked at my boss and was like, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. I was like, ain don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Like,

I was like, ain't nobody talking about blocking. Like, you know what I'm saying? Ain't nobody talking about like, we talking about running that rock, you know, that led to sort of the disintegration of Arlen and I's relationship.

It was a great guy, great guy, but he took a little bit less of my shit after that. Because I was a good employee, and I know I was good. So that led to me, kind of a prima donna thing. You know, I come in with my glasses on.

You know, sometimes I would drink coffee on the floor. I was the man. And they really couldn't say too much because I remember somebody else one time was walking a cell off of the floor and it didn't have anything on it. And then they came over to me and asked me to save the cell as I was leaving.

And I remember I took my glasses off and I was like, if I save the sale right now, I don't want tomorrow off. It's the end of the day. No, man, no. I was like, hey, man, $15,000 with no accessories on it. That's up to you guys. Let me know. And he was like, I give you three hours off tomorrow. You don't have to close. I said, deal. Went over there, saved the sale. After this, Arlen talked to me. Arlen said, man, I'm going to be real with you. I don't think you have very much of a future at Best Buy. This was after I had already worked at a couple of different television jobs and stuff like that. It's like, this is not for you. You don't want to be a sales manager in here or anything like that. I was like, I want to keep

the job though. So what happened is they started cracking down. There was this thing that you had to do at the end of your shift called Action Center, where you had to go in there and talk about where you cleaned up and where you did. I never did that shit. I didn't want to do that shit. I'm a big game hunter, television salesman. Somebody else go do the Action Center. I didn't want to do it.

They told me one time, they said, hey, Van, if you don't do the action center, you're fired. I was like, okay, I'll do it. Of course, I didn't. One day, I was about to come to work. They came to my house where I lived. One of the seniors came to my house and was like hey bro you about to lose your job today I went there I saw Arlen

talked to him I said hey this is Ultra I said like you're one of the best bosses I ever had man and he really was he really was a great guy he really wanted me to spread my wings away from Best Buy I was like there's no fucking way that Emmitt Smith is as good as Barry Sanders.

I just want you to know that. I hugged him, shook his hand. His face was red. You could tell he was emotional that he had to fire me. No bullshit. All of a sudden, great guy. And then I walked away from Best Buy. Man.

And then the world. All right. I want to talk to you. Man. And then the world. All right. I want to talk to you about this because I saw the tweets. It's obviously a huge story. There's no great transition off of awesome Best Buy stories into the Brian Flores lawsuit. Yeah. This has got a lot in it. It's got a lot in it.

I think, I don't know. Let me try here. I think there's a lot of white people that go hey i treat everybody the right way i try to have an open mind about things i may have blind spots but there's no way like in 2022 we could still have a business with this many eyes on it that have this just inherent or obvious or not inherent and on purpose bias towards a race. And yet there's no way to excuse the hiring practices in this league. And I think that's where there's always this massive disconnect whenever two people try to talk about this topic. So you're right. Let me put it to talk about this topic. So, you're right.

Let me put it to you like this. How do you think we would be doing on cancer research if we never talked about cancer? Bad. Bad, right? Yeah, we'd be doing poorly. So, you go to your doctor, your doctor says you're diagnosed

with this terrible, terrible disease. And, you know, I don't mean to use it to make a point, but my heart goes out to anyone that's dealing with that. And then you just look at the doctor and you go, okay, well, let's not talk about it. It'll get better on its own as time goes on. And the doctor's like, no, it's actually going to get worse if we don't address it, talk about it and use money, resources and awareness to fight it. It's actually going to get worse if we don't address it, talk about it, and use money, resources, and awareness to fight it. It's just going to get worse, not only in your body, but in everybody's body. Racial inequality and systemic dysfunction is the exact same way. It's uncomfortable to talk about any disease is.

And you never think you have it until somebody with more knowledge than you diagnoses it inside of you. You never will. You can't tell yourself. All you can tell yourself is that you're showing symptoms of it, right? So the reality of what's going on in the NFL is no different than what goes on anywhere else.

The fact of the matter is no one thinks they are what they are. I don't think I'm a misogynist, right? But sometimes I talk to women and they say, hey, that was a misogynist, right? But sometimes I talk to women and they say, man, that was a misogynist statement that you just made. And I don't always agree. I don't always agree. I don't always think that they're right. I don't always agree with them. But what I have to understand is there's a system in place with me being a man that says for years and years and years,

I've had a different view of the world and a different understanding of it. And it might behoove me a little bit if I want to share my community with someone to try to understand the world in the way that they do. I say all that to say we should each give each other soft beds to land on when we're having these discussions, as long as we're having them in good faith. If you're trying to prove to me that racism or police brutality or these things don't exist, we're not going to have a very good conversation because I know that they do. If you're saying that you need a better understanding of them so we can combat them together and you go into a conversation with open eyes and open mind and an open heart. We can have that conversation all we want and we don't always have to agree. That's fine.

As long as it's in good faith, we can agree or disagree. The situation that exists right now with Brian Flores in the NFL is one that we obviously know is an issue. You can look at the numbers on the field and see that Black coaches are underrepresented in the NFL,

underrepresented in the front office, the question is why? And if we really want to sit down and have a real conversation on the whys, let's actually talk about the whys. There are myriad reasons. Some of it is the good old boys network that exists from coaches who have been white going back to the league's beginning. You see coaches and coaches' sons. Some of these guys are great coaches and stuff. And since they weren't there in the beginning, they're not there now. Some of it has to do with latent, internalized, racist

feelings that really have to do with what people think black men and women's aptitudes are. Right. That's just a fact. There are some people out there, if we really want to be honest with it, that think that black people are stupider than white people. And any situation that needs any type of mental acuity that a black man or a black woman is not going to be able to perform as well as a white person will. Now, those people are, to me, the boogeymen of this entire thing, right? But they actually believe that. The question then becomes,

how do we find out which is which in this situation? How do we find out which is soft, passive? And when I say passive, I don't mean that it's in any way less insidious. I mean that it's something

that can actually be rooted out with conversation or with structural change. And how many people do we just need to leave behind? It's a tough question. And it always will be, but it'll never be an easy question.

So why are we fumbling around and fucking around with it? Let's just get to it. In a situation like Brian Flores is talking about, you're looking at that. The question is, if we'd have been willing to have this conversation in 2015 or 2010 or 2005, there's a chance that we wouldn't fucking be having it right now.

But what we did is what we always do. We throw the Rooney Rule up there as an example of fate change. Then you give the job to somebody else. You interview Brian Flores and you go, I marched with Dr. King. Right. Like I already did my part. So forget about it. The reality is let's really have a real look, an independent look at what the structural problems in the NFL are. Let's have somebody come in and let's let the league be a part of this because we can't keep

saying the quiet part out loud for a long time. Every time we get a John Gruden or Steven Ross or somebody like that, we can't keep clutching our pearls. So the reality is, do you fucking want to fix it? That's the thing.

Do you... And by the way way the toughest question to answer is for a lot of people do you even do you fucking care like ask the average football man that like do you like do you fucking care obviously i care obviously i care right but does the guy next to me like at the at thelor, who's just some dude, does he fucking care? And if he doesn't fucking care, I'm not asking him to be an ally and jump on the back of what I'm doing. I am asking, though, if you don't care, do us all a favor and just stay the fuck out of the way. Don't be an impediment to what it is that we're trying to do.

Having more black coaches in the NFL isn't going to ruin football. It's not going to any way. What it's going to do is widen the net and the possibilities of success for the men who overwhelmingly make this game a reality to be played. We're talking about 70% of the workforce here. So a lot of times people think that, you know, me personally, other people might look at this differently. I'm not asking anybody to join me and hold hands with me. I'm just asking you to stay out of my fucking way and let us fix what we're trying to fix. Why do you think the NBA has gotten so right then? Because the players have more power.

The players are bigger parts of it, right? Like you want like the, so. So you don't think it has anything to do with the leadership in the league, the ownership? No. No, I push back on that. Owners, absolutely this last owner cycle,

this last hiring cycle, there were owners that were like, we are making sure we push the right kind of hire here. I'm telling you. I know, but I think there's a – you're right about that, but I think there's a difference from the ground up. And I would agree with that too.

The players certainly have more power, but I would say like 0% on ownership and leadership. I mean, this past interview cycle nba assistance or whatever like it was just with everything that's gone on the nba was going to make an example of of leader like they were going to go we're going to lead the charge on this and that's what happened right and this also you know the nba dipped their toe into this way before um the fan bases are different. If you want to be super real about it. Um, the NBA tends to be, uh, a more metropolitan type of sport, big, huge in the big cities where things are a little bit more liberal and football. honest, exists in a place where a lot of these issues are still breeding in America. I'm from Louisiana. I represent the SEC. I know how things are inside and outside of stadiums. The culture of the fans are a little bit different, but also just the fact that you can't have the NBA without

Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and those guys. You can't have it. And you can't have it and you can't have it without them being a part of it right i think a lot of times like what people missed um and uh what we lost in kobe's death was the fact that kobe never got a chance to take his place among the greats of post players and be there you still want to see these guys you still want to be around these guys and their identities like are integral they they're woven into the league and a lot of those identities are imbued with blackness right the league embraces hip-hop right because the players did you know what i mean the league embraces like you know see the the migos out there and all of that kind of stuff like that. You're playing to a different crowd in a big way, right? And the league is influenced by Black culture a lot more directly than the NFL is. See, the NFL tries to mute that out a little bit because the game is different. And so I think the owners are a lot more, I don't know if you want to say woke or progressive in the NFL, because I think they almost have to be in the NBA.

I mean, because they almost have to be, they have to be the sort of deal with and relate to the workforces that they, that they interact with. And I don't think in the NFL that you necessarily have to be that way. I have one more piece to the Flores story because I was going through and I was looking at the lawsuit

and I was like, I don't know what happened to John Elway meeting and I certainly wouldn't hold it against Flores two years later when he said in a conference call with local media, no, it went well.

Do you think you've got Flores on that one? You did. What was Flores going to say in the moment? Yeah, that sucked. That didn't go well. You're going to sit there with the local media, so that's not evidence against him. The Ross angle with bonuses, I believe Flores.

And the text message part of it is colossally fucked up. I mean, that hurts. That hurts to think of you or him, and you thought you got the job and the Giants because Belichick's telling you he did and then it wasn't. But what I think I've learned,

especially with the last couple of years, and you kind of touched on it a little before, but people have made up their minds with so many things that we kind of picked our sides and we never really want to change our minds. And that's unfortunately a dangerous place because it's one thought process, but it's also on top of that. It's like, well, now I've wasted all this energy with you when you don't think it's an

issue. Like, I don't care where you're at. Like you can see certain things. You're like, I don't know if I agree with that. I don't know if you agree with that. But when you look at the league and go, okay, what's the number again? Like, I don't understand why anybody would want to be on the other side of that argument. Yeah. i well did it make a ton of sense well it well no i know why they would want to be is because there is in order for like the status quo isn't uh the status quo isn't, uh, the status quo is a religion. It's not a, um, it's not a state of being, it's a religion. Like the status quo is something that you have to, you don't have to believe in it. You have to worship it. You have to defend it. Like I'm a Christian man. I am so because I am from the Bible belt. You know, I am so because guess what, Ryan?

Jesus is real. I'm sorry. I don't care if anyone judges me for it. Jesus is real. I like him. Okay. But in order for me to believe in that, I have to defend certain principles. I have to uphold certain principles.

I have to actually sort of surrender to certain things. That's a religion. That's something I believe in that I protect because that belief guides me on a North Star throughout my entire life as much as I want it to be. The status quo is the same way. It's a religion. It's something you have to believe in, something you have to protect, something you have to continuously make sure something you have to protect, something you have to continuously make sure that people understand is the right way. People don't think it's that way, but they're living their life believing that the status quo is the way things should be. So what happens when someone comes to me and says, hey, I don't believe in that?

That's not what I believe. I believe that things are this way. And not only do I believe that things are this way, I believe that the way you think of things is actually harming the evolution of society. It's actually a negative. So how do we talk? How do we talk? Well, if it was just a thought that I was having or a philosophy, we could have a sit down and debate it all we wanted to. But if it's my core, my religion, my truth, then it's going to be very difficult to have a good faith conversation with that person. So what I would tell people is we're all human beings. None of the ways that we are living are religion. They're structures and aspects of a society that only exists because we forged it

to try to cooperate. The reason why civilization exists, laws exist, the reason why contracts and treaties and jobs exist is so we can all get through this whole thing together. So the minute that we stop trying to understand each other because we think that our way is eternal religious law, we fail. person living in America as a woman, living in America as a member of the LGBTQ plus community. If you go up to them, you say, there's a chance that in America that puts you at a disadvantage. And they say no to you. They have a religious zeal for believing in the status quo. Now we can talk about how much of a disadvantage it puts you at. We can talk about how you fix it. We can talk about all of those things. All of those things we can legislate.

But what we can't legislate is the reality that we have some more work to do. And that's everywhere and not just in the NFL. Van Lathan, you can hear him with Rachel Lindsay Tuesday and Fridays, Higher Learning and also part of the Ringerverse. What is it, the Midnight Boys? The Midnight Boys. Pew pew! By the way,

I lied. There's no way that I'm going to be less of a college football fanatic. I don't know why. I tried. I tried. Stop sweating at least. Yeah, in that moment, that's how long that lasted. I'm going to the spring game. I'm going down there, right?

I don't care what anybody says. I'm going to the spring game. I got to see how these kids look. I expect a full chart and measurements from you coming up in a few months. Thanks, man. No problem. Always, brother.

You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari. 3.55 cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the south fork i have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids i am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required life advice life advice rr at gmail.com kyle quick back update because you got some people checking on you here um so

how are you how are we doing i stood all day yesterday my legs are so tired so i am i'm sitting down today but um i noticed that just when i when i stood at the bar most of the day when i was there um i stood during the podcast i stood when i was editing the podcast so i've just been doing a lot of standing. It's doing a little better. But, you know, still not great. Doctor's appointment tomorrow. We will see.

Okay. You got to rent one of those like zero gravity things. You know those things that like hang from your feet? Yeah. Those are super fun. I don't know if I'd buy one. I feel like anyone that buys one immediately regrets that decision like a month in the future. But for like a week or two, it'd be fun as hell to have.

See if you can borrow one. would you think about maybe getting stuck does that ever happen or how many 911 calls are made from the bottom side of the aversion table that's true is that a fear of yours i guess you know your girlfriend could you go it's just yelling the other room right that's true but it is a worry i'll give it a go i talked to austin yesterday and he said that he believes me. Now he can't do Friday. So, you know, now it's, now the ball's in his court.

Now the ball's in his court, but he believes me. And, you know, we're just, we're going to get there. I found out that the other bouncer is like a semi-pro wrestler yesterday. So I'm making some plans to go see him in Pasadena wrestle some guys.

Like pro wrestling, like WWE style or like wrestling, wrestling, like high school wrestling? No, like WWE style, AEW style. Okay. Yeah. That's cool. It's another thing you can not do. Yeah. All right.

Oh, we got a soft jab resistance there. Yeah. Okay. All right. Uh-oh. We got a soft jab resistance there. Yeah. Okay. All right. You know what? You need to fight back, and I need you to keep me in check. All right. All right. There we go.

All right. A couple of tall and, I don't know if we got tall or short people checking in here with Cerruti. A couple of people were pissed. Some people will agree. It's kind of the way it goes. All right. 6'9", 245, played D1 basketball at a mid-major, then overseas for five years.

Wanted to provide some thoughts from the tall guy perspective. Long story short, I wouldn't change it, even though I feel like being 6'9 has much more cons than pros, especially if you're not an athlete or find a profession where you can take advantage of it. Outside of being athletic, I don't think, like, hey, this guy is a good painter. He's not the best with his edges but

he can he can reach he doesn't have a ladder though no ladder right right smoke alarm guy yeah here's meet cliff yeah gutters guy guy walks in with his tool he's like i got it don't worry about it all right being six nine it sucks buying clothes anything over six six you can't buy regular clothes you have to buy a bigger car especially if you need car seats behind you. You hit your head on doorways that aren't standard 7 feet. Callie King bed required. Life expectancy is shorter. Good point by Cerruti. Shower heads aren't high

enough. Airplanes suck. Custom golf clubs. It's mostly an inconvenience day-to-day. On top of that, you can't go in public without being stared at or having people ask how tall you are constantly. It's especially obnoxious in a bar setting and dozens of people will ask in one night. Your friends will talk shit to people and act like the big guy will back them up.

When you're with a group of guys, girls don't normally go for the freakishly tall guy. Luckily, I did play sports or I would say definitely I would rather have been 5'10". Wow. All right. This is a very pro-Saruti take here. The positive side is that you're unique in some way. You're memorable, which helps for things like my post-athlete sales job

when trade shows were a thing. Mostly, though, it's a pain in the ass. I did get a free education opportunity to travel the world a bit and make a few bucks doing it. There's not too many advantages, though, that I can think of. That's pretty much my point. And, you know, I guess like in the,

that was my, the dating scene must be difficult because he's probably right. Like, you know, if you're what, 5'2", is a girl going to be interested if you're 6'9"? Like you're probably dating

a lot of volleyball players, which isn't a bad thing, but like that pool is much smaller. So I think he laid out exactly why I thought the 5'10 thing wasn't that bad. You know, you blend in your kind of average,

but would you rather be average? And he played a sport, so at least he has that going for him. If he didn't play a sport, it's almost even worse. The people coming up to you thing, though, is something that I don't think people realize. I'm friends with Eric Chenoweth.

We go to concerts together. He's 7'1". He played at Kansas. He was supposed to be a lottery. We've had him on the podcast. We've talked about it. He does insurance now. He covers a lot of the major draft prospects.

He's 7'1". He's an enormous, enormous human being. And we went to the Tool Show in Anaheim a couple weeks ago. And, you know, we're hanging out. We're having a beer in the lobby. And, you know, guys just come right up to him. Like, how tall are you? You know, because they were in the group.

They were staring at him the whole time. And they run over. And he just goes, 7'1". And then it's just weird. It's weird because i don't know that we would ever do that like i i don't know i mean look i dated a girl when when i was back in vermont and she had mutant proportions mutant all right and people would just come yeah thanks god some someone would come up to her because she was five feet. And maybe, she might have been like 4'11", and they would just say,

oh my God, there's no way that's real. And she'd be like, yes. And it was just, I would watch it go. It blows my mind the comfort other people can have. It's actually Twitter is worse because it's not face-to-face. So in a way, this is supposed to be better because it's like, well, at least, but in a way it's way more insulting that you would actually say these things. But it's, it also kind of speaks again. A lot of times I feel like people are so

selfish in so many different ways that like for their own amusement, they're just going, Hey, and you have no idea how they can mess with somebody. Like, again, I was really young. So this is kind of a stupid story. I was 12, I think. I was at this basketball camp, and my dad had long hair. And so I grew out my hair a little bit. I don't know. I don't know why I did it.

I guess I love my dad. And I had a very pretty face at that phase of my life. And a couple of the older guys in a group came up to me, and they were like, you're a boy, right? You have a dick. And I was like, it was tough, man. Devastated. And I was pissed, but I was like, you know, fucked up about it.

And I called home and I fucking cried on the phone. I was like, I don't want to be here. And they're like, you have to tough it out. Cut your hair. You got to stay, right? And I stayed and I got MVP. And my dad was like, do you got to stay right and uh i stayed and i got mvp and my dad was like do you want to stay for the trophy ceremony and i was like these people which is probably where it all started but um and then i cut my hair i think that summer but

yeah like again i was a kid so it's a little different you can say with the adults i don't know i just think it's a really weird thing to do i know you want to jump in kyle so just go ahead all i was going to say was I was walking up Vine Street yesterday, and there was this super lanky guy. I was listening to my music walking towards Frolic Room, and there was this super lanky guy coming the other way. Kind of a strange outfit, but the guy was probably pushing seven feet, and I just started walking towards him.

We were both coming towards each other, but I just started veering towards him. I'm like, wait, Kyle, what are you doing, buddy? We're not addressing this guy's height or anything about what he's wearing. Just keep going. So, I mean, it was just like, naturally I started drifting towards him maybe to get a better look at him or whatever. But I mean, I'm not somebody who comes up to people like you're really tall. How tall is your dad? Like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not that kind of a guy, but I, even I was like, wait, wait, I'm, I'm like I'm being pulled in by this tractor beam. I stopped and I didn't say anything. I just righted myself

on my route. But yeah, even somebody who would never ever dream of addressing somebody's height to a stranger, even I was being pulled in towards this guy's aura or something. I don't know. I thought about the Chenoweth thing too, by the way. You were at the Tool concert.

If you're sitting behind him, I wonder how self-conscious he is about blocking people's views. It would just be tough. It would just be hard. I would be in my own head about stuff. He's so accommodating about it. He turns around to everybody. He's like, look, can we figure out some angles? I don't want to ruin the moment for you or whatever.

He's off the charts nice. If he were mean, if he had a mean bone in his body, I don't know. He's off the charts nice. And he's not remote. If he were mean, if he had a mean bone in his body, I don't know. Yeah. Who's going to fuck with him? Nobody. Even if you're a badass of a guy, there's a certain size level where, I don't know. I mean, okay, 7'1", 300.

Go ahead, dude. You get your leg kicks ready, you know? And again, if it's like a real UFC guy, of course he's going to beat up with just anybody, you know? But all right, I don't know if I want to do UFC, like middling UFC career guy versus Eric Chenoweth. I think we'll leave that topic. Here come the Eagles.

Instead of seeing another Jake Paul fight, which I know people like, I'd like to see like a decent fighter fight someone who's seven feet just to see what happens. Like an average seven foot guy. Yeah. And by the way, just for the record,

all the UFC guys would beat up like anybody that's walking around, but you know, maybe guys couple days a week, get some kicks in. Where's the jacket at happy hour? You know, maybe that guy is, maybe that guy doesn't have a good of his chance okay uh this one's titled gym scam which i think is beautiful because it isn't

okay all right guys got a good one for you i'm 28 work in my hometown and make an honest living i infrequently go to this gym my parents have been members at forever it's actually associated with a hospital where my dad is employed so i was hooked up with a family discount for a long time. Rewind a little bit. I'm 25. That's when you're no longer on the family plan. So no big deal. I bought a couple months membership and got after it. And they also offer discounts at the company I work for. So it came out to 40 bucks a month. Not bad. I tend to go to the gym more in the winter months. I do a lot of outdoor exercises like running, cycling, and even hit up some other buddies' home gyms more than the actual gym. So it's not like an everyday thing for me. After I bought the two-month membership, I went back and shortly after to renew,

only to discover my card was still active. So I kept it moving. So I guess what he thought was... He was getting free gym? The cart. Yeah, he was scanning it and they were just letting him in, which was your first mistake. And then another time, the card was still active, kept it moving. I thought to myself, oh, well, I bet they put me back on the family plan or pop was helping out. Either way, they didn't ask me for payment, nor did I offer for almost three years, which is the reason for this email. I go to the gym the other day and scan my car. The dude stopped me.

He goes, hey, are you so and so? I'm like, yes, starts clicking around his computer only for me. I have a six hundred and620 balance on my account. Now, he was really nice about it, even putting some of the blame on the gym's faculty for not letting me know. Yeah, no shit. I was very civil with him, played it cool. But in the back of my head, I thought there's no way I'm paying this full amount. I feel like I have a couple options here.

One, never show up to this gym again and hope it gets swept under the rug as I was never in any kind of written contract saying I owe them money to work with them and come to an agreed amount to pay the most reasonable three, put my asshole shorts on and tell them I'm not paying them anything due to the fact they never asked me nor notified me of any payment. And they're completely out of their minds. You expect me to pay for almost three years of membership when it was clearly their fault. Appreciate the help guys. Love the show. All right. all right well uh at first glance at this i thought maybe you were getting charged every month because you didn't cancel it and that's not a scam that's a subscription business plan and that's why there's so many things being like do you should you subscribe to you know like hey Rosilla, do you want to do reads for this new monthly company that

ships hunting axes? Like, hey, cool axe. After the seventh month, I don't think I need this many hunting axes. I have a Sacramento Beast subscription right now, and for the life of me, every time I look at my statements each month, I'm like,

God damn it. I'm like, it's still there. I feel like I'm supporting a local newspaper. Obviously, I'm not clearly locked into what's going on up there all that much. I'd like to cancel it. I had to sign up because I was researching something. I needed this article. It's what I owe the audience. I felt like because I was researching a thing for an open monologue and I was like, all right, whatever. I'll just do the fee trial. I paid the the sack b now for like over a year and i can't seem to cancel it they need newspapers respect yeah yeah hey print right here guys journalism right yeah you two guys are keeping it alive did you read the sack b yeah i fucking love it have you noticed though it is it is actually

impossible now though like if you do like a free trial because i've watched a lot of shows like on free trials that i'm never going to subscribe to it is impossible to unsubscribe like nearly impossible to unsubscribe from some of the free trials like they make it so hard and you're like shit maybe i'll just pay the 10 bucks a month to just not deal with having to cancel this freaking membership that's what i'm doing right now like i've tried and i go all right you won you won this round sacramento b that's the hardest video game i've ever played i can't i can't unsubscribe from the thing and i've tried and you're right sruti and that's what so many i mean think about it there's an app now that exists for you to sign up for that tracks all the things you're subscribed to like think how dumb that

makes us look as people like i need to actually get an app that helps me tell me all the things that are just doing an automatic debit for me that's why van pelt was we'd always laugh at him and he goes i sit down at the first of the month and i bring out my checkbook and i look at the bills and i write out the checks i'm like you can't possibly still be doing yeah and he goes i don't like the debit thing i don't i don't know if he's changed at all. He doesn't trust banks. He's a mattress guy. Yeah, he's all gold. He asked ESPN in the latest deal, he's like, is there any way I could play sterling silver? It's like, fuck Bitcoin and banks.

I'm just going to keep mineral reserves on. We're going to have them on. Maybe we'll have them on next week. You know what? Book Van Pelt for next week because we'll just do a Super Bowl recap. We'll tell stories, memories, and see what his position is right now on stockpiling natural resources. Where's Van Pelt's crypto assets?

No way. I would love to know that. I don't know. You never know. The only way he would have crypto is if there were some deal. Yeah. But then I don't even know

if he would tell me. Well, maybe he'd tell me, but I don't think he's going to tell anybody in the podcast or something like that uh okay all right so back to the email here we spent a lot of time on that sorry about it this isn't that though this isn't that you know because i've had friends go oh i can't believe i'm gonna get charged this entire time you're like why why did you cancel it oh you didn't you didn't cancel your gym membership and then you couldn't believe it now you also as one of the rules always applies like

when you think something's working out for you it it usually isn't. When I moved into a new house, I didn't get a garbage bill for six months. All right. And finally when somebody was like, hey, the guy that owned the property got your garbage bill for six straight months. And it's because somebody's losing, right? Somebody was losing. Now I took care of it immediately. And I'm not going to be a total like hypocrite with this. Cause I remember what it was like when you move in a new apartment you get the old coaxial into the trinitron and you're like no way if i don't use a box i just go channel up and channel down on this i have free cable for like 41 channels that's it problem solved like of course i've done that but in this case when this stuff happens it usually means the bad news is coming at some point. But I wouldn't call it a gym scam, but they still shouldn't get away with this.

So if the guy is already admitting some defeat, then I would use that. Go, hey, look, the guy at the front desk even said, hey, this isn't really the way it works. So let's come up with a reasonable number here. I'll pay for my visits or whatever. But I think there's a very clear way that you can get out of this because why would they run it up like a bar tab? That's weird. That's very weird to me that this gym, unless it's just a kind of mom and pop gym where I don't think you should be demanding zero because you're still using the place. You thought you had to scam on them. But I also don't think that 620 is fair either so i'm

sure you can come to some kind of compromise and you don't have to be a dick about it 600 for three years though i mean most gyms are like that's a that's nothing isn't it am i am i missing something no it's 40 bucks a month is it's pretty low man i mean I mean, granted, some of you guys are going to be like, oh, my place is not... Congrats on your $19.99 deal. All right. You're right, Kyle. That's low, but now when it's all... I'm sure he's just looking at this going, hey, if you owe us $620,

I mean, you could also never show up again, but then again, if they decide they want to come after you, even if they're wrong, they could just report it. Depends on how aggressive they want to come after you, even if they're wrong, they could just report it. It depends on how aggressive they want to be. So now you've got a $620 outstanding debt on your credit report.

And then every time you go for a major loan, they're going to go, what the hell is this? And then you're going to have to write some letter of what that means. And it's still going to be there for seven to 10 years. That's if they're going to report this stuff.

So I would get in front of it. I would try to come to some kind of compromise. And I think that they're probably going to say, oh, you barely used it and we charged you for three years. Yeah, let's be fair about it. So I think most places are like that. I would say if it's a mom and pop place, try to

help them out. Maybe they just don't have everything buttoned up properly and they're like, yeah, we could probably use this $100. If it's like a conglomerate, I would either not pay it or try to bargain it down. No, I think anytime it's something like this, you can be reasonable about it. You don't have to start at asshole position.

Yeah, the option three should not be an option. Right. Now, there's some people that only subscribe to option three. I think a lot of times those people get their way. I have a renter that i know pissed all over a nice mattress and i didn't realize it because they took the mattress cover off which was totally not something i would think an adult yeah an adult wow and so i was like hey there's piss on this mattress when i came in to you know give it up once over because i didn't

realize you took a mattress cover off and he was like, oh, it must have been the previous people. I was like, it 100% wasn't. That would have been me. He's like, no, you should check for them. He's a lawyer. I'm like, all right. Whatever. Can you prove that I peed on this mattress? No, I can't. I know you did it and you ruined

a $1,500 mattress. Really nice mattress. You pissed on it and you're a grown-up. And you left it there for me. And then you lied. Furnished apartments. I don't know. It's such a hard-on move. I should be able to break my stuff. I don't want to worry about breaking

your stuff. So that's how I feel about it. Yeah. That's fair. Yeah, he ruined a nightstand. Here we go. Ruined? Put a little scratch in it, chips. Like, what are we talking? I was like, did I just rent a place to 25-year-old me? Like, what?

Did they respect the wood? Was there, like, cup rings on the woods? Tables, dressers? Oh, no, no. I hear what you're saying. Yeah. I know you saying. Yeah. I know you look. Yeah, that, but.

Or they're like covering up sheetrock holes with, you know, vent. You ever see that? You drill a vent into the sheetrock hole to cover it up. Like, why is there a vent here?

I don't know. It was here when I got here. Airflow. Yeah, it goes straight to the outside. Yeah, we like to, we like to have some eye level airflow.

It's a new thing. You didn't read about that? Yeah, it's good. Okay, so we did some recap there. We do more life advice we have kind of a new life advice plan we're not changing life advice don't worry about that but we've got a couple people that are going to stop by and do it with us so we'll make it up to you thanks to steve and kyle the podcast bring your spot Outro Music you