The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Intel on First-Round Picks With Bruce Feldman. Plus, Shep Rose of ‘Southern Charm’

Episode Date: March 19, 2021

Russillo shares his thoughts on Anthony Edwards’s 40-point game in the Timberwolves’ win over the Suns, as well as LaMelo Ball’s impressive rookie season (11:30), before talking with Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic about the top 2021 NFL draft prospects (24:45). Then Ryen talks with Shep Rose of Bravo’s ‘Southern Charm’ about his new book ‘Average Expectations: Lessons in Lowering the Bar,' how he wound up in reality TV, behind-the-scenes stories, traveling, and more (54:30). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:21:45). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Dubai, the lower the number on your license plate means the bigger deal you are. Like, so if you had like number one is the crown prince, you know what I mean? And if you had like triple, even triple digits, like inside of 999 means you were a big deal. So we became friends with like the head of the CIA's son who like went to school in the West was a really cool guy. He really, we got along great. And he was just a maniac, dude. He would drive around and act like a, just a badass. And he would like, you know, look at cops and cut them off and they couldn't do anything. So it was kind of cool. Man, I'm dangerous. We even got that information out there on the pod.

Oh my God. We're going to be like, we're going to have like people breaking through my windows, black outfits. Fun show for you today. All sorts of first round draft talk with Bruce Feldman, who has all the intel. Bravo.

No housewives. Shep from Southern Charm and the NBA in 10 minutes or less. Okay. Yeah. Like I said at the top, Bruce Feldman is going to join us here as our first guest and his stuff is great. You know, he's just a wealth of information because he's been on the college scene for such a long time and coaches really trust him. So his info is good because his info is good on the college game. The NFL guys are always talking to him. So we put together this great first round mock up on the athletic, uh, that I encourage you to check out.

They have all sorts of promos and stuff, that kind of thing. So, um, check it out. And we're going to go over a bunch of the Intel and the top guys and the picks that he feels the safest about, including an Atlanta situation where,

you know, where they go fields or Lance. And what does that mean for everything else that they're trying to do? Okay. And then Shep Rose, who I don't watch a ton of Southern charm, Kyle, give me your reality shows that they're trying to do. Okay. And then Shep Rose, who I don't watch a ton of Southern charm. Kyle, give me your reality shows that you're into.

Cause there's no way you don't watch some of them. Correct. That's correct. Storage Wars, top of the list. I don't have a great explanation why, but they just, the characters,

Barry Weiss, shout out to Ivy hit me up on Twitter once. No kidding. Big fan of storage wars. Um, is that the end of my list? No, no, no. I like Below Deck because of you.

And I like... Oh, nice. I love that. I like... What's it called? Like all the iterations of Below Deck. Like I just jump in and I'd never really go from the front end to the back end of a season. Because you don't really have to.

You can miss a couple episodes of Below Deck and keep up with the storyline. I know that's not what the people from Bravo want to hear. But you can miss a couple episodes of below deck and keep up with the storyline. Um, I know that's not what the people from Bravo want to hear, but you can miss a couple and, and figure it out. I'll never understand why you'd want TV cameras around for your vacation. From what I do. Somebody sent me the thing. Yeah.

Somebody sent me the thing and said, Hey, you know, we could do this. Like, should we put together a group and sign up for a shoot? I feel like it's substantial based on the number that i looked at because i think those yachts are between like 35 to 50 grand a night i'm sure you can get it for

less than that if you really wanted to shop around or depending on the season or everything but it's not it's not cheap well the tip is 15 grand usually right the tip is usually 10 to 15 grand i feel like when they have the tip meeting after you and your crew were there, that'd be a disappointed galley. I'm actually, I think I'm pretty great with service people. I think like, it might actually be too good to the point where they're like, dude,

stop trying to hang out with me. Yeah, but that's you at a dive bar, and that's much appreciated as a former member of the service industry. But I think that whenever you're spending, like if you're not, who cares? I don't even want to look at the bill rich, you know, maybe I'll buy a Ferrari while I'm in Italy and then I, whatever, I'll just have it shipped back. No big deal. You know what I mean? Like those kinds of people, that kind of rich, those people aren't thinking about, but if you're just rich and you're rich enough, at least to, I don't know, I would never, I look, I don't,

there's, there's certain things that I'm like, I don't care how much money if I were making. Like, I don't think I'd just be going private jet all over the place all the time as great as private jets are. But I would have to imagine if you had like six people in on the vacation and then it's also 20,000 a tip after the fact, which you have to do because you can't be tip shamed but i just can't imagine anybody that's on tv going not that i'm even really on tv anymore but you'd be like all right now on my vacation i also want to be on tv right and then you're just going to see all these people talk shit about you and your friends and then i'd be annoyed and be like okay boson too you know but they all come off as bags all the. All the guys, it's like, you really want the world to see you that way? Like, come on. Right. I'm the dick, and you're in Fort Lauderdale.

Like, you know what senior frogs talking about being on some ship out of Greece? Like, I know your deal already. And I'm not even knocking the yachting industry. I'm just saying. All right. So, you know, I got to be honest with you. Before I get to the nba in 10 minutes or less i think you'd be really good as a storage guy i've thought about it many times i've looked at the calendar be like should i just show up but you ever see some guys in the

background who never get anything they bid like twice and they're like all right now you got it dave i'm just happy to be here so i i looked at the schedule i mean kovat made it a little weird i wasn't sure what was what some of them are virtual but when everything's back in the swing i might you might see me in the background at storage war season 14 i could see that and you'd have a saying it's a thing to do and then and then you get super pissed but then you know the best part about being on storage wars is just making up prices to everything and that's just the funniest part about being on Storage Wars is just making up prices to everything. And that's just the funniest part of the show. It's all 40 bucks.

I'm not, right. Everything, my favorite one I ever saw, I'm not an avid watcher of it, but my favorite one I ever saw was a guy was going through, it was all crap, and it was a box of Sharpies. And he goes, oh, he's like, that's 40 bucks. He's like, box of Sharpies right there. He's like, that's, look at those. That's 40 bucks. Like, is that's that's 40 bucks he's like box of sharpies right there he's like that's look at those that's 40 bucks like is it is it 40 bucks is that for like where are you moving

your used sharpies the swap where is that marketplace no like what are you working at dunder mifflin like what what do you mean 40 bucks and we're and then the tv doesn't care like they just add it up yeah add it up yeah the sharpies 40 dollars they're like wait should someone be checking on this because i feel at home i don't know if lied to lied to feels a little strong but i just who's coming up with these pricing and why is it not being checked fact check like oh dude we got $800 in DVDs here. No, you don't. You don't have $800 in DVDs.

You definitely don't have $800 in DVDs. No, no question. I don't know. You know, what's funny, too, is like through the years where you're moving and you go, all right, do I move these VHS tapes with me? And it's kind of sad. I've been carrying these around for years. They've made every move. Do I do this?

And when I worked at a music store, there was a rental place upstairs. So they would always give us all these horrible VHS movies that were just around. And I would take them and bring them back up to college. And then I was just moving them around. I had a massive CD collection and VHS collection. And then you start buying DVDs. And you're like, I haven't watched CD collection and VHS collection. And then, you know, you start buying DVDs and you're like,

I haven't watched any of these VHS tapes in two years, even though they're movies I like. And then you can move on. And then the same thing happens to your DVD. So the moving has gotten a little bit easier with digital content. I have one other thing that I need to do here. If anybody is on a security camera, a community message board,

can you just take it easy on your neighbors? So I have my alert set because where I live, as great as it is in Manhattan Beach, I don't know if it's a Robin Hood theory here. It is out of control, The packages that are stolen, it's just dudes roll in, follow FedEx and UPS trucks and just take everybody's stuff. And it's constant.

All right. So there's, there's a lot of that going on. I've thought about doing a little bit of, um, you may be a street justice group. We'll make some jackets, come up with a logo and just sort of walk around during the day.

But then I'm like, yeah, I'm probably, probably too busy to do that and get that started. Guardian angels, I believe is what they were doing in New York city. You know about those guys, Kyle? Yeah. Yeah. I think there was an episode of Sonny about that. Yeah. Right. Cause it's like, wait, you just think you're going to break up fights and stuff without any weapons? Like how's this work? But I guess it worked. I guess it worked. I don't know if it would work out here, but whenever anything is stolen,

you know, the person will post the video and go, oh, my God, package stolen. You know, this is the worst. And it'll also evolve into like feedback, right? You get a little feedback. And a lot of times, you know, the package is stolen. Everybody's kind of sympathetic because it's just happening nonstop out here. And then there'll be somebody's bike gets stolen or somebody has a car that's broken into and they'll show the video of the perp and he's breaking into the car whatever and the first

thing that happens is everybody shames the person that's the victim in this like up shouldn't left your car in lock or that's a dumb place to put your bike well maybe you should have some sort of drop box for your packages. That's 90% of the content. It's vicious out there. So I'm just asking everyone that's on any kind of security camera message board, some community where you can provide feedback. Like the person just had their stuff stolen. They're upset. It's a rage anger type feeling. I think most of us have been there. I used to have my car broken into all the time and yes, it was locked because I used to like to put nice stereos in my car. People would size it up.

They'd wait and be like, all right, we're hitting that one. And then boom, my thing is absolutely torn apart. I remember one time my car got broken into subs out, amps out, deck out. And then they threw my softball equipment all over the place and didn't take any of it. And it was a really nice glove and cleats. And I was just like, all right, not all right. These guys stole also not athletes. I was pretty mad about that, but yeah, I'll see these, these videos and the first comments are always, well, you shouldn't have done that though. Bad place to park your car. You don't have any lights. And you're just thinking like, okay, this is exactly what I need. I'm posting this to see

if anybody can recognize this person. It's also part of the process of filing a police report. I show them the video. Is there any kind of video? And now all I'm getting here is a bunch of assholes telling me what I did wrong. When you know what would be really nice, and I think this is the biggest problem,

not maybe just in the world, let's keep it to the country, is that most of us are trying to do the right thing. And then somebody does something wrong. And then it's like, yeah, but maybe it's really your fault. And you're just like, what? How is this my fault? Anyway, lock, yeah, but maybe it's really your fault. And you're just like, how is this my fault?

Anyway, lock your cars, but be nicer on the message boards. Okay, NBA, 10 minutes or less. Here we go. Anthony Edwards watched that game last night, T-Wolves and Suns. It was a great win by the T-Wolves. Admit it, if you were still watching that one

or if you're a Minnesota fan, you're probably like, all right, we're probably going to lose this one. I mean, Phoenix had their dudes. They had Paul. They had Aiton, who was tracking those fourth quarter minutes.

He's now ninth in fourth quarter minutes for the Suns in the month of March. But he did play more last night. So, yeah, they had Booker. They had Bridges, Sharich. They were good to go.

And Minnesota beat them. And they beat them because Anthony Edwards scored 40 points. So here's the list. The youngest beat them because Anthony Edwards scored 40 points. So here's the list. The youngest players in NBA history to score 40 in a game. LeBron, 19 years, 88 days.

Kevin Durant, 19 years, 220 days. Excuse me, 200 days. And now Anthony Edwards, 19 years, 225 days. If you've been paying attention to Edwards, he is feeling himself this month. We've seen the dunks. We knew the efficiency wasn't great. I'm not worried about any of that right now. I'm just not.

What I'm looking at is a number one overall pick that's supposed to help change the course of your franchise. They all can't be LeBrons, and most of them never are. And look, we could even scale that down a bit from Blake Griffin at one point was a really nice first overall pick. It'd be easy with recency bias to be like, eh, was it? No, Blake was awesome. Blake was really, really good for a while, added to those pieces.

That's what you're looking for. Is this a core guy that can kind of be our one or two on a decent basketball team? Because I think we should always lower our expectations for draft picks. However, this year, the class, we'll get into that a little bit here. But if you're watching Edwards, we know the dunks.

They're stupid. But there's something happening with Edwards that also reminds me of what LaMelo has done as he looks like he's easily the rookie of the year to this point. And I don't know if that's going to let up at any point. So I have a bunch of things that I want to hit on. So we know the stats there for Edwards. That's right. He took 31 shots. He is letting it fly in March. He was 4 of 6 from 3, ended up 4 of 13, so he kept bombing away and missing. But he did get to the free throw line 13 times, made 8 of those, and he had an incredible play where there was some confusion on the defensive coverage on the switch, on this elbow stuff, where they had two guys in the elbow,

and it looked like they were trying to get Towns to the top of the key, because Towns just can fire, man. I mean, that guy can shoot. For some of the stuff that I wish he were better at that I don't know if he's ever going to be better at, the guy is lethal in that pick and pop because he's such a great shooter. So it makes him, it'd be great if Towns

were the second best player on the team. I think that's what we're learning about Towns and probably where his career is going to be. So they had a play where Edwards ended up in a switch where he gets a deep seal on Chris Paul and Paul, who it's well-established, not breaking news how much I love, Paul realizes defensive mismatch here physically. So I need to make a quick swipe at this if this guy's going to even think about it.

And Edwards made a quick move off of Paul. It was a huge shot at that point, and it was really smart because he knew exactly what to do off of that play. But here's the bigger picture with Edwards, where Jim Peterson, who does the color analyst work for the T-Wolves, I don't know who's better than him. I'm not saying he's emphatically number one, but he's incredible. He's prepped. He weaves in commentary and observations perfectly. And he brought up a good point, which is I think anybody that's watching this going, okay, I'd like to see a few more assists.

He had three assists with 31 shots last night or just creating for others, hockey assists, some of that other stuff. But again, I'm not worried about it because some of the overall numbers are scary. He's got the second worst value over replacement player of any player in the draft. He's the sixth worst in plus minus. There's some other stuff that's really bad. And even though he's overall 32% from three for the season, he's 34% this from three for the season, he's 34% this month,

and that's with two disastrous games this month. I think he had another game where he went one from 10 for three, but what we do like is that he's attacking. He's constantly attacking. When we look at ball handlers coming out of college, going into the draft, you're like, okay, he can get to the hoop, but will he get to the hoop in the NBA?

Now, it's never been easier to score in the NBA. The spacing allows a little bit more room there, but it's still, if they're going to load up on you, and you're seeing this with some of the Zion defensive stuff we saw in the Portland game last night, where, okay, Zion, you want to just get a takeoff and get downhill, then we're going to start shading more people

to you, and then Zion will make the adjustment off of that. The scary thing with Zion is you can put three people in front of him, and sometimes he's still going to get through all of you without fouling, and you're probably going to foul him, and sometimes he's still going to get through all of you without fouling, and you're probably going to foul him, and then he's still going to get a really good shutoff. He had an and one that didn't count that was as impressive as any play I've seen from him this season.

So back to Edwards. Edwards is big enough, he is quick enough, where he can get to the hoop at will. And that is an unbelievable starting point for anybody that's going to have the ball in his hands a lot. Because I don't know that there's just a million guys that can do this. We think there are, and there aren't. If we go back to this draft, Kyra Lewis out of Bama, who also plays for the Pelicans,

one of the things that jumped out immediately, I was like, wait, this guy can get to the hoop at a different level here. He can get you off the dribble and he can finish. And you're seeing some glimpses of that in the NBA, where I think there's other college players where you go, you know, I don't know if he's going to be able to turn the corner. And if he turns the corner, is he actually going to be able to finish at the rim? Is he going to be shut down? And that's where a lot of college scorers' careers end because they can't make that transition. Edwards not worried about it whatsoever. But the shooting numbers are impressive because they were so unimpressive at Georgia. When you watched Edwards, he was 29% from three on eight attempts.

It wasn't just that he was sub 30. It's that he kept shooting them all the time. Bad shots across the board. Now, it wasn't a great team. I'm sure Crean was probably wish there were a few less attempts there. And look, even Edwards now is taking some where you go, all right, that one. I mean, that's just hard. That's an impossible shot.

And maybe he grows out of that. Maybe he doesn't. Maybe in a few years, we're like, oh, it never really happened for him. I don't know the answer to that. But right now, I don't care if I'm a Timberwolves fan because I'm thinking, hey, we don't have a bust here. We have a guy physically. And I think from a mental standpoint, he doesn't have so much respect for the NBA

that he's afraid to do some of these things. All right. So I don't care how bad the metrics are on some of this. I just like some of the stuff that we've seen so far. Now, what does that mean about LaMelo? Well, there's a similarity, but there's also a difference. Now, yes, I didn't know what to do with LaMelo after the Australia stuff and even Lithuania. Now, for some of the shit that I take because of it, I just have to own because I didn't think he was going to be this good. I didn't think he was going to be rookie of the year. But closer to the draft, one of the other pods that we did

that you're never going to hear about is that I was like, man, some of the teams that I do trust when we get closer to this that got LaMelo in are like, yeah, man, there's a lot more to this guy than we thought. Because LaMelo in Australia and anybody that wants to, go find it. It was ridiculous what he was doing.

Lamello shot 25% from three on seven attempts per game. Now you could small sample it and go, well, it was only 12 games and maybe that was part of the mistake, but there was an approach to the game with Lamello that I went, what is he like? Why would he do that? You know? All right. Okay. So we took a 30 footer off a screen and he didn't really have to, but, and then he just let everybody run past him and transition off of a miss. Like what? Like that's not going to go over very well. No one's going to like that. So where Edwards, I think is built mentally where he just shows up to an NBA game going like, Hey, I'm supposed to get 40 on you guys. And yeah, it takes some bad shots, but if I do that, I'm also going to be able to dribble

past you. So I'm not respecting this as much. Where Lomelo's success, I think, is almost different in that he has so much respect for the NBA that I didn't see in Australia. And I don't blame a teenager who is out of high school after two years, ends up in Lithuania for eight games, goes to Australia and then bails on that deal where they lost most of the games that he played in and then shows up to the NBA being like, okay, now this is a better fit. This fits my skillset. And now I have more respect for not only the game, but I have more respect for my teammates. And if you want to call him a little arrogant, who gets you, I'd rather have arrogant than a guy that's out there doubting himself. And that was also off the week, you know, here in LA, people were freaking out that he was

like, yeah, LeBron, whatever. Like, I just look at things differently. I'm not going to sit here and tell you, like, I can't believe I get to play on a court with him and I'm going to be in awe. I don't think Lomelo said anything wrong, but I mean, going back to high school, Lomelo was 34% here in the States and the eight games in Lithuania, they couldn't get them out of there fast enough, whether it was the family or the coaching staff that trashed him on the way out and called him lazy and arrogant. I don't know what to believe with any of that. I just know that watching the shot selection and the percentage that were going in, it was a disaster. And now that he gets to Charlotte, he's like, look, I don't, there are going to be a couple you may not like, but he's,

he's shooting 37%, 38% now on five attempts. So his shooting has gone up. Edwards has gone up, not to the point where with Edwards, you want him to keep shooting these because that number has to come up at some point, but they've both been better shooters at the NBA than they were prior to this, which is actually pretty surprising. Now, if you look at the Lomelo substitution pattern in the fourth quarter, I don't think anyone is talking about this, but I've noticed it because I like watching the team play and I'm still kind of fascinated with some of the Lomelo stuff that'll happen, but then also big picture.

Because if we do the big picture with both of these players, you'd be like, okay, we're excited now, but where does this go? But I'm telling you, I'm just not worried about that. This is a little, I don't think concerning. I just think it's really telling because I think Borrego is a terrific coach. I went through the last couple of weeks of games in the fourth quarter substitution pattern for Lomelo. Lakers last night out at the fourth quarter mark of seven minutes.

They brought him back in with 143. The game, they were already down 11. All right. So he took him out for that chunk where they were trying to come back. The Kings game, they took Lomelo out at 546 to the fourth, brought him back in at 102. The game was tied, so he did bring him back in there in a big spot, but he missed those chunks.

Denver, the Raptors game, they were both sort of blowout, so he was subbed out in those, so it's not really a great indicator. Detroit, though, fourth quarter, he was out at 834, brought him back in at 324, so missed five minutes in the fourth and then subbed him in and out two more times really working on defensive possession substitutions portland um they brought him in um in the fourth look they let him play they were down 18 when he was in in the fourth he went for 30 in that game sacramento he was out at 807 of the fourth back in at 521 so only missed about three minutes

there, then subbed him out again defensively. Lamello right now is seventh on the Hornets in fourth quarter minutes, so there's six guys playing more fourth quarter minutes, and I don't know if his numbers are going to go up or if they're going to go down, because Devontae Graham is now back as well and has been back. It's just something I've noticed. now back as well and has been back. It's just something I've noticed. Their defensive problems usually start with LaMelo. And with a young kid, I'm not even that worried about any of the defensive stuff. I think the conclusion of this whole deal is if you're either of those fan bases, you are thrilled about what you have right now. But it's kind of telling. I don't know what the answer is to it in that you have two guys that shot it so poorly that actually look like better scorers now,

which is not really the way that it's supposed to work. And sure, I can worry about the defense of Lomelo. I can worry about the sub-patterning. I can worry about maybe guys because you've got to be ready for Lomelo. His 0-60 is so fast. And I'm not saying he's the fastest player with the ball in his hands, but that part where he goes, okay, now this is the angle I'm taking and I'm going. If you aren't ready for that, you're toast. Edwards is probably as quick,

but he also has the physical part of his game where he can get through you as well. Yes, I'm a little worried about what it's going to look like when D'Angelo Russell comes back. He's like, hey, all those shots that you're taking, I get to take those now because I make the worst decisions of any player that gets the ball a lot in the league. And I believe that with Russell. But the early returns for whatever version of a season we're seeing here right now, the anxiety before the draft and then those first couple of weeks where you're like, do we have something? You both have something. I don't know what it is right now, but it's better than I think anybody could have thought except for maybe one dad.

12 minutes. 12 minutes. All right. You know, we're getting there. Just look at it this way. It's free. Right? Bruce Feldman, we have him on all the time.

He has arguably, I think him on all the time. He has arguably, I think, one of the best mock drafts out there for the NFL because of his intel on college campuses and also NFL teams wanted to ask Bruce what's going on. So from the athletic, you can check that piece out. Also part of Fox Sports. So let's just start at the top. You work with Urban Meyer. He's running the Jags.

It doesn't seem like this would be all that complicated. When you talk with Urban, whether it was on the air or off the air about Trevor Lawrence, give me some feedback. He was enamored with him, Ryan. I think he obviously knew he was good, but I think it went next level for him last year. I guess it's 2019 now. When they beat Ohio State, who by the way, he has all sorts of connections to, he was on the field and he saw a gauge of just how athletic that Trevor Lawrence is. He ran away from what Urban Meyer sees as very athletic, fast guys.

And that wowed him. I think with Urban, he is more of an absolute guy than probably anybody in football I know. And what I mean by that is, it's like, if he totally buys in, it's the wow is the greatest thing ever. And if he doesn't see it, where it's not really on his radar, it's not dismissive, but it's a little like that. There's very little gray area with him. And so I think when he, when he watched Trevor Lawrence athletically saw that he's like six, six, you know, remember Urban had, um, you know, he had Cardell Jones was a huge man with a huge arm, but for the most part, you know, I think just seeing how much bigger

Trevor Lawrence was, how he operated the athleticism piece, because again, this is a guy who all the quarterbacks he's really had with, I want to say the exception of maybe Dwayne Haskins, they were really mobile quarterbacks. I'm not saying they were all great NFL talents. You know, you go back to his time at Utah, Alex Smith, good athlete. Then you got, you know, Tebow obviously was more of a runner than for him and i think the character aspect of what he's heard about trevor lawrence from people i think he trusts i think that's another big plus for him to hey this is a guy i can make as my franchise quarterback you know what i'm always surprised reading any of the draft stuff though on trevor lawrence is we've watched this guy for three years why is anyone surprised by his athleticism anymore? I mean, I can imagine maybe just some guys were busy and they didn't get to watch it, but that's one of the first things that you notice with Lawrence. It also

reminds me a little of the Andrew Luck thing where towards the end of his career, and then they see what he run, they're like, oh, you know, he's a little bit more athletic than you think, which again is just code for like white guy, which is fine. I mean, I'm not like offended by it, but I'm just always surprised to think like, this is your profession. We've seen it for three years. None of this should be a surprise anymore. Trevor is a great athlete and can actually separate a little bit from linebackers. Yeah. And I, I look, I, I talked to somebody I really respect in the NFL, uh, uh, this week, and we got to talking about Mac Jones at Alabama. And one of the things that had come up was people were trying to say, well, you know, his arm isn't great. Well, Joe Burrow's arm wasn't great. Thing is Joe Burrow was way more

athletic than maybe, I don't even want to say, I guess some people wanted to give him credit for, I mean, Joe Burrow was a great basketball player in high school, could have played college basketball, but if you watched LSU and I know you watch them a lot, you saw him make a lot of plays in the run game. And so I do think there is, you know, like maybe a skepticism. I don't know if necessarily, you know, I think people knew that Trevor Lawrence moved, you know, if you watched him. I just think in the case of Urban, I don't think he had watched him that closely. And let's seeing him in person. I think there's a really what I think it is with urban. It's a, when I see it with my own eyes, he believes it up till that point. I think he's kind of nonplussed by it. So it's safe to say you'd be shocked if they didn't take Trevor Lawrence

one. Yeah, I would be. I just, I don't see him going, oh, I'm going to go, you know, ride on Zach Wilson or, or Justin Fields or Trey Lance. I just don't see him doing that. I mean, he knows how valuable a quarterback is. And this guy checks every box. I mean, one of the,

one of the things that, that did come up a little bit in talking to college coaches with Trevor was, well, he looked terrific in the national title game as a true freshman against Alabama. And then he didn't look great against LSU. But we got a pretty big sample size of him in big games that's rare these days for a college quarterback. Most of these guys, they're not there as a true freshman on that stage, but they're playing in big games, whereas he really

did. It's not like he had a great offensive line in front of him. Now, he did have really good skill guys and a terrific running back, but it wasn't like he had what the offensive line Mac Jones had in front of him in Alabama. Let's get to Wilson. Give me the good and the bad.

Who do you have going number two to the Jets? The good is amazing arm talent. Really accurate when he throws on the run. Very comfortable making all sorts of off-platform throws. The not-so-good, his size isn't great. You know, like, is he 6'2", 210? Size isn't great. You know, like, is he 6'2", 210?

You know, that's not great size in the NFL for a guy who moves around a lot. And so one of the things that came up with one coach I spoke to is, you know, look, Kyler Murray's tiny. Kyler Murray, this guy doesn't run as well as Kyler Murray, but Kyler Murray took a beating last year. Do you last if you're really small or not very big in the NFL playing that position? Drew Brees is an exception. There's not that many guys. You look at a lot of the quarterbacks who played a long time in the NFL.

They are much bigger men. And again, with Zach Wilson, he had a phenomenal 2020. But 2019, he was banged up the whole year, played hurt, but was banged up. So it's like, if you're going to invest a fortune in a guy at the number two pick, you know, durability is going to be a concern. I'm not saying it's a reason not to take him, but that is a concern. The other thing you would, you know, I heard a little bit with him was, through no fault of their own, because of the way COVID affected non-Power 5 programs, BYU's schedule got really deflated right before the season.

So he didn't play anybody with a lot of talent. So I think that's another thing that is another consideration. I don't think it's a reason why teams will will gong him for that but it's that i think it's like i think they would like to see him a little bigger or maybe a little more durability concerns with him um again especially the other two guys who are in first round consideration they're much bigger dudes you You know, Trey Lance is like linebacker-sized guy. Justin Fields has that frame as well. So I think, again, it's not to say that somebody's going to take him off their board. It's not like he's 5'11", 185.

I mean, he's supposedly 6'2", 210. But again, that is something I think that for the top five pick, that is something on people's minds. Yeah, I really like the line, too, about one of the NFL people saying, hey, look, Russell Wilson's short, but he's thick as shit. And when you look at the hip and ass of a baseball player, like a lot of times, that's what we're talking about here. And so for everybody that ever looks at any short guys,

and then you're like, okay, but Russell Wilson is just stout. He's put together. Short, he's not small. Right. He's not. No, I mean, he's not tall, but he's, he's thick. He is thick. I mean, that's why he covers up his abs in Instagram pictures with his wife because he does, he doesn't have the six pack and he's ashamed of that, which I don't think he should be ashamed about.

All right, let's get to pick number three. You get the dolphins taking Jamar chase at LSU. We know he opted out of the season. Look for as great as Jefferson was with the Vikings as a a rookie i thought jamar was the better receiver in 19 i honestly i like i was arguing with people about it being like why do you guys and then jefferson lights it up i i'd be i'd be shocked if jamar wasn't even better agreed um the thing you talked to and i know a ton of people inside that lsu program and guys who worked at the n level. They think his physical strength, you're talking about thick as shit. Jamar Chase's lower body is like a running back. He's a guy who can separate. He makes contested catches. Everybody raves about how competitive he is. And you turn on the film

of him in 2019, he faced a lot of cornerbacks that are going to play a lot in the NFL and he ate them all up. You know, and I would go go back to we're talking about playing on a big stage LSU was down 17 to 7 really the only time they were in a hole in 2019 and they Clemson was basically hey we're going to try to man him up and it wasn't like he left guys in the dust he just just made plays on guys. And that took over the game. And I think he had over 200 yards receiving that day. And it wasn't like, who is this guy? He is everybody's top priority. It certainly wasn't Terrace Marshall.

It wasn't Justin Jefferson. It was him. And again, going back to the guys at LSU, they're talking about every day he's going up against Derek Stingley jr. Derek Stingley jr. Would be probably the highest rated cornerback in this draft. He was eligible to come out and he would go up against him every day at practice and he won way more than his short share of battles. So, uh, this is a really good receiver draft group. I just think this guy is the best of the best. And I would be stunned if he was not a Pro Bowl receiver, you know, by year two and went to a lot of Pro Bowls.

I think he's that good. Okay, Atlanta, you have fields going here. The way you talk about the rest of the picks, like, I don't know where you're at, and I'll ask it this way. Give me the name of the player and the team where you feel like this is the one that's constantly repeated, where it's like everybody in the mix sort of thinks, hey, this is who they're taking there. Because the way you wrote this up,

it makes me think that it's not just a fit that you think Fields is actually going to Atlanta. Part of why I think is just the need of a quarterback. And I think if it comes down for them to Justin Fields versus Trey Lance, I'm not saying they're going to take him because he's the local guy. I think that would be just, it's not Jesus from bad business is probably the wrong term to use for it. But I just think you have a guy who has been, who has played at a higher level and there's

probably, you know, I think Trey Lance physically is as good as there is in this draft at the position. I mean, if you watch this pro day the other day, and granted it's a pro day, you can overhype those things, but the ball just really jumps out of his hand. And he played in a pro style offense. The only thing he does not have is he didn't play. Like when I talked to to guys I know you're asking about fields but just not this thing on Lance when I talked to guys who faced him they would say hey one of the defense coordinators said you know we had our best athlete the guy would play in the NFL had a free shot on him and Lance just made a miss and made the first down and that's great that's impressive on film

and everything the thing to keep in mind though is that's one guy and that's impressive on film and everything. The thing to keep in mind though, is that's one guy. And that might, that guy who this guy's talking about, he might be the 35th guy on the roster when you, in the NFL, you got a bunch of those dudes around, you may not be able to, you're probably not going to make those plays. He's not Lamar, you know, he's a terrific athlete. He's not Lamar Jackson, terrific athlete. Um, and the same thing, Justin Fields, what I had heard, which I think he's going to be probably more so than Lance. I think he fits into the category more of a boomer bust player. From the stuff you like athletically, I think he is even, you know, this also fits in the category of what you said about Trevor a little bit. I think he's more athletic than people give him credit for.

You watch him, you talk to coaches who see him on film, and they said, when we got him in the games, he ran away from guys we know that can move. And those are backbreaker plays where you think you have him. His arm is really good. I think the things people worry a little bit more about Justin Fields, and I think maybe this is a thing where, hey, if he does not have to be the guy right out of the gate, and why Atlanta could be intriguing there, is he can develop some of the

things where he still hasn't played that much football. He played basically a year and a half. It wasn't like, let's not say that this was a full season that Ohio State just had. So I think that element of it is in terms of his decision-making downfield. I think some of the other stuff, like he was great against Clemson. He looked really shaky the time out before against Northwestern. And he looked like he just didn't have a lot of confidence. Um, that was a good Northwestern defense. I don't have a problem with the Northwestern game. I just, I don't, I know everybody does. I'm sorry. I just jumped you, but yeah, I, I feel like they just dropped everybody. And then Ohio state didn't figure

out to run sermon until late. And then he goes nuts. And I think it was just, that is actually a good secondary for Northwestern. I say it to everybody every single time. I don't think that that one was on him as much. I'm not telling you it was super accurate, but I think when you're that young and you're watching that much coverage, you're just like, all right, you know, it's just hard to find the lanes. It is, and it's not just Newsom is a first-round corner.

The safety is an all-American player, Brandon Joseph. They have guys that are really well-coached. Again, I think he seems like if you're going to take a quarterback there, I honestly think they will take the guy who has the more high-level, faced high-level athletes on a consistent basis. If it's between him and Trey Lance and they feel like

they need to take the quarterback. Okay, so give me the good and bad with Lance then because you have him going eighth to the Panthers. Yeah, the good is the physical tools are eye-popping.

Not quite a Josh Allen arm, but it's a wow arm. He moves really well. He's really tough. He has a quick release, really quick release. Um, and he played in a pro style system where I don't think he's going to struggle as much transitioning now that the, the not so good and people are going to say he was a one year wonder. It was a long season. They played. I think the, the, the more of a challenge is not just the one

year wonder. It's just, there're so much better than everybody else they play that I think that, you know, again, it's that. And I think Trey Lance is going to be a really good NFL quarterback. I don't think he's got, like, bust in him. I just think it's a matter of, you know, I've seen people compare him to Dak Prescott, you know, and Dak played a lot more and obviously played at a much higher level in the SEC. But in terms of an intangibles guy, you talk

to people around Dak in college, they raved about his intangibles. You talk about, I actually think Trey Lance has a better arm than Dak. He does, by the way. Look, I mean, everybody wants to talk about Dak now and good for him, but there's a reason why he went later. Like if you watch the Mississippi State games, like I wouldn't say it's as inconsistent as Kellen Mond, who people seem to like now, which I think is kind of weird. But, you know, Dak was inconsistent at Mississippi State. He was. He wasn't bad, but he was. There's a reason why he went later. And I think Trey's a much more physically gifted thrower of the football than Dak was coming out. Yeah. I mean, one of the, um, one of the coaches I talked to who faced him actually had seen, had played against or coached against, um, Andrew Luck. And he actually thought that Andrew Luck was the comparison. You talked about Andrew Luck's athleticism. Andrew Luck played a lot more football and played a lot more competition. But in terms of, you're trying to find a guy who is a 6'3", 235-pound athlete who throws it really well. I don't know if Andrew threw it even as well as Trey Lance does,

but you're looking for who is built like a linebacker who really runs well. I mean, we're not going to say Cam because Cam's built like a defensive lineman who runs well. But it's just, you know, I think it fits into that Dak Prescott mode. You know, I think he throws it much better than Sam Darnold does. Sam's a big guy.

He's not quite as big as Prescott, and certainly I think as big as Trey Lance. But you're trying to find some, somebody, if you have to compare them to somebody who makes a lot of plays can run, um, but throws it. And it's just like in the NFL,

there isn't that guy who's that size outside of maybe Dak, who I can think of. It was like, yeah, I could see that. I think he throws it better than Dak did coming out of college. Like you, um,

it's just, you know, I think if he goes to the Panthers, I think if I'm Joe Brady, I got a lot to work with and I'm excited about it. Okay. Give me a player who either negative or positive, you were like, you had a thought, you kind of thought you knew what people thought of them. And then the more you started talking to, I don't know if it's the college or NFL guys that you talked to where it surprised you, where you were like, oh, wow. I know it seems like the consensus is this. And I thought people thought this of this player. Yeah. Uh, I would say, uh, Patrick Sertan, the cornerback size DB out of, out of Alabama. Um, there's some people I talked to who really like him. There's, there's more than one who I talked to who are a little skeptical. They think he's

a little stiff as a cornerback that maybe he manned up as a safety. Um, again, when you're talking about a top 10 caliber pick and they like his length, but you know, one of the coaches said, you know, like you can hide some things in Nick Saban's defense more than you can in, you know, in other systems. Um, so I don't know. That was one that I was like, huh, this guy may not, may not be as great a cornerback as what people would expect for a top 10 quarterback cornerback. Like he's going to be Patrick Peterson or something. Um, that was not, again, I talked to one person who thought he was really good. And I talked to another person who thought he was good, paused and I talked to another person who thought he was good,

paused, and was like, I don't know if he's more than a safety. And then I talked to somebody else who thought he was like the fourth best cornerback, and they basically said, we can attack him. We're attacking him. And that guy thought J.C. Horn, much more talented player. Now, J.C. Horn is physical to the point where he's grabbing guys and you wonder he can get a little sloppy, but this is an interesting cornerback group because you have JC Horn who's physical and nasty and athletic. You have Caleb Farley, who's long and

super fast, but some people think he's not physical and wonder about him, you know, as how good of a tackler he is. And then you have Sertan, and those are all high-level guys. Then you've got a Northwestern guy who's running 4-3-8, and people think he's the fourth corner, but he may be as good a player as those other guys. Yeah, and for those that may not know, Joe Horn's son is J.C. Horn, who is another first-round pick. You mentioned this.

The Sertan thing I thought was really interesting because I had heard that. It wasn't this year as much, but there's another stretch of his career who is another first round pick. You mentioned this. The Sertan thing I thought was really interesting because I had heard that. It wasn't this year as much, but there's another stretch of his career where I feel like people around it were a little frustrated with him. So it was the big name. He kind of carried himself a certain way. I'm not saying it's Taylor Mays.

Taylor Mays was one of the most revealing in-person, like the mysteries over. Watching him in person, because when you see him, you're like oh my god this guy's a stud he's a top 10 pick he's he's and then you watched and you went ah I think would have been a great bobsledder right because he was super exactly what you want to hear from your scouts yeah no it's just like that's the thing I don't know Taylor Mays would have

some knockout hits I remember I think they played Arizona. I felt like he knocked two guys out of the game. Well, he could hit, but he played like 30 yards off the line of scrimmage in an Oregon game we were at. We were like, what is this? I think they worried, you know, he was stiff. People saw that. I mean, should he have let his body grow and just be a defensive end and be a pass rusher?

I mean, you know, talking to him, he was like, I think I could get up to two 65 and carry it. And he's the guy probably would have had a six pack. I think he probably would have. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he was, he was nuts. And then, you know what, it was Carol took, uh, Earl Thomas. Yeah. And Earl Thomas was a playmaker and, you know, they didn't know what, what really, where Taylor fit. Yeah. The Taylor thing was,

because I was with McShay and Stanford Steve, and it was an Oregon game. And those two guys know football far better than I do. But it was just like, look at this. What's the plan here? What were you doing with Mays? And then it quickly didn't work out. A couple other guys I want to hit here.

Future Hall of Famer, the linebacker out of Penn State. He's a top 10 pick. That line jumped out, because thatbacker out of Penn State. He's a top 10 pick. That line jumped out because that's an aggressive scouting report. It is. The guys I know inside Penn State on that side of the ball think he is a

remarkable talent. There's athletic guys and then there's ultra-athletic guys. And just 6'3", 245, he is a big linebacker in this day and age. And he will run like a DB. Um, the other thing that really popped when I talked to people who've been around them a lot at Penn state too, was that he was the guy, if it was fourth and two and they had

the ball, he was like, or fourth and four, and they had the ball and they're in the red zone. Hey, maybe we should run a fade to Micah, get him on, let him play both ways. Like he was the guy who go like in high school, let's get our best athlete out there and just, he's going to dominate it and he's competitive. And so, um, one of the things that came up from one of the big 10 coaches I spoke to is like, you know, I'd always heard about him. And then you see him, he pops up in big games, like their biggest games, he was making plays. Now there's an element of him where he hasn't played that much football, and he hasn't played that much linebacker. So he's still pretty raw, and he opted out. Um, so I think he's the guy who is, he might be Devin White, you know, Devin White was the, the, the best defensive player on the field in the Superbowl. He plays at a different speed. Right. And, and you know, this Devin White, when he was at LSU, he came in as a running back. Um, he is whatever he is, you know plus 245 and he's gonna run in the high four forms that's

michael parsons michael parsons was you know wasn't a linebacker that much and so i think to me he could be that devin white guy and again devin white's super young still right and devin white is what is i don't know he's's 22 still or something. He's going to be great for, I think, a long time and keep getting better. I buy the Micah Parsons stuff. The two guys who I think, if you said, who has the best chance of being Hall of Famers would be Micah Parsons and Kyle Pitts, the tight end from Florida. I just think those guys are unique athletes at a time where we're seeing a bunch of unique athletes. If I had to add a third, is it Sewell the tackle

who's going to go probably top five here, who maybe in another non-quarterback heavy class is arguably going to go one or two? So if we're talking the three safest picks, do you think it's Pitts, Parsons, and Sewell? If you ask Mario Cristobal, he would say that. And he would say it privately, he would say it privately he would say it publicly i mean the guys at oregon talk about sewell he was a difference maker for their program

in terms of how he ratcheted up the physicality and the intensity um honestly the guy might say if i had to go between him between sewell and jamar chase i might say jamar chase you know and again i go back to what, what you said earlier on, we're talking about Jordan Jefferson. This guy was better than Jordan Jefferson. Jordan Jefferson just ate the NFL up as a rookie. Um, so, or Justin Jefferson, I'm sorry. Yeah. So I just think that, you know, it's one of those two guys to me they're to me they are the safest uh ones in terms of that you know like i don't know this do we have to worry about panacea putting on 30 pounds in the nfl and his weight going to be an issue i don't think so because everything i've

heard on oregon is he's not that way but again you know he's still so young i i just think um you know it's it feels like it's easier to project a skill guy than it is an offensive lineman. Yeah, that's actually a bit of a shift. I think that, you know, there are some, I mean, because we had stretches where wide receivers were flaming out all over the place. Like there were, there's draft. Yeah, right. I mean, there's draft trends where you can look at first rounders and think like, hey, this is this is, you know, what's going on here? You know, if I went back through it, I could go, hey, from this year to this year, all these first rounders, it wasn't really happening.

And now, you know, as I've said for years, like all these quarterbacks that we keep talking about, you know, two or three of these guys aren't going to be good. Like, I don't know if that's the way it works out. Yeah, right. And I mean, it's been going on for a long time. All right. The last thing I want you to share with me is the davante smith stories i could listen to stories about the heisman trophy winner all day tell me what college coaches were telling you about him when they went up against him the craziest thing i heard with davante smith was one of the coaches said after their first series what their players came back to silent go he's telling them what coverages were in and he's basically going to the rest of the guys in the bunch

formation or the other receivers and he's calling it out before the snap and that really fucked with this particular team because it's like oh my god what are we getting ourselves into that game was a complete blowout and so this particular coach and new guys on the Alabama staff afterwards, they were like, Oh yeah, he does that after drives, he comes over and he basically debriefs with the staff and the other receiver group about what they just saw series to series. Like he is that savvy, that football smart. And then you start getting into some of the other...

I don't even know if they fit into intangibles because we're of the mind that, okay, a 40-time vertical jump is explosiveness or whatever. But it's like his football speed is way different, right? And just because he's so smooth, you underestimate just how sudden and how fast he is and his ability to run by people. But it's the football smarts thing that when you heard it from other coaches in the SEC about what

they got on the field, to me, that was one of the wow things, right? Because I got so much stuff on some of these Alabama guys because a lot of coaches I talked to had faced them. I got so much stuff on, on some of these Alabama guys, because a lot of coaches I talked to had faced them. You know, I got a lot of stuff on Landon Dickerson, a lot of stuff on Najee Harris and on Mac Jones, but on Devante Smith, like I could have written, I don't know, written a book on him, but I could have written a ton of stuff just because it was just so much. It was mostly glowing. The only things that were negative, even remotely negative, were just like, he looks really skinny. And you wonder how long he will last at that size. But just the way he is, how football smart he is, and how that translated

on the field and made everybody better. Man, if he's around at 15, if I'm the Patriots, I know they have a horrible track record, at least the drafting receivers. And I know they've tried to address some of this. But man, I would think, obviously, Bill Belichick knows Nick Saban and trusts him probably more than any other college coach. He could probably tell him a ton more about that in detail. Bruce Feldman,

you could follow him at Bruce Feldman CFB, his work on the athletic. Check out that mock draft. I know they're doing all sorts of promotions too for the site. If you're not sure

if you want to sign up, but it is worth it. And it's what's great is every player, he's got intel from NFL people, college people. There are very few people as plugged in as Bruce.

Thanks, man. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, Ryan. Appreciate it. Shep Rose, Southern Charm joins us seven seasons in. We know each other vaguely. We hung out for an afternoon, but unfortunately I had stuff to do and everything was closed anyway. His book is out today, Average Expectations, Lessons in Lowering the Bar. And Shep is with us now. What's up, man? Hey, Ryan.

Yeah, guys, all the listeners out there. Brian and I kind of connected on Twitter, and then I was like, dude, I'm going to be in your hood. And you were super gracious. You gave us beach chairs, and you actually came down and got a little sun. We jumped in the ocean, had a beer, and I appreciate that. That was really gracious of you. Well, look, I felt bad because there was something going on that night where I had to, I was like, I have to, uh, I have, I know I was getting warnings from Max Homa and other

guys. They were like, are you with Shep? I was like, yeah. They're like, do you have anything to do the next two days? I was like, actually I have stuff I have to do tonight. They were like, get out of there as soon as you can. So, um, anyway, that, that leads us, go ahead, go ahead. I jumped in. You know, it's weird though. Like since I'm, I'm a big fan and I listen all the time and I don't know if you've ever heard this from other people, but like, so you're in the car with me a lot, you know? And you almost like think that you're buddies before you even met you're, you know, have you heard that before? Have people said that to you? Yeah, it's actually a really amazing compliment and you can forget it because I think about

somebody that performs in front of an audience, like you're connecting with the audience, right? You're there. But I mean, in a way, that's what we do on the talk show. But when I was doing the stuff at ESPN, I didn't really even think about it. I didn't think about the number of people that were listening or watching me. It just was a weird thing. Like I would just kind of look at Saruti or I'd look at Stanford, Steve, or whether it was canal or Van Pelt in studio.

And now in a podcast where I'm, I'm in a room in a bedroom by myself, just kind of sitting here doing it. I don't really think about it. And I think we're pretty open on the podcast. We always were on the radio show that it, it's a huge compliment when somebody comes up and says like, Oh,

I feel like I know you. Cause I actually am very much like the guy on the air in real life were on the radio show that it's a huge compliment when somebody comes up and says like, Oh, I feel like I know you because I actually am very much like the guy on the air in real life. Yeah, absolutely. And honestly, but that can also get us in trouble too, because you honestly think you're in a conversation right now, but you don't understand that there's hundreds of thousands of people. And it got me on trouble on Instagram before, like videos where I'm like doing something that I think that maybe my friends might find funny, but other people might find not funny at all. You know? So yeah, let's start from the beginning. Let's, let's get your, your background, Charleston, South Carolina, um, which shockingly I have not been to, I've never heard a bad thing about it. Everybody loves it. So it's this,

it's this Southern community. And I've been to the South enough. I think I understand the South far better than other people from New England. I've never been anywhere, but you know, you're hanging out. You're kind of a known guy in this town. You've got your social circle and then you're kind of pitched to be on this show. So let's start at the beginning. No, that's not how it went down. Actually. I'm from Hilton head Island, which is two hours South of here. And it's like this beautiful, like little golf course laden resort town. And, and my mom would like open up the back door in the summertime and I'd ride my bike and she'd be like, come home for supper, you know? And like nothing bad could happen. Me and my buddies wreaking havoc in the neighborhood. And there was just no danger.

And it was just an idyllic place to be. And so I'll try to be as brief as possible. So let's fast forward to when the show is going on. I graduated from Vanderbilt Business School. And I had lived in Dubai in between my first and second year and got a job offer to move to Dubai and work there. It was an amazing summer. I mean, again, that's in the book as well. But so I came and then like 2008 financial crisis happened and Dubai was

overdue. Like people were leaving Dubai. Nobody was, jobs were not happening. So I had to recalibrate and figure out what I was going to do. And I was, I was trying to franchise a restaurant, believe it or not, um, out of Atlanta, this, this like noodle bowl, rice bowl thing concept that I actually thought was good. And I, and right around that time, it just sort of died on the one yard line, which was heartbreaking, um, because I put so much work into it. And, um, but then as fate would have it, I met the creator of our show at a rooftop party here in Charleston. And he was like, my friend was like, yo, this is this guy. He's putting together a show. And he had just moved here with his, um, his mother. Well, his mother had moved here and he he's, he's older than me and he was visiting and he just thought Charleston had some colorful, interesting characters, which it does. And it's very historical, Charleston, you know, and there's these old families and a

lot of subplots and stuff and it's kind of cool. And I had a business card at the time that said, go fuck yourself. And it was one dude punching another dude in the balls and I handed it to him and we just became fast friends and we had a wild night and he was like dude you would be perfect for this show I'm putting together and I was like well I'm not you know I don't actually live here at the time I was looking to move here and he was like well look just think about it and you know we'd love to do shoot like a sizzle reel with you somewhere.

And I was like, we can go to my family's farm. And so we went up to my family's farm. I'd never been on camera before. We had a bunch of oysters and steaks and whiskey and shotguns and skeet and all this stuff. And we filmed for an afternoon and it was crazy. And I was like, I'll never see these people again. And lo and behold, someone at Bravo, CAA liked it first, and then they shopped it and Bravo

got it. So that's kind of how it started. Yeah, because when I was going through the book, I guess the Hilton head part of it, I didn't think of it, but it just felt like, hey, we have to do this in this town and let's get this crew of guys together. And at that point, you had been, it's very clear from the book and from the show, you like to go out and you're sort of notorious, right? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, honestly, Charleston was a place. I don't know if you know towns like this where like everybody wants to live, but it's like not easy to make a living here. You kind of have to be entrepreneurial and do your own thing. So Charleston will chew you up and spit you out. It does it to a lot of people. And it had done that to me a couple of times. So I did have sort of a presence here. And then the show hit and then we were villainized.

I mean, nobody in the town was stoked about having a reality show here. And especially the old guard, where he thinks everything tacky. And I said in the book, I'm like, yeah, I mean, I became what I despise. I looked down my nose at reality TV. I thought I was like into high art cinema and shit like that. But it turns out entertainment doesn't really matter how you do it. As long as you put someone's mind

off their troubles, put a smile on their face. That's the important thing. So what was it like then to go from the excitement to being on this? And then anybody that's been on reality TV, they're not there to hook you up, right? They're not there to take care of the guys. Well, they're fair most of the time, but they want you to have ebbs and flows. That's why people watch. Oh, boy boy i'm sorry that's taylor right there calling me i apologize that's bad for radio um it's fine no this is good

oh anyway yeah so you know sometimes you'll be sort of honest or inflammatory um and because of whatever mood you're in that day and you'll think nothing of it and sort of forget about it, little do you know that that becomes something, something bigger. And so you only know what you're filming. You don't know what everyone else is saying. Maybe someone picked up on something you're saying, and it becomes like an organism, like a big monster. And so when you're watching the finished product, you know, months later,

after the show's wrapped, you're watching and your eyes start to pop out of your head because you're like, oh my God, I'm the villain. I'm the fucking villain, dude. It's happening. And it's kind of frightening. And, but then, then the next season you're redeemed or whatever. So yeah, I had a good one this season and I got Taylor to thank for that big time. What's it like with the family part of it, them seeing it and, and, you know, I mean, I imagine at times that's really challenging. Um, I don't, I'm not sure who even watches it anymore after seven seasons. It's just like, whatever, but they, my mom and dad were on it early. Like I, which was a delicate thing because i don't want to fucking

exploit my parents you know but but bravo loves it and and as well they should because it's like shows you know who i am where i came from and so they were on and it was fun but my mom got my mom got screwed with one of my dad's friends pretended like he was a TV executive and he called my mom and was like, we liked you on TV. We'd like to talk about doing something else with just you. And I'm not saying she bit hard, but she bit hard enough to where everyone started giving her grief once the cat was let out in the bag. And so she was pretty bitter about that for a little while. Okay. So what I've, I've seen a few episodes, we've talked about my, for whatever reason, I just love the below deck franchise. I know you do. That's awesome. I know, I know a big below deck guy for whatever reason. And then I just couldn't, I'm like, like any of the shows, if I watch a few, then I kind of want to know what happens.

And that's kind of the, the addict form of form of reality TV. And when I watched your show, I don't know which season it was. I think you guys were on a ski trip. I might've been on a ski trip too. So that could be a whole weird thing where it was like, I was stuck in a hotel. So I had three episodes in a row. And for the life of me, I could not keep track of who was sleeping with who. And I knew that that's like a lot of reality shows. There was an old guy in the mix. I was like, God, that guy seems a lot older than everybody else. So the whole thing was, was kind of hard to keep track. And then I did more research today. How like, are there no one, are there no other people to sleep with in this town? Like what's going on with you guys? Yeah. I mean, the first few seasons was pretty incestuous and, um, I mean, look at like Vanderpump, for example, they all got married

and shit and are now having kids. So it's funny how that works. But yeah, I mean, the ski trip episode, we went to a dispensary, like on camera, went to a dispensary, got a bunch of weed and got a weed chef to cook us a meal. And I got super baked and and on camera and I kind of get a lot of compliments for it because I when I get stoned I just get giggly and funny so I I really like that episode uh so that's cool that you saw it yeah that was you guys were pretty uh pretty sideways in that one but then I think people were going to bed early too I think that was an early maybe I don't know I don't I'm trying to keep track of the different episodes, but you were, go ahead. We ran out of gas early for sure. Early. Yeah. I did remember that. Okay. But you were dating another one of the, the characters, right? I mean,

not at that time. No, no, not that one, but weren't you dating someone on the show for real? Like at some point. Okay. So how's that's that work um we started dating right uh like before season one and i went to costa rica to like get my head straight turns out it was a bad idea i ended up just getting absolutely sideways all the time costa rica's funny man like you know they say pura vida bro like live the good life and you get down there and it's like fucking cancun you know and everybody's jamming hard and so i was trying to live the good life i didn get down there and it's like fucking Cancun, you know, and everybody's jamming hard. And so I was trying to live the good life. I didn't, but so we sort of drifted apart. And so I entered season one with, um, Danny, who was my ex at the time, a new ex, and we still had feelings for each other. So we had a little bit of a thing on camera, but

I've stayed single the whole time. I think that's why the audience was really sort of surprised and happy and stoked for me this year with Taylor and it worked out well. So it's good. I just, I fear now if and when we continue to do the show, how it's going to hold up because it can be strenuous, no doubt. She was really impressive because she's younger, but she doesn't, I could see people from the outside saying, Oh, well, of course she wants to date ships. Now she's going to be on this show and then she's going to have her spinoff thing and all that. She seemed like she was over that from the beginning, man, even just talking about it,

just eye rolling. And I was, I thought she was hilarious in that it felt very genuine that so many other people would have been like, this is awesome. I'm with this guy that's on this show and he's famous. And now I'm going to write. And she seemed to want nothing to do with that. I don't know if I'm reading that wrong, but that's how I took it. That's absolutely on point. And, you know, I can smell that from a mile away. I mean, not to pat myself on the back, but I can tell, you can just tell a lot of, sometimes girls in the past are like, someone go up to you. I don't know who you are. And you're like, okay, I don't know who you are either. And then like 30 minutes later, they'll let it slip. They'll like ask about another cast member

and you'll be like, you definitely watched the show. And it's all good. But Taylor was not like that, is not like that. But she was great on camera. So credit to her. Okay, another thing that you mentioned, because I did see, I think there was a different episode where there was some gala, which I think there's a lot of galas in the South.

So I mean, I hate tuxedos. I hate wearing a tuxedo. I'm always made to wear a fucking tuxedo. Well, maybe that was one of the deals because I think you were rocking some kind of like reverse deal with white and black lapel. And you guys were shit faced like early.

Sometimes little trick that the producers will do is they'll say like oh hey you know we're going to start shooting we can't get dinner over here until later so that they want you on an empty stomach full of makers and that like it seemed it seemed to think that there was maybe maybe some entrapment going on a little bit well no not at all i mean what it is what it really is, is it's a lot of hurry up and wait. It's a lot of hurry up and wait. And what are you going to do? You're going to go to the bar and you're going to start slugging drinks, get a little loose.

So it just so happens that there's alcohol provided. And I'm happy to partake because we have a lot of fun. I mean, of course, there's some happy accidents and some gaffes and stuff, but I don't know. I'm not going to go there, man. I don't think it's that. I don't think they're out to get us. Quite the contrary. They're very generous, you know,

and they take care of everything, which is just kind of cool. You're filming and you're having a good time. Okay. All right. All right. All right. All right. My investigative work. Not,

um, do you think Andy Cohen likes you? Cause when I've watched some of the, the late, there was one where he, he felt like the vibe when Dale Earnhardt jr. And you, which is an incredible lineup for the show for,

for Andy. I think Andy's incredible on television. I'm a huge fan of Andy Cohen, but when I watched one of the episodes, um, watch what happens live, he seemed to be, he didn't seem to be clicking with you that day. Um, I disagree. He's the, like the busiest guy on earth, by the way, he's got like 15 different things he's doing, like dating games. He's got his radio show, all this stuff. He and I are friends. We, we talk offline. I mean, I'll text him. I'm careful not to overtext, but, um, and he gets right, he gets right back to me.

Um, I consider him a friend, although we've never really sat down over a meal, uh, but one day soon, maybe. So maybe you just read that wrong, but, uh, but he has a job to do and, um, he's good at it. He's really, really good at it. So he's, he's really, he's really good at what he does. I feel like I'm reading a bunch of things wrong here in this interview. All right. So let's keep going here. Um, what else do they have? The book, uh, you make a reference to Walden, which I really dug because I remember reading that in high school and an aside, I, for whatever reason, picked up Walden two and thought it was lame because I was like, why would this guy just do another one? It's really not even remotely the same thing. And I remember being 16 and getting

an argument with a professor about the whole thing, which sounds a lot like your upbringing where you were, you were fighting with everybody all the time, but you know, you've had a pretty ridiculous life. Um, and I know that it's held against you at times. And I don't know if that's something that's, that's more today, um, the animosity towards the people that come from, from a successful family and a long line of people. I mean, I know I could tell the way you were writing, you were almost writing in anticipation of the blowback from you mentioning successful family members. I hear you, man. And I can't tell you how many times on Twitter,

I'll say something, maybe it's anti-Trump or something like that. What the hell do you know? You've never worked a day in your life. Your mommy and daddy give you money. I'm like, no, they don't. Like, yes, there is a cushion. There's no doubt. But I have my own thoughts. Like you said, I've read a lot. I've traveled a lot. I've seen, I've met people from all over the world and from all different backgrounds. And I've come out, hopefully, as a decent human being. But like, what bearing is it on anything? Like where, who my mom and dad or grandparents are. But I hear, I don't know what it is, man. Like they call me like the lucky sperm club

and stuff like that. As if it's like a bad thing. That's actually kind of funny. Like I chose who I was born into. By the way, I wouldn't have chosen anyone else. Like I'm super happy, but people like to harp on that. And so honestly, this book, a lot of it was like setting the record straight, being like, this is actually how it went down and who the players are. And I think that part is interesting. And I hope people, I don't think it'll ever put it to rest

because people are always going to talk shit, but it's a weird, that's a weird flex, isn't it? Like being like, yeah, you, you,'ve got a lot of success in your family, you bastard. You're like, sorry, I'm sorry. Yeah, it's a weird, I don't know. This whole thing is kind of a circular argument. By the way, Rosillo, I'd be remiss if I didn't tell everybody that when we rolled up to Rosillo's house in Manhattan beach,

he was definitely shirtless and glistening with his, uh, you know, pecs out. And I was kind of like nervous, you know, cause Taylor was with me. I didn't know what was going down.

What sort of, what sort of, uh, pheromones you were, you were throwing off. No, it was, that was,

that's a very, very real concern. And, um, I, I put a shirt on immediately. So I was like, I think it might've been a tank, but I just wanted to be sure. Okay. When somebody new comes on the show, and this is back to my old housewives days where I would go, uh-oh, all of them are going to hate her because the other one's new. So, you know, it's, it's like the established thing. And then my favorite thing with the housewives would always be like each season, some of the newer people would be like, I'm going to be a singer, but like,

now I'm going to be a model. Now I'm going to be a dancer and I'm going to have a perfume line. And you were trying to find a way while you were on the show to also have some other thing that was going to benefit from you being on the show. So when a new cast member comes on, like, how do you guys handle that? Knowing that there's probably some territorial part of it that you guys were on there from day one. There's none of that. Honestly. Um, I, I, I feel for the new members because, um, they have to find their little place and it's not easy because we have our cadence and how we talk to each other.

We know everything. And so it definitely takes like at least a season for you to find your bearings. And being on camera is a pretty jarring experience. I mean, I kind of got used to it. I'd like to think rather quickly considering. But yeah, your head is spinning for that first year. kind of got used to it i i'd like to think rather quickly um considering but yeah you're you're just your head is spinning for that first year and so i try to help as much as possible but a lot of the

times i'll look in the corner and whomever is the new cast member doesn't really know what to do with themselves and i empathize okay five questions here we're gonna go rapid-fire we're bringing this back for you chef all right all right it's time for five questions what's the deal with Dubai really it's awesome dude it's so cool I got so lucky so I got there and some people messaged me were like hey there's this guy there who went to bandy law school and you should hook up with him he's a great guy and so he was friends with this guy who whose dad was like high up in the royal family and he had this amazing house on one of the fronds on the palm you know that that like yeah made man-made island that looks like a tree and he had like an infinity pool of a beach a

private beach volleyball court, two Filipino maids that would bring you beer and lasagna. I would order lasagna just to see if they could do it. And an hour later, they come out with a pan of lasagna. I was like, this is amazing. So I had a pretty cool in to it. And you know, a funny story is in Dubai, the lower the number on your license plate means the bigger deal you are. Like, so if you had like number one is the size, the crown prince, you know what I mean? So, and if you had like triple, even triple digits, like inside of 999 means you were a big deal. So we became friends with like the head of the CIA's son, who like went to school in the West was a really cool guy. He really we got along great. And he was just a maniac, dude, he would drive around and act like a just a badass. And he would like, you know, look at cops and cut them off, and they couldn't do anything. So it's kind of cool. Man, I'm dangerous. We even get that information out there on the pod oh my god we're gonna be like

gonna have like people breaking through my windows black outfits perfect transition have you ever had your ass kicked no i haven't it's amazing i've come so close i mean obviously i run my mouth but for some reason i'm'm able to break it down at the last second and somehow figure it out. I did get knocked out once, but it was by a great friend over a game of PS2 football in college. I was just out of my mind and talking shit, and he just didn't like it. So maybe that's the one time.

Okay. All right. Because I have a theory about height where we have a friend who's like five, nine, five, 10, where we're like, if you were six, one, six, two, you would have been beaten up a million times, but because you're five, nine, five, 10, everybody's like whatever, but you're six, five is what we're hearing. Um, so I don't know if that saves you. I think it works as my advantage because you don't know that I'm a skinny punk. I mean, you're just like, Oh, this guy's imposing. So I think people back down sometimes, honestly.

Imposing? Of course. This is what others tell me. Okay. Give me the most famous person that hit up your DMs. My DMs? I mean, I'm proud to be friends with Danny McBride, who lives here in Charleston. And Colin Jost and I have gone surfing in Puerto Rico together. And so, yeah. What about females?

Um, well, some, one of your old colleague, Michelle Beadle and I are buddies. So I'm, I was always a big fan of hers, but,

um, no, like a list actresses. They're, you know, they're pretty badass. Yeah, they don't. They're not going to stoop to my level. That is not a good move, says their publicist and agent and manager.

Okay, what have you been told you can say about this A-Rod controversy that you talked about nonstop for the first two days? Oh, my God, I've gotten in so much trouble. I mean, not a lot of trouble, but I mean, there's no roadmap, right? To answering questions about things that are on the cover of a magazine involving very famous people.

And then, you know, so I'm gonna bow out and just say that, honestly, I can say this. I know it's just as much as you know. It's been written about ad nauseum and I've stupidly contributed to some of it, and I'm going to stop doing that. All right. And for those who don't know, Madison LaCroix, who's on the show, there was a rumor that she was being DMed by A-Rod, and that's not the A-Rod I know, so we'll just leave it at that. Oh, yeah. That's not the A-Rod I know. So we'll just leave it at that. Okay. All right. The best place to travel solo in the world. South America, man. Just choose your, you know, people forget about South America.

I lived in Europe one summer in college and traveled all around, did the train thing in Europe and had a great time. and traveled all around, did the train thing in Europe and had a great time. And then my dad was... My dad grew up in Italy because his dad was an international businessman. And he was like, you should do something else abroad. And I found a thing in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

And this program through NYU. And I just think South America is badass because Chile and Brazil, I traveled all around and just found it amazing. So that's my advice to everybody. All of that stuff is in there. The travel stuff is really cool. Uh, the new book, Shep Rose, average expectations, lessons, lessons in lowering the bar. Um, man, I'm, I'm really happy that you got this out. I know it was a lot of hard work and I hope it kicks ass. So thanks. Oh, thank you, Ryan, man. I'll keep listening. And, uh,

you guys are great. Thank you for helping my life as I drive around and do mindless tasks. We should have you on for a relationship one. That'd be great. Oh man. If you could, I mean, I don't think you've ever let anybody sit in on life advice. I think that's like your sanctity, but boy, life advice kicks my ass in a funny, funny, funny way. Yeah, we had the fitness guy on. You must have missed that one. But we'll hook something up, man. Thanks a lot, Shep.

All right, brother. Talk to you later. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Okay, a couple items we have to get to now.

This is almost becoming the meeting at the office, but we do it at the end, which the difference is people want to stick around for this one. I posted something to Instagram about Legends Clothing brand where they made me some custom stuff with a logo and my name on it. I only have a couple of them and I gave one to my brother. So maybe something in the future. I'm a huge fan of their clothing and a huge fan of the brand. We are working on something, but I don't know if it's ever going to be something that's available to buy. So people were asking. There you go.

All right. We got that one out of the way. Okay. We got a couple of fight ones that were pretty good, but I don't know if I want to fire you guys up on a Friday. I'm worried. Kyle, don't you think that want to fire you guys up on a friday i'm worried kyle don't you think that's a bad idea it's like three fight questions in a row all right yeah enjoy your friday let's do one let's do one because i like it good choice and then um somebody else kind of did like a longer thing but i just thought it was good i thought it was

well written so maybe i'll just leave everybody on a positive note with that because it's not Somebody else kind of did like a longer thing, but I just thought it was good. I thought it was well-written. So maybe I'll just leave everybody on a positive note with that because it's not straight advice. All right, so here we go. Kyle sends it. I got into a fight last week, so no doubt this is why he grabbed it. Okay, short backstory. Best buddy, Ruman, and I were out smoking a late-night cigarette. A jokester comes by saying he remembers selling us cigs back in the day down a few streets. We laughed because we thought the guy was a local and we obviously didn't buy cigarettes from him on 63rd street in Philadelphia.

One that couldn't have been farther from the truth. And it's an odd thing to say to someone you've never met. All right, look, late at night, you guys are out there with a couple of late darts. You never know what you're going to run into. He carries his joke on for a little while. My friend and I lightheartedly say, okay, time to move on. Anyone half a brain walks away. Okay, but none of these have been drinking. I think he carried on this dumb jokes and annex for another five minutes. My friend Ben and I are not being the assholes here. We hang out, let whatever happens happen. Then the kid took things to another level. As a joke, he started slamming his hands on car hoods and screaming, never funny.

So basically, that should have been your first warning when you're like, hey, this isn't funny. And he starts smashing cars, screaming, never funny. He started pushing people who walked by. He started doubling down on his bad jokes and screaming curse words into the air. He said it was very inappropriate. So Ben and I, who are much bigger than him, stand up and repeat, it's time for you to go. He laughs it off and starts apologizing. At the same time, our other roommate who is he says self-admittedly much

smaller. I think science would also admit it too. Walks out to ask about the situation. We explain and he lets out a laugh saying, yeah, it seems like you should go. We're headed to bed. The kid immediately gets up in his face and shoves him saying he will fight him. So now we're 25, 30 minutes into this.

And the guy says not a word to me or my roommate. I'm 225. The other guy weighs 250. So the huge guy loses his mind on the kid and shoved him back a good hundred feet. It probably wasn't a hundred, but yeah, I get the point. All right. When I went near him, I lifted him up under his arms and threw him as far as I could. His friend kept him up. And when he landed, I pile drove him right back into the sidewalk. No punches. So his friend

just watched you toss his, well, his friend probably realized he's the guy that was making the jokes and wanted to fight your smaller roommate. He probably kind of knew that his friend was wrong. So maybe he didn't want to fight with you guys. And it sounded like you guys are big dudes anyway. All right. So no punches. Um, Ben and I are both not fighters. I guess I just kept saying Ben here. Sorry to Ben, but I, you know, maybe there'll be a couple of people, but nothing bad happens here. Ben and I are both not fighters and the entire time said to each other to avoid punches. It's just not worth it. I really hate fights, especially with my neighbors. Oh, so this is a neighbor. I understand it's a long story, but we avoided punches. The kid ran away because Ben and I jacked him up. We attracted a crowd and I'm truly embarrassed. Came to that.

I yelled at him and our entire block seemed to witness the fight. The question comes to you, should we have punched him? Ben and I are both bigger. The situation could have ended if we did. It infuriated us that he decided to pick on our smaller roommate 20 minutes after starting nonsense with us. He was clearly looking for a fight. If I wanted to give him one, he would have had it. But I know myself and I'm a fucking hothead. Okay. I think I would have detonated on the kid and Ben would have too.

But we both kept one another grounded and stressed no punches. So no further issues arose. In further situations, should punches be thrown or should we just avoid them at all times? Look, I'm not going to sit here on a podcast and tell you, no, definitely start punching people all the time. You guys handle this great. So if you're worried about, okay, I guess what you're saying here is that. These are his neighbors. There's two emails here, Kyle.

So I can't really put it together. All right. You know, this isn't, you guys actually were good in this. I mean, you, you roughed him up a little bit. He wouldn't leave you alone. I mean, it's an absolute loser move that he decided that then he wanted to fight

once he saw the small roommate, which is, you know, so that means he sucks even more than he'd already proven. Like there's no evidence in here. I'm like, no, you handled this wrong. This guy actually sounds cool. Hear him out about the cigarette joke.

Yeah, I don't think you guys should feel bad about anything. But if they're your neighbors, why are you going to have anxiety about it? He's the one that acted like an idiot. If anything, he should be coming over to you. Think about how that kid felt when he woke up. I mean, unless he's so detached from reality that it doesn't even bother him. But if he was just super banged up and being a loser, his day, the next day was way worse than yours. So you shouldn't have any anxiety about it. And if you run into him, he's the one that's

embarrassed, not you. And you didn't even really do anything that bad to him. And if people saw it, you know, there, there are times when it's like, okay, you know, we're at our house, you're screwing with us. Now you're trying to fight our roommate. You know, look, I don't, there's a certain age where you get to, you're like, I don't want to punch anybody anymore. And even more so, I don't want to get punched because I don't know what age it happens. It probably happens with boxers later, where when you get punched in the face, you're like, okay, this isn't before I get really mad. And now I'm just, I'm tired and ashamed. That hurt. Ah, that stings.

I don't, yeah, this isn't fun anymore. I don't like this. So yeah, don't worry about it. Stuff happens. And don't feel like you did anything wrong when you run into the guy. Cause you didn't really, you know, Kyle. I agree. Like there's like degrees of things like, you know, there's arguing and then there's like vicious insults and then there's like of things. There's arguing, and then there's

vicious insults, and then there's shoving, and then there's punching, and then there's weapons. There's different degrees, and you kept it under the punching, which is like... Weapons? Yeah. It's like a line that you can't uncross. If you punch somebody, you definitely punch them. If you pull out a weapon, like, oh shit, this is like...

This now becomes that much more real. It was like a shoving match, but not really, because you threw him into the ground or whatever but like he kept it under a certain threshold and i think he knew he was doing the whole time so that was super responsible good job dude let's get back to the weapons comment what um it's just it makes it it makes it like it raises the stakes like if the other guy has a weapon he's definitely but if you've been in a situation where that's happened yeah i mean people in poughkeepsie carry knives all the time so you've had a knife pulled on you i mean yeah there's like groups and things as well yeah of course i mean i don't want to say of course like no i mean no not really if anybody in poughkeepsie told you they're in a gang they're

probably lying but you've been in fights where somebody had a knife. Yeah. Yeah. Mahoney's guys go to their cars or whatever, you know, did anyone ever get stabbed? No, but it's like a pull, like then it becomes like word travels. It's like,

that guy's got a knife and it's like, it just, like, I just think it makes like not the fights are ever harmless, but there's like, you know know it's sort of an agreed upon thing it's like all right we're like we're punching each other here and then like if that if they're like a guy has a knife you're like fuck i gotta get like a brick or something i don't know it's just it just makes it like my whole point no i get that part i get the i get the right but i what i can't understand is the knife part we talking 13 and we talking 23 because there's a different level because there's a version of this story where it's like,

man, don't mess with Kyle. He has ninja stars at lunch. Okay. And then there's, I'm at a dive at 25. Exactly. No, it's exactly what it is. And somebody has a knife. Exactly.

So it's the older one. Yeah, yeah. Is Kyle the toughest guy at the ringer? I call him. Seriously. I wasn't running around wither? I call him. Seriously. I wasn't running around with knives. Do you think you could beat me up? No, I don't think so.

Once I get back into LA Fitness, maybe. Once they open up the capacity. Who knows? I might be a total fraud. Did you ever think about that? No, I haven't thought about that. But now, but now. Yeah, you don't.

There might not be anything. It might just be a small, no smiling and big arms. Nothing, nothing else there. Oh, shit. I don't even want to do the other one now, but let's, let's end something on a less hostile note. Cause I just, I thought it was well-written and, uh, let's do this. Okay. So when we had the Eddie Bauer email on that was brilliant, written the thin stripe of status, I believe was the line. And the lesson there was the father told the son, don't ever buy anything with a heart on.

We had a guy reach out and said, hey, I've never felt the need. So there's not, this is kind of a thing for everybody. So we're going to end it on a bigger note here, a macro deal here for everybody listening. I've never felt the need to write an email of this sort until I heard the story of a listener almost buying an Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer with his father. All right. So we covered that. First off, 51 years old, 6'4", 195 pounds. And last year he

benched 225 for the first time since college. All right. Nice, dude. I don't know how this happened, but we're just, we're doing these all the time now. COVID restrictions make you set some strange goals to pass the time. Writing that lesson seems absurd at my age, but traditions are meant to be upheld. Growing up, my father was also very no-nonsense with little time or inclination to give advice, help with your homework, show affection. So basically, he didn't do those things. He's a first-generation Croatian who grew up in Brooklyn. My grandfather died unloading a cargo ship. My dad was very young, so my grandmother worked multiple factory jobs to keep food on the table and a roof overhead. My dad joined the army right out of high school as

the GI Bill was the only avenue to attend college. He met my mother in college who'd been the valedictorian of West Chester High School with a banker father and librarian mother. He was a classic kid from the wrong side of the tracks, but they've now been married 61 years, so they knew what they were doing. To return to the point, the only exception to my dad's disinclination to give advice or show affection was when I was a child is when he'd been drinking. He was just a social drinker, but if he had a couple too many, he would wander into my room to say goodnight after dinner with other couples in the neighborhood. He would sit on the edge of the bed and open up about how he wanted an easier life for me and my

sisters than he had, how material things were not important, but experiences were, and how nothing and nobody comes before family. He also dispersed many turns of the phrase similar to the hard-on adage that your listener recounted that often took me years to make sense of. One such nugget is when he told me when I was 10 years old, it is better to be smart than intelligent. You have a chance to be both. Don't waste it. As he slowly pushed himself off the bed and weaved out of my room, I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought smart and intelligent were the same thing, so I did not think much of it at the time. But with most of the precious advice he gave in those revealing moments, it is something I have

seen proven countless times over the next 40 years. So we're talking about 10 year old kid here, dad, a couple sippers in them. I can't fathom that experience. I mean, granted, it's awesome that your dad, when he had a few pops, wanted to like connect emotionally because that was something he couldn't do normally, but that would freak me me out i can't even fathom like my dad just being like all right gun to your head mountain jam or elizabeth reed man you should move to dubai i'll visit that's a great you know your dad's been like hey you want to get wings? That would be just so weird having your dad be like, I love that. That's a great shirt. All right. So back to this. My dad has smarts and this is what allowed him to carve out a successful business career. Four kids,

12 grandkids, the traditional term for this is street smarts, but that undersells their importance is the ability to see all the angles, to read people and understand their motivations and to recognize opportunities early and take advantage. In short, is the ability to see all the angles to read people and understand their motivations and to recognize opportunities early and take advantage in short is the ability to get a feel for your environment and quickly understand how you can turn it to your advantage intelligence would fall under the traditional term of book smarts and needs no further definition both are valuable but both are limited my dad recognized that even though my 10 year old self was clueless at the time um his smarts took him as far as they possibly could in his career but he saw that even though my 10-year-old self was clueless at the time. His smarts took him as far as they possibly could in his career,

but he saw that limit and wanted me to have the skills to push further. My mom had the intelligence, so he just wanted me to not waste that opportunity to combine the forces. Imagine two people playing poker. One has the ability to read the room effortlessly, and one has no common sense, but can compute the varying odds down to a decimal point. it won't take long for the ladder to be cleaned out. Now, if you can do both, you have the chance to be Phil Ivey. My advice for your listeners from a professional standpoint is to aggressively seek out new experiences. Put yourselves into uncomfortable situations that

offer the chance for reward. Frequently take a step back to evaluate your environment and figure out what you can do to bend it to your will. In short, build up your smarts. At the same time, invest the time and effort to become as much of an expert in your field as possible. If they are smart and intelligent, it is all there for the taking. That's a shirt right there, Kyle. It is all there for the taking. That's a shirt right there, Kyle. Now, I'm no Phil Ivey, but I like to think I was able to put much of what my dad taught me 40 years ago into practice. I went down an extremely esoteric path of derivatives trading, first in the pits of Chicago before finishing on a cushy bank trading floor. I cannot tell you how many uber-educated Ivy League types flame out when the pressure gets ratcheted up.

At the same time, junior traders who don't get rattled still have to be able to understand the constantly shifting risks in order to stay on top of their positions. Not sure how useful this longer than expected thought exercise would be for your listeners, but I found it enjoyable to get it all down for myself. On a separate note, just wanted to say thank you for the years of programming. I've lived in Asia the last 13 years. All right. So, hey, there you go, man.

I thought that was really cool. I thought that was kind of a cool combo because not everybody's going to have both of those things our man's talking about. But if you feel like, hey, I'm smarter than everybody else, but I haven't put it to practice, or hey, I can read the room and all that stuff,

but I need... There are so many people that I've met, like, look, work in construction, we get it. You're not dealing with guys that had Harvard as their safety. but then you'll ask them about, I'll make this really simple, like lumber. And they'll be like, no, no, no. And they just have it down. You know what I mean? They have it down. They're like, hey, this is what the lumber market's doing. This is what's going on here because they've spent their life in it. So it's a really

good lesson in that just because you didn't graduate from the best school or maybe you didn't even go to college or maybe you didn't kill any grades and all that different stuff, it's a really good lesson in that just because you didn't graduate from best school or maybe didn't even go to college or maybe you didn't kill it at grades and all that different stuff. It's not that hard to master understanding a market or an industry. If you really want to put that time into it, it's kind of like buying a house in a way where if you start the process of looking at houses in a place that you want to live, but you put that time into it years before you're actually making the purchase, you'll know, you'll know and be like, okay, this is a good price. All right, that's a bad price. All right, prices are up. Like, what's going on? I think you're going to apply what our guy is saying here in the email to a bunch of different industries for the younger people out there listening. So there you go.

All right. Good stuff. Get you fired up for the weekend. Enjoy the tournament. And that's what I'm going to do the rest of the day. So please subscribe. And as always, spread the word. Thank you.