The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Is Ben Simmons Any Closer to Leaving Philly? Plus Aqib Talib on His Career and Calling Games.

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

Russillo shares his thoughts on the latest developments in the Ben Simmons saga (0:34) before kicking around some ideas with Ceruti and scouting some wild takes for the upcoming Take Stock game (14:48). Then Ryen talks with Super Bowl champion and Fox NFL broadcaster Aqib Talib about calling NFL games, the Vikings-Cardinals nail-biter, his time in college and the NFL, the evolution of playing defense in the NFL, trash-talking, and more (29:28). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (56:05). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Aqib Talib Producer: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's episode we have a key to league fox sports and a couple different podcasts we're going to talk not only kyler murray and the vikings game he did this past weekend but also his time at kansas a little recruiting story stuff in there and his battles during his playing time. I have a Ben Simmons open and then Sarita and I are going to kick around a couple of things that we observed from the week and life advice. Enjoy. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything

delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. We're going to do some football with Aqib Tlaib here in a moment as we said in the intro, but I want to start with a big story with the NBA, and that is the Ben Simmons saga as we now have official word from Woj,

who reported yesterday and in the piece that Ben Simmons is not showing up to camp. He's going to hold out, and it was even some strong language in there where he's never going to wear that NBA uniform again,

meaning the Sixers. So, all right, where are we at? Now, we had mentioned this as a possibility on the pod. I remember first hearing about it there where he's never going to wear that NBA uniform again, meaning the Sixers. So, all right, where are we at now? We had mentioned this as a possibility on the pod. I remember first hearing about it earlier last month. And then Bill and I did kind of a Ben Simmons thing together on this podcast. We're like, all right, is this really going to happen? After the Hawks series, it was bad. And I know that this isn't exactly breaking news to anybody here.

For the longest time, even though the Sixers six were a good team and who knows what would happen with that team that you know lost to toronto a couple years ago i still don't think it was going to win a championship against a healthy golden state but golden state ended up not being healthy i mean there's a bunch of moving parts you can't predict a future that didn't happen but even though they were winning games i just never understood how anybody could watch them play together and think that it worked and the hawks series was the culmination of all of those thoughts. If your analysis is it's going to work because it's my favorite team and I hope it works, whether you cover the team or just root for the team, that's never going to be something where I'd be like, oh, cool. Tell me more about your

breakdown. I also have always pointed this out. I always felt like there was this hinky supportive mafia that refused to believe that it didn't work basketball-wise because there was a bunch of numbers. Even Daryl Morey, who tweeted out, hey, look at the best five-man groups, plus, minus, and all this stuff. And it's like, look, what do we keep telling you over and over again? I learned about you as a basketball player in the last four minutes of a playoff game when all the starters are in and the shit matters. What do you run? What works? What looks good? What looks bad? And honestly, all of the Simmons and Bede stuff even though they had huge leads in those games and blew that series all of it looked bad and the ultimate part was

Simmons you know passing up an open dunk and then then Doc Rivers was asked afterwards hey is Ben Simmons a championship caliber point guard and Doc says I don't know because Doc is very honest and that rubs people the wrong way and then you had the Embiid reaction after all that, right? So there are some corners, I think on the Philadelphia side, not all, that are almost dismissive about this. And I think this has been met with the same kind of reaction, some media circles as well. It's like, okay, you want to hold out, but you're Ben Simmons. Like, okay, you're unhappy. Things didn't work out. And a lot of times too, there's not much accountability. It's always hard for all of us to be like, yep, this is totally my fault. None of us like doing that. Every now and then I think you have to do it. And in this case, it feels like Ben Simmons is not

going to do any of those things. There's just parts of his game he never got better at. And he's a weird fit, especially a weird fit with one of the 1990s style players in Joel Embiid, right? We saw all of these things happen. Now, I don't know how dismissive you can be. You can be like, oh, well, all right, Ben, you don't want to show up. There's also some pay structure stuff that we're learning about here that's pretty interesting. And that Simmons was paid 25% of his $33 million on August 1st, and then gets another 25% October 1st. So maybe that's why he's more inclined to not want to show up. I think there's also some ego-verse team in this where it's like, okay, you want to hold out? All right, well, we're not going to do you any favors here. We're not just going to give you away. We're not going to send you to show up. I think there's also some ego-verse team in this where it's like, okay, you want to hold out?

All right, well, we're not going to do you any favors here. We're not just going to give you away. We're not going to send you to the only teams that you want to go to, which I want to get to a little bit later here. But ultimately, you've got to kind of wipe out the ego part of this and do what's best for the team. And Simmons not playing

and not getting any assets back for him long-term, even though I think the Sixers are still going to win a bunch of games without him in the regular season, it's still an asset that you can use to improve the rest of your team, and you're going to have to get over it at some point. But I don't know if it's going to be ownership. I don't know if it'll be front office. I don't know if it'll be the coaching staff. But I think there's some part of that where it's dismissive to this point because the deadline is not here yet. And I don't even know what the deadline is. Now, let's talk about the public part

of this. From the Ben Simmons side, there's been talk that the Sixers could have done more. They could have been more supportive. Sure, Doc could have not said that. All of it's irrelevant. It doesn't matter. You're going to sell your story. You're going to sell your side. If you're part of the Ben Simmons team, you're looking out for your guy.

I totally get that part of it. On the other side, if you're the Sixers and you start throwing out some of these trade demands, again, the Golden State one that leaked out that is fairly accurate, Wiggins, Wiseman, Moody, Kaminga, N2 First, it's an absurd price. Golden State doesn't need to pay that kind of deal because it's like, wait a minute, we still have a pretty good team. We don't need to gut all of our young assets here to try to solve your problem. to try to solve your problem. You could also make an argument and be like, how does all of that fit for Philadelphia if they're a team that's thinking about winning the East or a championship right now with however they look post-Ben Simmons, right? So the public part of it, it's interesting.

We'll all talk about it. But whether it's public pricing or whether it's a public statement about how Simmons is undervalued and all these different things, it doesn't really matter. So now it comes down to what the value is. And you always kind of look at some of the leaked stuff. You go, all right, well, who leaked the Golden State thing? The Golden State leaked that offer just because they were talking to somebody. It was interesting. Or do they do it

strategically because they want people to know the Sixers delusional? Or did Philadelphia leak that price because they wanted to set the market for a player and be like, just so anybody knows, if you're calling us, this is the kind of stuff that we're asking for. I'm reading the Hagler Hearns book right now by Don Stradley, who came out last week, and they were trying to figure out Bob Arum and all these promoters, what they were going to get Hagler for that fight. And they were like, we're going to get eight million. And nobody believed that at the time. All right. Because it was an absurd number. And then there was a line in there that was like, look, just throw out huge numbers publicly and the rest will take care of itself.

That has been the Scott Boris playbook forever. Hey, so-and-so might be a half a billion dollar player. And then you get the player for $3 million. You're like, man, we saved $200 million. That is right out of the playbook of so many of these people. And that's also what happens to the NBA trade market. When we start to figure out what the value is for him we can't really look at some of the league stuff we can only look at like what the what the circumstances are now i am always on an island on this one and so i know a lot of people disagree but i just don't buy into all the bullshit and all the noise like if doc had been nicer like when people say like well you know doc didn't say he was an nba championship caliber point guard so you know you're gonna wonder what his value is around the league.

We know this about players. There's 30 different front offices. There's a lot of different opinions. Despite how bad it is for Simmons right now, you have to imagine there's at least five, maybe 10 teams that are like, look, we'd love to have this guy. We still completely believe in him and his unique talents, and if we get him in here, we can fix all of this stuff. Those teams

exist. I don't know what the list is, but I'll hear like every day the value goes down the closer we get to this. I don't believe in any of that stuff. I just don't. I'll use a baseball analogy. Whenever there's a big time player that has a year left on his contract that's with the team, or maybe it doesn't look like he's coming back and that team's headed in the wrong direction. I'll always hear baseball writers say, you got to trade him now because the value will go down all the time. You don't know that. You can't predict markets. You don't know if in the baseball sense here if you have a player you don't like any of the offers you go into the season by the trade deadline you could have three or four teams that

are in the mix playoff wise or reaching expectations they haven't hit for years and they're all impatient now they're all bidding against each other and even though they'll have the player for less the importance on getting that player then is much more of a priority than it was before they knew who they were. So you can't predict any of these things. I'm not saying the Sixers are going to hold Ben Simmons out until the trade deadline because the market's going to go up. But the concept and the argument that is made a lot on these is that if the Sixers had handled it in a better way, if they'd been nicer about it, that the value would be higher across the league. I just don't buy that, and I don't think it's this decreasing asset every single day here.

It's just a complicated deal because Philly doesn't want to just give this dude away. So let's look at some of the potential stuff. Even the Golden State thing that isn't going to happen, at least that price, and I think there's some confusion or some disagreement out there on how bad they even wanted him again if I've always said this if I'm Golden State why am I fixing your problem at an exorbitant price if you're Philly and you were going to get Wiseman this is like as much as I'd like the idea of what Wiseman could be I'm still not going to be shocked either if he's on a second

team in year four or five and we're reading the misunderstood Wiseman piece I still can't I wish I could invest in the misunderstood Mo Bamba piece that's going to happen in the next year or so and call that, but there's no market to be able to invest in those kinds of things. The Minnesota stuff, you've been over it, right? All right.

No towns, no Edwards. I get it. But when you're writing and potentially, you know, they don't really want to move D'Angelo Russell. I don't understand why Philly would even want D'Angelo Russell. He is best on a team that isn't very good and you can take a million shots and put up numbers.

The Golden State stuff, as we went over, like, all right, cool, a bunch of young guys in a backup center that you can never play with in B. Like, they're trying to come out of the East now. I think the San Antonio thing is a possible fit, but I don't know what the pieces are coming back from San Antonio that gets Philadelphia really excited. Sacramento, we've been over that, right? Okay, you're not going to dare on Fox.

He's kind of your marquee guy, but I can't have one of the other point guards. I got to pretend I'm excited about Bagley, and he's a nice player, but does he solve a bunch of problems? And I think Harrison Barnes is always somebody who's going to put up some numbers, but I don't know that you're ever really counting on. What you're trying to figure out is how big is the gap from Embiid to the next guy? And that's why, even though, look, the Celtics are interested, I don't think Terrell's going to do that with the Celtics.

The John Wall rumor that I've seen the last past week that I couldn't stop making fun of I just don't understand why anybody would want an unhealthy John Wall for 91 million I mean I get they're both repped by clutch but that's one of those rumors where you've got to kind of check yourself a little bit but again impossible things do happen in this league I just don't think Daryl would be signing up for $91 million in John Wall. I keep getting back to the Portland deal. C.J. McCollum, I feel like that deal has been there and it's been available to Philadelphia for a long time. And if you're a Sixers fan, maybe you're like, wait a minute, does that make us better? It may not be. How big is the gap between what Simmons is worth and what C.J. McCollum is worth. I mean, CJ just turned 33

days ago, even though he missed a bunch of games in another weird season. This past season, he's been pretty healthy, actually, if you run through the previous five or six. He's 40% from three for his career. The assist numbers are up to career high levels. Some of the metrics are good. The shooting metrics are really good. Some of the other numbers have gotten better. Some of the box score plus minus stuff isn't as good. Defensively, you'd have to worry about Seth Curry and CJ at that time. But if you've watched CJ,

and most of us, you guys listen to this podcast, most of us have watched him. You go, okay, he's not a one on a great team. There's twos that are better on really good teams. But the shooting, the ball handling, the playmaking off of Embiid that's giving you something you've never had in Simmons, I don't think it's a terrible deal. And maybe

that's what this ends up coming down to is that, all right, this makes the most sense. It's the best of all the assets. Now, I'll never pretend that I know all the stuff that's being talked about because I don't, not on something like this. So whenever I think about all these different pieces, I go, what have I heard? What have I even heard that's rumored that it actually is better and a better fit than C.J. McCollum at this point? It's not a million young pieces. It's not a bunch of unknowns. It's not John Wall at 91 million. There's one final thought on this. All right. What does this mean for the future of the league? Because we know, as we've talked about this, the NBA owners, they didn't like the seven-year deal, so they made them six.

They didn't like the six, so they made them five. They didn't like five. Five was only for certain people. It's really four. So we had shorter deals, guys, moving on. Then we had guys doing even shorter deals, player options, where it was a four-year deal, but it was actually kind of fake because it was three-year deals, the player options. So it was only two. LeBron was doing this year-to-year stuff constant.

But now players aren't doing year-to-year deals, the player option, so it was only two. LeBron was doing this year-to-year stuff constantly. But now players aren't doing year-to-year for the flexibility. They're just maxing out whatever their extension is being like, all right, I'll take the money and then I'll let you know if I want to bounce. The public has accepted. We have accepted that if you have a year left and you're upset, you can ask your way out.

We don't get as mad as we would have 10 years ago. We just have. That is the progression of being exposed to things more and more. It's kind of like patches on a jersey where you're like, oh my God, that's going to be the worst. You don't even think about them now. It's not exactly the same thing, but what I'm telling you is we become desensitized to things that we think we won't be just the more we're exposed to them. In this case, we've become desensitized for even being critical for a guy saying, hey, I want out. But with four years left in wanting out that's something completely different and the reason i bring this up in the final thought is because this will have a long term if this is the norm where you just max

out with the team you don't even want to be with to get the extra year and get the extra raises and then it becomes commonplace to then ask out like simmons is with four years left and he can bitch about how he was treated and all that different stuff, whatever. You're culpable in this as well. But if the norm is, I don't even care about free agency anymore, just give me the max dollars and now I can just try to just move on whenever I want, then cap space, building your team with a goal of having cap space in a couple of years becomes even more worthless than it has been. Cap space has always been an overrated

strategy, all right? Because you don't know. And for the seven or eight teams that have cap space that are planning on this guy and that guy, half those guys get re-signed and now they're almost all re-signing. And then you're left there with cap space and you're trying to figure out if Jabari Parker wants to do a one-year deal for 20 million, just so you can get to the salary floor and then clear the decks the next year. If guys keep signing long-term deals and maxing out as long as they're allowed to, and then think, hey, it's normal now that I can ask out with three or four years left and we're not there yet, then any team or front office that's telling you,

hey, we're designing this to have a ton of cap space in 2024 because a bunch of guys are going to be coming up. Look, Danny Ainge, when he liked me, told me this years ago. He's like, you guys in the media are obsessed with building for cap space. He goes, I like trades because I know who I'm getting. And most everybody is left with a bag of money during that offseason going.

We didn't get any of the guys we wanted because there's really only two or three. If you're lucky that are changing your franchise that much, it's usually that number is even lower. So you're planning for the unknown. And then when you don't execute the plan, your entire fan base is sitting there

and be like, hey, you kept telling me for two years you were doing all these deals to build the cap space. And now it doesn't matter. That was back then. I don't execute the plan, your entire fan base is sitting there and be like, hey, you kept telling me for two years you were doing all these deals to build the cap space, and now it doesn't even matter. That was back then. I can't even imagine how bad that strategy would be now. I want to bring Cerruti in because I always love talking NBA with him, and also because we're still working out the mechanisms on our take stock game.

We're going to give ourselves a month of NFL takes. Maybe a couple of college sprinkled in there before we have. But I know we have a couple that we're thinking about. But go ahead. I know you had something on Simmons. No, I would just say, I think, you know, what was the rumor that his preferred destinations were the two LA teams and the Warriors, right? So the California teams, excluding the Kings.

That to me, that's a massive red flag to me. Because you look at it and you go, okay, is he doing that because he wants to be in California? Because he wants to be, you know, Hollywood or in the limelight or I'm one of these, you know, premier franchises. That's kind of a red flag. I get it, but kind of red flag. But also just the fit there makes no sense. So he goes to the Lakers.

What is he, the fourth, the fifth option? And he's still, he's a max guy. He's making all that money. I mean, that to me, that's just not the attitude that I would want if I'm trading for that guy. Clippers, all right, I know they're without Kawhi, but still, I don't love that fit there. And then with the Warriors, it's the same deal.

Okay, so maybe the, what are you going to replace? Draymond or something and have that, again, third, fourth option on that team and be like a defensive stopper. Again, making all that money. When you were drafting the league, you were supposed to be this transcendent, different guy. And yes, the offensive game hasn't gotten there yet.

But if I'm Ben Simmons, I mean, maybe I'm overreacting here, Ryan, but I'm trying to look to go to a place that is going to save my career, like save me and turn me into the guy that everybody

thought it was going to be a couple of years ago. That's a Toronto. That's a Utah. That's a maybe even Golden State. Golden State would be one, even though I don't really love the fit. A Miami, a San Antonio.

I mean, Miami wouldn't happen for a million different reasons. But I would want to go to those teams. And I keep coming back to Toronto. And I'm like, you know, the Siakam deal is kind of interesting to me. He's what, 28 now. The Sixers are in win now mode. The Rappers aren't really in win now mode. I think it kind of makes sense for both teams.

The fit with Embiid and Siakam might be a little bit weird. But if I'm Simmons, I'm trying to fix my career. Not necessarily think about where I'm going to go where I could live in LA or hang out or be cool or something like that. I'm trying to become the guy who was the number one overall pick that everybody thought was the next LeBron, next whatever, even if those expectations were kind of ridiculous.

Yeah, I think the Clippers and Lakers thing, I mean, at this point it's just too late. Everybody's done their stuff and even though the Clippers are in this... Even before the, at this point, it's just too late. You know, everybody's done their stuff. And even though the Clippers are in this. Even before the Westbrook trade, though, I don't get it. The Toronto one is really interesting, though. And I'm glad you brought it up because I didn't I didn't include it in there. And I didn't include it for any specific reason. I just, you know, I was running through a bunch of stuff.

I was trying not to go for 30 straight minutes to start the podcast solo. I have some concerns about Siakam. Big time. I mean, he's heakam. Big time. I mean, he's one of the great... He's not the Kawhi Giannis level of development stories that were pretty rare for me growing up. That stuff just didn't really happen. And that's why those guys...

There's a part of their story that I don't want to say protective of, but I'm proud seems stupid because I don't know the guys. But those are rare instances. And to have like a couple guys like that in the league at the same time, at one point felt like we're the best players in the world. Like that's not usually how it happened. It's usually some guy from, you know, back in the day, it would be a big school and one of the top five picks. And then there's your hall of famer. And we're talking about finals MVP guys that you were like, what's, what's this guy? See, Ocum is a tier below that.

If you watch him in college and then where he went in the draft, you're like, all right, maybe I can kind of see it. And then he turns into what he turns into. That's an incredible journey for him. But there's stuff with him, whether it'll be some of the limitations with him offensively, and then how weird it got with the Raptors last year. And look, they had a million things going on with the COVID and they were kind of destroyed. But him being pissed at Nick Nurse and then him saying, I think recently,

I don't feel like I fit in or I'm the guy or something. It's just like, man, you're pretty good, but where do you think you are in the hierarchy of things? Which is actually kind of ironic because it gets back to the Ben Simmons thing. Because you talk to one team, you're like fraud. You talk to another team and they're like oh no no no this guy just gonna figure you know i would rather not build my team around a guy that i feel like oh no no no you know

it's looked bad but you get him with us and we'll we'll tailor everything to him because the janice simmons thing that is that is a there's a poor comp is ben is not wired like yannis not even close he's not because i was that guy i i was the guy who's saying put him in the yannis system spread it out get him four shooters let him play downhill in transition but i still think that's actually the way to do it but he's not going to be it's a poor man's version of that and you're not and what happened last year with bucks is not gonna is i just I'm I'm okay saying it's not gonna happen if you bring in Ben Simmons like if you if you switch Ben Simmons and Giannis and people thinking that like the Bucs would be obviously no one would think they were just as good but I think there'd be a massive drop off so I used to be big time

oh yeah get him his own team but now after seeing what I saw in the playoffs last year and kind of just like the attitude in the offseason this year like I don't blame him I get why he wants to get out um you know it's kind of his fault I understand this year. I don't blame him. I get why he wants to get out. It's kind of his fault. I understand that fully, but I don't blame him getting out. Let me ask you this. Hold on real quick, though. I agree with you on the Lakers thing,

but I would say after weeks of digging since the last time that we really talked about it with Bill and I, I think he and Clutch are far more open to just getting out of Philadelphia. Is that because they've realized that none of the destinations that they wanted actually are going to come to fruition? I feel like they've been humbled a little bit. Maybe. I don't know if it's humble. It also could be the timeline of what information becomes available to those of us that aren't.

Nobody needs to be checking in with me. There's a couple writers that you will tell stuff to sometimes it's just to make sure you're not burning them to keep the relationship good sometimes it's strategically but as the stuff cycles around in the nba gossip world uh the more the more i've heard about it the more that i think uh you know simmons and clutch are like hey look like the first things is to get him out, which would also scare me if I'm the next team. It's like, okay, so what are we? You're

Jets before the Vikings? Yeah. The question I want to ask you is if you're a Sixers fan, a couple years ago, if you're thinking of any Ben Simmons trade, when it first crept up and people were like, oh, they can't play together, he and Embiid, and you're talking about trade situations, I mean, you would think you'd get another superstar or another, at least, you like, oh, they can't play together. He and Embiid. And you're talking about trade situations. I mean, you would you would think you'd get another superstar, another

at least, you know, somebody, an all star, a couple all stars in return for Ben Simmons. Now, like CJ McCollum and Siakam are like the two best players you can get right now. I still lean towards CJ. I just think it's a better fit, even though I do. I think that, yeah, that's that's great value for the Sixers. No. But do I think that makes the Sixers a better team next year? I actually do. I think he's the perfect player that they need. Siakam, I don't know how he fits with Embiid. I still, you know, he's 28. I'm still like pretty bullish on him. I think he's a good

player. I think, you know, just let him get healthy and see what happens. But if I'm them and I can get CJ McCollum, I think the Sixers are a much better team with CJ McCollum than they are with Ben Simmons. And I would make that trade. I think that's the Portland argument. And there'd probably be another little piece there. But like if people were outraged, right?

If you're a Sixers fan, you're like, oh, CJ McCollum's a Pesky too. You're like, what, what player? And I'm, I'm admitting all the time and stuff. There's plenty of stuff I don't know. Okay. Plenty. All right. I haven't heard another name.

Like I just, I just haven't. Like there's, there's never been anything in over a month here of a rumored, like, hey, here's something. And look, we're always surprised all the time, but I don't know if the gap, perception-wise, I feel like the public perception of the gap between Simmons and CJ, just because of the way they've been marketed in a way,

is that, oh, CJ McCollum. I don't think the gap is really as big as the reaction would be if that ends up being the trade. Last thing I have for you on this is a question. Do you think, what do you think is the bigger problem

for Ben Simmons? Is it the way that he's played in last year's playoff situation and the lack of development on offense? Or is it that you'd have to take on his contract and also give up assets to get him? Because I don't,

I still think there are plenty of teams around the league that would take Ben Simmons and think they could figure it out. But is it more of them giving up the assets and actually having to pay him than it is the problems he has on the court? No, I think it's the stuff on the court. Because you're like, okay, he's a different kind of player. And he needs, as we've talked about this, he needs to be surrounded by a specific group.

Um, that's, that's more complicated than some other guys. And, uh, I would, I would be more worried about like, who is this guy upstairs?

That would, that would be my main thing right now. Like where, where is your head at with all of this stuff? Um, and we'll see. All right, let's do some of the take stock stuff we were we knew we knew

we were going to have to hold off because it takes a little while for the the world to get warmed up and start to throw some stuff out there but we had we had a couple right yeah i sent you guys in the group chat one last night that i thought was great uh quichon johnson he was asked to rank these three quarterbacks Kyler Murray Russell Wilson Derek Carr and he ranked Derek Carr as the best he would take Derek Carr over any of those other quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray I know he's had a great start to the year and I like Derek I'm actually probably one of the guys that likes Derek Carr more than the other the average person but there's no way in hell I'm taking him over either of those two guys. No way.

Well, all right. So we'd have to price this and be like, do you want to buy this thinking that that might end up becoming true later on? Now the thing is, you may not like the take, but what are the chances that more people would feel that way halfway through the season if Derek Carr stays?

Well, look, there's no way Derek Carr is going to keep this pace up. The guy's over 800 plus yards here two weeks in. I'd be willing to short that stock. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if we're going to have the short mechanism. People wanted to do that with a QB stock game, but I just wanted to make that as easy as possible for

everybody to play along. I would probably not buy that one. I would probably not buy that one. I can't fathom having anybody ahead of Russell Wilson except for like a couple guys. And right now, I'm probably as big a kyler fan as there is so yeah that one didn't i like he shunned i mean i got to listen to him all the time out here in la in the morning i think he's really good on radio so i uh that one's pretty aggressive though that one's pretty aggressive i know we had another one from florio but it wasn't really even a take like florio has tweets where we've mentioned it a few times.

You can feel, you can almost taste the seething anger through the words, through the post. And so what did he, he went off on, was he criticizing Saban or was he criticizing the NFL Network? I forget which one it was. So the NFL Network had, what was it? I think it was last weekend. It was the football, football life, Nick Saban, right? And they tweeted out NFL films. Everybody was pumped about it.

And Florio quote tweeted it saying, several years as an NFL assistant and two years as a mediocre NFL head coach. And he gets a full hour before coaches who won a Super Bowl. Okay. Who's next? Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, Bud Wilkinson?

Okay, so I see his point was that if his nfl network and you're not associated with the nfl then you're not allowed to have one were those the rules i i don't listen i don't i don't know who is the keeper of rules of who gets a football life and who doesn't get a football life but i i'll just say this um and i'm not gonna buy this at all because this has no redeeming qualities to this buying a stock at any price, really. Are there 10 guys that have impacted the NFL more than

Nick Saban has? He's put half the guys I feel like in the Pro Bowl on defense are playing for Alabama or played at Alabama. Now all of a sudden they're putting quarterbacks in the league. How many guys in the NFL have impacted the NFL by not being there more than Nick saban has and all right you want to give him the two years of mediocre play in miami okay but there are also probably dozens of franchises who would line up to sign nick saban up as their head coach in the nfl tomorrow yeah nick saban

would get almost any job he wanted uh in the nfl and by the way like the miami stuff with him always bothers me he went nine and seven and six and 10 and he didn't have a quarterback. He did better than you think. And then he missed college football and he went back and then people get mad at him. I don't get mad at coaches who are asked if they're going to leave and they say they're going to stay. They have no fucking choice.

None. Zero. All right. Now you can play it a certain way. And even on that Saban cut, go find the full interview. He's like, what do you want me to say? Do you want me to tell you I'm not going to go to Alabama? The guy's like, yeah.

I'm not going to Alabama. He's looking at me like, all right, fine, cool. Get the sound bite. What am I supposed to do? It's an impossible spot for those guys. There are some that have done it in a way where I was like, yeah, you could have done that a little bit better. I guess the rule that Florio is potentially citing is that if it's a football life, your life has to be in the NFL. It can't be that you're the greatest college. You put together the greatest run in the history of college football. That doesn't count. So maybe now I get his point. So you buy stock? You're going to buy that?

I don't know. Can you price that one? I don't know that you can price that one. By the way, you saw that I tweeted at him, right? And I don't usually like to go at guys on Twitter, but I was sitting there. It was a late night or something. And I read this tweet and I just, you know, I fired off a, what a hill to die on. And you know, he responded to me, don't you? No, wait, you said what a hill to die on? Yeah, because it's just like, again, why, who cares?

Like, why do you care so much? Like about what the parameters are for who gets to be on a football life or who doesn't. So yeah, I said, what a hill to die on. on yeah because it's just like again why who cares like why do you care so much like about what the parameters are for who gets to be on a football life or who doesn't so yeah i said what a hill to die on and he responded with just i'll keep living bro okay i don't like to say this about my guy sir did he kind of own you right there no well i mean listen i'm sure florio is super successful i'm not like mad at him do you man I just I just think it's a bad take. I just don't know why you care that much about it. And I'm sure he is living, bro. He's doing well. He's got his own show. And, you know, he's on with Golduck now. Good for him. Shouts out. But I just thought it was a bad take. Sorry, man. Wow. We spent a lot of time on this, but he went back at you. I didn't respond. I didn't respond.

You didn't just let it go? No, but I mean, I would say 95% of the people responding were on my side. So I felt like I was vindicated. went back at you but it seemed respond i didn't respond you didn't you just let it go no but i mean i would say 95 of the people responding were on my side so i felt like i was vindicated yeah but you have a young aggressive following it's true it's true and i in his defense for you was a guy that everybody for you still talking about it no i'm just saying he's a guy that everybody does like to dunk on on on twitter. So maybe I was out of balance by just, you know, taking a little hanging fruit there. I did it once years and years ago, but I was pissed

and I had it was it was of all the things I've ever gotten into. This was one of the most justified. So I it wasn't that big of a deal in retrospect, but ever since then, I think it's been pretty clear. Yeah. Yeah. All right. That's enough. I think we You're good. Yeah, you're good. Yeah. All right. That's enough.

I think we covered that enough. Yeah, we're good. Let's talk to Aqib Tlaib. He's one of the best corners I've ever seen when he plays Aqib Tlaib, now with Fox Sports, but also part of two podcasts, Catching Fades and Call to the Booth.

He's going to hang out with us here for a bit. So I was watching this game this week. I could start with Minnesota and Arizona, but I actually want to start with you. You have a different style. I think when you referenced that pass looked a lot like a 9mm coming out. You were like, yep, this is a little different.

You've been doing this now a couple years. What's the feedback that you've been getting, both from just being out there and then also people that you work with? Been positive, man. Most of the feedback has been positive. At least what I see. I'm a DB, though. I know how to look past the negative

shit, right? It's been good, man. The guys from Fox, who I look up to, give me good feedback and for the most part 89 90 of my twitter is great feedback so so far so good that's that's a high ratio that's a really high ratio so uh telling you it surprised me because you know, I see all the hate on Twitter, Instagram. I see it. So I expected a lot of it after the game. You know, let me see what the haters saying.

Wasn't a lot, was not a lot. It's just different. You know what I mean? It's just you. You're not trying. Like, so I was wondering because I don't know if all places like I think that's really cool that fox is like hey just do you be different and do your thing and it feels like no one's ever tried to say hey no you mean maybe need to kind of steer back towards something a little bit more traditional because i think other places would have had a hard time with your style being so different i don't know that's that's that ain't for me to worry about right right? I always say I ain't go out like, man, okay, I'm done playing. I need a job.

I need to do something. So I didn't attack it like that. It kind of came to me. It kind of fell in my lap. You know what I'm saying? So I'm just going to have fun with it. I'm going to put the time in. What I am going to do, I'm going to put the time in.

I'm going to put the work in so I can know what I'm talking about and everything else will play itself out. Perfect segue. I love this game, Minnesota and Arizona. I want to get to Kyler, but there were two points. I mean, you made a bunch of points throughout the game, but Minnesota's backed up, right? They're driving. They're trying to get to that field goal attempt. And they had on one series backed up third and seven,

Thielen slot right side. And you were like hey feeling is the read now they doubled him and took him out of play did could you tell just based on tendency in your film study of them or is that something you're taking from the field where you're looking like could you just tell like hey this is kind of the way their formation the way they're coming out like this is what they're going to want to look to do well i could tell because yeah watching film i knew the cardinals was going to be in man on uh third on third and like you know five and under cardinals going to be in man so the vikings if they see man on third down if cousins see man on third down he going to feelingielen on option route.

So I kind of seen both of them from tape. So I know y'all going to be in man. I know he going to Thielen. So when the play was going to happen, that's why I said, oh, if he see man coverage, he going to go to Thielen on his option route. And it was man coverage, but they had a guy float in the middle and he kept his leverage. They doubled him real good.

And then he threw it downfield to Jefferson, I think, on that play. That's right. So they shut it down immediately. And you could see that's where he was looking. But then, to kind of give you the timeline, there was another third and seven where they're backed up. And then he had Thielen. They put him outside.

And it looked like it was man. And it looked like he was out there. And you were like, whoa, whoa. Do you remember this? Because it was another play where you're like, okay, now they moved where he's aligned. And it looked like Cous out there and you were like, whoa, whoa. Do you remember this? Because it was another play where you're like, okay, now they moved where he's aligned. And it looked like Cousins either didn't see him or maybe there was just something from the coverage

that we couldn't see at home. So, I mean, are you generally able to kind of figure this stuff out? I'd imagine. I mean, look, you're good at it where you're going, okay, this is something different. Did Cousins miss it or is there something that maybe we didn't see because it looked like he actually had more space than when they had lined him up at slot

previously? I mean, I could kind of see a pre-snap if I see guys moving or, you know, what I've seen on tape. So, I could kind of see I got a great view of it. I'm high up in the air. I'm right at the 50-yard line. I got a great view of it. So, I could kind of tell

what them guys in and, you know, I kind of know what the quarterback going to. If you see a man, he's going to do this. If you see zone, he's probably going to of it. So I can kind of tell what them guys in and, you know, they, I kind of know what the quarterback going to, if you see man, he going to do this. If he sees zone, he probably going to do this. So, you know, it's, it's third down. So I ain't really rocking sign. What did you think of Kyler now seeing it in person? Kyler's super explosive.

He closed, man. He's super close to being top three, top five guys. He might be there already. So he close, man, to being like the most dominant player in the league type. You know, so I love what he do, man. He a bunch of the quarterbacks in nowadays game like combined and one for real. Wait, so you you're saying there's a bunch of guys that you don't like? No, no, no.

I mean, he's like he could work the pocket like Russell Wilson, right? You know how Russ worked the pocket, he'd move around, create extra time, throw the ball downfield. Kyle O'Murray do the exact same thing. When it get real sticky in the pocket and maybe he look downfield, he

don't really see nothing or he see man coverage guys back turn. He can run like Lamar. Once he started running with the football, he can cut back, break tackles, make guys miss like Lamar. And if he just sit in the pocket and throw the ball around, he could throw it around like Josh Allen. You know what I'm saying? So that's what I mean. He a lot of core here. He a lot of different good quarterbacks like combined in one. You know what I'm saying? He could do he could do everything there is to do as far as playing quarterback. So he's super, super dangerous, man. And super dominant.

Can you tell when somebody's seeing it, seeing it all like, you know, the Brady stuff, you know, Patrick Mahomes and is definitely that. So so what are the things you're looking for when you go, okay, this guy's actually, maybe some of the younger guys, because it feels like there's still that step that people would need Murray to get to to then be in that group, you know, undisputed. Yeah, go ahead. I think it's like the pre-snap stuff. Like when you see guys, like you've seen Tom Brady this weekend, he had cover too.

So say go, go. The safety to the right. He kind of looked down the middle, kind of pumped him, made the safety jump to the middle. Boom. Then he went to the flat, kind of pumped the corner, made the corner come up, and then left it wide open for Gronk and his corner route, right?

So, Tom just said, pump, pump, ha, corner route, like super quick. Just baby pumps. Not like a real pump fake but just like a just enough to move the defender and then boom so I think it's

when he started knowing the game like that and he could do it in the game he probably could do that in practice all day but you know in the game it's a little bit different

so I think just pre-snap knowing that cover too knowing how I'm finna manipulate the cover too once he once he get it down like that, I think he'll be right there with the Tom and the A-Rod.

But he can do so much off schedule, man. It make up for a lot of that stuff. So, he dangerous. I agree. I loved watching that game, man. I mean, it was one of those deals where I didn't want to change the channel to anything else. Let's go back and take a look at your career.

How did you end up at Kansas, by the way? I always meant to ask you this. Coach Mangino was a super honest dude. He was super genuine when he came to the living room, to the house, visit with my mom. He was just a super genuine, honest dude. You know what I'm saying? And he was like, you know, come to Kansas, you're going to play against all the top

schools. You're going to dominate them. I'm going to make you my first, first-round pick. You're going to be my first, first-round pick, come to Kansas. Now, you know, I just felt the vibe when he came in my living room. Then I went on a visit, and I had a hell of a time on a visit.

I liked the team. I caught the vibe of the team on every visit that I went on, and they had a super good vibe on their team. And then the third reason was me and my brother do our research. They have five senior corners. So all the corners was going to be gone. I could hop right in there and go play against OU, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M. I could play against them guys immediately.

That's all I need. So I got to Kansas. But there are other places, I'm sure, you know, bigger schools saying, hey, why would you want to go to Kansas? You should come here. And you're just like, no, like I'm going to play. And you like Mangino that much that you were willing to overlook bigger programs.

A&M said they redshirt all their freshmen. So they were like, we redshirt all our freshmen. So they basically said, if you come here, you're going to redshirt, but you can come. It was like Arizona had Pac-10 with Arizona. A couple more Big 12, but I don't know.

I told you, them three factors played a big part. And I went on that visit, had a good time. That was a done deal. Did you visit Wyoming? Did you visit Laramie? Because they were recruiting you, right? I did. What was that like?

Man, that shit was a fun-ass visit, man. They was really high on this linebacker from my team. And they was like, man, we're just, you know, that's your friend. Just come on out with him, right? So I'm like, you know, it's just one visit. I'll slide with you, KB. So I went up there. I went up there with him.

And that was a fun visit, man. Okay, look. I got to tell you. It was some snowboarding and shit. People are listening. You have this smile on your face talking about Laramie right now, where I think you're leaving some shit out, but what's,

what's the most, what's the most you can tell us about a recruiting trip back in the day to Wyoming without getting anybody into trouble. We met a lot of Canadian girls, a lot of Canadian girls in attendance at Wyoming. So I don't know. I guess it's close. It's high't know. I guess it's close. It's high up.

So I guess it's close. I guess a lot of Canadian girls go to Wyoming, you know? So we met a lot of them there. And you went snowboarding. Yeah, we went snowboarding. Was there ever a moment where you're like, I can fuck with this. I'll come here. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

I was never going to go to Wyoming. but, you know, I enjoyed it. I was one of those. I think that might have been my first visit, and it probably was my best one, to be honest. All right. I like that story. That was good. Okay, you get to the league, and what I always liked about you is that,

and we can talk about the evolution of corner and all this position, but it felt like wherever you went, the staffs always trusted you to hold up in single coverage, right? I mean, that's kind of your deal, that like a lot of guys need help. Sometimes we all need help depending on the receiver, but like I can kind of match, and you were big, so they would match you. I remember New England used to kind of match you body size-wise with other guys.

I used to match with everybody. I used to match all the way back with Tampa. Raheem Morris used to have me matched on guys. So I done matched a lot of times. So what was the best system? What was the place that understood you the most where you were like, okay, this is them understanding who I am? Because I don't think you're like every other corner.

I thought you were very different. Wade Phillips' system was perfect for what I do. Was that with LA? No, I mean, it was with LA, but it was with the Broncos too. Super Bowl team with the Broncos. And then the team that I played with in LA, same system. So what was that system for you? What made it perfect for you?

It was man coverage or it was two man, which is like, you know, you're man, but you get to undercut everything because you got help over the top. So, you know what I'm saying? We can confuse them. You don't know if I'm in regular man. You don't know if I'm in two man. So it allowed me to be patient on the line. So sometimes I'm super patient.

He's going to say, oh, he's super patient, but I'm being super patient because I know I got help over the top. So then when I play my regular man, I'm still in that form. I play regular and you know, it allows, it just helps me be patient because sometimes I can do it and I'm doing it for real. Sometimes I'm doing it and I don't got help over the top, but you don't really

know that. You know what I'm saying? So it was just a perfect system. It allowed you to undercut a lot of routes. And then when you get tired, he had break plays. He had a cover three and cover four where we was off. He had a lot of off stuff where when you get tired he had he had he had break plays he had a cover three and cover four where we was off he had a lot of off stuff where we looked like we in cover three and we could jump stuff you know i'm saying we look like we in our off stuff but we really can jump all your routes so he just married everything man coach way was a genius

and having you press on the line you got to play, and then I got a way where you can jump everything. Then you play off, you got to play honest, and then I got another something that you can jump everything. So we always had the quarterback guessing, you know what I'm saying? Never knew what we was in.

And, you know, I love when quarterbacks in that position, man. You know, get them to make a mistake, go to the crib. Who was somebody you played against you felt like was always confused at quarterback? Derrick Carr.

We used to confuse Derrick Carr. The young Derrick Carr. You know what I'm saying? We had a young Derrick Carr. See, he getting at him now. You like him now. I mean, but he was figuring it out as we was going out, and he was evolving.

He was kind of figuring it out at the end. But he had a thing figured out now. He OG Derek Carr now. But young Derek Carr, we used to have him confused a lot. We used to play him a lot. Now, if you look at, you know, you go to Denver, you win. Then you ended up, well, actually, Denver is the one that paid you after New England. Was there ever a system where you felt like they didn't trust you enough

or that it didn't fit you as well? No, man. I think that's what's unique about Aqib Tlaib, man. I think that's what's unique about Aqib Talib, man. He played in zones, mans, every system and was successful in every system. He covered two systems, covered three systems.

Every system I was successful in and every system I was asked to be the number one corner and probably do the most in the secondary. It was, you know, I could play off, I could play press. So not really about the system, you know what I'm saying? It's about you got to make plays in the system, make the system look good. Did you care?

Like, it felt like for the longest time, like, Revis was the guy. And then it was like, wait a minute, you know. And Richard Sherman went on this deal where forever he was like, no, I'm the guy. And then it's funny, like I always make fun of us in the media because then we just start saying whoever is saying they're the best is the best. So it actually works tactically. It's smart to just keep saying, hey, I'm the best. I'm the best. I'm top this top, whatever. How much did you care about that stuff? Everybody want to be the best, right? Uh, everybody want to be the best, right?

But, you know, it's certain stuff out there that's going to show who the best. You know what I'm saying? So the numbers, the stats, the all pros, that's going to show it. So forget what everybody's saying. Just look at the stats. Look at the numbers. Look who winning at the end of the year. You know what I'm saying?

You can see it. So the guys in the league, they know who the best is. This year, these guys was the best. This year, these guys was the best. I always worry about it. You always want to be the best, but I'm not really concerned with other guys saying about themselves. They're supposed to say they're the

best. They ask me, am I the best? I'm going to say yeah. A couple weeks into the season and coming off of the work you were doing last year how how behind is everybody considering the challenges of the last year plus what we're seeing on the field i had vilma on earlier this week and he was like you know everybody always kind of joked the first month was like another version of preseason but the lack of reps that guys now put into the off season how little people keep saying like how much are you seeing these first two weeks of the real regular season?

It just seems like guys' timing being off. Probably more on the defense side of the ball. So you see a lot of high scoring games early. But that's how defense is, man. Defense, you got to catch your tempo. You know what I'm saying? You don't really, we don't really play our fastest

unless it's a win or a loss at the end even like if you get a joint practice you might play a one level up from regular practice regular practice but you're still not playing like that game speed so on defense you play that game speed about two three weeks you really get your feet up under you get your balance right and then the defense start being better So just more on the defense end, you can kind of see the lack of reps around the league. So the other part of this is like when I look at quarterbacks' yardage numbers,

and I go, you know, every week, these guys are putting up huge numbers. I mean, Cousins had some huge numbers. Kyler's almost at 700 yards. Your guy Derek Carr is now over 800. What the hell do you do now? I mean, you can talk about, hey, hold up, make sure you do all these things. How much of defense now is just trying to find a way to survive

with the way it's called and how explosive so much offense is? Nah, I mean, if you're out there trying to find a way to survive, then you're not very good. You see the good defense, they still playing defense, man. I mean, sometimes you play good defense and you lose games like the Dolphins. You know what I'm saying? I mean, like, yeah, like the Dolphins shit. They didn't play bad defense week one against New England.

They lost the game. They didn't play bad defense. They didn't play bad defense. I mean, they won a game. They didn't play bad defense against the didn't play bad defense. I mean, they won the game. They didn't play bad defense against the Bills. They're not too bad. Diggs got 40 yards a tug. Josh Allen throw for like 170.

Josh Allen got 170. We didn't do too bad. You know what I'm saying? They didn't really run the ball. You know the Bills ain't run the ball. So the defense wasn't that bad, but the Dolphins turned the ball over four times. You know what I'm saying?

I get short fields, short scores. So we didn't necessarily play that bad. It was just the circumstances of the game. So there's some guys out there still playing defense right now, man. And the Bucs play defense. You know what I'm saying? So the game allows for more points, but you still can win games on defense for sure.

Have you talked to Peyton Manning at all about his Monday night broadcast now that you're a veteran of broadcasting and you feel like you're trying to give him some pointers on how to do it? Nah, definitely. I went to the Hall of Fame, congratulated him on it and everything, but nah, we ain't traded no advice or nothing like that yet. What was the biggest difference that jumped out at you playing with Brady, playing with Peyton?

Man, it's hard to find the biggest difference. We'll be here all day, man. They're super similar, though, man, I'm telling you. Competitive, all the way involved in the building, what's going on in this building, they're super involved in the building, what's going on in this building,

they're super involved in it. Man, football is definitely both of those guys' lives. So a lot more similarities than differences. I always am amazed whenever anybody from a team will talk to you about it and be like, look, we're on that side of the ball. I'm not really fucking with those guys that much. It's more separate than people realize. How disconnected can you be from that part of it

when you know you're never talking to their coordinators, you're never talking to their coaches, the staff doesn't have anything to do with you? How separate can it be for a franchise when you're talking about two different sides of the football? Oh, it could be totally separate. You could not even know some of your offensive coaches' names in the building, you know what I'm saying?

Because you never have to deal with them. You never talk to them. You barely see them, right? But I think the good teams is not separate. It's everything connected, man. Everybody hang out with everybody. So, like I always say with my Super Bowl teams, one of the main guys I hung out with was Ty Gurley.

And on defense, one of the main guys who was at the hangout spot was Brandon McAnus and the kicker. You know what I'm saying? So it was close. You know what I'm saying? So I think close. You know what I'm saying? So I think the good teams, the teams who win chips, everybody interact with everybody, but

it could be super separate, man. I don't know if I've been on teams that I don't even know the offensive coach's name. It's probably a couple of linemen on offense. I don't even know their name. You know what I'm saying? So we probably weren't a very good team. That's great to know that you're pro kicker. Oh, yeah, we rock with B-Mac. That's my dog.

I've worked with guys that paid. Look, Greg, Prater, B-Mac, they're my dogs. I love the kickers. They got a hard job, man. It's a hard job. It seemed like it's easy, right? But if you had a pressure level on every position, I say the quarterback, he has to be probably the most pressure.

DBs, they'd be up there with a lot of pressure too. Kickers, they'd be up there because, I mean, pressure meaning if I don't do my job, I get a bad response, right? The D-line don't do my job I get a bad response right the D-line don't do his job you really don't see it linebacker really don't see it safety sometimes maybe corner you always see it quarterback you always see it receiver you know I'm saying might look like an overthrow he ran the wrong route old lineman yeah you really see it you give up a sack you get your butt whoop you'll see it kicker you gotta see it it's on you talking about it monday morning talking about it so that pressure level is one of the heaviest out of all

the positions man so i respect them guys okay that's uh that's a pivot from a lot of our guys they're lining up every play um and how much they usually hate those guys i know i'm not gonna ask you about the the crabtree thing because i know you've asked about i had to tell the story a million fucking times so i'm not going to appreciate it well i don't know i i just i feel like i've heard it enough myself too but yeah you were you a guy that would try to get in people's heads would you talk a lot or was it just specific to who it was you were going against did they have to start it, take us through that once you guys get out there. Yeah, I'd say I just talk, period. You know what I'm saying?

I might not even be talking trash. I might not even be talking to my receiver I'm going against. I might be talking to a lineman or something. Like, I don't got nothing to do. You know what I'm saying? I might just be talking noise to y'all in general. Like, man, these boys are babies, bro. Like, you know what I'm saying? I might just be talking to, talking noise to y'all in general. Like, man, these boys is babies, bro. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Just talking to everybody in general. Sometimes I might not even really be out there talking. It's one o'clock, hot day. I'm trying to conserve my energy. You know what I'm saying? I ain't even really out here talking today. You know, sometimes you had that little lazy feeling. You got to fight.

It's all kind of feelings you have on game day. I'm telling you this, that need to be a show in itself. It has some OGs talking about just some game day feelings. Cause you don't always just feel like a boat of energy on game day. Right. You don't always feel like that. I'm saying in the morning.

Okay. So what would the show be about? What would the show be about? Take us through how you would, you would, you would go, Hey, this is all the stuff you need to see before we kick it off.

Uh, you know, know just you had just some guys and you would talk about different feelings that you had on game day one day i was feeling like have you ever felt like this or man usually on my good games i feel like this but sometimes i used to feel like this and i always have a good game when i feel like good games i feel like this but sometimes i used to feel like this and i always have a good game when i feel like this sometimes i feel like this and i used to wake up in the morning like fuck i got that feeling again i'm saying so we're just sharing our stories what was it i'm just giving it i'm just giving all examples when you didn't feel like i'm telling you like all right so you're hyped you're ready energy ready to go what was it like in the days you're like i don't feel like were there days you didn't feel like doing it no it was days that like my body is just like i got this

fucking lazy ass feeling i can't get going like you know i'm saying i really just can't get my body going i can't get that boat of energy that i need you know i'm saying and then i kind of played a game with that lazy kind of feeling i'm still moving around i'm still playing but i don't got that energy like that so you got them the days you got to find it. You got to fight. You got to find it and make yourself compete. And you usually find it. Well, I usually find it. I don't know about other guys had that lazy feeling, and I had, like, my best games. It kind of like I was calm, and I was doing everything. I just played a nice, calm, relaxed, technical game. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes I was super excited about the game.

I felt good, and I was over-anxious, doing everything too over-anxious. And I had a bad game, but I had a great feeling. You know what I'm saying? So it'll make for a great show man so I want to stay with the matchup stuff though because I asked you about the quarterback but like there had to have been there had to have been

receivers you're like oh man I got to leave today like who did you know you kind of had like they were they just because you were bigger well look this the league so you know everybody gonna put up put up a front like they ready you know i'm saying so i ain't never really played nobody and i was like ah he's scared or you know i might i might feel like bro i don't

really matter i don't want you to be scared i want you to compete and bring the best out of me you know i'm saying so i i don't never really go into it like he's scared. I go into it like, this the lead. He nice. I'm about to be on my shit. Eyes, feet, hands, lead. Let's go. Let's go. He think he about to kill you. He think he's, this young boy think he finna kill you. So I go, I go through it like that. I don't never make myself the big dog. I always make myself like, oh, they trying to get me. They trying to get me. Get ready, lead that. I don't ever make myself the big dog. I always make myself like, oh, they're trying to get me. They're trying to get me. Get ready, Leib.

So I don't overlook none of them guys, man. So even if they is scared, I'm probably saying in my head that he think he doing something. You know what I'm saying? I'm probably reverse psychology in myself. You know what I'm saying? Aqib, I really appreciate it. You've been a lot of fun to watch in just the two years doing Fox. Keep doing your thing. And good luck on the podcast again. Catch it fades and call the booth. Aqib, I really appreciate it. You've been a lot of fun to watch in just the two years you've been with Fox. Keep doing your thing,

and good luck on the podcast again, Catch It Fades, and call the booth Aqib Talib. Appreciate it, bro. Thanks for having me on. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. We have a couple quick hitters with this one.

Some people, I would say most of the audience, would have no idea and will never be at Butterfly Karaoke in West Harbor, Connecticut. But we had our guy check in who apparently hosted it. And he listens to the podcast. Yeah. He goes, anyway, I don't have a question, but I used to host Butterfly Karaoke night once a month or so. So apparently it's so stressful you can't do it every week. And maybe he was a film guy or whatever, but he knows the deal.

He goes, I think it's a period of time I lost all patience for the human race. People thought you had a lifelong personal vendetta against them if they weren't next in line, having sauntered in at 1130 in a full room. The all-time anger Mount Rushmore is as follows from my experience. Someone burned my house down. You're trying to tread on me, bro. Then number three would be, what do you mean I can't do Paradise on the dashboard light at 1.55 a.m.?

And this is genuine gingham, and you will not tell me otherwise. There was one guy who dressed as Prince every week. I was there, who would sing Little Red Corvette, pass the mic back, and leave immediately. Just get it in. I like it. Imagine driving around and be like, I like i gotta stop at butterfly and do little red corvette and then leave the people are counting on me yeah like what are you doing

tonight i can't i can't pick up the kids although that'd be a weird time to be picking up a kid at like 11 o'clock or something so many 20 tips to skip the line to impress the date i'm half convinced they paid to show up who's a a jerk? Anyone besides Sia that sings Chandelier? If one were affixed above the place, its life would have been short-lived. I'm a little confused on that one. Can you guys help me out with what the hell that line means? This guy's 30, so

I, you know. Read again? Is life? He's talking about if there was a chandelier above the place, it wouldn't have been there too long. I think that might be her song. I'm not a huge Sia guy. I know that shocks you. Me neither. He's so disappointed. There's other people being

right now be like, no, no, you guys don't get it. I don't. I'm freely admitting. If one were affixed above the place... Oh, oh, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Alright. He's saying if there was a chandelier that was affixed above... I nailed that. I nailed that. You got that. Good stuff. Okay. And he said bartender was a monster thoughier that was a fix i nailed that love yeah i nailed that you got that good stuff okay and he said bartender was a monster though shout out okay there you go if you're in

west hartford check it out but don't i don't know what your expectations are supposed to be okay um we got we had a guy also check in on the wings who's around my age. And he said, he just wanted to let Kyle and Suri know that I was a hundred percent right about wings. And there was just a, a wing boom, late nineties, early two thousands. And that's where,

you know, sometimes the gap shows up and I'm just telling you wings were not what they are today. Yeah. I did have a few people hit, hit me up on Twitter about that saying that you were right. And not that I didn't believe you. I just,

I was surprised by it. So what did, what was like, what was like bar food then before then, you know, what do people eat when they were watching football? Peanuts, right? me up on Twitter about that saying that you were right. Not that I didn't believe you. I was surprised by it. What was bar food before then? What did people eat when they were watching football games? Peanuts, right? Pizza? That's it? Pizza and peanuts? No, guys

would get them. I think that's the first time I had them is that they ordered a bunch and there was this dive bar that we would go to when we were in college and the owner would be like, hey, let's order some wings for guys. And you know, sometimes they'd be so cheap and they'd order up like two dozen. There's like 10 guys around. You just be like, what the hell? What is, what's the math on this one? Uh, it wasn't the highest end bar. So there you go. The wings were good. Okay. Uh, this one just says apologies to Kyle, which I think we should just

do. Hey, 34, six, four, two 55, former college athletes, still athletic and fast. So you think,

but definitely a little tubby. Sounds like a white guy. No question here. Just an apology to Kyle. I enjoyed Kyle when the podcast started. In fact, I like him so much. I went to follow him on Twitter at the time. His Twitter bio was something like,

quote, if you call me nephew to my face, I'll punch you in yours. Kyle. No, it was much cuter than that. I said, if you call me nephew when you meet me, I'm going to slap you. That's what I said. And I changed that a while ago. Okay. I thought this was kind of a douchey thing to lead with, and it soured me on him. It was four years ago. At the time, I basically only knew him as nephew Kyle. And I'll admit that part of me was thinking I could definitely take this guy if he tried to punch me.

At what point of Kyle working on the Simmons podcast would you be going? I wonder if I could beat that kid up. That seems weird. But again, this guy's 6'4", 255. He's a big guy. Got a good reach. He's a good guy. Okay. Fast forward through four years of life advice segments with a lot of

sound advice. We haven't been doing it four years, I advice segments with a lot of sound advice. We haven't been doing it four years, I don't think, but that's okay. Uh, an extremely entertaining stories, revelations of Kyle and his well past time that I officially apologized and, and our one-sided feud that Kyle didn't know that he was in for the record, finding out that Kyle is also a big guy who always used to carry a knife on him and who would definitely punch me in the face if he wanted to had little to do with my change of heart. It was almost all based on

getting to know his personality. Kyle, once again, I'm sorry. You're great and keep doing what you're doing on the pod. Also, shout out to Saruti. Love you. Back to ESPN. Yeah, I don't know what else to add to that. I think that's what's happened for a lot of people with Kyle over these adventures the last couple of years of him sharing

more and more. There's times when people ask me about Kyle and then then i'll forget and be like oh that is right he did potentially embezzle from a mexican fraternity but those are allegations anybody actually call you nephew to your face like in public though and you'd get mad about that not really i just would foresee it happening it did actually happen a couple of times. I'm not going to lie. And it didn't bother me, but I don't know. Just sometimes you do something that makes you cringe later, and that's

why it's no longer in the top of my Twitter. You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. And how old were you when you did it? 25? Probably like 24, 22, 23. I can't even imagine. I can't imagine the dumb shit I'd be tweeting at 24, 25. So don't even sweat it.

Not at all. Apology accepted. I'll have moments where I'm like, hey, that wasn't funny. Like I'll see something I did seven months ago and you're like, what was your mood that day when you thought that was a good idea? Okay. All right, two more life advice here.

This one should be quick. I don't think there's much debate on this one. Let me preface this by saying I'm not a terrible person. Again, I'm not even sure this one's real. Good start. I was not dating but seeing a girl for a while post-college. That ended positively, and I officially dated her sister for two years. All right.

It happens. I mean, I remember one time being interested in the sister she wasn't entirely honest with her current situation so i was like hey this is not really working out and then i was like oh wait like you you're like in a real thing and then um she was like no you should date my sister though and we went on a date on a date. And I think I had traveled or something. I don't know. There was no love connection, Chuck Willery. Okay, so dates, hooks up with the sister after college,

then dates the other sister for two years. All parties are aware of the situation. Everyone was civil besides their father. Well, okay. I can't imagine being a dad and this guy is like, alright, whatever. We've since broke up and the third sister

is interested in me and very attractive. If she is comfortable with the baggage, should I pursue it? Don't use my name on the air. No shit. Also a great show. Pick another family, man. I don't care how name on the air. No shit. Also a great show. Pick another family, man. I don't care how hot she is. I think the third sister's drawing the line.

Two, I can see it. It could be awkward. I mean, you think the dad hates you now. If that guy ever got like some sort of terminal health thing, he'd probably kill you, all right? So if he doesn't like you now, just pick another family. Just pick another family. I get what you're saying. And usually guys lose out to the attractiveness thing. All the morals go out the window here. But if these two people like you and a third, who's very attractive, there's probably some other people out there that you

can spend some time with. So I get your point. But if, if the dad ever finds out, I would, I would hate you. I would contemplate doing things to you. I don't think there's a lot of debate on this one. Kyle, you ever date three sisters? No, never. It seems like this. I had ran through about three best friends after about two years. But it sounds like this guy's becoming like a rite of passage or something.

I wish he would have given me the ages if he's just waiting for them to become college age or what's going on. I do wish I do wish there was a little more information here. But yeah, that's crazy. This is real. Don't do that. It's dumb. What is the like, what's the end game here? So say this, you're dating this third sister, and it works out well. Like, is the dad all of sudden going to like you? There's a good chance that this is never going to be a happy ever after for you. I just don't think you pursue it. Isn't it a massive red flag that three sisters, what's

going on with the family that all three sisters want to date the same dude? This guy might just be the hottest and coolest dude ever. Maybe. He's the jail in all of his area. That means there's plenty of other people who are going to like you unless you're just so hypnotic and your pheromones are just linked chemically with this this gene of species. You know, I don't know. I don't know what's going on here.

But sure. He brings up a good point because like, what's the end game? Let's say just for hashing this out, say, because I don't think that's what this is about. Let's say that. Oh, you do hit it off and you do really like her and there's this massive connection and you feel like this is the one. That family dynamic is going to suck for you forever. I think when you are thinking about who you want to settle down with, I don't know that the other person's family should be the number one priority, but I've been with people where the family is like, oh my God, this family

is amazing. And then there's other ones you're like, oh, this family's a bit more complicated. And when you're not locked in yet, I think we all do this. And we're being honest, we weigh a bunch of pros and cons about like, if I were to marry this person, what would be some of the good things? What would be some of the bad things what would be some of the bad things and i do think family there's times you're like oh my god like sometimes you'll think of the family and be like this family's amazing and this would be awesome and then you're like whatever this that's never going to happen for you ever even if the family it will clearly the daughters like you um no one else is going to think this is cool but i don't think that's what this is about

i think she's hot and you're like whatever and then you're probably going to do it. But I'm just telling you, if you wake up with your dog's head in your bed one day, you're going to have a pretty clear idea who did it. Definitely don't date. Just don't date. If you got to see. I wouldn't even do the third thing here, man. I just wouldn't. All right.

Okay. Banned from a bar. My favorite local bar was hijacked by a failed relationship. Need advice. 26, 511, 185. Hockey player body. 185?

Yeah, I guess so. Skill never good enough to go pro. Oh, really? But always a top player in my club pickup games. Cool. I live in a second tier US. All right, club pickup games. Cool. I live in a second tier US. All right. We got it.

Okay. I live in a neighborhood about a mile outside of our downtown. Only a few minutes walk away from the best neighborhood bar I've ever lived near in my life. Believe me when I say this bar is perfect. Here's a quick rundown of why. All right. I love this.

Mix of social and secluded space. Beautiful outdoor patio. Great drink selection. Very affordable prices for the city. Casual enough that you don't have to feel dressed up to go, but nicer than a random dive bar, popular but never that crowded. Lastly, it has really cool bartenders. Sounds great. I'm there once a week, sometimes more.

I've happily gone with just my housemate to shoot pool with a group of friends to stay late and dance. And on a few occasions for a date, I continue to profess my love about what makes this bar's vibe so unique. But I'll cut to it there. my love about what makes this bar's vibe so unique. But I'll cut to it there. Earlier this summer, I met a girl on a dating app. We'll call her Natalie. For our first in-person meet, she said her favorite bar is the same one I described and asked to meet there.

I thought it was a fun coincidence and said yes. When we got there, I saw Natalie was clearly friends with the bartenders and said she's here frequently as well. We hit it off and developed a summer fling going on several dates. She spent a few nights over at my place. And we got along with each other's friends great when we overla we overlapped the party so all right you guys got a real scene here good for you guys back at it i've never stayed in natalie's place she always came over mine this was fine because i prefer sleeping in my own bed and no having a man over it can be a

sensitive thing for some people so i definitely knew where she lived which will be relevant later some people are sensitive about never sleeping at their place, just to round out the theory. Towards the end of summer, Natalie told me she developed more serious feelings for me and wanted to be in an exclusive relationship. I'm really valuing my independence right now. I'm only looking for something more casual, which was also displayed in my dating profile. So she knew this when we matched. Okay, but nobody, you start caring about somebody, you're not going to be like, well, I care about this person and they're not into me as much. So I will not be disappointed because the bio on their app was accurate. All right, that doesn't work, man.

I told her a committed relationship wasn't right for me at the moment. I won't go into the details, but she took it pretty hard and we have stopped seeing each other. Okay, you've broken up. All right, we know this is going, as he said in the email. Here's the thing. Since we stopped seeing each other, I've learned from one of the bartenders that Natalie lives in the apartment building, literally directly adjacent to the bar. In fact, her apartment's lobby windows have a complete overlooking view of the bar's outdoor patio. And the bartender also told me she hangs out at the bar way more than I realized.

Furthermore, one night recently, I went to play pool with my housemate, and she was there. She refused to speak to me when I said a simple hello, somewhat blatantly talked to the bartenders about me. And ever since, the entire staff has been very cold and unfriendly with me. I now feel super uncomfortable to be there, which pains me because it was my go-to local spot. I've turned down invites from friends to meet there for a drink, and God forbid I can't imagine going there for any type of date or scenario again. Do I have to accept I am borderline banned from this bar, even though we were never boyfriend, girlfriend? I feel like our split has caused me to beline banned from this bar, even though we were never boyfriend girlfriend?

I feel like our split has caused me to be exiled from the bar. My housemate thinks I'm overreacting. But the idea of even by chance seeing Natalie there or getting a dirty look from a bartender makes me anxious. Thank you for reading. Shout out, Kyle, because the embezzling money from the Latino fraternity story is top five ringer podcast network moment of all time. OK, you are overreacting. Your friends are right. You saw somebody. It didn't work out.

And as we've learned throughout history, we've been doing this a long time. One person usually isn't cool with it. All right? This is not new. Now, the fact that she apparently is there all the time and lives there jams it up for you a little bit. All of this stuff will go away.

None of this stuff is permanent here, man. This is all temporary. And if you were cool and you were cool to the bartenders, you and your buddies are generally well-behaved, maybe a couple nights there over the course of a few years, you let the wheels fall off. But you get my point. Unless you're a disaster showing up here every weekend.

If you guys are cool and have been respectful and tipped and all that kind of stuff, then you have nothing to worry about. All right? I don't. This is all going to go away. And I actually think the best way to take this on is to just ram into it head on. Just keep going. Just keep going. If she wants to, I like, think about it when somebody, it's a weird feeling when somebody doesn't want to talk to you.

All right. Like I've had it happen where there's a breakup. I see the person and then I'll be like, Hey, and then they don't look at you and then just walk past you. And you're kind of like, oh man, but guess how, But guess how irrelevant that all is? It doesn't mean anything. If that person wants to handle it that way, then let them handle that way. Let them be in their own little thing where that's their protection mechanism, defense mechanism, or whatever they need to do to process all these feelings of resentment or whatever. There's been times where I got dumped and I still was like, hey, how's it going?

And then the person still, I was like, wait, this wasn't even my fucking call. And you're going to give me the cold shoulder? None of this matters is why I'm explaining. Like it's all irrelevant and it all goes away. So I think you're overreacting. I get your point. I get like thinking, but I don't think all the bartenders are talking about unless you're an asshole customer and, you know, breaking pool cues and date Mike, you know, which I don't get the sense that you are despite the hockey background,

but when I need five, I'm not going to go there. Maybe incredible teardrops. That's maybe what you meant by that comment. Great. But I wouldn't, I wouldn't, if you love this place, you clearly do. It's nothing like having your great spot and all that kind of stuff. Maybe you tip a little bit better, or maybe you pull aside one of the bartenders that you've developed some kind of relationship with. Um, don't make it weird though. Be quick with it. You know, especially don't do it when it's busy. Maybe they're cutting lines and like, Hey, just want to say what's up. Like, I know she's a regular, I know she's here all the time you guys really like her but like look we dated and it didn't work out and you know this is my favorite spot here's a 20 or maybe on the first round don't

just give them 20 bucks blindly because then it's a little weird although they're not going to turn it down first round throw a 20 on top of it just be like what's up i mean tipping solves a lot of problems solves a lot of problems you're not gonna have to do it every single time. But yes, you're overreacting. Your friends are right. You're not banned. Don't ban yourself from it. And the quicker you keep seeing her and keep going,

the quicker the end point is where everybody's just comfortable again. So that's why I would take a hit on. Kyle? The good news is that from the headline, I thought he actually was banned from the bar and I was going to feel really sad for him. He's not banned. He's overreacting.

What I would do is not say anything, maybe bring out the new guy in town, new guy to the bar, big tip thing, just because you got to do that every once in a while. Maybe it's been a while since you over-tipped. I would say nothing. I would just do what you said, like grind it out, continue to have fun.

It's not even a grind. It's just like, don't worry about it about ordering your drinks, hang out with your friends. Um, you know, if you feel like nobody's as, they're not as friendly as they used to be, that will probably change. Half of it's probably in your head. You know, I doubt that she was blatantly, I mean, I could be wrong, but I doubt that she was blatantly talking about you and pointing at you to the bar. I mean, like I said, I could be wrong, but I think there's a lot of this is in your head and you'll a lot of, um, if you, you feel like it's, it's going to be harder for you to have a good time right now, knowing all the stuff that you know, but I think a lot of that's in your head and the good news for you as beer will definitely help you fix that

while you're in the moment. So yeah, you're totally fine. I wouldn't even say anything to the bartenders. Just be a cool guy. Like, you know, you are. No, it's a good point. I think this thing will completely blow over. And, you know, if here's the thing, if she's like talking shit to you to the bartenders, isn't shouldn't that be a red flag to the bartenders, too? Like if you come in there and you're actually a cool, enjoyable guy after a couple of times, you're like, hey, what? This guy's actually pretty cool. And they end up liking you. I think this is not a long term issue for you at all. And if she wants to keep being petty, then who cares? But I think the bartender thing will probably solve itself pretty quickly.

So Kyle, you don't like the tip thing at all. No, I do. I'm saying like, you know what? Maybe do that thing. Like whenever I go to a bar and I think that I'll be coming back, I'll do the big tip the first time. And then I kind of do like quarterly big tips or maybe not quarterly, but like every once in a while yeah so it's like maybe

it was just time for you to do that again so be like oh yeah fucking Tommy over there yeah I remember Tommy I don't know everybody likes Tommy okay so now let's get to Cerruti's point because you're right isn't that a red flag but here's the counter to Cerruti's point how many of the bartenders are female because

if she's a regular and she's there all the time she's like oh this guy sucks even if she's totally wrong and they think she's kind of off they're just going to agree with her you know we're all picking sides here and they're going to take her side and then here's the other part if she's kind of attractive and she's a regular and there's male bartenders there's probably a pretty good chance she hung out with one of those guys at some point um like there's a really good chance. So it may not have anything to do with you. And I maybe just added to your anxiety to this whole deal, but that could also be part of it.

Even though she hung out with one of those bartenders, maybe she called it off and then he still likes her. I'm just telling you, if there's a bunch of guy bartenders and she's cute and she's there all the time, she's probably hung out with one of those guys. So that could be part of it too. But taking it head on, look, it's a bar.

It's not a family. All right. It's where you want to hang out. You have fun. Think what's worse going out. Maybe there's a couple of people in here that don't like me. Let's have some beers with my friends or I'm going to stay inside while you guys go to my favorite place in town because of a

dating app thing that didn't work out after a couple months. Just take it head on. The anxiety will go away. Like Kyle said, there's beer there. Totally helps. I don't want to let this go. Have any of you guys ever been banned from a bar?

Cerruti? Chirping Cerruti back in the day? You were chirping the bartender maybe? In college? Yeah. Not like permanently, but yeah, I've been kicked out. Kindly asked to leave a bar, yes. But not like hey, you never come back. There's not a picture of me on the wall. That's funny.

There was definitely an incident where there was an understanding that I wouldn't be back the next weekend. But the thing is, I was suspended. Yeah, but the thing is, I was in it. I was in the mix. So they couldn't. I was like, yep, you're right.

Like, no problem. And then it was fine. I deserved it. It was totally fine. It was totally fine. It was a fight, but there was nothing like, there was nothing, there was no way I was ever,

it wasn't going to be a permanent thing because we were all bartenders. So it was just understood. So you just, you know, sometimes in life you got to lay low and understand it and then you just go, all right, fine.

And then, you know, you got to make sure that you don't fuck up at that place again. And yeah, I mean, come on. Good to know. What about you, Kyle? No, I actually, I asked because I was actually, I was happy that I didn't have a yes to this one. I vaguely remember one of the bars in college that I felt like I couldn't go to, but I also didn't like it. The reason I asked is because

my friend, one of my best friends back home, is banned from probably what's the best bar in Poughkeepsie. He's been banned since he was 18. He punched a bouncer in the face when he was 18. All the same bouncers work there. His picture's still up there. We've tried. It's been 10 years now and like every time that's crazy giving he

can't get the same people at the door they all look the same he looks the same as he did when he was 18 he just can't get in everyone else is like can get in and then he's like we tried every once in a while because it's like on the waterfront it's the best parts where the most people are and he has not been able to get in there for 10 years because he punched a bouncer in the face when he was 18 yeah see when as you guys are talking about you know how hard it is to like be banned permanently like that's that's almost it doesn't really happen like we had guys when i worked regularly that did awful awful shit and know, six months later, the guy would kind of come in sheepishly, look at you, and you'd be like, all right, you know, just keep an eye on him. And if he does something again, and more often than not, like the person's not going to do again what they did before.

I mean, it's weird. Like sometimes you just see how it goes. Like I remember one night, I'm trying to remember. I mean, cause there's two different stories. Cause there were both times I was pretty scared when I was working. And cause, you know,

I just think it's always important. Like I was, I was a skinny guy. The reason I'm, you know, bigger now or whatever and worked on some things is because I hated it. I hated being skinny. I hated feeling like I was soft. I hated, you know, I felt like I had a big tough dad and he was,

and I, you know, know some of the stuff that he went through growing up and he's six five and he's an athlete and he worked construction and he started laying brick walks and you know, that, that's just being fucking tough on its own. Being out in the hot summer day, pounded away with a rubber mallet, trap rock dust and laying brick walks. But, you know, I knew he was a tough guy and I didn't feel like I was any of those things. And I hated it. I hated it so much. And so once I finally filled out and then I started kind of realizing like being athletic

and then, you know, working on a couple of things, I was, I kind of had a little phase where I was like, oh, maybe I'm actually like, I got a little something going on, but it wasn't until much later. It wasn't until like my mid twenties. But I mean, there were still moments like I wasn't a tough guy, tough guy or anything like that. And we had a guy, we had a guy who was just huge and he just, I think turned 21, but a major red flag was like, he was like a Vermont local. And again, Vermont, once you get outside of the Burlington area, that's basically like arkansas but it's colder you know and this kid would come in and he was like i don't know what he did but the kid went on like an absolute i just turned 21 solo bender and he was from out in the woods and everybody was hearing about it like oh this guy's

just showing up and just getting destroyed and he had a thing at one bar and then we were all like hey did you hear about this kid the other night like it took seven guys to get him out of there and there was like really tough guys that worked at this other bar that i used to work at and um these guys were like legitimately tough they were like nor much academy guys they're all jacked up they were they were tough. And we were not over at the place that I worked at. And the kid showed up and we were like, what do we do? And the owner's like, well, is he hammered? I'm like, I don't think so. I was like, he's just weird. And he's the guy I guess from just a couple nights ago that caused this huge scene. So the owner's like, well, we can't just kick him out preemptively. And I was like like we probably could though because this kid

was was out of control and so of course i don't know he just had something weird like i don't know if he was drinking before it or whatever or he never ever drank in his life so he had no idea of pacing or whatever look people can drink their entire lives and screw up their pacing but he he just locked into the the service area like bars you know where that area where if you don't go to a bar a lot you're like hey look at this wide open spot between these two brass bars right at the bar no i can't believe nobody was in here and you're like yeah there's a reason no one's in there because you're not supposed to be in there it's for the waitress and so he just locked in and then he started reaching over when i went to one another the end of the bar he would reach over into my well

and start making himself drinks i've told this story i think before at some point it's new to me he just yeah he just started making his own drinks which is actually pretty alpha like in a way now looking back i kind of respect it and he just started making his own drinks i was like what the fuck and i knew there was nothing there's nothing i wasn't going to be able to move him he would have beat the shit out of me there was like nothing i could do i just wasn't going to be able to move him. He would have beat the shit out of me. There was nothing I could do. I just wasn't going to be able to do anything with this guy. And I, unfortunately, that night might have been the go-to guy to try to get rid of him. And I was like, fuck. And so he just locked himself into the well.

He did the same thing again at the other place. Now that I remember, because that was why they had such a hard time with him. So he and I are literally wrestling each other through the other place. Now that I remember, because that was why they had such a hard time with him. So he and I are like literally wrestling each other through the entire place. Like it's a scene out of a movie and I'm trying to get him to the door. I'm trying to get him to the door. The only thing that's happening is that he's so drunk that I have a little bit of an advantage. And I'd say the other advantage I had in my mid twenties, I was likely angrier than everybody else. So if I got really, really mad, there was a chance. And he was, the line was out the door to get in.

So I'm trying to get him up the staircase. I'm trying to get a drunk guy who's bigger and tougher than me, who's out of his mind. I'm trying to get him up a staircase out into the street. And he's ripping at my shirt, which happened twice because it was these biker guys showed up, but they were like fake biker guys. And he was tearing at my shirt. and I was like, holy shit.

And the thing that sucked was that all of these people waiting in line all knew who I was. There were some of my friends that were in line too because it was early. It wasn't really late. It was early. It's been doctors. And he was ripping at my shirt. We were squaring off. We were squaring off. And I was was like I'm going to get my ass kicked

in front of every one of my friends here right now and I don't think because he just he was one of those kids he had huge arms and his hands were big and his wrists were big and his waist was big everything about him was fucking big and he was detached and it wasn't and luckily luckily he just he just backed down

and then stumbled down the street what the hell was that story about again? Getting banned from bar? Oh, no. Here's the point. Is our emailer? You didn't do any of that stuff. You just broke up with a girl after an app.

You're good. Good call. I want to get back to Kyle's thing really quick, though. I do feel like 10 years. I know it's a dick move. 18. You punch the guy in the face. But 10 years seems like enough time where he should be able to be let back in.

Come on. It's kind of unheard of. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing, no? I think Pac-Man Jones has allowed up that strip club since then. Well, that was a little different. I mean, we go there now knowing that he can't go

and it's like a stop on our way to the old bar or it's a stop on our way to another one where it's like, let's just pop in. We'll have him say no. We'll all laugh and we'll get out of there let's pretend like we're gonna try to like wear a disguise um he's climbed over the back gate before i mean that's when we were younger younger but like he's done some pretty like elaborate schemes and now he just walks into the front door and just we're like we'll see if we'll see if they've hired a new guy yet he's gotten in before he's gotten in. And then they find him like five minutes later,

like from a guy who doesn't know he's banned, who's working the door. But 90% of the time, it's the same guys with the same mullet from 10 years ago. They're still huge and they still just won't let him in. It's absolutely insane. Why don't you guys just go to the, if you're all accepted regulars,

you guys can't have a summit about this and just work it out no these guys are so happy to not let him in like that like come on so now it's a thing yeah they're so happy head though or is it like maybe back in the day he was maybe back in the day he was i'm actually very proud well if he punched a bouncer in the face he definitely had a shithead face yeah yeah totally totally actually now that you're saying that totally like you don't really do that um i mean it didn't have again i bartended more than i ever bounced but i did and of all the times i did it i mean i had like two things happen that weren't great but it wasn't like you weren't out there thinking it was gonna happen to you at all especially i don't know you know it wasn't like I was working at Buckhead

in the late 90s either. I was in Vermont. Yeah. He was like 18 when he did that. I wasn't really sneaking into bars until almost the end of college. So I don't know. He was banned before I even started

thinking about going to that bar. So I don't really know. His story is different, but it's a story of an 18-year-old versus like a 30-year-old. So I don't know. I hope one but it's a story of an 18 year old versus like a 30 year old so i don't i don't know i hope okay i hope one day it works out good luck to that guy good luck to that guy and everybody good luck to all of you listening um please subscribe to the ryan russell podcast

thanks to kyle crichton and steve saru and everybody involved. Bring your Spotify. Take care. Thank you.