The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Kirk Herbstreit on the CFB Playoff and 'GameDay' Stories, the Celtics' Long-term Problem, Plus a QB Stock Game Update

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

Russillo shares his thoughts on the Celtics' prolonged struggles as he begins to ask himself the tough questions about Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (0:34). Then Ryen talks with Kirk Herbstreit of 'College GameDay' about the upcoming College Football Playoff, Alabama vs. Cincinnati, Michigan vs. Georgia, 'GameDay' stories, and his book ‘Out of the Pocket: Football, Fatherhood, and College GameDay Saturdays’ (9:18). Then Ryen, Ceruti, and Kyle convene for the Q3 update of the QB Stock Game (1:04:38), before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:13:17). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Kirk Herbstreit Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

massive pod again for you today uh little nba stuff that's not super important but it's just stuff i'm seeing that i share it with you kirk herb street almost an hour on his career talking the college football playoff and some really fun game day stories from his new book that just came out a couple months ago and we got life advice and we also have qb stock game quarter four can anyone catch the rudy i had a bunch of nba things that i was kind of preparing for the week but then simmons and i did about an hour and a half yesterday which isn't all nba it was a bit like the pats attack against the bills where you kind of have an idea of what's going to happen, then it doesn't happen. That's what happens when Bill and I do any

podcast. We're like, oh, you guys did. So we didn't talk about the Celtics, I think, for more than a few seconds, because I know that even when they put together this roster before we even saw what it was going to look like with the Celtics, who got blown out last night by the Lakers. Lakers are better every which way. Completely different vibe to

that game than the one that was in Boston. And, you know, the Lakers part of it, even with every number and all the stuff that I don't like, and I would say at this point they're a 500 team and it kind of makes sense, but LeBron not playing at any point. I don't believe he's played in four consecutive games at any point this season.

The record with LeBron now I think is at 8-5. That's why they're just a really hard team to quit despite all the pieces around it feeling like it didn't make sense in the offseason and it hasn't made sense and it hasn't played out and they're constantly shuffling all their rotations and that's why Vogel is going to be in trouble and I don't know how anybody can watch the Lakers team and think that it's somehow Vogel's fault as if there's some new combination of all these guys where this would be a team winning 65% of their games but having said that I still

would there's not been one day since the offseason started to where we're at now where I thought Boston would be better than LA, or at least the ceiling for Boston would be better than LA. So when Boston added all the pieces, and it was like Schroeder's free and Horford's back and the Horford deal, even though they give up the

pick, looks like an absolute winner considering Kemba. Kemba went from starting to, you're not even going to play because the plus minus stuff with Kemba was so bad. And when you'd watch him at times, you'd be like, oh, is he okay? And then you just realize,

no, he's getting swallowed up and he just doesn't move the same way and he's just not consistent. And you try to caretake the entire situation. And it's hard to kind of have a real rotation when you're doing that all the time.

Although I would say teams over the last few years are probably more equipped to deal with erratic rotations because of the rest and condensed weird schedules we've had now for two plus years. So whenever you hear me talk about Boston, understand that it is a very

tempered I'm not trying to sound artsy here, but so I'm not going to. I'm going to rephrase this whole thing. I'm lukewarm about the Celtics. I just am. And there's been a thought creeping in my head with Boston that I would have dismissed

for years. And I still think I might be wrong. So like when I talk about different things, there are times where I'm saying straight up, this is exactly what I think will happen. This is exactly how I feel. But as you get older, I think I'm less determined that i'm so convinced that i'm right about things i mean i think that's part of being young is that you haven't been around long enough to realize you might be wrong about shit um but this is one that you know however many hundreds of games that i've

watched with tatum and jalen brown play and specifically tatum that it's um you know tatum was really good last night against la but i want to run some numbers. I'm not even sure if they mean anything yet, but this has been the first season where I've gone. Maybe Jalen Brown and Tatum can't play together. Maybe this isn't going to work. When you think about two incredibly dynamic wings with size in their mid-20s that can shoot, that can

handle, that can defend, and you're like, every single team in the league would say our blueprint would be, give me two of those guys to pill the around and we'll figure out the rest. And we're in year five with Tatum and the Celtics team just isn't really that good. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Jalen plays more. Jalen's

only played 13 games this year. Tatum's been all 25, I believe. And maybe they figure this thing out. I do think they've had moments defensively where the Celtics are going to be pretty good. But the reason I want to even bring this up is because I've had it. The timeline is this. I thought Tatum should have gone number one that year in the draft.

I absolutely loved him. I hold Tatum to a very high standard because of how great I think he can be. And at times where I thought, hey, the ascendance of what Tatum is going to be is going to be incredible. Jalen Brown, I thought, was a bad draft pick. I thought he was bad at Cal. If you watch him at Cal, it didn't really make a ton of sense. I even talked to Boston after they drafted him years removed. I was like, hey, what was it? And they were like physical profile. We thought he could do a lot of different things once he developed some things. An absolute home run of a pick because I don't think many other teams are going to do that. And Jalen Brown, I look at him differently because my expectations are so much lower. So I sound as if I'm harsher about Tatum than I am about Jalen, but a lot of it has to do with the origin of how I felt about the two players. I don't like saying stuff like maybe they can't play together, but there's way more

evidence that they can. And there's a Tatum thing that's been happening, at least this season, that's a bad development. So I looked at isolation plays. Shea Gildress Alexander is number one in isolation plays, and he's number one in isolation field goal attempts per game. It depends on how you want to track different play types, different places, different websites have different tracking. If I just use the NBA stuff

from them, this is a bad number for Tatum. Tatum is number three in isolations this year, which is up from where he was at. Last year, we complained about it with Brad Stevens, and now it's actually worse. Quarterway into the season. So if you look at field goal attempts off of isolation,

Shea Gildress is over six. I mean, the guy you watch, he was just driving the hoop all night long, and he's allowed to because they're not even trying to win games. And Shea's really good, too. So it's not even a knock necessarily because you can finish against Lang. Tatum, out of the 18 players, the top 18 players in isolation field goal attempts, Tatum's 17 out of 18 on field goal percentage. On these ISO attempts, he's at like 36%, just below it.

The only guy worse than him is Anthony Edwards. And we all know how much we love Anthony Edwards on this podcast. He's in his second year. Not worried about it. Tames were out long enough. When I look at some of the clutch numbers, if you want to sort them that way, the three-point shooting, you know, last five minutes within five points of each other. I mean, they're atrocious.

They just are. Now, there are seasons where I'll look at somebody and be like, ah, that guy's not clutch. And then the clutch numbers come back and he looks great. There are other guys I'm like, that guy's so clutch. And then you sort his numbers and you go, oh, wow, he actually has a terrible three-point shooting percentage. So none of this right now feels definitive.

What I'm telling you is that there are some isolation numbers that back up if you watch the Celtics enough and if you watch Tatum. And even when Brown is there, you just go, for whatever reason, it just doesn't seem to connect. And they're a 10th seed. I thought they'd be a 7th seed. So this isn't about last night. And Tatum has unbelievable performances. That's the whole reason I care.

That's the whole reason I look at this with a stricter eye because I think he's capable of some really special things. So it's not writing him off. It's not writing off the two. But I just wonder at what point, if Brown and Tatum are back and this team is a disappointment, if they're in the play-in game, I mean, those two guys in the play-in from 7 to 10, and it's a first-round flameout, I wonder how serious the questions would be about wondering

what the long-term deal is with these two guys because it hasn't gotten better. It's gotten worse. Speaking of numbers that I don't know if they mean anything, I was sorting out different stuff defensively and kind of where teams were before and after because it can be a little misleading when you look at the full sample and you go, hey, let's look at the last 10 games and see if a team is trending upwards or downward. Memphis through the first month plus of the season was the worst defensive team in the league. I mean, it was atrocious, which is kind of weird because when you think of Memphis,

you'd think not because of the grit and grind stuff. I mean, branding is kind of silly that we're supposed to think they're good defensively because Zach Randolph and Tony Allen were there, right? But it's still a team you wouldn't think of that's going to be behind everybody else, but they were atrocious. They were giving up about 116 points per 100 possessions. That was last in the NBA on defense. Here's a weird number, and I don't even think this

means anything, but it's something I'm going to keep paying attention to. John Morant goes down. So from the start of the season to November 26th, last on D, without job from November 27th to today, they're number one on defense

at 90.9 per 100. That's a 25-point swing. They're 5-0 in that stretch.9 per 100. That's a 25-point swing. They're 5-0 in that stretch. It's not a murderer's row of offensive teams. Sacramento, Toronto, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and Miami. You've got 11, 16, 13. And then, of course, Oklahoma City stinks, and that was one of the weirdest games ever.

So maybe that skews the numbers there as far as the top end of it. But it's just something I'm looking at. I don't even know if it means anything real, but it's a pretty weird deal that jaw goes out. And I'm not telling you he's Gary Payton Sr. here, but that's a really crazy 25-point swing, which probably has more to do with the five games. But I'm going to look at it, and that's the kind of thing

where I'll plant a seed, I'll write the note down, and then I double-check it a month later. Be like, was this anything or was it nothing? I mean, it feels like nothing, but it's just such an obscure, well, not obscure, it's a dramatic swing. So there you go. Some awesome Memphis Grizzlies point differential stuff for you to get your week going.

Kirk Herbstreit, somebody I'm lucky enough to get to call a colleague, somebody I got to know, I think, because it was kind of cool when they were doing the game day stuff. I was actually doing the radio thing. So we would end up in the same hotels, the same towns, and I would get a full experience. And, you know, certainly radio was nothing like television. But we'll get to that a little bit later. Kirk Herbstreit's book is Out of the Pocket, Football Fatherhood and College Game Day Saturdays. And that's with Gene Wojciechowski.

And that's Simon and Schuster. And that is out. And I was having a good time running through this. So before we get to any of the book stuff, because there's a lot of good stuff in there, let's start with this. You know I watch. You know I love Saturdays.

I watch Bama pretty much every game other than the bye game before Auburn. The offensive line was an issue. I've brought it up. Everybody in the podcast is probably sick of hearing me say it, and I'm thinking, man, how are they going to block Georgia? You hated doubting Bama and it's one game, but what happened in that game to kind of change who Bama had been all season long? You just said it. You hate doubting Bama because we've all been trained to not doubt them. And when you do doubt them, you pay for it because Nick Saban is still standing

on the sideline as much as he leaves you know players leave coordinators leave but he still knows how to get his team ready but this was a different team man I mean this team as you you mentioned they had some blemishes they had offensive line issues all year it wasn't just Auburn I mean I did their LSU game everybody thought they'd blow LSU out and that was a game. He warned everybody before they went to A&M. Like, we better be careful. You guys think I'm just talking. And he was right. Their offensive line caused them problems. They got sacked a bunch. Their defense has had some miscommunication throughout the year, you know, where they've given up some big plays in the back end. So like, I was like you, I don't want to, I don't want to say they're going to lose because when they go in as an underdog, it's like the Patriots or, you know, any traditional power when they're an underdog, they're dangerous, but dude,

they just, they got backed into a corner and collectively came out and just did what they did and played their best game by far of the year. And I think the reason was they were out to prove everybody wrong. And they did. They went out and played their best. Now we'll see how they back it up if they get two more chances. So we talked Bama here. I'm so happy for Michigan. It's not an anti-Ohio State thing. Back in the day, I probably rooted for the Buckeyes more than I ever did for Michigan. I'm happy that all the people that said Harbaugh should be out, that it proved that I think he was

a lot closer, even if it didn't look great at the time. And if Michigan was happy and he was happy, then it wasn't really, I didn't really get it. Okay. So they win this game. Who are they though, as a football team in comparison to Bama or Georgia? I'm with you, man. I'm a fan of Jim Harbaugh's. I like the fit. I never really understood, even their own fans, more than the outside world, getting upset with him. I get it. You know, you don't win the big game. You get frustrated with your coach, but they've been close. This team's special. I mean, Aiden Hutchison, to me, the reason he's in New York isn't just because of his stats. You know, people compare Will Anderson's stats to him. How can he dare

be a new? Look at Will. Will Anderson's a freak. I put him on my ballot, so I got it. I understand how great he is. But Aiden Hutchinson, his will to win and his emotion and his energy has more to do with him being the player he was in 2021 than his tackles for a loss or his sacks. He demanded this team show up every Saturday and play with consistency. So they got a special thing. They got a special bond, a special belief.

They climbed that mountain. They put that flag down in Indianapolis. They're Big Ten champions. And now they got to keep it going. Can they be the team that they were against Ohio State and Iowa? In my opinion, they were playing their best football in their last two games. Can that momentum continue to Miami where it will need to against Georgia? Because we don't know.

We don't know about Georgia either. I mean, we thought Georgia was the one team that was above everybody else. And then they show up against Alabama, and obviously Bama dominates. And we talked about how great Bama looked, but we didn't talk about Georgia. Like you start to look at Georgia's schedule. Are we all being kind of fooled into thinking that Georgia was this, this elite team? Meanwhile, they didn't necessarily played elite competition. I, I think they're a great team. Yeah. But see, that's like, like i'm with you we can do the

process and i had times offensively with them and then i'd look at the numbers and be like okay but maybe it's a schedule but it's like okay but then where's the slip up and when you're smoking everybody and nobody scores more than 17 i i'm with you the schedule could maybe have you but they weren't out of nowhere george has had a couple years here with kirby so i'll admit like i struggle with it but then as i struggled go, they're stomping everybody. So it's not like they're just a fraud, right? No, and I think now after a loss, like you talk about a wake-up call,

they're going to show up in Miami and they're going to be the best version of themselves. Now, is it enough to beat Michigan? Who knows? But I think that's what's exciting about the Orange Bowl. You got Michigan playing their best games the last couple of games and they're peaking at the right time.

And they're showing up ready to prove everybody wrong. And you got Georgia fresh off a humiliating loss where you know the entire month that they're going to be chomping at the bit to get back out on the field and prove that they're better than they played in Atlanta. And now we put those two brands on the field together. They haven't played since like, what, 65 or something like that? So it's going to be a pretty cool matchup to see how those two teams do on the field and to see kind of how the momentum goes.

It's tough after a month off to try to create that momentum that you had, like Michigan had. And I think that'll be a big part of the game is who can gather the momentum and kind of get on a run. I remember years ago, I was doing some radio segment and you hit me up afterwards. And my whole premise was that, you know, by game 10 or 11, I got to see like a big pelt somewhere. I got to like, you shouldn't be able to back into a national championship.

You just shouldn't. This is important. This should be hard. You shouldn't have some resume tweaking where we can sort of argue you when you shouldn't be able to back into a national championship. You just shouldn't. This is important. This should be hard. You shouldn't have some resume tweaking where we can sort of argue you when you haven't really taken out somebody once, right? And this year with Cincinnati, we got to see them in a bowl game against a Georgia team that was, honestly, they should have won that game.

Their conference is good for the non-Power 5, but I'm always going to have a problem with the Group of 5 versus the Power 5. I just am. And everybody feeling like there's a conspiracy that it just would never happen. You sent out a tweet, Cincinnati gets in. People got really mad.

So give us your Cincinnati take, but set it up with a tweet that I guess pissed everybody off the other day. Well, my big thing has always been people in this sport instead of just enjoying it they're always they're always upset about something about it and it seems that the the group of five verse the power five is a hot topic i didn't i didn't when i sent out that tweet it was kind of like can we put this one to bed can we can we put the group of five because it's

to bed it's they got in well well five in? Because it's to bed. They got in. Well, well, well, they needed to be undefeated for two straight years. Whatever, they're in. Let's enjoy it. Let's see how they do. I love Luke Fickle. I played with him in college. Let's see. I don't need to be convinced about the group of five. UCF a couple years ago, Cincinnati, occasionally there's

a team that deserves to have their hat in the ring, and we got Cincinnati. I'm excited that we have them. So let's just enjoy it instead of complaining, well, if Oklahoma State would have scored and Baylor, they wouldn't be. Oh my God, are you seriously this sad? Is this seriously, this is a you problem. Like if you can't enjoy this sport in 2021, you got a problem. So I don't know. I'm just not into the weeds on this as much as other people. I just watched Cincinnati. What you just said, they played Georgia. They outplayed Georgia last year in the Peach Bowl. They lose on a last

second field goal. They gained incredible confidence by playing a good Georgia team. And it brought them into this year that the reason they were preseason in the top 10 had everything to do with how they played against Georgia last year. Then they get the perfect storm. They get to go to Indiana, which ended up not being a great team, but they scheduled a big 10 school and they go to Notre Dame. My point, the preseason was the Georgia game and the two non-conference Power Five opponents on the road is going to potentially give Cincinnati all they need to be able to have a case at the end of the season to say that they should be in. That was all I said. And then they played Notre Dame and they beat them. They beat Indiana, who ended up being a bad team. And then they went through the American and had a couple games where they didn't look great, but for the most part did what they're supposed to do. And they're a veteran team. And now here we go, man. They're taking on

of all the teams, other than if it was Ohio State, because they're in the state of Ohio. Other than that, we get them against Alabama. So here we go. I mean, I'm not going to hold this against a group of five. I'm not going to hold this against Cincinnati. If they win, they win. If they lose, they lose. And we move on. This is a tough ask for anybody. Ask Connor Cook and Michigan State when they played them back in 17. This is always tough to take on.

I don't care what conference you're from. This is a tough ask to take on Nick Saban, who this is part of the regular season for them. You know, they're in the semifinal. Whoop-dee-doo. Here we go. That's Alabama. And you got to match up with them and play 60 minutes of football. Not have a good series, not have a good quarter. You got to have 60 minutes of good football against an uberly talented team that expects to be there. So I'm fired up. Luke Fickle's a great coach.

He's got a team with a chip on his shoulder. That's going to be a fun one to watch. But yeah, the anger around that, I got nothing for you. I don't know. The only time I've ever got mad about anything you've done is your NBA draft tweet. Work must have said something to you about that one. I think I even sent you a tweet. It was like, I was ready to go.

It was on. I'm an NBA guy from a different generation. You know, like I, you have to, if a guy like you who has such passion for the NBA, I can't get into the NBA anymore. I just can't. I love the individual talent, but when you go back to my generation and your generation of the Knicks and the Bulls and even the Suns and the Lakers and the Celtics, I mean, you had every game in the regular season you watched because it was entertaining. I'm just not entertained at this stage of the NBA. Hey, that's fine. And I would, I would tell you like there are nights where I watch quite a bit, but I just didn't understand why you were so mad about the draft and the young kids. Cause I felt like there was a real similarity between an NFL draft pick walking across the

stage and realizing his dreams where I was like, why is it different if it's the NBA guys? Maybe because I don't know them. I don't know who they are. Maybe, maybe it's an age thing, you know, because so many of them are so much younger. I just, it was so weird. And you were so like, I don't even remember. I don't remember what I said.

You were like, my least favorite night of the sports year, the entitlement. And I was like, Jesus, Kirk. Entitlement, huh? Was it this year? No, you stopped doing it. I think you did it like two years in a row. And I think one year I may even been like, Hey, take it easy, man. Let's go. And that was just because it was so off brand for you too. Cause I was like, man,

he's really letting these guys have it tonight. And I go, this isn't really any different than NFL guys reaching their dreams. Like that's what it is. I think if there's any venom for me, it's that I love college basketball. And I've gotten to a point where I went to, we do a Tuesday night ranking show wherever the Michigan State, I don't know what it's called, the Michigan State, Kansas, Kentucky, those four teams.

And Galloway and I are always together. And I always say to him, I can't name one guy on either team. Now, the season hasn't started yet. It's the first game of the year. But like, where's that generation? I'm going to sound like an old guy, where there's like a guy that, Draymond Green, you know, like a guy that's been around for three or four years.

There's just very, they're all new faces. years. They're all new faces. So it's just hard to get excited about a sport that I used to just love. And so maybe my venom is towards the NBA. It's because what has happened to college basketball that I used to have. I don't know, are you a college basketball guy at all? Yeah, but look, I am a college basketball guy by convenience now. And that's the problem. I just don't have enough time for it. I mean, I watched Gonzaga and Duke the other night. No, but I mean, I'm talking about when you were 20. Knowing everybody?

Oh, when I was younger, I knew everything. I mean, I would watch... I could watch St. John's in Syracuse. I'm an Ohio State guy. I could watch anybody play. Now we're talking. We're talking Johnnies. No, I would watch Big Monday over NBA games up until probably my late 20s.

Yeah. Yeah, I miss that. I miss that. We found the tweet because it did get really nasty. And I promise, oh, this is amazing. So, yeah, it was not many days on the sports calendar. God, this is funny. There aren't many days on the sports calendar

that I care less about than today. The NBA draft. Oh, the pain. Give me Marlins Padres all day. Oh, man. That doesn't sound like me. That is a little bit off-brand. It wasn't like you.

I think what I said was that's good because you get 18 Marlins Padres games or something like that, even though you wouldn't because it's not the same division. And then Reese with the all-timer. This should have gotten more action back in 17. Reese Davis quote-tweeting you saying,

thank you for your support as he was on his way to host it. I'm just going to stay out of all controversial. I don't do controversy well at all. You don't need to. You don't have to do any of those things. I don't need to. You don't have to do any of those things. I don't like that. I wasn't trying to. Sometimes you just got to say,

do I really need to send this before you hit send? I think I've had about four of those in my career. That might be one of them right there. That's a good number, though, if it's only four in the public eye. I apologize for that. That was not good. That wasn't nice.

We'll let the NBA community know. You know how much I just love you and Fowler together on the games. I send you notes maybe once a year because there'll just be a game where I go, man, you guys are so locked in. And what I love about it is that you will have all this information. And I know you have way more information than you ever share on television. And you will start to kind of plant the seeds of a story throughout the game broadcast. And I can tell it's beyond just the normal production meeting stuff where you'll say, you know, these guys coming in, how much balance do you have in like what you actually know both coaches think about their squads going into that Saturday matchup, using it, but not using too much of it where you betray a trust. That's, man, you're very observant because that is the biggest challenge for me, man,

is because when I got into this industry, I didn't have Heisman Trophy behind me. I didn't have national championships. I wasn't a first rounder. I'm not Troy Aikman. I'm not Chris Collinsworth. So when I got into it with Mike Tirico, I was just like, I'm going to outwork people kind of approach.

And so when you do that at the beginning, it's kind of like, okay, just kind of sit in the corner kind of guy. And then you just kind of just year after year after year after year, and you're still there and you're still working and you just start to build relationships with people and trust with people. And I think that's the most important thing. You can appreciate that. And that trust is sacred. All you have to do is abuse that trust one time or somehow lose trust with a coach one time, and then I think you're done. So I never have done that. I never will. And yet you get incredible information. And then you have to try to

figure out how do you use this information in a way that's not going to alienate you from them and make them feel like, wow, I thought we talked about that in confidence. And at the same time, you don't want to just hold on to it. So you just kind of, you just have a way of just trying to kind of talk about it without saying he said that this is going to be important, or he said that they can pick on this corner because that corner sucks and they know they can go. Like there's just ways to kind of try to bring it up without saying saying it so i try to massage it and like you said drop breadcrumbs um throughout the broadcast yeah and

you do it because like again the times where i'll talk to you off the air back in the day and i'd go hey what's going on and then kirk would just and i'm telling this for the audience you would just nail it you're like well this is what's up here and this is what's going on there and da-da-da. And then I knew I was like, God, this is so good. And then I'd be like, I got to make sure I don't slip up on the radio show because he just told me everything he's actually not going to say on TV. So how did that part evolve for you, Kirk,

where it went from, all right, you've got this big platform, it's on Saturdays, you know, and now some of the coaches are calling and they're getting mad about something you might've said and it goes from like maybe being annoyed with you and then knowing they had to kind of play the game with you which I think where it probably is now where they can't really mess with you that much yeah yeah I think it like I said I I've just always tried to err on the side of not not ever a guy to feel like, wow, you screwed me over. I've just never tried to do that. And I felt like as I've gathered information,

you know, it's, I mean, 26 years of just kind of doing it. At first, I would not say anything. And then I would sit there and say, what's the point in having this information if you're not even going to use it, right? And then I would start to kind of use it a little bit. And I would wait to see if I got any feedback from anybody. And I wouldn't. And then I would just kind of, I just kept easing out a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more until, you know, when you do it for 26 years and you live it

for 12 months out of the year, I think it just puts you in a different light. And I'm not, my style wasn't like a guy that throws things against the wall, you know, like you see a lot of now, especially at ESPN. It's just never been my way. And so I think your style precedes you and how you treat people precedes you. And so I'm never, the one time I made a mistake was in 07 when a defensive coordinator called me and said, hey, I'm going to go join Les Miles and go to Michigan and be on his staff. And I go, what? I didn't call him. He called me.

And I go, you're what? He goes, yeah. He goes, I just talked to him. He's like, done deal. He goes, I just want to let you know you've been so good to me throughout my career. I go, is that something that I can talk about? Like, is that something that he goes, hey, don't say you said it for me. They heard it for me, but on Monday, that's, that's gonna,

that's what's going down. So I called Mark Gross at ESPN and I was like, I, I'm not a story, a guy that breaks stories, but I just got this call. It's pretty big deal. It sounds like Les, who's in the middle of a big, you know, big season. It sounds like he, who's in the middle of a big season, sounds like he might be going back to his alma mater. And he goes, let me think about this for a second. And so he calls me back like an hour later. He said, here's what we said. We get you on camera and you say, unless there are some

unforeseen circumstances, which is a key, Les Miles will be announced as head coach on Monday after the SEC championship. And so that's what I said. I listened to Mark Gross. I went on the air and I said, hey, unless there's some unforeseen circumstances, expect Les Miles. Again, I'm not a reporter, right? This is not my thing. But the guy called me. I called Mark Gross. I said, what do I do? And that's what he recommended. Well, anyway, LSU, they're about to play Tennessee in the SEC championship. They go into damage control. That's when he had that immediate press conference. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here. And I'm wondering, I've always wondered if I didn't say anything,

what would have gone down? Because they ended up winning the SEC, going to the national championship, beating Ohio State in the national championship. And it was a great year. And he stayed there for a few more years. And everybody thought I was lying or I was uninformed. I'm like, dude, I was just checking into my hotel and my phone rang and it was this coach who told me that. Now, that's a valuable lesson there because it put me in a really awkward situation. I'm not Adam Schefter, never proclaimed to be. And from that moment on, in my head, after the reaction I got, because I wasn't trying to create trouble for anybody, I said in my head, I will never break a story the rest of my life. I'll never try to be involved in any capacity in any way. I learned that sometimes you get great information and you got to sometimes just hold on to it. You get back into just being an analyst and let other guys break the stories. and let other guys break the stories. It's awesome having info. I've been there on some NBA stuff. It's cool when you know you're right in your head, everybody.

But man, that line about credibility being built by the drop and then lost when it's knocked down. And when you can survive without ever having to do that stuff and build a career that you've had, that's exactly the lesson because you're going, all right, cool, I can never do that again. And then I'm never exposed and I'm still going to kick ass. So we're good. Exactly. Okay. that again and then i'm never exposed and i'm still gonna kick ass so right i'm out exactly okay exactly i remember my college routine you know you're i think six seven

years older than me so i'm in college you get the gig we're like dude herb streets and and i'm thinking like wow and i i mean that was the routine i mean we would go through we would get our bets in we would you know a couple subs get through the day trying to figure out trying to figure out what we were doing um and the crazy thing is too is like i think about you what 26 27 the first season you were on game day yeah yeah and i was i was 30 when i was on radio and as i will reference numerous times far less important than game day was and i thought like oh so you're there you've got this opportunity i'm wondering like how did the trial and i've read the story about the trial it's in the book it's hilarious

and you can go wherever you want i know the excerpts have been out there but i think the there's there's there's like the stones to go, yeah, I have a chance at even trying out for this. Give me how that process is post-career, little media, little local stuff to now, could I actually get this gig? Yeah, I did local radio. I mean, it's not like I was in Billings, Montana.

I'm in Columbus, Ohio, and that's one of the benefits of playing at, Montana. I'm in Columbus, Ohio. And that's one of the benefits of playing at Ohio State. I thought about traditional way out of school. I was a business major. So I thought about pharmaceutical sales and a number of other opportunities that I had that Ohio State hooked me up with. And I just wanted to be in sports. I really didn't know if I was going to coach. I didn't even think about broadcasting. It wasn't like being one day, I want to be a broadcaster. It was never like that. I think subconsciously, I was a sports fanatic and a big Reds fan. And I listened to Marty Brenneman. And I would listen to Chris Collinsworth in the car driving as a youngster. I was a

teenager. And most guys were listening to music. And I'm listening to WLW, either the Reds or Sports Talk Radio. I listened to Chris. I found that job fascinating that you get paid to talk about sports, but I never really thought about it. I just never thought that was an option for me. I'd studied business, and when I get out, the NFL is not an option for me. I started to think about what route I'm going to go. I basically had a fork in the road. I had all these business opportunities. I'm talking like

offers and really strong, stable options versus this local radio show that was going to pay me $12,000 in 1993, which wasn't a ton of money and no benefits, no future, no, hey, I'm going to eventually get to ESPN. There was no vision. It was just, wow, that sounds like a fun job. That was my vision. We're in Columbus, Ohio. We talk Indians. We talk Reds. We talk Bengals. We talk Browns, obviously, Ohio State. There's a lot to talk about in that market. And I chose that. I turned down the more lucrative opportunities to something that sounded like I had passion for. And that was the lesson that I learned in that decision is going not for money, but going for something you love. And I did that every day. And it wasn't a job for me.

I ended up doing it for about 15 years. But a couple years into it, I kept bumping into Jack Aroop with his Ray-Bans on the sideline doing an ABC game. And he'd see me with my big, huge radio gear on my shoulder. And he'd laugh at me with his Ray-Bans on and his Madonna mic. And he's like, look, what are you doing? You got to get in the TV. And I just kind of blew him off. And then he would tell me it again. And well, then eventually, after a couple of years of doing that on the sideline for Ohio State in 93 and 94, I put a little fake tape together and went to Ohio Stadium in February when it's like 20 degrees out and did a fake, a couple fake sideline reports like with Brent Musburger throwing it down to me in an empty stadium. I had Eddie George, who's about to win the Heisman the next year. He and Joey Galloway, who was a first round pick, they came into a studio and we kind of did a 15 minute segment on we called Buckeye Corner.

And I just kind of BS with those guys. We put that on the tape. And then we took some of my local radio that I did. You know, we put that on the tape and sent it to ESPN and never heard from them for like six months. And eventually they got back and brought me in for an audition and I did it. And a couple of months later, they called me back and hired me to do just to come to ESPN in 1995 to be a sideline reporter. So I did that in 95. As that season ended, they asked me to do arena football with Todd Christensen, who was going to be play-by-play. And I did the color.

They wanted to hear how I would do color. And a guy named Kurt Warner was playing for the Iowa Barnstormers. There's a movie coming out on his life. And I was able to witness his season as the MVP of the arena. We did so many games in Des Moines with the Barnstormers. So I got a chance to cover him that year quite a bit. And in the middle of that season, they asked me, Hey, come into game day. Craig James is leaving.

We want you to come in for an audition. Mo Davenport, who is in charge, basically told me, You're not going to get the job, but it'd be good for you to just go through the exercise of the audition. That sounds like Mo. Yeah. That was real positive. You're not going to get it. So I came in and it was Fowler and Corso were in there and they had other guys that were lined up to do it.

And I was excited but terrified at the same time. And like you, I watched that show. Now I'm sitting next to Lee Corso in an audition and the music that, that started and Fowler was Fowler and Lee starts being Lee. And I just start to talk. And I thought I, you know, I was so uptight, sweating through it. It was a wreck. But I think they saw something with Lee and I. And about four months later, they called, maybe three months later, they called my agent and notified him that they wanted to hire me.

him that they wanted to hire me. And so I was 26, 26 or 20, yeah, 26. And just like, I got a call. I was actually back in these days, you get a pager, beep, beep, beep, go to a pay phone at the Detroit airport, call my agent. I'm like, what's up? He's like, well, congratulations. You got the game day gig. And I was like, my life changed forever on that call from that payphone at the Detroit airport on my way to Des Moines once again to go watch Kurt Warner. So I was on the radio side of things. And by the way, that's a great lesson for anybody that's in radio. If you have the ability to get to television, get to television as soon as you possibly can. Because we knew we were just this kind of mom and pop shop, even if it's ESPN National. But we would travel with you guys in a sense,

because we would be at the same location. And again, I did it from 08 to 2013. And Corso is such a big part of the book because you know he's beyond just your co-worker uh I think game day has a very cool vibe to it that it felt more like family than maybe any other production at ESPN and I think in a way you kind of looked at yourselves almost I don't want to say separate of ESPN attorney that but you you had this prideful and identity you know thing that I thought was just really I would watch you guys and be enamored with it I it's it's the only show when I was doing the radio show which would start at noon as soon as you guys would sign up I would watch you guys and be enamored with it. It's the only show when I was doing the radio show, which would start at noon. As soon as you guys would sign up, I would take a golf cart over to watch you and Chris and coach and Des. I would watch you to get motivated, to be energized

because I just was so in awe of what it was. And it was this real branded, amazing thing. And so this, I'm going to tell a little story here so bear with me but i remember being in one of the hotels you know wherever we were at for a game it was right after corso had a stroke and he again immediately like pretty soon thereafter i believe was on the road with you guys again correct and coach was with lee fitting and i wasn't eavesdropping i was waiting for food like by an area and i heard them talking to each other. So I'm not sharing anything that's like a big secret or anything. But I remember Fitting saying to him, saying like, coach, as long as you need whatever you need and you're part of this forever. So don't worry about any of that stuff. We're going to figure

it out. We're going to make it work and everybody's going to, it's just whatever you've gone through, we're going to be the solution as I'm paraphrasing here. And I thought it was so powerful. And, you know, coach is out there and you're out there and everybody's taking care of each other. And, you know, I'll get a text every now and then from a friend who loves the show, be like, Hey, what's going on with coach, whatever. I go, you know what I love about this is that, that instead of what would normally happen in the television business is that coach has a place and that he's always going to be taken care of. And that's almost unheard of in this profession. And I think it's so rare. And it's just something I've always wanted to share with you and share with an audience

to understand that that doesn't happen almost anywhere else. And I think that bond is obviously only gone stronger with somebody you've known almost three decades because of you guys giving him a place to come back to and taking care of him along the way. You're dead on. Yeah. because of you guys giving him a place to come back to and taking care of him along the way. You're dead on. Yeah. I'd like to think of game day as you've been around it.

When fitting was there, it was really intense in this way. But it was almost like our Friday meetings were like, it was such ball busting. I mean, it was like romper room. You know, like if you didn't have thick skin, you couldn't come into that room because, you know, they're making fun of me. We're making fun of Corso. Everyone's getting just crushed in a very loving way where only you, like in a locker room, can kind of crush on each other. You know what I mean? room can kind of crush on each other. You know what I mean? We were very, very, and we still are a very tight knit group. And there's no one, whether it's Lee Corson with his headgear, or it's, you know, me doing these big assignments or whatever, or Chris, no one, no one was ever bigger than anyone else, including the camera people and the PAs, like everybody. I'm not just saying that to make it sound good. Like we genuinely live that way to this day.

And I cannot tell you the value that that has on a show when you all truly buy into that. It's probably no different than a team that's playing in a sport. And when you all look at yourselves as equal parts and you care about each other, I just feel like we are a little bit of a... I've never been in these other production meetings and other shows on ESPN from what other people tell me over the 26 years I've been there. We're like this little outlier. It's just very different and very unique from other shows that are at ESPN. And that we're not about what's in it for me. We're not about what's in it for my individual brand. We're just not about that. We participate in social

media, but it's not about that aspect. And we've had a lot of great pieces come and go. Losing Chris Fowler was a major blow to the show. And Rhys Davis has come in, and he used to be at the rap side, which is a major blow to the show. And Rhys Davis has come in. And he used to be at the rap side, which is a different, basically, division. And he's come over. And because of how he was very respectful of the show, and we were very respectful of him, that's really clicked. And we miss Chris, but we welcome Rhys. And that's kind of come a different beast, you know, and how he carries the show.

And we lose Lee Fitting, man. And that was behind the scenes, Lee Fitting, the producer. He was, you know, the things he would say in your ear and the humor and the one-liners that he would tell you. I mean, it was just incredible. And to lose him and Chris together, devastating blows behind the scenes to that show and so jimmy gaiaro stepped in to that role and and so my role through that all has changed quite a bit and and i've had to recognize that and and try to with Bear, who's been there, he came in the first year I came in and we've tried to really keep the show, you know, being what it's always been from an intangible standpoint. And coach is a huge part of that. He had a stroke about 12 years ago now, and he's 86 years old.

86 years old. And my mom's 82 and she's still in good health. I've lost my dad. But think about people that get up to around 70, whether it's your grandparents or someone you know, they get to about 70, 72, they get to 75. This guy's 86 years old, getting on flights, going to hotels, forget about what he's doing on air, the travel, the wear and tear. And so I've always looked at him as a guy who helped me from the very first time I was in that audition. He made me feel like I belonged on that first audition when I didn't feel like I belonged. He made me feel from that very first time I met him, like I mattered and I belonged. And I always looked at him and I always appreciated that. And then after the stroke 12 years ago, I feel like our roles kind of changed. My career was going like this. I was calling national championships. I was on ABC.

I was doing all these cool things with Brent Musburger. And just my career was going to a place I was just blown away by it myself. And I was like, what can I do? First and foremost, what can I do for you? How can I help you make sure you feel good? And when he stumbles on a word or something, how do I subtly drop a word in or just kind of interrupt him where it's not like me obviously trying to jump in? So if it's a little bit of a safety net, then I'll do that. What do I need to do? But he's got such courage to be at his age and to stumble around from time to time. And yet he loves this game.

Dude, I'll send you a picture and we're done with this. We're on the sideline of the Ohio State-Michigan game. It's snowing out. We've got Ohio State-Michigan behind us. He is, he's like, he wouldn't want to be anywhere else. And if you took that away from him, I worry about where he would be in life. And so ESPN, God bless them for recognizing that because he still brings value to that show.

I can't tell you on social media, I get more stuff about Lee Corso and our relationship than any game I call or any comment I make. People love the guy. The little silly video I do every Saturday morning, hey, coach, what are you up to today? And he's like, come here, come here. Those people love, they live for that video more than anything else I talk about. Here I do all these hours upon hours and hours of research. And people just want to see me and Lee Cor Lee Corso you know talking about you know ice cream or you know something about Lee being silly um so he's he's a he's a guy to cherish every time you see him on tv

you should you should thank your thank your lucky stars that he's on tv and like you said I don't know I don't know how often you'll ever see that again. But he's an iconic figure, and we're fortunate to still have him with us and bringing a great deal of material every week to the show. In the book, you almost died playing baseball. I did. Give us this one. I was a sophomore in high school and it was a big deal at my school

to be on the varsity and I was starting third baseman and I got misdiagnosed with gasitis and I was happy in my brain when a doctor, when you're 15 years old, tells you you have gasitis because I had unbelievable lower abdomen pain

for two or three days and I was like, I'm talking like, man, what am I going to do kind of pain. So I go to the doctor, he's like, no wonder you're not feeling well. He's like, take this medicine, you have gas right. And I was like, yes, I can play in our game today. You know, because we had a huge game that day. And I got a big hit. I was, it was like 50 degrees with wind, probably felt it was in the forties and I got a hit, knock in a run. And I tried to steal second. When I stole second,

I dove on the steel. And when I did, I was, I was safe. I would add, but I, I got up and I was just like, I mentioned to my coach who's my coach, he was the manager, third base coach. I kind of gave him the signal like, I'm in trouble here. So I went to the end of the bench. And again, I'm not thinking burst appendix at the time. I'm just thinking I have gastritis. I'm taking, and I'm at the end of the bench and I got a coat on me and I'm just shivering and I go back home and still it's, it's just not registering that I have a burst appendix. And I go, I told my mom, I just want

to go to bed. You know, I go back to my room and now I'm on the, on my back and I can't, I have no energy to yell mom. So I reached for the phone. I called my best friend. I'm like, Hey man, call my house, tell my mom to come back and get me, take reached for the phone. I called my best friend. I'm like, hey man, call my house, tell my mom to come back and get me, take me to the hospital. So I hang up the phone. Imagine being a parent, getting that call. My phone rang immediately. My mom and my sister came running back. They basically carried me to the car, took me to the hospital. And I had, they eventually found out I had a burst appendix and it had been for quite some time, which is a really dangerous thing. And, um, all that poison gets all over your, you know, your, your insides. And so that was a pretty major procedure, but I came close

to dying. Yeah. Uh, that day. As I was reading the story and the lead up and he's like, well, that meant I could pinch hit. And I go, well, he definitely got a knock here. Like, he definitely got a kick. Because I don't know if we're going to get all the baseball stuff without some success in that story. All right. So I remember one time with Fowler where I'm trying to I want a great Fowler story from you that explains him. Because I'll try it again. I don't know him nearly as well as you do.

I've had moments where we were together where I would just be like, this fucking guy's on another level, man. I mean, this is, and I mean it in the best way possible. But there's an intensity. There's an observation. There's a processing with Fowler that is just different. And I think I've worked with some pretty incredible people. different and i think i've worked with some pretty incredible people um but i just remember one time like i was like you know what what's because you know he's a little bit he's not gonna warm up to just anybody you know so it took a little while and he was like well you know he's like i want to

i want to be a part of you know cataloging history and i was like what are you talking about i'm just hoping to have some good lakers takes you know what and he started explaining to me like his goals he goes i want to be the voice of history i want 100 years from now somebody you know whether it's a clemson alabama national championship game and in the throat of renfro like i I want to be the voice that lives. And I was like, God, I need to set higher goals. I'm sitting there being motivated by it, going, this guy's, this is right. Or Wimbledon.

Exactly, right. Or it's a heavyweight match, which he's done so many of those. Best word to describe him is perfectionist you know he is i feel like um and i i've known i know him so well and and when you're off the air in a relaxed mode he's a very different chill like that's the guy you want to hang out with. But when he's in a prep mode or he's in a, about to do a broadcast mode, he, he just has almost like a blinders approach to the production. And so if he were to bump into you or to somebody when he's in that mode,

if he were to bump into you or to somebody when he's in that mode, he can come off as if he's, he's a little bit, you know, prickly. And then you'll see him after the game and you'll, you, it's like a, it's like a, just a different guy. But I, I, I tip my cap to his, his professionalism. He, he, and when he left game day and came to call the games and he had done thursday night but the abc games had just had a different level of scrutiny and a lot of people were like he's a studio guy calling games or they were nobody was more critical of chris when he stepped in there in 14 than chris he didn't need critics telling him

you know because he filled the shoes of brent musburger and he didn't need critics telling him, you know, because he filled the shoes of Brent Musburger. And he didn't need critics telling him. He was more difficult and challenging on himself, more demanding on himself than anybody could be. And I thought he did a nice job because he had had some reps. But to hear him today versus where he was in 14 because of how demanding he is of himself man he is his goal what you said you know what was it documenting history or you know whatever his goals were he's doing that i mean you know we we live in this era of you know like gus johnson does he's off the top you know top rope kind of calls on some of his games, which is fine. Some people love that. Chris, to me, is just really, really professional. Like just he gets

high when the moment needs to be high, but he just does a very professional, very thorough job, you know, and he takes such pride in his work, man. Like nobody that I've ever worked with is as hard on himself as Chris is. And he and I have a very natural built-in chemistry because of spending, you know, over 25, 26 years together in studio. And now we've been doing the game since 14. And I think that's the thing we probably have in common is we we both want to be the best you know we our entire production we don't we don't compare ourselves just to whoever we we're trying to compare ourselves to being the best booth in television and whether that's a realistic goal or not that's that's kind of how we push each other and we put push our production team. And I just, I love working with him, you know,

and I love what you just described. I love that he has that push in him to want to be the Dick Emberg. I think this is the name that he always uses, the Dick Emberg of this generation. And I really feel that he's doing that. Yeah. No. And I, I, I'm so impressed every time, like when you really understand what he's doing, when, when you would go, wait, what is he doing? He does it this way. And then the people in the business would be like, dude, he's, he's different. He's just so different, but in the best way possible because it's an amazing product every time he's a part of it. What does that mean for you then? Cause you have reached your goals at a very young age, really, if you think about it.

So we all have goals, but where are you professionally on goals that you may not have, or have you already done it? I don't know, man. That's a great question because you're right. I mean, when they asked me to move over, Mike Tirico left Thursday Night Football. He and I had a great run doing Thursday night football. And there were some big games at that time. And then the NFL kind of came into that

world and the Thursday night game didn't become as significant. And Mike left to go to do Monday night football with Gruden. And I left, they asked me to go work with Brent. That was in 06. So when I got to 06 and I'm in the ABC booth, the game of the week with Brent Musburger, you could say, and they let me keep game day. So I got to do both. You could say at that point, my goals were not like, okay, I've met my goals. That was fun. But it was like that. I'm calling national championships. I'm calling Rose bowls. I'm calling Ohio state, Michigan. I'm calling all these big games and I'm doing it with Brent Musburger. And I'm still working on game day with my guys. Like that was like, wow, this is awesome.

And I've been doing that since I was six. So I never thought about the NFL. Never. It was never like a goal of mine. And then last year, the year before, it was last year, they asked me to do a Steelers-Giants game with Chris. And I actually was blown away. There wasn't a fan in the stands at MetLife. But there was something about the prep and working with Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin and working with the Giants and Saquon and Daniel

Jones and just the rapport that I had with those guys. Because I always wondered what would be, like I'm doing with you, how would this college, I'm just, you know, I'm very comfortable, but I don't know what it would feel like to do that with the NFL. And just based on that one game, I was blown away by how it went and how comfortable it was. And then we got a chance to go call that game. And so and then we were going to call a Patriots Broncos game like a week or two later. And then COVID canceled that game. We were actually at my hotel.

We had flown from Clemson Saturday night after that game to be at, to get ready to call a game the next day. And I was on the phone with the offensive coordinator from the Broncos and going through everything. And in the middle of our call, the PR guy came in and said, yeah, the game's canceled because of COVID. So we were about to do another game that, uh, that ended up just getting wiped out. And I, there was something about it. I was starting to kind of enjoy it. I'm going to do one, I guess, here in a couple of weeks with Chris, that week 18, I think it's January 9th. So looking forward to doing that. So I'm dabbling a little bit there. And because it's a new world, it's fun. It's intriguing. It's a new challenge. I don't know what the future has. I don't know if that's something they're going to ask me or not, but I'm in a different space mentally than I used

to be. I would want to hold on to college. I'll never leave college. It's just my passion. But if they would ever let me potentially balance that along with maybe some NFL, I would at least look at that down the road. Okay, five questions in honor of Craig Kilbourne here, which we only do when I remember to do it, which is very, very rarely. It's time for five questions. I feel like you've said a few places

are the best venue in the moment because it's hard when you're in the moment to be like, is there anything better than this? Now that we're moved from it, best venue at its peak. For game day? No, no, for a game, for a game. The whiteout. Wow. So you're switching it up from Death Valley, huh? Because I know you've said LSU on a Saturday night too. Yeah. I mean, if you get to LSU when LSU is in the top five and they're playing a top five opponent, that's a tough one to beat. That's the loudest.

That's the loudest. There's something really cool about a Penn State wideout. Penn State wideout, the edge there. Best game you've ever called. What's your favorite game? Ironically,

the Tua insertion and comeback win against Georgia in the national championship. And for Georgia to get there, they had to be Baker Mayfield in the Rose Bowl. So that sequence of the Rose Bowl with Georgia and Oklahoma when Georgia was essentially, they were out, gone. OU was up big. Georgia comes back, gets it to overtime in the Rose Bowl and wins it to go to the natty. And then Tua, when it looks like Alabama has no shot and they put Tua in the game, I would say that sequence that year was my favorite. If you didn't play at Ohio State, where would you have gone? Michigan. Were you offered? Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry.

No, I didn't mean it like that. I meant like, oh, yeah, that was real. I was close on Penn State, Tennessee, but Michigan just because of Bo. My dad and he are friends, and I love the offense that they ran, and I love Jim Harbaugh. I mean, I hated him as a player and loved him at the same time. I almost got in a fight in a wedding 10 years ago,

got surrounded by a bunch of Ohio State fans saying that you hated Ohio State. I appreciate you hated Ohio State. And I was like, you guys are idiots. I appreciate you having my back. I had a fancy date with me, so I kept it in line on that one, but they were all hammered. So it was tough. I just kept telling them. I took it very seriously, and I broke the whole process down.

I go, the best analysts are the alums. Pollock will let Georgia have it. You would have thought the guy went to Kansas State if you didn't know. And I was trying to break it out there. Why do you think people have a hard time with objectivity and just... Why do you think that Pollock wouldn't love Georgia

if he picks them to lose a game or he says something where they should be ranked three instead of two? Why do you think that is? I think you said it earlier really well i mean it's just a crazy crazy fan base that finds way more ways to get angry than they are happy it's on it's unbelievable so i tried to explain it to him the miller lights took over

the thought process they couldn't get there with him and i was like look i gotta i gotta get back to my table here guys and i didn't really know him that well either and they were like waiting waiting waiting and then when it finally kicked in and the dance world was going, they were like, hey, we're going to talk to you about Herb Street, man. He hates Ohio State. And I was like, hey, you guys, all right, last one. Give me... I don't know

if you'll do this for me, but I really want this answer. In all the years of getting to know these guys, give me a coach you get to know and you're like, there's no way I could ever play for this guy. No way I could ever play for this guy. See, I would love to play for Saban because I'm from that old school generation

like a Parcells or Belichick. I like that. See, for those who can't see this, his face is telling me there's 10 answers he has in his head right now, but he's trying to figure out a way, like, is this going to derail the entire thing where Kirk Herstreet says he couldn't play for Mike Gunn? You can't ask me that. I could have been a retired guy. I don't know. I don't think Holgerson would have gotten upset.

In my book, I talk about Elliot Ucelak. He was my offensive coordinator at Ohio State. He was a former head coach. I wouldn't want to play for him. That's for damn sure. All right. Well, you got off easy that one. All right. Make sure you check out Kirk Herbst's book, Out of the Pocket.

Gene Wojciechowski, obviously, great job on this as well. And it was a lot of fun, man. It was a lot of fun to get to know you even more going through it. Reading this, known you for a long time. So, as always, appreciate the time. You are a great teammate on television, and it's a rarity. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.

Great catching up with you, man. Football wouldn't be the game we know and love without a few surprises how about those detroit lions huh let's talk about them they finally get a win 110 and one i started doing some segments based on who they were going to take in the draft because even if you're telling us the quarterbacks aren't that strong and even if you're telling us you have jared goff under contract i started looking at some of the mocks and stuff that's out there this segment was baked in it It was ready to go. Still probably use it,

especially if you're 1-15-1. But they got a win against the Vikings. A game they almost gave away. And that's what was so fulfilling about this win because it felt like same old Lions, the Bears loss on Thanksgiving, the Browns loss,

the Steelers tie, the Eagles game. And there was a little bit weird competitive against the Rams, not against Cincinnati. The Vikings loss, the Raven Eagles game in there was a little bit weird. Competitive against the Rams, not against Cincinnati. The Vikings lost. The Ravens lost kind of set a tone for this season because you were like, wait, are we going to be bad every time?

Are we never going to have any luck? And it looked like the bad luck was coming up again with a fumble. Quick touchdown for Kirk Cousins and the Vikings. But no, Jared Goff down the field, 29-27. And then older media members got really weird about Goff's girlfriend posting her excitement. So since we're talking about all things surprisingly great, we've got to shout out all the good neighbors at State Farm for offering surprisingly great rates. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Get a quote today.

Real quick before we get to life advice, we've got the QB stock game. That means Q3 is closed, folks, and we are on to the final quarter of this game. Right now, Kyle is in third place out of three at $1,600, but he is positive. We started with $1,000, four quarterbacks making moves along the way. I am in second. I turned my $1,000 into

$2,070. I have a little cash reserve that I have to use as well. Rudy just crushed it early on. Smashed the Darnold price. The preseason price for Darnold was $1.29. Darnold then went to $8.40 because Carolina won all their games because they had an easy schedule. They've since played a million quarterbacks,

and Darnold's price is not the same. Darnold's back to $3 a share. Wait a minute, it might even be worse than that. I don't know why I'm giving this massive Darnoldold's back to three bucks a share. Wait a minute. It might even be worse than that. I don't know. I'm giving this massive Darnold history. Yeah, three bucks a share. But Cerruti is winning and he's way ahead of me right now.

So I don't know if Kyle and I can catch him. 3,300. So, Kyle, let's have you go first. You had Burrow, Herbert, Mahomes, Stafford. Stafford was a loser. Not huge returns. Negative $2.69. We'll let you keep your desk, though.

What do you got? Yeah, took a loss on Stafford and then sold Mac, and he went on a seven-game win streak. That's all great. Can't go back now, actually, because I think Mac might lose a couple games through no fault of his own, obviously. So what I'm going to do is I think Burrow hit his peak.

Burrow hit his peak. I'm going to get rid of my 73 shares of Burrow at $5.56 and then with that money, I can only afford 67 shares of Dak Prescott at $6.01. That's the only move I'm making. I think I'm going to ride the rest of these guys out.

All right. All right. So that's the one. Just to run through everybody right now, Kyler's still the number one price as far as not value, but the overall price, $8.98 a share. Rodgers is second. Brady, Stafford, Herbert.

The Mahomes money hasn't worked out. I mean, I made a little money on them in this quarter. I've got Mahomes, Burrow, Russell Wilson, two different fields positions because I just added into it. I added it. And the fields thing has not worked out. Fields is now the fifth worst price at $1.20 a share. And I just don't know what to do with him the rest of the way.

So I'm out on Fields. I'm out on Mahomes. I'm out on Russell Wilson, who did, I guess, trademark let Russ cook. And ever since they've let Russ cook, Mike Sando had this piece. They're like an entirely different offense. And it isn't better if you can figure that one out. So I don't know. Let me know if you bought a let Russ cook. And ever since they've let Russ cook, Mike Sando had this piece. They're like an entirely different offense and it isn't better if you can figure that one out. So I don't know. Let me know if you bought a let Russ cook hoodie, send us a picture. Um, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep burrow. I still feel like strong to quite strong about burrow. Uh, burrows price is right in the middle of the pack here at five 56. And that's where you're really

looking. You're looking at these prices. Rudy will post them later, and I'll retweet it, at Ryan Aversillo, where you're kind of looking in that mid-range, going, who do I like that I feel like is undervalued? And I felt like it took a while. But I'm with you, Kyle. Dak Prescott at $601 a share. Think of it.

Preseason, Dak was priced. Well, he wasn't priced because he didn't play. But Dak came in. He was $8 a share. After but Dak came in he was $8 a share after the first quarter he was $7 a share so Dak is right now $6 flat $6.01 I'm going to go ahead and buy

166 shares of Dak so I'm keeping my burrow position I'm going to buy 166 shares of Dak at $6.01 so that's about a grand right there. A lot of NFC East coming up for those guys. That's a good sign. Yeah, a lot of NFC East.

I'm with you on that. I liked it because my Burrow thing, you could argue the Niners defense is actually, if you look at weighted stuff defensively, the Niners have been really good. Denver's slipping. Baltimore's slipping. Kansas City's jumped up quite a bit

in a very short amount of time because they've been on this nice run defensively. So, all right, there you go. Give me a little tool of love. I'll just do 30 shares on him, a little sample, a little taste. 582 a share, so that takes me to 174. So that leaves me with about 300-something bucks left over. I'm going to go in on the penny stock.

Give me the pink sheets. Give me Jared Goff. I'll take $340 worth of Jared Goff at $31. What's that? They're going to get two wins? I just, I got to hope that I get a little bit more out of him. Yeah, he's going to get crushed in the win-loss ratio, though. I know.

He's the worst win-loss. He and Trevor Lawrence are the worst win-loss guys going right now. It just, it doesn't work out for him at all. I mean, that's why the two-a-thing's even a little scary. But you know what? I'm just hoping. I'm praying for something. Maybe they open it up. Maybe after this win, everything's different.

Maybe the rest of the way. They've been competitive in a lot of games. A lot of games. That's what you're going to tell us in the offseason. I've got to say we're all the time. Both lives ripped off four straight wins in the season. While Matt Corral has golf's number. Yeah, just give me

a handful of those the rest of my portfolio. I'm going to put it in golf and just hope. That's all right. You know, we can read the trades. We can sit there. You can check out

The Economist. You can be watching halftime. Sometimes it's a gut feel. Sometimes you're just going to go with your gut. Saru, you're just zagging on Sean McVay. He's selling golf stock. You're here

buying golf stock, so I respect that. Usually, Ryan, you and I are aligned. I'm actually going to do a couple things opposite of you. I'm going to sell Joe Burrow just like Kyle did. He's got a tough schedule, man. He does. His QBR is kind of middle of the road. I'm surprised. I thought it would be better than that. I'm actually

going to sell him because I made a slight profit, I think, on him. Yeah, I made $9, so sick. Sick. I'm going to sell his shares. I'm going. I thought it would be better than that. I'm actually going to sell him because I made a slight profit, I think, on him. Yeah, I made $9. So sick. Sick. I'm going to sell his shares. I'm also going to sell my 57 Tua shares because, again, I kind of feel like that Tua thing sort of peaked. Again, not the most favorable schedule on the way out.

I made like $100 off him, so I'll sell Tua. That gives me about $609. I am going to buy... I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm going to buy Russell Wilson. Give me 150 shares of Russell Wilson, $511. Somewhat favorable schedule on the way out. I still

think, even though I don't love the fake plays when he's injured, I think he's going to end the season well. So give me 150 shares of Russell Wilson. And I'm going penny stocks with you too, Ryan, but I'm going to buy a different guy. Give me Trevor Lawrence. I'll take 59 shares of Trevor Lawrence. I just think they have a somewhat of a favorable schedule.

I think he's going to turn around. I still believe in him. And I feel like even if he, you know, 30 cents, if they get one win, I'm probably going to make some money. So two guys that are on the low end of stocks, Russell Wilson and Trevor Lawrence. Do you think Russell Wilson's playing for a new team? Is that why this stretch is he's going to hit it so hard? He's auditioning.

Yeah. Yeah. A lot of questions are on right now. So yeah, that's a good idea. Nobody wants Mac. Interesting. Seven game win streak. Well, you said I think you missed. I think we missed our window on Mac. It was probably last. We did last quarter. Brian's got 200 extra dollars. He just found he could throw a little bit on Mac.

Whatever. Doesn't matter. I don't know. Let's look at this Detroit schedule again. Broncos, Cardinals, Falcons, Seahawks, Packers. So it's only two of the best teams in the NFL out of the five. They have the Vikings twice? Or no, they just beat the Vikings. They just beat the Vikings.

Yeah. And they lost to him by two. I mean, look at these scores. Ravens, they should have won that game. Vikings game. Eagles wasn't close. Steelers, they didn't get outscored by the Steelers. True.

Say that comfortably. Browns game. The Bears, the Thanksgiving one's tough, but it's always way worse when you screw up timeouts during the Thanksgiving game because then everybody's like oh you're the dumbest human being that walks the face of the earth although Campbell's explanation for why they call the timeout saying the wheel route was wide open like when people of course went

back and looked at immediately and it was pretty convincing that it wasn't wide open but that's all right that's don't put my money on give me golf give me them being competitive against yeah two of the Super Bowl favorites right now smart stuff all right i'm not telling the portfolio always makes sense but i'm just just trying something a little different there i like the wilson buy i just don't i'm over it i'm over the whole thing he burned you yeah you lost a good amount of money on him so yeah i know the irony there i know right there's a the wilson cop it's been a complicated

relationship between the two of us. It always, it always has been. I found out I was blocked by like some family members or something like that, but I don't even know if that's a real thing or not.

So yeah. CR locked you? Crazy. Yeah. I mean, honestly, wasn't consuming a ton of the content recently.

So I will get through this. You're making it worse right now. If you ever want to get back in, you're making it worse. I never was in nor wanted. I'm good. You might as well just follow future now. Hey, that's obviously my guy.

Let's do life advice. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine.

And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Get to life advice here. Again, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com You know, could have a couple issues here on the home front. Have my own little HOA battle. Not sure I'm quite willing to share it with everybody. And then, I don't know how far I want to go to war on this HOA thing.

and I guess there's all these community people that get together when there's construction in your neighborhood like if everybody's on top of each other like they are where I live and praising um guys are hammering away at like 7 a.m this morning and I assume they're breaking some sort of rule I imagine somebody far more organized and bothered by it will get involved um so maybe that just means I'm you know I'm not giving back to my community. I don't know. I don't know what that says about me, but you may hear it a little bit, uh, through some of the pods that may have to mean we have to, we have to change course here. Who knows? Uh, I've talked to Saruti about it a little bit. I don't know how great I'd feel about renting a space at WeWork after we did that podcast about him. I'm quite sure I'm going to get the discount.

So there you go. All right. So we have a lot of different stuff here. We had a guy email in. He goes, wife is 10. So Kyle sends that one over. I go, okay, this is quite a dilemma. And it wasn't that at all. He goes, the Country Club, Randy Couture

was the best 10 minutes of a podcast I've listened to in a while. I think we can still be better as a podcast, but people seem to really love that story. We just didn't, you know, if you missed that one, dude just went hammer fist on a guy and then has a hot wife. So let's get to a couple of these. Should I ask out my professor?

All right. Guy checking in, 26-3, 190. Used to play D2 hoops. Wasn't for me. I guess he transferred. Man, wasn't for you. He'd be on The Bachelor, former professional basketball player. Like, I had to retire. Retired as a sophomore in college? Yeah. Just injuries. All right. What's up, guys? Current dilemma is due to the fact that I'm approaching the end of my fall semester. I've had the same professor now for two different courses during the last two semesters. She's insanely attractive and we get along really well. It's a writing-based

course. So I have gone to her office hours quite a bit for extra feedback on my work. All right. So just so we understand office hours, not in her office for hours, that would probably be crossing over to a danger zone or a lack of renewal. You wouldn't need our advice if that was the case. Yeah, right. My buddies and I always joke around that I should ask her out even when I graduate. It seems far-fetched in my mind. However, I have been proclaimed, quote, the love doctor by my roommates.

Note that, Kyle, so we get back to it. Um, so they believe it is possible. She would accept things tend to be pretty easy with girls my age, even though I don't necessarily seem to be doing anything too crazy. This would obviously be out of my comfort zone considering I deal with college girls that are extremely easy to read. This guy might, maybe he is the love doctor. He's just got everybody figured out. Just looks into their eyes. It's like, all right, read you. My professor seems to really enjoy me as well, but to believe there are any actual feelings there would seem like a stretch.

Should I step out of my comfort level and go for it? Should I wait until I graduate a year and a half from now, or should I leave it be? My buddies think I definitely should, as it would be just another encounter to add to my, quote, resume. Okay, this guy's, we've got just a ton of guys. A lot of these guys. right here's here's what i'm saying uh on a couple of these things if you hang out with a group of friends that call you the love doctor i don't know i don't know what your friend like is it funny are they serious

about it do they really call you that all the time um are you perhaps the guy that's way cooler than the rest of his friends so it's actually a very supportive friendship group, but in any friendship group, there's usually a dynamic where somebody is kind of the, the best out of like, there's, there's one, uh, woman that I used to work with who I was convinced that only hung out with unattractive people so that she always looked 10 times more attractive. Like I was convinced, like she could have been friends with anybody and she wasn't. And then I was like, you know what? I think I'm onto something here. I have a theory that I think this person only hangs out with unattractive people for this specific reason. I don't think that's necessarily what you're doing. D2 hoops wasn't even for you. So, um, it's just something

that the radar went off immediately. Kyle, are you with me there? Cause I think there's different dynamics where you probably have Kyle, a friend group where you feel like you're the alpha, you're the best, the superior, you're cool to all of them. They build you up. And then I'm sure there's other circles where you've hung in being like, why is anybody even in this group talk to me? Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely not the alpha in my circles. There's actually a couple of guys. It's like, you know, I don't have any I don't have any knowledge of what it's like to be in jail or anything like that, you know. So, I mean, I kind of defer. They've lived more lives than me. I'd like to say I've done a lot of living, but they've just lived more of a life than me so far.

But I know what you're saying. It sounds like this guy's probably the coolest guy in the A.V. club. All right. OK, so also let's let's look at this from an age perspective. I'm in college and I thought a professor really was into me and everybody was like, that's the hottest professor ever and all that kind of stuff, I would process this a lot differently at 20 than I would now in my 40s.

So you got to listen to that part. I may not be the right person to give you advice. The reason she's probably really friendly with you, I mean, one, it could be that she's into you. A more likely scenario could be that because there's no threat of her actually having to think of you as a dating partner, that she's completely at comfort around you. She is really friendly.

Like this isn't a bar. This isn't a wedding. This isn't a date. This isn't meeting somebody on an app. All of those barriers, those social barriers that we have that make some of these, most of these occasions kind of awkward and kind of tough for everybody and people get anxiety about it. It's that now all of those are removed from this relationship. It's strictly, you're the student and she's a professor. So she may be incredibly friendly to you because that's all it is. And she's just a really nice person and she's not thinking of you. There's no stress on this dynamic because none of that has even crossed her mind and it's not

realistic. So you could be completely reading it wrong that way. Now her mind and it's not realistic so you could be completely reading it wrong that way now again you know some of you guys out there do exist uh but i would i mean what's what's the point do you like her it doesn't you haven't talked about like hey i'm actually into her it just seems that she's hot and your friends want you to do it and if that's the case then um i don't know i mean do you really it would kind of suck to have somebody's professional career at a university destroyed because your buddies were like do it um most people will listen to that part of the advice and call me a loser which i understand um but if this were reversed if it were a male professor and it's a female student writing in being like, I want to ask out my male professor, like in that case, I couldn't even touch it.

Like the only advice I could give you would be leave it alone, leave it alone. But we get weird when the roles are changed gender wise, where it's the female teacher. And then we kind of have like, I don't know, in a weird way, we have like way more fun with it. teacher. And then we kind of have like, I don't know, we in a weird way, we have like way more fun with it. So yeah, I know. I mean, I mean, I guess you could reach out if you wanted to kind of date her. But if you're sitting here just trying to sleep with your hot professor, and you haven't even graduated yet. I mean, I guess you could make the joke of, hey, well, you know,

once I graduate, I'm asking you out, whatever. And then, you know, how, however, she reads it, she reads it. And that would probably give you a way out as if you didn't really do it, but you're trying to figure this out. And considering you can read minds, I'm sure you'll be able to process whatever reaction you get out of this. But just be careful that, you know, there's real things at stake here for somebody who's an actual professor and this is their career. And the other part would be, it could very well be, as I said before, her just being really great to be around. And she's not thinking of you as a potential partner whatsoever.

So none of those stressors are involved. And so the normal shit you would see in the beginning as you're feeling each other out, courting each other, none of those exist here because she may not even think of it. Kyle, do you have any hot teachers that liked you? Not that liked me. I knew guys in high school that sealed the deal, and I knew guys in college that sealed the deal. I didn't find out about the high school guy until after. It was like his dirty little secret

until everyone was out of the building. But, I mean, so basically what I'm saying is stranger things have happened, and it's in every t-shirt. Like, it's usually gender roles are reversed. There's always a guy who's a professor at a college who's, like, you know, hanging out too much with a girl. That's usually that it's usually the other way around. But it sounds like he's

probably hasn't met anyone in college that he's really liked. I mean, he opened with his resume, right? I mean, that's, that's really what's going on here. And so I would say a stranger things have happened. B, you don't really care about any of this. It like and see um i don't know i just i know for a fact that it it does happen so i don't know dude maybe i mean because then where would you hang out though honestly it's like you'd have to start slow and then what she's going to be seen at a bar that near campus with you no um what are you going to bring a bottle of wine to her office after hours probably not i mean it just sounds just sounds like unless she's like coming over, which I can guarantee you that's not going to happen.

I don't know how it works, but I mean, it sounds like you don't care about anything. It sounds like really you just want this story to live on for another 15 years. And, you know, I can't actually say there's something wrong with that. When you don't care about anything, just take a shot, I guess.

I don't have too many thoughts. The guys in high school thing, you know, that didn't happen at my high school, but that to me, like looking back on it, is is the most foreign it'd be like somebody being like wait you have a house in croatia like what yeah like are you serious dude was six four though now this guy's six three former d2 um no a lot of that stuff is good especially too like if you're in a college community on top of everything else like if you can't you can't actually really date here which i don't think is really what you're going for it always kind of there's always a weird dynamic too because as i brought up numerous times that

age gap of of 18 to 21 feels like a decade plus the age gap of 21 22 to like 26 feels like another 20 years but when you have younger people working in a university depending on what kind of school you go to like where I went to school, it was still a town. The university was inside of a town and, you know, obviously we were out all the time. And I actually,

towards the end of, yeah, we had to stay on campus until our sophomore year. Then it was up to us. And then nobody, nobody stay on campus from junior year. And I was going to get kicked off. And it's because we'd had,

all of us had had violations. We'd all rotate them. And I, the reason I ended up getting put in review was I seriously went to take a shower. And one of the other idiot neighbors in my hall just went into my room. My room was the one that was always unlocked. We just, I don't know. We're looking back. We didn't care.

Yeah, we were just unlocked, going there, screw around, play video games, come back to your room. Seven guys. None of them are your roommates. And a guy went in and turned on. Check your head. Beastie Boys cranked it all the way up and then left. Bounced.

And I'm coming out of the shower with a towel around me in the hallway. And I've got campus security outside of my door banging on the door while the music is blaring. And they're like, is this your room? And I go, yeah. They're like, what are you doing? It's the middle of the day. Are you kidding me? I go, I've been in the shower.

I didn't do this. What are you talking about? And they're like, bullshit. They didn't believe me, which I guess I kind of understand why they didn't believe me. So the whole reason I bring up the story is they're like, hey, you're going to be in review now or whatever. And then we were out, I't know later that week and we ran into the guy that was like in charge of going over campus violations and he was 26 27 and he's absolutely shit-faced and i just went up to him i go hey man i'm like kind of in this situation

and he's like oh i got it no problem he goes here call me monday done he's like you're not going anywhere he was so aggressive and then i it was the weird thing was is there was like an ex that lived literally across the hallway and i went you know what actually being forced to leave is going to be way better so i went and lived off campus for like the last couple months that that semester and would come back randomly to the dorm to grab stuff even though i wasn't supposed to be there. So that was the RD, that guy, right? The resident director. Usually there's an RA, which is like the beat cops. And then there's the RD who's like the sergeant or something there. And it's usually like the oldest student on campus who stuck around for a year or two. Yeah, he was above. This guy was a higher up. But again, he felt like he was 50 years old to us. And so then

we saw him at one of the bars. But one of the bars that we would go to was like an adult thing and then it would phase out the adults and then we would just kind of take it over. And I'll never forget. We thought it was so weird that the campus guy was out. And then when you think about it, you're like, well, of course he's out. What's he going to do? It's Friday.

The guy's going out telling college kids he's going to take care of all their problems. Yeah, he lives in the best dorm on campus eating ramen noodles just like the rest of us. He doesn't even have a full kitchen in there. I didn't remember. The star guy didn't. Yeah. I stumbled across my old emails.

I've had the same email address for a shit ton of time. And I stumbled across the ones I had to send with the drafts in it to write all the essays for when I got my troubles. And some of them was like, oh, you know, why you shouldn't smoke weed. The other ones was like, I forget. There was like three of them. And I was like, wow, I had to write three essays before they really started ramping up the punishments.

All right. Can you please, during One Life Advice, read us your email on why you shouldn't smoke weed? I will. I will. I will do that. I didn't open the thing. I just saw, I saw the header and I was like, oh. I will do that. I didn't open the thing. I just saw the header and I was like, oh, I remember that.

Okay. Do you have anything to add to that, Sruti? No. I would just say, is there any chance, getting back to actually the story and the guy, is there any chance that this is like the guy at the strip club who thinks the dancers are into him? Like, ooh. Totally. Like she's the teacher. Like she's, it's her job to like even if you're

like you know maybe you're really into the class and she's pumped about that too and it's a safe space i don't know i would just be worried about that yeah i do think you're blurring the lines of being a professor and a dancer where you know a professor hey they're both helping people you know yeah i guess i've never really thought of like my professor's really nice and then somebody would be like dude same thing with strippers though and I would go what um all right let's get to another one here all right paying for moving expenses former college wrestler a lot of athletes today can do pull-ups and I work out at a lifetime athletic club none of that matters but felt necessary fair my situation in May I moved back to Iowa, love the people of Iowa for a work

opportunity after living in Virginia for a few years. My on and off girlfriend, two plus years decided she wanted to come with. So we moved together. It didn't last long and I broke up with her. Now she wants me to pay for moving expenses back to Iowa. Not a huge deal. I thought then I learned it was three grand for a one-way U-Haul from Iowa to Virginia. Do I eat the 3K to get rid of her and end on better terms or tell her to pay for her own truck as she's my ex now and I will likely never see her again? Thanks. All right. You broke up with her, so that's the root of this entire transaction. Now, did you break up for a specific reason? Did you do something wrong? Did you just get sick of her?

Did she maybe get sick of you and then you hit the button before she did? I mean, did this blindside her? If you blindsided her, you did something wrong. You're dealing with emotions here that are a little bit different than some sort of business transaction. I would also ask from Iowa to Virginia,

if it's three grand for a U-Haul truck, not saying that that's wrong. You can do better than that. I move my stuff across the country in those pod things for way less than that. Way less. You probably had more stuff. Yeah, I definitely had more stuff. So that seems high. That seems high. So maybe you could be like, look, I'm not paying three grand for a U-Haul truck, but I will talk to you about maybe researching this a little bit more and paying a little bit less. Like you said you were willing to, and then you got the number.

So that tells me you know you kind of screwed this thing up. I mean, look, you could just tell her, absolutely not. You're totally on your own but it's just not going to be a lot of fun if she's heartbroken about this whole deal so is at the end of the world if you kick a little bit money in nope but i mean it kind of sounds like you give zero shits whatsoever so i'm not going to tell you to pay for a bill that you don't want to you said you're never going to talk to this person again on every top everything else but if you i mean you're phrasing it like she was like, hey, I want to come with you. And you were like, all right, cool. So you didn't seem to keep that into it to begin with. And then you dump her. I would think there's, I don't know what your age is. You didn't

put your age in this whole thing. I think there's a certain age where you might feel like you have to help out a little bit, but the entire bill on this one, I think there's some wiggle room on this price. Totally. I think you should treat it exactly how my mom treated my school shopping. It was, you got the budget was $60 for shoes, anything over you're going to have to cover. And cause she knows that we can go to pay less and get a great pair of shoes for $60. But if you want the air force ones, you're just going to have to do some chores or I don't know where you're going to get your money, kid. Strip some more copper wire, but you're going to have to do it.

So that's what I think is you should just have a hard cap and don't really even negotiate it. Decide what you thought you were going to pay in the first place. Because at the end of the day, as we know, with moves and roommates and stuff, people get fucked over all the time. You're offering to do the opposite of fuck someone over and help them out. So just come up with what you're comfortable paying with and then put a cap on it. That's what I think. I just, I feel like 50, 50 is totally fair and shop around, but like, she's an adult. She decided to make this decision for herself.

You know, it's her life too. Like you didn't force her to go out there with you. So I don't feel like it's all on you. And if you're not concerned about what the future of that relationship is, then I think 50, 50 is fine. And then shop you. And if you're not concerned about what the future of that relationship is, then I think 50, 50 is fine. And then shop around. And if you get some $1,500, do that. But I don't think there's any way you should pay the entire thing just

because she moved out there for you. Like she's an adult. She made that decision too. Boom. Next one. Nothing to add. That's better. 50,

50 is definitely better than a cap number. Good job. That's why there's three of us. Yeah. All right. 50, 50 is definitely better than a cap number. Good job. That's why there's three of us. Yeah. All right. Um, the last one, this one is titled Kyle rated PG 13.

I'd love to know what that means. Wow. It means it's going to get real adult here. Real, but not too adult. Yeah, but not too adult. Like Lord of the Rings fighting,

not like Game of Thrones fighting. Like when Vince Vaughn in Swingers goes, you know, you're kind of that PG-13 guy where you're kind of hoping it's going to happen. And what the rated R guy? I think that's the line. I hope I'm getting that right. No, I got you.

No, I got you. I'll get seven emails telling me how it was wrong. Okay, all right. New homeowner, PG-13. I'll get seven emails telling me how it was wrong. Okay. All right. New homeowner, PG-13. Let's see how randy this one gets. Not sure how well it'll play for listeners. I want to change it up.

I'm checking in with a Mario Kart online win percentage of 82%. Nice. What's that? All right. Anyway, I'm at my house a lot. I have a question regarding domestic privacy and living in a cul-de-sac as a newly married new homeowner a bit about me

I've always been quite self-aware who hates inconveniencing others and does whatever it takes to be non-confrontational and stay out of everyone else's way I hate rocking the boat and awkward situations are not my forte I just recently got married and moved out of my parents' home.

Wait, what? Either this guy is so young and just got married, or he's old and just moved out? So, yeah, I've got to imagine some things are going off in my head here. Let's keep reading. Moved out of my parents' home, which had quite tight rules, especially from a religious old school perspective. Nothing against it. Awesome parents and upbringing.

And I'm experiencing true freedom for the first time. So my guess here is that you're young and because of your religious beliefs, you weren't going to live with somebody else. I've come across this. It's not that rare. Maybe that's the case. We're talking religion sort of shaping the path of domestic freedom and marriage itself. So maybe you weren't even allowed to live together or that kind of stuff, or her parents felt the same way. I'm just trying to talk out loud so I can understand the entire thing. All right. When I say freedom, I mean things like walking around the house closeless, playing loud music, staying up as late as I want. And of course, a newly married parent's house escapee consummating my marriage on a regular

basis. I know. I know. It'll slow down. I get it. All right. so you're having sex all over your house and walking around nude. Staying up real late.

I sort of feel like this guy's 16 or something. I don't know what's happening right now. I'm also into pogs. I don't know if anyone will get that. The Mario Kart thing makes more sense now yeah now the mario kart thing yeah very good call saroody it's great great recall on that one um all right let's just imagine he's in his mid-20s because i'm having a hard time figuring this thing out our house we purchased

is very open concept most of the new ones are uh almost entirely windows on all sides we're fairly close to the neighbors on two sides and a ways away from the neighbor behind us. We tend to keep the blinds closed almost all the time on the two sides facing the side neighbors, but the front facing the street and the back windows facing the next cul-de-sac over we typically leave open,

which leads to the meat of the email. A couple days ago, a neighbor was in my front yard, important point here, I think, and caught a quite unfortunate glimpse while my wife and I were in the moment of vulnerability. Sex. There was a brief, horrified pause before an awkward wave. He waved and the blinds being pulled shut. and the blinds being pulled shut. Fortunately, this is one of the 30-year-old neighbors as opposed to either these young folks' kids

or a nice grandmother on the other side of it, but it's still not a great way to start a relationship with our six-week new neighbors. So they've been there six weeks. In hindsight, the last six weeks have not been the most conscientious weeks of my life. And between my glass windows and my subwoofer, I might be turning into the neighbor

that other folks complain about to the extended families around the Christmas table. I could be 100%. Not that guy. I'm just not sure. I want to nip this in the bud, but I also like the ability to loudly listen to Evanescence and have...

What do you got there, Kyle? I'm just going to see where that band is dated. I mean, I know I heard it floating around, but I don't know if I've ever listened to a song. Right. Okay. Evanescence? Yeah. Suri, you got anything for us on that? Yeah. Bring Me to Life, dude. 95. Found in 95. Little Rock, Arkansas.

Okay. Genre's just straight up rock, it says. Christian rock? Suri? You don't know Evanescence? I don't. Bring Me to Life? Is that a song you've heard? I wouldn't know the name is it number 2 or 7?

nobody knows the name of the song anymore alright and have spontaneous adventures with my wife in more than one room of the house man dudes are just how about your Wednesday? I can't tell if I'm overthinking this or if the

HOA is already putting together a proposal to have us thrown out of the community. Which do you think it is? And what do you think our approach should be to our previously discussed 30-year-old neighbors? Bake them cookies and address the elephant in the room, or live and let live while trying to be as thoughtful as possible going forward? Thank you, sir, and all the best to you and the team.

Okay. First off, are, and all the best to you and the team. Okay. First off, are we sure that's real? Yeah, it could be fake. I think it's real. The Mario Kart part is too specific to make me think that it's fake. You never know. I mean, the fake one's going to get through

every now and then. I could just add something quick before we really try to figure this out. The subwoofer thing, I did it. Huge. Like, hey, do you want a six inch sub? Nah, how much more is a 12 inch sub? And everyone in your apartment building hates your guts. Okay. And yes, it's completely not necessary. I did it. I don't know how many times I did it. I always got one. I had another one for a desktop and I couldn't even afford this shit at the time, but of course I had to have it. And I stuck one in the corner of a room and i had i had people come down and be like what is going on like they thought a plane had crashed in the building and it's true

because of an intense subwoofer again this is a standalone home so it's a little bit different but they're kind of ridiculous they are kind of ridiculous i'm not trying to ruin the subwoofer ridiculous. They are kind of ridiculous. I'm not trying to ruin the subwoofer, um, community here, but I mean, I think you get the point. So if you're self-aware about the subwoofer, so let's get back to you having sex with your wife in front of the neighbor and then waving at them. And then, so everybody knows what happened here. I just don't think baking some products and going, Hey, sorry, you saw us bang. And those're oatmeal raisin and those are peanut butter. I just, I wouldn't go that far. Now, I think you could probably do a better job of closing the blinds, man.

I think you could probably stop as exciting as it is right now. Just making sure there's a, just do a better job. Do a better job of concealing, um, all this alone time. And that's kind of your fault. Cause I don't think, I mean, look, some people get off on this. Some people are into it. Some people like, you know what I mean? It doesn't sound like that's what your deal is, but I think you could just be a little bit better about this. And yeah, they're probably talking about you. You just been there six weeks. This is another group of neighbors that have probably all been there for years. There's kids running around. I don't know if anybody's

going to call you on this. This was your warning, and then you move on from it. I would let it die down. I wouldn't be addressing it. You don't live with these people. You live on a street with them. It's a completely different thing. I would look at this as a warning and tighten up your operation a little bit more. But they're definitely talking about you. Yeah, that's not in your head. Yeah, I think PG-13 was exactly right. Like, it was definitely coming up on the line, and I would say, yeah, having open intercourse

in front of your windows. But it sounds like you'd be PG-13 level annoying, is what I mean. Like, if there's's R and I think there's NC 17. I don't know if that's maybe just a TV thing, but there's like, you're not on the top level annoying, but you're definitely on the radar and, um, definitely shouldn't have anybody, any kids running around your, the front of your house. It sounds like, so I would say it's just, this is the case for parents to let kids stay out late and figure it, own mistakes early um but yeah you're right i think um yeah close the blinds and maybe just you know is the subwoofer outside i don't understand is

he like running an extension cord onto the fucking porch and just like enjoying his um domain like what's going on i don't know but i mean a lot of is making sense. This guy's been unleashed for the first time ever with a very tight upbringing. I'm guessing probably mid-20s or something like that. Imagine living at home and having these restrictions and then now at 25 and he's in a good enough space with his wife to be able to buy a home.

Whatever. I have no idea what the neighborhood is. We're not going to start zillowing all this, but you get the point. I understand where he's coming from if I'm even close on the age thing here but why didn't he send it everyone sends their age and their weight this guy didn't send his age that's why the most important part well look that when was that what was the peak of evanescence out of arkansas so that was like right when i was in first off the idea that you guys don't know who evanescence is is ridiculous they were huge when i was in high school So that was like right when I was in. First off, the idea that you guys don't know who Evanescence is is ridiculous. They were huge when I was in high school. So it was like 05, 04-ish.

I graduated in 06. They were like, I don't know, an emo rock band, I guess. And they had one song. I can't believe it. Oh, they were an emo rock band in 05? And you guys reacted, I don't know who they are?

Okay, I guarantee you people on Twitter are going to be like, how the fuck do you guys not know who Evanescence is? Hey, here's the thing. I think I know a lot about a lot of things. There's a couple things I don't know. Yeah, okay i guarantee you people on twitter are going to be like how the fuck do you guys not know who evidence here's the thing i think i know a lot about a lot of things there's a couple things i don't know you gotta go blind spots it's all right yeah um this reminds me though of like we know like the kid that you went to high school with that like his parents probably this kid you know they were just overprotective he didn't really get to do

anything they get to college and all of a sudden like shit goes wild and this girl's gone wild and they're drinking faces always red yeah yeah this kid is just doing that like a few years delayed now i'm assuming he's in his early 20s so i don't know if there if he went to college maybe he like took online classes was working was still living at home he didn't really get to live out like those college years, those wild years that he had. And he's doing that now. So I don't know. It's a little bit weird. But, you know, I think you guys, what you said is right.

Just kind of button it up, like trying to piss everybody off. But I will say as somebody who has a really annoying neighbor, and I hope he listens to this podcast, I fucking hate him. Yeah. Here we go. It actually sucks when your neighbors don't. And now the rest of the neighborhood doesn't respond with us. It's just our one neighbor.

But he's in my he lives in my head rent freefree because he just fucks with us all the time. He'll ask us about our leave situation. He'll passively aggressive text me about lawn clippings being in the road. And it actually sucks when your neighbors do stuff like that because it actually fucks up your mind. So I will say, try not to have a shitty relationship with your neighbors because it's not a good thing long term. Make it important to you is what you're saying, right? Make that part of your life important to you. Yeah, I mean, like, and I don't feel like I'm a dick and this guy's

probably going way, this probably, you know, his neighbors probably have a justifiable reason for why they would be mad at him, but try to do better because it's going to annoy you and it's going to be, it's just not worth the hassle. How close are you to blocking this guy's numbers, Trudy? Um, I've thought about it.

So he'll text my wife actually, which is really annoying. Big problem. Yeah, but he doesn't have my number. They just,

I don't know how that happened. So he'll like to send her these passive aggressive texts about, like I said, like I was mowing the lawn once and I left

some lawn clippings in the street. It's not that big of a deal. The wind was blowing or like rain the next day. They clear out.

It's not that it's not that big of a deal. Plus, you know, we live in like an okay neighborhood, but it's not like, you know,

you know, we're not in like a gated community here. It's not that big of a deal plus you know we live in like an okay neighborhood but it's not like you know you know we're not in like a gated community here it's not that big of a deal and he'll just be like hey could you have your lawn guy uh sweep out the the clippings from the road it gathers near my you know near my mailbox i'm like dude you know i mow the lawn you've seen me mow the lawn don't talk lawn guy what are you i'm the lawn guy uh so i don't know just like little shit like that and he like complained about our leaves being removed too late this year it's just a million different things yeah those guys suck honestly you should say something once very stern very concise because he's gonna keep pushing and pushing and pushing like i have a guy that i'm dealing with at a rental property where he was

okay with me but i kind of knew his deal he kind of thought he was the sheriff of the community and then every renter that i've had in there since has complained about him. And I haven't handled it yet. Like he messed with like a pregnant woman, you know, who was a tenant. She was like days away from delivering. And he was telling her to move stuff and she didn't move anything. And then he moved it on her and it was like in her way. And then I get a call and I haven't run into them since, um, cause I don't live there, but I, I'm the best way to handle it is a very like once quick, like I'm not,

I'm not going to be this guy for you. All right. Like, I know you think you're in charge of the fucking neighborhood and the leave removal schedule and all this stuff, but you know, it's kind of your fault. So Rudy, if you don't at least once go, hey, I get it. I'm going to do my best. We're good neighbors. We enjoy living here in the neighborhood. You're a good neighbor. I'm glad you're on everything.

But don't tell me when and how I should be doing stuff. It better be a fucking emergency guy. And those guys usually cower. Yeah. They do. They get off on, they've been around in the neighborhood. They take, they feel like they own every unit, you that kind of shit they've been there longer they think somehow it's like no your price was for your house and my price was for my house that's how transactions work

and those guys will push and push and push because they're usually bored they're usually always older men he correct yeah and and it's just however they get through their day and they let you bother them because it's just it's just how they it's their day and they let you bother them because it's just how they, it's like they like it. Deep down, they love all of this stuff, but I'm telling you, most of those guys cower when you give them one just quick verbal gut punch

and go, and you can even be nice about it. Be like, yep, yep, yep. Like it's almost a setup, the setup, the setup, but here's the finisher move where it's like, you're not going to talk to me like this. I'm going to handle my property the way I need to handle it,

but I appreciate your concern, but we're not talking about this anymore. And that's usually it's like, you're not going to talk to me like this. I'm going to handle my property the way I need to handle it, but I appreciate your concern, but we're not talking about this anymore. And usually it's over. Yeah, we just stopped responding to him, to be honest with you. We just, Matt doesn't respond to him. So I guess I got to be the man here and lay down the law. I can't wait. So Rudy comes back on Friday with a black eye. I was going to say.

Guy who's a Marine. He's definitely not a Marine. We'll be all right. All right. All right, everybody. Hopefully we didn't get you too aroused on a Wednesday afternoon after life advice. Thanks to Kyle and Steve. And you can also check out Simmons and I doing a full NBA and then a succession deal with the Jeremy Strong profile as well that I could talk about for hours and hours.

And then Friday we got Vilma. So we'll talk to you then. Thank you.