The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Latest on the NBA Trade Deadline, ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on QB Movement, Plus Life Advice

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

Russillo shares his thoughts on some of the NBA trade rumors as we approach Thursday’s trade deadline, including Bradley Beal, the Celtics, and more. Plus, he gets Steve Ceruti’s thoughts on all the Aaron Gordon talk (2:00). Then Ryen is joined by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington to discuss all the quarterback movement this offseason, why he doesn’t believe the Russell Wilson saga is over yet, Tua Tagovailoa’s future in Miami, and how many starting quarterbacks he can call at any time (17:00). Finally, he closes it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (41:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

well this is the game you can't sit there and start saying like this guy kind of annoys me he's not completed no of course not not to mention nobody you know nobody gets annoyed with like you can't you just can't i just thought that'd be funny i thought there was a chance right i've gotten annoyed by um parents uh of quarterbacks who would call me all the time and i've spent hours of my life wasted on on the phone with like parents venting about their son in the nfl nfl quarterbacks nfl quarterbacks yeah what's up a couple different things we'll be doing today kind of a little preview of the nba trade deadline on thursday jeff darlington's going to join us not only the miami situation to who they're going to take at

three will they take a quarterback, but why the Russell Wilson-Bears thing might not be over, and a few other quarterback things as well, and life advice. All right, Jeff Darlington, as we said at the top, he's going to join us in just a few minutes here, but the trade deadline coming up on Thursday. Simmons and I are doing a bigger

deal. Kyle, do you know the timing on that? Because I know we've done live shows during the deadline, but I feel like the plan was to tape as soon as the deadline's over, right? And then that's the podcast. That's correct. And it'll be going out ASAP. Right. I like to ask about the schedule live here on the show. So everybody feels like they're included. So Rudy's with us as well, which I want to get his, I didn't think I'd be doing any magic minutes. We used to do back on the ESPN podcast and sometimes they'd go longer than a minute and that's fine. But we're going to get his thoughts on some of the NBA trade deadline stuff, which I definitely used to do back on the ESPN podcast. And sometimes they'd go longer than a minute, and that's fine. But we're going to get his thoughts on some of the NBA trade deadline stuff,

which I definitely want to do here. Let's start with this. Whenever there's the biggest name out there, and it seems quiet, like Bradley Beal, that could be a bunch of different things. And as I always try to remind you, I can hear some stuff, but I'm not a reporter. I don't have to deal with that. I have way more respect for the reporters, but getting a sense of things and talking to people and going, eh, this is kind of what this feels like. And it doesn't always mean that you're going to be right. But the Beal thing is funny

that it's quiet because I think Beal wants it to be quiet. And I'm hesitant to make any kind of prediction on it. But from what I've heard, is that he's kind of cool riding this season out. Now, the Wizards had a stretch where they got it back to 11-17. It looked like they were playing better. They're 2-8 in their last 10 now. If you go through their schedule, it's pretty brutal. They're playing really good teams over this stretch.

And they've even been competitive in some of these games against better teams. So I'm not telling you the Wizards are fixed and all this stuff. I think they're 3-1 out on the play-in game, which is why the play-in tournament is so stupid. Because you have these terrible teams that are still alive. Like, we need to watch them again in the playoffs. But there's also a feeling that because of the play-in games that, you know, it depends on which team you talk to.

But some think it's not a factor. Other teams think it's a big factor. And that, hey, with all these teams just hanging on, a lot of these teams that haven't had any kind of success and at the front office, people would say, hey, look at us. We made the playoffs. And the owner can be like, oh, cool. We made the playoffs. Like, did you really make the playoffs? It's kind of like the baseball wildcard game where it's like, oh, we ended our playoff drought. And you're like, you lost a one game wildcard thing. Do you really feel like you were in the playoffs? But I guess technically you are. And because of those extra teams and extra teams fighting,

it's not just teams nine and 10, the teams behind them, that maybe there's some teams that are just less inclined to make deals. That'd been the word on Sacramento. But here's the deal. Sacramento doesn't have to open up business at any point until today or tomorrow, if they really want to. You can call, you can figure out what the market is.

You can try to figure out who you're competing with against some of the players. But from all the Beal stuff that I've heard is that Beal's like, hey, we'll just ride this out. Just ride it out and see what happens next off season. He's got a year left on the deal. Everybody would want him. But if Beal is not telling the front office, you have to get me out of here and you have to get me out of here by Thursday, or I'm going to shut it down, or I'm going to make this really difficult, then if I'm the Wizards, I have no desire to really go ahead and train. Because here's the other thing, and where I respect teams that do this, and it just doesn't happen very often anymore. But if you have somebody who's good and isn't in a hurry to leave,

you're going to just want a good player in two years anyway. So why can't you figure, if your star, if your best player in Beal isn't, you know, leaving the arena with his agents like Anthony Davis did with the Pelicans, if he's not going nuclear option on you, then I actually kind of like the front offices that go, we're good. We're just going to ride this out for a little bit and see what happens. And then maybe he's traded this summer. You know, maybe he's traded this summer. Maybe he gets more vocal about it, but at least right now, I'm not sure. Because look, Miami, everybody other than Bam and Butler is available. I would tweet this out, but I feel like it's one of those things where you just go,

this is misleading and it doesn't really mean anything because I was told Miami's big game hunting. Now, what does that mean? Does it mean other teams are not interested in big game hunting? Does it mean other teams like, hey, do you want to get somebody awesome? No. Yeah. Let's not do that. Every team would try to add somebody like a Bradley Beal. If you could, or if you had to kind of match and some teams know they have no chance. There's, there's almost no team to be like, nah, we're good. We don't want anybody. I mean, unless their cap situation doesn't allow it, right? Like team like the Nets, but Miami, I don't know if they're going to pull something off before then, but the idea that none of those guys are available, I don't think that's the case because I also think too that

common sense tells us that other than a handful of players, literally everybody would be available in some form or fashion of some trade. In most of these trades, it would never, ever happen. That's where it always leads to where I know this, where I'll watch league pass and I'll see a graphic come up about a team or a player. Like one of my favorite ones from this week was a team and it wasn't even the Cavs. It was a different team that said contenders have interest in Jared Allen. And you just go, well, who wouldn't have interest in Jared Allen? You know, who has interest in Jared Allen? Cleveland. They just traded for him. Drummond stopped playing in February and JaVale McGee's linked to a bunch of different rumors. And I don't know if that's going to be a trade or a buyout or just an

expiring contract and he moves on. So if one center's already not playing and the other isn't a part of your future, and you just grabbed Jared Allen in this bigger trade where you ended up with a really nice player, the Nets would love to have back. Obviously that's not going to happen. Jared Allen's good. I'm not saying he's perfect. I'm not saying he's going to be an all-star, but he's good. He's a good player. So everybody should have interest in him so that it's news. This is where I'm always kind of like, God, front offices must laugh at us all the time. And by the way, they do, they do laugh at us all the time. Um, we're kind of like, that's, that's such an obvious statement.

You know, um, there was another GM, I'm not going to name him, but somebody was like, oh, this guy has never worked harder trying to pull off a trade. Who was keeping track of it before? Who was going, hey Jeremy Grant stuff out of Detroit, the price was really high on him. And guess what? Kind of like the Beal thing, like if I'm a bad team with a really good player who's okay being there, then why do I want to trade that player? Like eventually I'm going to want those guys back. So I thought the price on Jeremy Grant was way too high, and he had just signed theirs under contract for a couple years.

And look, he's been way better than I think anybody would have thought offensively. The buyout stuff is always kind of weird in general. I was talking to a team that's like, wait, so now if a guy's going to be bought out, he just leaves? Or you think you're going to trade him, but everybody knows you're just going to buy him out? Doesn't LaMarcus Aldridge not playing, doesn't that hurt his trade value? Because then everybody's like, all right, so he's not even playing anymore. Why am I trading anything? Why am I competing to trade with him if I know that he's likely just going to be bought

out anyway? And the same thing with Drummond. So that's just something in general that some teams are going, is this what it is now? We're just supposed to give in and the guy's not going to play. And that's why Draymond Green, who thought he was making this point about a double standard, I got the point, but it wasn't really that great because it wasn't really a double standard. Because the player in these cases, Blake didn't want to keep playing for Detroit. Drummond didn't want to keep playing for Cleveland. LaMarcus seems to be fine since he lost his job to Pirtle. I doubt there'd be any version of the NBA where they're like,

hey, we know you really want to play, but we may trade. So we're just not going to play you for months so that you don't get hurt. A game, a week, maybe months. I don't know. This is something to pay attention to. Now, the last part of this is that apparently the Celtics, you wake up today and you hear on a Tuesday that the Celtics are the frontrunners for an Aaron Gordon deal.

Here are the particulars on this. Gordon, 25, 18 mil this year, 16 and a half next year. So that's not an option. It's locked in. He's seven years in. This season, 15, 7, 4 assists. The assists are up. He's seven years in. This season, 15, seven, four assists. The assists are up. He's 40% from three, which is terrific for him because he's 33% for his career. He was 31% last year. If you look at his pick and roll numbers as the ball handler, he's terrible. If you look at him on catch and shoot threes, he's great. So basically, anytime he's dribbling like a smaller player and initiating offense, it doesn't seem to work out. And yet when he plays bigger, where we've always wanted to be a power forward

and it's not really happened for him. I think Gordon has been a guy for years where it's like, just get him out of there and get him into our system. He's going to be so much better. I can see why the Celtics want to do it. I'd imagine it's based around two first round picks. There's another version of it where Fournier

is coming back to Boston and depending on how they use his trade exception or what players would be going out, I imagine it's like a Neesmith or maybe a Langford. There's another version of it where Smart would go, which I know scares the hell out of the Smart mafia out there, but Smart's available in a trade.

Then there's another version of it where Tristan Thompson would be thrown back, depending on what kind of exception Orlando would want to create on the back end. I just don't know why Orlando or anyone, Orlando or any team would want to take on the almost 10 million for Tristan next year because he's just not that good. So if you add Gordon Fournier without giving up too much other than smart, because he's still something even if you don't love him, you would just be adding depth here for a Boston team that just has none. I mean,

I don't know why Jeff Teague showed up in that loss against Memphis, but I guess he's back sort of. All right, so let's do this because there's a bunch of different variations of it. I know there was also another version of this where Oladipo was going from Houston back to Orlando for Aaron Gordon. Some people thought that deal was done. I'm not sure that it was done. I mean, if it was done, we could get real semantics here and say, well, if it was done, it would have happened already. But the Boston thing has a bunch of different moving pieces. But if Boston ends up with Gordon and Fournier, I just wonder what expectations should be for Boston fans. Because I mean, if there's seven years with Gordon going, man, if he can just kind of figure it out, well,

sometimes that means that's who you are. So let's go to our magic expert, Saruti, new on the show. Give me your Gordon break. What's reasonable about him or disagree or agree with anything I just said? I agree with most of what you said. And again, it's his seventh year in the league. I think any team that's trading for him is essentially hoping that they can unlock his potential, right? And I've always thought that Orlando, that the organization and probably the fans probably thought his value was higher than he was around the league.

I've been open to trading him for a couple years now because I kind of feel like this is the Oladipo situation all over again where it's like he's got talent, but it's just we've known for probably years now it's never going to work in Orlando, and now he kind of wants out. I could see him doing really well with different... Portland, I think he could do well with. I don't really understand why Houston would be interested in giving up assets to get Gordon.

Does that make you... What does that do for you in a full rebuild? Boston, I guess so. Gordon's always been that guy, though, Ryan, where I go. You name all the things that he can do well. He's always got this in his bag. He's got this in his bag. But it's like, yeah, okay. He's got all these things that he could do. But does he do anything great?

And also, you talked about the pick and roll stuff. He doesn't, he can, he's terrible at it. And all these things, like he's a decent shooter this year, but what is he really good at? He needs to play the four. And the Magic have been stacked at like that weird tweener three, four position for years now.

So I'm totally cool with trading him. And I can see him being really good on a team that actually knows how to use him correctly. But again, seventh year in the league, it's more likely that this is who he is than you're going to just unlock some guy who's a future all-star. Yeah, I think that's probably the best way to put it. If you think he's coming in and he's going to light it

up and he's going to be... I mean, really, the best chance he has is to be the third best player in the Celtics. I don't see him being better than Jalen. He's not going to be better than Tatum. And some nights he's not going to be better than Kemba. But if you're Boston, and this has been such a disappointing season because they are more talented than this.

And Bill and I touched on it on Sunday night. His team feels a little soft sometimes. I don't think it's a Brad thing. I think it's the players. And I don't know when they're going to get mad. Like Tice at times, man. I'm just like, when are you sick of getting your ass kicked yet? And I like Tice, but I'm not expecting

Gordon to come in here and rally the troops, Draymond Green style. I have no issues with it, especially when we're talking about Celtics picks that are probably going to be in the 20s anyway or have some kind of protection on it. I know that Orlando was turning down some higher picks in the past draft. That's what I believe. And they were hoping to work it all out and then guys get hurt and the whole deal. But when Gordon starts to press the issue, that's a different conversation this week as opposed to the draft. Where if Gordon's saying, hey, I want out. And look, this is why Gordon

wants out. He's worried about what his contract is going to be. And it's like, I need to go somewhere else and showcase myself and get in a better situation. And I think he's going to have moments if he's with the Celtics, but I don't want to go too far down the road like it's all a done deal on it. It's just that I think for Boston, it's, hey, we can use this exception. Maybe we're moving a couple of picks in the 20s. Maybe we're moving a Neesmith where if you've watched it and you're like, I don't know, Sadiq Bae would have looked a lot better if you're a Celtics fan. And you think, hey, the trade exceptions, they don't even get used all the time. It's kind of hard to use them.

So this might be the best we can do. And you're adding two guys that you know can at least be out there to close a game for a decent team. Because Fournier can still score and get you buckets. He's not perfect. Same thing with Gordon. So I guess we're tempering it here, but I could also say, Hey, if boss ends up with these guys, now it feels like your rotation has just magically become deeper here, which has been a major, major problem. Really quickly with the magic to those I saw on Twitter yesterday, I'm sure you saw it too.

It's everyone like there was the demands for what the magic we're asking for all four guys. It was Booch. It was Gordon. It Fournier, and it was Terrence Ross. But I keep saying, the Magic, I don't think... Tell me if I'm wrong. I just don't think they're that desperate. There's a world that I wouldn't go down this path, but there's a world where they just say, hey, we get healthy next year and we're a playoff team. I genuinely think that they could have been a middle-of-the-road East team this year if they were all healthy with how bad the East

has been this year. So I'm not saying that's the right decision, but everyone just saying, I'll give away all these assets. I mean, I get 48 because I'm inspiring and maybe Gordon asked out, so that's fine. But like, you're not just going to give away a boot

just because you're bored. Exactly. I think that's exactly it. I think it's Vooch, Isaac healthy, Fultz healthy, add to draft pick. Hey, we're a playoff team.

So why, you know, we're not going to beat anybody, but why, why would we be in a rush to just blow this all up? And they've been a very patient front office anyway. So, um, yeah, that's how I look at it. All right. Enjoy your trade deadline. And Bill and I will be, uh, ready to go on Thursday. We're going to talk some football with Jeff Darlington. Jeff Darlington, ESPN joins us. Okay. So let's do some free agency recap now

that we have more of it finished. But I think the headliner stuff is still kind of the pursuit of a couple quarterbacks. I thought from the moment Russell Wilson even hinted at something that actually meant something, I'm like, okay, this guy wants out. You do some more digging on it. He wants out. The wife wants out of Seattle. And based on Instagram posts alone, I think Russell Wilson is going to listen to his wife.

So, all right. So where are we at now with the Bears pursuit of him where I don't want to get Bears fans all excited again because they get so upset about the Dalton thing. But just give me a sense of where you think this story is going. So I don't I still don't subscribe. I don't fully believe that Russell Wilson plays in Seattle in 2021. I just think that and by the way, everybody wants to say this is all, people want to blame Seattle.

People want to blame Chicago. Like, I also sort of lean toward the side that we're not putting enough attention on Russell Wilson either here. Like, this is the guy who came out and basically said, like, I'll go to these four teams. He sort of started this.

You know, people get on, on, uh, on Ryan pace or Matt Nagy in, in Chicago, they made a run at a guy. They didn't say we want Russell Wilson, Russell Wilson put the bears on his list. So like a lot of people were been coming after Chicago. And I kind of say like, I don't know, man, like I still, I still just believe that to your previous point where there's smoke with Russ Wilson, there's fire. And when you start naming teams that you're willing to play for your one foot out the door and very rarely in the NFL, uh, as recently as Tom Brady, when someone puts one foot at the door, they don't usually come back

in. You know what I like about you going back to the list on top of it too, is that if you went through all of that piece where it was, you know, Russell's camp that's been doing this and then Seattle has their camp too. But when they were mad that the Seahawks went to go watch Josh Allen, I go, you know, that's something that sounds good to somebody that has no idea how any of this fucking works. All right. Like, you know how, like if you're upset at your job, you'll start like adding stuff and it doesn't really mean anything. And you just be like, oh, and then that Tuesday, I remember that. Remember that Tuesday? And then you're like, yeah, but that's not, that's not really what the issue is here. Okay. That's not the issue. And, and it sounds good. And then it's like, yeah,

but if you took it as an insult about your stand, here's the deal, Russell Wilson, if you want to stay there another 10 years, you can stay there another 10 years. Okay. It has nothing to do with them gathering other information and watch the job is to go and watch guys. The job is to gather information. There are all sorts of draft workouts that i hear about in the nba side i'm like that doesn't even why would you guys even they're like we just we want information we want to be able to watch somebody and then see where they're at a few years later and at the quarterback position you could already be evaluating a backup in five years because you like some of his tape in college so when i saw that one i was like oh

man they're playing dirty because I think a lot of people that aren't really into it like you are every day or me doing this for a living, they go, oh, that's kind of disrespectful. He's like, it's ridiculous to even bring it up. I mean, I honestly do think Russ has skated a little bit on this. And to your point, it snowballs. You're right.

You start to put certain things out there that irk you. And by the way, it's not like they drafted Jordan love with the first pick and didn't go after a wide receiver. Like they looked at Josh Allen and you could make an argument. Oh, they, I mean, if they could have drafted Josh Allen, maybe it would have been a smart thing to do. You know what I mean? Like, look, I don't blame John Snyder is one of the best GMs in the NFL. I don't blame him whatsoever for something like that. And we don't need to make it about that. But to your point,

when things start to snowball in your mind and you start to get frustrated with work, you allow everything to start to get at you. We know all about it in all of our jobs. So I agree with that. And I think that we should definitely consider that maybe Russell does need to be a little bit more focused on when it comes to some of these frustrations. Okay, so the final piece on the Russell trade, are you hearing what we kind of touched on last week and more of that? And I don't blame Seattle for doing this, going, hey, we don't want to do this and hit the reset button.

If we do do this, we need a quarterback back that we feel good about. I mean, that's, that's a great ask. I don't know how realistic it is. I don't know that I believe that either. Like, I don't know that I believe that Pete Carroll is all of a sudden like, no, Russell Wilson is my guy. And we're going to see that. I don't, I don't know, man, like, no, Russell Wilson is my guy. And we're going to see that. I don't, I don't know, man, maybe I'm jaded from all the Tom Brady, Bill Belichick stuff that, that I, that I saw happening and everybody publicly was like, no, look, they're fine. They're all good. They were never good. Like I just, I could be jaded and I need to remember to make assessments individually on individual situations. I just don't believe for a second that Pete Carroll is just sitting there saying, you know what? All this is for nothing. Pete or Russ, you're my guy.

Let's move forward. It's not there yet. I don't believe it. Now, Jeff, wait a minute. Were you the guy that was pretty early on the Brady leaving that you got all that heat for? Yeah. Yes. You said it like really early, right? Yeah. He's still with New England and you said he was leaving? it like really early right yeah he's still with new england and you said he was leaving yeah yeah yeah it was that was a fun one when i well i mean i and i took it from new england fans like crazy uh you know the old instagram comment section where i'm just you know people start commenting on pictures of my kids and stuff and then hey tell me about it man the night that he uh i don't even have kids and people are ripping the kids i take pictures uh the night the night that uh that he, uh, I don't even have kids and people are ripping the kids. I take pictures. Uh, the night, the night that, uh, that he, he said that he's leaving new England.

I went back on my Instagram and did the most childish thing in the world. And I, I liked, I just double tapped all the comments of people just hating on me. Didn't respond. Just double tapped and let them know that I saw them. But yeah, yeah. To your point, that was an early one. Yeah. Right. So, okay.

All right. to your point that was an early one yeah right so okay all right now let's uh the deshaun watson story has certainly changed here dramatically in the last week with a bunch of allegations against him i'll say this whenever it comes to this kind of stuff i don't feel comfortable knowing one way or the other i don't know why anyone would um on the outside of the story. So that's just where I'm at with it. But I wonder from a football standpoint, you know, in teams, their job is to kind of figure this stuff out being like, okay, does this change the market for him? What do you know about how these stories develops the last couple of weeks? How that's, if it's changed at all, kind of the pursuit of Deshaun. Well, it's fascinating, Brian. I mean, look, I agree with you in terms of

the jump to any conclusion, but it does have an implication on, to that point, listen to where we're at on it. Think about if you're an organization about to give up your entire future for this player. So look, Houston already had their feet in the ground in terms of, we're not going to listen to trade offers um there's a lot of people I talked around the NFL that believe that would obviously change about a week before the NFL draft so in some sense we should all just remember that we do have some time before the NFL draft and when that happens, hopefully we have some clarity. It feels pretty, pretty soon, but it's definitely going to impact the team's decision. We're not talking about giving up,

taking a flyer on somebody, giving up even a second round pick. We're talking about mortgaging your future. That is something that was already going to be having a, I mean, sleepless nights for general managers before pulling the trigger on something like that now yeah i mean of course you need more clarity before you can pull that trigger i don't anticipate until there is some clarity there's there's not going to be a trade and if there's not clarity before the nfl draft this thing is going to get it's the most fascinating storyline in the nfl Did you think the Tyrod signing was insurance or just them looking at like, hey, a one-year deal for a guy that if you lose your quarterback,

this is a great investment. I know Tyrod sees himself as a starter, but if he's your backup, you could do way worse. Yeah, I saw it almost as like Andy Dalton last year with the Cowboys. Same kind of thing. Didn't mean to me that Andy Dalton was replacing Dak Prescott, but a good insurance policy for that one reveal. That's the way I saw that one.

Okay, all right. So that also leads me to your backyard in Miami, where throughout the season watching Tua, it felt like I didn't see the guy that I saw at Alabama. I thought it was pretty clear in the play calling. They weren't always comfortable with him, especially the goal line stuff. I don't know if you go back in the numbers and it tells a different story, but my eyes would tell me, I'm like, man, you guys don't really, it would be a fade and a couple of runs up the middle. Maybe too many teams do that in the league,

but give me the sense of what Miami's thinking with their quarterback who, I mean, you tell me what you thought you saw from him last year, but I was, I was unfortunately underwhelmed and I'm, I'm optimistic that that's not what it's going to be, but I don't know. It was kind of, it wasn't, wasn't great for a guy that I thought was really special at times in college. You know, I think that what you just said right there, I think sums it up perfectly. I think you just said it perfectly. There's nobody rooting against Tua. Like even the people down in Miami, there's even fans down here who recognize that Tua needs more time. He needs another year. I don't think we'd even have this conversation about his job security if not for the Deshaun Watson situation. If it wasn't for his potential availability,

everybody in Miami would just settle on the fact that yes, it was somewhat of an underwhelming rookie year, but not everybody is going to be Dan Marino as a rookie. So, you know, I think there's definitely questions. The Justin Herbert thing didn't help. Ryan Tannehill getting comeback player of the year a year ago doesn't help.

But in general, if you just treat two in a vacuum, yeah, like the dolphins recognize that we need to give him a little bit more time before we fully assess him. Just an aside, one of the dumbest developments in the league in the last couple of years has been that anybody that's had a young guy that's underwhelming, that supposedly like, I don't want another Tannehill on their hands. Like you're in the building with the guy.

Okay, if he's not working out and it isn't like you're going to keep the guy that you don't like and hasn't been productive because Ryan Tannehill had had this situation where, again, I think even really smart defensive people will tell you that Tannehill still pretty limited, despite the fact that he put up a ton of numbers. where they're like, you know, the Clevelands of the world. They all, and you think it just applies to fans. It doesn't. I swear to you, it applies to the mindset of the organization sometimes, is that like they lose the ability to treat things in a vacuum and they have these pendulum swings

where it's like, well, we don't want to do that again. So let's go the opposite way and make sure that we give this guy plenty of time to develop. So I hear you. I think that it's important for any team, especially the Dolphins in this situation, to just treat Tua in a vacuum, get good players around him, assess him this year. And by the way, with that third overall pick, if you don't take a receiver right now at that spot because it's too early

and you've trade out of it, don't be afraid to get picks next year too. I think that they are trying to build something toward the future and they need to be careful that they don't mortgage that situation in order to try to rush things right now. Okay, so does that mean Jamar Chase, do you think that's too high for him?

I don't know. I mean, I'm not a scout. I don't know what they're going to do. If they love him. But to me right now, three feels a little bit high for what is a talented receiver class, but for these receivers right now, I think you could probably get more at that third spot.

If you trade out of it for a team that is looking to take one of these top quarterbacks. Now, does that mean you don't think they're taking a quarterback? Like you feel strongly about this? Yeah, I feel pretty strongly that they're not taking a quarterback. I mean, I get the sense that they're rolling with Tua. Like, if they take a quarterback in the second or third round,

that's a different story. But I don't sense that they're taking a guy at number three. What about Washington? We knew that Alex Smith wasn't coming back. They bring in the Miami legend in Fitzpatrick. Right. NFL legend. Yeah, that's right.

I mean, that's not a local story. That's a national story. Fitzpatrick's probably good enough to have some amazing Sunday. We already know his story. I don't need to repeat it here for everybody. But what did you think of that for somebody that you covered up close? So it's interesting, too, because he's played for nine teams. And he's saying, how old is he 36 i think upper 30s um doesn't matter anymore once you're past

35 right we're all just dying um so that's there's some positivity for you midweek for the listeners is it not true though right so um but look i, I think that Fitzpatrick is in a situation where he says he's playing his best football that he's ever played. The downside to that is that I feel like Fitzpatrick has always said that. Every single game he's played, he's felt that way. So he's going to inspire a fan base there.

Ultimately though, I think we all know what Fitzpatrick is. There's nothing better than the Ryan Fitzpatrick life cycle. And I think that that's what we will witness in Washington one more time, which is fine. Yeah. Washington's always spent, um, not,

not on quarterback this time around the new England part of this off season has been something unlike that. You know, they're just not used to this. There's always the Belichick weights and then he picks off the cheap guys. Anybody that's buying day one, you're, you're overspending. I mean, that has been his philosophy and then they spend a ton. guys anybody that's buying day one you're overspending i mean

that has been his philosophy and then they spend a ton now here's the thing i've i've referenced that jacksonville number here on the podcast where if you looked at their spending over a 10-year stretch it's over a billion dollars in free agency and it's abysmal they've had they have a coach every two years so i think those of us that are excited by free agency and fans, it's fun. Hey, we got this awesome guy, you know, day one. History tells you this stuff just doesn't work out. Although recent history, and I saw this going around the other day, where if you look at the guaranteed spending by year from, I don't know, the last five years, the numbers are actually way better than you would think.

The Bears went 12-4. The Giants went 12-4. The Giants went 11-5, both lost in the wild card. The Jets are 7-9 in one of Gase's years. The Dolphins spent a ton last offseason. Not so much this offseason, but they went 10-6, which is the only real terrible record is the second, excuse me, the first year with Gase in the spending where the Jets went 4-12.

So recent history has told us that spending, I think a lot of us are just having our head is like, oh, you're going to go 1-15 because you spent all this money in free agency. And look, I'm surprised by the Belichick part of it too. But as it's been pointed out with Tom Kern that we had last week, it's like, look, they spent, the Pats spent, everybody has to spend. There's a salary floor you have to spend. But the Patriots were re-signing their own good players. But when you draft as poorly as Bill has and Tom made up for all your mistakes, well, now you didn't have any money to spend. There were no current players in the roster that you had to worry about spending. So now he's just pivoted because the roster is the worst it's probably been in 20 years.

Right. The question I have, the thing that fascinates me about that, and I completely agree with Tom Curran's observation there. fascinates me about that. And I completely agree with Tom Curran's observation there. The question is, before you would pay the players that you had, and there was always this perception, regardless of what Belichick said last year, there was this perception that guys would take discounts to stay in New England. Were they not? People, they would not pay a premium. If you wanted to get the payday, you had to go somewhere else. So the question now is, are these guys that he's bringing in, is he still getting them at a good price? Or is he having to overpay them? And to me, we're going to find out.

He still doesn't have the resolution at the quarterback spot that, to your point, Brady overcame a lot. He masked a lot of problems. And we saw it in Tampa this year. Look, that team is not winning the Super Bowl with Jameis Winston. They win it with Tom Brady because he masks a lot of issues. So now all of a sudden, Belichick is spending more money than he ever has. The question is, is he getting the same deals on these players that he was getting when

Tom Brady was there? We're going to find out. But to me, it's not just a, I'm not just sold on the fact that Belichick hasn't figured out and now they go back to winning. Okay. Last thought here. I know that you have made it. How many quarterbacks can you call?

Call or talk to is probably a different number. Uh, half, probably half. You you can you can call half the quarterbacks in the nfl yeah yeah half the starters and probably but i'm a backup kind of guy though like you know like chad henney like you know that's your guy i can still get rex grossman on the phone pretty quick uh no jay cutler no but uh wait wait i want to stay on this i want to stay on this all right so jay cutler will hit you back up because that's a rarity jay's uh i had a i had a night with jay uh i drank with jay one one night where he was like was with a friend of mine um anthony fasano who's friends with down here in miami jay cutler was everything

that i had hoped he would be in that experience um so no i don't anticipate the jay that would would would hit me back pretty quick i don't think he does that with anybody but i had a night with him where it was like we could we could ask him anything we wanted it was like five of my buddies and we were just like we could ask him anything like i asked him about the don't care thing you know the whole don't care thing. And I was like, is that really? He goes, I mean, it sounds like something I would have said, but I just don't really remember. And I'm like, that's exactly the answer that I would want from you in this moment.

But, uh, but yeah, I was always more of a backup guy. Okay. All right. So Cutler. All right. So I just want to be sure. Cause like you guys major juice. If we knew that Jeff Darlington, if we could report that Cutler gets back to him immediately because that's not the scattering report on Jay. Is there a quarterback that calls you more than you'd want?

I just don't, I would never feel that way. I apply the logic that, uh, the vain logic that I like anybody who likes me and is in a position of higher authority than myself. That's fair. Right. Well, this is the game. You can't sit there and start saying like, ah, this guy kind of annoys me. He's not completed. Not to mention nobody, you know, nobody gets annoyed with like a, you can't, you just can't. I just thought that'd be funny. I thought there was a chance. I've gotten annoyed by parents of quarterbacks who would call me all the time. And I've spent hours of my life wasted

on the phone with parents venting about their son. And this is the NFL. NFL quarterbacks. NFL quarterbacks, yeah. But I'd say probably half of the starters and probably at least half of the backups. Who doesn't like you? Probably Jay Cutler.

No. Aaron Rodgers, I don't think i don't think aaron loves me i'm like i'm fine with aaron but i don't think he loves me too much like i i always feel i don't know maybe that's everybody's feeling but like a lot of people love like i don't think he loves me i don't think he likes me very much i think he looks at me like i'm a pretty like i have a pretty punchable face like and he i think he kind of like he looks at me like I'm a pretty, like I have a pretty punchable face. Like, and he, I think he kind of like, he looks at me like that. Like he judges me pretty quick. It's probably

right. Yeah, I don't think that that one's, I don't think that's scattering reports off either. I just don't. I think he's tight with the people that he's tight with, but then, but he used to... I know some of his friends pretty well and they're all great. They're all awesome and i think

that might have been the thing that turned him off a little bit that he uh he'd see me like hanging out with his friends at the pro bowl and i think he just didn't like that i don't think he likes that okay but were you hanging out with his friends because you like his friends or you were thinking maybe down the road you were gonna me no it's me i don't i'm not really i don't really give a shit if your friends with aaron rodgers I don't care. All right. I'm just double checking. Okay. Last one. The reason I set this whole thing up was that you talked to Goff when he went to Detroit.

Tell me how Goff was selling you on this trade. Because from the outside, you're like, look, you were in LA. You got all this. You're with McVeigh. And now you're in a rebuild with Detroit. Like, you can't love this. Yeah. He is an eternal optimist.

He's an optimistic human. He really is. I talked to him an hour after the trade, and the tone in his voice was funny. He was like, man, I'm so pumped. This is going to be great. I'm like, you sound fired up. You sound like it feels a little bit like a funeral., like there's probably a little bit of both in that. Like he loves LA. He loves California. He's a California guy. You know, he felt really good

about what he had done for the Rams and felt like his future remained bright there. So, but at the same time, like he is the type who gets pretty fired up about, But at the same time, like he is the type who gets pretty fired up about, I mean, his thing right away. I mean, that night, first thing he said was like, I just want, I'm excited to go where I'm wanted. You know, like I think that anybody, whether we have to live in LA, in Miami, in Cleveland,

in wherever you do, you would rather be where you're wanted. So for him, that is the case. But do I think that he would rather be in LA? Hell yeah. It's a pretty drastic change for someone who's from California. Jeff, I appreciate the time, man. Hey, sorry about the little hiccup in the middle, man. No, it was great.

Now all of a sudden I switch scenes here and I'm sitting inside. It was like you were finishing up in 18 and now a sudden I switched scenes here and I'm sitting inside. It was like, you're finishing up an 18 and now you're a Butler cabin and you're just actually, it's not, it's not far off. Met,

uh, met Grand Oaks golf course here, which is actually where they taped, uh, look, it's where they taped, uh, this is where they taped Caddyshack.

Are you serious? They filmed Caddyshack there? Yeah, no shit. It's true. That's great. That's great. Pretty great. That's good. Say hi to Lacey for us.

All right, thanks. Thanks, Ryan, for always having me on. I appreciate you. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid.

So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Okay, we got a few life advices here. I really like this first one. And then we have a female entry, which isn't really about women. It's more about guys. But we'll get to it. All right.

Okay, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. It's more about guys. But we'll get to it. All right. Okay. Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Coaching youth basketball dilemma. Okay. So here we go. Guys, I'm a youth basketball coach for a local middle school. So seventh, eighth. I guess some middle schools are still ninth grade. I don't know.

I think most of us understand the parameters of what we're talking about. Ultimately, my question is, what age does superior talent make positive attitude and work ethic a non-factor in deciding playing time? Here's the dilemma. I have a player, seventh grader, who's a great kid, good teammate, very coachable, works hard, will do the dirty work, effort plays, but he's just not that talented. Don't get me wrong. He doesn't necessarily hurt us. It's not like he's throwing up bad shots or making a ton of turnovers, but the opportunity cost of having him in there versus one of my other super gifted wings probably does hurt us. Also, I hate to say it, but unless he starts raining in deep jumpers or grows five inches, this kid will likely not make the high school team. So he may be down

to his last few years of basketball anyway. All right. If you can already tell as a 12 or 13 year old that he's not going to be playing in high school, I think you've already answered your question here, even though we have more to get to an email. He's getting a healthy amount of minutes right now because he's our only wing who seems remotely interested in playing help D and crashing the defensive glass. You have your guards crashing the defensive glass in junior high. In contrast, I have two guys who play the same position who can do some special things. Talent wise problem is they are both a giant pain in my ass for various reasons. But credit where credit is due.

They have the stuff to not just make the high school team, but be real four year contributors. We're talking about kids that can make varsity as freshmen. So I feel obligated to develop them. So that was my addition there about the varsity thing. Because if you're talking about kids that are going to make varsity, I don't care where the high school is as a freshman. I mean, unless you're in Cuddyhunk or something. All right. To add another level of frustration, the parents for the first kid are dream parents. So the hardworking kid that's not that good. Dream parents for a coach. The others are always bugging me about literally every minute decision that I make. They especially hate how many minutes the first kid gets. I can already tell where this is going. Remember, these are junior high children. So I feel like attitude

still counts for something, or maybe I'm talking myself into it because I like this kid. Any advice would be much appreciated. Your heart is in the right place here. And I can kind of speak to this because I was that kid. I was the kid on an AAU team before it was even really AAU. I mean, I know AAU in its form has been around forever, but I think I've told the story once before, but an older kid in my high school was like, look, I'm going to try out for this team. There's going to be like maybe 30 kids in Connecticut and they're splitting it into North and South. And it's this legendary coach from Wethersfield who's coaching it. And you had to get an invite to even try out for this thing. And I was like, dude, I'm not going to make that team. And you got to understand too, me as a freshman, I don't even know if I weighed 140

pounds. And so, um, I showed up and I ran like crazy and busted my ass. And I used to do this thing where if a bigger guy were, you know, get it going up for rebound, I put my hands on his shoulders and use his shoulders to jump up and nobody could really tell that I was doing it because I was so small. And then I remember I did it to a senior once and he was like, if you do that to me again, I'm gonna fucking kill you. And I just was like, whatever. I was oblivious to it all. Cause I just was like, I thought, you know, we're trying to, I'm trying to do whatever I can to be out here, survive. I hadn't even appeared yet, man. So I made the team and I shouldn't have, I mean, you know, I'm trying to do whatever I can to be out here and survive. I hadn't even had puberty yet, man. So I made the team, and I shouldn't have.

I mean, other guys were really going to go to college and play. And we played against, that was when I played against Anthony Best and had no idea what was going on. I got benched pretty quick. And I started. And it pissed everybody else off because I wasn't even close to being the same. And physically, it was even worse. And then I remember finally the coaches gave up. Like, he just stopped playing me.

He goes, I started you because I loved the way you approach this, but I'm going to lose everybody else. And it was like during a game when he did this, he pulled me out, sat me down, got right up onto me, put his arm around me. It was like, I love you, man, but you're just too small, man. You're just too small. Which I think is kind of the seed that was planted in the foundation of me wanting to be bigger and maybe whack a couple guys in my 20s but um that definitely was was as brutal as anything that ever happened to me in a very very non-worthy uh athletic career to talk about but I'll never forget it and And you know what? He was right. I should have been out there. I know what he was trying to do. He was trying to prove a point to the other guys because of the way that I played, but I had no business being out there. I shouldn't even have

made the team. And, uh, you know, I mean, it was, it was ugly at times and he was going to lose everybody. So yes, this is seventh grade. That was high school. It's a little different, but as much as you're like, hey, it's junior high, you did all caps children. That's not how they see it. That's not how the parents see it. And if you have these other players that are that much better, these kids know they're playing pickup games. They've been doing stuff in the off season. They're probably working this guy in games. They may have a bad attitude because they can't believe you're playing the guy. Now, I'm not full circle blaming you here as if this is your fault. or the kid that's playing the game the way you want them to be playing it. But if you're talking about guys that are going to maybe be freshman varsity players in high school versus a kid that's not even going to play, then I think it's probably better he learns that now. I mean, that's just me.

I don't know that you're doing anybody any real favors here. And the parents are going to drive you crazy no matter what. So are you doing this as an ego thing where you don't really want to give in to them? If the more talented players had parents that were cooler and with the program, dude, they might be just mad at you because it's absurd that you're playing the kid that isn't good more minutes. So I know we can keep saying children, and it's not like I'm sitting here thinking of 12 and 13-year-olds as adults, but if the other guys are that much better, I don't know. For whatever message you're trying to send by having the kid that isn't as good play,

you're probably just pissing everybody off and they're talking about you. We had another junior high year where there was only a couple of us that were even going to play in high school on our team. We weren't any good. We were a small redneck town. This is where I was living at the time. Anybody that had some like dudes that could play like it was it wasn't gonna go great for us and i remember i think it was like a guidance counselor got the head coaching gig for the junior high team and he decided to dress

30 fucking players i mean it was a joke so he was trying to do this like positivity deal before anybody's keeping track of that on instagram and And it was like, everybody who tries out makes the team. And then there's going to be like two groups that dress and there's only going to be a road team. And those of us that were starting were just like, this is a joke. Like, what, what, what is this? And so for all the goodwill and he was, you know, look, he was trying to do the right thing in junior high, junior high kids are taking this seriously, man. So yes, we can all hear whatever age we're at, whether it's me in my 40s, people older or younger listening to this podcast,

all of you going, hey, whatever, it's a kid. But that's not how you think when you're 12, 13, 14. You're thinking like, this guy's costing me minutes. This guy's hurting my development. And they're probably working this kid, like I said, in pickup games, so they know who can play and who can't. And that's probably as big a reason maybe the parents look the parents are going to be difficult no matter what but you're not doing yourself any favors by probably not playing the better players so i would i would i would figure out your rotations here a little

bit but you know you're not in a great spot here i kind of feel for you in this one okay we get a name here. I don't know if this name is real or not. Okay. I am writing this request for advice on behalf of my husband in hopes you settle a light disagreement we've been having the past few months. All right. This is probably, I'm probably not your guy. Let's try it.

Anyway, for reference, my husband is 31, 5'10", back squats 305. Okay. Shout out to the wife here. MaxSquats305, okay. Shout out to the wife here. Has great hair, piercing blue eyes, and more often than I would like is confused with Bradley Cooper by random women.

Guy's a smoke show. What can you say? He did well. Our disagreement, not that that's everything. All right. Our disagreement began in December during an annual ski trip

with my husband's friends and their significant others. They're a great group of guys and always a ton of fun. This year, one of my husband's closest friends brought his girlfriend and we were all interested to meet because they had already booked a wedding venue for the upcoming summer despite knowing each other for less than a year and not yet being engaged. Okay, repeat that again. They've already booked a wedding venue for this summer knowing each other less than a year and not yet being engaged. Okay. The group has been friends for 10 years.

The friend in question is typically a great guy, laid back, considerate, funny, loves being outside, is highly skilled skier, athlete in general. Wow. You seem to be kind of into this guy on the side here. No, I'm just kidding. This year, though, she lets us know he was none of the above. So he was not laid back, considerate, funny, did not love being outside, was not a highly skilled skier or athlete in general. He not only rarely engaged with the group during the ski week, but by the end, it was abundantly clear that his girlfriend was one of the worst hangs ever. See, that sentence alone makes me think that our emailer here has her stuff together.

So credit to you. She forgot her wallet and had him go pick it up on three separate occasions 30 minutes away each time three times kyle three times unacceptable i did i did that once with um a girl who we were driving to the vineyard and we were about 45 minutes into the trip and she's like hey i just realized i left my wallet in the apartment. It's PhoneKey's wallet. Wherever you go, it's PhoneKey's wallet. Grow up.

But you know what you do as a grown-up? You don't get mad. You can't get mad. Because getting mad fixes none of it. And then it sets a horrible tone for the rest of your weekend together.

You know? What are you going to do? Like the first time you're spending time with somebody, really lay into them in the car you're so stupid sometimes god it's a good point you're fucking it up already we're not even there you know what i mean like if you're one of those guys what do you just want to make it worse so people people need to do a bit but again if you're together for years then you probably you know maybe more likely to do that or sometimes they do it to you too okay all right all right

here we go back back to this so she forgets the wallet three separate times that is brutal her confidence bordered on arrogance and she somehow boastfully told a 20-minute story about getting a party started by playing the wobble this is man this this writer of this email is terrific great advanced scout for relationships her inability to ski was itself not a red flag but her insistence that her boyfriend stayed with her 100 of the time was over five days he only skied with the guys once and took an extra day off the mountain because she didn't want to go bottom line she was not cool and he turned into a completely different person on this trip for context he brought a different girlfriend on a previous trip and he was still his awesome self.

So it's not like he's one version by himself in the group and then another version always with women. Apparently, he was great a year ago. It sounds like this ex-girlfriend. I'm not the only one who's so turned off by her in this relationship. The entire group agrees, and they have all had conversations with my husband revolving around the question, what is he thinking? All right, this is not new territory, right? We've been over this before. So to finish up the email, I'm just the only one who thinks someone should say something before our friends get hitched.

My question for you is, should my husband, being the closest to his friend, say something to him about this girl before they get married? Does your response change if and when they get engaged? No, because I mean, we're basically talking about the same thing. You are, I believe, No, because I mean, we're basically talking about the same thing. You are, I believe, I just want to double check and finish the email here. Thanks in advance. I have to be honest. I only listen to the podcast when I'm in the car with my husband. We'll always ask him to play your voice corner. It's hilarious. Spot on. Okay. All right. I thought there was more to this. Thank you for listening to only that part. We have some trade deadline stuff at the top if you want to rewind this. Okay. It doesn't really change because I mean, the stakes are still the same. This friend of yours, your husband's friend. So let's emphasize that part of it. He is going to want to marry this person. All right. So if it were official and there are a ring on it, I kind of understand what you're saying. Like, oh, can't we, can't someone say something to him now before the engagement's official, despite the wedding venue. isn't that a little bit easier as i try to remind everybody in all this we don't know what it's like

when the door closes and those two are in their own little world all right and i know this also because i was the guy for one relationship where all of her friends were like he sucks and she's like you don't know what he's like when he's away from everyone. He's sweet. He's considerate. He, you know, I, I guess I was, I actually think I was being overrated a little bit there, but she would argue on my behalf because she was emotionally attached to me when in fact her friends were right. I sucked. All right. So, um, you don't know, we don't know. Right. So for all of us that are judging these couples that are together all the time, there may be something about them when they are, and I'm not trying

to be creepy here, but when they are by themselves, there's a connection there that is different. Think about some of the relationships that you've been in. Maybe it's been really hard to get over somebody because you just felt like, even though it wasn't perfect, I keep thinking about this person or I want it to be a better version of what this was in the past. And there's just something there and it's hard to explain. So that's why we'll have so many friends that have relationships that we can't quite figure out. And even if we completely disprove of them, we're not giving them enough of the benefit of the doubt for understanding like what it is about those two that click in a certain way. And you can even probably think of like the people that you've been with, or maybe even somebody you married

and you thought first impression, no way, or I don't like this person or they're not my deal and all that stuff. And then just something happened. The chemistry was right. You know, I believe in that kind of stuff where the chemistry is just kind of right with those two people and whether or not they're completely aligned personality or personalities that challenge each other, it just works. So for you to see all of those things that I think you're totally right about, like you write out those sentences about somebody and their habits and their personality, the wobble thing, like who gives a shit? And you thought that was cool. Like you thought everybody was like, Hey, I was kind of on the fence about you until you told a 20 minute story about getting a party started with the

wobble, right? The wallet thing shows some, some bad signs that it happened three times, once, twice, maybe three's a lot. And that her boyfriend couldn't go skiing with the rest of the guys on this epic ski trip because she just didn't feel like it. So then she wanted to just hang out. But you never know. Sometimes the guy blames the girl and he just wanted to hang out in a hotel room with his girlfriend the entire day. So there's also a possibility that that's what was happening there too. So now that we've put all this together and we always have to remind ourselves, there's parts of the relationship that we don't know anything about. I mean, what are you really solving here? I mean, he's going to marry the girl no matter what your husband probably says,

right? I mean, how close are you with them? Is it a once a week deal? Or excuse me, is it a once a year deal? Because that's the other thing is like, are you willing, are you willing to tell your, are you willing to have your husband tell one of his close friends who you might not even hang out with that often that he shouldn't marry somebody because they didn't like her at a ski trip. That's a huge step. That's a huge ask. Now, you know, again, your husband might be doing the right thing, but how many other of these stories have ended where it turns into, man, I wish you had said something. And you're like, actually, we kind of did. You're like, yeah, whatever. I wasn't going to listen because most people aren't going to listen.

So it's pretty simple. You can put yourself out there enough to risk ruining the friendship because the guy's going to probably marry her anyway. Nobody really wants to hear that. It gets weird when you start telling somebody like, hey, I don't like the person that you care this much about. It usually doesn't work out all that well. And it sounds like you're not even going to have to interact with them all that much anyway. So if a ski trip kind of sucks every now and then because of this, that's not really the end of the world. It's not like they're your neighbors. So I'm leaning towards don't bother. And it's pretty clear that your husband's leaning towards don't bother. If you're writing the email, even though I think what you're trying to do,

you're right, but nobody's going to listen. So you have to kind of think of like, I can do this thing, but will it matter? I'm like, nah, probably not. So then why would I do the thing? Kyle? I think this really sucks. And you probably can't bring her to parties either if you're not allowed to be away from her. And I think you're right.

I don't think you can tell somebody that it's like it's right before the man. It's not right before the marriage, but obviously he's decided it. Ideally, it would have been a year into having a shitty relationship on the outs from the outside view. And you say something before like the marriage things on the table because he's committed. So this sucks. You're you're a good observationist. But sorry. Yeah. No, I mean, you know, she didn't say anything here that's that's necessarily wrong but there's just i think it's going into this

thing being like hey do you want to do this thing that's definitely not going to work and can damage the relationship well wait when you put it that way like why would i why would i want to do that i mean you've got to be really, really close. I think that's like a, you know, Peaky Blinders. One of the brothers was going to marry a prostitute and, um, you know, Murphy there, Tommy Shelby, he was like, no. And then he offered the prostitute money for one last roll in the hay and she accepted. And then he said, all right, now I'm going to tell my brother that you accepted.

Didn't sleep with her. Let her keep the money. She was super bummed out. And, you know, his brother dodged a bullet. That's a tad more serious of a scenario than a bad hang at a ski trip. We have a room. Actually, I think I can talk about it now. Cause I, I don't know that this couple's together, but there's a, uh, how can I be vague

enough about this? Let's just say that there is someone connected to me that got married and tore it up and his wife was still up and ready to go and the husband was passed out and she was like down to hang out with one of the other guests that night and guys are like is there a bigger red flag than that like i don't don't, I don't know. And you know what? That one didn't work out. That one didn't work out. And guys were kind of like, dude, I don't know what you're doing here. And the guy was like, I don't care. And it, no one even wanted to say anything about that because it was like, whoa. So anyway, I don't want to, I don't want to even hint at what that was anymore. Maybe her husband could like get a couple of drinks with this guy. She can consent to like having her husband say like some not terrible things about her, but like,

oh, she's so annoying. She's been so she's been the worst lately. And then just sort of get this guy loosened up. And then he's like got a couple beers in him. And he's like, yeah, you know, she actually is awful to me, too. Like, I can't bring her anywhere. And I don't think my mom likes her. And be like, well, dude, if you don't like her, like, are you sure you want to get married? It's like sort of like the reverse psychology thing. Maybe that that's like maybe your only hope to like getting out some of these feelings. That's really smart.

And I was something I was trying to think of like a perfect analogy for it where, you know, it's like a movie scene, right? But we're life doesn't really work that way. But if you're writing out this movie scene where you start a conversation, that's not really about what's being talked about, but it's about something else. It happens a lot, like at the end, right. Where it's like, oh, this big reveal. And it's like, are we talking about the same thing? Like, yeah, but it's not really what we're talking about. Right. Where you could, you could start it up with like, Hey, do you just wanted to double check? Cause you're my friend, you know, I care about you, but I love a few beers,

you know, maybe even some, some brown water, some harder stuff, um, before this be like, Hey, you know, I got a bottle of Japanese whiskey, real clean silver barrels. Why don't you, uh, actually that doesn't make any sense, but, um, why don't you come by and, you know, congratulate you on your engagement or whatever, you know, hopefully before that. And then you just say, you know, hope you got a prenup, although it's only going to work if the guy has assets and she doesn't, or maybe you both have assets, right? Although the George Costanza Seinfeld storyline where he's trying to get out of his wedding with Susan and he was like, he's like, let's do a prenup. And she was like, are you serious? You don't even laugh at his face, right? Yeah. She was like, yeah, no problem. Like not even remotely offended. That's a little bit of an older reference for some of you, but

you could start it that way. And then now you're in the conversation where that's not really what you're asking. You're hoping to kind of get to a point of comfort where you can talk about this because if you're going to do it, you got to massage your way into this topic. So you're right, Kyle, figure out a way to start this without having it be like, Hey, nobody likes your girlfriend and we can't believe you're going to marry her. So as your best friend, that's what I'm saying. Instead it's, Hey, let's spend some time together or whatever. And then, you know, have it, have it get there, you know, maybe talk about somebody else from the group that's having some struggles and be like,

Oh, we saw this one coming a mile away. She forgets her license all the time. Can you believe that? And you're just, I'm just kidding, obviously. Okay, all right. Went too long on that one, but we'll be back. By the way, we're doing a Thursday release, so Tuesday, Thursday,

and then we're doing a big, big trade deadline extravaganza, Bill and I, on Thursday. So we'll see how much action we have and whether we have a ton or very little, we'll break it all down and kind of some of the stuff that we're hearing that usually the information flows a little bit more freely once the deadline is passed too, as well. So that's what we'll be doing this week. That's the plan. Outro Music