The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Live From NYC, Chris Paul Talks About Being Traded to Wizards, and Life Advice

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Russillo opens his live show at Gramercy Theatre in New York City with a brief story about attending a Red Sox-Yankees game (0:38). Then, Ryen is joined by NBA All-Star point guard Chris Paul to discuss being traded to the Wizards, his favorite career moments, and his book, Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court (6:15). Finally, Ryen, Ceruti, and Kyle answer some listener-submitted and live Life Advice questions (42:39). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Chris Paul Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Stefan Anderson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

live pod we know everybody gets pissed off about those but not this one because it was amazing good life advice little monologue live from gramercy theater in new york city and chris paul monologue live from Gramercy Theater in New York City. And Chris Paul, we did it live on stage. We talked it all. I was professional and, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. I pull one of the guys aside. I'm like, how much is this going to cost me to go out tonight in the city?

And he's like, dude, like a hundred bucks. I'm like, dude, that is, that's a devastating number. I was like, I brought 40. He's like, you've brought 40 to go out in New York city. He's like, I don't know. You're just going to have to like map out the rounds. Right. You're going to have to like not go first. You're going to have to get skipped. You're going to say, Oh, Hey, I'll get it. And then defer to somebody else. Like it was this whole thing of the night of like mapping it out. And then the other thing they told me too, they were like, Hey, look, your whole like big fish, small pond, Burlington bartender stand in the corner thing. Like you're going to have to step it up. Like, this is tough here. We get rejected all the time. Like one of my friends is like, I'm taller and way hotter than you. And I work for a hedge fund and I can barely get laid. So I was like, I was like, dude, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. Don't worry about it. And they're like, it's not going to work, dude. All your stuff. It's not going to work.

I was like, whatever. And so, I don't know. We were someplace middle of the night, pretty late. And I was like, yeah, well, you know, just start talking to me. They're like, do you listen to a lot of AM radio? And she's like, no. And I was like, well, you know the yankees and now now she's interested i was like before they're yankees that's where i come trenton she's like i don't what when the mascot doesn't show up, I'm your guy.

So, you know, it's like, where do you work at Ford? Like, those Broncos are sweet. She's like, what? But it really actually, it wasn't even that. It wasn't that. My father's never been to New York City, I don't believe, since 1988. Something very traumatizing happened to us when he was the humble carpenter. And I was only 12, 13 years old, working on a back deck, probably upgrading it, pressure treated, NBD. And a guy was like, hey, I have two tickets, Sox, Yankees, Yankee Stadium.

I'd never been to Yankee Stadium, right? House that Ruth built. My dad's like, maybe we'll have a real moment here, bond, and go to New York City together. And I was like, we love the Red Sox. We go all the time. Why not go to Yankee Stadium? Like, this is incredible. So we drive down from Connecticut at the time, get to the stadium, get lost in the Bronx, like in 1988. And I think it's fucking awesome because I've seen all the breaking movies and I'm like, no, that looks familiar. And, uh, my dad was not as enthusiastic about it. Sherry red F one 50 custom bed, Vermont plates. I know that doesn't make any sense, but that's what they did.

So we get to the game, upper deck, old Yankee Stadium, most dangerous place ever. I think Nat Geo has like a thing where a guy hiked all parts of the upper deck of Yankee Stadium, the old one. And so it was the most boring game ever. Jim Rice like pinch hit. Some of you guys are like, wait, is this pass and podcast no i trust me and so we're up there we're not like rowdy i'm like 13 my dad doesn't even drink like it's not even you know just a couple guys father son checking out a little afternoon baseball took three and a half hours which in the 80s is unheard of and enter lee smith who blows the save in the ninth inning,

gives up two runs, brutal, error, awful. And my father's like pissed because that's what we did back then. We just get super like irrationally pissed off about losses. So now he's thinking he paid for parking. He drove to the Bronx. He has to drive out of the city to go back to Connecticut and Lee Smith blew the save. And what made it worse was on our way back, as everybody knows this dangerous game, you first start driving around the city. You're like, which bridge is this? You're like, Oh, the city's now that way. And I'm going to New Jersey. And like, when you take one of those bridges, New Jersey, you feel like the first time I ever did, I thought you feel like you're getting deported. You're like, I'm, can I get back? Like, how the

it's in the rear view, and you're like, oh, man, all the buildings are gonna, so he's bullshit. I think we're on the GW. He's like, the sign, the fucking sign, he's convinced it was the sign, and like, we never drove around the city anyway, so it's not

shocking we got lost. There may have been an issue with the sign, So he gets off. We're in New Jersey. U-turn, likely illegal. Get back on. Get to the toll booth where there used to be people. And he's like, hey, is this the way back to 95? And the guy's like, yeah, clear sailing, man.

Four bucks. And it was so expensive, that toll, even back then. Three, maybe, you know, maybe I'm exaggerating over time, but it was an expensive toll at the time and so my father's even more pissed he's like well if your sign is messed up and i was in new jersey and whatever this is the right way the guy's like hey man you're holding up the line he's like you know you're gonna pay the toll and he's like fuck this floors it and i'm like, oh, my God. Like, he was so mad. It's like Lee Smith, the Bronx, Yankee Stadium, Toll, New Jersey. He had had it.

He had had it. And I'm like, what's going to happen to us? And he's like, we have Vermont plates. Nobody's going to care. Our guest is here, and we couldn't be happier. He is one of my favorite players. We can't believe we pulled this off. It's Chris Paul. We'll get you right here.

High five. All right, we did it, fam. We did it. First fight. Listen, man, Ryan, first and foremost, hold on one second. First and foremost, I want to apologize. I don't know who did my schedule, but I was somewhere deep in Jersey and I finished at this book bookstore. And what's it called? Bookings. Bookings. Yeah. And then I was like, I got to go to Ryan. I got to go to Ryan. And they was like, it's a 45 minute drive.

Oh, damn. So I apologize. I'm serious. I hate that. I'm sorry. Thank you. You don't have to apologize, but just so now the audience knows, this whole last three hours, this is what I've been dealing with. Because then it was one thing like, hey, he's available. This is going back a year when we were trying to request you, then I was going to fly out to Phoenix, and I was going to stay there for the Super Bowl, and it was just going on and on and on.

Oh, no, none of this. And they were like, Hey, they're like we think we can get him for the New York show. And I was like, okay, but like, you know, it's, you're going to be busy. The new book is out. And then I saw him like on GMA and I saw him doing everything. I was like, man, by the time he's getting the view today. Right. I was like, he's going to be so sick of this by the time like he rolls around and then you get traded. Oh, Oh, did I? So then I'm like, I'm like every day i'm waking up in la before i fly out here i was like i'm gonna get the he's not gonna he's not doing it he's not

doing it i'm here so here you are man um well look i had a plan on how i wanted to interview you and it obviously got altered and i've seen probably everything you've done, and everybody's kind of asked, and, you know, you land and the whole deal. But what's it been like now, a couple days sinking in? I'm better today. All right. You know, I'm serious. It's funny, man.

My wife, she's over here. She's been with me every day all day through everything you know what i mean so it's uh you you give it a day yesterday to process and now uh you sort of wait and see see what's next and i mean yeah no look man they, they want you here. Were you, like, you know, I know how the contract works and all that stuff. We knew when it was first extended. You're like, okay, you know, there'll be a decision and see how it goes.

But, like, I probably know that. But, like, I just want to hear from you. Like, what did you want to do when the season ended? Like, where were you with the team and the new ownership and bringing in KD and the Denver series? Where were you about next year? That's a good question, man. I wanted to be with Phoenix.

I'm not going to lie to you. Since Matt took over the team, I actually talked to him pretty often, like regularly. You know what I mean? I loved it in Phoenix. Loved it, loved it. I don't know how to say it. Whatever. I guess loved. Past tense. I loved it in Phoenix. Love it. Loved it. I don't know how to say it. Whatever. I guess loved past past tense.

I loved it in Phoenix. Those last three years have been amazing. Our team, our relationship with Book is like none other. It's a great city to live in. It's a great fan base to play in front of. I was an hour flight away from my wife and my kids so everything was just just perfect about it you never know man i'm serious you never know so the deal the deal goes through that i'm just saying my career i don't you never know the deal goes through and and now you said you had a little more time to process it you're not as i've said the beginning and then you know i know winger a little bit from the clippers time

he's running the show you know i'm sure ownership gets involved a little bit like i don't know what you can tell us or we can share i mean feel free to go all the way but like we're right go ahead chris talk but on uh floor is yours me and winger actually missed each other right so he got to the clippers after i left what in 17 whenever i left yeah i don't know a lot of them years be running together i didn't realize that he uh he was with okc too yeah yeah because now will dawkins is there and will was with me at okc so crazy how all that stuff worked but we was never at the same team together right so what do you think like do you do you go into it now being like hey i'd rather not rebuild or like i'm open

to anything they have a decision with a lot of money in play here in seven days so you're looking at me being like you don't think i know that what what like what go what can you actually share with us that you can tell us about like all right all the different things that i'm thinking about because obviously there's just speculation in every corner it's actually kind of nice too because it seems like everybody wants you yes it's a lot of conversations being had i haven't talked to wing or anything like that uh as you know things aren't even finalized like they gotta have trade calls and all this different type stuff so yeah there'll be a third team and some other guys get moved around in it so who knows you probably know more than i do uh did they send

you they didn't send you a wizard's jersey yet because i was going to order one for my look the funny thing you know we mellow the mellow atlanta thing yeah that's what the rashid jersey i always i love when i go to like a concert i see a guy in a rashid wallace atlanta jersey i'm like all right that happened yeah he was there like three games before he got spun to Detroit. Didn't know that. Yeah, it was a long time ago. It was a long time ago. I played for the Lakers for a few hours.

What's that memory like for you versus like it? Because I had heard a story you wanted to come here and play with Mello more than you wanted to go to L.A. Who you be talking to? That's the next book. All right. That's the next book. But it was a lot going on at 2011 summer. You know what I mean? As far as teams and all this stuff. But everything happens for a reason. You know, and I'm a firm believer in that. And I'm grateful for everything that has taken place in my career, good and, and bad. A lot of the unfortunate situations have been the things that have given me that drive and given me that mindset. So, you know, just try to, um, have fun with all of them.

I know whenever, you know, we got the opportunity to do this, like the hardcore listener, you know, me the last years and like, you wouldn't remember when we met. I think you were at a national championship game a long time ago and I was still doing the show with Van Pelt or whatever. You're going to tell me what I remember, right? No, but I, you know, it was like somebody came over and dominated it and I was like, oh, here, I'm going to get at you. You know how it is. it so when we were doing this we're like oh everybody you know like how do we how do we talk about all the stuff because i've seen some of the other clips and i'm like getting defensive for you on your behalf and i'm like well don't you understand the other guy got hurt that year and

then whatever uh and like whenever he's like one of my family members right no but then then i'd see the graphics right of the playoff series they'd be like oh so it counts when he's actually the one that's hurt like you're supposed to agree with me a little bit more on that i guess the thing that i i always love like going back to wake even i was like all right this guy is tough he's smart he's efficient this guy's a motherfucker like he's everything i want a player and the and as we look at the culmination of the career, it's like everything I believe in is that you're the guy, and I still believe that. And yet, you've been so unlucky. You've been so unlucky, man.

And what's the worst one? Ooh, man. What's the worst one? Damn, that's tough, ain't it? That's tough when you can't figure out which one no but i mean i mean this is like like even this year against denver and i'm at home and i'm like you've got to be fucking kidding that's the same thing i said you know like i have a job but like i don't want to seem like i but i mean it was just there'd be different ones where I'd be like, you can't possibly like. No, you can't. And like we haven't even met him at home. Devastating. Imagine what it's like for me or especially especially for my wife.

That's who is really hard on. I'll tell you the truth. So a very unlucky one was the Portland situation when I stole the ball with this hand, this finger got caught in a Jersey and I got a spiral fracture and had to have 16 screws, uh, in my hand. I remember I got home that night and like, she's the one who has to deal with me. Right. Like, and I'm serious when I say that, because I've said, because there has been a few of those unlucky situations is that I give myself that night, right? I give myself that night to be upset, to cry if it is a situation or whatnot. And then I always tell myself is the next morning is over with, right? You got to get back to work. You got to start rehab. You got to do what you got to do. And let me tell you, people are going to talk

always. Why not? You know what I mean? But I always say there are people who talk and there are people that do. Right. So I could feel sorry for myself and sit on my ass and be like, damn, why did this happen? You know what I mean? And that may happen that first night. But then the next day I'm right back to work. So that happened in Portland. That happened in Portland. A playoff series with OKC, that was really tough. You know what I mean? Because it's a whole nother story. We'll talk about that offline at some point. But but when the turnover happened, the foul and all that stuff, Russ hit the three free throws. Then we were on the play and don't get a shot up. I was I was messed up in the locker room all the way to when I got home. I remember I was just up all night, night because you feel like you let people down. You know what I mean? So that one was probably one of the toughest. Yeah.

My most downloaded, I think a top five most downloaded episode was after Dallas. And people just wanted to hear me be miserable. Oh, yeah, yeah. And after like 30 minutes, I was like, what else do you want me to tell you? I'm bummed out. Oh, yeah. yeah. And after like 30 minutes, I was like, I don't, what else do you want me to tell you? I'm bummed out. Oh, yeah. I have no excuse. None of us did.

We just got our ass whooped. I heard there was something else, but I don't want to get anybody into trouble. Yep. Yep. But look, I want to talk about this because I read this and I, you know, I knew a little bit about you, but obviously I didn't know the full scope of the story. I don't know why that was so funny, but 61, the book is out now. And I love the timeline of, of how you did it. Your editors, I think you guys did a great job of, of going back. And, you know, one of the things that I

know is, you know, working for your grandfather at his station and it being historic that he owned it and you and CJ going there. And what I loved about it is that you actually wanted, it sounded like you wanted to go to the gas station to hang out with your grandfather and hang out with all these old dudes, these legends. And it kind of speaks to like, I just think there's a pretty simple rule in life. If you learn how to be somebody that cares about hard work if you learn that hard work is your answer it can solve a lot of your problems and like was i was reading about you and your brother i'm like actually a lot of the stuff even your playing style like made sense to me yeah uh in the book i hope y'all like i'm i mean it when i said if you don't like me, still read it. You know what I mean?

Still, which that's cool, too. I think it was fun to write the book because I got a chance to sort of talk about why I'm the way I am. I talk about my relationship with my grandfather, who was like my best friend. And I worked at a gas station every summer. Right. My grandfather had the first black owned service station in North Carolina. So during the summer. Yeah. So I wanted to be like him. I used to walk around with a red rag in my pocket. You know what I mean? Used to change tires, check oil, all this different stuff. And my granddad just showed us what the work looks like. Right. And that's what I talk about a lot of times is actually doing the work. Right.

Is that's the hard part is checking in, clocking in. Right. So when you stay out late at night, get up in the morning and do the work and do the work. And so my grandfather used to open his gas station at 6 a.m. When me and my brother wanted shoes or sneakers or whatnot to hoop, my parents both worked. My granddad used to have a lot of money in his pocket, in his front pocket. He used to keep cash, this big knot of money. So we knew my granddaddy had it. We knew he had it. We used to be like, Papa, we want some shoes. We want some shoes. And my granddad would be like, come to work at the service station for a week. Come for the weekend. So it made me appreciate the work. So I'm grateful to him for that.

There's a there's a lot of really great stories in there. And one of my favorite was you and CJ took a cigarettes from you started. And anybody in here from North Carolina? Okay, nice. Where are you from, boss? Raleigh. Raleigh. 919. All right. So I'm from Winston Salem. Around that area, they call it Tobacco Road, right? So there's a big plant in Winston Salem called RJ Reynolds. So that's where a lot of my family worked. So my field trips when I was a kid was to tobacco plants. Seriously, like Joe Camel used to be at the school, like everybody like smoking, smoking cigarettes was a thing, like a real big thing. And so my grandmother died when I was seven from lung cancer. Right.

And so for me as a kid, when I saw cigarettes, that meant cancer, right? Just that's what it translated. And so my grandfather, when he was at the service station, he would always be smoking cigarettes and I'd be like, no, no, no, no. And so me and my brother would like take his cigarettes and throw them away. As a kid, you don't know how expensive cigarettes are, right? So my granddaddy, boy, when he called us, he was about to kill us. And we're like, Papa, we're just trying to save your life. You know, so that's that's sort of what we did all the time until we saw how much that costs. I remember, you know, my it's you look back and stuff you do when you're younger. And like the

thing with my my grandmother on one side was in a wheelchair she's a nursing home and so like i would go around and light everybody up at like eight nine years old and sit in the smokers lounge with all of them just didn't know no better you know and they'd be like hey you know probably ask you if you wanted to smoke right they probably tried to pass it to you right and so then like elementary school we had some thing where it was like you know smoke out cancer or whatever and it was like hey give this morning thing to one person in your life that smokes. So I was like, oh, you know, cool. I'll give it to my grandmother. And it's my dad's mother.

And we were headed over to the nursing home and I had the certificate. And he's like, what the fuck is that? I was like, oh, I'm going to give it to grandma. You know, it's this work assignment. He's like, bro. But did to give it to grandma. You know, she's a courier. It's this work assignment. He's like, bro. But did you give it to her? Yeah. She was like, cool.

Give me a Paul Maul. Like, you know, there's certain things you get older. You're like, yeah, she wasn't trying to hear that. Yeah. She wasn't, wasn't going to happen. The CJ stuff, your brother who, man, like without him, huh? my brother it's crazy he's not here he he's in town but my brother man i mean it's when i say i have no sisters no other brothers it's just me and him my older brother like when i say ride or die i mean i didn't have playoff games where um

what's his name the The referee, James. Gucci. You know, they call him Gucci, the referee. Who, Williams? Yeah. Look at you going. James. Wait, James.

James tried to throw my brother out of a game in Utah. In Utah. Come to find out, he reffed my brother when my brother was in college. Yeah. But my brother, as soon as you walk into an arena, whatever, you're going to know where he is. My brother, he, I mean, we get into it sometimes too. My brother yelling at me during a game, talking about my turnovers. Shut up. Shut up. I was playing at OKC. I was playing at OKC at the time when I first came into the league and I had got a couple of turnovers and we coming out of

coming down to court and he's standing up talking to me like he was a coach man i went so nuts on him man shut the hell you think i turned it over on purpose but that's my brother you know i mean like he he he rotted out for real yeah i'm serious like the stuff with him in the book you're like all right you know without him like uh you know all this stuff would be pointless if you don't have somebody that you can enjoy all this stuff with. And I mean, he'd been there. I mean, yesterday, I tell you yesterday. So yesterday I had, what we do? Good morning America. A few shows, few shows, this, and then I got a break like from two 30 to like six. I went over to the union office, right. To work out. Guess who I went with my brother and my dad and Jean helped us rebound. Like, like for went with? My brother and my dad. And Gene helped us rebound. Like, for real, like my brother and my dad, I'm 18 years in this and it was, I'm in there working,

I'm in there working, but it was so dope for me because 18 years into this and I'm looking on the court and my dad and my brother, who we used to be in the backyard in Winston-Salem doing this, and we still doing it right now together like us. I don't want to be too forward, but are you guys shooting around tomorrow morning? I got to see what time my day starts. But, you know, the funniest part was so at the union office, you got the court down here. I heard it's sick. Like, it's so sick that they're like, this is insane how nice this is.

Yeah, shout out to me and the executive committee. Yeah. Yeah, the guys who did that, right? Right. So let me tell you this, though. And the over 38 rule. We got to talk about that, too. Yeah. We're going to have talk about that too. Yeah.

We have to move that one back again. So the court is down here, right? And the gym, like the weight room is up here. So I'm upstairs working out in the gym and I can look down and I see my brother and my dad down there playing horse arguing. They so mad talking about who got what letter or what not. It was just, it was cool to see that'll be 63 in october still think he nice i uh i think some people would be like all right you know if you if you mess with chris he's gonna he's gonna hold a grudge i had no idea the unc stuff like that has to be for a carolina kid as you point out you're number one

they take forever and then when they're basically like all right now we're in you're like peace just a little just a little grudge yeah i mean i'm retelling the story but like were you as you describe in the book were you waiting for them so you could tell them no absolutely absolutely but uh my son is at carolina basketball camp right now different different regime different regime right no but that that was what it was i mean you gotta think about it i played jv basketball as a freshman and sophomore right and if you think back to it, it was in their right mind. Raymond Felton

was a year older than me, and Raymond had already committed to go to Carolina. And they told me that I could come to Carolina, but I'd have to walk on. We ain't have no money like that. It was scholarship or nothing for me. You know, so...

Go Deacs! Go for me. You know, so go Deacs. Go Deacs. You know, the thing that I, you know, I get into with people all the time is about like, all right, he gets to New Orleans, 20 more wins. Like, okay. And that was when I was like early. I remember I just got ESPN2.

I was like, I think he's the best point guard in the league already. And guys are like, you're out of your mind. You get to LA. I think it was like seven more. The OKC year, I think you were given like less than 1% chance of making the playoffs. Can I ask you this? Is this story true? That when you got to OKC, Billy Donovan was like, hey, look, we're going to take it easy.

Smooth sailing. Rest you the whole deal. And you's like, hey, look, we're going to take it easy, smooth sailing, rest you the whole deal. And you were like, fuck no. Hell no. What was that like? Man, we out here, ain't we? We out here, ain't we? You know what happened, man? And I still talk to Sam Presti, text and talk to him and stuff. And Shea is for real like my brother. You know what I mean? And that OKC situation was one of the like a blessing in disguise for me. But when I got there, they first they met with me. They flew out to L.A. Everybody met with me, my brother, my agent and all of us. we was over at CAA in this building and they like

presented all this stuff to me. Um, and they started talking about my family. Like, we know you love your family. You can go see them. You can go do this and you can play this amount of games. You can do this and that. And I'm just looking at my brother and my agent and I'm thinking like, somebody ain't do they homework. I was like, they don't really know me too well. Because for me, it's always been a situation where obviously, right, all those injuries and stuff that I've endured. It's hard. I can't go into a game like premeditate and be like, I'm not playing. Right. I just there's so many opportunities that have occasions that have happened and I haven't been able to play so when I can play I want to play you know so when they were saying you know

play this amount of games play this minutes I was like look man I'm playing you know if I can play I want to play and so uh they they heard me they heard me out and it worked out. Right. And then, you know, the Phoenix part, like we can just keep going over it. And when I look at that resume, I'm like, this is what I'm talking about. This is what I see.

This is, this is the reality of you like to show up and average like 15 more wins. As soon as you walk in the building, I'm like over 82. That's what we're talking about. Of course, nobody wants to hear it. So,

um, I just want it to work out for you whatever it is i i really want whatever happens this offseason to be you guys are like dude we get it um listen man no i mean whatever screw it i don't care i'll just i'm just being honest no i and i and i jane i genuinely appreciate it like seriously like i i really appreciate it this is like i've never liked this in any of my interviews. Can I ask you a basket? We actually have some listeners submitted ones. We'll wrap this up.

Is that all right? Yeah, you can ask me whatever you want to. All right. Because we know, seriously, like, you've been doing a lot of stuff and we appreciate you making it all right i'm okay i promise okay um here's a question this one's for me though i know you and lebron are boys why everybody say oh I never felt like it made any sense for you to be on the same team though with your style now granted I feel like you both would figure out a way but giving up you giving up some of those

read possessions and him giving up some of those I don't know am I nuts on that theory I don't think so I mean you just never know right like it's crazy whatever situation it is i think great basketball minds you find a way you figure it out yeah i think you guys would but it always was something where i was like i'm surprised they're in such a hurry but then sometimes i think you guys when you're just buddies you'd be like hey you know like brandon bass and dwight howard i was like okay oh wait didn't they bring in jared jack what'd you say yeah no no it was uh yeah there was there was actually you had one of these they were like oh well they brought in jared jack and that's this dude and i'm like yeah he probably still asked for a trade though

didn't the world i was in new orleans yeah didn't new orleans bring in Jarrett Jack and be like, problem solved? Jay Jack is for real like my family. Yeah. For real. So we played together in New Orleans. And then you asked for a trade. I'm not on you. I'm pointing out how silly it is at times where they're like, no, that's his boy.

And then you're like, well, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. So Jay Jack came in like at the beginning of that season when it was Monty's first year. Right. It was Monty's first year. So all that stuff. Hey, all these years we running together, man.

That trade stuff happened after that season. Right. Yeah. It was after that season, right? Yeah, it was after that season. Yeah. Because I met with Monty about whether or not I was going to stay there. But I said something about it recently about how the team had been meeting with us, talking about moving here and there. It was all this uncertainty. So people forget that our team was, at the time, owned by the NBA.

Yeah, and the ownership prior to that wasn't a sweet time either. George, Shane. Yeah, so, I mean. George drafted me. Appreciate you, George. All right. We'll do some rapid fires here, and then you're going to take pictures

with all 300 people, right, like I did before? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I rarely get questions from all 300 people. We'll do a group shot. Then we'll be done. All right. This is from one listener.

Best teammate you've ever had. Best player you've ever played with. I guess it's two different things here. Yeah. Best teammate I've ever had. Probably David West. Yeah. D. West. Yeah. D. West.

Yeah, other than the time with the Clippers, I think my most tenured teammates were David West and one of my teammates, Rasul Butler. Rest in peace to him. Rasul Bach. That was my man. So that's the best teammate.

Who do you think the best player you've ever been on the team? The best player? Oh, man. It has to be between, like, I mean, I played with Pete, Blake Griffin, KD. KD, that was a few games. Few games, but that was great. You never know. He could ask for a trade. He's sick. He could ask for a trade. I said it. Chris didn't.

I like Katie, by the way. James was unbelievable. He had that 60-point triple-double. And then Book. Book, man. What'd you say, man? Nothing. Nothing.

No, you guys. Jalen Brunson that's my man that's yeah so jalen i'll tell you a quick story about jalen y'all so lucky to have jalen here y'all y'all y'all so lucky to have jalen here and you i'm sure you know leon uh the yeah sure right know Leon yeah sure right yeah yeah that was uh that was my agent who was for sure my family for life Jalen his dad was Leon actually Leon's first client first client I didn't know that so I don't know what year that was but one year I was traveling and I wanted somebody to travel and work out with me. It was Rick. It was Rick Brunson.

So Jalen was like in the eighth grade or ninth grade or whatnot and was like working out and training with me, man. So Jalen been nice for a long time. Y'all just know that. Y'all getting to see it now. But Jalen, Jalen been, Jalen was like in the eighth and ninth grade playing like 17 and under AAU. He just didn't always had a brilliant basketball mind. And him to new york just gave him the opportunity to run the show he's he's unbelievable man uh i went i went to the national championship game with my son uh it was the final four game on a national championship with rick to watch jaylen play

when he was in college we were in san an San Antonio to play against the Spurs and I got a chance to go watch Jalen. Did you think he'd be this good when you saw him? Serious. Absolutely. What I didn't understand, what's always hard for me to figure out, and you would get it but him understanding every angle, bump,

step. He's spent an entire life finishing against bigger people so he has every single trick. But then to see him be the primary guy and still do it that's the part that i'm his footwork his pace so that's the thing like jaylen ain't the fastest you know what i'm saying he ain't the strongest but his pace his quickness his footwork or whatnot so and he he a dog like he got grit you know what I mean? All right. We have three more, and then we'll send our guy on his way.

He's had a busy, busy day. Told you I'm good. He act like I got a curfew. She in charge. We got a curfew? Do we got a curfew? All right. All right. We'll keep going.

This is from a listener, and it says, When Harden watches the play during the playoffs, is that brilliant spacing, or does it suck when his defender comes to help when you drive? That was just, that was Doug from Milwaukee. I didn't hear you. What did you say? We'll let that one slide.

You're a sicko. Man, listen, them two years in Houstonston somebody asked me about it in an interview today that first year in houston was one of the best teams i've ever been on my entire career when i say our defense was so locked in and what's crazy is when you watched our offense he used to be so funny because i i watch basketball all day every day i know this game like the back of my hand but people used to always be like man it's just so boring to watch them play iso right but I watch basketball all day, every day. I know this game like the back of my hand. But people used to always be like, man, it's just so boring to watch them play ISO. Right?

But we did that because we played the entire season to get ready for Golden State. Right? Because you like basketball. No, I know. Daryl came on my show at the time, and he was like, yeah, we have a 78.4% chance of playing them. He's so monotone. And it was sound like he was serious and then bob myers came on like a couple weeks later we shared the clip like the clip blew up and then you know if i'm daryl i'm like what do you guys think we're doing over here like clearly

they're the favorite all the different models and then bob was like oh my god it's hilarious that he would have it to the number but i'm like that's daryl and i don't i don't make fun of that at all like he knew and that's what you guys did. To each his own. I wasn't with all the analytics either. You know what I mean? Seriously. You are efficient, though.

Yeah. But it definitely took some getting used to because I didn't know all those different numbers. I'm like, I test. I watch basketball. I can't tell you all the numbers. I remember my very first team't tell you all the numbers. I mean, my very first team meeting when I got to Houston, it was crazy because D'Antoni was great, but D'Antoni will sort of say stuff to you without saying stuff to you. So we was in a team meeting and he showed

us a shot chart and he said, all right, guys, this is what we want the shot chart to look like. And it was one shot outside of the paint right it was a game they had played or something like that it's the year before so it's basically you know it was these threes and we shoot these layups yeah and he didn't say he didn't tell me don't shoot mid-ranges but this is what we want guys and so uh it took some getting used to but we actually figured out a balance right we figured out a balance, right? We figured out a balance. Well, to take that away from you is actually a mistake.

No, seriously, the mid-range stuff. And I even thought, like, again, more certain the finals run. Like, I thought you and Booker were kind of zagging in a way where now you're starting to attack places that for six months nobody's used to defending. Like, I do wonder if we're in some kind of evolutionary period where post touches may actually matter again i know that sounds crazy but it's just kind of some of the stuff that i'm seeing and thinking about more when i watch it's funny man all right we can talk basketball all day when the league changed to a drop and all this different stuff but the reason why i've always got to the mid-range at least now at this point in my career honestly is because if i get all the way to the basket and it's a seven-foot guy standing by the rim, I feel like I'm giving

him the advantage. Seriously, it's just that simple. If you're giving up this shot right here, why wouldn't I shoot it right here? Why dribble all the way to the goal and give the tall guy the advantage? It was that simple. And that's why when I watch Scoot, I'm like, that reminds me of somebody. Who? Scoot Henderson. Yeah. Oh, he'll dunk on you.

Well, he'll do that too. But, like, when he has that snake dribble and then he kind of keeps you on the hip, that kind of stuff, like, his three numbers aren't very good. There's some weird shooting numbers if you go through. You're like, wait, what the – But, like, when I see him pull up and look that crisp on getting to that mid-range and and either messing with the guy and drop or keeping the trail defender on his back hip like it reminds me of you i started doing that my second year in the league like i literally just came up with that one day of practice with tyson chandler just because at

that point my career people used to go under screens all the time. And so defense was a lot different then. And so I, just in practice, I started snaking the screen. And what it did was it forced the two-on-one, right? Everybody that don't know basketball, like, what the hell is he talking about? But it forced the two-on-one because the guy guarding me would end up being on my back. Tyson Chandler would roll. And now I was a lot more athletic at the time. But either I was on the rim or I was throwing a lob to Tyson.

Our last one. I did get a new place in L.A. What does that mean? If you want to split the utilities. mean if you want to split utilities if you end up professionally living there that's all you need i know you have a place there you don't really yeah i already have a home there yeah my wife and my kids live there yeah well you know sometimes you need escape. Look, this book is a lot of fun. You guys know I'm a huge fan, so I'm biased. But it was great to let you know.

Thanks, y'all. Thanks for the book. And give it up for Chris Paul. They say money can't buy happiness. Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. 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.

I would say one's the heartbeat and the other's the brains of the show. We got Cerruti and Kyle coming out. And the biggest thank you goes to LaQuinta by Wyndham for making all of this happen. You're pretty far away. I do feel kind of far away. Want to slide down a little bit? Well, I have to open the emails. I guess I could do it over there.

Should I? Is this bothering you that much? It's a little weird. Round of applause. Should he slide down? I don't feel like they were that emphatic, but let's do it. The best will be when the guest gets here and be like, this seat is really warm.

So that's why I want to do it. Congratulations to Kyle. Do you feel different? Feel great. Married life kicks ass. Everybody wants to give you money, shake your hands. It's great. So Rudy, how do you feel?

I'm great. Listen, we're what, seven, eight months into our daughter. So awesome to be a father. First Father's Day. My wife's excited because it's the first kind of night away, so we're doing good. And I'm moving into a new house, so there you go. Congrats all around.

Bunch of grown-ups up here doing grown-up things. All right, so we're going to do a few live life advice stuff, and then that will kind of either morph into Q&A, where we'll do it up there, or depending on the guest thing, we'll do the Q&A after. Look, pretty simple template here. I'm not too worried. Are you? No.

I would say you're feeling flexible because you're a big yoga guy now. Did you do yoga this morning? I've got to tell you, I can't wait to get back at it. But I feel like I have a home base that I'm familiar with with and I'm not going to be like road yoga guy yet. Yeah, that's fair. It's intimidating. When I walked in and there was only four people, I'm like, okay, this is great. Yeah. So, all right.

Happy for you, dude. The happiest I've seen or talked to Ryan, he called me the next day and he was just like, he was just glowing. You could hear it in his voice. The happiest I think I've ever heard you before that was when chris paul made the finals uh so uh just so we know what level ryan's at yeah that'd be a good quiz i don't know because i think you're overselling the happiness but i was there was a pep in my step but i had like an acai bowl and then the water was there. It was 90% of our pre-show meeting. It was 90% of it. And I had already heard the story. He was like, alright, should we just do this?

If his wife ever leaves him, she's going to be like, it wasn't Steve so much as it was the phone calls from her solo. Alright, let's get started with a real hot one here. 2457. Yeah!

I think 5-7. That might be that. Get your picture taken with that guy after we're done. 5-7 and three quarters. 155. He's benching 315 at 155. You call him bullshit? I don't know.

It'd be the first time anybody's ever laughed or lied about their bench. So, squat 315, deadlift 375. Did not train legs seriously before 21.

Okay, dude. So, I know the subject line. The subject line is this. Am I too hot for my girlfriend and there's pictures we have a projector i don't know how that works i don't think we could do that guys yeah we don't have technology yeah

we can't we can't do that to the emailer. Like now we just show your pictures at the live show. All right, so this is great. We probably do 30 minutes on this alone. I know the subject line makes me sound like a total douche. But please hear me out. For some context, I grew up as a chubby, short,

overweight kid from ages eight to 17. I hit my heaviest at 200 pounds and couldn't play sports anymore due to multiple. What was that? 200 pounds. Fuck you. Sorry. He was five, seven.

Oh, right. All right. I'm sorry. Yeah. Just stay on him about forgetting about the 5'7". All right. So, all right.

You got a lot of concussions. Rugby, football, wrestling took a toll. All right. You battled with some stuff here. All right. Now I'm starting to feel better. At the start of my junior year, weighing a staggering 200 pounds, I decided to make a change.

By the time senior year rolled around, I'd shed about 60 to 70 pounds. Stepping into school that first day, I felt like a brand new person. Turns out I wasn't ugly. could change by the time senior year rolled around i'd shed about 60 to 70 pounds stepping in his school that first day i felt like a brand new person turns out i wasn't ugly i was just fat the transformation attracted more attention from girls and within my friend group i became the designated hot one it was overwhelming for a shy introverted guy like myself if saruti used to go uh to his insult on me he would have been spot on up until a couple years ago. Big virgin guy over here. Prior. Former virgin.

I think that's what he's saying there. Fast forward to now. I've worked hard to maintain my appearance, partly due to my constant praise I receive, and partly because I've tied my self-worth to my level of attractiveness. Honestly, there's worse things to attach your self-worth to. It'd be weird if a guy was in his 40s. He's like, my level of attractiveness honestly there's worse things to attach yourself worth to

it'd be weird if a guy was in his 40s is like my singular focus is just to be as hot as i possibly can but i'd respect it isn't that kind of what instagram is about uh for some so anyway uh we've been so anyway uh uh anyway no this anyway, no, it's guys is long. It can be frustrating for my girlfriend. God, this guy's so hot. Let me share an important backstory about my girlfriend. According to her, her friends were always the center of attention while she never received any interest from boys to make matters worse.

If she showed interest in a guy, her friends would soup up and hook up with them. It's toxic. It's messed up. And it's clear that these experiences have left her with a deep rooted trauma. We've been, dude, this might be too much for us. We've been dating. We've been dating for close to three years now. And everywhere we go, people compliment me and express their attraction towards me, even at the gym or while we're shopping. It reached a breaking point at a recent party while numerous women and men approached my girlfriend to tell her how hot they thought I was. A quick example, if you haven't figured it out yet.

Because I thought it was funny and incredibly uncomfortable, one of the dudes just looked at me and said, quote, damn, if I looked like you, I could do a lot of damage. That sounds real. I believe that. That sounds like a quote. I don't know what to say, so I just laughed and agreed. She was furious, frustrated, and upset, but didn't want to discuss it. Date somebody less hot then, girlfriend.

My girlfriend struggles with insecurity and constantly needs reassurance from me. It's tough because I can't fully empathize with her since I receive so much positive reinforcement, while she rarely does. This whole crowd is turned on this guy. I know. It must be different for the person to hear it back other than us just batting it around. Yeah. Where like the real, the audience is like turning.

300 people think you're awesome. Right. All right. So, even though she's in therapy, it hasn't helped. She still has anxiety. This keeps getting worse. Be nice. Be nice.

Oh, they're booing him. So that's all right. Okay. All right. Despite these challenges, I love my girlfriend to death. She's my best friend. However, it's difficult when she doesn't love herself and resents me for something I can't control. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

This is unbelievable. He's the victim here. All right. He's pretty good looking. He's got gray hair. Comparatively. He's got gray hair. Comparatively.

Oh, my God. Oh, man. yeah no i just saw his bike we can't that's too hot well look i mean i don't know what do you want to do i mean it sounds like you need a girlfriend oh no go ahead no you're right you're right i taught i just it took me forever to read that so go ahead no i mean. No, I mean, I've just been married. One more time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Listen, let's be honest. I have a great face, but I am not, it's just a fact, but I'm definitely not the, I'm not, I'm not the hot one in the relationship. My buddies at Frolic give me a poke in the belly and be like, how the fuck did you do that? And like, good for you, you know? But so as a guy on the other side of it, I think it's great.

I think I'm punching up in life and I think that's really good. Thank you. Thank you. So I really don't know what her problem is unless there's like a whole different set of emotions for women in this. And if it's bothering you,

I think you should just leave her. Yeah, is it something you... No? No? yeah is it something you no no what oh I thought you would have something to say I'm done oh okay that's the advice it is weird because

yeah there's never any advice from Kyle it is weird though because it's okay for like a hot girl to date an ugly guy but it's not the other way around so like i i don't know what to tell you like i'm sorry you're so hot he looks like jack timothy chamelay like literally it's tough like i don't know that under 40 minutes for a chalamet uh everybody have that he really does he's got great hair. I don't know. He's a good-looking dude.

He's a good-looking dude. I think one of the pictures of her is pretty bad, and I think the other one... No, but I think the other one isn't as bad. You know about angles. It could have been an angle thing. Right. Bingo.

Bingo. I was waiting. I'm sorry. You're 5'7". Hey, look. We were just way more honest about this shit. I know straight up when I'm talking to somebody and she's like, no way. I want a guy with a full head of hair.

What am I supposed to do? Like, hey, that's actually wrong and you're judging and you're putting me to. No. Like, okay, I get it. If I were you, I would want the same thing. I'm not going to get on your case. So, you know, there's, you don't meet a lot of women that are like, I can't wait to meet a dude who's like 5'7 or shorter. God damn.

But I tell you what, the guys that are, bust their ass. Because their whole life, they're like, motherfucker, 5'11. Yeah. So that, I think, is like, if you were 6'2 emailing us, we already know what's going to happen. You're going to cheat on her. She's going to be miserable. And there's nothing I can say to you. Like it really comes down to the simple, the do you, the best friend stuff. Is it so worth it? Is it so worth it to stay in the relationship and all this stuff? Like her feeling bad about it. She's going to have to get over that at some point. You know, Kyle's the

life of the party. People come up to you. They express their joy when they see you. I hope your wife knows what she signed up for. She just figured it out. Yeah, I just think the 5-7 thing kind of changes stuff, man. I think that's a grown-up way to talk about it. All right, let's change it up where we're not offending anybody. I've hit rock bottom on being a car slob. 5'11", 190, 41? Who has a messy car at 41?

We need to help him now. A couple guys. All right, started playing baseball again in a reasonably competitive wood bat men's league. I guarantee that'll have nothing to do with the email. It was my best sport growing up. I turned down some sick Juco and D2 opportunities, so

it's fun to compete at hardball again. Player comp, Edgar Martinez, pre-DH years, still fielding at the Hawk Corner with a mustache sweeter than the swing. I've tried the much more common slow pitchpitch softball bullshit, but it's a disgrace. It's honestly like bumper bowling or playing rec league hoops

on an eight-foot rim with other grown men. I've never seen a rec league with an eight-foot rim with men. I'm glad to be playing the actual sport again and doing okay. My problem is a simple one. I've recently driven a couple of my buddy's cars either to move them out of the way in a driveway or borrowing a pickup truck to move something we got a paragraph on his baseball career and it had he led with that right that's what that was right he's like i'm gonna put this out there first a lot of guys do it so i can't it's just sort of the way it works um so he's

driving other dudes cars around i've noticed something their cars were not full of dirt and crumbs and garbage and shit like we were when we were 19 years old i'll be honest this caused me to take a hard look in the mirror it was a true come to jesus movement about the fact that i'm a car slob my personal grooming center is fine but when it comes to the interior of the car i drive i realize i never really grew up and started taking minimal amount of pride uh it's not like there's rotting food or anything smelly it's just sort of a messy shithole and and I'm not proud of it. But this is who I am in the area. It's been a blind spot, but now I see it.

So this whole time, until he was in somebody else's clean car, he's like, oh, wait. This is how the other half lives. People don't do this. Have you noticed this phenomenon with your friends group look if it's somebody with young kids it's all on the table yeah right like your car's done yeah backseat especially right i mean yeah just skittles mashed there's juice boxes yeah right it's a mess but the thing that i've never understand about a messy car is it's like it's one thing when you're house you're like i don't want to fold all this shit i don't want to put things away i don't want to vacuum and i don't want to wipe off

the the wood trim like i don't want to deal with this i've never felt closer to you right now a car takes literally no time unless you've been living in it yeah right it doesn't sound like it's like a run-of-the-mill just like take a vacuum and maybe like some kleenex or some windex it sounds like is he like a hoarder maybe like this sounds like a a worse situation just an easy cleanup no he look he said rock bottom he goes i've been embarrassing myself i'm pretty sure there's some service or severe unspoken judgment involved when the roles are reversed yeah your buddies are like, you're 41 and it's not a kid-related thing. Figure it out. Yeah.

Like, how many fish fillet boxes can an adult have? I don't think there's a ton of advice other than at least this challenge isn't that hard. Like, empty the garbage out, vacuum it out, and if you need to shampoo it, get a detailer. I say get a detailer and say get a detail and just start fresh and try now it's like it's we've been watching uh hoarders with my mom uh she she doesn't like scripted shows but she really she really likes when people are just going through it um so we were me me and my wife were just sitting there watching it and it's just like they don't actually do much they just bring in a bunch of people and they like, it's done for them.

And then they come back five years later and they've pretty much are 75% as bad. Yeah. That's the problem with that show. But if you like, it's like bar rescue. When you come back to like, actually it closed. Actually they closed. Yeah. But I think that's a great, this is going to be the number one poppers place in Eastern

Nevada. I think it's easier to start fresh when you didn't have to do it i think it's just easier to just come back you pay the money and you're like all right i'm now i'm gonna no way i disagree wait no because if you have somebody else clean your car out you're not learning the lesson that you fucked up and made your car dirty so if you're cleaning it thank you if you're guys a lot of lesson guys my guy if you If you clean the car, guess what? You're not going to want to make it dirty again. This is a children's book?

No. Just get it done. Listen. And then start. As a father. Yes, I know it. No. I mean, you're not learning anything if you just pay somebody to clean it.

Joe Ceruti, my dad, this is what he would do. Shout out to Joe. Shout out to Joe Ceruti. Yeah, shout out to Joe Ceruti. The HVAC king. You can't just have somebody else do that for you. You've your own lesson so clean your own car you know you have a problem fix it yourself such a dad oh well i look i think either one of those work i honestly think the lesson non-lesson path both can work because if you can start from like a point of like going okay

we've hit the reset the car is clean now it's on me you feel like you've learned a lesson maybe that i mean whenever i had my house professionally cleaned, I was like, okay, this is how we're doing it from now on. We're scrubbing the stove top, and then you're like, I'm not doing this. Bumble ethics. This will be for the younger dudes. Not anymore.

Not anymore for these guys. I just love how happy you two are. 27 years old. 6'2", 205. Player comp. Out of shape. Christian Brown. Christian Brown.

So you're an average white dude. Nice. There you go. Yeah, but like, what does does that mean You can't jump Christian Brown's an athlete I was gonna say yeah Back to back champion There you go

Shout out to KU I know One of those Some of the footage Flying around I love the no shirts thing I've been pro no shirts In society for a really long time

But You've been known to pop up In a Zoom call Without a shirt Every once in a while yeah it's a little jarring at first but i know you always think it's a name drop thing but the first time craig kilbourne came over i answered the door with my shirt off and he's like are you are we going to be wearing shirts he's like i don't i may leave and i was like no i can throw one on all right here we go although is it john elliott today they had the big cutouts on the side like whenever i go to john elliott i'm like can i do

a thermal midriff at 47 probably not but they had some kai i don't know my plane can anybody bring me another drink please all right here we go uh Christian Brown. I recently moved. Did I say Brown earlier? I think I still like everybody. No, I heard you. You said Brown. I know, but I mean, I feel like all of us are like still 2% tempted to say Brown. Brown. Excuse me.

All right, so move back to the metropolitan area. After three years, one of the top priorities that came to mind after moving back was how am I going to find a girlfriend or have sex? Hey, it's 27, man. 205 slow christian brown still brings it all right so rather than wait to find somebody in an organic situation such as a mutual friend or party my manly urges took me to the dating app bumble usually bumble only allows you about 20 or so right swipes a day is that is that true wait nobody in here yes a couple yeses all right there's like three girlfriends here be honest guys

yeah there's like no girls in here i don't know uh but i noticed an offer for four bucks that gives you unlimited swipes for 24 hours this is is the free trial. Watching everything. So even as a pretty average looking dude, I got a plethora of matches. This past week, I've been on my phone constantly talking about 12 women or so. It's been exhausting. I took one

out last night and added something to the old resume. Nice girl, but I honestly don't see a future in it. Already? So this begs the question, is it morally wrong to lead a girl on your... All right, let me rephrase that.

Is it morally wrong to lead a girl on like you're super into her just to have sex and give her the hope of a relationship when you know you have zero desire to do that i feel like i'm up front well of course you were gonna say yeah i feel like if i'm up front about that they won't sleep with me it's been a struggle between my my guy's got to figure it out it's been a struggle between my my guy's got to figure it out it's been a struggle between here is the quote horniness and empathy see what's the storybook here what's the storybook moral be a nice person man i don't know i feel like there should be like children's books for 20-somethings. Yeah.

Right? Where it's like a button that's wicked horny and it jumps off a shirt and explores other shirts. Don't take that. But I think anytime I see any of this stuff, and first of all, the reason I kind of like looked at you a little bit there was that I feel like women also do do this to men. Okay. All right. As long as we're on the same playing field here. But men tend to do it way more.

So I would agree with you on that one. The fact that you care at 27, the fact that you're even thinking about this is actually, I think, a win. Seriously. Like, if it's this this easy he paid four extra bucks so you know at 27 i don't know that i was like hey some real feelings could be hurt here i think this guy's and of course he's from the Midwest because he's already thinking about this. He already feels bad and he's 6'2". So

you put that all together guys, I think he's on the right path. Totally agree. This guy doesn't need one hookup. He's paying the extra whatever bucks a month. He said things are going super well for him. Chances are you're going to be alright in the long run. So I say don't break the girl's heart.

Come on. Just end it at him, boy. Get your money's worth. Keep swiping. I mean, I think the only thing is, I think if you're with your friends and you're doing it, they're probably talking about you being a little bit pathetic. If you're like, if you're hanging out and you're just,

if it's just a swipe fest, I'd say find a better time to do it. But yeah, if you want to sleep at night, don't do don't do this well look i just to push back a little i just think that like if you're on the apps and you're going to meet up with somebody and you're going there we go my god sorry about that i just think if you're on the apps you're gonna do this stuff like to sit down and then be be at the other extreme where it's like hey i hope you know before we go in there this is not going anywhere like nobody talks to each other that way so there has to be like some common ground some kind of interest some kind of thing that's like hey it didn't quite work out so i think everybody could give each other a less of a hard time and put

less pressure on each other i mean it sounds like you you're from New England and you're 40 with this approach here. So don't worry about it, man. Relax. Okay. All right. We had a follow-up from the brick guy. He reached out to him. He was really worried about this guy.

He reached out to him like three more times. He updated us and he said the guy never called him back. Never called him back. No, he did get home because he's efficient and to follow up on these calls he's like the bricks are already here i don't we don't need to talk anymore i think he said he even checked police scanners just to be just to be sure uh did we get a heads up on anything yet no we're gonna keep rolling okay all right we'll do one more of these and i guess we'll open it up to the q a because we're good. Keep rolling. Okay. All right, we'll do one more of these, and I guess we'll open it up to the Q&A because we're still waiting on this mystery guest.

I guess James Harden just doesn't want to do it. Who do you think we'd have a better chance of getting on? Russell Wilson, Westbrook, or Harden? Russell Wilson. Would would be the hardest yeah because he would be like it would be like a plug for something wilson russell wilson you think it'd be the hardest to get him on my podcast he'd be the easiest oh sorry yeah that would easily be because he'd come on the plug he'd act like you were best friends and then even if you knew you hated him westbrook would be tough although he's petty enough where like i think he'd come on and just be an asshole

on purpose and I'd respect that hell out of him for it Harden would probably be the answer then because he wouldn't care and he's

yeah but that's my coach that's right that's your guy that's my coach that's why it's always so hard for me to be critical because he was my guy

I just subbed myself right in and he wasn't paying attention yeah he was real locked in that day I was like hey I need to go back in and get a couple buckets of the second half where I literally cannot go back on right in and he wasn't paying attention. Yeah, he was real locked in that day. I was like, hey, I need to go back in and get a couple of buckets

of the second half where I literally cannot go back on the air. And he was like, he just looked at me and I was like, alright, one, two, three, win. I just went up to the scorer's table. I was like, he doesn't give a shit. And then it sucked because I think the Hunger Games guy was like, yeah.

No, he was on the other team. I forget who I went up to. I was like was like, you're out. No, he was on the other team. I forget who I went up to. I was like, hey, you're out. Didn't matter. They were like, what? I didn't play that well. All right. Let's go.

We got one more here. Okay. This is, no, let's not do that one. It was all downhill after that. am i too hot for my girlfriend i wonder honestly the only person that's ever followed up on a life advice email that got super mad was the guy that was at the equinox that acted like a psychopath he was 100 wrong right right and then he was like thank you for. Like, I can't believe you did that. And you're like, you gave us seven reasons of why you screwed up. Like, what did you expect to happen?

Okay. All right. Here we go. A little band, a little injury. So here we go. Happy Father's Day, Cerruti. Stats, 31, 510. In shoes.

Player comp. Poor man's Ed Koda. Ed Koda was a baller in college. Somebody love that right there. Okay, I play in a casual pickup hoops room every Saturday morning, and unfortunately yesterday morning I suffered a torn Achilles injury. That's a tough one. Thank you.

Thank you. I just hate the sentence. What makes matters worse is that our team was coming down the court in transition with an opportunity to seal game point this makes me think this guy's going to recover faster than other people three on two fast break i was on the right wing and boom i heard the pop initially it felt like someone had slammed a hammer on my heel when i immediately went down. I knew what had transpired in a matter of milliseconds. I'm a pretty active individual.

Played soccer in college. Work out five or six days a week. Activity has always been a godsend for my mental health. Luckily, I was with my buddy who took me straight to the ER. The verdict is that, in fact, I did tear my Achilles. Up until this point, my only reference for this injury was via Kobe, Clay, and KD. That's pretty amazing. He was friends with all three of those guys given his comp too you had a modest comp but then his references were um thus i knew it'd be a long road to recovery i spent the rest of the afternoon feeling sorry

for myself googling recovery timelines and exercises that i can do while sidelined long story short the timeline and road ahead is bleak. Fortunately, I was able to secure a knee scooter, so I'm not having to rely on crutches for the next four to six months. Wait, is that better? It looks fun. It looks fun. It looks like those guys are having a great time. All right.

Just rolling around. It has to be better. I think the only good thing about crutches, like dips, your dip numbers go through the roof. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's fair. A lot of dip numbers go through the roof. Yeah. That's fair. A lot of guys,

my guy would know. Yeah. A couple of guys like I'd, I've never doing dips again. And when you're up here, you're kind of like, it kind of sucks for comedians to be like, Oh, you're going to get a drink.

Like fucking relax. They paid. Sit down. Right. Oh, now's a good time to go to the bathroom yeah been here two hours buddy no just seeing it from the side like after going to comedy so and seeing comics get mad when somebody moves around be tougher

i may start getting i may go tonight just start getting, I may go tonight. Just start getting up. All right. So here we go. He's got the scooter. I was also laid off earlier this month. My tech employer let go about 30% of our company. Glass half full. Received a severance package that provided health care and a stipend for the next two months.

Prior to the injury, I was stoked to be able to enjoy the SoCal summertime, do some traveling, continue my hinge hot streak. Humble brag. Another guy on fire lately. Congrats. Without having to dip into my piggy bank thanks to the stipend after i was laid off i spontaneously bought tickets to king gizzard in the lizard wizard show at the hollywood bowl this wednesday um he says this wednesday 7 21 i wonder if he means actually tomorrow uh i don't know you guys would know check the set list go to fishnet uh he booked a bus trip up from san diego for a quick solo mission if you're not familiar king gizzard is a heavy rock psychedelic band so i'd compare the vibes to a tool concert i would not because i know who they are and i've been to tool shows and i don't, I don't, uh, the one I went to in Chicago, I was like,

dude, can we go back inside? Sorry. So, uh, anyway, the, the, the, it's going to be rambunctious. The show's the last leg of their tour. They're playing a three hour set. I was all caps amped for the show. I guess my question is, what do I do? Do I go to the show and pull up with my knee scooter? Do I contact Hollywood Bowl and see if they can upgrade me? I actually don't think that's a terrible idea. Tell them it was a three on two to seal the game. Or do I just throw in the towel? My hotel bus trip and ticket have already been paid for,

so I feel as if waving the white flag on this trip would only bring my spirits down. Dude, you can go. It's not an amputation. I've seen people blow out their Achilles and they walk around in that boot for a couple weeks. They do everything. They go out. No, I'm hand signaling down there.

Are we good? We are good. Okay. Oh, you mean keep going. Stall. Stall. Any thoughts? Have you ever gone to a concert hurt?

I'm going to tell you all how I got fat. Are you ready? I got weak ankles, mother's and father's side, okay? Popping my ankles left and right. It's PTSD. somebody tells me they popped their ankle i hear it it makes me sick to my stomach i did it in college couldn't stop going out i had the boot in the bars i went and i would do it again is what i'm saying is it just never healed stop playing basketball stop running around uh for a little while there. Working it off. My wife understands.

But what I would say is I couldn't live with the fact of not going. So I think you should go. That was the right advice and the least surprising. Yeah. Why would you not? I don't get it. What's the point? Why would you not go? I think it's because he's going by himself, which again, I'd be like, you're the guy for that.

I've never gone with a blown Achilles. I'll admit, by yourself, because I've even had, I mean, it sucks to say, but I think everybody would admit it. Every now and then, if you have the buddy that blew out a leg and it's a hassle to get him into the Uber with everybody else, then then you're like oh like are we going out with him again tomorrow like you know i think somebody came to stay with me once and she was like yeah i

blew out my knee and it was like this whole and i was like wait what like we're not not even that serious like you came to stay with me? I was like, I don't really know. I was like, okay. So, yeah, I think if you're a solo guy, but if it's that kind of crowd, like, I think there actually are some shows that you would go to actually way better than a tool show because I don't know that they'd be that helpful. But, yeah, I think there's a good chance if you just show up by yourself

with this little trolley, you know, it's a psychedelic thing. Make some friends. Who are the porn crumb guys? Because they ended up on like a playlist. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? This guy likes him. I'm not making that up. I was like, what's the name again?

So it was on some like thing I got kind of stuck in a wormhole of. So look, go. You paid for it. i'm filling this filling uh i don't think any of us are going to say not to go although it might suck it might suck to be by yourself hollywood bowl sick i don't think it's like super easy to get around in a little leg scooter if you're in gen pop can you just add somebody else like can you just buy one more or is it sold out if it's not sold out just be or is it sold out? If it's not sold out, just be like, hey, I'm going to need you. It's probably sold out.

It's probably sold out. They're pretty popular. Okay. I mean, if I broke my leg, would I have not gone to the Taylor Swift concert? We are in the nosebleeds, man. Like, that actually would have been pretty tough. So if I didn't get preferential seating, I probably wouldn't have gone. So maybe I'm coming around on this one.

That's my sister. Yeah, it's all right. It's all good. Did he sing a lot? I love it. I think he said the opposite to us. I did downplay how excited I was about the show. That's my bad.

All right. Let's do a little live stuff. We'll do some Q&As with everybody up here. I'm just going to check. Five, seven guys first. Here we go. Right. Yes. I really had going to check. Five-seven guys first. Here we go. Right. Yes.

I really had to pee. Whoa. I'm five-seven. What should I do? I'm just kidding. I got to pee. Oh, he's got to pee. Everybody, clear a path.

He's got to pee. This can't be the worst crowd ever. Nobody? Yeah, don't be shy. Don't be the worst crowd ever. Yeah, don't be shy. We'll ride this out. Just get in line, single file. Oh, he's got his notes app out.

Uh-oh. I've got the script. All right. Why did you guys close Schenectady? What? All right, so my name is Spencer. Hey, man. What's up?

Hello. Yo, what's up? Nothing. Hey, man. What's up? Hello. Yo. What's up? Nothing? Hey, dude. All right. 27, 5'8", 5'9". You don't have to do it. Don't worry.

Way too tall for that microphone. Way too tall for the microphone. You'll always have that. All right. You know, basically, yeah. Nothing to do with the whole intro stats bullshit. But so I have my girlfriend here who I met in New York. I'm from Washington State, personally.

Nice. A couple of East Coast and people going to the West Coast. You guys. We're pretty serious. Just discussing. He brought her here. Just sound a little more serious. She's like, wait, what?

You stopped yourself from doing the hand movement. Okay. All right. And we're pretty serious. Just want to hear your thoughts on how to sell someone that's East Coast based that probably wouldn't want to move to the West at one point, when I definitely would want to. Save the relationship, guys.

Well, Kyle is actively trying to get back to the East Coast. So hard. Probably not the person to ask. No one's ever missed Poughkeepsie more. Last night at dinner, we were like, no, I just think it's great. Like, you love being home. You love being near family. And, like, last night we were at dinner.

I did go. And I didn't go out after, though. And getting there. I don't want out after, though. And... Getting there. I don't want to rush into anything. I don't want to lead him on. He said no when I asked him to take a picture. The West Coast, have you been? Where do you like?

Where don't you like? What's the hesitation? What's the hesitation? She likes the subway. And you're from the city city? Like you're from the city? Yeah, so that's a tough sell. Look, I love the West Coast.

It's one of my best decisions I've ever made. There it is. He also lives in Manhattan beach. Like, you know, like it's. Yeah. But look, I'm not alone.

I'm not alone on this. There's a lot of people that are like hardcore East coast people. Like there's even a pocket of Massachusetts guys that shockingly went to orange County and we're like, we're never going back. So, but it depends. Like some people are like,

I absolutely love my family. I could never do that to him. And I'm like, Oh, okay. That's like Kyle over here. Got to get back. Don't leave.

Never leave. Glad we could help. Thanks man. Sorry. Hey guys So recently I was on a road trip With the girl I'm dating And like many of the guys here I tried to get the girl onto the pod

Through life advice However it happened to be the episode Where you guys discussed time zones For like 10 to 15 minutes And while I loved it She was out discuss time zones for like 10 to 15 minutes. And while I loved it, she was out. It wasn't endearing.

It was not endearing. And I'm wondering if you guys have any ideas of which episodes I should show her to get her in. It's the wine. It's the wine spill. It's the wine spill. I don't know which it was. It was very early.

It's the wine spill mystery. The wine spill is the right answer yeah I think that's when we found out what life advice was because it went on I mean normally we don't do the follow ups but it just kept going we had I would say hundreds and hundreds of emails of everyone with different theories about how

it all went down so it was like almost like a it was almost like a live like a true crime pod it a true crime podcast. It was true crime. We'd get little pieces of evidence. You'd be like, all right, we have to take this into consideration. All right, yeah.

People were like, did you listen to Serial? I'd be like, did you listen to the Weinstein one? So I would offer that one up. I mean, look, if she's going to be that tough, is she that tough? Like she was that bummed out about a time zone debate? Yeah, she described it as the stupidest thing she'd ever heard in her life. Has she listened to an HOA discussion? That's a direct quote.

This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Yeah, she might not be wrong, but. You know what you should do is. Were we idiots on that one? No, get her 20 minutes on HOA discussions. That's the best. There you go. Yeah, because the HOA discussions. That's the best one. There you go. Yeah. There you go.

Yeah, because the HOA one is popular. That was like, I forget, not to get political. I forget. Turn the TikTok camera on. Yeah. Not now. Got any thoughts on Prince Harry? No, I know.

I saw a headline the other day that was like, Rosillo slams co-worker Joe Rogan. And I'm like, yeah, that's definitely not what I did. But no, I think there was a president. I think it was Obama that was like, hey, time we get these guys playing football again. I'm like, dude, who is going to be like, actually, although there was a couple year window where it looked like football was in some trouble, the point is that anyone who listens to the HOA thing, no one listens to that and roots for the HOA.

So there you go. True. Thank you guys very much. Love the show. Thanks, bud. What's up, guys? Big fan. So not really a life advice thing,

but Ryan, we know you hate Julius Randle. My question is, it's got to make sense based on contracts. Build your perfect starting five around Jalen Brunson. Our guy, Jalen Brunson. He's won the crowd. He's won the crowd.

He's won the crowd. Be careful. Bing bong. I love those fucking videos. I could watch that guy say Joe Byron all day. What would you say to Joe Byron? Again, back to politics. Sorry.

Perfect around Brunson? Ooh. All right. So that means you need a rim-running big who is like, who's the best that doesn't post how pissed off he is about his situation weekly on Instagram. Brooke Lopez? Maybe. Yeah, you know what?

I got to tell you, as a voter, when I went back and started watching some of the stuff, Lopez benefits in that system. He's really good. But some of the stuff that's absurd on the contest numbers, it's because he never has to really do much. And then he also has yannis who i think is like imagine having the ball and seeing that going like i want to do this probably not uh and then drew holiday switching on you there so like look i'm not and i'm not knocking him but there

is i think the numbers like really overvalued him all right look steph because steph can play with everybody okay what do you mean what What's this? What's this? Contracts. Oh, with contracts? That's what makes sense. You know what? If we're going to do real salary cap stuff off the fly... I say no. Pass.

Pass. No. Chris Paul. I'm just kidding. You know what? I promise we'll do it as like a five-minute aside in a future pod. Maybe. Congrats, Kyle. All right.

It's good energy, though. Very good energy. What's up, guys? What's up, man? So I brought this up to Cerruti. My NBA player comp is Summer League Ben Simmons. Wait for it. Not hipster Paul Dano.

I'll take the Paul Dano. Potter Paul Dano? God damn it, that was awesome. Hey. There Will Be Blood. Great film. Best film of the 21st century. It's up there.

It took me a while. Gotta's up there it took me a while gotta tell you it took me a while i love that that cello solo on that big scene it was my most listened to and somebody called me a serial killer so summer league ben simmons goes against the question i just i had to do a pe credit just graduated columbia shout out um. Had to do a PE credit. Took basketball. Maybe cared too much about the games. Speaking my language. The life advice question.

What do you do when you care way too much about the game in a pickup game? What's the best way to balance caring too much? Are you good? Are you good yes this guy's

are you friends oh you're just dismissing his game whoa whoa whoa are you good at pickup basketball yes I'm tall that does enough dude I'm tall whoa whoa whoa hold on you actually sold me you sold me on the ben

simmons comp because at first i was like dude that's terrible everyone's gonna instantly hate you but you're like no i make the right pass team player good defender don't love don't love to shoot because i want to get other guys involved because it's more fun yeah but who plays pickup or like i'm awesome but i'm a role guy. Ben Simmons, All-NBA, All-Star. Suri, back me up. No, I get the comp. I don't hate it. You know why?

Can you not shoot, or do you just not want to? Are you such a good guy? Are you afraid to? That's why I look up Summer League Ben Simmons highlights. He would shoot. I just like to get other guys involved. Don't boo me.

Stop it. You're a mix hat. But back to the question. You're losing him. You know, I'll be honest with you. You've convinced me for a different reason. Because after listening to Ben Simmons on the JJ Redick podcast. Summer League Ben Simmons.

Talk about how good he is. Without the baggage. Right. But all he did was talk about how sick he was and then didn't play again. And those shoulders. The confidence comp, I like a lot. I think it works. I think it works.

And keep rolling with it. Was there a question in there? Oh, about Alma. Hey, never apologize for loving it. Okay. When somebody gets mad at you, you'll be like, at least I care. And it's like, hey, put this here.

Yeah, go ahead. Go, Nick. Hello, gentlemen. What's up? So, real quick. I think I speak for 300 people here when I say this is amazing. Right? It's surreal. I feel like I'm talking to guys I speak for 300 people here when I say this is amazing. Right?

It's surreal. I feel like I'm talking to guys I speak to three times a week, two times a week right now, but sort of with Bill, right? We'll be very locked in. My face hurts from smiling. That's just something. Thank you. Thanks, man. That was very cool. 6-1.

Just so you could fade up the Elliott Smith. 6-1". Just so you could fade up the Elliot Smith. 6'1", 40, really messy car. St. John's alum. All right. Patino, baby, we're back! Shout out, Staten Island. The Rick Tater.

Yes. Not a life advice, but I was wondering... That was my wife. Did you pick this venue because there is an Equinox about 240 yards from here? And you were definitely there getting those pythons swole. Did you show up on the Instagram live? No, because John, the trainer from the Prince Street Equinox, did he make it in? That's a good one.

Been a member since 2012. A lot of models down there. No, no, no. It's right next to the John Elliott. It's right there on Prince Street. He threw a John Elliott in there, too. I next to the John Elliott. It's right there on Prince Street. He threw a John Elliott in there too. It's Equinox Soho. That's what it's called. What? The Prince Street

one's Equinox Soho. Is it not on the app? Is it? I don't know. That's the one I go to. That's the one I was at this morning. So it sounds like the answer is yes. Yeah, yeah. Look, they said, where do you want to do it? And they were like, do you want to do it in Brooklyn? And I was like, where do you want to do it? And they were like, do you want to do it in Brooklyn? And I was like, no.

I want to do it. Because when I used to hang out here, it was when Manhattan was still cool. So I'm trying to bring that back. Manhattan is cool. And go Knicks. We agree. Love you guys. Love you guys.

Happy Father's Day. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, I left two tickets to the trainer that came up to me today. And since I haven't heard anyone say anything, he maybe didn't like the show or didn't make it. Alright, 31 years old, 5'10", 165.

My NBA comparison, probably a late stage Terrell Brandon, I would say the least. It's very specific, but he was really, really good at his peak. So I like what you did there. Yeah. He had a little window there early 2000s when he was part of that three-guy trade.

I was like, dude, is he the best player? He wasn't. Yeah, I think he averaged double-digit points. All right, my question is a basketball question. I know in another life you would probably be a very successful NBA executive. I think we all know that. I agree with that. I agree with that. executive. I think we all know that.

I agree with that. Let's say you run into the Charlotte Hornets executive team on the elevator somewhere in a hotel nearby. You have an elevator pitch for Scoot or Brandon Miller. Which one do you pick? And what do you say to really convince them to maybe put you on?

Yeah, I mean, the Scoot stuff is really tough. I mean, if you're making me answer it word for word, the elevator pitch, I would say, hey, every time I watch Brandon Miller, I can't believe I would want to take anyone over him until I watch Scoot. I think that's good. Because Brandon Miller really, you know, and it's funny because I was talking about it some of the other day, too.

It's like, you know, we spend so much time on this, we're so certain. And we're like, it's the same thing with the first round quarterbacks. Like we talk about, we're like, Hey, five guys went in the first round of quarterback, like three are going to suck. And it seems impossible. And then it happens like every single time. So there'll be somebody who goes six or eight or 11. That's probably going to be better than the guys that go two or three. Cause I still would be shocked if like the eighth pick was better than women Yama, but there's just something to scoot where where he's such a badass at times. There's some shooting numbers if you go into that you don't always love,

and Miller feels like he can make every single shot. But I went back and forth, I went back and forth, and I've been a Scoot guy now for months. And that's what I would say. I also would say, why is Michael Jordan doing the draft again? Yeah, does the whole Brandon Miller, Scoot, tryout thing kind of give you some Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler vibes? Because that's what it gives me when I heard that he's going to be there.

Yeah, I don't know. If it's a workout thing, Scoot's probably more wired to win the workout. But they don't base it all on workouts, although you're right. I mean, back to the Kwame thing. But what I always look for with the workout. But, you know, they don't base it all on workouts, although you're right. I mean, you know, back to the Kwame thing. But what I always look for with the workouts is, like, if you're really into the drafts, however many of you in the audience still really care about this stuff, look at who has the last visit today. Like, look who's brought in.

Sometimes it's a smokescreen, but a lot of times, at least for me, I can go back and be like, oh, like, that was a tell. You know, if you're bringing a guy back in, like oh like they were that was a tell you know if you if you're bringing a guy back in like rondo came back to boston i think like a third time and it was right before and i saw him hitting hook shots over secretary simmons because ange used to really like me and he let me watch the workouts that weren't open and rondo was hitting hook shots on a six nine power forward and it was like the third time he came in and i was like jeez they almost took him with the pick that was Brandon Roy.

All right. That was a little history lesson. Let's go to the next one. All right. Tate says scoot, so I say scoot. All right. I'm a poor man's Delvadova, rich man's Celtics Kyrie. So, yeah.

Celtics Kyrie? I'm a Celtics fan if you can't tell. First thing is that guy with the King Gizzard question should absolutely go. So I just want to give him that advice. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. Great concert. So my thing is, this is a New York one for everyone.

So I play hockey at Chelsea Piers. And the locker room's there. You don't stay with your team. You stay in where your locker is, where you store your gear. And so in my locker room is disgraced politician Anthony Wiener. And so, yeah. S to God, swear to God. I was going to email this in,

but I thought you wouldn't believe it. So I'm basically in this locker room with this guy once or twice a month for 40 minutes, 20 minutes before the game, 20 minutes after the game. There's a lot of jokes where you guys probably want to go, but my question to you is, there's a lot of jokes where you guys probably want to go but my question to you is there's a lot of opportunities for me to make jokes right different people saying things different people with different things right and so i always want to make that joke but my question is

does the sanctity of the locker room overpower who he is like is that like a dick thing for me to like make a joke i really like how you're work working this out like he was a public figure to a certain degree where no matter like there's some part of you that's hesitant to give him shit about this but at the same time because of everything that happened you're like i absolutely need do this. And it would get so many laughs is the thing. Would he laugh? Because you know he's heard it all, right? You understand that he has heard this, some version of it

almost every day since it's happened for however many years. It would not be original to him. So there's nothing you're going to say that he hasn't heard before. Is it worth it to him to be like, and maybe you don't even like him you know whatever i don't care i don't think many people do right yeah i mean for that to go that south and then it also go like a new level of south for him was like pretty pretty rare because usually people just sort of get over it with him it just kind of

kept going i don't know i mean it really depends on you like are you okay i mean look i've seen sitcoms where it'd be like that wasn't super original if people were laughing so maybe uh maybe that's what you go with i'll go the friends are out we'll do it i imagine you're not afraid of him right i am not yeah he's a pretty pretty frail like 40 year old goalie i think i got it i i just think of it for like i look at it a little bit from his side. Like, oh, cool. Dick joke. You know? Great, man. Cool. I'll try to take Anthony Weider's perspective more often.

Well, thank. Good luck. Let us know how that goes. Hey, guys. Big Ben. 6'2", 180, basketball comp. Good frame though. Matt Harpering without the jump shot.

That's a tough one. You know, he was a pretty gritty player though. Yeah, but the jump shot was important. So I've been a diehard Jets fan my whole life. Never missed it. So never missed a game. I'm talking about seeing every play of Brooks Bollinger, Mark Sanchez, Darnold, the works.

So a lot of darkness. Colin Clemens, a lot of darkness. Struggles to get a first down. All things said, this year, very exciting to actually watch a competent offense, someone who can actually move the ball, score points. I recently got married, and my mother-in-law is turning 60. Shout out, Kyle.

My mother-in-law is turning 60 and taking us, my wife, her husband, and other two kids on a trip to Iceland to celebrate her 60th. Very exciting. Not something the family does often. However, it falls during the Jets-Patriots game in week three. Her actual birthday and our first night there. So my question is, can I go away from the family during the birthday dinner on my own to watch the game?

Yes. I thought you were going to say, should I not go on this trip? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going on the trip. You the game. Yes. I thought you were going to say, should I not go on this trip? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. I'm going on the trip. You can absolutely do that. I looked up the American bars.

I know where it is. Can I bail on the dinner to watch the game? By the way, where is it? Reykjavik? Yeah. Yeah, like that stretch reminds me. Where you want to part. By the way, Reykjavik's way smaller than you think.

I just thought it was going to be like a factory of smoke shows just over and over and over again. And I was like, all right, this place is busy and whatever. But there's a whole stretch. It's like pizza, American burger happy. And you're like, oh, all right. So there's a million places you'll be able to watch your game. But the thing is, it's all super convenient.

It couldn't be easier to get around. I you were talking about like not going to iceland no no to go to a game i'm not looking to get divorced now yeah i don't i mean look how long is the trip how many which day will that we're arriving on sunday five hour time difference we're getting in around 1 p.m reichovic time so game will be 6 p.m. that night. Oh, so the first thing you're doing is leaving to watch the game? We're landing, going to the hotel, getting ready for dinner. Just prep them. Soft prep, medium prep, hard prep them.

You got up in front of 300 people and asked. I think this looks... The Elves, I'm in. Volcano, in. Glacier, in. Black Sea, in. That's not how you say it. In, in, in, Glacier in, Black Sea in, a few Jords. That's not how you say it. Nice.

But birthday dinner out. In, in, in, in. But Aaron Rodgers, Pats, payback after you should have won last year. That defense was sick. 3-0 for the whole freaking game. I mean, it might be payback time for that team against New England. Hold on, though. Real quick.

It's easy for three guys to be like, yeah, fuck it. Storybook Steve. Who cares about your 60th birthday party? Have you asked your wife about this at all? Yeah. Where is she at on the situation? I mean, she knows who I am, but she's also. That's a good precursor.

But I mean, she said, you know, if you want to make your own bed, then go for it. She's not really going to bat for me here. That seems like a tough answer. It seems like a me problem. Okay. All right. Well, thank you guys. Okay.

Gotcha. Uh, six, three, two, 10. I would say my player comp is hit DeJuan Blair. Um, my, my question for you, Ryan is what are your player comps for yourself? So Rudy and Kyle? Well, I've never played basketball with either of them, which I know is shocking to everybody. Even better. I always have a decent answer for this.

I go Lou Williams. Small guard. If I'm your number one, you're probably not winning a lot of games, but I can help you out, especially in short spurts. So Lou Williams. Thank you. Who's really bad at layups? Antoine Walker.

Great. You take threes? I'll take them. If you tell me to shoot, I'll shoot it. But sometimes if you're the other team, I'll forget, and I'll shoot it anyways. Trying to think. Keyon Clark, maybe for me.

Great. I'll put that one in my pocket. People are like, what? How are you guys? My name is Jack. Huge fan. It's not necessarily a life advice question, but I'm hoping you can help settle a debate or at least maybe give some insight for a debate that I have with my friends all the time.

And you can help settle a debate or at least maybe give some insight for a debate that I have with my friends all the time. So the question is, if you're a fan of a sports franchise, of a sports team, specifically maybe one that is not very relevant for a long time, and they win a championship, they have a ton of great success, well, you were there to suffer through the dark ages of that franchise. Example being, huge Nuggets fan, congrats to my team for winning a championship. I've suffered through what I felt like were some pretty dark years and now I'm taking credit in addition to the team for the championship win and I'm wondering if you think that's appropriate to do do you think fans deserve credit for their team success in part for keeping them relevant when they weren't relevant. It's my argument.

Wow. Very hard turn. That was impressive, dude. I don't know how you did that. That was impressive. Let me just ask you, what do you think would have happened this year if you stopped rooting for them two years ago?

I think maybe they wouldn't have the type of viewership. I'd maybe got eyes in front of the TV screens for them. Like a tenth less. Hey, relax. Listen, I think you're allowed to be obnoxious. This is actually getting really hard. You know, I think there's almost like no correlation. All right.

A great one to end on. Sorry to bug you out. I'm sorry. We are ready to go. All right. Where'd you get the Just Dudes shirt? Just Dudes shirt. Thank you, guys.

Where'd you get it? All right. We're ready to go here. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Saruti. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Saruti. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you