The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Most Disappointing NBA Story Lines, Timberwolves Guard Mike Conley, and Sara Walsh With an Aaron Rodgers Update

Episode Date: March 21, 2023

Ryen opens with his most disappointing NBA story lines of the season, including Zion, the Pelicans, and more. Plus, he weighs in on Mario Chalmers saying that no one was scared of LeBron like they were with Jordan (0:31). Next, he chats with Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley about reuniting with Rudy Gobert in Minnesota, playing with Anthony Edwards, and his pick for the MVP (22:41). Then, NFL Network reporter Sara Walsh stops by to talk about an Aaron Rodgers update, why she likes Baker Mayfield in Tampa, and some story time from being friends with Ryen (46:48). Finally, they close it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:12:42). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Mike Conley and Sara Walsh Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's podcast run through potential disappointing storylines i think the pelicans have to be number one in this new phenomenon of more content from the nba mike conley timberwolves in minnesota trying to make the playoff run what does he think of another new team? What happened in Utah? Sarah Walsh on Aaron Rodgers Week on Good Morning Football and Life Advice. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats.

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But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Every now and then when I try to figure out like what I want to do to start the podcast, I'll be like, oh wait, that thing that Bill and I were supposed to do, we didn't do it. And so he and I were actually going to have a disappointing storyline draft on Sunday, but we ended up doing the numbers thing so much that I felt like, oh, there was all this stuff that I had done. So maybe I'm giving you some leftovers, but I actually don't think I am. And then there's also this other phenomenon that's going on with dudes talking, especially in the NBA circles, which we should all want to have happen.

But it also means like once we hear something, we go, where did that guy say? And Mario Chalmers, I mean, Gilbert Arenas has been starring in this movie for like multiple weeks. I'd be like, Gilbert Arenas is number one at the fucking, what the hell did he say, box office for the 17th straight week. We have to have Gilbert back on, by the way, too. I think that relationship is good. So I'd like to ask him potentially a few follow-ups. But before we get into what's happening on different NBA podcasts, I would like to touch on this concept because we didn't play it out. And I'm not going to do this now necessarily, although I may finish with a ranking. If you were to draft the

disappointing stories in the NBA so far this season, who would go where? I mean, how many could you go? I don't want to make it so negative that it's like, all right, pick number 27 is, right? Because that's not true. Because there's a lot of great stories. The East is awesome.

Philly figuring things out. Them losing Chicago last night almost felt like it was due. Double overtime. They lose and beat a foul trouble. So that's not that big of a deal. We've talked about the depth. We've talked about the scoring stuff. But if you just go by kind of team

and maybe even player, but it feels a little bit more team related, what would be the number one pick for the most disappointing storyline? This feels a bit like when you played fantasy basketball with Shaq in his prime. If you did do that,

that it was like, oh, you get the number one pick. This isn't even going to be fair because then you get this dude that could see some absurd numbers again wasn't super locked into fantasy but i just remember that being a thing i don't think there's any other pick besides the new orleans pelicans and it's not just this season it's not them collapsing it's not just the zion thing but it's also the zion thing in the future this is kind of everything and this is a

pelicans team that i've said numerous times this season as the Clippers were, you know, sometimes it's just a recency bias of like, hey, they added John Wall. Like that was the most recent thing. So now that's the deepest roster. And the John Wall thing did not work out. the most, you know, most talent on the roster, one through nine, one through 10, whatever you want to say. And I felt like it was definitely the Pelicans. And even without Zion, this talented roster that I believe is still in place in New Orleans, because it is, they're a mess. So if you look at where they're at now, they're a 12 seed today. So this team might not even make the playoffs. So, so much for my most talented roster thing. I'm willing to accept criticism for that is what I'm telling you. They were 23 and 12.

Zion goes out two games later in that game against Philadelphia where he pulls up with the hamstring. We had heard Zion would be reevaluated in a couple weeks. That was a couple weeks ago. So the most recent thing was hope that he would be back for the playoffs. So since that 23-12 start, they've gone 11-25. They're 26th in offense. They're 17th in defense. They are better than only three teams since January 2nd as far as total wins.

More wins than only Houston, San Antonio, and Detroit. Probably figure out what those three squads are doing. Brandon Ingram's been back for two months now. Murphy's had a really good month. So there's enough talent, I would have thought, to not be this bad. You're not going to be the same without Zion but 11 and 25 potentially out of the playoffs it's really frustrating for what I think is the front office and coaching staff that looked like this team had turned the corner figured it

out had a bunch of options had vets now younger lottery picks for later they still have the picks coming in from previous trades like there was a lot to feel really good about with this Pelicans team. And it's not disappointment that they're not going to be a top four seed or contend or come out of the West, which were all some of these weird possibilities we were thinking about much like we were thinking about with Sacramento now. And when we talked about Sacramento for 20 minutes on one of the Sunday pods to open it up,

we could have just simplified the whole thing by saying, and they've actually just been way healthier than everyone else, which feels like it diminishes them. But if you're healthy and ready to go, as opposed to all these teams that have all these question marks, that's not your fault if you're the Kings. But for the Pelicans, I don't think there's any other pick because even without Zion, they shouldn't be this bad.

They shouldn't only have more wins since he's gone out again than Houston, San Antonio, and Detroit. So if there were a number one pick for disappointing storylines, I don't know what else you would pick. Other potential picks on the board? I don't know if it's a Minnesota thing. By the way, I just want to jump back to the Zion thing. Depending on how the Zion story

goes for this year, now you're faced with some real hard questions about the future of Zion with this basketball team. I know we did it this year. There's a passed off season when we had Dave Griffin on, we talked about the contract. He basically told us on the podcast, we will do the deal, but we need protections. That's exactly what he had in Zion, got his money, but there was some protection if he wasn't going to play. But this is an ongoing thing where you have to kind of ask yourself this question. And granted, most teams will never trade the guy like this because they figure even if we traded him what we'd really get back we get enough that's even close to what is a

version of him when he's healthy but if it doesn't work out that he's healthy again and i know i kind of jump back to the first pick but that's why it's the first pick it's it's years out planning of what you're hoping to be as a franchise because this dude who hasn't even really had to learn how to play basketball yet is still this dominant when he's playing all right so back to Minnesota being on the board here if you didn't remember last year Minnesota actually finished 46 and 36 they went to six games in the 2-7 matchup against Memphis it was kind of a fun series right now they're sitting at 36 and 37 yes they, they've had some injuries. Edwards and potentially Carl Anthony Towns coming back Wednesday against Atlanta. Towns has been out

since November 28th. But it really speaks to the Gobert trade. And some of this may feel a little unfair for Gobert because he's not the one who traded him for himself. And he's had a really nice march. But if you look at all the numbers across the board, and this is the other part about Gobert, not only what you gave up for him, but that he was aging, he was showing some kind of decline, and the declines continued. The rebounding rate is way down. The blocks are the lowest since his rookie year. There's some metrics across the board that just tell you

that he's not exactly the same kind of guy. Some metrics would be unfair to judge him on because Utah was just a much better basketball team despite not having playoff success. That Utah team put together a few seasons in a row there where they were one of the best teams in the league at least in the regular season but the problem for this is is that you're not any better and you're projected to be worse than you were last season now you can blame it all on the town's injury him not being there them trying to figure out the D'Angelo Russell thing and bringing in a version of Conley. That's, you know, let's

face it, you know, an older version of Conley. But then you watch Walker Kessler play and you go, wait, did we just trade a younger version of the dude that we just traded for that would not have cost all these other things? So not to keep going on and on and on about the Timberwolves trade there, but a lot of this is TBD on a lot of the potential picks here for disappointing storylines, but Minnesota and what's happened with Gobert there and seeing what Kessler looks like

and that he's a big that closes basketball games. Like, wait a minute, that's still happening. That would certainly be in consideration for a pick, but not ahead of New Orleans. The LA teams are still kind of dot, dot, dot on this one. The Clippers had lost five straight at the end of February, March. They've won five to six.

They're at the five seed position. I swear to God, every time I think the Clippers will be lower in the standings, and I'm like, nope, they're not again. When they're losing, it feels like everybody else is losing. We know that everything's super congested in the West anyway. So despite the frustrations of who's there and who's not, it's been pretty good now for a while.

It doesn't necessarily translate to wins, but they've been really good with Kawhi. Have you realized these numbers since the All-Star break? He's 36-3. He's 56 from the floor, 52% from three, I think on seven attempts per game. He's making all of his free throws again. So he has been on a tear.

I think they know what their closing group is with the shooting that Eric Gordon provides. I know a lot of people are throwing around the Russell Westbrook fourth quarter numbers. You might want to hold off on throwing those around so early. That's just a heads up to you. But it seems like with all the options, which Ty Lue even admitted at times, like he was trying to figure out how to close. Remember that Sacramento ridiculous overtime stretch game there where it was in the 170s.

He had said like, yeah, I even kind of forgot about Terrence Mann at one point. So the Clippers thing, the only reason I would even suggest it is because when you mapped out putting together this roster, you figured, even with injury history here with Kawhi, you figured at the very least, like, we know we'll be in the mix. And it's mid-March, and I still don't know. On the other side, when it's not really across the street

because he's playing the same building with the Lakers, they're the 11th seed today, but they're only half a game behind Utah. The problem is when you watch Utah play, they're coached well. They play really hard. They have a bunch of different options. You have to kind of show up expecting to play against Utah, even if there could be some last-minute jockeying here with 10-plus games to go. Anthony Davis has been great.

The post-All-Star numbers are really good. He's not making threes again this year or this month. He hasn't really made threes in about four years. So right when I said after that Memphis game when he kept falling down all the time and I thought he was going to be done for the year three separate times, I was like, I just can't expect that it's all going to turn around. He's going to be terrific. We knew as soon as you said that that he'd go on a nice run, and he's been on that run. D'Angelo Russell is almost statistically to the 10th, the same exact guide statistically on a lot of the traditional stats that he was in Minnesota. But I think some of the bullshit stuff that drove me crazy with Minnesota, it's always going to be part of his game. I think he's been better. Maybe it's a bit of that new car smell early in the relationship where you're not letting the other person know all your secrets. It could be a bit of that. And he's making the free agency push. LeBron will come back. He is going to come back. So there's still a feeling that they could be really scary.

But it probably has more to do with Anthony Davis being there every night and continuing to play this way before you would start being worried about playing in the first round and it's just weird we're gonna have all these teams closing at the regular season going who are they right now and we just covered three or four golden state i can't tell if we're not as nasty about golden state and i mean it just feels like in general because they won last year right or should we be less nasty what's happening this season like they don't catch enough shit for how bad they are the road thing we keep bringing it up constantly like how are they this bad on the road their defense on the road is 28th they're only better than san antonio and houston and by the way every number that's really bad that's ahead

of a couple teams it's either san an Antonio, Houston, or Detroit that ranks last and all that stuff. Steph's missed 26 games. Wiggins has now missed 36. Who knows if he's even going to play again this season. Dre and Klay Thompson have played a really good chunk of the year, so it's not that. Poole has regressed, and I think all the lottery guys,

whether it's moving on from Wiseman, Kaminga being a different guy every single night, Moody sometimes in the rotation, not being in the rotation, the fact that there's a couple of G leaguers in there that were taking up a good chunk of the minutes with Lamb and even Jerome at times. This is pretty disappointing, but maybe they avoid it because it felt like last year was, I wouldn't say a surprising title run because if they were healthy, you're not going to write Curry off. And then I think that's still lingering with me. It's like, what if everything's kind of good the last week? And then you go in and you're like, wait, we're playing the Warriors in the first round. So they're on the board, but I don't think

they'd be one of the top three picks. All right. A couple more here and then we'll finish up. Memphis, since Steven Adams has gone out, that was January 23rd. It looks like he'll be re-evaluated in less than three, more than two weeks. Their offense, and this is the crazy thing, the defense has been fifth in the NBA since that time. The offense is only 26th, and they're 13-12 over that time. Now, having gone through all the stuff that they've gone through, and the jaw part of it being the latest,

and he's apparently going to be back this Wednesday against Dallas, they're the two seed today. So we know that disappointing seasons are graded more on the playoffs, but the jaw thing's in its own category altogether. Like, what does disappointing mean? Like, hey, what's going on with Russell today? Oh, he's kind of bumped out this jaw stuff, so I'm certainly just i was really getting to him really does he know him no he's never met him you know right so like i'm not disappointed i'm not waking up to go man i hope john figures

it out man uh but he's probably gonna come back and because he's a young dude and there could even be a little element of this being like all right i got fucking weird on the night like i'm fine i've explained it. Maybe people didn't like the explanation, but there's still no one in the league who can stay in front of me. So what's going to change there? I'm still going to get my 30 points and we're going to start winning some games.

And if they get Adams back, they'll be good. Bain's been terrific. And I think the best part offensively for Memphis is the Jaron Jackson thing, where he's taken more shots this month per game, about 15, than he has really throughout his career. He's usually kind of in that 11 of 13 shots per game throughout.

He gets to the free throw line. I know the threes aren't necessarily there, but the scoring is. And look, his threes are fine. It's still a threat, still something that you have to defend. And I thought what he did against Golden State the other night was terrific

because Kaminga was giving him some problems and then he realized, like, why am I even pretending? Like, let me just up fake Kaminga. Kaminga's young him some problems. And then he realized, why am I even pretending? Let me just up fake Kaminga. Kaminga's young. He'll fall for it. And then he kept pressing going. Golden State doesn't really have anything. So I thought that game was actually an indication of Jackson kind of understanding what's happening around him and then attacking that way. So you could sit there and say, hey, Memphis was supposed to be a real contender. Ja was supposed to be an MVP candidate and all these things, first team NBA.

But that all could very well still happen. So they're not ahead of what I think is my final picker, and that's Atlanta. Atlanta's in eighth seed today. They're 35-36. Last year, they finished the season 43-39, but they were at 36-37. They put together a nice stretch and won seven in their last nine. If you look at the Quinn Snyder stuff here, At 36-37, they put together a nice stretch and won 7 in their last 9. If you look at the Quinn Snyder stuff here, 10 games into it, he's 4-6. The offense is 8th with Quinn. The defense is 28th.

Before he got there, the offense was 11th. Since then, they were 21st. They're actually five points worse per 100 possessions. None of this is on Quinn at this point. Whatever he wants to do, put it all in. I just think that Atlanta has a really nice roster, and yet again, they cannot figure this part out. I think Trey was trying to step off the

gas a bit in the first few that he had with Quinn. It could have just been the schedule. It could have been the night-to-night thing. He was 15 shots a game the first four games. Since then, he's gone 21 or more shots per game. He's had a couple absolute duds in there, but they're going to probably end up finishing up with a worse record than they did last year, and no one is going to pick them

in the first round against any team in the playoffs. There are other options out there. Certainly, this list is not complete, but if I had to put them in order, it's a clear Pelicans number one. Atlanta might be number two. Yes, there's a Nets suggestion here. I think we've already done that Nets topic for like three years. Is the Gobert Minnesota package three? Because the Clipper stuff is incomplete. Let's put Golden State because it's still incomplete at number four. And then I'd say the fifth most disappointing from this season is Dylan Brooks on a jersey swap.

At the top of the podcast, I talked a little bit about just NBA players talking. This is unbelievable. This is unprecedented stuff. I want everybody to have a podcast. It doesn't mean I necessarily like it. I mean, usually the only stuff that gets attention, you're like, what the fuck? And then it gets repurposed on those Twitter feeds where they will just take a quote from something else. And then it gets a million retweets.

And then they'll do a way where they type out the handle where you can't even click on it. So it's like, we're making sure nobody gets really recognition for this thing that we're just biting from somebody else. That's not even ours, but we just somehow built up some following because in our bio, it says that our tweets were featured on something,

which is total bullshit. I can't imagine like the kid who runs the site and then the dad's like, how's it going? He's like, oh, yeah, Sam had a tweet featured on the Freddie Coleman radio show the other night. They read his tweet. So, yeah, things are looking up. It was a big day at the house.

So anytime one of these NBA guys says any of this stuff, Sean Yu, who used to work with us at The Ringer, he used to, I think, write for an Oberman show because I would in and see him there. I've always really liked him. He's funny. He was tweeting out something like D-tier NBA guys having access to podcasts. It's like the greatest thing ever. And that's the thing. We should not hate it. We should all embrace it. But it also doesn't mean that we're not going to make fun of it either. not Chalmers big and tall Mario Chalmers uh so Mario Chalmers had this to say about LeBron as a player on the in shambles pod from the playmaker network nobody fears Bron nobody's like damn I gotta go play this Bron nobody said that I don't know why right because I've seen people be scared when they actually line up to them but they're not scared thinking about that match right you hear anybody from that era talk about going against Jordan, there's a fear.

So when you have people that fear a player, then that's telling you something different already. Like, Jordan's just that guy like, everything goes, I want to be like Mike. Now, to revisit for Chalmers fans out there, you already know this, he got yelled at like a little brother for, he wasn't

even a little brother. It was like you going to a sleepover to your friend's house and wasn't even a little brother it was like you going to a sleepover to your friend's house and then he had an older brother that was a failed musician and then every time like and you were too young to realize what a fucking loser he was and if i'm being real specific because i went through this that's pretty much what i'm talking about this one kid we used to go over to his house everybody really liked him and his older brother's a fucking weirdo and you know he used to wear tighty whities around to the point where he thought it was like funny and he would like sit on us and it sucked and it was awful and then it was like you get older and you're like that guy was a loser like the only reason he was making fun of us the whole time

is because he actually had nowhere else to go on the weekends and he was like old enough to drive and we were just young kids playing r cars. I actually think on Nintendo. Is this segment going to make any sense? I have no idea. Anyway, the point is that Chalmers got yelled at like that by those dudes all the time. I think there was one time, Rudy was saying this before, where Chalmers may have gone back at him.

There was also the one time where Chalmers had said something to him and LeBron was sitting down on the bench and LeBron got up and freaked out. To think that even if you hated LeBron, there would never be a moment where you went up against him where you would be like um yeah we're good yeah you know sneaky who we got to close out on this Barajas Barajas although I do respect how difficult he made it to rebound I've said that before um but we need to embrace this we need to embrace it all

when Zach Levine says hey I'm one of the best on ball defenders in the, when Harden was actually looking to switch off of Kobe White into Zach Levine in overtime last night, let's celebrate that kind of stuff. When Paul George, who apparently hasn't, I don't know, that guy hasn't stopped talking forever. I mean, he said a million different things. Some of it was actually insightful and some of it wasn't. Here's the point. Even if we don't like the answers, we should all like the access. Here's the point. Even if we don't like the answers, we should all like the access.

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or text HOPE-NY to 467-389 in New York. 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming or visit 1-800-GAMBLER.NET in West Virginia. He's been one of my favorites for a while. Lucky enough to cross paths a couple times. I think a couple interviews, maybe one mutual friend. Mike Conley of the Timberwolves joins us.

I didn't know that you needed our entire friendship resume, that there isn't one just for the audience. But I think we have one mutual friend. So it was always cool to catch up with you, man. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me again. Okay, so let's...

This is good timing. You know, it's been a bit of a rough stretch. You have an incredible win against the Knicks at their place. You're putting together some 20-point games. How important was that win against New York, considering some of the tough ones you'd come off the previous week or so? Man, if there was ever such thing as a must-win scenario, it might have been last night.

Considering, I mean, like you said, we've had two or three games that could have gone either way in the last week that we felt we could have won. And, you know, then the news with, you know, Anthony getting hurt, you know, didn't help at all going into that road trip. So for us to get a win on a road against the Knicks, man, we'll take that 10 times out of 10 in hopes that we get healthier as the season goes on. Are you more impressed with your pass to Gobert now that you've seen it than actually doing it? Because I didn't realize it because i didn't realize it

i didn't realize like why is everybody so excited about this pass and then i saw what you did with your left hand and i went okay that's pretty nice you know honestly um when i did it in the game like i reacted as if i had did exactly that i was like oh that was that was crazy and then like nobody else really in real time responded in the same way so i was like ah well maybe it wasn't like that. So I just kept going. And I saw, you know, this morning I got a whole, you know, flooded with texts like, hey, man, the pass was crazy. Like I saw the slow-mo version of it and it was what I thought it was.

So it was, I'm happy that people got to see it. And for those that may have missed it, it's you're driving on the right side and the help's coming over kind of at the rim and rudy's like filling through the lane and it looks like i mean you tell me you're the one that did it but it was kind of like almost a fake and then you spun the ball off your left hand so like take us through what that was because when you do watch in slow motion it is that special yeah um well honestly it it kind of played off the the shot clock we had probably like three seconds left and um when that happens and you drive to the rim everybody's flooded to you thinking that you have to shoot it and even i was thinking i had to get a shot up and um i saw robinson kind of coming over to block the shot and i was going into for like a little

scoop you know lefty you know high off the glass type layup and saw Rudy just last minute. So as soon as I went to go scoop it, I like threw the ball in the air and like flip my hand over and touched it to him. And it worked out. You know, it worked out. It wasn't planned at all. It was reactionary. And so it was pretty cool. OK, this brings me to like a bigger point. I love that year that you had at Ohio State because, you know, when you were there with

Odin, it was like, oh, wait, is actually Conley this good? You know, and like we knew the recruiting profile and all that kind of stuff. And then you end up going really high. You have this incredible career. But I always feel like with guards, there's this kind of wake up call of of how difficult it's going to be to finish at the rim in the NBA. How do you navigate going, okay, I don't want to be a dude who never goes down there, but I've got to change it up to figure out any way to kind of compete? Because there's some guards that eventually will just decide, I'm never going to be able to do that. And it completely limits who they are offensively as a player.

do that and it completely limits who they are offensively as a player right um well you know for me it was it was the process of realizing that early on early on early on the league i came in you know like most college guys you get in the paint and you jump as high as you can and you just float and you try to figure out how to finish and you get knocked down you get blocked and all this and you realize it's not going to work so um for me it became like all right how can i navigate this how can i find ways to finish over bigger guys? And that's when my floater, you know, with both hands started to really develop and became, you know, a weapon of mine to where like, I can, I can stop short, just short of that moment where guys are going to, you know, alter my shot or do anything like that and be, be comfortable, be in a comfortable zone.

And then, you know, take layups when I get them, but now I'm not trying to force myself to the backboard and slap glass and re you know, get it, get up there with the trees. So, um, I think it allows me to, to, you know, be at a pace that I want to be at, be comfortable. Uh, and it helps with longevity. You're not getting banged up as much, you know, you're shooting shots you're comfortable with. Okay. When you look at the years in Memphis when you really start to break out, it took a couple years, but I was going through it like one year Rudy Gay would lead the team in shots

and then it might be Zach and then it might be you third and then Gasol would lead the team in shots and then you'd be second or something. The point I'm getting at here is that it was a different team offensively because Gasol could control the offense himself and you could cut off him as a great passing center.

Zach had his way. Rudy had his way. But it wasn't like you were playing with a Donovan Mitchell or an Anthony Edwards where it's like, I'm a point guard, but I've got to make sure I understand how to play off the ball, which you've obviously always been able to do.

So in those years in Memphis, when it's really kind of on you, where the set is called through you, how different is that from what you're going to be doing with Edwards and what you were doing with Mitchell in Utah? Well, I think, like you said, the biggest difference is with the teams with Mark and Zach and Rudy, Rudy Gay, I initiated majority of everything. You know, I was a guy bringing the ball to court, guys got rebounds, they outletted it to me. And I was pushing, you know, just always had the ball in my hand. And so with that, you have a lot of control, you have, you know, your

confidence built up off of that being able to get guys in position to be successful. Then when you move on to like Donovan Mitchell, or Anthony Anthony Edwards, um, these guys also get the outlets. They also run the floor and push the tempo and, and get in the sets and run pick and rolls. And, and from that standpoint, I had to get used to like, Hey, I might have to run to the corner and just spot up like four, four or five plays in a row. Uh, when I'm used to probably having the ball, all five of those plays initially,

you know, four or five years prior. But, you know, now it's just trying to adjust to that and be able to, you know, when I'm that guy, I got to be a knockdown shooter, got to be able to make plays off the ball. And then when I do have the ball, understanding where my guys are like Ant and, you know, when Cat gets back, Rudy and, you know, TP, all these guys are going to shoot and make plays. So when I would watch the Utah stuff, like the thing that I did appreciate about you, I think it's more of a mentality

than just understanding basketball, where you have to go, okay, I've had the ball pretty much my entire career, but that's not going to happen with Mitchell. And then when you guys got Clarkson, like, you know, not the overlap. I mean, he was almost like the prime example of the second unit guy, get out of the way. But did you have to sometimes go like,

all right, well, if I, cause I remember with Utah, like if Donovan get cut off, you would curl back to him, but then you're thinking like, I can't do this every time and bring another defender over because I also am a really good shooter from the outside. I just wonder if there's ever like a level where you go, how do I get to my comfort level? How do I get to my comfort level knowing that I'm doing the right thing all the time while I'm not also taking away from somebody like Mitchell who's so filthy as an individual player? Right. No, that's a great question because, you know, there's a level of sacrifice that you have to kind of, you know, deal with there where, you you know your best player,

Donovans, the Ants, these guys, they're going to have the ball and they're going to make plays. But you got to understand you can't let yourself get lost within the game because when you do make the right decisions and the right plays, the majority of the time,

a lot of that time doesn't mean you're going to end up with the ball or end up with the shot, end up with the statistics and stuff like that. You can get drowned out and lost in games. That happened to me a lot in Utah. It's happened to me even here a couple times early on my tenure here in Minnesota where I go without shooting a ball the first three quarters

and all of a sudden it's the fourth quarter, and now I'm trying to be aggressive, and it's like you're out of rhythm. So the balance of that is important, and it's still ongoing for me trying to figure that out, but trying to get better and better at it. I know how they're the same, but you haven't played with Edwards a ton here in comparison to Mitchell, but how are they different as players?

Oh man. You know, they really have a lot in common. I think their personalities are a little different and there's a little bit more, more, I don't know what you want to call it. Outgoing. I don't know what you would call that.

It just speaks his mind at any moment, any time. You know, they both are super, super athletic. Ant, to me, I think is probably one of the better defensive guards I've seen that can play on the offensive end. I'm not saying Donovan couldn't guard like he can, but I think Ant is probably one of those handful of guys I think that can do both, and that's impressive to me at a young age that he has that,

you know, takes that challenge. And I used to get on Don about it too because he's capable of doing it too. But, you know, he's a special talent, Ant, and what he's capable of bringing to a team like Minnesota is invaluable. I want to get to some of the other guys with Minnesota here, but I'll finish on the Utah thing because I think you made a very – you were smart in your selection of the description about Mitchell defensively because I think some of us that watched that Dallas series last year would go,

all right, maybe he turned it down a bit there on the defensive intensity. Did you know, especially after the Clippers series the previous year and then the Dallas series, did you think, okay, this group's run is over in Utah? It had crossed my mind. I'm not going to lie because it had come to a point where it was kind of like the PTSD had sunk in, you know, of us getting to the same point, losing in a similar fashion

against a team that's similar, a team that switches everything and, you know, just falling short of a mark that we all felt that we could reach. And each year seemed like it was just a different reason. One year we had injuries. Another year, you know, we just didn't have it. A bubble year was different. I mean, like we just had different, different scenarios, but at that end of that, end of that series in Dallas, it just felt like the wind was taken out of, you know, pretty much everybody. And, um, at that point you just didn't know what was going to happen in the summer.

How important are those years with Rudy in Utah for you trying to get the most out of him and having everybody understand what he needs in Minnesota? For the Timberwolves, it's huge for me to be able to bring the knowledge I have of having had him as a teammate for the last few years. Because for me, it started off slow in our relationship as far as on the court, because I wasn't used to playing with a guy, you know, of his talent of, you know, above the rim and, you know, screen setter, get you open kind of deal. I was always used to hitting the big in the pocket and, you know, cutting off of them. And so it took me a minute to understand what I

could do to make him better and make myself better. And for us to have that two, three years together where we got to develop a chemistry to where we're literally not even, you know, speaking, you know, in terms of during a play, I'll just like make eye contact or like look a certain way and he'll flip a screen and he'll know to set the screen. And the next time I'll tell him to slip the screen and just like, you know, different ways of us communicating and being able to bring that to this team who, who's trying to get the most out of them and get the guy that, you know, they traded for quite frankly. So, you know, just hopefully, hopefully I continue to help them.

Can you help us understand it then on a higher level of basketball stuff where the screen numbers for him over those years, like to actually see how often this guy is trying to find a way, knowing that he's behind you defensively all the time. Like I spent some time in the beginning of the podcast looking at some of the decline stuff. We know he's having a better month. Unfortunately for him, the trade stuff is always going to be attached to him because it was a big price.

But what are those basketball things that maybe not everybody truly understands when you have him as an option as a teammate? Man, honestly, like you said, his ability to screen and his willingness to screen

and do it over and over and over and over again, it says a lot. I mean, it says a lot about who he is as a person, like an unselfishness about him that he wants to get his guys open. He also wants to get opportunities himself. And he knows that this is the best way of doing it. And he's become one of the better screeners in the game. And there's going to be times where he doesn't touch the ball four or five trips down the court, but we'll get wide open opportunities

because of his, you know, willingness to go set a screen, roll. We don't like it. He comes back up again, sets another one, rolls again, and then we get something. And he's, you know, constantly doing that. And then you expect all the things

you expect from him on the defensive end as well, which is completely just, you completely just covering up for everybody and making sure that he's in the right location and right spots. And he's really trying to get the most out of you as a defender as well while talking to you behind you. He's really impressive in that aspect that he truthfully just is selfless in the way he plays. Okay, so you mentioned Ant's defense, which I like.

Certain nights, even before you got there, I'd go, oh, damn, he's taking this on. He wants to close. And sometimes the defensive rotations aren't about what the five are doing. It's the rotation of who your assignment is. And I've seen him. But then you have Jaden McDaniels, who when you really dig into this stuff, you're like, whoa.

Where is Jaden as a defensive guy on the perimeter in comparison to some of the studs you played with in Memphis? Oh, man. I honestly, I tried to compare him to some of those guys in Memphis, but he's different in a lot of ways. He's unique.

He's like a mix between Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince. Tayshaun Prince was, you know, the long defender, and Tony was the bull who gets through everything and, you know, does all that. And he kind of, like, has that mentality to do both. Picks you up at, you know, literally when you get over half court, it doesn't matter who you are are and he'll get through screens. He'll contest, he'll guard you in the post. Like he's so versatile and doesn't say a word.

Like he just does it and goes about his business and, and plays as hard as he can. And that's, it's just, I mean, he's one of the better defenders in the league right now at his young age. It's a good week or a bad week away from being like a sixth seed or sitting at home watching in the West. And you get Towns back. And we already mentioned Edwards likely to come back on Wednesday here. What's the anticipation for fitting Towns in

to what's a different team from the one he left in November? Well, we expect Cat to be Cat, obviously, and we need him. We need him bad, and he provides something that not a lot of teams have. Quite frankly, for me, we've had so many guys in and out of lineups since I've been here that this is just like another week for me

where I'm playing with a whole new set of guys and getting to learn people. So, you know, it's going to be a good situation for us to have him back. I don't think it'll make us, you know, overthink too much about how we're going to implement him in certain situations. I think he's going to do what he does and help us the best he can. Yeah, I always feel like there's,

there's real value in kind of being over yourself as an NBA player. Like everybody kind of wants the same things in the beginning, especially a high lottery pick. It's like, all right, I kind of want to win, but I also want to see where my second contract's at, you know,

and, and you go, which is totally understandable. And I don't really blame anybody for having that feeling, but do you, I don't even know if you could share this stuff having that feeling but do you i don't even know if you could share this stuff with us but do you have moments where you know you'll talk to an anthony edwards and try to like hey this is the stuff that's important although i think that kid plays with so much intensity and energy like i'm never worried about his mentality like ever i love

him um but with the towns and you know gobert has been around a little bit longer but there's also some other young positional guys trying to figure out what their NBA future is, but knowing for two weeks, it's all about sacrifice. Can you have those conversations or do you feel like you're just, even though you're only 34, they look at you like you're 100?

I might as well be 100 when they look at me, but yeah, I mean, those conversations are easy to have, you know, especially coming from, you know, a guy like me, his 16th year and have seen a lot, been through a lot in my own career.

But, you know, this time of the year, and for me, mostly all the years like this, but especially this time of year is a time of year where you look back and you say, hey, our averages, they're not going to change at all. You could go score 30 the next three weeks and you're probably going to go up two points or whatever.

Don't be worried about statistics. Don't be worried about the money and all these things. Bro, go out here and let's sacrifice for each other. Let's try to win. Let's try to do what we can do to get as far as we can to achieve any goal that we're trying to achieve. Because at the end of the day, as you know, when teams win, you know, those winning, them winning units, doesn't matter if you're the main guy or the 10th guy or whatever, like everybody gets looked at in a different light. You get more opportunities going forward and your future is brighter, in my opinion.

So however we can position ourselves to be in a winning situation, that's the things we have to sacrifice for. Okay, I'm going to expose myself a bit here because I've had Finch on in NBA circles when he got the gig. There were a few people that reached out that were like, you know what, you may not know much about him, but he does actually really know what he's doing, which would seem weird that you could be a head coach

of one of these 30 teams and not have any clue, but I'm not going to ask anyone to name names here. So, again, you've just gotten there, but what is it that Finch does? What's your favorite thing about him as a head coach? I think number one right now is his ability to just like rip into any guy that makes mistakes. Like it's kind of a lost art nowadays. You know, all the coaches want to be friendly and they kind of have to. Players kind of run the league, whatever. But I've heard him go at more than anybody, you know, anybody on the team. Like, I'm like looking at Coach, like, you might want to, you know, like calm it down a couple, you know, go down a couple levels.

Like, you know, that's Anthony Edwards we're talking about. But, you know, he really just wants the most out of everybody. He's not afraid to say anything to me, to Rudy, to Ant, to Cat, like in front of everybody. And that's a talent. A lot of people can grasp a room like that. Edward seems cool with it, though, which is kind of rare for a young dude that's like, I'm going to have my own sneaker deal here soon.

Yeah, no, it says a lot about Ant. Ant could easily be the other guy, the guy that's like, no, no, I'm not with this. Like, send me somewhere else or like, I don't give me a new coach or something like that. He's like, all right, coach, I got you. Like, I got you next time. My bad. You know, so like it helps to have those kind of players to be coachable and have a coach like Finch. Do you want to, as we close here, tell us who you think the MVP should be?

Oh, wow. I love Jokic, but the two times I've played against Joel this year, I think he's almost gotten – he got 60 the first time we played him in Philly. And then he did similar to us here in Minnesota. I think he didn't even have to play in the fourth quarter, but had like 40. I haven't seen anybody be as dominant as him with my own two eyes this season. He's been doing it a while. I think Joel has a real chance to be there, get it.

Okay, last thing for you. There's a contract decision here, right? We're talking partial guarantee or full, they can just pick it up? Like, where are you at with this for the first time in a while where, you know, I mean, we'll see how the run goes.

That probably play into it a little bit as well. You've had four 20-point games, I think five this season, four with Minnesota. You've had to crank it up because of just the opportunities with other injuries out there. But where are you?

I know you probably already know your answer, Mike, so you're going to say, like, hey, we're trying to get in the playoffs. I don't care about any of this stuff. But I imagine in private moments it creeps in your head, like wondering where you're at right now at this point in your career. Oh, of course, of course. You know, can't shy away from it at this point. Like, next year is, I don't know what will happen, but all I can control right now is what we do and how we finish. I knew signing this deal in Utah that this year coming up would happen, whether it was in Utah, Minnesota, or elsewhere,

and the decisions were going to have to be made. So I'll be prepared either way. I'm just excited to still be playing at year 17. I know the crazy thing is that once Utah had moved on from Gobert and then Mitchell, we're like, well, what's up with Conley? And then it's like, oh, they're good still. So what's going on? And then, you know, I could make some simple thing like it must be nice to be playing in Minnesota, but Utah's right there with them. So I lied to you a little bit. I'm not entirely done. What is it about this Utah crew that finds a way to win way more games than anybody outside of that building thought they would? Oh man, I think it has a lot to do with Will Hardy. You know, first off, great coach, just really gets the most out of his guys and his ability to, you know, give everybody confidence, I think, throughout that building has allowed you know Lowry and Walker and you know

Ochai and Colin there's all the all the young guys to really feel at home um we know Jordan Clarkson is going to do what he does but just you know you mix in the vets of Kelly Olenek I mean you just got like a good mix of of talent from young to old and uh when you get a good coach around that and a good environment, Utah is one of the better places to play as far as home court advantages are concerned. It's an exciting venue. They're going to go out there

and they're going to play hard every night. They don't care who you are. I can speak to that because I was a part of it. They're just a good group of dudes. I can't wait to see everybody back and see this team put it together because I do think there is a lot of talent on this team. But man, you wake up every day

and look at the standings and you're like, what happened? It's not. There are going to be a couple teams left out going, how did that happen? But it's been fun, man. It's an awesome career to watch and I'm really looking forward to seeing how this thing closes out. I appreciate it. happen? It's been fun, man. It's an awesome career to watch and I'm really looking forward to seeing

how this thing closes out. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me again, Ryan. I'll see you hopefully again next time. Sarah Walsh, good friend, former colleague, NFL Network, joins us now. Also, good morning football. The last, I don't know, a couple, what'd you do like more than a week?

I did it a week and then I flew home and then flew back and I just did it Monday. But I did it this whole free agency frenzy week. Let's just go back to the top, right off the top. Good friend. Such a good friend that, again, you haven't spoken to me until I come on this podcast. You don't reach out and ask me to come on the show.

We have to go through your assistant. Even this morning, I called you. I called you earlier today. No response. I mean, I don't talk to you unless I come on the show. We have to go through your assistant. Even this morning, I called you. I called you earlier today. No response. I mean, I don't talk to you unless I'm on this podcast. All untrue. I mean, we've covered this before. Not untrue.

Now that we have Allison, who's been booking for the show for over a year, I have to worry about what she's asking for. So I'll be like, well, then you reach out so you can coordinate it according to your schedule because we have another taping today. So that's why I do it that way. I mean, I call you more than you call me because I don't have as much going on. I don't have a family. So I don't think this is fair. I don't like the characterization. I think we're off to a bad start.

Right. I was going to say right off the gate, this thing is nosedive. You know what a true professional does, Ryan? Gets us back on track go ahead women's history month your favorite moments go of women's history month just um women I've worked with how long how long do we have how long do we have for this podcast how long is my segment here I don't know that we could cover it all adequately. It's fair. I actually do want to start with Aaron Rodgers week, which is now weeks. Because what I love is that it's actually not done. So when everybody thought it was done, he was going to the Jets.

What's that show like? Because I'm going to get your thoughts on it, how it relates to Brady and the Bucs and a team that you're very close to. But in that seat on that show for the Rodgers part of it, which is a big amount of drama for the NFL offseason. What's that job like during that time? So here's what I love about this show. On previous shows that I've been on, and really almost every show I've been on, there's such a time construction on TV, right? You have to get this many topics in. You have one minute, then they're in your ear, wrap it up.

What's awesome about Good Morning Football, and I didn't really realize this until I did it, is they'll pretty much go one topic for the entire A Block. In TV lingo, that's like the first thing you're coming out and doing. And it can be like 10, 15 minutes. I've been on TV. Well, I know that, but I'm not assuming that all of your podcast listeners, because you have so many, as you told me, I'm not assuming they all understand A Block l, because you have so many, as you've told me, I'm not assuming they all understand like a block lingo. So they'll give you 15 minutes to do one topic. And that's, that's a lot in the TV world. That's a lot. And so, but I can tell you this week

was sort of like, okay, we're going to go Aaron Rogers out of the gate. And then, you know, you build these shows and there's all these different topics and weigh in, what do you want for this segment? And it was always like, there was a caveat all week, by the way, if Aaron Rodgers news happens, everything's blown to bits. Like it's just going to be Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers. Uh, it was one of those things where after two days, I was like, I can't talk about this anymore because you know what it was. It was so much of going to like our insiders, what's the latest and nothing was happening. And it was one of those stories where you knew it was happening, you knew that it was it was like out there. And it was sort of like, put us out of our misery and like, just end this thing, right, which he finally did when

he went on that McAfee show. But to your point, I think that even myself incorrectly was like, okay, this is cool, like, nice, neat little bow on it. The next day we're going to do sort of this post-mortem on like his time in Green Bay. And now here's what we got on the jazz. I didn't think in that moment, in that first show back after he said he was leaving that this could drag, this could drag for a while. It could also get ugly because, and I was talking to somebody that's a, that's a front office kind of guy. And he said like the Packers are under no constraints

right now to make this happen immediately. And so really, and I was thinking like when you, when you talk about like, who's got the leverage, I was thinking originally like, well, the jets would have the leverage on this deal because now it's already done. The Packers have moved on. Like you got to get them there. You got to get something for it. And I'm thinking they want to clear all this money off the books so that they can spend it. But the reality is, is the Packers aren't ever really huge and free agency. Like that's just not how they do business. And then the idea that it's under the jet. I mean, the jets need, this is, this is their quarterback. Like the jets need him there. They need to start working with him there.

The backup plan is Aaron Rogers, ABCDEF. I mean, it's all Aaron Rogers. So like they have to start working with him. The backup plan is Aaron Rodgers, A, B, C, D, E, F. I mean, it's all Aaron Rodgers. So they have to get him here. So then I was thinking, oh my gosh, it's really the Packers. And they're under no... The way it was explained to me, it's like, I mean, they can wait. They can wait until June if they want to say, hey, we don't like this deal, which is crazy because again, it was such a rampant, like, what's happening with Aaron Rodgers, right? And then it happened, and you're like, okay, we're done. It's not done. I mean, I think it will get done, but I think this thing could really drag out.

I kind of love the latest from this because, I mean, it probably still works out because it has to work out. It has to, yeah. I'm more on the Packers side of this thing, okay, where I get how great Rodgers is and how important he is, but for this to go on multiple seasons where you kind of want to fuck with us and you hold the franchise kind of hostage

and you're really thinking about yourself more than you're thinking about the team part of it, which is okay, I think, in some instances. Like when a guy wants to hold out and he wants to get a new contract, like for the most part, I'm like, Hey, I get it. That's fine. But when you're the quarterback and you've already gotten the contract and everything's fine and you're, you're mad about certain personnel things. And I've said this before. He was never, he was never specific enough about his plight for me to then take his side. He clearly likes all of the attention because if he had wanted all the speculation to be done with that he blasts once he goes on with mcafee

he like rips everybody in the media but it's like yeah but you clearly like this because if you didn't you could have just stopped it but then when he said okay the jets thing is good to go all these plugged in people are saying this done, but the actual transaction isn't completed, I would think it was great. I'd admire the Packers for going, okay, well, cool. The thing is, is we actually haven't agreed to the compensation yet, but since you've gone out and said that all this is going to happen, we're going to make sure we get every last penny.

And if it screws up your plans, just like you've screwed up our plans, what do we care? If it screws up, we don't care about the jets. You think we care about the jets? So now that everybody's made it all public and you've made your decision and you're not going to retire and you said you're going to go there and we haven't gotten what we want out of it yet, maybe we will just wait around and make this more annoying like you've made it for us. I don't know if I'm being dramatic about it, but that's the way it feels. And I love it. No. Um, there, so there's two things, right? As, as members of the media, we love transparency, right? Like the, the McAfee stuff is must see TV or streaming or whatever you call it. Um, and so you love the transparency. You love, here's what I like about

Aaron Rogers. He would just sit and, and talk to the media i remember being in um when i had green bay games or had to do something with him and then you would be in on the local his his local weekly thing with the media there in green bay he more so than other quarterbacks and certainly more so than other quarterbacks of his stature i mean tom brady's press conferences in tampa were really short short sweet 10 minutes maybe every every thursday. Aaron will sit there and talk and he'll give you opinions on everything, whether you like them, don't like, whatever. So you love the transparency. However, if you're going to sit there and rip the Packers, whether you think it's deservedly

so or not, which he clearly does. And I don't have a problem with his opinion of this is why I think, you know, I haven't lived his life, right? Like, I don't, I don't know, you know, where he feels like he was wronged by them, but you can put all that out there. But to your point, you are then beholden to them because you are still a Green Bay Packer and you're a Green Bay Packer until they decide you're not. So I think we love this idea of like, let's go burn it down or let's go say my piece. And here's my side of the story. And I'm not the one that's holding this up. That's all fine. The only problem with that though is, and I, and I think, like I said, I was also, um, like I was wrong in thinking that, okay, he said it.

So it has to be done. And to your point, like it doesn't have to be done and you don't know, we don't know how somebody is sitting up in a green Bay office, taking that and being like either, Hey, that's not how we think it happened. Hey, I'm annoyed with this guy. But what we do know is that they hold the keys to him going to New York. Right. I mean, they, they have all the cards now. And so all I know is if I'm going somewhere else, like maybe after the fact, maybe it's wrapped up. Maybe it's the show after I've done my holding up the Jets jersey thing. But I think he could be in like an awkward situation right now of they don't have to do anything. They don't have to do anything.

And I didn't realize that because I was thinking that they wanted to like go spend this money that they weren't going to have to spend on Aaron Rodgers. And that's not the case. And so I'm with you. I think that I remember Kyle was saying on that Monday of this free agency period, Brant was like, the Packers at some point are going to have to say, why, why are you moving on from a guy that, you know, has been this MVP and he's a known commodity. He's always at some point, the Packers will answer to that. But at the same time, I think there's an exhaustion factor of every year doing this thing. I also thought like one

of the most interesting things that I thought about when he, he did his whole thing is how he was 90% retired. It was just going to be done. But then you heard that they were also going to be done. And it was like, you know what it felt like? It felt like the, I'm going to break up with you before you break up with me. Right. And, and everyone's kind of been there in middle school or whatever. Um, although I think when you get older, don't you want to be, I always, I would rather, I never want to have a conversation, right? So I kind of want somebody else to do it. Like I would rather get dumped when you're older,

tougher conversations, I feel like. But it felt like that. I don't know where you stand on that, Ryan. That's a whole other. Oh, no, no, no. I've had ones where I'm like, I hope I get dumped here soon. Yeah, right.

I feel like this is maybe B block segment, but it could be really strong for you. Yeah, but it felt like that, right? Maybe July and A block. Yeah, right. I feel like this is maybe a B block segment, but it could be really strong for you. Yeah, but it felt like that, right? Maybe July and A block. Yeah. A block in July. It definitely felt like that, though, right? Like, wait, you were going to be retired and now you're all in if it's somewhere else. So I think

this thing's going to drag. I think this thing could get potentially messier than... I don't even know. messier than it already is because it's kind of messy i mean it's a it's a divorce all right i have another question as it relates to brady and that is just you know you being around it kind of day to day covering the bucks now it's not even close to being the same as this but you could make some parallels in that it's you know some of the highest profile dudes in that it's, you know, some of the

highest profile dudes in sports and Rogers and Brady, two of the great success stories, the position and, you know, the importance to their franchise, but then also that partnership where, you know, Rogers has been in a relationship longer and then he wanted to move on. Brady had already moved on. Everything works out. He went to the Superbowl. So I can't imagine the dynamic was even close for how they felt about the relationship. But what was it like maybe during that window of uncertainty, both last year and then ultimately this year when it looks like Brady actually is done done versus retiring and coming back last year? What is that like for the franchise kind of sifting through realizing, okay, we're turning the page here and we may not have a plan?

I mean, even if the Packers think they have a plan in Jordan Love, it's not the best plan. Maybe it works out to be the best plan. Tampa had some backup. But I'm asking you kind of a big, big question here. I just want you to kind of take it any direction you want to go in. Okay. Well, so I would say that they clearly, when Brady retired the first time,

obviously the Bucs felt, and they wouldn't have said this at the time, that that window wasn't completely closed, right? I remember going to the combine and there was the famous Jason Light, their GM's line about, we'd always leave the light on. And it never felt like they were moving on. The Packers feel differently, I think, about Jordan Love than the Bucs feel about Kyle Trask. The Bucs are different than the Jets for multiple reasons in the sense of the media market. The Jets are going to have far more scrutiny. I think Aaron Rodgers is more polarizing than Tom Brady.

I mean, I think people hated Brady because he was good. That's the worst somebody could say about Brady, right? There's that commercial, and I thought it was so great that Brady did, you know, where, um, I forget what the commercial was for, but the guy in Boston was like, we hate you. And Brady's like, but you'd take me back. And he's like, yeah, we would like people that hated Brady. They hated Brady. Cause he's good. I think Aaron's polarizing in a completely different way. I think that first year that Brady stepped away, the bucks never moved on. And if he didn't come back, I don't know what they would have done. Because clearly behind the scenes, there was always that window of we feel

like we're going to get him back. And they did. And I think at that point, people here were just so happy they had Tom Brady. Point blank, end of story. They immediately were like, we're Super Bowl contenders. They were, they won it. They could have almost gone back the year after if Cooper Cup doesn't make two amazing plays with Matthew Stafford and they sort of got the Bucs secondary on those two plays at the end and they kick a game-winning field goal. That could have been the Bucs instead hosting the conference championship. Back in Tampa, they could have been back in the Super Bowl.

So that was a good season. Last season was a bad season. This year, I sort of feel like this year they, they knew that Brady meant it. Um, and, and Jason has joked about it. Uh, like we'd leave a desk lamp on for him, but they knew, they knew that he was really done. And I feel like they thought getting him even one more year, which they did last year was a lot and like win for Tampa, win for ticket sales, win for what this franchise did. And they were okay mortgaging everything to make it happen. And I think they are confident in the fact that if they're not good and people want to take shots at them right now and go, okay, well, you mortgaged

everything and look, now you're paying the paper. And they're like, yeah, we're cool with that. We won a Superbowl. Like that's what we did. We put all our chips in and it worked out for us. We won. And so I think it's, I think it's really different. I think the pressure system in New York is going to be completely different. And that being said, there was tons of pressure on Brady and the Bucs to win because they were expected to. That's also a crazy, insane, difficult division. I mean, Brady and those guys went into the playoffs last year and they lost the division. I'm sorry, they won the division.

They had a losing record. So completely different division. So Aaron Rodgers is going to a division that they may be the third best team in that division. I think you can argue that they're the third best team in that division. So I just think it's a different set of expectations. I think it's a different,

and it'll be interesting to see how Aaron Rodgers handles that because I don't think the New York media is the Green Bay media, right? I mean, there's gonna, and I also find it really interesting when he talks about being like zen and he goes into these dark places he clearly reads everything and sees everything because he he like responds to it and so um are you questioning the darkness well no I'm not questioning that there is darkness but I feel

like if I was doing all those things and i also feel like if i got to the level of success that he was i wouldn't be like oh uh mike smith from the you know daily news said that i wouldn't care i'd be like i'm i'm one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game you know what i mean i i think that level comes with you know a situation where you kind of just what do you care what i mean i i think that level comes with you know a situation where you kind of just what do you care what people say i don't know but he he cares i mean he cares he's reading it you know what i mean he's reading everything well he may have read it when he got out or you know covered it that way i used to have the same rule like i remember arguing with

van pelt about like certain thing i'd be like why would you even argue with that guy about it right yeah that i'm perfect and then you know after it was actually one of the Rosillo book club books, I gave you the first game change book and it talked about how the Obama administration would like call CNN about something they said. And then, of course, after four years of Trump, you realize like the only thing he wanted to do was see how people were talking about him. So I'm like, if both presidents who cover as wide a spectrum of the political ideology scale as you could possibly imagine, if they were obsessed with what was being said about them day to day, then I'm never going to be surprised when the greatest, one of the greatest quarterbacks, when one of the biggest people in media, like I'm never going to be surprised when people are, I don't know, I don't, I wouldn't want to do it.

I wouldn't want to do it. I wouldn't go, okay, I'm a Hall of Fame quarterback. I have this massive decision, but then let me also take a swipe at every single NFL reporter that was on it. Clearly, he doesn't like Schefter. I get it. Fine. No big deal. I thought he went at Rossini in a really, really aggressive way that was lame. First, he pretends he doesn't know who she is, which isn't true

because then he named her, and then he was like, she used a list of demands. And then he admitted that he wanted certain players on the roster if he were going to come there. So then it was really, it's not even that the report is wrong. You're arguing semantics. Semantics, but I would say this. It just seems like a massive waste of time. Just get out there and play some fucking football because I still think he has some great football in him despite how bad last year was.

And that's the part where I separate the two and again I've already talked about this so I'm just going to shut the fuck up I'm sick of talking about it um well I think there's two things it is I think it was the visual that people had of that he typed up um a list like not here Jets here's your to-do list and and handed it over. Right. Right. But it was it was like Vogue magazine and it was cut up with different letters, like a ransom note being like Randall Cobb. Because when that came out, that's what I'm picturing. Like, OK, you want to bring me here? Here's my list. Who do I email this to? Now, all of us are you're insane to think if they are pursuing Aaron Rodgers, that they don't go,

who would you want? Give us a way. Of course they would ask that whether he would demand it or not. You know what I mean? You don't think that Tom Brady was like, I'd like this guy and this guy and this guy, can you make this happen? Any, any, any job when you're at the highest level, like that's obvious. I'm with you that it is on semantics, but did you not have the vision of, here's my list, I'm handing it over to you guys. And I don't, it probably to his, well, at least he's saying it didn't happen that way, but did they ask him? Of course they asked him, you know, like it's anything though, when you are, so that story, when it was existing in this vacuum of no one saying anything, you know, people are jumping on every little thing that's coming out. Do I think that he was like, yeah, I'd like Alan Lazard. Do you think that they would run

by Alan Lazard, like by him? Of course. Like, um, is it typed up in the manner? And like, that's what it seems like he was angry about. No, I will, according to him. No. But so I guess, um, I don't know. I always take a step back and I'm like things that people get like, so bent out of shape about like that wishlist. Like part of me is like, well, of course there, there would, there'd be a conversation about it. Like that's like a no brainer. I can't do it anymore.

I'm stopping myself. I'm stopping myself. Go ahead. Because I want to ask about Baker Mayfield, your latest Tampa Bay Buccaneer quarterback. So Kyle Travis. Yeah, let's go. Okay.

Here's why I love it. Because I'm always like, just be interesting. And as soon as you say no offense to so-and-so, you're about to say something offensive. So I'm not going to pretend that it's not. People weren't fired up about Kyle Trask. We haven't seen Kyle Trask. He's got all of three completions to his NFL career.

Now, there was definitely this narrative of, after Tom Brady, are you really going to go with Kyle Trask? And I'm like, well, at some point, I feel like a little bit, he's been written off with zero chances to prove himself. And you're not going to follow Tom Brady up with anyone, which I actually think plays in Baker's favor, right? There's not a single person you're going to bring in here

that you're going to be like, well, you know, comparisons to Brady, everyone, even the most irrational people out there on social media know that that's an unfair comparison and that's ridiculous. So he sort of has that pressure off of them. And then, you know, like Baker's going to talk, Baker's going to be, whatever your feelings are on Baker, he's going to be interesting. Um, and so for me, I was like, heck yeah, like let's get something like interesting down here. It makes it there's like a quarterback battle. I mean, I don't know how much of a battle people really think it is. But you know, I think they're going to give Kyle Trask a chance. But I'd

be very surprised if Baker Mayfield is not the starting quarterback week one. And then if I'm Baker, I would want to come here. Because that division is not, you know, there's no team that's a slam dunk in that division. I mean, it was a division that everyone had losing records in a season ago. And I know that cargos of the Saints and everyone's like, oh, Saints immediately front runners. They're front runners in terms of the quarterback that's had the most success, the quarterback that has the best numbers. But we have no idea what's happening over in Carolina. I mean, I know they have Andy Dahl.

We don't know who they're drafting. There could be like a stud franchise quarterback for years to come in Carolina, which is obviously what the Panthers hope. Atlanta, I mean, they're going to go with Desmond Ritter. I mean, this is a division that is truly, truly up for grabs. So if I'm Baker and I want to reestablish myself and put these last couple of years behind me,

he's got a chance, a better than great chance at winning the starting job. He can potentially, he can compete for this division. So I love it for all angles. The Bucks didn't have money to spend. What are they going to do? Um, I'm also told behind the scenes, like this is a guy that they had interest in for a while. Um, I think he was potentially on their list prior to securing Tom Brady coming back. So I think it's great. I think it's interesting. I'm not saying he's going to go out there and that they're going to be, you know, seven and two to start this year. Certainly there's massive holes.

Their offensive line is a huge issue, but I think that they just found a way to make Tampa interesting, not at the level of Tom Brady, but no one's going to do that. So I love it. Do you have any questions for me? So many. When are we going on the boat?

What else? You're on the vineyard right now? What are we doing? Yeah, I leave tonight. I'll be back in LA tonight. I like that. Made it almost three weeks. It's a long time.

Harsh winter conditions there. You ready to get back to LA? Yeah. I haven't gotten soft. I'm soft for other reasons, but I'm not one of those dudes who moves to LA and then I go home and I'm like, oh my God, it's so cold here. Yeah. You know where you've gotten softer?

And I like this about you. I'll say this. I was in LA recently to do a soccer game and I made Ryan go to dinner with me because I had a red eye. And I'm like, well, I can sit at LAX or I could make Ryan go out to dinner with me, come over to his place. He's got his multiple TVs up on the wall. And I think who was, I don't have no idea who you're watching, but it was going to go to overtime. And I could see the internal struggle of you not wanting to walk out the door to go to dinner. And I'm like, you can hit pause on that game.

DVRs are a wonderful thing. They exist for a reason. You're going to dinner. And we had a great dinner, right? But old Ryan, he'd have a real hard time walking out. And older, softer, gentler Ryan appreciates his friendships and was like, we're going to go to dinner. Yeah, I mean, the friendship tip,

I don't know where I'd be in the top 25, but we've had a few rough weeks. You know, I'd be like, wasn't that guy ranked sixth? Like he's the 18th now? Like what's going on? Like a couple of tough road games. So the fact that you were in town was last minute. And then I am starting to do that a little bit more often. It's like, hey, this, because I feel like I moved to LA twice.

I moved there. I was fired up. I was doing everything. then covid happened and then i was way too comfortable not interacting with anyone because i'm pretty used to it and you know people have theorized i'd be was the most prepared mentally for covid yeah and then i added like an extra year of covid quarantine on when it was like no stuff's going on again i was like yeah i'm just not ready uh and i don't even think it was fear of fear of the virus it was no no just fear just people right yeah like i brought my car in and they were like how long have you had this and i was like two years and they were like you have 7 000 miles on it i was

like yep i kind of feel like i don't need it um so anyway the the point is that when you were there i'm there's a real push you're gonna see a real friendship push out of this guy. I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A real friendship push. That's huge. That should have been the A block. It's big. The amount of friends I'm going to have out of nowhere,

people are going to be like, you know who's a friendly dude? That guy. No one said that about you ever. Pretty good chance it's not going to happen, but that's what we're going into. So, yeah, when you're around. I don't like quantity. I like quality. When you say there's going to be but that's what we're going into um so yeah i don't like i don't like quantity i like quality when you say there's going to be so many friends i don't like i don't like no

i'm just going to start saying that guy yeah it's great dude i'm going to try to be like one of those connectors that just gives everybody each other their cell phone numbers and then and then it's the worst because i've done that a few times and i realized like there really wasn't anything in this other than this person just texting me all the time. Uh, I, all of that, the last five minutes is probably a lie, but the point to your night when you rolled in is that I went, Hey, hit pause, go to dinner, and then you can go right back home and watch the end of this stuff. It, there is the technology for it. As you pointed out, you're a big tech person. The world did not burn down. I mean, I know you couldn't wait.

I mean, it was like a power walk home after the check came, which I picked up. Just throwing that out there. Despite your big podcast money. But you couldn't wait. I mean, it was like a power walk home because what happened to this game? I mean, I don't know if the

podcast is going to be as good because Ryan's watching it on delay. I didn't look at my phone. You know what? Everyone survived. I know. I didn't look at my phone because I wanted to feel it. You were present. Yeah. It's a new Ryan. I like it. Yep. New me, still the same me. Okay. Thank you, Sarah Walsh, NFL

Network and friend. Tier one friend. One C. Tier one. Thank you. Yep. Thanks, Ryan. 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. Life advice. Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Kyle, did you make it through the first four days of the tournament?

Yep. Strange, strange. I was in the office, just me, Tate, security guards, Jay Kyle, man. I smoked a bunch of cigarettes. I'll just say that now. But it worked. It worked. It was good, good fun. And we'll do it again this weekend.

Okay. All right. How long had you gone without smoking? I smoked on Tate's birthday, but there were like few and far between. They're like, you know, one of my old guys is catches me outside, you know at the bar catch you outside yeah but like in a good way you know what i mean just catching up outside really oh that's what i'm doing here yeah and uh we'll just you know i'll maybe i'll have one or something but it's usually after a few brews but uh it's been it's actually been really well never at home um you know don't smell like cigarettes around the

fiance so that's been nice nice. But I did get home pretty late. Let me just change my shirt really quick. She knows that I backslid a few times, but I just don't like to telegraph it. So I wasn't super proud getting home at midnight on those tournament nights. But it's not like I came home from a bar. It's just me coming home from the Spotify office smelling like a few heaters. So I'm i'm gonna i'm working on it it's a it's only march so you know april we'll get right back on track yeah dart here dart there yeah i get it yeah i like the no home rule that's a good rule because then like you know you if you just set boundaries for it's easier to follow so that's a good call totally totally yeah right i know i think that's i i'm not i'm i'm proud of you so i i'm not gonna you

know i'm not gonna get on your case about any of that you didn't i really appreciate it yeah you didn't get engaged to me you know i mean i again you know in a weird way i i sort of respect when i see a smoker outside i never smoke but i'll see one at work just outside freezing his ass off when i was back in new England, he'd be smoking. I'd be like, I think I even gave one guy a thumbs up. Like there's never a place to stand anymore.

There's no more benches. You're like just standing by a garbage can somewhere. It's like, I guess this looks like the place. Cause there was a guy in Bristol who just, he must've gone through a couple of packs a day. Yeah. And he was just.

Outside of Mike. No, no, it wasn't even, I didn't even think he could keep up with outsider mike he was like that guy smokes a lot um he just was out there i know the deportes guys were not afraid of one but they're not afraid of anything really but yeah nothing yeah nothing fearless dudes they're the base jumpers of HR. Telling the line. Yeah.

Like, what happened? Like, oh, that's a part of this. Not a big deal. Okay. Let's get to a life advice. Again, lifeadvice. RR at gmail.com.

All right. 36, 6'3", 230. Skinny fat for sure. Used to play rec league basketball. Mean baseline jumper until my knee exploded five years ago. ACL meniscus the whole thing really into disc golf now love it getting pretty good at it low chance of getting seriously injured again yeah i imagine that's a low impact sport uh so i matched with a girl on tinder a month ago she only had a single picture uploaded

is that bad that seems bad one how many pictures are you allowed on tinder anyone uh i think a bunch that's like a bad sign for any like zillow one one one photo of the house on zillow it's like oh no no something this place doesn't even have floors oh my god kyle that is the best comp ever like it should be at least three yeah right why is it just the front yard so you got do you guys even own this place? You can't even get inside? Come on. I got a price drop alert on this. He only has the driveway with a fucking door. Should we check it out?

You got Google Earth photos on here. What the hell's going on? The description is rustic piece of history. Don't miss out. Have you always wanted something in Rutland, Vermont that's not downtown? Not really.

Okay. All right. That Zillow one picture, Tinder one picture. Could this woman be a one-story ranch in Rutland, Vermont on Tinder? Who knows? in Rutland, Vermont on Tinder. Who knows? So anyway, it was a pretty low quality picture,

but she looked good on it. The conversation started off slow. I always try to be funny and get a reaction out of her when I texted. She always laughed, but took a day or two to reply. An early red flag. Sometimes, yeah. But sometimes you don't want to seem too eager either. But eventually the rule is kind of like,

hey, if they're not texting you back multiple times within the day, probably I don't like your chances. You know, it happens to all of us, right? So I was almost giving up on it. And then she suggested we take the conversation to another platform where it'd be easier to communicate. I agree. another platform where it'd be easier to communicate i agree um so wait is he saying that they started talking on tinder and that's where they were texting so he goes we've been texting non-stop from there so maybe that was the deal she might not be on her app if you're only talking to somebody through like a dm on instagram and then you're like oh it's been a couple days

maybe it's actually awesome that they're not watching fucking videos all the time and i think i think likely with Tinder, what you usually do is not, not have your notifications on, you know, I've been around some dudes who had their notifications on and they have like the Tinder sound and it's just like all day. We're just chilling out.

It's just like bling bling. It's like, Oh, match. Got to get on that. So I think, I think a lot of times you don't have your notifications on that. So you,

you know, you kind of pick a time of day to check it, I think. So that, that, that does check out. It's the, kind of pick a time of day to check it, I think. So that, that, that does check out. It's the, it's the one picture thing I'm not on board with yet.

All right. Okay. Getting some good tech updates here. This is like going to a conference. So we've been talking on top of this. So it appears that once they started texting, normal texting, it's been nonstop.

The girl was great. Had an instant connection. We exchanged phone numbers. Wait, what? I'm confused on that. Are you texting on WhatsApp or something? Because that would be strange now, too.

That's a burning sun red flag. Right. Where's she from? Peru? No, Delaware. But she wants to use WhatsApp. All right. She does have a strange area code, though.

We have long talks daily. Found out she has two kids, a six-year-old twins. Not a problem for me. I have no kids of my own, but my previous girlfriend also had a kid, got along great. I'm a bit like Kyle, great with kids and pretty good at kissing. Nice. Great way to be, son. We had our problems getting our first date arranged, but we finally got together today.

She hugged me right away. We went for a nice walk, watching the sunset. She seemed really into me. I couldn't believe it. She's way out of my league. The conversation was great, nice and fluid. But when she asked me about my previous relationship, she asked me if I'd ever live with anyone, how long my relationship lasted, et cetera. This is by the way, bullshit. Okay. Like I get it. She has kids. Usually when you're going to start dating somebody with kids, they are like, I don't want to fucking waste my time, which is totally reasonable. And then, you know, it's, it's kind of cut to the chase with it. But I also think a little early on where it's like, Hey, what are your previous relationships? Like, well, I'm a fucking

disaster to date. I've dated six girls in the last year and a half and every one of them stumped me. And you know, you may see a an arrest warrant but that was bullshit you know like nobody nobody's going to start painting this awful picture of themselves immediately so i think sometimes the interrogation thing there can be hey i have a plan i don't want to waste my time you know veering over onto the the flow chart of of you know what did you really think I was going to say here? So anyway, she asked if you'd ever lived with anybody because that's her wondering, have you ever lived with anybody? Because I don't want to waste my time.

I told her I moved in with someone years ago and it didn't work out. I don't know why I lied. Oh, no. Dude, you can get away with this one. He said, I immediately panicked and lied. I guess I felt shame. The truth is I've never moved in with anyone. I got hurt really bad in my 20s. I've had problems trusting myself or anyone else since. My relationship history is pretty sad, but I've had a few, but I always end up finding a good reason to end it before it got too serious.

All right, so you're on both ends of this. It's not only happening to you. You're ending it too because you're probably afraid of whatever that next step is. Don't worry about it, bro. Been there. I know we've only met once, but I really like this girl. This feels right. She's funny, gorgeous, and a generally nice person. I can already see a future with her. We started texting after today's date. She told me she wants to see me again soon. One thing led to another. And we're going canoeing tomorrow. Feels like a fairy tale. But, dot, dot.

Huh, only two dots. I've realized that. If this relationship does get serious, at some point our previous relationships are going to become a topic again. Sounds like it. Sounds like it's her favorite topic. You're right.

Both of you are right, by the way. It doesn't mean you're going to have to keep bringing it up. It's kind of up to you to how much you want to bring it up. I might be able to be vague and deflect somewhat when I'm on my own, but at some point she could be meeting my longtime friends and their girlfriends, and this cannot end well. How do I come out of this? I lied.

I regretted it immediately. Do I tell her right away or try to prolong it somehow? By the way, Kyle, please thank Tate for ripping into Kerr Krilsa. Oh, okay. There you go, Kyle. Okay. I'll let him know. Oh, wait. That's that point guard.

That's that point guard I don't like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I know him. Auburn kids? No, no, no. He's one of the guards not from Auburn that I don't like. I'm not a huge fan of that kids game. Sorry. I know he's just a kid okay uh you are massively massively overreacting massively overreacting okay and maybe this isn't

going to be super high on the approval rating things of what i'm about to say but nobody's fucking totally like 100 legitimately we've already covered this like transparent about every single thing that's happened in their dating past now you did lie about something specific that didn't really happen but what i would say to you is it's not like you told her you went to space where it's like she's gonna be introducing you as a fucking astronaut yeah like she's not walking around going well he did say he lived with somebody six years ago so uh she's just trying to get as much dating history on you as you possibly can against somebody that has kids in my experience that they're a little less likely to kind of

you know go through the fuck around phase like as soon as like i think the tolerant stuff is a little bit lower which is all understandable. I mean, yes, and I'm sure people can argue that the other side of it, or sometimes it's like, you know, whatever. I just want to have a good time. All right. So this can be avoided. And I think if you really do like this person and you think you're connecting and all this stuff, I'd actually advise you to not rock the boat here and go, hey, I need to step up because then she's going to think that you're going to be lying about all sorts of other stuff. Now, if you are lying about all sorts of other stuff, you're going to get busted and don't

worry about it. She's going to dump you anyway. But if this is this one little slip up and it's not truly who you are and you just sort of panic, which is totally understandable because the beginning of getting to know each other shit is super awkward. Not saying that I think it's great to be lying about it, but it's not really that impactful of a lie. It doesn't mean she's not going to be introducing you this way. Like I said, there are way worse things that you could have done. And I think what you need to do is get to a point where it's too late for her to dump you. And then you can bring it up and go, hey, this little thing, I just sort of panicked. I don't even know why I said it. And if she gets to know you and truly likes you, then she'll probably even understand you and understand

why you did it. Because it's not really that big of a deal. It doesn't change who you are. It's not going to change how you care about her. If you were, you know, lying about a job or graduating from a school or different accomplishments or all sorts of different stuff like, hey, I have this sick house, but it's not ready yet. It's being reconstructed. You're living at home. Like those are things that the bills coming due at some point. This is something it does sound like if you're being totally honest with us that you just sort of like ask you do you actually lie to people a lot in the beginning okay well then you're gonna have a fucking problem because usually you dudes get found out and you know then there's a netflix special on you in three years in this case if

this truly is the only thing that you've misled her on and then make sure if it makes you feel this bad continue to be as open and honest as you possibly can with her because clearly this bothers you this much because i think you're actually a little too bothered by it not saying we're pro lying but this isn't that big of a fucking deal and once she starts to like you like six months from now or whatever you if it's still hanging over your conscience you can just go hey i just want to be straight with you about this thing i just fucking panicked and freaked out i was so attracted to you you're so awesome you're so amazing and then i thought like if i said whatever but who knows you know you may fuck it up worse then and

it'll be even more hurt but good luck yeah i mean like what you that that that like initial screening that she did there and like hey what's your past screening that's like that was like the teenager outside of the restaurant like pointing that beam at your head and being like oh it says you says you're not, you don't have a fever. So you don't have COVID. And in reality, that beam says you're like 86 degrees. And the guy's like, I don't know. They just told me to do this. So like, that's like, it's really, it doesn't like that. That question doesn't yield any real answers. You know what I mean? That's what I like. That's, that's a, it's a, it's a shameful thing to ask, but you were asked it. So you were just like, yeah, I don't have COVID. It's fine. It's totally fine. And I think, I think you basically, you boosted the resume, right? I,

I dropped a couple of letters off at grounds crew or was I also grounds crew and operations manager? You know what I mean? Like, that's totally fine. I think, I think, I think this, this never needs to come up again. A lot of times, like your partners aren't really interested in talking about what you used to do. Like, especially once you're in it, like, I don't really interested in talking about what you used to do, like especially once you're in it. Like I don't ever want to hear a story about what happened with somebody else. You know, I'm just not interested in it. She never wants to hear any of my stories about what happened and I don't say them. So like once you get through this, there really shouldn't be any other bringing up of this up.

And unless it's like eating at you like that was a ground post story, unless it's like the Raven the Raven or something and you can't go to sleep, I think you'd ever have to bring this up ever again. This is totally fine. You boosted your resume and be like, yeah, I've been there. I'm not a psycho. I know how to handle things. And as long as you can pull it off, if the relationship goes well, then this never needs to come up again. So I think you're overthinking this completely. And you're all good. It's nice that you got a conscience, though. No, it is cool that he cares. And clearly, you know, he obviously really likes this girl and wants it to work out. But I actually think it's kind of a it's you accidentally backed into kind of a great scenario for yourself here. Because

if it becomes an issue, like if she starts asking your friends about your said living situation that you lied about this early on, that's probably a massive red flag that she's like that hung up on it still. And if she catches you in the lie and you just say, hey, yeah, I don't know why I said that. Like, I don't know, which is I just really like you. And she's still mad at you about that. Then she's probably not the one, dude. So I kind of feel like either it's going to go away, never going to be a problem again, or it's going to come up in like the next week or so or month with your friends. It's going to be a huge red flag. So I actually kind of think you're fine here. And then again, the conscious thing, as you said, Ryan, if you really feel that bad about it and you tell her a couple of months from now after you guys really

kind of get along and are really settling in and like each other a lot and you say, hey, I'm really sorry. I don't want to say this. I don't want to I don't want our relationship to be built on lies, but I have to come up, come, you know, come clean about this situation. That's kind of like a that's kind of an awesome thing for you to be like, oh, he's like he really cares. And I think she's going to value that. So I actually think you're in a great spot, even though you're kind of an awesome thing for you to be like, oh, he really cares. And I think she's going to value that. So I actually think you're in a great spot, even though you're kind of freaking out internally. Yeah. And I still can't get over how great the one photo Tinder thing is of the one photo house listing on Zillow.

That is one of Kyle's all. I mean, it's just fucking incredible. I haven't seen you since Thursday, so I have to do something. Thanks. It's so good. I wish I had thought of it. And I love Zillow. But I guess the Tinder part, I'd never really connected and it's just, it's really good. And I want it to get its, it get its love. All right, let's get another one in here.

Um, the reunion time coming around. Not really actually. Uh, well, this guy's in Perth. I don't know what the rules are down there. 27, six, two kilos. Currently playing two nights a week of social basketball, a game reminiscent of a young Tyler Hansborough. Gym around three, four times a week. Was that my 10-year high school reunion a couple months back? Was a decent night. I didn't go. Did you guys go to your, are you guys, Kyle, you were just. My class didn't do it. Yeah, I was looking. I see the class after me. They're pretty tight. My class didn't do it. Yeah, I was looking. I see the class after me. They're pretty tight. My class didn't didn't do it. So and now and now I get like I searched one time and now yearbook.com and alumni people and, you know, find your classmates are all just flooding my inbox just because I checked

to see if we had one. We didn't have one. And now I've got a bunch of spam from all these different yearbook people. So, yeah, I didn't get it. So maybe maybe we'll be there for a 15 or 20, but no 10. bunch of spam from all these different yearbook people so um yeah i didn't get it uh so maybe maybe we'll be there for our 15 or 20 but no 10 so rudy i did i went to the five and the 10 five you guys liked each other well no no so prideful guy i'll blame it on like i was really good friends with the class treasurer and she kind of like guilt tripped the rest of our friend

group into going to this thing. But like, I think secretly deep down, we kind of did want to go. So it was kind of an excuse to be like, Oh, I didn't actually want to go, but now I have to go.

So if I'm being honest with myself, I probably did want to go. I don't know that I'm that. It's cool. I think it's cool that you wanted to go. I mean, I think what's way worse and we're going to get to this at the end of this, but,

but the guy that desperately wants to go, but somehow wants you to think he doesn't want to go have other interests yeah i mean it was like you know there's people that i talked to there's people that i didn't talk to it was good to catch up with some guys that i played football with but you know i wasn't like you know i'm not like a social butterfly here so i wasn't talking actually my wife probably talked to more people than i did when i was there because she's a little bit more talkative than i am in those situations but it was fun like i'd recommend it i don't know it's not the end of the world i want to go just in case anyone from the class of 2011 than I did when I was there because she's a little bit more talkative than I am in those situations. But it was fun. Like, I'd recommend it. I don't know.

It's not the end of the world. I want to go. Just in case anyone from the class of 2011 is listening. I want to go get this shit together, guys. I didn't go. It was the vineyard in the winter. And I was at that point in the winter, huh? That usually, yeah.

It's usually like around Thanksgiving, right? See, I got a reference point here. So I don't know. October. I mean, our UVM reunion was fucking awful. And we'd had a couple of really good ones. This past one was supposed to be the biggest one. And it was the worst one.

No offense to the handful of people that I hung out with. Thanks for listening, Todd. One girl started crying, being like, I can't believe our class. The school, we have no spirit. And I was like all right i gotta i called my local buddies they were like aren't you isn't it reunion and i was like no we're going out like fuck that it's over it's over uh yeah my high school when i i didn't go to any of those um i guess it got like really wild really wild vineyard the winter man don't know don't know how to explain it other than nobody keep going somehow nobody understands it no like the cops rated it like four or five dudes Really wild. Really wild. Vineyard of the Winter Man. Don't know how to explain it. Other than.

Gotta keep warm somehow. Nobody understands it. No, like the cops raided it. Like four or five dudes got arrested. It's like crazy. Yeah. All right. Moving on.

All right. So this guy's in Perth. Hansborough's 30. So he's at the reunion. Decent night. Most people ended up kicking on until about 1 a.m. Was catching up with a former mate who I went to primary school with. That means elementary school for those of you they don't speak Australian yeah Kaganon is drinking yeah yeah I love the way these dudes talk to you honestly so I don't want it to sound as if uh yeah we had Bogut on I could listen to Bogut talk forever no figures

figures you would why I'm Mr. No, figures. Figures you would. Why? I'm Mr. Euro, not Mr. Australia. Come on. There's a joke in there, but I'll leave it alone. Had a friendly enough chat reminiscing about the old days. Then we got on this topic of this PlayStation game we used to play together. Ratchet & Clank, in case

Kyle is familiar. I actually know that game. Kyle, I mean, were you a big Vids guy? Yeah, I was. I didn't have a lot of money in the budget for it, but Blockbuster used to rent games at a pretty cheap clip. So yeah, every Friday I would go to Blockbuster and get a game that I could hold down for a couple days. That was fun.

Would you return the wrong one on purpose and keep the new one? I think I may have switched the disc one time just because i wasn't really ready to let go of that uh jack and daxter game but um but you know so it's so it mom's like if you do that again we're never gonna go back there so um yeah i after a while i didn't do that but yeah i yeah i was a big video game guy for sure it's rudy i am a big video game guy. A lot of people, not as much as there used to be with the kid around, but yeah, some weekend

league FIFA action. Not as much Call of Duty recently, unfortunately. The game actually kind of sucked at the end there, but I've heard the new map is kind of fun. And then, what else have we played? I don't know. Just like random stuff. I tried Rocket League recently. I'm terrible at it. Is anybody good at it? Love it. It seems impossible. That game seems so hard like i'm terrible at it so my younger brother

my younger brother is insanely good at it and i tried to play with him and he actually told me after he's like this is the worst game you can play if you're not good at it i was like it checks out i'm having the worst time ever and that was it it's just physics guys that's all yeah all right the guy who's really wondering what's going on here is the dude who wrote the email right all right so uh we were joking about firing it back up again ratchet and clank i didn't make much of the chat passing it off as your usual drunken plans which never go anywhere i get it man we all get it cut to the next morning and he's messaging me about catching up and playing this video game don't get me and he's messaging me about catching up and playing this video game don't get me wrong he's a nice enough guy but just not really into catching up

with a guy i haven't seen in 10 years to play an old video game at the time i had wisdom teeth surgery coming up and said we should teach something up afterwards i said this thinking the conversation would then trail off which it did that was until yesterday now months later that he messaged me to play this game again what do i say to get out of this or should i just make the effort and go as i've said the guy is fine but i'm just not into the idea and feel awkward about feigning interest previously yeah i think there's a major flag on this one that the night or the morning after the reunion. So this puts you at like the 27, 28 year old age range that the first thing this guy thought of

was to ask you to come over and play the video game. He still wants to start that business we talked about at 2 a.m. Damn it, I thought you were going to let that go, dude. Yeah, right. Like, hey, send over your proof of financials and we'll see if we can get this, you know, our slushy van going.

Like, dude, I i gotta get a couple couple glasses of ice water in me here first and like wait what are you what you got loan paperwork already queued up in the email how many bacon egg and cheese trucks i've pitched dudes out in la at two in the morning and then i just i leave it there i leave it there at two in the morning i'm like no one gets how to make it right here there's always goat cheese or bagels i just want to nobody even knows what i'm talking about when i'm talking about a hard roll and anytime it's a dude from the east coast he's like yeah we fucking should do that and then and then it disappears and i know it that's fine that's what this guy should have done yeah that's that's where business is done that never gets done his last call thank you that's this is i remember one of the first times I thought I was going to

buy a bar, it was because we were at a bar talking about it in our 20s. I called my dad and my dad was like, were you guys drinking when you put this plan together? I was like, yes. And he's like, good luck. And guess what? It never went anywhere. I will not be an investor. Yeah. My father called me out immediately. Again, I wasn't asking him for money, but I was trying to prove it. I was like, yeah, I got something in the works now because you know i had nothing going on so i would give my father like potential life updates the quarterly update yeah a little less of a loser and then he would every time he'd be like that doesn't sound like it's gonna work and i'd be like okay um and then he just got sick of me pitching and then one time when i yeah again

i've already told the story all right uh i think there's some problems here though this guy's not gonna let it go which tells you what as we just talked about with sarah walsh on the friendship stuff this guy desperately wants you to be his friend and i think i've learned as i've gotten older that it's one thing in the relationship when you show too much interest it can be this weird turn off where you're in this prove yourself window with the opposite sex i think for dudes it's even worse 100 you almost have to act like you're so fucking cool you don't want to hang out with the guys that you want to hang out with right and you kind of have to play this role and not have anything be too deep too soon um because then all of a sudden it's like what the fuck

whereas you know again back to something we've talked about before when it's male friends if you grew up and fucked up with each other then there's a tolerance for each other that is almost irreplicable with somebody newer as you get older being like my tolerance for you is that like zero it's like maybe you're a one out of a hundred and if you're 40 and i've met you and you're 40 and you fuck up like once I'm like dude over I'm not doing this so uh despite you having this thing where you he was your mate from primary school uh even if you did it even if you went and played ratchet and clank at his house when you hadn't seen him before you may have fun but this is only going to lead to more invitations to other stuff and if you wanted to reconnect with Sky or you thought it'd be good maybe maybe there is a positive. Is there potential business? Cause you open a bar together

one day. You know what I'm saying? Like, is there any, if you're one of those operators, that's like, Oh, like I met up with somebody that hadn't seen it forever. And we were very aligned on a lot of stuff that we were doing. And we're like, we should be talking more about stuff. And I was like, I agree with you. We will, we will follow up. We will keep in touch. But if you feel like with this thing, you know, there's no benefit to you and there's no benefit to him and you clearly don't like him enough to write this email.

I think him asking the morning after is weird. I think asking months after is weird. He may not have any friends. And then if you show interest, I think it's worse for dudes with dudes when the one dude has no friends. It's like, hey, I may have met a friend like your fucking summer camp and the kids by himself. And he asked if you want to ride bikes with them. And then five minutes later, he's like, do you want to be best friends?

You're like, fucking a dude. Take it easy. Like we just went for a bike ride anyway. So, yeah, I don't remember. This is one of those cases where like the beginning of those email that we started reading. I don't remember any of the specifics because it feels like that was 40 minutes ago. But if he is he out of the time change. Yeah, of course.

If he is like, is he out of town? I was thinking like it would be mean to be like, I'll catch you at the next reunion. We'll definitely do it then because you're basically saying fuck off for five years. But maybe if it's like Thanksgiving night before sort of deal, you could be like yeah we're gonna go out to the bars but maybe i'll pre-game a ratchet and clank with you at your crib or something like if you you know one of those things where it's like because i don't know if this dude's in the hometown never left and you're not or everyone's in the hometown i don't i don't know where you guys are spatially to each other but you could just sort of push it off to one of those. I'll be in town going to go fuck around downtown,

but you know, maybe we could pregame a little ratchet and clank to get the sky off your back. Otherwise just never answer them. I think that's what you're going to have to do. And you'll just have to just have to deal with that at the next reunion. But I think it's either a or B. I think it's either you,

you soft commit to something that's far enough away that you just keep kicking that can down the road or just disappear. Just ghost the guy. As somebody who recently had a Super Smash Brothers eight-person in-person tournament at a bachelor party, I understand the guys. There is some nostalgia about playing video games with your friends together in one place. Like it is fun to play Call of Duty. It's fun to play FIFA online.

But, you know, there is something about like having a fantasy draft in like, you know, MVP 05 baseball with your buddies in a basement. But I just don't know that at age 25 and then you get into your third, like once you get kind of older, it's weird. And then it's even more weird to do that one on one on one like i would never call up one of my buddies and we all talk about this all the time like i'd love to go back and play conflict desert storm on the original xbox nice people fuck yeah game itself no online play like this that was the prime of video game like video games now suck because everything everybody scams the system there's bots in there people are like modding their systems it all depends on your internet connection dudes are like 12 year olds are talking shit about you all the time and dms like it kind of sucks but i would never call up one of my buddies and be like hey you want to come over

and play one like just the two of us play a video game together that's just that's just odd do you want to beat this game tonight yeah like we're not going to sleep till we beat the game like so i could have nostalgia for it but i don't want to i don't think it's cool we just can't do it again so i think the simple solution here is can you just give the guy your gamer tag um and just say hey man like i just i don't have a ton of time to like come over or whatever and as as kyle said i don't remember exactly what the like how far they were or like how often they see each other how easy it is for them to see each other because the email was a while ago but i think i think just give them your gamer tag and be like yeah hey like i'm on rocket

league every couple weeks or you know I play Duty every couple weeks like hop in our clan like you know do that at least you're like you're giving them an olive branch but you don't have to hang out with them one on one I like it I think that's the best advice yeah yeah that's the best I just think that anyone that's this aggressive I don't think it's about Ratchet

and Clank man I think it's about you two guys so I think i mean honestly the email didn't do a great job of like suggesting what other than the specifics of the timeline like the problem is is the guy should have slow played it the guy should have slow played it just like you do in a relationship um you know or you should have just been like ah you know maybe i want to play ride shit clank with that guy i don't know i'm not sure i want to though maybe i'll text maybe i'll text you about in two days not the fucking morning

before you know like you don't drop a date off and then text her an hour later be like what's your favorite movie you know like so um i think saruti nailed it there that way you sort of appease him a little bit and then again if he freaks out like friendship psycho desperation where he's like i thought we were going to do it in person you said at the reunion we would do it in person you're like all right cable guy yes and and then you don't even have to feel bad about it because you avoided what it likely be a much bigger hassle later on yeah it's not that guy's fault for being excited about it at at the reunion uh drunk i've been so excited about so many things. And then four o'clock the next day, dudes are like,

where are you? I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about? They're like, dude, my store, you said you were going to come to my store opening today. And I'm like,

oh man, in Covina, right? Shit. That seems way more specific. Well, I'm just saying I've been super excited about stuff. And then it's just,

I didn't even remember who the guy was and it's like who's this 203 number uh they're like where are you i mean it's not the first where are you text i got dudes have been getting excited late at night about future plans for a long time it's never gonna stop that's what i mean that's not your fault that's the fun part of that part of the night is all the stuff that you're talking about that you're never going to do. It's in our DNA. Yeah, I don't want that.

I don't want anyone in that group. I don't want anyone in that group to be like, hey, you know, none of us are going to do any of this. Yeah, why don't we just calm down guys? The amount of times I've bought a beach or like I said, a lake house in Millinocket, Maine with three of my buddies be like, yeah, let's just put 20% 20 down we'll each go up a couple weekends we can spend some time there and all of our wives and girlfriends look at each other like thank god

they're not gonna well they just know we're not gonna follow through on these plans but we talk about it every time we go out it's just what you do and then you just never follow up on it yeah i think the cool part about being older is that you you already know how full of shit you are and you just do it again yeah you just say you tell the same stories over and over and over like somebody was telling a story i forget there was a few of us that were together it was months ago and the guy was like i don't know and i go i don't care i've heard the story eight times i want to hear the ninth and i go just think like we're only in the awareness phase of the repeating. We're 20 years away from not even being aware how repetitive it is.

So we might as well do it now knowing we're still fucking playing the same notes and realizing it. This is only the awareness part where at the beginning it was fun to tell the story for the first or second time. Okay. That's life advice.

International, baby. Life advice with Kyle, Steve. Thanks. That's life advice. International, baby. Life advice with Kyle, Steve. Thanks as always for the podcast. We have a pretty cool setup, a little later release. And a reminder, we're going to do our sweet 16 of dudes on Thursday.

And I'm not quite sure how it's going to work out on the worst dudes of the 16 and how it'll be seeded. But we're going to do it because we've been talking about it for a little while. And then we get John Horst on, who's the Milwaukee Bucks general manager. So Tuesday, Thursday, Sundays with Bill. See you on Thursday. Outro Music