The Ryen Russillo Podcast - NBA "State of the Association" Address, Plus LSU's Future and the Top of Every Major Conference With Bruce Feldman

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

The NBA is back and Ryen opens with his “State of the Association” address (0:34). Next, he chats with The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman about Ed Orgeron’s exit from LSU and who could be the next coach in Baton Rouge, Spencer Rattler’s future, and the top teams in each conference (6:39). Finally, Ryen closes it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (40:52).  Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Bruce Feldman Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Press Box is here to catch you up on the latest media stories. Hosted by Brian Curtis and David Shoemaker, these guys have the insight on the biggest stories you care about. Check out The Press Box on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Coming up on today's podcast, the State of the Association, Life Advice, and Bruce Feldman. What's going on with Coach O, the next step for LSU.

We run around the five major conferences. It's now time for my annual State of the Association. And I want to start by addressing the coastal elites. Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Phoenix, and Milwaukee. I've heard a lot of old jokes about the Lakers, but I love old people. Ask them about fruit or what transportation used to be like. Here's an exercise. If you're driving around with an old person, you go past a hill, you could say,

Hey, Gramps, you think that hills change shapes? Content for days. But you have to respect the Lakers for both their domestic contributions like Russell Westbrook and LeBron James and the foreign affairs of Carmelo Anthony. Milwaukee has invested in defense. They were the 11th best offense out of 16 teams in the playoffs, but clearly the best defense. And it's the only weapon we've ever imported from Greece. They were the 11th best offense out of 16 teams in the playoffs, but clearly the best defense, and it's the only weapon we've ever imported from Greece.

Phoenix. You know I love Phoenix, but we have a saying in real estate. If you can't afford the HOA, don't buy the house. Kevin Durant is the best player in the world, but he needs to be better at picking allies. Going from Steph to Kyrie is like telling England you've decided to roll with North Korea. Kyrie is a voice for the voiceless on a very politicized topic regarding vaccines. I don't know what that means. I'm not sure he does either, but I give Kyrie credit for this. We have asked you to socially distance by six feet.

Kyrie Irving has distanced himself from reality. Philadelphia. They are proof that not working and getting assistance through draft picks is not always a solution. But I am worried about the American worker. Specifically working conditions. France is leading the charge, proposing a four-day work week. I applaud Ben Simmons for attempting a zero-day work week.

Let's go to the Pacific Northwest, our dear friends in Portland. I believe the standing of living has never been better. And I know not all of Portland supports a capitalistic economy, but if Norman Powell can make $90 million, I'd argue things have never been better. And I know not all of Portland supports a capitalistic economy, but if Norman Powell can make 90 million, I'd argue things have never been better. Utah. I know what the numbers say, and the numbers say really great things. But one of my favorite economists, who's often wrong, once said, the analysis is right, the data is bad. Atlanta, let's get past our differences.

To my opposition in Atlanta, I've learned to respect the organization and move forward. I hope you can do the same with me. Taxes, let's talk about them. I made a mistake a year ago. I propose we raise taxes because we need a higher luxury tax in the NBA. We have 10 tax teams paying over $600 million in luxury tax penalties to 20 franchises. We're rewarding for not spending more money on players. I know what you're thinking, Miami. What about us?

There are two cities in this great country where you can go to pretend to be someone else, Vegas and Miami. And once again, Heat fans are pretending your team belongs in the title contender conversation. Health care is always a big issue. I propose health care for everyone. in the title contender conversation. Healthcare is always a big issue. I propose healthcare for everyone and let's have the Clippers pay for it. No pre-existing conditions. You don't even have to tell them

what's going on with you at any point and you can still get four years and $176 million guaranteed. The heartlands where the good people are, we know that. I love what Indiana is doing. I applaud Detroit for investing in homegrown resources. I am concerned about the number of imports going into Chicago.

Tech is maybe the most important industry. Who knows tech better than Golden State with Apple, Uber, and Draymond Green? Shipping delays. We need stronger harbors. It's been 1,087 days since the last championship in the city of Boston. New York, give me your tired, your poor, and third-tier free agents. Representative Beal still loves his job in our nation's capital. He shows up to work every single day, loves his city, but he has an entire new staff,

which proves that in Dallas, one man can't do it alone. New Orleans, some of the strongest people in this country, the great state of Louisiana. You've been able to get through everything, and I believe you can get through whatever this Zion Williamson story will be. If both Whitney Houston and the Thunder believe that children are our future, that's good enough for me. Family is still the foundation of success, and no better example of that than Charlotte.

Although I don't know if it's the best example if the father tells the coach he sucks in two weeks into the season. We need to restore our national parks and monuments, like the San Antonio Spurs. I want to also mention our neighbors to the north, Toronto. There's a lot of Canadians that live here that tell us we do everything wrong, but I'd say Toronto's doing it right when it comes to hiring. Hiring from places that don't normally supply NBA talent.

New Mexico State, Wichita, and Indiana. Voter rights. I believe we need less people registered to vote for MVP. Mark Jackson had a fifth place vote in 1999. P.J. Brown in 2005, when you could have voted for Nash, Shaq, Dirk, Duncan, Allen Iverson, or LeBron, someone voted P.J. Brown fifth. We need less voters. And finally, Houston. I know it's challenging as a border state, but this is another wall Mexico

is not going to pay for. Bruce Feldman. Let's talk some college football from Fox Sports and part of their national coverage and also college football writer for The Athletic. All right. Coach O is out. He's going to stay the rest of the season.

He's going to buy out over $17,021,000 just after an epic run of 19. What happened? Honestly, Ryan, I think it's really as simple as this. He didn't win enough over the last year and a half. And he's working for an AD in Scott Woodward, who's not the AD who hired him. Scott Woodward's a guy who likes to make flashy hires. When he was the AD at Washington, he got Chris Peterson to leave Boise State and go there.

He got Jimbo Fisher when he was at Texas A&M to leave FSU. He got Kim Mulkey at LSU to leave Baylor. She was obviously a very successful women's coach there. I really think it comes down to that. If he won more, he's still there. I think really at the core of that, after the national title season, Ogeron made a really bad hire

on the defensive side of the ball with Bo Pelini. That was a disastrous hire. And then the offensive coordinator hire, our pass game coordinator wasn't a great move either. And then this year, when the pressure was mounting, he ended up hiring two really first green and first time play callers, Jake Peets on offense, Durante Jones on defense. Durante Jones was probably his fifth choice that he got to. And those guys still might prove to be pretty good coordinators, but there were a lot of growing pains.

I mean, you and I were both in the Rose Bowl when UCLA and Chip Kelly's staff really outcoached LSU that day. I don't want to say that was the beginning of the end, but I think at that point on, he was really on thin ice against Auburn at home. Bo Nix got him, made some great plays. They ended up losing a close game. They were up 13-0 and lost that game.

And then they really got embarrassed at Kentucky where they got the ball run down their throats. And I think from that point on, I know from talking to Ogeron last Friday, before they played Florida, I said, if you win the next couple of games, because they had Florida and then Ole Miss before Alabama, I said, if you win the next couple of games, because they had Florida and then Ole Miss before Alabama,

I said, do you think you have a shot? And he's like, no, I think it's done. And as we talked further, even talking to him Saturday after they actually beat Florida, and they were a double-digit underdog, and they had like half a team, I said, do you think you have a shot? And he was like, no, he kind of knew it it was over so it's interesting how it played out i mean you

won a national title in the in the uh in the state you grew up in and you get fired a year and a half later or season half later it's pretty crazy all right so you're talking to him and he's telling you like i don't think there's any chance of me sticking around was there anything else that he told you that you could share with us that you think is like insightful into how this went so bad so quickly after the title? You know, I think, Ryan, like a lot of people will point to, hey, he had Joe Burrow and that was all Joe Burrow or Joe Brady was the wonder kind,

you know, offensive coordinator, you know, in this case, actually passing game coordinator. But I think it was a lot of things that all fell into place for them to win the national title and have arguably the best season any college football team's ever had,

what they did in 2019 going 15-0. I mean, look, he was the one who found Joe Brady. Nobody was trying to hire Joe Brady at that point. He got Joe Burrow. I mean, Urban Meyer and Ohio State weren't, you know, give him the keys to the offense. And then I think you had some other pieces that fell into place. Justin Jefferson turned out to be way better than people thought. At least the recruiting guys thought. Obviously, Jamar Chase

was a special player. Patrick Queen. There were some of those. Well, then after they win the title, you know, it felt like almost everything that could have gone wrong did. I mean, obviously, a bigger thing is the pandemic, right? But then you had, not just losing a lot of great players to the NFL, but then you had a bunch of opt-outs coming in with guys saying, you know what, you know, remember the pandemic really hit New Orleans really hard early. And I think that was a, you know, an impactful thing. As I said, you know, he made some bad decision with the coordinators. I also think he made some big mistakes and critical mistakes in terms of handling the locker room. It was obviously a really challenging time in the country for a lot of reasons. And I think some of the things he did, some of the statements he made, he stepped in it a few times. That only made it worse. And I think it was kind of a combination of a lot of things that got them to this point. I think at some point, it was interesting because the guy who

failed at Ole Miss, he recruited well, but he didn't trust anybody around him and he micromanaged. That was not him when he was at LSU. But I think in the last, probably after the national title year, I think things got to be very shaky. And I think he didn't know a lot of the people that all of a sudden had to become his inner circle. And I just think the balance was way off. And I think some of those things... When he said in his press conference, I don't regret anything. I don't know if he thought about it for a long time. So yeah, I could have made a better hire there, a better hire there. But I think the thing that I took from my conversations with him actually before the Florida game were, he's 60 years old. with me something about, you know, just kind of the perspective he had, something his dad told him before he passed away 10 years earlier, which was just about, you know, life balance and where you're at and kind of the grind of the coaching life. And I think for people like, oh, he's

looking for his next job or what's he going to do next? You know, after you coach at your dream school and you lead them to arguably the greatest season anyone's ever had, I don't know where you go, you know, what's the next coaching job. He's already coached as an assistant in the NFL. He didn't really love that. I don't see him wanting to go be somebody's D-line coach or defensive coordinator or recruiting coordinator. And I don't see him going to a school that he doesn't feel like is, you know, has much of a connection to. So I really thought, maybe he had plenty of time to think about this, but I thought he was kind of at peace with the way this was headed

because it was like, you know what? Ultimately, they don't want me here at this point. And, you know, I'm not going to keep fighting that battle. I've already proven to myself what I'm capable of. We won a national title. I don't care if anybody says, oh, it was because of Jamar Chase or it was because of Joe Brady or Joe Burrow. I know the real story of that. I think he's very much at peace with that. That's probably why I think he's fine with

coaching out the rest of the year at LSU because I think he really does care about LSU in itself. And also, he's obviously walking away with $17 million. That's quite a parting gift. Yeah, that part is not going to get him a ton of sympathy. There's two things that I want to hit on. Because when you had last year players say, we're going to march through the campus, and he had a practice scheduled. I can see the old school football guy going, hey, we have a practice. But what he doesn't realize is that's just not going to fly. Like, especially when something is important, social justice to

young students. And they're saying, no, we're not, we're not showing up. And he handled it wrong because I just think for a lot of people, it was a wake up call and some outdated thinking. And, and he just, I don't think it was necessarily malicious. I don't know enough, but you'd know more about it than I would, But it was something he just didn't get it. He didn't get it. And that was going to be a disconnect for a group of players that, you know, if there was one thing we always thought about Coach O was that guys would run through a wall for him everywhere he went.

Loved the guy. And then that turned very quickly off of last year with all the guys opting out, which is funny because then they beat Florida. And then the same thing happens before the Florida game this year. Like year like oh this guy's gone for the season i understand summer injuries but this is two years of weight everybody's always been like even if you thought kocho wasn't a great in-game guy there's always been this tremendous buy-in for the personality and this is the first time he's probably ever experienced this career to his own undoing where now all of a sudden it's

like no guys are actually bailing on you and that might've been the biggest factor in all of this. Yeah. I think there's an expression that to me holds up really well here. It's like, read the room. I don't think he read the room. And I honestly don't know in terms of, I think he has a really good understanding of people and street smarts. I think these issues, I think were things that honestly that were hard for him. And look, they're hard for a lot of coaches to get their hands around, especially coaches who are older, right? He's 60 years old. I know that Brandon Staley, who's here in Southern California with the Chargers, he had a very thoughtful response

in the wake of the John Gruden stuff a couple of days after. And he's a guy in his 30gers. He had a very thoughtful response in the wake of the John Gruden stuff a couple of days after. And he's a guy in his 30s. He's obviously really intelligent. I think that resonates with a lot of people. And I think in Ed's case, like I said, he's 60. I also think he's of a certain mindset. He's not, to my knowledge, and I feel like I know him pretty well, he's not political at all. You know, the fact that he ended up stepping in it and getting, you know, another part of this was, you know, he does an appearance on Fox news and he gets asked, you know, a couple of times about Donald Trump and he had visited the white house with LSU. And so Donald Trump was like, you know, you know, was like a fan of his,

I think that was a, that all of a sudden became a, like a volatile situation in a locker room that a bunch of players were not, were not comfortable with that. And I think that added to what it was already some friction, you know, again, and like, just what I know of him, but there's a lot more head football coaches in college football who are a lot more politically wired than Ed Ogeron is. I would guess almost all of them are. And maybe for that reason, that came to jump up and bite him. I don't know. I took down there, he ended up getting into a little bit of hot water on the other side of the political equation because he's good friends with the governor of Louisiana, who is a Democrat. And I think he had spoken at a luncheon there and that riled up some Republican politicians there. And again, I don't, to what I know of him, he is apolitical and he is just not, you know, something that he's, you know,

he's not very wired for. And so the fact that that all of a sudden kind of became part of an issue, you know, it's, it, it just, you know, he really stepped in it. That's, that's the only way I could describe it. I don't think that's ultimately what, you know, cost him his job. It certainly didn't help when you had all this other drama going on around though and also you had like i said you know the staff change didn't help him either right and if they're five and one and this is happening which you both know there's something that i need to figure out more on because i know what i've heard and i saw it in the espn report where some of the espn stuff you're like yeah i mean coach oak got that one wrong and then some of the other stuff it's like hey eric ESPN stuff, you're like, yeah, I mean, coach O got that one wrong.

And then some of the other stuff, it's like, Hey, Eric Gilbert transferred. And you're like, all right, well, come on. I'm like, then you don't know what's going on. You know, if you're going to get on his case about that one, um, the Polini hire, even in the ESPN piece. And I know I've read all your stuff too. I like, do we know, or is it ever going to be told what actually happened with the Pelini hire? Because O gets killed for the hire because they're saying he never interviewed him.

And I'm like, well, that tells me that maybe he wasn't involved in the hiring part of it. And yet the Pelini hire is one of the first things brought up whenever it's like, oh, O's out of there for all these reasons. And he brought in Pelini, who was a disaster. Pelini made $4 million just walking away away and he was a disaster all last season so i guess the part of me and also based on some of the conversations i have people down there it's like so wait if we're all on the record here saying that oh never interviewed the d coordinator then how much did he really have to do with hiring him or was he just that reckless in the hire which i have a hard time believing the second part yeah yeah there's a lot of stuff to untangle on this part of it um you know obviously you know

his mentor as much as any coach he's been around is pete carroll pete carroll is a big bo pellini guy bo pellini is a protege of pete carroll's and so i think there was that part of it i also think look dave aranda rana ran a three-man front, a 34 defense, and that wasn't really Ed's wheelhouse. Everything they did at Miami was four-man front. Everything they did at USC was based in that. That's what Bo Collini was going to go back to. So I think that part definitely appealed to him.

But then there's the other piece of it that when Bo Collini was at LSU last, they won a national title. And I think there were some people, some important was at LSU last, I mean, they won a national title. And I think there were some people, some important people around LSU who were like, really thought he did a terrific job. So I think there was a bunch of stuff that kind of came together.

Just in my understanding, and he never told me this specifically, but in the case of this coaching cycle where he's trying to hire a defensive coordinator, I know it went from like, can we get Jim Leonard? Then we're courting Marcus Freeman. There was another SEC coordinator who he met with who I'm not sure he was like, thinks he's a good coach, but didn't think it was a great fit. He wanted Ryan Nielsen, who was a protege of his, who's the Saints assistant head coach.

And then it got to Durante Jones. With Pelini, I never heard of anybody else he was really considering. So I don't know. Honestly, I never dug deep enough beyond like, huh, you're going to hire Boccholini. And that was about the extent of it. And it obviously, from the air raid opener, when they played Mike Leach's team,

and they made KJ Costello look like a first rounder. Yeah. They make KJ Costello basically look like Peyton Manning. Um, and they got shredded and then it was, you're digging out of a hole from there. And I think that, um, you know, it, it, to me, that was, I don't want to say it was the beginning of the end, but it kind of, that part felt like it more than anything else. Because then all of a sudden now, some of the people who he had talked to, I think about if he was going to try to hire them, I think they knew coming into this year, the AD wants to fire him. It was like, man, he went on the hot seat in a big hurry, which is like in warp speed time by coaching circles.

For a guy who won a national title. You have a piece up on The Athletic, kind of listened through all the possibilities. You threw a lot of names out there. Can I ask you, because I want to finish on this. Dabo wouldn't actually do this, would he? I didn't think so. So I started working on that piece, And then I got contacted by somebody who's pretty close to Scott Woodward, the AD at LSU. And he said, you're missing a big name.

We talked about it. He said, Woodward really likes Dabo. Now, Dabo's buyout's only $3 million. But my point is, why would Dabo leave? He has great facilities. They are really committed to him. He's a god there. And he is in the ACC where by the way, Miami and Florida state are still spinning their wheels. There is no competitor there. Then he would jump into the, to the SEC West, which is as loaded a division as there's probably ever been in college football. To me, he's already making a fortune. So I didn't see, but then this person said, look, he's going to make them say no. And so from everything I've heard about Scott Woodward is he realized, you know what, I'm going to take a shot. I'm not

going to be the one who's worried about saying I got turned down by Lincoln Riley or Dabo Sweeney or Jimbo Fisher. From what I was told, he already had a conversation with Jimbo Fisher about this before my story was up, at least on Sunday. That's what I was told. Those guys don't have big buyouts. I think it probably doesn't hurt him at all to ask. What will be fascinating is who they land on. As I reported over the weekend, there's some really influential people inside LSU that are enamored with Mel Tucker. Mel Tucker is in year three as a head coach. This will be his first year as a first winning season. But he is a Saban assistant.

He was there at LSU. People there really respect him. He knows the conference from his time later at Alabama and then as a Georgia defensive coordinator. But again, it's a gamble just because the track record. A lot of these guys, if you get past the first wave of names, you just fired a head coach in less than two seasons who won a national title. That is the standard. I mean, you know who you're going up against in that division, especially if Jimbo's not leaving Texas A&M. Now it's Saban and Jimbo and the rest

of it's not that easy. Then you've got Kirby Smart recruiting like a madman on the other side. I am very fascinated to see what LSU lands on. What do you think ends up happening with the Big Ten, where all these teams start to face each other now? I had

Ohio State a couple weeks ago against our friend Van Pelt to alma mater, and it got ugly fast. I think they figured out some stuff right now. To me, I would not bet against Ohio State coming out of there. Their offense is, to me, the most explosive in the country. CJ Stroud is a really good young quarterback. Travion Henderson is a phenomenal player.

He may be the best running back Ohio State's had in, I don't know. I don't want to go back to like Archie Griffin kind of stuff because then you're talking about, but past Dobbins, maybe past Ezekiel Elliott. I mean, he's really special. The offensive line's good. They have the best group of receivers. And now the defense, I think they figured some stuff out. I don't think they're going to be great. I feel like they're going to be a little bit, they're going to be great. I feel like they're going to be a little bit, they're going to be probably better than what the Oklahoma defenses have been,

but that's a lot better than what they were when they played Oregon. Then you have Penn State, which I feel like is relatively limited. I mean, Sean Clippard was hurt. That hurt them. I feel like they're pretty good on defense. I feel like Penn State is not a real,

legit, can get in the playoff and win a national title game. I feel like the same for Michigan State. Mel Tucker's done a really good job, but they barely survived against Indiana. They barely survived against Nebraska. I think Michigan is better, but I don't think they're that much better. So to me, unless Ohio State has a meltdown, I think Ohio State is coming out of there at 12-1. They're going to beat everybody they face. I don't think their margin for error is what it used to be, but

just because their defense is really shaky. But I do think their defense is better now than what it was at the beginning of the year with Matt Barnes running it. I feel like what has helped them is now some of these young guys in the secondary have some experience because they looked really lost, Ryan, when Joe Moorhead in Oregon

kind of tore them up back in Columbus in mid-September. Give me a sense now, a week removed, what's going to happen with Spencer Rattler. I don't think, from what we know, and I think we talked to some of the same people, that the NFL people are like, yeah, he could come out and he'll be a first round pick. I mean, you look at him, you've seen him in person. There's no wow factor physically with Spencer Rattler. He runs okay, but nothing

special. Physically, he's not a big guy. You wonder how well he would hold up. He throws it well, but it's not like we're talking about Russell Wilson's arm here either. And then there's honestly some, I don't want to say some character questions, but it's not like he's wowing people in that regard. He had some baggage when he left high school. I don't know if people love how he's handled some of this.

As it goes, I just think it's probably in his best interest if Caleb Williams keeps playing close to how he's played in the first couple times we've seen him, Caleb Williams is going to be the guy and they may be a national title team with how good their offenses look with him in it.

I just think if you're Spencer Rattler, you're going, okay, what's my next option? I got to probably transfer someplace else. What does that mean? Does that mean I try to go to someplace that. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean I try to, you know, go to someplace that's one player away that needs a quarterback that I can jump in and, and spark and, you know, have kind of a, a Jalen Hurts kind of, um, you know, he's

not the same kind of player as Jalen, but obviously, you know, sort of a similar arc to his career. Um, I don't know. I think that's because if he goes to the draft, I'd be surprised if he's taken in the top 75 picks. I just don't know who's going to, from what we've seen so far, I don't know what anybody's going to go. Yeah.

I think he can be a franchise quarterback. Did they know Caleb was better the whole time? And just be like, Hey, this is the best way to do this. Like we haven't seen Caleb in a game. Let's let's, you know, Spencer was better at the end of last year. Because I can't imagine what those practices are like now that we've seen Caleb Williams,

especially the running element that he brings and the size. I just wonder what those practices were like and what the honest conversations were with the staff would kind of meet later that night. The only thing I had heard that, you know, kind of gives credence to him not having a job was his understanding, his grasp of the system wasn't where they felt like it really needed to be. Not a knock on him. It's just a young quarterback getting up to speed when you think you have a all-American caliber quarterback. Like I, I do think that from some of the conversations

I've had with OU staffers, um, and I don't want to say you and I know more about Spencer Rattler than they do, because they see him every day at practice. But I wonder if they... It feels like they overestimated just how good of a quarterback he is. Not that he can be, but how he is. I mean, you know this. You and I both know Jim Donnan. For a year and a half, Jim Donnan has been telling me, Caleb Williams is going to overtake Spencer Rattler. You watch. And then I checked with guys on their staff, saying, what's the chance? And then even this summer, he said the same thing. And Donnan was right. He had seen him in camps and he knew how gifted that Caleb Williams is. And I think he obviously coached at Oklahoma. so he knows some people there probably have a better feel for

everything going on around Spencer Rattler. But it's a really interesting subplot that actually may be more than a subplot to this season, depending on if Caleb Williams can make a run at the Heisman. It's still too early to say that's a real thing yet, but they're undefeated and they're

dangerous. And we know Lincoln's a really good coach. And a lot of's a really good coach and he, he like a lot of stuff could fall into place now in the second half of the season. Like I think they are the most intriguing team to watch because they're definitely better than they've been on defense. It's not to say they're great, but they're better.

Um, they have really good receivers. The running backs are good. I feel like, you know what he does in the run game. Like they've had guys, obviously Kyler could fly, and Baker was a decent runner,

and obviously Jalen Hurts was a physical guy. Now this guy brings a similar dimension. I think it's going to be exciting to see what he can do, but again, he's still young. There's probably going to be some games where he may turn it over three times. No, you're right.

I mean, we're brutal on these young QBs. I mean, you come in and it's like, hey, you had a pick. Oh my God, he had two picks in this game. It's like, hey, everybody is going to like, you know, even Clemson when I watched DJ there and I can't believe the offense is this bad and you expect the defense still good, but they struggle with Syracuse. You know, I mean, I watched that whole game because I was like, let me catch myself up on Clemson here. And even with some of the injuries of Clemson's defense, you know, the defense is still good, but they struggle with Syracuse. I watched that whole game because I was like, let me catch myself up on Clemson here. Even with some of the injuries of Clemson's defense,

you know the defense is stacked. It's still going to be good, but they're not turning any kind of page offensively. We're halfway through the season. It's hard. Guys, they're learning right before our eyes. In DJ's case, he's been hyped up so much. I'm not saying he won't be a really special quarterback,

but he's as big as a tight end. He can throw it like Josh Allen. But there's other things that go into it. I mean, I remember talking to a coach who evaluated both Bryce Young and DJ in high school when they were probably like juniors. And he was like, Bryce Young was tiny, but he did a lot of things.

You're like, that really translates. We don't have to, you know, like there was some, I don't want to compare him to Russell Wilson because physically he's not as thick or strong or, you know, that, but there were some things that they saw. Whereas with DJ, it's like, sometimes there was such a wow factor with the velocity in his arm.

And I think people forget, especially there, where like their offensive line's not very good. So when you have things where they're deficient in another way that maybe sometimes us in the media, we overlook, that stuff shows up, right? Where it's like, oh, somebody gets beat outside and all of a sudden something's rushed or whatever. And it's just like, he's learning.

And I still think he's going to be a really good quarterback, but there was drop-off all over the place at Clemson. No ATN, bad offensive line. People figured out what they do. Trevor's a more willing runner than I think DJ is at this stage in his career. I think this is a good... Me personally, I think we're always quick to jump onto the next thing and predict it, and sometimes we miss a couple steps.

Let me finish with Georgia here. This is actually the defense we already know, okay? I mean, every single time you watch Georgia, you're like, oh, okay, wait a minute, who's that guy, whatever, and you're just going through it. You keep a track of like seven, eight different guys that are making big-time plays. I would argue, you know, Zamir White's been their lead back

James Cook, Dalvin's guy there. These are good running backs. I don't look at them as the running backs like they've had stretches where you're like that guy's like that guy's insane. You can correct me if I'm wrong here at any point. Their best playmaker right now is Bowers, the tight end who is undersized when you

compare him to Darnell Washington, who only has three catches but looks like he's Shaq out there. They haven't had Pickens. We know that it's Stenson Bennett when it's not JT. What are they going to end up doing with this offense? What's going to happen at quarterback? Because as great as Bowers is and Ladd is, you still don't feel like you have that crazy receiver threat. I don't know if you disagree with me on the running backs there a little bit, but it's funny that this team is this dominant and some of it's a schedule a little bit and getting Clemson at the right time.

And I'm not doubting them. It's just weird that we're halfway through this and I have no idea what the offense is going to be once the games really start to matter. Right. And think about it. Next week, they're going to play Florida. Florida just got beat by LSU and they got it run down their throats by half an LSU team. So if Georgia, like I don't, I'm not saying Georgia has nothing to gain by beating them 42 to seven,

but I think if they beat them 42 to seven, you just beat a 500 Florida team, right? I, and that's not Georgia's fault. And by the way, to interrupt real quick, is Florida going with Anthony Richardson now the rest of the way or what? I don't know how they don't because... It wasn't even close. Yeah, it's not. And also, he can be really

special. I'm not saying Emory Jones isn't a good player, but I think what you run the risk of if you're Dan Mullen, if you lose Anthony Richardson, who's from basically in UF's backyard, if you lose him to transfer someplace else to jump into the portal, there are going to be people all over you because they already are. I mean, his record in the last eight games against Power 5 opponents is 2-6.

You know, as bad—we talked about LSU earlier. As bad as LSU has been in the last year and a half, they've beat them twice. Once in the swamp. I mean, with half a team last year and half a team this year. twice. Once in the swamp. I mean, with half a team last year and half a team this year. I mean, so if you're Dan Mullen, you cannot afford to misplay the Richardson

situation. They're already going to be calling for Todd Grantham, the defensive coordinator's head. But to go back to the Georgia game, Georgia, I think is just going to maul people the rest of the way until they probably play Alabama in the SEC title game. And then we'll find out more because I think Alabama has,

they have some big people up front, starting with Evan Neal. Bryce Young is a better quarterback than what they've seen. They have some weapons. They have speed outside. I think the part with Georgia that I'm hesitant on, I mean, right now, I think they deserve to be number one.

The part I'm still not sure on is whether it's Stetson Bennett or JT Daniels. Think about the last five national championship teams. They have all had elite quarterbacks, all of them. And if you go back before that, the ones, let's say when Jacob Coker wins a national title, there were elite skill guys around them. I don't know like the three running backs we were talking about it i know that it's zamir white it's obviously cook and then kendall milton they were all like at some point or another like the number one running back recruit in the country they all have ability you just wonder is anyone is any one of them kind of

nick chubb or is they are they girly do take it over? Because they can all be really good backs and, you know, rotate in and everything. But, you know, when the quarterback play is somewhat underwhelming and I think JT is more accurate, Stetson Bennett is better making extending plays.

I'm not sure either guy is, I don't know when they get into a tight game and it's going to be 28-28 and somebody is able to light up the Georgia secondary enough, because I think that's the one area. They're amazing up front in the front seven. The secondary, I don't think it's good. I don't think... Mark Stoops, who obviously knows, he just faced them and he coached on the great Miami team in the early 2000s, talked about best front seven he's ever seen. And that Miami group had Vilma and DJ Williams, obviously had a bunch of other first-round picks up front.

But what it really had was the best strength of that group was in the back end with Ed Reed and three other guys who were first-round picks. I don't think Georgia is there on that part of it. But I think I'd probably feel differently if Kirby Smart had won a national title and I don't think Georgia is there on that part of it. But, you know, I'm not all... I think I'd probably feel differently if Kirby Smart had won a national title and given the benefit of the doubt. But I just feel like

until we know more about their offense and especially the quarterback, I'm a little hesitant to put all my chips to the table and go, yeah, the defense is amazing. They had all these five-star guys and they're going to win it. And maybe that changes when George Pickens finally gets healthy.

He's their best receiver. He's been out for the whole year with the injuries he suffered before the season. We think he'll be back at some point, maybe by, at least by when they play Alabama. If that comes back, then he compliments Bowers in Washington, and you have an outside guy to scare people. But we'll see. I mean, I don't know. I don't know who beats them, but I'd have a hard time picking them over Alabama just based on Nick Saban

there. And he also, by the way, has Will Anderson and a bunch of dudes on his defense, too. All right. I can't let you go without at least mentioning the Pac-12 here, which I don't like doing. I feel like all of us are dismissive of them. They have one team ranked with Arizona State losing to Utah. But I look at this as good news. Even though Oregon, every time I watch them,

and I'm holding them to the standard. I'm holding to the playoff standard. And if that's the standard, I don't like what I see. Is Utah the best team in the Pac-12 now that they made a change of quarterback? No, I don't think they are. I think they are the best coach team in the Pac-12. I think Kyle Whittingham has managed them through an incredibly hard situation. Second death of a player in less than a year there.

I still think they're more limited on offense. You know, I look at, you know, you and I both saw UCLA kind of at its best. You know, they didn't have Kyle Phillips last week, but they have a terrific run game. They have an experienced O-line. They have two terrific running backs. I think Zach Charbonnet, he could be the best,

you know, the best back on the West Coast. You know, have a really good tight end in Greg Dulcich. I think, to me, again, they looked really bad against Arizona State. But comparing those guys to Utah, I'm just a little bit... I don't want to say like Georgia, but I'm just not convinced that... Yes, I know Brant Keithy's a really good tight end kind of X factor guy. And Covey is, you know, is a good, adds a good dimension to them. I just don't think, um, I'm just a little skeptical on their offense. I think they're the best team on the, on the West coast.

Yeah. You were a very convincing there. Um, very good. The immediate like, eh, I don't see that. I just, I loved watching Utah in that Arizona State game. I just did. I thought they were tougher. They're always, Ryan, they're, you know, like, you go to, one of the best things I ever got about being a silent reporter was a new appreciation for Utah.

Because when you go to the game, they're always the tougher team. They may not be the better team, but they're the tougher team and that starts with you know the head coach who's probably as tough as any guy who's a head coach in college football yeah they're tough and they they just have these guys from all over the place like it's an unbelievable melting pot of personalities for players and then once you see those guys stay around there for a couple of years, I don't know if it's just they get pissed off at the world or what. They like take it out on guys on Saturday. And I just, I felt like

rising to the sophomore quarterback. I just really liked watching him. It was late. It was the only game I was paying attention to after that five-hour Tennessee marathon against Ole Miss. So I had a new appreciation for him.

But you're right. When you match up the UCLA talent with them, even Oregon, despite missing one of their best front guys and missing their best running back, CJ. All right. Well, cool. I'm glad we got that in there because I didn't want

to start saying too crazy. You checked me on that a little bit, but there I am. I'm done. I just like the Utes for a night. Thanks, Bruce. Okay, that's good. I mean, look I just like the Utes for a night. Thanks, Bruce. Okay. That's good. I mean, look, I, I, I like them all. They're fun to watch because they're so physical. They're underrated.

And I think the head coach flosses his teeth with barbed wire. So, I mean, it's like, they're a bad ass team. I mean, and honestly, they expose a lot of people. I think that's as much as anything. Like they're, they're a proving ground. If you can't measure up, you get embarrassed. Thanks, Bruce. Thanks, Ryan. You want details? Bye.

I drive a Ferrari. 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible.

Let me tell you what's required. Before we get to life advice, I want to let you know that Friday we're doing a two-part podcast. Well, it's going to be the same podcast, but we have two different guests regarding the Hagler-Hearns fight from 1985. I think it's the best fight I've ever seen.

The War is what it was billed. The War is also the name of a book by Don Stradley, which I mentioned I've been reading. Finished it. We had Stradley and Bob Arum who promoted the fight. So that's going to be two guys on Friday's pod. We're still not sure what we're doing with the rest of it. If we want to do this, let's just do it now while football and basketball starts up. But I think for the younger listeners, if you haven't seen the fight, watch the fight first and then listen to the interviews. All you have to do is watch it on YouTube. It takes honestly the entire thing, lead-ins, intro, trumpet, flag that didn't make it all the way down the building, interviews, it's 20 minutes. The fight doesn't even make it three rounds, but it's the best. So now look, you can still do the

interview. You can watch the fight after. It doesn't matter. I think listening to the interview after the fight would be the better way to go. But do whatever you want. I'm not in charge of everybody. So, Rudy is back from Tulum International. Steve, what was it like? Quick review.

Good to get away. You know, a week in Tulum. Good times. A little bit tanner. A little bit more of my, like, tequila. I think tolerance is a little bit higher. They like to get after it there, dude. Just free shots everywhere.

Free shots when you get tacos on a random stand on the side of the road. The one thing that was insane about Mexico, and I had never been, bro, you could buy drugs wherever you want. There's guys just selling HGH on the side of the street. Pharmacies have Viagra pills. Not that I partook in any of this stuff. Guys on the beach are selling cocaine. I was just stunned, dude. It was like the Wild West out there. I just couldn't believe it was like an apothecary on every corner. Kyle, did you hear that? So is Tulum a city or a

county? Where exactly did you go? It's kind of like in the middle of the jungle. It's two hours south of Cancun. So you fly into Cancun, you drive south. It has this weird vibe to it where it's not really commercial at all, but people get after it there, man. It's right on the beach. It's right near these Mayan ruins. It's a super cool place, but it's kind of in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah, I liked it. I think it's got a really... I don't know. It's its own thing. I know that sounds stupid, but I don't like places that don't know there's just it's just it's its own thing i don't know that sounds stupid but it it's i don't like places don't have a little character you know i i've never been one that would just go to resort and stay at the resort for seven days and then i'd leave i'm not a huge cruise guy probably guess that one so i like to loom you can get out you can explore a

little danger you know there's it's a little dangerous but like not really dangerous you know it's not dangerous narrow the people part of it isn't dangerous although i heard if you go into the city like when i was down there apparently there were some shootings so i they were like don't go in there and i was like all right whatever like i met some guy i was i was at a restaurant bar eating dinner and the guy was like i moved my family down here for the weekend because it was dangerous in the main section i was like all right whatever um i think the only danger is walking in the street i can't believe people aren't plowed by cars regularly because there's stretches where there's no sidewalks. And it's just that one street that you're in and out. I did not go on any Viagra HGH Coke benders when I was there.

Nice. But we went to a shop and we were like buying sunscreen because we're stupid and we forgot. And she handed us this like list of drugs. And she's like, would you like any of these? And the first one was just human growth hormone Viagra like whatever anything literally anything you wanted all the stuff that you need prescriptions for in the states

that down there they're just like fuck it we're good yeah did you say you're surprised I went there no no no I'm surprised that you can get any of that stuff just without a prescription without anything they're giving to you like candy. Okay. Kyle, any other adepts to this? Nothing? No. So Tulum, right? I'll go to the same place.

Checking out. You both went. If I just say, bring me to Tulum. Got it. Okay. All right. Here we go. Life advice. We did have the guy who talked about his girlfriend being a mess because I think it was brought up. It we'll just don't go to her place anymore apparently he lives with a roommate the roommate owns the place they live in the girlfriend came over with her dog her dog apparently is just as messy as she is and pissed everywhere so now she's not allowed to come over because apparently she always has to come over with the dog. So his place is now off limits. But he did enjoy us making fun of him for part of the email, which I do appreciate because we're all just having trying to have fun here a little bit.

So that's not a solution to that. I don't think he liked our other advice. Just start trashing his place. Oh, definitely not. If he's got somebody who's making rules for him. Right, right. OK. All right. Let's get to it. Life advice are at Gmail dot com.

First one here. It's a two-parter i normally wouldn't do this but i'm gonna do it 24 58 155 used to be a good athlete acl tear fix it man you're 24 rehab your acl and be a good athlete again or maybe you weren't maybe it wasn't the ACL. All right. Okay. Big fan of the pod. Four of my best friends and I just got our first place in college.

Oh, post-college in LA. We're all born and raised in LA. Three of the guys actually went to Texas. I went to USC. All right, cool. They're all super into the Lakers. Lakers fans, very passionate. We've lived at our place since June and found out last week

Carmelo owns the house right across the street from us. Can I just interject there for a second? It's your first place post-college. You're in your early 20s, and Carmelo Anthony is your neighbor. Fuck you. So either Mello is worried about the money coming in, or you guys are hooked up. Okay.

All right. Not important, though. Not important. So apparently Mello's house was vacant all summer, but training camp for the Lakers started and he moved back in. As we know, the season started last night. Lakers didn't look that good. I'm not that worried about it.

Although the Westbrook part, you know, I'm not going to freak out about a bad Westbrook night because it has nothing to do with the playoffs. I briefly saw him the other day, so I can confirm it's true, but was unable to approach him. Our question is, how do we approach Mello? Our goal is to really boy him up and not just be a bunch of fanboys. Leave a bottle of wine with a note.

Invite him over for drinks or dinner. Any advice would be appreciated. He sent a follow-up just a couple days ago. He said, wanted to let you know that we have yet to make our first point of contact with Mello.

I spoke with his chef yesterday while she was unloading some of the big old King Alaskan crabs out of her car. She was super friendly, but I did not mention anything in regards to Mello.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, man. All right. What you guys are trying to do here is really hard, okay? Because you just admitted you're all like crazy Lakers fanboys. You're 24, so you're younger than him

in years, but you're also even younger in experience years. Mello's seen some shit, all right? So Mello's been around. Mello's gone through the grind of being an NBA superstar. My guess would be when you say we want to boy them up but not be fanboys, I think it's impossible for you.

I think it's going to be impossible for your entire group. If you run into Mellow, and I know what you're trying to do, you're trying to do the, hey, I'm cool. Don't size me up. Don't dismiss me immediately. Like, it's cool. Like, you just chill with us. We just hang out. And because you want to know why I know?

Because I have tried to do it. Okay. Not with Mello. But when I've been with somebody who I know is at a higher level of whatever stature, however, we keep track of that shit in this country um or i want to break through and be like look we'd actually you know probably be cool but i gotta play it cool here i gotta play it cool i'm 20 years older than you guys and it doesn't always work out for me all right there's no way you guys are going to be able to do it you're going to have these no offense these dumb looks in your face your eyes are going to be like. You're going to have these, no offense, these dumb looks in your face. Your eyes are going to be like, you're just going to be too psyched. You want this so bad. It's the

reason you're not going to be able to pull this off. I don't think Mello is going to hang out with you and your 24 year old friends. I don't think he's going to do that. You can invite him over for drinks. You could do any of these things. I think leaving a bottle of wine or something or a fancy bottle of tequila and leaving a note. But when say hey why don't you just come over we'll all be on the same level be normal i think you guys will be incapable of doing that because it's carmelo anthony and he's now a laker like i just what are you going to ask about have you gone over topics what do you think about the debt you know you guys are going to be sitting there being like tell us about the knicks what's lebron like like you're going to do all the stuff that you would want to do

because now if mellow we're even going to give you this audience but i have to tell you if you're mellow in this instance he is calloused to to people like you and i'm not saying people like you in a derogatory sense i'm'm just saying the citizens, the commoners, which is what most of us all are when we're talking about super, super elite level of fame. So he is not going to give you the benefit of the doubt. He is going to think like you're every other person that wants something from him. And again, there's a really good chance that if he's a Laker living in your neighborhood, he's not looking for new friends, new friends that are also obsessed with basketball and him and are this much younger than him.

I'm not saying it's impossible. I would say shoot your shot, but I don't think, I think I know you without knowing you that you're not going to be able to contain your excitement and your nervous energy. And it's going to send off a vibe. That's the opposite of, Hey, I'm cool. And I'm over this and you, we should all just hang out together. I've learned this numerous times just because you get along with somebody who's famous. It doesn't mean they actually want to start hanging out regularly with you, Kyle. Yeah. A couple of thoughts. Don't do it, man. Don't do it. I think don't try anything. No, no, because you know what? This is this is it's not fucking flushing. This isn't Brooklyn. Like, this isn't a city where people have like neighbors that they like, know and love. Like, you know, it's just it's just not it's not a name. It's a very isolated city. So it's like if you were like in a suburb of Charlotte, if he was in like the Hornets or something, I would say I don't really know the vibe of that but like everything's so isolated nobody wants another fucking neighbor so you just trying to be like the only reason that you think it's okay to say hi to him is because you know

where he lives and you know where you like be able to see him but like this isn't like a normal that's this isn't like a town where that's a normal thing that neighbors do it's like hey notice we're neighbors like here's some liquor and like now the added thing the added layer of i'm a celebrity and like you know who i am it's just fucking weird just don't like you have to be like organic like i haven't really had i've actually had many interactions with celebrities but only a couple that are like normal and genuine like everybody that goes into the bill Simmons podcast, I'm not like you want to fucking hang out after this. And I know it's a little different, but like only two times I can remember

like hanging out with a celebrity. I smoked a cigarette with Walton Goggins and I smoked a cigarette with Jon Hamm. And it was both because we were at a place where cigarettes were smoked. Not because I was like, hey dude, do you want to hang out with me and smoke a cigarette?

Do you know what I mean? Like it has to be organic and it can't be you like, hey noticed you lived here so i walked on your property and dropped off a bottle of tequila it just sounds weird he's not gonna i don't think he's gonna he probably won't hate you it's just not gonna go the way you want it and it might actually make it feel weird and i don't think that's what you want if you're a fan of mella that's all i'm saying wow there was there was some serious just animosity in that response. The tone of your voice. I don't know that I've heard this tone from you before.

He's just like 24 and he feels like it's going to work out. And I hate that he's probably a rich kid. I don't know. But I'll be done. I'll say it. That's where this went wrong. That's where this... No, you know what though, Kyle?

You're right about everything. This isn't going to work. It isn't going to work. I'm saying, you know, send over a bottle of 1942 and whatever, but it's still not going to be like, I mean, look, what do we hear the story of how Ben Wallace used to race cars with like neighborhood kids, remote cars in Detroit and everybody used to love them and it was just cool. it's not impossible, but I think I have a good sense of, of where Mello is at. And I don't, I don't think he's like,

would he feel obligated to come over and do, I just don't think he's going to do any of those things. You know? And I, and I, again, I think the email or himself, I don't dislike him.

I'm just saying, I think I know where your head is at with you and your friends. And you're obsessed with trying to make this contact with Carmelo that he's, that you're not, you're going to fuck it up. Even if you do not you're gonna fuck it up even if you do you know he's gonna read you guys and be like oh you know these guys are fanboying out you said you don't want to do that i don't think you're capable of it uh by the way john ham real quick when you guys smoked a cigarette together did you talk about anything what did you guys sit on actually it was kind of quiet we didn't talk about much i can't remember i was actually it was park city so the air was a little thinner and i had a few brews if you know what i

mean so i don't really remember too much it was just you two just us two yeah wow so you were hammered and no pun intended you nice well done i mean did he know you're bill's guy though yeah we were at the table yeah we were we were table. We were at the table together at this resort, I guess. I don't know. It must have been where the important people at Sundance go. But we were both out there organically, and it wasn't like, you know. So, yeah, it was cool.

And then the second one, I did follow him out because I felt like we were cigarette buds. But I didn't feel super close to him. Like, hey, what's up with that Peter Francis, son of a bitch? I'd have a hard time. If we ran into him tonight, there'd be words.

Kyle, it was a TV show. I don't care. He hit on your wife and she was fucking pregnant. Kyle, relax. All right. So Rudy, anything to add to this now I hate this you hate it I know no it just sucks because

it's Carmelo so it's impossible you guys are right I mean I think the only way would be you have to impress him with your coolness you have to make him come to you but the likelihood of that actually happening and you being able to pull off some sort of scheme to make that happen is is so low that I just don't think it's possible

what you guys said if it was just don't think it's possible. What you guys said, if it was, I don't know, Ken Baysmore or Taylor Horton Tucker or Malik Monk, you'd have probably like a much better shot. But I don't think Melo is interested in hanging out with any 24-year-old dudes and especially guys

that are going to be fanboys in his face. So I would say lure him with maybe like a wine shipment, an expensive wine shipment. Make sure he's around and see like he sees the you know, the truck come up and he sees that you guys are getting cases of wine

because maybe that peak his interest. But if you go straight to him with like an invitation or something, it's just going to be a hard no. Yeah, I mean, the fact that that was even presented in the email and invite him over for drinks or dinner. Do you know how bad

he doesn't want to do that? McMillan wakes up every day going my list of priorities is get buckets and not to go to a stranger's house for dinner 24 year olds yeah different player different city maybe but this isn't the type of town where people are interested in meeting their neighbors yeah I like what you guys Talon Horton Tucker

they just it's the loss of the draw they screwed up people are interested in meeting their neighbors. Yeah, I like what you guys... Talon, Horton, Tucker... They just... It's the loss of the draw. They screwed up. Yeah. Well, I don't know. Their house is probably not terrible. Well, they're doing all right.

Yeah, let's not feel too bad for the guys here. All right. This is a different one, but I feel like we need to challenge ourselves to mix them up more often because we can get a little too relationship money-ish with these. And I want to take a break from them for a little bit. Okay. Here we go. 5, 9, 1, 77, 7, 1, 77, 1, 7, 7. Ryan, you introduced me to Big Cat in the outset of the nationwide quarantine.

And since the serendipitous March 2020, that serendipitous March of 2020, I've become an ardent aficionado of PMT and apparently words as well. So, hey, look at that. Helping that little startup. Pardon my take. My question is,

if you believe that a crew of you,yle and steve oh okay so he wants to know if i think all right so here's this guy really put some time into crafting this so i have to do it the justice it deserves it's quite a wordsmith okay my question is do you believe that a crew of you, Kyle, and Steve would be victorious in a fight versus PFT, Dan, and Billy football? A little about myself. I'm 21, a two-stripe purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I also box.

Furthermore, I'm a history major who's matriculated at a Pac-12 school. I don't ever street fight, but I've witnessed a healthy amount of them. And it's my belief that in a street fight, your crew would eke out a victory over PMT. My rationale, as someone who's trained before, imperative for you, Ryan, to use your skills. Dean, he remembers the Dean-Mui Tai story. Again, that was a very long time ago that I would use the Mui Tai

and Billy and take him to the ground immediately, although most of my stuff with Dean was all stand-up, so the ground game is not strong here. To neutralize his licensed hand, I've heard that pft um aver before that he's all it's got there's so many vocabulary words in here that almost like most of the audience isn't going to get there's a couple that i'm not sure of either um so don't write emails like this

in the first place because you're just showing off uh all right let's just go through this whole thing he has me taken out Billy and that Kyle with his size and fighting experience and that he had a bat in his house for a while to handle disputes that you could take PFT and that Dan Big Cat against Saruti is a toss up is it

I don't know I don't know if Saruti he's so much bigger than you. Like, if he doesn't kick your ass, he should have to leave the industry. That should be a retirement match. I was like, okay, me versus PFT. He's a little older than me. I think Kyle could maybe take Big Cat with youth. But then do you want to match up strength with strength?

I was thinking maybe like Billy football versus me. Obviously, Billy football takes me out. But I think you two could beat up the other two and we'd probably win. Right. Then somebody just helps Rudy. That's what I thought. Like, yeah, which everyone finished first could could help through or I'll just get knocked out immediately by Billy football.

And then you guys take it from there. I don't know. Big Cat seems like he's like he's like a yo-yo, a bit of a yo-yo. Like sometimes he looks yoked. Sometimes he looks like, yeah, he's not. I know he's not. He's definitely not. Sometimes he looks yoked. Sometimes he looks like me. He's not yoked. I know he's not yoked, but sometimes he's looking leaned out.

He does. Sometimes he's looking like those Saturday donut pictures he posts. I never really know where he's at. Sometimes I'm like, geez, he's looking good. Other times I'm like, oh, that's what he normally looks like.

I don't know what kind of big cat we'd be getting. I'll say this too. PFT with or without his sunglasses on because with the sunglasses on, he's more intimidating. But recently I saw he took the sunglasses off and he's a much less intimidating looking guy.

So I think we could take PFT without the sunglasses. Uh-oh. That was, this is almost mean now. So he has me going against Billy. He has Kyle against PFT. And then the Cerruti big cat thing, it's just not a toss-up. He's a big guy. He's just too much bigger than then the Cerruti big cat thing is just not a toss up. He's a big guy. He's just too much bigger than you Cerruti.

He's what five inches and at least 50 pounds and probably more. No, I think he's like 6'4". He's really tall. Yeah. It's not a match. I would agree Kyle. His pictures. Sometimes I think he looks legitimately attractive and then other times I'm like, okay, not

wicked hot in this picture I mean he's a cute kid he has a good face hey look at Kyle that's that's really nice so by the way why do they get Billy and not Hank isn't Hank more of the show than Billy is but I guess Billy's like fight purposes

we have to leave Billy in there yeah yeah he boxed a little bit he took out Jose Canseco. I can guarantee not, I don't think any of the three of us will take a dive though. So that could be more challenging than Billy's last thing.

He said street fight, right? So location matters. If it's a bar, there's lots of stuff to get in with. All right. Let me stay with the email here. The case for PMT would be if Dan finishes Steve immediately to gender the three on two advantage.

So in summary, Steve is the consequential X factor. I hope this doesn't come across as too sordid of a thought exercise, but fighting has been, um, it's been recently a motif of life advice. So the timing feels felicitous all right okay um i don't i don't now i'm wondering if these guys sent this you may analyze this latent throwaway down in an entirely different way and i welcome each of your perspectives i'll leave you with this all right now he's lakers he's doing it like this what time did he send this is this it back in 4 a.m i'm gonna say it sounds like three in the morning. No, it isn't.

It isn't. He sent it during the day. Okay. All right. I like Kyle's chances against Big Cat. I don't think he has a switch. I'll say it right now.

I don't think Big Cat has a switch. Wow. I think he's big, but I don't think he has a switch. I think Cerruti's a shit talker, but I'm sorry. I just don't. I don't't know that i'm gonna be able to count on you but i think you sucker punch somebody you know um now the other thing about pft is he's got pretty big legs he's pretty sturdy dude so i don't know if you'd have to factor that in but i still think i like kyle

the problem is it comes down to Billy and me. And, um, I know I have the old man strength on him. I have no idea what I bring to the table at this point anymore. There's a pretty good chance of it. Punch in the face really quick, hard.

I'd be like, you know what? I don't want to fucking do this anymore. What do I, what do I have to prove? Um, but who knows? Maybe if I'm really,

you can't catch me on the wrong day. Um, maybe I come in looking for it. So that one's tough. I don't know how to call that one. Because I'm not going to be dismissive and go, oh, yeah, fuck that kid. Because I don't think that that'd be fair.

And there's a chance I lose that one. But I'm also not going to sit here and say I'm emphatically going to lose either. So I don't know what to do with that one. That one's a little closer than we thought. Probably, right? Unless Billy takes me out immediately. That one's a little closer than we thought. Probably right. Unless Billy takes me out immediately. I would say I like.

Yeah. I think we have to. We'd have to attack Billy maybe as the three of us because he's the strongest point and then see what big cat BFT do. Do they jump in? Because I think the surprise tactic of just like the three of us ambushing Billy might disable him and then we can kind of take on the other two after the shock is kind of clear that seems wrong just seems wrong really I don't know something about it seems wrong I thought you don't like that I thought Cerruti's got stamina right he plays soccer on the weekends he could keep pft no ball skills though nope yeah I can move around I would not get hit you keep him busy

just dog dodge and weave and I really don't know what Big Cat's like. He might be like a grapple guy and then I'm like, now I'm wrestling on the ground with a guy who's, you know, able to contain somebody like me. I don't know. He might just be like, if I can just get close enough to him, I can just take this to the ground and it's just really messy. So I think

honestly, it could be me and Big Cat are rolling around in some sort of bear hug. Cerruti's kind of dancing around PFT, and it's rarely whatever you think is going to happen with you and Billy, it sounds like. Yeah, I think that's really what it comes down to. I'm sorry, Cerruti. I'm not going to – it's just too much size. And then I think PFT's got you too.

So if Kyle beats Big Cat, which I think he would, then I'm the tiebreaker in there. And I'm sure those guys are going to back their guy. Because I think Billy also has that kind of would run his head into a brick wall type of thing. He's got a gronk thing going. Yeah, he's got a little gronk. I didn't even realize my arm got cut off in him. So he's going to talk himself into it and i didn't see enough from his conseco fight you know i don't i don't know conseco was done with that pretty quickly but billy went into it thinking was going to win

that's pretty important that's pretty important my mind might not even be right for this so yeah that's that's a tough one i could tell you that would be the number one monday podcast though for us the recap just the recap that would be the number one number one on itunes and spotify it would depend i don't know how guys shook out of that thing what you'd have to do is no matter what you'd have to show up for the monday pod because as we all know if you fight in high school and the other person doesn't show up to class the next day um that means that person lost yeah we would actually have to record it sunday night so it comes out early morning monday instead of our normal east coast late time yeah good email i think i think okay that's life advice uh again we'll talk to you friday please subscribe thanks to kyle and steve for all the contributions and uh enjoy the start of nba season Thank you.