The Ryen Russillo Podcast - The Lu Dort Awards, Bruce Feldman on CFB Playoff Expansion, and NBA Champion James Posey

Episode Date: June 10, 2021

Russillo shares some playoff thoughts on Suns-Nuggets, 76ers-Hawks, and Clippers-Jazz (2:20), before talking with Ceruti about media reactions to Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole’s comments about sticky substances (19:45). Then Ryen talks with Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic about College Football Playoff expansion proposals as well as the NCAA policy on name, image, and likeness (36:15). Next, Ryen talks with two-time NBA champion James Posey about his entrance to the league in 1999, predraft workouts, his title runs with the Heat and Celtics, transitioning into coaching, the Cavaliers’ comeback Finals win in 2016, and more (59:45). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:24:15). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Bruce Feldman and James Posey Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is interesting is your point about nine and seven Super Bowl teams. Like, I think we're conditioned to whatever we're conditioned to. Like, for me, I'm a big NFL fan, and I just feel like I'm so used to it that I don't think twice of, ooh, the Giants are in there now, or whatever. You just, like, the week-to-week doesn't matter. I mean, we've, and I've done this certainly a lot of people in college football have argued, we have the best regular season in sports because

every game matters. Well, you know, like if you lose to Illinois and they're, you know, they're a two and seven team and you're still in the playoff, does every game matter? I mean, I guess it kind of does, but it really doesn't. So not in the same way it used to. And I think that's just fans will adjust because we have no choice. That's the reality. That was Bruce Feldman who's going to join us talking about the latest development news

of an expanded college football playoff. I'm going to talk a little bit about what we've seen the first round or so, Jokic's MVP and James Posey on his championships with Miami, Boston, and as a coach with Cleveland. It's all coming up next. I have a bunch of NBA stuff that I want to get to, and I'm actually so pissed off about this Garrett Cole story, not because of what he did, but again, the reaction to it that if I start there, I'm going to get completely derailed and not get to anything. So the Suns blow out the Nuggets last night. This is not entirely surprising.

Portland didn't beat good teams. Portland couldn't really defend better teams. And, you know, that series still could have gone Portland's way. And I think there are certain examples where it's glaring the difference between regular season and postseason for some of these teams. And looking at Phoenix, they're terrific. I mean, they're so locked in. And the only way I wasn't picking them to win the West was because of the Lakers. And I liked Phoenix against Utah. We'll get to the Clippers and Jazz for a little bit here. I don't know how much I'm going to do on all four series, but there's this locked in thing with Phoenix that is very real. And it's incredible because Booker hasn't really had to go off.

Paul's closed these fourth quarters. They didn't need him in the fourth quarter last night, but what he did in the third quarter last night, what he did in the fourth quarter in game one, defensively, they've been terrific. The Aiton story has been a major success. And I'm telling you, midway through the season, if you were watching him all season,

there was moments where it looked like, I didn't even know if Monty trusted him all the time. I'm pretty sure Chris Paul didn't. And look, you guys can say whatever you want about my opinion of Aiton

because this happens a lot with players. It's like, okay, this is how I feel about a certain guy. And then the player gets better and it's like, see? And you're like, yeah, but that's not what he was doing. I was listening to Eddie Johnson who is with the team all the time.

And he was talking about like Aiton doing just a better job and working with the coaching staff. And he is great against Denver. I don't know if you've seen this stuff that's out there, but it's kind of like something that we're learning about again is that Jokic through the regular season was really complimentary in a way that sometimes you're not expecting an MVP type of guy.

We'll get to Jokic winning the MVP here. But Jokic said this after a regular season game. This is back in, I think, January. It was that overtime game. He said, quote, he's amazing, he's amazing. Give the guy credit, he's really solid. He knows what he needs. I think that's the best thing a young player can have. Mindset, he plays really good defense. He stopped me five, six, seven, eight times. Give that guy credit. He's really solid. He knows what he needs. I think that's the best thing a young player can have.

Mindset, he plays really good defense. He stopped me five, six, seven, eight times. Give that guy credit. He was really good tonight. So if you look at Aiton's numbers in the regular season, the best team he scored against was Denver. He averaged 22-12 on 70% shooting. Yeah, two-game deal, but you can see there's something about him that makes Jokic work a little bit more. And let's face it, for all the love, and I don't think there's any of us watching Jokic going,

although, you know what? If they get blasted out of this series, I kind of can't wait for the retroactive, like, yeah, he wasn't really the MVP, which people can't. It's like the Heisman deal. They'd be like, you know all those other games that we watched all year long that counted, especially a guy like Jokic who didn't miss any, and all the other guys missed a lot of games, and he was awesome. Yeah, that's what we vote on, actually. We don't vote on, like, was your team hurt and not as good as the other team in the playoffs.

That's not what we should be doing. But Aiton's numbers, those are the best numbers he had against any real team, and I say real team because against Houston, he went for 24-12 on 71% shooting in three games, but Houston was a fake team this year, and I think Rockets fans would even admit that. So the Aiton thing is unbelievable. The defensive rotations that they have, and they've tried to, anyone will tell you, you've got to figure out a way to play Jokic straight up. He needs to do a better job. We all need to do a better job, but his nickname is a hard J and his real name is a soft J and it, I catch myself constantly with it.

So I apologize. I I'm trying, I'm trying. And you know what? Take it easy on yourself too. For those of you out there that screw that one up, but it's just tough when you have a guy whose last name is a completely different pronunciation from his nickname. Although big honey, if we could just all get on board with big honey, I'm fine with that too, but apparently he doesn't really like that. So Aiton, terrific. And Bridges, that's the other part of this team where I just love that there's moments where Bridges can kind of carry him a bit offensively. His body control in transition, and I'm telling you, there are times when I've watched Bridges and he had a miss last night, but I still was impressed with the miss because I couldn't believe where he started the attempt from in transition. He was trying to get a layup.

There's layups where I think, ah, he's not going to get there, and he gets there. There's threes where I think his setup for a shot takes a little too long, and he just, it doesn't matter. He'll let you contest into him, and he still gets the shot off. And so you haven't even needed some crazy game from Booker. I'll also throw this out there because I just have to mention my guide. I've been keeping track of the Lou Dort awards and Lou Dort at one point in the playoffs. And this is nothing against Lou Dort. I like Lou Dort. And he shot it better this year too.

So, you know, Oklahoma City's got something in Lou Doerr. But Lou Doerr, there was a graphic because of all the threes he was taking in that Houston first round series, because that was basically what Houston was doing. It was like, let Lou Doerr go crazy. Where I think it was like this many threes attempted this many points on this percentage shooting. So they're all positives. And I think the graphic was Jordan, Kobe, and Lou Dort. And you go, all right, something seems a little off on that one because DeAndre Ayton has one right now that you wouldn't expect. This is after game one, so now it doesn't count.

But DeAndre Ayton, this is what we had him qualifying for, 20 points, 10 rebounds, is what we had him qualifying for. 20 points, 10 rebounds, shooting, right? So Aiton had four games in which he'd recorded 20 and 10 on 65% shooting in the playoffs. The only other NBA player in playoff history to record four such games in a seven-game span, so six against the Lakers, game one against Denver, is Kareem in 1974. I've just praised Aiton for about two minutes here. That seems a little Lou Dort-ish. So I'd like to keep track of the Lou Dort awards. Anything that jumps out at you where you're like, wait, what? I mean, Donovan Mitchell is not Lou Dort, but Donovan Mitchell already has surpassed Carl Malone in 40-point games. So that was like, wait, what's going on? But Chris Paul now is the first player with 15 points, 15 assists, zero turnovers in a playoff game since Chris Paul in 2014.

And that was the first time a player had done it since Chris Paul in 2008. So it's getting a little misty over here. I'm just saying. So that's where we're at with this series. And Denver, by the way, throughout most of this run, they've never really been able to defend. And by the way, another thing, as I keep adding on, the Michael Porter Jr. back injury, he's running around in a heating pad the whole time before the game, and then he shoots like it. And their final three-point shooting numbers weren't terrible,

but they were to start the game. I mean, they were, what do I have here? 2-18 to start because they ended with some decent numbers but that's not really what was going on with them they couldn't shoot it if porter can't get it going i would love to know because apparently aaron gordon and jim michael green ripped into the team after game one what's an aaron gordon pep talk like like you guys you guys don't know what winning's about like how does aaron gordon who's been there a few months, who, you know, is a nice player.

Everybody would like Aaron Gordon, but he doesn't change the course of who you are as a franchise. I mean, Denver needed him, and he had some moments against Portland. But offensively, I think Nuggets fans are probably like, wait, is this it? Is this it offensively? Be honest, Nuggets fans. Like, that's happened to you. You're like, wait, is this it? Is this it offensively? Be honest, Nuggets fans. Like, that's happened to you. You're like, huh?

So this guy's like, everybody wanted to trade for him? How does he, like, hey, man, when we beat Toronto in game one and no one believed in us and DJ Augustine was like, be ready. You know, we set a tone for that series. We lost the next four. But, you know, it's, I just can't imagine aaron gordon ripping into a nuggets team where most of those guys were in the conference finals last year and it's aaron gordon again no offense real quick on the sixers they figured out a couple things uh certainly in the second matchup and the piece that kevin o'connor the ringer you should check him out uh we've had him on the pod bunch of times.

He had a good thing from second spectrum where they looked at the defensive alignment because Danny Green was responsible for getting torched for the majority of Trey Young's points, especially in the first half. And you could see clearly in game two the adjustment. Game one, Danny Green, 49 plays. Theibel, 14 plays. Simmons, eight plays defensively. The only reason Simmons didn't have more defensive plays against Trey Young is because of those two bullshit foul calls to start the second half.

Game two, Simmons, 31 plays. Thibault, 29 plays. Green, two plays. So, there we go. I'm really, really impressed with Atlanta, though. So, I'm not ready to completely write this series off. I do think Philadelphia is the better team. Hunter's going to be out now, but he wasn't really part of the mix with the limit on his

minutes to begin with. But I can't wait to see what happens in game three. That's just how impressed I am with Atlanta. But I was actually surprised because defensive stuff, I think coaches will go in and they can be really stubborn. It's very easy for us to be at home. And that's why we really, you know, hammer on substitutions. Or if a guy has too many fouls, like Aiton had two fouls right away last night. And you're like, oh, what's going to happen here? Monte Williams leaves him in. Guess what happens? If you get in a third foul, everybody who does what I do would be like, oh, because you're an idiot. Because it's easy for us to identify those mistakes or something that results in a mistake and hurts your chances to win. So then we just hammer on everybody all the time.

Same as timeout, same as substitutions and all that kind of different stuff. But when it's really glaring and it's a defensive matchup like Danny Green trying to contain Trey Young, you're like, why are you doing this? And I really thought, you know, they're going to try to change it in that second half. And I thought those two calls with Trey Young sticking out his arm like that, as great as he is and everything else, you know, look, we've been over this. That changes what you can kind of do there defensively. So it also makes me wonder what's going to happen in game two

for the Clippers and the Jazz because they went Luke Kennard hunting there late and Donovan Mitchell with his ridiculous outburst. And let's not forget, I mean, we're a year removed from he and Jamal Murray having one of the all-time great offensive showdowns, and that's without Conley. That game was ugly early. Jazz get out to a 10-2 run. They missed 21 straight shots, and the Clippers still lose that game. And they're losing it because Paul George. Like, Mitchell's a guy that gives you a chance. If you don't have one of those, you know, Mitchell, this is a great question, and I'm going

to ask Rudy this after the break but like who would you rather have Westbrook or Paul George because there's a Westbrook part of it where you go at least the guy thinks he's awesome and then you're like yeah but is that to the detriment of the team which I would argue but then you've got the Paul George side of the spectrum where you go does he know that he's awesome? Because man, if you look at his efficiency stuff, and again, none of this stuff is perfect on the stats, but it's a pretty good indicator. If you look at PER, if you're a wing player and you're over 15, that's good. If you're really good, you should be at 20. And Paul George, for five of the last six years of

his career, despite one of the years in Oklahoma City, I think it was the second year, he was over 20. So when you're over 20 in PER, it's usually not a mistake, all right? Unless it's Hassan Whiteside. Like we said, with big guys, it's a joke and those numbers get really weird sometimes. But with George, he's had playoff seasons, his PER is 14.6, 18.8, 14.7, 17.9. If you have two under 15, below 15 is a below average player. And the defensive plus minus on some of the box score, if you buy into that, again, I like it at the extremes. In the middle, it can get a little muddy. But he's just across the board worse on those numbers.

So the Clippers are supposed to have two of those guys, and right now they have one, and Mitchell is good enough or at least good enough to equal that. So that's kind of like off the Danny Green thing. We're watching it going, why do they keep running this drag screen left to right and Danny Green just getting torched on it every time? And now you leave Embiid in the middle, so now you're kind of taking him out of the game defensively. Why are you going to let that happen for entire straight first half?

I wonder what we'll see with Ty Lue's adjustment with Luke Kennard, um, getting caught in those screens. I mean, just a screen right side, Mitchell brings it over and then they tried to double them and he was splitting those. There was another one that was the biggest play I thought where Kennard was

on him in the switch and Kawhi's like, all right, screw this. I'm bringing the double. And Mitchell saw it and Kawhi got like, all right, screw this. I'm bringing the double. And Mitchell saw it. And Kawhi got there late. And then Monte Morris stays, excuse me, Marcus Morris,

stays glued to Gobert and doesn't bring the help. And it's a layup and it's over. So, you know, we'll look for that to close the game if the Jazz are Canard hunting again, which I think they would, which is pretty amazing

if you think about Canard and the french translation but um little little culture for you um we'll see we'll see if ty leaves him in there okay final thought here on on joker winning the mvp we have a a run that is unprecedented. The developmental side of this league with its stars. The stars have for decades been the guys. If you look at the best players and you look at the MVPs, whether it's Akeem, whether it's Duncan, it's David Robinson, whether it's Duncan, it's David Robinson, certainly Jordan, Bird, Magic, Shaq. Kobe was a little different situation, but he only had one.

LeBron won in a ton of them. Most of the people winning the MVPs, you can say the player got better. And the joke about the last dance, and it was awesome, but it also could have been called, you know, a few guys got taller. The run that we've had between Kawhi in moments winning a finals MVP and looking like the best player on the floor in a Spurs Miami series and then Toronto and Golden State, and he doesn't have the straight MVP,

but like, yeah, we flirted with the idea where it's not insane to say Kawhi's the best player in the world. Um, he's not right now. I think it's the rant and I don't even know what to say about the nets. The fact that they're doing this without Harden is, is absolutely horrifying. I mean, are they not even going to need him? That seems crazy to me. Although I know what I'm going to do. I'm just picking Phoenix every single time and maybe you shouldn't listen to me but Jokic wins and we had told you this you know a month or so ago is he the most unlikely superstar in NBA history I believe that he is he's really the only second round pick the real first second round pick to win an MVP in the modern era if you look at the highest picks

or the number of MVPs per pick, the lowest pick is the way I should actually phrase that, is 15, right? 15 is the lowest draft slot that we've seen someone win the MVP. From 16 down to 41 or 16 down to four, it's no one. And then it's Jokic. So between Kawhi, Giannis back-to-back MVPs in that 15 slot, and now Jokic, I don't know what it means. I don't know what it means. I don't know if development has changed. I don't know if that means you're supposed to go ahead and take slow guys now from Serbia.

I don't know if that means you're supposed to take six, nine guys that are going to grow to maybe seven feet that are from Greece and you don't really know what to do with them. I mean, look, Giannis in the beginning of his NBA career, I wasn't sure. Kawhi was still somewhat limited. I mean, you can even throw Jimmy Butler into the mix from last year, but we've had a run of the last few years where it is absolutely unprecedented the amount of people that have been developmental success stories to be the best players in this game and that's not that's just not how this draft has ever worked and i don't know that it mean you know i'll say very often when something happens it doesn't always mean that it's something and i'm just not sure what that something is right now all right i want to

talk with sruti about a We'll do that after the break. All right, Suri, I know you had a couple of follow-ups. I know you probably couldn't help yourself during the Aaron Gordon thing. That just sounded weird. I mean, Michael Green at least has been there, but they just don't have enough answers. They just don't. So go ahead.

Yeah, no, I like Aaron Gordon. I wasn't upset about the trade it kind of felt like it was a much better fit in denver but i mean you're right who's who's he talking to in that locker room i mean two i mean they won both game ones against the bucks and the rappers back to back years unless it's a game one i'm not sure aaron gordon should be talking about anything playoff related and he's gonna go in there and start talking about like his dunk contest competitions and be like listen when i when everybody doubted me and zach levine was one of these things like i don't know what, what his motivational speaking is necessarily going to

be, but I guess shouts out to him for trying to be a leader. But I did have one note by the way on, uh, cause I'm with you on Mikkel Bridges. I love watching that dude play. He's, he's a, he's a perfect complimentary piece to what they want to do, but he could also take over games at times and kind of carry them offensively. And I keep looking back, Ryan, and I go, that Sixers trade looks worse and worse and worse because they could use, the guy that they need is a Bridges-type player.

And they traded him for what, Zaire Smith, right? In a future Miami number. Yeah, they got the Miami pick that could flip the Harris. I was doing this all this morning because I'm going to do it next week because the Sixers

are still going to be around. But if you look, as much as I like the Sixers roster, if you look at how bad their luck has been also on stuff between the Fultz transaction and the Bridges deal

where they ended up with Zyra Smith in the unprotected pick, which is a big deal and it's been flipped now. I believe it's Oklahoma City's. It's crazy what the Sixers roster actually could be

if two other things worked out. And I'm not even including Okafor in there because at this point, Porzingis probably wouldn't even be what the Sixers roster actually could be if two other things worked out. And I'm not even including Okafor in there because at this point, Porzingis probably wouldn't even be with the Sixers if they'd taken him. Or Herzogna may be in the right system, as you like to say. My guy.

But I kind of love, the thing I love about Phoenix is I know exactly what they are. Every version of it. When it's one lineup, when it's small, the only thing, and I can't believe they couldn't figure this out, it's never been easier to find cheaper 18-minute game big men

just to give you an option. The fact that they don't have that behind Aiton and they got to go Sarich, because Smith, the rookie from Maryland there, he's just not ready. I mean, he got garbage time last night, but they took him 10th. They probably should have just taken another guard in Halliburton to run it all around. Because look, even though I'm really happy for Cameron Payne, I liked him out of college. He had some moments with Oklahoma City where he looked like it was going to be pretty good. And then it was just a disaster in Chicago,

on and on and on. He has moments. He had three possessions in a row towards the end of the third quarter in game one, where he threw a pocket pass right in somebody's foot turnover he took a horrible three and then at the end of the game he like challenged at the rim instead of passing somebody else and got blocked and then had a bad possession at the start of the fourth quarter so everybody's back on the camera painting he had a couple really big shots in game two he still scares me a little but other than these minor those are like two little minor things where you know the only thing that scared me was Anthony Davis. Cause I just didn't think they had enough depth for it, but it's the improvement at eight. And it's that Booker isn't, you know,

Utah feels like they need Mitchell to do that stuff. It's crazy that you, uh, that Phoenix, you know, Booker's been just kind of one of the guys and they had double figures all the way across and they've turned it on now twice where they've had like six or eight minute stretches where they go, hey, you guys aren't even close to us, and now we're going to show you. So is it crazy? I kind of feel like I like watching all three West teams other than the Clippers play basketball more than the Clippers. I love watching the Suns.

I think their five is awesome. I love the Jazz. I even like the Nuggets even without Murray. And I hate watching the Clippers. I just do. I don't know if that's a Paul George thing or a Kawhi thing or them kind of coasting. But I I I'm stuck in this weird place where I go. I don't really want them to win the West, but I also kind of feel like they're the only team in the West that really can beat the Nets. I don't know.

Is that crazy to think? I just think it's crazy to keep pretending Paul George is somebody that he's and look he's going to have like a 35 point game in the playoffs and then everybody's going to be like oh you guys all doubted Paul George well yeah whatever I mean he's good enough to do those things but I don't know he you can almost see in the game like I'll watch and see moments with him where I go up

he's out he's down like he's going to he's going to I even thought when he threw the ball back to Kawhi at the end of game one he wasn't clean at the top of game one, he wasn't clean at the top of the, it wasn't top of the key, it was three-point line. He almost threw it out of bounds. It was just like, there's no way I'm taking this shot. It's going back. And then Morris gets it in the corner and they got it blocked. All right. Hey, I want to ask you about the Garrett Cole thing, because I think this might be a little age deal, or it might just be me on an

island again. All right. Here's Garrett Cole, pitcher of the Yankees, being asked about everybody's new freak-out topic, or at least we're talking baseball again, some places are, about sticky stuff and trying to get a better grip on the baseball. This stuff has been going on for absolutely ever. You have no idea how many guys actually do this. And here's Garrett Cole being asked about it. Have you ever used spider attack

while pitching? I don't... I don't know. I don't know if... I don't quite know how to answer that, to be honest. I mean, there are customs and practices that have been passed down from older players to younger players from the last generation of players

to this generation of players and um you know i i think uh i think there are some things that are certainly out of bounds in that regard. And I've stood pretty firm in terms of that, in terms of the communication between our peers and whatnot. And again, like I mentioned earlier, this is important to a lot of people that love the game. This is including the players in this room, including fans, including teams. And so if MLB wants to legislate some more stuff, that's a conversation that we can have. Because ultimately we should all be pulling in the same direction. Okay, look.

PR 101, not exactly killing it. Rosillo PR, our approach is give it a day or two. It'll go away. But for people that think it sounds smart to trash him because of how bad his answer is, what the fuck did you want him to say? What did you want him to say? Yep, guilty, using stuff, cheating. What's up?

He did. And by the way, all the people that are mad about his answer, you want him to do something you wouldn't do if you got caught. All right. Because people's first choice in the instinct game here is usually to lie to save themselves. All right. That's usually what, of all the options,

tell the truth is usually behind save my ass. And that's not even what Cole's doing here in this case. All right. That's usually what of all the options tell the truth is usually behind save my ass. And that's not even what Cole's doing here in this case. All right. Cole is in a brutal spot. He can't say yes, but he's actually respectful enough to everybody that's surrounding him that he doesn't want to outright lie. lie and so then you've got all the geniuses that do what i do trashing him for a bad answer when one they're hypocrites and two they're not even being close to realistic about the spot that he's in no it's it's a good point but i i think like the five second pause makes it so much worse because clearly he has also did he not have any idea that that was coming like he had to know that this question was coming shout out to the reporter for actually just straight up asking him because usually I feel like guys kind of beat around the bush on that. But he didn't have any other, there was no preparation for him to have an answer prepared,

even if it was a complete bullshit answer. Okay, so you didn't expect him to tell the truth. You're actually happy he didn't lie, but you don't like the words he picked and you don't like his pauses in a really brutal spot for a guy i i am in the minority here where i actually would respect him so much more if he just came out and said yes i have well he's not no one's gonna do that i wouldn't know it while he's playing oh well congrats but what's gonna what's gonna happen to him i mean everybody knows he uses it and the league

doesn't even really legislate it. So it's not his fault that he's taking advantage of this loophole in the rules. So if he came out and straight up said, hey, you know, like, yes, I've been using it because like that's what a bunch of guys around the league do. And I'm sorry, but that's this is the advantage that we have. I would have absolutely no problem with that. But no, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying I would I feel like the weird pause and not being prepared for the question made it so much worse than even lying. Fine. Delivery, not a public speaker. I throw I throw upper 90s consistently straight gas. That's what I do. I'm not here to win votes.

But when I'd heard all day, so many people that do this job going bad look for Garrett Cole, who got to be better, got to do. How do you answer that? And you're just like, but none of you guys. I don't, I give him, I don't think he, I think he was an impossible situation. He's not going to come out

and say, hey, I'm cheating all the time. And by the way, if you did do it, then you could be opening up the door to other managers as soon as you take them out

and being like, well, since, because that was kind of the code of all this stuff. Everybody knew everybody was doing it. And so that's why some dugouts would get so pissed

when the other dugout would be like, hey, check his glove. And it's like, seriously, you guys want to do this all night? Fine. We'll just keep checking everybody's gloves. And that's why they get so mad at the first people that started it. So now if you're Cole and you say, hey, yeah, I'm done. Like I'm doing it all the time. What's up? Then the first, the first game that he's starting, the next manager could be like, all right, fine. He admitted it. So we're just going to screw with him because he's awesome. And let's just have Garrett Cole get checked again the whole time, which I love, by the way, too, is that's the new thing that baseball wants to do is do like pat downs eight to 10 times a game because that'll help speed it up.

But both things are true, Ryan. It was a bad look. And, you know, we're still OPR. Everyone's going to get over it in two days. There probably are. I'm already over. I don't really care. So I just think both things are true. I love it. So it really turns the page. I just, I don't think it's remotely interesting, insightful for other people that do my job to trash Garrett Cole

without being honest about what the situation was. That's fair. That's it. Right. You don't like his delivery? Cool. But to me,

to sit there and destroy him for the message. You know what's funny? This is a is this is a this is a story it's not entirely the same thing but it's kind of funny remember the mcguire senate hearings where palmero just was like i'm giving you the hardest sell ever and then you're like okay not true yeah the finger um mcguire's like i used but it's in the past like i don't want to deal with this stuff so that night i did i did a celtics game i was at the garden for a celtics game and i was working

for comcast which was the celtics tv affiliate and i used to do this deal which was kind of strange because i lived in boston and i'd be in the garden and the tv studio was like 25 minutes north but i was desperate for work broke whatever so they. So they'd be like, Hey, can you do post game? But can you do it with us in studio? You know? And I was like, yeah, I could figure it out. Like there's a post game wrap up show by the time that's done. I can probably be there in the A's like no problem. So they're like, can you do the B's too? We don't have another guest. I go, well, what are the, what are we doing in the B's? They're like, we're doing the McGuire here. I go, look, I didn't see any of it. I was at the game. I was there for pregame. I didn't see any of the stuff. And honestly, at that point I'd been kind of steroided out. I just didn't find it all that interesting. Hey, steroids are bad. Sucks. This happened.

All right. Got it. Um, yeah, I mean, I just, and for somebody that talked about it nonstop during that time, if you had a radio show, you were talking steroids all the time. And I was kind of on the back end of it in 06, 07, 08-ish. And then people were just like, all right, we're done. So I go, hey, I didn't see any of the Senate hearing stuff. I go, I watched basketball the whole day. And so I was kind of filling in on this show. And one of the main hosts was gone a lot. So I was getting more run.

And I don't know if he disliked me. I don't think he loved me. It wasn't nasty or anything, right? But they were like, dude, don't know if he disliked me i don't think he loved me it wasn't nasty or anything right but they were like dude don't worry about it you don't need to see the hearings you'll be fine we'll just get out there and kick it around a little like all right no problem but the last thing i know you want you wouldn't you never want to do that you never you hate being unprepared you hate not knowing watching games whatever so this is your nightmare well because i'm just i'm like wait you guys want to have an opinion round table on this Senate hearing thing. And I haven't watched any of it.

And they're like, don't worry about it. And by the way, that's just a tip in life. It's like when I took my first insurance series test for the small window that I thought I was going to be an insurance consultant, the guy that ran the company was like, don't worry about it. He's like, the test is all common sense.

I'm like, it's all common sense for an insurance license? He's like, yeah, you'll be fine. Failed it. And then guys, my buddies were like, is Ursula an idiot? What's going on? And then I went to the other guy. He's like, yeah, it's common sense if you've worked in insurance your whole life. I think I've told that story before.

Anyway, moving on. So we get to it. So you have to remember the backstory that the other host kind of wanted to like, you know, We get to it. So you have to remember the backstory that the other host kind of wanted to like, you know, mark his territory in the corner a little bit like an animal. Cause I was, I was there a lot and I was doing all right. So they were like, oh, hearings today, Mark McGuire embarrassed himself. And they go to me and I'm like, well, you know, what do you, what do you expect?

What do you expect out of the guy? Like he did his best and I haven't seen it. I never do this. And I'm just bullshitting to kind of like kick it back to them. And the other host is like, how could you be so naive, Ryan? You're embarrassed. Like destroyed me, lit me up on the TV show. And I never forget going to commercial break and being like, are you serious?

Did you do that on purpose to make me look bad knowing that I hadn't seen it? And that's what it was. It wasn't about McGuire. The guy was like, oh, I'm going to pounce on him and remind him who the real host of this show is. And it was fucking bullshit. But it's also, and because I don't want to be painted

as some guy who's actually mad at Garrett Cole because I'm not mad at him at all. I really don't care. I don't care about any of this like cheating in baseball. I just think it happens and I don't really care but there's nothing worse in media or sports media specifically when different people on different shows try to

out mad someone else like about something that everyone's everyone thinks is sketchy like or was wrong, but they're like I'm going to show that why I'm super mad and someone's like no, I'm going to take it to a 10. Someone's like I'm going to take it to an 11 right and it's just constant pissing contest of who can be more mad about something that actually isn't

that big of a deal. And it happens all the time. And that doesn't make a good show just because you're mad about something that everyone else is mad about. No, I'm with you. I'm with you on that one.

Last thing here, the Jokic t-shirt's lame. I get why they made it. This shirt that was like too slow. Well, yeah, it's feeder quick. But he's kind of slow. Not great at defensively. Also accurate.

Low pick. What is low pick? Did he go higher? We didn't know. Didn't they pass on him, I think, twice that year too? And so there was that. But it is a constant thing. We've never had more access to hate.

The superstars have never had more access to hate. I've mentioned this numerous times, but if you look at a collection of the top 10 players in the league, they all have ad campaigns built around all the hate that they get. And so this was just, I don't even blame the Nuggets team, PR, whatever, 101. But the shirt was lame. Shirt was lame. Don't want one. Didn't order one.

I think RG3 started it. He started a movement, really, with all this stuff. LeBron had it. They had the villain thing nike where he wore the black hat and all that and then um i'll never forget the hardened one where it was like you should play defense no offense he was like that'd be boring and you were like cool awesome awesome yeah really cool good stuff okay uh the garrett cole thing I'll calm down on. We have Bruce Feldman. Love talking college ball with him.

The playoff. We knew it was coming. Is it going to be 12 teams? What does it mean? We'll talk to him next. Fox Sports and The Athletic. It's Bruce Feldman, my college football bud. Okay, we knew the expansion thing was always going to happen

no matter what they said. I've argued against it for certain reasons, but I always knew it was going to happen, and what they said. I've argued against it for certain reasons, but I always knew it was going to happen and I'll enjoy it once it happens. What does this mean? What are the leak proposals of this mean? Because I've read everything where it's like, well, 12 makes sense because if we do eight or we do six, this is the problem. Where are you at right now with your understanding of the story? You know, the Athletic had actually reported on 12 back in April. And so it has gotten more momentum as we're getting closer to these meetings in a few days.

So I think that's added to it. Here's what I think is the reality of this, Ryan. And I think you and I both know this, that like they are desperate for money, right? A bunch of places, and not just in college athletics, certainly, have really taken on a big financial hit, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

So here's an opportunity for them to make a ton more money. have really taken on a big financial hit, especially in the wake of the pandemic. So here's an opportunity for them to make a ton more money. It's an opportunity for them to sell, hey, you are gonna have a better opportunity. You're gonna actually have somewhat of an opportunity now to make the playoff if you're not in the power five. So from what I've heard, as well as others, that there would be at least a guaranteed spot for the top group of five program. Look back last year, Cincinnati was winning games. And albeit it was

a weird year, but Cincinnati was winning games. They basically had a glass ceiling, right? And so what I think the compromise in this is, if you're at the top of the food chain, that's the Big Ten and the SEC, where most of the money is, and certainly the SEC, where the top of the food chain, that's the Big Ten and the SEC, where most of the money is, and certainly the SEC, where the top consistent powerhouse programs are, they're able to sell, hey, we're going to expand this, but we may be able to get four teams in the playoff. So if you go to 12 and you have the guaranteed spots for the Pac-12 conference champ, as well as the ACC, which usually is getting in because of Clemson anyway, but certainly the Pac-12 and the Big 12 who have been snubbed at times, then that appeases them. The SEC has a chance to get maybe three or four teams in.

That would certainly appease them. And you'd at least give a little bit of a fig leaf or whatever the term is for the group of five for somebody. Now, it's not going to probably help the Mac or the Sunbelt, but at least there's some aspect or some illusion of opportunity there. And there's big money that's going to come from it. Yeah. I'm all set with, and I don't mean that because usually when I say all set, it means I don't want anything to do with it. but I'm, I'm good with the, the non power five schools feeling like there is something there for them. Because honestly, I couldn't ever really make an argument other than maybe that Boise team that lost in Nevada on the missed kick. But even then, you know, maybe, maybe I'm wrong. I mean, they would have

been in the national title game, but more often than not, like I'm, I'm an elitist when it comes to the college football programs, because it's just not the same thing. It's not the same thing to go through your schedule and go through even an ACC schedule. I think, you know, um, and I, I mean, that is a compliment, um, because certain years of the ACC or whatever, like I could have picked on the pack 12 there, but it is pretty classic college football that the first version of this, they'd make sure one person was getting screwed out of that group. And sometimes it's been two. So people can talk about the lack of turnover, which I think is a really big mistake if you're making changes because of a cyclical situation where it's Bama and Clemson all the time, or, you know, we've got Ohio State or, you know,

whoever else you want to include, I guess it would only really be those three. So, you know, oh, it's just these two teams. I'm sick of this. Let's expand. But I kind of never, and look, I've sat in those meetings. Like I remember being in the seminars with you going back 10 years ago at ESPN, Bill Hancock coming out and telling us all the things they couldn't do. And he just was making it up. And then they would do exactly the thing Bill Hancock said, hey, we're not going to do this. And then they would do it like two years later. So, you know, I understand that his job is just kind of sit there and say stuff, but it never ends up holding any water.

So I'm just wondering, like, what do you think the biggest motivation is? Is it just simple as, hey, business expand because they could have just done this and done a bigger TV deal the first time around? Is it really the motivation of lost revenue for the past year and a half to want to go ahead and do this? Or is it because they're mad that they feel like it's just Bama Clemson every year? I think there's a couple of factors there. There's also one factor that we haven't touched on yet, which is years ago. And you mentioned those seminars we would do either

at the Radisson or the airport. The airport. Yeah. Near West Hartford. But the thing that I remember is the bowls. If you're not a person who is like diehard, been covering college football long before I was covering it, it's like there's a reverence for the bowl structure and the bowl people and the people in those tangerine colored blazers and everything like that. And if you are, I'm sure you're sitting there going, you know, like, I never understood that.

I honestly never really understood it either. Look, I really liked the people from the holiday bowl, but you know, like, all right, it goes, it only goes so far. And yet there was such a reverence and a deferential treatment. And I think this like, honestly, to some degree went for our old bosses at ESPN, who definitely have influence, that they were going to look out for the bowl partners as much as possible.

I feel like that has... It's like a fist that has become a little less clenched now. Maybe the forearm is weary or whatever. There's a lot of factors. But I think that is something that has, you know, I feel has been eased up some, I definitely think it's money drives everything. So I think, you know, don't let the people try to tell you there's all these other factors. I think money is a huge reason. And I also think they, you know, it's power and its ability to, to sell. Um, there are games that you could have in November that should matter, but they only matter to those teams because they don't have any playoff ramifications. You know, you and I, you know, I still work at a TV company. We both worked at ESPN

for a long time. Those are big ratings numbers that potentially you're leaving money on the table. Those are big ratings numbers that potentially you're leaving money on the table. And I think that is a big driving factor. I mean, I think there's really something to the fact that there were so many games. You can talk about the Alabama-Clemson fatigue, and I think that's real to some extent. But I just think it's so much of, oh, wait, this USC-Oregon game, which people should care about, but they only care about if they're USC and Oregon fans, not even Pac-12 fans care, it could have weight going down the road. And there are teams, I think, that use USC as an example. That USC team that got smoked by Alabama when Max Brown was a quarterback and then Darnold took over later and they went on a run,

there is a chance that a team that might be 9 and three and gets off to a rocky start because maybe a freshman quarterback, or maybe there was an injury that they could be dangerous in a playoff. I think it's, you know, it's not, it's going to be the, the exception rather than the rule. But I do think there's some of that that can happen where a team can get on a roll. I mean, look at, you know, if somehow LSU had lost to Texas in the, whatever it was week two, when that game got really close, LSU got way better as the year went on. They got way better on defense. There are teams who do that in college football. So I think this is going to be an interesting dynamic. I'm not sure how I feel about the number

12. I mean, it doesn't matter how I feel, obviously, but, um, you know, I I'm glad that they are going to have room, at least for the illusion of the opportunity. If you're Boise state, if you're San Diego state, if you're Cincinnati, if you're, you know, UCF or whoever, but, um, you know, the idea that you're going to have 14 from one conference, I mean, that's gonna, I don't know. I think that's going to smell a little funny to a bunch of people if it comes to that. I know my position over the years has been

I don't like that a 9-7 team can win the Super Bowl in the NFL. I don't. I know the teams that are 9-7 think it's awesome, but I'm kind of like, well, what was the point? What's the point, especially in single elimination, if you're going to do this? All right. So if we went to LSU's year, so Auburn loses the Iron Bowl.

They're nine and three, and they're in. I mean, you know what I mean? And then so what if they're playing in Alabama, you know, in a rematch? Well, they wouldn't be playing them because in this case, the top four teams, and that's what I saw in the proposals, the top four teams would have a bye five through 12 would play each other again. The people that are with the bowl committees want to make sure they protect whatever it is that they have. You know, and the bowls, anyone that's ever worked with them, you're like, look, they're the hospitality part of it is is on point. But I think there's a survival part of it of protecting themselves. And now if you package those first games by attaching them to some of the bowls that maybe not everybody's is locked into now because we really care about the end game more than when you make the playoff more important it's going to hurt by you know i think a byproduct that it's going to hurt the national or casual attention into some of those other ones so now if you're labeling some of those other playoff games you know attached to some of the secondary bowls and that helps kind

of everybody along those lines but i guess no i i just think if you lose three games in a college football season i don't really love the idea that you get another chance at winning a national championship. And that's been my standpoint the whole time. And I know I'll love the games. I know I'll watch them all. I'll talk about them the whole time. The ratings will do well. There'll be more money.

And by the way, it'll be more money not only to help them after the pandemic, but help all of these programs that spend and spend and spend on coaches and then buy them out so they can talk about being broke. They're horrible. It's about spending their own money. And it's been an absolute faucet of cash for years and years. And it's the first time it got tightened up. So this will help with that. But I just don't like it. I don't like team five versus 12 having a one game shot to get in against a team that went 13 and 0. Yeah, look, I mean, this first school you mentioned at rank 12 was Auburn. Would they spend a fortune to get rid of Gus Malzahn a year after that just to buy him out straight up? Right, because every year he's either going to be fired or go to an extension. example of how that works. But as we're talking about it, I'm looking at the other team that

fits into that category. It was actually Wisconsin, who would have been hanging around there. Wisconsin got blown out by Ohio State, lost to Illinois that year. By the way, Illinois wasn't good at all. And I think by the end of the year, because they did beat Minnesota on the road, They were there at whatever, 12. They would have been an interesting team to evaluate. Again, this is a team that didn't have... You lose to Illinois, who's unranked and bad, and you get blown out by the one really good team you play. But I think that's the dynamic we seem to be headed for. I don't know if I would feel better if it was like, hey, because you're not going to put in the Mac and Sunbelt champs automatically. There's no way

any power five power broker is going to go for that. I think what is interesting is your point about nine and seven Super Bowl teams. I think we're conditioned to whatever we're conditioned to. Like, for me, I'm a big NFL fan. And I just feel like I'm so used to it that I don't think twice of, ooh, the Giants are in there now and, you know, or whatever. You just like the week to week doesn't matter. I mean, we've and I've done this. Certainly, a lot of people in college football have argued we have the best regular season in sports because every game matters. Well, you know, like if you lose to Illinois and they're, you know, they're a two and seven team and you're still in the playoff,

does every game matter? I mean, I guess it kind of does, but it really doesn't, you know, so not in the same way it used to. And I think that's just, you know, fans will adjust because we have no choice. You know, that's, that's the reality. Yeah. It was always going to happen. I, you know, that part of it, I'm fine. I'm just, as I've said throughout the entire time, because the funny thing is, is, you know, I would look at like eight, nine, 10, 11 and go, can you imagine those arguments? Because now what you're doing is you're opening up the argument. So maybe that's better for it, but I guess I'm just gonna be sitting there being like, you guys are ranked

17th and you actually want to be the 12th. Like you think you deserve to be 12th, you know? And it's just, I don't know. I don't think that team should have a chance to win a national championship. I just don't. Think about like, you know, like March Madness when the CBS show is on there. And then all of a sudden you're arguing and it varies from year to year. However, they kind of change the format, but all of a sudden, we're in the like, you know, and I watch these two where it's like, you know, whether it's Jimmy Dykes playing or Joe Lenardi's deal where it's like the last four in people get really worked up about that. Now, it's a lot different, I think, where you can have a team. And we've seen plenty of examples of this where in college basketball, I feel like teams

can get hot. And if you have two really good players, it can make a big difference. You know, Khalil Mack was one of the best college football players anybody's seen for the last decade. He wasn't going to change a playoff for Buffalo. You know, it's just the reality. So it's fun to talk about. I think people will still get worked up over a way we were 15 and we should have been 11 or whatever.

Um, but the, but I think the reality is with college football, those teams, I'll be, I'll be stunned if anybody has a double digit seed, 10, 11,

12, and they even make it to the final game, much less win it. I don't know, man, one game. I mean, still with basketball,

we're arguing about who's 64 or 65 or 68 or 69. The odds of that team actually winning six games is remote. I mean, I know we've had a few Cinderella's in the final four. whatever, and Pinckney. Yeah, 11, right? So that's about as far as you probably get away from it. But again, college basketball is way different, you know, the sport, I think, than college football. You know, like the one thing I wonder if you'd hear about, Ryan, is people will bring up, you know what, injury risk and more, you know, the season's longer. Short of that, I'm not sure.

Like I talked to somebody in the SEC recently and they made the case, well, now the SEC title game is not going to matter that much. It was like, really? So what? I mean, you had Georgia and Alabama play for the national title game three years ago. It didn't, not like people were that bent out of shape about it. By the way, Villanova, an eight seed. Did you say eight? And then I said nine. So we're good. Okay. George Mason, I think, was an 11 seed. So, all right. You also have done a lot of work on, and I want to finish up here, but the name, image, and likeness deal and how much this is impacting what's going to be happening with recruiting.

So give me a sense of the concern, the angst, the excitement around this and how much this is really going to impact the game? I don't know if there's excitement. There's a lot of angst if we talk to coaches because they feel like on one level, they are losing some power dynamic, which maybe they should lose it because you were talking about the money factor involved in that. But also, there's three big things that have kind of happened in this month. For people who aren't big college football fans. This is for at first time in like 15 months, it's open season on recruiting. There's tons of official tons of unofficial visits.

So that's going on. This is the, this is the hardest evaluation period because no one's been able to see these players in person. Right? So there's that you have the portal where now, and I talked to a bunch of coaches for this story I did for The Athletic, where a bunch of coaches are talking about

basically third-party people poaching and basically trying to steer guys out of programs into programs. And that's affecting it. And also now you got name, image, and likeness, which July 1st is not that far off. And the thing I heard the most from a lot of coaches was, we still don't know how this is going to play.

We can teach kids and bring in marketing executives and marketing experts to help them build their brand. I don't think they know practically how is this going to really work. The states are all over the map. You got some of these politicians who are buffoons who are coming in. It's like, it's weird. You see some of these politicians who are buffoons who are coming in. It's like,

it's weird. You see some of these people from Washington, DC and Mark Emmert, it's like, you know, which jackass do you want to trust less? You know, like kind of, it's just really strange how this is kind of evolved. And again, we're right up against it in a couple of weeks. And so what I think you are seeing already is some schools doing deals where players can have the opportunity to have these, you know, basically endorsement deals lined up to hit the ground running. And can they use it as a recruiting advantage over some other place? And the NCAA is sitting there going, as a recruiting advantage over some other place. And the NCAA is sitting there going, well, we don't want to create an uneven playing field.

Well, you had an uneven playing field from day one, right? You know, Stanford Steve, our buddy, went to a place, his education is much better than almost everybody else who he was getting recruited against, if you're so inclined for that. The NCAA tries to bend over backward. I think the NCAA wants to try to shoehorn this into as little flexibility for the student athletes or the players. And you have politicians getting in the way and it's a big mess. I don't think anybody

knows exactly how this is going to unfold in a couple of weeks. Yeah. I mean, there's going to be stuff that happens and we're going to look at it in the short term. And then a couple of weeks. Yeah. I mean, there's going to be stuff that happens and we're going to look at it in the short term. And then a couple of years from now, you're like, oh, this was wrong. I mean, there's no doubt, but just because people aren't prepared or don't know, it's still the right thing to do. Because every time I've heard an argument against it, they're all horrible arguments. And I was looking at some of the stuff yesterday that they were trying to use on the pro side of it. And I disagreed with a bunch of that too. But I go, yeah, but at the core, like this should always be the simple thing.

Like what's the problem with guys and the name, image, and likeness? What's the problem? Like, oh, somebody is going to figure out some way to circumvent this through the recruiting part of it and get cash. You'll be like, okay, oh, so guys are going to get cash as recruits?

Uh-oh. You know what I mean? Well, it's not even the recruits part. Think about it this way. So you and I both know Leinart. Use him as the example. Don't even, you know, nevermind Reggie for the time being. Uh-oh. You know what I mean? five grand? Is that worth 10 grand? How many does he do? That's a real opportunity for players to rake in cash. I've had coaches make the point, you know what? Look at Instagram. It's not necessarily football players. There's a gymnast who may have a million followers. Somebody else made the case. Do you remember the... Her name is Alison Stokey. She was a, like a pole vaulter,

a cow. She had a huge Instagram following. There are going to be people. And it's probably maybe as many, if not more women than, than male athletes who have a big followings that they can leverage and cash in. And a lot of times those athletes, and maybe it's a little different if they're, if they're gymnasts and they can do speaking engagements and whatnot after the Olympics. But a lot of times, for football players, if you're great, for basketball players, if you're great, you're going to cash in in the pros afterwards because those are big league opportunities. For some of these athletes, especially on the female side, they may be able to cash in more in college than they can after it just because the league opportunities aren't there. And so I hope that the NCAA can get out of the way of that because that's a big financial opportunity that a lot of these student athletes really deserve that they're

missing out on. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, to think just if you say that out loud, like if you're somebody that goes, oh, it's and honestly, the people that argue it and like, there's some stuff with canal over the years where I go, he takes a lot of heat for this, but I agree with them on this point. Um, I've never agreed with them on finding a way to make the college athlete situation better. And, you know, and back to like those seminars we used to do, I remember Herbstreet like going at Hancock a little bit and being like, hey, how come when it was 11 games, you know, you couldn't add another one

because of the academic requirements. And then how come like when you added 12th game and then you added the 13th game of the conference championship. And now you're at like, at what point? And Bill would be like, really good, Kirk. Great question. Great question. And he'd be like, you know, we still, it's still important.

Like, it's not important. It's fine. Like, but no one can ever say it. It's kind of like back to my Garrett Cole rant a little bit earlier. College football can't say, yeah, you know what? We actually will find a way around it because there's so much cash out there for it. So when you're making those kinds of decisions and it has nothing to do really with the short term part of the athlete, like, I just think it's incredibly wrong, especially as you put it. wrong, especially as you put it. If you're a gymnast with a million followers because you're gorgeous and a bunch of dudes want to follow you, and then all of a sudden you're pushing pea protein and teeth whitener, why should the NCAA be able to say, no, you actually can't do this? And by the way, you can't do it until you become less marketable. Your page is worth it, but you're actually not competing or doing anything. Yeah. I mean, I even think of this, like my old producer at Fox, Bo Garrett, his daughter was a gymnast and I don't know how, like she was a good gymnast. I don't think she

ever had aspirations, real aspirations of going to the Olympics. But I think for, for young girls like that, they look up to some of these college athletes as role models. You and I might not be able to, to name them, you know, but they have, they have a big following and they're very influential there. Why should they not be able to, to, to cash in on that and that opportunity? And, and again, because the NCAA is looking like so suspiciously at, at the level playing field, because they know that some coach in the SEC might do this, you know, I think it's, it's really screwed up. Some coach in the SEC might do this. I think it's really screwed up.

Bruce Feldman, The Athletic, and Fox Sports. The Athletic's been all over this playoff expansion story. It's happening. We don't know exactly which version of it. Everybody's going to make a lot of cash. Everybody's going to have more games to watch. That is actually a good thing. Thanks, man. We'll talk to you soon.

Thank you. James Posey joins us and you can check him out every week on the Posecast and contributor to basketballnews.com. Played in the NBA 1999-2011 and anybody that saw him play I would say every team needs

a James Posey. That's how I felt about you. That's how I felt about your game and your career. How do you feel about the way peers, your teammates and other guys you played against because i just think you brought it i think you brought it in a way that very few guys do uh you know it feels good to just be uh you know respected for how i approached the game and how i played the game uh you know a a team uh first guy and doing whatever it takes to, to win games.

Uh, and also just the amount of work I put in, um, to, you know, to, uh, hone my skill,

my shooting ability, and also just the toughness that I brought to the team. And like I said, just been a great teammate at the end of the day. Now, when you came out as Xavier, uh, your first round pick, you know, 99, as you mentioned, did you think there was anyone else that was going to, because Denver takes you 19 or excuse me, 18.

Did you have any idea that maybe you could go? Because there were some weird spots in front of you where guys completely flamed out, which I mean, happens in the first round all the time. But did you think it was always Denver? I mean, what was your understanding of where you were going to go in the draft that year? I really didn't know. It's crazy because I worked out for like 16 teams

and I almost had a draft day workout with Philly, which, you know, it was just like, you know, it was too late by then to go work out for Philly. But being from Cleveland, they had two picks. And we knew they were going to take a point guard, and they were going to take Andre Miller. And then they had another pick. I think it was 11th pick or something like that.

It took Trajan. And so being from Cleveland, you know, of course, family, friends, and even myself, like, you know, that would be a good look for me to, you know, to get drafted by the home team. And so when they didn't draft me, it was a little disappointing at the end of the day, I just thought it would be nice. You know, people, my family and friends, they were upset. Of course they want to, they want to have me home and local,

but it didn't happen. So after that it was just like the waiting game and just not really knowing and when when denver you know drafted me with the 18 picks you know it was just you know a blessing and just you know the way that was over so uh that was my little draft day uh situation where you know i wouldn't mind you know going to the cast and i thought it would be a great pick for them but it didn't happen that way so you know, I wouldn't mind, you know, going to the cast and I thought it would be a great pick for them, but it didn't happen that way. So, you know, like I told my parents, you know, at the time,

because we went to the draft in D.C., I told them, I said, you know, we wasn't banking on going to the league, you know. So if I don't get drafted, period, you know, y'all taught me well, y'all raised me well. So I just had to get a job or whatever it may be. So that was just our approach we enjoyed the experience experience on draft night and a whole you know that whole little um weekend so uh we got our i guess our money's worth and for us you know it was a dream

come true uh and a great opportunity yeah those workouts i was lucky enough when i was still living in Boston and when they used to like me, they would invite me up to watch. Um, and they, you know, it would be closed and then maybe they'd sneak me down a little bit earlier. And the workouts are like everything and they're nothing all at the same time. Like they can be the most revealing thing. Like it was when I got to see Rondo a couple of times, I was like, Oh my gosh, like this guy is so different. Like what is he doing? He was just destroying big guys. He was destroying other guards. And then I remember like another guard from Yukon, I got a chance to talk to him after the workout and I was like, how'd it go? He's

like, oh, this is it. He goes, I'm definitely going here. And like, not only did the Celtics never take him, he never like even made an impact in the league at all. Do you have any workout discs? Cause I'd imagine with your size and being from Xavier like you probably wanted to really take it to some of the other guys from bigger programs that were maybe projected to go higher do you have any good draft workout stories because I'd imagine you must have done pretty well but then with the amount of turnaround you have I know there's also workouts where sometimes you guys show up and you're absolutely exhausted and the team thinks you're not any good yeah I mean that was like I said I worked out for, I mean, you know,

you say 16 teams and just to turn them on as far as the workouts, the Seattle workout then was tough with Coach Nate. And then also the Phoenix workout was tough where it was, it was basically like the conditioning part of it. You know, we do the drills and skill work, but at the where it was it was basically like the conditioning part of it you know we do the the uh the drills and skill work but at the end it was it was the cardio that was i'm like man like i know if i was running a marathon or you know you know the boston marathon or something like that or whatever but the conditioning part was tough but just the whole experience like i said it was new territory for me learning the the NBA game and, you know, a different situation.

So for myself, you know, I have fun with that. But just those two teams in itself at the end, they put on this conditioning test. Man, it really it really tried to break you. And one thing I didn't break, but it was still tough at the end. So you go to Denver, you don't win any games for a few years and uh you get traded were you surprised when you were trick because that was probably you know i think there are moments as younger players especially on a lesser team where you're getting buckets and you're feeling like hey i'm a scorer um and you could always you could always school but that's just not what you were

asked to do later on in your career what was that transition like for you well i mean we won games in denver we just didn't win enough. And I just, when I think about being drafted to that team, it was like we had Antonio McDyess, Nick Danexel, we had Chauncey, we had Rafe of Friends, Keyon Clark, George McCullough. We had

some players and, you know, we just couldn't win enough games to even just sniff the playoffs. And, you know, coming into the NBA, it was more so like, you know, why can't we win? And that just goes to show like the West was tough. And with that talent, we still just didn't win enough. So things changed after that where, you know,

players got traded and signed elsewhere. So it started the rebuild. And so I was there to tail in with Juwan Howard. Even Aiden Johnson was there myself. And so, you know, for the organization, they just chose to start rebuilding. So they traded me to the Houston Rockets. And the funny thing about it is I didn't even know I was traded. The day I got traded, we were playing Dallas. And so we go through shoot around and everything. And I go home, I take my nap, and then I'm headed to the arena. So I'm by Cherry Creek Mall, and I get a call from my agent.

I pretty much talk to my agent, uh, you know, every day or whatever. So, uh, I'm talking to him and he asked me how, how I feel. I said, I feel, you know, I feel great, you know, on my way to the, uh, I said, I feel great. And he says, uh, so what are you doing? I said, I mean, we got a game tonight, so I'm on my way to the arena. He said, on your way to the arena. I said, yeah. He said, you just got traded. I said, what? And so I just remember busting a U-turn, you know what I'm saying, busting a U-turn in front of the mall.

And then I said, okay, where I get traded to? And then he said, the Rockets. So I'm already living in Houston in the offseason anyway, so I put my foot on the gas. I'm hauling ass to get home. I'm trying to pack my stuff so I can get out tonight, the same night or whatever. And so he said, so they didn't let you know that you had got traded?

I said, no. I said, we had shoot around and everything. And I didn't even get a phone call at all. And so, like I said, I was heading to the game just expecting to play. And I got traded. So that was my first taste of being traded, and it was just crazy how it just went down. What was that Miami run like in 06? Because, like I said at the beginning,

you guys can't get into the playoffs. You're probably wondering, like, where's my career going? And then you end up with a Miami team that finds a way. I mean, you guys were down 13 points to Dallas. I mean, it's one of the great comebacks in finals history because that thing looked like it was over. And give me a sense of what that team was like and what it was like to pull that out because it was the core guys in Shaq and Wade, but it was also a collection of like a bunch of guys thrown in there in the last minute, it felt like? Well, you know, we got there at a rocket start with Stan, and then Rouse came out and took over as the head coach.

Hey, when that change is made, I always feel like players, it's human nature. You're going to buy into somebody that has a resume over somebody that doesn't. And for that, you know, comparing Stan Van Gunney to Pat, it's just no comparison because of what Pat Riley had done. What was that like? What was that transition like for that team? Because it certainly seemed like Shaq was in favor of it. Yeah, well, you just you just said it there.

The experience of, you know, Pat Riley, you know, he's been there and done that winning as a coach. And Shaq, you know, him winning championships in L.A. as well. And for us, those were the only two leaders that we had and have been there. So, of course, everyone is paying attention, you know, all eyes and ears on those two guys to lead the way. eyes and ears on those two guys to lead the way. And Shaq, during that time, he just made it, you know, everything so, not easy, but I'll say comfortable for us and supporting us where we didn't panic about anything. He kept us engaged.

He kept our spirits high. And, you know, Rouse, at the end of the day, he kept preaching, all we need is one game. And that's what our mindset was, just to get one game, you know, after being down 0-2. And once we got down 0-2 and got that first game, you know, you start feeling, you're feeling okay. So it's like, okay, we won't get swept, but we still need another game to tie. And so we said, okay, let's see if we can put a string together. We just need to tie it up.

And, you know, we got back home and we got those two wins. So now it's 0-0. And we feeling good. Like, okay, now, you know, things are clicking in our favor. D. Wade is playing great. You know, he's carrying the load. And everybody, you know, playing to their potential. And Shaq's dominant, you know, presence in the paint as well

and being just a great leader. So now, you know, now we go up you know three two now it's looking real good now the you know tables are turned now and it's like okay now you know we got the gun now we we we in control of this and from that point on it was like we just have to finish we have to finish this you know and like i said we kept using that the fuel of them planning the parade uh before we even left dallas you just heard all that talking it was like our opportunity to win and you know you just you know you sit back and you think about it like this i'm on a bigger stage with

an opportunity to win a championship at the highest level and i think you know from from gary payton antoine walker uh jay will alonzo morning you know, from Gary Payton, Antoine Walker, Jay Will, Alonzo Mourning, you know, it was like, this is our opportunity. We have to take advantage of it. And I think we did so. And you just see the energy and effort in those last, you say, those four games completely, like it just sort of changed. And, you know, we just was able to pull it through. And like I said, it was a great team effort, but we had great leaders and Shaq and Pat Riley. And then, you know, we had the young B-Wade. He was, man, he was awesome. And he just carried the load and we was able to contribute, you know,

throughout that season, that series as well. When you were recruited to Boston, what did Garnett and those guys say to you? Uh, actually it wasn't even, uh, those guys for the, it was Eddie house. Um, actually we had the same agent and Mark Bottle's thing. And so, you know, I, I left Miami and so it was, you know, thinking about the future, like, where can I go to sort of get stats and, you know, build, you know, build my value up for another deal. And so I remember it was a Saturday afternoon and I was, you know, just frustrated with the whole process. And I was talking to my agent and I said, you know what, man? I just go to, man,

I'm going to go to Jersey. I'm going to go to New Jersey and play with the Nets. And at the time, you know, they had J. Kidd, Richard Jefferson, and Vince Carter, and those guys.

And I'm like, man, I go there, you know, with J. Kidd. You know, he helped players and revived them a little bit. So, you know, the running style they have, I'm like, okay, I fit in perfect. That's right on my alley, you know, run, layups and dunks and threes on occasion.

And so I told him, I said, you know what, I'm just going to go to Jersey. And so he said, you know what, I'm going to give you some time to think about it and just let me know before I make the phone call and let him know. So an hour ago by, two hours ago by, Eddie House had already signed with Boston. He called me. He said, yo, Pose. He said, if you come,

we gonna win it. And I just started laughing or whatever. He said, nah, I'm serious because, you know, I've been here working out with the guys and everything. He said, yo, no, you the piece right here. Like, you come here, like, we gonna win. Like, for real. He said, I yo, you know, you the piece right here. Like, you come here, like, we going to win. Like, for real. He's like, I should, you know, like, we going to win.

And I'm just like, you know, you hear it. And he's like, okay. He recruited me. And I never, I knew Eddie from afar. So, I'm like, for him to call me, you know what I'm saying? I was like, okay. That's what's up. And I'm just thinking, it's a little gas at the end of the day.

Like, okay. He'd say whatever, just recruiting somebody. And so I got off the phone with him. And then I just took like another like hour to myself. And I just thought about the team, the makeup and what just happened. And being there with KG, you know, Paul and Ray, I said, I called my agent back. I said, man, I'm going to go to Boston. And he's like, you sure? And he said, I'm going to go to Boston. And he's like, you sure?

And he said, I'm going to give you some more time to think about it. I said, no, I don't need no more time. Like, I was just tired. I said, nah, I'm going to go to Boston. Are you sure I'm going to Boston? He said, okay, well, I'm still going to give you some time. So he gave me like 30 minutes. And before that 30 minutes, I said, yo, all right, right I'm still I'm going to Boston and he said he made

the phone call to Danny and told him um you know I said that I'll come there and from there it was you know it was every every bit of fun and excitement and just um a great opportunity and you had a player option and I remember covering the team and people were so upset that you left because you were you know a really important piece of the rotation. But I think it was like 24 over four from New Orleans. Like, there was just, I mean, you had to go to New Orleans. Like, that must have been the quickest opt out in player history. well i mean it was it was the mid-level and then you know at the time you know i understood the business side of it so i'm like okay danny like i came here i figured i came there for cheap we won so the reward would be a nice you know just a contract i wasn't asking for nothing more than i was supposed to get at the end of the day and so danny he was like know what how about how about you come you come back for another year and do it again and I'm like come on DA like come on man like we won so you can't say I didn't come

here we didn't win and would you actually do another year you know saying just on the on on another deal for one year and so you know he understood it but he said you know I'd be you know time to think about it as well and then as far as other options out there, and then New Orleans came about and they offered me that mid-level and I had to make my business decision for myself. And I chose to go to, you know, to New Orleans. It was just one of those things where, you know, if I would have, if we wouldn't have won, I'd have thought

hard about coming back. Cause I love the team. I love doc. I love, you know, playing with KG, Paul and Ray. Um, so I wouldn't have had no issue coming back and trying to, and trying to win it, but I came there one and done basically we win. So I don't see what the problem, the issue issue was as far as like, we signed me, but like I i said i do understand the business side as well so um you can't say that we didn't win while i was there and there you go so that's why i was i was able just to take that that deal my ring and get a new deal and just go to new orleans so you made the right call on that too and i'd always wondered like i'd heard it was cool i love you telling that story about talking to angel just kind of hashing it out because so you made the right call on that too. And I'd always wondered, like, I'd heard it was cool. I love you telling that story about talking to Angel, just kind of hashing it out. Cause you're

like, you really think you're going to be back here on like a one year on short money. Like you just did like that's not happening, but he has to try. And then I think once you got the full mid-level, like from, from their standpoint, cause they were paying so many other guys too, it was just going to be tough for them to do that. When you finish up your career and you end up coach, how tough was it for you to be a coach? How bad did you want to still get out there and play the first couple of years? Well, I had to, you know, before I went in to coaching, I just knew I was done playing.

I was done with the preparation of just, you know, the training and everything like that. And I was okay with that preparation of just you know the training and everything like that and and i was okay with that and so that was that was the first step um and so once i came to that conclusion it was like okay now how can i start turning the corners and like even towards the tail end of my playing career i would go to um the top 100 uh coaching uh camp a high school player account which the nba ran like their coaching little program through them so i did that for three years so i was sort of you know just uh getting ready and sort of understanding like the whole coaching side of things and then i was also a part of this at the time it was the d league, the D league had, um, like open tryouts in New York at like, I want to say like pier, I don't know,

42 or 57, but where, uh, anybody could pay, say like $200 to come there and just have a workout in front of the D league, you know, uh, scouts and, and GMs. And so I was coaching, I was able to coach one of those teams there and coaching that team. Like I said, it was guys that probably played or guys that sit at home and say, you know what, I can play this game. I have something to offer and just the opportunity. And so they paid their money to come there and they got a jersey and the experience and opportunity to possibly play in their hometown D League or wherever, you know, be put in that draft. And so it was a great experience there.

And then I would just do little coaching experiences like that. And David Griffith, he called me and said, you know, I heard you wanted to get into coaching. And he was the GM of the Canton Charge at the time. coaching and he was the GM of the Canton charge at the time and never met Dave, Dave before then, but it was, it's a funny story with that. And so he called me, asked me if I was still interested, if it was something that I want to do. And I told him, yeah. And he said, cool. You know, you could be an assistant coach on a Canton charge team down here in

the D league. So I accepted it. But with that, he offered the first year he offered, and I just had my youngest son at the time. And so I said, Griff, like, you know, I want to come, but I just had my son. I just can't up and leave right now. And so I told him, I said, you know, if this opportunity presents itself next summer, I'm telling you right now. And so I told him, I said, you know, if this opportunity presents itself next summer, I'm telling you right now. Yes. And so, you know, people are okay. You know, I'll check back with you and see what's going on or whatever.

So a year later, opportunity presented itself and he called back. And I was like, man, thank you. But nothing changed. I'm saying, yes. When do I need to be there? And I left, you know, I left the can. And like I to be there and I left you know I left the Canton and like I said being from Cleveland you know Canton is only like 45 minutes away so it was opportunity for me to come back home uh see family but also start you know really the my coaching career there um so I'm there in Canton and um Griff he's he's like you know I met you a long time ago like you're not gonna believe this and I'm like okay I'm listening so he's like, you know, I met you a long time ago. Like, you're not going to believe this. And I'm like, okay, I'm listening.

So he said, back in, you know, doing the pre-draft stuff when you came out in Phoenix, I was like your host, your driver guy that got you to everything that you needed to go to. And, you know, we had great conversations, you know, to and from like the arena or wherever we needed to go. conversations, you know, to and from like the arena or wherever we needed to go. He said, I liked you as a college player, but I just even loved you more in just that conversation. And at the time, I think he was like an intern somewhere or he was doing something. And he was just like, you know, you just never know who you meet.

But I just took an extra liking to you then. And I just remember those moments. And he said, you probably won't even remember it, which I didn't, but it made sense that some things that he said, I could remember like those rides and stuff like that. And I was like, man, wow. It just goes to show you just never know, you know, over the course of time, you know, people, you know, you leave an impression on people that it comes back.

It could be helpful for you in the long run. And for him to make the advancement as far as his positioning to be able to be a GM of the D-League team at the time and come back full circle to, you know, bring me in to start my coaching on the D-League level, it was like, wow. And it's like, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, Griff is legendary.

Apparently, after the letter being down 3-1, you're on that staff. The emotional swing, because you get blown out in those first couple games, and then to come back against this all-time great team, it's one of the best stories in the history of the game. It just is. And you had a sideline seat for it being part of that staff.

I just wonder kind of what that was like as that series turned on that moment. For us, the grind was real. And for us, it was a gut check for, you know, LeBron James, Kyrie, you know, and Kevin Love, and also, you know, T. Lou. But in that same breath, you know, we had great leadership with LeBron James and how he kept, you know, the troops gathered and rallied and hungry and, you know, just thinking about one game at a time. And then T. Lou as well, you know, he did a great job of just keeping everybody calm and he preached the same thing. All we need to do is just win one game.

And it's one game at a time. And that's how we have to approach it. And now you get to game seven, where nobody thought we was going to get to game seven. Now anything can happen. And just with that, you see LeBron, Kyrie, and K-Love just step up. You know, it was just a great feeling to win that championship. And the fact that we did it that way, I think, just made it more sweeter,

you know, knowing, you know, it hadn't been done that way, you know what I'm saying. So for us to put our mark on the championship that way and be the first championship for Cleveland, you know, it was a great feeling across the board. James, I really appreciate it. Again, you can check him out, The Pose Cast, basketballnews.com, James Posey. Thanks.

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. 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. LifeAdvice. RR at gmail.com. Let's get to it. Okay, Ryan. My name's Marshall. I guess we

got a real name here. We got a real name, guys. 6'3", 215. Alright. Ryan, my name's Marshall. I guess we get a real name here. We get a real name guy. 6'3", 215. All right. No offense to anyone underneath those numbers. Question. I just rented an apartment that is two to three times bigger than what is considered standard where I live. I'm in Paris, but it's like any big city. Not that important. It feels fairly important. It feels fairly important that you just get a huge apartment in Paris. Our guy is age 34. I've found a way to make a good living in tech while everyone else I know hasn't gotten there yet. I just moved in and have a great place with a pool table, a lot of space to hang. However, I'm hesitant to invite my friends over because I'm afraid they'll think that it's over the top. How can I enjoy the place I rented specifically in order to host people while a lot of people

who may come over think it's over the top? Okay. I'm so happy that we have so many listeners doing well. Of all the things to worry about in life, this is not one of them. Okay. You're the one that rented the big place. You're the one that rented the place with the pool table. So unless you're pulling a Rosillo the rest of your life, like why did you move into a place and then as soon as you move in, have anxiety, apprehension

about sharing the place as you point out how great of a hang it is. So again, of all the things we can add up, like what are you worried about that now people are going to think you're doing better

than they thought? There's also a really good chance that people already knew you were doing well because everybody kind of talks about everybody else the entire time. So unless this is some life-altering move here where you're not really in tech and you're a spy or you're an international hacker just going after banks, I don't know, Interpol, who cares? Who cares if the people in another city realize you you're doing better than they thought you were doing? I just, this is a weird

hangup that I don't understand. And I know that I could be wrong about this. I know that others just say, Oh, you know, they don't like to, it's not being flashy. It's where you live. You live in a nice place and you clearly want people to hang out with you. So just invite them over. Problem solved. Again, like, like I said, if we think of all the things that we can kind of have hangups about, and it'd be great if we all had a clean slate, we never had hangups about anything and people would tell you they do, they're probably lying about it, but I'm sure there's a few people that just keep it moving, right? Keep it moving. Nothing bothers them. Nothing bothers them. The ranking of all those things that can bother us. This is so low that it shouldn't even be like,

this is, it's not even others receiving votes. Kyle. I was just going to say, you don't want to miss out on the opportunity to be a dream friend. You're like 90% of the way there. Oh, wait, we forgot about Kyle's motivation on everything. Kyle's like, wait, yeah, like you have to have people over because I'd be one of those guys, not with the great apartment, but being at your place all the time. I don't get it. Like you wanted a big, like, all right, get a small place that isn't as nice and then have people over and they think you aren't doing well.

Problem solved? Like that doesn't seem like a solution. So there you go. Although people are weird about it. Some people can be really weird. They can lie about having second homes, beach houses, third homes. I remember being at ESPN and there's a guy making like a few million a year. And he asked me if I like my Land Rover.

And I was like, yeah, I love it. It's the best car I've ever driven. And he was like, I could never do it. And I was like, why? do it and i was like why he's like i don't know pulling into the parking lot with a land rover like you've been on fucking tv for a long time everyone in talent knows how much you make like you coming into the parking lot with a nice car is not going to be like oh my god he what wait do you know what he was driving what was he driving i'm not going to give it away i

don't want to sell out the other guy because he's actually a really nice person it's a really and it's not van pell van pell atlanta was it a really nice car was he driving like a it was a decent enough car but it was still a little surprising and again you know like look some people are different the first friend of our friend group who made a lot of money he was making money way before anybody else was making money i came in last by the way. He was like, I just am not a car guy. He's like, I just think it's stupid to have a car payment over a certain amount of money every time. And everybody's different. So for people that somehow don't like whenever finances are discussed in the pod, we're never going to shy away from this. We're going to talk about this like adults.

It wasn't that he wasn't even a car guy. It was that he was kind of like, I'd love to get one of those, but I wouldn't want people talking. You're like, you wouldn't want people already talking, bro. People are already talking. You just resigned like, like six months ago, it came up with a bunch of us were having drinks the other night and your contract actually came up and people know how much you make. We all know how, but we all pretty much ballpark know how much everybody else makes on air. So why do you care? Now, in this case, it's a little different because you're not on air somewhere.

And a small group, a fraternity of people were agents. You know, the part where, you know, there's all sorts of agent carryover where some people are repped by the same people. So we all figure it out and we want to be armed with it for the next negotiation. This is a completely different conversation, but you understand the point. In your case, share your nice apartment. You're looking at this only as a negative when really the positive could be

maybe people start looking at you a little different. You know what I'm saying here? Do you see Marshall? Do you know he's 6'3 and 215 and has a pool table and plenty of space? You never know. It could be huge. You're looking at this as never know. It's going to be a huge, this could,

you're looking at this as a negative. It's a positive. So there you go. Problem solved. Yeah. If you're honestly, if your friends are upset that you're inviting them over to your suite, like pad in Paris to like hang out and play pool.

Like that's, that's not your problem, dude. That's on them. So don't worry about it. Yeah, absolutely. All right.

Another living situation. One, this one is one of my favorites. Great pick Kyle. Here we go. Guys living in Indianapolis, 5'9". That's great. 25 years old. He doesn't know how much he weighs, but he says he looks good naked and has abs. I don't even know. Maybe you should be running life advice. So here's the issue. This is such a good one, but it's not. It's a bad one. I moved in with my good college friend at the end of November. He recently bought his first home and he was renting a room out for me. So he, his friend bought the house. Okay. This is pretty self-explanatory. I think the first time I

read it through, I didn't realize this. So sorry. So Rick, all right, we'll just use Rick's name. Too late. Rick has been exposed. Rick buys a house. Our emailer here decides to move in, rents a room from him. It's very social. Rick is very social. Feel like we were at college again. Again, these guys are 25. About a month in, his hometown friend, another guy moves in with us i was totally on board new friends rents cut a little bit and good vibes yay that's a real yay in here uh he's a nice guy but there's an issue he starts dating this girl about a month into us living together has a surplus of red flags he had known this girl previously growing up but had not seen her in eight years when they started dating on top of that she has a one-year-old baby. You probably know where this is going. Her and the baby start staying over every night,

wakes me up crying. The friend did not ask Rick and I how we felt about this. He just sort of showed up with her and the kid, and we were forced to deal with it. She's a nice girl, a bit of a troubled family. At one point a week ago, her father was threatening to come into our house to see if it is suitable for a child. All caps here. Of course it is not. We are 25 year old men still getting after it. Exclamation point. Since the guy

started dating the girl, his whole vibe has changed. No shit. He's dating somebody who has a kid. He does not talk to us. He never does anything to help out around the house. Nothing. The one time we asked him to do the dishes, he threw a hissy fit and kept saying none of those dishes are his. This is the moment. I got to be honest with you. It sounds like he doesn't do anything. I'm deferring to you. I'm deferring to trust here and believing you here. But if you did ask a guy who

doesn't do anything to do a bunch of dishes that weren't his and he already doesn't do anything, that wasn't the most tactful way to be like, hey, do you mind pitching in and doing the dishes that we just made dirty? Side note for future controversy. At this moment, I started to dislike the guy saying none of those dishes are mine is the most selfish, immature mindset. And I hate being around people like this. I share a bathroom with this guy. He leaves me clogged toilets all the time and I clean up his messes all the time, but you

never hear a peep from me. This is just called being a good roommate. I do not want to move out because it's a nice spacious house for my dog and not to mention my rent is cheap. Rick and I have tried talking to him, but it literally goes in one ear and out the other. If it were me and Rick's shoes, I would have just kicked him out, but Rick is too nice, Ryan. Are Rick and I being too harsh? What should I do? I'm tired of waking up to a crying baby. It's extremely uncomfortable. I never thought that I would ever have a roommate I've disliked, and I've lived with some characters in my life already.

What do we do? All right. The guy with the girlfriend with the kid is the selfish one here. The fact they're even asking what should we do. You guys got to sit him down. You can't be half-assed about it and go, we want you out. There's no negotiation here. If he's this horrible of a roommate, as you pointed out, and then moves a kid into it,

and the house, as you admit, isn't even suitable. You're 25. You shouldn't be living with a one-year-old baby that isn't yours. There's arguments to be said you shouldn't be living with if it is yours, but you don't understand. My point here is this is not what you wanted to do. I would move out. I would move out. All right. I would move out. It's cool. There's a yard for a dog. It's not the only house in Indianapolis that probably has a yard for a dog. It's nice that the rent is a little cheaper, but I would pay double to not have a one-year-old around when I was 25 years old. Okay. And maybe feasibly, but like you need, you need to give him the harshest, like tell Rick, Hey, I'm out of here. Like you need to give him the harshest, like tell Rick, hey, I'm out of here if this guy's not gone.

All right. Because he's the wrong one here. You know, it's funny that you said this. It might be your Midwestern sensibilities where you were like, cool, a new roommate, awesome friends. I immediately think of it as, okay, another guy in the mix I don't know. Red flags all over the place. The more people you start inviting to live with you, the more chances there could be a problem. The other problem is it could be your tone and how you, uh, ask him about stuff. But now I think it's over because you know, if the only version is, Hey, I live here with

you and your girlfriend and the one-year-old baby, or I don't, you know, it doesn't sound like there's any compromise, but people can be really selfish as roommates. Uh, I constantly remind all of us how, how selfish everyone can be. But there's also something to being roommates with guys when somebody else tells you to do something. And it could be the first time that other time the roommate has ever been told to do something by someone that isn't like a family member. So that can always be a little weird. I remember my senior year, I had a roommate, let's call him Mac. Great guy, fun, came back from Australia, was known as Outback Mac for a few months. People wondered where his head was at. He shaved up everything and he was

good to go. Good package again, but it was a weird couple months. And I was not the greatest roommate, I'll admit. I don't know that I was selfish. It was just that I had a lot going on and very, very little money most of the time. And so I don't know that I was on top of the toiletry routine. And now thinking back, I don't know why six of us shared toiletries. Like just get your own little toiletry kit. Not a big deal. But for whatever reason, there'd be like one bar of soap in the shower. Yes, I know that's gross.

And I know that, you know, there was just one bottle of shampoo. So I think whatever the rotation of like who was on the toiletries, I'm pretty sure I never brought anything to the table and I should have, but I just didn't think of it. All right. I wouldn't be going, Hey, you know what? It'd be nice to pick up some toiletries for the guy. It's just not the way I was wired at 21. All right. It took a while. And as I was heading out, I think to grab groceries, Mac goes to me in a really, really adult tone because as much fun as Mac was, he loved being a grown-up in moments. And he wasn't always, but he just loved kind of being a grown-up in certain moments. He was like, hey, Rosillo.

I go, yeah, yeah. He goes, grab some Pantene. Grab some Pantene when you're at the grocery store. And that was the delivery. And it was kind of like a frustration. They probably talked about me like, hey, Rosillo hasn't bought any toiletries in like five months. I go, what do you mean? I was like, I think we got per plus upstairs.

Like, I think we're good. Why do I need to buy a bottle of Pantene? And I just didn't like that he was telling me to do it. Because he was, the sentiment was right. I didn't like the delivery. So I was like, fuck this. So he goes, Pantene's a superior product. That was the follow-up.

So now I'm like really pissed. I'm like, oh, really? What are you, a dermatologist? Superior product? Like you want me to buy? And then another guy chimed in and was like, hey, we're silly. You haven't bought anything. Like we've been living here since August and it's February. You've never bought any toiletries. I go, okay, fine. And the thing was all of them were right. I didn't like it, but you know what I don't have? A one-year-old baby. Okay. I never said, hey, by the way, I'm going to move in with my girlfriend and a baby. So it is not soft delivery. It is direct delivery. Hey, this is not what we signed

up for. And if the new guy or the guy that owns the house, Rick, they don't agree with you, you move out because that's the only answer here. You don't want to be living with a kid that's not yours. True facts. Okay, there you go. That's a podcast. Back on Sunday nights, playoff wrap-up, Bill Simmons and I. And then we'll see you next Tuesday. Please subscribe, rate, review, and spread the word on this successful podcast. I appreciate everyone listening. Thank you. you