The Ryen Russillo Podcast - The Peaks and Valleys of American Sports Popularity, Plus Jimmer Fredette on Team USA 3x3 Olympic Basketball

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

Russillo opens the show by discussing why some sports are popular and how they grow (0:37). Then, Jimmer Fredette comes on to preview Team USA 3x3 Olympic basketball, put his career into perspective, and build the best 3x3 team using NBA players (22:11). Finally, Life Advice with Ceruti (63:01)! How do we handle it when a groom ranks his friends at his bachelor party? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, live streams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out rg-help.com to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Jimmer Fredette Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode, I want to take a look at the consciousness of all of the sports that we care about and we talk about every single day and see how they all stack up against each other. We're talking Olympic basketball, three onthree Olympic basketball with Jimmie for debt, the best hope for an American gold and three-on-three and some of his NBA stuff and who would make the best three-on-three team right now with NBA players and life advice. When you're working out at Planet Fitness, it's a judgment-free zone so you can really step up your workout. That's why we've got treadmills. And our team members are here to help so you can be carefree with the free weights. They're also balance balls, bikes, cables, kettlebells and T-Rex equipment. But like, no pressure.

Get started for $1 enrollment and then only $15 a month. Hurry this $1 enrollment sale of Planet Fitness ends July 18th. $49 annual fee applies. See Home Club for details. $49 annual fee applies. See Home Club for details. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up. Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show. We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card

member entrance. Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash ymx. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. I want to start with a little bit of a heads up. I have a maroon shirt on today. I didn't even know I owned it.

And I was going through my laundry and said, look at that guy. So that went out. So that's a little bit different. So I'm feeling a little different leading into the open today because I don't have any NBA topics. I don't have any tears for you. I just don't have it in me. And I don't have a, let's start talking about quarterbacks because, you know,

I love talking about quarterbacks and I'm just not really ready for the NFL stuff. I will be shortly once we take a little bit of a break here. But I wanted to talk about where we're at with a bunch of the different sports right now that we talk about and some of the ones that we don't talk about. And this was inspired by this ratings piece that I was reading about NBA ratings. And if you look at the NBA finals ratings, you look at the total number of viewers, it's an alarming number. It's low.

You had a Blue Blood franchise in there with Boston, but maybe it's because it was a competitive series. And you compare those numbers to where you were at not that long ago, but there was the attraction of the LeBron story that brings in the same way I watch Conor McDavid in the Stanley Cup final and the same reason why some of your friends that don't have any time for the NBA will watch if LeBron's involved. You had the Golden State part of it. So you didn't have that this year, but it's still, I don't know how you could look

at any of the total viewer numbers and not that long of a time and compare them year to year and go, well, how is that anything but alarming? Ratings can be a little tricky in talking about them. When I look at like TV series and what's deemed successful and what isn't the overall raw number of this many people watch this show every episode versus what we used to have when we grew up.

Like it's, it's not even the same. It's like a different sport, even if it is supposed to still be the same one. I saw something the other day where there was a show that was like this many million. I was like, wait, that many million people watch that show. And then it was from a streaming network. And when I read the fine print, it was like total number of combined minutes streamed. Like, oh, well, that's a huge number. So why am I talking about NBA ratings? Well, because we have to look at the rights deal that those of us that love the league and try to figure out what these contracts mean and what cap

space is ultimately going to be and why it's different this time around from the non smoothing approach that the players association pushed for, which led to Doran and the Warriors. Like we have to pay attention to some of this stuff. And if you think about the first numbers that were floated out publicly about what these rights deals could be for the NBA, that number is always a very high number, whether it's TV rights, whether it's a free agent in sports or a contract negotiation from some of the highest people at the level of the media where you'll hear the number and you, I think all of us go, whoa, that number is huge. But it's really, it's just the first move. It's the part of the

public negotiation so that even if you don't reach this number that first floated out, you feel like there's this awareness of the number of the person that you're going up against. And I really look, I feel like that's a pretty common thing and it's been happening for years. So when the first NBA rights number was floated out there, I think it was like triple of what the current rights deal was. I think a lot of us just go, oh, okay. I guess that's just what it's gonna be because the rights train seems to never be slowing down despite some of these other raw numbers that you would think, well, how do these things both line up?

Like how can this one number keep going down and this other number keeps going up and up? The other thing that was happening, leading up to some of the concern or where that NBA number could land is that you had a bunch of owners selling. So you were like, well, how would Cuban sell now? They have to have a pretty good read on the inside. It's 30 of these owners that have to know where the rights fees are going. So are they getting out in front of it because they feel like maybe the bubble's the wrong term,

but the train may actually be slowing down. But we always have to understand, and it's just a great reminder all the time of like, whatever the spreadsheet says about what a franchise takes in and takes out each year, it's irrelevant in comparison to what the appreciation of these franchises are at. So if I own a house that I buy for a million dollars and I'm renting it out and between the taxes and the insurance and every other thing that I'm paying for, for the upkeep, if that number's more than the rent, does it mean I'm losing money if I can sell the house in 10 years for three times what I paid for it? Well, no, I don't think anybody would really ever argue that.

And that's why I've always kind of pushed back on some of the owners operating losses stuff based on the value and the, the escalation of, of how absurd the franchise values have become, but they become valuable with this TV contract. It just seems to go up and up and up every single time. So I think the good thing about where we're at with basketball is that because of all the TV money that comes in, not just the stuff that goes to the owners and increases the value of the asset that they own, you have all of this money being paid to players where I actually want to give the NFL players some credit here.

I didn't see a lot of NFL players tweeting and complaining about NBA contracts this time around. It's like somebody told them there's 15 players on a team instead of 53. So congrats to those guys figuring that part out. I didn't, because it's kind of my favorite content. Whenever I see the NFL guys, just eye roll emoji, the whole thing to every NBA deal. The other improvement that we've had, at least that I'm aware of in my lifetime is that when these huge numbers come out, even if we can question them and go,

eh, that seems a little bit high. There's not the animosity towards it. There really is very little animosity towards the pro athletes signing these massive contracts, because I think we're numb to it and maybe we're just better educated. I always think back to when I was a kid in the Sports Illustrated, I don't think about it every single day, but in the context we're talking about here, the, if you're around my age, you'll know what I'm talking about.

It was 1987 Sports Illustrated had the salary issue where they put everyone's salary for Major League Baseball in the issue. And on the cover, it was like all these different random pictures of all these players. And the total for all of the active players on opening day rosters for 624 players, the total, not, you know, the entire league's total payroll was $256.3 million. So if Scotty Barnes or Franz Wagner make all NBA, their current contract will be more than everyone made in baseball in 1987. Now Eddie Murray made 2.46 million. And when you're a kid, like it just seems like make believe,

like that can't even be real. That was the highest individual salary for that season all the way down to the rookie minimum of $62,000. I remember even thinking at the time, I was like, God, that seems kind of bad. 62 grand to play baseball. Um, but I also remember the other part of that was the little league dads. Because if there's one thing dads hated when I was a kid, suburbia, middle class, middle, lower class, depending on where you were at,

depending on where you waited for the bus. The dads hated this issue. They despised it, the animosity towards it, just thinking these guys are playing baseball, making this kind of money, like what a waste, what a waste. And if you relate it to today's salaries, like my counter to any of, I just don't hear it very often anymore. Maybe I'd argue with my friends when I was younger from college, I can't believe these guys are making this much money. It's like, okay, but when you say that, that means you wish the owners made more. Like who roots for that?

And I think less people, if they even exist anymore, rooting for that. And I think that's real progress. Uh, but the NBA does feel more political than the other sports. I don't know if this is where I'm supposed to say we've never felt more divided because I think there's such a recency bias of what's happening today. The bias of the present that whatever's happening right now is the most important thing at every single time when it's just not true. So whenever I'll hear people say stuff outside of sports, like, oh, this has never been worse or this has never been better. It's like, well, no, your awareness has never been more heightened than it is right now.

But there is a lot of NBA coverage that feels very political. And I don't get very political on this podcast. I'm not a very political person, but when I look at some of the coverage of Biden and everything that's gone on, and then I'll see video clips of somebody that was on TV telling us one thing, and now after the debates, completely changing course, I can't help but think like, I hope I'm never like that. I hope I'm never like that. And I'm not even talking about anything that important, but it's somebody that does do the job in front of people has been doing this for over two decades

Like why would you ever trust me again? Why would you ever want to listen to me again? If that's how quickly you can change course and completely contradict everything you've ever said not to say that we don't care I contradict ourselves of course, but like this stuff's much more important and yes or anybody gets upset I could look at the other side of the political spectrum and find clips of people on other networks that I can't stand either. All right, I'm pretty simple that way. So it feels like we have that in basketball,

this divide more than any of the other sports that are on our radar, whether it's the MJ LeBron stuff, you too are insufferable. You two extremist groups on this debate. There's all of these times, like even if I'm an MJ guy, I'll see MJ arguments being made where I'm like, well, that's ridiculous. And I don't know if we have that in sports the same way we have it in politics. Certainly there are guys that we like. There are guys I don't like that's pretty clear. Those of you that listen to this podcast all the time probably put that list together pretty quickly. But I just try to never be necessarily like, I hope I'm never unfair or I strive to not be unfair.

But basketball has that more in it now than I think any of the other sports. And then there's this other element of basketball where I don't know if it's an analytical divide, but it happened with baseball. If you think about like the early acceptance of advanced stats in baseball, it was really contentious

because there was all these smart people coming in telling the people that were outdated how dumb they were and It was it wasn't like hey, let me explain this to you It was more along the lines of like oh you think Adam Dunn isn't awesome Must suck to be you. I mean there was just this Condescending tone, but now that baseball is kind of off of the radar, I think we have it in basketball. And there's also an aesthetic part of basketball that we've never had in baseball where we can watch a player just visually be so entertaining, but then we can find numbers that maybe destroy

the idea of how impactful this visually appealing player really is. In a way, I'm glad Iverson played when he played before we had all of these numbers, although you can go back and look them up and then I don't know what's gonna happen to Iverson. I don't know if he's going to age well, but it was so spectacular and it was so much fun, but there's a real argument there

that if he had played today, there's no way he's appreciated the same way. And I don't think we have that in baseball where we debate the aesthetics of somebody. Like nobody's going, Hey, that center fielder is awesome because he runs fast. And I love his swing and he tracks a ball really well, but he has 18 home runs and he hits 220 and strikes out all the time. I don't think there's that debate in baseball the way that there is in basketball.

So I always think about Iverson because in a 2024, a prime Iverson, he would be perceived as a completely different player because there's some real inefficiency there that's on the back of his, in this case, basketball card. There's some similarities in football and then there's things that are a little bit different. If we just go based on the players and the debates and who we like and who we don't like, quarterbacks are a little different now because the old numbers that we would go to can become kind of irrelevant. Like sure, you want to have a lot of touchdowns. Yes, you don't want to have a lot of interceptions. Although I've started to value interceptions a little bit more because it tells me that you're actually raising your level of risk at times.

Completion percentage numbers used to always mean everything to me and now it's like, well there's so many easy throws in all of these offenses. That could be the most misleading number of all of this stuff. Now you usually can find some of the advanced numbers with quarterbacks that can strengthen your case or destroy some of the you don't really want to. But if you think about each year when we go in and rank all the quarterbacks,

you don't get very long down the list before we start having the same debates about a guy that might be like five, six six or seven as if that's a bad thing. And some of those debates probably be a little bit more similar to what we have with some of the NBA stars that were constantly just going in this cycle of who's good and who isn't. Now, the other part of the football conversation that kind of gets back to the beginning of this open is every time the base or excuse me, every time the basketball number goes

down, football guy gets a hard on I don't ever understand that there is no debate football is a superior product it's the superior television product you could say that I mean the numbers there's there's not really any debate about but they're always kind of becomes this like this superiority thing with it, which maybe makes it the American sport, right? Looking down on other things where I have friends that think it's some kind of like badge of honor to like the NFL more than anything else.

It's like, man, what, you know, I mean, I don't want to make a kid rock joke here, but it's just like, what, what are you winning by telling me basketball and the NBA suck, but football is awesome? Like what do you, are you going to leave this conversation like walking around with your shoulders higher than me? Like, I don't, I don't understand it. Like some guys will look at me is like, I can't believe you still care about the NBA.

Like I still believe in wrestling. I'm like, look, I just, I love basketball. I actually can like both. I can, I can do both things. It gets really elitist. You know, whenever I think about rich families and vacationing, and be like, are you still skiing in New Hampshire? That's cute. So with baseball, the daily consciousness was destroyed in a very short amount of time. It's actually incredible. And I was at both ends of it when it was an everyday thing to

rarely doing it ever. It's not because I don't still appreciate the sport or love it. It just, it was, it's, it's crazy how fast that happened. Like it happened really fast, but it's true. So whatever baseball divides we have anymore, I don't even know that we really care. Basketball, very divided. Maybe that should be the American sport. The unimpeachable NFL.

Hockey, afterthought. I don't know where it is in the daily conversation against baseball. I mean, it still can't be close to baseball regionally. But I think it's a great reflection of hockey guy is that it was just a good hang. Maybe I didn't see the negativity because I'm not in it every single day, but as a casual dropping by to watch the playoffs and then watch the final and loving every minute of it, NBA McDavid gets treated entirely different than NHL McDavid. NBA McDavid gets destroyed for days and days and days in game six and game seven.

Hang on him like a stain. Maybe it will in hockey. And I'm just not in it enough, but there's no way it's as nasty as it would be for him in basketball. So that leads us to soccer. Soccer right now feels like pre-success Boston. I'm not talking about the Revolutionary War, talking about. Parades, championships. Resources, passion, doubt.

But the most important part of that is the passion part, is that people care now. People care about soccer in a way they didn't care about it, not that long ago. But it's all a story. Remember being at ESPN first year was 2006. So I think this is, I don't have it to the exact year. I just remember the segment. Cause I was like, whoa, it was like 06, 07, 08

right around there. A coworker, a host. Didn't like soccer, decided to shit on it for an open segment. And I'll tell you, it's a win. Back then it was a win. Like, I don't have anything to do today. Hey, I'm going to shit on soccer in segment B. All right. Sounds good.

His position was that don't tell me it's the beautiful game. Don't tell me that it's too hard to understand. Don't tell me that this sport is just superb to everything else when your GDP sucks. It was a very American way to go about it. That segment played 17 years ago, would not play now. I actually know the host. He wouldn't do that segment now. I don't think he would go over that well. But it was an interesting way to attack soccer. I've been like, if you're so civilized, what are your exports? So the reason I'm bringing this up,

because again, I didn't have an NBA open for you, is one of my favorite things that I didn't expect to happen has been watching WNBA coverage. I did not expect that to happen. But there's a similarity with soccer. Because if you think about soccer guy, which was probably the toughest entry point for so many of us that didn't care about soccer,

was like, it's not even the sports, like that guy's just annoying the shit out of me. Why does he have umbrose on? Does he even play? Is there was this gatekeeping where soccer guy wanted you to care more about soccer. He wanted you to talk about soccer more. But then when you started to, then he got pissed at you for doing it, which is always one of my like default positions on different times and people are like, how come

you don't do more of this or how come you don't do any of this? It's like, do you really want me to, do you want me to actually talk and share opinions and be definitive about something that I don't even spend any time on? You don't want to hear that. So why would I give it to you? I got like whenever Bill and I will like kind of throw 10 minutes around on something that we're not super educated on and then people like, you should do more of that, like, I don't know, I don't know, we should have done less of that.

But soccer is a good blueprint for what's happening with the WNBA. soccer is a good blueprint for what's happening with the WNBA. Um, because if you're a diehard soccer guy, you probably didn't like any of that stuff back then. I'm sure there's plenty of you don't like now, but I mean, we can all find stuff to complain about if we want to, but you have to admit the, the position of where the media treated your sport. the position of where the media treated your sport just over 10 years ago, and now people being like upset because they care.

You may not like their conclusions. You may not like the casual soccer fan saying, this guy's good or this guy isn't, or systems or all these other teams, because you're more locked into it than they are. But it's not this disparaging tone about the sport that you care the most about. But I think the same thing's happening with the WNBA right now. I'd imagine

passionate WNBA fans feel like their sport has been overtaken by all these guys that have never been passionate about it. When I think back on a potential WNBA topic for the radio show, it wasn't happening. Wasn't going to happen. The audience didn't want it. The host didn't want to do it. And it had way more to do with financial reasons, ratings reasons than it did. Cause I think misogyny clearly is part of some people not being able to get over

this barrier of, of giving the sport a chance or trying to find a way to appreciate it. So I mean, look, there's all these options too. Some people it's just a time thing, but that's not happening right now. The awareness that the WNBA has, at least the last couple months, is a completely new thing. It's not just ratings or attendance numbers, all this stuff, the daily consciousness of those of us that are in sports every single

day. It's starting to happen. But it feels like the WNBA world doesn't like it. Which I can kind of understand, but I also think is unfair. Like you think people that have watched basketball their entire lives can't watch a couple WNBA games and come to some conclusions. The good news though, and I do believe it's good news, is a block like soccer that phase one into phase two is that this might just be phase two for the WNBA. Where now that people have grown up a bit, people have matured a bit

with soccer, where now when they lose a year away, you're mad about the roster, you wonder if the skills are there, you're mad about the coach, playing style and all these different things, is the immaturity in your criticisms have probably gone away a little bit as you've been more attached to the sport. And that I think is the hope for the WNBA is beyond some of the arguments that I've seen, which by the way, to be totally fair, like this is the deal. Once people start talking about you, you're going to hear things that you don't like, which by the way is just like all of the other sports. Um, someone who's played in the WNBA can make just as dumb of an opinion as

somebody that's, that's new to it. All right. But the hope would be for the league to have that kind of phase three moment and make just as dumb of an opinion as somebody that's new to it, all right? But the hope would be for the league to have that kind of phase three moment where maybe soccer's on the cusp of it, maybe it just means international success for everybody to kind of buy in. But that would be the goal,

is that now the conversation's become about rosters and outcomes and all the other stuff that we have in the other sports, with obviously a sprinkling of all of the stuff that we probably in the other sports with obviously a sprinkling of all of the stuff that we probably don't like. He's been on the show before. I'm really excited about this. He's a member of team USA for three on three basketball for

the Olympics coming up here soon. He's also the 2011 player of the year in college basketball. It's, uh, I don't know if we'll call him good friend, but it's just good to check in with him again. It's Jim or Ferdat, what's up man? Orsillo, it's great to see you again. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I always love coming on.

Big fan of the show, listen to you guys every week. So it's gotta have a magic minute at some point. Get Serudy in here, talk a little bit about it. Yeah, we'll ask you at the end if you like the Franz contract and you and Serudy can discuss that one. Let's go. Okay, I'm uneducated on this I mean I

knew what was happening three-on-three was named an Olympic sport in 2017 from what I researched today the US team did not qualify for like the medal round in 2020 so let's kind of jump in to your timeline of now representing the country and being part of this like how did it all start for you? Yeah, for sure. So yeah, the first Olympics, the, uh, the USA basketball, men's USA team didn't even make it to the Olympics. Like it's a hard, it's hard to qualify the women's team made it. They ended up winning gold. And our whole, you know, goal for 2024 Paris was to obviously make it to the Olympics first and

hopefully do really well. But so after the 2021 season and I was in China playing five on five and it was during COVID it was difficult season, was over there for seven months and could see my family and kids. So I came back and was like, you know, I can't do that again. I don't want to go back over to China and play. I just want to be with the kids. And so I took some time off. I took like six months off of basketball and it wasn't playing. And I ended up going to play in the TBT tournament in the summer. And at that point, I played pretty well. So the three on three guys, Jay Demings and Fran Fraschilla, who are part of the committee, called me up and was like, Hey, are you going to play five on five next year? Are you not? Or if you're not, would you be interested in playing three X three basketball,

you know, or ahead of the committee and we want you to come and try to help us qualify for the Olympics in 2024. And as soon as I heard Olympics, I was intrigued, right? I was like, man, what an opportunity that could be. You know, I'm not playing, but I still like, I feel like I'm in good shape and I could provide for a team and play good basketball still. So I jumped in with 2FEE and then 2022 in August, or October 2022, I played my first 3X3 tournament and then I've been playing ever since. So when you said six months without basketball,

what's six months without basketball really like for you? Like, are you actually not even touching a basketball or getting shots up or you're talking about competing? Competing, I'm for sure playing still, right? Like I'm staying in shape because I still felt like I was probably gonna do something at some point. I just needed kind of like a little bit of a break from it and I was kind of just waiting for the right opportunity

I would say and just needed some time off. But for me, I love working out. I'm always gonna continue to work out. I just love playing, even if it's just going to the gym by myself. So I stayed in good enough shape, whereas I got a call, I could rev it up pretty quickly and be back into the game mode pretty quickly. So was there even a tryout? Or was it just understood if they're calling you if you say yes, you're on the team? calling you if you say yes, you're on the team. No, yeah, so there was a whole process. I mean, they called me, because they didn't know if I was gonna like it. They didn't know if I was gonna be any good at it,

that type of thing. They had a hunch, obviously, but I went to kind of like a training camp, USA training camp in 2022 in New York, and we had a bunch of G League guys that were there, and they're all trying to figure out who's actually gonna be a good fit for the sport, who wants to play?

Because it's not just, hey, you're gonna go to a city in the US and play and then come home. These tournaments are not in the USA. They're over in Europe, they're over in Asia, they're in the Middle East, they're in Philippines. So you have to travel a lot to get to these tournaments. And then you travel from there to another city and you have this little circuit. So it's not like it's super easy travel and the accommodations are usually amazing and

the courts and the venues are always great. There's a lot of things that go into it that are not easy. So they want to see who is actually wanting to play and who can deal with those, you know, kind of conditions sometimes in order to make sure that they're like, all right, this guy's actually in. So whenever I think about like roster construction and hey, they traded for this player and they could sign this guy, like you always hope that all the offense that we want on the floor in a five on five game, because I think that's where the game is, you just want to put as many offensive guys ideally together, but that they

don't, they don't overlap in a way that, you know, gets in the way of each other. That it's, it's complimentary. You hope to have guys that can score from different positions on the floor. I'd imagine the priority with three on three is like, that's, that's even heightened because you really need all the areas covered. Like it'd be one thing to say, oh, we have three guys that can shoot, but if you don't have somebody that can rebound. So like, how do you try to like, what's the theory on the approach of building the perfect three on three group? Yeah, no, it's definitely different. I mean,

you'll see different strategies from different teams. You know, sometimes the team will have one big that's that's really big, like, you know, six, nine, 610, that you can just throw it into the post and kind of play off of him. They're trying to create a mismatch on that get someone to switch like a guy like myself to switch on to him and then just roll them into post and just try to win by ones right making easy ones. And there's other teams that are constructed more of guard oriented being, you know, that fast paced play, being able to get space and be

able to hit twos. And for me, that's kind of, we have a little bit of both. We have a big guy, Kareem Maddox, who's about six, eight, who played at Princeton, who's a really good player, can give us an inside presence. But then we got some guys that can, that can shoot and score from the outside. But so you'll, you'll see a mix of everything, but ideally you want guys on the court that can kind of do a little bit of everything because you have to, you can't hide in three on three, right? You can't just stand in the corner and not dribble or pass or touch the ball. Everyone touches the ball. Everyone has to know how to move without the ball. Everyone has to know how to dribble and create something off of a ball screen.

You have to be able to set screens. So you have to be able to do a little bit of everything. So generally speaking, you want someone between like six, my height and like six, seven that can be switchable, that can kind of play multiple positions, that can just shoot an open and make it from the open, an open two, but also you kind of can move a little bit. If you can't move in this sport, it's difficult because then you're going to get guys that get open twos and the two is worth so much more than the one.

It's super important to be able to knock those down and be able to guard the two point line. So you'll see a mixture of it, but ideally you want switchable guys that can kind of do everything. Yeah, the math is really important to remember with all of this and anybody that plays during three is like, well, this isn't exactly breaking news. That's twos and ones. But when you're thinking about like real competition, the three pointer in the NBA game is worth too much. Really?

I mean, the value of the three versus two is too much. And then to think that you're doubling up in this version of scoring, like this must be why you got the call on top of everything else. For me, I was like, this is great. For twos and threes, I'm just gonna shoot twos all game, unless I get a wide open one. I mean, it's funny because you look at it, you play the first to 21

or whatever the score is after 10 minutes. They're only 10 minute games or first to 21. So they're super fast games. And if you make one, two, you basically make 10% of your points, right for the game. And you think about it that way. It's like, man, you make 2345 twos, obviously, you're going to have a great chance to win. And that's what I bring to the table for sure being able to space the

floor and be able to be a threat at any time, because then a lot of times people will sell out for the two be shooting the two. So you'll get two guys that jump out at me at a ball screen, and then we get a really easy one, right? We get a dunk at the rim, and that's what you want. You want either an easy one or a two. And so you're not looking for a whole lot else besides that, so being able to shoot the ball

from anywhere and create that space and have that threat is a big deal in the sport. I wanna talk more about your teammates here. You mentioned Kareem Attucks. Like his story's crazy. I mean, I didn't realize he was 34 years old. And I'm sure there's plenty of guys thinking like, well, wait a minute, if there's some 34 year old guy,

like there has to be a better big at 6'8", that has a different profile. But he's about as decorated as you can be when I started looking up all of this stuff. Like what is about him that makes him perfect for Team USA? Yeah, he's obviously our most veteran player. He's been playing 3X3 for about eight years now, right? And that's a long time to be playing 3X3.

That's getting into the Serbian guys that have been playing forever. He's been playing with all those guys for a long time. And so he brings a confidence to the court, but also a savviness and a calmness to the to the team. Right? Like he's been in every position. He's seen everything as a as a three X three player. That helps when we get out there. And obviously he was the defensive player of the year at Princeton when he played there. So he obviously can

he can play defense. He's a lowor president, he can shoot the two ball. He's long, it helps, he gets a lot of blocked shots because of his length and his athleticism and his anticipation. So he just brings that better in leadership that we need so that when something goes wrong in the court, it's like, hey, listen, it's okay, let's do this. We're gonna get back into this thing.

I've seen this situation before. Okay, and then Canyon Barry, another, you know, we're going to get back into this thing. I've seen this situation before. Okay. And then Canyon Barry, another Rick Barry son, uh, which is just an incredible like run when you think about like Rick, what did he try out for team USA? Like six decades ago or something. Um, what is, what's his game about? Yeah. Uh, funny, just quick, Lisa Leslie, we've just saw Lisa Leslie here in Vegas the other day and she comes up and can't just like Canyon, I remember you and you're in your mom's belly

and like all this stuff. So everyone knows Canyon and team USA because his mom was a part of it. His dad's been a part of it. Like he's just, he's a guy that's been around and knows everybody. But he's yeah, he's a great player. He's a guy that is, he can shoot the ball, but he's, he's probably the best straight line driver in the, in three X three. He's really good at just getting downhill.

He's got long arms and he's pretty big. He's got good shoulders. He gets into the guys and he's able to get downhill and get a lot of easy ones. So he's, he's huge for us there to get an easy basket. Sometimes we'll put them up top and just set a screen for him, let him get downhill and score the basketball. And he's still, he still shoots his shoots his dad's underhand free throws. And he's trying to get more people to come do that.

So if anybody's listening that needs to work on their free throws, get Canyon out there. He'll get you in the underhand routine and get you going. And then you have Dylan Travis, who's part of the Pan Am win in 23. So how does that work with the substitutions? Yeah. So you basically, you would kind of start, it's me, Dylan and Canyon that pretty much always start for some reason. There's no rhyme or reason around it.

We just, that's just what we have, but every single dead ball, we just kind of rotate. So we have basically, you know, an unsaid, you know, changing of, of substitution as you go through. But sometimes you get to the middle of the game and you get really tired playing through it. you know, an unsaid, you know, changing of substitution as you go through. But sometimes you get to the middle of the game and you get really tired playing 3X3. It's physical. Sometimes you'll play for a minute and a half or two minutes straight. And it's fast paced. You're sprinting the whole time. It's physical. So whoever is the most tired sometimes will just come out and be like, hey, man, I need to, I need a break. Like I need to, I need to come out. Sometimes there'll be two guys being like, man, I need to I need a break. Like I need to I need to come out. Sometimes

there'll be two guys being like, man, I need a break too. But you can only have one right. So it's you got to use those files correctly and, and make sure that you're trying to stop the game as much as you can. So yeah, you just kind of, you know, in the flow of the game, we have like a rotation. And then if some guy really needs a break, then then you take he takes that break. But Dylan himself, he's a great player. He's like our he's like the guy that keeps us together. He's the heart of the team. He's he's the

guy that's taking charges getting loose balls diving into the state like he's that type of player. And just an awesome guy. So you've been on a run though, now that you've figured this out and you've had like it's just a lot different going into 24 than it was 20. And even though I know you weren't part of 20, it just feels like there's more of a priority of figuring this out and looking at the team now that you're on in some of these results. Like this is a different, completely different level of expectations once you get to France,

right? Yeah, totally. I mean, for us, you know, we like to say we're the, we're the best three X three team that the USA has put together at this point. Um, you know, We've been a part of some really big wins. We go throughout the whole FIBA world tour is what they call it. We're playing in that currently. You have Masters tournaments, which are the biggest tournaments in the world, and all the best teams there. You'll see the Serbian teams,

the Latvian teams, the Lithuanian teams, uh, Netherlands, all these teams that are going to be, you know, in the Olympics, you see them at these tournaments. Um, so you face these guys, you know, on a weekly basis. It's not like we don't know who our competition is. We know exactly who our competition is. Yeah. We see them all the time. It's basically like a traveling circus. You can just go from one city to the next playing these teams. And so for us, we've been fortunate to be able to win a lot of these Masters tournaments, which has been huge for us for our confidence, understanding that we're one of the best teams in the world. But anything can happen in 3X3. That's the crazy part about it. Such a quick

game. Anybody could beat anybody on any day. So you just have to be prepared. What's the biggest challenge to team USA? For us, I would just make making sure that we are sticking within our game plan and understanding, like play the way that we play. You can, you can get into, uh, you know, a matchups battle sometimes in three X three3 where you're worrying about your opponent too much, what they do and the things that they do really well. And for us, that's not the formula for winning. For us, it's to make sure that we are playing the way that we play and make them adjust.

And I think you have to really think that way when you're playing this game, because if we play the way that we play, make them adjust, now we're in our comfort zone and playing our best basketball. So we have to make sure we continue to think about that and focus in on how we get better and how we can win these basketball games instead of worrying about the opponents. So I did a bad job in asking the question, the structure, the way I did, or you're just so seasoned that you don't want to name somebody else. So I probably should have stated like who is the biggest challenge, but I don't know if you want to say like any,

are you worried about like discrediting a team is like Jim or didn't even mention us. So is there another guy is, is there one guy, is there one style of play of like, Hey, look, this is, this is the one that we know we're going to have to go up against. Yeah. I mean, there's there. All of the eight teams are actually all pretty good. Serbia is the number one team in the world right now. So we're number two. Serbia is number one. So they're always the,

always the team that we're trying to catch and everyone's trying to catch. They won the world cup last year. They beat us in the final in the world cup. Last year they won the Euro cup this year. So they're the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard.

I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard.

I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. I think that's the standard. good and the Netherlands are actually really good. Netherlands has some guys that have come in and play and they're super physical, they just know how to play.

So I'd say us four are probably the top four and then, but everybody, like everybody out of Lithuania is also really good. They got a big guy that could really play. And France will have the home court advantage. So, you know, they're gonna come out, fire it up and ready to go. I probably shouldn't like assume anything considering like we've all seen you play we

know you're a guard um but I always think about like basketball and how like the things that you work on in different settings and how that applies to like a real game um like whenever I see off season workout videos of big guys I just like I think they're the most pointless things ever. It's like all these things you can do. Working on their back. Working on their back. Like, okay, cool. Let me know when you're going to ice someone an NBA game

because it's going to happen zero times. And what can happen is somebody's handle. Once they get labeled kind of a floor spacer, where it's like, you're not going to initiate the way that you did before and you can work and you can work on your game. But then it's like, all right, but the way that you did before and you can work and you can work on your game, but then it's like, all right, but if I'm not doing this in a game,

then you start to lose your comfort level with these things you've either never developed. Cause I just, I don't know if you, if you don't have a handle by the time you're like 17 or 18, maybe even younger, maybe 15 or 16, I don't know that you find a way to discover it all over again. So do you find when you're playing threes that there's elements?

I mean, granted, we can talk transition because it's just not an option, but that anything that happens where you feel like, okay, I don't want to lose this part of my game because this is just a different approach and there's just more specific things that I have to prioritize to win in threes as opposed to you know the goals that you've had your entire life of playing either in the NBA or internationally. Yeah for sure. You know it's interesting because when you play 3X3 you're playing on a completely different surface than you've ever played on before right so it's like this rubberized core. It's a really nice sport core right so you're not playing on hardwood or anything.

So when you're out there, the court has a lot of dead spots. The ball doesn't dribble exactly the way that you want it to dribble. So that's the biggest thing for me is my ball handling. Like to make sure like in five on five, I can make a couple of consecutive moves and then be able to go up and get into my shot on a one on one situation. Whereas here it's not really like that.

It's way more physical. They let people hand check a lot more. So it's not like you're just sitting out there between the legs two times, crossover into a step back shot. It's more of, hey, I catch the ball, I'm making one hard move and then I'm stepping back or I'm crossing over and going because the ball just won't stay with you like the way that you want it to on a five on five court. So for me, just making sure that I keep my ball handling tight and good on a, when I can actually dribble on an actual five on five court, but then also practicing not doing

those moves and being able to be way more efficient in my movement. So that when I get out onto the real court, I feel that same way and I'm able to get those shots off on a quick move or two and then get into my shot. So something like that's a little bit different where, you know, I generally would would do a little bit more ball handling in my workouts to get off my shot off, but now I'm not as much because it's just not realistic when I get into the game. When you think about fives, there's just, especially in an NBA game, there's just all these actions.

The best offense is like, okay, this is the first thing, this is the second thing, but it really was about the third thing. And clearly it doesn't happen every single possession. There's probably still too much high pick and roll, but with. With, I don't know if it's the extra floor space or just the lack of the extra defenders or the priority of how a team wants to defend you. I imagine there's, there's a little bit more simplicity with it though, that like, if you can get clear on a high screen, then that's going to be the

best option. Like there just shouldn't be anything else. So do we see that with like quicker possessions where you're making the decision that we know this is the best shot that we're going to get here so we don't need to keep running through all these different actions with only three different guys out there? Yeah, totally. It's a mixture of both, right? And I think, so if I can get an open shot, I'm shooting it, right?

And as the same thing with my teammates, like if my, it's the best shot that we get is I get a rebound and I dribble it out right behind the two point line and shoot it right away because I'm open, that's the best shot we're going to get, right? So you have to be prepared and ready to shoot the ball at any time and whoever has the best the first best shot Like a lot of times in 505 is like, ah take a take a good, you know Have a good shot and make it a great shot, right? Like they always hear that saying 3x3 is not really like that because you might not even get another shot Right a good shot is perfect. If you can just get a good shot off. That's what you want to do

So you're looking for the best available quickest shot. Now, every once in a while, you will try to take the full 12 seconds so that maybe you maybe you're a little bit tired. So you need to move the ball just a little bit and then do a screen to roll at the end and take a shot with two, three, one, two seconds left on the shot clock just because you needed that that rest period for a second. But generally speaking, you're getting a lot of dribble outs or pass outs into handoffs, re-screens. And it's funny because you could layer probably two to three,

even four actions sometimes in that 12 seconds. It's just super quick and it's two people together, right? So, and that's one of the things that I had to adjust with because they run more stuff than you think. And then all of a sudden they'll just be slipping to the basket for a layup and you're like, what just happened? I've never seen a play like that before in five on five. It happened so quickly.

So you'll see there's some different actions that people run that, you know, you don't generally see in five on five that, you know, we'll get you, we'll get you going. Yeah. It's so true though, about just anybody that's ever played, you just think about when you can find your rest, you can find your rest in transition. You can run to the corner and be like, I'm out of here. And I'm good for three.

You just, there's no like, Hey, I'm just going to hang out over here. Be on the two point line for this one. And you guys run that. Just there's no hiding. And I actually, I can't wait. I can't wait to watch it. Oh, last time we talked to you and granted, you know, everybody knows the story, the lottery pick, the BYU records, um, finding your way in the NBA, ending up overseas,

lighting up China, becoming a legend over there. And then, you know, the, the next stretch of it, the Phoenix stretch of it, like where are you now? It, I don't know if it's a question of like, are you at basketball piece, but I guess I'll just leave it open ended. Like where are you now with what your NBA career and what, I should just say where your basketball career has gone. Yeah, no, it's, it's been a crazy ride, right?

Ever since college, it's been a crazy ride, right? Ever since college, it's been kind of a roller coaster. It's been super up and down, especially in the NBA. But for me, I wouldn't change it. It's been be able to create the person that I am today, not necessarily just the basketball player that I am, but the person that I am today, not necessarily just the basketball player that I am, but the person that I am as well. Going through difficult times and good times can kind of shape who you are.

And I feel like I've tried to continue to pursue my passion and my dream the best way that I possibly could. And I feel like myself as a basketball player is kind of solidified. People know who I am, they kind of know what I've done. You know, most people obviously know me from college or you know, my China days I do have some Sacramento fans out there that still are super loyal and, and appreciate myself and the family and everything as well because that's where I was drafted to. But you know, I feel like for me, I've left an imprint on the game of basketball and I feel like for me, I've left an imprint on the game of basketball.

And I feel like that's all I could ask for. So I'm 100% at peace with what I've been fortunate to be able to do. And it's been able to take me all over the world to see amazing places and experience some really cool cultures and meet a lot of different people and and uh you know do some great things so i i'm definitely at peace with with how things have gone obviously i got one more thing here that i want to do here in the next uh couple of weeks which is which is pretty crazy one of the coolest things that i'll ever do as a basketball player and as an athlete in general but i feel like uh you know my uh my legacy has been solidified at this point and whatever happens now, it's just icing on the cake.

In 19, when you checked into the game against Utah, when you're with the sons and the arena goes crazy, huge standing ovation. I know the easy answer is, well, yeah, of course it was awesome. Like it was everybody there that appreciated me. But was there, was there any downside to that moment? You know, downside, it's hard to say. I mean, I would say basically. That's not the right word. I'm just trying to, like I watched you check in and I watched the clip again this morning and I was looking at you and you were kind of like, okay, this is great. And, but you're still hoping to get like a second 10 day.

Well, that's the thing. It's almost like I appreciate them, right? I appreciate the fans and I love it, but it's almost like an embarrassment is a different word, but almost like, man, I feel like it's almost, I don't wanna feel like a show pony or like go out there and just be someone who, you know, they're screaming and yelling because of my past of what I did before.

I want to be able to go out there and play well and have them share for me because I did well in the NBA stage and not just because of what I've done in the past. Although I know it sounds weird, I appreciate the fans for supporting me throughout my career, because they've been they've been amazing wherever I've been. But there's there's also a level of like, man, I haven't really done anything, you know, in this in the NBA game. And there was there was always like, I'm trying to trying to focus and trying to do well tonight. And, you know, and so there's a little bit of that, of course, when you, when you check into a game like that, just because I want, I'm competitive, right? I don't want people to just, you know,

throw things in and, you know, uh, cheer for me for not doing anything good. And so I think that that, there was a little bit of that in there too. Was there anyone on your son's team that, and it wasn't a very good team. Um, that was, was just completely like had no idea who you were. Like was Bender going, what the hell is going on? Yeah. You know, I think there was a, there's a little bit of that. Yes. Um, because at that point, yeah, I just, I had, I had been over in China, right? So, uh,

Bender was a guy that was from Europe. And the year afterwards, I went to the Euro league and played in Panathinaikos. So I bet you if I was there like a year after and I was playing in Panathinaikos, Bender would have been like, oh, I know who you are now. But at that point he was probably like, yeah, I don't really know, I've never heard of you before.

And I don't really care at this point. But there were guys that still like, Devin Booker was a guy that watched me in college, right, and he was like, or when I was in college, and he was like, man, you were a legend back in college, appreciated the game, used to love watching you, you know, shoot from deep range, and most of the guys that played were younger than me,

and on that team specifically, so they kind of watched me when I was in college, and knew me from there. Did you light it up in practice? Well, it was towards the end of the season. So we didn't really have practice all that much to be honest with you. You know what I mean? Like there wasn't a time where we were able to get out there and be like, all right, you know, we're playing fives.

I'm going to show exactly what I'm going to do if that, if there was never really that, that case, because most of the time guys were just kind of doing their own thing and resting and trying to just get through the rest of the season. So we would, but we would play like ones and twos, uh, with some of the younger guys and guys that didn't play. And I will say I was playing pretty well at that point. Um, I, I shot, I was shooting the ball. Well, I was scoring on people.

I mean, you get me in a one on one or two to two on two situation. Uh, most of the time I do fairly well just because I can space the floor and shoot the ball. I'm pretty creative with it. But yeah, we didn't get a whole lot of chance to like go at each other five on five wise where I could be like, yeah, I'm gonna steal someone's spot today. It just didn't happen that much. Right, because I'm trying to think about,

like, I'm not pretending like I know you, know you, but we've had you on and, and you know, when you're taken, and I don't wanna repeat too much of what we did before, but I don't even remember the entire interview, but it was, I just think about somebody like you. Okay. And you have this decorated career and then you have all the pressure being a lottery pick and it's not working out right away. And then it's, it's like, oh, what's, you know, and then there just just becomes because you're on the radar in a way that you're going to be criticized.

And just to be honest, like the way, the way it works. It's like, well, that guy's not supposed to be great. He's too small, you know, and then you look at how the game has evolved. Yeah. And you clearly put up serious numbers internationally. You clearly put up serious numbers internationally. And I guess I'm wondering if there's like the ego takes over where you're like, if I had actually been given a real

chance, I could have had this second career in the NBA and it really would have worked out. But the problem is now I'm somehow perceived as like damaged goods, or is there a realization where the ego gets out of the way a little bit and you think, Hey, I'm I know I'm really good, but if I had played like real minutes for a full season, then people are attacking me and switches that are doing all this things like maybe I have to accept that the basketball world is right about me. I'm not, I'm not saying that I know either one of those, but I wonder how you go through that process

of those two things fighting with each other. Yeah, for sure. No, it's interesting because I knew that I, once I got into the league, I knew I was never gonna be an end-of-the-game playoff guy. That's just not, I don't have- How soon was that? What was that like when you were away to play?

Yeah, it I'll soon. How soon was that? What was that like when you were like, wait a minute Yeah, it was it was pretty soon, right? Like I understand. I just don't have the build and athleticism to just be like, yeah I'm just gonna guard this guy right now and lock him up right there. You know that you're gonna get hunted That's just the way that it works You know specifically in a playoff game You know, but that being said I am a guy that could come in and be a heat check guy for five minutes. You know what I mean? Where they throw you in, they're like, Oh, let's see what he has. And then all of a sudden, if I hit two in a row, you know, I could flip a game where all of a sudden I, you know,

make a few shots, the energy in the building changes a little bit. And then I get taken out of the game, right. And then I let the other guys, let the other guys close it. So I felt like that would have been my ideal role where it's like, you know, coming off the bench where all of a sudden, you know, I could change a game and if I'm flowing a little bit, especially the regular season, if I'm flowing and playing well, you keep being there for longer and be able to do that. But I understood, I understood what the situation was. But the

one thing that I can do is I can score at an elite level and I can shoot at an elite level. So if I was given that opportunity on a consistent, nice basis to be able to go out there off the bench to be able to do that, I felt like I could have produced just fine and been one of the guys that was kind of like a heat check guy that comes in and they could really score the basketball and flip a few games that way. And I did that sometimes in the NBA, but I just, I didn't do it consistently enough. So that was, that's kind of how I thought about it. But my ego got out of the way. Once I got older, once I went to China, my ego was out of the way.

I was like, I'm either going to give a, get a shot or not, and whatever happens, happens. And I'm cool with it. It's just, if I did get a shot, I was prepared. Let's just put it that way. So you don't watch Sam Merrill and go, I could have done that. Sam's my guy, man. Utah State, Utah State guy.

The thing about Sam is you're like six, five, or you know what, it's six, five or six, six. I'm six, two on a good day. Right. And that's just, and so that's, it's just a little bit different like that little bit of length and that listen, but yeah, I mean, I think I can do that. Right. That's the thing is I know that if I had a chance as a six, seventh man to just come in and play and just, Hey, for four minutes, we're going to give you the ball, like just do what you need to do. I think I could have been pretty successful in that role. But I understand pretty quickly. I was like, okay, this is, it's a different level

of athleticism. And it's not like I couldn't score. I could, it would just be at the end of the game when people started hunting you. Because when I got into the league, every single time I got into the game, they'd be like, all right, post up first play for him. They were still posting up guards at that point. I'd have West Matthews, I'd be like, all right, I'm posting them up. Get them in the post and go after it. That was how it used to be 12 years ago when I first got into NBA, where now they don't ever do that.

It's just kind of stand in the corner and wait for a ball screen and then see what happens. Was West Matthews disrespectful to you while he was posting you up? He talked a little garbage for sure. But it was, we had the same agent. So I actually knew West pretty well. So he would always talk playfully. But the guy that used to love to play against me was Tony Allen. Every single time I got into the game, Tony would be like, all right, I got him. And he'd be like, I'm guarding him. And he wouldn't say much, he would just guard

as hard as he could like he always would. But you knew that he was, for some reason, he always wanted to guard me. And for the record, this is a very pro Sam Merrill podcast. Oh yeah, absolutely. We love Sam. We appreciate him. And then when I got to see him live too,

that was the first realization of like a Seth Curry where I was like, do you guys realize that actually when he gets in a spot where he has to handle it, like he can do more. He can actually do more, but it's just not what he's gonna be asked to do. But that's always a sign that I think somebody has a longer runway in the NBA when they're labeled as just spacers, shooter, shooters, just standing in the

corner. And granted, like not everybody's going to dribble anyway, but in the times where I've seen Merrill maybe get closed out and then have to create something, I was like, oh, wait a minute. Like there's more to him, which again, a lot of the guys like you that are incredible shooters and scorers, you had the ball in your hands your entire lives, but it just kind of back to that handle thing when you're never tasked with handling the ball in an actual game,

I get worried that part of their skills is gonna disappear because now you're like, oh, I never actually dribble all that much, like I'm a two dribble guy and then that's kind of it. And I've noticed with Sam, like different scenarios where I was like, oh no I never actually dribble all that much. Like I'm a two dribble guy and then that's kind of it. And I've noticed with Sam, like different scenarios where I was like, oh no, there's way more, there's way more to him. That makes me think he'll be in the league a long time,

but you're right, I think he's like six, four, six, five. Yeah, he's a little taller, but he played a lot of point at Utah State, right? So he was handling the ball, he was making decisions. So he's used to that. I think he can get back into that mode pretty quickly if they asked him to do more. They just, you know, he, they don't need them to, right? So he's doing what he's asked to do right now. And he's,

he does it at a high level. It's great. I just know he listens to the pod. So I wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to be like, go Sam, I'm catching up here on the Jimmers. Yeah, man. I'm so happy for him, man. And I, uh, you know, I've been able to talk to him a little bit. So I, I, I just hope he does, does really, really well. That's what I want. Give me who you think would be the best three on three team

with current NBA players. Oh yeah. That's a great question. I mean, it's always the usual, usual suspects that, that are great, but I, I'm looking for guys that are definitely like bigger wings that can, that can do everything. Right. So I think a guy like Jason Tatum would be really good at this because he could shoot the ball.

He can create his own shop, but he also like cares about defense and he plays hard. He's got good length and he can kind of do a little bit of everything. So a guy like that would be really good. Drew Holliday would be amazing as well. Those, I mean, the Boston back court basically because they're just so malleable, right? They can just do everything. They switch on defense, they can play post defense.

They can come off a ball screen and shoot it and score. I think a guy like obviously Kevin Durant would be absolutely perfect for the sport, his length and him being able to shoot the basketball the way that he can. So I'd say, you know, a guy like that or Paul George, even like, you're looking for that length that can shoot and can handle and then play defense and defend the rim. If you can, if you can get four of those guys, then you're, you're going to win most of, uh, you know, your three on three games, just because they're able to guard multiple positions and then score in any,

any way that they possibly can. So, you know, those four guys would probably be really good. Sounds like you said no Yannis. Yeah. Yannis. I mean, obviously joke, obviously, Jokic would be amazing, right? Like, it's hard to be like, you know what, these four, it's like- Yeah, like you didn't mention Steph, but I'm thinking, well,

because Steph's gonna get picked on defensively, you're gonna give up all the other stuff that you get from him. But you're right, like the big switchable wings might be it, so I'm just messing with you. Yeah, no, I know, it's like making your top five, right? Your top five NBA players. There's so many good guys out there.

It's hard. It's like objective of how you try to figure out, all right, who's actually the best top five or the best top 10. You always have like a few guys where you're like, oh yeah, I probably should have put that guy on it. Right? And so it's, you always think that way.

You also might have been going with the American theme too. So I probably not be starting earlier. Well, that's true. I was thinking Americans, you know, but Jokic played, you saw him play, He also might have been going with the American theme too. So I probably not be in the starting period. Yeah, that's true. I was thinking Americans, you know, but Jokic played, you saw him Jokic play three X three in that little video that was going around recently.

He was playing against some of his friends. They were saying, put work in. He was kind of shooting one-handed runners from everywhere. So he plays it. Jokic should be my first pick in any form of basketball. Yeah, 100%. 100%. Except for ones. He might just get too bored with ones because he'd be able to pass to and he would just lose

so he could go do something else. Exactly. Get on his horses. So last thing, where's the level of nerves for Olympic play? I mean, you've been through it all, but I wonder if it's, do you have any anticipation of how you're gonna feel? No, it's gonna be probably one of the most nervous walking onto that floor than I've ever been at playing basketball.

One, because it's the Olympics, right? It's the biggest stage. There's like two billion people that watch the Olympics, right? So it's not like it's hidden out there. It're going to, it's going to be on NBC. People are going to see it. So, so we understand that it's one of the bigger stadiums we play in, you know, they have a really great setup out there in Paris. But also it's because of the anticipation of anything can happen in a 3x3 game. And you, you, prepared. As soon as that first jump or first checkup

happens, you have to be in a full sweat and ready to go because there's no easing into the game. You don't ease into a 3x3 game. You could be down five nothing if you ease into the game and then the game's pretty much over. So that anticipation of not knowing what's going to happen, not knowing if the other team's going to make two bank twos from the corner, like crazy shots that could happen that happened to us before. Not knowing what is going to happen and makes it even more nerve wracking because it's like going in for the hundred meter dash, right? It's going to be over really, really quickly and not always the best team wins.

So you can prepare as much as you can and be ready, but you're just still nervous once you get out there. But once that ball does check up, those nerves go, but it's the anticipation that's the most difficult part. So I know I have to try to manage that and try to harness it to make sure that it's good energy when I get out onto the floor and try to get a nice sweat and a burn before you get out there so you don't catch that second, you catch that second wind pretty quickly. Cause I know that adrenaline is gonna take over. You're gonna feel real tired in that first couple of minutes.

So I'm excited about though, obviously it's gonna be the, it's gonna be an incredible atmosphere and incredible experience. Man, I just got pumped listening to you. I can't wait, man. I cannot wait. Can we buy jerseys? Oh my goodness.

I've had a lot of people ask if they could buy the number five Jim or Fredette jersey. So I think some people have bought the number five Anthony Edwards jersey and then put Fredette on the back of it. For us to try to figure that out. I don't think they have the Fredette one out there yet. But hopefully they will.

Let's try to make that happen Cuz I got some people that want some Alright sounds good, man. I can't wait. I'm really happy for you. And thanks so much for this. Alright, this is great Thanks for all you guys do. This is I love listening to show. So I appreciate you guys You want details fine I drive a. 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

The email address, lifeadvice, rr at gmail.com. We've got Saruti and we're ready to go. A follow up on random praise. We really appreciated the efforts of the conveyor belt guy. Hope he's doing all right today. Not like a thoughts and prayers thing, just appreciated his contribution to the show. So somebody else had a follow-up on that topic.

Don't read these all the time. Felt like this was a good one to share. Fellas, I took one of the recent emailers, Quagmire's regarding praising a person in front of him for proper grocery built stacking is a challenge. I think of returning your shopping cart to the Corral as a low level bar for decent humanity. That said, the other day I was leaving the store and someone went out of their way to return the cart inside since there were so few carts available. level bar for decent humanity. That said, the other day I was leaving the store and someone went out of their

way to return the cart inside. Since there were so few carts available. I said, quote, that's a person with a strong moral compass as they walk past me. And their response was quote, the fuck are you talking about? I like that person even more now though, because they do the right thing and they don't want they're not doing it for the wrong reasons. If you know what I mean, they're just live. That's how they are.

That's how they are in life. Again, glue guys for society. We need those people. Glue guys for society. Well said. Because there's plenty of people out there that would be like, who's watching me? I'm putting my car back. Is there any girls around?

Could they see I'm a good guy? And this guy was like, Nope, fuck off. I don't care Let me live my life. I gave a homeless guy a couple bucks once when I was walking home with a girl That was more about yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey Still a good deed. Yeah, right. I mean is Everybody wins there feels like it. Uh I'm sure where I shared that. But yeah, I I

I did it. She was she like wow, this Ryan so caring like this is this is great. Yeah, cause I knew she'd actually didn't like me. And then she did. Look, I think. I think the quote is really intense though.

It may have been too intense for most mere mortals. That's a person with a strong moral compass. That's a lot. There's a lot in there and it's, I guess it's not casual. It's almost official, but there's a good chance if the other person is going to swear at you, like that person doesn't have a lot of tolerance anyway. So was there a different approach where you're getting a different, like could you have just gone, hey man, nice move?

That he'd probably been like, what was it? What exactly? Then you're in a conversation with the guy and it's like, okay, hey, what'd you do? I complimented the guy bringing his cart back and I got punched in the face. There's just a lot in that statement. It's a grand statement. I wonder where this was to, Northeast?, you know, this guy, that feels pretty Northeast. Yeah, that checks out. Um,

and it just, it's on Chicago. It goes back to you saying like, Hey, could you pat the guy on the back or something? And I was like, don't touch him. Cause yeah, that's, you've gone too far. This guy probably went a little too far with his compliment, even though it was, you know, it was in good spirit Yeah, okay. All right. Let's get to an email. I love this one groom ranked friends at his bachelor party

27 6 foot 1 no other impressive measurables to speak of I have a dilemma with my hometown friend group in March We had a bachelor party up in the great white north It was a great time except for one weird moment. The was hammered and decided to rank his friends. I love this. I don't have a problem with where I landed on the depth chart. Ranked second, not a big deal in parentheses. Good spot. Yep. Great, great delivery of not a big deal. But we do have one friend who was pretty hurt. I think he assumed he'd be second or third, but he was more like eighth. Backstory of Mr. Hurt Feelings. He doesn't really have a lot going on in his life. The rest of us have corporate jobs all over the country.

We're doing fairly well for ourselves. He works as a line cook at a restaurant. He still lives at home. He gets annoyed when nobody wants to get tanked and play bar trivia on a Tuesday night. He'll harass our friends that are still local, spend their Saturday nights at this suburban restaurant while he finishes up work so they can hang out when he gets off.

He bragged about having the free when his mom was away on vacation for a week. He's 27. He can be really annoying when drunk and is especially off putting to people who don't know him. He's the friend that's left out of another group chat, if you know what I mean. I know he was hurt when the groom ranked him so low. He went really quiet and left the room. I think things solidified a bit in his head that things weren't going super well for him. Nothing really happened

afterwards and nobody acknowledged it to him. But now this weekend we have another bachelor party. It's the first time we're all seeing each other since March and I'm a bit worried how it will go. He doesn't have the best emotional intelligence and I could see it getting weird. Have you had a situation like this? As you get older, how do you deal with the loser friend? Thanks so much for the pod. Wow. Loser friend felt a little harsh at the end. Okay, I know exactly what happened here.

Okay. Because I was the loser friend out of the friend group. And what you're doing. You realized it at the time? Or it was like a, yeah, okay. But that's the issue here is I feel like this guy didn't understand and it's really all just come, it's like ton of bricks right now.

Well, if he's matching his resume up to the other guy, but the whole point that I'm gonna make here and that I'm gonna hammer this, you're 27. So what you're prioritizing as a good person or a good friend or a bad friend, it feels like you're prioritizing post-college success or lack thereof. And that's probably not the best indicator of like who the good friend is or who isn't.

Now, maybe he sucks for a million different other reasons, but the stuff that you're pointing to here is that he is not caught up to you or you're lapping him in life. But the markers that you're using are the ones you should or would likely use as a 27 year, I'm not, maybe you shouldn't use them, but the ones you're most likely going to use when you get a little bit older and you start thinking about your sifting of your friend groups, the spring cleanup, if you will, getting out the rakes and garbage bags

of like how do I look at my friends and the people I invest time in? You probably prioritize different things like who's loyal, who's there for me, who's not a one way street. You know, there's a couple of friends that I've noticed over the years. I'm like, you know what I realized was that guy would never do anything for me. And yet is the first to ask me to do something for him.

Like, what am I getting out of this relationship other than requests? Uh, so I think the older listeners would agree that if you were just going to get hammered at a wedding, which again would probably be a little different vibe at 47, if somebody was getting married for the first time versus 27, you would that if you were just going to get hammered at a wedding, which again, would probably be a little different vibe at 47. If somebody was getting married for the first time versus 27, you would probably think of the personal resume that we all walk around with as there should be just different things that, that mean more. But when you're 26 and 27 and that's what happened to me, I'm still

bartending in the same town. My five year reunion was coming up and I was like, you cannot be here working at this place when everybody comes back, but you're going to feel like the biggest fucking loser ever. And I was starting to notice. Again, I didn't have any money to go anywhere with anybody, but I just was out of the mix. I had like this weird kind of out of the mix phase of like, yeah, I don't know

what the hell he's doing. He was talking about like writing a TV show or something, you know? So I was becoming that guy. Now, if this guy is asking you to hang out at the restaurant all the time and nobody wants to do it, that's just going to annoy people, um, because it's on his terms and maybe it makes it feel like he's hanging out with guys. Uh, I was still a good hang. because it's on his terms and maybe it makes it feel like he's hanging out with guys. I was still a good hang, so I don't think I have to worry about like, it sounds like he also isn't great to hang out with.

But is there, is this just about him not being as successful as the rest of you or is it also a big part of his personality? And for him to hear it, you know, I'm sure he's had some self awareness and some questions as he's measuring himself against all the other guys from back in the day, the gang and the fact that he isn't on one of the other core group text chains, like maybe as we talk it out here, like there's more than him just. Not having the job. Cause I just knew, I just knew because I was still bartending the guys were thinking like, and that's the other thing that I think is one of the most bullshit things.

If you're in your early 20s and you're post college, you're like, oh my God, he got a job at Morgan Stanley? Oh my God, he's killing it. And then the guy comes back up, he's got a couple sick pleated chinos that he's breaking out for the first weekend where the boys are getting together. Maybe he's still wearing a blazer on a Thursday

at happy hour at this Irish place. He's like, oh my God, Craig's doing so well. Like, yeah, he's a 401k now. Like you just, all that stuff's kind of bullshit. You know, Craig's probably gonna get caught with a fucking nanny, get fired, and has his own start. You know, he's gonna be asking you

to open a retirement account with him. He's leasing a course that he can't even afford. Right, so. You think it's way more impressive than it is. Yeah, there's all these different stages in life. But that one specific window, because I know what it was like because I cared about it so much and I thought, I believed in all of the bullshit so much because it took me having to go through all of it

to be like, oh, you guys are kind of full of shit. But you didn't have anything else to really compare it to. So I personally felt like I can't keep up with these guys. So that's really what's happening to your friend here. but you didn't have anything else to really compare it to. So you, like, I personally felt like I can't keep up with these guys and I'm not. So that's really what's happening to your friend here and you're holding him, like you're grading him based on that. And it sounds like you're also grading him on,

like you said, what was it that he wasn't? Let me look that up again here. You can be annoying when he's drunk, especially off putting to people who don't know him. Yeah. It doesn't sound like to me that it's just the career thing. He'd be annoying when he's drunk, especially off putting to people who don't know them. Um, yeah, it doesn't sound like to me that it's just the career thing. It sounds like he's a little bit, uh, and we all

have this friend and it's not a big deal. Like I have, you know, I see, I have a group, I have about five really close friends. I've had five really close friends for a long time. I really can't handle more than that. I'm friendly with a lot of people, but I'm really only good friends with five people. And, you know, there'll be people that are

like coming out of each group, different bachelor parties and guys, you know, they're kind of on the lower end, right? And that's okay. And sometimes you got to make numbers. But I think what you, I think you just got to play it like normal. I mean, don't act like don't treat this guy differently than you would at this new bachelor party. I mean, don't act like, don't treat this guy differently than you would at this new bachelor party. I mean, it's like one of those things, like there are starters in the NBA. Doesn't mean the bench isn't important too.

Those guys just aren't starter quality, right? It's just like, everybody has a role in the friendship and life in general. So, you know, I'm sure this guy's bummed out, but I think what happened here is he just kind of had a, like I said, a ton of bricks hit him and he had a realization that I think not only is his career not where he's at,

but also he thought that he was way closer to maybe you guys than he is, and that stings and that sucks. But I don't know, if you like hanging out with him and you like being around him, I mean, sometimes you get into a situation in life where you've just been friends with someone for so long that it's like, I don't really like this guy,

but we've been friends for a decade and it's just too hard to make new friends. So he's not just inviting you to things. I know there's plenty of guys like that out there. Maybe that's this guy. Well, no, no, no. I maybe that's this guy. I don't know. But I, if you like hanging out with him and he's, you know, he could be a little up and down, he doesn't have a shit together, but you still like going to bachelor parties with him to just treat them like normal. Um, if he asked about it, just, I would just say it's not a big deal, man. The guy was drunk. Like we all like, cause here's the thing. If you, if

you pulled every, if you pulled everyone in that friend group, there's a good chance that they will give you completely different ratings for every single person. Like everybody's, everybody in a friend group is closer to somebody else. Text thread here is not a great sign. So maybe the awareness part of it, maybe it's non-existent for him. Maybe this was the wake-up call.

Maybe that's why it hurts so much. Or maybe he's just emotionally immature and can't handle it. The best thing ever would be being ranked eighth and not caring. That's growth. You're like, yeah, that's cool. Yeah, that's eight. You're gonna try to hook up with one of the prize-based. Just go outside and rip's cool. Yeah, it's eight.

I'm going to try to hook up with one of the guys. I'm ripping a cigarette. Be like, whatever. Right. Right. Good. Yeah. Uh, but then that guy would be way higher. Growth is growth is being way higher than eight guys and not caring.

But you're right. If he didn't care that he would never be eighth. Uh, is there any chance he has a chance to move up in the rankings at the new bachelor party? Should they revisit the rankings? Could they go, hey, look, new rankings, and here's the criteria available to drink on a Tuesday, discounts on takeout sandwiches, and still plenty of room to grow in the old 401k. I don't know. if he's ranked higher, does he start going,

yeah fuckers, I told you, eight was way too low. Four, yeah. Yeah, you just boost his ego and have a fake count and it's like, oh man, you're five this time, good job. Like you did a good job with the last round. That'd be hilarious if you started moving on off the rankings, I don't know. I wouldn't lie to them.

Just a few months and then people would be like, this is why you were A. Yeah. Or maybe at the match where you make him rank friends. You know, hey, what's your top eight? Well, if he's too sensitive, the rankings of the dudes is not for everybody. Okay. There's, there's very few friend groups that can survive this kind of thing. I would say you're probably prioritizing the things that you would likely prioritize, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's a good or bad friend.

It sounds like you're taking accounting of the person. Now, if he is both not as successful as you, but then you're also factoring this stuff that we don't have enough information on in the email other than just a couple tidbits. But the second text thread, actually, why are we even discussing this anymore? The fact that there's another text thread without him means this guy is going to be eight now, he's going to be eight in a year, he's going to be eight, 10 years from now, so it's not going to matter. He should be psyched he's even getting invited.

Yeah, I don't know. I have different friends. I have different text groups though with friends just based on different interests, you know, and it doesn't mean I like or dislike anyone else. But like we have a soccer group thread. We've got, you know, you know, there's just like little side conversations all over the place. It doesn't mean that like I dislike or like those people more, just more based on interest. Now, if you have one that's, he is, it's all of you guys and there's another one where he's the only one not included. Yeah, that's probably a huge issue. That's what it sounds like. Yeah. Yeah, this thread is the not interested in thieves Yeah, I don't want to be invited to a to a bar, you know on your on your time and your dime kind of thing I this did give me a good idea though Because maybe he takes this to heart and he wants to be a better friend, right? He's like, okay, I'm eight and I got to be better. Like I want to invest in this friendship Wouldn't it be funny and this would never work because dudes would probably fight each other

But if there was like an AP poll style weekly thing that came out of rankings so that you know We don't know are each week and it's all done anonymously and you just check the website every week and it's like hey I'm five this week and just based on based on your activities as a friend You just kind of go up and down and maybe he really takes us to heart and he starts rising up the rankings. Maybe he starts inviting you out a little bit more, giving you gifts, like doing nice things to you, being an actual friend. And you kind of whip them into shape a little bit.

Imagine if canal were in that text thread and then he was just like, this whole thing's corrupt. Yeah, he would, he would abstain. He'd start the Alliance of the other friends. Just because I pulled the hamstring in golf means means I'm not in the top four. Okay, next one. This is from a female woman listener. I've been with my boyfriend for a while now and our relationship is great. He's a wonderful person. I'm very happy. There is, however, one thing that really bothers me when we are walking together, he walks ahead of me

or will just leave me behind. For example, the other night we parked across the street from the restaurant we were going to, and he started walking across the street before I was even out of the car. That's bullshit. We live in a city, so if we walk somewhere together, he will walk a couple steps ahead of me.

Another issue is when getting up from a table, he would get up from the table and walk to the front door of the restaurant while I'm still gathering my purse and or jacket. Another dick move. I am certainly a slower walker and he's significantly taller, but it's unfair to expect him to walk with me or wait for me to get up from the table out of the car. I am very independent person and don't care about gender norms, but I grew up having my

dad always waiting for my siblings mom and I file as I file out of somewhere first with him following. I don't understand that sentence. Yeah, like you're, like you're. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. I didn't see where it broke up. Always behind you in this situation. I grew up having my dad always wait for my siblings, mom,

and I to file out of somewhere first with him following. Yes. Yes, okay. I misread that, so I just didn't wanna make, I made her sound like she couldn't finish that sentence and I read it wrong. My boyfriend, I've gotten into fights about this quite a bit. I think it's rude, disrespectful and embarrassing. I've told him why it bothers me, but he doesn't seem to get it. Am I overreacting? Nitpicking. My girlfriends agree with me, but I'm curious what other guys think. Can I on one hand say I'm an independent person, on the other expect my boyfriend

to not walk ahead of me? Is this hypocritical or should he be waiting for me any advice is appreciated couldn't be more on your side a hundred percent Not debatable. What the fuck but wait for your girlfriend wait for at one point. What is your wife? It's completely rude now You have to understand like some people just move at a different pace walking with Stanford Steve is one of the worst things of my entire career The Oregon at Washington game like driving with Danny of my entire career, the Oregon at Washington game. Like driving with Danny. Honestly, it was kind of worse.

When we were at Oregon, Washington, and he had the keys to the rental car, which was like a rental car in a parking lot outside of a college football stadium, and the rental car was some sort of four door sedan that's some combination of blue that you're not really even quite sure what it is. And he walked so fast out of the stadium

after the game was over, he just went right to the car and Brad and I, Brad Edwards were, we were lost cause we didn't know. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. Like I know you walk really fast dude and you're intense. And it was a thing he just had. It wasn't him necessarily being rude. He just couldn't walk slower. And whenever you walked anywhere with him and I walk fast, this guy's fucking Jesse Owens compared to the rest of us. How fast Stamper Steve walks that you just, I would like give up.

But in this case, specific to needing to figure out where the car was, it took like another 10 or 15 minutes to even find him and leaving a stadium. And then it meant we got out later and it meant you got stuck in traffic and the whole thing was just a shit show. And I was like, how could you? Like, I don't wanna get into like a real fight with him, but I was pissed. I was actually really pissed being like, why would you at any point have thought it was a great idea when you were the only one with the car keys

to run that far ahead of us knowing they were all emptying the stadium at the exact same time? But look, Steve waits for no man. So we understood that. Now I'm not dating Steve. Don't want to, really like him. Don't wanna date him.

Yeah, great guy, great hang, all-time. But this is so rude. And he doesn't, like the fact that you've argued about it and you've told him and he hasn't changed, you were supposed to walk with your woman, female. You are, okay? There's even something probably that most listeners won't even understand but I think I don't know where I even read it or how I

figured it out but I read it somewhere is that if it's the man you're supposed to walk on the curb street side so that you're actually protecting your woman female from a car or any kind of traffic. Like protocol is that she should not be walking on the street side of the sidewalk that the men should be. And there's younger guys who are like, I cannot wait to fucking break this out this weekend. But I'm telling you, this is a real thing. Um, I imagine most people, well, if a certain age, Rudy, I'm

shocked that you knew this. You knew this. Definitely. Yeah. Maybe I'm not the, uh, dude I thought I was. You practiced it I'm not the, uh, I don't know that I practiced it. Dude, I thought I was. You practiced it? Well, no, I don't know that I, no, I don't know that I practiced it, but I do know it's big. Do you do it? And I guess I'll try to here and then. Yeah. I'm not, but not, not every time. I mean, I do hold the door. I do wait for Maddie. Like, it's not, that's, that's just, I mean, I hate that, I hate to say this, but that's just like,

you're brought up that way. I, I, it that's just like, you're brought up that way. It's kind of like you can't fix that in some ways. You either get it or you don't get it. Your guy doesn't get it. So my question would be like, do you love the guy? Like are you really into him? Is this the one flaw? Because if it's the one flaw, like the only thing is it probably is really embarrassing

in front of your other friends. All of their other guys are like holding their hand and grabbing their coat on the way out and you know, their hands on the small, their back as they walk out a door in a restaurant like there's just something you know that's just really awesome about that and it makes you feel comforted as a I'm sure I mean shit I would want that to happen if I was in the other way around. So I understand like the issue here but if that's the one red flag it's not it's not the end of the world but like I feel like sometimes guys like that if he doesn't care about the little things like that that's not one red flag, it's not the end of the world, but I feel like sometimes guys like that,

if he doesn't care about the little things like that, that's not a good sign for long-term. That's the point though. Is he fighting with you about this? That's actually the bigger red flag. If someone had said, hey, you're doing this and I hate it, and it's not that big of an ask, right? Hey, you're watching too many games.

Oh really, well, do you like the house? That's a different conversation. But if this is something as simple, like what are you actually sacrificing by slowing down efficiency? Right. I think you're, you're not getting, I can understand like the fast pace, being a little intense, walking faster. But when this person that you care about is like, can you just slow down and walk at the same pace as me?

We have generally on average longer limbs. All right. Dudes have been adjusting for a long time. You shouldn't want to fight this. You shouldn't want to win the argument of why it's okay for you to constantly like to walk across the street to a restaurant and your girl is still in the fucking car. Like play this for him is the only advice

we could give him or give you, but this is, I think it's nasty and it's so solvable, which is the problem. It's just walk slower and this one thing that we have will make me feel better. And we can get into kind of like the arguments and everything of like, okay, men feel like this, women feel like this and all these different things.

To have to walk slower so that your companion feels better is not a huge ask. I'd say, yeah. I mean, what the? That's kind of your role. So that becomes like that red flag, red flag territory. better is not a huge ass. I'm pretty safe. Yeah. What the? That's kind of your role. So that becomes like that red flag, red flag territory is like, wait, you want to walk faster?

You want me to be, because just because you think I'm, like it's one thing, a couple different experiences I've had where I'm like, how long are you gonna take to get ready? And that can become a point of contention. Yeah, one of the things that drives me nuts is like again love Maddie, she's the best, but I tell her a lot like you, whenever we, whenever we leave a place, especially with like friends or family, you take way too long to leave. Like we say goodbye for like a half an hour, we

just leave and but I don't walk out of the door you know I'm not I'm not like hey I'll see you in the car and just leave her in there for another 20 minutes because you you got to be respectful even if you disagree with how whatever speed is or what you know what's going on so this is why I would just ask are there other things like this like does he does he cook dinner and then like not leave you enough food you know or like are there other little red flags where he's disrespectful because that's then okay then I think you have your answer the complicated part is if this is the one does he go to Thailand a lot alone

If this is the one thing Then it's it's really hard to judge because I think it's hard to say he doesn't care about you Maybe he's just completely oblivious and this gets back to like the white self-awareness is the most important Well, he can't be right, but he can't be oblivious about it anymore if they're arguing about it all. Yeah I just think it's such an easy thing to fix. And he shouldn't want to win. Of all the arguments where I'd be like, no, I'll take the guy's side on this one,

or this one, or the, like, there's no other side. There's the right side and there's the wrong side. And then there's the outside of the curve. But we're on your side. And you should play him this. Tough love. Yeah, okay. That'll do it, that's life advice.

That's the episode. Thanks to Oregon, thanks to Saruti. You can check out our YouTube page. Please subscribe. Ryan Russell, the podcast writer. in the must be twenty one older eighteen plus in DC, and present in select states. Fandual is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fandual.com forward slash RG in Colorado, DC, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Vermont. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut. 1-800-9 with it in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana. Visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Visit 1-800-GAMBLER.NET in West Virginia,

or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org, or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY in New York.