The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Todd McShay on Three QBs in Play at No. 1, and Kevin Huerter on the Kings Revival. Plus, a Kissing Guy Follow-Up.

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Russillo is joined by ESPN's Todd McShay to discuss his 2023 NFL mock draft, which QBs are possibly no. 1 picks, why Todd thinks DT Jalen Carter is the best player in the draft, WR and TE rankings, and more (0:36). Then, Ryen talks with Kings guard Kevin Huerter about being traded from the Hawks, this Kings group fighting for second place in the West, the recent Kings-Bucks game, head coach Mike Brown, Kevin's favorite NBA League Pass teams, and more (50:45). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:24:10). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Todd McShay and Kevin Huerter Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's episode is loaded some are saying it's the best of 2023 we have almost an hour with todd mcshay on the top of the draft the trade stuff and the update on jaylen carter we talked tight ends wide receivers we covered it all kevin herder sacramento kings your number two seat in the west on playing in sacramento leaving atlanta the, and a little MVP talk. That's pretty fun. We have an update on the bad kissing life advice. We have two more life advice, a big Thursday pod for you. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day,

again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Excited about this. Get to do it a couple times every year. Todd McShay of ESPN. His mock draft is out now on ESPN.com. Updates those every couple weeks. What's up, man?

About a month to go. Fired up. Not much. I'm just sitting in this dark room watching tape. Did Cam Jones, a sixth round linebacker from Indiana this morning. So that's about where my life is right now okay all right not a bad life though you know what you signed up for uh let's let's start there then let's start at the top carolina makes the trade um i don't know

how much that changes how this would have played out obviously if the bears kept the pick it would change the story around it so what what do you think is a realistic set of options for what Carolina could do here with number one? So I had to update the mock draft that I did, the 3.0, immediately after. And I had Bryce Young go in one, and I just kept him there. The more I talk to people in the league and the more I kind of just analyze the situation, Frank Reich has always worked with bigger quarterbacks, pocket passers. I've got a list here. You ready? Peyton Manning, 6'5". Phillip Rivers, 6'5".

Carson Wentz, 6'5". Nick Foles, 6'6". Andrew Luck, 6'4". Jacoby Brissett, 6'4". Matt Ryan, 6'4". And you've got a 5'10 and change quarterback in Bryce Young, who's up to 204 pounds. And I think he's magic. I think he's the best quarterback in the class. I would take him number one. But I don't know that that fits what they're looking for. C.J. Stroud is 6'3". He's built a little bit bigger.

He's still kind of a lean frame guy. But if you're looking for the best pure pocket passer in this class, it's Stroud. So to me, Stroud makes the most sense. The wild card in all of it is Anthony Richardson, who completed what, like 53% of his passes this past year, up and down, looked like a Heisman Trophy winner, the number one overall pick against Utah. I had him the next week against Kentucky, and they absolutely shut him down. And he looked like a guy that just was lost. And it was kind of like that all season long, up and down. He had two 400-passing-yard games.

He had two 100-yard rushing games. But some of the other games, when they take away certain things and they're gap disciplined and they don't allow him to run, it really limits what he can do at this point. So he has the lowest, the lowest floor, but the highest ceiling of all of these quarterbacks. So he would be interesting.

I don't think it'll be Richardson at number one, but I have heard that Frank Wright, the head coach is, is really intrigued by what he could do developing him. But CJ Straub seems to me like the best fit for Carolina at one. And then in Houston, you get Bryce Young. And then the big question is, at number three, Arizona would be crazy not to move out of that three spot,

because especially if it's a trade, just moving back one spot with Indianapolis. Chris Ballard, the GM, has put together everything but a quarterback. He's tried the veteran route over and over again, and it just hasn't worked. And so you've got Vegas sitting there at seven, needing a quarterback. They could move up to number three and get ahead of Indianapolis. And now you're Indy and you're getting the fourth best quarterback. Maybe he's the second best quarterback on your board, but he's the fourth quarterback to come off the board. So that to me is the next domino to fall.

I don't know if it will be draft night or when it will happen, but I'll be shocked if Arizona, if we get to the first night of the draft, if they wind up picking me number three. Okay, all right. So I have follow-ups on all of them. I love Bryce too. I think his reading of defenses like if you were going to try to bet on that intangible thing that seems so impossible

to predict with quarterbacks like he would be the best bet of any of the intangible stuff of not being overwhelmed poise all the stuff you want but you know you and i had talked about what he weighed when he was at bama and it wasn't even close to 204 those could have been exaggerations i also wonder if the combine, if you go straight up, like I am going to find a way to tip the scales at over 200 pounds, even though it's not really who you are. I wonder if you just go, we have to have a two in front of this number, and then all you're doing is trying to find a way to put on any kind of weight

just to make sure that number seems more acceptable. He's not small. He's like the smallest. He's been working like crazy. I met with him. I covered him for the Mississippi State game. I can tell you, you meet with quarterbacks like Will Levis. I had met with him a couple weeks earlier. He's 6'4", 225.

He looks the part. CJ Stroud is a little bit lean, but he's got the height. Anthony Richardson, I told you I did the Kentucky game. You meet with him, and you're looking at giant, 6'4", 244 pounds, obviously the mobility and the arm strength. But just shaking Bryce Young's hand and standing next to him and talking to him, it's like, man, I'm worried. He has everything you want.

I've never seen a quarterback at the college level who's like this, just poised. Nothing affects him. Herb Street and I talked about it, and he had a great comparison. I think you'll appreciate it as a basketball guy. He's Steph Curry. You know, Steph had everything but the size. But because he has such a good feel and an innate sense,

and even like the throws were touched out and walking away with a hand up, and just the confidence that he has in his game and knowing where everyone is, the ability to extend. He has everything that you're looking for except you're worried about that frame. And Chua Tungabailoa is kind of a similar situation, you know, coming out of Alabama, undersized. Miami is rolling when he's healthy. And then all of a sudden the concussion happens. He's not a hundred percent and the organization falls apart in the second half of the season. So

that's what you're worried about. If you're an NFL team is, is can he, can he play 17 games every year? He was mostly durable the last couple of years at Alabama, but he did have the shoulder problem. You know, he had the shoulder injury that kind of limited him from throwing during the weeks of practice for about three weeks. Then they had a bye week. But ultimately, it really comes down to that. It's just going to be team preference and the level of concern about his size. Yeah, and there are guys that are 6'4", 230, the fifth of Bill, be on the cover of the magazines that go top 10, and they stink.

So that's kind of where I landed on it a month or so ago, where I was like, you've loved watching this guy play football the entire time. If I had the number one pick, I don't think I could pass on him, even though history tells me, like, look, Kyler and Tua get hurt. They're on the smaller side. You know, Russell Wilson was thicker. Breeze really is the anomaly. I don't know if you had the note, but was there some number that Bryce would be the smallest

first-rounder taken since 2006? Was it? Yeah, over the last decade. I know at least the last 10 years, but I think 2006 might be right. Right. I hope it works out for him. Let's get on the Richardson part of this because I think this is kind of an interesting thing.

I watch all day Saturday. I watch all day Sunday. I'm not looking for an award here but there's a lot of there's a lot of sunday people that don't watch any saturday right there's a lot of sunday people that are very protective of sunday and they almost like look down on the people that like saturday too and i was like if you ever reverse the scenario where if i said well i only watch college football but here's what i think about every single nfl player right. You would be like, why am I listening to you? And, you know, you can watch tape and you can do the combine and all that kind of stuff too. But if you watched Anthony Richardson this past year, which is really funny because you

came on early. I remember he was projected as a first rounder and I was going off of two years ago. I was like, that seems crazy to me. And then he has the Utah game where I'm like all in. And then he wasn't good. He just wasn't good. And you had even said something like they had changed coverages on him and he hadn't quite figured it out.

I think it's kind of funny to watch all the Sunday guys fall in love with somebody who just didn't look like he was very good at the position. And now he's going to go top 10 with 13 career starts and bad numbers. Yeah, it's all about traits and being able to develop. Like, if Josh Allen doesn't get with Brian Dable, Josh Allen isn't Josh Allen. You know, look at Daniel Jones this past year.

I mean, they were done with him. He was going to go somewhere else probably as a backup. Yeah, when they don't pick up your option, that's a pretty good sign that they're done with you. Yeah, so they didn't pick up his fifth-year option. All of a sudden, Dayball comes in, works with him, gets him comfortable, gets him in plays that work for him, and it works out.

But there's no guarantee, and there's only a handful of Dayballs out there. Patrick Mahomes is a phenomenal talent. There's no question about it, but his mechanics were disgusting in college. He told me – I did the Chiefs preseason game for a few years. We sat down and talked, and he said, Todd, I couldn't identify the mic, meaning the middle linebacker. He's like, I was like 60% identifying the mic, which is something you can do in high school. He just never, I was like 60% identifying the mic,

which is something you can do in high school. He just never had to do it with the offensive system that he was in. But he had Alex Smith, who's a veteran, a genius, and was willing to work with him for a full year and taught him a lot of things. He had Andy Reid, who was a great quarterback developer and an offensive mind and genius, and had that year to kind of sit back and learn. And all of a sudden he has the opportunity to come in and play at the level that he has played at.

So to me, Vegas makes a lot of sense. They just brought in Jimmy Garoppolo, right? You know Jimmy can be your starter for this year. And let Anthony Richardson work behind Jimmy, learn from him, learn what it takes to be a pro, learn all the little things, the nuances of the position, learn how to read coverages better, work on his footwork and the consistency of his mechanics. And then all of a sudden, maybe you have something special

in year two or year three. But if it's Indianapolis and he's got to go play right away, I just don't know what to expect. And you also, like, you've got to remember the Ravens, the Eagles, they took not just like their offense, but organizationally, they structured everything around their quarterbacks and what they did. And Lamar, when he came in the league, was not the passer that Lamar is today.

He has developed so much because of the time he's had and the work he's been able to put in. But I remember talking to John Harbaugh, and I was like, it's not just the offense we're going to put in. It's not just that we're going to allow him to run and utilize his mobility and really take advantage of it. But we're loading up on defense. We're going to be great on special teams.

We're like this whole organization is going to work to make sure that he is put in the best spots and win. And the Eagles did the same thing, you know, in their situation too. So, and then all of a sudden you start to see jaylen hurts get better and better as a passer remember last year at this time we were talking about the eagles making a trade and getting an extra first round pick potentially to be in this market for one of these top four quarterbacks because they weren't sure what hurts was going to be and hurts has the season that he has, and now they're in great shape

and they can build around him. And I know people get frustrated and say, well, what's he going to be? Tell me what he's going to be. Project what he's going to be. I know what he can be, but I also know what the failure level could be. And it all depends on the coaching staff, the organization, and the patience. You've got to go to an organization that has patience and the opportunity to be patient in order to allow them to develop. Okay. We haven't really touched on Stroud enough. The Georgia game

was incredible. You've called it the best game of his career. Considering the stakes, I don't know that there's much debate. He ran more, which I think everybody, especially in college, wants at least that threat, that dynamic there. And he was terrific. I don't know if the Ohio State QB thing is even a thing yet. I've brought it up in the past where you look at some of the other guys that didn't work out. Am I really going to look at Ohio State and be like,

because Cardale Jones and JT Barrett and Haskins, unfortunately we lose him, so it's too early to talk about that with Fields. I guess the only thing that I would think is fair is that Ryan Day and that group, they run such an amazing offense that there's open throws all season long, and you're better talent-wise than pretty much everybody you're going to play.

There's a gap with half of your schedule where it's not even close, because Ohio State has, I know Big Ten fans are going to want to hear this, but they have comparable SEC talent throughout the entire roster. And if Michigan is in an up year, then maybe we can talk about them being close in talent. I know they've gotten them the last couple years in that matchup. But when I watch Ohio State games, I'm so impressed with what they do,

but also realizing, man, there's a massive gap with the dudes are going up against. And on top of like a two year run of four NFL receivers that are all studs that I am telling you, I wouldn't bet either way on Stroud. And again, as I do this more and more, I become more clueless about who's going to be good in the pros. But I wonder if there's that kind of conversation in nfl circles of like the advantage ohio state has because of their great coaching and because of the talent mismatch they face absolutely i'm not as worried about like the past guys because stroud is different he's so much better than them right or well even fields even fields. And Justin Fields, we've seen he's a great runner.

He's great off script. He's not great in the pocket. And what Stroud is, is the exact opposite. He is great inside the pocket. He processes like this. I mean, just from one read to the next to the next. He does a great job of getting the ball out quickly. He has the arm strength. He has the smoothest delivery and throws the best ball of all the ball out quickly he has the arm strength he has the smoothest delivery

and throws the best ball of all the quarterbacks in this i got to see him in person and it is he does when it's when it's a bunch of other dudes that are all like at his level resume wise and all that kind of stuff seeing stroud throw in person was one of the more impressive things i've seen yeah and even like the combine means nothing to me from a throwing standpoint, outside of the fact that you get to see him live and you get to see one after the other after the other after the other. And if you were just dropped on this planet

and it was the first time you saw any of these quarterbacks throw, it was so damn obvious who the best passer was in the group was C.J. Stroud. The ball just comes off his hands so purely, the ball placement, the trajectory, everything that you look for is there.

The biggest knock on him was use your feet, man, like create, extend. With Bryce, things would fall apart, and everything was in slow motion for him, and nothing was working slow motion for him. Nothing was working too fast for him. And he would like – he even did like the – he's a smaller Patrick Mahomes to me. The Mahomes thing where he's rolling out and has like the presence of mind to look back as he's rolling to his right to see how much time he has to extend the play, to wait for his receiver to get open down the field,

feels the pressure and then knows gets the ball out right on time little things like that that add up and and are becoming you know the college game it used to be the nfl game would trickle down to the college level the college game is trickling up to the nfl level part of it is just poor poor quarterback play part of it is is a lot of the spread offenses, the RPOs and all those different things and not asking quarterbacks to be pure pocket passers going through progression reads and doing all the things that we were so used to with Mannings and Brady's and Breeze's and all the great quarterbacks in the last 15 years.

all their great quarterbacks in the last 15 years. But to me, Bryce Young shows the ability to extend, and he does it with such poise and ease that it's unique. Stroud, we got to see finally in that Georgia game. It's almost like he had a month leading up to that game of listening to everyone say, he's not pointing to his potential, he won't run. He's afraid to run. He doesn't want to extend plays. And he got pissed off and decided, you know, like,

I'm taking over this game. And if he can bottle that up and bring that to the NFL and start to do more of that, he's got a chance to be a star. He really does. He is that pure of a passer and he's not a great athlete, but he's got a chance to be a star. He really does. He is that pure of a passer. And he's not a great athlete, but he's mobile enough. He's mobile enough to extend plays as we saw. If you can extend plays against Georgia and have that kind of success against that defense, you can do it in the NFL. He was a stud that night. It's one of my favorite games of the season. Okay, let's talk about Jalen Carter speaking to Georgia. We know that we're probably still waiting on information. Clearly, teams are're probably still waiting on information.

Clearly teams are doing their own investigation on him being involved in, you know, car racing or alleged, you know, to be involved in this thing that led to the crash. He was not driving that car. What's going to happen with him here? Because he is what your number one prospect in the entire draft.

You're just going by skill. By skill. Yes. Ahead of all the quarterbacks ahead of will anderson like if if you told me if you promised me there was not going to be an off the field issue and he was going to be a model citizen for his career i would take him number one if i was chicago i wouldn't have even traded out i would have just taken him number one he's that good i mean you watch him he's so disruptive. Run plays, he has the strength.

He gets off blocks in a flash. He chases. He has a great motor. He gets guys from behind. As a pass rusher, I know that the sack production wasn't there, but the pressures were there. And as an interior guy, it's so important to get that quarterback off his spot and to create chaos. And he does that on almost every play.

The other thing, listen, there were character issues before this incident. In this incident, there's a lot of information that will still come out. We're going to find out some things, I think, on April 18th. I think there's an arraignment. I'm not good with illegal information, so don't quote me on it. But I think it's April 18th, which is just before the draft. So you've got all these NFL teams kind of waiting to see what's going to happen. I don't want to get into the specifics of the story and what I know about that story. But I can say even prior to the incident and I said it on a SportsCenter special, my mock draft, I think 2.0,

there were questions about his character. And I said it gently, and I specifically said, listen, I'm just saying this, like, I've got him going number, I have him as the number two overall player right now. I think I had him going number five to Seattle in the mock draft. And I said, if he falls a little bit, it's because there are some character issues. And like a broad picture, like work ethic, practice habits,

being late for meetings, things like that, and some other stuff. But so you add all that together and now you've got to really do some digging, like private investigation and digging like every nfl team has a former fbi agent and or something like you know to that degree and they're going to have to really dig in and find out what you're going to get with car because again you have potentially the number one player in this draft but but you have a guy that, do you trust him? And is he going to kind of give it all for you? Is he going to be able to play,

you know, his whole rookie year? What's going to happen? So there's a lot to unpack there. Let me jump in here because I want to actually ask you a question that's a little bit more about your job in relation to the Jalen Carter stuff, okay? Because, you know, look, I'm biased. I've known you a question that's that's a little bit more about your job in relation to the jalen carter stuff okay because you know look i'm biased i've known you a long time we're friends

and whenever we're leading up to kind of the pre-draft season you know there might be a player where you're gonna go oh yeah i don't know like you know you're kind of you're dipping which also means you've heard way more stuff than you're sharing with us and i would say that knowing you that you wouldn't just go on TV to be like hey I'm just going to blast this kid for no fucking reason but that's what it's turning into for you personally so when the Jalen Carter thing came out it's like oh here goes

McShay again and the idea that you would just say hey I'm going to pick a kid alright yeah let's go de-tackle Jalen Carter I'm just going to dump on him the media other people in the media lose their minds a lot of football people get really pissed at you. Do you think you're going to get to a point where you're like, look, I could just do

the draft profiles. I could do the scouting. I could talk about who they are as players. I'm just not even going to get into it because now that's what seems to happen to you every single year. I'm not going to change, man. I hope everyone realizes, I sit down and I do 400 reports every year.

And with every report, I get a character, like a background check from two different scouting services. And then I have all these friends and relationships in the league. So I have seven sources and I have a Word document, a full page of notes, seven different conversations seven different sources on on jaylen carter and this is prior to the incident so right and all the backlash that you faced obviously was you know again the timeline here you had said this all before uh you know the alleged stuff that's gone on right and and it's my job to to let fans know like if a player is going to move up or down the board because of whether it's an injury, character concerns, whatever it is, I feel like it's my job to put it out there. I always handle it with kid gloves. I never get into specifics when I think it's something that

would embarrass the player. And I truly mean this. I sit here and read these reports, and so many of these guys come from horrible backgrounds, terrible upbringings, no money, living in cars. It's hard not to pull for a lot of these guys. And I want success for all of them. Why wouldn't I? You know, like I get to know them, whether it's, you know, meeting at games

or just studying them and hearing their story and talking to scouts who have spent time with them. And so every single player, unless there's like, you know, abuse to a woman or something horrible, I'm pulling for all of these guys. I really am. And I hope Jalen Carter turns things around and I hope he becomes a special

player. And I hope he learns from some of his mistakes. And I hope that he winds up and turns out to be a great human being and help society and use his money and use his power and use his influence to help with charities and everything else. But I promise you, I pull for all these guys. And the other thing is, like with Jalen specifically, I've spent 95 percent of my time talking about how great of a player he is on the field. I even emphasize, like, yeah, you might not get in practice what you want to get in practice,

but that dude will play his ass off for you. And he does every down when he's on the field. And so there's something to be said for that. There's also something to be said for this. He got an ankle injury, missed a couple of games in the middle of the season. He's going to be a top five pick at that point right he doesn't shut it down and people will say well you know he couldn't want to he's going for a national championship and of course he's not going to shut it down well Jackson Smith and Jigma was going for a national championship and I've had his agent you know scream at me through some people at ESPN and I get it but I've heard from so many different sources that there was a chance that he

could have come back and played and a month or so later after the semi final game where they lost to Georgia and played that great game he has a 35 inch vertical 10-5 broad jump 6-5-7 6-5-7 three cone and

a 3-9-3 20 yard shot so it couldn't have been that bad. And so my point is, and I'm not digging at Jackson Smith and Jigma. He's a great player, and I think he's going to be a mid-first-round pick and go on to do great things. My point is Jalen Carter, from the football character perspective, when it comes to wanting to be their first team and all that he chose not to shut it down he came back and in fact he played his best football the last

i'd say four or five games of this past season okay that's a good transition then into the wide receivers because i think i was a little surprised to see jackson smith and jigba behind some of the other guys because i thought he was the crispest combination of all the things even when Alave and Wilson were his teammates and then having both of those dudes be like he's actually the best and it didn't feel fake at all that was a great interview right and you know when I look at Quentin Johnson at TCU like I love his if there's a little DeAndre Hopkins there for me where it's like if the ball's even it's his you know I think out of his break he can look I mean I think his 40 time of the pro day is going to be really important for

Quentin Johnson because I feel like hey this guy's still going to make plays but if that like high-end first round especially in not the greatest depth for this wide receiver class like I'm I'm really I'm really curious like how Smith and Jigba ends up behind them I don't know if it's part of the stuff that you're talking about maybe we'll see what the Johnson 40 time would be good enough again this is just me like remembering because I felt like I watched a lot of TCU because all those games are so much fun yeah he was this awesome weapon but like out of the breaks and I'm starting to dip into the McShay territory here but you know was he was the he's the cleanest out of it or he's just so much more physical than the other guys.

And then you get the Tennessee kid, Jalen, who he was burning people up, but is it Tennessee? Is it where they were using him? Is it how they were using him? And then we haven't even talked about Addison for SC. It's a very close group where I can see five different people liking five different receivers. I totally agree. Totally agree.

I actually, the more I've studied Quentin Johnson, and I like Quentin a lot. I do. Like 6'4", what was he? He's huge, yeah. 6'4", you check in 6'3", 208. Almost 34-inch arm length. But again, in a 40-and-a any 40 and a half inch vertical 11 to broad jump

i mean the dude is explosive and yeah i want to see what he's going to run to 40 but if you have that kind of broad jump and vertical jump you're probably going to run pretty fast so and on tape he runs pretty fast and the thing that i call the pterodactyl i mean his arms are so long and he does such a great job you know 50 50 50-50 balls, going up and getting it. But what's different about Quinton is he has twitch. Not many guys of his length are able to shake the first guy and make a couple guys miss, and he does it consistently on tape. But he's not a great route runner. A lot of the game, you know, a lot of his game was quick slants, drag routes,

and vertical routes, right? And he was just going to win because he was always bigger. Like, I loved him. I loved him, but I didn't see like,

again, this is just me watching Saturdays, right? But I never felt like, hey, that's a one on Sundays. There's, with all these guys,

there's something, right? Jordan Addison, I think, is the best pure route runner and receiver and tracks the ball so well. He finds a way to get open and he makes plays. But he's tiny and you're concerned about him. how is he going to hold up when you look at his size what was it official it was 5 11 173 pounds so you're talking about a guy who you know can you get off the press in the nfl are we gonna have to move him around and try to you know try to motion him to to get him a clean release but i i think addison if you're looking for a guy who's going to be a number three slot and come in right away and be a playmaker, I think Addison is your guy. Quinton Johnson, a little bit more of a gamble,

a little bit more development has to happen, but he has the upside. Jalen Hyatt, you said it. You said it perfectly. And I remember sitting down talking to Heupel before one of their games early in the season, and he said – and that's when Cedric Tillman, who's a big physical receiver, had a great year, over 1,000 receiving yards this season before. He had some injuries this year.

He played well when he was healthy, but he wasn't healthy very much this year. But Cedric Tillman was the guy. But I remember Hypel turning to me like, listen, I know what you do and I know what you're focused on if if we can get if we can get jalen hyatt to like be more consistent and and do the little things that we're asking of him he is he's going to be special and all of a sudden he turned it off and yeah they worked him in the slot and in those bunches and they were you know spread out wide and the offense did provide so many opportunities for him.

But he's a burner. And, I mean, it's hard to find that kind of speed. He's another small guy, 176 pounds. He ran a 4'4", 40-inch vertical, 11'3", broad jump. I mean, he's an explosive dude. And so you've got those guys. And then Jackson Smith and Jigba. Here's the thing with Jigba.

There's nothing unique about him physically. He's not the biggest guy. He's not the fastest guy. He's 6'1", 196 pounds, so he's average, 35-inch vertical, not the explosiveness. He has drops on tape, but he just has such a good feel for the game and yes he has some focus drops but he makes some tough catches and and the way he worked the slot and the way he was able to consistently get open he just the game is slow

to him you know everything's he's got that easy speed, and it's always under control. So I think, to me, Addison and Jackson Smith and Jigba are the two guys that I can count on, that I truly believe, because of their route running and their feel for the game, will come in as rookies and make impacts, probably as number threes, probably as slots. Quinton Johnson, like I said before, Anthony Richardson, low floor, really high ceiling. We'll see what happens and how he's utilized.

And then Jalen Hyatt is a guy who's just so explosive that you get excited about what he can be, but you've got to kind of scheme it so he has the opportunity to get down in the field. We've seen a lot of burners in college who you think are going to be great in the NFL who don't turn out. And the other guy I've got to mention that I love in this group, Zay Flowers from Boston College. I met with Jeff Halfley.

I went and watched practice at BC in August. And he's like, this dude is the Energizer Bunny. He's like, he comes into meetings and he's fired up. The weight room, he's getting everyone going. He runs like from drill to drill. He runs out to practice. He runs back from practice. And you see it on the field.

The energy he has, the energy he is he's the energy he has the energy he plays with the speed he has but again he's 5'9 185 pounds but he ran a 4'4 too so he's got the speed he creates after the catch but i think jay flowers is going to be a really good pro too so you've got to you don't have you know the jameson williams this year you don't have like the jerry judys or henry ruggs and you know davante smith and and and all those guys that came out of alabama you just you don't have those guys in this class but you what you do have is a bunch of guys that i think can come in and contribute and i think you're going to get them to pretty good value probably i don't know the first receiver is going to come off the board

until after pick 10, which is different than what we're used to seeing. Yeah, and I think I just want to clean up one thing I said about Quint Johnson. It's that when I think of a number one, I don't think of the 32 options as number one receivers. He certainly could be that. I kind of have a group of 10 where it's like okay that dude yeah he's the guy right you have to kind of scheme for him the entire game and uh that's look if he were that then he'd be going to the top 10 he wouldn't be mid-round projection with all these

other dudes even though i probably lean smith and jigba just kind of felt like he kind of had like this baller in him uh when he was playing for ohio state but um you know maybe that gets back to some of the ohio state stuff i was before. Alright, let's talk tight ends because this one actually I do find frustrating. I can't believe I'm seeing Darnell Washington argued over Michael Mayer in some spots. Washington,

I think this is for those of us that watch Georgia play a lot, where a lot of us did watch Georgia play a lot because it was fucking awesome to watch Georgia play. If you want to make a pro Darnell argument, you would say, say well look brock was the guy like dude then even like georgia think about what georgia did this year you didn't like nobody even knew who the receivers were other than georgia fans yeah and so there were still opportunities and i understand the oregon hurdle and those two catches he had in the vandy game but like mayor is the total pack. I look at them as completely different offensive

weapons. If I'm a quarterback, I know what I want. I know the Washington argument as well. It's this extra offensive line. Look at the blocking. No shit. He's also mauling college kids. For his size and his athleticism, I get it all, but when I see a mock where Michael Mayer's going 26th

and Washington's going 27th, I'm like, what the fuck did you guys watch this past year? Yeah, I saw Mayer, I think, at 11 overall on the board. And I have Washington late first, early second. And I'm sure he's probably going to go late in the first. He's 6'7", I get it, 6'7", 264 pounds, almost 35-inch arms. So he's got the length, 11-inch hands. He is built like nobody else at the tight end position.

But in his production, he averaged, I think, around 17 yards per catch. But you've got to understand, yes, he's a great blocker. It's like having a six offensive lineman, and I'll give him that, and that's huge. But he's going to be limited as a great blocker. It's like having a six offensive lineman, and I'll give him that, and that's huge. But he's going to be limited as a pass catcher. He's not going to ever be great as a pass catcher in the NFL. Michael Mayer was a grown man playing, like a third-year NFL veteran playing college football the last two years.

I swear Notre Dame falling off this year kind of like with the expectations, then everybody forgot about this dude. And he was at times like the only guy that got open. Yeah, and get to know him a little bit too. Like his passion for the game, how committed he is. And I know so many of these guys are. But he just like – he's a pro already. And it's not like he has bad measurements.

You know, he's well built. And the thing about him is he can block in line. He can block, you know, from the F tight end position. He's 6'4 1⁄2", 250 pounds. Like, that's perfectly normal. And, yeah, he ran a 4'7". It's not ideal, but it's faster than people thought. And there's nothing wrong with a 4-7 and it's not ideal but it's faster than people thought and force there's nothing wrong with a 4-7-40 he's never going to be a great vertical threat but my

goodness like if you need a third down catch or you need yards after the catch he's not Gronkowski no one's Gronkowski but he's the closest damn thing I've seen in college football since growing up. Just catching the ball and just willing his way, dragging defenders, bulldozing over defenders. He is a physical, physical dude. And he loves the game and catches everything. Everything. I think he had one drop in the last two years. Everything. Everything. I think he had one drop in the last two years.

Okay, so while we're on this position, because when I saw Mayer and the Washington stuff going back, I've even seen Washington ahead of Mayer, and I'm like, man, that's not what I saw. And again, you're not dumping on darn out Washington. It's just I agree with you. I think there's going to be some limitations. If it was Brock Bowers, we'd have a good conversation. Right, but looking at the way the game is played now,

and going, wait, I can have this other option. Darnell feels like a bigger Ben Coates at times. Although, look, if he's Ben Coates, then he would take him fucking fifth overall. The reason I'm even talking about all this stuff is that we're leaving out Dalton Kincaid, who we need to talk about. Because when you watch the Utah— Some people have him in the top ten. Yeah, and that actually makes sense

because now you're getting a little bit more size and you're getting some more playmaking ability. I know he's older, but he is whenever you would watch those Utah games. Again, they had two dudes that you felt like you couldn't take your eyes off of in the passing game. But I don't know that I'd be surprised.

I guess in the order of things, Kincaid ahead of Mayer is going to bother me a lot less than Washington ahead of Mayer if that's the way it plays out in the first round. Yeah, you don't get the blocker that you get with Mayer. And with Mayer, like I said, you can work him in line and he'll block and he'll actually get movement in the run game. Kincaid is just, he's basically a bigger receiver. I mean, he'll give'll actually get movement in the run game Kincaid is just he's basically a

bigger receiver I mean he'll give effort as a blocker but he's not going to give you much in that regard but you're in 70 catches what 870 yards receiving this year eight touchdowns he he has a great feel for getting open he runs really good routes he He had a big drop late in the season, but I didn't see many drops all season long. And he has a great catch radius and the ability to adjust physically. Some guys just do a great job with their body control of adjusting and making tough catches that are outside of their frame, behind them, down below their knees.

He adjusts to the football really well. So to me, it's Mayer, Kincaid, and then Washington. That's how my top three go. And this year's classic, it's impressive. Best position? Best position down? Yeah, I've got five guys in the top 50. I've got Mayer, Kincaid Washington, Musgrave, and Tucker Kraft from South Dakota

State is another guy, and Sam Laporta from Iowa. So there are six guys that could go in the top two rounds, top two and a half rounds. And you don't see that a lot from the tight end position. You actually rarely see that many guys coming off the board that fast at the tight end spot okay i'm gonna give you my favorite player and it's just somebody who you know probably middle first round that kind of thing uh devin witherspoon illinois the corner knocks the shit out of people although i saw somebody make a youtube highlight today and i think iowa throwing the receivers like missing them by 10 yards isn't exactly a corner highlight that should be edited into his highlight tip for the season.

But run support, size, ball skills, and, you know, anybody that can hold up physically at that corner position now with how many times you're going to have a quarterback drop back, I would put him kind of in that middle first as one of my favorite players. Just like, it feels like, hey,

this will work for seven, eight years. It just would seem weird if it didn't. He's a fun dude to watch. And I got to talk to him before the Michigan game. It's war for him. He's a linebacker who just happens to have a cornerback next to his name. And he's lean. He's not like this big big dude but he talks shit

all game long he lets everybody know about it he's gonna knock you out he's any chance he gets to like undercut your legs get a shot at you right before you hit the sideline he's gonna do it he was all over the field in that michigan michigan game he's all always all over the field in that Michigan game. He's always all over the field. He's twitchy. He's athletic. I think he could be the first cornerback off the board, and a lot of people wouldn't have said that coming into the year. But he ran well. He's physical.

He loves the game. It's just – remember Antoine Winfield? Oh, yeah. I mean, dude, I love that guy. Undersized, but will knock your block off, right? And just physical and just a baller, right? He reminds me of Antoine Winfield. And Antoine Winfield is one of the best cornerbacks of our generation.

You know, you go back like 15, 20 years. That's the way he plays the game. Just the physicality is off the charts. And he's got quickness, speed, and instincts too. So it's not just he's this physical guy who's going to come up and knock you out. He can actually cover. That's the part that I think is crazy is when you're watching him, you're like, oh, he's probably one of those run support defensive backs

that if you have to have him on one side of the field running with somebody, certain quarterbacks are going to make him pay. He turns and runs with you. He's taking away your number one guy. And then if it's a screen or a run to his size, he's an extra linebacker. Okay, who's your guy? Give me somebody you just love you're

like look i know he's not going top 10 or whatever i mean you can even go into first you can even give me a second rounder i don't care lucas van ness oh the iowa kid iowa kid my goodness man he is tall he's 276 pounds i think he's 65'5", 276, long arms. And if you watch his highlight reel, there's one play of him just standing up a Northwestern offensive lineman, literally picking him up and driving him back into the quarterback. He bulldozed one of the offensive tackles for Ohio State. He consistently in that game was penetrating and disrupting versus the run.

He never started a game. Hockey was his, I know it's why. Hockey was his. Like, go ahead. I'm sorry. Just finish it.

Hockey was his sport. And he was all in on hockey growing up. And then all of a sudden, you know, he played, I think he started like his junior year in high school playing football, red shirted his first year, never started a game. I know I'd love to talk to Kirk in high school playing football. Redshirted his first year. Never started a game.

I'd love to talk to Kirk Ferentz about that. What's the reasoning? But he played like 656 snaps this past year. So he was basically a starter, but he wasn't technically a starter. And the best part about him is he'll beat you with power. He'll chase, and he's got speed to close. But then you move him inside against a guard in an obvious passing down, and he's a nightmare because he's so quick off the ball.

It's just like one punch, one snap, and then he's just right by the guard. You can play him outside. You can play him inside. I think Van Ness and he's just like two seasons not starting just learning the game hockey player growing up he's only going to get better and in this pretty I think he had seven sacks each of the last two seasons so like the production's there and he's you know that he's going to get better with more coaching and more time on the field. Well, they're calling Iowa front seven you.

So I would not. How did I look? Over the years, even when I didn't really necessarily love watching Iowa games, I would go like, oh, here's another dude that just jumps out. It's a tight end, defensive lineman, and they'll throw an offensive lineman in here and there oh they have but look when you look up iowa on the nfl by school i'll pull it up right now like this is this is the kind of thing if you go nfl players by college iowa is way up there and while you're looking it up they're all like two-star recruits who are playing like eight-man football and like

you know in north dakota south dakota iowa you know they find these guys and they see something in them it'll be like a quarterback or a running back that they'll move to linebacker or safety and all of a sudden they'll develop it in three years and then they go on to the nfl it's not you know like ohio state alabama michigan you know georgia all the tops they're getting the five-star recruits and so like they have the talent and they just kind of have to you know push them along and kind of develop them a little bit what ference and that that program does with players, they come in with like two stars, three stars.

And a lot of guys, like, I can't tell you how many times I've sat in meetings with Ference and his players. He's like, yeah, two star, he played eight man football in high school. You know, just where do you come from? They just do a great job of finding a trait, figuring out where to utilize them. And a lot of times it's taking someone who's this position in high school

and moving them to another position in college. And three years later with their training program and everything that they do, they're built for the NFL. If they could convert a third and five in the air, they'd be fucking cooking. I mean... Never mind. Yeah.

I've never watched more painful football than Iowa offense, especially. Never. Ever. Ever. Ever. That's a lot. That's quite a ranking.

But let's get back to the positive Iowa stuff here. This is, I saw this a while ago. Again, you know, the numbers could, little variants here or there by a few. But this isn't a lie. Like, this is the truth. And by the way, we should include some of the defensive backs that they put in the league. So if we go active players on NFL rosters, I have it here at the end of the season, which again, you know, whatever. There's a couple here, a couple there. Bama 1, Ohio State 2, LSU 3, Georgia 4, Notre Dame 5, Michigan 6, Florida 7, Iowa.

America needs a farmer. Eighth most players on active rosters. And I don't think anybody... Actually, ironically, I'm doing Iowa player. I started with Indiana today with Cam Jones, a six-round linebacker, and then went on to Iowa. I'm just going down the list by team alphabetically. You got Lucas Van Ness I talked about.

Riley Moss, who's going to probably be a second, third-round pick at cornerback. Jack Campbell, who's going to be a day-two pick at linebacker. Sam Laporta, who's going to be probably a third-round pick at tight end. And then Kayvon Merriweather is going to be probably like a fifth, sixth-round pick as well. So you've got, what was that, five

or six more guys that are going to be in the NFL from this year's class. This is always one of my favorite visits of the year, man. I know how busy you are. Thanks so much for the work and the time. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks so much for the work and the time. I'll talk to you soon. Yeah, of course, brother. Anytime.

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A lot of people are on Charleston plus 5.5 at San Diego State. Well, again, at neutral sites here. Let's go the other way. Let's go San Diego State minus 5.5 at San Diego State. Well, again, at neutral sites here. Let's go the other way. Let's go San Diego State minus 5.5. Colgate, Texas. Feeling it. Colgate plus 13.5.

UNC Asheville, UCLA. UCLA minus 17.5. Let's take UNC Asheville plus the points. And then we go one more. VCU and St. Mary's. We'll say St. Mary's covers the 4.5. Let's take UNC Asheville plus the points. And then we go one more. VCU and St. Mary's. We'll say St. Mary's covers the 4.5. Really scientific. All in an app that's safe, secure,

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Kevin Herter, Sacramento Kings this time around. Okay, so I've read it, but I want to share it with the audience. July 6, 2022, you're traded from Atlanta to Sacramento. Where were you? What happened? I was in Ibiza in Spain.

And I was on vacation. I was with a bunch of friends, hanging out by the pool, trying to stay away from my phone. And it was funny. It was like that whole day, you could kind of feel like the rock was rolling down the hill. I had gotten a call from my agent earlier in the morning saying that there's another team trying to trade for me. How did I feel about them? And he said, just stay around your phone.

It seems like there's stuff happening today. And next thing you know, like two, three hours later, I was going to Sacramento. And it was, you know, I hadn't heard up to that point that Sacramento was even interested. It was just all in kind of one big swoop. It was, this other team is interested. And oh, by the way, hey, now you're going out to California.

So was there somewhere else you thought you were going to go? There were other teams that were interested. I don't know if I should disclose where those were, but there are other teams that were calling. I don't know what message at the time the Hawks were sending out, but it seemed like other teams knew I was available

and could try to come get me. And that's what my agent was talking about. Other teams were calling and Sacramento kind of came in and gave the best offer. Is it a rule, like when you get

your first extension as an NBA player, you have to go to Ibiza with your buddies from home? Because I think this is like a sneaky NBA destination from the stories I've heard. I don't know. Honestly, I don't know any guys personally that had been there yet.

For me, it was like checking a box. I'm a lifetime box checker, especially when I'm in my 20s and I'm young, single. I'm trying to go to all the places that you go to when you're young. And Ibiza was on one of those lists. Okay. So when your boys are talking you up, was there like, wait, he's in the NBA. I mean, I know you're tall, but was, was there hesitation at all in the night scene that they believed you, that, that people believed you?

That was kind of the best part about being over there in Spain is nobody really knew who I was. Uh, and especially, I don't, I don't really speak much Spanish at all. So it was like 10 days of me mostly only speaking to my buddies and walking around unnoticed. So that was, for me, refreshing getting away. What else is on the box checking list? There's a lot of other places, actually. There's Monaco.

We got Greece. We got Thailand. There's of other places. Uh, actually there's Monaco. Uh, we got Greece, we got like Thailand. There, there's so many places. I feel like you have to go before you have a significant other, you know, like I'm going to save the Italy, the France,

like most of Europe outside of Spain, I guess. Uh, but I'm sorry. I kind of want to, I want to see a lot of the world, obviously. And there's,

I'd rather do those trips with, with the guys instead of, um, of with somebody else, I guess. Hey, man. And then sometimes you end up going by yourself. I can do the South of France thing for you if you need tips on it. And then some of the Greece stuff, the do's and don'ts.

So I'll let you know if you put that together this summer. Okay. This is a franchise of Sacramento. It's the longest playoff drought of any of the four major sports. So you get there, and I always believe, I'm sure you'll agree, you don't really win until you kind of think you can. And it's not a franchise that had been winning.

You're sitting here at the two-seed today. You were new to the franchise, but what was that thing where some of the guys had already been there where it was like looking around going, wait, we actually can be good this year and stop thinking about kind of the mental hangover of so much failure. There definitely is. That's definitely true. And you could tell just the way that the people who are close to the organization, they've been through a lot. It's been so long since they've seen winning. I think everybody's so hesitant in some ways to get super excited about the playoffs because

it's just like they don't want to jinx themselves. When I first got traded here, it wasn't like I was reaching out to other players who had been here or other coaches in some way. A lot of it was like, hopefully things change around there. I know that the experience when I was there wasn't great, but hey, they got a brand new coach. They got mostly a new front office. It might be okay, but we'll see how it goes.

We got off to a really good start. We were really good in the preseason. We were really good in the preseason. We were really good in the preseason. Beat every team by 30. I think we were 5-0, feeling really good about ourselves. And then all of a sudden, we were 0-4 to start the year.

And I remember sitting in my backyard, kind of scratching my head, thinking like, damn, maybe we aren't good. I thought we felt really good in the preseason and coming into the season was such a high, but is this what it is for Sacramento? For some reason, it's tough to win

and completely turned everything around after that. We're able to kind of get on a roll. Forget how many, maybe we won an eight or nine game win streak at the start of the year, but there definitely is that. You have to have confidence as a team. You have to see the results in order, in some ways, to believe in the results. And we didn't get it to start the year

in terms of true games. 0-4 start wasn't great, but luckily we were able to find and pick it up. Your game. Whenever somebody's like, shooter, then people forget or just assume you can't dribble. I think there are guys that can dribble in college.

And then it's like, oh, remember when that guy used to dribble in college? He just never dribbles in the NBA. And sometimes the system or what he's asked to do, it's like, look, there's three other guys. You're not going to get a ton of chances to handle it. Like with Seth Curry, when I started watching him more and more as an NBA player, I'm like, you know what, man, he can do way more, but you look at him as a shooter. And I think you're the same.

How much did it help that it felt like, you know, I was reading some Mike Brown quotes where he knew your game or immediately your teammates understood your game, that you're not somebody who can't find his own way. If something breaks down, like I can get out of whatever you thought you needed me to do shooting wise. I just think it's such an important part of your game. It makes you beyond just a guy who's a spot-up shooter. Right, it is. And that was a super lazy take when I was coming out of college. I wasn't somebody that was on a lot of first-round draft boards

when I came out and declared. Every writer who hadn't really heard of me up to that point was labeled just a shooter. A guy can't do much else. And luckily for me, honestly, in this offense, I don't really have to do a lot of dribbling. I'm, for the most part, playing off of Domas

and playing off of DHOs and sprinting around the court and mostly using my movement without the basketball to get myself open. I don't have to take a lot of dribbles. But you're right. I think there's less and less guys that are like that in the NBA nowadays. I think the way the game is played today and the skill set and the skill level across the league,

you have to be able to dribble. You have to be able to create your own shot or it's just tough for you to be on the court unless you're an elite, elite defender. I can tell you I'm not an elite, elite defender. So I got to be able to do other things. Okay, so you said you're not an elite defender uh what what do you think is wrong with you as a defensive player yeah there's uh i think uh my my effort and my urgency is is very good in the defensive end there's just some things you know there's uh the other guys

maybe bigger longer a little bit quicker a little bit faster but i'm grady man you know i'll i give a lot of effort on that side of the court yeah i i always felt it was kind of like do you care and are you positioned correctly right the number of dudes that are just locking guys up on the perimeter like drew holiday it's it's not a very long list and then you get any kind of screen and it doesn't matter if you're Drew Hollett. You know what I mean? Like there's, there's not like, I always laugh when like the draft stuff happens. Cause I really liked the draft and you know, you'll watch some guard and be like, well, how's he going to stay? Cause like, especially back in the day, it'd be like, how are you going to stay in front

of prime Derrick Rose? How's this guy going to stay in front of prime Russell Westbrook? You're like, nobody does. No, it's not. That's why those guys are so special. I mean, that's why Drew Holliday is unbelievable. You hate playing against that guy.

But yeah, that's for... I think if you're in the NBA, you're really a lead at least one thing. I think it's really tough to be in the NBA, especially in rotation. If you don't have one thing you're truly, really, really good at or better than everyone else on the court at.

So you need a good mix of an elite defender in your team. Maybe you get two and then everybody else who puts in a lot of effort, tries really hard, is standing in the right spot, is in the right rotations.

Do you think you get hunted for switches the way you did when you first came in now? A little bit at the start of the year, but no, not this this year not as much. I'm sure that could change in the playoffs when teams just strictly hunt for those matchups. My first four years in Atlanta, Trey was somebody that people hunted a lot,

so I was let off the hook a little bit and was able to be in rotations. But it is something I take personally. That's not a great feeling. At the end of a game or end of a quarter, if teams are trying to target you, that's a way for you to come off the court. I'm somebody who tries to give my coach every reason

to keep me on the court in whatever circumstance. So if I'm being hunted, obviously I'll give my best effort guarding the ball, playing guys, trying to force them to a certain way make them take tough shots but you know it hasn't actually happened too much this year no and watching you I don't feel like it has and I'm obviously the Atlanta point is a good one too because you know your closing group it's like okay well we're gonna go somewhere else but I think hunting in general it can be like because we can notice it you know and I always kind of

caution myself at times but am I 100% sure I know exactly what they're trying to it you know and i i always kind of caution myself at times but am i 100 sure i know exactly what they're trying to do you know like harden had one last night where netto was in because rubio was out and i was like okay this is like they're just netto hunting and i mean right go for like eight straight possessions and even if they didn't get it they hardened was like i'll just try again like it doesn't matter i'm out here. And yet I do think that it can almost, and you know, tell me what you think. I think you can screw an offense up sometimes where coaches and teams aren't like,

hey, let's just always hunt the bad. It's not realistic it's going to happen for 90 straight possessions. And then it can feel like the offense is actually hurting itself, holding itself back because it's so focused on one little mismatch that doesn't mean you're always going to win

when you get that switch anyway. No, it doesn't. And it's a great point. There's not a lot of offense in the history of the NBA that have worked like that. A lot of times you're seeing people get posted up in low posts or the old time days, you put Shaq, put Carmelone. Nowadays, you got Joel Embiid. James Harden is one of the few guys that over the full course of a full game has found success in just hunting for matchups, playing one-on-one. Offenses get stagnant. And as defenses, you can load to the ball. There's few guys in the NBA.

Maybe I won't say that. There's a lot of really, really good one-on-one players in the NBA. But offenses just get too stagnant. The best offense in the NBA now have so much movement. Look at the way that we play in our offense, the Warriors, the Celtics. All those teams don't sit there and play one-on-one all games. In some

ways, you welcome it when teams just want to, in the second quarter, hey, we're just going to continue to set ball screens and let our guy go one-on-one. Okay, we're going to load to the ball and we're going to play fast and we're going gonna move the ball on our end and get better shots incredible game against milwaukee you know it was kind of like a thing going into monday you know simmons and i do the sunday pod we talked up the team for about 20 minutes to start the pod you know and going like

what would you let yourself believe um and there's so many things that i like about this team and i just think you know look i'm everybody wants W, but watching that game and how competitive it was, I was like, you know, this actually is something where I feel good still about Sacramento after the fact. But can you help us understand the Giannis part of just trying to be out there and going like, everybody talks about building the wall. I mean, it's a cool theory. What are you talking about in timeouts or in huddles where you're like, okay, we need to do this better when it's somebody this physically gifted? He's almost impossible to guard one-on-one,

especially in transition. And he's so aggressive over the course of the game. And I only had really one year of super ultra aggressive, like Russell Westbrook, every game, triple, double, downhill, in transition. And so I imagine that that is now what Giannis is. He's just seven foot with super long arms doing it. And so there's a lot of times you literally can't guard him without having two or three guys in front of the ball.

And Milwaukee has done a great job of putting really good players around him. And that's in a lot of ways how they burned us at the end of the game was we're so loaded up to try to stop Giannis and other guys were able to get open shots. But he's he's physical. He's he's long. He's determined like to get to the rim. He takes two steps and he's and he's laying the ball in from the free point line. It's just super tough to guard. It's somebody that you obviously have to game plan for every game.

Your best defender's on him. Your second best is in help. It's just like the whole game plan is how can we try to slow this guy down because you're not going to stop him. And they have their seven-foot five-man, the best shot blocker in the league, knocking down threes against us at the end

of the game. So, some ways you clap your hands. It's a really good team. In a lot of ways, you just got to outscore them.

Like, I don't really think you can stop the Bucs unless they have an off-shooting night. You just, in a lot of ways, have to outscore them.

And I think we're one of the few teams in the league that can score with them consistently over the course of a game. All right, last question about him, only because I just want to be on the floor and understand it. What I love about him is that there's never a night where I'm like, oh, I don't think he's into it tonight,

which I don't even blame players for having a handful of games of noticing. If you're really watching a team's full season, you're like, okay, is anyone as consistently as aggressive as he is that you've played against in a game maybe domas in terms of the physicality and that you bringing it every single night but he is it's like every night janice seems like he's available if he's not available he's hurt and then he comes back and he and he looks like himself and he's super ultra aggressive. We knew in the first quarter,

just based off his aggressiveness of trying to get to the rim, that he's going for 50. You could see it in his eyes. And you could see just the way he was playing and the shots he was taking. It wasn't settling. That's also something that's super impressive about superstars. How often they are able to score high 20s, 30s, 40s.

But Giannis just gets easy basket after easy basket. And he rarely settles for the shots that you want him to take. He's always going to get to the shots that he wants to take that are in or around the rim, that are super high percentage. And then he'll mix in, see if he can hit a three here or there or his turnaround or a quick 15-footer. But for the most part, the guy's just downhill aggressive trying to get to the rim.

And like you said, for an 82-game season, doing it every single night for the best team in the NBA, it's super impressive. Okay, I don't want your PR guy to go, like, how'd it go? It's like, oh, we talked about the Bucs for like seven minutes. What I am really shocked with your team is that this is a group, you know, Donal's played 15 games, I think, last year. You come over, you know, Keegan's a rookie, and you fit in some nice bench pieces here. Monk's another one. And yet early on when you

had turned it around, I'm like, this group looks like they played together multiple years. And I believe I still have it right. I don't even think it's close. If you look at your five-man most played lineup, that lineup has played way more possessions as a group than any other team in the NBA this year. But again, that's just this year. What is it about this group where it feels like you already are so connected, especially offensively? Yeah, well, knock on wood, we've been able to stay healthy. And that's a huge underrated part of being a really good team. The NBA is health.

And you said it, our five-man starting lineup has the most minutes played together in the NBA. And it's by a wide margin. So we've had guys that have been available. A culture that guys aren't resting. Mike Brown is on us.

And we practice and we drill things. Our practices are really productive. He's just done a great job in our front office of putting the right pieces together. I think that you could talk about Sacramento teams since I've definitely been in the league and maybe the last eight or nine years, they've had talent. They've had talent on their team. They just haven't really been able to put it together and bring out the best version of each player. And I can truly say, I think there's six or seven guys on our team that arguably are playing

the best basketball of their career. And I just think that's the way our roster is put together and the way we play and just having the right pieces to fit that kind of style of play and so they pressed all the right buttons you know mike has been great front office since i got here has been great and you know we got a team obviously we're confident and and um you know we're really excited for moving forward with them i want to talk more about domas i don't know that there's any other well there is i already know the answer there's no other player like him in the nba i'm not saying he's the best but to get almost 20 a game 12 boards the seven assists the shooting numbers and yet he's still only taking 12 shots in today's nba which makes like what is he a six man like if you're only taking 11 12 shots a game that's what his average is he can play in multiple

spots and even though i am worried about the overall defense when it comes to the playoffs, to see him be away from Myles Turner, where it always felt like they were trying to figure each other out because Turner's a perimeter big, who's also terrific defensively, to see him get this full season with you, give me some better understanding of all the different ways he can be used

and how it helps all of all of you kind of working off of him as sometimes this old school center who then is very modern in the way that he can just kind of play all over the floor he is he's a unicorn he um the best thing about domas is just he empowers everybody around him that's both with the style of play and his leadership style he's somebody over the course of the and his leadership style. He's somebody, over the course of the game, if you watch our games, he's pushing our pace. How often do you see five men in the NBA bring the ball to court? We get rebounds and we give it to him and everybody's running. And he gets mad at guys if you're not cutting, you're not moving. He's not someone that goes

into games worrying about how many points he needs to score. And I could truly believe that. He goes into games thinking, how can I lead this offense? How can we be super efficient? How can I get other guys involved? And then when it's my time in the little block, yeah, I can go get a bucket or I can play downhill. I can play off ball screens. But he's just so empowering.

He gets so many guys on our team shots consistently over the course of the game, just with his movement, his aggressiveness, his screen setting that he is. He's unlike really any other big in the NBA. The closest one I think would be a Jokic who's unbelievable in his own right. I just think Delmas is a little bit more athletic. He's a little bit lighter, better on his feet, is more of a true point five than Jokic might be, even though Jokic is extremely good at passing and moving and playing in the half court. But Domas really just our style of play. He's a big driver in that,

playing in transition, cutting, moving, shooting a lot of threes. And he's unbelievable. He's really helped me, obviously. I have a De'Aaron Fox question here, because you brought up Jokic and because it's MVP race with Embiid.

You know, Giannis is obviously a big part of it. You see Denver a little bit more. What's the difference between kind of the mental preparation and how focused you have to be on certain things against just having Giannis as opposed to somebody like Jokic? I just think the physicality that Giannis also brings to the game,

playing on both sides of the court, you can feel his presence really over the course of the whole game. It's like he takes up just so much space on the court, whereas Jokic in his own right, it doesn't feel like Jokic misses when he gets into the paint. Jokic completely runs their offense. He doesn't really turn the ball over. He makes passes. He

plays. Obviously, he's really good in the half court. It's just a little bit different. I think Giannis, his presence, his size, his athleticism, his physicality, his speed is just a little bit different than a player like Jokic who Jokic can really just kind of wear you down quietly over the course of

the whole game you look up and he's got a triple double does he set you up like a quarterback sometimes too like where he's like oh I see what you thought you thought you knew and then I'm actually doing this with the passing part of it yeah he is like you look up and he's got 12 assists

and third quarter like where did that come from whereas Giannis you could feel like oh my god Giannis has 40 it's in the third quarter, like where did that come from? Whereas Giannis, you could feel like, oh my God, Giannis has 40. It's the third quarter. We need to make sure he doesn't get 50. It's one of those things. Okay, De'Aaron Fox, he's your closer. And, you know, one of the really,

I think, frustrating things for Kings fans last year is watching it. It was like, you know, when you're supposed to be the closer, you can kind of force the issue. I think there's a trust. What is that like for you knowing, okay, he's going to be our first option. The clutch numbers are incredible.

It's worked out, but not, falling asleep would be the wrong way to describe it. But knowing I've got to be an outlet, like I know I'm not the option, but I could still be an outlet here when De'Aaron is the guy. You know, it's been awesome. But what's that role like for you? Yeah, for me, it's pretty easy. I just got to space the floor, stay out of the way. And if my man goes to help, just be ready to shoot. But De'Aaron knows the fourth quarter is his. His aggressiveness picks up a lot in the fourth quarter. He's just looking for a shot, hunting his shots, playing downhill. De'Aaron is one of the special players in the league that can always create his own shots, and he can make super tough shots. Any closer in the NBA, you need to be able to, one, make

jump shots. You need to be able to, two, get to any shot in really any isolation situation. And everybody's so worried about his speed and getting downhill and the ability to draw fouls that a lot of people just play off and they back up, back up, back up, and he takes his mid-range pull-ups. And that's his best shot. It feels like he gets to that 15-foot marker at the end of games or in fourth quarters and it's money. Hopefully, he continues to do it. We're sitting here in March and have a lot of, hopefully, really big games left, but he knows he's our closer. Everybody trusts him. He's been doing it for us all year.

I think he's got three or four buzzer beaters on the year, but he's just able to get to his spots and he's super efficient in doing it. What's the biggest difference playing alongside him and then Trey Young back in Atlanta? Really not much. They're both so good on the offensive side of the court. It's unbelievable. I've got both guys that can just on the offensive side of the court. It's unbelievable.

They've got both guys that can just take over games. Trey's a closer in himself. Trey demands so much attention, just like De'Aaron does, that they do have a lot of similarities, just point guards that can score and take over a game. How much do you pay attention to all the Atlanta stuff? It's hard not to. You see a lot of it.

There's been so much drama come out about this year. I think this was like every year there's a team it feels like everybody picks that is just drama. It feels like that's just kind of been Atlanta all year. So I see a lot of it. I'm still in touch with

most of those guys on that team. A couple of the coaches. But it's hard not to follow them. You see them. And I'm still in touch with most of those guys on that team. A couple of the coaches. But it's hard not to follow them. You see them. And I'm somebody who follows every team in the NBA. I'm watching League Pass every night on Twitter. So I see a lot of it. Okay. I made it to Salt Lake for All-Star Weekend.

And the quote was, the three-point contest is a goal of mine. Is it still a goal? It is. still a goal it is even probably more so than it was than it was uh it just like it was uh just didn't make shots like it was one of those things like i i practiced well was felt really good going into it and you know the way you have to do those competitions and again it, it was my first time, is you shoot and you go right to the next ball. It's not like you're watching the shot go in or you're following it.

And it was such a build up for a month knowing I was in it and practice and not going away, going off. There's just such a build up and in 70 seconds, I was done. And it was like, I missed my first seven shots, got off to a horrible start, which you really can't do in that kind of competition, And just wasn't able to find it. It was, you know, over the course of it, shooting, going to the next ball, shooting, going to the next ball, you know, just drilling it, how I worked on in practice, trying to keep pace and keep tempo. And I looked up and they just, you know, shots just weren't going in. And, you know, it's something that I would like the opportunity to do again. It was, like I said, super quick. It was such a buildup.

I was so excited. And then it was just over. That super fun weekend. Great just being there. Seeing a lot of guys. Just feeling a part of All-Star Weekend. Something I've watched on TV for so long that I would love to go back and obviously have a better showing. I think we can push for that.

We're going to start campaigning for it. Maybe September we'll get ahead of it and be like, because a lot of dudes only want to do it once anyway, and then they're done. And then, you know, I, I was there for it. And I,

I, uh, I just felt bad. I wasn't going to reach out or anything like that, but I was like, damn, I was like, I'd been talking them up pretty big.

Yeah. We'll do it again. Hopefully next year, you know, I'll come back. I'll learn a few things. Come back, be a little bit better. Bet on me again. That's got to suck though when it's just out of your hands and you're like, where is it?

Where is it? And it's happening. You're like, I'm in the contest. Everybody's watching. And it just doesn't feel right. Right. Those are the things you try to drown out. I mean, the you know the stage

is the stage is the stage you can't replicate it till the lights are on the in the three two one and all of a sudden you're going but you know that's something you try to drown out is is everybody watching and and how it's going and then it was all of a sudden i think i was on the second to last rack and i realized like i needed to slow down and try to make a shot and i was i don't think i finished in time because it was just like I was trying to find it at the end so it's unfortunate just kind of how it goes

that's alright can't wait big big comeback story alright a couple quicker ones here before we finish up what's the best thing your head coach Mike Brown has said to you yeah he's not a I guess he's not a... I guess he's not a one-liner guy.

He's just... His accountability has been great all year from the first guy to the 15th or 16th guy. His message is the same. It's consistency. It's showing up every day. It's playing a certain way, holding ourselves to a certain standard

that I feel like everybody's bought in on just because everybody's held to the same standard. Does that help then when he, you know, I looked at that Phoenix game when I was watching it and it's like, oh wow. Like, you know, the minutes, I mean, again, I, I'm not trying to like end on a bad note or anything, but the fact that it's like, oh, okay, he's going to change up the rotation here a bit. Like, it seems like with you, there is no drama. It doesn't feel like there is any drama with the team. Again, I don't understand. I'm not necessarily around it.

But to have that answer and then go, yeah, if he wants to go with a different look to close, we've already bought in and we're a good team, so we're not going to get into this. He is, and we're a deep team. And so it really, Mike is going to play for the most part at the end of games who's playing well. And Malik Monk had a

45-point game earlier this year closing that game, and he was super hot. Trey Lyle is coming off the bench. He's closed games for us. Kessler Edwards, who's new to our team from the deadline, closed that Phoenix game, had a big three in the corner. Davion, with his defensive ability, has closed games for us., had a big three in the corner. Davion with his defensive abilities,

closed games for us. It kind of depends on the game. Again, that's something you respect just because we're here to win games. There's no agenda on his part other than to figure out a way to win the game. As a player, you have to buy into that and we're seeing the results. How often do you look at the

Western standings? Every day. Multiple times. You're one of those guys you're that into it you have like I don't I think the guys would say they aren't are lying like you're not in this race and you're not not paying attention to it especially this year I mean we're we've been

able to knock on what you'll create a little bit of space here at the top two and three but the whole Western conference is like two games off of each other. And so there's movement every single night. You're trying to see where teams fall and land. And for us, it's not like we're looking at... We're not

a team looking or playing for a matchup. We're trying to get the highest seed possible to try to get home court. But I'm watching it every day. I watch a lot of games. I'm on League Pass before or after games and going in for sure checking the standings. What's Sacramento like living there, playing there

in comparison to what your expectations were? It's pretty spot on what the expectations were. I was coming from a big city. Sacramento isn't known as a big city. Definitely quieter. Sacramento is great. It has you got Lake Tahoe. you got all the wineries.

The weather is supposed to be good. It has rained every day in Sacramento. Every day. We are home. We don't see the sun unless we leave. So that's been unfortunate. People say the weather is... People say it's never like this. It's the worst weather we've had in a year. It's never like this. That's been unfortunate. But Sacramento City is great. It's got decent food. The fans are phenomenal. It's got really good suburbs, good things to do. There's top golf.

There's golf. For someone like myself, there's enough to do. It's just not the same level of city as some of the other bigger cities in the NBA. I love this league pass thing because I have, I'll have like broadcaster rankings where, you know, you get the dual broadcast and be like, oh, I'm going with this team over that team. And I'm not going to ask you to do that because I don't want some, I don't want some, you're on the road

somewhere and they start killing you. And I can't understand, you know, only you and I will know why. What are your, like, if there's you know multiple games on the same slot like give me a ranking of okay I'm going with this team first or this player over these well I'm fortunate I got I got two TVs in the living room so I'm able to put two

on at the same time I'm definitely going right now it's like Western Conference teams teams that are fun to watch that are going to score. I still like watching the Warriors. For me, watching... Will you go back and watch

because you played last night. Will you go back and watch Steph's game against the Clippers today? No. So I'll go back and watch our games. I won't go back and watch other teams' games. So I'll watch them in real time.

What's great about the West Coast is you get the East Coast games on before the game. Or when you're an Eastern Conference team, all the games are either at the same time as you or you're getting home and watching Western Conference

later in the night. Whereas, yeah, I'm able to be in the locker room, go to my shooting time at four o'clock and most of the NBA is already playing.

So, on the East Coast, I'm watching most of the teams that are towards the top of the standings. I don't know the last time I watched Charlotte Hornets or Detroit Pistons game

or Houston Rockets or Spurs game like I would imagine most people. Second, I'm watching teams that are close to us in the standings,

the Grizzlies, the Warriors, the Suns, the teams like that. And I mean, at the end of the day, I'm in the NBA but I'm also a fan of the NBA.

I like watching players play. I like watching teams play and their style of play. That was a good answer. I wasn't trying to get you in trouble, but I didn't think you were. You're too good at this. But I didn't know if there would be like because Anthony Edwards for me is like if there's two games lined up,

I go, oh, well, Anthony Edwards gets this TV. I'm just going to watch him. Zion was like that for a while and would be when he starts playing again at some point. Yeah, I have like whenever I'll look at it and again, if I haven't seen a while and would be if when he starts playing again at some point yeah i have like whenever i'll look at it and again if i haven't seen a team and i go you know you haven't really watched them that much in the last two weeks or something put them on one of the tvs

so you can be familiar with it again um but hell i think i think that there was a player the other night where i was like i actually don't know who that player is. I've never heard of him. And then I went, okay. I go, we're in that part of the season. Literally had never heard of him. Never. And he was playing, playing. But sometimes, it might have been Detroit. I mean, Detroit's been sending out some rosters lately that you go, okay,

we know what's at stake here. Yeah, Detroit has like every top 10 big man recruit of the last five years on their roster. So it's going to be interesting to see how that works out. But yeah, that's the time of the year where you're starting to see more 10 days and different lineups being thrown out

and teams not exactly in win-now mode at the bottom of the standings. But you're right. You watch players for the most part. There's some players in this league that are must-see TV, especially when they're on. So you watch those guys. Hey,

this has been a lot of fun, man. I'm happy for you. Uh, and I can't wait for the playoffs. So thanks for the time. Me too. Thank you for having me back.

You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari three 55 cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible.

Let me tell you what's required. Life advice, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Kyle, status check. Still a good kisser um all right doing some uh got a three pod day got the uh first first day of uh march madness upon us the first real day so uh and then we'll just see what the next couple days bring us so what are you guys doing is it you jay kyle man and and tate going out to the bar yeah tate had a little bit of me in him where he was like maybe we'll tell people where we're watching and uh i was like i

even i was like i don't think that's a good idea buddy but um so i'm just basically gonna get through this maybe i think i'll be trying to drink a lot of coffees i'm not you know it's so long i'm just wondering how i'm gonna get through this i feel like the only way i'm gonna get through this is cigarettes but i'm trying not to do that i'm just it's like it's either it's gonna be like outside or am i gonna be inside drinking this beer or am i gonna be ordering like I feel like the only way I'm going to get through this is cigarettes, but I'm trying not to do that. I'm just, it's like, it's either it's going to be like outside or am I going to be inside drinking this beer or am I going to be ordering like apple juice at the bar? I don't know.

I'm a little nervous. I'm sure I'll figure it out, but it's just these long days and we, you know, got to get back to Spotify offices at like 9.30, 10 p.m. and pull off a podcast. So I don't know. I'm a little nervous. I'm sure it'll be fine. I might buy some cigarettes.

And then you have to go podcast at the actual office in 15 hours? Yeah. And then we're going to do that for a couple of days in a row. That's going to be great. So probably cigarettes. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I wasn't going to say you should probably smoke because that doesn't sound very cool.

Listen, you know, I'm in the gym. I'm offsetting it. I'm thinking about doing the 16-8 window, maybe intermittent fasting sort of deal. So maybe cigarettes and fasting will be the way I get through these two weeks. And then we'll get right back on track. Jesus Christ. I just asked how you were doing and it was the best part of the entire episode. I'm sorry.

I mean, thanks. No, I mean, whatever. What do you mean? It just was the best. I don't even want to, I i don't even know we have a lot of work to do so let's let's get to it that was incredible sure you're gonna skip skip your status update now we're good yeah i don't want it's like hendrix in the who here okay uh all right fellas uh we have a bad kisser update uh so we will read this follow-up and we'll do a couple life advice. First of all,

thanks for reading the advice the other day. Yeah, you guys torched me from the comp, but it was all well-deserved. There wasn't a single point you made that I couldn't disagree with, so you're not losing a fan.

I don't think we'd like destroy, destroy this guy. I mean, obviously, the Equinox guy got destroyed to a different level, but I felt like he kind of deserved it. So, all right right he had actually kind of a tough day i'm not going to get into the specifics of it so he was very happy with all of it but here's the deal

uh i shared the story with a couple of my close friends and their advice was similar to yours one told me to just let it go like ryan the other gave me the same advice as kyle where i should go out with her again and teach her a couple things. That's right. I ended up following Ryan, my buddy's advice, keeping my distance for the week, going to dinner with my family, set a meeting up with her Friday. When I told her this, she said, quote, no worries. I totally get it. And I thought I was in the clear, or so I thought. Saturday night, I had plans to meet up with some of the friends for dinner that included her sister and brother-in-law.

I was the first one there and talked to a couple of my friends by the host's stand with an eye on the door as we waited for the rest of the party. I see my buddy and his wife come to the door and then the bad kisser walks in right behind him. There was no warning from her

that she had extended her trip. So the fact she didn't ever say like, hey, she knew you were going to be at the dinner and didn't say anything, that's a little weird. I can't believe the buddy wouldn't say something to you or hey, you know, whatever.

Yeah, but neither of my friends knew we went out. Oh, no, wait, right. Yeah. Reading back to the emails. So yeah, neither of my friends that knew that we had decided to go out even gave me a heads up. So yeah, that's all kind of weird. I kept it friendly with a high, grabbed a seat at the opposite end of the table for most of the dinner. We didn't say a single word. She was sitting across from a couple of friends of mine that I'd not seen in a while. I wanted to catch up with them. I made my way to their side of the table after the main course. All right, that's cool. I like the moving table, different seating, everybody checking in with everybody, making small talk with her as I tried to keep the conversation going with my friends and not talk too much to her. So your icing are out pretty good, which you can already

see. Most of the group wanted to grab a drink after dinner, and I went along with the group. I went to the bathroom before we were leaving dinner, and as I came out, I was ambushed by her. I knew it. She's waiting outside of the bathroom and says, quote, I want to talk to you real quick. Oh, man. She keeps asking me if I'm going to get a drink, and I tell her, yes, I'm going. This doesn't seem to suffice. So she asked me if I really want to get a drink and I tell her, yes, I'm going. This doesn't seem to suffice. So she asked me if I really want to go because I don't seem that into her.

So she's like, hey, follow up. We've all followed up. And he was like, all right, the email continues. This is some high school stuff that I haven't seen in years. I'm thinking to myself, did she really stop to ask me if I liked her? Are we all on the same page here? Right, right. Because she's saying, hey hey you don't yeah right

i thought she was just gonna grab him again but i'm glad she just asked him a question i didn't read the email for it yeah i thought he was gonna be like where the phone booth used to be but now it's just like an empty you know corner of a restaurant i thought he was just gonna be trapped so i'm glad that he's just a little uncomfortable and not like scratched up already yeah right we're making out again i'm making you make out with me um right i heard rousselo's pod i want now people can see right but to clear this up she waits outside of the bathroom because i didn't read this well i just want to make sure the audience i got it with us here um and she's asking him are you going to go out for a drink after and he says yes because he wants to go out with the group.

And then she says, well, it doesn't seem like you're that into me. All right. So I take a deep breath and I'm just honest with her. I tell her I'm going to get drinks with everyone, but I don't see anything else happening between us. She doesn't say anything, gets up and walks back to the group. I am home free. It doesn't stop there, though. We go out and get some drinks.

She starts flirting with the other single guy there. She hadn't said a single word to this guy all night and all of a sudden she's laughing and flirting with him i was just laughing at myself the whole time she gives me oh wait she gives him her number a hug and a kiss on the way out as she walks right by me i dodged a bullet and just telling her i wasn't interested to provide even more entertainment i don't know the guy very well and didn't have the heart to tell him how bad at kissing she was. But hey, maybe he is the guy for her. Yeah. Yeah.

I wouldn't. You like talking to people about stuff, man. I was going to say, once again, not for you to discuss. Just let him make his own mistakes. It's fine. Hey, bro, just so you know, I don't know you very well, but I made out with her a week ago. She's fucking bad at it. So good luck.

Lots of teeth. Yeah. Careful. This guy be a good therapist. He pulls his shirt off and shows the scratch marks yeah he's like you see this one that's a grade three uh put some ointment on that yep yeah hey juder you hit me apheliac all right help a guy out yeah yeah i don't know the guy very well all right so we went on um

she was definitely leaving the next day and i probably won't see her up until the next time she's in town haven't heard from her since at the end of the day it's just another great story dating in your 30s i just hope it doesn't happen again charge he says chalk this one up to the game but kyle that's not what we say in the pod right we say charge to the game but you know there's variations uh you know different I think, so that's okay. Okay. There you go. All right. Let's pick some lives here.

We got another dating one, sort of. Oh, it's balding dating. Take this one. Take this one, man. This is right in the Venn diagram of what we do here all right six three one eighty one eighty five depending on the day i like it very precise i met this girl for a first date uh tonight off the dating app hinge all right this is like a week ago

we'd only talked for about a week before deciding to meet up for drinks i've been slowly losing hair since i was about 21 i'm'm currently 26 and have been on Finasteride. We looked that up. I don't know what any of the supplement stuff is. I don't think that's a dating supplement. Is that a dating site for guys prematurely balding? I don't think so. Right, because he's on Hinge.

So he's been on this... Oh, it's like you spray it on your head, it grows your hair back, potentially. That's not like the flakes, right? That's the actual topical, what do they call it? Yeah. Am I pronouncing it right?

I don't feel like I am, but whatever. I spelled it the way you said it, and I nailed it, so I think you did. Yeah, I see it's like Keeps, Hems, all the internet brands show up, so they can get it right to your house. I still feel like if one really, really really worked then everybody would know about it and it would be the most valuable company in the world well that's what i'm confused like all those companies say like balding like you

don't have to be bald you know and you're like yeah but there are still bald guys so why wouldn't this be a bigger deal hey i've i've heard testimony that like you can do it but the second you stop it all goes away so it's just sort of like all right take this forever otherwise don't and it's more like retention than loss so i don't i'm not i don't know what the side effects are any of the stuff like that was the big propitia thing and again new listeners know this this doctor in boston mid-20s shoulder banged up 27 28 i wanted to start taking muay thai courses and then i also was like can you check out my shoulder or something's wrong and then i was like while we're here can i have propitiation the guy like it was like i asked to date his daughter if his daughter were also margot robbie you know

and he just like was such a dick about it i don't know if this but i'd like to run into him you know because he was such an asshole. And I'm in my twenties. You're already starting to get depressed about it. Like I had a really hard time with it when I was like, are you fucking serious? This is going to fucking happen. And then we've covered about like, and then I'm going to be on TV. So that's not going to be great.

Um, so it's tough, man. It's tough when you're younger and you're kind of going through this, like shit, this is going to happen. And that was the Propecia phase. And some of my dudes were on it and it clearly was working. Um, and then the doctor was like, Hey, I, you know, I was like, I'd like to get on it. And he was like, no, no, no. Like you thought you were trying to fake an injury for oxys or something like that. Yeah, seriously.

I see you a mile away. Yeah, I'm not here for fucking arm hurts. Right. Exactly. Kyle. Well done. So my's clicking and i'd like some oxy can we get out of here uh no i you nailed it and he was like kind of a good looking doctor but he was a ginger so if there's a boston doctor who's a ginger who's maybe now like if i were 27 if you're in their mid 50s you can go fuck yourself who knows what I would have been able to accomplish. Jesse Palmer looking hair out there. Get up right now.

Yeah, right. Like greenies fucking digital only. All right. Sliding doors, man. Sliding doors, sliding doors.

Fucking guy. He's probably still in boston he was a good-looking ginger though it was weird so credit to him for being a good-looking well wait a minute we just have kevin herder on we can't we can't be calling out i was gonna say his kevin herder has great hair so he's a good-looking dude yeah yeah well i'm saying that as if there's no good-looking gingers and that's not true that's not true i think that i think if you know for the gingers and that's not true that's not true i think that i think if you know for the gingers out there i think you understand this conversation say patrick's day eve no less yeah right right you don't have to let me get fucking jumped next time i'm in

massachusetts okay all right uh all right so he says uh one of the hardest things he's ever had to deal with hey man we just did five minutes on it again i still i mean things have worked out for me and i still sort of annoyed all right i'm at the point where i can get by but it's definitely noticeable sun water water's the enemy of thinning hair man like now maybe i'll jump in later maybe i'll jump in later bright light settings hey man i know like you leave one bar with a crew and then you're going to the next bar and there's a girl you kind of like and you're going to a downstairs bar and you're like i can't walk down the staircase ahead of her we all right you're like hang back hang back by last call it'll be too late bring up the rear yeah i'll grab beers you i'll meet you guys down there

yeah right right exactly like oh do you want to sit here wait in front of the heart mirror like a stool against the wall with a bar mirror behind it now just kind of chill out over here i'll just kind of chill because for me it was just fighting the perception of that spot like that big divot out of the back of my head so i was like if i can i can get away with this long enough and you know a couple good jokes might be all right might be all right but watch out for mirrors and staircases all right so uh he says his hairstyle does a decent job of disguising it for the most part but it's noticeable i'm not at the point where i'm ready to accept fate shave the head don't

if you don't if you're not comfortable doing it don't do it and by the way if it's just kind of thinning and you're 26 and nobody really notices it right away fucking ride that out don't listen all the other people that want everyone to shave their head immediately because they had to go through it that's a real like i had to deal with all this pain i want you to feel it too bald people don't root for each other i'm i am rooting for you you know i'm zagging against the entire fucking industry so i feel like this is 100 affected my dating life my previous girl standards whilst having a full head of hair remain unchanged unfortunately oh well okay yeah i mean again at some point you do have to kind of change change you know if you notice around you like boy it seems like less people

are interested in me but that's not where we're at right now with you i hope so um he said that he guesses he doesn't do the best job of highlighting his thinning hair on the app uh-oh but i'm also not at the point where i decided to post uh post a straight up close-up of it either i don't think it's wrong i mean what is this guy supposed to do an overhead we're all using angles we're all using angles here don't don't yeah come on it's fine just make sure your height's right yeah just have the height you know stay within an inch age age should be accurate but yeah it's okay if you want to choose the best angle i don't think that's crazy i think that's what everybody's doing yeah yeah right right no problem okay all right so here we go

this brings me to tonight about an hour into the day i think we've hit it off for the most part we have common interest she's good looking and have given uh had given signs that she was interested one and a half drinks in she giggles are you balding i replied Ha ha. She sounds funny. She repeated herself. I tried my best not to get offended and said something along the lines of, maybe a little, I'm not really sure, LOL. What a great answer. I'm not really sure.

I haven't thought about it every single minute for fucking six straight years. Why do you ask? The next few minutes, I had to recover from this since this is the first time I'd ever been told this from a girl, especially all caps on a first date. Okay, I felt like I was completely over it at first, but notice she kept the same level of enthusiasm and interest for the next hour. She constantly touched my knees, but I could tell she would gaze her eyes up at my hair every once in a while,

and it was obvious. It was like a mole on somebody's face. You're like, I can't stop looking at the mole. And she was doing it to your hair. I don't think she was drunk, but maybe a little tipsy. Fast forward 30 minutes, and she's proposing going to the movies tomorrow.

Honestly, we should hook her up with the previous guy from the bad kissing experience because they say whatever is on there or they want to tell everybody what they're thinking immediately. Or that could be the worst. All right. So, um,

I don't think she was drunk, but a fast forward 30 minutes. She's proposing. We go to the movies tomorrow and 30 minutes after that, we're making out in her car. How should I feel about her bringing up my biggest insecurity? What if this is the guy for the second guy from the dinner from the previous bad kissing? So I was at this dinner and she didn't really talk to me much at first, but then she went to the bathroom and her whole.

Pulled the fucking ripcord right after that. How should I feel about her bringing up my biggest insecurity? Should I be relieved that the cat is out of the hat? Or should I be worried about her insensitive remark and boldness? Who am I to blame her, though? I should have been more straightforward in my profile. None of us think you should have been. Don't worry about it.

Any thoughts and advice if I should see it through and lean in my inevitable future? Finistride has done a decent job for the most part, but it's not at the point where I'm confident. I've thought of taking the Turkey trip and getting the transplant, but it's not feasible with my job. Is that really working? Is this Turkish?

The Turkish people have figured it out. It seems like a myth. It's like a thing you say, maybe. I think it's a thing you just see on Instagram. Again. It's like when Bill makes a joke about a basketball player going to Germany and getting a new ACL. It's like, I don't think they're all doing that. I don't think that's what everyone does, but it's just a Bill makes a joke about like a basketball player going to Germany and getting a new ACL.

It's like, I don't think they're all doing that. I don't think I don't think that's what everyone does. But it's just the thing people say, maybe. Yeah, I think when Kobe got it, that's why he was like more. But then when you started to realize that, like a ton of athletes went to Germany to do this thing, the thing's super expensive, by the way, to look into it. Maybe I intentionally get fired so I can make the trip out to the land of $3,000 transplants. Currently working on getting that 100 to, oh, we want to go from 180 to 200, but I'm not dedicated enough at the moment. Also, don't think my face would suit going all the way bald due to my average bone structure.

Any advice on seeing it through with this girl in the dilemma that you once faced is appreciated. I got to tell you, I don't think most women out there are like, you know, I do want to meet somebody who's losing his hair. All right. I think that's a totally fair and reasonable thing. And I'm not worried about the feelings part of that because I think we still need to operate with just some basic understanding how fucking people work. But there are some women who don't give a shit, man. There are some women who don't care. And there's even another level of women that actually are fucking into it so when you meet somebody and you know you say are in my situation right and you know what i

don't shaved it i don't even remember when less than 10 years but more than five um maybe eight years ago it was kind of cool to be over it. Um, I lucked out with not a horrible dome, you know, bone structure. I don't know. I don't know how you've already been able to assess your bone structure with hair on it, but you know, whatever research you're doing, uh, cool. Uh, so you just have to understand that, like, if you're going to not have a great head of hair, it's going to limit your pool, your recruiting pool. It's going to be a little bit more limited.

You know what I mean? Like if you're Nebraska, you're just not going to get the same recruits as you are down in Louisiana. Right. That's, this all goes without saying, but what, what you're telling us in this email is that you should be fucking pumped.

Get over your feelings about this. Yeah, all right. She shook you up a bit there, you know, through a little jab, right? The soft jabs to Kyle. She punched you right in the nose. And then she made out with you and then asked you to do something else.

So all of these fucking anxieties that men have when they're first going through this, all the stuff we've already covered, the angles, the staircase, the fucking mirrors, the light, the pool. you don't have to do any of that shit if you were to actually start dating her because she already knows as you said the cat out of the hat uh so this is a great email it's a success story it's a big big win. So I wouldn't stop. You know, look, as somebody who can overthink things, I'm world class. Stop fucking thinking about this.

Stop. Be psyched. Be fucking pumped that you don't have to like, oh, it went pretty well. And then you have all you don't have to have any of the shit that you have leading up to the first meet because you've already fucking talked about it. And she laughed and she still wants to hang out with you. So this is awesome news, man. Yeah. She sounds like cool is one of her attributes. I remember like, I think it was 2017. I went home and there was like a girl, her and I used to see each other, but we just hadn't seen each other for a long time. And it was like one of my trips home. And we were like, it wasn't like a date, but I guess, you know,

we kind of knew it was supposed to happen later. And she was like, oh, you got fat. Oh, I was like, oh, Jesus. And she was like, that's OK. You're so cute. Like, I like it. And it was like, yeah, yeah, she knew that. That never went anywhere. If anything, that's just got a little more seasoning onto that.

But she was like, she was like, oh, you got fat. Did you get fat? And I was like, oh, my God, what do I say? And then it was fine. I was like, I was like, you're actually like, she was actually cool about it. And I got over with it and actually just felt, I felt pretty like pretty free after that. It was like, I don't have to do the whole shirt adjusting thing anymore. That's great. I did get feathers. There's an extra 15 pounds that you see me. That's okay. Um, so, uh, that was actually pretty liberating. So I think you

should be happy about that. That's just out of the way and you don't have to wonder. Even if you see her like glancing, it's like, hey, it's already been out there. And the other thing I would say, like, you know, moving forward, I would just say, you know, are you a guy that can maintain and grow a really great beard? I think that matters to a lot of people. Yes. And then, you know, I don't know, maybe get the shoulders a little wider. I don't know where you're at now, but I just think that's stuff you can control.

You know, are you into tattoos? Just kidding. Don't do that if you don't want it. I think there's just other things that you can do here. A necktack into the face does distract from the ball part. Like an eagle flying up over your cheek. Something going around the ear there too, right?

Yeah. I'm just saying there's other things you can control. Yeah, I'm with Kyle there's other things you can control. Yeah, I'm with Kyle. I feel like I've actually messed around with, and I have a pretty good head of hair. I'm not trying to brag, but I've messed around with the, should I kind of just buzz it and go with the beard look? Because I do think the bald head beard look is a good look.

I'm not even just trying to say this because Ryan has it all. Ryan, your hair on top is getting pretty long these days. Yeah, I didn't pack my clippers. Yeah yeah you can only go on the side it'd be awesome if i just said you know i'm gonna grow it out that would be an amazing bet if we had a bet and like big stakes and it was the grow it out for a year challenge just see what happens well that's why i i kind of respect the guys like the larry davids and even the paul feinbaum's who just they just rock the horseshoe like i you know they just they they just, they don't care. They don't like you, you should probably get rid of that, but they're like, no, I'm going to rock this weird thing

where I've got completely bald on top and I get the horseshoe on the side. I kind of respect that guy. So you, you know, it's a certain look and you know, you're definitely limiting your pool if you're single at that point, but you know, most of those guys are probably married. So it's fine. I'd love to know the youngest horseshoe guy going i'd get him on the pod yeah we need those stats too pal who's not doing it it's a joke who's serious and he's like 24 yeah because remember everybody did like a philosopher or something or the mullet as like they did it ironically are there dudes doing the horseshoe ironically i'd be awesome i'd want to see it oh i think there probably are but i don't know how long. I think they're in college

and it grows back. Yeah, it's one thing to shave it and like, hey, it's a joke or some hazing thing or you're on the hockey team and the guys do it. I want to meet the guy that's legit full horseshoe

and is combing it down and gets it trimmed regularly. Right. Yeah, it's like at least a couple inches long. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It'd just be like buzz

because, you know, like Van Pelt would have, like you could kind of see it when Van Pelt would have it on the sides it would be, but it was like at least a couple inches long. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It'd just be like buzz. Because, you know, like Van Pelt would have. Like, you could kind of see it when Van Pelt would have it on the sides. It would be. But it was like a very short. You know, he just needed to trim it up. I'm talking about the guy who's like one inch, two inches long of hair all the way around the back of his head. Yeah. All right.

I think we covered that one. Let's get to the next one. Just because with the follow-up, we have a lot going on here. Do we get everything we needed from you, Kyle? Yeah, I think we got it all. I just think she's cool, man. You should definitely not be worried about this at all. Okay.

I agree. All right, let's do one that's a little different. It's about tenure. Okay. Greetings, big fan of the pod, 40 years old. Oh, 48 years old. Legit 6'1", pretty well put together. 195, according to my wife and me at least,

as a middle-aged guy. I lift every day, stay in shape, look reasonably good, but I'll skip the unimpressive gym stats. Okay, all right. That was a full intro. It was well written. All names have been changed.

All right, I currently live in a northeastern state that's known for its inferiority complex. Which one? Particularly as it relates to the geographic size and scope. Until moving to this part of the country, I lived the first 40 years of my life in the states that were once part of the Confederacy. All right. And one of those stops was in Miami, which is confounds and complicates all kinds of descriptions. I'm a Southern Jew in a Southern New England town state. Shit is crazy. Anyway, here's my issue. I'm a tenured professor at a regional serving public college. And one part of the process of becoming a tenured professor is what's called external review. Essentially, senior professors around the country are asked to review a junior professor's portfolio of work, publications, teaching evaluations, service to the school and community, etc. And weigh in on whether or not that person is deserving of tenure. It's a little more involved than that, but essentially that's it. The whole tenure thing is problematic, and this part of the process often doesn't do much to make it better or more equitable.

For those, you know, I imagine most of you know the concept of tenure, but once you get it, it's like, all right, you're good. You can call people virgins. It's all good. Yeah, yeah, right, right. It's catching on, by the way. It really is. A lot of people tweet me things. It was way more common than we thought.

Yeah, a lot of people are loving it. People are loving it. All right, so back to the email. This past summer, that would be 2022, my good friend Kevin and I were both asked to review the tenure portfolio of the same professor. Let's call him Joel. Kevin works in a different part of the country.

We went to grad school together. We've been tight ever since. This is the first time we've been asked to review the same person's portfolio. We both thought the same thing. We hated Joel's work. It was uninspiring, unoriginal, and just plain weak. Plus, his students gave him awful teaching evaluations. We didn't even look at the ones during the height of COVID, but it didn't matter.

Dude seems like he enjoys treating students like shit. The word rude and condescending were both used in many students' evaluations. And just a few went ahead and said he's a dick. By the time we finished reviewing Joel's portfolio, we could see where they were coming from. Kevin and I are not fans of Joel. Fast forward a few months to the fall of 2022, and Kevin and I are at a conference that we attend every year. Because academia is a small world and disciplines we all work in make our own little world even smaller, we found ourselves sitting at the same table at a bar with, you guessed it, Joel. One of those friend of a friend of a friend kind of deal.

Regardless, the three of us were all there. Now, it's important to know that at this point, Joel doesn't know if he's been granted tenure or not, and thus neither do we. We don't know how our assessments of his work landed. Tenure decisions almost always come in the spring as academia moves at such a ridiculously slow pace that the word glacial is generous. And again, Kevin and I have no idea

just how much weight our reviews will have. Our job is to get feedback, and we did. He could still get tenure. Sucks for all of those future students. Anyway, once we put together who Joel is, Kevin asks me if we should tell him about our reviews of his work. No. Absolutely not.

In a bar? Now? Now, you have to understand that while I consider myself a good dude kevin is the sweetest kindest guy i know we just smoked some high quality cannabis we're working on our second whiskey we were in our minds but feeling good um kevin's point was that if joel was denied tenure he needed to know why and more specifically what some senior scholars in his field think of his work again we have no idea how much will be shared with joel if he is denied tenure every school handles these things differently in the end i talked all right in the end i talked kevin down from the bar at a

conference hotel at 1 a.m uh being the best venue for telling all right not being i think we should say not being the best venue for telling someone why we think their work sucks bullet dodged until dot dot dot last week kevin texts me that he's been snooping on joel's social media and it turns out that joel was in fact denied tenure joel is not pleased he's letting all 700 of his followers know it which is a sneaky that's funny awesome line um important to note about getting denied tenure. When you don't get tenure, you're essentially fired. You get to stay for one more academic year during which you're supposed to find employment elsewhere.

But whether you find another job or not, you're out after that year. It's a shitty deal, even if you're a Joel. Fast forward again until right about now. Kevin and I are going to a conference in April that we go to infrequently. But since the pandemic started, we promised to make more of an effort to see each other, especially when our respective schools will pay the bill for us to attend a conference.

And I know you know where this is going. Yes, Joel is going to be there too. And Kevin thinks it might finally be time to give Joel feedback. So my questions are as follows. Do you feel a professional responsibility to give honest, constructive criticism to those in your field, even when the feedback will probably result in hurt feelings and a bruised ego? Do you ever offer such criticism unsolicited? And do you ever do so in a bar in a city where none of you live,

where you're all escaping your responsibilities for a few days? Okay, let's do the easy one first. That was not the time. You're 100% right. You know, there are rare occasions where I'll think back to the night before and be like, you know, I'm psyched I brought that up, that topic up at 1.30 a.m.

You know? Like, okay, everybody's bullshitting. Some guy's telling a story, then another guy asks to follow up, then another guy guy tells a story and then it's like getting late and somebody's like you know hey do you think bill might be poor nothing there's never times or like you know you're talking to a girl and then you go like you know there's just very rare chances you're like i'm fucking pumped i brought that up when i did in that in that occasion you know like i again there's another side of it too like herm edwards

famous line about like nothing good happens after midnight i would tell you that only good things happen to me after midnight for a very long stretch of my life um so i i that that dance you know that whole dance of like should i bring that's almost never a good time to do it and you're not even fucking friends with the guy okay so how do you think that's gonna go like if it's a core core like we've been through weird shit together you know we've known each other since kindergarten we've got the school pics together you know what i mean like if it's one of your absolute road dogs one of your guys no matter what you're picking up the phone for him then maybe that's the time to do it because you already have the connection and there can't be like when you don't have any equity built up with the other person and then you do something or say something or ask a question about something and you're like at zero equity level, then you're going to get treated way worse. You know, like that's one of the weird things about meeting

buddies when you get a bit older. And this is a bit of a different rant. So maybe I should save it for when we get another guy asking about how to make friends in your forties. But you know, the reason you have your friends from your younger years is you've done all this stuff together. And so there's a tolerance for each other when you're trying to meet new guys, there's no tolerance. There's zero. So like the one night you're off or the one thing you say wrong or you're late or you blow something off or you don't do what you're supposed to fucking do, you know, you're going to be held to a much more difficult standard because there's no built up years of understanding each other where that guy's probably done something wrong to you. So that's why, you know, getting a little bit older. So anyway, that's, that's a bit of a deviation. I probably spend more time of that in my third book. Um, but on the, the followup of, of what should you do now? My, my career is not one, the idea that I'd be walking down the hallway going to Cowherd being like, you know, that's just a fucking C open, man.

That open was a C. Just, you know, not a great premise. Didn't really sell it. Made two good points. Made seven that were irrelevant. So you thought you were making nine good points. No. Or telling Van Pelt, hey, man, just want to,

you need to button up your interviews a bit more. That wouldn't go well. That's not going to happen. And I would also offer, if I didn't know you really well and you told me my show was bad that day, I would probably tell you

to go fuck yourself. Right. One specific radio manager who literally only told me when he thought my show was bad, which he thought my show was bad all the time. And it's like, you've never once said I did any, this isn't about Ray. He was great. Uh,

but you can't like when you're working with on air people, you can't only tell them when you think they're bad. You can't like, you know, and if you're going to tell them they're good, try not to have it be like, I really loved your energy today. It was super great teases. Um, but no, this one guy just thought i sucked all the time and i'm just like i why are you even talking to me anymore like i get it you just think i suck fine uh i don't know like bill every now and then will reach out about something and he i don't know i think it was like two years ago i think it was and he even prefaced it he's like i give you almost no notes you're doing this one thing and you should do it this way.

And guess what? Bill was a hundred percent right. But Bill and I have enough respect for each other that I'm like, Bill almost never reaches out to tell me that he thinks I could do something better. And it wasn't even like a full blown criticism. It was like, Hey, you should probably try to do this way instead of that way. And I already knew that I should have. And him saying it, I was like, yeah, no, I get it. We're cool. This one's nice because you're actually doing him a huge favor. You're solving the mystery. But are you ready as two guys that barely know him to say,

we actually reviewed some of your stuff and this is why it all sucks and this is why you didn't get tenure? Is he going to go, hey, you know what, guys, who I barely fucking know who cost me my job at the university? Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to smash this beer bottle on your head. Yeah, right.

Like, that's really cool. You guys, it's probably if he's going on Twitter complaining about it, what do you think he's going to say to you? So I would say you're probably avoiding a hassle with somebody you're not going to have that much of a relationship with. I do understand the constructive part of it, that maybe this could be his, you know, what is he in his thirties? You're 48. So maybe he's 40, you know, I don't know. He's younger. Maybe this could be his fork in the road career wise. You know, like I do think there are some benefits, but it sounds like you don't

want to deal with the hassle because most people wouldn't want to deal with this hassle. Um, but maybe if you wrote up the shitty review, maybe it's on you. I mean, this is a completely different world. And that's why I say the world that i work in is almost a bad comp for all this stuff because if you're gonna be somebody going up to somebody on air you better be really good with them you better be fucking awesome at your job too that's the other deal like especially for what i do if you're not good like somebody who i think sucks is telling me my episode sucks i'm like all right thanks thanks, bro. You know, planes, chains, and automobiles.

Thanks a lot. Yeah, cool. Got it. I don't know. Maybe, Kyle, like, I don't know if this is a question about this specific to the email, but just feedback in general from people that you would listen to versus people that you wouldn't. I think feedback in general is more, more should be at your, at the person's request. You know, I guess if something, if something's massively wrong and it's somebody that you work with day to day, I could see that, but that's not the case here. And like you also said, like,

yeah, your world is different. Their world is different. Academia is about as unique as it gets. Right. I mean, some people write papers that only other, you know, only a few other people. Yeah. But I mean, it's just like, it's all, it's a world where it just kind of exists and everybody's smelling their own farts anyway. So I think, I think that's like a completely different world anyway. So I would, I guess I would be wondering like, is this like court where like, where you, after the sentence passed, you get the paperwork and you could see who fucking snitched on you, or you could see what statements were given. If it's not, I'd say you don't have to do this at all i'd say it's definitely it's not like criticism that you that you like want it's

not something that he's like looking for you know he didn't ask you for for your feedback this would just be you'd be like hey sorry we fucked you over last year your work is uninspired like that and that's what you're gonna say is like we thought your work was uninspired and we just didn't like this like it's just this is a bad idea unless it unless it all comes out and he's what you're going to say is like, we thought your work was uninspired and we just didn't like this. Like, it's just, this is a bad idea. Unless it, unless it all comes out and he's going to see your names on his fucking papers. Like it was with,

uh, with, with court, you know, I don't, I don't see why you need to do this at all. So, um,

yeah, I think it might be, it might be the academia thing. Like people in the world listening, this might be going, no, you guys are wrong. This isn't about avoiding the hassle.

It's about continuing to try to get people to be better. Right. So, uh, I struggle with that a little bit because I do think if Kyle, you kind of hit on something there, if this guy failed and didn't get the tenure and he has, and he doesn't even know why I do kind of think I'd want to know why,

you know, I'd want to, yeah. So you, but there was no comments. I would. Yeah. So you. But there was no comments. There was no like anonymous comments. I don't know. That we have because like the school sent you a Reddit thread.

It's like, here's what people thought. Yeah. Usually with feedback, there's like comment sections. It's not just like failing grade. It's a D and I can't tell you why. We've like kind of done two different versions of this. Like the guy who wanted to give the girl advice about how she could be a better kisser, that is always a no. This one, to me, is a little bit more of a gray area.

I agree. I think Cerruti's on to something here. There's no value in that. It's not going to go well. It doesn't matter at all. It's not helping anyone's career. This guy could actually stand to learn something from this. And again again he's

probably not going to take it well you're there's no there's no way your names are on there there's no way this guy knows you did it no he says in the email that that he he likely wouldn't know or yeah or wouldn't so but i just don't personally like i would want to know i'd want to know what like what somebody thought i was doing a bad job on um now you don't maybe he doesn't want that but i would let your buddy Kevin do it. If you want to do it, just be like, Kevin, you can do it. I'm going to sit this one out.

Make sure there's a different bar nearby you can go to. But as the guy, I actually kind of would want to know. So to me, it's kind of a gray area. How big is he? That's another part. As we're talking this out, I am starting to think like,

in their world, which i'm not pretending to understand but you know if you're in this world like you should aspire to be better like you i mean all you could say all of us should be doing that but i don't you know i don't think that's realistic uh that would be such a wake-up call right to be this my only concern i didn't get it. And so, you know, can academics talk to each other? Like, is this normal?

Is it normal for the people who have done the review that were probably part of the calculation of this guy not getting tenure? Is it normal for them to say like, we need to talk to you about your work? I mean, much like a student, and granted there's different stakes, but if you're a student who keeps fucking up

and then you go meet with your professor, like he gonna go this sucks this is bad like your your entire premise for this is dumb your theories on this are outdated and like you would have to know that so granted you're saying okay this is somebody who's older is not a student but in a way like you're still sort of in that world so if your work is that bad you know it, it's not just, hey, F, well, what happened? I mean, this isn't a math test. But every year, I mean, every student you have, pretty much, you know, the professor drops some shit on the desk and leaves the room for an hour. So he's getting that anyway. Like, you know, they're probably being honest. I'm sure there's a bunch of shitty students you have to sift through like, oh, this is just a comment that doesn't mean anything.

But if he's been working there for a while, every year, coffee breath, whatever, gets too close. But I just mean every year, there's going to be, or every semester, every student he has writes something. Every student loves to do that shit. Even if you like the person or you're neutral, every student just does it. I didn't fill out one of those.

You didn't? Oh. Well, the only one i ever did was for a guy that towards the end of my my thing he let me do a special project uh for political science which uh you know roots back to my intense intense passion for politics today uh thanks guy thanks for that uh no but i he it was a thing that took like a year to write for him and so i wrote it for him and it got approved by the department to be like you know because i was

managing a bar trying to graduate so i was like can i do like what are these theses all about like we can work on a special project in your major so you don't have to take two more courses and i was like done i'm gonna have this whole theory i'm gonna write it out and the guy was like that's amazing and again i was such a fucking fraud i'm like at the library it's exciting to be like harper in 1912 said right you know and the fucking thing was so long and i thought it was really good and it was just long he's like b minus done yeah he was done with you all right 10 out of 10 professor and i went to him and was like what was wrong with it you know he's like i was all right he's like it was pretty long right and i was like yeah man longest thing i ever wrote so i was like super impressed myself

and then he's like you have to right he was like you have to do something now like where you have to review like how you think i did i fucking love the guy so i mean yeah yeah i would have drawn a picture of him if i could paint or draw whatever all right is that it is there anything left on that i'm good i'd say if you do this just make sure you're closed out before you fucking start talking to a guy at a bar like that um see if you guys could just make a speedy escape just in case he's still not over it like all right another round of haymakers like all right be like hey joel um here's the deal man your fucking work sucks and everyone hates you and we voted no how long are you in town for sir sir you mind if we just get a check ah he's pretty busy he'll be around soon

no we're getting another round no no we're getting another round i'm just yeah that's a good point kyle do you do that sometimes have you have you closed out ahead of time pre-confrontation confrontation confrontation or like if i'm sensing like oh the group might be moving just any anything where it's like it'd be better if i could if i could just you know if i could just leave at any moment's notice so there goes i've done that guy never leaves the debit card yeah you usually don't usually don't lose the keys phone but i do usually have my cards uh that'll do it for us hey kyle see you sunday uh i think i will i guess it is going to be a you might not i don't know it's going to be uh it's going to be a late night college basketball night so uh you might your days of seeing't know. It's going to be a late night college basketball night.

So your days of seeing me Sunday might be over and you didn't even know they existed. So who cares? I forgot that they even started. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Steve. Brian Russo, The Podcast. Ring or Spotify. Outro Music you