The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Tua and the Concussion Dilemma, Danny Amendola on Playing With Brady, Plus Matt Buschmann on Catching Judge’s 61st

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Russillo shares his thoughts on Tua Tagovailoa's injury vs. the Bengals and the NFL's complicated relationship with concussions (0:39). Then Ryen is joined by two-time Super Bowl champion Danny Amendo...la to discuss his retirement, how players deal with head injuries, Tom Brady, when Danny went from the Patriots to the Dolphins, Aaron Rodgers’s trash talk, why the Raiders are struggling, and more (11:44). Then Ryen talks with his friend and Blue Jays bullpen coach Matt Buschmann about catching Aaron Judge’s 61st home run ball (40:44). Next Ryen, Ceruti, and Kyle make their favorite bets for NFL Week 4 (52:39), before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (56:41). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Danny Amendola and Matt Buschmann Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 We're going to start with the two of concussion and that storyline from last night. We will talk with Danny Amendola about that and a bunch of other NFL stuff, a little story time with him. Speaking of stories, Aaron Judge, home run number 61, caught in the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen
Starting point is 00:00:24 by my good friend Matt Bushman. So we're going to talk with him for about 10 minutes to see how that goes. We've got our bets for this week and a really long life advice. It just kind of goes on and on, but it probably be one you like. Please enjoy. Last night sucked. Last night sucked for Tua. Last night sucked for his teammates, the opposition,
Starting point is 00:00:46 everybody watching Tua suffer what we hope is only the first concussion, but we'll get to the uncertainty of that five days after it looked like he'd gotten hit pretty well against the Buffalo Bills, which is all a bigger part of the story. As soon as he got whipped to the ground,
Starting point is 00:00:59 I'm, you know, like you, watching the game, I was like, oh man, you know, one of those. And then when you see that fencing reaction, which I think all of us have seen where the hands are straight out, but his fingers were all twisted up, and it was just worse. I mean, it was tough to watch.
Starting point is 00:01:15 But, you know, we're looking at the timeline here of this because it's Tua. It's totally different. It'd be one thing if a guy, hey, it's the NFL. It's football. It's rough. A guy got a concussion and he's carted off the field. There was one Cincinnati player who went down to take a knee immediately. And one of the officials was like, all right, hold on. Can you just get out of the way for a little while until we figure out what's going on? He's taken to the hospital, left the stadium on an ambulance, and then I guess flew
Starting point is 00:01:40 back with the team, which other people suggested that's not what you should have been doing. Anyway, so I want to get into what we know, what we think we know, what we don't know, which is really, you know, there's a lot for all three categories there. But again, the five-day part of this is what's most alarming for Tua and why there's so much, I don't know, questioning, criticism, whatever you want to call it, on the aftermath of last night's events. Because when we were watching the Buffalo game, you know, it's hot, it's Miami, he gets pushed backwards and then is basically stumbling to kind of get his legs again and then he returned to that game. So if it actually was a concussion then, how did he clear it? How did he get back into that game? And then that leads to, if it's a second concussion in less
Starting point is 00:02:23 than five days, that's when you start getting into these danger areas, depending on what you believe and what you've read about concussions. So what happened? What happened in the Buffalo game that took us to last night's events? Well, I watched Adam Schefter, who was really good on this. And he said that there, this originally was a head injury for Tua. And I don't know that it was officially reported that way. Maybe it was a sideline thing. Maybe there was miscommunication, but it was a head injury in the Buffalo game, but then it was a back and neck injury, so that it wasn't actually his head. They have a Dolphins doctor, and then they have an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant
Starting point is 00:03:06 who was appointed both by the NFL and the NFLPA, and both cleared Tua in that Buffalo game. Both cleared him. But then Schefter added to this and said, but if you look at the full explanation of the protocols, it doesn't just have to be a head. It can be a back, it can be a neck, it can be a spine that falls under the protocol to not play. But the problem is, like a lot of times
Starting point is 00:03:30 with this, is when the player gets cleared and the player knows that he wants to get back into the game and there's a couple former players saying there are ways, like when you've had a couple concussions, you kind of know what to answer to get back into the game. And that becomes, the team has to protect the player from himself.
Starting point is 00:03:47 And so now that's led to speculation that Miami didn't care about the player, that they put him in harm's way. Michael Daniel, the head coach, who's a very convincing speaker. We don't know him that well, but our initial exposure to him, I feel like he feels like a sincere guy. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, right? But he was like, look, if this is actually that, then I would never have this happen. And this is going to lead to a big-time investigation.
Starting point is 00:04:08 It could get really nasty. Schefter also added, which I thought was unnecessary, not by Schefter adding it. I thought it was unnecessary from other NFL teams, is that they were apparently texting him, which he added to the report, saying, well, after the Buffalo game, we would have never put our quarterback in the situation of play five days later. That's a really easy thing to do after the fact. Not one team would send that text to a reporter just randomly. They're doing it almost as if like, yeah, we would have never done that.
Starting point is 00:04:35 Well, we don't know. We don't know. Are you sure? Are you sure your NFL organization has never put a player back in? Now you can get into the five-day qualifier and add how unique that whole thing is. But I just, I don't like playing the results after the fact and then other teams chiming in. And it wasn't like the teams were named,
Starting point is 00:04:50 so they were somehow getting credit publicly for it. But I thought that made it more damning for Miami, which it very well may be, and all the damning will be justified. But I thought that additional part of the report. So now we're left with this uncertainty of, wait a minute, if it is just a head injury, then they screwed up.
Starting point is 00:05:07 But if it's a neck and back injury, does that mean they didn't screw up? Or if it's just the back or wait a minute, if you read the protocols, like, look, I remember seven years ago on ESPN radio, I kind of, I don't know, I want to frame this the right way so I don't sound totally insensitive, but it's all we were talking about were concussions. When we talked about the NFL, I would say it's the pie chart of topics. It would 40% concussions, 40% Kaepernick and 20% football games. And it went on for years. You know, I had colleagues that started questioning like whether or not they should watch football and they kept watching it. Mark Cuban, who I'm always fascinated with anything, any opinion he has on anything, cause he's so convincing and he's
Starting point is 00:05:44 obviously a really smart guy with a great track record. But he started saying, well, the NFL, there's no way I'd want to own one of those franchises. I'm much happier owning an NBA team. I mean, that was bullshit. It was self-serving a little bit too. It's also positioning his investment better down the road, which is what a lot of these guys do when they go on financial shows and they have a position in the company and they're like, no, no, we see clear skies ahead. By the way, that's just not true. That whole window of, are people going to stop letting their kids play football? Yes, I'm sure some of you don't let your kids play football. I'm sure plenty of you have friends that have told their kids they're not playing football. Then I would always counter that with,
Starting point is 00:06:21 have you ever been to the South? The the NFL is dead because of concussions. Like it just wasn't going to happen. It wasn't going to happen, but that became an overriding topic. It was like the media was obsessed with it. So I felt like at that point, like it's a really brutal game and that stuff's going to happen. And I'm not going to spend all week with the shows pretending i'm some sort of concussion expert because i read a new article on it or i have somebody that's that's hyper sensitive to the topic that's going to think the worst of all scenarios but in this case specific
Starting point is 00:06:55 to miami you know if this is investigated it should be investigated and if it's a massive fuck up and they put to it in in harm's way way by breaking any of the rules or if we need an updated version of the protocol. And these are all good things if somebody is held accountable for something, if it actually went wrong. But the assumption is that it's only that something went wrong because you feel really bad. I think we're all, one of the cool things about us is that we actually do have feelings for other people more often than we realize. And everybody's watching this game going, this is awful and feeling total sympathy for Tua in the moment. If you are someone that because of the awful history of the NFL and dealing with concussions that wants to give them zero benefit of the doubt, I'm not going to tell you that
Starting point is 00:07:35 you're wrong. I understand the history, the doubt, the lawsuits, the neglect, the lies. I went through a timeline that was on a website this morning, and it was kind of talking about all these things. And if you've read any of the League of Denial stuff about concussions, I mean, the league knew. They painted a different picture. It felt like big tobacco there for a while when you go back and read how they positioned themselves with head trauma. December 1994, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue says on concussions, quote, I think it's one of these packed journalism issues, frankly. There is no increase in concussions. The number is relatively small. The problem is a journalist issue. Okay. That actually sounds somewhat
Starting point is 00:08:15 familiar to what's happening in the last few years, but they initiated new return to play guidelines in 97, quote, repeated concussions can cause cumulative brain injury in an individual over months or years, the report warns. There are specific player issues. Steve Young getting knocked out of a game, never playing again. I mean, I could go through the list of every former player that's had issues and then led to some tragic ending, which I think can be related to this sometimes,
Starting point is 00:09:07 but maybe not always the way that it's played out. But then, you know, some of this stuff is so ridiculous because in 2000, Jerry Jones actually told ESPN, quote, that he'd push Aikman to ignore concussion concerns if it was a key game since all data that we have so far don't point to lasting effects, long-term effects from the head trauma. That's Jerry Jones in 2000, not 1950. I mean, it goes on and on. These things aren't that old. All these different pieces. I mean, some of this stuff isn't even like 18 years old where they're just denial, denial, denial about all these things. So if you want to believe that today
Starting point is 00:09:30 the system that Miami has and that today the system the NFL has, despite the NFLPA having a voice in this and having a third party that's not affiliated with anybody that's supposed to be there for the player's safety, that I thought all these things
Starting point is 00:09:42 are improving. If you want to believe that none of it works and that it's all still fucked up, I'm not really going to tell you that you're wrong, even if maybe I feel a little bit differently about the excessive, like the motivations behind getting people out there, because it's very simple. The players all hate concussions until they get one, right? The players are all about player safety until it's kind of their own safety. And they want to find a way to get back out there. The fans hate concussions until, you know, it's Julian Edelman in the Super Bowl.
Starting point is 00:10:14 And you're like, oh, is he going to leave the game? Like, hey, he's back. You know, and clearly, obviously, the NFL hates the concussions because last night's matchup with Tua and Burrow is a lot sexier than Teddy Bridgewater versus Brandon Allen. I don't know what happened in Miami. I don't know if this system is still completely outdated. I've seen plenty of arguments that it is. I would just say, once again, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:10:42 I don't know what the answer is to this. Football season is underway, so now is the perfect time to download FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook because right now, new customers get in no sweat. First bet up to $1,000. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just sign up with the promo code Ryan, R-Y-E-N.
Starting point is 00:11:03 We are going to give out our three picks for our yearly competition here for our season-long NFL competition. So we will have those picks for you right before Life Advice. FanDuel has all your favorite bets from the money line to the point spreads to player props. With live betting, you'll get updated odds on games that have already started. And when you
Starting point is 00:11:20 win, you get paid and you get paid fast. So sign up today with the promo code Ryan, R-Y-E-N for your no-sweat first bet. Make every moment more this season with FanDuel, official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Must be 21 and older in select states. First
Starting point is 00:11:35 online real money wager only. Refund issued is non-withdrawable. Free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Okay, let's hang out with Danny Amendola, who now a year out of football. What's that been like for you, man? It was a long run. It was a fun career, and now you've got some time off. That first year is a tough one, isn't it? It's great so far. I get a different perspective on football. I get to watch it from my couch.
Starting point is 00:12:05 football, I get to watch it from my couch. Uh, it's, it's, it's, it's a little bit, uh, you know, I, I still wish I could get out there and go sometimes, but, uh, I wake up Monday morning now and, and my knees are happy and my body's feeling good. So I can't complain. When you decide, okay, I'm actually going to do this. Like I always kind of joked that if you know any of you guys like right after the season everybody's retiring right nobody really wants to go to camp and then there's that moment if you have retired where it's like well shit i feel good and you know i'm working out i'm stronger like this is cover cover it it never is a hundred percent certainty is it when you decide to hang them up?
Starting point is 00:12:47 It's just when you've been doing it your whole life. I guess this is the first time I haven't had a football season in 26 years. So I've always had something to look forward to, Pop Warner, through middle school, high school, and college. And it's definitely – it's like off-season for life now. You know, it's definitely, it's like, you know, off season for life now. You know, I can wake up when I want, you know, kind of get into different business stuff, you know, as I want. And still kind of get my fix in football, whether, you know, go help a team out, go help high school kids out, or just watching it on TV, being a fan. Did you watch last night's game and the Tua hit?
Starting point is 00:13:26 Yeah, man. I honestly turned it off after that hit. It was a strange deal, him being out there, one. But I just feel for him, for his safety. And it was a sad deal, man. So you didn't watch any more of the game after that? No. Yeah, I turned it off, started watching Netflix. I mean, I've been in his situation a number of times,
Starting point is 00:13:51 and it's hard as a player to watch that happen to your friend, your teammate, and anybody in the game. It's hard to see somebody knocked out like that. So I turned it off. I didn't watch the rest of the game and, you know, just tried to kind of get away from it a little bit. Man, I feel obviously prayers up to him and his family. That's a tough deal.
Starting point is 00:14:17 What's it like when you're a teammate and something like that's going on on the field with one of your guys? It's tough, man. It's, you know, the game stops and you start to get, you know, more on a personal level of whoever's down. And, you know, I've been down like that too. I've been knocked out a couple times. And it's like you don't – like he's not going to remember much of it.
Starting point is 00:14:37 But, you know, everybody on the field, everybody, you know, praying for him. And it's hard to come back from that mid-game and and get you know all turned up again so you know i just feel for him and his family it's scary you have probably like spanned the you know beginning of your career where it was like all right concussions and then it turned into a non-stop topic and, it wasn't like I was in the league, but it was me talking about it constantly. It felt like every time we were coming to work, it felt like, oh, hey, there's another concussion topic to where it felt like all of these things were put into place. So how different was any kind of protocol from the beginning of your career
Starting point is 00:15:17 until just last year when you finished? The protocols have changed quite a bit since I entered the league. they've kind of developed an independent neurologist on the sideline so it's kind of taken the uh the decision out of the team doctor's hands to put a guy in which is great for the league because you know if you know you got a great player go down with injury and he says he's good he doesn't really know if he's good or not uh the team might put him back out there. Whereas now with the independent neurologist, they assess the situation on their own
Starting point is 00:15:52 and then get him in, get him back in. Based on a good baseline test, he has to take after the concussion. It's changed quite a bit. Now he has to go through a series of independent neurologists uh you know uh analy in analyzation on you know throughout the week and pass all these certain tests and stuff so it's harder to get back in i was actually shocked to see him playing last night um you know it was you know a scary hit he took last sund. And then to come back on a short week, usually when you get rattled like he does
Starting point is 00:16:29 and they see you wobbling, they'll pull you out. And you're usually out for the next week regardless. On a short week, it was strange to see him come back. And then I know once you get one concussion, it's easier to get a second and third one. They come back a lot easier. to get a second and third one they come back a lot easier but honestly like I remember I have a I have all my helmets saved from each year in a box and I was just messing around with them the other day and the helmets that I make now are so much better than they made like in 2012 2013 I remember I put my 2013
Starting point is 00:17:04 helmet on the other day, and I was like, I would never, if I had the choice to play in this helmet or the ones they make now, I would never play in the older helmets because they're just trash compared to what they're making now. The new helmets they're making now are amazing.
Starting point is 00:17:16 I haven't got a concussion in the past five years. I used to average one a year, but just the equipment is getting so much better. That's why I'm shocked to see guys even get knocked out like that. He took a hit with the ground, and the ground is obviously very unforgiving, whereas if you get hit head-to-head, it's not as big of a deal anymore as it used to be. But once you hit the ground like that, that ground doesn't budge. So especially on AstroTurf,
Starting point is 00:17:46 it's a tough hit to come back from. When we booked this, I didn't want to make, just so you know, we're not doing 30 minutes on concussions. So I'll make sure we pivot it to something that's going on. So you're sitting at home, you're watching on Sundays.
Starting point is 00:18:01 What do you see that surprises you? It doesn't even have to be team or player specific. Let's start with something a little bit more broad. Watching the game on television for the first time. Yeah. What is that like? Are you learning things or are you going, wow, nobody actually knows what they're talking about?
Starting point is 00:18:16 What's that experience like for you? Well, I like to watch the games on mute. I put music in the background because I don't like, I just kind of like to analyze it myself and just kind of formulate my own opinions. Once guys get into their opinions and stuff like that, I try to think about who's talking and now it's like, I'd rather just listen to music and kind of formulate my own opinion. So I've been doing that for the past 10 years. And it's like, it's a, it's a much more relaxing state to watch the game in for me. So, so I can just be a fan. Um, the that I that I noticed in in watching more
Starting point is 00:18:48 games on TV, especially at the NFL level is there's so much stoppage in the game. It's like, usually when I'm in the game, you know, I'm getting ready for the next drive. I'm thinking about what we're doing offensively, and I'm busy on the sideline. And then watching it as a fan, it's like, they stop the game every,, like, you know, three or four minutes. And it's like TV timeout. And then it's like, all right, you know, now I'm looking for my next beer, getting a wine or something. So that's different for me now. But, you know, it's still an amazing, amazing game.
Starting point is 00:19:20 I think there's a bunch of great teams, obviously, right now. You know, it's a unique league, man. You truly never know who's going to win. I never know who's going to win any game. Was it weird for you going from New England to Miami? Did you show up? When you leave New England, and every guy, you know, granted, I'm a little closer to it just because of being where I'm from,
Starting point is 00:19:43 but it feels like every time a guy leaves New England, the next group is like, okay, what did they do up there? But in your case, I don't know. I think they were bringing you in, and there were already other people on board on top of everything else. I'm going back and looking at that first year just to make – all right, so Gase was the coach that year. So that was before Flores got there.
Starting point is 00:20:00 So what's that like when you go in division, you leave a place like New England? A lot of a lot of uh you know extra meetings with coaches they're kind of picking my brain and like what are they doing down there on wednesday i'm like what are they doing on that thursday and it's just like all right what did you you know they're trying to get you know coach belichick's mindset you know uh tom's mindset when we were when we i left to go to to Miami because Tom was still there. They had a lot of success up in New England,
Starting point is 00:20:30 so everybody was trying to kind of pick my brain for the Cliff Notes. The temperature, obviously, was a little different. I remember going from the snow down to Miami. I thawed out, and we had a late game in Buffalo that next year. Just going from Miami back up to Buffalo, you realize how cold it is. You get used to it when you're up there, but
Starting point is 00:20:53 when you're out and you thaw out in Miami, it's hard to get back up there and play in snow. That's the other thing that took me by surprise. I know you're asked about it all the time, but what do you see when you watch Brady now? I mean, he's still the same player to me.
Starting point is 00:21:11 He's doing great passes. He knows where the ball's going to go usually before the play. So he's still head and shoulders above a lot of the good quarterbacks in the league. He's top two, top three to me. Still playing at an extremely high level. You saw that scramble he had last week where he got called back, but he's still moving well. He looks great.
Starting point is 00:21:38 He's still the same player to me. Help me understand then the difference between, and it's not like, Hey, not everybody's Brady. Cause I think we get that because of the resume, but something that you learn in working with your quarterbacks, where guys can be different about like, whether it's the hand signals, whether it's,
Starting point is 00:21:55 Hey, if you're in the slot that he liked, it felt like new England for a really long time. They're like, although you kind of lined up all over the place. Now that I remember it, but it just felt like there was a different approach that he would have where
Starting point is 00:22:07 everybody was forced to get on the same page with him or you weren't going to get the ball anymore. So what is that like, like quarterback to quarterback, the styles and that relationship and building that kind of stuff that you've had in all your different spots? Yeah, so what I learned with Brady in regards to other quarterbacks is just his
Starting point is 00:22:23 ability to operate and communicate pre-snap. You know, I've, when I got, when I got to new England, you know, Tom,
Starting point is 00:22:32 we'd go in motion and we try to, you know, get, analyze the defense and get an indication on what defense they're playing before the snap. And so we'll, we'll send a guy in motion or, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:43 send them across the line and then back. So, you know, it'll, you know, we'll get a picture of their or you know send them across the line and then back so you know it'll you know we'll get a picture of their playing manner zone and then if it's a zone what what zone they're gonna play so we'll we'll go in motion i remember the first time this happened i'll go in motion in new england and and i'll uh go across the line and but by the time i get across the center brady's telling me what coverage it is already. So we already have a great understanding of what the defense is doing pre-snap. So it makes your job that much easier post-snap. And again, he really knows what throw,
Starting point is 00:23:17 depending on the concept that we're running offensively, he knows where the ball's going before the snap. And that just makes it that much easier on the quarterback. You know, a lot of young guys, I always say it takes two or three years to really understand how to operate pre-snap and then get into the play and then know where the ball's going. And then you kind of see young quarterbacks coming into the league and they just don't know how to operate like that.
Starting point is 00:23:41 He's been doing it for so long that he's like a coach on the field, basically. I understand the concept of the option routes, but I'd heard with New England, it's always a little different in that it gets up to you to understand the coverage
Starting point is 00:23:57 where instead of like, oh, I just have leverage, so I'm going to cut it inside or I'm going to cut it outside. You can be getting it wrong even if you think you have leverage because you're making a coverage decision. So it's a little bit more complicated.
Starting point is 00:24:10 It is. You have to, as a receiver in New England, in that offense, when I came in, I had a great understanding of defenses. So I pretty much knew what coverage they're in. In teams disguised, Buffalo does a great job of, you know, disguising with their defense and same with Miami. But if you have an understanding as a slot player of what coverage is going to be and understanding leverage and understand what the defense is trying to do,
Starting point is 00:24:37 you know, the certain nuances of each defense and each player in the defensive scheme, if you can understand that as an offensive player, then I mean, you can pick apart the defense. And that's something that I really learned in preparation there. And it propelled my career probably three or four extra years and just understanding what they're going to try to take away and then use that, manipulate the coverage against them and then get open that way. Okay, so let's say hypothetical. I'm a Raiders fan
Starting point is 00:25:09 watching my team, watching Josh McDaniels. I'm going, when do we get to do that stuff after an 0-3 start? It's very simple to say, hey, they don't have Brady and they don't have the same stuff, but what is it about Josh as a coordinator versus the head coach here where, look, it's very early, but off the Denver stuff too,
Starting point is 00:25:26 you hear things. I don't know. Like, what do you think the frustrating part there is for that? I think it comes down to each individual player. And then in time, really, and experience, I think, you know, they're my dark horse. I was, you know, I'm rooting for the Raiders, man. I know they got a great squad.
Starting point is 00:25:45 They've got great receivers and players. I haven't been able to watch too many of their games yet, but everybody knows how their season has started. I think they've just got to get out and get more experience. They'll start winning games here in a bit. They're going to be a good team at the end, I think, but it just comes down to experience, getting on the same page with everybody and learn how,
Starting point is 00:26:07 learn how to operate. So, you know, I know they got great players and, and I love Renfro and what he does in the slot. Obviously Devante does a lot of great things. Their tight end is awesome. They just got to get on the same page. They're working and it's a long season. So we'll see how it turns out.
Starting point is 00:26:23 When people look at Renfro, I'm sure there's high school kids everywhere being like, well, I could do. What is it that he does that every other undersized white slot guy can't do? Because it's really easy for people to get the visual part of it and be like, oh, that guy's never going to be an NFL player, and he's really good. Right. No, he's sneaky fast.
Starting point is 00:26:43 He has great feet. He has a good. Right. No, he's sneaky fast. He has a great – he has great feet. He has a good stride. Like, he can get around the edge on guys. He's crafty. He's smart. He catches the ball well. He's tough. And, you know, I love his game.
Starting point is 00:26:57 I love the routes that they put in for him to kind of not only, you know, get open on the first or second read, but they'll put in plays where he has almost like a triple move. He'll run that out and up, back in, and then back up, which turns him into the number three in the progression. But they offer him a great route tree, and even though he's not the first read, like he's, they, they, they allow him to get open late, which is,
Starting point is 00:27:31 which is really good as a slot player. Cause you can kind of take your time, let the defense kind of settle and, and get into their coverage. And then he'll make a late move, like a, a late move, like anticipated late move. And then he, then he's wide open, which, you know, you need time to do that. You know, it's not quick game. You know, it's not three-step drop, let it roll. Whereas, you know, it's three-step a hitch, let Renfro move late and then hit him, which I really like to see.
Starting point is 00:27:58 It just takes time and, you know, time within the play and protection up front. So we know Devontae's there, leaves Green Bay. time within the play and protection up front. We know Devontae's there, leaves Green Bay. We know the Rodgers story for whatever version of it, not happy. You see that first week and you go, uh-oh.
Starting point is 00:28:16 Since then, Lazard looks like he's a real guy. Not that I was dismissive before, but there are moments now and his size and on top of that, the way the guy can block and everything, it just feels like whatever was missing that first week, Rodgers figures out a way. And I think Lazard may be the next Packer guy that we weren't paying enough attention to. No, I love Lazard. I remember we played him. I was in Detroit. We
Starting point is 00:28:40 played him on, it was a Thursday night game in Lazard. It was kind of when somebody had gone down, I think on their, in their receiving court. I don't know if Devante played or something. And Lazard showed up off practice squad, caught a go ball for a touchdown fade for a touchdown. I was like, this guy's a player.
Starting point is 00:28:55 He plays big, kind of like Mike Evans a little bit where he plays big. He's strong. He has, you know, a great catch radius and, you know, ultimately he's a dog,
Starting point is 00:29:04 man. And I love that yeah that feels like um it feels like it's one where i go like the week one minnesota loss like all right now i guess i'm not factoring in any of that stuff and rogers i've heard too like rogers talks more shit than any other guy on the field is that true i've had a i've had unique experience with uh aaron i'll get to a quick story but i've always ever seen him at the derby so we we always have like a great time together and uh whenever i remember one time um we're playing the packers i was in uh i was in detroit and they picked the ball off i was on offense they picked the ball off on defense but i had to go make the tackle on the packers
Starting point is 00:29:52 sideline and then you know aaron was already in between the hashes ready to go on offense by the time i crossed over the hash marks and go run over to my other sideline i was like tired as hell trying to try to tackle and and he he has a big grin on his face and they're kicking our ass at this point. So I was, I was running across the field and Aaron goes, uh, just smiling. He's like, Hey man, uh, are you going to go to the Derby this year? And, and I, uh, I was laughing. I'm like, I'm, you know, I have snot bubbles coming. I'm tired. I like can barely breathe. And I was laughing. I'm like, I have snot bubbles coming. I'm tired. I can barely breathe.
Starting point is 00:30:27 I'm trying to make a tackle as an offensive guy, which I suck at tackling. And he's cheesing. He's talking shit. He's like, are you going to go to the derby? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. After the game, but we'll see. But yeah, he's crafty.
Starting point is 00:30:39 He's crafty with his trash talk, which I like. This is the part where it's like, oh, I'm not trying to get Danny into trouble here. Well, you played with Brady, so I already know the answer here. Brady's got the better resume, but is there an argument to be made that Rodgers is the more talented quarterback?
Starting point is 00:31:01 I think just with his ability to throw the ball is incredible. Arm angles, again, he's on the same level as Tom in terms of operation of the offense. If you've got guys that are consistently snapping the ball at three, two seconds on the play clock, then he's really analyzing the defensive and really kind of
Starting point is 00:31:26 doing his best to use all his knowledge to to get the ball in the right place given that play and you know you see Peyton doing it back in the day Brett Favre did it back in the day you know Tom does it and and if you can give your offense that you know the most allotted time in the play clock and then you're gonna give your your offensive best um position to to be successful that's something that aaron does i mean his ability to throw the ball i mean you see stafford you see brady you see aaron you know there's a couple other guys obviously my homes and and and really there's there's probably five, six of them, Herbert, guys that can just really throw the ball. And obviously, Aaron and Tom will say it, you know, in meetings and stuff, we'll be watching Aaron and he's just so pure with it.
Starting point is 00:32:17 It's, I mean, he's a natural thrower, which, you know, it's hard to find guys like that. which, you know, it's hard to find guys like that. Yeah, the arm angle stuff is, you know, again, the resumes aren't close, but some of the arm angle stuff that, you know, I'm just kind of looking at when I'm watching college guys, which, you know, you're not going to see it a ton. I think it's kind of the craze now of after the Mahomes thing, the baseball part of it where you're like, hey, can you have the worst foundation?
Starting point is 00:32:44 Can your body be a mess? hey can you have the worst foundation can your body be a mess and can you still get the ball out 50 yards and like some of the stuff we're seeing now uh it's it's it's absurd so it feels like that's what everybody kind of wants when rogers in a weird way is just always he's always had it uh yeah, and anyway, okay. When you were in St. Louis and you've got somebody where you're coming back every year and you mentioned, you say, I think it takes like two or three years.
Starting point is 00:33:13 Unfortunately for Bradford, we know the injury history, you know, poor guy. Um, I think a lot of us agree that he was super talented. It just, it just wasn't happening.
Starting point is 00:33:22 Couldn't stay. How hard is that as, as the teammate where you know everybody's starting to talk, you know, there's this top pick, and it's not really working out, and you're wondering if you're going to get replaced? Because we go through these waves every single season
Starting point is 00:33:34 with the next group of four or five guys and be like, hey, this might be his last year as a starter. How tough is that for a team when you're not winning and it feels like this top pick just isn't the answer? For him, it was really more injuries, but that's going to be just brutal exhausting mentally for a team no doubt no doubt i mean you know bradford was the guy came in and offensive rookie of the year you know amazing arm talent you know smart kid tall kid you know can read defenses and throw a great ball you know
Starting point is 00:34:04 unfortunately with the game we play it's it's you know it's tough and throw a great ball you know unfortunately with the game we play it's it's you know it's tough to stay healthy the injury rate is 100 pretty much and you know he he had i think he had two or three acls where it's like you know you take you know three years in a row you're rehabbing for nine months a year and it's it's hard to stay healthy um but as a player you know when you don't know who your guys are going to and it's it's hard to stay healthy um but as a player you know when you don't know who your guys are going to be it's it's it's tough however i think you know with competition with you know if there's a quarterback competition usually you know the the best guy rises up and the talent's there just out of pure competition and you end up playing pretty good where you know
Starting point is 00:34:43 you got guys that are maybe established and they might fall off at the end or you know but i don't know it's always tough to go into a season and you don't know who your quarterback's going to be or or who's going to be calling plays who's going to operate because you you really need to have a good understanding as a receiver at running back tight end how the, how the play calling is going to be and how he's going to operate pre-snap. And if you don't have that, you don't have those reps, then it's always harder to get into the playoffs
Starting point is 00:35:12 and play good late. Who's your favorite of the young QBs now, then? Oh, I like Herbert, man. He's got a great talent. He's tough. He played through that rib injury last week, which I was really surprised. Ribs are hard, especially as a quarterback,
Starting point is 00:35:30 but he's got great talent, man. I like him. Yeah, we were really surprised when he was in there when it was 38-10. Yeah, I know. But he's a tough kid, man. I think he handles himself well. He's a pro.
Starting point is 00:35:45 He answers the questions right. I like his talent. He needs Keenan Allen back, but I think he's coming back off the hammy, so he'll be back soon. Yeah, but see, this brings it full circle. We've got a couple more minutes. Herbert goes back to that Kansas City game because he's the quarterback. If he doesn't, then dudes look at him differently.
Starting point is 00:36:06 They still almost won that game. Then here he is playing a week later because he's the quarterback and he's staying out there. You're doing what I would do too, giving him credit. One of the first adjectives you used was tough. You're seeking, you want to prove to your teammates when you play that position that you're tough all the time when almost all of us know, I don't know maybe maybe give it a week or christ you know it's
Starting point is 00:36:30 up to staley to take them out of the fucking game yeah in that situation when you're down that many touchdowns how hard is that knowing because like i said in the open with the concussion part of this like everybody's freaked out you turned off the game but if it were you you'd be trying to find a way to get back in there i don't know that that's ever going to be solved because that's the culture of your job no question i mean you know as a competitor as a pure competitor you know you want to be in there regardless of you know if you can walk usually or you can usually if you finish a game like he did you you know, usually you're going to be in the game the next week. But, you know, I've seen it a couple – I've seen it a few times where guys,
Starting point is 00:37:11 you know, get in, get back in too early and end up hurting their season. You know, they never really get back to 90%. They're operating at 60% at a quarterback or any position, really. But that competitive nature, you want to play and you want to get out there and show your teammates you can play through being injured. But at the end of the day, sometimes you've just really got to cost analyze and understand maybe this week isn't for me. And I've been in that position a lot.
Starting point is 00:37:43 And it's a tough pill to swallow as a competitor. It sucks being on the sideline when you're like almost ready to play and you really think you could get out there. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's a business, man. And you got to operate for whatever's best for the team. And if it's you on the sideline that week, if it gives you a better chance to win a game the next week, if you have that, then that sometimes is the right way to go. I always kind of think about that Edelman hit against Seattle and then coming back. Dude, I picked him up off the ground when he went down
Starting point is 00:38:19 and kid had snot bubbles all over his face. He was sweaty. His face was so red. He was legitimately in the zone and i was like dude and i we all me and jules always have this thing whereas if he gets he gets hit really hard or if i get hit really hard and we start stumbling or i'll go grab him and and just hold him up and maybe it looks like we're celebrating or like you know but i'll just grab him and just let them give them like, give them like 10, 15 seconds of just chilling. And like, I'll just tell them, don't move.
Starting point is 00:38:50 Just, just stand right here. And so he can kind of regroup kind of like a boxer, a fighter, you know, the ref goes and grabs them and holds them for a second and, and just make sure he gets his, his wits around him. That play was one of the hardest, Cam Chancellor hit him across the middle. It was one of the hardest hits I've ever seen in my life. And he gets up.
Starting point is 00:39:08 He's still moving. He's trying to fight for extra yards. And it's just a testament to what kind of player he is, what kind of warrior he is. And, you know, he ended up finishing it. He felt great. Ended up finishing the game. And we got the dub.
Starting point is 00:39:22 Obviously, he scored on that drive, I think. Well, that's the point. He scored on that like that pivot route there which is brutal if you have you know like i don't know what you do with that if you have the right coverage on it but it's kind of like that hit was so brutal it's cam chancellor who's a defensive end playing safety oh yeah he's awesome and that route particularly we we love that route that he scored on we ran a lot of them because they lost lane in that early in that game uh their db lane and then all their other corners were they had there were like six two so they had really long legs and their change of direction wasn't as quick as you know our shorter receivers so we loved the change the quick change of
Starting point is 00:40:01 direction routes that he ran a slant in the back out. And once you have a longer cornerback, their legs turn over so much and it's harder for them to get out of breaks as quickly as a shorter player. So that's why we came back to that. Yeah. No, man, it was like he's back in the game. But it's one of those moments where you're like, yeah, it worked out. Yeah, man. He's a, he's a great player, man. It was awesome to, uh, to line up with him, uh, for five years. So. Well, thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it. Enjoy Austin and enjoy the couch on Sundays.
Starting point is 00:40:37 All right, Danny. Good to see you, man. This week, Aaron judge hit number 61 in Toronto. And everybody was like, what are you going to do with the ball? Well, when your best friend catches it, you get to ask him. Matt Bushman of the Toronto Blue Jays, retired professional baseball player, now with the coaching staff. You were in the bullpen.
Starting point is 00:41:02 What's up, man? What's up? How's it going? Good. As a celebrity, I know you're finishing up golf. Paparazzi up there in Toronto following you around? What's it been like? No, just Frankie Lasagna following me around. Just wanting to ask me why I didn't throw him the ball. Let's back up to the start of the day. You've got the Yankees. You guys are in second place. You're fighting.
Starting point is 00:41:29 You're out of the division, but whatever. That's not a critique here. The point is I have two observations about baseball players. I'll get to the second one a little bit later. The first one is that the bullpen, people do not understand how bored you are collectively, despite how locked in you have to be later on. But the boredom of being around a baseball team every day, like I was in the minors and going, okay, the bullpen just talks about the most nonsensical shit all day long. What were the conversations like leading up to
Starting point is 00:41:55 the what if scenarios if judge hit 61 to the bullpen like he did? Yeah, we I mean, there was conversations on like, all right, if we catch it, are we splitting it evenly amongst the bullpen? Do we have like a runner that's like in the underneath hallway that you get it, you throw it right to him, he sprints out, you know, like, and you're just doing a bait and switch and, you know, everyone's running around looking for the ball and then we got. um but i think it was just like because you talk about it and i guess 62 was the one that was going for like a couple million and it's like you know at the end of the day it's like that's a good that's a good chunk of money is it worth the just the horrific headlines um holding the ball hostage maybe uh you know or but then it just looks like you know basically it comes down to there's millionaires in a bullpen holding a ball hostage from another millionaire to get more millions you know so it was trying to it was at the point where it's like probably not going to go that route yeah i can't imagine especially for somebody like you who is not uh maybe at the salary status
Starting point is 00:43:02 of of the players out in the bullpen, it probably would ruin your career if you decided, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm Matt Bushman and I'm the bullpen coach and I kept the baseball. What's up? I think the commissioner would probably get involved at some point. I don't know that that would be the best career move for somebody like you who's going to be a GM one day. Yeah, no, not the smartest or best or best. Um, but, uh, you know, it's cool, but I think it's a little bit of a, the baseball fraternity too. You know, I, I said, I said it was like the, once it was in my hands, I wasn't, I surely wasn't going to throw it up in the stands because I didn't want to be part of that equation. You know, it's like the trolley experiment.
Starting point is 00:43:42 You don't want to be the one that pulls the lever and throws it up and gives it to the person. So, but yeah, no, for sure. Once we had it, it was like I wanted to get it back to him. Okay. All right. So let's go to got it. Let's stay on that timeline. Then he's up to bat and it's right at you guys.
Starting point is 00:43:59 But it looks like a fan maybe has a chance to make a play. So take us through, you know, the pitch, the contact, and you're're sitting there or it looks like you guys were standing i don't know so take us through it yeah well we had someone warming up and i was uh standing behind him jimmy garcia and um tim maize was on the mound and you know we talked about how i was gonna face him and i think he was just gonna keep throwing sinkers to him, you know, we're trying to guess what pitch he's going to throw the next pitch. And then as soon as he hit it, I knew it was gone. And I was like, oh, this is upset for Tim. We're in the game.
Starting point is 00:44:34 We're trying to win the game. But then I look up and it kind of hit me once it, like, bounced to me. And for that moment, I just looked around and go, Oh, there's a lot more cops around here. There's a lot more everyone around here and everyone's looking at me. And so my immediate thought was, well, this is probably going to be broken down on John boys, but don't do anything stupid. And then, um, I just took it and walked back. Cause I, I knew every, all these fans were there. And, you know, like at some level at the money we're talking about for the ball, I'm like, is anybody going to jump down? You know, some guy's guy going for like two broken ankles, jumping down in our bullpen. Um, and so I just flipped it to another
Starting point is 00:45:13 coach that's in our bullpen, David Howe, partly to just see him freak out that he's holding the ball. And he just, he just gripped it tight and just hit it, you know, like he's holding it. And I said, we'll figure it out after, you know, because there's a pitcher for us forming up. So I want to make sure he got in the game. And then it was like, what do we do with it? Everyone's looking at him. What did you think about the fan and the attempt? Well, I was like, man, I thought he had a chance at it.
Starting point is 00:45:41 And then, you know, it wasn't until after the game, you start seeing all the reaction shots and you just feel horrible and then his name is just perfect and it's just all the different things um but you know in my mind it's like there was a chance man you brought your glove you're ready for it and it didn't go down and so i think at that point just uh i think we just wanted to get it back to judge okay so you hand it to one of the other coaches. And, you know, it's really easy to forget for everybody caught up in it that you are, in fact, still trying to win a baseball game. And you have to monitor how your bullpen looks,
Starting point is 00:46:18 how the next guy going in, you know, like, all right, what do we think? Let's look at their, like, you're still going through all these mechanics of figuring out how to play out a game that you're in you know in then then what happens like the other dynamic of well the people coming for the baseball don't care about any of that stuff and certainly you do so what happened well so then all of a sudden there there's just a large contingent of people behind the bullpen. And the way Toronto works is our bullpen is kind of underneath. And so behind it, it's not like a regular bullpen. It's like the corridor, the walkway.
Starting point is 00:46:57 And so all of a sudden, there's just a bunch of people back there. And our security guard comes up and goes, Hey, what do you want me to do with these people? And I'm like, I don't want to think about that right now. We're holding the ball. I get it, but I don't know who they are. I don't, I maybe they're a major league baseball authenticators. I'm pretty sure a bunch of Yankees like security and people, they really want the ball. And I was a little bit not happy that he hit it. I was mad for Tim. And I just said, Hey, just tell him we'll, we'll let him know after the game. I said, you know, like sweat a little bit.
Starting point is 00:47:25 I said, tell him we'll, we'll get to him after he has a game going on. And so they're kind of standing there and our security guys did a great job. And they said, Hey, not right now. And so I'm sitting there just, you know, like, I mean, trying to just calm everything down. We're still trying to win the game. And then I see Zach Britton walk over. Cause you can kind of walk around this corridor from there both then. And I said, as soon as I saw him, I said, give it to give it to Zach, because I know him. I know the ball will get to where it needs to get to. And, you know, I felt better giving it to him.
Starting point is 00:47:55 And then we didn't have to worry about it anymore. But it was just, you know, after the fact, you're just like, that was nuts. You know, because I really hadn't thought too much about it until all of a sudden it's like everyone's locked in on this ball right because the second observation that i would make about baseball players is you get irrationally pissed off at other people quicker than any group of human beings walking the planet and i can only imagine like there are yankees officials going all right we want the ball and you're in an inning and then i would go oh cool baseball players have an excuse to get pissed off about something. There had to have been a little tension there from whether it were you or other people in the bullpen being like, can we get through the fucking inning?
Starting point is 00:48:36 Well, that's one. If you're ever around a bullpen in September of a major league season, it's already a little hot. It's the end of the season everyone's a little bit over it and you know everyone's kind of running a little spicy you know guys throw out takes and everyone's just coming back hot you know to whatever they're saying so it was kind of funny but yeah like it was just like you know i think our bullpen catcher is like hey we got a game going on get out of here you know he's yelling and and so it just was you could tell it was just like all of it. And, you know, obviously we're trying not to give up the home run. We don't want to be the ones that give up 61. And, um, so all that's kind of just broiling. It's like, Ooh, this could get, this would get weird here in a second. But, um, once
Starting point is 00:49:18 that came over, I think it calmed everything down. So your wife, also one of my close friends, Sarah Walsh, uh uh she started tweeting away immediately that you guys are going to have to have a discussion uh based on how quickly you gave up the baseball and the value of that uh how's that going uh we're still in negotiations to to get back in the good graces with her. Um, but, uh, no, it was funny cause the, it wasn't the, when I walked in the locker room, you know, staff and, and some front office people were there. The first comment wasn't, so you caught the ball. It was,
Starting point is 00:49:54 did you see your wife's tweet? And I said, Oh boy, like this is going to be great. And so it's just funny how that's taken off. And, uh, so it's just, it's interesting. She's talking about it on, on some other off. And, uh, so it's just, it's interesting. She's talking about it on, on some other shows. So, um, I think it was funny that it was the bigger thing was not that I caught the ball, but that my wife tweeted that she's going to divorce me. So we're still working through it. I got to play golf today too. That didn't help. Right. Yeah, no, I know. And she's only dealing with a hurricane. So, uh, there's a lot of things stacked against you right now.
Starting point is 00:50:25 We were joking about it last night because, you know, I called you after and we were just BSing about a bunch of stuff. But do you think anyone in Major League Baseball would argue to keep it? Like, I just, I think there was probably people that talk it, but there is like at some point it's like, just think of the headline, you know, like, you know, and I it's like, just think of the headline, you know, like, you know, and I, and I, they've already said like, let us know if we can do anything. I'm sure there'll be something we figure out. Um, you know, I think the Yankees will and Aaron will do
Starting point is 00:50:55 everything they need to do, but yeah, I don't, you know, I can't imagine. Yeah, but like for you, like, what are you doing to do? Get a Jersey? Like that doesn't, that does nothing to you. Are you going to get tickets? You work every... Hey, in my spare time, I'm going to go catch a Yankees game. So I don't expect that you would ask for anything. I wouldn't imagine anyone that puts on a uniform, and not to sound cheesy, but walks in between the lines would go, no.
Starting point is 00:51:19 I mean, granted, if we wanted to really brainstorm, who would be the one guy in Major League Baseball that would keep it or argue to keep it? Maybe we can come up with a list of two or three names. But I've just seen all the tweets being like, oh, congratulating you. It's not a lottery ticket. I didn't win the scratchers. So it was funny.
Starting point is 00:51:41 And it's just that all the takes on Twitter are really funny. So at the end of the day, it's just, yeah, I don't know. Maybe I try to get something for the guys in the pen. I said the other thought was I should have just, as they do in New York, I should have just thrown it back. Imagine I just threw it back on the field like the fans do. That would have been an all-timer because then it still gets to them. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:05 It still gets to them. I just throw it back. I don't want it. I think you screwed up. That would have set a real tone if you guys face each other in the playoffs. I know.
Starting point is 00:52:13 I know. That's the one regret I have. Okay. Well, thanks, man. It's, as everybody knows, this is the number one Blue Jays podcast
Starting point is 00:52:22 in North America. So we were able to get you on. Obviously. Yeah. No, to get you on. Obviously. Yeah, no, I appreciate being on. All right. It's been too long. We'll break down baseball next time. Thanks, man.
Starting point is 00:52:32 Yeah, absolutely. Thanks. Before we get to life advice, we'll throw out our picks for this week. Thanks to FanDuel. And apparently people did not solve gambling. Well, can I just say, I think my pick last week, I had the alt bills line and the alt under.
Starting point is 00:52:56 And okay, I think at the end I said, how could this possibly lose? It did lose. But in my defense, the bill should have won that game. It's bullshit. So we're getting we're not getting scared we're trusting the process that the method still works the individual i'm not saying i'm gonna go like 100 the whole season but i'm gonna we're good i found a sweet spot here
Starting point is 00:53:13 you're not gonna go 100 no no and i've already we've confirmed that i lost last week so it's not about going 100 but you got to trust the process and i'm gonna go back to the well again here uh again another alt line alt spread give-spread. Give me the Cleveland Browns. They're actually favored on the road in Atlanta. I'm going to tease that down. I'm going to take the Browns plus 3.5. So even if they lose by a field goal, you still win this. And I'm going to take over 40.5 points in that game
Starting point is 00:53:36 because I think both teams score. I actually kind of like Atlanta. Like Marcus Mariota is kind of fun to watch, even though that team's not that good. I think there'll be points in that game. So Browns plus 3.5, over 40.5. That's about even odds. Again, I'll say it.
Starting point is 00:53:49 How could that possibly be? Very nice. All right. I lost. Kyle, did you lose? We all lost, right? Yeah, I lost. I erased it off the board.
Starting point is 00:53:59 I couldn't even tell you what it was. 22-7? 22-7. We're actually 5-4. Here we go. You're not counting mine from the other picks but that's fine oh wait you know what you're right it doesn't matter it doesn't matter that's not the bet my apologies yeah um go ahead okay um i also do it an underdog i like the jaguars plus six and a half uh at the eagles and then i'm gonna go i'm gonna go the
Starting point is 00:54:24 under just so we can get this into plus territory. And that's going to be plus 230. Under is 45 and a half, which that seems a little low for an under. Kyle takes risky bets. You've been in the plus 200, 300 range. What's the point? For best bets.
Starting point is 00:54:39 What's the point? A million dollars, by the way. I'm putting a million dollars on it. What? I hope that works out for you. Putting a million fake dollars on it. Oh. Yeah, we're not doing the. A million dollars, by the way. I'm putting a million dollars on it. What? I hope that works out for you. Putting a million fake dollars on it. Yeah, we're not doing the fake money thing. Ever since Cannell ruined it.
Starting point is 00:54:50 Cannell ruined so many of our games. He did, yeah. He did. Cannell is a little bit pedantic. He's kind of a correction guy. Is he? Yeah. A little bit. Just to AP voters or people in general?
Starting point is 00:55:06 Just the SEC people. Yeah. Okay. Just people in the South. I guess that wasn't the first descriptor I would have for, for Connell.
Starting point is 00:55:13 No, I didn't say, I said a little bit. It's not like his main personality. No. But he could be a little bit correcting. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:18 I don't, I don't think that was a core tenant of him. All right. I'm going to go, let's see, the most public betting. Again, I'm going to go let's see the most public betting again, number of bets, not
Starting point is 00:55:28 money. More bets placed on Arizona minus or actually now they're plus one and a half. God, the odds for this are, let me double check here on another site. Right now we're staying with the public play
Starting point is 00:55:43 and betting against them. Last week, I really hated it and finally lost, but I didn't like it the week before either against Dallas in the backup. 83% of the bets are on Arizona. Real quickly, we'll double check because the line seems to be
Starting point is 00:55:59 in some dispute based on the open. I got Panthers minus one and a half. Give me the Panthers favored at home against Arizona because everybody's betting Arizona in this game. So give me that. I'm laying one and a half for a favorite here. Okay. You have like the weekly
Starting point is 00:56:15 I hate myself bet. It's just like it might be a good bet, but it's just. Oh, well, that's the way it works. That's the whole process. You're going to be giving out ones you're like that makes no sense, but you know what also doesn't work? Hey, this team's good. Yeah. That team stinks. Take the favorite it works. That's the whole process. You're going to be giving out ones you're like, that makes no sense. But you know what also doesn't work? Hey, this team's good. Yeah. That team stinks.
Starting point is 00:56:28 Take the favorite every week. Yeah. I'm just going to do that. They'll win by a touchdown. They'll definitely win by seven. So, all right, there you go. Those are our picks. Check out FanDuel Sportsbook, the number one sportsbook in America.
Starting point is 00:56:41 You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 cabriolet what's up i have a ridiculous house in the south fork i have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids i am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required life advice life advice are at gmail.com okay we have a bunch of stuff just a community of topics here that people want follow-up on i think we start with the frolic room scammer here uh it's now an la times article uh did they reach out to you because the author of
Starting point is 00:57:20 from the la times actually was like for fans of the ryan rusillo podcast you may remember so were you were you cited in the piece kyle i was not cited in the piece and also uh the guy he'd spent a couple like i think full days in frolic room i don't want to speak for the guy but that's kind of what i heard and every time i was always just like my guys were like fuck you missed the guy dude he was here for like four hours. He was funny, actually. He's pretty cool. And I was like, God, I missed the guy. So I missed him on two separate occasions.
Starting point is 00:57:49 And yeah, you know, the podcast wasn't mentioned in the article at all. I thought for a little bit more space, but, you know, maybe there's some follow-ups from that guy that'll come. So who knows? How did he get tipped off to it? Did he? Because I listen, I'm not going to I didn't read the article. This is like me in high school with reading assignments. I didn't do it.
Starting point is 00:58:09 So I'll just assume to not know. But I figured that I figured the podcast would have tipped that off. Like, hey, this this sketchy guy is going to the frog room. I got to do some more investigation. So I don't know. I think I think the guy had a lot of like, I think this guy's maybe a crime reporter or maybe somebody who is a crime reporter turned him onto it. So I think that there was a lot of cases piling up against this guy.
Starting point is 00:58:30 And you know what I had heard from just through the grapevine for people actually tied up in cases with them that, you know, the police were like, you know, we kind of need a little bit more to go after him. Like we can't, I know he took you like $3,000 from you,
Starting point is 00:58:42 but we really can't like do anything. So I think they, um, there was a one guy that, that I knew that a couple of my friends knew that was like, lost a lot more than that. And he was like paying attention to it. So he was like, he was saying, finally, the detective once, I think it was, I don't know, a couple of months ago was saying that, yeah, there's about 12 cases now on this guy. So, you know, we're, we're gearing up to do something about it. So, I mean, maybe that's how the reporter found out if he's a crime guy, but yeah, I'd love to hear more. And, uh, he says that in his tweets, he says that maybe there's more to come. So I'd read it. I
Starting point is 00:59:13 think, uh, I think we could have done a little more frolic because the thing that I didn't understand is what we know as podcast family and everyone that listens know how weird the Super Bowl thing was. And the Super Bowl thing kind of just got glossed over. The only reason it was so weird was because he didn't actually gain anything from it. A lot of that thing was about who he's taking money from. And it's like, yeah, classic grifter stuff. This is like insane psychopath thing with what happened with the Super Bowl. So I just wish that got a little bit more shine for how absurd it was.
Starting point is 00:59:43 Yeah, that's a nice little addition to it now in fairness to the article and the writer like you're right kyle this guy has cases all over the place and he's got this incredible background i mean hell we even had what a guy emailing in from new york saying this is the same guy yeah so i mean think about the trail that this dude has left behind and so i didn't expect you know and i think the podcast was gonna be mentioned but the frolic room part of it but i think you're also right like that would give the reader a different perspective is that in this case he wasn't even getting anything from it he just bummed out a ton of regulars at the frolic room who were like making plans those guys are taking pictures of him still he's like like, up, saw bloom on the bus today. They're posting stuff on Instagram.
Starting point is 01:00:25 This one guy, uh, one of the, the old vet I was telling you about and on the, um, in the frolic room, I'm following him on Instagram now. And he's like criminal on the run.
Starting point is 01:00:34 He's got a picture of him running across the crosswalk. He's like 1230 PM today. so he's still in the mix. He's still out and about. Yeah. He's bailed out, but I think he missed his court date. So I think he's actually technically a fugitive right now, or, or at least there's like a bench warrant for him or's still out and about. Yeah, he's bailed out, but I think he missed his court date. So I think he's actually technically
Starting point is 01:00:46 a fugitive right now, or at least there's like a bench warrant for him or something. That doesn't, yeah, that doesn't sound like a guy that shows up to his court date. Where can we follow you on Instagram so people can get just the,
Starting point is 01:00:56 I want to blow up your social media this week. Oh, well, I'm probably not going to be doing anything extra frolicky when it comes to our guy, David Bloom. We can say his name now because he's in the paper, David Bloom. It's TomShady300, like everything else. That's my Venmo, too. So we pivoted right from the Conn Hart story into, hey, just a heads up.
Starting point is 01:01:20 The one last thing on that story that I thought was really illuminating for me was that, did you read it, Ryan? No. God damn it. Alright, well, there's this thing about his wife, and I'll just leave it in there. I mean, it's an LA Times thing. You guys can all find it. I will read it today. I promise you that. What this guy did to his ex-wife was just horrendous.
Starting point is 01:01:40 You should check it out. In a financial way, not in a questionable way I guess we'll just transition here we're getting a lot of emails people still think that we're dealing with a lot of friction and I appreciate you sharing those I don't I certainly don't feel
Starting point is 01:01:56 it but yeah I think people are over us yeah I let me just take you through my last few Fridays. I was in Europe, obviously, for a long time. I get back in the football thing. As much as I love football, as soon as it's about to happen, I'm like, all right. Then the basketball part over the top,
Starting point is 01:02:21 I start to realize, all right, this is going to be the same run of TV watching. So then I'll get really motivated. I'll have a nice day at the gym on a Friday. The thing is, I don't really want to go out on a Friday because I have all the college football on Saturday. And so I'll have these little moments, and older guys will relate to this, where I'm like, I'm feeling it today. I'm feeling it today.
Starting point is 01:02:40 I'm like, maybe I'll do something a little adventurous. Maybe I'll go up and check out a little comedy on sunset. Maybe I'll see if Kyle is around. So this has happened so many times. And then, you know, I do my, I get in the water, you know, and then I come back to the house. I, I grab food, I sit in the couch and then it's not like there's some NBA game that's always sucking me in, like will happen once October comes calling. I'm like, I don't know what happens after that window closes, like eight, nine o'clock. I go, I'm not doing anything. And it has happened probably the last six times I've even thought about doing anything. Where I've gone, okay, you know what?
Starting point is 01:03:21 Let's get out there a little bit. And then I've had this weird thing where like after the Sunday game, I'm like, just get out of the house. Like go, go to a restaurant bar. And I'm like, you're, you're doing the West Hartford thing all over again. So it's not about you. It's about me. It's on me that I haven't gone up there for it. But I think people are completely overstating the friction between us unless I'm not reading it correctly. No, I think you're right. I feel like, you know, sometimes we're humming, we're going like 60 miles an hour and then like, there'll be a little joke
Starting point is 01:03:47 and then people are like, whoa, did you see that joke? And it's like, yeah, we all got the joke. You guys like, I don't hate Ryan. Ryan doesn't hate me. I will say your explanation here is a little bit like, you know, asking a girl out in high school and she's like, I gotta wash my hair. I will say that your explanation is a little bit like,
Starting point is 01:04:01 I gotta do a thing that's gonna take the whole time. So, but I understand what you're saying. It's your life, man. It's not mine. And I can't do anything about what you do and how far away you live. And you can't do anything about what I do and how far away I live.
Starting point is 01:04:14 So I think we'll get there. But yeah, I'm not rushing you. I'm glad my feelings were thrown out there by Big Cat on private messages. I mean, however long ago that was. And there was really nothing any of us could do to stop it. i think yeah that's really on him yeah that tension is about him do you want to make fun of me more on the podcast i don't know i yeah sure but i'll do it on my own time you know i'll do it at my own like i don't need a quota yeah i feel like i feel like kyle
Starting point is 01:04:39 dropping a line here or there isn't because he's pissed at rossillo it's because that's what kyle does sometimes like he's a funny guy. He's good on life advice. I've also seen a couple things specifically about whether or not Big Cat did this intentionally to sabotage the pod. It has to be asked. Did he just come in, drop a bomb, and say, hey...
Starting point is 01:04:59 Creep it up the rankings. Maybe throw the chemistry off a little bit. It's a good segment. It just has to be thrown out there. I don't know. I don't know about that. I would say this. He will fuck with literally everybody all the time.
Starting point is 01:05:18 It's kind of what he does. And he did it to us. Thanks for rolling through, big guy. Loved having you on anything's content yeah there you go okay let's get to some I mean I don't know what to do about any of the page recap stuff I think overall it went well
Starting point is 01:05:36 yes there were going to be some people that just weren't going to like it I think she caught so much shit from people that I thought were being completely unfair to her. And you can make fun of me for thinking that or whatever, but we wanted to do something a little different on Life Advice and we will continue to do those things that are a little bit different. One guy did chime in saying she was a bit arrogant. He says, I work in the golf industry
Starting point is 01:06:01 and had to take slight issue with some of your recent guests arrogance didn't even mention her name anyone who's a seven handicap has considerable skill and would be more than capable of steering along a beginner now now she came off as yeah she came off as very dismissive we had the benefit of of seeing her I think she was doing that it's like a shit talking like oh a seven whatever like i don't think she was acting like anyone with a seven or lower actually sucks it off or whatever i that was kind of my read on it but you know what um we're good i don't think we know but if i've learned anything over the years is that just because you're good at something doesn't mean you're a good teacher of it like you can be awesome at anything in life and that
Starting point is 01:06:41 doesn't mean you could basically mentor other people to be good at. Like, I know I'm a terrible teacher of anything. I'm just not, I know how to do things on my terms. So I'm 100% with Paige on that. Yeah, I remember the first time I went out golfing, I went out with the guy
Starting point is 01:06:54 that owned the bar that I managed for him, you know, and it was like my first real time trying to golf as opposed to a kid just hitting balls. And it's the worst. I mean, it's,
Starting point is 01:07:02 it's the, you might as well just get a, I mean, it's, if somebody wants to take the time to mean it's it's the you might as well just get it i mean it's it's somebody wants to take the time to do it with you that's amazing i actually think it's kind of rare because somebody who's good enough who's like i'm gonna go spend a round you know i only get so many rounds and i'm gonna spend a round now with somebody who has no fucking clue and it's gonna be a disaster the whole time it's gonna take forever people are gonna have to let people play through like it does it does suck like I would say most people that are decent at golf probably don't want to spend time teaching
Starting point is 01:07:27 somebody else unless it's a child, um, in that case. And I remember, you know, the guy was nice enough to take me out and I'll never forget, man, like there was another crew of locals. And again, this is Vermont. So it's a little, be a little hick ish at time. I don't think anybody would, would take offense to that. And I met some like, you know, beat up course, a little be a little hick ish at time i don't think anybody would uh would take offense to that and i'm at some like you know beat up course a little out of town there's a bunch of fucking local guys drinking beers on their carts and i have to hit a shot in front of them and i'm not even like in a clean lie and i ground the fucking club the ball hits the the tree it's a mess and the guys started just howling laughing and the guy who was the owner he was a he was legitimately a tough guy and he was like hey guys it's his first time golfing like he fucking relaxed a little and one guy i stared at was
Starting point is 01:08:19 like i'm never like i'll never i said something to him i think later that summer i was like i'm never gonna forget that motherfucker because he's just sitting there huge huge gut beers just on his feet are up on the cart it's like all right cool you swung clubs for for a couple years and figured out how to dial in your seven and eight irons this is my first day out here and you're fucking heckling me and again they were drunk but i i remember being like seething seething and then guess who got good good at golf later later in his 20s i actually was decent i was like decent to play with yeah chip on the shoulder i just we never never lived that down let people forget that no i'd still be a problem if i saw him what's up well i was gonna say my approach to golf is
Starting point is 01:09:00 probably one that i don't really feel super embarrassed about holding people up because that's really why it kept me off the course for a long time is like holding people up. But now I just I don't count. I don't like count at all. And I pretty much just keep score. You mean? Yeah, I don't don't keep score. And I don't I pretty much go through like 20 to 30 balls. And that way I just I'll drop it wherever I want. I'll play with my guys because I just like being out there. But I don't know if I'll ever get better because because I'm not I'm never holding anyone up but also I'm never keeping score and probably getting
Starting point is 01:09:30 better so I don't know I bet out like four times and each time I pretty much go through 20 balls I'm usually impressed by if like by the back nine I still have like half the amount of balls that I started with that's kind of where that's my benchmark for golf but like but I really enjoy honestly That's my benchmark for golf. Balls and counting strokes.
Starting point is 01:09:45 Honestly, that's not a crazy thing. That's what I'm counting. When you stink and I'm no longer any good and if you play and you go, oh shit, I didn't have to buy six more balls at the turn. We're doing alright. You got any more Dunlops in there? Alright.
Starting point is 01:10:01 Let's get to a couple of the emails here. Although, wait. I knew there was a lot of follow-up stuff here. We have to do this one. The Mankation Hartford update. It's quick. Remember our guy was going to see a show, a fish show, and he wanted to know what to do. And we said, just go to
Starting point is 01:10:17 West Hartford. You guys were right. We had a fun time, obviously. Fish show was great. Hartford is interesting. Never have i been anywhere where the locals know less about a place we assume bartenders uber drivers etc we asked we're pretty basic questions uh we're new to town so basically he said everybody they ran into wasn't from there um we when we questioned where everyone was when we entered yet another empty bar or restaurant. They're all at the beach was the response. Are they all of them?
Starting point is 01:10:50 They're not all at the beach. There's just nobody lives there. Yeah, there's nothing to do. There's nothing to do there. Like, it's not like when you say, hey, what's good in town? Yeah, there's a couple of really nice restaurants. There's a couple of nice bars. You know, I'm not one to get in other's business,. There's a couple of nice bars.
Starting point is 01:11:07 I'm not one to get into other's business, nor am I a real estate tycoon, but is anyone to consider developing along the beautiful river that runs through downtown? I think they did try. Yes. They tried and it didn't work and the Patriots were coming and Bruce Armstrong showed up
Starting point is 01:11:18 to the Hartford Civic Center, I think, in 1999, their left tackle. And it was that Adrian's Landing. Was that what it was going to be? There was going to be all this stuff. I think they still did do some of it. I think there's like a little science museum down there that people kind of like. And honestly, when I read any late 1700s, early 1800s, Hartford to Middletown, that
Starting point is 01:11:36 was a fucking vibe back then. People were constantly hanging out there, stopping off, seeing what's going on. If you look at the old insurance mansions on that stretch from Hartford into West Hartford, you're like, wait, look at these houses. These are insane how nice this is. It just fell off, man. It's been in a long
Starting point is 01:11:56 recovery. Taxes are crazy high in Hartford. My dad, by the way, to this day still hates Robert Kraft because of that. He's probably in his top five least favorite people on Earth because he toyed with Connecticut about moving to Hartford, which is never going to happen. Listen, there's
Starting point is 01:12:11 some cool things about Connecticut. Hartford's just... Ironically, their catchphrase is Hartford has it. Hartford really doesn't have it, but there are other parts of Connecticut that have it. I remember somebody saying, hey, you should probably make fun of Hartford less when I was at ESPN. And I went,
Starting point is 01:12:27 really? Like I live there. I live, I'm in Hartford. Yeah. I'm in it. I, you know,
Starting point is 01:12:36 did you see, uh, did you see the Rogan? I guess he recently came out and said that Connecticut is like the worst state. Like Connecticut sucks. Like the worst state in like Connecticut sucks, like the worst state in the union.
Starting point is 01:12:45 There's nothing to do there. Everyone there is depressed and it's a deplorable place to be. Mike, have you, you know, all right. That's not fair. You're in a certain place. Yeah, it's not. It's really not. I've been almost everywhere.
Starting point is 01:12:54 And I still think, you know, if you don't appreciate the New England charm thing about it, then, then fine. But I remember like running into people from ESPN and i'd been to where they were from and i'm like the idea you think where you're from is better than some of these cool pockets of connecticut it's great and you know i love how somebody in the middle of of some of like the really sparsely populated areas in the midwest West. Like, oh, Connecticut sucks. It's not near anything. Like, you still can actually go to New York City and Boston. New York, depending on the time you go, two hours.
Starting point is 01:13:32 Boston, a little less. I'm not telling you it's the best. I'm just telling you I don't think it's the worst. Hartford, however, is a challenging hang. All right, moving on to emails here. Spotter expectations. All right, let on to emails here. Spotter expectations. All right, let's do a gym one. We never do these.
Starting point is 01:13:48 Long-time listener, eagerly awaiting South of France travel log. I don't know when it's going to come out. I'm 24, 6'4", 220, at 13% body fat, so I don't meet the never fight this guy threshold that may be soon with a winter ball.
Starting point is 01:14:03 Right? That's what we said, 6'4", 230 is the threshold. I still feel strong about that, removed from it. I'm an ex-college athlete, so I'm used to the collegial spotting etiquette during lifts. This obviously halted once I left college in 2020 and with people being COVID cautious
Starting point is 01:14:15 in the last few years nowadays. I generally never ask strangers for spots, but I'm always willing and quite competent, in my opinion, as a spotter. All right. Awesome. Dudes love... Good spotters make great parents.
Starting point is 01:14:29 This takes us to chest day a few weeks ago. I have a shoulder issue, so I stopped doing big barbell bench press, and I always start with heavy incline dumbbell press. Because of the shoulder issue, I usually have a tough time getting the right momentum to put the dumbbells in a good position for rep one. I actually know exactly what this guy is talking about.
Starting point is 01:14:46 You're swinging the dumbbells back to you as you lay onto the bench, and this time, incline, sometimes flat, but you're starting at such kind of a deficit that that first rep with a really, really heavy dumbbell can be a very tough one to pull up or push up. I guess we should say it that way. So anyway, my solution, not ideal I know, is trying to get the right swing a few times
Starting point is 01:15:08 which works two-thirds of the time and or giving up and going down a bit and wait. All right. Yeah, right. He's suggesting the other time if it doesn't work, he just goes down a bit.
Starting point is 01:15:24 We got that, but he's trying to get the right swing a few times. This is always infuriating. If I can get the weight up on the first rep, I just my positioning, I can usually go three times, three sets of 10 to 12 reps. This is actually very accurate. Okay, not suggesting he was lying here. But I. Some people are like, hey, you're going to do one about paging in. So anyway, a few weeks ago I'm going for a new PR personal record, 110 pound dumbbells, three times 10 reps. I had mildly friendly small talk with a guy. Let's call him Jeff. Are Jeffs
Starting point is 01:15:59 generally friendly? I don't think I've met a bad Jeff. I feel like it's more hit or miss, but if you say so, Kyle, we'll go with that. So I asked for a spot, first time ever asking for a dumbbell bench spot. I explained that I need help with the first rep and then I'm going for 10 reps
Starting point is 01:16:14 with no help after that. He was great. Helped get the first one up. Didn't touch the other reps. Even helped me do a few extra assisted reps at the end. Those are hands just underneath the elbows. I came away with an entirely new view on public spotting culture. Then last
Starting point is 01:16:28 week I'm having trouble with my rep one of 110 pounds again. It's an empty gym with a decently big looking guy, 6 feet 210. It's not that big, but it's noticeably less muscular than me. Let's call him Frank. I wait until he's done. This Frank guy doesn't sound like it's going to work out at all.
Starting point is 01:16:44 I ask him for a spot, clearly explaining I just need help getting the first rep off, and then we'll go for 12 more by myself. He says yes unenthusiastically. I put the headphones in, mentally readying for a PR, and swing the weight back. If somebody's spotting you, I think a good move is to take out one of the earbuds and leave the other one in if you need the music. I just think that's good for communication. Take that. Smart. I would agree that's good for communication. Take that.
Starting point is 01:17:05 Smart. Don't. I would agree. Take it or don't. Yeah. Okay. I push for 30 seconds and he just stares at me. The guy's in a hold motion for 30 seconds.
Starting point is 01:17:16 He just watches him. Frustrated, I drop the weight and explain to him again, I can't get the first rep by myself and then I'll do the rest without help. Explaining I need him to just push my elbows up a little bit to get me in the right position. He nods and says, okay. So I try again. And again, he does nothing but watch as I struggle. I drop the dumbbells, tell him I'm done.
Starting point is 01:17:36 He shrugs, smirks, and walks away. Now that my shoulders are shot, his shoulders are shot from being in the worst position for a minute, I go down to 75-pound dumbbells, defeated, and rep out like 25 times three. It's pretty good. Chest day energy is ruined. My question is generally, what should I expect from spotters in a public gym? It's a New York City equinox for context. Am I right to be angry with this guy, or did the first guy set my expectations for a spotter too high? I generally have low expectations for people, so this may be a rare overestimation.
Starting point is 01:18:04 Am I in the wrong for asking this random dude during his workout for a spot, can he just say no if he doesn't want to do this, doesn't want to? All right. Wow. Okay. I have a question for you. Are you starting with 110s? Because if you're starting with 110s, your shoulders are going to be like, what the fuck are you doing? I can't imagine that you are. You should do some light band work or maybe do some cable flies before you even start on this kind of stuff. Trust me, there's days where I put 135 on a flat bench and I'm like, the first set, I'm like, ugh. Then guess what happens? 90 seconds later, I do it again and I can't even feel this. I assume if you're
Starting point is 01:18:43 this strong, you are warming up here a little bit but since you said you're looking to do three sets of 10 i mean shit sometimes i'll grab 30s and 40s like i'll i'll just warm up warm up until i actually start feeling better and getting everything loosened up but the shoulder thing sucks because you're right you're starting at this really tough spot so obviously you're shot there as far as the spotting part the first guy sounds like he's fucking awesome at it. And most people aren't that great at it. You know, you can say,
Starting point is 01:19:07 hey, don't touch, don't touch. But in this case, you needed help on the first one. So either the second guy, Frank, is just a raging dick to just watch you struggle the whole time, or he probably,
Starting point is 01:19:18 probably didn't really quite understand what you meant by help. Like he probably thought you were, as in a normal situation, you were going to get a bunch of reps and then maybe needed help with it towards the end. And he just didn't understand this enough. Asking another guy for a spot is always a little dicey.
Starting point is 01:19:36 I try to size somebody up if I'm going to do it, which is still, you know, most things I'm not going to ask somebody for. But in the case of just being safe, if you're going heavy on a bench, just a regular bench, you know, you're going to kind of scout, like how good are your scouting eyes there on that kind of stuff. So I don't think you were wrong about any of this. Whatever New York City Equinox that I've been to, there's usually plenty of people around. Sometimes you could try to ask a trainer, but at the same time, if a trainer's doing personal training, you know, they're not going to want to stop because that client is paying them specifically that money. So maybe you can wait it out and find them over in that room where they're usually hanging out, charging their phones, talking about the rest of us.
Starting point is 01:20:13 But yeah, I think you were right here, but not everybody is good enough. And it sounds like he didn't really quite understand. So I don't know. That was a lot. Yeah, you're definitely not wrong for asking somebody. It's not like you're asking them, Hey, can you watch my kid for five seconds? Like that's definitely a thing that you can ask at a gym, but you're right. But you're right. That when you ask anything extra of anybody, you just got to be prepared for them to do a bad job or do just not know what you're. So like think it is you picked the wrong one but it turns
Starting point is 01:20:46 out you can also pick the right one so i think you're not an asshole and this is like completely par for the course when you ask somebody to do anything for you other than nothing so yeah i think this doesn't even have to do with lifting in general like some people are just generally helpful and some people aren't like this probably this guy probably it's kind of a shitty friend too i'd imagine frank like he'd be probably not. I don't know. Great in relationships as well, because he doesn't pay attention. He doesn't listen.
Starting point is 01:21:08 He doesn't care about other people. Whereas Jeff, the first guy is probably a great friend and a great lover. He probably does. He cares about other people. I think this extends beyond lifting. It's just some guys are dicks and some guys aren't. Some guys care about the fellow man and some people don't. And you found a guy who doesn't really give a shit and only cares about himself.
Starting point is 01:21:23 The only part that bothered me was that he said the guy smirked. I don't know if that's his imagination, putting a smirk on this guy face as he walks away or if like or if the guy's like dumb, didn't realize that he needs help. And it's like, I can't even fucking lift that. I was just trying to try to make a show of it. And he can't even do it, even though you're the guy who needed to help him in the first place. That was the only part that bothered me a little bit.
Starting point is 01:21:41 But it sounds like he just didn't understand. And he was just sort of like, I'm in the gym and i can lift whatever i try to lift and this guy can't the truth here though is like more we we can't handle it as human beings but because i just don't think we like honesty we say we like honesty but we really don't like frank just should have said no and i and that would have been way cooler like if you say no i can't spot you i don't want to spot you that'd be way better than you giving me a shitty spot like then you know I just I love people need to do that more people need to be okay with people telling them no but they just aren't so he's like sure I'll do it but I'm gonna do a half-assed job and then it ends up being shitty for everybody so we just need to normalize saying no normalize no
Starting point is 01:22:16 there's another t-shirt god damn it we've got like 10 t-shirts uh yeah I mean there's guy the guy I didn't give a spot to because i thought i had a hernia for a little while and the thing that hurt the most was like pulling up like a front forward pull up which is exactly what spotting would be i was like i've got this thing i can't figure it out i went to the doctor he said it wasn't that i took medication for 14 days i didn't feel any different and it's still sort of lingering it. And I'm convinced my entire undercarriage is going to rip apart one day. And he was, you know, the guy, and this guy's really strong. He's, he might be the single strongest guy at the gym. He's incredibly strong. He had like 405, maybe 425. I was like, Hey, can you get me? I'm like, actually I can't. And that's it.
Starting point is 01:23:06 Quick aside, I know he was throwing out specific weights of people at the gym, like, oh, this guy was 210, this guy was two whatever. He's obviously guessing that. I feel like I can't guess. If you asked me to guess Kyle or yours weight, I would have no idea. Is that something I should be better at? I don't know. Could you guess my weight? How do you not know?
Starting point is 01:23:22 Because I've mentioned mine. Yeah, I guess that's a bad thing. And I guess I've only really met kyle in person once but like if you were just like line up five dudes and be like and they were all different shapes and sizes and tell me tell me what their weight is i would i don't think i would even be close that'd be a great show that'd be a great show except for guys have to do it for girls and girls well they did it they did it already i mean back in the back before they had tv and stuff this is actually a form entertainment yeah it's, carnival or something. Yeah, county fairs.
Starting point is 01:23:47 It was a huge line. What is it? Oh, he's guessing weight. Holy shit, where can I get a ticket? Yeah, it's like guess the beans in the bottle or whatever. What are you, 178, Cerruti? Oh, my God, no. No, no, no, no.
Starting point is 01:23:59 I'm 5'10". 167? Around there. Probably 162, 163. Oh, my God. I was off, by the way. I used to be 163. Oh my god. I was off. I used to be slimmer. I used to be like 158. And I'm carrying out a bunch of pounds these days. How'd you even get on this show?
Starting point is 01:24:12 I have no muscle. I'm just telling you. I'm kind of skinny. I'm your definition of skinny fat. I'm not in good shape. I'm not fat. Kyle, 240? Oh, no, no, no. I'm fat. I'm not skinny. I'm fat. You actually are. You're just a big dude. Yeah, yeah. I carry better, no, no. I'm fat. I'm not scared. I'm fat. You actually are. You're just a big dude. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:24:28 I carry, I carry better. You're a big dude. I carry better than I think some people. See, that's why I thought you were 240 because you don't, you're 260. Holy shit. Yeah. Kyle's bordering on the guy. You don't fight.
Starting point is 01:24:39 He's, he's like an inch away. Oh, I think Kyle's been, he smashed through with passport stamped. Uh, well, I sit on Hollywood boulevard not everybody thinks that so uh i'm just every day i come home safe is a good day yeah but it's not even that you're big it's that kyle i know i can tell when he was younger and who knows if it's still in there a little bit he would be the i don't give a fuck guy and he would just like everybody else would be chirping kyle would just be like i heard enough of this way more to lose nowadays that's for sure more to lose yeah i'm glad i'm glad i hope it's restrained somewhat okay jesus i i whiffed on sarutis i don't i didn't i've never sniffed 178 in my have you ever been 170 no no what about heaviest i'm the heaviest i've ever
Starting point is 01:25:25 been right now i'm carrying on a couple extra pounds not happy about i gotta get back on the peloton uh you know it's been when you're at your what 12th wedding in a row yeah this is my this is my fourth wedding uh seriously this is like my fourth wedding drinking champagne twice a weekend in a couple months hanging out here uh i'm in long island this weekend are you hung over all the time lately or what what's going on i don great. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm fighting. I promise. I actually didn't drink last night. We didn't drink last night. But no. Well, my sister's
Starting point is 01:25:52 wedding was two weeks ago. I had a hangover for a few days on that one. My buddy got married three weeks ago. This one, I'm not in this one so I could actually kind of enjoy this one and not have to feel like I'm responsible for anything. So I'm looking forward to it. Does your cousin ever get married? What's going on with her? She is married. She is married. She is married. Oh. Two kids.
Starting point is 01:26:08 Two kids. I'm going to leave that alone. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't make that joke anymore. Anyway. Sorry. Did I cross the line there? It's been brought up many times.
Starting point is 01:26:23 I don't care. Sruti has a very attractive cousin. Is that fair to say? Yep. And she's okay. Right. And now you're right. Now she's married.
Starting point is 01:26:31 She's got a couple of kids. We're still shut the fuck up. Okay. All right. Um, am I overly pedantic? Quick definition check. I'm pedantic.
Starting point is 01:26:43 Uh, fixing people's mistakes, like saying you're doing this wrong to people. Okay, got it. So like if you, Kyle, were to say anyways, be like, oh, whatever, anyways, and if I said to you, well, it's actually anyway. Yeah, I had a guy that used to say nowadays,
Starting point is 01:27:00 and I couldn't stop myself from telling, I think it's nowadays. Nowadays? Yeah. He would say now in days like mom, pa or something. So I had to, I guess I had my moments too. I always like intense and purposes.
Starting point is 01:27:17 Intense and purpose or whatever. Intensive purposes. No, I know I'm saying intense. No, I know. Right. But then I just added on purposes
Starting point is 01:27:26 to make it even worse. All right. So the guy's wondering if he's basically correcting people. 5'11", 175, former college athlete and still try to train like one for some reason.
Starting point is 01:27:37 Hey, bro. Fucking join the club. There's a safe space, buddy. The rest of this, you may be totally wrong and suck but in that in that first line don't worry hey guys i've always been uh i've always known about my pedanticism however an incident this past weekend turned into a scuffle between my girlfriend and me that made me ponder enough to email in he better not fuck up any of this email right punctuation gram i don't phones have made me so much worse with any of this stuff now it's brutal all right i've always known about this all right
Starting point is 01:28:18 me and my girlfriend are great not an issue or the main topic of the story the scuffle occurred when we were speaking and for some reason she asked me what is 25% of 20,000? Rather than provide the answer, I said something along the lines of, quote, eh, I'll let you ponder that one for a second. She spun her tires
Starting point is 01:28:40 for a while. Proper use of a while. That one's getting trickier now with phones. Yeah. All right. Then asked for help again. Quote, please just tell me. As you might guess, I refused
Starting point is 01:28:56 and made her look it up on a calculator with the reasoning you should know how to calculate 25% of 20,000 in your head. Does anyone have the answer? 25% of 20,000? Yeah, five times five is 25. 5,000? So which means it's less than that.
Starting point is 01:29:16 Which means it's less than that. Wait, didn't I just say it? No, you did. But Kyle, did you say of 25,000 or 20,000? You said it's what's 25% of 20,000? Yeah. Five times four. So yeah, it's 5,000.
Starting point is 01:29:34 All right. Well done. Sometimes it's so somebody like, no, I fucked this up, didn't I? It's an easy one. Yeah. I'll give them that. It's not the hardest equation.
Starting point is 01:29:46 Yeah, but math under pressure is... Yeah, but know remove zero so that's the one kind of math you kind of have to be able to do by yourself if there's like a one where you wish there was a zero i could see how you're like all right maybe break out the calculator but when it's just removing zeros i can see oh my god michael's a genius all right so while i am a perfectionist and hold myself to high standards, I'm not disannoying with everything. Rather, I'm pretty laid back and enjoyable to be around. The issue is there are just some things in life I believe everybody should know and execute properly. Simple mental math like this and basic grammar, i.e., your versus your,
Starting point is 01:30:18 their, their versus their, right? Yeah, no, I mean, if somebody keeps fucking up your all the time or their all the time or there all the time it could be a bit of a turnoff if you're just texting with an opposite sex early on like you know speaking of sex you keep fucking that up the yours and yeah you know but it's not something you should call out it's something you should be like all right noted this is this is a red flag right and if the other person's way out of your league, you're not going to correct it, are you?
Starting point is 01:30:46 That is cute. Simple math. I remember when I first started texting, I would make sure. I would proofread it. I'd be like, You better get it right, dude. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:31:07 Before 7 o'clock. Is that an age joke? I had 10 cents. Good one. I had 10 cent texts. You guys know that back in the day with cell phones, there were windows where you... Yeah, right.
Starting point is 01:31:21 7 o'clock. It's a weekend. The girl I was... I was like, don't call me at 6. She was like, I miss you and the girl i was i was like don't call me at six she was like i miss you and love you and i was like don't call yeah such a dick the worst okay uh those are some of the most common examples do i know i'm an asshole for it absolutely i'm just willing to be the asshole sometimes in hopes of teaching the other person to be better. I believe I draw the quote, you should know this line low.
Starting point is 01:31:52 It would not have acted like this if she asked the complicated math problem. Oh, really? If she didn't nail a fucking equation immediately, you would have been cooler about it? Or didn't use a semicolon properly in a sentence. But I must be honest, the line exists, and I will make a point if an individual falls below it. Is this more annoying than helpful? Fuck, I didn't like this guy until that sentence.
Starting point is 01:32:19 The line exists, and I will make a point if an individual falls below it. Is this the all-time comeback of the year? Is this more annoying than helpful, or do you think people appreciate being encouraged to think and get things right for themselves i could tell you right now yeah the answer to that last one is an emphatic fucking no bro nobody is like man that was super rude and kind of belittling but fuck he's trying to make me better yeah he's fucking batman he's like a the dark knights of menace but he's just sitting in his bat cave like oh god but they got their pronunciation right of uh now that could be a good snl sketch where the guy's just he's his
Starting point is 01:32:56 superpower is being pedantic shit he's just it's like what's going on somebody not know the difference between a comma whatever i don't know just know proper use of a semicolon is a little aggressive i mean i get some simple math and like they're there and you're you're i don't know like his line his bar is too high i'm just gonna say that right now i think there's probably way more examples than he listed too i think that's just what i could remember i think it's here's my here's my i think i think the line should be destroyed i think you should just keep moving through life we all have things that we maybe want other people to do better but man your girlfriend she doesn't want she doesn't want to hear this shit nobody does okay but you're like dating her and you're telling us everything else is great but like stop doing it to her i don. I don't, I don't know what's, what's the other angle.
Starting point is 01:33:47 Is there anyone listening to this? It's like, you know what though? He's got a point. Simple math off the top of your head is a pretty valuable asset. And he's right. I don't think anybody feels this way. Like there's, there's a small part of me that doesn't want to be like a total asshole to the emailer where I'm like, okay, but it, cause I love that one line, but maybe you
Starting point is 01:34:07 could just stop, you know, maybe you could just stop. I have a friend. Okay. I have a friend who he was, he was kind of like this and you know, he would would he would be the guy that would like talk to a stripper and be like do you really want to be doing this you know like that would be his mode of communication as strip club um he he would be somebody who i don't know it's just fucking weird he would whatever it was he would kind of be like, you know, are you sure? And it wasn't like he was the healthiest guy ever. It wasn't like he was crushing it. He wasn't making the best decisions all the time,
Starting point is 01:34:54 but he would be somebody that would kind of like, and guess what? Nobody fucking likes it. Nobody likes it. And you have to figure out a way to remove this from your repertoire of conversation would be my advice. Yeah. First of all, thanks for listening.
Starting point is 01:35:08 Really appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks for listening. Really appreciate it. So you got that much. You got at least whatever percentage of simple math is of my sympathy for you there. I think we just talked about it. I think it was this week.
Starting point is 01:35:19 Sometimes you just got to mind your fucking business and you can mind your business when you're hanging out with your friends, too. And I think you just got to find a way to mind your business when you're hanging out with your friends too and i think you just got to find a way to mind your business when you're hanging out with your friends and your girlfriend i think you'll you'll see a drastic percentage of improvement i also think this might be kind of like a young guy thing too like sometimes you know you're like oh i feel like i have to fix and correct everything and at some point you get older and you just stop caring about shit like that like that's happened to me younger me not that i was like really that hung up on you know simple math equations from people that i was casually dating or i guess dating in this case but the older me even with my friends like i would like to be like
Starting point is 01:35:53 oh no you're wrong here's why and we would you know there's like bickering back and forth about little things that don't matter and you just kind of realize that that shit doesn't matter i will zag slightly i respect and this is again just, just to give a little credit to the EMR. I do respect that he, because we have this thing now where, like, grammar just doesn't matter anymore anywhere. Like, texting, tweeting, like, which is weird. Grammar's fucked, kind of. And I do respect that he's trying to bring grammar back a little bit. Bring it back, dude, yeah. Are you shorting grammar?
Starting point is 01:36:18 Not everybody is going to have the same enthusiasm as you do. And you're probably going to lose friends and alienate a lot of people if you're going to die on this hill all the time. Yeah, I think I did that in college, my close friends, I don't remember exactly what it was. But like, they would say something like, I wish I had an example. But they'd be like, they would say something about history that was wrong, or like something in passing that had nothing to do with like now. And they were like, Why are you always doing that, man? And I actually remember I had to wean myself off of it. I don't think I was correcting people's grammar, but I think it was like they'd say something that was wrong. I'd be like, what the fuck did you just say?
Starting point is 01:36:50 Because we would rather like I thought it was an OK reason to rag on somebody because they would fucking find reasons to rag on each other for anything. And I was just like, wow, you just said a thing that was dumb. And they were like, why are you always doing that, man? So I stopped doing that years ago. Wait, you were correcting people on historical events. I was a history minor for a while there i was really into it right but it wasn't like i don't think it was historical events i think it was like somebody would bring something yeah we got more than we know um i think they would bring something up and then somehow weave it in like a pointless weaving into a story to be like well that's what the fuck did you just say and it wasn't always
Starting point is 01:37:22 that i just i had my version of it and i I remember my friends like, you're always doing that, man. So, I mean, I stopped. I had a buddy in college who, this is actually a weird story. He was kind of like between colleges. So, he was spending some time. He was literally just staying with me in my dorm. And he would just come to classes that he wasn't enrolled. He didn't go to school.
Starting point is 01:37:44 He would just come to some classes. Well, he loved education, clearly. Well, it it was a history class and we do like history um with you there kyle um and we were talking about genghis khan and our professor kept pronouncing it chengis khan and he kept he he like raised his hand it was like actually it's chengis and they got this like back and forth and turns out i think it's like both pronunciations of course but he was, he kept correcting the professor in the class. And he didn't even go to the school. Like, sporadic. Yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 01:38:10 And, you know, you end up just looking like an asshole at that point. Like, what's the end game here? Like, do girls think you're, like, are girls going to want to date you because you're, like, calling out grammar or different spelling mistakes or historical errors? Like, not really. You just end up being an asshole. Like, nobody kind of likes that guy. So, again, you just got to learn that. Yeah, right. Dude, all right.
Starting point is 01:38:28 I had everything memorized when I first started on the air. Fucking everything. Captain memorization. Really annoying. Stupid. I had a co-host. We were talking about somebody in the Red Sox lineup. He's like, whatever. This guy's fucking barely hitting. He's like, he's 240. I was like, 238. I said it on the air.
Starting point is 01:38:44 I go, 238. My father called me that day he goes hey great show just don't ever fucking do that to your co-host he's like you sounded like an asshole he goes you know that dead air i was like well you know whatever this guy's not paying attention he's like of all the times you're gonna fuck with your co-host that and he was just doing it as a listener it's not like my father was on your co-host, and he was just doing it as a listener. It's not like my father was on the air or anything like that, but he was just telling his son in that moment, as a biased observer,
Starting point is 01:39:12 he thought his son sounded like a complete asshole. And I remembered it. And then, you know, you're right. You're just right about it. Two thousandths of a percentage point was not worth stopping the conversation over. Yeah. And then there was like a little bit of dead air because I remember the host going like looking at me.
Starting point is 01:39:29 Are you fucking serious? And I had an issue about the dynamic of what was going on there because and it was totally unfair because the guy that was hosting the show was the guy that was shout out to Pep. Old zone days. But poor guy was like head of marketing and promotions and they made him the host yeah and so i you know mr me captain i'm giving myself a lot of captaincies today but uh i think i've been on the air a year and a half but i'm kind of like what the hell's this guy doing like he doesn't know how to host or whatever. So I had, I had like a little attitude about it. And you know, that a lot of that attitude gets back to insecurities about your own career and being on the air, which is a whole
Starting point is 01:40:12 another podcast that we will not do right now. But yeah, I'm just telling you, I don't, I don't think there's many people listening. It's being like, I don't know, 5,000 is pretty easy number to get to there. It's just going to bum her out the more you keep doing it. And then her tolerance for it is going to actually go down. Change your ways. It's not going to go up. Change your ways. Yeah. I hope somebody could use the phrase between colleges from this.
Starting point is 01:40:33 That's my favorite part of this whole thing. I'm technically between colleges right now if I ever go back to school, right? Yeah. Quick follow-up. Great job, Kyle. Not doing that because of tension. Perceived tension. Your buddy, he got
Starting point is 01:40:47 kicked out or failed out of one school, hadn't made a decision yet, and decided to just go to school with you without accruing any credits and living in your room. Just going to classes. He was bored. And my roommate at the time had a girlfriend. So it was a
Starting point is 01:41:03 two-bedroom room situation. My roommate at the time was dating somebody, so he just stayed with her. I was going to say, what did you think about that? No, so it was a two-bedroom room situation. My roommate at the time was dating somebody, so he just stayed with her. It was fine. So we had kind of this extra bed, and we played a shit ton of 2K 7. A lot of fantasy drafts, and so we just played a lot of 2K. He came to some classes. He
Starting point is 01:41:19 ate at the dining hall. He was just kind of like a guest at the school. I think the next semester, he was transferring, but he didn't know what he wanted to do and uh his parents were okay with this well they were probably better than him going back home like they didn't have they didn't want to deal with him so yeah he was just hanging out with us it was fine it was actually pretty cool did people did people love it probably not my other roommates because it was one of those it was it was six there were six people in the actual like dorm itself there was three separate rooms and everybody got there was you
Starting point is 01:41:50 know paired up rooms um and yeah i don't know like he definitely used some of the utilities and probably ate some of the food but i don't know guys i did that like a couple months i did that in la my buddy my buddy from home moved, like stayed on the couch for a weekend and never left. And then my other roommate one day just kind of moved out. It was like, it was probably like seven months and he was like, Hey man, I got to get out of here.
Starting point is 01:42:12 This guy's been here for fucking eight months. I didn't sign up for this. And then he just took the other bedroom. Uh, that's like, yeah, that's like a fucking asshole. It was a great time asshole it was a great time it was a great time yeah i don't know
Starting point is 01:42:30 all right i think that was sophomore year i want to say yeah we not going on better yeah that doesn't feel like a senior year thing i think at that no no it was on campus it was on campus yeah i don't even know how they never like how would you ever catch somebody you know the professor like wasn't taking roll call It was just somebody in the class, too. It'd be great if he was holding himself to a certain standard. He'd be like, oh, fuck, I missed class. Can I get your notes? He'd be like, why do you want my notes?
Starting point is 01:42:53 It's an 8 a.m. class. He's waking me up. Yeah, I'd be like, shit, what did you guys go over? Why do you care? It's modern Russia day, so this is an important one for us. No, but he's not like he's taking exams that go towards anything. Did he take exams? No, he just skipped the exam.
Starting point is 01:43:09 He would just go to the class. What about a PowerPoint? Did he ever do a PowerPoint? Really fucking lay out for a presentation? Was he? I got to ask. Was he hooking up? No, not really.
Starting point is 01:43:20 He was mostly just going to class and playing 2K. That's really about it. What would happen on a Fridayiday like i just would love to know yeah he'd be around he'd be around uh and i think girls kind of knew the deal i mean he wasn't like a quote i guess at that point it doesn't really matter if you're a catch or not because like we were still like three years away from graduating so it wasn't really we weren't really about like future prospects you're telling us he wasn't the hottest guy in your group i think i understand you between the lines here a little bit just i would just love to know what his game was if you were going out. And she's like, did you transfer here?
Starting point is 01:43:50 He's like, no, I'm actually just sort of hanging out, stopping by a lecture, playing some bids. Again, he was more interested in our 2K franchise and that one history class that he was. The party. This guy's a legend. What's he do now? Is he successful?
Starting point is 01:44:04 Yeah. Yeah, he actually is. Yeah. He was between colleges. He was always going party. This guy's a legend. What's he do now? Is he successful? Yeah. Yeah, he actually is. Yeah. He was between colleges. He was always going back. Yeah. Yeah, actually, it makes sense that he's successful, Suri. Sorry, I'm interrupting because he was that dedicated. No, we didn't really know what he was doing for a while and career-wise, kind of bounced around
Starting point is 01:44:19 and he's doing all right. He's doing fine. So, good for him. Good guy. Sounds like it. Good for him. Okay. he's doing all right. He's doing fine. So, good for him. Good guy. Sounds like it. Good for him. Okay. That's today's show. Thanks to Saruti, his mysterious buddy. And, of course, Kyle, as always.
Starting point is 01:44:37 Please subscribe to the Ryan Russell Podcast. We're on Spotify. Outro Music you

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.