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We're going to talk about his two careers gearing up for a Super Bowl run as well with the Rams and everything they do every year in offense to try to be different. Keep those defenses guessing. We've got Max Olsen on the transfer portal but the transfer portal is a little deeper than we thought it would be with some NFL players playing college football. This season we've got life advice and as always full episodes of the show always available on Netflix. Something big is coming. On September 2nd DraftKings game day arrives with massive deals, exclusive offers and an all day celebration built for sports fans. The countdown has begun. All roads lead the game day. The DraftKings Sports app is now live in all 50 states. That means from Texas to California to Florida every fan is in on the excitement. One app every sport all 50 states DraftKings game day is yours. 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Terms at DKNG.co/offer. Limited time offer. Nationwide based on sports book predictions and free-to-place sports contest availability. Varies by state. Matthew Stafford of the LA Rams joins us on the show. Okay, man. Last year, and you probably say this about a couple of years, but I remember reading previews and a lot of it was like, well, if saver can hold up and then you win the MVP. So it feels like that happens a lot in the pre-season previews for the Rams. So that happens last year. How do you feel this year in comparison to going into 25? Definitely a lot more reps on my belt. I didn't really practice last year until after the third pre-season game. Snuck a couple of practices in really before week one and was able to practice really from the start of training camp this year. Now it was a little bit of a limited practice schedule just to try to keep myself fresh. But to be honest with you, you kind of lucked into that last year realizing that, hey, I may not need every single rep of every single practice to feel prepared and ready to go for the season and still have my body feel good. But at the moment, feel great, excited to get a bunch of work out of my belt and get this thing rolling. Last season, you guys are loaded. It feels great. You've loaded up this off season to be that close to Seattle and to see what they do. Is that worse than going like six and 10 back in the day? Yeah, I think so. I'll say this. It's not worse in the grand scheme of things. It's tougher in that moment. You know, tougher in that moment, knowing how close you were to get a chance to play for a world championship in this in this sport. But I still have a lot of great memories, a lot of respect for the group that we had last year, what we went and accomplished. I don't think people had us going all the way to the NFC championship at the start of last year, especially when my back was feeling the way it was and we had some new pieces and some new spots. So proud of the work that we did last year and looking forward to a whole new group as it is every single season, going out and trying to accomplish something great again. Did you watch the Super Bowl? I did. I did watch it. You know, it was tough, but at the same time, I wanted to see what it was going to shake out like and it shook out kind of how I thought it might. Do you think LA extended your career? I don't think it. I know it. You know, I think there's no question in my mind. You know, getting out here, sometimes you just need to change a scenery, but I left into a change a scenery, a great coach, a great organization, a bunch of great players around me. A lot of things, you know, have happened right for me since we moved out here. So I'm really appreciative of the opportunity. And frankly, you know, I'm proud of watching what Detroit has done as well, you know, and how good of a job. Coach Campbell's done it. Getting those guys turned around and Jared's doing a hell of a job over there too. So proud of that. But at the same time, yeah, I mean, there's no question. I was at a low point, just emotionally kind of about the game and about, you know, playing, you know, in 2020 and then, you know, being able to move out here in 21 and do what we were able to do is something to definitely extend to my career. Did you ever have a moment when you were like, this is it? I'm done like you woke up one day and said, I just don't want to do this anymore. Not all the way there. No, but there are times where, you know, I know in 2022, I had some just elbow stuff. Really, I battled it all of 2021. I was sort of wearing that sleeve because I had tape and all sorts of stuff under there, trying to hold this thing together and, uh, battled through it in 2022 in a really tough way. And just to the point where every time I threw the ball, it wasn't, didn't feel good, wasn't fun. And that's a tough way to go to work, right? And do that every day. Luckily, I spent a bunch of time and a bunch of effort just trying to get that thing to feel better and feels great now as good as it ever has. So knock on wood, that keeps going. But yeah, there's really the, uh, the injury stuff is the things that makes me feel that way. You know, it's just tough to not be out there when you want to be out there. I've thought about how I want to ask this question because I know I've talked to you about it one other time. And it is kind of the just the way we talk about quarterbacks, right? And I don't think you're being diplomatic when you talk about your time in Detroit as if it's not genuine because I know how genuine it is. I know this is why your teammates always love you so much. But again, it's somebody from the outside that would talk about you guys every single day. And it's like, okay, Detroit isn't getting it done. And they're like, okay, what's the problem with Stafford? And then I know that you were like, look, I don't worry about that kind of stuff. But is it, is there ever a moment like a full circle moment for you as you run through almost two decades of playing the sport where you're like, I'm not necessarily even better. I may have been physically better back then. But just the way that you're talked about and appreciated now, the stip may be being the same player just because of the team success. Yeah, I mean, I think I'm with you on that. I think in the fact that, and that's probably why I don't think about it, because you sit there and rack your brain and go, man, am I this good? Am I not bad? What's going on here there? And it's like, hey, I can control what I can control. And that's just getting up every single day, trying to be as good a player as I can be. But football's a team sport. And there's no question about that. And there's guys that have been really great players that haven't accomplished some of the things that I've been lucky enough to accomplish as a team, you know, whether that's winning a World Championship and frankly, an MVP trophy is a huge team award, especially for a guy like me that's not run around creating. So like, that goes to me, but it also is a huge part of my teammates and the guys that I work with every single day. So yeah, I mean, I understand that narrative. I really don't pay too much attention to it because I'd probably be like everybody else and go back and forth and think this and think that. And so I just go, hey, man, I'm just going to be the best person I can be every single day. You know, I know that in some arenas and when people talk about it in some different ways, it's probably validating, you know, what I've been able to do here. And there's probably a handful of people who sit there and go, you know, he's still the shitty guy that was flown around a Detroit. So, you know, I got I got to take take each one. I don't know anybody saying that. And I think there's like it's a great perspective for you to have because you've won and you've had the individual success. You guys are gearing up here again. So, you know, who knows how 26 goes. So maybe it allows you to not care about it as if you had gone somewhere else and it was like, okay, they never even got to a conference championship game because I guess like I'm consistently frustrated with trying to figure out what you guys are doing right, what you're doing wrong. You know, it's and it's not as simple as how many touchdowns and receptions. It's not as simple, especially completion percentage now, like that doesn't even remotely matter. And I just remember the days where I'd be at ESPN and we'd have an ex-player coming studio and you know, you might have 300 yards in a game and I'd be like, hey, it's something and it was almost like everyone, the rule is we have to say something's wrong with you if you're not winning at that position. And that's something where I think there's just a group that gets thrown in this middle and they may not be any different and you're not in the middle and I didn't think you were in the middle of it then. But it's just this, we have a very hard time going like maybe this guy's actually still special, but it just isn't working around him. Or maybe that's my first call argument. So, no, no, I'm with you. I mean, it's just, it's, you know, in my opinion,
and other peoples as well. I mean, it's one of, if not the toughest position to play in sports. And I think it's just as hard to sit there and analyze and say, hey, hey, why does a guy work in a certain place, not working in another place? Why does he have these great stats? And maybe the team's not winning. I mean, those things are tough to quantify and tough to understand. And these guys that have amazing college careers and come out and frankly don't do well in the pros. And then guys who are drafted super late that have great pro careers. You just never know. And so so much of life in this sport is timing and circumstance and growth and the ability to overcome tough things and all that. And I do think we're quick to judge guys and try to place them in a box, right? Whether that's elite, good, not worth it anymore, whatever. And I know that I have continuously gotten better as I've played from a mental aspect and understanding. And so if you can weather some of those storms along the way, continue to keep your physical tools as sharp as you can and learn how to play this game and play it at a higher level, and you can still do it when you're long in a tooth. 165 games of Detroit. What was left for you to learn? And maybe the better way to ask is what have you learned from McVeigh that you didn't know? I mean, a lot of football, you know? I mean, a lot of football. And I think just being challenged in ways that I always knew I could handle, but just frankly, wasn't when I was in Detroit. And maybe I wasn't ready for some of those things. And I felt like, you know, I was ready for that challenge, ready for it mentally, physically. I mean, some of the things that I was asked to do, both on the grass and in the classroom getting ready to play, were things that I hadn't been asked to do in previous years, but have loved every minute of it, have enjoyed it, and thrived in it. So I really appreciate it, or appreciate above it. And frankly, a lot of success and how to handle that, and how to continue to push forward and realize that what we do is just this journey. It's just this process of wake up, fulfill the days necessities at a high level, do it as best you can every single day. And then really having to not worry about the results as much as you do the process. And if you do that, good things happen for your stack of days. And I know that sounds cliche, but it's something that in the midst of learning how to be a pro, and be a better player, and a better person, and better teammate, you know, that comes with experience. So I was looking up some of this stuff this morning. I think in '21, you led the NFL in empty sets. And then I think now you lead the NFL under center. And then I was listening to you with our guy, Greg Olson, who we all love, and you were talking about 13 personnel, which was like everybody's favorite, like football, and third thing, be like, man, look at all those 13 personnel. And you say to Greg in 24 is 013 personnel. And then it was just tight end fest last year. How much of that is you in McVeigh and your offensive coaches nerding out on just trying to figure out ways to stay steps ahead of the defense? I mean, it's a lot of it. It's a lot of that, and it's a lot of problem solving, too. Some of that stuff comes with injuries that might happen. We really weren't even in a whole lot of 13 personnel. And then we lose Puka before the game in London and Jacksonville. And then we lose two to in the middle of that game. And it's like, man, there's just not that many guys left. Here's this big bucket of plays that we had thought we might could run out of 13, 12, some of those sets. And then we just kind of developed and got better and better with it, understood how to attack. And then I say this all the time. I say to Greg, I say it to everybody. I mean, it's great that we try three tight ends out there sometimes. But if we didn't have three great players tied in, it wouldn't matter, right? If we had three slugs running around that couldn't get open or three guys that couldn't block, it wouldn't matter. So we have really talented tight ends. So why not put them out on the field? Let them go do their thing. And so that's part of it. But yeah, I mean, it's a really cool chess match. It's something that I love coming into work every single week understanding, hey, how are we going to figure this one out and find a way to put ourselves in the best possibility, or possible chances to succeed. And we do it every single week and give it our best shot. How hard is that? It's difficult. You know, there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of things, like I said, that I'm challenged with every single week to-- Can we like dig into deep? I'm not trying to be like difficult. But I think it's for a lot of us that don't understand. We know it's hard. You can't be the same every week. But I'm just trying to figure out the best way to explain to some of us that haven't played the position of how hard that is of all these moving parts blocking and everybody's going to figure out their routes. Because you're basically like game planning week to week in a way I don't think a lot of offenses do. Yeah, you know, I think being here, there's more attention to the detail with what is going on of all 22 moving parts, both 11 guys on offense, 11 guys on defense. There's more attention to detail here than any where I've ever been or been exposed to. And you have to be smart to be able to play in this offense because it is multiple. It changes, you know, weekend and week out. And we may run a run play a certain week versus a certain look. And it might be needed to get changed to a pass or a different run versus this look. And that next week, based on maybe what the backside tackles doing or what the backside defense event is doing. Hey, now we're OK to run it versus that look. But if we get this look, we got to change it. So our rules is a quarterback change, you know, weekend and week out. And so there's just a lot of moving parts. We're moving players into positions to be successful. Hey, do we want this guy to run that route or that guy? And then this week, we want to do it a different way and hide it. And there's just constant evolution and motivation to try and get our guys in great spots. And then ultimately, you know, have us have a bunch of clarity to go out there and play fast, but still be, you know, a step ahead. Your teammates love you. We had Whitworth on. And he was almost crying, like talking about you. Why do you think that is? I don't know. I have the same feeling towards them. You know, I think it's a tough one. It's a tough one to be like, oh, because I'm awesome, man. I don't really tell you right now. No, I don't know. I would hope that most of the guys that I've played with, they respect the way I go about my business and the way that I work for us as a team and as an individual to try to be as good as I can. But I also hope that they go, man, he's just like one of the guys. Like when you see him in the hallway or we're out on the field. Yeah, he's leading us. He's motivating us. He's pushing us and trying to put us in the best position. But at the same time, I walk into cafeteria and I'm just like everybody else. And I think that's what's most comfortable to me. That is not something that I'm trying to do. That's just what's comfortable to me. What's uncomfortable to me is jogging out to practice and hearing MVP chance. And you know, it's supposed to be this guy. And I don't like that. No, no, no, no, no. I just didn't like, oh, I just want to go play. I want to be out there, put the helmet on. That's why I love football. He put the helmet on. Nobody can see you. And in my mind, you know, you just go out there and play. And so that's the way I am. That's the way it's comfortable to me. And if that resonates with guys, then, you know, I'm just appreciative of that, I guess. I was watching the 2009 Browns clip this morning. And it's almost like you're so hurt. I wonder if it was like less painful because you get cracked on that passenger appearance call. You dislocate your shoulder, you're running around. You're like, your shoulder, shoulder, shoulder. And then it looks like you're done. And then the Browns call the time out. So that gives you the chance to get back in. And you throw the touchdown. Would you be able to do that today? I don't know if I could have done the whole run-around thing anymore, you know, to be honest with you. But I don't know. I was a little thicker back then. I don't know if I would have survived the same hit right now. But hopefully, I'm assuming that we wouldn't be in those situations as much as we were in the 2009 season. But I like to think that I would still try and get up and go throw one last pass for the fellas. I'm just glad we completed it. How shitty would it have been if we just dirt it and nothing happened? So it was a cool experience. Obviously a tough one, CJ, never mind. I don't want to go there. But it's OK. It ends up being my teammate the next year. It's like his locker is like two down from mine. And he's like, my bad, man, I'm like, it's all good. Made for a good clip. But it was a cool memory. One that a lot of people still kind of hit me up on. Yeah, it really resonates. And I think it plays into the teammate part of it, too, because in your sport, like going to games, and I think the first time I was at an SEC game was late for me because I was working at ESPN, so I was in my early 30s. And you're just watching guys crush each other. And then I was like standing with a bunch of former players. And then they're pointing out stuff that I had never even thought about. And their big thing was like, you can't let someone help you up. Like if you're in this spot, like you can't get carted off, like you find a way, get up, get off the field, especially with offensive linemen. Quarterbacks, maybe receivers, wait, let's give this guy a hand here. And I don't know if that was something that you were conscious of growing up in this sport of knowing or if it was like, hey, I'm a rookie, I'm going to prove it. Because I don't think any of it was like, how can I? I think you just were like, hey, if we have another play and they were dumb enough to call the time out, I'm going to go back out there. I don't know if Cole Pepper was ever upset being like, damn it, man. But it was just something that, again, we were talking it's almost 20 years later and people still love that clip so much. Yeah, I think when I first came into the NFL, it was a different sport.
Gladiator. I mean, that's what you talked about in the locker room was just We're a bunch of you know crazy guys that will run out there and knock each other's heads off because that was legal And that's what that's what happened and there was so much of You know so much of that was talked about and it's a little bit different now, right? It's a little bit more of hey schematically and we still have these unbelievable players that can run and hit and Enforce in different ways, but there was a level of Warrior mentality rightly or wrongly that was there that I don't know is still there You know and everybody now is you know building a brand and you know, I want to be this and I want to be that and there's so much to it And it's great. It's grown the game. It's grown You know people's popularity outside of the sport and all that But it was just different back then and so that was a huge part of it the pride of being available and being out there No matter what was going on with you and that's probably a little microcosm of kind of a little picture of what That might look like you know 2009 NFL football was a little bit more like that than it is today Aaron Donald seems to be around a lot Yeah, I mean, I don't see him a lot. I hear he's working out a lot I feel bad for whoever's working out with him because the guys and absolute monster in the weight room, but We'll see. I don't know what the tally's gonna be on that thing. I tell people this all the time. I have so much respect for him As a player absolutely, but also as a person in the way he's carried himself and what he's been able to accomplish for our team in this organization that Whatever's right for Aaron is right for us. And if that's Hey, I don't I don't think I can do it. Hey man. I appreciate it You know, thanks for everything you always did and then giving it a rip and trying to see if you could do it again And if the answer is hey man, I'm ready to come back and Dominate then shoot. Let's go, you know, let's find a way to make this thing working and get back out here. So I know for us as a team. We don't think about it. We don't talk about it much. We're just out there trying to get better And know that he's doing his thing on the side trying to find out, you know, how he feels and how he wants to go about it Did they consult you on Ty Simpson? I talked to Sean about it before the before the draft. Did we have a breakdown of tape and all that? No but um You know, I've been around long enough. I understand these things and these are the way they go at the same time You know, I'm just gonna worry about what I can control and that's just be the best player. I can be for as long as I can I kind of asked that like a dick um, and I was it was very leading It was it was leading in that and it's like oh, you know, but look if you were 30 Maybe I would look at it differently. Right. Hey, you know, I remember like Brady going like we're taking Kevin O'Connell in the second round Like are you serious? You know, but I think it makes sense. They're going like hey, well man I even have a window to be up this So I guess the the way I really should have asked it is like how collaborative it was But you just answered it anyway you answered it the way I wanted you to um because I think for an office is eventually going to do whatever they want to do anyway, you know I'm 100% I mean listen, I've have a ton of respect and understanding for every decision that they make and look They're sometimes they're parts of a puzzle that all fit together and Every year is different and I'm just excited that every time we come out To start a season. I feel like and sometimes even it's throughout the season I think back to 2021. We didn't have Odell. We didn't have Von Miller to start But we found a way to get those guys This organization is done as proven that they are willing to try and get the best players around all of us to go out there and succeed and and uh happy to have all of them This is something that I You touched on a little bit and you're gonna say hey, I was a little thicker back then As you if you've got a little older here um It was always funny like when Brady keeps playing and then he did his like first shirts off thing And then everybody was like incredibly disappointed and you go well. No, no, no I'm like this is the whole point of what Brady's been doing Like getting jacked as for guys like me. They've never done anything. I just try to compensate and Brady's whole pliability thing and being like look It's funny. There's even an article on ESPN now talking about the history of jacked quarterbacks Because of mater taking a shirt off squat and 500 pounds. Yeah, and Oklahoma Do you find yourself training differently and going like this is about pliability? It is about way more stretching I don't want to be like jacked up and strong as can be anymore. No question I mean, I remember doing hang clings with all the guys the old lineman back when I first got in the NFL and We're in the straps and trying to you know throw around as much weight as I could and um I couldn't do that anymore number one But number two. I don't think it's really that beneficial You know, we were treated. I think when I first got into the league just as a You know, we're set up in as like old lineman skill guys and then like mid-skill guys That's like the tight ends backs quarterbacks linebackers. I was just like a mid-skill guy You know, I was like I'm doing the same lift that our linebackers are doing at a lesser weight and Now that we've kind of understood that hey quarterback like really rotational athlete We almost trained a little bit more like pictures now Which is way more appropriate than uh throwing around a bunch of weight and you know trying to see how strong We can possibly get in our upper body. So I'm with you on that I think it is uh something that Brady probably popularized more than anybody and any added ton of success Obviously, which makes it uh, you know feels feel like the right thing to do but Everybody kind of has their own version of that in my opinion and I've found something that works for me that You know our guys here are super collaborative with me and and I feel as good as I can at 38 Can't wait for the season man. Thanks for the time Yeah, good to see you man. Appreciate you Netflix is expanding its NFL coverage in 2026 from week one to the first ever Thanksgiving Eve matchup in two Christmas day games and a playoff game in January week one of the upcoming NFL season will feature the league's first ever regular season game in Australia on September 10 between the Vision arrivals the LA Rams and the San Francisco 49ers that will air on Netflix live from the Melbourne cricket ground heading into the holiday season Netflix will add the NFL's first ever Thanksgiving Eve game on November 25th featuring the Green Bay Packers visiting The Los Angeles Rams at Sophie Stadium then at Christmas Day Netflix will again air two games at 1 p.m. Eastern 10 a.m. Pacific the Green Bay Packers will visit the Chicago Bears soldier field followed by the Buffalo Bills against the Denver Broncos from Power Field at mile high at 4 30 Eastern 1 30 Pacific and week 18 With playoff stakes on the line catch the final game of the regular season live on Netflix watch week one of the NFL on Netflix starring the Los Angeles Rams versus the San Francisco 49ers live only on Netflix Thursday September 10th at 8 35 p.m. Eastern 5 35 p.m. Pacific Max Olson ESPN joins us usually here's our transfer portal guy um, and I guess technically this is transfer portal stuff So we're just trying to figure this all out. I don't know that we have it completely locked up and Max good to see uh We have a ruling in Louisiana where we originally thought the five five is gonna be a good rule And now it feels like there's a clause here where a bunch of players are gonna be eligible And I think the headliner here is dick on right who is a tight-end at Ole Miss He was in Virginia Tech. He was with the Eagles. He was with the Browns. He didn't play Now he's gonna suit up for LSU. So let's try to figure this out. What do you have to kind of get us started to understand this I mean, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of grief. So I mean that would that would be nice in this moment Wish I could read you some decisions there But no, I think dick one right is the headliner now of a small movement of players that are You know seriously exploring going back to college after making a run at the NFL this offseason and I and There's it's a complicated deal as as Todd Munkin said the shit's pretty crazy I It's also in and look I think for the Cleveland Browns, you know They just named to Sean Watson their starter. So they're not having a lot of meetings about what are we gonna do about losing dick one right But uh in this case like it's a player who it makes sense on his end of things He was one of the most productive tight-ends in the country last year at Ole Miss He had a shoulder injury eliminated in the pre-draft stuff goes undrafted goes with the Eagles goes with the Browns They they knew he wasn't going to make the Browns and so you know if lane kiff and LSU are reaching out saying hey We got a chance to to bring you back here and pay you know a lot of money to to come be our tight end or our number two tight end For for a player that you know is facing a lot of uncertainty here over the next week with cuts and all that Yeah, it's very appealing now now how do we even get here is ultimately a result of the instantly trying to go to five for five or Or they don't call it that but that's essentially what we're doing here and you know I think in a lot of ways that makes sense that I think they need to get out of the business of Wavers and red shirts and there's been a lot of manipulation of that especially with agents here the last few years But when they decided to roll this out this summer they intentionally said we're not going to grandfather in The guys from 2022 and specifically the guys 2022 who played four years never used a red shirt You know if they if they had known in December January that this was an option then you know Very likely they would have stayed in school and played a fifth year somewhere and maybe gone in the transfer portal So they didn't have that option and so they are filing lawsuits To try to clear the way to to go back to school and the insolets fighting that on a bunch of different fronts But but ultimately the one in Louisiana and in state court last week Clear the way for about a dozen of these guys to go in the transfer portal and go make moves A lot of different directions here. So if we understand the five or five and if they don't want to call that that's fine Let's just use that yeah to understand five Five years to play five seasons um The retroactive part like it's one of these things where I know
No one likes the NCA, but as we're trying to sift through everything that's happened in the last few years, and then you're going, okay, well, this seems pretty straightforward. This seems pretty simple. And if you don't get it done during those five years, like, it's time to move on. All right. All right. I think we would all agree with that. And then immediately you're like, okay, well, where are the loopholes? And it feels like, let me expand on that a bit. You have the COVID years, right? You had what used to be a pretty difficult process to force your way out to not sit out a year in the transfer thing, remember you just have to, like, come up with some stuff. And then the NCA decided, like, some of the arguments are being made, we don't even want to fight these publicly. So we're just going to go ahead and concede. So then everybody wasn't even like whatever the appeal process was to be able to transfer immediately. It just felt like the NCA is like, we don't even want to fight all this stuff. So I'm wondering if we're in this, like, as much as we don't like the headlines, we're like, is this really what's happening to college sports? Are we perhaps just in this window of sifting through all of that stuff to then if we got through this court thing and Dayquan and all these other players are eligible that in the future, it would actually be a much cleaner process. And we're just dealing with kind of a shrapnel of years of the uncertainty of this. Yeah. I think that's right. I think there's just that this is the consequences of the come with. If you want to pick a date and say, going forward, we're going to do it this way, then you're going to have previous groups of players say, what about us? I mean, especially when you have just the amount of money that's on the line with NIL now. For Dayquan right, I mean, there's no comparison. Like, if you're a practice squad guy, this fall versus a guy that, you know, I assume has a chance to make probably 700 to a million bucks at LSU this season, like, there's not much to think about in terms of the opportunity at LSU. So yeah, I agree with you. Like, I think part of it is just, the Ace of the Lay is set in this and then everybody has the right to go challenge it and say, what about us? And, you know, I think for years, you've had guys, you're totally right, would come up with all of these angles to try to get next year year in fight for it. And now they're trying to get out of that business and you talk with coaches and that's something that they've wanted for quite a while. They wanted to get to five for five and just be able to have a lot simpler process here. But naturally, there's just going to be a lot of players, you know, this has been all done in December, January, then a lot of guys just wouldn't have tried to go pro. And so I think that's the situation that Dayquan right and a small group of these guys are in is just like, you know, you could say, oh, you should have entered the portal and you should have said all this stuff, but they didn't know when this will change was coming down. And so they tried to go to the NFL and I, you know, I think that is one of the themes of this offseason though, Ryan. And that is in college football, it's just like, man, through lawyers, all things are possible. I mean, we've seen, try to get a chance, let's get next year over respiratory issues. We've seen Dary and Mensa break a contract with Duke and go to Miami and get that settled within a week. Thanks to lawyers. We see Bren and Soresby gamble for, on college football for four years, but he still won his case in court, right, and now we're here, where I just think is the insolace is fighting these day after day, you know, people are pretty emboldened right now to challenge us and say, hey, I shouldn't, shouldn't an exception be made for us for our own, you know, specific reason? Yeah, because when you said, hey, if I was a lawyer, I was like, well, if you were a lawyer, you were just to argue whatever side was beneficial to you. So it doesn't necessarily mean that it would always be like, this is the only course of action for any of this stuff. Because, you know, landing it said something, Oregon's head coach was like, hey, once you're in the NFL, I kind of think you're in the NFL. So I think there's a lot of faith, whether it's programs or conferences or even fanbases where you just go, well, I, I hope this is a bit of a self-policing thing. And then you have LSU between the football and the basketball feels like a fucking free for all. So I wonder, I know you don't talk to every single coach, but of the coaches and the people around college football that you talk to, what is the temperature of whether or not people think this is good or bad right now? Yeah. A few weeks ago, the, the college football GMs had their annual summit in Nashville. And this was right as this stuff was dropping with the, with the Colorado federal case. And, you know, now you've got the option to potentially bring players back from, from last year's roster. And you talk to some of those GMs and, um, obviously, they're sweating this stuff. But some of them are like, man, my head coach is not down for this. And it's a relief. I mean, because ultimately, like, even if you can pursue this, you know, some people are still looking at this and saying, we shouldn't, we don't have to. And I think that Dan Lanning's frustration that he spoke on Saturday is, is one that you're going to hear a lot this fall, especially if, you know, Lane Kiffin and LSU and some other programs load up on these, which he's really experienced fifth year guys here in this next week is, you know, is this fair for the sport? Is this unfair that you are taking guys that should be in the NFL should be gone and bringing them back and giving them another run here? And, you know, I think for some of these programs, there is like the, when you get into the details of the stuff, it's difficult to pull off from a, like Mark Stremund says, hey, why aren't you bringing this defensive end back and it's going to LSU? It's like, well, you know, we can't get him into this, you know, grad school admissions in time. The deadline's already passed. And we don't think this is the right thing for him from a classroom or field standpoint. There are some of these that just don't have the ability to bring these guys back or look at it and say, man, it's week zero, like it is too late to do this stuff. And what does it, what does it say if we're bringing this guy into our program after all these other guys just competed for his job for eight months? Now, he's, he's swooping back in and whether he's ready to play or not is going to have a chance to have a role with this team. And so, you know, I think that Dan Lanning spoke it on, I'm sorry, I think you're going to hear a lot this fall that there's guys like saying, like, hey, this is just straight up. We don't think this is right. And, you know, but I think for, for LSU, if, if money's not an issue here, like, you know, Lane Kiffin is going to pursue this, he's going to try and bring his Ole Miss guys with him. Obviously, Will Wade's doing the same in terms of trying to load up with the, with the unbelievably experienced basketball team in Baton Rouge. And so, you know, these are guys that even if they are not draftable players and stuff, like, we're still talking about guys that have 30, 40 career starts right and can really bring a lot of experience and value here. And some coaches are going to look at that and say, that's messed up. Yeah, the LSU basketball things like a whole nother level, you know, we had the Alabama ruling where it was like, okay, so Alabama needs a big guy. And then a local judge rules that was a Betty Ako. Uh-huh. I don't know if I'm saying that wrong because it's been a little, it's been a few months since I've even thought about him. And then it's like, okay, wait a minute. This isn't happening. And, and you're just sitting there and I'm talking like as a fan, when I'm like, what? Like, this is, this is something you can do. And then it gets overruled and you're like, okay, you know, it's a bit like the Sorosby thing. We're like, okay, even if you are the most empathetic person ever, you know, you probably shouldn't be able to do that and come back and play college football because a judge wants Sorosby to play for Texas Tech. And that gets sorted out. And yet I still heard a lot of members of the media being like, really on Sorosby side through this. And I thought, yeah, I don't, I don't want to be on that side. And then you have a little bit of LSU going, all right, let me get Donovan Dent who is retired, but it's fine because that one seems a little bit more seamless. The RJ Lewis hearing is today as of this taping to figure out what's going on with him. Because that St. John's was drafted but didn't play. And then you have the Yam Madar deal where he's a 25 year old who was drafted six years ago and played professionally and apparently like LSU had five million to bring him in. And then I guess that one doesn't work out. And that's the part where I think like the collective of it going, is this really what you want it to be? Now if you're an LSU fan being like, hey, this is awesome. Yeah, I get it, but this is where you, I think you have to kind of think of like the greater good going, is this really what you want the sport to be? And I'd have to think like over 90% of fans want nothing to do with this. And I think that there's not really anybody who's, who's charged with protecting the greater good of this stuff at this point, you know, I think every conference commissioner is trying to put out fires and stuff like that. But I mean, ultimately, you know, these things are just being challenged over and over again and, you know, we got to what we went from one time transfer to unlimited transfers because of a court ruling and, you know, certainly, I think it's a way has to be able to defend the stuff and justify the stuff and, you know, people are going to just keep firing away. And I think the win lost record, I think this off season, it's a way has been great. So, but I agree with you. I think there is a fan sentiment to this piece that is that, you know, I think it's going to rise up here. And you saw with Betty Akko and I thought that as the Brennan Sorosby stuff was beginning, you know, my feeling was banned. If he gets clear to play, I don't care if he sits out two games or whatever, he gets clear to play this year. Like the level of rat rage around this is going to be far greater than anything that's gone on in basketball. But we probably should have seen this coming in a lot of ways, Ryan and we, that probably should have been the hit this spring in basketball that this was going to be attempted in football. I think usually basketball recruiting is a little ahead of the game in football when it comes to some of this stuff that goes on. But yeah, I think it's, it's hard to like, it's hard to justify. I understand it's hard to justify from the insulate standpoint of why are we leaving this group out? It's a small group of players. But frankly, Ryan, I think we're going to see a lot more suits here in the next week because as the federal case in Colorado gets stayed on Friday, which is a win for the insulate, it just means those players have to go to state courts to get cleared. And, you know, I think these programs that are trying to take in players like Indiana is trying to bring back two defensive linemen from last year's team, really good players. Like, as they walk through, how do we do this? Part of it is like, okay, what if these guys start practicing with us? We're bringing back all this stuff and then they're ineligible. So I think right now you're going to have a lot of guys who are either facing cuts or guys that, you know, are thought they'd have a chance to go back to their former school and now that's been put on hold here, we're going to file suits here and I think we're going to see another small flood of this here over the next seven days. I'm pro at NIL, I'm pro these guys being paid, there's probably some growth for me, some evolution, you know, like an old school atmosphere, like, hey, it's not the big video. I'm glad I don't think I was ever on TV saying, hey, that's what the scholarship is for and if that's what I said, then I apologize because you just, the revenue coming in, the coach of salaries, the expenses that these, these schools just burn through all of this money and then continue.
Incisantly like if you would ever told this is kind of my argument of a private equity with college football back last fall Was if you would ever told the programs like hey, you're gonna end up getting you know five years from now. You're gonna get a hundred million dollars per program Is that gonna cover it and? It all be sitting there going the A.Ds the coaching staff's book are you serious a hundred million dollars? If you look at the growth of revenue in college sports for the revenue generating ones, right? You see you're gonna get a hundred million dollar budget coming up in five years, you know in 2020 You're gonna get a hundred million or twenty twenty five whatever you want to say, but you'd have to tell him yours prior They'd be like, oh my god, it's gonna be unbelievable and they have that and they're still crying how broke they are so and that's still with like a really A really like if you wanted to chop it up in a way that was a CBA you could argue the players are still incredibly Undercompensated for the amount of revenues that they generated based on 50 50 splits in the professional leagues so I have no issue with any of that stuff I'm glad that the players are getting paid, but this is clearly I don't think it's the unintended consequence I think this is the predictable consequence of the money being involved and then generally the lawyers from the outside like all you need to find is some sort of flaw some weak point in the NCAA's argument and we've seen now for Probably well over a decade. It's like Nancy. I can't win some of these where you're like they lost that one so I just The question is I'm kind of like talking to you here is Is there a breaking point, you know, maybe there isn't one, but is this Heading towards this direction where the sport may wonder like did we did we screw ourselves here a little bit And I'm not talking about the player compensation part of it But just the direction is going every new headline. You're kind of like what's going on with this sport now And I wonder maybe that breaking point doesn't even exist and we're fretting about headlines that we'll forget about in months I think you've seen throughout the Zawsees I mentioned the win loss record of the civil errors, but at every turn the statement from the NCAA has been like hey This is why we need federal intervention. This is why we need federal intervention and obviously they they chased that hard this summer And now that's been put on pause, but I think it's it's almost like the fire just keeps rising and rising and it's like okay We are man. We really need the fire fighters to come in here and put this out for us and I think that that is The way this is trending like you talk to agents and James especially in college football. It's like I Don't really, you know, yes, there's a cap. There's there's a there's a cap for revenue sharing right and If you're trying to compete for the college football playoffs, you are already circumventing that and getting all these processes in place Everybody's doing their own a version of aspiration to try to make this work for the roster right now and then you've got And that's not going to change like the players are going to be worth more money here in November December The tampering's already underway for a season that hasn't even started yet So those fires gonna make more roster costs gonna go up people assume that it's at the highest level, you know over 40 million right now I think people probably soon that'll go to 50 or 60 and we'll have quarterbacks making sick million bucks next season So you can see it's just keeps escalating and there's not really something that's that's actively like tamping this down and You know what comes with that too then a lot of players who are saying like man that opportunity is so great We got to figure out a way we can come back and so we'll see if like the the coming back from the NFL is is the one-year deal here And this is just a little group that's kind of trying to slip through the cracks here I'm curious with you think though because I'm not tapped into this like you are like Do you think NFL front office folks look at this and they're just like yeah man crazy situation I get it from his standpoint or do you think that I'm not trying to concern troll here But like do you think they're gonna look at day one right and some of these guys and say like Okay, I get it, but like we're not messing with you next year if you try to come back to the lead. I Don't think they'll care at all. I think there's way worse stuff that players do that gets drafted This isn't even in the same categories that kind of stuff Um, I think this comes down to competition. You know, that would be the excuse will Wade's going like if I can find a way to Add these guys, especially I think at one point this summer LSU felt like they had three guys in the basketball team I might be exaggerating on my not be yeah And if you're gonna put a bunch of people together with stuff that's this important That's on the line and the money that's involved and then guys are just gonna do whatever they can So I don't think an NFL front office like if Dayquan right comes out like I really liked him I thought he was a hell of a player. I loved him if Virginia Tech and Yeah, I guess it was the injury in the in the pre draft process at least I'm not being drafted and the whole deal I think I know enough of the history of how this works Like if he had a really good season in place for LSU even if that's gonna happen because I'm still I'm still not a hundred percent convinced. It's kind of really happened Then NFL teams will be like hey great season. Let's let's go to the process again, right? so I don't think I really don't think that that front office decision-makers on the professional level would care like if some of these LSU basketball players were terrific And then I guess I don't even know what the rules would be when you've already gone to the draft process and in that case draft into the second round I guess your rights would just be available I don't I don't think you would go back into the draft. I don't I don't think that's the rule But again, I don't even know the rule because all the stuff so new and that's where I think that there's there's you know National like 99% of people look at this up and say like okay Well, once you've gone pro you've made money the pros like you can't go back That's crazy and the Louisiana TRO is just like just pay back the money. It's fine You know, and I think that's you know, we'll see if more courts kind of You know do the do the same here over the next few weeks I think there is an urgency and a deadline to this stuff you have your roster set here going into your first game But you know, I think certainly there's going to be a lot of teams that watch this play out And I think a lot of players and agents like I said who go into cuts here. They don't know what's gonna happen They don't know if they're going to be stuck on a practice squad or if they're going to be you know playing Semi-profile ball here in the near future We're gonna look at this and say like hey someone someone could take me right and I think that We'll see if this is just a little temporary window of this stuff But I think there's definitely going to be some continued consequence I'm gonna bring this story up because I know it it sounds silly, but it was somebody from the gym with sky like you smart He knows sports talk to him and and it was like one of those discussions that a bunch of old guys have is they're stretching on a Sunday morning trying to get their workout in and we were talking about this and I was like I just don't like it and he kind of came at me a little bit was and It was hard to tell him that he was wrong He's like this whole thing's a free-for-all like what does it matter this guy needs a place to play It didn't work out the NFL. There's money on the line if he's ruled eligible like why would you have an issue with it? And it's a hard thing like you've got me in a corner and it's a hard hard thing for me to say like hey, I don't like it But like the thing that I said was it reminds me of Maurice Claret wanted to go right to the NFL, right? And I think there's a labor part of me. There's a a freedom part of me that would say hey if I'm Jeremiah Smith And somebody wants to take me in the first round out of high school Then I should be able to do that and I believe that But it would also suck It would also suck if it was a free-for-all like if the ruling happened I would not argue against it knowing that I think the right thing even if it's wrong legally morally The right thing would be hey play some college ball especially now that you're even getting paid and then You know, we'll figure it out from there And that's what I that's the parallel that I see to this story is that I'm not necessarily like rooting against I use kids lightly with some of the cases here, but you get the point I don't want to be like hey you can't come back and play it is a bigger picture thing of Is this the new normal and when I talk about that breaking point I might be completely wrong that there is maybe the rule that we're all going to learn from 10 years of all of this stuff That's happening so fast and again, there's a monologue in my head on this one Maybe the truth is that there actually is no breaking point in that we Freak out and then we watch the games on Saturday and we just don't really care Yeah, I think that's right and I think you know, I I have plenty of those conversations as well where people will come up to be and be like You know, you know, and I was ruining this stuff right and it's like I mean how much time you got like we can we can talk about right? The same folks would probably say five 10 years ago. I've had those that conversation with ADs five 10 years ago Like these guys don't have value like what are we talking about here? We shouldn't be paying them and right now is clearly open market Yeah, obviously they absolutely do and and you get into competitive recruitments in these schools It's amazing how easily these schools will go to a million on a guy they want to get And or just say a number to win a recruitment now and but I understand like that just because Like I don't think fewer people are watching it like I don't think people are actually opting out of this stuff But like I if you want to say like I don't like it You know, you can't make me like it like I understand that from the fan standpoint and certainly Everything just feels like it's just kind of head not the cliff here and you know, I think To landings point a little bit. There's got to be like some responsibility to that where I think Oftentimes, you know, there's kind of this hypocrisy of like People talk about man. This is the Wild West. This is so messed up. There's no guardrails when you intervention eat rules We need we need clarity on all this stuff, but these guys love living in the gray. They love tampering They love you know figuring out a way to you know get over on everybody else in their conference And you know, I think you're gonna see some people that are saying like hey, here's another another chance to get better And if other people don't like it then sucks for them, but you know, that that is where you just don't have that restrain of like Okay, just because we could it doesn't mean that we should Thanks max Appreciate it Max Olsen ESPN Raising canes is turning 30 this month to celebrate the milestone canes is hosting a 30th birthday pop-up museum
in Baton Rouge, located directly behind the original restaurant, the mothership. Todd Gray's will be unveiling the museum on August 25th in honor of 30 years of Canes. The brand is also launching a commemorative 90s plush puppy available beginning August 26th, featuring Cane in her 90s best net proceeds benefit pet welfare organizations. I know I'm getting a full spread center of my house. We're shooting a commercial today and I asked my personal trainer. Obviously, I was like, is 100 chicken fingers too many chicken fingers before we're doing kind of a cardio thing tomorrow? And he was like, I've never seen it done. It doesn't mean that you can't try. He said, go easy on the sauce. I'm like, dude, I actually asked for extra sauce. So we'll see what happens. And I can't wait to be back in Baton Rouge and check out everything going on down there. Raising Canes, chicken fingers, one love. I don't do this very often. I didn't have an open today because we had a pack show. And then, and it's freedom showed up to a WNBA game. And I thought about it last night. I thought about it more this morning. I have no notes. I haven't written a word down. But I'm just going to go here for a little bit. So I think a lot of people in my position, and if you've listened to me long enough, you probably know how I feel about some things politically. Even though I think there's some things politically, it was like, can I take it's a bit of a buffet? Can I take this right wing idea? Can I take this left wing idea? Can I believe in this? I believe in that. And I think it's kind of, it's kind of tough to do that. Right? Because you say one thing. It's like, oh, you're that guy. And then you say something completely different. And it's like, oh, you're like, the two things contradict themselves. I think an awful announcement called me a misogynist on a Monday. And I think Outkit called me a liberal cool kid on Tuesday, which within the same week, that's really hard to do. The reason I was called a misogynist is because I made a joke about me and a kind of being on inside the NBA. And reality, what I was doing was making fun of the guys that lose their minds when me and a kind of just on a TV show. So awful announcing wanted to go one way and then Outkit got mad at me for something entirely different saying that I was like an ESPN cool kid or I wanted to be an ESPN cool kid. So I was actually kind of proud of myself. That I was able to pull that off within 24 hours. So when it comes to the trans athlete thing, I think I'm probably pretty grounded in that. Look, I don't even have kids, but if I did have kids, I would have a hard time if I had a daughter feeling like she was missing out of an opportunity, right? I think that's probably a belief that a lot of people share whether you're a parent or you're not. I think the WNBA has been on a heater of some of the dumbest shit I've ever seen from a league in my entire lifetime. And we touched on some of that stuff with Ethan Strauss. You know, it feels a bit like the reason this topic keeps coming up, even though the topic is fairly insignificant because if you want to go with the, well, this is probably never going to happen. You're probably never going to have a trans woman in the WNBA. So why are we doing this over and over again? I think it is probably a pretty good point. But what will never be ignored is an opportunity from one side, politically, to just run victory lap, that for victory lap against the other side, if you feel like it's a really good win. And this topic feels like it's a really good win for the right. And it reminds me like some of the congressional hearing videos that you'll see where I forget which Republican Senator, I think it was Republican Senator, was looking at somebody who was testifying who was a doctor and they were talking about something. He just kept saying over and over again, he's like, "Can a man have a baby? Can a man have a baby?" And the woman who was a doctor, like, didn't answer the question. And so the reason why that'll keep coming up, even though it feels like such an incredibly small part of the population, like, "Why are we still doing this all the time?" It's because that video is such a win that if I were a hardcore right-wing guy, I would like want to get that messaging out there over and over and over again, because you're like, "Look at how bad the opposition looks right now." I think there's also another version of this conversation where if you expanded it out and said, "Hey, what are we really doing here?" The other side would be like, "Hey, well, fundamentally, who cares? The lack of numbers are insignificant, the act itself." Like, this is something that you wouldn't want to happen. You shouldn't want to have happen to women in sports, but the WNBA is so concerned with messaging and feelings that they're a very, very easy target. And then you have this mascot thing happen over the weekend. You're like, "Who thought this was a good idea?" And it's like, "Well, somebody in the WNBA did, because they have the worst ideas collectively. It seems like for a bunch of seasons in a row here. A lot of instincts, maybe I should stay, that seem misguided. But I'm telling you right now, if NS Canter is your fucking hero, you're doing it wrong, all right?" This guy, and he has had a fascinating journey through media alliances. Because in the beginning, when he's going through this horrible situation with his father, and we're talking about the safety of whether or not his father is even going to like live. Canter's going on TV everywhere, and it's about human rights. And then I started wondering, is it about human rights? Or is it because you want to be on TV all the time, right? So the left was kind of like on his side, going like, "Look at this guy. He's speaking about the right things," which I think, you know, depending on where you are politically, you would agree. Like, "Hey, that's the right thing. We shouldn't want the government to put us in fear of our own safety." And then he started taking shots of LeBron, China, and Nike, and the right-wing guys on TV were like, "Let's get this fucking canner dude in the studio." And so the early alliances were like, "What happened to our guy?" And we're like, "No, no, no, no, no. He's over here now." And where he is, because he also steals tweets, which I think you can think it's completely insignificant. I think it is like the perfect window into someone's soul, where you see a pretty clever tweet from somebody else, and it's kind of anonymous. And then you're like, "Well, that thing didn't get any run. I'll just copy and paste it." And send it from my account just to get the impressions. Like, "What is that?" Right? I think that tells you a lot. Like, there's a couple NFL players that do it, and you just go, "This is what you're doing. This is what you're doing your free time." Now, granted, they probably paid somebody to manage the whole thing. But so when this whole thing heats up with the Sophie Cunningham part of it, where again, I don't think she said anything remotely inflammatory. You can believe that she did. I do not think that she did. You know, I don't know if Riley Gaines, I don't know her at all. I've read some stuff that presents her as like the all-time grifter on this thing. I've seen other people say, "Hey, why should she lose a race in college to a trans athlete?" Right? And then I see the other counter to that. It's like, "Oh, she came in fifth." And when I always think about, when I see 70 say, "Oh, Riley Gaines, she came in fifth place." Like, if she came in second place, would you have her side? Of course you would. But you love saying fifth place. So I'll go ahead and go ahead and go ahead. So when I think about Canner like looking at this, say you're a Sophie Cunningham fan. I don't think you should be an in-us Canner fan or a Royce White fan. Because this is about attention for them. And for Canner to show up to a WNBA game, get into it with a player on the court. All right? And maybe I'm a little old school. The fact that the player is a woman and he's going to like stand up on the baseline and then get thrown out and do that. And this is where I think the right's like, "Hey, there's probably a lot of stuff that I would agree with you on, but I don't even want to talk about it." You know what? Because I don't want a headline on like, and this is the part where it's not fear. It's just those of us that have done this long enough go, "What's the fucking point?" Like, you probably know where I stand on this. I probably don't even feel like talking about it. I don't need to talk about it. I can't wait for football to start. And I don't want some headline or some click baity thing that changes what I said or doesn't even come close to representing what I said, but they know that it's going to kind of work. And then you see that and you're like, "Oh, this sucks." And so you do it enough or you have that happening and you're like, "I just don't even want to do any of this stuff." But I'm just telling you to the right, you thinking canner is like, "Your guy now? Pick a different guy." That's as simple as I can make the message on this. He's not your hero with this. He loves what happened this weekend. He loves that everybody's talking about him today because that's his goal. You know what? Something pops up last minute and you need an outfit that just works. That's when I go straight to revolve man. It feels curated, not chaotic. You're not drowning in 10,000 results or 50 pages of product. It's edited in a way that makes sense. I have a shirt with a flower on it. And it's detachable. 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[email protected]. We have Saruti, we have Kyle. Happy birthday to my brother Fawn. Nice. Indeed. Who does the music for the show? You think. That's right. That's right. All right. So we got to, let's do a couple quick feedback ones. Wader headline, no way the podcast made up of restaurant workers that never waited tables, hates the waiters, crazy. I sent sarcasm. Look, the truth of restaurant working is that everyone thinks that everyone else's job is way easier than theirs. Actually, I think Kyle, weren't you promoted? Yeah. To wait, so you are the one way to have them. No, no. Hold on, not waiter, buddy. No, no. It was on the line, did a little expo work, you know, you never laid it. No, no, no. I'm a back in the house kind of guy. I actually, you know, if I couldn't be a bartender, you know, you guys could fucking have that server shit. If I can't be a bartender, don't worry about it. See, I'll pick it up a shift myself. See if you still got it. Just helped me the stories now. I have to call out. Just bored, yeah. Oh, I mean, new material. Yeah, I think it's a lot of the stuff. Again, the narcissism of pain sometimes where it's like, hey, I have to. I'll ask this. Has anyone ever been promoted from waiter to dishwasher? And you could say, well, that runs counter to your whole point of like what's hardest. I don't know that there's ever been anyone that's ever waited or bartended who was like, I'd like to wash dishes. I just the state, even the kitchen crew, like just the state of how you leave the restaurant. It's like, you don't leave fucking wet and gross as a waiter normally. That's my point. It's like, I'm, I can't go do something after this. I have to go home and wash this off of me. Well, you're like, yeah, I'll count my cash and I'll meet you at the bar later. Just wasn't in my, wasn't on my day timeline after getting out of the restaurant and closing. That's all. Yeah. I know they hate doing roll ups. Big problem. Anyway, keeps it in emails. I'll give a shit. I'm not wrong about this. I used to pull mats for local bars. Nice. Well, I waited there. I'm going to get some more stuff. Because I had a truck. I was like, the only person that had a truck. And so they do like, is there any way like, yeah, yeah, everyone in this in the village rejoiced. A little Friday feedback here, 510, 236, 36, I don't know in the last time we're going to, next time we'll do a Friday feedback. We got some major numbers here. 365 bench, 515 squat, 575 deadlift, 200 Turkish get up. Our guy's a personal trainer. All right, fucking right. That's some, that's some serious work. Son, let's a Turkish get up. I'm thinking of like the Turkish. I don't, I don't think I even know what it is. My, my first thought was just, is there a Turkish version of greenie doing morning television show out there? I don't know. No, those numbers. Oh, the Turkish get up. He did 200 pounds on this thing. No, fucking way. It's when you're on your back and you get up holding a dumbbell and you stand up. Oh, yeah, I've seen that. Yeah. I don't do those. That's what I know. I haven't done that. I'll try one today. How about that? Report back. Yeah. Yeah. Slip this. I'll try one today. Yes. Down. See you guys week four. I stuck to this in high school. Bad, bad, bad time. All right. Let's see here. We had another one. I'm going to save this one because I like it so much. Wait, when was the feedback guy? We just kind of got off on his Turkish. Oh, yeah. That's right. What did he have? I closed out to look up Turkish. Get up. Pick up comp. Sons Grant Hill. I was really good player in high school. My young 20s still run pick up twice a week. I'll give a couple flashes of what I once was a few times a game, but mostly I'm comfortable playing defense making the right passes, hitting open shots. I don't know. We didn't get an age on this guy. Why does the recillo book club rarely, if ever do sportsbooks, this summer, I read band, how I squandered and all star NBA career before finding my redemption by Michael Ray Richardson and Jake UT. Oh, that was the other author with Michael Ray Richardson. So I apologize for Jake, maybe not nailing your last name there. Blood in the garden, Bikers, Herring, both fascinating reads. I'm just wondering why if you don't enjoy sportsbooks being in the sports business, sir, if there's another reason for sportsbooks not being in the book club, that's 100% it. I need a break. If I'm going to spend free time, I don't want to do anything that has anything to do with sports. I think I do have enough of that. I think the sports part of it's covered for most of the week. So yeah, I specifically don't want to read sportsbook. I don't even know. I look over here at the library. I mean, it would have to have been something where it was an author who I really liked and I was like, okay, I'm going to read your book and then we'll have you on. We'll promote the book. But sometimes I feel bad if it's just somebody who I don't really even know and then they'll hit me up at the book and then I go, I don't really want to read this this summer. Like somebody hit me up a book last year and it was probably pretty good. And I do like the guy's work. But I'm like, I don't want to spend a couple of weeks reading this book and having to get it the way of the invasion of Sicily, you know, I think that should make total sense to the emailer. And if it doesn't, I don't know. That extends to movies for me. I just, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know if it's like a jaded thing, but I just don't really care that much about consuming any sports content outside of like listening to podcasts and watching games. I don't know the last sports movie. I was like, man, I mean, money ball was great. But that was also like a different thing because it was like more kind of a fucking while ago, dude. No, I know. I know. This is why I don't. I don't. I mean, growing up, I look at you in Sunday. What's that? What was the curve? I did not see that. No. Is that a sports movie? I don't think it is. I have no idea. Have you guys seen you feel the dreams? This is people can get really mad at me. I have not. Yeah. Yeah. It's okay. You've seen it a long time ago. Yeah. I mean, my wife for some reason, like, was interested in her dad. Like, I don't know. I would love to get a sorouty review of field field dreams. I don't think we, I don't, my crew rating. I don't know if we need to do that. I did read recently. There's like people saying that it wasn't as good now, but I don't know what that means. I've never seen it. No, I just, I saw that on acts. I don't know if it's a throwing thing or whatever. I know, I know the overall. They made me on something, man. I watched the first 20 minutes of it on a flight. And I went, whoa. Like, people, uh, people loved it. And it came as like, it was one of those things you didn't want to tell anybody. You didn't love it. Sure. I could just see it be like, yeah, I was unbelievable. I'm not seen at the end. Kidding me. You know, I love, yeah, you know what? Maybe this would be a homework assignment. Should I do it? I could do it. Yeah. Yeah. Watch field of dreams. You've got a few weeks. I know you get kids running around. I know they get sick every other week. But you might have to do it in parts, like a, like a class of like three different classes in high school. Like we're going to get through an hour through this movie and history class, you know? My guess you're not going to make it through the first time. It doesn't. You're going to text me. Yeah. And then you're going to go, all right, I'll finish small minute. I did this because there was a lot of things that I didn't have on my checklist. Uh, like, I think we did just during the pandemic when I was like, you know, between jobs, we'll say, and I had some time on my hands. I was like, all right, let me check off some things that that I that I haven't seen. And we, and we did. Yeah, like I hadn't seen it. People were going to make fun of me. I hadn't seen good fellas. And I watched it. And good fellows is excellent. Like I just missed the ball. Oh, thanks. Good. You see your time. No, yeah. No, I'm just saying good. So all I'm saying is that I'm not just like, hey, this movie's old. It sucks. So that great movie. Awesome. I will say to your point of like going back and being like, Oh, man, I haven't seen this movie in a while. And it is actually good. I watched anchor man a couple of years ago, rewashed it. And I, I wish I had. I wish I had not. I wish I just left. I wish I left it in the memory back. I was like, man, because you know what? It's all, all those comedies from that time, like I still think old school is really good. Stepbrothers is excellent. You know, super bad. It's obviously a classic. Those hold up anchor man for whatever reason just did not work for me.
It's alarming because usually it's the other way around where you enjoy the movies like they get seasoned like a skillet Just watch wedding crashers if they dropped wedding crashers tomorrow. I would think I would think it was just as good. It's that good Anchorman Vince Vaughn's incredible on that You want that to be real like you wish there was some sort of although that's kind of who he is But he there should be some sort of like fantasy camp where you get to hang out with that version of like Vince Vaughn He's like he's the eighth on your golf trips Like if Vince Vaughn's career hadn't continued to stay at this level Then there's probably a lot of money to be made of like him always being on your golf trip because back reunion He just that granted that be a grind for him. It would suck his family would probably be a little bummed out It'd be exhausting, but he would be Hey, buddy. These guys don't even know what they're in for You are the storm now get out there. Come on. Yeah, he's in pasta last night. Carb up for today. It's gonna be a great one That's awesome. That would be so good. Your box. All right Let's go to some balls I'm doing a bad you the hardcore life advisors Yeah, 10 minutes a lot of be their max. We're at like 11 before they got a con heads out there God bless you, sir Can I name my son after the fourth best player on a second round exit team? This is In our wheelhouse wheelhouse 34 6 2 220. I've been compared to mark the soul not positive It was a compliment, but I'm also not positive. It wasn't I did 6 2 2 20. I bet you Maybe some angles people didn't see writing with a bit of a time sensitive dilemma on my hands My wife is due in early September. Glad we got this my wife is due February 24 No, she's due in September. We got exactly nowhere in terms of agreeing on a name This will be our first child the only name we remotely agree on is anyone want to guess a fourth option on a second round playoff exit team I was gonna guess Jack because I feel like that's everyone's like safe pick for a boy. I mean Jack the shot fully What what current NBA player named Jack would you would you I don't know That's just awful guess. No, it's not my guess. What about what about one of the jaylons from okc? You know, there's a lot of that's a safer guess Yeah, more jaylons out there Yeah, they did make it to the western compass finals. Kyle you got a guess second round I was immediately went back to my guy cockburner, but he didn't make the second round. So it's not him. It's not Ryan No, but they framed the net from the plane. They did They did They did all right our guy I'm thinking about naming his son Rui we admittedly never had afford The name prior to Rui Hatchamura the issue is that we couldn't be any less Japanese We looked it up and found that it also had some Portuguese roots couldn't be less Portuguese either What would I say when people ask me where the name came from despite having one of the most fun weeks of my New York City Life for the nicks this year. I'm a lifelong Lakers fan Could I say that you shot over 56% from three while my wife was pregnant when I need to add in that the whole run was 10 games Also, he's now on the clippers any advice is appreciated. I Like the name. I'll tell you that it's a cool name. Yeah I think you're seeing a lot of anime Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of silly names coming out of like The wider parts of America with different spellings and they're all verbs. It's like, you know Trapper bailer I don't know. I just think there's a lot of stuff where it's like I Would ask maybe why do you land on that and I don't so I just think people will just glaze. Oh, I don't think you're gonna do have to do as much Explaining as you as you think. Yeah, here's a thing less real quick though I'm sorry, so you just to jump in because I think this is like a cultural thing because like cultural appropriation Like sometimes I'm like is that actually happening am I perhaps not understanding to have a blind spot because I think that Black Americans were ahead of the curve on the weird spellings of first names Now I think the whites are doing it. Yeah, you could say hey, who's talking right now standing out to me now That's all you say we've culture appropriated naming things dumb, you know, that's probably what's what's happened there? Yeah, McCaylon. You're like, how is that spell? And it took like two eyes decades to catch up. It's case wise where I you know, you wouldn't expect them Yeah, so I just think I think we've all just realized like I'm not gonna ask about the origin of that one Because I'm not sure I really want to know Like maybe it doesn't happen that much anymore. That's why I think it does just like great his name's Kai I don't care why that was my point. I had this in my head like First name middle name for my first kid her name is Marlowe Maya I had anticipated like the answer to why when everyone asked like what did you name her this? What are both things meaning like definitions all that so I had it all ready and nobody asked you other than like your real Immediate family for the most part now Ruiz like a little bit more different than like my daughter says Marlomaya It's not too weird, you know too out of a name Ruiz like all right That's a question mark my most no, it's actually a lower the rings reference true story Child to Kyle but most people just don't ask man. They don't care. And so I feel like you're gonna be your trans athlete Wait, that doesn't make me sense. She's Harry Potter. Yeah, it was so stupid. Wow That's not that was gonna be a real Mulaney and it wasn't what yeah, I'm not quite that was like that was a McMurphy Point of the story is people don't ask man. I think you're gonna be fun. Yeah All right, okay. I like the name. I think it's cool. It is a cool name. I would love to know his last name. What's his last name? That does matter. There's some names that I'm not gonna say it, but yeah, maybe we should Yeah, no, yeah, I'm not going to do somebody save this for a Facebook search 10 years from now And it's like I think it's he's old enough to check in There's certain names where it's like if you have this guy's name. It's like you better be something special Right, you know with the with the first and last combo here Like you put too much pressure or are you setting you know a little iron sharpens iron here or like we're expecting big things with this kind of name So yeah, I'd also were there's a I grew up with the Thor and it was like yeah that guy what's he up to now? I don't know. He's up to now, but like a man. He was like definitely like into Wrestling team like strong guides like one of the kids who could do a backflip, you know what I mean? There's not there's only a handful of those and it's like yeah, sounds like nice job already, right? I don't know what life has in store for you, but you're you're living up to the high Well, that's your home you have to watch field of dreams. You have to let us know what Thor has been up to I really quickly though It's like there are there are a lot of people who are just for example like hey, I'm They're really clinging on to that two percent Italian big a name of some Mateo for as Italian handset ancestry and you're like Yeah, man, that doesn't really like that doesn't mean you can just it's okay now because you have two percent Italian to name your son Mateo No, so I just like to point that out there. I think that's bullshit Little Italian gatekeeping. No, I'm not gatekeeping because I wouldn't do it either and I'm what 75 or whatever I just think like you wouldn't name your kid. So you got to be off the boat to continue the Using that as an excuse for why you can. Oh yeah, I don't I think there's I think some there's some real stretches in there You could also say that Rui was a pretty good like it's not like they shut down Yokech But it was a nice size matchup on Yokech to try to like meet him at his position Not saying it war, but like it's kind of like the cat thing you could look at the boxcar and be like well cat didn't shut him down It's like yeah, but he's making him work and I kind of like that for the Lakers when they had Rui on the team Or or here's the other thing, you know, obviously wargons parents just didn't think he was worthy of being named Michael after Michael Jordan, right? Ultimately, are you sitting the bar too low with Rui though? You know, do you want your kid to aspire to more than just the fourth best player on a second round team? Yeah, that's true. I think I think wargons parents were right to just correct that a little bit and he'd be the first to agree. Yeah. No, yeah So Luca, there you go All right, we've got a kind of a serious one here. So we'll give it a shot female listener here Hi Ryan serious. Yeah, that's already serious. Love listening to your life voice Which is ironic because my husband is actually the person who introduced me to you and now I'm writing to you about him See, I feel like this is starting to happen a little bit more We're being we're like the conduit of We'll see what happens when me and my guys are relating themselves Right, so I mean if this guy's listening to this, I mean, there's probably a touch of trepidation on us on this one Anyway, so when me and my husband first got married, I really want to try for a baby It was already in my mid 30s, so I was aware of that biological clock in the beginning though We did fight, but I viewed it as the learning curve of marriage my version of Merrill conflict resolution was quote will figure it out eventually things like him helping around the house and not wanting to eat We're not waiting for me to ask ten times, but according to him He doesn't remember the ten times I asked nicely. He just says I always get mad at him and other arguments starts He on the other hand took it more seriously and said he wasn't comfortable having a child over having these issues I wasn't happy about the decision, but I understood and accepted it eventually about two three years later He felt we weren't good enough place and said he was ready to try Sadly life likes to f things up. So of course, I was then diagnosed with breast cancer was unable to freeze my embryos Really sorry to hear that Initially, I didn't resent him, but after going through cancer treatments multiple surgeries radiation I would discuss adoption and surrogacy Thinking he would 100% be with me Instead his answer was essentially no There was never really a conversation about it. The doors just closed I wasn't going to force him into something that's serious if he wasn't on board With adoption he's going to
was the risk of not knowing what kind of child you might get. I understand that parenting always comes with uncertainty, but I could help thinking, well, I'm pretty sure that that could happen with a biological child. I think that's a pretty exciting thing to agree with. Maybe this is the immature side of me, but after everything I went through, I guess I expected him to at least be willing to explore alternative options, especially knowing how badly I wanted to become a mother. Long story short, this past week, and everything finally came to a head. I honestly don't even know what started the fight, but somehow all the issues surrounding kids came, came pouring out and then he just left the house. And here's where my own baggage comes into play. I've pretty significant fear of abandonment, but stem from my childhood and he knows all about it because I've gone to counseling for it. So when he suddenly left, parentheses, not before telling me he didn't want to have kids with me anymore, he didn't even tell me where he was going. Blocked my number and then didn't contact me for three days, but for finally telling me he was staying with a friend for who knows how long. Let's just say I didn't handle it. Well, if you know about abandonment issues, it basically puts you into this fight or flight mode, but worse, it's hard to explain, but I get very emotional. It's not pretty. I know he needs a space, so I haven't texted or called since yesterday, and that was because I need to know what to do with our dogs because I worked this weekend. Of course, he didn't respond to him knowing my condition. He could have communicated that to me, so now I'm sitting here wondering whether this marriage can be saved. Of course, I love him. We do have a lot of fun and good times, but I can't get over the hurt of what he did, especially when he told me that he was a child. He didn't want kids with me anymore. Is this marriage over or am I overreacting to a really bad fight? Would love to hear your thoughts if you think there's anything left to say. Thank you for reading this. This was a bad performance. I mean, this is like fucking four own goals. You know what I mean? Like this is bad. I mean, I just mean like the way this guy, like I was trying to be on his side knowing he's a listener or at least trying to be the devil's advocate. It's like, all right, he got upset, left the house. He didn't quite think about your, you know, a band of missions. He should know it, but when you're in the heat of the moment, sometimes you make some poor decisions. But it's been compounded, and it wasn't like a day to cool off was enough. It was three days. And I have to say, own gold himself, like four times. Like if he's not really trying to climb out of this hole with some sort of explanations or perfuse apologies or at least some sort of acknowledgement. I don't know. I don't know. You just can't chalk everything that happened up to like, you know, shit got crazy and I should have handled it better. I don't know. Oh, I've been listening. This is tough. Yeah, I mean, I've got two kids. I thought about if we were able to like what I would do, because I've always wanted kids, just like you. And what I adopt, like how would I go about this? Like would I be able to like, you know, you just start thinking of like, it's not, you know, it's not your blood. How do you feel about that? Is that weird? I know it's not like awesome to say. But like what I'd be able to do that. Maybe he's just going through that. Those motions and showing it in a poor way. I mean, I can't defend anything he's done. Obviously, like this is like knowing that you have these issues and then doing this to you and like kind of leaving you with a dog. And I mean, it's not a great sign, I'll say. It doesn't mean it can't be reconciled, but it's not a great sign. But I don't, I don't know. I couldn't help but hearing this entire, you lay out this entire case. He's kind of just been delaying the kid thing. Like did he, did he just not want to maybe have kids? And he's just not cool with it. And he was like, oh, I'm in the clear. And now that you're bringing this up again, it feels like you're like, oh, man, I thought I was in the clear, but now I'm not. So to answer the question about like whether or not it's safeable, I don't know. I only you can answer that question. You have way more details. I don't think it's a great look for him doing this to you. But it certainly could be saved if you want it to be saved. Yeah, the email doesn't pay the great picture for a couple of different reasons. But when you have two people that are together and one wants kids and one doesn't want kids, usually one of like both parties think the other person is going to concede. And it's a pretty shitty foundation for relationship to be on. And I would tell you as you get older, like the more motivated the person who is like that wants kids is going to want them even more later on. And maybe the correction, sweep that under the rug. Like they'll be resenting each other at 70. Because I have those people in my family. It doesn't just go away after a while. It just start telling other people instead of you. Yeah, and then the fact that you go through all of this medical stuff is just awful. And I feel terrible for you for this one. A close friend of mine gone through something like this. And you just like, you know, you're just all your priorities change immediately here. And I think there's, you know, I know it's like, oh, why are you even talking about this kind of thing? But I can speak to at least of like when you're in that, you even admitted right in the email where she was like, it was ugly, the abandonment issues and all this kind of stuff. My guess is that you became really difficult to deal with, right? Which you're basically admitting in the email. And when you're fighting for something and you want this person back in your life that you love, what you're this emotional and you're probably making the wrong. They have some bad instincts right now because this is so shattering to you. The guy's left the house, he blocks your number, you know, you've gone through this medical stuff. If you've had this battle with the kids the whole time, like it makes sense that you're dealing with so much stuff, but you're probably presenting a less desirable version of yourself. I remember when I did this 25 years ago or something and it was kind of like, dude, you're never getting this person back. These are your instincts and these are the conversations you're going to have or this is going to feel about stuff. I was like, you know, I didn't understand it at the time. But when you want that person back, you have these two paths. And usually the more successful path is to let that person go beyond their own and let them do their thing. As much as it hurts to not have this person that's been part of your daily life for so many years, not being daily contact with them and how disruptive that is to you, that's more often than not kind of the path that you need to be on for a little while, especially after this like emotional outburst in this moment of your husband moving out and not even wanting to tell you where he is and blocking the number and all that kind of stuff. So, you probably need to get in some sort of mode of being okay with this decision that you clearly hate and people listening to but like, why would you want to give the like, that's not what we're doing here. But you need to kind of like let him cool off and then not talk to him. And if he wants to be by himself, like, go ahead and do that because everything that you be doing and talking about right now is probably going to push you further apart. I'm not going to follow that. Well, you know, I don't the only thing that it becomes like, oh, hey, if you let the other person go, I have the other version where it's like, oh, you just, you didn't even care. You didn't fight for it. Like, what am I supposed to do here? This is an awful situation. Okay, it's an awful situation. But to have any health of this thing moving forward, you're going to have to get on the same page if you do get back together and figure out a definitive answer to this kid thing. Or it's never ever going to work because what happens is you just start fighting over other insignificant stuff because you have this fundamental flaw in your relationship where the one person wants kids, the other person doesn't. And it sucks because it tarnishes all the good. Like, you're having, there's so many things that are good. And yet, there's this cloud that hangs over you the entire time. And it kind of fucks up the relationship. And I don't know that relationship could ever get that healthier version of itself or ever move forward unless you find a way to kind of get on the same page. Which is different from what you're dealing with at the end of the email of him bouncing. But if you're to your own email admitting, like you didn't handle it well, you have to not, like, you've got to let him kind of just go and be whatever he wants to be here for a month or whatever. And that's probably a better path that is supposed to like asking what he's doing, where he is every single day or a hair we're going to get back together, because that's going to push him further away. To be fair, to her, he does owe you a little bit of help with stuff around the house though. Yeah. And she's just like a band of the dogs like, okay, that's just on you because he wants to take a hiatus because he's mad at you. So you should not be okay with that. That's not fair on your front. But I think to your point right, too, there's two, there's two parts. There's a short term in the long term, the short term is, oh yeah, okay, yeah, give him some space and kind of let this thing reconcile. And I'm sure, yeah, you could figure out if you want to. But the bigger picture question is like, is the kid's thing a deal breaker or not? Like that's the answer to the question. Like, is him saying no to you? Is that the end of the relationship? And if it is, and then there's your answer. And if it's not, you know, how sad are you going to be not having that? And that's only, that's only something you can, I guess, answer. Glad we don't do these serious ones too often. Yeah, I got to say, I'm glad it's a sweat and brinkling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, that'll do it for the show today. Thanks to Kyle. Thank God. Thanks to Sury. Thanks to Kevin. Thanks to Tom. Ryan Rusillo Show, Arsenal Sports. See you.