The Clippers’ Massive Penalty & Is Kawhi the Worst Partner in Sports? Plus Clay Matthews Stops By!

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I start with my open 20 minutes on this report from the NBA, on the Clippers, the investigation into them and the penalties that are massive will go through some of the report and some thoughts on Kawaii Leonard as a business partner. Clay Matthews, six-time pro bowl or from the Packers, also a year there with the Rhymes, he's with Netflix now, he's headed to Australia for Rhymes Niners. We'll preview that game a little bit, talk some ball and life advice. The weight is over. Football is here, and so is DraftKings. 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. And this September, DraftKings is giving customers the opportunity to get boosted every football game day. That's right, every game day all month long. DraftKings customers can get a free football profit boost. One app, every sport, all 50 states, new DraftKings customers sign up with the code Ryan, spend just five bucks, get 200 and total rewards within 21 days, includes all markets. That's code Ryan, RYE, and in partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours. Lloyd in New York, nonwithdrawable rewards issued as $50 clicked to claims every seven days for 21 days, one single use boost per customer per day, expires at the end of the final select game when offered, valid for select football transactions on the platform for which it's been issued. Terms at DKNG.co/offer, limited time offer, nationwide based on sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability, fairies by state, limited time offer. Well, now we know all the details of the investigation by the NBA's law firm that was hired, regarding the Clippers and Co-I Leonard. And the punishment is massive. It's a massive fine for the Clippers. There's even a fine for Co-I Leonard. And then most importantly, it's the five draft picks. Balmers going to be away from the team for a year. Lawrence Franks going to be away from the team for six months. And then Joanie Zucker, who's a main character in this story, who's the president of Clippers business operations, she's going to be away from the team for a year. So I want to go through some of the stuff from the report and then obviously have some thoughts at the end. There's so many layers to this. And again, credit to Pablo Torrey for being on this and ultimately getting it right and the work that he's done. And you also have to sit back and think like if aspiration in their founders not cut up in court, he's sentenced to 14 years for fraud. Like, does any of this ever get out? Because there's one very easy assumption to be made here. And that if you're involved in aspiration and then all of a sudden all your financial dreams are shattered. Maybe you didn't know what was going on. Clearly, a lot of people are going to be so upset that we want to talk about all these different layers, which led to the quiet part of this. But that's not the only company in this report. And of course, like we can go through the pages and pages of this and understand like what the Clippers would say that this is a week argument or this is just it's layer on layer on layer. It keeps coming. It's an avalanche of information and inconsistencies and arrangements that don't make any sense. So I think reasonable people can conclude like I think the NBA got this thing right. So the funny part again, maybe this isn't funny for a lot of people, but back in 2019, when Kauai was, you know, was he going to go to the Lakers? Was he going to go to the Raptors? You're going to stay there? Was he going to go to the Clippers? I remember being told by someone that said the offer for Kauai starts at the max because that's what other people were being told. Like if you want to get into the Kauai business, the offer starts at the max, which was like four years, 170 something million dollars. Because of those rumors, again, if I'm hearing it, that means everybody's hearing it. I don't try to pretend that like I would have all of this stuff that other people wouldn't have because everybody got substance, everybody likes to talk about all this kind of stuff. And because that was such a known thing in 2019, the NBA investigated kind of the pursuit of Kauai Leonard. And they even enacted a rule essentially because of Uncle Dennis, Kauai's uncle, who's a major, major character in all this as well, where it was like a reminder that teams could not introduce players to business opportunities in ways that could be defined as circumventing the NBA cap system. Okay? So that whole rule exists because of what happened in 2019. So then you have Jillian Zucker, who we mentioned before, in the report. It really puts her in the crosshairs because of emails, because of statements, because of statements from other witnesses, where the quote from the report says Zucker, quote, made several statements inconsistent documents and other witness statements. Lawrence Frank, it's kind of praised in this a little bit for his honesty. At the end of page eight of the report, to clarify the rule here, it says, quote, a team representative recommends one of the team's players to a team sponsor as a candidate for an endorsement arrangement. If teams are approached by business partners or other third parties regarding a potential business relationship with the player, teams should respond solely by providing third party with contact information for the player and or his agent. A team representative initiates or facilitates an endorsement relationship between a team sponsor and one of the team's players. So basically the report says the rules are clear. The teams are not permitted to affirmatively make introductions of players to a potential third party business partners. IE teams may not recommend initiate, facilitate, induce or assist in the players off court business relationships and certainly not as a part of a plan to help generate off court income for a player. So I would guess as I read through this last night, the Clippers position all along has been if they want to go with a loose interpretation of like, okay, but what are we really talking about? Like if we have a business deal that's through the team and they're like, hey, we want to make sure we get a player to do an endorsement. Like that's all fairly reasonable. Again, I just like that word a lot that you can understand how that would kind of happen. How one side could say, hey, you know, look, like what are we doing here? Of course, there's business relationships and you know, somebody's it's some sort of fundraiser and they meet him like, what are we actually doing wrong here? But the problem is as you dig through the rest of the report, it's pretty clear based on this release here by the law firm that investigated this, that it's like, it's a little bit more than, hey, do you want to meet Uncle Dennis? All right. And you're also if a player, a player's agent or a family member or any representative of that player, if they ask you for extra income, other stuff like this, and it's not according to the rules, the team is actually supposed to sell for port, which, you know, I don't know if that was ever realistically going to happen and it may not happen before and this is going to scare the shit out of every other NBA team that, you know, I would say there's things you hear about where we've even celebrated some of it in the past, you know, whether it was Kevin Durant go into the Warriors and it was just openly talked about all of this access that he was going to have to all of these startups and Silicon Valley and all these different things and it's just like, oh, yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Like what a great move for him. There was some headline the other day about how Durant put a $100,000 investment into some company that was acquired by somebody else, you know, it's 10 years later and I think the report was saying that he was going to clear $60 million on this. The difference is is that's an investment and investment opportunity, some of them work, some of them do work or some of them don't work and in that case, Durant, like, I don't, this is not the same thing when you look at the traffic of all the stuff that's in this report regarding the Clippers and Kawaii. So there's a fascinating part of this where it's like peak COVID, the games aren't happening. You would think companies would be a little reluctant to maybe do massive multi-million dollar endorsement deals with an NBA player. Once again, when it's peak COVID, it's like, hey, should we worry about the future of our company? Do we, is the world going to end? Hey, let's sign Kawaii for a couple of mill. I mean, you could say here and say, well, that isn't necessarily prove anything. It proves that it doesn't make any sense, all right? Because then when you watch the timeline of this or read the timeline of this, they make some introductions during COVID and then Kawaii files with his business partner, for an LLC, during peak COVID, and these are companies. It's not just aspiration, it's these other companies that hadn't ever done endorsement deals with any kind of athletes. Again, you could argue, well, hey, what maybe they wanted to do one? They wanted to do one with Kauai. I'd ask you this, what was your favorite Kauai Leonard commercial that you saw over the last few years? I'll wait. According to records here, within weeks of records of Kauai and his reps being introduced to two of these companies, two of the companies received $10 million each. The traffic on the money consistently shows that there's probably some agreement between Kauai and the company that's organized by the clippers on the business side of things. Then the companies somehow get that money back, which again, if you wanted to be looser, it's like, well, if you're going to do something for us, like, we're going to invest in you. We're going to spend money with you. You're going to spend money back with us. That's what aspiration was obviously hoping for, which I'll get to here a little bit later. There's a third company involved in this where they make a $2 million payment to Kauai. Then the company receives a $2 million payment from the clippers for consulting. The problem is, is the company in question has never consulted anything. The dectronics part of this, the scoreboard people, they're asked same deal. We'll spend on you, but you have to spend with us, which again, I think is totally normal. But the conclusion based on this report is that, well, you're going to spend with us, but you're going to spend it on Kauai. Then in the second year, there's almost a bit of a, I wouldn't call it a threat, but it's in the situation of, if you're not going to renew Kauai on the new terms here, like, we may have to revisit our terms, the relationship between the clippers and dectronics. One witness, very late in the investigation, told the firm that the consulting payment, their words, was quote, a ruse. There's a lot of information here that basically feels like the lawyers are like, it's coming in. There's so much that's coming in now because it's all out there in the open and all of these parties are involved with all these different companies and people questioning some of these payments, that it almost felt like a waterfall of information that was relevant to the investigation where the lawyers finally had to be like, all right, we got to, we got to kind of wrap this thing up, even though they point out themselves, they're still ongoing stuff that they're looking into. That brings us to all the different elements of the aspiration. I mean, I could just read you page and page and page, but I'm not going to do that here. So I went through it this morning to try to summarize to make it, you know, a little quicker here, but there's just so much correspondence here between Zucker, between Kawai's agent, between Uncle Dennis and then Sandberg who's with aspiration where they're all like trying to figure out how this is all going to work. Again, based on what I have in front of me here. And so Zucker had told investigators that, oh, this introduction that you're talking about would have been against the NBA rules. And then she later says that the team previewing any endorsement deal is standard practice. But here's the thing is that they ended up using somebody that works under her who's not necessarily a clippers employee, but is under a retention agreement to actually structure the Kawai endorsement deal. And this person who's structuring this deal is basically saying like, well, I'm doing this because aspiration doesn't know what they're doing because they've never done an endorsement deals before. So there's an email that says quote of help you draft thoughts for Kawai offer. So if you want to argue, if you're on the clipper side of this, it's like, hey, if we're ensuring different people for different business relationships and, you know, letter of the law, like there's some loose interpretations here, which I think has kind of been the clippers position the entire time, like wondering, hey, will this work? There's just too many smoking guns where you have somebody suggesting in an email who is under retention again for the clippers who works underneath Miss Zucker, saying helping you draft thoughts essentially for Kawai offer. So then the structure of the deal originally was five million cash, seven million equity per year for Kawai. They wanted that flipped around and they got it. So it was seven million dollars cash, five million dollars equity, which would equal 48 million, again, depending obviously that equity is not worth shit now, which is even higher. I think the original 38 million dollar number that we'd heard regarding Kawai and aspiration on Pablo's first stuff. But then the beauty of this report is different people at aspiration being like, hey, what the fuck are we doing? So in December 21, December, discusses with senior aspiration executives desire for the company to enter into an endorsement agreement with Leonard on the terms described above. Sandberg did not have the authority to sign such a agreement on aspirations behalf. And according to internal aspiration emails, the reaction among its C suite executives who did have this signing authority was swift and uniformly negative. Quote, I have no idea why we do this. Wrote one senior executive. This is not a good investment of our capital. It's 48 million over four years for Kawai, who is not a big name. Well, we could argue that a little bit, not sure why we would make such a commitment, considering we are already paying a huge sponsorship fee to the clippers. And then once that's relayed to Sandberg, he tells the aspiration executives, quote, the clippers are asking us to do this with Kawai Leonard. And that, you know, on a paraphrase here, essentially, it's like, hey, we do this. And they're going to buy back a bunch of business from us. And this is kind of how it's going to work, which again, if this is true, it's circumventure of the cap. But from a business standpoint, it's like, hey, we're going to invest in them. They're going to invest in us. What makes it even funnier though is that on page 28 of this, if you actually start getting into this agreement where the clippers are going to use aspiration for all of these different things, aspiration in the clippers over the next several months negotiated the terms of a sustainability services agreement for the forum. These negotiations included a number of highly unusual developments that raise concerns among clippers executives established for investigators that there was more of the transaction than merely a sustainability related deal. Scott Sandberg, the clippers chief commercial officer, wrote in a March 22 text exchange with Eric Chan, then clippers chief financial officer, quote, I never wanted this forum deal. Always knew it was super shady. I cannot begin to tell you all the red flags of these deals, just doing what I'm told at this point, a notable example from the report. While the deal was described by the clippers to investigators as an effort to, quote, zero out the historical carbon emissions from the forum, it did not start with any meaningful analysis or calculation of those emissions. Instead, the initial draft of the deal's term sheet from January 22 contained a heading entitled business back opportunities and added to be filled by Eric Chan's seven million back in business. So the deal was that the clippers was spent seven million a year with aspiration, which is the same amount of cash out to Kauai from aspiration. And that it would be this seven million year deal and that the budget for this clean emissions thing with aspiration would be 28 million, seven million a year over the four years. And that there was really nothing else to it. It's like, hey, you have 28 million to spend on this. And even the people involved in it were like, what, what is going on? And then there was a delay in getting that signed off on the clippers, spending the money with aspiration. And that's where Sandberg starts losing his shit. And that's all on page 30 where he's like, this deal is going to explode. We're going to go to Dennis. We're going to go to Kauai. We're going to tell him the deals off because we got fucked and it just goes on and on and on. I can't believe that ESPN part, like, look, when Ethan and I were taping a pod on a Monday, a report comes down from ESPN from awesome reporters where you're like, Hey, I guess nothing's going to happen here. And then we take and I for the life of me can't understand why I guess the clippers wanted that win for the afternoon. No one's ever going to remember that. It's going to be a face going to be very rarely. Are you going to talk about this with anybody that cares about this stuff for years from now? I'm going to be like, Hey, remember what ESPN thing for the afternoon where it was like, yeah, nothing to see here. It's fine. Because I guess that's kind of the message the clippers are sending out to everybody. And I'll tell you right now when the NBA saw it, they were like, what? Like, everything's good. Okay. And that's why later on it was after we had taped. It was like, yeah, that's not true. And so you kind of didn't really know what to believe. It's just like, why would why would this report on this huge story that's been going on for almost a year? Like, why would why would this come out and be totally not true? But that's basically what happened. I even had like a two day window. I was like, ah, I guess that's over. I'm like, silver is getting people are going to be like, oh, Balmer, silver, Balmer's too powerful, too big to fail. Like, they're not going to mess with them. Or it's, hey, there's always kind of these gray area of things like I hear about stuff all the time. I'm sure it looks. Shack did a sit down with somebody recently where he talked about wanting 150 million to sign with the Lakers in Jerry West's like, I'm going to offer you 130, but you're going to get another 50 million to do movies. Like what, what rule is that? Well, the rule is Shack was in movies. So if Shack being in LA and being arguably the biggest star in the league. one of and he was in all sorts of movies like he was actually doing stuff because I'll ask you again what was your favorite coi Leonard endorsement like that commercial was hilarious like he wasn't even doing any of this stuff I think people that were upset about how long this took you should remember this next time you're upset about how long something is taking because like I'd said in the beginning it's clear from the support that the law firm was like the shit never ended so people thought it was taking forever because there was nothing there and I think that's what the clippers were arguing like yeah is it taking forever because they got nothing it was taking forever because I don't think the information ever stopped and finally they're like dude we get a hit print on this thing the Balmer Silver thing was not a factor something other teams are definitely worried about he hammered him as Silver said this is a cardinal sin circumventing the cap he's used that phrase before and he carried through in that belief with this punishment you know I've talked about like the gray area stuff of like hey what's your shoe deal if you're in this market versus that one you hear weird stuff about like ticket things like I mean I've heard all sorts of shit I don't care I'm not really a reporter it doesn't really bother me there've been times with this or I'm like I wonder what how bad this actually is and based on all the findings in this report again if you want to sit there and say well these are just findings doesn't mean anything I'm sure that's what the clippers are saying today clippers Balmer's lawyer is already threatened to sue I guess because there's an arbitration process between the players and the league that is different from what would have to happen here so I guess you could sue and the lawyer already went out there and said oh this is a reputable harm to his reputation all that kind of stuff you're like all right but the five picks the fine that you can't be at the games for a year like anybody that thought silver was going to go soft on Balmer because of the relationship because Balmer's the richest guy in the league that didn't happen either then you get to Kauai who I had said prior to this I think is the worst partner in team sports in the last however many decades you know maybe there's an element of you were you're a burden at all down person we're like good for Kauai good for all called Dennis fuck everybody else if somebody's gonna give you all this extra money because you're asking for it which they were asking for all the time then you know make the game work for you I can see that right I can I can see that conclusion I don't know who's reading for the clippers other than people that root for the clippers because I don't think anybody's gonna read this and be like oh that was unfair but the Kauai part of it like this is somebody's like the only guy that's ever had a problem with the spurs this free for all in 2019 which leads to a rule that no one was ever going to follow anyway hey we get this really special player but they're asking for some stuff on the side including travel we'd want a self-report I just don't even know if that's necessarily going to happen because again I know this becomes public without the aspiration element like that's the part of it where it's like okay so now these guys are in court like uh-oh but Kauai back to this so it's 10 first round picks and two swaps in SGA to get to the Kauai Leonard business for the clippers and going back remember it was all the picks for the Paul George Kauai acquisition so at that time I didn't have a problem with most of us did not have a problem with it I mean we can sit there and talk about SGA after the fact I've never seen him like ooh he's kind of nice I think it's gonna be two-time MVP right with a ringer in his back pocket at this age but that deal was ridiculous because all Kauai had to do in 2019 is go to the clippers and be like hey I want to play with Paul George but I'm gonna come here and we'll figure it all out instead they've got the clippers operating blindly here while okay see I think is being hooked up with information because Paul George wants out because he's already in house the clippers don't have an in-house part of this as far as a players concern so they're dealing blindly and if you're the front office going to Balmer being like we can have Kauai and Paul George if we do all of these things like every team's gonna do that in 2019 all right so we can't go back and pretend and like do an audit on this and say oh they shouldn't have done it all right that's not what I'm saying but the problem is is instead of Kauai like thinking about hey I want to partner up with the clippers like what's the best way like if they keep an extra pick they keep SJ like how could I just tell them but it's very clear like he's just a mercenary about this stuff so good luck in business in business with them I mean look at the contract stuff so he gets the four years 176 when he does that deal he plays 161 games over the four years of that contract but gets an extension for three years 150 million during the season in 24 when he's actually started to play again because he's playing 68 games and it can't help but think of like the way this crew operates it's like all right there's our playing some games because that I'd hear other stories like when he was out and no one of the clippers ever knew if he was gonna be back again it was like yes working out it looks awesome probably another month you know and here's like oh that's that must be awesome like he shows up works out in front of the rest of the team and then is like doesn't tell anybody what he's gonna do so that sounds fun you should give him another 150 million it's pretty clear they gave him the other 150 million because they're already so connected to him and so I also can't help but think with a year left on the deal he just had like one of the best seasons of his entire career plays in a bunch of game I mean he was unbelievable this year and you're like is it because he loves basketball or is it because he's thinking about all right what am I gonna get from Toronto I can't wait to see what that Toronto deal is because it's gonna be favorable my last thought is I don't think you can do a tribute video when Kauai comes back to play with Toronto I'm gonna there's some tribute video thresholds that I think are a little too low in this league and I would suggest probably not putting the other some b-roll if Kauai actually dresses for that game there's something for everyone when it comes to Reese's I'm old school I know let's not gonna surprise you whether it was the individual cups or that nice house at the end of the street was decided to go full pack on you it was always the option my father would steal after Halloween I've gotten through that with a lot of therapy because if somebody's going to mess with your Reese's they're kind of messing with your future it is superior to any other option that's out there people have thought about changing the rule of PB and J to just peanut butter and peanut butter there's something about the taste of Reese's peanut butter where you know you've entered an entirely new ball game yeah this is a sports podcast I can talk about Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett why wouldn't I just talk about chocolate and peanut butter brought to by Reese's the official candy partner of bar stool sports go get Reese's wherever you shop we've been telling you about netflix getting involved in the NFL coverage and kicking off week one we've got the Niners and the Rams from Melbourne Australia that's eight thirty Eastern time five thirty Pacific time for that kickoff and part of the coverage of this game he's going to be over there with Netflix six time pro bowl or it's Clay Matthews good to see him in good to see as well yeah I'm really looking forward to that fifteen hour flight over to Australia but the good news is I don't have to play like the forty Niners and the Rams do which you know I that's unprecedented I'm interested to see you know how they feel yeah I mean it's it's a lot to ask you big guys to get on a plane for that long have you in your preparation for this like have you talk to anybody or like how is I've read different things like how the approach is gonna go here but like it's not like you want to just shoot over there from night game you know well I I truly don't know because I mean I'm sure as you're aware and for the listener out there you got the forty nine or so I think went over yesterday if I'm not mistaken and so they're gonna acclimate get on whatever time zone that is and then show up to play but that means they're going to be playing a ten thirty a.m. local game which means they're gonna have to wake up at four five six a.m. whatever it is which is earlier than any game they've ever played in the States and then you got the Rams on the other hand that are just like I was gonna fly down there touching go and we're just gonna go get this win and get on out of there but I can only imagine flying let's just assume it's fifteen hours and then getting off the plane that has to do some to your body I mean I take a trip we you know when I was in Green Bay we go to the west coast I mean that was long enough as it is so that's why I truly don't have the answer for you as far as what's the right approach and then we'll sit here after that game and say oh the Rams got it right because they won or the forty nineers got it right because they won yeah the Rams may have gotten it right because they look like an absolute powerhouse of a team life they did yeah yeah I've I always hate being as chalky as I am with this season and I can tell it like it feels a little disrespectful to Seattle considering they're also in the division but when you load up like the Rams do I guess let's just start here like how do you see the Rams and the other contenders in the NSE yeah I think on paper and barring any injury how can the Rams not win the NFC how could they not I know it's disrespectful to Seattle but you look at that NSE championship game last year Sam Donald those for three fifty three touchdowns so what do the Rams do they go and shore up their secondary make Duffy Watts and bring him in. And then their D line, which wasn't a problem, you know, they had verse already, they go, well, we're going to think about adding miles, Garrett. Oh, and by the way, we're just going to add Aaron Donald on top of that as well. So through my point to your point, how could they lose? There has to be an injury along the way. There has to be something where maybe they end up as a wild car team and go on out to Philly or Green Bay or some inclement weather. I mean, we saw it was a close game with Caroline and in the wild car last year, but you're right. I think the Rams should be the front runner and the NFC. Yeah, it's single elimination. So we can sit here and say, like, oh, what happened? And you go, well, you know, if you end up on the wrong side of the turnover margin, like there you go, which I know you've experienced in your playoff career on top of everything else. The nighters are always a default team for me. Like however bad you think they're going to be they can't enough that I thought they were going to be really bad. By the way, I think I've begrudgingly like held on to be like, all right, they'll get through this year. Shane and I'll get to the Super Bowl this year. This year, I probably have more doubt with them than I've had in a long time. Or I'm like, I don't think I can just round them up to the Niners, figuring out a way to get 10 wins. And then it's like, let's see what happens and who's healthy in the playoffs. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I think I went back and looked at San Francisco's record last year. I couldn't believe that they was at like 11, maybe 12 wins last year. I thought it was remarkable. And that's a testament to Shanahan and what he was able to do. Mac Jones and obviously CMC staying healthy for a full 17 games. But you're absolutely right. You look, you know, they add Mike Evans, you know, Hall of Famer. Hasn't been able to practice much and seems to have some type of soft tissue injury every year. Hopefully, you can go out there and get a thousand yards. I'm a big fan of his, but keeping Brock perry healthy. George Kitto is he is he not going to play a no Nick Bose to just practice. I, I think injuries are a real thing. And I think that's been their Achilles heel. No pun intended. And I, and you're going to have to show me otherwise. They're going to be a contender. But it's just going to be a meat grinder over there in the NFC West and, you know, who comes out on top will most likely be the number one seed. And then after that, you know, you're not some tough wild car matches matchups. Do you feel like the linebackers have become the running backs where it's like, there was nobody cares about us anymore. Nobody wants to pay us anymore like. Inside linebacker, we, you tell my inside linebackers. Yeah. I mean, the edge guys to me are kind of like, sure, you're a right outside linebacker, but your hands are the dirt. You're a past rusher. Right. Right. You're not. So yeah, I mean, we want to go like old school, middle linebacker, inside linebacker. I don't even know how many guys were even talking about nationally anymore. No, you're right. I think, uh, absolutely. But I tell you what, if you are talked about, it means you're an absolute dog. So Fred Warner, for instance, you know, the leader of that defense, even if Bosa is the sexy pit because he's the past rusher 12, 14, 17 sacks, whatever it is. Fred Warner's that guy. And you look around the league. I mean, help me out. Is there anyone else about bond from the Eagles who we talk about? Yeah, what's a good one or two when they're AP, you know, all pro one or two. Otherwise, you're right. I mean, the sexy position is past rusher outside linebacker because that's past rushers or past throwers and past rushers. Yeah, Fred is just on another planet. And we're huge Fred fans. He came on the show like four times after he got hurt. And then we're like, is this guy actually going to be able to come back for this whole thing? He's just it's unbelievable to see somebody like him be able to turn and run and cover basically anybody that's, I mean, I mean, you wouldn't want to put him against receivers all day long, but it feels like, oh, so he's just going to turn and run with this guy and like, he's not lost because I think the inside guys are always the ones that are attacked a lot because it's just like, it's so hard for them to turn and then be coordinated enough to still get up and be pass break. And it's like almost like Fred feels like he's baiting quarterbacks like he's a corner at times. No, you're right. It's like the great inside backers, you almost feel like they could be a past rusher. You know, it's like they miss their, they're calling of making, you know, will Anderson money 50, 60 million dollars and they play inside. But I think like you had mentioned, that's why they're able to cover cover backs out of the backfield tight ends wide receivers. And they're just so cerebral too. You know, I think the days of just a, you know, a, a thumper, it's over. You know, that's why they're usually undersized what they can run. You know, I'm going back to bond with, you know, Philadelphia. Like you would look at him and say, he doesn't look like, you know, the Jack Lambert's and the Ray Nitz get Ray Lewis for that matter. But they can move. They can run in their smart. I think Luke Keekley was, you know, prime example. He was just so smart, knew the play before was, before was coming. I wonder with the way like defenses have gone light, we were talking about this on the show with somebody this week. Like the defenses go light. The bases in three, four, the bases like what's your nickel? I mean, that's been going on for years anyway, because you just like, hey, we got to throw another corner out there. And now we are seeing like a new peak of like run plays. And I wonder if like the cycle comes back around where we see the Teddy brusky with the neck roll being like, we actually need a 270 pound body that we think can get side to side out there. That could be because that feels like the endangered species of the defense. I don't know if that cycle will come back around, but if people keep running, they're going to have to get out of these light formations. I imagine. Now, you're right. I think honestly, no different than when people that, well, because technically I was a three, four outside linebacker, but it was all dependent on are we a nickel dime or are we in base? Like, I'm just an outside backer. You know, when you talk about the run game too, I mean, you got guys like, I thought Derek Henry had a down year last year, I thought, and then I go and check his yards. I go like, I ran for 1500 yards. I must have been bamboozled by his fumble early in the year of fumbles that he had, but it's remarkable. I mean, say, Quon Russian for 2000, just two years ago. I mean, I do think the league is cyclical and we'll see how this plays out. But yeah, I mean, we were in an era of just airing it out. And I think we're still in that, but you're right. If you've got guys who are easily hitting a thousand yards rushing, then them big boys might have to come back in the middle. I like your career. I mean, I know it was hard, and I want to go over some of this stuff, whether it's high school, SC, walk on, and then. But, you know, you get to Green Bay, how much of your success, I mean, clearly there's a ton of talent and athleticism in there, but how much of your success do you think was a coach? Because I know you had multiple ones where they're like, oh, wait, with Clay, like, we kind of have to let him kind of do his thing. Like, maybe we're going to let him float a little bit more. Like, did you feel like there was a switch? I mean, I know you killed it as soon as you came in, but a switch of like a belief from the defensive coaches being like, you know, if we do some more creative stuff with him, like he's going to figure it out. He's not a liability out there. Yeah, I think for me, and I talk about this in hindsight now, because, you know, if you're familiar with my career, I didn't start, I think I started one game as a registered junior, so my fourth year, but my last final year, I ended up starting three or four games in, and I only had four and a half sacks that year. So, I wasn't known as, you know, I flashed on a very good defense. As you're aware, we had Ray Malluga, Brian Cushing, Taylor Mays, Kevin, I mean, littered with NFL talent, guys who got draft, the guys who made an impact in the league. So, I think that helped me out first and foremost, and in the Packers, just kind of seeing something, seeing somebody who was a little rough, seeing the genetics, the background, the makeup, I just needed one. And then I think once I got in there, they put all the trust in the world into me. You know, they gave up, I think three draft picks to trade back in after taking BJ Rajee with the number nine overall pick. So, at that point, Dom Capers had just come over. He was going to implement his new three, four defense. You need, you know, a stud in the middle with BJ, and you need a past pressure. We already had Charles Woodson, Nick Collins in the back end. So, we were just a few little pieces, and they brought BJ and myself up to his office. Dom Capers, that is, and told us, hey, you're going to be the face of this defense, and it's going to go through you. So, to go from being a walk on, and just kind of scratching and clawing and trying to get some special team reps and some garbage time play to you got the keys now. Obviously, you know, they were going to find a way for me to flourish. And part of that was rushing on the outside. Part of that was, you know, lining up in these, these chaotic defenses where there's only one down line in and a bunch of moving pieces. And then, you know, later, Mike, well, actually in the middle of my career, when they moved me to inside backers, well, felt like, you know, they just, I could do it all and, you know, could help out many facets. If you go back to that, like, were you recruited at all, like, I mean, you went, oh, yeah. I mean, for the big boys, because I know you're preferred, or I don't know if it was preferred walk on back then at SC, you know, obviously get the family history and the whole thing. But like, what was your recruiting process like for you, especially knowing the family's history on top of everything else? So my junior year, when my dad was a defensive coordinator, my junior year, I did not start. I developed, went through puberty very late, like junior year, high school was so much fun, you know, when you're right there with you, buddy. When I was in, they would give us our spirit pack. And we either had a short sleeve or a cutoff. I would never wear the cutoff because I was embarrassed, because I didn't have armpit hair when I did the bent. So I used to hide it at the water fountain. Yeah, it was the other basketball players would do this. And I'd be like, oh man, basketball was the worst. I had to wear an undershirt just because I was embarrassed. But anyway, junior year didn't start. My dad's a defensive coordinator, no nepotism there. Senior year, I put on like in between my junior and senior year, I put on about 40 pounds. I grow about two were three inches, but I'm like a giraffe. You know, I just, I'm, I'm not coordinated. I've got, you know, some football acumen, but I just, I'm not the greatest athlete. I was okay. And I think one double A, I think that's what FCS schools now, um, Northern Arizona were coming after. But, you know, my dad, my uncle, my mother, like, SC was the place to be. And I didn't, it was close to home. It was in Southern California. They were rolling, coming off, I think, uh, either an orange bowl victory or a national, or, yeah, orange bowl victory over, over Iowa. And, um, you know, best decision I made, not because it's the career path that I think most people would want, especially in today's day and age, where everybody, when it gets tough, they just transfer or go to the next, you know, opportunity, but it, it molded me and kind of gave me that resilience that allowed me to flourish at the next level. I do wonder because like, I think it's an easy thing to forget. It's like, oh, he's one of the SC guys first round. It's like, well, no, like you, you probably, we're looking around it, like, pushing of all people going, what the hell am I doing here? Like, when you're not playing those first two years at SC, right? No, you're absolutely right. In fact, coasting hurt his ankle, his junior year. And I think, you know, before the season, I'm sure he could have been good enough to go on and be a first round pick, which he eventually was the following year. And I was doing very well on special things, but I was playing behind him. And I wanted him to go to the league. I'm like, you got, you got to go to the league because that's, you got to go and open up a position for me to play. And I was on pace to graduate in four years because I registered and, but the NCAA at the time, even if I graduated and transferred to another school, I was going to have to sit out a year. I mean, it was ridiculous. As you know, I'm, I'm, many people do not have a lot of nice things to say about the NCAA. Myself included. So I wanted him to go to the league just selfishly so that way I can have a chance to start. I wasn't as good as him. And then my senior year, they put me on the edge and I was just, you know, quicker than a hiccup, just, you know, getting off, just running. And that's when Pete Carroll put in that bare defense, really a three, four, you know, a zero, two, three's and two outside linebackers. And that's kind of where I found my mark. Cause before that, I was a four, three sandbacker, just holding the edge, dropping into curl flats, just doing my thing. But in high school, I played all positions. And, you know, once I found my edge, or sorry, once I found my niche on the edge, it was just, hey, just go, you know, and I made it easy. Is there any way that you could have told your dad and all the SC family, like, hey, I want to go play somewhere your first two years, like, I want to out of here. My dad was the one when I went up and I talked with him about, you know, hey, you know, what are you going to do? You know, you have those talks with your father and I'm like, I think I'm going to walk on at USC. He just wanted to make sure he goes, and he gets, and I'm going to put you this because I haven't said this in forever. It's like, you want to be, you know, a big fish and a small pond or a small fish and a big, you know, one of those things. Yes, this is what I want to do. Now, if I would have known that I was going to get my head bashed in being look team running back in 2004 and beyond the black shirts, which was, you know, like the practice squad type guys, I might not have said that, but like I said, I'm very grateful for it and what I went through there because I believe it did harden me, gave me perspective and allowed me to thrive. What is it like when your crew gets together in Toxball? I mean, it's, I was on the reference page again this morning, like I lose track sometimes. I like, I think it ended up being what, eight or seven, eight total or that have played and, you know, I know some of you are all located now, but what are those? I don't know how often that happens with, with everybody, hopefully everybody gets along, but I imagine there's been a few, few nights where enough of you guys are together for family where it just must be unbelievable. We all got together in June of this year for a wedding back in California. And so we had my uncle Bruce, you know, in the hall of fame in his career. And he's got his boys, one of them being Jake Matthews, who's, you know, still rolling strong with the Falcons that left tackle. And then you've got out my, you know, my father and all of us who played on our side, my brother Casey and myself. So yeah, the stories, it's funny because we naturally just slip into storytelling. You know, we just slip into storytelling and have a great time, but it's, it's, my wife makes it known to me because it's just, it's just ball. That's just what I grew up around. But she's like, it's so interesting and the perspective to hear you guys talk about this game, which is kind of why I'm taking this segue into, you know, working with Netflix is just the perspective in which I have not only having done it on the field and having a certain level of success, but also just the family in which I come from. The way I was brought up just to kind of understand the ins and outs, I think it's a unique perspective and it's something that keeps me involved with the game and something that I love and I think it's synonymous with the Matthews family. When did this whole Netflix thing come to you? I mean, because, you know, you've been out of league a bit and maybe, you know, some guys are like the last thing I want to do is sit around and talk about football. And then other people are like, I can't believe it's over. Like, I want to come back every single weekend. So I guess it just must have felt like it was right for you at this time. I've had, I'm not going to say a number of opportunities, but a number of conversations with networks that I just, I haven't been interested in. You know, I've got three young kids. I enjoy, you know, you talk about that unique experience growing up, but I was able to assimilate back into normal life outside of the arena, outside of the football field because of my dad and, you know, how he showed me how it works, you know, because of my uncle, because of my grandfather. And so for me, I was very comfortable just kind of retreating into the shadows, but, you know, obviously still talking ball, watching football. I love the game. And then this one kind of fell in my lap. You know, Netflix was looking to put together, you know, they had a packers game. I'm all interesting because I noticed from the year before they're getting more and more into the NFL market. Maybe they just want me for a game. They said, no, we want a constant presence this year starting with the game in Australia. So I believe we've got five games this year. And I thought, this is great. So kind of just living in the moment. It allows me to be involved with the game that I love. It allows me to be with some really cool people and Michael Irving, Nick Folls, El Duncan, who see it, you know, from a broadcasters point of view now, because obviously I'm the rookie again. And I just felt like an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. So I'm excited for, I'm excited to get down there. We'll leave this weekend. Like I said, not really excited for that flight. But once we get down there, it should be good energy. It's just great to see the, you know, the progression of the league and, and, you know, what, what it all brings to the table. If it were a weekly show, I would be worried about you getting burned out on Aaron Rogers' questions. So I think this is a perfect secondly into it. Last year was rough, man. Last year was rough. And he said it's going to be his last year. And he's back with McCarthy. Like, what are your expectations for this guy now? Well, I think first and foremost, he's in a tough division. He's in a tough division. So I'm going to look at it from a team level. Like, I think making the playoffs is what the goal should be at a minimum. Naturally. You know, if they've got a healthy Joe burrow and Cincinnati bangles, they're going to be up there in the conversation along with the Ravens. And they had their injuries as well. Lamar. So playing for 10 wins, 11 wins, trying to get that number seven, possibly six seed. But it's a tough AFC. I am really interested to see him and Mike come back together because Mike has had tremendous success. Even in his obviously with us in Green Bay, but even his time in Dallas, which you feel like, all right, they couldn't get over the hump in the playoffs. But I mean, that through for some career highs, I believe at the time, I think they were winning 12, 12 games back when it was a 16 game season. I know they got balanced by the Packers at one point, but he knows how to run an offense. And they did look stale on offense last year. Now I'm talking about Pittsburgh. And obviously you hope their defense plays better than they did last year. I think it was feast or famine with them. So I think his stats when we went back and looked and I don't have them on hand. So forgive me. But I think they were okay. You know, but for a four time MVP, you want to see somebody throwing it for 4,000 yards, you know, 40 touchdowns. I don't know if that's, I don't know if that's what it's going to be. But I'm as interested as you. Hopefully it's better than last year, not that he had a down year. I think it was a little bit more measured based on his weapons and play calling, but I think a playoff spot in him playing all 17 games and, you know, making this is what is it called the swan song or something. So just making it, making it memorable. I think he's enjoying it. No one that it's his last year putting it out there, I think, you know, putting a bow on everything. Yeah. And this isn't really a question of the last thing I asked him or talk about with broaders is that, you know, people that I know that are close, there's a couple of people that I know that that have had in the past close relationships with him. And they've said, you know, he is looking for that fight. Like you can pretend you're competitive and all that kind of stuff. But he is like looking for those slides because of the way he came up in football. And like it's something there's this attitude with him that has made him the player that he is, but it also can be at times like man, you know. I wonder if he already goes into the season knowing like, hey, it's my last year, if there's a calmness to him. Now, look, physically, some of the same stuff comes up. He does some of these capability that always made, you know, on top of probably the best thrower or the football that I think I've ever seen. Like, I think that that's where I would put Rogers. Like, when it is right, they're throws in there. And I'm like, I think that's the best I've ever seen. You know, other people can present other people. I don't want to argue about it. But I wonder if there's a calming thing to him going into this final year that actually worse to his advantage after so many years of even when there wasn't a fight in front of him, he would create it to make him the player that he is. And again, I'm not even critical of that because I actually kind of appreciate it. But I just wonder if this will be like the first time where he's entering a season going. All right, man, like, this is it. Let's let it fly. - That's, it's a great point you bring up, too, because, you know, I'm strictly speaking from a fans perspective. He gets married. It looks like he's rekindled his relationship with his family and then to address the elephant in the room. He did kind of come out on the right side of history if we're talking about, you know, what, immunizations and what not. So, you know, it's maybe tying a bow on this whole thing. - He just feels like he's saying. - Hey, I'm not this evil guy. I'm going to go out there and, you know, and make it happen. So I don't know, you're absolutely right. There's something to be said about that. We'll see how it all plays out. Listen, I love Aaron. He's my quarterback. I'll always have his back and I always wish him nothing but the best and nothing but the best is hopefully an awesome year. - As we finish up here, to kind of keep it in the NFC, you know, we talked about the rings. We talked about the Niners because of this game. Again, in Australia, I got people telling me Dallas, if they're average on defense, look out. I got people telling me, hey, Philadelphia, like, why is everybody just turning the page on them? Like, give me the other teams in the NFC that you're like, hey, this is not a surprise if they put this together and maybe come out of the conference. - I like Dallas winning. I like when I like them winning over Philadelphia, not to say Philly Lee won't get in the division. - You like them in the division? - I like them in the division. I like them in the division. Offensively, Dax is going to put up numbers, you know, CD, George Pickens, but on defense, you know, they lock up Quinn and Williams. Obviously, they've got Kenny Clarquire play with Absolute Stud. Rashon Gare, even though, you know, his time with Green Bay, probably didn't-- - He isn't a staff. - He'll give you some. And then they go, they get Caleb Downs out of Ohio State who, now I know the internet's the internet, but all the clips I've seen make him look like he might be the best player in the draft from this past year. They can't be worse than last year. So let's just, they might just put up record numbers on offense and do just enough to win that division. Now listen, I might fill a Delphi on paper. It's kind of like the Rams. You look at it, you're like, why are we, why are we overlooking Philly here? I mean, AJ Brown's removed now. So that should remove all the chaos that we would get from the media as far as the conflict between Hertz and AJ Brown. Their defense is elite. They still have Seikwon, you know, and they add USC's Mackay Lemon, who I'm really high on. I know he's been injured a little bit this preseason. So I mean, I can very well see them winning, but I'm picking the cowboys 'cause I don't want to wait for back and forth, NFC North, that's going to be a meat grinder. I mean, who do you think of the Packers? Look, I was about to say, who do you think? I'm going with the Packers. I understand I'm a homer. I'm a homer as you would, it's not a terrible, it's not like you picked Vegas to win the division or something. Well, that is true. I mean, I very, but Chicago, I think there's a bit of regression there, naturally, just because year two Ben Johnson. I think Caleb Williams continues to ascend, but I think, you know, this was the second year. I know he's with Detroit, but this is the second year they're putting product out there. Naturally, the league adjust. Detroit, we've all kind of, at least I have. I'm like, well, I'm looking past them. I'm like, they're amazing on offense. I know they've got some injuries in the second year. The secondary injuries to start the season for them. They may have to win some shootouts and get through the first core of the season or something. No, you're right. Well, I actually saw the Packers were underdogs to the Vikings at Minnesota. I was, I couldn't believe that. I might go ahead and take that bet. I just feel like, come on, it's the season opener. They got Kyler Murray not to say he's a bomb by any means, but like, it's a, you know, now's the time. So I'm going with the Packers, I could be wrong, but I like them coming out of the North. - I didn't want to, we're having such a good time here. So I don't want to bump you out. Does the Seattle loss bother you like the most? Do you have a moment where you're alone in the car and you go, what the fuck? 16th. - Well, yes, that was a unique game. That was a unique game. That was a tough loss. I have yet to watch it back. Obviously, I've seen the onside kick, but I got, I mean, I think I've said it before. It was a blur to me because in the second half, I actually suffered a head injury, tried to hide it, you know, come back in, so for me, it wasn't until I came back, we're like on the plane, and I'm like, what just happened? You know, so, but it's a difficult one. - And you still haven't watched it? - That's a good one to forget. I mean, I'm not rooting for you to have a concussion, but if there's one that you don't remember, you're part of. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think I snapped back when overtime started, and I'm like, okay, be cool, be cool. But yeah, that's a tough, it's a tough field of swallow right there. That was a devastating loss. Man, we were so close. You gotta look at the next week, too. We have played the Patriots earlier that year at Lambo. Had a great game, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady. We come out on top going to play them again next week. I mean, that would have been, no one wanted a Russell Wilson, you know, Tom Brady magic. They wanted an Aaron Rodgers. Now, I will say that was the, was that the Malcolm Butler interception game? - Yeah, yeah. - Okay, well, that did provide a very memorable, super bowl moment, but who's to say we couldn't have done that? Hey, you're, you're, you ripped the scab off right now. I'm all flustered. - I know. I'm just trying to, I was like, I don't want to be too nice the whole time. I did, again, I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I was going through. - You don't have to, you know, be enemies. - I'm not playing anymore. I am on yours. I'm in the media now, right? - Yeah, I was actually, this will be the last thought here because you're doing this game for Netflix. You are technically part of the Rams family, too, here. So, I don't know if McVeigh or Stafford have been getting to you. I mean, like, we haven't forgotten what you've done here. Like, it might not be in SoFi, but, you know, you were here for a year. - I'm just saying, if, if Aaron Donald comes out for $20 million, how much are they willing to offer me? You know, maybe just like a free lunch or something like that? - No, I got it. - Just having to suit up, tap Landman, be like, you just make the call, buddy. - I, I probably could suit up and get two stacks, not because I would be worth a darn, but because Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald will create so much mayhem that I would just fall into a sack and just, you know, I just ride off into the sunset. I do it for, for league minimum, but, listen, I sneeze wrong or I roll out of bed and I throw my back out. So, my days, my days are done. I'm just gonna sit in awe and astonishment of hopefully what those two are capable of doing. - Well, big thanks to Clay Matthews again, the Netflix coverage opening week of the NFL in Australia, the Niners and the Rams, 8/30 Eastern, 5/30 Pacific. Excited to see you with the studio gang, man, and enjoy the season. Thanks, man. - I appreciate it, Ryan. Thank you. - Look, we all know NFL Sundays are sacred. And so, we found the perfect way to make sure you don't miss a single snap of NFL action. We're fully dialed into NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV. When you bundle NFL Sunday ticket with YouTube TV, you get every game, every Sunday period. The best part? Multi-view feature lets you watch up to four games at once so you can track your fantasy matchups in real time. Watch your favorite players and keep tabs on everything across the league. It's the ultimate setup for the NFL season. Plus, new users can jump in now for eight payments of $30 per month. Go to youtube.com/NFLST and get it done. Don't be the guy guessing what's happening in the other games. Be the guy in the living room who sees it all. New users pay $240 or eight non-cancellable payments of $30 a month, first charge of purchase, availability varies. With NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games and YouTube TV for local and national games, YouTube TV require terms, restrictions, and embargoes apply, device and content restrictions apply to multi-view commercial use excluded no refunds. There's something for everyone when it comes to Reese's. There's always that anticipation. Like, hey, what's going on over there? Is that that familiar orange that I've known for decades? And then you open up the wrapper and you take that bite and you know exactly what the chocolate's going to taste like. And you know exactly what the peanut butter's going to taste like. And you look at the cup, unless you're just an absolute banshee and throw one in. I've never gotten to that level. I don't want to get to that level. I want to savor the moment, but you bite in and then you take a look back at your work and you see that layer of peanut butter in there and you go. Today's going to be good. Today's going to be good and escape from everything else. It's the combination. And I don't want to say it's Jordan Pippen because it's a sports podcast. But that chocolate peanut butter combination has been put up numbers for decades. Reese's, the official candy partner of Arsenal Sports, go get Reese's wherever you shop. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every tour you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, nice. You know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. - Live advice with Kyle with Steve. Live advice are at gmail.com. Let's get right into it. Another break up here. This one titled girlfriend dump me. Five, 10. What's happened to the five, 10 guys this week? I think our other guy was five, eight, eight. - He was, yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah, they called Kyle as a five, 10. - Good recall. I don't know how you remember that days later. - Five, 10.95, no one was managing staff at the moment but right in my first marathon, we shouldn't let, about your recall. We're taping these in the same day. That's the point. So I don't want the five, eight guy to feel even fucking worse. First marathon at the end of the month, target time of 3.45. At my peaking college, I could bench 305 for one, but never got to the elusive three plate club. That's a great number though, great number. I think if it's, if you did that in college, man, there's no question you'll be able to do that as an adult if you want to. Some people don't want to. Imagine that. - They don't even know that they don't want to do that. (laughing) - How bad do you not care about benching three plates? So Rudy. - I couldn't care less. - Yeah. - Kyle? - I don't care a little bit more. - I care more, I just don't have it. I'm just not doing it right now. There's gotta be a part of my life where I'm doing all that shit. It's just not happening right now. I do love to run myself through the exercise of, "Hey, do you think this will never happen?" Right? Like, do you think are you resigned Kyle for happening? What's that? - Three plates for me has never happened. - Kyle, do you, have you accepted three plates has never happening for you? - No, I don't think so. - I don't think so at all. - No. - I think there's a big workout phase for you in seven years from now. It's gotta be like, maybe six. - Yeah. - I just, maybe we should have like a, I'd like to just call the pods Chilli pods, just keep calling on that forever. But just a list of things that you've accepted, I'm never going to do this. - I don't think I'm ever gonna get my pilot's license. - I wouldn't put that on you. - I wouldn't put that on you at all. I think if there is one of us, it would be you. - Right, I've accepted that. - You've accepted you're not gonna be a pilot? - Yeah, that's a good one. - That's fine. - You should bang a pilot once. I would, running a marathon is probably on it. It's like, oh, like that's stuff. I don't care about it, that's stuff. I really don't. - I'm probably never running a marathon. I hate running. - I'm excited. I'm gonna start keeping a no-tap list. And when you're ready, I'm sure. - I think you're gonna be accepted, obviously. - There should be like two tears. You're like, I know, I think I will do this. Probably not, I've accepted never. - Okay. - Yeah. - I'm never gonna host the Grammys. I've accepted that. - What about the Oscars? - Probably not. - Probably not, yeah. - But it's not it. It's in the, what if I have some, what if some TV executive's like, you know what? He has a little quick-witted. Let's throw him on the slight night show. Maybe he's not just gonna do Trump jokes the whole time. It's like, I actually heard he's a huge Trump guy. You're like, oh, fuck that. Taxes. Yeah, he was the only guy that has an issue with taxes in the country that's crazy. Is he the only guy? - All right, back to our guy. - What's going on with this? - Sorry, man. Sorry, man. Like, sincere, straight line of apologize to our guy. Sorry. My friends know I'm writing this email, so no issue if you use personal details. I talk about life advice all the time, but never imagine I'd be coming to the triumbrit to weigh in on my life decisions. 25 moved to Charlotte a year and a half ago, living in Spartanburg, South Carolina. For two years, post-grad, immediately started dating my now great Kyle, great tidbit there. Started dating my now ex-girlfriend right when I got here. She recently got a puppy, so for all intense purposes, we had a dog together. It's been every day since our first date. Wow. Last weekend, she ended things pretty much out of the blue and hit me with the usual, I love you. I'm not in love with you. I don't know if I'm in the same place. I was when we first started dating, yada, yada, yada. I've taken the break up relatively well. We've not spoken since, and it's allowed me to think about a relationship in the parts that weren't working for me. Really good. You're on the losing side of the break up, the worst thing you can do. We say this all the time. Just constantly keep fucking reaching out and all that kind of stuff. Just go take a little walk about relationship wise. Fast forward a week, and the guy who hired me and my current job pulls me in a room to tell me he's leaving. He's having a baby at the end of the month and moving to Atlanta. Hot Atlanta, to be closer to both of their families and Friday will be his last day. Our relationship stretches beyond a typical manager employee. We both went to Clemson Hangout outside of work frequently and he has been both a mentor and a friend of me since I reached out to him regarding working for him last winter. That puts me in a blender. I recently moved teams at my company from a team I love where my old boss is now leaving to a team where the work is far less fulfilling, but there is significantly more career upside. The transition was offered to me by the higher leadership, and I felt like it was an opportunity I could not say no to. I now live in Charlotte with no roommate. My girlfriend dumped me and I'm at a job I don't love. My closer relationship at work will be gone by the end of the week. All caps, I don't know what to do. My lease is up in January. I'm in line for a promotion in December, so I have a little time, but I'm considering everything from buying a RAV4 and living out of the back to be a ski instructor to finding whatever job I can in a new city, Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Boston LA, are all options. As I have some friends from school in each of those and could make a major career change while I'm still young, is all of this just an overreaction to an immense amount of change very quickly, new role being dumped, mentor, leaving, or is the universe giving me a sign that I am on the totally wrong path that a major shakeup is necessary, appreciate any insight. Side note was paired with a random at a work golf tournament in Newport Beach last week. When I played a clip of yours out loud and my player partner goes, is that Roussillo? I listen to him every night before bed, not a child, 35, not a child. Yeah, I guess the guy's also a tech guy who is also in a punk rock band. So, again, not just kids. Man, there's a lot of stuff brewing with this one. I'm not like a cosmic universe guy, but sometimes like, yeah, you wanna mix it up. - Don't always ever sit there. - About you, yeah. - No, no, no, I don't care, I don't do astrology. I don't care about the universe in any way. - Do you even know your sign? - I don't think there are signs. I do know my sign. I don't know what it means. I'm a Sagittarius. - Oh, geez, that's like one of the worst ones. - Is it really, I don't know what that means. - Okay, I don't know. - Must explain a lot. But, even killed. Sagittarius are, I don't know. - Good, I don't know. - I think I'm just fucking, I'm literally just fucking with you right now. - Yeah, he's like the horse guy, whatever, anyway. - Oh, I thought it was there. A bow and arrow guy, sorry. - Oh, is it, isn't it, a half horse with the arrow? - A centaur, correct. - A centaur, yeah. Yeah, maybe I'm wrong, who knows. Either way, don't believe any of that bullshit. Having said that. - Clear. - This is the nice little path for you. Like, if you don't wanna be there, you don't have to be there. And if there's nothing tying you down, and you're just like, hey, I need to change my life, I'm not gonna be happier, 'cause if you're just gonna be in Charlotte and you're gonna be, you know, depressed about your ex and missing your friend, then like. - I heard good things about Charlotte, though, too. Made your airport as well. - But, you know what I get around. - You get things about Chicago and all the other cities that you named, it could be a fun little, just thing that you can do. And here's the thing, you could always just probably come back to Charlotte at some point. It's not the end of the world. So, how old did he say he was? - I got the height, but not the age. - My guess is like 20s. - If you're in your 20s, yeah, I feel like this is like, what do you, yeah, why not? - Okay, but all of us, as we've gotten older, are we just looking at this guy going like, absolutely. I don't know why he picked a RAV4, by the way. Is that what a RAV4 runner is? - I would've picked at least a RAV4 runner. - I'm gonna be mad. - RAV4's. Should you guys keep going here? - I think they're kinda uncool, to be honest, but. - You know, I thought he met a RAV4 runner, he's sensible, or that's not the car you wanna buy. - Yeah. - I just don't know, yeah, the RAV4. - Inherently unclarming for a runner. - Still unclarming for a runner. - But maybe that's why he's done so well. Maybe that's why there's such a joke, because he's so sensible all the time in a decision that he's ever made. I mean, the guy just got dumped. And clearly, like, I'm not in love with you. I love you, but I'm not in love with you. And I'm taking the dog with me. Like, you've handled this really well. - Good thing for not co-pet parenting though. Those people, I've got a couple of those in my life. And I'm like, what are you doing? - That's the thing. - Oh, it's the worst. - I actually do, I don't know if I lost respect for you, but you're my buddy, but I do look at you differently. Knowing that you're doing-- - Well, she missed the drop-offs. - Yeah, you're doing drop-offs on Wednesdays and Sundays, and Sam went up to her new boyfriend, Dan, by the way. - You got to pick. - Yeah, there's like a new guy there. I'm like, oh, he loves it. He loves it when you do this. (laughing) - Yeah, just here for Coco. And then he tries to explain it to you. And you're like, yeah, you know what else is hard to? And there's a fucking kid. (laughing) Right. Save it for that. Anyway. Did you guys wish that was bacon? (laughing) I don't know if I would have known it. All right, yeah. I'm really tempted. I don't think there's any reason why you shouldn't do this, but I am romanticizing about the idea of having this break. Like, I've had time. So it's like, I wish I'd just gone out to like Sun Valley. All right, I wish I'd just done like this. I wish I hadn't just, I think I said it to my dad once. He's like, didn't you move back to the town you went to college and in bartender for like three and a half years? That wasn't enough of a mental break from the real fucking world for you. - You're dead. - You did it. You just didn't go anywhere new. You did this whole thing of like, you put your head down immediately. He's like, buddy, it was like 20 years ago. 27 until you had anything that remotely resembled any kind of path whatsoever. And I went counterpoint dad so I It sounds like you probably have a little of money to be able to like pull it off not not that you're just gonna like shut the whole thing down Again, I think the other part of his you're always like what if you love being a ski guy? What if you love this rap for and you're laughing at guys like us being like hey? How's your diesel going right now? How's the how's the mileage on that one in the city? You even cut nine I'm looking at duly's again. So I I'm telling you I Love this like new setting kind of reset with all the stuff that happened and maybe we're over estimating it But it sounds like maybe you are just like good at your job and good at all the kind of stuff There's gonna be other opportunities all over the place and I'm telling you like of all the places I could live in If I were my 20s and I just get dumped by somebody it wouldn't be Charlotte That would not be the place for a moral. It's coming up to it would take a few cities to get there the Queen City I'm not shitting on it just saying it's a safe. It does feel like there's some other places I'd rather be yeah Okay, to your point about like if we're just sitting here from like our 40,000-foot view being like oh, yeah I just like do this in your mid 20s. I will say like I You know, it definitely is easier as someone who's obviously in my mid to late 30s now who's like oh, yeah Like in your 20s who cares? It's a bigger deal than we're making it out to be like yeah It's almost so quite scary But like with the hindsight of being like 10 years maybe older than you. It's like oh, yeah Like I don't know like you'll figure it out like yourself so much more time to live and do things and explore and fail But you're not a long time - no I never really had that because I'm just thinking like selfishly like I never really had that opportunity where it's like Hey, it's like I just don't really have any else going around Let me just go somewhere else and I kind of wish I did like in some ways and so I maybe I'm a little enemies of you too Yeah, don't just go we've been good for you. I was in DC do well. That was about it When you were lobbyist Yeah, that is so funny. I don't want to be the one guy that's just like that Maybe just fucking hunker down and get a lay the land here But I guess maybe I won't but I know Ryan is kind of always on this like dude. Oh, he's 25 You're in the age gap bounce. Yeah, so Rudy I was waiting to see what you said you you're kind of go for it I think it's kind of hard to do well as a as a young person with like a job that you feel good about Maybe that's just the people that I know, but like I wouldn't be I wouldn't be so in a hurry to be like Well, yeah, I'll just get another job obviously again I don't know exactly what he does or if he's good or not, but like I think it's kind of hard to get something Yeah, and it's kind of hard to get something like that though, you know, I don't know. I'd poke around Charlotte for a little bit I'm not sure Yeah, he said he was 25 so we guess the road I must have just forgot to also if you do this and to I understand like this feeling like this is kind of thrust upon you like losing the perfect coworker dynamic really sucks It makes you it does make you wonder it's like damn do I still want to do this, you know, I had a pretty pretty solid one When I was in office with like Tate and Titus and even Tommy Alter was in there my buddy Jim Cunningham and then like one by one They all went their own ways and you look around one day. I'm like damn. Did I fuck this up? Should I be someone else to when I got there? I felt like I was getting a little bit of a dejected Kyle. I could tell you've been a little bit hardened by the people that left I would I know they were all pre-me 50 to me, you know, Kyle like I'll I can tell there was I can tell there was like a sparkle in your eye That that wasn't there anymore and we're like how do we get this back in the Kyle and I'll see you've gotten it back How do you move back to the East Coast and maybe that's why you're just like hey? I found my happy place like stay there if you're happy the other thing is there's there we probably talk about this Are you the type of person that can just move somewhere and find friends and Are you gonna be sending us another email like hey? I mean Atlanta. I don't know what the fuck to do. Yeah Like looking at my girlfriend's Instagram and that's all yeah in Indiana and Atlanta. I'm just Just getting the cuz I'm not there like maybe that's probably another reason why I didn't Findings used to do this but like I do you know me go into a new city all by myself I know I'd have a hard time like finding friends and making things happen almost anybody would by the way So are you but yes, we are at least above average at that part of life. You should probably should be to do this The other thing about 25 is like if you are 27 and you still see where this can go where you could still leave this job at 27 Like it's not it's not it's not an hour. I never I understand the external forces of being newly single and like maybe Not enjoying who you're working with at work anymore Can make you feel like you know, you've got a springboard here But you can always do this in two years if like maybe fucking shit goes awesome at the job and then you're just you're just jet-setting Out of the you know international hub that is Charlotte airport Maybe people stop over in Charlotte not you that's that's to your so you're selling it as a connection That's a future friendships. I mean you could go visit all your boys one stop. I mean the Hornets are on the upswing It is a hub. Yeah, I don't I don't know it is a hub. I heard great things about Charlotte mild winters I think what he's saying is he's tempted. He's wanted to do this and instead of just saying hey the Things are aligning to allow you to go ahead and do this you feel like the packaging of it is oh He's losing a shit and then went to Rado or snowbird or Big sky and you know, he's not and it's like why don't I come here a year a year is not a long time everyone that's old There's gonna say hey Taking a little year and do something like this what you don't want to do is have it to rail you for like a lot of people When they ask us about these kind of conundrums. It's like okay, what field are you in do you feel like you have to say like locked in the entire time Because I would say at least in the field that I ended up choosing like once I got in it then I was like I have to do this Everything has to be about this. They're you're not allowed to have anything going on. That's like it has to only be about the career Which again, it was a little overdone for me There's something for everyone when it comes to a Reese's you want to know why there's something for everyone because when you open one up In a room with other people like sometimes I get weird and just go I don't want anyone else to know that I'm doing this right now. It's not shame. It's that I don't want to split these I want to give you one you kidding. I'm rewarding myself right now like good luck in life But you're not getting one of these peanut butter cups But we all know you see that rapper you see it you peak out you're at the airport spot and you're like Maybe I get one of those for the flight. I deserve it. This is a long flight right because we're talking about the combination of great things here We're talking about the chocolate, which is had a great run, but the Reese's peanut butter and the way it tastes And it's so specific. It's so different yet it brings back all those familiar memories of like this is why I'm doing this It's a great combination not just because we're a sports podcast. I'm not talking about more reno to do per here All right, it's beyond that Reese's the official candy partner of Arsenal sports go get Reese's wherever you shop All right, let's get to a little easier one here side. No, I just started looking up sad serious traits. Yeah Do we want to do an astrology pod? Mine's not good. I've never heard anything good about Scorpio So I always this is a source of not a source object But I'm just like fast forward to when we're done talking about Scorpios But I do it if it's content. I'm Scorpio's cool though. I thought I always got Scorpio's I don't know not in the eyes of women They're like, oh Jesus You're nuts, huh? You're fucking nuts. I'm like, apparently that's the that's the word on Scorpios. We're not I can't help it I'm a Scorpio. Yeah, my child is a voice. Don't you back off? Mushroom lady All right, this one's pretty straightforward six foot two 15 Joe Ingalls little jingle juice thorough Minus the defense, although I try my best of times good shooter sneaky good at getting to the basket We'll abuse the pump fake and pass fake and throw a flashy pass here and there subject says most of It with the main context being my friend just brought it up First asking if I wanted his extra ps5 Problem is we're all gaming and drinking and now I just realized I never actually answered him Asking if I wanted his extra ps5 so it's been almost a month Would it be weird to suddenly text him back and say effort? I'm in No extra background. I don't really need a ps5. I have a four-year-old so my gaming is limited to maybe a couple hours a night Weekends and I'm still able to game with the boys on my Xbox and laptop screenshot of the discord message below it by the way, it's only been like 24 days so I normally I think I have to read this back and forth from their in gaming chat. Okay. I'm interested Which they also have like avatars they have to do with video games The other party. Do you want a PlayStation 5 also? Fugue you though. That's FUG Um our emailer lol what Other party I have a PlayStation 5 and a PlayStation 5 pro and everyone else has one so do you fucking want the ps5 I have Our email am I the oh am I really the only one without one lol? How much do you want for it? 19 minutes later the other party zero and 19 bj's So I think we have a deal here dudes were off Thank you so much for just letting us know how the deal went down Kind of the origin. Yeah a little bit of ambiguity there. I can't understand not rushing to If you were you probably wanted to think of something good and then just never Never happened And then he says wait are you serious and the guy goes what are you waiting for serious yeah Which party Oh dude that's great Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no percent of dude circles and that's that's that's one of them, you know. If you work here, because normally I was like, why are you reading? Should I ask, can I do this about a PS5? And then when I saw that, I went, this is a great way to close that. I think you guys are close enough that you can go, hey, what's, let me get that PS5. That's, that's it. Yeah. How would you say, Kyle? What? Let me snaps on that PS5. Let me get that. Let me get that PS5 L, E, and that's even makes sense. Let me get that. Do you throw a fog in there? Yeah, just to just it sounds like fog is that guy's thing, though. I think we should, yeah, don't copy that. Good call. He's got the trademark. Man, should we start replacing the F work with that moving forward? You got a great read of, of fucking you, you nailed it. I think you're totally in the clear, man, ask him and honestly, let us know because I'm in, I'm invested now at the Spider-Man. There's like a couple of PS exclusives that like, like single player, too, especially if you're a dad and you find a few minutes alone, you know, I did a long time without it, but Spider-Man got a war was sick. I don't know if the last of us is on both. I think that was PlayStation exclusive. Like there's some, there's some major hints. So I would, I'd grab that far, are you? I would too. It's, it is funny. He was like, oh, like, I don't have a ton of time to play it. Only like a couple hours every night and also it's really like fuck off. It's like, what is it? So you have a ton of time to play through. He's like, I just, I just declined a fee for season long league because I don't, I can't do it. I'm jealous. Now we're in a, we're, we got a group of six of us in a in a college football dynasty. I'm North Carolina. Fire the Bella checks. You got rid of them. Yep. Got the TCU. I also know Bobby Patrinos, the offensive coordinator, got him out of their quick too and turn things around. Your time was expensive. All right. He's costing like 250 NIL. It's way too much. Patrina was. Yeah, it was a lot. He wasn't a plus grade, but I don't, you don't need that. It's fine. Same money. I'd rather have a player. But yeah, no, so anyway, I'm all pro, like more fun and avenues to play video games together because it's awesome. It's like the way that my friends talk about things. All right. Good show today. Kyle, enjoy Arizona. Everything's going fine. As we speak, I hope I got no stories, but we had an awesome time. You're going to have stories. I hope you don't golf, though. That sounds, yeah. That sounds challenging to say the least. Thanks to Tom. Thanks to Kevin. Seruti Kyle, the Reiner Solo Show, all episodes available on Netflix, Arstrasports. you