Knicks Up 2–0 & OKC Bounces Back w/ Jon Krawczynski, Plus a Potential 24-Team CFB Playoff w/ Danny Kanell

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Grab yours now at StowblueCoffee.com, Amazon and select retailers nationwide. The Ryvers Silla Show is presented by Drath Kings. We're doing a night recap, a night cap. That's right, taping a night for your early morning Friday release. The recap of Game 2, next win, up to O on the calves.

Five thoughts from that game.

“We talk Western Conference Finals with John Presinsky, who we love having on.”

His Minnesota Chamber Woolstein that he covers, he's not on the team, he's not an athlete, but I don't know what his high school numbers were, but his team's been eliminated by these two teams. And then we did a little bit of timber wools all season stuff,

because I always find that interesting.

And we got good friend sometimes enemy Danny Canal on his passion for the expansion with the college football playoff to 24 teams. I say, why stop there? Let's go to 48. And we've got life advice.

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Four additional terms of responsible gaming resources. See sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos, Limited Time Offer. A little recap, a little night recap. Here on the Versillot pod, we just had Game 2 finish up Eastern Conference Finals. Next, pull away in the third quarter.

A little flirtation with the caps come back here, but I've run run through five things that I saw for tonight's game. So the first overall thing is you're looking at the defensive alignment here, especially I'm looking at how Cleaver wants to defend a New York team, because we know Cleaver is not known for their defense and you're wondering after a loss.

Like, there are still some stuff I like from Cleaver in the game one, so I didn't expect like any dramatic change in some of these assignment stuff. Although, New York tried to run a double big thing out there that didn't really amount to all that much time of the court together, which I was wondering if it might be something we see a little bit more of, because I actually like the double big combination from Cleaver in this series.

As we know, historically we haven't always liked that.

“I say we, because I think all of us kind of agree at times.”

Like, is this going to work long-term, but whenever we don't have to worry about that now, that's not the issue with tonight for Cleaver and I don't think. There were some screws and then even weighed line-ups in there, where they were actually defending cat and cat. I think had two guys in the blender at some point there,

and that's just kind of some of the stuff. If you're going to let the other teams big guy float, like maybe you can get away with a smaller player or defending him, but I really liked that from cat. You know, honestly like cat hasn't always been my favorite, but I still think they could use them a little bit more. I wish I feel like we just don't see the three-point shooting from him, the volume of it, the way that kind of when he was at his peak of

an offensive player, which again, which still not my favorite dude ever, but I almost feel like there's another level that that could maybe be tapped into on a night or maybe something they would want to look to call for a little bit more, but I thought he was, you know, really good tonight.

some clips you could find, but it's not some alarming thing, which is always part of the cat

conversation. So heart kills him. The whole plan is Allen is on heart, which means that he's allowed to float. You always worry about not having a body on heart that's going to lead all sorts of offensive rebounds. And in this game, actually, the Cleveland offensive rebounding edge was dramatic early. So you're like, all right, it's a post game here at the half. Is that going to continue? But that was something again about the total bigs. It's like these guys are getting a lot of

second opportunities. And with heart, you're like, we're going to help off of him. Mobile's going to stay glued to cat. And Allen's going to get to float. He's going to help on all these drives. And, you know, the rule is, like, if we're going to give up something, it's going to be heart on any three point attempt that he wants. And then he goes 10 to 21 tonight, five, 11, for three, for 26 points. After he was basically bench for shamit in game one. So the way these games can be

“so different with all of the same people for eight hours later. That's why we watch the games.”

So I don't think Cleveland's going to look at this and go, hey, heart torched us. We now have to change this because look, this is not new. It's not even a Cleveland thing. Other teams do this all time against heart. They're like, put our center on heart. We'll dare you to shoot. And he's not even like necessarily a bad shooter, but it's the thing that most teams are willing to give up. That was clearly Cleveland's game plan. And even though it burned them for a night, I don't think that they'll

change that. We'll see. Number two, 53 a piece in this game at the start of the second half, you give up an 11-0 run if you're Cleveland. And defensively like this was, there's some defensive

numbers going to share with you. They're not necessarily like, oh my god, I never thought that.

Thank you so much Ryan for sharing that. But I think when you looked at the series, because I don't think there's a huge difference as far as like overall talent between the two teams, but did pick the next and six, even though I gave out Cleveland, that's seven and a half in game. I wanted to feel pretty good about it until I didn't. But looking at this match up here, you're like, all right, well, if Cleveland's in trouble, where are they in trouble? And it's probably about who

they are defensively. And I thought they were, I mean, their offense wasn't good. And, you know, some of the shooting lineups that they had out there, I thought there were some really good shots. I thought that Merrill had good shots all night. Tonight, but he just obviously hurt them, because he couldn't knock down anything. Then he starts missing free throws, which you're not expecting. At all, they had a decent three-point shooting stretch to start the game, and then there's just

kind of a disaster. But during this 18-0 run, I want to point out something here, which I think I'm

“right about. Maybe that's why I'm pointing it out. You've given up an 11-0 run. And then you sit”

Mitchell down. I understand sub-patterns. You know, I understand that one medium is going to play in these five-minute bursts a little bit more. And clearly, there was some game managing a game, too, in the Western Conference Finals, from both sides, where I think San Antonio went full bench unit early. There was 11 guys that had played, starting into the second quarter in game two. San Antonio ran out four bench guys with a starter, and that's with Foxdown and Harper down later.

So that game was very much about managing minutes, because of the exertion of not only the total minutes, but just how tough those minutes were in game one. So I understand that still even in the playoffs, and I'm not trying to sound like my father who gets mad about a pitcher being pulled in the eighth inning, all these given up on that years ago. It is about what is happening in the game versus what is your sub-pattern. And we know with Cleveland, it's the first guys out

of Mitchell and Moby, and then they play the Alan Harden thing, and then they want to come back. That's just how they want to pair this since they've made this trade. And obviously, there's overlap with every one of those guys playing the starting game to close the game, and maybe some other moments in there, and some overlap at the staggering minutes. But your item is G, the game was just tied, and now it's 64, 53, and you run out of line up

of Merrill, Struce, Dean Wade, and then Jared Allen, and Harden. And just as a side, because he's been taking a bunch of shit, deservedly so, I'm at the front of the pack, on this one, Harden was fine. It can't really ask much more from him at this stage, like the shot distribution, through the three-quarter, two shots, five shots, three shots,

five shots, zero turnovers. Okay, defensively, I could find a million clips in there that I'm

going to hit, but from an offensive standpoint, because there's times where it's like,

“hey, when it's tight, can you shoot? Because sometimes I think, hey, there's nobody more comfortable”

getting you with three when you're down 15 than Jim, but he was fine. He was not the issue tonight, and we'll get to some of the defensive stuff as far as like what they were doing against Brunson, because it wasn't on him the way it was in Game One, which was a lot to ask if him to hold up against Brunson anyway. But my point is, is that I don't know what's going on with Mitchell, and I don't know, like, I understand the sub-hatter. I know what their sub-hatter is. I know what's

about managing minutes, but is there any part of you where you go, hey, we just gave you up on a

And I would offer no on the face of the lineup that you're running out there, the five guys

who's now you're asking hard to like do all of it, which even though he was, you know, he was fine tonight. That's a lot to ask. I watched Mitchell in the post game, because then I looked at the 751 mark. He had a, he had a, he had to make a 12 footer, right? That made 8880. So Cleveland's actually getting back in this game after that 18-0 run. And of course, when he's on the bench and they get a shot of him put lip balm on, you're like, all right, this just, it was a tough scene

for the guy here. But, you know, he's got the make at 751, he misses a three, goes one for 213 throws, then 23 throws at 246, and that's it. So it's one shot attempt in the two files on the other shot attempts from 751 to close. I don't, I don't know what's going on, because I was looking at

“him defensively a little bit, and I'm like, is he exhausted? Is he, is he hurt? And I'm, I'm honestly”

not trying to do the Steph Curry thing, like whenever Steph had like a bad series of the guys hurt. I do think he was hurt sometimes, so maybe have guilty of it, too. But I know how annoying that can sound. I don't want to be annoying about the special thing. I just can't fucking accept it that you have somebody who, when he is right, is one of the hardest guys to deal with. Like whatever other flaws or whatever stuff you want to say about the resume, he can turn it on for six

minute stretches where it's ridiculous, and that's the value in him. And he's off the ball and he's not in the plays, and I, I just, I don't understand it. He said after the game, all the things you expect somebody to say, hey, make or miss league, we liked our process, all that stuff. I would disagree. Number four, I'm not sure what the plan was for Cleveland offensively throughout the

“night. I never really had a stretch of possessions where I felt like I knew maybe if I watched”

again in the morning because I'm taping this right after the game was over. Maybe if I watched the morning, I'd be better at trying to pick apart like, hey, was there a stretch where it looked like they kind of knew what they wanted to do? Maybe it was, you know, getting these open shots or mayoral, maybe it was a lot of good looks there. A lot of those good looks, though, too, sometimes they're offensive rebound, they're good looks because everybody's scrambling and everybody's

aligned defensively. So is that really because of a player, just great offensive rebounding,

what they were getting at the beginning of this game? There was one play in the third quarter,

where Mitchell is in and he's in with mobiley and Mitchell Robinson is in and he's defending mobiley. Now in this play, this is important here. The first part is important. There was a guard that kind of gotten the way with a screen, but ultimately ends up being a mobiley screen with Mitchell Robinson switching on to Mitchell once Mitchell's defenders screened off of him. So Mitchell Robinson, you could argue, you shouldn't even be out there for having to chase mobiley. Like mobiley feels

like the kind of guy where, you know, if you mobiley hits a three, we're okay. We're not going to freak out and have our center flying out trying to contest 30 footers or we're not going to have him running him off the three-point line. Like mobiley hits a couple of threes, we'll probably live with that. I'd imagine most coaches feel that way. I'm not going to blame Mitchell Robinson

“for giving you a ton of effort here. But I think you could see on this play, do you actually”

want Mitchell Robinson at the three-point line like on a switch dealing with Mitchell going with the ball? Because guess what happens? Mitchell goes right past him and this is the part that's really frustrating for the cast offense is the low man is Brunson in the restricted area and Mitchell just goes right past him and makes that lay up. Next to Brunson, okay? Mitchell's up top plays already gone, balls past him. The baseline is three defenders for New York. It's Miles McBride,

it's Brunson, and it's Jordan Clarkson. When the nicks have that alignment and if Mitchell is going to chase mobiley up there, I don't care. I mean, I don't care who has the ball. Kiana Ellis is so like, let's go attack attack attack. They attacked on that one. We didn't get enough of it. Then we get to the close of this game. Because again, Cleveland made it 8880. You're like, all right, well, they survived an 18-0 run here. The 24-3 or something like that. I mean, it was ugly.

But Cleveland actually closes the third quarter in a way. It's like, all right, they're in this a

little bit more. They were even in the fourth quarter. But you're waiting to see what the nicks are going to do involving Brunson and then hard. Cleveland is prepared for it. I like we're not going to let hard and get just cooked on hard nylon the way we did in the fourth quarter over time of game one to be expected. But not only is Cleveland preparing for this, I think the smart teams,

going to change this and not let us do what we did with Brunson against hard and game one. So

“next guy be ready. And what I mean by next guy, I don't know what they call. But it was like, hey,”

the first outlet pass and I should say, out the pass. But the first option off of this double

because Brunson was brilliant with it. Because sometimes it's easy. Hey, guess what? You want to double me? Because I'm a barrister guy and game one. Now, I'm not going to fight this double. I'm not going to worry about it. But I'm already going to know where I'm going with it. And we're going to have spacing behind me. It's going to be four on three. And that was two catches to McKell bridges. It wasn't all they did. But there are two plays where Bridges catches it.

One's a layup, one's a nice make because it wasn't necessarily an easy pull-up in there. But they're very easy passes. The pass is not contest. And then the shot is not contested at all. And it was almost like you had two guys with Cleveland defending Brunson knowing what they were supposed to be doing. But then three guys playing whatever was going to happen once the ball was swung to someone else, not knowing what was going on. It was like five guys on a team, but two teams within

those five. It felt like there was no real communication of like, hey, when someone catches this like zone beer was what it looked like. We're throwing to this soft part of your coverage. Someone else is now going to have to be tasked with making it hard in the guy who made the catch. And then if we're scrambling behind it, fine, but there's probably a shooter that we're going to help off of. What we can't be doing is letting somebody catch it in the paint and then

“turning around and just having a three decision in there. So a lot of disconnect there, I think”

defensively from Cleveland where Brunson, you know, wasn't a great shooting night for him.

He didn't have to score a million points. But he didn't fight the double team. And I do think

that that's because it's a smart team. It's a smart preparation 48 hours of going, hey, they're not going to let you do that again. So what do we want to do off of that? Hey, let's just be ready. I thought, OG had all sorts of super easy options off of the double team. Once they finally started doubling Brunson in game one, where I was kind of looking for that tonight, being like, are they going to use OG's guy in this two-stay with Brunson now? OG,

if he wants to go, it's probably going to have like, depending on how they want to split up the bigs, if they want to do that, because they feel offensively, they have to split up the bigs. Like, there's probably going to be some really nice possession of OG, but that's not really what they had to do. They just got it. The bridges, you know, heart just keeps cooking. And I just, I really love that from New York. I love that from New York that they were like, hey, we're going

to go and harden again and get them in some of these switches. But let's be ready if they're going to play a different. They played it differently. They were just weren't going to let it happen. Again, New York was already ready for whatever the adjustment was that was needed in the adjustment that they made wasn't even really challenged by Cleveland at all. So Cleveland's going to go home down to O clearly, they should feel like they should have a split after the disastrous game one.

But a defense that was 15th in the regular season giving up 114 points per 100 possessions has been a little better statistically here in the playoffs. It's obviously the worst defense of the four mating teams. It ranks 8th out of the 16 teams that have been in the playoffs. It's 112.6. So, you know, a nice improvement about a point and a half there for where they were. But that's also including seven games against the pistons who are home because they can't score.

This next team wasn't even a great offensive knight from them. But they there has to be

“I think there's some fixes here for Cleveland, but I really don't. I'd imagine they go home”

because they're close enough in talent to be able to get one. But as bad as like the overall scoring is, I'm not worried about what I saw from them necessarily offensively. I'd like more Mitchell attacks. I don't know why we're getting him. He looked a little exhausted at the end of the game. And I'm like, all right, is that what's going on here? I don't know. But yeah, Cleveland's in some trouble here, but they're not going up against like a 67-win team either.

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draft. And then I look at what they offer up. I go, you know what copilot, you did it again, you're right. That is more concise. Thank you. The apps you know go further with copilot. Learn more at m365 copilot.com/work. Talk some MBA here with a guy who is joined us throughout the season. And even in the offseason, sometimes, because his team that he covers him is sort of

general rules is always super interesting. And obviously, just lost to the spurs, play the thunder

in the Western Conference finals. It is John Presinsky of the athletic. So after that's an

So it's not surprised that they're eliminated whatsoever. But your thoughts on like how you felt

about San Antonio before the series and then after being eliminated, which I know again, you weren't playing, but you get the point. Right. Yeah. I mean, I would say that, you know, going into the series, you thought, if Minnesota had a chance, even though they were short-handed, ant was hurt, down to even Chanzo out. I would assume you limited a little bit. You figured that the way that they were going to advance if there was going to be a chance was going to be experience,

metal, you know, toughness, kind of mental fortitude, those types of things because they had been in that spot for three years in a row. And San Antonio had not been there yet. And to me, the

thing that just shown through, you know, so much about San Antonio was that there was nothing

in these young dudes that was good to get rattled by the moment, by the stage, by the physicality, by any gamesmanship that was being thrown at them, you know, Castle Harper, Wemby, Fox, like all these dudes are just tough as an ails. And they didn't let the timber wolves get into their heads at all. And the timber wolves really tried to do that. And so their ability to just rise above whatever, you know, kind of games, the wolves were going to try to play with their heads that way

“with the key to the series. They just were not being drowned out into the gutter. They just,”

they were bigger tougher, stronger, a little more talented. And they just outlasted them that way. It was really, really impressive to see those really young guys just not get, you know, shaken at all by any of the theatrics. It feels ahead of schedule to be that mature. And there were so many moments in that game, especially, well, I should say in the series, but I would say some of the later games, like you could see Jayden getting upset or you could see Randall having moments

and it was like they were up for it. Shannon's always ready to start some shit. And even a

card Brian, like there was one stare down with the two guys who Brian just kind of lasted Shannon trying to like mean mug them the whole time. And I'm like, this is this is a very different group. This is not supposed to happen to leak this soon. Okay, see is different for a variety of reasons, but certainly in the San Antonio tears, we see the series even up on a piece. I guess, okay, see, maybe not having to blow it up quite yet this summer after game one. How are these two

teams that you've seen the team you cover? Like, if you go back to these last two playoff years, like, what would you say is similar? Would you say it's different about these two teams

“that are scoring off now? Yeah, I think that the thing that really sticks out to me about both of”

them is they are so well-coached and mentally disciplined in their assignments. I mean, I know that castle has turned the ball over a bunch already in this series, but when you look at understanding game plans, executing and having counters for what each other is going to present to them, I just think they're basketball like use for both teams are off the charts. And they're both coaching staffs really know how to kind of develop counter punches and figure out how to work

through a game in through a series. I think that is, frankly, one of the things that the Timberwolves really struggle with is when you get into an intelligence contest against these two teams, they are falling out short, but I think Mark Degnell doesn't unbelievable job of really defining roles for all of his guys. And then all of those guys accept those roles and just go into them happily and know that if they do what they are supposed to do, they're going to be successful.

“I think San Antonio does the same thing. No, everyone knows that Wemby is the sun in the moon in the”

stars, but everyone has an idea of where they're supposed to be at all times. There's very few game plan mistakes, very few brainfarts that happen with these teams. Like, they don't beat themselves with those types of things. Of course, again, the turnovers are an issue for San Antonio right now, but the other night when Keldon Johnson got beat back door in overtime and then was taken out. That's just the expectation. If you do not do what you're supposed to do, you're sitting on

the bench and we're going to put someone else in there that will. So just the overall discipline that both of these teams operate with, it's off the charts. Who did you pick before the series started? I picked Spurs in seven and that may even be just because I was just in the series with San Antonio and saw them really up close. And I know that Oklahoma City is terrific, but I just think that Victor Wemby is the best player in the league right now. Like, I think that that belt has been

passed when I see what he is able to do on both ends of the court. And then, you know, you see the way that Harper and Champenny and Fox and Barnes and everyone Castle and Castle all operate around him,

should play well against Oklahoma City. We'll see how Dylan Harper is holding up here and that

would be a huge thing for them if they were to lose him for any time in this series. But I just really love the way that they'd not only play defense, but the way that they don't back down from

“anything. And I think that Oklahoma City can really rattle teams with the way that they come at you.”

And I just didn't expect the spurs to get thrown off that way. And, and I think with Wemby and Yama, I was just going to pick them to to to squeak by in in seven games. We cover this game in different ways. Our responsibilities are different, but we're still watching all the games. And, you know, it's their times where I can go like go weeks and be emotionless about outcomes. Like, I'm just like, okay, this is what the job is. And then, I would say, even though I picked

okay C, and I kind of respect the heart and stone role, or it looked like somebody if you looked at some of the regular season part of it, too. It's like, maybe he just doesn't play and they jumped

him. I think he played 12 minutes in game. Well, he played 13 minutes in the first half of last night.

And you see what he's doing to Wemby, where it's grab every single time, it's grab him more defensively than it is grab him when he's on offense because if you can grab him and hold him from helping on drives, that changes things. And if they're not going to call it good for okay C, I also think there is an intention from SGA, which sometimes the solution or the adjustment from game one to game two, is like, hey, just going to go, you're going to have to go a little harder. You're going to have to go a little

quicker. You're not going to be able to wait around with these guys, which is the same way that you have to attack okay C. Like if you wait with the ball, you're letting everybody get a position, clog up all the lanes and if you're stationary dribbling, then forget it because another guy's coming over to disrupt everything. But I guess I would admit there are times of the okay scene now. And I don't think it's reached like peak tray young annoyance or hardened fallbaiting annoyance,

which I spent too much time on. But I don't think we're assholes for the next day watching

“this stuff over and watching SGA fall. Like this is the part where I think there's so much”

great about okay C, and yet the bad seems to be the headline. But I don't blame like the NBA social media world, which is an exact my favorite thing. From being outraged at times and you start putting together, not like one or two clips, but like 20 to 30 of these clips, where you go, okay, well, is this going to happen? And I'm not bringing this up to complain. I'm bringing it up, like pivoting it back to Minnesota in that, who do you think the team you covered was more annoyed

playing against? Okay, C with with the stuff that happens there. And then also like, look, it's not like Castle isn't incredibly physical and also in that gray area, especially what he's doing off the ball. So we can find clips for both teams. But okay, C, because they've been around a couple extra years in comparison to San Antonio, there's going to be less patients for the stuff that NBA fans are not thrilled with. Yeah, I would say this. Furt certainly to start Minnesota

has a special annoyance with Oklahoma City, just like the whole operation, the way everything works. And part of that is that Oklahoma City is on top. When you are the champions, when you have the MVP, you are going to get more scrutiny and you're going to get more jealousy and hate and all of that.

“And so I think some of that is just from the success. But there is one thing about the timber”

wolves and there's plenty of criticisms to level at them up and down the roster. But one thing they don't do is flop. Anthony Edwards is not an embellisher. Jade McDaniel is none of these guys.

Jade Jewish Randall, they do not go to the basket and then fall down. It just never happens. And

that is something that she goes to Alexander, Chad Homegren, Dort, we saw Isaiah Joe do it. It is more of a thing with Oklahoma City. And I think that that is something that frustrates not just the timber wolves. But I think a lot of people around the league and I will, I do believe you will see some lobbying this summer with the officials with the league to put a more of a priority on policing that more than they have lately. They got away from it from the fines, from all of those

things. And so I think you'll see the lead talk about kind of trying to address that a little bit because it's a it is a grieges with with some of the things that that they do and and the way that they flop and fall fall to the court. I will say that I don't have a problem Ryan with the the physicality that heart and sign had on one bin yama last night because castle was just as physical with SGA. And and so if you're going to have it both ways, that's fine. If you're going to

let it be a wrestling match, go for it. I think that when you talk to people around the league and

shiggas or the Alexander fall in down and get in some of the benefit of those calls. And then Dort case on Wallace, Karuso are very, very physical. On the other hand, and don't get the same calls if you don't flop with them. So, you know, when the series was over against the with with the spurs, the wolves were very respectful of them. And just said, hey, they were the better team.

“They beat us. They elacid us. I think with Oklahoma City, they are not quite as respectful of the”

way that they play the game. And I don't think they're alone there. And again, I don't want to make this a huge thing because I do think part of this is just the success that Oklahoma City has had. But there is a clear difference between the way those two teams have played at least in the timber wolves eyes. Yeah, it also is a very predictable thing. As if you're good for long enough, and even though it's one championship, it could be two here, right? Going back to

24 and then losing a Dallas. But it's been a team. I think it's the one seed the last three years. So, I don't know that there's ever a team. Like say they get another one here. I don't know that there's ever a team that can have like a three year window of success like this that all of a sudden all the neutral parties are like, hey, I love this. Like a hundred of good things. So, but look, the Harrison Barnes call against him on that flop. Like I look at that and just go, hey, if you didn't

see it, the same as the Tony Brothers back court thing. It's like you thought you saw it, but you didn't. And there's one official who I'm not going to name, but like I saw one play where they showed an angle where he didn't see where the contact was, but he looked down and saw that the player was

down. But he was looking somewhere else. And in the replay, you can see that his eyes never see

the flop. He then adjusts his eyes, he's somebody on the ground. And that's kind of, you know, one of the many things that I would say, like, unless you saw it, I would rather you get it wrong. Because if you get it wrong on like an SGA fall, if you don't see the contact, but you're just giving him the call on the fall, I'd rather you just miss it the other way, because then there's kind of a self-correction with the players, or it's like, I guess I'm not getting that tonight.

“And then I think the game just looks a little bit better. But whatever, I bet.”

And just one thing on that too, Ryan, like, when be those fall a lot too, I did see it in the sears against the wolves that castles started to do and bella show a little bit. So maybe the more that they are in the spotlight, we will see some of some more scrutiny go that way, but it's just you're right. It's clear, like Oklahoma City is the top dog right now. And so you're going to watch them a little closer. And they do absolutely push everything right to the limit and maybe buy it

sometimes to try and get an advantage. And it works for them. Yeah, I can't really get mad about, I mean, the heart and time castle grab thing wasn't my favorite, but the holding, when be and all the stuff that goes on down there, like, if you can get away with it, yeah, what's, what are they supposed to do? Not do it. I mean, it was really something that turned the game in a way where you're like, okay, if this turns, what is it? Is it better

shooting as an SGA getting going? Like some of those things are real, but when Wemby's got nothing

going offensively in the first half, which I also thought was very telling too, is that the amount of

energy expanded, not just the minutes and the box scores from an overtime and game one, but both coaches, subbing the way that they subbed in that first quarter, where you're like, okay, they're looking at the minute sheet, 48 hours ago going, let's let's just try to pace ourselves here in the first half and then see what's needed minutes wise. But, you know, to go to a full bench for a KC,

“I think at one point Cent Antonio had everybody in there, they had four backups in there with one”

starter. I think there's also a discussion about what's the point of having SGA out of the game at Wemby's out of the game. So if you're going to be talking about, like, hey, what's the first thing you do? Hey, Luke Cornets in there. I mean, you go back to the Portland series. So I would you guys, like, okay, attack mode. We have to maximize every single position and we have to be super aggressive while Wemby is watching for those few minutes that he subbed out. And for whatever reason

diagonal in a win, so it's not really brought up, but I think if they were to lose game too, you're going, I understand you probably have some regimented minute thing the same way San Antonio does, but if SGA is out in Wemby's out, that doesn't make any sense to me. And it also happened in the

second half where I think he got SGA in there a couple of positions before Wemby came back and

and resulted in some good stuff. So just something to think about, something I'll be watching for, it's going to be a great series. I was reading some of the post, you know, hey, the season's over from Minnesota. And Tim, who I like a lot, Conley, and that front officer, I think is really good. And obviously I'm biased against Finch because he's come on the show. He's been good to me. I also think he's a good coach. So if he sucked, I probably wouldn't just say, like, we might have

him on, but I wouldn't be going like, he's awesome just because he came on. But there's a very straightforward thing, hey, there's a gap. Folks, there's a gap. So we can be mad here in Minnesota, but Conley can't come out and say it is clear as I just said it, but I think there's a lot of

Yeah, I agree. I think that, you know, for the longest time, I this is by 22nd season, covering the wolves, I've covered some terrible, terrible teams for a very long stretch of time.

My first 14 years on the beat, I never went to a playoff game. So, you know, that's, that's a,

I operate from that perspective a little bit in terms of what we've seen over the last five years, you know, the kind of ascendance, the competence, the competitiveness has been a revelation to me.

“And, you know, I think that they got into that series playing a 62-win team, and Anthony Edwards had”

knownies. Dante, even Shenzu, was on the sideline. I owed the sumu was kind of nurse in a calf injury. And I just don't know what was really expected. Of course, you want to, you don't want to see him lose three games by 30 points. I think that's a disappointment. But I think that seemed to be something that was like, hey, we lost, we're probably supposed to lose. But man, when it goes south for us, and I know Conley even mentioned like a lack of maturity at times, emotional maturity, I think

was the phrase that was used. I was like, oh, that's a little specific. And it's also accurate, which I appreciated from him because I thought it was honesty and it was also like, yeah, I love the fight from your team. But as soon as I can see it goes south with a couple of guys in their personality, it's like, okay, like, you're about getting back at somebody and not playing basketball right now. Yeah. And this has kind of been a trend for them when they lost to Dallas and game five,

they got blown out in the Western Conference Finals two years ago. Then last year, in game five, again, so Oklahoma City, they got blown out. So when they let go of the rope, it's all the way gone. And it usually gets embarrassing. And so I do think that, you know, they do have to be, they've raised their standard. And so now they have to be ready for the expectations that are

thrust upon them. And the reality is is that they are a cut below disperse in the thunder. And so

how do they go about trying to make that up? Because I do think they're, you know,

“they were disappointed in the regular season with their approach to the game. And I think that,”

you know, they were complacent and maybe a little immature about the regular season. And that came back to bite them a little bit in the playoffs. I also think Chris Finch is the best coach that has ever coached the Timberwolves. And I think that there were a couple of things that he could have done better in the spur series to maybe tighten that up a little bit more as well. And so it, you know, when you, when you do start to achieve this regular success,

you do have to be cognizant of the standard that is being raised. And they have to go into this summer. And I believe they are with the idea that big things need to change. If they are not going to go the other way and say, hey, look, the spurs and thunder are too good. Let's re-tool, we'll kind of tear it down and go back at this in a couple of years, which they're absolutely not going to do with Anthony Edwards on this team. Okay. So is there an ant clock?

I mean, there always is, right? Ryan, I mean, any time you have a top 10 player in the league,

I think there's always pressure on the team that has him to continually surround him with the right pieces to give him a chance to be competitive. You know, and, and, and, and, and look at the long-term and say, I can win here and win at a high level. I think that Tim Connelly, Matt Lloyd, everyone in the front office has done a great job so far in surrounding him with talent and getting him to to Western Conference Finals and to, and to, you know, the, the second round three straight

years. So there's nothing within Anthony Edwards that looks at this and says, it's hopeless. We can't win here because he's been right on the doorstep a couple of times. But you always have to continue innovating and, and, and, and, and reloading. And so I do think that there will be pressure over the next couple of years to make sure that whatever this next version to 3.0 of the Timberwolves under Anthony Edwards is that he sees that this can be a viable contender in a loaded

Western Conference and you can't just hope that you're going to move east when Seattle and Vegas join. That can't be the plan. And I don't think that's the plan. I think they are going to look at Yannis and into Compo. They're going to look at Kyrie Irving. They're going to look at other big, possible deals out there to, you know, try and close that gap and try and keep Anthony Edwards kind of feeling like he can win here over the long-term. There has been no indications

that he is getting restless, that that he is getting impatient. But you can't wait around for that

“to happen. You have to be proactive and aggressive going out and making sure you get the right”

team around him. Rudy, who? Let's talk about your boy Rudy. You know, the timeline of this transaction is is really interesting. You know, because I hated it at the beginning. I thought

you know, he's been really good for what you'd expect from Rudy. And I think it's a

convenient rounding up to be like, hey, to Western Conference Finals of the Rudy. Like, what's what's the argument against this? And it's like, well, it's conveniently leaving out. Yeah. It's just going to be like, hey, but then as Finch told me, as you've told me, like, when Conley makes the deal and he goes to Finch is like, you get a promise me you're not going to bail on Rudy. And I look at Rudy as like, this is going to make sense to some, but I think some people understand it,

“like, when you have Josh Gettie, you have to have a very specific for around Josh Gettie.”

If you have Dyson Dan, you'll see you have to have a very specific for around Dyson Daniels. And then there are times you go, hey, this is just not working because it's great as one part of the game,

is it's so limited in the other one. And we know offensively like Rudy's not an answer for anything.

But in that series, it turns into another one of these Rudy referendums where I'm, you know, I know I'm stubborn, but my history is told me like whatever I kind of think initially, like more often than not, if you just stay with that and not go with the waves of change here, you're going to end up being right long term. So I can understand the Minnesota fan that's like, hey, this was just across the board destroyed and look what's happened, the Rudy deal was a good deal.

And it's hard to tell that person that they're wrong. I think that's the camp that you're in, too, based on reading you all these times. And then there's my camp that's maybe it looks who's stubborn about it, where you just go, yeah, I know I get it, but like cats also gone and it's funny too, because like I remember Zach Lo's saying, hey, this is in fact that the, the timber was of one, the cat trade, based on Randall and even Chenzoo. And then there's other

times you're like, wait, is that still true? So there's almost a parallel there of like, at times you think it's in fact, it's over, there's no more debate. And then you're like, oh,

“maybe there's still a debate about what this is. And I think that's happened on the cat deal.”

And I think it's happened on the Rudy deal. And, you know, I know what Rudy is meant to this team defensively. And I think he's a great culture guy on top of everything else after some early years of looking like it seemed like his teammates hated him. But I don't, I don't know, I don't know that this one is the very simple answer because he may be the piece that decides the like, hey, the pivot is even if we appreciate what he's done, the pivot is that we have to figure out

a way to be a different team because whatever this has been, we're too limited in some huge spots and we go deeper to the playoffs, which I think is still a fair criticism of Rudy being out there for your team. Yeah, for sure. And like, let's look at all the contexts who I think that even right at the start, but even now where I, I will admit to being that in the camp of that, it was a great deal for them that they, that they got what they needed out of him. They gave up too

much right away. Like their, their gave up at least the draft picker to too much in the deal. And so that hampers you and deal making going forward. One thing that they had to take into account in Minnesota that you don't have to take into account in New York or L.A. or Miami or many other places

“is you don't only have to go find someone that's really good, but you have to find someone that's”

really good that wants to stay here. And I do think that was an element of the Rudy go bear situation that set him apart because you can say, well, yeah, if they would have just held on to all their picks and all their players, they could have gone to get got someone else that even better down the road. But Kevin Durant didn't want to come here. You know, there's there's plenty of other stars that wouldn't want to come to Minnesota and play. And so by virtue of that, Rudy is is a win. The other

part is that my biggest argument for why Rudy was a success has been a success is that I saw earlier on Kevin love Ricky Rubio, Carl Anthony Towns, exactly whoever, you know, a lot of the young stars that were supposed to be the guys that carried the wolves forward were losing at such a level early in their careers that I think it damaged them. And I think it damaged their perception of being here. Maybe not cat, but most of the other guys. And so what Rudy did was raise the floor on this team,

two-year degree that it showed that Anthony Edwards, hey, we can win here and win and you can get playoff experience in high-levelage moments early on in your career. And if Rudy wasn't here, they would not have had the same amount of success and there'd be immediate conversations right now. Anthony Edwards can't win in Minnesota. He's got to get out of here and go somewhere else. And so that's where the value of Rudy Go Bears come in. Obviously, you look at what he did against the

oak itch and the first round of the Denver series and like that's incredible. And then but then he was

not good enough in San Antonio. And I do think that to your point about Dyson Daniels and some so many others, I think that right now the biggest question mark for the wolves going into this summer is what do they do with that three-headed front court, Nazary, Jewish Randall, and Rudy Go

going to change out Rudy, you give up some a lot of defense, you give up a lot of just leadership

and competency and in all of those things, but you probably unlock some more offensive firepower from from Edwards and Randall and everyone else. If you change out Randall and get some more shooting around Rudy, maybe that makes him viable for another couple of years, but I think that especially a Go Bear Randall front court that is just so limited from a three-point shooting standpoint and makes them so easy to guard and it makes it so much tougher on Anthony Edwards to operate in the

half court that something has to give there, whether it is Go Bear, whether it is Randall, whether you know what what they do, but I believe Rudy has more than made up for what they paid for him, but I also fully acknowledge that there are flaws and that there are special circumstances that

“you have to set up around him to continue to make this a good viable pairing with Anthony Edwards.”

It's really tough and I think that's totally fair and it's like, hey, okay, fine, Ryan, you

want to move on from Rudy and get what? A rim protecting stretch five that's just going to be available. Okay, look, like you can sign for Zingus, like I cannot wait for the Zingus number because it's going to be higher than anyone thinks because he actually like, if he could play 60 games, provides this thing that every team should most want, how it would open things up for aunt, all that kind of stuff, but then it's like, you know, if you're calling the owner shift and you're

sitting there going like, hey, that magic deal isn't there and guess what, like if we keep Rudy, we know we win 50 plus games, we know we're not saying it's only an okay C, this idea that every team is supposed to try to figure out a way to compete with these two teams, like those those opportunities likely are impossible to accomplish. So we bring Rudy back and we're still a good team and if something bounces right and injury in the playoffs in the first or second round, then maybe we're

right back in this because aunt is that special and that part of the team building or the off-season

challenges is always so easy to ignore because it's just not as exciting being like, hey, the best

scenario here is a tweak here and tweak there, but we're likely going to be the same even if we know there's a ceiling on it because it's a hell of a lot better than trying to like tear this thing down for two years around and because no one that good, that young, it's going to be excited for some sort of reset after a taste of what he's had. So it's probably going to be a, well, I wouldn't predict that it's going to be boring because there's moves to make, but moves to make

to catch up to these teams that are watching right now. I don't, I don't know what that scenario

“would be. Good luck. Yeah, I think the one thing that I'm just going to watch closely is like,”

if there is one more leap for Anthony Edwards to make, like he was kind of the pseudo-point guard this year and it was kind, it was good in some areas, but not good in others is assist numbers dropped, but every summer we've seen him address a weakness and make it a strength. Two years ago, he needed to improve his three-point shooting and then he made more threes than a player in the league. Last year, he needed to improve his clutch performance, his mid-range and rim finishing,

then he was, you know, right in line for clutch player the year and was excellent down the stretching games. Being able to sap this year, I think he goes into the summer saying, I need to be kind of more cognizant of getting my teammates involved and making plays and making reads and getting off the ball when I need to and finding guys. And if he can add that to his game and make that a strength, that all of a sudden turns him into maybe a top five player instead of a top eight player,

“whatever he is. And so he gets better every single year, every single summer and that in”

an alone will be something, but I still do think that there will need to be some changes around him to get at least give them kind of some optimism that, hey, this is going to be different. We at least have a chance to do something different going into next season. Hey man, enjoy the rest of your conference finals. I know you're watching these accomplished finals too. I guess I just a little West Coast bias for you there. Thanks John.

Maybe you're tracking down of the Mitchell touches in the fourth quarter or over time. Maybe you're just focused on the fourth quarter touches in game two of these street conference finals. And maybe you think I don't need co-pilot to add up to three. But what if you're going, hey, I'm going to track this throughout the entire series. Game one, this many touches, game two, this many touches, but don't ignore the free throw

temps, because those are also technically shot attempts in a way, too, even though they're not. Wait, there's too many numbers. I don't know how to put all this into any way that I can explain it to the audience. Oh, wait, I have co-pilot in Excel. Also, the apps you know go further with co-pilot. Learn more at m365 co-pilot.com/work. He is my friend former co-host, although who knows how this

On series XM and of course this cover three podcast. He's coming out to Manhattan Beach. I'm inviting him over, but I don't know, seeing some of those tweets again, man, on this college football expansion. And I'm just like, I guess we can have a lawn, but I feel like we're going to go at it. So you are in favor of the 2014 playoff state your case. Well, let me clarify that.

“Because I'm in favor of expansion. I would say that. And I think most people, I think most people”

are okay with 16. I am fine if we stay at 12, but what has started to drive me nuts? And I feel like we get to this point where everybody just starts making these really hyperbolic statements, because they don't want to see it happen. And I don't think they're all true. Like I don't. And probably the one primarily is, oh, it's going to ruin the college. It's going to ruin the regular season. It's going to ruin the regular season. I don't think that's necessarily true. I think,

you know, when you say there's going to be meaningless regular season games, there have always been

regular meaning, uh, meaningless regular season games throughout history. It's just we didn't really, like, they felt big and they felt penal, but they always weren't for certain brands. So I don't think it's going to change that much at all. So the other thing that I think we can fix is conference championship games. If anything, or meaningless, it's conference championship games, which I've always

“struggled with, what do you do with them with our postseason? It's always bothering me. I think we've”

even talked about it before. Like I didn't know how do you intertwine those when you have it's postseason play, but you have some teams lose and they're eliminated, but other teams lose and they're not eliminated. Some champions win. They don't get a chance. Some do and they're going to change that.

But I always felt conference championship games have been meaningless. So we can fix those by

expansion and replace them with play and games. I think it makes a ton of sense and you get a lot more good competitive games as opposed to the pomp and circumstance of conference championship games, which really don't matter. All right. So, um, that's maybe a little lesser aggressive of the tweets. That's kind of your move. That's always the Danny Moobies. There's no, I think I think I just, I'm pushing back on people who are making the comments like, hey, this is awful

because like, if you go, so I think the Big Ten has a messaging problem. I think they should have never said the word 24. That is such a shock to the system. They should have gone with a 16 game playoff and a playing game to get there. Like, that is my perfect system. My system, I've been given this a lot of thought. Like, how do you get there? Is you have a 16 team playoff, which everybody's kind of okay with. I know it's not overwhelming. People want to stay at 12,

but if you say we're going to do a 16 team playoff, and but then how do we get there? It's 12 teams, top 12 ranked teams, conference champ, whichever you get those top 12 teams, they're locked in. The next eight play in for those final four spots, you're at 20. That to me seems to be a really good number. You know, like that, that would be something I would go with. But the Big Ten is kind of dug their heels on on 24 and calling it a 24 team, you know,

“playoff. I think that's what's such a shock to the system. I think if you, if you had, if you had”

message that better, I don't think it would be being received with such like, Victor all the way it is. Yeah, the Big Ten, you know, because they have been so successful these last few years, too, which is smart by them to be like, okay, you know, they felt like Sankey and the SEC were running this for such a long time, and obviously previous to Sankey Mike, it's like, okay, you've had this powerhouse put together this run. And so everybody just has to

listen to them. And even if I appreciated the SEC's success certainly far more than you did,

I never felt like it was right for one conference to just be dictating everything based on the

value or the television rights. And there feels like, and I kind of understand this part of the Big Ten, it's like, look at us and three different teams, three national championships. The SEC's down a little bit. Like, I think it's a real conversation between these two conferences, something that I was not open to in the past, open to now as we go into 26. Like, I'm not sure necessarily like, who's better. But I think I can understand the Big Ten and being like,

let's just start pushing our way around here a little bit. But Petiti, who's running the show up there, who comes from baseball, like, every now and then I'll have some quotes where I go, what are you talking about? I mean, the private equity thing last fall, I'm like, why would you give up like a chunk of what you're going to earn in perpetuity just because you're freaked out about all these schools that shouldn't be spending as much as they are in administration costs and

all their athletic facilities. It's like, yes, but Maryland, like, you're going to be in the red all the time. So now, so now, like, all of our members other than like a couple that opposed it, are supposed to have greeted like this influx of cash. Like, that's its own thing. And then Petiti talked about baseball. He was like, you know, why I've never, ever in all the years of like

interested towards the end? Like, we never had to sell that. It's an automatic and it's an understood

thing. So I get what he's selling in that A if more teams, if we're at 24 teams, that means,

“I think his line was like, why can't I, what Minnesota means something? Why can't it mean something”

every single year? Because there is a bit of, you know, there's times around here, people complain about the regular season, which some of the agreements, or some of the things that I would agree with, and there's other times as a gap, but it also by widening it up, maybe lessons the importance of something that you put a huge priority on. But now all of a sudden, this game means something wouldn't have meant anything before. I understand that, but here's what I would say is like,

it's totally different when you're playing 12 regular season games in 162. And this is also something

like, people always like to come at me and be like, oh, you don't like college football

expansion. I rather just stayed at four. People were going to be like, oh, but you like the NFL, I'm like, I wish they hadn't added a game. I wish there was no playing in the NBA, which I think was a counter-tanking move that maybe they won't need with the new tanking rules that are in place. I don't want anyone to be invited to something after not doing something special during the whole point of what the regular games were supposed to be. And that's why I've opposed

“expansion to 12. I think the 16 with this idea of gradualism into 24s, like, were that stupid?”

Hey, we're just going to do 16, but we're only going to pass 16 if it means in three years we can go to 24. And the other part, like we can keep getting in this, but the television part of this is maybe the biggest driving factor is that once it goes to North of 14 teams, the ESPN contract ends and they get to take it back out, which is a very clear motivation for Fox wanting it to be out there, even though they didn't bid on it the last time. And ESPN not wanting to lose a locked in deal at

1.3 billion a year, going all the way from now until 2032, they clearly they don't want because

it's just going to cost more. So why would ESPN? I don't think it's an ESPN personality thing. I can totally understand why ESPN, but like, yeah, we'd actually just like to kind of keep it the way it is now because we've already locked in that price and everything that we have to model out TV was. Agreed, although I do think it is, I think it would be healthier for the sport if you did have the playoffs owned by multiple companies. And maybe it was just two, even if it was

just Foxy, ESPN, but if that's fine. You know, I think that because, I mean, when I was on the selection show and we used to talk about it, we were both at ESPN, you know, it's all you guys are, you know, you guys are, you know, you guys are ESPNers, like you just want to put these brands in. They still get accused of that. I don't think it has any factor in it, but I do think it would be healthier for the sport if it was opened up to multiple networks. Then, you know, if Joel Clats pounded

on the table for a higher state, people aren't saying, oh, you just want a big 10 team in, like it would, I would say that, of course you would. It would definitely be, I think it would be healthier for the sport back to what you said. So this is where I think, and I like to only petite a lot, I like his ideas. I don't hate that he's pushing for 24, but echoing what you said, like the messaging, you cannot bring up major league baseball when you're talking about college

football. Like college football fans are like, that scares the crap out of when you start mentioning how they, how many more playoff teams they have, or I do think it's disingenuous. Well, when he says, you know, what percentage are we have? We only have a certain percentage of our teams in the postseason when the NFL has this percentage, and he's referencing 135 teams. College football is not 135 teams, right? It's basically 64 65, you know, whatever number right

“around there. Sure, if you want to add a couple in there, let's just call it 70, but that that is not,”

you can't use that math to justify going bigger by saying, we want to have the same as the NFL, unless you use the math for the 64 65, right? Like that's where he said a couple things where I just, I wish he had somebody advising him saying, all right, this doesn't sound like you have your pulse on the, on the heartbeat of college football, because sometimes it just feels like he's a TV executive who has spent time everywhere else, but college football. Even though I think he's smart,

I think he could have messaged some of this better, you know, which I think is a big part of the pushback that they're getting from this one. A couple, I wanted to dispel a couple of, so we were talking about regular season, meaning of regular season games. The other thing that bothers me when I hear this, because I think a lot of the thinking from college football fans is everything we've known for the past 50 years has been completely just turned upside on its head. So here's an

example. So this is pushback. Oh, well, why don't we didn't even need 12, because really only four teams can win it, which was, you know, or five teams, 16s. Whatever that number is, that might have been true 10 years ago. But in the last few years, I think we've seen that dramatically change with the, with the evolution of the NFL in the transfer portal, the talent is spread throughout. So I think we

are actually 12 teams that can win, or 15 teams that could win. And if it keeps going down this road, where if the big 10, if some of those, if we see more Indiana's come to the table, and who knows what might be, if it's, you know, Rutgers, Northwestern, Pick your team that we're like, oh, they're awful. If they all the sudden start investing and they find a coach and they start getting competitive, that field, I think is going to grow deeper. I think the parody is coming. It's just taking

some time in the big 10. And it's already diluted some of the SEC. So I think that is going to impact how many teams can win it, which is why we need more teams to have a shot at it. Do you think

“if you've never beat a ranked team, you should be playing for a national championship in the playoffs?”

Do you have 12 teams? Are you having an example? Yeah, I mean, Michigan. From, Michigan from last year. I mean, I have two examples. I mean, because technically Virginia beat Florida State when they were ranked eighth in that awesome double overtime game, they played, they played one ranked team all year long. They ended up 10 and 3. They lost to Duke a second time. So that game, you know, is sort of weird with that ACC tiebreaker thing they have.

But, you know, I can go through that. So this is, this is also one of the issues because with super conferences, even within the conferences, you have disparity of schedules. So you, then this is

something that's always been we can't just go by the record, which I tend to agree with now more than ever.

But they do. They say they're not going to, they say they're not going to. That's why we need more. That's why we need more teams in there. So that if you are a team like Michigan or Indiana, who's at schedule was attacked last couple years. I mean, the last three national champions all from the big 10 have played three complete cupcakes in the non-conference. And it well, you know, Ohio State out of game against Washington, canceled. So I get that. But Indiana,

“Kirk's a netty canceled Virginia last year. He was like, I don't want to play. Why would I play them?”

You will start seeing more coaches take that approach. But even in their schedules, Ohio State, this year, their schedule wasn't good. So you know what happened, they got exposed. Like in the big 10 championship, which didn't, again, this conference championship game didn't matter. They just flip flop one and two. But then when they got to the playoff, they got exposed for playing a weaker schedule. I'd rather see that where you have teams that have really good regular

seasons. But there is a lot of disparity, even within conferences, Ole Miss. I mean, this is where, you know, Lane Kiffin, I saw him with PMT and the fellas over there. He was saying how, you know, they're 20 L in the non-conference. Well, they scheduled cake walks too. And they have dodged a lot of the better teams in the SEC during this run, where he gets a birth and a playoff,

you know, wins a game. But ultimately, they got exposed. They got beat. Like that's where I think

that's what the postseason is for. Like the regular season should ultimately matter. And you want to have a good regular season. But because of super conferences and some teams try to manipulate

“scheduling, I think that's why we need more teams at the table getting an opportunity. Because then”

those frauds get weeded out. Yeah. But see, I kind of hate that. Not that I'm disagreeing with you. But it's basically like, OK, so the conference expansion thing messed up the schedule so bad. So now let's expand the playoffs because the other part is messed up. I just don't think you should be able. And I'm not making fun of Michigan. I'm just looking at a team that goes, hey, who finishes in the top 24? OK, cool. You play three ranked teams. You know, the Oklahoma game was kind of close,

but it didn't really feel all that close. Like, I mean, I remember watching it going like, I don't think they have much of a chance in this obviously, but they're issues on offense and all that kind of stuff. And then you go, and I'm not even counting the Texas ball game, but it's like, so now that team's playing for a championship. And like I was looking through the stuff this morning, the coaches association, guess what they voted for, a coach they voted for expansion. Because it

lets them say, hey, I made the play off. The ACC, who's been a step sister now for far too long, even though I think like things should be cyclical and it's easy to forget like how talented this conference was, especially when you look back at those draft rankings for all those years and you're

like ACC's putting a million dudes into the league. And granted, I sometimes I think I forget who's

in the conference, but of course they voted for it. The ADs and coaches voted for it. The big 12 follows the week after because they're kind of like, all right, what is it that we're doing with all of this stuff. So it gets turned into, because I saw your tweet, you're like, hey, if you're anti-24 teams, you're either an SEC fan, which, you know, I pseudo am and I can understand everybody making fun of me for it because leking LSU, you work at ESPN. Well, I did, but I haven't

worked there. You know me, too. You know, I've hated expansion from day one and I haven't worked there in almost seven years and I still hate it. And then it's like you grew up in the 90s. And so, yeah, okay, that's fine. I just, there was another group in there. And then I think it would be, well, this was, I think it would be Ohio State fans. It would probably be Michigan fan, like big brand teams. And ironically, I think Notre Dame would be included in that group, although people

think they, that kind of surprising me because I don't think they need 24. They're going to be guaranteed

to spot in the top 12 this year, as long as they're ranked in the top 12. So I was a little bit surprised that they were. But it kind of goes back to, like, we're not going backwards. Like,

“I, and I, I think that, you know, the golden there of college football was probably when I played”

in soon effort. Like, the 90s, 2000s, that was awesome. And in sport felt perfect. But we also, we're not going back to not paying players. We're not going back to the BCS. We're not going back to force players to play in bowl games. Like, so there's all these new issues that have cropped up in the past five years where it really has changed things dramatically. And I think it's there. Let me ask you something. So do you, so you would prefer for, like, that was where you were like,

yeah, you might want to for though, right? No. No, I think I think I've got to keep track of everything that I felt philosophically. Right. Okay. But I, I probably didn't even like for all that much. But then was like, hey, this makes sense. And yet you knew the leaders that decided it, they were so mad about the two system, right? That was kind of the motivation for for it. Wasn't really about TV as much if you go back. Because I remember like Stu Mandel writing about it all the time. It was like,

all of these guys running these conferences and everybody involved in college football was just like,

all right, we're sick of getting dragged here all the time. But then it's like, okay, the first thing

you did is you installed a new philosophy where one of your major partners, when we were in the power five structure before the pack 10 is dissolved, it's like you immediately set up a system where one person is going to be so pissed. Right. So now like, you know, I know you're all looking out for each other, but why was, why was that it? You know, maybe the four plus two thing, you know, two buys, but then it's like certain years, you're going to feel just as good about the number one

team in the, the number two team in the country is maybe the number 16 and all that kind of stuff. I mean, in this 2014 structure, the absurdity, like when you start digging through one auto bid and then the other 23 are based on a selection committee. Like, what is that? I would ask if we're if we're doing like, hey, everybody gets to play, then I would say, okay, then let's give, let's give the pack 12 and auto bid. Fuck it. I know we're not back well, right? Yeah, right, that's in

back 12. Let's let's give them, let's give them auto bids. Like, I don't want to see a ton of two lane Oregon games or maybe two lane, what was it? It was James Madison Oregon at the rear. Oh, mess, right, two lane, almost. The James Madison game, which like oddly was the not closest weird game because Oregon was kind of like, I would just as such a joke. We're going to let you back into this game. I saw that. But I was like, wait a minute, you're going to go to 24, but you're not going to take

“care of everyone. I thought that was the whole point. And I think that's kind of what's getting”

overlooked in this whole debate of, do we go to 16 or go, do we go to 24? How do we get there? It's probably going to be the biggest factor in whether people like it or not, whether it's successful or not. You know, because I don't want four auto from the big 10. I don't want four auto from the SEC. Like, you know, whatever you could think, but like, there were structures with that where it was like, hey, we want six from our conference and go for what, like a 12 year structure.

What if you have an awful season as a conference, right? Because you guys had the most valuable TV ratings in years prior to when it was negotiated, like, that's bullshit. But go ahead. Let me ask you this. Do you think the 12 team has been a good thing for college football? I don't like it, but I, um, why? Because I think it's, I think it hasn't hurt the regular season at all. Like, and I, and like, I don't think, I don't think, I think, I'm going to reference it all

“the time. But like, when Gus Johnson's going, hey, this game means everything. And that's what”

Ohio State Michigan, you're like, no, this is the first time ever. One of these teams could lose and

still be playing for national championship. Like, that cannot be ignored. That can't be ignored. Because it's not true. It doesn't mean everything anymore. But it still means a ton. I mean, if you go back, sure, Ryan Day lost to them. Ryan Day was on the hot seat. Like, they're a little dim in whether he really was or not. The Ohio State fans watered him fired. It was like, what happens if he loses Tennessee at home? He's going to be fired. And he had to go on the run.

Then he goes on the way and wins, you know, three games. That's my point. Is he gets to lose the Michigan and then go to the playoffs? But that's how it can be. Like, why does that? Why do we want, like, are we just a bunch of satis? Like, we want that type of punishment to a guy if he loses a game to a rival? Like, it's still going to hurt. That's, that's a thing. Like, I'm not saying Ohio State fans enjoyed it. But it doesn't mean the same thing if you still get to play

for a national championship after you lose that game. I feel like that's ignored because they're

is going to be in our new playoff. And it's like, okay, like, I understand you're widening the net of interest. But you're also destroying it. Look, I'm sorry. But like, I can't help but think that the reason Fox wants it to happen. ESPN doesn't want it to happen because of a trigger in a clause. All right. Fox wants it to happen because they're early, big noon kickoff, slate sucks. I don't know. I don't know how many times you have Ohio State, seven times last year, eight times

where you have Ohio State fans. And it's probably be the same this year because it's their biggest brand. And it's the only one that people will watch that has good opponents. I agree with you on that. So when when, you know, like, everybody loves shanks that's ever dealt with them, that the guy

called the shots at Fox. But when I see his quotes about, like, I don't see what the problem is. It was like,

well, I know why you don't see what the problem is because he would love to have more games that matter if you can split up the extra 12 games that you're getting here with a 2014 playout. Like, look, man, I don't think I'll kind of say this too. Like, you can be a capitalist and not like all of it. And that's really all this is this isn't about fairness. This isn't about let's make sure it's balance. It's just like, hey, we have a product where for the longest time, we didn't maximize

a limited inventory. The NFL's doing the exact same thing. And that's going to get so gross that they'll push it. And I don't even know what the end game is for the NFL as far as like, is there ever too much NFL? Because right now, the answer appears to be no. So this isn't some brilliant guy coming in with some economic model. You go, you know, we were really stingy about our inventory. So if we have this

“product, like, why don't we just sell more and more inventory over and over and over again?”

And even if you're a capitalist, I think this part of you that goes, like, all right, you know, like, I can be an environmentalist. It doesn't mean I hate lumber. I don't think this stuff is we spend so much time talking about the games and what it matters and the programs, the players, and all that kind of stuff. And it's like, now they're just sitting on this thing going, hey, can we just keep selling games? And that's, it's not really that hard. I don't know, man. I just

college football, like, think, I've never felt like I would say this before, but like thank God for

pro league commissioners. Because at least they can step in at times and go, well, I don't know. Maybe that's about example right now, because I'm pretty sure the NFL would love to have 30 games a season and have it run, you know, from but I just don't tell me, but I just look at the people that have cried about the downfall of college football from when it was, if we're going to pay the players, I'm not watching anymore, right? We heard that hasn't impacted it. Yeah,

the portal. And I don't like the portal. It's going to ruin the game. I can't stand when my players aren't there. People are still watching. It was the first way with the 4 to 12 team. It's going to ruin the regular season. I don't think it's ruined it at all. I just, I'm a firm believer in college football fans that they are different, that their passion is different because a lot of

it is passed on, where you went to school. There's an emotional attachment that is always there.

“And if you want to talk me and to say, well, man, those fans are going to leave if we expand.”

I just don't believe it. Maybe I'm taking a risk on that I am, you know, maybe over-valuing fans passion. I just don't think they're going to throw in the towel all of a sudden on the regular season. The other thing is like, we don't want to be college basketball. We don't want to be college basketball. You know why the college basketball regular season isn't good? It's because people are watching college football. Like the college basketball season becomes entertaining in December

when the regular season's over and then people start turning their attention to. I am not that concerned about some of the people that are saying the sky is falling and what if we, you know, what if we become NASCAR or a picture sport that is kind of fallen from its peak? I don't have those concerns. Maybe I'm not even. Maybe one day I'll regret it and say, man, well, man, well, we're in dire straits. What are we going to do? I just don't see that happening.

“I think I'm aligned with you on that because I've never felt like the sport has been healthier.”

You know, all right, I don't know. Like sometimes it can be your own experience where it's like how much you love the sport. I love it. I mean, there's sometimes I think I like college football more than the MBA and it's also a material perspective on this because it's the job. So I know I'm going to sit there every single Saturday and you know, watching and hopefully knowing what I'm talking about. But I don't know what that like I think about it. I actually do spend time thinking

about this kind of stuff. It's like what's that saturation point for the NFL? Like what would it be where it's like as too much? We might not even be close and college football could be right. The college football could be the exact same thing. But I just look, as the same thing with 12, the arguments about teams 12 through 14 and certain years you look at it. You go, this is brutal. I think the Indiana thing is like fucked a lot of people up because it's like, hey, this is going

is going to be this outlier and I think the portal thing and with the money and the programs are going to have the right backers and the big-time programs that like you could say all of this program is going to get all this money and they're going to pull in Indiana. It's like what about the big-time program like Alabama that's pissed about being like kind of overlooked here the last couple years. Like you don't think they're going to start putting more resources into it to

try to get back to what probably is impossible to match what they had done in the past. So I do think it's going to still be a lot of the blue bloods and then randomly you'll be surprised. But every now and then like we've been surprised with certain teams in the past but again with those structures

“they were going to be closed out of the playoffs. But I think those gaps aren't as wide that kind of”

goes back to the pool of teams that can win. Like last year, Notre Dame got left out. Miami almost got left out and Miami was a tent made it all the way to the championship game, you know, Ohio State, like Notre Dame could have one, I think Texas could have won the national championship last year. If Archmany continued on his progression and they get hot. Like I think there are teams more so than ever before. Because I remember we used to do our draft of teams at the beginning of

the year like are you get and as soon as you got past like pick five you'd be like oh dang I got no chance. You know like after you had that deep you just be like I'm screwed. I don't have BAM I don't have Clemson on have L like whatever teams they were. Now that's where I think it is good because I think more teams and I think they believe it and they actually do have a chance to make the college football playoff and actually win the championship. Maybe, okay maybe or is it hey now you're

invited to this single elimination thing that never existed before and you know there there could have

been teams even during like Pete Clemson Alabama stuff where if BAM I had to play three games instead of one or two. Right. Is it really a better national champion? Doesn't that give you a true or national champion? Well it means the regular season doesn't mean anything then. If you can if you can enter the playoffs never being a ranked team and then put together like two wins because the really good teams that you played and back to back weeks fumbled too often and then it's like

hey man this is this is wide open. It's like is it wide open? I just I look man I think that

“I think you should get through those 12 games and show me something. I think you should show me the”

same as the 12 teams and some of the arguments that we get to and who should be 11 12 who should be left out and all that kind of stuff and I think there's going to be some. Do you see Sarks comments on Texas Tech today? Not today no. Oh he called out Texas Tech because if you look at their schedule man they are it might be the easiest schedule out of anybody in the power for he said I could play with my twos or threes and go undefeated. Good for him because he's probably right. I mean absolutely

he's right. So isn't that our argument against this? Like there's some teams that are just going to struggle they'll have like the one bad loss they're going to be 11 and one they're going to be

from power 4 and then they have a chance to play for a national championship. I'm never going to

like that. But so I would rather them have that than get the opportunity to play in a 14 play off like you're saying they only they only have to get lucky and they're just win two games. I'd rather having to go through a gauntlet of really good teams and then when we accuse them being a weaker team and they're not that good they get exposed or they get the opportunity to prove it wrong and go through a gauntlet and win and beat really good teams. Like Indiana Indiana was a team and

I think they clearly came around people finally started to you know they went way better this year than they were a career pro. But if you go back to the big 10 championship game people like all they're going to get waxed they finally play Ohio State and they end up winning and then they the teams that they beat were really really good so they were awesome this year. So I can't ever say well that was the regular season schedule because the regular season schedule was not that

tough but like they're still looked at as maybe one of the best teams now because of what they did in the postseason which I think is good. I think Indiana's mess people's brains up like this is going to be the new normal and I think it's still going to be like a handful of teams that are in there but it's not it doesn't mean that there's more parity it just means that parity is

invited you know with with the structure I just I'm never going to like it whatever I'm peeing myself

it's going to happen too so yeah I think so too I hope this honestly I would like to see the 16 first see I like I don't want to rush and just just get it over with with the band they don't like don't treat me like I'm seven just quarter twenty four and just have some

“plan weekend you call something else see my thing is you should not be able to hang a banner”

for making the 2014 playoff to me it should be used as to be 16 or 12 like one out why not 48 right about a 48 no why not like if everything you said about 24 what's wrong with 48

and you're quarterback as hurt there's still a chance you can get in I do think there is a point

of where it does dilute the regular season yeah it was after four what do you want to do what do you want to do and a titty when you get we out here with the brood let's go man let's play some golf maybe a little beach volleyball you know set up yeah he steals the girls want to hit the guitar room again they want to play the card the guitars you know they've been talking about that the guitar room yeah we do these volleyball we can do this surfing we get a work out

in see what Brady's see what kind of way she's pushing around now we get some hoops in we get all sorts of activities I can hit up Marty fish see if you can get us on bill air but I don't know

I don't want to step out of bounds him I don't even know if I want to call for you

“although I would like to know what I forget clubs you're right yeah I think I'm going I think I'm going to”

do it I'm going to break don't I've got a set for you all right but you know I mean I look I totally get it but if you don't want to travel with your clubs I'm just going to get around in yeah we have some options over here all right don't keep that in mind sounds good so tailor made on p790s oh that's a good clubs those are good ones I'm a strict song guy now yeah people like a man yeah you will blades guy no no I'm like a pseudo I got like the pseudo ones they're not they're not full

cavity back they're not blades they're like the hivers they're right in the sweet spot it's good though I've been you know I've been taking creatin take some peptides I'm hitting the ball for other you're a peptide guy now huh big peptide guy you and Josh to Mel man but he looks better it's exactly I mean we're pretty much twins all right so we'll stop the interview here and then we'll air it again when they expand from 16 to

“24 because honestly I'm probably sick of hearing myself talk about it but let's go to 48 we'll have”

that we'll revisit I'd like to ask people that are in charge like what's wrong with 48 well that's ridiculous is it I'll be at Big Ten Media days I will ask I'll ask Tony Petiti I would like that it's like hey you know like what is the point where is the cutoff line yeah like based on your baseball thing and like if more fan bases are excited about the end of the season and we looked at September 1st and how many teams were within four games and all these

different stuff based on that methodology wouldn't 48 make more sense right we've got to keep Purdue invested we have to keep their family Maryland I don't want to defend all these fan bases but you know you are well yeah I mean you picked a bunch of big ten schools so that's a nice I don't want to go there in talking just to be state big ten Danny like a tuckie had it Kentucky's had some some nice games they've been in Mrs. at be state Arizona State

which didn't count I get an argument with a big ten guy about it he was like oh give me the out of conferences stuff and I was like you want to really do the out of conference thing

“I was like look I think the SEC's down but you want to do the head to heads on these and he was like”

Tom's useful season Tom's useful season hey look you start using both season if you're a big ten guy right now it's been a nice nice run for you for a couple of years it's not just one data point either way people need to stop dunking on a Iowa and saying oh we don't want they had four losses all by one possession or less Iowa was a really good football team this year so I'm with him yeah but they were not good they were not good they were not good when you're covered three co-hosts

was trying to argue with me offline about how good they know yeah and is that fun no different one not Tom yeah oh Tommy yeah there was like I had another Iowa argument which kills me as a water Lou guy it kills me to be negative Iowa ever and and he was just kind of like you know I can't believe you I was like I can't believe you think this Iowa team is like worthy of any of the shit that you're talking about it feels a little big tennis it feels like the bias which you accuse

everyone else having and then that was when Michigan just absolutely dumped trucked him in the big ten championship game yeah I did not follow up with them so this is the follow up all right this is the time I let it go see if I could grow a piece deal although it gets uncomfortable because is this your god well sometimes big ten time in ACC Danny get into it because he takes

some shots at the ACC but I am almost it's becoming indefensible first I've never got you played in the

no it's been a rough one it's been a rough goal but I'm just ready for our big opener

“before SMU what do we play I don't know you should know you're the alum I'm playoff mode right now”

I should we just talked about it this morning it's a big powerhouse week zero critical matchup

it isn't a Mexico state that's what I thought watch out Aggies guys who are you guys playing out of state or out of conference out of state uh Bama again in Tuscaloosa the revenge that's right yeah yeah those are good times imagine imagine feel it as good as you felt after that Bama win and then not expecting to I've never I'm not a big fan of the leading videos but in the aftermath the glow of that game when I stormed the field with Brady buckets and

dealing my daughters there was feeling good post little video and there was some passion police saying we're back or back baby and saying we better be in the top 10 that video has been thrown in my face quite a few times throughout the rest of the season hey I thought we were I thought

“we were that was wrong you're front got after it that day they did like thank they retouched”

touched by a God yeah for one hour because what was one rainy afternoon it's right and tell has he what could happen good seeing you man see you soon all right yeah what if you could add an AI assistant to your work without leaving your workflow built in a Microsoft Word XL and outlook copilot works where you work helping you do more in the apps you already use it outlook it cuts through the noise to get you up to speed faster it is I look I'll admit I don't want to give in

sometimes I'm like I can write an email and whatever it's something and it's like just like how do I word this perfectly and then you kind of just put it all together and then you hit on it and you go that that way that makes way more sense thank you copilot now I feel more mature and efficient the apps you know go further with copilot learn more at m365 copilot.com/work you want details five I drive a Ferrari 355 cabbie LA what's up I have a ridiculous house

in the south fork I have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids I am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required today's life advice is presented by shell you hear all the time in sports you get out what you put in if you're eating right training right doing all the little things you're going to perform better everybody knows that it's the exact same dynamic with your car not thinking about what you're actually putting into it but it turns out

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IT on this but maybe just the what's our lemon situation drop to end every episode for a couple months summers around the corner citrusy you know you guys have no idea what I'm talking

“no I do but I just think that you should have told me that off air because it takes a”

little bit of the magic the first time somebody hears it but yeah we can make that happen

I need my memory is the first thing that comes to me is the 12 lemon center piece from what was that movie uh Vince Vaughn the brand is then yeah the greatest love story ever told and it's it's a pretty underrated movie although it's probably not great anymore but uh it's a great deal I felt like we didn't have a great like theater thing and then we'll suddenly came out of DVD and I was like wait and why haven't

I heard about this movie is awesome and then everyone bought the DVD so then it probably became properly rated would you have gone to the theater for rom com it's that stage you're like I mean back then like I mean the Vince Vaughn run wanted to go from old school like I wanted to that was I went to all of those ironically enough the best one I did not see in theaters though I didn't see super bad at theaters we're going to do this day you want to see hitch and theaters you've

always been as like supporter of urban storytelling though Kyle well we'll see it's just my guy though

the music the new music he put out you've heard that and it's still I said he's my guy I'm not

saying like you know you know I could be in front of everybody I don't have to hate lumber you know I'm so uh but I know what you're the good thing is from this is from chef dotting I watch the stuff that Ryan does when he's he does people people got excited about that a lot of lemons I heard people think people think that was lemons yeah yeah the edit that I saw that's out is uh I seemed pretty bossy in it oh yeah that plays it sounds like no one's ever done that before so that's

at least that's interesting well I think the past chef Donnie would just and I've really like I you know met him in Vegas and then we did the show together I really like him I don't know if he's weird or not I you know I really like him but I don't know yeah right we didn't get to meet him in Chicago I was I didn't he was in it now he actually like left that when we made the cutlets I was like still they're eating them and he had a leave for some other meeting he was like in a hurry

that you don't usually get to do that to guys and he did that to you and he did it to me on his own show

“so actually who is the real out that you should you of all people would respect the hell out of that”

like okay I guess this guy's down got to leave him wanting more that's great I was psyched I was I was happy to do it happy to cook with him because he was like hey is there any way you can come on I was like well I could cook a little that he was like are you serious he's like what do you want to do and then I gave me the ingredients list there's like kind of like he was just like what are you gonna then I watched the edit it's like a 15 minute version of it

but the edit I'm just bossing him around the entire time and I was like okay actually I don't cutlets chicken colors I'm a big fan of a nice chicken millenase yeah so it's not like I'm just dicing up cutlets over here all the time maybe not telling them it's the house of cutlets house of seas but a super versatile that color you can do anything with them I've seen people that are using those protein bars these days yeah don't blame it a little plastic bag put a cutlet in there

hit you down the road yeah I mean I don't think you want to be fried food every single day

“I think I know how you're prepping the cutlets maybe you're baking them or whatever but”

these are really fresh the the way that I you know it's lighter it's a there's a rooveler's an heirloom tomato in there there's a heavy-fender vittaker vittaker vittaker crab so whatever all right go back to the lemons thing really quick though yeah um that is truly one of those things we're like like now 37 year old me is like y'all do you know I can't have enough lemons around the house I love lemons and back then like why would you have lemons in your house like this is the

dumbest thing ever it's just such a like wow okay I've reached the stage my life or lemons are fucking awesome good old Meyer lemon too yeah i'm bummed out i'm like in the fridge all we're out of lemons how could we be out of lemons right now we're just like 20 whatever you told me it was like I don't think I've ever bought a lemon I'm not gonna tell you how to invest your money but you could do a lot worse you know we've got a we got a lemon tree grown right now

and uh my life things to do up my life things we can keep in alive this winter I was like this

is crazy but uh i scored like a million points getting in the lemon tree so uh whatever i guess

it's a win for me the way i would bet a substantial amount of money that tree dies this winter but tipsy well yeah we're talking about inside outside like you know maybe put it on like a wield uh it's interesting there might be a ramp involved i don't know what the fuck's gonna happen either way it's either i told you so or she's still happy either way i would tell you what

“of all the rabbits die and all you have to worry about is a lemon tree inside in front of a”

heater that's an upgrade and perspective abilities yeah not the wrong numbers of rabbits today what's the rabbit count out now we're still still two still two still two two uh couple ninety degree days recently though i was i was certainly watching oh no i'm just obviously the check I'm ready to keep them buddy in your car garage all right let's get into a couple of you know i love the headline this one so much my college son is a dick

my little gentleman no impressive gym stats i hit some cardio in weights a few times a week and be a cop rip Hamilton defenders get annoyed with how much i run around and exhibit a solid mid-range game those are tough guys to do with and pick up if you're gonna keep running through stuff honestly if you're not that good at hoops we have great cardio just keep running around all the time you're gonna score buckets cutting to the chase here my oldest son

is in his second year of college just first year you got great grades uh made the Dean's List

was active in ROTC the second year he failed four classes dropped another and did poorly in his reming courses uh he lied to me about his grades but still active in the other organizations like ROTC i grew up poor so have worked very hard to pay for schooling for him so he's been living on my dime i told him i'm cutting him off and he's on his own he responded by calling me a few choice words so i kicked him off our phone plan and aren't you wow they you find why go my wife didn't

dude guys guys threatened this and he fucking like boom boom boom he's he is not playing around

“there's all sorts of adults i think there's people with grandchildren right now that are like what's”

your dad's name that's just keep the phone going anyway um he my wife didn't like that so i turned his phone back on and am covering his insurance he took advantage of his phone being back onto text me and call me a dick should i cut him some slack for a year he underperform to drop the hammer on this debug some slight background struggle mental health is a kid but has it had issues in years as far as i know he doesn't drink or do any drugs i think he's just having too much

fun based on his appearance spending too much time at the gym hmm tell one oh he just locked right at the end then well usually it's the like i had the like the freshman year whereas like whoa man two two five like woof and then you kind of figure out after that usually don't do well the freshman year and then sucks off more here usually means like you've joined a fraternity or your dating somebody or you broke up with somebody like there has to be usually something like

“all of a sudden it's like you've decided i mean for him to say that he's not drinking at all or doing”

any drugs and usually i would i don't know so no offense to the rotsie guys out there it was a long time ago for me i wouldn't exactly call the rOTc guys that were on campus like straighted no but i wouldn't say like those guys those guys usually generally had like a little bit more maturity than your average undergrad so even if they had fun on the weekends or whatever they did

it wasn't it wasn't like hey those guys are morons and they're always doing crap rocks for no reason

they do so really come on out that's great call that was real life experience right there i came back a couple summers and wasn't exactly the greatest due to be around little salty but that was more about things going on in my life that i didn't feel great about and maybe some things at home so and i would reorb it back into the family scene um you know you start like thinking you can kind of like everybody's supposed to get out of your way because it's like

the first time you've been away and then you're coming back so it simply just trying to help like a dad understand his kid even if i'm only coming out of from the kid who came back where

“i think eventually like one of my family members is like hey what's your deal like what”

what is your deal when you come home and you're just gonna be like this from now on yeah fucking tyrant right yeah right like you're not not that great to be around and we like miss what would you say you do here yeah you just such a sweet person what what happened to you there is a life like happened just let me lift that cheese on the counter you jumped out my throat with the fuck man yeah there is a level though like i think i mean this isn't everyone goes through

we're like you just think you're so cool in college and like you've got it figured out and like because you just are kind of on your own but not really and you just you kind of like you're cool at college too like you know yeah you're like yeah i'm the fucking man and the man is now home visiting you for a little while but just you know i am the fucking man hope you don't think it's gonna be like it was yeah hang out hey dad i'm the man now so i want you to adjust

also i need $300 um can i get a advance on that deck work that i'm gonna be doing i i gotta say for me specifically like i thought this happened to everyone i thought like i had like a big like 19 year old apology this was on the heels of my suspension and like move out to my apartment thing and i just like before i went back i just was like hey man i'm sorry i know it's been a long 19 years and i'm just i just sort of just got hip to that so i don't

i'm not gonna run through the laundry list i'm just like i'm sorry i did the same thing with my mom and and i just it's been very different with a sense then you know i mean i've been able to zoom out and i have a younger brother that's like 10 years young nine years younger than me and he has it done his big apology yet and he's a couple fucking years late on it if you ask me but like but i don't know i don't know if i don't know if this happens with everybody who is kind of like me or not

but for me i just kind of woke up i was almost like in an enlightenment i was like oh my god you guys weren't stupid i was stupid and you guys weren't you know up my ass i was like doing all this crazy stuff so i i would just say maybe he's a guy that's gonna do that it was it's crazy how like BC and AD it was for me like how different my perspective has become with my parents so i would just say if you're holding out hope for that it could totally happen

it does feel a little harsh from our guy from the emailer you know like all right he had a rough story here um but he seems like he might be that kind of that which there there are those guys out there and i don't think that's not your son and it up kind of doesn't like you so

and i know you're you're basically you know obviously he's on scholarship with your money

for life but i don't know like i think i think i think there's a way to like

kick him off the phone plan and basically like you know disown him for a little bit like i think it's a little bit harsh i would just say i mean but if this is the first time that the grades have really slipped and if really all he said was like hey man like what's going on

what's going on with these four classes you all that sudden failed it's never been this way you know

and his response to that is just like get off you know if it's if it's like crazy and it's like this is uncharted waters if they've never actually dealt with this and like Ryan said he probably discovered something maybe he's in like some beer league or something that's taken up all this i probably not if he's ROTC but you know if he's just like trying you know this guy's now you know however many miles away from his parents and he's just trying to figure out

what the disconnect is and if maybe the question sounded a little bit like alarming because it is alarming to them and if that's the reaction you get from this kid who from the first time

“it is 19 years that's totally slipped you know this i think it's just bad communication on both sides”

so i like my big communications sucks because all right like there's going to be two very distinct parties they're going to respond to this right there's going to be the tough love guys they're like fuck this kid you just failed four classes and dropped out another one so normal horse load what ten classes a year so that means he just blew an entire semester which is like all right so who's paying for that especially he's like yeah yeah like when you're the kid and

you're going like i remember when i screwed up it was kind of like cool i could just stay here longer it's like what do you think's paying for that buddy go move yeah who's fanty may you know i i it's it there's no perfect answer to this right because like if you're the dad you're going i get a given the wake up call now to set the course and the right direction as opposed to like if i'm too harsh do i send him down the wrong direction by that like i

remember one of my close friends played sports awesome athlete and he made a deal with his dad and i remember the deal because i got a ride home from them after one of the semesters was done

and he asked his son in the car like i was just meeting his dad for the first time

and his dad was like it was it was intense man i mean uh so his dad's like hard to close your bank account and he was like no i didn't close the bank account like i'm leaving for the summer and it was like the first impression that i made with this guy's dad because it was like he didn't care is like where am i dropping you off and i'm like just drop me off and boss and somewhere i was like i'll find a way to get back to the cape and so um he was like did you close your bank account

right and the kids like no dad i did like i didn't close my bank account so he's like what do you

“mean how are you just going to have the bank account he's like that's how bank accounts work down like”

i'm i have a bank account it stays open there's like 80 bucks in it which is a miracle just to keep it up then and then when i come back like i'll have 80 you know like i'm coming back and then he was like well we don't know if you're coming back he's like how did you do on your last whatever and then he had already gotten his grades and he was like what do you think that'll be and they were like figuring out what it was going to be and he's like we had a deal

you wrote a contract he's like it has to be over this he goes you're not coming back and now i'm in

the car whoa and the thing is he did not let him come back tells it he's done he never came back

to school it's the last time you saw um i saw him i saw him we actually spent some time to get he's one of my favorite guys that i've ever met but it was like i had a very strict father who definitely had a little bit of a light i don't want to i don't want to drop the hammer on

“you so much that like i'm derailing some things and look even back then i think there were some”

explanations um it's you know we've heard it covered some of this stuff but i was sitting there it was like a front row seat to being like you know maybe i was just too young maybe i got to go on my dad yeah right but i'm gonna go home and be like hey dad thanks for like not and that was it like he was like we had a contract and it is over and you're not coming back here and i'm like holy shit and so like i'm thinking about that story is i'm reading this email going

like you probably don't want to do that because you're so proud that he's in school but you've got to get to the root of like how did you turn into a completely different guy and you've explained nothing in the email so before you start punishing him figure out hey man how are we turning this around what derailed you and how are we turning this around and then maybe you can go if you do this again then you already know like the the real hammers coming down like you gave them a

little taste of it and i think that's probably the right thing to do but i guess if i were a parent i would be so fearful of like proving a point but then also like holding my child to some standard and yanking him out of an experience that can be corrected knowing that if i yank him

a parent struggling with that decision knowing like the thing that i could be doing that's the

“right thing could ultimately end up being way worse from my kids so i don't envy the position”

even though the communication the communication has to get better it's late may he might be home already i try to lengthen your fuse a little bit it sounds like you're like it's lengthen the fuse it sounds like he's itch and approve like i am that guy and i will turn i'll turn off your fucking phone and pay the 50 bucks and get it turned back on when your mom badgers me i'll find you a new auto policy but i will turn it off just to show you i'm serious but you definitely want to get this

and check before gta 6 drops in November so definitely figure out what went wrong and try to build up something because gta 6 is coming mid November that's right smack in the in the middle of

that next semester back so get your shit together man second firm i didn't even know that yeah that's

confirmed until it's not November 19 actually by birthday so call it up that day i don't know i struggle with that now even with like you know my three rolls like how much do you you know

“you want to lay the hammer down like a little bit and like be a you know hey i'm not to be fucked with”

but also like i want to be i don't want you to dislike you know i want to throw you ice cream you know like yeah like you know we you're you're like adorable what am i supposed to say to you uh obviously it's different with a college kid and they're probably way more annoying in certain ways but i yeah like he doesn't he doesn't seem like this kid i mean maybe he does but you didn't say that he has like a habit of screwing up either you know if this was like a

thing it's like all right like hey dude you've had like a thousand chances already and this is the last one and i'm done one and done i don't know i just i i wouldn't i wouldn't want to be that parent the priors is not one thing it's fucking a couple of months of things like this is this is a signal of a couple of months of shit that he's been hiding rightly couldn't so you're not really sure how serious this so fair but i think it's worth being like you get two

years off the school also like what's his major i mean i don't know like that like you know i had i had a two five my freshman year i think and it ended up being like it didn't really matter like it you know he's not that like you know studying yeah we know it's like look at what you you could do i don't know communications screens are also like kind of fake so you know hey these years i'm

leaving there hey i'll be the first i'll be the first to admit that i'm not ashamed it's easy

i learned a lot of things outside of school when i did in school um i feel like my internships were actually more like educational than like the actual school in part of it but i don't know

“you need to get ethnography in the digital age buddy yeah you're right i did you get a black church”

come on i did take what's the thing in college though that was definitely necessary it's just a way of eating us all out man and you guys passed step like playing junior high baseball after literally that's it doesn't mean you're going to be on the red socks just means to care a little bit more to keep playing after the red team season ended when you were 11 alright uh here's a quick one what type of wedding gift to get a couple who will divorce six

three one nine you've no pickup my brother Michael name changed he's engaged and said to be married early next year to is fiance Sarah also changed i'm very close to my brother he was the best

man in my wedding there's always been my closest family member here lies the problem

Michael and his fiance never seemed to be in good terms since being engaged all they seem to do is fight Sarah fuses to talk to anyone in the family anymore it's getting so bad they have both war both talked about calling it off and breaking up hey that can happen with young love they recently went on vacation together i asked everything was and he just said terrible we fought the whole time when my wife and i were with them a few weeks ago it gets so bad i would have

put every dollar i had on them calling the wedding off since they both talked about calling it off my wife and i assumed it would be canceled fast forward this week and in the mail received the official invitation i reached out to Michael asking everything was good between them and he only replied quote guess so damn my question is what time of wedding gift do you get to a do you excuse me what kind of wedding gift do you give to a couple who you think my

end up divorcing do i chalk it up to the game and still get them something nice like i was planning to do or can i get something will slightly less nice and get my brother something personally on the back end yeah what definitely that well to to say face a little bit do you just you know get something that maybe he's going to get in the divorce full cue yeah you know it's awesome i gotta say the last like

last like four weddings i've been invited to like the registry is just like four different places you could donate cash to it seems like that's where everything is headed at least from my age group i mean i didn't even be like candlesticks on there for grandma's to get like it's just

same pot i think it's different though when it's your brother like if it's a run on the mill wedding then yeah i just can this is you totally mining your business by still getting him a wedding gift but getting him a wedding gift that he's going to be able to hang on to without saying hey man i don't

think this is a good idea because that's never going to work so you know we don't even we could

“just skip that part of the email where he's just like what do i get him yeah definitely i think”

this side gift is way better especially if you're like i'm definitely going to be on your side when the dust clear so uh what about an extra set of sheets like for a couch like a top sheet that perfectly fits over a couch i'm working bed that's funny i'm working bed a gift card did helping gardens it's a thousand bucks on that man you get eight stays never expires this is an

anticipatory gift yeah that's better than money that is a gift card to a local motel six

right where you guys have been looking on zillow very convenient yeah he even walked there after some wine well too much sharp nay i don't even have to call him over up and because he's probably you guys can be if you great if you got into something that they thought about right like what if you got him like some religious book and she's like that's the worst fucking gift ever you're just like him like his beliefs or his beliefs i will not let you cross that line next thing you know

it's done um it depends on how much you make here i mean can can you get something like

i mean it's gonna be a little weird if he's a walking around like a new Rolex day date

“like would you get that my brother it's our wedding gift yeah look i i think it's”

i think it's i like what your heads at what do you just put a slightly lower ceiling on what you're willing to spend you make it up for the next wedding sure he doesn't like you what do you care and is a good point and won't really matter it won't really matter so if you get something really nice and normally i'm just going to do it pretty well like what's the difference between $200 and $400 in the gift like just get the right gift and who cares and

move on from the whole thing but like you sent us an email so doesn't really know wedding where you don't top one of the size doesn't talk to the other side of the family and said damn hope it's an open bar i don't want to say a relative say about another

“it's like you're gonna come to the next one yeah yeah i think somebody says that every time”

i don't know i think i think i'll be waiting it's i was shocked but i guess you're right yeah i guess i guess that's not exactly new material you thought it killed all right then i'll do it for us on the show today please subscribe check out our full episodes on netflix thanks everybody on the show today no ten good minutes tomorrow we'll do it next Tuesday no ten good minutes that's right no ten good minutes yet the questions and produce that

right and be a mailbag and be a mailbag rr at gmail dot com thanks for listening ride with the show bar 2 sports. [MUSIC PLAYING]