transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Thrivent believes money is more than numbers. It's a way to care for the people, causes and community you love. That's why Thrivent brings together a unique combination of financial services and generosity programs offering advice, investments and insurance to help you plan your finances while creating opportunities to give back along the way. Through generosity programs that offer resources to fund service projects or direct charitable funds, Thrivent makes it easier to turn your values into action and support what matters most to you. With more than 120 years of experience and as a Fortune 500 company, Thrivent continues to serve individuals, families and communities across the country. To learn more, visit thrivent.com. Thrivent, where money means more. Hi there, welcome. It's SVPod. Stanford Steve is here. Red is not. He's here, but he's not in front of us, which actually is not bad. He was mauling me.

Speaker 2:
[01:01] Is he on a diet?

Speaker 1:
[01:03] Not really.

Speaker 2:
[01:05] Why does he look hungry?

Speaker 1:
[01:07] He's just chewing.

Speaker 2:
[01:08] He's gnawing on you.

Speaker 1:
[01:09] It's not that. He just wants attention, which is fine. I'm going to, I'll pet you, but let's, I'm not a rawhide treat. So I don't know. He's back there. Probably eating a ham or cheese. Fine. Delicious. How's everybody?

Speaker 2:
[01:25] Awesome. What a week we got here. This is fantastic.

Speaker 1:
[01:30] I share that enthusiasm. I share that enthusiasm because you have a confluence of, a rare confluence of potential, actually it's not. For good or for bad, you have franchise changing selections to be made. The trajectory of NFL franchises can be changed by what happens Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You have NBA and NHL Playoffs, you got baseball and the Mecs. I know you're out.

Speaker 2:
[02:02] Some teams.

Speaker 1:
[02:05] Get to that. Little road trip for you and the gang over the weekend.

Speaker 2:
[02:09] Yeah. Yeah, we'll get to that.

Speaker 1:
[02:11] Thanks to hear about that.

Speaker 2:
[02:12] Nats Park, thank you.

Speaker 1:
[02:13] All right. Hey, the portal is going to close. That's good news. My goodness gracious. Every pick up. Hey, here's a good pick up. Here's a guy that averaged 18.2 in the SoCon. Okay. Will it translate? I don't know. Everyone's getting $4 million apparently.

Speaker 2:
[02:34] Cool.

Speaker 1:
[02:36] So much so that maybe some big names out there didn't think would come back might be coming back. Keep an ear to the ground on that. You could start anywhere.

Speaker 2:
[02:48] Golf.

Speaker 1:
[02:49] That's where you want to start?

Speaker 2:
[02:50] No, not this week. Unreal.

Speaker 1:
[02:52] Pretty good.

Speaker 2:
[02:53] Fitsy? Yeah, I. What was that second shot from Scottie?

Speaker 1:
[03:01] Don't know.

Speaker 2:
[03:03] I didn't see the post. I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 1:
[03:08] Fitzpatrick hits a four iron to the wind from 213 or whatever to 15 feet.

Speaker 2:
[03:13] But Scottie was so much. He couldn't even get on the green.

Speaker 1:
[03:16] I understand. It's a hard wind. Harbertown. Quarter deck.

Speaker 2:
[03:21] My friend Ed said.

Speaker 1:
[03:23] Your friend?

Speaker 2:
[03:24] Yeah. I think you know him.

Speaker 1:
[03:27] Go ahead.

Speaker 2:
[03:28] He said worst course per dollar he's ever played.

Speaker 1:
[03:32] He's played quite a few, if I know the Ed we're speaking of.

Speaker 2:
[03:35] Yeah, I still don't believe he paid. Maybe somebody else picked up the top.

Speaker 1:
[03:40] He's a guy who has the means to pay for things, but his real thrill in life is stealing. If he could walk into a 7-Eleven and steal a Snickers and walk out, there's nothing that provides him a greater thrill than that. So the idea that he could somehow just walk in, hop in a cart, go, and then boost the round for free, that would be an all-time win for him.

Speaker 2:
[04:09] Yeah, a new putter.

Speaker 1:
[04:10] Is that right? That's great. Right. He's a thief. Not really. Just a little small time.

Speaker 2:
[04:17] He stole the putter.

Speaker 1:
[04:18] Small time booster of things.

Speaker 2:
[04:19] Check your bag.

Speaker 1:
[04:21] Worth doing.

Speaker 2:
[04:23] What's the best thing you saw this weekend?

Speaker 1:
[04:25] Buffalo.

Speaker 2:
[04:26] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[04:27] The Buffalo Saber scene.

Speaker 2:
[04:28] I don't think it's even close. No. Like Montreal winning on the road. That was the way they did.

Speaker 1:
[04:37] That's an early trend. Early trend. We still don't have all eight series because the first game of Edmonton Anaheim is tonight SportsCenter foul. No, that's ESPN too. We follow.

Speaker 2:
[04:49] Oh, there's two 10 o'clock.

Speaker 1:
[04:50] There's a nine 30 and a 10 o'clock. We follow.

Speaker 2:
[04:52] Look at you ahead of the schedule.

Speaker 1:
[04:54] We follow Wild Stars.

Speaker 2:
[04:56] You're locked in.

Speaker 1:
[04:58] At 10, Edmonton taking on Ducks.

Speaker 2:
[05:03] No, but like, brawl to start the playoffs, Saturday afternoon, drop them.

Speaker 1:
[05:10] Right. I mean, very first slate, very first window, puck drops. Here comes the Kachuk install.

Speaker 2:
[05:16] It's not even close how much better they are.

Speaker 1:
[05:20] Than what? Anything else?

Speaker 2:
[05:21] NBA.

Speaker 1:
[05:23] Well, I disagree in this sense, because there's nothing closer, there's nothing larger, I should say, than the difference between regular season NBA and playoff NBA because just people won't try. Dudes won't play. It's a bridge too far to actually participate. Then when you get there and you have two teams trying, you're like, yeah, this is pretty good. But we say the same thing every year, just how much we love this sport and what it means to the guys that are willing to go through, God knows what injuries to play and then what it means to the fans.

Speaker 2:
[06:00] Yeah, just the scene. I do think the Oshie factor that he talked about seems coasting in. I think that's exactly what happened to the Pistons. You got Orlando, it's playing game, game, game.

Speaker 1:
[06:14] The point that TJ Oshie made with us the other night is, it's this odd trend, the President's Trophy winners in the NHL. And if you aren't people that watch the NHL President's Trophy team that wins the most points, you think that's the best team. Well, yes and no. Only four times since 2000 has that team won the Stanley Cup. And oddly, often they don't even make it past the second round of the playoffs. And what TJ Oshie said as a team that had won the President's Trophy a couple of times in Washington, he said, you're kind of coasting. You're playing not to get injured and you're not playing games that feel like what Stanley Cup playoff games feel like. The teams that are fighting like absolute animals just to get in, they're spending the whole month of April playing playoff games. Look at Philadelphia. Philadelphia had to win a game last week to get in. They go on the road and they steal game one in Pittsburgh. Flyers.

Speaker 2:
[07:07] Flyers.

Speaker 1:
[07:07] Yeah, not the Sixers.

Speaker 2:
[07:08] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[07:09] Right. Thank you. We have two dueling playoffs here and Philly has two teams in. The Sixers did not win on the road. Nick Nurse called their offense unacceptable. I'll try to stay in one sport here. You do see these upsets every year. As I mentioned, I think Montreal, Philadelphia and Minnesota went on the road and won their games. Utah had a lead in Vegas. Vegas is just a fiery, spunky bunch, stoner.

Speaker 2:
[07:44] They just come in towards this 10th game as coach.

Speaker 1:
[07:47] It's fine.

Speaker 2:
[07:48] Throw the puck out, boys. Go get it. Down one nothing, down two one, fine.

Speaker 1:
[07:53] Two one and third. I saw the stat in the third period. I want to say that I'm off the top of my head, immense hockey knowledge. I want to say they had 10 third period comebacks in the regular season, which was the second most in the NHL. And then they proceeded to unleash three in the third. They get game one. Doud had the go ahead goal and I saw him talking to Cooley afterwards and he, I believe, said, I'm going to fucking kill you.

Speaker 2:
[08:18] Oh, game two.

Speaker 1:
[08:21] Doud is not the guy I know is a glove dropper murderer, but he's let the other side know what's up, what's coming for game two. But we're talking about all these things. The best scene, the best thing is Buffalo.

Speaker 2:
[08:35] It's so good. It's what I look forward to the most all weekend. I put it on early, the multiple TVs going and it was 7.30 and I was laughing because all I could think of was you. So before 7.30, there's another game on, was it ABC? No, TNT had the early games, we had the late ones. So there's tape programming on. From 6.30 to 7.30.

Speaker 1:
[09:03] Well, like Wheel of Fortune kind of stuff?

Speaker 2:
[09:04] No, it's like the path to the draft show. Oh, I see. So they just had that.

Speaker 1:
[09:08] I thought you were talking about local. I misunderstood.

Speaker 2:
[09:10] Go ahead. Sure enough, go to break. I got it out, whatever, five minutes before the game starts. Off the tape, tape programming, break, going back to tape programming, Leah Hextall, live cut in. And I'm like, if Van Pelt was ever asked to do a live cut in during tape programming, that would not be going, that would not go well.

Speaker 1:
[09:33] No, I'd be thrilled to do it.

Speaker 2:
[09:34] But she's standing there, she's in like the second section, you see all the fans coming in, like just ramping up. Talking about the 90s, 2007, the last time they won, 2006, 2007 season, the last time they won the playoffs series, so like that was the scene I wanted to get to and boom, the Bruins come in, one nothing, two nothing. And then you're under 10 minutes in the third and it's like, you gotta get one here.

Speaker 1:
[10:04] I mean, they were booing the power play, they were not pleased with how things were progressing. And then one, two, four in the last eight minutes of the game. And Monaco and Ferraro were so good on the call. They had quite a piece of clay to work with. In other words, they had a great scene. Thompson gets a couple and the place is completely unhinged in a way that I think maybe only Buffalo is equipped because you people are mutants. And I say that with admiration and love. There's a gear. It's snowing outside. I don't know what we got happening there. It was 85 here, went out yesterday for a flag football game, 50. I knew it was coming, but nothing could tell your brain that's actually gonna happen. Snow is falling, outdoor zoo of mutants and buffalo, and the second goal, and the third goal. And then they get a breakaway to put it to bed. Although a late goal was seven seconds, thoughts and prayers for anyone on the under.

Speaker 2:
[11:21] Yeah, but if you had Boston plus one and a half, you're like, you gotta be kidding.

Speaker 1:
[11:27] That would have been a tough one.

Speaker 2:
[11:28] You gotta be kidding me.

Speaker 1:
[11:29] That was the right side to get the plus one and a half. But Monaco's call of the goal that made it three, two, and just the looking in the, I couldn't stop watching the crowd.

Speaker 2:
[11:41] Yeah, he used the words berserk, mayhem, craziness, frenzy, all trying to pack it in to one. No, it was fantastic. And Ray, knowing how great he is, and he did Flyers Penguins the night before, he goes up to Buffalo. That was the event. And we've been up there for Bill's Games, and I've spent nights downtown. And you go on the highway, I believe, towards the airport, and you're like, oh, that's the Sabres Arena. Like, oh. And then you see it last night, the signs they have that they make with just the black tape, the grammars, I should say the grammars, the penmanship of the signs is just, I love it.

Speaker 1:
[12:29] Mutants.

Speaker 2:
[12:29] Love it. So that was a monster. I mean, you just talk about the pedigree that Boston brings to the table and going up to nothing, you're like, man, Buffalo, you gotta get this right.

Speaker 1:
[12:41] Thompson's that guy, man.

Speaker 2:
[12:42] He's, that, how long would it take you to do what he did for that first goal? Like, he barely moves his feet and he spins like a 360 and gets it in on the side of the goal.

Speaker 1:
[12:54] Well, seeing how as I can't skate, Steve.

Speaker 2:
[12:56] I just, I kept rewinding. I'm like, I would, I'd be there for a day trying to do that.

Speaker 1:
[13:02] I think that's, correct me if I'm wrong, but I mean, you're obviously an elite athlete. I grew up playing sports. I get hand eye, like I have it, but I marvel at what I watch guys do around the goal where it's the hand eye and they'll deflect it, then they see it go down, then it's spin and then they're able to do shit. I just, none of it makes any sense. And so to the point you're talking about with the Thompson goal, both the second one where he spins around in traffic and you just, you see an angle, like a window, like Carl back in the day. And what they do with it, I marvel at it because I mean, I could throw a football, not like an NFL quarterback, but I can throw a football. I can throw a pitch from a mound. I can make a jump shot. I can't do one thing these guys do.

Speaker 2:
[13:52] I can't do it on my feet. And they're on skates with a guy with a stick that's trying to check you. Like, it's unbelievable. I just imagine it. How about the pucks in the air? The way they tip it, deflections.

Speaker 1:
[14:07] What was the Cali line? What do we have? What would you say?

Speaker 2:
[14:10] Stick something, what was it? Pucks on that.

Speaker 1:
[14:12] No, it was the other thing. It's about poke checks, something else. Cali had some line that you and I, we gotta ask him because it's something, it's just some hockey term that we just beat to death. Because that's what I do anyway.

Speaker 2:
[14:24] And you get the four check on.

Speaker 1:
[14:25] Well, that's important, I think it was along those lines.

Speaker 2:
[14:28] No, it's really good.

Speaker 1:
[14:31] Now I'm gonna piss off the Buffalo people. Of course what happens next matters. You have a series to win, you have a cup to try to win. That's 15 wins down the road. For right now today, you got last night, you got in, you didn't just get in, I mean you're the one.

Speaker 2:
[14:50] No one went to work.

Speaker 1:
[14:53] That's the thing I've wondered forever. What gets done in your city? Mondays after Bills games, like how many people just like, ah, we'll be in in the afternoon, we'll figure it out. Hey, we have a breakfast meeting on Monday, the hell we do. Whatever happens from here on, you got last night, you got to have last night. And that has to be something that really matters. Cause it was just awesome.

Speaker 2:
[15:20] Oh man. Against.

Speaker 1:
[15:24] Big one. One's game two.

Speaker 2:
[15:26] Wow.

Speaker 1:
[15:27] Do we follow? No, we don't follow. We follow late stuff this week. That's all right. We follow hockey. Loved, love, loved it. I mentioned at the road teams that that's been a trend. Boston looked like they were going to be another road team that would potentially get one. I can never make heads or tails of this because it's mayhem in ways that no other sports playoff really is. I mean, baseball is wild card.

Speaker 2:
[15:55] We know that.

Speaker 1:
[15:56] But it feels like hockey is the least predictable of all of them by miles. Any other results or things that you wanted specifically that you wanted to mention from the hockey?

Speaker 2:
[16:07] I'm not a fan of how they seed it. I wish it would just go one to eight, but I'm the minority. I'm parachuting in for the playoffs and I get it. But with Schuzen kept referring to the stars in the wild, like, hey, we knew we were going to get this early on. Is that because the Avs just stormed out of the gates and nobody could catch them? So then these two teams were, I know one of them moved there and took the name and that whole thing.

Speaker 1:
[16:35] The whole thing confuses me.

Speaker 2:
[16:36] Yeah. I just wish I can't ever wrap it. I know it's two wild cards, but we're trying to do graphics for the Western Conference last week and literally on the last day, it all flipped.

Speaker 1:
[16:50] Right, because of who's going to win the Pacific.

Speaker 2:
[16:51] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[16:52] So, I know that Colorado is that team and I mean, the President's Trophy winners, which has not been a great thing, but you ask Osha and he immediately just says, look, best PK. And then he made a great point, a great point that makes so much sense. They're the best five on five hockey team. And the idea behind that is, in this time of year, the officials don't want to be the story. And you got to lop off a limb to get a penalty many times. And so, sure, you got to be great on the power play. That's why Buffalo fans were booing. They weren't pleased with how they...

Speaker 2:
[17:30] Yeah, Ray had the numbers. It had been bad, too.

Speaker 1:
[17:33] The man up advantage was not much of an advantage, so they're pissed. But ultimately, and what did Buffalo end up doing? It wasn't power play. They were great five on five.

Speaker 2:
[17:43] Pucks on that.

Speaker 1:
[17:44] And sticks to pucks, I think it might have been. And so Oshie's point about how just on down the list of things, whether it's specialized situations, PK or on the power play, but just five on five. Are fives on the ice? What do you got? Skating down the ice side by each? Long story, Pittsburgh, LaMue, back in the day. Colorado's a significant favorite, but they went 2-1, I think this is the score, other opener. I just-

Speaker 2:
[18:21] Bednar's that coach, right?

Speaker 1:
[18:22] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[18:22] How about his hair?

Speaker 1:
[18:24] Great hair, took a puck to the face.

Speaker 2:
[18:26] Doesn't care.

Speaker 1:
[18:27] Nope, hit him in the head with a shovel, wouldn't slow him down.

Speaker 2:
[18:29] Engaged, engaged. He runs the timeouts like that.

Speaker 1:
[18:34] Yeah, he looks, he looks, then he looks the poor- No, hell no.

Speaker 2:
[18:37] Him and Brendan Moore, I mean, good God.

Speaker 1:
[18:40] I would not want to fight either of them.

Speaker 2:
[18:41] They would fight to death.

Speaker 1:
[18:43] And then you'd have to, and then you'd have to kill them twice. Maybe three times. So we love the hockey, we know that. Nothing new. You don't like the NBA.

Speaker 2:
[19:00] No, I like, I had zero interest until the night came last night.

Speaker 1:
[19:04] Wemby?

Speaker 2:
[19:05] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[19:06] 35. How about Tim Duncan? You're like, wait, that's Tim Duncan?

Speaker 2:
[19:12] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[19:18] Just got a very happy island vibe to them. He and David Robinson side by side. Imagine that you're a fan of that franchise. Over the history of time, you get the Admiral, you get Tim Duncan, and now you get this... whatever Wembyama is, singular... size and talent combination that the game's ever seen, perhaps?

Speaker 2:
[19:41] Yeah, and what I love is he's so young, too, that he still gives you stuff in interviews.

Speaker 1:
[19:45] Yeah, when he came on with us, he answered the questions.

Speaker 2:
[19:48] And he was asked about having Robinson and Duncan in the building last night. And he said, they asked, do you feel more pressure? And he said, no, I don't feel pressure. I feel safe. I don't know if it's Chris Long safe, but like, you know, stability. What did you think of the crowd?

Speaker 1:
[20:03] What were the jerseys?

Speaker 2:
[20:04] What was it? Five different colors?

Speaker 1:
[20:07] Yeah, people either loved it or hated it. All I noticed is when they came out for the third quarter, Nome was there, which is what you've always explained.

Speaker 2:
[20:15] Those clubs are good.

Speaker 1:
[20:17] People loved it. It's not for me. Yeah, I didn't care. I just think the color combo on the floor is a bit a bit much. I was watching the people in the home jerseys. That's what mattered to me. So I didn't. I'm not weighing in passionately one way or another because I really didn't give a shit. I just. Wemba Nyama skill set and his ability to watch him on defense. Just watch how disruptive he is when players like a guy like Drew, who's seen it all, done it all. And you see him get past an initial defender downhill and like it's green light. No, it isn't. I cannot go in there because I have no ability to get a shot off. Avdya comes down the lane and has to shoot it off almost like almost off the shot clock. Just and that's if all he did was defend, if all he was was some freak on defense, which he is. He scores 35 on the other end and he's hitting threes that they're trying to run plays for because it doesn't hit the rim. He's unreal, man, truly.

Speaker 2:
[21:25] I will say, I agree with you on everything. If he's making threes, like forget it. Kind of like Michigan, when we said they make double digit threes, forget it. You don't have a chance. He's going to hit the ground a lot more in the playoffs. I go back to John Morant when he was in his prime and how he would play. I want to say reckless, I'd say more relentless. But with that in the playoff, the Blazers, they're in it, man. They're playing with house money. There's going to be some stuff going on in the series. The way Wemby is, how long he is and the ground he covers, and the way he hits the ground, I'm like, oh man. I'm thinking about, everyone's picking them to win it, by the way, it feels like. I'm like, really? First year? I got to see this. But I just wonder the totality of it all. This is what I want to see. I don't want to see him get hurt, obviously. But he matched it last night. I thought the crowd was great. I think it's great for a one-off. They haven't been in the playoffs in a while. You do have five championships. Your storied franchise. I don't think that five-color thing is...

Speaker 1:
[22:42] Necessary?

Speaker 2:
[22:43] Necessary. But I always wondered out about their uniforms. They always mixed in the pink and yellow and green thing. And I'm like, it's like the LA Kings. You have great, the Raiders, great colors, great uniforms.

Speaker 1:
[22:57] That black-silver combo is pretty clean.

Speaker 2:
[23:00] Very good. So, and like, I can't watch the Spurs and not think of the Wizards. I know no one else in the world does, but look at how they've built it. Like they have cashed every pick.

Speaker 1:
[23:14] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[23:15] You know?

Speaker 1:
[23:15] Including the ability to get a player like Harper, who I loved from Rutgers.

Speaker 2:
[23:20] He's not even close to his ceiling either.

Speaker 1:
[23:22] He's brand new.

Speaker 2:
[23:23] He just comes in and...

Speaker 1:
[23:24] This is a clean, clear illustration of circumstance and where you go. You get, if you're drafted by Utah and you're him, you're in the hinterlands until further notice. Or you go to this team that got Wemby Yama, they have Castle. You got a bunch of other, Kelton Johnson, who I like a lot.

Speaker 2:
[23:49] Love them. And you bring in a guy like Fox, who's a guy who can get your bucket when you need it.

Speaker 1:
[23:54] Well, there's a guy that's played at a high level, been involved in at least games that matter. That guy.

Speaker 2:
[24:04] I just don't know how Castle plays with that much hair.

Speaker 1:
[24:07] It does fascinate me.

Speaker 2:
[24:09] He's my favorite guy to watch in the NBA.

Speaker 1:
[24:11] And I'm, you just get used to it.

Speaker 2:
[24:13] It looks like he's going to tip over.

Speaker 1:
[24:16] You know, your airspace up there.

Speaker 2:
[24:19] He's strong, man.

Speaker 1:
[24:21] I love him because he plays old school basketball. It's just rough, rugged and raw, right? Just grimy, give you whatever's required. Up for any of it. And skilled. That's a hell of a combination.

Speaker 2:
[24:37] And Portland comes out and they're like, all right, this is what we're going to do. We're going to put Kamara on Wemby, obviously, but I think the world of that kid plays his ass off every night.

Speaker 1:
[24:45] Agreed.

Speaker 2:
[24:46] And then Klingon's on Castle and then he's hanging in the paint. And Castle's like, all right, there's a top of the key three, down your throat. Find your next plan because that one's not going to work. Yeah, it's. Then the Portland stuff with the owner, did you see that?

Speaker 1:
[25:06] Didn't send the two-way guys up with that.

Speaker 2:
[25:09] Then a couple of days ago on the plan, he wouldn't pay for late checkout. They're all in the lobby going on. He just bought a team, like 4.5 billion.

Speaker 1:
[25:19] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[25:21] I think pay for late checkout.

Speaker 1:
[25:22] Yeah, that's. I don't know what the deal is with that, but I mean, he owns the Hurricanes as well, right? So he's owned several franchises. I don't know if we're stretched thin here, but I mean, let's get the late checkout.

Speaker 2:
[25:40] I think the free agents are going to cross that place off.

Speaker 1:
[25:42] Right? Hey, can we check two bags? No, no, you got to pay for the second bag. First bag's free. Second bag. I just can't understand why a franchise that makes it, and this is your, you're in the honeymoon phase, and in the honeymoon phase, you're saying to your new significant other, no, no, don't, don't, no, we'll split a dessert. You can either get an app or a dessert, not both, we'll split a dessert.

Speaker 2:
[26:14] Unless you want to go Dutch, go Dutch.

Speaker 1:
[26:17] Imagine, when you're on your honeymoon, we'll get two checks. Excuse me?

Speaker 2:
[26:23] Scott married. Yeah, I think one of them's Caleb Love.

Speaker 1:
[26:26] I don't, yeah, I-

Speaker 2:
[26:27] Like he played for them this year.

Speaker 1:
[26:30] I didn't, I didn't even know the checkout thing. That's just, what are we doing? Come on.

Speaker 2:
[26:36] Read that.

Speaker 1:
[26:37] And I'm not saying you need to go over the top, exorbitant, but this is day one stuff. Just cover these things. That's rough. I mean, yay San Antonio, but Oklahoma City, the wagon rolls on. They beat the brakes off Phoenix. Most of the game is more competitive. I mean, it was just blow out, blow out, blow out. Shea shot 17 free throws. Phoenix as a team shot 18. And this is a two things can be true at once scenario. Got to see Shea. We both did last year up close in the finals. Love the dedication of the craft. Got to see the work that goes into it, which is really valuable because you see the focus, the prep, and then the game starts and all of it's just, we're running back stuff that we're prepared to do. So this is me preemptively saying nice things about the MVP and about Shea so that Thunder fans don't get furious when I say, watching him hit the deck and game the game and get foul calls is not a ton of fun. It just isn't. I didn't enjoy watching Harden do it and I don't enjoy watching Shea and people will take the clips and they'll put string them together and you just see you know hitting the deck and it's just automatic, auto whistle and stars get calls for sure. I get that, love the player, love seeing the excellence of the player, don't love the additional, just don't love the way he's officiated, that's it. And I don't know who'd watch that and go, no, no, it's awesome. I don't, unless you're a Thunder fan and you want to say, I don't know ball or something, but.

Speaker 2:
[28:43] Great, glad you pointed that out because there's a couple things on that that really frustrate me. And it's gotten so numbers driven that like because of that. How many free throws?

Speaker 1:
[28:57] He shot 17, the Spurs, excuse me, the Sun shot 18. Now it was a blowout and whatever, but it's like 17, 18.

Speaker 2:
[29:05] But like the PERs in there, the number, like all the analytics stuff, like that's why no one touches him. Like when you're, oh, he's so efficient. The efficiency numbers are, and I'm like, all right, but I watched the games. And like, I, you know, like MVP with him and Jokic, I'm like, and Wemby, when you're, Wemby Niyama, I'm like, yeah, he's gonna have better efficiency. He shoots 20 free throws a game. If that's gonna be a criteria, you know? So it's efficient. I get it, but I still watch the games and I think the team is loaded with talent and they got plenty of options that keep coming with draft picks. But here's the other thing with the fouls, cause I noticed it early with Wemby Yamma. Clinglin got an over to back that was not even his foul. And then somebody reached and got the ball clean. I think it was Kamara. In the NBA Playoffs, you have to show every foul, just like NFL in the playoffs, they show every flag. I need to see it. Cause to your point, you know, this is what we do. What did Dylan Brooks call them? Foul seekers? Foul, uh, he had another word. But I need to see the replays, man. I can't let this go anymore. Cause it drives me nuts when in the NFL Playoffs, they call a hold.

Speaker 1:
[30:28] Are you asking for a review? No, no, no.

Speaker 2:
[30:30] I'm asking for the TV production team.

Speaker 1:
[30:33] I want to see it.

Speaker 2:
[30:34] I need to see it every time. When it's Weminyama, when it's Shea, when it's Jokic. I get it. They're all baiters. I think that's the word he used. So it's going to help the cause here. I think it helps everybody. Okay, yeah, he did get fouled there. Oh man, that was all ball. Then you see Shea go up and block, who was the big center? He blocked them right at the rim. It's an unbelievable block. They show the replays like, wow, he got all ball there.

Speaker 1:
[31:02] They called a foul.

Speaker 2:
[31:02] No, they didn't. It was a big sequence where the run extended, but it was just like, that's an incredible play by Shea. He's probably down six inches to the guy height wise. And so I just, it's meticulous and it's a lot because there are a lot of fouls. James Harden is another guy. I need to see it because I'm probably going to get more irate, but I still need the reassurance. Do you understand what I'm saying there? Like a passive interference in NFL, like show it to me, please.

Speaker 1:
[31:34] I understand what you're saying and you're right to point out how loaded the thunder are and they're going to get you anyway. I mean, they're going to get you. They're built for it. They are incredibly efficient and Shay is great. But I am with you. I just want to see CVs. Yes. Because he's already better than you. An easy on-ramp to exploit things. It's just clever. Harden was that way too. Still is that way. And incredibly crafty with understanding how to get you.

Speaker 2:
[32:20] And the reason too, I don't know if I mentioned this, is because it is so hard to officiate them. Like, look at that guy. When you talk about the wingspan and the groundy cup. Like, he took one step out of bounds, was in the third row going for a loose ball. Like, it's so different and it's still new to me. You know, but I just, for the context and all that, as you're diving in, you're trying, you know, they're the top seed in that series. Like, Portland's going to be coming for him. Like, I just, the reassurance factor I think is huge.

Speaker 1:
[32:55] I just don't know how you guard shy. I don't know what you do. I don't know, I don't know. I'd give him space and just take my chances. I'd work off that. Try my best to give a bubble of sorts, but he's just so clever in all the ways that he can and it is. In today's world, planning ahead isn't always top of mind, but not having life insurance can leave families facing difficult financial uncertainty during already emotional times. In many cases, loved ones are left managing expenses, debts or long-term obligations without a clear plan in place. Life insurance is one of those ways to help provide financial security and support when it's needed most. That's where ethos comes in. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy and it's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes and even get same day coverage. There's no medical exam, you just answer a few simple health questions online. You can get up to $3 million in coverage and some policies start as low as $30 a month. Ethos has also earned strong customer feedback with a 4.8 out of five-star rating on Trustpilot based on more than 3,000 reviews. Help protect your family with life insurance through Ethos. Get your instant free quote at ethos.com/svp. That's ethos.com/svp. Application times and rates may vary. If you're looking to bring a little celebration into the everyday, confetti craze five-hour energy tastes just like a birthday cake. Think rich, vanilla, buttery, funfetti flavor. Basically a party in a bottle. And here's what makes it even better. It's all cake, no sugar. So you get that big birthday energy without any sugar guilt. The bottle's small, portable and easy to keep on hand when you need a quick, tasty caffeine boost to cakeify your day. Confetti craze is unapologetically extra and sometimes extra is exactly the vibe. The funfetti flavor is back on fivehourenergy.com or Amazon. Crack open confetti craze fivehourenergyshot today. There's a standard Mother's Day playbook. You get some flowers, some brunch reservations, maybe a last-minute gift card. It works, but it's also predictable. You've done it over and over again. Aura Frames is a way to upgrade that playbook. It's a digital frame that lets you upload it with photos and videos before it even gets there, and then keep adding to it from anywhere. So instead of one moment, it becomes something that keeps building over time. It's not the big staged photos people go back to, it's the candid ones, the in-between stuff you didn't plan. Aura makes those easy to revisit, and even easier to share. Unlimited storage means there's no need to pick and choose, just keep adding from your phone, from anywhere, and let it keep evolving. It's simple, it's easy to set up, and it lasts longer than anything in the usual rotation. Make Mother's Day special with Aura Frames. Name number one by Wirecutter, you can save on the gifts moms love by visiting auraframes.com. For a limited time, listeners can get $25 off their best-selling Carver Mat Frame with code SVP. That's A-U-R-A, frames.com, promo code SVP, and support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Denver, they won by, ended up being double digits.

Speaker 2:
[36:28] That was the best game.

Speaker 1:
[36:30] It was, not surprisingly. I mean, it's good on good. Ended up being 11. It was 11 in the end, but it was all double digits. Cavs won easy, Nuggets won by 11. At least that game was kind of back and forth. Knicks by 11, Lakers by nine. Haven't mentioned them. I don't know how many more there are for them. Obviously, the health of Durant's gonna be significant. I mean, but the Rockets don't, excuse me, the Lakers don't have Luka Reeves. You got a 41 year old. Whatever, LeBron's got that Tiger Woods thing where he's been at it for so long and he's been so good for so long that the people that love him and say he's the best just roll their eyes at anybody that says otherwise. And the people that get tired of a player who's been talked about for more than 20 years just dismiss in a way that I think is dumb if you can't allow yourself to go, Steve's 40 fucking one years old, still playing at this level. It's insane, you know what I'm saying? Truly insane. No one's been this at this age, no one. And it's just another page, I was talking last week about my guy Tony down at Augusta. And Tony's like me, we're the old heads. He brought a couple of the young guys that worked there. He's like, tell him who's better. I'm like, oh, is this a Michael LeBron thing? And he's like, just tell him. I'm like, I'm an MJ guy. He said, thank you. And the young guys, they just throw their hand, oh, come on, which is great. And I said, I understand, you didn't see it. To you, he's a NASCAR owner and he's a logo on his shoe. I actually sat in Cole Fieldhouse and saw him in baby blue, okay? I have a different frame of reverence. But for the youngsters that have spent their entire life, these guys are probably 21, probably as old as he's been in the league. I got no, no issue with you staying, saying rather, this dude right here, how's anyone better than that?

Speaker 2:
[38:44] What he's doing now, it's unbelievable. And it goes back to the first time I watched him in high school, I remember Bills was calling the game and how good a passer he was. And, you know, you think about this thing now, and he's gonna, other guys are gonna get opportunity. When you play with him, you're gonna get opportunities. Think about all the guys he brought in and out of Cleveland before he went to Miami.

Speaker 1:
[39:06] Well, look at the crew.

Speaker 2:
[39:08] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[39:10] The cast of characters.

Speaker 2:
[39:11] Yeah. It's, my issue is on the other side, cause Houston's been a catastrophe at the end of games, trying to score with the rant. And they just, the plan is not there. They don't have shooters, which I would think you would just want and give the ball a shingoon. But shout out to Cunard. I thought Rui was good. But, and, and.

Speaker 1:
[39:39] How many threes did they hit?

Speaker 2:
[39:40] I don't want to.

Speaker 1:
[39:41] Go ahead. I'm just looking.

Speaker 2:
[39:43] Oh, Houston?

Speaker 1:
[39:44] No, they were over 50 percent, LA was.

Speaker 2:
[39:45] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[39:46] I mean, make-miss league, that's the cliché forever. But I mean, in the absence of those two stars, you're going to have to hit those well-curated possessions where you're going to get that clean look.

Speaker 2:
[39:56] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[39:57] You're going to have to hit them. They did. Go ahead.

Speaker 2:
[39:59] And I give credit to JJ for having that team ready to go. Not one good thing was said about that since those two guys went down. Like, how the hell are you going to do this? Oh, you want to play the Lakers in the first round. Do what you can the last couple of weeks for the seating and all that. Well, here they are and they came out and they shot over 50% from three. They were ready to go. I get it with the Durant thing, but that team had a plan and they executed. Can they do it three more times? We'll see. To use this, it's just super frustrating. I mean, they have talent all over the place and they can't make a shot. I mean, Reid Shepard, I think, where did he go? He shot from three, yeah, five of 14. It felt like I didn't see him make one.

Speaker 1:
[40:48] You referenced the passing of James from the beginning. To me, that's all just hoop IQ. Yeah. It's like when I watch Jokic play. It's an understanding of the geometry of basketball. It's the understanding of the space and who's where, if they're supposed to be. LeBron had that going back to being a teenager at St. Mary's back in the day. Still, it's just elite advanced on its own tier hoop IQ space.

Speaker 2:
[41:22] He was murdering guys in the post too. Ethan's a good size dude.

Speaker 1:
[41:29] And he's 20 years younger, not quite, but I mean.

Speaker 2:
[41:32] Backing down, like forget it.

Speaker 1:
[41:35] I saw, I think it was the All the Smoke podcast, where I just saw a clip on social media, where Rashid Wallace was talking about there's a difference between weight room strength and grown man seeing some shit strength. He talked about getting on the block with Terry Cummings. And Rashid, you got to seek it out, go find it. He's talking about, he just shows Cummings like this. He's like, I'm working in the post. And he's like, it's like this couch, it's not moving. And he just got his arm against me. And he said he had these rustic hands, rustic. God, it made me laugh. LeBron James is grown man strength, adult children, one of whom is in the game with him.

Speaker 2:
[42:24] He's got seen it strength too.

Speaker 1:
[42:25] That's exactly right.

Speaker 2:
[42:26] 41.

Speaker 1:
[42:27] That's my point, seen some shit, got some kids, gets a ball on the block. And it's just, as we used to say back in the day, it's why I scream it over highlights, regulate.

Speaker 2:
[42:38] Go ahead again. You ain't regulating against Terry Cummings.

Speaker 1:
[42:42] Right here. Right here with one arm bar.

Speaker 2:
[42:45] That man lived on the block and he was not a tall man.

Speaker 1:
[42:49] Nobody had grown man strength. He had rustic hands.

Speaker 2:
[42:53] Dick J too.

Speaker 1:
[42:56] He was going to work. LeBron was on the pain. I just marvel at the ability at this age. Truly do. Truly, truly do. And again, you could be the old guy who saw Jordan in the baby blues back in the ACC days. And I lean that direction. And still, you don't have to be a hater about it. Right? I think you can acknowledge both. Because what LeBron does at this age, as I said, Jordan in his late 30s was like that dude that showed up to pick up the plate and slides and had a beer belly. You couldn't stop him, but he wasn't above the rim, elbow above the rim like James is now.

Speaker 2:
[43:40] How about when he makes a shot and he points right at the ref that was next to him? He's like, you know you missed that one because he followed me too. That's an and one. But it's a finger point.

Speaker 1:
[43:52] There's, hey, look, like Shay is going to get us.

Speaker 2:
[43:54] If Rashid is doing that.

Speaker 1:
[43:56] Well, you might get the baby tea. You might get the full, you might get the bounce tea. You're going to get the gate. I think people get what they earn. I think Shay has a whistle that would be frustrating to try to guard against because I don't know what I'm meant to do to stop the guy. He's so crafty. He's so gifted. I don't know how I'm supposed to defend this. And so I think even Thunder fans could appreciate that that would be frustrating. The combination of the talent and don't know how to defend. But he's earned it. LeBron James at 41 earned the ability to turn to officials, point at them and yell at them in the gap. You know what the official is thinking? I probably missed that one. I probably was a foul. Not all the time.

Speaker 2:
[44:46] That was like the fifth time.

Speaker 1:
[44:47] It's probably.

Speaker 2:
[44:48] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You have 30.

Speaker 1:
[44:50] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[44:51] You're up 15. There's two minutes left. Check out, put your son in.

Speaker 1:
[45:00] As we're talking about this, I'm thinking Draymond pointing and yelling and whatever. His, maybe his last moment as a warrior getting ejected along with Booker in the play in game. Draymond? Yeah. I think it's, I think that's the last game Steve Kerr coaches for Golden State. I think it is. Wow. I'm, I'm, and transparency. Steve's a guy I've gotten to know and we'll trade messages, but it's almost always him doing some Joe Flacco voice cause that's his favorite thing. Steve Kerr certainly hasn't confided in me. Our, our, our work relationship isn't on some level where he's confided in me that I just, I think that the smartest people, the smartest people, you've heard me say this a million times, know looking at their watch, let's leave this party 15 minutes early rather than 15 minutes late. Cause 15 minutes late is going to suck if you've been part of that group. Call it a fading dynasty. And who knows, you can get with that ownership group and have a map it out and go, what's this look like? What are we doing? What's the plan? I wouldn't want to walk away from Steph. And Steph clearly still has that gear. Clearly, I just could be very guilty right now of thinking in the fog of the moment that that's the end, right? I'm too close to it. And I'm saying it from that. You think he's gonna do it, run it back.

Speaker 2:
[46:40] Yeah, if Steph's playing.

Speaker 1:
[46:43] That is a very compelling argument that if you're Kerr, you're like, I'll ride with this dude till the wheels fall off.

Speaker 2:
[46:51] Get LeBron.

Speaker 1:
[46:52] Well, now you're talking a whole different story, which that's been rumored forever.

Speaker 2:
[46:56] Yeah. Yeah, I just, I see Steph and I think of Kerr. I do watch a lot of Warriors. Obviously, Steph is still the eye candy for them. And to your point, I didn't see Kerr smile a lot this year. And then after they won at the Clippers, like you could see, like he had Steph back. Steph makes the big shot. He got Al Horford, like that was a, I don't want to say fulfilling. No, he got something, like the way he talked about after that game.

Speaker 1:
[47:36] I think it was fulfilling. He said, for a night, we're champions, we're us. But you know, which I should stop. He knows that a night in a playing game ain't it. Because he knows what it takes to win 16, because he's done it. As a player with the Bulls, as a player with the Spurs, as a coach here, I mean, there's a big fucking difference between, yay, we beat the Clippers for one, versus what's it gonna take to win 16? With the Thunder out there, with the Spurs out there, with Jokic out there. Come on. You know that you're not that.

Speaker 2:
[48:14] No.

Speaker 1:
[48:15] You're not close to that. You've got Steph and God knows he gives you a chance.

Speaker 2:
[48:22] Correct.

Speaker 1:
[48:23] But to win 16?

Speaker 2:
[48:25] No, I'm not saying 16. I'm saying, you know, have it... First of all, get out of the playing, so you're guaranteed a seven-game series.

Speaker 1:
[48:33] Right, but that's where they've been living lately.

Speaker 2:
[48:34] No, that's what I'm saying. If they, to your point, get together with management, and I think I read too, like the Bulls are trying to get Dunleavy, and they even called Bob Myers, try and get him out. So, if Kerr's earned everything for his decision, like, all right, I don't like the direction we're going. Peace out. But if there is a conversation, you know Steph's gonna be there, like, you know, get to the playoffs and win a series. I think that, maybe if you change that to the goal.

Speaker 1:
[49:05] That's the scale, to me.

Speaker 2:
[49:06] Six, seven.

Speaker 1:
[49:07] I'm not doing six, seven.

Speaker 2:
[49:09] No, you're doing six, seven.

Speaker 1:
[49:10] No, I'm not, I'm doing the scale. This is, before six, seven was a thing, which no one even knows what the fuck it is. Before that, this meant, it's a scale.

Speaker 2:
[49:20] Don't ever FaceTime your kid and be like, what's your dad doing right now?

Speaker 1:
[49:23] Six, seven. I know. Even they don't do it anymore, really. All right, I'll stop doing the hand thing. On the one hand of the scale, the point you make is the correct observation. It just didn't look, it didn't look joyless. It just didn't seem like it was a ton of fun. And if you're him and you're on the other side of 16, you got grown children, I believe he's got a grandbaby at this point, maybe plural, I don't know. But you've got nothing to prove to anyone. You've got a pile of cash in the bank. You've got an unimpeachable legacy in the game, player coach, Lane, that few have. And if the scale leans more towards that, then saying goodbye makes complete sense to me. Enjoy another chapter. 60s young, man. Enjoy more chapters. But then the other scale is, okay, tell me when you're done with all your bullshit, Scott. I got this bag of weight right here and it says Steph Curry and I put it on the scale and you're like, God, that's the joy. Being around a guy like that. And I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 2:
[50:35] I also was.

Speaker 1:
[50:35] And he said afterwards, oh hell yeah, at least a couple more years.

Speaker 2:
[50:40] But I also want to that adding on, you watch Steph against the Clippers and you watch them against the Suns and it's like 82 games. How much is he going to give me? Like to your point, that's where he's in.

Speaker 1:
[50:53] The last two Springs, he's been last year. He couldn't play in the playoffs and this year he was hurt the whole winter up until the playoffs, which is why they end up where they are.

Speaker 2:
[51:01] I have a great idea.

Speaker 1:
[51:05] New segment, Steve has a great idea.

Speaker 2:
[51:07] While Coach is wondering if he's going to continue to coach the Warriors, if he loves your Joe Flacco impersonation so much, he should come to us, see it in person, watch games with us, and he could be our NBA analyst in studio for the NBA playoffs.

Speaker 1:
[51:26] I'll shoot him a note. Hey Steve, I have a really compelling invite for you.

Speaker 2:
[51:32] He would be awesome. I mean, he was great on games when he did them too.

Speaker 1:
[51:36] And here's the thing.

Speaker 2:
[51:38] I think he'd do it.

Speaker 1:
[51:39] He'd have a blast with the group. Because when in doubt, I would just say, I would just do Joe Flacco voice. People might think that we're embellishing this.

Speaker 2:
[51:50] I wonder if he would turn in the Kurchan, like not even be able to.

Speaker 1:
[51:54] I wouldn't do stupid shit because I would want to sincerely. Yes you would. Well, I mean, it's hard.

Speaker 2:
[51:59] There's room.

Speaker 1:
[51:59] It's hard to pass on the low hanging fruit when you know you can make somebody laugh with it like Kurchan. All right, so, oh hey, here's a compelling invite for you. For the grand sum of nothing, you want to go from one coast to the other and hang out and sit here in the East.

Speaker 2:
[52:19] Nation's capital.

Speaker 1:
[52:20] Yeah, put you up in a nice room.

Speaker 2:
[52:23] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[52:25] Get you on just to get you on like a meal plan, a cafe, Milano.

Speaker 2:
[52:29] Oh, Diet Coke? Hope he doesn't like anything else because we don't have it.

Speaker 1:
[52:34] We got some pretzel snacks.

Speaker 2:
[52:35] Oh yeah, pretzels and Diet Coke. That's enticing.

Speaker 1:
[52:40] I was going to say.

Speaker 2:
[52:41] Leave the Bay Area, come all the way.

Speaker 1:
[52:42] All right.

Speaker 2:
[52:44] Offers out there, coach.

Speaker 1:
[52:47] That concludes the new segment. Steve has a great idea. That is actually.

Speaker 2:
[52:51] Oh, I got, that's a whole sheet in my notepad.

Speaker 1:
[52:54] Be a hell of an idea. What else did I have for you? Nurse said that Philly was unacceptable. Yeah, that wasn't great. Detroit's lost 11 straight home playoff games. I don't get that, just an oddity. All these teams are steamrolling people in Orlando, who apparently wanted to fire their coach. Everybody's mad at everybody. Then they go in and from the jump, they played from ahead in that game against the one seed Detroit.

Speaker 2:
[53:31] First team ever.

Speaker 1:
[53:32] That was impressive to me. What did Banquero finish with in that game?

Speaker 2:
[53:39] 23.

Speaker 1:
[53:39] Okay. That's the one thing I wrote down. All their starters had 16 or more, which was impressive. I mean, one thing about the playoffs, just, you know, Laker game, very impressive. Orlando, okay, cool. Can you win three more? Correct. That's the challenge. Do you have anything else, NBA, you wanted to mention?

Speaker 2:
[54:07] I don't believe so. Watch, start, Cleveland, Toronto. There's just a couple of games. You're like, all right, like New York, Atlanta. Okay. We got a game, then we don't have a game, and then Little Window, I got the eight, and that place was silent. And then they come back and make plays. I didn't see Boston.

Speaker 1:
[54:31] You didn't need to, it was.

Speaker 2:
[54:33] Yeah, I just, you know, is anybody going to threat them?

Speaker 1:
[54:37] Who, Boston?

Speaker 2:
[54:38] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[54:40] Including Detroit.

Speaker 2:
[54:41] I mean, after that, I don't want to overreact.

Speaker 1:
[54:44] That's just one. We are overreacting if you're acting like they can't win. I have a couple of observations.

Speaker 2:
[54:53] I got one.

Speaker 1:
[54:54] Okay, go.

Speaker 2:
[54:57] We were on the night, the Hornets won that wild game against the Heat.

Speaker 1:
[55:02] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[55:03] And Mello makes the play, the game-winning basket.

Speaker 1:
[55:07] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[55:07] After the game, it's all about the grab of the ankle.

Speaker 1:
[55:12] Yep.

Speaker 2:
[55:14] They come out. They got to go to Orlando. Orlando looked like poo against Philly. I mean, the world had Charlotte. Orlando bucks up, blows them out, and Charlotte just goes off into the wind, which was one of the nicer stories of the year. They had all their guys healthy. Kniepel in the running finalist now for Rookie of the Year. He, I don't know if he was not healthy, but he was bad in the two playing games.

Speaker 1:
[55:45] Yep.

Speaker 2:
[55:46] But what overshadowed it was Mello making that layup for them to get a win. When you look at that numbers from that game, Mello and Kahn were-

Speaker 1:
[55:54] Horrible.

Speaker 2:
[55:55] I mean, and-

Speaker 1:
[55:57] They were 14 of 45. This is off the top of my head. It was like 14, they're 22 from three and like 14 of 45, I think, combined from before.

Speaker 2:
[56:06] And so next year, you look at it, you're like, all right, you're gonna be healthy. They're gonna be a nice story. They're gonna be overpriced, I would say, in wins. I just look at that, the mentality of that team being so young in an East where we've said, you know, all right, who can, who could threat Boston? I just wonder if the overall dynamic of Mello leading in a team, like, are you, are you, are you down, down with that? Are you making him the face of your squad?

Speaker 1:
[56:35] I mean, it's one thing to be what they were. I would, I would equate it to golf. If you play golf and you go and you play and you work at it, you can make the jump from a hundred to being able to shoot, be a bogey golfer. You're capable. Can you shoot under 80? It's the next step. For a franchise like the Hornets, it hadn't been in the playoffs in forever. All right. You got some talent. And you take the first step. The next step is the hard step. And you asked the right question. Is Melo a guy that's going to be a leader of a franchise and be willing and able to be the guy that leads in the grind of what this playoffs are become? Because it's a completely different thing.

Speaker 2:
[57:28] Totally different.

Speaker 1:
[57:30] As we're saying in any of these sports, winning one game versus winning four, winning four to earn the next four. You're like, all right. And then winning four more to earn the next four. All right, cool. We're halfway there. I think it's a reasonable question. They were fun watch. They took a giant step forward. Cool. That middle of the East is wide open, asking anyone to step forward and take it. Detroit ascended via Cade Cunningham. He's their top pick that was a leader. Did it. You got Boston. They're who they are. They've established that. All right. New York's established it with Jalen, among others. They've got a bunch of talent. Well, who's that mix right behind in them? And can Charlotte ascend into that place? That's a giant leap.

Speaker 2:
[58:21] Yeah. The opportunity is right there.

Speaker 1:
[58:23] Right. But you got to show you can do that.

Speaker 2:
[58:24] And, you know, amidst this run and they were as fun as, I probably watched them more than any, besides the Wizards, any other, there was a West Coast trip they had.

Speaker 1:
[58:34] He's not bullshitting by the way. Like he's Mr. Wizard. They won 17 games and this guy's over here, dialed in.

Speaker 2:
[58:42] Lottery, coming. All right. No, I, Charlotte, they went to the Lakers and Mello was unbelievable, making three after three after three. And I'm like, is this sustainable? Because the biggest thing to me when I watch teams, and I, like I said yesterday, I had no interest in watching the Suns or the Sixers. And in the great, in order to overcome that, I still think it's shot selection. And with Charlotte and Mello, like I just watched that and I'm like, you gotta be better than this. You gotta get into better stuff. And I get it, it's his first taste. He was unbelievable, he made the game win in bucket, got them an opportunity to make the playoffs. And I just think it's an ongoing thing because you watch as much college basketball, if not more than anybody. And there's a lot of these guards that have those, I don't wanna say tendencies, but those traits where it's like, you know what, I'm gonna get mine right here, you know? And it's bad shot selection.

Speaker 1:
[59:42] But I think the thing about Balls, he's an elite bad shot maker.

Speaker 2:
[59:45] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[59:45] And so when you're a great, tough shot maker, then you're gonna take tough shots.

Speaker 2:
[59:52] And in the playoffs, you know?

Speaker 1:
[59:54] I understand that.

Speaker 2:
[59:54] That's why I find it so intriguing.

Speaker 1:
[59:57] Yeah, I follow the thought process. I don't know the answer. Bridges said, we just have to get tougher. Bridges said, we need to get more physical. He didn't say tougher. I believe the word was physical, that Bridges made that point about. He was great, by the way, and there went over Miami. Then they got steamrolled by Orlando and off they go. Thrive and believes money is more than numbers. It's a way to care for the people, causes, and community you love. That's why Thrive and brings together a unique combination of financial services and generosity programs offering advice, investments, and insurance to help you plan your finances while creating opportunities to give back along the way. Through generosity programs that offer resources to fund service projects or direct charitable funds, Thrive and makes it easier to turn your values into action and support what matters most to you. With more than 120 years of experience and as a Fortune 500 company, Thrive and continues to serve individuals, families, and communities across the country. To learn more, visit thriveand.com. Thrive and, where money means more. Support for today's episode comes from Square and they've got big news. During Square's biannual releases event, they've launched tools to help local businesses run faster and smarter. From AI that answers key questions to tools that simplify orders and track sales, everything works together so you can focus on customers, not your list. Ready to grow or streamline how you run things? Square is offering listeners up to $200 off Square Hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/svp. Again, I'm going to spell that out for you. square.com/go/svp. Your favorite neighborhood spots run on Square. Around DC, I'm talking about places like Odd Provisions and Ice Cream Jubilee. They have rhythm. You walk in and the checkout's quick. Receipts hit your phone instantly and everything feels dialed in. That's Square working behind the scenes. Square AI delivers answers fast and financial tools help you stay on top of costs without the extra hassle. Square launched its most powerful tools yet, designed to give local businesses a competitive edge without the complexity. So if you're ready to sell smarter, run faster and stress less right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at square.com/go/svp. One last time. square.com/go/svp. You got all that? Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today.

Speaker 3:
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Speaker 1:
[63:15] I have a number of things that are unrelated to...

Speaker 2:
[63:17] Oh, I got a ton.

Speaker 1:
[63:18] I'm sure. The Mets have lost 11 in a row. Any comment?

Speaker 2:
[63:22] Yeah, if they ask me for an optimism meter on...

Speaker 1:
[63:25] We're not doing that...

Speaker 2:
[63:26] .on the show...

Speaker 1:
[63:27] I won't let that happen. I won't let that happen.

Speaker 2:
[63:28] I'm gonna cuss.

Speaker 1:
[63:29] I won't let that happen.

Speaker 2:
[63:30] So, I'm gonna get in trouble.

Speaker 1:
[63:32] No, you won't. We're not gonna do that to you. We do optimism meter when they're winning and I want to see if you're actually buying. We're not gonna pile on here. They've lost to 11 in a row.

Speaker 2:
[63:41] Here's the thing, I'm not making excuses. I like the moves they made in the off season. I thought it was time for a change. Let the guys go, make some moves, get some new faces in, change the lineup up, get Peralta. You have the contract with Soto. And I went back and I looked at Soto's stuff and obviously makes it go with the Nats. COVID shortened season. He was still around to six, to 50, to 60. And then he has a split season with the Nats and the Padres.

Speaker 1:
[64:17] Goes to the Padres, right?

Speaker 2:
[64:18] Yeah. And what I see every single season going down, the Padres a couple of seasons, then Yankees, you know, and then he comes, he's still playing 150 games and he's still putting up numbers. And when you pay a guy, it sucks that you're gonna have to, you know, you need this. They need them in the lineup. Like you're paying all that money. Like we're gonna see, you know, you want leadership, you want a guy that's gonna be dependable, you want a guy that's gonna help others and make others better. We need it fast. And he's proven, he's done it. But now with the losing streak in this new way about going things, all we gotta make sure he's 100. Can you play at 95%? Cause we need you at 90, maybe even 80. That's not gonna happen in this day and age. So that timeframe, they just had to put Palonco on the DL. The lineup is just atrocious.

Speaker 1:
[65:14] They played how many? They played, what are they, seven to 15? They played 22 games. There's 140 games to go. Everyone needs to just take a gigantic deep breath. If these 11 games were in the middle of July, in the middle of August, not great, but they get wrapped up in the midst of 120 games. Yeah. The Phillies are on the struggle bus, too. Just relax. It's, no one's saying, yay, this is awesome. It's not, but it's also not disqualifying.

Speaker 2:
[65:49] Yeah, so I want to see Soto back, Lindor back.

Speaker 1:
[65:52] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[65:53] Get the guys back.

Speaker 1:
[65:54] They'll be fine. But no one's asking you optimism meter, I promise. Completely different topic. I just, I wrote this down. I want to mention it. If your uniforms aren't really new, you don't need to do a new uniform reveal. Rams Ravens. Rams, by the way, you stopped going with the urine colored unis.

Speaker 2:
[66:19] Dirty laundry.

Speaker 1:
[66:21] Which was just horrific. You have these vibrant blue and yellows going back to the Ferragamo days. Not Ferragamo fancy shoes. That's Vince. What's up? Going back to the vibrant yellow, blue. Great. That's, we're good with that. They did a great Friday.

Speaker 2:
[66:43] Was it great? You liked it?

Speaker 1:
[66:47] It was an in-house production, high level. Shot for shot. I thought it was well done. Salute to their social media group. Sometimes those groups can, and different teams, you can be kind of in a tryhard. No. I thought they succeeded. I just don't know that the Rams uniforms, like it was, they showed you these new uniforms, which really were kind of the old uniforms, but really what it could have been is, hey, we're not going to have the P colored unis anymore. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[67:18] The issue is the Ram stripe on the shoulder pad. With Eric Dickerson, it was enormous. It made it look better, and it went with the helmet. The helmet was a Navy blue and the jersey was a Royal blue. It worked. The problem is they don't wear their best uniform a lot, and that's the gold pants with the white jersey and helmet, because they wear the urine, dirty laundry colored white pants, which are terrible. And then they wear the blue pants with the blue helmet. And I'm a fan of helmets matching the pants, but the yellow pants with the blue helmets.

Speaker 1:
[67:50] They're like the chargers in the sense that they've got a great uni combo.

Speaker 2:
[67:54] And they don't wear it.

Speaker 1:
[67:54] Just wear the one that's good.

Speaker 2:
[67:56] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[67:56] OK. And then the Ravens.

Speaker 2:
[67:58] What do they do?

Speaker 1:
[67:59] I don't know. I think they have a helmet that's black and there's Raven eyes that are red. And that's scary. But if you're going to do new unis, make them new. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[68:11] Kind of quiet.

Speaker 1:
[68:13] The Titans went to the old powder blue from the Oilers, which was fantastic. Way to go. The Titans managed to give you that. Hey, everyone likes these uniform colors? Let's do that and not have these USFL uniforms. But I just don't know that the Rams and the Ravens did anything massively new, necessarily. I think those are sort of the old ones. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[68:37] I like the...

Speaker 1:
[68:38] Alternate helmet.

Speaker 2:
[68:39] I like, yeah, the alternate helmet. I like that helmet. Just put the old Raven on it. I don't need the Raven looking right at me.

Speaker 1:
[68:45] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[68:45] There you go. And just so that means there's one team left.

Speaker 1:
[68:49] Which is?

Speaker 2:
[68:51] Pampa.

Speaker 1:
[68:53] And what do they do?

Speaker 2:
[68:55] Go back to the creamsicle. That red and... That gray is disgusting.

Speaker 1:
[69:01] Pewter, dude. Pewter.

Speaker 2:
[69:02] Awful.

Speaker 1:
[69:03] It's your color scheme, right? Pewter. I... I'm with you. I mean...

Speaker 2:
[69:08] What about the commanders? Come on.

Speaker 1:
[69:10] Well, I mean, you know... There's the whole other thing there.

Speaker 2:
[69:14] The burgundy pants back is huge.

Speaker 1:
[69:16] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[69:17] Big stripe.

Speaker 1:
[69:18] Yes. Yes.

Speaker 2:
[69:20] Joe Jacoby. Dave Butts. Come on. Mark May. This is elite Clint Didier.

Speaker 1:
[69:27] This is elite Washington old school references. Yeah, I mean, Fight for All DC. There you go.

Speaker 2:
[69:35] Fantastic.

Speaker 1:
[69:37] They did the thing with the spear, and it gets tricky. I don't... You know. Remember? If you changed the name to Warriors back in the day, and you never changed your logo, then you'd have the right number of syllables to say, hail to the Warriors instead of commander. That song doesn't work. But if you just...

Speaker 2:
[69:59] Why don't they call you?

Speaker 1:
[70:01] I'm here and free of charge consulting.

Speaker 2:
[70:04] Ideas.

Speaker 1:
[70:05] No, you're the... Steve has ideas.

Speaker 2:
[70:07] No, you've got ideas.

Speaker 1:
[70:08] I have some ideas. I mean, I'll say going back to the color combo, the stripes on the side, takes you back to an older time. We got RFK site down the road.

Speaker 2:
[70:20] What's their mascot? Sergeant Tutty? What's his name?

Speaker 1:
[70:25] I think that's it.

Speaker 2:
[70:26] He was at the Nats game yesterday.

Speaker 1:
[70:28] How was the Nats game?

Speaker 2:
[70:29] Fantastic.

Speaker 1:
[70:31] You went and saw Phlegm?

Speaker 2:
[70:32] Yes, went and saw our guy Dave Fleming. The Giants were in town. What's his name? I need his name. Major Tutty, Major Tutty. So it was Screech's birthday.

Speaker 1:
[70:42] Corporal Tutty, whatever. Lieutenant Governor Tutty.

Speaker 2:
[70:46] Screech's birthday.

Speaker 1:
[70:47] Right.

Speaker 2:
[70:48] So Screech is the mascot for the Nats.

Speaker 1:
[70:52] As if people didn't know.

Speaker 2:
[70:53] And what's great about this area is you have so many teams and the mascots. Now, I get it. There's not one person for each mascot. We dress up the mascots in different people, so we could be a lot more places. It was Screech's birthday, so they had Testudo was there. Had a fine bucket hat on.

Speaker 1:
[71:17] Not drunk Testudo. That's a different person on social media.

Speaker 2:
[71:20] Matty's going to crush me for this. What's the Ravens mascot's name?

Speaker 1:
[71:26] Fred the Birch.

Speaker 2:
[71:27] Clock something. Edgar. Yeah, there's three.

Speaker 1:
[71:32] Not Fred the Birch.

Speaker 2:
[71:33] No.

Speaker 1:
[71:34] My bad.

Speaker 2:
[71:35] They had all the mascots. I believe it's bottom. I'm going to get in trouble for this too. Bottom four, the president's race.

Speaker 1:
[71:42] Sure.

Speaker 2:
[71:43] The girls are all fired up. We had the whole fam at the game. Shout out to Kyle with the Nats. They do an unbelievable job.

Speaker 1:
[71:50] Very, very nice. They know I root for the other team, but they've been nice to us.

Speaker 2:
[71:54] Got passes up to go see Phlegm in the Giants TV booth. Girls got up there to see that. It was an anxiety or just you want everything to go right, right? So the weather wasn't great.

Speaker 1:
[72:09] No, we'll talk about that in a minute.

Speaker 2:
[72:11] But I kept looking at them like we could be clear. 135 first pitch. We're going to be good here.

Speaker 1:
[72:16] Yep.

Speaker 2:
[72:17] All right. So we go up to the TV booth and Dave, let's put the headsets on. Here's where the replays are. Just unbelievable. Open the windows, sun came out, but the tarp's still on the field. So as an old man, we've seen, you can't help but think when things go wrong with the tarp.

Speaker 1:
[72:34] Sure.

Speaker 2:
[72:35] Right? So now they start, they flip it, they bring it back. Now it's time to roll up. And Dave and I are looking at each other like, oh God, this is the first time the girls are watching this from the booth. Like this, they can't see somebody get rolled up. And then one of the giants people was like, oh, last time we were here, one of the guys, he got caught in the, I'm like, oh buddy, come on man.

Speaker 1:
[72:54] Read the room. Read the room.

Speaker 2:
[72:57] We got 12, nine and six in the room.

Speaker 1:
[73:00] Yeah. Broke his leg in half, died right on the field.

Speaker 2:
[73:03] They roll up the tarp, no injuries, no scuttle butts.

Speaker 1:
[73:07] It's actually quite a production to witness when it goes without an injury.

Speaker 2:
[73:12] Yeah. I could keep the air out of it.

Speaker 1:
[73:15] Tricky. Like the old days. Anyone remember when we used to do parachute in gym?

Speaker 2:
[73:20] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[73:21] Old heads, they do the parachute, then the one guy runs in and then you trap them in there. I think that's frowned upon.

Speaker 2:
[73:26] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[73:26] Suffocation, fears. But back in the day, we're like, fuck it. Jimmy will live.

Speaker 2:
[73:30] Do it. We're in a 95 degree gymnasium. Yeah. Let's do it.

Speaker 1:
[73:35] Then we'll chuck those red kickballs at them while they're in there. If you get caught, your punishment should get absolutely pegged with kickballs.

Speaker 2:
[73:42] How many years the gym teachers get away with that? Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[73:45] They're smoking in class. They're fine. Anyway, the tarp, we're good.

Speaker 2:
[73:51] Yeah. So then the question is, what's the food?

Speaker 1:
[73:55] That's a legitimate question.

Speaker 2:
[73:56] And buddy, let me tell you, the Terra Club at the Nats game is unbelievable. High level, carving station, pizza, hot dogs, chicken, good chicken tenders. Girls gave big time thumbs up to the chicken tenders.

Speaker 1:
[74:13] And it's buffet style, all you can eat, which was a problem when we took the youngsters. My little guy was like, wait, how much of this are we allowed to have? I'm like, as much as you can eat.

Speaker 2:
[74:22] Yeah. So I'm doing the rankings and we don't get creative much, the girls eating wise. I mean, you throw hot dogs, chicken tenders, pizza, mac and cheese, we're pretty good.

Speaker 1:
[74:37] That's kind of, that's hitting for the cycle.

Speaker 2:
[74:40] Power rankings, the only one missing was French fries.

Speaker 1:
[74:42] Ooh, true.

Speaker 2:
[74:43] Now there's ways to get that. So, but just now, and then when you go out, they, I see like right for first pitch, they wheel out this giant four shelf thingamajig.

Speaker 1:
[74:58] Seafood tower?

Speaker 2:
[74:59] No, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 1:
[75:01] I'm kidding.

Speaker 2:
[75:01] Snacks.

Speaker 1:
[75:02] All right.

Speaker 2:
[75:02] Like packaged peanut M&Ms, packaged M&Ms, sour gummy worms, potato chips, like everything. So it's like we, you could like go take them. Popcorn, pretzels, cotton candy, everything. They ate everything. I mean, everything. At one point, my little one, right after the national anthem, I feel, I got a bad, you know, they bag up the popcorn so you could just take them and throw them around to the kids. She's got an ice cream in her hand. And in the meantime, she's reaching over me to get popcorn. I'm like, you have ice cream. Yeah, but I want both. You know what? Go ahead. Here's more popcorn. Popcorn comes out, we're going on trips. Everything. They ate everything. Got fries, ate those. Fantastic. Giant pretzel, ate those. So the president's race comes. And I'm like, all right, pick one. You know, you got Teddy, you got Benjamin, you got George, and you got Thomas. And so they come out of center field. And now all the mascots are in the area are there to celebrate Screech's birthday. So I'm like, all right, I'll take, I'll take Teddy. So I got Teddy, other ones take the other three. Teddy's in the lead. All of a sudden, a pillow fight breaks out with the mascots. Happens. Teddy gets through. All of a sudden, Screech just starts running. Screech catches and beats Teddy. I'm like, Screech wasn't even in the race at the beginning. Screech won. I lost. Got to tighten up the races here.

Speaker 1:
[76:48] I think the rules regarding the races are pretty fluid.

Speaker 2:
[76:53] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[76:54] I don't feel like there's a really like a black and white, this has to happen. I feel like it's open for interpretation.

Speaker 2:
[77:00] They do have a contest where they put this fake second base right on the outfield grass behind second base when they came and redo, I think it's bottom six or whatever. They bring a kid out of the bullpen that's in dead center. He's got 30 seconds. He's got to run, grab the second base, and run back through the tape to get it. And he gets a gift bag. He made it in 28 and a half seconds.

Speaker 1:
[77:22] Hell yeah.

Speaker 2:
[77:23] Little, little sparky, like, I don't know. I don't want to say this. Six, seven years old. Got it.

Speaker 1:
[77:30] And then that's one, three, nothing.

Speaker 2:
[77:32] Yeah. Nine innings. We made it.

Speaker 1:
[77:35] That's a win.

Speaker 2:
[77:37] Two hours and 38 minutes.

Speaker 1:
[77:39] Quick pace is helpful.

Speaker 2:
[77:40] It's huge. In person, it really is. Everything's on the clock.

Speaker 1:
[77:45] It moves.

Speaker 2:
[77:45] And the ABS is even faster in person than it is on TV. It's unbelievable. As long as everything's working right. I saw a couple of places, Wrigley, and we had a couple of issues getting up there. So it worked out. Again, thank you to the Nats. We don't have many Sundays where we don't have anything coming up in the near future. So this was our day and our guy Flem was in town and it was awesome. I did have 947 questions asked during the game.

Speaker 1:
[78:17] Dad.

Speaker 2:
[78:20] The top three questions.

Speaker 1:
[78:21] Okay. Dad.

Speaker 2:
[78:25] Dad, this is bottom four. What are they going to score?

Speaker 1:
[78:59] What are they going to score? Question number two.

Speaker 2:
[79:03] By the way, Robbie Ray took the loss for the Giants. Big Grunter.

Speaker 1:
[79:06] Oh, is he?

Speaker 2:
[79:07] Oh, Mike. The girls are like, what's that sound? I'm like, watch the pitcher. Yeah. Loud.

Speaker 1:
[79:13] Question number two.

Speaker 2:
[79:14] Question number two. Top second. Dad, what does the catcher do?

Speaker 1:
[79:24] These are incredible questions because Badgett, three girls, 12, nine and six.

Speaker 2:
[79:31] Went to one baseball. We've all been to one baseball. This was like four years ago.

Speaker 1:
[79:35] Don't play baseball. So there's some confusion. Hey, no one scored. When are they gonna catch her? What's the catcher do? Well, it's actually in the name. They catch it.

Speaker 2:
[79:46] And the final one, this is bottom eight.

Speaker 1:
[79:48] Dad.

Speaker 2:
[79:49] Dad. Who's the quarterback for the Nationals?

Speaker 1:
[80:01] Oh, these are fantastic! Who is the quarterback? Abrams, maybe?

Speaker 2:
[80:09] That was a conversation that... And you know what happens here?

Speaker 1:
[80:14] What are they going to score? What's the catcher do?

Speaker 2:
[80:17] We have five. So when the quarterback in the Nationals is asked, the other four are crying, laughing, and the other one is starting to get the tears. Like, stop making fun of me. I asked a question.

Speaker 1:
[80:35] I want an answer.

Speaker 2:
[80:36] And so that was a process to get us back To center. To 100.

Speaker 1:
[80:43] Gotta get back to neutral.

Speaker 2:
[80:44] But I... So then I asked a question, because Maryland spoiled us big time this basketball season. Tickets, courtside service, the whole thing.

Speaker 1:
[80:57] That's awesome.

Speaker 2:
[80:58] So I asked the two that went to that. I said, what's more fun? Nats or Maryland basketball? And they both looked. Well, there's more scoring in the Maryland games. I said, okay. Said, but who has better food? They're like, oh, the Nationals. Not even close.

Speaker 1:
[81:18] They had a major league situation there.

Speaker 2:
[81:20] Yeah. And then I spent basically the whole drive home explaining to them how lucky they were that the game was two hours and 38 minutes. Like if we, I was thinking bottom five, we'd make it two.

Speaker 1:
[81:34] They made it through a nine.

Speaker 2:
[81:35] Unbelievable.

Speaker 1:
[81:35] Way to go girls. Dad's proud.

Speaker 3:
[81:37] Who's the quarterback?

Speaker 1:
[81:44] Quarterback for the Bills is our guy coach Jack. We had a flag game yesterday in the rain. I wish we had as positive a news to share with you from this. Stops are tough to get in Flagstar. And down 38, 36, the Bills, that's Charlie's team, got to stop. Got the ball back. And coach Jack's really good at managing the clock situation because if the other team, you score too soon, the other team gets the ball, they're scoring to win. So he threads the needle. We run a couple plays, clock winds down. We're taking it to fourth on purpose. We got one play from close in to win. And I can see what he's doing. We're going to run a play for Charlie to win. So 38, 36, we're in there close. We're going to run a play for Charlie for the win. It's raining, it's 50.

Speaker 2:
[82:49] Wear gloves on.

Speaker 1:
[82:50] He does. Right before the play, I said, Charlie, make a play, son. It had not. We're good. We're locked in. We're going to go in motion. We're going to little fake that. We're going to take it out in the flat. Youngsters get fooled by the motion. They had not a lot of covering. We'd run it earlier. Charlie scored a touchdown. Run it. Charlie's wide. Ball in the air. Way to drop, Steve. Way to drop.

Speaker 2:
[83:21] Fourth down drop.

Speaker 1:
[83:23] That was fourth down. Again, execution was flawless.

Speaker 2:
[83:28] Did it prior.

Speaker 1:
[83:29] Clock wound down. Five left. Run a play. Make a play. Win the game. Drop. Immediate hands on head. I'm not saying it out loud, but I might have been saying it out loud. Just don't cry. It's all right. You're all right. You're all right. But I could see all his teammates are trying to let him know it's all right, but he's like, it's definitely not all right. Handshakes coming through. We're good. I'm thinking, as the dad, you just want to make sure. We're big in the house on next play.

Speaker 2:
[84:06] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[84:06] Next play. Life's about the next play. Well, thankfully for him, he's going to immediately to a lacrosse camp.

Speaker 2:
[84:14] Oh.

Speaker 1:
[84:15] So he's in the car. We're divide and conquer. Mom's taking him to that. I've got big brother who came in the rain to cheer his younger brother on, which was awesome. And he's changing out. And I'm like, hey, Charlie, like next play. Smile on his face. He's good. We're already on to the next, which is great. Saw videos of him and his boy Johnny at the lax camp doing the snake on the ground. Like clearly he's moved on to the next. However, driving home with a big brother, big bro says that I'm stunned. I said stunned. He goes, if you threw that pass to Charlie 10 million times, he would drop maybe five. So I said, your number is 9,995,99,95 catches and five drops. He's like, maybe. He said, but it was, it was wet. So his big bro was giving him a little wiggle room there, showing him some grace, which I thought was good, as opposed to like, could have been the other. But it's nice to know big bro was A, there to support and then B, had empathy for the drop. I was expecting when he walked in to be like, how did you drop it?

Speaker 2:
[85:24] But no, if the roles were reversed.

Speaker 1:
[85:30] Ah, Charlie, Charlie would have been there for his big bro.

Speaker 2:
[85:32] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[85:32] He'd have been there.

Speaker 2:
[85:33] But big brother probably would have taken it.

Speaker 1:
[85:37] A lot harder. Charlie immediately had moved on to the next. It was, it was a stunning drop though, in real time. Um, next play.

Speaker 2:
[85:48] Little out route.

Speaker 1:
[85:50] Just motion from the left side. We fake it, ride it, ride it, ride it, and then just take it out in the flat. You're nude. Like, buddy, did you, what happened to you? Did you, did you take her eye off? He's like, no, I was looking right at it. I just dropped it. That's all right. Next play. I'm okay. Everyone's fine. I just, I just didn't want him to be sad. We've talked for all this time. What happened? We haven't, the draft is coming.

Speaker 2:
[86:18] Yeah. Cannot wait. We got action. Sexy Dexy trade.

Speaker 1:
[86:25] Giants have five, 10. I liked it for both teams. I know it's a high premium to pay. I mean, Cincinnati, hey, could you have kept Hendrickson and just kept the 10 pick? Yeah, they're different players. He's 28. They extended him. He's one of the best in the game. I just defer to my colleague, Jason Kelsey, whose job was to block these guys in the middle, these absolute enormous humans, and his just like, fuck that guy. Meaning the highest praise you could pay. He was absolutely unblockable. Haunts me. Just an immovable object. That guy. Highest praise for him of everyone. Granted, you see him twice a year, if you're in Philly. And he was just like, and this was during the season, just spoke in glowing terms of who Lawrence is. And so Cincinnati, who's desperate for somebody like that. All right, so can you get anyone close to that at 10? No, you got a window with Burrow and T and Chase that you've clearly paid a premium. You didn't even make the playoffs last year. I'm fine with it. You gotta pay. And they did. And if you're the Giants, now you got 5'10. Which isn't 6'7, but 5'10, seems like you could make some stuff happen. Even in a draft that doesn't have mind-blowing talent.

Speaker 2:
[87:47] Yeah. I think you were there. Mattie's our resident Ravens fan. I said, can you think in all your years of Ravens, and I think he didn't have... John Harbaugh in Baltimore didn't have first round picks for two of the years he was there. I'm like, did you ever take an Ohio State player?

Speaker 1:
[88:09] And you looked it up.

Speaker 2:
[88:10] I looked it up.

Speaker 1:
[88:11] And what did you see?

Speaker 2:
[88:12] No Ohio State players in the first round.

Speaker 1:
[88:14] Well, I got news for you. 5'10, they gotta be looking at a one.

Speaker 2:
[88:19] I would think three.

Speaker 1:
[88:21] Well, they only have two picks. You mean they've got...

Speaker 2:
[88:23] Yeah, I mean...

Speaker 1:
[88:24] Like the old NBA, they got two to make three.

Speaker 2:
[88:26] There you go.

Speaker 1:
[88:26] Or three to make two. But beg your pardon, you got three picks, you got...

Speaker 2:
[88:30] People are still commenting on that clip. They're just dumbfounded by it.

Speaker 1:
[88:35] Can't believe it. That was the real thing. It was the thing.

Speaker 2:
[88:39] But yeah, never take them. So, you know, the Michigan, Ohio State thing, but I think those two guys from Columbus that play defense for Ohio State would look...

Speaker 1:
[88:50] I was watching some clips of McShea who's got a lot of intel and is just putting it out there with like, you want styles, you're gonna have to take him, you're gonna have to trade up because he's not gonna be there.

Speaker 2:
[89:01] Yeah. And now the love to Arizona possibility?

Speaker 1:
[89:08] But McShea's line there was that they desperately want to move out and if they don't take him at three, he's not making it past Tennessee at four.

Speaker 2:
[89:16] No, correct.

Speaker 1:
[89:16] Which was your conversation about, hey man, Pollard actually, I get it, he didn't run for McCaffrey numbers or Saquon numbers, but how much more production are you gonna get? He had, what was it, 11 hunch, I want to say, was it you looked up last year?

Speaker 2:
[89:31] Four tuds. Yeah, like I said, those teams need so many pieces.

Speaker 1:
[89:38] Exactly, if I'm Arizona, I trade out and try to get as many picks as I can get because one guy, how's one running back gonna help you as opposed to if you can get three total picks that could start for your team?

Speaker 2:
[89:48] Yeah, I get it. I totally get it and it's just the running back position. What are you laughing at now?

Speaker 1:
[89:56] What ending are they gonna score?

Speaker 2:
[90:01] That was real.

Speaker 1:
[90:02] I'm sorry.

Speaker 2:
[90:03] Real question.

Speaker 1:
[90:04] I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Speaker 2:
[90:05] What was I?

Speaker 1:
[90:07] Soon.

Speaker 2:
[90:08] They're trying.

Speaker 1:
[90:09] Have some more tenders.

Speaker 2:
[90:10] Yeah, popcorn.

Speaker 1:
[90:12] Put some popcorn and ice cream on the tender. Mix them up.

Speaker 2:
[90:15] They've got cotton candy in their water.

Speaker 1:
[90:17] That was a catastrophe. Are you pro cotton candy?

Speaker 2:
[90:20] Not anymore. Maybe a slither.

Speaker 1:
[90:23] There's no such thing. Cause one bite and then it's on your fingers. And then yeah.

Speaker 2:
[90:27] No, you gotta be, you gotta be at...

Speaker 1:
[90:30] Dry.

Speaker 2:
[90:31] First one.

Speaker 1:
[90:32] No, thank you.

Speaker 2:
[90:33] They got everything there.

Speaker 1:
[90:36] Chef just breaking news on...

Speaker 2:
[90:37] What do we got?

Speaker 1:
[90:37] On with Pat McAfee, Trent Williams, they've extended him. They got that situation figured out.

Speaker 2:
[90:45] Oh, the Niners?

Speaker 1:
[90:47] Niners left tackle, Trent Williams got that sorted out. I don't know. Pat's got the neck brace on, hope he's okay.

Speaker 2:
[90:58] WrestleMania.

Speaker 1:
[90:59] Understood.

Speaker 2:
[91:03] Yeah, this draft is gonna be freaking awesome. Going to the Berg, cannot wait.

Speaker 1:
[91:07] When do you go? Wednesday?

Speaker 2:
[91:08] Tuesday night.

Speaker 1:
[91:09] Okay, excuse me, stretching.

Speaker 2:
[91:12] They've been talking to the Nats guys in the booth. They were in Pittsburgh, last week, like they're like-

Speaker 1:
[91:17] Sight survey just to figure it out for next year?

Speaker 2:
[91:20] Huh? No, Nats guys were in Pittsburgh because the Nats were playing the Pirates.

Speaker 1:
[91:25] Yeah, no, but the Nats have a quarterback. I understand, they were Pittsburgh. Go ahead.

Speaker 2:
[91:30] And they were just amazed at how much they were building. Like they added on for the draft, just looking at it, as you could see. It's everything around there.

Speaker 1:
[91:39] It's becoming next year, buddy. Right here on the mall, a million people.

Speaker 2:
[91:43] We're going to get a tent camp out on the mall.

Speaker 1:
[91:46] Oh yeah, we'll take the gang, your gang, my gang.

Speaker 2:
[91:50] What's the draft? We've had experience though, we watched the WNBA draft last week, so we got...

Speaker 1:
[91:58] They feeling good about Flage?

Speaker 2:
[92:01] Yeah, and then middle one, Lauren Betts coming to Mystics.

Speaker 1:
[92:04] There you go.

Speaker 2:
[92:04] How about that? The assistant coach for UCLA plays on the Mystics.

Speaker 1:
[92:11] Fine.

Speaker 2:
[92:11] It's awesome. Question. We got a three-on-three league that we're playing in, hoops, obviously, and plenty of comments, one ref. Yep. It was more about the ref's actions and the lack of calls and maybe wanting of calls. I looked at it totally different. I didn't say anything in a ref. Where do you stand if you're refing three-on-three 12-year-old girls basketball? Baseline. Half court.

Speaker 1:
[92:44] Baseline.

Speaker 2:
[92:44] You have to, right?

Speaker 1:
[92:45] Baseline. Half court?

Speaker 2:
[92:47] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[92:49] Come on. We got three-on-three half court. How old are the people? All the action is down low. They can't operate. There's no need for you outside. Baseline. Everything's happening right there.

Speaker 2:
[93:00] We had to explain foul line extended. There are three points where you got to take it back to. Couple issues there.

Speaker 1:
[93:07] Check ball.

Speaker 2:
[93:08] Oh, there's check ball.

Speaker 1:
[93:10] Yeah. You got to take it back past that.

Speaker 2:
[93:12] Yeah. I'm like ref.

Speaker 1:
[93:12] Can't be the body. Got to be the ball past there. We live in a society.

Speaker 2:
[93:16] Ref Baseline. Missed layups could be false there. We watch any shows.

Speaker 1:
[93:25] Like television shows?

Speaker 2:
[93:26] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[93:27] I watch sports shows. What shows?

Speaker 2:
[93:29] Yeah, but there was nothing. Friday night.

Speaker 1:
[93:32] Playoffs.

Speaker 2:
[93:35] Warriors was done.

Speaker 1:
[93:37] What am I supposed to be watching?

Speaker 2:
[93:38] The logo.

Speaker 1:
[93:41] What's that?

Speaker 2:
[93:41] Jerry West.

Speaker 1:
[93:43] Is it good?

Speaker 2:
[93:44] Really good. You should check it out.

Speaker 1:
[93:47] Add that to the list of shows I'm supposed to watch.

Speaker 2:
[93:50] Jailblazers?

Speaker 1:
[93:51] Uh-oh. Red's going to get the bottle.

Speaker 2:
[93:53] Jailblazers was a great history lesson. Going back late 90s, early 2000s.

Speaker 1:
[93:59] Jailrider?

Speaker 2:
[94:00] No, not even. This is Stoudemire, Bonzi, Sheed. What a fascinating concept.

Speaker 1:
[94:09] Don't have to Sheed, rusticans.

Speaker 2:
[94:13] Couldn't beat the Lakers. But Jerry West was buddy eight times.

Speaker 1:
[94:23] Logo, baby.

Speaker 2:
[94:24] And you can't beat him.

Speaker 1:
[94:25] Logo.

Speaker 2:
[94:25] Eight times. Imagine that. Then he walked in at Boston Garden as a GM. First time Lakers played them in the finals as he's the GM. He's like, I can't be here. Got to get out of here.

Speaker 1:
[94:38] He's a fascinating dude.

Speaker 2:
[94:40] Unbelievable, dude.

Speaker 1:
[94:41] Incredible life story, family history, a lot cooked into that. And then who he was as a player.

Speaker 2:
[94:47] Where he went for his outlets.

Speaker 1:
[94:49] He was that guy.

Speaker 2:
[94:50] Oh, unbelievably talented.

Speaker 1:
[94:54] We reached the red mauling a bottle portion of the pod. And if anyone's still with us.

Speaker 2:
[95:00] Yeah, I got one.

Speaker 1:
[95:01] One last thing?

Speaker 2:
[95:02] One last thing.

Speaker 1:
[95:02] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[95:03] Shout out to the Angels broadcast. I believe it was Wednesday or Thursday night. What night were we off?

Speaker 1:
[95:10] When Garrett Anderson passed away?

Speaker 2:
[95:11] Friday night. Yeah, it was so good. And growing up and having a cousin that's an Angels fan, we that whole World Series reign run. Shout out to my man, Danny. They bring Tim, former teammates and just telling stories over the course of a game. And having all these guys talk about the signs of that, like Garrett was there, like they were facing a knuckleballer. He loved hitting against Tim Wakefield. They brought up his numbers, talked about his approach, talked about him on and off the field. Darren Erstead was a guy who I loved as a player. He came in the booth, talked, just hearing him talk. I haven't been around him. I thought he was fantastic. That crew and such a tough turnaround space, what they were able to do Friday night and just giving the fan what they want. I mean, he's an icon of the franchise and the only World Series. And I thought he was always a fantastic player, but you never knew too much. So shout out to the Angels squad. That was a really, really cool deal. They pulled off amidst the broadcast, and intertwining all those things for a well-deserved dude. I thought it was really, really good.

Speaker 1:
[96:22] Well, baseball is a game that the play by play lends itself to storytelling. The pace of it plays out in a way that lends itself to that. And I didn't see it, but for a franchise to recognize that this one game isn't nearly as important as it is to let people who played with this man to share their stories right in the midst of a broadcast. I loved watching that guy play. I felt like he had just effortless power in how he, and defensively as well, just like the way he moved, it was just such a powerful player and by all accounts, just a quiet professional that did everything correctly.

Speaker 2:
[97:04] Yes, and like, Earth said, talk about how, it's dicey, left field in Anaheim, you got the low wall there, then you got the high wall and you got the rocks obviously in center field. But you just talk about how he perfected that and then how he changed and went to a 36-6 bat. And that's when all the doubles and homers started coming. So it's just a different thought, methods about the way he went. But he was brilliant and obviously super talented. So good on them for that.

Speaker 1:
[97:41] Yeah, that was one that kind of catch your breath when I saw that. I mean, you reach a point where unfortunately, like it's part of life that you start losing people. And when folks are in their whatever, 80s or 90s or whatever you think, okay, like that's a hell of a run. 53, 54 years old, insufficient time, man. So, all right, we've got Playoff Mix, Draft, Steven, the fellow is going to Pittsburgh, Danton. Red's reached the point where he's mauled the one bottle, now he's trying to rip the water bottle out of my hand. That's his sign. Dad, you've...

Speaker 2:
[98:19] Son out? I think the son's out.

Speaker 1:
[98:20] I think we're fine. Shout out to the Nationals quarterback. Thanks for being with, if anyone's still there, thank you for allowing us to just talk in all directions. Enjoy this great sports week. Red wants to go. That'll do it.

Speaker 4:
[98:41] Wow.

Speaker 1:
[98:42] Wow, that was a deep one. All right.

Speaker 2:
[98:43] Hungry. Always gotta take a leak. Either or.

Speaker 1:
[98:47] Have a nice week SVPod. We'll see you next time.

Speaker 4:
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