Seahawks Expose Patriots: Why Seattle Was Ready for the Super Bowl and the Pats Weren’t w/ Troy Aikman

Hey, Rosilla listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. If you're watching football this weekend, you know how it goes. Somebody's always hungry by the first quarter. So call Pizza Hut and get the Big New Yorker for just $10. Our biggest pizza for the biggest games. These slices are huge. Like, use two hands and fold it huge. Feed your crew and order ahead at pizzahut.com or in the app. brought to you by Pizza Hut. Seattle, your Super Bowl champs will break down the game and what it means for the arc of both Mike McDonald, John Schneider, and were the Pats just there a little too early? Thoughts on Drake May and how I'll remember last night's Super Bowl. We'll break down the game a little bit further with Troy Aikman. How will Sam Darnold's success change the way we maybe evaluate second, third time through quarterbacks that were high draft picks? And also, was there anything in this game where New England could have solved what was happening against Seattle? We've got life advice and something else as well. Every week in the NBA, stars rise, legends are made, and one player rules them all. DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, is bringing back King of the Court. And now it's every Tuesday of the season. Here's how it works. DraftKings is putting up $1 million in bonus bets each week. Opt in, apply your token, and place a $5 pregame bet on the NBA star you think will dominate each Tuesday. If your pick finishes the night leading the league in points, rebounds, and assists, they're crowned the king of the court, and you'll win your share of $1 million in bonus bets. And this season, there's a new way to track the action. The king of the court leaderboard inside the app. Before tip-off, see the top 10 stars in PRA while games are live. 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Dominant performance. And one of the most boring Super Bowls I think I've watched since the Seahawks won their last one against Denver. Where that score ended up being 43-8. Started with a safety. Even though the score, the way I remember that one, because the game was on. I was actually watching it last week on a replay with some guys. And it was funny because I was like, God, I remember this game being over immediately. But it was still a close score through the first quarter. So anyway, if you go through the other boring Super Bowls that we've watched, and trust me, like I'm going to give the Seahawks all the credit because they deserve a ton of it here. Pats Rams 13 to three, but that doesn't really count because it was 10 three and with four 17 left, golf gets picked off at the four yard line of the Pats. So that was an oddly like one sided game that there was still going like, wait, are the Rams going to figure out a way to get this one? I think you could probably throw in the Tampa Bay win over Kansas City in 21, but it was 21-6 of the half in the tackles and the offensive line. They were just having an awful time. But even I think the Mahomes factor at 21-6 halftime, you're going like, I always think with Mahomes, you're like, is he capable of something here? That was not the case last night because the game played out. And if you look at the first half stats and you're like, the Pats have 50 yards of total offense. and you're just watching what they're trying to compete with defensively. The Pats defense was really strong, but the offense couldn't do anything. May was terrible to continue his really, really poor playoff performance. We'll put in a perspective historically what he wasn't able to do after coming off what was one MVP vote shy of maybe winning the MVP. So it was just a game you're watching. You're going, this is really, really hard for New England. And it's a credit to this loaded defense that Seattle has. you know as the week continued and you're trying to figure out like which way you're going to pick it and i'm so mad at myself for switching i ended up fading myself because i was fading the public because as i had said last week like hey i'm a talent whore and all the talent was on seattle's side of it like we went through the 30 players as the end of jeremiah as mcshay it's like if you took the 30 best players on both of these rosters combined and like how many of the 30 would be on seattle we're like maybe 18 maybe 19 of them and maybe it felt even more overwhelming on the seattle side after watching this last night. So the talent disparity felt very real as we watch this game play out. And I want to start first with Mike McDonald, their head coach. If you think about his story and now becoming, and I saw this note from Mike Sando, the first defensive play caller, the first primary defensive play caller to win a Super Bowl, having those duties as well. He's 38 years old from situate an example of really dreams coming true and what is possible if you were that determined and there's going to be some special stuff about you to go from what he was to what he was last night not good enough to play college football he goes to Georgia he went to high school down there I guess he tore his ACL I don't know that I've ever read anywhere that he was some top prospect that because of injuries I doubt he was going to play at Georgia right decides to study finance, also is accepted into this Leonard Scholars School where, and I saw this from a Greg Bishop piece back in January on SI.com, this leadership school accepts 0.37% of undergraduates. So your GPA is going to be up to par. You've got to be crushing it to even get into this school. And then you start reading about the stuff that these kids are tasked with doing. They're just a different level. It makes you want to be a better person because of all the requirements that go into even graduating from this school with a degree. So he graduates, he sticks around as a grad assistant. He even wrote for the paper. He's a grad assistant with Mark Rick for UGA. And then in his spare time, he's coaching high school football at Cedar Shoals, where there's even part of the story where somebody recommends him and the high school coach is like, why am I doing this? What's this guy's deal? and then it looks like he loves coaching so much but he knows it's not really going to work out he's into finance apparently he's just brilliant and then he gets an internship with the ravens in 2014 and from that point four years later he's coaching the linebackers and defensive backs for John Harbaugh so then John tells his brother Jim like I've got apparently like he just must be so incredible to talk football with and even more impressive in interviews so he goes to Michigan as the D coordinator in 21, goes back to the Ravens in 22. He's their D coordinator. He gets hired by the Seahawks two years ago and now wins a Super Bowl at 38 years old. And it also doesn't happen unless he has John Schneider as the GM. Now you think about his resume. He's been on the job now 16 years when he was first named general manager and vice president. Now he's president of football operations. He's won a second Super Bowl with a different head coach. And if you think of the timeline of all of his transactions. And it's not just the impeccable drafting, where if you look at the 22 class, I think seven players from that 22 class were contributors this season. And certainly last night, Russell Wilson did him a favor. Russell Wilson did the Seahawks the biggest favor you could ever ask for in pro football. He wanted out. He wanted to be this like next level guy. He's like chasing Brady. And like who are any of us to tell a guy like, hey, you shouldn't be thinking that. But it wasn't good enough for him in Seattle. And at the time, there were some things that were showing you that were declining, but I don't know that any of us were expecting, I don't know, anybody was expecting the Russell Wilson fall off to happen as bad as it did. And to the point where you're like, I don't even know who's going to sign this guy. But Wilson wanting more for his career, feeling like Seattle was holding him back, does this massive favor. He moves off Wilson in a spot where I don't know that other ownerships, other front offices, they may have just wrote it out and then wrote it out until it was too late. He gets draft capital back. He gets off of a contract and they're trying to figure out on the fly, but Schneider's so good at this that they end up with the Geno Smith year and they're like, you know what? You're good. We don't think you're great. You might get more money somewhere else. Maybe we should just default to sign you because we feel like you're competitive with you, but we like what we saw from Darnold, even though a lot of us are like, I wonder if That's just a KOC thing where it's a one-year gift with Minnesota, and then you're making a huge mistake giving him any money. But if you look at the totality of these contracts, the overall headline number for Darnold is bigger than Geno Smith. Three years, $100 million versus Geno, two years, $75 million. But the guaranteed money that Schneider paid Darnold is less than the Raiders paid Geno Smith. It's $55 million guaranteed for Darnold. Really, this was like a two-year kind of prove-it deal, not the going rate for anybody that you would think is at this level. I mean, these are now $50, $60 million a year quarterbacks. Gino, who's guaranteed money is $66 million. Schneider gets bold enough to move off of that. And if you look at the financial structure of where the NFL is like rolling right now, the projected cap for 26 is over $300 million. Five years ago, it was $200 million. If you want to go back 10 years ago, basically the caps doubled in the NFL. if you are one, a great talent evaluator, because we know that's not the case for all 32 guys that are in charge of these teams. But if you're as great as Schneider is and his track record absolutely proves it and you're aggressive, there's room for you to pull. I don't know. Hey, this is this new standard that everybody that's aggressive and a great talent evaluator, you're just supposed to be able to win a Super Bowl immediately. But this is a league now where there's no contract really that's so bad it handcuffs you. Like we can look at the dead money on some of these big quarterback decisions a couple teams are going to make. And I remember like going back and I referenced it a few times and Antonio Brown was still with the Steelers and you're like, no one's going to take on that kind of dead money. All of these teams can take on that kind of dead money. And when you're as good as drafting as Schneider is and your quarterback's like a discounted rate, kind of like half of what the going rate is for a real starter, there's there's just all sorts of room for you to make a statement with your roster because this salary cap this nfl salary cap explosion is the gift that keeps on giving and for the owners that want to spend cash and for the gms that are aggressiveness aggressive enough howie roseman is another example this in philadelphia um you can you can pull off greatness and they executed this to perfection on the Pat side from 4-13 to 17-4. Did last night prove that all the concerns about the week schedule were real concerns? That the playoff run felt a little weird? Easy. The Chargers game, I mean, we can go through it line by line. The Chargers missing their tackles. The whole Herbert thing was a disaster. Never really felt right for a long time. They beat them at home in kind of an ugly game where May's running was really the difference. The Houston game, I know that I can get into the conditions of the game. Stroud, I don't know what happened to him in the playoffs. I can't imagine he's going to be this bad, but he was a disaster. So on top of everything else, you have the other quarterback kind of gifting you the game back to you every time you think you're in a chance to blow it. And then you have the Denver game where there's no Bo Nix and the conditions are such that we're stidham. It's like, we just want to punt. We want to run three plays, run clock and punt. So if you wanted to be harsh with the Patriots, you could. And I remember thinking like a little bit with the Rams and Seahawks going, you know, this could be like the Colts and Pats. I think I even said it at the time where whoever won that game was going to beat the Bears in that Super Bowl. And you feel like, hey, if you lose the AFC championship game, you just lost yourself a Super Bowl. I think you could say the same thing about the NFC title game as well. but I feel like that's a little harsh, a little dismissive. I don't want to say fraud about the Pats, but the gap was evident last night. The O-line was a mess. Six sacks allowed, and it's not just the six sacks. It felt like May very early on was sped up. I know Collinsworth on that third and five inside handoff was like, that feels like a concession. And then he had said the same thing because the Pats defense played really well last night where the Seahawks conceded on third and 12. And I'm like, well, third and 12, I get. But third and five, they may just have liked the look. I wasn't ready to even agree with Collinsworth, even though he was right. And I liked the way on the broadcast he had said, hey, I'm just telling you what I'm thinking. And it's like, great, that's what we want you to do. Tell us what you're thinking. The May throws, though, they did a rip of all the bad throws and the bad decisions. They left out, I thought, one of the most egregious ones. the eighth possession for New England first down there's a wide open wide receiver to his right that's a throw may makes all regular season like it's not even a question he sees it he diagnoses it he leads receivers on the move as well as anybody in the league and there's a guy right there wide open in front of him and he takes a sack and then I have no idea what he's doing because he's throwing pop-ups into traffic he had one in completion where he threw just a looked like a punt into triple coverage. Luckily for him, it was broken up. But I don't know if that was impatience. I don't know if it was him being rattled. We always talk about like the quarterback having to raise his risk based on the score. But even those throws were hard to justify. Like, I don't know how you look at those throws and be like, oh, he was just raising his risk. Because even the Mac Hollins completions, especially the first one before the touchdown, I can't believe he threw it to Mac Hollins. And it was, I mean, it's a completion for a big gain. So it's like, oh, what an unbelievable throw. That's the talent. That's why we're all excited about Drake May. But I mean, that was just an awful night to close out what was a turnover filled postseason for him. And if you look at the EPA numbers, expected points added, if you look at any quarterback with three or more postseason starts, his run is the worst run we've had from a quarterback since 2000. So I won't remember this as a game where this coach did something wrong or this player had this terrible moment. Like the stuff that we kind of obsess about maybe too much the Monday after a Super Bowl where I've always said like some of those statements on Monday can be the most misleading because we're all in a competition to say something that's the most resonating. I think this is a really, really simple summary. summary, and it's how I'm going to remember last night's Super Bowl, is it was the difference between a Seattle team that was ready to be there and a Patriots team that wasn't. And ultimately, for Pats fans, I know it sucks. And I know the standard is playing in Super Bowls and winning Super Bowls because under craft, that's exactly this franchise has been. So you're not this cute little underdog story where you're still going to buy all the shirts and obviously the DVD joke doesn't work anymore. But you get the point. There are some fan bases just to have this kind of run that was unexpected. You're like, man, I appreciated this so much. But because it was so unexpected, and if we're all being honest, I think last night plays out with like, hey, this roster is actually not ready to be here right now. And they ran into a team that was. You'll probably, if you're a Pats fan, appreciate this season far more than you do today. The GameTime app gives the advantage back to fans. It's the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use, and the game time guarantee means you can trust you'll get 100% authentic tickets on time and at the best price. Plus, fees are always included, so what you see is what you pay. I was looking at tickets for Thunder Lakers tonight, and I'm seeing tickets around $82. My favorite thing with the game time app is pretty simple. You're wondering, okay, am I going to find the best price? And when you open it up, and then you look at all the different seating charts, and you're like, okay, well, wait a minute. If these tickets cost half as much as these and it's only like a row away, this is clearly the best buy. Or you can just kind of start your day going, I know I wanted the game tonight, so let me monitor this entire thing. And that's what is the best part, at least for me in the GameTime app, because I can stay on top of where the market is going. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code RUSILO for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code RUSILO for $20 off. This is a great day to have Troy Aikman on, Hall of Famer, Super Bowl winner, after last night's game. So we'll run through the game and also a pretty cool story of what he has going on with his eight beer, which he was nice enough to send over some this week as well. So good to see you, Troy. The biggest thing, the biggest football part of this game and what was a decisive win for Seattle for you was what? Oh, I mean, I don't know if there was any one moment, but I thought that going into it, I mean, I expected it to be a better game than what it was. I thought it would come down to the wire. I thought it would be a low-scoring game. You know, Seattle just kind of flexed their muscles like they're capable of doing. It was impressive. They really have no weaknesses on that football team. It was quite a year for them. Heck, they had a good year last year with Mike McDonald's first season. You know, they just failed to make the playoffs with 10 wins, and then they'd come off of that new quarterback and kind of hit all the right buttons with John Schneider. So I think it's a really – it's a well-coached organization. I think their personnel department's excellent. And it was nice to see Sam walk away from this year with a Super Bowl. Yeah, the Sam part of his story, it – you know, I saw like Jets fans and some media members being like, I can't believe the Jets gave up. And they're like, well, how long were they supposed to go? And then there was also a few other stops. So I wonder if this is more about Sam, Troy, or do you think this will turn into franchises looking at these top quarterbacks that were drafted and flamed out a little differently? I wonder if this means something different for so many of these first rounders that don't work out in the first few stops. You know, it's a good question, Ryan, but I don't think it will. And the reason I say that is I was on a podcast last week and kind of had this similar conversation that if Sam Darnold stays in New York, he's not winning the Super Bowl like he just did. I'm not saying eventually he wouldn't, but that team has continued to struggle. Carolina has gotten better. They were more competitive this year. But there are those organizations that I say that everyone's looking for the franchise quarterback. And when you come out of college and you're drafted, then people, I think organizations are even quicker to try to make a determination as to whether or not this is your franchise guy. And I know from firsthand experience that if things had stayed status quo in Dallas when I came here, my first two years, I was terrible. I had nine touchdowns, 18 interceptions both seasons. We were the worst offense in football. My second year, we were 28th out of 28 teams at the time. we were getting worse we still had Emmett we still had Michael uh we still had Nate Newton you know and Mark Tuna we had Mark Stepnoski we had we had the same people Jay Novacek and we were terrible and then Norv Turner comes in and we were a top 10 offense we make the playoffs and then we win two Super Bowls and we're a top five offense and and so coaching matters and And Sam wasn't getting great coaching when he was in New York. And then he went to Carolina, was not a great experience for him there. But when he went to San Francisco and saw how Kyle Shanahan does it and how someone who really understands offensive football and putting a quarterback into a quarterback friendly system, you know, he didn't play in San Francisco, but things started to make sense for him Kyle Shanahan taught him how to watch film Then he goes to Minnesota He with Kevin O Same type situation He has a great year He goes to Seattle He with Clint Kubiak. Same type of offensive system. Great coach. And he wins the Super Bowl. So I don't think it's as simple as these teams saying, hey, maybe we should stick with them. I think it's more along the lines of maybe these organizations need to take a harder look at what they're doing themselves and who they have in these coaching positions and whether or not they're maximizing some of these young, talented players that they may have that aren't producing at the level that they expect. That first year with Jimmy, I've kind of had this theory that I wonder sometimes if we're at our best when we're youngest and there's a bunch of different reasons. You could say, Hey, that's not that profound. Right. But, you know, for McDonald's, like, this will be the most motivated he ever is in his life. And we can talk about like, you know, the guy that hasn't won a Superbowl in 10 years is like, I'm still putting the hours I'm doing all these things. But I just, I think you're obsessed when you're younger about whether it's the creative process or getting one of these absurd opportunities at such a young age. Um, you know, look, it took, I mean, it's not like it took a long time with with you and Jimmy uh what's year four right but is there something about what you noticed with guys that were younger and and maybe that was always going to be their best work and it's just human nature and it's just not anything you can ever solve that's why like I always look at Saban as this miracle because it's like how could he still work that hard and be that good that many years after so much success that's the rarity and those are rare yeah yeah so I don't know if you see, I'm not making like a Jimmy Johnson, McDonald parallel, but I wonder if it's like, Hey man, when you're with those guys, those first couple of years, it kind of has to happen then because that's when somebody who's leading something is going to be the most motivated to prove something. Uh, yeah, I think there's a, I think there's some truth in that. I also, uh, heard something a couple of years ago that coaches generally, if they are going to win a Superbowl, they win it. I'm going to get it wrong, but it's within the first couple of years of when they take over a program. You know, you don't see a lot of coaches who have been coaching somewhere for 10 years and then all of a sudden take them to the Super Bowl. Bill Belichick was one of those guys you talk about, along with Nick Saban, that obviously continued to grind, continued to win, hold guys accountable. But I think in general, there's a lot of truth to that, whether it's coaching, whether it's players. I think guys come into the league, they're certainly hungry to prove themselves. There's always the idea that once a player gets paid the big contract, what a exactly are they then going to become. There's some concern with that with some organizations when they do pay some of these players. So yeah, I think people are either wired a certain way or they're not. And the reality is, I think you've probably experienced this yourself, that it doesn't really much matter what the business is or what the occupation is. most people are not wired to give it everything they have each and every day to be the best they can be. And that's why some of those names you mentioned, Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, others go on and have great success because they do burn a little bit hotter than what some other people do. There's another part of this that I always think is kind of like interesting in how we'll, like the Spurs are a good example of this, right? And it's like, hey, the Spurs have this culture that's gone on for decades. And then I might go like, or they got really lucky in three lotteries with David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and now Wimbledon Yama. All right. So the culture may be everything where there's respect all the way from ownership to the least important staff member, but there's this cohesiveness that speaks to the culture. And I think that's still kind of true. I think people could say that about the patrons and be like, hey, there's a standard in Foxborough with ownership being the same. And so the fact that they're already back at the Super Bowl, that's kind of their standard. And then I think about your Cowboys teams and I go, was it great culture? Was it the culture that mattered because of game day? Or is it like, hey, there's a million things you could point to here that wouldn't be ideal for a franchise, but at least we knew when the guys came out of the tunnel, everything else didn't matter. So it may not be a culture that you want to emulate that we praise Seattle, but like, hey, they're set up for a really long time because the cohesiveness of the front office and the coach, and they have the right guys. Obviously, winning turns every program into like, oh, they have something about them. But I wonder even if your Dallas years are a bit of an aberration because I think there's a lot of it that other franchises would go like, well, I don't know that we want to be just like the Dallas Cowboys from the 90s. Well, I would say this, that there is a reason why we won. And the game of football and winning is not easy, but it's not as hard as some people make it. And so our run in the 90s was really predicated on a demanding head coach who had full authority of the football team and had a great eye for talent and brought in, whether through trade, free agency, or in the draft, upgraded our team rather quickly. And then we practiced at a level that was unique to the NFL at that time. When Jimmy came in from college, there was this idea that, hey, don't push the guys. And I know Jimmy was criticized because they thought a lot of the veterans felt that Jimmy had this rah-rah mentality like college. Like, hey, we're pros. We get paid. We know what we're doing. We're grown men. And Jimmy had a belief that all people can be motivated. And I happen to agree with that, but we worked hard. And our hardest working players were our best players. And so that kind of set the tone. But it was all based around Jimmy. And then we had really great coaches. We had a great coaching staff that was all in alignment with Jimmy. There were no cracks in the armor. If you went into your position coach and bitched about whatever the schedule was, because we were in pads every day. Now, you can't do that anymore because of the CBA. But if you as a player went into your position meeting and talked to your position coach and bitched about the way things were being done, you didn't get any sympathy from your position coach. I mean, they were all in alignment with Jimmy. And so it just set a tone for what was expected, how we were going to do it. And then we were really talented. So we worked harder than most teams, maybe all teams. We were as talented, if not more talented than most teams. And then we went on a run. Now, Jimmy leaves, and a lot of those things that allowed us to be successful changed. And you can't tell me 30 years, and the Cowboys haven't been to an NFC championship game. There's something that's not being done right. I mean, every team falls into one year where they win two playoff games and make it to the championship game. You know, I mean, it happens. And so the way they do things in Dallas now is not how they were done under Jimmy Johnson. And so they haven't followed kind of the blueprint. I'm not saying it's the only blueprint, but if you know the blueprint that was there at one time that allowed you to have success, it seems logical you'd kind of want to follow that. And I think that's what New England's done under Bob Kraft. And then, of course, what Seattle's been able to do, that's pretty remarkable as well when you come back and you're doing it with a new coach, new quarterback, and everything else. For you in Dallas, and this is a Darnold question, because, you know, Darnold has like what I would appear like. Everybody loves the guy that knows him. Anyone that I know that knows Darnold is like he and you know, you can tell sometimes it's like, oh, he's the best. This is the greatest guy ever with Darnold. It feels a little extra and specific. Yeah. And I don't know that I've ever heard anybody say a bad word about the guy and the work ethic on top of everything else. But when you come in, even off of that Minnesota year, like I can imagine with you being a top pick, the resume, even with the bad records, like, yeah, you're probably feeling yourself. You probably can still have command. Maybe I'm guessing here a little bit. Certainly one Super Bowl, you start to have the stature where it's like, you guys better start listening to me here, right, in the command that you would have. I think for Darnold, that's got to be a really tough spot. Because even if he knows, like, I've got to get on, guys, and I've got to be the leader of this, it's probably tougher with his resume to get everyone to buy into him when he's breaking the huddle the way it would for somebody who's more established. you know just you just can pick the guys where it's like hey when this guy breaks the huddle there's probably some guys rolling their eyes every now and then with them uh maybe maybe uh i think those i think that is kind of earned uh i don't think you just step into an organization for instance sam going to minnesota i don't think you just walk into the organization and immediately have the respect of your teammates i that's earned it's earned long before you ever even get into week one on television, you know, where people are actually watching you play. You earn it through the way that you work and the OTAs, the way you prepare, study, all those things. And your teammates then watch that and respond to it. So I don't think you necessarily have to have won a Super Bowl in order to be a quarterback and command the room in an offensive meeting or on the practice field or get guys to follow what it is that you're wanting them to do. But now, once you've done that, and I will say even going back to last year with Minnesota that, man, you talk to his teammates, they loved him. I mean, they really did. And there's been a lot of fallout in Minnesota after the decision to allow him to move on. but he's a he's a really a beloved guy within the locker room for all the reasons you said he's just a great person he was raised well but he works hard he's a great teammate and so those are the guys you really root for and I think for a guy who went through what he did early in his career he's he's unaffected by it you know I mean he's not bitter he's not angry he's not jaded by it Uh, he's very upbeat. Uh, he takes criticism. Well, you know, whatever people's opinions have been and he just says, great, I'm going to go out and try to be the best quarterback I can be. So I, I was, I would have loved to have seen Drake win a super bowl as well. I would have loved to have seen a lot of quarterbacks win super bowls this year, but I was really happy for, for Sam Darnold and what he's been through and for him now, uh, to hit the, the bust word. And I think that left him a year ago, but that's long gone. You know, I mean, he gets to hold his head up and play for a lot of years. It doesn't mean that the questions about you go away. You know, those don't disappear. I won three Super Bowls and I got booed off the field my last year in Dallas. So, you know, these memories are short when it comes to fans and it's what have you done lately. So next year, you know, if they, he gets off to a tough start, nobody's going to care what happened in 25. They're going to let, they're going to let them know about it, but I'm sure happy for them. Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cash back at some of your favorite brands with Venmo stash rewards. Upgrade your super fan status with special edition school designs. So you can pay for your game day wings and rep your team at the same time. You can add your Venmo debit card to your mobile wallet as soon as you sign up and pay online and in store right from your phone. And the best part, the card is tied right to your Venmo account. Got paid back for dinner? Immediately access the money in your Venmo balance and spend it on what you want. Game day snacks, tickets, new merch. You can easily split purchases in the app and there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash. Sign up at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bank Corp. Bank, NA, select schools available. Venmo Stash bundle terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me forward slash stash terms. Max $100 cash back per month. I want to get to some of the football stuff, even though it's such a one-sided game. And maybe this is just being spoiled by watching Brady all those years that you always feel like there's something about it, like as bad as it's going, there's at least a chance to solve something. Did you ever feel like New England, there was something there for them to solve to try to get back into this thing? Well, they just couldn't string enough plays together positively. You know, I mean, it seemed like every time they kind of got something going, then, you know, they'd get behind the chains and have a negative play and then they're having to punt the football. So it just, which, you know, that's a defense that is really, really good. They give you a lot of different looks. Like I said earlier, they're really well coached. So, no, you're hoping your own defense can hold the score down and not put too much pressure on your offense. And, you know, once they were able to extend their lead, Seattle, I knew then it was going to be really tough for this New England team to hang in there. They just weren't going to get the explosive plays that you kind of need. and then to try to put together the kinds of plays to move the football against this group is a real challenge. How difficult was what their front and then even with Witherspoon and some of the more exotic blitzes? How tough of a challenge is that for an offensive line? Yeah, they give you a lot of different looks. They don't give you as many looks as what New England does defensively. They did bring Witherspoon a fair amount, who's really good. I'm really impressed with him. Uh, but they, I, I just, both these guys really, I mean, I, it's, it's hard when you lose a Super Bowl and, and, and people then forget all that new England had been through to get to that point. Uh, and nobody expected a lot out of them. I was extremely impressed with them. You know, we had them in the, in the divisional round, uh, and then late in the year as well in December against the giants really well coached, even after their defensive coordinator was gone for so much of the season. And then New England does it a little, or excuse me, Seattle does it a little bit differently, but just loaded with talent. And so with a couple of young offensive linemen for New England, I don't think they got overwhelmed, but I just think that these are young players that are in a big ballgame against a really well-coached football team and talented defensive players. Yeah, because in the open, when I talked about this game, I think it plays out like this New England season is ridiculous. This turnaround. And if they're a different franchise, it's like a cute year, but it's maybe going to feel more disappointing because their standard is just ridiculous. This has been for 25 years, but this is so ahead of schedule. Yeah. And the amount of roster turnover that they've gone through post Belichick. And then even last year, when you look at the percentage of starts from the guys playing in 25, this isn't even supposed to happen. So I don't know. Like, look, nobody's walking out of that place last night going, hey, you know what, I still feel really good because we exceeded all expectations. But I imagine a few moments remove Rabel and that staff go, what a year. But we're not to the level of these other teams. And I think for a night that was pretty evident. Yeah, I'm with you, Ryan. I mean, what they accomplished is incredible. you know back-to-back four win seasons they they not a lot was expected of them but you start winning some games early in the year and you start to gain some confidence and and then it just builds and builds and builds and that's what we witnessed I Mike Vrabel's a great football coach I think he's he's got a great blend of being old school and how he holds players accountable but yet new school and his ability to relate and have relationships with these guys to where they really know that he cares about them. I thought he did an amazing job with the staff, like I said, for him to have lost his defensive coordinator and have to make the necessary adjustments there throughout the season. Second-year quarterback, great development from him after last year. I just think that he kind of touched all the right buttons to get them where they are, and yet, as good as it was, when you lose the Super Bowl, you feel worse than any other team in football. I mean, that's just what happens. So you feel worse than the teams that lost in the wild card round and you feel worse than the teams that lost in the divisional round and in the championship game. And you're right there on the cusp and you just weren't able to finish off the season. And there's no guarantees that they'll be back or that Drake May will be back. But with all that said, I think you've got to feel pretty good about where you're at. And just think about Bob Kraft as the owner. When he buys the team, Drew Bledsoe is his quarterback. Then Tom Brady becomes his quarterback for 20 years. And then what felt, we had dinner with Mr. Kraft the night before our divisional game against the Texans. He thought that that time from Tom Brady to Drake May was like a lifetime. You know, right? there's teams that have gone 50 years that haven't had a franchise quarterback and he went five years or whatever it was and now you've got Drake May I mean that's an abundance of riches for Bob Kraft and they're all cut from the same cloth they're all wonderful people they work their tails off I mean this is a league that the quarterback is essentially the CEO and the face of your organization and to have those three guys as the owner of the Patriots. That's pretty impressive. I want to just talk a little bit about Kenneth Walker, too, because I think as the season progressed, especially when Charbonnet goes out and a lot of it's on him, those two runs, because it wasn't like Seattle was lighting it up. I even thought Darnold was getting really risky with some of those early throws. He is throwing right on the coverage here. And I'm thinking, hey, they're going to jump one of these routes and this could be the game. It's this awesome defensive battle early on. And Walker has those two huge runs and that one possession. And I love kind of Collinsworth, too, on a third and five drop. He's like, well, the part we don't tell you is he's not always the best catching. Which I just, you know, I love the full scope of like, hey, let's not be afraid of this. I was happy. You know, it'd be the MVP of that team is all the defensive personnel. But you know how it goes. You got to pick one guy. And I was kind of glad that it went with him because I thought he was extending their offense in a way that New England couldn't, even as Darnold was struggling against New England's defense. No, I would agree with that. I really like their one-two punch. I mean, I'm a big fan of Zach Charbonnet and familiar with him when he transferred from Michigan to UCLA and watched his career where, you know, my alma mater. But Kenneth Walker, yeah, it was – I've always thought he was good. I'm in that position to where when we cover Seattle, I get a chance to watch them. So the casual fan, maybe unless you were a Seahawks fan, you really didn't know a lot about Kenneth Walker. And you got a chance to see him then in that game. So I always like when a guy like him, who I think has done a lot of good things throughout his career, gets to the opportunity on a big stage and makes the most of it. But yeah, he was a constant for them. He's as tough as they come. He's a home run threat whenever he gets the football. And he did. He had some big runs in that game. And I agree that Sam threw one. It might have been the opening possession. He threw one. It very easily could have been a pick six. And I said it with the group that I was watching the game with. And then Collinsworth, he talked about it as well right off of that. And I thought, holy cow. I thought that was going the other way. And he put it the only place he could have put it. and it was a catch, but he did throw a couple of those early on that you were kind of like, wow. And, you know, I was telling this group that was watching the game with me, two of the three Super Bowls that I played in, we opened the game with a pass. And so I knew on Friday that we were going to throw the ball to start the game And all I could tell myself for 48 hours was man if it not there just do not throw it in any make sure there no danger whatsoever so you don't start the game off with an interception. Sam, he was gunslinger right from the start in that game last night. I was like, these are like third and seven covered throws down eight. That's right. That's right. I'm going, what is he doing? And that's why I think the Walker part of it was important because it kind of settled them and kept it going. All right. Two things before we say goodbye to our guy, Troy, here. Thank you so much for the 12 pack, eight beer. As you know, Troy has been involved with elite light beer. And he sent me he sends me some every year, which is super nice. But I thought it was pretty cool for those of us that have watched Landman and been a fan of the show to get what was some really great product placement that felt like organic as part of the dialogue that Taylor Sheridan and his crew got in there with Billy Bob. Yeah, it was, gosh, I mean, one, I love the show. So much of America does. It's right here in my backyard in North Texas where it's shot and, you know, the story. Taylor, he's a big fan of the beer. I mean, he absolutely loves it. He has told me it's his favorite beer and he's wanted to get behind it, you know, and and doesn't want anything for it. He just, and because of that, it does have an authentic feel. And so he wanted to work it into the show. He was able to do that. Love how he did it. In fact, we're collaborating on some stuff now just to continue to get more exposure for the beer. And it's been fantastic. You know, you held up the packaging. We changed that packaging back in May. And we also then came out with the slim can that's in there. And since then, we've been on a steady growth from May on. We're in Texas and Oklahoma. So it's been quite a ride. And to get Taylor Sheridan and his muscle behind it has been huge. I've had more people reach out to me, really, for the last several weeks, because not everybody's watching it from week to week when the new episodes come out. So I continue to get messages from friends and people that are familiar with the brand. And it was tremendous exposure, which has really helped us out in the marketplace. Well, again, I'm happy for you and always appreciate you guys sending over some product in the golf hat. Last thing. So I get the call from Van Pelt and Stanford Steve. They go, hey, are you in Manhattan Beach? Are you at the Super? I was like no i'll be back and they go well let's meet up saturday and i was like what are you guys doing here and they go we're doing sports center after the super bowl from so fi and as somebody who worked at the company for almost 15 years myself like i know what the super bowl means dsbn right like this has been the goal for a very very long time and wondering if this could ever happen and i think you and joe coming over is is also you know like let's let's make this something that the NFL is going to feel great about the partnership with. So they had them do the show from SoFi, which where the Super Bowl will be. I wonder if you, you know, you've done a million of these, you played in them, you were with Fox forever, but like what this means to ESPN and you being a part of this for the year countdown. Yeah. Really good question, Ryan. And the fact that you were with ESPN for so many years, you get it. And I obviously joined ESPN four years ago. I can tell you that when I joined, even though the Super Bowl was five years out, there was a buzz within the company about the fact that they had a Super Bowl coming up. And so it's been building to this crescendo of 2026. And that being the year that ESPN gets to broadcast the Super Bowl and for Joe and I to be a part of it, it's huge. And I did a sit-down interview for the show they did last night that was called The Handoff. And my part of the show was basically, I spent 15 minutes talking about handing the ball off over my career to Emmitt Smith. And what constitutes a good handoff? Because NBC basically handed the ball off to us at the end of that game last night. And now it's ESPN's job to take the ball and run with it right up until our Super Bowl in Los Angeles next year, Super Bowl 61. And it's kind of fitting, I think, that the game will be played in Los Angeles. You've got Disneyland. You've got Hollywood. You've got a lot of what Disney has represented. And for the game to be there and allow Disney, ABC, ESPN to really flex their muscle and get behind this game. I think it's, I mean, they're throwing every resource they have at this Super Bowl. And I can't wait to be a part of it. The thing I've just tried to get, I just tried to everybody, hey, can everybody just take a breath and know that that game's going to get here? And there are a number of people within the company that have never been a part of broadcasting a Super Bowl. So you don't want to make too much of it to where it becomes bigger than what it really is. You still got to just go do the blocking and tackling of broadcasting like you do each and every week. But it's a really exciting time for the network, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it for ESPN's first Super Bowl broadcast. All the others from Disney were on ABC. So this will be new ground, and we're all really excited about it. Well, it's a good hands with you and Joe, as all of us, just as football fans, understand. And maybe in good arms as well, as those veins are popping through that T-shirt today, Troy. is another advertisement for what light beer can do for you if you balance it with the workouts and everything else. So, uh, Hey man, you're the best. Thanks for the time as always. Appreciate it, Ryan. Yeah, you bet. Thank you, buddy. This episode is brought to you by Raising Canes. I'm a huge Canes guy, the crispy chicken fingers, the crinkle cut fries, grilled Texas toast. And of course the cane sauce. I missed the smell of it in my studio already. I also go way back with Canes founder, Todd Graves. He's a huge football fan and my feed was flooded with pics of Todd and Cain's with all the big names they hosted on Sunday and this week they're going to be hosting a fan event with the winners Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold will be at Cain's working a shift serving fans and cooking up those delicious chicken fingers to celebrate the big win check it out on social and give them a follow they've always got a big name dropping in raising Cain's chicken fingers one love you want details bye i drive a ferrari 355 cabriolet what's up i have a ridiculous house in the south fork i have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids i am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required a statement before we get to life advice. Been an interesting few days. We've got Saruti and Kyle here. We'll get to life advice here in a second. But there's a reason why I was waiting to talk about this now, and I wasn't going to post about anything. So as you may have known by now, there was a strange post, and it was certainly strange to me as well from last week, where I'll just run you through the timeline. Get back to the hotel room, doom scrolling, can't fall asleep, which is unfortunately a terrible habit um the dm game is um is pretty predictable in that usually it's you know every now and then maybe somebody says something nice to you but usually it's terrible stuff um scams um people asking you for favors telling you you suck and um i saw one that was like oh this is interesting and so i'm not gonna get too graphic about it if you know you know, I opened it up, I looked at it, I was like, wow. And, um, assumed it was, was nothing more than that. And then I closed out of it. And then I, um, even was like doom scrolling through, I'm really hooked on these medieval video game things that I'm probably just as embarrassed to admit that. And well, that sounds cool. Yeah, no, I'll send you the link to that one, Kyle. you probably already have the other one. So anyway, um, I don't post a lot. So I never saw, like, I did not see my story live or active. You know, it's not like I'm constantly updating, like, Hey, getting ready for dinner or like, look at me with Adam Schefter at dinner, you know, like posting. I just don't post that often. And I never saw anything on my story. So, you know, if I'd seen something on my story, I would have freaked out and been like, what happened? And so then went to bed, 8 a.m., ready to attack the day. And I see over 100 calls and texts. So my first thought is like, are we at war? And then in just the seconds of waking up and seeing that much activity on your phone, I even had like a positive moment where I went, am I being congratulated for something? And I was like, I don't think I'm nominated for anything. So I don't know why this many people would be excited. And then I open up the text and I went, oh, my God. i'm like what how did that happen i'm like what what is this and then sarita i caused like well obviously everybody's gonna understand like i didn't i didn't do this and then he was like check to see if you're hacked and then i was like really nervous because i'm like well if i'm hacked i don't know what the hell's gonna happen and then i was able to get right back in but the story was gone so i'm like i don't know i'm like i don't know how this would have happened um so yeah it It was a range of reaction from you're the worst to you're the best. And I don't feel like either of those are accurate. I can tell you in however many years, 16, 17 years of having a phone and social media, I've never, ever been like, hey, this will be cool. I'll just do this. So, you know, certainly like I feel bad about that part. There are people that have said, hey, since the show went to Barstool, the content's been different. And I would say, you got me now. You do have me now. That's a good point. And then this morning, I even got an alert at like 5 a.m. on my phone that was like, your Instagram location has been updated 11 times. So now I'm like freaking out all over again. I open it up. I'm like, what is going on? I change the password at 5 a.m. and then I just sit there going like, well, maybe I should just start taping the show. I would say to the seven to eight thousand new followers that I have on Instagram. Get ready to learn solo boating because the the content is not going to be maybe what you think you're signing up for. so get anybody that was um trying to figure out what the sentence is that awful announcing is going to take from this to make the headline seem much worse but like i don't i don't know what happened and i'm you know i'm sorry that it did so uh yeah interesting couple days yeah you know it's it's uh it was jarring to wake up to we were you know we had a we had a nice night you know nothing crazy whatever it was our last night too and i'm thinking because i didn't sleep well all week and i'm like all right gonna get a good night of sleep my flight's at noon now this is gonna be great you know get a good breakfast something like that and i wake up to pee at like 6 a.m local time and just way too many texts and calls and the first one i looked at was from my wife maddie and it was just alert alert alert screenshot and i was like okay my day it started so called kyle uh big cat and i chatted trying to figure out you know do we know who this is what like what's going on and you know it's then i called you and it was like hey i'm not exactly sure what's going on stuff happens man you know yeah because i was like well then something like i clicked on it and i must have been hacked or something so i was like i don't but i mean you know i hope i'm not getting to the age where i have to ask a younger person and be like hey is this bank alert real or not yeah no i don't think maybe i am i don't think so no maybe i well you know we're gonna be if anybody sends me anything saying like hey your bank account is closing i'm gonna i'm gonna look at it extra hard just sucks that it buried the lead that you had a fucking diamond chain on the night before and i just couldn't stop thinking about it and it's like we have to talk about other stuff instead i was hoping we could have led with that but i don't think it was yours related still not sure dude i'm so proud of you that was a huge move well you have your johnny's pullover on so maybe maybe peaking at the right time uh that's that's really all i have to say i'm proud of big i'm proud i'm proud of kyle too kyle had a hit the next morning uh on most sports and you know and it wouldn't even have been that morning if i didn't skip out on it all week and then it was like well this is the last day uh but hey i'm a team player i didn't say shit i didn't know shit no well there really wasn't anything like because at first i'm like well okay you just hacked like if people will understand um and then you're just kind of like what is going on and so i got i'm telling you right now i got that alert at 5 a.m this morning i'm like what is happening i was thinking to myself PTSD if you were hacked. Are you serious? PTSD. You know, just walking around your house and be like, well, it's too early. I don't think they want to tape at five today. Like, let me just get this show over with. Anyway, we have a lot of life advice emails. Some are clever. It took me a while to sift through these. It's going to be like this for a while. So we have to just wake up earlier to sift through these guys. but that i don't know that is it though like that's the funny thing about it is like you know all right you got to say something about it you know you you did great and it's like all right i think everybody just kind of moves on i mean i don't know but i can see how life advice would be bogged down i can see how yeah people love the email yeah that's true social media email people just love to bog down with stuff but in real life i don't know man people move on i did see people a lot of people thought it was like a savvy move pr move just like hijack the last day of super week yeah i think if you really know me you're you're like i because so i i don't know i don't know yes okay good you said something you could have totally taken the route of like we're just never gonna do anything about this and no i wouldn't i don't think that we're i don't think that way works but it's way easier to do tweet a statement and go you know because that because no one's goes like oh yeah that makes sense chill yeah drive them to the pot if they want to hear what's going on it is funny the difference though but people of like the hell yeah dude and it's like well i'm not really on your side and the people that are like how dare you do this like i'm not really on your side either it's kind of like the halftime show last night like all right dude i can i just don't subscribe from all this um good cinematography i thought in the halftime show yeah it looked good i'm no this isn't an anti i'm not pro or anti just like can we just not everything like i use their big whatever like bad bunny split like what i went to i think yesterday across after the gym and i was uh i was loading up on food for the day right and i'm checking out and there was a guy behind the counter talking to somebody who was checking out and they were like you know who do you have in the super bowl and the guy was like oh he's like i don't he's like i'll watch bad bunny and it just hit me again i was like that's right there's millions of people out there every year like i don't know if you've ever i forget i think that's when i lived in like town once i ran to get something to drink at like halftime or whatever when i lived in an apartment i was like let me just run out and grab some waters or whatever and i i like just saw people at like barnes and noble and people having lunch and going like oh that's right or late lunch because east coast dinner or whatever you're like there's just so many people still that don't watch us yeah and then you remember like there are a ton of people that will only watch the halftime show. Yep. What were the best commercials? Yeah. It's a Super Bowl means something different to everybody. I used that time to make my bacon wrapped jalapeno popper. So I did catch a little bit of it, but it was a different kind of game for me. It was a little stressed. That realtor one, the Redfin rocket mortgage hybrid one, like that was depressing. They were packing a lot of story into that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah not every company has to be like this huge like tear jerking pace you know big picture life thing it's like hey man you just want to sell houses it's all right dude remember that doritos commercial like 10 12 years ago like that was good like just quick hit remember that like they had a bunch of what like in a couple years span of like what's doritos gonna do this year that used to be funny remember that guy like smashed through the vending machine like that was funny just not a lot funny ones humor is weird though because it's like it's like the uh it's like you know we grew up with the the judd apatow movies it's like our comedies dead and it's kind of interesting because like the comedies versus the super bowl funny commercials have kind of both taken a complete nosedive it's like do we just why do we just not agree on the same type of humor anymore like it is i don't know is there we all just too online probably now which and i think we're way too harsh we're just way too harsh in general about everything you know so i don't know if like pft did the Budweiser one. They're like, hey, what do you want to do? It was like Clydesdale, Eagle, and Freebird. Yeah. The Duncan one was like, we're going to be a thousand Boston things at once. And then it's going to be a different world also. I think. I don't know. Yeah, that one's a little confusing to me. Looks good, though. Brady was good in it. Yep. Yeah, he was. Shout out to Aniston. I even got invited to like a cool high-end guy Super Bowl party yesterday. i was like sorry nice can't do even yesterday oh yeah yeah we didn't take a hit at all it's great news well i i just was like i i can't go to a thing people well because because you need to shell a place or shelter a place or what no no no no i just i wouldn't know that dude it's not a place to put your note that's exactly what i said i was like i i just like can you imagine going to a Super Bowl party with people and they're eating food and the game sucks and I'm sitting there going like Seattle possession number six right you wouldn't get another cool shit that you'd want to be at so yeah I think that was the right calculus you know I can't it's been this long we haven't asked how Kyle's doing I'm doing uh that was embarrassing the open speak to you a little bit though make you feel better yeah totally I mean it sucks but I was thinking like of the four losses I witnessed this probably ranks the least on the how hurt was I scale and I was telling Cerruti like I'm glad we didn't find any merch because we were like that was one of our big missions was like dude let's get some good merch I'm glad I don't have a hat that I'd like never wear or something like that so you're right it was too soon and honestly I didn't know what the playoffs I didn't know what the playoffs were gonna feel like but we just kept winning and it was like all right well these guys are wrong obviously because the Patriots just keep winning and then it's like oh fuck those guys are right and then you know my Venmo's jumping being like God, we were right. It's like, yeah, all right. You were right. You were right. People just hitting you up for money, being like, I can't wait to watch this. Venmo is jumping. I won't even open Venmo right now. Fair, yeah. The apps are got you. Well, it's all right, Kyle. It's all right. Johnny's just knocked off UConn. Number three. Are you kidding me? True. It's basketball season now. That's right. Now Kyle's pumped for basketball. I'm going to dry clean my Pat's jersey, put it away until September, and we move on. It's going to get nice around here. I got other shit to look forward to. all right let's get to the emails here yeah um before we move on with the show a quick word on the tool that keeps people's workflow tighter than my takes microsoft 365 copilot the world moves fast your workday even faster pitching products drafting reports analyzing data microsoft 365 copilot is your ai assistant for work built into Word Excel PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use helping you quickly write analyze create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work Learn more at Microsoft.com slash M365 Copilot. Brotherly advice. Hello, Ryan, Kyle, and Steve. Stats, 30 years old, 6'1", 180, basketball comp, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and along came Polly. I literally cannot shoot a basketball, but I'm a good athlete. So I was a layup king in grade school. No notable gym stats, but I'm a circuit guy. I hate the D bag circuit guys that claim multiple stations as much as you all do, but I'm very self-aware and respectful about it. It's a busy, if it's a busy gym, I don't bother just do core cardio. Wow. This guy is like, Hey, it's too busy. I need to pay it forward here. Relatively quick one here, but I'm mostly looking for a ruling from you guys. My brother 29 and I live together very close, best friends, if you will we're not afraid to call each other out uh and everything and there's most recent what we're not afraid to call each other out on any and everything uh and the most recent quibble is driving me up a wall the problem is my brother uses relatively potent spray deodorant i've heard him spray it he uses it a lot multiple seconds per armpit it's not as bad as well let's not maybe rule out any potential sponsors here. So as other body sprays, but it's pretty damn close. Our room's apartment is set up so that there is an AC heating unit inside the wall between our two rooms. There are supply and return vents in both of our walls that connect to his unit. So any smells in his room get recirculated into my room and vice versa. We usually go to work together early in the morning. What was that, Surdy? No, I was just saying, well, there you go. If there's a revenge thing, I mean, you can just, you know, figure something out there. but anyway chocolate midnight right in there uh usually go to work together early in the morning so this usually isn't a problem but recently i've been trying to keep it trying to sleep in a bit more because of some of the sleeping issues and i can't actually sleep in because i wake up to the taste of his fucking deodorant filling the air of our entire apartment shortly after he completes his morning routine it fills my nostrils and mouth and i'm writing this a few hours after leaving home and I feel like it's still in there. That's tough. That's a funny way to put it in. I just love the guy. It's still in there. It's in his mouth and nose. And he's like, I got to send an email. I've expressed my frustrations with this and made fun of him hundreds of times over the years. And I basically told him to grow up and use stick deodorant. I've offered him cash straight up to switch to stick deodorant. I've offered to fund a lifetime supply of stick deodorant. We've explored solutions such as him only spraying it in his bathroom, which is inside his room, then closing the door after. But that doesn't even work because it always finds its way into my room and into my body. I'm legitimately starting to think it's a health hazard to both him and me. Of course, I'm grasping at straws in order to get him to cut the shit out. This morning, I went to his bathroom holding my breath the whole time because it's actually suffocating and stole all his spray cans and hid them in my room. He has like 10 because he's a freak and buys in bulk. So he really likes this brand. I replaced them with a couple of stick variations or versions of the same deodorant. we'll see how that plays out tomorrow morning. Please tell me I'm crazy and thinking that the stupid and childish and that this grown man should use stick deodorant. I really need some support for my health and safety as well as for my sake of sleep. Any appreciation or appreciation, any advice you have love the pot. If, if you have your likes it, if you have your like HVAC off or whatever he's got going on, air conditioners, would that stop it? Can you have like a, maybe some sort of timer to be like, all right, from, from 6am to 9am, my shit's not just not going to be on. because he's done all the things I was going to say, steal it, puncture the cans, rip the caps off. I think his brother's definitely not going into his bathroom. I don't think he actually ever tried that. He might have tried it once, but I don't. I think he's, you know, you have a morning routine, you stick to it. He's like stands by the mirror and does it. And he'll probably tell you that he's going to the bathroom and closing the door before he puts on his deodorant. I don't think that's what's happening. But again, I don't think he's going to do that. I think this is just a simple case of like your white noise to him like he doesn't care what you say like you guys are that close and you know at some point like it doesn't really matter you need more people to bully him you need to get more people on board and tell him how much he stinks tell him how terrible this whole situation is peer pressure bullying it works um it's for his own good because i would guess like the amount of aerosol cans he's spraying into the environment and himself is you're probably right it's probably not great uh so like i think this is like you're bullying peer pressuring for the better of humanity for the better of your brother and i just think that he's just not gonna listen to you at this point he's clearly not listening to you so i think you have to just you know can you round up some other people who are around him who are like probably feel the same way but maybe not to the most extreme level and be like hey trying to help my brother out like we got to get him off this kick we need to tell him how much this stinks and how much this is for juveniles and this is an insane move so um because i can't even remember the last time i used a spray i mean not that i'm anti it in certain spots but like that can't be a primary method of deodorant it's not as good. I had a friend just chuck it. It doesn't seem to be a money thing for our guy emailing here. Do you just take it all, throw it away, leave one stick. So that morning he has no other option and maybe he just needs to be forced into using what I mean, do you know many people that are using spray deodorant anymore? Do you know one person? I do. Yeah, I do. It's pretty close friend actually. Is he an HVAC? They all smell. I think you're right. Cause I was going to say i was i had a friend in high school that you know kept up with this for a couple years every time i would smoke a cigarette he would smack it out of my hand if he saw my pack in my pocket he'd like try to crush it he was like just ant very anti that were pretty fucking annoying but it got got to the point where it's just like i'm not going to smoke a cigarette near him uh and in his own twisted way he probably got me to smoke less cigarettes which that guy was still around he's not dead or anything he's just not here with me so that's good news like you know but it's like the same as like every time i see a can of this i will you know i'll destroy it i'll throw it out and so if you want to do it do it in your car or whatever like because this is the this is the last thing that just like be unwavering on this yeah it's aggressive because he's he might want to fight you it's kind of tried everything mood for him but yeah it sucks it sucks that you're leaving the house like you know two two hours into your day like yeah i got that got that cucumber spray in my in my nose and mouth like fuck that you gotta you gotta take your life back it's probably not cucumber if it was cucumber i think it'd be i'm just thinking of like the dove the dove one i don't know that's the one that my guy uses yeah i mean other than i think the the public shaming getting more people involved in the whole thing um i would say just chuck everything because it doesn't seem like if you're willing to offer him deodorant the whole time i think you have to put him in a position where he has no choice other than to use the stick deodorant by confiscating all the other stuff and throwing it away so it can't even be on the premises so when he goes where is it where is it be like it's gone dude it's gone and every time it will be gone again just so you know he said he's 30 his brother's 29 maybe you buy him a nice cologne you know get into the byredo world pick out something a gentle shit for your unisex. That doesn't sound like cologne. A lot of things for your underarms, though. Yeah, but if he's this obsessed with how he smells, why don't you combo it out and be like, hey, I think you'll like this cologne. And it's just a different path. Peace offering. I like it. What's an entry-level cologne? Entry-level? Yeah, like I don't have... Like I've had... DG? Is that what it is? No, it's DG. I think that one's been around for a little while. It smells great, but... Polo red. I've had it for a million. I don't wear it just in my closet, but I'm like, if I want to actually have one, what do I get? I think I know what you're getting for Christmas, buddy. Yeah, I don't know what to tell you. It's probably 10 years old at this point. It might even be bad. Who knows? I'm going to check in early December and see if you've gotten on the cologne train yet. If not, I think I know what's going to be in your stocking from me. Okay. Hmm. That would be nice. Nice little gift, little show gift. All right. This is a straightforward am I the asshole kicking my friend out hey guys long time listener 47 5 9 200 lift four days a week maxing out days are behind me basketball comp is Scott Howard from Teen Wolf but not the wolfed out Scott the still human Scott that jumps to shoot pre-throws can barely dribble and sweat so much he looks like he just ran a hundred mile race I would love to have known what the pitch was like for Teen Wolf so we've got this kid kind of a dork but he's not a total little dork because there are guys that like him booth likes him styles likes him um but he's obviously not as cool as that 30 year old guy who somehow is in the mix but he's on the other team um and then he's like yeah he's gonna be a wolf but the lesson will be he will not use his wolf powers in the last game it basically was like hey can we get michael j fox in anything and by the it's a great movie it's a great movie hair's kind of you know i wonder how many kids were on vans i was too young but i imagine like high school parties were like hey do you want to surf on top of a van yeah it seems it seems reckless it does and then you have his dad who's like sorry i should i can't fake it i didn't see this movie i know what team wolf is never saw team i didn't see this movie i can't fake it anymore i've also never seen team wolf you wouldn't have seen it i knew you wouldn't have seen it i know the yeah i get the concept i thought baby was it was he in team wolf 2 no he's in the second one okay yeah michael j fox was like we just can't recreate it and bateman was like i'll do it because i just thought like i'm not i mean bateman's had an all-time run so i'm not even being critical abatement but i think at that time if you were in that lane of like teen heartthrobs everybody was looking up at michael j fox in the rankings yeah that that would sound right wasn't there but that sounds right and i think i remember reading from highlights when i was in grade school that his real name was michael a fox but they were wow yeah fucked with highlights i used to read hey i was always a reader so dude goofus and gallant you kidding me maybe that was later sorry distracted by the Teen Wolf thing so I'm writing to ask if I'm the asshole for kicking my friend out of my home sorry about the length of the email but here are the details that need to be shared nearly two years ago Mike name already changed came to me and asked if he could move in with me I absolutely did not want a roommate but after thinking about it I want to help on my friend so I agreed to the condition where when I say it's over it's over I should have known it was a bad idea almost immediately as when I told him I would charge him 700 a month to stay with me he said, I can only afford 300 and asked him to, quote, have patience with him, end quote. That's incredible. That's what a move. Yeah, I mean. And then he could pay more in January. He moved in September. When January came, he gave me a sob story about how he still couldn't afford more rent, but could in the spring. In March, you guessed it. He still couldn't afford to give me more. Finally, September, one full year after he moved in, I told him he was now going to be paying 500 a month. I told him it was not up for discussion. Normally, when a landlord rents property, they dictate the rules. But since the day he moved in, Mike has made excuses on late rent, begged to switch around when rent is paid. I requested the first of the month and even asked to prorate months where he's gone for a few days. I've said okay to all this until no. Yeah, I go out of town. So that means because I'm not here, let's reduce this by a 30th. That's how it works. Yeah. I had a realtor do that to me. I was like, what's going on with them? He's like, oh, they're prorated. I'm like, really? Did you want to ask me that? Seems important. Right. Then they pissed on my mattresses. Said they didn't. Tough. In January, Mike didn't pay his rent, saying he was likely going to leave for the month. He never did. And in January, I told him he owed me $500 for January and $500 for February. heirs who were going back to rent being due on the first of the month. Here came more sob stories. He told me he was having a tough, tough time, end quote. Wanted the January rent prorated for four days that he was gone and eight days for the September he moved in two years ago since he moved in on the ninth of that month. He also asked the February rent at the end of that month. This was the last straw. I told him I would go along with this, but he had until May to find a new place to live and I wanted him out. He responded with, is this because my rent is late? He asked if we could talk and I've declined. I don't want to hear his latest excuses. Making the situation even more baffling is the fact that Mike, who is 58 years old, has a master's and doctorate and could be making six figures in education and administration. Instead, he drives rideshare and delivers DoorDash. This leads me to believe something has happened to him professionally, nothing illegal, that he can no longer use those degrees. He's also about to owe me two months rent, but is not working at all, rideshare or the other. He sits in his room all day doing God knows what, coming out only to get fast food or use the bathroom. I've never lost more respect for a person so quickly in my life. If I don't have two months rent come March 1st, Mike is getting thrown out of his ass. Am I an asshole for that? No, I've been over backwards and helped my friend, but enough is enough. At this point, I'm being taken advantage of. If I owed someone two months rent, I'd be doing whatever it took to make the money. He seems to believe I won't actually kick him out. What do you guys think? This feels pretty straightforward. It seems like, yeah, it seems like he totally thinks that he can get by because you just, you know, you've accepted the excuse in some way or another to where you don't like lose face, but like, you know, you've made concessions and made concessions. Like Mike's certainly not in charge, but it seems like he's got, he's had some pull in what you will and won't do. And I think eventually it just, it has to end. So I, you know, the problem is he's now been a house guest of yours for a couple of years, like on a verbal, on a verbal tenancy. And if he's smart and he feels like he has no other options it might actually be a long sort of deal i don't know what state you're in but most of them have tenants right squatter uh i hope you're not in hope you're not in california or something like that because i think that may be the worst but um i mean it may it may be worth even just doing that like boilerplate standard like here's a here's a notice so that like if this does take a long time you at least started the process it sounds like that could happen because it there's nowhere he's gonna be if he's got no money even though you can you can rack up a certain amount if you're like pretty you know out there driving for these apps or whatever it sounds like he's not doing that there's no way he's going to have a security deposit to go anywhere else so he's not going to be like yeah you're right it's time to go he's going to be like this is my only option he's going to feel like his back's against the wall and he'll probably squat so well that's my question is what do you know where this guy was where was he living before like did he have a place to live was it like are you kicking him out to the street or is he just going to go back and live with you know somebody who took him in and probably didn't pay rent beforehand because if that's i mean if that's the case it's kind of off your conscience and you just know we can go crawling back to that person if he's got no other options obviously that's pretty tough you're like maybe putting a guy on the street 58 is a coin flip as to whether he could go back to mom or dad you know i think that's it's yeah i don't know that's why i hope yes but i don't know but as his friend like you he feels like he would have known that situation what his what his deal was um so i don't know i i i think everything kyle said is probably right but you have every right to not you're definitely not the asshole here if that's the question you're asking it's just like how did you do you want to make a guy homeless apparently which is yeah dude this was something on my conscious what i'm not super excited about but yeah like you know if you have to really do that to kick his you know to get him in gear i guess that's what you're gonna do this wasn't a two-month thing where he's like he's not on the timeline he said he was gonna be on we're closing in on two years we're saying here i'm like his life's not on the timeline that he said he was probably right but you know if you if you settle in like that's there's only so much you can do friends or you know friends are friends but i mean they're not parents and that it's turning you're turning into a bit of a parent um and that's such a bummer there's just a dude in a room he's like in his little cave and he comes out to get like his mcdonald's orders and you're like you fucking ordering food and pay me you know it's like it's stuff that you shouldn't even be like you don't want to be pocket watching this guy but he's not giving you a choice you know yeah really the only person you should be mad as yourself because you knew this was going to happen All right. So like if you understand all the dynamics here and the fact that he's educated and that he's 58 and he's desperately this guy is about survival. All right. Every day is survival. And he found a mark in you. And it's nice that your heart was in the right place because he was desperate and you have this friendship. Like you think about like all the different ways we can be wired in that. Like, are you a sympathetic person or do you have zero sympathy at all? And I think there's even like a Gladwell thing when you talk about like the starting point of every relationship or any interaction, not even like a deep relationship. But if we never trusted anyone, like society just wouldn't operate. If you went into every single transaction thinking, OK, I you are at a zero on the scale of zero to 10 trust, most trustworthy being 10. if it was always at zero from the inception of every single thing, even though that'd be a way to protect yourself. And there's certainly people that kind of walk through life at zeros because of their own experiences. It would just be really hard for us to get anything done ever. Right? So this is a little different because you know, the person, there's a background, you have some sympathy for them. Like I've even had a couple of times where guys have been like, Hey, is there any way I can? And I'm like, I just do not want a roommate, man. I do not want a roommate. I worked really hard to make sure I never have a roommate. And then there's a certain time in life where like past a certain age, I don't really want one. I mean, there's obviously exceptions to anything. Maybe there's a couple of guys that just get along really well. It works out, helps the finances and they're just, they're awesome with it, you know, but once a wife or a girlfriend or a really serious girlfriend, that could be a wife, like that's going to have an exploration. It could be you, me, and Dupree, right? Come on. Yeah, right. You know, so he played you, he knew he was going to be able to play you. And I want to, I want to like acknowledge the fact that you were trying to do the right thing, which is really nice. Most of us are like, ultimately like, hey, let me try to do the right thing here and help somebody out. But a guy like this has been taking help and handouts from everyone his entire life. That's the only way he's, the only way that he can function is people like you that he's willing to take advantage of. Bullshit you on the rent. This prorated thing's insane. Nuts. So he's kind of just a scammer. And you're going to have to be, like, you're going to have to start talking yourself up in these moments and convince yourself like, I've got to be a little harsher with him about this. And that's exactly what you should do. Hey, it doesn't work for me anymore. So start making plans. And if you think I'm going to give in to you, I'm not. We're going to get your shit packed up and then you're going to have to figure out. And you can, you know what does prorated stuff? Hotels. So there you go. You can pay for the nights you're there and not pay for the other nights. And, you know, he's going to give you a song and a dance and he's going to be, But remember, he is experienced in this. He's 48 years old. He is going through life, manipulating every corner and trying to figure out a way to survive and make things advantageous. And he saw you. He knew that you'd be sympathetic about it. He's using you every single time. And when you start thinking about those things more and more, you should get so mad that your defenses become impenetrable and you're like a totally different person. You need to figure out a way to get to that point with him because any concession that you're making is a sign of weakness to him that he is like, oh, I've got him again. And he just took advantage of you, man. And it happens and it sucks. But now you're only fucking up your own day to day with somebody who literally doesn't care about you as much as you care about them. Yeah, I'd forget the rent and start the exit process. That's all I forget. How much did he know? How much do you know about this guy? His friend, quote unquote, clearly not enough. Right. if he knew he was just like cow chopping and scamming people, I don't know that he would have said yes to this. I think that's pretty straightforward. An eventful pod today. Congrats to the Seahawks. Thanks to Tom. Thanks to Kevin. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Saruti and Troy Aikman for joining this show. Please subscribe. The Ryan Russillo Show. professional sports