NFL Fanbase Draft (with Katie Nolan)

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The Heat the Coal Podcast

can tell you the NFL's number one fan base is the...

Dao no.

Oh yeah, welcome to another week of Heat in That Call with Dan Hanses and Mark Zessler, the gravedigger along with us as well.

One week closer to the draft and,

you know, starting a week with some murder, Mark, that's not bad.

Or it is very bad.

Well, I mean, I mean, let's not bury the lead here.

We are business partners.

We're very close friends, the closest.

And you've been gone for a week, and it's kind of like, to me, it's not that different when, you know, I've got a girlfriend, when she's gone for multiple days, you're...

You know, you're idling around the house.

You're wondering.

That's what you're trying to say.

I missed you a little bit.

And you're back.

And it feels right to.

Now, I will say, Justin, this is the only text that we got from, if it were a girlfriend, like let's let's show the only text that we got from Dan during the week, which was

like a can you leave me alone now, please?

An Asian woman at her massive desktop computer.

Like, so I, there was a little bit of an issue there.

Like, um, didn't feel

like you made a it was a tactical error.

Like, when someone goes on vacation,

you don't start doing group thread uh show prep.

So while I appreciated the efforts and it made me feel good in one way, and as I understand it, the shows went very well, and I also got everything.

Oh, they were more, they were absolutely to be fair, they were just marvelous.

Yeah, and it doesn't surprise me.

I also had a private conversation with Justin to see how Mark handled the big chair, and it sounds like he did very well.

Well, why private conversation?

I had a lengthy private conversation about it.

Why can't I?

What did you say, Justin?

Now I have issues.

Now I have issues because what's happening here?

I can't reveal the private conversation.

We'll keep that between Dan and I, but proprietary gave you very good feedback.

Yeah, and I wasn't responding to any of the group chats that Dan was in just out of respect for Dan, whether it was like Connor or Jason who were like not really fully aware of the like don't text Dan right now about work stuff.

I just didn't respond to anything.

just to give you yeah like at one point there was one other one pre-town and country connor popped up really fired up about some criticism he took connected to some commentary from a show last week.

I kind of sat that one out as well.

But overall, I think you guys are respectful of my spaces as we tried to be with yours the week before, Mark.

But I'm happy to be back.

Love doing the show.

Love working with you guys.

You heard Jason was shot three to four times at the top of the show, right before God was about to tell us who was

the best NFL fan base.

Coming up later today, one of my favorite people in this business.

Just think she's great.

Katie Nolan.

She's going to join us, and we're going to have a fun draft.

It's draft season.

It ties together.

And we're going to draft the best NFL fan bases.

And then maybe we'll put that to a vote.

That will be fun.

The other thing that happened, Mark, when

I'm gone,

I'm sure you do the same thing.

When it's time to plug back in, so I'm on a cross-country flight from New York to L.A.

All right, let me go check in and see what's going on.

Is it newsy?

And I'll just say this is not the

good week.

It didn't seem like a lot was popping.

And then the ultimate barometer is: I'll shoot over to Pro Football Talk just to see how bored Mike Florio is.

Because bored or not, Florio is going to pump out content.

And here is an example of two posts in the last 12 hours or so that let me know, oh, I didn't miss much.

Here's one.

At spring finale, Bill Belichick's girlfriend was just doing her job.

You know, the context, I don't need the context.

I know that this is a slow news day.

Here's another one.

This landed this morning.

Baker Mayfield turns 30 today

with the lead.

The NFL's young quarterbacks aren't so young anymore.

So there you go.

Once I see that that's the type of Florio content week it is, I know that I'm jumping back in at the exact right time, Cesi.

Yeah, we are always, I like to think that we are, maybe we're not like your little analytical nerd people that like tell you about every little thing.

we're ahead of certain trends and i think you and i in back-to-back vacation weeks discovered that this little pause in between the

combine odors meeting owners meetings and then draft is the perfect time to leave society and you've done a great job with that and when we were together in the in-between the the meat of that burger mark was the um the annual meeting so we're on top of it and and now in addition to the fun conversation we're going to have with katie in a little bit on our Thursday show, Matt Money Smith, our old buddy, is going to make his return.

And we're going to talk draft with money, who's as plugged in as anybody in that realm.

So we're looking forward to that.

And then coming up later this week, it is the thing everyone's looking forward to on the Patreon, the draft day movie Rewatch with some great special guests.

And we're going to watch that on Patreon exclusively, patreon.com/slash heed the call

and

revisit the movie that Mark Sessler sessler once famously said was full of heart from start to finish

well yeah we covered this to some degree last week like i this isn't a like it is a career tension point for me let's call it let's call it like what it what it is and um

i don't know if this will help will i be absolved of my sins during this uh live rewatch we will see are you hoping to be the payoff here is that the movie will indeed be full of heart from start to finish and then you'll be vindicated no i think like a la Philly special thing where it's just hanging out there and you're waiting for the payoff one day down the line.

I get where you're coming from with that angle, but what I, what I, what I want to bring it to more of the place that this is a film that is average,

it's not as bad as everyone says, and it's not as good as I apparently said in that, I wouldn't call it a drunken quote, but I think that's the thing.

I just said it fulfilled, what, it filled the promise of the tension of the NFL draft.

It delivers on the great tension tension that is

let's be honest that is a ridiculous thing for any person to say and I'm by the way I don't care how much wine you had in your belly when you said that that's still an insane thing to say on a phone well like I at least I went for it but like I know I just want to bring it back to kind of the you know the the level the water level like it's it is what it is it's not great it's not terrible but this now everyone's hating on it so hard that it's like can we kind of rise it to just average film a lot of average films didn't seem to be we'll stick a pin in it because I think there's something going on with that in general, how the movie is now remembered.

But if you want to be involved with that, first of all, here in the States, it's on Netflix right now.

And if you have Netflix, go catch up.

And then or.

If you don't have Netflix, you're not watching five football games a year, too.

So you're kind of like,

exactly.

You have to have Netflix.

But Thursday, 9 p.m.

Eastern, 6 p.m.

Pacific, it will be the live stream.

And you have to have a membership on Patreon to be involved.

So make sure you're there.

All right.

Without further ado, let's do some news.

Flacco underneath center on third and one.

Takes it, turns, bootlegs it on to the right.

He's got a man wide open.

And Jokus got it.

And the five going in.

Touchdown.

What a beautiful fake by Flacco.

God, what a beautiful year.

I've said this before, Cecil, or maybe this is just bitterness as a Jets fan, that

Browns fans have been through hell and back, but there has been a couple of fun years in the last, you know, seven or eight years that you could point to.

One was obviously the COVID year, which is, you know, a mess on a lot of levels, but you beat the Steelers in the playoffs and then nearly got by the Chiefs.

And then you had that great Flacco season in 2023

where he came off the bench and lit it up.

And I remember around this time last year, Ceci, that we were kind of scratching our heads and be like,

why would you let that guy out of the building?

He was beloved.

He played well.

At this place in his career, he was a perfect kind of backup.

And it felt like the Browns were afraid of having him in the building with a healthy Deshaun Watson.

Well, Deshaun Watson is no longer healthy or has never really been healthy.

Kenny Pickett isn't lighting up anybody's Christmas tree.

He's going to be in the building.

And now Joe Flacco is here on a one-year, $4 million contract that could go up to $13 million with incentives, which is an insane thing to even include in a report.

But anyway, Flacco back.

How are you feeling, Ceci?

Well, I'm a little disturbed to

see a pocket of Browns fans acting like

in his prime Brett Favre is returning to the team.

These things just don't go well.

Kind of everything went about as good as it could.

And is that going to duplicate itself?

No, because it's the Browns.

Also, this is a Browns organization that, let's be real,

a year ago at this time, said we can't bring Flacco back because he's too well liked by the fans.

And Deshaun Watson is intimidated or has problems with that.

And so we have to coddle our problematic

lead quarterback situation person.

And instead, it's like, so now you're bringing Flacco back now.

Like, I don't know.

To me, it feels like

a bit of a disaster waiting to happen.

Also, like, draft-wise, does it really change what you do in the draft?

Now, I've heard that it's not going to change what they do.

I think they take a quarterback at the top of the second round.

Whoever's sitting out there, Tyler Chuck is interesting to me.

Like, someone like that.

So, we'll see.

But, like, the fact that Flacco is is going to come in and repeat what happened before is, to me, absurdity.

And it feels like a weird organizational move.

I think they're having a really jumbled offseason.

Yes.

I don't see a cohesive plan in Cleveland.

And even to that point, let's say that.

To that position, especially.

Right.

I mean, but even, I'll go even beyond that.

I think, you know, the Miles Garrett decision-making was jumbled because I don't know if they know what they're even trying to do right now.

Are they trying to crank back the clock to 2023 and surprise people again?

Are they trying to tank?

Are they trying, but it's like, but they seem like they're kind of caught, what is it, in betwixt and in between or whatever?

In betwixt.

Yeah, betwixt and in between.

Like they are,

it's like a half measure to me.

And it's like, okay, now Flacco's back.

And I like Flacco, and we all like Flacco, even at this age.

And Kenny Pickett, who is quoted as saying, I didn't come to Cleveland to sit around or whatever.

And if you're going to tank,

don't burn a second-round pick on a quarterback in a bad quarterback draft class.

And if you're going to tank, don't give Miles Garrett the biggest contract ever for a non-quarterback.

Like, if you're going to tank, tank.

You've done it before.

Trade Miles Garrett.

Sign Flacco and Pickett and play him for 17 games and suck ass.

And then have the number one pick next year and all the other draft assets and do this thing the right way.

Right now, I feel like, Mark, that they're kind of halfway in and halfway out.

And that's no way to run a franchise.

I think the Miles Garrett part of it is the most beguiling because he, and now maybe this was all BS, and I wouldn't be surprised if everything is nonsensical BS at this point, but he, with confidence, like almost like condescending, telling the questioner, like, yes, I know what they're doing at quarterback.

Yes, they've got a plan.

Excuse me, yes, I already know.

Like,

to your point, jumbled plan.

What is where Miles Steer was sold?

Maybe they did sell him on

Miles got his bag, he's cool, and they said we're gonna suck this year, and next year we're gonna get the top pick in the draft, and we're gonna take a quarterback.

Maybe,

and you can't say that out loud, but maybe that is part of the conversation that they were very honest with him.

Like, listen, we're not going for it this year, but next year we could, we think we could reload very quickly with you leading the way on defense.

But that's, I mean, that's a guy that's turning 30 years old.

That's a tough sell as well.

All I'd say is, there are some teams out there, if you sold, if you told the whole room with closed doors, like, we're going to blow this year, but like, we're going to come back next year, get the best quarterback in the draft, and everything's going to change for the next decade and a half.

I still think that if you're Miles Garrett, you're too smart for that, but you're not, you are smart enough to take the amount of money they gave him, which was a king's ransom times six.

It's hard to walk away from that.

In other quarterback news, another favorite of the show, Derek Carr.

Favorite of the show.

A lightning rod, I should say, of the show.

NFL Network's Ian Rappaport reports that Carr is believed to have suffered a, quote, significant injury to his throwing shoulder last season, and it is now threatening his availability for the 2025 campaign.

And

just by way of a reminder, he was

listed late in the season in December and January with a left hand injury.

He was not on the injury report with a shoulder issue.

But now, all of a sudden, there's a shoulder issue that apparently is tying back to last year that could lead to him being out of the picture.

Derek Carr is another, I mean, Derek Carr,

at this stage of his career, it's the old Parcelsism.

He's the ultimate progress stopper for a Saints team that, like the Browns, they're similar in some ways, like doesn't quite know what it is right now and

probably should be just totally blowing things up, but they keep making moves that make him think, maybe we can go 9-8 and everything if everything everything falls the right way if carr enters the picture does a quarterback enter the equation for the saints with the first pick and we've seen a lot of shadore sanders uh talk now uh with carr's news coming to the forefront

they seem to know about this injury and as did he it i don't think this was a huge surprise to them It feels like one of those cases where the team has already moved on from the Derek Carr experience.

Like, I felt that way even last season when they're you know, dipping in different quarterbacks like all year long to find out what they have.

This is a Shador.

This feels like the Saints feel like the Sanders landing spot to me.

I think Cleveland is out on that.

And so, if the Giants are out on it too, depending on what's available to him at this point,

doesn't this feel like the place where he lands?

They're in the right place in the draft to get him.

He falls a little bit, and bang, he's a perfect person for the Saints.

Could be.

Yeah, I was listening to the Josh Norris and Hayden Winks NFL Draft podcast, which everybody should listen to.

And in their Sanders episode, you know, it's like he is far from a short thing.

There's been some talk that he could fall out of the first round entirely.

Hayden, in particular, was pretty down on Sanders saying, yeah,

I'm paraphrasing, but that in the NFL, you take chances on quarterbacks, and if you just can hit on one, you're good.

But at the same time, he doesn't have, despite being Deion Sanders' son, he doesn't have elite athleticism.

He has some traits that

point to a ceiling that could be something between competent backup to, you know, Dalton line starter.

And,

you know, that's you better really like a guy.

I don't care where, where,

what you need on your roster or now your veteran quarterback is hurt.

If you're going to use a first-round pick, you better really think he could be a big-time player quarterback or at least a, you know, top 15 starter.

And the, I mean, what do you think on that one, Gravy?

Does he strike you, Sanders, as someone that would deserve that type of draft stock ranking?

Or if that would feel like a reach on a week from Thursday?

Should I hit this?

I like Sanders as a quarterback, but I do think there's a ceiling there that makes me hesitant to take him with a top 10 pick.

At the same time, it's the most important position in the sport.

And if you can get a guy to give you average-level quarterback quarterback play, that can elevate the whole roster.

And I think there are some like intangible factors about Sanders that make him a little more exciting than just the on-field stuff, like going to multiple programs and elevating the players around him.

And there's also concerns with how he handles pressure and holds the ball too long.

But he does throw with anticipation.

Like he can be the type of quarterback, and I don't mean to compare him to the GOAT, but that Tom Brady type of quarterback who just kind of carves you up from the pocket.

But there are also a lot of similarities to his game, in his game to Derek Carr.

So it's kind of an interesting match there if they want to move on from Carr, like on the field play, I think there's a lot of similarities between Sanders and Carr.

Well, I would say one thing though,

but Derek Carr, part of the Derek Carr problem, whether we like it or not, is that no matter what he does on the field, we view him as a bland

persona.

The son of Deion Sanders is going to bring an entirely different energy to this.

And you're right about the fact that I think he's not a...

We're in a weird draft.

but like your guy, Cam Ward, also probably wouldn't be a top 10 pick last year either.

But like now he's being,

I know that he's your, he's your new

he's your new savior.

Yeah.

Like I understand that.

But but in but in other drafts, that wouldn't be the case.

And Sanders might be overvalued a little bit.

But if you're Kellen Moore and they've just hired you and if you're the Saints in general and you want to sell tickets, like who do you pair Kellen Moore with?

Nobody?

Or Shador Sanders?

If he's landing in your lap there in the draft?

Yeah, but like, I guess that's part of the danger, too.

It's like, because if he was Shador Becker, it's like nobody would be, oh, he's going to elevate and bring excitement to the franchise.

That would be Boris Becker's son.

So that would be a good thing.

But I think the thing is, and yeah, Boris Becker's son is not going to do it.

But like, you think, and this is coming from someone that's learning about these prospects as we get closer to the draft rather than

watched him for years.

Like, I was expecting when, oh, Deion's son's coming out as a quarterback that he'd be this electric dual threat and he's not that guy.

And him being Deion Sanders' son is a cool buzzy thing to sell season tickets until the season starts.

And if he's not an electric performer, it's very quickly going to wear off and nobody's going to care whose sonny is.

It feels like a thorny spot for the Saints, but maybe it pays off.

Oh, but that's sort of what I was saying about the intangibles there, Mark, when you're talking about Derek Carr's vanilla personality.

I think that's the big difference is you get a guy that can galvanize the locker room and then hope he plays well on the field too.

It changes the team

like visually the way we think about them yes through the like off-season program and training camp and then he has to actually be good

well that's the problem with i guess you could say that about all these guys

In four days, by the way, the Saints have moved from plus 300 favorites to pick Sanders to minus 130.

So obviously now there's a lot of buzz connecting there.

And Bert Breer in his Monday morning quarterback column this morning said that Sanders is unlikely to go number two to the Browns or number three to the Giants in the draft.

So keep an eye on it.

Retirement news:

eight-time Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson.

He'll be in Arizona, or he was in Arizona on Monday.

Retiring as a Cardinal.

He played 13 seasons in the NFL, including his first 10 seasons in Arizona, where he was a three-time all-pro.

He is one of those dudes

around the NFL, heed the call era,

Cesi, where if we made a roster, and maybe we'll do that this summer,

him owning one of those cornerback slots for that make-believe team would make a lot of sense because he was in a lot of ways like Darrell Rivas before him, kind of the prototypical lockdown corner one.

And now it's over.

Yeah, like the position.

has changed, it has altered, but

I don't think it's a stretch to call him a top 10 cornerback all time.

Like he really never had any down period with the Cardinals on any level.

There's a lot of competition for that top 10 position there, but I'd put him there.

I do wish that the NFL, for all their showmanship,

that, you know, in the Oscars, when you get the people who passed away this year, and that's not the same as retirement, you go up, but like they make a big rig of morale about like, and it makes you feel something.

These people change our lives.

But with NFL retirement...

Save I feel nothing.

Sure, I alone feel something.

Yes, on this show.

Save it for better help.

You're right.

We will do it for the ad.

But like

retirements are like sort of a quiet fart in the offseason.

Like it's middle, it's the middle of April and one of the great players of our fandom leaves and it's a minor news item.

Well, that's up to you and I, Sassy.

Well, we're doing our part right here.

We're discussing.

That's up to the king.

Go ahead.

This is your mind.

I'm just saying, like, we can do a little, like, how do you get that?

I would start the season with an incredible fanfare item about the people that have left the sport.

Then half of them unretired.

That's the problem.

So it's a little bit of a.

That old gag.

Finally, in the news, I just thought this was funny.

Happy Trails, Patrick Peterson.

Well, maybe he pops up in our business next.

Fox's number two analyst, Greg Olson.

Not Fox's number one analyst, Tom Brady, has been nominated for an Emmy in his final two years as Fox's number one game analyst before Brady got a giant contract to move to the booth.

Olson won the Emmy for Outstanding Personality/slash Event Analyst.

And now in his first year as Fox's number two game analyst, he can make that three in a row.

That's a three peat.

And that would be great.

Do they have acceptance speeches at these things?

Because if they did,

That would be a great stage, especially in like the quiet part of the offseason for him to just bury Brady and bury Fox and like, and then throw up the three fingers and, you know, really make a scene.

I don't know.

That's unsolicited advice to Greg Olson.

No, I think he's he's, yeah, I think you're right.

He's been outspoken when he's had a chance to speak on the issue.

Um,

we get a couple of drinks in him, get a couple belts in him before we go.

Absolutely, I think he'd be verbal.

But like, we, we, um, in our, in our past roles at the NFL, like, you know, like, how many of these people won Emmys themselves?

Like, a bunch of Jabronis.

I'm not saying that they personally are Jabronis, but like you like, like someone attached to a show, it's like 30 people win an Emmy.

It's like, it almost has no value.

But I would say this, like, how would you feel if I were nominated for,

you know, one of the best hosts in the country, but then they

it would be the last time I go on vacation.

I'll tell you that.

Well, it's not based on, just based on the body of work, not just last week's body.

I would think you would do the move that,

what if she got herself in trouble for it?

Who was it?

Heigl.

Remember when she got nominated for an Emmy for Gray's Anatomy?

And she was like,

well, the writing is shit.

So I declined the nomination.

And she thought that was going to perhaps elevate her as an artiste.

But instead, everyone on her show was like, well, you're terrible.

I would like you to do that.

I'd like you to decline it.

What a tool.

In that case,

he'll turn and just bury Justin somehow.

Listen, when in doubt Burying Justin, it works for me.

The other nominees for this award that Olson's up for Aikman, your boy, Peyton Manning, Bill Raftery, Onions,

love Bill.

I was at the New York Marathon a few years back, and we were at George Cuely's, our favorite bar on the Upper West Side.

And there he was, Raftery, belly up to the bar.

Well, I told you I went to his sports announcing camp.

with his daughters like a wild time in the early 90s.

All right, let's stick a pin in that.

We're going to get back to it.

And John Smaltz.

Yankee hater that Smoltz.

Anyway, we're rooting for Olson.

We love

That's what's happening in the news.

All right, we'll be right back with Katie Nol.

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Welcome back.

Our next guest, we're big fans.

I've been for a while.

And now

she is making her first appearance on our show.

She's the host of Casuals, a sports podcast with new episodes every Tuesdays and Thursdays.

And we could not be more excited to have Katie Nolan joining.

Heed the call.

Welcome, Katie.

Hi guys.

Thanks for having me.

Cool music.

Really cool, set in a tone, very ambient.

That is, that's our Rorschach test.

Every guest has their own take on it, on what it feels like when they hear it.

And if it sets a tone, it sets a mood.

That's a victory for us.

That's what we do.

Yeah, it's a good vibe.

It's a good, it's like a classic rocky vibe, but meets like a more updated.

It's nice.

I like it.

Let me say less.

I like it.

Okay, good.

All right.

Still like Kyle Brandt saying, it's silk stockings on USA Network.

That one

made sense.

That's also very good.

Katie, so we're going to get into

a fan base draft, best fan bases, and whatever that means to us, Mark, myself, and Katie.

But before we get into that, I wanted to talk to you about your fandom.

Now, you're a New England gal, right?

You grew up in that region.

And

I grew up in New York, went to school in Boston, and I was there when the Patriots won, and then the Red Sox got over the hump and saw how that everything changed.

And I'm just curious what the Patriots fandom is, where it's at now

compared to where it was, you know, before they started winning or even five years ago.

Like,

what's the vibe as a Patriots fan in the modern era?

I mean, this is, and let me just be clear that

operate by the mantra of I move teams around in how much I care about them based off of how well they're doing.

So the Patriots and I are not as close, maybe, as we were before.

So I don't want to speak on behalf of all Patriots fans.

I will just say, as an observer of the fan base, as I look around me, the last few years have been just mired in confusion.

A lot of like not knowing how to act in these scenarios we find ourselves in.

Like, you know, not knowing who our quarterback is is very alarming for us.

Not knowing that who the head coach is is very off-putting for us.

We've just sort of been, we've ended an era that was marked by stability and success.

I think the stability was underrated.

And then once that went away, I'm seeing a lot of people coping in a lot of weird different ways, trying to figure out what you're supposed to do when so much of your franchise is a question mark.

But that being said,

I believe in us.

I think we're going to rally.

I think everybody's got to go through some stuff.

And we went through stuff before

the Patriots were good.

So

I think we're in our character building era where we're going to grow as people.

And as you guys know, to lose people during that era, when they don't grow, they just sort of sputter out.

So we will lose some folks.

A lot of these people that in the era before they were good, they were infants.

They were toddlers.

They were small humans.

Let's be real about that.

There is an earthquake occurring while I'm talking about this here in LA.

But

I will ask you this.

Were you on text threads during New England's heyday with people?

And are people freaking out?

Or is it now just like, we don't talk to other Patriots fans?

We understand that we're in a bit of a dark time.

I tend to

bring up the socks at this point.

At this point, I'll go, but hey, but the Red Sox, because here's the thing, I don't, all of my Patriots friend, fan friends are like

dumb.

We're all dumb.

And they're coping.

And I think a lot of people have these really strong opinions.

There was last year I had one friend who insisted that the Patriots were going to have an incredible season and shock everybody.

And like three games into the year, everybody was like, well, that's not obviously going to be the case.

So it's just like everybody's got their take on how it's going to work out.

And I'm just sort of, I'm very,

I'm, I'm giving very like, okay, and that's how you feel, energy, to anybody who's got their opinion.

Okay, none of us know.

And we're just going to find out together.

So look, we had it good.

Nobody cares that we're having a tough time right now.

I actually feel like this is for all the other fan bases.

I'm out here willing to say this sucks and blows so that people can watch me hating it and feel good about themselves because I know they love to see a Patriots fan in some pain.

I know.

And it is so crazy, Katie, how

as someone who grew up a New York sports fan and Boston sports fans never seeing eye to eye, but when the Patriots had all the success, when they went back down, like it was like all of a sudden Patriots fans and Yankees fans like understood on some levels like, oh.

Like everyone is happy that we suck and we can't say anything because we had so much success that you just have to kind of eat it a little bit and that your fan experience totally changes.

Because the other crazy thing about being like in that area in New England, like where were the Patriots before the first Super Bowl?

They were fourth maybe in the pecking order behind the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins in some otter.

And just seeing where they are now, well, Drake May, maybe he saves the day and brings him back up.

You know, your lips to God's ears.

Let's see.

All right.

God's listening.

Let's get into it.

Always.

Big listener of the pod, friend of the pod.

Huge fan.

Now, let's get into it.

Justin, our producer, the gravedigger,

can you randomize an order for a draft?

We're going to each, and Mark, I know you've done a ton of research leading up to this segment to get this right.

We're each going to pick four teams or fan bases that we will vouch for as the best.

And then whoever is the best grouping based on voting by the Heath the Call listeners, the hedonists out there, will

deem who is champion of something.

So what is the order of the draft?

And how did you do it?

And is this crooked?

Let's see.

Oh, ooh, look at this.

Molecular wheel here.

Graphics.

All right, is this the first pick?

First pick, wheel is spinning.

Well, that's it, Jerry.

Katie with the first pick.

I kind of got showcased show down there a little bit.

I thought it was me, and then the $1 went to five cents.

All right, this is the second pick.

Now, get out of there.

There we go.

If you're on audio, this is a classic kind of spin-the-wheel type graphic that that we're operating with here.

All right, Sessler with the number two pick, which means Dan, the old Zeuser, I get the third pick, which is fine because it's snakes.

It's a snake director.

Which means you get the first pick in the second round.

I sure do.

And I'll take that.

So I get the third and fourth pick.

And Sessler right in no man's land, just like the Cleveland Browns right now.

All right, Katie, without further ado,

let's get into it.

You have the choice of any NFL fan base that is the best.

What does the best even mean?

It could be in any direction.

So please pick the first team.

This is so stressful.

Do you understand how stressful this is?

That I have to pick a fan base and then fans are going to vote on whether or not I picked the best fan.

This is a nightmare scenario.

That's incongruous.

Like the fact that people are voting on this feels bad.

It feels like your last time on the show.

I mean, it has that energy right now.

It feels bad.

Something in my heart is like, pick your own fan base because

why wouldn't you?

But then something in my brain is telling me I could probably get them pretty late.

So I don't know that I have to take him with my first pick.

Right, right, right.

So now that I've said that out loud to my fellow drafters, I don't know what that means.

Now I'm going to lose.

So this is really stressful.

Classic tough sitch.

I know, but I'm going to stick to my draft strategy there, and I'm going to pick with my first pick the Detroit Lions.

Okay, that's a great pick.

The Detroit Lions

with the number one overall pick.

I had them up there too.

Why do you pick Detroit?

Why do they get it?

My interactions with Detroit fans have, and these are just my interactions.

They have the passion, the pain, which are two defining qualities of fandom, passion and pain.

But they also have a little bit of like a, they're kind.

They haven't been violently angry.

They don't,

they sort of are like resigned to the fact that it's not going to be them in a way that like doesn't interfere with them them believing in themselves.

But it's like, as soon as the disappointment happens, instead of the shock and like the throwing the TV out the window of some fan bases, you sort of get this, like, well,

here we go again.

And I think that's the best thing you can have as a fan base.

So I have a lot of love for the beleaguered Detroit Lions fans.

I think they've been through a lot, a lot of heartbreak, and they're still there showing up.

It's been fun to see them have a little bit of success.

And so I root for them as a fan base.

I think also with the Lions fans, they showed up when they sucked.

They showed up when it was embarrassing.

Obviously, they're showing up now when they're a marquee team.

And to this point, and this could all change

with some actual

results in Lombardy trophies, they could become obnoxious.

But right now, they still feel like there's something fun and

rootable about them and kind of an America's team vibe for Detroit.

I think it's a great number one overall pick.

Ceci, what do you think?

I totally get it.

I think that Katie

verbalized some concerns about how we pick these teams or fan bases.

I've been in like four or five bar fights ever, and it's usually been with fans of other teams in bars.

But yet they're the best fans because they're vociferous and loud and they care, but yet at the same time, like they're annoying me.

So

I am also in conflict on how to pick this, but I have a very clear

braggie.

I've been in four or five bar fights.

Quite a few.

I wouldn't say that one small number.

I don't think I wouldn't say I won them all.

Like it was also, fights are broken up in like four.

Yeah, but like four or five is that points to a potential issue.

I don't know.

There are potential issues.

All right, let's stick a pin in that.

All right, Ceci, you have the number two pick in the draft, and you can go in any direction here.

And I am sitting in the old catbird seat because I'm lined up three and four and you can't hurt me.

Katie, she's dying over there because she knows she has to wait all the way back, what, to whatever the number she is, five or whatever.

Like, I can't do the math, but you help me.

What is it, Justin?

Do the math for me, buddy.

Six.

Six.

Oh, man.

Katie's got to wait all the way to six.

It's so close.

Yeah.

All right, Ceci.

You're on the clock.

This was very easy for me.

I did these in the middle of the night.

The Vikings

are my pick because here's the thing.

I think Vikings fans, and to Katie's point about the Lions fans, like there's too much disappointment for them to strut around the bar like they own the whole place, like, um, or the street or the or a bus or a, you know, any sort of transport.

Like, they, they are who they are.

Um,

they are very loyal.

You know, there's not a lot of bandwagon Vikings fans, these are dyed-in-the-wool, like football fans, their mothers and fathers, their grandfathers.

Sometimes their grandmothers were Vikings fans.

So, like, that's where I'm going.

I'm going Vikings.

Sometimes grandmothers.

Sometimes.

Sometimes.

So back-to-back

NFC North picks.

And I don't think that's a coincidence.

I think that, you know, these are.

That's a division that

I think generates this success.

These are hardy folk.

These are Midwesterners.

They love their ball.

And it hurts me a little bit that you did that because I thought I could go get the Vikings late because, you know, I've always been high on the Vikings on this show.

I like their...

One of my criteria for this, I guess, is

how do you deal with the stomach punches?

And do you keep coming back?

And you have an optimistic viewpoint.

And not many teams have endured more stomach punches than the Vikings, while also having a lot of success, too.

So, yes, the NFC North, you could pick really any team out of there.

That's that's another solid pick.

I'm a little annoyed, but also

I feel real good about the third overall pick

and the fourth.

And I'm going to, for me, my draft,

I am going to lean towards the downtrodden.

I just, I went on an absurd,

I grew up, like I said, Katie in New York, but my kids, I have two young sons with my wife out here in L.A., and they're 10 and 8.

So it's like, all right, I guess I got to take them to New York and show them the New York stuff.

So it was a weird vacation, not overly relaxing that I just got back from.

And I'm at the Statue of Liberty.

And it's 27 degrees out with the wind chill.

Are you kidding me?

And I'm looking at Old Lady Liberty right now.

And I'm thinking, give me your tired, give me your poor, your huddled masses.

So give me the Cleveland Browns.

Oh my God.

Sassy, you've got to take him off the board at two.

Mark's a Browns fan.

The Cleveland Brown fan base has been through hell and back.

Hell, they lost their team and they never gave up hope and they demanded that a new team came back and the NFL granted them that.

And they've been through so much and they have yet to obviously get to the Super Bowl.

The old timers and those people are getting getting really old now.

They're still around that remember Jim Brown and NFL titles.

That was once a DNA of this franchise, and in some ways always will be.

But the fans that have been around since, you know, born,

I don't know, baby boomers and up, have known nothing but heartache, but always fill that building.

And I always think about, as we've talked about on this show, Katie, like

there's always a stretch, even in the bad Browns years, like in like 2024, that you remember their primetime games, the home games, where they have some type of inspired effort.

This year, Jameis Winston played a big role, and the place is electric.

And even though it was a failed season and it's been a lot of failed seasons, that the Browns have this ability to, the fans rise up and make it feel like Cleveland matters.

It's the reason why they picked them for the film draft day.

Katie, what do you think about the Browns at three?

I think it's a good reminder that you can't hold the sins of a franchise against the fan base.

I think

you're right.

They have stuck by them through thick and thin.

There were some questionable actions once a questionable signing was made, I felt.

But again, I think a lot of that can be chalked up to cope.

And I think once it was, I think that eventually they landed on the right side of that issue, the fan base as a whole.

And yeah, look, any fan base that the year they get fully defeated

can organize a parade to celebrate their fully defeated season.

That's exactly what you want.

You want people who go like, look, it was so bad.

It was remarkably bad.

Let's celebrate how hard it is to be this bad.

So yeah, my original reaction to you picking them this early was like,

but you're right.

They've been through quite a bit and they keep showing up.

All right.

And now Mel Kuyper has, no, it wouldn't be Kuyper.

It's like a crazed Michael Irvin now is saddled up next to Mark Sessler at Radio City Music Hall.

Mark, I can't believe you didn't take the Browns.

You let Hanses take them.

You must be, you have to be conflicted right now.

I am agitated by what you did because I think

it was done to annoy me.

But at the same time, I think that all three of us, and this is why I'll just, it's part of the exercise, we are leaning into resiliency.

I think we get the exercise.

We get what this is about.

It's not the best teams.

It's the best fans.

And so I cannot frown on what you've done entirely.

Okay.

My next pick will be another team that's been through a lot.

And the sun is shining right now, but they haven't been able to get over the hump.

They're in western New York.

The Buffalo Bills fans, I mean, sturdy people.

Sturdy means.

Good hearts.

Sturdier people than the tables.

And I think that the Bills fans are another example of with their team through thick and thin.

And there were the four Super Bowls, but even in that, of course, the football tragedy of losing four straight and having to live with that.

And now, 30 years later, you're still trying to put those ghosts to the past, and they still seem to fly up in January.

But the new year starts, and you'll see it again in 2025.

Hope will spring eternal up there in Buffalo with those great fans, unmatched tailgate.

They come out in the terrible weather conditions.

They support that team, and they love their bills.

It is the identity and the heartbeat of the city of buffalo and quite frankly to get them at four i mean i'm just thrilled i'm just katie i'm just thrilled i'm so happy to hear that you're thrilled yeah somebody's got to keep the zubas industry propped up someone has to keep buying those pants and i think the bills fans are glad to that and ketchup and mustard i think are really being held up by this entire uh fan base and the amount that they go through on game day i was going to say zumbas i thought you said zoomers but also yeah zoomers too because i think They're the ones that are doing a lot of the jumping through tables at this point.

Zoomers in the 20s.

I don't even know if that is that a thing.

Oh, I don't know.

But yeah, their bodies are the only ones who can handle them.

I can't be going through a table at this age.

It hurts too much, especially in that cold.

It is wild.

I will say I have to speak up for my

fiancé.

I know that my fiancé, were he here, he would say he's gotten in some of his worst arguments on the internet with Bills fans.

I think they get a little bit loud in competitive situations, but I will also say, to be be fair that he can be some a little sensitive sometimes so uh uh i just i felt like i i couldn't sit here and not say without getting into a fight back at home that bills fans can be a lot online but i i do think they ultimately i mean they've gone through something that hopefully none of us will ever have to go through i think katie you're on to something here because i here's my one thing about the bills it's like you can pick the bills and everyone's gonna be like that's such a nice pick like we all get it like the bills but it's like they're what they are they sit in this zone right now where like you can't critique the bills or their fans.

Like we're all meant to be rooting for them no matter what.

And it's like, I'm a little, I start to, at some point, become over that escapade.

Yeah.

I get it.

Yes, Justin.

I just want to shout out the Bills fans also for their charitable work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

They're known for donating to all kinds of causes that have nothing to do with Buffalo.

So and I was thinking of that as well, Mark.

And do you have an issue with that?

No, but it packs into what I was just saying.

Like it's just like this grandstanding.

If you want to do charitable work, do it in silence.

Don't let us know about it.

Why is our producer announcing it?

Maybe the Patriots are making big donations, but we're not talking about it.

You don't know.

We don't know.

Yeah.

All right.

Anonymous.

Okay.

Now it goes back to the sess dog.

Mark, your second pick.

I'm going to go down Villain Avenue here because I think it's been like, oh, these people have suffered so much.

And like they, you know, they don't have salaries salaries or the football team's not working.

Like

Steelers, every time you go to a game anywhere in the country where the Steelers are the visiting team, they are half the stadium.

They are kicking people's asses in and outside of the stadium.

They are dominating restaurants and taverns.

What's you with the fighting again?

What is up with that?

Well, I think the Steelers are who they are.

Like, like, I don't care if it's a man or a woman.

Like, I don't want to deal with a female Steelers fan.

If she's above the age of 14, she'll kick my ass.

So it's like

14.

This fan base is wild and they care like i have people writing me saying like when is the game happening in ireland i'm going i've already booked hotel room it's like they care about their team um come hell or high water and they've been good so it's easier i get that but they haven't been great they've not won a super bowl in a long time these guys show up every week um i'll know i'll say one last thing i am old enough that i went to the last browns game at Three Rivers before they moved, before they disappeared for three years.

And Steelers fans who are meant to hate the Browns, and I was in a some ridiculous Browns jersey like of a player that no one cares about and like they were coming up and hugging me and saying we love you we can't believe that this team is leaving the Cleveland Browns so it's like they understand the NFL they understand rivalries like they are they are properly named I think that's this is also going to win me this is gonna I'll do well online with this yeah this is good this is uh you're just trying to make the right non-enemies.

You're trying to align yourself with the people, the mean ones you don't want to be against you.

Absolutely.

And you seem magnanimous as a Browns fan.

The Steelers have given you so much, and yet here you are giving them props.

It really is.

It's presenting you in a positive way.

Katie, a little take, a little hot take here.

This would be, they'd be throwing this over to Peter Schrager or something, and he'd be like, oh, check out the climate's taken so far.

Detroit, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.

All right, enough of you, Schrags.

Yeah, geez, Peter.

Shut up.

Back to Katie.

Your thought.

Is there a correlation here?

And is it maybe faulty?

Are we giving too much credit just because the weather's cold?

Whereas

I do think when I picture a beleaguered fan base, I don't picture one in like a tank top that just came from the beach.

Like it is,

you really are like, are you showing up when your beer freezes?

Something that I didn't even know was possible until I went to a Pat's Broncos game that was so cold, my beer was frozen.

I was like, I thought you could put beer in the freezer and it wouldn't freeze.

How is my beer freezing?

That's, you got to stick through those games.

So I,

yeah, I think we're maybe being a little biased to the climate in that way, but isn't, you know, it's on its way out.

We're not going to have cold weather anymore.

So we might as well enjoy

really give it the credit it deserves as it's a precious commodity.

Physical suffering in addition to mental anguish.

That's a theme for us so far.

All right.

Now,

without further ado, we are back to Katie Nolan.

Katie, of course, took the Detroit Lions fan base at the top of the draft, and now she has a snake scenario.

Yeah, I'm already at the point of my fan bases where I'm going, I don't know, I could really, truly any of you, you all, I hate you all passionately.

Here's one that might be a little

surprising,

but I'm going to go, am I too early?

Should I go with that other one first?

I'm going to go with the command with commanders fans.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

A real reach, a real reach.

And here's the thing: I will say most of this is probably based on I haven't had to interact with a lot of them.

The reason that I'm picking them here is because I was, I found myself really rooting for that team to do well this year.

And that usually is an indicator to me that I want

like I'm enjoying the run because I'm enjoying what it's doing for a city.

I think it it happened at the same time or around the same time as the change of ownership that I think was really necessary, a name change that I think was really necessary.

And so it's sort of like a cool time to be like, hey, I love this for that city.

Let them go get this.

This would be really cool for them.

And so again, I may live to regret this pick this high up in my choices before my own fan base.

But I just think whenever I find myself going, well, here's a team I've never rooted for in the past.

In fact, have often rooted against.

And now I see them being kind of good.

And I'm like, this could be really sick.

That must mean something.

And I think it's that I feel like that fan base just deserves a little bit of like a break, like a little fun time.

I don't know.

I'm drowning.

You never want your GM to be filled with this much doubt immediately after the pick.

It's always,

it's a concern.

I would say one thing, though, if you go back historically to the previously named team, like that was one of the most hardcore fan bases in Florida.

And I think they've been through, they were tugged into deep Hades, and now they've been pulled back to, you know, terra firma and they're enjoying what they're experiencing.

I like the pick.

I like the pick.

I think it's a good pick too.

Yeah.

It's one that makes people think it's kind of like when Bo Nix came off the board last April.

They're like, whoa,

okay.

That gif of the lady being like, oh,

I like it.

And yeah, they are hardcore fans.

Remember, like the most famous fans are a bunch of like fat, middle-aged men in dresses and pig masks.

These are people that are coming from a different angle.

They're into it.

And their attendance was way down before this uptick.

But you know what?

That's the sins of a terrible owner, Daniel Snyder, who is no longer around.

And I don't hold it against him.

All right.

Snakes to you, Katie.

He's no longer around.

And also, a little added silver lining was that he was miserable last year during their plan.

Megapiss.

I loved that that was reported of like, he's not happy that this is happening without him.

which made me so much happier, and I appreciate that.

All right, with this next pick, I'm going to take the pats.

That's my family.

Those are my friends.

Sure, internationally, nationally, are they perceived in a certain type of way?

Yeah.

But I just feel like, look,

winning is something we all are here hoping will happen to our team.

And it happened a bunch to this one fan base, and I see that being annoying to other people.

But I think once it started happening to the Kansas City Chiefs, I think people started to realize what about the Patriots fan base was valuable, which is that we are fun to be mad at.

And we played that role and embraced that role sometimes a little too much, but we at least knew what was going on.

And we,

I don't know, I just find Kansas City Chiefs fans less fun to be like i they're not as good at this um

they don't own that identity the the same way.

You're right.

You're right about that.

Yes.

And so I think like while we have our faults,

if I can't love us, who's going to?

And so with my third pick, I'm taking my own fan base.

Yeah, with all due respect to Eagles fans who can really

be annoying and hard to deal with, Patriots fans at the height of the Brady Belchick era,

it was a next level

of a target.

And then you had the things like Deflate Gate and everything else that happened around that team that you guys, as Patriots fans, closed the ranks and then were able to celebrate all these championships year after year, it felt like.

The question is, I have with this pick is, yeah, how has this fan base done in the last four or five years post-Brady?

Do they deserve to be this high in the draft, or is it just, is this a homer pick all the way?

I mean, that's.

It's a homer pick.

Hey, they're figuring it out.

Okay, look, nobody's perfect all the time.

And they're going through something.

We are coming off an era where I had to learn how the circuit courts work so that I could figure out appeals processes.

And if my quarterback was going to be able to play, I've learned way more than I needed to know about PSI for this team.

So pardon me if for the last year or two, oh, wow.

What a tough life, Katie.

You had to learn about air pressure.

How about you're a Jets fan, Nolan?

We don't get anything.

I'd rather die.

So would we.

See.

Any thoughts or do you want to go to your pick?

Go ahead.

No,

I do think that, Katie, out of the gate, you said that you could have gotten that with the last pick in the draft.

And from a drafting angle, I think you rushed into that.

I wasn't about to take them, and certainly Dan wasn't.

So we've got to examine our process here.

I don't know why you keep leaving me, both of you, just insane gems that, and part of this, is going to play well in this so-called vote that no one cares about if I'm on social.

Like I care.

Well, I'm taking the Packers.

Middle of the country is just going to light up when they see who I picked.

And they're going to be able to get a picture of the picture.

I mean, Katie, you got to grab the Packers at three and go get the Patriots.

No, here's the thing.

Look, okay, we get it.

You're all owners.

Okay.

Do you get to say

who you're going to draft?

Do you get any sort of input?

No, it doesn't really mean anything.

Oh, you have a $400 piece of paper hanging in your living room.

Please.

Cool.

Enough.

Cool.

But that does speak to the passion, of course, as well.

Mark, just so you know, I had them as number one.

I was letting them fall, and I was going to grab them.

So nice job here with your pick.

Well, that, well, thank you.

I feel your approval.

They are great.

It is nice.

I like the way their stadium is right across the street from houses.

I think one of the coolest things is the way that they trick out all those houses right across the street to have like, you know, Packers-themed whatever.

It's cool.

It's a cool fan base.

I like the,

what's it?

The way the seats are or bleacher.

Like, I like that.

It's cool.

I like it.

Great.

Lambo Leap.

Awesome.

Good.

They travel.

It's kind of a hockey pick, but, you know, it is.

But I, but inside basic, some would say.

Kind of.

Inside the body of the show, I acknowledge that it's sort of a ridiculous maneuver by me.

But when it goes out onto social and no one knows anything about what, no one's going to listen to this.

They're not going to listen to the rationale or the reasoning.

This guy's going to be.

They're not going to know I'm a Patriots.

It's going to go, why would you pick the Patriots?

And

I, as a fan, will die on that hill.

That's what I meant to do.

And the NFL that, you know, with each passing year and now 400 games being played on Christmas Day this year, it's a grotesque beast in some ways, but there's something still about the Packers in this tiny little town,

not only,

you know.

filling that building and the fan base travels well, but also they're consistently good and Green Bay.

You know,

that's a nice story.

The Packers are always a nice story, and it helps to have a good quarterback for 35 straight years, but I digress.

Comes back to me.

I'm going to be quick here.

I'm going to finish this out.

This one, you know, I was going to grab the pack, even though it was a basic pick.

It would have been a great value pick at three.

But I will take the Denver Broncos.

I think the Broncos fan base is one that is slept on.

I think they're highly passionate.

I have a buddy that lives here in town in L.A.

that is so passionate about his Broncos that he named his son Denver, and he drives around in a orange golf cart with a Broncos logo on it.

And he, at our Little League field, purchased one of the signs that you could put up along the outfield fence that says Bo Leave with a giant Denver.

Everything else is like a plumbers union, the local pizza shop,

you know, the VW.

And then there's this thing, Bo Leave, right and left center field you're saying someone someone married this this is a man and someone married this person absolutely there they live a happy life together two children and so that's a shout out to my buddy Scott but also

another fan base that is always there always fills that building great home field advantage

and maybe I just wanted to have

maybe I just wanted to have someone outside the Eastern time zone represented here although I guess Green Bay covered that as well But someone further out west.

So I'm going to, I'm going to give a little variation with the Broncos, where you guys think.

Katie, you don't seem to like that pick.

Oh, the time zone thing threw me off because I always forget Detroit is in the Eastern time zone, even though it feels like it shouldn't be, right?

Are they?

Yeah, that's always, I think their airport literally says, you are in the Eastern time zone, because they know that people think that they're not.

Yeah, that pick is fine.

I was just remembering the time that I was there for a,

it had to be an AFC championship game.

The Pats lost to the, to the Broncos.

And I, and I was just trying to remember with Patriots stuff on, if they were abusive to me.

I don't think they were, but I had, I was way, way up in those seats and had a lot of, the only alcohol that was getting up there was big cans of Mike's hard lemonade.

And so I was a weird type of drunk at that.

But again, nobody, no fights, no anything.

I think I got out of there safe.

So yeah, I think I would buy that the Broncos are a fine.

They, I just, you're right.

I don't think about them that much for whatever reason.

Broncos Country, let's ride.

Yeah.

Broncos Country.

Yeah, let's ride.

That's not the gist.

And finally, yes, I am going, of course,

have to bring it home

with the New York Jets fans.

You can.

And I can.

First of all, I can.

And I will.

We have been through hell and back, and we never give up.

Do you know that outside of that giant abomination Jero World that seats 100,000 people, the Jets had the number one attendance in the NFL last year.

The Jets have

lost relentlessly and in the most embarrassing, horrifying ways.

And Jets fans are battered people, miserable people in many ways, but we never give up and we always chase the dream.

And we've sat in that building.

That awful building.

That awful building.

Terrible stadium.

First when it was Giant Stadium, imagine playing your games as a little brother in someone else's house and now in that big sardine can.

So many miserable days off Route 3 there.

And yet we always come back.

And one day, one day it will pay off.

I think, maybe,

at least I hope.

And when that happens, the Jets fans will finally feel vindication for their passion and their allegiance.

We are not the most lovable.

We're not the prettiest.

And we are certainly not the most beloved, even in our own market.

But we never stop believing and we just endure the suffering.

Okay.

Okay.

So all of that is not untrue.

I'm not saying that's untrue because it's from a certain point of view and you're not wrong, but they are the Jets fans, and maybe it's just because we've gotten to this point in human history.

There is something different about them that I feel from the other fan bases that we've mentioned.

They're very fatalistic and extremely negative.

Yeah.

Like you're one of the more optimistic Jets fans, but most of them are extremely negative.

And like you kind of like, if you were hanging out with a Jets fan in general, it's like, I am kind of, there's a ticking clock on this conversation ending, and there's like, I'm going to go over to that part of the room.

So, like, Jet, that's just part of it.

Well, that part of that is where these people are from, also.

Like, there's a more cynical nature to it.

But also, maybe you would be fatalistic too, like, if you lived for a while.

I'm a Browns fan.

You know,

it's like 400 other things.

Like,

to be the butt of the joke for 50 straight years would probably give you some type of

choice as as well.

You do also have to consider your most famous fan, though.

And I would say Fireman Ed is kind of annoying.

I know.

But you know what?

And he is what's, I think, the most, the funniest thing about the general misery of being a Jets fan is like Jets fans don't even like Fireman Ed.

I know.

By and large.

Like he's fought with the fans before.

We've been through a lot.

We suffer.

But in the end, we believe.

And I would not go through this exercise without representing them.

Bring on the haters.

Back to you, Mark, as we bring this to a close.

I don't know why, again, the same things happen.

I'm picking, this is going to do so well with the public.

And you can find them annoying.

Pandering is what it is.

Yeah, you're pandering and you're trying to manipulate the vote.

And it's openly.

It's going to work.

And maybe it's going to work and maybe you'll win, but at what cost?

Because here's Katie and I vote with our hearts and our souls.

And then here you are group thinking this and trying to win it with data points.

It's like, congratulations, Buster.

Well, you're not incorrect on any of those points, but that's what I'm doing.

But I'm going Raiders.

Like, talk about a huge amount of the country just being like,

I will say this.

This team has, if we're going to be like, oh, the Browns moved and like, it's like the Raiders have moved like 26 times all around California.

Now that you throw them to Vegas, it's like nothing changes.

Everyone shows up.

Now, are they annoying

out in the public arena?

Correct.

Correct.

We understand that.

And you don't really want to mess with a bunch of Raiders fans in general, like out in the public.

It's not a good idea for you or the people around you, children, pets.

But I will say the Raiders are a hard.

You don't have a Raiders fan that just suddenly moved to like Tampa and became a Bucs fan.

Like they never change.

And so I think that's a good mark of a fan base, whether you like them or you don't like them.

Yeah, I think it's more of like a, for me, the goodness I see in that fan base is the city of Oakland, the beleaguered Oakland sports fan in general.

We can never have anything.

But they hold on to what was taken from them.

And I have a lot of respect for them as sports fans.

I think,

yeah, I could see the pick.

I could understand the pick.

I see what you're doing.

I see right through it.

Yeah, well.

But it's, you know, I got to respect.

Game recognized game.

Right.

I mean, yeah, you've revealed an ugly side to your nature, Mark, but you might win this thing.

And congratulations.

All right.

What a disgrace what's happened.

Professional sports.

You got the Warriors moved to San Francisco.

The A's.

And Katie, I know you've covered baseball with that.

I mean, it's crazy.

They're allowed to be in a minor league stadium in Sacramento for an indefinite amount of time because they haven't even started building where they're going to move to.

That should not be allowed.

It's a disgrace.

Their lease being up, I mean, we've kind of gotten used to teams having to do that.

It happened in hockey before when Utah moved.

But like to be able to take a team hostage like that from a city that wants it, to put it in a city that's not allowed to put its name anywhere on it.

They are just the A's.

In the hopes of getting to eventually go to Vegas, it's crazy.

That should not be allowed.

I cannot believe that they're doing that.

All right.

Close it out, Katie.

The final pick of the fan base draft.

Katie Nolan is on the clock.

A number of teams could be chosen here, right?

But as we said at the beginning of this, it's all about how we are defining what makes a fan base.

And something that I think aligns with Roger Goodell's vision for this great league is making us more of an international fan base.

And for that reason, I'm taking the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Wow.

I love a team that randomly has a bunch of fans in another country passionate

into a sport that maybe they didn't have an into before.

Jacksonville is England's team, uh, they've been fully embraced.

I've met maybe one or two Jacksonville Jaguars fans here domestically, and they were fine.

Uh, but I really think that overseas fan base pushes them over the edge here and moves them up in my rankings because there's no accents anywhere else in here.

Uh, and I think we have to shine a light.

Do ball a stunning, a stunning selection.

A wild pick.

Yeah.

And

we're blessed to have many fans over across the pond, and we've been over there a bunch.

And actually, Katie, to your earlier pick, at least before they came down, the Patriots were actually the number one fan base in the UK region, according to handsome Henry Hodgson over there.

And the Jaguars have put in a lot of effort to gain a fan base in Jacksonville.

I'm not even sure if it's taken root fully.

So it's really, it's a leap of faith here in the branding of the Khan family by Nolan in the biggest of all spots, drafting.

And Katie, like, would you say the Jaguars have a little bit, I would view them almost as there's an element of a stalker that they're like, we're going to take England.

Not like they've wanted or asked for us.

We're just going to take it.

Like a Mark Wahlberg and fear vibe.

Like, let me in the fucking house.

You're going to root for me.

Yeah.

And you're going to like it.

If you want to like this sport, we're the only team you're going to see for a number of years.

And I just, it's been interesting seeing over the years.

I remember when they first were doing the games over there and you would look out in the crowd and everybody just wore their NFL jersey.

So it was like it was just all different teams, none of them playing.

And I think now in recent years, you're seeing like, okay, a couple.

Jacksonville jerseys out there.

People have gotten on board with the idea that this is the...

Look, I just thought it'd be a funny pick.

That's my last pick.

The Jacksonville jersey.

You nailed it.

Let's look at the final results.

Nolan goes with Lions, Commanders,

Patriots, and Jaguars.

Sese goes with the Pandering.

Mark Sessler goes with the Vikings, Steelers, Packers, and Raiders.

Y'all.

And Dan goes with the Cleveland Browns, the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos, and the New York Jets.

Let's throw it out there to vote.

Yes.

Justin.

I'm just going to point out four teams that were not drafted and maybe jump in here as like a waiver claim.

I know what you're trying to do here.

Oh, how about I take these four teams and then I get to be in the vote.

No, you don't get in, Grave Degga.

All right.

Well, I'm not going to put myself in the vote, but these four teams, I'm surprised.

Seahawks, Eagles, Giants, and I went with Chiefs just because they're right now.

Seahawks, Giants, and Chiefs, all very good options.

Yes.

Giants, you'll never catch me taking a Giants fan base.

Think of the teams that handed me the sadness during our high years.

I hate Giants fans.

Seahawks, I think they get a lot of shine.

They get the 12th man thing that they took.

Texas A ⁇ M.

And I just think that, like, you know, they make a lot of noise, and that's great.

I have an ex who is a Seahawks fan, so you, again, won't catch me picking Seahawks fans.

Shout out Mina Kimes.

Yeah.

And then who is the best?

Not the ex, to be clear.

No, yes.

I wish.

We'd still be together.

We would have made it.

The Eagles,

and I am a pro-Philly sports I'm like, I defend their fan base a lot.

I like the literal, the Phillies.

I love their fans.

I think they're smart, educated,

passionate.

Eagles fans have a little streak of

they can get they can get a little more mean, I think, than um I think it's the Eagles that are the ones earning the the reputation of Philadelphia as a whole.

Um but yeah, you know, I like a lot of Philadelphia sports fans,

but

I can't pick the Eagles in a fans draft because I'm not pandering.

Well, yeah, Mark, you're not pandering, Monday.

Let's, like, 48 hours from now when this so-called survey of any importance is

out there on the airwaves.

Like, we'll see who's operating as the victor.

Katie Nolan, you've said it all.

Thank you so much for joining us.

And again, Katie's new show, The Casuals,

new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

She digs into the newsworthy sports moments of the week.

On Thursdays, she has guests diving into trending topics.

Maybe guests like Mark and I, maybe as soon as this week after she reflects on how great this went.

Anyway, episodes of Casuals are available, speaking of pandering, on the SiriusXM app and all major podcast platforms.

Katie Nolan, thank you so much.

Thank you for being here.

Thanks for letting everyone know where they can find me now that I've pissed them and their respective fan bases off.

But this has been great.

Thank you for bullying me into

talking about the fans of NFL themes.

This has been very fun.

All right.

Excellent.

Thank you.

All right.

We'll be right back after this.

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All right, we are back.

That was great.

Katie was

excellent as anticipated, and we hope everybody enjoyed that chat.

By the way, Mark, real quick, before we say goodbye, the idea for that segment, I was getting a haircut last month.

And you know, sometimes when you're getting a haircut

and the barbershop has a TV and you're sitting in the chair, you don't even, you're under the cloak thing, so you don't even have access to your phone.

So you are at the mercy of whatever they have playing on the TV.

And I have this barber that I went to is like one of those no-talk barbers.

Like he didn't look, which is a little bit of a relief, to be fair.

Sometimes when you have a chatty barber, it's like, come on, man.

I just want to turn the brain off, you know.

But anyway, this is a no, this is a no-talk barber.

So it's just me and the TV, like it's, you know, the 1970s or whatever.

And it's Chris Russo, our old buddy Mad Dog.

It was MLB Network, and they have some type of listical show.

And they did the top 10 fan bases of MLB.

And Russo, who we love, has been on the show multiple times in past years,

said the funniest thing.

He was going through it and he left the Padres off the list.

And then the host was like, I can't believe he didn't put the San Diego Padres fans on this.

And Russo goes, I need to see more.

And I just thought that was such an insane thing to say.

I don't know what it meant.

That's a total mad dog response.

But that's why I love Russo.

And then it got my gears turning.

Like, that is such a kind of a dumb thing to say, but also it's a dumb, fun topic.

So why don't we do the same thing with the NFL team?

So obviously let us know who we missed, and we won't change anything about our drafts.

But there are obviously more than 12 great fan bases.

Those are just the ones that we selected.

Well,

there will be 20 groups of people that will say,

what on God's Earth have you done here?

Like, with this?

Can we just say, Mark, like, I'm surprised you didn't take the Eagles because you're always gassing them up.

Katie, I get, she's a Patriots fan and the Super Bowl loss.

Obviously, I have a conflicted relationship with Eagles fans based on the past season, although I do respect the fan base for its intensity.

When Eagles fans inevitably get super super mondo-pissed about this, just remember I'm not the only one that didn't vote Eagles.

I'm not the only one.

It wasn't just me.

You're asking them to be, they're going to come at you specifically.

It's not going to be logical.

And also, I went Vikings, Steelers, Packers, Raiders.

Like, Eagles would have been my next move there.

Like, let's be real.

Well, we can't do that either.

I mean, that doesn't mean anything.

Like, oh, they would, if there was five, I would have picked the Eagles.

But I'm going to say

my whole process was a little disingenuous, and they would have been a very logical fifth selection there.

And, you know, I'm not out here burying the Eagles or saying the J-E-T-S chance is way better than the E-A-G-L-E-S chan.

That's a rip-off.

Like, I'm not out here saying that, so don't, don't come after me.

I just didn't take them, okay?

Or that Kelly Green is a Jets color, not an Eagle.

I'm not saying any of that.

So don't get mad at me.

I would almost say that you avoided picking them to draw the ire of the fan base online.

I would never do that.

Okay.

You know me.

I would never do such a thing.

That would be a Stinky Davis move, and I am not into that.

You are above anything remotely sniffing out Stinky Davis.

Yes.

Thank you, everybody.

Happy to be back, and we'll be back again on Thursday with the great Connor Orr, who will rejoin us.

As we mentioned, Matt Money Smith will join us later this week, the draft day

live watch on Patreon.

And then next week, we'll be all over the NFL draft.

Can you believe it?

The NFL draft is next week, next Thursday.

Until next time.

Thank you, Katie Nolan, and heed that call.