NBA Playoffs With Brian Windhorst, Actor Josh Duhamel, The Bulls Lost Twice In The Play In, Lee Corso Retires Plus Fyre Fest

NBA Playoffs With Brian Windhorst, Actor Josh Duhamel, The Bulls Lost Twice In The Play In, Lee Corso Retires Plus Fyre Fest

April 18, 2025 2h 22m Explicit

The Bulls managed to lose twice Wednesday night in play in action and Big Cat is sick of the endless mediocrity and we sim the lottery (00:00:00-00:20:52). Lee Corso retires and Aaron Rodgers doesn’t really tell us much on his next destinatio (00:20:52-00:38:57). Brian Windhorst joins the show to talk LeBron calling him weird, NBA Playoffs, his advanced analytical system on final contenders, rules for eating out and more (00:38:57-01:25:16). Josh Duhamel joins the show to talk about his new show Ransom Canyon, Vikings, his doomsday prepping and more (01:25:16-01:57:14). We finish with Fyre fest and some softball tension on the show (01:57:14-02:20:59).


You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/pardon-my-take

Listen and Follow Along

Full Transcript

Hey, Pardon My Take listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
Nashville, get ready for one of the biggest parties of the summer in Music City. Barstool Nashville is hosting the Summerfest Block Party on Friday, May 16th and Saturday, May 17th outside of Barstool Nashville on 2nd Ave South.
We're closing down the street and putting up a huge music festival stage for a star-studded lineup of artists, which includes Galantis, Loud Luxury, Young Gravy, Cameron Whitcomb, Josh Roche, Shaylin, Chandler Walters, and Dylan Schneider. And the two-day event is hosted by me, Brianna Chicken Fry, and out-and-abouts Joey and Pat.
Don't miss one of the biggest parties on the summer. Doors open at 5 p.m.
on May 16th and May 17th, 21 and get your tickets now on barstoolnashville.com on today's part of my take we have a twofer for the people we have brian windhorse getting ready for all the game ones this weekend in the nba playoffs and then we have our good friend josh dumo the most attractive guest we have on uh he us again. I think it's his third time on.
Great chat with him. We're going to talk NBA playoffs.
We're going to talk the play-in games. We have Aaron Rodgers update that's not really in an update.
Lee Corso is retiring. And we're going to finish off with Fyre Fest of the Week.
Sending you into the weekend. And we are brought to you by our friends at draft kings the nba 82 game grind is done and now the real fun begins the nba playoffs are here and it's time for all the high stakes drama clutch moments and jaw-dropping plays if you're looking to make the playoffs even more exciting draft king sportsbook has you covered as an official sports betting partner of the NBA.
From the playing games all the way through to the finals, now's the time to back your favorite players and teams as they chase glory. All season long, DraftKings has been the go-to spot for NBA player props.
And that doesn't stop now. Want to make your playoff experience even more intense? Try placing a bet on your favorite performance will they drop 30 points 40 or more it's your call ready to place your first bet download the draft king sportsbook app now lock in your bets and let's make this playoff run unforgettable here's something special for first timers new draft kings customers bet five dollars get two hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly make it a playoff run to remember with draft Kings, download the DraftKings customers, bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets instantly.

Make it a playoff run to remember with DraftKings.

Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

Use code TAKE.

That's code TAKE for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets.

When you bet just $5 only on D responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash audio. Okay, let's go.
Hey, football guy. For Dean of A-W-N.
Bart and Mike's head. Yeah, Bart and Mike's head.
Yeah, Bart and Mike's head. Yeah yeah pardon my take yeah pardon my take yeah pardon my take yeah pardon my take welcome to pardon my take presented by draft kings make it a playoff run to remember with draft kings download the draft king sportsbook app and use code take that'sAKE for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets when you bet just $5 only on DraftKings.
The crown is yours. Today is Friday, April 18th, and both Bulls teams lost in the playing games on Wednesday night.
The regular Bulls and the West Coast Bulls. The West Coast Bulls.
Yes, to further cement how stupid the Bulls are as an organization. Yeah, it was basically, let's watch the real Bulls play, lose by a lot at home, and then let's watch the core that was built around Zach Levine and DeMar DeRozan play out West, lose by a shitload at home.
Yeah, so now Dallas advances to play against Memphis. Yep.
And I want Dallas in the playoffs. I do too.
I really do. I think that'd be fun.
Klay Thompson avenged

last year's, he went 0 for

10, I believe, last year. Yeah, I remember

I bet it. I was like, Klay Thompson is a big

game player. He's not going to go out like this

0 for 10. He went out like that.
Yeah, he went out like that.

But he's back like that now. Also,

the Kings,

they're kind of lost

in space. No idea what's going

to happen with them. I feel like a couple years ago, we had to light the beam.
Everyone was pumped about the Kings. They did something on Wednesday night that you can't do if you're going to lose at home by, I think they ended up losing by like 16, but they were down by 23 at half.
Did you see the player introductions? They played the My Little Pony theme song for the Mavs, which is very funny, but you can't do it, then lose. You can't.
You absolutely cannot do that. You cannot.
At least they brought back the gun emoji, so if you do beat the Mavs, you can shoot the horse. That's true.
So that's good. Yeah, Anthony Davis was awesome.
In the regular Bulls game, Tyler Hero was awesome. Can I see red for a minute? Yeah, I was going to say welcome to the lottery.
Yeah, I'm excited to be in the lottery. Let's sim one.
All right. Because you guys, like this was a situation where you guys have been playing the lottery game.
Now someone has jumped into the game. Welcome to the party.
With a 1.2% chance, which I think will go up if Dallas makes the playoffs or miami makes the playoffs so i'm rooting for that uh we might get all the way up to like two percent that's huge and that would be quite something if i somehow pulled off the lottery win in your guy's face yeah so um max has already disavowed and denied taking cooper flag if they get the first overall pick big cat i don't think that you did i did not still in. I said, I wanted him.
He's still in on Cooper flag. Yeah.
Even though he is a choker. That's fine.
By the way, did you guys see Texas? Twitter has, has found a, our list of not when the big one guys. Oh, I didn't see that.
Are they happy about it? They were not happy about the arch manning. They kept on saying he's only played two games and won both games.
I'm just saying that was a future call. And I also was like, so you're saying he's not good enough to start?

Sounds like, how are you going to win the big one from the bench?

Let me ask you this, Big Cat.

In the playoffs, when you had a must-score situation

against the Ohio State University, was he on the field?

No.

Hmm.

Hmm.

On the bench.

All right, Simit.

Okay.

Washington.

There you go.

All right. Do one more.
I'm just keep singing utah boo boo okay one more new orleans boo that's no next one wins next one wins well i already won okay do it again. New Orleans again.

Boo.

Portland, boo.

San Antonio, boo.

Boo, boo.

Charlotte, boo.

Who cares?

Utah, boo.

This sucks.

Washington, there we go.

Let's go.

Double win.

You won.

Yeah, let me see red for a second, though, because I actually, for the first time in a

while, I did not fall for Jerry Reinsdorf and michael reinsdorf's uh tricks uh and ak the front office uh a bunch of fucking morons uh i didn't fall for it this year and i'm happy i didn't fall for it because i didn't let myself fall for the tricks that they pull every single year pft i got uh some stats i went through Bulls' winning percentage this year was 47%. They were a 47% winning percentage team.
They finished 39-43. Not great.
Below 500 at home. Below 500 at home.
So, that's not a good team. That's not a team that is building anything.
But, guess what the trick is? Like every year, from the last day february to the end of the season the bulls went 16 and 7 holy shit that's a great mark they're doing it 70 winning percentage um bulls marching if you take out uh the wins against all the teams that were actively tanking your washington's your phillies your bro Brooklands, and then you take out the two wins against teams where they were sitting their star player, the Denver Nuggets with Jokic and the Pacers with Halberton. The Bulls' winning percentage from February 28th to the end of the year, what was it? 43%.
46%. They were the same team the whole time.
And to pretend that it's anything different is ridiculous march and april nba basketball does not matter and uh the argument would be well they got some young guys and it's different than the last couple of years which i would agree uh booze list looks awesome and i i'm excited about that draft pick they also have a guy named josh giddy who they're going probably pay $35 million to, which would be a very big mistake. What do you think about the trade? The trade? Like in retrospect, Caruso, Giddey.
They should have gotten picks. Yeah.
They should have gotten picks. I had Giddey over 17 and a half last night that cashed.
Yeah, he was not the problem. Kobe White, I think, was like five for 20.
He should also be traded because you have one more year of him. But what the Bulls are going to do is they're going to say, well, we went 70% down the stretch.
And we have Josh Giddey who's about to get paid. We have Boozalus.
We have Kobe White. Let's build around this young nucleus.
And what they're going to do is they're going to sign Josh Giddey to $30, $35 million a year. And Josh Giddey is just good enough to get you in the playing game and not the playoffs.
And Josh Giddey, so I already pointed out that the last month and a half should not really be counted. But the Bulls obviously count it and they look at it like we're building something.
Josh Giddey, the first four months of the year, averaged 12.5, 6.5, and 7.5.

That's obviously points, rebounds, or sorry, points, assists, rebounds.

I should have done the other way.

Question, is he getting more minutes in Chicago?

He's getting more minutes.

A lot more usage.

Turns out when you are on a good team and you don't play,

that's probably because you're not as good as the good team players.

He was also like a redundant player on that good team.

Yeah.

So, again, first four months, 12.5, 7 and a half six and a half points, rebounds, assists the last two months which I've already established shouldn't count and is you're playing against teams that don't matter. He almost averaged a triple double 20, 10 and nine and a half and they're going to fucking pay him for that that would you rather he not have almost average triple

double i would have rather them take i think about it i think i think yokich westbrook uh was it moses malone or oscar robertson yeah and big oh it's they're doing the same thing yet again josh giddy will be just a younger zach levine where you just pay a guy a ton of money because you're like, well, what are the other options?

And Zach Levine, who is a good basketball player on paper, but a losing basketball paper or basketball player in reality is exactly what the Bulls love to have because it keeps you competitive enough to get into the playing game, not in the playoffs or compete for anything. This is the third year in a row they've been in the play-in game.
They have not made it to the playoffs. They do not know how to tank.
They do not know how to win. We are now a decade since the Bulls last won a playoff series.
We're 11 years since the Bulls last won a home playoff game, which I was at. It was a Derrick Rose buzzer beater.
This franchise franchise is a joke and it should be called out as a joke and stop pretending that march and april basketball means something uh and actually pick a lane and go for it and be like hey we're gonna be bad for a little bit because if they came in front of the fan base said we're gonna suck for the next three or four years but we're gonna have a shot at a couple one or two or three picks people will be like okay let's do it yeah it's way better to do that yeah like having a plan having a plan to do that is what every bad team should do and they have you're not going to get good in the nba unless one you're a destination city where you feel confident that you can attract an already cemented superstar correct to want to go to your city or two you're just really shitty

and you get the first pick in the over in the draft correct or i guess you could also hit on somebody in the draft later on but that's so hard to do in the nba and the i'll just make trades and get picks that yeah you know eventually end up as lottery they finally do own all their picks again which they had to trade to get one of their picks back but the the what you guys said is correct. The opposite plan that you should do is paying guys that are decently average basketball players $30-plus million to win 39 games a year.
Right, that's the worst. Which is what they've done, which I loved last night because it was like the front office, it was an indictment on the front office in two separate play-in games.
It was the Bulls, and then it was, oh yeah, the last iteration of the Bulls was Zach Levine and DeMar DeRozan. You fucked up twice.
Let me just say this, Big Cat. If I don't win the draft lottery, and I very much hope that I do, I hope you win it.
Thank you. I hope Chicago gets it.
If I don't win it, I hope you win it. Thank you.
I appreciate that. And I'm probably not going to win probably not going to win it.
That'd be great to have Cooper Flagg in Chicago. Yeah.
If I can't have him in D.C. It would be a lot of fun.
Yeah. But yeah, I was frustrated.
Again, I was happy that I didn't fall for it because usually when a team finishes the season 60 and 70, you're like, oh my God. And they're younger than they have been in the past.
But it's all the same. And Jerry Reinsdorf and Michael Reinsdorf are scumbags, and all they care about is selling out the United Center, which sells out.
It's lead the league in attendance every single year, and it's just bullshit. They have no plan, and they have no path forward, and they're just going to stay in this middle ground forever and try to sell everyone on a really good March and April where they finish strong and lost in-in.
Being in the play-in game three years in a row and not making it to the playoffs, that should, like, there should be a punishment. I don't know what it should be, but there should be a punishment.
Ban from future play-in tournaments? Like, the Hawks being in their fourth straight play-in game, like, there should be some type of punishment for fucking up so bad that you just end up in the same spot every year. Okay, but I worse for the hawks and here's why with the hawks you have a guy that you in theory could build around and make a good team around right i think i think that trey young is good enough where you can you can get to that next level which is maybe being like a four seed or a five seed if you put the right pieces around him the bulls you don't have that like you gotta you gotta go scorched earth at this point.
No, they're gonna pay Josh

Giddey. And again, it's not really like

Josh Giddey's fine. He could be your

third or fourth best player, but

they're gonna pay him way too much

money and they're gonna be like, well,

he's 22 years old. He's gonna get way better.

Okay.

And you're gonna be in the same spot.

The ceiling is gonna be

the eighth seed play-in game. So you get two home play-in games.
So, yeah, that was my seed reg. Hank was trying to say that we could beat the Cavs a week ago.
What did I say? Well, you guys finished so hot. You guys were trending so often.
Yeah, you fell for it. You fell for it.
I'm trying to speak into existence. We've done this before, but the halftime lead for the heat was 71 47 and that is pretty much the largest 24 point deficit you can have yeah because you you rarely see it with those numbers that high it feels like 30 yeah that's a big one yeah and i i people were asking me what the smallest was and i said in basketball i feel like it's like 59 35 because you can get on a little quick run.
If you go a 7-0 run, 59-42, you're in that game. Yeah.
So it was a 24-point lead. 24-point lead.
36-12 too because it's so early. Yeah, 36-12 is a good one.
I would even say 30. Like 36-12 in the NBA means nothing.
Nothing. Yeah.
Nothing. But 71-47 is like, what the hell is happening right now? You're not even at 50 and they're in the 70s? If you can jump over multiple digits of 10, that's when it appears so much larger.
Yeah. Yeah.
So, yeah. And it was very funny because the Mavs were up 71-48.
Yeah. Which, just idiots.
I hate to play in tournament. I hate it.
It's stupid. Because the very best thing you can hope for is that you get a great game and then the fans are like we wish that we had more of this matchup correct teams match up so well at worst is what we saw last night which is just uninteresting boring depressing basketball and we nobody wants to watch no although the one good thing i'll say this watching the play-in tournament right after uh right after march madness is kind of cool because for a while you forget what good basketball looks like,

and you just get amazed at the shots that are going in.

Shots go in.

Yeah, no, the play-in tournament, I hate it so much,

and I hate it obviously personally just because it was made specifically

for owners like Jerry Reinsdorf to be like,

hey, we made the play-in tournament.

But I just – how could you – if you told someone there's a league with 30 teams, 15 in each conference, and 10 out of 15 make the postseason? Yeah. It's so stupid.
You play 82 games. Yeah, wasn't the playing tournament designed because they wanted to make sure that Zion Williamson could get in it for ratings? I think so.
I think that's when they did it, yeah. And I guess you could, obviously, the Heat fucked it up for everyone the heat going to the finals from a from a playing tournament fucked it up but that was also was that mickey mouse no that was the that was the year what two years ago were they playing team then they must have been because they were the eight seed right yeah you guys were the one seed yeah was that first round no but i'm just saying a team that goes from the play intoin to the finals, people are like, look, see? That team could get hot.
But, yeah, no, you're right. That's not the argument.
It should be if a 9 or a 10, a team that would be left out if they actually advance. The 7 and the 8 are in the playoffs.
They should be in the playoffs. So, so stupid.
Okay, so speaking of that, we have two more playing games. Yeah, can't i'm actually i'm looking forward to the the grizzlies mavericks game a little bit i am that's the thing is the actual games i'm not going to argue can be fun the grizzlies warriors game was fun so it's like once we get to if they're going to force it i'm going to watch it i'm going to enjoy it but if you me would I like it, I'd say no.
Yeah. Miami, Atlanta.
I think this is where heat culture takes over. I feel like heat culture gets the nod.
Kevin Love, one last rodeo. He's not playing.
Damn it. Yeah.
He's still on the team. Tyler Hero, yeah.
All right. Let's do a first basket.
What are we doing, Max? First basket. We all got to pick a first basket this is for friday's games these are friday's games and it's brought to you by draft kings the nba playoffs are finally here it's about to get wild high stakes drama insane buzzer beaters jaw dropping dunks and the excitement you live for and guess what draft king sportsbook an official sports betting part of the nba is giving you a chance to boost your winnings every single game during playoffs that's right every.
Every game, all playoffs long, DraftKings is rolling out a special NBA profit boost.

So what are you waiting for?

Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now.

Use code TAKE to claim your profit boost.

That's right.

Code TAKE gets you a boost every single NBA playoff game.

Don't miss your shot at big wins.

This is the moment you've been waiting for only on DraftKings.

The crown is yours.

Gambling problem?

Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

In New York, call 877-8HOPE-N-Y or text HOPE-N-Y 467-369.

In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.

Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org.

Please play responsibly.

On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over,

age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction.

Boyd in Ontario.

Get one NBA profit boost per game after opt-in. Boost expires at the end of each game.
Boosts, bet criteria, and maximum bet limits vary. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com slash promos.
Okay, so we're doing a contest between all four of us. Max, are you in this? Yes.
Okay. Every single week, everyone's going to pick a first basket score, and then the winner gets a bonus bet.
So we're going to give them out. I'm going to do Anthony Davis, first basket score.
Plus 500. Okay.
Love it. I'm taking Desmond Bain, plus 750.
Okay. Juicy.
I'm going John Morant, plus 550. All eyes on this game.
And I'm going to go Zach Eadie plus 750. Wait, we're all doing that game? Let's get nuts.
Somebody's got to win. Love it.
Let's get nuts. I think the Mavs might win.
I agree with you, PFT. I want the Mavs in the playoffs.
Yeah. Just for the fans.
Yeah. Yeah.
Did you guys see the story of the pastor in South Africa? Yeah. South Africa? It's so good.
He was kidnapped, gunpoint, and he was saved. And they talked to him on the phone.
And I think they told him, like, hey, try to talk about lighthearted stuff. And one of his friends brought up the NICO NIL stuff.
And he was like, bullshit about it. Yeah.
After being kidnapped in South Africa, he was very upset about it. And then at the end of the interview, the pastor that was on the phone with him, held up his copy of the Bible that he keeps in his office.
Yeah. And it's an orange Bible with the power T on it.
It's so awesome. Yeah.
Yeah. He, uh, uh, after being safely rescued, Sullivan was taken to see his family.
He then began touching base with some back in East Tennessee. Pastor Tom Hatley said one of the first things he heard from those in South Africa was he was upset over Nico.
Yeah. He's like, send me back.
That's a football guy. Let those guys take me.
I don't want to come back. Yeah.
Also, Nico got, I think, 1.5 mil. Oh, good deal.
Well, the nice thing is that the cost of living in Californiaifornia is much less than in tennessee yeah so he actually ended up losing i'm gonna guess like 80 percent of his earning power when you take into account the cost of living in la and the state income tax in california as opposed to tennessee which doesn't have any so the art of the deal yeah by nico's dad i also heard that his dad was saying the tennessee offense like put handcuffs on him and it's like we're it's the hot dog we're all trying to find the guy who did it maybe it was the inaccurate quarterback yeah that's the best place yeah that's the best place he could possibly be yeah but i'm saying like he he he had to have handcuffs because he couldn't throw yes like that's also true like it wasn't the offense it was that they were like hey this guy can't throw to open receivers we're gonna have to change the offense yeah so i know that tennessee fans are pumped about it because they're like hot you got less money and you're going to a school that's not going to be nearly as good for you as we were yeah and they're gonna get killed in the big 10 probably yeah i i keep forgetting that ucla is in the big 10 they are still makes no sense. Lee Corso retiring.
So first week of game day. Legend of the game.
Sad. He's all in for week one.
He's got a big summer to prep for Ohio State, Texas. Yeah, so I guess.
Waterworks City on that first week. Yeah, they wanted to do it where he did.
The first ever mascot that he put on was Brutus. And so they wanted to maybe bookend it.
I still think they should have given him like a late October, early November game. Ideally, that would be nice.
Because like August 1st or the first week and last week of August, but week one, it's football, but it's also like that weird, everyone's still on summer vacation. Like football's on.
I'm watching, but like it just doesn't feel like game day. It doesn't feel like Corso.
You know what? It should have been week two. That's when usually some of the power schools schedule the cupcakes.
Oh yeah. Week one is going to be.
Yeah. Week one.
It's like a celebration that college football is back. So we're all super pumped about that.
Week two. We look at the slate and we're like oh, shit, this isn't nearly as good as week one.
Week two could have just been a big celebration of Lee Corso. Yeah.
He probably maybe should have retired a couple years ago, but it doesn't matter. I love Lee.
Whenever he wants. Yeah.
Like, that's one of those guys that he's in that Dickie V camp. The Fanta, Dickie V, Lee Corso.
The guys that are basically holding up a sport with just genuine enthusiasm for that sport that's what I think a lot of people got drawn to first and then they get cynical as the years go on and I always loved when Kirk Herbstreet would just support him on stage it actually made Kirk way more likable to the average viewer too so yeah it's going to be. I don't know if they're going to fill the chair with somebody else or just move on because they've got a pretty good team.
So I don't know, but you can't really fill Lee Corso's shoes. No.
It's not going to be the same if like Nick Saban is putting on mascot headgear. No, definitely not.
I don't think he would. That's like.
They should do the headgear on Kirk's dogs. That would be awesome.
That would be sick. I would love to see that.
But yeah,

legend of the game.

And yeah,

I mean,

I don't think anyone's ever said anything bad about Lee Corso.

No,

what is the,

the only criticism would be maybe he should have retired a few years ago,

but guess what?

Everyone should be as lucky to be able to do it as long as he,

he has done it.

Yeah.

And,

and be able to just keep having fun.

So I love Lee Corso. Yeah.
He's the best. The, you can't you can't say anything bad about him memes did you have something bad to say about him no i love lee corso okay hey good to tell you something bad to say about him no okay max you want to say something bad about him now's the time uh do you want me to say something bad about if you have something bad in your head what the internet needs is for somebody to get mad about and take out all of our because right now we feel sad right and as men that makes us feel vulnerable so we have anger that we would like to release so if you say something bad then we could just hate you uh he called that little kid a midget yeah that was messed up play that clip that was a great clip that wasn't messed up that was awesome was that when i was on college game day that was that was that at his finest.
Was that about me? I'm 5'8", Lee. I love it.
If you're listening and not watching, it's a little kid. It's like a five-year-old kid on the desk with him.
Uggs. Yale Bulldogs.
Not so fast, midget. Yeah, little guy.
Hey, not so fast. That's a five-year-old.
Yeah. Oh, that's great.
Hank, you have something bad? I don't. I mean, if you want a quote card to get the internet stirring, good riddance.
Oh. Good riddance.
Do you want to do that? Meme says no. Meme says no.
He's not going to do it. You don't want that smoke.
You don't want that smoke. All right.
College football fans would be. Ooh.
Oh, now I think we got to do it. Yeah.

Now we got to do it.

Memes.

But then it's going to look like our entire show is saying this.

Yeah.

How about... If you ask for it.

How about you include this?

Make Hank's name even bigger than the quote.

How about you include this?

Hank, that's messed up.

Yeah.

Dash PFT.

Hank, and then include mine.

Hank, you're wrong.

We all love Lee Corso.

Sounds good to me. That quote card is going to bang.
That's going to do numbies. Maybe also just put out another one saying Arch Manning can't win the big one.
Yeah. Lock it up.
Just throw it out there. Arch Manning, the world's biggest choke artist.
These are all good. Yeah.
Okayaron rogers he showed up again it was an illuminating interview did you watch it he went on mcfee i did not so can you give me the rundown yeah i've never he was i thought he was banned from mcfee if he was still on the jets yeah but he's not on the jets anymore um i thought it was illuminating i thought that uh i've never heard one person say as many words without saying anything at all as i heard aaron rogers say on pat mcafee today i think it was probably 20 minutes of aaron just kind of saying i'm up for anything down for whatever so there's absolutely no news that came out of it he it does sound like he's dealing with a personal issue they kept going back to that so if it is something serious that he's dealing with like family or friends then obviously he's you know doing the right thing by taking that time before moving on with his professional career but it just sounded like he was uh he's just waiting he's just he's waiting for the universe to speak to him okay i think he's waiting for like a dog to walk down the street and talk to him and And then that will be his sign that it's time to join the Steelers.

So it's he's waiting for the universe to talk to him.

Is he also maybe waiting for the draft to happen?

I don't know.

Why would you wait for the draft to happen?

Because if the Steelers maybe extend overextend themselves and get you to her Sanders, he's like, why would I go to the Steelers?

Yeah, but if they got Rodgers before the draft, wouldn't they then not?

Well, Kirk Cousins.

Well, I think that's why.

Yeah, I think that's why Rodgers is waiting because he doesn't want to have

I'm going to go. to the Steelers.
Yeah, but if they got Rodgers before the draft, wouldn't they then not overextend? Well, I think that's why Rodgers is waiting because he doesn't want to have a Kirk Cousins situation where he signs somewhere, they draft someone, and then they're like, oh, yeah, it's your job, maybe. Is he kind of also fucking over...
I feel like that's something you can talk about in negotiations. Kirk Cousins.
Is he fucking over Kirk Cousins right now? Did they specifically state that, though? I mean, it's happened. I mean, Mike Glennon, he was promised a starting job by the Bears.
Also, Aaron Rodgers is 41, right? So even if he went to the Steelers, it would be reasonable, I think, for them to draft a quarterback. Right.
But, I mean, I just think he's probably waiting for the draft because he just doesn't want to be in a situation where— But do you actually think that the longer he waits out, the worse the situation becomes for Kirk Cousins? Because obviously there are teams that would be interested in Aaron Rodgers that might also be interested in trading for Kirk. I think they're also waiting for the draft.
Okay. Because Kirk Cousins doesn't want to have it happen again to him.
Because it'd be very funny. That's a good point.
But it'd be very funny if Aaron Rodgers was doing this just to stick it to Kirk. That would be funny.
But yeah, like Kirk Cousins, if he went to the Giants right now and then the Giants drafted Dora Sanders, he's just sideshow Bob stepping into a rake. That would also be funny.
Yeah. So I feel like all this is going to get settled right after the draft.
Yeah, but he didn't say anything. Actually, I take that back.
He did say something very interesting. He just spent like five minutes dumping on the Jets.
Oh. Just like going scorched earth on the J the jets he said that he flew out on his own dime to meet with the jets new front office okay and uh aaron glenn met with him for like 20 seconds ran out of the room got the gm brought the gm back in there and told him we're moving in a different direction without you whoa that's what he says happens memes do you believe that i believe that it was over exaggerated okay what part i believe that aaron rogers has no sense of time you think aaron glenn was only in there for 10 seconds no he was in there for probably an hour and the way aaron rogers talks he just talked for like 30 minutes and aaron glenn was just like all right we're firing you so let's go get the gm let's get the show on the road and had a, you don't know me off.
Memes thinks that Aaron Rodgers, he perceives time at a different pace from everybody else. Memes thinks that when he's speaking, then time moves very quickly.
Got it. When somebody else is speaking, time moves very slowly.
Got it. So what was the source off? No, there was a, you don't know me off between him and the GM.
oh okay how did that go so darren moogie said do you like football do you still want to play football aaron roger said yes and then there was just a back and forth of you don't know me i uh no you don't know me that was it wow yeah like they just kept on saying that back and forth to each other you don't know me and then aaron rogers like let's get let's get to know each other and they're like no we're just we're moving in a different direction so it's you don't know me and you don't even want to know me yeah it was just you don't know me you don't know me so aaron was pissed off that he had to fly across the country for a 20 second meeting that could have been an email got it but the jets also would have gotten dragged if they just called him yeah it would have been like they didn't the jets didn't respect aaron rogers enough to do this face-to-face are you saying you don't owe me or you don't know me you don't know me you don't know me you don't know me i don't know what he's saying you don't know me you don't know me got it does anybody really know aaron though no like universe yeah how could one man really know another man it's a really good question it's a good point it's a really good question yeah think about it um i want to see him play yeah of course i would love to see here i'd like to see him still play football he is not as long as it's not the nfc north the other thing i took away from this interview was he he loves ashton jenty if you if you find the clip of him talking about seeing ashton jenty in person he he really loves that guy like a lot loves his build oh like he's obsessed

with looking at the guy he does have a nice build can we find that clip can you see if that that

exists out there because man aaron really really likes he's got a nice build a lot

Thank you. He does have a nice build.
Can we find that clip? Can you see if that exists out there? Because, man, Aaron really, really likes Askington a lot. He's got a nice build.
A lot. I mean, he does have a nice build.
Yeah, he is apparently just really well put together. Yeah.
While you find that, Hank, did you see Brown's GM, Andrew Barry? I did. Said that he compared Travis Hunter to Shohei Otani.
Mmhei Otani so do you feel good being in the same conversation as the Browns front office yeah definitely oh okay I'm going to be vindicated I welcome the hate when it came but you know two years time I'm going to be sitting pretty you think Travis Hunter would be more impressive than Shohei Otani? Definitely. Wow.
Okay. Shohei Otani's going to pitch soon again.
How many touchdowns and picks would he have to have to have a Shohei-type season? Ten receiving touchdowns. Ten receiving touchdowns, five picks.
And maybe two touchdowns. Two pick sixes? Yeah.
That's doable. That doesn't even seem that crazy.

It is pretty crazy, in fact.

Right.

Yeah.

But it's doable.

I don't think this clip exists.

Okay.

All right.

By the way, draft week next week. We're going to have Daniel Jeremiah on Monday,

and then we'll have our good friend Todd McShay on Wednesday.

Do you have a big board?

I have a big board.

I have a big board.

Yeah. Can you tell me who's number one on a big board.
I have a big board. Yeah.

Can you tell me who's number one on your big board?

Well, it's Mason Graham, but he's not going to be there.

Yep.

Guys who will be there?

Probably Kelvin Banks.

Okay.

Even though we made fun of the name Kelvin.

That's fine.

Just two weeks ago.

But it might be a boy named Sue.

Yeah.

Probably him.

My number one, I think it's Malachi Starks.

That's safety. Okay.
And you know, it goes back from watching his very first game that he played in college. I think that was against Oregon.
Yep. Where he had just an incredible pick, and I made a mental note.
I was like, put a pin in this guy. Would love to see this guy play on my team in the NFL.
Then I've kind of casually watched him over the last couple years, but I just go back to that one play. I like that.
I want that guy. Yeah, what does it have right now is the...
If we did Tyler Warren to the Bears. Okay.
Hank, what are you looking at it for? I want the best athlete. I feel like, obviously, they're going to probably take a lineman or defensive lineman.
But I would like, obviously, Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter. Mason Graham's really good.
Yeah, I guess. I need you to.
I want Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter. I want Abdul Carter.
Why? You don't want the Giants? Yeah, I don't like all the Penn State guys just go to. Yeah, because they go to the Eagles.
Yeah. So you just got that.
Michael would probably end up an Eagle. Memes, what are you thinking about? Membow, the right tackle for Mizzou.
Okay. He had numbers like Tripp Williams.
So that'd be cool to have a right tackle for the next 10, 15 years. That would be cool.
I know I have to take Malachi Starks because if I don't, then Max is going to get him. Yeah.
System guy. Yeah.
Okay, yeah okay yeah so we're gonna do draft stuff all next week uh you'll probably trade him to us shut the fuck up Max probably will uh all of a sudden Villanova just took JMU's best player oh no oh no you're you're a real piece of shit Max you know that oh no it was breaking news it was That was a mean breaking move. That's not even the right breaking news sound.

You did like lasers. Well, it wasn't like a full-on breaking news because it's pretty low news, so it was like lasers.
Who'd they get? I mean, it's really high news for this show. Yeah.
So you got Maryland's coach. Why don't you grow your own program? We're also about to take one of Maryland's best players.
Why don't you grow your own program? You're a homie hopper. Yeah, you are.
Big time. That's college sports.
Personally, if he doesn't want to be a Duke, I don't want him. There you go.
Hank, it's one of your favorite weekends coming up. This one.
You always love to start of NBA and NHL playoffs. Yeah, still a little.
I think next weekend is the start of the best three-week stretch. When you have not game ones.
Yeah. I do love this weekend, though, where it's just, oh, we're portaling boys.
He's writing a tweet right now. You're portaling boys? We're portaling boys? No, you said we're portaling boys.
We're portaling boys. That's insane.
You wrote, we're portaling boys. This sounds like an admission of sex trafficking.
Wrong. We're portaling boys.
No, that's not what you wrote. This is like something that Diddy would say.
Wrong. What? We're portaling boys? I'm keeping it.
I stand by it. We're portaling boys.
Okay. So, Max Epstein over here.
Yeah. We're portaling.
Memes, can you do a quick Photoshop for me? I don't even know where that... Would there be a comma in there somewhere? Yes.
Yes. Exactly where it would be.
That's exactly it. Who uses commas? I agree.
Memes, do a Photoshop real quick for me of Diddy, and then the speech bubble Underneath so then I can quote tweet Max's tweet and it looks like it's Diddy Saying that Okay Let's talk some NBA with Brian Windhorse and then we have Josh Duhamel And then we'll do Fyre Fest We also have a special guest for the End of the show our boy Shane Who's going to be going to Italy to Italy. We're going to send him off.
He's going to Italy by himself. So I told him he had to come on at the end of the show.
What? What is his plan? Nothing. We want to send him off.
I mean, he's going on a European vacation by himself. That's crazy.
It's true. I'm still shocked by him.
I don't think it's that crazy. I think it's crazy.
Roussillo does it all the time.

No, no.

When I say crazy, I'm not saying, like, you're crazy.

I'm, like, crazy.

I would never have the balls to do that.

Like, I'm impressed.

I told him that.

It's very cool.

Confidence to go on vacation by yourself.

And, yes, Roussillo does do it all the time.

And he is actually the model of how everyone should operate.

Yeah.

Confident move. Mm-hmm.
Okay. let's talk some NBA playoffs with Brian Windhorse okay before we get to Brian Windhorse the future of dunking is here the dunk it bucket is no ordinary release it's a first of its kind customizable flavor experience.
KFC is introducing the first ever bucket built for dunking.

It's for everyone. We love KFC.
We love the Dunk It Bucket. Hank, you had the dunk contest.
It went great. Went great.
I've been dunking in the Dunk It Bucket for the last month. It's one of my favorite menu items ever created.
It's revolutionized the game. It's the Dunk It Bucket from KFC.
KFC Dunk It Challenge may be over, but you can still dunk, dip, and devour with the KFC Dunk It Bucket. Like I said, it's an interactive, crave-worthy food experience designed for ultimate dipping, dunking, sharing, and devouring.
KFC Dunk It Challenge is over, but you can still do it. You can still dunk, dip, and devour with the KFC Dunk It Bucket.
Go check it out now. We're also brought to you by our friends at GameTime.
NBA playoffs are here, and the only place to buy hard-to-get playoff tickets is GameTime, the official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. With killer last-minute deals, all-in prices, views from your seat, and their lowest-price guarantee, GameTime takes the guesswork out of buying NBA playoff tickets.
Prices on the app actually go down the closer it gets the tip off you can save up to 60 percent when buying last minute tickets plus on april 22nd for earth day when you select and purchase a super deal game time will plant a tree with the proceeds we're looking at tickets uh to what game hank i'm looking it's that time of year i'm looking to get back to b get in the garden playoffs going to be rocking all playoffs long you can get into game one against the Magic for $134 $134 so what are you waiting for Hank's going to maybe go to that game one with the GameTime app take the guesswork out of buying NBA playoff tickets with GameTime download the GameTime app create an account use code PMT for $ 20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code pmt for 20 off

download the game time app today what time is it game time okay here he is brian winhorse

okay we now welcome on a very special guest recurring guest one of our favorite guys to

talk nba with it is brian winhorse you can hear him on the hoop collective great podcast

I'm going to go ahead and see you next time. Very special guest, recurring guest, one of our favorite guys to talk NBA with.
It is Brian Windhorse. You can hear him on the Hoop Collective.
Great podcast. You can see him on ESPN all throughout the playoffs.
You can go buy his book. He's got two of them, Return of the King and LeBron, Inc.
In which one of those books, Wendy, do you talk about your averages in high school when you're playing with LeBron? It's on, it's on a special edition, um, where you have to crack open the back cover and it's, there's like a little slip of paper back there. And if you're really lucky, you can find it, but you know, it's like, it's rare.
It's like a Pokemon. Yeah.
Putting it at the back of the book is a good way for LeBron to never having read it. Yeah.
There you go. Yes.
You got it. Yes.
Oh my God. Beautiful.
Yeah. So we haven't talked to you since then.
Was that just the weirdest experience for you to be called out? Interesting of using the word weird there, big cat. Yeah.
Did not see that one coming. You know, like LeBron could probably be angry at me for like 15 or 20 things and like legitimately be like, take was wrong.
What you did here was, was BS. Um, I remember the first time he got really mad at me, um, was, uh, when he was a rookie with the Cavs, uh, the, the newspaper, um, that I, um, that I was working for at the time, the Akron beacon journal, he bought a house in Akron and we, in the newspaper published his address and a little map of how to get to his house.
And, um, he was like, I remember he pulled me aside and he was like, this is some super fucking bullshit. Um, and, uh, I had to agree with him.
Uh, even though I had nothing to do with it. Like sometimes I was the conduit for that.
But listen, he could have been mad at me about a bunch of things. What he actually was got mad at me about.
I didn't think was right, but you know, he doesn't know me anything. If he wants to be mad at me, fine.
Over the course of 25 years, he's going to get mad at me. I'm going to annoy him, whatever.
We'll get through it. get through it it's fine he also I mean we didn't throw this out there but like and I'm sure you've talked about it enough but like there might be a chance that LeBron is just jealous of your hair because your hair is fantastic I feel like it gets better I've got nothing physically on him except for that yeah got me he's got me on everything else so I guess I'll take it that's a big, though.
LeBron wakes up every day. He's one of the best players of all time.
He's got all these accolades, but he doesn't have Wendy's hair. You guys probably don't remember this, but there was a moment.
I think it was in the offseason. Maybe somebody can find it.
I don't know. Maybe he deleted the tweet, but there was this moment one day where he just announced, I'm giving up on the hair yeah it stuck with me we did great um thank you very much to me he had some sort of witty and it was kind of like a quasi announcement and then we saw him next season it was very clear he had not given up yeah he had just begun to fight so i don't know what that was all about maybe we'll wait for his book where he can explain what that was about.
Yeah, he probably had a couple glasses of wine in him, decided to hop online.

It happens to everybody.

Yeah.

So when you were at his house for Taco Tuesday this week,

how did he tell you he was feeling going to the playoffs?

Don't be ridiculous.

I'm going on Sunday for Easter.

Okay.

That's preposterous.

Yes.

All right.

So let's talk some playoffs. We're very excited.

Let's start here.

Tell us the series you're most excited for in the East and the West. Am I excited for any series in the East? Let me think about that.
It's a little tougher in the East. I got assigned to go do the Cleveland series, and boy, am I excited.
Listen, the Cavs are good. I mean, that's fun.
Yeah, I know. I typically try to stay home in the first round.
Stay home. It's not like, you know, come to L.A.
or whatever because the first round, first off, I don't know if you guys heard the NFL drafts is next week. Like on Monday, like ESPN will forget my name for like six days and then they'll crawl out from the sixth or seventh round and, you know, Greenberg will hang them up and they'll be like wait a minute is there an is the nba still playing yeah um but you know the first round it's really spread out there's like a lot of days off i'm not really it's it's it's not the most exciting you know everybody gets excited for the start of the playoffs and then the first round kind of drags yeah um but i am very excited about the west series but specifically uh clippers um nuggets yeah um the clippers finished the season 18 and 3 and i went to a couple of their games and kawaii looks awesome yeah um i remember the 2019 um the 2019 finals when he was playing for the raptors, that one year play for the Raptors.
I watched Kawhi go through some pregame shooting routines where he was as impressive. The Steph routines are legendary because he does all these dribbling tricks and sometimes he hits like 27 threes in a row and he throws up half court shots and he throws up shots from the tunnel.
Well, as you can imagine, the Kawhi ones are boring, but all Kawhi does is look like a machine. And I remember watching him make like, I don't know, like 96 out of a hundred, like 17 footers.
They were, he would, he would need two assistant coaches. This is pregame.
This is not on a practice day. This is like two hours before game time where he would go through so many shots that the, the assistant coaches would, would have to tap out because like they were kind of guarding him or whatever.
Yeah. I'm like, he never missed.
He never missed. And like, that's what Kawhi looks like right now.
Yeah. And so I'm excited about what he can do.
And then obviously Jokic is like a incredible force. So that series to me is really interesting.
And I'm going to try to see if I can watch all those games. Yeah.
What do we make of the two teams in the West that fired their coaches right before the playoffs started? So are they, did they do it for the same reasons? Like I think that the Nuggets explanation was that they were planning on moving on from Michael Malone anyways. So they they wanted to fire him before he had a chance to save his job, which seems exactly.
That's pretty much exactly the sentiment. It seems really strange to do that, especially if he if he can win two championships for the Denver Nuggets.
You know, hypothetically, if they go in a run this postseason, they're going to be like, oh, damn, we really wanted to fire fire this guy but now we can't because he won again um so is that kind of the same thing that happened with memphis or is that a different story i don't think so and i mean to be honest with you i don't have a hundred percent there's like some stories out there about what happened with memphis but i don't feel comfortable enough to say them on a worldwide famous podcast but I will say that part of the reason I think they did it was because the general manager, Zach Kleiman, like really, really likes this guy Tuomas Izalo, who's the Finnish guy who they, who they hired as an assistant. And I, you know, it was like, it's kind of a crazy story like he he he did in europe kind of what um uh what's the football coach from indiana signetti yeah signetti he kind of signetti kind of stole it from him so he so this he had his team in germany in bond germany and they were like really good i don't't ask me what division they were in, but they won some championship.
And then this team in Paris, Paris Basket, who's kind of like a big team, but they're kind of like an underdog, even though they're in a big city, they don't have a ton of money and they've just done okay. So they hired him and he brought six players from that German team to his Paris team.
Because in Europe, it's kind of like college right now. It's like most guys have one year contracts.
Yeah. There's some players who get multi-year deals, but most guys have one year contracts.
So he's like, I'm bringing my whole team with me. We're going into the transfer portal and we're bringing this team to Paris.
And like, he brought in those six guys and they won a championship there. He got noticed by the Grizzlies.
They were obsessed with hiring him. The Wizards wanted to hire him.
And there was like a bidding war. Plus he was under contract for Paris basket and they had to pay, buy out his contract.
It is more I talk about the more it feels like college basketball and they get him to come over to be this lead assistant. And I think they just thought that they just think this guy's a genius and maybe he will be proven to that.
Maybe he won't. But like, I think part of what was going on there is they were like, look, I think it was kind of the same thing.
I think they were worried that somebody else thought he was a genius too. And if they got to the end of the season, somebody else is going to hire him.
him right and so they were like let's hire him now um even though the guy they had in there had had a pretty good record taylor jenkins so but i got to agree with you um i got to agree with you i i don't pft i don't i i've never seen two guys get fired that late especially with teams that winning records are going to the playoffs yes it's bizarre yeah it is it's very bizarre all right so i agree with you the the west uh playoffs especially early on look like the matchups are going to be a lot more fun because the east is a little top heavy let's do this exercise how many teams would it not shock you for them to win the title this year because I feel like it's two in the East and a lot in the West. So this is, this is how I, I vote.
This is how I vote with my mouse. I decide that a team has a chance to win the title when I book hotel reservations in that city, because here's the thing, as you know, most hotel reservations you can cancel.
So there's no penalty for making a hotel reservation. And number one, I want to get into a certain hotel.
And what happens in the playoffs is, you know, you never know, like when, you know, people all of a sudden, like 5,000 people want to come into town for a game. All of a sudden, the hotel, sometimes hotels get sold out.
Sometimes they quadruple their prices, but they don't don't they don't pay attention they don't seem to know that their basketball teams are good and the finals and the finals um schedule is out like in the fall

so like i booked a certain hotel that i want in boston i booked it in october wow finals i like

this list the wind windys hotels like where we can this could be bolton board for all the other teams. Wendy's list.
Yeah. And I booked the, the, the, for the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the,

the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, like this list, the Wendy's hotels. This could be Bolton board for all the other teams.
Wendy's list, yeah. And I booked for the Boston hotel for the whole finals.
So whether they're the home or wherever they're at, because I was like, they're going to probably be there. I booked it out, okay? Like probably January, December, January, Oklahoma City.
Booked. Booked that out.
Booked that sucker book that sucker did they call you were they like i think you made a mistake sir you booked a hotel in oklahoma city sir you booked a hotel in oklahoma city for two and a half weeks are you uh are you sure you meant to do this we think that you may have made an error so i had i had boston and i had oklahoma city then the calves you know0, but okay, some teams start hot. The Cavs went on this winning streak in January, and they went through this, like, stretch, and every time they played a team, the other team would come into the postgame and be like, holy shit.
Like, they're, like, Giannis did it. Michael Malone did it.
J.J. Redick was like, do you know what you got to do to, like, beat these guys? Like, like there was like Giannis did it.
Michael Malone did it. Uh, JJ Redick was like, do you know what you got to do to like beat these guys? Like, like there was like this stretch of like, they went on like this one of their winning streaks and like, it was like uncanny every game, a team, a coach would come in or a player would come in and be like, this team is good.
I was like, all right, Cleveland on the list booked, you know, but, but by then I could figure out like if the, if the, if the Cavs won the East, they were probably going to have a really good record. So I think I only booked home games, but you know what? No, I probably did book it all out.
So I booked out Cleveland. So how many more have I booked? That's that's now we're at the nitty gritty.
How many more have I booked? All right.

I have Los Angeles booked,

but did I book for Inglewood?

Where the Clippers play,

or did I book for downtown?

That's the question.

Wouldn't you like to know?

Fingers up.

Where did Wendy book in LA?

Did you book both?

Did you book in the middle of both? I booked downtown because our studio is here i mean that's a top audience i just wanted to mess around so i booked la because there's a where there's a world where i could see the clippers or the lakers doing it i would i favor the clippers to do it more than the lakers but the lakers draw of all the draws you could have the lakers draw is probably kind of favorable because not that I'm looking down on the wolves. In fact, the wolves are staying at the same hotel I'm at.
Now I just saw them all on my way over here. And so I'm not saying anything bad about them because if you know, I'm sure they're listeners and I'm going to see them, you know, at the Starbucks and there may be words.
I'm not looking for that. I'm not looking for that heat.
So, um, uh, no, I booked in downtown LA and, um, and I booked Denver, um, before Michael Malone got fired. I should have, should have reevaluated that.
Um, because I just have so much respect, um, so much respect for, for Jokic. So that's my list.
Is it, is it a, is it an exhaustive list? I didn't, I did not book out San Francisco. I'm not there yet.
Cause they're just so small, the Warriors. Yep.
And you know, that's my list. It's probably actually bigger.
Usually it's only about, it's more than normal just cause I know that LA probably would book up like crazy. So LA is probably borderline.
I probably really didn't need to do that. I don't feel that strongly about that.
But yeah, that's my list. So what happens in the finals, you've got the two cities ideally booked out well ahead of time.
Do you cancel the days in between where you're not going to be there? Or do you just have an empty hotel room? No, obviously I cancel. I cancel.
But yeah, it's like because you look at my like account and there's like 39 reservations yeah and you're like what the heck is going on here and as if we get closer and closer i start canceling it's like it's like refreshing all right i'm i'm getting because you're also getting towards the end of the season you know you're you're finalizing it down but yeah that's like my you know my i couldn't give you a higher compliment than booking a hotel three months out in your city i love this i i think we need like this i i would hope that you would be in for this but like i want to make this a recurring thing on pmt next year where you book a hotel you let us know and we'll do a breaking news so i have all these rules about things that i want when i during the first off i want to take flights that I don't think people are going to be on. Okay.
Because I, I mean, look, if, if it's Oklahoma city and Boston, you're not going to have 75 options, right? So maybe that, but I like to take a flight that I, that I don't think other people are going to be on. Cause I don't want to sit there and talk about the series for three hours, you know, or in the gate area or whatever.
I just,

I'd rather break from it when I'm not doing it.

Right.

And I try,

you can't always do this because sometimes you're in a city.

We don't have a choice.

I try to stay in a hotel that I don't think people are going to stay in.

Yeah.

Okay.

I don't,

when I'm not at the arena or whatever,

I don't want.

And I also have this rule during the finals. And I stole it from Greg Popovich rule of five.
No dinners more than five people. Ooh.
I will maybe sometimes allow a sixth. If it's somebody's spouse, because the last thing, cause you know, sometimes the spouses come to the playoffs and I don't want like somebody to be like making a choice between like a work dinner and like going with their wife or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend.
So I will sometimes bend, but generally it's five because this is what happens. Because, you know, there's a whole bunch of people traveling.
There's all these different groups of people, a lot of people who don't travel during the year. And they'll be like, oh, we're going so-and-so.
Hey, can we bring along so-and-so? Can we bring along so-and-so? The next thing, you got 12 people. You can't get in.
The tables are all messed up. The bill comes and somebody's had six bottles of wine and now I'm paying $745.
I can't talk to those seven people down there. I want everybody at the table to hear the other people rule of five.
And if I go to a dinner and there's like five and I say, how many people were there? And they go, oh, there's four of us. You'd be the fifth.
I go, okay. And then if they call back later and they go, hey, we're adding so-and-so and so-and-so, I don't care who it is.
I'm like, okay, you guys have fun. I'll go someplace else.
I love it. That's a good rule.
What if you show up and the party has expanded from when you were invited? It's happened and you go on my list. You don't want to be on that list? You're a big list guy.
There's, you know, these two individuals don't know know but these two individuals invited me to do a dinner at the last finals it was in cleveland in 2018 i got there there were people on the roster that i hadn't known about the table was bigger done we haven't gone since maybe they know maybe they figured it out maybe they haven't done don Done. Don't do that.
I have limited time.

I can't be bothered with this.

And here's the other thing.

If it's a big party, I am not afraid to do the Irish goodbye.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I am not afraid. I will specifically not order.

I have done this where I've sat down and all of a sudden it's 12 people.

Water.

We have to drink water.

All right.

I'm going to go to the bathroom.

Goodbye.

I love it. I didn't sign up for 12 people.
I didn't order an appetizer I didn't pay. Yeah.
These are my rules. These are my rules.
Look, guys, I've been covering the lake for 23 years. Yeah.
Do you know how many road trips I've gone on? Do you know how many dinners I've gone on on the road? I don't need it in my life. Thank you.
You're smart.

One team you didn't put on there,

the Houston Rockets.

Is it too young? Because I do think the NBA is the one

league where you can

confidently be like, this team's

very talented, incredible season

from the Rockets. They have some really, really awesome

young players, but they're just too

young because that's how the NBA works. You get battle tested.
You got to climb the mountain. The Thunder were that team last year, and now this year they could be in the finals.
So is that it? Is it they're just too young? Typically, yeah. You know, they're I don't want to disrespect them.
Like, they could. Like, look man, if they like beat the warriors like four, one or something, we might sign on and see what, see what reservations are available in June in Houston.
I have, I reserve the right to, to add to that list or delete from that list. But yeah, but I will say this, they are built for the playoffs.
Like if you look at the guys that they've drafted, like, like you, you guys are actually a good, you, you guys are actually a good people to, um, to ask about this because you guys follow the NBA, but you don't like get into the NBA super, super like, well, you guys, you guys bet. So you guys know.
All right. What do you guys know about Ahmed Thompson? He's a freak.
Okay. So you guys, that's a bad a bad example you guys that's a bad and i'm excited to watch him guard seth curry because that's going to be awesome so i feel like the world i mean obviously if you're a rocket fan you love him if you're an nba fan you may be a little bit aware of him but i feel like the basketball public is going to figure out who amen thompson the next two, three weeks.
Yeah. This guy is an absolute freak amongst freaks.
Like all the great athletes that you see in the NBA, he's like the great athlete's great athlete. And he is going to be attacking Steph.
Steph has seen every defender in the world. I think KD had that great line in that documentary about the Olympics where he was sort of mocking the other teams, having camaraderie and growing up playing together.
He's like, how's that going to help you when you guard Steph? I agree. You can be the most physically imposing defender in the history of the sport.
If you lose Steph Curry, he gets the corner turned on you. You're giving up a three.
I don't care what you say, but they are built with defensive minded players, which you need in the postseason. The other thing is like the Warriors real weapon is Jimmy Butler.
And the one thing that you can do on Jimmy Butler that can maybe kind of bother him a little bit is put like really big size on him. This happened in the finals two years ago.
You know, Jimmy had that great run, um, or he led the heat all the way to the finals. And look, Jokic was untouchable, but they had Aaron Gordon who just has enormous size.
Like, I think he's like six, 10. They put him on Butler and like Butler isn't very, very rarely can you find a guy who can physically impose Jimmy Butler and Gordon could kind of do that.
And so like, they have players like that. They have, you know, Dylan Brooks, they have, uh, Amen Thompson.
Um, you know, they have Jabari Smith. They have, you know, these guys who got good size.
So while they don't have star power and they don't have, like, experience, although Fred Van Vliet is, like, their leader and he's got a ring, they do have some things going for them. So I wouldn't count them out.
I actually think that other than whoever Oklahoma City plays in the 1-8, I think you can take the little numbers next to the teams, the seeds, and you can throw them out. Because I don't think there's a discernible difference between the 2, the three, the four, the five, the six.
Obviously you get home court if you're the higher seed. But Golden State is favored in this series, I think, in the sports books.
On one hand, I respect it because I don't think there's that much of a difference between the teams. On the other hand, that is not acknowledging what Houston's got going for them.
Yeah. Also, my favorite thing about the Rockets is Jeff Green's still playing basketball, and he's on the Rockets.
It's crazy. He's had, I don't even know how long, what, it's like 20 years now? 19 years? I think he's played with double-digit teams.
If it's not double-digit teams, it's got to be like nine. Yeah.
I want to know the percentage of players all time that have ever played in the NBA that have played on a team with Jeff Green.

It's a lot. It's got to be higher than you would think.
Oh, yeah, like the Kevin Bacon? Yeah. I think there's two Seattle Supersonics left in the league.
KD and Jeff Green? Guys who play with the Sonics. Yeah.
And I think it's KD and Jeff Green. Because Westbrook's first year was with the – he was in Oklahoma City, I'm pretty sure.
Yeah. So I think Uncle Jeff and KD are the last two Sonics who had Sonics jerseys.
I'm looking forward to seeing Dylan Brooks and Draymond Green on the court at the same time in this series. Like somebody's getting thrown out, right? Here's something else.
Houston plays like super physical. Like that's how their coach, Ime Udoka, like teaches him to play.
He wants him to play physical. And so you, officiating is going to be a deal in this series.
You know that how Houston gets officiated is going to be something. So, you know that from the opening tip off Draymond green is going to be working it.
And like, obviously sometimes Draymond goes over the edge, but if you look on balance, the warriors might tell you that on balance he's way ahead because he does sometimes intimidate officials.

Now, the officials that you see in the postseason are more veteran.

It's maybe not going to happen.

But Draymond, I could see Draymond going to work here

because he knows from the beginning of the series

that the way games are officiated are going to matter,

and he has a whole game within the game,

what he's doing with the referees. I got a question for you, Wendy.
Maybe we do East-West, so we'll start with the East. Kind of a broader question, and I have an answer in mind, but I'm curious yours.
What team or player has the most pressure on them in the East? You sound like you're a first take producer i yeah that is exactly it popped in my

head exactly um do you want me to go with mine first and then you can you can answer it tell

me if it's stupid yeah i think there's a lot of pressure on the current iteration of the bucks

because it does feel like they're at the end of something and if they don't maybe win a couple

series here it's like where are we as a franchise? Good. Very good.
Agree. Okay.
What is yours? So I think there's, let me just say who I don't think there's pressure on that you may, maybe not you, but the fans. I don't think there's a lot of pressure on the Lakers.
Okay. That's not what people are going to think.
They're going to think, oh my God, like the Lakers, you know, there goes the Jordan comparison. I think the Lakers are going to be better next year, and I think this year is all about them getting the reps in together and learning to play with each other under pressure and figuring out how LeBron and Luka and Austin Reeves are going to share the load.
They're not equipped really to handle it. How do I say handle it? That's the wrong word.
They're not equipped. They're not built.
The roster isn't built out to win 12 playoff games to win the West. In my opinion, they could prove me wrong and then laugh at me.
I could get called weird again. But I don't think there's a lot of pressure on them.
I don't think there's a lot of pressure really on the Warriors because I think

they're kind of in a free roll.

Jimmy has his contract.

The Warriors have their titles.

Like if they can make a run, they, they did it, man.

They, they, they, you know, Seth has four rings.

What was it?

If he gets a fifth, like that's supposed to like take him to upper echelon.

They want to win.

They did great.

You know, Jimmy doesn't have a ring,

but no one's going to say that Jimmy Butler isn't a,

isn't a great pressure player. Like his, he obviously would want to win, but his reputation is kind of secure.
I think there could be a little bit of pressure on Donovan Mitchell because Donovan Mitchell, when he was in Utah several times, I'm not sure he had two 60-win teams. He definitely had one 60-win team in Utah, and he never made it to the conference finals.
And it wasn't always his fault, fault but he is not always delivered at the highest he's sort of been up and down he's had some playoff games where he's been amazing but his team has never like over even achieved much that's overachieved and he is by the way he has spent this whole year as the calves racked up 64 or 65 wins whatever they had saying none of this matters this 15 game winning streak to start the season doesn't matter. The 16 game win streak they had in the, in the, after the all-star break, doesn't matter.
The three all-stars doesn't matter. Him making all NBA doesn't matter.
He's like, because I've been on great teams before and it doesn't matter if you don't win. And I think that's true.
And look, I don't favor them to win the East, but if they their toe and like don't get to the to the conference finals or if they get to the conference finals and they've built out this team this team is like set up they you know they went and made a mid-season trade for deandre hunter which you know is costing going to cost them a lot of money in the future and they like get blasted by boston for one like they got beat for one by boston a year ago then i think people are going to look at him and go, well, can you, are you really a difference making player? Like, are you really the type of guy who can carry a team? So while I don't look at them as favorites in the East, I think there's pressure on Donovan to have a great playoff run and to carry the calves with them. I don't think there's pressure on the, but the, the, the Celtics per se.

However,

if they get to the finals,

there'll be pressure on Jason Tatum to have a great final because,

because he wasn't great in the 2022 finals.

And then last year he was good.

He was,

he led the Celtics in points,

rebounds and assists in the finals.

He did not play poorly.

He just didn't shoot the ball well.

And he wasn't amazing. Like this is the one thing people always make the mistake.
They they're like, Oh, Jalen Brown won the MVP. Jason Tatum must've sucked.
No, there was 11 votes for finals MVP. There's 11 voters.
It was seven to four. You know, there were people who thought Jason Tatum was the finals MVP.
He just didn't play amazing and awesome, but he has played in two finals.

He hasn't been amazing and awesome in those two finals,

even though he's got a ring.

So I do think if he gets there,

especially if the Celtics crush the East,

like last year,

I think they went through the East 12 and two.

If they do something like that again this year,

it's going to be like,

okay,

Jason,

now you got to show up in the finals to,

to,

to solidify where you need to be as a player. Yeah.
You haven't mentioned the Knicks on your pressure teams. No pressure on New York? What do you think? I mean, there's pressure if they're in trouble in the first round.
Yeah. I feel like, yeah, the expectation, given what they've done against the good teams in the East, I think most Knicks fans are not, they're not going into this playoffs being like, yeah, this is our year.
We can do it. We can, do it.
We're gritty, scrappy underdogs. We can do it.
I think they're kind of guarded going into it. But I do think that they need to at least win a series.
They better win that series. Detroit won 13 games last year or something, 14 games.
They've got a couple of guys on their team who have playoff experience like Tobias Harris, you know, um, Tim Hardaway Jr. But like they, you know, the guys that they're relying on, you know, Cade Cunningham, um, you know, Jalen Duren, um, the guys that they're relying on have never done this before.
So if the, if the, if the, if the Knicks screw around in that first series, that would create some pressure I'll give you that yeah they're pressured not flame out yeah because there's they're they're playing there's certain teams the magic the Pistons uh the T-Wolves a little different because obviously they went deep last year but like or the Rockets where it's if they lose the future is bright and they're building something and they're getting to somewhere. It's a free roll.
It's a free roll. Right.
The Knicks are in that weird spot where it's like they made the moves to try to get better and they aren't really seriously contending in the East, so it's kind of a weird spot for them. Oklahoma City is kind of going that route because, like, Oklahoma City is the youngest team in the league.
How often do you ever see the youngest team in the league be the best team in the league? We almost never see. It's actually the reason why Oklahoma city, not maybe the reason, but it's a reason why, like the thing I've noticed by Oklahoma city is that the players don't respect them.
Um, like they're not afraid of them. Um, even though they won 57 games last year and they won 68 games this year, like nobody who wins those that many games over two years is not a championship team.
Um, but they're the youngest team. So you just don't respect young guys who haven't done it before, no matter how many regular season wins they get.
So they're going in, they are actually favored. I, the reason I think that they're favored, you guys know the gambling way better than I do.
I can't honestly say that they should be favored to beat Boston four out of seven, but I must, they, the sports books must be getting so much money on the Celtics that they're trying to get money on the Thunder. Is that maybe what's happened? I don't understand it, but I would say that, um, the Thunder being favored.
I don't think that's the way the players in the league, based on my conversations, if the Thunder don't win it this year, specifically if they don't get to the finals, you will see it flip on them. You will then see people like me saying the Thunder better get this done.
Do the Thunder need to make a trade or whatever? Right now they kind of live in a zone where they're not having expectations. Like, well, you better back this 68-win getting to the finals and almost winning it otherwise it doesn't matter they don't really live in that world right now they live in a bit of a a a not that stressful of a world but that will change if they if they stub their toe and go out early like they did last year yeah that is kind of weird that they're the favorites to win it all because usually you would see that you would expect that team be coming out of the East.
Where it might be a little bit easier to get to the finals. It could be also Jalen Brown's knee, which I mean, I think he's going to be fine.
But that always, you know, any injury news could always change it a little too. Yeah, he did have a treatment, but like they were playing him.
It's not like they shut him down. So he definitely has been talking about it.
And when the player talks about it, like that's a sign. Like it's one thing if the team says, Oh yeah, he's dealing with something and the player doesn't say anything.
When the player says something about it, like I'm dealing with something, I pay more attention, but they were playing him. Yeah.
Like up until their seed, you know, he played straight through until they're until they knew they had the second seed. So I know it's not my knee.
I don't know how it feels. You know, he had like an injection in it.
But, you know, in all honesty, Boston might not need him for a month anyway. Yeah.
What are we hearing on the health front from Dame? So he apparently responded to the treatments for the blood clots a lot faster than anybody thought that he would. Is there a chance that he plays in the first series? Yeah, I think so.

I think he's, I mean, you know, you never want to assume anything,

but I think the intent is for him to play sometime next week.

He's not going to play in the first game.

So look, I had a blood clot 15 years ago.

I am not an athlete quite clearly.

When I had the blood clot, like they wanted you to be on the medication

for at least three months.

The medication sucks, has a bunch of side effects, like drags you down. Nobody likes it, but you got to be careful.
But it's lifesaving. You know, the thing about a blood clot, I know from just having one, is that the big thing is to diagnose it.
That's because the problem is people die when blood clots, when they don't know they're feeling sick, they don't know why. People die when blood clots are not diagnosed.
So the big challenge is diagnose a blood clot, then you deal with it. So they, so what Shams Tarania said, like, is that Dame started blood thinning medication two weeks before they actually found the blood clot.
Oh, wow. Now this obviously creates some follow-up questions that we would all like to have.
And Dane hasn't done an interview yet. And by the way, aspirin, I think, can theoretically be called blood thinning medication.
So I don't want to sound like, but something that he did when he started feeling this issue helped mitigate this. And even that, like, I mean, he was, he was going to the Mayo clinic, like they know what they're doing.
So it is kind of amazing. Like when I heard he had a blood clot and like the bucks were saying like, no, we think he can come back.
I thought they were just like trying to put up a front, like trying to keep, you know, trying not to let anybody have information because you don't do that in the playoffs. But sure enough, he's been cleared by, by the Mayo clinic.
So that the, the Bucks have had nothing but bad news on the injury front for the last three years, two, three years ago when they were the defending champs, Middleton got hurt in the first round. He, he, he went down the down in the first game and put his hand on the ground and sprained his wrist or something like that and they had losing in six games or seven games to the Celtics the year they went to the finals next year Giannis gets hurt in the first round they go out to Miami, Miami ends up going to the finals if Giannis doesn't get hurt maybe the Bucks are back in the finals.
I don't know. You know, I don't know.
Then last year, you remember Giannis, like it's 10 days before the end of the season. He takes it inbound, turns to run up the court and falls down, hurts his calf.
Giannis has played in two playoff games last two years. So they've had nothing but rotten injury luck for three straight years.
It's really short-circuited this team's opportunity to win another title yeah yeah and so for them to get unexpectedly positive injury news i would say karma was on their side for that to happen yeah i'm i hope he's fine and i'm glad to hear it uh all right i got a couple last questions uh we talked about ament thompson give me another name that you think the national like world is going to be like oh man because you know it is this is why we love the playoffs guys everyone knew anthony edwards was but last year was you know holy shit this guy is unreal jalen brunson a couple years ago like this is the stage that that names start to become bigger and guys get talked about in a different light.

So do you have one or two guys where you're like,

hey, this could be a big, big moment for them?

So Ivica Zubac from the Clippers, I don't know.

Is he a big name?

I mean, like he played.

So this guy is having an absolutely incredible season,

and he's just a big, strong, brute player who –

I mean, he's been in the league like seven, eight years.

It's not like he's unheard of, but he took a leap forward this year,

Thank you. And he's just big, strong, brute player who, I mean, he's been in the league like seven, eight years.
It's not like he's unheard of, but he took a leap forward this year. And I think part of it is because like James Harden does a great job, like bringing a lot out of centers.
Like he did this with Clint Capella years ago in Houston. Part of it, I think, is that Harden was like the full-time point guard for the full season.
But Zubats is just a beast. And I wouldn't say he's had success against Jokic, but out of all the guys who have played Jokic a bunch of times, like Zubats has actually been able to check the box and say, I did a good job in this game the most.
So he is going to be front and center in that series. He has been one of the best defensive players in the league.
He's a beast on the interior. He doesn't mess around.
You know, like we're in this era where everybody and their brother shoots threes. Zoo doesn't do that.
Zoo's like, forget about that. I am playing that game.
I will come in and I will shoot my 65% on the interior. So it's a great opportunity for the, uh, the world to kind of be introduced to zoo um and i don't know like again i don't kate cunningham has been an all-star yeah but he hasn't been on the um sort of the front page okay cunningham was like a borderline mvp candidate this year he was so good for the pistons and the pistons haven't made the playoffs in like seven years.
So like, and they weren't on national TV a lot. So like there's a chance, again, if you're a casual NBA fan, you haven't really seen Cade Cunningham.
So I hate to give this to a guy who was an all-star and is going to be on the all NBA team, but I feel like Cade Cunningham, especially playing in New York, playing at the garden. Um, I think he has a chance to sort of have his profile really elevated.
Yeah, no, that's a good answer because if they beat – if the Pistons win a series, Cade Cunningham will be talked about in a different light going forward. I agree.
You remember that happened with Trey Young? Yeah. Trey Young – I mean, Trey Young was a major college star.
I mean, I guess Cade was too. He's the number one overall pick.
But Trey Young went to another level because of that playoff series with the knicks a few years ago yeah if you had a gun to your head right now or i guess if uh your credit card company called you up and they said you have to cancel you can't have all these hotel rooms there's a housing crisis in america we need some of these hotel rooms back and they only gave you two options you can only pick one from the city in boston that's where you're keeping where you're keeping it? Okay. Yeah.
That's your finals pick. And I say that as someone who's from Cleveland, who spends a lot of time in Cleveland and, you know, makes a lot of appearances in Cleveland.
They're not going to be happy that I say that, but, like, you got to knock the champ out. And they did.
They went two and two against them this year. And Donovan Mitchell averaged, like, 32 points against the Celticsics this year.
Like there's a world where this happens for Donovan, but he's got to prove to do it. He, you know, and so those are the two that I made the, for the, you know, the first two that I made.
So, but you also have a lot of friends in Cleveland. You could just say that like you'll crash at their place.
So you can cancel the hotel. I am staying with my mother in Akron on Saturday night.
ESPN will not have to pay for my hotel rooms in Cleveland this upcoming week. I love it.
I love it. All right, Wendy, this has been so much fun.
We love having you on. I got one last question.
It's a Roback question. RHOBACK.com, promo code TAKE.
Love Roback. Yes, the best.
20% off your first purchase. Use promo code TAKE.
Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, the best. Roback.com promo code TAKE.
I know this is in playoffs, but I just want to feel seen for a minute because we've already taped the rest of the show, and I did a rant at the beginning of the show about the Bulls. Rightfully so.
It's just ridiculous that people actually look at March and April NBA basketball and say, oh, that team's building something. Is that fair? Because that was my whole thing.
Like they were a 47% win percentage team for the season. They won 70% of their games down the stretch.
And if you take out all the teams that were tanking or were sitting loaded management guys, they won 46% of those games. They never changed as a team.
They just started playing teams that were actively trying to lose. Cat, what would you say is the most important thing that the Bulls need? A guy.
Absolutely. How do you get him? Yes, the lottery.
Ah. Yes, thank you.
Checkmark, checkmark. I'm ready to hire you as GM.
What did the Bulls absolutely not do this year? They didn't get their lottery odds up. What I, the way I said it, I declared this like 18 months ago.
The Bulls are in a rebuild and they don't know they're in a rebuild. Yep.
And that's almost the worst position to be in. I will say this.
You could be the Sacramento Kings. Yeah.
Who have a bunch of bulls players making tons of money that didn't work with Chicago. Yes.
And are now convinced they're going to work in Sacramento. So convinced that they're firing coaches and GMs saying, why isn't this working? Why are we not in the, and by the way, like I have not nothing against Zach Levine and DeMar DeRozan.
I know them a little bit. I think they're good guys.
They just didn't work together in Chicago. Why would they? Anyway, that's another story.
I said that. I said it was the bulls front office lost two playing games on Wednesday night.
They did. I know.
Like, here's the thing. Like the bulls got booed off the floor and so did Sacramento.
They got the bulls, ex bulls players got booed. And AK is sitting there like, oh, this is crazy.
I can't believe this happened. I can't explain.
One of my podcast partners, Tim McMahon, he says, boy, he has a line. He goes, boy, you came in third like the Bulls in a three-team trade.
He loves saying that. And I didn't see Arturis Knishevis' press conference today.
I'm going to follow it up. I was working.
Somebody told me he said something to the effect of, this may not be an exact quote, hey, just give us some time. We're building.
Timeline. Yeah.
Yeah. Tough.
It's tough. Okay.
All right. I feel seen.
Thank you. Because you fight against it, and I know people inherently don't want to see their team tank but the nba if you are three i was saying actually the start of the show if you get in the if you're in the plane three or four years in a row like the bulls and hawks there should be like a punishment on your team because that's you're basically admitting to everyone that you don't know what you're doing and you're doing this all wrong.
So a couple of, I don't know, maybe a month ago, we ranked like at ESPN, we use like these seven different ways to rank the rebuilding teams. Like there was like, I don't know, we called them 10 rebuilding teams.
Like we all rolled up our sleeves and we did all this analysis, looked at all these stats and everything like that. And we ranked them.
And really the only difference between the teams who are doing successful rebuilds, like the Spurs

and teams that are doing unsuccessful rebuilds, while the bulls technically aren't rebuilding,

but whatever, are the fact that they got lucky in the lottery. Like if you, if you looked at this,

you could be like, the only way to do this is to get lucky in the lottery. So maybe they will get

lucky in the lottery and Cooper flag will be showing up in the summer. And if that happens,

Thank you. is to get lucky in the lottery.
So maybe they will get lucky in the lottery and Cooper Flagg will be showing up in the summer. And if that happens, it would be amazing because Kobe White is good.
Josh Giddey does have promise. Bezelis, their rookie, would potentially be a pretty good fourth guy.
But if you don't have the dude, you're not going anywhere. So you got to kill yourself yourself to get the dude and the bulls aren't doing things to get the dude yeah that's what would drive me crazy if i was a bulls fan yeah so who do you have winning the lottery you know what's the what would be the best option i mean uh if if the bulls won the lottery and i mean now they're like what are they they'd have like the 12th best odds i think they're one 1% right now.
Could jump up to 2%. Yeah.
It would be amazing if Cooper Flagg went to Chicago. Yeah.
Like for the league. They'll probably.
Why'd you say that? For the league. For the league because I don't know if you heard it.
It would be better if the Bulls are good for the league. You know, it would be better for the league, but they've done their best not to get a what i kind of don't want is the 76ers to win it yeah because they were what the way that the way they got to that seat they finished the season five and 31 yeah is there any chance that silver steps in and he's like hey we told you not to do this do this.
You kept doing it. I'm taking away a couple of your percentage points, giving it to the Bulls.
You know, like one of the most amazing parts of the NFL season for me, I don't follow it that closely, was that one game where who were the Eagles playing where they kept doing the tush push and there kept being penalties and the referee was like, look. It was a commander.
If you jump. Okay, I'm sorry, PFT.
That's okay. I seriously didn't want to inflict damage on you.
That's right. But when that referee said, look, if you do it again, we're just giving them the touchdown.
Yeah. What you're saying is Adam Silver should have that.
Yes. They're all celebrating.
He just steps in. I'm sorry.
I'm just going to use my powers here. Yeah, we're taking away.
You're going down to like five percent in the lottery uh the bulls jump up to like six percent and and maybe the wizards get the rest i don't know yeah that seems fair it would it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world for the wizards to get cooper flag that would kind of be cool the the nation's capital hasn't had a good team in like decades yeah it's been a long time so but it'll probably be charlotte yeah okay we will um all right well windy you're the best we love having you on guys we'll do it again later on in the playoffs and uh i love the idea of the windy hotel so we'll make a graphic for you uh and we'll start doing this five people at dinner if five people at dinner i love that i don't care like if there's four of us at the table and you two show up and you're offering to pay i say thank you keep on walking i love it i can tell you're very passionate about this but it comes from a place of experience where you've had some bad situations i can tell that there's trauma in your past and you're so right about like the conversation if you're at a dinner with 10 people you don't talk to half of the table it just doesn't happen. Right.
And that's fine for other people for me five five six if it's somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend i don't want to leave them out that's the only time i'll go there uh all right thanks so much windy we'll talk soon take care guys when he was brought to you by our great friends over at truly hard seltzer and their new truly Unruly Lemonade. It combines the high-alcoholic font of Truly Unruly with everyone's favorite, Lemonade.
Level up your lemonade. It's 8% ABV, 100% delicious, 8% ABV.
That's supercharged, great for a pregame, but guess what? It tastes great, too. It's got four supercharged lemonade flavors, Bumpin' Blue Razz, that's my favorite, OG, that's the original lemonade, punched up pineapple, and wild pink.
It's the official hard seltzer of part of my take. Find Truly Unruly Lemonade at a store near you or visit www.trulyhardseltzer.com.
Wendy was also brought to you by our good friends over at the 47 brand. One thing I love about 47 brand, the fit, the quality.
hat from across the room it's an across the room hat you see it you can spot it it looks great super comfortable all i wear is 47 brand that's it love my 47 brand hats and all the part of my take merch guess what that's 47 brand too we love them we wear them they're for their headwear, but also check out the apparel. Nice vintage looks.

Also modern flair to them.

Great quality.

47 has new drops launching constantly for your favorite leagues, your favorite teams.

Licensed headwear and apparel.

More than just game day headwear.

Shop 47brand.com now.

And you can use promo code PMT.

Get 20% off your purchase with promo code PMT at 47brand.com. Save 20% off 47brand.com and promo code PMT.
And now here's recurring guest and handsome man, Josh Dumel. Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest, recurring guest.
The most attractive guest that we have in part of my take history. Skip Bayless.
Skip Bayless or Josh Duhamel. Josh, always great to see you.
Always great to have you on. You have a new show out April 17th, Ransom Canyon on Netflix.
It looks like you're ready to do just like a full day of press junkets. How many interviews do you have today? Oh, gosh.
I don't know. I'm here until one.
They got me fully loaded. I know that much.
Okay. So we're number one.
By the way, we're at this new Netflix building that they built just for junkets like this. Okay.
We used to be at a hotel, and now they have like they built actual hotel rooms with room service and a room like this and they just they just run us through like a car wash that's unreal can you get a room in the netflix hotel junket yeah it's a beautiful room it's like it's like you know five star yeah all right there's no bed because you can't sleep yeah so we're interview one uh you're going to do a bunch of interviews today i i would hope that we ask the dumbest questions that you get today. And I'll start with a really dumb one.
So Ransom Canyon. I watched the trailer.
Looks awesome. Texas, romance, western, got everything.
How many horses did you ride? And did you have like a specific horse you loved? I did. I rode a horse called JC.
We all had our own horse. We actually went to a cowboy camp for a couple of weeks before we started shooting.
I hadn't been, you know, I'm from North Dakota. We talked about this last time.
So I was around farms and ranches pretty much my whole life. But I hadn't been on a horse for 20 years probably.
So, yeah, I was a little rusty, but it was, you know, it was, and I'm not going to lie, I wasn't a huge horse guy, but for whatever reason, I don't know if it was Clay and the guys over there that sort of run this cowboy camp, I really started to love it again for the first time in maybe forever. I like it.
So JC your horse so that was your horse every single time yep okay now this is a dumb question but do horses have to act do they have like a a coach well they're really well trained i can tell you that much um some more than others jc was a really uh he was an older veteran horse so he was very well behaved which i liked i didn't have i didn't feel

like i was gonna get bucked off at any minute yeah that's good i feel like kevin costner his roles recently have just been like get me to a place where i can ride horses around while i'm on the set because that's what i want to be doing anyways it's actually a really cool strategy if that's what you love yeah right it is fun you know and this whole you know there's something about the vibe of this show

that I just loved

because I was actually at my place

at my cabin when april blair the showrunner called so i was kind of in this mode anyway i was i think i was on my tractor my side by side or something and um and we just started talking about this character and you know this guy is uh you know he's been

through it the last couple of years lost his wife a couple years ago and then lost his son uh about a year to the day we start the show so he's been through it and and i think that um you know that's really what i love is this guy was not just he doesn't have it all together he's pretty broken he's pretty surly and um you know that that fits my character i fit right into that yeah um the other thing i noticed another dumb question from the trailer which it looks awesome i'm definitely gonna watch this show uh the there was a line in it and you've been in a lot of movies a lot of shows uh where i think a police officer said to a woman, you stay away from that boy.

Has that. line in it and you've been in a lot of movies a lot of shows uh where i think a police officer said to a woman uh you stay away from that boy has that ever worked has anyone ever stayed away from the boy that's a pretty good indicator that she's not gonna stay away from i feel like i picked up i'm not the smartest guy but i feel like i picked up there might be something going on with the boy you're like you're like you're like the pink panther yeah i'm like i'm like those uh yeah the reddit threads for like white lotus or severance where everyone's piecing you know every single thing in the background i'm like i should just start a thread being like i think there's something gonna happen with this boy and this girl don't know.
Speaking of your place that you have up in Minnesota, I watched the tour that you gave of your cabin, your property that you have up there. That looks awesome.
I'm actually envious of what you did to that place because maybe you can tell the story, but you bought a spot for, what, like $75,000, and then you spent the last couple years fixing it up. It looks incredible the way you guys are always welcome it is a lot of fun i don't want to like overplay the relationship but my follow-up question was going to be if there is an apocalypse i'm going to go to your cabin is that ready okay i'm ready it truly is my happy place we bought that place i bought the place like 15 16 years ago with nothing on it it was it literally had the first thing i bought was a floating dock and then the property next to that went up for sale and had a little hunting shack with no electricity or water and um and then a couple years after that another one went up for sale right next door with a little cabin right on the water so then i of suddenly had two little cabins, no water, no wells, but one of them had electricity.
So for the first 10 years, we would be, you know, it was outhouses and it was washing dishes in the lake. Yeah.
And finally, we built something that's actually, you know, a little bit more suited for modern times. And we have running water now and we have wells and we have showers and we even have a dishwasher so you know we're living a really posh life out there yeah it looks amazing were people calling you insane when you said hey i'm gonna buy this place fix it up and spend a lot of time out there because it's so far away from everything i get it but i imagine that a lot of people that you around, that might not have been like their ideal situation to live.
Yeah, have we lost Josh? Is he gone? At times, yeah, I think people do wonder that. It is, you know, it was just something that I felt like I wanted to do.
I'd never, you know, I didn't grow up with a lake cabin. I didn't have anything like that.
But I had friends who did, And I always loved it. I love that lake life.
So it just became the place. And especially during COVID, we spent a lot of time just because nothing was going on.
We just lived out there and we're building and, you know, cutting trails and just sort of shaping it. And then over the last few years, especially, it's really come along.
So, yeah's it's a lot of fun is it is it fully doomsday prepped are you ready to go if there's an apocalypse well i'm getting there uh you know the whole thing runs on propane if i need it to with a generator and i got solar i got wells so i have enough water i'm working I'm not much of a hunter yet

I'm working on that but there's

plenty that you could you know

hunt and

eat and fish you know if you had

to I could probably

survive two weeks okay

we're getting there two weeks is pretty good

yeah because I know that there's an apocalypse

I would just I just walk

outside and be like just take me now I don't I'm not I'm not down for an apocalypse. I would just walk outside and be like, just take me now.

I'm not down for the fight.

I'd give up very quickly.

It's always been a fear of mine, like the idea that something happens

and everything goes sideways.

The problem is how would I get there?

You know, because, you know, the freeways in L.A.

can lock up pretty quickly.

So I've gone through all these scenarios where do i get a do i get a dirt bike and take the canyons over to a boat that i have rented in a slip over in the marina and do i drive the boat up the coast where i have a car parked that i can drive from you know it's a whole i i thought i've thought this thing through i haven't done any of it is, it is part of the plan. I've been watching the last of us.
You could just walk. That's kind of what they do.
They just walked across the entire country. It doesn't take that long.
Walk from LA to Fargo. Yeah.
Or get, get a pilot's license. Just fly there.
Ooh. Yeah.
Not a bad idea. Do you think people look at you a little sideways when you say that you're prepped like this? Like, they're like, all right, dude.
Because there is a little bit that comes with being a doomsday prepper where people are like, okay, man.

Sounds good. think people look at you a little sideways when you say that you're prepped like this like they're like all right dude because there is a little bit comes with being a doomsday prepper where people are like okay man sounds good crazy yeah like all the people who bought stuff like in 1999 they've been like this 2000 thing is gonna fuck everything up and then they yeah and they woke up and they're like whoops I probably shouldn't be living in the woods well yeah I'm guessing they do probably look at me a little sideways because, but it's not like I'm out there, you know, I don't have like an underground bunker and things like that.
It's just mostly, honestly, what it is, is a place that my kids love to go. Right.
My sister's kids, both my sister's kids, and hopefully their kids someday will all find a place that they can all go to. So I built it not only for me and a place to get away to, but also something I can pass on to them.
Yeah. And it's nice.
It's a short commute from your real house in North Dakota, so you can just drive over there every day and come right back. Hop on over.
Yeah. Yeah.
Exactly. Wait, so last time we had you on, you told us about your guys trip every year.
Are you still doing it where you guys go and basically play a bunch of sports and hopefully don't get injured? Are you still keeping the tradition? Oh yeah, we do it every year. Every third weekend of August.
I love it. Buddy games.
This year, I think we're doing it in Montana. Okay.
We did it at my cabin last year. Bob, the Bob father, likes to make sure that we take a year off from my place.
I don't know if it's because he wants to make sure that he still runs it, and I don't. Yeah.
But he's very possessive about his buddy games. So last year we did it at my cabin.
This year I think we're going to Montana. But, you know, every year is like Christmas.
The guys put it on the calendar and they all show up. Yeah.
So any injuries last year? Because, like, you guys, when you described it to us, it was every sport you could think of. And, you know, we're all getting up in age.
Were there any issues any issues with uh someone like has there been a retirement that would be sad someone had to do like a real retirement like you know raise their banner to the rafters no we did we did we did introduce the uh hall of fame last year uh chad hornbacher got the maroon jacket love it as far as injuries chris watson uh woke up to go take a piss in the middle of the morning in the middle of the night stood up passed out and like literally broke the left side of his face oh my god like oh my god what is you know so i don't know if that's an indicator that we're we are getting old or what but he was uh but, uh, but he, he still competed. Oh, I love that.
That's, that's how dedicated he was. That's hockey tough.
Yeah. I love that.
It's amazing. What events did we do last year? We did, uh, we did the, the usuals golf, wiffle ball.
We built a wiffle ball field down on the, it was sort of half in the lake, half in the half on land. We had a chipping contest where we chipped from this upper ridge down onto the beach

and you had to, you had to lay there, spread Eagle and you, and you, you got to wear a,

a motorcycle helmet, but that was it.

That and your underwear.

Oh, did we get a nut shot?

That, see, this is like, there was a shin shot.

We didn't, we didn't quite get the nut shot, but yeah, you know, you send one up about 80 yards and it comes down, that ball's moving by the time it hits. So, yeah, it wasn't our most ridiculous event, but, oh, we also did like this amazing croquet where I mowed fairways all through the yard and all the undulations.
We lit them at a golf course and did it like a croquet field. And that surprisingly was the favorite event last year.
Well, yeah, that's. Another indicator that we need to get an old.
Yeah, that's the old. Like being like, yeah, the event where we stand around and have to like lightly swing something, I would say that's maybe getting old.
That's actually a genius idea though, doing croquet golf. Just a giant size croquet field.
I'm surprised. I don't know if anyone's done that before if you invented it, but that sounds like the best time ever.
We mowed fairways the whole thing. So if you got off track, you're rough it was actually really fun yeah i know it doesn't sound like it but it's it was one of the best how did you do and if you if you have a lackluster buddy games do you find yourself beating yourself up for the next year like god i really really left a lot of opportunities out there we did win last year it was it's still under protest i imagine that most most wins are under protest right for the buddy games me and my team did win win last year.
It's still under protest. I imagine that most wins are under protest, right, for the buddy games? Me and my team did win it last year.
But, of course, you know, these guys, you know, they're just a bunch of babies. Well, it sounds – we do something similar here at Barca.
Like, we just completed – we did an 18-hole mini-golf tournament in our office. We built 18 mini-golf holes golf holes okay and it was 12 on 12 like rider cup style and the way i describe it is like you could create a a mini golf rule book that is a thousand page long once you get all of us in the same setting it will take maybe 30 minutes before we find a loophole and start arguing nonstop with each other.
And that's what I'd imagine the Buddy Games is. It really is.
And Chad Kelly, yeah, I'm calling you out. Chad Kelly was the biggest culprit last year, man.
He was chirping the whole time. Anyway, yeah, they seem to find loopholes.
Everybody desperately wants to win this thing. It's hilarious.
That's the fun, though. When you take it so – I know.
Like, we were – we did this mini-golf competition. I found myself – our team lost, and I was actually kind of depressed.
Like, I was – I woke up in a bad mood. I was like, you got to be kidding me, man.
Like, what? You got three kids. You got a great life, and you're getting upset about mini-golf.
But that's how I felt. Like, I can't deny how I felt.
You're a competitor. Yeah.
Yeah. It's just how you're wired.
We got to talk about some NFL stuff here because you're Vikings. Let me just ask you this.
Would you want Aaron Rodgers on your Vikings? Yes and no. I mean, I've run into Aaron a bunch of years, and he's actually a really fun dude.
He loves to give me – he loves to give it to me about the Vikings, especially when he was with the Packers. So it just didn't – it kind of feel like it did when Favre came.
Yeah, Favre maybe had his best year of all – his whole career, but it didn't feel like he was fully one of the Vikings, you know? So I don't think I could, I don't think, you know, even if we did win, it feels like it would almost need an asterisk next to it or something. Yeah, yeah.
I don't know what JJ's going to do. I saw him on the sidelines when I was at the, well, I went to the, what did I do? I went to the Lions game, last game of the season, and then I went to the Packers, then the Lions.
And JJ's a hell of a quarterback. Man, he doesn't look very big down there.
He looks like he's about 16 years old. Yeah, he does look young.
Yeah. He's a hell of a quarterback, so we'll see.
Did you find yourself falling for the Sam Darnold situation? Did you fully buy in that that was like, hey, this is who he is now? He's just the best? I was really impressed. I did not see that.
I don't think any Vikings fans saw last year coming. We thought it was going to be a 500 year, and it turned out to be one of the most exciting years we've had.
And Sam Donald was a big reason for that. Now, you know, I don't want to blame him entirely for that.
Those last couple of games, he did not play well, but you know, he was also, he also got pressured like crazy. Yeah.
I think that, I think that, you know, the pressure of the game, the situation and then you know the amount of pressure he was getting from the from the defense i think was was a little bit too much but i apparently we did reload on the offensive line which is good did you guys see that yes yeah big time yeah you guys definitely added a lot of pieces on the offensive line looks good and i think that um you know we definitely have the other weapons on offense with jj and addison and uh who else we got yeah it's it's it's a really high-powered offense defense is going to be good but then again you've got caleb coming up with the bears you got you've got uh uh um what's his name jordan love with the packers you know and the and the and the lions are going to be good they're going to be really good so i don't know we could be first we could be last iron sharpens iron yeah it must be nice though having a head coach where you can convince yourself quarterback, you're going to be like, yeah, that guy's going to be a pro bowler, just because the coach is that good. Yeah.
I think that's the perfect hire for the Bears, too. Yeah, Ben Johnson.
We've said that many years, haven't we? Yeah, a lot of times, but this time's different. This time is totally different.
What do you guys think of Caleb? I love him. Tough first tough first year very very tough did not have the the setup that I thought he was gonna have going into it uh the coach everything just basically was a disaster so I'm hoping fresh start Ben Johnson smart guy fresh start he feels good um is that your team yeah that's my team and I I I your best I didn't know that yeah and it's uh it that listen last year was I said a lot of things in the summer that I regret deeply about how they were set up to win right now and then they basically fell off a cliff halfway through the season and I'm staying cautiously optimistic now I'm not going to start writing checks that I can't cash later on in the year.

Yeah, but Caleb looked good at times

too. He did, but he also

looked bad. Let's see how talented that dude is.
Yeah,

he's got talent. We need the coaching

and some of the other things to

finally go in the right direction. They're a dysfunctional

organization through and through, so

just trying to get out of our own way for once.

What do they have as receivers? DJ Moore, Roma Dunze, probably maybe draft someone. So we'll see.
Pretty good. Yeah.
Yeah. Maybe get a running back.
I don't know. Who would you want in the draft? You know, I haven't been.
I was in London for the last several months. I normally follow the draft like months in advance, but don't know much about it this year it stinks so you're not you're not you're not off like it's not a good draft well i mean what do the vikes need i think it's maybe a safety after harrison leaves yeah yeah malachi starks malachi starks georgia would be good yeah uh i don't know what What were you doing in london i was directing a movie called preschool oh okay that's cool about these two dads who are fighting to get their kid into this last spot in this oh preschool do you like directing is that a nice change of pace i do it is all-encompassing it is uh it's very time-consuming and it's a lot of work but it is a lot it's it's a lot of fun because you get to kind of tell the story the way you see it yeah you know i think that that is something i've always wanted to do you know i couldn't just do that because i really like spending time with my family too and when you're doing that you're pretty much you know belong to the whatever production it is but it is uh it is a lot of fun the movie's turning out great it's funny i i love that premise for a movie because i don't you know i we are back in chicago now but when we were living in new york and my youngest was two in brooklyn we we went to a, he had to do like an actual interview for a preschool and they, and they denied him.
And I was like, what did he do wrong? Like, did he, he's two. How is this possible? But that's how it is.
He got rejected. Yeah.
He got rejected at two. Did he bring a copy of his resume? So he did.
When we went to the interview, it was kind of right around uh like right after covid so we did it outside and he did trip when we were like walking up and i actually think that might have been what did it you can't have a clumsy kid like because i don't know what else you judge a two-year-old yeah the principal was like that smells like a lawsuit yeah it's like this is crazy how did't he? He bit somebody. He was never a biter, but I was just like, I didn't ultimately care because it was like, this is a preposterous thing to have to do an interview for a two-year-old.
But there was a part of me walking away being like, what the fuck? How do you deny a two-year-old? I was like a little pissed off, but that's how competitive those schools are. it's your boy right yeah it's my boy bullshit it's you know i when i had when i had kids i never thought that i'd get caught up in all of it but you can't help but to you know because you know where i grew up there was no private school we just everybody went to public school and when i had my first son, you know, getting into, I figured he's going to be fine.
He'll go to the public school down the street. And sure enough, when it came time where we were getting caught up in the whole thing of, you know, will he get into this school? Will he get into that school? And sure enough, there we are.
So I think that it's, it's a, it's a premise that a lot of people who have kids or know people who have kids will will find uh funny and relate to in some way yeah is it tough to not micromanage the actors while you're directing as an actor i feel like i would i would always want to give like advice or here's here's how i would do that scene it is a tricky situation right because on the one hand you're an actor with them you're you're you're you're working together this is one of your your uh you're one of your mates and then you have to turn around and say like hey could you do that a little bit differently you could never do that if you're just acting right you know i I would give him note if it's just he and i in the scene together but i so the key is just to find really really good actors and i got great ones i mean when you shoot in london it's just full of them like everybody's west end trained and shakespearean and they just have all this education. So I was blessed with really, really good actors.
And so I didn't necessarily have to give many notes other than just like sort of general stuff. I was the one who needed the notes, to be honest.
Yeah. A dumb question about acting.
How much of your, like how many lines do you you memorize at once i'm always impressed by that because like we'll do stupid like social commercials or something and i can't keep more than like two lines in my head at once like at max so what do you do do you read do you have like pages and pages memorized you know well i couldn't do what you do i couldn't read off a paper i have to i have to memorize them yeah because i can't you know i'm not a i can never be a news anchor um but it's just a muscle that you get you just start to learn how to do it it's just it's about honestly it's about remembering the the verbs and the adverbs and that connects the thoughts right that's how i do it right and then it's about remembering the verbs and the adverbs. And that connects the thoughts.
Right. That's how I do it.
Right. And then if it's a big speech, I will learn that thing well in advance.
So when the time comes to shoot it, it's second nature. Some people can just look at it and know it and just go.
But I've never been able to do that. you like when you go uh shoot on ransom canyon for like a day do you have multiple pages already memorized in your head and you're just running around with those because i yeah like i i don't think i could walk with that in my head well it's not really the the words as much as it is knowing because we shot we literally shot 10 episodes all out of order because we had ridiculous weather for the first four months we were shooting this thing they were we were supposed to you know the scene called for a sunny meadow with with you know wildflowers and we had two feet of snow right so we had to wait and push all that stuff to the end of the year so we ended up shooting all these different episodes simultaneously you know we're shooting it we're shooting you know episode 10 today uh and and we're shooting episode three because we got to pick up a scene from three and we got to start whatever in the same location so so it's more about figuring out when you know where, where you are in the, in the, in the progression of the characters arc, you know, like what, what happened before this, what happened in episode four that made me say this in episode 10.
Right. Um, and so that's really the hard part.
It's not really memorizing the lines. It's just keeping everything straight and making sure that everything is going to track because you're shooting things four episodes ahead and you have to imagine what happened three episodes before that when you haven't even shot them yet right that that becomes the most difficult part is to kind of track how you how you're going to perform things you know well in advance or something that happened three months ago another Another dumb question I guarantee you won't get today.

What's the catering situation like on set?

Do they vary it a lot so that you don't get bored with it?

It's usually a fish and a chicken and a steak.

Okay.

But they're not like one day – are they one day like, hey, Chinese?

Actually, on Ransom Canada, we had an amazing chef.

Okay.

I wish I could remember his name now, but it was one of the best catering companies I've ever had. They were just unbelievable.
So, yeah. I mean, every day is different.
It's like a whole spread. I love that.
It's no wonder you put on 10 pounds every time you go shoot. Any ice cream? Yeah.
There's all kinds of – there's like several dessert options. Love that.
That's incredible. Love that.
Yeah. That should be an actor.
How do you say no to it? These fresh cookies they make every day. If I was shooting a Western, though, I feel like I would only eat the steak.
Yeah. It feels like – Because you're a method actor.
Exactly. I go full method.
I like that. The idea of being like a Daniel Day-Lewis, but only for food.

Yeah.

You eat the steak that you grew out on the range.

Yeah, I'm going to eat my steak, and then to drink, I'll just have whiskey.

Yeah.

Just neat.

I'll just sip some whiskey. Be drunk the whole time.

The nice thing about doing a Western, too, is you get to wear the hat, the cowboy hat.

I feel like that helps a lot with acting.

You can be very emotional, like taking the hat off, tugging on the bill of the hat. It does.
that helps a lot with acting. You can be very emotional like taking the hat off,

tugging on the bill of the hat.

It is a valuable crutch.

Yeah, were there notes

in the script like at this point you're going to

adjust your hat or was that all feel?

No, that's all me, man.

Oh, hell yes. That's where you're the best.

Hell yes. Best hat actor in the world.

Hell yes.

The show does really look amazing. I mean, they did a beautiful job.
The show is beautifully shot. You know, Minka and the cast are fantastic in it.
I think that people are really going to dig it. I really do.
I'm excited. So I have one last question for you.
It's always fun to have you on, Josh.

Rowback question, R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, promo code TAKE.

20% off your first purchase, Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts,

Rowback.com, promo code TAKE.

Go see Ransom Canyon.

Netflix, not go see, just turn it on at home.

Netflix, April 17th.

Tell us, 1 to 10, how hot you looked in this show pretty hot I saw the trailer you looked pretty hot you put a tight pair of wranglers on this ass and it's pretty hot there was one look that you had maybe the jacket, like the jean jacket with like the fur, the fake fur underneath, and I was like, damn, Josh is putting – he's putting some looks out there for this show. Some looks out there.
Yeah, you are. You were serving some.
You knew that you were – yeah, you knew you were on one. You're like, I'm going to get on this my time i'm gonna rock this howdy ma'am yeah um all right well josh anytime you want to come back on man we love having you on and uh we're gonna we're gonna watch this and anytime you're in chicago stop by we'll uh we'll come up with some random game we can compete against you with all right boys go check out go get go check out gatlin.com okay okay what's that what that? Like the gun? Just a little thing that I got going.
Oh. Talk about it next time.
Okay, I love it. You gave us a little homework.
Hottest teacher I ever had. But if the apocalypse happens, like I'm going to your cabin.
Just know that. All right.
You're welcome. You got to be able to contribute, though.
I almost feel like you're- Or medical or building or farming or camping. Podcasting.
Yeah. Listen, the world will need takes.
Yeah. We're a podcast economy here.
So we'll bring the podcast and then you'll have that covered. I feel like Josh is inviting us out there so he can eat us.
He just said he doesn't know how to hunt. He's like, yeah, you guys can come out.
We'll just show up and he's like, who are you guys? Yeah. We'll show up to your front door with a microphone being like, see, remember us? Podcast.
Living off the fat of the land. That's right.
Alright, thanks so much, Josh. Appreciate it, man.
See ya. Later, boys.
Josh Duhamel is brought to you by our special friends over at Chevy. Chevy's packed more capability into the Silverado Trail Boss so that you can pack more fun into your weekend.

Have yourself a Fri-yay, a Satter-yay, a Sun-yay, a Sun-yay-fun-yay

with a truck that says no to nothing.

Tailgates, spontaneous camping trips, DIY projects, bring it on.

What about a cross-country road trip?

Silverado was the perfect ride for last year's Grit Week out west.

They help us give fullbacks the recognition that they deserve with the Lowman Award. Silverado Trail Boss is built like a fullback.
495 foot-pounds of torque. Hold on to those sodas max.
Plus, the Trail Boss gives you an extra two-inch lift. We could all use some of those.
Silverado brings the grit, then pairs it with the latest truck tech inside and out. The result is a truck that can do it all, then show up on Monday with a story to tell.
So learn more about the Silverado Trail Boss at Chevy.com. Chevrolet together, let's drive.
And Firefest of the Week is brought to you by our great friends over at Morgan. And Morgan, if you find yourself in the middle of your very own Firefest, you just might need America's largest injury firm in your corner.
We all know that life comes at you fast. One minute, you're preparing to dunk.
The next minute, you're owing me and Big Cat a lot of money. Well, in reality, Morgan and Morgan will fight for the people.
They might not be able to help you claw back any money that you make making stupid bets, but they do help with your real-life Fyre Fest for over 35 years. With Morgan & Morgan, it's easy to get started.
Their fee is free unless they win. You can check them out at forthepeople.com.pmt.
That's forthepeople.com.pmt. Okay, Fyre Fest of the Week.
Henry, you're up. Yeah, let's do it.
it uh fire fest of the week i i mean it's not really fire fest because i survived but we did the the kfc dunk it challenge dunk contest here on wednesday and one of the contestants asked he's like hey can i jump over you for one of the dunks he was a big awl and i felt bad saying no and i you know he was jumping pretty high so i trusted him and so i had to you know stand with i didn't even see him coming up my back was like he was running towards my back so i couldn't see anything i just had to hold the ball above my head first time he tried it he like landed on my neck and i was like all right did he dunk it did not dunk it so then he asked me to move back i had to do it again second time was even worse. I felt like, all right, did he dunk it? Did not dunk it.
So then he asked me to move back. I had to do it again.
Second time was even worse. I felt like I basically was holding on my shoulder for a second.
Missed again. And then he was like, oh, we got to do it a third time.
And he missed again. I survived, but it was not great.
Touch and go. Yeah, it could have gone a lot worse.

Did it give you any respect for dunkers?

So much respect for dunkers.

These guys were jumping out of the gym.

Very inspirational.

I got a lot of work to do to get on their level.

But yeah, it was cool to see some real athletes in this office.

What?

What does that mean?

It was cool to see some real athletes able to do some cool athletic feats in this office.

Thank you. It was cool to see some real athletes in this office.
What? What does that mean? It was cool to see some real athletes able to do some cool athletic feats in this office. The fuck? We're not real athletes? No.
God, no. I thought you did a terrible job judging.
Yeah, you were chirping me from the cheap seats. Man in the arena, as a wise man once said.
Well, no, you were judging men in the arena, and you were doing a bad job judging the men in the arena. Right, but man in the arena, you weren't in the arena judging.
You were chirping the man in the arena who was judging the men in the arena. And I was in the arena because I was judging you, the judge.
No, you were in the nosebleeds chirping the man who was actually in the arena who was judging the men in the arena. I thought you did a poor job on awarding scores.
I thought that your scoring system was way off. Next time you're a dunk contest judge for, I don't know.
I mean, well, for Hank. Pool dunking.
For you, you should be amazed that anybody's able to dunk given your performance last year. Everything should be a 10.
Yeah, it was impressive. Yeah.
I want to give my guys room to grow. That's huge of you.
Yeah. Yeah.
All right, PFT. My FireFest, well, number one, FireFest 2.0 has been postponed.
So that's kind of a FireFest. My FireFest is your tweet about the FireFest 2.0.
Yeah. So I offer- Also, Mr.
Beast, by the way, is like doing his own FireFest right now. I saw that.
There's a BeastCon out in Las Vegas that Mr. Beast didn't show up to.
So now everybody's in the lobby of the hotel being like, yo, where's Mr. Beast? Waiting in line.
Where's he at BeastCon? Yeah. Which I don't know what you say or do.
if you go to BeastCon in general? Do you just meet people in the lobby of the hotel being like yo where's mr beast waiting in line yeah which i don't know what you say or or do if you go to beast con in general do you just like meet people in the lobby and you're like so do you do you like mr beast too yeah i don't i don't get beast con anyways you remember that yeah how long could you have stayed in the supermarket yeah probably a little bit longer yeah do you think you could have been locked underground for 30 days for a million dollars if If I was locked in that room, I would have found ways to make the canned chicken taste different. So, yeah, what Hank's alluding to is I offered up the Barstool Chicago office for Firefest if they need a new location, because it sounds like the government of Mexico wasn't playing ball.
Oh, we're getting double booked right now. Okay.
So why? On the Yak, we offered up the Chicagoago office for john arbuckle con arbuckle fest oh from garfield yeah okay because garfield gets all the shine yeah but arbuckle nothing why not have a festival for him he was a great dude yeah but yeah fire fest if if we could do it together listen billy mcfarland he's i consider him to be a an acquaintance we're friendly with each other uh I've offered it to him if he would like to accept. I think we could do a good job hosting Fyre Fest 2.0 here.
Okay. What do you think, Hank? I hate it.
I hate that idea. Why? Are you in for Arbuckle Fest? I guess.
Not really. Not really.
If you had to pick one of the two. If we're being honest, if I had to pick one of the two, Arbuckle Fest? Yes.
Why are you so out on one of the premier concert destinations in the history of the world? Have you not seen the Phoenix package? It's 1.5 million for a ticket. For one ticket? For a ticket, yeah.
It's a great ticket. All right, maybe once Billy gives us the rev share, we can look into it.
Yeah, let's talk, Billy. this is an office space for people to you know work our our buckle fest is gonna be like four dudes that's kind of yeah like yeah yeah yeah my other fire off my other fire fest of the week is uh that apparently um all the boys are on a softball team all the boys are on a softball team we have been yeah yeah uh i found out today max came in the studio and he was like we won our softball game last night i was like sick and then he started to give me the the box score and he's like yeah uh big cat did this hank did this memes did this pug was a manager uh shane's on the team so everyone and part of my take is on the softball team and i didn't even know about it it's not it's not my softball team by the way i'm mine either i forced myself on it we talked with this we when you say we didn't know about it we talked about it a lot last year we did talk about it i knew that they played on a softball the reason big cat is on this team big cats on the softball before big house on the team you didn't care i just got how did i even get at it oh we had a we had a game that we didn't want to go to.
That's right. And you were like, put me in the group chat.
I'll say you can't go. Right.
And then you stayed in the group chat. And then when we started to talk about it for next year, you're like, I'm in.
I'm in if we play 16-inch. So I forced my way in.
So 16-inch softball is awesome. But it was.
Oh, yeah, I'm sure it is. For the record, they were all on the team last year.
We talked about it on this show. A lot.
Oh, yeah, yeah. I knew that you guys had a team.
I knew that for sure. You want me to be off the team? No, I don't want you off the team.
I think I have no choice but to just put together my own team and beat the fuck out of you guys. You should join.
Kadek's got a team. Yeah, Kadek's got a team.
Just ringers. Kadek's got a team.
And just dominate you guys. May 7th.
But me and Big Hat both won't be at that game. By the way, I was upset.
The real reason I was upset is I'm definitely so much better than Hank at softball. I don't think so.
I am definitely so much better than Hank at 16-inch softball. I don't think so.
I guarantee you. This sounds like we're going to have to film something.
I know you both very well.

Hank's better than you at softball.

I can hit a golf ball like 50 yards further than him.

That's a fair point.

That's a fair point.

But Hank's better at softball.

I can slap singles.

I'm faster than Hank.

Good at softball.

How good are you?

He's pretty good.

I mean, he played an awesome first base last night.

What order did you hit?

That's Pug.

Pugs, that's the order. I hit seventh.
I did hit a dinger, two singles. I mean, I had a bomb.
Yeah. And he locked down first base.
He did really good yesterday. Yeah.
I mean, we played softball in New York. Yeah, we did.
And I was better than you there, too. That's true.
Yeah, I was awesome. I had a broken foot.
That's true. Pretty much.
What did he say about what I did on the mound?

Well, he came in.

I was excited.

Max gave me like a full post-game report.

Yeah, the vibes were hot.

And I was like listening to it at first.

I was like, okay, Big Cat was a good pitcher.

Hank did good.

I was like, cool.

And then he proceeded to name everybody on part of my team. You should just be on the team.

Why not?

I'll put you on the text chain.

No, well, then Max was like, do you want to play in a game?

I was like, no.

That's what I said.

Not anymore. But I just forced myself on the team.
So you should just force yourself on the team I'm out for blood now I want you on the team I'm taking this personal I'll tell you what You're definitely better than some people on the team I want names Tom Lay He's going to be so mad I only played one game with Tom Lay He. He had three errors in the first inning.
I only gave up one earned run, two unearned. The two unearned was because he dropped three consecutive balls for a force out at second base.
Okay. But I love Tom.
But he made your stat line look worse. Well, no, I only gave up one earned run.
Okay. I gave up one earned run.
We won 17-6 to six and you'd be like how the hell do we give up six with only one earned run hank did pitch the last inning he gave up three runs okay so hank made your stat line yeah appear worse yeah yeah yeah i mean camp barstool last summer was sucking up fly balls in the outfield like a vacuum so you should just awkward i'll say it just go go for this is awkward is awkward. Why? I don't feel awkward.
Go for other guys. I'll give you a list of the guys you're better than.
Why does Hank feel awkward? I don't know. I'll have to see your game.
No, I'll mash some taters. Also, I only saw Tom play one game.
He could be way worse than that. He hit well.
He did hit well well he hit well but it's also 60 inch like we can have we we need more guys yeah there's gonna be there's gonna be lots of games that people know i'm out i'm out on this team i did feel like young again it was playing playing uh softball it's like it took me back to my 20s i I'm pumped. I got the green light to play in more games

because I was going to initially not play in any games

that were 6.30 or 7.30.

I now get 7.30.

There's only one 6.30 game.

Love it.

I'll be out.

Also, we played the whole team with Stoolies yesterday.

Oh, yeah.

They're going to be so fired up listening to this right now.

Yeah, they sucked.

They sucked.

You who are listening right now,

thank you for giving us our confidence because you guys were really bad. Yeah, how many games did you guys win last year? In the summer, we won zero.
Summer was tough because of scheduling. Summer was a disaster.
Summer was a joke. I will say for the stoolies.
I honestly thought I was never playing with this team again. 16 inches.
Because 12 inches. I almost died in the last game I pitched.
So this is how I really how I really got on the team PFT was when they were like we're playing again and I was still on this group chat which is kind of awkward that I'm on this group chat because they'll be like anyone want to meet up at a bar on Saturday night and I'll just be sitting there being with my kids being like yeah I do but no uh but anyway they they started the group chat and they're like we're going to sign up to play softball again. And I just basically heavy-handed.
I was like, if you play 16-inch, I'm in. And then I started paying off people on the team to say they'd play 16-inch.
And so then that's how I got in. Because I would not have played for 12-inch.
I would have absolutely not played. So you should just – I'll add you to the group chat.
No. You should just be like, I'm in.
Again, I don't want a pity spot on this roster. I'm doing my own team.
It's not a pity spot. I'm doing my own team, and we're going to beat the fuck out of you guys.
It's not a pity spot. I'm texting Kadish right now.
Well, that wouldn't be your own team. That would be Kadish's team.
I don't care. We also, me and Big Cat both won't be at that game.
Yeah. But Hank will, so Hank will be pitching.
Okay. Hank will be pitching.
Hank will be pitching in that game. You're going to get shelled, Hank.
Bring it. Yeah, let's go.
What's really going to be awkward is the day after that, after I take you deep three times. I'm looking forward to it.
The stoolie that was pitching against us, I did talk to him after I gave him some tips. I think he has the makings of a good pitcher.
He just needs to I was doing the hop step and they were getting so they're like, why does he keep doing that? Backspin fucks you up and I was standing like behind the left-handed hitters. But yeah, I feel young again.
I feel like I miss playing softball, especially 60. It's 60 inches the best game created.
It was a lot of fun. It's so much fun.
It was 40 degrees. So much fun.

The stoolies that we played, very bad.

We had a blast.

So that's why we're having...

They were worse than Tom.

To put it in perspective, how mad is Tom going to be?

So mad.

Really?

He's going to be so upset.

Oh, no.

We might leave the group text.

Should we bleep his name out?

No.

You can't.

Oh, he's going to be like, I know it's me. I know they're talking about me.
Yeah. Yeah, because it really couldn't be.
No. Maybe TJ, but no, he's fine.
He played well. He was the catcher.
I want you on the team, PFT. I'll leave this team and go on your team.
This is not my. It's good to have a quest.
It is true, though that they did have a full team that we talked about a lot last summer like they talked about it non-stop well yeah but that was that was like you guys all the uh producers it still is yeah it still is just it was just the addition of me by forcing my way in because i was like i want to play 16 inch again yeah the team hasn't changed i asked you to play too. Oh, no.
We needed guys. Oh, no.
We had to settle for Jacob. Oh, no.
Now it is awkward, Hank. I don't remember that.
Wow. We had to get Jacob, and he was just smoking cigarettes in the outfield.
Oh, no, PFT. I don't remember.
I must have had something going on, because you know me. I love 16-inch softball.
Oh, no. No, it was 12-inch last summer.
Yeah. You probably would have come to post-game beers.
Yeah, I game beers yeah i definitely would have yeah post game beers i mean the group chat sounds like a lot of fun too it's not it's not it's group chat's so fun they just do like birthday parties male birthday parties it's weird you got another spot that was what no there's at least two there's at least two birthday party male birthday parties in that group chat and i every time I was like, what? They're like, I'm having a birthday party. It was Quiggs and Pug.
They both had birthday parties. Pug did not have a birthday party.
Both times I was like, this is fucking weird. Quiggs had a birthday party, but he was turning 30.
Yeah. Pug has seven birthday parties a year.
30 you get a birthday party. Okay.
All right. My fire fest was going to be that I'm sore from softball so that's awkward uh that sucks yeah but i don't play my real fire fest is well it's a it's a good thing but then a uh part of the internet i didn't really know existed so i i uh got into card collecting for two days this week and i pulled the 86 rookie not his rookie season but the rookie card uh Michael Jordan, which which is like an elusive card that's worth could be worth like 20 grand and uh then i had the entire card community come after me and they do not like me and they are fucking losers that's not a good part of the internet no card collecting is something that i i respect if guys you have to have hobbies if you really love it that's cool i hope you enjoy it it's something that has has never appealed to me it's it's every it's every niche hobby it's not like the majority of people who are card collecting for the fun and love of it it's the gatekeepers yeah the guys who are like actually this i mean you can guess who who chimed in uh our e-sports correspondent darren Ravel Daryl uh in his clit network he uh but they were all coming after me

upset our e-sports correspondent Darren Revell in his clit network but they were all coming after me upset, angry, mad saying it was an ad deal that I planted I don't know I'll tell you what, the card community has kind of forced my hand I'm like 75% chance I'm just going to end up eating this card. And when I say eating, literally eating this card.
You should also just. You guys can all have a bite.
You should do like very, very obviously planted great cards that you pull out and keep trying to say that they're real. Yeah.
And just to troll them. Just to be like, fuck you.
They already think that. So it's like they already think that I planted this card.
I did pull a sick Gremlin card the other day, though. Oh, hell yes.
George the Mogwai. Yeah.
Pretty good from the Gremlins 2 movie. I think it's worth like three bucks.
Hell yes. The best part about old packs of cards is the 30-year-old chewing gum that comes with it.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess there's like a very elusive Michael Jordan rookie card that has the chewing gum attached that's like rated a zero, but it sold for a lot because does that mean rating because i keep hearing people say you can rate anything it's psa rating i don't know what they do how they do it i just know that if it comes back an eight it's probably worth 10 grand if it comes back a nine or a 10 which it won't it could be worth like 40 50 grand it's like the guys in pawn stars it's it's when they just take it like yeah it's like the corners it's the cut which i didn't realize because back in 1986 it was literally a guy at fleer smoking a cigarette just cutting the cards love that so like the the i think my card is a little off center people were saying i don't know but i.
But I thought error cards are worth more, like the Billy Ripken fuck face card.

Yeah, but this is like, it's the correct card.

It's just like a little bit not perfect.

Okay.

So I don't know.

I was in the card collecting game for two days, and I pulled that.

And I guess I pulled the Charles Barkley rookie card, too, which is decent.

And a Hakeem rookie.

It's pretty good.

Yeah.

Sounds fake.

It does sound rigged. Yeah.
Sounds fake. It does sound rigged.

Yeah.

Sounds very rigged.

Okay.

Shane.

Our boy Shane.

He's got to piss.

Hank's got to piss.

You've been peeing a lot recently, Hank.

Yeah, what's up with that?

I've just been hydrated.

But, yeah.

I shouldn't have to pee this often.

Do you have a kidney stone?

Maybe.

You are next. Shane, can PFT play in your spot next week Do you have a kidney stone? Maybe.
You are next.

Shane, can PFT play in your spot next week when you're in Italy?

Of course.

Love that.

Don't want it.

I refuse.

Shane, you're going to Italy by yourself.

Yes, sir.

For how many days?

Nine, but that counts tonight, which my flight's a red eye.

And Shane, for everyone who doesn't know Shane,

he's one of our very talented graphics guys. He created the famous A.
Two years ago, yep. Shane, you've never been on an airplane, and you're going to Italy.
Yeah. Have you ever eaten Alfredo sauce? I have had it.
Yeah. Oh, I heard that you hadn't.
So what's the plan? Solo traveling. I'm very intrigued and impressed.
There isn't much of a plan. I booked the flight two months ago, and I just got my Airbnbs two days ago.
Oh, you're doing an Airbnb solo. Yeah.
Not doing the hostel. Do you speak Italian? I did do a lingo for a little bit, but...
Talk to me. I can order a coffee.
All right, try it. Vore un café con zucchero, per favore.
Oh, with sugar. Sir, here's your cup of cum.
Dude, don't make that mistake, because they will give you cum. They're an island full of, or not an island, a peninsula? Are you going to Sicily? Peninsula full of perverts.
Yeah. You got to talk with your hands more, too.
They do constant sign language. Are you worried about the mob? I'm getting more worried about it, yeah.
I feel like there's some mob at AWLs, so maybe we could just be like, hey, he's our friend. Are you going to come back with really stylish clothes? Do I have to check in with somebody somebody i don't know i mean we'll we'll find out but if if you're a mob if you're mafia awl specifically in northern italy let us know so our boy can tap in please it will give you some cash that you can give as like a little yeah you know safe travels yeah who's the guy in italy right now who's the maxoma do you have to tap in with maxoma i don't know okay it's latin maybe so what what's the plan you're going you're going to go to a few different cities yeah i'm gonna check out some different cities i'm going to go to uh an ac milan game hell yes i actually i just booked a tour for the coliseum but i i based i booked it based off weather and after i booked it i looked at the weather i was looking at and it was rome Georgia so oh no I thought it based off weather, and after I booked it, I looked at the weather I was looking at, and it was Rome, Georgia.
Oh, no. I thought it was going to be 80 degrees in Italy, and it's going to be like thundering 55 degrees.
Oh, no. All right.
Well, be safe. Don't get kidnapped.
Don't get kidnapped. We've already talked about that.
If you do, it would be good for numbers, though. It would be.
It would be good for can you before you go can you make a graphic of your face like behind bars that just is kidnapped just in case yeah just in case okay it will load it up as a draft just in case and also maybe make one being like Shane fucked just in case and then a third said Shane accidentally ordered cum.

Don't get into an Amanda Knox situation, though.

We're very serious about that.

God, that would be so good for downloads.

It would be.

Did we do true crime?

Yeah.

You become the new Brittany Griner.

Yeah.

Pug.

Pug.

Why didn't you invite PFT on your softball team?

I am not the owner. I am the manager.
What's the team name? The owner puts together. The owner puts together.
What's the team name? The Pugs. Oh.
Who's the owner? Jost. He sends invites, puts the roster together.
I'm just the active manager. Pug will not look in the direction of PFT right now.

Oh, no.

He's just staring at me.

It's blocked off.

That's exactly what my dog does when he chews something else.

Bad boy.

He was just looking in the complete opposite direction.

We just said, whose job is it?

Everybody stared at the dog that did do it.

The dog that did do it looks away.

It's not my fault. Okay.
That's okay. That's all right.
I'll see you in the playoffs. Yeah, we'll see you.
All right. Good show, boys.
Let's do numbers. Shane, get this right.
77. 17.
3. 65.

1.

99, Pug.

15.

21.

Jack's not on the team.

Nope.

PFT.

Jack's not?

No.

All right.

And neither is Pug.

This is.

Manager.

Manager.

It's called the Pug. Except I wasn't there last night.

I'll be there it's like 86

oh jordan mj i'm to eat that card Love you guys Thank you. Thank you.