World Cup Preview With Taylor Twellmam, 1 Question With A Qb W/ Chad Kelly, Thanksgiving & Week 12 Preview

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Speaker 1 On today's part of my take, special Thanksgiving football episode. We're going to do everything.
We're going to talk about the Thanksgiving games. We're going to talk about Sunday.

Speaker 1 We have a World Cup preview with Taylor Twellman. Yes, a World Cup preview.
It's about to start.

Speaker 1 Hopefully U.S. beats Wales.
I think they'll probably will, right?

Speaker 3 Well, yeah, I think right now all we know is that U.S. is dominant against Wales historically.

Speaker 3 Argentina is looking like a wagon. Yep.
And then Italy is a powerhouse as you can see.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.
So World Cup preview with Taylor Twellman. One question with the quarterback with very special newly minted Gray Cup champion swag Kelly.

Speaker 1 And we got Hot C Cool Throne. Great show for you.
We'll also give a point in the show when you can pause if you have to work on Friday.

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Speaker 1 Today is Wednesday, November 23rd, and happy Thanksgiving to all.

Speaker 3 My favorite holiday of the year. Easily.
I love Thanksgiving. It is the best.
It's the best. It's a holiday that is entirely centered around eating, drinking, and football.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 It's fucking heaven.

Speaker 1 It's basically a holiday meant to act like the fattest, grossest, slob. degenerate and it's all like part of celebrating it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Like if you if you just eat way too much, you get you drink too much, and you watch too much football, you did a good job celebrating Thanksgiving. It's the best.

Speaker 3 It is. It's the absolute best.
It's the best. Also, I think, Big Cat, you're on this team with me.
It's a great time to eat stuffing, but stuffing should be year-round. Yes.

Speaker 3 It should not be limited to the holidays. Big time.
I love stuffing. It's maybe my favorite dish, favorite side dish.

Speaker 3 I would like to enjoy stuffing occasionally in the autumn, in the spring, in the summertime.

Speaker 3 It's

Speaker 1 such a fat guy dish. That's why I think it gets only put out once a year.

Speaker 3 It's really just bread. Right.

Speaker 3 And then you pour animal fat onto it.

Speaker 1 It's bread just given to you a different way. Yeah, and sometimes you put sausage.
I like a little sausage and cornbread in my stuffing. Yeah.

Speaker 3 And then you douse it in gravy. You could actually make the argument it's the perfect split between a soup and a cereal.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And a sandwich. And a sandwich.
Yeah. It's everything.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, Thanksgiving special.

Speaker 1 We're going to do all of our Thanksgiving games before the Taylor 12man interview. Then we will do a Sunday preview after.
So if you have to work on Friday, quit your job.

Speaker 1 But if you can't quit your job because you need to live, then just pause it. We'll tell you when to pause it.
But let's talk a little about Monday Night Football. The 49ers, the San Francisco 49ers,

Speaker 1 they are scary. And this Jimmy G,

Speaker 1 this is the portion of the year that we have, I think, every year with Jimmy G, where it's like he puts together a few games in a row.

Speaker 1 And I saw a stat where he was like, in all meaningful quarterback metrics, he's like top 10. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Watch out. Well, he's number one when it comes to just winning football games.

Speaker 1 That's a fact.

Speaker 3 Jimmy G's a winner. He's a goddamn winner.
He played really well last night. He had a little zip on the ball.
Colt McCoy, I thought that he was going to come out a little bit stronger than he did.

Speaker 3 I always forget because you always get one good Colt McCoy game per year, and then you think it's going to carry over to the next week.

Speaker 3 And you're like, no, Colt's the perfect quarterback to come out of nowhere and to play really, really well.

Speaker 3 This team, the Cardinals just weren't ready for it. No, they weren't ready at all.

Speaker 1 DeAndre Hopkins get the penalty for pointing at the 49ers. Like, dude, you guys are so bad.
You can't go backwards on these type of plays.

Speaker 1 Like, a good play can't now go backwards because you're taunting the opponent.

Speaker 3 You can't taunt in the middle of the field.

Speaker 1 Like, I don't like that.

Speaker 3 If you score a touchdown and do the point like A.J. Brown did, I love that.
He's like, fuck you. Fuck you.
I'm better. That's cool.

Speaker 3 If you do it in the middle of the field, it's like, dude, you're celebrating a 12-yard game.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was right. It was nothing special, and he did that.
And yeah, the Cardinals are an absolute dumpster fire. I was thinking about this with Jimmy G.

Speaker 1 I think if you combine Jimmy G and Russell Wilson, you'd have the best quarterback in the NFL. Because Jimmy G throws it over the middle so well.

Speaker 3 You'd have a perfectly average amount of sex.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yes, yes, exactly. But he throws, I feel like Jimmy G's number one pass is that slant that he hits perfectly.
Russell Wilson can't throw that. Jimmy G doesn't throw it deep.
Russell Wilson can.

Speaker 1 They win that Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 If Russell Wilson's a quarterback, he would have hit that deep pass that's true he would have hit that deep pass and then Jimmy G would have hit would have beaten the Patriots in the Super Bowl yeah if he was on the Seattle Seahawks yes so this is

Speaker 1 over the middle sliding doors right I'm saying right like he he threw he throws that pass so that Malcolm Butler doesn't intercept it Jimmy G does and Russell Wilson throws the pass who was it that he missed by us like two yards on the 49ers name line was it it wasn't crabtree uh Emmanuel Sanders yes thank you Emmanuel Space on that one but yeah I was thinking about you put them together.

Speaker 1 Someone face mash them. The best quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 3 What's their name?

Speaker 1 Jussell

Speaker 1 Wapolo. I like Wapolo.

Speaker 1 That's very... Yeah.
What? It's anti-Italian discrimination.

Speaker 1 My children are Italian.

Speaker 3 Jussel Wapolo.

Speaker 1 Woppolo.

Speaker 3 I kind of like that.

Speaker 1 Gawapolo.

Speaker 1 Jimmy Guappolo. Yeah,

Speaker 3 Remy Gilson.

Speaker 1 Remy Gilson sounds like a hot porn sword.

Speaker 3 Remy Gilson is.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 What are you going to say, Hank? You disagree with us?

Speaker 6 I just think you guys are discrediting how good Russell Wilson was.

Speaker 6 He's past his prime.

Speaker 1 No, but he's always.

Speaker 1 No, Russell Wilson has always been very good, but he has always struggled throwing it over the middle of the field because he can't see.

Speaker 3 It's just a fact.

Speaker 1 That's not his strength of his game. The strength of his game is those deep moon balls that always hit, and

Speaker 3 being elusive. What happened here was Hank heard us say that if Jimmy G was a quarterback on the Seahawks, the Patriots would have lost.

Speaker 3 And then Hank freaked out. You guys are.

Speaker 1 Factor fiction, Hank.

Speaker 1 That is a hundred percent. That's a fan of fiction.

Speaker 3 I just want to say, I love Mexico. I love the NFL games in Mexico.
They need to... What's that, Hank?

Speaker 1 Nothing.

Speaker 3 What are you giggling about? Nothing.

Speaker 1 You giggled.

Speaker 6 I'm sorry. I apologize for laughing.

Speaker 5 Regarding what?

Speaker 1 Nothing. Your love of Mexico.
I'm all serious from here on out. It's distracting, Hank.

Speaker 3 Yes, sir. I love Mexico.
I love the fans in Mexico. I like how it's got kind of a quasi-professional wrestling vibe in the stadium down there.

Speaker 3 The dude that announced it on ESPN last night, absolutely electric, just screamed into the camera for about 30 seconds.

Speaker 3 I was ready to go.

Speaker 3 It was a perfect environment for Kittle. Our guy Kittle, yeah,

Speaker 1 was awesome.

Speaker 1 Business decision by the Cardinals.

Speaker 3 Cardinals are dead. They didn't want to tackle him.

Speaker 1 They don't want to play. Cliff Kingsbury, you have to fire him.
They're stuck with Kyler Murray.

Speaker 1 The whole thing is just a disaster for the Cardinals. We have a couple teams now.

Speaker 1 It's It's funny how if you fire your coach early enough in the season, I take you out of the disaster category because like, oh,

Speaker 1 they're kind of moving. Like, the Panthers are moving in the right direction, even though the Panthers were more of a disaster than the Cardinals.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 The Cardinals, as long as you have him around, like, this, I, Hard Knocks gonna be great, and I don't really know what else, like, you're not winning football games.

Speaker 3 Look at it like a house. I would say that the Arizona Cardinals, they've got, you can work, you can build around that.

Speaker 1 You don't even have to remodel it that much, right?

Speaker 3 It's got good bones, probably in a good neighborhood. It's just, yeah, it with Cliff Kingsbury, it's like the previous tenant died in there.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 And so you just got to clean the stink out real quick.

Speaker 1 And Steve Kym, both of them, I think 2027 was their contract?

Speaker 3 Yeah, so the previous tenant died, and then you've also got like the previous tenant's old in-laws living in that weird house in the backyard that you're just waiting on them to die too. Yeah.

Speaker 3 But it's in a great neighborhood.

Speaker 1 It is in a great neighborhood.

Speaker 3 Beautiful weather. Beautiful weather.

Speaker 3 Lightning fast dialogue or lightning fast internet speed.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so the

Speaker 1 Cardinals, I'm just, it's over. Like, this has been the easiest pinky team ever.
They were both pinky teams, the Raiders and the Cardinals.

Speaker 3 Either one. Either one would have worked.

Speaker 1 As dead as dead gets.

Speaker 3 So I forgot that this game was going to be played in Mexico until we talked about it last week. Because I don't know.
I tend to have a pretty good beat on what the international series is going to be.

Speaker 3 This one kind of snuck up on me a little bit. The Mexico over did end up hitting with the altitude, which is like twice as high, I think, as in Denver.

Speaker 3 So, fun little story. I hit up Kittle on Friday because one of my great friends just got engaged, and he's a Scottish 49ers fan.
Don't ask me how he fell in love with the 49ers, but he did. And

Speaker 3 I was like, Greg, if you can send just a message saying congrats to my Scottish friend Patty, you can take my spot on part of my take if I get arrested in Qatar. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Because he did audition for it when I went over to Holocaust.

Speaker 1 He's the only person who's ever auditioned for your seat.

Speaker 3 So he sent my friend Patty a video, and I didn't realize this. At the very end of the interview, or at the very end of the video, he said, now sack tap PFT for me.

Speaker 3 And so my buddy was watching it on Friday night, saw it hit me so fucking hard in the nuts. That's it.
It ruined my night. But on the other hand, I was like, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 You should have watched the whole video.

Speaker 3 Yeah, well, I should have. I just.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you got to watch the whole video.

Speaker 3 I didn't because it was for him.

Speaker 3 They got me. Yeah.
They got me good. That's great.

Speaker 1 George Kittle is the man, and he scored two touchdowns, and he was, I just love watching him play football. It feels like he's healthy.
And the Niners are the scariest team.

Speaker 1 They are the scariest team in the NFL. I know that doesn't mean they're the best.

Speaker 1 They're the scariest. Yeah.
Because it feels like when they're right, and

Speaker 1 it's probably more about Kyle Shanahan's system. And when the blocks are correct and everything's working, it basically feels unstoppable.
But with Debo Kittle,

Speaker 1 and Christian McCaffrey, it's scary. And Trent Williams.
And Trent Williams. And Ayuk.

Speaker 3 Yeah, and Ayuk, too. Yeah, he had some good block.
When they get running downhill at you,

Speaker 1 it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 It's beautiful. It is like the most beautiful brand of football that you can imagine.

Speaker 3 And a lot of people are, you know, they look at offenses like the Chiefs or the Bills that have these huge passes downfield and just like electric quarterbacks with great arms. That's cool, too.

Speaker 3 But when the 49ers get their running game going, it is fucking sexy. Poetry and motion.

Speaker 1 Okay, so should we do some Thanksgiving stuff? Because that was Monday night Football. I'm thinking, oh, Will Compton, year 10, happened.
He's on the Falcons now.

Speaker 1 That was the other big NFL news from yesterday.

Speaker 1 Will Compton, yeah, huge news. Big news.
Enormous news. Falcons now look very dangerous.

Speaker 3 Well, it was going to lead me into my favorite. I was going to take the Commanders.

Speaker 1 Oh, well, that's not. We're not doing that till

Speaker 1 the other side of the show.

Speaker 3 I'm factoring Will Compton heavily into that.

Speaker 1 Will Compton, I mean, he basically single-handedly took the Raiders to the playoffs and then got cut, but he took them to the playoffs.

Speaker 3 Playoff Willie. Yeah.

Speaker 3 If he's playoff Willie again, and I am rooting for him because of the Falcons' future, like,

Speaker 3 that would be amazing.

Speaker 3 You saw Arthur Smith after the last game was like, we're going to stick with Mary Odin until we're out of this playoff hunt. They're bringing in Will Compton.

Speaker 1 Playoff Willie.

Speaker 3 They're going all in. You know, we talk about the different teams.
The Eagles are all in right now. The Niners all in.

Speaker 3 I think it's safe to say the Atlanta Falcons. They are all in.

Speaker 1 They are all in. They've mortgaged their future for playoff Willie.
They have.

Speaker 3 Fuck them picks. Yes.

Speaker 1 Yes. Playoff Willie.
Okay, let's do the Thanksgiving preview. Talk about the games.
Maybe even what everyone's favorite Thanksgiving food is.

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Speaker 1 Okay, Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving.
Three games. What we're going to do is everyone's got one pick for Thanksgiving, and then we'll do our usual four picks on Sunday.

Speaker 1 Jake, where are we at right now? I know Max had a big week.

Speaker 5 Max went 4-0.

Speaker 1 Yeah, because he did, the tell was very, very apparent when he popped in on Sunday. He's like,

Speaker 1 it seems like everyone's killing it this week with picks. I was like, I'm not.
And he's like, oh. And Jake's like, well, you are, Max.

Speaker 5 Well, the good news for Max is he's 4-0. The bad news, it jumped into second place.

Speaker 1 Oh.

Speaker 5 So that's a little twist of this competition.

Speaker 5 So big cap, you're at 23-20-1. So you're three games up on max 20-23-1.
PFT and myself are 20-24, half-game behind him, and then Hank and Billy tied for last at 17-27.

Speaker 5 So there's three games separating the two of them. So right now it'll be max and neither a tie for Hank and Billy.
But a lot of picks left.

Speaker 1 A lot of picks.

Speaker 5 There's four times seven, 28 picks.

Speaker 1 28 picks. Well, 29.
29 Thanksgiving. 29 picks.
You okay, Hank?

Speaker 1 No. Why not?

Speaker 5 The whole group is separated by like four games. Like, no one's safe from anything.

Speaker 6 Yeah, I just want to be better. I'm mad at myself.
I hold myself to high standards. You do, man.

Speaker 3 I just want to let you know, though, that you are not what your record is. Like, that doesn't identify you.
Yes. That's not your identity.

Speaker 6 We're talking about Thanksgiving and family, and it's like, I feel like that's all people are going to ask me about.

Speaker 5 It's six and a half games.

Speaker 1 You are not alone in being a bad gambler.

Speaker 6 Like, hey, Henry, good to see you.

Speaker 3 You're so much more.

Speaker 3 You're so much more than a bad gambler. You're a bad lottery ball picker, too.

Speaker 1 And Hungry Dog Project.

Speaker 1 I'm doing one for Thanksgiving. Good.
It will lose.

Speaker 5 Well, Hank, this is the first time we're going to be able to win at least two and two since week six.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Fuck yeah.
Oh, hell yeah. Ten apples.
All right, survival.

Speaker 1 It's weird.

Speaker 5 Seven through ten, you went 0-4, 0-4, 1-3, 1-3.

Speaker 1 Since week 12.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Hank, you can pick from any three games. You can pick any pick.
Patriots, money line. Big.
Well, so you get plus three. Don't care.
Oh, is it two and a half?

Speaker 1 Two and a half. You think the Patriots.

Speaker 6 Talk to us. I think it's going to be a shootout.
Two great teams,

Speaker 6 Vikings, Kirk Cousins, Elite.

Speaker 6 They're going to have a bounce back game after, you know, got a little bit caught off guard, a little bit of a trap game, knowing that they had this game coming up on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 6 It's kind of a look ahead.

Speaker 6 And I think Mac Jones is going to ball out again. The offense is going to be, you know, buzzing, probably take an alternate over.

Speaker 1 Wait, where's Thanksgiving?

Speaker 1 Are you saying that

Speaker 3 the Vikings got caught in a trap game last week?

Speaker 6 They got caught in a look ahead, is the proper word?

Speaker 1 A look in a look ahead.

Speaker 3 Yeah, they were thinking about the Patriots instead of the Cowboys.

Speaker 1 Correct. Okay.
Yeah. No, that's what I think.
That's okay. I have a stat, though, for you.
Don't care. Okay,

Speaker 1 I'll just put it back in my pocket. Is it a good stat or a bad one? Well, this is a good one.

Speaker 1 I care. Oh, okay.
It's at one o'clock, right?

Speaker 3 No. Oh, okay.
Well, it's then mid-afternoon, right? Incorrect.

Speaker 3 Oh, so it's nighttime. Nighttime.
Kirk Cousins. Nighttime.
Interesting.

Speaker 6 I would say, though, that all Thanksgiving games are primetime. No?

Speaker 3 All of them are nighttime games?

Speaker 1 I actually. Standalone.
Standalone prime time. They are primetime.
Yeah.

Speaker 5 in their own right like the crews are setting their a teams yes that's how i go off is jim man crews is doing

Speaker 1 so i don't really enjoy the game unless they a crews nope uh in the last 15 years bill belichick has faced 11 teams in november or later who are above 500 with a negative point differential he's uh 10-0 against the spread against them love that so basically the teams that are look good on record and are terrible because everyone knows knows they're actually terrible.

Speaker 1 And the Vikings aren't terrible, but frauds, let's say. Bill Bedcheck owns those teams.

Speaker 3 I think they're legitimate frauds, though, because they're going to keep winning. Yeah, right.

Speaker 1 And they're going to win a lot of games.

Speaker 3 So I did a little look ahead because, you know, you did, Piquette, you were generous enough last week to show me the path to the playoffs for the Commanders.

Speaker 1 I think they're going.

Speaker 3 And if they do get there, they'll probably end up being the seventh seed. And I realized what's going to happen.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 They're going to be the seventh seed.

Speaker 3 I'm going to play against Kirk Cousins in the first round, and he is going to whoop the dog shit out of me.

Speaker 3 Yes. That's what's going to happen in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 You're going to win.

Speaker 3 I see you coming a mile away. Now, I'm okay with that.
I understand that that's my fate already, and I accept it.

Speaker 3 But this would go a long way to maybe them not getting the two seed if the Patriots could win.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so go win.

Speaker 1 Go win, Hank. Go out there and win.
Fine. Okay.

Speaker 6 I'm very excited, though. Ever since you kind of burst my bubble with the

Speaker 1 Thanksgiving, I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 You couldn't have jumped on the the Minnesota Vikings bandwagon in a worse time you they were an eight and one team that lost their worst loss in 50 years and then they play your actual team the next week

Speaker 6 that I mean not a lot of forces that's a sign of how I've been uh how it's been going for me this year but primetime Thanksgiving night all the holidays are over you don't really have to worry about like sometimes if you're playing in the early games and it's Thanksgiving you have to kind of like do dinner yeah and only half watch TV it's a little bit more of a balance and and kind of you have to mix and match, but the night game is perfect.

Speaker 3 Yeah, they didn't used to always have the night game either. That's a fairly recent addition that they put out there.

Speaker 1 Do you know when it came?

Speaker 3 Was that Raven Steelers?

Speaker 1 Was it Buffumble? What year do you think?

Speaker 1 2000. 2000? 2010?

Speaker 3 2009.

Speaker 6 2006.

Speaker 1 Okay. So

Speaker 1 I also was like, it's very recent. It's like, 2006 isn't that recent anymore.
Yeah, it's true. That's like one of those things.
Like, we're. I still remember it.
That's how I write off.

Speaker 1 Right, but that's because I had the exact same thought last night when I was prepping for the show. I was like,

Speaker 1 when did this actually start? And 2006 was what? 16 years ago? So, yeah, that sucks. That is tough.
That sucks.

Speaker 1 It's no longer a recent addition. But yeah, the night game is the game that you get to

Speaker 1 actually sit and consume the whole game.

Speaker 3 Yeah. What's the next holiday for the NFL? Because they've already shown that they can take Christmas.
Diwali.

Speaker 1 They have.

Speaker 3 Diwali might be next.

Speaker 1 Black Friday. Hanukkah, Hanukkah.

Speaker 3 Black Friday. That's right.
They're going Black Friday.

Speaker 3 They can schedule a game on Easter Sunday, just a standalone game.

Speaker 1 Schedule a game whatever they want.

Speaker 3 And then nobody would go to church. We'd all stay at home and watch this game.

Speaker 6 I still don't really understand how Bezos is even going to buy the Commanders.

Speaker 3 He's like the richest guy in the world.

Speaker 6 He's a broadcast, but how is that not a conflict of interest?

Speaker 3 Do you think Roger Goodell actually cares about a conflict of interest if it would make the median price of every team in the NFL increase by like 30%?

Speaker 6 Yeah, but it just it's

Speaker 6 someone with legal knowledge needs to explain that to me because it doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 1 I agree with you.

Speaker 3 He can just say, like, oh, it's in a blind trust, and then everybody will be like, oh, okay, blind trust. Yeah.

Speaker 1 We're blind to it. Yep.
That's how it works. Max.

Speaker 1 So you have the Patriots. Plus two and a half.

Speaker 6 Money line.

Speaker 1 Money line, but. Okay, so fine.
Fine. You have money line.
Counts as one.

Speaker 1 Wait, so this is real? No, no. Okay, all right, two and a half.
Stop saying money line. Stop taking a money line.
Okay.

Speaker 8 I'm taking Bill's lines over. Fun, wake-ups, roofer points.

Speaker 1 54. 54.
I like that.

Speaker 3 That's going to be very fun over.

Speaker 1 I'm also taking that over. Yeah.
I'm very excited for that game. Josh Allen, Thanksgiving.

Speaker 8 Oh, it's going to be fun.

Speaker 3 They're going to have the turducken?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 They also.

Speaker 3 Oh, it's the first Thanksgiving without John Madden, right? First Thanksgiving game? When did he die? I think he died in December of last year.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you might have to die. So this is going to be the first one.

Speaker 3 That's going to be

Speaker 3 sad without him, but it will be sad. They need to do like a full montage, appreciating how much John Madden loved that fucking turducken.

Speaker 1 I was,

Speaker 1 like I said, I was looking up Thanksgiving history

Speaker 1 with the NFL, and I thought there was going to be something cool with the Lions, like why this happened. It was just the Lions' owner was like a savvy businessman, and he was like, I want...

Speaker 1 I want to do a game where everyone has to watch. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then the Cowboys are like, yeah, we want that too. That's so.
And they came later. And that was it.
Like, it was... I thought it was going to be something very cool.

Speaker 1 Like, oh, you know, the first ever game of football in November played, you know, outside of Detroit. Something like, no.

Speaker 3 If they were smart, they would have just found something in history and tied it into that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, just be like, that's why we're doing it.

Speaker 3 But no, it's just like, we'd like more money, please.

Speaker 1 Yeah, this is exactly what it is. Yes, you're right.
Yeah, John Madden died December 28th, 2021. So this will be.

Speaker 5 There's going to be a John Madden logo on the 25-yard lines at each game.

Speaker 1 Oh, I love that.

Speaker 3 Very cool.

Speaker 3 What kind of logo is it?

Speaker 3 John Madden's face.

Speaker 1 Oh, I love it.

Speaker 9 That's beautiful.

Speaker 1 This is why

Speaker 1 when all those British fucks, yeah, I'm in war mode for Friday. We're like, you don't understand what the Queen means? So it's like, yeah, we do.
John Madden, dude.

Speaker 3 Oh,

Speaker 3 John Madden impacted way more lives than the Queen.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but I'm saying, like, we get it. We get the cultural touchstone here.
Yes. It's John Madden.
He's going to be on every field.

Speaker 1 He should be on every logo on every field every Thanksgiving forever.

Speaker 3 They should name,

Speaker 3 they should just name football after him. Yeah.
Name the NFL, the Madden League.

Speaker 1 They should put, what is it, Plymouth Rock in his coffin. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Why not? Yeah. Like, let's go.
Let's just.

Speaker 3 You should land on John Madden. John Madden landed on us.

Speaker 1 Yes. Let's just make John.
Thanksgiving is just John Madden's birthday. Yeah.
We'll just say that from now on.

Speaker 3 A turducken should be called a Madden bird.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's just like, this is John Madden.
All the lore.

Speaker 1 Okay. So the over in that game is

Speaker 1 54, right?

Speaker 1 The Lions, by the way, have lost 15 consecutive games straight up as an underdog on Thanksgiving. So they're nine-point underdogs.
So probably not smart to just bet the Bills' money line straight up.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 3 But it's been a while. It was very funny.
A lot of people did send me their schedules for what they do in Detroit on Thanksgiving because everyone does get into their routine.

Speaker 3 But for the most part, they've just kind of accepted the Lions losing

Speaker 3 just being part of the holiday.

Speaker 1 Didn't I call that?

Speaker 3 Yeah, and it's like, okay, I'm going to be upset, but guess what? I'm going to be drunk by the second half, anyways.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 I think it's probably just one of those situations where everyone just bonds over the fact that the Lions suck, and you can't let it you can't if you can't have some a football game ruin your Thanksgiving every single year and not get to a point where it's like I'm not gonna I choose not to let this ruin my Thanksgiving anymore yeah yeah so uh what's your pick uh my pick I'm gonna go with another over I'm gonna do the Giants Cowboys over

Speaker 3 44 and a half so I wanted to do the fun over that to me seemed better but uh that's a lot of points this is fewer points and also I feel like they're both they are both showing off for Odell Beckham.

Speaker 1 I am also going to do that over. So over 44.5.

Speaker 3 And it might be, the Cowboys might get it on their own because they looked unstoppable last week.

Speaker 1 Yes. And I think the Cowboys are

Speaker 1 going to demolish the Giants.

Speaker 1 This is where the Giants, if they lose by double digits, it's going to start being like, uh-oh.

Speaker 1 Like the free fall, the real Giants,

Speaker 1 the roster that isn't that good is shown up.

Speaker 3 I don't know if they're going to lose by double digits, though.

Speaker 1 I'm just saying, if that happens,

Speaker 1 you're right. I would actually say, because remember, what was it maybe two years ago when the Raiders beat the Cowboys?

Speaker 1 The Cowboys, whenever you think the Cowboys are good on Thanksgiving, I feel like they lay an egg. Yeah.
So,

Speaker 1 yeah, you're probably right. It'll probably be closer than that.

Speaker 1 But I'm just saying, if the Giants look bad for two weeks in a row here, after kind of struggling weirdly with the Texans, I think we all can circle it and be like, maybe this isn't a playoff.

Speaker 3 Well, we've kind of been in the same mood about the Giants all year, which is just the bubble is going to burst at some point.

Speaker 3 Let's enjoy the bubble. Enjoy the ride.
Enjoy the bubble. That's a beautiful bubble that you're blowing right now.
Yes. But at some point, somebody's face is going to get stuck in it.
Yes. And I think

Speaker 1 someone's hair. Yeah.
Do the peanut butter.

Speaker 3 Yeah, we're thinking that that might have to be in these next couple weeks.

Speaker 1 Right. Okay.

Speaker 3 But not taking anything away from the Giants because they are actually, they've been. a good team and a fun team to watch.
It's just not forever.

Speaker 1 Jake, your pick, because Billy, you also have the over in the first game.

Speaker 5 I'm going with Patriots Vikings under 42.5. The Patriots have not allowed a touchdown in the last two games, and I don't know if they can necessarily score.

Speaker 1 So if you go to the Barcelon Sports book, we have the new Overs Club out,

Speaker 1 the Big Gobble. So, Jake, you are not a member of the Overs Club.
Just want to say that right now. Great jackets that you can win.
You're out.

Speaker 1 I'm out.

Speaker 3 Big gobble.

Speaker 1 Sorry. No, it's fine.
It's fine.

Speaker 1 You take the under.

Speaker 1 Well, it can still hit. Nick Kennedy, Nick Don.
Nick Kannada. You're right.
You're right. You're right.
You're right. Come on.
You're right, you're right.

Speaker 5 We can get an overfest and get 70 points in the first game.

Speaker 1 It should be in the law that the games have to go over on Thanksgiving. Yeah.
Like, that's something that you just need

Speaker 1 for the world. Yeah.
It should almost be like, I wish we were living in a simulation where they could make it so that everyone gets a free win every Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 That would be nice.

Speaker 1 Boost the morale of the world.

Speaker 3 That would be nice. But also, there's something nice about having one game that's not like a points factory during Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 Because we all have things that we have to do.

Speaker 3 Yeah, whether it's tending the turkey, preparing a side dish, going for a walk with your cousins, Hank. There's all sorts of things that happen on Thanksgiving that you want to be able to...

Speaker 3 Everyone needs a pause button.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I'm doing,

Speaker 1 yeah, I mean, Thanksgiving,

Speaker 1 the one tip I'd give everyone is always just make sure that you find something that you can help out with and

Speaker 1 volunteer for it early in the day. Because

Speaker 1 you want to start getting that credit early in the day. Yep.
Oh, I can go grab this or I can go do this or take out the trash or do something. Some kind of errand or chore.

Speaker 3 Taking out the trash before the trash actually fills up is a great move.

Speaker 1 Yes, yes. But find that chore, find that errand and nail it and just absolutely nail it.

Speaker 1 Okay. Anything else for Thanksgiving? Anyone want to say something they're thankful for?

Speaker 3 Hank gave me a little look when I said that he goes for a walk with his cousins. You were the one that brought that up.

Speaker 1 Today?

Speaker 3 No, but it's something that you said that you enjoy doing.

Speaker 9 It's on your Mount Rushmore of Thanksgiving things from like years ago.

Speaker 3 Hank's feisty.

Speaker 1 No, you, you, I, he gets feisty around vacation times.

Speaker 3 I'm very thankful for you guys.

Speaker 6 It's not vacation times.

Speaker 1 It is vacation time. Ah, yeah, it is vacation time.

Speaker 6 I'm very thankful. For you guys, I'm very thankful for the show.
I'm very thankful for the AWLs.

Speaker 6 I don't appreciate PFT trying to create and manufacture drama and saying that I'm giving looks when I'm just giving, you know.

Speaker 3 Max, did you have the camera on Hank when he gave me that look?

Speaker 1 No comment.

Speaker 3 It was, it was, man.

Speaker 3 I don't know why you're so upset. I'm thankful.

Speaker 6 I'm not thankful for you gaslighting.

Speaker 1 I'm thankful for the lottery ball machine making sure that Hank never wins. I'm thankful for that.

Speaker 1 It's one of my favorite. I look forward to it every day that we tape the show being like, today's the day that Hank won't get it.

Speaker 3 I look forward to it too.

Speaker 6 I'm thankful for the lottery machine as well. It keeps me humbled.
It gives me a reason to wake up in the morning and I'm excited. I'm excited to watch.

Speaker 1 And you're not mad.

Speaker 6 And I'm excited to share with them. No, I'm not.

Speaker 3 Different, you know, it takes time, Big Cat.

Speaker 6 Everyone's different.

Speaker 1 This one doesn't count.

Speaker 1 Yes, it does. No, it doesn't.

Speaker 3 No, it doesn't. 17.

Speaker 1 Yes, it does. No, it doesn't.
Yes, it does. I think yes.
12. No, it doesn't.
Yes, it does.

Speaker 3 Yes, it does.

Speaker 1 53.

Speaker 9 53-man roster.

Speaker 3 I'm thankful for whatever that was, right?

Speaker 1 You can't do that. I can do whatever I want.

Speaker 1 It's my lottery ball machine, buddy. I can do whatever I want.

Speaker 9 Okay. Side note, I'm very thankful for you guys.

Speaker 1 I'm thankful for all you guys. I'm thankful for the listeners.
Truly.

Speaker 1 And yeah, I love Thanksgiving. It's the best.
I love everything about Thanksgiving. It's nice to have a little break.

Speaker 3 You know what I like?

Speaker 3 I like the Thanksgiving walk that you take before the meal, before all, like you go out in the morning, baby.

Speaker 3 Go out with the relatives. Not cousins.

Speaker 1 No, not your cousins.

Speaker 3 No, I'm not talking about drugs, big cat. I'm saying saying you can enjoy your family without having to do drugs with them.
But you go out for a nice little walk around the neighborhood.

Speaker 3 Usually a nice little wind. It's a little chilly.

Speaker 3 You get a breeze going, maybe get a cup of coffee on your walk, come back, and just have a good conversation without having to ingest any mind-altering substances.

Speaker 1 It's also very funny because that walk, you go out for...

Speaker 6 So you're not even spending Thanksgiving with your family.

Speaker 1 You're going to be a cutter.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I'm spending it with the global family, Hank.

Speaker 3 I'm spending it with the cutter royal family. Some might say that that's more important.

Speaker 1 That's demonstrated. Because it's a great job.

Speaker 6 That's problematic.

Speaker 3 No, but who would say that? Liars.

Speaker 3 You did, off air. And people who were falling for the fake news propaganda.

Speaker 1 Didn't you say fuck them?

Speaker 3 No.

Speaker 3 No, I said, fuck.

Speaker 1 They're wonderful. Fuck, they're wonderful.

Speaker 3 I said, fuck, these guys really have their act together.

Speaker 3 And we're all lucky to live in the same era as the Emir and his father.

Speaker 1 That walk is so funny because you basically say to everyone around you, your family, your friends, whatever that you're going on the the walk with, like, let's go out and take a walk so that we feel like we did something today and then we can go back inside and eat 10,000 calories.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's like, let's do a, let's do a

Speaker 1 two-mile slow walk that will burn maybe 45 calories to then feel like we earned this meal.

Speaker 3 Yeah. And you say, you always have to say like, I got a little burn going today.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. That was good.
I'm kind of hungry. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay. What's up, guys? It's Big Cat here making my Irish entrance with proper number 12 Irish whiskey.
How do you make an Irish entrance, you ask?

Speaker 1 It starts with a shot of proper number 12 Irish whiskey because real friends don't let friends Irish exit a party without a story to tell.

Speaker 1 Original proper number 12 is rich in a smooth blend of golden grain and single malt. Age four years in bourbon barrels.
Mix it up with some ginger ale for a classic and refreshing proper ginger.

Speaker 1 In the mood for something smooth but a little sweeter, try proper Irish apple, a delicious blend of proper's award-winning Irish whiskey with crisp, fresh notes of apple.

Speaker 1 So get out there and make your Irish entrance. Anything else just wouldn't be proper.
Hank

Speaker 6 My hot seat is EA Sports.

Speaker 1 So disappointed.

Speaker 6 It's not in the game.

Speaker 6 They are delaying the release of NCAA football until 2024.

Speaker 1 Why?

Speaker 1 Why? I don't know if they gave a reason.

Speaker 3 I think it's just because they hate us and they want us to be unhappy.

Speaker 1 I thought this was a joke. I thought memes was fucking with me.
Because he tweeted out, like, Big Cat when he sees this news, and it was one of his millions of memes. Why?

Speaker 1 Why? Someone find out why.

Speaker 9 I don't think it actually has to do with the game, but like organizing the rights with players and all this.

Speaker 1 Well, then fucking organize it. Hire some more people to organize it.
Yeah. I want to play the game.

Speaker 3 Can't somebody just make a bootleg version of the game? Just like make it without any of the just do it without

Speaker 3 doing any licensing to do it.

Speaker 1 They do script shit. Yeah, they do like wild stuff.

Speaker 1 If your console is hacked or something,

Speaker 1 you can do updated rosters and shit from the 2014 version.

Speaker 6 Yeah, we got like a USB that we had.

Speaker 1 It has them all.

Speaker 6 You got jailbreak. Current rosters.
It's crazy.

Speaker 6 It was insane. Fields, logos, teams, players.

Speaker 3 But I guess what I'm saying is can't do it.

Speaker 1 That's a lot of work.

Speaker 6 The normal, the common man's not doing that.

Speaker 3 So nobody can just design the game on their own and then put it out for free.

Speaker 1 They just need to send out an email, like an Elon email, to like every Division I college football player and be like, hey, everyone really wants this game.

Speaker 1 If you're not cool with it, you got to respond in the next 15 minutes.

Speaker 3 Opt out. Sounds to me like EA Sports isn't hardcore.

Speaker 1 They're not hardcore. I'm so upset about this because when the initial game was announced that it was coming back, it was what, last summer?

Speaker 1 So it was like, this is going to take forever to get to 2023.

Speaker 1 We might not even be alive.

Speaker 1 2024 is so long from now. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Nuclear war.

Speaker 1 You get stuck in Cutter.

Speaker 3 Starts a nuclear war.

Speaker 1 Starts a nuclear war. We got to drop the nukes.
Yep. All right.
Feel free.

Speaker 1 I will do my best to make sure that we nuke Cutter if they keep you.

Speaker 3 Thank you.

Speaker 3 Go to the University of Utah and activate their nuclear reactor and then fire a cruiser. That's my promise to you.
Okay.

Speaker 1 I'll do that. Hank.

Speaker 1 What a guy.

Speaker 3 How many other co-hosts out there?

Speaker 3 Like, promised to commit nuclear warships.

Speaker 1 Who just

Speaker 9 double. I promised to go to Cutter to try to get you out first.

Speaker 3 That would make things way worse.

Speaker 1 Perfect.

Speaker 1 And then we get you out, and then we nuke Cutter while Billy's still there. Yeah, Billy, where are you guys?

Speaker 3 Tactical nuke.

Speaker 3 Just on Billy. Yes.

Speaker 9 I'd survive and turn into Godzilla.

Speaker 1 I mean, you can't offer, you can't love someone more than willing to start nuclear warfare.

Speaker 3 You can. It's like that's that old chick from Greece, the face that would launch a thousand ships.
Yeah. This is the podcast that would launch a thousand cruise missiles.

Speaker 1 Yeah, this is the highest form of bro love. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 6 I had another hot seat that popped in my head before we started, but I didn't write it down, then I forgot it. So hot seat me.

Speaker 1 Maybe

Speaker 1 vacation mode of life.

Speaker 6 My cool throne.

Speaker 1 I'm corporate.

Speaker 6 Vacations are different. I'm not on that same.

Speaker 3 No, you get a mandatory four weeks a year.

Speaker 6 No, we don't get any mandatory vacation. That's been my biggest gripe with this company forever.

Speaker 3 That's your biggest gripe.

Speaker 1 Did we go on mandatory vacations?

Speaker 6 Well, yeah, they say you get unlimited vacation days, and then you take one vacation day, and you get shamed on it for 12 years straight.

Speaker 1 Guy starts one world war.

Speaker 1 Everyone's got a problem.

Speaker 3 Listen,

Speaker 3 I shot one Archduke, okay? And now

Speaker 3 everyone puts me in their history books.

Speaker 6 But if you, I'm not going to get into it. If you looked at other countries and how they do it, it's crazy.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, no, no. So Europe incorporation.

Speaker 3 You send one telegram to Mexico, and next thing you know.

Speaker 1 I'm still waiting for Hank to be like, we should be more like Greece and just like have a big report on it. All right, go ahead.
Cool thrown.

Speaker 6 Greece is nice. My cool throws the Bruins.
They're the greatest team in hockey. I know he did that preview with Whitney.
I don't think he even expected them to be as good as they are. 17-2.

Speaker 6 Patrice Bergeron scored his thousandth points last night. I'm trying to work on a bet in the Barcelon Sportsbook for the Bruins and Celtics to win their respective conferences.

Speaker 1 So be on the lookout for that. Okay.

Speaker 3 Are you at all concerned that in hockey, sometimes you get out to a hot start like this and it's just not going to last?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 6 it would be impossible for them to keep this up.

Speaker 1 Right. Well, no, it wouldn't.

Speaker 6 They would be the greatest team in hockey history by a wide, wide, wide margin.

Speaker 1 That's a beta mentality. It would not be impossible.
Just keep being awesome. Yeah.

Speaker 6 That's why they're on my cool thing.

Speaker 1 Aren't the Devils sick, too?

Speaker 3 The Devils, I think, are a lot better than everyone thought they would be. Yeah.
And I can tell that because Frank just hasn't been complaining about it. Right, right.

Speaker 1 He's like silently taken them out of his complaint ranch.

Speaker 3 Yeah, he's like a carbon monoxide detector where if he's quiet, that means everything's awesome.

Speaker 1 Right, right. Okay.
Hot seat, cool throwing PFT.

Speaker 3 My hot seat is Lionel Messi in Argentina because Argentina just lost 2-1 against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Speaker 3 Never happened. Maybe the biggest defeat in the World Cup.
Some are asking, is Messi a bust? Some are asking, is Messi the the Chris Paul of soccer?

Speaker 3 I think it's a fair comparison at this point.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so we have Taylor Troubleman on.

Speaker 1 We taped it obviously before that game, so that was

Speaker 1 interesting plot twist. It was like, it was very bizarre because I woke up, and I am a big Messi fan.
I've staked my claim in the GOAT debate as being a Messi guy.

Speaker 1 I woke up and I looked on Twitter, and it was just, I was getting bombarded.

Speaker 1 And I've never had that happen at 7 in the morning, you know, where it's like it was a live event that people were just fucking hammering me about. Awesome game, too.

Speaker 1 Yeah, because like, what the fuck?

Speaker 3 But one of my new favorite things to look at is the expected goals, which is just a metric that makes no sense whatsoever.

Speaker 3 But you can look at it after the game's over and be like, we totally should have won that game.

Speaker 1 It's, it's, it's the best for saying, like, oh man, the over should have hit.

Speaker 3 Yeah, or like, yeah, or like, I can't believe we lost by three goals. We should have won by one.
Right.

Speaker 3 Uh, and in this one, it was, I think, the expected goals for Saudi Arabia, it was like 0.2, and for Argentina, it was like 2.5, but somehow Saudi Arabia beat them 2-1.

Speaker 3 Probably the biggest upset in World Cup history, at least in the group stage. And

Speaker 3 I am a Messi fan insofar as if it's Messi or Ronaldo.

Speaker 1 Don't leave us now. No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 I've always been considered.

Speaker 1 It's the toughest times. I was dark before.

Speaker 3 I've always said this. Messi over Ronaldo every single time, but my goat is Maradona.
Because Maradona does everything Messi does, except he was shorter, fatter, and on cocaine.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So it's me.
That's the most compelling argument.

Speaker 3 Yeah, it's easy. It's easy for me.

Speaker 3 My cool throne is Jim Harbaugh. Because Jim Harbaugh came up with a new acronym today.
Because he's heard young people calling athletes dogs and saying, I've got that dog in me. Yep.

Speaker 3 That sort of thing. So Harbaugh got to work on a spreadsheet, came up with an acronym for it.
And he defined the term as being disciplined athlete with grit.

Speaker 1 Love it. Dog.
Dog. It's a dog.

Speaker 8 That's a dog.

Speaker 3 That's a dog. It's Jim Harbaugh's version of a dog.
I just love that Harbaugh hears whatever youngsters are saying. He's like, I'm going to figure out a way to turn this into a motivational poster.

Speaker 1 So I got sent a video,

Speaker 1 unnamed source, can't reveal, of Jim Harbaugh that I forgot to share with you, PFT. I'm not going to share it with anyone else in this room.
Hey, Kat. Oh, you got it as well.

Speaker 3 Probably from the same unnamed source. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 So we're not allowed to share, but it's just a video of Jim Harbaugh flexing for the camera for like 20 seconds straight. I love him so much.

Speaker 1 He's jacked up. He's so jacked up.
He's very vascular. He's just like, look at this.
Can you believe this? This 55-year-old guy. Actually, I'm going to send it to the group.
I'm going to.

Speaker 1 No, because he can't.

Speaker 3 It doesn't leave you.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he doesn't leave us.

Speaker 3 I wanted to put it out there for the Masters.

Speaker 1 Oh, instantly, but couldn't do it. Couldn't do it.
But either way, I'm jacked up for that Ohio State, Michigan game. Jim Harbaugh.

Speaker 1 Just, there's something about that guy. I just keep going back being like, I fucking love this guy.
He is just football through and through.

Speaker 3 I'm looking forward to watching the game this weekend.

Speaker 3 I looked at the weather forecast. I think I'm going to have to bet on Ohio State, though.

Speaker 1 Okay, well,

Speaker 1 I'm betting that video back.

Speaker 3 I'm betting on the weather.

Speaker 1 Send me that video and delete it from your phone. I already had it.
Delete it.

Speaker 3 I'm just betting on the weather. It's going to be like 50 and rainy.
That's not shitty enough for Michigan to win this game, I think.

Speaker 1 And Michigan does have some injuries. Blake Coram, I think, was in a walking boot.
We'll see. I think he's going to play.
But either way, it's going to be... It hasn't.

Speaker 1 The game hasn't felt this big since probably 2006. Yeah.
When it was one. I guess they did have the game where Ohio State won with that spot.

Speaker 1 They were both going to the college football playoff that year, but 11-0, 11-0, nothing better than that.

Speaker 1 Okay, my hot seat is myself because I'm in the middle of Feast Week.

Speaker 1 I love Feast Week so much. For everyone who is out there who's a big college basketball fan, Feast Week's the best week because you just get random tournaments in random locations.

Speaker 1 I was watching a game. Where's Mississippi State playing right now?

Speaker 5 I believe Daytona.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I watched that whole game

Speaker 1 last night.

Speaker 1 There's something about Feast Week where it's like, oh, it's 2 o'clock.

Speaker 1 Let me bet on these two teams that I know nothing about and get my teeth kicked in. So I'm on a hot seat.
It's basically a day-by-day thing.

Speaker 1 I was up till 2 in the morning watching Maui, which is my favorite tournament, which we got to go to some year.

Speaker 3 Yeah, we should.

Speaker 1 We should go do Thanksgiving as a podcast in Hawaii some year.

Speaker 3 But not Hank, because Hank has to go on vacation that week.

Speaker 1 Yes, that's true. But I'm going to say that right now.
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 5 Before Myers. You know what?

Speaker 1 Whoa.

Speaker 1 Sip at Mike Diet Coke.

Speaker 1 Mike Francesa?

Speaker 1 No free ads. What?

Speaker 1 You're in a Diet Coke kick. I am.
You've been shaming me about that.

Speaker 1 See, this is my problem.

Speaker 1 I'm not shaming.

Speaker 1 What were you saying, Hank?

Speaker 1 Are you protesting what I was saying?

Speaker 3 Are you noticing? Are you shaming?

Speaker 1 It doesn't count.

Speaker 1 How does it do this all? 17. No, it doesn't count.
This doesn't count. There's 99 in there.
That officially does not count.

Speaker 1 What were we saying, Hank?

Speaker 5 64s. 64s.

Speaker 7 Doesn't count.

Speaker 5 On five counts. Even though it doesn't count.

Speaker 1 You guys are gaslighted enthusiasts. Okay.

Speaker 1 I am on a Diet Coke. I like Diet Coke.
Nothing wrong with that. Either way, I'm going to proclaim it right now within the next five years this podcast is doing the Maui tournament.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I'm Maui for Thanksgiving. We'll get a big fucking pig with pineapples.

Speaker 3 Do you know hula skirts?

Speaker 1 I'll have to bring my whole family to figure out how to get them on that plane, but that's fine. We're going.
We're going.

Speaker 3 It's going to be like,

Speaker 3 you know how Adam Sandler, once he turned like 40 years old, he just decided that he was going to film every single movie in Hawaii with his friends just so that they could get paid to hang out there?

Speaker 3 That's what this podcast should turn into.

Speaker 3 What if we just moved to Hawaii?

Speaker 1 What if we just make my kids like, I'm like, yeah, they're running the social account now. Yeah.
And I'm paying them. So they have to come with us.

Speaker 3 I like that nepotism. Let's go.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay. My cool throne is you, the listeners, because you probably are seeing what PFT and I are wearing right now, what Billy's wearing, what Jake's wearing, what Hank's wearing, what Max is wearing.

Speaker 1 All of this gear you see right now, 20% off. It's going to be a big one.
It's Black Friday. So we have so much new stuff.
Billy, you want to take out of my bag? Get in my bag.

Speaker 1 Don't rip my bag.

Speaker 3 Deep in that bag.

Speaker 1 So we got, what is that?

Speaker 1 oh that's a stellar blue ugly sweater we got part of my take hats with the cores light we have some sick polos uh that's that was memes is wearing that polo and he's a savage and didn't turn it back inside out part of my take sweatshirts roback i like the new roback embroidered part of my take ones yeah right now it's the best car sticks

Speaker 1 oh what is that that's the pullover they just folded it oh i want that give that to me i want to wear that too yeah these things you're wearing right now okay that's what i'm riding

Speaker 3 it's a windbreaker It's got the blue mountains on there.

Speaker 1 It's great.

Speaker 1 All this stuff.

Speaker 3 You know what? It's giving Riz.

Speaker 1 But yeah. Black.

Speaker 1 No, that's good. Hank, are you protesting? That's funny.
That's one of the things that I'm doing. No, that's funny.
That's a good one. Anytime you're a bad battle, you get a reaction to it.

Speaker 1 I don't hit it. Anytime you say anything, it gets surreal.
Anytime I say anything, that's funny.

Speaker 1 Hank's just jealous because Hank's jealous because you're Rizless right now, Hank.

Speaker 1 These windbreakers are awesome. Doesn't count.

Speaker 3 17.

Speaker 1 100. Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 Have we ever got 100 yet? Yeah, we've got it. That's like when the green hits and there's a fake 69 because Billy stole the ball for a little bit.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 That was cool of you, Billy. Not.

Speaker 1 All right, your hot seat. Cool throw.
So everyone, go to the barstool store. Pardon my take.
All of our new gear, 20% off on Black Friday. Billy.

Speaker 9 My hot seat is Zach Wilson.

Speaker 1 Why? Officially,

Speaker 3 you mean Patrick Mahomes?

Speaker 9 So

Speaker 9 on that take, I will say, if you took Zach Wilson and Patrick Mahomes and made them compete in a horse or pig-like game where they had to complete certain throws, probably not covered, they'd probably have a competitive game.

Speaker 3 You are insane.

Speaker 9 That's all I'm saying.

Speaker 3 The take is getting worse

Speaker 3 as you try to like

Speaker 3 as you try to smooth off the edges of this take, it's actually getting way, way worse.

Speaker 9 because did you did you watch zach wilson's throws he can't even hit the defenders in stride anymore at least he was hitting dudes like right in their hands a couple weeks ago now it's like he's very inaccurate right now billy yeah uh so coach salah was an hour late to his uh meeting with the media and he you know players have been accidentally liking tweets that are detriment that are uh critical and he's officially came out and said that he is considering changes to the quarterback position no doubt So, yeah, but it was a hard line before.

Speaker 9 It's now changed. He is on the hot seat, actual hot seat.

Speaker 3 Flacco, man. This is Flacco's team.

Speaker 9 I know, but everyone's just been cherry-picking bad stats. He's played one of the hardest schedules.

Speaker 1 I don't think five and cherry.

Speaker 3 He really don't have to cherry-pick.

Speaker 3 He had 44 net yards.

Speaker 5 Moving on.

Speaker 1 Did you see that? Did you see that one?

Speaker 1 22 of Denzel Mims wide open in the end zone. And he was scrambling.
And he was looking at him. He was looking at him.

Speaker 9 I know, I know. It was a lot.

Speaker 1 Billy,

Speaker 1 my sympathy for you because, again,

Speaker 1 I've been in your shoes. The team is very good.

Speaker 1 The quarterback is not good.

Speaker 9 This next stretch, I think he's either going to explode or he's not going to explode. And it's either me good or it's going to be very telling this Sunday against the Bears.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, he better light them up.

Speaker 9 If he doesn't light them up, then...

Speaker 3 This could be a motivational tactic by Sala just to be like, I'm not committing to you as a starter. You better shape the fuck up this week.
And then everyone earns their job this week.

Speaker 3 That's a good point.

Speaker 9 It was more the response and post-game about letting the defense down. I think that's what lost the locker room.
He better be putting his body on the line, earning his teammates' respect on Sunday.

Speaker 9 But we'll see. And My Cool Throne is the Netherlands head coach.
Did you see that clip?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 9 He just invited his wife on camera in front of the media to his hotel room to have sex on camera.

Speaker 1 Oh. Oh, what'd he say? Wait.
To have sex on camera?

Speaker 9 Not on camera, but he just literally was like, you come to my hotel room and we're going to have sex. Just out of nowhere during a media conference.

Speaker 1 I love that.

Speaker 9 It was in Dutch.

Speaker 3 There's not enough of that out in the media these days. Like, say what you want about Rex Ryan, but at least he was like publicly horny for his wife's feet.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 You know, you don't get enough wife guys just being like, I want to bang my wife now. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Brock Lesnar.

Speaker 3 Remember that when he was like, I'm going to get on top of my wife tonight. Yeah.

Speaker 9 And drink a Coors Light.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.
Yes.

Speaker 1 What a moment. Yes.

Speaker 3 Thankful for Coors Light.

Speaker 1 Okay, Jake, finish this off, and we'll go to Taylor Twellman.

Speaker 5 My hot seat is having sources.

Speaker 5 We have a source issue with Lane Kiffin involving a potential move from Olmis to Auburn. John Sokoloff of WCBI reported that he would be moving to Auburn, and Lane Kiffin denied that.

Speaker 5 And then Lane Kiffin said, breaking news, John Sokoloff plans to step down. And he got him back.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I saw him.

Speaker 5 He did the same thing he did, but for an anchor position instead of the head coach.

Speaker 3 Except Lane Kiffin also printed off a piece of paper and then took a picture of the piece of paper for some reason. Yes.

Speaker 3 And said, like, this, I guess it was supposed to be like a fax that just came through.

Speaker 1 All I'm going to say is, Lane Kiffin,

Speaker 1 the amount of fun he's having on Twitter right now, this would be a really mean way to leave Ole Miss.

Speaker 3 I don't think he cares, though. Like, I know.

Speaker 1 I can see him absolutely dawning.

Speaker 5 I don't know. I'm not sure nice sources.
I know. With some interesting emojis.

Speaker 1 Because he's really having fun with this. So if then he's just like, yeah, I'm actually leaving.
That would suck.

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 our friend T. Bob A.
Bear, he is on the Low Man Committee out of Baton Rouge. He put out a hypothetical.
He said,

Speaker 3 if you're Texas AM

Speaker 3 and you scrounge together the money,

Speaker 3 you should make Lane Kiffin turn your job down now.

Speaker 3 And what is it, like $96 million? $95 million. $95 million.
What's the price of oil like right now? Because that does make a difference for Texas AM. That's a fact.
Because they're boosters.

Speaker 3 If oil is high, they're able to afford a much more substantial buyout. So if the price of oil goes up, then AM could pay Jimbo Fisher $95 million

Speaker 3 to leave, which you have to be rooting for, right? Yes.

Speaker 1 Yes. I think Jimbo is at the point, too, where he might take less money.
Like, he might, they might be able to go to the negotiating table and be like, how about 60?

Speaker 3 60 million? Yeah.

Speaker 1 You don't like it here. Yeah, like you don't like it here.
We don't like you here. Let's just end this thing.

Speaker 3 I'd say that's fair. That was a sad sight on Saturday.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. Umass? Oh, my God.

Speaker 3 Didn't even come close to covering. Nobody stayed in the stadium for the second half.
Nobody.

Speaker 1 It It was cold, though.

Speaker 3 It was, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 It was cold.

Speaker 3 Very chilly. It was cold.

Speaker 1 It's never been cold in a football game before. Okay, let's get to Taylor Twellman.
For anyone who asks me. What's cool thrown? Oh, yeah.
Sorry, Cool Throne. My bad.

Speaker 5 A little time travel, but Philly fans, because Ben Simmons returns tonight.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 5 No MB. Max.
It's happening. It'll happen by the time this is out, so we can make our predictions.
Max. What happens?

Speaker 3 The reception.

Speaker 1 Max, thoughts?

Speaker 1 I have a take.

Speaker 8 Ben Simmons has actually been kind of likable in this situation in the past couple of days.

Speaker 3 What? Because he's not Kyrie?

Speaker 8 He's been making jokes. He's been like, yeah.

Speaker 8 Well, he basically just said he likes the passion of Philly fans, which is basically all I need to hear.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you guys are like a dog that just needs to be pet.

Speaker 8 Yeah, no,

Speaker 8 that's very much the case. But I don't know.
He's been making jokes. People have been asking him.
He's like, yeah,

Speaker 8 I'm going to get crushed, and I'm ready for it. And it's going to be funny.
And he's like, that's Philly fans, though.

Speaker 8 And I was like, you're actually saying the right things, which he's never done in his career. So, and, but it sucks.
Embiid, Maxie, Harden, and Tobias Harris are all not playing.

Speaker 1 So it doesn't even play. But that is a good point because you would think.

Speaker 8 Tobias Harris, maybe.

Speaker 1 You would think, like, give him credit for saying the right things, but he truly has never said the right thing.

Speaker 8 Never, which is why I'm giving him.

Speaker 8 It's like shocking because he's saying all of the right things. And even Philly beat reporters are saying, like, I am shocked with the way that he's handling this.

Speaker 8 I wish he was like this when he was in Philly. Right.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And he's like bad.

Speaker 8 And that's the other thing. It's not like he just had one good game, but he's having a horrible year, and he's still approaching it with like a good head on his shoulders, which is shocking.

Speaker 3 It only took him like two and a half years to figure out how to handle the situation.

Speaker 1 I think I have an old take that like if Ben Simmons could ever learn how to shoot, he'd be a top five player in NBA history.

Speaker 6 That one sucks.

Speaker 1 I think, no, I think that's I still think that's.

Speaker 8 Yeah, I actually kind of think that's a good thing.

Speaker 1 I still think that's a good take. Because it's a big if.

Speaker 3 If you include also like layup and dunk in the shooting.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything.
Like if he was a

Speaker 1 he could score if he was an average shooter he would be one of the best players in the NBA he's incredible I saw him he actually did drive to the basket I think he I think he dunked the other night it was shocking one good game it's weird it's still very strange to me watching Ben Simmons drive to the basket and then go up for a layup yeah it's confusing I'm like why is he doing that he's Ben Simmons it's also we need to mention more often that Ben Simmons like to be an old guy take like if you can't make the tournament you you're never gonna be good in the NBA yeah like we should just start saying that again because I do like that old old man take of like, how's this guy going number one?

Speaker 1 You can't make the tournament? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay. Good hot seat cool throwing everyone.

Speaker 3 Max, are you going to allow him to work on his free throws after the game?

Speaker 8 If he makes the request ahead of time, then sure, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 If he goes through the proper channels.

Speaker 8 If he goes through the proper channels. Yes.

Speaker 1 All right. So if you have to work on Friday,

Speaker 1 I would stop the show right after Taylor Twellman and Chad Kelly because we're going to talk about Sunday's games.

Speaker 1 And then you can leave yourself a little bit of pardon my take for your Friday work, which will suck.

Speaker 3 And we'll also thank you for your service.

Speaker 3 If you're working on Friday, you're probably working in the food service and people are hungry, or you're working maybe like at a hospital, or your boss just sucks.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Or your boss sucks, and you have our permission to quit.

Speaker 6 We also have a great PM TV coming out on the YouTube channel Friday, so there's some bonus content there as well.

Speaker 1 And Black Friday. And Black Friday.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Subscribe to the Pardon My Take YouTube.
Okay, PFT, you got an ad, and we'll go to Taylor Twellman talking World Cup preview.

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Speaker 1 Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest. You can find him on ESPN.
You can follow him on Twitter at Taylor Twellman. He is a former soccer pro,

Speaker 1 played on Team USA for the CONCACAF Cup. A lot of World Cup qualifying.
He knows soccer in and out.

Speaker 1 And we thought no one better to have on for a little World Cup preview. We like to do do this thing where we do our previews after the events start.
We just did our NHL preview last week.

Speaker 1 We still haven't done our, yeah, we still haven't done our NBA preview. So we're a couple days

Speaker 1 late, but that's fine.

Speaker 1 Let's start, though, with what we watched, USA versus Wales. I'm counting this as a USA win because penalties should count as half of a goal.

Speaker 1 But tell us, the guy who actually knows what he's watching, what the hell happened and should we be discouraged?

Speaker 11 It's debatable that I know what I'm talking about, but I will play the game.

Speaker 11 It should feel disappointing. And here's why.
Because

Speaker 11 before you take the field, England beats Iran 6-2. So now all of a sudden, the tiebreaker, which it always is in World Cups, is goal differential.

Speaker 11 Now it means that now it's going to come down to how badly England, Wales, and the United States beat Iran.

Speaker 11 And so if you get three points against Wales, which after the first half, guys, they were fantastic. It was an A-plus performance.

Speaker 11 It was A-plus from the lineup situation and what they did to then lose that three points and only to come away with a point. It feels like a loss.
It should feel like a loss.

Speaker 11 And now it puts extra pressure on Black Friday against England and more importantly, against Iran in that final group stage game. So I get what you're talking about.

Speaker 11 And quite honestly, historically, your opinion is more factually based because anytime anytime the United States has either got a point or three points in the opening game, they've advanced.

Speaker 11 I just think this is a different one now because of the wrinkle of England winning 6-2 before you took the field.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 It was tough watching that second half out there, especially considering how we stepped up. A lot of people in the first half,

Speaker 3 we looked great. We looked dominant.
A lot of people, I think yourself included, pointing at some substitutions that should have been made in the second half. I tend to agree.

Speaker 3 That's when you bring on Michael Bradley and he really dominates the midfield of the game and solidifies everything.

Speaker 3 Why didn't they bring him on?

Speaker 11 I don't think Michael Bradley came into this game, although maybe we could have used him. I will say this, dude.

Speaker 11 Two yellow cards early on. Suginho Dest, Weston McKinney.
Both players were injury question marks coming into it. And so that's why at halftime, I said, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Speaker 11 You're up a goal. Wales is going to flip the script on you.

Speaker 11 Now you're going to have to be be either more defensive or in an odd way, even though you're winning, more attacking because of Wales having to chase the game.

Speaker 11 This is not the kind of game Wales wanted. Wales wanted to get the first goal and then they could sit in because they went down a goal.
They had to now change.

Speaker 11 That's the most disappointing part of the game is that Wales changed and Greg Verholter in the United States didn't. I would have probably brought on Giovanni Reyna.

Speaker 11 The fact he didn't play is questionable, but I even would have thought about bringing him on either at halftime or the 60th minute because this is the kind of game when it's opened up.

Speaker 11 He's got the quality to play in that spot.

Speaker 11 That's where I think the criticism, rightfully so, is going to be had for Greg Beralter because I don't think he made any moves instead of sitting on the fence. Right.

Speaker 3 So I was joking about Michael Bradley. He's the Taylor Martinez of Nebraska.
He played for the United States national team for

Speaker 1 just so you know. He does after every game.
Every game.

Speaker 3 I think he blocked me, actually.

Speaker 1 I think so, too, because I just tweeted, like, hey, Michael Bradley, you're reading this right now. You stink in the last like four or five years ago, and then he blocked me.
I loved Michael Bradley.

Speaker 3 I always thought he was a great solid player for us in defensive midfield. But I agree.
Gio Reyna,

Speaker 3 why was he not even starting today? Some people would say that he should be part of the starting 11.

Speaker 11 Yeah, it's a great question, honestly, because that's where I think the first time the United States men's national team have real quality in the debate of the 11, if not 14, 15 players.

Speaker 11 And mind you, your listeners are not going to know this just because it changed during COVID. But remember, it used to be three subs.

Speaker 11 It's now five, guys. And that leaves you a little bit more wiggle room to kind of change it, to kind of roll the dice a little bit.
So to even not have Giovanni Reyna in the five subs is interesting.

Speaker 11 And listen, Greg Berhalter was looking at Brendan Aronson and Giovanni Reyna and saying, we're going to save them for England and we're going to use them in the second half if we need them.

Speaker 11 But the moment I go up a goal against Wales and I go back to my initial point to your first question, guys, is that England just won 6-2.

Speaker 11 I've got three points in the bag. I have to get three points.
That's where Giovanni Reina and Brendan Aronson come in for me because Wales are going to chase the game. They're older.

Speaker 11 They're less athletic. And now I bring on younger, fresher legs, great in open field, great in open space.

Speaker 11 That's where I think criticism, rightfully so, should be had of Greg Beralter because I don't think he played into the hands of the vulnerabilities of where Wales was defensively.

Speaker 1 Okay, so I don't want to get too woke, but I'm just going to ask this question.

Speaker 1 Let's say U.S. does lose to England on Friday and Wales beats Iran.

Speaker 1 Is there any world that Wales and England basically are like, well, let's tie this game because these guys who pretend that they know soccer and everyone's been talking about how this is the generation.

Speaker 1 If we tie this game, they're out no matter what. Is that,

Speaker 1 am I crazy? Am I crazy to even throw that out there?

Speaker 11 No, you are not crazy to think that through. And that is why

Speaker 11 the third group stage, final group stage games in all of World Cups now are played at the same time. Because historically, that actually happened.

Speaker 11 And if I'm not mistaken, it was West Germany versus someone else. And so they,

Speaker 11 and I don't blame the teams for thinking that, right? The difference is, though,

Speaker 11 is that you now have goal differential have such an impact because England beat the absolute hell out of Iran today

Speaker 11 that now it doesn't it doesn't leave you enough room to sabotage that because a point may not be enough to get you through because now you may need to have goals scored and you've got to create you've got to now make up for the goal differential If England won today 2-1 or 2-0,

Speaker 11 absolutely, that's part of the equation because you know a point gets you through. But depending on what Wales does against Iran, I'm not sure they're going to have the luxury to do that.

Speaker 11 England, more than likely, if they beat the United States, that third final group stage game, they're going to rest players because they know they're going to get through.

Speaker 11 It's where the other teams are going to be. But it's a real conversation.
So you're not out of your mind to bring it up.

Speaker 11 I just think with these circumstances, with the result of that England-Iran game, I think it changes it.

Speaker 1 But what you're saying is it could absolutely happen the reverse way where England could rest players and be like, hey, we're good.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Wales could win. So

Speaker 11 which is why you didn't want it in the final. You'd never really want to rely on three points in the final group stage game.

Speaker 11 You're okay relying on a point, but you're not fine in trying to have to, in having to get three points and then goal differential and all that because of what you just said.

Speaker 11 You hit the nail on the head.

Speaker 3 So are we calling Friday's game against England a must-draw for the United States?

Speaker 11 Yep, absolutely. Yep.
Because the last thing you want to do is lose that game, right? And honestly, you guys can look at it too right now.

Speaker 11 But before I came on with you, Vegas doesn't have England as huge favorites in this, even after winning 6-2, which tells you that the American player now versus years past, they're regularly playing against these guys in the Premier League.

Speaker 11 They're playing against them in Champions League. And so even Garrett Southgate in his

Speaker 11 post-match press conference, they won 6-2, and he was already like,

Speaker 11 I don't like this U.S. team.
They can make us uncomfortable. So the U.S., they get a point against England.
Yes, they're in the driver's seat of getting out of the group. But if they lose that,

Speaker 11 dear lord, that final game is going to be something else.

Speaker 3 We did, we tied England back in 2010.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 3 let's not underestimate the ability of England to defeat themselves in heartbreaking fashion and to let in the worst goal of all time.

Speaker 3 That could happen again to him. Like, ask any English soccer fan.
This tends to occur during World Cup.

Speaker 3 So it's not like out of the realm of possibility to tie, but it sounds like what it's going to come down to is just which team beats the hell out of Iran worse, right?

Speaker 11 Absolutely. Absolutely.
Now, in saying that, I could see Wales actually lay an egg against Iran, and then this becomes a very, very, very tricky situation.

Speaker 11 I could see Iran, I know this sounds crazy because you guys are talking to me, they lost 6-2.

Speaker 11 They beat Uruguay in their final tune-up game before the World Cup. Uruguay is one of the five or six teams that are are listed as potential favorites, right?

Speaker 11 So it would not surprise me at all if Wales and Iran draw, and then you're looking at a group going, wow, Wales have two points, Iran has one, and then the U.S., depending on what they have.

Speaker 11 And again, it comes to that final group stage game, which, guys, 1998 is still thought of in Iran. as the biggest win of their history.
That was a group stage game.

Speaker 11 They had no business winning or or being a part of because they had already been knocked out of the group and they beat the United States, who then ended up finishing the 98 World Cup as the worst team in the World Cup.

Speaker 11 Just think of that. So the geopolitical backing to that game, that will be the biggest game in Iran's history.
It doesn't matter what they do against Wales.

Speaker 11 If they come out and leave the World Cup, but hey, they can tip their cap and say, we beat the United States. That makes their World Cup.

Speaker 11 That's why Greg Berhalter looked, I would say, disappointed because he now knows, guess what? We're going to have to get something out of that game.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, that is a factor that I definitely wasn't thinking about, but now I am.

Speaker 1 A more general question, a more general question. And this might be a dumb question.
You did mention that the U.S. has closed the gap in terms of talent.
Guys are now playing in Europe.

Speaker 1 A lot of our guys are playing in the high-level, you know, top five leagues in Europe. What is the difference between those best teams in the U.S.
at this point?

Speaker 1 Because I've always thought like when I watch, and I don't know soccer very well, but for me, it's always been like the first touch.

Speaker 1 If you watch the MLS versus you watch like EPL, guys, you know, they'll pass it across the field and they'll have the ball on a string right on their foot. What is it now, though?

Speaker 1 Like, what's the difference? What's that last gap that we need to bridge to be at that level of like some of these unbelievable teams?

Speaker 11 Dude, it's a great question. It's honestly the question that still drives

Speaker 11 every person in this this sport and in this country, right? You're trying to bridge the gap because everything else America does and all the other sports, if they're not 1A, they're 1B.

Speaker 11 And so that's been the most difficult part. It's interesting when you bring up MLS because

Speaker 11 I think it's less about first touch. I know what you're talking about, the technical aspect.
I think the speed of thought is something that is just a lot different. at the highest of levels.

Speaker 11 Even Greg Berholter and other MLS managers have brought that up when they go to the

Speaker 11 international stage. Now, what's interesting is this World Cup, MLS is the fifth most represented league in the world in this World Cup, which tells you about the growth of the game.

Speaker 11 And yet, there's still the gap you're talking about. I would say this:

Speaker 11 England and the Premier League is playing

Speaker 11 at such a speed, both between the ears and at the feet, that other leagues even struggle to compete with that because the bottom-tier teams in England can beat you on any given day.

Speaker 11 In Germany, Bayern Munich is going to win their 11th straight title. Nobody competes with Bayern Munich.
Now, all the other teams beat each other up, so you could talk about parody there.

Speaker 11 But you follow where I'm going. England is the best league in the world because from the first team to last place team, they're playing at a speed.

Speaker 11 They've got the biggest difference, I would say, to answer your question, is they don't have one Christian Pulisic and one Tyler Adams. They all have two or three

Speaker 11 top team in the world. Dan, to answer your question, is that Brazil has, Brazil could have three teams in this World Cup.
And I'd argue all three would get out of the group stage.

Speaker 11 That's how deep they are in talent. The United States has finally got talent playing at the highest levels.
Now the difference is, can you have 36 to 45 guys doing that?

Speaker 11 And then it bridges the gap because if one player goes down, the gap isn't as big, if that makes any sense.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So to put it in American terms, you're basically talking about Alabama, how Alabama's backups could beat most teams in college football.

Speaker 1 And if you have Alabama playing Cincinnati in a college football playoff, it's about the fact that the guys that are coming in off the bench are better than the guys that are starting for Cincinnati.

Speaker 11 I mean, the scout team for Georgia football team on the defensive side right now could probably start for any ACC team. And I'm not actually,

Speaker 11 I'm being honest. Like, it's not an SEC bias.
It's just the fact.

Speaker 11 Brazil, France, Argentina, to a certain extent, Germany, maybe, guys, those guys have three or four players deep at a World Cup level at each position.

Speaker 11 And that's ultimately how you keep pushing the meter higher and higher. And that's when you become arguably a favorite in these big tournaments.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 So it is kind of all doom and gloom right now, but we did get a point against Wales. Yes, we did.
It's better than we got a result, as they say.

Speaker 3 And with this U.S. team, I do feel like they're so young that this feels like more of a preparation World Cup for them.
They need to get battle tested a little bit.

Speaker 3 And really, four years from now, that's when they'll all be in their primes growing up together.

Speaker 3 So I do feel like even if we don't advance past the group stage, obviously that could be looked at as a failure.

Speaker 3 But at the same time, we're so young that this never felt like it was going to be our World Cup to really do any damage in to begin with.

Speaker 3 But all that said, how do we end up beating or tying England on Friday?

Speaker 3 What are the keys to that game? How do we pull it off?

Speaker 11 Two things. First off, very educated take by you.

Speaker 11 It's also why, and this is the most important thing I'm going to say to you guys because for your listeners to understand what four years from now means.

Speaker 11 The last thing you want to do is bomb out of this World Cup because it makes more pressure on you and now being the host. So that's the positive side.
You got to point against Wales.

Speaker 11 You're still in this World Cup, right? So this group is young, naive, and inexperienced. Well, guess what? You need to get experience.

Speaker 11 And I think it is invaluable to this team if they get any kind of experience of positive feedback in this World Cup, because then they're in their prime in 26.

Speaker 11 And now they're going to be in the driver's seat saying, we could actually do something of real magnitude. Very educated take by you.

Speaker 11 The second thing to answer your question about England is you have to be committed on how you want to play.

Speaker 11 So if you want to counterattack, be committed in counter-attacking in your defensive structure.

Speaker 11 If you want to punch England in the face and try to out-possess them and get after them a little bit, sure, you've got the quality to do that.

Speaker 11 I think that's a little bit more risky, but it doesn't matter. Be committed.
Don't be in between.

Speaker 1 Yeah. If you're in between today, a little bit, right? Yeah.

Speaker 11 Yes. Don't go back and forth in trying to figure out a way to play England.

Speaker 11 If you are committed and you frustrate England, they don't have, especially if Harry Maguire plays, but I don't think he will because he got a concussion concussion in the game today.

Speaker 11 But even if he does, there's some weak links within this English squad that you can expose.

Speaker 11 However, there's so much quality in an open game, in a game where all of a sudden they've got a ton of the ball, they've got a ton of space, they're dictating the tempo of the game.

Speaker 11 That's not a game you want to go in and play against the Harry Kanes and Soccers of the world. I don't want to play that game, right? And I don't think Greg Berhalter wants to.

Speaker 11 If they're committed in the way they want to play, they can frustrate them. And the other aspect is Timothy Way is a great example.
They've got players that England would love to have.

Speaker 11 England was desperate to get Eunice Musa. They recruited him.
They didn't get him. These are players the U.S.

Speaker 11 have that even the English look across and they're like, wait a minute, it's not me on the other side, guys. They're not looking across, seeing me going, well, this is whatever.
This is a cup of tea.

Speaker 11 We've got this in the bag. It's Giovanni Reyna.
It's Eunus Musa. It's Tyler Adams.
It's Brendan Aronson. It's Josh Sargent.
It's players that England respects.

Speaker 11 So now all of a sudden, you've got that game a little bit where you're going to get their best. So you got to be ready for it.

Speaker 11 I think it's important for them to be very pragmatic how they approach the game.

Speaker 11 Don't get into a wide open game, especially in the first 30 to 45 minutes, and see where you are at halftime and then adjust with substitutions and maybe tactics, which is something you didn't do against Wales.

Speaker 11 But they've got a shot to surprise some people, but they don't want to get into that open game, in my opinion.

Speaker 1 Now, Taylor, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you're kind of sounding like a bear halter out guy.

Speaker 11 No,

Speaker 11 I am a one that is very, very, what's this? What's the word I'm looking for?

Speaker 11 I try, it's a good question. I try to take the red, white, and blue hat off analyzing games because I think the viewer and the listener, honestly, guys, is more educated than when I played.

Speaker 11 They've seen more high-quality games. They understand what real analysis is.
So if I'm not going to be, if I can't create, and by the way, Greg Berholter was a roommate of mine with the national team.

Speaker 11 I played with him. If I can't criticize him, then I shouldn't be doing my job.
I think Greg Berholter has done a good job on some levels, but I've also been very critical of him on other levels.

Speaker 11 And he's very young in his managerial career. And I think you've seen some of that inexperience, if that answers your question.

Speaker 1 So talking about the whole World Cup, getting off U.S. for a second.

Speaker 1 Give us the winner, your pick to be the winner, and maybe like a dark horse, because, you know the betting markets are still open for futures and everything this is brazil's world cup to lose boys yeah

Speaker 1 to lose yep just i mean now

Speaker 1 now this might be a stupid question but i the way i always see brazil is if we're going to do uh another analysis like you know you know uh of college football brazil is like a big 12 offense that can score a million points but sometimes they play a little soft is that fair fair except with this this group.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Okay. Tell me.

Speaker 11 See, what you're getting at, and I know what you're getting at, is the fact that Neymar dives a thousand times a game, right?

Speaker 11 So the American viewer, we watch Brazil and we're like, why are they all rolling over the field? However, Neymar knows this is his World Cup. He's in his prime.

Speaker 11 He's arguably playing better than Messi and anyone else in the world right now. And

Speaker 11 Brazil now has a manager that has pushed the right buttons to say, these are my special players. These are my players that will clean it up, will make the games.

Speaker 11 They're smarter. They're just smarter with where they are.
They have more talent than anyone.

Speaker 11 There's more professional players in the world than from Brazil.

Speaker 11 They just manufacture players. It's their pastime.
It's what they do. However, they've never right found the balance to say, We've got our quality, but we've also got our defenders.

Speaker 11 We've got our, in football terms, we've got our showcase wide receiver, quarterback, running back, and skills players, but our offensive line, our defensive line, our free safeties, and our linebackers may be our strongest suit.

Speaker 11 I think their defenders outside are the weakest link. And yet I say that and I look at the wrestler and I'm like, Paul, any other team in this World Cup would take those guys as their fullbacks.

Speaker 11 It's Brazil's to lose because it's played in hot weather. They're used to it.
But more importantly, I just think they're more balanced than they ever have.

Speaker 11 But I don't think your analysis is that far off. I think soft is always a weird word for us three on this.
We know what soft means.

Speaker 11 The world listener would say, That's not soft, that's just the little dramatic.

Speaker 1 And us three would go, well, yeah, that's what we're saying.

Speaker 3 Sometimes he looks like he stepped on a landmine.

Speaker 1 Yeah, when somebody rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls.

Speaker 3 The part that gets me is like the aftershock after they hit the ground and then they bounce up again and flip over like a fish. That's always the funny.

Speaker 3 And I've noticed that the women, they don't, they don't flop like the men do.

Speaker 3 I don't know what the difference is, but guys, they have no shame. They'll just go out and just pretend that they got sniped.

Speaker 11 I will never, ever, ever apologize for what that is because honestly, it drives me nuts. You guys know me on Twitter enough, though.
I can't stand it when they say it's just a soccer thing.

Speaker 11 When the Sunday night football game I watched last night between the Chiefs and the Chargers, I've never seen more flop from offensive linemen.

Speaker 11 Like floppings now become part of the NFL, the NBA, and the NFL to get flags. However, our sport just makes it look so much worse.

Speaker 11 Like, it's like, do you need to roll 10 times and bounce up and then roll again? And then the cold spray in the water. Like, I can't defend it.

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Speaker 3 There was an interesting tweet that Sports Center put out earlier this week. I don't know if you had a chance to take a look at it, but it's like I did.
All right, buddy.

Speaker 3 Yeah, you know where I'm going with this.

Speaker 3 What if American sports stars played on the U.S. men's national team?

Speaker 3 So they had a picture of, it was a great Photoshop, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Patrick Kane, Odell Beckham, Steph Curry, Saquon Barkley, Patrick Mahomes, Austin Matthews, Kevin Durant, Bam Adabayo, and and LeBron James.

Speaker 1 You got to put Giannis in gold, though.

Speaker 3 Well, he's probably going to play for Greece.

Speaker 1 No, I know that was a joke. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Good point.

Speaker 7 That's fair.

Speaker 3 Which one of these guys do you think would be the absolute worst soccer player? Because it's tough. I would say maybe Austin Matthews, like a hockey player, or Mike Trout?

Speaker 11 Mike Trout would be a baseball guys, would have a tough time because you got to run more than like 50 feet.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean? Yeah.

Speaker 11 Like Mike Trout's a hell of a baseball player. He's one of the top five, 10 we've ever seen.
I get all that. Fine.
But dude, you got to run. And I played baseball, right?

Speaker 11 So, like, it's not foul pole to foul pole and then have a Gatorade in a bag of sunflower seeds. Like,

Speaker 11 I think that that tweet was just so disrespectful. And it was, listen, they deleted it.

Speaker 11 I know the people that put it out there, but like, we're really basically saying, like, what if Usain Bull played soccer? Like, is it really, like, what are we doing?

Speaker 1 What are we really talking about?

Speaker 1 You know what it was? We just got a natural what are we doing here yeah

Speaker 1 can you run that back what are we doing here guys it was you know what it was and and i i i'll say that i i do like to troll soccer i i'll i'll admit that because i i saw the tweet and i said it to one of my best friends who's a huge soccer fan and he like was was rolled his eyes because i i will i will do that hypothetical with him just to fuck with him but i understand like that's a that's a hypothetical from 15 years ago i think people

Speaker 1 absolutely thank you understand like i understand the skill level and the fact that like the reason why a lot of these countries are so good at soccer is they have their kids playing when they're three years old.

Speaker 1 And that like that type of skill is not something that just because you're an athlete, you can do. So I actually laughed at it because I was like, what year are we in right now? Like we have evolved.

Speaker 11 Exactly. And that goes back to my point five minutes ago.
Like the viewers more, they're more knowledgeable now, right?

Speaker 11 And if we did everything the american way the spain teams that were the greatest teams ever that won everything they didn't have a single player over 510.

Speaker 11 i say that tongue-in-cheek but we think bigger faster stronger means oh great you're going to be the best soccer player no worries right that's not how this works so yeah that's where you just looked at it you're like no but i enjoyed playing the game of which one of those hypothetical athletes yeah would it would would have been put on the soccer field looked around after two minutes and said i don't want to do this.

Speaker 7 Yeah, probably Mike Trout.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Mike Trout for sure.

Speaker 11 Mike Trout would have been like, I am out.

Speaker 1 Well, also, if he was in the World Cup, he'd be like,

Speaker 1 is this the playoffs? What the hell? I've never been here. No, he'd be like,

Speaker 3 if you really want to make sure you don't get out of the group stage, put Mike Trout on your face. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Like, hey, the Eagles have a Sunday night football game against the Packers. Why am I in Qatar?

Speaker 3 I've got a great question for you here. You're going to love this one.
If Messi doesn't win a World Cup,

Speaker 3 is it safe to say that he is the biggest all-time bust?

Speaker 11 Ooh, that's such a good one. No, no, it's a real, it's a real good one because that's what we do here in the United States.
And quite honestly, I love being part of this overrated.

Speaker 3 Messi's overrated if he doesn't individually win a World Cup for Argentina this year.

Speaker 11 I don't think so.

Speaker 1 Are you a Messi or Ronaldo guy?

Speaker 11 I'm a Messi fan mainly because I've never seen anything like it in my life.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.

Speaker 11 Right. So Ronaldo, who's done unbelievable things, but it's all based on athleticism, right? And he is one of the best athletes I've ever seen.

Speaker 11 But I played against Messi in 2007, and I looked at he, and I described this to everybody.

Speaker 11 You know, when you're, it's a late summer afternoon, the sun's going down, and there's water bugs, and you're like, like that thing's going on top of the water and the lake, and you can't see it.

Speaker 11 And you can't, you literally can't. Messi's the smallest human being on the soccer field and you can't catch him.
And we're talking about the best players in the world.

Speaker 11 And they leave the field after playing Messi and they're looking around going, what the hell is that? He's an alien. No one's ever seen anything like that.
Is he a failure?

Speaker 11 No, I'd argue Argentina's a failure because you were just given the greatest player in the history of the sport and you couldn't find a competent enough team to deliver the World Cup around them.

Speaker 11 But not one player can deliver a World Cup. And everyone listening to this will say Pele and Maradona and all that.
No, no, no. You guys didn't want.

Speaker 11 You didn't, you don't know what that Brazilian teams were like with Palay on that. Argentina in 2014 got to a World Cup final mainly because of Messi.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 11 This year, if they get to a World Cup final, it's their best opportunity to win because they're more balanced. But

Speaker 11 I'm not one to sit on the fence. He's not a bust if he doesn't win.

Speaker 3 I think that's fair.

Speaker 1 He also like the way I and we, another tongue-in-cheek thing we do, we always find like if you're if you're trying to get into any sport, just figure out what the goat debate is and you can just like, you can just mainline into it.

Speaker 1 But watching, and Ronaldo is obviously incredible, but just watching Messi, it's like beautiful. Whereas Ronaldo, it's more like power and strength and

Speaker 1 sheer force of will.

Speaker 11 Are you guys Steph Curry fans?

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's kind of Steph Curry and LeBron.

Speaker 1 And I mean, it is a little bit like that, where it's like just something about Messi and when he's, you know, kicking, you know, when he, when he's scoring goals from like 30 feet away and he's just making passes and it it's it's something else so argentina is another one that's favorite give us a team that you have your eye on that's maybe not one of the the favorites that you're like hey this team has the horses that if they get some favorable matchups they could they could shock the world so what it all depends on how you can consider a dark horse right because i i look at anything plus a thousand or more yep as a dark horse i don't know how you guys look at your gambling lines and whatnot, particularly

Speaker 1 right.

Speaker 11 I would say the Dutch are very interesting. Netherlands is interesting.
They've got a real good understanding with their older manager and Louis von Haal, and they're at a real good number, right?

Speaker 11 They were before the tournament started.

Speaker 11 That's the kind of dark horse I look at. The way the brackets have laid out, guys, this is a chalk type of tournament.
It just is. There's not going to be a ton of the way the groups play it out.

Speaker 11 There's not going to be a ton of, I think, surprises in the sense when you get to the quarterfinal.

Speaker 11 I do think our neighbors above us, Canada, could really surprise some people because I think Belgium is hanging on to a generation of player that they're not playing at a good enough level of where they were.

Speaker 11 So Canada could surprise teams. You know, are they going to surprise teams to get to the semifinal? That would be.
as good as Leicester City winning the Premier League, quite honestly.

Speaker 11 But I look at those future bets, Dan, and I would say Netherlands is the one because the bets were that the odds were good enough where you would have got a real payday if you took it before the tournament started.

Speaker 11 That would be so-called a dark horse. But look at look at the history of the World Cup, guys.
How many different countries have won?

Speaker 1 That answers surprising.

Speaker 11 There's very few surprising teams that get all the way to the end and win this thing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it is true. When you look at it, it is like, oh shit,

Speaker 1 this is basically like college football, where it's like the BCS.

Speaker 11 It's literally the same team before they got to the college playoffs.

Speaker 3 Yeah, before the tournament, I got Netherlands at plus 1,100.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 3 Germany, I was surprised to see they were plus 1,000. So do they have a chance?

Speaker 11 They do.

Speaker 11 This is the worst, I would say, collection of center backs and defenders they've had in a long, long time. I think that's going to be their Achilles heel.

Speaker 11 If they win it, they're going to be the most exciting team.

Speaker 11 And to double down on your bet, I would take total goals for Germany in the over because the only way they're going to win this thing is outscoring teams 3-1, 3-2, 4-1, 4-2. You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 11 So no matter how you slice it, I think they're going to have to outscore teams.

Speaker 11 I actually like the total goals bet for Germany more than them winning it, but they do have a shot because they're Germany.

Speaker 11 And quite honestly, Germany, for whatever reason, when big tournaments come around, they very rarely shoot themselves in the foot.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and what about France? Because France, I think it's a storyline that every year the defending champs struggle to to defend their crown. So France obviously won in 2018.

Speaker 1 They've had some injuries. Are they because it felt like there's something about, I just love the talk about golden generations.
Yes.

Speaker 1 When Belgium had their golden generation and it was like, oh man, look, all these guys the same age. And France had a little of that with the 2018.

Speaker 1 I would assume they're still very, very good, but are we thinking they're like, it's just going to be the same story that every team that's defending their crown struggles?

Speaker 11 Yes, they've got so many injuries. My man, they've got so many injuries.
However, they're arguably a deeper team than Brazil. The only difference is the French are going to French.

Speaker 11 They get in their way.

Speaker 1 If anything goes wrong, they hate each other.

Speaker 11 There's in-house fighting.

Speaker 11 Everything's got to be perfect for the French to operate and to play at a high level. They've got more depth than anyone in this present time.

Speaker 11 And you're talking to me on November 21st in 2022 around the world. They are probably more deep than Brazil.
But the Brazilians like playing with each other. The Brazilians get along.

Speaker 11 I mean, the French literally have players go to courts over sex tapes regarding teammates. Like, you see what I'm getting at? They are going to get after each other.
They've got a ton of injuries.

Speaker 11 They know for a fact their managers leaving after this World Cup.

Speaker 11 I'd be stunned. I'd be stunned if they don't shoot themselves in the foot.
However, they've got enough talent to override some of their personality things.

Speaker 1 They're just a bad vibes team. They're very bad vibes.

Speaker 3 They're like calling witch doctors on each other.

Speaker 1 There's a whole thing going on.

Speaker 3 Right when you think that the French can't get any more French during the World Cup, they find a way to one-up themselves. I remember back, it was like 2006, their manager then,

Speaker 3 he was starting and sitting players based on their astrology charts before games. I think he was like sitting Trezegay because his moon wasn't in the right sector or whatever it was.

Speaker 3 Who's the manager this time that you think actually makes like a difference in a positive way? Who's the best manager of any of these teams in the World Cup this year?

Speaker 11 That's an interesting question. The way you put that question has me thinking, there's five subs, and I was very critical of Greg Berholter early on, right? And you have this way to manage it.

Speaker 11 Honestly, I think the managers that manage off the field are actually more impactful because in this tournament,

Speaker 11 you guys have tweeted this because I followed both of you on.

Speaker 11 There's so many games within this short congestion of schedule from club teams to then having a World Cup in the wintertime.

Speaker 11 I think the best managers are going to be the ones that manage energy, manage enthusiasm,

Speaker 11 manage where you guys are just with how to keep the group together. And so naturally, I go back to Didier Deschamp with France.

Speaker 11 He may have his most important job may be, it doesn't matter what team he puts on the field.

Speaker 11 Are they not fighting? Like, that may be a win for the French. I think Tite with Brazil, I think he's already got his finger on the pulse.
That's going to be easy.

Speaker 11 Louis Van Gaul, as I talked about, I think Diego Alonso is an interesting one for Uruguay because three days before their opening game, he comes out and says, no, we're here to win it.

Speaker 11 I mean, that's a little ballsy, if you ask me, right? Like, I get it. No one's there to not win it.
But like, he came out right away, said, no, we're not here to mess around.

Speaker 11 Those are the managers that I think are going to have the biggest impact.

Speaker 11 But I actually think it's more off the field than it is on the field because this is such a odd time to have a World Cup, and the players are mentally and physically exhausted.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, that's I mean, that's a good answer. So, speaking about that, uh, we know it's hot.
How much does that actually like zap you? And how much is it not even in the game, but the turnaround?

Speaker 1 Because these games are what, four days in between? Like, is it it truly

Speaker 1 you don't feel right for a few days? Because we, you know, we talk to football players all the time. You talk to a running back, like, oh, yeah, your knees are creaky, you can barely walk on Monday.

Speaker 1 What is that like for a soccer player?

Speaker 11 It's a great question because, and I'm going to ask you guys a question to answer that. Have you ever been to Houston in the summer?

Speaker 1 Yeah, it sucks. Terrible.

Speaker 1 It just removes seven miles.

Speaker 11 Now try and run seven miles. in the middle of that heat representing your country.
It's just, it's,

Speaker 11 you can't prep yourself. You can do the most under your control to try to prepare for that moment.

Speaker 11 When I did the U.S.-Portugal game in Manaus in 2014 in Brazil, the humidity, if it was allowed, was over 100%.

Speaker 11 It was at 8 o'clock at night and the temperature was 98 and it felt like 118. And you got to run a marathon.

Speaker 11 You got to run, you got to run eight miles in that at a high speed, which is identical to basically running a 26-mile marathon at a real generous pace, guys, it's physically taxing.

Speaker 11 It's not impossible, but it also means you can't have one player play every minute of every game, right? And so that's the way I would describe it.

Speaker 11 And then you couple that after a club season where they've been playing a game every three days. Honestly, I don't know how to answer your question.
I don't know how to quantify how difficult it is.

Speaker 11 Because the sports scientists around the world that are talking about it say this is something that's unprecedented. They've never seen it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 It is nuts to think about that heat. I mean, you said seven miles and I already was checked out because I couldn't run that in the ideal conditions.
So that part I'm already out on.

Speaker 1 In terms of the end of games of World Cup,

Speaker 1 this is my gripe. I do actually enjoy watching soccer.
I've learned, like, if you asked me 10 years ago, I'd be like, stupid sport.

Speaker 1 The more I've learned about it, the more I've understood how the game's played. And also just understanding what the Champions League is has made it a lot more enjoyable.

Speaker 1 The one part that I cannot stand, and I will never stand, is the last 15 minutes wasting time.

Speaker 1 When you bring on the subs, when you sit in the corner, when you roll around on the ground, when you walk to a free kick, when you walk to a throw-in,

Speaker 1 you're a soccer guy through and through. Are you just as frustrated as I am? Or is it like people will say, oh, well, it's no different than a team running the ball in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 It's like, no, but

Speaker 1 you're still like, you still have to get first downs. You still have to, like, there's still a game against the clock.
I just cannot stand the last 15 minutes. It was, you know what it was?

Speaker 1 It was the France-Croatia final.

Speaker 1 Like, France, the last 20 minutes, they didn't even play the game. So

Speaker 1 tell me, am I being stupid or is it just part of the sport? I got to understand.

Speaker 11 No, you're not being stupid at all. Would I use that as, let me, would I, would that be my biggest reason to never watch the sport?

Speaker 1 No, no, I think so.

Speaker 11 You know this better than anyone. The SEC college football fan will always use those crutches for what it is.

Speaker 11 Yet you've spent the last 10 years watching it and you guys now like it and you understand it more and it still bothers you. By the way, it bothers me.
I don't understand it.

Speaker 11 It's different than running the ball. You're still playing within the rules of the game.
Right. Now, the stalker player in me says there's it's in the rules.

Speaker 11 Now, I think there's a real quick way to fix this and get rid of it in two seconds. Imagine getting a red card the moment this happens.
Just imagine.

Speaker 11 Imagine FIFA and the officials all of a sudden saying, you know what? We're actually done with this. Subs are part of the game, right? So I can't change subs and you want to change subs, fine.

Speaker 11 But the game management, the waiting to take a goal kick, the tying the shoes on all of that. What if they just started to cut down on it?

Speaker 11 And maybe you start with yellow cards in major tournaments because the second and third yellow, you're now suspended. it would change in two seconds.

Speaker 11 The problem is FIFA doesn't want to take their hands out of you know what and actually do something because the truth of the matter is that means they actually have to be the governing body by which they are and actually tell other countries what to do.

Speaker 11 The other aspect to this is that it is difficult. on how to view a game one way and tell another country how to view a game another.
And here's what I mean by that.

Speaker 11 If us three did a podcast right now with a referee from England and a referee from Argentina, guys, we would get 180 degrees difference of answers of what's more important, how the game should be viewed.

Speaker 11 And that's why I think it gets frustrating to people like yourself because it's not universally looked at the same way when the majority of all of us can look at American gridiron football and look at it the same way and officiate it arguably the same way.

Speaker 11 You see what I'm saying? Like,

Speaker 11 it's very difficult to try to find a middle ground because the South American and the Western European, honestly, they look at the game as if it's apples to oranges, and it's still the same 90-minute game.

Speaker 3 Right. Yeah.
It's also, it's asking a lot of a referee to immediately diagnose what's a fake injury and what's real. Sometimes you can do it.
Sometimes it's very obvious to do.

Speaker 3 But other times, I mean, it's tough for them to say, okay, that's a clear embellishment or that's a clear flop. That's fair.
That's a little bit easier.

Speaker 3 But when you see a guy guy rolling around in pain, it's tough. It takes some balls for the referee to be like, you're faking it red card.
Yeah.

Speaker 11 No, it's true. It does, which is probably why the more I think about it, which is probably why I'm okay with the yellow to start it off to see if it goes anywhere.

Speaker 11 I just think there's a lot of time wasting now in the sport where I think it can be controlled and managed differently. But you're right.
If you give a red card, that's too harsh.

Speaker 11 But you know what I'm trying to say? I know, I get it.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 11 Maybe a little bit more accountability from the governing body and the official in the moment and say, wait a minute, knock it off with the nonsense. And all it takes, honestly, guys, is one.
Yeah.

Speaker 11 All it takes is one because then the message is sent going, whoa, whoa, whoa, what was that?

Speaker 11 And then FIFA backs up the official and says, we're done with that, the shenanigans that you're trying to get away with.

Speaker 11 But this is also an organization that gave the World Cup to Qatar for basically $100 million in cash.

Speaker 1 We don't know about that.

Speaker 3 Qatar is a great country.

Speaker 1 He's going. He's going tomorrow.
So please don't say anything about it.

Speaker 3 I actually forgot I was going for a second. But the job that the Emir has done over there and his father to present the world's game.

Speaker 1 Wonderful people.

Speaker 3 It's just an incredible job that they've done moving their country into the 21st century and with style and with grace. So you can't say enough good things about those guys over there.

Speaker 3 I'm very happy with what they've done.

Speaker 1 I got nothing for you.

Speaker 1 He's got it. Listen, when he comes back, we can say what we want to say, but right now.

Speaker 11 Absolutely.

Speaker 11 When he comes back, we will 100%

Speaker 1 have that conversation.

Speaker 1 I'm not backing that one up.

Speaker 3 We will discuss it.

Speaker 1 PFT needs to come home. I will come home.

Speaker 3 It's coming home.

Speaker 3 From your perspective, who are the greatest U.S. soccer players of all time? Mount Rushmore, Emergency Mount Rushmore, four of them.

Speaker 3 Wow.

Speaker 11 Good one.

Speaker 11 Naturally, Landon not often Clint Dempsey.

Speaker 3 Freddie Adu. Yeah, Freddy Adu's not on there.

Speaker 1 Freddie Adu for sure. Okay, all right.

Speaker 1 And that's, I'm not putting myself on there, right?

Speaker 11 Because you guys don't know me that well. But naturally, if it doesn't involve me, I don't really give a shit.

Speaker 3 Yeah, you can put yourself on there. So Taylor Two.

Speaker 1 All right, cool. So I'm on there.

Speaker 11 Actually, no, I'm the bus driver to get you to Mount Rushmore. Okay.
USR. So that's perfect.
I would say Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey.

Speaker 11 There's got to be a goalie on there because we've had so many great goalies. That's an interesting one.
I'm going to be recent.

Speaker 11 I'm going to give a little bit bit of a recent bias, even though Casey Keller and Brad Friedel were in Tony Miola.

Speaker 11 I'll say Tim Howard.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 11 Okay.

Speaker 11 And then

Speaker 11 can I leave the fourth one blank and tell you in about five, six years? Because I think it's coming from this generation. I like that.

Speaker 1 I like that.

Speaker 3 That's a good take. It's like to be determined, but you know that it's

Speaker 1 a good thing.

Speaker 11 I think Christian Pulissic's going to have something to say.

Speaker 11 I think Giovanni Reina could outlast and outdo his father, which, by the way, would be an amazing story in itself because Claudia Reyna was one of the best players this country's ever produced.

Speaker 11 I would leave the fourth one open because I think we're embarking on a new era where it's like, wait a minute, this is something special.

Speaker 1 Okay, I like that. All right.
So, Taylor, I have one last question. This has been awesome.
We're going to maybe need you back for the World Cup finals. Absolutely.
Give it up for Chicago.

Speaker 13 Sebastian Meniscalco's new stand-up special, It Ain't Right, is coming to Hulu on November 21st.

Speaker 1 30 years ago, Jeff Bezos, complete nerd. Bezos now ripped to shreds on his super yacht, and the boxes keep

Speaker 1 coming.

Speaker 13 Sebastian Maniscalco, It Ain't Right, premieres November 21st, streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

Speaker 1 This is kind of a difficult question, but

Speaker 1 I've listened to you. I've followed you for a very long time.
I've heard you on some interviews, and I always thought that you had like a great outlook.

Speaker 1 So, for people who don't know, you were part of the U.S. team, but you were left off the World Cup roster.
What, when that happened, I mean, that's something that

Speaker 1 most people, I would count myself in this, would be bitter for life.

Speaker 1 Like, how did that all break down? And how are you able to look at it and not be just angry all the time about it?

Speaker 11 That's a great man. That's, that's

Speaker 11 now you're putting me on the spot.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm sorry. I just, I, I, I've heard you talk about it, and I've always been like, I've always just respected your take on everything.

Speaker 11 Yeah, I'm not going to say it's the easiest way to look at it. I'm more like you, where I like, I really wanted it to be there.
My grandfather passed away 48 hours after that decision.

Speaker 1 Jesus.

Speaker 11 And my family and my grandfather said at the time, first off, I was MVP of the league. I am technically an answer.

Speaker 11 to the trivia question is who is the leading goal scorer for a calendar year and not go to the World Cup? Wow. It was me in 2006.
I didn't go to the World Cup and still led the U.S.

Speaker 11 men's national team and goal scored.

Speaker 11 That gives me solace that guess what? I did the best I could. I did the most I could.
So it was his decision, and he didn't want to bring me. So there it is.

Speaker 11 The toughest part about the entire thing was this: 30 players were named to a roster, 23 went.

Speaker 11 The seven players that were left on the

Speaker 11 substitutes bench, for lack of a better word, or the

Speaker 1 request.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Right?

Speaker 11 Six of the seven got a phone call or an email.

Speaker 11 I didn't. I had to watch it with my family live, and Stuart Scott asked Bruce Arena the first question he asked

Speaker 11 was: MLS MVP Taylor Twomans not on the roster. And Bruce Arena didn't answer the question.

Speaker 11 And so that is when, in the moment, I said, you know what?

Speaker 11 Whoa, wait a minute. I had four players from that team.
The moment they saw the news, call me and basically say, why am I going and you're not?

Speaker 11 I'm telling you all of that to give you background on that told me

Speaker 11 I did the best I could.

Speaker 11 I literally did the best I could because if I wasn't good enough, if I didn't deliver, if I didn't deserve it, none of my teammates would have called me and given me that answer.

Speaker 11 They would have called me, and you guys know this, they would have given me a different answer, been like, oh man, I'm sorry. They literally called, pissed off.
They called like, what the heck?

Speaker 11 The assistant coach, he's passed away now. He literally called my dad and apologized.
So

Speaker 11 I give that background to your listeners because in life, when you know you gave it 100%,

Speaker 11 there really are no regrets. If there's any inkling of, oh, I should have done this or I didn't this, that's where bitterness kind of takes over.

Speaker 11 And when my grandfather passed away, literally 48 hours, and he's the one that won a World Series with the Yankees and played in Major League Baseball for 11 years.

Speaker 11 My entire mom's side of the family is celebrating this man's life.

Speaker 11 And I am on ESPN the day before their funeral, playing an MLS game where the 30,000 people at Gillette Stadium had a huge sign, Why Not Taylor?

Speaker 11 And I was like, this is wait, this isn't about me. This is a celebration of my family.
So honestly,

Speaker 11 like

Speaker 11 it put it in perspective for me. I'm not going to lie and look into this camera and tell you guys that I still don't think about it.
Yeah.

Speaker 11 Because my biggest regret is not wearing the red, white, and blue and honestly running through the wall and getting one of my seven concussions playing with the U.S.

Speaker 11 in a World Cup that ended my career.

Speaker 11 I think about that all the time. I watch the game today thinking, did I really not go?

Speaker 11 On the other hand, it happens. Dude, shit happens.
And the best part that I can say is I can look in the camera, look you, and look everyone in the mirror and say, guess what? I did it.

Speaker 11 I did the best I could. I scored a ton of goals.
And the manager at that given day was like, you know what? I don't want him to be part of the team. I've got to find a way to live with that.

Speaker 11 And fortunately enough, I've got enough grace to understand it, but I ain't going to lie to you guys. You know me well enough.
It's not easy.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 11 But it is what it is. And we've got to move on.

Speaker 11 And I have actually, in a weird way, I have, even though I just rambled for 10 minutes about the background, but I think the listeners would appreciate that.

Speaker 1 It was a great answer, and it's why I asked the question because I knew, like, your perspective on it, and it's just a great lesson for people to listen to.

Speaker 1 Because there's a lot of people who play woe is me and

Speaker 1 always become the victim. And it's like, that's just not,

Speaker 1 you can't.

Speaker 11 Well, let me ask you guys, you guys, you guys do this in life.

Speaker 11 We got to hear the word no more. Yeah.

Speaker 1 We just fail more. Yeah.

Speaker 1 yeah. If you don't hear no, you're not

Speaker 3 pushing hard enough, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 11 Like, I just feel like in my failures, I've learned way more about myself, and I tell everyone this: like, everyone says adversity builds character,

Speaker 11 adversity reveals character. Because if you say adversity builds character, guess what that means? All of us started at ground zero and we've we've got no character, yeah.
Like, miss me with that.

Speaker 11 We've all got character. It's when it's when it hits the fan, you got to be like,

Speaker 11 who am I? Who am I going to be the guy? I'll talk about it with people,

Speaker 11 but I don't go to bed at night with a bitter part of my body. Cause like I just said to you, it happens.
I'm unfortunately one of those guys. I'm going to own my story.

Speaker 11 I'm going to tell that story because I think it gives perspective to some people that are struggling.

Speaker 11 But I feel like our generations now, guys, we hear no or we hear constructive criticism and everybody's all out of whack and like, oh my God, this is wrong, you're wrong, and the teacher's wrong, and the coach is wrong.

Speaker 11 He's like, Are they?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I don't, no,

Speaker 1 it's it's it's great, and uh, I'll say it for you, Bruce Sabrina. Um, I'll just say that for you.
Uh, yep, yeah, you'll say it too, right?

Speaker 1 Fuck Bruce Arena, yeah, Bruce Arena, he's a great coach, great college coach, yeah. But Bruce Arena, 2000.

Speaker 11 Oh, come on, guys, he's had a hell of a career.

Speaker 1 No, he's he's he's he's a bum, he's a crumb bum. Oliver Kahn ate his lunch in 2002.
He's a crumb bum. And, but no, I really do appreciate you telling that because it is a great message.

Speaker 1 And it's something that,

Speaker 1 you know, like when like when I listen to you on ESPN or I follow you on Twitter, like knowing the backstory, it's like this guy's not just, you know, talking out of his ass. He played it.

Speaker 1 He went through adversity. He did all these things.
Like it just adds a lot more flavor to your analysis.

Speaker 3 Did it feel good in 2006 a little bit when we didn't get a single win?

Speaker 11 Oh, man, that's that's that. No, it actually, and I'm telling you, no.
I

Speaker 1 don't

Speaker 1 this.

Speaker 11 I don't know if I watched the games.

Speaker 1 Huh. I wouldn't.
Yeah.

Speaker 11 I don't know if I watched them. I may have been in the room.
I may have been with my teammates

Speaker 11 at the New England Revolution. I'm not totally sure I watched that game.
I think I put myself in such a space.

Speaker 11 that I wasn't present. And when we

Speaker 11 didn't get out of the group, we struggled to score goals.

Speaker 11 I honestly could not taste food. I couldn't feel anything.
It made it worse to me because I know, and I don't care what anyone tries to tell me, I would have added something to that group.

Speaker 11 I would have done something to that group, even being on the field or running through a wall or doing something to energize the group, to give them something.

Speaker 11 Because in that moment, I was on the verge of going to England. I was on the verge of doing.
Guys, people don't know this. Kicker magazine of Germany listed 10 players to break out the World Cup.

Speaker 11 I was number nine.

Speaker 1 There you go.

Speaker 1 That's crazy. Holy shit.

Speaker 11 Right? So, like, but then you look around the world. There was a great goal scorer for Bayern Munich named Roy Mackay that played for the Dutch.
He got left off the World Cup team.

Speaker 11 Jaden Sanderson, like, look at their people that got left off the World Cup teams this year. Landon Donovan in 2014 felt the same thing.
I just,

Speaker 11 I didn't, I don't know if I watched the Games in 06 to go back to your question. I just don't know if I really watched them.
Well, I don't know if I did.

Speaker 1 You probably also didn't watch them because soccer is super boring and terrible to watch. So boring.
And who wants to watch that sport? Someone was diving and rolling all over.

Speaker 1 That would be funny if you were just like, fuck this. I'm watching baseball, which is like way more boring, but whatever.

Speaker 3 I got one last, last question for you. And we'll put it in like hockey terms because whenever we start the playoffs in hockey, it's always like which goaltender is going to stand on his head.

Speaker 3 So which goalkeeper? I know Achoa is playing for Mexico, and he's got a pretty, he's like well-established as being one of the GOATs, but he's also old.

Speaker 3 So, which one of these, which goalkeeper is the one that's like most likely to make their team punch above their pay grade?

Speaker 11 That is such a good question because, honestly, they can single-handedly

Speaker 11 change,

Speaker 11 they can change it. And so, it's really,

Speaker 11 honestly, I haven't even thought about it because one, I'm a center forward and I hate goalies. Two, more importantly,

Speaker 11 you don't really think of it in the terms that you just did.

Speaker 11 And yet, in a knockout style tournament, it is very similar to the Stanley Cup where a goalie stands on his head and that goaltender can single-handedly take you in.

Speaker 11 I mean, look at the New York Rangers last year, quite honestly.

Speaker 11 Yep. Wow.
That's a real good one.

Speaker 11 I would say the most, put it this way, I'm going to answer your question because I know a lot of your listeners are going to think on on the betting and the gambling side, fantasy side, what it may be.

Speaker 11 And the way Germany is set up, I think Manuel Neur may have to have his best World Cup or best knockout style tournament he's ever had in his career. And he's had an unbelievable career already.

Speaker 11 But I think this one, he may have to be at his best if Germany wants to win it.

Speaker 11 And so that's the one I look at because naturally I think of like Jordan Pickford. I think of Hugo Luris.
I think of Tibor Courtois.

Speaker 11 And then even Allison for, I think of all of them, but I think Neur may have to stand on his head the most because I'm most nervous about Germany's defensive,

Speaker 11 I think, fragilities, for lack of a better word. And so I would say Neuer, of all of them, may have to be at his best, which sounds so weird considering he's already won a World Cup.

Speaker 11 But I think this one, he may need to be better than he was in 2014.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 3 I just always go back to that 2002 team that the U.S. had when Oliver Kahn just single-handedly, basically.

Speaker 11 we were gonna make it to the semifinal hold on no hold on if there was var back then Germany would have lost that game yep that's true because Bollock had the handball on the goal line and yep because Torsten Trings had the handball and Bollock who by the way every time I see him he I remind him of this he's arguing no if Var was there that's a goal that's a penalty and a red card yep and uh one of our best well he was like an attacking uh fullback at that time was named Big Cat Tony Santa yeah he was great Yep.

Speaker 11 I know.

Speaker 11 Yep. That's awesome.
Let's go. You guys want to go through when my dog died too?

Speaker 1 Taylor, thank you so much. We definitely have to have you back on for the World Cup final.
We appreciate you joining us. It's been an awesome interview, man.
And everyone, go check.

Speaker 1 Go follow him on Twitter and see him on ESPN breaking down the World Cup.

Speaker 11 Big fan of you guys, but more importantly, I love the fact that you guys embraced this sport and it makes you guys even more compelling to listen to because you're real and you're honest, and I appreciate that.

Speaker 11 So, be good.

Speaker 1 We were just fucking with you this whole interview.

Speaker 11 I know you guys hate it.

Speaker 1 Don't tell anyone. Don't tell anyone.
We actually didn't record it at all. This is you didn't record it.

Speaker 1 Now, your credibility won't be hurt. Yeah, we just want the information.

Speaker 3 So, yeah, we're just trying to keep you off the air so there's less soccer being discussed elsewhere.

Speaker 1 Thanks, Tim.

Speaker 11 I hope to talk to you after the end of the World Cup, if you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, I'll be back.

Speaker 3 I'll definitely be back from my whirlwind vacation.

Speaker 3 Sunny Qatar.

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Speaker 3 And now for something completely different.

Speaker 1 Okay, it's time for one question with the quarterback, and we welcome on a champion.

Speaker 1 The most recent champion that could be crowned it is chad kelly swag kelly from the toronto argonauts they just won the gray cup on sunday night uh chad kelly came in off the bench led them to a game-winning drive all-time moment incredible game one question with the quarterback thank you for coming on chad let's start with this

Speaker 1 how many beers are you able to drink out of the gray cup trophy

Speaker 11 how many can we fit

Speaker 11 There's enough for at least like four or five, for sure.

Speaker 1 For sure. I can't ask a follow-up question, but that sucks because I.
Yeah, I was. So this sounds good once the question goes.

Speaker 1 There's no follow-up. I phrased it wrong.

Speaker 3 Swag, big fan, PFT comments are part of my take.

Speaker 3 How many quarterbacks in the NFL right now do you think that you could start over?

Speaker 11 50%.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 3 I was going to say higher, but that you're a modest guy.

Speaker 1 50.

Speaker 1 Okay, wait, you know,

Speaker 1 yeah, okay.

Speaker 11 I just think this is what I think. Obviously, there's a lot of off-the-field stuff, right? We all know about it.
It's all been publicized.

Speaker 11 You know, you stick a camera in a kid's face at age eight years old and give him his own day.

Speaker 11 You know, that's that's predominantly what's going to happen is that the light's going to shine a little brighter when it's good or bad, right?

Speaker 11 But I think people mistaken my on-the-field capabilities of thinking clearly right because they see that i do some dumb things off the field so i think that with me saying 50 i feel like i know the game a lot more than a lot of people because i started at such a young age and that's all i knew in order to you know make it in life i thought it was just to play in the nfl really not even play in college it was to play for the buffalo bills or someone you know that was that was the main focus my whole life okay all right i was gonna say do we want to do i should i just list should i just start listing Because that's not a question.

Speaker 1 If I started listing quarterbacks and you just say stop? We can list teams. No, well, let's just say, all right, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 3 Pause after.

Speaker 3 Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 1 Baller.

Speaker 1 Russell Wilson. These aren't questions, by the way.
Russell Wilson.

Speaker 1 Derek Carr. Derek Carr.
Oh.

Speaker 1 Okay, there we go. We have our answer.
All right. All right.
There we go. I like that.

Speaker 11 This is the thing. This is the thing.
All right. I watched all their games.
He's only thrown one big dig, right? One big end. That's what we call it.
Right. You clear it out.

Speaker 11 You throw the dig behind it. Right.
If you can only do that one time in six, seven games, I don't know what how you're supposed to say you're an NFL quarterback right now.

Speaker 3 Yeah. It's a good point.
Yeah. Kyler Murray.

Speaker 11 How are you going to put in a guy in a contract and say, hey, you got to watch this amount of film? I don't get it.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 They would never do that to your contract, swag. Nope.

Speaker 1 Facts. Facts.
Champion. All right, Billy, go ahead.

Speaker 3 Hey, Chad, what's up?

Speaker 1 Thanks for coming on.

Speaker 11 Hey, I owe you a jersey. I owe all you guys the jerseys.

Speaker 1 I have four or five sitting at home. Hell yeah.

Speaker 1 I put it up on the wall.

Speaker 7 I got you.

Speaker 9 I rocked a Chad Kelly jersey all through college at Dardy's.

Speaker 1 It's pretty awesome. And he also was wearing your jersey during the Grey Cup final on Sunday.
I'll attest to that. I was sitting right next to him, watching every play.

Speaker 9 Chad, what was the biggest

Speaker 9 hurdle when adapting to CFL football from the American game? Because I was watching it. It's pretty complicated.
What was the hardest part part as a quarterback adapting to that new style?

Speaker 11 So, y'all remember when Sam Darnold said he was seeing ghosts against the Patriots? What was it, two, three years ago? Yeah, on that Monday. Was it Monday night or Sunday night?

Speaker 11 You know what they were playing. They were playing cover zero, right? And he goes, man, I'm seeing ghosts.
I'm seeing like there's an extra guy out there. Yeah, because they're blitzing, right?

Speaker 11 They're blitzing the shit out of you. It's all cover zero.
It's man-to-man everywhere across the board.

Speaker 11 You got to get the ball out to your hot as fast as you can, or, you know, take an extra two, three steps back there and let it go down the field. That's really the the biggest thing in a CFL.

Speaker 11 You see so much cover zero, right? Where there's 12 guys, obviously on the field because there's one more, but I'm saying there is everybody is blitzing and it's man-to-man.

Speaker 11 And now these other teams, you're running 10 yards past the line of scrimmage before the ball snap. And that's full speed, but the DBs are taught to sit flat-footed at about like eight yards.

Speaker 11 So, you know, I think that's the biggest adjustment to myself is just seeing cover zero so much. Like the game that I started three weeks ago, they ran it 19 times out of 57 plays.
That's a ton.

Speaker 11 You do not see that normally. So, you know, when I got out there the other day, they ran cover zero against me.
I threw the quick shallow.

Speaker 11 And yeah, we had a punt, but that was what I was taught to do.

Speaker 11 So then when we go down to the next drive, when we scored, they played covered because they're like, all right, he already knows the protections. He knows where his hot is.
We're good.

Speaker 11 So, you know, just take an extra, extra step,

Speaker 11 take off a run.

Speaker 1 Love it. Yeah, I saw that big run.
It was sick. You got, you, it was like a 15, 20-yard run.

Speaker 1 Just putting your foot in the ground just being like fuck it. I got this it was it was awesome.

Speaker 3 This is not a question, but it's it sounds like Chad Kelly has a photographic memory.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'd say so Sean McVay Light.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's what it sounds like to people are saying sounds like he's got tremendous recall.

Speaker 1 Yeah, people are saying it. Okay,

Speaker 1 Jake.

Speaker 5 Hey, Chad, Jake, Marsh, part of my take podcast.

Speaker 1 Yo, what is an Argonaut?

Speaker 11 It is a Greek goddess from a long time ago, 1873, though. Can you believe this is how it started, man? It started on the water over here, beautiful, on Lake Ontario.

Speaker 11 And so it was a rowing club, but they were like, man, we need to do something fun during the summertime. So, guys, you started playing football and rugby, essentially.

Speaker 11 And obviously, there's rugby-ish rules where, you know, you can take off and run 15 yards past the line of scrimmage, punt it, and then whoever just punted it or is behind the ball, you can go and pick it up and score.

Speaker 1 I love it.

Speaker 1 That's a great, that's a great history lesson.

Speaker 3 The CFL has some cool rules.

Speaker 1 I'm a swag Kelly guy right now. We got to have you.
We were saying it before we started, and this is not a question.

Speaker 1 You train in New Jersey, so you're going to come in for a full interview you're coming in for the full swag kelly untapped uh acoustic set we might just do like two hours yeah so be ready bring in like

Speaker 1 yeah bring bring in like a nutrient bar or something uh hank your question what's up chad uh henry lockwood part of my take barcel sports we can't all do this it's jake's thing i stole it from jake by mistake today yeah i should i'm just trying to okay all right give him some context on who i am hank's the guy who never gets the lottery ball machine Anyway, Chad,

Speaker 6 I'm just curious, what's the number one song in the Chad Kelly music playlist right now? What have you been bumping the most recently?

Speaker 11 Man,

Speaker 11 NBA Youngboy, Pop Out.

Speaker 11 I mean, NBA Young Boy, Hot Boy, you know.

Speaker 1 What was going on?

Speaker 11 Before the game, though, I was on Black Youngster.

Speaker 1 Okay. Okay.

Speaker 11 Love that. And that was like some serious, you know, not going to lie.
That's some gangster music right there, straight from Memphis.

Speaker 1 I like it.

Speaker 11 I was on some demon time to wake up in the morning.

Speaker 1 I love it. Fuck yes.
Demon time to win the great cup. Max,

Speaker 1 this is the last question from us, and then you get a question.

Speaker 8 I just want to know how many beers you personally drank out of the

Speaker 1 cup. That's a great follow-up question.
Out of the cup, I think only like two or three. Okay, that's good.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 But you have to have at least a couple.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 11 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Hey, so, so let me tell you, tell y'all this.
I didn't even get to celebrate with the team for 15, 20 minutes after the game. You want to know why?

Speaker 11 Because they wanted a drug test.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 Like, PUs?

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 11 I played 10 snaps and make drug tests.

Speaker 3 That's a reputation call.

Speaker 1 That's not a drug. That's not random.
That's not random. That's not random.
That's not. No, no, no, no.
Swag, that is not random.

Speaker 11 I told the guy that was testing me. I said,

Speaker 11 I'm going to tweet about this. He's like, oh, man, don't do that.
Don't do that.

Speaker 1 What do you mean you were going to tweet about it? Like, while he was holding your dick, you were going to tweet?

Speaker 1 This ain't random, baby. This ain't random.

Speaker 1 All right. So, swag, your question to us.

Speaker 11 I don't have any, man. Y'all are just funny.
I watch y'all all the time. The boys love you.
And it's always love, man. I know back in the day, we were like, ah, do we like these guys? Do we not?

Speaker 11 Nah, we like guys.

Speaker 1 So it's always good. We listen.

Speaker 1 We bust balls. We might say some shit, but it is all love.
And

Speaker 1 I really do want you to come into the studio and let's do the whole interview because it would be, I think people would really enjoy it. And in person would be great.
And congrats again, man.

Speaker 1 Awesome, awesome achievement.

Speaker 11 I appreciate you guys.

Speaker 11 Y'all are fun to listen to.

Speaker 3 Yeah. You won't find any bigger swag Kelly fans than the guys in this room right now.
We will be your biggest cheerleader. So, yeah, I look forward to that.

Speaker 11 How many jerseys do I need to send up there?

Speaker 3 If you want to send like...

Speaker 1 Actually, just say, I mean, really, send one that we can frame. like that would be cool.
We'll put it up. We'll put it up on the wall perfect.
Yeah. Perfect.
Billy wants to wear one.

Speaker 6 Yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 Somebody send two. Send two.
Send two. Billy will wear one and we'll put one up on the wall and it'll be sick.

Speaker 11 Say no more. Okay.

Speaker 1 Awesome. Well, thanks so much, man.
Appreciate it. Congrats.

Speaker 11 I appreciate you guys, man.

Speaker 1 All right. See ya.
See ya.

Speaker 3 Man, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 16 When you're hungry out there, you start acting like a rookie quarterback in his first game, making bad decisions, messing up the basics, being all out of sorts. That's where Snickers comes in, man.

Speaker 16 That thing is packed: roasted peanuts, nugget, caramel, milk, chocolate. It's like the MVP of candy bars.

Speaker 16 And when you bite into it, boom, it sorts you out, gets your head back in the game of life, satisfying your hunger. Remember this: Snickers handles your hunger so you can handle everything else.

Speaker 16 Snickers satisfies, man. That's a winning play.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 let's do some week 12 preview.

Speaker 1 Week 12, we'll obviously,

Speaker 1 if you just tuned into this because you have to work, we'll know how Thursday went.

Speaker 1 Week 12 slate, not the best. Yeah.

Speaker 1 There's a couple good, good games.

Speaker 3 I kind of like it. Yeah.
You know what? It's a really good slate on paper.

Speaker 1 Yeah. If you

Speaker 3 win the Rams are good. If you went into a coma at some point over the summer and just woke up right now, you'd be like, damn, this NFL Sunday kicks ass.

Speaker 1 Yeah, like Rams, Chiefs, Packers, Eagles, Packers, Eagles. This is awesome.

Speaker 3 Yeah, this is going to be Raiders, Seahawks.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Bucks, Browns. Browns are going to be good this year.
Yep. You're right.
So let's just pretend that this entire slate we're doing this in August and it's a fucking loaded slate. Yep.

Speaker 1 Okay, so we'll do our four picks, talk about every game, then send everyone on their way to Thanksgiving. Hank,

Speaker 1 favorite, favorite. Whoa.

Speaker 1 Favorite favorite, Hank.

Speaker 6 My favorite favorite, favorite, sorry.

Speaker 6 Cowboys.

Speaker 3 So we're going to go with Sunday.

Speaker 6 Got it.

Speaker 1 Doesn't count.

Speaker 3 We're going to go with Sunday. We just hit Thanksgiving, remember?

Speaker 1 Oh, and you deserve this one.

Speaker 1 88.

Speaker 1 88 degrees.

Speaker 6 My favorite favorite is Miami Dolphins minus 13 against the Houston Texans.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 6 Texans are basically a college football team. Could Alabama beat the Texans?

Speaker 1 Well, I guess not Alabama. Could Georgia beat the Texans? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Could TCU beat the Texans? Yes.

Speaker 1 I think so, too. Yeah, definitely.
Definitely Texans. I think that's actually, but yes.

Speaker 1 Okay. Dolphins, like,

Speaker 1 it's always, when you have a bye this late in the season, I forget that you exist. You know what I mean? Like, I forgot the Dolphins are one of the very good teams in the NFL.

Speaker 3 It's kind of like a double buy because you get to play the Texans as well.

Speaker 6 I also think Mike McDaniels is a big, I feel like he cooks cooks in the bye week. Like an offensive-minded,

Speaker 6 schemy guy. Yeah.
When you have an extra week to just scheme.

Speaker 3 He's been thinking of some shit. Yeah.
Just marinating on it for a while.

Speaker 3 We need to, as a podcast, just make a collective decision to always call him Mike McDaniels and always call the other guy Josh McDaniel.

Speaker 1 I like that.

Speaker 3 I like that. Does that work?

Speaker 1 The also, the Texans might be the rarest case ever for a one, eight, and one team. They kind of have a look-ahead spot.

Speaker 1 It's very hard to do, but a one-eight and one team with a look-ahead spot, they do play the Browns in Deshaun Watson next week. Okay.

Speaker 1 That's almost impossible to have a look-ahead spot. That's probably the only way that it goes.
The only way.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 if you want to throw that into your handicap, a look-ahead spot. All right.

Speaker 3 So what's going to happen is the Texans are going to find a way to win this game out there. Yeah, right.

Speaker 3 After all that we've put into this, because

Speaker 3 everything says that the Texans are completely giving up and that the Dolphins are going to come out there there and put 50 on them.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.
I do not know how they're going to guard the Dolphins.

Speaker 1 Okay, Max, your favorite favorite?

Speaker 8 Jets minus four and a half.

Speaker 8 Fields is banged up.

Speaker 8 Yep. Fields is banged up.
And if he doesn't play, that offense could be horrendous against a good Jets defense.

Speaker 1 I think it's Trevor Simeon if he doesn't play.

Speaker 1 Which, exactly. Yeah.
Yikes.

Speaker 1 We're not built to

Speaker 1 pass protect for a immobile quarterback.

Speaker 3 What if they just have him run the Justin Fields offense?

Speaker 1 If this, I mean, I'd like to just see

Speaker 1 watching him be like, be like, oh, Trevor Simeon's loose. Oh, that's another five-yard loss.
But yeah,

Speaker 1 if Justin Fields doesn't play, this game is going to be horrendous for the Bears. Yeah.
Horrendous.

Speaker 1 For America. Yeah, the Jeff Stevens is already elite.
To go against Trevor Simeon would be an absolute laugher. Yep.

Speaker 1 Okay. PFT, your favorite favorite?

Speaker 3 Okay, my favorite favorite is the Washington Commanders. Usually I don't crap where I eat, but minus four and a half.
We got Chase Young coming back.

Speaker 3 Logan Thomas is going to feast on the sub-par linebackers from the Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 3 Probably going to have two kick returns for touchdowns. I think our special teams are going to be locked and loaded extra special.

Speaker 3 Yeah, but Logan Thomas, probably at least two touchdowns. Special teams, at least two touchdowns.
Parlay that and just eat money. You're just going to be eating money all weekend.

Speaker 3 This is going to be amazing.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 1 I like that pick as well.

Speaker 1 My favorite favorite,

Speaker 1 speaking of losing track of teams during the buy later on in the season,

Speaker 1 I do feel like Tom Brady's bye and he's going to come back and they're going to rattle off some wins and everyone's going to be like, watch out for Tom Brady. Like the NFC's wide open.

Speaker 1 Don't forget about Tom Brady. I think it starts with the Browns minus three and a half.

Speaker 1 I wish it was minus three, not three and a half, but I still think the Bucs are just a better team than the Browns. And I don't know, like, the Bucs defense will be able to shut down the Browns.

Speaker 1 So it's essentially if the

Speaker 1 same as the whole season for the Bucs. If they can have competent offense, they should win this game by double digits.

Speaker 3 You are still addicted to betting on the Browns.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I am.

Speaker 3 100%. That's what's going on right now.

Speaker 1 I mean, listen. I've made some money back the last couple weeks.

Speaker 1 They've done me well. They covered against the Rams.
They covered against the Seahawks. They're going to cover against the Browns.

Speaker 9 Brady's dealing with a lot of off-the-field issues right now.

Speaker 1 Well, he has all season.

Speaker 9 No, but even more now.

Speaker 1 He's getting sued. Well, no, I know that happened a few weeks ago.
Like, he's, I think that, I think

Speaker 1 he's had so much shit off-the-field that I think that the 60 minutes that he's between the white lines actually is a respite for him.

Speaker 3 He lives for this right now. Right.

Speaker 1 Like, this is the only time that he can't have anyone text him that he's getting sued for another thing. Giselle texts him being like, hey, my kung fu instructor just chokes, chokeslammed me again.

Speaker 1 Like, he can't have any of that happen. He's completely on his own for those 60 minutes.

Speaker 3 So,

Speaker 3 this is probably his first Thanksgiving where they have to figure out what's going on with the family. Well,

Speaker 3 that's going to be tough for him. Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 3 I'm just saying, I'm not saying as an, I'm not trying to poke fun at Tom Brady. I'm saying, like, that's a shitty situation.

Speaker 1 It is. No, that sucks.
Yeah, it absolutely sucks. Billy, your favorite favorite?

Speaker 9 Seahawks by three and a half.

Speaker 1 Oh, he didn't go with the Jets.

Speaker 9 So, basically. Against the Raiders.

Speaker 3 Against the Raiders.

Speaker 9 Last season, I ended up in last place because I was taking the Jets all the time. I'm just going to stay away from the Jets just because I don't want to bowl a thousand times.

Speaker 3 Starting now?

Speaker 1 Starting week 11. Starting week 12.
Week 12, yeah. Okay.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Smart. Okay.
All right.

Speaker 9 So you're all. No, you don't fuck it.
Jets.

Speaker 1 That's my Billy. Listen, you'll get great line value if Trevor Simeon plays.

Speaker 9 Yeah, I'm getting Jets, and that's also my over.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay.

Speaker 9 I'm just fucking, I'm going in with it.

Speaker 1 Nice. I like it, really.

Speaker 3 Yeah, Yeah, listen, I don't want you to clip your own wings. Okay, that's for us to do.

Speaker 1 That was the least amount of resistance we could have possibly given for you to switch your mind. Sack Wilson.
TFT just said, oh, week 12? 39 and a half over.

Speaker 9 Over. He's putting up like seven touchdowns.
Because if he doesn't,

Speaker 9 we're done.

Speaker 1 Seven touchdowns. What does this stat line have to be for you to be back in?

Speaker 9 250 yards. Three touchdowns, I'd say.
Three touchdowns.

Speaker 1 No, yeah.

Speaker 3 The honest answer. Billy is going to be totally back in if he throws for 200 yards and no interceptions.

Speaker 1 Or not even 200 yards. If he throws 100 yards, but one of them is a Patrick Mahomes-like throw.
Yeah, if he platforms, if he throws three touchdowns, he can have one interception, but over 250 yards.

Speaker 3 As a treat. Okay.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 1 Oh, so Seahawks Raiders. I like that pick, Billy, just because the Raiders, like, they won.
They're feeling good. They're not good.
They're not good. And it's in Seattle.
Seattle off the bye.

Speaker 1 They had a pretty disappointing disappointing game against the Bucs in Germany.

Speaker 1 Get themselves right. I like this.
It might be in the Camp Lose Parlay. I like that.

Speaker 1 I've won four in a row, Billy. Four in a row can't lose parlays.
That's a good thing. Oh, but you took the Jets.

Speaker 8 I'm going to go back.

Speaker 5 Okay. Well, you know what's crazy? If Billy wants to watch Zach Wilson or Joe Flacco, he can use the Game Time app.
Tickets to get in are just $64.

Speaker 1 Yeah, whoa. Okay, so maybe not a premier game.
All right, so check out the Game Time app, exclusive ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. What's your favorite favorite?

Speaker 5 I am taking the Ravens minus four at the Jaguars. This is a sketchy line, and I'm taking the trap.
Okay. Okay, you're falling for it.
Falling for it.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Interesting.

Speaker 1 I'm nervous about this game. I think the Ravens, I feel like the Jaguars, again, another team off of bye.

Speaker 1 You'll get the best Jaguars effort.

Speaker 1 That might not mean they can cover, though.

Speaker 3 Yeah, so the thing about the Ravens is they go up 10 points against every team that they play. This, to me, screams like backdoor at the very end.

Speaker 3 Jaguars do something weird, score a touchdown, completely meaningless score. But I understand your logic because everything about this game does, like, you look at it, Ravens, Jaguars, four points.

Speaker 3 You feel like the Ravens win this by 10. But I get the logic.

Speaker 1 Okay, Hank.

Speaker 3 That's a draw. That's another draw.
Hope you guys are taking the draws in the World Cup.

Speaker 6 Very profitable. Year 10, boys.

Speaker 6 Year 10.

Speaker 1 Okay. Falcons.
All right. Plus four.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay.

Speaker 6 That's the Commanders.

Speaker 3 You know, Chase Young's coming back.

Speaker 1 You know what Chase? But you said yourself,

Speaker 1 and I agree with your take. He does look badass on the sideline.

Speaker 3 You lose that. He's a great cheerleader on the sideline.
You lose that.

Speaker 1 You lose that little punch on the sideline. That's true.

Speaker 3 All right. Whatever, Hank.
That's fine. I expected this.

Speaker 1 Okay. It's not you.
It's Will. It is Will.
You got to ride with the boys.

Speaker 1 Go ahead, Matt. Does year 10 mean nothing to you?

Speaker 3 No, I love it. I'm very excited.
It It means a lot. I'm excited for Will.
It means a lot.

Speaker 6 Sounds like you're a little jealous.

Speaker 3 No, me and Big Cat helped get him on this round.

Speaker 1 We were on the text thread being like, we've been...

Speaker 3 Coach Smith,

Speaker 3 you have to do this. We've been his biggest proponents.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Go ahead, Max. Your favorite underdog.

Speaker 8 I'm taking the Browns plus three and a half. I don't know why, but I'm taking the Browns.
Because I took the Bucs. That's fine.

Speaker 3 Just say it.

Speaker 3 I thought about the Browns.

Speaker 1 Just say it.

Speaker 8 I don't know. I feel like the Bucs have looked all right recently, and I think that they stink.

Speaker 8 But the Browns also stink. But three and a half.

Speaker 1 It's got to be weird energy, though, for the Browns, being like next week is Deshaun Watson week.

Speaker 3 Right, but on that same token, I think that Jacoby Brissett is pumped, knowing like this is finally the end. I can empty the tank.
Do you want to be able to do it? Whatever is in.

Speaker 3 Do you want Kobe Brissett?

Speaker 1 What's going to say? Do you want Jacoby Brissette trying to empty the tank? That sounds dangerous.

Speaker 3 I think sometimes you do. By the way, I think Jacoby Brissett's getting bigger as the season goes on.
I do, too. He's huge now.

Speaker 1 He's probably like, well, I'm working out every Sunday, so I got to make up for this calorie deficit. Yeah, true.
Just eat carbs all week. Okay, your favorite underdog, PFT.

Speaker 3 I'm going Jags plus four at home against the Ravens. I just think it's going to be backdoor.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 It feels like a weird spot for the Jaguars, and there's no real reason why I like them against the Ravens. Just I think that the Ravens, like I said, they'll get up by 10 points.

Speaker 3 Jaguars score a late touchdown, and Ravens win by three.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 I'm going to go with the Titans, plus one and a half. Personal revenge for the playoff game they lost to the Bengals last year.
Jamar Chase still not back. Joe Mixon may be out, right?

Speaker 1 Do we get a word on how bad Joe Mixon is hurt?

Speaker 8 It's concussion. I feel like he's

Speaker 1 a protocol thing. Yeah, so he might be out.
The Titans are just, I mean, they're underdogs at home. No one ever respects them, myself included.

Speaker 1 I'm ready to just go into a fistfight with Mike Vrabel as my coach.

Speaker 1 Your favorite underdog, Billy.

Speaker 1 My favorite underdog are the

Speaker 9 Titans by one and a half against the Cincinnati Bengals. Just like them.
Okay.

Speaker 6 Okay. That's a game they can win.

Speaker 1 Okay. Let's go, Billy.
Let's ride. I'm riding with you guys.

Speaker 1 One and a half. Wow.
All of us on it. Yeah.
All of us on it.

Speaker 1 I will say, I feel like group picks have done okay this year.

Speaker 5 I'll have to dig up the numbers, but this isn't the first time.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, I feel like we, I mean, we're so bad that it's shocking if anything is good. If any deep numbers are good,

Speaker 1 that's like we should just cling on to it and be like, holy shit, how did we do this?

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Speaker 6 Henry, Ravens, Ravens, Jaguars, over.

Speaker 1 Okay. 44.

Speaker 1 Ooh, any reasoning why?

Speaker 6 Two good, competent quarterbacks means a lot of offense in my mind.

Speaker 3 Trevor Lawrence, competent.

Speaker 1 Absolutely competent. Okay.
Absolutely capable.

Speaker 6 If the Jaguars scored 30 points, would you blink?

Speaker 3 I think you just nailed it.

Speaker 1 I wouldn't call him competent. Maybe.

Speaker 6 I might blink.

Speaker 1 I wouldn't call him competent. I would call him capable.
Yes. Capable.
He is capable of anything.

Speaker 6 You would not be surprised if it was was a 34-31 game. I would blink.

Speaker 3 I would blink a few times. Not like the guy from the GIF that's blinking, but I would...

Speaker 3 Like a moderate amount of surprise.

Speaker 1 He is competent of being capable. For sure.
I think it's the perfect way to put it.

Speaker 3 Or capable of being competent.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 capable of being competent.

Speaker 6 And the Ravens, even when they're up, they blow leads in the fourth quarter. Like, no over is safe.
No under is safe with the Ravens.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 3 Go ahead, Max.

Speaker 8 Chargers, Cardinals over.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 3 These Chargers.

Speaker 5 47 and a half.

Speaker 3 I fall in and out of love with the Chargers on a bi-weekly basis. Yeah.
Like right after the games, I get that post-game clarity and I hate them. And then later on in the week, I'm like,

Speaker 3 I can't wait to see the Chargers again this weekend. Did you see fireworks?

Speaker 1 Our good friend Emmanuel Acho was so close to getting the take correct. I love whenever a talking head is right around the take and he can't nail it.

Speaker 1 He was like, Justin Herbert is a social media quarterback. And I was like, no,

Speaker 1 the Chargers are a social media team. Justin Herbert's not the problem.
He's like, if anyone else throws an interception at the end of the game, they get flamed.

Speaker 1 It's like, I think Justin Herbert is doing a lot for this team.

Speaker 1 It's the rest of the team that can't quite get over the.

Speaker 3 Yeah, no, he's made some incredible throws. Right.

Speaker 1 He's been playing with broken ribs for what feels like three months now. Okay, your favorite over PFT.

Speaker 3 Can I have permission to say if Joe Flacco plays, I would like to take the Jets Bears over.

Speaker 3 Yes. Can I do that?

Speaker 3 And then can I put in

Speaker 3 if he doesn't?

Speaker 1 What about Justin Fields, too?

Speaker 3 This is strictly based on Flacco. It's the Flacco over.

Speaker 1 Okay. All right.
Is that okay? Yes. If Joe Flacco plays, he has to start.

Speaker 3 If Joe Flacco starts, correct.

Speaker 1 If Joe Flacco starts, you get the over.

Speaker 3 I want the over in this, which is

Speaker 3 39.5.

Speaker 1 Well, it might change, because Joe Flacco.

Speaker 3 I'll take the adjusted Flacco.

Speaker 1 Okay, fair, fair, okay.

Speaker 1 Is that work? That's allowed.

Speaker 3 Yep. Okay, because this might be my last time to ever bet on Joe Flacco.
That's allowed.

Speaker 3 That's allowed. Now, if he doesn't, I'm going to call an Audible, and I'm going to go with

Speaker 3 the Saints and the 49ers. Same.
43. Same.
That's what I've got. Same.

Speaker 1 Same. Now, the thing that makes me a little nervous about that is you have Jimmy G and Andy Dalton coming off of good games respectively.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 That makes me nervous. But it's not primetime.

Speaker 1 It's not prime time. But that does, you know, like that's...

Speaker 1 That's like they just hit Blackjack on the table. Yeah.
I'm waiting for them to get a 16 against a face card.

Speaker 3 Maybe Andy's just in a stride. And the nice thing about Jimmy G is...

Speaker 3 Even if he comes out and has one of his trademark Jimmy G egg games, they can just hand the ball off and hand the ball off, and they'll probably still score 24 points if they do that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, that's true. All right, so I'm on that with you, Billy.
Go ahead, your favorite over. Oh, you have the Jets.
Yeah. So what's it at right now? 39.5.
39.5, locked in. That will be a problem.

Speaker 1 You'll basically get the benefit. If Trevor Simeon starts, your over is fucked, but the Jets is a great line value.

Speaker 9 Well, what the Jets need to do is blow out this team and just statement win, show the offense works, and that's what they need.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 1 Go ahead, Jake.

Speaker 5 I'm taking Rams, Chiefs over 44. This is simply a respect pick off of their last matchup together, 54 to 51.

Speaker 1 That's the last time they played.

Speaker 5 Yeah, 2018, 2022.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 So you have to, you see the teams. It doesn't matter the context.
It's just

Speaker 5 105 points last time. I like it.
Oh, they only need 44?

Speaker 1 Easy. Do you are you a little nervous about the fact it might be Bryce Perkins?

Speaker 8 No, because

Speaker 1 Chiefs can put up 54 again. That's true.
They could.

Speaker 1 All right, let's finish this off. 51.
With the unders.

Speaker 1 Send everyone off.

Speaker 1 Henry. Daniel.

Speaker 1 My under.

Speaker 1 Look, we're like almost ready for vacation. We're 10 minutes away from vacation.

Speaker 3 The vibes are good. Not me.

Speaker 6 That's what I got work to do.

Speaker 2 You work so fucking hard. I know.

Speaker 6 Fuck you.

Speaker 1 Doesn't count.

Speaker 6 But it's like not even funny because no one's even picking numbers.

Speaker 1 No, I know. But it's funny because it's sending some good.
69. 16.

Speaker 1 Oh, so close.

Speaker 6 Gotta to spread my wings.

Speaker 6 My under is Jets Bears. If it's Zach Wilson versus Trevor Simeon, and you bet the over, you're a crazy person.
I'd agree. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Did you write that down? Are you trying to.

Speaker 1 Are you trying to fade Billy?

Speaker 9 Because we're tied.

Speaker 1 Ooh. It's a little early to do that.
It's week 12. It's a little early.

Speaker 6 I don't know if you heard the beginning when I picked the Cowboys.

Speaker 1 I didn't write anything down. Yeah, that's true.
And also,

Speaker 1 we will start doing the, like, you have to do a secret ballot when we get to the last few weeks of the season.

Speaker 3 It It doesn't really take a genius to naturally fade Billy, though.

Speaker 1 Also, like, you're just going to take the

Speaker 6 I had to watch Zach Wilson last week. And, yeah, fading you is actually.

Speaker 1 If I was, I'm not going to get into it.

Speaker 6 Okay.

Speaker 1 Zach Wilson.

Speaker 6 Zach Wilson's the worst quarterback in the NFL. Trevor Simeon, great guy.
Shout out to Trevor Simeon. But you haven't played in Justin Fields' offense.
It's not going to be good. No.

Speaker 6 Either way, Justin Fields is banged up.

Speaker 1 Give him the under. Yeah.
All right. Max.

Speaker 8 I'm fading you two. I have Niners.

Speaker 1 What the fuck? Under.

Speaker 1 What the fuck, dude? Why does that? Why did you do that?

Speaker 1 You love fading these.

Speaker 8 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just am.
It's strategic. That's what I was going for.
I was, you know, I'm trying to catch Big Cat.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay. All right.

Speaker 1 Go ahead, PFT.

Speaker 3 My under, I'm going to go Texans Dolphins. Just because I do think that there's a possibility that the Texans

Speaker 3 make this... Well,

Speaker 3 they are garbage. They are garbage.
We know that.

Speaker 1 46.

Speaker 3 But they also could make it just really, really ugly.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I could see that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Absolutely. Okay.
My under,

Speaker 1 I'm surprised it's still on the board. No one's talked about this game.
It's a terrible game. Broncos Panthers under 36.
It is very low.

Speaker 1 Very low. Oh, my God.
The Broncos, though, are 9-1 to the under. And their unders have been, like, under 40 in like the last four or five weeks.
So it's

Speaker 1 they just can't score and they have a good defense.

Speaker 3 Well, somehow they've actually figured out a way to make unders entertaining because they keep getting lower and lower and lower.

Speaker 3 And you keep getting challenged to bet on the under and you keep saying to yourself, there's no way that Russell Wilson could be this bad yet again.

Speaker 3 And so it is actually kind of an exhilarating over to bet.

Speaker 1 It absolutely is because if they score a touchdown the first quarter, you feel like you're fucked. Yeah.
One touchdown in the first 15 minutes, and you're like, I'm dead.

Speaker 3 Do you see that they waived Melvin Gordon?

Speaker 1 Oh, they did? Yeah.

Speaker 3 So that it seemed like it was maybe going to happen earlier this season when he fumbled again. But I think they actually gave him a real honest-to-God,

Speaker 3 what's the word that I'm looking for?

Speaker 3 Ultimatum, which is the next time you fumble, we're going to fire you. Right.
And it lasted for a long time. Like, he hasn't fumbled for most of the season.

Speaker 3 But I guess they just stuck true to their word. And they're like, oh, you fumbled last week.
We told you, next time you're gone.

Speaker 1 Yeah, this was very clear. Yeah.
You couldn't have been more clear about this. You knew it was going to happen.
Yeah. Okay, Unders, Billy, and Jake.
Let's wrap it up.

Speaker 9 Packers, Eagles, 46.5.

Speaker 1 I feel like even though he has struggled this season, the the way to play aaron rodgers is try to keep him up the field eagles are going to run the ball clock's going to run down uh eagles just doing long running drives it's going to be an under and the packers can't score okay yeah i don't i don't hate sunday night unders feel like they hit all the time maybe not last week but every other week uh every time they bet i bet the over uh jake uh if the group allows it i'd like to forfeit my under after taking the under against the big gobble i feel no no that was come on you can still win it it's the last game.

Speaker 1 Okay, you're good. I feel bad.
No, no, no. You shouldn't feel bad.
I did that just because it was funny. Like, okay.

Speaker 5 I'm rooting for the big gobble.

Speaker 1 The Lions are going to score 80 points. Yes.
The Lions Bills game is going to be 80 points. You're going to have no problem.
We're going to need like 14 points in the big game. Deal.

Speaker 5 I'm also taking Bears Jets under 39.5.

Speaker 1 Okay. Okay.

Speaker 1 Bears Jets under 39.5. Any games that we missed? I think we hit them all.
Let's see. We.

Speaker 5 Monday night.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Monday night. This is tough.

Speaker 3 Steelers, Colts.

Speaker 1 Real tough.

Speaker 5 Also, my flex of the year, I think, is dead.

Speaker 1 Oh, is it?

Speaker 5 By the time you're listening, it'll already be officially dead, but it has to be by the end of the day, today. And I looked, and Schefter tweeted it for last week's game around 11 a.m.

Speaker 5 Oh, no,

Speaker 5 but they took the Cowboys out in 2020. So it has happened before.
Yeah, but they were bad that year.

Speaker 3 Jake, you picked a hell of a time to call your Flex of the Year right off the bat against the Cowboys.

Speaker 5 But like Big Cat once said he's addicted to Game of the Year.

Speaker 1 It's just like, I thought of him like, oh, I'm going all in.

Speaker 3 Yeah, Flex of the Year. It was.

Speaker 1 So I hope I'm wrong. I hope we're listening.

Speaker 5 You're listening now, and you're like, and Scheffter tweeted out in the afternoon, but I retired from

Speaker 1 predicting flexes. Matt, you know what? I'm going to, you're out of the retirement.
You're coming back.

Speaker 1 I'm unretiring.

Speaker 5 I think the Patriots and Raiders play in a few weeks.

Speaker 1 Okay. So there we go.
Guys, call them that one. Yeah, you got to be the flex guy.

Speaker 1 Anything else? Anything

Speaker 1 we want to say to wrap up?

Speaker 1 It feels always Thanksgiving feels like we've made it to the other side of football season.

Speaker 3 Not that I'm a little bit sad. I'm sad.
I mean, Thanksgiving is a great holiday, and I love vacations probably more than anybody in this room, but it is sad that football season is almost, you know.

Speaker 1 We've done more football than we have.

Speaker 3 I almost said that football season is a lot of people.

Speaker 1 I think so much you're going on a work trip during one.

Speaker 3 Yeah, someone's got to pay these bills.

Speaker 1 It's true.

Speaker 3 How do you think you're able to afford your vacations, Hank?

Speaker 1 That's a fact. I couldn't even tell you the last one.
It does, though.

Speaker 3 By the way, this trip is sponsored by Stella Blue Coffee.

Speaker 1 So drinks Stella Blue Coffee.

Speaker 3 Stella Blue, your number one coffee for all your coffee needs.

Speaker 1 StellaBlueCoffee.com. Go check it out.
Rave reviews coming in. But yeah, this does feel, it feels like nut crunching time after Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 It's definitely nut crunching time.

Speaker 1 It's like, who's going to actually do something here?

Speaker 3 Nut cutting time, I would like to say.

Speaker 1 Nut cutting time, yeah.

Speaker 9 Thankful for football.

Speaker 3 Yeah, thanks, Billy.

Speaker 1 Thankful for football. Don't forget to

Speaker 1 go.

Speaker 9 Don't get convinced to do some turkey trot this Thanksgiving. Go sling the pigskin with the neighborhood kids.

Speaker 1 Just throw throw it around. Yeah.
I like that, Billy. That's a good thing.

Speaker 9 Not enough guys. Like, COVID's over.
Go find the

Speaker 9 neighbors and go play football.

Speaker 3 You know what? I actually think Instagram has ruined the neighborhood football game on Thanksgiving. Because everyone wants to do their fun run, take a picture, that whole thing.

Speaker 3 Just go out play football.

Speaker 9 Go clothesline your neighbor.

Speaker 8 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, get really hurt. Have at least someone at Thanksgiving be like badly, badly hurt.

Speaker 9 Get some rough touch.

Speaker 3 The people in the hospital, in the ER right now, they're lonely. They're working on Thanksgiving.
Go pay them a visit.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they would love to hear the story about how you would have caught it if you didn't blow out your Achilles.

Speaker 1 That's exactly what they want on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 We'll see everyone on Monday. No show Friday, obviously.
Be safe.

Speaker 1 69.

Speaker 3 Everybody out there

Speaker 3 use Ubers and Lyfts. Yes.
Nobody gets in trouble this weekend.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.
Do that.

Speaker 5 Hank, have you ever gotten this? Nope. Today's date is 1-1-2-2-2-2.
So I feel like, whoa, I might change it up and go 22.

Speaker 1 Oh. Okay.
I'm going to go 64. I'm going to go.
17.

Speaker 3 You're going 11?

Speaker 5 Because 1-1-2-2-2-2.

Speaker 1 You're going 11. Going 11.

Speaker 6 17. And I see 17.
I don't like where it's placed right now.

Speaker 1 Will you pick a number for me, Hank?

Speaker 3 Almost getting stuck.

Speaker 1 All right, fine.

Speaker 6 Thank you. 72.

Speaker 1 72. Thank you, Hank.
What do you see at the bottom?

Speaker 9 20. It's actually right at the top.

Speaker 1 20. All right, thank you, Hank.
All right, 72 is my number.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 8 would this be a Thanksgiving miracle?

Speaker 1 Hank hasn't collaborated.

Speaker 3 I've got 17 shows left, by the way.

Speaker 1 I've seen 11 bounce rounds. Oh, my God.
64 again. And I guessed it and had Hank that backfired.
Three out of four. It's a wagon.
Back to back. That backfired.
That never has happened before.

Speaker 3 That actually might be our first dynasty.

Speaker 1 That's true. 64 is now tied with 52 for the lead.
I don't care if I hit him. Wow, nine times.
That's funny that that happened. You should have taken 64 when I I asked.
Don't do this.

Speaker 1 No, you gave me a number. I took 72.
You should have hoped. Three shows in a row.
That's insane.

Speaker 3 I love that Jake is legitimately

Speaker 1 ready to jump out of the way. That's the odds of that.

Speaker 3 It's crazy.

Speaker 9 Where are you putting it in when you put it back in?

Speaker 1 Right here.

Speaker 3 Same place all the balls go, Billy. Right here.

Speaker 9 Maybe the place is.

Speaker 6 Yeah, but he just pulled out like seven balls, too.

Speaker 1 Yeah. How many repeats are there? Hank,

Speaker 1 it's never been easier to guess. Imagine if your favorite number was 64.
Yeah, and it's also never been easier

Speaker 1 to guess the lottery ball number. It's never been easier.

Speaker 5 You have to guess 64 next show.

Speaker 1 I don't have to do shit.

Speaker 3 If 64 pops up next show, I think we have to retire it.

Speaker 5 Well, it's time for the lead of 56.

Speaker 1 No, you got to keep it going. Greatness.
Greatness doesn't quit.

Speaker 3 Maybe make it walk away for a couple of seasons and play a different sport.

Speaker 1 All right. Well, from our family to yours, happy Thanksgiving.
We'll see everyone on Monday.

Speaker 3 Let us be the first to wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

Speaker 9 Ben Franklin wanted the national symbol to not be the bald eagle, but the turkey, because the turkey is only found in the continental United States.

Speaker 1 Love you guys. You know who the real turkey is.

Speaker 1 for your love again.

Speaker 1 You've been so good to me.

Speaker 1 Give me your hand.

Speaker 1 You've been so good to me.

Speaker 1 You love sadly.

Speaker 1 Take on me.

Speaker 1 Take on me.

Speaker 1 Say after me

Speaker 1 to be safe and sorry. Say after me.

Speaker 1 Life's the better to be safe and sorry. Things that you say,

Speaker 1 little I thought. But just to play my worries away,

Speaker 1 you all think I've got to remember. You shine away.

Speaker 1 Love and coming to be a whole money light.

Speaker 1 You're shy and oil.

Speaker 1 Love and coming to be a whole money light. You pay for time.