As the NBA Turns, 2024 Teen Culture Awards, and Million-Dollar Picks with Joe House and Zoe Simmons

The Ringer Sunday pregame show is my favorite Sunday morning show.

You can watch it on YouTube TV.

Just subscribe to it on YouTube TV.

It pops up at 11 a.m. ET, 8 a.m.
PT.

You can watch it on FanDuel TV.

You can watch it on FanDuel's Fast Channel as well.

JJ, Raheem, House, Cousin Sal, for an hour and a half,

breaking down all the games that are about to happen in the NFL on Sundays.

Special guests.

I pop on there from time to time. Playoffs were blown out.
We're going to be Saturday, Sunday, the first two weeks. We're going to be live in LA on Saturday and Sunday in round one.
So be ready. The Ringer, the Sunday pregame show.
Subscribe, follow, check it out. This episode is brought to you by Intuit TurboTax.
Taxes was waiting and wondering and worrying. It's almost like how in the old days of fantasy football, we used to have to tally the scores on a Monday and then the commissioner would just mail them out to everybody and you'd wait three days to see if you won.
Those were the old ways of doing it. Now Taxes is matching with a TurboTax live full service expert who gives your taxes their undivided attention.
They can file your taxes as soon as today and And while they do, you get real-time updates on their progress, meaning you can get back to what's important, the game. Now, this is taxes into a TurboTax.
Get an expert now on TurboTax.com. This episode is brought to you by Verbo Private Vacation Rentals.
With Verbo, you always get the whole house so you and your fellow fans can cheer on your team in peace. What's worse than watching a game with somebody who's not rooting for the same team you're rooting for? Nothing.
But that's why if you book a vacation house with Vrbo, you know all the people in your house. They'll be friends.
They'll be family. Ideally, they'll be the ones who also root for my teams.
Plan a winning vacation. Make it a Vrbo.
We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. Put up a new rewatchables on Monday night.
We did Home Alone 2, a classic Christmas movie. We did that on Spotify as a video podcast.
So you can watch it on Spotify. You can watch it on the Ringer Movies YouTube channel as well.
You can watch a lot of the clips and videos from this podcast on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel. Hope you had an awesome holiday.
The sports is really fun. We're about to talk about all the basketball and the rest of the million dollar picks, which we did a little early batch, me and house on Tuesday for YouTube only probably should have probably should have given more of a heads up on that, but we wanted to get some Christmas picks.
We did really well. Now we're going to keep the magic going later in this podcast after we talk hoops.
After at the very top, I'm going to talk about this Jimmy Butler Miami situation for a second. And then last but not least, my daughter who always comes on near the end of every year to do her teen culture awards.
And it's a bittersweet year because she's coming on and this is the last year we're doing Teen Culture

because this is the last holiday

she's going to be a teenager. She turns 20 next year.

So we had a lot

of stuff to cover. It was

very, very fun. We actually did it as a

video piece this year too,

which you'll eventually be able to watch on the Bill Simmons

YouTube channel along with all the other stuff we're doing

on here. It's all next.

First, our friends from Pearl Jam.

recording this Thursday mid-afternoon it is after I had already recorded the rest of the podcast but something happened with Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler that I had to mention here at the top House and I had talked about Jimmy a little bit later we took out the part that isn't relevant anymore because Pat Riley came out and he said definitively the Miami Heat are not Jimmy Butler. He's going to be on this team for the rest of the season.
Came out and said it. Put it out in a statement so people could read it.
We don't see NBA teams do this that often, but I think it speaks to a bigger picture thing that we've discussed on this podcast a couple times now this month with this new first apron, second apron, how much harder it is to do trades. The NBA is starting to look a lot more like the NFL.
It is so much harder to deal somebody during the season than it used to be, which is what Riley said. We're not dealing them during the season.
We'll figure it out during the off season. Butler's $48 million and then $52 million player option next year, which odds are he's going to he's going to exercise because nobody has cap space this summer.
The only team is Brooklyn. He's going to go to Brooklyn.
They're going to be rebuilding and just sign Jimmy Butler. I mean, it's conceivable.
I just wouldn't bet on it. And Pat Riley is looking big picture and looking at an NBA that now operates way more like the NFO, where it's way harder just to do big, complicated deals.

And he didn't like the deals that were out there.

And they clearly kicked the tires with a bunch of teams.

Houston, I think, came out and said they weren't interested.

I think they're holding out for Darren Fox, which House and I talk about in a second.

But you go around like Golden State.

What's the point of them trading for Jimmy Butler?

They're not even really a contender right now.

And they're going to give up all these assets so they can try to be the fifth best team in the West on a very short window. I'm not doing that if I'm Golden State.
I'm sure Phoenix would talk about Bradley Beal for Jimmy Butler, but why would Miami want to turn Jimmy Butler into Bradley Beal? Why would they want to do any of these trades? They already have somebody who, when he's pissed off and playing well playing well he's a top 30 guy they're not just going to take more contracts you know you go around the league like what if sacramento wanted to make some crazy bid for him with de rosen and keegan murray and a first-round pick well you know do you want de rosen's contract for the next couple years after what we've seen from him this season so you just look through the league and you can't find the trade. And I think that was the situation Miami was in.
Houston was the one team that made sense. And it just didn't seem like they were interested in him.
So I think Riley is trying to flip this. The narrative is so strong that something was going to happen that he went the other way.
And he was like, no, he's going to be here the whole season. So now Jimmy knows he can't go anywhere.
So if he could really just blow this up now, that's not great for him. That's going to make teams less excited to sign him this summer.
It could veer the other way, where now Jimmy's like, well, if I'm going to be here, I might as well make the best of it. He could start playing better.
Other stuff might happen. There might be some teams, some star might get hurt.
Some situation might go sideways. And then Miami in the early February can go, listen, we didn't think we were going to trade him.
We thought he was going to be here all year, but then this offer happened and they cover their bases. But Pat Riley, I think he's late 70s, early 80s now.
It's like that old Seinfeld joke when old people are just like, fuck it. And they just start backing out of the driveway.
They don't care if somebody's coming. I'm backing out of the driveway.
Here I come. Pat Riley's been at this point for a while.
And it's really fun to watch somebody like that run an NBA team. He had obviously had it with these Butler trade rumors and just was like, you know what? There's no good trade for this guy.
We're keeping him. Here's my statement.
And it was old school and I kind of loved it. But this soap opera is probably not over, I'm guessing.
Anyway, we are now throwing to me and Joe House talking basketball, million dollar picks, and I'll be wearing a different shirt. You can look forward to that.
All right, we're taping this. It is 1030 Pacific time.
Joe House is here. It's a stripped down BS podcast this week.
You know, two pods this week. We did something for YouTube.
We put some million dollar picks up there. A lot of sports yesterday during Christmas day.
How'd you handle the family Christmas day, how to consume sports while also pretending to be a family member part of Christmas. Well, the nice thing is my family tradition, we get together with my parents in the house we grew up with.
Uh, and with my brothers, my sister, I've stayed in the attic of that house many times. You have.
Um, and so we just do that the first part of the day. So we were done by kickoff one o'clock.
And when we got home, my wife and my kid wanted to play with his stuff. My wife went right back to bed.
And so I was left alone to watch whatever I wanted to watch. I had full control of the dial with Netflix.
Great job, Netflix. Not a great job by the games, but the broadcast was fine.
And then NBA had a really good day. I was thinking, though, the Wemby Knicks game was so good.

And I was just thinking big picture about, you know, there's been so much what's wrong with the NBA stuff. And some of it's founded, some of it's stuff we've been complaining about forever.
And then some of it is real issues, which is basically how do you find these under 30 American stars that people are going to give a shit about? Like they care about Steph and LeBron. And yet the Steph LeBron thing last night was the solution and the problem at the same time, because it was the same thing for the Olympics too, right? It was awesome watching those guys.
Hey, the old guys, look at it. They still got it, but it's still coming at the expense of everybody else.
Like even yesterday, it's in that eight o'clock. It's in the, it's in the best spot.
It's after football's over and that's the signature game. And it's basically two 500 teams and it's guys that have been in the league since 2003 and 2009 respectively.
And yet OKC wasn't on Christmas day. Giannis wasn't on Christmas day.
Wemby was buried at the beginning of the day. And this is like, you're kind of doing this to yourself, but at the same time, I get it because Steph and LeBron was awesome.
So I don't really know what the answer is. It's like you could go glass half full, glass half empty on it.
But the fact that the Steph-LeBron game was so good and sucked up so much oxygen from the day is actually kind of part of the problem. Well, this is the sort of predicament for the rest of the season.
I mean, this is what happens when you're in a transition moment and the most resonant stars. And this is the, the, the Olympics really, you know, validates the idea of putting those guys on the main stage because the Olympics were effing incredible, right? Those last two games, the semifinals and the finals were incredible.
it was because of those guys. So if you want to let them have their retirement journey, which is really what we're on, I think with LeBron and this is probably it.
He looks better since the eight-day sabbatical. Well, who wouldn't? Curry looked great.
Yeah. Well, you say this is the journey we're on though..
Like, I still go back, and I talked about this a couple weeks ago, but, like, the Olympics are a chance to showcase some of the younger guys and give them some new memories that they can make a foundation of our experience with them as superstars. And yet, those moments went to the old guys.
Christmas still going to the old guys. And I just think they're stuck in the middle.
I remember when we were in college in the early 90s, this transition felt a lot more organic to the MJ Barkley, Hakeem, Drexler, all the Stockton and Malone, Sean Kemp GP. It just felt like it was organically shifting generations.
It doesn't feel as organic this time around. Well, only because we don't have an American superstar that's jumping up and grabbing the ring.
The guy that's jumped up and grabbed the ring is effing Wemby. He served notice 12 noon, Madison square garden, Christmas day.
Welcome to, you know, the, the, the world, like we, everybody's been talking about Wemby last season, this season, he keeps having these, you know, inspiring milestone performances right out of the gate. And yet, you know, the mother effer was flopping on Monday.
I know. We got to send him out.
Joel Embiid got kicked out, and Drummond got kicked out, and Drummond got pulled back in the game. I mean, if we're going to, you know, we need a guy who's going to come out and kick ass and not fall over when the wind blows.
Well, he is French. That's part of the problem.
It's literally part of the problem. Well, Wemby, I was talking about this with Van and a couple other people on text this week.
Wemby has two things going against him that historically has not been great for somebody really captivating the American public. One, he's tall, tall people in our lifetime.
It's never really totally worked. It's hard to identify with centers.
You know, it's, it's why Shaq's a one of one. Yeah.
But even Shaq, we were there in the nineties. Shaq was pretty polarizing in the nineties, right? People were, well, he was a huge superstar.
He put up huge stats, but

it took a while. And also crazy, charismatic.

I mean... He was, but it

took a while. I really feel like it was

the three Lakers titles

that was like, all right, Shaq's

arrived. But remember, there was like the

96 Olympics, like some of the movies he

did, some of the rap albums, like

the Lakers underachieved.

I know, but did you feel like

he was the most popular guy in the

league? I didn't. Like like it was mj's league and then mj retired and we were like who's gonna be next and i don't think anyone thought the answer was shack well you know shack understood this which is why he went to la and it was shack and kobe and that was an unbelievable era yeah but that the point is shack so shack's become the closest, but it's usually a perimeter guy.
Sure. That becomes, that's why I like that A.J.
DeBansa. Anyway, the Wemby thing, he's got that and he's got the foreign thing, which is another huge thing.
You know? We've never really seen a foreign guy captivate this country. We can see worldwide, it might be great.
Who is the most popular? Who would you say is the most popular? We've had some great ones. I mean, you're the historian.
Well, Hakeem, I think, was the best foreign player of all time, right? Okay, sure. Dirk.
Yeah, right there. Giannis is in there.
Jokic. Yes.
Yeah. None of them were face of the leagues.
Jokic right now is on the best offensive heater this decade of anyone in a long time. And nobody, I mean, part of that is he's not Mr.
Personable, but yeah, it'll be interesting to see with Wemby. We've just never seen it.
Like we've watched a lot of centers come into the league since we've loved this league. Walton was probably that one.
And we were kids when that happened, but when Walton and the Blazers, that felt like he was the face of the league for a year, but Kareem never resonated. We watched Ewing come in.
It just kind of never happened for him. He also wasn't amazingly fun to watch.
Samson had a blip, and then it just wasn't going to happen with him. You go on and on.
It just just centers are tough. White Howard.
Yao. Yeah.
Well, Yao was incredible. And beloved, you know, by a billion people.
Yeah, globally he became great. Yeah.
I think the thing that'll tilt it for Wemby is if he keeps just having crazy games like the one yesterday. He's going to just have these 40.10 block.
like he's in the playoffs and you know he's putting up like 40 15 if it's just stuff we've never seen before that might actually work but it's gonna take well needs to be on that national stage you know we had them as uh we i think did you go under for them before i went under yeah i went under i just we've you know i I look at that roster even today. Yeah.
There aren't guys on that roster that make me say, oh yeah, this is a 500 team that's going to be threatening for the, they're going to be in the play-in mix and they're going to be potentially fighting for an eight seed. I look at that roster and I don't get there.
They're an 11 seed, but they're 15 and 15 in a really hard conference.

Right.

And there's a feistiness.

They play defense.

They play defense.

They have a guy who's not afraid of whoever the other team's star is.

And I'm prepared to chalk that up to a loss, that San Antonio thing.

I think they'll get over 35.

And they also, there's trade possibilities with them too.

You know, I mean, there was a lot of the Darren Fox stuff started last weekend.

And here's... over 35 and they also there's trade possibilities with them too.
You know, I mean there was a lot of the Darren Fox stuff started last weekend. It really should have started a month ago.
You know, he's this year he's a free agent after next year. The team feels like the DeRozan thing just, it's not happening.
So you start thinking of Fox and the Fox stuff is so much more enticing for teams like Houston and San Antonio

than Jimmy Butler.

Jimmy Butler is 35.

He's been unhappy the whole year.

Fox is a different animal.

Like that's like,

if you're Houston

and you could turn Fred VanVleet

and your picks

and Terry Houston into Fox,

like you're doing it.

If you're San Antonio

and you have a chance to add Fox to your mix and you think you can resign him and put him with Wemby and Castle and some of your swings and

you just give up the, the pick strobe you have, like you, you're probably thinking about that,

but this is to get a top 15 guy who's a point guard, who's in his prime. This is about as

interesting of a trade piece as we've had, not counting like when Durant suddenly becomes

available, but a younger guy on his way up, like, I don't know, you thinking for DC? We trade all your picks? No. Five picks at Jordan Poole plus seven swaps? Oh, no.
Oh, it makes no sense whatsoever. And I also really sort of wonder about Fox to San Antonio because it's like, where do you get this season? Where are you next season? It's a decade play.
It's not a this season play as much as we now have a guy. We need a perimeter guy, preferably a guard, somebody who can handle his business, run the team, play off Wemby, who's like a clear, awesome number two.
I mean, Fox is about, he's a top top 20 player that's about as good of a number two as you're gonna get right and he's available potentially if I was the Kings I wouldn't trade him I would be like no we're not we're keeping you sorry and that makes more sense honestly because they're they're still right in the thick of things playoff wise I mean you know for sure they have a they have a DeRozan issue though. I think they might've bought a car that the odometer was turned back on.
Happens sometimes. It was like, I thought this car had 95,000 miles on it.
Maybe it was 195,000. Where are we? I don't mean to derail it.
Where are we this week in Jimmy Butler? I think he'd been,

I think he'd be gone already if there was a trade.

I just don't think there's a trade.

And the most notable thing that seems to have happened

the last couple,

maybe the last week or so,

is that Houston doesn't seem interested in him.

Like they're like, we're good.

Hmm.

That is interesting.

Because Washington is out there auditioning players.

Valanchunas, Brogdon, Kyle Kuzma can't get on the floor. Kuzma being in any trade rumors is hilarious.
You've been watching him. I don't know what his trade value is, but I'm guessing it's low.
No, it's high because he has an incredible contract. He was like, you know what? Just a few years, 20 million bucks.
Sounds great, man. It's an incredible contract that he signed.
So he's very valuable if you can get a version out of him and get him to be committed to playing basketball. If you can get a version out of him that hasn't existed for two years.
Yes. So the Warriors have been mentioned with Butler.
And I just just I don't know what the point is House

because I just don't know if that's making

a huge difference for them you can talk to yourself

Curry, Draymond, and Butler the old guys

let's make a run but I just think the league's

too good they started out strong

they've gone the other way

they have a lot of like tradable pieces

that the minutes are all over the place

Buddy Heald now all of a sudden

scores five points a game

Podzemski isn't the same asset so

Thank you. They have a lot of like tradable pieces that have the minutes are all over the place.
Buddy Heald now all of a sudden scores five points a game. Podzemski isn't the same asset.
So I don't I don't know why Miami would want their stuff or want to pay Kaminga. However much I don't know what else you had.
You had under for them, right? I had under for them. And it's because, you know, they had pieces that they added in the offseason that were supposed to create depth then you know melton got hurt and yeah but none of the pieces really moved the needle oh buddy healed is only it's it's a shocker buddy heals only averaging five points like he couldn't stick in in philly two different things yeah philly needs a guy that could score from the perimeter.
I feel like the Golden State situation, you know, it requires what we got with the Christmas game, which was Steph Curry scoring eight points in 26 seconds. Right.
And then they lose on a layup. And it wasn't just like a hard fight.
Reeves, it was Ole. It was Ole defense.
My man got right to come on. Come on.
So they are where they are.

Yeah, and there's... I think we talked about this before the year

when we were trying to figure out over-unders. With the West,

there were so many good teams.

Some teams were just going to end up

not being happy. And right now, it's

Sacramento, and it's Golden State,

and San Antonio's a little better than we thought.

Denver's a little worse than we thought.

Minnesota's a little worse than we thought, but we knew it was going to be some... The NFL was way more easy to figure out this year, I think, than the NBA.
The Celtics, you went under, I went over. And I am not going to overreact to anything with the Celtics yet.
You were on it a little more about how hard it is to repeat. That was part of your undercase, right? terms of like bringing that energy they there was you know all their core guys went to the olympics except for jalen brown who wasn't invited but you know like going from the finals to the olympics to an nba regular season and 58 wins in this era is still like excellent so if they win 58 games and they certainly can i still win my my bet at 58 and a half, 59 and a half, whatever the total was.
But it's just hard. It's a slog.
And I don't begrudge them, you know, sort of going through peaks and valleys over the course of a regular season. Knock on wood, there'll be plenty healthy come April.
And really the only thing that was interesting to me in terms of a regular season outcome is like, is Tatum going to put himself into that MVP conversation? Is this the right moment for that even? Yeah. Well, so glass half full, Tatum and Brown are healthy.
Athletically, physically, they seem great. Brown's little hero, Bally, this year.
Their shooting stats are down with him a little. I haven't loved that.
There's little stuff I don't love, but nothing I'm super concerned about. They lost to Orlando on Monday night.
This depleted zombie magic team. Orlando played great.
I watched the game. The Celtics tried hard.
They played well. Orlando just played awesome.
They made big shots. They were super feisty.
They were really fighting, and it was a really good game. It was an okay loss.
The Philly game yesterday, that was Philly treated like a game seven. They came in, they really wanted to prove something.
They couldn't have played harder and the Celtics couldn't match it. And I'm not worried about that either.
I think White's has been the same all month. Holiday was hurt.
Porzingis keeps getting these dumb little injuries. Pritchard sometimes just doesn't show up.
Yesterday, he sucked. I'm not going to really evaluate the Celtics team until the West Coast trip next month.
That's what we'll know. That's when we'll have a feeling for them.
I don't love that they're four back from the Cavs, but, uh, but yeah, that's, so those are the big NBA storylines to me is just Milwaukee's better. Like Milwaukee, I think has moved back into contender-ish kind of feeling.
Denver clearly needs to do something and I don't know what the fix is for them. Um, Phoenix, I guess is the one kind of what's going on with this team that we thought was a contender.
And I just, they, it just seems like they have the worst centers in the league and they can't keep these guys in the same court. But, uh, but for the most part, I don't, I don't think there's been any, any major surprises this year other than Minnesota being as bad as, as they've been, even though they won yesterday.
Yeah. And they, they may yet figure it out.
They won yesterday. Cause you you know, Luka went out when he went out, and he's going to be out for an extended stretch, which is concerning.
But, you know, in the West, the thing that makes it super hard for the teams we're talking about, your Lakers, your Denver, your Golden State Warriors, your Minnesota Timberwolves, is the early good performance by Memphis, the early good performance by the Clippers,

and the...

And Houston.

Exactly, our anticipated.

We all liked Houston.

I'm surprised.

Did anybody take the Houston over as a lock?

I think you and Rusillo both did.

Oh, great job.

Yeah, the surprises were Houston, Memphis, Clippers,

and then just San Antonio being a 500 team.

I'm still not... If it's okay, I'm still a little dubious of the Clippers.
They're only 17 and 13. I mean, it is okay.
Yeah. They're only 17 and 13 and they put a lot on Harden.
I also think the way the NBA did this NBA Cup schedule combined with the Christmas schedule, which, hey, newsflash, I'm going to criticize the NBA again. I just think they've completely mangled all of this.
Why aren't there Christmas Eve games? Why are they just punting on a day where there's no sports? Why are they punting on these days when there's clearly no sports when instead of they load up the Monday, there's 14 games on Monday. You can't even watch them keep track of anything.
And then Tuesday, nothing. It is weird because Christmas Eve is like such an underrated night.
I went out to dinner and the place we went to was fucking, butts to nuts packed from when you walked in, the bar is packed. Like people want to be out and an NBA game to go with your family, you know, go with your family to an NBA game and then dinner, whatever.
Yeah. Kind of weird.
Yeah. So the reason I bring that up with the Clippers, the way they've structured this December thing, I think it's been good for the old guys.
You know, like people like LeBron, Harding, Curry, you're not playing like four and seven. You're not playing five and eight.
You're not having these back-to-backs.

You're not nursing these little injuries

because you're not playing that much basketball.

But now we're about to hit this stretch,

especially when we get to January,

where the schedule just gets really hard

and it's going to advantage the young guys.

It's going to advantage a team like San Antonio

that has Wemby and Castle and Vassell

and all these young dudes.

And I think it's going to hurt a team like the Clippers

because the amount of offensive responsibility

they're putting on Harden

Thank you. Wemby and Castle and Vassell and all these young dudes.
And I think it's going to hurt a team like the Clippers because the amount of offensive responsibility they're putting on Harden, I don't know if it's sustainable once we get into these 16 games in 29 days kind of territory before February. So I'm watching that.
I think it's good for teams like Oklahoma City, Houston, Memphis, even a team like the Celtics that are built around two younger guys, Cleveland. But then you look at a team like Orlando, 19 and 12, but really depleted.
And once you're depleted and you get into these schedule things, kind of a nightmare. Milwaukee, it's good for it because Giannis is an alien.
Atlanta, it's good for it because they're built around all these young guys. Indiana, a team that we bet on earlier this week.
I think it's good for them. So anyway, I would watch out.
If you had to pick a final, who would it be? Boston, Oklahoma City. Yeah, I haven't wavered on that either.
To move off of it. Did Philly do anything yesterday that intrigued you big picture or you're just not going to take it seriously? No, I do take it seriously.
And it does intrigue me. They're like fighting hard to get an identity.
And that level of competitiveness that they showed against the Celtics on the national stage, it was good. Yeah, seven and three over their last 10.
Their net differential still isn't great. But they're still, yeah yeah minus four net differential like they're pushing in the right direction if they could just get you know two of those three guys healthy for a stretch of time all all every time all three of them play it's it's an absolute bonus but they're headed towards i could see them rip something off in january be right around 500 and then as like febru into March, there are a couple of games above and then they're like a real formidable playoff though.
Well, we'll see because they have, I mean, they have a pretty, they have a West Coast trip coming up and then a whole bunch of games in January. I mean, they just in January, from January 1st to the 19th, they have 11 games and that's's not counting two games at the end of December too.
So the way they're constructed, there's no way Embiid's going to play more than half of those games, I would assume. I don't love what I've seen from Paul George.
I'd like to throw my voice into that chorus. Just doesn't look as comfortable.
He doesn't seem 100% healthy to me, so I want to wait a month on that, but competitively they looked really good. The Caleb Martin is just like a Celtics killer at this point.
I don't know what it is about Boston, but he rises to the occasion on it. So their season looked dead.
Now they're 11 and 17. The problem for them is they have no room for error.
That's right. No more margin for error at all.
Yeah, like that one more maxi three-week ankle sprain or Embiid goes out for a month and all of a sudden you're looking at the 10th playoff spot because there's teams like Chicago and Detroit haven't really gone away and I don't know if those are trade teams or not. Everyone thinks Chicago is, but they're not going to be able to trade Levine.
Who's taking Levine at that money? Somebody desperate enough. Somebody desperate desperate enough maybe it's Vucevic sure yeah I mean you know I'm trying to think how they could hurt themselves it would be one of those two guys Denver and Golden States right those kinds of situations where it's like one last gasp let's see if we can do it or maybe the Lakers if the Lakers keep scuffling around 500, they still have that one trade piece.
One thing that's a little different with the Lakers is Max Christie, who looked like a zero. He's actually been pretty good for them for the last couple weeks.
He's been okay. He's been passable.
They can play him in crunch time. He might actually make an open shot.
He can play defense a little bit, but it's something they didn't have a month ago. Anyway.
All right. That's our NBA report.
We're going to take a break, come back with a million dollar picks. Sometimes the basketball 30 points could be worth more than 30 points.
And now you can get a 30% profit boost from the ringer with Fanduels 30 on 30 during Friday's NBA action. We're teaming up with America's number one sports book to give you a 30% profit boost.
When you either pick a point to score more than 30 points or bet on our new exclusive 30 on 30 special markets like any game, just go nuts. I'm looking at Friday's slate.
I always tweet my picks on my Twitter account on Friday because I like to look on Friday morning, see what the matchups are. You can join me.
Ride my picks or just make your own. Look for 30 on 30 in the FanDuel Sportsbook app or head to fanduel.com slash BS for your chance to score a bigger payout this Friday.
Don't miss your chance to find out how much more 30 can be worth with FanDuel's 30 on 30. And speaking of FanDuel, don't forget about the Ringer Sunday pregame show on FanDuel TV and FanDuel Fast Channel and on YouTube TV.
Anyway, you must be 21 plus in President Select States or 18 plus in President DC. Opt-in required.
Bonus issued as non-withdrawable. Profit boasts tokens.
Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.
Game problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn.
During the season, every baseball team plays 162 games. It's a true test of endurance.
It's not enough to have a hot month or two. You need sustained dominance throughout.
Well, the same is true for your small business. It's not enough to have a great Q2 or even a great year.
You want year over year growth that starts with better hires that'll be there for the long haul. To find those hires, use LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has strong hiring data and insights that you won't find anywhere else to help pair you with the best candidates from unique skills and interests to the connections you have in common. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of small businesses say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality talent.

LinkedIn also lets you go beyond people who are actively applying in a given week.

171 million LinkedIn members aren't actively seeking jobs, but they are open to new opportunities.

That's a big pool to miss out on if you're not hiring with LinkedIn.

Find your next great hire on LinkedIn.

Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash Simmons. That's linkedin.com slash Simmons to post your job for free.
Terms and conditions apply. All right, million dollar picks.
We're already up house. We won $300,000 on Christmas day.
Thanks to the Ravens. Merry Christmas.
And thanks to the Chiefs. And we still have a Seahawks bet.
We're taping this before the Seahawks game, but we have a Seahawks bet with Baltimore minus nine and a half adjusted in the Seattle Moneyline. That was plus 312.
So we could be up another like 155k after tonight. I like some of the games this week.
I know you already did Ringer and Gambling Show. I didn't hear it yet because it's signed up.
But the big game and the hardest one to figure out in a while

and I think the most

even great matchup

we've had all season

is this Vikings-Packers game

in Minnesota.

And the Vikings,

it's around one,

one and a half.

Right now,

it's Vikings one and a half.

You could make really strong cases

for each team.

I think there's a lot of public

kind of love and affection for the Packers

right now,

which would make me a little nervous for them.

Green Bay lost to them earlier in the year and Green Bay is 10 and two in

the last 12 weeks with two Detroit losses.

And people are leaning Green Bay in this house and we have to treat it like

a playoff game means more to Minnesota. Cause if they can win this, they beat Detroit next week.
They're the one seed. Right.
Green Bay is pretty locked into the five or six seed. Not sure it matters.
Where are you leaning on this one? I'm inclined to look at that Green Bay side mainly because of just how effective they've looked on both sides of the ball. Their defense has just been so impressive.
They're able to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They're still generating turnovers.
There was skepticism earlier in the year. I'll put my hand up about their defense was producing what felt like an outsized number of turnovers, and that was the way that they were able to look so good defensively.
But they've continued to do so, and now it looks like their offense is healthy, and now Jacobs is really, they're really leaning into that run game, and it looks like last year where

Green Bay went on this run

at the end of the season when Aaron Jones

was finally healthy, and he

led the NFL over the last five weeks

and into the playoffs. Aaron Jones for Green

Bay in rushing, and I

kind of feel like they're gearing up in the same

direction with Jacobs.

It's not intended to be disrespectful

in any way, shape, or form towards Minnesota. I mean mean it is the line I think is super fair and I think you know the money line is minus 108 for both teams like that's yeah even this is uh in the book and I think that's that's totally appropriate um Green Bay out gained Minnesota the first time they played by by I watched that game though that game was They were up like four touchdowns, and then there was a lot of garbage time stuff with Green Bay, and it kind of belatedly somewhat became a game, but not really.
But it was a lot of end-of-the-game shit. These teams tend to split against each other, just historically.
It's an important division game. So my lean would be Green Bay, but if the Vikings go win, who's going to be shocked? So I guess where I've landed in this game is if it was in Green Bay, I would like Green Bay.
Because it's in Minnesota, I like Minnesota more. I just think these teams are dead even.
And you throw in the home field. There's one other piece with Minnesota, though.
First of all, I do think they're better than people realize.

And we've talked about this a bunch on this podcast.

But they became a yeah-butt team.

And we've had yeah-butt teams before that I thought was justified.

Like there was that Cousins Vikings team a couple years ago

that we were like, what?

This team's not good. This record's ridiculous.
Look who they played. The Vikings are 8-0 with Hawkinson, which I think matters.
The Vikings are 6th in DVOA, Green Bay's 3rd. The Vikings are 2nd against the run.
They're 1st in creating turnovers. They have a top 5 pass rush, but the thing I really like the most about them

is these two receivers

they have with Hawkinson.

I always feel like

they can get a drive

if they need it.

And if this game's

in the fourth quarter

in their home,

I just like their chances

to go down the field.

One stat that I think is,

I saw this and I was like,

how is this the best total?

But it is.

They lead the league

in least amount of percentage

they've trailed

when they're on offense

in the game.

Thank you. saw this and I was like, how is this the best total? But it is.
They lead the league in least amount of percentage they've trailed when they're on offense in the game. They've only trailed for 22% of their snaps on offense.
They've been trailing in the game, which basically means they're always ahead. They're always in charge.
They're always in the lead, which is good for home. But then they also have the ability at the end of the games to get a drive if they need it and to make a big play if they need it.
And Green Bay is going to do cover too. Their defense actually matches up pretty good with the Vikings.
But I like this Vikings team. And to me, it's like, if you believe in this Vikings team, you kind of have to take them this week.
So if you don't, you're basically saying, I don't believe in this team. I don't know.
Do we go that far? Yeah. I think this is a playoff game.
I do. I think this is playoff rules this week.
I think we have to approach it like playoff manifesto. I don't know.
I don't know. What's Green Bay doing if it really is a playoff game, right? I'm saying for Minnesota, it's a playoff game.
They win this game. a chance to be the one seed they play detroit there's also conspiracy bill would like to enter this for one second go ahead there's no sunday night week 18 nbc game right now it's either minnesota detroit or rams um seattle which we might not get if the rams just beat Arizona this week, which we're going to have coming up in million-dollar picks.
The only other possibility is Minnesota to Detroit, but Minnesota has to win this game. And if that doesn't happen, now we're into...
Who'd you have? Carolina versus Atlanta? Yeah, Atlanta. If Atlanta loses this week...
Carolina-Atlanta on Sunday night. Yeah, but that would be good because then you'd have Bryce Young against Michael Penix.
How is that good to have Carolina-Atlanta as the last game of the season? That's not good at all. Carolina has four wins.
It would be hilarious is what it would be. I just wonder.
Carolina is just spunky, but go ahead. I just wonder, does Minnesota get some calls in this game? Well, they will be at home.
They'll get home calls, you expect.

For sure. I don't, you know,

this one is just a stay away

because it's

dead even. I don't get any

value on either side. Can't stay away.

We have a big little nest egg

and million dollar picks and this is the best game

in a while. We have to put a bet on it.

Let me give you something

that I thought was interesting.

Green Bay since week five.

They're nine and two

with two Detroit losses.

Right? Yeah.

Here's who they beat.

Matthew Stafford

in week five with no Puka,

no Cup. Yes.

Kyler Murray.

CJ Stroud, no Collins in that game. Trevor Lawrence, barely beat him.
He had his best game of the year. Threw for 300 plus yards against them and they won by three.
Caleb Williams. They were up, Chicago was up the whole game and should have won and then Green Bay won it late.
Brandon Allen on San Francisco. Tua on cold weather on Thursday night Thanksgiving.
Geno Smith and whatever the fuck was going on with the New Orleans quarterbacks last week. Those are all their wins.
They haven't played anything remotely approaching Sam Darnold, Hawkinson, Addison, and Jefferson and Aaron Jones. This is by far the best complete offense they've played.
Now do Minnesota. Well, I know Minnesota is the same thing, but I'm saying you can't use that case against Minnesota and then not use it against Green Bay.
Well, I think they're in very similar positions because this is a gigantic step up in class for Minnesota. Minnesota's defense hasn't seen anything like this Green Bay offense.
Look at these offenses that Minnesota has seen since they lost to the Rams in week six or seven, whatever it was. They played the Colts with Anthony Richardson.
They played the Jaguars. They played the Titans.
They played the Bears. They played Kyler and the Cardinals, which was a huge comeback game, right? The Cardinals were up.
That should have been a Cardinals win. Not a great Vikings game.
They got Kirk Cousins and the Falcons in his triumphant return to Minnesota, which ended his career in Atlanta and maybe his career in NFL football. And the Bears and the Seahawks.
The best game, the best win was going into Seattle and coming down to the wire. But that's the irony of this.
Both teams' most impressive win the last two and a half months was Seattle, who also might not be good. Well, they're good enough to be fighting for a playoff spot.
But spot but yes yes if we're going to do that we have to do it for both both teams and the interesting thing to me you made the case for minnesota's offense looking good you want them with the ball at the end of the game i think it's i would say the exact same thing about green bay it's to me it's not that dissimilar from the handicapping of that Thursday night Detroit Green Bay

game where it came down to which team

had the ball at the end. It's a great game.

I don't think there's a wrong answer.

I just feel like people have tilted

more toward the Packers and I feel like

it's dead even.

Minnesota's favored.

Even though people

have the minus one after they're home.

If this was in Green Bay, Green Bay would be minus one and a half over Minnesota. favored.
Well, they have the minus one half because they're home. If this was in Green Bay, Green Bay would be minus one

and a half over Minnesota. True.

But the public hasn't jumped in yet

with a big

perspective.

So you're thinking it's a stay away.

I mean, if you want to

put something small in it so that you can say

we did it and it's fun and then

Minnesota wins, it's like, excellent. Now we have it and it's fun and then Minnesota wins it's like

excellent

now we have

Minnesota

and Detroit

in week 18

for the one seed

that would be awesome

so we're taping this

at 11-17

Pacific time

yeah

December 26

Thursday

true

the line is

completely flipped

it's now Green Bay

minus one and a half

over Minnesota

so somebody stepped in

that's a syndicate play that's a syndicate play. The line moves three points.
Now it's Minnesota minus 102 plus 1.5 and Green Bay minus 116. Somebody's taking a stand.
Does that make you nervous or what? I honestly think that we're going to see one or two more of these over the course of the next two days. I bet the rivals.
So you think Green Bay is going to get to minus two and a half? No, I think somebody will come back in on any other direction. And it's going to flip again.
Vikings being plus one and a half means they're now in tease territory. Yeah, that is, you, you would want to do it right away,

right away.

We can do it right away.

We're taping million dollar picks as we speak.

Good point.

Um,

any interest in throwing them in with the Miami dolphins in Cleveland?

Hmm.

There's going to be rain.

Miami down to Miami down,

or we could basically do. Yeah.
Tease my... What is Miami? Six and a half? Yeah.
Yeah. To a half? No, tease Miami down to Moneyline and do Miami plus seven and a half.
The only thing that would concern me about the Miami situation... Well, there's a lot of things that concern me.
I don't know. You're going to go with only?

The single most prominent is if DTR,

anything happens to him at quarterback.

What I want to see is where Jameis is listed

in terms of the depth.

Did you read?

I was on Brown's Reddit today,

which is one of the darkest places on the internet.

Oh, poor guys.

It's just absolutely brutal.

There's even on Brown's Reddit,

there's even,

should we make a run at Kirk Cousins this offseason? No. Yeah, that's a thread on Brown's Reddit.
Oh my God. Yeah, it's dark, man.
It's some of the darkest shit you'll see. But Brown's Reddit was saying that apparently Jameis is hurt too.
And if anything happens with DTR, it's Bailey Zappi time. Oh, well now I'm feeling better.
Okay. Now we can do Miami.
Fine. Now, now we're good.
It's Bailey Zappi injured Jameis or it's DTR who has one touchdown and nine career picks. Well, I thought they already said that DTR is going to start.
My concern was that DTR would start. Something would happen to him and then Jameisis would come in and throw four touchdowns.
DTR's playing not 100% healthy, though.

Well, I mean, I just

need to make... I want certainty that Jameis

will not come in. Because if Jameis comes in,

then I feel like that's a dead loser bet.

For some reason, you're worried about Jameis.

To me, I'm not worried about Cleveland's offense in this

game. I'm worried about the Dolphins in

the rain just doing a... I understand.

...classic Dolphins stink bomb. We don't have to put them in a teaser.
I mean, there's other good legs. Dallas is a pretty good teaser leg.
Well, the reason I brought them up for a teaser is just, you know, at some point these teams, the franchises are kind of steering them toward a top five pick, right? I don't think the

Giants want to win. The Raiders are

stupid. They couldn't help themselves last

week. But there's certain teams that I

just feel like are good with not

winning another game. And Cleveland

to me feels like one of them. Like if you're Cleveland,

Bailey Zappi's the move this

week. We had Bailey Zappi on

the paths. He is not a confident

quarterback. You want to put him out against

Miami next week. You want to bench

like, or you want to rest like

Thank you. week.
We had Bailey Zappi on the Pats. He is not a confident quarterback.
You want to put him out against Miami next week. You want to bench like, or you want to rest like a defensive starter who's a little banged up.
There's subtle stuff you can do to make sure you don't win again. Because there's a couple, like Tennessee plays Jacksonville.
Both those teams are 3-12. One of them are going to be four and 13 after four and 12 after that game.

So Cleveland can jump up a spot there.

The Pats might beat the Chargers for all we know.

Like they,

they might be able to nudge up.

Yeah.

That was what I was thinking about.

And plus Miami really needs the game.

They're still in the playoff race.

Yeah.

Still in the race for sure.

So maybe,

cause I have another tease I want to do with the two LA teams.

Okay.

So maybe we'll mark down something with Vikings Dolphins just for fun. Next one, and I'm split on this one too, is Bengals Broncos.
You said on the Ringer gambling show that you like Cincy at home, minus three in what's going to be bad weather. They're kind of technically alive still.
Denver needs a game. This is weirdly a playoff game in some ways.
Right, right. No, I think both teams will treat it like a playoff game.
And this is exactly why my handicap is in favor of the Cincinnati Bengals. That's why I prefer the Bengals.
I like the team with the players that have actually played in the playoffs playoffs. Yeah.
The team that doesn't have the rookie quarterback and you know, uh,

Bo nicks these nuts.

They have been,

they have been throwing the football all over the place.

And we're seeing the version of him that kind of makes sense,

right?

He's,

he's throwing picks,

multiple picks,

uh,

every week,

uh,

Bo nicks these nuts and the,

the,

uh,

Denver Broncos. The only thing would be with their defense, they're getting Riley Moss back.
So they had two of their last three games, they gave up 32 points to Jameis, and they gave up 34 points to Justin Herbert. Their secondary was getting eaten up.
If Riley Moss comes back, and he's able to go up against Jamar Chase, that's an incredible matchup, but I love all the other weapons that Cincinnati possesses. Moss is back, by the way.
I was checking in my buddy Gus. My buddy Gus, who is my only person in my life who truly knows the Broncos.
And he was telling me when Moss got hurt, we're in major trouble. This guy, Levi Wallace, is a disaster.
Levi Wallace has been cut. He's not even on the team anymore.
So long, Levi. Moss is back.
So I feel like that. I know it's one guy, but I really feel like that's going to flip their secondary.
He's an important guy. Yeah.
There'd be no doubt. There's some other cases for them.
Do you have more in your case? Because I was going to add some counters. I'll stop now.
I mean, Cincinnati hasn't been good at home. So I prefer to not lay any points at all.
Just let them win the game. Cincinnati Moneyline was my preferred play.
Last six weeks, Denver's fifth in DVOA, despite some of the secondary stuff and despite some of the turnovers by Knicks. Cincinnati's 29th against the run, their defense.
Cincinnati's 30th QB hits. So basically, this is the perfect team for Denver to play with Bo Nix with the way, kind of how up and down they've been.
This is a team that will not pressure him, hit him, they're just not going to do anything. Denver's defense, they're first in hits, first in hurries.
They're going to be able to pressure the Bengals to offensive line, not exactly like a juggernaut. Nope.
Nope. I mean,

you know,

a strat,

a strip sack fumble last week against the Browns that,

that helped me lose a nice teaser bed on, on the Cincinnati team total.

Well,

it was 24.

Well,

then the Dallas game the week before Dallas was going to beat them.

Yeah.

Right.

Dallas is going to Dallas is pressuring them and doing stuff. So I look at Cincy's wins.
Here are the quarterbacks. Have you done this? No.
Quarterback Cincy beat this year. Andy Dalton.
Danny Dimes. Deshaun Watson and Thompson Robinson.
Same game. Because I think that was the one Watson got hurt.
Minshew, Cooper Rush, Will Levis, Thompson Robinson.

It's not great.

I don't think Cincy's good is where I'm really landing.

And I think we think they're good because Burrow's good.

No other real aspect of their team is good other than the receivers in Burrow.

Now you can make the counter case when they have Chase and Higgins together with Burrow. They've just been really good and been able to move the ball.
I get it, but I kind of like the Denver plus three. I don't mind the points.
I really don't mind grabbing the points. And there was a minute when it was three and a half and that got stashed up.
So it's down to three. And I really do kind of understand the case.
It's a rookie quarterback on the road in a playoff game, right? In bad weather. But if you want to argue the other side, they've been good on the road.
Denver's been good on the road this year. They beat Tampa in Tampa.
They beat the Jets in New York. Ten days rest.
Yeah, extra rest for Sean Payton. Nine days rest.
Whatever. It's extra rest for them and short rest for Cincy because Cincy's on Saturday game.
Sean Payton versus Zach Taylor. Yep.
Well, Zach Taylor did coach in the Super Bowl. This one, this one I love.
The all LA money parlay. Yes, this is wonderful.
Great. Rams, home for the Cardinals.
All the Rams have to do is win and they win the NFC West. Chargers at the Pats.
All they have to do is win. They're minus four and a half.
And there's some subtle cases against them, right? Their offense isn't that good. They have trouble getting first downs.
It's the type of team, like, even if they had a lead, Drake May in the second half, like, doing stuff. There's a Ladd-McConkie piece that I don't think can be undersold with the fact that the Pats had that pick, traded back three spots for a guy who basically doesn't play, who played three snaps.
McConkie's

just him running a mock in this game is

almost a lock. I don't know what the player props are

for him. But

Chargers need the game.

Rams

need the game.

It just feels like a classic

LA money parlay and it's minus

114 on Fandle and I would like to partake.

Well, let me ask you this. Let's go ahead and do that.
And let's do it in a meaningful increment because we both are believers. And that's some fantastic.
I mean, you know, the other sort of side to this. Remember how good favorites have been.
Moneyline favorites have been absolutely crushing this season. Favorite 75% since week five in terms of outright wins.
And favorites have been covering it nearly like 56% or 57% since week five. Like both of those are, you look back 25, 30 years, and those rates are all the way up there.
So we're just doing the thing that's staring us in the face that helped us make money last week, helped us make money on Christmas. We're going to make some more money on Saturday, but I want to just add another wrinkle.
Let's go ahead and do whatever you want on that Rams chargers. We have to put the Colts in.
Colts have to be a leg in every money line parlay that we do. Really, any kind of combination, the Colts have to be in every one of them, just on the money line.
Colts beating the Giants outright has to be an element of it. Well, and that goes back.
I had the Colts. That goes back to what we talked about earlier, which is certain teams are just done winning games this season.
The New York Giants are one of those teams. We're out.
We are done. We are done.
It's a wrap. You had them in the Ringer Sunday pregame last year or last week and I was choosing it was dumb I had already chosen Carolina it was plus 350 you knew within a quarter it's like oh the Giants are done for the season the Juloc pick 6 that was.
So are you saying we anchor strategy a little bit with Chargers

Rams? Oh, anchor strategy.

Okay. To me,

the anchor is the Colts because I'll put the Colts with

anybody in the entire

across the slate. Yeah, but here's what makes me

nervous about that. Anthony Richardson,

I just can't get there.

If there's any quarterback who's

ready to just single-handedly kill all of

our Week 17 parlays and teasers,

it's him. So I just want to proceed

with caution. Think about that.
Like him

Thank you. If there's any quarterback who's ready to just single-handedly kill all of our Week 17 parlays and teasers, it's him.
So I just want to proceed with caution. Think about that.
Like him, not Michael Penix last week, but Anthony Richardson this week. Yeah.
So a couple things with that Rams game really quick. Rams are sixth in DVOA last six weeks.
Thanks to Aaron Schatz for that. They've won eight of their last ten.
And I don't think people realize how grim this Cardinal situation got. Missing both of their starting tackles on offense.
They're pulling practice squad guys in that are now going to be starting for them. James Conner is hurt.
Might play, might not play. Their defense is falling apart.
Hubbard had 152 yards last week. Carolina scored 36 on them.
Sure did. It just is grim, and there's a reason the line is where it is.
Because initially I was like, oh, cards, upset, baby. And I looked at all the numbers.
I was like, oh my god. This is no way they're winning.
Layer on top of that all of the McVay stuff. 15-2 against the spread in his last 17 December games.
25-10-1 all time in December.

McVay. The Rams against the

Cardinals. The Rams kick the Cardinals'

ass. 12-4-1 against the spread

over the last eight years against

Arizona. 10-2-1 when they're

a favorite against the spread, the LA Rams.

I'm laying the points with them.

They're in the Moneyline Parlay. They are part of our

anchor strategy. We love the Rams.

Their defense also

kicking ass. Last two weeks held

Thank you. Rams.
I'm laying the points with them. They're in the Moneyline Parlay.
They are part of our anchor strategy. We love the Rams.
Their defense also kicking ass. The last two weeks held both the Jets and the 49ers under 10 points.
Now you say, oh, look at one of those offenses, two of the most disappointing teams in the NFL, but still holding NFL teams on the road to under 10 points, that's impressive. Chargers-Pats, the case for being nervous about this would be the Pats played well against Buffalo for about an hour and a half last week.
I would just point you to 10 horribly game-managed, coached, executed plays. They can't help themselves.
They surprisingly did not have a lot of penalties last week. Those penalties will come back.
The Pats are just incapable of playing three good hours in a row. So for them to beat the Chargers, the Chargers would really have to fuck the game up.
And I don't know if they're a fuck the game up team. I mean, that would be, you would have Jared Mayo beating Jim Harbaugh.
You would have that. You would have a team that would decide in week 17, maybe we shouldn't throw backward passes inside our own 10.
Maybe we should punt down 10 with eight minutes left. Something would have to dramatically change with the penalties, the coaching, the execution.
I could see them potentially backdoor covering that minus four and a half, but I did not see them winning. Yeah, good.
We're on the same page. Alright, and then the last one I want to talk about, you mentioned the Colts Giants.
I mean, we don't need to talk about that. Eagles-Cowboys, that line has dropped too.
It was ten, nine and a half all week. Now it's seven and a half on FanDuel.
And I had had a bet that I mailed you last night or this morning. Oh, hold on.
I see six and a half. Oh shit.
It's still dropping, huh? Something's going on. Yeah.
Six net. Well, Hertz might not play as what's going on.
Okay. There we go.
Um, and I had uncertainty. Yeah.
I'd wanted to do an alternate, um, alternate bet with Dallas to four and a half when it was nine and a half.

It was like plus 172.

That's now plus 126,

which I still like more than the six and a half.

But so if we had the Cowboys and we do an over of like what?

37 and a half.

I don't know. The total is at 39 and a half um in that game uh as it is i i don't i'm i'm worried um what are you worried about just messing with that game at all at all like yeah what what do you think all the value is gone because of the hertz thing yes yes that's exactly what i think i would have.
I would have loved Dallas. I loved Dallas at 8.5.
I loved them at 9.5. The 10 was an incredible number.
Now they're at 6.5. I kind of don't want to mess with it.
Because Philly got enough with Pickett. Pickett can play now.
He got three quarters of real live NFL football. High stakes, high leverage.
and they'll run an offense. What are you doing right now? Did you just make a Kenny Pickett case? No, it's just like Philly being ready for the game case.
That's what I mean. That's all I'm saying.
He's not a guy that's like playing with the first team starters for the first time in practice this week. That's all.
That's all the observation that I'm making. I have had enormous success riding with the Cowboys, and I'm so upset that they lost to Cincinnati on that Monday night stupid punt thing.
Their defense since Parsons' comeback has been legit good, and their secondary is legit good. Legit good.
So I couldn't interest you in Dallas plus 10 and a half

with the over of 30 and a half at minus 115.

Oh, well, sure.

That, yes.

Yes, because now we're talking.

Those are the numbers.

Okay, great.

Yeah, I'm into that.

That's a good one.

Or Dallas.

Yeah, because I don't want to tease Dallas with another team.

I want to confine it to the game.

Great.

Good.

Yeah.

Me either.

That's fine.

Dallas.

Dallas would like nothing better than to go beat Philly. Dallas plus 10.5 with the over of 30.5.
And Philly's done, right? There's nothing for them to play for. I think it would be insane for them to play Jalen Hurts.
I don't understand why they would do that at all. I totally agree with you.
I agree.

Alright, it's time. Million dollar picks.

Part 2, holiday week. We're already up $300,000.

Plus, we have the Seahawks bet coming

that we could win. All the Seahawks have to do

is win on Thursday night and we're up another

$155,000. Come on, Gino.

Our big bet. We are doing

an all LA parlay.

The LA Rams

to finish business against a

cards team that is arrow pointing down

Thank you. Our big bet, we are doing an all LA parlay.
The LA Rams to finish business against a cards team that is arrow pointing down.

Rams have been really good last six weeks.

Rams just to beat the Cardinals, just to beat them.

That's it.

Just, all they have to do is win the game.

Parlayed with the LA Chargers in New England

against my beloved New England Patriots, who are feisty but are incapable of playing well for three straight hours. Chargers-Rams just have to win.
Minus 114 house. Are we going big? We love LA.
We love it. We love it.
I've somehow figured out a way to be more furious that the Pats won this game

and knocked themselves out of a top five pick.

It's going to cost us money.

I don't want the Pats to win anymore.

Let's just get weapons.

Let's finish in the top two,

and then we can trade back for a team that needs a quarterback

and get a lot of assets from my guy, Drake May.

Please don't win this game, Pats.

We're putting $250,000 on that.

Chargers, Rams, minus 114.

We talked a lot about Bengals versus Denver and Cincinnati in the rain. Cincy minus three.
Cincy with no good wins whatsoever. Cincy, a team that just loves to shoot themselves in the foot.
I'm going to take adjusted Broncos plus seven and a half. Oh, okay.
And I'm going to put that with the Chargers and the Rams for 50K.

That's plus 169 house.

That's fine. So you want to be in business.

You want to be in business with Bo Nix, these nuts.

I'm not going to get away with that.

It's a Sean Payton, Denver.

That's your business.

The secondary is good again.

Like just a little sprinkle.

Love it.

Two more that we like.

The Cowboys going against this Eagles team that Jalen Hurts would know what's happening. The line is dropping as we're taping the pod on Thursday morning.
The line dropped from nine and a half to six and a half for the Cowboys plus six and a half. We're going to bring them back up to Cowboys plus ten and a half with the over thirty and a half minus 115.
100K? That's fine. I mean, if you want to do smaller, that's fine too.
50K? Let's just put 50K. All right, 50K on that.
Just a little divisional rivalry. It'll be fun.
Philly hates Dallas. It'll be great.
I mean, Dallas has been playing so good over the last six weeks. The Parsons effect.
Yep. It's amazing.
Michael Parsons, the only guy with a podcast who playing well. Only athlete podcast is actually succeeding at sports these days.
Jerry might have to buy that podcast for $250 million so they could afford to pay him and keep him under the selling cap. Yeah, what would happen if Jerry formed a media company and then just paid $100 million for the Michael Parsons podcast? That'd be an interesting idea.
It's a collective bargaining agreement violation, I'm sure, but still. Last one.
Colts against the Giants. We both love the Colts.
We do love the Colts. The Giants do not want to win football games anymore.
They do not. They have told us.
They're done. It's a wrap.
It's a wrap. Colts, first half game.
They have to win the first half. They have to win the game.
Combined with plus seven and a half because we have to have some sort of scratch on this incredible Vikings Green Bay game that we argue about. You like Green Bay a little bit more.
I like the Vikings a little bit more. The line has shifted.
It was Vikings minus one half all week as we're taping this. It's Green Bay minus one and a half.
Now we're going to grab those Viking points, bring them up to plus seven and a half. That is minus 113.
I would like to put 100K on that if we could. Okay, okay, fine.
I don't mind rooting for a close game between Minnesota and Green Bay. That's fun.
And then we also have this Dolphins game that we can completely stay away from. Dolphins against the Browns in the rain, some Bailey Zappi potential.
Also, too in bad weather. Dolphins need the game.
Probably a stay away. I think it's a stay away.
Okay. I'm fine staying away from the Dolphins.
Good. So that's it.
And we should mention, one of the reasons I like Minnesota is because the NFL needs a very good Week 18 Sunday night game. And Minnesota, Detroit would do the trick.
Collinsworth, they'd have to hose him down. Well, I can't wait to see him.
Sam Darnold, Mike. I haven't seen anything like this.
We got him with my guy Jaden Daniels and Michael Penix this coming Sunday night. Atlanta in Washington, 8.30 on NBC.
Prime time, Jaden, against the Penix. We're going to see it.
Notice we steered clear of that game. That is a stay away.
I wish you the best. Thank you.
Anyway, we are up 1.764 million for the season pending the Seahawks game and hopefully the LA Parlay will take us over the 2 million bark those are the holiday edition part 2 million dollar picks for week 17 House I hope you ate a lot yesterday I did if we hit this LA Parlay when I'm out there two weeks for the Ringer pregame show we'll celebrate with an LA Parlaylay. With the LA parlay of food? Yeah, we'll go to Momofuku for lunch and then where are we going to go for dinner? I have like a Smashburger.
I have a Smashburger place for you. Alright.
I have an Indian food place for you. I have some wrinkles for you for this trip.
What a parlay. Can you do salads for the week before you get here?

I'll try my best.

You got to like really clear the intestines.

I'll try my best.

I got a lot of good stuff planned for you.

I can't wait.

How's great to see you?

Happy belated Christmas.

Happy holidays to all.

This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra.

Michelob Ultra, a superior light beer and the ultimate trophy, win or lose, you're bound to enjoy the ride with a good beer in hand. Michelob Ultra, crisp, refreshing, only 95 calories, a superior light beer, no matter the game, sport, or season, superior is worth playing for.
So sign up for Ultra Quartzsite at Michelobultra.com slash Quartzside.

And you can enjoy some of these games with a nice beer in your hand.

Enjoy responsibly.

Copyright 2025 Anheuser-Busch Michelob Ultra.

Registered light beer.

St. Louis, Missouri.

Must be 21 plus to order alcohol.

Alcohol available only in select markets.

All right.

We are taping this the day after Christmas. It's an emotional time here on the BS Pod.
My daughter Zoe Simmons is here. We're doing the end of the year teen culture awards, which I think we've done every year for the last few years.
We might have missed one. You've been doing this since, I don't know, you were 12, 13, something like that.
But this is the last year. You're 19.
Next year, you're not a teenager. Yeah, no awards for next year.
Really appreciate this one while you have it. No, we'll call it the 20 something awards next year.
And I feel like you have to, it retires itself at that point. That's it.
You're hanging it up. What's going to happen to you? Teen culture awards.
All right. So what do we- Turn in a new leaf.
This is it. So we call it the young woman awards.
What do we call it? The young woman awards. I think not.
Young adult awards. We'll? We'll see if it figures itself out next year.
For now, this is looking like it. Thanks for putting no thought into that.
All right. So end of the year awards.
We have a whole bunch of categories. I'm just going to set you up.
Most important category every year is the TV show of the year. What was it this year? This year, we selected Tell Me Lies as my TV show for the year.
Reason being, this is probably the most emotional a show has ever made me. Why? Because it kind of depicts perfectly like a super toxic college relationship.
I think it struck a chord within a lot of people my age, especially as a college student. And the show actually casted people that look like the age that they're supposed to be playing.
So that's a big thing for you. For me, that's the most important, the most important thing that a TV show can do.
The people on the show have to look like the age that they're trying to play. Like that actually makes it a much more emotionally difficult situation.
Like Sex Lives and College Girls. I'm not sure those girls look like college girls.
Yeah. I haven't even watched it yet because I've seen the cast and it's just like, this doesn't look like people that I'd be running into in my ethics class next week.
Like this is not, these people are like the older people coming back to college trying to figure it out. So what, so tell me lies.
There's a lot of sex in it. Let's be honest.
It's not a show I would watch with you. That's okay that's for sure that's for sure but with my girlfriends my best friend from college my roommate we would sit there and wait for each episode to come out every week and watch it together with our like headphones individually and our computers and just like completely jaw on the floor every single time wait because you don't have a tv we don't have a tv so you press play at the same time? We'd like stink it up.
But it was, I mean,

jaw-dro dropping every single episode. It just it got so crazy but the manipulation of the main character Steven that he does to his little girlfriend Lucy is like he almost makes you think that you're crazy because of how good of a manipulator he is but But the show is incredible.
And that was made true with like all the attention it got on TikTok. And they actually renewed it after they were going to cancel it before it got all the attention.
It did get pretty much canceled. Yeah.
So TikTok really saved this show this year. Can you explain how TikTok saves a show? Because this is and there's some other parts that we're going to talk about later with this, but TikTok taking a show either in a good way or a bad way.
It's weird because now that social media is such a prominent thing, even a shitty TV show can become super popular. Even a shitty song, like no matter what it is, if people will ban behind it, that's what makes a song or show successful.
And I've been talking about it a lot with my friends and it feels like a lot of producers of TV shows and song makers or whatever it is, they're trying to appeal to the social media eye rather than the critics or the other people that actually like establish whether a show or a music video is good enough. It's more about like if you get the TikTok people behind you, that will make you successful.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, it's definitely made the content that's being put out there worse. Yeah.
Because it's catered to all of these people that like have short attention spans or whatever it is. But this show caters exactly to people like me who found it through TikTok.
I didn't even know about the show until I saw a little clip of it on TikTok. And I binged through the whole thing.
It checks a lot of Zoey boxes, including we go back and forth in the future. Yeah.
I like it. And everybody's older and younger.
Yeah. I like a little time sequence.
Yeah. But the show is phenomenal.
It was easily my top number one show this year. I think as a college student, that really was what hit home for me.
So that's great. So like when I was in college, 90210 hit home with all of us, which is a relatively normal show.
You're saying for your generation, a super toxic guy fucking with all these different people on the show. This is really resonated with your generation.
That sort of thing has like never been depicted. And it also uses social media as a tactic of manipulation that the main character uses, which a lot of TV shows don't incorporate social media.
It's kind of like a blacklisted, like you can't do it because that will take the characters out of the show, whatever. But people like me, we're always on our phones.
Like it's not realistic to have a TV show that doesn't incorporate like the use of manipulative text messages or Snapchats or whatever it is. And like this show actually.
Or non-texting. Right.
Or ghosting. Or being ghosted.
So it's like this is the most realistic depiction of like a toxic college relationship, which is why I loved it so much. Do you think you like toxic relationship shows because all of your relationships have been non-toxic and pretty normal? I think so.
It's like, oh, this is what it's like. But I know it hit home for a lot of people.
All right. So that's TV show of the year.
Favorite content of the year. Do you want me to read the list that you could just go? So some of this has to do with shows you binged.
Yeah. Because you like binging shows.
Right. You like either you're doing homework while a show's on.
Yeah. I like white noise shows is how I'd put it.
Well, number one is the Gilmore Girls, which you finally stumbled into. What was it about this show? Well, I always I stayed away from it because I knew I would love it.
I tried to start it a few different times and was kind of bored while watching it. But this year, again, my roommate was like, you need to watch this show.
You will love it. So I sat myself down and I watched the first season.
The first season wasn't the most interesting because Rory, the main character, was like a fresh high schooler in New Haven, Connecticut. And I was like, what is this? This is not my jam at all.
But then as the show continues on, it kind of just it feels like a warm hug is how I describe it. I think a lot of Gilmore Girls lovers would describe the show as just like a warm, comforting, like when you're in need of feeling like you're around family or you just need your spirits uplifted that's where you go mom-daughter show mom-daughter show which what would be your mom-daughter show just ours would be a lot more realistic thing about Gilmore Girls it's like it's supposed to be a perfect world and Lorelai had Rory when she was like 16 years old so there's a really short age gap between them, which makes their relationship more like sister to sister.
But the show itself is incredible. It's definitely unrealistic, but it kept me interested for seven seasons.
Didn't it stay too long though? The last two seasons were not great, right? Yeah, I mean, some parts could have been cut out, but honestly, the last two seasons were my favorites because Roy was in college going through college, which once again is my favorite form of TV show when the main character is going through college. And she was having boyfriends and all these different things and whatever.
So I actually liked the show as it progressed. But I loved Gilmore Girls just as something to fall back on when college days were getting hard.
Well, one other binge watch show is This Is Us. Yeah.
I don't like when you watch shows that are sad because you assume the mood of whatever the show is. Yeah.
Which thank God you didn't assume the mood of Tell Me Lies. Right.
But This Is Us, like it's an emotional journey. So you were kind of an emotional person as you watch this.
Yeah, but this is different. I don't think it was a Grey's Anatomy COVID situation

where I was just completely put out

and unable to act every day.

This show definitely hits the heartstrings.

But in a good way.

I loved this show.

It kept me interested.

And it was so unrealistic to the point

where I almost wasn't emotionally affected by it because it's like, when would this ever happen ever? Right. Okay.
Next one, the Unfiltered Podcast. This is one of your favorites.
It's basically unfiltered. Basically unfiltered.
It was the merging of two different podcasts that I really like on Spotify. The Unfiltered Podcast is hosted by Zane Hijazi and Heath.
They were like two of David Dobrik's best friends who kind of diverged and made a podcast. And then the other one was pretty basic, hosted by Remy Cruz and Alicia Marie.
And they joined forces and made this podcast all together. So that's what it is.
What do you like about it? You're not telling us anything. We don't know who these people are.
Explaining what it was um well remy cruz has a salad that you pointed out when we're walking around la a salmon bowl but i've loved all of these youtubers it's like more of a nostalgic thing for me because i've watched them since i was like 13 ever since i started watching youtube yeah and they joined forces and they have a Patreon page, which I, I really love.

And they'll go and do like,

um,

they'll film a high episode or a mukbang episode or them like going to,

um,

like on Halloween time,

they went to the Halloween,

like scare fest,

whatever.

It's just like a really fun,

airy light podcast where it's kind of like girls versus boys and they'll do

challenges and stuff,

but it's just easy to watch. I like it.
Video pod. Video pod.
We Live in Time is the next one on the list. I don't even know what that one is.
That was the movie that came out. Oh, the cancer movie? Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh.
I loved this movie. I saw this like a month or two ago.
Needless to say, I think mom will watch it like 15 times

once she finds it.

But it was great.

I love Andrew Garfield.

I love Florence Pugh.

I love a British accent.

Everything about the movie was phenomenal.

I tried to watch this movie with the two of you

and left after like 40 minutes.

Which I don't know why,

because it was also a cooking movie,

which is like

that's everything that I need.

Cancer, cooking,

Andrew Garfield,

British accent.

I'm in.

Wow.

That's your algorithm.

I skipped that one.

Blink Twice,

Channing Tatum.

This was great.

Did you see this one?

I did.

I really loved this movie

because I'm a big

psychological thriller person. Right.
I prefer that much more than I do a slasher. You love Get Out as an all-timer for you.
Right. I love Get Out.
I love all those types of movies. So this one I thought was phenomenal.
And I love when a movie takes me on a vacation. Right.
This movie was on a great resort. Things kind of started to get weird.
We didn't exactly know why. It kind of revealed itself.
Channing Tatum's gorgeous. It was a beautiful combo of things.
I loved this movie. Speaking of going on vacation, you did a White Lotus rewatch that you put on favorite content of the year, even though you've already seen the show.
A hundred times. And I would watch it again and again.
I think this is the single best TV show series ever. Ever? Okay.
The GOAT. To me.
I think it's've missed a lot of great TV shows. You didn't watch Sopranos.
You didn't watch Mad Men, Breaking Bad. I said to me.
I didn't say to anyone else. I'm just saying there's some meat on the bone.
This is my number one. And re-watching it back, all of the little details and the things that I missed the first time I watched it, it's like, wow, this show is phenomenal.
The Therapist podcast? Therapist. Therapist.
Therapist. This pod is great.
I think this is a perfect example of new upcoming podcasts that are kind of trying to take the TikTok vibes and bringing it over to a podcast. This is hosted by Jake Shane, but he just brings on all of his celebrity friends like Sophia Richie, who I love, all sorts of different celebrities.
And he does this segment called the Tell Me What's Wrongs. And he'll have his fans send in like a bunch of things that have happened to them, crazy things.
And then him and the celebrity will give them advice on how to deal with it. And then they'll prescribe them with different things to fix that situation.
But he's just so funny and light and airy. I love his podcast.
I enjoy listening to it. I like happy things.
When you say the TikTok piece of it, so it's a lot of people trying to self-diagnose, figure out what's wrong. Yes.
And it's like an interactive podcast where his fans are basically like the basis of the podcast.

He's answering people's questions and giving them advice with a celebrity, which I think is super effective.

And it's personable.

Like when I listen to it, I feel like I'm his friend.

L.A.?

Where is he taping that out of?

L.A.

Okay.

Waited for an invite from Jake from Therapus. Therap.
Therapus or Therapus? Therapus. Like Octopus.
Okay. The Idea of You.
Another content of the year choice for you. I think mom watched it about 50 times over.
Yeah, should I have a concern about that? That she was obsessed with the movie about a woman meeting a younger guy? Anne Hathaway is phenomenal. And she only gets more beautiful.
And this movie, it had to happen. And they executed it perfectly.
Like it was about time that a movie like this came out where a celebrity falls in love with a hot mom whose life has fallen apart. I like that.
So I happened to watch this one with mom and the ending was kind of pushing it.

Yeah, it was pushing it.

Can we spoiler alert the ending?

Yeah, go ahead.

People have probably seen this.

So they agree to break up.

Yeah.

Because, you know, she's what, 15 years older and he's becoming a pop star.

And basically they break up because it's screwing up her daughter.

Right. Her daughter's having an issue with it.
So she's like five years from now, my daughter's in college. Give me a call.
He's like, all right. And then she's watching some TV show when he's on.
He's like, I'm going to LA. It's five years later.
Of course, she's still single, even though she's gorgeous. No guys can be seen for her.
Makes no sense. Just hanging out on a Thursday night, sees it, and then all of a sudden he shows up at the end end and they have kind of a look.
Yep. And it's a happy ending.
Happy ending. And then he gets to go through menopause and all the great old lady stages with her.
Happy for both of them. Interesting, the daughter piece in that movie.
Like a selfish mom making a decision to get involved with a celebrity and then ruining her daughter's life, which actually happens a lot in real life. So I liked it.
Your last one for favorite content of the year. I see long legs is out there.
I didn't realize you like long legs. We're really doing this again.
You like long legs? I like long legs. You guys love this.
We saw this together in the theater. I was not as big of a fan, but you and Ben were- Yeah, I don't know why.
I saw it like four times. Did you really? I did.
I saw it four times. Well, you're a bad judge with movies because you have a movie theater like 50 yards from where you go to college.
So you can just go at 10 o'clock. But I thought this movie was really good.
Out of all the horror movies that came out this year, this was my number one because i really don't like gore i haven't even seen smile 2 yet i know you guys have seen it and i should see it smile 2 was good but there's something unappealing about it to me you know why smile 2 is good because the lead actress is great right but it's like that's just not my long legs was much more my type of movie i also like being on the side of the detectivesives. Yeah.
I like like kind of trying to figure it out with them. And I thought the girl that played the main character was phenomenal.
And you liked heretic too. Heretic.
Yeah. Heretic.
I love Hugh Grant. I think he's great.
And seeing him in this sort of light was, was really interesting. It added a lot of depth to him as an actor.
So you like detectives chasing something creepy. Right.
Something's wrong with the house. And the whole vibe of that movie was good too.
Just the way it was filmed, like the lighting, every attention to detail was hit the checkbox for me. All right.
We're going to take a break and then come back with the rest of your awards. All right.
So we're continuing the Teen Culture Awards. Last year, we're ever doing this.
My daughter turns 20 next year. New category show you'd most want to go on.
What's the answer? This was the Mystic Kitchen's last meal show, which I've binged every single episode, even of the celebrities that I don't care for. And I find it the most interesting thing that I've ever watched in my life.
Because you think about how weird your last

meal would be where it's like cottage cheese, pickles, hummus. That, but it's like, it's such

an intimate thing to find out about a celebrity. Like this is the last thing that you would eat.

Like I was watching, um, I'm trying to think of a good episode that I really love, but I mean,

every celebrity that goes on there, it's just like, what are you putting on your plate right now?

So you feel like... I'm trying to think of a good episode that I really love.
But I mean, every celebrity that goes on there,

it's just like, what are you putting on your plate right now?

So you feel like compared to Hot Ones, where it's just people like their mouth burning from chicken,

chicken wings, you want to know,

you feel like this is a window into their actual personality.

Right. It's like this is the last thing

that you would put into your body on the planet. And I think the host, Josh, I don't know how to pronounce his last name.
He's great too. He's really intelligent.
So what's your last meal then? I wish I would have had more time to think about this one. I think a huge Caesar salad with some sort of chicken on it would absolutely be up there.
But you'd have to have pickles. Right.
Pickles, cottage cheese, all the works, hummus, carrots. But that's like, am I really going to eat that on my last meal? I think I'd need a huge cheese board and a Caesar salad with chicken on it and a diet Dr.
Pepper and a milkshake. All right.
The last meal. I'll check that one out.
Breakout stars for this year for you. Yeah.
You had three people. Trinity Rodman.
I love her. I watched her on the Call Her Daddy podcast last week.
Not only was that episode super moving, I just think she is so smart and so cool and so normal considering her entire situation. Yeah.
Like, as for a celebrity, this is the one person where I'm like, wow, I could actually see myself being friends with her. Like she's so normal and cool and stylish and I just, I really love her.
I idolize her, honestly. And she, we really need her for the US Women's World Cup.
And she's a phenomenal soccer player on top of it, which is just. She's the best forward we've produced probably since Abby Wambach.
She's great. I truly love her.
So what did you like about that episode? Just the way she talked about her dad or just like her perspective on fame? Like what was it? Yeah, I think that was a really tough topic for her to talk about. And she'd obviously never talked about it for a reason.
The dad. Yeah.
And even while having that really tough conversation, she still remained so classy. And like, even though she was airing everything out, she was never speaking poorly on him because she knew there was no point in doing that.
So I just appreciated the way that she approached that situation, the way she held herself. I just think she's going to be, obviously she's already really successful, but she's going to continue to be super successful.
I like her too. Next one is Sophia Richie.
I love her. This is Lionel Richie's daughter.
So she's just a guest? What does she do? Does she have content? She has a TikTok. Her wedding was like the royal wedding last year.
It was like there was so much stigma around it. And she looked beautiful and she's phenomenal.
But she's an influencer type. I don't know how to categorize her.
I don't want to because I don't specifically know what she does she funny like she's hilarious okay she's like the most normal celebrity that similar to trinity rodman that i've like ever witnessed she's just so normal and down to earth but i also really like her style and the way that she dresses and carries herself like i like to emulate the outfits that she does. She's like the epitome of an influencer to me, like how all the influencers should be.
Normal people are coming back. Right.
Normal people are. And she's funny.
Crazy, not as successful in 2024. Right.
Graydon Cutler and Hayley Batchelder. Yeah.
Who are they? Haley just joined the Call Her Daddy force or the Unwell content, but she has a new podcast on Spotify, which I really love called Extra Dirty. But it's the reason I- Extra Dirty? What does that mean? Because it's like a sex podcast.
It's kind of like how Alex Cooper used to be before she got married. Before she found love.
Right. right but i i really like her i think she's super funny she started off in like short form videos on tiktok talking about like all of her quests out in new york city the guys that she would meet the things that she'd do whatever she's like not i don't relate to her all that much but i really like watching her content a lot and graden's her her best friend who's always making weird food combinations, which you know I love.
Okay. Storyline of the year, you went with the TikTok ban.
I just thought this is so interesting. Because what's going to happen to all of these influencers? I really don't know.
You mean if TikTok goes away in like April? Right. It's like all of these people that have given up their jobs and have been making their livelihood by making TikTok videos.
Now what happens to them? Like I genuinely don't know. Instagram Reels? I guess so.
But like I'm never even on Instagram Reels like that. Yeah.
I like Instagram Reels, but like TikTok is, it's so, it's such a well-oiled machine. Like it really reels you in.
And now that there's this whole TikTok shop thing, which is Amazon equivalent. Yeah.
I can see how it's so detrimental to little kids because all of these videos will be promoting things that you can buy on TikTok shop. You'll literally watch the video and you can click on the thing at the bottom and you're purchasing something all of a sudden.
So it's definitely an evil thing. Yeah.
But I'm most curious to see what will happen to all of these influencers and people that have devoted their lives to making TikTok videos that are no longer going to have any job. I'm good with TikTok going away.
Favorite developments. You mentioned Patreon earlier.
So you're talking about like special Patreon only.

I love Patreon.

Like this special content.

This really feeds into like the secrecy,

feeling like you're friends with your favorite influencer.

Obviously, I have to pay $10 a month or whatever

to have the Patreons of the people that I'm subscribed to.

But it's so interesting because it's almost like a whirlpool

into what old YouTube looked like before all of the monetizations and whatever were put in place it's like you can really just lay it all out with no care at all okay so you're saying i should start a patreon i don't want i don't know if i want to see whatever you do on patreon. Thank you.
Spotify video is another one.

You were talking about you like when Spotify, which is good because we're tripling down on this, but you like either watching or listening to a podcast, depending on where you are. Yeah, I think it's a great advancement.
And it's really helpful to see the person that's talking space. Yeah.
Like that's just something that I connect their words so much

better with whoever they are by watching the video. And I'll just put it up on the treadmill

if I'm working out or if I'm in the car, I won't watch the video. But like, I like that you have

the option. I think that's a really good advancement.
All right. Well, you're going to keep getting it.
Most fascinating trend. So two things here.
You have the last days of original influencer content. What does that mean? I think we were talking about the canceled podcast when we well, so we can cancel podcast the other piece of that.
Right. So you're talking about there's the end of some sort of era that people don't even know is an era that people know.
It's like the YouTube Vine era of like all of the way that old social media used to be the

way that influencers used to behave it was like so much more raw and like upfront and people were

openly crazy yeah and tana mojo is like the the face of that when i think of old youtube because

she's just like the epitome of she's been everywhere and done everything similar with

trisha paydez so people beefing getting canceled coming back right it's like the cockroach syndrome where it's like you can just be openly crazy and there was really no problem with it and you'd get canceled and and you'd come back and it would just be a continuous loophole where now cancel culture is like you're canceled for whatever it might be and you're done. Yeah.
But the canceled podcast, similar to its name, it really was like the last era of that. It felt like because Brooke Schofield and Tana Mojo would like air out all of this shit that happened, all these crazy stories of living in LA, going out in Hollywood, whatever it was.
And now Tana's in a happy relationship. So is Brooke.
And they just kind of are diverging into like this regular influencer, whatever the new Spotify world. So do you have to basically not be in a healthy relationship to be a good podcaster? Apparently so.
Or just to be an interesting influencer. Because I asked you what would happen if Alex Cooper just got divorced and you got super excited.
You're like, whoa, if she started dating again, that'd be amazing. Well, that was her whole bag.
All of her podcasts and stories were about like having random hookups and running around New York City and like being a degenerate and whatever. And now she's happy and super successful.
And I'm so happy for her. Yeah.
But her content definitely reflects that. Right.
She's doing more interview stuff. And I love her story about hooking up with the Red Sox guy.
Right. And her story about her times in Paris.
When she does the old stories about everything that used to happen to her, I was like, wow, this is good content. I miss this.
Next category is couple I want to break up because I'm jealous. This.
Couple. I hope they break up, I guess.
You're not literally hoping for a breakup. No, but I'm just jealous.
I wish I could be Olivia Jade. She's dating Jacob Elordi, but she never talks about it, which is really interesting to me.
You're dating one of the hottest guys on earth. And he's tall, which you love.
Right and australian and he's not in any of her content she's still alive and like i love her youtube videos i'm a big fan of olivia jade interesting big comeback for olivia yeah she's also a good influencer where she just keeps it classy she she's not too crazy she just i really like her content a lot and a hell of a rower right okay but i do like her a lot and i'm jealous of her grossest internet moment of the year we had the uh you had the sydney sweeney body shaming stuff from a couple weeks i don't want to say like grossest like i was grossed out like grossest like wow society is really yeah horrific yeah yeah this was awful because i saw tiktok videos alluding to it but not the pictures just being like wow what happened to sydney sweeney like all this stuff and i was expecting to see something horrible and she just looks completely normal and she's filming a movie about a female boxer yeah she's like actually putting some muscle on like she She looks similar to how most females look. And I was just like, this is ridiculous that in this day and age with all this cancellation stuff, people will still talk like that.
I found that super disheartening. What did you think of her post refuting all the...
You know, I've always been a big fan of her. I think she's wonderful in White Lotus and I love Euphoria.
And her straying away from the character that she usually plays is an interesting thing to me. I'm excited to see the movie.
I thought that her response definitely made me like her a lot more. Yeah.
Well, two people you didn't really like. Feud of the year.
Although I guess you're on the Blake Lively side. Blake Lively versus Justin Baudon.
So this was a big thing. This situation is gnarly.
This has been like a nine month story on social media and now it blew up again. Well, there's been a lots of back and forth because originally when the movie was being promoted, Blake Lively was kind of promoting the show up in your florals to the movie.
And Justin Baldoni was taking more of the like domestic violence awareness side. And people were- But they also weren't promoting it together.
Right. And people were really criticizing Blake for not, for being insensitive of the entire intention behind the movie.
But turns out that there was some reasoning behind it. I think the situation is horrible.
And looking at the intimate details of it, it's really, really weird. So I know all the mainstream journalism media angles reporting on it.
What is the TikTok, Instagram version? Well, people have been saying that he was being very strange during all of their sexual scenes. Yeah.
And even the girl that played the younger version of Blake Lively, he was making really crude comments about her sex scenes with the younger character that was supposed to play Atlas. Yeah.
And on top of that, he, like, walked in on her, in her trailer nude. This is all a legend, we should mention.
Multiple times. Yeah, a legend.
But, but like a lot of really disgusting sentiments came out of this,

just like really uncomfortable,

seemingly like minor versions of,

um,

sexual abuse,

but it's really,

well,

the fact that she had that meeting and put all that stuff in there,

like from now on,

we will no longer,

you will no longer add kissing scenes.

And people are really trying to turn it on Blake Lively at the beginning like blake lively's an asshole and she's like mean to reporters and everyone was turning on her but it seems like there was a lot more to the situation it's really sad what's your generation's relationship with blake lively um for a second there people weren't liking her but i think she's she's widely loved because of gossip girl and all of the's done. I mean, I like her.
She's a friend of Taylor Swift. I think she's in good shape.
Yeah, but I don't, I don't know. She's not within my area.
All right, we're going to be delicate with this next one. Uh-oh.
By the way, mom's take on Justin Baldoni was, um, I never liked his face. Yeah, I don't like his either.
That was it. She just never trusted his face.
He played the role that he played a little too well. Yeah.
2025 career advice is the next category. Right.
And I just have in the notes, dangerous Disney. You don't like when the Disney stars hit this phase when they get older and then they have to prove how dangerous they are.
Well, it just seems like this is like a common thing that happens between Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo and like all of these really popular Disney influencers that are now trying to like desensitize themselves and like escape from the like Disney world. By being super provocative.
Right. And like in a lot of ways it works and I support it.
But then there's times where it's just like, this it's kind of over the top like you're trying to prove something here and sometimes it's like feeding into that Disney thing is is not always a bad thing I just think that sometimes it's a little too trying to get out of the box do you think Zendaya did that no I think she played her cards perfectly yeah the role model, right? Because she's super sexy. Like, I think she's beautiful.
But she was a Disney star for a long time. And she kind of like shifted over to being who she is now from who she was then.
What helps that she's an awesome actress. Right.
And got an iconic TV show. And in a lot of movies and stuff.
Right. But that's the way to do it.
Like, that's the poster way to do that. I don't know what the answer is

but I have written down

makeup tip of the year

as your big makeup person.

I don't even know if we came up with this one.

You don't have one?

All right, we'll move on to the next one.

College food and drink,

weird budget MVPs.

All right.

This is stuff when you're in college,

you're racing around,

especially like you,

you're playing sports,

you have only like 30 minutes to eat,

20 minutes to eat,

10 minutes to grab something. I have a bunch of food here so what do you want to start i want to start off by saying starbucks saved my life okay the dining hall usually closed before soccer practice would be over and there were countless times where the starbucks next door to me would provide my meals i think i ate strictly strictly Starbucks for probably two months straight.
So you support the Starbucks? I support Starbucks. So you have, I wrote down Starbucks egg bites.
Yes, absolutely. Spinach feta wrap? Yes, yes.
And matcha latte was a big one for you this year? I love a matcha latte. I'm obviously a college student and I need as much energy as I can get.
Yeah. And coffee, sometimes I'm just not in the mood for it.
And matcha actually gives me the caffeine boost that I need without the calm down. Because sometimes from coffee, I'll get tired a few hours after having it.
Yeah. Matcha makes my entire body feel fantastic.
And it's a good, healthy energy boost because it's green tea. In that Starbucks that's next to your dorm, there's probably, what, 10, 11 people that work there? How many of them knew who you were? Oh, we're friends.
I have a friend every morning that I say hello to. It's wonderful.
Chompsticks? Oh, yes. Chompsticks.
I'll put hummus on them. Can you explain what chompsticks are? Because most people don't know.
It's a meat stick. I guarantee you most people know.
Okay. It's like a long meat stick.
It's like a jerky. Yeah, it's a jerky, but it's made out of turkey.
And it's delicious. Me and mom were on the ski mountain the other day, and she was appalled because I was putting mustard on my chompsticks.
But chompsticks, I don't regret it one bit. Chomp sticks are my MVP in 2024.
So that would have been, that's the answer to the question. Weirdest thing I did with my food in 2024, putting mustard in a public place on chomp sticks.
Or like the pickles dipped in the cottage cheese with the hummus. I don't know.
Yeah, that was the last MVP was hummus, pickles, and cottage cheese. So you would just walk to this Trader Joe's in Boston,

buy a bunch of weird food, and then

cram them into a small college

refrigerator. Into my little fridge.
And no one

would touch that fridge in my suite.

They all knew. They opened it up and it's like

this is a crime scene.

Is there any pizza in there? Yeah, that's why I'm like a good

as a roommate because no one wants

to eat my stuff. Even if

anyone was trying to eat my things, no one would want to. Last category.
Advice to my younger self as an athlete and future strong woman. Oh, future strong woman.
I don't know. I was projecting.
You're projecting. Things you learned now that you're 19 and a half, things you wish you could have told yourself at age 12 13 14 sure um well i think on a relationships standpoint because that was partially what i was thinking of when we wrote this down um and this is advice that i give to my friends a lot of the times in a relationship you have just as much power as the other person and succumbing to like whatever they want at all times is super unhealthy.
Yeah. And I think that that's definitely something that I've learned over the years, just like not folding over.
I've definitely become a lot more feisty since I've gotten to college. I think in middle school, as you know, a lot of people like walk all over me because I am a nice person.
Yeah. And I would like allow that to happen.
But standing up for yourself is something obviously that you learn with. It's been nice to have you home when we taught you how to be bullied again.
But I'm just telling you what to do and yelling at you. Exactly.
Good. Complaining about you.
Right. As a soccer forefront or just sports in general, I think you cannot continue on if you don't love it.
That's something that I have learned to be true. I've gone through injury last year where I thought I might have to quit.
There's been lots of times in my life where it's like I don't want to miss any more birthday parties or any more friend playdates. I feel like I'm losing friends.
I don't want to do this sport anymore. And pushing through that and knowing that you have the love to push through the sacrifices is the most important thing.
You won't make it if you don't. Yeah.
You know, that's interesting because I think that's the number one thing I learned as a parent too. Yeah.
That if the kid doesn't love it, there's nothing you can do as a parent. You can't make someone love something.
You'll burn them out.

You had two real injuries

and each time you could have said,

I don't want to play anymore.

It's not worth it.

But each time you really wanted to keep playing

and you fought to get back and healthy,

which you did again recently.

But other people are there.

Well, I've seen it happen time and time again

where it's like people I've played with

that are dying for it to be over. Because it's like they either feel like they were forced to do it or like they were doing it for somebody else.
And in part, I'll always play for you because I know how much you love to watch me play. But I mostly play because of how much I love it.
And if I didn't love it, I would not be able to do it for as long as I have. Yeah.
And you're playing. I mean, you're in're in a more physical position too so it's not like your body's pretty banged up by the end of the season if you're playing big minutes right but I think that also feeds into like the um giving yourself the right nutrients and like being a healthy person in general yeah because there's a lot of like I don't know on TikTok especially it's like what i eat in a day as a fat person is literally like all over my for you page like there's a lot of people promoting really unhealthy eating or like what i eat in a day as a skinny person like these are literal headlines of videos that i've watched like this lady live schmidt who was canceled all year because she was underweight and like kind of promoting an unhealthy eating style.
It seems like she's like adapted a more healthy eating style. But with social media and with TikTok, there's a lot of promotion of the way that people eat.
And it's it's not anything like we've ever had before because social media was never so big. Well, it's also making people think about food more than maybe they would.
Right. It's like it becomes people's entire universes.
And I've definitely dealt with that. And as an athlete, it's important to give yourself the right nutrients.
I think that's important too. That's what I've learned.
The more time we have with social media, I do wonder if it reemphasizes things that are potential problems anyway,

right? Like food, or if you, if you think you have some sort of hang up or something wrong.

And then, well, yeah, it's like people self-diagnose themselves all the time. People

change like, and it's hard because when you feel like you're in a really tough place and you don't

know what's wrong with you, and then you see somebody else that might be having similar

symptoms to you and you finally feel like you're being heard or like you found the solution, that's a really gratifying feeling. But in the end of the day, it's probably not what you have.
And it's like people go down this rabbit hole and social media was not something that we were intended to have as human beings. And it's like you have all of this insight on people's lives that you would never cross paths with otherwise.
So it like creates a really weird universe for a lot of people like me, where it's like, I'll be seeing all these food videos or all of these, like, whatever sorts of videos that I normally wouldn't ever see or pay attention to. So it's just weird.
Well, one other thing you learned in 2024 is you could be a good nurse. A good nurse? Yeah, I could, honestly.
Your boyfriend hurt his leg and was in a cast for six weeks and you had to take care of him. Yeah.
But you did. I did.
You did a good job. I did.
It seems like you did a decent job. I tried my best, but that's, yeah, that's something I had to learn rolling someone around

in a wheelchair

is not as easy

as it looks

you finally got

you finally got

to be in a Grey's Anatomy episode

I know

I almost pushed him

to the traffic

a few times

alright

anything else

before we go

I don't think so

happy new year

happy new year

good to see you

that was it for teen culture

I guess we'll have to

come up with another name

if we do this again

yeah

we'll fix it up you turned 20 in beginning of May yep I don't know guess we'll have to come up with another name if we do this again. Yeah, we'll fix it up.

You turned 20 in the beginning of May.

Yep.

I don't know what we'll call it at that point.

Yeah, we'll figure it out.

All right, good to see you.

Bye.

All right, that's it for the podcast.

Thanks to Joe House.

Thanks to my daughter, Zoe Simmons.

Can't believe I was able to book her.

Thanks to Saruti and thanks to Kyle.

Thanks to you guys for listening.

Don't forget, Sunday, me and the Cuz are going to be going live on YouTube

after all the Sunday games.

And you can watch the Cuz and everybody else in the ringer Sunday pregame show that morning.

I will see you on Sunday night.

Enjoy the weekend. I don't have feelings with them On the wayside I'm a bruised side I don't have slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

Hope is here.

Visit gamblinghelpline ma.org or call 800-327-5050

for 24-7 support in Massachusetts

or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY

or text HOPE-NY in New York.