[00:00:05] Speaker A: Booyah. And it's time for the Game sports podcast. It is your host, David McCaig Jr. The Game sports podcast is powered by 91 N. That's 91 Network. 91 Network is a YouTube channel. Head on over to 91 Network to check out all of the previous editions of the Game sports podcast, as well as catch all of the great content on 91 n. Like I said ourselves, there's the average Jocks podcast, the Bit Arrivals podcast, full time podcast, Strong Minds podcast, the Paxack Project podcast, and the list goes on. So head on over to 91 n. Again, that's 91 network. If you're currently doing a podcast and you're interested in joining the community, or if you're interested in launching a podcast, just send an email to 90
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You got to give a little bit of blame to yourself if you lose a game, doesn't matter if it's basketball, hockey, football, whatever it may be. The Raptors recently lost by one point to Los Angeles Lakers and that game was played on January the 9th at the crypto arena and played LeBron James's lakers, of course, did the Raptors, and the Raptors did lose 132 to 131. And after the game, Darko went off in the media and like I said, if you haven't checked it out, you can give this a quick pause, search that book and then come back, of course, and resume where you left off because it is entertaining. He was very upset at the free throws, easy for me to say in terms of whom had more free throws, especially in the fourth quarter. He was quoting 23 free throws in terms of Scotty Barnes's three throughout the game. And then, of course, he was highlighting how Scotty Barnes was an all star or is an all star, and he's not wrong about that. Scotty Barnes is terrific, and he's a future all star in this league, a future superstar, a future face of this league. And some may agree or may not agree with that. You got to agree with that. The kid is very talented and definitely the future of the Raptors franchise. But nonetheless, in looking back at that game, Darko, when he went on the podium and he was talking to the fans in the camera and he was talking back to the reporter, that was emotion. Okay? Yes. And there comes a point in the sport where you got to hold back. You got to make sure you're professional in your responses. But there was a lot of games, and there's a lot of games, even in other sports, where coaches hold themselves back, and sometimes they hold themselves accountable. Sometimes they hold their players accountable. Or maybe there's an excuse on a particular play that cost them the game. There's a lot of reasons that can cause a team to lose in a game, all right? Ultimately, if you lose, you lose. But Darko has a point, and I'm not saying that the Raptors were pointed to be that the refs made them lose in a game. I'm sure that wasn't their intention. You hope that wasn't their intention. You can refer back to a previous episode of, actually, a Wednesday edition of the games Boris podcast just about three to four weeks ago, where Heckel had a very hot take about conspiracy theory with the referee and how maybe that they're involved in bettings in games, but they never get questioned. Unbelievable. Unbelievable point he brought up. Maybe there is something there, but I don't want to get into that. I'm talking about Darko here and his rant on the podium. I loved it. I think that is great. I think that should pump up the team to a degree that their coach cares. He speaks his mind. And when it comes to the NBA doing any fines or anything at the time of this recording, I did not see any fines. I did not see anything be laid out. Do I expect there to be anything? Maybe there might be a little, at least conversation, but he does have a point. Okay. And when you seem like the calls are more favored on one side, him saying the point, you may as well just have called us and we would have stayed home and not played the game. And it's upsetting, right? Because the Raptors have been really successful, especially after the trade with the Knicks. They've been really rolling. And that type of game, it's a tough loss to take and against a team that they could beat. A lot of people question the Lakers. I'll get to that in a second. But the vent sesh that Darko decided to go off on, love it. Keep showing it. I love that emotion. He's taken over for Nick Nurse. He's taken over for a coach that was loved in Toronto, just like Casey was. All right, when Casey was moved off by the Raptors, you look at Nick Nurse and you're like, well, who's this guy, right? Is this guy going to be the guy? Look, that is the guy that led the Raptors to a championship along with a great team. But he was a great coach. Heck, he was on Murdoch mysteries. Okay? The guy is loved in Toronto. He is arguably the best coach the Raptors have ever had. Okay? There's a lot of good coaches that have come to the Raptors, but arguably he is the best coach you can look at, statistics, et Cetera. But Darko, this is a guy who is obviously liked by the Raptors management. He's emotional, he cares about the game and he's going to speak his mind. And I love it. The refs, brutal calls, soft calls, missed calls in that fourth quarter in particular. And Darko's rant warranted. Loved it. Keep that emotion up. We love that in Toronto and sports loves that. And I love talk about it on the podcast as well. I said I would say something about the Lakers. I'm going to keep it as brief as I can. I got another couple of topics I want to get to before I get to our jam packed segment. Two here on the game sports podcast powered by 91 n and that is the Lakers. Look, they won the in season tournament. Since the in season tournament, they haven't been so hot, they've been cold. You got LeBron, you got Anthony Davis, you got a good team there in Los Angeles, the GM, who we all know, who the GM of that team truly is, and heck, even the coach, LBJ himself. But this is a team that won the in season tournament. Yeah. People look at the in season tournaments, it's something new. And does it really matter? Is it going to translate to success? Well, if you look at the conference right now, where the Lakers stand, they're just hanging on to that bottom spot. Right. And it's actually really interesting in terms of where they stand in the standings because I truly thought they'd know at least a top. That's, that's something you expect from a team that has LeBron James Davis and has a good team. Like that, but they haven't been able to live up to that. But here's the thing about the Lakers. LeBron is the oldest guy in the NBA. Unbelievable. You can think back of what he started with the Cavs. I can't believe when he got like my early teens, who is this guy? And he's unbelievable. But he is still number two to Jordan. I don't care what anybody says. Let me below if you disagree, but that's my point. There's experience on this team. These guys have won. Yep. They won the season tournament recently. They've won a championship with the Lakers. Look, the Lakers, maybe if something doesn't turn around, they don't make the playoffs. And then what do you look, nothing. Nothing's going to matter. This is LeBron's team and it's going to be like that for the remainder of the season and they will get into the playoffs, at least for the play in. And I think if they get into the play in this year, I think you got to watch out for them. That experience is always dangerous. LeBron, like I said, he'll find that fifth gear, Davis can find that gear and they can get back on track. And heck, it's still early in the season. They can bounce back. Lots of time left for the Lakers to bounce back. I still do think that they are a playoff team. I still think they can make a run in the playoffs. I don't think they're champions by any means. But I think that experience is going to put them to a different level in the playoffs. You would expect. Anyways, going to the look on our first edition this week, which would be the Monday recording where I mentioned William Neelander secures the bag is the title of that podcast. We talked a lot of hockey in there and Conor Bedard's injury was known. But there was a trade that was broken right after we recorded the podcast. And as of today, there's more news coming out as we're coming. I'm trying to keep an eye on the tickers just in case I do miss something. I'm trying to keep an eye on text messages with some friends that are sources to all the leagues and seeing if I get some text because they know that I'm recording today. But the Conor bedard breaking his jaw. So unfortunate, right? Young kid. But it makes me look back at Conor McDavid in his first year, collarbone right out for three months or so, give or take, and he still finished strong in the season. And ultimately it did come on the bad end of any accolades at the end of the year. But this is still somebody that bounced back in his career and look at what he's done, right? I'm not saying Conor Badard is Connor McDavid. And if you look back at the first episode in September or so, I actually said I thought Conor Beddard was more like a Steven Stamkos. But watching him more, I think my prediction might be a little bit off as he transitions. He is certainly going to be that generational talent that we expected. I still don't want to give him that Crosby or level or McDavid or anything like that, but he's certainly going to be the top point getter in the league next to McDavid for years to come. But this is something with Connor McDavid, with Conor Bedard rather. And Conor McDavid compared. Conor McDavid's a bigger body, okay? He has that speed. He is faster than Conor Bedard, all around better player. Still the heck that experience, age, it all comes when you grow into it. But going through open ice, Conor Bedard was able to do that a lot, right? And Kevin Biexa touched on this as well as many other media outlets. So this is not be the first time you hear this, I assume. But if it is Conor Bedard when he was playing the WHL, this is somebody who is going around the ice, literally going in open ice. Heck, his head was down a couple times. He's doing the dangles, he's putting it through his legs. He's going around guys easily. He's not getting hit as much. Look, it is the NHL. It's a different animal. You get into open ice, I don't think Smith's hit was dirty and I'm sure people agree with me on that. Sure. Maybe been a little bit high height difference, right? But Smith is doing his job, finishing his check and no one should be treated differently. Crosby, McDavid, Matthews, those guys only be treated differently. Yes, the team can respond and obviously Felino did and of course he got hurt afterwards. But this is a team that has young talent on it and I think Conor Bedard learned a little bit of a valuable lesson in the game. And unfortunately it's in his first year where he's going to miss an all star game. Now he's going to miss time. People that bought tickets within games the next six to eight weeks, he's not going to be able to be seen to be able to play. So it's a little bit of upset fan base if they're going to the madhouse or if they're going to another arena again. Connor bedard out six to eight weeks with the jaw. Look, he learned a valuable lesson. He did. And I think he did go into open ice. Assuming that he may not get that check, I think going forward now, this will actually expand his mind, maybe increase that iq even further in hockey to utilize open ice in a different way and still keep that skill that he has. My honest opinion, Corey Perry is back in the news in hockey. And why is he back? Well, pretty simple. It's not for the previous situation that we all know was whoa, quite out of hands. It went out of hands. We talked about it on the podcast. I know there was some interaction wondering and some people were wondering how it took us so long and how we went to different avenues of the topic. We touched on a lot, but of course it was proven as nonsense. The GM of the Chicago Blackhawks, Davidson, came out and did the talk that he had to do and we haven't really heard from Corey Perry. Right. And Corey Perry resurfaces now. It's big news. It's big news that he's eligible to sign with an NHL team and you hear everything in the background like, okay, he was intoxicated at a restaurant or bar and there's a waitress involved or maybe there was a staff member involved or it was both. And look, that happened with know the, the thing from there was very, wasn't too much after what happened, where he came out with it wasn't like too explained, too elaborate. There was apologies left and right, him and Chicago and how nothing was true from Chicago's end, et cetera. But Corey Perry is eligible to come back in the NHL and truthfully I'm going to tell you, anybody that gets Corey Perry, I can't believe I'm saying this. It's a win for them. I think Corey Perry is a strong veteran presence. He was doing well in Chicago. Heck, as a Toronto Maple Leaf fan, he seems to be like a little silent leaf killer. Whatever team he's off is on Tampa when he was on Montreal.
I honestly think that Corey Perry returned to the NHL. He would be a valuable asset to a team and given some of his off ice annex. There's been players that have had a lot of that issues. Evander Kane and of course everyone had their chirps about him when he returned to the NHL. But when he turned to the NHL, he's with the Edmonton Oilers and he's actually cleaned up this act. So a lot of people are pointing Corey Perry to go to Edmonton people are also appointing Corey Perry to maybe be looked at in Toronto. Look, everyone's going Toronto if they're a free agent, right? Everyone says that as much as people may think that is a good idea, especially due to Matthew Nyes. We don't know the status of Matthew Nyes and I say we based on the Toronto Maple Leaf fans organization. But as much as that may be a fit, I don't think it's as realistic as many other options in the National Hockey League. There, of course is looks about Edmonton. There seems to be a fit. Sure, maybe that would make sense. But I was really looking at the Dallas Stars a little bit. Him returning back to Dallas as an unfinished business. I don't see him going to the ducks because of where they are in the standings. Or maybe he would want to go there to finish his career. But going back to Dallas, this is a team in the Western Conference. But I'm thinking, hey, does he want to play Chicago a lot? Does he want to be in that conference or does it matter? Right? What's going through his mind mentally? Does he want to go back to he yes, that's a rebuilding team, but does he want to go back to Montreal and be around that group and maybe be under and kind of just finish strong there in Montreal?
Or does he want to truly go to a playoff contender and surprise everybody? Does he want to go back to Tampa? Well, if you look at Tampa Bay, if you want to hear all the rumors that were going on about Corey Perry, all the nonsense that was going on Tampa Bay and being in Tampa Bay was affiliated to that from before he even went to Chicago. If you really want to dig into the archives and truly it's almost really hard to predict. It almost seems like too easy to say that Corey Perry is going to be going to a team that he already played for, right? And Tampa Bay is the obvious pointer because of where he had success there. He knows the team, everything was a fit there, but there might be some Warner eat there. But I still consider as Tampa as a favorite for Corey Perry Eastern Conference team still in the playoff hunt, looking to try to rebound and maybe bringing in someone like Corey Perry to really round out that bottom six might help Tampa Bay try to right the ship a little bit. They've had a weird start this year because of Asileski being hurt, et cetera. So the main thing with Corey Perry is that makes sense in Tampa Bay. I still think Dallas makes sense, but the only thing that's throwing me off about Dallas is the fit. But mainly going back to Chicago. If that is something that he wants to try to avoid a little bit. I don't know. He's a professional, but I just wonder if that's a little bit of a factor in a conversation. Right. If you look at teams in the east, some of the teams are done playing Chicago. I haven't pulled up Tampa Bay's schedule yet, so I'm not too sure. But I know Toronto has played Chicago their times this year. There's teams that have. Maybe that's something that he considers. So if you want my prediction, I really can't choose one. I really can't. If you said, David, you have to choose one.
I am going to say Tampa Bay. Sorry. Despite given all the drama that you hear maybe in the background, I think that's one. Number two, to give you my main prediction without giving a team because I think there's so many fits that he'd be on. It's going to be the Eastern Conference. That's the only thing I'll say. I think he's going to stay in the east. He's not going to go west. Someone also said, is Vancouver an option? I think that's very interesting. Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, Dallas, Tampa. Look, there's a lineup for him. Is Florida an option for Corey Perry? Right. You played in Tampa, you can't go back there. Maybe go to Florida. So many options. But if I had to say, team Tampa is still my favorite, despite anything that could be true. But from all the nonsense rumors that we've heard, of course. But ultimately the Eastern Conference makes the most sense for Corey Perry. Comment below. I won't use too much more time with Corey Perry, but comment below on what you feel about where Corey Perry is going to land.
Going to be interesting. This is a game sports podcast. David McCag here talked a little bit of Raptors basketball, a little bit of Lakers, a little bit NBA diving. Then we went into the NHL.
But I am going to get into one last point because I did sort of forget because I branched out to Conor Bedard and Corey Perry, Cutter Goce and Jamie Drysdale. Look, Cutter Goche, when he was drafted by Philadelphia, he said he was built to be a flyer and he wanted to be there. We're hearing that Cutter Goche and his agent has connected with the Flyers, said they want to be there. But then the Flyers saying, well, they haven't heard from him. Look, there's a lot of stories going around. True or not, there's usually three sides to the story, the two and then the truth right. I'm going to stay with that third. The third option is the truth there, but it is likely that the Flyers as open that they've been as Jones, Totorella, of course Danny Breere. I really feel like that the Flyers don't have anything to lie about with this. Carter Goche is a Penguins fan.
I don't know if it's something to do with that. People are assuming with that Crosby is his favorite player. Look, the Cutter Goce is a standout at college hockey and he was really effective at the world juniors. This is somebody that when the college season is done, he's likely going to be able to step into the lineup. Now he's traded to the Ducks. I don't think that's going to be a playoff team, of course, given where they are in the standings. But this is somebody who's going to be on a young team with Trevor Ziegris. He's going to be on a team with Carlson, a lot of young defensemen on that team, a lot of young defensemen. Mintakov and the list goes on with that team. They were able to move on from Jamie Drysdale with ease. They were able to sacrifice their future from on the defensive side to increase their offensive in their future. And they did that with Cutter. People say that second round pick is a little bit extra. Look, it's not Jamie Drysdale and Cutter Gochi. Maybe that could have been straight up, but adding that second is that sweetener for the difference in age not being in the league yet. And truthfully, Cutter Gochi might have slightly just a bit better value, even though Jamie Drysdale is a right handed offensive defenseman which really coveted and he might flourish under John Totorella. So this could be a very good hockey trade overall. That second round pick is where it's going to be very interesting for me. Maybe next year, the year after the year after, whoever's drafted in that second round. That's where we can revisit this topic and really see who won the trade. But as of today, I would say that the Flyers lost the trade because I feel like the Anaheim Ducks really increased. But it's really hard to say that that would really be a 51 49% decision. That's how close it is. So my bold prediction down the road, I think Philadelphia is going to see the win in this trade just from the defensive end and who they draft in the second round. But ultimately with Cutter Goche, if this is somebody who does not want to be part of the organization, then you have to move on from this individual. He didn't want to to be there. He told you that? Well, after saying he wanted to be there. If I'm Anaheim, I'm a little bit of a red flag with that, but I'm sure trade for him, all that will work out. Philadelphia had a good prospect in think and this is something that we're going to bring into the Monday segment of the week. So we're going to start doing an NHL redraft and we're going to talk about a topic next week in particular about if a player is traded or if a player is drafted by the team, how they should stay with the team. I'll leave it at that. I'm a firm believer of whoever you get drafted by, start there. At least give it a go, show your worth and then if you want to, when you have the right, then move on. But heck, Lindross, many players have requested a trade and they do get what they want. Not a fan of that. I think it looks bad on the player, but there must be reasoning and based on what they released, they said it was personal matters with family. Truth or not, Cutter didn't want to be a flyer. Flyers were very open about that and I like their or I like their view. Sorry. If they said if you don't want to be a flyer, then we don't want you.
It is what it is. That's it. Cutter, Goce, the Ducks Drezel and second to the Flyers. Who do you think won the trade? Like I said, close right now, but I think in the future, I think the Flyers are looking pretty good. But when you look at the Anaheim Ducks future, great defense. Coming up, they got Dosto, Annette, who's the future after Gibson's out. They got a good young core with Ziegris Carlson and now with Cutter. They got a good nucleus of players there. Anaheim is on the right track. They're coming. They're going to have a high pick this year as well. Watch out for those Ducks in the next three to five years. Let me tell you, if not sooner. All right, now I'm going to take my breather. This has been the game sports podcast, segment one, basketball hockey discussion with yours truly. I'm going to take a breather. Come back. We are going to have the in the pocket segment with yours truly and the in the pocket crew. Don't go anywhere. Before we get into tonight's second segment, myself, EJ and Justin wanted to interrupt our recording to send our condolences out to a close friend of the game sports podcast, a family member of the game sports podcast, Avery Roush. Last week, he tragically lost his father, Andre Roush. And I wanted to make sure that we obviously brought forward our condolences. As a staff of the Game sports podcast. It was something that was planned to do on Monday as well with myself and Alex. However, it felt more appropriate to wait till a second recording this week. And EJ, Justin and myself wanted to do this right at this point. So we want to send our condolences out to Avery and to his family and friends, and to family and friends of his father as well. Again, Andre Roush. Best wishes and condolences to Avery and family. Very tragic, very sad. It was very heartbreaking to hear. And we are here for you, brother EJ.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: I think I'm probably one of the last people that should speak on this issue. I don't know Avery very well, but Dave thought that it was important that Avery be a part of our team. And so I have talked to Avery and I have grown to very much enjoy him. And because of that, I do feel an obligation to say I am sorry for your loss. Avery, I wish you nothing but the best. You and all of your family, of course. And if there is anything that I can do for you, you don't just need to hit me up for podcasting advice.
My phone lines are always open for you. And condolences to the Roche family.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Justin.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: Yeah, and just echoing the same stuff, man. Condolences to your family.
I couldn't even imagine.
We're here for you. And I mean, this family's got your back, Ben. So you need anything. Garage door is always open, fridge is always open, and I always got some sports on. So we're here for you, buddy.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: And the condolences also want to be passed on by Alex Parr and Dane Hantrow. They can do their own if they wish on the next record I have with them. And they already have reached out, but I'll make sure I mention them as well as all of the game sports podcast family. I'd like to remind listeners if you are in the Su St. Marie community or the Algoma region, and if you know Avery, know the family, or know his father, Andre. The celebration of life will be at Quattro in Su St. Marie this Saturday from two until six. So if you need any information on that, you can hit us up here on the Game sports podcast or 91 n to get those necessary details. But again to you, Avery, condolences. Best wishes to yourself and your family.
We're taking a brief moment here. And we're going to get into our second segment. And welcome back to the Game Sports podcast. David McKay continuing to host you this evening again, the Game sports podcast powered by 91 n. That's 91 network. Make sure you hit like follow and subscribe on 91 n's platforms as well as all the game sports podcasts platform as well. Let me give you just a little piece of fact. Over 50% of you that view our TikToks. And we're very pleased with all the views that we get on TikToks and the shorts. We appreciate it. But over 50% of the views, you aren't subscribing or following the game sports podcast, so make sure you are doing so make sure you interact. The simple, like, the simple interaction, the simple follow goes a long way for both the game sports podcast and who we're powered by. And again, that's 91 and 91 network, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, lot of interaction on Facebook. Over 1300 of you follow on there. We love that. Instagram. Just under 700 followers right now. Hoping to grow the numbers on Instagram as well as grow on TikTok. And as I, before I did the recording, there has been two follows before we did the second segment added on there. So let's keep adding to that as we definitely work hard on this content. If you're interested in being a sponsor of the game or to 91 n, reach out now. I got EJ Russell, I got Justin Heichel. We are in the in the pocket segment. And as always, in the pocket is sponsored by sports center bar and Grill. Susan, Ontario's best sports bar over six years in a row. Best wings. All in all, the game sports podcast's original home. First recording in Canada. Keyword in Canada. Phone in a cup at Sports center bar and Grill in Sioux St. Marie, Ontario. Phone on a cup. As EJ just said, that was a thing. Now look at us. I got the Death Star up here. Justin's got the x wing and the joker back there. And EJ's got his family pictures back there. Okay. And we got the headsets on. Okay. Things have definitely went a long way for the game. It's all because of you, the listeners did.
[00:29:24] Speaker C: We missed an opportunity maybe at the beginning, and we could have just called this like four guys, one.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: I haven't, I've missed a bunch of weeks this year. So then it had to be two guys, one cup. And I don't think that's good for anybody.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: No, that's a good point. Good point. EJ. Hi. I didn't say hi to you. Welcome on.
We did miss you last week. Or the last couple of weeks, I can't recall. But no, I think just one week nonetheless. EJ, all the way Michigan. How's it going, yo?
[00:29:50] Speaker B: How's everybody doing? Happy to be here. Sorry for the absences so often this year. Not typically my mo, but I've had some other stuff to do with changes at work. But yeah, as hike, saying, gotta make that money, you gotta get that cheddar. But happy to be here with you boys, as always.
Part of the reason I will say this, too. Little plug here for my family. Part of the reason why last week was so difficult to make was my sister got married not too long ago. So I'm actually tonight I'm sporting my spill any my groomsman. Little Yeti can koozie here. So my sister Emily, she got married to Austin. So happy for them. They're currently vacationing in Hawaii.
A helicopter tour. The other day, they're meeting some. Actually. They got to see what's called a hawaiian monk seal. There's only like 1100 of them in the world.
They're getting the full shebang. So congratulations to them if they see this. But that's part of why I wasn't here last week.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Very much excuse and reasonable. But speaking of making that dough. You've been making that dough. And what you do, if you want to do the plug now, give yourself what you do. What do you do, EJ? Fine.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Before I'll do a little double plug here. Because the program that we used to record. Can I say the name of.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: The program that we used to record is called Riverside. And I work at Riverside Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Ram and Escanaba. So if you're in need of any new pre owned vehicles. You need parts, service. Or maybe it is you're driving a car that you just don't understand the technology on. Come see me, E. J. Russell at Riverside Chrysler. If you want to call. My american phone number is 906-217-2705 confident.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: To put that on air for you. If you want a vehicle, that's what they do. And he will serve you.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: They're having fun saying, making all the paper. Because they got salesmen in the month. Back to back months. I will say this. I went for the hat trick, if you will. There's the first hockey reference of the show. So you guys can boot.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: Yeah. Thank you.
Unfortunately, because I had to miss the end of December with my sister's weding. I was unable to complete the trifecta so we're going for it back again in January here. But old boy is good at what he does. If you need help, and I'm not saying I'm just good at selling. I'm good at helping you find your vehicle. If you need something, give me a call. 906-217-2705 love it.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: The other individual who's been here since day Uno, essentially. Well, particular with the canadian recordings and.
Well, it wasn't in the pocket back.
It was in the pocket about a couple recordings in. But we just called it the game sports show at the time Canada. And then we switched it to be broken down as segments.
We've done a lot of changes to the show to really try to perfect our art, per se.
[00:32:45] Speaker C: Timeline a little bit.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: 100%. And we've had a three and a half hour episode. The one time we got to find that in the archive.
[00:32:53] Speaker C: No, we don't.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: Every time Dave says it's supposed to be a half hour long episode, we end up going at least an hour.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: To an hour and a half that episode. Three and a half hours of just absolute nonsense.
[00:33:04] Speaker B: I don't think I was on that one two hour episode.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: There was five of us. It was me. Hold on. Before I get to that story. Justin, how's it going?
[00:33:14] Speaker C: No, let's keep going with these.
[00:33:16] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:33:16] Speaker C: Hi, I'm here. I'm here. Keep going with the stories. This is way better content.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: Justin, me, Dustin Grandin, who is a casual Jamie Antonello, who is.
And I believe.
[00:33:32] Speaker C: Pat was there.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Pat. So our buddy Pat deluc, I think Dane was there, but he didn't record. He showed up to sit and hang out with us.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: To be honest, it could have been 13 or 14 people there. We would.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: Brian Greco was there too. I remember that there was seven of.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: Us to be at sports center. Bar and grill.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: This was at sports center. I heard this story, this three and a half hours. And this show was ran by Dustin. Actually, Dustin wanted to run the show because he wanted to go through topics. He had four pages of topics that he typed out. I said, you know what, man? All the power to you. Go ahead.
[00:34:04] Speaker B: And he didn't even tell us what's going on.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: We don't need to. But the three and a half hours, there actually is a document that you can check out. It's there. But three and a half hours of just football, football, slash of hockey, basketball. I think tennis. I think we talked about the high school.
Oh, there's Dixie. Yeah, we need a little Dixie appearance. There was too much going on. If I can ever find that episode, I'll give the listeners a treat. No, maybe not. It might cancel. I don't know. There must have been swears. That's a funny episode. If you're a close friend, we'll show you that.
[00:34:42] Speaker C: That's the grand finale post.
[00:34:46] Speaker A: That was the worst episode ever. Fellas, we got an agenda. We'll get to it.
We got NCAA championship. We got Nick Saban. NFL pick him. I'm going to go to EJ first. I watched the NCA championship game, but when it comes to college football, it's like the world juniors second hockey reference, led by Dane.
So EJ is the NCAA guy. I ain't taking that thunder. Dane couldn't join us today because he's a big blue fan and he had other things going on and feeling out of the weather. So this is going to be EJ's show and I'll be diving into it and hike. I'm sure you had a chance to check out the game too. I never asked you, but it was a great game. If you're a Michigan fan, I feel like Washington would like to rewrite that history a little bit. Michigan seemed like the better team right from essentially the get go. I think the second half especially. But EJ, going to give it to you about the national championship game. What a season. What a game for the blue. And to get pulled away with the national championship.
[00:35:45] Speaker B: So when we did this podcast prior to the semi final, I very adamantly came out and said, I got Alabama over Michigan. I got Washington over Texas, and I have Washington as national champion.
I think Michigan, in many ways, almost proved me dead on the money. And here's kind of what I'm getting at. I picked Nick Saban and the Alabama's and Crimson Tide in that semifinal against Michigan. Because there's not many times in Nick Saban's career that he loses twice in a season. And he makes the necessary corrections to adjust at halftime. And he showed that in that Michigan Alabama semi final game because Alabama started coming back in that second half. But what Michigan showed me in that semi final game is the ability for that defense to make impactful plays at any moment in the game. I can't remember the last time that I've seen an Alabama Crimson tide offensive line just get their shit pushed in from front to back for all four quarters like the Michigan defensive line was able to do. That was the weakness of this Alabama team. Obviously, at the other positions, I think they had more than enough. But Michigan did what they do well. They run the ball well. They rely on JJ McCarthy to make plays when needed and they rely on that defense, which is tops in the nation, to stand up on their head. Washington did exactly what I thought they were going to do against Texas. They outlast. They outscored him. Michael Pinix Jr. Was the reason that they got to the championship game, just as I thought he would be. But I thought that Michael Pinix Jr. In the national championship game was potentially the most NFL ready quarterback out of anybody in this upcoming draft. And that includes Caleb Williams from USC that many think is the number one quarterback in this.
Know he's asking, saying know if he gets drafted. Number one overall, he wants a cut of the team. He wants a percentage of ownership.
Michael Pinix Jr. I still firmly believe is a better quarterback than Caleb Williams. But the Michigan defense, holy cow. Did they answer the bell? Did they answer the call? And they stepped up against what many people were ready to crown as a potential Heisman Trophy winner. And even I was ready to say Michael Pinix Jr. Was the Heisman Trophy winner this year. I thought that he was the most impactful player on his team. Forget that guy from LSU. Michigan went out and did what they needed to do. JJ McCarthy, not the same quarterback that we saw three years ago against Ohio State when Ohio State said, all right, if you're going to beat us, JJ has to throw the ball because he hadn't played well. That was kind of the beginning. JJ McCarthy against Ohio State three years ago, that was the beginning of JJ McCarthy becoming the quarterback and the leader that he know. This is a Michigan team that was focused on the overall goal. Despite missing Jim Harbaugh early in the year, despite missing him later in the year, despite all the sign stealing stuff, this team took care of the noise and handled business and did so in almost a very professional way. In fact, that's why Jim Harbaugh is being mentioned in many NFL head coaching vacancies. The team that I'm hearing get thrown around the most lately is Los Angeles Chargers. Personally, as much as an Ohio State fan as I am, I would love to see him leave. I think that would be the worst thing for him. And I do think that would be the worst thing for the University of Michigan. I am going to say this as I swallow. Actually, let me take a drink before I say this because it's going to be hard.
I know pauses make for great tv.
Congratulations to the University of Michigan on winning a national championship. Having said that, fuck you.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: Coming from a fan of Ohio State.
[00:39:32] Speaker B: They were the best team in college football this year.
What was it? I just saw an interesting thing.
They are one of only a handful of teams in the history of football to go 15, and that includes the Yale Bulldogs in 1894, the Penn Quakers 1897, Clemson Tigers of 2018, LSU Tigers of 2019, Georgia Bulldogs of 2022, and Michigan Wolverines of 2023. I do believe, and somebody can fact check me here, I do also believe that it is the first time in NCAA history that a team has allowed no more than 25 points in any particular game. If I heard that correct today.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: I actually did hear that.
If people want to let us know below if you want to work.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: When I heard that, but thinking back on the games that sounds remotely plausible, sounds pretty accurate, even if it's not the fact that we're thinking it is. What a compliment to the way that that team was run this year.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: Yep. Hike. What is your thoughts on Michigan? I think it's well deserving. I think it's fair to say the.
[00:40:35] Speaker C: Thing that I was casually watching, trying to get psycho sid to bed, she was not into it.
But that Michigan defensive line, my God, I have not like, I watched the two bowl games and I haven't seen an NFL defense thing you can do. Play like. Like they were balls full throttle. Every play.
[00:40:58] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:40:59] Speaker C: Every play. And every single guy's getting through the line.
[00:41:03] Speaker B: These offensive linemen, can we compliment their discipline? Not a lot of.
[00:41:10] Speaker C: It was as a guy who played defensive line and coached a little bit of defensive, it was masterful watching that.
If you were trying to put a package together of this is how you play defensive, that was it. I mean, it was a master class in it. I mean, I'm focusing on one aspect of the game, but my was, it was like watching. It was like, remember pros versus like, that's what it was like Romanowski versus those guys that came out of a bar somewhere and got their asses kicked. It was crazy.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: And they all did their jobs. Everyone had a role to play. And like you said, every single play, they were coming at you full tilt. Just the way that they schemed up the defensive line. Credit to their defensive coordinator, but also credit to the skill of the players.
I have never ever in my life seen an Alabama offensive line just get shoved around like Michigan did to now.
[00:42:15] Speaker A: This is a fan base that get leads in attendance routinely. They very passionate fan base. Of course they have a big stadium for it, but this is also a team.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: Assholes, too.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: They actually have had three Heisman winners on their team. They actually haven't had one since 1997. That's from, as per Michigan Wolverines football.
[00:42:39] Speaker B: That's Woodson. Yeah.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: This is a team that had a very good, balanced team overall, and obviously it was a long overdue. There's been some good players that have went to Michigan. The best quarterback of all time. Heck, went there obviously, and was successful in his NFL career.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: If you can guess who, Joe Flacco went to Delaware.
[00:43:00] Speaker C: Peyton Manning went to Tennessee.
[00:43:02] Speaker B: Hey, you can laugh at me. You can laugh at me. No quarterback has more road playoff wins than Joe Flacco.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: That's unbelievable. The storyline that could happen. The NFL with Flacco maybe playing the Ravens. I love you. Search if you search the Michigan Wolverines football team right now when you search them on Google because I did earlier today to get some of the facts to be straight with you, this fireworks came up, right? The fireworks on the screen. It's really.
[00:43:28] Speaker B: Blue fireworks.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: If you're a fan of the team, good for you. Honestly. And Dane Hantrow, who is someone on the game sports podcast family, is a big Michigan fan. And finally, this is a team that he saw win for the first know. He hasn't seen his Oilers win. He hasn't seen his Falcons win. He saw the Falcons lose in quite shitty fashion. He has seen Michigan win. Good on the fans. But Harbaugh, I'm going to say something about Harbaugh. The guy seemed like he was on a different planet when he was talking on the podium. I don't know if he already had a couple of shooters, dude.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: He always seems like he's on just like a half too many painkillers. Like he's just kind of in la la land.
I'm not saying, let me be clear.
I'm not accusing the man of abusing painkillers. We on the podcast are not endorsing any abuse of any narcotics.
But he does kind of like just that he took that one too many Percocet after a dental thing and he's just like, let's watch king of the hill. He's in La la land.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: It's hilarious. But he almost left the stage, right? Remember, he was, hey, you can't go anywhere, man. The trophy is coming. The big trophy is coming. You got to pick that up here, right? And he didn't want to get dumped on by Gatorade, but he got caught. He got it. You got to dump Gatorade.
[00:44:45] Speaker C: Avoidance was unbelievable. Like the first one guys running up to hug him and he just dips like grease lightning.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: He watched the dodgeball video.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: He had better moves than Edwards did in the game.
[00:45:01] Speaker A: Dodge, duck, dip, dive and Dodge.
[00:45:06] Speaker B: Another thing I love about him winning this is so his dad Jack won a national championship at Michigan. His brother John won a Super bowl with Baltimore. And he goes on, and in his interview he goes, well, I can finally sit at the big boys table now. I thought that was pretty good. Well, hold on, though. When they were playing each other, when John Harbaugh, Baltimore and Jim, was it in 49 ers when they played in that Super bowl with the lights out?
[00:45:31] Speaker C: You mean the Super bowl?
[00:45:34] Speaker B: At the time, I believe their sister was dating Tom Creen, who at the time was the head basketball coach at Indiana University. I think there's like this for him to win this and say he's sitting at the big boys table like he can finally sit there.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And this is someone who's 60 years old and we don't know what's going to happen in the coaching carousel in the NFL this year. There's so much.
[00:46:00] Speaker B: Would you go pro if you were Harbaugh? I'm going to say it now, Dave, go.
[00:46:06] Speaker A: Money talks. But yes, I've accomplished what I needed to in Michigan. I want to do my last couple of years. I wouldn't want to go to a team that's like the Chargers. I feel like maybe another team that's on the edge, know, maybe like a Seattle.
[00:46:24] Speaker B: Pete Carroll's walking away.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: Yeah, Pete Carroll's gone. I think Seattle may be a fit. Right. A team that is looking to make that step to try to get the playoffs bit quicker than the Chargers or even the Patriots are looking. So if Belichick truly leaves, which if he does, I think that some of the Chargers just be aggressive on. But they're already aggressive. We talked about this. But yes, I'd make the jump to the NFL. EJ. Yeah.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: By the way, I just want to say this before height goes, because we're going to get in this neck next.
I do believe that the fact that Saban is choosing to retire may tell us a little bit about Belichick. Hike. Go ahead.
[00:47:06] Speaker C: The variable thing leads me to believe that Belichick is probably gone.
That's how I see that going. Naturally variable to New England.
But yeah, the harbaugh thing, I honestly think that the Chargers are an absolute no brainer. Justin Herbert, I guess, you know what?
[00:47:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: Very underutilized talent there.
And the Chargers defense is pretty.
They, they got a lot of good stuff going on there.
The Chargers are probably the easiest team to turn around. And if he's coming to the NFL, he's coming back to win.
[00:47:49] Speaker A: I thought maybe they'd be, I was presuming more maybe a couple of years away. But if Harbaugh goes there, I think it changes that landscape pretty quickly.
[00:47:55] Speaker C: And the Chargers want to get asses in the seats there now they're in to, you know what I mean? You got to walk.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: Not in San Diego. Just kidding.
[00:48:05] Speaker C: No, it's taken me a while to get used to that.
I'm still going to say it every once in a while.
[00:48:14] Speaker B: There are a couple things that were said there. I got my notes here.
[00:48:19] Speaker A: Hike.
[00:48:19] Speaker B: If you want to finish your thought, go ahead. And then I'll get in this because I'm about to go off.
[00:48:23] Speaker C: Let's go.
[00:48:23] Speaker B: Okay, first of all, David, Mr. Electric Avenue, listen up, buddy, because you're about to get zapped with some facts here. Why, if you're Jim Harbaugh, would you not want to go to a team that has a Mike Williams type of receiver? Why wouldn't you want to go there and play with a Keenan Allen who's learning from a quarterback on his rookie contract who's arguably one of the most productive passing quarterbacks of all time? And by the way, he does have a little bit of legs. Oh, by the way, did I mention the fact that they have a Bosa brother on defense and another guy named Khalil Mack who is the only person in NFL history to make the Pro bowl at two different positions in the same year? Shall I continue? I think that the Charges is one of the more attractive jobs. I think that they are a Kansas City slip up away from winning that division every year. I do believe that they're close and the way that the Chiefs have played this year, I think that the Chargers are a lot closer than many people may believe. So I think that that is an attractive. No, they're not Andy Reid. Yeah, they are.
Okay, well, you're wrong because Patrick Mahomes is arguably the best quarterback in the NFL when he's healthy. I mean, he has nobody on his team this year and he walked know the AFC west like it was a hot butter through knife. I mean, come on. Or a hot knife through butter. I know how to speak English.
The other thing hike that you mentioned is the possibility of rable to the Pats.
I think that that is less likely to happen. Here is some news I'm going to put into your medulla Oblangata right here in the front of your brain.
[00:50:06] Speaker A: Big terms.
[00:50:07] Speaker B: Ooh, big boy coming out. The more interesting and I think likely storyline revolving around Vrabel that I'm hearing is maybe he goes back to Tennessee for one more year.
Maybe people are starting to be happy with Ryan day in Columbus.
You're telling me that Mike Vrabel, who attended the Ohio State University and won a national championship there, would not be the perfect piece, one step out of Urban Meyer because he would very much be Urban Meyer like in his dictatorship, I will say of the team. Right. But I think that guys like playing for Vrable. The head coaching potential is greater, from what I'm hearing, for him to go back to Columbus than the possibility of returning to the Patriots as a head coach. I do believe that the Patriots, if he goes anywhere from Tennessee, is the most likely option. But the intrigue of him going to Columbus may outweigh the possibility of him going to New England. That's just the buz I'm hearing, so I'll end on that.
[00:51:14] Speaker C: That wasn't even on my radar.
[00:51:16] Speaker A: That's a pretty solid here's the thing, I think it's a good transition just for point Nick Saban announced retirement today and already as an Oregon fan hearing coach Dan Landing has been floated, his name's been floated around for the Alabama coaching vacancy, but Nick Saban legend, right? And as I sit here right now, I'm just making sure that I pull up the exact post in terms of stats just to give you because I did share it in our group of the game sports podcast. So let me give you a little bit of three facts about Nick Saban. Just three out of the list, seven national championships, six with Bama, one with LSU. Fun fact, if you didn't know that five time SEC coach of the year awards and 297 career wins, fifth all time. That's 28 years of greatness. That's the exact post from Bleacher report. And there's been other outlets, TSN, Sportsnet, I'll give them the credit, that have posted more facts if you want to check them out. But this is somebody who is truly okay. He is the best college. Well, in my opinion, he doesn't have the statistics for that. I get that. But in my opinion, the best coach of all time. And as I sit here, sorry about everyone with my camera, I'll adjust that in a second. You can just hear to my voice for a minute the overall point of snick Saban retiring. Kudos to a champ. He's done coaching. I saw someone post he's going to go to the NFL. No, he's not.
I don't think he's going to the NFL, but Nick Saban retires EJ hike. I'll let you take over this while I adjust my blur review for a second.
[00:53:03] Speaker B: Hike. Go ahead.
[00:53:07] Speaker C: I'm unsure on the Saban thing, to be honest. I kind of just think, is he just going off? I didn't see him going off into the sunset on a loss, but maybe that's just where he's at right now. But I honestly don't know. I mean, all I remember from saving in the NFL is going to Miami and it was a I don't to he's this is mean. You'll see him maybe as a commentator somewhere. Maybe ESPN throws him on somewhere. I mean, he's already on the McAfee show and McAfee is on the college game day thing there.
[00:53:45] Speaker B: They're going to use him to replace Lee Corso.
Hot take? No, I mean, that's a logical fit.
[00:53:53] Speaker A: Replace coach with or when Peyton Manning gets hired and he has to go into Omaha sports with Eli on the show. How about that? Hot as a take because EJ. Check out the post about EJ thinking Payne Manning should be a coach. I don't disagree, but I know Omaha.
[00:54:07] Speaker B: Definitely be on your short list and you should call him and see if he's interested. You'd be an ass to not make that call.
[00:54:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so. Agree. I agree, fellas, we'll move on from that. We did invade a little bit of time towards incident, I believe a lot of hot topics in there. Of course, Nick Saban retired. I want to make sure I give kudos there. Where's Harbaugh going to go? Where do you think Belichick's going to go? Very excited throughout the NFL season. I know usually when in the pocket's done our finale as I grope my wall for absolutely no reason. If you saw that on video, don't know why.
We may have to have a few in the pocket sessions in the offseason because of the coaching carousel and the draft. We usually do bonus segments, but I feel like there's going to be a couple extra ones in the offseason for in the pocket this year. But the NFL boys, the NFL playoff picture, if you look at the social media pages, people's predictions are all over the place. I've seen one about the Bills winning and that was actually my favorite to win at the beginning of the season.
Overall, the picture is very interesting and you got a picture that I'm sure Heichel is very upset about. There's a Colts fan and I'm going to bring up one point. They almost made the playoffs with Minchu. Imagine if they had Richardson. That's all I got to say. Think of it that way, Colts fans. All right. There's a positive there. I know it's hard to take that positive right now, especially on the way that you lost that game because of someone dropping a pass. Bad throw or not. It is what it is.
[00:55:34] Speaker C: Here's my thought on that. You can't leave it to one pass in the last game or the last 6 seconds of the season. They lost the season in the game against.
That's. You had to win that game. You shit the bed against Cincinnati. You had to beat were, you were.
[00:55:54] Speaker B: Very critical of them after that Atlanta loss. You were pissed. I remember.
[00:56:00] Speaker C: Mean, they overachieved this.
I that's my take on mean, is it worth making the playoffs and losing next week and losing a couple of draft spots at this point? We're still trying to improve the team. So progress was nice. It was fun to have that going into the end of the season.
Honestly, the way it shook out, we probably would have ended up playing Buffalo.
Maybe would have been an entertaining game. But whatever, man. It is what it is.
It's a bummer that it ends on a shitty pass like that.
[00:56:41] Speaker A: Whatever that happens in sports, you can pull so many sports, you can refer back to sports.
[00:56:47] Speaker C: It's way better being on the other side of it. But fuck, sometimes you're on this side and that's the way it is.
[00:56:52] Speaker A: And the picture.
[00:56:53] Speaker B: Somebody finally broke the first f bomb. I've been waiting.
[00:56:59] Speaker C: It's the blue and white team colors that just no good.
[00:57:02] Speaker A: I was actually going to say that earlier, but the playoff picture is pretty straightforward for the first week and I know we're going to get through them for the pickups.
What I kind of want to do, if you guys are okay with it, what we usually do for playoffs. I know, time sensitive. We're at the 29 minutes mark. I think a good aim would be to try to wrap up this never gone over before.
[00:57:22] Speaker B: Dave, we're just going to do it.
[00:57:23] Speaker A: That's why I don't say the time anymore. But if we can aim for the ten minute mark for this, I think that'd be appropriate.
[00:57:30] Speaker B: We will aim for doing our best. I make no guarantees because we always go over on time. It's like, knock knock. Who's there?
[00:57:39] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:57:40] Speaker B: We're going to be ten minutes late.
[00:57:41] Speaker A: That's just us. So before we, my idea was I wanted to talk about the games this week briefly and the picture. But I kind of wanted to do that in the same segment, the pickham and that together. So my idea was if you had any feedback from the last week of the season or any news you wanted to bring up before we talk about the playoffs that led into it, I'm going to give the floor to you. So I'm going to put you on the spot. So, EJ, anything from last week that you want to, leading up to the playoffs that you want to bring up in terms of a stat or a fact or a point that the listeners should know about or hear our points on?
[00:58:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I have two points I think are super relevant because they're going to support what I'm going to get into later.
And I would like to state that before I give these opinions, I very much have taken my bias out of the thinking here, even though it's really going to sound like I haven't.
I think that the two most important storylines in the NFL right now are the fact that the Lions lost to the Dallas Cowboys two weeks ago the way that they did, and that the Browns are going to the playoffs with Joe Flacco and both teams lost one game in their last two weeks. Why does that matter?
Number one, I am not somebody that believes that any team wants to go into the playoffs with a six, seven plus game win streak, right? This is the National Football League. There's a reason why there's only ever been one undefeated team in the history of this league. Any team can be beaten on any day. And the Browns, let's talk about them for a second. Since Joe Flacco has come into the league since week, what was it, week 14 or week 13? He has been the best quarterback in the National Football League when it comes to touchdowns, yards, all that stuff.
And he's supported by the number one defense in this league. Earlier in this podcast, I stated the fact that this Browns team reminds me a lot of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens that won a Super bowl with Trent Dilfer. Joe Flacco is a lot better than Trent Dilfer. So the Browns have a lot of excitement going forward. And we've beaten the Texans before. We've beaten the Steelers. We've beaten the San Francisco 49 ers. We've beaten the Baltimore Ravens. All of the big dogs in front of us. We've kind of already overcome that monster, if you will. We've beaten two of the best three teams in football, in the Niners and the Ravens. And we did the Ravens on the road, Niners at home, in a game, know, I don't think necessarily goes that way. Again, the Browns are in a position that there is nothing, absolutely nothing to fear and a team that just came off of a loss, which we gave to the Cincinnati Bengals because we rested everybody.
This is going to be a team that is hungry. This is a bunch of dogs, dawgs, dog pound dogs. This Browns defense is for real. They're better with Joe Flacco. I love them in the AFC. And the Detroit Lions, the biggest thing with them is the way that they lost that game to Dallas. And if I'm a Lions fan, I know I'm taking up way too much of this time, but if I'm a Lions fan, I'm super excited right now about the way that we lost to the Dallas Cowboys. And if you're a Lions fan, you might be going, wait, I'm not happy about any loss that doesn't make any God gosh darn sense. I didn't want to do that that way. Sorry.
Fuck it.
You think Dan Campbell is going to let the Lions lose to the Dallas Cowboys again in the playoffs the way that they lost that game? Dan Campbell is not going to let that come down to a fourth quarter decision. He's not going to let that come down to a last minute decision. The Lions are going to come out biting everybody's kneecaps off and they are probably the hungriest team in the National Football League. They get to host their first playoff game in Detroit, in Ford Field ever, but their first playoff game in Detroit in over 30 years and they get to line up against Matthew Stafford. The Lions have already come out and said that all Matthew Stafford jerseys are banned from Ford Field. Can't even wear them.
This Lions team, and I will say this out of respect, I hope that you, when Matthew Stafford is introduced, you tip your hat real quick as a thank you and then you boo him and that's expected. You give him a half a second of respect and then, as Dan Campbell says, you're going to take some kneecaps.
I think those are the two most interesting storylines going into the playoffs right now.
[01:02:23] Speaker A: Love that hike. Any points for you from last week leading up to this week's just a.
[01:02:28] Speaker C: Couple of bummer injuries. That was all like the watt one for the Steelers.
[01:02:35] Speaker B: Somehow with a team that Joe Flacco has thrown more touchdowns than Kenny Pickett has all year, somehow they playoffs.
I'm going to hit you with a helmet.
[01:02:46] Speaker A: He likes that. That corrected him. He broke up with Eugenie Bouchard, had that. He went through a bad spell in his life and he woke up after that. It happens. I got a little bit of break, actually. Breaking news. Something breaking, sort of breaking. It's both college, so it's got to rewind. But as of 14 minutes ago, Alabama lost a five star receiver recruit. After Nick Saban's retirement.
[01:03:09] Speaker B: They're going to have 15 plus transfers.
[01:03:12] Speaker A: The five star wide receiver Ryan Williams has decommitted from Alabama.
[01:03:17] Speaker B: Breaking. I'll tell you this right now.
I'm going to say this right now. I'll bet you ten guys minimum transfer, the Big ten.
[01:03:28] Speaker C: This is actually a huge benefit to the rest of the NCAA.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: I don't know why I will say this.
[01:03:33] Speaker B: I don't like the transfer portal thing.
[01:03:35] Speaker A: Oregon for that.
[01:03:36] Speaker B: I don't like the transfer portal thing. But if your coach that you committed to leaves, I do believe you should be allowed to transfer somewhere else.
[01:03:43] Speaker A: Sorry. Hike. I took your thunder. There anything else you want to go into before we go into the playoffs picture? Because I actually am not going to add anything from last week that I think it was an easy week for some teams like the Steelers against secondary squads and winning games. And the most entertaining of the week, game of the week, was actually, I like the Bills Dolphins pretty entertaining. I like the Bills Dolphins game the most. A lot of games were entertaining, but my favorite one was for sure the Bills and Dolphins game.
[01:04:13] Speaker C: Out of the mean, to be honest, the one I'm looking at, Colts game was a riot. Like the fucking fans in India were going bananas. Even Stroud said afterwards, he said, it's the loudest place I've ever played and I played in college, so I'll take that as a know. At least the support is there. And the city showed up for a.
[01:04:35] Speaker B: You're kind of a dick. I tried to make fun of you and you took it and made it a positive. How dare you? How dare you be a light at the end of the tunnel.
[01:04:44] Speaker C: I am trying to be positive here. That's all I got at the end of this NFL season, all right? It's not like the last couple of years where it's like, well, we have Matt Ryan. Well, we have Philip Rivers.
[01:04:56] Speaker B: Well, you had.
[01:04:59] Speaker C: Also. Yeah, we squat.
[01:05:02] Speaker B: You had Peyton Manning. And I'm praying on.
[01:05:06] Speaker C: I was about, I was about to compliment Cleveland Brown saying, this is the. I'm supporting. I am out here supporting.
[01:05:14] Speaker B: I'm sorry, I just, you know me. I can't resist a joke.
[01:05:17] Speaker C: All right. The tv was trashing Flacco and we were at sports center for the Thursday night or a few weeks ago saying at 38, he's performing miracles out here. And then my buddy Bobby looks over at me and says, you're 38. What kind of fucking miracles are you performing? And I can confirm nothing like Joe Flacco. So that is goddamn impressive at what he's doing out there. And I understand why he fell asleep on the bench. All right, I get that.
But the Browns against Houston this week is going to be an awesome game.
That defense can textbook dismantle pretty well everyone.
But the thing I noticed with Stroud is the Colts linebackers can get in and cause a lot of havoc, but that guy makes plays like he throws as strong off his back foot as he does any other.
It is going to be a fun game to watch and it's either going to be like one of those, like 1413, or it's going to be wide open.
[01:06:19] Speaker B: It ain't going to be 14 to 13. I think that this is the kind of game I agree with you wholeheartedly about CJ Stroud, and I have to sit here and bite my tongue because I said I would have never drafted him. Right. I'm very anti Ohio State quarterback in the NFL, but he's proven me wrong. I am so happy that I'm wrong because he has handled himself very much as a professional this year. And I think that the biggest character quality I'll say about CJ Stroud when it comes to this type of game as a rookie is his professionalism. And I think that because of where he did play at college and yeah, I'll put my bias in on this statement.
It's not just like playing at college football at Bowling Green or central Michigan or even Colorado. Right. You're playing at the Ohio State University. It's like playing at Michigan or Bam. Or like that carries some weight. And I do believe that he has done a great job of making sure that he's prepared any of the film that you watch from him off the field. He is asking everyone all of the right questions and I think that he is intelligent enough of a person that he is going to figure this game out.
But I got this being like 3228-2824 I think there's going to be some points because I think the Browns defense, their strength this year has been don't break. And I think that they hold up and win another game late.
[01:07:55] Speaker A: Love it. All right, we'll get into the pick on side. So what we'll do here is I'll give it to Justin to state the standings and then we're going to pick each winner and then we'll pick a game each that we want to talk about to wrap up the show and then any other points that may come up because we were supposed to be.
[01:08:15] Speaker B: Done ten minutes ago.
[01:08:17] Speaker A: Exactly.
I said ten minutes at 30 minutes, now 40. So we'll try to give the listeners what they best, but they also notice the best. So hike. Take it away. And while you pick the game, you can also give a quick reaction about it too to try to fit it in quickly. So go ahead, hike.
[01:08:35] Speaker C: Here we go. So the regular season standing wrap up here.
What a shit show this was this year.
So we have a tie for second with 170 points.
The tiebreaker going to Dave.
[01:08:52] Speaker B: Tie for last.
[01:08:54] Speaker C: Yeah, well, whatever. I was trying to be positive, but here we are.
[01:08:59] Speaker A: All right.
[01:08:59] Speaker C: I'm trying to be the worst day of my life.
[01:09:00] Speaker B: Just get it over with.
[01:09:02] Speaker C: All right? So EJ finished in third with 170 points. Dave finished in second, also with 170 points. And I finished in first with 171 points.
[01:09:17] Speaker A: Regular season champion is just regular season champion.
[01:09:24] Speaker C: And onto the pickham. So this week we kind of talked about the Cleveland game already, but I got the Browns over Houston, Dolphins over KC is my bull pick for the week based on the weather forecast there. But I'm sticking to it.
Buffalo over Pittsburgh. Because fuck the Steelers and that goddamn seven place spot. You have no fucking business being there.
Dallas over Green Bay, Detroit over the Rams, and Philly over Tampa, which was a tough one for me because I'm like 50 50 on that, but I'm going to stick to my guns. Philly over Tampa. Tiebreakers Philly 24, Tampa 17, Detroit 52. The Rams 24. Most points this week.
[01:10:12] Speaker A: You can probably see where I'm going this week.
[01:10:15] Speaker B: Say that again. No, this is not like. No, say that again.
[01:10:22] Speaker C: The Lions are putting up 52 points.
[01:10:24] Speaker B: In the 52 points.
[01:10:29] Speaker A: If that happens. If that happens, I might do the next recording in a muscle shirt.
[01:10:38] Speaker B: Yeah, this does have some strong alcohol content. Budy, this can't be reality. 52 points. Are you outside your mind?
[01:10:48] Speaker C: I was outside in the garage before the show, but no, I am not outside.
[01:10:53] Speaker A: I'm doing jai dry January. I should maybe jump into this. Whatever you're having.
[01:10:57] Speaker B: Heichel should seek counsel of me.
[01:11:00] Speaker A: I love it.
[01:11:02] Speaker B: Therapist.
[01:11:03] Speaker C: I got a barks over here. Barks. They got bite.
[01:11:07] Speaker B: Dude.
I'm wiping spit off of my counter because I didn't have any beer in my mouth to spit anywhere and I just.
50.
[01:11:18] Speaker A: Did you say who's getting the most points? Lions. Right?
[01:11:21] Speaker C: The Lions.
[01:11:22] Speaker B: No, he's got Dallas.
[01:11:24] Speaker C: Yeah. No, the Cowboys are getting more points, and the fewest points is the Pittsburgh Steelers.
[01:11:30] Speaker A: Okay, I'll go second and I'll probably.
[01:11:33] Speaker B: I need a moment to recover. I'm going to points. Can I say this? Hold on. If he hits that pick, I just want to say now we're going to create a new trophy for pick of the year.
[01:11:46] Speaker A: Okay?
[01:11:47] Speaker B: If he hits that, if the Detroit Lions score 48 points, 50 points or more.
[01:11:53] Speaker A: 50.
[01:11:53] Speaker C: No, you got to get the 50.
[01:11:54] Speaker A: If he's going to go 52, you.
[01:11:55] Speaker B: Got to get 50. If 50 points.
Heikel gets one of those fancy fantasy football rings for saying pick of the year.
[01:12:06] Speaker A: I found our clip.
[01:12:07] Speaker B: Like $100.
[01:12:08] Speaker A: Our clip for the week on TikTok. I found it. I got to go back. I got it pegged. I know when I'm finding this clip because yours truly is the producer of this segment today. So I will be the one finding that clip and doing the short on that. But for my pick, I'm going to say this flat out. If anyone is on video, you see the jersey that's behind me. I do cheer for Legend, number 15.
[01:12:34] Speaker C: For the game sports show.
[01:12:37] Speaker A: That's a good one.
[01:12:37] Speaker B: That's only because we're unlucky.
[01:12:39] Speaker A: And founder of the Death Star. The founder of the Death Star.
And I am cheering Pittsburgh. I'm going to be yelling at the tv. I'm going to try to go hard, but there's no bias in these picks. Okay? So I'm going to give you that. And I'm going to be a sports expert on this pick. Okay, so here we go. Browns over Texans. Very good football game favorite. One of my favorite games of the week. Gonna love this. I feel the Flacco story. Stroud story. You got a team that picked second overall last year. You got a team that has been struggling but been absolute dog shit for how many years? Sorry, EJ, but this is a team that has Joe Flacco there. And if you're like I told you on that short that people really interacted on, by the way, the Joe Flacco, if you would have told me that he'd be leading the Browns right now, look crazy. All right, Browns over Texans, Chiefs over the Dolphins. Very close game. Tough decision for me. I feel like this is a one touchdown game, if not a one field goal game. But don't worry, Chiefs fans, you're not winning the Super bowl this year, but you're going to win this game.
[01:13:42] Speaker C: The Chiefs are 100% losing because taylor needs to get another single out.
[01:13:47] Speaker A: Oh, God.
Bills over the Steelers. I'm picking that because I got to be honest, I'm just happy that we're here.
I heard the rain, the snow, Mason Rudolph.
I'm cheering Pittsburgh, bro. I'm all that. But realistically, I think this Bills team is climatized to that weather. It's a little bit of an advantage if they even play in Buffalo. Herd rumors today on a source that they might play in Indianapolis. I don't know if that's true or pause.
[01:14:18] Speaker B: What you're hearing is that in fans, they're telling people in Kansas City to stay home, but they're still letting the game play. It's in Kansas City. That's not in Buffalo.
[01:14:30] Speaker A: Buffalo. Thank you for the correction, but I am picking the Bills over the Steelers. But I will be cheering for them. The Steelers, that is in that football game. Cowboys over the packers. And I think it's going to, I know the Green Bay Cowboys game was quite close this year at a point, but this game is going to be my biggest spread of the week.
Lions over the Rams. I don't know about 52 points, but I'm dying to see the Lions absolutely run over Stafford and the Rams. Loving that. And then I got the Eagles over the Buccaneers. I think the Eagles, they're going to show up in the playoffs. They were in the Super bowl last year. Playoffs is a different animal. They had their little slump. It's out of the way. They've had their rest. They've done what they needed to do to kind of rebound. Wake up and get onto it. I think the Eagles will pull away with the dub here. 20 814. Eagles over the Bucks, 28 ten. Lions over the Rams on over 52. The score is the most point this week. The Dallas Cowboys. I think the Cowboys are going to hit 38 this week on the packers. Oh, my neighbor is a Packer fan. I'm not going to hear the end of this, but don't worry, the packers will get 28 this week. So if you want me to score, give you the score in that game. The least points this week, well, it eliminates it pretty quickly. The Rams, I think will have the least points this week. And dare I say, let me give you this meme before I pass it on to EJ. Who would have thought us, not me. That is the Steelers and Green Bay packers fans looking at each other right now as we made the playoffs. Trust me, it's not what I expect. I'm just happy to see a playoff game this year. EJ.
[01:16:05] Speaker B: How much time do I have? Give me a time limit because I got to try to keep this tight because otherwise I'll rattle.
[01:16:10] Speaker A: Just go and sign off after we're ready. 20 minutes over. Let's keep it going.
[01:16:15] Speaker B: Love that Browns over the Texans. Obviously, I do believe that this is a team that has underperformed on the road this year but has been playing well with Joe Flacco last couple of years. We being the Browns, I don't play for them, but my team.
[01:16:31] Speaker A: Please don't mind the we.
[01:16:34] Speaker B: The Browns have been a quarterback away from winning a Super bowl for the last couple years. I think Joe Flacco may fill that void. I actually have the Browns making it all the way, the AFC championship game and maybe more if you ask. I got Dolphins over the Chiefs. I don't care what the weather's like there. I think that this is a team that's going to come in with some motivation after losing the division of Buffalo. Give me the Dolphins on the road against the Chiefs, who have been playing lackluster Chiefs football this year. Bills over the Steelers for obvious reasons because the Steelers are basically like charity at this point.
I'm going to do this intentionally. I'm skipping a game.
Give me the Lions over the Rams at home. Give me the Eagles over the Buccaneers. I have Eagles Buccaneers 30 113. I have Rams. Lions being 21, Rams 28, Lions. The game that I alluded to was the packers versus the Cowboys.
Hey there, Dallas fans. Okay, hi, America's team. I'm talking directly to you right now. Every time you make the playoffs, you might want to put an american flag over my face for this one because every time you make the playoffs, you fuck up.
Green Bay is the youngest team in NFL history at 25 and change years of age to make the playoffs. They're not scared of you. They don't even know who you are because the last time you were relevant, they weren't even born. Give me the packers over the Cowboys. They're going to win that game on the road. Cowboys screw it up, but if I'm wrong, they're going to score like 45 points. The packers aren't going to score any, but I'm taking Green Bay in that game because of history and because fuck you, Dallas.
[01:18:18] Speaker A: That's why I found my clips for the week.
[01:18:21] Speaker C: A loss to the packers. Getting McCarthy fired would be absolute poetic justice.
[01:18:26] Speaker A: Oh, I forgot about that storyline.
[01:18:28] Speaker B: Be, dude, I'm with you.
[01:18:33] Speaker C: That's. That would be breathtaking. And I'm all for that now.
[01:18:36] Speaker A: I didn't even know.
[01:18:37] Speaker B: Say you just knew it was there.
[01:18:39] Speaker A: So I like adding this in. I know that time is limited, so we're going to make this literally a ten second blitz for all three of us. Here. We have our picks for this week. Okay? I want your Super bowl favorites. I want your playoff tree quick as you go through it. Okay?
I'm going to give you the floor first. EJ, quick.
Playoff tree finalist, winner. Go. Hike. Next. Me last.
[01:19:08] Speaker B: Honestly, because of many of the things I stated earlier, I got a Browns Lions Super bowl, and I'll wait to pick that game.
[01:19:15] Speaker A: Love it. Okay. Keeping it simple.
Hike.
[01:19:19] Speaker C: I'm torn.
I don't even have a playoff bracket up in front of me, so I'm not sure if it can shake out like this, but I want to see the Browns and the Ravens play at some point. That'd be AFC championship.
[01:19:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:19:33] Speaker C: So, I mean, I would like to see, because, I don't know, it's a coin flip for me whether it's the Browns or the Ravens going to the Super bowl from the AFC, but it's one of those two. And then for me, it all depends on what team gets hot, but it's either the Lions or the 49 ers. And I want to say it's the Lions.
I would love to see the Browns and the Lions fucking absolutely scrap it out in the Super bowl.
[01:19:59] Speaker B: If that happens, I will die.
[01:20:03] Speaker C: If that happens, you won't be able to buy beer in Michigan because it'll be sold out.
[01:20:07] Speaker B: I won't be able to come on this podcast again because I will go insane.
[01:20:13] Speaker A: I'll say, looking at the very, very simple, I think I can go through each possible, go through that shit I.
[01:20:20] Speaker B: Said earlier, Dave, the Browns have all the motivation in the world. The Lions have all the motivation in the world.
[01:20:26] Speaker A: Who has a better reason to want.
[01:20:28] Speaker B: To win other than them, too? And they're both really good.
[01:20:33] Speaker A: So I'll quickly go through this, kind of just be the different one here as I picked. Obviously the next round will be Eagles niners. Then you'd have the Lions, cowboys. So between those two, I'll see. The Eagles will move on. The Lions will move on. You got the Eagles Lions in the NFC championship. I am picking the Eagles to make the Super bowl. If you're looking at the AFC, I obviously picked the Browns. I picked the Chiefs. I picked the Bills in the AFC championship. I got the Browns, and I got the Bills in the AFC championship. I did pick the Bills to win it all this year. But my pick, a giant Bills boner.
[01:21:09] Speaker B: For the last four years.
[01:21:10] Speaker A: And let me give you this storyline. The Bills will beat the Browns. Sorry, EJ. It'll be a Bills Eagles Super bowl. And guess what, Bills fans, they lose again. You lose again. I am picking. All right, I'm doing that. And the Jalen hurts train with the Eagles because there's so much doubt right now. There's so much motivation for them to win the Super Bowl. I am switching my pick because now I can because it's actually the playoffs. Bills watch. They're going to go ahead and win and steamroll and have a good time. Maybe, but the Eagles will beat the Bills in the Super bowl. But next week will tell. Or, yeah, the next week will tell about the next round. 54 minutes. Not bad.
Not bad. Our average length of an episode is an hour and 20 today.
[01:21:52] Speaker B: I thought we were going to go an hour and 30 today because I was ready. I was ready to go off.
[01:21:57] Speaker C: Should have finished it at 52.
[01:22:01] Speaker A: Why 52 lions, 52 points.
[01:22:05] Speaker B: No, that have been sweet.
Hold on, I know that that was supposed to be the clip of the show, like, earlier.
Dude, if you fucking hit on 52.
[01:22:16] Speaker A: Points for the Lions.
[01:22:19] Speaker B: What do I have to do if you hit 52, like, we got to bet on.
[01:22:22] Speaker A: I'm wearing a muscle shirt next episode. That's my.
[01:22:25] Speaker B: Don't do that. Nobody wants.
[01:22:27] Speaker C: I'm just trying to get the Lions fans on board. That's all that is.
[01:22:30] Speaker B: And 52 points was your lean in?
[01:22:34] Speaker C: 100%.
Get him in.
[01:22:37] Speaker B: And that's why he's a canadian football fan.
[01:22:40] Speaker C: This is a safe space. Come on in.
[01:22:43] Speaker B: This is safe.
We are so mean to each other. This is not safe at all. I love.
Really, dude, I hope you hit that. But you understand, like, you definitely have the biggest balls in the playoffs or even just saying that. I hope you're right.
[01:23:01] Speaker C: If any team is going to do it, it's a Dan Campbell. Coach, Detroit Lions.
[01:23:06] Speaker B: Okay, I'm going to give you one chance to take 52 points back from this week. Okay? Here's why. There, no, I'm going to give you one chance, and here's why.
I think if they score 52 points in the playoffs, it's against the Dallas Cowboys, which would be in the next round. Do they blow their wad against Stafford and the Rams or the Dallas Cowboys? I want your answer. Both.
[01:23:31] Speaker A: Blow the wad on both, bro.
[01:23:32] Speaker B: No, I know, but they're not going for 52 both weeks.
[01:23:36] Speaker A: Actually, if they do, I will do.
[01:23:39] Speaker B: The next show naked.
[01:23:41] Speaker C: I don't think Stafford deserves it for what he put up with in Detroit and all those bad teams. However, I think that's how it's going down. The fans want him to pour it on. He left Detroit. He won a Super bowl.
[01:23:55] Speaker B: First of all, they traded him. Let's keep that going to, but if you're going to try to make this storyline up, Detroit traded him away, but.
[01:24:05] Speaker A: He wanted to go. It was like a silent request.
[01:24:07] Speaker B: But you can't be mad at Stafford for being traded away.
[01:24:11] Speaker C: But I could be mad because he didn't get traded to Indianapolis. So I want to see him get right.
[01:24:15] Speaker B: You went with Matt Ryan.
[01:24:17] Speaker C: Yeah. That works out.
[01:24:18] Speaker A: Yikes. Fellas, I'm wrapping us up. We're getting toward the end here. We had fun. We spent 57 minutes, appeared time for the game sports podcast seconds.
[01:24:28] Speaker B: And there will be at least ten minutes of unappeared time because we're going to continue to argue about this.
[01:24:34] Speaker A: The game sports podcast powered by 91 n if you're interested in sponsoring the game sports podcast, reach out to the game sports podcast email from what I mentioned at the beginning of the show, but as well as 91 n, make sure you hit like phone subscribe on all the platforms. I want to thank you for tuning in to this, as always, electrifying episode. Average length, usually an hour. Today we're 20 minutes over the length, so I hope you enjoyed the extra content. EJ Russell, my friend, thank you for taking the time to join. And you can say who you're going for this week. You can say go. I'm not going to say it, but there'll be some exciting action for you this week to watch.
[01:25:09] Speaker B: Here we go, brownies. Here we go.
[01:25:14] Speaker A: There you go. Hike. First off, I am so sorry. As a Steeler fan, I am sorry. I truly am. I did not expect my team to get to this point.
I'm sorry that it was, and I use the word we because as a fan, but Pittsburgh Steelers fans are not story in general, to be honest. But I know you guys, if you had Anthony Richardson, I think you guys would have been on the other side of it. I already said that. But nonetheless, you will be cheering for the Lions. It sounds like this week and it seems like it's still going to be a good week of football for you to watch my.
[01:25:53] Speaker C: And Cleveland and Lions household here. Tiana's going for the Chiefs for obvious reasons and her associations, but yeah, no, Lions and Browns is where I'm at. And yeah, I think it's going to be a good one. This is going to be a solid slug and mo weekend of football. That's for sure.
[01:26:10] Speaker A: What if the Chiefs.
[01:26:11] Speaker B: Let me add this, too. The last two years that we've been treated with really good playoff games, is this not another great slate of playoff games? Even if I don't care what the scores are, the storylines are just as interesting.
[01:26:22] Speaker A: What if the Steelers win the Super bowl? What if. What do we do on this show? Because even I'm willing to say that.
[01:26:29] Speaker B: We kill you and there's a new host.
[01:26:32] Speaker C: Yeah, there's absolutely no way.
[01:26:34] Speaker B: I don't condone any.
[01:26:38] Speaker A: Hike. I won't know sports.
[01:26:40] Speaker B: Dave. You got to get through with the first week, budy, and that's a buzsaw.
[01:26:44] Speaker A: I'm just happy that there is a first week.
[01:26:46] Speaker B: Dude, you have to go to Buffalo.
[01:26:49] Speaker C: You should just hang a jags jersey behind you because that's the only.
[01:26:52] Speaker A: Yo, let's save that for next week because, wow.
[01:26:56] Speaker B: No, you have to take that Death Star thing because I go to Star wars first.
[01:27:01] Speaker A: That's why I put it up there, actually. But nonetheless, fun episode as always, my friends. We're going to be back here next week. Just remind listeners we may or may not have a show on Monday for a couple of reasons. Yours truly is taking place in a local charity hockey tournament and it may interfere with times because of Alex and Dane. Don't know yet. So keep an eye on our socials for that. There is an upload coming tomorrow or, sorry, on Friday. Tomorrow, this will obviously be live to YouTube, which is Thursday, but on Friday, the James Sabolski episode is posted. It is here. It is up. It is going to be up. Make sure you keep an eye on that. But nonetheless, all the content we've had this week, make sure you check it out. But again, on Monday, we may or may not have an episode, but we will 100% have a Wednesday show next week that I can guarantee you. So keep an eye on all of our socials for updated content for that, fellas. Thank you again and to all the listeners. We appreciate your very lengthy patience with us with our long episodes. It's always fun. A lot of great content. You should enjoy this. You're not going to get this anywhere else. Scripted, usual stuff. You're getting different stuff here on the game, sports.
[01:28:05] Speaker B: And let's be honest, if you're listening to this podcast and you don't enjoy some of our little inside stuff, then are you really listening? Come on. It's fun.
[01:28:17] Speaker A: It's fun.
[01:28:17] Speaker B: Join in. Dave's still coming. Great.
[01:28:22] Speaker A: Again, thank you, listeners. Make sure you like, follow and subscribe. Thank you EJ, Justin. And of course, I want to say thank you again to my wife for the wonderful thumbnails that she does for the uploads, as well as just a terrific job on that. Really helpful on our social media page.
[01:28:34] Speaker B: May I say, lovely photos of you too. Lovely photos of you too. Congratulations.
[01:28:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, thank, that's wedding photos. Eventually, hopefully will be out. Megan Kent, good friend of ours, who's our photographer still our weding photos are being waited to be received after, but it's fine because she's busy and we love. Yeah, but.
[01:28:53] Speaker B: Congratulations, Dave. Good for you. We thought one of us were going to get stuck with you.
[01:28:58] Speaker A: Oh, I thought it was you, EJ.
[01:29:00] Speaker C: I thought it was pictures wouldn't have been nearly as nice.
[01:29:03] Speaker A: Oh, EJ would have. Is available before we go down a rabbit hole. Thanks again, fellas. Love you. Love you, listeners. Till next time. Here to remind you, keep your stick on the ice, swing your bats, catch your touchdowns, drain your threes, and shoot your shots. Booyah. Cheer.