Latest / Slander & Slay / The NFL Is Here! Ft. Marcus Thompson

Transcript

The NFL Is Here! Ft. Marcus Thompson · Slander & Slay

0:19
SPEAKER_01: You caught me at the end of my head boffing shoulder shaking routine that I have for the slander.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it just gets us ready for slander and sleigh.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: You guys are listening to Slander and Slay on Buzzer.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: I am Tracy Sandler, joined by the fabulous Nikki Kay.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: Hi, Nikki.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: What a privilege it is to be joining you here on the eve of the day of the day of.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: This Wednesday start is throwing everybody off.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: It is it's week one of the NFL, starting Wednesday night, Super Bowl rematch between the Patriots and the Seahawks because the Niners and Rams play in Australia on Thursday, which in Australia time is actually Friday.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: It's all very confusing.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: But that is why we're starting on Wednesday.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: And it is kind of throwing everything off.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: I like that I say we're starting on Wednesday as if because I you and I will be playing in the game.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, naturally.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: And it is it is remarkable.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: I am so excited to watch meaningful games.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I I know you've you're all in on baseball the regular season, locked and loaded.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh to some extent, as uh a journalist in the space, we have to be, but I don't know, there's something about tuning in on a Wednesday night to watch a game with no rooting interest, which is you know, the Seahawks and the Patriots, and and know that the grand stage of football is back and the lights are brighter than ever.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait for it.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: I cannot wait either.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: And it's actually been a very big week with all of the football, and we have so much to talk about.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: The first thing I need to ask you is have you watched Earl Meets World?
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I hate to say this, but I've I've listened to Ashton and Alex's podcast with Jake Shane, and I've watched a bunch of social breakouts.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: I have not sat down and binged the full season yet.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: I have not finished the full season yet, um, but I am enjoying it thus far.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm tying it into the NFL because Raxin Berrios is a big although we only see him briefly, kind of by mistake, one time.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: He at least so far in what I've watched, he is such a big part of the show.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: So from what I understand, he's like very present in in the world.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: He's talked about every pretty much every episode.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: I get they had the show opens, not to give anything away, guys, but the show starts with her driving to his house to pick up all of her stuff because they broken up and an inner.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: What an arc.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: And I do feel like that was such a transformative breakup in in her life.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean, honestly, we we all witnessed how it, how she processed it.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: And I think um, you know, it with more hindsight, it she'll be able to reflect on how that changed her during the filming of the series, and that's what she was talking about on Jake Shane's podcast.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: That she's like, I was not the version of myself I normally am, which is what we all go through during breakups.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: But um, I mean, that's that's a great arc to have an inaugural reality series.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it really is.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: And I actually really enjoyed it, and I'm not a big reality TV person, as I think has come up on the show, but thus far, I am really enjoying it.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: But I'm in.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: I am in.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: The Earl Meets World has hooked me in, and I'm I'm all in to meet the Earls.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: So it's been it's been really fun.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: So now back to football.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: So, Nikki, for the first time in two years, I'm basically Aaron Donald here.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: For the first time in two years, I'm yeah, a lot of people it's funny because so many people make that comparison, like all the time.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people don't know that very natural.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: But I am very striking, yeah.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: My athleticism, my physicality, all like being able to like go after offensive linemen in such a physical way.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm I'm basically Aaron Donald.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the comparison I'm coming up with is that I have not done fantasy football in two years.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: So he's coming back every two years, and I'm coming back every two years.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: So again, we're basically the same.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I am back.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: I have named my team Miss Americana and the touchdown king.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: Miss Americana and the touchdown king.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, touchdown kid, whatever this Taylor Swift song is, made it Miss Americana and the touchdown king.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: So I'm back.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: Yahoo has graded my team a D.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: So I got a one of my leagues.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay, fantastic.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: I I'm an underdog.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how I'm a D.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: I have Pukanakua.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Like, I think that should get me like up at least a little bit, but I'm a D, but I'm gonna prove Yahoo wrong.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: So are you are you a fan?
4:48
SPEAKER_01: You said, well, you said one of your leagues.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: So how many leagues are you in?
4:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm in two all-girl leagues, which is really fun.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: And I joined one this year, uh, the Gridiron Girl Gorals League.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: The grid the gridiron what?
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Gorls.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Gorrals.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: Like G-O-R-L-S.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay, got it.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Girls, got it.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's more for a text, but once you say it out loud, you're like, okay, this sounds like uh just buffoonery.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: But um, I was making my team name at the time of a certain internet um, shall we say, scam artists becoming viral last week, the Dejaon love it all of it all.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: So I named one of my teams the Dejaon lovers.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: And I thought that's I mean, I I can't get enough of this man.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: It's such a funny story.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: And the thing is, of course, it's the 49ers.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it has nothing to do with the 49ers at all.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: And I know he's from the Bay, but of course, like it would just add to the offseason, even though it's nothing to do with them.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: Of course, though, that's the team he would pick.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: I did see some tweets though that they should have known he was lying because he wasn't injured, so they should have known he wasn't on the 49ers.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, his pinky, his pinky was injured.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: Wait, did you hear from anyone within the org about what they thought of the the spectacle of that?
6:10
SPEAKER_01: I really didn't.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it really I didn't.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think for them, I mean, they all got asked about it.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: I know last week I saw Fred Warner on a podcast saying that it was really funny that Dejaon Love had posted something that he obviously like AI'd or whatever, that Fred Warner was looking at his Instagram story and people were reaching out to Fred Warner.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: And Fred Warner said on the podcast, he was like, This man fabricated his whole life, but you're gonna assume that that's the one thing that was true.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: So he had not looked at his Instagram story.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: So, no, they definitely got asked about it.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: I thought about like in the last couple of weeks, the things that the 49ers coaches and players had to be asked about that have literally nothing to do with football, just just beyond.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: At least they they get a little reprieve down in Melbourne, right?
6:56
SPEAKER_01: You know, yes, and they've been there like forever.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: So let's let's start there.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: Let's start there with the Rams versus the Niners, and and how do you say it?
7:04
SPEAKER_01: Melbourne?
7:05
SPEAKER_01: Melbourne, yeah.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: Melbourne.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: I've been I've been to Melbourne and I think I called it Melbourne, and so they probably didn't like it.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, you it's hard, it's a fine line because you don't want to try and localize and you kind of feel awkward doing that, but then when you realize that's how they prefer it to be said, then yeah, you get green light from Melbourne.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so it seems like Tracy has frozen just a little bit as we are about to hear her take on the 49ers being down in Melbourne for an entire week.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: And what we really have is a very interesting debate over the travel predicament teams face when they go out of the country, right?
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Because on one hand, you have the 49ers who are down there.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and we're about there, okay.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: So there we go.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: I I well trust saying, yeah, so I was setting the table of what happened, uh, what the predicament is facing the 49ers in both the Los Angeles Rams in terms of how they're approaching the travel.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: And you've got the 49ers on one hand down there for what, 10 days, two weeks?
8:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh no, no, a week.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: It'll be it'll be about a week.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: And then you have the Los Angeles Rams who I was at their practice literally yesterday, which is a Tuesday.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: Then they got on a plane, and they will basically be in air for 17 hours and then play the game and then back on the plane.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: So the Rams are betting on a um condensed approach that won't impact their habits for 17 weeks of football after this one versus the 49ers who are trying to establish rhythm and get acclimated.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Which, and that's the 49ers do that.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: I mean, when they played in Mexico City a couple of years ago, and we were all in Colorado Springs for a week before as they got acclimated to the altitude.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: It'll be interesting to see.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't necessarily think the outcome of this game is going to depend on that.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know that one's better and one's not, and probably no one really knows if one's better and one's not.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: There are definitely research and science behind it, but you know, whoever wins this game, the opposing fan base will probably say, Well, we did it wrong and we should have done it the other way.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: We would have won the game.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't, but then again, I don't know if the it's it almost feels like I'm not saying this, because obviously anytime it's a game, anytime you take the field, anytime it's especially a divisional game, you want to win.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: You're playing to win.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: But like it's almost like I don't know if either team will be too flummoxed by a loss in this.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's it's it's week one, and it's week one.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the thing.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: We week one overreact every single year, and we will, whether it's about this game or something else, we will week one overreact about probably multiple things this year.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: So I think I think football teams look at a season, and as you said, about the Rams and kind of preparing for the next 17 weeks, and that's why they did it this way.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: They know it's a long season.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: So you are correct.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: Both of them want to win this game.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: It's a divisional game, big rivals, all of the things, but it is week one, and that's probably I think why this got scheduled week one.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: You couldn't schedule a trip to Australia for a game in any other week of the season.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, the Rams will be without, just as an aside, Aaron Donald.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: So Aaron Donald's officially back.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: Nikki and I have been speculating on this and talking about when we thought it was gonna happen for many weeks.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: He's officially back, he's not going to Australia.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: Definitely the right move.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: There is no reason that this man, to your point, no one is going to be that flamux.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: And there's no reason for this man to fly to Australia and back, and he shouldn't play in week one.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: I did uh talk to Miles Garrett yesterday and got some interesting nuggets because it's kind of the first time we got into interact with him since AD announced his return, right?
11:06
SPEAKER_00: And someone was like, What's the what's something that surprised you about day-to-day existence with Aaron Donald?
11:11
SPEAKER_00: And Miles was like, he smiles a lot more than you'd think.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: Like he's a funny guy.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I see Aaron Donald as like a big teddy bear.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: You know, obviously, you don't see like his play does not lend itself to that at all.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: But then, and also Miles, interestingly enough, asked, like, or someone asked him, How do you sleep on planes?
11:31
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Not at all.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna have to try and figure this out.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which is like the opposite of Keon White of the Niners last week, who was like, I'm gonna just have as much melatonin as possible with knock out.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Just knock out on a flight like that, you just have to.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: It's a long flight.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: I will say, when the 49ers got off that flight and the social media team posted them, they looked exhausted.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's a tough, you know, it's a it's a tough one.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: It'll be very interesting to see how this goes.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: But whoever wins the game, people will think that that was the right way to do it.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: But I just don't know that there's a right or wrong.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: It's just different.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: But this is how the Rams always do it.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: They do it for their trips to Europe, too.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Like they're in and they're out.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think they've got, you know, the body science guys saying that I think the ideal body temperature for athletic performance hits afternoon, right?
12:28
SPEAKER_00: So theoretically, the Rams' body clocks, once they land and take the field at 10:30 in the morning in Australia, will still be afternoon time in Pacific Coast standards.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: It'll be afternoon the day before.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, Kyle Shanahan.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: That's Nikki's science class.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: Nikki's science class is great.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: I was never great in a science class, but I feel like in Nikki science class, with that explanation, I am good.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: I thought it was funny the other day.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: Kyle Shanahan was asked an injury question, and he said, I don't have to give an injury report yet because we're in the future, and the Rams are still yet like the day before, so I'm not required to give injury reports yet.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, he's kind of right.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: He's playing, he's playing chess.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, and I loved hearing his audio about explaining, explaining what day it was in his mind.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: And to like the football calendar people, it made sense, right?
13:28
SPEAKER_00: I think he was asked on a Wednesday.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: He's like, in my mind, or on a Sunday, he's like, in my mind, it's a really really a Wednesday because we're game planning an install, like it's not part of the week, but it's not, you know, I don't know.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: I it was it was no, it's confusing.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: And I went to Australia once on a family vacation, and it was trying to, if there was anything I had to deal with like back in California, trying to figure out the time was not, it was not easy.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, it's gonna be fun.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: I think it will be fun to see the game there.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, the NFL, this is what they want.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: They want another, they want more games out of the country, they want another week of the season.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: This is what they want, but it will be interesting.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: Also, I think it'll be interesting to see, and we won't know this for all, but is this gonna be the new thing?
14:18
SPEAKER_01: The season starts on Wednesday night because on Thursday, some two teams are playing far, far away.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: At what point do you think we risk oversaturation with the NFL taking over every calendar day of the week?
14:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that we do.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: If people eat it up, just like we've talked about in the past, the offseason isn't even an.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: I feel like we've been talking about the NFL this entire time.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Our show premiered in April, and we've been talking about the NFL every single week.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: We've talked about other things too.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if there is such a thing as oversaturation.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a fan of the 18th game because I think it's yeah it's not good for player health and safety.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm the eight, yeah, the 18th game.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you know, I'm not in charge.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: No one's asked my opinion, but that has not stopped me from giving it literally.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, last question for you, real quick on this.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: When you're in L.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: When you were down under, did you have any of their like local treats that you enjoyed?
15:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know we love Nutella.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm actually not a huge Nutella person.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: There are these like um Tim Tams?
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's it.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Tim Tams, those things are delicious.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: The brands cafeteria had them yesterday.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: They had a little Aussie section for like, you know, yeah.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: And I was like eyeing them.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't quite Tim Tam energy yet, but I that that was a missed opportunity.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that is that is a missed opportunity.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe somebody can bring you back a Tim Tam because they are those were pretty delicious.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a great country.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's a it's a beautiful country, so it's gonna be fun to watch.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: It's also just gonna be crazy that it's Friday there, and I'm I want to kind of keep track of how many times it's mentioned that it's Friday in Australia, but it's Thursday back in the United States.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's gonna come up frequently during the broadcast.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: So that will be fun to see.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: So these are our first two games.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: It's the NFC West taking over the first two nights of the NFL season in 2026.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, our guy Baker Mayfield, we talked about this several months or before training camp when he said, no, you know, no, um, what is the word?
16:24
SPEAKER_01: They haven't come to agreement on the contract.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: And watch out, here's a season.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, right before the season starts, he and the Bucks agree to a three-year$165 million extension, which I think was the right move for everybody involved.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: So that piece of housekeeping, so to speak, has gotten done.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: And then people are excited.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Monday night football, it's the Chiefs and the Broncos love a divisional rivalry weekend.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're seeing it in a in a lot of places this weekend.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Chiefs, Broncos, Patrick Mahomes starting the game.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: I saw it.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: Crazy, yeah.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: I think it's crazy, but it is crazy that he is back after nine months after an ACL injury.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: My hot take is I think the Chiefs are being slept on.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: But I don't, and I don't know that that's like I think that is kind of a hot take.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: I really feel like they're the Chiefs, and he's Mahomes and it's Andy.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: So they're not gonna be terrible, but I really think I look at a team like the Broncos, who were an injured quarterback away from going to the Super Bowl and are probably arguably better in some ways.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: They add Jalen Waddell, which was a huge makes it's I mean, that's a like a literal game changer for them.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I look at the Chargers, who, if they can manage to not lose any more offensive linemen and stay healthy.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Wait, Tracy, double down on your take from a couple weeks ago.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: What was my take of a Justin Herbert take?
17:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that I don't believe in Justin Herbert.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe in Justin Herbert, but you know who I do believe in?
17:58
SPEAKER_01: Harbaugh.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: I believe so strongly in Jim Harbaugh and then Jim Harbaugh, Mike McDaniel connection.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: And the only thing I'll say to Herbert, I would like to see Herbert with a relatively healthy offensive line.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: And with that combination of Harbaugh, McDaniel, I think it's a possibility.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: But he is still Patrick Mahomes.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: So I wouldn't be like shocked if it ends up being the Chiefs winning the division.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: But I don't know.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: I would, I kind of feel like Broncos were chargers.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: I I well, obviously, I mean, I think I I guess with my hot take for the Chiefs is that people have kind of just I think dismissed what damage they could, right?
18:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously the AFC is really top heavy.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: So I I don't know.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: It's it's really interesting.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: And then like on the other hand, on the NFC, it's it's also stacked, and the Rams are overwhelming favorites, which seems much to the you know, disrespect of the C reigning champs, the Seattle Seahawks.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm really interested to see how this all shakes out.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: I am too, and there's a part of me that feels like, okay, if the Rams stay healthy, it's just the Rams that it's for sure the Rams.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: There's this other part of me that feels like, is it too good to be true?
19:16
SPEAKER_01: The last time they did this, they did win the Super Bowl in LA.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: But I don't know.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: Should we do our um very early Super Bowl picks on night one of the 2026 NFL season?
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Are we doing Super Bowl picks and winner?
19:30
SPEAKER_01: I think we should.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: Or do you well, I don't know.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
19:33
SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not married to one way or the other.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's do Super Bowl matchup and say who we think's gonna take it in each one.
19:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, would you like to go first or would you like me to go first?
19:45
SPEAKER_01: I want you to go first.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna talk this out a little bit.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: So, and I'm gonna take you back to last year.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Last year, my pick was the Rams and the Broncos, and I was very close.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: I was very, very close.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: You were like there, honestly, and some might say you did call it, except for you know, a bow nicks injury and the Rams just kind of stumbling a little bit.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think in NFC Championship game.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: So there's a part of me that wants to go back to that.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, though I will say, real quick, on last year, I saw the Seahawks play live three times last year, and I would say there was no team better than even if the Rams didn't stumble the NFC Championship, they were just they were the best team.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: But part of me wants to do that pick all over again, but there's another part of me that's not going to because let's mix it up.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: So I am gonna pick the Rams, even though it feels very just jock, of course, you are, but there is kind of a reason that it that it's chalk, and I'm going to pick the Bills, which you could say is chalk, but I don't think so because there is a lot of competition.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: It could vary, I would not be surprised if we had a Rams Chargers Super Bowl, we had a Rams Broncos Super Bowl, but I am going to pick the Bills because some at some point Josh Allen's gonna be able to get them there, and maybe that point is this year, and then in terms of who's gonna win it, I actually think the Bills it will be too, I almost feel like it's too storybook for the Rams to once again build a super team, go to the Super Bowl in LA, and then I'm not sure they're gonna win it.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: So there's there's what I'm gonna go with.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: So we haven't Tracy, we have not texted about this.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: We have not we have not discussed our picks.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: I was on air with you last year when you said the Rams, and I was like, Oh okay.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: Um but when I was thinking of not just and I didn't want to just put the Rams in my Super Bowl matchup because, like you said, overwhelming favorite super team.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: And once again, you hate to pick against them because that is a narrative, right?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Like so few times in history do the favorites ever win, because it's there's something too good to be true.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Um one injury could change everything.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: But I, coming out of the NFC, had to go with the Los Angeles Rams because it is a home Super Bowl, because Aaron Donald is coming out of retirement, because it's year 10 of Sean McVay as a head coach, and because Matthew Stafford's coming off an MVP or at year 38 of his life, and he's gonna walk off.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna retire as a Super Bowl champion, but they are going to defeat in my in my picture the Buffalo Bills.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, so our super this is gonna be so fun throughout the season.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: We have the same matchup with different winners.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: I feel so back to the way we like like talking points.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: I was like, and I went back and forth.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: I was like, this would be the time for Josh, you know, Allen to put on his Superman cape as a father and you know, get that like really earn the throne of best quarterback in the league.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: But I as an Angelino, as someone who wants to cover another Super Bowl parade in LA, I was like, I gotta, I gotta go whose house, Rams house.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what's funny is that you know it's gonna be like I don't know, the Bengals and the It's literally it's gonna be like Eagles Chiefs again or something.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, maybe you know, Eagles.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Or the Cowboys, this is gonna be year the Cowboys actually do it, and it's gonna be the Cowboys and the Bengals.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Can we can we pause for a moment?
23:36
SPEAKER_00: The Cowboys Why do we continue to do this as a collective, as a society, continue to trick ourselves into thinking and to buying and to drinking that cowboy Kool-Aid?
23:49
SPEAKER_01: It's I think honestly, it's tremendous marketing.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: They got marketed as America's team so long ago, and they were so good for a decade, and they've been so good at various times throughout their history that it's kind of like the Yankees.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: Like a few years ago when the Yankees and Dodgers played the World Series, a friend of mine said to me, Do you think the Dodgers have a chance?
24:09
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, The Dodg, they're the Dodgers are this is not even bias.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: The Dodgers are a so much better team than the Yankees, but it's just because they're the Yankees.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: So I think there are certain teams that in our head should always be good and should always contend whether that's true or not.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Now, the Cowboys should actually be good.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: It's just that they often are not.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: They are they're always it's in to me, it's like USC football.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: It's masquerade, you know, a brand that has been so excellent and earned so many, you know, f fans in a formative stage.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Like I I grew up watching Matt Liner and Reggie Bush and was enamored with USC football.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: And now it's like it they're gilded in the sense of they come across strong, you know, for about nine games of the season, and then they just bumble, stumble, fumble their way into an embarrassing exit in the first round of the playoffs or something.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: That seems that seems about right.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: That seems right.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, as long as you're talking about college football, college football is off to an unbelievably controversial, newsy, nutty wheelhouse start.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: This is my wheelhouse.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell the story of me watching the game.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: So for anybody who might have missed it, uh, Michigan played mess western Michigan on Saturday night.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of game Michigan should have won easily.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Not only did they not touchdown favorites.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: They were four touchdown favorites.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, they were I think they were about four, four touchdowns, four, four and a half touchdown favorites.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they were like 24-point favorites, something like that.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, it was a high, it was a high amount of points.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: We'll go with that.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Michigan played terribly, they were amazing on the first drive, and then it all went terribly wrong.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they were awful, absolutely terrible.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: And Western Michigan had a great game plan, and there were so many issues, most of them on offense with Michigan, from bad penalties to not great offensive line play, couldn't get the run game going.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: The quarterback, Bryce Underwood, who I'm really rooting for to be good, a mess.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to set the scene here.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: I started the game, I watched the whole game on my phone, started it at a manicure, getting my nails done with the game on.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: Only person in the nail salon, I just want you to know with the Michigan game on.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: Of course, natural.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Then I went to the Dodger game.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: So then I listened to the game of the card.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: Then I went to the Dodger game and I'm sitting at the Dodger game and I'm watching the game with three other people, and I'm like, they're I they're gonna lose.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: They're I'm I want to turn this off.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: This isn't even fun to watch.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: And my friend was like, You have to watch the whole thing.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: You love Michigan.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: So it was like fine.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: So game ends, we think Michigan losing loses 12 to 7.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: I tweet, you know, I do my tweets, I do this and that, and then I look at my phone and I have like 15 texts that are like omg, omg, king Bryce.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe it.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: OMG.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: Go back to see that there was a Hail Mary at the end of the game that Michigan did not complete.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: And apparently there they found there was one second left on the clock, and then they got to in that next one second, Michigan get with one more chance and complete a Hail Mary, which which I think lost in all the controversy, by the way, is that was a heck of a pass and a heck of a catch.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: You have to you have to give them that.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: So Michigan ends up winning the game.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, we get a bazillion explanations.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: The map what map conference, Western Michigan's in, accepts that it's the case.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: The president of Western Michigan talks about how he was a prosecutor and he's looked at all the evidence, and it definitely was an unfortunate loss, but it it was fair.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: Then a couple, then yesterday, the Mac is like, just kidding, we changed our minds.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: We want you to reverse, which they can't do, reverse the game.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: So it was like just aren't they?
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Isn't there an FPS board re reviewing it?
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Or is that done?
27:58
SPEAKER_01: I thought the the NC NCAA said they have no ability to reverse the outcome of the game.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: It was the last update I had was outdated then.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: But um well, I mean that's what they said yesterday.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: I haven't seen anything else about it today.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: I think I think at this point it's done.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: I feel bad for the Western Michigan athletes because they outphysicled Michigan.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they outplayed them a thousand percent.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I do think I mean I don't understand what purpose a secret clock serves.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: It's the same concept as in soccer, like what it just and much like you, Tracy, I changed because I needed to watch my Bruins make their debut under Bob Chesney.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Totally fair.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: UCLA's cooking up something, I'll tell you that.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: But honestly, I I thought, what if it had been Western Michigan that have contested?
28:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it would have been terrible.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, as a as a Michigan fan, I would have been like so upset.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the it's well, no.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: What I'm gonna say was do you think Western Michigan would have been given the same second chance opportunity that Michigan had?
29:03
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think they looked at the clock and there was a second left.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: So I there was now I did see somebody from the actual game tweeted today, but now I'm I'm like, I don't know if we can believe it because it could so easily be AI, who was at the game, tweeted he had filmed the first first Hail Mary, and there was a second left on the clock.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: I believe there was a second left on the clock, it's just how has that happened before?
29:30
SPEAKER_01: Have there been other?
29:31
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: It was it was bananas, the memes are funny, like welcome to Michigan, take all the seconds you need, and like the memes are funny.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I don't know if they would, I really don't.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: I have I don't know the answer to that.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: We'll we will probably I got another question for you.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Bigger question.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: How much longer is Bryce Underwood the starting quarterback?
29:52
SPEAKER_01: If he's not massively improved this Saturday, I would say this would be it.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: I think mass he's got to be massively improved this Saturday.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: The only thing that gives me hope generally on Michigan from last week is that a lot of the a lot of it was self-inflicted.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Like there were really bad penalties.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: They turned the ball over twice.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: The offensive line did not play great.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: They could not get they have these, they have like two of the best running backs in the country and they could not get the run game going.
30:18
SPEAKER_01: So there was a lot of there were a lot of self-inflicted mistakes, but the quarterback play was bad.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: There's no doubt about it.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: The quarterback play was bad, and I think if it's not significantly better, and I would say I wouldn't be surprised if the first half if the first half of that game was kind of a I get what you're saying, Tracy.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: And also we need to, I don't know if we've disclosed to our listeners that they've continued to follow along in our podcasting journey, but Tracy is a big Michigan alum.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: So she is seeing things through a very positive prism, which I will wholeheartedly support.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: And I do want to take this opportunity as she jumps back on amidst small technical difficulties again.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we're back.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: We're back.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: You said we synced up right.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: We we synced up saying technical difficulties, and I just took the opportunity to let our listeners remind our listeners that you are a diehard Michigan fan and you do things very yeah, yeah.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: I definitely am a very, very diehard Michigan fan.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: I think that I'm as you should be.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: And I should I went and I went to Michigan, so it makes sense.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: I do think I'm a a decent fan in that like I'm you have good, you're you have a good like metric balance.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I can have a good, but of course I'm gonna be biased towards them.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: And do I think they got should have had that extra second?
31:39
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a clock operator, I'm not an expert.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: Not my, you know, like I I talk about sports on a podcast.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, so and it's just funny.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: I was saying when we were off there for a second that like you would have thought LSU and Lane Kiffin and the SEC would have been the big story of the weekend, but nope, Michigan, Western Michigan overtook that one.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: So it was quite the weekend.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: So we uh we have a lot to look forward to.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: We talk a little bit about your Bruins.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: We were actually about to have our first guest come on, and I've let him know we're ready for him.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: So he'll be coming on soon.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: Marcus Thompson of the Athletic.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: But wax what about your Bruins.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: That was a big win.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: I just want everyone to know that Bob Chesney is directly as advertised when um you, if you watch an interview with this man, he is self-assured, he's confident, he has a passion and an understanding of what this game can do in terms of transforming young men's lives.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: And I think he isn't just about the wins in a such a transient state of college football.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: He's about the culture and the family.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: And um, and I'm a former or I am a Bruin.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: So getting to talk to players around the program, there's a different air in how they speak about going to UCLA and what it means to play football for the school.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: And there's a pride for it.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: And boy, oh boy, taking the field for a little Pac-12 after dark action, vintage pack-12 after dark, I should say.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like an after dark, right?
33:14
SPEAKER_00: And it was, we had an offense for the first time in I don't know how long, like years.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: And then uh the defense, it took some time to get the wiggles out, but then they, you know, shut down Cal.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: It was tied 24 at 24-24 at one point, but then they the Bruins went on to roll.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: And I I'm excited about what's brewing in Westwood.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: So my dad went to Cal, and Cal also has a new coach and coach, and his he felt like, and I think this was true.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: I felt this way about Michigan too.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, everything looks the same, like it's still it's the same stuff as what happened last year.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: And I think same with Cal, and we'll see what happens there.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: But I think the Bruins actually have a new coach that seems to be making changes, which is very, very exciting.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Who does UCLA play UCLA play this weekend?
34:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I'm such a bad alumni.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Hold on, UCLA football schedule.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: I think they are home this weekend.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, San Diego State.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, Michigan welcomes Oklahoma, and that's gonna be I mean, that's gonna be the best, I think, in that game that Michigan fans.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: I know obviously we would want them to win, but I would say if they're competitive, I'll consider it after last week.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: If they are competitive, I will consider it a win.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: So I oh, that's perfect.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: All right, we got a little more technical difficulties, but I'm so excited for Marcus Thompson to join.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: There you are, you're back.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: I am back.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: I am just I am so excited for Marcus Thompson to join too.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: He wrote this book, Game Changers, uh, about all the the various players in professional basketball that have changed the game, men and women, and it's a really good read, and it's a really fun book.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: So we're just waiting for him to come on and join us.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh I love that.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: I have I have texted him.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: Any other any other big matchups you're looking forward in terms of?
35:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is gonna be a really good college football slate and of course NFL kickoff, but what about Sunday?
35:19
SPEAKER_00: It's funny, we've talked about opening weekend of at the NFL week one, and we haven't even mentioned any games on going on on Sunday.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: We have not.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, probably partially because I haven't paid as much attention to games that are going on Sunday, but you have the Packers and the Vikings, which is gonna be an interesting game because it will be Kyler Murray's debut as QB one of the Vikings, and so we'll see if this magic everyone's all excited about except for me, yeah um, is actually happening.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: And Carson Wentz is QB2, JJ McCarthy is QB3.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm curious to see if JJ McCarthy's still on the Vikings by Sunday or if he's been traded elsewhere.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say his time, his time is not long lived.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: I would like for him to be traded elsewhere because I think yeah would be better for him.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Give him a shot, yeah, give him a reclamation opportunity.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that that's not a bad idea.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: Do you talk about your matchups?
36:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna mute for a second and just try to call Marcus to make sure he's not having technical difficulties.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: So let's see, when we look at the NFL slate, NFL Sunday games, because what am I looking at that excites me?
36:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Bucks Bangles getting Baker and Joe Burrow head to head is going to be that's always fun.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: That'll be I I just love every time Baker takes the field because it's so personal and there's such a chip on his shoulder.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: I will be interested to see how the Texans look um with their defense against Josh Allen.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: And is CJ Stroud going to actually make an improvement this season?
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's big for me.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: I think the Jaguars could actually be a sneaky contender.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: I loved the improvement Trevor Lawrence made under Liam Cohen last season.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: And if that can continue, ooh, we're with it.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, I also think the Giants uh with John Harbaugh are going to be fun.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: They were in so many games, they were frisky last year with just like one or two.
37:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited about them too.
37:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited about it.
37:22
SPEAKER_01: Okay, good.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there you are.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
37:24
unknown: Yeah.
37:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna start with you.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm still I don't know.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, everything's okay with Marcus because I did confirm with him actually yesterday and earlier.
37:31
SPEAKER_01: So hopefully everything okay is okay with him.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: I you know what?
37:36
SPEAKER_00: He uh is probably busy being a game changer himself because well of that are they.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Marcus is in the waiting room.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: Oh, amazing.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: That is great news.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: That is fantastic.
37:52
SPEAKER_01: All right, yay.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: We'll have Marcus on.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: We can talk to him about some NFL stuff too.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: There you are.
38:11
SPEAKER_01: Hi, Marcus Thompson.
38:13
SPEAKER_03: That was uh that was interesting.
38:16
SPEAKER_03: I'm sitting here in the green room, like, I'm here.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm here.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: I was like, we didn't.
38:22
SPEAKER_03: I was like, does she really want me to answer while I'm here?
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, I was I was concerned, I couldn't see you in the waiting room.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: We we don't have the ability to see you in the waiting room, so I was slightly concerned because it would be very unlike you to just not show up.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: So I was a little concerned.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: That was weird.
38:39
SPEAKER_03: I was like, am I invisible now?
38:41
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to slander and say where we will make you invisible.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: Bring that ego right back down to her.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh Marcus, welcome to Slander and Say, Slay for Real.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: Nikki, can you hear us?
38:56
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I yeah.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, yeah.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, I'm all in.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: Marcus, I I heard you are kind of a big deal in terms of writing the stories of athletes who have who have done so much to revolutionize the game of basketball.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: And Jenny, Marcus is probably one of the best writers in sports.
39:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, let's hear that.
39:17
SPEAKER_03: Let's let's go ahead.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: Whatever you say.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's one of the best writers in sports.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: But let's start talking about game changers.
39:24
SPEAKER_01: I was really excited about this book because I have lots of thoughts when it comes to GOAT conversations, and I repeat really appreciate the refreshing nature of this book that talked about so many people that have changed the game.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: So, what what was kind of your inspiration for for writing it?
39:41
SPEAKER_03: You mean besides the money?
39:42
SPEAKER_01: Besides the money, yes, besides the money.
39:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm sorry, you know, it was the bread, Nikki.
39:47
SPEAKER_03: You feel me?
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're trying to get you on that bestseller list, Marcus.
39:51
SPEAKER_03: You know, I uh so the the last book I wrote, which really doesn't seem like five years ago, uh Dynasties was I know, right?
40:01
SPEAKER_03: That was 2021.
40:02
SPEAKER_03: I was like, that's crazy.
40:03
SPEAKER_03: So that was about like the teams that changed basketball and how they changed it and how they reshaped how we look at the NBA.
40:13
SPEAKER_03: So this was like a sequel to that.
40:15
SPEAKER_03: It was just like, all right, well, we looked at the teams.
40:18
SPEAKER_03: Now let's look at the players who did it.
40:20
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it was in hindsight, like a horrible idea.
40:24
SPEAKER_03: Way too hard, way too much.
40:25
SPEAKER_03: I was like, what a month in, I'm like, what are we doing here?
40:28
SPEAKER_03: Like, why did I do this?
40:29
SPEAKER_03: It was just this arduous task of trying to tell this same story, but uh, there's a million possibilities.
40:37
SPEAKER_03: So uh we ended up getting to a point.
40:41
SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay, we're back.
40:43
SPEAKER_03: We ended up getting to a point where we felt like we were good, like are we like this, but it was definitely hard.
40:50
SPEAKER_03: Like it was it was rough.
40:52
SPEAKER_03: You knew some people were gonna be left off like that.
40:55
SPEAKER_03: I found that to be tough, but that was the genesis.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: Like, hey, we did the we did the teams.
41:00
SPEAKER_03: Let's see if we can do this with players to give people an idea of how basketball evolved through the stars who evolved it.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: And and Lark is oh, go ahead, Nikki.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: No, I just I'm sure you your storytelling took you to places you might not have anticipated.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, I know you have a really deep relationship with Stephan Curry, and I just I'm so intrigued to know how he fits in as a game changer.
41:31
SPEAKER_00: And maybe people don't equate him to a LeBron or a Michael Jordan, but he's one of my favorite players of all time.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: And and how have you seen him change the game?
41:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's kind of the quintessential game changer.
41:45
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it's hard to talk about basketball, modern basketball, without this kind of recognition of what he did to basketball.
41:54
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it's a very he made basketball far more inclusive.
41:59
SPEAKER_03: Um, it's it's always been a sport centered on hype.
42:03
SPEAKER_03: Always, way back from George Miken, right?
42:07
SPEAKER_03: One of the greatest players of all time, was known, it was Will Chamberlain, who was known for like being this seven-foot like athletic freak, and because he took down 20,000 women, right?
42:20
SPEAKER_03: Those are two things you know Will Chamberlain for.
42:22
SPEAKER_03: But so it's always been about height and the and you know, like variations of that.
42:27
SPEAKER_03: You see somebody who's 6'5, 6'6, you're like, You play hoop, right?
42:30
SPEAKER_03: Because that's what basketball is about.
42:32
SPEAKER_03: Steph made it a little bit more accessible for everybody because his ability to shoot negates height, like it opens up the game.
42:41
SPEAKER_03: So, oddly enough, uh Steph Curry in 2008 had like one of the great NCA tournament runs of all time.
42:50
SPEAKER_03: Like, he was insane.
42:52
SPEAKER_03: It was the he went to Davidson, right?
42:54
SPEAKER_03: So it was like a very David and Goliath type deal.
42:57
SPEAKER_03: He's taking on like Georgetown and Wisconsin and Gazaga, all these proven schools, and he's dethroning him.
43:05
SPEAKER_03: And everybody knew everybody knew who Steph Curry was after that.
43:09
SPEAKER_03: And it's like, okay, that's the time.
43:11
SPEAKER_03: Like, Tracy, you know, that's the time you enter the draft, right?
43:15
SPEAKER_03: Like it's like, all right, let's cash, let's cash in on this.
43:18
SPEAKER_03: He did not, because at the time, he was six foot, you know, like like uh Rudy, like he's six foot nothing, right?
43:26
SPEAKER_03: Right, like he's he's this small dude, his jersey was like a curtain on him, he was thin, he wasn't the greatest athlete.
43:34
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and the question about him was could he play point guard at the NBA level?
43:38
SPEAKER_03: So he went back to school for a third year, not cashing in on like the hype of his tournament run, because the guy who was the point guard graduated, and now he was the point guard.
43:51
SPEAKER_03: And that point guard had a very traditional sense then.
43:55
SPEAKER_03: It was like the floor generals, the guy holding up the number one and two, all right, we're running this play, and all.
44:00
SPEAKER_03: And that, and the question was could he do that?
44:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he could shoot, he could score, but could he do that?
44:05
SPEAKER_03: So he literally went back to David to prove to work on it.
44:09
SPEAKER_03: So when he got to the NBA, he could prove it.
44:11
SPEAKER_03: His first year in the league, he took he averaged four or three-point shots a game.
44:15
SPEAKER_03: He wouldn't even take threes when he was in high school.
44:19
SPEAKER_03: His coaches gave him a shot quota.
44:22
SPEAKER_03: They were demanded he take five shots every quarter because he point guards.
44:27
SPEAKER_03: You didn't shoot like that.
44:28
SPEAKER_03: You were being too deferential.
44:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're you don't want to be a ball hog as a point guard.
44:33
SPEAKER_03: A point guard's like jewels were assists.
44:36
SPEAKER_03: So Steph wasn't like that.
44:39
SPEAKER_03: Fast forward, everybody, that's all they do is shoot, right?
44:43
SPEAKER_03: Like he shoots 15 threes a game.
44:45
SPEAKER_03: And when he first started, that was insane.
44:48
SPEAKER_03: It was literally like people were complaining about how the three-pointer is going crazy, and it was nowhere near where it was now.
44:56
SPEAKER_03: Greg Popovich famously said he hated three-point shooting, he thinks it's ruining a game, but his team, but you gotta do it to win, so they did it.
45:04
SPEAKER_03: And now when we think about this game, like everybody shoots threes.
45:08
SPEAKER_03: You can't even play unless you can shoot threes.
45:10
SPEAKER_03: Like he literally changed the geometry of the court because now you gotta the game extends way out there at 30 feet, whereas before it was 15, right?
45:20
SPEAKER_03: So like he's he's kind of quintessential.
45:23
SPEAKER_03: The way we look at basketball, the way we think about it, the way we talk about it, who can play, who can't play, all of that is different because of Steph Curry.
45:32
SPEAKER_03: So, in many ways, in that sense, he's he's like one of the ultimate game changers of all time.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: You said talk about something towards the end of the book when you're talking about Caitlin Clark and the fans and how a lot of a lot of players come at a time when the fans kind of are ready for them.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: Can you just expand upon that?
45:50
SPEAKER_01: I thought that was so interesting and thinking about it also so true.
45:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's it's a wild phenomenon to watch live as somebody who's been covering, you know, watching this league since 1997 when it began.
46:03
SPEAKER_03: Uh, because my play cousin, my fake cousin Tina Thompson used to be a star for the comments.
46:09
SPEAKER_03: She don't know that we cousins.
46:10
SPEAKER_03: I just claimed her.
46:11
SPEAKER_03: She's just in my family.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: I won't tell her.
46:14
SPEAKER_03: But uh it's it's interesting now watching this sudden influx of people who are like, like, oh, are we here?
46:22
SPEAKER_03: It's like an open house for a house that you've been eyeing.
46:24
SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
46:25
SPEAKER_03: And then you open a house an house around the block and be like, Man, man, I've been here, right?
46:31
SPEAKER_03: I was I was here, I was here before they painted the thing.
46:34
SPEAKER_03: Uh, so like oddly enough, though, like when this moment where everybody arrives, the skill has reached a level to like now it's gratifying.
46:46
SPEAKER_03: Now it's okay, this is when you're watching it, you don't feel like you're watching an inferior product.
46:52
SPEAKER_03: You don't feel like, oh, we're just watching this because we want to support women.
46:56
SPEAKER_03: Like, no, like they're good.
46:58
SPEAKER_03: That the game has evolved, the skill has evolved, the coaching has evolved, like, even the arenas have evolved, right?
47:06
SPEAKER_03: And we're seeing we're seeing teams now go back to the NBA arenas.
47:11
SPEAKER_03: That's how it began.
47:11
SPEAKER_03: They started in these NBA arenas, but then people started finding smaller arenas because you look like you're in this empty arena, and now they're going back.
47:19
SPEAKER_03: So it's an interesting time.
47:21
SPEAKER_03: And Caitlin changed that.
47:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't care what anybody says.
47:24
SPEAKER_03: Say what you want.
47:25
SPEAKER_03: In 20 years, we'll be talking about how Caitlin Clark brought this, was the Pied Piper to this new movement, and they're all getting checks now, right?
47:34
SPEAKER_03: Was she alone?
47:35
SPEAKER_03: She was not alone, but we all know that Caitlin Clark brought an audience with her.
47:40
SPEAKER_03: We may not like the audience, but they're here, right?
47:43
SPEAKER_03: No, that's what it is, right?
47:45
SPEAKER_03: You can't argue that.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, and and Marcus, I've been doing I've been a sideline reporter in the W pre-Caitlin Clark and post-Caitlin Clark, and the energy around the league, there it's it was different.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: Point full stop, you know, and then you see ready-made rookies like Olivia Miles, you see what's happening, you see what's happening with the Valkyries and Balhalla, the fanfare around it.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: Like it's now it's not just unique to the Clark effect, but you you can't deny that she changed the game.
48:17
SPEAKER_00: And I I love that you included women in this book.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I want to ask you was is there someone, a name, that if you gave someone 20 guesses, they might not, they might not nail this name as a game changer.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: And then I want to hear the reason why.
48:37
SPEAKER_03: Oh, well, who we who's the person?
48:39
SPEAKER_03: Is it like my my sister who doesn't know basketball?
48:42
SPEAKER_03: Because she went, she ain't, she ain't nailing, she ain't nailing nothing.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone in between, maybe like an average NBA fan who knows, you know, the the lore of the baby thunder, but you know, now like you know, someone they've got history and context to the league, but maybe they wouldn't understand why you would consider Jalen Brunson a game changer in this day and age.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: Or you know, I don't know if there's a name that that you might not, yeah.
49:08
SPEAKER_03: I'll go with a couple who were two of my favorite people to write about.
49:12
SPEAKER_03: Uh Hakeem Ela Juan and Candace Parker.
49:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh, CP.
49:18
SPEAKER_03: Now, Nikki, I know you I know you you know, you you definitely know like what CP meant.
49:25
SPEAKER_03: Man, I forgot.
49:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like I mean, she's been around so long, you just you know she's great, you know she had a great career, you know she's a Hall of Famer, but man, I forgot, like CP was one of them ones.
49:37
SPEAKER_03: Like at a and this was at a time where we didn't, we didn't, we hadn't seen that before, right?
49:43
SPEAKER_03: We hadn't seen somebody who could literally do everything on a court so well that it's a part of the game plan.
49:50
SPEAKER_03: Like we we know players can do that, like Magic Johnson famously did it for one game, right?
49:54
SPEAKER_03: Like he played center, he played all five positions when Kareem got hurt.
49:58
SPEAKER_03: Well, that's that was just Candace Parker's life, and now like Olivia Miles kind of brings it up because we're like rookie of the year's lock.
50:06
SPEAKER_03: Is she MVP?
50:07
SPEAKER_03: And who's the last one to do that?
50:09
SPEAKER_03: Like Candace Parker, right?
50:10
SPEAKER_03: So to to like really kind of relive, you know, the monstrosity that was Candace Parker, like coming out of Tennessee with all the hype in the world, and then to come play next to Lisa Leslie, who like who was uh uh uh Mount Rushmore figure on her own right, and still Candace Parker was like, I'm I'm I'm one of the ones like she was sensational and yeah, needed that refresher.
50:37
SPEAKER_03: And Hakeem, especially because the game is so international now, right?
50:43
SPEAKER_03: Uh the best players in the NBA are often from not from here, and we're seeing uh the influx of international talent in the W.
50:52
SPEAKER_03: Uh man, Hakeem Elijah Wan was massive for that.
50:56
SPEAKER_03: He opened up Africa as a basketball continent, right?
51:00
SPEAKER_03: As a place to go for talent.
51:02
SPEAKER_03: And you kind of lose that, you kind of lose sight of that because he everybody knows Hakeem was great.
51:07
SPEAKER_03: But Hakeem did two things.
51:09
SPEAKER_03: He he let people know that people on on in Africa were not only just tall and athletic, but they're also highly skilled and highly competent.
51:19
SPEAKER_03: Which in the 80s, you know what I'm saying, it just it wasn't like it just wasn't this common knowledge.
51:25
SPEAKER_03: It was like, oh yeah, they're they get they're athletic, but are they smart, right?
51:29
SPEAKER_03: And then the other thing he did was he presented a different face for Islam than what was stereotypical, right?
51:38
SPEAKER_03: Uh and I think I think he helped us as a nation kind of have a greater reference for what it meant for somebody to be a Muslim and and and and have class and character and be dignified.
51:51
SPEAKER_03: On top of that, he's one of the greatest centers of all time.
51:54
SPEAKER_03: So, like those two where it's like, unless you're like in the weeds, you might not know it.
51:59
SPEAKER_03: I especially people think people sleep on Candace, man.
52:02
SPEAKER_00: People sleep on Yeah, oh my gosh.
52:04
SPEAKER_00: And she's you know, it's just so easy to kind of assimilate her into basketball culture now with the place she has around the game.
52:11
SPEAKER_00: But to know the athleticism, and and you know, I look at Asia Wilson and I see that sort of dominance, right?
52:17
SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of it it's deserves it deserves to be brought back to light.
52:22
SPEAKER_00: And I love too that you're bringing like the social element in and of itself, the doors that Hakeem opened, and yeah, maybe there was some exposure with Kareem or Lou Alcinder right before that, but it wasn't well received, and so to have the you know, um I think that is is awesome.
52:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh were you, I mean, with all the with all the interviews and you know, kind of chasing stories and narratives, um who surprised you in in this process?
52:58
SPEAKER_03: Definitely uh Candace Parker.
53:00
SPEAKER_03: Like I just I'm telling you, I just and I like I I remember that time, but I I forgot.
53:06
SPEAKER_03: So it was just like that it felt novel again.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: Or I mean, personality-wise, did you talk to any?
53:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've been covering the league for so long, so I don't know if there's any, but uh both you know, was there any kind of character who you did get to interact with that you hadn't really gotten close up with before?
53:23
SPEAKER_03: So the the Maya Moore component, uh just like the connection to Jordan and how read readily she it was easy to identify Maya Moore as like this unique kind of singular figure.
53:37
SPEAKER_03: Uh that was like, oh, okay, yeah.
53:40
SPEAKER_03: Remember Maya Moore?
53:41
SPEAKER_03: So much of it is about memory, too.
53:43
SPEAKER_03: I remember uh doing my research on uh uh Barclay, and the guy who came out was like Gus Johnson.
53:52
SPEAKER_03: And it's like most people wouldn't know about Gus Johnson, but when you when you learn about his career and who he was and what he represented, then it's like you know what?
54:02
SPEAKER_03: That makes a lot of sense.
54:03
SPEAKER_03: And in many ways, like the way I break it down is uh you have your game changer, and then you have the the parents essentially who produce them.
54:11
SPEAKER_03: So it's like uh they're they're not exactly like these two people, but you can see this element and this element, right?
54:20
SPEAKER_03: Like, where did they where did this come from?
54:22
SPEAKER_03: So I do feel like you know, when you start thinking about these players, and it's like, you know what?
54:28
SPEAKER_03: I never would have made that connection if not for somebody telling me, no, no, the original, right, was this guy, right?
54:36
SPEAKER_03: Uh so that part was really fun to me.
54:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh like Rick Berry is one of those figures people don't really talk about in the NBA.
54:46
SPEAKER_03: But Rick Berry was so good back then, and you don't think about the way he pioneered basketball and how he how he made you think differently about who should be scoring.
54:57
SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
54:59
SPEAKER_03: So some of those players, you know, I'm a little partial to the old heads.
55:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
55:03
SPEAKER_03: Because you know, because I'm old now, you feel me?
55:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, I don't I don't accept that energy, but Marcus, I do have to ask you while I got you here.
55:11
SPEAKER_00: We gotta talk clippers, we gotta talk about what's going what what went down.
55:16
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's insane, right?
55:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm on the other fence.
55:20
SPEAKER_03: I I think people are saying it's a uh it's a like a death a death certificate.
55:26
SPEAKER_03: I don't think so.
55:27
SPEAKER_03: No, I think Balmer got that kind of money where you'd be like, all right, I'm just about to buy his picks now.
55:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and he's probably even better at salary cap circumvention, right?
55:36
SPEAKER_00: It's like he's like, okay, now I know how to be smart.
55:39
SPEAKER_03: You get rested as a cat burglar, right?
55:41
SPEAKER_03: As a heist expert, all you learned was all right.
55:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how to do it.
55:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so now it's like, okay, all y'all thought I was doing it before.
55:51
SPEAKER_03: Watch me.
55:52
SPEAKER_03: I don't know that he was doing it.
55:54
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe how easy Kawhi got off in all of that.
55:56
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I can believe that, but like man, Kawhi didn't do anything, all he did was collect checks.
56:02
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
56:03
SPEAKER_02: He didn't do it.
56:05
SPEAKER_00: He says he didn't have any idea.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: It was it was Uncle Dennis.
56:08
SPEAKER_02: It was Uncle Dennis, man.
56:09
SPEAKER_02: You never had an uncle doing too much at Thanksgiving.
56:13
SPEAKER_00: Where I need an uncle Dennis for crying out loud.
56:19
SPEAKER_03: Not one that'll get us in trouble.
56:21
SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to be Tracy's Uncle Dennis.
56:25
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna get some of them perks.
56:33
SPEAKER_01: Wi-Fi went out.
56:35
SPEAKER_01: So I'm sorry I missed you guys, but I'm glad you guys had time to bond.
56:38
SPEAKER_03: While I was back on, you know, you were a third wheel, to be honest.
56:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, come on, Tracy.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: I was a hundred percent.
56:47
SPEAKER_01: Like this was I it's it all worked out as it should have.
56:50
SPEAKER_01: It was the universe making a point.
56:52
SPEAKER_01: I wanna switch gears before we have to let you go, though, because we're talking a lot of NFL, and even though your book is about the NBA, I know you also know a lot about the NFL, and so I'm gonna put you on the spot.
57:04
SPEAKER_01: Nikki and I did our two early Super Bowl predictions, so I want to know yours.
57:12
SPEAKER_03: Um I'm gonna go cop out.
57:14
SPEAKER_03: Easy answer.
57:16
SPEAKER_03: Rams, Texans.
57:18
SPEAKER_01: Rams, uh Texans is okay.
57:20
SPEAKER_01: I said we both said Rams, Bills.
57:22
SPEAKER_01: I said Bills win.
57:23
SPEAKER_01: Nikki said Rams win.
57:25
SPEAKER_01: Who wins between the Rams and the Texans?
57:28
SPEAKER_03: Rams.
57:30
SPEAKER_00: Does CJ still have does CJ got it?
57:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, is CJ actually it though?
57:34
SPEAKER_03: That's the only reason he's they're not winning.
57:36
SPEAKER_03: It's because I trust, I trust uh over quarterback.
57:40
SPEAKER_01: And oh, here we go.
57:41
SPEAKER_03: I knew the Colt was coming out at some point.
57:43
SPEAKER_03: I knew the Colts was coming out at some point.
57:46
SPEAKER_00: Wait, Marcus.
57:49
SPEAKER_00: Can we agree on one?
57:50
SPEAKER_00: Can we agree on one thing?
57:51
SPEAKER_00: Like, what the heck is is getting everybody back on drinking that cowboy Kool-Aid?
57:56
SPEAKER_00: Haven't we learned our lesson?
57:58
SPEAKER_03: Oh no, I I I love this.
58:00
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
58:00
SPEAKER_03: Go ahead and face disappointment again.
58:03
SPEAKER_03: They're just gonna be let down again and again and again.
58:06
SPEAKER_03: Like it's it's literally like watching like uh uh uh uh like a it's a clip of that deer, you free them from the gate, and then they run and jump and do the same thing again.
58:16
SPEAKER_03: Like that's the cowboys, they're not gonna win, they're not they're just gonna keep doing the same thing again.
58:20
SPEAKER_01: Now I feel bad about the deer.
58:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I have one more question because a team that you and I have both been close to over the years, the Niners.
58:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean, really, the offseason from hell, they have they lose defensive tackle, Alfred Collins this week for the season.
58:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, is they gained Dawn love?
58:38
SPEAKER_00: They gained Deshaun love, though.
58:40
SPEAKER_01: But then lost him because he's about to go to jail, but they lost him, yeah, exactly.
58:45
SPEAKER_01: They can't even keep their fake receivers on the field.
58:48
SPEAKER_01: That's problematic.
58:50
SPEAKER_01: That's that's what I'd like to say about that.
58:53
SPEAKER_01: Marcus, is this team just doomed for the year?
58:58
SPEAKER_03: Yes, like it's every year.
59:03
SPEAKER_03: Like, here's here's what I here's like the pervasive hope.
59:07
SPEAKER_03: If you're a diehard 49ers fan, nobody's gonna pay attention to them, nobody's gonna expect anything.
59:15
SPEAKER_03: Just stay afloat until you find some kind of rhythm and consistency, and then be the surprise team.
59:23
SPEAKER_03: But my goodness, the amount of drama this team draws onto its head all the time.
59:30
SPEAKER_03: I've never liked it.
59:33
SPEAKER_01: It's an always, it's like this off season, it was a lot, but it's like it's always drama, always and this feels a little bit less manageable because they're getting older.
59:44
SPEAKER_03: Like that the the the depth of talent isn't as formidable as it once was, and and now they're at the situation where they need all the margins to go right, you know, they need everything to click, and man, it ain't clicking ain't clicking.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_03: Like we're we're we're into the tabloid stuff now, like they're they've ventured off into social media drama, right?
1:00:07
SPEAKER_03: They're they're getting caught up in in like the wildest type scandal.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, like they're they're gonna be a world star next.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_03: That's the only thing left for them to do.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_03: It's gotten to a ridiculous level.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_03: I if they somehow pull this off and become a a tough playoff out, it would be one of the most impressive feats in an era that has been pretty impressive, actually.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_01: It has been pretty impressive.
1:00:34
SPEAKER_01: I think I think there's a high likelihood they end up exactly where they were last year.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_01: They somehow make the playoffs, maybe they win the first game and then they're out in the divisional round.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_03: But then they face that would be a good outcome this year.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_01: It would be it'd be a tremendous, it was a good outcome last year.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, if they lose to the Rams in the second round and the Rams go and win a Super Bowl, hey man, tip your cap.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_03: They survived.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_03: I would, I would, I would respect that.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_01: What if they lose to the Rams in the second round and then the Rams get beat by CJ Stroud in the Super Bowl?
1:01:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that would hurt a little bit more.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_03: This season is gonna be interesting for sure.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_00: Last one, last one for me, over under 11 wins for the Chiefs this season.
1:01:17
SPEAKER_00: Is Pat is and what level of Pat do we get back?
1:01:21
SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm going that's right, it's a 17.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_03: So I'll go, man, can I go 11?
1:01:29
SPEAKER_00: That means hey, that means put me up, put me in Vegas.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_00: Send me up Vegas.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_03: I'll go 11.
1:01:34
SPEAKER_03: Uh Pat, I think Pat's gonna be Pat.
1:01:36
SPEAKER_03: Uh so I I think it's the it's the pieces around him I don't know about.
1:01:41
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but Pat's game, like he's smart enough to play how he needs to play, and his game is versatile enough.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_03: I think he'll be fine.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_03: I just don't know about that.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_03: That team around him.
1:01:50
SPEAKER_03: Like, I I'm not I don't know if I'm buying Travis Kelsey.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_03: I'm not I'm no I'm not I'm not sure I'm buying Taylor's Travis Kelsey.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh-oh, don't let the Swiftys hear this.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_00: Don't let the Swifties hear you.
1:02:03
SPEAKER_03: I would be completely distracted if I'm marrying Taylor Swift.
1:02:07
SPEAKER_03: I'm not playing football.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_03: I'm out of here.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_03: You want me to go to training camp?
1:02:19
SPEAKER_03: Go with Taylor.
1:02:22
SPEAKER_03: How long before he's like, what am I doing here?
1:02:25
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I thought that that would have happened like the third day of training camp.
1:02:28
SPEAKER_01: But you've been like, What on the Yeah?
1:02:30
SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't I don't understand what's happening here.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm out.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_03: Like, what?
1:02:33
SPEAKER_03: Especially you've done all he's done.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_03: He won Super Bowl, he's got everything.
1:02:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like what else are you doing?
1:02:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
1:02:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm out.
1:02:39
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
1:02:40
SPEAKER_03: So we'll we'll see.
1:02:41
SPEAKER_03: If if he has a great year, that would be crazy to me.
1:02:43
SPEAKER_03: I'd be like, man, where's the beach?
1:02:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, where's yeah, give me somewhere private with my wife.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm doing.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_01: That's what we should be doing.
1:02:55
SPEAKER_01: Marcus, tell everybody when the book comes out, where they can find it, and where they can find you.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_03: Uh, well, you can't find me because I'm in these streets, and you know, these streets, you know what I'm saying?
1:03:05
SPEAKER_03: You can find me on social media.
1:03:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Nikki, we in these streets, man.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_03: We in these streets.
1:03:12
SPEAKER_03: Uh uh, you can find me on social media.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tweet out your phone.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_03: But we in the streets.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you can find a book.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_03: I want you to go to your local bookstore.
1:03:22
SPEAKER_03: Go to your local bookstore.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, go go in, fill, get pick up, pick up game changers, and pick up one other book.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, go in your bookstore.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_03: Hey, I got me some orange and white Praddhas to go with it.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_03: I'm a G.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_03: This is a Tracy Sandler inspired.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_00: That's I'm on I couldn't be prouder.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_00: That's incredible, right?
1:03:42
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna when I'm getting my game changers PR box, am I gonna have some orange and white Pradesh in there too?
1:03:48
SPEAKER_03: No, it's not happening.
1:03:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna be like, um, I got the book and I'm so happy to have it, but I didn't know there were shoes involved.
1:03:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
1:03:58
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, just for me.
1:04:01
SPEAKER_01: Fair Marcus, thank you for joining us.
1:04:04
SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
1:04:05
SPEAKER_01: The book is great.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_01: You guys make sure to read it.
1:04:07
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, we had so many technical difficulties today.
1:04:10
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for sticking with us.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_01: This is Slander and Slay on Buzzer.
1:04:13
SPEAKER_01: Make sure to review, subscribe, rate, and don't talk about the technical difficulties because they weren't our fault.
1:04:21
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, you guys, we will talk to you next week after week one.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_01: Can't wait to see what we overreact to.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_01: And Nikki and I do this at the end of every episode.