Latest / The Skol Hop / Football in the Olympics, Wolves in the Playoffs, and the Full NFL Schedule | TSH Ep. 90

Transcript

Football in the Olympics, Wolves in the Playoffs, and the Full NFL Schedule | TSH Ep. 90 · The Skol Hop

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Hey, Vikings fans, welcome in to another episode
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of the Schoolhob. I'm Evan and I'm Austin. We're just
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a couple of dudes from Iowa. We like drinking beer
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: talking about the Vikings.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. And the beer we had tonight was
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: a fantastic Iowa Amber from Adventurous Brewing.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and oddly enough, we talked about the possibility of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson representing our great nation in the Olympics to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: win a gold medal in flag football.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Man, that'd be super awesome. But before we get to that,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: we also mentioned the hottest team in the in Minnesota
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: right now, the Timberwolves, who I think are going to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: drop game one.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not looking too good right now. Hopefully they
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: can pull it out even if they dropped the first game.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Hopefully they can win a few more in the series.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: But we also gave our full thoughts on the NFL
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: schedule release, specifically as it pertains to the Vikings. We
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: spent some time talking a few episodes about the opponents
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the Vikings would face, both Road and A Way or
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: that's the same thing, yeah, both Paul Road. Then anyways,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: now we know when those games will happen. We know
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: for sure that there are two.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: International games back to back. It's gonna be an interesting
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: year for the Viking. Can't wait. But until then, grab
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: a cold one, join us cold school. All right, So, Evan,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: you brought us to beer tonight, tell us about what
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: we've got. I did.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So I was scanning the shelves at the local
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: high being place. Oh it's so good, big huge shelf
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: of beer. If you've never been there, you should check
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: it out. But anyways, I found another Ventust beer and
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I think actually a couple of weeks ago, we had
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Adventurous on the show. They're right here in Bettenor, f Iowa.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: This is like right down the street from us. We've
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: been there several times. And this is their Iowa amber.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Al. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to spell it out.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I think it's a play on the Iowa chant that
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: they do at Hawkeye games. I've heard that many a time,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: so yeah, anyways, it's not Iowa. It's not the Iowa amber.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I think it's the Iowa amber.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: So I think I've ordered this before. I think I've
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: had it once, but it's if I have, it's been
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: a while, and I'm pretty sure I have because I
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: think when I ordered it, I was really cheesy about
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: it and I said the Iow Amber And now that
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: i'm thinking about it, at the time, I didn't. I
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: thought that's how it was called. But I think they
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: gave me a weird look. So adventurous. I'm sorry for
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: saying it wrong in there, but yeah, the Iowa Amber
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: That just I don't know either way. It's gonna taste good.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it's an amber beer that's a play
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: on the Iowa Hawkeye.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Well, I have to ask him how you're supposed to, Yeah,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: correctly say the name of the beer.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Adventurous. Tell us how to do that. But you know
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: why I picked it up, right, Well, you love amber,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: said amber beer. Your you're a symp for amber beers.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Admittedly did I say that right?
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Admittedly I don't know. I'm not up with the slang.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I think that's old slang at this point. Admittedly I'm
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: not a big Hawkeye fan, but I love a good
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: amber beer. So when I saw this, I was like, Hey,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: we gotta try that. And I haven't had it yet,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: so yeah, here we are.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Well, it's definitely amber and color. Oh no, what did
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: I do? Oh it's it's not a bad overflow. I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: think I overreacted, but I will need a paper tie.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's got a good amber color. Even though
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: the foam has a nice almost tan color, which I
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: feel like foam is usually just white. This is this
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: is nice to look at.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: If you're watching us on YouTube or our Spotify video,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: you can see that nice brown, calmely color and good
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: head retention on the phone there. I'm excited to try this,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: me too. This is definitely my style of beer, yeah,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: for sure. And I like Ambers too. But if you know,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: if one of us is an Amber fan, it's you.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: We both are, but you more so than that. I
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: think we just need to dive into this. Even though
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: mine is very foamy right now, I went a little over.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: You're gonna get a bunch of your mustache. I love
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: that so much. I actually hate it.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: School school, All right, We're gonna give a quick shout
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: out to show sponsor, Big Top Ventures. If you're looking
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: to take an all inclusive trip to Mexico or Jamaica.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: We're gonna flash their email right down here. Big Top
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Ventures LLC at Gmail dot com. Send them an email,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: let them know when you're looking to take a trip,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and they'll hook you up with the best rates possible
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: for that all inclusive trip to Mexico or Jamaica. So
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: shout out Big Top Ventures, thanks so much for sponsoring
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: today's episode.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Most foam is what I got, But darn it, that's
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: some of the best foam I've ever had. That's got
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: a really rich flavor. I like that a lot.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: It's sweet, but it's also got a little bit of
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: that happy bitterness to it as well.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is, there's a little bit of happiness to it,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: which I like a lot. Yeah, not quite as like
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: happy amber, as like an arms race for Big Grove,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: but still still kind of more well rounded than I
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: thought it would. Be very nice and not as dark
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: as an amber beers. I feel like you've gotten before, right,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: but really good full flavor. I feel like it full
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: sended on the darker flavor. I like that. What are
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: your thoughts? Yeah, I like that too.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: There's definitely like that roasted maltiness yeah to it as well,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and that's what I like too. We're kind of getting
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: into more some bonfire season again, so like I think
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: this would be a good one to kick back around
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the fire and have a few and have good chats
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: with people on those cooler spring nights early summer nights.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: And I don't think we've mentioned this is six percent
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: so perfect that perfect in the right in the wheelhouse.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Not quite a headache beer, it could be.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: You can.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: You can make any beer a headache beer if you
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: really try hard enough. Excuse me, I just burped. Apparently
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: it's a burnt beer. But yeah, six percent. If you're
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: gonna have a four pack, you can do that by
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: yourself in an evening and probably, you know, feel pretty
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: decent the next morning. And yeah, I like everything about
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: this beer. I really like that it has that hint
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: of happiness too. Yeah. Yeah, it's a well rounded beer
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: So thanks Adventurous and looking forward to enjoying that for
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the rest of this episode.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: So.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: We've got some news we haven't recorded in I think
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks, a little over two weeks now,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: But the NFL world keeps moving on. One big, one
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: big thing happened today, which seems like it was kind
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: of foregone conclusion when the Olympics announced that they're going
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: to add flag football to the run of sports that
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: they're going to host. I think twenty twenty eight is
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the first time it's going to be featured in the Olympics,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: and the NFL today, along with the NFLPA, voted unanimously
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: to allow NFL players to participate in the flag football,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: kind of like basketball players can play in the Olympics
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: and other sports too. So what do you think about that?
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, like didn't think that it would go any
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: other way.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Sure, I think it's a huge pr thing for the NFL.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: And if you know anything about the NFL under Roger Goodell,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you know that anytime he can get exposure, anytime he
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: can get any sort of recognition or any sort of
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: like advertising opportunity or whatever, he's going to take it.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Anything that's going to bring money in for the league.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: He's all for it. And I think he sees this
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: as an opportunity to do that. So what's interesting to
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: me is that all the NFL owners voted unanimously thirty
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: two nothing to approve this.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: I wonder if.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: There was any dissension in the ranks, if there were
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: any owners that were like on the fence or like
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: adamantly know and if Goodell had to like, you know,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: pull them aside and be like, hey, yeah, this is
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: why this is a good idea. You know. Well, I
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: don't know, maybe maybe it truly was unanimous and they
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: were all like, oh, yeah, this is a no brainer.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: This makes total sense. It's going to happen in our
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: off season. And you know, it's only a select number
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: of players. It's not like it's this huge swath of
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: players from the league that like, if they all got injured,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the league would be totally different the following season.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: That is, I think you just hit the nail on
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: The only real concern I would have is injury. So
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: this would be a summer Olympics thing, correct, correct, So
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: it would be you know, definitely dead in the off
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: season of the NFL. However, any player that participated it
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: would probably alter their participation with their team a little bit.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I don't know if like OTAs would be affected for
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: them or training camp even But that's like the end
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: of July. I don't really know exactly when the Olympics land.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I'm not a huge Olympics fan. I think it's usually
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: like July. Okay, so there's a potential line. Yeah, potentially
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: it could affect a little bit like an NFL players
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: schedule with their you know, NFL team, But I for
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: you know, something as cool as the Olympics, I don't.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I don't really think that that will be a huge difference.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's late July, July fourteenth through the thirtieth and
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Eight, okay, And I think NFL training camps don't. They
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: usually start like the last week of July at the earliest,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: So maybe maybe no difference at all. The only thing,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: like I was getting to and you hit at, was injury.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine if like, yes, I think flag football
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: by its nature is a non contact sport, but some
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: of the most gruesome, you know, long term injuries you
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: can have are non contact. An Achilles tear is a
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: non contact injury most of the time.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: You and I two years ago watched Kirk Cousins achilles
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: just pop and there were guys trying to tackle him.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't because of their tackling yet it popped.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: He just moved the wrong way and aches.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: And granted that's kind of a fluke injury, but still,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: you know, an acl tear that is typically a non
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: contact injury.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of you know, a juke misdirection,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: you know, trying to stop, pivot, hit and turn whatever.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: So so I think I think we're both totally for this.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: For NFL players being in the Olympics, I think it's
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: pretty cool. If I had any reservations, it would be
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: for injury. Also, it sounds like each team is going
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: to be limited to having one participant on their team
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: to be even luigible for the our country's flag football team. However,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: I think I did see something too that every team
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: gets like a roster exemption for the international player program
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: or whatever, and that player could play for their country's
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: flag football team if they wanted to.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: And there's also another limitation that rosters will for each country.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Rosters will be limited to ten players, So for the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: US team, that means only a maximum of ten players
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: and only a maximum of ten teams. Ten NFL teams
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: would be represented. Yeah, so and it's not even I
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: guess a maximum. It's ten teams will be represented because
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: one from each one player from each team can be
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: on the team, and only ten players can be on
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the team, So there will be ten different NFL franchises.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: And again I think those limitations are what makes it
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a little more palatable for owners, Like, you know, if
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: you're a Vikings fan, for example, and let's say Justin
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Jefferson is the designee from the Vikings to play and shoot,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: he'd be a great option. Sure, I think he'd be
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: really good. And I think didn't he like, wasn't he
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: there at the press conference?
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: So about that? I think Jefferson and then Brian Asmol
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: was there. But the NFL owners meetings are happening like
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: in Minneapolis right now, so like basically on the Vikings
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: facilities is where these meetings are happening. So when they
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: announced it, they have NFL players from the Vikings from
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: that Franchi ready to go and step up and lo
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and behold, one of the NFL's faces of the shield
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: happens to be a Viking. So it only made sense
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: for him to walk over across the street, I think,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: and help the announcement.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: But yeah, so anyways, all that to say, I think
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: all of those limitations are what makes it palatable because
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: let's say Justin Jefferson does get that roster spot on
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the Olympic team, he does go and play, and god
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: forbid he gets hurt in some way. That's obviously devastating
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: for Vikings fans, but it's not like it trashes the
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: whole product for all fans of all teams for the
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: entire season. Right Like if it were like, oh, yeah,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: we can field ten quarterbacks, we can field ten running backs,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: ten wide receivers, we can get the best, you know,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: cornerbacks and safeties from all over the league. And now
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you've got ten guys that got
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: hurt and they're some of the ten best players in
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the league. That's going to leave a sizeable hole. And
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: so I think these limitations make it a little easier to.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Make it happen. Yeah, so you bring up a good
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: point too, Like you just listed off a bunch of
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: tackle football positions. I won't pretend to be an elite
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: flag football mind. Obviously there's quarterbacks in flag football and
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: wide receivers. I'm pretty sure running backs are a position, maybe,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: but I don't know exactly. You know, I didn't know
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: until a little while ago that a ten man roster
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: is all that the flag football team is. So there
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: are only I'm googling this.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but Google says there will only
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: be five players on the field, a quarterback, a center,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: wide receivers, so I'm guessing two wide receivers and a
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: running back on the offensive side, and then all of
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the defensive players are defensive backs.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Interesting, okay, oh wow, So I.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Don't think there are any down linemen on the defensive
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: side of the ball, and you pretty much just have
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: corners and safeties.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Corners or you know, probably.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: One on one on your receivers and maybe one's a
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: spy or something to sit and watch the running back
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: see what they do. And then the safeties are just
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: back to prevent anything deep from happening. So but all
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: that to say, like, yeah, the best Viking right now
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: is probably Justin Jefferson. We don't know if the best
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Viking flag football player would be justin Jefferson. Like I said,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to pretend to know all the details
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: about the whole sport of flag football. For all we know,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: you know, somebody like ty Chandler would be the best
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: flag football player that's currently on the Vikings roster.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel like quarterback would be pretty
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: pretty universal for that. But are quarterbacks and flag football
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: allowed to rush whenever they want are they kind of
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: held back. If that's a case, you'd probably want to
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: pick an athletic quarterback, Like I mean, would Lamar Jackson
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: be the best flag football quarterback of all time? I
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: don't know, but there are some differences there. I know
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: it's not a full one to one, and that flag
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: football in the Olympics will be a different sport than
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: we watch on Sundays in the fall in the NFL,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: But I'm all for it. I do think teams may
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: be a little bit more protective of their super superstars,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Like I don't think the Chiefs will probably be hesitant
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: to throw Pat Mahomes out there. For sure. He might
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: be the best flag football quarterback of all time. I
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: don't know, but I feel like the Chiefs, with a
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: half a billion dollar investment in that guy, might have
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: some hesitancy to throw them out there to potentially get
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: tears ACL.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: But I'll play Devil's advocate for a minute, not necessarily
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: because I disagree with you, but for the sake of argument.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I could also see those players saying, and I could
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: see Patrick Mahomes saying, you know what, I've done pretty
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: much all there is to do in the NFL. Let
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: me go play for gold. Yeah, exactly, let me the
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: other side do it. Let me do it, and if
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: you don't, then screw it. I'm not signing with you
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: next year. I'm gonna leave. I'll go somewhere else where
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: they'll let me do that. You know, Like I feel
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: like there's gonna be Maybe there could be. I don't know,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: could be totally a non issue, but like there could
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: be some of that power struggle too, where like players
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: might want to do that they've seen the You know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of these guys grew up watching the Dream
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Team play basketball and go win gold for the US,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: and now recently again the US got to do it
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: again this last year or in the twenty twenty four Olympics, right.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Did they? Yeah? I see, I'm pretty sure they pretend
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: to know enough about it. Yeah, I think so. I
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: know in our lifetime the US, but it was like
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: team as one goal. That was like a few times
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: that was.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Like I remember watching it was one of the greatest
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: games I've ever seen. It wasn't Anthony Edwards on that
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: team and he was and they won. Yeah, okay, they won.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: So I can promise you though, if the ninety two
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Dream team, if everybody on that court just ravaged their ankles,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: and acls USA basketball would not be full of NBA
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: players for the rest of history. Just like and I'm
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: not predicting this, I don't think it's going to be
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: an injury fest in flag football. We would already kind
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: of know about that, and the NFL owners would have
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: known about that before they voted today. But if somebody
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: like Justin Jefferson made the you know, the US team
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: for flag football and then went out there and had
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: a one or two year setback injury just because of
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: flag football and the Olympics, I bet you a lot
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: of NFL superstars would be more hesitant to go out
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: and play it. Or maybe not, but I would. I
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: think it'll be really interesting to see what happens this
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: go around, and then I think when we come back
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: around to it again in twenty thirty two, there will
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: be a lot.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: I think it'll be even more interesting because.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Now ten players from the NFL will have gone through it,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: possibly more with those international players, and I don't know,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see what effect it has on
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the league.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: I think the other thing too, that I.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Keep forgetting about, but it's like one of the most
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: obvious things about the Olympics is it's not every year.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: It's not like it's like, oh, every July, ten of
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the best players in the NFL are going to go
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: represent the US and the Olympics.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: It's every four years.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: It's you know, guys might do it twice in their
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: careers and their pro football careers and then they're done.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And so again that's where I could see the players
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: and maybe the NFLPA even gets involved a little bit
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: and says like, hey, you have to let you can't
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: like owners, coaches, gms, you can't just you know, sit
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: justin Jefferson down and say no, you can't do this.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Like if he wants to, he should have the opportunity to,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: and he needs to understand the risks and he needs
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: to understand like, well, you know, if we can't count
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: on you this following season, the twenty eight twenty nine season,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: well then you know, there may have to be some
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: repercussions in terms of your contract and how we negotiate
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: that moving forward. But as long as you understand those
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: risks and as long as you understand you know, the liability.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Behind all that, go, Yeah, have fun. And one difference,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: one difference between football and basketball specifically which I feel
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: like basketball is the closest like Olympic comparison, because and hockey,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: I guess too, is up there, maybe hockey more so
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: than anything but basketball. The elite of elite basketball players,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: their careers are longer typically than you know, the average
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: NFL player, And even in the the elite of the
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: elite NFL player, they don't have typically like Lebron Dreames
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: like length careers. So Lebron he's probably been to what
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: at least four ish Olympics at this point, if not more,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: that's a good question, but just his you know, the
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: nature of basketball, you're gonna play longer and then if
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: you're really good, you're gonna play that much longer. Whereas
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: the NFL players, yeah, four Olympic games, Okay, NFL players
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: like Larry Fitzgerald, who played what fifteen ish years in
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: the NFL, I mean you're talking maybe three four, you know,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: chances at Olympic berths, and he was one of the
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: longest tenured you know, wide receivers there was.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: So all of that is if he's you know, selected,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: if he wants to, if his coaches and owners would
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: be willing to, and we just don't know anything like that, Like,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: we don't know what will happen with that, and we
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: don't know if you know, ownership, if coaching, if gms
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: will push back against that.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know well. And I think the NFL owners
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: showed today how much pushback they're gonna give. They gave
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: a unanimous yes, let's do it. So I don't think
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: there's much pushback. And as you brought up kind of
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: a contract situation, I think you have another example also
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: with basketball, probably with hockey two. I don't know enough
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: about those contracts for those players, but it's been a reality.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: The Olympics have been a reality for long enough for
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: those sports that I wouldn't be surprised if there is
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: some verbiage in you know, Olympic injuries, you know, in
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: these contracts to kind of for the NFL to kind
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: of mirror itself off of if nothing else, they can
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: ask questions and see how other leagues have done in
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: the past. Overall, I think we're all for it. It'll
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: be exciting. The only thing is, like I don't know
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: if I could root for the USA team if like
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: the Packers quarterback is the quarterback there. But that's another
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: conversation for another day. You'll root for your country. You
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: are you're a Patriot, I know you will. Oh Man,
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know, not a Patriots fan. You are a
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: fan of America, the America. This isn't just an America,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: America America.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Another quick talker, really quick, and we're kind of following
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the live game cast of this right now. Timberwolves are
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: in the conference finals, Western Conference Finals, taking on Oklahoma
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: City in Game one.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And at this moment, excuse me, at this moment,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: midway through the third quarter, the Wolves are up by
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: four against the favored Thunder, the one seed in the West. Yeah. So,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I there's no I'm not hiding any secrets here. I'm
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: a diehard Vikings fan, and I don't really love any
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: other sport than football. But if I was going to
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: be a fan of any other, you know, professional team,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be the Minnesota team. I'm very much a
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: fair Weather Twins fan, fair Weather wild fan, fair Weather
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Timberwolves fan. I won't lie that I've watched a few
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Timberwolves playoff games recently and even last season, and I'm
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: in I'm all in, let's go, Wolves back, let's go
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: So I'm rooting for it. I want the Timberwolves. If
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: we can only get one championship as Minnesota fans, and
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: it's got to be the Timberwolves, all right, fine, I'll
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: take it at this at this point. Yeah, I saw
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: a tweet.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: I mentioned this before we started recording, but I saw
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: a tweet today that said something like the Timberwolves have
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: done a complete lap around all of the other men's
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: professional teams in Minnesota in terms of making a like
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: a conference finals appearance or like a semi finals to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the final final, the championship round in their respective sport.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: So they've they've been to the conference finals now two
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: years in a row.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm looking it up now. I think Layton Glodek,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: friend of the show. Leyton Glodek is he the one
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: that posted that, I know, but he posted something somewhat similar.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: So Layton's I think, like ten years younger than we are. Okay,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: so earlier today he tweeted and said, also he changed
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: his name on Twitter to Layton James, so like a
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Lebron James thing. It's thrown me off. But he tweeted
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: earlier and says today, mark's the fourth time I've been
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: able to watch and remember a quote unquote Big four
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Minnesota sports team in a conference championship. So we're ten
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: years older than him. We could probably say one or
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: two more times. Maybe I don't know, we were.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Babies when the Twins went to the World Series, but
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: that was like nineteen ninety and nineteen ninety one.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if that was. But if that was the Vikings
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: that won it in ninety one, I totally claim that.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: But yeah, so we're probably in the same boat as
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: late in here as the fourth time we've been able
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: to watch you know, Minnesota teams, you know, in the
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: conference championship of their sport. He also says, compare that
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: to a Boston fan in that same timeline. They've seen
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: it twenty four times. Jeez, And he said, I need this,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: We need this, Minnesota needs this. So I think Layton
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: really just embodied every Minnesota fan when it comes to
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: any Minnesota's sports team, specifically the Timberwolves. Today.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely chering for him, hope they can pull it off.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I've watched a few games. Unfortunately, a lot of the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: games start so late, and I go to better. I'm
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: getting old, so I can't stay up that late. I
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: gotta be at work at like seven o'clock in the morning.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: So how do you survive.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: It's a challenge, but we make it work. Anyways. They've
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: been a fun team. I mean the few games I've watched,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: they've been a fun team to watch. And yeah, I'm
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I'm behind them all the way. I honestly don't know
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: anybody that plays for Oklahoma City.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, who is their big star?
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I don't even know, good, good question, which is why
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: it's surprising to me that they're the one seed.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: I think I'm looking at the one game one name
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: I've heard and I'm gonna butcher it. Shay Gilgeous Alexander
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: is the one like a name of theirs that I've
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: heard before. But yeah, other than that, they just chet Holmgren.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Nobody knows who those guys are and I can't take
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: anything from them. Uh yeah, they they're just they should
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: be the better team in Minnesota at this moment is
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: up by two on them.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: And maybe maybe that's one of the fatal flaws of
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: the NBA is they've become such a like star heavy
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: league that like if Lebron doesn't play for you, if
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Steph Curry doesn't play for you, if Jason Tatum doesn't
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: play for you, if you know fill in the blank
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: with you know, flavor of the week, big time.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Will be playing for anybody for a while.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I know, but he was the first name that can
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah yet no, I get him, Like, but the point
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: stands right, Like, Okay, so he doesn't have any of
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: those big names, Like I don't know any of those
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: guys on that roster, and that could be us not
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: being made my hard basketball fans. Yeah, maybe Jalen Williams
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: is the only name that kind of stands out to
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: me on that roster. But even then, I couldn't tell you, like, oh,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: here's where he went to college, and here are his
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: career stats, and like I just and I don't know
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: enough about basketball.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: They're not really any of that.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: But like I know some stuff about some of those
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: other guys, like I know about Lebron and coming from Akron,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: and I know Steph Curry going to Dayton, and like,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I have a little bit of context
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: with some of those other guys.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: But and I mean the Timberwolves too, They've got a
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: few big names superstars. Anthony Edwards. I feel like we
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: as Minnesota fans just kind of take him for granted as, oh, yeah,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: he's super good, but like he's on our team, Like
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you know other people don't know about him. No,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: he's like one of the superstars of the league. I
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: think he won a gold medal with the NBA Basketball
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: USA Basketball last year. So Rudy Gobert has had a
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: good season.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Mike Conley's he's a veteran player and I think he's
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: like widely respected in the league as one of those
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: guys that just puts his head down and works hard.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Naz Reid six Man of the Year last year, and
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: I think he's in line for it again this year.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: And then two words reed.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: A bunch of other players too for Minnesota, like Dante DiVincenzo,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Luca Garza, I don't think he plays much.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: A former IOWA guy, Luca Garza is the best Luca
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: in the league. And off my Chiff, you have any
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: other opinions.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: About that, And I mean that's not to take anything
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: away from Jade McDaniels, Julius Randall.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Like we get it, Evan. You can read the roster.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: It's okay, I know these names.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Like if I were sitting in a bar talking about
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: the Timberwolves and I didn't have my laptop in front
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: of me, I could tell you their names. And I
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: think that's the point I'm trying to make because I
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: don't know any of the names on the other team.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: So anyways, the NBA, it's not my thing.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I'll never be like all in with the NBA like
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I am with the NFL.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, me too. But go Wolves, Yeah absolutely, go Wolves. Yeah.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: I just I just want to see a Minnesota championship.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: The Timberwolves could win the next twenty NBA championships and
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: I'd be super happy about it, but it would mean
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: nothing to one Viking super Bowl. And you might agree
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: with me on that one too. So all of the
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: other Big four sports, the other three of the Big
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: four sports, could win the next five championships in their
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: sports and I would be cool. It'd be awesome.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: But I can tell you there's a short list of
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: things that I would like take a day off of
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: work for, Like when it comes to like they won
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: the championship. Number one is a Viking super Bowl. Oh,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: I will take that following Monday off.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: I don't care.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: If I'm still in the classroom teaching and I need
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: to write sub plans or whatever, I will do what
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: I need to do. I'm not coming to work that day.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: If You and I basketball ever makes it to the
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: national championship, they would play on a Monday night, because
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: that's when the national Championship is currently played in NCAA basketball.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: I would take that whole day off and probably the
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: next day too, Like that would be another one where
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I was like, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: My alma mater is going to play for a national championship,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: which I don't know that I'll ever have the opportunity
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: to say, but that would be pretty darn Cole.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've been good in other sports too, but I
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: think You and I's got a decent wrestling program too.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: But anyways, I agree with you. I probably wouldn't take
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: the day off for anything You and I related. But
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: if the Vikings ever make it to the Super Bowl,
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: the first the first thing I would do the next
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: workday I have would be to submit for the day
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: after the Super Bowl. And I know that would be
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: like two weeks later, but I don't even I wouldn't
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: even need them to win for me to take the
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: day off. Like the last thing I'd want to do
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: if the Vikings lost to Super Bowl is go to
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: work the next So I promise if the Vikings ever
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: make the super Bowl, I will not be working the
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: next day.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: So this is maybe a good question for our viewers
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: out there. Drop a comment. What would cause you to
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: take a day off of work? What sports related like
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: big monumentous thing would cause you to call into work
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: the following day.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know, man, there's not It's not very
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: hard for me to agree to take a day off
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: of work. But yeah, I agree. Yeah, let us know
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: what a Vikings birth in the Super Bowl be enough
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: for you to take the day off. And I mean
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: that would be for me.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about like automatically, like you you won the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: NFC Championship game, the Vikings are going to the super Bowl,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: not you the Vikings day, but like on that night
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: after the NFC Championship game, you've already submitted your absence
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: or like yep, same for me, like with you and
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I basketball, Like if if they won a Final Four game,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: as soon as that game hit Zeros.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: I'd be.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I'm off of work and I'm like looking for tickets
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: probably like I want to be. I want to be
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: in attendance if I can, like, and if I can't,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go wherever I can to watch the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: game with some of the people that will be on
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: my side and go to Cedar Falls and watch it
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: up there.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that'd be cool. H Yeah, instantly, I will
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: not be working the day after the Vikings ever play
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl, if that ever happens. That's a promise.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: I don't care if I have to take an unpaid
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: day to make that happen. That I won't ever have that,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: but yeah.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Immediately, Well, speaking of the Vikings and getting back to
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: because we really haven't spent a ton of time talking
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: about the Vikings, We've talked about well for the last
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: few minutes, it's been you know, yeah, that's true. That's
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: talked about the Timberwolves, even though we're not a Timberwolves podcast.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: The Vikings full schedule came out, all the NFL schedules
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: came out last week, and we haven't really had a
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: chance to dive deep. I know, in episode eighty nine,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: we spent some time talking about the opponents because at
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: that point we knew who the Vikings would play, we
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: just didn't know when, and we didn't know in which
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: order those games would occur. And now we do, and
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: we've had some interesting developments like two games back to
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: back in weeks four and five in Europe. Week four
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: in Dublin against the Steelers and then Week five in
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: London against the Browns, followed by a Week six by
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: kind of like last last season where they played the
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Jets in London and then had a Week six by
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is true. Like I knew they've played the Jets.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: It just things have melded together for me. They will
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: go abroad now two seasons in a row, let alone
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: back to back weeks in a row. And we kind
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: of did talk about that. Find me what your initial
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: thoughts were when we because it was still kind of
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: rumored in episode eighty nine, it was kind of rumored
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: that this could happen. We kind of talked about it.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: What were your thoughts on if that did happen.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: I didn't think it was a huge deal. Honestly, I
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: felt like I think what I said, and we could
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: go back and fact check this and re listen to
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: the episode, but you're.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Actually no, I'm pretty sure I liked it. I didn't
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: say I liked it. I said it.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: I don't think it'll be a big deal, as what
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: I said, because I think Kevin O'Connell specifically as a
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: head coach, has done a really good job of managing
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: these international road trips really well. And correct me if
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I'm wrong. Has he lost an international game yet?
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: I don't think.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I think we looked that up the last episode two.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I don't think he's lost an international game yet. I
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: could be wrong, But anyways, while you look that up
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: and fact checked that, I think Dublin in London, if
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I know correct, if I know my geography correctly, they're
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: in the same time zone. Obviously they're different locations. Ireland
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: and London are in different countries. But I really don't
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: know that it'll be a huge deal in terms of
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the like, you know, the wear and tear on the players,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the jet lag, the whatever. I don't know how they'll
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: handle that. If they'll like find a central location that's
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: outside of both Dublin and London where they can kind
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: of like set up camp and then they can you know,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: fly or bus to one game and then come back
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: to their camp and then fly or bus to the
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: other one and then come back.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know how they'll do that. Yeah, I feel
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: like that would be smart. Also, they're the away teams,
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: so I know they the home team over there gets
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: like first pick for like hotels and stuff like that.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: I don't know how that would affect, you know, back
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: to back stays, but it would be smart to have
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: like a home base. And I did look it up.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: It looks like Kevin O'Connell is three and ohero in
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: London games, so that's the only place I don't think
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: he's played anywhere else now a head coach. Yeah, and
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: the Vikings and Steelers I'm pretty sure will be the
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: first teams to play in Ireland, right.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that could be right. I also know that the
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Vikings are the first team in NFL history to play
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: two games back to back in separate countries.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, And I really think that's overhyped for what
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: it is because Ireland and London are in the United Kingdom.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: Like, if you want to go that crazy, They're going
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: to play the Bengals in the US Week three and
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: then go to Ireland. And play the Steelers and then
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: go to London and play the Browns. So like three
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: different countries and I know London's the city, but like
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: three different countries in the span of three weeks. Like
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: that's that's wild.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So again I don't know that it'll be super crazy.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: I think KOC manages that really well. I think the
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: staff manages that really well. You know, it will you know,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: probably cause some issues with some players and you know,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: maybe somebody gets sick or somebody struggles to you know,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: adjust to the time change or whatever. And there's always
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: the emotional element too of like oh, you're gone from
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: family and friends and whatnot for a longer period of time.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: But you get the buye after that second game as well,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: which is necessary I think to kind of recover from that.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: So and the other thing that I think is really
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: important with this, and this is what happened last season
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: with the Jets game in London, is it's happening early
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: in the season. It's in the first like quarter of
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the season, so you really, you know, you can recover,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Like if you drop both of those games across the Pond,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: it's not like your season is completely tank. Even if
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: you're like, you know, one in four or you know,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: two and three at that point going into the bye week.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: It's not like, oh, man, well let's tank for a
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: draft pick. You know, JJ McCarthy's not the one. Let's
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: move on. You know, let's be honest. Teams go zero
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: to two and immediately their fans are like, oh, the
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: season's gone, you know, tank for two or whatever fans do, right,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: but not the not the team, right. And I mean
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: we've seen that. We saw that two seasons ago with
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the Vikings, like Kirk Cousins went down JJ, justin Jefferson
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: JJ that is went down and they were still playing
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: for a playoff spot in week seventeen and week eighteen.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: So I think teams are in it until the bitter end,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: until it's like mathematically impossible for them to make the playoffs.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: And I think that's the kind of the beauty of
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: the league too, is really like nobody's really counted out
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: until week twelve, Week thirteen, week fourteen, and that's if
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: you're really bad, and then like if you're in the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: middle of the pack, it's not until you know, fourteen, fifteen,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: sixteen that you're kunted out. And then a lot of
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: teams are still in it until the bitter end week
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: seventeen and eighteen.
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the league has done a good job
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: of adjusting, like divisional games, to make it so that
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: you could still be in it until the long run.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Plus also, if you know a team gets out of
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: it mathematically or close to it, players are still incentivized
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: to play well selfishly because most of them have incentives
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: in their contracts for stats, so they still want to
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: play well. And you know, if a guy needs to
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: rush for one hundred and fifty yards to get to
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: a thousand to give him another million dollar bonus, that
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty yards could help you win again,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: you know. So, But back to the abroad game, because
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: you had a different opinion than I did, and I
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: kind of took over there. No, No, it's fine. I
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: really wasn't for it. I didn't just logistically. I just
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: didn't like it. I still don't. It is what it is.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not mad about anymore. Like we can't, we can't
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: change it. The NFL doesn't care about my opinion. I
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: think ultimately it'll be fun storyline to follow. Yeah, like
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: you said, if they lose both, you know, that's just
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: two games within the first five that they could bounce
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: back from. We'd have the bye week to get that
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: rough taste out of our mouth, and then lo and
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: behold they go and host the reigning Super Bowl champions.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: After that, it's kind of a gauntlet after the.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: It is the four games after that road trip are
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: a total gauntlet because you have the defending Super Bowl
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: champs Eagles at home. Then you travel to LA, which
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: is always kind of a toss up. I said a
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: lot last year like, oh, these these West Coast road
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: trips tend to be bad for the Vikings, And then
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: they went out there and at least in one of
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the games turned out to be pretty good, but then
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: at the end of the season it turned out to
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: be pretty bad.
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: Last year, the Vikings only lost to two teams. One
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: of them they lost too well. Both of them they
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: lost to twice yea, and it was you know, they
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: lost to the Rams both times. One was in LA
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: and then the other one had to be moved to Arizona,
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: but that was still moving to the West Coast timeline,
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: so that's still not easy. So the Vikings have not
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: had a lot of luck recently with going to the
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: West Coast timeline. Yeah, so again my final thoughts on
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: the abroad trip. My biggest thing is if somebody gets
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: hurt and you have to quick bring on a guy
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: to the roster like that, logistically would be a nightmare
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: to try to find a guy that even could physically
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: get to you if he needed to fill a roster spot.
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it'll be okay. Every team has a couple
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: of rough patches in their schedule, and I'm sure if
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: we really analyzed the Vikings schedule long enough, we'd find
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: a couple of seemingly easy patches. It is what it is.
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: You can only play the teams that you're given and
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: it'll be a good season, excited for it. I think
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: that is the rough patch.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: I think the two international games followed by those four
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: games afterwards Philly at LA at Detroit and Baltimore those
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Baltimore at home November ninth, week ten, that kind of
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: ends that long stint. But those six games are those
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: are tough. Yeah, it's tough to play internationally. It's even
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: tougher to play internationally two games in a row. Although
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: I will say last year when the Jaguars, because I
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: think they're the first ones to do it two games
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: in a row. They lost their first game and then
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: won their second game, So I mean it's yeah, and
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: there's just not a big enough sample size to really
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: know like what will happen. And the Vikings will be
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: the first ones to do it in two different countries
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: back to back weeks, so that'll be interesting.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: Three different countries. But then, yeah, you're right, but two
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: different countries on the road. Ye yeah, yeah, I'm being
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: in turn.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: But then to come back and play the Eagles who
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: just won the Super Bowl. Then to go to the
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: West Coast on a Thursday, I didn't play the Chargers.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: Then to go to the Lions who beat you twice
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: last year and made it to the NFC Championship. Then
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: to go to the Baltimore or not go to host
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens who made the AFC Championship. If I'm
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: not mistaken, right this last season I think were they.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Wasn't it the Bills?
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: No, maybe I'm wrong, Yeah, you're right, but they were
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs and they're a really good team. So anyways, regardless, yeah, yeah,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the Ravens are still a good team and a force
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: to be reckoned with on the AFC side.
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, you're right the Bills and the Chiefs. But
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: either way that the Ravens are they've been a tough
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: team ever since Lamar, you know, decided to be actually
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: a decent quarterback, not just a pretty good running back.
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: One sneaky game, I think a lot of people are
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: going to look over and I have a reason for this.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: This isn't just my take that week one game Monday
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: Night Football at Chicago. JJ McCarthy's, you know, unless he
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: gets injured again, first start as an NFL quarterback away
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: a soldier field, And so I'm gonna kind of out
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: myself a little bit of an embarrassing thing that happened
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: last evening I had the I had a great time
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: talking for about forty five minutes with friend of the show,
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Dustin Baker. We talk about him all the time. If
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: we really wanted to go through we probably have a
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: you know, eighty episode streak of mentioning his name, you know,
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. But I talked with Dustin Baker for
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: quite a while. That was supposed to be like a
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: full on most of our episode today. Unfortunately I didn't
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: hit record, so so Dustin and I had a really
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: nice video chat that was just for me and me
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: and Dustin. So, Dustin, I would like to you know
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: I've apologized to you for that mishap privately on the show.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I hope it wasn't as
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: much of a waste of a time as I think
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: it might have been. But I had a lot of
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: fun with talking with Dustin. All that to say, he
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: said a sneaky game and he talked me into believing
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: it too. Is that Chicago Bears game. Soldier Field for
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: the Vikings is always up and down. You never know
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: what's gonna happen. I think one saving grace he did
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: kind of mention in this conversation that nobody will ever
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: hear because it wasn't recorded. He mentioned how the field's
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: always crappy there, which I think for the first game
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: of the season at most, they'll have played what one
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: or two preseason games there before, so I think the
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: field should be okay for Monday Night Football week one.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Unless it's like rained a bunch and then it's a
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: total slaphouse, which was weak one either last year or
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: two years ago, and they were like justin it was
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: two years ago Justin Fields was doing like the slip
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: and slap.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: Against the forty nine ers. Yeah, so I think field
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: conditions on barring weather is going to be should be okay.
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I agree with Dustin that Soldier Field for
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: the Vikings has always been weird. And he mentioned like
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: you could have a year where the Vikings are like
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: the best ever and then they like either or you know,
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: barely win like thirteen to nine against the Bears and
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: Soldier Field, or they get like blown out weirdly, and
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: then on the flip side, the Vikings could be horrible
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: and then they like blow out the Bears in Soldier
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: Field or you know, just barely squeak by. So that's
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: gonna be a weird one. And to have it start
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: off this season like it'll be fun, it'll be nice,
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: but it is kind of weird.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: On air production meeting real quick, it's the red button
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: that I hit for recording, right.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: No, that's not what I'm gonna talk about.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: The Vikings are one to know when you and I
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: have attended a game at Soldier Field, we should maybe
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: pencil that one in as a game to possibly look into.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: We can look into it. But Monday night to start
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: the season in Soldier Field. That won't be a cheap game.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you that you're probably not lying. Ben Johnson's
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: debut as an NFL head coach, that'll probably be a
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: pricey ticket. But I'm okay with with looking into it.
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: We'll look into it.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Well, we don't have to commit to anything right now,
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: but we should pencil that one in.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: That'd be a lot of fun. That's something I would
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: take a day off of work for, Okay, for sure. Okay, Well,
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: Soldierfield I think is the closest to US NFL stadiographically. Yes,
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: we can get there in about three hours, oh easily.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: With him, we could work Monday, make it there for
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: the game, and then we'd have to take Tuesday off. Yeah.
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think that that Bears game will be
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: kind of weird this whole season. So one thing, Dustin,
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of finished our unrecorded conversation asking me
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: is he brought up how specifically myself I was pretty
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: high on the Vikings this time last year, saying like, Yeah,
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: Sam Darnold, he's got something, koc He's turning into a
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: QB whisper. He's definitely solidified himself as that now but
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: this time last year he was kind of like, ah,
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: we can do it. Look what he did with Josh Jobs.
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: So Dustin brought up how I was pretty high on
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: the Vikings to the point that he said when he
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: like logged off of joining us one time before the season,
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: I said, oh, twelve wins for the Vikings this year,
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: he logged off and was like, man, that awesome guy.
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: He's kind of crazy. But he asked me how am
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: I feeling about the Vikings right now? And I'm gonna
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: ask you that, how are you feeling about the Vikings
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: right now? You don't have to. You can say like
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: a win total, but we won't commit to it. We'll
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: have our episode where we do that. I'll give you
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: a rough wind total. I'm not going to commit to
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: a win total right now. We'll do our pick up
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: episodes like we always do, probably July ish, that's typically
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: when we've done that the last couple of years.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm very optimistic about the Vikings. Honestly more optimistic
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: now than I was at this point last year going
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: in with Sam Darnold and.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: Whatnot. So to put a wind total on it, I
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: can't do that.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: No.
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And if you said a win number right now,
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: nobody can hold you to it.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: I think one of the things I remember talking about
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: two weeks ago was this whole strength to schedule, like
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: who's got the toughest and who's got the easiest schedule
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: in the in the league. And the Vikings have one
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: of the tougher schedules. But I looked at that a
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: little more carefully, and guess who else has some of
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: the toughest schedules the rest of the NFC The rest
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: of the NFC North. The NFC North was one of
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: the toughest divisions, and we have to play all of
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: those teams twice every year. It's a given, it's a
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: built in part of that schedule. So I think the
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: NFC North continues to be this like black and blue division.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: It's been known to be that for a long time, honestly, Like,
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: you know, during a lot of our like growing up
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: and kind of even into like high school and college
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: and early adulthood for us, like, it was pretty clear,
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: like the Vikings were pretty good, the Packers were pretty
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: good there for a while, Aaron Rodgers unfortunately dominated for
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: a while, and then you know, the Bears had a
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: season or two.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: They went to a super Bowl super Bowl at one point.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: But like the Bears and the Lions have always been
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: kind of, you know, second rate, and the Vikings and
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: the Packers have always been up at the top. I
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: think what we saw last year will be similar this year. Yeah,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: at least at the beginning of the season. And I
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: don't disagree with you that that first game at Chicago
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: Monday night football Week one.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: Will be tough. I think it'll just be weird. Whether
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: it's it could be like one of those where I
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: don't mean to overtake this, but it could be one
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: of those where like the team who wins technically like
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: dominated and got like five hundred more yards than the
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: other team, but only one by like two. It could
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: be a weird game where it could.
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: Be like that Raiders game a couple of years ago
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: the Vikings won three nothing like. It could be something
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: like that. Like, it could be the conditions could be
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: terrible in Chicago.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: It could be windy.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: They had that one game that was like forty five
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: mile an hour wins with sixty mile an hour gusts
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: and like field goals were going like you know whatever.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: So anyways, I'm really optimistic I'm high.
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: On the Vikings right now.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know really any fans out there that aren't
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: high on the Vikings. I think you've made some good
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: points in some of our recent episodes about the Lions
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: and how they're going to struggle this year. Their coordinators
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: are gone, and Dan Campbell is not the same coach
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: without those two guys coordinating the offense and the defense
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: the way that they have. And I don't think the
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: guys that they've replaced those two with will be as
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: good as the two guys that are gone. So I'm
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: gonna say it now. I think the Vikings are a
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: playoff team. I think that's I think I can confidently
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: say that. I think they make the playoffs. I think
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: they made the playoffs last year. Unfortunately, they didn't do
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: anything in the playoffs, but they made the playoffs last year,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: and I think we expected more out of them in
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. I remember sitting here talking about like, oh,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: they moved that game from La to Arizona because of
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: the wildfires. This is huge for the Vikings. It's basically
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: a home game. Now that wasn't the case.
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they got embarrassed. But I don't know.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: I think the Vikings make the playoffs. Where they go
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: from there, I don't know, yeah, but I think they
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs. I'm comfortable saying that right now.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: So I'll just say I'll bury the lead here. I
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: agree with you. I think they make the playoffs. My
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: answer to Dustin was probably better than I'll say it now,
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: because you know, it's always better the first time you
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: say something, even though you didn't record it. I told Dustin,
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: like it's I feel it's hard to feel less excited
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: about the Vikings now than I felt last year. The
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: biggest hinge point is JJ McCarthy barring injury, because any
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: you know, if three key guys on the Vikings get injured,
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: there's your season anyways, including JJ McCarthy. But if everybody's
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: healthy and plays as expected, I think JJ McCarthy is
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: the only question mark. Like, yes, we were all excited
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: for him, and you got guys like Thorne Eystrom who
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: like basically have tattooed JJ's name to his face because
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: he's so excited about him. But like the reality is,
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: we don't know. He was successful in college with a
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: good coach and a great team, and he's only ever
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: been successful. But we have no idea how he's going
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: to be in the NFL. I believe in him. I
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: think you believe in him. Any actual Vikings fan should
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: believe in JJ mccarthur. We have no reason not to.
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: If nothing else for, Kevin O'Connell should be able to
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: squeeze all the juice out of JJ McCarthy that we need.
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: So yes, I feel as optimistic about the Vikings now
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: as I did a year ago, and I ultimately predicted
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: twelve wins. I'll follow your lead. I won't say a
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: win total, because there is a couple of gallets in
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: here and you never know, but I will say playoffs
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: are definitely in hand. I'd be extremely disappointed no matter
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: how JJ McCarthy plays this year. I'd be disappointed if
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: the team misses the playoffs. And I get the sense
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: from my unrecorded conversation with Dustin that he feels the
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: same way. And his big thing was the defense. Dustin said,
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: you know, if the Vikings defense they were elite last year,
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: and if they're half as good as they were last
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: year in twenty twenty five, that means they're gonna be
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: like the eighth or ninth overall defense. They won't be
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: like bottom of the league defense. Having an eighth or
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: ninth overall defense is almost enough to get you to
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: the playoffs anyways, because then you just need the offense
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: to get out of the way and score a few
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: field goals if you have a defense that won't let
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: other teams score. So I feel like Dustin Baker's optimism
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: right now is coming mostly from the defense, and then
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: Kevin O'Connell's ability to squeeze everything out of JJ that
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: he needs to. And I'm right there with him.
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: And I think I would add to that, yes, to
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: all of that. And additionally, the health and the effectiveness
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: of the offensive line. Oh yeah, obviously that line has
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: almost completely flipped over with only you know, a few
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: players coming back and Christian darrisaw, we don't really know.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know that we have a timeline on his return.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: I think we're all kind of, maybe, you know, optimistically,
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: hoping he comes back in October, but it could be November.
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: You know, you just don't know.
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: But all of that aside, you've made some key additions
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: on that offensive line. You have a new center, you've
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: got a new guard guard two new guards excuse me,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: and a new kind of.
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: Guard tackle, right, So that's what I'm saying, two new guards.
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: I think you're referencing Donovan Jackson, the first round pick.
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: He is like a guard tackle. He may end up
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: starting games at tackle depending on how Darrisaw is doing.
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I think getting to your point,
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: the Vikings offensive line is going to have at least
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: three new full time starters in twenty twenty five as
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: opposed to twenty twenty four.
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: And I think it's going to be their health and
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: their effectiveness that will be key.
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: Yep, because we've seen that.
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: You know, we've been doing this podcast for a little
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: over two years now, and like we've constantly complained about
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: well Ed Ingram kept stepping on Kirk Cousins toes and man,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: Garrett Bradberry was just undersized and he just got bolded over.
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: We're Bradbury fans, but yeah, yeah, but like like those
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: were legitimate concerns, and I would say we were fans
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: of Ed Ingram too, Like sure, whoever the coach has
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: decided to put out there, we're gonna support, and like
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: I would where their jersey if I went to a game,
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: for sure, one hundred percent. But it's hard to ignore
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: those issues, and you know, so that's why I say,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: like Quac and KOs made a concerted effort to go
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: after that position group in particular in free agency in
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: the draft, and that's going to be the proof in
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: the pudding, I think, right like, yeah, absolutely, can they
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: stay healthy? Number one, because they need to in order
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: to be effective? And then too, can they be effective
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: on the field? Can they actually you know, do the
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: job better than the guys that came before him? I
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: think if that's the case, if they can stay healthy
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: and they can be effective, you told me this.
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: Is what Dustin said.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: I wasn't there, and I'm not trying to steal his words,
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: but I think that's the caveat that leads to this
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: uh dustin ism that I'll play off of a little
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: bit that JJ doesn't have to be Patrick mahone. Yeah,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be Lamar Jackson. He just has
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: to be decent. Yeah right, he just has to stand there,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: manage the game and get the ball in the right
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: hands and the line and those other skill players will
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: take care of the rest.
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: Absolutely for sure. And a part of that, I do
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: feel like an idiot for not recording this. My conversation
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: with Dustin Propperly. It really was a good time hanging
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: out with him. But I want to make sure listeners
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: watchers please go check out all of Dustin's socials. I
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: think he's at dust Baker on Twitter. He's definitely at
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: Vikings Territory dot com. Vikings Territory dot com might be
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: the skull Hoops main It's one of my top knowledge
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: bases of Vikings knowledge. You check out all this stuff.
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: We'll try to link his stuff below. Dustin again, I'm
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: sorry for messing that up, but we will have him on.
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: He did before he realized I didn't hit record. He
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: did mention we should have him on here in the
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: next three, four or five weeks sometime soon. But yeah,
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: definitely check out all this stuff. You will enjoy it
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: if you're a Vikings fan, Yeah, for sure.
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: And I would say even an NFL fan that just
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: is curious about what's going on with the Vikings because
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: his stuff is very Viking centric. But he does a
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: good job of, you know, understanding everything that happens in
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: the league as well, So definitely check him out for sure.
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: Would you recommend people check out this beer?
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: A thousand percent the more I have it, so my
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: first couple of SIPs I enjoyed it. But it definitely
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: I think you said it a very pronounced amber flavor,
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: very strong amber flavor. The more I'm getting into it,
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: the less like heavy hitting that is, and the more
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: well rounded this beer is. It's a good amber flavor.
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: I'm noticing the hint of happiness. But if you hate
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: happiness and like ambers, this is still good beer for you.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: I like it a lot. I wish we had two, three, four,
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: five more because it's a really good one, just like
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: all of Adventurous is beer. I think, man, we are
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: so lucky around here to have some solid beer. We've
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: got some really good beer, not just in Iowa, but
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: like even specifically in like our immediate area and then
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: of course in Iowa too. But yeah, Adventurous, they haven't
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: missed for me.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: Nope, agreed for sure. Well, it's hard to beat a
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: good beer. It's hard to be a good conversation about
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: the Vikings.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe the best episode yet, maybe school cool.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah there
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 3: Therefore m