Latest / The 3Ts: Tables, Tailgates, and Toploaders / The Cook Is Back In The Kitchen
Transcript
- WEBVTT 00:00:11.210 --> 00:00:13.750 what's up friends welcome into another episode 00:00:13.750 --> 00:00:16.469 of tables tailgates and top loaders so happy 00:00:16.469 --> 00:00:19.489 to have you all aboard for this episode i'm your 00:00:19.489 --> 00:00:22.289 host tb thank you all for stopping in and checking 00:00:22.289 --> 00:00:25.149 out the three t's podcast now first and foremost 00:00:25.149 --> 00:00:29.670 i want to say i'm sorry i missed last week's 00:00:29.670 --> 00:00:33.909 podcast uh sometimes life just uh gets in the 00:00:33.909 --> 00:00:38.229 way full disclosure i had every intent on trying 00:00:38.229 --> 00:00:40.890 to squeeze in a podcast but too much was going 00:00:40.890 --> 00:00:44.539 on my son actually joined the Navy. I had to 00:00:44.539 --> 00:00:47.100 send him off to boot camp and then immediately 00:00:47.100 --> 00:00:50.299 upon him getting sworn in, I then had to hop 00:00:50.299 --> 00:00:53.780 in the car and drive, what was it, 12 hours down 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:56.759 to Florida and be with my mom who was having 00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:59.119 open heart surgery. So I was there for about 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:01.960 eight days and then I just didn't get a chance 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:05.099 to do the podcast. So many apologies. Hope you 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:07.340 can forgive me, but here we are. We are back 00:01:07.340 --> 00:01:11.099 better than ever, ready to dive right back in 00:01:11.099 --> 00:01:14.439 and I can't wait. to see where this pod goes 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:17.379 so we're going to start with bills mafia you 00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:20.319 are on the clock how the heck are we feeling 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:23.640 first and foremost congratulations everyone we 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:26.640 have signed our number one running back james 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:31.159 cook signed a contract and this has taken bills 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:34.200 mafia by storm i have heard every side of this 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:36.680 argument. Some are in love with this deal, some 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:40.599 think it's fine, and some absolutely hate it. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:42.340 You know, when I'm in the car and I'm driving 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:45.219 for literally 24 hours over the course of two 00:01:45.219 --> 00:01:48.359 days, had a lot of time to check out some opinions 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:50.819 and listen to different podcasts and hear different 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:53.719 opinions, and it's all over the map. Like I said, 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:56.920 some people think it's a fine deal and others 00:01:56.920 --> 00:01:59.680 are literally going crazy. I'm hearing local 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:03.310 sports podcasters or local sports Buffalo sports 00:02:03.310 --> 00:02:06.269 casters, people that I've listened to for years, 00:02:06.310 --> 00:02:09.569 just tear into this deal, tear into this deal, 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:11.810 basically saying, how could they do this? This 00:02:11.810 --> 00:02:13.569 is crazy. Why would they ever spend this kind 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:16.330 of money? And I'm trying to be objective about 00:02:16.330 --> 00:02:17.990 the whole thing. I'm trying to really look at 00:02:17.990 --> 00:02:20.509 this deal from both sides. Number one, do I want 00:02:20.509 --> 00:02:22.750 the player? Yes, I do. I want the player. I think 00:02:22.750 --> 00:02:26.270 James Cook makes this team so much better. And 00:02:26.270 --> 00:02:30.409 I think we underestimate how good he is for this 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:32.370 team. Now, if he goes and plays for a different 00:02:32.370 --> 00:02:34.629 team, do I think he's as good? I'm not sure. 00:02:34.729 --> 00:02:37.430 But you put him on this team with our offensive 00:02:37.430 --> 00:02:39.990 line and the way they've gelled over the last 00:02:39.990 --> 00:02:43.069 two seasons. Now, his rookie year, he didn't 00:02:43.069 --> 00:02:45.569 really have a full workload of playing time. 00:02:45.629 --> 00:02:47.729 But obviously, the last two years, he's been 00:02:47.729 --> 00:02:50.889 the guy. Now, we do have a running back committee. 00:02:51.370 --> 00:02:53.889 But when all is said and done, he's the number 00:02:53.889 --> 00:02:57.150 one guy. And he's really blossomed. He's a very 00:02:57.150 --> 00:03:01.159 patient but explosive runner. He is by far one 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:03.500 of the top outside of Josh Allen. He's by far 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:07.060 one of our top two offensive weapons. The guy 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:10.159 is fast. He's quick. He's elusive. I think he 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:13.460 fits perfectly with our offensive line. And so 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:16.699 I just don't get the hatred of this deal. It 00:03:16.699 --> 00:03:19.080 doesn't really make sense to me. I get the money 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:21.020 and we're going to talk about that in a minute. 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:23.599 But the overall hatred saying the bills were 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:25.580 stupid and all this stuff, and we can literally 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:28.280 just go plug in any other running back and we'll 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:30.379 be just fine just because we have Josh Allen. 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:33.740 I don't know if that's true. I get Josh Allen 00:03:33.740 --> 00:03:36.560 makes up for a lot of our flaws, a lot of our 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.860 weaknesses, but I'm thinking about this deal. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:40.659 I'm looking at the numbers. Now, obviously the 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:43.439 deal came out, it was four for 48, but if you 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.020 break down the deal, which we're going to look 00:03:45.020 --> 00:03:47.979 into in a minute, it's a little different than 00:03:47.979 --> 00:03:50.520 that. So what I was thinking about is, okay, 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:53.409 if... If we're not going to pay James Cook this 00:03:53.409 --> 00:03:55.310 money and we're just going to think we can get 00:03:55.310 --> 00:03:58.870 by with plugging and playing in the next whoever 00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:02.189 we draft in addition to Ray Davis and Ty Johnson, 00:04:02.370 --> 00:04:05.389 do I think we're going to be as explosive as 00:04:05.389 --> 00:04:08.009 we are with Cook on the field? I think the answer 00:04:08.009 --> 00:04:10.909 is no. And so do we save that money? And people 00:04:10.909 --> 00:04:12.689 are like, well, we could be spending that money 00:04:12.689 --> 00:04:14.870 on fill in the blank. And I'm like, okay, but 00:04:14.870 --> 00:04:18.370 who? Who are we getting? We've already seen that 00:04:18.370 --> 00:04:21.360 I don't see this team. going out and spending 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.660 the money on a number one ride receiver, a true 00:04:23.660 --> 00:04:26.139 number one. I don't see that happening in the 00:04:26.139 --> 00:04:28.319 next few years. When you're paying your quarterback 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:30.819 $55 million, are you really going to sign up 00:04:30.819 --> 00:04:34.079 and pay a number one ride receiver $30 to $40, 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.680 $45 million a year? Plus, who are you going to 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:39.939 go get? I really don't think there's a whole 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:42.319 lot of number ones that are out there on the 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:46.060 market. I think it was important for Bean and 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:48.139 McDermott to solidify the core of this team. 00:04:48.579 --> 00:04:51.819 We've seen that. happen over the the offseason 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:55.540 right shoring up a good young core of this team 00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:59.240 to go along with josh and it's clear that they 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:01.699 are planting their flag this is the group they 00:05:01.699 --> 00:05:04.959 want moving forward and james cook is part of 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:07.639 this deal but the hatred i was just like what 00:05:07.639 --> 00:05:09.819 are you all talking about number one it's not 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:13.389 your money okay Well, I know we did a podcast 00:05:13.389 --> 00:05:16.370 earlier with the crowdsource tag and obviously 00:05:16.370 --> 00:05:19.589 the commission never, never called me. He never 00:05:19.589 --> 00:05:22.790 asked me my details on that. So that's not being 00:05:22.790 --> 00:05:25.649 implemented anytime soon. But at the end of the 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:28.250 day, this is not my money. It's not your money. 00:05:28.430 --> 00:05:31.889 And the salary cap, the cap that the team has 00:05:31.889 --> 00:05:34.230 each and every year, obviously it goes up, but 00:05:34.230 --> 00:05:37.100 the salary cap. While we want to believe it's 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:39.920 real, it kind of is real. It sometimes is real, 00:05:40.019 --> 00:05:42.399 but yet not really. So it's always getting manipulated 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:45.480 and massaged and all kinds of craziness. And 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:46.980 so at the end of the day, it's not my money. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:49.160 So why am I going to get so bent out of shape? 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:51.519 At the end of the day, we re -signed a really, 00:05:51.579 --> 00:05:54.120 really good running back. And that's what we 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.240 need on the team. We need really good players. 00:05:56.379 --> 00:05:58.939 So for people to lose their minds and say, we 00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:00.779 shouldn't pay this. We should save this money 00:06:00.779 --> 00:06:04.000 for Conor McGovern. And I'm like, okay, we're 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.899 already talking. talking about re -signing Connor 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:09.459 McGovern. He's a center, by the way, a center. 00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:12.420 Or, you know, paying one of our guards. And I'm 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:14.160 like, yeah, those positions are important. I 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:16.000 just got done telling you we have a really offensive, 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:18.560 a really great offensive line. And I think they 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.579 work beautifully in conjunction with Cook. And 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:24.220 I think that's where this deal is really, really 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:26.560 blossoms, right? Cook in conjunction with this 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:29.639 line is great. They're great. They play well 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:32.209 together. They, they read well together. Like, 00:06:32.269 --> 00:06:34.370 I just think it's a perfect combination. Yeah. 00:06:34.449 --> 00:06:36.930 I just, I don't, I don't get the hatred folks. 00:06:37.089 --> 00:06:39.089 I don't, I don't understand it, but if you want 00:06:39.089 --> 00:06:41.069 to complain and say, oh, we shouldn't assign 00:06:41.069 --> 00:06:43.990 them and we'll let them play out. But the other 00:06:43.990 --> 00:06:46.430 thing is this, we have the opportunity to win 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:49.170 a super bowl. Do we really want team distractions 00:06:49.170 --> 00:06:52.110 through the year? Do we really want it? And being 00:06:52.110 --> 00:06:54.430 even said this, like he came out after the deal 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:56.189 was done. He's like, I really needed to get this 00:06:56.189 --> 00:06:58.509 deal done because just like I said, he didn't 00:06:58.509 --> 00:07:00.769 want distractions on his team. And I think that 00:07:00.769 --> 00:07:02.529 that's super important. So what is that worth 00:07:02.529 --> 00:07:05.230 to you? What is that worth? Knowing it is all 00:07:05.230 --> 00:07:08.009 systems go. Your foot is on the gas. We are. 00:07:08.670 --> 00:07:12.230 On a collision course with the playoffs and potentially 00:07:12.230 --> 00:07:15.870 a Super Bowl appearance. And you get everybody 00:07:15.870 --> 00:07:18.250 in line. Everyone's on the same page. Everyone's 00:07:18.250 --> 00:07:20.569 moving forward. I don't want to talk about the 00:07:20.569 --> 00:07:23.209 guard or the center a year or two from now. And 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:25.670 we should have saved that money. No. Put the 00:07:25.670 --> 00:07:28.410 best product on the field right now and roll 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:31.149 the dice. And this is what we got. Justin Jefferson 00:07:31.149 --> 00:07:34.230 isn't lining up outside Orchard Park. waiting 00:07:34.230 --> 00:07:36.829 to throw the Bills uniform on. It's just not 00:07:36.829 --> 00:07:39.529 happening. Jamar Chase is not coming here. So 00:07:39.529 --> 00:07:42.069 what are we talking about? You pay the players 00:07:42.069 --> 00:07:44.310 who are available to you at the time. James Cook 00:07:44.310 --> 00:07:47.730 is a great player. He helps this team and he's 00:07:47.730 --> 00:07:50.110 available at this time and it's a right fit for 00:07:50.110 --> 00:07:52.250 the team. So I think it's a win -win. But what 00:07:52.250 --> 00:07:54.470 I wanted to do, because people are so bent out 00:07:54.470 --> 00:07:57.029 of shape over this deal, was go back through 00:07:57.029 --> 00:08:00.069 the last 15 years of running backs that the Bills 00:08:00.069 --> 00:08:02.350 have put on the field. Really look at the running 00:08:02.350 --> 00:08:04.769 backs. And what I did was I looked up every single 00:08:04.769 --> 00:08:07.610 contract for every running back that the Bills 00:08:07.610 --> 00:08:10.149 have had in the last 15 years. And I kind of 00:08:10.149 --> 00:08:12.949 did a real quick total. And I came up with how 00:08:12.949 --> 00:08:16.149 much. On average, we're spending per year since 00:08:16.149 --> 00:08:19.350 2010. So I thought it'd be a fun exercise. Let's 00:08:19.350 --> 00:08:20.970 go back and see how much we're paying these guys 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:23.990 in the last 15 years and see if it makes sense. 00:08:24.110 --> 00:08:27.110 So we start all the way back in 2010. Now, who 00:08:27.110 --> 00:08:29.529 are the running backs at that point? Your top 00:08:29.529 --> 00:08:31.970 two running backs are Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller. 00:08:32.090 --> 00:08:35.649 2010, those two salaries combined for about $7 00:08:35.649 --> 00:08:38.389 million. Now, that's 15 years ago. We're paying 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:40.950 two running backs a total of $7 million. Anybody 00:08:40.950 --> 00:08:43.470 wanna remember what our record was at that time? 00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:46.549 Well, I will tell you. We won four games, four 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:48.830 and 12. So great season, right? Seven million 00:08:48.830 --> 00:08:50.690 for the running backs and we were four and 12. 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:53.629 Fast forward to the next year, 2011, same two 00:08:53.629 --> 00:08:56.190 guys. Actually, we had the same two guys for 00:08:56.190 --> 00:08:58.970 five straight years. 2011, we also paid them 00:08:58.970 --> 00:09:01.970 seven million and we won six games. So six and 00:09:01.970 --> 00:09:05.129 10. And we repeated this in 2012 and we repeated 00:09:05.129 --> 00:09:08.840 this in 2013. However, we paid. The same two 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:11.639 guys, Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller, their totals 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:15.220 between the two of them, 9 .5 million. 9 .5 million 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:19.039 in 2012, 9 .5 million in 2013, and 9 .5 million 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:22.580 in 2014. And what were our win totals? Six, six, 00:09:22.620 --> 00:09:24.500 and nine. So there you have it. For the five 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:26.659 years we had Fred and CJ, we won four games, 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.279 six games, six games, six games, and nine games. 00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:33.840 And we were paying 7, 7, 9 .5, 9 .5, and 9 .5. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:36.639 That's a lot of money. $9 .5 million back in 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:41.379 2012. You're telling me that who was going crazy 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:43.720 over those contracts back then when we were winning 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:46.059 six games? Now, I know you're going to tell me, 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:48.100 yeah, but we weren't paying Josh Allen $55 million. 00:09:48.299 --> 00:09:50.559 Okay, great. But you still have to put your money 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:53.559 somewhere. So then we go to 2015 and LaShawn 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:55.840 McCoy is the main guy. He's brought in here. 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:58.860 And we pay him a lot. So between him and the 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:00.759 second running back on the team, now what I did, 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:02.759 I looked up the roster, and I just looked to 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:04.759 see who the top two running backs were on the 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:07.299 team as far as games played, who's the second 00:10:07.299 --> 00:10:09.159 guy. It's clear LaShawn McCoy is the workhorse 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:11.580 at this point, and he will be for four seasons. 00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:15.600 But I always wanted to pair the starter up with 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:17.740 the second guy and just see where we're at. So 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:20.799 McCoy, and if you remember, Carlos Williams, 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:24.830 he was on the team. So McCoy and Williams. Together, 00:10:24.909 --> 00:10:28.769 we paid them $8 .6 million. $8 .6 million. Now, 00:10:28.809 --> 00:10:31.529 LaShawn McCoy played 12 games in this season. 00:10:31.830 --> 00:10:34.730 And total yards from scrimmage, 1187. How many 00:10:34.730 --> 00:10:37.330 games did we win? Oh, we won eight. We were 500, 00:10:37.529 --> 00:10:39.830 eight and eight. Is that great? No, but that's 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:43.470 still $8 .6 million back in 2015. That seems 00:10:43.470 --> 00:10:46.809 like a lot of money. Next season, we had Sean 00:10:46.809 --> 00:10:49.350 McCoy again, and he was partnered with Jonathan 00:10:49.350 --> 00:10:52.169 Williams. Again, roughly between the two of them, 00:10:52.230 --> 00:10:54.909 their contract was about 8 .6 million. Most of 00:10:54.909 --> 00:10:57.950 this, obviously, was McCoy's deal. McCoy, at 00:10:57.950 --> 00:11:00.049 the time, he signed, if you remember this, he 00:11:00.049 --> 00:11:03.009 signed a five -year deal worth $40 million. So 00:11:03.009 --> 00:11:05.769 five for 40, roughly eight mil per year. And 00:11:05.769 --> 00:11:08.490 then Jonathan Williams was right around like 00:11:08.490 --> 00:11:11.350 600K, I believe his deal was. But McCoy this 00:11:11.350 --> 00:11:14.450 year. He finished with 1 ,623 yards from scrimmage. 00:11:14.529 --> 00:11:16.190 So that's a pretty good season for your starting 00:11:16.190 --> 00:11:17.929 running back. But how many games did we win? 00:11:18.070 --> 00:11:21.309 Oh, we won seven. Seven and nine. We finished 00:11:21.309 --> 00:11:24.289 seven and nine. So we go to the next year. McCoy 00:11:24.289 --> 00:11:27.210 again. And this time we tag him up with Mike 00:11:27.210 --> 00:11:29.610 Tolbert. Does anyone remember Mike Tolbert? Well, 00:11:29.649 --> 00:11:31.649 he made a little more money. So the two of them 00:11:31.649 --> 00:11:35.429 combined were making $8 million. Or I'm sorry. 00:11:35.549 --> 00:11:37.490 The two of them combined, Tolbert and McCoy, 00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:40.750 were making $9 million. Now McCoy. Had a great 00:11:40.750 --> 00:11:43.669 season, finished with 1 ,586 yards from scrimmage. 00:11:43.889 --> 00:11:46.870 And how many games did we win? We won nine games. 00:11:46.970 --> 00:11:49.950 Nine games. This is the year we break the drought. 00:11:50.090 --> 00:11:52.889 And then the next season, McCoy, he's always 00:11:52.889 --> 00:11:56.370 getting a new running mate. This year we pair 00:11:56.370 --> 00:11:59.139 him up with Chris Ivory, who came in. making 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:01.539 more than the previous three. And so those two 00:12:01.539 --> 00:12:04.559 combined, we're paying them $10 .75 million. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:08.039 $10 .75 million. Now this was McCoy's worst season. 00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:10.860 He only finished with 752 yards from scrimmage, 00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:14.299 and we won a whopping six games. But $10 .75 00:12:14.299 --> 00:12:16.940 million we're spending on the running back position 00:12:16.940 --> 00:12:19.860 in this season, and I don't recall anyone going 00:12:19.860 --> 00:12:23.440 crazy over the contracts then. And then the next 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.559 season, this is where we start to get, we go 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:28.590 through the... the cheap period of our running 00:12:28.590 --> 00:12:32.980 back by committee approach. We have. Devin Singletary, 00:12:33.059 --> 00:12:34.799 now he's a rookie at the time, and we pair him 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.480 with good old workhorse Frank Gore. Now between 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:39.759 Devin and Gore, we're paying them $3 million, 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.860 and we win 10 games. That's pretty good, I guess. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:45.580 If we're going to say, oh, this is what it takes, 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:47.480 don't pay your running backs, so $3 million, 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:49.919 and you get 10 wins out of it. The next season, 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:52.720 we get Devin and Zach Moss as primarily running 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.259 back two. We're paying those two guys $2 .2 million, 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:58.059 and we manage to win 13 games. So that's really 00:12:58.059 --> 00:13:00.070 good. Then the following year, we have Devin. 00:13:00.129 --> 00:13:03.149 We have Zach again. Now he was dealing with injuries. 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:05.429 So we throw in, I just threw in Tyjuan Jones 00:13:05.429 --> 00:13:09.769 to round out the RB room. We're paying those 00:13:09.769 --> 00:13:12.929 guys $4 million and we win 11 games. Now this 00:13:12.929 --> 00:13:15.690 brings us up to the beginning of James Cook's 00:13:15.690 --> 00:13:19.330 career. So 2022, James Cook's a rookie. We pair 00:13:19.330 --> 00:13:22.820 him. with Devin Singletary, obviously. Now James 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:25.440 Cook is on his rookie deal. So between Devin 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:29.559 and Cook, we're paying them $4 million. And 2022, 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:33.759 we win 13 games. James Cook, obviously he's kind 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:36.679 of the backup, but he rushes or he collects 687 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:39.600 yards from scrimmage. Flash forward to 2023, 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.720 Devin's gone. He goes and signs with Houston, 00:13:42.860 --> 00:13:45.600 I believe. And now we pair James Cook with good 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:47.779 old Latavius Murray. And we're paying these two 00:13:47.779 --> 00:13:50.340 guys $3 million a year. Now James Cook really 00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:53.440 takes off here, and he finishes with 1 ,567 yards 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:56.100 from scrimmage. And everyone goes crazy because 00:13:56.100 --> 00:13:57.840 he doesn't score any touchdowns. I think he had 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.799 two rushing, four receiving, so six TDs. And 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:04.000 we win 11 games. And then obviously last year, 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:07.909 so the third year of Cook's rookie deal. We pair 00:14:07.909 --> 00:14:10.309 him with Ray Davis, who we drafted, and Ty Johnson, 00:14:10.529 --> 00:14:12.070 who's a free agent. We're paying the running 00:14:12.070 --> 00:14:15.289 back room right around $4 million. Cook amasses 00:14:15.289 --> 00:14:19.590 1267 yards from scrimmage, and his TDs go through 00:14:19.590 --> 00:14:21.470 the roof. And everyone's like, oh, my God, it's 00:14:21.470 --> 00:14:23.549 amazing. And we're paying him. He's still on 00:14:23.549 --> 00:14:25.610 his rookie deal, third year of his rookie deal. 00:14:25.690 --> 00:14:27.850 Now, the touchdowns are going to fluctuate. So 00:14:27.850 --> 00:14:31.409 I don't want to hear, well, in 2023, he was terrible. 00:14:31.490 --> 00:14:33.970 In 2024, he was amazing. Like, they're going 00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:36.590 to even out. And sometimes that's just luck. 00:14:36.990 --> 00:14:40.330 And of course, last year, we do great. We win 00:14:40.330 --> 00:14:42.889 13 games. Look, that brings us up to the present 00:14:42.889 --> 00:14:45.929 day and James Cook's new deal. And what are the 00:14:45.929 --> 00:14:48.769 details of his current deal? Well, it came out 00:14:48.769 --> 00:14:51.929 four for 48, and it's an extension. He still 00:14:51.929 --> 00:14:54.889 is playing on that rookie deal. And so next year, 00:14:54.970 --> 00:14:57.950 we're paying James Cook. He gets a 1 .2 base 00:14:57.950 --> 00:15:01.289 salary. 1 .28, great. I mean, we'll sign up for 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:03.330 that all day. And the rest of the guys, Ray Davis, 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:06.740 Ty Johnson, they're making 2 .5. Right there, 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:09.179 we're paying them almost $5 million, so just 00:15:09.179 --> 00:15:12.840 under $5, $4 .75 million. The problem is we're 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:16.399 going to add a $9 million signing bonus for the 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:18.919 James Cook contract, which brings the room up 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:22.940 to $13 .75 million for 2025 season. Let's look 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:25.820 at that. You compare that to 2018 where we're 00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:28.360 paying McCoy and Chris Ivory almost 11 million. 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:32.399 Are you telling me that 13 .75, seven years later, 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:34.700 is that much different with the cap and inflation 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:37.059 and all that stuff than we were paying in 2018? 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:40.019 Almost 11 million for McCoy and Chris Ivory? 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.840 I just don't understand what we're talking about 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:45.299 here. And yes, it's a lot of money, but also 00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:47.419 the cap keeps going up. These teams are making 00:15:47.419 --> 00:15:49.799 more and more money. The league is just raking 00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:54.220 in money hand over fist. need to take a deep 00:15:54.220 --> 00:15:56.360 breath and just think about the product on the 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:58.899 field. I have no issue paying him this money 00:15:58.899 --> 00:16:01.740 because he's a good player and it keeps the team 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.059 together. Like I said, the offensive line is 00:16:04.059 --> 00:16:06.519 intact and I think good things are ahead for 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:09.379 the 2025 Buffalo Bills. I'm excited. Happy to 00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:11.440 see Jimbo. The one thing I don't want to hear 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.360 from good old play -by -play announcer Chris 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:16.320 Brown all year is, the cook is in the kitchen. 00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:18.360 I got so tired of that after the first game, 00:16:18.419 --> 00:16:21.100 but needless to say, it is what it is. I'm excited 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:23.269 to have him back. And there you go. So I just 00:16:23.269 --> 00:16:25.769 wanted to do a little exercise with that. I thought 00:16:25.769 --> 00:16:27.269 that was good. What else are we going to talk 00:16:27.269 --> 00:16:29.830 about with Bill's Mafia? Hard Knocks. Hard Knocks 00:16:29.830 --> 00:16:32.870 is out. Episode two dropped last Tuesday. I got 00:16:32.870 --> 00:16:34.879 a chance to watch it. I watched it with my daughter, 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:37.360 her boyfriend, as I was visiting down in Florida 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:40.179 last week. They were gracious enough to go back 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:42.980 and re -watch episode one. I had not yet seen 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.259 it, but I got to watch episode one and then immediately 00:16:45.259 --> 00:16:48.340 watch episode two. Episode one, I thought, was 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:51.279 fantastic. Fantastic. I thought it was the perfect 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:54.600 entry point to the Bills team. I thought if you're 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:56.679 an outside observer, you're going to be entertained 00:16:56.679 --> 00:16:59.279 by that episode. A lot of cool things going on 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:03.909 there. Obviously, it focuses a lot on Josh. Episode 00:17:03.909 --> 00:17:06.789 one. And the only thing I'm thinking is it's 00:17:06.789 --> 00:17:09.809 hard to not watch this episode with, you know, 00:17:09.809 --> 00:17:11.970 it's hard to not have a smile on your face as 00:17:11.970 --> 00:17:14.130 you're watching episode one. When Josh comes 00:17:14.130 --> 00:17:16.049 through the tunnel wearing the red jersey, the 00:17:16.049 --> 00:17:19.670 red helmet and the face mask there and they start 00:17:19.670 --> 00:17:22.329 playing Mr. Brightside and he's throwing to the 00:17:22.329 --> 00:17:25.190 kids in the stands at the blue and red. It was 00:17:25.190 --> 00:17:28.690 awesome. And I'm just watching that last five 00:17:28.690 --> 00:17:31.880 to six minutes of the episode. It finishes and 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:34.579 I'm ready to run through a freaking wall. I am 00:17:34.579 --> 00:17:37.240 jazzed, I'm pumped, I'm ready to go. Like that, 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.119 that right there, that little clip at the very 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:42.500 end of the first episode was what it's about. 00:17:42.700 --> 00:17:44.779 And so I'm watching this episode and I'm like, 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.920 holy crap, this is my team. This is my team on 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.339 HBO Hard Knocks. Never thought in a million years 00:17:50.339 --> 00:17:53.440 the Bills would be on this show. Not that I've 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:56.599 seen a lot of it in the past, but normally this 00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:59.059 show is about dumpster fires of teams and dramas 00:17:59.059 --> 00:18:01.660 and all kinds of crap going on behind the scenes. 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:05.059 But it was just so cool to see my team, the Buffalo 00:18:05.059 --> 00:18:07.160 Bills, on display for the whole world to see. 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:09.759 And the last five to six minutes just made me 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.579 super pumped and super excited. Now, episode 00:18:12.579 --> 00:18:14.680 two, a little bit different. A little bit different 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.039 story. I think we backed the excitement factor 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.819 way down. So if we started at a 10, I think this 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:21.900 one jumped. dropped all the way down to like 00:18:21.900 --> 00:18:25.819 a four because there really wasn't a lot of craziness 00:18:25.819 --> 00:18:28.019 going on in episode two obviously they briefly 00:18:28.019 --> 00:18:30.440 touched on the James Cook contract scenario and 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:34.339 said he wasn't practicing we saw the first preseason 00:18:34.339 --> 00:18:36.180 game and some things that were going into that 00:18:36.180 --> 00:18:38.059 we saw Ray Davis kick an extra point which is 00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:41.539 really cool but the main like points of the whole 00:18:41.539 --> 00:18:44.180 episode you got KJ Hamler and his scooter you 00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:46.599 got DeMar which we've heard that story a billion 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:49.480 times You know, Coach McDermott talks about his 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:51.880 skin cancer, which great, you know, public service 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:55.160 announcement. I get it. Awesome. But the biggest 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.900 story is Joe Andreessen. And I thought the coolest 00:18:57.900 --> 00:19:00.519 moment of the entire episode was the photo they 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:02.480 showed of him with JP Haasman. And I'm like, 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:05.400 holy crap, that is a blast from the past. That's 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:07.940 awesome to see. But again, it's like nothing 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:10.460 earth shattering. And what it led me to believe 00:19:10.460 --> 00:19:13.140 after watching episode two, and I think this 00:19:13.140 --> 00:19:15.339 is a problem with picking the bills. There's 00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:18.230 no drama on this team. You want to talk drama 00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:20.369 with the contract situation? Well, it's over, 00:19:20.509 --> 00:19:22.869 number one. And was it really that dramatic? 00:19:23.130 --> 00:19:25.289 We had some hold -ins and he missed a practice 00:19:25.289 --> 00:19:27.170 here or there, but who cares? At the end of the 00:19:27.170 --> 00:19:29.849 day, it really wasn't a lot of drama. It wasn't 00:19:29.849 --> 00:19:32.109 a lot of distraction. And there's no drama on 00:19:32.109 --> 00:19:34.849 this team. So you could watch this episode, this 00:19:34.849 --> 00:19:37.390 team, this show from an outsider's point of view, 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:39.970 and you could legitimately say, hey, this team's 00:19:39.970 --> 00:19:41.730 kind of boring. There's not a lot of... going 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:44.390 on here and i i kind of like that as being a 00:19:44.390 --> 00:19:46.369 fan because i don't want the distractions it 00:19:46.369 --> 00:19:48.809 goes back to the contract scenario i don't want 00:19:48.809 --> 00:19:51.690 the distractions and that's exactly what you 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:54.309 want going into a season where this is make or 00:19:54.309 --> 00:19:57.390 break super bowl time and so yeah episode two 00:19:57.390 --> 00:19:59.450 kind of boring there's three to go we'll see 00:19:59.450 --> 00:20:02.869 what happens i'm excited Hopefully we turn the 00:20:02.869 --> 00:20:05.029 excitement factor up a bit. I don't know. I would 00:20:05.029 --> 00:20:07.309 love to see Matt Milano mic'd up for an entire 00:20:07.309 --> 00:20:09.529 episode and maybe he says more than six words. 00:20:09.809 --> 00:20:12.849 So that would be fantastic. But we haven't seen 00:20:12.849 --> 00:20:15.029 Dalton Kincaid. We haven't seen Milano. We haven't 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:18.470 seen Christian Benford or Terrell Bernard or... 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:21.069 any of these guys. So it'll be interesting to 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:24.650 see where they go from here. And like I said, 00:20:24.690 --> 00:20:27.210 three more episodes. I'm not too sure what they're 00:20:27.210 --> 00:20:29.289 actually going to fill it with, but I will be 00:20:29.289 --> 00:20:32.390 watching each and every one of them. Anyway, 00:20:32.529 --> 00:20:35.490 that'll wrap up the bills portion. Let's turn 00:20:35.490 --> 00:20:37.829 our attention to the top loaders portion of the 00:20:37.829 --> 00:20:40.650 program. Card enthusiasts, how are we feeling? 00:20:40.750 --> 00:20:43.230 A lot to talk about. The first thing I want to 00:20:43.230 --> 00:20:44.670 mention, the first thing I want to talk about 00:20:44.670 --> 00:20:48.740 is the upcoming release of 2025 Bowman Chrome 00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:51.920 Baseball. Now, pre -orders went live on August 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:54.880 11th. Unfortunately, with all the chaos surrounding 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.880 my life at the time, I had kind of missed the 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:00.660 initial window. And of course, by the time I 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:04.119 got onto Topps, everything was sold out. And 00:21:04.119 --> 00:21:07.950 originally... Originally, these hobby boxes were 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:12.490 going for $290. And in a hobby box, you get six 00:21:12.490 --> 00:21:15.990 packs, 10 cards per pack. So 60 cards, 60 cards 00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:18.950 for $290. How are we feeling about that? This 00:21:18.950 --> 00:21:21.730 product releases on September 10th. Maybe you'll 00:21:21.730 --> 00:21:26.009 get a chance to buy at retail prices when it 00:21:26.009 --> 00:21:28.509 actually drops for about, I don't know, three 00:21:28.509 --> 00:21:32.460 minutes before everything goes crazy. Originally 00:21:32.460 --> 00:21:36.339 a $290 hobby box. And now you go to these secondhand 00:21:36.339 --> 00:21:39.160 sites. So Dave and Adam's, Block Cards, Steel 00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:42.759 City. And what are we looking at? $400 for that 00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:46.640 same hobby box. 60 cards for $400. What the hell 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:50.079 are we? doing that's crazy i i do like the cards 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.039 i like the set it's a hundred card base set plus 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:56.680 you get 40 red rc variations now i talked about 00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.000 this before but they pick 40 rookie rookie players 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.920 um for the year and if they happen to win the 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.819 rookie of the year then it this essentially is 00:22:06.819 --> 00:22:09.019 a buyback program. You can either turn it in 00:22:09.019 --> 00:22:11.200 for X amount of dollars or you can hold hoping 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:14.599 they win MVPs in the future, potential Hall of 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:17.480 Fame careers. I mean, the money for these buybacks. 00:22:17.869 --> 00:22:21.109 Per accolade continues to go up. But yeah, 100 00:22:21.109 --> 00:22:23.549 card base set. Then you have 100 prospects. This 00:22:23.549 --> 00:22:27.170 prospects set is also paper. So brings the total 00:22:27.170 --> 00:22:29.670 up to 200. So 100 card base set, 100 card prospect 00:22:29.670 --> 00:22:32.849 paper set, and then a 50 card prospect chrome 00:22:32.849 --> 00:22:36.009 set. So roughly 250 cards total for the entire 00:22:36.009 --> 00:22:38.289 set. The highlight, in my opinion, the highlight 00:22:38.289 --> 00:22:40.990 of this entire product, which I saw this and 00:22:40.990 --> 00:22:43.529 I was like, this is awesome. And this is the 00:22:43.529 --> 00:22:46.690 only reason I want to buy this. GPK and Bowman. 00:22:46.750 --> 00:22:48.910 So Garbage Pail Kids have combined with Bowman 00:22:48.910 --> 00:22:52.369 and they have a 50 card set insert that they 00:22:52.369 --> 00:22:55.470 took a lot of these players and they melded them 00:22:55.470 --> 00:23:00.009 with GPK. And I love this. I love it. They took 00:23:00.009 --> 00:23:02.170 rookies. They took current players and they took 00:23:02.170 --> 00:23:05.579 retirees, Hall of Famers. So you get. David Ortiz, 00:23:05.579 --> 00:23:08.440 Sammy Sosa, Derek Jeter, Miguel Caprera, Ichiro, 00:23:08.660 --> 00:23:11.259 Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, to name a few 00:23:11.259 --> 00:23:13.920 of the historic players. These are awesome. If 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:16.680 you haven't seen the Juan Soto that looks like 00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:20.240 Atom Bomb, the original GPK number one, it's 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:23.059 an awesome card. An awesome card. I am definitely 00:23:23.059 --> 00:23:26.539 going to be trying to... track these down on 00:23:26.539 --> 00:23:29.420 eBay and buy these specifically. But I sure as 00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:32.259 hell am not paying $400 for a hobby box in the 00:23:32.259 --> 00:23:34.839 hopes of hitting one or two of these in the entire 00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:37.400 box. But that's absolutely crazy. Let me know 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:39.700 what y 'all are thinking of this set. Obviously, 00:23:39.700 --> 00:23:41.279 the prices are through the roof, but it should 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:43.339 be interesting to see what happens. Maybe I'll 00:23:43.339 --> 00:23:45.140 look into trying to get into a break or something 00:23:45.140 --> 00:23:48.779 with Bowman Chrome Baseball, but we shall see. 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:52.680 What else is happening? GPK 40th anniversary. 00:23:52.900 --> 00:23:55.019 So Garbage Pail Kids 40th anniversary. I talked 00:23:55.019 --> 00:23:57.599 about this product in a previous pod. This was 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:59.819 a cool product when this originally was on sale 00:23:59.819 --> 00:24:02.420 for pre -order. I believe this was retailing 00:24:02.420 --> 00:24:05.500 for $79 .99 or $99. I can't exactly remember, 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:10.269 but now it released. You can't find it anywhere 00:24:10.269 --> 00:24:14.210 other than the secondary markets and the prices 00:24:14.210 --> 00:24:18.349 are bananas. These are going for $250 to $300 00:24:18.349 --> 00:24:21.670 a box. You're only getting 40 cards in this hobby 00:24:21.670 --> 00:24:24.109 box. I've seen some of these openings. I've seen 00:24:24.109 --> 00:24:26.630 some of the videos. I gotta be honest, they look 00:24:26.630 --> 00:24:29.829 awesome. So I'm definitely living with a little 00:24:29.829 --> 00:24:32.579 regret that I missed my window. These cards are 00:24:32.579 --> 00:24:34.740 sick. Hopefully they start to come down soon, 00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:38.119 but there is no way I'm paying near 300 bucks 00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:41.680 for a box. What else came out? GPK also released 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:44.660 a 2024. Now this is weird because it was a 2024 00:24:44.660 --> 00:24:47.359 GPK, but these are called Battle of the Bands 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:50.839 and this is a Green Day specific release. These 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.819 look really, really sweet. This is a hobby box 00:24:53.819 --> 00:24:57.279 of 50 cards. It was originally listed. On pre 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:01.279 -order for $79 .99. They immediately sold out. 00:25:01.380 --> 00:25:04.160 These are awesome. These are awesome. Some of 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:06.519 the inserts are fantastic. This product releases 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:10.099 on August 27th. They have album art covers with 00:25:10.099 --> 00:25:13.539 GBK spin on it. So you see like some of the classic 00:25:13.539 --> 00:25:16.480 Green Day album covers. And they do an awesome 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:20.210 mashup between the album and a GBK spin. These 00:25:20.210 --> 00:25:23.269 look fantastic. They have autos from the actual 00:25:23.269 --> 00:25:26.150 band in there and they have tour used relics. 00:25:26.230 --> 00:25:28.329 They have the relics by themselves and they have 00:25:28.329 --> 00:25:31.390 the relics paired with autos. Awesome, awesome 00:25:31.390 --> 00:25:34.750 product. I would love to see this continue with 00:25:34.750 --> 00:25:38.170 different bands. I think it would be great. Obviously, 00:25:38.210 --> 00:25:41.289 other people feel the same because you can't 00:25:41.289 --> 00:25:43.490 find them anywhere. And now people are already 00:25:43.490 --> 00:25:46.269 selling them for 110 to 120 on the secondary 00:25:46.269 --> 00:25:48.140 market, even though the... They haven't even 00:25:48.140 --> 00:25:50.839 come out yet. So pre -sales are live. You can't 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:52.460 find it anywhere, but you're going to have to 00:25:52.460 --> 00:25:54.480 pay through the nose if you want to get your 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:56.680 hands on one of these. They look super cool. 00:25:56.920 --> 00:25:58.880 I would love to see a Pearl Jam set. I think 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:01.099 that would be fantastic. I would definitely be 00:26:01.099 --> 00:26:05.099 buying that. What else? 2025 Tops Chrome WWE 00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:07.839 Cactus Jack. Have you all seen this? They did 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:09.839 this last year. The problem with this card, I 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:12.079 just, I don't like them. I actually don't like 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:15.240 them. I pulled this up. A hobby box is roughly 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:18.299 80 cards. You're not guaranteed any autos. You're 00:26:18.299 --> 00:26:20.240 guaranteed a lot of parallels and variations, 00:26:20.259 --> 00:26:22.920 but hopefully you get some autos, but it doesn't 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:25.000 say on the box, one, two, three autos guaranteed. 00:26:25.099 --> 00:26:28.170 It doesn't say that anywhere. So 80 cards. I 00:26:28.170 --> 00:26:29.710 don't even like the way these look. They have 00:26:29.710 --> 00:26:33.150 the sepia tone to them. They're very kind of 00:26:33.150 --> 00:26:35.809 dull. And if you don't know Cactus Jack, it's 00:26:35.809 --> 00:26:39.789 the Travis Scott combo with WWE. And oh, how 00:26:39.789 --> 00:26:43.859 much are these, by the way? These are $600. pre 00:26:43.859 --> 00:26:46.460 -sale secondary market for a product that releases 00:26:46.460 --> 00:26:50.900 in two weeks, August 29th. $600 for cards that 00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:52.900 just don't even look that good? I don't know. 00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:54.460 I don't know what we're doing, folks. Travis 00:26:54.460 --> 00:26:56.619 Scott, like, is he that big a deal that we're 00:26:56.619 --> 00:26:59.559 going crazy? But if you ask me between these 00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:02.400 and the original Topps Chrome WWE product that 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.240 released way back in January, I would go with 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.299 that all day, every day. I wouldn't even pay 00:27:06.299 --> 00:27:10.039 $600 for this if this was my... if money were 00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:12.160 no object by the week. I wouldn't because I just 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:14.279 don't like the way the cards look. And 600 bucks, 00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:17.700 holy crap. We have lost our freaking minds. I 00:27:17.700 --> 00:27:19.980 don't know. Maybe you like them. Maybe it's just 00:27:19.980 --> 00:27:23.420 me. I hate these cards. But yeah, this is definitely 00:27:23.420 --> 00:27:27.039 not a product for me. So what am I opening? I 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.759 actually finally opened my first F1 cards. My 00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:34.240 wife was up in Buffalo. She went to the Dave 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:37.339 and Adam store. I had her buy me a box of... 00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:41.579 2024 Topps F1 Paddock Pass Blaster Box. Now I 00:27:41.579 --> 00:27:44.720 opened this. This was a lot of fun. And it's 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:48.079 a cheap entry point. I never opened F1 cards. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.859 I started to get into F1 a couple months ago. 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:53.500 Went to see the movie. The movie was awesome. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:55.799 We talked about that before. And I really wanted 00:27:55.799 --> 00:28:00.819 to start to look at some F1 cards. And so this 00:28:00.819 --> 00:28:03.369 is a great entry point. The Blaster Box. was 00:28:03.369 --> 00:28:06.950 only $19 .99. So you really can't go wrong with 00:28:06.950 --> 00:28:10.029 that. You get 30 cards in the blaster box. You 00:28:10.029 --> 00:28:12.190 get three X -Fractors that are chrome, and you 00:28:12.190 --> 00:28:14.569 also get three regular chromes. I finished with 00:28:14.569 --> 00:28:17.190 six red parallels in this box. So out of 30, 00:28:17.329 --> 00:28:19.769 that's pretty good. Like I said, 20 bucks. But 00:28:19.769 --> 00:28:22.829 the one insert I love is the Nightscapes. These 00:28:22.829 --> 00:28:24.650 cards are awesome. They look very similar to 00:28:24.650 --> 00:28:27.349 the Photogenic or I would say the Stadium Club. 00:28:27.470 --> 00:28:30.150 If you like the look of Topps Stadium Club, you 00:28:30.150 --> 00:28:33.250 will love the Paddock Pass F1. It's very similar 00:28:33.250 --> 00:28:35.369 photography. I love the way these cards look. 00:28:35.670 --> 00:28:38.650 Great photos, great action shots. But yeah, check 00:28:38.650 --> 00:28:41.549 out the Nightscapes inserts. These are sick. 00:28:41.710 --> 00:28:43.789 Which leads me to my If Money Were No Object 00:28:43.789 --> 00:28:46.589 by the Week. Now I know this is on the lower 00:28:46.589 --> 00:28:49.410 end. If money were no object, I would go buy 00:28:49.410 --> 00:28:51.529 me a hobby box of this because I think these 00:28:51.529 --> 00:28:54.569 are fantastic and it was super fun. So for 275, 00:28:54.630 --> 00:28:57.829 I can buy a hobby box. I get 128 cards and I 00:28:57.829 --> 00:29:00.349 would hope to hit an auto or something called, 00:29:00.430 --> 00:29:04.150 which is awesome, a smoke show relic. This is 00:29:04.150 --> 00:29:07.309 a very special insert in the product and these 00:29:07.309 --> 00:29:10.099 are numbered to 35 or less. I love the way these 00:29:10.099 --> 00:29:12.460 cards look. You could get like some sort of part 00:29:12.460 --> 00:29:16.740 of the car or some kind of jersey, glove, whatever, 00:29:16.819 --> 00:29:19.240 some sort of relic from the car or their driver. 00:29:19.400 --> 00:29:22.059 And it's a numbered card. And like I said, the 00:29:22.059 --> 00:29:26.279 photography on this set is sick. So that's what 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:28.299 I would do. But anyway, that's what I saw in 00:29:28.299 --> 00:29:30.740 the hobby world. For card collectors, that's 00:29:30.740 --> 00:29:33.220 what I'm kind of focusing on. Now let's turn 00:29:33.220 --> 00:29:36.990 our... attention to the world of the wwe wrestling 00:29:36.990 --> 00:29:39.829 marks how the heck are we feeling we are just 00:29:39.829 --> 00:29:42.049 coming off the high of summer slam that was a 00:29:42.049 --> 00:29:44.890 huge weekend and i gotta be honest i got a little 00:29:44.890 --> 00:29:48.509 behind in the last week due to life but traveling 00:29:48.509 --> 00:29:52.190 12 hours you can kind of throw Maybe I shouldn't 00:29:52.190 --> 00:29:54.250 say this, but you can kind of throw Netflix or 00:29:54.250 --> 00:29:56.309 SmackDown on on your phone and kind of just have 00:29:56.309 --> 00:29:57.990 it play as you're driving down the street. You 00:29:57.990 --> 00:29:59.509 don't really have to pay attention to the screen. 00:29:59.630 --> 00:30:01.730 You can just listen to the commentary. And so 00:30:01.730 --> 00:30:04.170 that was a perfect way for me to catch up on 00:30:04.170 --> 00:30:08.230 all the wrestling that I had been missing. And 00:30:08.230 --> 00:30:10.799 in all honesty. If I'm being honest, there's 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:13.819 really not a ton to talk about. Obviously, we're 00:30:13.819 --> 00:30:16.039 setting up some matches for Clash in Paris. That's 00:30:16.039 --> 00:30:17.740 the next pay -per -view on the schedule. And 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:19.859 you have John Cena. He's going to be going up 00:30:19.859 --> 00:30:22.579 against Logan Paul. So they had laid out the 00:30:22.579 --> 00:30:25.259 groundwork for that. And then you have Drew McIntyre. 00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:27.339 He's going to be facing Cody. I'd like to see 00:30:27.339 --> 00:30:30.720 that feud. But other than that, way too much 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:34.900 MFT stuff. So Solo and his group of vagabonds 00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:38.710 and every... sokoa on the tree like it's just 00:30:38.710 --> 00:30:41.710 becoming i i have a feeling i'm going to get 00:30:41.710 --> 00:30:44.210 tired of this i'm kind of already tired of this 00:30:44.210 --> 00:30:48.450 and if this keeps going i don't want to see nash 00:30:48.450 --> 00:30:51.670 pak on my tv it's fun it was fun at first because 00:30:51.670 --> 00:30:56.049 i think it was crazy the likeness of of this 00:30:56.049 --> 00:30:59.049 talatanga guy in relation to kevin nash and xbox 00:30:59.049 --> 00:31:01.390 but i'm not too interested i'm not too invested 00:31:01.390 --> 00:31:04.890 in the mfts i like solo i had told you guys before 00:31:04.890 --> 00:31:07.569 him when he's doing the comedy stuff i love this 00:31:07.569 --> 00:31:09.589 serious stuff where they're just jumping in on 00:31:09.589 --> 00:31:11.690 everybody now they're bringing in sammy zane 00:31:11.690 --> 00:31:16.730 and jimmy uso and they're jumping in with jacob 00:31:16.730 --> 00:31:18.849 fatu and everyone's tagging and it's just like 00:31:18.849 --> 00:31:22.670 oh god i i'm kind of over it i the mfts do nothing 00:31:22.670 --> 00:31:25.960 for me kind of kind of done with it we obviously 00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:28.380 set up the fatal four -way with seth rollins 00:31:28.380 --> 00:31:31.660 cm punk jay uso and la night i think that that'll 00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:33.839 be a heck of a match um but the thing i want 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:35.960 to talk about the most eos guy she had a match 00:31:35.960 --> 00:31:39.279 with roxanne perez that match was great awesome 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:43.740 match and This just proves that Io Skye is one 00:31:43.740 --> 00:31:46.480 of the best wrestlers, not just female wrestlers. 00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:49.259 I think she is one of the best wrestlers on the 00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:51.440 planet. You could put her out there with anybody. 00:31:51.720 --> 00:31:54.339 She's had banger after banger with Rhea. She 00:31:54.339 --> 00:31:56.599 can wrestle Roxanne. She can wrestle anybody. 00:31:56.759 --> 00:31:59.700 She is awesome. I love watching her matches. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:03.660 In my opinion, her matches are must -see TV. 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:07.099 Love the matches. She's great. She's just freaking 00:32:07.099 --> 00:32:08.559 great. What else do I want to talk about in the 00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:11.400 world of wrestling? Yeah, Friday Night Smackdown, 00:32:11.500 --> 00:32:13.420 the one from a few days ago, there was really 00:32:13.420 --> 00:32:16.140 not too much going on. Like I said, too much 00:32:16.140 --> 00:32:20.599 MFTs, and it was kind of a boring episode. My 00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:22.759 wife and I managed to watch the very first episode 00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:26.319 of WWE Unreal on Netflix. If you haven't seen 00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:29.200 this, I highly recommend this show. About 55 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:31.519 minutes, about an hour. And we only watched episode 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:33.839 one. So we're going to dive into the rest of 00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:36.890 the season shortly. I thought it was a really 00:32:36.890 --> 00:32:39.730 cool show. Really cool. The first episode obviously 00:32:39.730 --> 00:32:42.710 focused on the Raw debut on Netflix and what 00:32:42.710 --> 00:32:44.970 they were doing to prepare for that. And it kind 00:32:44.970 --> 00:32:48.130 of focused on Ray Ripley, CM Punk, his relationship 00:32:48.130 --> 00:32:51.210 with Triple H, that kind of deal. Ray Ripley, 00:32:51.230 --> 00:32:53.769 the whole thing with her injuries and how she 00:32:53.769 --> 00:32:57.829 was fighting with nerves and just feeling inadequate. 00:32:59.099 --> 00:33:01.859 It was cool to get a peek behind the curtain 00:33:01.859 --> 00:33:04.059 to see what she's dealing with. The CM Punk, 00:33:04.299 --> 00:33:07.319 Triple H thing, this kind of gave you some insight 00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:10.079 into how these two have tried to work out a deal 00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:12.259 for him to return prior to his actual return, 00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:15.119 which was a couple years ago, and they just weren't 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:18.240 feeling it. They were kind of adversaries, and 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:20.839 it wasn't a good time, and things happened for 00:33:20.839 --> 00:33:23.859 a reason, and it took a little longer than normal 00:33:23.859 --> 00:33:26.400 to get him back, but that was interesting to 00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:29.490 see. What I was thinking when I was watching 00:33:29.490 --> 00:33:31.509 this show is they're showing you gorilla position 00:33:31.509 --> 00:33:34.829 and they're showing how this is the most important 00:33:34.829 --> 00:33:40.250 space for each and every show, whether it's SmackDown, 00:33:40.349 --> 00:33:42.309 Raw, Pay -Per -View, what have you. They were 00:33:42.309 --> 00:33:44.849 showing what goes into setting it up and the 00:33:44.849 --> 00:33:47.369 seating arrangements and the tables and who sits 00:33:47.369 --> 00:33:52.329 where and what everyone's job is. And I'm watching 00:33:52.329 --> 00:33:54.970 this and I'm thinking, this would never happen 00:33:54.970 --> 00:33:58.730 10 years ago, 15, 20 years ago. It's absolutely 00:33:58.730 --> 00:34:01.430 crazy that they're showing you this. They're 00:34:01.430 --> 00:34:05.700 showing how matches get produced and how... important 00:34:05.700 --> 00:34:08.380 timekeeping is and and how the communication 00:34:08.380 --> 00:34:12.519 between different people in gorilla to the referee 00:34:12.519 --> 00:34:14.780 and the referee passing on information information 00:34:14.780 --> 00:34:17.679 to the wrestlers and i'm just like i can't believe 00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:20.460 they're actually showing this now i know gone 00:34:20.460 --> 00:34:23.739 is this idea that like everybody knows it's the 00:34:23.739 --> 00:34:25.739 outcomes are predetermined at this point we're 00:34:25.739 --> 00:34:27.860 not in the 80s anymore i'm well aware of that 00:34:27.860 --> 00:34:31.110 but you know it's like seeing a magician learning 00:34:31.110 --> 00:34:33.630 how they do certain tricks. I just couldn't believe 00:34:33.630 --> 00:34:36.750 that I was watching all this stuff unfold. And 00:34:36.750 --> 00:34:39.610 it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool. I can't 00:34:39.610 --> 00:34:43.050 wait to see where the show goes next. But I think 00:34:43.050 --> 00:34:45.650 it's very telling to see how far we've come with 00:34:45.650 --> 00:34:49.980 wrestling in the last 40 years. I thought it 00:34:49.980 --> 00:34:51.900 was a good show. I was thoroughly entertained 00:34:51.900 --> 00:34:55.920 and can't wait to see what we have next on episode 00:34:55.920 --> 00:34:58.159 two and the rest of the season. But anyway, I 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:01.179 think that is going to wrap up this episode of 00:35:01.179 --> 00:35:05.179 the 3Ts podcast. I appreciate everybody. Thank 00:35:05.179 --> 00:35:08.300 you very much for listening, for joining me again. 00:35:08.799 --> 00:35:11.559 Apologies for missing last episode. But if you 00:35:11.559 --> 00:35:13.380 have enjoyed this episode or any episode of the 00:35:13.380 --> 00:35:15.420 3Ts podcast, do me a favor, share it with someone 00:35:15.420 --> 00:35:17.940 you know. Any mafia member, any car collector, 00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:19.840 anyone who loves wrestling, it doesn't matter. 00:35:19.980 --> 00:35:21.719 Trying to grow this one episode at a time. So 00:35:21.719 --> 00:35:24.019 please hit that follow. Leave me a quick review. 00:35:24.340 --> 00:35:26.699 Help me build this thing. I appreciate you all 00:35:26.699 --> 00:35:33.059 very, very much. So until next time, whether 00:35:33.059 --> 00:35:35.750 it's ripping packs. breaking tables, or dropping 00:35:35.750 --> 00:35:38.389 elbows, keep doing what you love. And as always, 00:35:38.590 --> 00:35:39.670 Go Bills!