#sportsreportsasordered - NI-LEVERAGE

[00:00:07] Yes, you are now listening to the sound of Sports Reports As Ordered. And we got a loaded show tonight, I've always wanted to say that. Tonight we're going to talk about the NBA, my favorite player is out for the season now. We're going to talk about some season ticket drama. We're going to talk about that topic that nobody really wants to talk about because they get so angry. NIL! And then we're going to clear it up with some ACC news.

[00:00:36] But we, because I got with me, the one and only, the world renowned, born in Texas, raised in VA, representing everything new, Jeru. He got two messages for you. He got two messages for you. He said, one, he will see your Blair Witch and raise you a New Jersey Devil. He also wants you to know that Philadelphia and New York are Jersey's tenants. They just ranting them out.

[00:01:06] He is, Mr. Logical. And I am your unorthodox statistician going left so much you thought I was south far, moving in ways that Hank could only dream of. Without putting my knee on the mat. I am. 2-5. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things and have you a liquid death while you at it. You're here. Let's get it. Let's get it. So, Mr. Logical.

[00:01:36] I'm here. My favorite player out for the season. Oh, man. Is it time for the Mavs to just shut it down? You know, AD just say, you know what? Not needed this year. You know, we still got what? Lively's out still. You know, Gafford has gotten hurt in the last couple of weeks. Dwight Powell was nursing injuries for a minute.

[00:02:01] Is it time for the Mavs to just say, let the balls pause, fall where they may, and let us get in this Cooper flag sweepstake? I mean, the Cooper flag sweepstakes for them is... It's rough. That it's... They basically... They can get in the 2025, 2026 Dallas Mavericks rebuild or retool or rebrand or whatever the case may be.

[00:02:30] I think Cooper flag, because right now we're at 62 games in, even if they lost 20 straight games, they still would be 32 and 50. I'm not... I'm not banking on the Pelicans or the Jazz getting 30 wins, nor would I imagine Washington... Charlotte. Charlotte. Maybe Toronto. Maybe even the 76ers being above 32 wins.

[00:03:01] So, I mean... You know who is going to get 30 wins? The Portland Trail Blazers! I'm proud of them. They're going to have a nice little parade in their town. Most strip clubs per capita, by the way, in Portland. But yeah, so Dallas is in a weird predicament because I think... Kobe Bryant said it. You miss 100% of shots you don't take.

[00:03:27] I think they took a shot with the Luka trade thinking that we get... We're already defensively big with Lively and Gafford. Let's get offensively big with AD. Let's get, you know, firepower from the outside with the streaky Kyrie and Klay Thompson. And then let our role players kind of play off of that. Because I think with the role players and the healthy bigs, I think PJ Washington gets more shots.

[00:03:58] Because Luka was kind of controlling. Luka was getting people's shots. But I think he was getting people's shots that he wanted per play. Like, hey, I'm setting this up. So if I can't beat this guy or if this guy doesn't fall from my pump fake pivot, pump fake up and under, I'm going to kick it out. You got to be ready. I think in the Kyrie office with the bigs working and Klay working, I think a guy like PJ Washington would have got a lot more 3 and B opportunities.

[00:04:27] I think he could have just focused on just getting open. He probably was going to get the ball. You know, playing off AD, AD was going to bring their big away from the basket. Because you're not going to have your best defending big defending Lively if him and AD are both in the game. So I think what they had was a good plan. I don't know if it was a championship plan. Like a lot of people were prognosticating when the trade happened. I thought it was good.

[00:04:54] I thought it would have been a situation where I thought LA was going to just kind of play to the average. I think at that point, they probably had about what 30, 32 games left, give or take somewhere in that range. The trade was made. I figured you were going to get about an 18 and 14 out of that. And then Dallas was going to be able to compete because they were already up. They were above 500 and they figured it was going to bully ball and get a lot of wins that way.

[00:05:23] But once all these guys were injured, I mean, you trade for AD, he's injured, he comes back, he gets injured. Kyrie's injury has nothing to do with the trade. It's just another bad occurrence that happened to a team that has a lot of bad luck. Some teams, it's just luck. Sometimes it's a matter of like not letting the injury bug bite you. Well, you remember when the trade first happened, one of the first things that I said was you're relying on two dudes that get hurt a lot.

[00:05:50] You know, AD and Kyrie and Kyrie at that time was having some disc issue issues in his back. So he wasn't even necessarily the healthiest at the time that the trade went down. But the way that I looked at it was if you're just looking at two players. Forget health, everything created equal. You can't get much better players than Anthony Davis, then they got for Luca. You know, they we talked about it.

[00:06:19] They allegedly talked to Yanis or talked to Milwaukee about Yanis. They allegedly Yanis. They allegedly talked to Anthony Edwards, you know, or Minnesota about Anthony Edwards. And and any team calling about trading our number one, you know, marquee guys like that. Well, see, this is the problem with Yanis, though, because I don't think the Bucks are going anywhere. You know, they might go to the second round.

[00:06:45] But Yanis has been on record to say, I want to win whether that's here or not. I want to win. So it's kind of one of those things like they might not have listened to Yanis right now. But I don't know if Yanis is necessarily off the table. You know what I mean? So, yeah, you know, but the problem is, is if you're Milwaukee, you got to look at it as is Luca going to resign here. Probably not. That's the thing. No one would have known.

[00:07:13] But in the same sense, we talk about this a lot. And I and I know it comes off as like, I want to say a loser's mentality, but it has to be a reality that sets in. It's like. If you're a star player on a team and you're giving your team 30, 12 and nine on 60 percent shooting. And you're struggling to get wins. Your team collectively is not good enough. Right. In order for you to go to a team that's good enough.

[00:07:44] You going there would deplete the new team, the Carmelo Anthony conundrum. Yeah. Like, go to the. Go to the bridges and, you know, I don't know. Josh Hart and a couple of. So it's like you're back in the same boat. And that's if you're that's if you're lucky enough that New York stops or Milwaukee stops there as far as like who they want in return. If you want. Yeah. Right. There's no one's going to this Luca deal. I don't think another deal like that's ever going to happen.

[00:08:14] I like I saw somebody posted. They try to make that trade on 2K and it wouldn't go through. Well, I know it said it didn't match or something like they didn't match on a video game. The video game is like now we can't do this trade. Well, I know since the trade has happened, there's been alleged execs that are looking at John Morant, LaMelo Ball, you know, Trey Young as candidates to be moved, even though I feel Trey Young should have probably been moved two years ago.

[00:08:41] But that's just me. You know, LaMelo is probably about that time, too. You know, so I mean, I don't know. We'll see how that goes. But Mello wasn't getting you to the Western Conference Finals. What you would trade Mello is. No, I'm not talking about for Luca. No, like you if you're if you're trying to trade Mello. You're going to get. But I mean, who is it disrespectful to Carmelo Anthony to call him Mello to call the Mello Ball Mello?

[00:09:12] Yeah, I think Carmelo was good with it. If he still was in the league, you had to think about it, though. Because I literally I never even thought about it until. So but that's the same thing when they gave Jokic 15. Right. And he said he was a little pissed off about that. So like now when you retire it, you can retire. You can't retire it as Carmelo. I understand. I don't like it, but I understand why Denver did that. But I don't think they did it to be petty. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't like that was Jokic's number.

[00:09:41] I think he just was like, whatever. I ride horses. And also started it. So, hey, how about the Dallas deal is like I said, it's looking like fire Nico Harrison is a champ, but it's like I think it would have worked. I think and they're raising their tickets to there. The rumor I don't want to buy in a room was an innuendo, but the whole them trying to go to Vegas. I don't know if this is the best way to do it. I don't mean it's real.

[00:10:10] I just want to get there like the Oakland A's right. The Oakland A's wasn't out there trying to figure it out. They were. But they didn't do they didn't do any improvements to their city. They didn't accept any proposals from the city for a new stadium. They rejected everything. And then all of a sudden they moved to Vegas. So, yeah, you let me know. When's the last time I had a star home run hitter that attracted, you know, eyes in Oakland? Mark McGuire. They weren't trying. They weren't trying to be in a limelight.

[00:10:39] And I think Dallas is doing the same thing. But when we talked about this, we talked about this a few weeks ago. Like, you know, the NBA needs to give us something to talk about. I know the trade probably wasn't in direct response to people saying there's nothing to talk about in the league, but it has given a lot of conversation because. Every it was a lot of pro, you know, I think people on TV because they can't go on TV every single time they're on TV and say, I don't get why they did this.

[00:11:08] So people are saying, hey, it could work very similar to what I said a few minutes ago about, oh, having the bigs in Dallas. And then L.A. was going to try to figure it out. And next year it'll work for, you know, Luke and LeBron and that combination. But at that point that dude's 41, you know, so. But JJ seems to be making it work. But like I said, when you're playing Denver on Tuesday and you're playing the Clippers on Thursday, you're playing a different team Saturday.

[00:11:37] All of that works. But if you have to play right now, the Lakers are sitting at two in the way to see the two seat. So even the Clippers Clippers went healthy. They still give they give the Lakers fits. It's a hometown little brother, big brother rivalry. They have. Big time players on the Clippers, they have some no mediocre role players on the Lakers. I think it kind of bounces out. They have a good coach.

[00:12:05] They have a good coach that knows the Lakers best player. I'm not saying you have some secret that, you know, LeBron's weakness. Right, right. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt that, you know, you might be able to squeeze out game one 107 to 104 if you hit timely shots of the Clippers. And so, like, I think that Lakers experiment is starting to look a little better. Mm hmm. I still got to think that at some point.

[00:12:34] Their lack of big man is going to hurt them at some point. It might it might not make them lose a series, but it might make the series a lot longer than it should be. Yeah, like I said, you lose a game 107 to 103 or something like that because, yeah, Luke and LeBron get to 65 points. But really goes for 14 because, you know, you're trying to get him open shots.

[00:12:55] And I think the Lakers have been more deliberate and adamant about just shooting the three because I think when in doubt, if you're spacing the floor, you let LeBron be the slasher. You let these other guys work around. Luka likes to dribble into the paint. He shoots a lot of either step back threes or he dribbles and he creates contact in the paint, tries to get fouls. Maybe in a playoffs, he gets to the free throw on six or seven more times a game than he does now. And that kind of slows the game down.

[00:13:23] And that way, the big is kind of nullified. But Zubox had like 16 rebounds. I think he was like 13 for 15, like 16 rebounds. He normally does that against the Lakers. So, yeah. And if you if you're Tyronn Lue is like, all right, Kawhi, you like the pull up Jay. We got Zubox down there. I'll just keep doing your thing. They don't have anybody because Jackson Hayes can't. Rebound with him. So he's getting a lot of rebounds, putbacks.

[00:13:50] So you're not you're not losing your big on the offensive end. And emotionally, he's engaged in the game because he's getting 12, 13 rebounds, maybe six or seven old boards and he's getting layups. And I think that could cause a little trouble. But well, you well, you know, speaking of the Lakers being the two seed, you know, you see who that number, that number one seed opening up that lead still in an 11 game lead. You know, SGA went off a 50 again last night. He's got 51 points, you know, seven assists.

[00:14:19] He has the most 20 point, 30 point, 40 point, 50 point games in the league this year. So. If we look back at the end of the season and Oklahoma City is not in the NBA finals. What will be the reason why? Youth. Okay. Youth and an on an ill-timed injury, maybe to one of their wing defenders.

[00:14:46] Maybe not so much Chet, because I know Chet, you know, he's been out, you know, throughout like he missed his whole rookie year. So he's missed some time just hitting the floor very hard. I think he hurt his hip. Yeah. A lot of time. Like three or four months this year. And part of the time was in and out the lineup at that time. And then now, I think they, they can play without those bigs, any team in the West, other than Denver. But with Denver, I think you just do the whole.

[00:15:15] What Miami did and like one of the games against. Yeah. Just let, let him cook. Let him cook. Stay, stay attached to the three point shooters. And then maybe you steal a game on the road or something like that. Like you just let him cook. You stay, you stay hooked to all these guys in the three point line.

[00:15:31] And just let him go against whatever your six, nine, your six, eight, six, nine defenders and say, hey, but if they lose one of these wing defenders, one of these three and D guys, I want to, you know, I think that'll hurt them because that might make Shay have to shoot. Six more shots. Six more shots. Maybe Chet puts up six more shots. Then, you know, I guess that would hurt them. Well, I guess the only thing that could hurt Boston is if you let them get a 22 point lead on you.

[00:15:58] Um, so as we're looking through this, you know, like you should never see it in the first quarter. Billy finally did the right thing. Joel Embiid is shut down for the rest of the season. But then something that caught my eye was, uh, the Sixers maybe at some point being able to, you know, I don't think they will yet, but being able to try to petition for a medical retirement. Oh yeah. I like, I like the verbiage and that, you know, being a criminal justice, uh, major.

[00:16:27] A doctor, an independent doctor selected by the NBA. How independent is that doctor? They did the same thing with Tua. With the NFL. How independent is a doctor that's selected by the NBA? Not agreed upon by, you know, in Bede's camp. Right. His lawyers. Selected by the NBA. Or the Sixers. Or the Sixers. Yeah.

[00:16:55] I think the Sixers might more likely be more in line with the NBA. Mm-hmm. Selecting a doctor because it ultimately could potentially save the Sixers money if he has to be medically retired, you get your percentage of your money back, whatever the case may be. Um, I would have, I know David Stern put the rule in saying that you, your team can't tell a player they can't participate in the Olympics.

[00:17:21] But Kawhi was on that team last year and suddenly did not play. So, uh, maybe he just thought it was going to be too much fun and they were laughing and joking too much. And he missed 45 games or so to start this season. So it was like, I don't know if in Bede was like, you know, part of those previous, those same kind of conversations. But if, if I was, if I was his agent, I would have been like, don't do it.

[00:17:50] Like if you're going to go to the Olympics, go as an ambassador to France, the way Snoop Dogg was. Snoop Dogg was everywhere. $500,000 a day. Like go hang out with Snoop Dogg, represent France and do that to build your image because people are going to crush you. If you go out here and play for the USA, win gold in France, and then you come out next season, you can't play a full season.

[00:18:15] Like that's exactly how I would have laid it out for him. Like, listen, if you do this, just know that it, this could potentially be your backlash. You, you can win gold and you can go back to Philly, but you got to play 82 games. Well, you have 82 games in your schedule. So long season, you just had a very, just, you just kind of like lumbered through your last playoff series, which once again was very short of the Eastern conference finals yet again.

[00:18:44] So, but I mean, I know agents can be fired and they have to do what their clients want, but just as a, as a senior person on earth, who's kind of learned some things and, and they could have, you know, I don't know what level of experiences agent has was like, yeah, I've seen this play out before. The court of public opinion can impact your paycheck. Right. Right. So, you know, and then of course, I won't say he allowed it, but unfortunately.

[00:19:14] That comes from being that big. Like your bro, you seven feet tall, 300 pounds. It was like your body needs a break. Anybody's body needs a break. Mm-hmm. And then of course, you know, as the Timberwolves are playing well, you know, Anthony Edwards out here, you know, averaging over 30 over the last couple of games. And then Julius Randall is back. So sorry, Minnesota.

[00:19:39] It was fun while it lasted, you know, but then as I was looking around the NBA, I was like, look at my Detroit Pistons, you know, 21 and nine in their last 30 games. You know, they were my team, my surprise team to make the playoffs this year. And I didn't mean the play in when I said it, you know, I think a star Thompson, you know, I'm glad that he's got the blood clot issue taken care of.

[00:20:02] So his defense is going to be needed, especially if it stays as is and they match up with the Knicks. That's going to be a tougher matchup than it should be for the Knicks. They'll win. But wait, hold on. You say that. But I, you know, how I feel about Houston. And like, I'm not, listen, I'm not riding Detroit's bandwagon, but Detroit at least has a team that makes the most sense. They are properly diverted. Yeah, they got the best.

[00:20:31] Young stars that play major minutes, major roles with key vets. And a league easily Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. So you have guys who play the style of your young starting group coming in as veterans who in the seven game series, like I said, if you can, I know it's tough, but if you can take away Jalen Brunson,

[00:20:57] you put this length on them pause and you just make it difficult for him to score. Yeah. He still might put up 40, but if he goes 18 for, you know, if he goes like, you know, like 14, a lot of playoffs last year. That's what I'm saying. But you see how I looked against Indiana. Right. And those games were like you, he couldn't, he couldn't pass the ball and just run off a couple of screens just to attract attention.

[00:21:23] And while he's doing that, this other guy is like making a move with the ball in his hand, making a play for another guy. Like, I don't think the Knicks have that guy. And I think in the seven game series. You know, like I said, all you need is a team to steal one. If you're either the underdog or the young team or even not even like the like a massive underdog, but the team that people don't expect.

[00:21:48] Like you said, the series matchup of the Nuggets and the Warriors. You don't really expect the Warriors to beat the Nuggets because the Nuggets have, you know, they have an MVP caliber player that they run everything through that you can't, you can't rattle. Right. But if Steph goes out there and puts out 38 and they still game one in Denver.

[00:22:14] Now, now there's doubt. Now, there's, you know, now media, you're pressing a little hard game to, you know, stuff comes back. He's you were like, you know, hey, don't forget. They lost game one and two at home to Minnesota last year. Yeah. So it's like, you know, it can happen. So I think what it seemed like Detroit, the way they're playing, I think they're playing very well. Like Rez in the group last week when the guy was counting off the wins and he was like, I see a guy, this guy counting off wins in the regular seasons.

[00:22:43] I was like, yo, I see a man living out his dreams in that clip. But I think you, as a team, you need some of that. You need some of that. This is fun basketball in February and March as you prepare for the more intense. Right. Nice basketball that is going to come along in April because they're positioning themselves. Well, I don't think the heat are going to catch them. So if they just keep playing to the standard that they're playing, they're five. I mean, they're only a game behind Indiana and Milwaukee. Yeah.

[00:23:12] So like I said, I thought they were in front of them, but I'm just saying, you know, but speaking of Houston, because you brought them up, you know, real quickly. Reed Shepard with 25 points last night, you know, like we've been talking about it. They got too much. You know, he had 49 points in a G League game earlier this year. They put up like 33 shots. It's just, I know. Hey, nobody cared when Michael Jordan did it. So we'll kill him. Yeah, this was good.

[00:23:42] Like, listen, man, come down here and get your confidence up. Watch that thing go through the hoop as much as you need before we send you back. And if you look at the standings right now, you know, they're only a game and a half behind the Grizzlies. And don't forget, they beat the Grizzlies three out of four this year. But Jaron Jackson got injured last night. You know, ankle week to week. I never really heard that one. I heard day to day. I never really heard week to week, but he's week to week.

[00:24:10] They're only a game and a half behind the Grizzlies. They're only two and a half behind the Nuggets and Lakers. So, you know, we got 20 games left. It's going to be a fun run down the stretch. They might stay. I think they might jump the Grizzlies before. The Grizzlies need to tighten them in three and seven in your last ten. Yeah. Remember, I told you. Remember like two weeks ago, I told you. I was like, yo, Ja looks real. So, you know, because I was asking you, what was that word they were using about LeBron disengaged? He looks disengaged at times.

[00:24:39] There's times where he comes down the court and he just stands in the corner and just kind of watches the offense. And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I know that we don't want you to necessarily go AI style with it, but they supposed to be watching you standing. They supposed to be standing in the corner watching you work, not the other way around. Maybe they're using these regular season games as like, hey, you know, let's, you know, to quote Phil Jackson, he said he did it with Kobe and he did it with Jordan.

[00:25:07] He was like, listen, the first three quarters, let's work the offense. Fourth quarter is yours. Yours. Yours. You know, and that's what job a rant. That's what we're waiting for. But the problem is, is that he's, he's obviously explosive. You know, he has handles and all that good. Reckless though. He is reckless. But he's not like an Allen. He's more athletic. He's more athletic version of those guys.

[00:25:35] I think he's just, he's a little too reckless. He could do a couple of, you cock it back and then bring it under and lay it up a little bit more. And that way you're not getting bumped in the air with your arm cocked all the way back. You're just kind of like, oh, let me up and under, get this layup. And stay on the floor and not keep falling on the floor because it's, that floor is hard.

[00:25:59] Like you're, you're jumping to the air and you're hitting the seven foot tall guy in the shoulder with your hip. And then uncontrollably crashing to the floor multiple times in, you know, a few month timeframe. Eventually one of those is going to be a little bit more longer lasting of a pain than the other time. So like, stop being so reckless. Pull up. You see, we're getting the pain to shoot the floater. Just shoot the floater. D-Wade, like look at D-Wade. Tony Parker. You've got Tony Parker on. Tony Parker versus D-Wade.

[00:26:29] D-Wade kept trying to go all the way to the rim and kept getting hurt. He was hurting his shoulders. He was hurting, hurting the wrist, hurting the finger. Oh, because he kept falling on the floor. Pull up from eight feet and just let the floater go. It's the same amount of points. And you know what? Since we're here. You get the dunk off when you get the dunk off. Just to wrap this up real quick. You know, so we were, so I asked you the question a little bit ago. Should the Mavs tank?

[00:26:56] And, you know, I don't even know if they really can because you got Phoenix three and a half behind them. And, you know, I don't know what the hell is happening in the desert right now. You know, you got Portland, who's a half game behind Phoenix, and the Spurs are too far out. So Dallas might just get stuck in the play-in. I think you just play whoever, whoever's healthy, whatever. Like we say this in the air crew, we're like crew complement. Whatever. Is this a good crew complement?

[00:27:25] All the people qualified to do what they're doing, put them out there and see what happens. Because you might not have the dream team, but you have a legal crew. You got a legal group starting five. You have some rotational players. Let them get the opportunity. We talked about that game with Minnesota OKC a couple weeks ago. They had a lot of injuries. So they played Dillingham alongside Anthony Edwards. They got a lot of shots for a lot of guys that probably wouldn't normally get shots, especially like Randall.

[00:27:53] Because we talked about how Randall sometimes ball can stop with him. It doesn't, the offense doesn't really flow through him sometimes to stop. So guys are just trying to get rebounds to get putbacks and get shot opportunities. The Alex's might have to just put whoever's healthy out there and, and just run it as best they can. I mean, you have a Hall of Famer at your head coaching position. Got a future Hall of Famer wearing number 31.

[00:28:19] It's like, hey, this, this, this is, this is what your, your GM did put you in, put you in predicament where now it looks like a bunch of people aren't going to do their jobs well. Where a bunch of people are inadequate. Did you hear the new Suns rumor? Just bad luck. I heard that Kevin Durant's on the outs with them. Well, yeah, that we've been knew that. Yeah. That's the only thing I've really heard. Well, so the other day, you know, I had brought up how there's rumors around that Mike Budenhoser may get let go after the season.

[00:28:49] Oh yeah. He might get fired. Yeah. So today we got a mini report on who the replacement could be. And somebody else on the podcast is a part of the Paul George. No, before I say this name, I just want y'all to know. If this were to happen, this is why the Phoenix Suns are the Phoenix Suns. Chauncey Billups. He'll say, what up, Mike? One Mike podcast Mondays and Thursdays, y'all.

[00:29:18] You know what I'm saying? Noon Eastern. Yeah. So he's a free agent after this season, Chauncey Billups. He, this is the last year of his contract. He has no extension. I would imagine Portland would want to extend him with the run that they've been on over the last few weeks. But if not. I would be looking at some of these foreign coaches. Like some of these guys from the Olympics. Some of those coaches. Hey, what David Blatt up to these days?

[00:29:46] Like, I mean, just, we saw, we see how it's working well. Well, it was working well for Toronto today. He's kind of lost their players. But that guy fights and he argues and he challenges the press. He challenges the referees for, you know, when they're only shooting two free throws in a quarter. Like, you know, he challenges them to play good basketball. OKC was, they kind of grew their coach in-house. He was a G League coach. And, you know, he was with Alex Caruso back in the day. So I think either.

[00:30:16] Mostly everybody did besides Portland. But that would just be such a Matt Ishbia thing. It was a product of this new money jumping into the NBA and thinking that I launched a business from my garage or my dorm room or my apartment in whatever city in America. And it went from my idea to being sold for a few billion dollars.

[00:30:44] Now I'm going to use this money. I'm going to buy a team. I'm going to do the same thing. You still ain't got a contract, Mike. And it's like, no. Right. And I believe, I think that happened with the Russian oligarch that bought the. The Nets. You talking about Josiah? No, the first guy. No, the guy before him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he bought it. I didn't even know he sold it. He bought it and was like, you know what? This ain't for me. I'm going back to the rest of it. I forgot Josiah was the one that.

[00:31:12] And then Josiah bought it. Yeah, he's the one that made Kyrie do the book reports and essays. Yeah. Then so it just a lot of these guys with this new money, like Mike said, they don't I don't think they know basketball or they don't know what it's like to grow an organization. I believe they grew their idea in an environment, especially when you get like these these these

[00:31:38] these these Silicon Valley guys and guys who made their money through tech. Tech is already there. Right. You just had a you had a good idea that you probably worked really hard on. But it was already in this hyperspace already. So you took your thing and threw it in there and exploded. You didn't have to grow like everything like Amazon was like it wasn't a market for that. He grew that from the beginning. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

[00:32:04] Brooklyn, holla at your MA in organizational leadership right here, baby. But anyway, you know, saying speaking of money, Mr. Logical, you pointed out something to me the other day. There's some NFL teams apparently that have some season ticket drama. Yeah. What's going on? I got a couple. I saw a couple of reports that kind of sparked my interest.

[00:32:29] And the funny thing is, and we live in this world of like instant gratification, instant answers, instant reactions, instant outrage, instant joy. When I first saw. Like the thumbnail. I thought it was like, oh, this is fucked up. So I hit you up. Like, we should talk about this. So then I watched a couple more videos and kind of read into it. It's simple. These guys had season tickets. They probably had them.

[00:32:56] You know, one guy, the guy in green Detroit had his tickets like 25 years. So we know the history of Detroit. They haven't been really good for most of the last 25 years. So he probably was selling his tickets all the time. And he was like, now that we're good, they have a problem with me selling the tickets. I'm like, yeah, because you probably making a crazy amount of money off of it. They're not really getting the cut. That's how business works.

[00:33:24] If they have the leverage, they're going to use it. But I think part of the leverage is can't resell your tickets. That's one of the things they want. They want dedicated fans in the stands. They don't want a home game. And you and I are visiting Detroit, and it's Washington versus Detroit. I'm like, yo, you know what? Sports reports order. We're going to check out this game. And now we're in this section in the end zone, and it's a bunch of black and all these different colored jerseys from all these people. Like the Chargers games look.

[00:33:54] And how, you know, some of the, like who, like mainly the Chargers. Whenever the Steelers guard. The Chargers. When the Steelers are on the road, it's all Steelers fans. When the Raiders play at home, it's everybody. It's like the games they play in Europe. It's just jerseys in the crowd. It's just everybody who wanted to come to London to watch a football game. It's just a hodgepodge of jerseys.

[00:34:20] And these teams are like, listen, we want your money, and we want you to sit here and watch the game. We don't want you to then take, you know, pay, you know, whatever it costs, 10 grand for season tickets. And that every week you flip in those two tickets for, you know, two grand each or whatever. Whatever your tickets are. So where do you stand on it?

[00:34:47] From, if it was not, if it wasn't part of the package when you originally purchased it. If you bought these tickets and they didn't say, they didn't give you any advisories about, hey, you can't resell these tickets. Or there's a cap on the price. Or there's only, you know, you can resell. There's nine home games. You can only resell 30%. So you can only sell three games. So pick the three games you want to resell your tickets for.

[00:35:16] But the other six you can't. If that's already been legislated and stipulated, then it's on the fan for thinking like no one was going to notice. So check it out. You get your tickets revoked. That's on you for just violating. Even though it's a dumb rule, I don't like the rule. If it's the rule. But if it's already established and you agree to it, you can't participate something that's adversary to the rule. And then be like, oh, I can't believe they're doing this to me. At the end of the day, say it on the screen.

[00:35:48] Shut the fuck up. Because the moment that I give you money, those are my tickets. I can do with them what I see fit once they're in my possession. Unless, like you said, there's a specific guideline that says that I can't. So I was looking on the Chargers website, for example. And I couldn't find anything that said you can't resell the tickets. What I found was they will hold you responsible if the person that you sell the tickets to. Or it doesn't say sell the tickets.

[00:36:17] But whoever's going to the game in your place are still beholden to the conduct rules. So if you give your tickets to somebody, sell your tickets to somebody, they come up in here acting a fool. We can revoke your season tickets based off of their behavior. Now that I agree with. You know, because like this is our stadium. Our rules, they're representing you when they come to this stadium. But if you're selling them on StubHub, like I don't know the person's character. This person just was in the game. No, but that ain't my problem, man.

[00:36:47] I got the money, y'all. And I got the money from you. So you know what? That's your problem. Somebody else is willing to get into that line and buy those season tickets. You know. Like I said, if the rule is clearly outlined and you agree to those terms, then. Because we know it's a money grab. Because with the guy in the Detroit city, he was like, yeah, when we suck, no one cared that I sold the tickets. Right, right. I'm like, yeah, that's true. Yeah, like I used to get tickets from people, you know, not necessarily NFL tickets.

[00:37:16] But, you know, people would buy. There's 40 NBA, 41 NBA home games. You know what I mean? So they're not going to all 41 games. So there was a guy who had, you know, certain sections. He said, hey, these are the games I'm going to. Y'all could pick from whatever. And we did that. You know what I'm saying? But when I look at the NFL, that's exactly it, Mike. They're upset that they're not getting the money. But they are. You know what I'm saying?

[00:37:43] They're not making a profit off of the ticket once it's sold. But they're getting the original ticket price in the first place, which is ridiculous. And in most of these stadiums, you have to have a PSL to buy the season tickets to begin with. So the NFL ain't hurting for money, first of all. So Kansas City does have what you're talking about. It says if you're selling more than a certain percentage of the tickets, they have the right to sell your season tickets to someone else.

[00:38:13] So I would imagine that if Kansas City has it, there's probably other teams that has it as well. Yeah. Green Bay, their thing was you can't sell 100% of your tickets. So if you sell all your tickets, then you get revoked. Right. And I get it. You got to figure out these traditional teams, especially like a team like the Cheesehead. You don't want a section that's supposed to be full of cheeseheads and they're trying to do the Lambeau leap. And it's all. Especially if it's a playoff game at that. Because you don't see the ticket holders get playoff tickets. They get playoff tickets.

[00:38:43] It's all Eagles fans in the end zone punching your player in the face and throwing beer on him when he's trying to celebrate his touchdowns. But some of these teams, you know what I'm saying? You just got to do better because I sell some Jaguar tickets if I had them. You know what I mean? I sell some Cardinals tickets if I had them. They should be out there trying to give them out in raffles. That's what I'm saying. They should be like, hey, what's one plus one? Two. You get two T-shirts. While we at it, the Dallas Mavericks should be doing that right now.

[00:39:10] They should have a whole stadium of Make-A-Wish kids. You know what I mean? I didn't verify this, but did they really put a ban on people wearing Luka jerseys? Or was that just some shit that was on the internet? I don't know. I think that's one of those internet things. Why are you talking? I'm going to look it up. So I get why an NFL team, like I said, especially if it's a playoff game, if it's a big game that's going to decide home field or playoff positioning,

[00:39:36] I can understand a team being frustrated and saying, yeah, they are going up with the tickets. I think it's like 8% or something like that for the Mavs. But I can understand a team saying, look, playoffs on the line. We need our truest, bluest fans up in here. Nothing more, nothing less. But like I said, once I make a sale, just like if I go to the store right now, and I know this is a horrible example, but I'm just making a point.

[00:40:04] If I go to the store right now and buy a drink, you know, alcohol, and I come outside and I sell it to you, as long as you ain't underage, that ain't none of your business. That's my shit. That's my possession. When I buy these tickets, I pay good enough money for these tickets to be able to wipe my ass with them if I want to. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think I do that. Like I'll give you that from a personal, like, hey, this is my decision.

[00:40:33] But from an NFL business decision and a whole team business decision, they have to look out for the best interest. You don't want me to sell your tickets and you mad about that? Give your players guaranteed contracts. How about that? Think about, like, the section where season tickets are. I imagine it's probably a bunch of season ticket holders who sit in a certain section. Yeah. It really kind of creates, like, this family atmosphere.

[00:41:01] So if you're selling these tickets every week and random people are in this atmosphere, then you get the fights. Like, we see the fights all the time between Chargers and Raiders fans. The Raiders nor the Chargers are going to pay your bail money if you want to fight wearing their jersey. Just a heads up. You're going to jail.

[00:41:26] And if you get knocked out, it's going on the internet and you're going to jail. And if you're there with your girl, it looks like she getting punched too. These videos are relentless. Either you're fighting on spilled beer and you look sloppy, your girl getting punched, your jersey's getting ripped off, and then you're going to jail. So... Right. And understand, like, if I'm a Detroit team or a Cleveland, I'm like, listen,

[00:41:52] the dog pound is for Cleveland season ticket holders and Cleveland fans. I don't want 30 Bengals fans in the dog pound on a Monday night game when we finally get Cincinnati versus Cleveland on a Monday night. You know, as a team, like, I want... I need the aesthetic to work as far as a showcase and a business aspect with the crowd, making sure they get all their concessions and drinks and parking and all the other things that I'm already charging people a lot for.

[00:42:22] Now you're giving up your tickets and you're creating a poor experience, potentially, for the home fans. Now they don't want to come. So now they're selling their tickets because, man, everybody in my section sold their tickets. And last week I was sitting there with this Raiders fan and this girl threw a Modelo on me and then he snuffed me and now it's all over the internet. And they both throw Modellos on each other. So it's like... So it's like, now you don't want to go to the game. So I understand.

[00:42:51] I don't know how big of a problem that is. Right. But I can understand. We've seen it. We see what it looks like when... I mean, it's got to be a big enough problem that they feel they need to do something about it. You know what I mean? I think LA is probably, like, the biggest thing. Like, if you look at, like, any LA Rams or Chargers game, it's like... But LA is a touristy city. So is Vegas. If you go to a Jets game, it's all Jets fans. Like, I've gone to Jets versus Falcons a couple of times.

[00:43:20] And I've gone to, like, Eagles versus Jets preseason game. I wore my, like, my Falcons jersey or whatever. It's mostly, like, Jet fans sprinkling in with some Philly fans. Gang green. It's rarely, like, where you have... You pan across the crowd and you don't see your team colors. All I got to say is that if you wanted me to come to your stadium eight or nine times to watch Aaron Rodgers, I'm selling my tickets to. I'm just saying.

[00:43:49] But, yo, so NIL, right? You know, we've been talking about NIL for quite some time. You know, everybody said it was going to be the end of the sports as we know them. I don't know if it is or isn't, but... Yo, that argument is so ridiculous. Matt Rule said the same thing last week, and I'll chime in on this. Well, Matt Rule is also not doing spring football this year, so I don't want to hear anything that he has to say about the sport changing or getting worse or anything like that.

[00:44:15] So, you know, but anyway, you know, we were talking about these guys preparing for the NFL draft potentially. I brought up some basketball stuff that we'll get into. But you were talking about how the NIL gives the players a certain leverage. So tell us more. Yeah, okay. So the leverage with the NIL and the name, image, and likeness, and then basically just giving the avenue for college athletes to get just direct payments for services provided.

[00:44:46] We all felt like for all these years that we were watching these games and buying these jerseys and buying these tickets and going to games. It's like, it's a lot of money being produced here. Because it's not as if we don't have an example of what it looks like. Because we had the NFL who, I mean, if you look at college football, we have 134 in Division I. Soon to be 136. You have so many of these stadiums that have over 100,000 seats.

[00:45:16] You got Penn State puts 100,000 fans in. Ohio State, Tennessee. Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan. I think Bama's up around 80,000. So, like, that's just off the top of my head. Like, six or seven schools, and then you have teams that play games in Jerry World. I think they can get about 80,000 people in there. So, we know it's a lot of money being produced, and the players weren't getting any of it. So, now they're getting the money.

[00:45:41] So, Matt Rule, that quote I want to, you know, paraphrase him, he was talking about how the NIL had definitely tipped the balance to the schools that have the boosters. And I'm like, yo, that's always been the case. Because even though I couldn't give them money directly. He had a school with boosters. Yeah, exactly. If I'm a kid from, you know, I'm a kid from Northern California. I want to go to school in the state of Oregon.

[00:46:11] So, I can go to Oregon State, check out their locker room. Or I can go to Oregon and check out their locker room, their uniforms, their Jordans, their helmets, and everything else. So, I'm all, like, Oregon's already getting the leg up pre-NIL. Yeah. Like, if you go on the, if you go on the Oregon locker room right now, it's something like 16 TVs, and each one of them has, like, a gaming console attached to it. Then they have a museum. Then I think they probably even get Nike discounts and all this crazy stuff.

[00:46:40] But they definitely got all the uniforms, all the shoes, all the Jordan releases, all these special, you know, Oregon Duck colorways that go for, like, $5,000 resales. These guys were getting them every single week. So, there's always an advantage. Alabama players were getting more than UAB players from the school. So, the NIL didn't change that. It just changed who gets the money.

[00:47:07] The money was always going to be more for SEC schools because they negotiated more. The Big Ten schools had the Big Ten network. They were going to get more to their schools. Now, the players are getting more. And I don't mind it because it sets them up. They're adults. They're doing negotiations. They're hiring a team. Hopefully, they're getting some fiscal responsibility.

[00:47:32] Maybe they're getting out there and they're going to fail their fiscal responsibility and get a learning experience out of it. But that should be on them to figure that part out because I remember a lot of the talking heads were saying, we don't know how to pay them. So, we can't figure out a good system to pay them. And what happens is Ohio State gets to pay more to their players than the University of Virginia. Yes, Ohio State sells jerseys all over the country. Virginia sells them in Charlottesville and maybe out to the Atlantic Ocean.

[00:48:02] Like, that's their range. That's their fan base. Ohio State's fan base is the rest of the country. They're Ohio State fans everywhere. So, of course, they're going to generate more money. And if those players get more money, they get more money. Life is not fairness. It's a meritocracy. And what you do and what you use with your leverage. They're using their leverage. Like, hey, I'm a top recruited player. You need a quarterback. And my mother wants a new Benz. So, make it happen. Yeah.

[00:48:31] You want me to come play for your school? I mean, pay for my school. Pay for my little sister's school. Get my little brother a scholarship with my mama Benz. And I got you for two years. What's up? See, in NIL, like, so it just depends on your perspective, right? Because you have a guy like Carson Beck who came into this season as a top draft prospect. He had a pretty bad year. Ended up injured, you know, by his standards. Shouldn't have been a top draft pick. Right, right.

[00:48:59] And so, instead of going to the NFL now, coming off of this injury, maybe as a third round or fourth round pick, you know, wow. No, no, for sure. Residente, 100%. You know, like, he is now going to receive $4.5 million or so from Miami instead of being a third or fourth round pick.

[00:49:22] So, now if he comes back and has a year this year, like his previous year to this season, this past season, then he's right back in these talks as a second rounder maybe. Maybe he can get back into the late first round. So, it provides that. So, if you look at it from that standpoint, you know, it's a great thing. You know, I also think that we're having conversations about teams that we normally wouldn't talk about. You know, like the Indianas of the world.

[00:49:49] And the best part about Indiana is even though it was their new head coach bringing in players with him, he came from James Madison. So, you know, so it wasn't as if he went out here and was like, oh, I want this Oregon player. I want that Penn State player. He still coached them up. You know, he just brought those guys with him that in the previous times, they would have had to sit out the whole season. So, they probably would have ended up just staying at James Madison and not having the experience of making the playoffs.

[00:50:20] You know, that's a great point, Residencia. You know, Brock Murray. And that's part of it. And like Residencia said, you know, it changed the game. And I don't, it's changed, but I don't think it's made it worse because I think college football at its core, you're looking at 80. Have not. Just even just basic, just basic. You're looking at 83 scholarship players, something per team. 85. 85 scholarship players per team. Yeah.

[00:50:48] You're not paying for all of them. And depends on where you are regionally, you still have to fill out your old team. So, yeah. Tulane can go. And I think Utah got their quarterback from New Mexico State, I believe. They pulled him. But they still got him. That was Vanderbilt that got Diego Pavia. No, no, no. Utah got a guy transferring this year from. Oh, this year. The guy coming in. I thought you were talking about that. Yeah.

[00:51:16] So, but the rest of the team, when you look at them, there's going to be a lot of JUCO guys, probably from a couple of JUCOs in Texas that have a pipeline with very good relationship with these JUCOs in Texas. And there's going to be a lot of guys from Salt Lake, Provo, Ogden, Lehigh. They still got to fill out their whole team. If you think you're one piece away, then I think the NIL gives you that opportunity. Alabama is still slap dab in the middle of high school football country.

[00:51:45] They're still going to be able to fill their team up with a bunch of guys who could be considered two or three stars. But they're probably five stars based off talent they've played anywhere else in the country. And that's the thing. Like Colorado. They're still – like Colorado needs this. Like, you know, but they're still more likely going to be able to – you're going to get a good product because you're going to be able to bring in some players that are exposed to from other teams. But still, you have to recruit inside your state.

[00:52:14] So – and I think that's the difference. I think teams are still going to be able to do that. Texas is going to go buy a player, but they're still going to probably still get the best players in Texas just off recruiting. Right. Yeah. And that's where Rick Pitino, to take it over to basketball for a second, Rick Pitino, you know, at one of his press conferences, made a comment along the lines of, you know, I lost these three guys. I can't replace them with high school guys.

[00:52:40] And that's kind of the thing that I guess coaches are feeling to a certain degree because you lost those three guys, but there ain't no excuses. Go out there and get somebody and put another team out on this floor. But with basketball, it's a little different because obviously there's only five people on the floor at a time, you know. So you have a little bit more wiggle room and not have to spend as much money because what we ran into this year, for example,

[00:53:04] was I was on here every week complaining about DJ Uyanga Alphabet Lele, you know, and how he was playing awful and Mike Norvell needed to bench him. But you paid a certain premium to get him in the first place so you can't sit him. Because for one, those boosters that paid that money want a return on investment. They ain't mad at him for playing bad. They want you to get him to play better. Sound like, yeah, sound like coaching to me, you know.

[00:53:32] But, you know, but when you sit a DJ U down, there's a ripple effect potentially where other potential transfer players, especially quarterbacks, are looking at you going, well, damn, they sat DJ down or like, you know, whatever the case may be. Like, because we talk about this in the NBA, for example, like you traded Dwayne Wade. What would they do to me? He's Mr. Miami Heat. So, but in basketball, it's a little different because some of these guys are just one and dones anyway.

[00:54:00] You know, they're going to come in for a year. They're going to be gone next year anyway. Whereas in football, you're trying to build that camaraderie year to year because they have to stay three years. So if you go get a high school kid, you're going to develop him and, you know, try to do right by him as long as you're fortunate enough to have him. Whereas in basketball, they're here today, gone tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. Basketball, they've already see basketball is already kind of dealt with this.

[00:54:25] Not necessarily NIL, but definitely a short, a short sighted system with, with the one and done that's been implemented for the last, what, 17, 18 years? Give or take. I'm everything. Derek Rose. Because Durant got drafted with John Wall and Anthony, Anthony Davis. Well, John Wall. So I guess Durant, Durant and Derek, Durant and Greg Oden were the first two I can think of. So that gets us back to what- That came after one and done went away. Yeah, that was a one and done.

[00:54:54] I think that's when one and done started. Like those two guys. I think both of those guys were ready to go to the NBA straight out of high school. I could be wrong, but, you know, we can fact check it here in a second. But so the NBA, the college basketball, they've, they've already kind of dealt with an understanding of turnover of a- 2005.

[00:55:19] I think a lot of these schools heard about the NIL transfer portal and thought it was going to be, okay, boom, this is the move. I got a great product. I put everything out there. I liken it to something like this. Like we didn't have dating apps growing up, like in our, in our 20s. We had to go out and you had to sit in living rooms. You had to woo. You had to recruit and everything else. And if you were good enough, it was mission complete, mission successful.

[00:55:47] Now you have these dating apps. Everyone has access to the dating apps, very similar to all these coaches have access to the transfer portal. But everybody's not getting the same kind of attention on these dating apps as other people. And you think, hey, I'm on the app. I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do. I'm on the app. I'm checking it. I'm being, I'm trying to have conversations. I'm being witty. I'm doing everything else. Like, listen, yeah. But this other place just looks better. This other guy just looks better.

[00:56:15] Listen, dog, you got all the credentials. You, you're a standup guy. You're a smart guy. You're a respectful guy. And you, and you, you do things the right way. Well, this dude is flashy. This guy has the attention, the accolade. He's going to get more attention for you. I'm not, man. Just like, I'm talking about just on, like, on the dating app. So, I was likely, they're going to get more attention.

[00:56:41] You just got to make sure you cultivate the attention that you get and make sure you keep those, you know, those, keep the attention of the people who are communicating with you and you're in. Don't worry about this other person who has 90 hits and they got everyone lined up to come to their school. You got 10 guys. 10 guys. Five, five or six guys can change your, the, your, talk about Indiana. Indiana, that coach brought what, five or six guys from, uh, more than that.

[00:57:11] A handful. I mean, he didn't bring 85. No, no, no. Yeah. So, he brought what, maybe 11, 12? It was 13. 13 guys. So, he brought 13 guys from JMU, a lower level football program. Brought them up to the Big Ten. Made the playoffs. Was undefeated very late into the season. He didn't go look and try to get a player from Oregon and a player from Ohio State and a player from Michigan that was unhappy. He didn't do that. He's like, you know what?

[00:57:39] I'm going to transfer these 13 people that have been rocking with me. You can work and try to get through all these 90 guys. Ohio State lost two games in the regular season with all these transfers and all this talent. They lost less games in Ohio State. They can say that. Hey, in the Big Ten schedule, we went 11-1. They went 10-2. And ultimately, the talent wore out that, you know, Ohio State went on a great run. Yeah, Ohio State won them out of him. Directly. Yeah. And Ohio State gave them that work. Yeah.

[00:58:09] Was their only loss going into the playoffs. And yeah. Yeah. And to your point, you know, Rez, you know, Vince Carter, you know, he was that one and done. And I want to say it was 97, the year after Kobe came in. You know, there was a lot of guys over the years that, like, Vince Carter probably could have went to the league out of high school. You know, he had the reputation, you know, jumping out the gym, all that kind of stuff like that. It probably served him well to go to North Carolina, though.

[00:58:36] But, you know, 2005 was when it was officially you have to go to school for one year. You know, which is one of the dumbest rules, you know, ever. I get why the NBA does it. But at the same time, it's just. It's antiquated at this point. Yeah. I think the NBA, we felt like they did it to kind of keep the college basketball product going. Because at that point, they had a great run on high school guys coming into the league.

[00:59:04] You had KG, Kobe, LeBron. Jermaine O'Neal came. Jermaine O'Neal. I think there was. T-Mac. T-Mac. Who else was another? Lou Williams. Lou Williams. I think he was before. I'm thinking, like, the guys, like, before the rule kicked in. Dwight Howard got drafted in 2004. Yeah, Dwight Howard. Yeah. So you had about seven or eight superstars in the league that were fresh out of high school.

[00:59:32] And the NBA is like, okay, we got enough stars in our league. We got to help. We got to help college basketball maintain the same level of popularity. So our pipeline. I didn't see it that way. That's what I felt. That's not the way I saw it. I saw it as, why do I got to bring this guy into my league and try to tell you who he is when I got free advertisement? That's what I saw. Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, yeah. No, not about.

[01:00:01] They don't care about college basketball's popularity. It's just. They care about the popularity of the player. Like, yeah. Like, I need you to be. I need you to go ahead and get this guy. Get him all the line. Like, get all the credibility. Get people. Yeah. If John Wall didn't go to Kentucky, he wasn't going number one. Yeah. Let me get. Let me get all these guys in the league. You guys get what you need because you're getting this free labor for a year. March Madness, all the TV deals and all the money you need.

[01:00:30] You're building up these guys for me. And then now. Because he got in trouble. That's why. Now I get Derrick Rose after the year he had at Memphis, you know. So. Yeah. Yeah. Corey McGetty, if I remember correctly, he had the whole jewelry thing happen. And, you know, where, you know, I don't know if that messed with his eligibility or not. But there was something. Was it like a crab leg situation? Maybe. I can't remember the exact specifics.

[01:00:57] But it was something that had to do with improper stuff. You know, he got in trouble. So I think he just got out of there before the hammer came down. But, you know. But, yeah. You know. Like, NIL is here to stay. You know. I'm happy to see it for the players' sake. You know. Sometimes it is one of those things where I'm like. Man. But I think that it'll be. It might not be good collectively for college football fans to a certain degree.

[01:01:26] But I think it gives more teams a seat at the table. And, you know, more teams. Like, we weren't going to talk about SMU probably more than not if they didn't move to the ACC and bring some transfers with them. Or, like, we just talked about Indiana. I think all the changes. If you look at it just from the outside. Like, if you just get an expansive look at the college football. Not out of Ray Jackson. This season to me. Because, like, I watch college football.

[01:01:56] Jimmy King. And even though we've had his podcast for a couple years. This past season was the most interesting to me. Because I felt like they opened up so many opportunities. Even with all of, like, the new, you know, 18-team, Big Ten, 18-team, Big 12, and everything else. I felt like moving teams like BYU, Colorado to the forefront.

[01:02:22] Iowa State was getting an opportunity to play for, you know, a Big Ten championship. Arizona State being able to make the playoffs. I think the expansion of it is more in line with what we want. We didn't like the 14 playoff. We didn't like the BCS. The 14 playoff basically was two SEC schools and two other schools that they thought were going to travel. Now you get three times as many teams.

[01:02:51] So now we're like, okay, I'm sick of seeing Alabama every year. Because people are like, oh, how is this happening every year? But now you get a team like Missouri and SEC. Maybe they, you know, maybe they can win on the SEC. Yeah, Bama didn't get in this year. Bama didn't get in. You got SMU.

[01:03:08] So some of these players maybe now, because I guarantee you this, of all those 12 teams that made the playoffs, the SEC schools and the Big Ten schools that did not make the playoffs, they're talking to some of those guys trying to figure out, hey, how do I get you from Clemson to come here? How do I get you from SMU to come here? How do I get you to, you know, leave Michigan and come down to Oklahoma? Because I think we're a couple of players away. Everyone's maneuvering.

[01:03:36] And I think the people who aren't going to win in that are the people who are concerned that the maneuvering is allowed. It's, it's entertaining. Like our guy from Pitt, right? Narduzzi, right? Like, yo, you got to embrace it. And I'm pretty sure he did. They had a pretty good run. They had a good run for a long time this season. But you got to just get out of your own way and thinking like, I wish the old way was the current way. The price of the brick has gone up and the brick now is NIL. You still got to recruit a home base. Yeah.

[01:04:05] You might not be able to keep every kid. Like, I believe one coach talked about it. I can't remember what the coach is. So I don't want to, I don't want to guess. No, it was in Maryland. I think it was Maryland. The Maryland coach. Mike Lachman. Yeah. He said a guy walked into his office. He was like a second or third string running back and was like, listen, coach, if you want me to stay here, I need $600,000. He's like, man, you need me to help me pack? Like, you're a third string guy. So like, if you got to deal with that conversation every once in a while and you're an old coach, Nick Saban, yeah, I get it.

[01:04:34] But like I said, I think these guys dealing with that, understanding negotiation, understand marketing, understand building a team, understanding your talent. Carson Beck in any other year would have maybe gone back to Georgia, but Georgia is going to re-up. There's only so many years you can play at a top school and not get replaced. Yeah, they got Gunnar Stockton ready to take over. So they have a guy.

[01:05:02] Every major school has a guy that's in 11th grade right now that's going to be their incoming freshman in two years. So if you don't get it done and then maybe you go to one of these schools that they don't have that guy. And you get four million. Just like a guy like Malik Murphy, right? You had Quinn Ewers. You had Arch as the third string. Yeah. He had to leave before the playoff, even though if Quinn Ewers had got hurt, it was going to be him in a playoff game, you know, because he was the second string at the time. Yeah.

[01:05:32] He was like, no, I see what's behind me. I see the hype train. I see how to get up on there. No, I have to – you got to divorce yourself from your comfort and just be realistic. I think Matt Rule's not locked – I think he's locked into what he was comfortable with at – or was it Baylor and Temple? Baylor. Baylor and Temple. I'm like, yeah, you may not have like your experience with the Carolina Panthers, but – They didn't like it either. The Panther fans didn't like it either.

[01:06:00] I think NFL coaches now, yeah, they might have to deal with a little bit more ego at the Combine. Caleb Williams saying, like, I'm not going to give my medical to all 32 teams. You all aren't going to get an opportunity to draft me. It was true. He wasn't going to slip to the second round. These reports, these anonymous reports – and this is another thing.

[01:06:20] If you're a reporter and someone gives you an anonymous report, it doesn't hit as hard as you think it does because no one put their name to it. So if someone who's the assistant to the quarterback coach for the Giants or for the Pittsburgh Steelers who has – they're nowhere near drafting these top guys. And they say something like, you know, keep my name off the record, but I think this guy is super arrogant. I heard a lot of people say he came off really arrogant in the media. That's not a story.

[01:06:50] We can see that he's cocky. You don't show up with two diamond necklaces in your hair, corn roll, flashing your watch and not cocky. You're not Deion Sanders' son. And he's a rapper. And you're not cocky. He's a rapper. His dad is Deion Sanders. The man wore – Who was a rapper? He was – the man had a jericho on and told the team, I would have charged him so much money to have to put me on layaway before he got drafted. This is – this is who raised this man.

[01:07:20] The expectation is he's going to come in there and just be like, you know, I just really want to get an opportunity to come out. They might have been arrogant and hit him. Yeah. Charlotte would have slapped him. You asked me a question like, that was wrong with you. You know who my dad is. But Jackson Darrell was in there. Like I said, Jackson Darrell was in there and swagging up. My 40, homie. Yeah, Jackson Darrell was in there with his jewelry on and his mullet. Listen, you got to be 100% confident in your life to be diamonded up with a mullet on national TV. So, like, he wasn't going in an interview. So, I'm going to really appreciate it about being here.

[01:07:49] These guys are professionals. They were in a professional sport before they called it a professional sport, and they're operating within that space. Are guys going to be busts who are, you know, big man on campus, and now they're in these NFL interviews and they're fucking it up? Possibly. But that's what living you learn. Right. You know, so, like...

[01:08:07] Yeah, that was one of my points and questions last week is, is Shador going to have a unprime process where he has to be deprogrammed from being under Deion? You know, just from the standpoint of... What's the word I'm looking for? Like, that's all he knows. He doesn't know anything else. Or it's been a very long time since he had a coach that wasn't Deion, if he's ever had a coach that wasn't Deion.

[01:08:36] Yeah, but he has a great source of calling his dad, like, yeah, working through this, whatever, whatever. And I don't know what the rules are as far as communication between players and owners, but Brady being a minority owner in the Raiders, but he's a Brady disciple. I think he's part of the TB12 network.

[01:09:04] I don't know if that's a conflict of vengeance, if he can call him and say, hey, the cover three fire zone, like, you know, how do you beat that? I don't know if Tom Brady can talk to him about that. If... Why not? He was working with Will Levis. I don't know what point of the season can you do that. Is it like, can I call you on week six? Yeah, you might can't call him on week six, you know what I mean? But, like, you know, but also, like, Brady's in the booth, too. So, you know, I don't know.

[01:09:33] But Brady has some strange rules about being in the booth. Like, he can't go to most... He can't go most of the pre-meetings. So, it's like, he just basically shows up to probably wherever they're playing the games, Friday night, checks into his hotel, gets a whole day Saturday to chill by the pool, and then Sunday does the game, and then he goes home. Because he can't do... He can't be in the meetings with the game plans and stuff like that because he's a part owner. Yeah, I'm interested to see where Shador ends up. You know, I'm interested to see Shador on the field.

[01:10:02] I'm ready to see if he can be de-primed. So, we'll see. You know, but lastly, you know, another college football note. You know, a couple of years ago, or maybe a year ago, two years ago, Florida State and Clemson became the big bad bullies of the block and said, we want out. The ACC just isn't doing it for us anymore. We're watching the SEC and the Big Ten cake all up. Why are we making similar money to the Big 12 when we're better than them?

[01:10:31] We're in the South as well. So, both schools tried to take the ACC to court to challenge the grant of rights. The grant of rights, of course, are the TV rights that the conference owns until 2036. So, what that means, for lack of better words, is if Florida State and Clemson or whoever leaves the ACC right now, the ACC has their home game rights until that 2036 year.

[01:10:59] So, that's what Florida State and Clemson were trying to get out of. So, we have a settlement finally. Okay, let's bring it down. Throughout different points of this situation, it has been brought up that the buyout fee to get out of the conference would be in the neighborhood of $250 to $300 million. That sounds ridiculous. The grant of rights, as a refresher, it was brought in when Maryland left the ACC back in 2014 to join the Big Ten.

[01:11:29] That was the ACC's last-ditch effort of nobody else ain't leaving. So, we're going to give y'all 20 years of this deal. After 2036, we can do what we want. You know, ESPN is the holder of this. So, in this settlement, next year, if somebody decided to leave the ACC next year, it would be $165 million.

[01:11:57] From that point, it goes down close to $20 million each year. So, this is the year that I want you to keep your eyes on. So, 2030 is when the Big Ten contract runs out, the TV deal. Their 10-year $7 billion TV deal runs out in 2030.

[01:12:18] So, in 2031, it's thought that this buyout might be down to about $75 million by then. So, Maryland, like, paid about $50 or so to get out at the time that they got out. So, this would take you down to $75. But that's not all. That's not all. The ACC has their legacy school. Six years, they can buy out. And that's anyone? That's anybody.

[01:12:47] Anybody can buy out of the ACC. And you're saying potentially join the Big Ten. Yeah. Or SEC, whatever. But, yeah, I'm just going with the Big Ten just because of the timing. Okay. So, then, from there, that's not it, though. So, the ACC has their legacy schools, which is everyone but SMU, Cal, Stanford. Because, you know, they just joined last year.

[01:13:09] So, out of that, those schools are going to get 40% of the money. The TV deal money and all that. They're going to get 40% of the money. The extra 60% that's left over goes to the schools with the ratings and media exposure. So, that's your Florida states, your Miamis, your Clemsons, your North Carolina. So, Main Street.

[01:13:39] There's, what, 16 teams in the ACC right now, right? There are 18 because Notre Dame's a partial member as well. Okay. So, they're going to take 40% of the TV deal. And divvy it up. Divide it easily. Besides Cal, Stanford, and SMU. So, yes. They don't get any of that. Right. Then they're going to take the remaining 60%. The best performing, best, highly rated TV ratings.

[01:14:10] Yes. So, not by performance. Not by performance. Not performance. Just TV ratings. Just TV ratings. So, 75 North Carolina with Bill Belichick as a head coach. They're on TV all the time. They don't get that money. And Cal goes undefeated. And no one watches any of their games. Yes. Because when Cal and Stanford joined the ACC, they gave up seven years of TV money. So, the first seven years that they're in the conference, they don't get any of it.

[01:14:38] Are they getting back bread from Pac-12? They still got – well, there was a settlement. So, I don't know what the exact number is, but there was a settlement. Hopefully, that should last seven years. SMU, on the other hand, gave up nine years. Just to join the ACC? To join the ACC. To get out of the G5. They were right there. SEC was right there. Yeah. SEC don't want them. They could – I would have – if you think about it, I better go look back and say, man, we should have let Oklahoma stay. Maybe.

[01:15:07] And maybe if Florida State, Clemson, or whoever does leave, maybe that opens the door for SMU back to the – you know, to go to the Big 12 with their Texas brethren. But, you know, but with that being said, Miami and North Carolina come out of this as the winners because Florida State and Clemson got to be the big bad bullies on TV. More so Florida State bashing the ACC, talking about how awful the leadership was. Clemson was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, talk that. And then Miami and North Carolina were just chilling on the side, and now they're going to be a Clemson.

[01:15:37] Clemson's about to get all these primetime games. Yep. And you know what? I'm glad you brought that up because what do you do? You cook the books. So, you know, so next year, for example, Miami opens the season at home with Notre Dame. The year after, Notre Dame plays Miami, Florida State, and North Carolina. The year after, they play Clemson. The year after, they play Clemson and Miami. And then the year after, they play Florida State.

[01:16:05] So, you put college football university, as I like to call Notre Dame, in these games because as a partial member, Notre Dame plays five ACC. What's that? So, your signal cut out a little bit when you're running out of teams. I got, like, Notre Dame's playing Miami. Okay. Notre Dame, can you hear me now? No, it's still kind of cutting out.

[01:16:34] Okay, hold on. Yeah. Yeah, but that's a strange deal because I still think that there's going to be a bigger master plan of having, like, four major conferences and basically just putting the best 16 teams they can pull from that and making that the championship.

[01:17:03] And everybody else in college football is going to end up being second tier. So, I don't know if that happens in 2031. I don't know if teams hold out on those deals because we talked about the SEC wanting guaranteed spots and the Big Ten wanting four guaranteed spots. I just feel like they're going to use that leverage, which is, you know, play coaches want to talk about the NIL leverage that these schools are getting. I mean, this influence they have over these playoff committees.

[01:17:31] That needs to be – that's probably the biggest question. And the ACC, I think they're just holding off for dear life. They're in the best market range to make a good run at it because they just have the East Coast. So, if you talk about the East Coast time zones, time slots. Right. It's not a lot of us on the East Coast watching – Cal plays Oregon State and that game starts at 10 o'clock at night.

[01:18:01] It is unlikely that a bunch of people on the East Coast are going to watch that game to the point where the ratings are going to match North Carolina Clemson that came on at noon. Like, it's highly unlikely. So, I think Cal is a raw deal. So, testing, testing. Got you. All right. All right. So, as I was saying, this upcoming season, you know, Notre Dame opens – Notre Dame opens the season at Miami.

[01:18:29] Next year, they play Miami, Florida State, and North Carolina. In 2027, they play Clemson. In 2028, they play Clemson and Miami. And in 2029, they play Florida State. So, you're cooking the books because how do you get high ratings outside of just being the better teams in your conference? You play Notre Dame. And you know what I mean? So, Notre Dame, as a partial member of the ACC, plays five ACC opponents every year in football.

[01:18:58] All their other sports are in the ACC, basketball, so on and so forth. But in football, they play five. So, that was going to be the next thing, right? Because everybody's been trying to predict and talk about when is Notre Dame going to have to join a conference? And I don't know if they will have to. Never.

[01:19:15] But if they do have to, you know, what happens when Florida State or whoever, Florida State, North Carolina, Florida State, Clemson, whatever combination of two teams or whatever you want to come up with, what happens when they leave the ACC? I don't think Notre Dame is sticking around with this deal with an ACC that doesn't have a Florida State or Clemson or a Miami or whatever. You know?

[01:19:41] As of right now, I don't see a single reason for Notre Dame to give up their leverage. There is not a single reason because, you know, they don't share money with anybody. We don't share money. We get a lot of money. We have fans everywhere. They kept all the playoff money. Ohio State had to share. Ohio State won the national title and had to share their money. Notre Dame is getting, you know, their own TV all the time. They have fans. They have movies and documentaries.

[01:20:09] Like I said, and they put a good team out there. I know BYU was independent for a while, and they were putting up, you know, a pretty solid team with solid players, but they weren't putting, you know, 10, 11 win teams out there like Notre Dame has been doing. So check this shit out. Notre Dame has no reason to acquiesce. They get $50 million from NBC. They get $17 million from the ACC. So that's $67 million.

[01:20:38] So by themselves, they're pulling in about $5 million shy, $5 million, $6 million shy of what the Big Ten is bringing in. You know? So, yes, there's no reason. But as I was saying, if those schools, if some of those schools leave the ACC, I don't think Notre Dame is sticking around to play those five games. You know, Notre Dame is probably, you know, to themselves, they're higher than the Big 12. You know, like you're beneath me. You know? The SEC might not take it.

[01:21:09] I think the Big 12 is enough because I think the ACC is just enough to keep for their wins to be considered credible. Right. Their wins, their games are, like I said, their games are on a new. See, but that's the question. What is the Big Ten TV deal if you add Notre Dame? It's already 10 years, $7 billion. I don't think Notre Dame moves the needle for the TV deal. I think they drive up the asking price.

[01:21:35] And if I'm the Big Ten is like, I don't want. Because more likely they're going to come in and probably try to negotiate their own. Like, hey, we're joining your product. You guys are getting $72 million. We're going to join. It might jump up to $90 million. We still want $100 million. Because we're the reason you're going from $72 million to $90 million. We want $100 million. And we're Notre Dame and we can do it. If everybody else was getting like $100 million and they were still getting just $67 million,

[01:22:05] I can see them going back to the drawing board. But they'll probably give it a couple of years. But I can't see them giving up because I think they like the control. It's not just a matter of- I think so too. I agree with that. But also- They have complete autonomy over everything they want to do. So if they wanted to say, hey, you know what? We're no longer playing the five ACC games. Whatever that contract is, we void it or it ends. Now we're going to play five Big 12 schools. It depends on how good the Big 12 gets.

[01:22:32] You know, how much they play and then they can go back to the independent schedule. And they can- Especially if it gets to like 16-team playoffs. They're like, oh yeah. All we need is- So Notre Dame- We need my wins, we're in? Okay, cool. We'll play five Big 12 games. Give me my money. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so Notre Dame's deal with the ACC expires the year after the grant of rights. So 2037. You know, their deal with NBC that they just re-upped for 50 million a year runs out in

[01:23:01] 2029, which is the year before the Big 10 contract runs up. Now, yes, if I'm Notre Dame, I'm sticking with NBC. I'm making my own money and I'm getting this extra money for these dummies over in Charlotte. You know what I mean? That want to pay me money to play five games a year. Whatever. You know, but that's the thing, right? Notre Dame is the death nail, right? Because before Notre Dame had this contract with the ACC, you know who they had the contract with?

[01:23:31] The Big East. Big East. Where they at? You know what I'm saying? The Big East crumbled. And- They couldn't see the writing on the wall. And Notre Dame is actually a- But Notre Dame still gets a vote, even though, like I said, all their sports are in the ACC. Their football is independent, but they play the five games a year. But they still get a vote. So when SMU got voted in, Notre Dame was a part of that.

[01:24:01] You know Cal and Stanford? Notre Dame was a part of that. So that's what you get when you deal with Notre Dame. So if Notre Dame wants to break the contract with the ACC, the Big Ten, I don't think, is going to give them that deal. So they're going to be independent if they were interested. I don't think the Big Ten would take them in for a deal like that. Not for a deal like that, I don't think so. I think the Big Ten takes them in because no matter what, they draw eyeballs. Georgetown's in the Big East.

[01:24:30] And that's all you need. Like, I don't need Notre Dame to come into my conference and lose games and play poorly. I need Notre Dame to come into conference. They can beat, you know, two or three of our mid-lane Big Ten teams. And then maybe they match up with Michigan every once in a while. Maybe every few years they match up with Ohio State.

[01:24:53] But not every year because you need them to get 10 wins just so you can have another school that's headed towards a championship. And you can use this leverage to say, hey, we got a school that's 10-2. They lost their two games to our comp. They lost to Penn State and Ohio State. Ohio State right now is 10-2 and Penn State's 9-3.

[01:25:18] We think they should be in this 16-team playoff based off of their strong wins over Notre Dame, whatever the case may be. Right. You know, just as a bargaining chip. And I think Notre Dame understands that. So it's like they're not hitching their wagon to anybody else's horse. No, I get that. But I'm just saying, like, you know, if the ACC breaks apart, you know, they're going to want to put their basketball somewhere, you know, and their other sports somewhere.

[01:25:48] I don't think they're going to stay in an ACC that doesn't have a Florida State, Clemson, Miami, potential North Carolina, and the best team left over from a name recognition point is what? Virginia Tech? But don't you think Notre Dame is exclusive enough to where it's just a name on the front? It doesn't matter. And they can just kind of – do they need an affiliation? Do they need to be part of, you know, some kind of union?

[01:26:14] Or can they truly operate independently at a high level and be as financially or even more financially? No, I think they need the conference for the other stuff, especially the Olympic sports and all that. Like just for traveling purposes, trying to build out an independent schedule in basketball, for example, is just – No detail. Yeah, because basketball is – I know it's 40 games for the national champion, six games in the NCAA tournament.

[01:26:44] So max, you're talking 34 regular season games. But without a conference, you don't even have a conference tournament. So, you know, you have to be damn near picture perfect probably just to get an NCAA berth to begin with. So, you know what I mean? You just got to hit your wagon to the – Yeah. And you know what I mean? The best available basketball conference. So I think if Notre Dame came to the Big Ten and said, Hey, we want to play five games against your guys just like we did with the ACC,

[01:27:13] the Big Ten going to say kick rocks. You know what I mean? And then now you're stuck with – That depends on how many years Michigan is down. The SEC going to take you. You know what I'm saying? And I don't know if Notre Dame will want to go to. If Michigan doesn't come back up, if they have, you know, this Rich Rod, Brady Hoke kind of run, where it's like they're seven and five multiple years back, you know, they're changing a couple of coaches.

[01:27:36] I think they'll take on any positive publicity they can get because we know Michigan, the Maize and Blue is always going to sell, but you do need some flagship wins. And bringing in a team like Notre Dame, like I think that does – just, you know, just publicity and name only. Just the fact that I don't care what the status of the team is. Yeah.

[01:28:07] So that's it though, you know what I mean? Like I just think that, you know, 2029 is going to be an interesting year because I don't see why NBC wouldn't, you know, renew with Notre Dame. But, you know, then it's just going to turn into what are these ACC teams going to do? Because everybody's focused on Clemson and Florida. If Peacock is popping, I guarantee they'll renew it because the social – like these platforms, the streaming platforms, that's the –

[01:28:37] because you can watch it anywhere. Yeah, the Big Ten got – you know, like Apple TV has a lot of movies, but they also play – they have like an MLS deal. Yeah, they got Lionel. Paramount, I think they have some European soccer deals, like UEFA, I believe, and there's some NFL. Then they have TV shows and movies. So I believe Paramount, they're getting NBA.

[01:29:08] That's something that's – they're going to have NBA games on Peacock. I thought that was Peacock. Yeah, that's what I'm saying on Peacock. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just thinking Paramount. But Peacock's going to have the NBA games. They're going to – they get their weekly football game. And so if they keep – if they keep, you know, keep the college football thing running with the Big Ten and Notre Dame as an independent, they got the week wrapped up. They got our attention. Like I say, you throw a few TV shows that are winning Emmys

[01:29:37] and a couple of movies that are nominated for Emmys, the way Paramount's doing, you're going to keep people locked in for that $7.99 a month. Yep. It is what it is. But, you know, hey, this has been Sports Reports' Order. We will be back on Friday, you know, saying with some more around the association and some other things around the sports world. He is the world-renowned, the one and only, Mr. Lodge.

[01:30:08] Do not, I repeat, do not bring feelings to effect. Don't do it. Don't do it. You know, and of course, like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. We love you. And while you're doing the good things, have you a liquid death. You know what I'm saying? We'll see y'all on Friday, y'all. Peace and love.