Nightcap - Hour 1: Rodgers Quiet Retirement? + Steelers Expectations

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Man, welcome tonightcat.

This is day three of the hijacking that me and my boy Jake Well not the hijack, and I don't want to even use that term the takeover.

Think three of the takeover. I'm TJ Houshmazada.

That's James Harrison and later on in the show we'll be joined by Keeley Ringo, defensive back from Eagles went University of Georgia.

Uh from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Now y'all make sure y'all hit that like button, subscribe button, Text a friend, call a friend, tell them to do the same thing.

And while you're at it, top of the corner of the chat.

We got the link to mister uh Well, y'all seeing anybody that was tuned in yesterday or last night. He had a little Debo tank top off. So if you like it, go get your d bout gear. The link will be paying at the top of the chat. So go ahead and support my boy in his d baut gear. He's dressed appropriately now, he's not trying to scare anybody to show off them uh all them muscles he got.

So he got a little T shirt on today, So we good to go. First off, its good, man, always good. You know.

Had to do the same thing I do every day, workout. They ain't gonna work more boys out. They had to do some field work today. So I did my son the opportunity to get out there and and test out his ankle that he had us so secre repair.

So he's doing good.

Speaking of you boys, I don't know if we touched on this yesterday or not. How is it now that they're of age and you can actually get on the field, get in the weight room.

Work out with them instruction?

Are you want to ask are you kind of letting uh the dude you trained with because I don't know him, but we're.

Gonna get in. We're gonna we're gonna get in the end.

Also, but how is that just like working out with your sons now, I'll work out with one of them, if someone with training the other one, and then I'll switch, you know, day to day. And to be honest with you, man, it's all depending on what I'm getting from him.

If I'm a you know, jump on my butt or not.

I usually have to jump on my youngest buttery a little bit more than I do my oldest. I really don't have to jump on my oldest at all, be honest with you. He's he's more, he's more like me. He loves to do it. He wants to, you know, try and do it to the best of the best of his abilities. And you know, he wants to try and get stronger every day. My younger one, I just

But that's the only way I know how to do a position.

I got linebacker, running back and h safety running back. Okay, And so I don't know Ian, but I feel like I know him because of U n R C R C being Ryan Clark.

How did that?

Because you, where do you doing in Pittsburgh. I'm just so I assume I assumed you were still living in Pittsburgh. But you know they say when you're as you live in Pittsburgh in if I'm not correct, in Arizona. So you not playing and you still travel to Arizona to train with end obviously now your boys. But even when you were retired, you were just going out there to

What year in your career training?

I was saying, So here's something, so two thousand I think it was nine. Yeah, sorry, two thousand, oh yeah, right now, yeah, two thousand and nine, twenty ten. I started with him, And the big reason I started with him was he was doing a lot of soft tissue work for me. That's when I hurt my back. I ended up having to get surgery at the end of the season, and they locked us out. So after I got the surgery, they locked us out so I couldn't do none of my therapy anywhere, and I ended up

I got layer and laner.

You know, he helped me to actually really dial in my diet and understand what it is that I needed.

To eat, shouldn't eat.

There amounts that I could eat, and you know, come to realize, like you could smash as much he said anything that you know, runs flies or swore.

Could you can almost eat as much.

As that, you know, as you want, and then you know, stay away from anything that I was a you know, that was a car and I basically went into almost like a keto dye and dude, I I wasn't close to working out as hard as I could because I was recovering from the.

Surgery and doing the therapy of it.

But you know, I dropped down to almost you know, eight percent body fact in that time, runs flies and swim, So I get that part of it. So what about the fruit because that ain't running, flying of swimming. You can't eat all the fruits you want? Or is it because it.

Carves.

It's just you know, it's what they call good sugar, but it's still carves.

So oh man, I don't know.

Then I would get like four weeks where it would just be zero. Any cars that I got was from the meat and you know whatever else. And then you would be allowed to get like a you know, like a half cup of bears. So the only thing that you know, I was a live was berry so blackberries, blueberry strawberries. That was the lowest, man, I just ate the whole thing a blueberry. I mean blackberries, whole thing, just by myself right now, I don't know I whatever I can. I mean, look at you. You one of them

Bro, no, lie.

Last year was twenty twelve. I went to the doctor. The first time I went to the doctor after I retired was twenty twenty one.

And I retired in twenty twelve. Right, I'm not lying.

Got all that you paying for insurance and I ain't using it right, And so I go to the doctor. Boom, everything fine, no problems. So he was like, we gonna do your blood work. So I go do my blood work. And then he called me like a week later and was like, can you come.

Into the office.

I'm like, come to the office the fuck Like I'm now, I'm nervous, Like, bro, you can't tell me it's over the fault, old, but come into the office.

So then I drive.

You know, it's like forty minutes away, and he was like everything checked out fun except your cholesterol. And I'm like, first thing, I'm like, bro, I don't even eat a lot of French fries and fried food Like if my kids going to Chick fil Ai or something, i might eat a fry or.

Two, but I'm not eating the whole thing. And he's like, nah.

Refine sugar is worse for your cholesterol than fried foods. And I'm like, well, okay. And every car that I have, I keep a bag of candy in the middle console cause as soon as I get in, I'm eating the candy. And I was probably even when I was playing to when I was retired, I would probably eat four scoops of ice cream four or five days.

A week with like two sprinkle cup cats. So I was eating that like damn near every day.

He said my cholesterol, and I don't know if you know the numbers, but I was two hundred and eighty two and he wanted they wanted to be under two hundred, and I got nervous, so I literally I didn't eat any candy, any ice cream. I felt like a crackhead brou because like I was like feeding for some candy and some ice cream, but I didn't eat it for like eight months straight, nothing, nothing, and then I gradually like every blue moon. Now I'll eat some ice cream

Yeah, yeah you got.

You got a lot of guys that look, you know, looked like hercules on the outside and on the inside. You know, they you know, they waker than the you know, a three year old girl. So it's it's and then they're unhealthy too, you know what I'm saying. It's it's uh, it's a combination, especially say a three.

Year old child, not a three year old woman. A child don't like the women. They can't like like uh, but so I in his health.

As far as the food part aspect, the strength part extended your career and that's why you're there with your sons.

Yeah.

Yeah, So I'm trying to well my my oldest he he sort of got the got to understanding what it was they needed to do after he had to have a couple of surgeries, so he blew what's at sea joint? And you know, from that point forward, everything I was trying to telling him, like, dude, you got to eat right, You got to take care of your body, you know, you know, you gotta you want to expire to you know, go to college and you know, possibly go.

Further than that.

So you need to start doing the things necessary now to preserve and prolong your body. And from that point forward, last July, he actually just totally stopped eating and he really refined sugars. He's he dropped us lowest, like one fifty five after he's up to like two o seven now. So he put he put on a little over fifty pounds of bub uh my, wait, that's my weigh this morning when I woke up seven, You ain't no two seven, hey,

You ain't listen, you ain't. You ain't no tools. I'm two o seven I told her two hundred and seven pounds. I told six six two. How about you think I like this? I mean, it is possible.

I was.

I was work.

Give you like one eighty five. You know, Oh my god, that's that's Chad. That's disrespectful, Chad one eighty five. I'm just saying like I'm looking at like kind of the same built. Now you see it with Bro, don't play with me. You see my shoulders, my shoulders are huge. They're not like my shoulders are big. See this shirt is an extra large. The other day I had on a lars So then I was I was looking bigger.

Than what I am. Come on, Bro, and you and my son.

And then and then if I still were the same side shut and then you see this.

Fire power down below?

Yeah, oh hey James. When I was up, yeah yeah, paus real. When I was in uh so, you know, I went Juco. I went Juco. And then when I was in college, no bullshit, you know, I benched three hundred and ninety five pounds.

I did too much.

Listen, I could believe that because a lot of our skilled dudes when I was in college were super strong.

There.

I did two twenty five twenty three times. I was squatting like four fifty. My vert was thirty nine. Yeah, no, lot, swear a guy. I promise you to see it's crazy because I had this. Everybody old TJ will slow to you know what tomorrow will see if I be finding it. Bro I went, I ran ten five and one hundred meters in junior college, twenty one to three in the two hundred Sorito's junior college. Yeah, I mean that's that's that's cool. That's cool.

You know that. I mean they kind of doing that in high school right now, but you know.

Yeah, yeah, they they much. I'm just saying, yeah, man, I weighed that nice. I was once seventy eight getting out of high school. Me and you was around. Hey, I was wanting not to vear your high school. Oh so we're about the same weight.

Yeah yeah.

My player said, I was a you know, it's always two inchest and twenty pounds, he said.

I was six two two ten. You know what I'm saying.

Hey, And I came into the league at two eighteen when Marvin Lewis got there cause you know, bick Leboga was my coach.

My first two in the league.

Then when Marvin Lewis got to the Bengals, he basically made me lose weight. So then I got to about two oh five. He was like, uh, the NFL, it's not about being big, it's how you move. I need you to lose weight. And I was ripped. I'm built like I'm ripped up. I'm like where Lois where at? And I lost weight?

Yeah? You did? You?

Like on that field, I was drinking that milkshake, those like four scoops ice creaming and I'm making milkshake sometimes at night. I just stopped doing that because I the ice cream and then some nights I'll make a milkshake. Yeah, And I just lost weight. That's simple, that's easy. All you got to do is stuff away from the table. A lot of people don't understand that, Like I.

Don't eat that much. I only eat once a day.

But you snacking all throughout the day and you tearing up, you know, three four hundred carbs, you know from all the high fatty food little chips here, you know, nuts here and all the other you know, all the other stuff, you know, trail mix and all that, and they think, you know it don't really count them Like, yeah, hey, so what was it about RC when you saw him that made you want to go work with Ian? Because he referred? What wasn't that you saw an RC that

My recovery.

The build up was totally different than you know, what you're going to get you know at the team, how they proceed and do their therapy. You know, his understanding of how the body works, what's going to you know, what you combined with this and what you combined with that to you know, to get a better result. You know from you know, just even exercise. You know what I'm saying, combining different exercises to get up what city n in Arizona here and Scott Stale he's sent timping.

Now, man, I might have to go funck with in.

I might have to take my son out because I had terrible back problems.

You know what I'm telling you. If I if I had had IN at.

The very beginning of my career, I almost feel like one hundred percent that I would have never had to have the surgery. Really no, yes, Like you got to realize, you know, they say, oh, well, your need is you know, it's it's wearing tear. The cartilage is scraping, so they want to go in and scope it.

Right.

Well, what you don't understand is not just wearing tear. Something's not firing right. Your muscles aren't functioning the same way they were before, so it's causing your knee to not wear into that same groove, this edging off like this, and now it's scraping on that cartage. So what they go in and do is they go in and fix what's giving you the paint. They don't actually fix what causes it. They're not fixing to win and actually did

Me he and number. Let Ian know you gave me his number.

So when I hit him up, he ain't acting like he don't know who I am.

I doe and let him know. You go ahead, you go hit him up. But a busy see.

So it's a bunch of guys out here right now. So oh no, I'm just it's for the future. I listen me working out. I'm gonna work. I'm doing I'm doing Jim Jones workout. Man, I'm going to pull up. But we don't do that. If that's what you come and do.

Don't come here.

I'm talking about for my son, Like wait, I haven't man, I ain't got under a bench press.

I then not benched at least ten years, at least. It's it's it's a few.

It's been a number of guys that come here talking about that. You know, they're ready to get it in and they go through late day and then we don't see him no more. See But that ain't me though, Like mentally, I'm an animal. I'm like the Navy seal up here, and I'm not quitting with nothing. I'll I'll die before I quit. That's one thing that I would. I won't quit like I'm throwing up. You're sign.

Dude won't come back after a hard day that bro, No no, no, no, no, no no, they don't come back at all. That ain't me.

That's think you don't see him no more. Cats get a weekend there and they're like, yeah, this is what it is.

Yeah, this what it is. It's work over here and pp ain't no ho and me, that's what I'm not sure.

That's one thing like no, no, no, now, I guess I just looked like this, but I'm coming back.

Yeah, you know, come on, I want to be love.

We love to work like you know delay, I ain't gonna lie to you. Man, your first couple of leg days, probably your first two three weeks of legs.

You know what I'm saying.

Normally the cycle goes, uh Monday's legs and Thursday's legs and then uh Tuesdays basically back uh chest back.

We call it push pul. Wednesdays is cores, it's core.

Friday its shoulders, and Saturdays it's by tries to do six days a week here.

My core is strong.

My core strong is hell because I always had a bad back, so I made sure that my course. It ain't no I'm doing all cores like I'm killing that. That's gonna be the easy day for me.

All right. I'm telling.

I'm telling you I just if I really worked out, I'll be built like you. I just today I heard you. Don't get me wrong, You'll make it through it. But you I know I'm gonna make it. You gonna hurt, no question, Like i'mna act like it don't hurt. It's impossible, man, and bro crimise is impossible. I'm pulling up. I'm pulling up, so the he he doesn't got and then when my son get of age, I'm bringing him out there for sure, for sure, start up young.

You know r C sign Jeorde.

Yeah he's yeah, yeah, he's all he's out here right now. But you know, he went to Arizona State, so he actually got to do when he was in Arizona State, he got to work with him. And I don't know if I just like work with him from day one, you know what I'm saying. And RC is still going out there working on like he playing or she got his thing too little DV precision though, yees see.

So I trained. I trained a lot of guys for the draft every year.

I've been doing it now, like five years, all receivers, and I don't trained probably like in the last five years, probably thirty first and second rounds.

Okay, that's what's up.

Yeah, Like knock on Wood the last four years, that guy right there, I done trained through the top freaking receiver of the league the last four years. Okay, okay, yeah, And that that part of it is fun.

I like.

I like the being able to teach him and the why Okay, look when he plays you this way. These are the things that we want to do. These are the things that we are looking for. We understand zone, where to sit, I'm looking, I'm teaching them protections. I'm okay, I want you to look inside. If it looks like it's a blitz and it's going to be picked up, understand what you can do. If it looks like it's a blitz and it's not going to be picked up.

I'm like, exactly.

Then we going over protect going over what the middle linebacker job is covered for, what the safety job is cover for? What is in cover three? Cover three, Scott, what's the fire zone? We're going through all that, that part of it. That's partly why I'm probably not chubby. I got too much party to get chubby. But when they when I know the training is coming around, I gotta make sure I'm I'm in shape because I got to move around with them like tomorrow.

I ain't gonna lie to say I got fat there from men.

So but hey, tomorrow, I'm hopping on the track and I'm running hopping on the track and I'm gonna run for a good hour to get it in. Dude, Yeah, I'm too heavy to run that long?

How much? Cho way I dropped? I so you about two fifty I'm not at like two fifty five to six? What was you like two eighty?

Oh, Chad just text meal. Oh he don't want no problems. I'll knock his ass out. Yep, he'll get tired in the first round. Till chat him down there, Till chat them down to two fifty five. Okay. He said he wore a tank top yesterday. Thought it was gonna scare me. He realized I ain't get scared when he put a T shirt on. Nah, it's my suppling to company, me and my partner in its optimum me and fast.

Yeah, they gonna go.

Yeah, the people's gonna go click, and they gonna they're gonna support you the d boat here and the optimums and lift it up a little bit more, lift it up a.

Little bit more. E had fax. There we go, there it is, So let's get let's get into some football. Let's get us some football.

Show your hometown team, the team that you will be going into the Hall of Fame as representing this team, Pittsburgh Steater. So Aaron Rodgers, she say, I don't want the attention. When I'm done playing, you won't see me. Uh, when it's all, when this is all said and done, it's Kayser soul saying, you won't see me. I won't be in public. In public, I won't live a public life. That's why it's so strange what's going on right now in my private life, because I don't want to live

How one do you believe that too? How is it going from a player?

And when you're a good player as you were, and I was you in a public eye, you can't. You can't go to the grocery store, anywhere you go you sign an autographs. Do you believe that's possible for Aaron Rodgers? Do I believe it's possible for him to go off the map and be not sicking?

Do you think he'll do that? I don't know.

He body want to go into the drug and do what he was doing with Fold, Like, I mean, that's what I mean, that's possible.

I would think so, But does he really want to do it? If I know him better?

And then just all the stories I hear, from all the stories I hear, I don't believe there's no way in hell.

He believed he's saying what he actually fills.

Okay, you don't know Aaron Rodgers, but you played with Ben Roethlisberger. Is is that like no comparison, No, no, no comparison at all.

No, Man, that that's that's that's why? Why is that? To explain that? From the what I.

Get from the media with Aaron, Ben is not it's nowhere near there. You know what I'm saying, Like the caliber of just you know, over the top thiss and and and kind of just calling guy out and throwing cats under the bus, you know, coaches and all. I just didn't.

I didn't. I didn't get that from Ben. You know.

It may have been situations in circumstances where he may have said something and it was it was taken by the media as that, but I'm you know, almost ninety percent sure he probably set it to ing behind closed doors before it was even said.

So I just didn't.

You know, the only thing that may have happened with Ben, like in his when he was younger, was you know,

Y'all, you know, like, oh my god, he played through so much. You got the three so it's great. So okay, now you played well, you played for Mike Tomlin. Do you believe Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin.

They can make this relationship, this partnership work knowing.

That, so I think they can make it work if they win it.

If they started losing and it's looking like they ain't gonna make above them five hundred, I think it gets you real, ugly real fans, like to the point of like they don't think about what I'm saying, to the point of like they may just be like, you know what, let's let this dude go mid season for Aaron, Like, let's just get him rightdy to put one of these other quarterbacks in.

You know, Mike t ain't going over. Mike t ain't going nowhere.

So everybody that believes, you know, my team needs to go somewhere, that's not going to happen.

You got a coach right now. You don't believe it's possible.

You don't think it's in the realm of any possibility that Aaron Rodgers can get Mike Tomlin fired at all. No only person to get Mike tom Mike tom If he goes and you know, and puts up a couple losing seasons, then I don't see him getting fired.

You know, he has a number of years left on his contract.

I could see the possibility of them not renewing him, but not fired. That's just something that the Stiller is not going to do, especially after having you know, this much success over that long a time frame without a losing season. Don't get me wrong, Yes, I understand, man, we have not won a playoff games since twenty sixteen, and then it ain't gonna wait one this year either, and that is a huge That is a huge drought.

There and check it out, so I don't yeah to me, I see it work.

When you win covers up a lot, covers up a lot, covers up a lot. When you start losing, then it's gonna come out because man should have signed earlier. Motherfucker waiting til Mini count to sign. You'd have been here in the OTA's and have something to say when you start losing. But when you win and it kind of just covers up, it comes all all the bs. It covers up all the bs, It covers all the stuff

Now?

They're looking. You think the Steelers can make the playoffs? Do I think the Steelers can make the playoffs? Yeah? Really? Yeah? Who they gonna who they gonna knock out? Because let's just go through it right now? Right? Mm hm?

We got the Chiefs in there, right yeah, right? The Chargers. No, they made it last year. Jim Harball got lucky. No, no, no, Jim Harball his second year as a head coach. Everywhere he's been has been a huge jump. You think that jump is not gonna continue or you think it stops just this year?

Every every place he's big. No, I'm playing with okay, would I'm not putting.

Hold up, Litten. We're gonna go through the AFC, and I want you to tell me who they gonna knock out. So we think the Chiefs, the Chargers, the Broncos. That's the AFC West because those all three were playoff teams last year. Bow Knicks in his second year, he's probably gonna be better with Sean Payton. No, you gonna have that sophomore. Let them off ward swamp huh okay. And then you go to the AFC East, the Bill's gonna be in. So that's four teams that made it AFC North.

You gotta realize something. Of all those teams.

You said, I feel like our defense can play better and if we get a quarterback that can. Actually, I don't believe y'all defense was better than the Broncos defense last year.

They wasn't better in the Broncos.

The Broncos had one of the best defenses in the league with two of the better pass rushers in the league.

I said it could play better. I didn't say it was better.

But if they didn't play better last year and you got the young defense that got better in Denver, because now this is what this how I look at it. The Steelers gonna be competing with these teams because it's gonna be one spot for all these teams. I'm about the name the Miami Dolphins, then New England Patriots, and the Bengals. Those three teams Yeah, we got all them. Huh, we got all them.

Ya can't y'all not beating us? Mhm, y'all not beating us? Come on now, they're not gonna beat us. Yes, y'all can't stop us. Stop lou.

Joe Burrow, Jamar, Chase t Higgins, Chase Brown, Mike Deseki, y'all not stopping us? And then that and then that old line we had last year. Huh we had last year one and one, I'm saying. And the bad part is the game that y'all won. It was uneffing bro We let Russell Wilson shred us for four hundred yards in the air. Best game of the season. We got new defensive coordinator. I'll bet money on that we're gonna beat you'all last ball games this year.

Hey, you know what now that.

We're talking about the Steelers and beingles producer, say, y'all got the clip that we was talking about yesterday when I did my shoes, So we can get in that real quick before Kivy ring go get.

On, y'all got y'all got that?

Okay, hold up, Paulsey, Paulsey, Paulsey pauses right quick, paulsa right quick?

So let's go backstory, right. So that season we were one of the best teams in the league. Were all young.

Carson our quarterback, myself, Chad Chris Henryette receiver made me rest in peace.

We was damned the unbeatable.

Our offense was top three in the league, if I'm not mistaken. Our defense total yards weren't good, but they were number one in force turnovers. And uh we played the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and I forget. The hotel we stayed at was a big ass hotel at Pittsburgh. Man and I get on the elevator a bunch of Pittsburgh Steeter fans and then you know, they talking shit, but they being super cool. So I told buddy, they had terrible towels and they're just waving them and I'm just

Yeah, it's so uh.

We come out for pregame. We come out for pregame, and I got it on to my left side as a streamer.

So I'm warming up with that thing, you know, with that thing now, and Marvin walks by me and he snatches it.

So I turn around because I'm to myself pregame.

I turn around, like, Mark, give me it back. Bro with you.

I'm like, I'm trying to take it back. He wouldn't give it back to me. So the whole game, obviously I didn't have it. So the game ends, by the way, I had a great game. I had two touchdowns over I think I had over one hundred yards, but I know I for sure had two touchdowns.

So as we walk.

Into the tunnel, it was hanging out at I guess he must have given it to a huge It was kind of I could see part of it hanging out the back pocket of his pants.

Man, I'm pulled that ship right on out. I'm running off the field like this, and then I get.

Towards the tunnel and I was like, let me sit down and just do this now, y'all go ahead, play it, go ahead, play it.

So I just start doing that. Just it was just kind of impromptu.

I hadn't thought about it, and I didn't think anything of it.

Yeah, that was what down for right there, Baby, I didn't I didn't think anything of it. I was just having fun. Right, You never heard the Curse of the Terrible Time? Hey, I didn't.

Real It's real crazy because I'm I talk a lot of video I play video games, right, just Madden. I'm in a Madden chat right now, the chat. Damn there every player in the chat that is from Pittsburgh. They all love the Steelers. And so when they because I don't tell people who I am, so when they found out it was me, I know them boys hate me because I'd be talking shit, they be talking. I just lost one of these motherfuckers and the uh AFC championship

Yet, Like.

That was my super Bowl, because had that not happened to Carson when they introduced me, they would be saying super Bowl champ tj Wuschmanzada because nobody was beat nutst that year.

If you didn't, if you didn't grub up your feet on that time, Oh, we lose a game.

Carson Palmer gets hurt first play, Chris Henry gets hurt the first play, which was at fifty sixty yard bomb. If you recall first play the game, we bombed the fuck out of y'all and both of those guys go down. Now, let's rewind explain because I've heard it so many times, but bits and pieces of it, Bill Coward and head coach explain all that that led up into it, and

Hitting low, cheap cheap shot at him. Nah, you know, Quo don't cheap shot cheat. No, he's a he's a stand up dude. I wasn't. He didn't cheap shotting purposely. But it was a late hit and it was low. It was low.

I don't know how lady was. He was kind of falling into it, so towards a cl Yeah, it was. But with that being said, I believe we were up. It was either seventeen seven at halftime or seventeen ten. We still should have won the game. We had a lot of uh, we had a lot of mishaps at halftime. Chapter explain that to y'all when he comes back, he can explain that to y'allf we want to, y'all ask Chad, you know what the mishaps were had halftime. But yeah, man,

Catch Catch. Don't understand and realize all of the nuances that.

Go into each season and each game and each play and.

How this play right here could have turned out differently.

And they don't understand how hard this get back, especially when you get there like young. You know, it's like a no, that ship, that ship is. I was like, we're gonna be back next year and never got back. We was always good on offense, though I will say that we were still running and gunning on offense. We is out that bitch like the patis of the Golden State Warris. We just love the pacers, We like the words, but we just the points.

We just we won't winning. You'll only go to four.

Yeah.

Yeah, we wasn't do to state because that's winning championships. Volume