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Welcome in What Driving the Great? Episode two fifty four A ton to Do Today? All Sports on Today's show, No Networkers Sports media Commentary. However, I did do Colin Coward's podcast last night, and he is often does baited me after a couple because Colin, Colin and I do these podcasts at night and we're both having a cocktail, and then he usually about an hour into the podcast, when I think it's about over and I'm, you know, finishing my large glass of wine that I started with,
he starts jumping me with political topics. And yesterday I just kind of was in the mood. So if you want to hear my thoughts on the last month in the American presidential race, vice presidential candidates and such, that Cowards podcast probably comes out later today. But rather than promote podcasts other than my own, might as well if
I'm doing that, tell you like, rate, subscribe, review. Our YouTube numbers have kind of stalled a bit, probably because we haven't been telling you guys to subscribe to the YouTube channel, but also because it's not football season. Demons has just got the one sad plaque leaning up against the wall in his apartment because he hasn't yet hung it up. So try to get some more before we get to the show. Let's get to what Miss Serbia USA is not gonna make the show because it hasn't
happened yet. France, Germany is happening about an hour from now when we're taping and live on YouTube Serbia USA. This is the third Team USA basketball game demanse that tips off right when first things first starts, and I don't get the daily ratings, and I don't really look
at the daily ratings unless it's football season. But I've got to imagine it hasn't been good for the show that I bet I could look at just a ratings graph and just without dates and be like, oh, team USA was playing, Team USA was playing, so not great for US. Rudy Gobert maybe had finger surgery. He didn't, but I maybe, I don't know. And Arizona, the Arizona Cardinals introduce a truly grotesque creation, which is a burrito of candy wrapped in cotton candy. It looks truly abhorrent.
All right, Jamanse, Let's get to the actual NFL news if we could.
Yeah, one of the huge stories of this NFL offseason is if Brandon Ayuk is gonna leave the forty nine Ers. Your guy Andrew Philipponi is reporting that there's been a verbal agreement between Pittsburgh and San Francisco.
So it's all but final. But this would this be a bigger ad.
For Pittsburgh or a bigger loss for party in San Francisco.
Oh, that's an interesting way to put it. I mean, it would be a massive ad for Pittsburgh. If the Steelers get competent quarterback play, they're a legitimate team. They assuming they add Ayuk, we know the defense is good. They might have the best defensive player in the league in TJ. Watt. Last year, they found their way into the playoffs again thanks to a few really good quarterback games by Mason Rudolph. We know they're gonna be well coached.
You have some offensive line questions for him, and I think they're running back duo is a little overrated. But if George Pickens all of a sudden gets dropped down to your number two receiver and Ayuk's your number one, then the question just is, can Fields or Russ just give you the eighteenth best quarterbacking season in football? And that should be enough to contend for a playoff spot
and not contend for a Super Bowl. But it would be a great ad for Pittsburgh to the San Francisco side of things, because I do believe this is a fate accompany that Brandon Ayuk is going to up with the Pittsburgh Steelers, that right now they're haggling over some financial details with Ayuk while they've they've hammered out the trade details with Sam Francisco. That's what Andrew Philipponi is reporting.
I've known Andrew for gosh darn man, almost twenty years, and no one is more connected to the Steelers than he is, So I trust his information. Even though the National insiders are saying, you know, Andrew's saying it's the one yard line. The National folks are saying it's closer to the ten yard line. I trust Andrew. If you're the Niners, this is a debacle. And that is not because they can't compete without Ayuk. That's not what I'm saying.
It's a debacle of process. If you were going to trade Brandon Ayuk, you've got to do it before the draft, when Pittsburgh was offering you a first round pick that you could have used in this year's draft, left for a player that can help you this season. The Steelers, by the way, in this year's draft, had the twentieth pick, took Troy fott new from the tackle from Washington, a player the Niners. I don't know if they would have picked him, but an offensive lineman could have really helped him.
When you don't trade Ayuk before the draft, then you've got to just be willing to hold your water and be like, no, we're not trading him. We're going to and if we lose him next year for nothing, or if we franchise Tag him and work.
Out a trade player.
So so that.
Answer to the locker room.
So that is exactly the point Demon's. So that's the smart point because we talked about this on the show yesterday, which is what leverage does Ayuk have? And the answer is exactly that. And I think folks underrate that how big of an impact that can have because they don't
look at football teams like workplaces. But anyone that's ever worked in an office and had someone there that was important that they couldn't just get rid of, that wasn't afraid they were going to be fired, who every day walked in with a bad attitude, who talked to people behind people's backs, who just sucked the energy out of
any room they go into. Anyone that's experienced that knows that has real impact on other people's ability to do their work, on other people's enjoyment of going to work. And if you're in a team environment, whether it's a literal team like a football team or a regular workplace where you work as a team, that can totally derail you.
So that's clearly what the Niners are afraid of. The point I'm making Demons is they needed to determine before the draft, if we don't trade Ayuk and if we don't give him thirty million a year or whatever the number is, is that the route he's going to take. And if so, then we've got a trade. And we don't think we can deal with that, then we've got to trade him. And the other reason de Monday that I think this is so mishandled is this isn't a shock.
This didn't catch any He has been flirting with Washington and Pittsburgh for months, openly talking about it on podcasts, putting out ig videos saying, oh they're done with me? Should doing a TikTok where he's breaking down the commanders all twenty two Like, this wasn't a Oh my god, who could have seen this coming? Everyone saw it coming.
So if you saw it coming, had an opportunity to trade him before the draft and decided not to to all of a sudden, you know, lose your metal a month before the start of the season is concerning, and I think it's damaging, significantly damaging for the Niners.
Let's go on and okay, are we on to the next topic? He no, no, no, we can do with the other stuff on this Christian McCaffrey.
Being hurt in them trading Ayuk away. What do you think San Francisco's future is for this year?
Well, McCaffery, they're not cooked, but last year they got outstanding health by all the Avengers. Right now they're in this situation. Trent Williams is holding out. He's the best player on the team. I think that'll get resolved, but it's not ideal. Christian McCaffrey, wh who the two healthiest portions of his career have been this time with San Francisco, is dealing with a calf strain before the season starts.
That's not ideal. Ricky Persall Pearsall, their first round pick has been hurt three separate times in camp, and even if none of those are significant injuries, that is a double red flag. The first one is, ah man, did we draft a player that's gonna have major medical concerns? And the other one is rookies need training camp more than anybody. And Ayuk, who was Perty's only consistent deep downfield target last year. The reason Perty wasn't a dink
and dunker was because of Brandon Ayuk. He was fourteen yards per attempt to Ayuk six and a half yards per attempt to everyone else on the team. All those things you put them together to bat offseason. Uh, and so that good. Go ahead.
Yeah, it also seems like Iyuk was angling to play with Jaden Daniels in Washington's GM came from San Francisco with Washington not being interested in you, is there something to read into there?
So what I readed into that is that Washington understands that as of this moment, they don't have an NFL I shouldn't say NFL caliber, but good enough even close to good enough offensive line, and they need their draft capital to spend on that in future years. They're not It's not like Washington this year thinks we're competing for
a championship. They have Terry McLaurin, they have Donson, they have wide receiver is not their glaring need offensive line is And for them to you know, trade away elite draft resources for what would be a luxury, which is another wide receiver is one of the deeper spots on the commander's team. That's so I underste right, and I don't and I think they know that they are going to have to spend a massive amount of draft capital over the next few years building up that offensive line.
They signed Tyler Biadis from Dallas this year. They signed my pal Nick Alighretti from the Chiefs this year. Their starting left tackle right now is a rookie third round pick. They, I mean, they they need the offensive line help. And when you've spent a first round pick on Dotson two years ago and Terry mclaurin's a really good player, it just seems almost like a luxury they can't quite afford. That's how By the way, Starver in the mic, that's
how I read it. I listen. I'm not covering the Commanders on a daily basis, but if I were running the Commanders, I would say, this is a luxury. We are not, you know, we almost don't deserve yet we need to do. We need to build up the rest of our football team first. All right, let's move on.
Fair enough.
Yeah, So hard knocks with the Bears and Caleb Williams is officially kicked off. Nick Saban came out and said that high expectations could stunt Caleb's growth. You actually came out and said that Caleb could be in the Super Bowl this year. So do you think that you're contributing to Caleb Williams potential downfall. U.
So here's the thing. I I think that if it were a trendy consensus pick, I think that might be a you know, not great for him. I right now, they're over under is set at eight and a half. They have the fifteenth best Super Bowl odds in a thirty two team league. There isn't too much hype. And what Caleb, what people? I understand what Saban is saying
in that expectations. Can you know that if you'd the expectations, if they're too high and you don't live up to them, the damage it can do to you as a young player. What where I think Saban's mistaken is Mistaken's the wrong word. The context I would add to Saban's point is the expectations for Bears fans is the standard is so low. They've never had a four thousand yard passer. They've never
had a thirty touchdown thrower. The all time franchise leader in passer rating for the Chicago Bears is Mitch Trubisky. The single best quarterback season they ever had was Eric Kramer thirty years ago. Jim Harbaugh was their starting quarterback for four years in the nineties and never threw sixteen touchdown passes. Okay, so Caleb just going out there and being slightly above average is going to put Bears fans
and Bear's local media over the moon. So no, I understand Saban's point, but I don't think the expectations are too high. Let's go to the other follow ups.
Uh.
Yeah, So both Caleb and Josh Allen are set to play against each other this weekend. What are you gonna be looking out for for both of them?
Well, I'm very curious for Caleb, he's gonna have opportunities to run and make plays with his legs. I would prefer he doesn't do much of that in the preseason. And for Josh, I'm curious who his theoretical number one target is gonna be. There have been pretty good reports out of Bill's training camp about Khalil Shakir. I'm interested in what that looks like. Everybody loves Keon Coleman, and
then there's Curtis Samuel. It's kind of a hodgepodge. Keon Coleman a first round or second round pick, but Rookie and the other reports are that my guy two time Super Bowl champion, NBS might get cut. Sneaky reports out of New England and Buffalo are that Juju and MBS, the Chiefs two top receiving targets the last two years, might not make either of those rosters. And it's not
like New England and Buffalo have stacked receiver rooms. So that's that's what I'll be watching for those guys in that game, all right.
Next, as your prediction more about Caleb in Chicago or your lack of faith in the NFC.
It's a both. It's both. I think that you look at the the NFC. We're gonna get to the Eagles issues in a moment, but they're well documented and they collapsed last year. The cow had a miserable, miserable offseason. I'm the only person that cares about this, but I do care about it. The Lions lost their kicker for the year, and I think that matters, and that's like a sneaky important injury. There's no one in the NFC South I think as a contender. The Niners are going backwards,
not forwards. So that leaves the Rams who had Aaron Donald retire, and then the Packers, and I just think the Packers because they were so great in that playoff game, people are slightly overstating how good they were over the course of the whole season. So all of that, plus the fact that I think Caleb's going to be an instant star, is why I'm putting you know, I'm putting some stock in that. All right, let's go on to Hurts and Sirianni.
Uh.
Yeah, So a new report said that Hurts and Sirianni's relationship was fractured last year. So instead of this story dying a little while back when it first came out, it's getting more life. So it sounds like there's something really there. Who do you think has more pressure to.
You know, to make amends Sirianni.
Hurts, Well, listen, I think Sirianni is more pressure to make amends. But I think Jalen Hurt sneakily is under massive pressure this year. And we talked about this on the show yesterday. So follow me on this, Demanse. Here's here's the point that I would be making that I'm trying to make, and I understand it's a little counterintuitive. If Nick Sirianni gets fired by the Eagles, his next
job is head coach of an NFL team. His winning percentage plus three years, three playoff appearances, plus a Super Bowl appearance means if he gets fired, he gets another head bite at the head coaching apple almost guaranteed. I know that folks are gonna say that I'm getting ahead of myself here. But if the Eagles sits sour on Jalen Hurts, Typically, when a team that drafts you and invests in you decides oh, you're not the guy, your next job is then a quarterback competition. That's what it
was for Darnold. That's what it was for Baker. It wasn't that for Golf, and Golf ended up, by the way being the best example of this. It's what it was for Carson Wentz. It didn't work well, and I know people are like, my god, they had a pretty quick trigger on Jalen Hurts. The point I'm trying to make is this, it Hurts is mediocre this year, then you're going to look at his eight year sample of big time football and say, in college he didn't look
like a franchise quarterback. Early in his career, didn't look like a franchise quarterback. The last couple of years he didn't look like a franchise quarterback. It was the one season when he damn near won League MVP, when he played a brilliant Super Bowl, and no one can take that away from him. But the more we get away from that in time until he has another year similar to that, I think there's going to be growing concern. So I think both of these guys are under massive
pressure for slightly different reasons. Looks like you have a question, Demonsey, So you're.
No, no, no, I understand what you're saying. And I think I'm not sure how long Sirianni. How long has Sirianni been a head coach?
So this three years and three playoff appearances.
Exactly, and has a longer sample size, and Sirianni has a shorter one, and it's better, so.
Well and and listen, and I'm no Sirianni guy. And Hurts doesn't have much longer sample size because when I say eight years, I'm talking including colleges and having to transfer from Alabama. But it's just I think that this is the other place where draft bias works. Again. The whole league had an opportunity to take Jalen in Round one. Nobody did which means there are certain teams or a lot of teams theoretically that looked at him as a
certain level prospect. Teams stick with those biases. Sometimes it's the same. The flip side of that happens a lot. When a guy who was a top ten pick is never good, teams keep taking chances on him because they're like, man, we had him graded as the seventh best player in the draft when we get him, even if he's been in the league four years and being cut by two teams, and so it's not like Jalen was a sixth round pick. But I just think his footing is less certain than
most people tend to believe. And this article did not do him or Sirianni any favors. All right, let's move on to hoops real quick.
All right, So I'm gonna talk a little bit about Lori marketing, but it's actually about Steph Curry, So just walk with me here. After failing to complete a deal with the Warriors, the Jazz extended marketing, Golden State wasn't willing to include pods into any trades, So how should Steph feel about them prioritizing the future instead of the end of his career.
Well, yeah, so I thought, I think this is the exact right angle. So I think that the Lurie Markinen signing is actually a Warrior Steph Curry story because Mark, it's not just that he signed the extension with Utah, it's when he signed it. So he did what Lebron did a couple of years ago, which is signed the extension at a late enough date into the offseason where he's untradable this year. When you sign an extension in
the NBA, you cannot be traded for six months. So if you sign an extension or a free agent deal at the beginning of free agency, you can be traded in like January, right because of when he signed it, those six months expire the day after the trade deadline, so he's untradeable this entire season. That's why it's noteworthy because the Warriors were in on marketing. A lot of people thought they were gonna get marketing. They didn't, and then people thought, Okay, well maybe they'll get him during
the year. Now it's impossible, no one can trade for Lauri market in this season, which means the Warriors, much like the Lakers, didn't get better. The Lakers did nothing. The Warriors, you know, lost Clay and added some you know pieces to replace him, but nothing significant. And so I said briefly yesterday on the show Lurie Mark and and signing his extension when he did, made it one percent more likely that Stephan Lebron one day play together.
One percent because I just think that the war Steph is going to have another frustrating year. And I think these guys playing on Team USA man are like, especially the older guys Steph, Lebron and KD are looking around saying, we're still good enough, guys, and our teams aren't. The Lakers are seemed just totally fine, standing pat because nobody wants to make a big decision, because nobody wants accountability
for the decision. The Warriors sneakily are not trying to spend a bunch of money, and now they have been. They've spent more money than any team in the league over the last decade, but now they're quietly trying to pair that down. The Suns, on the other end, are trying to do a lot, but they don't know what they're doing. So those three guys are kind of stuck, and I find it pretty fascinating.
If that was one with if that was plus one percent, what is the percentage of Lebron and Curry playing together now.
One day in their careers? If I added one percent to it, I'm gonna say it's now at sixteen percent. Okay, one and six shot. It was at fifteen, Now it's at sixteen a one in six shot. So roll a die and see if you can call the number. That's the odd that's the odds one and six. That's what I think.
What else? Uh does Golden State looking down the road?
Do you think that has anything to do with Steph kind of lacking in this Olympic run?
No, I don't buy that at all. And no, I don't think that's it. I think that I think it's a money thing. I honestly think it's a money thing. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe again, I'm not a reporter on the ground there. But when the owner comes out and says, our number of months ago, our number one goal is to get under the tax kind of tells you it's a money thing right now for them. And then what's the last one?
If Vegas offered a bet like a step to end his career as a warrior, yes or no? What would the odds look like right now.
Minus three hundred yes, plus two eighty No. But that's you know, it's one and four about that. He doesn't that's the it's it's not nothing, guys, That's all I'm saying. It's not nothing. Quick break right back? What's right?
All right?
Welcome back in what's right? With nick right demands? Let's get to uh some dues and dons of camp fights before we get to our game today.
Yes, with joint practices underway across the league, fights are breaking out everywhere. It's not just from team to team, it's even teammates. DK Metcalf tried to pull a Miles Garrett on his teammates straight. I think he snatched one of his teammates helmet off and try to hit another teammate with it.
You're on the records.
You're on the record saying that you don't mind camp fights, but you don't want receivers punching helmets.
So break it down. Were are some dudes and some don'ts.
Well, yeah, listen, the quarterback can never be involved. Daniel Jones, your guy demons tried to get involved in a camp fight. That's ridiculous. You can't use any weapons, and don't punch helmets. You can see, you can slap, you can.
Do Daniel Jones my guy anymore. He's not what do you mean he's my guy?
Oh you're abandoning him. But yeah, okay, fair enough. You can do a Deacon Jones head slap to a helmet, you can do a mush face. There are things you but you can't punch helmets, you can't use helm's his weapons, and you can't have your quarterback involved. It's actually, we don't need to spend much time on it. Those are the obvious rules. And don't if you're a fringe roster guy, don't start a fight with a star on the team. Just don't. It's just bad business. Okay, like the It's
just I understand wanting to show fight. There's different things. You can maybe bait the star into starting a fight with you, but you can't be the one to start the fight with the star. Everybody knows this. All right, let's play a game.
We're playing right in today. First off, we got chiefs and Andy Reid. Andy Reid said that he's gonna he's gonna play the starters for the first quarter versus the Jaguars this weekend a Kansas City playing the Ones against Jacksonville.
Is I mean, here's the thing I don't understand, and why more NFL teams don't say, Hey, what does Andy Reid do in the preseason in training camp? Yeah, let's go ahead and do that. The team that, aside from last year, starts every year undefeated in September and is more ready than everybody. And even before Mahomes got there, you know what, came into the season in great shape doing things. Why don't we do what he does. It's baffling to me. More people, I just don't get it.
And I understand. It's like, well, Sean McVeigh sat everyone in preseason years ago when they started eight. No, I get that, and I'm not saying it's one size fits all. What I am saying is the Chiefs run one of the toughest training camps in football. They have the best player in the league, he plays in the preseason and it's seems to work. So I just don't understand why more teams don't copy it. That's all. So Andy Reid playing his starters in the preseason is the right move
because Andy's the best coach in the league. I just just just like when for fifteen years Bill Belichick when he was at the top of his game. You know what he did in the draft traded down consistently. Oh you desperately want the forty seventh pick, well give us fifty six and one oh four and we'll do it. Oh you desperately want the twenty eighth pick, well give us thirty five and fifty eight and we'll do it. And it and it worked. I just just figure out who the best in the field are and copy what
they're doing. Is a pretty tried and true way to succeed. Go ahead.
So before practice, the Chiefs were asked who the goat basketball player was, and Lebron won that debate, but Montre Washington said Carmelo Anthony was the vat.
Do you think was going on there?
Carmelo Anthony Edwards got one vote, Larry Bird got one vote. But the story of this was Kobe got six, Mike got seven, and Lebron got seventeen, which to which I'll say,
you're welcome, America. I mean the if you want to see the impact my consistent dedication to truth and accuracy in the most important debate in sports MJ Lebron the impact it has well, A team full of kids who never saw Mike play barely, you know, most of them didn't see much of Kobe either, who happened to be on a team that you know my TV show is
on quite often in the facility. Lebron won overwhelmingly. So if you have any question about where that alleged debate is headed, I think that was a pretty good indicator.
Now, what do you think the numbers would have been five years ago? Would have been out around the same or a lot different?
No?
No, no, no, no no different? Right, MJ?
By a what by a huge margin? Look at the numbers after the last dance came out? But MJ fired his last propaganda bullet and and it wasn't enough. All right.
Next, after calling Stefan Digs a great player, Josh Allen said, I don't know if I'd say I miss him a training camp. Between Alan and Diggs, who will miss who more?
All right? So I want to be fair, Josh Allen, that's a truncated version of the quote. He said nice things about Stefan Diggs, So I so, But to be honest, I think Diggs will miss Allen more. And here's why, because I think Allen was. I think Diggs can be a lot, and I think it was he was okay with him moving on. If you're Stefan Diggs, with every year with Josh Allen, you were one of the most targeted receivers in the league. You were clearly, without question,
the Bills number one receiver. You got all you got. I think there's a good chance that Stefan Diggs is the number three receiver for Houston. Nico Collins is the number one, and if Tank Dell is healthy, he might be the number two. So I think Diggs is gonna miss Josh in that man, you knew you were getting twelve ten, twelve targets a game. That's probably high eight to ten targets a game, and that's not gonna be the case anymore. Next uh.
During hard Knocks, the Bears thought it was a good idea to teach their quarterbacks to slide using a slipping slide.
Totally logical. The Bear's quarterback slipping slide was.
It was one of the It was one of the only times a slipping slide has looked fun other than in the commercials there So this is I'm really gonna pull on the heartstrings of millennials. There are two products that, growing up in the commercial looked so elite and in practice were a disaster. One I don't know what whosh is. What's that?
This this ball that they showed on a commercial.
It looked like it levitated or whatever, and you like and you got it and it did none of that. But that you're probably talking about something that actually works and wasn't like a.
T no, no, it was. It's something similar to that. So I one was the slipping slide. The slipping slide seemed amazing. In practice, you get it out in the yard. Within minutes, it's just mud everywhere. You try to dive on it, you hurt yourself. There's like rocks and roots under the ground.
It does.
It rips awful. But in the commercials it looked amazing. I want to see I don't know if we can show on camera. Go to the producer's room because you're too young for the other item, but I bet someone in the room can guess it. The other thing that looked amazing in the commercials but was just a ten out of ten commercials one out of ten application. It was a board game. It had a lot of bells and whistles, a lot of moving parts, and it really mousetrap.
Good job, Daniel, that's exactly right. Mousetrap. The Mousetrap commercial. It was like, holy shit, this is going to change every sleepover I have. This is gonna be amazing. And then you get it and putting it together is a pain in the ass and none of that cool stuff happens. So like those are those are mousetrap slipping slide. I'm gonna add another one. Oh what was again? The producers
the millennials will help me. Hot wheels. Hot wheels were fine, but the hot wheels tracks that really made it seem like, oh, this thing is gonna be self subs gonna work. Cook, it's gonna work like this. It's not gonna work like this. The hot wheel cars were still cool.
Uh.
Sorry, this is a non sequent This is you know, a bit of a tangent. But this is a great I'm just trying to put in the listener comments other items from your childhood that I'll give you another one de monse and you might be old enough, just old enough to have dealt with this. The wrestling action figures.
Oh yeah, so oh yeah.
Yeah the so right. So no, those were a big part of my childhood as well, and maybe by the time you were a kid, they were a little more honest in the commercials, and maybe I was just dumb, but in the commercials, it's like, oh, this guy, you press this button, he does his finishing move on this other guy. But I guess I didn't put together like in order for that to work, it's gonna take a couple minutes of like real you know, finagling of getting them in the right spot and all of it. Those
commercials were elite, but nothing. Slip and Slide and and Mousetrap were the two biggest fell for the banana and the tailpipe of what you thought it was going to be and then what it ultimately was. To answer the question the Bear's slipping slide, I thought was actually smart. I think teaching quarterbacks how to slide is smart. And if they don't know how, we've all seen it when a guy tries to slide and his foot gets caught in the turf for something and it looks bad. So
I actually think that was smart. All right, we can keep going.
Katie's legacy is one of the strangest in sports. To add to it, he just passed Lisa Leslie to become the all time leader in Team USA basketball points.
The first line of Katie's legacy will be.
One of the most talented players in NBA history and one of the most gifted scorers who oddly didn't quite have the team's success you would have expected for a player of his caliber. But also is I said this to Colin last night, Brews said something similar. If you think of the twenty greatest players in league history, okay, of all of them, Durant might be the number one pick as far as can literally drop him on any other great team in any other era, and it just
makes everyone better. Nobody has to take a back seat, Nobody has to change their role, nobody all the other You drop Magic on a great Lebron team, and Lebron's got to adjust. You drop Michael on any of Kobe's teams, and all of you know, Kobe's got to adjust. You drop Shack on a Keem team, and obviously or vice versa, think of any great team in NBA history and just
be like, we're dropping Kevin Durant on it. It's like, oh, that works perfectly, and all their other stars can still be stars, and he's just going to take over for their worst starter at basically any spot and be great. And that's why when you dropped him on the Warriors, they became one of, if not the greatest team ever. You drop him on Team USA in any environment, and he looks like one of, if not the best guy out there. All right, So let's go to the next one, please.
Yeah.
So Justin Fields is starting for the Steelers this weekend as Russell Wilson deals with his CAF injury. Will he take advantage of this opportunity? The Steelers QB one this season will be.
I think Fields will start more games than Russ. Gary Dulac from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, I think is where he is tweeted or reported yesterday that Russ is definitively the Week one starter. I you know, I'm not there. That's a hell of a report. That seems a little premature, but it does seem like Russ is the likely Week one starter. But I think that Fields will start more games this year than Russell Wilson. And I'm told we
found demons officially abandoning Daniel Jones. Oh that Demonse won't get that reference. That's from that. I think it's the greatest movie ever made. I think that is. That is my number with respect to The Godfather one and two.
Daniel Plainview is played by Daniel day Lewis, is an oil man at the turn of the twentieth century, so late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds, and he becomes one of the richest, most powerful, successful people in the world while being while being just an absolutely brutal person and not good father. And in lockstep with it, there is that guy Paul Dano who is a immoral preacher who is trying to take advantage of the situation as well. I'm not giving I mean that is the very I.
Feel like I've seen you watched that movie before something.
Yeah, for some reason, definitely, I mean I probably watched it ten times. I think it's the best movie ever made. Uh So that's a good photoshop. All right, we'll do some listener questions next. What's right? Welcome back in? What's driving? Nick right? Demanse, Let's do some listener questions.
Shane Stutter a best restaurant to visit while in Casey from our friend's wedding this September.
His wedding is the day after.
Kansas City versus balt So, if you're in town or Kansas City versus Baltimore, So if you're if you're in town, I'd like to invite you to his wedding.
Jesus all right, Well, I don't think you can invite someone to me someone else's wedding, but I appreciate it. I don't think I'm gonna be in town. Sadly listen for amazing pan fried chicken and amazing giant fried shrimp and the best chicken noodle soup you've ever had Strouds. The Strouds was a place I used to take make them on. I don't know if you liked it or not, but I used to. Your mom didn't like it, so you and I would go a lot.
There's also aid chicken is different. There's a different type of cadence to their It's.
Good because it's not well, that's why it's called it's pan fried instead of being deep fried. So deep fried you dip the whole thing in grease. Pan fried it's in a pan with grease and you do it like that. So it is very different and I love it. There was also do you mind, Demanse, if I tell this? I don't even know if you remember. If I tell the story about when you and I were going to Strouds and we got pulled over by the cop. Do
you remember this? You might beat you. You might have memoried of this is so Demanse was like twelve, and I so if Demonse was twelve. I'm twenty six, twenty seven, and we're driving to Strouds late on a Sunday, and right before we pull up, we get pulled over. I get pulled over for speeding on Shawnee Mission Parkway.
And.
The cop came over and was nice but inquisitive. Where are you guys going?
What are you doing?
I'm like, oh, I'm just taking my son to dinner. And again, me twenty six, demands twelve, and I'm not gonna like explain the you know, in that moment, I said him taking my son dinner, and the cop didn't believe me, but also didn't want to be he was not being he was actually being nice, but I think was concerned about this child's welfare. And it's so funny you don't remember it. He then came back to the car and asked me. He was like, hey, do you
mind stepping out of the car for a moment. And I was like yeah, and I don't think you knew anything weird was going on. So I step out of I step out of the car. I step out of the car, and I see him walk over to your window and say two words to you or ten words to you. Then he gives me my ticket and he's like, all right, you're good. And when I asked you and I was like, what was that And he was like, he just asked me what we were doing. I told
him we were going to dinner, like okay. So then you and I go to dinner at Stroud's and at the end of the meal, uh, I asked for the check and the waiter comes over and says, now you remember.
Yeah, I remember.
The waiter comes over and says, really weird, this cop came in and paid for your meal but asked us not to say anything to you. So this, you know, this officer was skeptical and I think a little concerned about you know, this demands this kid's welfare, And then saw that we were being honest and like, not just weird, being honest, but that everything was fine, and I think
felt bad about it and paid for our meal. So I I remember that like vividly, that whole thing, and I couldn't and I still I almost wish like there was something. I never saw that cop again obviously or whatever. And you know, I have a lot of criticisms of policing in America and stuff like that, but that was I thought, every single thing that officer did and without a side paying for the meal, which is obviously right, exactly right, paying for the meals above and beyond it.
But it was I thought he handled all of it right. He had a funny feeling, but he also didn't want to, you know, overreact to it. But he also didn't like the idea of just leaving it being so he went above and beyond. Yeah. So so Strouds for that. The it's for barbecue Stroud Over, Yeah, for barbecue, for sit down barbecue, Jack Stack uh for more kind of hole in the wall or authentic barbecue. Every place is great. People love Kansas City or Joe's Kansas City. I'm an
Arthur Bryant's guy. Obviously, Gates is super famous and for like fancy uh the place that my wife and I got in age Paropos, the lamb chops and the pork chops at Propos are elite, elite, elite and for good kind of sweet Southern Italian Anthony's on grand Those would be my recommendations, all right.
Next, uh, Sean just kills Nick.
If you are approached by by celebrity Jeopardy to complete against Bamani, Mina and Pablo, do you think you're walking out on top?
Oh? Wow? So favorite in that? Yeah? So Pablo went to Harvard, Mina went to Yale. Bamani went to college at sixteen and got a master's from North Carolina around the age of twenty. If I'm being honest, the favorite in that is Bomani. I think because Bamani has such a random assortment of knowledge and facts, I obviously would mop the floor with my two rivals, meaning Pablo. I mean, that's that's obvious. But I do think Bomani's the favorite.
Next, Kine Templar. Do you think lebron kd and Steph should running back in four years to secure golden three v three basketball?
So evidently the rules of three on three basketball are weird, like as far as if you're allowed to play like FOEBA has it set up to where you have to play in a lot of these three on three qualifiers and get points and those. That's why we can't just send our best players like.
You have to be like on the three on three process.
Yeah and so so I obviously, yes, I think that we could dominate that if we sent NBA guys, but they don't want us doing that. They want you to be like a real three on three team.
Next Artist Matthews is Jalen Hurts just another Carson Wentz never really that good, just average, but has one season that he looks awesome like Wentz has had his moment in twenty seventeen in the twenty seventeen season before injury.
So I that to me, it's way too early to say that, but that is the comp of concern that now Wins was second big of the draft. Was from a small school where a guy for a full year plays at an MVP level but is never able to capture anything like that again and didn't look like that before. That is the concern. So I'm not ready to say that, but you can't dismiss it as a possibility.
Next, Doctor turk nerf guns were always doctor Turf okayc NERF guns were always overrated.
To be honest, super soakers too. I loved both of those.
So yeah, we were big NERF gun We still have in our basement and like a big plastic toy chest. We still have all of Demons's NERF guns. We were a big NERF gun family. The NERF gun thing is you just can't be cheap on bullet acquisition. You just have to be fine with even if this thing only shoots six, I'm gonna have three hundred of them because what can ruin a NERF gun war is like, oh, I gotta go pick up these bullets and re you just gotta have a bunch of Is.
A video out there on YouTube somewhere of me brandishing all my NERF guns collection like I was probably really fifteen years old.
Yeah, oh that's fun. I was in love with them.
All right, go ahead, Ron Desk. Power wheels waiting twelve hours for thirty minutes of play.
I don't know what power wheels are.
So power wheels that that's what I was writing. When I was like five or six and my sister pushed me off the back and I snapped my collar bone. So power wheels demands are the little cars that you see little kids driving around on the side.
Okay, I guess I've just never done what they were called.
Okay, yeah, yeah, so so yeah, I mean I think that I think those were awesome. I think those apparently, I guess I don't. I don't have a recollection of that, but that makes sense. You can only you know, charge the battery for so long. So the Danny Tanner says, the easy bake oven, I buy that, but I don't. I didn't have one moonstand I know what that is.
Anything slime related, I totally agree. And you were the DOORA had a massive slime phase and Deanna is in the midst of it right now of like still wanting to do slime slim slime. I hate it, all right do. LJ from Htown.
LJ from Ahetown says, Hey, Nick, do you think Mahomes will break Brady?
Will break?
Brady consecutive AFC Championship Games, eight consecutive from twenty eleven to twenty eighteen.
I mean, listen, that's so it can't be dismissed. I would have told you five years ago that that streak is more unbreakable than seven Super Bowls is eight years straight making the final four is wild. What works against Mahomes on that is the fact that the NFL changed it to where instead of two buys, there's only one. So Brady almost every year was the one or the two seed. So to make the AFC Title game, you just had to win one home playoff game and you're there.
Since they switched it to only one by it now most years, even if you're thirteen and four, you might end up having to win two playoff games, So that makes it harder. But I mean, Mahomes' worst year of his career is losing an overtime in the AFC title game, so right now it feels like a good bet he'll break it. But man, it's just that's so hard. It's so hard to just to every single year be a game from the super Bowl or closer.
All right, last one, Malik, Is there any position on an NFL roster that you feel like is underrated or doesn't get the attention that it deserves.
Yeah, punter. I would be a guy that spends draft picks on my special teamers. I think that a if you truly can have a super elite punter, it is a real weapon, and I think they're underpaid and undervalued. Everyone knows kicker is super you know, is super important people because people think about it. But the ability to consistently pin a team back and affect how they call offense is I think an underrated thing in the NFL.
All right, this was a fun show. We got shows next week and then we're on vacation for a week, so I'll see you guys. Listen, try to watch some of the TV show today. I know USA Servia is on, but check it out a case. We'd appreciate it. Thanks Demanse, appreciate you. See you guys next week. What's right? Hey, thanks for watching. If you're still here, do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button, then hit the bell so you
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