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Welcome in episode ninety What's Right with Nick Right The podcast and YouTube show live on YouTube right now. Drop your comments, questions replies all of that. We have a jamback show for you today. We have coming up the end of the show our book club first official meetia of the book club. Last week was like a soft launch into the book club. This is the book, eh Conbrooks, A Little History of the World. We do that in
about forty minutes. I was gonna give Demonsay a hard time because his book is still appears to be on page eleven. However, I forgot my book today, so he had his with him, so I'm gonna give him a pass. It doesn't mean you're gonna about one hundred and fifty pages to read before we're back next week, so you're gonna have to get on that. We'll do that in about forty minutes. We're gonna talk all things week eight
or nine in the NFL. Shortly before we even though get to what's not on the show today, I want to spend just a moment talking about episode eighty nine. So we did a twenty minute discussion about what was going on with Kyrie, and close to I don't know eighty thousand people have watched the full twenty minutes on YouTube. We clipped it down. Our great social media producer LORI clipped it down to ten minutes and put that on social and hundreds of thousands of people have watched it there.
I say that not self congratulatory, but because one of the reasons I am so glad to have this specific platform is it allows for having nuanced, important discussions that you don't really have the room for on television, at least not on the type of television I do. And whether it be when we were talking about the Brett Favre story or other things we have done where we've really been able to kind of peel back a few
layers and get into the things that really matter. A. It scratches an intellectual and a social justice that I have that I need to have scratched. But also B it is meaningful to me on levels that I think you and the audience it's gonna be hard to fully understand how much it matters to me that those conversations seem to resonate with you, and that those conversations do as well, if not better as far as the metrics on, are people actually watching and listening to this than some
of our silly sports stuff. So I greatly appreciate the folks who are watching live or who have taken the time. I had a neighbor of ours on show came out Monday. On Tuesday, I was walking decks and a neighbor stopped me, and he was and said to me, a friend of mine, who's a Jewish fellow, said, a friend of mine sent me your video on Kyrie, not knowing we're neighbors, just because he had seen it and wanted him to see it.
That stuff means the world to me, So I really, really appreciate you guys who have vibed with us on that level and give us the creative freedom to do something as silly as a book club that's starting with one hundred year old history book. Okay, now to the show. Here is what did not make the cut for today's show. The first college football playoff rankings being announced did not make the cut. Dan Snyder exploring selling the Commanders. That didn't make the cut, but Kad had a bit of
a tweet storm yesterday. One of the tweets was to Randy Scott of ESPN when Randy said kat should be part of the ownership team and Katie said, I agree with you on that that would be fun. And the Astros tying the World Series at two games apiece and the Phillies getting combined no hit in the World Series. Amazingly, none of that made the cut. We will get into the Lakers win last night at some point, even though the producers didn't put in the show. Every Lakers wins
a meaningful moment at this point in the season. But right now, demonte, where are we starting.
Let's start off with Steve Nash. After starting the season two and five, the Nets and Steve Nash decided to part ways. Katie said he was shocked by the split. That makes one of us. Yeah, on TV, you said that the nets only option is assault the earth and start over. Yeah, but Kyrie's laid a scandal and arguably the worst game of his career. His value was at an all time low. Obviously, yep, and teams aren't willing
to pay for Katie in the offseason. So if the players are, the problem is firing Nash actually gonna fix anything?
Okay, So I'm gonna Firing Nash was a necessary step. Yeah, it is not going to fix things right, but it was something they had to do with that said on the Kyrie thing, I do want to read you because we spent so much time on the Kyrie thing. This statement a joint statement that the Nets, Kyrie Irving, and the Anti Defamation League released. I'm going to read you that will spend a moment on what my thoughts on that, and then we'll get to what the Nets do. I'll
read it quickly. The events of the past week have sparked many emotions with the Nets organization, Brooklyn community, and the nation. The public discourse that follows has brought greater awareness to the challenges we face the society when it comes to combating hate and speech. We are ready to take on this challenge, and we recognize that this is a unique moment to make a lasting impact to promote
education within our community. Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets will each donate half a million dollars toward causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities. The Nets and Kyrie will work with the ADL, a nonprofit organization devoted to fight fighting anti Semitism and all types of hate that undermine justice and fair treatment for
every individual. This is an effort to develop educational programming that is inclusive and will comprehensively combat all forms of anti Semitism, am bigotry. That statement within the statement of this quote from I oppose all forms of hatred and oppression and stand strong with communities that are marginalized and impacted every day. I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community, and I take responsibility. I do not believe everything said in the documentary was
true or reflects my morals and principles. I am a human being learning from all walks of life, and I intend to do so with an open mind and a willingness to listen. So from my family and I, we meant no harm to any one group, race, or religion of people and wish to only be a beacon of truth and light. End quote. So here's the deal. I believe Kyrie that he I don't think Kyrie's a hateful person, and I said it on Monday. I don't think Kyrie is anti Semitic. I don't think he has hate in
his heart for anybody. I also, to this day, I am not convinced he watched the whole movie, which is three hours long, and he implied it was weird at the press conference because he was like, I googled my name and then this came up, and then this came up, and then somebody immediately followed it with did you read the book? And he was like, I read a lot. I had a lot of time to read last year. But like, so you're implying you read the book last year,
but you found the documentary by googling your name. It
didn't really make a lot of sense. So my initial gut reaction and gut feeling from the beginning was that Kyrie did not believe that fabricated Hitler quote about Jews and did not believe the other fabricated quote about the Holocaust not really killing six million Jews, but instead promoted a movie felt boxed in and the only way he knows how to get out of being boxed in is to punch out, and found out he couldn't punch himself out of this spot on the one serious note on this,
and I applaud him half million dollars half million dollars. And I do believe Kyrie wants to unite people. I do believe that that the problem is and we don't have to spend much time on it. The same problem was before that wanting to learn is very very very good. Wanting to learn without the ability to discern. Am I consuming good information or bad inform? Shouldn't say good information or bad information? Am I consuming accurate information or inaccurate information?
Is incredibly dangerous. It is far safer to be uncurious dumb ass than to be a super curious kind of smart guy that can't tell am I reading BS or not BS? And to I think Kyrie is super curious and I think uncertain thing. He's pretty smart, but he is no good at and we said it on the previous show, the Earth is flat thing he believed. Maybe he doesn't still believe it. He believed it, and that's
because he was presented information. It was compelling, it looked official, and they raised just enough questions of well, don't you only believe the Earth is round because you've been told it? What if you've been And by the way, on the flat earth stuff, nobody has ever once answered this question, what's the goal? So it's this multi decade international, highest
levels of government and science conspiracy to what end. Like people that don't believe we landed on the moon, at least they can answer the question, well, why would they fake it? Well, we were in a cold war with the Soviets. We were trying to show them that we had technologically advanced we were trying to raise American morale. There were a lot of I don't believe we faked it, but at least that one. There's a a lot of
the conspiracy theories out there. They're the reason they're compelling is that you understand why they would have done it. They're covering something up, or they're trying to get you to do something the flatter stuff, there was never a win. It's like we're just gonna lie to kids from the time. Therefore, we're gonna get every astronaut, airplane, pilot, government official, scientists all in on it, and our big win is what nobody's ever answered that. So, but once you'll believe that,
you'll believe almost anything. That's where Kyrie was. Okay, Now to the Nets, I did say they should salt the earth and start over. Here's an unbelievable stat They moved to Brooklyn a decade ago. In that time, they have had on their team Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Darren Williams. In that decade they have more seasons with less than thirty wins then they
have playoff series victories. In that decade, they have three seasons where they were one of the very worst teams in basketball. And in that decade they have gotten out of Round one twice and gotten out of Round two zero times. Here's another thing about the Nets draft picks coming in, draft picks going out what they have coming in. In twenty twenty seven, they get Philadelphia's first round pick
unless it's in the top eight. That's what they have coming in, so likely twenty twenty seven first round pick unless this be leaves the six Ers tank in five years. Going out this year, Houston can swap with them. Next year they give Houston their pick, twenty twenty five, Houston can swap with them. Twenty twenty six, they give Houston their pick, twenty twenty seven, Houston can swap with them.
So over the next five years, if Houston ever gets good they get they switch picks, and two of those years they just give Houston their pick, which is why they need to trade Kevin Durant when his value is the highest, which is as soon as possible. Kevin Durant is only getting older. Durant, well, yeah, well here's the thing.
A couple months ago, I don't know if it was the highest then, because I think people thought they had to trade him, you know what I mean, Like, if you have to let me get let me do a bad.
Analysis, value goes down because they know that, right.
But the fact, so if you let's say, when you were leaving Kansas City, you were and you were moving here and you said to your friends, guys, I have to sell my car. There's nowhere for me to keep it in New York. I have to sell it. They might say, Okay, I'll give you two grand for it, Like two grand, it's worth at least three so you'll give me two grand for it. But then you move to New York and don't sell it. It's like I'm
leaving it in my auntie's driveway not selling it. Now you might get twenty five hundred for it, you know what I mean, Like, once you've shown you won't be budge, won't budge. So I actually think Duran's value slightly higher now than it was in the summer. And because he's playing at such a high level. Anybody that was worried all the playoffs were the Canary and the coal mine
that he's deteriorating. No, Durance's been unbelievable, unbelievable, scary, right, this is so scared and so but they've got no path forward back. So back to the Kyrie thing on two points one is one of the big reasons they traded for James Harden was because Kyrie was taking unannounced leave of absences, yeah, and was unreliable, right, so they traded Karris Lavert, Jared Jared Allen and all those picks I just mentioned five picks to Houston for James Harden.
They then traded James Harden for Seth Curry, Ben Simmons and that one pick. So because of the Harden trade, which does fall on Sean Marks, but Kyrie was a big reason they felt they needed to do it. They traded Karris LeVert, Jared Allen, and five first round picks, four Seth Curry, Ben Simmons, who right now might be the worst contract in the sport, and one first round pick. That's the Net in net out total disaster, right So
I think the Nets are kid. They lost their first game without Nash that the idea that this is salvageable, I think is insane. So I think they have to burn the whole thing down again. And the only way they can burn it down and have a quick path to relevance again since they don't have their own picks, is by trading Durant. So I do think that the
Durant trade still is out there. You know, I don't think Durant wants to spend one of the last years of his prime on a bad team, and they're a bad team, and I know we're gonna talk about the coach. Nash was a huge part of why they were No. He was a terrible coach. I've been saying that since I felt about him, and that they felt about nt Hackett. You knew it after a month. This guy didn't know what he was doing. But they have so such bigger
systemic issues and we haven't talked much about it. The fact that Ben Simmons might be totally broken as a basketball player is a.
Mad weirdest stories.
It's sad, man, It's a sad story. Man. He got so deep in his own head. I you know what I don't again, I don't know. Sadly, it's sad, but it also is a good lesson for people. And I listen, We're sorry. The cluck sucks. I blame the clock. Is a good lesson for people. And I'm gonna say this to you, but it means it's noteworthy for anybody, for everybody.
Uh So, I have not always done the greatest job of setting an example of taking care of my own mental health and like making sure that I stay well balanced. I show kind of some attic behavior at times. And you know what I mean when you know when I'm really stressed out, I just go, like buy a cigarette. That's not like the way to handle things or whatever. And I listen, you're your own man, You're a grown man. But I think people always take lessons from their parents.
I my dad, you know, when he was super stressed that I would have a drink, you know what I mean, Like these are not the greatest models. And I have tried to sometimes suddenly not sometimes sometimes less than subtly be like, hey you should, I should, we all should, but you should talk to some have someone to talk to, you know what I mean, to make your mind stays right right and you like I have been and have been hesitant at that. Maybe I'll think about it. Maybe
I won't. It's hard to take that plunge. Here's why I bring it up. Ben Simmons, number one pick of the draft all NBA one hundred and fifty million dollars, got so deep in his own head about insecurities and unhappiness it might have derailed his entire career. There is no, there is no. You can't achieve your way out of
either unhappiness or anxieties or whatever. Like, there is no. And that's been that's been the hard thing for me is to realize, like no level of professional success is going to fix fill that hole or you know what I mean, make me figure that stuff out. And it's a good lesson for everybody that And I do applaud NBA players. John Walls talked about it, they have been, Kevin Loves talked about it, more open about that. But I feel badly for Ben. He can't be enjoying playing basketball.
The fans boo, it's it's tough, Okay. So that's another thing they've got dealing with. Luckily, it looks like the Nets are gonna bring in a coach that I'm sure will calm the waters and bring no controversy with him. Let's get to our next topic.
All right. With Nash gone, the Nets decided to go all in on controversy. What was the supporting there, finalizing a deal to hire the suspended Celtics coach Dodoka. Yeah, yeah, the Celtics. He didn't even ask for anything in return, which is a pretty bad sign. It seems like there's no doubt that Udoka is a great coach, But no one sure what's really happened. No one sure what really happened in Boston Yeah, am I crazy to think that this actually might work? Which I do believe.
It might work. But there's a lot of levels to this one as well. Okay, so first one, the Nets nobody knows what happened in Boston. That's correct, right. If it was as simple as a consensual workplace relationship that was just against the Celtics rules, that gets messy because he theoretically is in a big position of power as the head coach. But there were no complaints, nothing untoward.
That's one thing. If it's what Matt Barnes implied was going on when he was doing the Instagram video live from his car, that it was way worse than that, and the Celtics' own investigation says there were some crude comments or something that takes us different levels. No matter what you would want to fully vet it, the Nets are gonna claim we vetted this. My question is when, while Nash was still your head coach, when what what's that it was reported that Udoka was getting this job.
Within hours of it being reported, Nash was fired. So when either you didn't vet it or you had decided you were done with Nash weeks ago and went into the season with him. That's ridiculous. That's the non basketball part, the basketball part. Hralibo's vulgaris who is the greatest NBA gambler of all time? He now he made so much demonsay, talk about living the dream. Kral Bob, who's a buddy of mine, made so much money gambling and playing poker.
And he was then an early, early, early bitcoin investor that he now, this guy was a skycap at a Canadian airport, saved all his money up, became a professional sports better little poker, then got into crypto, now owns one of the prettiest yachts you'll ever see, and just bought a Spanish soccer team owned CD Castellon. Bought the soccer team.
I love it.
It's and using his analytical models from the NBA to try to help you know on soccer they're a third third tier team, they're not in the top league, trying to get them promoted. What a life, right. He made the point that Udoka had on his staff Will Hardy and Joe Mizzoula. So Will Hardy is now the coach of the Jazz, maybe the most surprisingly good team in
the league. Joe Miszula's coaching the Celtics. They haven't seemed to miss a beat, right, So that's not say Udoka is not excellent, but it will be interesting to see him without those two guys. How much of the x's and o's or whatever were those two guys. The question will be, of course, will he get the Nets to
buy in on defense? That's the question everyone's asking. The reason I think that's the wrong question is if you whether, let's say the Celtics last year and the Nets with Udoka have the exact same level of defensive buy in, it's a big difference if you have Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams and Tatum to throw out there defensively, and Pat and Derek White as opposed to the Nets have the thing that everyone's always been like, Oh, the Nets
just don't try on defense, and they don't have the personnel. They're not crazy athletic they And so will he be an upgrade over Nash immediately? Will it be enough to fix what I believe is a broken roster? Durant not wanting to be there all of that. No, and last point on Kyrie Wilds made this point on TV yesterday. Okay, so Kyrie's now released this statement, he's given this money,
He's going to be able to come back. What are the odds Kyrie Irving pitches a perfect game the rest of the year, he doesn't step in it again on something like our the last three years with the Nets, he took a two week leave of absence, reportedly because he was so disturbed by what happened January sixth at the Capitol. I was disturbed by what happened there. The whole country should have been more disturbed than it was. It was kind I wouldn't have had that on my
Bengo card. Of why Kyrie misses half a month is that the next year he's like, I've decided I'm an anti vaccine mandate. Well that's new this year. I'm gonna dabble in some unintentional anti semitism and then be obstreperous
when I'm asked about it. It's such random, like controversy, you know what I mean, The idea that now he's going to go the next six months and not all of a sudden, like what's the next thing, Like there's no way to predict it, Like it's the and they're all just so it's like wait what and so right, whimsicals a great word for it, all right. Next one, Oh, by the way, the pole says sixty two percent say they think the Udoka higher will backfire. One last point
on that. Sorry, there is a how do I put this? So there was weird kind of like in the shadows reporting that the Ludoka thing is ugly, it's bad. I go ahead.
I think that he like he did something with like somebody that was above him, his wife. Like, I think it's like one of the only thing that makes sense. Okay.
So I thought that initially too. That's not what it was.
You're not talking about it. And if it was, like so bad.
Right, okay, So that's so that I thought when I initially saw it, and I was like, you suspended for a year for what's called a consensual relationship. I thought the same thing too. Just also, there's a good learning moment for you here real quick. We should be careful on stuff like that, just because there are so few people above the head coach and an organization. We're down to like four people who you could be talking about. So I understand what you're saying there, but that's fine,
and we'll call that learning on the fly. But uh, you know what I mean, it's if you want it, if you're gonna throw some out there, you want to be a huge pool of candidate. It's not like, well, it's these four people. But there was there was initial
reporting it's real bad. And then the reporting stopped, and the thought process by many was it stopped because it was going to do real damage to the woman involved, and if that woman had a family or children or whatever, didn't want to do damage there, particularly if that woman was married or something right, And the reason I think sometimes reporters make a journalistic choice of he's already been suspended, he's not going to coach this year, what is gained
by this. There was a basketball player a few years ago who had someone close to them pass and it was a real tragedy. And then I think everyone found out the circumstance of the passing was not necessarily as I don't want to say innocent, but some things, some bad decisions were made that led to the passing, and nobody reported it because it was like, who's what's the you know what I mean, that person's not a famous you know what I mean. It just caused more pain,
so Here's why I bring that up. Uh, I think there was there's the thought process that there's more to this story. It wasn't reported to protect that person possibly, And what's the point of it. He's already suspended. Is there a chance now if he gets a new job and there is something to gain from reporting it, like whoa, this guy should not be the head coach of a team? That it then comes out Nett's got to be very careful of that. They better really have vetted this because
you can't hire him. And then two weeks later and I don't know what happened, you know what I mean, something comes out It's like, oh my god, Like so all right, now we'll move on.
Go ahead, all right, only two more topics to go.
But we've only been you know, only already seven minutes.
Over mister lowad management. Kawhi Leonard is nowhere to be found. He's only appeared in two games this season, averaging twenty one minutes a game off the bench, and did not travel with the team that Texas. Yeah, the four or four Clippers may need a superstar if they want to
if they want to avoid the playing. Yeah, you said on on your TV show that there are thirty guys you'd rather have on your on your team rather than Kawi Leonard this year with a bunch of NBA teams struggling with their stars right now, or the Clippers quietly in one of the worst situations.
Oh, I don't think it's the worst. But it's a disaster. It's a total disaster.
Whylander that, I don't That's that's another really weird story.
Listen. Either he doesn't love playing, which I used to think when I was he when he first got with the Clippers, he took a game off before Halloween, was like game three. They're like load man, like you to be kidnaping. The guy's not injured, uh, or his body just can't handle it. I mean, he tore his ACL a long time ago, and did he re injure it? They they're being cagey about it. I don't the reason
I said there's thirty guys I'd rather have. I included Paolo Bankaro, Cadingham, Evan Mobley, but Drew Holliday because the Clippers are an idea, not a team, and pissed well well, I mean, listen, John wall is happy to be playing again. It just sucks. This is a guy, Bill Walton. You remember him from our NBA shows, the top fifty of
last fifty. Bill Walton is, in my opinion, the second greatest college player ever behind Kareem was I think under like seventy eight and wan in college something crazy one player of the year. Every year in college won a championship. Every year, goes to the NBA almost immediately wins an MVP. The very next year wins finals MVP in a title, breaks his foot, has an injury, and is never the same, like he played like a little bit different of course, no, no,
no way different. Point is this? Why is like the modern version of like Gail Sayers, just Bill wal Like we at his apex, we've seen he's one of the five best players in the league. But it's sad it is at this point it has gone from annoyance about his lack of playing to sadness that will he ever be an All Star again? I don't know.
And they'll think about kwhy is it doesn't ever really seem like he seems to like actually care about it. But that's just like his right.
That's the other thing is his persona and demeanor makes it seem like he's apathetic when it might just be who he is?
All right, next, all right, Rams Bucks. Coming into this year, Rams Bucks had to be circled on everybody's calendar. Man, you know, midway through the season. It's a total stinker with only one afternoon game one, we're gonna be forced to watch this train wick Oh yeah.
Five, Well listen not force it on Fox. Is gonna be great. Twenty million people are watch. We're very excited to watch it. Go ahead, Oh we love fo Yeah.
Both teams are underperforming, with the Rams at three and four and the Bucks at three and five. This team is more desperate for a win, and will this game turn somebody season around? Or should we expect more of the same.
Okay, I'd say they're both equally desperate. I think this is almost an elimination game for both of these teams. But I don't think the Rams can win. I think the Rams are I think the Rams are broken. I think the Bucks are underperforming. That's the difference. I think the Rams. The Rams have the dead last offense on a per play basis in the whole league, the worst offense in the whole league. It's unbelievable. They their losses
on the offensive line they can't overcome. Now. The Bucks also lost a lot of people on the offensive line. I still think the Bucks are gonna win that division. I still think the Bucks are gonna be dangerous. I think the Bucks are gonna win this game. I think the Rams are finished now. If the Rams beat the Bucks, uh, then I will have been wrong. But go ahead.
That Stafford and Brady been on separate on different teams, like say they were inverted, would you have like more faith.
In the Rams?
I mean, obviously though seas than probably go on.
I don't know that even I don't know that Brady could overcome The Rams offensive line is the worst in football right now. They have a lot of the same issues. I think the Rams issues are worse. The Rams have better individual players on defense. I think the Bucks might have the better overall defense. So yeah, I think that. I think that you would need a not only a top flight quarterback, but a top flight mobile quarterback for the Rams to offense have any chance at working. You
need something that could escape that pressure. I like the Bucks. I think it's a mustle wing game for both. Take a quick break, come right back, what's right.
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Welcome back in What's Right? Nick Right? Episode ninety. That's a very long a block. Yeah, that was very long a block, and the nets are just well, there's just a lot going on. There's a lot going on, all right. We'll get to the Lakers game at some point in this segment, but we're gonna try to have a somewhat condensed B block because Sea Blocks is gonna go along because we have through the book club and answer the
listener questions. If you're if you're watching us live on YouTube right now, put your questions and comments in the chat and we'll get to them, all right. Demante go ahead, Chiefs Titans.
Oh, this is a big game, A big game.
The Titans are five and two, they've won five in a row.
Oh, I just don't see it as big.
I mean, I mean it's on It's Sunday night football. Chiefs Titens is rematch of the AFC Championship game two year.
Given like their history that we're about to talk about. Yeah, the Chiefs are back off of bye and back in prime go ahead, back in prime time. They take on the Tennessee Derek Henry Sunday. Yep, Kansas City does have the third best run defense in the league.
Though, can I jump in real quick there? But I think that's a little misleading. I think then defense, yeah, because I think the Chiefs pass even has been so bad. Teams are not running. I think teams are passing. They're passing in stoots for a couple of times, one as they're usually losing, so they need to throw. Another is throwing is more efficient than running. And I think she's have a good run defense. I don't think they have a top three run defense.
But go ahead, And since you think the Chiefs got the best receiver since Randy Moss and Cadarius Tony. They should be unstoppable now right.
Okay, real quick. On the Caius Tony thing. I like the value. The guy runs a four to three, was a first round pick a year and a half ago, had a monster game as a rookie.
Then he's like the Wolverine team rubbing is rubbing his little photo of Tyreek Hill.
Well, yeah, poor man's Tyreek Hill. Bit of a knucklehead, similar to Tyreek Hill. Similar like neck to Tyreek Hill, which I like. So a lot of those things I like. Also, was an awesome punt returner in college. The Chiefs punt returner rookie sky Moore has been a disaster through one of the games just as Yeah, they lost the Colts game, and they fumbled one in a recent game as well. Like so, I do like the Garus Tony. I also like the fact that he's on this rookie deal for
the next two years. Then you have a fifty year option, so cheap at that position. If he turns into something, go ahead.
All right, well believe it or not. Titans are four and one against the Chiefs since drafting King Henry three and zero in the regular season with Kansas City Land twelve and a half points, no chance at a trap game. Right.
Well, listen, here's a fun one for you, Andy Reid off a bye. Andy Reid has coached twenty three games in his career off a bye. Okay, his teams are twenty and three. Andy Reid with an extra week to prepare his unbeatable Okay. So I do not think the Chiefs will lose. Tannehill may or may not play.
We don't know.
I'm not comfortable laying the twelve and a half though, I'll tell you that much. That's a whole lot of points. And the Titans are going to try to keep this a low possession game, meaning they're gonna run the ball, take thirty off the play clock, run the ball, take thirty off the play clock. I also do want to give the Titans credit for this weekend what the Titans did.
Now.
I know they're playing the Texans, but the box score of this game demands the Titans were up seventeen to three. They end up winning seventeen to ten. You know, I didn't realize it was seven. I've been saying seventeen to three on TV all week. But the Texans scored a touchdown with twenty seconds left. I didn't even know what happened. I had turned the game off. The Titans dominated that game. Malik Willis, the Titans starting quarterback that game, completed six
passes for fifty five yards and threw a pick. Oh, but he's a great runnerically, he ran the ball five times for twelve yards. Derrick Henry, on the other hand, against the Texans, is the greatest running back in NFL history. Derrick Henry, I think this is accurate, has four consecutive two hundred yard games against the Texans. Somebody, hubs from,
the producer of my TV show told me this. Someone extrapolated Henry's last four against the Texans into a seventeen game season, it would be four thousand yards and thirty eight touchdowns. Like so, the I give the Titans credit for not being able to throw the ball and dominating that game. I give them credit for winning five in a row. I don't think they can beat the Chiefs. I'm not comfortable laying twelve and a half though. With
the Chiefs. That in what I think is going to be a fast game, meaning the Titans are going to try to grind the clock, and you lay twelve and a half if you're if the Titans get the opening kickoff and score and they're up seven to nothing, you feel like your BET's almost dead already, you know what I mean, Like, all of a sudden, you're like, wait, I need three consecutive touchdowns to be covering. I don't love that, all right.
Next, playing for a new game, and it is called moving the needle. I will ask you about some news, whether that be a trade or a big win or loss, and you tell us did it move the needle?
Yep?
All right? So first off, we got Laker center Miles Turner came out talking about his value to the team. Here's what he said, read off of the quote. Yeah, well, the only problem is he doesn't play for the Leak. I'm supposed to read the quote and then say he doesn't play for the LOA.
No, you're not supposed to say read off of the quote. That's a command.
Sorry, that's okay.
Now you're cursing live on YouTube. That's that's demand's first I'm Ron Burgundy moment.
Yeah, that quotes right there, we're gonna read it.
Yeah. If I'm the Lakers, I take a very hard look at this. With the position that you're in. I know what I can provide for a team, shot blocking, my three porn ability, and my ability to make plays out there on the floor. I take a very long look at it now, demonte go ahead.
The only problem is he doesn't play for the Lakers yet. If you're Rob Polinka, the turner's comments move the needle, well they don't move the needle. So no, but I do like that he wants to be there.
Demontay's so embarrassed. That's so funny. Here's the thing, So Lakers won last night. Matt Ryan hit a game tying three. You know what I'm gonna be forced to talk about on television today? These Charlatan's big deal or no big deal? The game tying three was drawn up for Matt Ryan, not Lebron James. What does it say about Lebron? They didn't trust him to take the game winning the game tying three. Well, he was also zero seven from three in that game. He right now is in a huge
shooting slump and Matt Ryan is out there. No, he's been a streaky three. Here's the thing about Lebron and three point shooting. He will shoot thirty six percent for the season. He won't shoot thirty six percent in any month. He will have a month where he shoots forty two percent and a month where he shoots twenty five percent and an averages out. So he goes hot, you know what I mean. Like, he's not Klay Thompson's the opposite. Klay Thompson's gonna shoot forty percent or thirty nine percent
every month, you know what I mean. He might have games where he gets hot, but he he's a metronome. That's not who Lebron is. Uh. Here's what I think for the Lakers. The Russell Westbrook off the bench thing is temporarily working. What the Lakers have to do is stay afloat until they trade Russ. They have to make and it's not because Russ is their biggest problem. I mean, Beverly's been terrible and Russell off the bench has been fine, but you can't win in this league without any shooting.
That's why Matt Ryan, who should not be an NBA player, is getting crunch time minutes for Lakers because you have to have some shooting. The Lakers Miles Turner would come with Buddy Held, which would be some shooting. But they are the reason they haven't made that trade yet is not because they think they're gonna keep Russ. It's because they want to see if a better trade materializes. You know, I wouldn't do it at this point. I think he's
too unreliable and toxic. But the Kyrie thing could come available again, that's like on the board, and.
They mean they're almost even. What do you mean like giving I mean, given Russ problems and given.
Yes, but they're so different problems, you know what I mean, Like one's a basketball problem and one.
Is Kyrie coming off the four point game. If that type of stuff continues.
Well, right, So there's a lot of My point is the reason the Lakers haven't already traded for Miles Turner and Buddy Healed is because they believe a better trade's gonna come available. I think they thought the Blazers. There might be a Blazer's trade, but the Blazers are good. If the Jazz decide we're winning too much, we're trying to tank, see what happens there, you know what I mean? There might be a Charlotte trade with Terry Rogier and
Gordon Hayward. They're waiting to see. But no, this comment doesn't move the needle all right?
Next, Okay, After trading away their two best defensive players, the Bears decided to trade for wide receiver Chase Claypool. How much has Claypool moved the needle for Justin Fields?
A little bit? It moved. I mean he gives him a real receiver, Ryan Poles, though the new GM of Chicago did make a mistake, so Chase Claypool was expendable in Pittsburgh because they drafted George Pickens, who has taken a spot Ryan Poole. Polls passed on George Pickens in the second round of this year's draft twice and is now trading next year's second rounder for the guy that got replaced by George Pickens. That's not great, but the Bears have a ton of money. They stripped it all down.
But what they forgot was by getting rid of by not spending any money on offensive line or wide receiver, we're not gonna be able to really evaluate Justin Fields fairly. So now they're gonna have a better chance of evaluating him while they try to kind of tank I understand it.
Next, hopefully he can stay in the pocket. Both the Dolphins and Ravens made big trades of the deadline. The Dolphins went all in on Bradley Chubb and the Ravens traded for Rokwan Smith. Both teams seem to think that their title contenders. Which of the Miami or Baltimore trades moved the needle for both?
We listen, they are clearly now the third and fourth best teams in the conference. They are in no disprect to the Titans. They already were looking like that. They both have excellent offenses when their quarterback plays well, and in Miami the quarterback doesn't even always have to play well. Tyreek Hill, by the way, has been the best player in the league this year. He's been the best player, and he and Micah Parsons have been the two best players in the league so far this year. They won't
win MVP because it's quarterback on the award. They've been unbelievable. Tyreek has been truly sensational. But both of those teams trying to upgrade their defense, which is where they need help. Make sense. I'll tell you the other thing that I do like, though, I like everyone in the AFC sending out big future draft capital to the NFC, while the Chiefs draft their own guys get draft capital and are it to me? It positions the Chiefs really well moving forward.
So the Raiders traded all that for DeVante Adams, right. The Broncos gave all that up for Russell Wilson. The Ravens now traded pick for Rokwan Smith. The Dolphins traded for Bradley Chubb, right, but they didn't trade real draft capital. They traded a compensatory third for Kadarius Tony. The Bills, to their credit, have not given up much stuff, but they gave all that money to Miller and their salary cap that she's going to be an issue for him.
I think it really positions the Chiefs well moving forward. And I still think that the best team in the conference this year despite everybody else doing that, but I do. I'm really interested to see Miami with a dominant pass rush could be a legitimately dangerous team. So I'm really interested to watch that and the Ravens Rokwand is gonna be perfect there next.
All right, you had a shot to go four and one in your picks last week until the Bengals got embarrassed by the Browns on Monday Night Football. Well A wins since he would have would have kept placed with the five, kept pace with the five and three Ravens Instead, they're a game back. Is the Bengals primetime blaw a needle mover for you?
No, here's what we know about the Bengals. They have a fatal flaw, but against most teams they can overcome it. So who are the three best edge rushers in football? Mike Parsons, TJ. Watt, Miles Garrett. The three times the Bengals offense has looked off, they were playing Michael Parsons, TJ. Watt, Miles Garrett. Now it's a flaw they're gonna need to fix because TJ. Watt and Miles Garrett are in their division, so they play him four times a year, so that's
a problem for them. But I do I think the Bengals are still gonna make the playoffs. I think they need to. They thought they fixed their offensive line, they clearly haven't, and they missed Jamar Chase. But I still believe in the Bengals' ability to make the playoffs.
All right, next, all right, One of the most shocking moves that the deadline was the Jaguars trading for suspended Calvin Ridley hold on real quick.
Do you know why Calvin Ridley suspended?
Was that the drugs?
No, he was out last year and when he was out, he placed a three team parlay in his name on the NFL and they suspended him for a year. It's like a two hundred dollars parlay. And they suspended him for a year because you're not allowed to gamble in the NFL, even though he wasn't gambling on the Falcons, and he wasn't.
That's a big well.
They they're right, well they were. They want to crack Yeah, they want to crack down, especially now the game.
With somebody else exactly.
But it's just so go ahead and ask the question.
Does the trade for the known sports gambler move the needle for your likelihood to bet on the Jags again?
Before Thanksgiving? Well before Thanksgiving? Listen, I had a one month sabbatical of betting on the Jags. So let's see when I'm allowed to bet on the Jags again. So the Jaguars, I gotta go to their schedule real quick. So last week was week one. I said I wouldn't bet them for four weeks. Oh no, I'm not allowed because they have a bye. So this week is Las Vegas, next week is Kansas City. The week after they're on a bye and then they're home for Baltimore.
Oh.
I love betting on Baltimore too. You know what, Jags at Lions. Mark it down. That's gonna be when I get back with the Jags. Jags at Lions December fourth. Calvin, though, I like the trade to help Trevor Lawrence out next year. I mean he's suspended for this year, so you're buying low on Calvin Ridley. All right, Next last bonus demons will read whatever is on the page for the producers.
Does this move the needle? Yeah, I'm a robot.
That was embarrassing.
That was the last.
No oh yeah, no, that was fine. First one. I mean listen as I said that, like, I was like, have you seen Anchorman? No oh you haven't. No, Oh, that is That's an all time funny movie. And Ron Burgundy is Will Ferrell's the He's the main character. He
in the very beginning of the movie. He they put at the he ends every newscast with I'm Ron Burgundy and they put a question mark on it accidentally in the prompter, and he goes I'm Ron Burgundy, and they're like, guys, I've told you he'll read whatever's on the prompter and
spoiler alert for anchorman. Then he gets in a little dispute at work, and so at the end of the show, instead of stay beautiful or stay healthy, San Diego or whatever he says, someone puts in there, go bleep yourself, san Diego, and he reads it and he leads to his disgrace and downfall. That's like the punchline. So that's why I said it was your Ron Burgeney moment. All right, guys, While demand will read whatever's on the prompter, he won't
read this book. You guys have. However, we will do a quick version of our book club and then we'll read your guys questions from the chat. That's next What's Right? Welcome back in What's Right? Nick Right, Episode ninety. All right, before we get to your comments and questions. So we started a book club last week. Our book is Eh Gombrooks, A Little History of the World. Shout out to Eric, who says he's already finished the book. Super good read.
Love the perspective. It gave lots of interesting tidbits and insight to help people live in civilization. So the premise of this book, for a little background if people are just joining us on it, is he was asked to write a book for fourth graders telling the history of the world. Wrote it and now it's become one of the best selling, easiest to digest history books. And it really starts from pre Mesopotamia and gets us up to like the nineteen hundreds, which is he wrote Anythink nineteen thirty.
So I just want to give you guys. We got up to page eighty this week. I want to give you guys a few tidbits because he goes civilization by civilization in chronological order. We talked about the first thirty chapter thirty pages last week. He really loved and impressed, was impressed with the Greeks, and talked about how Greek architecture is still prevalent to this day. I'm gonna read you a piece from it. I mean, he clearly thinks
the Greeks, with the smartest people ever to live. Both wisdom of thought and beauty of form were to be united by the Athenians in a third art, the art of poetry, And here too they invented something new, the theater their theater like their sport, because they also been in the Olympics. Obviously, was also once bound up with their religion, with festivals held in honor of their god Dianasus.
Also knows Bakus on his feast, a performances held could last all day, and they had I'm not gonna read this entirely, but talked about how you know, their serious plays were called tragedies, their funny plays were called comedies. And I could tell you lots more about the Athenians, about their histories, about their doctors, their singers, their thinkers, their artists, But I think it would be better for you to find out about them yourself one day. Then
you'll see that I haven't exaggerated. I will tell you that chapter made me want to visit Greece more than anything ever before. See Athens, see all that. He then takes us to India, where he tells us in ten pages about Buddha and the Enlightened One, and how Buddha was a prince that grew up in a palace, never less left the palaces, grew up in all this splendor, splendor,
and his name was Uh. I apologize and pronounce it Gauatama, and he decided that he wanted to find peace of thought, and went out into the woods and sat under a tree and didn't eat or drink for days. And that was and I'm giving again the very short version of it. The he thought it brought him enlightenment, and that is what led to Buddhism. That is what was the creation of that religion. And he goes on to write, I can already hear you say, oh, because he thought the
key to life was not wanting anything. Was that the belief was what causes unhappiness is that you don't have something you want. So the true key to happiness was to teach yourself to not want exactly. And he writes, I can already hear you saying. That's all very well, but people can't help wanting things. The Buddha thought otherwise, he says, as possible to control our desires, but to do so, we need to work on ourselves, perhaps even for years, so that in the end we only have desires,
We only have the desires we want to have. In other words, we can become masters of ourselves in the same way that an elephant driver learns to control his elephant the essential message of Buddhist sermons, and these sermons made such an impression on people many followed him and
worshiped him as a god. Today there are almost as many Buddhists in the world as Christians, especially in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, Tobet, China and Japan, but not many of them are able to live their lives in accordance with the Buddhist teachings and so achieve that innercom, that intercom is a state called nirvana. That these are things people I'm sure have heard about. It was fascinating enough to me. I bought a book on Buddha. I won't include that in the book club because I think
it might be a little too dry. I was fascinating. He then talked about Confucius, which I'm sure everyone's heard, the little, the kind of trite sayings Confucius say this. Confucius was a Chinese man who had a very unique life philosophy. What Confucius proposed is quite simple. You may not like it, but there's more wisdom than in it than first meets the eye. What he taught was this
outward appearances are more important than we think. Bowing to our elders, letting others go through a door first, standing up to speak through superior, and many other similar things for which they had more rules in China than we have. All such practices, he believed, were not just a matter of chance. They meant something or had had done once, usually something beautiful, Which is why Confucius said, I believe
in antiquity, and I love it. By this, he meant he believed in the sound, good sense of all the many thousands of year old customs and habits, and he repeatedly so he urges his fellow countrymen to observe them. He thought that everything in life ran more smoothly if people did almost by itself as it were, without the need to think about it too hardly. Of course, such behavior does not make good people, but it helps them stay good. Confucius had a very good opinion of humanity.
He said that all people were born honest and good, and the deep down they remained so. Anyone seeing a small child playing near the water's edge will worry that it would fall in concern for our fellow human beings and sympathy for the misfortunes of others. He believed our inborn sentiments all we need to do is make sure we do not lose them. And that, Confucius said, is
why we have families. Someone who's always good to his parents, who obeys them and cares for them, and this comes naturally to us, will treat others the same way, and will obey the laws of the state in the same way he obeys his father. Thus, for Confucius, the family, with its brotherly and sisterly love and respect for parents, was the most important thing of all. He called it the root of humanity. I gotta tell you, I knew
nothing about Confucius. It's one of the most beautiful sentiments I've ever heard, and I actually I didn't know I agreed with it. Were you laughing at me? No? No, no, no, I love it, but I never thought about it that way. But it is, like you do. This is the all the version of You learn a lot from someone by how they treat servers. Are they courteous and polite and
kind to people they don't have to be. I feel like that's like a There's a lot of things I could if I were I am in single in fifteen years, but if I were single, there's a lot of things I think I could overlook in someone but on a first date they were crummy to the server, and think it'd be like, I could never do it. I can. You've dealt with that, yes, and it's so uncomfortable and feel badly and you're like, there's no there's no way to get past this. I didn't realize it. That's confusion,
you know what I mean. And so the next chapter, though, is not a really this book. The next chapter is about Alexander the Great. It's a long chapter, and I gotta tell you, Alexander the Great was a bad dude. Took over when he was twenty. By the time he was thirty, had conquered the entire known world, and it's unbelievable what he did. The Alexander the Great stuff is so fascinating. I'll give you one little Alexander the Great ut you're thinking of Napoleon.
No, I know Napoleons.
I don't know if he was short enough. But I'm gonna give you one cool anecdote about Alexander the Great. This is after he went to Egypt, conquered it and set up Alexandria. Yea named it of himself. He had great plans. You want to found many more cities like Alexandria. He wanted to build roads, change the faces of the world with military campaigns. Whether the Greeks liked it or not, he was Greek. Just imagine in those days to have
a postal service running from India to Athens. But in the midst of all his plans, he died in Nebuken's summer palace in three twenty three BC. He was nearly thirty two years He was barely thirty two years old. But that's actually not the anecdote I wanted to read you. This is it. Here we go. So Alexander, also in battles, would be at the front. He would fight. Oh, he was in the field. He would fight and lead him. And there's a lot of people know a lot more
about Alexander than I do. I knew almost nothing. There have been books and movies and everything written about him. But there's a nice quick history. Uh. So I'm gonna read you this ancdote. Then we'll move on from book club this week. Alexander himself was no less valiant, as is shown by his encounter with an Indian king. King Porus had Lain in wait for him on a branch of the Indus River with a mighty army of war
elephants and foot soldiers. When Alexander reached the river, his king's The king's army was positioned on the far bank, and Alexander's and his soldiers had no choice but to cross the river in the face of the enemy host. His success was one of his greatest feats. He won the battle, yet even more remark was his victory over that army in the stifling heat of India. Porus, the other king, was brought before him in chains. What do
you want of me, asked Alexander the king. Porus says only that you treat me as befits a king.
That is all.
That is all. There is no more to be said. Alexander was so impressed that that was his response. He let Porus keep his kingdom like Okay, I beat you in battle. All you want is me to treat you like king, treats you like king. You keep it. I don't Again, this is such a brief history. I'm sure there's a lot about Alexander the Great I'm not learning about. I'm sure there were some really awful things he did, but in this short version of it, the guy was
pretty fascinating. Our last chapter was about the Romans. I gotta tell you, I screwed up. I highlighted a ton in that in my book. I forgot my book today Demanse has his, so I don't. We're gonna move on from here. We're supposed to be up to page eighty, which starts with an Enemy of History, which was about out little spoiler alert, a new leader of China who then didn't like history and wanted all the histories burnt. He wanted to start with him, and we talked about
the Great Wall and all that stuff. This week. For next week book club, we're gonna get up to chapter twenty five, So it will take us to page one fifty five. We're gonna get up to chapter twenty five for next week's book club. All right, demons, what are our comment.
Out that for a little bit of history of the world.
Baby, And by the way, they won't all be history books next next a month, we're reading a gambling book. But go ahead, what a our listener questions, All right.
Fans ZCBS, should Chargers explore other coaching options already? If Staley can't make a playoff appearance, appearance Slash Run with Herbert.
Yeah, I mean, listen, I like Staley. He hasn't done a good job this year. I think that they need to do a full court press on Sean Payton. Sean Payton coming to the AFC West with Justin Herbert would scare me so much more than Russell Wilson coming to the AFC West. So yeah, but if you can't get Sean Payton, give Staley another year.
Next Hyperion Joe Smith. This question is where should the next NFL franchise be. They don't need more, okay, thirty two is good eight four team divisions. You don't need to expand, Okay, So I just if you were telling me either. First of all, here's the thing with the NFL. Can't have a odd number.
If you have an odd number, somebody as a buy in Week one, somebody as a bye at the end of the season, you need you need an even numbers. So you need add two teams. So where you know what I mean? So like the should San Diego get a team back? Yeah, the Chargers could go back. Like is there a city that I feel like desperately needs an NFL team that doesn't have one somewhere in Maine. No, Maine's a terrible idea. It's no big population centers. That's
a bad idea. Run that one back. I mean Austin, Yeah, Austin or San Antonio, one of those, I guess could make sense. But I don't think we need more teams. If they expand, it's gonna be internationally. It's gonna be like Mexico City in London, and that those teams are gonna be hard to get free agents. I think it's Toronto would be fine, but I think Toronto people like the Bills. All right, next?
All right? Uh? John Roca asked, I think it's j Johan Johann. Sorry. Johan Roca asked, Can Luca break Will Chamberlain's record of twenty three consecutive thirty plus point games?
No, he can't, but he Lucas started the year with seven straight thirty point games. Has not been done since Wilt.
He just did something that nobody's ever done before. I don't know what it was.
It's a lot of I mean, he's averaging thirty six, nine and nine. The guy's un The guy is the best offensive player in the league, bar none. Gihann is the best player, because he's the best defensive player in the league and the second best offensive player. But Lucas offensive, Lucas unbelievable. How unbelievable was it watching him in person?
It was awesome. It was definitely an experience. I liked that. I liked them a lot more after seem.
He's so good.
I liked him.
But no, but he's so good, all right? Last one, Justin's.
Slesinger, ass, do you think there's any chance that the entire NFC East makes the playoffs?
No, Washington's not making the playoffs. It would mean it would mean that no wild card makes it from any other division, and Washington makes it. So No, Oh, we have a little breaking news real quick, and then we'll go. Adam Silver just released a statement on Kyrie. Oh well, gosh, we're late here. I gotta get to work, Adam Silver says, quote, Kyrie made a reckless decision to post a link to
film containing deeply offensive anti Semitic material. While will you appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets in the ADL to combat anti Simonitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology, or more specifically, denounced the vile and harmful content containing the film. He Jose publicized. I will be meeting with Kyrie in person in the next week to discuss this situation. All right, Adam Silver
just up to the ante. I'm not saying Adam Silver's wrong. I actually agree with him. But Kyrie's listen, we have to go Kyrie's heart. I don't think he's in the wrong place. I've said this before, but that statement was his statement was a version of I apologize if you were offended type of thing. No, I apologize unequivocally Adam. If the NBA would have just said, that's fine, we're done with it, said nothing, they'd have moved on. But now Adam Silver is meeting with him in person and
going to see if Kyrie folds his hand. That makes this a lot messier. I thought there was a chance the NBA is like, let's just get past this. I decided not to, and now I'm very interested to see how Kyrie responds. Kyrie doesn't like being backed into a corner, even if he backed himself into it. All right, that's today's show. Great work today, Ron Burgundy, all right, love you buddy. All right, we'll see you guys tomorrow for the gambling show. What's right? Hey, it's Nicker right. Thank
you so much for watching. Please do us a favor click subscribe. It helps my ego and Demonsey's got a financial bonus writing on a number of YouTube subscribers, so help him out. And also click the bell. I don't know what the bell does, but they tell me to tell you to click the bell. And your audio listeners, people that have commute drives, whatever it is, subscribe to the podcast as well. Wherever you get the podcast, same show, just you know, just in your ears instead of for
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