3 and Out - Peacock Wild Card, London Jags Inevitability, Caleb Williams ‘Process’, Mailbag - 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on? John middlecop three and
out podcast, Happy Tuesday. What's a podcast? So you really

(00:22):
could be listening to this on any day. I'm recording
this a little bit after the breaking news, which I'm
glad it broke before I recorded. Peacock In. The NFL
will have a playoff game the Saturday night wild Card
weekend exclusively on Peacock streaming only, so we will dive
into that some other I dove into more depth about

(00:46):
some of the details of the schedule, doubleheaders on Monday night.
Don't love Thursday night schedule the Jags? The back to
back games in London? Is that inevitable? I mean, is
that where the NFL is going to send the Jags thinking,
say they're not going there all they want? Sure feels
not just very likely but inevitable. So a lot of

(01:06):
football talk. Here's the plan this podcast. We will have
a PGA Championship preview on Wednesday, and then surely probably
more football talk later in the week. Uh Middlecoff mail
bag at the end of this show at John Middlecoff
is my Instagram fire in those dms if you could,
you know, if if you feel like it, leave a

(01:27):
review on the three and Out podcast feed. Make sure
you subscribe to that feed. Appreciate everyone that's been listening.
Check out the Volume dot com, the merch got some
go lo hats, they look good. Golf second major of
the year, baby's buckle up, and any other housekeeping I
don't know. We're live on an AMP. Download that amp

(01:48):
app every day of the week. Watch all of our
content on YouTube. I'm a good company guy. All right?
What else? Yeah? I think that's it again, middlecoff mailbag,
fire in those dms. Got a lot of questions to
ask at the end of the show, a lot of
football talk. Let's have a week. Do you want to
go to a game? Do you want to go to
a concert? Do you want to do something this summer?
Get out of the house, enjoy yourself, get some sun,

(02:10):
go to a baseball game. Hell, they're only two and
a half hours. Now. Here's what I need you to do.
Go to your smartphone, go to the app store and
download the game Time app. Download game Time. They just
happened to be the official ticketing app of this podcast.
I'd been the promo code John jo Hn and get
twenty dollars off any pair of tickets concerts, comedy shows,

(02:34):
basketball games, hockey games, football games this fall, you want
to go to I was just meeting with someone in
a different business and he's like, you know, I'm from Madison, Wisconsin.
I'm like Badger fan, he said, Diehard, Well, you want
to go to a game this fall? Your family still
lives there. They want to go. I got you covered.
Get you a little discount, download game time right now,
promo code j o Hn. Well, well, well we had

(03:00):
breaking news today and you know, I'd say it was
a curve ball. It is the first NFL playoff game
that is going to be streaming only on Peacock. And
NBC's been doing this for a while, right, they put
different content that they own. I'm a golf guy obviously,

(03:21):
so in the past couple of years they own a
piece of major golf tournaments like the players that they've
owned major championships as well before. I don't think they
do currently, and they would put parts of it strictly
on the streaming service. Now, this is a little unique
because it's the only where to find the Saturday night

(03:42):
wild Card game is going to be on Peacock. And
we talked about it a lot last year. With Amazon,
that this is where it's all headed now a little bit.
I was thinking of like an analogy for this. It's
probably like swimming. Right when you're if you're listening to this,
your a parent and you got a young kid three
four years old. They start taking swimming lessons, they're being held,

(04:05):
they got floaties, you know, by the time they get eight, nine, ten,
they're doing flips, diving into the deep end, and you
don't even think twice about it. It feels like that
is what the NFL is doing with these streaming platforms.
Right over the last couple of years, they started dabbing
their feet, dipping their toe in. Now they're full on
in the pool, and within the next five seven years

(04:27):
they'll be in the deep end, you know, doing flying
squirrels off the rock and not even hesitating. It's inevitable
where we're headed now. I understand a lot of people
have pushed back about internet streaming services. Wherever you may live,
I can only relate to the office I'm sitting here
right now. I've had YouTube TV and have had no issues.

(04:50):
Now I pay whatever the max amount of money for
the highest speed internet, and wherever I go house office,
I will continue to do that. So I understand financially
maybe some people you know, can't afford to do that.
But where we're headed now with the way television works,

(05:10):
I think in a very very short period of time,
you won't really think about it and the ability will
only increase to get higher speed internet. Now, when I
was a kid, we could not get cable TV where
my parents lived. The only way and we got I
think when I was like probably eighth or ninth grade,
not cable TV. We had to buy the dish. We

(05:32):
could have dish or direct TV. But my friends that
lived in other places, like down the street, they had
access to cable. I did not. So there are always
road bumps and things you have to circumvent through just
eventual progression of a business, which streaming. Clearly, I think
it feels like we're much farther into it than we are.

(05:55):
But this is like the NFL now is full steam ahead.
Within a couple years. To me, they will have a
package on one of these streaming services. I mean they
already do with Amazon. But when it comes to the playoffs,
certainly Amazon inevitable they're getting a playoff game, so Peacock Amazon,
there's just no slowing it down. There's really not. If

(06:16):
you told me one day, HBO, Max or Showtime. And
I know some of these companies are either intertwined or
owned by the same you know, main conglomerate, so I
might be you know, cross pollinating here, but like, honestly,
it's not that shocking. It's really not. Now. I understand
some of you don't have Peacock. We'll have to get Peacock.

(06:38):
I have it because in my condo I have Comcast,
which obviously is in bed with Peacock, so it comes
free and I'm still able to stream it. But who
knows how long that lasts. If I get rid of
that thing, you know, I'll get it, you know, because
I'm not going to miss a playoff game, and neither
of you and I know there are some hurdles when
it comes to bars and restaurants. I think that's a

(06:59):
major quest question with YouTube TV, which was easier for
them with direct TV. But this is where we're at, man,
and there's just no slowing it down in the NFL
and all these leagues, really, But I think the NFL
has done a really good job of just slowly kept
integrating it kept integrating it kept integrating. It not like

(07:20):
there is just the snap of the fingers. Were only
streaming right. And I've said this forever. A big part
of it is the older owners, you know that are
in their seventies. There's a loyalty to that generation that
their kids just won't will not have. There's a loyalty
to my generation that my parents were just on the
opposite ends of the spectrum. And as those guys pass away,

(07:42):
you know, their loyalty to Fox and Cbs will just change.
Why because Amazon, because these other companies, if Netflix wants in,
have so much capital, and they have so much money,
and clearly the TV deals and Fox and CBS, you know,
have been incredible partner and have made everyone a lot
of money. But that's where their bread's buttered. This is

(08:04):
a league that is about television and eyeballs. Listen, I've
been to several NFL games over the years, a ton. Actually,
I'm sure many people listening have as well. That is
not how they make their money anymore. That's how they
make their extra cash, how they pay for their country
clubs and their yachts, how they pay for the operation
the players. The entire league is the games on television

(08:30):
and forever it was basic cable really just you know,
the basic channels, and that they've evolved, evolved, evolved, ESPN
got involved with Monday Night Football, and now we're at
the point where Amazon and Peacock and it's clear where
we're headed, and it's just it's just the natural progression
of the times we live in. I mean, think about Amazon, right,

(08:52):
their schedule. I looked at it before this morning when
I was getting the podcast ready. It was like, yeah,
it's a lot better. I mean, it really is. They
cut out. You don't see the Houston Texans, you don't
see the Arizona Cardinals, you don't see the Atlanta Falcons.
You aren't guaranteed a Thursday night game, which I understand
if I'm in the NFL, Like, ultimately, I get it.
I'm just against teams having to have multiple Thursday night games,

(09:16):
but they want to have a full slate of games.
It's kind of what you got to do, you know.
And I'm not changing my tune thinking that, you know,
they should like two games make sense with the right brands.
The Steelers playing Thursday night multiple times, right, that's not
by accidents. They're a massive brand. Aaron Rodgers and I
saw aw Michaels. He's clearly really excited. And one problem

(09:39):
last year for Amazon, which like anytime something is new
and the streaming services a lot of older people that
had to get Amazon Prime, you have to slowly acclimate.
But the product wasn't great. I love Out. I mean,
I think by far is the greatest play by play
guy of my lifetime when it comes to football. You know,
as he mailed it in, maybe clearly he's a bright

(10:01):
light sky and he had been. Now he chose this right.
He clearly, I would imagine, got a massive raise going
from NBC where he was making a lot to go
to Amazon, and it felt like he kind of mailed
it in, and it felt like Amazon kind of mailed
it in. And it feels like I'm talking about Herb Street.
I'm really not, but he's just it's a tough job.
It's they should have just hired an NFL person. And

(10:23):
the chemistry with Al and Herbie just wasn't quite there,
and it just it was a bad watch relative to
a primetime game, like you got to NBC, Tarico Collinsworth,
you got to Monday Night, you got Troy and Joe
like it just kind of felt big. Hell, even Burkhart
easily transitioned. He's been doing big games for a while,
and Greg Olsen was good. Now we can say whatever

(10:44):
we want about Romo if you want to nitpick him,
but like Jim Jim Nansen, Tony Romo feel big. The
Thursday night game besides just Al Michael's the name. When
you started watching the broadcast, it was pretty bad. And
maybe the better games, the better teams. Not all these
games are perfect. You look at the slate there. I
think there's a Panthers Bear game. You know, is Al
going to be super dialed for Panthers Bears. You know,

(11:06):
we'll see hopefully it's early in the season. But you know,
these these streaming services, man that there's just it's here.
It really is, and I think it's inevitable where we're headed.
One last thing on the schedule. I didn't realize this,
and I haven't talked about it yet, but I was
reading a couple of articles just on big picture, you know,

(11:28):
kind of angles on the schedule. This happened last year once,
and it happened in years past, right with the COVID
year when games got delayed and you had multiple games
on Monday Night. I think there are four weeks this
year where there are multiple Monday night games. There's a
Monday night doubleheader. Now I'm biased because I usually on

(11:50):
a Monday night, a Thursday night or Sunday night, I
watched the game and it usually leads whatever the podcast
is the following day with the reaction. I also think
like as as a consumer, and I try to speak
for the consumer, is Saturday Sunday. We're totally on board
with a ton of games all day long. You watch
your squad, you keep tabs on everyone else. But I

(12:12):
think we're pretty conditioned now. On Thursday night, Sunday night,
and Monday night, we kind of get a one off
and obviously the NFL knows how to make money, knows
how to keep their partners happy. I do think the
doubleheader Monday night is a tabbit. It's overkilled. I don't
think it's necessary. I don't know who it's serving. I
don't see why it has to happen. I don't part

(12:36):
of playing on Monday night football a lot like Thursday
night football, but definitely Monday night football. You're the only
game in town. It's all about you. Even in college right,
if you played the Big ABC game, or you played
the Big CBS game or whatever game you're playing sometime
on Saturday. Even if you got the number one crew
on whatever network, there's still other games constantly going off.

(13:00):
Right in the NFL, you play at ten am I'm
speaking West Coast times or one you know, one pm.
There are other games going on now, depending on the
week that the amount differs. But if you play on
Sunday night or Monday night football, it's only you. So
I'd argue it diminishes. I think it diminishes the product

(13:22):
a little bit. Why do you want two games going
simultaneously on Monday night? Saturday night? Nothing's going on, or
excuse me, Sunday. So it's like if you got multiple TVs,
you got an iPad, whatever, no one's working. I don't
care what. For the most part, what job you do,
even if you're a grinder's grinder, you know, Sunday, at

(13:42):
least half the day you're kind of chilling, especially in
the fall where Monday people work, people go to jobs,
people go to school, you get home, you eat dinner.
You know, it's kind of a very regimented day for
the overwhelming you know, percentage of people in society, so
to change like this, like I don't. I just don't
get it. And they're staggered too. It's not like one

(14:05):
game ends and the other one starts that they there's crossover.
I just can't even if I remove my bias, because
it makes it more difficult for me to kind of
keep track of both games. Kind I mean, I got
two TVs. But still I really just Monday, I've been
watching football for four days. I think I speak for
a lot of people. Just give me the one fucking game.

(14:28):
I don't need to try to be following, you know,
one games in the fourth quarter the other game's kicking off.
I just don't quite get it. I really don't. I
think sometimes the NFL props to them. They're very aggressive,
as you see with the streaming stuff, as you see
with what they've done with Thursday night Football, going to London,
all the stuff. I mean they deserve. They've lapped the

(14:49):
other sports. They've had some built in advantages, but they've
doubled down on their advantages and they've never looked back.
And the gap is going to only continue to watch
in the foreseeable future. I've said forever, like when I
was born, baseball was king in like the eighties, and
then I saw Michael Jordan and you know, take over

(15:10):
the NBA and then be every bit as big as
any sport. Now, football for the last twenty years is
separated from the pack, but it won't last forever. But
it does feel like some of this stuff is a
balance right to being aggressive and being forward thinking and
trying to continue because in business you're either growing or
you're dying, and that's just the way people think about it. Yeah,
it's like we can argue all you want, like they're

(15:31):
big enough just sustain this. That's not the way it works.
But this feels like a little bit overkilled. Before we
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(16:38):
dot com. That's Angi dot com. Another I don't think
I really talked about the Jags who have back to
back games in London, and I've been asked this before
in the mail bag, and a lot of people wonder
do you think it's inevitable, you know, expansion in other countries.

(16:59):
I've heard people that cover the league say that one
of Roger Goodell's greatest regrets is being a part of
a team that went to Jacksonville. He wasn't the commissioner
at the time, but I think he played a large,
large role in that and other people in the NFL
clearly regret that Heiny market doesn't make much sense. Already

(17:19):
got multiple teams in Florida. I don't exactly know the
other market you would have gone to instead. I mean
that there are other options. But if you'd have a
duover on Jacksonville, you would have put a team in Jacksonville. Right,
I'm seeing all these teams leave Oakland, But if you
had a do over, there wouldn't be a team starting baseball, basketball,
football that would go to Oakland. Just a reality of
society in the twenty first century. So Jacksonville has clearly

(17:45):
sniffed around. They can say whatever they want, and clearly
there's some leverage in regard to trying to get a
new stadium built. Part of it is they've been dipping
their toe. They've been dipping their toe. Now this is
like the next step. Do back to back games. See
how it goes. See the logistics. There are always going
to be some logistical hurdles. Right if during training camp

(18:07):
you need to bring players, what about guys in the
Midwest on the West coast long flights. Now, if you're
coming from the East coast. I've never been to London,
but you know, everyone says It's a five to five
and a half hour flight, So what the hell is
different from Seattle? If I'm you know, Pete Carroll and
John Schneider and I want to sign a couple guys
for training camp, and they're both in you know, Jacksonville, Florida.

(18:29):
I mean, it's a long flight, so I think you
can justify it clearly from a size perspective, it makes
a lot of sense. Pretty sure, pretty big area over
there relative to Jacksonville. The other thing is, you know,
part of the back to back games, they're not going
to be at the same stadium, you know, ones at
Wembley and ones at I think Tottenham Stadium on the

(18:52):
opposite sides. So you know, you continue to build a
fan base. Well, the bigger, you know, the faster you
expand your league and your sport to people that you
know may not have that much exposure. You know, they
eventually like it and then they eventually start playing it.
Think about what happened in ninety two with the Dream Team,
Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley. I mean it's one

(19:15):
of the most famous teams of all time, not just
because they beat everyone by seventy five points, but because
of what it did to the game globally. Now basketball
is a lot easier to operate than football. Right fields, pads, coaching,
they don't They're not apples to apples. But there is
an area that is massive that easily could have some

(19:37):
people and start playing football in London and just different
parts of Europe that might make some sense. And the NFL,
once upon a time I was young, had NFL Europa.
So I think if I was a betting man, I
would say probably fifty one forty nine that a team
ends up there. And I think the team's pretty clear,

(19:58):
like it's not going to be you know, the Chicago
Ban moving to London, the New England Patriots packing up
shop is the Jacksonville Jacks. And I know people have
talked about expansion. I don't know, man, I have a
hard time. I get you could sell two expansion teams
or let's just pick a number seven billion, so fourteen billion,
split them up between the owners, said whatever that I'm

(20:19):
no math major, but four hundred million an owner. But
then you also have to split the TV revenue, which
there is a short term winfall if you expand, but
there's also a big picture deficiency of money that you
would be getting that you have to split. Instead of
one to thirty seconds, you're splitting one thirty fours, so
that adds up over a period of time. You also

(20:40):
compete television wise in terms of the rankings of where
your game gets put up. Like if I owned an
NFL team, I would much rather move a squad than
deal with adding a couple squads, especially especially now, all
these teams are so much cash, so I that's again
no inside information, feels much more likely that the Jags

(21:03):
they leave Jacksonville and go to London than a team
expanded the league expands and puts a team there. You know,
the Sixers had a pretty devastating loss, and you know,
you see people on Twitter talking a lot of shit
about the process, and really all the process was it's
like a cool way to package. We're just gonna suck

(21:26):
as badly as possible for several years and try to
draft really high and it works. Like it's not that
complicated to just throw a season and try to lose
games in basketball. It's much more difficult in the NFL.
But if you have a terrible season in any sport,
you still need to pick the right player. Like I

(21:46):
saw this this tweet thread of all the players obviously
beside HIMBI, they missed on a ton of players in
the process. Now, part of it was they changed over
Hinky to another guy, and Hinky became like this cult hero.
But google Hinky's draft track record. Fucking dude. Missed on
a lot of sweet players for guys who sucked. Now

(22:06):
he tells you, well, it's just a percentage game, blah
blah blah blah blah, regardless you were with and a
lot and part of sucking and getting a high pick,
whether you have the first pick or the second or
third pick, is then you have to pick the right player.
So in the NFL, think about this. For example, the
Texans they have bottom out the last couple of years.
Because I saw Mike Lombardi, he's a big Sixers fan,

(22:29):
just talk about how terrible the Sixers culture is, and
I would agree. When you just lose forever, there's not
like a base of winning. There's not a base of
with the players, with the organization, the standard like this
is unacceptable, that this is not okay because all these
players saw at least a lot of them did it

(22:49):
was okay. What especially their best player. Right, the standard
actually was pretty low, so they don't really know a
high standard. Like the Miami Heat are a good example.
They're an eight seed there the conference finals. How high
do you think the standards are with the Miami Heat.
Think about over the years, how many times Tom Izzo's
Michigan State team was not the number one overall seed

(23:12):
or you know, a one or two seed. They were four,
they were five, they were six, they were three, whatever,
and you look up in the Elite eight and they'd
have the lead headed to the final four. It happened
all the time because the standards are so high, and
I think in football, you know, you think about the
best cultures in the league. To me, Kansas City clearly
is number one. They're going on a decade now of winning. Right.

(23:33):
The we don't need the Patriots culture might have been
the combination of the two of them. Once you split
it up, it ain't the same. But Andy was winning
with Alex Smith every single year, winning, going to the playoffs.
Got rid of him. They took the next step. Now
they're going to super Bowls and winning them. Right, I
would put several other teams in the mix of really
high level culture. Eagles Niners, Bengals, and a lot of

(23:55):
it is player driven, right, player driven Football's you know,
the coaches have by standards. But in twenty twenty three,
the days of like Bear Bryant, this is not college football,
and Bill Parcells MF and you twenty four to seven,
three sixty five kind of over. They're just we saw
Urban Meyer came in and within like three months they're like,

(24:16):
this is this ain't gonna work right because a lot
of it's on the guys. So think about Kansas City,
where does the standard start? Patrick Mahons, with Travis Kelce,
with Chris Jones for a while with the Honey Badger.
You know, the standard is really really high. Listen, Tyreek
Hill had some questions over the years off the field,

(24:36):
but you talk to anyone his practice habits pretty high.
I've been around the forty nine ers for years. Other
guys are so high level. I mean, it ain't a
fuck around session at practice. Think about the Eagles. Lane
Johnson was like a Hall of Fame player last year,
did everything humanly possible to dump take his body to
keep playing in the playoffs. Super Rich already won a

(25:00):
Super Bowl. There's no you got to drag that guy
off the field, Kelsey pletcher Cox, Brandon Graham. Cultures are
set as much as we want to think by the coaches,
I think in twenty twenty three, and you could argue
it's always been a little bit like this, but with
the amount of money role players get, let alone the stars,
it's got to be very, very players driven. It really does.

(25:21):
And I think football really benefits from not having to
worry about you're gonna have terrible teams. But the Texans
kind of I mean, Lovely Smith won a game. No
one's not trying to win. You might just suck, right.
The Bears. The Bears tried to win games last year.
They just couldn't. They did that. The Rams, you think
Sean McVay ever, tried to lose any of these games

(25:41):
held by the end of the season. Baker Mayfield and
they're beating the Raiders on Thursday night football, you know,
because it drives these guys nuts. But it's just to me,
it's a fascinating kind of dichotomy between the two operations because,
let's face it, tanking in basketball, which makes sense right
because one player can eat you get the right guy
a Tim Duncan and Steph Curry, a Kobe, a Lebron.

(26:04):
You franchise has changed with football, it's really only the quarterback, right,
And how many of those quarterbacks have we seen over
the last decade? Right? With the number one overall pick
Joe Burrow Andrew Locke, I think Trevor Lawrence. I bet
on him, but he's let's see a little more work, right,
because you think about Patrick Mahomes like he wasn't his
number one pick. You know this year it's going to

(26:24):
be very, very fascinating. Right if you suck in the
middle of November and you have two or three wins
and you're in the mix for the number one pick.
There is no argument that losing is the right thing.
It's just hard to execute that. It really is, because
no player on your team is going to tap out.
And coaches, even if you're like, this guy's probably gonna

(26:46):
get fired, you think he's going to be be the
guy that keeps losing games and just gets the thumbs
up on the when you tell him to clean out
his office in the end of the season. But the
Caleb William thing's gonna be fascinating. That's gonna be a
little side project. We're going to talk about all year
long as the season goes. A couple other quick things.
Matt Ryan, he's unofficially retired, all right, Florio wrote. The

(27:09):
only reason there's no point for him to say I'm
done because listen, he's not getting another job, no one's
bringing him in. His career is over that If you
weren't a quote unquote officially retire, the twelve million dollars
that the Indianapolis Colts owe him would not come his way.
So it behooves him to say, listen, I'm I'm gonna
work for CBS. I'm gonna do some studio stuff, call

(27:32):
some games, but I'm not officially retired. We all know
Matt Ryan is never playing in the NFL again. To me,
the only way that would be humanly possible is a
team as a bunch of injuries. They stink and they're
desperate and they just need a guy to play. And
even then, if you're Matt Ryan, I don't know if
it would make much sense for him to do that.

(27:52):
Here's the thing that I and I try to be.
I viewed few ex players going into call games as
like GM's view draft prospects. I'm pretty good. I told
you Drew Brees was going to stink Tom Brady. I'm
very on the fence about I think with Matt Ryan,

(28:13):
and I've watched a lot of his press conference over
the years here to hurt him interviewed people. I know
that Noah will love him, you know, I think he's
a legit guys guy. I think there are kind of
two versions of this, and I think Brady is the
best version. But Matt falls under his category is like,
they can just be a dude. They can be very
relatable despite being worth hundreds of millions of dollars and

(28:34):
been super rich now for almost two decades. But when
they're just talking to someone, they have a skill to relate.
But then they also can go into this mode of
when quarterbacks give a press conference, they kind of can
turn into a coach. They're not that candid, They're very
careful about what they say, and let's face it, it's
kind of bland and boring, and part of being good

(28:55):
on television in Collin games is to kind of let
your personality come out. And here's the other thing. I
don't expect players who just finished playing to crush players.
I don't Besides the obvious, right a bad drop, a misassignment,
but like just to be like this guy stinks, like
that's kind of my job. That's the fans job. I

(29:18):
understand players, especially their friends. Or this guy is over
the hill, this guy is shot. Then that's how we
talk about these guys. That's honestly how the coaches and
front office people talk. But I get with players. Their friends,
they've hung out with these guys, they know their families,
they might know their kids. It can be difficult, so
I give them a little bit of a pass the

(29:38):
first year or two when they're talking about players. I
have a hard time though, with us, the consumer who
spends all this time watching these games and more specifically
gambling on these games. Like I never have any hesitation.
I try to give younger players somewhat of a pass.
Like It's why I lean being critical on the coaches,
because it's like a lot of them one probably should

(30:00):
and have their job. If you make it to the NFL.
I got a ton of respect for you as a player.
Just because your coach of the NFL does not mean shit.
You know, not everyone is some legit coach in the league.
I promise you that you could trim the fat in
half and no one would notice and insert guys from
college or high school, it would not skip a beat.
So I've never listen Matt Ryan, I think could have

(30:23):
a point of difference, or any new former player. And
it's hard because usually you know a lot of these coaches,
but like it's the number one thing we all can
see when there's a dumb call, when guys aren't prepared.
You know, I always lean it's a coaching league first,
less than the players. Like I blame brock Perty's injury
on Kyle Shanahan. Terrible play call. You can't have your

(30:45):
backup tight end blocking an all pro like and then
get mad when your quarterback gets his elbow ripped in half.
It doesn't mean Kyle's a village idiot. It doesn't mean
Kyle hasn't won six playoff games in the last four years.
But that was an off call. It's like Belichick makes
bad calls, just like Andy's. But it's not even just
about the head coaches, the position coaches. It's about the

(31:07):
coordinators because that's really the game. Now. Some of these
head coaches now and a lot of them, especially on offense,
are the play caller, but the defensive coordinators. That's how
we all talk on the couch. It's why I think
Troy Aikman these last couple of years, once Tony Romel
got that raise, kind of got back to his roots
like kind of lets it rip sometimes and it's kind
of more it's relatable again, and I hope Matt can

(31:28):
just kind of let it rip because it's hard, Like
you're just not gonna be good if everything is you know,
candy and rainbows and just a thumbs up, good job,
keep it rolling. This coach has got a bright future
when he's losing by twenty points and he was a
seven point favorite, So you gotta be willing listen. I'm
not expecting every guy on television to just shit on

(31:50):
everyone on when they're having bad moments. But if you
can't be critical at all, you're just not gonna be
good on television, not in twenty twenty three, where authenticity
and just a reality. Like we've all seen enough football
now we have access to a million games, kind of
know what it looks like. Right, We've all watched the
Chiefs in Alabama and Ohio State, and you know, all
these guys play enough to know what good, what mediocre

(32:12):
and what bad looks like. You're not shocking anyone just
because you know. The dude runs a you know, construction company.
He's been watching football for forty years, knows what good
and bad looks like. Might not know all the inchors,
you know, the exes knows the specific details of every
single play, But I know what a well coached team
looks like. Right. If I'm just an average Joe and
I've been watching football, and I'm forty five years old

(32:34):
and I'm a diired football fan, it's pretty clear I
know what a well coached offense or defense looks like.
And I just I always get nervous with these, especially
his high profile Drew Beries. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it.
I knew that was coming because it's a corporate image.
Matt Ryan's has a little less like corporate national image,
but he's pretty famous and he's definitely pretty rich, and
I do I am concerned that he's not going to

(32:57):
just be able to let a rip. Okay, let's dive
into a little thing we call a mailbag at John
middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire into those direct messages and
get your question answered here on the pot my Instagram
is just my name. Spell it out at John Middlecoff

(33:19):
two f's. Eagles only gave me one when I first
got in office. But you know, a long time ago.
It's not like I still remember John. What up man?
Jimmy from Chicago? Shy town baby? Can we just keep
it real and say who James Harden is? He's Kirk Cousins,
big numbers with nothing on the line, and softer than

(33:41):
Sharman when the lights get bright. Dude folds like a
chair when the games matter. At his best, he's a
number three on a team. At best. Here's the difference.
I would say James Harden won an MVP and just
had seasons where in the regular season I mean, did

(34:03):
the average over thirty points one year obviously dominated forever
in Houston. His regular season, he was a better regular
season player than Kirk Cousins has ever been a regular
seasons player. His regular season can look now, it doesn't transfer,
And you could argue the regular season in basketball does
not parallel the playoffs. It's like a different sport, where

(34:24):
in football it does parallel each other. Like if you're
beating good teams throughout the regular season, you can beat
good teams in the playoffs. But Kirk Cousins, the knock
on him has just been bright lights, not even in
the playoffs, It's been primetime games in his career. Right,
So I would say in a weird way, Harden is
a better version of Cousins. But also in the NBA.

(34:46):
And this goes for football too, Kirk Cousins and Dak
Prescott when their careers are over, are gonna be so
filthy rich it's stupid. I mean, we know Cousins has
made a ton of money, right franchise back to back years,
eighty five million dollars first contract, sixty million extension. I'm

(35:07):
no math major, but probably close over two hundred million dollars.
I looked it up today. James Harden has made three
hundred million dollars. So if he got a hundred million
dollar contract, which many expect him to get way more,
he's gonna end up making four hundred and twenty five
four hundred and fifty million dollars playing basketball. And here's
the thing. In the NFL. You know, if I pay

(35:29):
Cousins and Dak a lot of money and I consistently win,
especially Dak's a good example. If I'm going to the
playoffs every year. There's a lot of value in that,
especially as the Cowboys. But I'm never winning a Super Bowl,
and I'm not trying to be a dick about it
with Dak, a guy I do like the guy. I
have a lot of respect for every time I see him.
I've never met the guy personally, but clearly a high

(35:51):
level guy has maximized all his talent, cares a lot,
is like everything you look for. I would rather have
Dak Prescott, thank Kirk Cousins, even though we can argue
their numbers. I'm taking Dak over Cousins, but I don't
think either is beating the top guys in the playoffs.
Now you could argue the NFC. Who knows, maybe the
Eagles screw up, you don't even have to play him
and you end up getting brock Perrie. I don't know. Like, obviously,

(36:14):
the the NFC in theory should open up a little
bit more than the AFC. But there is value if
you're winning double digit games going in the playoffs every
single year in the NBA, like I'm sorry, unless you're
getting me to the conference championship every year and giving
me a chance to win a finals you pay a
guy that much money, it's a waste of cash. Now
problems to Harden. He's gonna be, you know, a half

(36:36):
billionaire and one of the worst playoff players we've ever
seen in ever. I mean, it's insane, it really is.
It's pretty crazy. Not hate the Lakers, but I'll say this,
Lebron James is an incredible playoff player. Anthony Davis, we
can talk about it. He gets injured all the time.
When that guy wants to play. Holy shit. Nikolea Jokic,

(37:00):
you watched in the last two years. Last year, I
think the Warriors beat him in five. He was incredible.
Draymond Green gave him a hug after the after they
beat him beat him in five and was like, you're
one of the best players we've ever played. You watched
what that guy's doing right now. It was funny. In
the NBA and Colin talks a lot about this, it's
a hype machine sport. Like it's hard, Like there's no
hype machine in football. It's got to keep like you

(37:22):
got to produce, Like you can give me a bunch
of hype, bunch of hype, bunch of hype, and then
it's like, oh, I watched two a play You're wrong, right,
A bunch of hype, bunch of hype, bunch of hype.
Ask guy's actually not that good in basketball, James Harden
and b these guys get so much hype, just the hype,
the hype, the shoes, John Murran, the shoes, the commercials,
the highlights. It's like, Yeah, there's like seven guys i'd
want to go to war with. Like I like Devin

(37:43):
Booker a lot. Someone told me where my office is.
His mom used to live in the facility. I guess
he goes to the store right across the street from
where I'm at all the time to shop, and I
think he's excellent. If I ever ran into him at
the store, I'd say, you know what, you remind me
a lot of the Warriors guys. The way you conduct yourself,
the way you play like, I think you're gonna win bick.
Not that he need me to say that, but I

(38:03):
truly believe that. But I've watched the last couple of
years them kind of gutlessly tap out and sometimes you
don't have it right. And the difference in football and
baseball and basketball is like, over the course of a series,
you know, if your bad game comes an elimination game,
you know, it doesn't look great. But like in football,
ultimately Cousin just isn't good enough. Like he has he

(38:26):
was a fourth round pick. He has serious limitations athletically,
there's only so much he can do. And then he's
kind of robotic that he's not a natural kind of
you know. For example, Joe Burrow is like the best
version of Tony Romo. He's like Tony Romo on steroids,
way better. But there's like this instinctive, natural kind of

(38:47):
flow to his game. It doesn't all feel I honestly
think it was one of Peyton Manning's downfall why he
didn't win four Super Bowls and he only won two.
Now he went to a couple more. But Peyton Manning
is like the guy that you know Rady won seven,
Manning one four. If I would have told you that
eight years ago, you know, I could see it. But
there was something de Manning where he just in the

(39:08):
playoffs just a little. Sometimes I think in sports, when
you think too much, and you could argue this it
parallels any industry, but even if you're an overthinker as
a sales guy, as an architect, whatever you're not. Everything
has to happen immediately, right at the snap of a finger,
like in football the ball snapped. You're an overthinker. A

(39:29):
split second could be a pick six right. An overthinking
a drive can ultimately cost you a game of three
and out. And I think Cousins has that element of
Peyton where he just he thinks too sometimes too much.
You watch Patrick Mahomes, he's playing. You watch Steph Curry,
He's just kind of playing, you know. I like my

(39:50):
guys to there'd be a like Deebo Samuel or George Kittle.
There's just like an instinctive element to their game. Dak
does have some of that, but Dak doesn't have a
great arm. Some picks, you know, now you can throw
picks if you have a hose, but far through a
lot of them. He also made a lot of enormous
explosive plays. So I don't even know. Forget the question now,

(40:12):
I've been ranting and raven for a second back. I
think Harden is a better version of Cousins, but I
think they both I'm in agreement. They fall under the
same umbrella. Okay, let's go to make fiance's account. So
it's not actually make two questions for you. First, how
far do you think the Vikings can realistically get with

(40:33):
Kirkuz is a fascinating conversation. You know what's crazy is
sometimes the most polarizing discussions, Like Lebron I'm not a
big Lebron guy, but I can't say like he's not good, Like, yeah,
he's one of the best athletes I've ever seen any sport.
But hell, you might not like you know whoever, Kevin Durant,
but you have to acknowledge like he's pretty special, right,

(40:54):
you might not love you know whoever, Patrick Mahomes. I
don't know who that guy, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning,
but y'all acknowledge it's like that second tier guy that
you're just like, how good is this guy? That guy
usually creates the most conversation in basketball forever. Now, honestly,
it's been James Harden and now it's kind of like

(41:15):
Joel embiid Russell Westbrook. In football, it's always Cousins, Dak
Jimmy Garoppolo, Kyler Murray, right, Derek Carr. It's You're never
gonna meet anyone who's like this Joe Burrow guy don't
fucking see it, right, you know, Jalen Hurts can't believe
the Eagles. What were they thinking? Right, Carson Wentz, it's

(41:36):
the guy in that tier that's not at the top.
You can even put Herbert there right now, but he's
a couple of years away from like being in that
true conversation. Jimmy's been in it forever. Derek Carr's been
at it forever, Derek, or excuse me, Dak Cousins. Those guys,
Daniel Jones now has entered the chat. Those are the guys,

(42:00):
because what do you say, like it is the honest
guy man monster. You know, hell, he lost in the
first round. You're not gonna meet a soul that's like
I wouldn't want Jannis loser, right. I mean it's like
in baseball, it's a little bit I'll say this about baseball. Uh,
seeing the Giants win three World Series in five years,

(42:21):
baseball can be a little weird, you know. I mean
you need some luck, some specific like pitching situations go
your way, a pitch hit guy hits a home run.
In football and basketball, like the top guys usually win
and the middle tier guys usually disappoint. That's that's kind
of the formula the history of the league. And then

(42:41):
we end up talking. We rank the sweet guys and
we argue over like, oh, this guy's two, this guy's won,
and then we just scream, hoot and holler over the
middle tier guys. You know, they're I guess they're slightly
above middle tier, like the above average guy who's actually
good and who's not good, like ultimately Kirk Cousins is
a really good NFL player now relative like Mahomes, Burrow,

(43:03):
Josh Allen, Right, all all the top older guys, Brady Rogers,
he's not even in their universe, but relative to you know,
basically like twelve through thirty two. Yeah, he's really good.
I remember their backup quarterbacks like, he's a very good player.
Matt Ryan was in that for a while, so long

(43:24):
way away. Say, a lot of people are not going
to pick them to make the playoffs, And I didn't
pick him last year, I might as well not pick
him again. Have you or anyone worked with anyone you
worked with while scouting ever looked at a player from
D three or D two that made it to the NFL.
I played at D three level and wondered if that happened. Thanks,
keep up the work. Well, I'm a West Coast guy,

(43:48):
meaning like I scattered the West, and you know, I
was at Frezo State, even at cal Pauly. We don't
really have on the West Coast like you do in
the South or maybe the Midwest, definitely the Northeast some
of those like D two and D three schools. Like
if you're gonna play college football out west beside junior college,
you're either gonna play D one double A, right, like

(44:09):
from Montana to UC Davis to cal Pauly, which produces
NFL guys for sure, right, Trey Lance Carson Wentz. I
mean a ton of position players, not not like consistently
like every program's got multiple, but NFL guys every single
year getting drafted D one double A or non power five.
Like you're playing in the Mountain West, where like we

(44:30):
didn't have that many D two, D three options over
here now I think around the country if there is,
like if you were a scout, the only way that
you would end up at like a D two school
is because there was like a you know, a dude
transferred from Cincinnati or a guy left, you know, got

(44:52):
kicked out of Georgia kicked out of junior college and
ended up there some situation like that, and more likely
than not that guy is going to go to D
one Double A. Right, He's more likely to go to
like McNee State or Montana after getting kicked out of
like you know, I'm just picking schools here, Cincinnati or Wisconsin,
and no other Power five teams are gonna mess with

(45:13):
him than he is to go D two because those
you know, South Dakota State or whoever, you know, Sack
State who made a little run last year would come
sniffing around. So yeah, I mean I D two's players
have definitely, you know, made it in the league, but
it's it's fewer and far between. I would say, you know,
definitely one double A. All those programs, like when I scouted,

(45:36):
I went through them all This year, the Patriots drafted
the dude from sax State in the third round. So
now I think there's a pretty big gap. You know
better than me. I mean, I've never watched D three football, honestly,
don't have much experience with D two. D one double
A football is not bad. Like the top ten teams
in D one Double A. I mean, we've seen it
before Appalachian State is now a powerf or you know

(46:00):
Vision I program. But you know South Dakota State, North
Dakota State, Montana, Montana State, Sax State's good or they
were they lost their coach got the job at Stanford.
But like you know col Pauly, when I was I
think this is when I went to Fresno State, they
almost beat with Wisconsin. They had a really good team,

(46:20):
so you know, you can have I think their field
goal kicker missed like four extra points or something. It
was a it was a rough day, but should have
beat Wisconsin. From David, what's your best advice for making
it living as a podcaster? What are three to five
things that need to fall into place to make it work?
You know, I one, people have to be able to

(46:41):
find it, So you need a distribution platform besides just
loading it on Apple or you know YouTube. Now, so
many people have podcasts a lot to get lost in
the shuffle. So having a distribution platform, right, I mean,
that's pretty big. When you look at the top top podcasts,
whether it's Pardon My Take or Rosillo or whoever Colin

(47:07):
you name it, they either are massive brands individually, like
Colin Coward has a He's had a radio show for decades,
so even before he ever started streaming a show and
created a podcast network, Like you think Colin Coward, you
think Talking Right Barstool, they have a large network. Roscillo,

(47:27):
longtime talk show host, links up with Bill Simmons. So
I think it's very, very difficult to do it by
yourself if you're gonna be like an independent, small guy
and have success. You know, when I first started podcasting
and I have another podcast is basically a forty nine podcast,
we had a built in audience, so like you have

(47:48):
to have people that are already listening to you because
we had a radio show. I don't know. I don't
know if I'm sitting here, if I just left the
NFL and got a podcast, no way, my it would
not be the same situation. So before I ever started podcasting,
I was in radio for three and a half years.
Then if you can somehow figure that element out, which

(48:09):
is obviously very difficult, you know, you got to link
up with someone. I think you know, sound quality is big,
consistency is big. Finding what you're I'm a big believer
in and if you've listened to this show, like and
I'm not just going to talk about the Cowboys talk
about the Cowboys, right, I just talk about what interests me.
And maybe that's a slower build to where the podcast

(48:31):
ends up one day. And maybe if I did more,
I don't even want to say shock jock, but just
kind of played it like you would have to for
a radio show. You know, I'd get more viral clips
or whatever. But I truly don't care. Like I don't
have a take on the Cowboys today, Like I got
nothing to say on the Packers, right, I mean I don't.
I just don't now. Once the season starts, you gravitate

(48:54):
towards the good teams and the big stories. But like,
I just try to talk about what I'm excited about,
and then I hopefully and I think, you know the
amount of people listening to the show and success we've had,
people like it, So I would say, find what you
like talking about, what you're good at talking about, So
you gotta have some knowledge. It's easy for me to
talk about football. I've been watching football in my whole life.

(49:15):
I've worked in football, I read a lot about football.
I talk to people about football, So why I like
talking about golf? I play golf. I watched a PGA
tour gamble on golf. I mean, I just talk about
what I like. You know, it'd be hard for me
to do like a baseball show. Not that you know,
baseball podcasts are even that successful, but I like, I
don't know that much about baseball anymore. I don't watch

(49:37):
that much. I mean, I keep tab to see my
guy Bruce Bochi. I don't know, just second best record
in baseball, No big deal, text Rangers. I'm rooting from
the big fellow. But other than that, like, you got
to talk about what you know, and that doesn't whether
it's sports, whether it's real estate, you know, whether it's whatever.
My girlfriend went to this conference with her mom last week.

(49:58):
It was like a I don't know if it was
a networking conference, but it was like a conference for
real estate and started talking to a guy who was
a big real estate agent to start a podcast, and
he transitioned like doesn't even open doors anymore. His podcast
makes it more money than he ever made his a
real estate agent. The guy was very successful and it
was one of those things that just gradually took off.
And you know, there are still niches that are probably

(50:21):
undervalued like the football podcast. I'm not saying it because
I have one, but they're a million so it would
be very hard if you don't have a distribution platform
to just start a football or basketball podcast. It really would.
But let's say you were you worked, You're a big
sports fan, but you work in construction, or you're a
real estate guy, or you're a finance guy. And maybe

(50:45):
I'm talking out of turn, but maybe there's more of
an avenue for some of that. And you can talk
sports as well, because most people I know, like my friends,
work in normal jobs. We talk sports a lot. You know,
you can kind of intertwine the two of them. That's like,
it's like middle coff, Why are you always talking money
and numbers? That's what interests me. I like business like.
I subscribe the Athletic. I still have a free one

(51:09):
from a long time ago. The only newspaper I subscribe
to the Wall Street Journal. Now I'm not claiming to
read the thing every day, but I'm more likely I'm
not more likely. I definitely I read articles occasionally from
the Wall Street Journal. I read no other articles from
any other newspapers, partly because whenever I'm on Twitter and
someone in the NFL. I follow like post an article
for a newspaper. They write and I click on it.
I can never read it. It's like I'm not paying

(51:31):
for this shit. I was always curious about your playing career.
Google didn't have anything I assumed with your front office work.
You played dB in college. Did you know you wanted
to work in the NFL while in college or just
loved football? Uh? Definitely not a dB level. Wait, don't
tell you that, Matt. Do you know how good honestly

(51:53):
even to play dB in college, like when I was
at Fresnel State, Hell, when I was at cal Poly
Asa Jackson who ended up getting draft to buy the Ravens,
to be a dB level athlete, Like relative to America,
you are such a high end athlete. I mean it's
you might not be like NBA level, but you're a
top two or three percent guy. So no, I had

(52:15):
my I love football. I was a sports junkie. I
mean I like sports the whatever ten out of ten
is from like, you know, seven eight years old till
through college at like a fourteen. I mean it, I
couldn't have liked it anymore. Now. When I got to
the NFL, I worked with multiple people that. You know,

(52:39):
Howie Roseman wanted to be a GM when he was
like five. I work with scouts that some guys played
like lower level football or didn't even play that just
love the scouting. I wasn't like that. It kind of
organically happened. I just wanted to work in sports, and
it just I got kind of lucky and things just
broke my way. Now I like football more than the

(53:00):
other sports, but I really like basketball for a large
percentage of my life. You know, I love golf. Yeah,
I'm I'm just a sports guy. I mean, I just
enjoy watching games. I mean I still do. Hey, John,
I'm a big fan of the pod. What are some
of your personal and professional goals in the next five years?

(53:23):
You know, I'll just say this. I'm not going to
be cheesy about this, but I really struggle in the
day and age we live in, it's very hard to
see the future for a lot of things. Right, things
change so quickly. You know. It was always in the
eighties or the nineties or the fifties, it was pretty easy,

(53:44):
like I want to do this, and for the most part,
those jobs weren't really changing. Like in this profession, like
I want to host a radio show in a top
five market. I want to be on TV in a
major network, Like I think those days are kind of dead,
Like obviously those aren't my dreams round aspirations, I would
say one thing non podcast wise, because I'm pretty confident

(54:05):
we just keep swinging our pick here this we're headed
in the right place. There are business elements of my
life that I would like to own a business, and
I have a couple ideas, but that's something in the
next five years, even if it's just kind of a
smaller operation. I got a couple llc ideas that are

(54:26):
always in the back of my mind, but I'm still
working them out. But I would say for the foreseeable future,
just really really keep out of the pavement on this.
And this has been good. Business is booming, life's going well,
but to me, it's hard. Like five years if you
would have told me five years ago, was it twenty

(54:48):
twenty three, so that would have been twenty eighteen that
I would be doing, I'd be sitting here doing this
podcast having the sensis having like I wouldn't have believed you,
And I never was, like I write short term goals
and things, but I do think depending on Now every
professions different, but I think in the business I'm in

(55:08):
in terms of this, it's kind of hard. There are
definitely golf elements to the golf media business that you know,
I definitely want to take big strides in. But we
got a ways to go. We just started the thing
last year. We got some you know, some stuff in
the fluid fluidity do it deals in the work. So
we'll see what happens. But I would just some people

(55:29):
are different, and I know, you know, you listen to
the certain gurus about writing down goals. I'm not against that.
Some people write down their thoughts and I've done that
before and it's worked, and I've not done it before
and it's worked, right. I just think you gotta Sometimes
it's cheesy, but coaches say this a lot of like
be where your feet are. I do think there's a
lot of truth in that. Now. I always try to be,

(55:53):
and I think most successful people try to be and
I try to be because they are you know, big
picture thinking. But there's a balance to it. Sometimes, you know,
you can't just start in a full sprint. Sometimes you
gotta walk through a jog and then pick up the pace.
Things gradually take some time. It's weird, like I'm not
a very patient person, but I think there's like a

(56:16):
to be good at anything, there has to be like
an aggressive patience because you gotta be you know, pedal
of the metal and moving forward. But you got to realize,
like some things everyone's you know, the way there things
break for them works at different paces, So you can't
always get frustrated when things aren't working or something doesn't

(56:36):
go your way. Now, sometimes you can't be naive about it,
like it might not work and you gotta pivot. But
like once you start seeing some signs of progress slash
success of financial you know, improvements, you know, revenue gains,
whatever it may be, and whatever you do, you know,
I think you gotta be willing to take it. Slows

(56:58):
probably the wrong way to put it, but understand that
you know, this might not happen in six months, but
in two years and two and a half years and
four years, this fucking thing could be big. I'm watching
the NHL and NBA playoffs. There are women doing color
commentary in the booth and it's nice to hear. Are
there any women in the NFL media space that you
would like to hear in the booth. When I used

(57:20):
to have a radio show in the Bay, Doris Burke
used to come on. I used to bull show with her,
you know, I used to. It was really cool. Actually,
go to these NBA games and you know, you get
there like three hours early. You can bull show with
people on the sideline or talking to players. It was coaches,
it was sweet and you could definitely always talk to
the broadcasters. I always thought she was really good, and

(57:41):
I think most NBA analysts are pretty terrible. I don't
watch I haven't watched much of the NHL playoffs to
be honest with you, to know what you're talking about there.
But I believe you the NFL. No, I mean, I
think the NFL most you know, let's face it, a
lot of analysts are pretty terrible women in different I mean,
it's hard to call a game. That's definitely something I

(58:05):
have no aspiration to do. Doesn't interest me in the
slightest because I respect the profession and I know a
heart of this. I'm more of a reactor or talk
about the games coming up. That's what I'm really good at.
I would want no part of it. So when I
talk shit about it, it's not because I don't think
it's hard. It is, but it's pretty clear the guys
that are good and guys that aren't good at it.

(58:26):
I don't know, off the top of my head any
women that I'd want to hear call a game. No,
but I'm sure they could be better. And some of
the guys were rolling out there because holy moly, there
were some bad ones. What would keep the NFL from
adding a second by a week? Extending the season seems
like it would be good for business. One of the
buys could be earmarked for before teams play their Thursday

(58:48):
night game, both teams competing off of buy and would
make the games better, longer to prepare, and to make
sure stars are healthy to play in. The NFL could
claim player safety. Lastly, this could take the Super Bowl
to President's Day and giving people the day off after
the game doesn't seem doesn't longer season equal more money,
not necessarily because they already got an eighteen week schedule,

(59:11):
which is eventually going to twenty. I think once they
go to twenty games, you know, in the preseason games
are scrapped. Maybe we eventually go to eighteen games, we'll
get the double buys. I think they like the the
length of the offseason, right, They've already pushed the combine
back a little bit. I guess you could push free
agency back a little bit. The draft where it's at. Yeah,

(59:33):
I mean, I would it shock me if when they
add the eighteenth game, which feels it could happen in
the next couple of years, that they add some sort
of buy. Like you said, the hard part is, you
know the teams that are playing on Thursday night, you'd
have to coordinate their buys. I think it would be

(59:54):
pretty difficult. Anyone who's read some articles it always comes
out right around this time when the schedule comes out.
It's a pretty complex formula. It's not very easy to do. Yeah,
I don't know. I'm the wrong guy to ask on that.
I've been listening to RJ Bell for a while, who
used to have a show on Fox Sports Radio. He

(01:00:15):
mentioned yourself on his podcast fairly regularly as someone who
listens to you. I like a I've known RJ for
a long time. Have you ever thought, while in the
off season, we're near the start of the year to
have him on the podcast to bring a pro gambling
to get his perspective, and have you had any conversations
with him? If not, I really do recommend having him on. Yeah,

(01:00:36):
I got to reach out to him. Good idea. Okay,
last question, Hey John, just listen to Sunday mailbag. Thought
i'd ask for an opinion before working a graduate job
at a large finance tech firm in London for a
few months after studying in the UK and a semester
at UC Berkeley. The money's not bad, but you guys

(01:00:57):
are getting paid double, maybe even triple what we are
in those roles. I think he means in the States,
it's made me want to move to the state's asap.
I thought it asked for cities you'd recommend for someone
looking to move to the States and never come back
as a Bills fan. I've loved Buffalo every time i've been,
but you know, not much going on there economically. One
stipulation is that there must be good golf courses nearby.

(01:01:20):
We'll be interested to hear your thoughts. Well, I'm a
West Coast guy, so I lean. You know, I would
lean Vegas or Scottsdale. You know, you could probably make
more money in one of the California if what you
do in La or San Francisco, but the price to
live there is astronomical. So the prices in Vegas or

(01:01:42):
Scottsdale a lot of golf as well, pretty hot. You know.
If you wanted to stay on the Eastern seaboard, which
is probably your move, I would sniff around Florida. I
think you could go Jacksonville, Florida. I think you could
go Carolina, the Charlotte area. I think it's a booming area.
A lot of golf over there, So you could go southern.

(01:02:04):
You know, Miami is really expensive for Lauderdale, Jupiter, you know, Orlando,
you know place I think relatively inexpensive, could be wrong.
Never been read a lot about it. No, there's a
lot of golf there, so you could you could kind
of piggyback Florida. I think Charlotte would definitely be on
my radar. Any other place in the South, shit, I mean,

(01:02:26):
Nashville is now pretty expensive, you know, decent amount of
golf in my experience. Maybe there's more than I realize,
but I think if you're headed west, i'd go a
z or Vegas. If you're gonna stay east, you know,
I think Jacksonville, Orlando, Charlotte. I think those areas are
kind of growing. If you got a little coin, you

(01:02:46):
wanted to, you know, mix up. Nashville not a bad place,
but Nashville is not for everybody. Northeast too cold for me.
And like you said, you know, golf weather, Phillies got
pretty good golf Phillies. I enjoyed my time phill I
really did when I moved there. Again, probably not, but
I did understand when I was there, like I get it,

(01:03:07):
and I went out a lot. I had a buddies,
you know, we had a younger staff, so we were
hanging out a lot, had a good time. I mean,
I think Philly is probably one of the more underrated
cities in America, you know, because everyone in the Northeast
is always blowing. Obviously New York, you know, even Boston,
d C. D C is cool. I mean d C

(01:03:29):
it was cooler. Probably I remember going around like ten
years ago. Now, I don't think I could take the
place seriously, just in general. I was thinking this the
other day, like Georgia declined to go to the White
House when I was a kid, and for a long
period of time, like the White House visit really meant
a lot. Does anyone care anymore? Like, shouldn't I was
thinking about this, shouldn't a team that wins go meet

(01:03:50):
like the CEO of one of the top companies. Wouldn't
you get more out of that? Like as a player,
most of these guys are going to go into like
normal jobs. Wouldn't that be cooler than like going to
the White House? Because it's just so polarizing now. It's
just they're either kind of call you a hater or
it's like, wouldn't you be better off I don't know,
going to Apple's campus, you know, meeting Elon at Tesla,

(01:04:14):
We're doing something like that. When you get more out
of that than you do the White House visit that
no one really wants any part of anymore. And it's
not even just you know, these last couple of years
been for whatever, the last six seven years, it kind
of feels like the whole thing has just kind of
become toxic, and why don't we mix it up? Why
don't we throw a curveball. It's like, where are we
taking the Ohio State football team? Oh, we're gonna take him.

(01:04:35):
We're Tim Cook's gonna take us around. We're gonna see
apples campus. You know, Elon's gonna show us space X.
That's what I'd want to do, but hell, maybe I'm crazy.
Appreciate James on the video, my guy Holes on the audio,
and uh, let's have a week people, I got I
got some pretty sweet golf that's coming up. So listen

(01:04:56):
to the GOLO podcast. One quick thing. Actually, someone asked me,
I don't think I saw the DM, but I saw
it within the last couple of weeks. About how team
or how scouts when they go to a program, like
if the if the college teams knows you're coming, there's
a pro liaison at every school. So as a scout,

(01:05:17):
usually you know, it changes school to school. Some teams
you can just show up, but a lot of schools
you let them know you're going to be in the office,
right so you can set up a time to talk
to people. So you have to. You know, it's like
any job. Do some shoot a couple of emails. You know,
once you've done it for a year or two, you
know all the people and let them know you're coming by,

(01:05:38):
and you know, there's usually a pro liaison. He's like
a lot of times he's the GM or the pro
personnel guy on the college staff, sometimes as a coach,
but not as much anymore. If you want to talk
to the coordinators, if you want to talk to the
position coaches, you usually have to reach out to them
individually and saying with the academic people, the training people,
and you just kind of set it up on your own,

(01:05:59):
and then you kind of kind of for a lot
of the big stuff go around as a group, and
then individually you kind of break off and talk to
people you know in a one on one setting. So
it's like it's probably like a lot of jobs, right
if you're going, If you're a medical sales guy, I'm
sure you reach out to some of the doctors or
whoever so they know you're coming so you can get
a meeting. Kind of the same concept. Audios the volume

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3 and Out - Peacock Wild Card, London Jags Inevitability, Caleb Williams ‘Process’, Mailbag

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John Middlekauff

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