3 & Out - Diggs traded, Pressure on Tua, Draft Daily, Fugazi Friday - 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The vilume.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
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Speaker 2 (01:35):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecoff three Now podcast
Happy Who Gassy Friday? Whereas Donnie Brasco, well al Pacino's
character in Donny Brasco said who Gayzy Friday? So we
will litigate that, But we do have to hit on
the trade in why I think it just it sums

(01:57):
up what we love about sports. It really does the
Texans and Casario and all the guys that run Houston
for putting their chips in the middle of the table.
I did a video the other day. It's video only
on YouTube, so you can check that out when the
trade initially happened, and a lot of it was on
Josh Allen and the Bills, but and how this impacts them.

(02:19):
But the guy I've been thinking about who it impacts
the most, or at least should from a team building
standpoint from how much you're gonna pay him is the
Dolphins in Tua and should this change how they approached
the contract and maybe just let it play out. We'll
hit on that. Ernie Adams the famous Belichick's right hand man,

(02:42):
kind of the genius behind the scenes, was on Edelman's
podcast for like three hours. It was fascinating watch and
he said something that really stood out to me that
I wanted to hit on. Caleb Williams, we do draft daily.
We got to hit on something with the draft. Took
his visit to the Bears and if they're not giving
them playbook at this visit, I don't know what we're doing.

(03:03):
And then of course Fugazi fugazy. We have some people
disputing if I'm saying it wrong, but we will do
that today. Got a bunch of your guys dms. You
can always hit me in the Instagram and if you
label it fugazi Friday, it's easy for me to search
and find it. We'll also do a little mailbag at
John middlecoff Is the Instagram and just fire in your

(03:24):
questions and we will answer them here on the show
like we do every week. So make sure you subscribe
if you listen on Collins Feed. We got a YouTube channel.
All of our content is up there as well the
Volume dot Com. We got merch so Pedal, the Metal,
the Masters. Next week, the Draft in a couple of weeks.
I'd be lying if I said April's.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Not not quite the fall, but it's might be my
favorite non football season month of the year when you
factor in the Masters and the Draft.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
So god, I'm already kind of excited. But first got
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You know, I, like most people, You've thought and read
and watched kind of this trade play out. There was
just some news right before I hopped on that part
of this deal. Stefan Diggs basically destroyed his contract. He's

(05:23):
going to be a free agent at the end of
the year. Smart move by the Texans. Try to get
a motivated guy, understand it. The Texans this offseason have
been very, very aggressive, right, And I really don't think
sports is that complicated. What we want as fans and
what we want as people that just follow the sport,

(05:43):
like the formula is pretty basic. The reason women's college
hoops the other night had higher ratings than the NBA
Finals is because it felt like a large event. It
felt like a star studded event. It felt like we
were watching all time players in a big build up
to where we got. It had been years of building

(06:04):
up with those individuals. I'm born and raised a diehard
San Francisco Giants fan. I simply don't care that much anymore.
Why the team is really boring? My time's really valuable,
just like a lot of people watching this. And it's
why we've talked at nauseum why football so popular. It's
pretty easy to consume for these other sports where the

(06:26):
inventory is immense, Like you got to keep my attention.
And I found like, I'm supposed to hate the Dodgers, right,
I hate the Lakers and I still do, And honestly,
that's good for sports. You want people that like teams,
you want people that hate teams. That's the way you
build brands and get people to watch. It's how you
move the needle. I find the Dodgers fascinating. Why star

(06:48):
studed group? How good can this team be? The amount
of money they've spent on this team. We know all
their chips are in the middle of the table, and
that adds intrigue, like the pressure that gets put onto
a team that goes We're going for it. All money
be damned, whatever resources we have, be damned. All we

(07:09):
care about is attempting to win in a sports. This
stuff isn't rigged. We don't know if you're gonna win
or lose but it kind of keeps our attention easily.
The two most famous teams and most watched teams of
the last twenty years in the NBA were the Miami
Heat adding Lebron and the Golden State Warriors adding Kevin

(07:30):
Durant and a lot of people hated him, but everyone
was interested to see how it played out, and when
they lost, it was actually just as polarizing and fascinating
as when they won. And I was thinking about, like
think about.

Speaker 5 (07:44):
The most relevant might be the wrong way to put it,
but I would say the most fascinating team of the
last twenty years in the NFL was the Randy Moss
New England Patriots, and they.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Didn't even win a Super Bowl. Clearly they have the
undefeated season and they got beat by the New York Giants.
But I think all fans of any team, whatever sport
you follow, when it comes to a team sport, just
dreams of their ownership, their general manager doing whatever it
takes to win. It doesn't guarantee you shit at all.

(08:24):
I mean, you could easily just not make the playoffs
if there's a major injury, something could go wrong. But
that's all we want, and it gets us casual fans
or people that don't like follow a specific team to
pay attention. Like the NBA has been dealing this with forever.
With tanking. I've been hearing media members for a decade

(08:45):
plus saying why this team should punt, why this team
should give up. That's awful for business. It really is.
Like it's a great media topic. It's awful for the consumer,
you know, the person that watches the game. They want
you to try. Now, Obviously, the last game of an
NFL season, if you have the opportunity to get the

(09:05):
number one pick, or if you win the game, you're
gonna end up with the number four pick. Totally understand.
But the NBA, it became like an epidemic of teams
doing it all season long. I mean Sam Hinkey became
literally famous because he didn't try to win. It's not
good for business. You want teams like the Yankees, like
the Dodgers, like the Warriors, like this Texans team going

(09:29):
we're all in, here's our chips. And let's face it,
the Texans, for the majority of my life, have not
been very relevant. The crazy thing is they're in one
of the biggest cities in America and they aren't even
remotely close to the biggest brand in the state, partly
because the biggest brand in the entire league happens to

(09:50):
be down the road. I haven't spent that much time
in Texas, so I don't know how far it is.
I think it's a couple hours. Could be wrong if
I am my bad. My point is that them making
this move with Diggs, them signing the Neil Hunter, them
being very aggressive this offseason has thrown their hat into it,
into the ring of like, oh yeah, they're like Ravens,
the Chiefs, the Niners, one of those teams that everyone

(10:13):
has to pay attention to. And I said this when
the initial trade broke, there's no guarantee that's gonna work
because part of being a great player, and this all
hinges on the quarterback who had an incredible rookie season
is doing it year in and year out. What made
Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, now Josh

(10:34):
Allen wasn't just being a one year wonder or having
like one season where you're like, ah, this guy's the
best player in the league. It's every single year and
sentering the belt. And this just adds the pressure to
this group. So I understand why they made the move,
and it's not a move without risk because they have
a team clearly full of high level, high character guys,

(10:57):
and that's what they build the squad surrounded by, starting
with the coach who was a team captain as a
rookie in the NFL, and he wasn't the number one
overall pick, he was a second rounder. Demiko's a special guy,
and clearly Casario's proven kind of be good at his job. Like,
there's not really much disputing I've said this forever. Talk

(11:17):
shit all you want about Belichick's assistant coaches, and they
have been objectively terrible when they've been when they've gotten,
you know, the power to be a headman. That is
not true for his personnel people they've gone on to
have success. John Robinson changed the Texans. I know he
got fired, but like he was the GM when they
were the number one overall seed, when on the playoff run,

(11:39):
he hired Vrabel, Adam Peters started with the New England Patriots.
Jason Light worked for the New England Patriots. Casario obviously
one of Belichick's right hand men over fifteen plus year span,
those guys actually are much more equipped to go out
into the wild, unlike his coach. But I do think

(12:01):
this gets back to just a simple formula. We just
want you to care. We really do. The Oakland A's
just moved from Oakland to sack and I've said forever
most of you probably don't care, and I don't really
care that much. The A's couldn't survive in Oakland anymore.
And I don't think the Raiders could have survived in
Oakland either, because the Giants and the forty nine ers

(12:25):
took up too much oxygen. They take all the money
they have. The majority of the fans obviously going to
Vegas from Mark Davis changed the financial trajectory of his franchise,
not just from a value standpoint, but from the cash
coming in. That was never gonna happen in Oakland. Joe
lacub when he bought the Warriors, his number one goal,

(12:47):
beside winning, was to immediately move them across the bridge
to San Francisco. The Oakland A's are going to San Francisco.
That type stuff's exhausting. That type stuff is not fun.
Fans do not like that crap. It turns people off.
Do you know what's intriguing whether you like or hate
the Dodgers, Like, what the hell's Otani and Mookie Bets
doing well? Atani's hit a bomb last night. Mukie Bets

(13:09):
now plays shortstop and he's got five home runs through
the first six games of the season. I mean, and
they are a billion dollars duo. Honestly, Mookie Bets might
be one of the most underpaid athletes in all of sports.
I was textan with a buddy the other day, like
if Otani's seven hundred million, and I know he pitches
and hits, though technically doesn't pitch. This year, Mookie Bets
should be worth five six hundred million dollars. But that's

(13:30):
that's for a baseball podcast. But I commend the Texans
for just doing what we want all of our teams
to do. When I grew up and became a huge
sports fan, the forty nine ers were in the peak
of their dynasty and the reason they were so popular
obviously Bill waltsh Joe Montana, Jerry Rice. But every single year,
and it was different times, there was no salary cap.

(13:52):
Eddie de Bartelow would do whatever it took. He operated
a lot like George Steinbrenner in baseball, who do we need?
What we need? Costs irrelevant and clearly in the sport
of football in twenty twenty four, you have to operate
under the confines of the salary cap. But there is
a balance. Colts fans listening you guys DM me all

(14:15):
the time. Why isn't Chris Ballard more aggressive? He kind
of has a clear operation formula that is not doing
stuff like this. It's not really what he does. He's
not comfortable doing with it. And let's face it, it's
kind of boring and it doesn't really lead to success.
When the Rams hung their hat on fuck them Picks,

(14:37):
it was fun. Now it ultimately led to a Super Bowl,
But why it was so intriguing is like, can this
actually work? Are these guys insane? And let's face it,
most people, most fans, you're gonna have an opinion on it,
good or bad. You're not apathetic, And I think that's
what sports is. We just want you to care. We

(14:57):
just really want you to try. And Casario the Houston
Texans Di Mico, I applaud you for taking this big swing.
Is it a lot to work? Hell?

Speaker 1 (15:08):
No?

Speaker 2 (15:09):
I mean Diggs, I don't want to compare. You know
what's fascinating about wide receivers to become quote unquote divas,
And we've had a lot of them over the years.
Some of them promote winning, some of them can be
a catalyst to help you win, and some of them
cross that line, like Antonio Brown obviously now he's lost
his marble cte whatever. He jumped the shark though early

(15:33):
on toward the end of Pittsburgh, and then it was
a joke from then on out Diggs, all I hear
about is him being a diva, and he might not
be the easiest guy to work with when he's on
your team. You went, he won in Minnesota, he won
with the Bills, like he's a winning player, and now
you're getting him essentially on this one year deal to
prove his worth hit the open market. He probably wants

(15:55):
to change the perception about himself a little bit. I'm
just fascinated by this, and I love it when teams
take big swings. So much of this talk has been
about the Bills, and I did another video only the

(16:17):
other day about this initial trade, and I think we
posted some stuff on social media, and my thought process
on this hasn't changed at all. If Josh Allen is
your quarterback, I'm not writing you off to win a
division against Tua. The Patriots have potentially a rookie quarterback
and a forty year old Aaron Rodgers led by Nate

(16:38):
Hackett calling the offense. I'm not picking any of those
teams over Josh Allen. One of the most talented and
best quarterbacks I've ever seen in my entire life. And
I've been watching thirty nine. I've been watching football that
I can remember for thirty plus years now, and I'm
just not shortened Josh Allen. It doesn't mean he's always
going to win the division, but I'm not betting against it.

(17:00):
The more and more I thought about this move, the
more and more pressure I think it puts on Tua.
And I also think this gives the Dolphins a little
bit of an out. Everyone thinks that this offseason is
about extending their quarterback, and I've said all along, like,
I think you got to be very careful about these
big contracts with quarterbacks. You never regret Jerry Jones famous line,

(17:23):
I've never gone wrong paying a premium for a premium,
paying unlimited amounts of money to Mookie Betts or Shoeo
Tani or Lebron or Steph or Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen,
it's not gonna be a problem. But once you get
past that, Like, this guy's a good player, but how

(17:43):
good is he? Which we could argue till we're blue
in the face where Tua lands, but we all know
he doesn't land high enough to give him a historic contract.
Well what if he proves it this year? And why
if you're the Dolphins, don't you make him prove it?
If you can't win a division this season? And I've
had some Dolphins fans like middle Coff, you're complaining about

(18:04):
all these guys leaving us a free agency, especially Christian Wilkins.
Look at all these starters we've signed. Okay, that's great.
I don't think your quarterback's good enough because I've watched
him crumble playing big time teams and big time quarterbacks
down the stretch and specifically in the playoffs. I don't
have confidence that he can do it. And I'm not

(18:26):
saying I have a crystal ball. Maybe he can improve,
I don't know, But if you can't win this division,
it's why I like Josh Allen like, obviously you just
look at their roster. It's not like I'm pounding the table.
They're gonna be some twelve or thirteen win team, But
I know they're better in the group they're competing against.
So if you're Miami, why would you give him this

(18:46):
big contract this offseason? Clearly you're under the cap already
because you had to be starting in free agency. Let's
see if this guy could prove it. Can he lead
us to twelve wins? Can lead us to a division title?
Can he help us win a home playoff? Because if
he can't do it this year, given your six divisional opponents,
it's never gonna happen. And it's definitely never gonna happen

(19:11):
once you have to pay him forty five to fifty
million dollars a year. I'm not anti the guy. He's
obviously a solid starter. But we've said that about a
lot of players and then we immediately regret because it's
harder to build your team. This is an economic exercise
because once I pay you a lot of money, your
number eventually hits my cap at a large number. You're

(19:32):
seeing it this year right now with dak If they
do choose to play it out. His cap hits like
twenty three percent of the entire two hundred and fifty
plus million dollars. And I think when you get to Tua,
like listen, he's had some good moments, but in the
biggest moments against the best teams, there is no way
around it. He's left something to be desired. And it

(19:53):
doesn't mean you can improve. Most human beings in their twenties,
no matter what they do, can improve. Now. He's never
gonna be bigger, he's never gonna be faster, but maybe
he could just be better. And I would want to
see that. If I was the Miami Dolphins, I always
push back, well, we got to sign this guy early. Well,
I get extending guys early. The Eagles just extended Jordan Mylotta. Well,

(20:17):
it's his second extension and they know that he's a
legitimate left tackle. There's not question marks there. Is he
ever gonna be Trent Williams or Anthony Munos? No, he's not.
But are they upgrading that position? Do they feel good
about that position? Is he a stalwart now and a
key core guy for their team? Hell? Yah? And they've
seen him do it for years. You don't even hesitate

(20:40):
but when it comes to these quarterback contracts, a lot
of teams you get in these positions and you feel
obligated to do it. Hell, it happens in the NBA.
We got a max this guy, Well, he's like the
eighteenth best player in the NBA. I would not recommend
doing that now. I would not recommend maxing Tua, but
I'd be the first to say, like, Okay, let's have

(21:01):
to a play this year out and then you win
a couple playoff games. D'reing the AFC Championship game. I
would understand then pay him. It's like, well we get
them on a little bit of a discount. Who cares.
I'd rather beside quote unquote get a discount. Know what
I'm paying for is worth it, and it's impossible right
now to feel comfortable in what you're paying for would
be worth it. I watched this podcast Edelman did with

(21:26):
Ernie Adams, who's just this fascinating kind of geeky, nerdy
guy who's Belichick's right hand man. They played high school
football together at some prep academy in nineteen seventy. They
were both like, I think Belichick was a center, Ernie
was a guard. Maybe they were both guards, and they
hit it off and they've been BFFs, I think still
to this day. I mean, Ernie was saying, I'm sure

(21:47):
you've seen the clip of him saying that when the
overtime rules happened, he'd been waiting for it to happen
the new playoff ones. He immediately texted Bill that Kyle
fucked it up. You always choose to play defense because
it gives you four downs to get a first down.
But he said something in this interview that really stuck
out to me. And I've had the privilege of going

(22:11):
to a lot of NFL games and being on the
field at pregame when I worked in the NFL, and
then when I worked in radio and going to a
bunch of Raider games, and it's it's a fascinating It's
one thing to get there really early and just watch
guys and like their sweats and stuff kind of stretch.
It's another thing to watch like legitimate warm ups. And
he said something that really stood out to me that

(22:32):
that I want to play right now.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
I'll say the one those most impressive pregame, hands down
was Peyton Manning and I could go out and watch
and so many of these teams, they have their quarterbacks
that are out there. They're doing their drops half speed,
they listening to the music. I worked that man, you
have no chance first series of the game. What are
you going to do now? Peyton Manning, he came out
and on that field, and I mean when when his

(22:55):
cleat s hit that grass, he was all business. Everything
full speed. That drops a full speed. The ball handling
is full speed. I mean it's no screwing around here.
I mean, this.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Guy's fast, going to start fast.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Hey, first first play of the game, this guy is
going to be ready to go. I mean so many
of the others they're going to take that first series
of the game to get used to it. And you
know it's that just doesn't work. So it's you know
you knew or like going to play I think going
to play Andy Reid's team of the Chiefs. You just
tell the way they're coming out to warm up, you're

(23:28):
going to be in a football game. I mean, these
guys are ready to go, which I think you know
we were ready to always, but you know the teams
that you just come out and you tell it's half ass.
What are you guys thinking?

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Think about this? I would say, in any competitive industry,
the most successful people are consistently the people doing the most,
the most detailed, putting in the most effort, and working
the hardest. Now, working hard into twenty twenty four in
most industries is a lot different than like what my

(24:04):
dad told me to do. But you're not gonna get
rich digging ditches and digging ditches is a lot harder
than sitting at a desk. But him describing how seriously
Peyton Manning took his pregame warmups, him describing how Andy Reid,
when you'd watch when you'd play his Chiefs team, how

(24:25):
seriously they took their pregame warmups. One of my big
takeaways away from the Combine was you go to the
Combine and you see all these different team logos, and
then just because of people I know, I just happen
to know guys on the Ravens, guys on the Chiefs,
guys in the forty nine ers, whatever. You realize that
you're competing against seven eight teams, max that the majority

(24:49):
of the league, over half the league, doesn't have a
snowballs chance in hell to win. I'm not saying win
an individual game, but be a factor come January. They're
just not gonna be the details, the work ethic, and
the overall standard that's set. Tomlin's been saying this for years.

(25:12):
The standard is the standard. It's like, Mike, I've watched
your guys standard and hasn't been great. But think about
in football, and I think it's a lot like this
in all sports. When you're playing the best player or
the best team and they take everything more seriously than
you do, how the hell are you gonna beat them?

(25:35):
I think about this in my own business, like I
try to take everything pretty seriously and sometimes I feel
I'm not doing a good enough job. I bet a
lot of younger people can relate to this. You're like,
am I putting in enough effort? Am I doing the
right things? Am I detailed enough? What could I be
better at? And I think part of continuing to achieve,

(25:57):
whether you're a football player, a football coach, you own
a car dealership, is just continuing to kind of chase
more and through that typically is about doing more and
doing it the right way. And that was one thing
the Patriots always hung their hat on. It never felt
and this is kind of why they disintegrated as time

(26:18):
went on. They didn't feel buttoned up, they didn't feel
detail oriented. Now, clearly they weren't as talented as some
of the teams, But as I said earlier, probably the
most fascinating team of the last twenty plus years was
Randy Moss New England team that went undefeated in the
regular season and throughout the playoffs till they met the
New York Giants. Yet a lot of the teams in

(26:40):
the mid twenty tens, they won three Super Bowls and
went to another one with the Patriots, I don't think
were quite as talented as that group. But they had
guys like Julian Edelman, they had guys like Devin mccordy
separate even obviously they had Tom but Don high Tower,

(27:01):
who clearly took everything seriously. And I just think that's
whenever I hear these stories. When you meet someone who
played against Brady, who played against Tiger Woods, who played
against Michael, and they just talk about the relentlessness, the focus,
it's like, Oh, they're already better than you, and they're

(27:24):
more dialed in than you. Good luck. Okay, let's end
on a little draft daily during this time, you know,
some people on the internet call them top thirty visits.
I think that disingenuous is not the right way to
put it, but it's not the correct way to frame it.

(27:45):
Because you're not bringing in the top thirty players on
your draft board. You're allowed thirty prospects to come visit
you for twenty four hours and take them to dinner.
You can put them through meetings, do whatever the hell
you want with them. Besides, I don't think you're allowed
to work them out. But everything beside something on the field.

(28:06):
You meet with the owner, meet with the GM, meet
with the head coach, meet with the coordinator, meet with
the strength staff, meet with whoever you want, go to dinner,
and it's a great time. You're not just bringing in
obviously we're going to talk about Caleb, but you can
bring in third round level guys you might have some
question marks with do you just want to sit down
and talk with You also could and teams definitely do

(28:27):
this kind of throw out some smoke screens, bring a
guy in that you don't have that much interest in
to kind of throw a team off the scent, which
you could argue that's a little bit of a waste
of a resource and kind of overthink in the room.
And I don't know if that happens as much as
some people would imagine, but you can't do that if
you want, but you're only allowed thirty of them. And

(28:50):
Caleb is a good example of it. Was just reported
that he just had his visit with the Bears. Now
at the pro day, a lot of teams, you know,
with the high level prospect and even just a random prospect,
try to have either a scout an assistant GM. Maybe
if the GM and a head coach are going to
either go to dinner or go to lunch with the
guy the day before the day after and just spend

(29:12):
some time, because you can kind of double dip. And
clearly the Bears did that when they went to the
USC pro date is I think they went out to
dinner with him the night before and by all accounts
that they really liked the guy. And I think at
this visit, I think if you're the Bears, you can
kind of already start the process for OTAs Like to me,

(29:33):
I'm already giving him the playbook. I'm already It's less
about bringing him in and peppering him on his football knowledge,
Like we have to feel comfortable if we're going to
draft him with his football knowledge now, maybe how he
likes to learn and what he's comfortable with, But I'm
leaving him with my playbook. I want him to start
learning that, because, let's face it, this is not nineteen

(29:55):
ninety two. The moment Week one comes, he's going to
be under center or maybe in the shotgun, depending on
the offensive play call. But this is now just we
feel comfortable with the guy. We like the guy I
think I saw either Poles or Eberflus might have been.
Poles said when they went to dinner with him at
the pro day. One thing one of his guys mentioned

(30:18):
to him after they had dinner, when they were back
at the hotel, was like, did you notice he didn't
even bring out his phone. I'd say that's most young
people help. Most old people can't pull that off in
twenty twenty four at a dinner leave your phone in
your pocket. But I think this has been sealed for
a long time. This was sealed well before Justin Fields

(30:41):
was traded. I think this now, if you're Chicago is
starting to get the ball rolling, So when the pick
is actually in, he's already ahead of the game in
anything we can do right now to help him learn
our playbook, help him learn our players, help him just
learn what we're all about out and what we're gonna
expect when he gets here. The easier that transition is

(31:04):
going to be, because, let's face it, if you're eber
Flus kind of coaching for your job, I just don't
think he's gonna be able to keep his job with
seven or eight wins. Now, if he went nine to
eight or ten and seven and still missed the playoffs,
that's probably a different conversation, But I think we'd all agree,
and especially Bears fans, if you go under five hundred

(31:24):
with Caleb Williams and this newly equipped roster, I just
don't think the coach survives. So if I'm the coach
separate from Poles, I'm doing everything possible to get this
guy ready to roll. Because the other thing is this
division is going to be a mother There's no way
around that. Right. We know the Packers, they've added Jacobs,

(31:45):
we know they were one of the youngest teams, I
think the youngest team in the NFL. Their coach has
clearly proven to be good, and the Lions are stacked
and they didn't lose anybody when it comes to their
coaching staff in Minnesota. Who knows, right, They definitely have
some talent, So I think this bears team man that
there's gonna be a lot of pressure when it comes

(32:07):
to the coaching staff. Fugazi Friday or as someone and
this is we do this every week where you guys
hit me up with some dms. I've been kind of
using them. I haven't seen anything lately that really struck
my fancy, but this is something that's interested in a lot
of people, so we're gonna keep it rolling. I got
this DM from I took a screenshot of it, so

(32:31):
I don't have the name of the person, but I
appreciate it because love the content. Can I make a
suggestion about Fugazi Friday. We need to pronounce it differently.
Watch Donnie Brasco and you'll get it. Well. I went
to YouTube and I haven't seen Donnie Brasco in a while.
Great movie, and Pacino I'm not Italian calls it a fugazi. Now,

(32:54):
maybe I've been saying it incorrectly the entire time. I
kind of like fugazi more than fugazi. I think there's
a movie where fugazi Fugazi but yeah, Pacino fugaze. Obviously,
in Italian mob movies it's typically pronounced fugazi, so maybe
we will eventually transition to fugazy Friday. Let's get to

(33:16):
a couple fugazi Friday. Arbi's advertising roast beef sandwiches and
charging extra for cheddar. Come on, man, it's always been
roast beef and cheddar. They know we're going to add it.
What a joke. That's funny. I where I used to

(33:39):
live before I moved to my house. We used to
live in Paradise Valley and kind of like this, I
don't even know how to describe it. There was just
it was kind of like strip malls, but there was,
you know, a ton of like Chipotle's and Red Robins
and all this other stuff. There was an Arby's there,
and where I used to get a Starbucks when I

(34:00):
used to drive to the golf course, there was an
Arby's right next to it. And when you leave the Starbucks,
you're just kind of pointing right at the Arby's. And
I haven't had Arby's, and I I'm on a little
bit of a diet, got a little fat, but I
can't eat dirty with the best of them, and I
don't like fast food doesn't sit as well with me,
but I've eaten as many fast food meals by the

(34:22):
time I was twenty five. For a fucking army Arby's
is pretty dirty. But I hear you. When you think Arby's,
you think a meat barbecue, roast beef, and cheddar. So
if they're gonna charge for the cheddar, that's fucked up.
This is gonna sting a bit for some. But I

(34:43):
know the notion of work life balance is a huge fugazi.
I'm not saying spending time with family or relaxing or
whatever isn't important. It absolutely is. But I have yet
to encounter anyone that accomplished anything noteworthy, either in sports
or business, that subscribes to this thought process. And furthermore,

(35:08):
those that get too caught up in making sure they
have balance between work and play just make it that
much easier for others to lap them. I know this
is a pretty overarching in everyone's situation is different, but
working hard and sacrificing to move forward has been a
recipe since the beginning of time. It doesn't mean work

(35:30):
yourself to death, but calculated sacrifices. Now can buy yourself
so much time and freedom later as a business owner.
I'd love to hear your thoughts. Well, I don't think
it's really debatable if you're going to be successful at
whatever you do. Obviously if you run a business, but

(35:51):
even if you're an employee in a competitive field, you
are going to dedicate a lot of time to doing that.
And obviously there's only so much time in a day.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
Now.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
I can only speak for and someone asked me this.
I went on a listeners. They had a school project.
He goes to ASU and he's in a sports management class,
and he asked me, like, how does work life balance work?
And I said, well, it obviously depends on the individual.
But if you really want something really bad, right, like

(36:26):
it's you're gonna have to sacrifice time things that you
would quote unquote like to do for things that you
need to do professionally. And like there were times when
I was a kid my dad just wasn't at an event.
It wasn't because he was at the bar drinking or

(36:46):
playing golf. He was working for me and my family.
So part of sacrificing some quote unquote balance, I would say,
for the most part is because of what you want
to do and provide for your family something nicer, an
upgrade in life. And I would say this also, sometimes

(37:10):
sacrificing whatever time fucking around benefits you in the long term. Now, listen,
I understand that people hate their job and don't want
to be at work like that's everyone gets a choice.
That's a great part about America. You can choose to
do whatever you want to do. If you don't want
to do shit, you can figure out a way to

(37:31):
not do shit. If you want to be a millionaire,
there is not an easier place in the world to
figure that out than right here. But for ninety percent
of people, no one's gonna hand you a bunch of money.
Most of us aren't going to inherit millions. You're gonna
have to figure it the fuck out. And typically to

(37:52):
figure it out takes a long time. And even as
you start to figure it out, the bigger you get,
the more things happen, sometimes the more time that needs
to be dedicated on how to figure out the next step.
So listen, my life isn't very balanced, never has been.
And I don't want to say lost friends. I've just

(38:12):
you drift apart in life because professionally in my world
and sounds like you two and sounds a lot of
people listening. I'm sure it means a lot. It doesn't
mean my girlfriend gonna be, my fiance, be my wife,
and my children one day won't mean everything to me
as well. But I meant everything to my parents, and

(38:33):
they worked NonStop and I benefited from that, and I
think any kid worth their salt. At the time, you
don't know it, but as you get older, it's honestly
lessons that stay with you and help you kind of
transition in life. The other thing is when you don't

(38:55):
have a balanced life when you're young, and again I
can only speak from experience, I think it helps you
weed out and figure out who to date and who
to be with, because if someone you're with can't understand that,
then it's not gonna work. So I've always thought the balance,
What does that even mean? Seriously, what does that mean?

(39:18):
You should have two hours a night to watch Netflix?
You should have every Friday afternoon to Sunday to do nothing. Okay,
do that, That's fine. I don't care, but I hear you.
The other thing is I don't really worry about what
other people like, who cares what other people think. Like

(39:39):
you said you want more people to do less so
you can lap them, because yeah, I mean I saw
who was it? Oh, Steve Cohen, the owner of the Mets.
He's like, I think we're gonna be in a four
day work week. And then the guy asked him, like, well,
what about your staff. He's like, well, if the markets

(40:01):
are open, yeah, we'll be working. Like so it's like, yeah,
a lot of America is gonna be four day work week,
Like I won't be. Doesn't sound like you will be.
I don't even want to be, like you get bored.
The other thing is like, for example, I can't a
lot of people talk about retiring early, Like I don't
really plan on retiring right now. I'm in a job

(40:23):
that I can do till I can't think or speak.
But this is why my advice will always surround do
what you enjoy doing, so like retirement doesn't even cross
my mind. Like even sometimes my girlfriend gets mad at me,
like we should go on vacation or whatever. It's like, yeah,
it's the drafts right around the corner. The Masters is
next week, Like I got things that I really enjoy now.
There is a balance to figuring out a way to

(40:47):
making people in your life and sacrificing when the time
is theirs and making it count. But I hear you.
I think work life balance is the dumbest fucking line
ever because it's so different for every person. But like
you said, most people living in the nicest neighborhoods that
are the most successful people in their industry don't have

(41:10):
a four hour workweek. Never read that book. I just
I've seen it before. I agree with a Fugazi Friday comment.
I agree with all the spam and email comments. The
one thing I added to the mix is that I
won't use an internal unsubscribed button because of how likely
there can be to phishing and other cybersecurity issues. I

(41:32):
just block the sender and push it into a junk
spam folder. Hi, John, Fugazi Friday for you. When applying
for a mortgage, anyone who has bought a house knows
that there is not a bigger pain in the ass.
The amount of documents, the amount of things you're like,

(41:54):
do you need? Can I just give you my entire life?
It's an exhausting process. The credit bureaus charge the home
buyer or lender eighty dollars for a credit pull. The
credit bureaus then also turn around and sell the home
buyer's info to other mortgage companies that have paid a

(42:14):
fee to the credit bureau for this information to try
and steal a lead. Essentially, the home buyer is paying
the credit bureau to sell their information to a bunch
of mortgage companies. It's called trigger leads and is definitely
a fugazy I might start mixing it up a little bit. Yeah,

(42:36):
I hear you. I mean I I never understand that
when I've always like, hey, I guess it happens the
most when you're trying to buy something, can we pull
your credit? But I guess it happens some other times,
maybe for buying a car or you know, there are
some other instances where they go, hey, can we pull

(42:56):
your credit? And I think, excuse me if I'm speaking
out a turn here, but every time they pull the credit,
it dings your credit a little bit. I've never once
now again, I've always paid my bills on time, so
never thought about having bad credit where I go, yeah,
pull my credit. But clearly, whenever you get your credit pulled,
you get a lot of spam and different people calling
you for sure, but I can't speak enough to the

(43:19):
mortgage business, but you sound like you're onto something. Gott
a fugazi for the pod. Could just be me, but
I feel like it's been happening for a bit. But
just how often commercials show up in short video clips
that we watch is an absolute fugazi in my mind,
doesn't need to happen so often. Thoughts, Well, I'm obviously

(43:40):
biased on this one. I would say this. We live
in a world where content on YouTube and this podcast
is completely free. Obviously, you have to buy an iPhone
or however you consume Spotify, you know, a phone to
be able to download these apps, but anything you listen
to is free, and their ads. If you're watching this

(44:02):
on video, they're gonna be ads. If you're listening to
this on podcasts, you obviously hear ads, but you're not
paying a penny for this content, and you are not
obligated to use any of those ads. Hell, there's a
little thing called the skip button, which, let's be honest,
we all use. So I hear you it can be annoying,

(44:23):
and I agree. I mean, sometimes I just want to
watch something in an ad. Sometimes I'll be watching a
YouTube and in the shower, you know, put my phone
up on the ledge and all of a sudden AD
will come on. I'm soaking wet. I can't change it.
But I'm not paying for any of it. So I
again I'm acknowledging I am completely biased on this one.

(44:45):
I do think it can be hard to complain, like
seriously complain about things you don't pay for that are
completely free. Is there a better way to do it?
If there was, I would start that company or that
business and be worth billions of dollars. But right now,
like I understand if you subscribe to The Athletic and

(45:05):
they still hit you with ads. Hell, I in my car,
I have Serious XM Radio. I fucking pay twenty nine
ninety nine for it, and there are ads in between segments.
It's like they're double dipping. If I was charging you,
I'm just using myself as an example, or the volume
or whoever for this content, and still inundated, you'd you'd

(45:27):
have a beef. It's all free, right. Part of this
whole segment has been we're able to complain when we're
paying because we're paying for something. So you have a right,
whether you're right or wrong with your gripe is a different,
you know, different question. But I think when things are free,

(45:48):
it's like, I don't know, man, if I hand you
a cookie and you hate the cookie, it's like, well
a lot different when you go to a store and
you buy a cookie and and then it sucks. So
I do think you've got a factor in that all
this stuff is free now anything you pay for with
that type of stuff, totally understand why a lot of

(46:09):
people pay for Spotify or Pandora. I don't, but I'm
so numb to it. I don't even care. I'll just
listen to it, skip it. If I can't skip it,
I'll just wait. It's all free. Okay, let's do a

(46:31):
little mail bag. You guys know the Drill, which is
my instagram at John middlecoff DM's white open fire them.
Let's start with Josh big fan of the rest of
the volume family, Nerd Sash Temph. We like all those
guys as a Giants fan. What do the next few
years look like? Our defense is finally coming together on

(46:54):
paper at least, and the young old line is developing
very nicely. Despite all of that, we have zero in
an offensive league and seemingly no optimism this upcoming season. Yeah,
I mean, I think the easiest way to get optimism
would be to take a quarterback and then everyone would
be intrigued. But like you said, you lose Sakwan, who's

(47:15):
your best offensive weapon. I don't even does Waller still
see alive? Did he retire? I know he's banged up
last year, He's been banged up for a long time now.
Really talented guy in his heyday. But my guess is
what happens is that you guys take a wide receiver
and just try to band aid it with Daniel Jones.

(47:38):
But it doesn't matter how good your offensive line is.
If and you could easily take an offensive line men,
but I don't think you'll do it at six is
if your quarterback play shitty and you don't have any
wide receivers and it's like hard to function in twenty
twenty four. So I'm with you. I think they're one

(48:00):
of the more intriguing teams. You can't rule them out
for a quarterback. But if you're Brian day Ball, the
way everything went last year, just how acrimonious the coaching
staff situation was, I just don't know if you can
risk take in a quarterback because if you have another
if you have a six win season, are you getting
a fourth year? I don't know. Man, love the pod.

(48:24):
It's become one of my daily pleasures. I like this guy.
What would you think if the NBA extended the play
into the fifth seed. I think an additional round of
play in games would not only create more urgency, but
would also make part of the regular season more meaningful
as most teams try to avoid the plan, so they

(48:47):
could allow the top four seeds to draft the play
the playing opponents they want to play in the first round.
I also think for All Star weekend they should try
a three on three tournament to replace the All Star Game.
I actually think you're onto something, because, let's face it,
the regular season has been rendered meaningful in the NBA

(49:08):
ratings historically low. They just don't feel like they matter.
I don't hate that idea at all, I really don't.
I mean, it's it's the NBA's worst nightmare that their
two biggest brands are going to potentially play the nine
to ten game like that is a disaster for the NBA.
That Lebron or Steph is going to knock the other
one out immediately. I mean, that's that's a problem and

(49:31):
worst case scenario because the nine ten team plays the
winner of the eight to nine game or the seven
eight game. But what if they lose that game. I mean,
it could just be both those teams could not make it,
which is not good for business. Even though that's the
way the cookie crumbled. I love that idea. Everyone's a

(49:52):
play in, you know, ten to ten to five, so five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
and then, like you said, have the top four teams.
So if you're the one seed Denver, you get to pick.
You could argue the NFL should do that as well.
I'm never against picking opponents as a television special and

(50:13):
have the general manager and head coach sitting there. We
want the Eagles, we want the Sacramento Kings. That is,
we're in the entertainment business. The players, you know, I
I'm not clearly they hated like the draft, remember the
All Star Game. Draft players are like uncomfortable doing it.

(50:35):
It's like, what are we talking? This is all entertainment.
I'm a Seahawks fan since twenty thirteen. Bandwagon I know,
I live here in Seattle. We recently hired McDonald the
best defensive coordinator last year, our offense is pretty good,
weapons everywhere. Logically, we hired the best DC available. Shouldn't
our defense be much better next season and make us

(50:57):
a real contender? Kind of like the line. Last season
he gave a fugazi Friday pay YouTube premium to get
away from the ads fifteen dollars. But now a lot
of sports related videos have in video ads. They're around
three to five minutes of video content. When exercising, I
have to pull my phone these ads game time gambling. Yeah,
I mean, why we build him in It's a business, baby,

(51:22):
it's how we get around that. I would say on
the Seattle thing is interior defense should be a lot better.
But part of the Baltimore success is their personnel, right.
Obviously McDonald was really good last year. My buddy that

(51:44):
worked with him the last couple years called in the
boy genius, like he's schematically a high level guy. But
they had fucking sweet players. I mean, their defensive line
had a hundred million dollar guy. Clowney had the best
year of his career. They're two linebackers. You know you
could argue those two and Fred Warner and Drake Greenlaw

(52:04):
best duos in the league. They had good dbs, they
had a fan tat. I mean, Kyle Hamilton's a stud
like I don't know, I'd have to bring out your
guys depth chart. But Witherspoon's a really good young player.
I mean, I think your personnel on defense is somewhat
in question. Should you be better one hundred percent? And
at the end of the day, your quarterback is still

(52:26):
Geno Smith, so that's somewhat of an issue for your upside.
What are your thoughts on the tax for a stadium?
Seeing Kansas City vote no, I think more city cities
are saying no to tax for teams to build a stadium.
I'm a huge sports fan. However, I don't think it's
right for them to use tax money so they can

(52:46):
make millions more for free. Then the stadium makes the
team value rocket skyrocket. I know why owners do it.
If I owned a team, i'd probably do the same. No,
you wouldn't. Probably you one hundred percent would. If you
can ever have someone else pay for something. If you
were buying a million dollar home and you have to
put one hundred and fifty thousand dollars down, and someone

(53:08):
else would put one hundred and fifty thousand dollars down
and you don't have to and you get to own
the home. You would do that, now, I'd be lying.
If this story doesn't interest me that much, I just
simply do not give a shit. But I did read
a blurb on Pro Football Talk that the city owns
the stadium. Could be wrong Chiefs fans. I'm pretty positive

(53:32):
I read that the Chiefs don't own the stadium or
the land, maybe both. So I do think it can
be complicated. Like, for example, I can speak on this
because I lived through it. When the forty nine ers
built Levi Stadium. They share in the revenue, but they
don't own the ground, and they split the ownership of

(53:55):
the stadium with the city. For example, Joe lacop he
built he'll Chase Center in San Francisco. He self financed
that himself, so he gets all the benefits now part
of it. He knew in California he would never be
able to pass any sort of measure. Were the raiders
because Vegas is a little shady. It didn't even go

(54:17):
to a vote. It was a twelve person committee that
just voted it. Yeah, so when you go stay at
the Blaggio or New York, New York or whatever. You
get an added tax that pays for the Raiders stadium.
So I have no problem with someone not wanting to
pay the tax. I wouldn't either. I think the situation
of the ownership's a little more complicated, but I think

(54:38):
it's just human nature. If in business you could have
someone else front the bill and you benefit financially, he
always do it, so I ultimately my takeaway is they'll
get this figured out. Clark Hunt, I think historically a
little cheap, but if he's got to open his pockets
for a couple hundred million dollars, is gonna have to

(54:59):
do it right. So I don't know. Obviously it's a
little bit of an older stadium. I do not think
that they are a threat to leave Kansas City. But yeah,
I have no issue if I'm just the average Chiefs
fan making seventy five grand in Kansas City voting no, like,
totally understand it. You know why, because I know eventually

(55:21):
it'll happen. You don't need my money. You can figure
it out. But I also don't blame the owners or
anyone in business for doing this type stuff. You always
avoid costs whenever you can. Welcome to the real world.
I tailed your picks for the first time in the
players in the golf pool at work and did way

(55:41):
better than I ever have. So thanks, no problem, just
out here given winners. Also a big time Ravens fan
for fifteen plus years, and it seems like the next
ten will be tough to get through the Chiefs. My
question is this, do you think Lamar can one day
go toe to toe with Mahomes Manning versus Brady style

(56:02):
or do you think the entire AFC is screwed for
a while? Texans are looking up as well, and do
the Ravens keep up in the arms race? I think
last year was a perfect storm. The Chiefs scored seventeen points,
they did not score a touchdown in the second half.
You could have beat them. Lamar did not play very well.

(56:25):
He was very uncharacteristic of the way he had looked
throughout the season and as someone with the Ravens told me,
and it was pretty evident if you were sitting on
your couch now. The offensive coordinator, I would say, first
and foremost was shitty. Todd Munkin was terrible that game.
Refuse to run the ball run Lamar, it made no sense.

(56:46):
This is someone that had five thousand dollars on the
game that no longer has five thousand dollars because the
Ravens lost. But Lamar tried to play like Mahomes. Part
of what makes Lamar great is the dual threat, and
he just felt like the moment Mahomes had that first drive,

(57:07):
it's like, I'll go toe to toe with you, Lamar,
that's not the way you play. They would have won
that game if Lamar ran for one hundred yards the
previous game, and the reason I put money on the
Ravens and why most people picked the Ravens to win
the game. Josh Allen ran for like eighty yards the
week before. Lamar is a better and more explosive runner,
and they just kept forcing the pass against the team

(57:30):
with like unlimited dbs. So yeah, and this is where
scheme matters. I ranked the quarterbacks Mahomes won Allen to
Lamar three, but both Josh and Lamar for them to
be successed, like Patrick, Mahomes doesn't have to run at all,
can just throw Josh and Lamar their added element of

(57:52):
running because it's so elite. Josh a little more powerful.
Lamar a little more explosive is a huge part of
that their game, and when you get away from it,
it limits your ability. Now, some things went wrong. Obviously
this a Flowers fumble, but Lamar also threw an interception
in a triple coverage. So yeah, Joe Flacco beat fucking Peyton.
You know, Tom Brady, Eli Manning beat Tom Brady, Peyton.

(58:16):
Manning's been beat by some random quarterbacks. It's about playing
well on an individual day. We've seen Lamar had really
good games. Obviously, he's won multiple MVPs, but in this
playoffs for a game and a half because he did
not play well in the first half against the Texans.
They just didn't have enough firepower. His playoff resume has

(58:39):
been pretty underwhelming. Second half against Texans awesome. He's just
gonna have to put together a couple good games. Now.
Maybe their defense is gonna be as good, right McDonald's gone.
Maybe it's just not quite as good. Patrick Queen's gone.
So but I mean, typically they'll just find the next guy.
But you know what I mean, I do think he

(59:00):
could have in a big spot, a good game, but
he's got to do it first. Forever, it's like, you
know James Harden eventually is gonna break through. It's like,
oh no, he actually never did. And I hate comparing
James Harden, who literally is quit on teams, to Lamar Jackson.
That is not fair. But the point of I'll just go, yeah,
I think he can, but I know from a gamble,

(59:23):
I'm not betting on it again. I'll promise you that, right,
And yeah, I just think now you could argue the
Chiefs defense might not be as good this next time around,
but maybe their offense is better. So you're in a
good spot. You have Lamar Jackson. He has some questions

(59:44):
and they're all revolving around games in mid to late January.
If those are your question marks, you're in a really
good spot. But like I would say, there are a
ton of pressure on him, and you know the difference
between him and Josh. Josh has played outstanding in playoff games,
Lamar is not. Josh has played out standing against Mahomes.

(01:00:06):
Lamar is not. So I by no means would write
his story like as this is how it's gonna be forever.
But there's just kind of the elephant in the room
as we work with the Ravens in the playoffs moving forward?
Is this the time he figures out or is it
like it's always gonna be one of the It happened

(01:00:26):
to Peyton Manning for a long time. The guy just
crumbles in the playoffs. And then two thousand and six happened.
What were they down twenty four to three and a
half and then they won that game. Another thing, Ernie
Adams said it on the on the podcast with Jewels,
that was Super Bowl. We all knew it, Both teams
knew it. The Bears were not beating either one of us.

(01:00:52):
Let's face it, if the Ravens had won that game,
they had just beat the Niners, like seventy to ten,
they beat the living crap out of them. Got to
take down Mahomes. It's hard and maybe we just look
back like no one ever beat Michael Jordan really right
after the late eighties, no one really could take down
Tiger Woods when he had the leader. So it's just

(01:01:13):
one of those things. Maybe it's just Mahomes. He's not
gonna win every Super Bowl, but he may win every
AFC for a while. The volume

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}3 & Out - Diggs traded, Pressure on Tua, Draft Daily, Fugazi Friday