June 2023: Merch! Summer Splash! Future Schedules!

The guys are back for a June catchup and there is a lot to review: We hinted at it for a while but Pair and a Spare merchandise is now for sale! Burnsie recaps another successful "Summer Splash" recruiting period and highlights the big commitments that came out of it. We also discuss the future opponents (including the California trips!), Burnsie's yard, and much more. Tell a friend and thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Glenn Mason sent a long time agoat the University of Minnesota. Need a
Pair and a Spare It has beentoo long, PJ. Fleck want a
time to be alive. It's swelteringheat, it feels like August. It
feels like football season, and it'stime for the latest edition of the Pair
and a Spare podcast. Justin Guardfrom the Fan, Chipscoggins from the Star
Tribune, and Ryan Burns, whoI have to imagine hates this humidity and

(00:22):
heat going for Illustrated dot Com.How are you doing, Burns? I'm
angry because my lawn looks horrible becausewe'd never get any rain, and it's
also ninety degrees out in so I'mconstantly sweating. What do you think,
what do you guys keep your houseat right now? Seventy is a good
number. Yeah, yeah, justlike in the morning, afternoon, and
evening, it's too exactly just leaveit, just leave it. It's a

(00:46):
disagreement. Um, I think ourprogram is set for like seventy three,
seventy four. I immediately override that. In the morning. Our house is
weird because some you know, likethe silarium. Wow, kid must be
it's hot. It's it's like barelya sundroom, but I wanted to see
your reaction near the wars um.The sun just beats in that room all

(01:07):
day, so that room's always hot, stuffy, whatever. The basement's always
cool, like my daughter's room isusually relatively cool then, but then you
can just kind of feel the tensionsome of these rooms. So I'm always
like right away, I'm like,we gotta change this, like I'll jam
it to sixty eight click, justto give it a little boost, and
then we like to settle in itabout seven. And that's how mine is,
like, or upstairs is warmer obviously, yep, where the bedrooms are.

(01:30):
So I can't sleep when it's superhot, no old at night,
no, exactly what's yours? Igot a house from the fifties, and
it doesn't cool correctly, especially inthe upstairs where that's where my office is.
So during the day weep it is. Oh yeah, we keep it
at seven and three on the mainfloors. That's too hot. Yeah,
that's that's too hot. In theoffice. I got a censor right there.

(01:52):
It's seventy eight degrees too hot.It's it's too hot. No,
Is that why you're always like glisteningon her twenty four seven sports videos like
it always looks like, yes,I'm constantly sweating. The nice part is,
you know I was an adult andmy wife got a promotion. It
go good for her blinds ahead ofour house didn't have blinds. Ours didn't
either for a while, and theactually cool stud sleep well at night.

(02:15):
We kick it down to sixty seven. That's the compromises. Yeah, at
like seven or eight pm, theair conditioner kicks on. But again,
my compromise is also in the winter. You guys know this. I keep
the house like a balmy sixty four. Yes, why you can always dress
up. Well, that's what agrees. She knows. We've been together ten
years now. She's well aware.Yeah, I'm sixty four and burns sweat

(02:38):
and he sleeping on top of thecover. I know I got a well,
I've always got the fan on highblowing directly on me. Do you
have your own sheets that you haveto wash every single day like the Burnsey
sheets? No, we should getyou something. Well. I also because
I also have one hundred and sixtypound masstiff that sleeps. Yeah, he
is just a heater. In betweenthe two of us. We usually have

(03:00):
at least two children in our bedat any given point. They all come
stumbling around and wandering around, andyou know they're going to be gone soon,
So what the hell's the difference.But that's a problem because they've got
some heat to him as well.Yep, they've got some heat they do.
It's basically Grayson. We just callhim the H because my wife it's
me, and then he's just kindof the the parallel bars. He's essentially

(03:21):
the H. The last thing Iwant to say is my wife has started
meming me for something. And Idon't know what age it started, but
you both have certainly done it.I love taking care of my yard because
I'm just I got a pair ofnew balances on. Yeahratulations. Yeah.
I have been standing in the sunroom with my like my hands behind my
back, looking at the lansing.Yeah boy, we could use some rain.

(03:43):
Yeah, and then a moment itever rains, which it doesn't in
Roseville, I just you know,we could use it. She's like,
you're literally a new balanced dad.I mean, this is science, this
is evolution, this is what happens. We can't help it. Were you
just slowly nodding when you see anythingresembling could use. Yes, look at
I mentioned in the sun room.Do you know how often I just it
overlooks our backyard and I just goout and then there's a little deck that

(04:05):
we don't use that much, butI go out there and I just kind
of look, and I'm like,and we need some rain back there.
We need to fill in some lawnthere, though, Is that tree ever
gonna fall? To be helpful,like you just it's it's a generation.
I mean, it's evolution, Burnsie, That's all I can say. It's
the human race. It's hard wiredin us because you are your dad,
right, because we're thirty, fortyand fifty on this podcast. That's right,

(04:27):
that's right. That's We've got everygeneration. So people are the twenty
year olds listening have a real niceblueprint of how all this is going,
of how all of this is going, Um, twenty thirty, fifty,
forty, however old you are,you want to start your day at one
hundred percent. We know that that'sthe Chipskoggins. Did you bring your own
phone charger, by the way,everywhere you were in Tennessee? That was
my favorite was a by OPC.Of course, a bio PC group.

(04:50):
Yeah, you were probably the groupcharger with your buddies, with your longtime
buddies. But we've got shirts tosell now, guys, we've got parent
Despare merch. I think we've officiallyarrived. We have as a podcast and
this was all your hard work,Chip, you basically got this whole deal
done. What what do we needto know? And they're they're cool looking?
Oh yeah right, I would hope. So. Yeah, so they

(05:12):
represent us. Who's cool? Havingus sixty four degrees in the winter cool?
Yeah, we got shirts available atbut if you go, if you
go to our Twitter page, it'spinned right there. Yeah, Pair and
Spare Pod, which, by theway, you should follow anyway. We
need to get our followers up.That's gonna be that's gonna be our goal

(05:33):
for this season. Kind of stuckon the same number if you're not following,
because we have about three times asmany listeners as we do. Yeah,
roughly, so if you're listening rightnow, go to Twitter and the
we know that you have a Twitteraccount. We hear from you at Pair
and spare pot and the reason youwant to do that number one, you
can see the pin tweet where theshirts are right there. But also,
I mean last year we did giveawaysfor tickets and parking, you know,

(05:56):
thanks to Jack's Cafe. I'm surewe'll have something along those line, is
there. We've got a lot ofstuff like percolating at the moment for the
parent of spare pods, so everything. It's the best way to communicate with
the podcast Burns. He's the onlyone that has admin controls. So we're
gonna see both of you. Well, you'd be fine, yeah, yeah,
and by you justin I'm looking atand then yeah, Jeff start,

(06:17):
I'll pass on it. Yeah,all right. So after much deliberation,
we went with two shirts from theinitial launch and they were both. You
guys are just providing content and providingculture really to the community, the college.
People can see these at some gamesthis year. I think we will.
I think we will, um,but we obviously start your day at
one hundred percent is kind of thelife model for you. Yes, that

(06:39):
has evolved many of us now andnow I hope, I hope I'm changing
lives. Start your day at onehundred percent, nice gray with the little
maroon and gold lettering. That's oneof the options. And then was this
the last episode, the moment ofthee that I received from my annunciation.
I don't think it was enough.Quite frankly, you might think it was

(07:00):
light. I don't think it wasenough. In case you miss last episode,
m burns you can't say milk,and he says it every other way
butt milk on the pod. Buthe started with milk and that's why we've
got it got molk shirt and I'mreally hoping that one makes an appearance.
There is a splash of oat malkin that coffee that you're drinking right now.
They're better not there absolutely is,why no, there's not. You're

(07:23):
lying light Ross. Do you seethe amount of what did your wife say?
You had? Your wife heard yousay milk before? Yeah. I
also showed her the T shirts andshe was just like, you're such a
moron. She just so she's neverbrought this up to you. I mean
she hears me. I've said thingsmaybe a little bit differently than most folks
for some time. I mean shelooks at me and it gives me the
look. I think everybody has adifferent version of the look that we've all

(07:45):
received at some point in our lives. It's not something that she's dead set
that I change, but whether againbecause at the house we got oat malk
Or, we got a lot ofdifferent things. So I still I still
think this is a joke. No, too natural to not be. No,
like it's it's too natural to notbe a joke. If you were

(08:05):
to ask any he's been rehearsing this. No, it's it's the whole deal,
just like elementary chip. You haveall people. I still can't believe
you don't call it elementary school.I've never why would he call it that.
That's not what it's called the South. Yeah, that's profiling. Well
I get that from my guess EastCoast roots that I have. I grew
up every time I went out tovisit my family in upstate New York,

(08:28):
I knew no better because you knowwhat they called it, elementary school,
So you know what I call it. You know, my father calls it
elementary. I think they're all messingwith you. I think it was.
I think it was a huge thingwhere they're all messing with you and they
want it worked. It worked becausenow you're thirty years old and can't talk
correctly, which is too bad.You want to support my apparently bad habits.

(08:48):
There is a Gottmulk t shirt thatis also available for purchase there,
and this is all only twenty bucksand we need it, so we're gonna
have at some point. We keeptalking about it, but we are going
to have a live Yeah, wewill before you know, at Jack's maybe
or a bar and uh we needto. We'll probably have some to sell
there, yep. But go aheadand pre order him here. That's right,

(09:09):
because that twenty dollars, I mean, with this inflation in this economy,
twenty dollars for a nice shirt.Help us, support us. We
appreciate Fan HQ helping us out.He did a great job. But with
the design and dealing with Chip andstarting his day at one hundred percent,
I'm sure you wore him out withyour emails and meetings. I did,
And he said, can you sendme a couple of blurbs on what do

(09:31):
these mean? Yeah? Oh,where do start? You? Just send
him the podcast. Go just listento this episode and everything will make sense.
We'll start your day a one hundredpercent got no, please buy him.
Let us know that you bought them, um, because then you know
there's no better. I guess.Recommendation or than spreading the word. So
spread the word to the Gopher fanfriend in your life, to the college
football fan friend in your life,that they are there at Pair and spare

(09:52):
Pod is the best place to findthem. All right. The other reason
Burns he's sweating is because some aresplash just got done. What is summer
splash? Well, first of all, Burns, you want to you just
tell us what summer splash is.For those that might not know, it
is. PJ. Fleck and theGopher football staffs big recruiting weekends. There's
two of them every year. Andso what happens is they get these kids

(10:13):
up from X y Z State,Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, wherever,
and they show them that Minnesota isnot a cold barren, snowy wasteland like
good. Any of the college coachesin the SEC and Big twelve like to
say Minnesota is so also happens tobe that. I think PJ. Flex
got an establishment on Lake Minnetonka.Well, he has a house, he

(10:33):
doesn't an establishment. I heard yousay that. It makes it sound like
he's got a bar where he sellsmulk, like he's got a house there.
Right, He's not a bootlegger onlike exactly, yeah, that's that's
the last thing we need, Likeis PJ running an illicit liquor operation.
So he's got a house on Minnetonka. They take them to Minnetonka, show
them a little bit that the TwinCities is actually a nice place to be
and it's actually like it has beenessentially all year. We went from winter

(10:56):
where it was the Snowmageddon to nowit's just degrees and yeah. So but
it's important to show those kids thatbecause I cannot tell you talk to thousands
upon thousands of kids in the lasttwelve to thirteen years of doing this job.
Everybody I talked to from the South, I'd say ninety five percent.
I'm not making a generalization thinks Minnesotais just thirty degrees in snowing year around,

(11:18):
because that's what they're told. Sofor them to get thirty two official
visitors up, which is what theygot in the last two weekends, it's
paying dividends and being able to showthem that the Twin Cities is a lot
going on. I think Fleck andthe staff do a pretty good job in
that. You know, it's interestingtoo, because they change the calendar,
because I remember when I was onthe beat, you know, early two
thousands, December December, right afterthe season, and could it be a

(11:41):
worse time to bring kids here onofficial visit? Every Upper Midwest school had
to love this. Wisconsin loves itstill to allow them to bring them in
the first years of first years inthe last five years. Yeah, because
I remember, to your point numberJerry Kill's staff complaining because they had it
was the December official visits we setlike a record cold yes when you negative

(12:03):
like twenty five and they remember themcalling me and being like, what do
we have to This is the crapwe have to deal with. And now
PJ. Flecks shown that Hey LakeMinnatonka around this time and years pretty nice.
It's great. I mean imagine,you know, getting you know who
recruited Tyrone Carter from Pompano Beach,Florida back in the nineties, Like how

(12:24):
did any of these schools ever geta kid from Florida? And you say,
hey, by the way, yeah, December tenth, come on up.
I can't yeah, I can't evenimagine how they pulled it off.
But it's great and and it's justI think it's better too, because I
mean it's just that you're you're nottaking them out of school as much,
like you don't have as much goingon. Like it's a good you know,
you're not you know, maybe doingbowl stuff too. Like I think

(12:46):
it's just better for everybody. Andit sounds like they've got a pretty good
system working out with Summer Splash,because it's been pretty eventful the last couple
of weeks. Yeah, they're atI think twenty three commits now high school
wise, which if you would askme too months ago, I don't think
they would have been that high.But the thing I would note is,
yeah, the class ranking is high. I think they have like the number

(13:07):
ten class in the country right now. I don't know that it'll stay there
when it becomes signing time in December. But I think the point, the
larger overarching point here is I don'tthink they were planning on taking this many
kids, but the amount of planA kids that they've been able to get
committed, they're just looking at itand saying, we'll figure out the numbers
down the line, especially now,and I think the numbers came out to

(13:28):
be that the average Big ten Westteam had fifteen scholarship guys at the portal
between December and May. Yeah,so they're thinking about, well, if
we can take as many plan AHigh school guys as we want, more
or less, we're going to beable to do that. So it's I
mean, they've they got four yesterday. I think they've gotten a total of
somewhere around thirteen in the last twothree weeks. So it has just been

(13:52):
running around with my head cut off. Are you seeing any new trends in
terms of different geographical areas they're hitting, or different approaches or certain strategy that's
maybe changed. They got a coupleof kids from the New York City area,
which I don't remember the last time. Maybe you guys can help me
that they had a New York CityNew York City or is that your boy

(14:15):
swag Daddy, that's the swag DaddyMonroe getting in there. Yeah, in
the corner and a defensive linement fromthe Bronx area. You know, they've
been a little bit more active inFlorida, but I think generally the thing
i'd also noticed, I think thisis an above average year in the state
of Minnesota. Well, I'll stopyou there. Let's hope. So because
they're clear, they're cleaning up instates. So let's hope that this is

(14:37):
a great year for Minnesota football becauseI got a lot of dudes. Yeah,
Like, I don't think this willbe end up being as good as
like the twenty sixteen year. Andfor those of you trying to think who
was that that was Carter Coughlin,Kamal Martin, Thomas Barber even though he
was Texas, Tyler Johnson, oreven the kids that they didn't take,
because I remember because they like Kotowas seeking from Maple Grove, went to

(15:00):
Bufalo and is now in the NFL. Tommy Doyle, I think, I
dinah, yeah, he went toMiami of Ohio. He was got.
I think he got drafted into theNFL. Like I remember Tracy Clay's staff
taking a lot of Minnesota kids inthat class. But then you know,
maybe the headman at the time beinglike Minnesota can't be this good, like
we must be like this is neverthis way. Well, I don't know

(15:22):
that this twenty four class would bethat good, but it's certainly been one
where you look across and I getwhy they've been as active as they have
been here in the state and we'llsee how they finish up here with a
couple of other kids. But italso might be some kids Burnsie too that
you can develop that might have goneto North Coast State, you know,
kids that may you know, theremight be a little bit more developmental guys

(15:43):
coming out here too, right,Yeah, like a kid that they just
took from Chanhause and Sam Macy sixfive. I was at the camp where
he got the offer at He playedat one hundred and ninety pounds last year
at defensive end. Well now he'stwo hundred and twenty five pounds. Yeah,
and he tested really well. Andthat's a kid that maybe five ten
years ago goes to North Dakota Stateand after three or four years in a
way program becomes a really good player, becomes a potential NFL guy. But

(16:07):
that's just I mean, there's beennobody more angry that I would say Minnesota
has been as active in their ownstate in the Dakotas than matt ends up
at North Dakota State and State Minnesotatwo right, yeah, right, Like
they're doing well. So it's it'sexciting to see you again because I remember
the recruiting battles of the five tenyears ago over there battling Sun Belt teams,

(16:30):
and now they're able to go intothe state of Wisconsin and get a
kid who is incredibly talented in NathanRoy, someone that I'll say this before
you want to lead in. Thisis the first time I can remember since
Galen Elmore if that name rings about, that does twenty fourteen that the Gophers
go into the state of Wisconsin andget a guy that Wisconsin wanted. Let's

(16:51):
talk about Nathan Roy. I thinkhe had a small part in Succession.
For any Succession fans that are outthere, I actually just started that show
here in the last year. Metoo. Uh well, I'm on like
season two now, I'm at theend of season one, all right,
so now maybe this will become asuccession Pide too, I'm a big four
years later, I'm a big shiftguy. Yeah, yeah, how could
he not be? Yeah, she'soh yeah, shift though she kind of

(17:12):
I don't know, don't. I'mnot gonna spoil it. I'm not gonna
spoil it. I mean they're allflawed horrible as we're like, yeah,
exactly, have spoiler alert. Spoileralert. Um, so I'm I'm just
minding my own business. Probably watchingSuccession the other night, and I see
that Nathan Roy has committed, andyou say it's I mean, and immediately

(17:33):
it's seen as this huge deal,and it seems like it is. You.
Did you already mention that it's thehighest rated composite guy in the PJ
Flack era? I think, yeah, I tweeted that out that day.
I haven't mentioned here in the podcast. I think that Avante Dickerson may have
been higher, but he didn't endup here after at all. And he
was the Omaha kid wanted to comehere, but now I was not coming

(17:53):
here out of the portal, correct, And now he's not going anywhere right
now out of the portal where wasBateman? They ended up being like a
ninety one ninety two I think incomposite. I think guards you can tell
us and Nathan Roy right now,is it like a ninety three something at
ninety three O nine, Yeah,one hundred and seventy fourth nationally, the
thirteenth best offensive tackle and according totwenty four seven, you're like twenty four

(18:18):
seven or two four seven the numberone player in the state of Wisconsin.
There's some interesting bitterness. Well beforewe talk about the Wisconsin bitterness, Oh
boy, because there's I haven't seenthat kind of victual throwing my way,
you know. Yeah, well youasked for it. You asked for it.
I'll tell you. I'll tell youwhy in a minute. You asked
for it. But so how didthey get this done? Like and he's

(18:40):
not a typical Wisconsin kid and thathe's not from here from Wisconsin, like
growing up there forever, he spentsome time out west as brothers at UCLA,
who was also an offer for NathanRoy. So how did they get
this one done? What are yoursources say about what he likes about Brian
Callahan, P J. Fleck andthe University of Minnesota. Yeah, he's
from the Nevada Arizona area. Ithink his brother who's at UCLA graduated from

(19:03):
Henderson, Nevada. So just outsideof Las Vegas there, if my Vegas
mind is anything. They moved tomcquogo, and I'm hoping I'm saying that
right, you're not. It's mcguanago, mcguana mcguanago. Uncle Jack and Aunt
Sarah used to live there. Ibelieve it's in Milwaukee, So yeah,
southwest of Milwaukee. It's been therefor a few years. And this is

(19:23):
a guy that Wisconsin tremendously wanted,got an Ohio state offer at one point.
But this is you know, BrianCallahan had been on this kid for
a while. They were able toget him to a January Junior Day,
They were able to get him backin April for a spring practice, show
him around, and then they madethe top three with Michigan State in Ucla

(19:45):
was who he finally was deciding between, which was interesting. There was a
lot of outrage at the time thathe didn't put the Badgers in there.
Yeah, so Ghost to Ucla andMay on his official visit again his brother's
an offensive line, I'm in there. That's you know, the thought throughout
the industry had been, they're thefavorite brothers there. Gets to go back

(20:06):
to the West Coast, goes toMichigan State last weekend. Then he gets
here and sounds like, you know, on Saturday, they're going through the
different talks and the different things likethat, and he just you know,
gets up and he goes over toone of the coaches says, Hey,
I want to talk to Fleck.Okay, I want to say it like

(20:27):
I want to talk to Fleck.He wants to talk to the head coach.
They're like yeah and uh bing bangboom. So they you know,
there were some people on that staffthat were optimistic that they were gonna able
to get it done. I wasskeptical and it turns out I was wrong.
So they're able to get a verytalented offensive lineman. So how do

(20:48):
they do it? I think backto back guys drafted on the offensive line
between Fall to the Baltimore Ravens,Sean Michael Schmid's to the Giants. I
think having all five of your starterson the offensive line the last two years
be at least all Big Ten honorablemention. And I also think winning games.
You've won nine or more games thelast three full seasons, and you've
beaten Wisconsin to the last you know, the last two seasons as well.

(21:11):
So that's what you know. Again, it's exciting to cover something like that
because for the amount of kids guardse that Wisconsin we via basketball or football.
He's taken from this state that Minnesotawanted. You know, when it
finally happens for the first time innine years, I think it's notable.
Well, tell me about the youmentioned Wisconsin wanted this guy, Your guy

(21:33):
Evan Flood, Right, he's thatguy over there. Yeah, he's the
Ryan Burns. What does he sayabout because obviously they just had a coaching
change, So that throws a wrenchinto all of it. Because the reason
I bring it up is because youmentioned basketball. Like Daniel Freytag becomes the
latest Minnesota kid to go play atWisconsin. He mentions the Gophers in his
final five. My information is theGophers stopped recruiting him like a year ago

(21:59):
they did, so that to meis ridiculous and it is basically a bleep
you troll by everybody over there,including I'm not going to say including the
kid because he's a kid. Butthere's a reason why it's in the final
five to be like, oh,he picked him over Minnesota. I think
that's a little grayer than some peoplemight want to admit here. But that's
a whole other tangent. And youknow, I might have made a Lakeville

(22:21):
tweet the other night when I sawyours that you take that Lakeville. You
know this, this dude, NathanRoy's never going to be invited to Lakeville
ever again. So hopefully he hasna l opportunities somewhere else there might want
to move that tweet the other dayabout Flood tweeting about twenty twenty six basketball
player from Lakeville, and he quotetweets it should Wisconsin just offer him?
Now? Yeah, I mean,whenever Matt Bear from the timberwol was supposed

(22:41):
to Lakeville North seventh grade team mightsay half of them are committed to,
you know, Wisconsin. I mean, that's just how it is. It's
just part of the problem. Youknow, he's sending kids over there.
Other kids are part you know,they're part of the problem. Is there
any doubt that a kid named JacksonMcAndrews the basketball player he's going to Wisconsin?
I mean, they should all justshut it down like he's going to
a sky I don't even know ifthey're recruiting him. I assume that they
are. They are. How didwe get to this? So talk about

(23:04):
Wisconsin's involvement with him, because he'sobviously a very highly rated guy there.
I know they've got some other oldline commits as well, but I just
what you know about that, howthat recruitment went so Like Wisconsin has taken
I think three or four offensive linemenalready and they're doing well. An offensive
line recruiting to the surprise of absolutelyno one. But this is a guy

(23:26):
that again I have too much respectfor Evan Flood guy. He's very plugged
in there, and he wrote abouthim twice in Maze and especially right before
he released his final group, sayingI think he had him as the number
two most wanted recruit in his mindhis sources for Wisconsin, and then Wisconsin
doesn't get put in the final group, and then he ends up at Minnesota.
So I think both things can betrue. That Wisconsin offensive line recruiting

(23:49):
is going just fine. They're doingwell recruiting in general. They're right behind
the Gophers at the moment. Rightthey're recruiting well under Fickle to the surprise
of absolutely no one. Yep,but both things are true. I think
they're doing well in offensive line recruiting. And they also wanted Nathan Roy.
He ends up at Minnesota because ifalso they're also battling for the top kid
offensive line in Minnesota. And EmersonMandel, who was at the Gophers place

(24:12):
on the ninth, he went toa midweek visit with the Badgers. Now
we'll see where he ends up there. Four Yep, he's got offers from
a lot of different schools. Sothat's another kid to where you can't tell
me Wisconsin doesn't still have room onthe offensive line because you hosted Emerson Mandel
and you would still take him.But I just thought it was so interesting.

(24:33):
Now I did poke the bear here, you judge. I checked out
of social media this week. Sohere's here's Burnsey's story about it. Um
Benjamin Offensive Lineman, UCLA, Arizonaand Nevada, blah blah, blah blah.
The mcguanago product is a very talentedplayer, and the Gophers being able
to land Roy is just another stingin the side of the University of Wisconsin

(24:56):
after beating them on the field thelast two years years. Minnesota is now
taking some of the top talent fromWisconsin as well, and I don't see
anything after that. So in thebusiness we call that the Burnsey walk off.
I'm just hitting it, Alan truepublish that's not playing well on the
Wisconsin message boards and all that,because I happened to check last night just

(25:18):
to see I am published there aboutBurns No, but about Nathan Roy,
and it is interesting. My dmsare pull some up, No, pull
some up, you no I've beencalled a little a little B word,
I've been called every little wrong descriptorbecause you ain't. No, You're you're
a big pure bliss. That's right, Yeah, that's right. But go

(25:42):
ahead again. I understood that Iwanted to poke the barrel a little bit
there, but it's just been fascinatingfun. Oh, I don't mind it.
I don't mind finally a rivalry now. But he was acting like surprise
that he got all this, Likeno, oh, I knew I was
gonna get some, but it wasjust another there was I was just it
was mind boggling and me the amountof coping that happened that Badgers, the

(26:04):
amount of people who tried to tellme the Badgers didn't want this kid,
yeah, and mind boggling to mebecause that they all fully from the Gophers.
You know how many times I've heardthat yeah, and I know it's
cool, yeah, and I knowit's crap, and I go, you
did like after like say the Rogerskid, why Gilmore goes to Oklahoma?

(26:26):
That you know we got him asa four star? Right, the Gophers
wanted him. Same thing with EmersonMandel. They both want them, right,
And I'll be the one to tellyou that, like, there's no
spin to me, Like, justtell the truth, man, there's some
truth to it when they say theycooled, like, hey, we but
a lot of that is because,well, we got a better vie.
We thought we could get this guy. You know, think you're getting them
right or you know, we wedidn't want to lose. I mean,

(26:48):
I would call that the McKinley wrightin a way. It's like we we
wanted him, but we liked anotherguy better. We should have just taken
him. But then by the time, you know what I mean, like
recruiting, recruiting is hard. Imean, you do have to prioritize guys.
You've got to give more energy tocertain guys. Some people require more,
so you don't want to be leftwith nothing, so you do make
choices. So I could believe anythingon it, but yeah, it's it's
I'll say it this way. Therationalization coming from the Wisconsin side is a

(27:12):
nice departure. Frequently it's over here, certainly on the basketball side. The
one thing that doesn't make any senseto me at this point. Are we
entering year seven of PJ Flack.You just mentioned three full years they've won
nine games when they've actually had aseason. The COVID year, how they
handled some of it still bothers me, especially the Wisconsin game, because I

(27:32):
mean, think about having their fourthwin in five years, right, Tande
Morgan's throwback to Bryce with him,Well, all of it, I mean,
just you know, just running theball as much as they did,
Chris Satman Bell getting hurt because he'son kickoff, Like, I know you
had eight guys because of COVID,but what are you doing? All right?
I know it's a weird year.I'm the only one they're watching it
like, yeah, that's good tobe you. It's like four days before
Christmas. I'm freezing my ass offthere. I can't stand on the field.

(27:53):
I'm in the bleachers where they haven'tshoveled. Why would they wearing my
keen boots, thank you Schuler's shoes. I'm just like, can we just
win this bleeping game and so theycan keep the AX for another year?
Neither here nor there? What wasI talking about again? The rationalization?
Yes, so all that the successthat pj's had, and clearly the recruiting
stuff has continued to get where theyneeded to get right wherever this class ends

(28:15):
up the stuff on the message boardsthat people still think that Pj's like this
phony car salesman. I'm like,you should just deactivate your account because people
are like, that's on message boardgeniuses. Well, yes that's one,
and I noticed that too, Butwhere people go afy, if you want
us to go to the inauthentic usecar salesman, that fraud, I'm like,

(28:36):
you can't fraud your way to thisconsistency. Yeah, you can fraud
your way Scott Frost to a thirteenand oh and parlay that into a huge
job at Nebraska. You can't fraudyour way turning players over multiple classes now
to a team that's you know,obviously they haven't arrived. I'm not saying
there Ohio State. But the factgood Big ten team consistently, which it's

(28:57):
been how long on his offense,is that we can actually say that about
a Gopher football team. Back backto Mace, I mean, but and
so we're in Mace's territory now.If he does it for a few more
years, like he's probably he's probablyabove Mace in terms of longevity, I
would argue he's probably about that now. But so anyway, I just that
one. That one's funny to me. It's like, then you just you

(29:17):
just don't want to don't You justdon't like the personality, which is fine,
Yeah, but just say what itis. Yeah, you have to
differentiate you don't like the personality versusright, what you're seeing in results in
terms of the consistency that you're building. What else happened this weekend? Uh,
Other than Nathan Roy, they gota you know, a very talented
kid from the state of Florida,Adam Cassii kept six seven incredibly long.

(29:41):
Miami of Florida just offered him afew weeks ago. Not every day I've
covered a Gopher recruit that got aMiami offer three weeks ago and now he's
a Gopher. Um. Yeah.They were able to get some more offensive
linemen, including one from Chip's favoriteprovidence and or province i should say,
in Nova Scotia on one of thechi favorite vacation spots underrated. So you

(30:03):
know they're able to do some thingsthis weekend to where again you're sitting at
twenty three. Now you've got acouple of spots open for guys like Emerson
Mandel from Irondale mentioned him earlier.Why at Gilmore just coming off in Oklahoma
visit. I know that, andhe's the top kid in the in the
schen we have him at twenty fourseven, is the number one kid in
the state of Minnesota. That wouldbe a nice cherry. Yeah, what's

(30:23):
your crystal ball say? I thinkGilmore ends up in Oklahoma or Oregon would
be my guest. Okay, butI think they have a legitimate shot to
still land Emerson Mandel, which theyhave put in a ton of time to
recruiting that young man. Same thingwith Gilmore. I think both those guys
have been on campus six times inthe last year. Where it's like,

(30:45):
you know, that's the thing whereI try to like convey to people like
if they don't come here, I'mnot like that sucks because they're talented players,
and I like covering talented players,but it's like, what else would
you want if your Minnesota's under themto do right? It's not from lack
of effort, right where I mean, that's really all you can ask.

(31:06):
At the end of the day,they're seventeen eighteen nineteen. You're not going
to keep every kid and stated,especially in this era, but right,
that's right, I'll continue to sayfor the record to not have people try
and say they would love to getWhack Gilmore and they would love to get
but you know, I wouldn't surpriseme if one of them comes here.
Wouldn't surprise me if nothing would surpriseme with those two kids. Does the

(31:30):
hard work begin now and keeping thosekids here? Well, that's the thing
is keeping twenty three now And justbecause you made a verbal commitment doesn't stop.
Yeah, you know, I knowI was still after a few of
these men, and that's where it'sgoing to be. You've already burned your
official visit now and getting them committed, and when in December, after the
season, it's that last gaps untilsigning day. They can't come back up

(31:52):
here unless it's on their own time. So now the recruiting really starts with
trying to keep these kids committed forthe night six months. But it's it's
fun to cover a team that hashad as many plan A guys as they've
had and they still got a cupmore big fish out there and we'll see
what they're able to do. Butisn't this what we were told what happened

(32:14):
with PJ. This was the wholereputation. Yes, and they're doing all
this without nil. We're gonna talkabout that in a second. Maybe I'm
wrong. You can tell me ifI'm wrong. But hasn't it taken a
while to get to this point whereyou feel like this is the momentum that
you've you thought you would see maybeearlier? Is that? I mean,

(32:36):
I don't know. I mean theygot some pretty good dudes guys early.
I mean they got the all timeleading rusher early, you know whose wasn't
highly recruited. But I mean theyI think they've done fine. I think
they had a couple of years whereit seemed like it kind of went stagnant
right where they ended up, youknow, mid forties, which is fine,
but you'd like to think, youknow, this is a program that

(32:57):
should finish in the top thirty ish. And I know there's not big difference
either, right in terms of thirtyand forty difference. Five schools are getting
every difference between twenty five and fourand five to fifteen that one or two
kids. Yeah, right, Sothen it is how do you develop them
and how do they get better?And I think they've done a decent job.
I didn't think about the twenty oneclass that they signed during COVID,
where I think there was I thinkthat's the highest finish they've ever had was

(33:19):
thirty seventh, right, and theyhad like five four stars. Um,
and that's where you look at whereare those guys now? And it's like
they're all going into their thirty yearssomewhere, and I think half those guys
aren't even here still, right,Go like to your original point about the
number of you know, twenty threeof it, Let's say is you know
they end up around that same number. How does that impact portally, Well,

(33:39):
it would depend upon I don't knowhow many I haven't looked at it.
I don't know how many seniors they'llhave graduate, and then we'll see
how many guys always so they tookout the rule where you only can sign
twenty five guys in a class.That's number right. Yeah. Now we've
seen dion I think signed between highschool and portally sixty yeah, which is
like everybody to leave. Yeah youneed guys. Yeah you can play college

(34:02):
football, but it's not here.Uh huh. So the only thing you
have to be under is at thestart of the spring semester, the summer
semester, you have to be ator under the eight came back in yep,
so that'll be allowed you to goover one, just the one that
was just the one back when theygave everybody an extra year. So that's
the only thing that's keeping them,so there will be some portal action after

(34:23):
the season. Is just welcome tothis day and age. Just whatever the
number is. I think the finalnumber ended up being like thirty four hundred
football players at the divisional level hitthe portal. Thirty four came out and
I'm guessing thirty four didn't find right, So it's right, welcome to college
football in twenty twenty three. Butwhat's your vacation schedule looking like? Well,

(34:45):
I was telling Chip before you gothere, like I've been trying to
figure that out because it used tobe in the spring it was just spring
ball, and then you didn't havereally anything in May, right, like
really nothing, and then June therenever used to be official visits. Right.
Well, we're nineteen days in andit's been I think the first week
they had camps every day and thenthey had official visits and so it's just

(35:08):
getting them in. The portal hasjust taken out the entire month of May.
Right, he's on the NFL schedule. Now you get a couple weeks
in July. Yeah, that's aboutit. And that's that's all it's going
to be. Now is you getlike h July fourth, And that first
couple of weeks is because you kindof have the mirror now what the college
coaches are going to be doing.Absolutely you have to. Yeah, and
so that's good for a new marriage. Well, but your wife just got

(35:30):
a promotion, right, so she'sprobably busy too. Yeah, she spent
like two weeks in Portugal back inMay. Oh, good for her,
well on a workdrift. But yeah, and did you come back bitter about
how the lawn was? I mean, you really could have done some nice
work there. If you didn't havemarital responsibilities, you could have gotten some
preseed in you had to water alittle bit. Absolutely hate hostas well,
you should. Yeah, hate myexistence that up at our house yesterday,

(35:53):
Um, because I put something whereapparently some hostas are going to go,
and I'm like, I thought itwas like the one square foot where hostas
won't be every time all of myhostas out and every time we go to
my mother in law She's like,do you want some of these hostas?
And I just put my head downbecause I know I don't have a vote.
I'm a dues paying, non votingmember of my house. I'm like,
just we're like, we're like thearboretum. And Chan hasn't of hostels.

(36:14):
It's just yeah, hostas. Andyou can split him too, So
if you feel like you don't haveenough hostas, you can just It's like,
I think I'm gonna take three fourthof them and then just like put
them all in the corner with afree sign and like tweet out, Hey,
if you want some hostas, takethem as. Give your address,
do like a hostas give away.We'll come over to your house, you
know when our hostas are coming up. Um, you mentioned n I L.

(36:37):
John Shako, who's been on therecruiting staff a long time. He
was with the with the Killed group. He's been great guy. He's been
on there as long as I've beenon Great dude. Yeah, I think
you're right, same same thing withme and um. He also is kind
of in charge of of the walkon program as well. They call him
they call him PJ. Calls himshake shoulders, uh, shake soldiers.
Is what he calls them, yougo um for people that he finds preferred

(37:00):
walk ons and blah blah blah.But I bring him up because he wrote
this yesterday on Twitter, proud ofthe way we communicate the NIL framework and
process and recruiting at the You Thenhe thanks Jeremiah Carter, who's the senior
Associate ad how about this title forNIL Policy and risk Management, And thank
you for our generous fans and donorsthat see the value in donating. So
that's a very University of Minnesota.That's why I bring it up. It's

(37:23):
everything about that is you. Butthe way that we communicate it basically,
like here's what So tell us whatyou know about how they communicated. And
obviously with dinkytown athletes, you know, being the official one and everything that
comes with it, we know thatthey're not just you know, waiting at
Huntington Bank Stadium with a bag,like there's things that it's a lot different
maybe than other places. So tellus what you know about how it does

(37:43):
get presented, whether it's this weekendat Summer Splash or maybe the first time
they meet, because I assume itcomes up pretty frequently. Well, it
does to your point at Summer Splash, I know that they have like an
hour long meeting with Jeremiah Carter Nowand all of the recruits and the parents
and the coaches about this is theway ni all goes in Minnesota, and
Jeremiah walks them through that you ain'tgoing to get a bag here in terms

(38:05):
of don't look under your chair.It's not an Oprah situation. No,
you're not going to get paid anythingto come here as a recruit, but
once you get here. This isthe number of examples we have with mo
Ibraham, Tyler Newben, Brevin,Span Four, Nathan Kelly, Iick Manus,
Ottertail. Yeah, good for them. It looks like a nice deal.
So they're getting more and more opportunitiesthrough Dinkytown Athletes, And I think

(38:28):
Derek Burns would tell you, thefounder of that, the co founder,
that they're very excited about the progressthat they've made in the last three months,
six months to a year in termsof getting people in and being able
to help out the players. Butto the point I'm also trying to make,
they're never going to make promises inrecruiting that if you come here,
here's fifty k one hundred K,two hundred k where I've seen that happen

(38:51):
very recently with a number of differentrecruits where places in the SEC or the
Pac twelve or the Big twelve.Like, that's just but the way it
has to happen over here, shakinghis head, go ahead, Well,
yeah, I mean your sister McDonald'sbag. H Well, no, that's
that is a one good way toget a bad reputation, you know,

(39:15):
if what do you mean if you'repromising oh something and then a kid shows
up and is not there, yep, And we've seen cases of that for
sure. A kid has to leavebecause he thought, Yeah, we had
the one kid who's had like fourdifferent huge nil things and now he's at
Arizona State just doing nothing, right, I mean Miami, Florida. Now
he's just out. Well he's gota bag there too, Yeah, but

(39:37):
it's not the bag that Florida promisedwhere it was in the million, right.
And Tempe's a nice place. Yeah, I remember when we play basketball,
many job sounds nice. I meanthe league might be you know,
folding right before our eyes, butman, it's it's nice here with these
mountains. But you know, theGophers, they've been straight up that there's

(39:58):
a certain way that they're going toapproach in I L and they're not going
to allow the Shenanigans. Yes,I mean, that's just whether it's right
or wrong, because I can assureyou that is not the majority of you
know, say, let's say powertoo now, because I think that's the
way it'll end up going. We'llspend a lot of time talking about that
over the next few years. Butlike in Big ten, in SEC circles,
that is in the minority. Iwould say there's a lot of promises

(40:21):
made by certain schools that if youcome here, it's fifty one hundred,
two hundred, whatever it may be. And I think that to Chip's point,
it's just never going to go thatway here with the way that they
want to approach things. But it'swhen you do get here and you are
a productive player or you know,whatever that may be, you are going
to have opportunities. Because I knowthat there's multiple guys on this team that

(40:44):
do I think pretty well, andyou know it, and I know fans
it's probably hypocritical, hypocritical to saythis because you know, when you're trying
to get these high level recruits it'snice to be able to offer in something,
but also the way they're doing itis the way in I was meant
to be. Yeah, you know, you get here, you have success,
you have your name, you haveyour brands on it. Yes,

(41:06):
versus we're gonna give you a wholebunch of money to come here before you
do anything here. Yeah, it'stoo because we could go down the list
of all the highly recruited guys thathave gone to schools that have literally never
done anything. I mean, it'san imperfect science. This is how and
that's why it is risky for someof these schools unless they just have a
bottomless pit to say, yeah,we'll give you whatever it is and just
show up. Texas A and Mhas gotten into trouble the last couple of
years. Well you've seen Lane Kiffand take shots or Nick Yeah, but

(41:30):
then you see these I think they'vesound like the number one class the last
couple of years. Well then ahalf the guys leave because they get their
bag and then they're like, Okay, I'm gonna go actually play somewhere.
I really like what I'm hearing from. I know they need more money,
obviously, everybody you can never haveenough. Yeah, but I like I
just like it. It feels likea mature way to present it. Just
go, here's what we have,here's what we do, here's some opportunities,

(41:52):
and that they'd spend an hour talkingabout that. I think that's really
smart. And they picked the rightguy in Jeremiah Carter, who have a
lot of respect for I covered himand when he was a player there,
and he's kind of I think he'sgonna be an a d someday. I
think he has that kind of presenceand smarts and everything about him. But
to sign a staff member to say, you know, because they can't oversee

(42:13):
it, but he can say thisis how we're gonna do it him.
He has nothing to do with thec Yeah, Liais, Yeah, that's
just I mean, that's the approach, as Burns said, for better or
worse, whether you agree with ornot. Yeah. When I'll say this
too about Jeremiah in general, arethe you in general? Because I think
rightfully, because of what happened inninety seven, correct, this is what
that is. They've always every everybody'salways scared. And that was thirty years

(42:36):
ago, twenty six years ago now, so they're always going to be a
little bit slower probably, But Idon't want people to mistake that for they're
not going to be creative and they'renot gonna they're not gonna go to the
rule, you know what I mean? Like because Jeremiah, for example,
when I had him on the GoldenGolfer podcast, you guys remember the Being
PJ Flex show when he first gothere. They had the part where they

(43:00):
used a loophole to showcase like NCdouble A or to like they videoed recruits
at camp and then made some typeof like hype video out of it.
And remember when PJA was sitting andhe's like, how many people called in
on that? And it was likeseventy five people because it was technically allowed,
but it also shouldn't have been,so that rule got changed. That's

(43:21):
an example of something Jeremiah Carter figuredout for the you like, this is
a loophole or a rule that wecan use to do something that other people
might think we can't do. Andhe talked about working creatively with coaches to
find solutions to get all of theiryou know whatever. Didn't break a rule,
let's be clear about that. Butwent right up to the rule where
I know, people called they werelike, they can't do that, and
people like, yeah they can,Yeah, they can't anymore, and that

(43:44):
rule got changed. But that tellsyou like, so he's he's gonna work
creatively to make sure everything is bythe book, but by the book in
a way that also you know itis an SEC but you're not going to
be totally left behind because it makessense what I'm saying. I'm not a
playing it very well. No,I think you did a good job.
So it's watched that part of thevideo because it's classic PJ where he's sitting.

(44:05):
He's sitting at his kitchen. Idon't know if Heather's there with him.
There was the one where that shewas making him avocado toast lucky sounds
so good and he's just like howmany people called in like seventy five But
it still comes down due they're gonnaneed more and more and more money.
Yeah, Dickytown athletes dot Com.They're doing well, but they always could
be doing better the way I like. And you've never met Derek Burns in
person. I have done a podcastwith him. Have you heard about this?

(44:28):
Yeah? He told me I didn't. When they were did we talk
about this last week, the lasttime, and now they don't want to
meet now it's a thing. Won'tsee me. Yeah, I've told him
for years. Now, hey,let's go get a beer, go get
a burg or whatever. They won'tsee me now because he likes to keep
up the bit. We do apodcast together. It's a great every game.
Yeah, it's a great podcasts.One of the smartest football players played
for May's yep Um. But yeah, now he runs dinckytown athletes. But

(44:51):
he won't meet me in person becauseyou know, like I like to till
him. It's because I'm bigger thanhim now where I think he's about six
three, I'm tall. Yeah.Yeah, he's a little leaner. Yeah
he's a little not as sweaty.What do you mean? What do you
mean he's leaning? You take ithowever you want. Why did you never
directly into my soul and the depthsof my eyes and say that I've lost
weight? Thank? I know,Well, yeah, it's so hot,
you can't help It's like you're apermanent size. All that yard work,

(45:15):
you see, the stuff I haveto deal with, all right, in
our last couple of minutes, andappreciate your guys, flexibility for my meat
grinder of my country club. Yeah, you both got tea times to get
too. We do. Actually,yeah, it's a it's a big Monday.
Um we have who wants to dothe joke? Anybody got to our

(45:36):
got to our Twitter almost immediately afew weeks ago. Gophers are going to
the Rose Bowl. Every everybody dothe joke. Yeah, there's the Groner.
So if you're thinking about tweeting itat US five thousand, I know
it's very funny, very funny,very clever, very clever. Everybody but
the Gophers know who they're playing.In twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five,
the Big Ten announced their scheduling model. Speaking of the NFL, they

(46:00):
announced the scheduling model. They announcedthe teams the Gophers and everybody else will
be playing home and road for twentyfour and twenty five, but they didn't
give the dates, which I assumewill be on the Big Ten network at
some point later on. Yeah,because I think the SEC just did that
right, like a primetime TV schedule, which by the way, is great.
I think you should do that.No one loves scheduling more than it's

(46:22):
ridiculous how much I love it.NFL scheduling day. I love it.
And we know the teams they're playing, we know where they're playing. We
just don't know when. It isthe dumbest thing I love and so I
can't wait for this. I meanI was texting you the night before,
remember that you were pumped. Iwas like, schedule model, what does
this mean? Who we're gonna play? Which California team are we gonna get?

(46:44):
I was so excited. Birdsie,of course, like had the whole
schedule. He gave me a little, a little nugget, a little morsel.
But the Gophers in twenty four,by late we're gonna need the eighth
and kelleg Mannas to be the Greekrifle next years, by the way,
because the schedule we know this yearis tough. But next year the Gophers
will play Iowa, Northwestern o HighestState and Rutgers at home. They will

(47:05):
travel to Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Of course, and you
c l a parents spare podcast meetup. You'll be there, I'll be
there. You're gonna get Yeah,you got, I mean, let's go,
columnists, let's go. You gotto get this thing gone. In
twenty five, the Gophers host Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, and U.

(47:28):
S C as well as Wisconsin,and will play at Illinois, Iowa,
Penn State, and Purdue. We'regonna be every other college football podcast
or Big Ten podcasts and say,I really hope that that USC game is
in November. Yeah, there's two. There's two easy jokes in USC.
I think goes to Kinnock next yearin twenty twenty four. But that's when,
I mean, that's what you wantedto know, right, That's the

(47:50):
only thing because most people, andwhat's the verbiage they use, it's like
the flex Protect plus yeah, whichI think that's my ariple a membership as
well protects. I'm pretty sure whenmy wife got a flat tire, we
had to use the flex Protect plusmodel to get her off the road.
There was initial conversations that they weregoing to let you protect three. Right,

(48:13):
I think that's the most you canbecause I have three protect zero,
one, two or three? Yea, Like Penn State's got none, right,
Well, they have to have something. They have some. There was
a couple of schools I have none, but oh is that right? Yeah?
I think Penn State it's one ofthem. I mean to me as
long as you have in Wisconsin,Iowa. However, it looks well,
I think they got that right mostimportantly there they didn't go with one of

(48:34):
them. But they also didn't giveMinnesota, like Nebraska or something for a
permanent protect. Now. That isso just to fill people in, and
if you listen to this podcast,you probably already know all this, but
we'll just give you the nuts andthe bolts of it. It's the flex
Protect Plus model forty nine ninety ninea month, which features coverage up to
fifty we'll tell you within five milesof your house for free. A combination

(48:55):
of protected opponents and rotating opponents foruniversities. And here's the import part of
it. Each member institution will continueto play nine conference games per season,
and teams will play every other conferenceopponent at least twice, once home and
once away in a four year period, which is important because how many times
have I told you this? Lastseason two years ago was my tenth year

(49:20):
as Gopher sideline guy or eleven whateverit was, and it was only the
well, even go back to twentyeighteen. Twenty eight team was the first
time Indiana had been to at thattime TCF Bank Stadium. I just use
that as an example, and Ithink the Gophers had been to Bloomington one
time in that maybe twice. Like, if you're in a conference with these
teams, you gotta play. Yeah, it's hard to you don't mean you

(49:43):
don't want to play Maryland every year? Well that was what they used to
do. Before you'd have one,you'd have like a six year run,
and that's why you played Maryland threethere, three there. Now. I
loved it because I like DC.But and but I understand that you might
want to see some other place.But the way they sold it, if
you go to the school for fouryears and you stay there, you're gonna
play every team and every event inevery venue Hominois, which is the point
of all of it. Yes,so I'm very pleased with this. I

(50:04):
think the Big Ten got it right, which is weird to say. Yeah,
I mean, you know, doinga way of divisions and your your
championships gon gonna be one versus two, yeah, or your top two teams.
Um. Now, the team thatcomes out nicely I think in this
is Iowa with their three protected becausethey're not like the you know, given
that because it's Minnesota. It wasMinnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Iowa

(50:29):
Minnesota. So they essentially got halfof the Big Ten West guaranteed, which
is what everybody in the Big tenWest is annoyed about is And I heard
you talking with Eric Nordquist on thefan this week that the Big Ten West
has been a nice place to livefor Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern. Yeah,
they won it twice because you getan opportunity to go to Indie.
Um, they kind of they guaranteedthemselves essentially a third of the Big ten

(50:51):
West schedule every single year, Sogood for them. Anything else you guys
want to add schedule? Will youget Ohio State in Michigan two straight years
this year and next year and thenagain. Welcome to the new realities of
the Big Ten twenty twenty five.Let's see Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska,
USC, Wisconsin we host them,Iowa, Illinois go two Penn State

(51:14):
again. So that's somewhat favorable twentytwenty five. There's always going to be
two or three games, yes,where you're gonna look at and say you're
gonna be at least a touchdown underdog, if not more. Now to your
point, we're gonna see what theGreek rifle can do about changing that.
Yep. But welcome to the newrealities of the Big Ten. I'm just
excited to travel to and see somedifferent teams. Well that those games,

(51:38):
you know, UCLA when you gotto uc USC, I mean, those
are gonna be huge travel games forthis fan base. Yeah, so essentially
you get to go to the RoseBowl every two years to either play USC
or UCLA. Well, USC doesn'tplay at the Rose Bowl. Well,
yeah, it's pretty elementary. Youshould know that you cover college football.

(52:01):
It's the coliseum, it's legendary.The Olympics, we're there. Look at
this hill he's dying on right now. Cal Seum's nice. It's all right.
That was our first game, slipup. I saw same there.
Oh yeah, you and your boyLane game there? Yeah, Lane Kiffin.
Anything else you guys want to discuss. I don't want to end on
that note, Burns he not betweenyou and me. Thank you for the

(52:21):
coffee, appreciate it. Getting avacation within those ten days that you have
off. Yeah, well, Iknow everybody's throwing a pity party for me.
So it's it's fun though, Imean it, I'm ready to take
a break before it starts up againand we get to actually talk about some
actual college football here in a fewweeks. Well, I heard you're not
going to Indie. I'm not.No, you scheduled family vacation. Yeah,

(52:49):
nope, You're gonna miss the Deltalounge, aren't you. That's why
you're really bad. That's why you'rereally bad. Yeah, he's mad because
he usually ditched us anyways, LikeI got two four seven guys to hang
with. Did you eat with usyear you didn't? We did two years
ago, two years ago? Yeah, and then um, then he ditched
us. And so but he's madbecause you know, I got him in
the little the little body for itat Indianapolis. You know, got him

(53:10):
a couple of and then he wasgonna be all lonely. He was just
in awe of how fast I drankthe beers in there. Like, we
gotta go airport, got about twentytwo minutes, and we don't know what
the service is going to be likein the flight, so we gotta get
these things going as we're the lasttwo always onto the plane. Yeah,
yes, of course, get up, I'll see just so you're not bothering

(53:30):
anybody. No, Yeah, we'reum. We're moving the yearly RV trip
to the last week of July.Gram regan, we are going to Mount
Rushmore this year with the neighbors,and so it was a little bit about
the neighbors schedule as well when theyhad availability. Then they're renting an RV.
We're renting an RV, seven kids, ten and under, a couple

(53:51):
of dogs. Yeah, it's gonnabe messy. I mean, there'll be
some stories that come out of it. Is there a vacation at that point.
Here's the thing that that I've learnedis you don't take and you know
this, you don't take family vacations. You take family trips. A vacation
is about relaxation and melting the stressaway when the kids are there. It's

(54:12):
a trip. You're just moving yourlife to another city for a few days
and hopefully you get to see acouple of things and go to a beach
or see Mount Rushmore or Custer NationalPark whatever. I've never been out there.
We went three years ago with thekids. It's a blast. YEA
love it. We're looking forward toit. But the thing that had to
give I think entering year thirteen like, what what media Day essentially became for

(54:36):
us was what was your first year? Twenty eleven? Yes, so we're
in a year thirteen. We areyou and me, Buddy, you and
me, right, Chipper, you'rein year yeah, so essentially twenty Chipper,
the first year we did um bigten media Day. The radio row
aspect of it, there was Iwant to say, like fourteen stations.

(54:59):
Nine of them are from Nebra Aska. There were that was their first year.
There were a couple of others andthen us, but we got every
single head coach to come by,you know, so I had, you
know, ten fifteen minutes with allof them, I mean Kirk Ference,
Brett Bulama, ron Zook at thetime, um whoever was at Purdue was
probably Danny Hope. Like, sowe got all this time. It meant
it was meaningful to be there.Not saying that doing the one hour PJ

(55:22):
Flex Show isn't meaningful, but that'sessentially what our role has become is we're
going to do the special edition ofthe PJ Flex Show and I'd rather be
in our view. I love PJ, but I'm gonna talk to him every
Tuesday on TV and radio. Halftimeof every game post game of we spend
enough time together. I'm gonna goon an r V with my family.
Can I just live my life?Good for you? It's called work Life

(55:43):
Balance burns and they're going on daytwo this year. Yeah, which is
I think the first time. Andit's been a minute. Trust me.
I mean, I'm gonna miss thefellowship, but we're gonna get We're gonna
get spot at saying almost it shouldn'tbe that difficult. I really don't bring
all that to the table. Um, So if you have them out,
rushmore tips, tweet us at sparepod. Please check out the t shirts.

(56:07):
If you haven't follow us for sureat Pair and spare Pod on Twitter.
We tweet about it a lot.But um, we'll have more giveaways.
We'll have more info about a liveshow before the season starts, possibly
a road trip to a potential gameor two. Because now that USC is
in the mix, we we gottastart. We gotta start training every let's
get on the road with the parentSPA. That North Carolina one you're coming,

(56:30):
I'm hoping, yeah, you getsthe one coming to that big that's
gonna be a big that's gonna beans. Yes, that'll be massive for
sure, Um, but follow usthere check out the t shirts. If
you buy one, let us know. We'd love to see UM start your
day at one hundred percent all aroundthis summer, as well as got molk
And thanks everybody for listening to thePair and a spare podcast. We'll be back soon