Ray Carsillo [0:00 - 0:33]: Geeks of life. Sports. Just a bit outside. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are. And whenever you're listening to us, we hope it is good. Welcome to another edition of Geeks who Like Sports. As always, I am Ray Carillo in Less on Fire, Los Angeles, California. Dr. My best friend, entire world over in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Le El Lee. How are you doing this week, my friend? 

Lee MJ Elias [0:33 - 0:36]: Dynamite intro, Ray. That broadcasting school is really starting to pay off. 

Ray Carsillo [0:36 - 0:50]: Yeah, just a little bit. Took 20 years, but anyway, here we are. We got a big show for you, everybody. We got a great one for you. We got a lot of video game news, we got a couple of trailers, we got some wrestling news, comic book news, and of course, a lot of sports stuff. 

Lee MJ Elias [0:50 - 0:53]: Yeah, the geek. The geek gods came back hardcore this week after almost. 

Ray Carsillo [0:53 - 0:54]: We knew they would. We knew they would. 

Lee MJ Elias [0:55 - 0:57]: They. They listened to the show. I guess they needed a break. 

Ray Carsillo [0:57 - 0:58]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [0:58 - 1:00]: Because we're so good at this. But now we're back. 

Ray Carsillo [1:00 - 1:16]: Yes. So we got a lot of geek stuff to talk about later in the show, but we're gonna kick things off, of course, with the NFL divisional round. Four football games this weekend. We now have the conference championships set. Yes. Lee, no one likes you. And we don't care. And you don't care. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:16 - 1:17]: We don't care. 

Ray Carsillo [1:17 - 1:22]: Yes. You're Eagles, I guess. Do you want to end there or start there? 

Lee MJ Elias [1:22 - 1:34]: Let's start with the misery that New York and Dallas fans are experiencing this week with the Washington Commanders taking on the Philadelphia Eagles for the division. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. 

Ray Carsillo [1:34 - 1:35]: Conference. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:35 - 2:06]: The conference championship, which once was a division, is now a conference championship. Yes. Little sarcasm there for me to you guys. Dallas fans, New York fans, I actually feel for you quite a bit right now. This has got to be brutal, Ray. It's brutal. Everything about this is brutal. For New York. Dallas, it's like, whatever. But New York Giants fans, my God. And. And to throw more pain on top of it, guess who was at the game on Sunday? 

Ray Carsillo [2:07 - 2:11]: Yeah. Daniel Jones and Sterling Shepard and several other former Giants teammates. 

Lee MJ Elias [2:11 - 2:32]: I mean, I don't see. This has got to be rock bottom for the Giants in modern history. There's only one way to go. That's the only silver lining on it. Like, this is usually where the story starts. Yes, again. But holy hell, we can talk about. About those two games. Commanders, man, just. Wow. Can we. Go ahead. Go ahead, rally. 

Ray Carsillo [2:32 - 2:41]: And I just want to say it's not only that, obviously the Saquon stuff, but it's also the fact that that clip from hard knocks everywhere. Of, of Joe Shane's son. 

Lee MJ Elias [2:42 - 2:42]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [2:42 - 2:51]: Telling Joe Joshua, like, you should draft Jaden Daniels. You only have this job once in your life. You should try to win now. 

Lee MJ Elias [2:51 - 2:52]: Yep. 

Ray Carsillo [2:52 - 2:59]: Is also making its rounds because basically the two biggest mistakes of the off season. Letting Saquon go. 

Lee MJ Elias [2:59 - 2:59]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [2:59 - 3:01]: And not trading up for Jaden Daniels. 

Lee MJ Elias [3:01 - 3:02]: On camera. 

Ray Carsillo [3:03 - 3:04]: Caught on camera. 

Lee MJ Elias [3:04 - 3:10]: Caught on camera. Invited to be on camera. Let's say it right. Oh my God. 

Ray Carsillo [3:10 - 3:17]: So the two teams that ended up benefiting from our, our general managers ineptitude are now in the conference championship. 

Lee MJ Elias [3:17 - 3:27]: Yes. And. And let's just talk. Look, let's just skim real quick. The Eagles obviously winning their game as expected. Probably a little closer. Yeah. Than people thought it should have been. 

Ray Carsillo [3:27 - 3:32]: But although I did say 28, 24. And I was, I was very close to that. 

Lee MJ Elias [3:32 - 4:05]: You were very close. And I'll say, look, it was a close game in that sense. I think the Eagles had control of the game. All right. It was, it was only a mixed. Missed extra point that made it a little bit tense. But the Eagles in control again. The Rams great team. Just could not compete with our offense at the end of the day, like we said, they might be a little bit tired. They looked a little tired. They looked a little frustrated to me throughout the game. Okay. Doesn't take anything away from that season. It was a great season for them. But you know, we can move quickly past the Birds and the Rams. It was, it was a solid game. But the better team won. 

Ray Carsillo [4:06 - 4:12]: Absolutely. The better team. 1. I think also we need to mention in particular the Sunday games. The weather was a big factor. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:12 - 4:12]: Massive. 

Ray Carsillo [4:13 - 4:31]: Yeah, the weather was a big factor. The road teams struggled with the weather a little bit more than the home teams did. And also three of the four games, we'll talk about the Chiefs, Texans in a second. But the three other three of the four games, the teams that badly lost the turnover battle lost the game. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:31 - 4:32]: Right. We're going to talk about that too. 

Ray Carsillo [4:32 - 4:50]: That is classic football. When you lose the turnover battle by multiple turnovers, it's a single digit percent chance that you can win that game. And the Rams, Lions and Ravens all lost the turnover battle by not just by at least two turnovers. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:50 - 4:50]: Right. 

Ray Carsillo [4:50 - 4:51]: And. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:51 - 5:25]: Well, and again, when you get to playoff football, playoff anything, you've got to make mistakes at a higher level and you can't make mistakes. Right. You're a hundred percent correct. And sometimes easier to say than do. And it's like, yeah, no, it is easier to say than do. It's hard not to make mistakes, but that is the separator between a championship caliber team and one that is not. If you make mistakes one game, good chance you're not going to be in a championship situation. Now Eagles again through the snow. Saquon's been owning the Rams all year. That was the separator by far fifth. 

Ray Carsillo [5:25 - 5:29]: All time rushing performance, 205 yards in terms of the terms of playoff rushing. 

Lee MJ Elias [5:29 - 5:59]: Performance into that a little bit. But Jalen hurts had a solid game. I will say this to the Philadelphia faithful, man, it's funny how much people get on Jalen hurts even after wins because he has a very dry personality, as you know. But my belief is this guy just wants to win South. I. I mean, we know that, you know, but I'm not getting on the quarterback right now until he loses a game. Eagles have not lost a real game in a while. I know we have lost games of the Commanders. We have not lost a game with our full lineup since the beginning of the season. Guys. 

Ray Carsillo [5:59 - 6:11]: Well, and that's what I was. And I was. And I was going to mention that like we'll get into the previews, but like when Washington beat Philly, they didn't have Jalen hurts in the second half because of the concussions. So that's. We'll get it. We'll get into that after we go over the games. 

Lee MJ Elias [6:11 - 6:49]: But I want to talk about Commanders Lions because. Yes, I'll tell you this right now. There are some games where I'll say, wow, the, the Lions, the better team really lost that game. I can't say that. I mean there's some aspects, Ray, for sure. The turnovers you mentioned. Banners came in there and punched them in the mouth. This isn't a lucky performance by Washington. They beat the crap out of the lines. They showed up. This team is super. For real. All right. Now we say this every year. You get to the championship round, you're. You're not a walkover. I don't care that they're succeed. Anybody who looks at them as a succeed right now and bases it off, that's probably making a mistake. 

Ray Carsillo [6:49 - 6:49]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [6:49 - 6:57]: If you get to the conference championships, you deserve to be there. Washington had an amazing performance. Jane Dales does not look like a rookie quarterback. 

Ray Carsillo [6:57 - 6:58]: Not at all. 

Lee MJ Elias [6:58 - 7:38]: Okay. I found out something that will. I don't know if you read about some of his preparation for the game, that will blow your mind and you'll love it. The other thing too is that I do think that it's possible the Lions were looking past this team a little Bit of both the Lions and Minnesota saying, we'll see in a couple weeks. That can't be out there, that clip. You can't be thinking that way. Coach can't be saying that. All right. The Washington commanders earned this victory big time. And I'll tell you what, this game coming up, obviously I want the Eagles to win. I'm gonna pick the Eagles to win. But I don't think this is going to be a. A walkover. Barring certain things, this looks dangerous. 

Ray Carsillo [7:38 - 7:39]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:39 - 7:42]: Both ways. So it should be a great NFC Championship game. 

Ray Carsillo [7:42 - 7:49]: Yeah. No, if Philly. If Philly. I mean, here's the thing in. Philly obviously is going to shake off the rust. The weather should be better, and they'll. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:49 - 7:56]: Be pissed from this loss. At the end of the season, he's not going to forget a 22 or whatever point fourth quarter and hopefully. 

Ray Carsillo [7:56 - 8:03]: And also they'll hopefully learn their lesson because again, the Rams. The Rams almost beat you there at the end because they figured something out with the no huddle. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:03 - 8:03]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [8:03 - 8:05]: Because you guys, defense as great as. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:05 - 8:07]: Your defense, they get tired. 

Ray Carsillo [8:08 - 8:12]: And that's the problem with the no huddle offense is that if you. Unless again, they get tired, too. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:12 - 8:14]: When you do that, you got to be careful. It goes both ways. 

Ray Carsillo [8:14 - 8:15]: Oh, absolutely. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:15 - 8:15]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [8:15 - 8:55]: And that's why you can't do it the whole game. But when you need a drive. And that's why. And Chris Collinsworth, that false start penalty that allowed you guys to sub out some players, he said that might be the game breaker right there. And again, Chris Collinsworth, broken clock. Right. Twice a day was spot on because you got fresh guys in there. Next play was a sack, and then it was game over. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was closer there, but I think you guys are gonna wake up from this. You guys are gonna. It's gonna make you tougher. Obviously, Washington flying high right now. It's not gonna be a walkover, but the better team. I've said it. Washington's gonna be a threat for. For years to come, but this is the Eagles year to WINN The. The NFC. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:56 - 9:07]: I. I think so. And potentially the Super Bowl. And. And look, I'll say this, too, that with what you just said with the Eagles, I think people are also forgetting Jalen's only been back for two weeks. 

Ray Carsillo [9:07 - 9:07]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:07 - 9:09]: Right. He was out with a concussion. Like, like. 

Ray Carsillo [9:10 - 9:10]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:10 - 9:12]: He might actually be hitting his rhythm now. 

Ray Carsillo [9:12 - 9:13]: Yeah. Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:13 - 9:23]: I'm excited about. Like, people are so hard on him here. I'm like, guys, he had a concussion. He kind of. Kind of rushed back My. It was a mild concussion. All right. Hopefully he didn't hurt himself in the last game. 

Ray Carsillo [9:23 - 9:27]: Oh, yeah, he tweaked his knee. But he looked, he did finish the game, you know. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:27 - 9:46]: You know, he might have just twisted it a little bit. Look, here's the deal is the Eagles have so many weapons, all right, it's unlikely you're gonna shut down Saquon. All right, could happen. But even if you do, we still have other weapons, all right. At our disposal. And look, Saquon, habitually now, he's. He's good for one long rush a game. 

Ray Carsillo [9:46 - 9:48]: Yeah, he had two against the Rams. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:48 - 9:53]: But yeah, I mean, he's playing out of his mind. This is a guy who believes right now and everything that he's doing only. 

Ray Carsillo [9:53 - 10:06]: The second player all time now he joins, putting up the Rams, Eric Dickerson as a player to have a 200 yard rushing game in the regular season and a 200 yard rushing game in the playoffs in his career. And Saquon did it in the same year. 

Lee MJ Elias [10:06 - 10:50]: Yeah. In his first year with a new team. So Eagles got to be feeling pretty good right now. Commander's got to be feeling pretty good right now. The benefit to that is we're going to have a great NFC Championship game. You hope it's not one of those things where someone doesn't show up. Let's talk about the commanders and Daniels. Right. So it kind of came out recently. This guy uses VR before every game, and he plays the game in the VR headset at 1.75 speed. And he has attributed that to helping him see the field much better. Obviously, things slow down when you come out of that speed. So here's a guy using VR to, to make himself a better quarterback. He put it in his contract that the, the commanders have to let him do that. All right. 

Ray Carsillo [10:50 - 10:59]: And, and that's smart, too, because what that does is a lot of people don't realize a big, A big problem for a lot of college players of the NFL is they always talk about the speed of the game. 

Lee MJ Elias [10:59 - 10:59]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [10:59 - 11:03]: The speed of the game is different. That's how you negate the speed of the game. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:03 - 11:03]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [11:04 - 11:06]: Even faster than you're used to. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:06 - 11:07]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [11:07 - 11:09]: Brilliant. Freaking brilliant. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:09 - 11:20]: It's genius. And again, like, it's over speed training. Right. You're. You're looking at the Eagles defense and 1.75 speed, and it's probably pretty accurate to the actual defense. 

Ray Carsillo [11:20 - 11:20]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:20 - 11:26]: Right. So now he's playing the game. I mean, that's. That's brilliant. This is a true geeks who like sports, by the way, moment. 

Ray Carsillo [11:26 - 11:26]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:26 - 11:32]: Okay. Maybe we'll do a mashup about what VR could be used in real life. All right. How about adulting? It's a new game. 

Ray Carsillo [11:32 - 11:33]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:33 - 11:46]: You have 25. Yeah. You have $25. Do you a buy the 100 object? Do you be buy a 25 object? Do you see. Save the money and move on. The choice is yours. 

Ray Carsillo [11:46 - 11:47]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:47 - 11:56]: I said the power is yours. So that's it for the nfc. I mean, again, yeah, both teams deserve their spot. You have anything on the Lions? 

Ray Carsillo [11:56 - 12:02]: I do want to briefly mention it again, like that game, Jared Goff. 

Lee MJ Elias [12:02 - 12:02]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [12:03 - 12:10]: It is not doing himself any favors in terms of the critics. Four of the five turnovers were his fault. 

Lee MJ Elias [12:10 - 12:10]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [12:10 - 13:09]: Washington, look, 45, 31 was the final Washington. Two of the turnovers, one ended the first half, one into the second half, the other three in credit where it's due. Washington capitalized on. They scored a touchdown on every one of those turnovers. And when your defense is as banged up as the Lions defense is happen, you can't give a team like Washington that many extra possessions. And that was the game. I said it. People thought I was joking, but I was serious. When Jared Goff got his bell rung, I was like, they should have stayed with Teddy Bridgewater the rest of the game. They really should have. Because I think that at that point, Goff just didn't have it. He was. His throw. He was not accurate at all in the first half. And that could have been a chance for you to make a change. I know that's crazy to be like, your Pro bowl quarterback should be benched, but you're trying to get to the conference championship. And I, I get that. But, like, you've got to be able to see what's going on in the game. The dude did not have it. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:09 - 13:18]: No, he didn't at all. But I'm, I, I'm not going to ignore 30 plus points from Washington. I'm not saying you are either. I mean, they. They showed up. They showed up to play a playoff game. 

Ray Carsillo [13:18 - 13:19]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:19 - 13:36]: And. And again, we talked about you can't make mistakes. Okay. So speaking of mistakes, let's talk about the Ravens. All right. Because a lot of things going on there. Lamar Jackson calling out his own teammates. But at the same time, Lamar Jackson just as guilty of. 

Ray Carsillo [13:36 - 13:36]: Oh, yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:37 - 13:37]: Fumbles. 

Ray Carsillo [13:37 - 13:51]: And just first time all year that Lamar had multiple turnovers in one game. Yeah, right. Did everybody on that team played their worst ball? You had. You had. I think it was like 11 drops in the entire year. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:51 - 13:51]: That's crazy. 

Ray Carsillo [13:51 - 13:52]: It was three. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:52 - 13:53]: Did not do what they needed to do to win. 

Ray Carsillo [13:54 - 14:04]: They had, like 10 turnovers the whole year. They had three in that game. You and I get it. The conditions were part of it. It was snowy. It was icy. The ball was slick. Buffalo didn't turn the ball over. 

Lee MJ Elias [14:04 - 14:08]: They didn't. And that's the difference at the end of the day. Now, look, look. We picked Buffalo to win that game. 

Ray Carsillo [14:08 - 14:09]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [14:09 - 14:13]: But I don't think it was as. You know, it wasn't as complete. 

Ray Carsillo [14:13 - 14:16]: The Ravens, if they don't make any mistakes, the Ravens win that game 100%. 

Lee MJ Elias [14:17 - 14:22]: But they did. They. They. They're in choking territory now. And the thing is that now they've been choking territory for four years. 

Ray Carsillo [14:22 - 14:23]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [14:23 - 14:40]: Right. So it's like, hey, guys, now you gotta get out of that. Right. You're turning into a team that chokes. Now, we do have to mention, if I'm not mistaken, Ray, this is the Bill's fourth trip in a row to the AFC Championship game. Oh, I'm sorry. Against the. Against the Chiefs. 

Ray Carsillo [14:40 - 14:44]: The fourth time there'll be. This will be the fourth time that Josh Allen will. Playing the Chiefs in the playoffs. 

Lee MJ Elias [14:44 - 14:45]: Yes. 

Ray Carsillo [14:45 - 14:51]: Josh Allen against the Chiefs in the regular season. Three and one in the playoffs. Oh, and three. 

Lee MJ Elias [14:51 - 14:51]: Yes. 

Ray Carsillo [14:51 - 15:00]: You're talking about choking, choking territory. Josh Allen now similarly needs to get past the Chiefs. Otherwise, he's also a joker. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:01 - 15:07]: Yeah. Also Buffalo I don't think can handle another four in a row loss situation. 

Ray Carsillo [15:07 - 15:07]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:07 - 15:18]: After the. After what happened in the Super Bowls. But, hey, look, this is. This is the best chance they've had of all those years. Okay. 

Ray Carsillo [15:18 - 15:23]: This is the weakest Chiefs teams we've seen in a while. And. And Buffalo is clicking. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:23 - 15:26]: And again, there's a lot of heat on the Chiefs right now, too. A lot. 

Ray Carsillo [15:26 - 15:34]: Oh, my goodness. We're gonna get into a second. But yeah, if this is. If this is Brady versus Manning and Allen is Peyton Manning. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:34 - 15:34]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [15:34 - 15:46]: This is his time. Like, just like that fight. Just like when Peyton finally got over the hump against Tom. This is his time to do it. This is the best opportunity I get. You're going to Arrowhead. But you've won there before in the regular season. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:46 - 15:47]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [15:47 - 15:48]: You've gotta do it. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:48 - 15:56]: Josh Allen said it. He said it perfectly. If you want to win the super bowl, you're gonna have to go through the Chiefs at some point. And he's a hundred percent correct. 

Ray Carsillo [15:56 - 15:57]: Yep. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:57 - 16:05]: All right, so this is it. 2. We gotta do the other AFC game. Two great championship games now set up in Chiefs, Bills, Eagles, Commanders. 

Ray Carsillo [16:05 - 16:06]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [16:06 - 16:13]: It's. It's exciting. It's awesome. It's the best of football. Chiefs won their game as. As we. As we. With. 

Ray Carsillo [16:13 - 16:18]: With helps of the refs and some missed kicks and. 

Lee MJ Elias [16:18 - 16:19]: Yeah, it's a little weird. 

Ray Carsillo [16:19 - 16:31]: The word. The worst flop I've ever seen on a football field. Even though nothing was called on that. Look, if the Chiefs want to start painting themselves at the modern day Patriots and painting themselves as the villains, they're doing a great job. 

Lee MJ Elias [16:31 - 16:50]: Oh, they do. That's where they're at. Listen, this. This story has been written before. This is exactly what happened with the Pats. Everybody wanted them to win in the beginning. So many people forget how we all rooted for Tom Brady in 2000. Every one of us wanted him to win. And then a few years later, it was like, whoa, wait a minute. He's using deflated balls. He's a cheater. 

Ray Carsillo [16:51 - 16:51]: He's. 

Lee MJ Elias [16:51 - 17:02]: He's married to superm. All right? That's exactly where the Chiefs are at. And now, you know what? If you're a good dynasty, you gotta embrace it and you gotta own it. And the Chiefs are owning it. All right? 

Ray Carsillo [17:02 - 17:11]: You either die a hero or live long. Live long enough to see yourself become the villain. And the Chiefs have now lived long enough as a dynasty to see themselves become the villain. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:11 - 17:32]: Ask Kurt Warner. He knows all about the other side of that. So I'm gonna say it again. Like, they're there and they're embracing it. They know it. They. They. So I said they get a lot of heat on them, but they kind of embrace the heat. But the other thing that was weird, too, was the end of the game. The point spread was ruined by running into their own end zone for the safety, which I thought was a. I understand the logic behind it. 

Ray Carsillo [17:32 - 17:32]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:32 - 17:38]: But I don't think it played out well on television. I. I think they were hoping to lose a few more seconds than four seconds. 

Ray Carsillo [17:39 - 17:41]: Yeah, it didn't look good. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:41 - 17:45]: It didn't look right. All right? And the point spread was right there. That broke the point spread. 

Ray Carsillo [17:45 - 17:45]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:46 - 18:07]: I don't know if you guys know that, but, like, the spread was like a half point above what that became. So somebody said as part of the script, they're doing it. Look, I also think it's perfectly realistic that the players know the point spread and they give a big fu to people. All right? So, like, I don't think it's a script. I think these guys know what's going on. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. It was a complete win for the Chiefs. 

Ray Carsillo [18:08 - 18:11]: Yes. And also again, Texans mistakes. Yeah, you missed. 

Lee MJ Elias [18:11 - 18:12]: They weren't ready. 

Ray Carsillo [18:12 - 18:35]: They missed two field goals. They missed an extra point. You leave seven points on the board, you lose by nine. That's a completely different game. If those seven points are on the board there towards the end, like, and that's right. And that's something that they're gonna, they're gonna be thinking about. And Kaimi Fairbairn, who usually is very automatic but really struggled down the stretch. And well, kickers are very replaceable in the NFL. 

Lee MJ Elias [18:35 - 18:51]: They are. And now we come to the predictions. Ray. I, I think we start with the nfc. I'm gonna say it again. I select the Eagles. Yes. Very biased. I think they're the better team. I do. I think anybody can win these games. I gotta say, I'm not, I am not confident in either pick that I'm gonna make here. 

Ray Carsillo [18:52 - 18:52]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [18:52 - 18:54]: All right. But I picked the Eagles over the Commanders. 

Ray Carsillo [18:55 - 19:08]: I also picked the Eagles. I'm also taking the Eagles. Similarly. I'm gonna say like 31, 28. Like, I think it's gonna be a close game, one score game kind of thing. It's one of those things where maybe the Eagles get the ball last and it's gonna be. 

Lee MJ Elias [19:08 - 19:10]: It could come down to that for sure. 

Ray Carsillo [19:10 - 19:20]: Yeah. By the way, so far through the playoffs, I'm seven and three, you're six and four in our predictions. So we're both over.500. I've clinched a winning record. You still have a chance to do so. 

Lee MJ Elias [19:21 - 19:23]: Who do you got in the afc? 

Ray Carsillo [19:23 - 19:53]: I'm taking the Bills. I'm taking. This is the Josh Allen. This is his time. He's finally going to get over the hump. And I rarely pick against the Chiefs, but if there's any time that somebody's going to beat the Chiefs, this is it. This is the time. Because then I want. Because then you have Bill's Eagles in the super bowl, and then the Eagles will have a chance to complete, complete the, the collection of every NFC east team beating the Bills in the super bowl because the Giants have beat them, Washington's beating them, and Dallas beat them twice. 

Lee MJ Elias [19:54 - 20:14]: I, I, and I'm sure Buffalo will just sulk in that defeat as they usually do. Right. I'm having a tough time with the afc and I'll tell you why. If the Chiefs decide to show up, they're gonna win that game. All right? So I'm talking classic, no mistakes, don't need help from the refs. But I agree with you that the Bills are very ready. 

Ray Carsillo [20:14 - 20:14]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:15 - 20:17]: This is a really hard one to call. 

Ray Carsillo [20:17 - 20:23]: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. It pains my heart. I'm voting a little bit more with my heart. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:23 - 20:35]: I'm not going to. It pains me to do this, but I think Kansas City is going to win that game. All right. With the way the officials have been, the calmness of Kansas City. 

Ray Carsillo [20:35 - 20:35]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:35 - 20:40]: The experience now, they are extremely experienced. 

Ray Carsillo [20:40 - 20:40]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:40 - 20:46]: Okay. And a small part of me. This isn't affecting my pick, but a small part of me wants the Eagles to play the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. 

Ray Carsillo [20:47 - 20:47]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:47 - 20:55]: Okay. As cool as the NFC beating, the Bills is getting a little revenge, which is exactly what we did in the last Super Bowl. We won. 

Ray Carsillo [20:55 - 20:56]: Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:56 - 21:31]: Is right up our alley. All right. And I would love. I would love the controversy of the Philadelphia Eagles dethroning this team that everybody wants dethroned because America will not be able to pick. It's. You either live long enough to see yourself become the villain, or you're just the villain. That's that situation right there. It's no. It's no secret. Nobody wants the Eagles to win anything from here on out. Outside the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But I'm gonna say it. I, I, I'm gonna give the Chiefs my vote. I'm, I don't want that. I want the Bills to win, but I believe the Chiefs will win. 

Ray Carsillo [21:31 - 21:35]: Yeah. I mean, again, I want the Bills to go all the way. They are the team that I am. 

Lee MJ Elias [21:35 - 21:56]: I would love for them to win the Super Bowl. Yeah. It's just not against us. But. And that's assuming that the commanders aren't there. Okay. But I'm gonna pick the Chiefs for two reasons. One is the only way I can come back in this pseudo competition that you've created, because I have a feeling we'll pick the same team in the super bowl. Probably. And, and again, I had to make it fun for the listeners. 

Ray Carsillo [21:56 - 21:58]: Yeah. No, absolutely. It's. 

Lee MJ Elias [21:58 - 22:08]: And I think, I think, I think that's actually. If I'm gonna go rogue, that's the safest rogue pick in the entire playoffs. The thing about this is, like, I'm going rogue and picking the Chiefs. 

Ray Carsillo [22:08 - 22:08]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [22:09 - 22:13]: Everybody forgets, look, they're playing for three in a row. No one's ever done that. 

Ray Carsillo [22:13 - 22:15]: They're playing for their own. They're playing for history. 

Lee MJ Elias [22:15 - 22:15]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [22:15 - 22:23]: And to be fair to figure, the last thing to vote again and the last thing to really play for history, probably the zero, was the Patriots going for that undefeated record. We all know what happened there. 

Lee MJ Elias [22:23 - 22:26]: Yeah. So I'M hoping it's going to happen again. But let's. I'm looking at a Chiefs. 

Ray Carsillo [22:26 - 22:29]: I mean, if it's, if it's Eagles, Chiefs, I'm. I will root for the Eagles. 

Lee MJ Elias [22:29 - 22:41]: I, I know you have, you have always been a great friend and, and with. You're rooting for me and I don't lose sight of that. And I, I feel like I have returned that with the Giants when they were playing well in some of your other teams. 

Ray Carsillo [22:41 - 22:54]: Yes, yes, absolutely. So it's also a lot of times when my teams get there, it is also like, oh, it's the Yankees versus the Dodgers. Yeah, no, let's go Yankees. It's like it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's the Giants versus the Patriots. Sure. Let's go Giants. Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [22:54 - 22:55]: Yeah. They make it easy. 

Ray Carsillo [22:56 - 23:58]: Yeah, it does. They don't make, they do make it easy when they do finally end up getting there and getting over the hump. So speaking of getting over the hump, Ohio State national champions. The national champions over Notre Dame. No, Ohio Stately. This is their sixth or seventh national championship all time. Yeah, I mean they, Lee, they dominated this game. Not quite start to finish, but Notre Dame came out, scored an opening touchdown and then Ohio State scored 28 unanswered. Ohio State did take their foot off the gas at that point, let Notre Dame kind of get back in it there at the end. But it was too little, too late. Notre Dame speaking. We were talking about missed kicks in the NFL playoffs. The missed the field goal for Notre Dame. That could have made it a little more interesting there at the end, but yeah, Ohio State, your national champions, the eight seed, knocks off the seven seed and also shows kind of like the Texas Rangers a couple years ago in baseball. 

Lee MJ Elias [23:58 - 24:00]: We talked about this. We talked about it. 

Ray Carsillo [24:00 - 24:09]: They lost the last game of the year in Michigan. It cost them a chance at the Big Ten championship and they got angry and then ran rough, shot through the. 

Lee MJ Elias [24:09 - 25:08]: Whole playoffs and, and Notre Dame had the. I'm not making fun of them, of the ordained approach of this is what it's meant to be, which I always think is dangerous. You got to make your own path there. But not that I'm not. That's not a side commentary on anything, people. I'm just saying it from a sports standpoint. Look, congratulations though, Ohio State, a very convincing win. The real win here is the college Playoff. This was done correctly. It shows you that the top seeded team, again, traditionalists will hate this does not always mean that they're the best team. I like the idea in the new Nil era that you have an opportunity to compete and win in a playoff that is more emulating of actual football. I never understood the one, two thing outside the. You compete all year. I don't like any scenarios where one loss ends your season. And I think that the, the College Football Committee has done a great job of taking that out of the equation. I'd rather be fighting for who should have that 12 spot over who should have the two spot. 

Ray Carsillo [25:08 - 25:08]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [25:08 - 25:35]: And they did a great job. This was a great college football season. The best in my life from my perception. Okay. Some of you will disagree with that. Again, the championship game, not as great as I think we were hoping for. I would have really liked to see Penn State there, but they didn't earn it. And yeah, hopefully this is the first of many years where things like this can happen. But can you imagine, Ray, if we had an Oregon, Georgia national championship? I mean, it would have been a mess. All right. 

Ray Carsillo [25:35 - 25:35]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [25:35 - 25:40]: So this is great. That was the real win this year. It was the College Football Playoff. 

Ray Carsillo [25:40 - 25:45]: The playoff was a massive success. And that was like every Ohio State's eighth championship. 

Lee MJ Elias [25:45 - 25:45]: Amazing research. 

Ray Carsillo [25:46 - 26:15]: It real quick all the time. Also need to mention what's interesting also is that these teams now that have had these long seasons, they're going to have a lot of players that are going to get drafted. Yeah. And now. And one of the big things that was always talked about in the NFL was how in the college game, a lot of times college, you know, players would run out of gas once they got to the NFL towards the end of the year because they're not used to playing a 16 or 17 game schedule. Well, now, notary, anybody who's drafted from Notre Dame and Ohio State has 16 games under their belts. 

Lee MJ Elias [26:15 - 26:15]: Right. 

Ray Carsillo [26:15 - 26:42]: It's actually, I'm very curious. I think. I think the players from those teams are not gonna be better prepared for the NFL because they've had their stamina built up a little bit in terms of the idea of having to get used to playing a longer season because of the playoff. Now, just. Just a quick thought there that I kind of thought about last night when I was watching the game. Like, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens because again, I think you're gonna see a lot of guys who are in. Obviously a lot of guys who are in the playoffs picture for college football are going to probably be high draft. 

Lee MJ Elias [26:42 - 27:05]: Picks, and that's gonna make the College Football Playoff really interesting, is that different teams can really Rise and fall. Now every single season that you aren't expecting. Look for Alabama to become back hard next year. The other thing too is a lot of money coming into college football next year. A lot of money. The most money coming into college football next year. You better be ready for that because it's going to really change the face of. Of that Sport. 

Ray Carsillo [27:05 - 27:07]: Yeah. Like 100. The nil stuff. 

Lee MJ Elias [27:07 - 27:09]: Tens of millions of dollars coming into it. Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [27:10 - 27:12]: It's only getting bigger and better. But congrats. 

Lee MJ Elias [27:13 - 27:14]: A lot of money. 

Ray Carsillo [27:14 - 27:42]: So we'll see what happens next year. Moving over to the NHL, Lee. See my, my, my. Rangers are starting to maybe turn a corner a little bit. 100 are finally 61 and 3 in their last 10 which is 15 out of a possible 20 points. That's a 75 point percentage which is very good. And they've suddenly started to climb the standings again. There's still four points out of a playoff spot. 

Lee MJ Elias [27:42 - 27:45]: The playoff race is very, very close. 

Ray Carsillo [27:45 - 28:15]: It is a. It is a log jam in the eastern conf. Those last two wild cards between. Aside from the Sabers. The from. You go from the Senators to the Islanders. Right. The Sabers are. They're sorry. Buffalo. Once again. You just can't seem to do anything right. Ottawa does the Islanders all separated by seven points. The entire conference. That isn't in a playoff. That isn't in an. A visional playoff. Right. Like so you've got nine teams separated by seven points. 

Lee MJ Elias [28:15 - 28:16]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [28:16 - 28:17]: For two playoff spots. 

Lee MJ Elias [28:17 - 28:28]: And. And you're right outside Buffalo. Everyone's in it right now. I'm looking at it right now. Everyone. This is going to change a lot. And I'll be honest with you too. Some of the. The division races are close too. 

Ray Carsillo [28:30 - 28:55]: Oh absolutely. I mean the. The Hurricanes and Devils are only separated by a point. Yeah. The Lightning are only a point ahead of the Senators and the Bruins. Like this is. This is going to be a fascinating Eastern Conference race. You know we're in the second half of the season now. Did. I mean. Lee, I. You put a gun to my head. I can't. I can't predict any of these. What's going to happen in the. In hockey right now? What are your thoughts? 

Lee MJ Elias [28:55 - 29:07]: I love it. This is how hockey is supposed to be. Right? Right. It's supposed to be. You don't know. And every game matters. This is just great business from sport. Okay. Not to mention that next year. This is interesting too. The cap hit is going to go way up. 

Ray Carsillo [29:07 - 29:10]: Yes. Because I heard 93 million. 

Lee MJ Elias [29:10 - 29:18]: I think it's a Correction from COVID Right. So this is great for the game. I mean, look, the Flyers. Flyers really struggle. The flyers are over. 500. 

Ray Carsillo [29:18 - 29:19]: Yep. 

Lee MJ Elias [29:19 - 29:22]: Actually, the four teams not in the wild card are all over 500. 

Ray Carsillo [29:23 - 29:25]: Right. This is everybody. Everybody except for the Islanders. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [29:26 - 30:04]: Yeah. Well, Islanders are not one of the top four, so the top four teams waiting. Yeah, yeah. Are over. 500. All right. And again, Washington kind of came out of nowhere, but the idea is that this is great. Yes. A team can turn it around, win 10 games in a row, and you are in a playoff spot. You might be in a division lead at that point. That's how close these. These games are right now. So this is fantastic. Right. And like most things in hockey, it's going to come down to goaltending. All right. Are you getting the stops that you need? Right. And can you stay hot? And scoring has to be spread out. Anybody can win four or five games on a hot player. You get a hot few lines, you're going to win a lot of games in a row. Also, who knows who's going to go into a losing streak? But it's. It's right there for the Rangers, Ray. They made a lot of moves. 

Ray Carsillo [30:05 - 30:05]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [30:05 - 30:15]: Right. And. And again, I think that things are calmed down a little bit. Yeah, there was a little. Little bit of an emotional hit. Their culture issue. They're still not strong enough right now, from my point of view, to compete. 

Ray Carsillo [30:16 - 30:40]: The top two. The top two lines aren't scoring. Like the fact that they're like, the Rangers are lucky to be getting some offense out of the third and fourth lines, but like when you're getting Sam Carrick and Adam Edstrom as your. As your top scorers in the last five games or whatever, like, Lawford here's had his chances, Panarin's had his chances, but at some point, you got to put the biscuit in the basket. And right now they are not doing that. Like. 

Lee MJ Elias [30:40 - 30:40]: And. 

Ray Carsillo [30:40 - 30:46]: And so you got to have your best players start to wake up if the Rangers actually do want to make a run at a playoff spot. 

Lee MJ Elias [30:46 - 30:50]: And if that happens, they. They are better poised than anybody down there, I'll put it that way. 

Ray Carsillo [30:50 - 31:02]: Yeah. And to be fair, maybe the Rangers need to miss the playoffs for a year. Right. They've been making. They've been making deep runs now for several years. Maybe they're out of gas, I don't know. But they're also not getting any younger, and they better. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:02 - 31:10]: Hate saying this, but the last time that happened, after a President's Trophy season, you Won the Stanley Cup. So we'll see what happens. 

Ray Carsillo [31:10 - 31:14]: We'll see what happens. And the Western Conference is boring. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:14 - 31:22]: Very boring. Yeah. Chicago is in a mess. They better figure it out. I wouldn't be surprised if Bedar gets the hell out of there. He is miserable there. 

Ray Carsillo [31:22 - 31:23]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:23 - 31:28]: Whereas you look at San Jose Sharks, celebrity is having a great time. Right. 

Ray Carsillo [31:28 - 31:34]: Yeah. So they're actually building something. They're. They're a bad team right now, but they're building towards something. You can tell. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:34 - 31:42]: I. I don't think he will leave. Right. Again. His contract's coming up though, after next season. But, like, they better figure something out in Chicago because it's not working out. 

Ray Carsillo [31:42 - 31:43]: No. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:43 - 32:07]: He had a rough start last year with politics. Nothing to do with him. He's a great player. McDavid has been suspended for three games, as he should. He took a headshot. Another player in an altercation. I like that the NHL did this, showing that they're not sucking up to. To any of their players, which they've been accused of for years, which I never really fully agreed with. But McDavid retaliated, took a shot at the head. He's out three games. It's a statement to the whole league. So good on the NHL for doing that. 

Ray Carsillo [32:07 - 32:19]: 100. Absolutely. Yeah. No, you. That's never okay. And I don't care who you are. And. And yeah. And we'll see what Edmonton does with those three games. Because it always feels like when McDavid's not around that. 

Lee MJ Elias [32:19 - 32:23]: Well, they're. It's one of those things. Will they step up? Right. 

Ray Carsillo [32:23 - 32:23]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [32:23 - 32:32]: Will they step up in that situation? And you know, Edmonton again, comfortably in the second place in the Pacific. So they're doing okay. A lot better than they did last year. 

Ray Carsillo [32:32 - 32:32]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [32:32 - 32:41]: At this point. But yeah, their. Their playoff race, it's also kind of tight. But it's not as tight as is. Is the Eastern Conferences. You really got four teams there fighting it out right now. 

Ray Carsillo [32:41 - 32:55]: Yeah. You got like four. Four teams fighting for the last wild card. But like the Avalanche. Yeah, there's a. There's a big gap between Calgary, who would be the second wild card, and then the seven playoff teams all ahead of them. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [32:55 - 32:58]: I'd love to see Utah fight their way in. That would be kind of cool. 

Ray Carsillo [32:58 - 33:05]: That would be great for them new franchise. I mean. I mean, they definitely obviously got a shot in the arm with the move. Obviously. The fan base is super excited there. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [33:06 - 33:15]: Well, not everybody. There was a fight in the last game and there was a post of. I Can't bring my children to this if they're going to fight. This is ridiculous. And it's like okay, well that there. 

Ray Carsillo [33:15 - 33:42]: Are some of those folks come to an Eagles game. Yeah, go to insert sports event here. But anyway, yeah, no, the, we're just waiting for them to call them the yeti at this point. Even Sam Rosen basically said it in the last when the Rangers played Utah the other night and he's just like everybody out here wants to just keeps calling them the Yeti. Did you just call me yeti already? And it's like yeah, we get it. Just yeah, call me Yeti Utah. 

Lee MJ Elias [33:42 - 33:42]: Big love. 

Ray Carsillo [33:43 - 33:53]: Yeah, I don't know about that, but I don't know how many fans we want that on their shirt. But anyway, moving on to some unfortunate. 

Lee MJ Elias [33:54 - 33:56]: Celebrate great life here. 

Ray Carsillo [33:56 - 34:40]: Yes, an amazing life. The great Bob Euchre, who was a below average player but a larger than life personality on and off the field unfortunately passed away at the age of 90. Of course, had been a broadcaster for the brewers for decades, for half a century. Basically known from the major league movies. Did some stuff with WWE. WWE hall of Famer, WrestleMania. Just a larger than life personality who permeated the pop culture like few broadcasters have ever been able to do. Always had a self deprecating joke, always. 

Lee MJ Elias [34:41 - 35:08]: I got one of those for you now. My brother sent this to me. This is a quote from him. It made me laugh. He says when I played they didn't use fancy words like emotionally distressed. They just said I couldn't hit. This guy is always good for a laugh. And that's, that's how I'm going to remember him. Obviously the, the major league movies as you said, Ray. But just, I mean few people can make their name synonymous with baseball outside of playing. Yeah, right. 

Ray Carsillo [35:09 - 35:11]: As Johnny Carson called him, he was Mr. Baseball. 

Lee MJ Elias [35:11 - 35:21]: Yeah, I mean just off the mat like Vince Gully is obviously one of those names. Yes, I, I Steinbrenner is one of those names. Bob Euchre is one of those names. 

Ray Carsillo [35:21 - 35:29]: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it just he's gonna be sure he missed. He's one of the great things that have ever come out of baseball. 

Lee MJ Elias [35:29 - 35:33]: Yeah, he is. I quote him weekly. I mean I quote him weekly. 

Ray Carsillo [35:34 - 35:50]: Part of the culture, part of the heart and the heart and soul of the game. And we're all a little sadder and the game is all a little worse. There's a little worse off now without him there for sure. And there's gonna be some very, very big shoes to fill up in Milwaukee. But I Am available if they need it. No, I'm just kidding. That's. 

Lee MJ Elias [35:52 - 35:56]: Goodbye, Paul. Come on, he's right here. 

Ray Carsillo [35:56 - 35:58]: I can do self deprecating humor. 

Lee MJ Elias [35:58 - 36:01]: You. I'll say it. Bob would have wanted you. 

Ray Carsillo [36:01 - 36:06]: You should call. You should check out my stand up on February 1st at the Ice House here in Pasadena. 

Lee MJ Elias [36:06 - 36:10]: Yeah, no, it emerging industries now. Right now. I'm just kidding. 

Ray Carsillo [36:11 - 36:20]: No, very very sad. And I also do need a job. So seriously. But yeah, no, yeah, very, very, very sad. Bob Euchre, one of the all time, all time greats. 

Lee MJ Elias [36:20 - 36:23]: Can't think of him without smiling. You just can't. 

Ray Carsillo [36:23 - 37:54]: Yes, he should have his name on the wall in Milwaukee day one this year. Like if they don't do a ceremony in Milwaukee. Yeah. So anyway, so we've unfortunately we lost Bob Uker and less unfortunately, but we've lost something else this week. Filing for bankruptcy as we transfer into the geek section and Diamond Distributors. For those who don't know, this is basically where the very big bulk of your comic books come from. If you go to a comic book store, there's a good chance that Diamond Distributors is the ones who brought those comics from, from the pub, from Marvel, from D.C. and put them on the store shelves. But in recent years a lot of those companies have been leaving diamond mostly because of their malpractice and marking up of things. And because honestly it's what happens when there's a monopoly on an industry. And now with everybody leaving and starting to distribute them themselves and of course also the rise of digital comics, things like Comixology and whatnot. Diamond has filed bankruptcy and it is the end of an era and it is what is already a very tenuous industry at the moment with comic books. They're not as they're. I mean look, it is what is. The comic industry is not very stable because not a lot of folks are going and buying physical comic books very much anymore. People are, but not what they like. They used to. Lee, do you have any thoughts on Diamond Distributors, the once great monopoly of comic book distribution, filing for bankruptcy? 

Lee MJ Elias [37:54 - 38:05]: Yeah, it's a mixed bag, right, with things like this. Like print media has been dead for a while. Comic books tried to hold on to it and probably did a little longer than most. 

Ray Carsillo [38:05 - 38:06]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:06 - 38:45]: Problem with diamond is they never evolved the way they needed to evolve. Right. You know, in so many ways I actually think people would still take print comic books, but you had to go to a comic store and by the time they figured out mailing it to your house, it was way too late. Right. Also things like, you know, getting a digital copy and a physical copy would have been great for collectors. I know you can do some of this, my friends, but it was. It's not mainstream. And that's. I think the loss came in also. Yeah. With the rise of digital, they didn't do enough to, to like they said, oh, it's on our realm. These things are happening all around you. I'll give you a great example of this happening right now and nobody really sees it. We all use Google, right? 

Ray Carsillo [38:45 - 38:46]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:46 - 39:01]: We'll be extinct in several years if they cannot compete with Chat GPT. All right. It's it. We are changing again. Google, which killed the Yellow Pages, is going to be having a hard time here soon if they can't figure out how to compete with Chat GPT. 

Ray Carsillo [39:01 - 39:03]: Well, they're trying with Gemini. Yeah, they're trying. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:04 - 39:14]: Right. But you can't try. You've got to do it. This is. And this is where, by the way, just, just sharing industry stuff. This is where Apple is so good is. They will wait. They will watch. They will. Perfect. 

Ray Carsillo [39:14 - 39:15]: Yep. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:15 - 39:25]: Okay. That's what they did with the iPhone. Now, they haven't invented anything in a while. Right. Which is not good either. But they've got, you know, a percentage of the world's population on their phone, so I don't really need to anytime soon. 

Ray Carsillo [39:25 - 39:27]: Yes. Two thirds of Americans and a third of the rest of the world. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:27 - 39:36]: Yeah. So that's, that's enough business. You don't need to innovate. Exactly. Right away. But if you're not innovating, you're dying. Diamond did not innovate. I hate to see them go bankrupt. 

Ray Carsillo [39:36 - 39:36]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:36 - 39:38]: But they didn't do enough to stay alive. 

Ray Carsillo [39:38 - 39:43]: Yeah. I mean, and to be fair. And that too. And somebody. As you know, I have, I have thousands of physical comics. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:43 - 39:44]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [39:44 - 40:10]: But at some. I stopped collecting for several reasons. Like, you know, we talk about the way the world and things get better. I don't have the space for box, for, for thought, for dozens of long boxes full of physical comics. I don't. I love comic books. Like, and like. And when I worked at DC for two years, it was great because like I could read all the physical comics I wanted and then leave them at dc. It was their space problem, you know, like that's. And that's one thing too, is like. 

Lee MJ Elias [40:10 - 40:15]: It does dying industry. Right. It's just like in that form, I should say not comics, but. 

Ray Carsillo [40:15 - 40:19]: Right. But the ideas will live for a long time. We'll keep living. 

Lee MJ Elias [40:19 - 40:55]: We're In a golden age of superheroes, but not a golden age of comics. And the comic books were never able to bank in on that. And it blows my mind that with the power that Marvel had for that 15 year period, it's probably going to start again here soon. The way they're going, they're looking like really good right now. Comic books never match that energy. And I never understood that. There was never any, like, here's the reference. Here's this, get this pack. Here's, here's, here's all civil war together. That was your chance. You didn't innovate. You didn't innovate, you die. That's. It's true in all business. True in my business, true in their business, True and true in every business. 

Ray Carsillo [40:55 - 41:01]: True in every business. And yeah, it's a perfect segue into professional wrestling. 

Lee MJ Elias [41:01 - 41:05]: You have here on the rundown, WWE Tana partnership. Am I reading that? 

Ray Carsillo [41:07 - 41:09]: Total non stop action. 

Lee MJ Elias [41:09 - 41:11]: What is Tana Wrestling? Right. 

Ray Carsillo [41:11 - 42:04]: So first off, I need this. I mean, for those who have not been watching TNA wrestling, you are missing out. It's better than AEW at this point, which of course isn't saying much. But TNA wrestling has been great the last couple of years. They've really been turning the corner in terms of their storytelling. A lot of former WWE folks went over there. A lot of folks from TNA have gone back over the wwe. And now you have this natural partnership kind of starting to build where TNA might almost kind of become like another, like another NXT is for wwe. And you're already starting to see the crossovers. WWE wrestlers going over to TNA television and wrestling. TNA wrestlers in the Royal Rumble last year, the last couple years actually in the women's Rumbles. And now it's a big deal. They're talking about Joe Hendry, who won the championship over the weekend, by the way. I believe in Joe Hendry anyway, which honestly has become one of my favorite, probably my favorite wrestler right now in all of wrestling. 

Lee MJ Elias [42:04 - 42:05]: Oh, that's saying something. 

Ray Carsillo [42:05 - 43:23]: He's challenged John Cena for the TNA Championship. He's like, john Cena wants to have another World Championship. I'll put my belt on the line. How awesome would that be? I don't think John, John Cena would win just because of story lines. And see, he's going to retire and you want to build Joe Hendry. He's gonna be wrestling for a while anyway. Joe Hendry, you know, it's great. You've got, you know, Dolph Ziggler now using his nickname, real name Nick Nemeth over in tna. You've got the hardies back over at tna. And now the fact that you're gonna have this fluid partnership that is announced, much like, kind of like that AEW has with New Japan, but it's with people that we actually know who they are. Right. Like, and you know, again, WWE doing a great job with their stories right now, being led by Triple H, which also, by the way, I don't know if you've been watching WWE on Netflix the last couple of weeks. I love they are making it so that their matches are unpredictable. It used to be, guy hits a signature move, guy hits a finisher. One, two, three, Match over. No, not anymore. You're seeing roll up pins again. Seth Rollins won last night with a jackknife cover. It wasn't a finisher. It came out of nowhere. And then the, you know, you're starting to see surprise finishes now. 

Lee MJ Elias [43:23 - 43:24]: Creativity is what it is. 

Ray Carsillo [43:24 - 43:29]: Yeah, exactly. And it makes the product less predictable. 

Lee MJ Elias [43:29 - 43:34]: Right? Well, and again, that was their bread and butter for so many years. Big hit, big drop, game over. 

Ray Carsillo [43:34 - 43:34]: Right? 

Lee MJ Elias [43:34 - 43:38]: And it's like, yeah, you're right, Ray. Like, you can't do that all the time. 

Ray Carsillo [43:38 - 43:38]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [43:38 - 43:44]: All right. And again, I think they exhausted that at WrestleMania in a good way. Like, that's. We kind of wanted that at WrestleMania. 

Ray Carsillo [43:44 - 43:57]: But now it's WrestleMania. It makes sense. But on a Monday night Raw or smackdown, Sami Zayn, who hasn't won with a blue Thunderbomb since he was on the Indies, won last week with a blue Thunderbomb. That's. 

Lee MJ Elias [43:57 - 43:57]: That. 

Ray Carsillo [43:57 - 44:08]: That not only adds that predicted unpredictability, but it adds credibility to the move. So that this way, when you see it again later on, you're like, he might actually win with this. 

Lee MJ Elias [44:08 - 44:09]: Right. 

Ray Carsillo [44:09 - 44:50]: This move is legitimate. It's not just. It's a signature. He's going to kick out, and then maybe he'll win with a Halua kick. No, the move has credibility now. This is a big deal. And again, and now partnering with tna, it is just more unpredictability. Who wouldn't love to see the Hardys run back one more time in WWE and come out of nowhere and maybe put the TNA titles on the line against the WWE tag team titles because the Tardies are the TNA tag teams right now. Like, you could do so much with a partnership like this in a fun and creative way. Just don't oversaturate it like AEW with New Japan to the point where you can't tell the process apart, but do it In a fun, fun way. This is a great freaking idea. 

Lee MJ Elias [44:50 - 44:57]: Love it. Agreed. I don't know. You did all the. All the talking on that one, man. It's perfect. 

Ray Carsillo [44:57 - 45:00]: I'm sorry. I just had a lot to say about this, and I was so excited because I think this is. 

Lee MJ Elias [45:00 - 45:06]: I'm looking forward to. To the Royal Rumble. And. And. And, yes, like, it adds another edge to that, too, when you think about it. 

Ray Carsillo [45:06 - 45:20]: Yes. Go watch the Royal Rumble and then see me in Pasadena Feb. 1 at the ice. 9pm it's well enough. The show, my show, is well enough. After the Royal Rumble here in the West Coast. You can do both. I promise you, you can do both. 

Lee MJ Elias [45:20 - 45:21]: And what's that date again? 

Ray Carsillo [45:21 - 45:26]: February 1st. I'm fairly certain that's the Royal Rumble. 

Lee MJ Elias [45:28 - 45:30]: I will fill in the air time while it checks. 

Ray Carsillo [45:30 - 45:43]: Yeah. February 1st. I was right. Yeah. In Indianapolis. Yes. I was correct. I hope so, because I've been promoting it like that for a while now, anyway. Yeah, so. So, yeah, I'm excited for the Rumble. 

Lee MJ Elias [45:43 - 45:44]: You're clearly excited. Look at. 

Ray Carsillo [45:44 - 45:44]: You. 

Lee MJ Elias [45:44 - 45:46]: Can't sit still over. You got the Zoomies over there. 

Ray Carsillo [45:46 - 46:10]: This has been. Aside from the opening night on Netflix, which was all about. Thank you, Netflix. Netflix is so great to watch. The last couple weeks have been very good. We're back to wrestling. And also, you know, the show, they said it, variable length. One week it was two and a half hours. One week it was 220. Last week it was 245. Over. 

Lee MJ Elias [46:10 - 46:11]: When it's over. 

Ray Carsillo [46:11 - 46:32]: Right, right. It's not gonna go full. It's not gonna. They don't want to go longer than three hours. They're not gonna go longer than three hours. But they're like, these are the stories you want to tell this week. These are the stories we want to advance, and we're going to take our time to tell them. It's that simple. Anyway, speaking of taking our time to tell stories, Daredevil Born Again got a new trailer this week. 

Lee MJ Elias [46:32 - 46:34]: It did. It was very good. 

Ray Carsillo [46:34 - 47:10]: It was very good. Marvel Disney plus, not shying away, it seems, from the mature maturity. There were some real bad bone breaks and stuff. And you had the Punisher and you had all this other stuff here. It looks like they're going dark and gritty, just like the Netflix daredevil. And Vincent D'Onofrio was born to play Kingpin, big time. He was born to play Kingpin. And it is phenomenal. And to see that and to see what they're doing for the comics, Kingpin's the mayor. And they have this banter back and forth, and it's just the tension. You could feel the tension in the trailer. 

Lee MJ Elias [47:10 - 47:20]: But it was classic Marvel trailer, which I think is really cool. It's really the first time we've seen the old Netflix Marvel characters. 

Ray Carsillo [47:20 - 47:21]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [47:21 - 47:25]: In this scenario, you could say Echo. I mean, you could say you had. 

Ray Carsillo [47:25 - 47:27]: Daredevil make his cameo. 

Lee MJ Elias [47:27 - 47:38]: Yeah. Those weren't the same thing. Right, right. And even I believe also in. In the holiday special. Right. Daredevil. I mean, Kingpin was in that with. With. 

Ray Carsillo [47:38 - 47:40]: Oh, Hawkeye. Yeah, the Hawkeye. Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [47:40 - 47:57]: But this is really the first time we've seen the Netflix shows come back, and it's got a Marvel feel to it, whereas the next Netflix shows were always a little separated. Right, Right. So I just love it. It's just. I am a little weirded out that you called me here today. That's how it starts. This is beautiful. It looks really good. I'm looking forward to this one. 

Ray Carsillo [47:57 - 48:00]: Yeah, this is gonna be great. Cannot wait. 

Lee MJ Elias [48:01 - 48:13]: I'm hoping that they find a way to bring Spider man into this eventually. Like, it would be really cool if Spider man was in this at some point. I know they don't want to take away from Daredevil or just bring Kingpin into Spider Man. 

Ray Carsillo [48:13 - 48:49]: Well. Well, that's the thing. I mean, people forget that, like, there. First off, Daredevil and Spider man team up a lot. Daredevil, Spider man fight Kingpin a lot. Like, because it's New York City and that. And that's the thing. That's street level crime. And, like, I do love that one. That there's that one comic where. Which of course, has been made a meme, but, like, where. Where Daredevil and Spider man are talking about their villains and. And they're like, is Kingpin one of mine or one of yours? And Daredevil's like, let him be one of mine. Like, who else do I got? Stilt Man. Like, come on, Spidey. Like, And. And somebody was like, that's fair. Right? So, like, because. But that's how much. That's how often they both fight. 

Lee MJ Elias [48:49 - 48:57]: He's a major part of Spider man lore. You know, now that they haven't really commented, nobody knows who Spider man is anymore. 

Ray Carsillo [48:57 - 48:58]: More so. 

Lee MJ Elias [48:58 - 49:04]: No a cameo is in order. Although I don't know if Marvel can get their hands out of their pockets fast enough to do that. But we'll see, right? 

Ray Carsillo [49:04 - 49:09]: We will. We will see. I mean, supposedly, maybe, or maybe you get Daredevil in the next Spider Man. Movie. 

Lee MJ Elias [49:09 - 49:15]: Yeah, I'm fine with that. I just. I mean, again, they have announced Spider Man 4. They have announced it. So let's see what's going on here. 

Ray Carsillo [49:15 - 49:25]: We will see what happens. But very excited about Daredevil Born Again, the new trailer for that. And speaking of trailers, finally, the worst kept secret in the industry. 

Lee MJ Elias [49:26 - 49:29]: Yeah. That leaked and they were pissed. 

Ray Carsillo [49:29 - 50:29]: Yeah. Like, it leaked at ces, the Consumer Electronics Show. Like, come on, guys. Like, you should have known better because you had all these people who have already have peripherals for the Switch 2 ready to show off. You should have known better, Nintendo. You should have released the trailer in December when it was rumored to be, or at least during ces. But Nintendo's always gonna beat to their own drum. Nintendo's gonna do what they want, even if they get mad. The Nintendo Switch 2 trailer is official. It was released. It looks sleek. They're saying it's as powerful as a PS4 Pro, which is fine because Nintendo, better than any other console maker, is phenomenal at getting the most out of their technology. They don't need to be the most powerful console on the market because their games still look better than most stuff on an Xbox or a PlayStation. I don't care about your GPU and your CPU and all the other pus. I don't care. 

Lee MJ Elias [50:29 - 50:31]: Pu p you. 

Ray Carsillo [50:31 - 50:38]: I don't care. Nintendo maximizes their hardware better than anybody else. 

Lee MJ Elias [50:38 - 50:38]: Quality. 

Ray Carsillo [50:38 - 50:41]: So if they say this is good enough, it's good enough for me. 

Lee MJ Elias [50:41 - 50:49]: Yeah. And again, if you didn't see it, it's a little bigger, a little sleeker, like Ray said, first time. They haven't really changed the controller in a long time. 

Ray Carsillo [50:49 - 50:53]: No, the only thing that's changed is the connection port for the Switch. 

Lee MJ Elias [50:53 - 51:01]: Yeah, but you know, Nintendo, known for dramatically changing their controllers each time, did not do that this time. They teased a little bit of Mario Kart 9, I'm guessing. 

Ray Carsillo [51:01 - 51:02]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [51:02 - 51:03]: Which looks really good. 

Ray Carsillo [51:03 - 51:12]: People are up in arms because it looked like people were like that. Donkey Kong got redesigned. I don't know if that's Donkey Kong. I think that. I think that's Donkey Kong Jr. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [51:12 - 51:13]: You might be right, dude. 

Ray Carsillo [51:13 - 51:14]: That's what I thought when I first saw that. 

Lee MJ Elias [51:14 - 51:22]: Well, I'll say this too. I. And I gotta say it. I. I'm a little disappointed they didn't call it the Super Nintendo Switch. 

Ray Carsillo [51:22 - 51:23]: Oh, me too. 

Lee MJ Elias [51:23 - 51:40]: Nothing wrong with Switch 2, but, man, you had an opportunity there for nostalgia. Your audience is old enough for that. Yeah, the Super Nintendo Switch. Yeah, that would have been a better name I'm gonna say it, but I guess they wanted to diss themselves, themselves from that for whatever reason that they obviously. 

Ray Carsillo [51:40 - 51:42]: Well, at least they're being called to Switch you, you know. 

Lee MJ Elias [51:42 - 51:53]: Yeah, that's true too. I don't know why the Super Nintendo Switch would have been so perfect. You could have also released it with a. A retro flare. Again, sometimes they don't want to do that, though. I can understand it. They want to separate themselves. 

Ray Carsillo [51:53 - 52:29]: Well, and especially there was such a disaster with the marketing around the Wii to the Wii U. Right. And like, although I again, we would have known better, obviously. Super, obviously is the next iteration. Again, dude, to your point, we're old enough to realize that I think that there's a. There's a onus that we've seen. Right. When Xbox went from the 360 to the 1, people were like, what? Yeah, like the Wii U, they're like, what? Sony? Better or worse? We're gonna get to them in a second. Just going, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. People get it. People understand. And so Nintendo not wanting to take any chances. I get it. It's a safe. 

Lee MJ Elias [52:29 - 52:30]: I get it too. I get it too. 

Ray Carsillo [52:31 - 52:32]: Not my favorite. 

Lee MJ Elias [52:32 - 52:39]: No. Well, and also it makes you think, is there going to be a Switch 3? Like. And again, they might. That might be the direction they're going for all I know. 

Ray Carsillo [52:39 - 52:50]: But, well, and especially. And this is a very sad thought, but Nintendo's greatest creators, right, A lot of their biggest producers from Miyamoto on down are all in their 60s and 70s now. 

Lee MJ Elias [52:51 - 52:51]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [52:51 - 52:58]: You're gonna start to see the folks who built Nintendo into what it is today, they're going to start to retire soon. 

Lee MJ Elias [52:58 - 52:58]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [52:58 - 53:47]: And it's going to take a new generation of creators to carry the torch. And is that new generation of creators ready to do that? Are they ready to continue the Nintendo innovation legacy? Or are you going to start to see stuff that you see from Sony and Microsoft where you kind of see them reaching for trends and reaching for things and they worry about more about the bottom line than being great innovators. That. That's a problem down the line. But Mike, I have a very distinct fear of Nintendo losing their way in the next 10 to 15 years. And they're not here. Not here. But in the next decade or so, as these folks start to retire, who will take over the reigns? Who. Who at Nintendo? Who is Miyamoto grooming to take over for him as the creative director? 

Lee MJ Elias [53:47 - 54:02]: Definitely grooming somebody, man. And they'll have, they'll be in good hands. I Think it might be a little different. But I have a hard time thinking they're going to fall with the, the standards that they hold there. I, I just don't think he's putting anybody in control that's not going to have those standards. Different culture as well. 

Ray Carsillo [54:02 - 54:13]: I hope you're right. Nintendo is the New York Yankees of, of video games and it hasn't been good the last 15 years. So God bless you, Ray. 

Lee MJ Elias [54:13 - 54:14]: God bless you. 

Ray Carsillo [54:14 - 54:19]: Thank you. Forgot to move. It came on so quick I couldn't mute myself. I apologize folks. I apologize. I apologize. 

Lee MJ Elias [54:20 - 54:23]: Boo this man. Boo this man. 

Ray Carsillo [54:25 - 54:27]: Are they saying boo or Bo? 

Lee MJ Elias [54:28 - 54:30]: I was saying bo. 

Ray Carsillo [54:31 - 56:13]: Yeah, we mentioned Sony and they're a company has company that's lost its way and doesn't necessarily know what it's doing. Sony has cancelled. So we had some good news video game wise. We had some bad news this week and this is the bad news. Sony canceled two live service games, including something that a studio named Bluepoint have been working on for a very long time. They were working on a God of War games as a service. Now for those who don't know games as a service, as you look at things like Destiny, you look at what the Suicide Squad game was, things that people don't want, usually don't. These are games that tend to. Unless you catch lightning in a bottle, unless you're a Fortnite, unless you're an Apex Legends, unless you're Marvel Rivals, this is a genre that is very hard to sustain. There can only really be so many on the market at a time. And again it feels like some of these companies are just desperate for that. Almost like a passive revenue stream. And goodness knows, aren't we all desperate for a passive revenue stream? But like this was a, this is. I'm glad they pulled the plug. But the fact that they even committed resources and as many resources they did to these ideas is a disaster. God of War is a single player story driven experience that people love and that they buy by the millions every time. Why again, why fix something that isn't broken? Chasing a bad trend. But hey, that's Sony. Lee, your thoughts on what Sony. Sony's canceled games this week, including a God of War game as a service. 

Lee MJ Elias [56:14 - 56:29]: Well, I think that when you sacrifice your laurels in a business and just go, how can we monetize this? More and more and more you're inviting crappy decision making. I'll give you a great example of a company who hasn't done that. Arizona iced tea. It's been 99 cents forever. 

Ray Carsillo [56:29 - 56:30]: I was watching Forever. 

Lee MJ Elias [56:30 - 57:15]: I was watching an interview recently and they go, why don't you make it more? I mean, there's. You could do it, right. I think inflation and just time has dictated. You could easily make that 199 or 299 and people would pay it. Guy goes so nonchalantly. I love this guy. He goes, we have no debt. He goes, why, why would we do that? He goes, you know, how do I know that the 99 cents is not helping somebody out who just wants to drink one day and can't afford a three dollar drink? He goes, why would we do that? This, this drink is all over the world. The guy's not saying, how could I triple the value of Arizona iced tea? He's saying, no, this is our business model. So I think that it's not bad to look at something and say, is there ways to monetize this more? I don't think that's a mistake. 

Ray Carsillo [57:15 - 57:15]: Sure. 

Lee MJ Elias [57:15 - 57:18]: But I do think if that's the only thought, you are going to have a problem. 

Ray Carsillo [57:19 - 57:19]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [57:19 - 57:29]: And people at the end of the day can learn when they're being fleeced. They might not learn it right away, might take several times before they learn it, but they'll figure it out. 

Ray Carsillo [57:30 - 57:30]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [57:30 - 57:31]: All right. 

Ray Carsillo [57:32 - 57:38]: And the industry has already said we don't like this style of game. For the most part, you've got to. 

Lee MJ Elias [57:38 - 57:52]: Listen to your people. And again, there's this age old thought of, you know, are we giving the people what they want? Are we telling the people what they want? You know what I mean? And, and there's a little bit of that that goes both ways. But when the people speak, it's pretty clear of like, we don't want this. 

Ray Carsillo [57:52 - 57:53]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [57:53 - 58:00]: All right. Now you could be in denial. You can be complete denial. But if the people speak, the people speak. You're never gonna get 100 of people. 

Ray Carsillo [58:00 - 58:01]: No. 

Lee MJ Elias [58:01 - 58:05]: All right. But that's, that's one of the big problems right now. It's all or nothing, all the time. And it's just, it's. 

Ray Carsillo [58:05 - 58:17]: Yeah. People try to make it black or white and they try to either make everybody happy or whatever, or they listen to the loudest 10 of the population. Who, which, following that 10 most of the time is not good for anybody. 

Lee MJ Elias [58:17 - 58:18]: Not gonna work out. Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [58:18 - 58:30]: We used to say it all the time in radio at espn. The people who are, who have the passion and drive enough to call into the station to complain about whatever make up less than 10% of our listening audience. 

Lee MJ Elias [58:30 - 58:31]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [58:31 - 59:25]: Less than 10%. Because most other people have better things to do. Yeah, they just want to listen. They just consume passively or if they listen at all. But anyway again speaking about other bad decisions, we don't have the numbers. But also speaking of chasing things, Microsoft, a lot more layoffs again still I think fallout from the merger with Activision. I think it was, it was also a down year for them in terms of sales and whatnot. But it, it is what it is and unfortunately this is the way the industry is right now. It will correct itself at some point but not yet. More layoffs at Microsoft. Again we don't have exact numbers but that has been confirmed that a lot more good people are going to be losing their jobs in the gaming industry and what is already a very saturated, you know, people looking for jobs, job market. So yeah, so I again kind of goes into the whole conversation is that. 

Lee MJ Elias [59:25 - 59:38]: Keep chasing this trend will change soon. A lot of factors could play into that now. We'll, we'll see what happens. But I think that, that that has reached its bottom now Ray. I think you're going to start bouncing back, moving upwards. 

Ray Carsillo [59:38 - 59:41]: I hope so, I hope so. And very, very soon. 

Lee MJ Elias [59:41 - 59:42]: I'm usually right. 

Ray Carsillo [59:42 - 59:45]: Yeah. I mean because the money's there. The money's there. 

Lee MJ Elias [59:45 - 59:51]: No, I just, I have a feeling with the, the way things are turning the gaming industry is going to start hiring again soon. 

Ray Carsillo [59:51 - 1:00:24]: Hopefully so. Well we know for a fact we had two new games confirmed. Well one not surprising, one was a surprise. College Football 26 has been confirmed. It will come out this year. College football 25 was a huge success for EA Sports last year. No surprise. This should now become a regular thing which basically means. Yeah, yeah, yeah once again so an annual thing. So now you'll have, along with NHL and FIFA and Madden you'll have college football as EA Sports. And that obviously, obviously means that EA Sports will have to well, probably expand a little, a little bit to continue to support this game. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:00:24 - 1:00:33]: It's a great, a well executed job here right with getting the first game back out, bringing it back, great marketing. And now you have another franchise. Brilliant. 

Ray Carsillo [1:00:33 - 1:00:59]: College football 25 was phenomenal. I loved it much, much more than Madden this year. I think that the Madden team should look to some of the stuff that they innovated with with college football and try to incorporate that. And, and of course now obviously you'll, if you bring them to make them too similar people might get mad but college football 25 was the better football game in a lot of ways. So and then this was a little Bit of a surprise. And it's. It's a mixed bag. Some people are very excited. Some people. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:00:59 - 1:01:08]: I'm. I'm happy about this one. You. I'm. I was surpr next. And I don't know if I agree with you. That's what we're gonna turn this into a mini clip and the audience will decide. 

Ray Carsillo [1:01:09 - 1:01:27]: Echo the Dolphin has had the trademarks renewed by Sega and the rumor is is they are indeed making a new Echo game that will release within the next. Well, assume probably couple of years. And. Yeah. And I'm just like, I feel like this is SEGA dipping into the nostalgia. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:01:27 - 1:01:29]: Well, say what you said to me. 

Ray Carsillo [1:01:29 - 1:01:30]: I don't even remember what I said to you. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:01:30 - 1:01:34]: You said nobody cares about Echo the Dolphin. 

Ray Carsillo [1:01:34 - 1:01:47]: Yeah, I mean, I don't agree with that at all. I. I'll say that I won't say nobody, but I think that the audience segment that does care or will remember is much smaller than what maybe Sega thinks it is. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:01:47 - 1:02:30]: I will say this. That I believe. And Ray, you can please feel free to disagree with me. I believe there was a time Sonic has always been Sega's Mario. All right. And, and, and 100. Yeah. There's no argument there, but I always thought Echo was pretty close at one point. In the early days of sega, Echo the Dolphin was a known franchise. It was a well known game. I played it on the SEGA game gear. I actually really enjoyed those games. They were different. So I think if they're gonna do a new Echo, the trick to getting Echo right is making it a side scroller. It's not trying to go innovate and make me actually believe I'm in the ocean. 

Ray Carsillo [1:02:31 - 1:02:31]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:02:31 - 1:02:54]: It's to bring back what made Echo successful. Sonic has not changed that much over the years. Okay. In the sense of the traditional. Sonic is still how you pretty much enjoy Sonic. All right. I know there's been some 3D sonics. I know the games have gone like. One of my favorite ones. Favorite games was that. That story game where like you can actually interact with a younger Sonic when you're older Sonic. And he makes that joke like, oh, you couldn't speak that back then. I forget. 

Ray Carsillo [1:02:55 - 1:02:56]: Yeah, right. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:02:56 - 1:03:16]: Yeah, that was. That was a long time ago now. But I think if you're gonna make Echo work, do what worked in the past. They did make a 3D echo at one point. That did not Dreamcast. Yeah, that did not do well. All right. And again, I love Echo the Dolphin. So again, there was a time where Sonic, an echo could have been sped in the same conversation, nobody would have blanked. 

Ray Carsillo [1:03:16 - 1:03:21]: I. I feel like Echo was trying to be Sega's Donkey Kong. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:03:21 - 1:03:23]: Sure. That's a. That's super fair. Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [1:03:23 - 1:03:35]: Right. Whereas Sonic, obvious, like you said, was the Mario. Right. Like, because the first Echo did very well. The second Echo did very well. Then they did a couple of Echo Junior games, kind of like edutainment kind of games. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:03:35 - 1:03:35]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [1:03:35 - 1:03:36]: And like in the point. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:03:37 - 1:03:37]: Right. 

Ray Carsillo [1:03:37 - 1:03:43]: And then the third proper Echo game, which was for the Dreamcast, and unfortunately, nothing did well on the Dreamcast. I. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:03:43 - 1:03:45]: It was bad. It was really bad. Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [1:03:45 - 1:03:47]: And that kind of killed the franchise. And that's why, again. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:03:47 - 1:03:47]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [1:03:47 - 1:03:52]: I wonder if they're dipping into the nostalgia bucket a little too. Maybe. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:03:52 - 1:04:11]: Maybe. But look, I. I would like to play an Echo game again. I could see my. Myself introducing that to my kids. The Tides of Time was a really good game. I mean, you got to go. Go around history, get to. Get to go to Atlantis. I mean, I. I enjoyed it, is all I'm trying to say. I don't think people don't care about Echo. I think you have to capture a new audience for sure. 

Ray Carsillo [1:04:11 - 1:04:11]: Yes. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:04:11 - 1:04:13]: All right. But that's in the quality of the game. All right. 

Ray Carsillo [1:04:13 - 1:04:19]: So right now, I was about. I was just about to say, the way to prove me wrong is that if it is a good game. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:04:19 - 1:04:20]: Yeah. 

Ray Carsillo [1:04:20 - 1:04:23]: It does not really. The nostalgia on that will not matter if it is. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:04:23 - 1:04:24]: And Ray will tell us if it's a good enough. 

Ray Carsillo [1:04:25 - 1:04:26]: It is a good game or not. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:04:26 - 1:04:33]: Now, the other question I have is, could they be trying to make a movie with Echo, which would be horrible. Don't do that. 

Ray Carsillo [1:04:34 - 1:04:36]: Basically, like free. Would it be Free Willy? 

Lee MJ Elias [1:04:36 - 1:04:39]: No. I mean, they might. Maybe they put him in Sonic or something like that. I. I don't know. 

Ray Carsillo [1:04:39 - 1:04:41]: But that would be funny. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:04:41 - 1:05:02]: I'm gonna say, to get to the audience listening. All right. Do you care about Echo the Dolphin? Do you want to see an Echo the Dolphin game? Would you mind? An Echo the Dolphin game? I. I am personally excited. This is. I was surprised. Right. I really love the Echo games. I thought they were great. They were fresh. I mean, like, there would be times you would just kind of play around in the ocean in those games. Maybe not. You know, And I enjoyed that. 

Ray Carsillo [1:05:02 - 1:05:08]: Sure. No, I. And here's the thing. I agree, but that's. That's my concern is that It's. It's been 30 years since we've had. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:05:08 - 1:05:10]: No, surely it's been. 

Ray Carsillo [1:05:11 - 1:05:19]: It's been 30. The original Echo came out in 1992 Tides of Time came out in 1995. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:05:19 - 1:05:21]: Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Interesting. 

Ray Carsillo [1:05:22 - 1:05:26]: And then again. And then. And then you had the crappy one for Dreamcast that nobody wants to talk about. That came out. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:05:27 - 1:05:28]: Echo's back. 

Ray Carsillo [1:05:28 - 1:05:38]: Echo looks like to be. It's gonna be back. Do you care or not? Or. Or not. Let us know. That's the show. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:05:38 - 1:05:39]: That's the show. 

Ray Carsillo [1:05:40 - 1:05:50]: That's the show. All right. Thank you all so much for tuning in, as always. Look at that. It was. It was a much more balanced episode this week. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:05:50 - 1:05:53]: Wonderful day. Done. I love doing this show with you. It's great. Thank you, listeners. 

Ray Carsillo [1:05:53 - 1:06:14]: Yes, thank you all so much for listening. We can't do it without you. So, as always, you know, do the, like, share, subscribe thing, you know, email us if you have questions or comments and the show. Ray comments on the YouTubes and on the Facebooks and on the Instagrams and, you know, and Tik Tok. And Tik Tok's back for 75 days. We didn't even talk about that. That's. That's a. That's a whole can of wor. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:06:14 - 1:06:15]: A week to breathe. 

Ray Carsillo [1:06:15 - 1:06:29]: Yeah, we. We'll. Yeah, we'll let that simmer a little bit for folks. But yeah, so forly, I'm Ray until next time. This geeks it like sports subscribe.