The Between The Lines Podcast

Ep 194: LaEpisode

• The King Report

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LeBoys talk about everything that's been going down since last pod. Plenty to digest, plenty to enjoy. Cheers!

SPEAKER_01

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the Between the Lines podcast. I am one of your two hosts tonight, creator and founder of the King Report, Carver King, and joining me tonight, my my good friend. Jackson, I think we'll start with you, Jackson. How are you doing on a uh kind of a muggy evening here uh in Minneapolis, Minnesota?

SPEAKER_00

Doing well. Having back on the podcast, man. Um, yeah, it is a muggy evening. I think you you can about damn near drink the air out there. Oh, yeah. It is uh it's uh dense. It is July. Um it is July, as they say. Um no, I I I'm doing well. Um it's been a long time since we've been back on the podcast. I felt like and I feel bad for our listeners because, first of all, our listeners is what makes this podcast go. And it's honestly what makes his group chat go. And we have our own side group chat, the between the lines group chat. Yeah, and we've damn near done a podcast and a half worth of content just in our podcast group chat. Um, and I feel bad for the listeners for not getting to hear any of it. So that's why I'm anxious and excited to get into this episode because we have a lot to get on the record because when it's on pod, it's on God. Yeah. And there are plenty it takes to get out. So I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01

Definitely agree with you on that. You gotta get this on record and it'll feel good. Been a lot that's happened since the last time we recorded episode 194. Getting closer to 200. We haven't really acknowledged that that we're getting close to 200, but uh yes.

SPEAKER_00

Um episode's gonna be a banger, by the way.

SPEAKER_01

It will. It will. But yes, we are back. Lots to talk about. We missed a ton, honestly, when you really think about it. And I'll just kick it to you, Jackson. It's a Midsummer's riff. How would you like to start this thing?

SPEAKER_00

We're not gonna do any famous 94s because I was prepping.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah, I forgot about this. Yes, I appreciate it. When we're down a man, if you can tell, my routine gets a little thrown off.

SPEAKER_00

No, 100%. It's more off the cuff now.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, but yes, famous 94s episode on your 94, the Between the Lions podcast, as I mentioned, it's a lot of episodes.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Bring those 94 jerseys out. Yes. Back home.

SPEAKER_01

I'm back home. Uh, do you have any 94s? Of course, I came prepared.

SPEAKER_00

You did come prepared, okay. Um, the 94 that I had coming prepared was uh 1994. Nelson Mandela was elected the first pres the first black president of South Africa. Yeah, sure. Um breaking the apart tide. Fuck Elon Musk.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, apartheid was one of those things where when I learned I didn't learn about it, maybe obviously I don't know. I didn't really learn about it until later in I think in high school when we learned about Steve Biko um and his arrest and murder. But when um oh that might even have been college, honestly. No, I didn't learn about it in high school. Maybe it was college then. Um I didn't realize apartheid was a thing. So and like learning how fucking terrible it was, and just like even the system that like it represented in general, it was just like a white majority that ruled. Yeah, made a political system that benefited them, yeah. So, but yeah, Nelson Mandela go spent like what 28 years in pr in prison as well.

SPEAKER_00

So you want to talk about the ultimate, uh, started from the bottom, and now we're here. Exactly. Exactly. Unbelievable. Yeah. But shout out Nelson Mandela.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I'll go back a little more conventional of sports. I feel like now I kind of feel you know, I wouldn't say I would feel uncultured now, but I no, I don't know. Not at all. I don't I don't I didn't take it that way. I appreciate you sprinkling some knowledge. Um my 94 was Demarcus Ware, who we kind of got the tail ended Demarcus Ware, but he is a Hall of Famer and he was pretty good in like tail holder. I remember peak Demarcus Ware. Fair, fair. Yeah, that is fair. That is fair. He was in Dallas for a while there, tearing it up, and then he went to the Broncos, I believe, and then won with Peyton.

SPEAKER_00

I think Demarcus Ware and Sean Alexander were like the first two players that I remember like being really good, and then they're just like not being good anymore. Yeah. And having to try to understand that as a child was a little hard. I kind of I understand does that make sense? Where it's like, oh, these guys are supposed to be good because I watched them the year before and they were good and they can't just be bad now. And I think every new sports fan ends up having that experience, especially when you're like kids. You're like, sign that guy. Like I'll watch people go through that as they become like new sports fans of things that I follow, and I'm like, oh, dude, no, this just happens. And the first time it happens to you, though, it's always shocking, and it'll it'll tie me back to guys like that. Devin Hester is a great example for me. Um, personally, like Devin Hester was an absolute GOAT because the first year I remember watching a full season of football, dude took 13 kicks back in a season for touchdowns, and I'm like, dude, this guy's like a freak of nature. Like just get him the ball all the time, and like we'll be a we'll be a machine. And it never worked like that again for Devin Hester.

SPEAKER_01

It was really just a I don't say flash in the pan, but it was a kind of a period of time.

SPEAKER_00

You know and Devin Hester said, Hold my beer, here comes Derek Rose.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

And then now I just live in an internal suffering ring.

SPEAKER_01

But hey man, your bears just won the uh the one the north. You have to you have to be happy with that.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, any listener to this podcast knows that I actually don't stay down for too long.

unknown

For sure.

SPEAKER_01

Um one of those players for me was Dwight Freeney. I was actually just in Indianapolis, so topical. That is topic. Dwight Freeney. I remember him just being a stud, and then I think he ended with like the the Falcons or something like that. But again, you're a kid and you just see like somebody signs as a free agent, like on a one-year deal, you're like, oh my god, that's a steal. Like he's a stud. And um, no, he's actually just washed and like the concept of I think it's because you don't really get the concept of like injuries piling on to players.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I as a kid, I think you're naive to you think of it more like Madden. I think just in general, you're naive to change. Like it's this idea that it's like, well, because I understand something now for the first time, it's gonna maintain this way. And the reality of sports is that shit changes.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, a hundred percent. Um, there's another another 94 I had. Oh, Robert Quinn, another another edge rusher that's oh, Bears great. Yeah, Bears great. He was kind of a vagabond there. He played for the Rams, I think.

SPEAKER_00

But he had like 16, 17 sacks of the Bears. Like did he he had like a one random like pop-off year?

SPEAKER_01

And that was the one the year that was the year where the Bears were bad about wrecked, and like he was like their trade bait. And did they end up trading him? Um, they fumbled that. Yeah, I think I was about to say, I remember them just like kind of squandering that or waiting way too much. They fumbled it, they fumbled it really bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. But he did play really well on a worthless Bears team.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. Um, that's always kind of fun. Uh the year, Jared Allen, I think, almost set the sack record. The Vikings were really terrible if I if I remember one of our worst years. But you need something to cheer for.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Uh Miles Garrett or the uh Browns, perfect example.

SPEAKER_00

I don't understand what it is with bad teams who's setting the sack record because it's like it's not like there's a lot of opportunities to rush the passer. Like you would assume it'd be on a good team that a guy would set the pass record or the the sack record because they're constantly chasing the passer late in the game. Yeah. But for whatever reason, I feel like it's always on bad teams. Like those Giants, the Giants team that Strahan set it on was like, I mean, they weren't bad, but they weren't like extraordinarily good either.

SPEAKER_01

Have you seen this take that is kind of getting more and more popular? I mean, it's not like that, it's not that, you know, highbrow, but that edge rushers are the highest paid player per like they cost the most per win. Yeah. As in they don't generate that much win. They're a very expensive player that doesn't essentially generate wins.

SPEAKER_00

I have not seen that, but I've heard it replicated a different way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The way that I've heard that stat more replicated is that uh shutdown corners are just as valuable, if not more valuable, than star pass rushers. And I kind of believe that because I feel like being able to take away another team's one is more valuable necessarily than getting after the quarterback because if you have a guy that absolutely shuts down like one side of the field, um then you can bring more guys in pressure that end up like kind of inevitably giving you that uh pass rush advantage. Um which kind of works out the same way, I guess.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's a stop, like it's a where as compared to play.

SPEAKER_00

We've talked about it in this podcast before too, but like having a power front four, being able to bring four and then drop seven in in coverage is such an advantage, but just having one good pass rusher doesn't mean that you have four that can get pressure. Exactly. Like those are not those can be mutually exclusive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

It's just like having you can have it.

SPEAKER_00

Whereas it can't, it's not mutually exclusive that if you can shut down half the field or a third of the field, that like then you can bring a lot more pressure.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like I mean, you can say it's on the other side of the line too. I mean, having one good offensive lineman doesn't elevate your offensive line. Like if you have four, yeah. This happens a lot where like you know, a team is in the process of a rebuild and they take an offensive lineman with a high pick and then they just start on an already bad offensive line. Yeah, like so yeah, no, I agree. Um, I agree. But yes, 194 episodes, a lot of them. A lot of people will shout out.

SPEAKER_00

When do you think we'll get to 200? Do you think we'll get there during I'm before NFL week one? We could do like a big preseason. I will speak about you think it'll be Bears Vikings because that's also week two. So if we that would also be fun. If we stretch it out and we bleed into the NFL season, we could do a live show during for 200 during Bears Vikings.

SPEAKER_01

We could definitely plan that out. Um, I've been thinking about our end of summer schedule as we kind of hit our you know, our usual routine of uh breaking down divisions and teams, and we can honestly even start getting that early.

SPEAKER_00

Now that I think about it, we'd probably take a big break because we'd need four episodes for win totals. We could we could do eight episodes for win totals. Well, no, I'm saying like like well, eight would take us too far. True. But I'm saying we do four episodes for win totals for each direction, and then we would only do two sods in between then, which should really be taking a break, but that could time us up really well for the start of the NFL. Oh shoot. Okay. So we might as well just pepper the episodes and then do 200 for like the start of football.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like a beer NFL kickoff.

SPEAKER_00

That'd be pretty sick.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, maybe I think we just booked a plan. I've been thinking about the calendar.

SPEAKER_00

Listeners are excited, I can tell.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Give me some make some noise if you like that. The live audience. Holy shit, the chat's blown up. Yeah, it is it is blown up. All right. What would you like to talk about, sir? We've missed a lot, obviously. I think it's been two or almost maybe three weeks since we recorded. I think it's two.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you want to do the wheel of topics? I know uh there's a guy in the uh Twin Cities that loves Wheel of Topics. We could spin the Wheel of Topics. I don't really want to take from his. Is this gimmick infringement? Um so it for his gimmick, uh, he typically loves to talk about his golf game. I don't really know what my golf game is relative to that, so that's why I'm like, I don't know like where I just drop my like, oh, Wheel of Topics comes up as. I don't have anything. Um, but I will start probably um with the most topical event that has happened um in the Minnesota's uh Twin Cities sports um kind of ecosystem. Uh it's the Lamella ball trade.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we did miss that.

SPEAKER_00

Um Lamella Ball. So it's crazy because the last time we did this podcast, we were watching the NBA draft, and now those motherfuckers have the team's jersey on and they're playing in the summer league. Yeah. Like we were talking about Darren Peterson getting drafted, and I've already seen that dude play a game with the jazz jersey on his check.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Exhibition, but well, I mean, yeah, it doesn't count for anything, but at the same time, I've seen him play a game with the jazz jersey on his chest, which is just a good frame of reference for how long it's been since we've been together. And man, I've gone through waves on this another ball trade. And the group the group chat has heard about it. Um, and as much as the group chat has heard, I feel bad for my dear and loving girlfriend Ashley Williams. She has heard way more about it than you guys, and she is done with me talking about it, which I totally understand because I can only hear you get hot and cold with this guy so many times before I don't give a shit anymore.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it is also hard. It's July. I mean, even though it's technically the hot stove part of the season, we are as far away as we get from the start of the year.

SPEAKER_00

And I appreciate your understanding of that, and that's why it makes it hard for me because I want to have a firm take on it before I go into the year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I can't. So that's why I keep flip-flopping back and forth because I want to have my take firmly rooted before the season starts, and it's so easy to go back and forth right now because you just keep comparing different stats.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So um for the listeners, I'll run you through kind of my reactions to the mellow ball trade. So, right away with the mellow ball, I was not a fan of the trade. I thought it might have been a little bit of an overpay for a guy that has not really proven to be an effective player in the NBA up until this point. Um, looked at his numbers last year. So we're technically buying high on a guy. This is the best year of his career last year. Um, at least best year as far as teams team success goes, and also his like own recent trending, yes. Uh I mean the best year as far as team success goes is not his best statistical year, but um the best that like his availability has been matched with team success. And team success is uh finishing ninth in the east, so grain of salt there. Um, but dude shot 40.7 percent from uh from the field. I I couldn't get over that. 40.7. That's 41% if you want to round up from the field. That's super inefficient, um, in my opinion. Um, I I think just in general opinion, um, but it tough numbers, and so I was like, ah man, I just I don't know if we're really in the right spot buying high on a guy that's not an efficient player, especially right after we get off of Julius Randle, um, who I think people struggled with his um efficiency and ability to make shots and um let the offense flow at times. He became a frustrating watch to say the least. He definitely became tough. And I was like, I don't know if Lamella Ball necessarily uh relieves that stress. But part of the Julius Randle trade that I was excited about was that we would be able to um open up some flexibility and spending that flexibility on a guy that kind of seems to be a dead possession guy I was a little I was a little down on. But then I came back around um just because best year of his career, he'd played 58 straight games um coming in and he and still counting. He's only played two full seasons over six years, but damn, 58 straight games is the most uh the most consecutive games he's played in his career, and we're still counting. So when he when he plays a game next year, we're still counting his consecutive games, which is all time for him, um, which is something to be excited about. But then the injury history kind of got me, and I'm like, well, yeah, but Jackson, he only play he's only been healthy two out of six years. Like, I I'm a little worried about that. Um came back around though, got fired up because everyone was hating on the trade. Nobody liked the trade. And I was like, this kind of gives me the vibes of Rudy Gobert trade, where nobody really liked that trade either when we made it. And yeah, was it unpopular, sure, but did the results end up following? Yes. So I'm like, okay, like I think we're gonna be on the right side of history because if everybody's off of it, then maybe we're on the right side, like maybe we see something that other people don't see.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We found our guy that people uh think is undervalued. So we found an undervalued asset, and I'm happy about that. Then the Jalen Brown trade broke, and I got mad again. Um Jalen Brown for Paul George, who's a sunk asset in two firsts, is in a couple seconds, I guess, like mixed in there. Second swaps. Why didn't we get Jalen Brown? Um, I know it's more money, but two-time all NBA, one-time finals MVP. When Lamello Ball becomes a final or an all-NBA player or a finals MVP, I'll take it all back. But until that happens, why were we not in in on that action? I was mad about that for a little bit. But then I bring it all the way back to where I am right now. And what I was really stoked about is Lamella Ball was third in assist percentage in the NBA last season. And assist percentage, if you're unaware, uh, for the casual listener at home, is possessions that end without without your shot that end in an assist. And the only players with higher assist percentage than him were SGA and Nicole Jokic. Or actually, no. I believe it was Nicole Jokic to Cade Cunningham, because he was third. And then the other ones in the top five were S or were uh Cade Cunningham and Gosh, I'm blanking on it now. Oh, this is bad podcasting, but another good player.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, sorry. I'm doing a little bit of reading.

SPEAKER_00

Um it's somewhere in my text, um, because I I send this to you guys, but um no, I I I I was I ended up being impressed with that because it is the willingness to pass the ball, and I do think that he will make other players in the turnwalls better. What I do still struggle with a little bit is that we don't have the spot-up shooters to make him as efficient as we possibly as he possibly could be. Um Jaden's not a spot-up shooter, ant can be a spot-up shooter. Uh Io's a spot-up shooter, but Rudy Gobert is still out there, and Terrence Shannon and Jalen Clark definitely aren't spot-up shooters. So I I I do worry a little bit about what the flow is gonna look like. But nonetheless, what I am excited about is that we have a timeline now. Like all of our young core, um, they're aligned. They're all kind of on the same three-year window, uh, contract-wise. So we have assets that are under contract and put together and um kind of projecting upwards, all in the same timeline finally, because it felt like we were constantly working on varying timelines for a little bit. Uh, we clear out space for Anthony Edwards to be a true MVP caliber player, which I think he can be, and we give him a platform to to to do as such. And I lost my train of thought, but I think that there are things to look forward to with this team. And oh, sorry. Uh to bring it home, the team will at a baseline be interesting.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Between Anthony Edwards, the mellow ball, and Jaden McDaniels, there are guys that uh talk shit and take no shit. And I think that at a baseline makes the team interesting. And I'm excited for what will be an interesting Timberwolves roster for the next season. And I'm sorry for the long diatribe, but you're good.

SPEAKER_01

You're good. Um, no, I I get the ebbs and flows of it. I think I've been more positive on it just in general, but part of that is my sometimes hard-headedness to uh major opposition of things. I tend to side with the uh minority opinion on things sometimes just to maybe be stubborn. But oh, I do like this trade for the most part. Um I guess two things you said, you know, we can talk about the price, and I understand it's it's a first-round pick, and then some pick swaps as well, and there I believe three, and then some second round picks, which you know, when you're in this era of uh in this era of kind of cap control basketball, um, the second round pick has become a bit more valuable than it's probably been maybe ever in in uh NBA history uh since we've gone to two rounds. But um so yes, you can you can make that argument, but I I feel comfortable giving that away. I know Nons Reed, fan favorite, who honestly, the thing for me, I haven't really been ebbing and flowing necessarily on acquiring Labello Ball. I've I've been going in and out of a state of kind of just melancholy knowing that Nas Reed is gone. Um obviously, fan favorite. I loved him. I think everybody loved him. Um, you know, was just a fun player when he was on, had a toughness to him. And uh I like to say he was kind of part of the revival, he was the uh kind of a catalyst of the revival here before Anthony Edwards. Um so kind of was here when you know we were going through our Renaissance, the start of our Renaissance era, if you want to call him the Renaissance Wolves. Um so obviously it's just always sad seeing a guy you've you know dedicated so much of your time watching uh leave. So that's honestly what I've been ebbing and flowing on a bit more. But Lamella Ball, um obviously he's a player that is flawed, and I think what I my thought is with it comes to LaMelo Ball is that I mean you're rarely going to trade for a player in his you know physical prime or anything in his physical prime that doesn't have flaws in some regard. Um I think maybe because of Why do you think they're selling them though?

SPEAKER_00

The Hornets just had their best season in 10 years.

SPEAKER_01

I think that the Hornets are selling them because they can move, they feel comfortable just moving on to a new window. And I I understand that you know you're attributing a lot of the team success, and people are attributing a lot of the team success my lack thereof that he had in Charlotte. But I mean, if you look at Charlotte the few years after he was drafted, uh they missed out on some key pieces. I mean, Ty Jones went crazy, James Book Knight, uh chronic drunk driver. Um and uh there's another one in there I can't think of. Oh, even Miles Bridges, who like is now good and was good, but like beat his girlfriend up in that like chronic woman beater yes, takes away from just everything. Terry Rozier was on the team for a little bit. Who True one of those guys where he left Boston and never became the same. Obviously, now he has his own gambling issues. Um he had a vested interest in the games. Yes. Um, so it wasn't the greatest cast of characters. Obviously, Lamello was gone, and uh I think a lot of his injuries, not to downplay his injuries, I think it's mainly been an ankle and his shoulder or ankle and a wrist.

SPEAKER_00

Which brain is ankle multiple times and broke it.

SPEAKER_01

Which is concerning because in what I've kind of been reading, obviously I'm not I haven't watched a ton of Lamello ball Charlotte Hornet games, is that he takes the ball to the rim pretty aggressively um and takes a lot of bumps, which you know makes sense if you're taking it to a hole. So maybe that's something you know you can grow out of a little bit and become a bit smarter. I know shot selection is also a thing that you question, which are all fair things. Uh I mean they're all Fair tie-ups, and I'm not going to tell you that you know they're not real. But I choose to believe that hopefully with Chris Finch and obviously Anthony Edwards, who is the established alpha of this team, Lamello Ball, will be able to kind of fit into and play a little bit of a different role than he was asked to play during his time in CLT, I think is the uh three-letter initial for Charlotte. But um he's a six-seven point guard, which is always just fun, um, versatile. Um, not a great defender, you'd think, at that size, but again, you know, maybe with a change of scenery, you can see a little things can change. Well, I have my stats pulled up now. Fair.

SPEAKER_00

Um, he was uh he was second in defensive win chair for the Charlotte Hornets last year. All right. I can't imagine that.

SPEAKER_01

I can't imagine that Charlotte was a very great defensive team, but that that's good.

SPEAKER_00

No, like Sneaky was up there in defensive wind chair, which is impressive. Yeah, exactly. So he knows how to play team basketball. That's what it's like. It shows a willingness to defend, which is all you really need coming from a team that is unserious to a team that's serious. You need a guy that has a willingness to defend. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

Um, so hopefully we can see him play versatile style. Um, and also, too, he did turn the ball over. Uh he turns the ball over a little a decent amount, kind of uh you you and me were talking about John Morant comparisons, and they almost turned the ball over about the same amount. Um, hopefully, and again, a lot of hopefully is, but obviously, you know, not that you can take turnovers, but those are one of those things where if you're playmaking, and I think if you're playmaking to the level we hope he can play like two, that that can be kind of nullified or just kind of you know not a huge deal uh in the grand scheme of things. But yeah, I'm excited for it because he's young, and like you mentioned, it kind of reach it shifts the window back a little bit, not back, but it makes the window younger and a little bit bigger.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it gives us kind of like a prove it window. Yes. Where it's like, okay, we have three years to prove it, and if we haven't proved it in those three years, then I guess now we tear it down and we start shipping out for assets, and then we work on what the next build of the Timberwolves looks like. But we put the ball in our own court and we bet on ourselves.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm happy with that just in this environment that we're in, obviously, what, eight champions in eight years? Is it right? Is it now? I almost said seven champions in seven years, but now I gotta add another one. Yeah, it's eight champions in eight years. And I'm happy that, and we'll see how it works. Obviously, we don't know, we can't tell the future, but and I think there's maybe still moves, not maybe to make this offseason, but obviously, like you said, there's a three-year window. Like there's there's time now, a timeline. Um, I think the Wolves have done made the move to put themselves, hopefully, into that conversation of a team that can maybe grab one in this little wild Wild West, but Wild West and the spirit in the uh and the NBA.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean I think you hit the nail on the head when you talk about him coming into more of a winning culture and being able to have some accountability because in Charlotte, like, it was his team, and I think Charlotte fans were disappointed to watch him go because it was kind of his team, but also I don't think they're I don't think Charlotte fans are super disappointed. Um, the real ball knowers in Charlotte aren't super disappointed because I think that they can drive offense without him, but at the same time, I think that um there was a uh lack of accountability there because he had inherited the team and he had the keys to the car, and that's not necessarily the guy you want to be driving. Not at all. Absolutely not, not necessarily the guy you want driving, but I think he can be a good second piece. I think what uh gave me some pause too was it was striking comparisons to D Lo. Um coming in hard not to hard not to they're they both kind of came in on the same contract situation where they're in the middle of their their big deal, if you will. Um both a one-time all-star, both maybe a shoot first uh point guard that has a good feel for the game that you can maybe like uh manifest into being a better passer. Um, I think Lamello, like it'd be disingenuous to like compare them directly because Lamello is just a better passer and has a better feel for the game than D Lo does. Um as a guy that's watched a few Hornets games, I would say for uh Wolves fans, what you can be excited about is the Lamello floater. That thing will feed families. Watching Lamello drive the cup and just shoot offhand like off-footed, off-handed floaters that are just are so untimed, and you're like, where the hell did that come from? And he just drills them. Yeah, man, it's electric. But at the same time, uh, what Wolves fans can dread is the random Lamello 3 where you're like, Why the fuck are you pulling that? Um it's like Nas Reed and Julius Randle combined. Like we we lost.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but I'm saying we lost both of them. We need somebody to kind of just take the chuck it shots, though.

SPEAKER_00

We lost both of them, and somehow we still have just as many chuck it shots. Um, which I personally that that was the thing that gave me the most gripe with the wolves. I've like we get less chucking shots and maybe just like more rhythm. Um but I I I think there is reason to believe that he could provide that rhythm. Uh what I was trying to uh hit on earlier assist percentage, uh it was Jokic and Cade, um, then Lamello, and then it was followed by Luca and Shay. That's what it was. I I miss Luca. But uh if you're a big one, if you're in company with Jokic, Cade, Luca, and Shay, that's pretty solid company. Um in any statistical category, I think that's kind of where you want to be, um, especially when it comes to facilitating offense, which this is um directly an indication of. So I I I choose to hold out hope, I think, for this team. And again, I I think uh the defensive win chairs thing said to me that this guy is a willing defender. Is he necessarily like a lockdown? No. But on a team that was unserious for six years of his career and or for five years of his career, and in the sixth year, like became a little more relevant, and then he had to show something defensively, and then he showed that he could defend a little bit. I think on this team he'll be able to defend more than adequately. Um really where it shifts to is who the hell is gonna play power forward.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Uh who is this like is is the starting five really him and Io, Jaden, and Rudy?

SPEAKER_01

I really don't want a season where Jaden starts at the four, and I know people have justified it. My guy, Johnny Kay, friend of the show, um, has suggested kind of pushback on the narrative that people that people should be afraid of that or uh um you know worried about that.

SPEAKER_00

Johnny Kay's the mouthpiece for the team.

SPEAKER_01

He is, he is. Johnny Kay's doing his job, but um, I agree where it I do wonder what we're doing here. Obviously, the big fish, and I guess they could even call this another story that we've kind of missed or not. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

I I was gonna add this is a natural transition.

SPEAKER_01

Uh LeBron James, obviously, who's somebody who I I I have two things. Uh my my analytical thought is I think he'd fit in pretty well on this team, honestly, um, as a you know, 30-minute game or less uh power forward type, can bring the ball up when he needs to, spell our guys, we can run some offense through him or around, or let him, you know, be the catalyst for some offense. And I mean, I think we have a lot of what he needs. I mean, we have young guys who can defend and ant and Jaden and and hopefully LaMelo.

SPEAKER_00

We can cover for his gaps.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. We can cover his gaps. There's youthful energy who I know he likes to kind of play with more of a veteran team historically, but I mean the man is 42 at this point, so I mean, you know, there's not a lot of veterans left that are contending.

SPEAKER_00

Um I don't think he wants to play with a vet anymore.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, at this at this point, I don't know why, like that. Yeah, I mean, old teams aren't really winning. Uh other than maybe Steph Curry, obviously. I know the Warriors are a team.

SPEAKER_00

Although sure, go. I mean, if you want to play with vets, go to the Warriors. You can play with Jimmy, you can play with Dre, like you know, like go to the Warriors. But the Warriors kind of seem out of the picture. So that's why I'm like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

I do know they seem like an awesome steam. I know the 76ers have kind of emerged, maybe.

SPEAKER_00

Um wouldn't that be a wild lineup for the 20 games they probably like it? It'll be like the Brooklyn thing where it's like, did you realize that James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant only played like 16 games together? That'll be uh Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Jalen Brown, Vijay Edgecombe, and Tyrese Maxie. Maybe they'll play like 60.

SPEAKER_01

I think LeBron is, you know, factoring in the photo. Like him in the Timberwolves uniform would just, if it didn't go well, it would just, you know. It would be really funky. As compared to him, if it didn't go well instead of the 76ers uniform, whatever. It's Philly. A lot of things don't go well. I personally like it.

SPEAKER_00

At this point, I think it's a two-horse race. I think it's the Sixers or I think it's the it's the Cavs. Yeah. Um the Cavs don't make any sense for him to play. Cavs don't make any sense. The only reason why it makes sense is because it's hometown and like glory and and all that. I get it. He'll go back to the Cavs, they'll lose in the second round of the playoffs, and they'll be like, oh, LeBron, like that was fun.

SPEAKER_01

He was like, you can like do the send-off in Cleveland, you know, when they lose in like five to like the Knicks.

SPEAKER_00

It's like, hey, if you're not gonna make the finals, you might as well do it in Cleveland.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um no, I agree. It looks seems like it's gonna be a tea two-horse race, but would be a great fit. Um, and then two, is just great, what a great period this has been. Like, this will just in our in our sports fandom, Minnesota sports fandom, this will just go down as like a great fever dream. We'll like talk about for years. Like, remember that one time in the summer where like we thought that LeBron James was maybe gonna sign with the Timberwolves? Yeah, and it'll get more grandiose, you know what I mean? You'll be like, dude, no, he was actually like it came down to us, like things of that nature. You know, there was his ancient agent said that we were this close.

SPEAKER_00

Hey man, as a casual Bulls fan, uh Bulls fans still talk about the um the decision period where they thought Dwayne Wade was coming to the to the Bulls because Dwayne Wade's from Chicago and Derek Rose had just won the MVP, and they were like, dude, Derek Rose, Dwayne Wade in the backcourt together. I mean, does it make any sense for spacing and shooting? Absolutely not. Different times, but man, would it be fun? Absolutely. Uh it was different times, 100%. Um, but uh the Bullsen will talk about that to this day. About uh about if the decision went differently and LeBron State chose to stay in Cleveland, Dwayne Wade would have chosen to go to Chicago and we could have lived in a really different world. I think LeBron made the right decision going to Miami. Uh, you think one, two?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know, went to four what I he started.

SPEAKER_00

One, two, went to four.

SPEAKER_01

I think he made the right decision. Um, yes, but I think we'll just look back and talk about the great period of that like four or five-day period where we're like maybe LeBron James is gonna be a Timberwolf.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I mean, I still am fundamentally like curious about what the power four position is gonna look like for us. Me too. And I don't know. I think Tim Connolly still has something up his sleeve. I hope. Is all I'm gonna say. Like, I don't think he lets Mike walk and Joe Engels. I mean, I guess he didn't let Joe Ingalls walk, Joe Ingalls chose to walk.

SPEAKER_01

Got a better deal. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I I I I I think if he if we were gonna offer an NBA contract, he probably would have taken it. That's what I'm yeah, I think so. So, like, we we didn't my point being we didn't let our vets go just to not bring a vet in. Yeah, and I I think that was the whole like idea of bringing LeBron in, was it was like, hey, we our vets are gone, we need our vet, you've got to come VR vet. And I think there's I think there's still something to that. Um I just don't know how bad LeBron wants to be. I think LeBron wants to be back in the East again. Yeah, I I just don't think he wants to be in the West at all, which I think strategically makes a lot of sense. But the West is stressful.

SPEAKER_01

The West is stressful.

SPEAKER_00

Just cannot get over the basketball fit because you're you're spot on that the basketball fit makes so much sense here. Yeah, it does. And I I I hold on to that with optimism. But me too. Um I I I I know this a little idealistic because of LeBron James, it's not all about fit.

SPEAKER_01

Uh exactly. And I'll hold on to it until we get the the the Shams update from uh maybe maybe Shefty will break it. What if Shefty broke it? Do you think Shams would Oh my god, dude.

SPEAKER_00

Shams would have to.

SPEAKER_01

Because you know Shefty kind of likes to get, especially in the summer, he kind of likes to get in the game. Shams would have to just jump, dude. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That would be terrible.

SPEAKER_01

If if Adam Schefter gets the LeBron scoop. You know Shefty wouldn't, you know Shefty would break it.

SPEAKER_00

Shams would have to just ream his sources, dude. He'd whip him.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that'd be wild.

SPEAKER_00

Be like AP on his kid. By the way, did you see AP doing the ice bucket challenge with the team? I did see that. He looks good. His kid looks like a problem.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um Adrian Peterson Jr., I believe is his name.

SPEAKER_00

I I've seen some like cut-ups of him like running already, and I was like, okay, like he looks good. And then I saw the ice bucket challenge, and I'm like, why is this kid more ripped than me and he's 11?

SPEAKER_01

Get him some Does he have gopher merch? I don't know. He's probably been to a gopher game, maybe, right?

SPEAKER_00

Can the gopher just offer him?

SPEAKER_01

Maybe he's growing up in Texas, but can the gopher just offer him right?

SPEAKER_00

Just offer him. Offer him right.

SPEAKER_01

Right, just offer him. We literally have nothing to lose by offering the kid.

SPEAKER_00

We we weren't ahead.

SPEAKER_01

Get in there early.

SPEAKER_00

We weren't we've we have not been ahead on so many kids. Can just for one time, can we just be in on this early? Like, why not? Like one of those things where I just don't get why not.

SPEAKER_01

You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, is it gonna hurt? It's like college college football. Just throw them on the board. You know what I mean? Why not? Feel your feel yourself a little bit, throw that extra four star on the board.

SPEAKER_00

You only have so many like invites a week that you can offer, like, and I know you're not filling them all. Like, maybe just fill one like a week with Adrian Peterson's kid for the next five years.

SPEAKER_01

I think Adrian Peterson's going to the Vikings ROH this year. Do it that weekend. Yeah. Peak nostalgia. Yeah, but bring on to the Rutgers game. Yeah. Why not? Why not?

SPEAKER_00

God, that'd be sick.

SPEAKER_01

Go for football. We're getting close. Kind of under you know, we've traveled for a game, so and I've been kind of looking at the schedule more and more. And not the sexiest road schedule this year.

SPEAKER_00

Bad road schedule.

SPEAKER_01

Not the sexiest road schedule.

SPEAKER_00

There's that one. Uh do we go to Washington or do we go to Washington? Yeah, we go to Washington, like in like maybe like the sexiest road game I could think of. Because we're gonna get the panel tight and I'm like, I'm not going back. I'm not going back. I'll never go back to PlayStation.

SPEAKER_01

I was I was explaining that story, and uh we can explain it here. I Penn State, it was such a good trip to realize in the moment that we weren't coming back, which is kind of fun. Yes, it's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_00

Like as soon as we feel free. As soon as we got all the way out there, I was like, dude, I am never coming back here.

SPEAKER_01

And so we gotta live it up while we're at that table, we went to the game. Great company. We were talking about we made great company. We we brought down, we we brought down about as hard as we possibly could. Yes, we left it all out on the field.

SPEAKER_00

It was an awesome trip, and we left our hearts in state college, and quite literally, I died on the road trip back. And it was unbelievable. Yeah. Twins. I had never gone back. No.

SPEAKER_01

Kind of a big twins game here.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah. Bases loaded, the base is loaded in the top and bottom of the side.

SPEAKER_01

Cleveland's ahead of us in the standings. I believe we're only like a game and a half out of the last wild card. Thank God they added that third wild card to you guys. I've had many rants on this podcast about the third wild card spot in all sports, but I love it.

SPEAKER_00

I'll take it. I'll take it. In baseball, I think it's the most important because um they need anything to make this 162 games roll.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, it essentially looks like you'll need to go. What it's trending toward is you'll need to go essentially 500 to get that last spot, maybe a game over, maybe two, which is perfect for a team like the twins who might go a game or two. Um and Joe Polad, the uh new face of the the the franchise owner uh who's been on this broadcast, so he's trying to get some some good PR. I respect it. Um he wants to he wants to make the playoffs. He's he said it a few times out loud, I think he reiterated a few times last week. He wants to make the playoffs. We'll see if they make a move uh as we approach the deadline. But I I'm not fully invested, but you know, with the with the team USA losing the World Cup, which maybe we can transition to that. Good transition. Uh you know, I I've I've admitted. I'm yearning for something. Uh yesterday hit me. Today there's no World Cup games on at all during the day, which really hit me. Uh somebody who was enjoying that. Uh not just not even just team USA, obviously just the entire tournament. Um, yeah, it was kind of a reality uh that uh we are in the abyss, as we've mentioned.

SPEAKER_00

It's either that or uh college football 27 has come has already uh dropped. Yes, and I've seen a lot of complaints about although I've seen a lot of complaints. So did you see the same complaints? Yes. I saw that if you win it all and just crush your dynasty, you would have to win 120 straight national titles to max out your coach in dynasty. I did not see that statistic, but yes, I did see the pay for play in pretty much it feels very it's the whole point being it's very incentivized for pay to play because you can't max out your coach and make it fun without paying for your coach. Um otherwise you have to have like you have to play for a stupid amount of hours that it's not even fun anymore to like make your coach fun. Yeah. And that fucking sucks.

SPEAKER_01

So are we waiting? I I'm gonna wait for the community to let me know. Like, obviously, I need more people to play the game. No, I just need more people. Are we just are we playing 26 then or because 26 wasn't it was fine, but it wasn't that great of a game.

SPEAKER_00

I mean 26 was already kind of leading into it too. I th I thought 26, like, for how well you could advance in the dynasty and road to glory um in 25, like they nerfed that a ton in 26 just already. And so I would just like now seeing that 27 is like leaned more into the pay for play, um, I'm pretty sad, and I'm hoping that maybe if people throw a big enough fit that we can right fit it, and there can be some updates, and maybe then I'm more excited to play. But at the end of the day, I'm the most excited to play when the game drops. So um I I just talked about it right now. I'm like, if the twins aren't good, then I want to play the game, and I don't know if the game's gonna be right fit by that point. But oh, it's just it's a bummer because it's like, god damn, like can a guy just have a road to glory and just like do it like why do I gotta pay to fucking have a good game?

SPEAKER_01

I hate to be old man on clouds, but obviously, like we're we're in the area now era now where video games cost $70 standard, which is I get it. They were at $60 my entire lifetime, and so I respect them for holding the price down. But we are it does feel like just we're in this era of minimal giving you less, like the premium era, giving you less and making you pay more. We're over we're taking we're making you pay for features that used to be free, which is really fucked up in the land of video games. Because it's like, dude, I re I played the last game, I put a week and a half on the last game. Like you you can't sneak it by somebody who plays the it's like you know what I mean? It's not like shrinkflation where it's like, okay, take a few chips out of the fucking Doritos bag, yeah, you can get your average Joe. But it's like when you play a video game year in and year out, year to year, you are going to notice changes like that. And it just is shitty. Like there's no other way around it other than it just puts it's just shitty.

SPEAKER_00

We've just reached a point in the society that anything worth having, they will charge you for.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And not it really used to not be like that.

SPEAKER_00

And the and the more that you want it, the more that they'll find a way to do that. That's what I'm saying. They figure it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01

They know how much how much people they can like quantify how much people want everything. So that's why, you know, I think fast food fast food places have been talking about dynamic pricing, just with you know, and you kind of already see it. I mean, things cost more in a city. I'm I'm I experienced this actually when we were going to Boundary Waters. We bought stuff at the Walmart in what uh Bloomington Suburb down No, your your home, your your new home. Sorry, to dox you. Um, but and then when we go, I bought the same thing I saw up in Cloquet, Minnesota, it was three dollars less. So I mean I get it, right? It's in the sense I do get it. Like I'm not like I don't feel robbed in the rot in that sense, but it is just ridiculous, you know. They just we'll get you. That will just get you. And then they complain when nobody has any money. I don't know. It's all the poor people's fault. Yep, exactly. Oh anything you want to say or anything you want to add, I guess?

SPEAKER_00

Or um no, I mean, I I'm just pissed about the college football game because I saw the same thing and I was super stoked for it. I was trying to find a way to bundle it with Madden because I haven't bought Madden in a while, but I think this will be my first year. Yeah, I mean I I said on the pod when Caleb Williams was putting the cover Madden. I'm like, I have to buy it this year.

SPEAKER_01

I heard Madden last year was pretty good too, so I know.

SPEAKER_00

And it's I was pretty stoked about it. And so I was trying to find a way to bundle it potentially or see see what I could do. Yep. Wasn't anything, and they were like, by the way, um, people aren't liking this game. But when I was doing my research on it, and I'm like, well, um, that double sucks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um yeah, them them just breaking into the offline pay-for-play breaking into the offline space is just kind of sickening in a way. Although, I mean, you kind of already seen it in like you know, my player bones, but which are offline kind of. But yeah. Um, but no, Team USA got bounced fucking miserably on what Monday? That was terrible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Not to just shit on the whole run, but well, what I want to talk about was everything that we haven't talked about from the last podcast, which was the comeuppance of the World Cup. Yeah. Because I don't know about you, but I was excited for the World Cup. Probably not as excited as I should have been, because holy shit, it's been a great World Cup.

SPEAKER_01

Dude, been amazing. It's been a good one. Like I said, I've been sad it's over, like coming to an end.

SPEAKER_00

The the Cabo Verde run was amazing. Um, the game against Argentina was awesome. The Mexico-England game in the knockout stage was about as electric as like anything gets as a as a fan of just live sport. Awesome match. Um, and then we go into Argentina, Egypt. Yep. All time collapse out of Egypt. It's hard to explain. Like you said, 28-3. The the the the irony of them wearing like of the Egypt flag being red and black and white, and them being in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome doing a 28-3 live in front of us was unbelievable. Also, that messy dude, I don't know if you've heard, pretty good. Yeah, pretty good. Holland. Um, okay. So we do we want to get into that because I I was aware of Erling Holland. Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Um I don't really watch a lot of Man City, obviously.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I mean, I I I'd seen him out there before, Man City guy, um, born in London but Norwegian based, um, made his way back there. Um whatever. A modern Viking. Just absolutely incredible specimen of a man. What I love about him is that you see these guys that are like built to play basketball. Like you see like a Victor Wemanyama, like a Chet Holmgren, um, Kevin Durance, even. Um he's a good comparison to even like Giannis DeCumpo. It's more of an apt comparison to him because you see these guys that are so built to play basketball, and you're like, Why like I watched Wemby and it's like, why doesn't he just run and dunk on these motherfuckers all the time? Like he he like he can go every possession down and just catch it and just throw it down. Like, why doesn't he do that? Kind of like smooth-brained like basketball tank. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's like, how come he just doesn't run and dunk? And then he's like, oh, just watch Giannis. He just runs and dunks. And then you see how maybe there's some shortcomings that whatever. Yeah. Erling Holland. I knew he aesthetically, I was familiar with his game. I and I was like, oh, aesthetically, like he's this soccer player that is built like a freak of nature. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Super tall.

SPEAKER_00

Super tall, super fast, strong, um, rocket of a foot, but also like can run past guys like crazy. But then I watched him in the World Cup and it's nuts because all he does is he hunts headers because he's just way bigger than everybody. And then when he has the ball, he runs like he's fucking Derrick Henry. Like he just puts the shoulder down and he's like, Alright, take it. I'd like there's this thing in soccer where like your strikers, like, I think that we've been just conditioned to think that they're messy or they're or they're Neymar. Yeah. And they're like these like fragile little guys that like run up there and then they have to like shake and dance and like do all their things. Erling Holland gets the ball and he just runs straight downhill like a power back, and he's like he's like, I know you want to slide tackle me, I know you want to like engage me, you want to put your body on me, and I'm not scared. I'm just gonna run right through you with the ball, push through, and rip it. And what are you gonna do about it? And God, it's amazing. Yeah, it's it's like, oh my god, it's it's special, and it's also nuts because I didn't realize how historically bad Norway was. Like the Norwegians have not been good at at football.

SPEAKER_01

They're a European country, so like the floor is usually kind of high, but yes, I didn't realize it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00

You would you would assume so, but then they were a perennial like scratch the World Cup, maybe like they're they are not like World Cup qualifiers every single year kind of team. And now all of a sudden with Holland, they're in it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That was uh a thing I didn't also their goalie sick. That was something I didn't totally grasp with soccer, honestly, in general. Was just I mean, I knew elite players were elite, but like obviously the the good players have been popping off in this this uh World Cup. I didn't realize how real really close it really is to basketball, where it's like, damn, if you just have an elite player, like you're probably good for a goal, like fucking I don't know. I think one in every six shots he takes, four shots he takes, like um, I I heard about it Holland.

SPEAKER_00

I heard about it in their knockout stage game against Brazil. That was the second match that I'd watched of them. But in this match, they said that um because he had he had had 10 touches at that point, and they're like every 14 touches, Holland scores. And he kept he kept his pace up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Every 14 touches he scores. It's like that's unbelievable. That's insane. Like you think it's so hard, like you know, you're like, okay, and in the Prime League, like they don't play as I feel like they don't play as loose and fast as they do in the World Cup. Like it's a little more structured, you know, you're playing for points and standings, like it's a long season. Yeah, a lot more like 1-0, nil-nil. Um have you watched him Mbappe? I have in this what World Cup I have, I haven't I mean I don't watch who doesn't even play for right now.

SPEAKER_00

He plays for PSG.

SPEAKER_01

PSG, yeah. I I mean I don't watch Liga, what is that? Liga Serie A.

SPEAKER_00

There's there's no reason to watch uh uh not serious. Yeah, there's no reason no it's not serie A. Syria is what uh um the Italians, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it might be. What's the Spr what's the French league? I think it is.

SPEAKER_00

Is it oh La Liga is Spain, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Okay League one, League A one, League One, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Uh there's no reason to watch League One because PSG just runs it. Like, I mean, if you watch PSG, you want to watch him play in like Champions League play. But it's nuts because when he gets the ball, dude, like he's like Tyree Kill. Like he's got a little jitter to him that like he just moves at a different speed than everybody else. He brings the ball with him, and it's just fucking spectacular. Like, I I don't know. Um, I think this world cup has been a little bit more catered to the stars. I for I think I've heard people say that as well for like the consumption of it because like I'm not the biggest soccer follower in general, but I will say that I I've watched the World Cup since 2014, and in the in the World Cup, like you still see the like the star players like have an impact, but I feel like the stars have been just playing at a way higher like Harry Kane, like for England for England, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham have every goal that they've scored. Yeah, like it's it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01

Like I the casual fans might well, you know, they have a higher in America.

SPEAKER_00

It's been a huge World Cup for the star, yes, um, which I think is great for the brand. Yes. And I don't know. It's been really like same. I mean, honestly, same with the US team though. Like it's it it was Tillman and Balogun. Yeah. And I mean, those were our studs, and we fucking wrote them. Yeah, I mean Plisich is a bum. I was gonna spot it.

SPEAKER_01

Speaking of just low, you know, you know, Plissich has been talked up the last, you know, six years as our our best American player. And it maybe that is true. I don't know. He's always hurt, which is just like embarrassing. And that's another thing quickly. The physicality that's allowed in this World Cup has been great. And two, I just didn't realize how physical soccer could be. So, people who like talk shit about soccer being soft. Absolutely not. Like, you have to it's it's very physical, you have to be strong-bodied. Obviously, your agility needs to be good, but it's a physical game, especially in the box. Who you can get away with a lot going for headers, like oh my god, dude.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like contesting for a ball. You can just like rip a guy, yeah, and they're like, oh yeah, it's chill. I mean, there's fighting.

SPEAKER_01

As long as you're going for as long as you like get the ball out essentially and don't like rip the guy's jersey off, you're you're you're pretty much good.

SPEAKER_00

I'm like, I I've watched plenty of EPL, and the EPL is never this compelling.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, it's a lot that's what I'm saying. EPL is a lot slower. Um, so that's everybody's like, oh, watch this, watch this. I'm like, I watched soccer before, it's not always like this. I watched the I like the I watched a few Loon playoff games last year. The MLS is not like this. I like this Northfield.

SPEAKER_00

I like the EPL because I think that it's the deepest league, if that makes sense. Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_01

The Italian league is super sh it's two teams. The German league is like four teams, it's really like two.

SPEAKER_00

I would I I I would say the second deepest league is probably German and then maybe Italian. Yeah. Um I know France is not deep. Uh, Spain is not deep either. Like they they have their couple good teams, and that's pretty much what the league is. Um, so I try to watch EPL, but man, they just don't want to play like they play in the World Cup. It's it's spectacular. I don't know. It's it's compelling soccer, and I really enjoy it, and people are fired up. Like, you see Messi crying after the match. No, you you think you think Messi gives a fuck about whether he wins any fucking Miami game ever?

SPEAKER_01

Even like La League, like fucking what? Classic. He's playing a fucking ton of them. Like he's just like whatever.

SPEAKER_00

But knowing that he just won what he thought was about to be his last World Cup game, man, that's awesome. Yeah, like I don't know. It's compelling shit. And if you aren't watching the World Cup, get on it. I'm so excited for Norway, England on Saturday.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm definitely I'm sad the USA lost, definitely gonna finish the tournament out. I know obviously viewership I imagine will be a little bit down, but I'm I'm locked into this thing towards till the end. I want to see who comes out of the state.

SPEAKER_00

Team USA was approximately Penn State, where we fucking mopped every team that was uh that was bad, and then as soon as we played a good team, we shit the bed. Yep. And Kristen Pullichus, Kristen Polisic is Drew Aller.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he can go fuck himself honestly.

SPEAKER_00

No, he he is Drew Aller. He's the epitome of get me in a big spa and I will shit the bed. And just crash out as well. Like, yeah, I don't know. He's a crash out, in my opinion. I he's just too little, too. Yeah, he's just tiny. But not like good boy. He okay, you know what? Maybe Sean Clifford as well.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_00

Trace McSorley. Trace McSorley. He's every Penn State quarterback I've ever seen. He also isn't he like from New Jersey? Or like uh he's from he's from Pennsylvania. He's from Pennsylvania. But he's from, you know, New York.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, as I was gonna say, but you know, the the the side closer to New Jersey.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, dude, he's not one of those Penn State guys. Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_01

I just probably grew up rooting for Penn State. I imagine they have a pretty good soccer team. They're good at everything that's like not basketball. I know it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, not not basketball and yeah, I guess hockey they're even good now, too. So never Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01

I know I just said I think they're literally good at every sport but basketball. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, no, I don't know. Christian Politic. I think I'm excited though now that there's a new fandom, like we can just move on. Like we've all now we all like this the average sports fan is smarter right now than they've ever been because we can watch more and there's just like you know more content. Like I would miss games. You know, I wasn't as a kid, I wasn't watching every game because one, my schedule wasn't dictated by what I wanted to do. And two, I don't know, I was subjected to just what I had on cable, and like I wasn't like going to like Google and figuring out like what I turned the TV on.

SPEAKER_00

You know what I mean? I I didn't figure out the World Cup schedule until it was like the semifinals.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

So I would just turn it on and like hopefully a game's on, and then eventually I'm like, I should probably figure out if a game's on.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like I've now watched this group enough, which I'm excited about because now like when I see news as you know in the offseason and I know we have other tournaments, I understand the team better. But I think as a group and as a country and as a fan of Team USA, men's team, we can kind of move on from this whole idea that Christian Pelichit is just like it's Christian Pelichit and like everybody else. It's like no, we have good players and we need to get more good players, and we need to like still play like a team game, like we still need to play a team game. Well, Christian Pulichu's not good enough to dictate like any type of like offense for playing like fucking Paraguay.

SPEAKER_00

The one thing I've always understood about USA soccer is that we have a good goalie. Yeah, that's been the true the bedrock of American soccer, which uh granted it's a very soft bedrock. We have good hands, but we've always been able to produce a good goalie, and of course, like the one year that we kind of have like a talented team up front, our goalie is mentally challenged. And our defense just wasn't that good either. I did once and I got shredded. I just I I frustrated about the results, whatever. Um, it's just like the Wolves.

SPEAKER_01

They went out with their, you know, they went out whimpering. When you go out getting your ass kicked, it just does take like I hate to admit it, it just does take something away.

SPEAKER_00

It does take away from the previous accomplishment. Yes, it 100% does.

SPEAKER_01

When you go out, because it was such a great World Cup.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, like it was such a great World Cup for us. We finally didn't just skate by, we actually kind of dominated some teams, and I was like, okay, like we actually beat up on some teams. I felt very interesting. I don't know. I mean maybe our group sucks, but then we watch uh was it Paraguay or Uruguay, excuse me? Uh uh beat, yeah, Paraguay. Beat Germany. Yes. And so I'm like, okay, well, we beat them 4-1, and they beat Germany, which like that's pretty impressive. And then Australia went to shootout, or no, they didn't go to shootouts, but they they went deep into their into their match in knock in the round of 32 knockout stage. So I was like, okay, like we had some like impressive wins here. I I feel good about this, and then we won our our our first knockout stage game, and I'm like, okay, like I feel good about this Belgium match. The the way when I bet it was a pick between USA and Belgium.

SPEAKER_01

Um we were favorites for a while going into it. Obviously, I'm I'm guessing all smart money just hammered Belgium as a game on it. I I uh I believe we were the short favorites.

SPEAKER_00

I'll say it on pod, and I'm a little sad to say it, but I got Belgium at even money. Good for you. Uh great bet. Easy bet. Yeah. I mean, I lost a lot in the World Cup, so I was like, hopefully, if I just fade the USA, that then like was kind of where I was mentally. It was like an educated pick. But ended up being sharp as fuck. Unfortunately, unfortunately, it hit. Um I I needed other things to hit. Yeah. I needed Mexico to hit really bad.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that Mexico game was insane.

SPEAKER_00

I was I was at a bar watching it. As soon as it went to rain. I wasn't gonna bet it, but as soon as it went to rain delay, I'm like, I think this is a full hammer. Also, just like you got all those people in the stands just like waiting with all this like intensity, and I'm like, oh my god, they're gonna get them. And then England just sucked the air out of that out of that arena, dude.

SPEAKER_01

It was politically, a small political thing too. It's like people bitch about like immigrants and all this stuff, people from other countries. Oh yeah, immigrants, yeah. This has just been an amazing. This has just been an amazing like experience. I don't know. Like I go into the bars, there was a bunch of Ecuador fans there. I was at a bar. Obviously, I mean there's a ton of Mexican fans here in Minneapolis. I'm sure there are a ton across America as well. I'm part of the country used to be Mexico. Um so it was just fun to see the cultural just people popping off. Obviously, you saw on Twitter and things, just enjoying the country. It's like, damn, if you get off, get off Twitter, get out of your hometown, you know what I mean? Just things like things like it's like one of those reminders. It's like not every stop seeing the world through the lens of like online because online, no matter what medium you're on, YouTube, Twitter, blah blah blah, is always gonna be a bit more negative slanted.

SPEAKER_00

No, the the the World Cup has been an awesome like touch grass moment, even like for the online culture though, too, because I've seen a lot of it online. Yeah, yeah. But like all it is is a lot of this more like feel-good stuff where it's like people come to America and I bought I I read this really long Reddit post about this Japanese guy that went and um I think they were playing in in Dallas, and they went to uh he was talking about he's like, I'm in America, and I went to a Mexican restaurant in America, and before I even asked for anything, they brought me chips and salsa to the table. I didn't even like properly introduce myself and like bring gifts or show that I was worthy of it, and they just told me that I like and it was like such a great cultural breakdown of how like in Japan, like there is like this all this um cultural back and forth about like how you need to understand each other before like you have this like serving food, yeah. Which is it is an intimate experience, that's right. And being served food is like a respect thing, yeah. And he was like, they just came in and they respected me right away and they gave me a respected me, and I was like, God damn, that's beautiful. Yeah, that is because I've you you know what I take that I take that shit for granted every day. Oh, yeah, all the time, all the time, all the time. I take that shit for granted every day, and I love it. For sure. For sure, or um Holland, he's a great example too. Him just living it up in New York, dude. Him going to Cat's deli and just mucking some food.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I saw a video of him walking through the streets and he like went unrecognized for a while, and people were surprised by that. I'm like, New York's a big city, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

New York's a big city, and that's the beauty of New York.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's just a blip on the map. You know, I mean, obviously a lot of people live there, but it's just a blip on this map a map of a massive country.

SPEAKER_00

No, yeah. I mean, it's I I I think a lot of people got introduced to um kind of like the I I think because when you look at it online, there's a lot of negatives about being in America. And then I think you forget that if you go out and touch grass in America, it's actually pretty cool. Yeah, you can have a pretty good time. Not too bad. Uh uh a lot of people just trying to just trying to relax, you know, enjoy their lives. So something to take away there. Oh, nice hit. Dr. Carantaney. Oh, you want to wrap it up? Yeah, I don't think I have much more to talk about. I gotta I I gotta dig through. Um famous guest, probably Hall of Fame guest, Mount R Mount Rushmore. Maybe would you argue the George Washington on the Mount Rushmore, Joe Sealick of guests? Yeah. He defined the standard, I'd say. I defines the standard, I think, is a great way to phrase it. Joe Seelyck posed a question, and I thought it was actually a really good question. I responded to it, didn't really get a lot back. A little disappointed, so I'm gonna open the air on it on the podcast now. Um he said the World Cup is the greatest tournament in sports. I mean it's maybe even the greatest event. I remember the popularity, obviously. You know, it obviously wins that competition. I don't remember the exact context, but for the listener, how I would propose it is I said March Madness won. Clear one for me as an American sports. Again, it's from the American sports psyche, not necessarily the global sports psyche World Cup's obviously won. I I I'm not gonna even push back on it. That's that'd be stupid to push back on it. Um I'm saying as an American sports enjoyer, um, I would say March Madness won. And I said Olympics 2A, World Cup 2B.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean Where do you land?

SPEAKER_00

I'll give my reasoning after you give your uh your retort.

SPEAKER_01

So are is this purely international competition or is this man as a it's just uh sports enjoyment in general.

SPEAKER_00

Like you put the NFL playoffs and the NFL players.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I get you I get you. I'm trying to think. You know, I'm you know I'm I'm I'm oddly not a huge fan of the NFL playoffs. I've always said that.

SPEAKER_00

I I'm not either. I I I think the NFL playoffs are overrated. But I I will damn well I watch them. But I think it's a little overrated.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I like the NBA playoffs. I know not a lot of people would agree with me on that. I I like your list. I I I agree with your list, but I will say there's not as many highlight, high-stakes moments, I don't think, in the Olympics that match, at least this World Cup. Because I will say, like I agree, you know, the Qatar It's I think it just depends where it's hosted too long.

SPEAKER_00

You're on the you're on the edgier seat less watching the Summer Olympics. I will say I care about I'm biased because what I love about the Summer Olympics is summer Olympic basketball.

SPEAKER_01

I will I was gonna Summer Olympic basketball. I like Team USA men's basketball in the Olympics more than I like even though I know we win it over here, but I know what I don't care. I don't care exactly I don't I don't know the games are still good. That's my favorite international team. And then I also that's what I'm saying. So yeah, I'd probably put the Olympic I think I enjoy the Olympics more. I also like how you get like the flip, right? You like start with swimming and then the next week's track and field. Like I I like that. I really like that they do that.

SPEAKER_00

Can I offer you the reason why like the deal breaker for me? The deal breaker for me is the US dominates in the Olympics.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that is true.

SPEAKER_00

It's it's become hard to quantify like how good To be able to actually have like a rooting interest in a lot of the events like the US is actually involved in it, ends up swaying my vote because honestly, like it's like that's why I said 2A, 2B, because I think they're about tied for me. Even like second place is always because like the US is actually good at the Olympics, and like we end up pulling weight in the medal count. I think I favored over the World Cup just because we have the chance to succeed, and the there's something gratifying about that as compared to just watching it as like a neutral observer.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but we're probably f further away from ever winning the world, like Well, obviously we're further away from the World Cup. Like we won the Olympics. But to the point, no, but to the not necessarily that, but to the point where we're probably we'll probably never win it in our lifetime.

SPEAKER_00

Like how many world uh if we live health long, healthy lives, we have that's a great point that if like the US ever wins the World Cup, it would probably usurp an Olympics for me.

SPEAKER_01

Because it would be so it would be so far-fetched. Yeah, I no, I I I agree. I mean, unless we like loosen up our fucking immigration or like I don't know, like how Morocco who like come back and play for it.

SPEAKER_00

We don't need to loosen up our immigration. What we need to do is fucking make we need to make European football popular in the southeast.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's what we do. Can they play it at a different way? We need those kids to stop playing baseball.

SPEAKER_01

It's yeah, seriously, stop playing baseball down there. Fuck that. Go play soccer. And you can play for a lot longer than you can play baseball.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Also, it's it's better for your body.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Oddly, you can play soccer for a while.

SPEAKER_00

Like, oh, we have you seeing how fast you can throw more as like seeing how hard you can fucking kick a ball. I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_01

Dude, baseball, let's be real. I mean, I like baseball, but it kind of also sucks sometimes. Like it's the only sport that like it's the only of like the main sports that like genuinely gets boring. Like like there's no two-way, you have to accept that it gets boring at a certain point.

SPEAKER_00

I told I told you I was kind of obsessed with uh Erling Holland for a little bit, and so I I went down a rabbit hole about him, and he's he's like a physical freak, right? He's like 6'5. Um apparently he's only 215 pounds at 6'5. That's wild. But yeah, he has to run a lot, so like so he's really really fast. They clocked him at his fastest sprint speed in a match in the EPL last year. Um, it would equate out to running a 4-1-9-40. Damn. But it was over like a 60-yard pace. Yeah. But also they clocked him and it was when he was starting running. So it wasn't like he was at a stationary start. So if he was a stationary start, you'd probably bring it back up. You'd probably have to like bring it back down to like a like a 4-3. Active speed, maybe. You'd probably have to bring it back down to a 4-3. Yeah. And some change, which is still super fast. Well, yeah. Have you heard of Calvin Johnson? I have, yeah. Calvin Johnson is also 6'5, but he ran a 4-3 like from from a stop. Yep. So approximately about the same speed. Um Calvin Johnson, I looked it up, he's 35 pounds heavier than Erling Holland. So it's it it's the same height, the same speed, 35 pounds heavier. So what if he just played soccer? And now we're glazing what Holland can do. It's actually insane. And now we're glazing what Holland can do. And it was like, well, if Calvin Johnson would have just grew up playing soccer, he would have been Erling Holland, but 30 pounds heavier.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Not the weight thing. I think anyone's. Because like I I don't like the thing about Calvin Johnson, I was never under the impression that he was like weight maxing. Like he he was not, he was not out here trying to be the strongest.

SPEAKER_01

That's just was his playing.

SPEAKER_00

That's just how he came out the womb.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Like that's that his that was his default. Yes. He was never gonna be any smaller than that. No. Yeah. That's his walk ground weight. Everybody has, yeah, it's your walk, it's your default weight. If he was gonna like if he was gonna be his uh driver's license.

SPEAKER_00

If he was gonna be his optimized weight, he would have dropped weight because like there was no reason to be. There's no reason to be that heavy. No, he just was that heavy because he could get away with it and be still be that good football. And I'm like, and it's the same thing with like Jeremiah Smith.

SPEAKER_01

Like, you imagine Jeremiah Smith was playing fucking European football like striker left wing, fucking yeah, dude. My thing is too, that's another thing I I took for granted is like being tall matters in soccer. I should have figured that, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Like it never it never really truly crossed my mind. Like I obviously uh Ronaldo's a little bit taller, but like I mean, Messi's not tall, Neymar's not tall, like Pele wasn't tall, like I the Maradona wasn't tall. Like, I mean you you run back through the goats, like there there aren't a lot of tall soccer players.

SPEAKER_01

You know, Latino man.

SPEAKER_00

I I didn't think it would matter, and then you watch Holland come out there and play like Derek fucking Henry. Yeah, like what if Derek Henry just could dribble a fucking like a dribble a ball?

SPEAKER_01

Because like that's the thing. When people were like, oh, American athletes, if they would have played it, I never was able to like be like, okay, well, if LeBron James played soccer, like why would being 6'9 mat why would being 6'8 matter? And then I watch and I'm like, oh, maybe it could. Fuck, he could box people out and just jump over them and then fucking head it hard as hell into the net.

SPEAKER_00

I always thought it was such a casual take because it was like, oh, what if these Americans just played? Yeah, and then I watched Holland play and I'm like, you know what? Fair. I guess you can just be more physical and just wait. Yeah, and then just be like a god. I'm like, Anthony Everett's a striker? Yeah, seriously. Dude.

SPEAKER_01

It was nice seeing him in Atlanta bring the ball out. Of course, the game ended up being epic. Happy he's associated with that uh memory. You know who's here for Egypt, though. Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. Run wrap it now? Yeah. All right. Thank you for joining us, episode 194 of the Between Lines Podcast. Good episode, good breath. A lot to got we got into a lot, caught up. I feel like we're fully caught up now, though. So now we can just, you know, we can get back to our regular scheduled programming. Yes. I think we've I think we've we've got our takes, we've gotten caught up on the on the major news. A lot to get off our chest. So now we can we can move forward. Um, but yeah, like this, share it with a friend, coworker. Um, good episode. Uh and yeah, we'll be back next week with 195.