The Madrid Diaries

The boys get together to reminisce over one of the best Football weekends we've had in spite of the Commanders losing to the Dolphins in overtime. Some game chat, Madrid chat, long term outlook and then the Madrid diaries portion of the episode with live recordings throughout the weekend. Shoutout everyone we met and talked to who made the trip so memorable. Hail!

@HailOnThreePod

Transcript

0:01

My friend. Very nice to meet you. How are you feeling right now? After another Heartbreaking Over Town Loss used to it. It's numb. Yes. Yes. Two, Phil Go. Misses the kicker. Shouldn't be on the plane. Let him stay in Spain. Interception, fumbled, punt. Same shit. Sorry. That's okay. Different week. Yeah. Same mistakes every week. Silly mistakes, penalties. Get this guy out here. Get guy out here. I'm sorry. Wait, we, we brought a, we brought a, I love dogs, but if he's a Dolphins fan, I'm not in,

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 0:56

Welcome to another edition of the Hail and Free podcast. I'm Josh. My two co-host James and Lee, uh, did not expect Lee to be on this post Madrid episode, but we managed to happily get him on nice and early from Chicago, um, after some interesting flight shenanigans. Lee, you're back in Chicago, settled back down now, I'm sure. How's things stateside after the trip?

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 1:24

Yeah, it's good. This was a, on the occasion where you guys had a much easier travel day on Monday than I did for obvious reasons. And I think I was regretting maybe the of late night choices as I walked, uh, back from the Irish bar at 2:00 AM um, with having to fly across the Atlantic the next morning. But actually my flight got delayed. wasn't the worst thing in the world.'cause I did get that notification, um, when my alarm went off, say I managed to get a couple of extra hours sleep, but obviously that meant I did get home, uh, a little bit later than was originally scheduled, say, got back into my apartment in Chicago after a connection in Newark, about midnight Monday. So as you can imagine, it's been a very fun couple of days at work, but it's worth the pain. Right. Obviously. Fantastic. Yeah.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 2:19

and oswell that ends well. I do recall before we tended to James actually, that one of your predictions earlier on this season was that someone would miss their flight, uh, after the Sunday game in Madrid. We didn't have that. We did have some rushing around, uh, by one member of our group, I think, whose flight left earlier than he expected, whether as user error or a change in the flight. Who knows? But thankfully no one did. And James, you were fine'cause you had a nice late flight out on Monday.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 2:45

We did. I suspect that was user error, um, for that, for said person. But yeah, we had a long day. I had pencil this. There's a bit of a nice day to walk around and have some lunch and maybe check out some, uh, museums. But, um, it, it was a tough day, um, trying to entertain oneself, um, feeling a certain way after a couple of long days and nights. Um, we did enjoy Fantastic Burger though,

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 3:14

Best burger in the world. 2025.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 3:16

yeah, very nice. However, in the minutes after that, I immediately felt a lot worse, so, um. That didn't really help, but it was

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 3:24

You did, you did dip a bit. I did notice, uh, when you, when when you left us and we shut off. Um, it's good to have you both on to, to get this pod in. Obviously it's now the bye week. Obviously people are aware that we lost the game image drilling over time. Um, we're gonna. Chat a little bit about the game, a little bit about our trip. We're gonna keep it relatively short. Uh, and then we do have a number of clips from the Madrid Diaries of the trip and the weekend. You have to bear with us on some of the audio. These were recorded live on an iPhone in various establishments including the stadium. Um, so we'll lead into those afterwards. But let's start, James, with your now famous hit on Fox News. That we opened or Fox Sports, like local Fox Sports, whatever TV channel that was, that we opened the podcast with. I actually didn't realize that this was after the game, uh, until I saw it. I thought you were being interviewed prior to the game, so you actually held it together pretty nicely, I feel, I thought,

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 4:15

Yeah, I don't, I don't think I know too bad. It was Fox

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 4:17

Hmm.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 4:18

Um, they were going round after the stadium. We bought past and got collared in. Um, saw it was an opportunity to plug the pod. However, you'll notice towards the end of that clip, it's actually a interrupted by a dog, that stole my limelight. Um, in the moment I was not best pleased, but, um, it was all good fun.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 4:38

Yeah, absolutely. Um, and, uh, we're gonna. Hear from Lee. His thoughts are both at halftime and after the game.'cause obviously I was with Lee, uh, and my dad in the stadium. We were everyone else a bit spread around. Um, so we won't go into too much detail now, but let's go to you James actually immediately on your thoughts on the game itself. Um, the defense six six at halftime trade and field goals. Adi Samuel touchdown in the third quarter and then Miami tied it up. Before we headed to overtime, but the story of the game, as you kind of mentioned in that Fox hit, was obviously two Miss Als from Matt Gay, who's no longer with the Redskins commanders at this point.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 5:17

Hmm. Yeah, they obviously listen to my interview. Um. The news came out, I think, as I was, as we were flying back, I had some in-flight wifi. Um, hopefully it would be a bit harsh if they didn't let, let him back on the plane. But, um, let's,

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 5:32

Maybe he's still in Madrid. I.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 5:34

yeah, maybe, maybe he's having a nice time. I've actually got signed by the Niners.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 5:39

Well, he is having a great time Then.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 5:41

he's, he's having an even better time. Um, yeah, no, obviously in that interview after the game, I was very much focused on how the game ended. Um. I think actually I, I doubt people felt this watching on tv, but watching the game and obviously having interest being there is actually quite an enjoyable game. I thought. Um, I mean, crazy amount of, uh, fourth down stops from both sides and I thought we ran the ball really well. I thought we moved the ball pretty well considering all the injuries we've got. I was frustrated Mario, to taking a sack towards the end of the half. Then we miss a field goal. But actually he'd done okay. And he, he, you know, he didn't have an awful lot of help and I really enjoyed the, um, the deebo, the Deebo touchdown. It just missed opportunities'cause it was, the win was there for us, um, which was the frustrating bit. Would've been really nice to come away with a win. Um, but yeah, good to see the defense making plays, um, looking a bit more fired up and, um. I mean in the early going there, Devon H Chain had about 50 yards on like the first

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 6:45

Didn't look good, did it? Yeah.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 6:46

on, dunno why they went away from that. Um, they could have done that the whole game and probably won a bit more convincingly. But enjoyable game. Enjoyable experience. to see improvement on defense. Good to see a competitive game after four straight

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 7:00

Mm.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 7:00

just horrible games to watch getting blown out. Um, but yeah, just. Threw it away, which is the frustrating part, but positives to take and hopefully coming out the buy i, i dunno, I dunno what we're gonna expect outta the buy. Um, I know some te a lot of people want us to get a better draft pick, but I think they're gonna wanna win games. They're not gonna want that message to be out there,

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 7:26

Yep.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 7:28

not looking to win games. And I, I, I think Jane Daniels gonna play, but maybe that's a conversation for.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 7:34

Yeah.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 7:34

time, but I think he's gonna play games. If he's healthy and they don't put him out there, I think that sends, that might

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 7:40

Yeah. Yeah. One thing you mentioned in there that is interesting to me'cause I felt the same as you, um, in terms of the game being a good game to be at in spite of being six six at halftime and I was thinking that people back home watching it, you know, early on stateside or in the afternoon, UK time, neutrals maybe didn't feel that way, but it's so different in the stadium. Um, and I was gonna pass it to Lee for this one'cause Lee, you've obviously been to the most amount of games live out of us. Um, it had that feel of a, of a, of a fun experience, just the game itself, being in the stadium and maybe not so much on tv. It is very different, isn't it?

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 8:15

Yeah, I agree. I thought it was a, a really good game to be at if you are invested in one of the teams because there was just quite a few big plays and game changing moments, right? So whether it's two really good teams exchanging those kind of plays, or two poor teams exchange, exchanging those kind of plays, it was, uh, tight football game, which had, uh, lots of twists and turns. So in that sense, I don't think it was a bad spectacle at all, really. Uh. Got all the, um, opinions out at halftime and, and, uh, full time of the game. So not too much to add from my side, I thought I was very con coherent at halftime and, full time. I think second half we were enjoying, uh, a lot of the. Uh, the be what the be Bear had to offer. So might got a bit more, uh, rambly after the game. But yeah, overall it was disappointing as I said, but it wasn't, it wasn't a bad game to be at, and there was some flashes on defense. If we're gonna take any positives out of a sixth straight

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 9:11

Yeah, absolutely. Flashers. One of which was Mikey on the outside who did pretty well against Jalen Wattle. I thought he was tracking him across the field and playing at that spot that yourself Lee and, and, and all of us have been saying for a long time would be a, an immediate improvement, um, for the team. And that did seem to, to be the case, um, to thing's a bit of a strange team, aren't they? I mean. Obviously the same record as us going into the game. Uh, a coach who we thought was on the hot seat earlier on in the season maybe seems to have stabilized it a bit. A quarterback who the jury's out on who he just, um, exhibited exactly what we fought from him, like, wasn't really that elusive. We managed to get him on the ground a few times. Jacob Martin and Von Miller, uh, didn't make too many big plays. Um. And I suppose the reason some of the lads back home were a bit less interested, there wasn't as many kind of deep passing shots from either team and, um, that kind of thing. A bit more attritional, but that's the kind of game I like. So, uh, yeah, it was, it was an exceptional experience in the stadium. Let's, let's talk about the burn about a bit. Um, obviously we were in different spots, but I mean, the money they've plowed into that, that, that, that must be, that must be the, the most UpToDate and best sporting, uh. Ground in the whole world at this point. Um, James, how was it where you were sat and kind of the view and everything and, and also a bit bit about the atmosphere?'cause I thought at times it was good. At times it was a bit flat.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 10:29

Hmm. No, we had, we had really good seats, um, kind of middle tier corner. Easy access to the bar and the toilets. There was never any queuing, anything like that. So that was all very easy. our reusable cups, um, which were getting topped up regularly. And there people you didn't always have to go down. There were guys coming around with drinks up into the stands, so they'd easily just fill up, uh, your cup if you had one. atmosphere was good round us. Um, I think just above us, I think there may have been hospitality, there was some dolphins fans like. Given it the big one. Then there's some older Redskins fans behind me. There's good back and forth going on there. So that really helped the atmosphere kind of where we were. So I can't really speak for like the whole stadium, but uh, yeah, really impressive. Um. There's plenty of food and drink options around the ground. I like that it wasn't just in an isolated area. Um, and then inside the ground, incredible. I dunno, those fireworks were crazy. I don't even know where they were coming from, uh, like the LED screens. Uh, that's pretty cool. Um, I only caught a little bit of halftime entertainment, but this point to, uh, see there was no gasoline played.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 11:36

couldn't believe that.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 11:38

No, I thought

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 11:38

Play the hits man.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 11:40

I know. Um, but yeah, no, really good, really good experience. And I know some people had trouble getting in the ground, but I think it's had to pick the right spot. I think people

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 11:49

Yeah.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 11:49

of following people a bit and then ending up in a big queue when there were actually easier places

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 11:54

A bit of herd mentality around that bit. I've, I mean, the fact that it's 10, what is it, 10 minutes metro from right in the center of Madrid as well. Just superb.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 12:01

is

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 12:01

Um, every few minutes. Really easy to get to. I mean, what a place to go if you are watching, um, soccer, for example, if you've got a team out. Out there playing in Europe, or if you're, if you're a Spanish team that can visit Madrid, it's like unbelievable place. Uh, Lee, your, uh, your thoughts on, on the stadium and obviously our exceptional, fantastic seats in hospitality as well.

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 12:23

It was really good, wasn't it? I think you make a good point, especially for American fans would not really be used to being able to jump on a Metro, um, 10 minutes from the very center of Madrid and be outside. Uh. The just in a, in a neighborhood, right, right there, essentially. So I think that's a great thing about a lot of the European stadiums and that was really good. The stadium obviously looks fantastic. We the boat out a little bit as it was a, a rare treat for us to all get together for a game for the first time in, in 20 years. So we had a. A really nice situation going on. Obviously thought that was, that was worth it just for, just for the amazing food and and drinks and the Vs there. But yeah, overall the stadium just looks incredibly impressive. I thought the atmosphere around the game was really good, to be honest, considering the two teams were coming in off their season. So being the first game in Spain thought really helped that, and I think it was quite hyped in there, which was really cool. You can imagine if that was at Wembley or something and you know, two, three, and seven teams, whether it had been like the. Whatever, 25th, um, or probably more now, you know, game in London or something with two bad teams. It wouldn't have had that kind of pop, I don't think, would it? So I think that really helped. It was the first game in Spain and I think everyone was there really excited. So that made it more of respectful.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 13:41

Yeah, and I thought it was really well run, to be honest. The whole weekend in the city and around the ground and people getting into the spirit and the bars kind of getting into the spirit. Um. And being really welcoming. Um, just a huge shout out to Madrid as a, as a place. My first visit, fantastic city. You just couldn't move for like nice drink and food spots everywhere, um, which was hard to choose one. Um, but we made some good choices, including our Saturday night tapas bar, basement tapas bar choice, which was some of the best kind of local food You're gonna get traditional tapas, even though James, you booked it for the wrong weekend, I think. Was that, was that right?

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 14:17

Yeah. Now I pride myself on, um, my reservations and things like that. Um, I headed down, I actually early to find a. See if,'cause we were late, we were about 40 minutes late, so I was like, I headed down to just make sure we allowed a table. And as they were looking, I realized I'd actually booked for the 22nd of November. but luckily they could squeeze us in. We were eating fairly early for, for Spanish time anyway. Um, so I did get us in and I was hoping to keep it secret, um, that I'd got the reservation wrong. Um, but the waitress kind of blew my cover when she came out and asked a, asked a question.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 14:50

Asked you to cancel this Saturday, didn't she?

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 14:53

Yeah. So, um, no, it was a really good choice and, um, amazing food, some amazing snails, um, which Lee thoroughly enjoyed, and lovely red wine to go with it.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 15:04

Yeah, it was great. And actually kind of everywhere we sort of stumbled across or found was great. And I think that's just the, the city as a whole. I don't think there are, um, that we got particularly lucky. I just think everywhere is kind of a good spot. Welcoming, opening. Um, there's a big group of us at one point, um, we met some, some friends of yours, Lee Stateside. Um, and, uh, managed to get together to watch a bit of the England rugby and it just worked out really well. Logistically, it's a good city for that. So I think, you know, it wasn't ever gonna go particularly wrong, but really overall just I was kind of, you know, really pleased with, with how it worked out for us. Shout out, obviously everyone that we met. Um, I'll do a bit of a shout at the end of the list of that, but just met some great. Washington fans, a few Dolphins fans as well. Um, and there were some neutrals of course, coming over from, from all over. I think neutrals from Germany, the states, the uk, just because it's the first game in Madrid. So the atmosphere, like you said, Lee was really good because of that. I think just the sort of novelty of it being there. I mean, I'd be surprised if they don't do more games there personally just because of was set up of it and, and it seemed to be a bit of a success. Um, I'm not sure if they have got a, a long term deal there. I know there's a game in. In Sydney and in Paris, I think coming up, but I hope it does go back there.'cause fair play to the city was set up brilliantly for it. Let's talk a little bit then about, um, what it means now at three and eight, having lost in overtime, um, the bi-week coming up and then coming out of the bi. We've still got a number of divisional games left this season. I suppose the main question now is Jaden Daniels, uh, when he comes back, if he comes back and what that means for the team. Um, we had a bit of a chat. I'm not sure who it was with. I dunno if it was either of you or dad or one of the many people we met, but I was saying that, um. When you are tanking in the NFL, it's for a quarterback, right? You, you just, you, you wanna lose games towards the end of the season. If you need a quarterback desperately, if you're not in that position, you don't tank because a top 10 pick that you're still likely to get is incredibly valuable at different positional spots anyway. And you can trade out if people want a quarterback. So I don't see there's any tanking, especially with coaches that are, um. Maybe on the hot seat, maybe not, you know, not having as good a season as they'd hoped in, in Quinn and obviously Kingsbury. So, um, Lee, I'll ask directly the question to you. Um, as soon as Jayden Daniels is healthy, do you play him and, and what's your kind of, um, view on how we should manage that for the rest of the season?

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 17:28

Yeah, the only way you don't play Jayden Daniels is if it gets to, I wanna say two games left for him to be fully cleared. I just don't really see the point throwing him in. I think it would be then be Philadelphia and Dallas, right? For the last two. So if he can come back, say the week after the Denver game, then you play him. You want to go into next season with some positivity, with some extra reps, with some momentum. I want my out there. So I think it would send a bad signal if you didn't play him, just because I mean. The next meaningful game is gonna be what, September, 2026, right? So let's try and at least end the season with some rhythm. Um, we should get a few receivers back as well. So, yeah, I don't, it's very different, isn't it? The, the time to really fully embrace the tank is when you need a quarterback, and it's a great qb. Um. Draft class. This isn't the situation for us right now. I get that If we had a top five pick, for example, we may well be able to get a really, uh, good haul to move back. But from what I'm hearing, it's not the best callback class either. And yeah, I, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not really thinking like that as much as other people. To be honest. It's been a miserable season. There's gonna be players and coaches out there that are gonna be, um, prideful in trying to get something going here towards the end. And I've watched us lose enough for one year. So if we're gonna be talking about Washington Commanders until January, let's try and get a couple of wins on

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 19:03

Yeah, agreed. I mean, and we've all watched us lose enough for a lifetime in our whole supporting Washington. Uh. Journey as well. So I think generally speaking on the big picture, I just wanna win some games, play spoiler, get a bit of positivity as well, like you say. Um, and also,

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 19:19

Also, sorry, just to jump in. We are gonna lose a lot of these games just by looking at the schedule and looking at all. So don't worry about it. People that are really excited about a high traffic, we are gonna lose against a lot of these teams. We're still playing. Um, we might just

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 19:31

yeah,

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 19:32

so I'll be up for trying to win

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 19:34

yeah. Good point. James, any, any disagreements there? Is that the same sort of thing you would go for?

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 19:39

Yeah, similar. Yeah, these are right. Let's not forget we lost games with Daniels McClure out there, et cetera. So, even if they're out there, it's no guarantee we're gonna win. Games. And at the end of the day, if, if you've got a good gm, he should be able to find a good player with a top 10 pick anyway. Um, so yeah, it'd be nice to win some games and I think if he's healthy, he does need to be out there. I don't think you can play scared, um, because it's, it's the way he is as a, as a player. Um. You can't hide him, uh, forever. So as long as he is healthy and maybe it gets tied to how healthy the team is as well. If we get like a load, more injuries on the offensive line or something, it becomes literally dangerous for him to be out

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 20:18

Yeah. Good point.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 20:19

then, then we take him out. But if you've got, if you, if they're still here from the line and you've got McClaren back, and who knows, maybe even Noah Brown, if he's still alive. Um. May, maybe. Um, but yeah, I think if he's healthy, he'll wanna be out there. Quinn's gonna wanna win some games. These players wanna win some games. They're not

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 20:37

Hmm.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 20:37

any younger. Um, so yeah, similar sentiment, I

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 20:41

Nice. Good, good. They're on the same page. Um, before we close out the, the first part of the pod and head to our Madrid diaries segment, um, one highlight each from the trip overall. Um, I'll start, um, which is. Pete, who you'll hear from later on in this podcast, uh, Pete's Karaoke on Saturday night. I've never seen a man so determined to sing as many songs of karaoke in a very, like 80% predominantly Spanish young person's karaoke bar. Um, I actually thought he was fairly well handled and they gave him enough opportunity, but he, he wasn't very happy, I think, at various points when he wasn't back on the, the front of the queue to sing. So, um, and also fair play for coming out as a neutral. Both Jake Cam, Pete, that's, that's top work. Um, that was my, one of my highlights of the trip. There were many, but obviously around the game, the game itself. But I thought I'd choose that one. Just to give a shout out to Pete. Uh, James, what was your highlight of the trip, please?

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 21:35

Very, very tricky one. Uh, would have to say actually the first bar were in after the game, and you brought your good friend Claudius along, who had met at the ground. Um, we found a great

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 21:47

I.

james_1_11-20-2025_124310: 21:48

uh, in a Spanish bar that was showing, the, uh, red zone. So we didn't have to go to an Nourish bar originally for that. So it was nice to get some food and good drinks in there and we kind of all came together and there's some neutrals in there and it was just a really good atmosphere. And course we hadn't seen you all day as well, and it was just a, I just remember that's been a really good moment.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 22:07

Nice. It was great in there actually. Um, I dunno if you realize, but they were allowing us to, to air cast red zone onto the TVs. So it was it, they had the TVs and then someone asked and someone was like, no, but you can just apple airplay it across, which is what happened. And then when that group left behind us who were doing it. A number of Philly fans and Dallas fans actually in that group. And they left and then it went off and then the German lads in front of us did it from their phones. So we had sort of pretty much uninterrupted, um, red zone and they're very, very nice in that bar. And it was all very reasonable and lovely food and drink. So yeah. Good shout. Good shout for that one. Uh, Lee, what was your highlight of many highlights, I'm sure of the trip?

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 22:48

Um, I'll give, I'll give a couple really quick. So firstly was, it was just kind of a bit of a throwback trip for me because I don't really have many European jaunts with a, a big group of English friends. So. just felt like a bit of a throwback, like especially Saturday night in that karaoke bar and stuff. So to get a really good group of us out there, like old schoolmates and now support different NFL teams and stuff, that was just really, really fun. And to do that in the European city, again, I've obviously probably missed quite a few stag dudes and stuff over the years since I've been here. Say that was, um, a bit nostalgic and really fun. And then just the people all weekend, to be honest, say, um, fair play, um, for everyone that came out there and had a great time. Josh has done a great job. Um, you're now gonna hear the main part of the podcast, which is probably 35 to 40 minutes of interviews of random groups of people, and it really does encapsulate how much fun we had going around the city and how much fun other groups had. So, couple of shout outs. The uh, Welsh Commanders fans, we met. Um, outside the Van Bay in a bar, um, a couple of hours after the game. That was, that was really great speaking to them. You'll hear them. And then me and James, um, bumped into a, uh, Washington couple in an Irish bar about 1:00 AM. Um, I, I didn't catch her name, but she made the podcast as well. Um, her husband was a Browns fan and was watching the Browns game. Um, and we were just. to random people, uh, all, all night in that Irish bar already. But they, they were really fun as the night got a little bit, uh, more, uh, more dizzy and a little bit more, more hazy. But, uh, just a really good weekend. A lot of fun. Spoke to so many different people from the States and Europe and just enjoyed every minute of it.

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 24:32

Very nicely put Lee. And yes, that final interview you can hear, um, a number of, uh, loud conversations in the background as well. But my voice cracking is just kind of the weekend finally closed off. Um, which, which,

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 24:46

That was per, that was perfect. That just

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 24:48

yeah, bit bit.

ledders-guest492_1_11-20-2025_064309: 24:49

well. About

josh_1_11-20-2025_124310: 24:50

Yeah, a bit of Bon Jovi, a bit of defense at various points in the stadium, getting excited and the voice has kind of finally gone. A few of the interviews took outta me as well. Um, but yeah. Nice. Very nicely said, and it was a fantastic weekend for meeting new people and having a good time with old friends and family. So fantastic stuff. Um. Look, it's a shame of three and eight, but we've got a bi-week coming up. We'll get another podcast out at some point. We'll maybe do something a bit different for that. Um, but uh, now you can hear our Madrid diary segment and the weekend and relive it with us. Um, but until next time, hail.

25:29

We have landed in Madrid. We're in a taxi in a very rainy taxi heading to the center of Madrid. Jake is converting of the taxi driver via Google Translate about our fair. Um, I'm with dad who's yet to make an appearance on the podcast Elusive. I would say you are, um, just, just a little, yeah, exactly. Uh, quite a long day so far, but we're finally here. How excited are you for tomorrow and also today? I'm very excited. Just wanna see him play again. Wanna see him play again. And, uh, we were talking about our respective records, watching the team live yesterday. Mine is two, four and one. Um. I can't remember what yours was. Do you remember how many games you've seen live? Yeah, I lost 200 on one. Lost 200 on one. So you haven't seen us win live yet? Nope. Tomorrow's the day then. I would say I would hope so. Nice. Uh, throughout the weekend I'll do a load of these interviews and little, uh, podcast, podcast bits with various different people. But, uh, we will soon be in a bar. James Lee, Pete and Ollie already there having a beer. Uh, within half an hour we'll have had our first Spanish peer, and then it's all systems go. Pete, you're a northern man. What's brought you out here? Come, how are you guys supporting the commanders? Who's your real team? They're Vikings. Uh, I got some friends that I play golf with that are from Minnesota. So, but deep down you have a little affinity for the Redskins, all the commanders you wanna call A little bit of it, like over the years I've known you guys, I'm uh. I'm, I'm reading for the, the Commanders, but there we go. Exclusive from Pete Wildman. He's rooming for the commanders this weekend. Anything else you wanna dish out? You, you brought out some challenge flags for the Yeah, I got a few challenge flags, a few penalty flags in my pocket to get anyone does anything wrong, but just, just keeping'em in my pocket for now. And you, you've been digging in quite deeply into like the little tapas bits quite regularly. Yeah. Yeah. You've got any, any comments on those? Oh, I just enjoy a, you know, a quick, quick Mao and then a few, few little bits. Maybe a pad on pepper. No, we have it ladies and gentlemen. Lee, what's going on, Ian? We've got a snail out for you and you are not trying it. I don't, I don't, I don't want to eat it. Listen, very snail. It's good. Eat it. When? When in mad drink, I'm not in Paris. Do it for the podcast. No, come on. Yeah. Trust me. You'll like it. Oh, disgust. I know you like and dislike il. Try. Eat the Eat the snail. Eat the snail. The snail. Eat the snail. Eat the snail. Eat the snail. You either eat snail, you're gonna have to eat one, you're gonna have to eat. You ain't. No, you are stuck in a corner. Call Hawke Express. Even Hawke Express aren't saving you. He made a big deal out of that drama queen. Drama queen. Drama queen. He ate it. Did he? Yeah. He made a big drama, drama story, kind of quality programming we do. On the Hail on Free podcast. Um, I was gonna do one little hit for the podcast with a Dolphins fan and I found a Dolphins fan, and he's from the uk and his name is Paul. Paul, thank you for coming on. How has your trip been to Madrid so far and how did you enjoy the game? Uh, our trip's been really good actually. We've really enjoyed, but it's a lovely city, beautiful place. Yeah. Uh, this stadium is fantastic. Um, I enjoyed the game because we won, but it could have it to be fair. It could have gone either way. Yeah. Um, I think to be fair, two, three, and seven teams, um, so probably not at their best. Yeah. Either team. And at the end of the day, an interception won it for us. Really? Yes. Down here. And um, but it could have been the opposite. So, uh, I'm happy, uh, maybe Commanders fans not so, but let's face it, what a stadium. They put on a fantastic show. We've all enjoyed it. We certainly enjoyed the drink. That's no doubt about that. A hundred percent. And the food is amazing, isn't it? Abs? Absolutely. I mean, we, we were the same. Everything's food and drink and we just love it so much. Uh, how come Paul, you're a Dolphins fan? Well, I said that, that was another good question. Yeah. Back in 1981 when I first started watching. The NFLI was in, I was in Miami at the time and I watched the Dolphins. I like the colors. Yeah. But, but Dan Marino. Yeah. Marino. Okay. He was my man, and he was just one of the best rookie seasons of all time. Oh man. And, and, and sadly. Uh, the best player never to win a ring. He never won a Super Bowl. Yeah, no. Never won a Super Bowl. He was here today, which I saw. See beautiful. Saw they wheeled him out for this one. They did. Wheeled him out, but he he does all the media stuff. Yeah. But, uh, so he was the man. Um, you know, we, we were super supreme in the east and, um, but I say unfortunately didn't win the Super Bowl and I've been watching ever since. Have you guys been to Miami to watch Dolphins or, well, we did actually. We, we, we saw them play the Eagles in a preseason game. Okay. Oh, I was it in the nineties. Oh wow. 19. 1989. 1989. Dolphins, Eagles, 1989 preseason. Game preseason. Okay. Nice. I'm glad I picked you to come on this podcast. You are.'cause that's the sort of story I want to hear. That's great. Okay. Yeah. Well we were, we were, again, we were in Miami, weren't we? Just Holiday Inn and the hotels sort of advertised If you want to go, I think it was about$20. And they, they put on a coach. They took us to the game. Oh, wow. We got away, we watched the game, and we had, I think we had Domino's Pizzas delivered to our seat. Nice. Oh, that's awesome. You know what, what's, what's not to happen about that? Yeah. Oh, brilliant. So, uh, yeah, I've been, do, as I say, dolphin's fan ever since, and, uh, two thick and thin. I'm sure you are the same. Yeah, exactly. The, I mean, it's mostly thin. Well, no, no, the Redkins were a, a, I remember John Riggins and Oh yeah. Wow. If you, if you do get to talk to him about the, I mean if you want to get into the conversation, good luck to you. It might be a long one, but Regan's his favorite player, all that stuff, you know? Well, yeah. I mean, in his day and in his time, he was unstuck. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And uh, the skin's one. Super Bowls and first, the first Super Bowl televis in the UK was Dolphin Skin. That's it. Yeah. Well, you even remember John Riggins, don't you? Me watching that? Staying up till all hours. Yeah. Yeah. Channel four, where the adverts were like, yeah, I went back to the game. Now you've got, I think we've got six games on'em at night. Yeah. Sky's crazy enough. Live, live, live games adverts, you know, the whole thing. We actually record the Super Bowl now'cause we don't like eating fried chicken at two o'clock in the morning. It's two morning. Yeah. I, I, I, I was gonna say, I, I, I do do that still and I regret it every time the next morning, so I know. I know. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Paul. You are more than welcome. I'm very glad I found a Dolphins family. It was articulate in talking about football and history and stuff, so I really appreciate it. Good. Well, I hope it's good for you, you know, and on podcast, I'm sure all. Get a few views or absolute views. Listen to what it like. We don't do, we don't do video. Look at my face. We can't do video. Cheers. This is a face for radio. It has now been, I think about half an hour since the Dolphins kicked a walk off field goal to win the game. Uh, we are still in restaurants South Burn about, I'm with Lee for a snap reaction. So what was very frustrating loss Lee three and eight, your immediate thoughts. Um, my immediate thoughts is. What a fantastic afternoon in terms of watching football with family and friends and having a great time at this amazing facility. Of course, it could have been a lot better and it hurt'cause losing hurts, and when you have that many chances to win a game, you have to find at least one of them, right, just to get it over the line. My overall thought is two bad teams, to be honest, Miami. Had chances to win the game, we had more chances to win the game. Look, when you're a bad team in a rut, you literally find ways to lose a game. But when you find ways, multiple times to lose a game, it stinks, especially when a lot of people spend a lot of money to fly thousands of miles out here. But I mean, I think, look after the goal, I stopped. I had us winning even with my, even with my, ah, what can go wrong, head on. I had us winning and then when we had the play out to 84, I don't even know who 84 is at this point. That's how many we are on the death chart. We somehow get into a fourth and eight from a. And get into a 56 yarder with 11 seconds. How much faith did we have in that situation? Right? How much faith? Yeah. I just watched it on X, actually, from the NFL official account. I thought it might have been blocked, but it was hard to kind of see. It was a complete slice across the ball. Shank. Nowhere near it. And that's it. Miami had a couple of plays. I thought they might try to win it there, but they kind of tried to, didn't try to get one play in the field goal. They had a couple of ambitious plays get overtime that I thought we had our chance here. I knew that it was not gonna go well. First playoff. Scrimmage, though you can't make it up in a wake, can you? Mario tries to forcible to, uh, interception in Miami. Just walk off and look. Yeah. To be, to be fair to Miami, they didn't give up, but they're a bad football team. They're a bad team. I just saw a tweet from our account and we all have access to our official account. Oh no, someone said. Uh, Quinn on the hot seat. Look, I disagree. I think Quinn had the defense ready to play today. Yeah, look, it wasn't against the same offense we've played for the last three weeks, but that was the best I seen on defense for a long time. They tried, the energy was there. They were let down by Owen, free in the red zone. They were let down by our special teams. Maybe there's a few questionable calls in there as well by, um, cliff. Yeah, but you know what, it was at least a good competitive football game. It was, it's a hallowed environment. There's great people here from all over Europe, from all over the UK in particular. Yeah. Um, a no, a great day with friends and family, but this team does find a way to really, uh, put a dagger in the season, doesn't it? Yes. Because again, that even as a really poor team, an injured team, we just had to win. Right. And I, I don't think I've ever had five to 10 minutes, three of us discussing who should be returning punts and what they should be doing and how they've been taught. Uh, no, we're fine. Thank you very much. Just been off some tapas live on the podcast. Uh, we've had too much. Uh, Mikey Sam still. Well, what did I say when I said, I said, what is Mikey doing back there? I could only imagine Jaylen Lay got ding out. Let, let's look at this. We had in the fourth quarter, how many. We needed to probably this essential Parker game. We needed to get one of these like five plays, just one of them, to win the football game and we couldn't do it. And that's the way it goes. This defense look different to me today, and I'll give Quinn a lot of credit for that. Yeah. Uh, he did not lose the game today. You could probably point more to the cliff on a couple of occasions, but, you know, where, where do we really lose it? Like when we, when we talk about it? I thought after that big play from eight four, we were in such a prime position. And we somehow just didn't get close enough. Um, miss Field goal, first half. We also had a third in goal on the one. Right. We didn't get in. Yeah. Loads of them. Miami could probably point to the same if they lost the game. Yeah. End of the day two sub. 500 teams trying to find a way to lose. We found more ways to lose, but it is what it is. Great day. Great people, uh, Washington showed out. Miami, you know what they showed out as well. That's fair. Fucking play, fair play for them. Uh, we're all having a chat about the old day with a lot of great British fans. We're having. A couple of, uh, glasses of wine and enjoying the tapas in the amazing day. Probably if you watch on the tv you just say, this is bad football. If you're there live, you're like, well, this is exciting because it's too bad. Teams going back and forth. Absolutely. Uh, trying to find a way not to win the game. That's kind of how it felt like right now. This is gonna hurt for the team as much as us.'cause we were at a fun night. Just sing our songs and enjoy a win. Didn't happen, but now we've got a long way to go. It is not Thanksgiving. We are probably at this point. About to embrace being a top five pick. Yes. That's where we're at. And there's a lot goes into that injuries, throwing a couple of games away late. That's where we are. But it is not really indicative of where the team that overall, you know, look at what the team we had out there today and we still should have won the game. Yeah. And as I'm answering the questions, Josh, overall, what do you think of that? Game hurt to lose as we're here, we don't get to see many games together. But what did you think that was better on defense? Not good enough in many areas. Dan Quin at least got them trying to play football. Yes, exactly how you've said it, exactly how you articulated your thoughts on the game. Very reason, very, uh, measured. This is kind of what I thought about the game. Um. Not as disappointed to lose that game as I've been to lose other random games, to be honest, because the experience was so bloody good here in Madrid. Fantastic. See fantastic people, fantastic hospitality and a great bunch of people here that have played a really nice time of it. Dolphin skins and also neutrals, so it didn't really smart as much at three and seven. Um, yeah, we're getting into some of the ins and outs of the play cooling and that sort of stuff when we do a bit more of a recap, maybe later in the week ahead of the bye. I watch the game back. With maybe a little bit more sober, clear head at some point. But, um, yeah, one of the, well, I'd say probably the best trick I've seen watching this team regardless of the result. Um, and nice to, nice to hear a very measured response from you, Lee, before possibly our next clip, which will be whenever we find James. Yeah. At some point in the next two hours in Madrid. James might, James might. James might be rage tweeting in this phone, but, um, James has had a lot of fun out here and look too much fun. Yeah. Look, we wanna win football games. I don't, this is the first game I've been with my dad since his 50th in 2006, so that's another loss, but it's not gonna be the last I'm sure of that. No. Um, we have had a line time out here and this goes to prove that. Weirdly when there's less on the line. Look, if we won, look, let's be honest. If we won the game today, it'll make no difference to our season. No, exactly. It might have had, it might have made a difference to our draft. Must be adverse and negative effects. This. Yeah, this is draft and this isn't me being like, okay, positive. I'll saying, but let's be honest, like our season was done. We wanted to win the game. It was two up to an extent because it was the first game in Spain. Everyone's having a blast. Um. Yeah, but you know, you wanna win you. That's what we're here for. We're here to win the football games. Yeah, and I thought there was effort out there and we didn't have half our team playing Miami four, four. Team two is not gonna take them anywhere. What all I, I like to say Stat line obviously had a few plays, but it wasn't amazing. And look up the middle, we, we actually managed to defend her arm quite, quite well. So we were probably, I, I would love to see someone that, uh, watched on tv tell me what happened, but we had a, we, we went for it. All right. Um, maybe on second down at the end there. Yeah. It's kind of a weird situation where I think Mark Marriott had a great game until he threw the back breaking pick at the end. Enjoy the hospitality and yeah, look, our season's gonna put like a wrap right now because this is probably the last highlight on the calendar right now. We have the buy and we'll see what happens. Yeah. But I guess I ran out from the burn be from me, um, for everyone that came over here. We'll probably see a few of you later as well for the, uh, later NFL games today because it's early doors in the US of course. Um, but yeah, it's been great to meet some people. Great hospitality and we'll have to. Uh, regroup after the buy and you know, at least build for the feature. Get the young guys out there. So nice one. Let's see what happens. Good stuff, Lee. Cheers. Okay, so it's now 10 to midnight in a basement of an Irish bar in Madrid. My voice is going, but my co podcaster James, dragged me over because apparently I need to talk to you about the game or yourself, or we end or whatever. I'm not washing the commanders. Where are you from? Washington D. Northern Virginia. Okay. In the States? Yeah. Is this your first. Time to Europe, Madrid, what's, what's the story? No, I've got now won. No, no, it's, it's my first time to Madrid. Okay. We travel out of the US probably five to six times a year. This was an excuse to go to Madrid. Alright. Have you lived, enjoy Madrid. Good city. What's your thing? It has been. Horribly rainy the entire, the time we have been here. Yeah, ice came very little because we've had a hood on the entire time and not able to say anything until today. Yeah. So I dunno, but probably Lovely. Have you enjoyed how, how did you feel the game was today? Gimme your thoughts on the game. I'll give you my very fast thoughts, which is typical fucking Washington bullshit. Nice. That's it. We're in a bad era. Last year was a fever dream. This year. Marcus Mariota is good enough. Yeah. He loves an interception. Yeah. Our team has has these moments where you're like, we're very good. And then at the end when it matters, yay bad gay, bad kicks not good. Could be better. Could be better, better. It's typical. You think you should win? You don't win. Perfect encapsulation of Washington at this point. Thank you so much.