Are We Live? Episode 47

- Knicks Champs

- World Cup is here

Song: Podcast By Snail Music (Loop)
Author: ‪@SnailMusicES‬

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Are we lying? No, no, no, yes, we yes, yes, yes. We lie. Okay, so I ain't gonna go coverage with this pump. Yo, we back. Back with the weekly pods. Um, you know why I'm here. Finals is over, world cup started, so let's just get into it. Um we're gonna start with the finals. You know, the Knicks are NBA champions um for the first time since 1973. Um it's crazy. I mean, the Knicks just being champions is a crazy thing to say out loud. Like, they just they just felt like one of those teams are just gonna be cursed forever, you know. Like, um in football, like a good example of that would be like the Jets, ironically, also in New York, or like the Browns or something like that, you know. But uh yeah, champions, dude. Like that's crazy. The Knicks. Um, but let's talk about this series now. Like, I mean, it ended up being Knicks in five. Um, and really after game two, I did not have much confidence, I had zero confidence in you know, even in the Spurs winning the series. Um, even I know this is gonna sound like crazy hindsight, but even if the Spurs had pulled off game four, I would still would have picked the Knicks to come out with this series because you know it just felt like at no point did their offense look consistently good. You know, maybe you can say game three when they actually got the ball to Wemby, you know, in the paint for lobs and stuff like that. But even game four, like, they built the lead off just crazy hot shooting, you know? Um, and it's a good defense, of course, but I just never felt like they were playing the basketball they were playing all year, and the credit has to go to the Knicks for that on the defensive end, because they neutralized pretty much everyone but Dylan Harper on the Spurs. Um, and I guess you can say Champigny, but you know, I would say all the creation on the Spurs got pretty much you know clamped up, I would say. Um yeah, so let's talk about Finals MVP a little bit because um ended up going to Brunson. You know, after the first two games, I thought Towns was a lot to win it because just the matchup just felt just favored him too much, and in in contrast, it did not favor Brunson for those first couple games at all, even the first three games really. Um, and then after game four, I would say I thought okay, OG kind of has to be a finals MVP, if I'm being honest. I mean he just I mean the efficiency, the scoring, the defense, the clutch plays in game four. I mean, it was just too much. Um, on top of that, Brunson had not really been cooking. I mean, game four, Brunson was amazing, but at that point, the first three games, he was kind of well below par, I would say. So after game four, I was thinking, okay, OG's probably finals MVP. Um, but then after game five, I think, you know, I'm fine with Brunson winning it because I mean that game five, I feel like it's kind of going under the radar how all time that game five was. Like, in a game where basically everyone on the Knicks couldn't score for shit. Like OG his his shooting disappeared, Kat was a non-factor basically because of fouls. Uh Mikhail didn't do much. I'm trying to think. Like, I don't know, no one else on the Knicks really showed up offensively in that game, besides Brunson, who was pretty much unguardable and eventually led them to that like you know, quote unquote comeback win. But um, yeah, I think in the end, you know, Brunson is the best player on the team, I would say. What he did in those last two games, four and five, was you know, all time, you know, legitimately all-time. So I'm fine with it. I mean, I I don't to be honest with you, I'm not really, I don't really care about Finals MVP like that. I think it's kind of a I think whenever you have an award based on like four to seven games, you know, small sample stuff, I just think like a lot of wonky stuff happens and it leads to a lot of stupid conversation. And honestly, I might tweet this out. I would prefer they got rid of finals MVP and just went to like put off MVP or something like that, you know. I just feel like in basketball, especially, evaluating or awarding or whatever you want to call it, players based off tiny samples just leads to some horrible discourse. But anyway, enough of that talk. Um, what else we gotta talk about with the Knicks? Um, I mean, the Knicks they capped off a dominant playoff run. Um, in fact, statistically, the most dominant playoff run of all time. I think by point differential, they were by far the uh the best ever. Um, of course, the the Warriors and the Lakers um had better records in the playoffs, but in terms of margin of victory, this is by far and away the best playoff run in NBA history, which is just a crazy thing to say. Like, imagine saying that after game three against the Hawks when they're down 2-1 to the Hawks, led by you know CJ McCullum and the boys. But um, yeah, I mean, in the end, Leon Rose, he won, he won. I mean, we were all on his head for that Mikhail Bridges trade, and how they messed up their chance to go get Giannis, and how you know going all in on Carl Towns on a Supermax was a terrible idea. About how paying Brunson said in the first place was a terrible idea, how paying uh OG and W like 40 million a year was a terrible idea, how people were gone on the Knicks for firing Tibbs and going to Mike Brown, all of that shit worked out way better than anyone could have believed. Um, and really from a team building perspective, this is a really abnormal championship. Like, none of their core players, well, I'll say another starting five was drafted. Um, you know, they didn't draft like a pick a player in the top three or four that ended up becoming a superstar. They didn't, you know, they didn't recruit a superstar, like, you know, uh to come join them in free agency. I mean, Brunson ended up becoming that, but at the time he was not looked at as that, you know what I mean? It's not like you know, they got it's not like when the heat got LeBron in free agency or when the Lakers got Shaq in free agency, where they're like, Alright, this is one of the best, this is a a generational player that came to your franchise, now you can win. They made shrewd move after shrewd move, and it panned out um in a way that is kind of like abnormal throughout NBA history. Like, I mean, there's the Becky Hammond stuff, which I don't really care to get into, but like typically this is not how teams are built to win a championship, you know. And I guess you gotta give Leon Rose his dues. Um I still think that they gave it too much from a characterist, but hey, it don't matter at this point. Um, the only negative I have about the Knicks at this point, I can't I can't lie to you. I was a little disappointed in how Towns played in games three through five. And it's weird, right? Because I'm rooting against the Knicks in this series without a doubt. But part of me is watching towns, and I'm like, bro, why are you doing this stuff again where you're playing below your talent level? You know, like fouling for no reason, just being flustered by the refs, not really being aggressive. I was just like, bro, what happened? Like, for the last like several playoff games, you've been amazing, you know. R will be the best player on the Knicks in that in that time period, and then the last couple games you just went ghost. Um, and game four to me, especially. Like the Knicks ended up winning game four, you know, miraculously, but Talon's performance in that game was abject. Like, he picked up the two fouls inside a minute, and then he was just rattled for the whole game. Um, but yeah, that was my only negative you know remark with the Knicks, you know. Like I said earlier, an all-time playoff run. Truly crazy. Um, and yeah, I guess we'll see what they do next year. Um, going to the Spurs side, you know, like I said earlier, their offense in this series basically never looked, you know, cohesive or any type of rhythm, where you want to call it, in the outside of maybe the spurts of game three and four, but not really. Um if if just based on the shots that we're getting, I would say. Um, and really the one thing that I was thinking about is like because the Spurs are a home are a young team, it won't get framed like this, but truly, this is one of the worst final losses that I can remember. I mean, if you think about it, going into the series, they are the betting favorite, they have home court, and they have what people most people presume is the best player in the series in Wemby, right? Um, normally you those two three things in your favor, you don't lose, and not only do they lose, they lost in five games. And not only they lose in five games, in every game they lost, they had a double-digit lead. Um, and then three of them they had a double-digit lead in the second half. Like, dude, that is crazy, you know. Like, I know people are gonna do the oh they'll be back type stuff, and maybe they probably will, but like that is a crazy finals loss. Like, I'm trying to think of like worst finals losses where the team, like, you know, quote unquote choked in my lifetime, and I'm like, uh, the Heat in 2011 for sure. Um the Warriors in 2016 for sure. Um this the Suns in 2021 for sure, but like this is uh this is might be worse than than those, not the not the Warriors 3-1 lead, of course, but the worst than a lot of those, and you know, the Mavericks in 2006 is another one, but like this is up there with like the worst final losses of all time, in my opinion. Um and yeah, I mean, going forward, like it if the Spurs don't end up winning a championship or even multiple championships, I think the biggest reason is gonna be De'Aaron Fox and his contract. Now, two things I want to talk about with De'Aaron Fox. One is I've been seeing a lot of people say, like, oh, he was hurt in the finals, he was hurt in the finals, that's why he wasn't good. And I'm like, okay, I'm a little sensitive to that, and I get it. At the same time, if I Miss Johnson, that makes your decision even worse. The fact that you just kept riding out with De'Aaron Fox and he's playing on a high ankle sprain. Like, what are you doing, bro? There's no need to do this at all. Um, and secondly, I I don't I don't, I mean, to me, De'Aaron Fox has played below expectations all season, you know, and I and I think even in that Portland series, like he had a couple he had a game or two that we played well, but I'm still like, bro, you're a max player, all-star, second option type you're supposed to that's where you're supposed to be. And at no point in this season did I feel like he lived up to that, and his massive extension kicks in now. I'm like, damn, bro. Um, so yeah, that's that's one thing. The second thing I want to talk about was the idea that oh, they're just gonna trade him now, bro. Nobody if any team bails them out of their contract without getting a massive haul back, bro, nuke their franchise for real. Because 50 50 to 60 million dollars for De'Aaron Fox for the next three, four, five years is set is crazy. And any team who takes that is crazy. Um so yeah, I think the most likely outcome for them is just make him the sixth man and give the keys to Dylan Harper at some point. Um, and their guard dynamic next season is gonna be interesting because I mean if I'm pretty sure everyone saw uh Devin Vassell being like, yeah, Dylan Harper throughout the season was unhappy with his minutes and stuff. Um which is expected, by the way. Top players don't want to go to teams with established stars in their position. Like nobody, no top, no top prospect wants to do that. So I'm not gonna hold that against Dylan Harper, like, oh, he's a loser for things like that. Like, no, that's normal, that's totally normal. Um, yeah, so that's gonna be interesting to watch how they handle that dynamic next season. Because if I'm Dylan Harper, I'm not doing the six-man shit again next year. Um, hilariously, he wasn't even sixth man of the year on his own for the season, despite Clearly being the best bench player on his own team. Um, the team's eighth best player was sixth man of the year. That is incredible. Um, but anyway, and Miss Johnson, you got a lot of growing up to do. Like, I'm not gonna go too hard on you because you're your super young coach in your first finals, but realistically, you threw away a championship because you were too scared to make the hard decisions. Like, you could easily argue that if they give Dylan Harper the same role, I'm saying role in quotes, that they gave De'Aaron Fox that the Spurs are NBA champions. Like, it's not crazy to say that, you know what I mean? Um, yeah, and that's just and to me, that just if he's actually hurt that bad, then that makes it even worse. Like, I didn't even talk about what De'Aaron Fox did in game four at the end, like that was truly one of the most baffling plays you'll ever see. But yeah, I mean, and I thought just go rolling with I thought his rotations were poorly timed, you know, with going with when to go with Cornet. Um, the fact that he kept playing Carter O'Brien despite not being good at anything at this point in his career, the fact he kept enabling Kellen Johnson to do what he was doing on the court, um, and realistically heat. I don't think he made any real adjustments with his rotation at any point in the series. And then you contrast it with Mike Brown, who's you know, if you gotta close the Alvarado, I'm gonna close the Alvarado. If you gotta close a shaman, I'm gonna close the shaman. If I gotta bench this guy, I'm gonna bench this guy, like truly doing whatever it takes to win, as opposed to a coach who's trying to, you know, not hurting anyone's feelings. Um, and yeah, so with the spreads going going forward, Wemby will be back, probably, you know. I think there's a couple things that first of all, Wemby is 7'4, 7'5, whatever to say. We're still gonna be worried about him holding up, you know, over time throughout a whole season going forward. Like the track record of guys that's all staying healthy. I mean, it's not a great list. So we're gonna have to hope that that can continue. Like, um, and on top of that, like, are they gonna give Dylan Harper the keys? Are they gonna be able to get rid of DeAaron Fox? Like, are they gonna I don't know, like it's not I think Wemby's ability to guard on the perimeter was exposed to a little to some degree in this series, you know, exposed is a little bit harsh, but you know, it became a little bit of a weakness, I would say. Um, and does that get picked at more in different matchups? Like in the OKC matchup, they weren't able to pick at it at all because they didn't have enough shot making or three-point shooting. Um, SGA wasn't really a threat from the three-ball. Um, but in it like versus the Timberwolves with a healthy Anthony Edwards where he can shoot the ball from the logo, is that a bigger issue? Like, probably. Is if the Nuggets go up against the Spurs where Jokic could go at Wemby comfortably, is that an issue? Maybe, right? So I don't think it's just uh, yep, they'll be back next year, championship type thing. Like, yeah, I think they'll be back at some point, but it's gonna be a real journey to get back, in my opinion. Um, and the last thing we want to talk about is Wemby becoming and the villain of the NBA in record time. Like, you know, I tweeted this earlier. Like, did he have the fastest honeymoon period a superstar has ever had? You know, and I'm thinking of like guys that were like superstars out the gate. Like, I'm thinking of a KD, a LeBron, a Shaq, um Kobe, not really, because like he was in Shaq's shadow for the first couple years, but like, you know, and like SGA and Curry were guys that were hated pretty quickly, but it took them a few years for them to become that superstar player, right? Like Rembe is clearly a superstar in year three. He was the best player on the team that made the finals. He I think most people would agree he's going to be the best player in the league at some point, if not already. And it feels like everybody hates his guts, like the media, the average fan, the teams he plays, like the players he's playing against. It feels like everybody is just like hates Wemby. And I'm like, wow, you know, and personally, I'm not a Wemby like fanboy, but I'm also not like a hater, you know. I feel like I'm in the middle. Like, I like some aspects about him, something he does annoys me, right? Like, you know, is he a bit performative with the way he does? Yeah, I think so. Is he kind of a know-it-all type guy? Like, yeah, but some of the stuff, like the real hatred for he has for players, I fuck with that. The physicality that he brings to the game, I fuck with that. The way he talks about how he like he's open about being great and desperate to win, I'll fuck with all that, you know. But I I just take you know, and the thing about the him not shaking hands at the end, I mean, I don't really care about him being a sore loser, you know, which he is by the way. He I mean, we'll be honest, he's a sore loser. Like, we can't we at this point we have at this point with Wemby, he's a ridiculous talent, he's an ultra competitor, um, he's good for the league, I would say, but he's a sore loser that will crash out on the court. I mean, these are all true, in my opinion. So, yeah, I think I think people are going a little bit too far in terms of the Wemby hate, but I can understand it to some degree, you know what I mean? Um so yeah, I mean his the arc of his um of his perception is gonna be interesting to watch going forward. Because I mean like the thing with LeBron and KD, they were very much loved until they left to form their super teams, right? LeBron was very much loved until he left for Miami, and KD was even worse, I would say. Probably I don't know, I don't know about even worse because LeBron was pretty hated for that Miami shit, but um, yeah, both are very much loved and appreciated, and you know, crowned as the next big thing for their first huge chunk of their career until they left, and it you know, all went downhill in terms of you know the hate and whatnot. But Wemby, year three, first finals loss, they're on his head. Um, it's kind of crazy. Um, but yeah, enough of that. So that's it on the finals. This next topic I want to talk about was you know, kind of adjacent to the finals, but more of a general discussion about NBA. Like, you know, there's been a lot of talk about the parody, and it's like we had eight different champs in eight years, and like forget no repeat champions. We've not even had a repeat finalist, and we only only two of those teams in the time period went to the finals more than once, which are the Celticks and Heat. Um so what is that what does that really mean? Like, what what is causing this to happen? And is it a good thing or is it a bad thing? Now I've been thinking about this a lot over the last like few weeks, and it's like to me the two biggest reasons for this clearly is shooting variance and injuries, you know, muscle injuries um in particular. Um now on the injury thing, is the league more injured now than it is in the past? I don't know if that's true or not, to be honest. I'm not I don't know the numbers, the data, what we'll say on that. It does feel like injuries impact the playoffs um more than ever. Um but I don't want to act like it, it didn't impact the playoffs a lot in the past. Um, but the the shot making and the shooting variants to me is a massive reason for this because you know people talk about how this is the most skilled era of all time, and I I definitely subscribe to that, especially when it comes to like the average NBA player. Um, like, do I think the superstars in any era are incredibly skilled? Like, yeah, but the average NBA player now I would say is more skilled than it was 20, 10, even 10 years ago. Um, and a lot of you know, a lot of series are swung by a guy randomly getting hot. Like, for example, in the um Mavericks and OKC series, where Dallas upset the Thunder, the one C thunder, PJ Washington had had an out-of-body experience shooting the ball. And I know some people act like, oh no, that's best because the OKC wasn't guarding on that site, yada yada. It's like, nah, bro. PJ Washington going nuclear like that is, you know, is a random occurrence. You know, another example would be like Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent going crazy in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics in 2023. Like, the average NBD player is just more capable of doing that, and that's gonna lead to more wonky results. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, a good example is what Bones Highland looked like versus the Nuggets versus what he looked like. I'm not Bones Highland, Ayo DeSumo and Jay McDaniels, what they looked like versus the Thunder, I mean versus the Nuggets, compared to the Spurs series. Like it's night and day, you know what I mean? And if the Nuggets beat the Wolves, are they giving the the Spurs a different a different matchup? Possibly, who knows, right? So, yeah, I just think the teams have like the average skill level is so I feel like it's becoming more and more matchup dependent more than it is like alright, who's the best player in the league dependent? You know what I mean? Like, if you look at the previous champions, it's basically like alright, who is an all-time, all-time great? Like, those are the champions. Like, Michael Jordan has six, has basically all the rings in the 90s, you know, basically, not all, not literally, but basically all the rings in the 90s. In the 80s, basically all the rings go to Matty John, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird. Um, in the 60s, they're all going to Bill Russell. You know, 70s was a parody era. Um and I guess you could say 2000s, 2010. It was kind of like that too. But um, yeah, I I mean the thing, the thing is with me is I understand there's been an argument that people have been posing that dynasties are good for the league, and every team, every year having a new champion, kind of dilutes they like you know, dilutes how hard it is to win a champion, makes it less valuable, which is kind of a crazy thing to say out loud. But I think my I can understand that viewpoint, how they want people want a championship to feel really hard, because it has throughout NBA history, like there are a lot of great players that didn't win a championship, you know, your Barclays, your Ewings, your Carl Malone's, your Alan Iverson's, uh I mean, there are plenty, of course, that I can think of. And in this era, the last eight years, a majority of the stars or the franchise players have got it done at some point, you know, and I understand why someone can feel like they don't like that. Now, my thing is whatever happens, it should just be natural, right? If you're in a quote-unquote dynasty era, where you know it's the early 2000s, it's the Shaq and Kobe, it's the KD and Steph, it's the Michael and Pippen type era, you know, if that happens naturally, then so be it. But if the parody happens, on the other end, I'm fine with that too. You know what I mean? If these teams are so good, but so close to each other in terms of you know ability that we're just getting new champions every year, then that's fine with me. I don't have a problem with that. Like, you know. Um, and I think these for novices have gotten a lot better over the years at finding the new advantage, the new you know, being ahead of the curve with trends and whatnot, finding the new meta, I guess you can say. Um, and yeah, I just feel like teams are getting caught faster than ever. Um and as of and I've been thinking, like, you know, a lot of these champs over the last you know, eight years fell off, you know, and some of them can't be helped. Like the sp like the Raptors losing Quiet Leonard, they were always gonna fall off, right? Um, but the Warriors, the Nuggets, and the Bucks won their championship, and since then have been really I mean, really bad is a little bit harsh, but like they've been nowhere near that level. I mean, the Nuggets a little bit, but they've kept they've slowly but surely kept falling off from that elite status as a franchise. And of course the Warriors are well beyond that, and the Bucs are both well beyond that at that at this point. But it's like I've been thinking, it's like really this is gonna sound crazy, but team building has been like I mean, winning a championship has kind of been like halting you from your team building success because once you win a championship, that's when you become sentimental as an organization, and you start keeping players that you should probably move on from, you know. You know, that's when emotion comes in the way in terms of team building, and I think that's when you start making the wrong decisions, when you start saying we're not gonna make this trade because this player means too much to their franchise. Now, I can understand that from a loyal to his perspective, you wanted to write it out with certain players, and I don't blame any fan for thinking like that or any team for thinking like that, but in reality, you're holding back your team from getting better, you know what I mean? Like, for example, the Warriors won the championship in 2022 with Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Draymond, and Draymond Green. And look what those players turn out to be in the following years, you know, and I'm sure at some point they thought about trading Klay or Draymond, but they're like, nah, these are franchise legends, you know. If more than these are franchise GOATs, these are the pillars of their franchise history. We're not gonna trade them, and I don't blame them for doing that, but as we saw how it played out, like it kind of nuked their chances to contend with Steph Curry. Um, and the Bucks are in the same boat, like they won the championship, and they probably should have moved on from guys like Brooke Lopez and Drew Holiday earlier than they did. And to be fair, they did trade Drew for um Dame, which ended up being good value, I would say. But for them, I mean Middleton just falling off because of his injuries, you know, killed their their window. Um, and the Nuggets, like, I really do think they should have been looking to trade guys like Jamal Murray earlier, and now they're they're saddled with the Christian Bond contract. Aaron Gordon feels like his body is failing him, and it's like, ugh, where do they go from here? You know? Um, yeah, just spitballing some ideas because like I don't I I'm not gonna act like we we know why, we know how to stay good and all that, but it's been interesting to think about of late. Um, and alright, moving on from NBA to the World Cup, which I can comfortably say has been amazing to watch through these first few games. But I'm not gonna talk about on the pitch too much. I'm gonna talk about you know this format, some of the new rule applications and stuff like that. And the first thing I had to talk about is the complaining about a 48 team World Cup, and this whole discussion has been I mean painful to hear, to be honest with you. Like, I just you know, I'm trying I'm not trying to try to not disrespect anyone, but like I just can't fathom some of the arguments that I've been hearing. Um, and it should be obvious after the first few games how ridiculous it sounds. Um but yeah, so the argument that we've been hearing about the World Cup being 48 teams is that it's gonna dilute the competition and there are gonna be too many, you know, bad teams that get just obliterated, you know, 5-0, 6-0, 7-0, yada yada yada. Now, obviously, this has been debunked immediately. We just saw Kepford draw with Spain, we've seen Iraq, I mean Iran look good, we've seen all the African and Asian countries look great, we've seen the North American countries look great, we've seen the European countries kind of struggle, you know, if we're being honest. I mean, relative to expectations at least, we've seen them really struggle. And like it's just kind of crazy to me, like it's clear that the countries, football in these countries, in all countries, I would say, develop has only developed more over the years, you know. And I think the clearest example of this is the United States team. Like, if I look at the US team right now, compared to the US team in like 2002 or 2006, like back then there were not too many American players playing in Europe, you know. And uh it was like you know, Brian McBride, Brad Friedel, and then it became Dempsey and Donovan. Even Donovan didn't really play that much in Europe, he mostly was an MLS player. Um and you go to now, you look at the team now, the whole team is playing in top five leagues basically. Um there are I mean the whole back, the whole back four is damn near playing the Premier League. Uh Kyler Adams, Premier League, uh Pulisic, AC Milan. Uh Balogun is playing at Monaco. Like these teams are all these guys are all playing in top five leagues. You know, a lot of these guys are big money signings. Um and that's just over the last 20 years how much has changed. Um, so to act like to not accommodate that in the World Cup would just be insane. Like, imagine we're still at uh you know 24 or 32 teams, like that'd just be ludicrous. The idea that you would not can like the World Cup, and the thing is, the World Cup has always expanded how big it is. I mean, the first World Cup was at 13 teams, and you know, people act like 32 was a perfect number. 32 only started in 1998, you know, so it's it's clear that it's expansion is needed, expansion is deserved, and it only makes for a better viewing product. And I just I also on top of that, I just don't understand how people are complaining about more World Cup games and more knockout games because the new format or the new number of teams in this in the tournament is gonna lead to more knockout matches because now we have a round of 32. Like, how are you upset at more knockout football? I just don't understand it. Like the quality is still there, and then the the knockout is more knockout games. Like, obviously, FIFA is doing this from a financial perspective, right? Like, obviously, we know that, but from a fan perspective, what are you missing out on from this happening? I don't understand it at all. Um, so yeah, that's the talk there. The one thing I want to talk about with the hydration break. Now, coming into the World Cup, I didn't really have a problem with this, but having it watching it played out is kind of annoying, I'm not gonna lie. Now, I think some of the talk about the hydration break ruining the flow of the game is kind of like overblown and kind of a lot of confirmation bias goes into that. But yeah, I just do think like I think these hydration breaks have been like three minutes to me. That's too long. That that as a viewer, that's kind of annoying, you know. In a way, it's kind of made these games go by faster. I don't know, I don't know if it's a bad thing necessarily, but it at least for me, it feels like the games have gone by faster when it gets broken up into quarters, essentially, right? Um, and I just think like obviously that when football fans have been so used to no commercial breaks, you know, you get 45 minutes break, 45 minutes game over. Now it's like 22 minutes break, 22 minutes halftime, 22 minutes break, 22 minutes game over. It's kind of like it's and I understand people are not enjoying that, and I think I understand. I mean, okay, first of all, we know that these hydration breaks being three minutes long is clearly a ploy to commercialize the game and have more commercials and whatnot implemented for these uh TV channels or whatnot. But I do understand that in the heat that you know, player it might be good for players to have a little water break in between so they don't pass out on the pitch or whatever, you know. But I just think three minutes is entirely too long, like make it one minute, in my opinion. One minute, no no commercial break, and let's get on with the game, you know what I mean? Um, but one thing I had to disagree with the uh general consensus is that a lot of people have been saying, like, oh, we don't need the hydration break in games where it's not that hot. Now, realistically, I get that because it's kind of feels crazy to be indoor and to have a hydration water break to cool off and whatnot when it's not even that hot. But from a competitive standpoint, a lot of people have been arguing that the hydration break impacts the game. Now, I personally don't feel like that, but if you feel like the hydration break impacts the game, then from a comparative advantage standpoint, it makes sense for them to apply it in every game no matter what, so that knows one team plays on different rules than another, you know what I mean? So I don't mind them applying it to every game no matter what. Personally, my biggest issue has been the length of the break, like three minutes is just entirely too long for a football match. Um, yeah, so that was it. And the last thing I want to talk about, I've loved the implementation of these new of the VAR, you know, of VAR um at the World Cup. I mean, we had the the corner the corner kicks, VARs were the overturn corner kicks that were given. Um, in the USA Paraguay match, they were able to um see that a player died in reverse decision. More of the as long as they're fast, I'm I'm I love all of it. Like the corner kick stuff has all been super fast, so that's been great. I thought the USA Paraguay thing was a little weird that it took them that long to decide, and they basically overturned the call during the free kick, which made it like a whole thing weird, but um, yeah, more good decisions, I'm all for. Let's just try and speed it up. Like, for example, for that dive that was given against Paraguay, we didn't need the ref to go to a monitor to decide that. Just give the power to VAR to overturn decision and live with it, you know what I mean? Because it was clearly a dive, everyone could see that was a dive. We don't need the referee to stop the game, run to the sideline, go look at it, and then announce to the world that it is changed decision. Just have the VER check it, hey, buzz down, hey, that's the wrong call, switch it. Let's move on, you know what I mean? But yeah, in general, I've loved the the end. They've had the new rules with the quick throw-ins, um, the injury rules where if you're going down, you have to sit on the sideline for a minute. All this stuff I'm a fan of, you know, less time wasting and whatnot, and more football is always good to me. Um, and the last thing I want to talk about was more on the pitch. Now, coming on coming into the World Cup, my pick to win it all was definitely Spain. You know, they're coming off the Euros where they won it all. And uh, and to me, they were clearly the best team in that competition. Um, under under Dora Fentu, I've really enjoyed watching them play. Of course, Yamal to me is the best player in the world. Um but after watching that first game against Cape Verde, and the result is not the reason I'm so worried about, worried in quotes, because ultimately I don't really care. But I'm worried about Spain's outlook. But I mean the space they gave to Cape Verde in that game on the on the break. If you give that space to a team with more quality, you are getting cooked. Because it's not like Spain have you know the best defenders in space and whatnot, like Laporte and uh Kubarsi, Cucurella, and uh who's the right bet? I guess Marcus Laurenti is fine, but it's not like their center backs are guys you trust to be you know monsters in transition defensively. So if you if you go against more quality with that kind of defensive shape, they're in trouble for sure. And their attacking quality outside of Yamal is shocking, is shocking. Like Oyuratabal, Farran Torres, Gavi. No, hell no. Nah, Nikki Williams, he came on late in the match. I know he's got some injury stuff, but um, they're gonna need him and Yamal to be huge, huge factors going forward. Um, yeah, and they need Pedri and Roger to be infallible, they need that to be the best midfield combination at the World Cup for them to win the whole thing. Um so yeah, I don't feel great about my Spain pick, to be honest with you, but it's still early, and of course Yamal only played like 15 minutes. It is kind of a worry that he only that they needed him to come on. Um of course he's coming back from a major hamstring injury, so how he react how he plays after that in general is a big scare anyway. So yeah, we'll see how it goes. Um but yeah, that's it. I mean that's all I got for this week. We'll be never back next week.