MARCH MADNESS, THE BEST SPORTS TOURNEY? | EP 27

 What's up Benchwarmers! Join Zach and Ben as they dive into the exhilarating moments of March Madness, share personal off-season updates, and explore the best sports championships to watch. This episode covers everything from NCAA basketball buzzer-beaters to golf shots and NFL contract news. 

We hope you join us on the bench! Like and Follow us on @thewaterbrospod on TikTok and Youtube. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!  

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Water Bros Podcast. As always, we're your hosts. I'm Zach, and this is my little brother Ben Hameen. And we are here, Ben. So grab a drink, get to the bench, pull up and watch the national championship for March Madness. It is coming to an end as we speak right now. Benny, how are we doing today, dude? Oh, we're this March Madness Championship Monday.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Yeah, a little March Madness Championship Monday. There's not much better than March Madness. I mean, we're gonna dive into it. We're gonna talk best tournament type sport or tournaments in sports, as I believe March Madness is right up there. But it is awesome watching the championship game. Looking like Michigan might pull it out.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah, Michigan pulling away. As we know, we you and I chatted. I was pulling for Arizona to get the uh upset on Michigan, and that didn't happen. But Michigan's looking pretty tough.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah, I mean Yukon's keeping it tight here with just under 15 minutes left, just got a uh fast bake fast break layup, keeping it interesting, keeping it tight.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Do you know what the spread was and what the over-under was, Benny? Going into it? I don't think I saw.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

I don't remember what the spread was, um, but now I'm curious. Now I want to look at what it was. So going into the game, it closed at. Oh, I can't see it. Oh, there we go. Okay, so it closes Michigan nine and a half, or it opened at nine and a half. Point favorites. Closed at six and a half. So right now, you know, the UConn are right covering. Yep, they're covering right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

So that was a that was a filthy uh filthy little dropback jumper from Michigan just now. Oh yeah. But no, it's gonna be awesome. The beauty, because there's about 13 minutes, is we'll probably be recording still when this ends, so we'll be able to give our live reaction to the champion. Obviously, no skin in the game from either of us, but nope.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, no skin here, just hoping for a good game and hoping for you know, maybe a buzzer beater to end. That would make things very interesting, and I wouldn't I wouldn't mind that at all. But outside of just live reactions to March Madness, we're also, since we're in the offseason, we'll fill the jug, but we've got some March Madness style high quality H2O coming for the people, and not only that, like I mentioned, we're gonna be touching on the top five playoffs or tournaments in sports, in our opinion. After that, we'll wrap it up with some offseason snacks. What's going on in the football world? What's going on in the world of sport in general, and how we can talk about it all?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

There's a little bit of madness all throughout March, and I can't believe we're already in April. But dude, tell me apart from uh a national championship game on tonight, what is filling the jug?

SPEAKER_00 3:21

You know, I think for me, I mean, this weekend was fantastic. Easter weekend, uh, you know, enjoying Easter with Rudy, and you know, we we laid out we had carrots out, and the Easter bunny nod on the carrots like he's the reindeer at Christmas. Oh, had eggs sprinkled throughout the house to lead to Rudy's basket. I mean, he was just loving every bit of it, and and so that that really filled the jug, had a party with our family, had a party with Heather's family. Um, and so it was a fantastic weekend, all in all. That that fills the jug family time, and uh was able to take a little bit of a break last week work-wise too, wasn't just fully working the whole time, so that's good. You know, it was uh positives all around for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

I love it. No, and uh happy uh belated Easter to all the bench warmers hanging out with us listening to the podcast. I don't know. I don't know. Uh we don't have probably enough people listening to have a name for that listening group, but bench warmers. Bench warmers bad.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

No, that's not bad at all. That's that's a good poll right there.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah, I I like bench warmers, but yeah, Easter was fantastic. We obviously Saturday with our family, it was a absolute blast. I love it when the weather gets nice enough to be outside because those parties are just so fun. The kids play and run around uh with reckless abandon, yeah, not a care in the world, and uh inevitably we always just kind of devolve into some competitions, and that's just a good time. Yeah, it is a great time. Those those parties are I gotta I gotta ask you, are you sore from your pull-ups, my friend?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

I am sore. Yeah, the upper body is sore because the next day I ended up doing pull-ups at uh at Heather's family, too. So I'm I'm double double.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

The competition continued, huh?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah, it continued in my eyes. I wasn't able to do as many the next day. Um, yeah, the upper body's feeling it. And little does everybody know, I also pulled the muscle in my thigh. I more got like a cramp. I cramped in my thigh doing a pull-up, which is like the weirdest thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Jay and I were talking afterwards. He's like, dude, you gotta figure out your thigh and hamstring situation because we go we go dancing and it cramps and gets all tight, and we're doing pull-ups, and you you get going and you get a cramp that's hurting you. It's it's not a good situation.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

I think I should you know get out of bed at night and start stretching with Heather. When she she stretches before bed, and I'm like, Hey, uh I should stretch it. You just gotta join. Yeah, you gotta join that party. So that would be that would be a lot better because yes, I am struggling with the the injuries as of late.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

So I gotta you gotta do some muscle care, some mobility, some it's too funny.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Yeah, I mean, I'm not 20 anymore. I gotta gotta figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

No, yeah, I'm feeling it for sure. I haven't done pull-ups in a long time, and so I'm I'm feeling I'm feeling it a little bit. Yeah. Yeah through the shoulder blades and you got your delts, you know, you got the the back workout going when you do the pull-up.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

I don't use those muscles very much apparently the core, but the core too, like you know, you're really tight for your core to get those pull-ups, so feeling it there.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Um it's a great workout. Jay now wants a pull-up art in the gym, which I'm I'm all for. It's a yeah, it's it's a great test of your uh physical fitness level.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Oh, for sure. And you're you're yeah, literally, it's the name, but you're just pulling up your whole body weight, you know? So so how many of those can you do? So I gotta yeah, I gotta figure that that that part out and keep on keep on working on the thigh.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Are you still feeling it today? You're still feeling in the thigh today?

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Uh no, the thigh no. No, thigh I feel fine. But the upper body, I feel sore.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Okay. I'm glad you're you still have a cramp a couple days later.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

That's how I know it wasn't a poll, it's just a cramp, uh a very embarrassing cramp, but but we made it through.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

I love it. Ben, one other thing that I want to say is fill in the jug, is right now. I mean, obviously, sports were in the off season, but the TV game right now is pretty strong, as well as movie game. I went and saw Project Hell Mary, that was amazing. Yes. Um, I'm a big Star Wars nerd, and they're coming out with just today came out with a Star Wars Darth Maul standalone series. Oh. So I'm I'm pretty excited about that. It is animated, but I'm not above a cartoon, so that's gonna be exciting to watch. There's there's a lot of good stuff going on right now. Survivor is in the thick of it. Survivor's in it. Love on the spectrum was absolute wholesome, just wonderful entertainment.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Yeah, feel good. Oh, yeah. So well, I think I think for me, I look at it like um, I can't believe that we never watched Jury Duty and it came out in 2023.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Oh man, jury duty's so funny. Company or treatment, are you guys all the way through?

SPEAKER_00 8:40

So we finished jury duty last night. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

So good, huh? Awesome. So good. And the dude's just so genuine, he's just so good. If if anyone has not listening to this has not watched Jury Duty, please go and watch it. It's on Prime. So worth it. So good. Yeah, it's incredible. And Benny, believe it or not, with Company Retreat, lightning has struck twice. They've they've done it back to back.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

It's so good. And you so you so Heather was telling me, and I didn't remember this. I thought I thought she was lying, but you think company retreat is better?

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Um, I think it is more fun because they can kind of get away with more, because it's a private company's retreat, and so they're not kind of bogged down by the restrictions of a courtroom and the whole jury. Like the antics that go on are absolutely insane.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

So on another level, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Like it's so funny. The guy all the time is just like, I mean, you couldn't write a script for this. Like he actually says that in his little interviews. He's like, you couldn't write a script like this. Like, my my family won't believe this. I'll be like, there's no way, like, you couldn't even make this up for television. Like he's saying it in his little side interviews. That's a lot. It's so good. Yeah, and the the dude's just an infectious personality, so I think you'll like it a lot.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Okay, well, yeah, we're gonna have to yeah, start watching that one, I'm sure, tonight or something, because we loved jury duty, so we're we're ready to get right back on the train in that type of series.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, it's it's a good time.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Another great, just wholesome entertainment show. We need more of that in this, uh, especially in the off season when we don't have as many sports. And but I will say I have been enjoying watching some basketball. You know, it it is fun to watch this the high-level basketball. I am going to the mammoth game tomorrow night, too.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Oh, heck yeah. The mammoth, eight, that is some fun stuff. I obviously don't catch everything, but I I do catch all the highlights that always comes up. I make sure to tune in to at least that. And it's it's just so fast. It's so good.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah, so fast, and we'll I'll be right on the the glass. I'm excited about that. Um, but we're gonna see I'm gonna see Connor McDavid play, one of the best players in the NHL leading scorer in the NHL.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Heck yeah, dude. That's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah, so it should be a good time. So there's a there's a lot fill in the jug, I think, on on both our ends. And if you couldn't tell, we're still in our work outfits.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah, we're we're dressed up for the pod today. We uh did not change at all.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Yeah, so no changing, just taking care of kids, putting them in bed, you know, is trying to give wives a break when we get home. You know the drill. That's uh that's Water Bros football right there.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

That's life. Well, and then the weather was beautiful today, so like the kids played outside, they were exhausted, so bedtime. Like Gwen went down early, like six o'clock, because she just was out hooped.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, she was just so tired. Yeah. And and Rudy was exhausted too. He was in the same boat. They went on a walk around daybreak today, so he was tired and ready, didn't fight me at all, had a bath before bed, so he was ready.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

No, it's it life is good, man. The off-season is the off-season, but it's been good.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

But how about we recap? Speaking of off-season, how about we recap in April the some high quality March Madness H2O?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Some high-quality March Madness H2O. Heck yeah, dude. I think well we'll highlight obviously. Yukon is in the championship right now playing for for the W, but I think my favorite one is the um Elite 8 buzzer beater for UConn, three-pointer to take them into the Final Four. Um, and uh that was over. I'm forgetting who they were playing against. Yeah, they beat Duke. Duke, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

And the buyer of the year, Cameron Boozer.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Yeah, Cameron Boozer has the ball and uh trying to move it down the court. They're in the lead. Duke really just needs to protect the ball. They don't, and Cadence throws it away. Yeah. And if just from the deep, way beyond the arc, hits a three. He hadn't hit a three all game. True freshman, right? If I'm not mistaken. Yeah, correct. So good. And then you got Dan Hurley coming up and just looking like he's gonna body the ref, but they he's just so excited to just absolutely yeah, headbutts the ref.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

I mean, unbelievable charisma and energy in that movie.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

And it I mean, if you look back at it in the way that that happened, it wouldn't have been a shock if Dan Hurley got a T right there.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Like he made contact. Risky business there.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Yeah, if I'm Duke, I'm I'm probably pretty upset about that, but hey, neither here nor there at this point.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah, and then I mean they're they're in the dance, and Duke's not, so that's true. Yeah, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

They're trying to fight for their life right now, taking out referees, like oh I know.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

They just had a big old collision at the end of the court. And Dan Hurley was in there helping him up. Yeah, he's he's always in there. He's everywhere. He he's playing all over the place.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, he's not afraid to get in the scrum.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

They actually have a uh comp not a conference, a documentary that came out about Dan Hurley and his journey with Yukon that I think would be a good watch.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

That would be a good watch, and I would be very interested in watching. I find him very fascinating. Um But the so the other side of the token, so we have Dusty May, who's leading Michigan, and his son is on the team, which it would be really cool if his son got in the game in the national championship. Doesn't look like it will be that way right now with how close it is, but in the Elite Eight, he did get in the game and drilled a three in the corner. Charlie May drilling a three in March Madness, playing for his dad, wearing the M on his chest. Like, really, I mean, just storybook type stuff, father and son. That's something you just never forget.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah, I mean, it's so cool to be able to play for your dad in the biggest stage and getting the job done. I mean, Michigan right now, pulling away, like yeah. It's awesome. But yeah, Benny, I think you gotta you gotta dive into some NBA, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

I do, and since this, you know, we did have some snafoos with some recording last week when I had written down some of these stats. The frustrating part is since this all happened, Luka Doncic has gotten injured, and Austin Reeves has gotten injured, um, with not like some pretty serious injuries, which is not ideal. But Luca was the tenth player of all time to hit 600 points in a calendar month. And just to put this in perspective, as the worst trade of all time, if you're the Dallas Mavericks, Anthony Davis hasn't scored 600 points since he was traded to the Mavericks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

So they uh yeah, they should be regretting that. Um 100%. And the other two big things, of course, includes our king, LeBron James. And LeBron is the all-time winningest player in NBA history, regular season, and playoffs, passing Kareem Abdul Jabbar. So he owns the record books at this point.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

But the last one, which is one of my personal favorites, speaking of fathers and sons playing or coaching, whatever it is, Braun and Bronny just had the first ever connection in the NBA. Father-to-son assist, as Bronny drills a three-pointer, just absolutely iconic. Something, once again, you'll never be able to give away. Like that's in history forever.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

And that I mean it's so cool. And I mean, I know Bronny, I mean, power to him because he gets a lot of flack being who he is, and uh there's a lot of credibility critique of like he should he be there, shouldn't he? But I think he's really coming into his own. I feel like he's developing. Um, I mean, you've highlighted how much time he's getting in the G League and getting stuff done there. And so uh, I mean, I think time will tell, but to get an assist and be playing with your dad and be playing at a level where you're contributing to the team. I mean, how cool! How cool is that to play father?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

And he's getting more and more minutes because of how well he's playing, and that's just a testament to hard work, and he's keeping his head down because it could be very easy having LeBron James as your dad to not be as diligent, but he's he's a pro and he is proving that he belongs.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Goodness bless you. Yeah, no, he's I I wish only the best. I think it'd be cool to see him continue to get better and to just overcome all the nice airs. Yeah. 100%. And Benny, I just thought of another thing that I need to highlight that I forgot to talk to you about on Saturday. Is obviously we're going into Masters Week.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

And there was a lot of golf this last weekend, but Bryson DeChambeau was having some crazy shots. Like, did you see the highlight of his 300-yard three wood? Like, right to the pin. Did you see that one?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

No, I I think I saw that he dunked one, didn't he dunk one?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Yeah, dunked one with where he chipped it in and it didn't even touch the green, just sunk in the hole. Like Bryson had insane shots over the weekend, and so that got me really excited for the Masters.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

He's he's been on an absolute tear, and he won again. He won in South Africa. Oh, that was, yeah, South Africa.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yeah, I think that's the I think that's the one the highlights I was seeing.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah, because he won back to back in Singapore and then South Africa. You're right. Yeah. And both were in playoffs. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

But all of my all of my feed golf wise has been Bryson DeChambeau just absolutely ripping a golf ball. And it's I'm all here for it.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

I absolutely love it. Yeah, I mean, for me personally, I don't think there's anything better on a golf feed than to see him just ripping a three-wheel driver.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

It's incredible. And it it's everything that I can just dream about being on a golf course, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

I mean, the Masters this weekend is gonna be very interesting. There's I think there's gonna be a lot of fireworks. I'm gonna make a hot take here. I don't think that Scotty's gonna be in the mix. I think he hasn't been he hasn't been playing very well. That's not lucky.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

I was gonna say I haven't seen his name really popping up much. So well, and he he just had his second um son, him and his wife did. And so And we know from Scotty that his priorities are Yeah. Family, you know, like he at the end of the day, he lo like he's grateful for golf and what it's done, but I feel like he's one of those that does have priorities straight in that regard. Like he knows what what he does it for, and he's not gonna forgo his family by any means.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Here's the question for you, then heading into the Masters, just while we're on that subject.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Is it going to be a back-to-back European winner or is it going to be an American? Or you could say anyone in the world, or is it gonna be an American that comes out on top this weekend?

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Oh, that's a good question. Because last year it was um Rory. Rory, right? European, yeah. European win there from the where is he from? The he's from England, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, with a name like Royal McIntyre. Oh, I'm sorry, he's from Northern Ireland. I was gonna say he's he's from uh yeah, he's gotta be Irish with McElroy.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Yeah, he's Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland, forgive me.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

No, you're good. Um, I'm gonna say just because it's been a good year for the U.S. win and stuff, you know, we had great wins in hockey. I'm gonna say the Masters is gonna be won by an American this year. I would have to look at this bread to actually pick somebody and see which horse I feel good about.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

But I mean, I'm getting I mean Bryson DeChambeau's playing.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

He's playing on a heater, so that that's where I would lean right now, but I'm kind of a Bryson DeChambeau stand, so that's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

I mean Bryson by favoritism. He'll be up there. I think Colin Moraka was playing some good golf. I think I mean JJ Spawn just won last weekend and he won a major last year. So there's there's some guys that that are playing some good golf right now. I mean Akshay Batia, he's playing some good golf right now.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Look at you knowing your depth in golf.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

Oh, yeah, I know. I know my golfers. I I love watching golf. I I it's one of my favorite things to put on on a weekend because you it's in the background, then like the sounds, and just hearing flush golf shots all day is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah. That is one of the most satisfying sports sounds in all time.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Definitely. Mount Rushmore golf sounds. You gotta have a clean driver.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Yeah, just a on that absolute nukes driver. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

And then like the the mic on the hole, or just the sink putt, and you hear the little cup cup noise, you know what I mean? Like that's also a great one.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

One of my favorites is the sound of the ball hitting the green on like an approach shot. Yeah. Just like a thud, yeah. Just yeah. That's some that's some good stuff. Just pull up golf ASMR after this. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's I might volunteer that to Heather, like, hey, let's try going to sleep to this tonight.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

To just some golf ASMR. That's too funny.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

You know. My golf ASMR would be just us muttering swear words to ourselves the whole time. Yeah, it'd be uh like from home alone. Yes, very much so. Uh home alone thing, Harry. Gosh.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Too funny, dude.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

You know, before we touch on the top five like playoffs or tournaments, just since we're talking golf, yeah, you know, I just want to throw in one of the off-season snacks because we're on a golf roll right now.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Yes, we are. We're deep in the golf right now. So let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

So let's just touch on it because it's the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room. You know, Tiger Woods will not be at the Masters. He is gonna be in rehab, alongside uh Puka Nakua, his rehab bro. Um that's right. That was pretty wild last week. Both those things happening.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Crazy chain of events in uh, I mean, with with Tiger Woods, obviously second DUI rolls his car. Um just an absolute mess. Just just a bad situation. I mean, thank goodness that he's not like in bad shape or anything, right? He he came out of it to where he can get help, he can go to rehab and and take care of himself that way, but yeah, he's not dead or anything, like you know, or he didn't kill anybody.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

I mean, it could be Yeah, thank goodness.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Like it could be a way worse situation than it is. Like, really, it's just like a highlight of hey, this guy needs to take care of himself.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Yeah, he needs some help. And I mean, when you've had 25 plus surgeries on your body, I I don't know of anybody that's not gonna be addicted to you know some painkiller type of.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

I'm yeah, I'm sure he has chronic pain that he manages and deals with, but if you're gonna do that, you gotta take care of it. I mean, say what you want to say about Dave Portnoy, but his his whole point was like, I don't care if he was drinking, I don't care if he was under the influence of prescription drugs, whatever he was doing, why is he driving himself anywhere? Yeah, you riches up. You can be driven wherever you go to make sure you're safe. And uh it's just a responsibility thing. You gotta you gotta own up and and be responsible in your decisions, and that's not what happened.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

No, I completely agree with that. It's it's very unfortunate, and you know, at least for both those individuals, hopefully they're getting help that they are seeking out that they need.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Yeah, and on like the Puka front, and I mean we can hang out in the off-season snacks here for a second, Benny, and maybe we close on the top five playoffs because this will spin right into our NFL stuff. That's true. Uh we have Jackson Smith and Jigba gets paid an absolute bag. He's making what 41 million in his new contract. 41 and a half or 42 and a half one month. Like it it's an absurd number for a wide receiver. He he reset the market, and Puka Nakua is that guy. He's one of those dudes who should make a ton of money, and he's coming up on that contract negotiation cycle. Yep. And he can't be a distraction, and that is what he has been since playoffs for for the Rams. Like it's it's been pretty constant.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Well, and even before the playoffs, like throughout the regular season, I think there were a couple instances of him doing things, and and it's just it's unfortunate because you know, uh he's an absolute dog, and I think he'll be fine, but yeah, I mean it's another one of those scenarios where it's like you have all the resources in the world, and all the Rams are telling you is like just don't mess up. Yeah, like just keep keep you know, keep level-headed. That's all we need.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

And please don't, because Puka is so fun to watch, he seems like a great dude, and we're fans. He's he's from BYU, we're Utes, obviously, in this podcast, but great representation of Utah football uh coming out of BYU from Puka. Oh so love love seeing him. He's always great on Pat McAfee. Yeah, um seems just like a great dude to hang out with, but has just obviously been dealing with some personal demons that hopefully can overcome, man.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Yeah, I I hope so. And you know, there that's one issue that you know some teams are dealing with, but what's uh what's going on in Philly? Seems like you guys can never figure out.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

What was I watching the other day? There's a comedian that was doing like a a QA and someone asked him, was like, hey, how do I tell people that they're annoying and that they're bothering me? And that like he's like, How often is this happening? He's like, it happens all the time. And his uh comeback was, well, if you meet um if you meet more than two assholes in one morning before noon, then you're probably the one. Like you're probably the problem, and uh like that's how I feel with Jalen. Like it people just keep saying and keep saying the narrative keeps coming up. It's like it must be. Like it at this point, there has to be something there that's real, and it's just a distraction. And so I I just hope they can figure it out, dude.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

I mean, he he really does have like a different demeanor about him, you know, like he just he just operates differently than most.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

His leadership in the uh his leadership in the locker room, I'd be very curious to see and be like the fly on the wall. Like I I can't imagine him speaking in riddles and uh metaphors landing all that well all the time. Like I I don't know if he's that way behind closed doors, but that's who we see in public. And I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

So, Jalen, tell us what what was it what were you thinking about when you threw that interception in the third quarter? The sun doesn't rise until the sun rises, and then it goes down and it becomes dark.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

That's like what that's that's what I'm that's what I mean. Like he just is always talking in proverbs, and like if that is how he is all the time, like I feel like that that would be tough. Um I mean, wishing him all the best in what he's doing. Like, I I love Jalen when he's playing well, he plays well, but I mean they're saying he's calling you know audibles, not wanting to fully flesh out the scheme or adjust in the scheme. He has what he likes and he doesn't really heed the any changes to what he likes. Like and if that then becomes a detriment to everybody else, that's gonna be a problem. And so I'm not feeling the best about our QB room at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

And it doesn't help either that you you know all the rumors are swirling about trading AJ Brown, and just so you're aware, do you know that in training camp which team the Eagles are gonna be doing joint practices with?

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Are they practicing uh with the Seahawks? Nope. Patriots?

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

I think the Patriots just want a closer look at AJ Brown.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

AJ Brown. Let's get let's uh get some good comps.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Yeah, hey, we just we're ready to we're ready to just get in front of him, have him chat with uh Mike Rabel a little bit. That's gonna be an interesting couple days to see all the stories about that.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

And I mean that was a super obnoxious through line the entire season well of like how discontent AJ Brown was, and there's this whole thing. And so again, if it if people keep saying it stinks, it must stink a little bit. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Yeah, there must be there must be something. I mean, because when you have so many talented people, the ball, you know, the ball can't go around to everybody, right? Like only one one ball to go around and a lot of mouths to feed, so someone might get upset. And especially if they're that season, they were just running the ball, running the ball, running the ball, running the ball. So AJ Brown's probably like, what the heck is going on?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Yeah, and I said it, I said it when we talked about kind of our uh what's it called? The uh combine slash draft predictions, what we want to see. I do think in the offseason so far the Eagles have generally gotten worse. I don't I don't feel like how he's done a lot of his magic yet to make us better.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah, lost lost a little bit of talent for sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Yeah, so I'm still waiting to see see where we uh come out of this offseason.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah. Well, I mean, if there is a team that uh garnered a good Eagles player, it was the Raiders.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

The Raiders be still.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

They've been on a tear, they've been spent money. No, go ahead. They got Nacobe Dean from the Eagles, which was uh that's a great linebacker, but they also got Quay Walker, another great linebacker, and they spent money all these other places, but the biggest signing, Kirko Chains.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Kirko Chains going to Vegas, baby. Coming to save Sin City, getting an absolute bag. Talk about comparisons of QB rooms. You have the Eagles situation, which is is what it is, apparently just a bad deal, and then you go over to just the Vibe Guys Central with Kurt Cousins and uh probably most likely Fernando Mendoza to become the most wholesome companionship of QBs in Sin City, and I I cannot wait to see it.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

I mean, I can only picture like what their conversations are gonna be like and just like how how nice they're gonna be to each other. Like, oh, thank you so much, Kurt. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much, Fernando. Yeah, thank you, man. Yeah, thank you so much, man. Hey, yeah, thank you. Just they're gonna be so wholesome, they're gonna be I don't know, they're gonna be the most interesting quarterback room.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

I want to see like an edit of all their interactions that are wholesome and just be like, heaven, I'm in heaven.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

It it really is a match made in heaven, those two together. I am very interested to see how that all turns out.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Yeah, I I don't think you could get a better senior mentor than Kirk. And how does Kirk do it, man? He he just gets secure contract after secure contract, obviously has a stellar agent. He must be that good of a leader in the in the room.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Yeah, I and he's I mean he's reliable, he's a good good person to have around, and and he can sling it. Like, is he the greatest? No, but he can sling it, and he doesn't cause any issues.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

And I mean they have Raiders have weapons, like they have Ashton Gentee in the backfield, they've got Brock Bowers, who's gonna be uh one of the best tight ends, I think, in the NFL um over his career. Like, I think he is one of those guys, and so to have someone who's consistent and knows knows how to call at the line and kind of be a field general, you know, and actually execute, recognize just until Fernando gets up to speed, like Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

I I mean it takes all the all the pressure off Fernando, and all Kirk is doing is depositing checks. That's all that man does.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Yeah, what was it like five years, like the longest stint of uh guaranteed money in NFL history, I think, is now held by Kirk. Oh, nothing like that. I think he's got the longest streak of guaranteed contracts right now. And he's the third most earning NFL player in history.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

That's uh that's wild that he's so good on you, Kirk. Yeah, hey, good on you. Good for you, Kirk O'Chains. Enjoy Vegas, my my friend.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

When when Jay heard that Kirk was gonna be in Vegas, she's like, we gotta go. We gotta go see a game. It's like she she loves Kirk ever since the quarterback's uh series on Netflix. She is a big Kirk fan.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

So I mean, if you're gonna want to watch him play, you might have to go early in the season. Yeah, because Fernando might be taking over playing.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

He may not be uh he may not be leading the ship for too long, but right.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Oh, which is so wild. Which speaking of the regular season in football, you know, during all this hoopla about the the Eagles and owners are saying things, general managers, we have this whole um I guess owners and coaches really, but we've had this whole situation surrounding refs and not being able to come to an agreement with the NFL refs and coming up with rules to ensure that they can reverse calls for all these substitute refs, which yes, that is good to do, but at the same time, like let's just get a deal done, people. We don't want to watch the substitute refs out here in the billions of dollar organization of the NFL. It's unacceptable.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

No, they need to get something done. I think that's probably the biggest wrinkle that came out of the coach or coaches and owners' meetings uh the last last week or the week before, whatever, um, is that like first you gotta get a deal done, but I mean, just the fact that you can overturn a lot, they're given a lot more overturn power to kind of NFL headquarters. Oh, yeah. That's gonna be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Yeah. I mean, they're basically gonna be consulting all the previous refs that aren't a part of the you know, the negotiations at this point, getting them to make the right calls.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Yeah. But I I don't think I think it's bad for the game. The refs are just such an integral part of the sport. You need to have guys out there that are capable and ready. And obviously, people are gonna say, well, the refs that they currently have aren't capable and ready. There's always gonna be people who complain about the refs, but the NFL is a great product, and the refs, the refs are part of that.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

So whatever they gotta do, they gotta get it done. Yeah, they're a massive part of the game, and you can't you can't deny that nobody's perfect, but the refs they have a tough job, and that's why you need the pros out there doing what they do calling these games.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

It's an impossible task, right? So if you have someone that can do it at a pretty high level, like let's let's get them paid and taken care of. Like it's you're just too big, you're too good of a of a product to not have the best out there.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Oh yeah. I 100% agree. It's it's yeah, it's borderline unacceptable, but we'll see if they can come to some sort of agreement. I don't think it's gonna happen anytime soon, but I would love to see it.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Well, and I mean the the fact that they're gonna make sure that they at minimum have those replacement rests hired so that the season can start on time, like that's that means that negotiations are not going.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Yeah, they are not going at all.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

That is they're pivoting and focusing on like they literally are doing a circle back. It's like, hey, we're gonna pivot hiring others, and we'll circle back to negotiations, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

We would probably call that an impasse of negotiations, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Yeah. You know, yeah, it's it does not uh look like it's boating well for that that process. But no, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

We'll see. It's also it's also not looking like it's boding well for UConn right now, as we're no, I was just doing a little check-in.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Two minutes forty-five seconds left, sixty to fifty-three Michigan lead-in.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Yeah, it's uh and they've been able to keep the white.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

I was gonna say they've been able to keep that that kind of pad for the entire half so far. So I don't I don't know that UConn, unless they I mean, crazier things have happened, but true.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

I don't think Yukon's gonna have it today. I don't think so either, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

And we should shout out UCLA won for the women, so shout out UCLA beat South Carolina, which has been a juggernaut in the game.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

So yeah, their first ever women's basketball title, which is crazy. Yeah, really cool.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

One of the one of the players, her brother won with UCLA, like when did UCLA win last? So was it a few years ago?

SPEAKER_00 39:51

So UCLA hasn't won the yeah, Jaime Hawkes. Um plays for Miami. He didn't win Oh Miami, that's what it was. Yeah, but he didn't win the um the championship, but he did play at UCLA.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Okay. Maybe I just I only saw a little sliver that they both played in the in the game. I think button.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

I think he did play in the championship game, but I don't think they were calling correctly.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

So she has the bragging rights over her brother at this point.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

Pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Yeah, it is pretty sweet. And I think I I think she's lower class, like freshman or something, which is impressive. Bodes well for UCLA. Oh, definitely. Because, you know, she'll keep doing her thing, caravan from deep, and he oh, he drilled it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

See, oh, but he misses the layup and the scrappy play at the bucket. Benny, while this is finishing up, let's just go ahead and dive in. The question is which is the best, best sports championship series that you can watch.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Yeah, for me, I'm thinking, so I'm gonna go from five to one. Okay. Okay. So at number five, for me personally, I'm going to Stanley Cup playoffs, NHL.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

Yeah, I think Stanley Cup is electric.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

I mean, yeah, so fast, the best on best. And not hockey is electric.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

It's like the Stanley Cup itself is an iconic trophy that travels around with the winning team. Everybody loves it, everybody knows about it. So that one's really fun. And those hockey players, they go through, they go through hell and back for their bodies as they go through the tournament, and they all play. Like they're all they have broken bones and just playing.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

But it's all for the guts and glory, so they can raise Lord Stanley. Yeah, it's pretty so good. It's so good.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

The giant cup is sweet. Yeah, it's it's really cool, and and so I think that deserves to be in the top five. For me at number four, I am going to say World Cup. You know, having been in Argentina and witnessing around the world just the amount of energy and passion that goes into that into that tournament. Whether you're a player or a fan, and the country's like it's intense and it's absolutely incredible. I love the World Cup. Argentina's won one, and hopefully the US can figure it out in soccer.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Yes, maybe someday on the men's side. The women's side, they do men's side, right? Just the men's cannot figure out for the life of them to how to put together a squad, but maybe one day.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Yeah, and I mean it's just such an electric, you know, tournament. All you know, every aspect of it, I'm a big fan of.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

And I'm a big fan of country uh versus country. Like any any tournament where it's country versus country, I just feel like there's so much pride, there's so much love for that, and that I I love the juice that comes with the world.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yeah, it it it brings out like a just a different level of of energy and fandom that yeah, you don't necessarily get when you're just watching pro teams or college teams or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Yeah, there feels like there's a little more personal investment when it's your country.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Oh yeah, definitely. So that one comes in for me at number four, and at number three, I am going with the NBA playoffs, okay, leading up to the finals for um for the Larry O'Brien trophy. So I love the NBA, the best of seven series, exactly the same as NHL. You know, it's best on best, and it's more of like the chess match and how you can play the right pieces, how you can get to The title, and they've had a lot of parody over these past few years where they've had yeah, that's very different champions. So I I like that aspect of it.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

And it's hard to beat a Final Seven series for the championship. Like there's just right so much on the line that's always really fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

And especially when it goes to a game seven. That's really hard to beat. Like game seven in basketball is when it's neck and neck. Yeah. And so that one for me is hard to beat there at number three with my basketball roots. And at number two, I'm going NFL. So I think Super Bowl, all the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl. Ultimately, there's really only one tournament that beats that, and that is the tournament of all tournaments. The the group of 64 teams that go and vie for a national championship in March Madness NCAA basketball. It's just it's it's hard to beat. You know, you I I think both of those, it's I I had told you this, it's like a 1A, 1B.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

If I had to choose one ball, I'm going to go.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

Yeah, I don't blame you at all for having March Madness as we're a minute seven, 66 to 58. Michigan hanging on, shooting at the free throw free throw line. Um looking like they're gonna pull it out. Just the pace and the speed of March Madness 2 is something that's hard to beat. Like you just have so much that happens so fast. Um, it's one and done, there's no other shots. It you either perform or you don't, and that that is electric. That is so good. And Benny, I think I would change. Obviously, a big omission that you left out is it the college football playoff, which I think we can both agree has its issues. But if I'm gonna be ranking mine out, I am gonna give the college football playoff a little nod. My honorable mention is maybe masters. I you know, we since we did talk about that, but at number five, I'm gonna put the college football playoff. Big issue though with that one. I just love college football, so I'm gonna put it in there and I watch all those games, but the pacing and the schedule of it is just crazy. Like, yeah, I just I just absolutely despise that piece. Um, but I am gonna put it at number five because I love the game. And then at number four, I am gonna put in World Cup as well. I'll keep that one the same as yours. Number three, Stanley Cup, two March Madness. Number one for me is the NFL playoff and the Super Bowl. Um hard to beat. Just because it's yeah, I mean, it's so good. We watch a lot of NFL football. I'm invested in every game, even if my team's not there, I still just I don't want to miss a thing there. So yeah, no, I I agree.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

And honestly, I mean one of the things you said that that was interesting to me was about um the masters, and it's like if if I could select all four of the majors, all of my crack my top five four majors combined as one, and the masters could do it on its own. I mean the masters is incredible, but all four of them, it's pretty intense stuff. Yeah, it is 100%. Dang, I didn't I didn't even think about that. But the Masters is the is a great honorable mention.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

Yeah, it's it's up there.

SPEAKER_00 47:38

College football is fantastic, we love college football, but I just don't think that the college football playoff is as it doesn't bring as much juice as like you know, some of these others, and it's newer, like it's newer, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

It is very new, it's and it's changing again this next year. They're still finding its footing, it takes away from the bowl games, it's so spread out. Like there are a lot of issues, um, but when the games are being played, I do think it's extremely enjoyable to watch. Um I just I just wish they could figure out the schedule a little bit better.

SPEAKER_00 48:15

Yeah, it's the big gripe from my side. It's a tough scheduling, but I think you know, hopefully, you know, hopefully it keeps on getting better because we love college football that much. But that's easier said than done.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Yeah, it 100%. Like I I think we'll continue to see it evolve. Obviously, the NIL factor is gonna continue to evolve, and I think that's kind of what demotes the uh uh the March Madness for me a little bit. I feel like they've taken away some of the Cinderella story magic that used to be uh such a cool aspect to college basketball that you didn't see in other sports like football, where you could have these tiny schools come out of nowhere and go on a run, and uh that was just part of the magic. Uh, but we won't see that as much.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

Now that's pretty much impossible. I mean, you're not really gonna see that at all, which is yeah, really unfortunate.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

I mean, we had in the final four, wasn't it, one, two, one, one?

SPEAKER_00 49:17

Like it was for all the seeds. It was one, one, two, three.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

One, one, two, three, okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

Yeah, so so not too bad.

SPEAKER_01 49:25

Not terrible, but um, and then a one versus two.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

I mean, you can almost expect that.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

I mean, UConn's been on a pretty amazing run here, but yeah, UConn's got 37 seconds to score four and hold Michigan.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

Oh, so who hit three? Oh, because I'm a little bit behind you. Oh, solo ball, huh? Dagger. Yeah, you did.

SPEAKER_01 49:49

Oh, did they change it to a two-point? I think they just changed it to a two-point. Oh, did they really? Yeah, I think so. And that's brutal. It's unfortunate because uh we're at the end of this episode. I know, we're at the end. We gotta make it these next couple of seconds just to see who wins.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

But just but just to tease the people out there, we're gonna record another episode right now. So you still might hear us talk calling it.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Yeah, in fact, maybe that's the let's do that. We're gonna end this one right where we're at, Benny, because we are we're gonna record uh sports movie bracket to end off our March Madness. I mean, that's gonna be kind of our our movie bracket. We'll go from four groups of eight to one champion movie of what we think is the best sports movie that you can watch, and that's gonna be our episode next week.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

So, so please go and listen.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

And uh we'll uh wait anxiously to see what the result of this game is. But Benny, this is an absolute blast. If you have listened, thank you. We appreciate it. Review, comment, uh, share it with your friends, because we we love all the folks we can get on the bench.

SPEAKER_00 51:07

Absolutely. And stay hydrated. That's most important. That's right. Stay hydrated. Adios. See ya.