Reds Swept by Dodgers & Bengals Blown Out Again

Nick (00:00)
No show last night because the Reds were in the playoffs. But we're back tonight. It's Nick and Neil. It's the height differential powered by Gritily Neil, we'll get into it, but at least the Reds were there, right?

Neil (00:15)
It was a quick stay. I mean, it was a quick stay. I mean, if we're looking for moral victories, I guess we can call it one.

Nick (00:21)
No, I mean nobody expected him to be there this year. So I mean, and you're playing the Dodgers like it's just you're up against it. Yeah, you know, I mean, we kind of expected the outcome, but we'll get into that. We'll get into whatever the Bengals are right now. Little Ryder Cup update, college football, NFL preview, and then some other things around the sports and non-sports world. But I guess played in a little scramble on Tuesday.

We actually played pretty well.

Neil (00:51)
Yeah, I mean since last time we talked we had a nice little afternoon on Tuesday afternoon at the Iroquois golf course me you Josh Hawkins ⁓ Tease and peas to our guy Jerry Roby who tore a ligament in his ankle the night before so we were down a man in the scramble But hey all in all worked out shot eight under we did play pretty well

Nick (01:12)
Yeah, through a couple darts, through one dart right on top of the other team we were trying to beat, which wasn't, wasn't upset about that, but always a good time at the hoop scramble.

Neil (01:23)
And let's be honest,

let's throw a little shade at our guy Josh Hawkins. It was a two man scramble out there. the guy's... The guy's falling apart out there. He's falling apart. Our guy's falling apart on us. He's gotta hit the lab.

Nick (01:29)
I'm not going to throw any shade. I've been in, I've been in that guy plenty of times.

I mean, you were on

me the week before because I didn't play very well. So it can happen at any time. But also I have to clarify, dude, I'm going through listening to the last time we had a show and talking about when you were talking about me potentially being the captain for the Ryder Cup. And I said, I've broke 80 a couple of times. Completely, I misspoke. I've broke 90 a couple of times.

Neil (01:41)
Yeah. He's got, yeah.

That's a lie. Just a lie.

Nick (02:03)
I would love to break 80, but I've shot in the high 80s a couple times. So don't want people think I'm that big, that good of a golfer out there. But speaking of golf, a couple updates after the Ryder Cup. You said, we talked about Rory kind of complaining about the crowd heckling a little too much, said that there was a beer thrown at his wife. You found some evidence that it wasn't.

Neil (02:17)
Yup.

Yep.

It was not a beer that was thrown. It was one fan getting mad at another fan and smacking the beer out of said fan's hand, which then went in the same direction as McIlroy's wife. So, little bit of a coincidental, the smacking of the beer out of the hand and then the wife walking by at the exact same time.

Still not a great look, but not as bad as just a blatant somebody just chucking a full 20 ounce Coors Light at Mrs. McIlroy over there. So not as bad as we thought, but still not great.

Nick (03:00)
Yeah, I mean, it's good that nobody was just launching beers at his wife, which I don't think we were 100 % sure that's what happened. that's, mean, the entire press conference after they won on Sunday, every single player took the time to mention that. So they all thought that it was pretty legit and that it happened. And I guess when a beer comes thrown your way, you're not looking to see how it happened, you just see it. And I guess you guessed that it was thrown, so.

Neil (03:23)
Yeah,

yeah, in real time I could understand why they think that it was a Throne, but per video replay review, there was no Throne beer. It was a Smacked beer.

Nick (03:35)
Little tip, little tip action. I guess dude was just mad that it was in front of him and knocked it out of his hand and it went right towards Mrs. McIlroy.

Neil (03:37)
Yeah. Yeah.

That's what it seems like. ⁓

One fan getting mad at another. you know, that's what happens.

Nick (03:49)
And then also we talked a lot about the envelope rule.

Neil (03:52)
Yeah.

Nick (03:53)
And we both hate it. I think most people hate it. And most people think that it has to be gone by 2025. But I'm a Victor guy. I'm not gonna lie. I cheer for Victor unless it's the Ryder Cup. He didn't look very hurt partying on that bus and on that plane.

Neil (04:06)
Mm-hmm.

Of course not. It was a blatant, he quit the Ryder Cup. He quit it, he got his half point for his team when they were close to the end. All they needed was just a couple of half points and he just said, I'm out, take the half point. And then he's celebrating like nothing happened. So of course, it's just typical European shenanigans is what it is. ⁓ He wasn't as hurt as I think he let on to be. They just wanted to steal that half point for free. And luckily it didn't come down to that, but.

He looked like he was loose as a goose on Sunday night.

Nick (04:46)
He did, and I guess alcohol can do that a little bit. You you wake up with a stiff neck. I know how that is. I mean, it sucks. But here's the thing. Like, if you're gonna, if that's gonna happen and it's gonna be controversial and you're gonna party, you make sure that nobody's recording that and putting that out on social media.

Neil (04:50)
you

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I mean

put a fake neck brace on or something. Like you might not just put one of those little fake neck braces on, know, make it look like it's a legit injury.

Nick (05:12)
Bye.

But how hard is it just to make sure that, if we're putting videos out there of us singing and celebrating on the plane or on the bus, let's just make sure Viktor's not on there. Because that's what's going to happen. People are going to see it and be like, oh, dude, he really wasn't hurt.

Neil (05:29)
Yeah

Yeah, no, that's what we saw and that's what our conclusion is.

Nick (05:38)
But a couple controversial things there at the Ryder Cup. I guess that kind of puts a bow on it. And now we wait two more years until the Americans look to get redemption in Ireland. So we'll see. Have we talked at the beginning a little bit about your Reds? I mean, obviously you're happy they get in the playoffs. Anything could have gone different the first two days to kind of change the outcome?

Neil (06:04)
No, mean the Dodgers are just that much better. Let's just be honest, they just have more talent, they have better pitching, their offense is 10 times better than what the Reds offense is. I was a little disappointed in the outing that Hunter Green gave us as the ace. He's been pitching well lately. He comes in and gives up five runs in three innings, four innings. So you expected better from him. Reds offense wasn't great, wasn't terrible. They weren't clutch. Bases loaded last night in a big situation with no outs, they get no runs.

Sal Stewart's chasing out of the zone, Ellie's chasing out of the zone, they're striking out left and right. So, I mean, all in all, it was an expected outcome. I expected them to go 0-2 out in LA. You you're happy that they made it. It's first time they've made it in a long time, or since COVID, but a lot of people don't count the shortened COVID year. know, first time they made it in a long time. Overachieved, yes, probably. Just, you know, hopefully in the next year they can build on it.

change a few things, get a couple extra bats in the lineup, and let's get back there next year.

Nick (07:03)
Yeah, pretty cool for Hunter Green to go out to his hometown and pitch in the playoffs to make his first start out there. But I mean, there's a lot of pressure there. And we talked about it on Sunday. Really the only chance they had to win was to get that game one win and have Hunter Green pitch a gym, which he didn't do. But you mentioned South Stewardy had a big hit in game two and then struck out with bases loaded. But I guess the hope is that you got a bunch of young guys that now have some playoff experience and-

Neil (07:21)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (07:32)
You could just build on that next year and get back and all those guys have been there before.

Neil (07:37)
Yeah, they've all have to take a step forward though. mean, they can't just have anybody, we had nobody hitting over 270 in the whole season. gotta hit for better average. Don't really have a power hitter. Ellie was that at beginning of the year, but after the first two months he became a contact hitter. So they needed to make a few adjustments, get a power bat or two in the lineup, and I think they'll be all right.

Nick (07:57)
Yeah, they gotta make some moves. And look, I just think you get to the playoffs, you see what this team can do, you add a couple pieces, you add a bat, you maybe add a couple more arms and see what you can do next year. But I know you've gave Tito a lot of slack, but I you also have a Hall of Fame manager with the young team, which is, think you gotta be pretty excited about that.

Neil (08:17)
Yeah, I just wish you would have left Nicolodola win after 14 pitches last night, that's neither here nor there.

Nick (08:22)
Dude, it's everybody.

Like you look at all these games, like Max Fried comes out when he's thrown, what, 70 pitches and he's got through six and not even into the seventh inning and they end up losing. Like I don't want what Craig Council is doing with all his, like he's pulling his starters after 50 pitches. It's just baseball's so different than the game that we grew up with where you're looking for your starter to go eight or nine and finish the game. It's it's not even close to what happens anymore.

Neil (08:51)
No, no, it's a completely different game, you're right.

Nick (08:54)
But the Reds are the only team that don't force a game three. Today's, which is Thursday, it's the first time in major league history where three decisive games have happened in the same day. And the Tigers who struggled the last month and a half of the season are figured it out, one, two out of three, and now they go to the divisional series.

Neil (09:13)
They did.

Yeah, big win for them today, I think, too. One in a blow. 6-3, I guess the Indians got too late. But yeah, Tigers dominated today. They move on. Cubs, I believe, are moving on. They're up three in the bottom of the eighth on the Padres. So ⁓ Cubs will go to Milwaukee. I kind of like the Cubs in that series. Milwaukee now being off for a week. Cubs coming in, playing good baseball. But a big one tonight, Yankees, Red Sox. ESPN's drooling all over it, as they have been all week. ⁓

Nick (09:42)
couple of rookies

too.

Neil (09:43)
Yeah, so big match up there. Be interested to see what happens.

Nick (09:48)
No, you're right. ESPN is definitely drilling over that matchup and it will be a good one tonight. But yeah, think Cubs-Brewers is gonna be a good series. Phillies and Dodgers is gonna be exciting and it'll be good on the American League side too. But we talked about it last week, always exciting for the Major League playoffs and it was good to see the Reds in there. Just wish maybe they would have got one more game.

Neil (10:12)
It would have been nice, but it's neither here nor there. We move on.

Nick (10:17)
We do move on and another team that is having to move on are your Cincinnati Bengals who in the last two games since Joe got hurt have been outscored 76 to 13. The 38 point loss to the Vikings was the worst in franchise history. And then they are outgained by 352 yards on Monday night.

Neil (10:25)
Oof.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yeah.

Nick (10:47)
the fourth worst differential in franchise history.

Neil (10:49)
It is a complete, complete train wreck in Cincinnati. And the other night, 11 penalties and nine first downs. When you have more penalties than first, and they could have had more than 11 because the sub-rules that were declined. Yeah, so we're looking at 14 penalties and nine first downs. I mean, that just doesn't speak just to your lack of talent. That's lack of discipline, lack of coaching, lack of focus. I mean, top to bottom, once again, two weeks in a row. This team's not ready to play.

Nick (11:02)
Yeah, 14. Three with a coin.

Neil (11:19)
They're not giving great effort. They're getting just destroyed. I mean, it is a complete, complete train wreck.

Nick (11:25)
Well, and you talk about the penalties, none of them are really judgment calls either. They're all in the trenches. Amarius Mims lining up off sides. Like, it takes away a 38-yard pass to Tee Higgins. And on a night where you're getting nothing going, you can't take plays like that off the board. And no, they haven't looked prepared. They kind of looked defeated, honestly. And when you lose a guy like Joe Burrow, I guess that's just human nature.

Neil (11:29)
No. Yeah.

Nick (11:55)
a little bit, but this team has had success with Jake Browning in the past. Went four and three with him two years ago. Jake Browning does not look like the same guy, and I don't know if it's the offensive line, if it's the team as a whole, but a team with as many weapons as they do should not have an offense that ranks dead last in several categories.

Neil (12:17)
No, and I mean the Bengals, the first team since 2009 Raiders to be held under 200 yards in three of their first four games. I mean, it's not just the Jake Browning problem. He is a little bit part of the problem. I mean, the other night, seemed like he was be locked in on just one guy, wasn't reading the right reads. mean, were times when Gesecki was open down the field over the middle one play, Jamar was open one play and he missed them. He just kind of just locked in on one guy and just threw it. And we can blame the offensive line if you want. I mean, they aren't good, but.

You know, it's an all around, it's just an all around disaster. And it starts with Zach Taylor, it starts with the coaching and the multiple delay of game penalties the other night. I mean, it's just inexcusable.

Nick (13:00)
mean, you see the one play where they rush three and both the tackles get beat. And then you have your guards, your two guards, your center and Samaje Perine. So you've got four guys up the middle blocking one guy. While two guys are in the edge, just blowing past your tackles and get into the quarterback in three seconds. that's a, don't know if that's coaching, if that's just not being good at your job.

I don't know, but you just look at that still, that picture of that play, and it's just kind of inexcusable. And now you get rewarded by facing a Lions team who everybody was like, hey, they lost their coordinators in week one, they're not gonna be as good. And now all of sudden they look like one of the best teams in football.

Neil (13:51)
Yeah, I mean, after week one, I think they got themselves a little wake up call. And ever since then, they've just been dominant. So Sunday is going to be a long one, I feel like. But the good news for us, more tailgating time. A 420 start or 410 start, 415. So we'll get up there. I mean, I'm just more looking forward to the tailgating scene than I am the actual game. So it's going to be a bloodbath, unfortunately. But got to stick through it.

Nick (14:20)
You gotta stick through it and no, it is tough. But I am looking forward to the tailgate. Just hoping they don't get beat by 70, which at this rate, I you lose once and you fumble it eight times. You're like, hey, maybe it's an aberration. Then what happens on Monday, it's kind of a trend. It happens again on Sunday, which it's likely to when you're playing the line. It's a big problem.

Neil (14:38)
But it's also it's not like we're talking about the offense.

The defense on Monday night was absolutely disgustingly terrible. I mean, the first 100 yard rusher and Sean Payton's tenure with the Broncos, which spans 30 something games, I think. I mean, they were there were holes that J.K. Dobbins was running through. A semi truck could fit through. I mean, the defense was absolutely terrible. I mean, probably just as bad as the offense, as you mentioned, the biggest yardage differential, fourth biggest in NFL history.

So like we can't just put it all in the office as bad as they are. Yeah, the defense is absolutely just right up there with them as being just as bad.

Nick (15:09)
in front of us history.

No, they're not good. There's no positive stats right now. I I guess the only positive stat is there two and two. That's the only thing. You can't look at any stats that have any element of positivity except the fact that they're 500.

Neil (15:34)
True, and for all of our Ravens listeners, we're ahead of you in the standings.

Nick (15:38)
which is,

I mean, they don't look very good either, dude.

Neil (15:41)
Without Lamar for the next two to three weeks, their season's on the brink too.

Nick (15:44)
Yeah, they don't

look very good either. But one game we didn't get to talk about because we were recording this while it was going on was the 40 to 40 tie, the highest scoring tie in the history of the NFL. Everybody was picking the Packers to win the Super Bowl after two weeks. And now, in the two weeks after that, they lose to the Browns and then give up 40 to the Cowboys team without C.D. Lamb. Dak Prescott looked unbelievable.

Neil (16:13)
George Pickens had a great game as well, stepped up.

Nick (16:16)
What's up with these ties? Should there ever be a tie?

Neil (16:18)
Man, wait.

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And what makes me even more mad is on previous podcasts, I've been cussed out twice for falling asleep in these late games. I stayed up for this one. I was like, this is a pretty good game. I've got to see this one to the end. And to see it to the end and it's a tie? Like, what are we doing? We say this every time there's a tie. I mean, this isn't the first time that people have argued over this, but we've got to get away. We've got to do away with this. Like, what's the point of playing the game? What's the point?

Nick (16:46)
Well, I

think Jordan Loving the Packers didn't want it to end in a tie as they barely got the field goal off because they were just lollygagging around there at the end of the game. If that thing bobbles, if they even bobble that a little bit in the end zone, the game's over and that game's in Dallas. I don't know how the clock keeper doesn't just let it go and you make the rest figure that out.

Neil (16:55)
That's true.

That's what I was about to say.

If you're the Cowboys, you fire your clock keeper. If it's at one second, you tick that off. And you're right. You can make the referee go back and put the second on if there's a second. But you don't ever, ever as a home team, stop the clock with one second at the end of a game, ever, when it's your team's benefit. You got to fire that guy. Yeah.

Nick (17:11)
100%.

You've got that control. Like,

that's all in your control. And maybe start it just a little bit early and then start it a little bit late and you make the rest come in and change it. But there's no way that that clock guy should have left a second on the clock without the rest having to come back there and fix it. And you're right. I would fire him.

Neil (17:46)
Yeah, but let's just

get back to the real issue, and this is the ties. Like, you're an ingredients, there should never be a tie in any sport. Even soccer. Like, I hate ties in soccer. Like, kick, go to penalty kicks, do something. There should never be, when there is a competition between two teams or two individuals, that you should walk away without a winner and a loser. It shouldn't happen.

Nick (18:07)
I think

soccer is different.

And look, that's, you know, it's not an American sport. Like it's just the number one sport in the rest of the world. In the World Cup, you play these pool plays, like you get a point for a tie. That's the way it's always been. I'm fine with that. I don't love it. I'm fine with it. In the NFL, no, there shouldn't be ties. But how are you fixing it? Are you putting another five on the clock? Because then, so like say you don't end it in a tie.

Both teams got a possession. Now are you gonna say whoever, if the next team that gets a field goal, they win? Because now that's not fair, cuz they got two possessions, the Packers one So you're kinda opening up.

Neil (18:49)
No, you, you.

Like we've talked, we've talked before about the differences in NFL rules and college football rules and who's right and who's wrong. This is another case, just like the two minute timeout, that college football has it right. They got it right. They don't have it perfect. No, they don't have it perfect because you shouldn't start in field goal range, but they've got the right formula. Let's put the ball in the 35, 35 yard line and let's play football. No, that's what they do now in college football. But I'm saying, they should not start in field goal range.

Nick (19:04)
I don't think they have it right. I don't think either one of have it right.

They used to start on 25, which is even worse.

Yeah, yeah, move it back.

Neil (19:23)
Move

it back to where you have to earn the right to kick the field goal. Let's put it on the 35, maybe the 40, and let's play football. Each team gets a schnitzel.

Nick (19:31)
I

don't think either overtime is the right way to do it. The college game is totally different than the rest of the game is played. So I don't enjoy that aspect of it. There's no clock. I do enjoy the fact that they both get a possession.

Neil (19:50)
What do need a clock for?

Nick (19:52)
Because it's different than the rest of the game. To me, play a 10 minute overtime. ⁓

Neil (19:54)
So, it's overtime.

When you're playing for somebody to win the game, you don't need a clock. What do you need a clock for? You're fricking run down to zero and you're tied again? You don't need a clock. You play until somebody scores. And so it's only...

Nick (20:06)
and and stats

And stats get elevated

in the college football over time. Stats get elevated in the college football over time. Neither one of them are perfect. There's aspects of both of them that I prefer to the other. I prefer NFL because it more resembles an actual football game. But when they used to just be like, kick a field goal and you win, that was basically saying whoever wins a coin toss.

Neil (20:14)
What does?

sure, but who cares?

Nick (20:37)
is gonna win the game. So now at least we're at the place where if they kick the field goal you get a possession. I think if they get a touchdown you should still get a possession. But let's just have a straight up 10 minute half. And if the team holds the ball for over eight minutes and scores under two minutes on the clock, then add an additional five minutes for the other team to score.

Neil (20:37)
Yeah, which was stupid.

Yeah.

What, why do we, let's go back,

why do we need a clock? Why do we need a clock?

Nick (21:04)
Because I wanted

to resemble a football game.

Neil (21:07)
You still have your play clock, but you don't need a game clock. Like, all right, so let's say this game would have continued on, what, Sunday night. So they kick off, the Cowboys now have the ball. They go down, let's say they kick a field goal. Well, the Packers are gonna get another chance because now it's their turn. Like, you just play the game. You play the game, you have your play clock, but the game clock is irrelevant. It makes no, there's nothing to it that makes any part of the game different. Like, what are we up against the clock? Like, what are we up against?

Nick (21:37)
it 100 % makes a difference. Like if they keep scoring in the college game, now all of a sudden it was 14 to 14. Now all of a sudden you're going in a third overtime and it's 28 to 28. And now you're just doing trading two point conversions and that's football? That ain't football either. Now you're into soccer and PKs.

Neil (21:46)
For what?

I agree the two by two. I'm not a fan of the two point conversion rule, but

Nick (21:56)
So

there's issues with both of them.

Neil (21:59)
There is, but I college football has it more right than the NFL does, where you can just end in a tie after 10 minutes. Like, the one drive that the Cowboys took, how much of that time did it take? Seven minutes?

So because the Packers lost the coins or won the coin toss, went on defense, but because the Cowboys took eight minutes, so now the Packers only have two to try to go down and kick a field goal because they're up against a clock that doesn't even, shouldn't even matter. Shouldn't even matter.

Nick (22:19)
Well, that's what I said, like you play a

10 minute half, but if they extend their drive until past the two minute warning, then at zero, you get an additional five minutes. So then it's just, it's a 15 minute quarter. Well, not really a quarter, but a 15 minutes of total time, which is what a normal quarter is. And now it just resembles a regular football.

Neil (22:39)
Well they did it up until what three years ago it was a 15 minute overtime. They shortened it to 10. I don't know if it makes sense.

Nick (22:44)
Yeah, I don't understand why they did that. 10 minutes isn't

long enough because teams can just drain the entire clock.

Neil (22:51)
Yeah, it's dumb. To me, I would just...

Nick (22:53)
Yeah, just go back to where

it was 15 minutes and you don't have to worry about adding an additional five But just play the 15 minutes out. Just play it out.

Neil (22:58)
That would make more sense. more time. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I agree. That's a start. That's a start. I also don't think that, to me, the clock doesn't matter. The game clock and overtime does not matter.

Nick (23:12)
No, look, that's not my biggest argument. Starting on the 25 where you're already in field goal range is my biggest argument. And then the fact that we go to PKs after two scores is, think I hate the fact that they're on the 25 and they can kick a field goal. Even if they go backwards, they can still kick a field goal, which makes zero sense. And then if both teams score twice, now we're basically playing a two point conversion contest.

Neil (23:18)
I agree.

I agree with that too, that's stupid.

I hate, the two

point conversion contest is stupid. It's dumb. You're right, that's not real football.

Nick (23:46)
So I think you've

come to the other side where the NFL is a little better.

Neil (23:51)
⁓ Only when we get to that point where it's a two point fest. ⁓

Nick (23:55)
You're very likely to get to that point!

I mean, how many times in college football overtime

do we see somebody just go wide and score on the first play? It feels like it happens all the time.

Neil (24:06)
It does, but I don't, if we go back and look at the over times over the last, since they've implemented this two point rule, what two, three years ago, more than likely, the game's over before you get to that third overtime. More than likely. I think more times than not, you're not getting to that point. But when you get to that point, then it becomes really stupid. It just becomes stupid when you get to that point. I do that in like the eighth overtime. I don't know, but.

Nick (24:22)
more times than not, but you still can.

You still there?

Well,

I mean, remember Kentucky and Arkansas played seven of them back in the early 2000s?

Neil (24:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, but I mean,

way you fix college is you don't just start in field goal range. You don't just give an automatic three points. You gotta earn it. But the way that they, I think the structure of college footballs over time, to me, is better than the NFL's because, there's not a clock, there's a fake clock that everybody thinks, you gotta rush it,

Nick (24:51)
Would you disagree

if you put 15 minutes on the clock and just let them play?

Neil (24:56)
Well, what if it's not over before 15? You still gonna tie? What are you gonna do?

Nick (25:00)
I mean, if it's a regular season game, yeah.

Neil (25:02)
⁓ for God's sake, now you're back on the ties. You want ties.

Nick (25:07)
I mean, to me, it's better than giving somebody a loss that didn't have a full chance to win the game.

Neil (25:10)
coming.

No, we are not doing ties. you any any argument that you're gonna make that says ties are okay. I'm just gonna throw that out. You're out

Nick (25:15)
I mean...

You can't go back.

They're not going to go back out there after 15 minutes.

Neil (25:25)
Then you go to the college football model and you push it back, like I said, to the 40 yard line, 35, 40 yard line.

Nick (25:31)
I guy'd go to the 50.

Neil (25:32)
There was one, it was a college football video game back in the day where you played basically it was tug of war. It might take a while, but you put the ball at the 50, one team runs one play, wherever they get to, that's where it stops. The next team runs a play, wherever it gets to, that's where it stops. Like you just trade plays and then whoever scores first wins. Could be a field goal, could be a touchdown.

Nick (25:50)
commercial breaks between every

commercial breaks at the change of every possession too.

Neil (25:54)
I don't know about that, but let's play a little Tuggle War play-by-play. Like, let's see how that works.

Nick (25:59)
Like, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. They're both flawed. I don't love ending in a Tie. Also, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is, but...

Neil (26:10)
You also said it's okay. You said after,

it's not okay after 10 minutes, but after 15 minutes, it's okay, which is just stupid. So you're arguing.

Nick (26:16)
I mean, I'm never

going to love the tie But to me, at least.

Neil (26:20)
You're accepting

them.

Nick (26:21)
as long as both teams have a chance to win the game.

Neil (26:24)
Nope. If you're accepting of a tie, can't value your opinion.

Nick (26:29)
Well, mean, when are you valuable of my opinion?

Neil (26:32)
Very rare.

Nick (26:36)
So I don't know, they're both kind of broke. It is a tough thing. I mean, we debated it for ten minutes and it's hard to come up with a know, a fix for it. But I don't know, there's flaws to both.

What college football game are you looking forward to the most?

Neil (26:53)
There's two good ones I think this weekend. Not a lot of good ones, but there are two that stick out. The first one where college game day is going is the Tallahassee, Florida. The Florida State Seminoles hosting the Miami Hurricanes. Florida State coming off that tough loss at Virginia. Hopefully all their players made it out of the stampede unhurt. So they're hopefully at full strength. But ⁓ see they can bounce back against a really, really good Miami team who's coming off. I believe they had a bye week last week. So they'll be fresh and ready for the Noles.

But that's the game that I think everybody's gonna be locked in on.

Nick (27:25)
Dude, Miami,

they play somebody every week, don't they? Like, they're their schedule's super tough. I mean, after seeing what Florida State did against Virginia, I have a hard time seeing Florida State pull off the upset against Miami. Miami's got some dudes and it's just, we get to see maybe Michael Irvin on the sideline in Tallahassee.

Neil (27:28)
It seems like it.

the

unofficial official mascot Michael Irvin. Let's just put him in the duck costume.

Nick (27:52)
And the other one, another top 25 matchup after Alabama kind of reentered the national champion, or at least the playoff conversation with their win over Georgia when everybody put them to bed after they lost to Florida State. Now they get Vanderbilt, a team that beat them last year in Nashville, a team that's undefeated. The goalpost is still in the river from last year.

Neil (28:02)
the surges.

a very tough

They're still floating out there somewhere.

Nick (28:21)
And Diego Pavi is over here running his mouth saying if we play our game, it won't be close.

Neil (28:27)
I that's a very, very confident Vanderbilt team, cocky Vanderbilt team coming into this one. He better watch what he says because Alabama still got some dudes on their side. I mean, we just saw the other night when they went into Athens, Georgia and ended that 33 game winning streak from the Georgia Bulldogs. So don't wake up Alabama more than they need to be. So Diego better watch what he says because I think Alabama one has revenge on the mind after last year. Because let's be honest, that loss kept Alabama out of the college football playoffs.

Like that one loss. So they've got motivation already. They don't need it anymore. So if you're gonna give it to them, they'll take it. But when you're going into Tuscaloosa, it's gonna be tough. I mean, I think Alabama wins this game and I think they win it pretty comfortably.

Nick (29:10)
You're right. They're going to be motivated. mean, obviously you lost to this Vanderbilt team and it's dumb because not only did you lose to Vanderbilt, which nobody in the SEC likes to do, but like you said, they kind of kept them out of the playoff conversation. And now you get opportunity for them to come to your place and they're undefeated. I mean, and they're going to score some points, but Alabama's playing some good

Neil (29:27)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (29:38)
good football Ty Simpson's kind of figuring things out. And I don't know, just wouldn't, I like Diego Pave's confidence, but I wouldn't be poking that bear.

Neil (29:49)
No, I wouldn't either. mean, like I said, Alabama is still Alabama at the end of the day. mean, in Vanderbilt, who'd they play the other day? They struggled for the first half. it Utah State or somebody maybe on Saturday that they took them a while to wake up before they finally got it together. But I know. I can't see Alabama losing this one on Saturday.

Nick (30:09)
We'll see if I mean if Vanderbilt pulls off this one, I mean they're they're starting to be to where they're in the top 20 and kind of getting that playoff conversation if they can figure that out. You went on you went at Alabama and you're undefeated. I mean you got at least be people talking about you and I mean then maybe Pavia starts being in the Heisman conversation where we talked about that last week. There's not really a lot of names at the top of that list. So I mean if he can back it up come to play get the dub.

You put your team in playoff conversation and put yourself in the Heisman conversation.

Neil (30:39)
Keep powder.

I mean, if he's gonna talk that talk, he better come prepared to back it up. There's no doubt.

Nick (30:46)
What else we got?

mean, that's enough college football, don't you think? With the matchup.

Neil (30:49)
Yeah, I mean that's all, I that's really all that it

is. Yeah, that's really all that it is, yeah.

Bengals, we said Reds, Bengals, overtime, Ryder, college football. Do we need an NFL preview this week?

Nick (31:00)
I don't really think so.

Neil (31:02)
Okay. We talking about bad shit.

Nick (31:04)
There's two foreign teams left. We didn't get into Buffalo. Four of them lost last week. We can talk about that maybe real quick. Buffalo plays New England at home and Denver plays at Philly.

Neil (31:15)
Okay.

Denver's at Philly, Buffalo's where?

Nick (31:23)
⁓ Buffalo's at home against New England.

I think we can make that pretty short.

Entering last week, NFL, there were six undefeated teams. And then the Colts got beat, the Chargers got beat, the Bucks got beat, the Niners got beat, and now there's two.

Neil (31:35)
Yes.

Nick (31:40)
the Bills and the Eagles, I think a lot of people would probably predicted them to be the last two teams to lose.

Neil (31:45)
No, I mean those were when we talked about our preseason predictions. I had the bills and the Eagles making it to the Super Bowl. So no shock to me that those are the two left standing. Eagles with a little bit of a tough matchup maybe this week with the Denver Broncos coming to town. Denver and that defense that's been playing pretty well this year and one of the top defenses in the league last year. So that should be a little bit of a challenge to that Eagles offense. But Buffalo at home against New England, mean that's.

No match there. mean, I expect Buffalo to roll, get to five and and keep that.

Nick (32:18)
Well, I expect

them to too, but I mean, New England looked good last week and Buffalo struggled. I mean, they kind of pulled away late and they went over the Saints, but their games have been close in the third quarter the last two weeks. So, I I expect the Bills obviously to win, but they're not going to go undefeated. And if they're going to lose a game in the division, it's probably going to be to the Patriots, not going to be to the Dolphins or the Jets, most likely. So, I mean, I wouldn't pick.

Neil (32:22)
They did.

Yeah.

Nick (32:47)
the Patriots to win, I could see them being close down the stretch. The Eagles are undefeated, but their offense hasn't been clicking like it has. And last year when Saquon was rushing for 2000 yards and AJ Brown's kinda being a little late, complaining a little bit about his touches. So you're right, Denver's defense pretty good. See if it can give Philadelphia some problems and maybe knock them off and then.

Neil (32:55)
can work it out.

Nick (33:17)
have one less undefeated team as we go on to next week.

Neil (33:21)
Yeah, I think at the end of the day, think both teams end up 5-0 as we move forward. But no surprise that those are the two left.

Nick (33:28)
And then Kansas City plays Jacksonville on Monday night. So Jacksonville team that's three and one, only loss is the Cincinnati. Talked about them having the most takeaways in football. Liam Cohen has really got that team playing well. I mean, you look at it on paper, the Chiefs looked good last week. But if Jacksonville can pull that game off, then they're kind of looking like the team that was in the playoffs a couple years ago.

Neil (33:45)
They did.

Yeah, no, they're playing good football. mean, let's be honest, they probably should have beat Cincinnati in week two. We were there. We all thought that it was over multiple times in that game. I mean, they're one game away from being one of the third undefeated team in the league. So Jacksonville, a surprise definitely to a lot of people, especially with the way that their defense is playing. But offensively, ETN is running the ball well. Trevor Lawrence is playing some good football. ⁓

I mean, we haven't really heard much out of Travis Hunter yet. I know he's playing both ways, but nothing stands out to me early on in the season. ⁓ Like I thought maybe that he would, but ⁓ yeah, you said if they can somehow pull this off on Monday night, you know, they're up there in the NFC South ⁓ contention with the Colts and looking like a playoff team.

Nick (34:40)
So this Mahongstang couldn't have been last week.

because they didn't play the Giants last week.

Neil (34:45)
No, was two weeks ago. I just saw it today.

Nick (34:50)
Speaking of my homes and the Chiefs, you sent me a story earlier today. We talked about Philly carrying still in the ball from little buddy. We got another little incident that's kind of similar to that.

Neil (35:00)
It's... it's...

This stuff is out of control. What are we doing as an American society when this stuff keeps coming up week after week after week? What are we doing, folks?

Nick (35:16)
So tell me what happened.

Neil (35:18)
Lil Buddy, probably, he looked about, I would say eight, nine years old maybe, goes to a Chiefs and Giants game in New York slash New Jersey. Yeah, it was two weeks ago. Lil Buddy's sitting in the first row, game's over, he's waiting on his hero, Patrick Mahomes to come run off the field. He's got his Mahomes Chiefs jersey on. Props to that dude going into Giants Stadium with some visiting team gear on and coming out alive.

Nick (35:30)
So this is week three, two weeks ago.

Neil (35:48)
But he's all excited, the Chiefs have won. He's waiting for his hero, Patrick Mahomes, to come run off the field. Here comes Patrick. He's going right towards him. Takes off his headband. He's gonna hand it to Lil Buddy. And what, Nick, what do you think happened next?

Nick (36:02)
Do we got another Philly can?

Neil (36:04)
we got another Philly Karen. Here comes somebody's gigantic arm out of camera view and just snatches the headband straight from little buddy. I mean, it's like one of the claw machines, just claw just out of nowhere, grabs the headband and then poof, they're gone. Little buddy, look on his face, he was frozen. He was like, what just happened? I'm about to get Patrick Mahomes, my favorite NFL player, probably my favorite NFL player.

Nick (36:12)
I did it!

Stinky

sweat,

Neil (36:34)
of all time, his smelly sweatband, smelly headband, but you know what, as a 10 year old, nine year old kid, when your hero gives you his sweatband, like that's one of the coolest things ever, and you get some giant's woman with her long arm, leaning over, snatching it, and then poof, she's gone.

Nick (36:52)
I thought you were gonna say she go-go gadget armed it.

Neil (36:55)
that's what it was. That's a good analogy. Yes, her go-go yappy arm from out of camera view. We never even saw the woman's face, but she did have blue on her sleeve, so we can only assume that it was a Giants fan. Reaches over and steals the headband from Lil Buddy. Now, did you read the article? Okay. They have identified... They have identified who the Giants... What should we call her? Julie? Giant Julie? Giants Julie over here. They've identified who she is.

Nick (36:58)
Da da da da.

I did, I did. I was gonna let you, I was gonna let you lead the way.

It's chill.

Neil (37:25)
And she has said she wants to get in contact with the family to get the headband back to little Jimmy. Now, good for her for doing that, but it's like, what are you doing? Just leave it alone. Leave it alone. First of all, you're not a Chiefs fan. Second of all, you're old. And third, what are you going to do with the smelly headband? What, is she going go home and jazzercise with it? Is she going to put it on there and do her hot yoga? Like, no. No. Let little Jimmy, little nine-year-old Jimmy with his hero running off the field, let him take that. That's his headband.

Nick (37:54)
stupid.

Neil (37:56)
What happened?

Nick (37:58)
I don't know, you just froze. I guess I froze on your end.

Neil (38:01)
Yeah, like usually when mine goes out it says I've lost connection. Like mine looked like it was fine. Will it still record my rant?

Nick (38:08)
Yeah, but you probably need to it again.

Neil (38:10)
I thought that was a good one.

Nick (38:12)
probably need to do it again.

Neil (38:14)
Where do we leave off?

Nick (38:15)
⁓

Neil (38:15)
Do we need to the whole segment again?

Nick (38:17)
Probably not. I can probably match it. Unless you just want to do it again.

Neil (38:21)
It's up to you.

Nick (38:23)
probably be easier, honestly. Yeah, it won't take long.

Neil (38:25)
Do the whole thing again? Alright.

Alright. Damn.

Nick (38:30)
You got it, now you know what you want to say.

Neil (38:33)
It's better when I just go off the cuff though.

Nick (38:35)
Well, you're getting ready to go, I have to go.

Neil (38:37)
Sorry.

Nick (38:38)
Speaking of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, we've had a lot of stories about home run balls. Philly can, you love talking about Philly can.

Neil (38:47)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

still need to know what she's doing.

Nick (38:52)
But after the game two weeks ago in New York with the Chiefs, there was a little incident that kind of reminded you of the Philly Caron situation.

Neil (39:01)
It's a shame. It's an absolute shame what America has come to, as we once again have to talk about this one. We're going to call this one Giant's Julie. ⁓ But yes, I mean, I don't know if people have seen the video, but two weeks ago...

⁓ Chiefs at the Giants, the game has ended, the Chiefs have won. We have little Timmy down there in his red Patrick Mahomes jersey, props to him for going on the road into Giants Stadium with a visiting team jersey and making it out alive. But game is over, the Chiefs have won, he's down in the first row behind the end zone, kind of where the Chiefs run out through their tunnel. And he's just waiting on his hero, Patrick Mahomes. Good game, Patrick. Patrick Mahomes sees him. Patrick Mahomes runs over.

He takes off his sweaty headband, his game winning sweaty headband, and he's going to give it to nine year old little Timmy. And if you're little Timmy, this is the coolest thing ever. Big smile on his face, little Timmy reaches his hand out to get that headband. And Nick, what do you think happens?

Nick (40:02)
I think somebody jumped in front and got that sweaty headband.

Neil (40:06)
yeah, we got Giants Julie over here with her go-go gadget arm coming out of camera frame with her blue sleeve, with her blue sleeve out of camera frame snatching the sweaty headband out of little Timmy's hands and takes off. And the look on little Timmy's face here is he's frozen. He just is like what what just happened? And then he just watches Giants Julie run up the stadium stairs and then she gone. She's gone.

Nick (40:13)
Ta-da, ta-da.

Neil (40:34)
Now, a few things here. If you're Giants Julie, one, you're not even a Chiefs fan, so stay out of it. You don't like Patrick Mahomes, you don't like the Chiefs, so what are you doing trying to get a headband from him? Number two, you just took it from another nine-year-old kid, so now you're gonna go viral for being that next Philly's Karen, which is not what you wanna do.

And number three, what are you gonna do with this sweaty headband? What are you gonna do? You gonna take it home? You gonna put it on while you jazzercise? You gonna do some hot yoga with Patrick Mahomes' sweaty headband on? Working out to the 80s? Like what are we doing here?

Leave it alone, let the kids enjoy their moment, especially when it's probably his favorite NFL player of all time that he's about to get this head bang from. Let the kid live his life, have his joyous moment, and instead you've got to ruin it with your go-go gadget arm and take that joy from him. It's infuriating.

Nick (41:25)
love the passion.

Yeah, it makes no sense. Like, why are we taking things from little kids? And this is not like the trout ball or the cow rally ball that is going to be worth a lot of money. And luckily, nobody took those balls from little kids. But like, do you want this? Why do you want this? Like, yeah, you're right. Is she going to wash it and then use it when she does her exercises?

Neil (41:32)
What?

I don't know! I don't know!

Nick (41:53)
Like, it makes no

sense. But you've got an update.

Neil (41:58)
So they have identified Giants Julie over here in her blue go-go gadget arm. She has said, and she was quoted as saying, she does want to get in touch with the chief's family to get the headband back to the kid, which ultimately is the right thing to do. But at the same time, the damage is done. You still look like a jackass. Like, you can't be doing this. Look.

Nick (42:22)
Dude, the little buddy was raking though. He was getting a lot of autographs. I think he got somebody's glove. He must have had really good seats because he was getting a lot of goodies down there. yeah, I mean, still, no. What did we call her? Giants Julie? Giants Julie, put your Go Go Gadget arm up. And here's the thing, you got to Go Go Gadget arm. Just go ahead and Go Go Gadget, give it back.

Neil (42:32)
Good for him.

Giant Julie.

Which should have done but you're not even a chiefsman It wasn't even a chiefsman like if Philly's Karen at least was a Philly's fan and wanted to keep a Philly's home run ball This is a Giants fan trying to take a headband from a chiefs player. You don't even like She probably does probably would you call it cookie hair or something?

Nick (42:49)
Like just go, go Gadget, give it back. Go Gadget, go.

The ship's not there.

of that black and white cookie.

Neil (43:08)
Yeah, she might. I think she probably does. But her face was not in camera view. was just her giant blue sleeve taking up half the camera view. That's what it was. Golly. It's, I can't. She might be. Is she from New York? Probably.

Nick (43:18)
You just see the Go Go Gadget arm, that's it.

Wonder she's related to Inspector Gadget?

I they're in New York, So, well there's another crazy story too.

Neil (43:32)
That's true.

Nick (43:37)
This one, not sports related.

Neil (43:37)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Nick (43:41)
But, it happened in Louisville.

Neil (43:44)
no.

Nick (43:44)
And when a woman freaks out because her marinara and her cheese sauce is a dollar extra and starts flipping over registers and Little Caesars, I think it's something we probably need to talk about.

Neil (43:58)
It's something. It is something we should probably discuss. mean, so, alright, so what happened here? So she goes to pick up her Little Caesars order and she realizes, I would like an extra sauce. You know, like I'm a big dipper. I dip my crust, pizza, breadsticks. You know, I feel like little saucy today. Let's get an extra crazy sauce in there, And they say, yeah, could be, could be.

Nick (44:17)
Yeah, why you throw a little crazy sauce, maybe a ranch, which I wouldn't want ranch, but maybe she wants some ranch. ⁓ Throw

in a cheese sauce, maybe a marinara, and they're like, ma'am, that's four sauces. That'll be four additional dollars.

Neil (44:25)
Yeah.

$4 and she said

Nick (44:33)
She

could have went into her pocket, seen how many quarters she had. She could have went to the car, see if she had any quarters in the car. She could have brought out her credit card and be like, hey, you've already got it on file. Just go ahead and add four bucks on there. Might take away some of your tip, because I'm not very happy about it. But none of those things are what happened.

Neil (44:39)
huh.

Oh no. So what did I read she caused? So that $4, that simple $4 for four sauces, the four for four sauce deal that she could have had turned into what, $20,000 worth of damage to the store that she's now probably gonna have to pay restitution for?

Nick (45:06)
Yeah, or go to jail.

Neil (45:09)
or probably both in this situation.

Nick (45:09)
Yeah, yeah,

maybe a little bit of jail time. But yes, she just flipped out, started turnover tables, turned the register over. I'm sure there were a lot of pleasantries that were said to the workers who were just simply doing their job and tell, hey, Mr. Caesar told me that they're a dollar. Like, I got no control over this.

Neil (45:16)
for the... ⁓

So see you.

So she went crazy over the crazy sauce is what is what we're getting at here, I Mean goodness like don't get me wrong like little Caesars For the for the I mean it used to be a $5 hot and ready I think they probably inflation has caused it to go to $7. Think it's gone up to about seven. It's one of those like you're on the way home You don't really want to wait for Papa John's to make your pizza in 30 minutes You just pop in for a quick hot ready $5 pizza

Nick (45:37)
And maybe that's why they call it crazy sauce.

Is it not five anymore?

Nobody wants to wait for Papa John.

Neil (46:02)
with some crazy bread and some crazy sauce. Do not knock, Papa John's. ⁓ You just stop in for a quick pizza and some crazy bread and some crazy sauce and you're on your way home. So Little Caesar's pretty, not great pizza, but not bad pizza. There's a lot worse out there that you can get. But to go nuts to cost $20,000 worth of damage over a dollar sauce, that's getting crazy.

Nick (46:25)
I'd say there's probably some underlying issues there. There's something else going on. She was already a little frustrated, I would hope, going into that little Caesars. Was just envisioning how great it would feel to dip that crust into that crazy sauce. And she didn't have four quarters. So it's going down. It's going, and it went down. And now she's got to figure out, was she going to figure out a way to pay for all this damage?

Neil (46:31)
She had a bad day.

Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (46:54)
Hey, it's gonna cost you a lot more than three or four bucks. It would have cost for that dang sauce, I know.

Neil (46:59)
Stupid, stupid. since we're on the topic and you're knocking Papa John's, give me your top three, four, five fast food pizza rankings.

Nick (47:10)
So what's included here?

Neil (47:13)
Like, you know, like you got your Papa John's, you got your Jets, you got your Domino's, you got your Pizza Hut's, you got your Marco's, you got your Little Caesars, you got your, I don't know, you your fast food, like you order it, they deliver it in like 20 minutes or less. One of those, it's 20 or less or it's free ⁓ kind of pizza.

Nick (47:18)
judges.

Well, Papa John's is dead last and it's not even close. So we'll go ahead and put that out there. I haven't had Marco's enough to probably put it on the list. So I'm just gonna leave them out. ⁓ Growing up, it was always Pizza Hut. But now I feel like if I'm with, I don't usually order pizza when I'm by myself, but I'm with my buddies, got people over. Usually we do Domino's and they do a decent job. ⁓ I think Jet's is really good.

Neil (47:35)
my god.

Yeah? Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Nick (48:02)
I Jets, I would, if Jets is included in this list, then I'm going Jets one, probably Domino's two, Pizza Hut three, and then, I mean, I would never order Papa John.

Neil (48:05)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

my god.

Nick (48:19)
Like we had it at work today. They had it across like on campus and a couple of our GAs went and grabbed it and I two pieces. look, it gets you through for lunch just like it did when I was growing up. Like it gets you through, like you eat it, but you gotta have that damn butter or you're not gonna be able to that crust. it's like, you gotta have something to make it softer and have a little bit of flavor to it.

Neil (48:39)
⁓

⁓ my god.

Nick (48:48)
But no,

Papa John's by far is the worst fast food pizza.

Neil (48:52)
my god. You like, like, like, I, once again, you're, you're just wrong. You're just flat out 100 % wrong. Not only is Pop, like Pop and Shon's, what? well.

Nick (49:02)
Well, I didn't even include Little Caesar. Do what? I forgot

to include Little Caesar, but they're not on the list either.

Neil (49:08)
They're not on the list, not in the top three.

Nick (49:10)
No,

let's just do top three. So that's my three.

Neil (49:13)
My God,

Papa John's is number one. It's number one and it's not close. Like they say they have better ingredients, better pizza and it's absolutely true. The taste of their sauce, the cheese, like all of it. The entire from start to finish Papa John's pizza is the best fast food pizza on the market. It's not close. What? Yeah.

Nick (49:24)
They can say whatever the hell they want. Doesn't mean it's true.

So I've seen you eat pizza. I've seen you eat pizza. And

you don't eat the crust hardly anytime you eat pizza, right?

Neil (49:44)
No, have

to a dipping sauce. mean, well, anybody's crust. not just Bobbajohn's, but anybody's crust. I'll eat it if there's a dipping sauce.

Nick (49:50)
But

see, that's why your rankings are different, because you don't care about the crust. Like, I enjoy a good crust on my pizza. And Papa John's, by far, has the worst crust. And it's not even an argument.

Neil (49:56)
I will eat popping-

so the sauce,

so then eat a breadstick. If that's all you're worried about, then just eat the breadsticks. All you want is bread. Like, what about the cheese? What about the sauce? What about the tapping? That's what the pita is.

Nick (50:10)
I do want that but the crust is a part of the pizza

the crust is a part of the pizza like at some point you got to grow up and eat the entire piece of pizza and not just eat around the crust like your mom's taking the crust off your peanut butter and jelly

Neil (50:15)
It's a small part of the piece.

Would you eat it backwards is your first bite the crust?

For God's sake is the so you're just obsessed with the crust when you eat your pizza backwards Are you eating eating the crust first and then if you get full you leave the tip? Would you leave in the tip of the pizza last and you maybe you're full you don't eat that but you eat when you eat it backwards kind of psycho are you? You were an insane person like that psycho behavior first like you Know I will eat ⁓

Nick (50:27)
I'm not obsessed with the crust. I'm an adult human being who eats the entire pizza.

Am even backwards? I'm not an insane person.

No psycho behavior is being a late 30s male

and leaving your crust on your plate.

Neil (50:47)
I eat the crust if there's a dipping sauce. I will dip the crust into the nacho cheese sauce or the marinara sauce or Papa John's has a pretty good garlic butter sauce. They've got some good sauces, but the cheese, the sauce, the toppings, all of it makes Papa John's the best fast food pizza. Outside of that, every other pizza is basically irrelevant. Domino's is just straight cardboard. If I wanted to eat a pizza box, that to me is Domino's pizza. I'll just eat the cardboard box. Pizza ⁓ Hut.

Pretty good, their breadsticks are actually probably top notch, probably the best breadsticks out there. But they don't put enough sauce on their pizza. So you wanna eat, now you're a crust guy, well I'm surprised that you just don't eat Pizza Hut, because that's what all it is, it's just crust. Because they don't put any sauce on it, it's the driest pizza out there. Jet's probably number two. I don't like the Detroit style pizza, it's okay. I love their New York style, I'm a big New York style pizza guy. Jet's New York style pizza would probably rank second behind Papa John's pizza. And then after that, like I said, all the rest of it's just.

Pizza Hut's probably third, it's fine. Little Caesar's still far and above Domino's. Domino's, like I said, just eat a cardboard box and that's basically the same.

Nick (51:51)
Well, I'm not passionate about any of the three. But to me, like you say, dip the crust. Like you shouldn't have to dip the crust. The crust should just be good without having to dip it.

Neil (52:04)
Who wants dry bread? It doesn't matter

if you put garlic powder, garlic whatever on your crust. You could eat a baked cheesy crust. It doesn't matter. Why are you eating dry crust? It's a breadstick basically. You need a sauce.

Nick (52:18)
because

that's what Papa John's is, is dry crust. That's why I don't enjoy it.

Nick (52:23)
this stupid. ⁓ I think we got enough in on that.

Neil (52:27)
We did. I was just cussing you out for eating dry crust.

Nick (52:30)
which

is what Papa John's is.

Neil (52:32)
It's all crust is dry. It doesn't matter how you flavor it, how you season it, it's all dry. It's all dry. So you like, what do you, like, do you eat breadsticks with no dipping sauce? If you were to order breadsticks, you'd be like, no sir, I don't want the sauce. Just give me the bread.

Nick (52:34)
That's not true!

No, I wouldn't order breadsticks.

Neil (52:51)
mean it's crust, basically breadsticks and crust are the same thing. But if you do want a breadstick, you dip it in a sauce. That's my friend.

Nick (52:54)
Yeah, I just, wouldn't order that. And you definitely wouldn't order it because

you're not even eating the crust on the pizza. So why would you order just the crust when you don't even eat the crust when it's on the pizza? So you've never ordered a breadstick in your entire life, according to that theory.

Neil (53:04)
There's a dipping sauce to go with it. There's a dipping sauce to go with it. If there is a

dipping sauce, I eat the crust. If there's no dipping sauce, I don't eat the crust. Because I don't eat dry bread. Because it's just weird.

Nick (53:14)
which is what Papa John's is, and it's your favorite pizza. But it's the driest of them all. It is the driest.

Neil (53:16)
They're all dry, all crust is dry. It's all dry bread.

They'd a cup of sauce, dip it in there and be like, hmm, it's pretty good.

Nick (53:25)
Well, you can't eat it without sauce, you gotta lather it.

Neil (53:31)
Lather it all you need to, but it's good.

Nick (53:33)
mean, jeez, just imagine if our girl would have went into Papa John's and they were charging for sauce. You gotta buy a bunch of it. She'd have been out 10, 20 bucks.

Neil (53:42)
She's about the 20 grand that she already owes. That she already owes a little seat.

Nick (53:46)
She maybe have a reason to turn over the register.

Neil (53:48)
⁓ shoot, yeah, probably.

Nick (53:51)
I don't know. But I just, I've never understood how Papa John's is your favorite pizza. Like we had it so much growing up in Louisville, like in middle school and high school at the cafeteria. Like you just, you get it down because it feeds you, but you never enjoy it.

Neil (54:10)
No.

It is quality fast food pizza. Better ingredients, better pizza. They stand by it. It's a true statement. Papa John.

Nick (54:20)
You craving pizza now?

Neil (54:22)
Nah, I actually had McDonald's for dinner.

Nick (54:25)
Would you spend like 20 bucks at McDonald's now?

Neil (54:26)
Yeah.

No, we got we got four four kids under the age of 10 sleeping over at the house tonight. So what kids want? They want McDonald's, so that's what we got.

Nick (54:36)
Did you get dinner too? Did you get your cheeseburger with just ketchup only?

Neil (54:41)
Yeah, two double cheese.

Nick (54:43)
Just two double cheese. Just cheese and ketchup. Cheese and ketchup.

Neil (54:44)
Yeah, it's buy one get one for a dollar. And you got to go with the

McDonald's Coke. I mean, anytime you go to McDonald's, you got to get the McDonald's Coke.

Nick (54:51)
I mean, we talk about how bad Papa John's pizza is, McDonald's Coke, it's the best in existence. I it don't get any better than that.

Neil (54:57)
next level. It's the next, they put, they might actually

put some special ingredient in there, probably some cocaine.

Nick (55:05)
They might, they might. I guess we better wrap this up before I start throwing Papa John's pizza at your face.

Neil (55:11)
I'm gonna, you know what, as soon we get off here I'm gonna order an extra large and have it delivered to Swack-O-Lane with your name on it.

Nick (55:17)
I mean, I'll eat it for free. I'm just not going to pay for it. I mean, I told you I ate it for free today.

Neil (55:23)
I'll tell them I'm paying with cash at the door.

Nick (55:26)
Well, I'd like, well, I didn't order this. And then if they get angry and say, then you might see me on the online for throwing somebody's pizza across the hall and getting arrested.

Neil (55:33)
Thank

You

Yeah, we don't need that.

Nick (55:41)
We do not need it. Who's going to tonight? Red Sox or Yankees?

Neil (55:46)
I'm going Yankees, home team in the Bronx. Yankees move on. Another ALE matchup in the next round with the Blue Jays.

Nick (55:54)
I'll go socks. and dude, Brian Snicker announcing his kind of retirement, won't come back as the Braves manager next year, was with the Braves organization from 1977 to 2025. And he's still, yeah, he's going to continue in an advisory role. going to be, do what?

Neil (55:55)
You going with the Raldis?

bring it to your eye.

Well, he's still in the organization, isn't he?

Does that bring a tear to your eye?

Does that bring a tear to your eye?

Nick (56:20)
No tear, but I think they probably could use a different voice in the clubhouse maybe, but nah.

Neil (56:27)
Before

we wrap it up, who do you want to see in the next manager? Who you got?

Nick (56:33)
I thought he's still playing, but I think Travis Darnoe could be a good candidate. And he was with Ron Washington ⁓ in Los Angeles last year, who was his manager who had some health issues and he's not going to come back as the Angels manager, maybe bring Wash back as a third base coach again with Travis Darnoe as manager, I think would be kind of cool. David Ross is a candidate who has some success with the Cubbies, obviously spent some time with the Braves.

Walt Weiss, I think they'll talk to him, who was their bench coach. But I don't know if they're gonna bring somebody in that was on the staff last year, I don't know. We'll see. I think maybe a younger voice would be good for the clubhouse.

Neil (57:15)
Okay.

Nick (57:17)
We'll see. We'll see. But I got nothing else. I don't think you got anything else now that all you're doing is thinking about is Giants' Julie and Papa John's pizza.

Neil (57:22)
Nope.

We will probably not be recording on Sunday night as it's a late Bengals game. talk about that on Monday or maybe next Wednesday, who knows.

Nick (57:33)
Now let's just go ahead and yeah.

The line is what, 10 and a half?

Neil (57:44)
Yeah, I think it's the highest point spread in the league this week.

Nick (57:47)
Any chance they cover?

Yeah, I have a hard time believing they do. Dude, I picked this team to win the Super

Neil (57:56)
Yeah, sure did.

Nick (57:58)
Which you're

going with your heart, not your brain.

Neil (58:01)
But Nick, they're two

and two. And if the season ended today, may, they're right there in the playoff, right there in the playoff picture.

Nick (58:07)
You ain't gonna win a game in a playoffs. I mean, we saw how that worked out for the Ritz, so.

Neil (58:11)
Yeah.

Nick (58:12)
So all right, we'll be, I don't know when we'll be back. Definitely will not be Sunday night. I'd say maybe a Tuesday, Wednesday pod. Do we wait till Wednesday or do we bring it early on Tuesday? We'll figure that out as we go. Could do a Monday pod. It depends on what the people want, right?

Neil (58:23)
Could be Monday. We could do maybe Monday.

People will speak, yes.

Nick (58:34)
the four people will speak. for now, I'm Nick. This is the Height Differential powered by Gritily. We'll see you at some point next week.