Ryder Cup Preview & Sister Jean Retires at 106

Nick (00:00)
It's the late one, but we're here. just watched the Reds lose an 11, unfortunately, to the Pirates lost two in a row. We'll get into that. We'll get into what is an amazing sports weekend, college football, NFL, baseball's final weekend, and the Ryder Cup. It's the height differential powered by Gritily with Nick and Neil.

So Neil.

How you feeling after that one? We were supposed to record like an hour and a half ago. I mean, I get it. We can't record an extras.

Neil (00:30)
I mean at this point I just want to curl up under the sheets turn the lights off pull the sheets over the head close the blinds and Stay in bed for an extra day or two. That was just absolutely heartbreakingly brutal brutal

Nick (00:43)
Yeah, you get through skeins where you have a chance late. I mean, they haven't scored a run on skeins with 24 innings now. Is that the number? And you get a chance late. And I thought they were going to come through there in the 11th base load in two outs.

Neil (00:51)
Yep.

I mean, thought once they once Ty Steve hit the bomb going to extras, I thought the Reds could pull it off. ⁓ Especially when they had the top of the order kind of in the coming up in the in the 10th. And you know, they couldn't get it done and a hard struck out ⁓ with the runner in scoring position, try to win the game. And then you the bottom of the order coming up and Matt McClain just ain't it. He's just not it comes up in a clutch situation doesn't ever do anything. I mean, it's been the story of the Reds all season.

Offense is just absolutely terrible. They've never gotten it together. They lead the league, I'm certain, in games of zero runs, one run. mean, it's just, the pitching's been outstanding all year. Starting pitching's been great. And then they just don't have any run support. So another story like that, I mean, I talked to you, I think if Hunter Green would have pitched yesterday like he should have, I think the Reds probably would have won yesterday. And we'd be sitting here one and one against the Pirates with Hunter Green also scheduled to go next Sunday or this coming Sunday. And instead,

Freddie Singer gives up a four spot, the offense can't catch up. Hunter Green pitches well today. But you know, go up against Paul Skeens and that's what you get.

Nick (02:08)
Yeah, I mean, the thing to me is if Hunter Green goes yesterday, you can bring it back on Sunday, even if he doesn't win yesterday. And you're in a better spot on Sunday. But yeah, they struggled in extras all year. And it kind of it bit them again and they start walking guys in the 11th. You're thinking maybe they're walking the time run, but Marte grounds out the third in the game. But the good news is Cubs are up on the Mets. So there still is hope in Cincinnati.

Neil (02:31)
Yeah.

Hope

is dwindling. There's hope, but it's dwindling. I'm about to put the Reds back under the grave, put some dirt on the grave again. We've done it multiple times already. Why not do it another one?

Nick (02:48)
Well, with back one game with four to go, I don't think that's grave time. Yeah.

Neil (02:52)
You can't beat the pirates. It's the pirates.

Can't beat the pirates at home. You can't beat the pirates

Nick (02:57)
Well, mean,

when they don't make it, you're gonna look back at the losses to the A's and the Pirates and bunch of teams they should have beat that they didn't take advantage of.

Neil (03:07)
yeah, no question.

Nick (03:08)
But

one team that did win on Monday is us. Is us.

Neil (03:12)
Oh yeah, we did. du facto victory.

Oh hey, a championship's a championship. No matter how you get it.

Nick (03:18)
Hey,

matter how you get it, we played in the Louisville Women's Basketball Golf Scramble on Monday. And what, we got through 10 holes in nine and a half. Nine and a half. But we were going to win by playing. That's pretty obvious. But.

Neil (03:26)
Yeah, I'll call it nine and a half. I mean, we were just we were just running from the rain in that tent. yeah, we'll call it nine.

But now,

we did not play, give us some credit. We were four under three four. We were.

Nick (03:42)
We did it. We were 400 through four. And

then we parted the rest out. You actually played well. You had taken a semi-retirement. You actually played well. I actually did not play very well, and I did not retire.

Neil (03:49)
Get him out of retirement.

You did not play well, I'm just gonna be honest with you, you were not very good.

Nick (04:02)
No, it was the worst I've played in a while. It's hard to get into rhythm in cart path only and when you're not hitting off tee like half the time because you hit the ball short and there's no point and you don't want to go pick it up. So it's hard to develop a rhythm. You start putting more pressure on yourself because you got to hit the good wedge shots and then they're not good. yeah, it just it turned out to be a not very good day for me. But we ended up winning anyways. And I brought home this major award, this University of Louisville golf hat.

Neil (04:29)
Now you gotta

explain to the people how we won. Like, you can't just say we won. How did we win?

Nick (04:33)
I drew a name out of a hat, I guess. Yeah, I wasn't even paying attention. I was sitting there eating my ice cream. Everybody starts running over to me, we won. Now, what do we win? Then we headed over to the gift shop.

Neil (04:35)
There's a rate of drawing out that sometimes.

you

$100 gift card, free pair of Adidas golf shoes. Can't beat that.

Nick (04:52)
Yeah,

I don't know how happy Coach Walls was that we took home the victory, but it was fun nonetheless.

Neil (05:01)
He was too busy drinking his high noon, so he was alright.

Nick (05:04)
Yeah, it turned into everybody was enjoying some beverages after the rain dampened the golf. But it was a good time on Monday.

Neil (05:12)
Always gonna be.

Nick (05:14)
And now we get to look forward to what I think maybe is potentially one of the best sports weekends of the year.

Neil (05:23)
I mean, this one's gonna be epic. It's gonna be epic. ⁓

Nick (05:26)
I mean,

college football, well, Ryder Cup starts on Friday. College football along with Ryder Cup on Saturday, Ryder Cup and NFL on Sunday. And throughout the entire weekend, you got baseballs, like closing regular season. There's three divisions and two wild card spots. They're still up for grabs. And then we close it all with the Bengals on Monday night.

Neil (05:49)
⁓ I don't know if we'll count the bangles into that being a great sports weekend, but maybe it will be. Maybe they'll surprise us.

Nick (05:55)
So we'll start with college football. ⁓ Some really good matchups this week. Ohio State goes to Washington. Oregon goes to Penn State. LSU goes to Ole Miss. Alabama goes to Georgia. And then USC goes to Illinois after Illinois just got rocked against Indiana. But really, really exciting college football slate on Saturday.

Neil (06:04)
Yeah. App Insta.

Yeah.

Yeah, huge, huge. think the game, I mean, I don't know, this Penn State game is going to be off the charts. I mean, that's where I'm going to be focused on Saturday night. Once we get back from Pembe on the trip to Pittsburgh with Louisville football. But once we land at seven o'clock, my eyes are going directly to the TV for that Penn State wide out Oregon coming cross country. Many people picking them as one of the probably the best team in the big 10 along with Ohio State and Penn State. So.

National championship, Big Ten championship, implications on the line and know Penn State's known for their wide out so that environment is just going to be off the charts.

Nick (06:58)
Yeah, 730 on NBC, so it'll be a night game following Ryder Cup on Saturday, which would be kind of cool. Oregon comes in at 4-0. They've outscored their opponents 203 to 37 in those four wins. Their closest win was at Northwestern a couple weeks ago, where they traveled across country and then played at Northwestern at 12 o'clock, where it was 9 o'clock their time. Penn State also comes in at 3-0 and has outscored their opponents 132 to 17.

with wins over Nevada, FIU and Villanova. But Drew Allard has not looked as, I mean, he's now what, he's a fourth or fifth year senior at Penn State. And mean, in their three games, he's only completing 64 % of his passes and it's only thrown for 626 yards, four tutties and a pick. So he'll need to step up his game if they want to get it done against Oregon.

Neil (07:38)
There was.

Yeah, mean, the odds, Penn State's got to be the favorite in this game, I would think, the home field advantage. ⁓ You mentioned the teams they played have not been very impressive, so I don't know how much that factors into large stats being what they are. I mean, he probably hasn't had to throw the ball much when they're beating up on Villanova in Nevada. So, I Alar, think, is still one of the better quarterbacks in the league. I think he'll still be there in the Heisman conversation at the end. But ⁓ Oregon offense, Penn State defense, we'll see.

You know who comes out on top.

Nick (08:23)
And you know, one of the things with Penn State since James Franklin has been there is they've struggled against better opponents. There's 15 and 28 against AP top 25 teams in his tenure. You you talked about Penn State likely being favored, but I I think you got to like Oregon's chances with that explosive offense and Dante Moore where they've looked, their offense has just looked so much better in Penn State's to start the year. I know both teams haven't played great competition yet, but.

I think I got like Oregon's chances going out east and getting that dub.

Neil (08:56)
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I don't know.

Nick (08:59)
And we talked about Ohio State, three and O haven't really played anybody since their 14 to seven win over Texas. Be interesting to see what they do when they do the opposite of what Oregon is doing and they go out West to face a Washington team who's coming off an Apple Cup win over Washington State where quarterback Desmond Williams threw for what? 298 yards, four tutties and he rushed for one too. So this Washington team proved that they can move the.

Neil (09:26)
Yeah, and Williams, I think it's the second year there as quarterback. I think he filled in, he was there in the bowl game against Louisville last year and he absolutely tore him up. think he threw four touchdowns in that bowl game. Tremendous talent. I don't think, mean, Ohio State is Ohio State. So the edge is probably with them, but Washington is, I think it can be a sleeper team in the Big 10. Maybe not one of those top three four, but they're probably right there below that, up there with the USCs in Illinois. Run that kind of...

Nick (09:31)
in South Korea.

Neil (09:56)
area in the Big Ten. So Washington, a sleeper team, I think they give Ohio State a game. I don't know if they'll be good enough to win, but I think that Washington offense versus that Ohio State defense will be something to watch.

Nick (10:07)
Yeah, I don't know if they will do enough to win that one. Obviously, Ohio State is going to be favored. know, Julian saying has had good numbers in his last two. He was okay against Texas, did enough to get the win. Be interesting to see what he does in going out west and facing the Huskies. Another game we mentioned at the top was LSU going on the road to face Ole Miss. ⁓ Both of those teams are 4-0.

LSU has already got wins at Clemson, which isn't looking as good as it looked in week one. And obviously they got the win against Florida as well, coming off a 56 to 10 win over Southeast Louisiana last week. And then Ole Miss is also 4-0 with close wins at UK and Arkansas. Their starting quarterback, Austin Simmons, who was hurt in the UK game, still out. So LSU will square off against Trinidad at Chambliss in that one.

Neil (11:04)
Yeah, Ole Miss, I mean Ole Miss sitting there undefeated, but like you said, they've had close games against, you know, a pretty bad Arkansas team and a Kentucky team that maybe is a little bit better than we thought, but still not great. And I think they're on the road. They're at Baton Rouge, is that right? They in Baton Rouge? Yeah. It is at Ole Miss. All right, well, a little bit of an edge there, but, you know, they haven't looked great. think LSU, you know, that win against Clemson, what we all thought was a great win to start the season, maybe not as great now.

Nick (11:20)
Yes. No, it's at Ole Miss.

Neil (11:33)
⁓ So, you know, step up in competition for LSU and Ole Miss both. We'll see how good these teams really are.

Nick (11:41)
Yeah, mean, the LSU wins over Clemson, they scored 17 points against Florida, they scored 20. Even their win over Louisiana Tech, they only scored 23 points. They busted out the gates last week and scored 56 in their win. So maybe Gator Nussmeyer, who's in his fifth year at LSU, maybe they're starting to get it rolling a little bit offensively. I think Ole Miss will probably provide opportunities for them to score. Should be a good game, but I think I would probably see LSU coming on top of that one.

Neil (12:08)
Yeah, I would agree with that.

Nick (12:10)
But do you see the other main story in this one?

Neil (12:13)
This might be another reason why the Edge goes to LSU. It's the mind games that are being played this week.

Nick (12:18)
So, Lane Kiffin's daughter Landry, I posted what, five days before the game, what, yesterday or Monday, ⁓ a picture of her with LSU linebacker Whit Weeks, and evidently they're dating, Lane Kiffin responded on Twitter, take the over.

Neil (12:37)
I mean this is just mind games, but this is what daughters do to dads. this is what, daughters terrorize dads on purpose. This was planned. Like five days before the game is when you're announce the relationship with the opposing linebacker. And this was 100 % planned. She's messing with her dad for some fun. Lane, I think, just playing all in good fun. He's playing along with it all that.

you might be keeping an eye on his daughter in the linebacker on saturday like what's going on over here

Nick (13:08)
I don't think he's allowed to actually take the over. I think you would probably get in trouble for that. But dude, it's just kind of wild that you would just post that right before the game's getting ready to start. mean, did you do it to get these views on social, which I'm sure played a role, but it definitely worked.

Neil (13:25)
But it's all front of games. I guarantee you Lane Kiffin's known about this for longer than five days. But it's definitely for views, but this funny. I mean, she knows what she's doing. It's funny. Terrorized that a little bit. ⁓

Nick (13:39)
You following ⁓

Lang Kiffin's advice and you taking the over in that one?

Neil (13:44)
I'm not taking anything.

Nick (13:46)
If you could take an over under, are you taking the over?

Neil (13:51)
Uhhh, why not? Why not?

Nick (13:54)
I think they're I mean LSU I don't know I don't know how that game is gonna go like LSU finally scored a lot of points in our last game But obviously the competition was a little was lesser. So it'll be interesting to see How many points are scored in that one, but I think LSU will likely come out on top So full Slater games on Saturday along with the Ryder Cup and then we get to Sunday to where The games are almost as good

And we even have, we're back to where we have a nine o'clock game this Saturday or this Sunday as the Vikings play the Steelers. In the one o'clock window we're highlighted by the, what's the game in the one o'clock window that is the highlight? It is, had.

Neil (14:40)
Chiefs Ravens are

full, are they the night game or are at 420?

Nick (14:44)
The Eagles are at the Bucks in the one o'clock window and then in the four o'clock window we have the Ravens at the Chiefs. We also have the Colts at the Rams which is sneakily a really good game.

Neil (14:52)
Yeah, that's...

better than we thought to start the year.

Nick (14:59)
So, of the, what, we're left with six 3-0 teams? Of those six teams, who do you think will stay undefeated the longest?

Neil (15:06)
Yup.

Let's see we got keep running around so we got the Colts the Rams the Eagles

Nick (15:17)
We got the Pokes, Bills,

Gargers, Eagles, Bucks, and Niners.

Neil (15:21)
I mean, you got to go with the Buffalo Bills. They were probably one of the best teams coming into the season, already with a win over a really good Ravens team, even though was kind of maybe in fluky fashion. But the Bills, probably the best team, 3 and 0, with a dev in the.

Nick (15:35)
you

Neil (15:40)
⁓ AFC East where the Dolphins are absolutely terrible. The Jets are not very good. Who else is in the Patriots, they're not very good. So, you when they get into division games, they're not going to lose. I think the Bills are probably the obvious answer here. But what are your thoughts?

Nick (15:55)
Yeah, they're the obvious answer. And when you look at their schedule, it becomes even more obvious. Their next five, the next four, Chiefs, Patriots, Falcons, Panthers. So they're not going to lose in the next four weeks. And then they play Kansas City at home. And at that point, they'll be what, seven and ⁓ So I think the Bills is the obvious answer. I think the Colts, they're going to lose this weekend in LA. So their undefeated streak will come to an end.

I think the Chargers are playing really well, but they play the commanders not this week, but next week, which could be a tough game for them. The Bucs and the Eagles square off on Saturday, I keep saying Saturday, on Sunday. So one of those teams will get knocked off there and then the Eagles play the Broncos next weekend. So they've got two kind of tough games in a row. then I don't know, if the.

Neil (16:29)
Yeah.

Nick (16:50)
The Bucs, their next four games are the Eagles, at the Seahawks, the Niners, and at the Lions. All four tough games. I mean, it's hard to come up with another team other than the Bills. I was hoping this would be an exercise where we kind of argue against each other. But when the Bills are lining up against the Saints, the Patriots, the Falcons, and the Panthers in the next four, it's really kind of hard to pick somebody else to last longer going 3-0. We're staying on the data.

Neil (17:17)
The bills

won't be challenged until you mentioned that the Chiefs come to town. But with that game being in Buffalo, they'll probably win that and still go on to win several more. So I don't see the bills aren't slowing down anytime soon.

Nick (17:30)
And then the Monday night game, is nice because we get to fully focus on the Ryder Cup throughout the weekend. And the Bengals then go to Denver on Monday night. Your thoughts leading up after the fiasco that was last Sunday.

Neil (17:43)
I mean, it's hard to get any worse than what it was. mean, what you want to see on Monday night is just the offense to do something. Just move the ball. Try to, if the run game can get any kind of semblance of anything. know, Jake Browning was rough. Maybe he was not very good. Nobody was good on Sunday. So reset. Now's a chance to reset.

Nick (18:00)
No worries.

Neil (18:03)
We'll see if Jake Browning can be the Jake Browning of two years ago. You know, move the ball, get the ball into your playmaker's hands, get it to T Higgins. I think T had what? Two catches maybe there today. Jamar had just a handful. I mean, it was, you got to get the ball to your playmaker. So what I'm looking for is just the offense to actually move the ball, run the ball, and let's see if we get something going. And it's going to be hard because the Broncos have one of the best defenses in the league. So if you can do something against that, just show a little bit of signs of improvement.

Nick (18:12)
Yeah, we would.

Neil (18:31)
muck it up, I don't know, if you can keep it to 24-21, something like that, I think the Bengals have a chance, but we gotta move the ball.

Nick (18:40)
I don't think there's any chance it's gonna be a 24 to 21 game. I mean, you said it there at the end, it all starts with the running game. They're not gonna do anything this year if they don't begin to establish some sort of run. And now that Joe Burrows out, you've got to take even more pressure off of Jake Browning with him under center. And the only way to do that is to run the ball effectively and they have not done that at all in three games.

When you don't have to defend against the run because it's you're shutting them down with no gains on first down continuously and then you can kind of Focus on the pass game. It makes it easier to shut down You know T Higgins and Jamar chase and get pressure on on the quarterback. So you got to get the run game going I don't know. They haven't done anything the first three games to prove that that's gonna happen. So I Don't know that hopefully they're in the lab trying to figure out a way to get chase Brown loose for

more than three or four yards. Actually three or four yards would be a good carry at this point.

Neil (19:40)
better be spending a lot of time in that lab.

Nick (19:42)
They better be. I'm pretty sure they are. I hope they are.

And then what we've been looking forward to for a long time is the Ryder Cup this weekend at Bethpage Black. You know, I was doing a little research, Neil. You ever wondered why it's called the Ryder Cup?

Neil (20:00)
I'm guessing there was some guy back in the day named like Samuel Ryder or something that just decided to get a bunch of guys together and play some golf.

Nick (20:07)
Samuel Ryder, which I'm proud of you for that one, an English, what Samuel Ryder? Was that you did not know? So, well, he was an English businessman and I think he sold like seeds in like little, little bitty baggies. And that's how he made all his money selling those seeds. But he got interested in golf.

Neil (20:10)
Hey, is his name really Samuel? Wait, is that his name? No way. That was ⁓ a total guess.

Okay.

Nick (20:35)
and started sponsoring some golf tournaments. And then they proposed this event to where they would have an idea, they had the idea to match up British and American professional golfers. And he decided to sponsor it. And they actually had an event in 1925. And then the first official event was two years later, where they, Ryder actually donated the gold trophy. And that's how the Ryder Cup came to be.

Neil (21:03)
So we have the stats on overall record, which I'm assuming the Europeans are way ahead of us, but what's the overall record in the Ryder Cup?

Nick (21:11)
That is not correct. ⁓

The USA leads all time. I had a difficult time getting the exact numbers because who they have played has kind of changed throughout the times to where at one point it was Great Britain and then Ireland was involved and then eventually became Europe. So I don't know what the exact stats are, but the USA has won more ⁓ matches than Europe has throughout history.

Neil (21:23)
Okay.

I was before I was born then because since I've been born I feel like Europeans win about every year.

Nick (21:44)
Yeah, so you talk about that. They've alternate Europe was the last team to win on foreign soil and that was back in 2014. So they alternated since then ⁓ in 2014 that was Medina and so and then what two years ago your cruise as Ricky Fowler just said here Tommy just go ahead and win the cup.

Neil (21:56)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Committed

treason is what he did.

Nick (22:12)
But we're going into this weekend with the USA favored some around minus 150, Europe's plus 165. I don't know, I just, I look at Europe's team and I'm just like, I know USA is on their home soil, but I just look at that Europe team top to bottom and I just, I think they're a little better.

Neil (22:34)
Yeah, I mean, there's no question. mean, you got not only do have Rory McElroy, he's probably, well, I he's ranked number two in the world right behind Scotty, but you've got tour champion Tommy Fleetwood on there. You know, you've got Shane Lowry who's played in multiple Ryder Cups, Matt Fitzpatrick, Victor Hovland. mean, on and on. It's just John Rahm, like all these former major winners and former Ryder Cup champions. just, it's a who's who on their side. And that's for sure. And I think they've got the more talent, but

It's a different game when you gotta come face the American fans on American soil. It's gonna get a little rowdy. So you can shake the nerves a little bit and let's play golf. See what happens.

Nick (23:14)
Well,

and yeah, and not just more talent, more experience too. mean, Rory's 10th all time with 18 points, Justin Rose's 14th with 15 and a half. And Tommy Fleetwood is, is, has the third most for anybody who's playing in this tournament. JT has the most points on team USA and he ranks 39th all time with eight points. USA has four rookies, Russell Henley, Cam Young, Ben Griffin, JJ Spond where Europe only has one rookie with Rasmus Hogard. So.

It's not just talent, it's experience as well that is kind of leaning in Europe's favor.

Neil (23:50)
But if you're the Americans, maybe some fresh blood's what you need. The Ricky Fowlers and the Jordan Spies, they've run their course. Now you got the new guys in. They've not been here before. So you don't know what to expect. Maybe they'll surprise us. Maybe they'll come out. They'll be pumped up. It's their first Ryder Cup. Shoot some good golf, and maybe they're the next generation. So like I said, the Spies, the Fowlers, they did a great job back in their prime. But it's time to get some young blood in, shake it up, and let's see what happens.

Nick (24:19)
And I mean, kind of playing off that, if you had to think of a player from Team USA and Team Europe as well that you think is going to surprise some people, who would you say?

Neil (24:29)
I'm going go to TBSA, let's go JJ Spahn. I mean, he had a great year, was a major winner this year. He's playing good golf. He's been in big situations. You know, it's his first Ryder Cup, but he's been in some big situations already this year. He's come through in the clutch. So I don't think the moment will be too big for him. But he's one those guys that I think is probably one of the better golfers on this team. And as a rookie, I think he'll be one of the ones to look out for.

Nick (24:52)
Yeah, and really like anybody on team, their performance, because they're also experienced, I don't know how much they're really going to surprise you. ⁓ So I think one on Team USA is going to be Ben Griffin. Obviously, if you've watched a lot of golf this year, you've seen him at the top of lot of leaderboards. He has two wins. just came second to Scottie last week. ⁓ You know, I just like his demeanor. I like the fact that he hits the ball as far as he does. Just hopefully he doesn't take any creatine.

But I expect big thanks from Ben Griffin this week.

Neil (25:24)
Who do you like, who would you, I know we've heard the rumor and we'll find out tomorrow on the pairings, but we heard the rumor of JT and Bryson being paired up together. Who's another pair that you would like to see for the Americans?

Nick (25:37)
Well, I just think first off, it is Bryson and JT going off first for Team USA, I absolutely love that pairing. I think JT can play with anybody. And that's not, I don't think really that goes the same for Bryson. So putting him with somebody like JT and also having Bryson's ability to just hit it as far as he does off the tee for that opening tee is huge. The thing is, who do you pair with Scotty?

And we've seen him paired with Xander in the past. We've seen him paired with Cantlay in the past. I think Henley might be the guy that they're gonna pair with Scotty. I think their demeanors kinda play together. Henley's played great all season. So I think those are two guys that I could see paired together that I'm really looking forward to.

Neil (26:27)
And then like if you're, as you mentioned, there's so many new guys on this American team. Like when you're making these pairs, if you're Captain Bradley here, do you pair up like a rookie with a vet? Like do you pair up like a Morikawa with like a Ben Griffin or a Spahn or somebody like that? Like a Zander with a Griffin and a Spahn? Or do you put like a Morikawa and a Zander together? Like do you put two vets? Let the rookies figure it out on their own? Or what do you do?

Nick (26:52)
Well,

and I think that's the disadvantage that Team USA has is the fact that, you know, you look at Team Europe and their top 11 are all coming in playing pretty well. didn't play in the tournament before the Tour Championship and then he came in last in the Tour Championship. But other than that, he played really well throughout the year. But I look at Team USA and

know, Xander's not coming in at his best form, Collins not coming in at his best form, JT's not coming in his best form. So who do you pair these guys up? Do you pair them up together and hope that they kind of feed off each other and play better? Or do you pair them up with younger guys? And I don't know, I think Keegan Bradley's got a really tough job because of the elements with the new guys and some guys coming in not playing their best golf.

Neil (27:45)
No, he's definitely got a lot of tough decisions to make. We'll be interested to see when they do come out for Friday's pairings tomorrow night, ⁓ what that looks like.

Nick (27:55)
So what player do you think's facing the most pressure going into this tournament?

Neil (28:01)
on them, like overall.

Nick (28:03)
On either side.

either overall.

Neil (28:06)
That's gotta be Xander. I think Xander is probably facing the most pressure only because as you mentioned, he did not have a very good year. He's a veteran, he's been on Team USA before. The guys are looking to him to be that solid presence and to win some points for the Americans like he's done in the past. But he hasn't been playing well. So I think the pressure doubles for him. Knowing he hasn't played well that he's got to come out here facing the quality of a players that the Europeans have and to try to raise his game up back to what he was last year when he.

accumulated all these points to make this dean.

Nick (28:38)
Yeah, and he's battled some injuries this year and you he played a little better at the end of the year, but wasn't enough to get into the tour championship. I mean, I don't know if this guy feels pressure, but if Scottie Schaeffler doesn't play well this weekend, does USA have a chance?

Neil (28:52)
No, they don't have a chance, but I'm not worried about that. Scotty's, Scotty's Shuffler doesn't feel pressure. And I'm not worried about Scotty, Scotty Shuffler not playing well. When's the last time you saw Scotty Shuffler not play well?

Nick (29:02)
Well, I mean, we've talked about this in earlier pod. I mean, he's finished in the top eight since 1979, every tournament since 1979. So he's always in contention. Even when he doesn't play well to his standards, he's still finished in the top 10. even if he does have the most pressure on him, I don't think that he's going to succumb to that, obviously, just because he is Scottie. But Rory on the other side,

He just won that Irish Open, which you refused to talk about a couple weeks ago. Do what? It is a real tournament, it's just not a PGA tournament. ⁓ But I mean, he's gonna have a lot of pressure on him to lead Team Europe. And so it will be interesting to see how Rory plays because unlike Scotty, when Rory doesn't play well, he's fighting to make cuts. And so it'll be just kind of interesting to see how he plays next week.

Neil (29:34)
not a real tournament. It's not a real tournament.

It's not real.

Nick (30:00)
And I mean, we know that Scottie and Rory for their sides are most likely to be the top point scorers. But if you had to pick somebody after that to be each side's top point scorer, who are you going with?

Neil (30:12)
For the Americans, I think I'll probably go with Justin Thomas only because he's proven that can do it like he Where does he rank currently among point scores in US history? I know he's up there Yeah, like he's

Nick (30:23)
Well, 39th all time on both sides. So

that's.

Neil (30:27)
He's been there and he always seems to play well in this event. I don't know what his overall record is, but it's got to be a winning record as far as points go. But I think Justin Thomas with his experience, he had a pretty good year this year. I know he's not coming in playing his best golf, but I think he can get it together. He loves this term and you've seen him playing this before. He gets up for this, he gets fired up for this. I think he will probably be, outside of Scottie, probably our top point scorer for the US. And for Europe,

It's probably going to be Tommy Fleetwood. I mean, he's coming in off winning that tour championship. He's playing some really, really good golf. He finally broke through one of his first PGA event, but he's finished multiple times, second this year, second in the past. He's probably outside of Rory and Scottie. He's probably the third best golfer in this tournament or in the Ryder Cup. So I mean, to me, that's a no brainer on the European side. I think he's going to come out, play well and score points.

Nick (31:21)
Yeah, the USA, I'm sticking with my guy Ben Griffin. I really am expecting big thanks from him this week. he played well two weeks ago when they all played at the Procure and came in second. three had a chance to win and then three putted and came in second. But he had putted really well throughout the week. Like I said, he hits the ball so far. He's got his aviators on. I really like his demeanor and expect him to play well in his first ever Ryder Cup.

And then you look at Team Europe and I think Tommy is gotta be the obvious answer. He doesn't always win unlike Scotty, as far as consistency is concerned, he's the closest that Europe has to offer this season. I he's always there, he's always competing in the top 10 for the most part. So I think Europe is gonna be, they know they're gonna be able to rely on Tommy throughout the week and I expect him to.

if it's not Rory to score the most points on Team Europe.

So looked up Justin Thomas' stats in the Ryder Cup over the break. Three and O in singles, two and three and fours, two, one and two and four ball. So, yeah, he's played well and they need him to play the well this week. They need all those veterans that Xander, Colin to kind of find their form and bring home the dub there in New York. So be fun ⁓ to watch. I'm looking forward to getting up early on Friday and.

Neil (32:34)
to Wooden Roper.

Yeah.

Nick (32:54)
Park in front of the TV for three straight days. So should be fun. And another person, two people who have plenty of time to, ⁓ to park in front of the TV this weekend after one was fired and one resigned. But Mike Gundy fired as head coach at, at Oklahoma state. He had been there 21 years was the longest tenured second longest tenured head coach behind Iowa's Kurt Ferenc. ⁓

Neil (32:57)
It'll be fun.

Nick (33:24)
was 170 and 90 in that tenure. They've struggled lately in the last two seasons, but just as recent as 2023, played in the big 12 championship game. But we all remember Mike Gundy for one thing, right?

Neil (33:39)
He's a man, he's He ain't 40 anymore. I think his age caught up to him a little bit.

Nick (33:46)
Yeah, he's a little older than 40. That was, what, 15, 16 years ago, I think, when he went on that rant.

Neil (33:55)
I think

he's pushing 60 at this point.

Nick (33:59)
But yeah, they've lost 11 there past 12 and they just got absolutely creamed and some of their more recent losses. But mean, Gundy's been a fixture at Oklahoma State for a long time, played quarterback there in the 80s and had a pretty good running back by the name of Barry Sanders that he was handing the ball off to. And his son wrote a really cool post on social media just talking about how much his dad meant to him and Oklahoma State.

If you get a chance to check that out, it's a pretty good read.

Neil (34:31)
Sure,

sure. It comes as no surprise. mean, they're struggling bad at Oklahoma State now. I when you lose 69 to 3 as they did to Oregon and most recently lost to Tulsa. I mean, if you're Oklahoma State, you have higher expectations than that. And I don't know if it's, know, the game has just changed so much with the NIL landscape and how players come and go and all that. And if that's just kind of caught up to him and he just didn't adapt as well as others.

You know, in Oklahoma State, they expect more than what they're getting. So I think it was time.

Nick (35:05)
But in this NIL landscape, doesn't have somebody like Pete T. Boone Pickens like play in your favor? And it doesn't seem like it's done that at Oklahoma State.

Neil (35:14)
Yeah, I mean you would expect that to be a thing. I mean they've got the T-Boom Pickens money out there. I just don't know how they're using it, how they're spending it, but the guys, the talent they have is just not quite up to par with other teams in the Big 12 and around the country.

Nick (35:31)
No, mean, we were hearing about T. Boone Piggins spending money well before NIL. And you would think somebody who already had those big pockets is willing to spend money on the program would be an absolute benefit for a team like that. But ⁓ we heard Mike Gundy talking two or three weeks ago before they played Oregon where they just absolutely got boat raced how Oregon had so much more money than they did going into that game. And the score showed that. And their scores have shown that.

Neil (35:57)
Yeah.

Nick (36:01)
I don't know, he's still a legend at Oklahoma State and his rant, I'm a man, I'm 40, will go down with some of the better rants. And maybe this is something we should talk about on later pod, some of the best rants in press conferences. But it's right up there with AIs, we talking about practice with Jim Moore's playoffs with Bill Belichick's on to Cincinnati.

Neil (36:18)
Bye.

Dennis Greens, the Bears are who we thought they were.

Nick (36:25)
Yes,

it ranks up there with all of those. I mean, anybody who turns 40, you're immediately thinking about Mike Gundy in that viral moment.

Neil (36:36)
there's been probably ⁓ tons of 40th birthdays where that quote has come out. There's no doubt.

Nick (36:42)
And another person who has plenty of time to sit down and watch the Ryder Cup this weekend is Bruce Pearl who resigned earlier this week what just 40 something days before the start of the season. Pearl 65 years old and taking over is Steven Pearl who spent the last two seasons as associate head coach and played for Bruce Pearl at Tennessee.

Neil (37:03)
Yeah, that one's definitely a huge surprise. I mean, we were on the golf course Monday playing that golf scramble and that came out and we kind of were all like, is that for real? no, like, did we get got by a fake Twitter account or something? But no, it's definitely real. mean, he just had, they were the number one overall seed in the tournament last year, you know, Auburn's in a perennial powerhouse year after year in the SEC and in the country. So I mean, that was kind of surprising. I haven't heard his reasons. Has he come out and said any reason of why he's stepping down, except maybe the fact that he wants his son to get that job?

Like is he tired to coach it? he like?

Nick (37:37)
Well,

I think the NIL era is a lot, especially for these coaches that have been in the industry for as long as they have. mean, obviously Bruce Pearl figured out a way to make the NIL era successful. had probably the number one team in the country going into the NCAA tournament last year and got his team to a Final Four. He's the all-time winningest coach at Auburn. ⁓

But I think it's a combination of those two things. I think you decide to step down because it is a lot and it's recruiting nonstop. even when you've already recruited these freshmen, you got to re recruit them to get them to come back as sophomores and juniors. And you're constantly recruiting and I think it just wears on you. But I think the timing of it is so you don't have time to go through a coaching search and your son gets the job and he's already signed like a five year deal.

Neil (38:31)
Yeah, I mean that's smart on Bruce Pearl's part, to hand the keys over to his son, which I don't believe has had any coaching experience to my knowledge. So we'll see, it'd be interesting to see how that goes, taking over a really big school like Auburn, Powerhouse, like I said, it was the number one seed in the tournament last year. I mean, you're taking over the keys to a Lamborghini here. So let's see if he can drive it.

Nick (38:56)
Yeah, and we've seen this in the past, with dads kind of leaving and giving their kids the jobs and with Bobby Knight and Pat Knight and that didn't work out. Eddie Sutton to Sean Sutton at Oklahoma State, that didn't work out. I mean, one that did work out is Tony Bennett took over for Dick Bennett at Washington State. And I think that one worked out pretty good, but that one was a little not as high profile as those other two were. So it'd be interesting to see how this works out.

for Auburn to see if Stephen Pearl can get the job done.

Neil (39:31)
Yeah, mean, you think back, mentioned Tony Bennett. He was the last one that had a similar situation to this, where he retired, you know, what, month before the season started. You know, they had that switched over to his assistant coach, and Virginia didn't have a very strong year. So, you know, we'll see how this works out, you know, ⁓ with the Pearls. I mean, they're both familiar. He's familiar with the system, coaching under his dad. So.

⁓ The inexperience might be a factor, he's been around, so we'll see if he can, like I said, he can keep this thing afloat.

Nick (40:04)
Yeah, you're right. It didn't work out last year where ⁓ Ron Sanchez took over for Tony Bennett when he quit or resigned right before the season started. But I think that this is definitely the strategy on Bruce Pearl's part is to make sure that his son gets an opportunity and we'll see what he can do with it. I mean, it's happening in our own backyard right now with Bellarmine. With Coach Davenport finally ⁓ resigned.

stepping down after a lot of success at Bellarmine and now Doug Davenport stepping in. it's just a lot of pressure when you're the son stepping in for your dad who's had a lot of success. So it'll interesting to see how Stephen Pearl does there. In other ⁓ college basketball news, well, I guess Sister Jean can also watch plenty of the Ryder Cup this weekend.

Neil (40:56)
Legend a legend stepping down from from Loyola, Chicago Legendary sister Jeanette. I saw this for health reasons. So I hope she's doing all right. Hope she sticks around for several more seasons. yeah, sister Jean calling it calling it quits is I guess what the What is she quitting from being a nun for the university or what? is what is she quitting from?

Nick (41:18)
She's a campus minister and she's the official chaplain of the men's basketball team.

Neil (41:25)
Well, hopefully soon.

Nick (41:26)
And she's held that role since 1991. it was 2018 when they were ranked 11th where they made that final four run where she was constantly on everybody's television sets.

Neil (41:37)
Yeah, hopefully her health's not too bad to where she can still get to few games this year. Put her on TV. mean, college basketball without Sister Jean is, that's something I don't want to think about. She's become a legendary figure in the game.

Nick (41:51)
Well, and you may be wondering, like, you're 106, you can retire, what, at 65? So she must have built up a heck of a retirement plan there, right?

Neil (42:00)
Did she? I don't know. Did they get paid for these jobs? know, are you a minister? I don't think so. Zero, zero salary.

Nick (42:04)
She received no salary whatsoever as a nun.

She received a $1 per year payment in 1995.

Neil (42:16)
Ha

Nick (42:18)
I, so, no, she does not have a ton of money, but she's married to the Lord.

Neil (42:25)
Think she'll be watching the Ryder Cup.

Nick (42:28)
100 % should be watching the Ryder Cup. you know, our buddy Garrett had mentioned this on text, but we need to get ⁓ Sister Jean and Nana, your Nana, who just celebrated her 105th birthday a couple weeks ago, we need to get them together for a picture.

Neil (42:30)
Thank

That'd be a time.

Nick (42:46)
And we'll close with a non-sport story.

Neil (42:50)
this more of a what were they thinking type of story i feel like this is idiot of the day idiot of the day

Nick (42:54)
This is a you on drugs for sure story. You very lazy too. But

first off, how often do you door dash Uber Eats all that?

Neil (43:07)
I don't at all. mean, you think, nah, I'll just get in the car and go get it. mean, pizza delivery is about the only thing I get delivered to the house and even then I'll probably just go get it.

Nick (43:08)
ever.

Yeah, but that's

not over. We've been pizza delivering for years.

Neil (43:18)
I mean, I'm within

walking distance of a McDonald's, a Taco Bell, a Starbucks, a Subway, and a Kroger. So just grab some food from Kroger, and a Chinese place.

Nick (43:28)
I'm with you, I think, you know, get in your car and drive. Now, if you're traveling for work or you're traveling and you don't have a car and you're at the hotel, Uber Eats can sometimes come in handy there. Sometimes on a Sunday morning when you don't feel like doing anything and you want breakfast, it's nice to have a breakfast delivered to your door. So there are the advantages knowing that it's available, but it's not something that I use all the time.

But in Streetwater, Texas, we got a gentleman that he decided he's going to use DoorDash.

and his Door Dash

Neil (44:04)
Did

he door dash some food? did he door dash? huh.

Nick (44:08)
He did not door dash food. And what he actually door dashed

got the attention of his door dash driver so much that he called the authorities.

Neil (44:18)
no. What did he doordash?

Nick (44:22)
So in his DoorDash, it wasn't McDonald's, it wasn't your beloved Dairy Queen, it wasn't even ice cream, it wasn't even food.

Neil (44:25)
no. that's a shame.

man.

Maybe a coffee or two?

Nick (44:36)
There's one liquid in here, but I don't think you're going to drink it.

Neil (44:38)
⁓ What is on this man's DoorDash list? Item number one.

Nick (44:44)
Item number one, trash bags.

Neil (44:45)
⁓ you need those at home now. Maybe you had a little party, a little clean up, your friends left, you gotta clean up after them. We can get after that. Okay. Could be doing that.

Nick (44:55)
Might be raking leaves.

You know, there's a lot of things that you could be doing with trash bags So we're good. We're good. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Neil (44:59)
Yeah, trash bags are alright. Okay.

Get out of here. Okay,

uh-huh. Item number two?

Nick (45:07)
Item number two, zip ties.

Neil (45:09)
I have some zip ties at the house, you the fence is falling down, you know, you got to get out there, know, tie something up real quick or, you know, I can understand that. You know, some kind of something broke on your deck box or something, hold it down, zip ties are all right.

Nick (45:25)
You want to make sure that garbage bag is really closed. You can take that zip tie and really shut that thing.

Neil (45:27)
Yeah.

Everybody's

got zip ties at the house. I can understand that.

Nick (45:33)
So, so, yeah, odd, but still, I'm not calling 911, right? Item number three. This is the liquid. And it ain't Kool-Aid. Bleach.

Neil (45:38)
The ties and trash bags can go together. Okay. Yeah. Uh-uh.

Uh-huh.

Ooh. Ooh. Well, maybe you scrub in the tub or something. Maybe do a little laundry. You got to get the whites back in your colors or the white back in your clothes. know, bleach. Maybe he spilled a little some red wine on his cashmere sweater. He's got to get something in there. Clean that out.

Nick (46:01)
Okay.

Little red wine on the cashmere sweater, huh? Little red wine on the cashmere sweater. he's... So per your theory, he's cleaned up the house after he partied. He's fixed his fence with the zip ties and he's cleaning his cashmere sweater. All normal. All normal. All right, so final item. Hatchet.

Neil (46:11)
Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

We're starting to get into the red flag. We're starting to raise a little suspicion here, but we'll keep going.

Yep. Sounds pretty mean. Sounds like a normal Saturday.

Yeah. ⁓

damn.

⁓ damn. ⁓

Nick (46:37)
So you just, you just,

I don't, you might be cutting down trees. I don't know.

Neil (46:41)
Now, my brother, this now, now we now we now we're we're full red alert here. We're full red alert. No. ⁓ damn. This. What is this guy doing?

Nick (46:44)
Is it getting that chase?

Cutting firewood? Cutting firewood?

So,

but, so the dash, the dash driver gets this order and he's like, what's this dude up to? And he calls the cops.

Neil (47:06)
So let's get a recap. We've got zip ties, trash bags, bleach, and a hatchet. This is all pointing to a Dateline NBC episode and it does not end well.

Nick (47:12)
And a hatchet.

Do you get all that? Can you get all that at one hardware store, Yeah, yeah.

Neil (47:21)
I mean, if he was smart and I think he's

trying to do what he's trying to do, which he should not be doing, you go to the hardware store yourself. But then you're not on surveillance.

Nick (47:31)
but we're gonna get into the story and you're gonna see why he didn't leave. ⁓ So he did the door dash, door dash driver, calls the cops. So who you think showed up first, the door dash driver or the cops?

Neil (47:34)
Okay. Yeah.

If I'm the door dash driver and I'm bringing these items and I think I know what's going on here, I'm waiting for the cops. I'm not going and knocking on this dude's door and saying your delivery is here. I'm gonna hand that to the cops and let the cops deliver it to them.

Nick (47:56)
the cops are.

The cop showed up first and knocked on his door and he refused to exit the hotel, which was this was at a hotel. And he advised the cops that he was armed and there was also a hostage.

Neil (48:05)
Okay, that's good. That's Yup.

no.

jeez.

Nick (48:21)
But the hostage, I think, was able to escape when he was distracted. And so everything turned out well, and dude was arrested. But it's...

Neil (48:31)
So

what we thought was happening with the party and the cashmere sweaters and the fences turned out to be, yeah, that was not really what was happening. This guy was ordering his murder weapons from DoorDash is what we're going with.

Nick (48:38)
Well,

Let's just be glad the DoorDash driver had a little better intuition than you do.

Neil (48:50)
It's like a game of Clue. Like Mr. Jones was at the hotel with his zip ties and his hatchet. Ordered from Lorde!

Nick (48:53)
Right?

Like Neil, Neil

just roll up, roll up here sir. I got your hatchet and your bleach and your zip ties. ⁓ I left your garbage bags in the car. Let me go grab them.

Neil (49:01)
Thank

It's like it's, I'm like, who does that? what? I mean, I'm glad this all happened. Nobody got hurt, I'm assuming, right? Like we're all good. Yeah. But like, my God, you're ordering your own murder weapons from DoorDash and expecting it not to raise concern.

Nick (49:14)
Right, ⁓ we wouldn't be telling the story if somebody was murdered.

I mean, if you're holding...

If you're holding a hostage, which in this case he was, can't really leave.

Neil (49:28)
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

No, no, can't. You can't. Couldn't you just find some things around the hotel? Like, don't, I don't know. I don't know how that works.

Nick (49:34)
So.

I most of the hotels I'm staying at, they'll have a garbage bag or two. But the other three things, don't think you find them in the top drawer.

Neil (49:49)
I mean, goodness gracious. Yeah, this is this that's Not very smart by that guy and he's probably going to jail for a little while Where where was it was this a Florida story? ⁓

Nick (49:58)
As you should.

This is Texas. I said that at beginning.

said it at beginning. Street water Texas. I don't know where that is. I don't know where street water Texas is, but that's where it occurred.

Neil (50:06)
Street walk.

Well, the Doordash driver should get the Street Water Citizen of the Year award or something, should he not?

Nick (50:17)
⁓ well,

here we go. The dude's name was Neil Cooper. So it just shows you the intelligence of Neils across the United States.

Neil (50:22)
We have high integrity.

High intelligence

and high integrity. We do the right things around here.

Nick (50:30)
If Neil Cooper called Neil Rohr the dashboard driver, he would have got all the stuff and everything would have been fine for him. And dude would still have a hostage.

Neil (50:37)
Yeah.

We gotta give Neil Cooper the Street Water Citizen of the Month, Year, Week, whatever they want to give him. Name a street after him.

Nick (50:49)
Neil,

that's the, he's the guy. He's the guy holding the hostage. He's not the good guy here. He's the suspect. Neil is the suspect. That's why I said the intelligence of Neil's across the country are not that great.

Neil (50:53)
I thought you said he was the doordash driver! ⁓ no! ⁓ I

thought you said he was the doordash driver.

Nick (51:06)
No, don't think they identified the name of the door dash driver.

Neil (51:09)
⁓

shoot. Yeah. No. I'll take back what I just said then.

Nick (51:14)
As you should. mean,

listening is important when you're doing a pod. And you're kind of feeding off each other.

Neil (51:19)
I was just

excited that Anil did something good and then it turned out to be good. I know, I'm aware, thank you.

Nick (51:24)
He didn't do anything good.

So what are you most excited for this weekend?

Neil (51:30)
All of it. Give me the Ryder Cup.

Ryder Cup number one, college football number two, NFL number three, Bengals number four.

Nick (51:39)
But, and the reds.

Neil (51:41)
No. No. The excitement. All of the excitement that I had on Monday has left my body. The clothes are going back in the closet. It's over. Yeah.

Nick (51:43)
Not at all.

Wow.

You even play golf in a Reds Polo on Monday. And now, two days later after two losses to the Pirates. Only a game back where they hold the tiebreaker. You're calling it a season.

Neil (52:01)
Talk to tomorrow.

Coach Wall says if he's watching TV and he sees Terry Francona picking up the dugout phone, he thinks it's me calling him.

Nick (52:12)
Well, he ain't gonna pick that up.

He ain't gonna pick that up. Now, I can't wait to get up on Friday morning and watch some golf and then just watch golf and football on multiple TVs throughout the weekend and keep up with these pennant races, because there's a lot of good division races and wild card races, see who gets to the playoffs.

Neil (52:34)
Are you

going to leave your calves this weekend?

Nick (52:37)
I'm sure I will. I'm sure I will.

Neil (52:38)
Say if you don't, get you some DoorDash food. Make sure it's food. Don't do it at some other place.

Nick (52:42)
Well, no,

if I decide not to leave the couch, will try the door dash. We'll see if we can order some non suspicious items so they actually show up at my front door. But no, it really is one of the best sports weekends of the year and I can't wait for it. And we'll be back here on Sunday night to recap it.

Neil (52:50)
Interesting.

you

Let's do it.

Yeah, bangles aren't playing, so why not? Yup. Yup. Let's do it.

Nick (53:07)
Is that the plan? Is that the plan? So

we'll be here on Sunday night, hopefully recapping a USA win in the Ryder Cup as JT goes undefeated in four balls, foursomes in single play and helps the ⁓ red, white and blue get a victory.

Neil (53:24)
We don't have.

Let's just hope that we don't have somebody conceding the final putt of the entire Ryder Cup this year like Ricky did. Some bum. Your bum.

Nick (53:34)
Who was that? was that?

some bum named Ricky. Ricky played better at the end of the year last year, not enough to get in the Ryder Cup. We'll be back on Sunday. We'll talk all the football action. We'll talk Ryder Cup. We'll talk baseball. We'll predict what's going to happen with the Bengals on Monday night. For Neil, I'm Nick. You're listening to the height differential powered by Gritily.