Speaker 1: Hi everybody, and welcome back to a very special episode
Speaker 1: of Off the Beat. As always, I am your host,
Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner, but everything else will be a bit different.
Speaker 1: There's so much going on this week in my world
Speaker 1: and in the world of the office, and in the
Speaker 1: world of things that I like, mainly NFL football and
Speaker 1: fantasy football. I've got my old friend and yours, Rain Wilson,
Speaker 1: on the podcast today. We're going to be talking about
Speaker 1: the Office Fantasy Football League now here, I believe in
Speaker 1: our twentieth season. So not to steal a line from
Speaker 1: David Letterman, but our first guest needs no introduction. Rain
Speaker 1: Wilson aka Dwight Shrut. He has been working with Lee
Speaker 1: da Haiti, his charity for now fourteen years. Girls' Education
Speaker 1: is what Lee da Haiti supports. It's been a tough
Speaker 1: time down in Haiti now, so Rain is hosting a
Speaker 1: big charity office trivia contest that a number of us
Speaker 1: are attending this weekend. I wanted him to come on
Speaker 1: the podcast and talk about that and talk about he
Speaker 1: and I and the Office Fantasy Football League. Here's Rain,
Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak.
Speaker 2: I love it, Bubble and Squeakna.
Speaker 1: Bubble and squeak.
Speaker 2: I cook get every month lift from the Nabopo.
Speaker 1: Here we go. I'm gonna blow.
Speaker 2: Whatever you need. Let's get in. And I'm oh, wow,
Speaker 2: what's happening? You do you have a cold? Do you
Speaker 2: have COVID?
Speaker 1: I don't think I have COVID.
Speaker 2: COVID is everywhere. Everyone's getting COVID again.
Speaker 1: Well maybe I do. Maybe I did and didn't test.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and yet you're podcasting.
Speaker 1: Listen. We just do the best we can. We're professionals.
Speaker 1: We work with what we got.
Speaker 2: You know, if you've got half an ear, you know,
Speaker 2: and a microphone you got at radio shack, it's fine.
Speaker 1: We're rolling. It's no, it's totally fine. That's just the
Speaker 1: new world. Yes, well, first off, thank you for coming on.
Speaker 1: Have you been out of the country?
Speaker 2: I was, Yes.
Speaker 1: Your your Instagram is very confused. It's like, I are
Speaker 1: you posting like talk backs, like sessions, and then I
Speaker 1: click on it and it's like in Belgium or something like,
Speaker 1: they're not even in the United States. You don't announce
Speaker 1: I'm going on a world tour. You just sort of say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm in Amsterdam this week.
Speaker 2: That's how I roll. I like to keep it a
Speaker 2: little mysterious. Do you notice my my get up is
Speaker 2: a little mysterious.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a rat? Now are you a hat guy?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: I've kind of become a hat guy.
Speaker 2: Well, when you have a very large, rapidly balding dome,
Speaker 2: such as myself, yeah, sometimes a hat is the only alternative.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now do you? Here's here's the thing though, I
Speaker 1: think hats, those kind of hats don't hide me. I
Speaker 1: feel like they cause more attention.
Speaker 2: Well, that's that's for certain. This is not a hey,
Speaker 2: I want to walk around and be anonymous hat. This
Speaker 2: is this is like I want to look incredibly sexy
Speaker 2: and content temporary right hat. And I think it's working magnificently.
Speaker 1: Yes, in your home, it's working great. And for you
Speaker 1: to do with me here, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2: But I definitely do with the baseball I get the
Speaker 2: baseball cap, going, the sunglasses, baseball cap, even the head
Speaker 2: noise canceling headphones, and maybe even a COVID mask, and
Speaker 2: just try and stay as under the radar as possible.
Speaker 1: You do, see, I don't do the headphones. The headphones,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't I don't do that.
Speaker 2: You just take those headphones you're wearing right now and
Speaker 2: just wear them around.
Speaker 1: It just helps, does it? Yeah?
Speaker 2: It helps. Everything helps.
Speaker 1: But when you can't hear with them that, it's probably
Speaker 1: not not good to have them on. All right, We're
Speaker 1: recording here on September the ninth, Monday, the Monday night
Speaker 1: football games haven't happened rain. You and I and our
Speaker 1: office fantasy league are both losing by sixty points.
Speaker 2: Your reaction, my reaction is discussed fear, chagrin, overwhelm. I
Speaker 2: have seventy two points right now.
Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing. I think you would be beating
Speaker 1: me now after tonight. I don't think you would be,
Speaker 1: but I think you are currently currently lead leading me.
Speaker 1: I have sixty three points. Now, I've got Breithe Hall tonight,
Speaker 1: I've got the kicker. But yeah, is the season over
Speaker 1: for you? Have you given up?
Speaker 2: No? I really like my team.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't understand it. I don't understand how Patrick Mahons
Speaker 2: only got sixteen, Amon Ross sat Brown, who is a
Speaker 2: top five wide receivers, got me three points, and Christian
Speaker 2: Kirk got me three points. He's a top you know,
Speaker 2: twenty receiver yeah, so I think things are going to
Speaker 2: turn around. I have Lad McConkie on the bench so
Speaker 2: I can bring him out.
Speaker 1: He's yeah. I like him too. I wanted him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I you know, the Chargers looked for The Chargers looked
Speaker 1: fun all. By the way, all of the principal cast
Speaker 1: members are are being saddled with an l that are
Speaker 1: in the office fence meet you. John Soxy, our commissioner.
Speaker 1: He's gonna win. Andy Buckley, who knows nothing about football,
Speaker 1: admittedly his son runs his team. He's gonna win. We
Speaker 1: feel like we know things, yet we're terrible. It's very discouraging,
Speaker 1: it is. It's very sad.
Speaker 2: Uh. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to say.
Speaker 2: But Mahomes is gonna light it up some more. And
Speaker 2: he had a tough go. Baltimore defense is tough and
Speaker 2: just wren up. And I think Kamara and etn and
Speaker 2: I've got debo tonight. I feel good about my chances.
Speaker 2: I've got a good team.
Speaker 1: Your chances in the future, not this week. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: you're destroyed this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's okay. I have I have learned in the
Speaker 2: in the great game of Fantasy football. I have there
Speaker 2: have been multiple seasons where it's like I've lost like
Speaker 2: five of the first six games, Yes, and then picked
Speaker 2: up some waiver wire additions and made a late season
Speaker 2: run and gotten in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So you you do not give You do not give up.
Speaker 1: There are there are some people who do you do?
Speaker 1: You do not?
Speaker 2: I work the wire till the bitter end.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm discouraged though, because I liked my team as well.
Speaker 1: I will ask you this. I was texting during the
Speaker 1: draft with Uberaga, who drafted third, who built his entire
Speaker 1: draft on on the assumption that I was going to
Speaker 1: take Tyreek Hill. Uh, we can't really say how my
Speaker 1: choice panned out, obviously it's the first week anyway, But
Speaker 1: I took bres Hall and not Hill. What would you
Speaker 1: have done?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely wouldn't have taken Breee Hall. I think
Speaker 2: he's like number ten or something, So I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what the thinking was there. Is your
Speaker 2: podcast audience are they really into fantasy football? Because what
Speaker 2: about your podcast audience that just loves conversations about being
Speaker 2: an actor and.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to have that conversation too. But I
Speaker 1: mean it's week one, it's the Office, Fantasy League. I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, people are interested in the things
Speaker 1: that we're interested in. I don't know, Rain, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's interesting to me. There's a lot going on, the
Speaker 1: Emmys coming. Are you watching television?
Speaker 2: I watched television sometimes. Yeah, I'm watching Chimp Crazy. Have
Speaker 2: you seen Chimp Crazy?
Speaker 1: I have not seen chimp Crazy. What's chimp Crazy?
Speaker 2: Oh my god? It's amazing. It's about the world of
Speaker 2: people that collect and chimpanzees, and.
Speaker 1: We mean collect chimpanzees, like actual chimpanzees.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they raise chimpanzees.
Speaker 1: Is that called collecting?
Speaker 2: I don't know. You collect, you collect them, You collect
Speaker 2: them in your basement or in your backyard, and they're
Speaker 2: really crazy and it's just a fascinating train wreck.
Speaker 1: So it's this is a reality to me.
Speaker 2: It's a docu series on a docu series on HBO Max.
Speaker 1: Are you watching? Are you watching Bad Monkey?
Speaker 2: I haven't seen Bad Monkey yet? Is it good?
Speaker 1: Michelle Monaghan on the podcast a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoy I mean it's it's Vince Vaughan.
Speaker 1: Is is Vince Vaughn And he's back and he's doing
Speaker 1: his thing, and it's entertaining.
Speaker 2: To me fair enough, Maybe I'll give it a try.
Speaker 1: You should, you should. Here's the thing that strikes me
Speaker 1: quickly about about the Emmys this year when you look
Speaker 1: at the comedy show that none of them feel like
Speaker 1: comedies to me. The bear is the bear a comedy.
Speaker 2: The bear is not a comedy. Beef is not a comedy.
Speaker 2: Palm Royal, it's not a comedy. I don't understand the
Speaker 2: lack of comedies in the comedy realm. But I don't
Speaker 2: understand why networks and streamers aren't buying more comedies, developing
Speaker 2: more comedies. Why they Surely there's an audience for comedies
Speaker 2: out there somewhere, right, I would think, so, yeah, people
Speaker 2: doing funny things. Yeah, I mean those are some good shows,
Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, they're very absolutely but even like
Speaker 2: only murders in the building.
Speaker 1: I was going to bring that up, it's not really
Speaker 1: a comedy. It's a little.
Speaker 2: Bit more of a comedy, but it pushes the needle
Speaker 2: a little bit more towards comedy. There are certainly comedians
Speaker 2: in it.
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. It stars too
Speaker 1: great comedians and even Hacks, which is about stand up comedians.
Speaker 1: I don't is that a comedy? Is Hacks a comedy?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a little it's a little bit dark. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you're you're watching the Chimp thing.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's what I'm watching. I watched The House of
Speaker 2: the Dragon. I love that show. That's over with. I
Speaker 2: think Slow Horses has a new season out. I really
Speaker 2: like that show on Apple.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's out now. I enjoy that show as well.
Speaker 1: The limited series stuff is I mean, that's what it
Speaker 1: feels like everything is these days.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But Baby Reindeer Fargo, I just absolutely love Fargo. Do
Speaker 1: you watch Fargo.
Speaker 2: I couldn't get into this last season. I thought the
Speaker 2: tone was weird. It got very goofy in ways that
Speaker 2: earlier Fargo's didn't. So I did not.
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't get it. But I know people that thought
Speaker 2: it was just brilliant and loved it.
Speaker 1: I loved it. Ripley, Yeah, I loved Ripley. I was fished. Ripley.
Speaker 1: Replease the comedy.
Speaker 2: Here's my comedy pitch. Serial Killer moves to Italy in
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty three, very stylish.
Speaker 1: We filmed it black and white and it's going to
Speaker 1: be a riot. All right? Are you are you going?
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you presenting?
Speaker 2: I haven't watched an award show in ten years. Really,
Speaker 2: I don't. I'm not what are you boycotting? I just
Speaker 2: don't enjoy award shows. I mean that's not true. I've
Speaker 2: seen some of the Oscars, not every year, but some
Speaker 2: of that. But so I don't know. I couldn't tell
Speaker 2: you what's going on in that in the world of Amys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we just talked about a lot of shows
Speaker 1: that are nominated, So I mean, that's okay, that's a start.
Speaker 1: That's okay. You have a big event going on this weekend,
Speaker 1: which is really why I wanted to talk to you
Speaker 1: this week. I was looking at your website for Lead
Speaker 1: a Haiti, knowing you for a long time, knowing you
Speaker 1: started it, I didn't realize that you started lead a
Speaker 1: Haiti as like a temporary thing, according to your website
Speaker 1: in twenty ten, in response to the earthquake that happened there.
Speaker 1: So you did not think that you were still going
Speaker 1: to be doing this fourteen years later.
Speaker 2: No, Yeah, we came as a temporarily to teach arts
Speaker 2: and education. To adolescent girls through a program sponsored by
Speaker 2: the United Nations, and that was a temporary measure and
Speaker 2: then we just kind of stayed and some Haitian friends
Speaker 2: of ours and us started this and out in rural Haiti.
Speaker 2: Haiti is in terrible shape right now. I'm sure you've heard.
Speaker 2: Gangs are controlling at least forty percent of Porta Prince,
Speaker 2: the capital city. It's in complete and total chaos. We
Speaker 2: were very fortunate because our programs, which do arts, literacy,
Speaker 2: healthcare scholarships for adolescent girls, are in rural Haiti, way
Speaker 2: in the north, far away from where any gangs.
Speaker 1: Would go because it's too poor.
Speaker 2: So we're able to be functioning and we've actually been
Speaker 2: thriving as an organization and we're working with almost a
Speaker 2: thousand girls right now.
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been great. Yeah. But we're doing a big
Speaker 2: office get together trivia night event this weekend to fundraise
Speaker 2: for Haiti and very excited about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you're bringing in its fan. I know you
Speaker 1: did a what do you call it.
Speaker 2: A raffle, right, raffle Yep, there's gonna be raffle winners
Speaker 2: and there's going to be kind of people bidding to
Speaker 2: come as well through charity.
Speaker 1: Buzz Okay, how many people are they going to be there? Well,
Speaker 1: so I'm I'm I'm coming.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: Who else is going to be their Creed.
Speaker 2: Creed, Oscar Franery, Oscar, Ellie Kemper Nice, Paul Eberstein, I think,
Speaker 2: Paul Okay and Andy Buckley nice And yeah, it's going
Speaker 2: to be It's gonna be a good group.
Speaker 1: Very excited. This is going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about it.
Speaker 2: Thank you for attending and supporting. You've always been very
Speaker 2: supportive of Lee da Haiti and our work, and you know,
Speaker 2: this is what I do, Brian. I wore myself out
Speaker 2: as Dwight and do some Dwight related events and T
Speaker 2: shirts and you know, sales and cameos and stuff like
Speaker 2: that to raise money for girls' education to some of
Speaker 2: the kind of poorest, neediest girls on the planet. And
Speaker 2: it's great. It's a great way to kind of leverage
Speaker 2: celebrity towards a positive cause. So I'm happy to do it.
Speaker 2: I'm so grateful that I got to play Dwight.
Speaker 1: Well, what is funny to me about this particular event
Speaker 1: going back well five years ago on the first incarnation
Speaker 1: of the podcast when we did an oral history of
Speaker 1: the Office. How little you remember about our time there.
Speaker 1: So the fact that you're doing office trivia is very
Speaker 1: funny to me. I will not get any I am
Speaker 1: asking the questions. Are you participating?
Speaker 2: I have no idea. I don't know how it's working.
Speaker 2: I really don't. I I have seen every episode once,
Speaker 2: and I have seen about two thirds of the episodes twice. Okay,
Speaker 2: and there's whole other seasons I've I have not.
Speaker 1: Story life seen in ten years.
Speaker 2: So I'm the worst person you can ask, but I'm there.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be jovial and it's high fighting.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be nice rain. You're gonna be.
Speaker 2: Nice bringing on nice rain, not grumpy rain.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, do you have like a off I have
Speaker 1: a office trivia question that I do you have one
Speaker 1: that you ask people?
Speaker 2: Let's hear yours.
Speaker 1: Well. When people come up and they're like, hey, you
Speaker 1: know I won the office Trivia night at my local
Speaker 1: community center or whatever, I have one, and I always
Speaker 1: say to them, I have one question. I have one
Speaker 1: question only Okay. Here it is, what is Gabe Lewis's
Speaker 1: middle name? Five? Seconds.
Speaker 2: I have no idea, Charles, No.
Speaker 1: He yells it one time. It's referenced one time. Gabriel
Speaker 1: Susan Lewis. That's good.
Speaker 2: See that's comedy, folks. Why aren't there comedies on the air?
Speaker 2: Jokes were someone who's very self serious is named Gabe
Speaker 2: Susan Lewis.
Speaker 1: Gabriel Gabriel Susan Lewis. Well, the other bit that I
Speaker 1: do is the other than just the straight flat dunder
Speaker 1: Mifflin T shirt, the one that everybody wears is the
Speaker 1: fun Run for the Cure thing. And so they'll approach
Speaker 1: and they'll say something, and I'll say, do you ever
Speaker 1: do you usually wear clothes that you don't know? What?
Speaker 1: They say? And I take something and I block their
Speaker 1: shirt and ask them to tell me what it says? Nice,
Speaker 1: zero percent correct on that one.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right, Fun Run for the Cure blah
Speaker 2: blah blah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's like a Meredith Palmer and a Michael Scott Rabies. Anyway, Well,
Speaker 1: good luck with the fundraiser this weekend. I look forward
Speaker 1: to seeing you. It's been since it's been since pre
Speaker 1: COVID that we've done a charity right with Creed's Benefit concert.
Speaker 1: I think we're the last. We we did one together.
Speaker 2: Well, last year I did one that was a dinner
Speaker 2: with me and Steven Angela.
Speaker 1: Yes, I wasn't invited. No you want I wasn't invited.
Speaker 2: You're not a list enough.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, I didn't go.
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't want to invite Steve Is. Steve is, Yeah, Steve,
Speaker 2: Steve wasn't like forty episodes.
Speaker 1: Come on, that's true, that's true.
Speaker 2: So yeah, no, I'm psyched to be there. This is
Speaker 2: gonna be so much fun and we'll raise a little
Speaker 2: money and it's all all for a good cause. And
Speaker 2: it's good to see. How it's a podcast going. How's
Speaker 2: the golfing going?
Speaker 1: Everything's going well. I need to get rid of this
Speaker 1: like sinus thing and I'll I'll be back in business.
Speaker 1: But you know, I just did my American Century Championship
Speaker 1: deal there in Lake Talk, you know what you know.
Speaker 1: So here's the thing. People are like, oh wow, or
Speaker 1: like it's impressive or something. For me, it's just that
Speaker 1: I'm old. You know that American Century Championship thing that
Speaker 1: you've known. I've been you know, we started this on
Speaker 1: the eighteen years in a row, Holy moly, eighteen years
Speaker 1: in a row.
Speaker 2: Amazing.
Speaker 1: It's unreal. My golf game is a little better.
Speaker 2: But did you get free golf clubs out of it?
Speaker 1: I have golf clubs. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Did you get free ones out of doing that?
Speaker 1: Out of that event? No? Okay, Ran, I do a lot.
Speaker 1: I play a lot of golf.
Speaker 2: I know you do.
Speaker 1: I know you do. But I enjoy it. Everyone's got
Speaker 1: to find something they love.
Speaker 2: I play tennis, as you know.
Speaker 1: I know I love it. Yeah, and Angela's is with
Speaker 1: the tennis now too.
Speaker 2: Angela and I played Steven Nancy and tennis recently a
Speaker 2: month ago.
Speaker 1: Really, yeah, who won?
Speaker 2: I think they won in a tiebreak, but I honestly
Speaker 2: can't remember. And I'm truly saying that. I'm not saying
Speaker 2: that because we lost. I think Nancy Correll is really
Speaker 2: good at tennis played. She plays four or five days
Speaker 2: a week. She's a monster. She's really really good. Yeah. Wow,
Speaker 2: but we did well, we did well.
Speaker 1: Good for you. Yeah, I love hearing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No one plays golf. That's the thing. That's my
Speaker 1: number one question at these things. It's like who else
Speaker 1: will play? No one plays? I don't know. Well, good
Speaker 1: luck and Fantasy. I'm gonna try to get Lad McConkey
Speaker 1: from you because I'm a big fan of his too.
Speaker 2: But anyway, you try your best, my friend, you try
Speaker 2: your best. Uh congression, Oh maybe you can trade me
Speaker 2: Breeze Hall for him.
Speaker 1: He mean, let me at least get Can I get
Speaker 1: one game under my belt with him? He was my choice.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on soul Boom. By the way, I'm so happy
Speaker 1: for you and the success of the book, the new podcast.
Speaker 1: Where can people hear that anywhere that you listen to podcasts?
Speaker 2: Wherever you get your podcasts. Soul Boom our our YouTube channel.
Speaker 2: Check out the book soul Boom on a bookstore near you,
Speaker 2: and thank you for all your support. You're the best, Brian.
Speaker 2: I love you so much.
Speaker 1: Thanks Rain, I love you. I'll see you this weekend. Okay, great, all.
Speaker 3: Right bye everybody.
Speaker 1: Welcome back everybody. You know it is the the inaugural week,
Speaker 1: the first week, Week one of the NFL season. We're
Speaker 1: coming to you live on September the ninth, a very
Speaker 1: very big game tonight between the San Francisco forty nine
Speaker 1: ers and the Jets Jets. Jets Jets. By the time
Speaker 1: you hear this podcast, you'll know what happened and likely
Speaker 1: know whether I'm happy or I'm sad. We're going to
Speaker 1: bring on a producer of ours here on the podcast,
Speaker 1: Ryan Papa Zachary to talk with me about the NFL
Speaker 1: Week one season. Ryan has worked for I don't know
Speaker 1: fifty years, for the SBS and for the NFL honors.
Speaker 1: Many of the great NFL guests that we have on
Speaker 1: the podcast here are due to his relationship with the
Speaker 1: players or coaches or analysts who work for the NFL.
Speaker 1: I want to bring Ryan on here so we can
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Week one. Papa. How's it going, Papa?
Speaker 1: What's good? Be well, not a whole lot as I
Speaker 1: just talked with mister Wilson about. But I'm excited football
Speaker 1: is back Week one. Did you watch any of the games?
Speaker 2: I did?
Speaker 4: I mean pretty much red zoned it all day, okay,
Speaker 4: and then watch the evening game.
Speaker 1: Do you like the red zone?
Speaker 4: I do it just it gives you all the information
Speaker 4: at once. I don't have the NFL ticket, so for
Speaker 4: me it does a trick.
Speaker 1: Who impressed you the most Week one? Week one? Cooper Cup?
Speaker 4: Cooper Cup, I I a friend off the podcast there
Speaker 4: you go. Yes, off a super fan friend of Brian Baumgardner.
Speaker 4: Your guy, Cooper man Pooka goes down in the first
Speaker 4: half with the knee injury that he kind of I
Speaker 4: don't know what it was. I'm not a doctor, but
Speaker 4: they take him out of the game, and I'm assuming
Speaker 4: it's the same thing that he kind of had or
Speaker 4: re retweaked in the preseason. I'm guessing that's what it is.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I haven't read, I haven't looked this morning.
Speaker 4: But Cooper comes in there and your guy had like
Speaker 4: they sent him in motion every play. He was ever
Speaker 4: in motion every play. He had to be over forty
Speaker 4: plays in motion and they targeted twenty more than twenty times.
Speaker 4: I think he caught twelve or thirteen something like that,
Speaker 4: but he had over one hundred yards and a touchdown.
Speaker 4: I mean, Matt was looking for him every play.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm going to text him today and ask
Speaker 1: him if it's due to Dodo Coffee, his coffee company,
Speaker 1: Like is that? I think his answer is going to
Speaker 1: be yes. Is there a world?
Speaker 2: Is there a world where where see Ki says no
Speaker 2: to that?
Speaker 1: I don't I don't think so.
Speaker 4: I mean he also he also gave him, you know,
Speaker 4: a couple of those inter round sweeps. So I don't
Speaker 4: know what the I don't know what the Rams call
Speaker 4: him in their playbook, but you know he ran for
Speaker 4: ten yards, twelve yards, they're given the ball handing him
Speaker 4: off to him too.
Speaker 1: I was listening to some people this morning who commentate
Speaker 1: about football. They will remain nameless, but they said that
Speaker 1: loss by the Rams last night was maybe the best
Speaker 1: loss in a decade. That they looked really good. Both
Speaker 1: their tackles were out, three members of their offensive line,
Speaker 1: and they dominated the second half.
Speaker 4: What do you think as a viewer, as a fan
Speaker 4: of the game, I could see that. I mean, I'm
Speaker 4: not going to argue. I think going to the Rams
Speaker 4: facility today and tell them that was the best loss
Speaker 4: of all time and see how they see how they feel,
Speaker 4: I think you're going to get a different answer.
Speaker 1: But no, I mean it was a great game. It
Speaker 1: really was.
Speaker 4: I mean Matt made some great throws. That was a
Speaker 4: one throw where the guy was in his face and
Speaker 4: he was getting pushed back hit, So yeah, it was
Speaker 4: just I mean in Collinsworth went over and over and over,
Speaker 4: so I don't have to redo it. But it was incredible.
Speaker 4: It was a great game. I enjoyed it a lot.
Speaker 4: It's interesting to see the Lions be good again, because
Speaker 4: they haven't really since I was a kid and Barry
Speaker 4: Sanders was running around.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4: I think there's there's plenty a Week one headlines to
Speaker 4: go around.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean it is overreaction Monday. I mean,
Speaker 1: Monday is always overreaction Monday. But this week, Week one,
Speaker 1: obviously you can't you can't read too much into it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the Bengals were very surprising. What was the biggest surprise
Speaker 1: game for you this week?
Speaker 2: Surprise surprise?
Speaker 4: I mean I think New Orleans scoring forty seven points
Speaker 4: was not on my vision board.
Speaker 1: They scored nine possessions in a row.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was not I mean, not trying to be judgmental,
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to be judgmental, but that was not
Speaker 4: on my vision board for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Well, I was surprised by a lot. I think that
Speaker 1: how good this early that the Chiefs look that had
Speaker 1: to put some people on notice. I think I showed
Speaker 1: on my social media my candle predicted the Ravens were
Speaker 1: going to win. On Thursday night, I was surprised by
Speaker 1: how good Kansas City looks better than they did. I
Speaker 1: know it's overreaction. Monday, they looked as good or better
Speaker 1: than they did all of last year. They just looked
Speaker 1: like a more well rounded team to me against what
Speaker 1: should be a really good Ravens team.
Speaker 4: And it is a really good Ravens team. I think,
Speaker 4: what's the name of the kid Xavier Worthy that they drafted.
Speaker 4: I mean, I would love to see him in Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 1: In a race.
Speaker 4: I mean he just yeah, like he just out. I
Speaker 4: mean he's super fast and will knew it like it's no.
Speaker 4: But like when you see it in a game, it's
Speaker 4: it's a different and it's a different story.
Speaker 1: People talk about the NFL being the greatest reality show
Speaker 1: on television, and if you watched the games this week,
Speaker 1: starting with that the toe being out of bounds on
Speaker 1: Thursday night, so many of the endings, it sort of
Speaker 1: lived up to that billing. At one point, there were
Speaker 1: eight games in the early time slot on Sunday, Six
Speaker 1: of them, halfway through the fourth quarter were one possession games.
Speaker 1: Most of the games very very close and compelling till
Speaker 1: the end, with storylines that abounded.
Speaker 4: I agree one but two, if you back up, you
Speaker 4: still want to talk Chiefs Ravens. The drama in the
Speaker 4: first half, was it like four illegal formations in the first.
Speaker 2: Half called on that more.
Speaker 4: And I mean, I'm not a not a player, but
Speaker 4: as far as I know, that's that's a penalty where
Speaker 4: the ref's always kind of like, hey, you're you're moving
Speaker 4: a little, you gotta scow it in, or hey, you
Speaker 4: gotta you gotta scoop back a bitter. For me, that
Speaker 4: seems like a penalty that the refs always kind of
Speaker 4: give you a little, uh, a little grace with and
Speaker 4: kind of warn you and if you if you adhere
Speaker 4: to what they're saying.
Speaker 1: They don't call it. Yeah. I heard this morning a
Speaker 1: friend of the podcast, Andrew Whitworth, who's been on here
Speaker 1: obviously having a ton of success on Thursday Night Football
Speaker 1: as a commentator now that he's retired a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: champion with the Rams. I heard him talk and he
Speaker 1: said something that was really interesting to me, and I'm
Speaker 1: glad you brought this up. What he said is what
Speaker 1: he doesn't like is the NFL saying this penalty or
Speaker 1: this rule is a point of focus for us. He
Speaker 1: was like, look, it's either a penalty or it's not, like,
Speaker 1: but all of the rules should should play in and
Speaker 1: he doesn't like this sort of targeted focus on one
Speaker 1: specific thing. And I don't know if you've ever had
Speaker 1: this speaking of reality shows, I mean I don't watch,
Speaker 1: as you know, a lot of reality television shows, but
Speaker 1: that like cringe moment or like cringe comedy. At the
Speaker 1: beginning of that game, that's how I felt. I was like,
Speaker 1: really again, no, stop, like it felt, it felt uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: and ultimately I wonder if somebody started sending a message
Speaker 1: down because it was not a good look for the league.
Speaker 4: I thought, well, and it's one of those things where like,
Speaker 4: are you you know, everything is reviewed at the end
Speaker 4: of the year, right, so the ref's performances get reviewed,
Speaker 4: their calls get reviewed. They probably get reviewed weekly and
Speaker 4: then yearly and then whatever, I mean, do they look
Speaker 4: at it and they go, hey, there's a there's a
Speaker 4: there's a bunch of missing illegal formation penalties here. We
Speaker 4: need to overcompensate now, Like that's what it's That's what
Speaker 4: it seemed like. Because it's game one, it's two of
Speaker 4: the best teams in the league. Everybody wants to see it.
Speaker 2: But I think the.
Speaker 4: You know, you talk about the moment, the cringe moment.
Speaker 4: I think the thing that sucks for fans is like,
Speaker 4: let them play, right. I want to watch Lamar and
Speaker 4: Patrick go at it. I want to watch like.
Speaker 1: This is what everybody does.
Speaker 4: This is why it's the first game of the season
Speaker 4: and it's a primetime game. Everybody wants to watch these
Speaker 4: two teams play.
Speaker 1: Obviously, you and I have watched a lot of the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers over the years. Ultimately, I don't think
Speaker 1: the folks at the NFL will be happy that I
Speaker 1: say this. It felt like going to Brazil. Great, you
Speaker 1: want to expand the fan base, great, if this is
Speaker 1: something you want to do. It felt unfortunate to me
Speaker 1: that these two teams that everyone, at least on paper,
Speaker 1: believes are going to be two great teams in the NFC,
Speaker 1: that they have to make this trip and do this game,
Speaker 1: and obviously turf issues, some players concerned about security issues
Speaker 1: down there. It felt a little awkward to me, although
Speaker 1: I did like having a game on Friday night. What
Speaker 1: what what did you think?
Speaker 4: I I I'm not gonna I'm not a player, so
Speaker 4: I can't speak for for any of them, but it
Speaker 4: I mean, how can you be a fan of that
Speaker 4: flying in on a was it like on a Wednesday
Speaker 4: or Tuesday night ten hour flight, they're two hours ahead.
Speaker 4: You practice the next day, and then you have a
Speaker 4: game the next night, and you turn around and fly home.
Speaker 4: I mean, when anybody travels internationally getting your bearings, there's
Speaker 4: always a day or two of kind of just like
Speaker 4: I feel a little weird from flying across the world.
Speaker 4: I think airplanes do that in general, but I don't know,
Speaker 4: that just seems it seems like a lot for the
Speaker 4: players and coaches and and all the all the employees
Speaker 4: of the teams as well, like the front office people,
Speaker 4: the equipment people that are involved. Because they're not just
Speaker 4: bringing players and coaches, they bring they bring staff. There's
Speaker 4: a there's a whole city that travels with them. There's
Speaker 4: a village, and I I that can't be easy for anybody.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, And that's.
Speaker 4: That's always been kind of a conversation where like teams
Speaker 4: like Chicago in Green Bay being in the middle of
Speaker 4: the country that they have a slight advantage over teams
Speaker 4: like New York and Seattle that have to travel. If
Speaker 4: you know, Seattle's playing the Dolphins, or if you know,
Speaker 4: the Giants are playing the Rams's two.
Speaker 1: And a half hour flight as opposed to a six
Speaker 1: hour flight. Yeah, it felt difficult, a little bit awkward.
Speaker 1: Hopefully Jordan is okay. Obviously he's very important to their
Speaker 1: success this year. Also, Josh Allen with an injury that
Speaker 1: we're sort of waiting to hear back on. Those are
Speaker 1: a couple of the marquee guys. I want to ask
Speaker 1: you quickly about the other LA team, the Chargers. Chargers
Speaker 1: relevant this year. They're one to zero.
Speaker 4: I don't think you can count Jim Harbaugh out, with
Speaker 4: his resume and what he's done everywhere he's gone. I
Speaker 4: just don't think you can do it.
Speaker 1: It felt like if there was a script for what
Speaker 1: you thought might happen to them, it couldn't have gone
Speaker 1: any better for them. And yeah, as an offensive coach
Speaker 1: coming in, what was so surprising to me was how
Speaker 1: great the defense looked and how tough they the entire
Speaker 1: team played start to finish. I don't know that it
Speaker 1: was a fun game to watch, but the results well,
Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's good for the NFL.
Speaker 4: Well, I think too. The other thing in that game
Speaker 4: is JK. Dobbins towards Achilles, and he came on and
Speaker 4: played ran for the Chargers, and he played well and
Speaker 4: didn't get hurt. I think it's the same for Atlanta
Speaker 4: Kirk Cousins. They lost, maybe not had the game that
Speaker 4: he wanted to have. But you know, tonight there's also
Speaker 4: another guy with the same injury coming back. So it's
Speaker 4: good to see those guys back and healthy, and it's exciting.
Speaker 1: What's going to happen tonight? J Ets Jets, Jets, Jets
Speaker 1: at the Niners, your pick.
Speaker 4: I think the Jets take it. I don't think it's
Speaker 4: gonna be easy on either side. I just hope everyone
Speaker 4: stays healthy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do as well. It should be a lot
Speaker 1: of fun, obviously. I'm excited football is back. Thank you
Speaker 1: for coming and talking about some of the biggest stories
Speaker 1: this week. By the way, my fantasy football team sucks. Sorry.
Speaker 1: Did you play rain this week? No? We just both
Speaker 1: lost by sixty so we're uh, yeah, we're not good.
Speaker 1: We have to look ourselves in the face. I don't know,
Speaker 1: is that what you're saying.
Speaker 4: Nobody have to be good at fantasy People are lucky
Speaker 4: at fantasy.
Speaker 1: Well, don't tell me when I win that. Thanks for
Speaker 1: coming on, appreciate it. I couldn't be more excited about
Speaker 1: the season being back, and we'll see what happens tonight.
Speaker 1: I promise you this. I may have a cocktail and
Speaker 1: watch the game. Yeah, I'm in let's do it all right.
Speaker 1: Thanks Papa Sob, Thank you everybody for indulging me this week.
Speaker 1: The last thing is the Emmys this weekend, the seventy
Speaker 1: sixth edition of the Emmys. You know, it brings back
Speaker 1: so many great memories for me. Every time I think
Speaker 1: about the Emmys, I think about my first year. Angela
Speaker 1: Kinzie and I went together. Very long story short, we
Speaker 1: were late to our first Emmys. Our car broke down
Speaker 1: on its way to Angela's house. Angela then got picked up,
Speaker 1: called me, said we're coming to you. We have no Eric.
Speaker 1: We melted on the way to the Emmys and arrived
Speaker 1: after missing the entire red carpet. The opening conan all
Speaker 1: of our friends. But the story ended well. The Office
Speaker 1: won Best Comedy, so it became it became a very
Speaker 1: special night, and ultimately I probably wouldn't remember who I
Speaker 1: talked to on the red carpet. Or what interviews I gave,
Speaker 1: or what anybody was wearing, or what Conan did in
Speaker 1: that opening. I think it makes it cooler now that
Speaker 1: the story was real and much like the show, a
Speaker 1: comedy of errors, maybe it made it a little more special.
Speaker 1: So you never know what's going to happen there at
Speaker 1: the Emmys, very excited about seeing what happens. And look, ultimately,
Speaker 1: it's not about who wins and loses. I said that
Speaker 1: to myself for many of the ten years we were there.
Speaker 1: But it is a celebration of the thing that I
Speaker 1: love more than football, which is television. So enjoy the Emmys,
Speaker 1: regardless of what Rain says. I encourage you to watch
Speaker 1: and celebrate along with me that and we will see
Speaker 1: you next week on Off the Beat. Until then, have
Speaker 1: a great week. Off the Beat is hosted and executive
Speaker 1: produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Ling Lee.
Speaker 1: Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our talent producer is
Speaker 1: Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed
Speaker 1: by the one and only Creed Bratton