Speaker 1: It's time for a Happy half hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristin Balboni, Miles Simmons, and Will Brian. Welcome to Happy
Speaker 1: half Hour. I'm Kristin Balboni here with Can I say
Speaker 1: it my friends? Will Brian and Miles Simmons. I asked
Speaker 1: that because in our first episode, Will introduced us as
Speaker 1: his friends, and Miles, right off the bat you said, Uh,
Speaker 1: no way, let's pump the brakes. We're not friends yet,
Speaker 1: but last night we did uh meet up in a
Speaker 1: very socially responsible way here in Charlotte, Miles, now that
Speaker 1: you've moved so so, Miles, what's the verdict on saying
Speaker 1: we're friends? You know what, Kristen, I can say you're
Speaker 1: my friend. Will. Wow, this is gonna be like the
Speaker 1: ongoing thing every start of every podcast is whether or
Speaker 1: not Miles and my friends yet? Well, well you did
Speaker 1: set yourself up for it. I mean, just right off
Speaker 1: the right, off the top of the first episode, you
Speaker 1: threw you, you threw yourself into both of us, into
Speaker 1: the deep end, and Miles was like, I'm not coming
Speaker 1: to get you. Yeah. I mean we'll we'll see how
Speaker 1: this thing evolves. But I think it's a pretty good, fun,
Speaker 1: funny running joke. I agree. Well, Miles, thank you for
Speaker 1: saying that that we are friends. I appreciate that. So
Speaker 1: it was the first time, um, that Miles and I
Speaker 1: met in person. Although we've done a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: on video, video chat and zoom over the past few months,
Speaker 1: but we actually got to meet in person. Will and
Speaker 1: I had met during my interview, but Will had you
Speaker 1: and Miles met. I don't think we ever discussed that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we met during miles interview, so so Will was the
Speaker 1: common thread. But it was the first time that Miles
Speaker 1: and I got to meet, um, and it was great.
Speaker 1: It was just right on the tail end of of
Speaker 1: your move. Miles. You moved just a few days ago,
Speaker 1: and the first thing you did was drop everything and
Speaker 1: come hang out with the two of us. I'm honored,
Speaker 1: it's true. And I got lost on the way there.
Speaker 1: I believe we get into a little bit, so but yeah,
Speaker 1: it was it was as I told you guys last night.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was funny because it was really the
Speaker 1: first time that I've seen people that I even sort
Speaker 1: of know in person since March, which is just bizarre.
Speaker 1: So I guess, like you know, I was, I was
Speaker 1: kind of ready to like actually talk to some people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it was a it was I think probably
Speaker 1: weird for all of us, and I'm sure it'll be
Speaker 1: weird for everybody the first time that, you know, we
Speaker 1: kind of I'll re enter society, like I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was just like, how do I order food? What
Speaker 1: do I which was like are you? Are you good?
Speaker 1: And I was like, yes, I think so. Is that
Speaker 1: what I'm supposed to say? It's just a it's weird
Speaker 1: not having gone anywhere for so long and then kind
Speaker 1: of going back into it. But we did it all together, guys.
Speaker 1: We got the first public meet up out of the way, um,
Speaker 1: and we did socially responsibly just so everyone knows masks
Speaker 1: distance um. And it was fun. I think, right, do
Speaker 1: we have fun? I still have a hard time of
Speaker 1: like reading people's expressions behind masks, Like there's this whole
Speaker 1: thing where you you forget how much of like being
Speaker 1: able to see someone's mouth can like determine what exactly
Speaker 1: they're really trying to say, and now like not being
Speaker 1: able to see it, I can't tell if they're like
Speaker 1: smiling or like making laughing or making fun of me
Speaker 1: or like not happy with what I just said, Like
Speaker 1: it's kind of a weird sensation. Yeah, I've read I've
Speaker 1: read articles about this. It's all about smizing. Now you
Speaker 1: have the smile. Yeah, I guess. So is that where
Speaker 1: that came from? America's Next Top Model? It's from a
Speaker 1: while back? All right, well then that's I guess is
Speaker 1: where it came from. But yeah, I think you you
Speaker 1: have to make sure that you know your eyebrows or
Speaker 1: raised and you open your eyes and you know, just
Speaker 1: try to smile with the corners of your eyes. I
Speaker 1: don't exactly know how to do it sounds so when
Speaker 1: you say it like that, I'm just I've got the
Speaker 1: mental image in my head and I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's just wide eyes, raised eyebrows the
Speaker 1: entire time. I don't know. I don't know. I love,
Speaker 1: but I just know that my default is like RBF
Speaker 1: and if you understand what that means, and you mean
Speaker 1: but I don't think it's the word I can say
Speaker 1: on the podcast, so I won't. But like that's my
Speaker 1: default facial setting. So like anytime I'm out in public,
Speaker 1: I like, you know, have furrowed brows as opposed to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, happy brows. I pretty much thought Miles gets
Speaker 1: angry at me all of last night. I had no idea. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, judging by the fact that he doesn't want
Speaker 1: to be friends with you, it could have been. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't say I don't want to be friends. I
Speaker 1: just say that we're not yet. Miles had no happy
Speaker 1: brows last night when we met. But speaking of our
Speaker 1: our meet up, because we are good podcasters, we did record.
Speaker 1: We've been sitting there for for a couple of hours
Speaker 1: and we decided to pull out the phone and do
Speaker 1: a little recording um of our first meetup. So so
Speaker 1: excuse the audio quality, but here it is. Okay. This
Speaker 1: is the first official meeting of the Happy half Hour crew.
Speaker 1: We are at a happy hour, essentially happy couple of hours.
Speaker 1: Who knows, you know, it's been a good, happy couple
Speaker 1: of hours. I would say, um, we just like to
Speaker 1: know that. Miles immediately reached for the phone so that
Speaker 1: you can out of Christian's hand. I got to get
Speaker 1: close to it. I haven't had any social interaction in
Speaker 1: person with people since March, so this is new for me,
Speaker 1: and I don't know how to act in public anymore.
Speaker 1: I like it. Miles has been so responsible the entire time,
Speaker 1: and then immediately the recording comes out and he just
Speaker 1: jumps and you've been a microphone. Then my face, this
Speaker 1: is what's gonna happen. You gotta love the commitment you
Speaker 1: are on What day did you actually make the flight
Speaker 1: to Charlotte? I flew here on Friday, so I stayed
Speaker 1: in a hotel on Friday night, and then I moved
Speaker 1: in air quotes, I moved in on Saturday. So I
Speaker 1: don't know what day is. Today is today? Tuesday? We're
Speaker 1: talking Tuesday night. Okay, so it's Tuesday night as we're talking.
Speaker 1: So I've been here for fourish fiveish days. What do
Speaker 1: you think so far? It's very green? It is? It
Speaker 1: really have a lot of green. And I was really
Speaker 1: scared during the thunderstorm last night because I had an
Speaker 1: experienced the thunderstorm in four years. Wait, what, they don't
Speaker 1: have thunderstorms. They don't have thunderstorms in a way that
Speaker 1: is true, I can haven't you heard? Will It never
Speaker 1: rains in southern California. I lived there for three years.
Speaker 1: When I ran in l A, traffic gets backed up
Speaker 1: by an extra at least Yeah, it's a wild No
Speaker 1: one knows how to drive in the rain. Get the earthquakes,
Speaker 1: then yeah, yeah, you get earthquakes, get other stuff. You
Speaker 1: enjoyed the storm. I enjoyed the storm. Nobody got scared.
Speaker 1: I'm scared. I was very scared for a minute. There
Speaker 1: is a quality to thementually in your ideal world. If
Speaker 1: none of this what's happening, Is this what you imagine
Speaker 1: your first interaction. You just moved. You probably haven't even
Speaker 1: unpacked your boxes. I don't even have at a table.
Speaker 1: We're all wearing masks and we're the first people that
Speaker 1: you've socially seen in months. Well you're welcome, yes, no,
Speaker 1: thank you, um for getting me out of the house,
Speaker 1: I guess um, And you know breaking bread with me
Speaker 1: is I continue to wear this mask because I was
Speaker 1: on a plane with an alarming amount of unsafe people
Speaker 1: when it comes to COVID. But yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: I think that in prefer my first social interaction in months,
Speaker 1: this this is this was pretty good, pretty pretty pretty good.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm watching that. Larry David wat can we
Speaker 1: also just quickly before we move on, wrath is back,
Speaker 1: and we also just publicly acknowledge that Miles got boss
Speaker 1: and the red locks away from this. Yeah to this,
Speaker 1: I picked it because I figured he doesn't have his
Speaker 1: car yet. It's an easy lost. He got lost. It's
Speaker 1: really bad because, like I have a good reputation with
Speaker 1: having a really good sense of direction. That I turned
Speaker 1: onto the street, I was exploring the neighborhood. I thought
Speaker 1: there would be another streets back onto. So yeah, as
Speaker 1: you'll get to, Charlotte has streets that curve and then
Speaker 1: they intersect with themselves. Yes, so they do a lot
Speaker 1: of things, so you can't you know, it's not a
Speaker 1: grid here. You can't rely on and that's what I'm
Speaker 1: used to after four years of living on the West Coast.
Speaker 1: Pretty much everything is a grid in l A, in Vegas,
Speaker 1: like that's the way things work. So yeah, in other words,
Speaker 1: I'm just indudiate though, So like that's time can handle that. Well.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm the right person to do this.
Speaker 1: It should probably be Will Maybe you can follow this
Speaker 1: up because I've been here all over two or three
Speaker 1: months and have been essentially nowhere. But we welcome to Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Welcome to Charlotte. Yeah, that's why that's more official. Okay.
Speaker 1: My My favorite part of that, and we kind of
Speaker 1: roasted him on the recording itself, was that, you know,
Speaker 1: we were all so socially responsible. Uh you know, Miles said, Hey,
Speaker 1: when we meet up, you know, I just flew on
Speaker 1: a plane. I want to make sure you guys are safe.
Speaker 1: Let's all be uh, you know, very careful. Immediately the
Speaker 1: phone comes out to record, Myles grabs it out of
Speaker 1: my to get the best, to get the best sound
Speaker 1: that he can and get us get his points across.
Speaker 1: And you know what, Miles, I gotta say, I respect
Speaker 1: it as as someone who has done that before as well.
Speaker 1: You know, you got to make sure you got the
Speaker 1: you gotta have the good sound. Well, listen, like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, when we're doing it, it's been a long
Speaker 1: time since I've had a microphone in my face, and
Speaker 1: I all one, and I just need it. I needed
Speaker 1: the microphone really bad. My Miles is jumping at the microphone. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm just like leaning back having some more of my flatbread,
Speaker 1: you know, because like I have my priorities. The flatbread
Speaker 1: was delicious. Yeah, well it took a start of restaurant
Speaker 1: that that he I mean of course, Miles and I've
Speaker 1: moved here a few months ago and haven't been anywhere.
Speaker 1: Miles just got here the other day. So we left
Speaker 1: it to Will to pick out a place. And I
Speaker 1: got to say, Supert Flatbreads, you did not do us
Speaker 1: wrong there. And I was trying to make it walkable
Speaker 1: for Miles since we're still working on his car, and
Speaker 1: even then I made it as literally, this is the
Speaker 1: closest place of business that there is two miles his
Speaker 1: new apartment, and he still got lost on the way.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't like you three blocks right, three blocks
Speaker 1: away from from where you live, and I want to say,
Speaker 1: Miles and don't want to call you out, but it
Speaker 1: was something like, you're twenty minutes late. I was very late.
Speaker 1: I was fashionably late three blocks or you just didn't.
Speaker 1: You were like, I'm not showing up early for these two.
Speaker 1: They're not even my friends. I mean, that was part
Speaker 1: of it, but it was it was mostly that. So
Speaker 1: I started walking and then I was like, oh, then
Speaker 1: you two, I will say you guys both texted that
Speaker 1: you were running a little bit late. So I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, I will walk around the neighborhood. I will
Speaker 1: explore my new surroundings, and so when I did that,
Speaker 1: I kind of got lost, and because it really could
Speaker 1: have been a straight shot just up the street, but
Speaker 1: then I decided that I would make it not a
Speaker 1: straight shot, and my sense of direction got a little
Speaker 1: bit messed up, and then I I ended up seeing
Speaker 1: a little bit more than neighorhood than I bargained for.
Speaker 1: But it was cool. It was nice. You know, it's
Speaker 1: very green and luscious, which is very different from where
Speaker 1: I was just living in Las Vegas. So it was
Speaker 1: very nice. It was a nice one, just a little
Speaker 1: bit different. I do want to say that Will mentioned
Speaker 1: that you are not supposed to get your car until today, right,
Speaker 1: everything is being shipped. Yes, everything is being shipped. So
Speaker 1: you know, as I sit here and record this, there
Speaker 1: may be a bit of more of an echo because
Speaker 1: there's basically nothing in my apartment except for a few
Speaker 1: suitcases and air mattress, uh and my laptop and the
Speaker 1: cable and internet things. So that's about it. I just
Speaker 1: want to say, though, I dispute the fact that, uh
Speaker 1: that your car, you say your car isn't here, because
Speaker 1: last night, after I left the restaurant, I drove home
Speaker 1: behind a Lamborghini with the license plate that said unemployed.
Speaker 1: And if that doesn't scream Miles Simmons car, I don't
Speaker 1: know what does. It was a little Lamborghini, was the suv?
Speaker 1: It was it was just the car. I didn't know
Speaker 1: what they made. Oh you're like, oh, yours is the suv? Yes,
Speaker 1: you guys. It was a wild I was behind the Slamborghini.
Speaker 1: For first of all, I don't know if I've ever
Speaker 1: driven behind the Lamborghini. I find this car for fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes and the license plate just flat out said unemployed.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, who is this person? Like, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'd want to talk be friends with them,
Speaker 1: but it was just it was just it was quite
Speaker 1: the flex. It is if that's not even a weird flex,
Speaker 1: but okay, like that's just a super good flex. So
Speaker 1: what's that unemployed though? Because they're self employed and they're
Speaker 1: just trying to be a jerk, or they like got
Speaker 1: some kind of you know, big settlement from some company
Speaker 1: for some reason, right, and then they're like, I'm the
Speaker 1: Lamborghini and now my license plate is going to stay unemployed.
Speaker 1: I kind of respect it a little bit, but I
Speaker 1: mean the Lamborghini. Of course, what color was the Lamborghini? No,
Speaker 1: it was well maybe I don't know. It was black
Speaker 1: or dark blue? Well, then that's what I think it
Speaker 1: could have been. Yours. Well, where do you fall on
Speaker 1: this cool or not cool? I'm I'm so off the
Speaker 1: cool radar when it comes to automobiles that I have
Speaker 1: no valid opinion, Like every car I've ever had has
Speaker 1: been at least fifteen years old and used and yeah,
Speaker 1: no word, I can't even weigh in. I hear you.
Speaker 1: I know, Miles, like, what color was it? What kind
Speaker 1: was it? I was like, it's it was dark, it
Speaker 1: was it was a Lamborghini. I read the I read
Speaker 1: the back, that's all, but I don't know. I made
Speaker 1: me laugh the entire way home. I was like, was
Speaker 1: this person when I've had this car thing for a
Speaker 1: long time? So I was dating somebody once and I
Speaker 1: would always be like, oh, I would do the same thing,
Speaker 1: like what you know, what kind of car was it?
Speaker 1: L L DA DA? And they said I saw this
Speaker 1: cool car and she would be like, oh it was silver.
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, well that tells me nothing. Just
Speaker 1: a silver car. I like it. Uh, some Miles, how
Speaker 1: was the move you have UM. In the course of
Speaker 1: starting this job, you had to fly twice, I believe
Speaker 1: right you you came here to Charlotte to kind of
Speaker 1: scope out the area and find an apartment UM, and
Speaker 1: then you made the official move the other day. So
Speaker 1: so how did that all go in these you know,
Speaker 1: in the time of COVID. It's very interesting because when
Speaker 1: I flew the first time, that was in mid to
Speaker 1: late May UM, and then when I went to the
Speaker 1: airport in Las Vegas, I actually felt decently comfortable because
Speaker 1: people I felt like, at least in the term ALLI
Speaker 1: was in, we're really socially distant. They were, they had
Speaker 1: on masks, and there really were not a lot of
Speaker 1: people that were flying. And so contrasting that with what
Speaker 1: happened last Friday when I flew here to move, and
Speaker 1: it was just a completely different thing. I mean, it
Speaker 1: seemed like people were not taking social distancing you know,
Speaker 1: guidelines seriously at all. And that was a little bit
Speaker 1: terrifying because this is an airborne virus. You know, it
Speaker 1: spreads through people, um, you know, breathing droplets and things
Speaker 1: into the air. If you're talking and you're in an
Speaker 1: enclosed space and there's many more informed people who can
Speaker 1: uh and educated people in epidemiologists who can say things
Speaker 1: that are probably a little bit more coherent on things
Speaker 1: like that. But I just it was a little scary. Um,
Speaker 1: So that was part of why, you know, if we're
Speaker 1: gonna meet up, you know, I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: we gotta be outdoors. I gotta have my mask on
Speaker 1: the whole time. Like I was trying not to breathe
Speaker 1: much as I took my mask off and was eating.
Speaker 1: And it's just impressive because I don't want to get
Speaker 1: I don't want to get anybody else sick from this thing.
Speaker 1: This thing is serious and even if you're asymptomatic, you know,
Speaker 1: it can really do a number on your loans. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was it was an experience. Um, I'm glad it's over,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad that, you know, I don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: to do commercial flights any other times soon as people
Speaker 1: don't take this as seriously as I kind of think
Speaker 1: they should. Well, I'll give a quick p s. A.
Speaker 1: Last week I went and gave blood um at the
Speaker 1: like one of the mobile blood banks at the night Stadium,
Speaker 1: and apparently they're supposed to be able to give you
Speaker 1: both like your blood type, so you know, because I
Speaker 1: know like some blood types are more um susceptible or
Speaker 1: less susceptible. But also that I think they're supposed to
Speaker 1: perform like an antibody test, so they're supposed to like
Speaker 1: tell you whether you've shown the antibodies for covid um
Speaker 1: and like whether you've had it and been asymptomatic in
Speaker 1: the past. Um so, and plus giving blood is always
Speaker 1: a good thing because the hospital still need need all
Speaker 1: that blood. Yeah, that's great to know. I did not
Speaker 1: know that admittedly until you told us. So I'm I'm
Speaker 1: glad to know about that. We should all be giving blood.
Speaker 1: So added bonus there, um miles. Going back to your move,
Speaker 1: how has it been? So I think anyone who's listening
Speaker 1: to this would probably know this, although you are you're
Speaker 1: very um low key about this and don't make it
Speaker 1: a big deal. But you have been working Vegas. You've
Speaker 1: been working East coast hours from Vegas. So sometimes you
Speaker 1: and I will do something with the we've been doing
Speaker 1: these gets to know interviews with the coaches, and they'll
Speaker 1: want to do it early before meetings start, you know,
Speaker 1: eight am, nine am, and so you're getting up at
Speaker 1: like five six, like your work day was starting at
Speaker 1: five or six every single day. I assume I gotta
Speaker 1: think that you're pretty happy that that's over with Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm very happy that that's over with it. And it's funny, Like,
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't I didn't make that big deal
Speaker 1: because it's like nobody needs to feel bad for me,
Speaker 1: you know, like it just it sort of was what
Speaker 1: it was. Um. But yeah, I'm like now sleeping like
Speaker 1: a normal person. Uh so that's cool. But there were
Speaker 1: benefits to getting up that early. So I would get
Speaker 1: up around five, and work day starts around six, uh
Speaker 1: Pacific time, because that's nine o'clock Eastern, but you're done
Speaker 1: around two. So most days, like I would finish up
Speaker 1: my work around two to thirty and then go on
Speaker 1: a walk and I enjoy what was then nine degree
Speaker 1: temperatures And now as I was looking at my calendar
Speaker 1: or the weather app yesterday, it's like a hundred and
Speaker 1: eight degrees in lass and I guess, so I'm glad
Speaker 1: I'm not there. Um, but yeah, it was. It was
Speaker 1: kind of weird some days where it would be like
Speaker 1: six in the morning, and you know, you and I
Speaker 1: were about to talk to Joe Brady and everybody's like,
Speaker 1: why is it so dark where you are? And I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: let me turn on the light because it's not really
Speaker 1: up out here yet. So yeah, well, we're glad that
Speaker 1: you're you're on East Coast time with the rest of
Speaker 1: us now. So that's kind of one of the main
Speaker 1: things that you and I have been working on, which
Speaker 1: I have really enjoyed. UM this series on getting to
Speaker 1: know the members of the new coaching staff, and we
Speaker 1: do a written piece and a video piece UM for
Speaker 1: each of these coaches and they're coming out about once
Speaker 1: a week. So I want to talk about that. But
Speaker 1: before we get to that, Will on on the workfront,
Speaker 1: what's what's new with you? I feel like we didn't
Speaker 1: even get into that last night when we hung out.
Speaker 1: It was all just about me and Miles getting getting
Speaker 1: adjusted our good friend Will. We didn't even ask well. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been doing some doing some more stuff on the app,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of funny, like I've been building just
Speaker 1: all of these new pages and areas of the site,
Speaker 1: uh for for Panthers dot Com that hopefully, well we'll
Speaker 1: get to start launching soon. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: this is trying to figure out some launch timings with
Speaker 1: with everything we're doing. But we're working with like a
Speaker 1: voting initiative to kind of, um encourage people to vote
Speaker 1: and keep people in formed on how to vote and
Speaker 1: how to register. UM, so that hopefully that's coming out soon. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we've been working with elements of kind of
Speaker 1: the Player Impact Committee that you know, you guys are
Speaker 1: certainly Miles was a big part of some of those coverages,
Speaker 1: those articles with Andre Smith and and all those guys.
Speaker 1: And then just like you know, it's completely my weird
Speaker 1: little world of nerdiness where I'm trying to build out
Speaker 1: essentially all of the history of the Panthers on all
Speaker 1: these pages, which takes a little bit. So that's what
Speaker 1: I end up just like going into this like little
Speaker 1: weird bubble for hours and looking up random stats and
Speaker 1: records and stuff. Oh I love it. So what do
Speaker 1: you mean when you say built out the history in
Speaker 1: what way will it present itself? So essentially, right now,
Speaker 1: if you google, like what's the longest play in Panthers history,
Speaker 1: you'd have to have, you know, either some sort of
Speaker 1: subscription to some of those like stat sites, or really
Speaker 1: understand how to use some of the stuff online. Um,
Speaker 1: and so we I'm just trying to make it easier
Speaker 1: and trying to make it all available on our platform
Speaker 1: rather than going to like a Pro Football Reference or
Speaker 1: an NFL dot com. And um, we have a lot
Speaker 1: of the stuff in our media guide, but you know
Speaker 1: that that it's just a harder sort of PDF too
Speaker 1: to comb through and stiff through, and it only gets updated,
Speaker 1: you know, once every twelve months. So I think it's
Speaker 1: it's just something when we went to our new platform,
Speaker 1: we kind of had to rebuild all of it, and
Speaker 1: it's taken a while, and um hasn't always been kind
Speaker 1: of in front of mine. So I think it's been
Speaker 1: a nice offseason in summer to really kind of jump
Speaker 1: into that. That is awesome. As someone who will frequently
Speaker 1: look for for stats like that when it comes to
Speaker 1: you know, story ideas or interviews, I'm very excited that
Speaker 1: I won't have to control fa media guide, you know
Speaker 1: with the word longest or whatever history you could you
Speaker 1: could literally do what everyone else does and just like
Speaker 1: text me because apparently that's kind of my function, you know,
Speaker 1: like between Joe person or or like mat acts back
Speaker 1: in the old days. Now, Miles like, yeah, it's literally
Speaker 1: just like I'm like the texting encyclopedia for for any
Speaker 1: of us. Heck, yes, I'm glad I know that now
Speaker 1: I love it. Uh yeah, so so Miles, with you
Speaker 1: and I. The big thing, like I said, that we've
Speaker 1: been working on, is this this get to No series
Speaker 1: with the coaches. What is the thing that has interested
Speaker 1: you or surprised you the most that you've learned as
Speaker 1: we've been doing this now for I guess over a month,
Speaker 1: there's I guess there's a lot of things that have
Speaker 1: interested me. Um. I have liked hearing about how the
Speaker 1: coaches have interacted with Matt Rule over the course of
Speaker 1: their career, because there are a lot of these coaches
Speaker 1: who have come to Charlotte from Baylor, and then even
Speaker 1: a lot of those coaches were with Matt Rule Um
Speaker 1: at Temple as well. So it's interesting to hear how
Speaker 1: they have such an immense respect for what he's done
Speaker 1: and how he builds a program, and it is very
Speaker 1: clear that there is a plan and for the way
Speaker 1: that they want to go about doing things and the
Speaker 1: way that they want to go about implementing things and
Speaker 1: so I think if you're a Panthers fan, then that's
Speaker 1: good news because I think one of the most concerning
Speaker 1: things that can really be in any industry is when
Speaker 1: a leader comes in and there's no vision. So I
Speaker 1: think there is a clear vision for what Matt Rule
Speaker 1: wants this team to look like, what he ideally wants
Speaker 1: it to how he wants it to function, I should say,
Speaker 1: on the field, and how he wants the building to
Speaker 1: function on a day to day basis when it comes
Speaker 1: to the football operations. So I think from that standpoint, yes,
Speaker 1: COVID is definitely upended that and the implementation of that
Speaker 1: from being around from guys being around each other every
Speaker 1: day in that standpoint, but I think just from a
Speaker 1: general knowledge of what the vision should be and what
Speaker 1: things should look like, it is very clear from the
Speaker 1: head coach on down to the assistance and then into
Speaker 1: the players what this thing should look like on a
Speaker 1: day to day basis and how they should go about
Speaker 1: trying to win football games. Absolutely, and you have a
Speaker 1: special teaser for us write something that I didn't know
Speaker 1: about until you mentioned it. You and I talked to, Oh,
Speaker 1: can you can you just give us a little bit
Speaker 1: a little bit of I'll give it him, I'll give you.
Speaker 1: So when we were talking to Evan Cooper, who is
Speaker 1: the cornerbacks coach now for the Carolina Panthers, and he's
Speaker 1: one of those guys that spent time with Rule both
Speaker 1: at Temple and then at Baylor. What what we learned
Speaker 1: is that his grandmother is one of the you know,
Speaker 1: people who fostered his love of football. And he said,
Speaker 1: you know, my family loves football, and my grandmother she
Speaker 1: even knows what covered two is. She'll call me after
Speaker 1: some night after certain games and she will get on
Speaker 1: me about different things about coverages and things like that.
Speaker 1: So I actually was able to talk to Evan Cooper's grandmother,
Speaker 1: Margaret Accent, and that part of that interview will be
Speaker 1: in the Get to No profile of Evan Cooper. So
Speaker 1: that was fun. I love that so so much. That's uh,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. I can't wait to read that. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: thing too, And I'm sorry to doctors and like, it
Speaker 1: was funny talking to her because I literally was like, hey,
Speaker 1: they're all analysts. There are football analysts that are on
Speaker 1: TV that really couldn't tell you what cover two is
Speaker 1: and get what the difference between zone and man and
Speaker 1: the back end and all that, and she's like really
Speaker 1: like huh, She's like, I know a little bit. I'm like,
Speaker 1: but if if what Evan Cooper is saying is true,
Speaker 1: then you know more than you're giving yourself credit for. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was fun. She gets Bill to call her. Bill
Speaker 1: needs to learn a little bit about our defense too.
Speaker 1: He's always leaning over. He's like, wait a minute, like
Speaker 1: we is that a nickel? Is that a dime? Or wait,
Speaker 1: what's the dime again? I didn't mean to throw our
Speaker 1: boss under the bus. I'm very I'm very I'm very
Speaker 1: happy to we can. I can do that once a podcast.
Speaker 1: We'll see if Phil, oh my gosh, that'd be another
Speaker 1: good easter. And I will see if Phil listens to
Speaker 1: the So just like minute twenty eight or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: Bill slam about about his defensive knowledge, I love it. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I've just had I've had a great time, Miles kind
Speaker 1: of what you were saying. Um, with all of these
Speaker 1: guys going back for so long, I think that's been
Speaker 1: one of the most interesting things to be is to
Speaker 1: hear little tidbits about coach rule and whether they you know,
Speaker 1: Phil snow he was a coach Rule is a grad
Speaker 1: assistant for him at U c l A when he
Speaker 1: was the defensive coordinator and now the rules have changed
Speaker 1: and they've been together for a long time. Or Evan Cooper,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned that interview that we did is coming
Speaker 1: out soon. He says that you know, he was a
Speaker 1: grad assistant for Coach Rule, and Coach Rule said, I'll
Speaker 1: never hire you because you're a terrible grad assistant. And
Speaker 1: now he's the quarterbacks coach. And it's it's very cool
Speaker 1: to me to hear um all of these connections and miles,
Speaker 1: like you said, the respect that they all have for
Speaker 1: Coach Rule, and more so than that, I do love
Speaker 1: It's as a lot to me about the loyalty between
Speaker 1: all of these people, not just uh Coach rules loyalty
Speaker 1: to them, but their loyalty to him, and the fact
Speaker 1: that so many of them have been together through all
Speaker 1: of these iterations, whether it was a temple or bailor
Speaker 1: or um the new additions, how well they started to
Speaker 1: to mesh with everyone, and the familiarity that they have
Speaker 1: even if they haven't known the rest of the staff
Speaker 1: for very long. So I've just really enjoyed that it's
Speaker 1: it's seems like a great group. Um and like you said,
Speaker 1: guys that really know what they want this to look
Speaker 1: like and have a clear vision, no doubt, and that
Speaker 1: I think when you have something like that, that is
Speaker 1: the way that you have to That's the way, the
Speaker 1: only way really, I think that you can turn things
Speaker 1: around if everybody has to be pushing and pulling up
Speaker 1: the same direction. And the respect and you know, appreciation
Speaker 1: that all these guys seem to have for one another,
Speaker 1: that's going to help in that absolutely well. All right,
Speaker 1: so we have, um, we've been doing this get to
Speaker 1: know kind of series, as I've said, so we're going
Speaker 1: to do a couple of get to know questions amongst
Speaker 1: ourselves now that we've you know, officially met and officially
Speaker 1: are on the way to becoming friends at least, you
Speaker 1: know Miles and Will maybe we'll see. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: do five quick ones kind of some of the questions
Speaker 1: that Myles and I might ask the coaches just to
Speaker 1: get to know a little bit more about each other.
Speaker 1: So first job ever, Will, I was a baker delivery
Speaker 1: truck driver. That's all. Is that why you're I mean,
Speaker 1: because you have said that you are baking a lot
Speaker 1: of bread, and I kind of thought this was a
Speaker 1: new hobby during quarantine. But you start so you can bake.
Speaker 1: I know I can't make, but I was really good
Speaker 1: at driving the driver. Oh, I thought you were saying
Speaker 1: baker slash delivery driver for the bakery. So I would
Speaker 1: get there five o'clock in the morning and we had
Speaker 1: this like massive key ring to essentially all of the
Speaker 1: these restaurants that had breakfast in Charleston, and I would
Speaker 1: go and just drop off whatever their wholesale delivery was
Speaker 1: for that morning, like croissants or you know, rolls or
Speaker 1: or French bread or whatever it was, and then like
Speaker 1: do this route all that all through downtown Charleston at
Speaker 1: like six in the morning, and then come back and
Speaker 1: they would be cooking like the lunchtime bread and then
Speaker 1: pick that up and then go deliver that like out
Speaker 1: around like the lunch spots, and did that all through
Speaker 1: like the summer after my freshman year. How awesome did
Speaker 1: you mess up orders? Um? So, I will admit, because
Speaker 1: I think there's a statute of limitations at this point
Speaker 1: that sometimes we'd have like these huge brown paper bags
Speaker 1: and it would be like a hundred and fifty uh
Speaker 1: like bread rolls or like dinner rolls, and they would
Speaker 1: just be in the back of this completely empty truck.
Speaker 1: So I'd make a turn in like the bag might
Speaker 1: tip over and like the top roll that was like
Speaker 1: might just start rolling towards me in like, oh my, well,
Speaker 1: if it's rolling all along this, you know, dirty truck,
Speaker 1: I probably shouldn't deliver it. So you know, they get
Speaker 1: a hundred and forty nine roles that day, and I
Speaker 1: had a little bit of a lunch. Oh you ate
Speaker 1: the dirty role across them. You know, that's where the
Speaker 1: statue limitations should be, the fact that you went it
Speaker 1: went across the dirty truck and then you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is for me. It's all just like flower back there. Anyway,
Speaker 1: the flameter just got reduced on that knowledge. All right,
Speaker 1: next one, I'm going to alternate these um. So that
Speaker 1: was that was Will's first job ever. Miles. What was
Speaker 1: your first job in sports or first internship? My first
Speaker 1: job in sports, I worked for radio station in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: the Fan. I was production intern for the Bull and
Speaker 1: Fox Show, and it was from two to seven week days.
Speaker 1: So I would go in and a cut audio for them,
Speaker 1: um for like you know, sound and their segments and
Speaker 1: things like that. Uh. And then they let me answer
Speaker 1: phones one day and they're like, oh, you're pretty good
Speaker 1: at this. And they also let me help cover training
Speaker 1: camp with the Brown Speet writer for him. So that
Speaker 1: was that was a good summer. I think it was
Speaker 1: summer of that I did that. Yeah, no kidding. I
Speaker 1: also love like, do you ever think about what your
Speaker 1: local radio name would be? Like Bull and Fox is
Speaker 1: such a great we wanted to think on that, and
Speaker 1: we can all we can all come back to maybe
Speaker 1: we should have named it something, you know with our
Speaker 1: local radio names. Um, all right, Well, what's your favorite
Speaker 1: Panthers memory? And it can be I know, you have
Speaker 1: been with the team since you're an intern, and also
Speaker 1: you're a fan before that, so so anyone you want
Speaker 1: to pick, what's one that sticks out to you? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the the easy one is the
Speaker 1: fact that I like destroyed my couch when I was
Speaker 1: in high school when Smitty caught the pass in St.
Speaker 1: Louis for the X Clown touchdown that I literally jumped
Speaker 1: over it in like the whole thing like kind of broke.
Speaker 1: So I mean, but you know, everyone's gonna say that
Speaker 1: that's like everyone's favorite Panthers memory, So I would say probably, um,
Speaker 1: the first UH fan fest that I worked, UM a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, there was it was like it
Speaker 1: was really cool. You know, it was at night. You know,
Speaker 1: Cam was doing his thing with you know, the wave
Speaker 1: with the crowd, um, and but there was this gigantic
Speaker 1: storm cell that was like you know, bearing down on us,
Speaker 1: and we were like trying to like get coached to
Speaker 1: finish practice early because we didn't know how much time
Speaker 1: we'd have before like trying to do like the whole
Speaker 1: firework display and like the ladis. It was so literally
Speaker 1: like everyone was running off the field. They're like started
Speaker 1: started started. You have like all of us literally on
Speaker 1: our radar maps like looking at the cell, like trying
Speaker 1: to time out how much more time we had, Like
Speaker 1: we knew we had like a seven minute fireworks show.
Speaker 1: Literally right after the last one popped, like it started dripping,
Speaker 1: and then by the time we all got inside, it
Speaker 1: was a full on you know storm that Like I
Speaker 1: felt bad for the fans because they all had to
Speaker 1: like walk home in it, but it was still like
Speaker 1: the intense I was fine, I know I just love.
Speaker 1: I was like, when you said that, you were like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, as soon as we got done, I was like, well, wait,
Speaker 1: what about the fans. I love that. You're like, it's
Speaker 1: probably as memory actually, so sorry sorry fans, Sorry about
Speaker 1: that one. No, but there is. I mean that kind
Speaker 1: of is a microcosm, and I think that's why we
Speaker 1: love the game and the sport. It's like, obviously even
Speaker 1: though that wasn't you know, on the field or a play,
Speaker 1: it's just when everything comes together and you're like, yes,
Speaker 1: like this worked, we timed it out, this worked. How
Speaker 1: special is this moment um? So I think that's really cool.
Speaker 1: And you said that was your first one. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was I think that's the tone high expectations. Now going forward. Alright, Miles,
Speaker 1: what is your favorite sports memory? Just in general? H
Speaker 1: h There are good ones. Um, there are bad ones.
Speaker 1: I guess. Uh, working um with the Rams for so long,
Speaker 1: it would probably well, I mean like the Cleveland winning
Speaker 1: a championship in that was really awesome. Um, but I
Speaker 1: guess from a work standpoint. When you know, I've worked
Speaker 1: for the Rams for five years, so when they defeated
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints and the Superdome, um during the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Like that was awesome. Um. And I have a photo
Speaker 1: of myself hugging to Kell Roby Coleman in the locker
Speaker 1: room celebration after that, and it's one of my favorite
Speaker 1: photos of all time. And if you don't understand why
Speaker 1: that's fun, then uh, look up why they got the
Speaker 1: rule changed to past interference in Oh. I know as
Speaker 1: soon as you said that game, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I did say thank you because when I got the covers,
Speaker 1: remember that game. Yeah. I don't think anyone of the
Speaker 1: league has forgotten that game, that's for sure, Like I said,
Speaker 1: at least of all Sean Payton. Um. So okay, So
Speaker 1: those are my kind of typical get to know your
Speaker 1: questions that I might start out with with some of
Speaker 1: the coaches. But last night we were talking about doing
Speaker 1: the segment and Will came off the top rope with
Speaker 1: a question that I've never heard anyone ask before the rope. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so do you want to introduce your your contribution to
Speaker 1: the get to know segment? Because it's great? Sure, So
Speaker 1: like every once in a while, you know, you're just
Speaker 1: trying to like look up random songs that you know
Speaker 1: to play on YouTube or play on your computer while
Speaker 1: you're working at home. And so I like was googling
Speaker 1: or youtubing random, like some random nineties songs, and it
Speaker 1: turns out that like this Dave Matthew song was somehow
Speaker 1: like the music video had Mr Deed's in it, and
Speaker 1: obviously like the song was like where are you Going?
Speaker 1: And you know, far outlasted any sort of legacy of
Speaker 1: the Mr. Deeds movie. Yes, so I was thinking, like,
Speaker 1: what other songs have far more lasting power than the
Speaker 1: random movie that they just happened to be tied to
Speaker 1: in that particular moment um. You know. Obviously there's some
Speaker 1: songs that are like notable soundtrack songs, but others are
Speaker 1: just like no, that's that's not that's not like a
Speaker 1: movie song, but the music video is forever that movie,
Speaker 1: you know, because they like tried to tie it into
Speaker 1: the music video. So I just thought that was like
Speaker 1: an interesting and interesting random thing to look up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm proud of mine. So it is such a
Speaker 1: specific um specific criteria of like it's got to be
Speaker 1: a music video that has a movie in it, but
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily soundtrack. But I'm pretty proud of mine. Okay,
Speaker 1: and I think it for perfectly fits the Bill Seals
Speaker 1: Kiss from a Rose on the Grain, same list Man Forever.
Speaker 1: It is wild, it is okay, so then so but
Speaker 1: this also makes me feel better Miles if you do
Speaker 1: the same one. That means you watch the video. It's
Speaker 1: a great song, it's a song that's stood the test
Speaker 1: of time, and he's like lad and then it's just
Speaker 1: the bat signal behind him. I mean wild. It is wild,
Speaker 1: and it's um, I guess Val Kilmer was Batman forever,
Speaker 1: but that is I had fun, Miles. I'm sorry, um
Speaker 1: that I stole your thunder there, but at least you've
Speaker 1: seen it. You know what I'm talking about. Well, you
Speaker 1: gotta go watch it after this. Yes, that is exactly
Speaker 1: the song that I had picked. And the video, as
Speaker 1: you say, is wild because it's just like him standing
Speaker 1: there with the bad signal while like all these people
Speaker 1: are coming into like the show with the Joker and
Speaker 1: Robin or whatever it is. I don't really understand what's
Speaker 1: all was going on there because it is what it is, um,
Speaker 1: But yeah, that was weird. That was a very weird
Speaker 1: video because that's a great song and Seal was a
Speaker 1: great He's standing there kind of with the what we
Speaker 1: now would call a Beyonce fan, and his shirt is open.
Speaker 1: It is, everything's blown up. I like, what is this behind? Well? Yeah,
Speaker 1: go ahead, no, go ahead? Like, did you guys know
Speaker 1: that or did you like have to look up to
Speaker 1: stumble upon that? Did that? Okay? No? I remember this
Speaker 1: from Sorry Chris, and I remember that the song was
Speaker 1: from a Batman movie. I don't know why I knew that,
Speaker 1: but I did know that. So I was like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, does this actually have a Batman themed um
Speaker 1: music video? Because I don't think I ever I don't
Speaker 1: recall ever seeing the music video before. So when I
Speaker 1: looked up the music video, I was like, yes, this
Speaker 1: fits the criteria. Oh man, No, I found I found
Speaker 1: a list. I was trying to jog my memory. I
Speaker 1: didn't think I would come across a gym so quickly,
Speaker 1: but I saw that. I actually didn't know. I used to.
Speaker 1: I mean I was a kid when that song came out.
Speaker 1: I used to be on like the radio station. I
Speaker 1: was like, this is my jam and I saw that
Speaker 1: it was from a I didn't have no idea was
Speaker 1: from a Batman video. I was like, what see you
Speaker 1: Batman forever. I had no clue. So that was a
Speaker 1: fun trip down memory lane. Maybe my new favorite music
Speaker 1: video now of all time. That's well, thank you for
Speaker 1: introducing that one. That was that was way more fun
Speaker 1: than the questions I had and I will I've now
Speaker 1: learned something that I'll take it with me for forever. Nice. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Um so, guys at the end, right before we go miles,
Speaker 1: what's the meter on you and Will being friends? Like
Speaker 1: where in right now? I would say we're at like
Speaker 1: a seven and a half. Okay, Okay, we're moving that
Speaker 1: up that night. You can work with that. Well yeah, alright, guys,
Speaker 1: well this has been fun. Um let's do it again soon.
Speaker 1: Huh absolutely all right. Thanks thanks everybody for listening to
Speaker 1: the Happy Half Hour Podcast. We will up to you
Speaker 1: next time. Wh