Speaker 1: It's time for a Happy half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristin Balboni, Miles Simmons and Will Brian. That's right, it's
Speaker 1: that time of the week. It is time for the
Speaker 1: Happy half Hour podcast. Christen here with my good buddies
Speaker 1: Miles and Will. Guys, how are you doing this week? Oh?
Speaker 1: You know, listen that here and they're doing okay. Is
Speaker 1: that your coach speak? Is that your coach speak? Well,
Speaker 1: I think I have better coach speak. My coach beeak,
Speaker 1: I think is too. Uh. It's very influenced by either
Speaker 1: Shan McVeigh or John Brunen, because there's the coaches that
Speaker 1: I've covered the most time. So I guess like if
Speaker 1: I were to like imitate Sean McVeigh, I would probably
Speaker 1: say that, you know, I have a great respect and
Speaker 1: appreciation for the way the week has gone so far.
Speaker 1: Are and you know, I'm just really looking forward to
Speaker 1: getting out there and getting back on the grass and
Speaker 1: so we can do whatever we need to do. I
Speaker 1: like that John getting back on the grass. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all about the grass. And John Gruden might be
Speaker 1: more like, I'll tell you what, man, you know what
Speaker 1: you have to be here on the appyf Our podcast.
Speaker 1: I like transitions that I should never do again. Oh
Speaker 1: I love them, little Hall of Fame imitations. All right,
Speaker 1: will give me how you're doing this week and your
Speaker 1: best coach speak voice, Kristen, I'm sorry, I can't answer
Speaker 1: that question right now. I'm talking to r V our
Speaker 1: trainer Ray as soon as I get out of this
Speaker 1: press conference, So, um, no no news to report until
Speaker 1: I talk. I never talked to him before I talked
Speaker 1: to you guys, So I'm just gonna we're just gonna
Speaker 1: have to move on. Sorry, I'll find out how everyone's
Speaker 1: doing after I talked to you. Guy. You don't know
Speaker 1: anything about how you're doing. I got you, I got you.
Speaker 1: You don't know. Clue, no clue. I haven't talked to
Speaker 1: r V yet. You guys know, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: answer that. That is phenomenal. Oh my goodness. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have to have some more fun with that and coming episodes,
Speaker 1: because I feel like those are just we're just touching
Speaker 1: the tip of the iceberg with the both of you
Speaker 1: and your coach speak. Um. Well, I'm glad to hear
Speaker 1: that that you guys are doing well. At least I
Speaker 1: think Will is doing well. Um, I know one guy
Speaker 1: who is definitely doing well this week, and that is
Speaker 1: our good buddy, Christian McCaffrey, who was selected to at
Speaker 1: the Mad ninety Club for a second straight season. Now,
Speaker 1: for those of you who don't play Madden or you know,
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know, living under a rock. That is
Speaker 1: the highest overall grade a player can have in the game.
Speaker 1: And if anyone deserves that, it is certainly him. So
Speaker 1: are are you guys? Mad? Guys? Will? Are you a
Speaker 1: mad guy? Um? Back in the day, I haven't played
Speaker 1: it in a hot minute. I was more of a
Speaker 1: football guy. I love that game. I actually wrote a
Speaker 1: full semester long thesis on n C Double a Football
Speaker 1: in sophomore ye at college. All right, we're gonna need
Speaker 1: to see that at some point. Yeah, So the thirty
Speaker 1: second version of this. I took a class called Emerging
Speaker 1: Digital Narratives, which is a fancy Davidson way of trying
Speaker 1: to say we're gonna play video games and just make
Speaker 1: it a college course. So my final uh like project,
Speaker 1: I chose that game because I tried to show how
Speaker 1: it was the first iteration of the game that did
Speaker 1: like the high school to the college I can't remember
Speaker 1: the name of it, but you know, like the you
Speaker 1: start off in a high school all star game and
Speaker 1: then you get your attributes, and then that determines where
Speaker 1: you get recruited, and then you have to decide whether
Speaker 1: you want to go to class or work out and
Speaker 1: all these things. So it's like the first version of
Speaker 1: trying to create an actual personal narrative versus playing in
Speaker 1: a corporate sense as a non member person of the
Speaker 1: team where you can only play the wide receiver, so
Speaker 1: you can only control the wide receiver. You couldn't control
Speaker 1: the play call or the running back to the quarterback.
Speaker 1: So those were like, uh, kind of my way of
Speaker 1: showing that, like the ball was trying to create this
Speaker 1: personal avatar that you had a different understanding of rather
Speaker 1: than a corporate nature of the team. That's awesome, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure that you got to, um, you know, play
Speaker 1: as much as you could just for research purposes to
Speaker 1: oh completely. The worst though, was when I actually like
Speaker 1: failed the project because I couldn't get through the whatever
Speaker 1: level of Grand Theft Auto three because I couldn't like
Speaker 1: hijack the car quick enough. I wasn't very good in
Speaker 1: video games, So that was kind of ironic. I just
Speaker 1: can't believe that you didn't you failed part of a
Speaker 1: project in that course. That's amazing, and I just want
Speaker 1: to point out really quickly, are awesome. Producer Matt is
Speaker 1: letting us know that the n C Double A game
Speaker 1: mode is called Road to Glory, and he says it
Speaker 1: is the best. Yeah, road to glory. You know what,
Speaker 1: I was never too big of a road to Glory person,
Speaker 1: because I just liked um doing the sort of big
Speaker 1: cat thing and you know, you go to a program
Speaker 1: and then you win a couple of championships and then
Speaker 1: now go off to wherever else you want to go.
Speaker 1: But to answer the original question, like I love I
Speaker 1: used to love Madden more than I do today because
Speaker 1: I always felt like Mad was easier when I was
Speaker 1: a kid growing up, and I was one of those
Speaker 1: people that was big into franchise mode. So I think
Speaker 1: in Madden OH eight, like I took one of the
Speaker 1: franchise I think it was the Dolphins because I don't
Speaker 1: think the Dolphins were very good in OH seven in
Speaker 1: that game, and so I took him. I've simulated the
Speaker 1: first season they were really bad, and so then I
Speaker 1: relocated them to Manhattan and called them the Manhattan Kings,
Speaker 1: and it made them the this random third New York team,
Speaker 1: but like a New York team that was actually in
Speaker 1: New York, with apologies to Buffalo, but yeah, and then
Speaker 1: I was, I'm pretty sure deep into the ties in
Speaker 1: that game, which you know, Madden pretty ridiculous. So that
Speaker 1: was probably the height of my being an avid Mad player.
Speaker 1: But that I've gotten more into it, like since I
Speaker 1: got out of PS four, and you know, I don't
Speaker 1: play against people. I just kind of do my own
Speaker 1: thing there because it's kind of fun. But I actually
Speaker 1: I like the um I guess what the equivalent of
Speaker 1: Road to Glory whatever that is in Madden, Matt, can
Speaker 1: you give us whatever that is too? It's like the
Speaker 1: QB one franchise mode. I don't know. That was fun
Speaker 1: in the last game because you actually got to you
Speaker 1: have to sort of play as a college player, as
Speaker 1: a college quarterback, and that also gave you like a
Speaker 1: little sample of what an n C double a game
Speaker 1: would be like in you know, the YR So I
Speaker 1: missed that game too. In conclusion, I like it. I
Speaker 1: like you could write your own research paper about that,
Speaker 1: I mean about your the fact that you relocated the
Speaker 1: Dolphins to New York. Matt says he believe it used
Speaker 1: to it used to be called He believed it used
Speaker 1: to be called Superstar. Does that ring a bell? Miles
Speaker 1: the version you were talking about? Okay, um, okay. So
Speaker 1: one thing I want to do. I am not great
Speaker 1: at video games. I don't know if I don't have
Speaker 1: the thumb dexterity for it or what. But you know,
Speaker 1: I enjoy I enjoy watching them and enjoy keeping up
Speaker 1: with everything, but I never been great at them, no surprise.
Speaker 1: But I always love when you see the ratings come
Speaker 1: out because it makes you think, like, what is the
Speaker 1: one so CMC rating of nine can't get any better
Speaker 1: than that? What is the one random thing that you're like,
Speaker 1: I would get a ninety nine in and just you know,
Speaker 1: not the boring stuff, Like what's something that's just so
Speaker 1: random that you're like, I'm awesome at this, Miles, Do
Speaker 1: you have anything that you would feel like you would
Speaker 1: get a ninety rating in? But this is very random.
Speaker 1: Going through the security line at the airport, I see
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm pretty good too. So let me
Speaker 1: hear it, let me hear your your pitch for why
Speaker 1: you get the ninety nine, Well, first of all, I
Speaker 1: always know when to have my idea out and when
Speaker 1: to put it back. But also not only like you
Speaker 1: have to understand where the phone is supposed to go,
Speaker 1: and how much brightness you should have on your phone.
Speaker 1: If you're using your phone, is your boarding pass, which
Speaker 1: I do because I lose a piece of paper and
Speaker 1: I will never lose my phone because that thing is
Speaker 1: connected to my body like it's an extra appendage. So
Speaker 1: if you have your brightness up, that makes it easier
Speaker 1: too for the little thing to scan. So you put
Speaker 1: it down, then you pick it back up, and then
Speaker 1: right now, if you're going on an airplane, you have
Speaker 1: to take your mask down and then you put that
Speaker 1: back up as you hand the person the I D
Speaker 1: then you take it and so then the key is
Speaker 1: especially if you have t S a free check, which
Speaker 1: maybe everybody shouldn't get it, but you should get it.
Speaker 1: But I also don't want you in the line, but
Speaker 1: I guess we're not strugling right now anyway. But I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what, it's the best I've ever spent in
Speaker 1: my life. So you get into the line, and then
Speaker 1: you don't have to take off your shoes. You don't
Speaker 1: have to take out your laptop. But somehow people still
Speaker 1: mess this up sometimes when they're in the T s
Speaker 1: A line. But all you have to do is when
Speaker 1: you start getting closed, you put your phone, your keys,
Speaker 1: and your wallet into your bag and then you put
Speaker 1: that thing up on the little conveyor belt. You put
Speaker 1: your suitcase up, boom, you walk right through. It makes
Speaker 1: it so much easier. And you also have to know
Speaker 1: which things you can and cannot wear right because there's
Speaker 1: a certain belt that I have that will always go off.
Speaker 1: But I know now that I can't wear that belt,
Speaker 1: so I gotta keep that belt in the bag at it.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm with you. I I don't want to steal yours.
Speaker 1: I think i'd be up there. Maybe not a ninety nine,
Speaker 1: but you're right there there those little things. You got
Speaker 1: to pick the right line too, because you don't want
Speaker 1: to get behind the people that that don't know that
Speaker 1: you you can leave your shoes on. I've gotten really
Speaker 1: good at when I lived in Chicago and I was
Speaker 1: flying two or three times a week. Sometimes in the
Speaker 1: T s A line you might have to take off
Speaker 1: a heavy jacket, so I got really good at like,
Speaker 1: while I was putting the stuff back in the pockets
Speaker 1: and going towards the line, kind of making eye contact
Speaker 1: with a T S A officer and being like, can
Speaker 1: I leave this jacket on? And he'd be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can leave it on, you know, because sometimes you
Speaker 1: got the heavy jackets in the cold weather. So I'll
Speaker 1: give you that. I'll give you the ninety nine in that,
Speaker 1: all right, will what is the one random thing you
Speaker 1: would make you would have rating for so much to
Speaker 1: the chagrin of my girlfriend, I can pretty much crack
Speaker 1: every knuckle or joint in my body, my nose, I
Speaker 1: can crack my Yeah, I feel like that's not good.
Speaker 1: It probably isn't What is the one that just gets her?
Speaker 1: Is it just do you do the full body crack?
Speaker 1: And she's like, oh my god stop. Yeah, it's the
Speaker 1: it's the wake up, and then it's the hip, the knees, ankles,
Speaker 1: and then when you go with the elbows and then
Speaker 1: the fingers like all kind of in a yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just like you're gonna die. And I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: read I've read articles about this. This doesn't actually cause
Speaker 1: our art, right is? Maybe I don't know well, from
Speaker 1: what I know about cracking knuckles and stuff, it's just
Speaker 1: really it's releasing gas. So in some ways it's maybe
Speaker 1: good that you're doing that because it reallyves the pressure
Speaker 1: on a weird way to say that look and release
Speaker 1: the gas. But yes, you're right on a technical tertain.
Speaker 1: All right, you get the ninety nine and that love it? Um, okay,
Speaker 1: mine is I feel like I get a nine nine
Speaker 1: in identifying random celebrities voiceovers and commercials, Like, I feel
Speaker 1: really good about that. And I've always it's always been
Speaker 1: a thing that I'm like, oh, yeah, that's the dad
Speaker 1: from Modern Family doing that Zyrtec commercial. I don't even
Speaker 1: know his name, you know, Um, that's Lenaway doing that
Speaker 1: A T and T. I think there's a weird Holly
Speaker 1: Hunter did I think? Like a Pepperoni commercial ten years back.
Speaker 1: I still think about that sometimes. I just I don't
Speaker 1: know what it is, and I'm not even super familiar
Speaker 1: with all of the actors or no a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff that they're in. But man, I can just if
Speaker 1: I hear their voice once, so I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 1: know who that is. And if I can't figure it out,
Speaker 1: it just it gets to me so talent that no
Speaker 1: one ever asked for. But I do. I would give
Speaker 1: myself a ninety nine on that one. Interesting. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's that interesting, but thank you for saying that.
Speaker 1: No I do, because they're they're like car commercials. I'm
Speaker 1: being into cars, So there are car commercials where it's
Speaker 1: like that sounds like or that sounds like, well, Will
Speaker 1: Arnett is a big voiceover guy. But you know, Brian
Speaker 1: Cranston just did the new Fort Bronco. Anyway, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stop talking about this. I could go on, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you ever need to know who is doing that,
Speaker 1: I don't know Reese's commercial. I got you. It's will
Speaker 1: our nut. Um. Alright, So I mean, look, who can
Speaker 1: say who's more talented us or Christian McCaffrey after us
Speaker 1: talking through all those things. I really don't know. I
Speaker 1: really don't know. I think we're right up there. Um.
Speaker 1: So that is that is some news that we got
Speaker 1: this weekend. Again, congratulations it to him on that so
Speaker 1: well deserved. Um. But aside from that guy, is not
Speaker 1: a lot of news as it pertains to what's going
Speaker 1: to happen in the future with the NFL. Not a
Speaker 1: lot of solid news and full disclosure. We waited on
Speaker 1: recording this podcast until Thursday in the hopes that we would,
Speaker 1: you know, know a little bit more about training camp
Speaker 1: and be able to talk through all of it. Uh,
Speaker 1: but short answers. Right now, we still don't know a lot.
Speaker 1: You know, we're operating as if everything's going to go
Speaker 1: on schedule. But you know, Miles, I know you've been
Speaker 1: keeping up with with all of the reports and things
Speaker 1: like that between the NFL and NFL p A negotiations.
Speaker 1: So what are you kind of seeing in terms of
Speaker 1: where we are right now. Yeah, I think the biggest
Speaker 1: thing that's come out in the last day or twos
Speaker 1: from Tom Paul Sorrow of NFL Network who basically said
Speaker 1: the NFL's latest proposal to the p A still included
Speaker 1: two preseason games, and the union doesn't want any preseason games,
Speaker 1: and so the union is trying to get frequent tests
Speaker 1: injury protection for players, UM and and things like that.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a matter of still not having answers
Speaker 1: um and so. Plus are also reported that there's a
Speaker 1: call scheduled for Friday between the NFL, the league in
Speaker 1: the NFL p A and the issue with that really
Speaker 1: is that. Look, there are two teams and the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and the Texans who at least as of right now,
Speaker 1: can have rookies reporting to training camp on Saturday, and
Speaker 1: the rest of the league has their rookies able to
Speaker 1: report on Tuesday as of right now. So I think
Speaker 1: either things are going to get pushed back for rookies
Speaker 1: um coming out of this call on Friday, and we
Speaker 1: will have some sort of uh finalized report date, or
Speaker 1: maybe we'll still just be in limbo. But I think,
Speaker 1: you know, as I was talking to tell your white
Speaker 1: Head last week and I talked to Russell Koon this week,
Speaker 1: you're the the NFL is just it's necessarily running out
Speaker 1: of time, but it's starting to get to a place
Speaker 1: where you need to have a little bit more urgency.
Speaker 1: And I think that there is urgency, but there you
Speaker 1: want to get something settled so that everybody can start
Speaker 1: to really plan their lives and figure out, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is where we need to be. And also so gms
Speaker 1: can say, if we are going to have to reduce
Speaker 1: our rosters to seventy five players or eighty players, is
Speaker 1: was rumored, then how are they going to be able
Speaker 1: to do that like, who do they need to cut?
Speaker 1: They need to inform these players of those types of things. Um,
Speaker 1: so coaches need to be able to say, all right,
Speaker 1: here's what our practice schedule is definitively going to be.
Speaker 1: Whether it's strength and conditioning and you ramp up for
Speaker 1: a week or two and then you start getting into
Speaker 1: real practice or not. You just don't have any certainty,
Speaker 1: and it's just really hard, I think for everybody to
Speaker 1: deal with. And I'm sure it's hard equally to come
Speaker 1: up with a plan that is definitive because of the
Speaker 1: way things keep changing throughout the pandemic. So it's it's
Speaker 1: a tough situation for everybody. And I guess, you know,
Speaker 1: you just got to try to figure out what a
Speaker 1: proposal that works for both sides and then go from
Speaker 1: there and if you have to adjust, you do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. I think with rookies reporting within the next
Speaker 1: few days, we're going to have to hear something soon,
Speaker 1: don't you agree, Miles, Like it feels like tomorrow, whether
Speaker 1: it gets shared with the media or not, it feels
Speaker 1: like there have has to be some answers, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that they're definitely have to be answers especially
Speaker 1: because of that, you know, rookie reporting date that is
Speaker 1: so quickly approaching, not only for the Chiefs and the Texans,
Speaker 1: who they have their reporting date earlier because they're supposed
Speaker 1: to start the season or a couple of days earlier
Speaker 1: than everybody else on that Thursday night on that Thursday
Speaker 1: night date, and that's why they have their first date.
Speaker 1: And then everybody else is on Saturday. Um, excuse me,
Speaker 1: everybody else is the following Tuesday. But that, yes, to
Speaker 1: answer your question, yes, you have to start getting some
Speaker 1: sort of answers soon because of those types of things,
Speaker 1: because these dates aren't coming up fast and furious, and
Speaker 1: not only next Tuesday being that report date for everybody
Speaker 1: within the following Tuesday is supposed to be the opening
Speaker 1: day of training camp for everything else. So again, like it,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to, I guess, get the
Speaker 1: wheel turning on whatever is going to be the end
Speaker 1: result here. Absolutely, And of course, you know, as we've
Speaker 1: talked about a lot on this podcast, and you've talked
Speaker 1: with players about, you know, number one priority is safety.
Speaker 1: But I think you've made such a good point that
Speaker 1: we know what the NFL p A is fighting for
Speaker 1: and what the NFL is fighting for and they're all
Speaker 1: really important points that need to get worked out. But
Speaker 1: then at a certain point, you're sure players just and
Speaker 1: coaches and and and like you said, gms just want
Speaker 1: to know what's what's going to happen. How are we
Speaker 1: going to approach this? So, you know, I think by
Speaker 1: the time we talk next week, we will have a
Speaker 1: lot to to talk about, hopefully, UM in terms of
Speaker 1: kind of the direction of training camp and and maybe
Speaker 1: the season. You know, but one thing that we do
Speaker 1: know is that season will not be operating stadium wise
Speaker 1: at full capacity for fans. UM And will I know
Speaker 1: you've been involved with the Panthers efforts, UM to inform
Speaker 1: PSL owners and fans about what's going to happen with
Speaker 1: a reduced capacity, So can you kind of fill us
Speaker 1: in on on where we are on that. Yes, So,
Speaker 1: I think one term that everyone's going to get a
Speaker 1: little more used to because you're gonna be hearing a
Speaker 1: lot is this term like opt in and opt out UM.
Speaker 1: And I know that that was something you know, back
Speaker 1: to the players that was being discussed with the NFL
Speaker 1: p A. I'm not sure where that has kind of
Speaker 1: in those negotiations. But the idea that you know, maybe
Speaker 1: a player on a certain type of contract that might
Speaker 1: have you know, a family or you know, have to
Speaker 1: have reasons for you know, not wanting to go put
Speaker 1: themselves in the harm's way, and you know that's kind
Speaker 1: of part of what was what went out this morning
Speaker 1: to all PSL holders was this opportunity to opt in
Speaker 1: to say yes, I'd like to still come to as
Speaker 1: many games as possible, I'd like to use tickets, or
Speaker 1: just say nope, I'm good. I want to keep my
Speaker 1: PSLs for either get a refund or a credit, but
Speaker 1: I'm I'm good to stay home this year. UM. So
Speaker 1: that was what went out this morning, essentially the idea
Speaker 1: that if there are home games in the stadium, you're
Speaker 1: not going to have more than twenty thousand people in it. Um.
Speaker 1: And what went out this morning was the ticket office
Speaker 1: essentially asking people to find out where they are. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's the big first challenge for them is
Speaker 1: to in order to kind of figure out how you
Speaker 1: have groups of two or three or four socially distant
Speaker 1: from each other in the seats in the bowl in
Speaker 1: different places. You have to know how many people are
Speaker 1: actually gonna try to come to games UM, and of
Speaker 1: course they prioritize the season ticket holders UM to try
Speaker 1: to figure out how many people want to come, how
Speaker 1: many people are saying I'm good. And then once they
Speaker 1: know where those people are, you know, then the next
Speaker 1: steps of these things start happening. They have to figure
Speaker 1: out where where they're gonna sit, they have to start
Speaker 1: showing the protocols they have, and you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things who are working on is if your seats
Speaker 1: are assigned in section one oh three for whatever, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be times to come to the gate in order
Speaker 1: to make sure that not all everyone company of the
Speaker 1: game aren't all crushing in at twelve. You know, we
Speaker 1: need we need space and time. So you might be
Speaker 1: in a section that comes in between eleven thirty and
Speaker 1: twelve UM or twelve to twelve thirty or or something
Speaker 1: like that. And then there's gonna be areas for for
Speaker 1: which gate you're supposed to go in, for which concessions
Speaker 1: stand to go to to just to make sure that
Speaker 1: people aren't all congregating in the same place. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a very different experience, UM, even for those
Speaker 1: that are coming to the game. You know, we're trying
Speaker 1: to make everything through the Panthers App, touchless payments, ticketing, concessions,
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. So it's gonna be very
Speaker 1: different even for those that do end up coming to games. Well,
Speaker 1: that is such a huge undertaking that that you and
Speaker 1: know a lot of our coworkers are are working on,
Speaker 1: Like you said, just concessions through the app to get
Speaker 1: you know, everything has to be changed, and figuring out
Speaker 1: the logistics of the timing of when everyone's going to
Speaker 1: come in and where everyone can sit. Um. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's a great undertaking, and I know it's
Speaker 1: got to be stressful for for a lot of people
Speaker 1: we work with, and of course for the fans it's
Speaker 1: going to be different. But you know, the hope is
Speaker 1: that we can have football games where people can can
Speaker 1: come and watch and feel safe and enjoy themselves, and
Speaker 1: that's you know, the end goal. So um, I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see all of the innovations, although of course we
Speaker 1: wish it could be a regular football season. Um. As
Speaker 1: you said, everything is going to be different. Um. So
Speaker 1: I think it's great that that we're working on all
Speaker 1: of these things in order to try to make it
Speaker 1: the best and safest experience that that it can be,
Speaker 1: for the for the fans that can go UM. So,
Speaker 1: you know, overall, the general theme of this week right
Speaker 1: is there's so many unknown still. So I kind of thought, though,
Speaker 1: as we hope to turn the page to training camp
Speaker 1: very soon, I kind of thought it would be fun
Speaker 1: to go over a couple of things that that we
Speaker 1: do know and that we have learned about this team
Speaker 1: over the past few months, UM, in terms of our
Speaker 1: talks with with the staff and and players. What are
Speaker 1: I would love to get just one thing from both
Speaker 1: of you, and I'll share mine as well. Miles. Let's
Speaker 1: start with you, what is one thing that you have
Speaker 1: learned about this team in the past few months that's
Speaker 1: either been enlightening or that's made you excited for the
Speaker 1: season ahead. Yeah. I think if I had to point
Speaker 1: to one thing, it would be the team's real belief
Speaker 1: in Matt Rule in the direction that he's pointing this
Speaker 1: team in. And I think that's kind of easy to
Speaker 1: say for coaches who have been with him, you know,
Speaker 1: and there are a lot of those coaches who have
Speaker 1: gone with him from Temple to then Baylor and now
Speaker 1: to Carolina with the Panthers. But all I think even
Speaker 1: when you talk to players, it's interesting to hear their
Speaker 1: perspective on it too, because look, a lot of these
Speaker 1: guys have only met with Matt rulever truly through the
Speaker 1: screen and the the projection of belief that Matt Uill
Speaker 1: put into the players when all the protests started happening
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, I want you guys to
Speaker 1: use your voice. I think that went a long way
Speaker 1: for these players, and that certainly is also set by
Speaker 1: the top of the organization um with team owner David
Speaker 1: Tepper as well. But I think when you get it
Speaker 1: from Matt Rule, and when you also have these guys
Speaker 1: talking about how they really feel like he's setting them
Speaker 1: up well um to play during the season, so it's
Speaker 1: not just on the field, it's off the field, I
Speaker 1: think that that's really impressive. And you know, look, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of challenges for this coaching staff
Speaker 1: because they have not really met these players and they
Speaker 1: didn't get to see them on the field before. But
Speaker 1: I think when you have that kind of steady leadership
Speaker 1: at the top, that's gonna be able to help you
Speaker 1: smooth things over as much as possible. Um, when things
Speaker 1: go on, Miles, I completely agree with you. And it's
Speaker 1: funny because I know exactly what you mean about when
Speaker 1: you say it could sound a little cliche that that
Speaker 1: that is the thing that you've learned, But I feel
Speaker 1: exactly the same way because it's something that you and
Speaker 1: I have been very fortunate to get a lot of
Speaker 1: time with this coaching staff and a lot of time
Speaker 1: with some of these players over the course of um
Speaker 1: these last few months, albeit virtually, And I get what
Speaker 1: you're saying. It could be a cliche to say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of belief in the leadership at the
Speaker 1: top and in Matt Rule's vision, But when you hear
Speaker 1: it day in and day out from so many different people,
Speaker 1: and you hear kind of how genuine they are when
Speaker 1: they say it, I completely agree with you. It goes
Speaker 1: kind of past that, UM, that cliche, Yeah we're all
Speaker 1: you know, we're all behind. I mean, it really does
Speaker 1: feel like that very genuinely. Um. Every time you talk
Speaker 1: to to someone that's had a lot of interactions with
Speaker 1: with Coach Rule. UM, So I I completely agree with
Speaker 1: you and get on what you're saying. UM, I want
Speaker 1: to build on that a little bit. For the one
Speaker 1: thing that I've learned, um about the seaman, Miles, has
Speaker 1: really been in listening to your conversations with some of
Speaker 1: this coaching staff. They have a lot of belief in
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater. And I mean, I've heard Matt Rules say
Speaker 1: so many times he's the perfect guy for us, He's
Speaker 1: the perfect guy for us. And then hearing um, you know,
Speaker 1: he said that to me in my first interview with him,
Speaker 1: and then he was just saying it, you know, to you,
Speaker 1: Miles in the in the media a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and I you know, and then Joe Brady saying that
Speaker 1: he's running meetings for him, um, and of course their
Speaker 1: relationship together. We've heard so many great things from Joe
Speaker 1: Brady and Matt Rule about Teddy Bridgewater. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think it kind of goes in the same vein
Speaker 1: of what you were saying, Miles. It's like you can
Speaker 1: hear somebody say something once and you go, Okay, alright,
Speaker 1: got it. But when you hear it over and over
Speaker 1: again and you kind of hear the inflection in the
Speaker 1: voice and the excitement that's behind it, I think it
Speaker 1: goes a long way um, in feeling, you know, just
Speaker 1: how genuine that is, if that makes sense. I really
Speaker 1: get the impression that they are that they are are
Speaker 1: so happy with Bridgewater and so excited to see, you know,
Speaker 1: what he can do once training camp starts and getting
Speaker 1: him into you know, into this Panther's offense and having
Speaker 1: him utilize those weapons. And I mean you've heard him say,
Speaker 1: I think Miles, you asked him the question rule, the
Speaker 1: question of you know, what do you want him to do?
Speaker 1: And he's like, I don't want to throw the ball
Speaker 1: down the field, like use all these weapons that we have.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm excited about how excited they are about that. Um, well,
Speaker 1: you're the vet of course, where Miles, Miles and I
Speaker 1: are the newbies. But what's one thing you've learned this
Speaker 1: off season? Well, I think the the NFL world is
Speaker 1: in terms of coaching, in terms of play calling, in
Speaker 1: terms of schemes. You know, it can be a large
Speaker 1: ship that turns slowly sometimes. And I think that you know,
Speaker 1: it's called the copycat League and for good reason. And
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be really fun to watch
Speaker 1: not only Joe Brady but Phil Snow and the way
Speaker 1: that these guys are gonna come in with some pretty fresh,
Speaker 1: different ideas and different looks, and you know they're they're
Speaker 1: not trying to conform to this is what the NFL does.
Speaker 1: They know how to win football games. Um, and you
Speaker 1: know I I you know, obviously everyone's talking about the offense,
Speaker 1: how explosive they can be. You know, Bill Barnwell ranked
Speaker 1: them fifth in terms of offensive weapons on the ESPN
Speaker 1: article this week. I'm I'm curious to watch this defense,
Speaker 1: you know, it moving back to you know, more of
Speaker 1: a fourth three front, potentially having you know, kind of
Speaker 1: a three safety look, running safeties up into the box.
Speaker 1: You know, you have Jeremy chin Um, you know, new
Speaker 1: new fresh uh, you know person at middle linebacker into
Speaker 1: your white head. I think there's a lot of interesting
Speaker 1: dynamics in play on this defensive side, Um, and I'm
Speaker 1: really looking forward to kind of seeing that energy and
Speaker 1: seeing them just let loose. I completely agree. I think
Speaker 1: the three safety thing, seeing if if that translates into
Speaker 1: the NFL. Knowing that he did that at Baylor, I'm
Speaker 1: really interested to see a if we're going to get
Speaker 1: a lot of that, you know, personnel formation and be
Speaker 1: and be how it's gonna work. I'm excited about it,
Speaker 1: especially with with Jeremy Chin. Like you said, I mean,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see him out on the field. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Jeremy Chin should be really fun to watch. And I
Speaker 1: think when you think when you think about him and
Speaker 1: the guys who are safeties and people in the league
Speaker 1: who have shown to be that kind of versatilent. I
Speaker 1: don't want to make you know, crass compared a comparison,
Speaker 1: that's like going to set him up to fail. But
Speaker 1: people of that nature come to mind, or like Jamal Adams, right,
Speaker 1: like somebody who is basically your rover all around the defense,
Speaker 1: someone that can blitz, somebody that can go back into coverage.
Speaker 1: That I think is the kind of ceiling that you'd
Speaker 1: at least like to think that Jeremy Chin has. And
Speaker 1: if he can start to show sort of that potential,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be huge for the Panthers defense, not just
Speaker 1: this year but going forward. I agree, And going off
Speaker 1: of Will's point a little bit further. You know, full
Speaker 1: snow Is said in the past, like you you adjust
Speaker 1: your defense to the players you have, and you can
Speaker 1: see the kind of players like a Jeremy Chin that
Speaker 1: that they want to bring on board and develop up.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm excited to see what this defense is
Speaker 1: going to look like, um this season. All right, it
Speaker 1: is time for our weird question of the week, and
Speaker 1: this one is not I want to say this. We've
Speaker 1: all tried our hand at the weird questions. We've had
Speaker 1: a lot of fun with them. This one is not
Speaker 1: really a weird question. It's a really good question from
Speaker 1: from one of our listeners. Patrick Vogel sent us this
Speaker 1: on Twitter. He was talking about I had done a
Speaker 1: segment with Jake to lome Uh that got released this
Speaker 1: past week or last week, um, cold inside Scoop, and
Speaker 1: he had ripped his pants. We were like, look, we
Speaker 1: can talk to Jake about anything, all of these great plays. Well,
Speaker 1: I know you're you're a huge fan of him, as
Speaker 1: am I. But we're talking about the time that you
Speaker 1: ripped your pants on National TV. And he's such a
Speaker 1: good sport about it. We had so much fun. He
Speaker 1: still has the pants with the giant rip in the butt. Um,
Speaker 1: it's on our it's on the Panthers Twitter, it's on
Speaker 1: Panthers dot com if you want to check it out.
Speaker 1: But Patrick was talking about it, uh, the segment, and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, I still member when Jake ripped
Speaker 1: his pants, and he wanted to know from all of us,
Speaker 1: what is the most embarrassing moment that we've had at work?
Speaker 1: So will I'm gonna start with you. So this was
Speaker 1: several jobs ago, because I didn't want to bring up
Speaker 1: the most embarrassing things I've done with the Panthers because
Speaker 1: that's just not as fun. But this was back maybe
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, when I was working at College of
Speaker 1: Charleston UM running their website, running some of their content. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I'm posting a story late at night on them,
Speaker 1: maybe a Thursday after a volleyball match, maybe a Friday,
Speaker 1: And I refresh college or CFC sports dot com like
Speaker 1: our our website, and it's gone all of the normal things.
Speaker 1: It's just there's nothing there. It's just one of those
Speaker 1: pages that just has ads and oh my god, the
Speaker 1: ads are all the ads are like porn ads. Just
Speaker 1: whoa my god. Yeah. Yeah, somehow the domain that we
Speaker 1: had purchased had expired, and the guy that had purchased
Speaker 1: it had long since moved on to like two other
Speaker 1: jobs ten years prior. Nobody knew the password that he
Speaker 1: had set up. Know what, no one had any idea
Speaker 1: what to do? Oh my gosh, what what I mean?
Speaker 1: How long did it take to get it fixed? A
Speaker 1: couple of hours? Those are hours, and those are hours
Speaker 1: that will aid you by ten years. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm half thinking in my own head as we're trying
Speaker 1: to find the password to log back in to repurchase
Speaker 1: the domain so that we could reassign it to like
Speaker 1: our web content company, I'm thinking, like I could personally
Speaker 1: just create a new account and buy this thing and
Speaker 1: then make College Charleston have to then buy it back
Speaker 1: off me. But you know I didn't. Actually no one
Speaker 1: else did either. We didn't have to buy it from
Speaker 1: anyone in those two hours. But yeah, it was bad.
Speaker 1: It was really bad. So what what was the cause
Speaker 1: of that? What happened? So? You, I guess the the
Speaker 1: guy that had had the job long before I had
Speaker 1: come there. He had bought the domain and then you know,
Speaker 1: the domain gets assigned to your your back end web
Speaker 1: company who then put the actual stuff onto it, you know,
Speaker 1: the content, but the domain itself is different. And he
Speaker 1: had it in his own files, like it wasn't something
Speaker 1: that he had when he left that he had thought
Speaker 1: to transfer to like the department's I T department when
Speaker 1: we really have one or anybody else. So we were
Speaker 1: trying to get in touch with him. He couldn't remember
Speaker 1: the password that he had set up. You know. It
Speaker 1: was just it's just one of those things where you're like,
Speaker 1: I've always been very vigilant now about knowing who owns
Speaker 1: the you know, the domain that we currently use, like
Speaker 1: panthers dot com. Like, can you imagine if that just
Speaker 1: disappeared and anyone could buy it? For two hours? No?
Speaker 1: I can't. That's insane. Oh my gosh, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I don't know if we're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: beat that. Miles. Maybe we should have made Will go last,
Speaker 1: because that's that's tough. But alright, Miles, what's yours the
Speaker 1: most embarrassing moment at work? Um? You know, I I'm
Speaker 1: trying to really think, Oh okay, I got it. Um,
Speaker 1: I hope, I hope. I have not told the story
Speaker 1: on the podcast before. Sometimes I forget where and when
Speaker 1: I told We've only had like five episodes, so if
Speaker 1: you I know. But so, I just started my job
Speaker 1: with the Rams back in and one of my assignments
Speaker 1: was to UH interview Jeff Fisher every week. So I
Speaker 1: the first time I did it, I was twenty two
Speaker 1: and I basically never interviewed I head coach in my life.
Speaker 1: And I was really nervous, so I couldn't start the interview.
Speaker 1: It was. It was really bad. But about five six
Speaker 1: weeks into the season, UH, Jeff Fisher decided he wanted
Speaker 1: to mess with me, so he, I guess told everybody else, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna mess with Miles during the interview, so don't
Speaker 1: worry about it. I'm not going to be serious. So
Speaker 1: he doesn't tell me this obviously. So I'm sitting down
Speaker 1: and then I think the Rams had lost. So I
Speaker 1: asked him some question, some benign question that had been
Speaker 1: approved by our public relations staff before before we had
Speaker 1: even you know. I started sitting down and Fisher just
Speaker 1: goes off on me. He's like, well, we lost, so
Speaker 1: what kind of belief do you think it is? And
Speaker 1: I was like, and I probably I wish that somewhere
Speaker 1: I could find the footage of this, because it looks
Speaker 1: probably like I'm about to like pooh my pants, like
Speaker 1: because I and so then he looks at me for
Speaker 1: like three seconds and then everybody starts laughing. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say that that is probably my most embarrassing
Speaker 1: moment of work because I was just very scared, little
Speaker 1: twenty year old at the time. Yeah, let's see if
Speaker 1: we can find that footage. I that's a good one too.
Speaker 1: That's a good one too. Mine is I think will
Speaker 1: is going to win this one. But mine is. Mine
Speaker 1: is also embarrassing because it was caught on camera. I
Speaker 1: was trying to think back. Um, I'm sure I've had
Speaker 1: plenty of other embarrassing moments that I've maybe blocked out
Speaker 1: that have been recorded, But the one that comes to
Speaker 1: mind for me is but I worked on Mike and
Speaker 1: Mike at ESPN for three and a half years, and um,
Speaker 1: I was there their researcher and we sat in the
Speaker 1: studio and so they would always, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: four hour show. They would they would have us on
Speaker 1: the staff quite a lot, and you know, there are
Speaker 1: times where he'd start a bid or you know, we'd
Speaker 1: have fun and joke around, and for whatever reason, one
Speaker 1: day there was some bet that I think it was
Speaker 1: maybe Mike and Mike versus the staff. I can't remember,
Speaker 1: but the if you lost the bet, it was that
Speaker 1: you would have to do push ups. And I think
Speaker 1: it was push ups like twenty or so every I
Speaker 1: don't know if it was every hour, every time we
Speaker 1: went to commercial. I mean it was a lot. It
Speaker 1: was a significant amount of push ups if I remember correctly.
Speaker 1: And the studio floor it's pretty the wet and shot.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to it's a pretty shiny, it's
Speaker 1: pretty slippery. It's not like if you were gonna do
Speaker 1: push ups on the floor, it wouldn't be the ideal
Speaker 1: floor for it. Um it kind of it kind of
Speaker 1: has like that basketball court feel, and you know, when
Speaker 1: you're in your work clothes and stuff. So it's like
Speaker 1: not starting out great anyway. But I'm like, okay, Like
Speaker 1: the camera, you know, they bring the camera over, the
Speaker 1: camera guys wearing the equipment like they're really filming. They're
Speaker 1: really zooming in on you doing these push ups. You
Speaker 1: and these other uh staff means I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: so I gotta I'm not great at push ups in
Speaker 1: the first place, but like I'm gonna I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: through these, like just whatever ten or twenty and then
Speaker 1: we'll go to break and they'll have to come back
Speaker 1: and do them. I swear I got to like five
Speaker 1: and I just like, but I just like, I think
Speaker 1: I fell on my face like I did, my hands slipped,
Speaker 1: I couldn't do anymore. I was like, I can just
Speaker 1: power through these, like you know, adrenaline or whatever. I
Speaker 1: don't want to embarrass myself. I think there are the
Speaker 1: worst push ups anyone has ever seen anywhere, and I
Speaker 1: can never lift those down, so I can't. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I blocked out some of it. I can't remember if
Speaker 1: I fell, if I slipped, if I just gave up
Speaker 1: and laid on the ground. I think it might have
Speaker 1: been all of those because we hadn't do a significant
Speaker 1: amount during a four hour show. And I just remember,
Speaker 1: I've never been able to lift that down. So awesome
Speaker 1: is it? I think so? I think, But most embarrassing
Speaker 1: moment is definitely more embarrassing. Hey, shout out to Mike
Speaker 1: Golic senr on a great career at ESPN Radio though,
Speaker 1: absolutely he He's taught me so much, UM and I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see him call college football games. Although we'll
Speaker 1: be we'll all be sad to lose my ESPN Radio UM. Alright, guys,
Speaker 1: this is gonna do it for for this edition of
Speaker 1: The Happy half Hour. This has been a lot of fun,
Speaker 1: a lot of laughs this week, a lot of embarrassing stories.
Speaker 1: I think it definitely constitutes, uh, the name Happy half Hour.
Speaker 1: So thank you, gentlemen for for hanging out with me,
Speaker 1: and uh thanks everyone who's listening. We'll see you next
Speaker 1: week now