Speaker 1: Welcome in What Try with Nick Right? Episode three forty six.
Speaker 1: This episode What Try with Nick Right is brought to
Speaker 1: you by boost Mobile. Fresh off vacation, enjoying some watching
Speaker 1: some Wimbledon, wearing my vintage Wimbledon shirt that I still
Speaker 1: never gone. But I wear this while I'm watching, I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm more into it. Also, Deman's, you know,
Speaker 1: I have a two piece, a nice little matching two
Speaker 1: piece outfit that I wear whenever I go to the
Speaker 1: US Open. That's guys playing tennis on It's just like
Speaker 1: cartoons of people playing tennis that I wear it. I
Speaker 1: your mom had it squirreled away in a giveaway backup clothes.
Speaker 1: She was like, you can't wear this again this year.
Speaker 1: You have your Wimbledon shirt. I'm like, I'm not wearing
Speaker 1: my Wimbledon shirt to the US Open. Do you know
Speaker 1: how ridiculous I would look. I'm wearing my tennis outfit,
Speaker 1: but there's so much No, it was for real. She
Speaker 1: was gonna get rid of it without telling me. A
Speaker 1: ton to do today. Great to see you, We got
Speaker 1: some good family time. Demanse was on our family vacation
Speaker 1: with us. We're back from Hawaii. My sleep schedules all
Speaker 1: screwed up. You guys don't care about that, so let's
Speaker 1: get right into it because we have a ton to do.
Speaker 1: We also have a three hour TV show Today shows
Speaker 1: from two to five right after soccer so on FS one,
Speaker 1: and there is a lot I want to discuss, not
Speaker 1: the least of which should be one of the funny
Speaker 1: what I think will be one of the funniest stories
Speaker 1: in the history of this show, and that has to
Speaker 1: do with what one of the hosts of the show
Speaker 1: came home to after a ten day vacation. So we
Speaker 1: will discuss all of that, but first, thanks to our
Speaker 1: friends at boost Mobile, we can bring you straight to voicemail,
Speaker 1: which is basically what we're not going to have time
Speaker 1: to get into today, which is the US loses to
Speaker 1: Mexico in the Gold Cup Final. Not great, they didn't
Speaker 1: play great. They could have won, but they didn't deserve
Speaker 1: to when Bronnie had a nice little highlight play in
Speaker 1: Summer League. And more importantly, I also think that Bronnie's
Speaker 1: quote about listen, there are guys in this league, then
Speaker 1: give you fifteen to twenty points. I'm not one of
Speaker 1: those guys right now. I'm not gonna be one of
Speaker 1: those guys that gonna have to make it work on defense.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a great quote. I also thought
Speaker 1: Bronni had a hilarious quote when they asked him about
Speaker 1: the rumors surrounding swirling around Lebron James and he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I try not to pay attention to that stuff, Like, Buddy,
Speaker 1: that is your dad, Like I would, I like it.
Speaker 1: I understand you're like, I don't want to comment on
Speaker 1: another teammate's business, but like you guys live in the
Speaker 1: same house. And then also do they live in the
Speaker 1: same house that you know what, I don't know the
Speaker 1: answer to that. Does Bronnie move out on his own?
Speaker 1: He might, he's got an NBA contract, Maybe he does. Probably,
Speaker 1: you know what. Again, I'll stay out of the young
Speaker 1: man's business. But if there's if there's anyone in the
Speaker 1: world that could all of a sudden be making a
Speaker 1: million and a half bucks on their own and the
Speaker 1: house that they can afford is a massive, massive downgrade
Speaker 1: from what they're used to living in, it might be Bronnie.
Speaker 1: So I maybe would you know, stay at home as
Speaker 1: long as I could. And Joey Chestnut when the hot
Speaker 1: Dog eating competition. This is a story. The producers love that.
Speaker 1: Every year I remind them I do not like Joey Chestnut.
Speaker 1: I am not interested in Joey Chestnut. And this little
Speaker 1: photoshop of me holding up Joey Chestnut's arm, actually I
Speaker 1: find offensive. But it's a mustard belt though I didn't
Speaker 1: even know that's what it was called the mustard belt
Speaker 1: that you know, you know, that's the problem with today's sports.
Speaker 1: It's you know, it's too much belt culture. All right,
Speaker 1: like rate, subscribe, review, and do give us some likes.
Speaker 1: I listen to my friends on poker Go. By the way,
Speaker 1: oh man, I do have an announcement coming up that
Speaker 1: I think I can make. I gotta clear it with
Speaker 1: everyone I think I can make on this podcast on Thursday,
Speaker 1: major announcement me and Poke and things going on. I
Speaker 1: have to make sure I'm okay to announce it. But
Speaker 1: on Thursday, we should do that. My point is my
Speaker 1: friends on poker Go, whenever they do a YouTube stream,
Speaker 1: they're like, slam that like button. Do the like button,
Speaker 1: give us the thumbs up. So I'm gonna do the
Speaker 1: same thing. Rate to the rate the podcast five stars.
Speaker 1: We would appreciate that and subscribe. Of course, all right, demanse,
Speaker 1: let's get right to it, and this first segment might
Speaker 1: be forty five minutes long.
Speaker 2: Let's see about it.
Speaker 3: So Lebron opted into his fifty two million dollar contract
Speaker 3: and then came the trade rumors. Rich Paul came out
Speaker 3: with a statement and said, Lebron knows the Lakers are
Speaker 3: building for the future. He understands that, but he values
Speaker 3: a realistic chance of winning it all. You thought that
Speaker 3: they were gonna come away with a center. They ended
Speaker 3: up getting DeAndre Hayden, who was a sinner. But something
Speaker 3: about this whole process has been peeing you off.
Speaker 2: Do you care to share with the audience?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So I have just been mystified at the comm
Speaker 1: a nation of misinformation, disingenuous commentary, and almost huffing and
Speaker 1: puffing from the media, Like, ah, I guess we're forced
Speaker 1: to talk about Lebron again. What the fuck else has
Speaker 1: happened in free agency? The Kevin Durant trade that all
Speaker 1: of us knew was coming, that we that we talked about.
Speaker 1: That that was awesome, that was exciting. Other than that,
Speaker 1: it's been the deadest free agent agency imaginable. One team
Speaker 1: had cap space it was the nets. They they decided
Speaker 1: to use it just to take other teams bad contracts.
Speaker 1: Shams was telling us a month ago this could be
Speaker 1: the craziest offseason ever. Nothing's happened other than the Durant move.
Speaker 1: The most notable move is Norman Powell getting traded to Miami.
Speaker 1: Norman Powell, who, by the way, oddly enough, the only
Speaker 1: time Norman Powell's been discussed on regularly on podcasts and
Speaker 1: TV shows aside from ones focused on the Clippers was
Speaker 1: a different Lebron James thing when people were like, oh,
Speaker 1: what did anyone think of Norman Powell and his all
Speaker 1: Star spot? If Lebron knew he wasn't gonna play and
Speaker 1: so but I but I'm listening to and reading folks
Speaker 1: basically be like, all right, I guess will feed the
Speaker 1: content and engagement monster and have the boring, tired discussion
Speaker 1: of could Lebron James be traded? You mean the greatest
Speaker 1: player of all time or you know what, to not
Speaker 1: argue with, folks, the at worst second greatest player of
Speaker 1: all time who's never been traded, who is open now
Speaker 1: potentially to being traded. That's a boring discussion. We'd rather
Speaker 1: talk about the Pacers losing Miles Turner because they don't
Speaker 1: want to pay the tax because Halliburton got hurt. That's
Speaker 1: what we'd rather talk about, Cam Whitmore for two second
Speaker 1: round picks, Like what are we doing? This is and
Speaker 1: it's not lost on me today, this very moment is
Speaker 1: the fifteen year anniversary. I didn't know that until I
Speaker 1: saw an article' writting about this morning. Today's the fifteen
Speaker 1: year anniversary of the decision, which means we've had fifteen
Speaker 1: years of enhanced more, round the clock, more, twelve month
Speaker 1: a year, three hundred and sixty five day NBA transaction interest,
Speaker 1: from player empowerment to the owners trying to wrestle it back,
Speaker 1: super Team's homegrown, all of it. It came because Lebron
Speaker 1: and MATV put together a TV show and changed the
Speaker 1: whole paradigm. And fifteen years later, he's still one of,
Speaker 1: if not the most interesting person in the league, and
Speaker 1: folks who cover the league for a living seem almost
Speaker 1: resentful that this is a story. So I don't understand that.
Speaker 1: But that's I guess a matter of taste. That's a
Speaker 1: personal preference, so be it. But then there is what
Speaker 1: I consider the outright misinformation might be too strong, especially
Speaker 1: in today's climate, but just misleading and incorrect. I guess
Speaker 1: opinions on Lebron's money and Lebron's value and Lebron's impact
Speaker 1: on winning, because here's what I know. Last year we played,
Speaker 1: we had an offseason. By the way, we're in the Olympics.
Speaker 1: They had a whole All the best players in the
Speaker 1: world came together in Paris to play a basketball tournament,
Speaker 1: and then they voted on who was the most valuable
Speaker 1: player in that tournament, and it was Lebron James. Now,
Speaker 1: I argued, you could have gone co MVPs because Lebron
Speaker 1: carried the team up until the final, and then Steph
Speaker 1: was so utterly brilliant in the semifinal and the final.
Speaker 1: If you want to split the baby, so be it.
Speaker 1: That's fine. But he won the MVP of that. Then
Speaker 1: this year, we had a whole NBA season, and then
Speaker 1: the entirety of basketball media voted on awards. And after
Speaker 1: this season, if your name was not shake Gilgess, Alexander Nikolejokic,
Speaker 1: Giannis Antena Kumpo, Jason Tatum, or Donovan Mitchell, basketball media
Speaker 1: said you were not as valuable as Lebron James. Those
Speaker 1: are the five guys that finished higher on MVA voting.
Speaker 1: Those are the five guys who received more First Team
Speaker 1: All NBA votes. That's the entire list, Not Steph, not Kauai,
Speaker 1: not Durant, not who's the younger guys that I'm leaving out,
Speaker 1: Not Kaid, not Halliburton in the regular season, he obviously
Speaker 1: came on huge in the postseason. None of those guys
Speaker 1: we had an awards. We had a season sixth most
Speaker 1: First Team All NBA votes, sixth most, sixth in the
Speaker 1: MVP voting. And the reason I bring that up is
Speaker 1: then the discussion around Lebron James make being the thirteenth
Speaker 1: highest paid player was well, doesn't Lebron understand that a
Speaker 1: huge impediment to winning is his salary? In what world?
Speaker 1: In what world is the leagues? I don't know. I'll
Speaker 1: be conservative eighth best player being the thirteenth highest paid
Speaker 1: player an impediment to winning. We just saw the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors trade for and then extend Jimmy Butler, and
Speaker 1: the narrative surrounding that is that open Steph's championship window.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler makes more money than Lebron and is worse
Speaker 1: than Lebron, they say it again, but no, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about the right now, the right now, because by the way,
Speaker 1: I would bet Lebron's got as many all NBA caliber seasons,
Speaker 1: more All NBA caliber seasons left in him than Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler does. Jimmy Butler's done being an All NBA player,
Speaker 1: Lebron was last year, and Steph and Lebron probably have
Speaker 1: about the same amount of seasons left, give or take.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about the here in the now. People
Speaker 1: thought that the Warriors made a great move giving Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler that money, and it's a touch more than Lebron makes,
Speaker 1: and he's a worst player, great player, but a worst player.
Speaker 1: He like, in what universe is Lebron James making less
Speaker 1: than Karl Anthony Towns and the same as Paul George
Speaker 1: a bad contract, not a world where he was second
Speaker 1: team All NBA and sixth in MVP voting. So there's
Speaker 1: that piece of it that if you're the seventh or
Speaker 1: eighth best player in the sport and you're the thirteenth
Speaker 1: highest paid player in the sport, you're on a bargain contract,
Speaker 1: then there was this piece of it. Well, if he
Speaker 1: was really focused on winning, he should have taken less
Speaker 1: to help the Lakers, and that was that is a
Speaker 1: understandable opinion by fans and a just abhorred job by
Speaker 1: the media in perpetuating that because Lebron James, if he
Speaker 1: had cut his salary demonsey from fifty if he had
Speaker 1: opted out of the fifty two and said, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'll play for twenty you know how much cap space
Speaker 1: that opens up for the Los Angeles Lakers zero dollars,
Speaker 1: not a penny, because they're that far over the cap already.
Speaker 1: If Lebron James had said I'll go from fifty two
Speaker 1: million to the league minimum, it would have opened up
Speaker 1: roughly ten million dollars in cap space for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Ten million bucks. So this idea that the Lakers could
Speaker 1: have been these major players in free agency if Lebron
Speaker 1: had simply taken a discount is belied by just the facts.
Speaker 1: And it's also it's also a and we all know
Speaker 1: this is true, a disingenuous discussion because had Lebron, let's say,
Speaker 1: Lebron opted out and said I'm going to be a
Speaker 1: free agent, and guess what guys, I'm gonna play for
Speaker 1: the minimum. The entire conversation would be about stacking the deck, unfair,
Speaker 1: faking like that. So there was him simply saying, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm the thirteenth igh is paid guy in
Speaker 1: the league. I'm probably pretty underpaid. And that's even before
Speaker 1: you consider all of the off court stuff that I
Speaker 1: bring to the table. So yeah, I'll just play for
Speaker 1: my fifty million? Is more? Been totally reasonable? Was there? Like?
Speaker 3: So you have to but he opted into the contract?
Speaker 3: Like what would have his other options have been?
Speaker 1: He could have opted out and been a free agent.
Speaker 1: He could have opted out and been a free agent
Speaker 1: and signed anywhere for the literally anywhere for the league
Speaker 1: minimum and leave fifty million on the table or a
Speaker 1: lot of places for the mid level, which is about
Speaker 1: fourteen million bucks. And the only team that could have
Speaker 1: signed him for more than fourteen million dollars would have
Speaker 1: been the Nets, which would have made no sense. So
Speaker 1: those were go ahead?
Speaker 2: And why did he not do that?
Speaker 3: Are you saying like, because he thought the Lakers are
Speaker 3: going to do a better job with secure and a better.
Speaker 1: I think it's a I don't think there is a
Speaker 1: perfect solution here for you know what, they're trying to
Speaker 1: accomplish all these things. And I'm a big believer of
Speaker 1: you can't have everything you want in life, and sometimes,
Speaker 1: like you, you know, you have to make trade offs.
Speaker 1: I'm not sitting here arguing that the Lakers owe him
Speaker 1: something more than they owe Luca, which is to try
Speaker 1: to win a damn championship this season. And I'll get
Speaker 1: to the Lakers piece of it in a minute. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that there is a perfect solution for what
Speaker 1: he's trying to accomplish. What I'm saying is the narrative
Speaker 1: that a huge impediment to winning is you know, when
Speaker 1: you pay a player way more than he's worth, that's
Speaker 1: gonna hurt you, like the example of people uses you know,
Speaker 1: Kobe at the end when Lebron was according to NBA voters,
Speaker 1: which I am not was the sixth best player in
Speaker 1: the league LAFTXT year. So that part is to me
Speaker 1: just erroneous. Then there is the Okay, you've made over
Speaker 1: a billion dollars, you want the Lakers to be more competitive,
Speaker 1: take less money Dirk style and give them flexibility. When
Speaker 1: you look at it that him taking less money would
Speaker 1: not have given them any flexibility. And then there is
Speaker 1: this other part of it which I mentioned on TV yesterday,
Speaker 1: and it was the way it was captioned made it
Speaker 1: seem like more of a shot at Durant than I
Speaker 1: wanted it to be. But I said what I said,
Speaker 1: which was and this is the part to me demans
Speaker 1: that I find. No one can explain this to me correctly, nobody.
Speaker 1: Do who do you think right right now this moment?
Speaker 1: And there's no wrong answer here to Mon's You might
Speaker 1: disagree with me. Who do you think right now this
Speaker 1: moment is better Durant or Lebron? And do you think
Speaker 1: it's close in either direction?
Speaker 2: Offensively, I'd say Kevin Durant.
Speaker 3: But as far as a better player, the better players
Speaker 3: like just yeah, better all around, I'd have to give
Speaker 3: it to Lebron. But it's either way, it's pretty close, probably, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 3: the like if one guy's the eighth best player in
Speaker 3: the league, the other guy's the tenth best player in
Speaker 3: the league or nine to twelve or whatever.
Speaker 1: Right, So I and despite the age, I think we
Speaker 1: can agree that Lebron is the more durable player has
Speaker 1: been like you know what I mean? Lebron is less
Speaker 1: likely to miss thirty games with an injury. That's just
Speaker 1: that's not a matter of opinion. We just we just
Speaker 1: know it. Okay. So here's what I don't understand. Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant was available for trade and the media lost its mind.
Speaker 1: Who should go after him? These are the teams Durant
Speaker 1: doesn't want, the Minnesota Should Minnesota trade for him? Anyway?
Speaker 1: If you trade for him, do you just do you
Speaker 1: want to just give him a contract? The Rockets were
Speaker 1: the two seed, gave up their leading scorer, a valuable
Speaker 1: defender who I don't like in Dylan Brooks, and the
Speaker 1: tenth pick of the draft, and everyone's reaction was like,
Speaker 1: what a great job by the Rockets, they might win
Speaker 1: the title. A guy who at the very least is
Speaker 1: as good as Durant and I think a touch better
Speaker 1: is available potentially, and the same media is like, who
Speaker 1: fucking want him? I mean, really, it doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 1: That's what I don't understand. Like last year, last year,
Speaker 1: Lebron was better than Steph. They are similar Lebron's older,
Speaker 1: but again like a kind of similar port places in
Speaker 1: their career. Steph's team was in twenty four and twenty
Speaker 1: five when they traded for Jimmy Butler, you felt like
Speaker 1: it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves and
Speaker 1: five in the playoffs. Lebron's team was hanging on to
Speaker 1: the three four seed. They trade for Luca, you felt
Speaker 1: like it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: in five in the playoffs. That's like they had after
Speaker 1: very similar Olympics, very similar seasons. They Lebron finished higher
Speaker 1: an MVP and all NBA voting, but it was very close.
Speaker 1: Right If Steph Curry had released a statement like I
Speaker 1: don't know about the future of the Warriors and people
Speaker 1: thought he might be available, it would be a full
Speaker 1: stop freakout about what teams should package, what things to
Speaker 1: try to get him. And we just saw it happened
Speaker 1: with Durant when last year Lebron was better than both
Speaker 1: those guys, and the collective reaction is, well, I guess
Speaker 1: maybe maybe a team or two should make a courtesy
Speaker 1: call and a collective eye roll of I can't believe
Speaker 1: we're having this discussion. Has everyone lost their mind? Like
Speaker 1: if you if you are the New York Knicks right
Speaker 1: now in a wide open Eastern Conference and you just
Speaker 1: hired Mike Brown, who has I don't know, been to
Speaker 1: a finals with Lebron. You're not having a very long
Speaker 1: meeting about well, Carl Anthony towns for Lebron James and
Speaker 1: how that works and then calling the Lakers and seeing
Speaker 1: if they're interested and the towns for Lebron thing demonse.
Speaker 1: Here is the pros and the cons of it. The
Speaker 1: cons for the Knicks obviously are guys ten years older
Speaker 1: than the other that's con number one, right, your team
Speaker 1: dynamic changes considerably, that's potentially potentially con number two. The pros,
Speaker 1: in my opinion are, oddly, by adding a guy in
Speaker 1: year twenty three, a forty guy who's going to be
Speaker 1: forty one, you actually get better defensively for two reasons.
Speaker 1: What is it's more Mitchell Robinson minutes instead of Towns,
Speaker 1: so that definitively, you know, that helps you a lot defensively.
Speaker 1: But also, as Lebron showed last year once they got Luca,
Speaker 1: if he's not the primary offensive creator, he still has
Speaker 1: the ability to be a good, not great defender like
Speaker 1: he once was, but good defender if that's where he
Speaker 1: can put his energy. The other sneaky pro for the
Speaker 1: Knicks is do they actually want to move towns before
Speaker 1: he's he wants this next mega extension when they traded
Speaker 1: all those picks for bridges and you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: extend him and you've already extended og and you're obviously
Speaker 1: in the Jalen Brunson business like does the fact that
Speaker 1: Lebron would be short term act? Is that actually a
Speaker 1: positive because you don't want to, you know, have the
Speaker 1: big money it's associated with Karl Anthony Towns when there
Speaker 1: are I think legitimate, real concerns of if our two
Speaker 1: best players are bruntsing in towns, are we good enough
Speaker 1: defensively ever to win four rounds? I think those are
Speaker 1: all real, legitimate discussions. And then it's like, right now,
Speaker 1: this moment, as crazy as this is, because he's gonna
Speaker 1: be in your twenty three, But is Lebron better than
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns? My answer to that question is yes.
Speaker 1: If you feel differently than you, don't make this trick.
Speaker 1: But if you think the answer is yes, does the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five twenty twenty six season have more value
Speaker 1: than future seasons have? Let me rephrase it, does it
Speaker 1: have oddly what's the right word I'll just say it though,
Speaker 1: instead of trying to say what I was trying to
Speaker 1: say exactly, I'll just explain it. Because the East is
Speaker 1: so ripped away due to injuries, does getting ten percent
Speaker 1: better for this upcoming season matter more than it would
Speaker 1: in normal years? Because it's like, man, the Celtics are
Speaker 1: off the chess board, the Pacers are off the chess board.
Speaker 1: The Bucks don't know where they are on the chessboard.
Speaker 1: We're already the favorites in the conference. We haven't won
Speaker 1: a championship in fifty two years. What if we go
Speaker 1: for it? It certainly is a worthy, legitimate conversation, just
Speaker 1: like it now. I wouldn't necessarily want this if I
Speaker 1: were Lebron, But you know another team, Demons that should
Speaker 1: at least discuss it, Golden State Jimmy for Lebron. The
Speaker 1: Lakers get younger, and add you know a guy who
Speaker 1: doesn't need the ball at all, a guy who's you know,
Speaker 1: more about intangibles and devons and stuff like that at
Speaker 1: this point of his career, and you put Stephan Lebron
Speaker 1: together and be like, all right, you know, let's see, like, now,
Speaker 1: if I were Lebron, that's not that interesting to me
Speaker 1: because I actually think the position he's in right like Luca,
Speaker 1: I feel is better than Steph and so at this point,
Speaker 1: and so I don't think that Golden State would be
Speaker 1: a you know that you'd be in a better position
Speaker 1: to win, But go ahead.
Speaker 3: Right with all this stuff going on, like what about Luca,
Speaker 3: who has like the player option next year? And also
Speaker 3: like and how likely do you even think that it's
Speaker 3: that it is that Lebron will be traded what team?
Speaker 1: Well, I don't think it's I don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's likely, but I don't at all think it's fantasy
Speaker 1: at this point. That's the first point. The second point
Speaker 1: is and I tried to be very and I will
Speaker 1: again try to be very cautious about how I were
Speaker 1: of this, And this is this is a good reason
Speaker 1: right here to like, rate, subscribe, review, to check out
Speaker 1: the podcast, because this little piece right here we also won't, like,
Speaker 1: you know, specifically push out on its own on socials
Speaker 1: because I don't I I don't want this to be
Speaker 1: aggregated incorrectly. But I told you guys two weeks ago
Speaker 1: that I thought and this was what I would call
Speaker 1: very in a very informed opinion that these finals specifically
Speaker 1: were difficult. Not being in the tournament late into this
Speaker 1: tournament had not sat well with Lebron at all, and
Speaker 1: that the itch to have one more run was as
Speaker 1: strong as ever. And I said that then I went
Speaker 1: on vacation, and then surely thereafter Rich Paul released that
Speaker 1: statement and it felt very in line with what I
Speaker 1: knew to be true, which was Lebron is not saying
Speaker 1: I can't win with the Lakers. What Lebron is saying
Speaker 1: is if your focus is not winning right now, then
Speaker 1: were not a great fit anymore. And that's reasonable.
Speaker 3: Why do you come out and say that, you know,
Speaker 3: after Lebron, Well, I.
Speaker 1: Think there's two reasons. So I think there were two reasons.
Speaker 1: One was to put I think there were potentially two
Speaker 1: positive outcomes. One was shake the trees of the league
Speaker 1: to see if a team like the Knicks did want
Speaker 1: to inquire about his availability. The other one was to
Speaker 1: try to shake Rob Blinka into being aggressive. And when
Speaker 1: I saw Dave mcminnimon report that the Lakers are focused
Speaker 1: on having max cap space in twenty twenty seven, I
Speaker 1: I wanted to throw my phone that forget Lebron you're
Speaker 1: at next year, you're gonna have twenty seven year old
Speaker 1: Luke ad Ancic, who by the way, has not signed
Speaker 1: an extension yet. You know when your window is right
Speaker 1: now every year, and and I just I also I've
Speaker 1: also heard the be like, well, listen, if Luke and
Speaker 1: Lebron aren't good enough to win a title, then how
Speaker 1: much of that is on Luke and Lebron? And the
Speaker 1: answer to that is yes and no, because this is
Speaker 1: how I felt at times when I was frustrated with
Speaker 1: the Lakers when Ad was still there, when it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: if it were a two on two tournament, would the
Speaker 1: Lakers when it was Lebron and Ad and the rest
Speaker 1: of that mismashed supporting cast, would they have a better
Speaker 1: chance of winning the NBA title if the league were
Speaker 1: set up as it is right now, if it were
Speaker 1: two on two? And I felt for a number of
Speaker 1: those years probably two on two, like their top two
Speaker 1: guys against anybody else's top two guys. Take your chance,
Speaker 1: And it's the supporting cast that is not, especially in
Speaker 1: the new NBA with a weak link era, where you
Speaker 1: know where you need five legitimate guys. And that's how
Speaker 1: I feel right now if it weren't two on if
Speaker 1: for Lebron and Luca against Yokichen Murray and I guess
Speaker 1: Giannis and Miles Turner now, which would be an awkward
Speaker 1: two on two game. And step and Jimmy and Brunton
Speaker 1: and Karl Anthony Towns. I like their change. I like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I like the Lakers chances Katie and
Speaker 1: shongoon Ooh, that'd be fun, but it's not that, and
Speaker 1: so rounding out the rest of the roster. And by
Speaker 1: the way, I don't hate the eight and move. I've
Speaker 1: never liked Dayton and Demons. If you remember, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you saw it sidebar from all the the
Speaker 1: Betroun stuff. Okay, I'm so glad you remembered. So a
Speaker 1: year ago. Two years ago, however, long ago. DeAndre Aiden
Speaker 1: got traded to the Portland Trailblazers and played terribly at
Speaker 1: the start.
Speaker 2: Of the year.
Speaker 1: And then he did an interview and one of the
Speaker 1: things he said was, yeah, like, you know, everything's been off,
Speaker 1: including I've been sleeping on an air mattress. And I
Speaker 1: said to Demons, and I don't know if he thought
Speaker 1: I was being unfair or not, that that right there
Speaker 1: that one statement is such an indictment on Aten's professionalism
Speaker 1: and maturity that it's not acceptable when you're a professional
Speaker 1: athlete who's been paid, who was on a near max
Speaker 1: contract to be like, well, shit, my bed hasn't been delivered,
Speaker 1: So I guess for six weeks as a seven foot
Speaker 1: tall NBA center, I'm gonna sleep on an air mattress,
Speaker 1: which is not acceptable. It's not it's no, it would,
Speaker 1: it's it's in the same like you just can't happen.
Speaker 2: What do you do in that situation? You like sleep
Speaker 2: in a hotel room or you No, you haven't. You
Speaker 2: could have got a bed expedited, is what you're saying.
Speaker 1: It's like you can get it. I could get I
Speaker 1: could get if you're it right now, Like the nicest
Speaker 1: bed at mattress Firm. No free ads, but I'll just
Speaker 1: shout them out, the nicest bed, all of it. It's
Speaker 1: like they're expensive, that it's gonna be expensive, like twelve
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand dollars. If you call Mattress whatever bed company
Speaker 1: X Mattress firm, if you'd like more of these plugs,
Speaker 1: you need to talk to our sales department and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: what's the biggest, nicest bed you have in stock? Okay,
Speaker 1: how much does it cost? Okay? All right, listen. What's
Speaker 1: your name? Marcus? All right, Marcus, how are you doing today?
Speaker 1: Today's your lucky day because you answered the phone. Here's
Speaker 1: the deal. I need that bed or a facsimile of
Speaker 1: it at my house by the end of the day.
Speaker 1: I do not care what you have to do for it.
Speaker 1: Here's the deal. I'm gonna give you my credit card,
Speaker 1: you pay whatever extra fees there are, and when it
Speaker 1: gets done, I'm having someone come down to the store
Speaker 1: and give you five thousand dollars cash. Call me back
Speaker 1: in a half hour and let me know how it's happening.
Speaker 1: That would get done and you pay a five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars I need my bed now tax and you don't,
Speaker 1: and you have a good NBA season. So pointise, I said,
Speaker 1: that guy's not to be taken, not to be trusted.
Speaker 1: He had traded for the Blazers and the reports are,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this guy. He's late for meetings, he
Speaker 1: missed his treatment. He's a pain in the ass. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know how I knew to be sleeping on an
Speaker 1: air mattress That's how I knew. It's just I mean,
Speaker 1: and so you have all that said. With all that said,
Speaker 1: I don't for eight million bucks, he's worth a flyer.
Speaker 1: I've never been a DeAndre Ayton guy, but he's worth
Speaker 1: a flyer. There are other moves I would have liked more,
Speaker 1: but worth a flyer. I just think I think the
Speaker 1: Lakers man, Rob Blink has never been good at this job.
Speaker 1: And I understand he was the in that analogy. I
Speaker 1: just made Marcus the mattress salesperson who a guy called
Speaker 1: him up and was like, Hey, Lucky Day, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: buy your best bet and give you five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: tip for your trouble. He was the Marcus in that analogy,
Speaker 1: and the guy calling him was Nico Harrison, and instead
Speaker 1: of five thousand dollars, he offered him Luka Doncic. But
Speaker 1: that didn't make Marcus the world's greatest mattress salesperson, and
Speaker 1: that didn't make Rob Blinka great GM. It was just like,
Speaker 1: ah shit, lucky Day. And so I think alienating Dorian
Speaker 1: Finney Smith when Luca loves him and Luca hasn't signed
Speaker 1: his extension yet, is worrisome. It's not nothing, I and
Speaker 1: so I would I just I don't think the Lakers
Speaker 1: are drawing dead. I don't think they are. They have
Speaker 1: put themselves in the best position. And if they don't
Speaker 1: want to contend this year, if they're like no, And
Speaker 1: by the way, it also doesn't like I don't know
Speaker 1: why Rob Blinka would be trying to save cap space
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty seven. Rob, You're not going to be
Speaker 1: in charge in twenty twenty seven, buddy. Those new owners
Speaker 1: are going to survey the landscape and be like, so,
Speaker 1: where they're inefficiencies in this league? Oh, unlimited budget on
Speaker 1: front offices, coaching staffs, trainers, scouts, those types of things,
Speaker 1: no salary cap there, Well, what if we upgraded at
Speaker 1: that spot? And so I just that there it is.
Speaker 1: I said it might be forty minutes, it was thirty
Speaker 1: that That's my Lakers, Lebron ram I helpe. You all
Speaker 1: enjoyed it, Uh, I have a less I have one.
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Speaker 4: slash audio.
Speaker 1: All right demands Before we get to what hopefully is
Speaker 1: one of the why not hopefully what I think will
Speaker 1: be one of the funniest stories we've ever told on
Speaker 1: the show. I do want to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about Patrick Mahomes first show back, gone for ten days.
Speaker 1: Two things happened while I was on vacation.
Speaker 2: Guys, I was attacked.
Speaker 1: I was just walking around, walking the beach, listening to
Speaker 1: things on trying to I didn't really I wasn't on
Speaker 1: Twitter much. I read three books, I did the New
Speaker 1: York Times Crossword every day. But then i'd walk the
Speaker 1: beach and you know, listen to things. And I just
Speaker 1: heard the worst takes and they were centered around my
Speaker 1: two guys, Lebron James and Patrick Mahomes. So let's get
Speaker 1: to the Mahomes piece of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Mahomes wants to get past that Super Bowl
Speaker 3: loss and get that nasty taste out of his mouth,
Speaker 3: and he's it's also getting tired of all the talk,
Speaker 3: saying that he wants to just settle all this on
Speaker 3: the football field. Yeah, this is another thing that really
Speaker 3: annoyed you. Which I'm curious what the angle is here,
Speaker 3: what pgoff?
Speaker 1: Well, it's not, no, no, no. His comments didn't annoy
Speaker 1: me me last week, which was so here's the deal.
Speaker 1: If someone wants to have the courage to come out
Speaker 1: and be like, you know what, you know, here's a take,
Speaker 1: free take for someone who wants it. Okay, Like it's
Speaker 1: just sometimes sometimes I'm disappointed in uh my industry because
Speaker 1: there are these I can see these. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: that would be a good take. I don't believe it.
Speaker 1: But no one has made had this take, and it's
Speaker 1: right there, and I know it would cut through the
Speaker 1: noise and you could establish yourself with it, and no one,
Speaker 1: no one, no one has said it. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: believe this. This is not my take. So consider this
Speaker 1: like the sports take version of developing some type of
Speaker 1: vaccine or cure for something and be like, we're not
Speaker 1: patenting it. Anyone can copy it free for the world
Speaker 1: public use. Here's a take. The last few years, Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes has pretty clearly not been judged based on his numbers.
Speaker 1: He's been judged based on the fact that his team wins,
Speaker 1: that he is a leader, that he plays his best
Speaker 1: in the biggest spots, and that is how he has
Speaker 1: held on too the best quarterback alive Moniker, despite the
Speaker 1: fact that his two biggest conference rivals Josh Allen Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson have both won league and vps in this time
Speaker 1: and if that has allowed Mahomes to climb to the
Speaker 1: top of the quarterback mountain, then the exact same standard
Speaker 1: should be used to evaluate Jalen Hurts and Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1: Who's never missed the playoffs, whose team wins double digit
Speaker 1: games every year, who's been to two Super Bowls, been
Speaker 1: awesome in both. Some would argue outplayed Mahomes in both,
Speaker 1: certainly in this last one, and has done it with
Speaker 1: what you know, let's call it, a polarizing coach and
Speaker 1: a polarizing receiver in a tough city and now is
Speaker 1: coming off off you know, leading an offense to damn
Speaker 1: near a one hundred points combined in the conference championship
Speaker 1: game in the Super Bowl and puts his body on
Speaker 1: the line, doesn't care about his passing numbers for the
Speaker 1: most unstoppable play in football. That player the defending Super
Speaker 1: Bowl MVP. He's the best quarterback alive. End of take.
Speaker 1: That take is again, I do not believe it, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't have a ton of logical holes if someone
Speaker 1: wanted to have it. Instead, these dopes want to knock
Speaker 1: Mahomes off his perch a best quarterback in the league,
Speaker 1: and they are doing it for one of three quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: really one of two and mostly one of just one
Speaker 1: who's never once out played him in a big spot.
Speaker 1: It's the majority of quarterback rankings lists right now have
Speaker 1: Josh Allen number one, which is hilarious and indefensible, and
Speaker 1: it is not an allowable take until one time in
Speaker 1: a spot that matters. It's not a quarterback wins thing.
Speaker 1: He outplays Patrick, and the last two years, one in
Speaker 1: his building, one in the Chiefs building. He's had the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands, chance to go do it, and
Speaker 1: it couldn't get forty yards either time, so that's not allowed.
Speaker 1: Lamar can win every MVP from here until retirement, and
Speaker 1: until he wins a single big game, it's obviously not allowed.
Speaker 1: And Joe Burrow had outplayed Patrick in a big spot,
Speaker 1: had a chance to really put a stake in the
Speaker 1: heart of the Chiefs through fourth quarter interception the conference
Speaker 1: championship game lost and has n't been back to the
Speaker 1: playoffs since. And the amount of people trying to argue
Speaker 1: any one of those three guys has ascended past Patrick.
Speaker 1: Because Patrick got beat by Jalen arts and they played
Speaker 1: more than the Super Bowl. It's the dumbest shit I've
Speaker 1: ever heard. You then combine it with this whole ooh
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs era over based on what that they
Speaker 1: were just the second best team in football last year,
Speaker 1: based on the fact that they just completed the best
Speaker 1: three years stretch in the history of the league and
Speaker 1: are tied for the best five and seven year stretches
Speaker 1: in the history of the league. What is the what
Speaker 1: is the piece of evidence you have like, oh, this
Speaker 1: might be the Broncos or Chargers year. There is none,
Speaker 1: And so the again, the Eagles have bragging rights, and
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts has bragging rights, And the Eagles have it
Speaker 1: because they want as a team, and Jalen Hurts has
Speaker 1: it because individually he played, you know, he was the
Speaker 1: best quarterback on the field that Sunday. But these AFC
Speaker 1: also rans that are being elevated because of what I
Speaker 1: just I can't. I can't deal with just one time
Speaker 1: at one time? Can I just see? It's what I
Speaker 1: said to that guy in Hawaii, the guy I'm walking,
Speaker 1: I'm walking with the family down the boardwalk in Honolulu,
Speaker 1: and this guy walks up to me, and he's like, amen,
Speaker 1: this is Bill's country out here in my head. I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: it's fucking not, man, it's actually I'm not sure there's
Speaker 1: a place in the United States that is that is
Speaker 1: further removed literally geographically but also spiritually from Buffalo, New
Speaker 1: York as the boardwalk in Honolulu. Like, first of all,
Speaker 1: it's just a bad take. Second of all, get a life.
Speaker 2: But I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't say I didn't say any of that. I'm like, okay, nice.
Speaker 1: I mean, like five minutes later, he runs me down
Speaker 1: and was like, hey, man, I'm so sorry I said that.
Speaker 1: Can I please get a picture? And I'm like sure,
Speaker 1: so I take the picture. He's like, yeah, man, thanks,
Speaker 1: sorry about that. I'm like sor right. But then I
Speaker 1: couldn't resist because I was like, I'm with my wife
Speaker 1: and kids like. So I was like, I was like,
Speaker 1: hey and listen, man, one day you'll win a big game.
Speaker 1: And I saw a look on his face and it's stung.
Speaker 1: You know why. It's stung the same reason why when
Speaker 1: people put up that picture of me and Mahomes a
Speaker 1: couple parades ago, where I'm smiling and my nose is
Speaker 1: casting a shadow on my teeth. It stings because I
Speaker 1: know it's true. I'm like, damn, like that is weird.
Speaker 1: That is like a thing that most people like it
Speaker 1: shouldn't be physically possible, or it does cast a shadow
Speaker 1: like that sucks. But that's why it stung him, because
Speaker 1: he knows it's true, and so I just don't. But
Speaker 1: I it is. It's really beyond dumb to me the
Speaker 1: every other let me add one other thing. And I
Speaker 1: said this to Cowherd and he just laughed because he
Speaker 1: knew I was right, not just like this year, but
Speaker 1: basically for all of modern NFL history. If there is
Speaker 1: a team in a division that everyone agrees the same
Speaker 1: team has the division's best quarterback and the division's best coach,
Speaker 1: that team will be the pick to win that division.
Speaker 1: If there's no debate, like it's just like so, I'll
Speaker 1: give you an example. N FC West, there's a debate
Speaker 1: is McVeigh or Shanahan the best coach? And I guess
Speaker 1: for some there might be a debate is perty or
Speaker 1: Stafford the best quarterback? Not to me, but what like
Speaker 1: there's it's not often there that it is crystal clear
Speaker 1: on both, but when it is, uh, that team is
Speaker 1: everyone's picked to win the division and the amount of
Speaker 1: people this year that are gonna pick fucking bon Nicks,
Speaker 1: sorry for all the curse words today to win that division.
Speaker 1: Or Justin Herbert, who again, I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: if he's won a big game since high school, and
Speaker 1: I have to look at the high school. I don't
Speaker 1: think he did it Oregon. I it's just it's just dumb,
Speaker 1: you know what. I just I just.
Speaker 2: People get fickle with the greatness.
Speaker 3: I don't know if people just don't sometimes you know,
Speaker 3: if you.
Speaker 1: Heard it, but they think we have the next Trent
Speaker 1: Williams and Johsh Simmons. Oh boy, oh boy, Now that
Speaker 1: might be a little strong. Trent Williams one of the
Speaker 1: greatest players of all time. But if they just if
Speaker 1: Josh Simmons just ends up being the tenth best tackle
Speaker 1: left tackle in the league slightly above average, it is
Speaker 1: such a I mean, Mahome has been to five Super Bowls.
Speaker 1: You had a different starting left tackle in all five,
Speaker 1: it would be just such a massive, massive.
Speaker 2: Wors line situation. Yet right.
Speaker 1: Course of the no, the thing is what's weird is
Speaker 1: the Chiefs had a really good guard center guard oh
Speaker 1: line this year. The tackle it was the worst tackle
Speaker 1: play he's had, and a previous they had been bat
Speaker 1: up in the middle, but good of the like and
Speaker 1: so it got really shaky by the end of it.
Speaker 1: All right, real quick, this is a message that applies
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Speaker 1: not available in all areas. All right, Demanse, we you
Speaker 1: how should we do this? Uh? Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 1: It's time. It's time for the snake pit. So here
Speaker 1: what a what an amazing image? All right? I mean
Speaker 1: there is actually some real if we think about it,
Speaker 1: we that's actually again the producers do a great job.
Speaker 1: And I'm rude, but narratively it doesn't really make sense
Speaker 1: that demands, a lover and breeder of snakes would be
Speaker 1: wearing a snakeskin suit. That's right, that's kind of I mean,
Speaker 1: that's kind of sacrilegious. So again maybe maybe a slight
Speaker 1: just again, if you're watching on YouTube, you see it.
Speaker 1: It looks cool. But okay, the all right, so I
Speaker 1: want to give can I give the setup here? Do
Speaker 1: you care? Do you mind?
Speaker 2: I kind of lay the foundation of the sea.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna because as my dad used to say,
Speaker 1: you ask Nick what time it is, he's going to
Speaker 1: tell you how the watch was made. I am going
Speaker 1: to give a full background here. Demanse for a couple
Speaker 1: of years has been trying to figure out can I
Speaker 1: successfully breed these exotic snakes? And put a lot of
Speaker 1: time and a lot of money and a lot of
Speaker 1: time learning into Can I figure this out on my own?
Speaker 1: Can I go to enough shows and read enough forums
Speaker 1: and you know, correct me by the way if anything
Speaker 1: I'm saying is wrong. And there have been more than
Speaker 1: a couple times where Demanse has asked or told me
Speaker 1: or mom or my mom, actually, who seems to be
Speaker 1: your snake? Confident my mother? You know what? I might
Speaker 1: give up? I might you know, I might just keep
Speaker 1: you know, you know, one pet snake because I but I,
Speaker 1: I've spent so much money and so much time, it's
Speaker 1: so frustrating. And a month ago he was on the
Speaker 1: verge of another one of those I don't think it's
Speaker 1: is worth all the time and effort. And literally two
Speaker 1: days later, six eggs show up in the check what's
Speaker 1: the tank with the mother snake? And then there is
Speaker 1: some real and I really I totally empathized, and I
Speaker 1: took it totally serious. But it also was like charming,
Speaker 1: some real anxiety surrounding every single decision Demonse was making
Speaker 1: from their forward because it was all right, I could
Speaker 1: leave the snakes in there, the eggs with the mother snake,
Speaker 1: but they the better chances of success if I put
Speaker 1: him in an incubator. I have a guy who will
Speaker 1: do the incubating for me. Oh man, I actually want
Speaker 1: them in my house. But then I've already given them
Speaker 1: to him. Now I have to buy an incubator. Now
Speaker 1: I have to transfer them again. Am I doing so
Speaker 1: all of this? And then there is the realization, Oh no,
Speaker 1: I'm about to be out of town for ten days
Speaker 1: and the eggs are back in my house. I'm sure
Speaker 1: there was some real thought on, you know, should I
Speaker 1: have just left it with these people until I get back.
Speaker 1: What if there's a power outage, all these things, all
Speaker 1: of that, But all of it seemly was fine. You
Speaker 1: got them back, the incubator worked, it was set up.
Speaker 1: You sprayed them for mold. I guess you did all
Speaker 1: those things you had to do, except for one small part,
Speaker 1: which didn't really have anything to do with the age.
Speaker 1: Had more to do with the other snakes. And there
Speaker 1: I'll let you take over the story with I might
Speaker 1: add a bit on my own.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they let me down.
Speaker 3: I've got like five five grownish snakes or whatever, and
Speaker 3: I was trying to feed a rat.
Speaker 2: I brought in two or three rats.
Speaker 3: Two of them got taken trying to feed this last
Speaker 3: one to one of the other hungry snakes. They didn't
Speaker 3: need it, so I put it back in the box.
Speaker 3: I was plan to overturning it to the store. That's
Speaker 3: just how I do it. I go back and get
Speaker 3: a little store credit for whatever size rat it was.
Speaker 1: And so let me add something there that is that's
Speaker 1: that's tell me if I'm wrong, less of a you're
Speaker 1: trying to get the twelve bucks or whatever out of
Speaker 1: my apartment. It right, and not just release it or
Speaker 1: kill it on your own or whatever.
Speaker 4: It right.
Speaker 1: And there's a humane piece of it as well. Yes,
Speaker 1: So okay, so you bought three rats. Two of the
Speaker 1: snakes ate them, one wasn't eaten. You put it back
Speaker 1: in the box. This is last before we leave for vacation.
Speaker 1: All right, go ahead, keep going.
Speaker 2: So put the rat back in the box. And you know,
Speaker 2: I'm a.
Speaker 3: Late packer as well, Like I probably started packing like Thursday,
Speaker 3: so like just got a lot of stuff on mind.
Speaker 3: I think it was when I got to Sacramento that
Speaker 3: I realized that I left this rat inside of the box.
Speaker 3: And it was just super super stressful for a couple
Speaker 3: of reasons. But yeah, and then I didn't have my
Speaker 3: my homie go over there and check it into about
Speaker 3: two days after that.
Speaker 1: Okay, so this is so this is if I can
Speaker 1: jump in for a second. So I realize Sunday something
Speaker 1: is a miss because Demanse's like on the phone about yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I'm like, so something's going on. And
Speaker 1: then he tells me what the deal is. And one
Speaker 1: of the first things he says is don't rats too
Speaker 1: wires or rats to wires. So demand has created a
Speaker 1: vision in his head where this rat has chewed its
Speaker 1: way out of this box and then has eaten.
Speaker 5: Has somebody kicked the wires in the apartment, the power
Speaker 5: cord for the incubator, and so now he I'm listening
Speaker 5: to him call the apartment get authorization for someone to
Speaker 5: be let into his apartment.
Speaker 1: But that person's not going to be there till Monday now,
Speaker 1: So okay, So now Monday comes around, your buddy gets
Speaker 1: your apartment and tell me, you know.
Speaker 2: It's bad news.
Speaker 3: So yeah, they they will sit in there for a
Speaker 3: little bit. Like there's been times where I have had
Speaker 3: to keep them in there overnight, and like if I
Speaker 3: hear them biting at the box or whatever, I'll go
Speaker 3: over there, and I'll nudget like I'll push it like
Speaker 3: a little aggressively to where they like they'll calm down
Speaker 3: and they won't be trying to get out there, like
Speaker 3: I don't want to go out to what's out there?
Speaker 3: Yeah and yeah, So Tara gets there and I can
Speaker 3: tell when he first gets over to the box that
Speaker 3: the rat is definitely not in there because he's tapping
Speaker 3: on it and he doesn't hear any like squirming or
Speaker 3: anything inside of it.
Speaker 2: And the rat had.
Speaker 3: Eight and eaten out of the bottom the bottom bottom
Speaker 3: of the box and had been out and I had
Speaker 3: tark look it was nowhere to be found, nowhere.
Speaker 2: To be found.
Speaker 3: He thought that he was. He thought that he was
Speaker 3: hearing it behind the oven. I asked him to pull
Speaker 3: the oven out a little bit. He seemed like halfway
Speaker 3: uncomfortab with like like this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, of course, having to search your apartment
Speaker 1: for a loose rat. Your buddy doesn't think that, like
Speaker 1: potentially that this favor could end with him needing raby shots.
Speaker 1: Then then then Demanse, I want to add this part
Speaker 1: again because at his core, Demanse is an animal lover.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons like Demonse has talked to me about,
Speaker 1: you know, the the pushing the pull of the snake,
Speaker 1: of the breeding snakes, is that some sadness associated with
Speaker 1: feeding them. And even though that's like literal nature, just
Speaker 1: buying an hand, like picking out this animal that's now
Speaker 1: gonna die, like having real quombra. So Demanse has his
Speaker 1: friend leave up a saucer of water for this rat,
Speaker 1: so which honestly I suggested. It was like have him
Speaker 1: go get the white and some poison and put your
Speaker 1: and and be put at ease. And I was like,
Speaker 1: no that I think the exact quote was the rat
Speaker 1: didn't do anything wrong. Now now it's Monday again, it's Monday,
Speaker 1: Demanday's not going to be back in this apartment until
Speaker 1: late Sunday night, and is trying to, I guess, create
Speaker 1: a sustainable environment for this rats. Yeah, shut all the
Speaker 1: doors and so that then sets us up to around midnight,
Speaker 1: LA time, Sunday night when you come home. And this
Speaker 1: part of the story I don't know.
Speaker 2: So go ahead, man.
Speaker 3: I opened the door and it's like you just knew
Speaker 3: that there was a dead rat inside of it, Like
Speaker 3: you just knew there was no way the rat was alive.
Speaker 1: The smell.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I swept and mocked my floor like really good
Speaker 3: right before I left, And there was no remnants of
Speaker 3: pine sal because it smelled like pine sal when I'm left,
Speaker 3: and like obviously I hadn't been in there the whole time. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and it smelt like death, Like it was just smelt
Speaker 3: like death. And I walked around. I go in and
Speaker 3: I turn over to my dishwasher and there's the rat
Speaker 3: on the ground dead. But like the tricky part was
Speaker 3: it looked like it was just it was dead for
Speaker 3: a couple of days, two or three days.
Speaker 2: I'd go to pick it up.
Speaker 3: And there were fifty maggots magnet like fifty maggots just
Speaker 3: right under it. And I I sprayed those things with
Speaker 3: TILEX like that those animals I don't love.
Speaker 2: I stomped on them. Yeah, I was. It was.
Speaker 3: It was honestly the most disgusting thing that I've seen
Speaker 3: in a really long time. Like it's I felt bad
Speaker 3: for sending it to the like I thought about deleting it, but.
Speaker 1: We are on an even longer flight. So demand's flight
Speaker 1: from Honolulu in hour flight from Honolulu left oddly within
Speaker 1: five minutes of each other, he's flying La, We're flying
Speaker 1: New York. So this all happens four hours later we
Speaker 1: land and in the group chat is a video that
Speaker 1: is just horrifying of Demond the kitchen floor and that
Speaker 1: so so Mary in the chat says, that apartment to
Speaker 1: the maggots house.
Speaker 3: Well, it's you just know they were only there for
Speaker 3: the rat, So like, I don't have any any thought that,
Speaker 3: like they're going to infest my apartment. But it is
Speaker 3: crazy how many there were, Like I don't know how
Speaker 3: long it was dead there, but I just think it's
Speaker 3: insane how that type of stuff finds this way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like fruit flies, Like I don't believe.
Speaker 2: It's strange.
Speaker 1: But most importantly, as Vic asks.
Speaker 3: The eggs, yes, Victor, the eggs are perfect.
Speaker 2: I will not know anything for sure for another like
Speaker 2: two weeks. But like the big.
Speaker 3: Things that could have happened over that week that I
Speaker 3: was gone did not happen, like that stuff would be
Speaker 3: very obvious. But there's still like two weeks where you
Speaker 3: still see if they're really for me.
Speaker 1: But but the power never went out. The rat didn't chew.
Speaker 3: The cord, and that was like a real thought of mine,
Speaker 3: Like I was like, dude, he's gonna get out there
Speaker 3: and you start biting the wires. I had him put
Speaker 3: my freaking controller charge up from my PlayStation, which was like, dude,
Speaker 3: I don't need any wires.
Speaker 2: On the ground.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well there's that. All right. Everything else
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to on Thursday. I gotta go to work.
Speaker 1: That was that story over delivered listener questions. Let me
Speaker 1: let me get to these real quick. Producers want you
Speaker 1: to weigh in on the Joey chest Numb versus Usain
Speaker 1: Bolt debate, who could eat a hot dog and run
Speaker 1: one hundred meters faster? Must swallow hot dog before starting
Speaker 1: to run? I oddly think so you understand the idea.
Speaker 1: What the question here is, Demansey, The question is this
Speaker 1: is the contest. The contest is you must eat a
Speaker 1: hot dog and then run one hundred meters.
Speaker 3: Because Joey Chestnut was just doing. But then you saying
Speaker 3: Bolt would like eat it like an axtual hot dog.
Speaker 2: I think the.
Speaker 1: Answer either way, Yeah, I understand. I think the answer
Speaker 1: oddly is I think Chessnut's a big favorite in that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you know a half what can a regular human
Speaker 1: being run the one hundred in fifteen seconds, like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean?
Speaker 3: So like the it's gonna take you, saying bolt like
Speaker 3: for seconds to eat that hot dog at least for.
Speaker 1: If not more, if you have to swallow the whole thing.
Speaker 1: If not, right, do we have an update on your
Speaker 1: ball boy? Try up for the US Open this year?
Speaker 1: Not trying out this year? I'll be traveling sadly. What
Speaker 1: are your book recommendations?
Speaker 2: Listen, it's gonna sound funny, but yeah, this is.
Speaker 1: Gonna sound funny. But I so as part of my
Speaker 1: you know, eternal quest to always be a better parent
Speaker 1: for the next kid than I was to the previous kid,
Speaker 1: I am fully, I am. I decided to do my daughter,
Speaker 1: my youngest daughter's summer reading with her this year, and
Speaker 1: so her summer reading book was The Hunger Games, which
Speaker 1: I've never seen the movie, never had no familiarity with.
Speaker 1: So I brought the Hunger Games book with me, and
Speaker 1: then we bought the trilogy. There's three of them for
Speaker 1: each of us in case we liked them, and she
Speaker 1: and I were supposed to read, like, you know, alongside
Speaker 1: each other so we could discuss it or whatever. And
Speaker 1: I brought with me the second Hunger Games Book because
Speaker 1: I was like, ah, these you know, it's kid's book.
Speaker 1: Still long, it's like four hundred pages. But if I
Speaker 1: finish it and I like it, maybe I'll want to
Speaker 1: read the other one. I finished the first Hunger Games
Speaker 1: book a day into vacation, finished the second one early
Speaker 1: enough into vacation that I had time to go on
Speaker 1: Amazon order the third one to the hotel we were
Speaker 1: staying at. That I got upon arrival at the Hope,
Speaker 1: because we've stayed in multiple places upon check in was
Speaker 1: waiting for me and read that one too. And I
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, great thousand pages those three books. Thoroughly
Speaker 1: enjoyed it, excited to watch the movies. Now I thoroughly
Speaker 1: enjoyed it now Again. The idea was to be able
Speaker 1: to discuss them with Deanna. But Deanna's forty pages in
Speaker 1: and so there's the like she really needs to catch
Speaker 1: up and then read a bunch more. But but so
Speaker 1: there's you know, there's my answer, all right, like rate
Speaker 1: subscribe review, Great job, Blue Duck Volume, DraftKings Boost, great
Speaker 1: job to Mind, not a great job by that rat.
Speaker 1: Talk to you guys on Thursdays. See you guys, Early
Speaker 1: show Today on first things. First, two o'clock, what's right