Episode #40: Arch Manning’s Big Test: Texas vs. Ohio State Recap & Alabama’s Dynasty in Question

Um, hey everybody. This is Isaiah speaking. There was an audio quality issue with my mic. I was using the wrong mic when recording throughout the whole podcast, unfortunately. It will not happen again in the next one, but sorry about that and enjoy the episode.

[Music]

Welcome back everyone to episode 40 of the Sports Shot Squad. We made it to 40. Hopefully we’ll make it to 41, but we’re not virgins like that movie. No, not 40-Year-Old Virgin. Almost got there. I have proof also. I have bonafide proof that I’m not – I have a son. So, you know, Kyle, we’ve got to take first word. And Isaiah, you know that word.

I do. I do. And did we miss a week? Probably did knowing us.

No, we did not. We just pushed it. We just pushed it a day.

That’s true. That’s true. Since then, Kyle, how have you been?

Funny you should ask. Man, shit’s going on with me. Everything is the same. Everything is picking up slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly getting back on track. But same here. You want to know what me and my wife – you know what me and my wife’s favorite pastime is besides watching sports?

I have no idea.

Looking at houses that we can’t afford.

Oh, dude, I do that shit myself.

And in this neighborhood around here. Yeah, man. Some of these houses I see, it’s like it’s a fantasy. It’s not even a reality for me anymore. It’s literally a fucking fantasy. And these houses don’t even look like they cost like even a half a mill. Some – I mean I’ve seen some big ones out here that maybe they probably up the price tag to like that territory. But like I just drive around these neighborhoods and look how clean and everyone just – man the real mark of pride in this country is your lawn.

Oh yeah, dude. Oh yeah. These people take their lawn so serious. I’m like it’s better than what I see on baseball fields. Me, one man gardening crew at those houses. But I got to be careful when I ride through these neighborhoods and I’m riding slow because then they might – I’ll look suspicious.

Oh, I would definitely feel the same way they do. No, I’m just kidding. I know you have – I know you have a little bit of racist in you. No, I know you keep it deep down inside. You just suppress it just because you just tolerate me, I guess.

Never. But we’re like we’re kind of like Robert Freeman to Uncle Ruckus.

Yeah, exactly. You know, we’re family, you know. We’ve already been through so much, you know. It’s forever now.

Yeah. What are you drinking? What’s in the cup? I heard a nice little pop sound before I hit record.

All right. Don’t ever make that sound again.

And I’ll do it again in 10 seconds. Don’t tell me what to do.

Yeah, you’ll fit in good in the pen. I’ll tell you that. That’s a – I hear that’s a mating call. Have you seen the reel where the guy farts? He’s like “that sounds like my size.” Yeah. Talking about stop flirting with me.

I just pulled up some Don Julio, some tequila. That’s what I was drinking. I’m drinking the beer version. Going from beer, you know. I think I’m getting to an age where I can’t drink beer as much anymore. I’ve kind of already dumped that to the side. I don’t need to waste money on it anymore. I think we have to stick to like liquor there.

Oh, smart man. Besides, even having this shit is a luxury.

It is. You see the size of this shit? These things going up.

Yeah. Yeah, they have. Trust me, I have. You know, the last one I had of those is the one that you bought. That was last year.

Come on, man. Stop lying.

Well, because I’ve had Patrón, but like Don Julio, like I haven’t bought Don Julio for a long time.

Wow, that’s shocking. I gave you that bottle. That was when I went down there to get my shit. Did you give me this too? Like as a present, right, or no? Hold on. Let me go to my screen because I don’t know why. No, I did not give you that.

Okay. I don’t know who gave you this then.

Oh, you know what? I should have said yeah. Yeah, I did give you that. I did give that.

No. Yeah. I mean, same with me. I’m going to take another crack at making my yard beautiful again regarding like the grass species, grass type, because we were in a drought for a while and then after the drought we got that 18 inches of rain and it flooded my yard and it basically just killed everything. So now I just got many weeds, but I’m going to take another crack at it this fall when it’s not as hot.

And that’s really all – it’s already fall up here.

Oh, dude. It’s – I think from what you’re telling me temperature-wise it’s going to be winter in two weeks.

I’m fine with that. That’ll be my birthday. That’d be exactly where my birthday is. I am totally fine with it. No sweating. I remember having hurricanes on my birthday. Now I’m going to have like cool fall temps. It’s good.

This – I mean that’s all Minnesota really gets, right? Is just like regarding weather disasters is maybe just snow like blizzards, right? I don’t know.

They get tornadoes. There’s a tornado siren right outside my apartment.

Each state has something. You know, this is the north end of tornado alley.

Oh. Here goes that. Here goes the real pop. Here goes.

Oh, beautiful. What a sound. You know that I think that sound has been being made forever since Jesus was walking the earth, you know.

Yeah. Yeah, it was in the form of wine and then man got greedy because man wanted to get drunker and then prohibition didn’t help and there you go.

Yep. There it is. What’s – I was talking with George yesterday and he was like “isn’t beer still right?” because it was Sunday yesterday. I was like yeah, Cameron County after 10 a.m. you can buy beer, not liquor, but beer. 12.

Well, it’s TABC discount. I didn’t know it varied. I just remember it varies by county.

Well then if that’s the case then it’s 12 in Harris because I can’t tell you how often I’d be in line at HEB at 11:30 something and some dude is pissed because he can’t scan his beer, holding up the line. It’s like, why didn’t you stock up on Saturday during college football? But I knew you were watching the Longhorns. You about to go home and watch the Cowboys because you got that damn Romo jersey on. So it’s like you knew you was going to be drinking. Why didn’t you stock up?

And speaking about Longhorns, I am very disappointed.

Perfect segue. Why are you disappointed? It’s game one. They’re only going to fall no lower than three. They’re just going to really – they’re just going to flip sides with Georgia.

Me being hard on them, I think they’ll be five or four maybe. Now their margin of error is a little bit thinner. They lose one or two more games, they lose to Georgia, they’ll still get in.

Yeah. They lose to the only big team they don’t play this year is Alabama, but I mean we’ll talk about Alabama.

Yeah. Yeah. Which – but I may we’ll go ahead and move them out of that category, but keep going.

Yeah, I’m disappointed in Arch Manning. Now, I wasn’t expecting him to be Heisman caliber, but I expected him to be a decent quarterback, and that’s not what we got in week one.

In week one. Yes. That’s why I’m not panicking. But it sucks that you couldn’t beat the reigning champions. Reigning champions that only put up 14 points, but you lost. And here’s something else that I want to say to kind of tone down all the UT people that’s sounding alarms or the people that want to sound alarms on them. How old is Arch?

18, 19.

I think he’s 19 or 20. Yeah. Starting his first full season, on the road at Ohio State in front of 108,000 people, going up against Ryan Day’s defense – a three-time Super Bowl champ, former head coach, now defensive coordinator at Ohio State. This dude went up against an NFL defense and Ryan Day has experience against Mannings and we’re crazy. So it’s like you know he was literally on the sideline with that play card was like “this is what I used to do to your uncles.” I mean, shit man. Like, let’s cut the kid some slack. It’s week one. He’ll be all right. And this is me saying this – this is a number one UT hater.

Yes. Y’all are right. Real. It’s like – I didn’t see – I tell you what I saw. I saw nervousness and I saw that the moment was too big, straight up, because the game was built up too much. There are a lot of missed throws that will be completed come week six and seven.

Just kidding.

Oh, for sure. I agree. That’s why my thing was it was just nerves. He just – that’s all this was. It was just – and that was nerves on both sides. That was more of a chess match that both teams was trying to – I actually fell asleep on that game because it was moving slow. The thing that made me upset the most in the first half was that both teams were playing conservative. Very conservative. I felt like I was watching an NFL game of two really good defensive teams. That’s what this felt like. And then I was talking to my wife during the game because I was ranting. I was like, “Watch, now that they’re down 14-0, they’re going to let Arch loose. He’s just going to loosen up because now it’s like, okay, whatever.” And he goes down and scores a touchdown, you know? And then now they stop him again with like three minutes. Now the pressure is back on now because now Arch needs to go down and do it again now. But now it’s tied, right? And so there comes the pressure again. I’m just upset at, you know, like I think it was just the hype all around it that got me hyped up about it, too. You know, I’ll be honest. This was probably the most hyped game since Deion’s debut with Colorado at TCU.

Yeah. In the last five years. But they’ll be all right. They got some cupcakes coming up next week.

So, yeah, they got – who do they play next week?

San Jose State and then Sam Houston and then they know what they do.

Yeah, exactly. But then also Georgia, Missouri, A&M, whatever. Right. But yeah, but that’s all I’ll say about Texas. It was nerves for Arch. He has the ability to do it. It’s just that there was so much pressure on him. His – how do I say it? His decision making was just way off and that affected his physical game too. So but again they lost to the reigning champions by seven points. Defense was amazing as expected to be.

Oh yeah that’s all I was saying. We don’t have to talk about the other four in the top four because they all played pretty good teams. Alabama is not elite anymore.

No. And here’s why. I see the cracks. It’s the same cracks we saw with USC when they fell off after the Pete Carroll era because USC – there was a lot of ass whoopings that they took that happened in a short time span. And we’re seeing this with Alabama because this is continuing from last season because I’m going back to the Oklahoma debacle and now we had this one. That’s two ass whoopings for Alabama in less than 12 months. Like for them that ain’t good. So they’re not a powerhouse anymore. They’re definitely not. And it’s kind of unfair to – who is that? Kalen DeBoer, the head coach right now out there. It’s kind of unfair that he’s following the footsteps of Saban. Like you’re not replicating what he did, and then knowing those people they’re going to – and it couldn’t happen to a much better fan base.

You know, they have to be humble now.

Yeah, they do. And it’s, you know, I always say this. I always say this, especially about teams in the SEC and their fan bases. For all the shit that they talk about on the streets and in real life, they sure do love cheering for these black boys running up and down that field.

I’m going to throw in a quick thing. Did you see South Florida’s QB when they played Boise State last week?

Yeah, I was watching the game, but I wasn’t paying attention to him. What about him?

Well, I had the game on. That guy is a machine. He’s looking for people to truck. If you go look at some of his runs, he’s trucking safeties, linebackers, and corners.

Okay, let me go back. Let’s do this live. Yeah, go ahead and just type. I’m already on the four-letter network right now online. So, I’m going back to the – here we go. Pretty sure they didn’t think they should have. I got it right here. He was – his runs. I can’t believe a quarterback is doing this. This man – I’m forced to watch an ad and it’s 20 seconds left. I don’t even know who this is. Whose ad is this? This is NAPA. Do you even shop there for auto parts?

I kind of default to O’Reilly. I go to AutoZone.

Oh yeah, either O’Reilly or AutoZone. Like I don’t – I feel like this is a waste of their money and their advertising, but we kind of gave them free ones, but just to say that they suck and we don’t even consider them when we need to get shit for our cars. But all right, let me skip ahead to their highlights because now they’re looking at Boise State.

Yeah. Now I’ve never seen a quarterback like this since –

Oh my god, he’s a unit, dude. He’s – oh my god. He could have just ran in for the touchdown. He didn’t have to barrel through the guy, dude. I’m telling you, this guy is – he looked to hit that guy. He could have just ran in and just tossed the ball, but he literally decided to drop that shoulder.

Listen. And he’s doing this every time he runs. Bro, this man’s got his knee pads up to his thighs and he’s just trucking. Hold on. I see another one right here. Let me see this dude.

Jesus Christ. He’s built like Cam.

That’s what I’m saying. He’s not as tall as Cam, but this guy is like – what’s his name? Number 17?

Yeah, he said – yeah, he’s small. They small. They too small. Jesus.

6’3″, 230. Man, they’re going – well, Memphis, you got yourself a problem in the American.

Yep. Listen, I was – cornerbacks, DBs beware. If he sees a single number on that jersey, he’s looking to put his head in your chest. And if he’s already about to score, just get out the way unless you want to get trucked in the end zone because he’s going to do it just because. He’ll power drive you with him in there. This is what I saw when they played Boise State.

They did. They did. So they really did.

Well, yeah. But I just want to point that out because when I was watching that Thursday or Friday, I was like, there’s no way this is a QB.

Yeah. No, no, he’s a unit. He’s definitely going to be – I’m going to be watching him for sure.

Going back to Alabama, I have always known Alabama watching them growing up for their defense, for their mental toughness, for their discipline. That is all gone right now after Nick Saban left. Also NIL came in right, so that also, you know, is another factor that’s going to go into this. It’s more money than mindset right, more money than culture. And quick note on the NIL – you’re not going to see dynasties anymore in college football because dynasties happen because you built the program. Alabama won multiple – they won multiple and made multiple appearances in title games. Florida did the same thing with that wild bunch. Miami, Oklahoma, Ohio State, you know, this is just in our lifetime. Like, and then right around the time when I was born, it was Notre Dame and Nebraska running shit. Like, you can’t – how you going to do that in this day and age of NIL when players are – as soon as one at the end of the season realizes he’s not going to start or get playing time, then he’s out. So now you got to bring in someone else. You got to reteach. You just got to – how do you even coach? You’re not teaching a program. You’re not teaching character. You’re not teaching, you know, you’re not building anything. You just – it’s just pretty much just straight to work and just, you know, find schemes that’s going to help you win each game. There’s no more building. So, I mean, but then it’s just like working for a firm like me and you, you know?

I guess if you peel it back even further, do you even need to develop in college anymore like the way we used to see it? Because football seems like it’s been year-round for this generation since they was in pee-wee because they just been playing. You know, you go from pee-wee to all them little leagues into middle school and high school and college, 7-on-7, and in the offseason like you’re always playing. So, I guess I kind of answer my own question on why they’re not building anymore. Just go for the fucking money and the result of that, you’re not going to see dynasties anymore. It’s just whatever team is going to be loaded up, whichever team has the most NIL, whichever team has the most transfers coming in, the top transfers, that’s going to be the one that you lean towards. And it could change every year.

Yeah, you’re right. And look, remember the Tennessee quarterback from last year, Nico? Whole thing with the NIL money?

Oh, yeah. Didn’t we crush him on here?

Yeah. And did you see what his first game was against Utah? They lost.

I did not tell you – they lost 24-10.

Talking all that shit.

And Tennessee won by – I love seeing people get humble when they talk shit.

Yeah. And then now there’s music about like hey that – thanks for the advice about telling me to hold out with Tennessee and now I’m over here all for what, a million dollars more.

Speaking of being humble, did you see what happened with Tulane this weekend? So you know this was the 20th year of Katrina. So, they wanted to wear the white uniforms coming out for the game and Northwestern didn’t let them because they declined. I’ll use that term. You know, that’s a little bit more respectable. But, you know, in ghetto talk, I’ll probably just say they said fuck no to that. And they proceeded to get their ass kicked in the game and the head coach for Tulane was saying, you know, basically don’t disrespect New Orleans.

Yeah. Shutout three points because you know that’s what Tulane and the Saints did their first home game after Katrina. They wore the whites.

Okay. So they wanted to do it again and they said Northwestern were being bitches. So just throw that out there. Another someone else getting humbled.

Did anyone else get humbled in week one?

Well I want to talk about my local new division school.

Yes. Yes. I was going to say thank you. Go ahead. I’ll let you have the floor.

So the valley, the 956, right? We’ll just call it that area or your area code. We got – we have two of our only colleges combined into one college and now we have football right, FCS right? This is our first time ever having a football team, very first game season opener right? We got people who played at my local alma mater now in this right – this is huge for this area. We went – we played against Sul Ross, we beat them 66 to zero to open up.

This team looks legit. We got people from UTSA. We got people from Utah State, division one schools. We got a lot of D1s that transferred that weren’t starting that are now starting. That’s basically what these small schools get, right? You get the recruits that aren’t going to start and you try being here, but then they’re going to leave, you know, when the biggest –

Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah, that’s exactly – I mean, this team is in a league with like Incarnate Word, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin. So, I want to see how they do against Stephen F. Austin. So, then I could talk crap to Kyle like, “Hey, my FCS school put up more points than Houston did.”

A win is a win. I don’t care. I’m more concerned – I’m more concerned with, first of all, if they can play good defense, then I’ll take that against Stephen F. Austin. But a win is a win. They’re one and oh. All we need is five more wins to bowl eligibility. That was my goal. I said, “Give me six and six. We just need five more.”

Hey, you’re on the right track. Who do y’all play next? Do you know?

I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.

I don’t know. I’m being honest.

Well, no. I know you don’t know, but I hope my facial expression of annoyance can tell you the answer.

Is it Texas Tech?

No.

Arizona?

No. Too big. Go small. Small.

Was it Rice?

Bingo. Revenge game. It better be. They are going to show who runs Houston. It fucking better be.

Yeah. So, they got the Bayou – I don’t even know if they call it the Bayou Bowl anymore still. But who the fuck cares? Rice has – Rice has never been – I can’t say Rice has never been good, but I mean they had a few blips on the radar, but fucking man, they beat the shit out of us last year.

Yeah, that was just, you know, unfortunate. But you guys got some new people in. You got a new QB. You got a new tight end. That’s huge. Got a big old tight end. I think he came from a different school, but he had like eight touchdowns previously as a transfer.

Yeah. Well, I’m just looking ahead to that Friday the 13th right before my birthday when we host Colorado. That’ll be the big test.

Did Colorado lose, right?

Yeah. Yep. They lost. They lost. They – I wish they would have had the retired QB’s number still on there, you know. He was a great – this is all sarcasm obviously.

Yeah. Yeah. It’s very sarcasm. And you know about that. Can we silence that little crowd on the internet that was looking for like the ones that were talking about, oh, where was the criticism on Arch like there was for Shedeur? Like this is kind of – this is apples and oranges. What the fuck?

Oh my god. They want to compare the Big 12 to the SEC. You want to compare – you want to compare a sophomore quarterback to a fifth-year senior who y’all argue was probably should have been a first-round pick but in reality was third-round at best.

Mel Kiper is crazy for that.

So he was crying after he got drafted. Thank you Reese Davis.

Yes. No. Yeah. That’s – I mean but you know it’s not the first time Mel Kiper made an ass of himself so we’re kind of used to that.

True. But I mean besides that, no one else really got humbled, right? Everyone besides Alabama won they were supposed to win.

I mean, was Alabama supposed to win that game? Well, Georgia State won two games last year.

Yeah. Last year. Like I know. Yeah, that’s true. That’s not wrong. But it’s like people were also laughing at what the coaches and quarterback were talking crap about. You know that they said Nick Saban’s not there to save you. Well, that is true. They showed up. They were laughing about that on Good Morning Football. Good Morning Football. College GameDay Kickoff. Like they were laughing at that. Even Nick Saban chuckled and they came out and showed it. They hit him in the mouth.

I mean, hey, you know what? You got to go with the identity of who’s there right now. And if anything of what we’re seeing from Alabama in the past year plus now, and if we’re going by their timeline and their calendar because losing is not an option, you know, rebuilding is not an option. So, we’re going through this sample size that we have. Oh, they soft. They softer than Charmin.

Exactly. So, but yeah, that’s it. There’s – I mean there’s also – next week for college is no must-see games. Michigan versus Oklahoma. There’s that one. I mean, if you care about corn, Iowa, Iowa State is going at it. Battle of the Cy-Hawk.

I’m trying to look through. There’s – I mean game of the week for next week will have to be Houston Rice. Like, you know, it’s –

Oh, for sure. this. I have that circled on my calendar. It’s right there.

Yeah, I’m not really seeing anything worth noting.

Yeah, we’ll just go with that. I mean, Michigan, Oklahoma, that’s probably it.

Yeah. So, our biggest game of the week is that one.

Yeah, your internet broke up, so I didn’t even catch what you said there. So, we’ll just have to edit this out.

All right. Moving on to week one. What you got? How you feeling going into the season? You have any predictions? Anything you want to sell? Any crazy takes?

Yeah, I’m going to – this is going to be rapid fire. I’m going to name all my division winners for NFC and AFC. Right. It started with the AFC East.

Yes.

Bills. Moving on. AFC North, the Bengals.

Whoa. Upset. They beat out the Ravens.

AFC West. Jim Harbaugh changes the Chargers. The Chargers take the West.

Whoa. He’s – something’s loose in his skull.

AFC South, Texans. You know, there’s not really much competition out there. People are still trying to find quarterbacks. AFC South – we went NFC East. Eagles, pretty much bigger than almost the same team back last year. Let’s go NFC South. The Bucs – Mike Evans has even more weapons now. NFC North – I mean the Lions could do it again, but can they finish? I don’t know. And then NFC West, I mean the Seahawks or Sam Darnold, I don’t know. The Cardinals can’t seem to do it. I don’t know what time the Cardinals won – when they won the division. I don’t even know. But that’s my quick rapid fire. And then I have the Ravens lose in Super Bowl to the Rams.

No, no, I don’t. I don’t. Well, that’ll be good for the Texans in week one then.

Yeah. Stafford’s coming off injury. Puka is now the number one target. Well, besides Cooper Kupp, right? But, you know, shout out to – but yeah, that’s who – that’s my bold takes for all the division leaders. I think – now I don’t know. I’m trying to – I think Bo Nix is a top 10 QB this year.

But regarding stats, I’m talking yards and touchdowns.

So, he was still in fantasy then. Did I draft him? Did I draft him or did my wife draft – one of us drafted him.

I’m not too sure. Do you have any bold predictions for yourself?

Texans make it to the AFC Championship. I didn’t say they were going to make it to the Super Bowl, but I’ll say they’ll at least make it. It’ll happen. So, you say they make it to the AFC Championship. So, yes, they’ll – luck falls on their side. Somehow someway they find a way to make it there. Now, whatever happens happens once they get there. But for the first time since 1979, the city of Houston will see the AFC title game.

Wow. That’s my bold prediction for this year. And I hope – please I really hope it happens.

I mean, mine’s not really bold, but I think the Patriots make it to the divisional. I think they’ll get a wild card spot because I think the Bills win the division.

And let’s bring down those expectations a little bit. I know there’s a little excitement. I know that. Okay. Yeah, it is. Mine is more realistic though.

It is. It is. Yeah.

How you feel about fantasy? What were we about to say? I mean, do you want to talk about Thursday night game Cowboys Eagles? Because that’s the next game before we talk about – I mean all the games will be played before we talk again.

Eagles come out and whoop their ass because the Cowboys don’t know who they are. Jerry is running the team into the ground.

And how you feel about your fantasy?

There you go. Good quick summary. I’m feeling good. I’m only in two this year. I used to be in three, one for money, but now I’m just in two. But I really like my team. I mean, I love my team. I got Tyreek Hill in the sixth round, so I’m pretty thrilled about that because no one wanted to pick him up because we know his ass is distracted and he was my first-round pick last year. In three of my leagues, I picked him first round in all my leagues. So, knowing that I went from first round to sixth round, that hurts if you think about last season.

But then if I was thinking about last year – oh yeah, it does. It really does. Tell you all the baby mamas, you know. Tells you how much. But I went – I went CeeDee Lamb as my first pick. So I’m pretty happy about that. Then I went Puka. I know I just talked crap about the Rams, but I went Puka, you know, I still think he’s a target. For my quarterback, I got Lamar Jackson, which I’m thrilled about. And then for my backup quarterback, I got Justin Herbert as the last pick. So, he might do good. I’m worried about Harbaugh because Harbaugh’s more of a run-first type of mentality when he was with the 49ers, with Michigan. But we’ll see. And I always like to at least draft one Patriot on my team because I’m biased and I got the – Rhamondre Stevenson, the rookie running back. He’s jumped up so high in fantasy boards. It’s crazy. People weren’t even talking about drafting him back in the summer. Now, you know what? I had to draft him in the seventh round. I had to draft him right behind almost Tyreek Hill. That’s where he’s being talked about now. So, and then my wife was right here drafting next to me, too. And I’m pretty excited about her team. She went Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry. She went workhorse for running backs. So, but bad thing is I play her in week one.

Yeah, I’m looking at that right now. And in our league, we’re going to be playing for a belt. So, just so everyone knows that’s going to – I’m going to have that coming towards the end of the season. I should have – who you think should do it, the loser of the championship or the last place pays for shipping to the winner. That should be the punishment.

I think second place should pay it to the winner.

Yeah, because last place would be like, “Oh, what the hell? I’m not even involved in this. I don’t even have a chance.” I know. I get that’s a punishment, right? That’s what a punishment is. But it’s like it’s like a gentleman’s agreement in the championship, you know?

All right. We’re making – we’re selling it live right here, folks, in my league. So, if you make it to the championship, you lose, you got to pay – you got to pay for the shipping. Just Venmo me the cash. I’ll go to UPS and I’ll ship it to the winner.

I really hope I win.

So, add a little bit of extra spice into this. How do you feel about your team going in?

I just want to say I got an A+ on my draft grade, but I want to know how Yahoo projected me nine and five and that’s good enough to get into the playoffs. So, we’ll go from there. I’ll take that.

Yeah. And honestly, that’s all we need to do. I’ve been back-to-back scoring champion the past two leagues and I still don’t have a belt. I still haven’t won a championship.

Oh, you know. Maybe this year you get the belt.

Oh, dude. If I lead the league in scoring again and I fall short in third place, I’m just going to cry. Again like last year. No, but I’m glad I was able to pick up my boy Nico with my first pick. So, I would have cried if someone swiped him. So, I need him to ball out this year. I need McCaffrey to stay healthy and I need Mahomes to improve from last season’s regression because I said, “Fuck it. Let me just go ahead and pick him up.” I do like the Mahomes and Rice stack. However, you can’t use that stack for six weeks. But later on in the season when it becomes more important, you know, I get it. But I still have my pickiness on how – I won’t say early, but the round that she got him, you know, because I didn’t know there’s some people in our league that I know kind of thinks like me, and I could tell by the way they draft. So I said, “Fuck it. Let me get them right now because I can come down to maybe two people. I won’t name names. I’ll tell you off air, but I already know who was probably thinking like me. And I said, “Nah, let me.” Matter of fact, I can tell you in the chat. How do I –

Yeah, you just – I’ll tell you the chat. Control shift six also.

Also, I think your cousin is the one who controls, right?

Mhm. I was going to draft Drake Maye as my backup QB that round and she took him like a few picks before me. I was wondering if he was able to – I was wondering if he was able to get him. And did you see who I sent you? So I said who was probably going to be thinking like me and that’s why I had to go. Wait, hold on. No, no, I don’t see it. Look in the – I made a new chat. I put a name. It said unidentified. Just click into the chat.

I can’t see it. Message.

You can’t see it. I don’t think so. No.

Yeah. No, I don’t see it. Let me try.

Can you see that one that I just put or no?

Yeah, I see that one. Okay, I see that. Yeah, try.

Oh yeah. Now I – I was going to pick him if he fell back to me. Yeah. So like if he reached back to my second round pick. Yeah. Also CeeDee Lamb and then him.

Oh wait no, you’re over here talking about Rice.

Yeah. I was – I was pick two, two last picks. Yeah, I would have picked, but I may have some trade chips with my other players after week six if needed. My favorite trade targets is whoever my QB throws to. Those are always my favorite. That’s why I had Burrow and Chase last year.

Oh, what a stack. What a stack. I’m glad that shit ain’t happening because I really wanted to institute a rule of no combos. So, you know what’s up with your family being homers? You know, your – hey, that’s your family. That’s your dad did a lot better in this draft than he has in the past.

Yeah. Yeah. Because he – well, he finally gave up on Daniel Jones, so –

Well, he probably because he’s not a Giant anymore.

That too. But knowing that, you know, he got Burrow and then in the sixth round he started to go Giants running back.

Okay. Yeah. He still got to learn how to draft because you see his bench. He ain’t even – he didn’t even get a damn kicker or defense.

No. No. Don’t need them.

Oh, I’m going to make a little rant. I am done after this season drafting on NFL Fantasy app. I am moving my family league to either Yahoo or ESPN. The website and the app crashed during the draft, the live online draft. Now, fortunately, it was the last two rounds. Right now, I didn’t get a pick. It just auto-drafted the last two rounds, but I was reading online doing my research that it crashed in the middle of the first round for some people. And they either had to redraft, which you know as a commissioner is a pain in the ass because you try to find a time that’s available for 10 to 12 other people or nine to 11 other people and that’s just a headache. But after the season, I’m moving my league to a different provider, different server. Yahoo. I mean, they be full of shit with their rankings, but –

Oh, they are. They are. That’s why their projections are misleading some weeks, you know. I used to watch their little videos that they put on players and the predictions. I stopped listening to that after the first year I played on Yahoo.

Don’t – the only thing I look at on the players is – I just read the comments of everyone either talking shit or – well now I already see “Trump 2028.” So seems like the comments are going to be pretty funny this season. My goal for this year in Yahoo Sports is to be a diamond rank in fantasy football.

What is your rank?

Right now I’m platinum. I have 846. Yeah, I think we’re both platinum. I think I need to get to 900 to be diamond and diamond is 99th percentile. So, but right now I’m platinum which is still pretty high – 95th to 98th percentile. So, and I have – I only won one championship in the years I’ve been playing in this Yahoo app. I’ve played maybe competitively between two leagues like eight seasons and I’m still able to get to platinum. But yeah, that’s my goal for the season.

Well, hopefully the players in the league heard your wish and hopefully they give a damn. They probably don’t. And if you get there, you get there. If you don’t, too fucking bad.

True. That’s all it probably was. What’s – for that?

All right, Isaiah. September is finally here. Let’s go play baseball, baby.

So, let’s see. We’re in September and as we stand right now, we have – thank God they won today. So, the Astros have a 2.5 game lead, Detroit in first, Toronto in first. Do they finish September in those positions?

So, were you talking about the AL?

Yeah, in the AL. I don’t know about the West, but the East and Central. Yes.

You have nerve. You’re nervous about the Astros, huh?

Oh, yeah, for sure. I feel like we’ve lost our footing recently. We did get some reinforcements back or a reinforcement. But regarding our pitching, mainly our offense, I’m just not confident. This team is a World Series caliber team. And when you go to playoffs, the goal is World Series. It’s not, you know, to make it to the ALDS. Like, “oh yeah, we’re a good team.” You know, that’s never the ultimate goal. So, that’s my – are you calm or what? Are you not nervous at all?

Oh, no. I’ve detached emotionally already. I already know the demise is coming. I just hope that it’s not embarrassing. Whether now whether or not it happens in the playoffs or in the regular season, I still think it’ll happen in the playoffs, they may get to the divisional round, but that’s it. And our kryptonite is Adolis Garcia. If we have to play someone like that, it’s over. Never fails. And then speaking of Adolis, his team is hot right now. And I thought they were dead.

Oh, they’re chugging on their last coals they got in their engine. They’re trying to climb now. But in reality, it’s either win the division or not in playoffs, right? So that’s really their two outcomes.

Well, I think the division leaders stay the way they are through the end of September. Again, I don’t see the Astros making a run for the division around like this team. This team is – they get shut out too much. There’s no slug whatsoever. It is very depressing. It is very, very, very depressing. Sad even with the reinforcements. And Ronel Blanco looked good today. Cristian Javier looks – I hope we get that Javier moving forward, but Jesus Christ, man. We can’t hit. We cannot consistently hit. So, they’ll fall, which is fine. I just hope it’s just not to Seattle. They may see them in the wild card, which is fine. But, on the NL side, you got the Phillies, Brewers, and Dodgers sitting in first right now. Do they end the month in those same positions?

The Phillies and Brewers. Yeah, I think they’re too far ahead. Dodgers are up two to the Padres. But yeah, I don’t think they’ll be able to compete. And of course, the only team eliminated from playoffs is Colorado. I mean, that’s probably been like that for a while. Honestly, we’re just not sure that a minus 359 run differential.

That shit – that might be a record in itself.

Next lowest one is minus 178.

That – I was caught up in looking at something just to – just cut all this out. Yeah, of course. Of course.

All right. So, let’s see. What about MVPs? Cy Young, rookie of the year, all that shit? Who you got?

MVPs, Betts, the big thumper. For the AL, 50 home runs as a catcher. Over 100 RBIs, right? If you can have 50 home runs, you have over 100. That’s never been done by a catcher. So obviously him. And Shohei – the only one that could probably compete with him is Shohei. But you know now that Shohei is pitching again, you know, I give it to Shohei. Give it to Shohei. That four-homer game sealed it. Give it to Shohei.

Shohei already has a few. It does, but in order, like I always say this about UFC, if you want to beat the champion in a fight, you have to beat him. You can’t let it go to a judges’ decision. If you let it go to a judges’ decision, the champion always wins. You can’t draw him. You have to beat him, you know. And I feel like that’s this scenario, too, you know. But you know, Shohei does have – I think more home runs than him, I think. Right.

That’s fucking – let me see. Salvador Perez has 45. Shohei has 49. Yeah, man. We’re seeing like some Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire type shit happening.

Oh yeah, we are. We are. This is, you know, this era’s type right here.

Moving on to the Cy Young. I mean, it’s for AL. I wish it would have been Hunter Brown. I wish he would have finished it out. But it’s going to be Tarik Skubal again – that’s, you know, that’s obvious – because of what he’s doing, especially to good teams too, what he’s – how he’s been pitching. And now I think Tarik Skubal’s team is by far – even though they suck as a team – but I don’t know any other AL pitcher that’s even kind of close to him right now.

Is he a Dodger or a Yankee?

Some man did some shit – just sneak in just lurking in the shadows and then at the last minute just dropping the insane deal in front of him and then lo and behold he’s a Met. They’ll do some shit like that. That’s what a Dodger should get – $2 million a year after he retires after the contract’s over. But yeah, so that’s my Cy Young’s AL rookie of the year. It’s the big rookie, the man that hit four home runs on us this year. You know that – a rookie doing that by far. That’s, you know, you do that one game, don’t do anything the rest. I think you’re still – you almost had five. I don’t want to talk about it.

NL. I don’t know. NL. I don’t know any rookies in the NL that are like – Jesus.

You’re not doing your job. I know. I’m terrible.

You’re not doing your unpaid job. I’m just too excited about football. Jesus Christ, man. Can’t even – so unreliable.

I mean, but do you agree with the majority of my picks?

Yeah, except NL MVP. It’s – yeah. So, yeah. I mean, there’s Skubal, Skubal’s on another level. Skubal’s, same thing. Those two right there is – they’re ridiculous.

Oh, man. I just hope the Astros don’t run into the Tigers in the playoffs. They do. If they do, it’s over. If they do, it’ll probably be in the ALCS.

You know. Well, then I’ll take that. Made it that far.

Yeah. Yeah. Add another banner. ALCS Banner. Add another one. Hey, I mean, we have two in the past eight years, you know. It’s, you know, I’m happy with that. I’m content. I’m not – I’m greedy. I’m greedy as fuck. I’ve seen all my favorite teams win multiple championships in my life. I haven’t. It’s just the Astros.

All right. So, that’s why it’s easy for your ass to be content. All right. I don’t –

That’s true. So, I don’t want to hear all this shit. And then –

Right. Right. I’m being selfish. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. And then not to mention I – not to mention that letdown that happened in March like so I need something.

Yeah. Yeah. You’ve been – yeah. It’s hard to – I know it’s hard for you to talk about anything Houston college-related. Nothing March happened. I remember even I was – ain’t nothing professionally happened or collegiately.

We’ll move on. Do we got anything else to talk about for –

Thank you. Thank you. See, that’s exactly why the internet stopped. That’s exactly why the internet stopped.

Oh, yeah. I just want to touch on something real quick. Have you noticed a trend – this is completely off topic, obviously – have you noticed a trend in apartments locking into whatever kind of contracts or deals with these internet service providers to where you only have one option to go with that ISP since college?

Yes. It seems like the only way now to have your own freedom of internet is if you have a house. So here we go back to having that fucking fantasy because it’s like back in the day, first of all, I just remembered – back in 2012 when I first put my name on an apartment lease, rent for a two bed, two bath south of Houston with my sister was $777.

That’s beautiful. It’s awesome. Let me repeat that. For a two bed, two bath in Webster, Texas, it was $777 for a 14-month lease. That sounds gorgeous. We’ve come a long way. Too far. Too long. Too long. And now to tack on with the ever-increasing rent, you don’t even have freedom of choice of internet. You got to go with whoever. And it’s just – we should sound the alarm on that because this – that goes against the idea of a free market economy and freedom of choice.

Yeah. When you are locking me into a monopoly. It’s just another thing that’s kind of happening that we’re just okay with because we don’t react to enough shit. And that’s me, maybe even you included. You know, we’ll complain about shit like this right now that I’m noticing, but is anything going to be done about it?

When I was living in apartments, the only other internet I could get was from my phone provider. I remember when you was stuck with that Grande.

Yeah. So when I was living in Corpus, my first apartment had two different internet providers. I paid for two different ones. One was for the one that the leasing agency had a contract with separate internet provider and then one I got from my phone provider because I work from home sometimes. So sometimes I’ll use separate internets, one for the TVs and then one for work and then one for gaming, right? Work and gaming was the better internet. The TVs was just that crap. And so but yeah, no, you’re locked in ever since I moved into college. I lived in an apartment first year of college and I already lived in a dorm and I was locked into a selective internet provider by the apartments and if that was a shitty internet provider, tough shit, you know. And so that’s pretty much it. So I don’t like it. I hate it. Again, like you said, it gives – it takes away the idea of a free market, takes away the competition. Companies can own a monopoly, right? They just – some executive figured out that idea and he received a lot of bonuses from that shit. They probably quit my CEO.

I couldn’t. You know what? Fuck it. What do you think about when you drive through these expensive ass neighborhoods and you see these houses that’s like built nestled in the woods and shit and it’s like so fucking big and these grand ass entrances? What’s like what’s your thought? Just stay with this off topic.

Like what do you do for work? Okay, get out of my head. We are too fucking alike because that’s the first thing I think of also. How many bank accounts do you own? What do you do for work? Where did you get this money from? Are you in the league? Like you – you not only got to pay – you not only pay for the house, you got to pay for the property taxes. You got to pay to power the house each month and then you got to put food in the house. You got to furnish the house. I’m sure there’s HOA. You got to pay for that shit. You got a car, you got to pay for that or that’s probably already paid. What do you do for work?

Yeah. There’s no way one person is living there. Yeah. Yeah. What was the down payment you put on this? And how did you get that down payment? Those are my thoughts. And every time I think about it, I’m like, “Oh, I will never own a house. I will never own a house. I’ve come to peace with that. I’ve come to peace with that reality.” In this market right now, there’s more sellers than buyers because the mortgage rates are so stupid.

So – that too, right? The buyers are broke as fuck. Exactly. The prices are through the roof. It doesn’t – it doesn’t make – what happened to the $70,000 houses, you know? Now they’re like $225,000. That’s like that’s a steal. What the fuck are you talking about?

Well, I’m telling you, the houses that are supposed to be $225,000 are now $425,000.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In most places. Yeah. Now, I live in a cheap area, right?

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Go – I dare you to go on Zillow and go on McLean, Virginia right now and then see some of the prices of those houses in those neighborhoods.

This is going to be some bonus talk. I know we’re over an hour. I want you to see this. McLean, McLean Virginia. VA.

Okay. Now the ones I’m looking for right – I’m looking for a four bedroom, four bath.

All right. Narrow it down to that.

All right. Now, okay. There’s a lot of Ms on here, Kyle. I don’t know why there’s so many. Hold on. What’s wrong? There’s some – for some reason there’s like $1.95M. I don’t understand the M part. Does that mean million?

You said you wanted a four bed, right? You – those are the starter homes.

Is that – hold on. Let me – how do I – can I – I swear that’s the only filters I put. They’re just Ms everywhere. There’s no – where’s the Ks? There’s no Ks. It’s just Ms. I have to have another filter on. There’s no way.

No, I remember driving through that area when I was still living out there and I’m like, “No way. There’s no way.”

Okay. There’s no way. I’m going to price low to high. There you go.

Oh lord. You’ll be – oh my gosh. The number two on the lowest is already a million.

Oh no, no. Yeah, man. That’s reality right now. And that’s just for the house.

Wait, this $900,000 was in California. Why does it take me there or CA? Yeah. Oh my, dude. This house does not look like $1.2 million. What is this? This looks something like my grandma would build. What is this?

Hey man, that’s real estate out there, man. Why you think I left?

Bro, this is like $250,000 in Texas. What the hell is this? Is the water cleaner or what? What the – bro, my house is almost as nice as this right now. It’s not even – I’ve never seen so many Ms in my life. I think I broke – I don’t think he’s ever seen this much money. What is this? These houses could buy like – just saying I door-dashed in those neighborhoods, bro.

Bro, in my life, I closed the tab.

So, I guess needless to say, you will not be moving to the DC area.

Never. Never. I didn’t see a single K. I mean, a single K.

All right. All right. Let’s do another one. Let’s do another one before we close it. Here’s – I’ll give you another one there, DC. Look up Alexandria.

Oh my gosh, it’s Alexandria.

That’s tight. It’s in Minnesota. No, Alexandria, Virginia.

Oh, okay. All right. Let me be modest. Let me be modest. You want to go two bed, two bed, one bath? Three beds, two beds.

Okay. Do you – so, you’re going to give up that extra study room and probably not have any more.

Okay. There’s some Ks. There’s some Ks here. Probably for 40% are Ms, but there’s some Ks. Let me go to price low to high.

Yeah. Oh, never mind. That’s a condo. That’s not a house. $265,000. Yeah. Let me hold on. Let me just go homes, please. I want to actually live in my own home.

Okay. $575,000. Okay. I closed the tab. That was a cheap shot.

What is – what is going on with the North?

It’s the coast, man. It’s just expensive to live on the coast. But Minnesota ain’t more expensive.

You may get lucky up here. I mean, this is like, okay, I get it. You guys won the Civil War.

Yeah, man. That has nothing to do with that. That’s – well, it kind of does.

Oh, no. See, I’m not going to – I’m not going to even have you look at the wine country in Virginia. Now, that’s – do you know what old money is?

Yes, I do. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it here. Okay. All right. You know what old money is.

Wow. Isaiah, you’re cultured. You’re cultured enough. Good. Good. Good.

Hey, I live in Texas. You ever heard of fracking?

[Laughter] We’re getting too biblical. I need the podcast.

All right. Yeah. Thank you everyone for listening. We will – if you stay off topic, you probably laugh more than the on topic, but we’ll see you on episode 41.

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