Transcript of Football’s New Evolution: Why Star Centers & TEs Rule the Modern Game

Coming up, we've got Jeff Schwartz on free agency and Bald Brian Bishop on the Oscars. But first, for all the obsessive professional evaluation of football players, measuring them every way possible, making the right draft pick is still just a coin flip. And that's because there remains no good measure for how a player is going to perform under pressure. But of course, coming through under pressure isn't about rising to some better version of your standard self. Instead, it's just about being able to perform exactly the same with the weight of the world on your shoulders and the clock against you. I agree life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it, but you just don't know what that reaction's going to be till you're in it. Well, let it be known to all, my pal, the reigning champ of our fantasy league, plus handicapped golfer, professional-grade funnyman, handsome enough to make all the ladies swoon, comfy in his own skin like no one else, the guy we call the Dutch Moog, Paul Kohorst, is good under pressure, and I don't just mean in how he's dealing with the return of his cancer.

For once, I'm not saying this just to be cute. There is a difference between just surviving and really living. Let me tell you something. Time's a motherfucking bully. It never lets anybody else win. So I guess all we can do is what Paul's done. Live. When I caught him just a few days ago, he said he was headed into surgery and asked for good luck. Said it wasn't a slam dunk he'd even make it through. We can agree that's a pressure-packed moment, right? Heavy shit. And here's the photo he sent along with it. Thumbs down, sticking his tongue out at cancer. I don't know, I just thought this was great. Defining even. Stiff upper lip. Fat. Not glib enough for the Dutch Mook. This was silly, unbothered, quintessentially who he is. I've always told my kids being cool in a movie does not translate to being cool in real life. Strong silent type might play on the big screen,. But here at the bar, you just seem like a dullard. And unfortunately for me, just being loud doesn't get it done either. The Mook, now he's real life cool and not with an on-off switch.

Funny and disarming and kind to everybody. Well, except for Randy, who he kicks out of the fantasy league anytime he wins. But still charming, warm. More though, he's always struck me as unburdened, unburdened by the kind of vain crap most of us worry about. But of course he is bothered. He wants more time, more time so he can show up to our fantasy draft he just won again so per league rules he can kick someone out of the league. He wants to see his Niners and Ducks finally get over the hump. He wants more time playing golf with his spectacular wife Molly and the fancy new clubs he bought with his fantasy league winnings. His fight is admirable, but it's too easy to turn over the entirety of his life to that that it'd give too much credit to time's cruel henchman called cancer. What's more striking to me, under the most pressure a person could possibly face, he stayed the same. He hasn't let this situation define him. He's defined how to handle it. He hasn't just survived, he's lived. So that's why I want to say to you, Mook, you did it. You've won.

And I got more good news. The Niners are winning Super Bowl 61, and the Ducks are winning the next national championship. So up yours, Time, Cancer, and those goddamn pristine golf clubs too. I'll follow my pal's lead and give you all a thumbs down, but you deserve much worse. Meantime, I may not be cool, but I know what cool looks like thanks to my pal. I don't know how I'll do when I'm under the same sort of pressure he is now, but I now know how a man deals with it. Here's to you, Paul Kohorst. As good a man as I'll ever know. Let's start the show. Yes, hi and hello, my fellow football Americans. Welcome to Football America. We're presented as ever by our pals over at DraftKings. We've got Jeff Schwartz coming up to talk some NFL free agency, our pal Bald Brian on the Oscars. In the meantime, reminder and thanks— subscribe on YouTube to Football America, wherever you find your audio podcasts. Spread the good word, won't you? Be a patriotic American. Real quick before we jump into all of that, it is episode number 55, and as ever, it's time for Gino Fuentes to tell who the greatest number 55 in sports history is.

Take it away, Geno Fuente.

We got a loaded number here, Dave. We got a bunch of linebackers. We got Junior Seau, Derrick Brooks, Matt Millen. We got Joey Porter, Lance Briggs, uh, Brandon Graham if you want to throw a pass rusher in there. We can go over to baseball if you want.

You're throwing Lance Briggs in? All right, all right.

If we go to baseball, Oral Hershiser, Cal Raleigh just hit 60 home runs at the catcher position. We got some— we got Dikembe Mutombo. White Chocolate is in here as well.

And yeah, I think we got some— I'm just doing the finger. That's it.

That's how you stop. You ever work in TV before?

This is— we got some more in hockey. We're approaching hockey numbers now.

Yeah, I was thinking about that the other day. I'm like, once we get to the 60s, we're still on offensive line. 70s, offensive line.

Not when I was growing up. I mean, Gretzky— Gretzky stood out with the 99. And then in the ballsiest move, not enough praise given to it, the next Gretzky was supposed to be Mario Lemieux, so he turned his number upside down. That's sort of like— I'll own it. I'll own this. Speaking of the Penguins, Larry Murphy, Hall of Famer, Sergei Gonchar, two of the great power play point guys that we've ever seen in the sport of hockey. Who gets the award though, Gino? Is it Orel Hershiser? I think Junior Seau maybe?

I'm gonna go Derek Brooks out of this list.

Just a preference. Although what Hershiser did with that earned run um, inning streak is really crazy. It's one of those ones that I think is— when people do most unbreakable records, I think people forget about that one. That's good. What is it, 30? I don't remember how many innings. I think it was up to 50 something. No, I don't think it got that big, did it? Anyway, all right, let's talk some pro football free agency with a guy who we haven't kibitzed with in a little while, our guy Jeff Schwartz. All right, let's dive into it with our pal from Jeff Schwartz is Smarter Than You and Fox Sports. It's Jeff Schwartz. How are you, fella? Long Long time no see. It's been 3 weeks since football season ended, and that's in the rearview mirror. So we're on to free agency. First question for you, Jeff Schwartz, is how did you eat during free agency when you were out there in the market?

Did you eat well? Okay, so I don't think I've told the story here, but I've certainly told it on my podcast. Um, the day of legal tampering for my big deal with the Giants was March 8th, 2014. That was the day the window opened up. I signed 2 days later. March 8th, 2014 is also the day of my wedding. So legal tampering opened up the same day as my wedding did. And so we were having an anniversary.

You're actually getting married?

I got married that day.

Yes.

So the morning of, of the wedding, we had an out-of-town brunch at my parents' house. So we had whitefish, smoked salmon, like the whole, the whole Jewish deal, right? Like bagels, lox, whitefish, like all the goodies. And my agent Derek Gilmore fielded calls at 9:00 AM Pacific. That's when the legal team opened up. At like 10:00 AM, we had a family meeting in the living room. Me, my brother, my dad, Derek, and my uncle. My wife was with her bridesmaids over at the hotel.

She couldn't attend because you can't see her.

Correct. And so, yeah, that's when we sort of figured out, let's go on the Giants that morning. So I ate good day, the day of my free agency. And then I flew to New York a couple of days later, ended up— we went to Smith Wollensky's.

It was good. Wow. So, so you did some whitefish schmear while you talked?

No, no, no. Actual whitefish. No, like the whitefish, like the actual, like, fish. You just crumble it up and put it on your bagel. So good. It's a— it's not an all the time thing. I'm a bagel and lox guy. But like big old whitefish for a changeup every now and then.

Delicious. Well, Handsome Hank Hodgson had a savvy observation years ago, and I remember him telling you about it. If you're going to be a free agent, make sure you go all over football America and eat on the dime of as many pro football teams that are courting you as possible and then make your decision. Right. It sounds like you didn't do that.

Well, in this situation, I did not. But the previous year I went to 3 different visits. Kansas City, we got, we got some Joe's. They gave me a rack of ribs for Joe's. That was nice. But I wasn't like good enough to go to the nice meals. I remember went to Minnesota, they like catered in lunch, you know, like, like, like with the Giants. I was like the 4-year deal. It was a big deal. Like I was like making money. So they took me to Smith Wollensky's, like me and J.D. Walton and who else was there on that visit. But it depends what level of free agent. With the Chiefs, I was a, I was a third wave free agent.

So I was getting the Oklahoma Joe's and bring it back to the hotel room. You don't get, you don't get the Michelin restaurants. You know, no. Well, you eat, this guy's gonna eat a lot. Let's take him to an all-you-can-eat.

I think that's our best bet. It's just, it's just level of like of free agent you are. Like the guys that signed this week, like right away, they're going to steakhouse and they show up, right? Second wave guys, they're like, they're probably getting like a lunch in like I had. Kansas City, it's like a third wave guy. I got a rack of ribs. I still have the picture, like in the, you know, it's in like the, in the parchment paper from Joe's. It was Oklahoma Joe's back then. Um, it was delicious. I just ate a rack of ribs by myself in the hotel room.

Well, send it over so your fellow football Americans can see what you're talking about. In the meantime, you mentioned Kansas City, and let's cut to the chase now, several days into this thing as we sit here. Is it still, for all the noise about what this team and that is doing in the AFC, and even though only Baltimore made— I mean, only the Bills made the playoffs a year ago— is it still KC, Baltimore, and Buffalo and everybody else in the AFC?

I'm a big fan of sort of, you know, until proven otherwise, Dave, right? Like, until proven otherwise, that feels like the group. Now, of course, New England fans will be upset they're not included in this, right? They just made a Super Bowl. But I think we all— I mean, their win total, I think, is 9.5. Like, people look at them and what happened last year and harder schedule. And again, I think the Super Bowl exposed, like, good core-ish, but they need better players overall, right, to get to where they want to be. You know, people want to throw the Chargers in there and the Broncos are sort of these teams that feel like they're getting close, but they're sort of not there yet, right? The Chiefs we know are there. But to be fair, really Baltimore and Buffalo haven't been to the Super Bowl, right? Like, are they included? Is Cincinnati included in this, right? We know when—

I don't know. I mean, at the time of this recording, what's Cincinnati done? I thought the crazy easiest one of all. I mean, everybody can sing songs about Mike Evans, makes all the sense in the world. I kind of like, even if it is an overpay, what Buffalo's doing, and at least they recognize the moment that they're in, in time. They gotta make something happen here. Um, but the Javon Hargrave is released. Why aren't the Bengals all over that? Like, you, you need to figure out defense. Why, why don't you hear anything about, uh, about that? That to me is that they've just completely Or is it just that Joe Burrow, in demanding that, you know, as much as he can from the player level, that he needs his pass catchers and he has them— did that just corrupt the ability to build a full roster? Potentially.

I don't know what their cap situation is with Hargrave. Um, you would think they just go after everyone, right? You think they just would do that? And maybe they just don't feel comfortable taking shots at everyone. It's not what the Bengals have always done. Yeah. Um, you know, let's just be average on defense with, with our offense. Absolutely. But you would argue that they have this window with Joe Burrow. They might as well attack it now, right? And get as many assets as you can to the party. And they're in the draft too at 10 where they're probably never— they're not assured to get any of those pass rushers, right? The top 3 guys are probably gone before 10. Now that you're going to get someone to improve their defense, but it's not going to be one of those pass rushers. So, I mean, you would think a lot of teams would try to go after these guys, but there's reasons why, right? Contractually, schematically. You know, maybe the personalities don't fit and maybe they're injured, you know, Crosby thing, right? Like our knee is worse than we think, which I think that's still a little bit of a farce.

I think we're getting to that.

We get to the list.

Yeah.

So there's many reasons why these teams don't go after that. But I'm with you. Sometimes I wonder like, wait, you need a pass rusher. Here's a pass rusher, you know, go get him.

I mean, anybody. I mean, chase anybody. If you're the Cincinnati Bengals, you're making yourself a non-factor. Or like I say, maybe Joe Burrow in his desire to keep the greatest offense or, or to keep himself comfy with a high-end offense really did cost his— cost himself a chance at, uh, at a Super Bowl run here. Anyway, what is— before we get to this jerk list, you know, it— the league keeps updating in what you need. What's the next chapter in pro football evolution? It was 25 years ago or more, run the ball and always and forever. Defense wins championships. And then somewhere around the turn of the millennium, QB became everything, and then running backs don't matter. But now they do matter again, and edge rush is essential, and so too is a great left tackle. And now interior defensive linemen who can create pressure is a must-have if you want to be a contender. Are any of those things no longer true, uh, truly essential, and, and/or What is the next evolution of must-have?

Well, I think we're currently in one of them, which is the wide receiver, right? Feels like everyone's, you know, these wide receivers are so valuable to these teams. It wasn't— I don't remember that being the case, Dave, 15 years ago. Like, you felt you had like these guys.

You're exactly right. Until Cooper, until Cooper Kupp and Tyreek Hill, no high-end number one Hall of Fame-bound wide receiver was essential for any Super Bowl contender this millennium.

It feels like wide receiver is that. But again, to be fair, like, you know, the Patriots and Chiefs, besides the first one with Hill, like, they haven't had the best wide receivers when they've won Super Bowls. But, um, I think it's maybe we're 3 years late to this take, but every great offense has, besides quarterback, has 2 things, okay? A center and a tight end. A center and a tight end. And even if you look back to like the best quarterbacks, they typically have had the same center most of their career. Like they had the one guy who just is there. We saw what the Raiders just did, right? They went and got Linderbaum to pair with Mendoza. Even the Bears, right? Dallman retires. We need a veteran. Bradbury. Boom. Done. Like it feels like that position is getting a little more love now. And then of course, with the evolution of the tight end, teams have already in that direction. But it does feel like you can't be a good offense unless you have a good tight end. It just can't happen. The mismatch is so important there for that position. So center and tight end feel like at least positionally the two positions that teams might be focusing a little bit more.

I think schematically it's just more of like that, you know, how do we defeat the 2-high through the offense, right? Because 2-high defense is now like the whole craze. And of course everyone's going to watch Seattle and try to be Seattle, right? We're going to try to be a defense that just interchangeable parts. We can, we move. And I thought it was a really, really fascinating clip. Kirk Cousins spoke after the Super Bowl about Seattle. And they're doing like, uh, basically for a long time defenses rotated at the snap. At the snap, the safeties moved, right? And Cousins is like, I don't really do that. Like, they wait till like you throw the ball to move. And so the evolution of maybe defensively just like, let's, let's move a little bit later, sort of copying Seattle. But I think personnel-wise, it's center and tight end.

Boy, that's so interesting. And I, I hate to invoke chess match, but it really does sound like center when it was all about the tackles offensively and then into interior pressure, like even Tom Brady can't deal with it. And now it feels like— so the interior offensive linemen have gained importance as a result of all that.

Fascinating. Well, interior offensive linemen get importance because these pass rushers are so good now. I mean, I talk about this all the time, Dave. When I was coming up and when I played early in my career, um, you know, you had one defensive end typically. You had like the pass rush end and you had like the run-stopping end, right? The run-stopping end played over the right tackle typically., and the pass rusher was over left tackle. And you might have had like one interior defensive lineman that could rush the passer, but they were typically bigger guys, right? Like they were just, you know, like a Kevin Williams type, right? Like a good pass rusher, but just a bigger guy. Like he probably would be a different player in today's era. Um, and then all of a sudden, like 2013, 2014, it just sort of flipped where like interior guys just got much better. You had two pass rushers.

Now you have Aaron Donald and Fletcher Cox.

Yes, all those guys. Yes. And, and even like a Cam Jordan, like, I mean, all these guys like these. And now you have it where like you have 8 pass rushers, and so these offensive linemen just got to be better at protecting the pass and the interior pressure. You mentioned Donald and these guys. So now guard pass protection so much more important. When I came up, and it's not that long ago, those guards were like big old mauling run blocking guys. I mean, you remember, you know, your Pittsburgh Steelers offensive linemen, like those guys were just like those big, strong, mauling types. Obviously, Faneca can play in any, in any era. But some of those guys now, like, they don't— they couldn't move. They couldn't move now, right? You can't— you can't play that position anymore in the same way you used to play it back then.

So, you know, the game just evolves year after year. I love the idea to go back 9 minutes or whatever. I love the idea who you— it's very clear from anybody who follows Jeff Schwartz on social media that his wife is definitely running everything that happens out of their mansion in Charlotte. Yes. North Carolina. I love the idea that she was left out of where she's going to live next conversation.

Why?

What do you mean? I mean, she had no opinion on where you go as a free agent. Well, sorry, can't see you on wedding day. I'll let you know how it all turns out when I see you up there in front of the rabbi. I chose the Giants.

So— And I do. So she tells people that I was broke and jobless on our wedding day. She saved you. Now, to be fair, I didn't have my big, big contract until that day. Like, they go, the second contract, the mythical second contract. I'd made money, but it wasn't going to be a lifetime of money until I got paid on that day. I think she had no idea. Like, it was the Giants and the Rams, essentially, and the Rams were in St. Louis then. I think it's a lot easier to sell the Giants and the Rams. Hey, hon, listen, man, after this wedding, we're going to St. Louis, okay?

Versus, hey, after the wedding, I was like, LA, that would be great.

Oh no, St. Louis. And it was like— and so it was like, no, the Giants are much easier to sell. Obviously we had a great time, uh, in New York. She was pregnant too, so like a lot of moving parts all at once.

I will say this though, she was pregnant but you weren't even married yet.

How's that possible? It's impossible, actually. We'll have to explain it to my kids one day. It's gonna be a fun discussion. Um, the, uh, swing by my place afterwards. I see this— some of my family's different. I see this thing where like NFL, former NFL players, kind of this time of year, like, guys, think about how hard this is on the families. They have to move and they have to— I'm like, can we, like, can we not? Like, I— we make a lot of money.

It's easier when it's $15 million helping you in the move.

Yeah, like, I, I know getting a new school, I've done it, I've done all that. Now my kids were younger, but like, I've done it. I've done the finding a new daycare and finding new friends and— but like I, I just think it's not a topic that's really like— is the average person like, man, that, that poor $7 million a year player, his family has to move, right? Like, yes, there are hardships with all those things. It's not easy to like— but like, I just feel like it's not a topic, especially today, like, that's worth really exploring. Um, I hate how players do that, friend.

I hate how players do that from you. People do not— the average person doesn't want to hear how hard it is.

For the multi-millionaire. Like, I, I just— I see this all the time. Like, man, I'm like, yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It's, it's not easy to move and find new friends and find new doctors and all this stuff. But right now, like, in today, we're talking about it today with everything that's happening, like, in our country. That's what we're doing today. I just want to make that clear. I don't feel sorry for players having to move in free agency.

Hey there, my fellow football Americans. Let me tell you, one thing I've done really well in my life is make babies. 4 of them, in fact. And when each of them was born, everything changed for me all over again. There's this overwhelming feeling you get. It's not just love, it's this need to protect them. Suddenly every decision you make is about them and their future. The last thing a person wants is to worry about how your family's going to pay the bills if something were to happen to you. Would they be financially prepared? Well, with life insurance from Ethos, Your family is protected. Ethos is an online platform that makes getting life insurance fast and easy to protect your family's future in minutes, not months. Get a quote in as little as 10 minutes with no medical exam required. You just answer a few health questions. There's no complicated process. It's 100% online, and some policies are as low as $2 a day billed monthly. If you're still unsure, let me tell you, there are now 3 million families who've completed their applications and trusted Ethos to help find the right coverage for them. And as of March last year, Business Insider named Ethos the number one no medical exam instant life insurance provider.

So protect your family with life insurance from Ethos now by going to ethos.com/fba. In as little as 10 minutes, you can get your free quote and up to $3 million in coverage at ethos.com/fba. That's ethos.com/fba. Ethos.com/fba. Application times and rates may vary. Clear non-jerk, Jeff Schwartz. Dave Damashek, obviously society's greatest empath. We do the jerk list here, and for anybody who is not up to speed on it, the Fuentes boys are going to make a statement, and Jeff and I will evaluate whether it's a knee-jerk reaction given new information or whether or not it's perfectly logical. Take it away. I don't know who's up first here. Mike Fuentes, Gino Fuentes.

How say you?

Caught me off guard.

Whoa, take that, jerks!

The NFL is considering creating a Thanksgiving Eve game and it might be too much.

Jeff Schwartz, how say you? So the jerk would be the NFL here in this situation if they create a Wednesday night Yeah, I mean, they're, they're probably jerks for that. Yeah. Um, we'd watch it. I'd watch it. But like Wednesday night, we typically get a Christmas tree, we go to dinner, like we sort of have a family night. And I don't feel— there's— I mean, there might be like a random, you know, basketball game or some lower conference football game on. Like, I'm— I might tune into it, but like, that's sort of like a non-sports night. Like, you just like accept, like, we're gonna watch sports for the next 5 days in a row for hours on end. Look, I'm gonna watch— I'll watch it, Dave. Well, I won't watch it, I'll bet on it, I'm sure, all that stuff. But sure, it feels like they're a jerk for doing that, right?

It's about right. It's the, it's the, it's the crack deal. Like, get out of here, man. You have to leave me alone. I'm trying to have a life. Get me hooked on this stuff already. Already I'm hooked on this. And I don't like Wednesday night because I, you know, it already belongs to Pittsburgh Penguins fans. The Penguins always play a home game that night. But beyond that, it's the start of Sheckers season. It is the greatest stretch on the calendar every single year. And as I always say, Thanksgiving is the best holiday because it's merely the start of the holiday season. It's sort of like knowing you have a 3-day weekend with Monday off and Thursday night, the Thursday night before is the best day of that window because it's all still in front of you. That's like Wednesday Eve. When that hits, you're on easy street until New Year's Day, at least. You know, booze and parties, and you may show up to work, you may not. Food, food, and more food. We don't need football on top of it. Let's not gild the lily here.

Next up, if you're Kyler Murray, the Vikings situation is better than Pittsburgh's.

Explain this one to me, Jeff Schwartz. I don't get it. Why is it just assumed?

What, you need that explained? You need that explained? A better situation? You need that part explained?

Than Pittsburgh.

Come on.

Yeah, I do need— come on, Dave. Come on, Dave, you're ridiculous. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Hold on, Dave, this is for you.

So further explain. Ridiculous. No, no, no, you don't get the— you know, you know, the Steelers made the play.

They won their division last year. Justin Jefferson. Justin Jefferson's in Minnesota.

I'm sorry, that's better for—

they have a good— they have a good player in Minnesota.

I think it's more about— I think it's more about just Kevin O'Connell being a really good offensive coach and like getting an opportunity to work with him, who's done wonders for everyone except Trisha McCarthy, it appears. Unless you're DJ McCarthy. McCarthy being like the meme that everyone uses. I saw one for Team Mexico last night for WBC. Like, it's so messed up. DJ McCarthy is like this meme now. Anyone anytime plays bad, they put his face on their jersey. It was in the locker room, that whole situation.

But, uh, I think it's a convenient target, by the way.

He's played like 2 and a half quarters. He's played like 6. I think he started 6 games. Yeah, well, according to to NFL media, all you need is 6 games over 4 years and you become the trendiest quarterback to ever sign a contract, um, for, for the Miami Dolphins. Somehow, you know, he's the Malik Willis, going to be great, you know, everyone just knows it, it's going to be great.

Well, it's our 6 games, but I also get that you have to take some swings, especially when you fall into desperate times. I think at least the Dolphins are trying, and to me, the Steelers aren't trying because to get in your way before you fully dig in here on it. It's the reason that Kyler Murray is not in play for Pittsburgh is because I think that everybody involved already knows Rodgers and the Steelers had a commitment weeks, if not months ago. How say you?

I didn't even know Kyler Murray and the Steelers was a thing.

People— it's not a thing because they already know Rodgers is there.

Oh, you want to make it a thing?

Oh. I wish it were a thing. He's better than the options you have now, but I think that the assumption is that because, um, of Kevin O'Connell's success in that offense, that Murray would prefer to play there than in Pittsburgh.

I mean, I don't know why that would be. I mean, the, the KOC's offense, to my eye— and I'll defer to you, to my— you're the one who does the spoon X&O breakdowns, not me— but it sure looks to me Like what KOC optimally would have at QB is a distributor. Stand in the pocket, get the ball quick, and, you know, some play action, but, but intermediate throws, short throws, don't do anything too dynamic. That's not what we're looking to do. Versus Mike McCarthy optimally, that offense— and you have to go way back to check it out— but when he had Aaron Rodgers in his prime Rodgers was lethal on a level that few, if any, guys have ever been.

I totally forgot McCarthy's there.

Yeah, that makes it, that makes it worse. Like, I can have Justin Jefferson and O'Connell, or I can have McCarthy and Rico Dowdle.

I do like him too, but God, like, but they have made—

they have Metcalf and Pittman now. That's not a—

but that's not a bum. Oh, I, I, I think the sort of the, the—

do you think Michael Pittman is an afterthought?

No, no, I like, I like Michael Pittman, and I will go to my my grave defending Michael Pittman because everybody said he was washed. And I'm like, it's not his fault he had Anthony Richardson and guys like that, you know.

And any year that he hasn't had Anthony Richardson, he's been great.

Yeah, he's been like a 100-catch guy. Whenever he didn't have Anthony Richardson, he was cursed.

But by the way, but, but, but Schwartz, correct me if I'm wrong, when I watch Rodgers in his prime— and I was swooning a decade plus ago watching Aaron Rodgers, man— he would— the, the— I mean, fundamental to that Packers offense was those boot rollouts, and he would kill people on the edge like that. He would— like, if you gave him a split second of space, he would kill you with his legs. Or when he was out on the edge because defenders were consumed with not letting him run, he would kill you throwing the ball, rolling out. He can't do that anymore. Kyler Murray can do that.

What am I missing here? Well, you would— that would not be part of of McCarthy offense now, right? And some of those design rollouts, and some of that was Rodgers doing his own thing. I mean, very famously, that throw he made in Dallas in the playoff game where he rolled to his left, like, that was just him doing that. He told— I mean, not him doing that, it was a called play, but that was a practice play where left tackle gets beat inside and you pin him inside, you roll out, you make that play. Um, I just think McCarthy's offense has a stigma of not being as good as the time he was with Green Bay, even though in Dallas it was fine. I mean, when Dak was healthy, they were really good on offense. So I think that's probably why you look at the Minnesota. But does Minnesota want Kyler Murray if they're going to sign him?

Well, here's the other thing. Isn't Kyler Murray— whether KOC might have egg on his face right now with J.J. McCarthy, and maybe like Carmen Vitale said last week on Football America, the dismissal of the GM indicates that they are as a franchise embarrassed by and want to move away from J.J. McCarthy. But KOC also had a hand and liked J.J. McCarthy. Isn't he incented to see that work? And if Kyler has a bad game or two with Minnesota, isn't he going to be incented, KOC, to try and jam J.J. McCarthy in there and make him a factor?

Isn't there some competition? That's why— this is why I just don't think he's going to Minnesota. Like, are you just done with McCarthy? Now remember, they haven't hired a new general manager yet. They have, they have promoted someone from within. They're going to hire someone after the draft. Uh, but like, I'm just sure he's not going to play Kyler Murray. Okay, I, I, like, that's the thing is like, I mean, not Kyler Murray, uh, McCarthy. He's just giving up on McCarthy right now. 6 games, that's all he started. Now maybe he's that bad. I don't think he's that, that bad to just never say never again. If Kyler Murray's brought in, he's brought in to start, right? So like, that's why I think for Minnesota it doesn't make sense for me, where Pittsburgh he'd just be the starter immediately.

Well, then you know what the math is for me on that. Like I said, I suspect that everybody involved knows Rodgers is going to Pittsburgh, and that's why they are self-imposing, even though I think it's a foolish thing.

But question, but question, why not quit on J.J. McCarthy?

Like, we've seen other guys— well, they do.

If they do, he's already resurrected one quarterback. Why not do it for Kyler Murray?

We do it for J.J. McCarthy to Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh.

That's fine. I'm sure that would be fine with me. I know people wouldn't like it in Pittsburgh, but I'd be cool with it because you got to keep taking swings.

And you know what, with McCarthy, at least you have hope over Rodgers because you know what Rodgers is, like you say all the time. McCarthy, there's still question marks, and maybe they work out.

You know you're not going to the Super Bowl. He just won 10 games. They're not going to the Super Bowl with a 43-year-old man. All right, get to the Max Crosby one because I want to make sure we get that in.

Yep, here it comes. What the Ravens did to the Raiders was unprofessional, unacceptable, and just, just mean.

You sounded like the lawyer from Seinfeld there, you know. It was just, you know, that guy, he's like, this is ludicrous, it's, you know, like, that's what you sounded like right there.

I like that.

Take it away, Jeff Schwartz. Okay, here's my thoughts on this. Um, what the Ravens did is allowed. They don't have to follow through on the trade. It wasn't an official trade yet. Um, people I think believe the Ravens like faked injury report. I mean, the physical, they didn't fake it. You can find someone to fail a physical. Like, that's not a hard thing to do. Um, it's a player. You can go in and tell the doctor like, I don't feel good or whatever. I just— they fail you physical. Like, they not— it's not that simple. But if you have an injury, you're like, ah, my ankle just doesn't like feel right. I don't have that spring back in it yet. That they're like, okay, fail. Like, they can fail you for really anything. So like, that's not— they didn't fake the— they didn't fake the they didn't fake the, uh, the failed physical. Um, I know that they said the third party read the, the thing, but again, if you really want a player, you still sign a player who has a medical issue. Like, you can do that. So what they did is, is legal and allowed.

However, it sounds like they just got cold feet and didn't want Max Crosby and thought that Trey Hendrickson plus the two draft picks were better, which I agree with. I agree with that. If you gave me a choice, Max Crosby A and lose my two first-round picks, or Trey Henderson, keep my two first-round picks, I choose option B. We don't choose option B. So both are true. Like, they did what they're allowed to do, but also, yeah, grimy, and probably just backed out and used the knee as an excuse.

Last thing then, is it too soon in that division? And I know I already have the answer because of the competition, but are the Raiders good in 2026? Because it does feel like they, they've sort of loaded up.

Yeah, they're going to be much better. So I saw, you know, I've seen the report they want a veteran quarterback to like play over Mendoza.

I— why?

That's so dumb. For two weeks? Why? Like, just let Mendoza be the starter immediately. You improve your offensive line, you can draft— so they don't have the 14th pick anymore, right? That was the thought, was that they would draft a guard at 14, right? So they don't have that anymore. But Think about all the additions they made and then, oh, Max Crosby's back.

It's like, it's a good offseason for the Raiders. They already have the skill pos— the high-end skill position guys, tight end and running back, like we talked about 15 minutes ago.

Yes. Uh, so I, I think the Raiders are going to be much better. Now obviously, Ken Kubiac's got to be a good head coach, right? I mean, offensively, we know that he can produce an offense. So I think the Raiders, look, they're going to be everyone's favorite overteam this year, I would imagine. Like, you know, I saw someone tweet out already, I think it was Kyle Brandt, like there's one team picking the top 5 who's going to be a playoff team. My guess is it's the Raiders, picking the Raiders. I don't like— I don't think he's picking the Titans. I— but like, so, or maybe it's the Giants at 5. I don't know. But like, people are going to be on the Raiders, right? They're going to be on the Raiders this year. It's going to be very trendy to bet they're over and better make the playoffs. Still tough division. They're still the 4th best team in their division.

Just letting everyone know, 4th best team in the division. Awesome stuff, Jeff Schwartz. Go eat some whitefish. You can send me the bill. You were so good here. I appreciate it. And, uh, we'll talk to you very soon. Meantime, make sure you're keeping up with all things pro football-based. Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you, plus all the great work on Fox Sports with the draft approaching. Jeff Schwartz is a must-follow. Great stuff there, Pally. And now we jump neatly from pro football free agency talk into movie talk. They say it's the Super Bowl. For movie fans. I think that's a weird thing to keep saying all the time, but either way, here to help break it down, the best in the business at talking about movies from the Baldywood Substack. He's now a filmmaker himself. Growth is the name of the picture. It's our old pal Bald Brian Bishop.

How are you, Pally? How are you, Dave? Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. It's always good to see your face, and may I just say, big fan.

Ah, that's so sweet. Always nice of you to point that out. I appreciate it. And big fan of you, of course. And, um, uh, so muzzletov on the, uh, on the film. Early reviews strong for Growth.

Tell us about the movie a little bit. I'm shocked. First of all, I'm poorly lit because I'm in a hotel room in San Jose where Growth is premiering on Sunday at the Santa Cruz Film Festival. I'm here for the festival and Yeah, it's getting some great notices, as people say. Shocked but pleased. It's a documentary about my life. No, it's not. It's a documentary about— it's a hilarious documentary about cancer, about young adult cancer and the importance of humor.

Keep talking.

I'm all ready to laugh. Yeah, don't run. About humor and laughter and how important it is to laugh at tragic situations. We have lots of comics and comedians and survivors who are comedians talking about the importance of joking and laughing and how that gets you through a tragic situation.

Well, sounds great. And then you hear Bald Brian is the person making this movie, and then, you know, it's going to be funny if you're aware of his work over the many years that he did together. Adam Carolla Show, all the rest of it. And like I say, the Baldiwood Substack is great. Now, thanks. Let's talk about two things primarily. I want to get to real quick here. First of all, matter at hand, if there are people who want to wager on it, what is the best play for Best Picture this year? And by the way, before you jump on that, do you agree with me that I know everybody has to be cynical about everything, but I think 2026 is the best year for movies in at least a decade, off the top of my head, at How say you?

I'll meet you halfway and say that it is an excellent year for movies. There are some really good ones this year stacked with some fine films. I thought last year, 2025, was an all-timer. I thought last year was one of the, one of the best of my lifetime. And we're lucky to have so many good movies.

This year was— Wait, what happened last year?

I can't remember. My favorite movies were Deadpool and Wolverine was awesome. My Old Ass was fantastic. The Civil War was amazing. And then the fourth one was, oh, A Better Man, the Robbie Williams monkey movie. These are all 5-star bangers. I love them. In addition to whatever won last year.

It's always the hardest question, right? Annora was the Best Picture winner.

Annora, the movie about—

Annora was very good. Very good. I know, but come on. I mean, one battle after another is going to be— I keep telling people this— it's going to be a slow burn. People might like it now, but it is going to be the Big Lebowski type effect or Boogie Nights type effect, which is the more you watch it and the more you absorb it, and it's journey over destination, one of those kind of movies. The more you absorb that and drink it in, not wait— waiting to see how it ends, and the pleasure is just the ride to get there.

One Bottle After All, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a comp where it's more about that, that whole vibe, right?

Right, right, right. Going somewhere. But then Sinners is a gem.

Anyway, uh, what do you think? I agree with you. I will, I will quibble and say that, um, uh, uh, Boogie Nights is— was an instant classic, whereas I do agree with you about the Big Lebowski effect, which is even I, when I saw One Bottle, I was I was like, that's okay. And then the more I sort of thought about it, you know, really, really dug it.

Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot that that is what you react— you initially saw it and I saw you on social media saying like, yeah, good, not that good.

But then honestly, it sinks its claws into you. Um, actually, you know what, the, the website I like to use the best, not for gambling but for actually true percentages, is Gold Derby. Uh, Gold Derby does, uh, sort of proprietary Like they make their own percentage based on awards that the films have won previously, blah, blah, blah. And they give— hold on. But right now it's reasonably close. But One Battle After Another is likely to win. They give One Battle After Another a 77% chance to win. Sinners?

Sinners with an 18% chance to win.

Begonia, Hamnet, people are really into? Hamnet's faded quite a bit. That's funny because in years past, Hamnet is that kind of Oscar movie that would have just swept. It would have. I mean, it's a Shakespearean epic with, you know, tragic events and big emotion. And that would have dominated the Oscars many years ago. We're on— I think we're at a point now where the Oscars is more Sinners and one battle after another, for better, I think. I think those are more accessible movies and kind of, kind of better.

I like to, you know, I mention the cynics of the world, and I guess this is pretty cynical for me to do this, but worst Best Picture ever.

Your nominees are— Oh, wow.

We did that topic on the film. Well, Dances with Wolves. No. Titanic.

No.

Shakespeare in Love. No. Crash. I wouldn't even say no. I mean, you don't even let me do the list. What if somebody stood on the side when, when, uh, uh, you know, I'm trying to think of people who are still alive. George Clooney is up there like, your nominees are— what if somebody else was going, no, no, that'll be me.

Uh, I'm with you on Crash. Those are— let's throw the 3 are fine films. I would say The English Patient is up there, uh, in terms of, okay, um, like that's a hard movie to get through and that's old school Oscar movie where you're like, okay, go watch Out of Africa. Yeah, and those '80s movies like Gandhi, Out of Africa, uh, um, yeah, they're, they're slogs, you know what I mean? I'm sure there's many, you know, a few classic ones in there that don't deserve it that I haven't seen, but in terms of the ones of my lifetime, I remember when, uh, when, when— what was the one with, uh, Johnny Depp? It didn't get— uh, Neverland, Finding Neverland or some nonsense. It didn't win, but that is a—

that is a mid movie, as the kids say. Yes, I agree with you. I guess one way to assess it is Shakespeare in Love is cute in my opinion. It's fine. I don't— I think people overstate how bad it is. The problem people have with it is, is that it beat out Saving Private Ryan. Yes, of course. I might lean towards, if I want to be real pretentious, if I'm in the mood, I think maybe Thin Red Line makes some more powerful statements about war than Private Ryan. No! Don't say no to everything, Andy! No, no, no! Now listen, Dances with Wolves. I mean, you talk about like the white man hero, the white man savior stuff over Goodfellas. Yeah. If you want to get offended by him, if you want to get up on Mount Pious, you can get offended by Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves. I mean, it really is so pretty. The white hero. Go back and listen, but go back and listen to the language. The script is plodding and a lot of the language that he uses is sure. But it beat Goodfellas.

What are we talking about? Yeah, yeah, I know, that's an all-timer. Of course, not a bad movie, Dances with Wolves, but not— and the incongruity between the winner and the runner-up, as it were. I'm going to give you a chance to say no, no, no, because my hot take— and this, this may end the show, this may just be the last thing that people ever hear, because careful, careful with yourself then— I prefer Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan.

All right, that's fine.

Yeah, it was nice talking to you. All right, yeah, that's gonna be—

do it for you. That's everyone's reaction. Saving Private Ryan, a fine film with outstanding moments. I mean, of course, the opening battle scene and the closing battle scene that are outstanding, some of the best things ever committed to movies. In between is about 90 minutes of a kind of ordinary, just dudes talking kind of movie.

There's moments for sure, there's moments, but Shakespeare in Love is a really good movie. I also think that Private Ryan, it's a funny thing from Spielberg. By the way, you want a hot take? Spielberg has made some downright lousy movies and 1941 isn't one of them. I know people get down on that. It's okay. That's a halfway decent movie. Okay. Too hyped up, I think, probably. The thing with Private Ryan, The other one that's a rubbish picture is War of the Worlds. It's really good for the first 25 minutes, but then what the hell happens in that? It's just like, hold on, he ran out of what to do with the movie and it's like, yeah, let's just wrap this thing up. Let's just say that something happened in the air and it killed all the aliens because we have no way for the humans to survive.

I'll meet you halfway again and say that the movie does run out of steam. Like, runs on a track at some point.

That said, I feel like there's enough good stuff there that that's an above average movie. Once they get into the cellar with what's-his-name—

that's a great scene with Tim Robbins. Tim Robbins, that's like the best scene of the movie.

That's a great scene. Yeah, I mean, just completely becomes a different movie. And by the way, Saving Private Ryan shows the horrors of war for the first 25 minutes, and then, and, and, and then it turns them into this weird sort of celebr— like fictionalized version of military heroism and all of that. It sort of like betrays exactly what you're supposed to see in the first 20 or 30 minutes of the movie. It relents quite a bit. You disagree with my take about that though? No, no. Kind of two very different— Yeah, it can't sustain— It has two different philosophies basically.

Yeah, I don't know how you sustain the momentum. It's impossible, frankly. Your audience would die of a heart attack But like, yeah, the movie takes quite a turn and not for the better.

But Crash is the worst movie on this list and it beat out Brokeback Mountain, which is a beautiful movie. And the soundtrack alone makes it— and the flannel shirt and the closet, all that is— Yeah, it's lovely stuff. Yes. But based on the measure of what it beat, what won in '70? What beat out Star Wars again?

I can't remember.

Was it Annie Hall or was that the year before?

Okay, that's fair. Yeah, that's— well, I'm guessing.

I don't remember exactly. The worst one is, as we talked about, is Dances with Wolves beating Goodfellas. Shame the devil. And Titanic is visually cool and everything. The effects are neat, but that story— what? Oh wait, the guy's chained up to a pipe down in the basement of the ship. Hey, James Cameron, I don't know if you heard, but the tragedy of the actual sinking of the ship is enough. You don't need to do the dumb love story where the guy's chained up by a gun-toting henchman of the mean bald guy, Billy Zane.

I don't appreciate the bald guy being the bad guy, but I will say it's similar in a sense to your beloved Lord of the Rings in that it's more about the overall achievement than it is about the actual, like, you know, the tropes of the storytelling. Lord of the Rings is just the hero's journey with a lot of, you know, bells and whistles hung on that. And they're very interesting. But the love I think Lord of the Rings got as a trilogy and as an award winner was the overall achievement, the masterful sort of lift that the whole thing was.

Bald Brian Bishop, we had a big debate 2, 3 weeks ago. Let's hear it. With Amin Elhassan and Jonathan Zaslow.. And Mike Fuentes jumped in as well. And we were debating Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. Now I'm going to throw your way Christopher Nolan. We can do FMK. Let's create a standard here. The guy who you choose, you can watch his movies whenever you want for the rest of your life. Okay. The second guy you choose, you can only watch his movies once a year— no, once every 3 years. The, uh, the third guy, you never get to see any of his movies ever.

Oh my God, that's a tough choice.

Okay, so if you're ready to weigh in—

oh, I know, I got mine already.

I got mine. Go ahead. Yeah. Okay, as the audience probably can tell, I've had no prep for this, so this is off the top of my head, but Well, let's hear Mike Fuentes. Mine's easy.

I don't even know what my answer is. Paul Thomas Anderson, you're out of here. I'm never watching your stuff again.

Then Quentin Tarantino's number 2 and Nolan's number 1. What is that? Go through Nolan's catalog for me. That why people are so like that, that they could never do without Christopher Nolan movies.

The reason— I'll do this off the top of my head, and please correct me where I'm wrong, but I would choose Nolan's movies to watch anytime because, simply because, although footnote, caveat to my own choice, when his brother stopped co-writing the movies, there was a precipitous decline in the emotional component. Like those early movies from Inception to The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises, of course, that whole trilogy. Interstellar, Inception. These are movies that have universes inside them. They're high, they're low, the emotions are there. Those are movies that— Interstellar connected with me emotionally, a lot of people. Whereas the Tarantino movies have brought me so much joy in my life, I might choose to watch those once a year because as great as they are, they're more of an event in my life and less of an emotion. I don't know that I've ever connected with a Tarantino film emotionally. I've been— and notwithstanding being super impressed and being super satisfied, Paul Thomas Anderson, I have deep, deep love for Boogie Nights and Punch-Drunk Love and even There Will Be Blood, some of those early movies. Magnolia, actually, I'm way above market on Magnolia, but he has an uneven catalog.

I don't care for The Phantom Thread.

I don't care for Inherent Vice. I see.

I like The Phantom Thread. Phantom Thread. Yeah, not for me. So painfully, I love Paul Thomas Anderson, I love his movies obviously, but if I'm given the choice between those three, he's the one that's got it.

I mean, There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights, if we're ranking the movies and then we're veering into rewatchability, but if you could sort of tap into your young self and you would with fresh eyes and you're helping yourself, your old self is gonna say, you're gonna like this guy's movies. But you see them with fresh eyes. I think Paul Thomas Anderson maybe has the best of because there will be Blood Boogie Nights.

I'm with you on Punch-Drunk Love too.

I love that movie. Some people just— I think it just goes right over a lot of people's heads for some reason. And then the most recent one, Battle After Another. I would have to say, as much as it would pain me to say goodbye to, to Christopher Nolan, I think he's in the third spot for me. It has to be a goodbye. Nothing like Bane in that WWII fighter plane flying past the troops on the coastline and them all erupting when he comes back around and the engine's out, he's out of gas and he just keeps on going and they all cheer for him as he goes to certain death down the coastline.

Powerful stuff. I'm below market on Dunkirk, but it's funny because his later stuff, I don't— It's confusing. I don't need Oppenheimer in my life. You know what I mean? I don't like— You could make a case. And yes, I do see your point of view Nolan's movies as a— that losing The Dark Knight would be a hard thing in my life, but so would losing, uh, Boogie Nights. That's a celebrated movie in my life.

I love that movie so much. Yeah, see, losing Dark Knight, that's the best superhero— that's a bridge too far. Yeah, it's the best superhero movie ever made. It's tough to like— I'm never gonna see Heath Ledger play this character again.

It's tough. Tenet can go away. Come down, Bald, on, um, a conversation we've— I know we've never had in superhero movies, but people always leave this one out, but Invincible. And in fact, I just watched Glass, which I did not think was—

what's Invincible?

The, the, the football movie? Wait, isn't that—

no, not Invincible then.

You're thinking Unbreakable?

Unbreakable.

I'm sorry.

Oh, the M. Night Shyamalan movie. Yeah, very good. Excellent. Really good movie. Underrated because it followed up The Sixth Sense, and of course the expectations were sky high. Were really good movie. I mean, if you're calling it a superhero movie, which I guess you should, it's much— it is a superhero movie. Yeah, but it's much quieter, you know what I mean? It's much of a slow burn, more than like, uh, your average Marvel movie or DC movie. That said, really good, solid performances all around. Um, yeah, kind of forgotten, like dismissed, like, oh, this wasn't The Sixth Sense, so we're not— you know, it's not going to be celebrated. And to an extent, that's correct, but it is a very good movie.

Well, if you haven't seen it, Glass, which is the third in the trilogy, and then there's one in the middle, I think it's called Split with James McAvoy.

How did he not get nominated for that?

He plays like 12 characters.

He was very good. 23 characters. Yeah, at this point. 24. And then they all get together, um, sort of like, uh, you know, uh, Avengers: Endgame almost kind of thing. All three of them are together in one crazy house, and, uh, it has the M. Night Shyamalan twist towards the end of it and all of that. I think those are a little bit underrated.

Um, it might be right. How was Glass?

I never saw, so how was Glass? I mean, better than I expected because I had no expectations because I'd never heard anything about it. I barely even knew that it had existed until I stumbled across it on pay cable one day. Um, the question, or the thing that we talked about here, we, we did a Tarantino character draft, and we'd love for you to join us for another one down the line. But one of the categories we did is which Tarantino character would you least want to be hunted by?

To me, there's an obvious answer. I'm a big fan of your show, so I remember this. You made the— I think you picked last and you somehow got the Bride. Yeah, yeah.

What the hell?

No, that's the one for me. That's the one you don't want. She went to the court. She went to the corners of the earth.

Defeated, murdered 88 trained Yakuza. That's right, but Bob Bryan, that's the important point. No, it's not that he was given a— she was given a list of like the— or made a list, I want to kill these people and now I'm going to set about killing them. They're the greatest killers on the planet Earth and she kills them all.

Yeah, but see, Dave, you're doing this thing where once you find him, yeah, she'll kill— I'm not going to try to fight her. I'm not trying to fight her. I'm trying to run.. I don't need to confront her. Plus she's a nice guy.

She'll find you.

Yeah, but she's a good guy. She's going to like, you know, reason with me. We're going to have a conversation. Hans Landa, just going to find me and I'm dead.

It's over. That's a wrap. What are you talking about? He needs troops. We don't see him kill anybody except for what's her name? Diana Förstermark. He strangles her to death after he takes her shoe.

Bridget von Hammersmark.

Bald Brian. Let me just say this. How about that one I sent you? In Baldiwood, Bald Brian honors our recognition. Of actor redundancies, which is the same actor doing very specific things in two separate, completely different projects. Some of our most famous, very quickly, Kevin Spacey is the subject of a police sketch artist in both Seven and Usual Suspects, so on and so forth. How about the one I just sent you of what's her name again? Diane Firstmark, whatever. Diane Kruger. Diane Kruger. Has her shoe taken off and put on by a man in two movies.

That's very weird. That's, that's an act. That's an excellent one. I will point out that Hans Landa, of course, is a first-round draft pick. However, the, the, the, the sheen is off the rose because a common farm girl, Soshana, managed to elude him for years, not just once but twice face to face, where she escaped from the barn, and then later when they're having lunch together, she escaped his clutches. So yes, the Jew hunter is of course a first-round pick for his lethal stick-to-itiveness.

That said, he has some chinks in the armor. And Beatrix Kiddo— what are you talking about, Mike Fuentes?

Beatrix Kiddo finds whoever she wants to find. She was looking for very specific people that probably leave a very specific trail.

That's all I'm saying.

She killed Bill, you know, spoiler alert. She's going to the corner—

the corners of the earth to find these people, but she has a vendetta against them.

What's her vendetta with me? She don't even know me. I mean, bottom line is the teams that drafted quarterbacks not named Tom Brady in that draft are now off the hook because Mike Fuentes, Amin, and Zazz chose Tarantino characters other than Beatrix Kiddo to get hunted by. Crazy. What is that? That's your first background. Bald Brian Bishop, obviously longtime pal, rooting for your success, but proud of you already for making the movie on a tough subject. Something that I was talking at the top of the show earlier on Football America about not letting this define you and sort of owning it and, and not giving credit to to your foe here, which is cancer, and, and turning it on its ear. And I feel like you've done that to some degree over the last 20 years.

So tip of the cap to you, pal. Thanks, buddy. I appreciate the support. I appreciate you always inviting me on the show. Are we out of time?

Do you want to do an actor redundancy or two? Yeah, take it away.

I'm always down for some actor redundancies. Well, we always, we always enjoy the actor redundancies when an actor does an oddly specific thing in two separate, non-related movies. Uh, we call it an actor redundancy. I highlight those once a week in my newsletter, uh, about, uh, Baldiwood newsletter. Check those out. Uh, a recent one that I highlighted that you may enjoy: the, uh, recently deceased and missed Robert Duvall plays a lieutenant colonel in the military who shouts most of his dialog in two movies in the same year, Apocalypse Now and The Great Santini.

Duvall received Oscar nominations for both movies. I like that one a lot. My favorite one, as I, I, you know, the one I always mention at the top is the Kevin Spacey one. Keanu Reeves, Keanu Reeves' backstory in two movies is that he was the Ohio State quarterback. Is pretty weird and specific. My, my favorite one, well, also the guy— I can never think of his name, but the guy who plays Billy in Predator, Sonny Landham. Sonny Landham, right, who's mostly a porn star, right? Wasn't that— didn't he—

didn't he— he was in porn.

I don't know anything about these things, Dave. I'm pretty sure he was, but the two movies that he was in, mainstream movies, were 48 Hours, where he's the bad— one of the two bad guys, and he gets shot dead shirtless with a giant Rambo-style knife in his hand by Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours. And then in Predator, He stands out on the fallen log that's crossing the stream and awaits Predator and gets killed by the Predator shirtless, holding a giant Rambo knife. That's the craziest one. But now rivaling that one is, is of course, I can't think of her name. Olivia something or other is the actor's name, but she in two movies is draped in red velvet sitting in a chair and asleep and is visited and talks to someone from the great beyond.

Yes, yes. Two separate movies.

Well, it is Olivia, the one in The Sixth Sense.

And I can't remember the other movie she does in it, but she does it. Let me see if I have it here in front of me. Dave, I don't know if you know this, but I have a lot of actor redundancies written down. Yeah, I appreciate that. Now I only have the Toni Collette one, which is in The Sixth Sense and in Hereditary. And Sixth Sense, Child talks to dead people in the Hereditary. A dead person talks as her child, like her child speaks like as a dead person.

It's pretty creepy. I think we've uncovered something here that I already knew, but it's, it's like for me, like with donuts, I don't eat donuts very often, but like once every 5 months or so, you know, the kids will, will, will go out for donuts. I'll be like, all right, you know what? I'm going to get a donut this time. And I get one. I'm like, man, donuts are good. I got to eat more donuts. And I— but then I don't eat one for another 5 months or so. That's the experience with Bald Brian. We enjoy talking about movies here, so let's, uh, let's try to make a better habit of bringing you in here. We can do some, um, Tarantino character drafts. Maybe you have a good idea for a Paul Thomas Anderson or a Christopher Nolan draft. Uh, come up with a category and we'll make it so. In the meantime, like I say, Bald Brian Baldiwood. Make sure you're checking that out. On Substack and also best wishes and break a leg and all that with, with growth out there and hope it makes all the big theaters and track it down.

Is there anywhere to track it down right now or should we wait for it to show up?

If you're in the Bay Area, which is, I imagine, a small slice of your audience, you can see it on Sunday or Monday. It's going to be premiering at the Alamo Drafthouse in Mountain View. But again, that's a very small percentage of your audience. The rest of you are going to have to wait. Wait until it gets widely distributed, which hopefully will be sometime this year. It's— it— like you said, Dave, I'm—

I'm—

as you know, I'm a bit of a braggadocious fellow sometimes, but it's quite humbling to have strangers see your movie and say really nice things about it.

So I'm hoping that everyone gets to see it soon. Well, good for you. I'll try to keep you grounded. Even if I like it, I'll tell you I think it sucks. I appreciate that. I need that. Yeah, okay, done and done. Also a great trivia mind is Bald Brian there. He's been on, uh, on TV game shows even. So maybe we'll get him in here for some more Mr. Lister categories. In the meantime, there goes Bald Brian, and here we go too. Thanks to him and to Jeff Schwartz, and thanks to you, my fellow Football Americans. Keep on subscribing, spreading the good word. Find the show wherever you find your audio podcast and make sure you're subscribed to the Football America YouTube page. Until next time, for everybody here on Football America, thanks so much. It's been a thin slice of heaven.