Transcript of GBF- Santa Paws

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Scott here. I wanna thank the folks over at Smirnoff for being a loyal sponsor to both God bless football and the Dan Levittard Show with Stugats. Smirnoff knows there is no eye in football. Football is what we think, an experience that is best enjoyed together. With good drinks and good folks, Smirnoff is the world's number 1 vodka and is an official vodka partner of the NFL.

And this year, there are more opportunities to watch football and make delicious Smirnoff cocktails than ever before over the holiday season. From Thanksgiving to Black Friday and Christmas, Smirnoff and the NFL are with you every step of the way. So this holiday season, when you are enjoying the game and your cocktails, please make sure to drink responsibly. Take a minute. Make a plan.

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Please do

not share with anyone under legal drinking age.

Stugats here. I wanna thank the folks over at Smirnoff for being a loyal sponsor to both God bless football and the Dan Lebittard Show with. Gods. Smirnoff knows there is no I in football. Football is what we think, an experience that is best enjoyed together.

With good drinks and good folks, Smirnoff is the world's number 1 vodka and is an official vodka partner of the NFL. And this year, there are more opportunities to watch football and make delicious Smirnoff cocktails than ever before over the holiday season. From Thanksgiving to Black Friday and Christmas, Smirnoff and the NFL are with you every step of the way. So this holiday season, when you are enjoying the game and your cocktails, please make sure to drink responsibly. Take a minute.

Make a plan. Never drive impaired. Smirnoff, we do game days.

Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff number 21 vodka. Distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume of the Smirnoff Company, New York, New York.

Please

do not share with anyone under legal drinking age.

Stugat's here. I wanna thank the folks over at Smirnoff for being a loyal sponsor to both God bless football and the Dan Lebedart show with Stugats. Smirnoff knows there is no I in football. Football is what we think, an experience that is best enjoyed together. With good drinks and good folks, Smirnoff is the world's number 1 vodka and is an official vodka partner of the NFL.

And this year, there are more opportunities to watch football and make delicious Smirnoff cocktails than ever before over the holiday season. From Thanksgiving to Black Friday and Christmas, Smirnoff and the NFL are with you every step of the way. So this holiday season, when you're enjoying the game and your cocktails, please make sure to drink responsibly. Make a minute. Make a plan.

Never drive impaired. Smirnoff, we do game days.

Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff number 21 vodka. Distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by value of the Smirnoff Company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age.

God bless football. Billy Gil?

God bless football, Mikey.

God bless football, Stugats.

Thank you, Mike. Happy holidays to everyone in the audience. We have an exciting show coming up. We have an exciting weekend coming up. We have the college football playoff.

1st round coming up. We have the NFL as well. Chris Falika, the bear, gonna join us. Mike Lombardi, the new GM at North Carolina is gonna join us, Chris Simms gonna join us as well. How about Lombardi?

GM North Carolina. I'm expecting a different Mike Lombardi today, Billy. Are you? I am. Yes.

It's funny because, we've had Mike Lombardi on a number of times, and it was to promote books and, you know, whatever projects he was working on at the time he had a show at VSAN. He did some stuff with DraftKings. And you would always say, you know, Billy, this is this is what this is how you do this. You got Lombardi and then when he takes over an NFL team, you have that relationship.

Yeah.

Like, like, you'll tell me that with with everyone, you know, to the likes of Drew Millard who writes a book about, you know, golf. And it's like, when, you know, when he's on the PGA tour, it's like Drew Millard's never gonna be on the PGA tour, but whatever. And sure enough, now Mike Lombardi has taken over, you know, University of North Carolina. By the waist, you guys, I don't know if you know this. What?

God bless football is presented by Smirnoff. We do I did it. Please drink responsibly, the Smirnoff Company in New York, New York.

Oh, I mean, how could I possibly have known that?

I mean, you should. They they sponsor us every week. Also, by the way, here's another thing.

Yes.

Guys, if you wanna do us a solid, go to sports podcast group.com. You can vote for us for best American football podcast. Listen. I'm not here to go into any conspiracy theories or anything like that, but someone someone did point out that some of the heavier hitters are at the top of the list when you go to vote for best American football podcast, the Kelsey's. So, I I'm not saying shenanigans is afoot here, but I'm saying go to sports podcast group.com.

Scroll down a little bit. You'll find God bless football. Vote for us, the little guys, to go up against the Giants. If you hate Taylor Swift, vote for us. If you hate Travis Kelce, vote for us.

If you love taylor swift and Travis Kelce, vote for us. Either way for

us anyway.

Vote for us. Sportspodcastgroup.com. God bless football. Best American football podcast.

I wanna be clear on the accusation you're making.

Are you

saying the accusation. No.

Kelsey's being put first because they want the Kelsey's to win that award? Is that is that what they're doing?

I just I didn't say that. I just had someone reach out to me and say, why aren't these in alphabetical order? To which I said, I don't know. Vote for us. So please vote for us with sports podcast group awards.

We can stick it to management who doesn't believe in us.

Do the Kelsey's, do they even talk football? I mean, honestly. I don't know.

I've never listened to that podcast. I only listen to God bless football.

That's all you listen to.

All you need to listen to. Yeah.

Did you say stick it to management that doesn't believe in us?

You always have to. Whether it's true or not, you always have to kinda paint this thing like you're the little dog. You know what I mean? So that then the audience, like, gets behind you, and they're like, you know what? I want them to succeed.

So just, you know, create your narratives.

Let's try it this way. Okay? Management does not believe in me and Billy and Mikey Ye. They don't support it. Okay?

They don't they don't want us to win awards. Okay? They don't want

us really. They don't.

I'm just I'm I'm being honest. They don't and I'm telling you right now, I got this message. I don't think Billy got it, but I got it. If we don't win this award, they might cancel the show. So go and go.

Get that message.

I hope that's not the case.

I was trying to do what you were saying.

I couldn't even hear

you.

Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. They told me that. And they also said they also said, Billy, you have 2 dogs.

If you don't win this award, you're gonna have 1 dog, and you can't choose which 1. It's like Wow. Make it. That's extreme.

That is wow. Management doesn't play.

Please vote for us. Sports podcast group time.

Please. For Billy's dog.

Thank you.

I don't know which 1. Right. I tried not to get attached to either 1 of them just in case.

I was following your lead there. Which dog would you get rid of, though, by the way?

I don't have a choice.

I I don't get to choose But what if you did, have any idea? Thought about it? What if you did? What if

you did?

What if you did? Come on,

Billy. I love dogs names.

I love them both equally, Dopey and Izzy. Dopey and Izzy? Yeah. I love them both equally.

No 1 loves both of them equally,

so go ahead.

But if I had to choose 1 see, I'm not gonna say. I'm not gonna say because guess what? If I tip-off when I want more, then they take the other dog. You know what I mean? So maybe maybe do a little I would say this 1, and they're like, nope.

Boom. This dog is gone to a new home new home. Not anywhere else. We're not doing anything bad to the dogs. Right.

But please vote for us so that they get both to live in my house.

Which 1 are you getting rid of? I mean

I I'm I'm I'm not gonna say. Okay. Gonna say.

They're both your dogs. I mean

I know. I love I love them. I'm getting

choked up just thinking

about it.

It's terrible. So vote for

us so that I don't have to make that horrible choice that I don't even have to make anyways. Oh, also, after you vote for us sports podcast group dot com, compete against us in weekly fantasy presented by Smirnoff. Go to dkng.c0/smirnoff. Just before we did this, Stu Gass was filling out his roster, and he feels pretty confident about it this week.

I do it to Kyler Murray. What'd you say, Mike?

I'm coming I'm coming for the top 500 this week.

Well Yeah.

After You can only go up. 10th

last week. I'm coming for the top 500 this week. Yeah.

I did, I did fill out the roster right before we came on air here. I have Kyler Murray as my quarterback.

So What's the rest of your roster?

Let me check it out. I wanted to ask you guys a question before we get to, the bear here, Chris Felica, who's gonna give us 12 picks for Christmas. Okay? Santa

Claus. Santa Claus is gonna give us 12 picks for Christmas. Why not?

The bear.

So ridiculous. Hold on. I'm trying to pull up the line up here. Hold on a second, Billy. I have Kyler Murray.

I took Shaquir, the Bills' receiver.

I was trying to trick you. Don't tell people your roster because they'll pick the exact same roster as you, and then you just pick

them up.

Would you ever pick my roster? I mean

I ain't just spite. I don't know.

I wanted to ask you guys a question. College football playoff is this weekend. NFL is this weekend. Both NFL games are good. The college football playoffs are win or go home.

I I I'm confused by the college football zealots who are upset that they have to compete against the NFL. Who doesn't want more football? Like, I like, I don't understand. You guys don't have a preference, dude. You're fine with all this being mashed together.

Right, Billy?

I love it. I'm gonna watch it all. Right. Oh my god. We're headed into the holidays.

Work responsibilities are winding down. All I have to worry about after all the presents, that's a story for another day. Don't get me started on that.

Who have

holiday shopping? But Saturday is for Pulte.

God bless

it. The bear, Chris Falika, is joining us, Billy. A very exciting time. Mikey a, a very exciting time. We have college football playoffs coming up.

What is Saturday? 2 NFL games, 3 college playoff games. The bear's gonna join us. He is gonna sing us 12 picks at the end of this segment for the holidays. We're gonna call it, we're gonna we're gonna call it Santa Paws.

Okay? Is that good with you? Bear, we'll get to, college football in a second, and we'll get to the games. But, for those of you who don't know, Felica is a big Jets fan. Okay?

He is part of our tortured fan base. And so I am wondering here. Mike Yeh will have a, a breaking story for you that just drives me crazy. But I am wondering how you feel about, whether or not Aaron Rodgers should come back. And if he does come back, do you want him back as the Jets quarterback?

No. Why why why why are you bringing him back?

He looks good the last couple of games there.

But but what do you what do you you're not going anywhere. The the team is terrible.

Right.

You're not winning next year. Like like, you are now in tear it down, new GM, new coach, new everything. You're you're in tear it down mode. You're not hey. Let's let's trot out a a 41 year old quarterback for another year.

Like, it it's not gonna accomplish anything.

Right. Mikey, I think for the first time, I saw you nodding. Like, I do you wanna ever Rodgers back, Mikey?

No. I'm just not sure what the alternative is.

Bear, let me just say this. Okay? I would rather Aaron Rodgers be bad for the Jets than be great somewhere else. So, therefore, I want him back. I cannot I can't stomach seeing him be great somewhere else.

Great. He might. He might.

The Jets and you will tell you he could be great.

I mean, that Are you just applying, like, the the Jets to beat his logic? Like, you need to it's the only thing in the world to be great.

Sam Darnold.

Geno's That's how it's it's it's bad

in that. What a freaking clown that guy was. I mean Oh.

We're 2 years away from Zach Wilson winning the MVP.

That will not be 1 of the 12 days of Christmas bets. I can promise you that. Yeah. Zach Wilson to be 2026 MVP.

I like that you say, like, oh, that clown Adam Gates. Like, Robert Saleh was like a genius.

Well, the the no. He wasn't. But but it it wasn't like I mean, Adam Gase, he he Darnell was the quarterback then. I mean Right. Like, clearly clearly with some pretty good coaching now in Minnesota, he's doing okay.

I mean, in here, a little look. It wasn't like he went to Carolina. It was great either. That was another dysfunctional organization.

There there is a, there's a great report by Diana receding from The Athletic, because I have maintained for many, many years that we as Jeff fans care more about the team than the fans do. Mike EA, please share this with the bear, and let's get his, let's get his response to it.

There there's a lot in it, Bear, including that Woody wanted to keep the mister irrelevant pick just because he wanted the pop of circumstance that goes with it. But the the part that that really stands out is he nixed the Jerry Judy trade from from Denver even though everything was in place because his teenage son said his Madden rating was too low Right. To make the deal.

I I

mean, that makes perfect sense. Right? I mean, what what what do you really need another reason than that? Mhmm.

But you don't know football, you go to Madden for oh, I guess this guy is good. He's an 87.

Yeah. We we we without a doubt. So seriously, how how ridiculous is that? Like, I I wanna keep the last pick because I wanna have another Brock party. Like like, give me a break.

Like, seriously? That that's a once in forever type hit that the 9 has had with that guy. So they but but then again, this is the reason he I mean, look. He fired Robert Saleh because his team got embarrassed in in in London where he was for the the ambassador for 4 years, and he was bruised. And and and he was embarrassed, and he fired his head coach because of that.

So it's like this type of owner that he is.

Were you okay with, Belichick reaching out to the Jets and the Jets saying, get the out of here? Yes.

Yes. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. Yes.

Of course, I was. I mean, he yeah. Look. He's he held a grudge for whatever, and he he land based on him. And and, you know, actually, for for once, the Jets actually showed a little bit of a spine.

I mean, I like

it.

Right. Yes. What did you think about a check going to Carolina? That surprised you?

I think it's either gonna be I don't think it's a middle ground. I think it's either gonna be great or it's gonna be a complete disaster. But then but then again, look. This is the guy who figured out a way to plant cameras to spy on his opponent before the Super Bowl and figure out a way to doctor football to get him into the game for Tom Brady. Like, if he can do that, I think he can figure out a way to, out out game plan Jake Dickert and Dave Doering.

You made news on this show, recently saying Don Shula was a cheater. Are you alleging that Bill Belichick is also a cheater? Well,

all all I know is those tapes have mysteriously been been destroyed and everything to do with with the Spygate with the Rams. Like, suddenly, they're it's gone. Well, not suddenly. It's been gone for a while. None of it exists anymore.

So I don't know. With the smoke, this fire.

You're right. Yes. Well said by you. Bear, before the season started, we'll get to your, we'll get to your picks at the end here. Before the college football season started, you and I voiced concern.

We shared similar concerns about what it would do, the new playoff format would do to the regular season. So now that we've had a full regular season to kinda digest this new era, what do you think? Have has your opinion changed? Did it ruin the regular season? Did it enhance it?

What are your thoughts here?

I still liked it at 4, but I will say this. It accomplished its goal. And for that, I'll I'll say it was a success. It made more fan bases involved. It created more conversation.

It created more discussion. We we cared more about it later. I will say, it was a success. Again, I'll I will fully admit, that I was I liked it more, than I thought I would. However, I I still think there are problems with the the way these teams are ranked, the way it's seeded if we're gonna spin it towards the playoff itself.

Like, the the way they see like like, Boise State getting a buy is ridiculous. You just need to seed it 1 through 12 of the top 4, get a buy, and then then you wanna put all the conference champions in. That's fine. That's a different story. But, give you 4 best teams, teams buys.

But, yeah, it will we we'll look. And we'll see what happens this weekend. I mean, people talked about wanting the extra games because, hey, upsets are gonna happen. You get more teams in. You don't know, but we can have 1st round upsets.

Well, all 4 of these teams that are hosting in the 1st round are, north of a touchdown favorite. So we'll see if 1 of these teams can go on the road and pull an upset. If not, then we'll kinda, that doesn't mean that it will never happen, but it will just kinda give the people and say, why are we putting, like, 12 teams in? We really don't need more than 4 or 8. So we'll see what happens.

Alright. So this is interesting. Of the of the 4 underdogs playing this weekend, SMU, Tennessee, Clemson, Indiana, which team do you think has the best chance of spring in the upset?

I think it's SMU. I think, yeah, I think what we saw from Penn State against Oregon, I think we saw the Oregon offense. Look. Granted, that's still in Gabriel and and that offense and Tez Johnson and those wide receivers, but they really got little resistance from that pen from that Penn State defense in the Big 10 championship game in with Kevin Jennings and the Miami transfers that they have down there in in what Lashley has, at SMU. I think they can do some similar type things, but it would not surprise me to see SMU, hang around in this game.

Now, look, they could go there, and their lack of beating anybody good throughout the year, they're trying to schedule the it may rear its ugly head, this coming weekend, but I think they have the the pieces at, that exist the most to potentially pull an upset.

So it's interesting. Like, do you think any of the 8 teams playing this weekend can actually win the national championship? Because that cut you do think so. Okay. Go ahead.

Who?

Ohio State. Really? Ohio State is still powering. It is 1 of the in Texas too. Ohio State and and Texas are 2 of the best 4 teams in the country.

I I that that's what I was getting at with with the seating. Like, if you if you say who are the best 4 teams in the country, I mean, some people might wanna throw Notre Dame in there, but it's Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, and Georgia. Those are the 4 best teams. And you got 2 of them now potentially would have to play 4 games in order to to win the title. But, yeah, if Texas or Ohio State won the national title, no 1 would be shocked at all.

But I think what football what college football wants to see eventually, and and they think it's gonna happen. I I'm I'm not so sure. They wanna see 1 of these teams, like SMU, make a run and play the national championship game, don't they? And I don't I just can't envision a day where we're gonna see

that there. I can't I can't either. I mean, you're you're asking SMU to to beat to to beat Penn State, and then and then they were locked out. They would you would get Boise State in the next round, but then you potentially get Georgia, and then you're gonna get either Ohio State, Texas, or Oregon. So, yeah, it it's not gonna happen.

The way the teams are built are different. In college basketball, you you have 5 players on the board at once. You it's it's not you build continuity with upperclassmen and you're playing together for 3, 4 years. That side stuff matters. College football, you're not gonna get that.

You get 11 on 11, the 2 deeps. It's just it's just it's college football is the most schedule reliant sport that there is. And I know people hate it when I say it, but, like, all schedules are not created equal. All conferences are not created equal. And and and the ringing and indictment of that this year, we was look at look at Indiana.

They played 2 teams with the winning record. SMU did played played nobody. Texas No no wins over a team currently ranks. So, like, even and you look compare the Texas schedule in the SEC to what Georgia faced going on the road to to Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama, and then having to play Texas again in the in the conference championship game. Like, you need to figure out a way.

That that is, like, 1 of my fixes, for the sport that you need with these mega conferences now, 16, 18 teams in in the league, 14 teams. You need to have 2 divisions. You at least need to have some clarity of who you're playing and and make it clear as opposed to Indiana missing out on everybody good in the big 10, with the exception of Ohio State and and did some of the other leagues because it really was unfair, to a to a lot of these conferences, just the the gap and the and and and the chasm in, in scheduling.

So if you're running 1 of these programs under the current construct, you're you're you're scheduling easy teams. Right?

Yeah. Right. I am. Yes. Absolutely.

Because that's what the and and that was what the and and that's what the committee did. I I don't you almost needed to think in, like, 3 d chess or checkers with the committee and kind of lay it out in your mind. Like, they painted themselves and and boxed themselves into a corner with with SMU, and and I brought this up a couple weeks out. Like, if you had SMU ahead of Alabama on the final week of the season going into a conference championship game, you can't knock them out because they play in a conference championship. You you're saying, okay.

You're in. And then you can say, oh, well, you gotta play in that conference championship game. You're not in. You should've you should've had them behind Alabama and basically say, hey. Go win the game, and and then you're gonna then we're gonna put you in.

So the they they they did a lot of law loss or or I gave you almost gave you a good New York Long Island loss.

Yes.

Every every now and then, it comes out. I like it. Same. Coffee. Yeah.

But but, yeah, it was a lot of loss ordering by by the committee. So, like like, they they need to do a better job in ranking these teams and not just look at because, again, SMU's 11 and 1 is not as good as what Ole Miss is 9 and 3 or Alabama's 9 and 3 is.

But, Barrett, it's, like, impossible to play that game. Right? Because you have to schedule these things out, like, years in advance, and you have no idea what the committee's gonna think 3 years from now. And, also, like, the strength of schedule argue arguably is why Miami didn't really have a shot. I mean, they didn't play for a conference championship, but you still had a 3 loss Alabama just because of the conference they were in over a Miami who didn't have as many losses.

So, like, that that was a strength. Like like, scheduling gimmes is good for, like, SEC teams and big 10 teams at the moment. But, like, if your conference is not viewed as 1 of the better ones and then you don't have the strength of schedule, you can't get in.

Fair point. Very fair. And and to to give Miami at least a little bit of credit, like, they did schedule Florida. And, they didn't think that Florida was gonna have Right. The and Florida actually wind up having a a much better year than than people thought.

So

But a bad year to schedule Florida and bad timing to play him. Like But

you don't but you you don't

know 3 years ago. You can't get a training. Right? Exactly.

Yeah. It's crazy just how scheduling ends up affecting And

and even within the season, like, could you I mean and we've talked about this with with with Mike and all the guys in the Miami, the Miami chat that were like, what happens if Miami and that game is played in November as opposed to September? That could be a whole different team. It's a Florida team in late in the season was much better than the 1 we saw earlier in the year.

Where does Mario go from here after losing Cam Ward? Because Cam Ward really is what kinda kept that team alive. So he basically has to find a Cam Ward every year under this current plan.

And and I hate it. I I it's why I hate this. Like, you need to go out and, like, recruit I guess the nickel kid, supposedly is is a is a guy. So that that that's a positive, but this is what I hate with with this current, like, portal transfer NIL airline. Like, every it's like, oh, we're just gonna go out and buy a quarterback.

It's not that easy. Look look at this year now. Oh, we're just gonna go out and get John Mateer. Yeah. Oh, no.

You didn't because he went to Oklahoma.

Because Baker Mayfield made a call.

Ex exactly. So I I don't I don't know. I you you it's still the the backbone of building your team is recruiting and finding blue chip guys and keeping them and and developed. And you get you gotta find the right kid to be able to do it. I know people are gonna argue and say no.

Look at look at, Texas and Oregon have a transfer quarterbacks, but but Clemson doesn't.

Right.

Penn State doesn't. Georgia doesn't. So I I like, there's still something to be said for for for bringing in a a quarterback and having maybe the right makeup to be able to hey. You know, okay. I'll sit in here and knowing that as a sophomore after a year rep and a year of practice and a year, maybe some mop up time, it's gonna be my team.

So, we'll we'll see what happens. Hopefully, this could it'll play out. I know, a lot of lot of chatter about maybe Mendoza from Cal, being the guy now. But, yeah, I I I'm I'm not a fan of of having to rely on that every year.

How do you feel about this Saturday? Because it is the playoffs, but also it's the return of Saturday NFL games. So, like, some of the very college centric fans are not happy that they're now sharing this day with the NFL when I think I speak for Stegots and Mikey when I say, when in doubt, more football.

Yep.

Yes. I'll I'll you've you've got multiple TVs. 2 TV games. Right? Anybody remember the good who who was involved in 2 TV games?

Anybody there involved in 2 TV games? Here. There we go. Yes.

Now you get that phone too as a 3rd TV. Like, you just Yeah.

Listen. Who the hell objects to more football.

It's it's it's ludicrous. Idiot.

Exactly. I mean and and if you're like but like what we had on Monday night with 2 absolute garbage games on Monday night, you

you you know,

the odds are maybe at least 1 of them should should be good. But I'll tell you what. It it is gonna be a little bit of a debate on, which gets the which gets volume up in in my house on on Saturday just because my wife being the, the Steelers fan for Pittsburgh right right in the middle of the afternoon. So that will be, that will be an interesting call to see, if if Ravens, Steelers, or, I guess the 2nd college football playoff game is what the, the the Texas Clemson game, I think, is the

2nd 1. Let me tell you how that call is going down right now. Okay? You are piping Raven Steelers throughout the house. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I I I I would think the, Sonos click connect, a a b 1 or whatever. Yeah.

That that's probably how it is gonna go down.

Alright. This is very exciting because the bear, we love him. He's great. The audience loves him, and he has decided to be our Santa Paws. He is going to give you 12 beautifully wrapped gifts for the holidays.

It is. And by the way, check out his podcast, bare bets, wherever you get your podcast. So how are we gonna do this? Are you gonna sing this? Do you want us to sing you in?

How do you wanna do it? Well, I'll I'll I'll I'll

just do it, like, 1 by 1. You you can you can you can kinda TB up for each time and react to whatever I may have said, but, yeah, I'll I'll just give you, like, a what we'll do to for the just to give you for example. On the first bed of Christmas, the bear gave to me. The sixers to miss the playoffs plus 1 30. I'll I'll give you a little bit of that.

Okay. I

love this. Yeah. I love this. It's gonna get really old and tiring, isn't it?

No. It's not. No. It's it will never get old. It will never get tiring.

I'm wondering what we'd do at 5, the 5th day. That's gonna be tough for a while.

No. I I got a good 1. I got a good 1 for 5.

Oh, okay. 5.

Yeah. No. You too. Like, look, I am as you probably may know this. I'm not, like, the biggest NBA guy in the world, but my buddies who follow stuff, I'm kind of hijacking this from them.

Like, the sixes are terrible. I know the east is bad, but they are, what, 8 and 16. Embiid can't walk. Everybody's hurt. And the way these bets are graded, the make this playoffs, it's you can make the plan and then get knocked out of the plan.

As long as you're not in the final field of 8 to actually compete in in in the playoffs, like, that that's a winner. So, like, the sixers to miss the playoffs at plus 1 30 is a is a bet that my, my NBA centric friends think is still pretty good. They were actually on it, a few weeks back when it was a better number, but I still think the way the season is playing out plus 130 is still a good bet.

Alright. So that's an official bet right there. That is the first

of 1st day of bear miss.

Yeah. The first Christmas of Christmas. Okay. Yeah. So, alright.

Billy, you wanna sing them in with me here?

On the second,

David, the bear gave to me.

Texas a and m minus 3 and a half versus USC.

On the 3rd day of Christmas, the bear gave to me

a Jeremiah Smith anytime TD versus Tennessee

on the 4th day of Christmas, 4th bed of Christmas, the bear gave to me.

Liverpool to win the EFL and Premier League

On 5th.

That's a plus 400, by the way. You gotta win the

bear gave to me.

The white socks to win 50.

On the 6th bed of Christmas, the

bear gave to me The Premier League saying bye bye to Man City. I'm saying they're gonna get relegated, by the way. They're gonna get slapped with a major penalty, and they're gonna get sent down to the championship next year. That's 10 to 1, by the way.

Okay. Wait. Really? You could get a bet on that?

Yeah. Absolutely.

Alright. On the 7th bet of

Christmas, the bear gave to me. Ohio State minus 7a half versus Tennessee.

I love you. On the 8th day of on the 8th bet of I keep saying day. On the 8th bed of Christmas, the bear gave to me.

The Eagles to win the NFC plus 220. It's your show. You could do whatever the hell you want.

Mhmm. On the 9th bed of Christmas, the bear gave to me. I love watching Mikey write these down. Go ahead.

Clemson cannot score 20. That's under 19 and a half versus Texas for those who weren't able to figure that out.

On 10th bed of Christmas, the bear gave to me.

Texas, Syracuse, and Ohio State in a money line parlay. That's minus 106, all 3 on the money line together. 106 is a very important number, by the way, because, that's my birthday, January 6th.

Wow.

I feel really good about that that I had the math actually came out to that pun punch to

January 7th.

Well, there we go.

Yeah. Perfect.

We get to celebrate it on on January 7th.

On the 11th bed of Christmas, the bear gave to me.

La Liga to be won by atlady 4:7 yeah. Plus 470 to to to win La Liga. Big 1 coming up this weekend against Barcelona. Barcelona, by the way. Sometimes it's just not your year.

We saw it with the 40 niners in the NFL. Real Madrid, Barcelona both kinda it's not going well for them right now. Give my man Simeone the league a title.

On 12th, bet of Christmas, the bear gave to me.

The New York Jets plus 3.

Wow. What?

I like I I I like the Jets plus 3 Rams this week.

Really?

Yeah. I do. Yeah.

I like the first time

I'm on the myself forward, baby. Woah.

Maybe maybe

that just be 1. Maybe that will be what convinces me to want Aaron Rodgers to hang around for another

year. I might just erase all of his bets now

after that 1. Rip them up, throw

them in the garbage.

This was delightful. I like this. Yeah. That was terrific. I'm upset with myself that I didn't think of it sooner.

I'm sorry.

But that's okay. I I love getting, like, the frantic, like, 9 12 text from Stu Guts. Hey. We're thinking about doing, like, this, like, 12 giving giving you, like, 12 bets to 12 sure. Whatever you want.

Yeah. Who who who who needs breakfast? I just need to write out my bets.

You also need to go do your own podcast. So Yeah. I know.

Yeah. That's coming up. Yeah.

We're we're

we're getting there.

Bear Bear Bets, check it out, wherever you get your podcast. Thank you for those 12, 12 beautiful gifts, buddy. I

You're you're you're so welcome. Happy holidays, guys.

Stigat here, I wanna tell you a story. I'm serious here. My wife and my 2 daughters, they begged me to buy a Peloton. So I bought a Peloton, and then I watched that Peloton sit in my office and stare at me. So you know what I did 1 day?

I looked at it. And so I decided to get off my ass, and I jumped on the Peloton because no 1 else was using it, and I paid for it. I mean, so why not? Then I realized eventually that they bought it for me. And I gotta tell you, way more challenging than I could have ever imagined.

Peloton coaches are walking the walk. I love the coaches. I do the Grateful Dead 1. It's fantastic. They have a sub 3 hour marathon runner, military trained athletes, a former college basketball player, and so many other well rounded coaches on their team.

All this experience really shows in their classes, which are never short of challenging, especially for me. So I jumped on it that first time. It was challenging, more challenging than I thought, then I wanted to beat the bike. And so I kept jumping on it, and I absolutely love it. I I mean, I'm the only 1 who uses it.

But, again, they got it for me. I mean, I had no idea. That's a little passive aggressive, don't you think? Find your push, find your power with Peloton atonepeleton.com. I love the, I love that you're donning the Carolina sweatshirt already.

Hey. Hey. Look. You know, you give me a chance to promote the school. I'm gonna promote it.

Yes. Did you hit the ground running, Mike?

Yeah. Hit it running. I haven't stopped. Yeah. It's, you know, it's hard because we're trying to get this thing going.

We're trying to, you know, we gotta recruit. So there's all sorts of levels of recruiting. There's there's the portal. There's the still the high school recruiting with the kids. Then there's your own kids you've gotta recruit.

So there's, like, 3 different worlds coming together.

Mike, can you, can you put us on the phone when Bill Belichick calls you when he starts discussing? Like, how did that process work where Belichick's calling you and saying, Mike, I'm taking the Carolina job. Do you wanna come and be my general manager?

Well, I think a lot of that was conversations that we've had ongoing. You know, we were doing the coach podcast. We still are. And we would have conversations about opportunities. And and I think when this 1 came up, you know, as I've mentioned many times before, Bill and I were on this campus, and we were walking around here thinking, how can't you win here?

It's a magical place. I mean, there's nothing prettier than Carolina. And they've been so good, and and they've got such great fan base, the the alumni. It's a great institution. And we've always thought this was had untapped potential.

And, you know, so I think to me, it was more about what he wanted to do than it was what I wanted to do. I always wanted to go back and work with him. So that was easy to kind of assume it was what he was gonna be comfortable with. And once he started talking to North Carolina, I think he realized he got very comfortable.

It's interesting. So so I'm guessing, Mike, knowing you the way I do, you don't take this job unless you know Bill Belichick's gonna be there for a while. Right?

Oh, yeah. I I that's I mean, I'm not gonna I had a good thing going with the media with Visa. As you know, we were partners on DraftKings, and

Yeah. I

was doing a lot of things and and, you know, it and it was a perfect ending to my career. I've written 2 books, and I was working on a 3rd book. And so, you know, I I wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for him. I wanted to work for him. I've always did.

We've enjoyed ourselves working together. It's a really good partnership. It's it's tremendous reward. And I know that the effort that he's gonna put in is gonna far exceed anything that anybody else would, and I wanted to be a part of it.

Where'd you leave off on the 3rd book? Like, what are you doing there, Mike?

Well, the 3rd book was actually gonna be about the the last 5 years in New England.

He

he's writing a book on leadership. But if you look at the last 5 years, the last 5 years of New England, the success that they had, 3 Super Bowls, we won 2 together, a conference championship loss, those kind of things. You know, it was the book is going to be about the second run. You know? Like, we've made the 1st run back in the early 2000, but that second run from 14 to 18 was pretty impressive too.

Do you think, Mike, at all that Bill does he still have a desire to coach in the NFL at some point?

No. I think he I think look. I think the end of this the the question everybody ask is why isn't he chasing Shula? And the people that ask that question really don't don't know Bill. Because if you know Bill, Bill wants to win championship.

Bill wants to go somewhere. He wants to set up his program. He wants to build a program, and he wants to run the program. Now people mis misconstrue that conversation as if he wants to control everything. No.

He wants to be able to build his culture. There's 2 different things. Building a culture and controlling are 2 different. And so he wants to build a culture. And in pro football today, it becomes increasingly harder to establish a full throttle culture because you've got so many outside entities coming in.

I've often said this many times, they've never dedicated a monument to a committee. And so in the NFL, there's a lot of committees. And so it's hard to get anything done. And I think in college now with the landscape, because it is professional, the players are getting paid that you can run your program, how you wanna run it.

So it's interesting. So you and Bill have had conversations. Why did you view Carolina as a destination, as a sleeping giant?

Because it's 1 of the greatest public institutions in the country. The campus is incredible. The high school football in North Carolina is great. And when you produce a player like Lawrence Taylor, Julius Peppers, guys that are in the hall of fame, they've always had great players. I mean, we could fill up the ring of honor back here at the stadium.

Like you can't believe, but they've not been able to kind of sustain success or get over that threshold, You know? And this I'd notion that, well, they're a basketball school. That's a crock of crap. Right? I mean, you're a school.

Vince Lombardi used to say this. A school without football is basically just a a a a cathedral of of knowledge. That's all it is. You know? And so it's a giant study hall.

And I think to me, football is a huge sport. And I think if you see now the landscape by these conferences, how things have changed, football is a predominant moneymaker, and you've gotta have a good football team if you wanna support all the other programs in the cool. So and this school's got look. The women's soccer team just won their 23rd, championship. This school's got great history in all the sports.

I just think to me, football needs to catch up, and that's why we're here.

Yeah. Lacrosse is 1 of them. How big of a how big of an influence was that for Bill? Just the fact that they have that lacrosse program, Petr Mall is a good friend of his. How big of how big of a factor was that for him?

Oh, I think it is big because, you know, coach coach p could tell him about everything that goes on down here. You know, they have a great relationship and what it's like to work here and and what it takes to win here. Right? And I think that that was a huge influence. I'm sure that was the first call Bill made when he was talking about the school.

How'd your family and friends take the news?

Oh, you know, I've had some interesting texts. You know, I I I 1 text I got from a very good friend of mine who I've known for 40 years. He's a high power agent. He said, you've lost your mind. And so I wrote him back, I love you

too. But I I I

I think to me, this is I I don't see it that way. I see I've been this is the arena I've lived in my whole life.

Sure.

I've I've spent my whole life having people knock on my door wanting money. I mean, so whether it's 18 years old or whether you're 40, I mean, the the knock's the same knock. You know? The story is the same story. I've got better at saying no.

You know? You know, what's that Jimmy Buffett line occupational hazard mean? Occupation just not around? Well, you know, you gotta be able to move to the next 1.

How how different is this role than when you were, like, general manager and VP of the Browns? Because it's it's seemingly a new position in college, but it seems like it's very similar to a general manager of a professional team.

Well, actually, I think I I have way more authority here than I had as a general manager of the Cleveland Browns.

So Wow.

You know, I had a report to a president. I had a report to the owner. Everything had to be checked and balances with the president, you know, so, you know, I I have a lot more authority to do what I wanna do to set up the program. That's gonna take a lot of work. Just because you have the authority doesn't mean you're gonna get the job done.

There's a lot of process. We have to establish a process. So what we're gonna try to do here at North Carolina is build a personnel department that is resembling a NFL pro personnel department. See, whenever you have money involved in any decision, you have to value the player. Player y is valued at x.

Player x is valued at this. So without grades, the player's value is meaningless. So we're gonna build that database. We're gonna grade every high school player. We'll grade every college player.

So when a guy hits the portal, we know exactly what we're doing.

Mike, it seems correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the 2 of you are kinda laying down the foundation, the blueprint of what college programs are gonna look like moving forward.

Yeah. I I don't know that. I just know how to run this. I know how to do this job. And and I said this to somebody else, and I don't mean this in any egotistical way.

As you get older in life, you get better at what you wanna do. I am so more prepared to be a general manager at 65 than I was when I was able to do it in my thirties. So, you know, I'm gonna do the best that I can based on the experience. Experience matters, and you've gotta understand how you wanna build a team. The appealing factor about working with coach Belichick is we both see how to build the team in the same way.

What is a realistic timeline, I guess, for North Carolina? Because now college football is so different where year over year, your roster is completely different, which I would think is a challenge compared to the NFL where you lock people in for years, and you don't have to constantly be there's not the same turnover that now you have in college. So where do you guys want North Carolina to be realistically? Is it an ACC championship? Is it the playoffs year 1?

Like, what are the expectations?

I mean, we got in this to win a championship, and, you know, this school should recruit nationally. There's no I mean, use that brand. I mean, when I wear this when you see this, this is in every airport. You can't go to an airport and not see somebody wearing a North Carolina gear. We've got Michael Jordan.

You know? You got Lawrence Taylor. We're gonna be able to walk into any high school, and they're gonna know North Carolina. Now we've gotta sell the school and sell the ability to win. So I don't see why we should put any cap on it.

I mean, we're gonna climb a mountain. Now we're at the bottom of the mountain. We get that, but we're gonna try to get to the top. I mean, there's no sense in going halfway up Everest. Nobody gives you an award for that.

Most people who go halfway up Everest are dead.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. You're right. They're frozen.

Right.

They don't make their way back down.

Billy, but this is Lombardi at Belichick. Like, they think they're holding up the national championship trophy next year.

That that's what I'm saying. I feel you're gonna talk me into this. Like, I'm gonna I think North Carolina is the national champions now.

No. I mean, look. It's gonna it's not just because we're here. It's gonna take a collective effort. We gotta get really good players.

We gotta spend time. But 1 thing I do know, there'll the you know, we have the greatest coach of all time coach of the team. The the team will get better. There's no question about that.

What do you think is gonna be Bill's biggest challenge going from the NFL game that he had to now doing college football the way it is? Is it the time that he's allowed to do? Is it is it his interaction with players and the recruiting aspect?

No. I I well, I mean, he's always been a really good recruiter. I don't think people have seen that side of Bill because of the what you guys see at the press conferences. The 1 word answer. Bill's very good inside, talking to a player, especially 1 that loves football and wants to get better.

I I don't think there is a challenge to him because you actually have more time to spend with players than you do with the NFL. They get, you get more practice time here in college. We got spring practice. Hell, we can't do anything with the players until the, until May in the NFL. We lost all that in the last collective bargaining agreement.

That's why the offensive lines in the NFL are so deficient because we've lost so many of those players that we haven't been able to do that. So I think that's really a hard thing. I think it's actually easier to do this than it ever was before.

Mike, I'll tell you this because Belichick, gave a pregame speech to my daughter's lacrosse team at Northwestern. He's very close with the, the head coach there, Kelly Hiller, and gave a pregame speech. Like, if people are wondering if Belichick can relate to 20, 21, 22, 17, 18 year olds, That a team walked out of that locker room saying that was the coolest 15 minutes they've ever experienced. So Bill could do it.

You know?

I I mean, look. I I I know he can do it. I've heard him do it many times. He just doesn't wanna do it for the 60,000,000 people that come to his press conference. Or does he have

to do it? Right. Yeah.

Not yet. Not not yet. I'm gonna buy 1. He's gonna buy 1. Look.

We're fully vested in this. This isn't like we're this isn't our you know, we're not going down to Boca Vista here, you know, and, retiring. I mean, it was just we're gonna put every ounce of energy we have into this.

Why'd you go Boca Vista there?

Well, isn't that isn't that where Seinfeld's parents retired too?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. The Boca Vista.

You're really excited for this. I'm excited for you, man. See, this is what you've wanted to do for a long time. If you if you were gonna pry yourself away, if you're gonna be pryed away for the media, it was only to go do something like this with Bill, I think. Right?

Well, no question. And and not have to answer to anybody. You know, we have lead Roberts, the chancellor here is tremendous. I mean, he sent me a text this morning asking me what we need, how we're doing. I mean, I I never got that text from anybody when you work in the NFL.

Right? So it's like, you're just you're you're here without interference. And when I say interference, I don't mean it in a malicious way without anybody, you know, telling you how to run the do it. You know, we you see all these reports that come out that the owner of the Jets wanted didn't, you know, didn't wanna trade for a player because his Madden rating wasn't high enough. I mean, seriously, if that's a true story, and I don't know if it is, but that's the world

I don't wanna live in. Yeah. No. It is. It is.

Are you surprised the NFL it seems like the NFL 2 years in a row has kind of, and I'm shocked by this because I think he's the greatest coach who has ever lived. But it seems like the NFL has kinda said, hey, Bill. We're done with you. Are you surprised by that?

Well, I mean, look. The Atlanta Falcons improved their team by saying they didn't think he was very good, haven't they? They've done a great job with that. I mean, you know, they spent a $100,000,000 on a quarterback that they're gonna bench. They had 3 coaches better than Bill Belichick.

So, I my hat's off to them to find 3 guys better than him at 7 and what's their record 7 and 6 now? They, you know, they haven't really improved for Martha Smith who did a really good job there last year. So, no, I'm not surprised because as Bill Walsh once told me in 1984, it's not always the league of the best and the brightest.

So, Mike, just as a friend, I wanna give you some advice. Like, I don't want you like, don't kill the basketball program and walk in there. Yeah. We're gonna turn it into a football school. Like, Michael Jordan.

Don't piss him off is what I'm trying to tell you. Okay?

Oh, no. We need Michael Jordan. We need the basketball school to be great. I mean, that's part of what makes the school so good. Every time a sport wins, the baseball team, the football team, the women's soccer team, we need that because that's we're we're a school that's gonna build winners, and they have and they have.

They haven't had they haven't needed Michael Lombardi or Bill Belichick to produce winners. They've done it on their own. We're just gonna try to help them.

I love the idea of Jordan helping on a recruiting trip. Like, what do you think?

I mean, I think, you know, Bill and him had a conversation. I think to me, he's gonna hopefully, you know, I think he's proud of his school. So why you know, I'm sure he wants to see good football at a school. He loves football. He loves the competition.

You know, we need him. I mean, I think there's no question. You need we need Lawrence Taylor. I mean, Lawrence was on Adam Schefter's podcast the other day talking about it. So, look, this school has incredible alumni, whether it's they play football, whether it's, you know, you know, whether it's in the country music world where, you know, there, you know, there there's certainly people that that are gravitate to this team that wanna be around it.

I think to me, it's it's really important.

Billy, imagine that. Like, you hear what's happening here. Okay? You're gonna have Belichick. You're gonna have Jordan.

You're gonna have Lawrence Taylor, and you're gonna have Mike Lombardi walk into a kid's home. Like, that deal's getting done. I'll take a Carolina to win the next 5 national championships.

1. We're just trying to win the 1st game. That's all we gotta do. Right?

I mean, you got no. You gotta do more than just win the 1st game. If that's all you do, it was a colossal failure, Mike.

Well, look. You can only win you can't win the second 1 till you win the first 1. So That is true.

But, Mike, listen. Listen. You're a media you're a media savvy guy. You're a media veteran. You know what's gonna happen if you lose that first game.

I'm gonna crush you. Okay?

Okay. Good. Yeah. That and I love it. And I

love it. You know?

And so look. That comes with the territory. This is as as the great Hyman Roth said in The Godfather, this is the business we've chosen. We know what

the rules are.

I'll crush you with a smile, though. Okay?

There you

go. I'm good. Yeah.

Billy, do we wanna try to get Taylor a gig here? What do you think? Do you think the time has passed? What do you

wanna do? Here's the thing. We work with this guy, Taylor Mike, and he, he's a former North Carolina football player. He was a walk on, but he, he did a lot of practice team stuff, and he tore up his knee, so that ended his football career. Now some would say he was a 5th year walk on who was still on the practice squad.

His his NFL career never had really a shot. The knee had nothing to do with it. Regardless, he has this interest in football, but, also, he doesn't just want any job. He wants a job that gives him benefits, but he doesn't seem like he wants to really pay his dues. Like, he's not, like, a quality control type guy.

Right. Right.

That makes sense.

Yeah. So what he wants is he wants 1

of those he wants to get comped for room food and beverage and but not play the slots. Right? So that's what he wants. He wants a discount. Coordinator positions open?

Yeah. Any coordinators?

We had our holiday party last night. Mike, we had our holiday. He said, listen. He will take a job that just has benefits and no pay if he could just stand next to you or Belichick.

He doesn't Maybe like a researcher, break down some tape, something like that.

Walk on onto the Carolina football team. He was.

That might be that might be exhausting too much research. He might have to, you know, but he might need the pearl vision that eyesight plan to make sure he doesn't lose it, you know, all that. But hey. Look. We'll take anybody who can help us.

I'll tell you that. Wow. Okay. Okay. So he's hired.

I mean

No. He's not hired.

You got an interview. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Listen. I'll pay you to get him away from us. Okay?

There you go. There you go.

I'm joking. Mike, I am so happy. I could see how happy you are. You're glowing, man. You're the GM of the North Carolina football program, and Bill Belichick is its head coach.

I am so happy for you, man. Congratulations.

You so much. Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate you having me today. Thank you. It's been great.

It is time for this week's edition of Steel You Gotts presented by DraftKings Sportsbooks. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crowd is yours. College football, all its playoff time, 76 66 and 2 on the regular season. We're only picking playoff games this year.

I'm not doing ancillary ball games. I'm not doing it. It's got me in trouble in years past. I'm not gonna do it. Let's get to the playoff games.

Notre Dame minus 7a half. They're at home. They're taking Indiana. Wow. What a great game.

Is it? I have no idea if either of these teams can win a national championship, but I do think Notre Dame is gonna win and cover the spread, buy it down to 7 points. Notre Dame wins their cover. Notre Dame by 14 points over Indiana. SMU plus 8 and a half at Penn State.

Weather could be a factor. Oh, I don't know what that means, but I do like SMU here. Penn State could've win the game. SMU get a cover. Penn State wins by 3 points and advances in the playoffs.

Texas minus 12 taken on Clemson. Texas wins. They cover Texas by 18 points at home. Tennessee, plus 7a half at Ohio State. Ohio State.

Ugh. I don't know what to do with them. Buy it up to 8 point. Take Tennessee. Ohio State wins.

They win by 4. Tennessee gets the cover. So Tennessee, Texas, SMU, and Notre Dame. NFL, week 16, 5 and 3 a week ago. I am on fire.

I'm having a season for the ages. Seriously. I would put my record up against anybody's record in the country. How about that? 66, 40, and 2.

Let me say that again. 66, 40, and 2. Let's get to the picks. We have the Ravens minus 6a half. They're taking on the Steelers.

The Ravens have to win this game. Right? Lamar has to beat the Steelers occasionally. Right? Well, it's 6a half.

We're gonna buy it down to 6. We're gonna take the Ravens. The Ravens win, they cover Baltimore by 13 points over Pittsburgh. The Lions on the road, bounce back week. Dan Campbell hit a reset button.

They're at Chicago taking on the bears who are lousy. They've given up on the entire season. The lions win, they cover Detroit by 14 points on the road. Falcon, minus 8a half. Michael Penangstad.

They're taking on the Giants. The Giants are awful. The Falcons still have a shot at winning that division and making the playoffs. I'm taking the Falcons here. It's more pick against the Giants than it is for Atlanta.

I'm taking the Falcons here by 14 points. They cover over the Giants. The Rams at the Jets, Rams minus 3, buy it down to 2a half. Rams win, and they cover. The Rams by 10 points on the road.

Vikings minus 3 at Seattle. Buy it down to 2a half. Vikings, again, we're not gonna give them any credit until they're hoisting until they're hoisting the Super Bowl trophy. And even after that, we still might not give them credit. Sam Darnold, please.

Vikings win and cover. The Vikings by 7 points on the road in Seattle. The Bills, it's Josh Allen's time. Yes. It is.

They're gonna win the Super Bowl. You heard it here first. I'm certain other people have said that, but you heard it here first. Bills minus 14. They're taking on the Patriots by down the 13 and a half.

The Bills win, and they cover by 21 points at home. Dolphins still think they're playing for something. The niners, they're not. Dolphins minus 1 over the 40 niners. Sunday afternoon, Dolphins at 425.

The Dolphins are great. Sunday afternoons at 425, they made that up. The Dolphins win and they cover the Dolphins by 10 points on the road. When you're 66, 40, and 2, you can make it up. The bucks minus 4 at Dallas, buy it down to 3a half, take Tampa.

The bucks win, and they cover Tampa by 10 points on the road. Those are the picks, everyone. Merry Christmas, and good luck.

Hello. Hello. Hello. You got me now? You got me now?

We got you. Yeah. We got you.

Oh, baby. They got me. Here we go.

It was the on button. Right?

Well, no. You said it. NBC's struggling for cash. The lights behind me throughout the company.

There are 2 jerseys hanging in Billy's office. Yeah. What is Tua, and what is yours, Chris? Since he's

I have 2 lefties. He likes lefties. I don't know. Does he like strong arms or weak arms, though? Because if he likes strong arms, then he should put mine in the frame.

If he likes weak arms, then I then he may got it right.

Yours isn't signed yet. Once it's signed, it'll go right up there next to

2. It

won't Alright. Alright. Won't actually

Billy, I can throw more than 10 yards, Chris Simms. That's what I'll write.

F you. I do f you. I do love Sims. I I do love Sims not liking that he's not in the mainframe.

Well, so here's the thing. When I when I did this, it was, like, 2 years ago. So, like, he signed this when we were at the Super Bowl. So I was like, yeah, whatever. I'll frame it.

Like, it's kinda cool. He's, like, the franchise quarterback.

Sure.

So when I when I went to sign it, it was, like, in that off season. And the frame guy who I'm giving money to is, like, are you sure you wanna frame this? They may cut him. Like, I'm hearing that

might cut him. I love it.

I'm like, dude, take my money. Like, what are you even doing?

Yeah. Seriously.

I feel like now if I back to the guy and I give him a Chris Simms jersey autograph, I'm like, I want this frame too. He's like, dude, definitely do not frame this. Like, why would you do this?

The frame guy always knows, though.

Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, he knows what's cool and what's not.

No. But sometimes those guys know players are gonna get cut. We dismiss it, and then they get cut. I mean, it happened. Yeah.

Happened to me a damn 1 time. A caller called in. He was a bouncer. He said Shaquille O'Neal is getting traded from the Heat to the, Phoenix Suns. We dismissed him.

5 minutes later, Shaquille O'Neal traded to the Phoenix Suns.

That's incredible. That's amazing. That's a good 1 right there. Where is he a bouncer at? That's what I wanna know because, yeah, I'm sure there are certain establishments where he might have picked that up at it.

I am not certain where he was a bouncer, but, you know, the streets talk, Chris. You know that. You don't know that.

They do. They do talk. You know it. Chris. I'm a man of the streets.

We're we're far enough removed, from your NFL playing days. And then if you can't answer this question, don't. But, you you lived in Tampa when you were in the NFL. That's famous for for some, you know Yeah.

Naked ladies are strip clubs. Yeah. Yeah. And and and massage parlors.

Oh, right. Okay.

Well, now okay. So you answer the question. I was gonna say if you partook in all of this, but you're giving us more details. So

Well, you're I mean, just laying out the facts of the city. I mean, there's a massage parlor on every corner, and there's in between those corners, there's 7 strip clubs in certain areas. So no. Like in fact, I was talking about this a little bit the other night. I used to go to strip clubs a lot when I was there.

I did. Right? Because, 1, it became like the place we hung out. Like, on a Monday night, Monday night football's on. Right?

Tuesday's a player's day off. So, hey. I could sleep in a little on Tuesday. Most Monday nights in my career, I I hey, Joey Galloway or blah blah blah. Where are we go?

Alright. We're gonna go to this strip club and watch the game and eat a steak because they got some, you know, higher end strip clubs there too. And I it became kind of a thing. It really did. It drove my wife crazy because she was like, wait.

You're you're going to the strip club again? I'm like, yeah. Well, that's where everybody is, and we're gonna watch the game there. So I

I I was I was

there often.

Wait a second. Wait. Wait. Woah. Woah.

Woah. Everyone's slowed it out. Hold on.

I was

sorry about Busch Gardens.

Well, time out. You told your wife you were going to the strip club?

I always told my wife stuff like that just because, like, I again, I was the quarterback of the of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I was pretty hard to hide. I just felt like with stuff like that, why try to hide it? Somebody's gonna say something to her. It's gonna come up in a conversation maybe when 1 of my friends are over the house, and she is gonna hear it.

So, yeah, I was kind of, like, transparent with stuff like that.

Are you a Christmas day or a Christmas Eve family?

Oh, well, we're a little both. I like Christmas Eve better. Mhmm. I love that night before Christmas. We kinda have a the family over our house.

My wife cooks a Italian dinner. Her dad, who was a restaurant owner and a a cook as well as he grew up, he gets involved in cooking. So we have a great time. The food's awesome. I guess there's the excitement about the next day being Christmas and feeling the energy of my kids.

Can't wait to open presents and stuff like that. So I I think I like Christmas Eve better than I do Christmas, actually.

Christmas day, I'm already kinda tired of Christmas.

I hear you.

I'm like, I have to talk. I saw you guys yesterday. Like, we don't need to do this again.

I I that's where, like, we we have everybody at our house. And, like, years past, we've gone everybody at our house, and then the next morning, you get up, you eat breakfast, you open the presents, all that, and we'd all get dressed up and go to my parents' house. I don't think that's gonna happen this year. That's that's not just because I gotta work the next day and be up early. And like you just said, it's just like, wait.

We just spent the last, you know, 9 hours together, and I just, I think it's a little too much. Not gonna happen this year.

How does Chris Simms feel about company holiday parties?

Oh my gosh. I can't stand them. I can't stand them. I that's how I feel about that.

What's the problem, Simms? I mean,

did yours did yours happen already?

No. No. I mean, we had some. We have a few more. Mhmm.

I'm all for, like, parties and love giving back. Right? But sometimes the holiday parties are like, yeah, during the middle of the work week or during the week, and you're like, wait. We were just all together, and now we're gonna spend the whole day together? Like, we just we just all, like, go to bed together too?

Damn. Like, how much do we gotta see each other? And if the holiday party isn't at something special, I kinda just sit there and go, b minus job by the company, kinda cheap party. Like, you brought us out here to do what? And this is what we're getting?

How much money did we pay to certain people this year on the what? This is it? So I I look at that stuff, and, you you know, if you're gonna make me come to the party, it better be a good party.

So you're judging the state of the company by the party. A 100%. And you hate the small talk. There's no way a sim's like small talk.

I don't I don't I don't mind, like well, the good thing I'll say about company parties, if I do go, I'm gonna have a drink and have some fun, and I usually am around some people that, you know, you like and you can talk and have some fun talk with. So that's not the worst part of it.

Jason Garrett looks like he loves a gift exchange.

Nobody liked it more than Mike Tirico. Mike Tirico was the best. He really would he was the spearhead of, like, hey. We're having a gift exchange. We're gonna do this.

He was very creative in gifts that he got, for other people. He was definitely the 1, I think, that led the charge in that department. Jason Garrett's a very thoughtful person. Mhmm. So he is really good at it.

Like, Jason Garrett, I just got it yesterday. Every Christmas sends me a smoked turkey. And let me tell you that thing is good.

Wait a minute. I mean, it

is it is good. So

that is turkey or rice?

It's definitely the standard card picture of the family. Exactly right.

No. A turkey. That's when when you're rich and you coach the cowboys, you say the card. Here's a whole turkey, and that's what he's done.

Hold on. So how does this gift exchange work that Tarika organized? Did you each, like, draw a name, or you just got things for everyone?

Draw a name. You can't tell anybody who you drew. Okay. It's supposed to be a surprise. It's kinda secret Santa.

Exactly right. You know, you're supposed to have a price point that generally you try to work with. I usually go above that as far as what I get. I usually am lazy, so I get something more expensive that's maybe not as personally meaningful to the person.

And who'd you get?

No. You're not gonna know the person. The person's a behind the scenes person. Right? So it's not 1 of the top, like, on air personalities or anything like that.

It's all our production crew, everybody, director, producer, all of them getting involved in this. And, Yeah. They're good. Like, they are good, and some people are very creative and funny about what they do. Like last year, I received a video message from Gene.

He didn't know he was making it from me. He did not know. So So this person listed out all the things and how I yell at the refs on Sundays and how I smoke pot from time to time, and he sent back this video having no idea that it was me just dissecting and kinda

trashing me altogether. And I heard you

trash the referees a lot. Altogether. And I heard you trash the referees a while. Let me just tell you. They're 90% right.

And, so it was really funny. I actually sent it as my dad, and I said, send the show this to and say, how dare he talk to me like that?

So what

do you think? The 4 of us next year?

Yeah. Exchange? What is that? A little secret sandwich. It's not too late.

What do you think? Okay.

Sure. Yeah. We could do that next year. We could.

Sure. Alright. Great. Who's, who's

You're gonna get a book from Stu Gotts.

Just, just between just between the 4 of us, Chris, who's the person that we would know? Like, the on air person and, like, god, I hope they don't draw my name. Like, this is just a horrible gift here. Who's the gift giver?

I can't say there's any there and there's nobody that I can look at to say they're shitty.

Matthew Berry. Matthew Berry.

Matthew Berry. Matthew Berry.

He's been alright.

He was alright last year. He passed the test the first time around. Right?

So I don't know. Billy has a Billy has a Tony Dungy. Gifted Cooper Ruggier in 12th round. Tony Dungy?

No. Coach Dungy is so thoughtful. He would never mess it mess up.

Jack Jack Collinsworth?

Jack's not a part of it because he's on the road, so he's not there.

Yeah.

Right. Yeah. But even if there was a bad 1, in this 1, you're not gonna get me to say it. So this is

Oh, so there is a bad 1. Okay. There is

There there Maria.

There really hasn't been.

Maria. Wow. You got it.

No. No. Definitely not Maria. Maria is pretty damn good in that department as well.

BFT with Mike Florio, the Unbuttoned podcast, football night, America Sunday night football. Chris Simms is with us here on God bless football. We have something else we wanna discuss with you besides football, outside of football. We'll get to that in a second. I am wondering here.

Aaron Rodgers has looked really, really good, the last 2 or 3 weeks. Yeah. Should the Jets want Aaron to come back?

I I mean, that that's that's a big it's a big future discussion, big picture of what you want the jets to be. And I think a little bit of that's gonna be detailed by the new GM and the new head coach. Right? And I would think that a lot of GMs and new head coaches are gonna be like, man, I don't wanna, have to start, and then I gotta deal with Aaron Rodgers and all that comes along with it because there's a lot. There's a lot right now.

I mean, he's a distraction whether he wants to say it or not. He is a distraction. And he could still throw the football, but there's the issues still remain about the things we've talked about. And we've seen the ball go down the field a little bit. Definitely better.

Right? Can he consistently do that against some of the better teams in football? That's where I don't know. Right? You know, do you wanna start a new future for your football team?

I guess what I'm saying, if I was making that decision, I would say no. I don't want I don't want it back. We tried it. It didn't work. We're gonna move on.

We're gonna build our team for the future here. We have some good young pieces that we like, and we're gonna build around that. So that's that's what I would say. But, yeah, I mean, again, I don't think there's gonna be anybody that's gonna come in there and and really wanna deal with that is what I would say really, Stu Gotz.

Sims, do you remember your Madden ratings? I only ask because I wanna find out if the jets would trade for you or not because that's apparently how they do things now.

I know. I I heard, and, I heard about that story. We talked about it a little this morning with Florio on pro football talk. My best matting running, I think it was 86. It was, like, the year after we the year I lost my spleen, but we had just got to the playoffs the year before.

That's as good as it got. So, I don't know what Aaron Rodgers is rated on Madden right now, but I don't have any any I should not be named in the same sentence as Aaron Rodgers as long as we're talking about quarterbacks. I will say that.

But, Chris, here's the problem. Like and I've said this before. You can't run a team like that. The Jets fans care more about the organization than the owner does. They take it more seriously than the owner does, and that's frustrating as a fan, man.

I I I understand it. And this is the problem too when you make right? It seems like rash decisions and firing people, and it's happened a lot here with the jets over the last few years. Let alone, yeah, things have been to somewhat dysfunctional there. And now those people get out of the building, and they tell all their coaching friends and their coaching tree, and word starts to filter out throughout the NFL.

Let alone they're bitter about the way they were treated or fired or whatever by the jets either way, the Woody Johnson, the Johnson family. So, yeah, the the the Woody Johnson, they're gonna be under the microscope. They are. Between stories like that, the sons that are 18 years old, giving game balls out in the locker room, Those are things that are just not normal things you hear within a football a successful football organization or the coach being fired. Right?

And when you're 1 game out and it's still early in the season, the 1 game away from taking the lead in the AFC. So the jets are not gonna be a top destination for the coaches that have options. That that is the what I can tell you. But as we know, there's gonna be 1 or 2 that are gonna go, wait. I don't have options.

The jets are the only place that really wants me, and I there's only 32 of these, and I'm gonna go there.

You surprised Belichick took that Carolina job?

I I am. I am surprised. I I I I now I do I believe he's gonna stay there long? Absolutely not. I mean, the buyout tells you everything.

Starting in starting this June, he can be bought out for couch cushion change from NFL owners. I mean, come on. A $1,000,000? Belichick has got a $1,000,000 of cash he could put in his pocket and pay that off. I mean, Belichick's that's nothing.

He's worth 100 of 1,000,000. Like, that's nothing. So that and the loan tells me he doesn't wanna stay there long term. He was shocked, I know, and so were people around him that there wasn't more of a calling for him to be the head coach. So, yeah, am I shocked he's going to college?

Definitely. Did I think there'd be a team that out there that would latch on to Belichick? I did think that, but I'm not shocked that the NFL rejected Belichick. His age, his control, his demeanor, everything that comes along with him. Yeah.

There's not there's gonna be some organizations that are gonna be like, wait. We don't wanna deal with that. We don't know how much longer he's gonna coach, and we're not just gonna give him free reign to take over everything if he's only gonna be here for 2 or 3 years. And, let alone this too. And this is the other aspect.

Belichick has treated most of the NFL like for the last 20 years. And I I don't mean it in disrespectful. It's just the patriots are so, you know, uptight, you know, quiet lip. They don't talk to anybody. He doesn't let coaches talk to other coaches on the field pregame.

Right? There's certainly a lot of coaches think there's a lot of arrogance that came out of New England over the last 20 years. I've said this on TV. I mean, man, over the last 20 years, if you gave me a dollar for every coach I talk to, oh, New England. Yeah.

I forgot they invented football. Oh, yeah. New England thinks they know everything. Oh, yeah. I know.

Belichick's got all the answers, all of that. They've they've burned bridges there. So there's a lot of people in football that just wouldn't wanna deal with Belichick in general.

Chris, I will tell you this. Now whether you believe it or not, that's obviously up to you. But Mike Lombardi, who he hired to be the general manager of North Carolina football, which I think is the blueprint moving forward. I think they're they're laying down the foundation of how college programs are gonna look. Lombardi said he would not have signed the contract if he felt like Belichick was gonna leave after a year or 2.

So Yeah. I know. And I listen. I'm I'm friends with Mike, and Mike's the man in my, you know, opinion. Yeah.

He's great. He's somebody I talk about talk about and talk football with a lot. So and we see the game the same way. And when he does say stuff like that, I do go, oh, alright. Maybe maybe.

But again, 2, I just I don't know. When it comes to business, I wouldn't exactly trust Bill Belichick in every word he says. He we've seen he can dodge questions and lie and bullshit pretty good to the media. And that's what I kinda find funny about the whole thing. He doesn't talk to the media for the last 15 years, and now he's a media darling telling everybody about how every team should play and coach and do all this.

And I think it's very, very hypocritical, honestly.

Alright. Wow. I mean, you don't mince your words, Sims. I love you. No.

I don't. Chris, the lions, are they too banged up especially on the defensive side? Are they too banged up to win the Super Bowl?

I don't wanna say that, but I it's the first time I've questioned it. Right? It's it's it's definitely gotten to a point. I know everybody likes it.

I know.

I've had fun with this all week because, you know, I always go next man up next man up. Right? And, like, yeah, that's I get it. I it's cool. And and I know we all wanna latch on to that, but, like, let me just give you a little story and an inkling into next man up.

Okay? Next man up. Right? After you get past the first guy to the second guy is usually like, well, there's a difference. There's a reason he's a starter and that's a backup.

Once you get to the 2nd guy and now you start going to the 3rd guy, then it's becomes like, oh, wait. 3rd guy's playing I mean, what we cut him last year. He wasn't even on a team. Now he's starting for us. So, like, you could say next man up all you want.

There's a big drop off, and that's what you worry about with them. It's banged up, and it's not like I don't feel horrible about their starters on the d line and things like that. It's affected their depth to where when they come off the field, you look at the 2nd unit and you go, oh my gosh. They have no chance against this offense or Josh Allen in this offensive line. And that's where you worry about it.

They're going to have to adjust their style, and I don't know what that's going to be, Stugots. That's gonna be the interesting thing. Like, do they just go super aggressive with their offense and go, screw it. We're gonna outscore you, and we're gonna play that style, or will they go a little bit like, hey. We can run the ball and control the clock and do that.

We're good enough to do that on the offense, and maybe we play that way and not put our defense out there as much. I'll be interested to see what Dan Campbell and and company's, approach is there in Detroit. I still believe in them. But as you know, with the injuries, I certainly don't think they're the best team in football right now. You know, I think that title goes to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Yep. What do you do? We'll get to the Eagles here in a minute. What do you do though if you're the Chiefs with with Patrick Mahomes? Do you arrest him?

Do you play him? What do you do there?

Well, I mean, it's gonna be hard not to play him. He's

gonna have

to not Right. Well, he's he's a you know, I've been around Mahomes too many times in my life. Right? And and and gotten the chance to know him a little bit. He's a psycho.

He's the psycho you want in a good way. He's a gym rat. He's obsessed. I mean, when I'm around them in Kansas City and Andy Reid, I don't know how many times Andy Reid's had to tell me, like, man, I mean, him. He he's obsessed.

We oh my gosh. He's all over everything. He's a gym rat. That's what he says. He'll cut your throat out to win the football game.

He's so he's that way. The big thing is let him play. If he can do it, that's cool. But don't let him play if it's so bad to where we might sacrifice the big picture of things. Right?

Like, just to be the number 1 seed is not worth it just to go, well, now we don't even have Mahomes for the playoffs. Right? Like, oh, alright. Whoop dee do. You just proved last year.

You don't have to be the number 1 seed, and you can win the Super Bowl. So don't make that the main objective. The main objective is to make sure 15 can play in the playoffs because when you got him, you know you can beat anybody.

Billy, I heard when when Sims was talking about his friendship with Mahomes there, the times that they have hung out, spent some time together. I heard you. I heard that Best friends.

Oh. Yeah. I heard oh, I heard

I heard a sound come out of your mouth. What was that? What were you No.

Just I was impressed with all the famous friends he has, you know. Yeah. Why did they ask him

to get him on the show? Like, what

the heck? No. No.

I could do that, you know.

Chris, walk me off the ledge. Why should I still believe in the Dolphins this year?

Oh, you shouldn't. Just fucking walk off the edge. Just walk in and hold a big weight while you're doing it. Alright? Hold a big 1.

Tie it to your ankle. Alright? Jeez.

But if they beat the Niners, they have a 12% chance.

Yeah. Sorry. That was just too easy. You set it up. You set it up too perfect there.

You knew he did.

The, you know, it it stinks. It stinks they lost last week. Yeah. Y'all played the Texans. You you guys know that.

You saw it. You could be up you got your defense plays good football. You still got playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. Billy, this is the big thing here. You know?

I put some stuff on Instagram. I don't know if you saw that. I talked about the Dolphins a little this week. Right? It's odd.

Let me just say this. And I know who I'm labeled as here, but it's odd that the highest paid player on your team is the biggest question mark we have in big football games. That doesn't match up. Like, when I grew up, the giants were never like, hey. We're worried about Lawrence Taylor this week.

We we gotta come up with something that we he's not we gotta make sure he looks good, and it's hard to win games, okay, when it seems like the objective of the team is just to make 1 guy look good and functional and not get him hurt on a weekly basis. If the NFL's hard enough, let alone to go in with a preconceived notion of how we're gonna play the game, that's where it's tough. Let alone again, your highest paid player is the guy that you never should have to worry about or game plan for. It just be like, no. You're good.

We put you there. Win. And then we're gonna figure out everything else with everybody else. And that's the unfortunate thing with the dolphins and the thing I'm gonna question going forward until proven otherwise, Billy.

Chris, just quickly here. I wanna give you 3 things that the media is saying and fans are saying down here in South Florida and see if you agree. The first 1 is Mike McDaniel should be fired.

What what like, why? What? 3 and 12.

3 and 12 against teams with winning opponent with with winning records. I You know, what? 2 playoff appearances.

And a big reason of that is because he's been handcuffed because he has to do it with a quarterback and had no choice. That's just always gonna struggle in those type of games in that moment. That's just what it is. I mean, it doesn't matter what whatever it is. Right?

So I don't agree with that. They've done special things on the offensive side of the football. I mean, everybody knows dealing with Mike McDaniel and that offense is a pain in the ass. So, no, I don't I don't agree with with firing Mike McDaniel. Not at all.

Alright. The second 1, which is it's a lot louder. There are a lot more people saying this. Chris Greer, the GM, he has to go.

I that that I can I can deal with? Again, the the biggest problem with it is team building team building, and that's the biggest no no of what I just said. You don't do that. Negotiate against yourself, pay more money than market value, and your best player like we talked about be a concern and double down and just try to make that work forever. We're gonna sacrifice coaches and players and the whole team because I picked this guy 5, and I'm never gonna back down for it.

And I'm gonna make sure he works, and so what if the team falls apart doing it? So, you know, this is this is a Flores got wasted the first time around because of Chris Greer, and he had the he had the owner's ear. So, yeah, I I look at it that way. And there's some other contracts and things there that I don't agree with on the football team either. So, yeah, I would be more in favor of that than firing Mike McDaniel.

Alright. 3rd thing being said is Torikay should be traded.

Yeah. Well, ding, ding, ding. Back to the GM, and we gave him a contract where we can't trade him, or it totally ruins our football team. So they're paying Jalen Ramsey like he's the top corner in football.

Crazy.

Nobody thinks Jalen Ramsey's even close in that discussion in football. Nobody. He's a really good defensive secondary piece to be paid like he's a island shutdown corner. Like, what? Are you kidding me?

I mean, no. So, yeah, there's a lot of issues there, and I could dive into a bunch of other roster moves and things that I just I don't agree with there.

You also have Jaylen Waddle, who I think is, like, in the top 7 of wide receivers being paid also, which is a problem when you have Tyreek Hill also in there.

Like, Jaylen Waddle, 7

or whatever. Wide receivers is crazy when he's

not Exactly. The offensive line issues, Waddle, he's been injured and all that. And I like Waddle. But, yeah, do I think they overpaid him a little bit? Yeah.

Certainly. I do. You know? It's it's certainly, yeah. I'm not in love with some of the contracts and the way they've built the roster totally.

Before we get to drones, Chris Yeah. Help me out with this because the NFC is wide open. Okay? Like, this is this is as wide open as a conference has been in quite some time. So tell me right now, if I tell you 1 of these teams makes it out of the NFC to the Super Bowl, if you'll be surprised by any of them.

Lions, Eagles, Vikings, Packers, Bucks, Rams.

Oh, you wanna know what's odd? I mean, you know why lions and eagles, I I I surely expect them.

Right.

Green Bay, I do think is talented enough

to

be in the Super Bowl. Like, no doubt. They are not outclassed by the Eagles or the Lions as far as talent's considered. Tampa's dangerous

Yes.

To where I would say, like, I don't know if I think they're a Super Bowl team really, but the way this playoffs could shake out and you play the lions with the defensive injuries like you talked about, could I see them winning some kinda shootout type of football game and the Rams too that I believed in that that way? Like, I I could see any of those for oddly enough, and what I was gonna say is the Vikings are the 1 team I think I'd be the most shocked by. I I I do. I I know it's weird. I know.

I don't even it's it's funny you're saying it, but I think, like, I'll I'm rooting for Sam Darnold, but I gotta see it to believe it, I guess, is what I wanna see a little bit more.

Of course.

Okay?

Yeah.

You know, the the defense is really well coached. I question whether they have enough real playmakers and big time guys that can make some plays against these high quality teams when it when it really counts in those moments. So I think those are the 2 things I I worry about, and their run game is solid, but it's a little bit up and down. And I just think there's some teams are gonna have issues with there in that department. So, yeah, the Vikings are the 1 and it's crazy as good as they are that I question whether they can get to the Super Bowl.

Yeah.

We're gonna doubt them all the way until they hoist the trophy.

I think so. Right? Right? I mean, it's gonna be 1 of those

for sure. I'm totally I'm totally with you. What do you make of these drones, Sims?

Yeah.

I don't even know. I don't know all of it. Right? I I mean, I've seen it. Of course, in New Jersey, it's a big deal.

It's crazy. I I don't even I I really don't even know what to say. I've been reading a lot about UFO stuff because, like, there's been some government stuff recently about they've laying it out there, and they're like, no. They're here, and we know it. And they have technology we don't know.

And they basically say in this hearing, like, we're trying to recruit people that are smart that more smart people to try to help us figure out what the hell these things are and how they do what they do. The drone stuff's just, I don't know, crazy, and it just seems like it's gotten out of hand. And I there's gotta be national security or something done about it because it's, obviously causing issues.

Mhmm. It's amazing. The aliens have arrived, and no 1 wants to talk about it. No one's concerned. You're right.

I'm with you on that. You know?

I know. I don't know if I think the drone thing's the alien thing. I don't know if I will do that, but I don't know. I don't know. I know.

Right. It feels Billy, I don't know. Are you getting the vibe that Sims feels like the drones? There's something going on here. Right?

Like, I that's the vibe I get from Sims.

He knows something.

It's no sound

like a drone thing. Alien thing or anything like that. I I I feel like too. It's like what you re I mean, some of these people have the we have technology now to have 1 person who control he can control 30 drones at once. Right?

Mhmm.

Yeah. So I I I I don't know. It's that's above my pay, and I haven't read enough about it yet to really know all the stories here with that 1.

Alright. Next week then. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I'm too worried about real spaceships and what I'm seeing there on government issued. Yeah.

Yeah.

Look at

it. Wait. What are you hearing from me? Hold on

hold on a sec. What are

you worried about? Unveiling it. That's what that's the funniest thing about this

is that

the government is unveiling videos of real spaceships, not drones or whatever.

And

that's not getting talked about. We're talking about drones. That's the funniest part.

Where do we find these videos?

I don't know. They call it the Internet. Alright?

Okay. Figure it out. Alright.

Billy, you aren't listening. The aliens are here, and no 1 wants to.

I heard. I'm trying to find out how to learn about the aliens. You just help me go on the Internet. Jeez.

I ask you so many Packer questions this week because I think the Packers are winning the Super Bowl. That's why. So I

I I I I had the Packers going to the Super Bowl this year. I did. Now we'll see where it goes, but I I do think they have that type of talent. They they're that that kind of team, and they can physically hang in there and then some against teams like the Eagles in Detroit that I look at to be as some of the most physical teams in the sport.

I was just wondering when you moved off your Jets versus Bears Super Bowl

to get

the Packers in there.

It is.

Yeah. Yeah. Seriously,

that would have been torture.

I was doing a thing, Chris. I was with the goal. I was always doing a thing.

I kick off in Kansas City. That that was his prediction.

That's all I do is things. Well said, Mike. Yeah. PFT with Mike Florio on Button Podcast football night in America. A merry Christmas to the Sims family, to, to big or to your wife, Danielle, to all the kids.

Merry Christmas to you, Chris. We love you. We do.

Thank you. Well, I I love you guys too. Happy holidays. Have fun. Enjoy.

We'll talk, next Thursday. We'll talk some Christmas and some stories, and I'll have some for you. The big thing for me is, will I stay awake to actually help my wife put the the gifts under the Christmas tree? Because last year was the first time in 10 years that I didn't, drunkenly pass out and say, see you later and just go lay

in the bed

and good night for the night. Yeah.

We'll see if I can do it. 2 years in a row. You're growing, Chris.

I'm growing. I'm such a mature man.

Chris, you gotta work Saturday. You can't watch Texas Clemson. I mean

I know. Well, I'll I'll I'll get to watch it. But, yeah, we gotta work. We I'm actually gonna be at Universal Studios in Florida doing the pregame show from there on Saturday. So that's gonna be kinda cool.

Why are

you telling us this now? We could've gone up. We could've gone to the theme park. Because he didn't want you to go. Doing.

Yeah. Right?

The whole time together. Billy's hand on a roller coaster.

This is a this

is a business trip. I don't have time for you.

Harry Potterland together had some big music.

That's what we're gonna pump some of the new things in the park while we do the pregame show. Should be cool. You might see me next to Harry Potter doing breaking the game down.

Alright. I'll see you next to some sort of potter. I mean, I so now listen. Me and Billy are 3 hours away. We rode through

Billy I'll see you Saturday, Chris.

Yeah. We'll see you Saturday.

Me Saturday. Okay. By the time you get here, I'll be on the plane out of here. See you later.

What do you what? That's not nice. We're gonna bring a gift. Do you need anything? I mean I

don't have time for you guys on Saturday. It's gone. Boom. Get to the airplane. Gotta get back.

Gotta do a Sunday show here. Alright? Gotta work. Yeah.

You know? What are you expecting to be under your tree on Christmas Eve,

Christmas Eve? I can tell

you what I would give him.

I mean, what do I expect? A lot of my hard earned money paying for everybody else's great Christmas. That's what I expect. That's usually what it is. I spend none of my money and watch my wife spend it all on herself and the kids.

Yep. That's a scary Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas. That's right. I'm Santa Claus. That's who I am.

No. You're the Grinch, Chris. Jeez.

See you later.

Choice of games here. We we got a lot of big games out of the slate that are are missing this week. So

What do you mean?

Pittsburgh Ravens, Philly, Washington, Minnesota, Seattle, Houston, Texas. Locks.

You got some locks?

And you're giving us the Dolphins and the Niners, dude.

What's wrong with the Titans and Colts? I mean

Yeah. The Titans and Colts.

That one's true. A real barn burner.

You mean the Colts need it? I mean

Yeah. I I you're right. They do. They do.

Alright. Well, I'll, I'll take a note because this is you're not the second person who's had a bit of an issue with the picks this week.

So And it's the college football playoffs, which we do every year, and you didn't put 1 game on there.

Okay. You wanna do all of those games as well?

You wanna do all 4 of them?

Yeah. We can do that real fast.

Alright. So you how about this? Why don't we start with that, K Funk? And and let's

Karl said yes.

We've done

it here.

Hold on a second. Let's switch roles here. Why don't we let you drive this portion of the, of the segment where you

I just produced the show while we're at it. I mean, it'd probably be better.

Okay. Mhmm. Alright. Guys, by the way, I I wanna congratulate everyone involved here because we haven't, formally discussed this, but we were nominated for best American football podcast in the sports podcast awards. So Woah.

We we might be winners again for best American football podcast. So congratulations to everyone involved, especially UK Funk.

Yep. No. Not me. Not me. I can't take that.

You know,

you you you

you you you you're the oldest 11, I k. Funk. Take credit for it, baby.

Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Take credit.

We did we did win a couple years in a row there. I think last year, we stumbled all over.

Yeah. By the way, more congratulations are in order because yet again, we had a 5 and o week last week. Oh. And we have a repeat offender in Mike Rawlis.

Oh, so 2 and 3 of the guys.

Yeah. Acknowledge him. We have time to let him talk this week since last week. I went undefeated, and we didn't have time to do anything.

You continue with this undefeated thing. You had a tie.

That tie doesn't count. That tie doesn't count, k. Fuck. That tie doesn't

look up.

Mojo will be joining us, in a little bit. He's, he'll be joining us shortly. But but K Funk, you have the 4 games?

Yeah. I'm here. Alright.

Go to DraftKings. Get us the DraftKings lines, and then walk us through.

I already

did that, Willie. I already did that.

Okay. Very good.

I already got the live DraftKings lines here, boys. We got the college football playoffs this weekend. 4 games. So we're gonna make quicks. We'll do kicks.

We'll do this quick. I'll get Gordy's. Gordy's very busy today. He's meeting with the complex Sports Complex owners for some, ground fitness.

So Wow. Gordy, by the way, went 4 and 1 last week, K Funk. So he's, he's starting to pull away from you a little bit.

I don't know. I'm 15 to 9 in the last month, so it's not too bad. So

You're 33 and 42 overalls and 3.

Well What what are the standards? After after last week where you just don't know anyone's records and stuff this whole season, I'm gonna have to audit it. So I'm not No.

Don't worry. I went I went back. I fixed those.

Any any record you throw out there because No.

We fix everything.

Like, oh,

well, that doesn't count. This doesn't count.

Hold on. Hold on a second. So for those who are actually curious amongst the, the leaders right now, and I have to get win percentages, but Mojo's at 44, 29, and 3. Mike Rawlis, who started out very poorly, is at 34, 25, and 1. Carl's at 37, 32, and 2.

Gordy after his 4 and 1 is 35, 39, and 3.

Good comeback.

K Funk is 33, 42, and 3. Wow. And Share Bear's at 3142 and 2. Yeah.

Oh, you got it, Share Bear.

Yeah. Don't worry. Time.

Yeah. Got what? The longer it goes, the better it is from Share Bear.

Slow and steady wins the race.

I was 15 games under 500. Now I'm 4, so I'll take that.

Well, no. You're not. 4. You're you're you're 9 under. What are you talking about?

4? You're 33 and 42.

Yeah. Well,

better than 9th better than 15th, I guess.

Okay. What did

it happen? Better than you. Hey.

You know what?

Keep on get control of your show.

You're only

as good

as your last game. You're only as good as your last game.

Last last week, you're 23, so you're not very good.

I had a

bad I had a bad that's under 500.

I need to do better. I need to do better. Alright. Billy, we talk now. Alright.

So we got the first game this week. Indiana Hoosiers are at Notre Dame. Notre Dame's minus 7 on draft, please. I'll go to Did

you go 2 or 3 last week?

I was 2 or 3. I'll take Oh,

0, welcome, Mojo.

Welcome, Mojo.

Mojo, just to catch you up on what's going on. K k funk decided that we need to do college games this week, so we told k funk you can just hold host the college portion of it. So k funk is hosting this show as we

speak. Mojo, how are you doing? Welcome. Where's the baby?

Feeling like I don't wanna be a part of a K Funk hosted show. I logged in late. Maybe I should log off early too.

No. No. Don't do that,

Mojo. You have

to be on in the first game, just

so you know.

We're doing. Right? It's been that bad since I've been gone. I didn't think that could get any worse.

Guys, Mojo, we do the call.

Be worse than 0 wins.

Yeah.

We do the call. Mojo. Mojo. Mojo.

Let me catch you up. 3 big things you need to know. 1, Wallace went 5 and o.

Yeah,

man. We're nominated for the sports, podcast awards, best American football podcast again.

Well, again, yeah, that's not we we win every year. So at at

this point

Well, hold on a second. We didn't win last year, and 1 person was absent last year.

Oh, it's 1.

Yeah. And now you're back. Yeah. So I'm not back.

Well, now it's automatic then. We're batting a 100 when I'm on the show.

Well, not a 100, a 1000. A 100 would be really bad, but we get the point. He's a half

he's a half. He's a half.

He's a half.

He's a half. He's a half.

He's a half. We're on

he's a half. We're on

he's a half. NBA. Aren't numbers your thing?

Yeah. It's right there.

Also also also, Carl's a grandfather now, Mojo.

Oh, hey. Wait. Was that Mikey Ace third thing? Congratulations, Carl Douglas. Was that Mikey Ace third thing?

My third thing was because

he didn't get in front of Randy Bozier. Right.

No. I thought my third thing was gonna be k funk with 2 and 3 last week in case you didn't.

Yeah. My third thing All 3 were gonna be Raul as 5 and o.

K funk went 2 and 3 last week and then bragged about how great he is and then said you're only as good as your last week. I'm like, well, your last week was terrible. So now you're all caught

up. I apologize.

Hold on. There's no way we're not doing the NFL this week. This is

No. We're doing the NFL. We're doing

we're doing the NFL. We're doing the NFL.

Honestly? Do the college. Honestly?

Okay. Listen. K Funk.

I'm gonna edit all this.

You're

K Funk, you're you're done. We're not doing any more college. Here's the deal. I I I was just I was just stalling for Mojo to join, if I'm gonna be honest with you. Yeah.

Alright. Stu got get us back on track with the real games.

Played college football. Now he doesn't wanna we do college football playoffs every year.

Okay. So

what were you saying, Stu?

Yes. Stu got what what were the games?

What I was saying is Browns and Bengals. Bengals minus 7a half. Okay? Bengals are minus 7a half. They're taking on the Browns.

Gabe Buck is so upset right now. Mojo has no idea what's going on. Carl needs to get to work. Let's go. Let's make it 7a half.

Carl Douglas, where that Rams at? They're hot. No 1 wants to see them in the playoffs. Carl Douglas.

Joe Burrow's hot right now.

Alright. So you're taking the Bengals minus 7a half at home against the Cleveland Browns. Joe Burrow is hot. You're right. Any other year on any other team, he'd probably be the MVP.

Let's go to Mike Rawlis. Rawlis, Bengals minus 7a half. They're at home. They're taking on the Browns. Who do you got coming off of 5 and o?

Yeah. I'm gonna agree with Carl here. I looked at the

You had a fun

schedules for both these teams. Browns have been blown out a whole bunch recently. And the Bengals, even though they've struggled in a lot of close games, they've blown a lot of teams out too by 7 or more a couple times. They're 4 or 5 times as you saw them on Bengals.

Right. Share Bear, are you, are you ordering lunch? What's what's going on there?

Always. Always.

Who you taking here?

Him. I've become a Browns fan ever since, I went out 1 night with a Cresson's old running mate. Good old Gerald, big money Warren. So I'm gonna

go with

the Browns.

Okay. Big money, baby. Warren. Doesn't matter.

I like it. Good boy. K. Funk, can you take it off your 2 and 3 here? Bengals,

they're hosting the Browns. Bengals are 7a half of my favorite. Oh.

You were 2 and 3. I'm just standing the

line. Yeah.

That's a good week for you, dude. It is

a good week for you.

That's so

much fun.

For you.

Congratulations. It's

TV. Mojo.

This is your best week all season, dude. No wonder you wanted to move to college. You gotta retire and go out on top.

Weren't you a bench weren't you a bench warmer at college college at Maryland? You should want us bet on.

Well, how much

did how much

did you play in college, K Funk, incidentally?

How about that? Play anything.

You know, a

lot less than, you know, whatever. Alright. Where

did you play? What's your question?

I don't even have to say anything. K punk you do it for yourself.

Alright buddy. I'm gonna go ahead and take. I'm not gonna take Dorian Thomas whatever the hell is in there.

Oh Thompson

There you

go. Hey, TTR. Mike. TTR.

Mojo, who you taking here? Bengals at Browns? Bengals, 7 and a half point favorite?

Alright, guys. Well, here's the thing. Mojo is a dad now. But just because I'm a dad, it doesn't mean that I've lost my mojo. And I'm taking this 1 back to season 1 kinda logic here.

And here's the thing, guys. The Bengals are 6 and 8. Meaning, if they lose, they're gonna be 6 and 9, which means I have no choice but to take the Browns.

Interesting. No choice. Uh-huh.

29. Yeah.

You're right. I found

out that angle.

He won that season. So

Yeah. It's the only angle Mo jumping, Tom.

Am I still winning this season?

You are.

Just keep doing it the way you're doing it, Mojo. You were

4 and 4 and 1 last week.

Don't you? And that's a bad reason.

He wasn't 4 and 1, was he?

Yeah. Yeah. He was.

I was 4 and 1 last week.

Really? Yes.

You are.

Check your notes.

Yeah. Check your notes. Exactly right.

I'm checking my notes.

Alright. Carl

was 4 and 12 last week

to be clear.

He has no

That is true.

No. It's that. Be clear. That's the worst part of this.

Alright. On to the next game. Titans at Colts. Colts are 3 to half point favorites over the Titans. Titans.

Colts actually need to win this game. I guess they still have a shot at making the playoffs. We'll go to Mike Rolles. Up at 5 and o, we'll go to him first. Michael, you take it.

Yeah. This one's real tough. I mean, goddamn did the Colts to bed last week after getting off to

a good start, but,

I guess I I choose them to rebound over Mason Rudolph. You know, I guess. It's a good game. Thanks for including this 1, Billy. I mean, it's a really good and interesting game.

So

Thanks, Billy.

I think I'm gonna go with the, the Colts.

Alright. Carl Douglas, so you take it here. We have the, Colts 3 and a half point favorites at home, taking on the Titans.

The Colts have a slight chance to make the playoffs. They dropped the bomb last week, but I'm gonna hope for a comeback. I think the Colts give up the points.

Alright. Carl Douglas taking the Colts. Share Bear, who you taking here?

You know me. I don't really go with logic. I'm kind of a field player. You know? Yeah.

I I look for look for signs. I was out in West Palm on Sunday night, and I saw a big Jevon Kearse. It was nice to run into him. And then, randomly, I was watching the, little Kurt Warner, American Underdog last night. So kinda feel bad for the Titans, which means, I think I gotta go with them.

I feel they're gonna turn it around.

Mhmm.

It's been

a lot of Titans in my in my subliminal cautious mind. So, go with the Titans.

Alright. Nice. Who we, who we taking here, K Funk?

Sherbert, aren't you in a tournament right now?

Yeah. I'm here at Daytona. Hurry up, K Funk.

Yeah. The speedway. Daytona Speedway.

Follow ups. Make your pick, man.

Alright. Yeah. I'm gonna go with, Mason Rudolph here. Give me the titans. Thanks.

I'll be taking the Really? Taking the titans. Okay. Go ahead, Mojo. Have at it.

Because because he believes in Mason Rudolph.

That's so weird.

You're trying to lose. Go ahead, Mojo.

Alright, guys. Just because I'm a dad now, it doesn't mean that I've lost my Mojo here. So the Colts are 6 and 8, which means if they lose, they go 6 and 9. 69. I'm taking the titans.

I think Carl's starting to get why we

said pick these games.

No. It's a better reason.

I think

he's starting to get it.

Anything we can do for Mojo.

I'll make it set. So yeah.

Oh, boy.

Let's see what we can do

for Mojo.

And, Mikey, you're right. There's a reason it is a dumb reason. You're right.

Yeah. Dumb reason. Exactly.

There's a no reason, Carl.

Thank you, Carl.

But it's there are reasons that make us smile.

I get it now.

I get it now.

Yeah. No need to pick good games. Let's just pick Mojo 69, man.

Well, this is a

good game. I mean, we got

we got America's team here. I mean, it doesn't get bigger than this. Okay?

You have

the Bucks and the Cowboys. Bucks need this game. They have to win it. They take it on America's team in Dallas. The Cowboys are plus 4 at home.

Mike Rolla, so you take it here.

Well, I just remembered that I was supposed to be doing a southern accent for my pick.

Oh, yeah.

I did make a promise, and I'm wearing my Randy Moss, gear here. So I think I'm gonna just start to slip into a little bit of a West Virginia accent or something like that. And, you know, with this game, if you look at America's team, they, they're about 1 bad bunch of punt away from being on a 5 and o win streak, something like that. So I think I'm gonna go with the the cowboys to cover at home.

Okay. I love that you're staying in character. You don't have to. I'll give you a pass for a week if you want if you wanna do it next week because you're hot right now. You're 5 and o.

Look, man. I made a promise. I'm gonna stick to it. This is what Randy would want me to do. I know that, and, it's what I'm gonna

do. Integrity. Integrity. Nice. Nice.

Let's go to our Share Bear. Share Bear, who are you taking here? Oh,

I

don't know.

You never know. You never know.

That'll that's

what we're calling you. Come back to you. Lunch.

I mean, that's right. Well well, you know, I'm in Daytona right now. I'm gonna be driving back through Tampa, on Sunday. So, you know, I would like to think of myself first. So give me an excuse.

Maybe have a good, good night if the Bucks win. So, let's go with the Bucks. Let's go

with the Bucks. Tampa. Yes.

You know, selfishly.

Right. Got it. Carl Douglas, who you taking here? Bucks and cowboys? Cowboys plus 4 at home?

Well, first of all, I'm impressed that Mike could do a West Virginia accent. I didn't know what that was, and I heard him talking to some. Now I get it.

But I

think the Bucks are playing for more. I'm taking the Bucks. I hate the Cowboys. Give me the Bucks. Oh.

Yep. I hate the Cowboys as well. Hate

the Cowboys.

Gabe Funk, who you taking here?

I can't stand the Cowboys. I don't like the 4 points, but I don't know, man. The Bucks, I think they're the only they beat the Lions and the Eagles. Right? Give me the Bucks too, Baker.

Give me Baker here.

Alright. You're taking the Bucks. Mojo, go ahead. The floor is yours.

Guys, just because I'm a dad now, it doesn't mean Yeah. We understand that. My mojo, and the Dallas cowboys are 6 and 8, which means if they lose, they're gonna be 6 and 9.

No way.

In the

Buccaneers because I'm 69. I

hope so. Hope you go 5 and o, man. Let's go to the next game.

It's my favorite week all season. This is the 1 week I wait for the entire year.

We do. Saints at Packers. Saints at Packers. These are bad games, but I you know, whatever. 14 and a half.

But whatever.

The theme is worth the bad games.

I don't see K Funk getting mad at the bad games.

Yes. That's even better.

I mean, K Funk has every right to be upset about the choice of these games.

Yeah. Carl brought it up first.

I mean

2 people disagreed with us with our picks. Carl and Kayfook. One's got a big smile picking the games, and the other 1 is cursing everybody out.

Saints and Packers. Let's go to the guy

who's smiling first. Carl Douglas, who

are you taking here? Saints and Packers.

What's the Saints record?

Yeah. 14a half.

Record? It's 558.

No. 589.

589. I've learned I've learned from this show never to never to give up so many points. I'm taking the points. I'll take the Saints.

Alright. Taking the Saints. Let's go to, Mike Rallis in his southern accent. Go ahead, Mike.

Yeah. Well, back in the day, I scored a touchdown. Randy Moss scored a touchdown on the Packers, dropped my pants, moved the fans, and, infamously paid that fine in straight cash, homie. And this time, I'm gonna give it back to the Packers. I'm gonna pick the Packers to to cover this 1.

So they're rolling right now, man. Give me the Packers.

Alright. Share Bear, who do you like here? Packers, 14 and a half point favorites at home against the Saints.

I mean, I'm gonna have

to go with the the daddy over here

and just go with the logic, and Saints are gonna win. I'll go with the Saints.

Saints? That's your logic? Okay.

For 5 and 9, they gotta win. Right?

They gotta win.

If they win, Mojo will tell us what's gonna happen.

You should listen to him, Share Bear. He was 2 and 3 last week.

He's in 1st place.

I'm going with Mojo.

K. Funk, who you think

they halftime, they put Rattler, and I like him. They gave him a little give him a little push there last week. So 14 and a half is way too much. Give me give me the Saints here. I don't care what the record is.

I'm just Mhmm. Giving the Saints.

Alright. Mojo?

I know where Mojo's taking all my picks. I know.

Guys, just because I'm a dad now, it does not mean that I've lost my Mojo. The Saints are 5 and 9, which means if they win against my favorite team that I pick every single week on God bless football, they're gonna be 69. So I gotta put my love for 69 above my lap, my love for the Packers. Give me the Saints.

Go ahead. That's it.

Alright. Final game here. Carl needs to lead. 40 niners, they're taking on the Dolphins. Dolphins are 1 point favorites.

Let's go to Cher Bear first. Cher Bear, go ahead.

Let's go, let's just go to the Dolphins. We'll end strong here in Miami. And, you know, we got

big fair fair weather fans

in Miami, so we just need a a nice win at the end of the year to kinda get them excited for next year.

Right. To placate all those Fairweather fans.

Fairweather. I am not there's no Fairweather fans on this show.

Oh. 0 god. Let's go.

Billy, you're a Fairweather fan? You're not a Fairweather fan,

are you?

I'm not gonna be insulted. I share. It's fine.

Who wasn't talking about this job? I was talking about the city of Miami. I'm talking about the people that throw the parties, you know?

You're

right. Yes. Yeah. So not fans at all. Not even fair weather fans.

They're fans of party. Let's go to Mike Rollo, southern accent. Go ahead, Mike.

Yeah. This one's tough. Both both teams have been a little bit disappointed this year. So, man, I just think the rattling off, back back when I played at Minnesota, the year after I left, I was I wore number 26. The year after I left, there was another young linebacker that came in.

He was number 26. That linebacker's name was DeVandre Campbell. I don't know if you guys saw him in the news this week, but he walked out on the 40 niners. They've suspended him. I think they rally around that, and they squeeze out a win here in Miami.

Give me the niners.

Alright. Taking the 40 niners there. Well done. Let's go to Carl Douglas. Niners at Dolphins.

Carl, who you taking? Dolphins a 1 point favorite at home. Still have a 12% chance of making the playoffs if they win this game.

Both these teams have had a disappointing season, but I'm gonna take the teacher over the student. Oh. Give me the 40 niners.

Oh. I like it, Carl.

I like it. Let's go to K Funk. K Funk, can you take it here?

I mean, this is just a Billy special here. I don't even know who to take. My Dolphins are just an embarrassment. Give me the Dolphins.

Oh, okay. God.

This is interesting here.

Well, dude, if we can't won this game.

Yeah. Well

came out.

Really, Mike? What are

you going to this?

Yeah. Let's see what happens. Mojo, the floor is yours, sir. Go ahead.

Guys. Yeah.

We

Just because I'm a dad now. It doesn't mean that I've lost my Mojo. This is it. This is our main event, our Super Bowl of this week because both teams, everybody, both teams are 68 right now. And since I cannot pick both teams to lose this game, if there was an option, I would gladly choose it, but it's not an option here.

This is a win win for Mojo because somebody's gonna be 69 after this game. So with that logic in mind, there's only 1 logical move to make here today. And that move is can anybody tell me?

Yep. Pick opposite k from

Opposite funk. Opposite funk, everybody. It's a dirt fire winner.

No surprise, sir. Funk comes

out his best week at 2 and 3.

Still a winning

week. Opposite

funk holds true all year.

Okay. Holy shit. He's become like a rock singer who stops singing and the crowd just picks it up.

They got the lyrics. They got the lyrics.

You know, there's a reason why this show wins sports podcast of the year all the time.

Mhmm. Yep. K funk.

Great job, buddy. Great job.

K funk. K funk, you still have 2 games to host here if you're still doing that. Unless you've given up on college. Don't you dare?

Mojo's scared to pick college games. I don't know, dude.

Well, now that we did the 69 thing, I can whatever you guys we can pick bowling if you really need to, k Fonzie.

Let's do whatever.

Alright. Real quick. We already did the other day.

I I I wanna I wanna add something in here quick. I'm okay with us doing the college games, but they only count for the records if k funk actually does well. I just don't know if any cap this is much

as possible. Wow.

Yeah. We've been doing this all season. I don't know if he's actually noticed this or not, but

Mojo, the only reason you're in first place is because of the 3 weeks you went up to me. You weren't even on the show, so you're welcome. I have nothing to do with your it has nothing to do with your picks or your

I still do everything. You. You'll fuck me.

That is true.

That's what I'm saying. Nothing to do with him. What's the choice? Some great kicker or something.

Spread master.

Yeah. Exactly.

Thank you. Reason.

Right.

It's it's documented, funk.

Yeah. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No.

He's gonna go, man.

Just get Carl's get Carl's games. Get Carl's games.

Carl, I'll go to you first, Carl. You you can do the rest of these 3. We got, Penn State is minus 9. SMU, Carl, who do you want?

I'm taking Penn State. Give him the points.

Alright. We broke news to Rollis earlier that SMU made the playoffs. Go ahead, Danny.

Carl, we got Carl Clemson at Texas. Texas is minus 12.

I'm with Texas, USA Connection, Sarkeesian. I'm taking Texas.

Alright. And then the last 1 for you, Carl, will be Ohio State, The Ohio State University at Tennessee, and Tennessee is plus 7a half. I'm sorry. It's at at Ohio State. Ohio State's minus 7a half.

This is the game for the coach's life. If he loses, he's gonna get fired. I'm taking Ohio State. They're gonna play for the coach.

Wow. That's Wow. And if

he gets fired, he's coming to USC. Just watch.

Alright, Carl. Have a great day, Carl. Thanks for coming on. Alright. Raul, you took Penn State.

About the law firm. What's up, man?

The SM work.

Raul took too long.

State. We got ShareBear, Penn State and SMU. SMU is minus 9. I mean, SMU is plus 9, share bear.

What about Penn State?

It's not, very exciting

when you're doing a

post date.

To 9. None of them are 6 to 9. They're all good.

I'll make this quick for you. Penn State, Clemson, Ohio State.

Okay. Penn

State. You wanted Notre Dame and,

James Franklin was my offensive coordinator in college now at Maryland.

Really?

At College of Penn State. That's my guy.

You know what comes next, Mojo? Get him on the show. I mean, let's go.

Get him on this show.

Mojo, this is Indiana and Notre Dame. You guys picked Indiana for you. You wanna keep that or you want Notre Dame?

I don't care.

Alright. We'll get. We'll get Indiana.

Worst job is point.

Alright. We

got here for he came here

for 1 reason today, man.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, we should have logged off for that. Okay. Alright.

Share Bear. You're up Penn State. Penn State SMU share bear.

You gotta, like, get some voice inflection on or something. Alright. I'm like

he's picked Penn State 7 times.

Alright. Well,

he picked Share Bear

has picked Penn State 7 times. He picked

them 1. Cher bear, Clemson at Texas Texas minus 12.

You should speak

at SFU real quick.

Let's go Austin, Texas. Gotta love 6th Street. Let's go Texas.

And then Cher bear, Ohio State minus 7 half against Tennessee.

Oh, Knoxville. Cool beans. Good bar. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go Tennessee.

Tennessee. Alright. Raules, me and you are left. Raules, you have Penn State. You have Notre Dame.

I'll take SMU. And then, Raul, we have, Clemson, Texas. Texas minus 12.

I'm gonna go with the favorites here. Give me Texas.

You want Texas? So then you want Ohio State, I'm assuming, against Tennessee?

It's is it these are all home games too? They're not

like It's a home game mode game. They're actually home games.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So

pulling their hair out.

I'll go I'll go Ohio State's fuck. The the horseshoe is loud, man. I I remember my freshman year we were there. And, Jesus. What was their their super, tall court Terrell Pryor.

Terrell Pryor. Sorry. I had to Right.

Moment there right for you. Got it, dude, baby.

Yeah. He he he had, like, a 30 yard rushing touchdown on us in the in the Q1. And I remember I I was on the sideline. I was a special teams guy my freshman year mostly. And I remember just testing it.

I just started yelling as loud as I could to see if I could hear myself that I couldn't. That horseshoe gets loud, so I'm going to

Ohio State. Alright.

Alright. And I'll take I got Notre Dame. I got SMU. I'll take Texas and Tennessee. So give me 2 underdogs there.

Oh. S SEC, baby. Let's go.

Alright. Rawless. Rawless. That's what you want to roll.

Out in sunny Arizona?

Yeah. Yeah. I had to move into the shade because my phone was overheating.

But Mhmm.

You know, there there was a DVD that I I used to watch religiously back in the day. It was called the Moss Method. And it showed Randy Moss working out. And that gave birth to the rawest regimen, which now you can go to rawestregimen.com and we'll make you a customized program tailored to your every need. And, we'll make it specifically for you, whatever your goals are, whatever your schedule is, whatever equipment you have, it'll be perfect for you.

Rawlsregimen.com.

Awesome. Hopefully, you go undefeated again, buddy. I'm I'm rooting for you. I really

you now.

Sounds so super clear

for you.

Yeah. I

got nothing to promote.

Say, Mojo, before we get out of here, Dean, daddy,

is there

anything you'd like to promote?

Yes. I would like to, promote the Creston Logerman Lullaby Company. Anytime your child is fussy and needs to take a nap, have Creston host a podcast that will instantaneously put the child and everyone else in the room to sleep. At the game. Lullaby Services.

Check it out.

That's nice.

Is that it? That's all you got?

And Oh.

Guys, everybody listening at home. The band is back together. That's right. And we're going for sports podcast of the year. Last year, we took a year off.

We didn't have the team back together. But this year, the team has been back, and it's so much energy, so much excitement, suspense, love. We have all the categories here on this 1 show, and that is why you need to get up off your asses and vote for this show. God bless football as the sports podcast of the year. If you don't, this is it for this group.

We're never coming back together. We're drawing a line in the sand. We're done. You'll never see me and Funk on the same show ever again. So if you want this trash talk, put your money where your mouth is and go cast your vote, fellas.

Where do they go to vote?

Sportspodcastgroup.com. Oh, by the way, you guys also, we have a decision to make. If Mojo and K Funk aren't ever gonna do a show together, if we lose, who do we keep?

Oh, that's a tough 1. I wonder who who do we keep? Let's have Billy and, Mikey a vote on that 1.

He is coming off at 2 and 3.

Don't worry.

Alright, boys. Get out of here.

Merry Christmas. Happy holidays to all you.

I wish Gordy was here. Carl was here at Jamboree as well so we could wish them a happy holidays. But we love you guys. We appreciate it. Audience, listen to Mojo because if you don't notice number 1, you will never see Mojo at k funk in the same Zoom again on the same show again.

So, start voting right now. Gentlemen, merry Christmas. Happy holidays, buddy. Happy New Year. Happy and healthy.

We will speak to

you next week.

Happy holidays.

God bless football.

God bless football.

Stu Gautier, I wanna thank the folks over at Smirnoff for being a loyal sponsor to both God bless football and the Dan Lebed Art Show with Stugats. Smirnoff knows there is no eye in football. Football is what we think, an experience that is best enjoyed together. With good drinks and good folks, Smirnoff is the world's number 1 vodka and is an official vodka partner of the NFL. And this year, there are more opportunities to watch football and make delicious Smirnoff cocktails than ever before over the holiday season.

From Thanksgiving to Black Friday and Christmas, Smirnoff and the NFL are with you every step of the way. So this holiday season, when you are enjoying the game and your cocktails, please make sure to drink responsibly. Take a minute. Make a plan. Never drive impaired.

Smirnoff, we do

game days. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff number 21 vodka. Distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by value of the Smirnoff Company. New York, New York.

Please do

not share with anyone under legal drinking age.