Transcript of Red, White, and Blue... and Kit Drip? The 2026 World Cup Jersey Draft ft. Mike Ryan Ruiz!

2026, Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl-winning QB, and the Indiana Hoosiers are the best college football team in all the land, and the Knickerbockers are the champs of the whole NBA, and the US soccer team is relevant. Don't get me wrong, I mean, Phil Mickelson's still a scumbag, so not everything in the world is upside down right now, but still. And now, the weirdest thing yet, the Boston Celtics just traded the 2024 Finals MVP to their arch rival. For the shriveled remains of Paul George? Is this going to go down in sports history as worse than the Vikings trading for Herschel Walker? How about the Browns trading for Deshaun Watson on purpose? I think we can already say it's worse than 2025's nominee for worst trade ever, the Cowboys dealing Micah Parsons to the Packers. Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams in the draft, Malachi Lawrence and a couple of DBs. So less than a year later, it feels closer to win-win. So we'll have to see on this Jaylen Brown deal, but in the meantime, Mike Ryan, who's upcoming in just a second here, says the upcoming England-Mexico game is the biggest event in the history of sport.

I don't know, does that deserve a red card? Like bigger than Ali-Frazier or Montana v. Marino? Let's talk about it with him and you right now. Start the show! All right, Mike Ryan. Hey, batter, batter! Hey, batter, batter! This is a new game we play here on the show. What the Celtics got for Jaylen Brown, or what the Browns got in letting Baker Mayfield go in favor of Deshaun Watson?

How soon? Oh, I— the Celtics may have just made one of the worst trades in history, but I'd still prefer that than what the Browns got in return. That's one of the few examples that you can point to, especially in the modern era, and say that, that deal was worse.

All right, hi, hello, and, uh, and all that to my fellow football Americans. Welcome to Football America, presented as ever by our pals over at DraftKings Sports, now available in 50 states. And I counted them up, I went one by one, that is all of the states in these United States. These United States now on to the round of 16 in football America. We're gonna yap about that in just a second. Meantime, drop us a line in the comments on YouTube and Spotify and Apple. Subscribe, tell your friends unless you hate the show, then tell your enemies. Either way, welcome to episode 71, and, uh, hello to Gino Fuentes. Buddy Budowski out and about, um, as we speak. According to Mike Ryan And we'll get into some NFL stuff here in a second as well. But according to Mike Ryan, the biggest event in the history of sport is England v Mexico in Mexico City next week. How are you, Mike Ryan? And defend yourself here.

I think it's going to be the most dramatic theatrical event of our sporting lives. Now, it's not going to be the biggest sporting event. That'll be reserved for the final.

No, no, I'm talking about hyped in advance. Yeah, right.

Yeah.

The final for this World Cup is is going to surpass whatever this is. But in terms of the storylines going into it, the weight of both badges— for Mexico, they lifted a curse, their first knockout round victory in 40 years. For England, it's always about getting to the final, adding a star to that shirt. Their intestinal fortitude constantly questioned. They just had a huge gut-check victory over DR Congo, but they did that in Atlanta at noon against a nation that was a bit of a Cinderella. Can you go into Azteca Stadium where I believe Mexico is 117 with 17 draws and only 2 losses in their competitive history in Azteca?

I don't know about the deep history, but it is relevant that they haven't lost there in—

they don't lose—

how long?

Yeah, they don't.

I mean, but they haven't lost in many moons in a big game.

Gino, very helpfully— where's the other guy? Gino, very helpfully, 77 17-2. Uh, top of the dome for Gino. That's incredible. That's their competitive record in Azteca. They've had several friendlies. They don't— they just flatly don't lose there. And the reason why they don't lose there is the hostility and the elements, the altitude, the lack of sleep that the opponents get when they're in town. This is the single biggest hurdle England has ever had to clear in this tournament. And if England do so—

ever had to clear— boy, we're into the hyperbole.

No, no, there is nothing that is going to test mind, body, and spirit quite like this Sunday evening matchup between Mexico and England. And if England do survive this and advance, I like them to win the whole thing because the only thing that's been holding England back has been that, that mental toughness, that mental strength. Can you put the boogeymen to bed? It's kind of like the Bills and the Chiefs. Can you beat the Chiefs when it counts? This is the book on you. You need to beat the Chiefs to be able to get to where you're actually going, Buffalo. Can you do it? That's what's happening with England. This is a huge test for them, and I cannot wait for it. It's going to be dramatic. It's going to be absolute scenes in Azteca.

Well, and in the meantime, there are two sides to what's going on in these United States in sharp relief with in our nation's capital and the, the big state fair and the lack of attendance there. I find— consider me won over by this World Cup. The ubiquitous recurring cutaways to Americans in the stands of every stripe. I mean, people, brown people, people who— and then cutaway to the people playing on the team speaking with accents and the different walks of life that they've come from to be on the U.S. men's soccer team and all of that. I think it's all added up to grand stuff. And I am anxious and patriotically so looking forward to this game against Belgium. We'll get your pick on that in just a second. First of all, let me say this Dynamite stuff for Mike Ryan, Dan Lebatard, Zaslo, and the crew on Thursday's Lebatard Show reacting to the aforementioned wild trade. I mean, I just, I can't get over how bizarre it is. And there's, there's got to be something we don't know is the only thing I can, is the only thing I can come up with at this point because it is a bizarre giveaway to, again, to your arch rival..

But make sure you're always checking him out 5 days a week on the Levitard Show and a legitimately great soccer show. And I texted him on the side to let him know that he has, he has my stamp of approval. Morally Abhorrent, make sure you're tracking that one down. And, and, and then also Drip Drill. We've got some World Cup edition Drip Drill coming up here. It's Mike Ryan, to give you a proper introduction. And I'll follow up with this. Hey, bad or badder? Hey, bad or badder? I've enjoyed the headwear. I talk about the cutaways to the people enjoying the games, and I've been struck that nations seem to have— I don't know if they're official hats, but it seems like the people of various nations are tethered to one style of hat. So which headwear would you less want to have to wear for the rest of your life? You have to wear this every day for the rest of your life. A fez like the Moroccan people do or a beret?

Fez, because at least the beret covers your head. You can keep one during the winter, you can keep it out of the sun. John Travolta has shown us that you can actually pull that off and make it look really, really cool. I mean, spectacularly cool. Whereas a fez, it's really only reserved for the people of that nation and villains in Indiana Jones movies or bumbling sidekicks. Or conniving little monkeys that help you steal bread when you're a street rat. It's not a good look. No one's been able to pull it off.

Genie! Didn't Genie wear a fez of some sort? Gino Fuentes, how say you? Which is the better headwear? Or the worst headwear?

I was referring to Apu.

Yeah, I know you were referring to Apu. I think the Genie actually did wear one. Yeah, the Genie came out, was wearing one.

So maybe it imbues you with magical powers. I like it. I like Morocco. I've learned This is what it's yielded for me is to some degree I didn't really know much about Morocco before this tournament began, but now I've been reading up on it. I, I do think it's a little weird that so many of the Moroccan players are from the Netherlands, but let's not get bogged down with that. The biggest event in the history of sport is upcoming. Is it bigger according to you, Mike Ryan, than Ali Frazier in '71? We weren't around for that, but that was much hyped.

Yeah, this is bigger than Ali Frazier. I think, Dave, I don't know if you've ever traveled abroad during a World Cup. Not— I'm not even talking about being in a host nation, just being in another country while the World Cup is going on. And you have to understand, it's not like that for Lions-Vikings Week 15, where you can be in the streets of India, pull over to a bar and walk in and see scores of people locked in on a sporting event. And I'm not just saying Mexico-England, I'm saying like Jordan versus Algeria. They are dialed. Every athlete that steps onto a World Cup pitch, whether it be the group stages or knockout rounds, is being watched by the entire globe. It is the single biggest television event. There is nothing that is more viewed in the history of our world than right now. And Dave, it's not even something that we can get accurate numbers for. Allegedly 30 million people were watching a group stage match earlier this week when you combine English and Spanish language in just this country. But do you know the sicko that is just watching? You're probably the one, the guy that's watching the game alone in their home.

This is such a communal thing. And I know American football is the same way.

No, no, no, no. For the record, I took the kids out because I wanted them to experience exactly what you're describing. So we went out and had some wings and gathered around and they were legit struck by, especially my 10-year-old daughter, was especially sort of surprised and spooked by in the moment when they reacted to the first goal that was called back after 20 seconds for offside. She— I mean, she was frightened for a second. What just happened? Why are all these grown-up people shouting in unison about something? It was a cool moment. Yeah, I loved seeing that. I hear you. And it's also, though, the weird thing with, you know, big-time sports is to some degree the tale wags the dog because the US dictates most of it except for the most popular sport, and the US is intent— the major leagues are intent on spreading the good word about their sports. Clearly, look at what the NFL does and the NBA and, and otherwise. Let me just tell you a big one in my lifetime that I remember when I was a little kid. For some reason, Larry Holmes versus Jerry Cooney was a super big deal.

Do you know— you're too young to remember.

Do I remember Larry Holmes? Sure, I just missed that. It was a whip, but it was super—

In hindsight, why was that such a big deal? Larry Holmes was a good fighter. Jerry Cooney was a bum. He was white. I think that's why people like The Great White Hope, they wanted to make that into something. Super Bowl XIX, the 2-week run-up of Montana and how great those Niners were against the phenom Dan Marino. That was a big deal in the moment. They made commercials before the game was actually played. I think it was a Diet Pepsi ad or something like that. I think weirdly in this millennium, the title games loom more significant than the Super Bowls have, even with— like, I think like when the Seahawks with Russ were playing the Niners with Kap, those, those had a feel to them that transcended even the Super Bowl that followed it. Brady v. Peyton showdowns in title games, Cowboys v. Niners in the early '90s. Maybe more so than even the Patriots in '07, because nobody thought that Eli's Giants had a shot against the undefeated Patriots. Anything else that even comes close to the largesse of this World Cup?

You're absolutely right.

Would you say that these games are more significant than any World Cup event that we've seen up until this point?

I would say that you're bang on about the Super Bowls, where the championship games, you have the embedded rivalries. Josh Allen and his quest to conquer the Chiefs, I think, is a the most compelling storyline in that league and has been for quite some time. And that's just something that doesn't happen in the Super Bowl. I do think the rematch between Eli and Brady probably had the most juice of what you're talking about because you already had the matchup once before. You have the Manning surname and you had the huge New York market. Those two teams had, even in the undefeated season on the way to that Super Bowl in which they lost, there was a great memorable game against the Giants. So there was a little bit of the, the rare cross-conference rivalry, but it's not something that is afforded to us often in the Super Bowls.

Yeah, you thought, well, maybe the Packers could take down these Patriots if everything breaks right, but when, when the, when the Giants won, you're like, wow, that's that. I mean, they're going undefeated. And so it was a revelation when they didn't, but you didn't anticipate that in the run-up to that game. The other one that might, uh, might, um strike that might get your attention a little bit, even though you were too young for the— in the moment. The 1987 Fiesta Bowl, Vinnie Testaverde and the U guys all coming out in their fatigues, getting off the plane. People took a hardcore negative posture against those Canes and rooted for Penn State. And as it turns out, in hindsight, Joe Paterno's squad had some of it, some, some secret issues of its own. That was a big deal. The going into Game 7 in 2016 when LeBron was trying to rally the Cavs from down 3-1 against the 73-win Dubs was a big one. And the other one I think people forget is when Tyson was out of the joint and he had his first real fight against Evander Holyfield. That's when he bit his ear.

But how does this compare with, let's say, as a novice to the beautiful game, Mike Ryan, how does any game upcoming in North America compare with, let's say, even the most recent big one, the 2022 Argentina v France final?

Yeah, I'm so happy. That's where I was going to go. To me, the greatest sporting spectacle I've ever seen, the greatest match, the greatest final I have ever seen is Argentina versus France. I think that's the greatest game ever played. You had Messi, the storyline around him, all the weight of the ghost that he is chasing, the fact that he needed a World Cup to cement his legacy. And you had Mbappé being absolutely dynamite already trying come for all of Leo Messi's stuff right there.

Yeah.

And they were both phenomenal, not just in that entire tournament, but in that match in particular. If I can show an alien coming to Earth and said, this is what sports is on this planet, this is the best that we got in my lifetime, it's Argentina-France.

There was also the— what was it— the, the Hand of God goal. That was a—

I would not want to— yeah, I would not want to show that to the aliens because then it's cheating.

Yeah, no, I know, but the matchup was significant too, right?

Yeah, England, uh, Argentina. One of the many haunting, uh, losses for, for England. One of the many ghosts they need to conquer on Sunday in Azteca.

Was that in Azteca?

I think— I believe so. That was Mexico '86. Yeah.

Hmm, look at that. The circle is now complete. And now we can move on to Drip Drill. Hey batter, batter, Mike Ryan and, and also Gino. Which is a bad— a worse— a badder rep for your nation? Speedy Gonzales— I meant pretty, uh, some negative overtones there— or Mr. Bean?

Ooh, can I go Pepe Le Pew?

Yeah, that one's pretty bad.

Pepe Le Pew?

He didn't survive Me Too.

It's true.

He got Me Too'd. He's never come back from it. He has never come back from it. Him and James Franco, apparently the only ones that have suffered. And, you know, they finally got Weinstein, but Pepe Le Pew, he hasn't gotten any work.

Did he have a substance abuse problem? Because you would think if you're a cocksman on the level of Pepe Le Pew, you would be able to distinguish between your fellow skunks and felines, right? I don't—

he didn't care.

That's, that's what I think.

That's a level of his derangement. That's how twisted he was. That's how badly he needed to seek help.

Good answer, good answer. All right, so I mentioned Drip Drill. Me and Mike Ryan, clearly fashionistas, that goes without saying if you're— if you have one working eyeball. Um, we usually turn our gaze to football uniforms, but the World Cup is here, it's football America and all of that. So it's a World Cup edition and we're gonna do a little draft here. Mike Ryan, he loves them soccer kits, is what they're called. Are you one of these people who does the thing where you pretend you're English when you talk about soccer? Brilliant, that. Like, do you do all that?

Like Chris Winningham? No.

Or do you stay American?

No, I like calling it a jersey and a shirt. I think the kit is reserved for the whole ensemble, right? I don't call—

But you do use the proper vernacular, which is not something a lot of Americans do.

Shirt, jersey. Shirt. Well, I don't mind mixing it up.

I'm proud.

I'm not one of these—

Bitch.

I'm not one of these self-hating Americans, at least when it comes to soccer. I'm proud of our soccer culture. I call it soccer. I understand why we got it wrong. It seems very dumb. Whatever. We call it soccer. I like that our chants are dumb. Yeah. USA, USA, defense. I believe that we can win. All right. That one's stupid. You got us there. But I do. Easy. But I do think that we should be proud of our culture. I think far too often we've tried to aspire to be, you know, this facsimile of the Premier League prototype. And that's just not for us. That, that's just not who we are. Let's stop pretending. Let's embrace who we are, and hopefully we have a good soccer team around.

Well, isn't that the crux of, of a lot of the conversation ongoing in society right now, is that of what is the society and what is the United States, what does it represent culturally and all of that? And in my mind, it always has been a blend of all of those things. I always say, and I mean this in a positive way, there is the U.S. Has at worst the second best version of every nation's food available on the big blue marble, right? Like, yeah, we— at worst we have the second best Italian food. We definitely have the second best Chinese food, right?

Yeah. And so on. Great take.

Thank you. But what we do have that's unique is like barbecue and jazz and American football. Those are our distinguishing features that I think we hold up above all others, right?

Stock car racing. That's our entertainment. Stock car racing?

No, no one does left turns better than we do.

I do want to ask you this, then we'll do the draft. Do we have Randy here? Social Randy is going to join for the, uh, for the Drip Drill Draft because he fancies the soccer kits as well, the jerseys. Do we have him here for the draft? If we don't yet, then let me first ask you this, Mike. Um, I— you talk about the Americans and our view of these things. A lot of us, a high percentage of us, are just dipping our toes into these waters. I have been struck by the American attitude that we mid-tournament because one of our guys got red-carded, that now the rules should be changed. How say you? Like, what, what, uh, well, this is, uh, that's outrageous. Well, so then change the rule before they play Belgium and make it so that, uh, so that the guy can play in this game. It, it's very American point of view. But how say you on this whole red card, uh, controversy per se?

So I'm not gonna— I'm gonna embrace my American and, uh, and say, look, they're not wrong in saying it's unjust that— but it's not wrong to say that that red card is unjust. Now, I shouldn't have done—

it seemed— I'm sorry to have to interrupt because I, I'm a dummy.

What?

I didn't even understand what it was. He— they both reached with their foot for the ball and his landed on the guy's ankle. That's like— that, that obviously not deliberate, but that's not the standard of the rule.

It's, it's hard to explain unless you've actually put on like some of these cleats and exactly like it is to a degree reckless. Now it's not intention should matter when we're discussing and parsing whether or not he should have been sent off because it's highly punitive. He's gotta be not just kicked outta that game, but the, the very next game. But if you've ever gotten stepped on during a, a competitive soccer match with studs, you're, you're essentially wearing a sock. That's how thin these cleats are. It's very dangerous. It, it, It can seriously hurt you. I don't know if you got to see Malik Tillman, who got stepped on during that match, but his, his foot was bleeding. It cut through this, not just the cleat, but the sock, and it cut his skin. It's a very dangerous sport in that respect when you go studs. Studs is very reckless. Now, that wasn't exactly studs up. Messi got away with it. There's inconsistencies.

I thought Messi's was worse.

Yeah, I do. I agree too. But there's inconsistencies in how all sports are officiated. And I do think that there's been a lot of people that are American football fans that are somehow looking down on soccer. Yes, soccer has its inconsistencies and hypocrisies and problems with officiating. But let's not pretend like people aren't getting kicked out of football games because of a targeting call that we still cannot get right. I'm a University of Miami fan. You're Indiana.

Badder, badder. A great one. The, the— if you get charged with a targeting penalty, you miss The next— you don't just get kicked out of the current game, which is really horrible. I mean, really swings games. But then the next— go ahead with your point about the U. Exactly.

The Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes. Maybe that goes a little differently if Xavier Lucas is available and wasn't kicked out of the first half because of something that happened in a previous game that was along the lines, right? We do this all the time. Yeah, VAR, that's stupid. Offside. You come on. We're talking about a toenail. What kind of advantages is that? Well, there's plenty of NFL Sundays in which I'm trying to figure out if a toenail went out of bounds on a dude's 70-yard touchdown run, or if a football went out of bounds on a fumble or not. Did it hop? Where did it hop over the pylon? We have all these weird things, and football— American football is the dumbest of all the sports when it comes to officiating because we're just putting a ball where we think it should go.

Well, but you know what? It makes me think of the, uh, the kid who learned to burn tree by watching his old man. Which is a weird blind spot that the old man didn't see that one coming. Like, where did you learn about this? Like, you're holding your own box that has your weed in it, pops. Like, that's where I learned it. That's where I get it from. But anywho, either way, did American sports, and specifically the quarterbacks, because I find it off-putting, the histrionics, the physical histrionics of that pass rusher touched me and now I must flail about. And then you just brought up that soccer players roll around and, you know, that it's pretty well known, the rolling around. And I think a lot of American viewers look at that and say, that guy's faking. But what you're getting at is something I have now come around on. They're actually hurt when they roll. How— or what would you say the percentage is of guys? Because some of them do pop right back up. They're looking for a call. But then a fair percentage of the time I think like, man, that guy just got kicked in the shins with a cleat.

That probably legitimately hurt. Yeah, it's probably down.

It really, it really does hurt. But I think that global soccer in particular, this competition has been very good about— they've put rules in place. There's been a lot less diving and embellishing.

I think that's right.

There has been more diving in the NBA. There is certainly more diving when it comes to, you know, roughing the passer and Josh Allen trying to Curry favor with the officials. I think there's far— anybody that tells you the problem, their problem with soccer is that there's too much diving has not cared to watch World Cup soccer in particular in a very long time. There is far less of it in the sport. There's far more of it in basketball.

Right. And if you watch the playoffs in the NBA, you know that's true. If you watch quarterbacks, if you look for receivers looking for PI to get called, all that stuff is worse. I do think it is, though, we learned it by watching you soccer kind of effect, or maybe not.

No doubt.

I place it somewhere there. Hey, Batter Batter, until we have Randy, another one for you real quick here. You have to, for the rest of your life, go around in one of these two: a sombrero or a kilt.

Kilt. Just because I know I live in South Florida. There are plenty of days that I wish I had zero pants on. So that one seems liberating.

I don't know, rules down in Miami, you could go pantsless if you want.

Gino, uh, what was it? It was, it was the kilt or what?

Or, uh, or the sombrero. Nobody actually wears a sombrero, right?

No, I mean, I, I go with the kilt as well. The sombrero looks ridiculous.

Also proven for social functions, there are, you know, a high-end event so you can wear a kilt to that are socially acceptable. Like, you can be like, this is formal wear in parts of the world, so you can get away with wearing a kilt. Whereas, you know, you meet the Queen, you can't have a sombrero on.

No, no. Yeah.

All right. You make some good points there. All right, let's, let's start this draft, shall we? We're going to draft the best kits of World Cup 2026. And Mike Ryan, you have the floor with the first overall pick. Here.

First overall pick to me is easy. I purchased this as soon as I saw this. I think I had bed sheets that looked just like this jersey growing up. But the Japanese away kit with the multicolor stripes here.

Yeah, I love that.

The, the collar matching the Adidas piping so well. Adidas knocked it out of the freaking park with this World Cup set. Japan has a great home set, but this one is special. A cream-colored, uh, rainbow-inspired, and that crest Japanese crest is so beautiful, so big over the heart there, pairs so well with the, uh, the wrapping on the sleeves and the collar. Just a dynamite jersey. For my money, one of the greatest soccer jerseys on the international side ever created. This one is a 10 out of 10.

This may work out for you, and much like you said on Thursday's Le Batard Show, the Celtics may win 50 games, maybe they win the NBA titles, It doesn't, it doesn't mean that this makes a ton of sense, the, the Jaylen Brown deal on face, especially to your arch rival. I worry that you are like a fantasy football drafter who fancied something from afar. Do you think that Geno was about to take this Japan kit jersey away from you? I don't think he would have.

I, I'm not so much worried. Look, I, I just have my board. It's a 3-man draft, and especially when you're picking a top of it, like, I don't need to— I know that it's going to sneak back to me well later, so I'm going best available here. I have purchased this jersey. I love this jersey. I put my money where my mouth is. This is one of the greatest jerseys ever made.

I'm just asking questions. All right, Gino, you're up next in the kit draft.

Okay. The first time I saw this jersey, I was like, I got to have it. I'm going to buy it.

I don't—

I don't care if I get it after they're eliminated. The Norway home jersey is the coolest thing in this competition to me. It's got the Norway flag design on the right there. You see their crest. Looks beautiful with the— just over the flag as well. And it's— if you look closely in the, in the blue cross, there's this design there that like I hear goes back to like wooden carvings in Scandinavian culture that I didn't even notice when I picked this. But it's so cool. I think it's my personal favorite jersey in all of the World Cup.

I think the coolest part about this jersey isn't even on the front. It's on the back. Everyone loves the font. That Viking Nordic-inspired font that they have in the back with the nameplates has been really stellar to look at.

Is Haaland the breakout star on American shores? It seems like he's really popped. I've heard him compared to Gronk, the, the Nordic Gronk.

I think early— I think Erling Haaland came in a huge star. But in terms of casual observers that maybe aren't familiar without, you know, I mean, certainly they're familiar with Messi and Ronaldo but are looking for the next one. Mbappé's style of play is inspiring, but so is Haaland. And he is a crazy athlete. His straight-line speed is amazing, but he just looks so interesting, to put it mildly. This guy is hugely athletic and he looks like an alien.

He is terrifying coming at you. You've got the ball, if you're a defender and you see this guy coming at you full speed, what do you do?

Big, strong, fast, incredible in the air.

He—

and now for Norway, I don't know if you've noticed this, he's playing defense too. He cleared two balls off the line. He's going end to end. This guy is— he is one of the top 10 athletes on the planet.

But as you mentioned, or insinuated at least, he is unhandsome, which adds to the, the effect that he's way bigger than all the other soccer players out there. All right, do we have Randy or no?

Yes.

All right, Social Randy is here. Look at him, he's wearing a soccer kit. That's right, got his mustache, looks like a Civil War reenactor.

I love that Ajax shirt. I have one myself. Great, beautiful jersey that he's got on.

I see That's the most popular jersey going around, or kit going around right now. I saw a few of those in the bar yesterday.

Yeah, I got a little— got Ryan Gravenberch on the back. Figured it was okay to wear now because he can't hurt me anymore. He's out of the tournament. Um, but yeah, one thing just to that—

you got a lot of laughs from soccer people. That was a soccer joke. I didn't get it.

On the Haaland thing about being a star, he's been a star for a while now, but I will say his antics on social media, and I think a lot of it plays into his looks too. For at least I, in the division of my wife, he is the breakout star of the World Cup. She thinks he is one of the funniest people that she's ever encountered. And I have a bunch of random people who aren't big soccer fans hitting me up being like, yo, have you heard of this guy? This guy's unbelievable and he looks like a Viking. And so at least on that end of it, I think the answer is yes.

I feel like— is this right to say? Because I don't feel like you're inherently under pressure if you're on the U.S. team, except that it's in the United States and all of that. I feel like if they lose, you know, 3-0 to Belgium, people will say, hey, good tournament for, for the American guys, right? Uh, so, but, but that's it. I also feel like maybe the most pressure on one person is Pulisic. Is that fair, Randy and Mike?

Good.

Randy, I think, I think the most pressure is not anybody on the United States team. I think, I think if they lost 3-0, it would be a, a, oh man, I can't believe that we had all this hype and then we just got smoked by Belgium when it felt like—

oh, so this would be a satisfying result if they, if they don't get past the round of 16?

Mike, I, I would be disappointed at this point when you apply the context of how they looked and the fact that Belgium hasn't looked great. But I think if you're looking for individual people carrying the most pressure, a huge weight went off of Messi's shoulders because he won the thing. But there's always going to be that pressure if he wins a second one. What does that mean for all time? Uh, especially someone like me who firmly believes he's the greatest of all time. But the most pressure is on Cristiano Ronaldo because that cements his legacy. Just being a part of a team— he doesn't have to be the best player on his team, but if he somehow makes meaningful contributions, that goes a long way because he, he's a guy who's seen Messi's lead increase on him.. And also he's got the added pressure of this guy can screw it up for his nation in ways that don't really align with Messi and Harry Kane, who rose to the occasion against DR Congo, being the captain of England and all that entails having to be the man, his incredible performance against DR Congo. He is, he is carrying a lot of pressure.

All right, Randy, take it away. Give us the third kit.

In the Drip Drill World Cup 26 draft, I'm going France away, the Statue of Liberty jerseys. This is, I think, just almost completely perfect for the moment. One, it looks stunning on the field, but two, just the details of it. I think the red pops so good on that, on the, the mintish green blue. And even the accents. So like even the badge here, it's the color of bronze. But if you get it really close, it's even like corroding. And it's not just a perfect thing. It's corroding away as if, you know, how it actually functions. Right. And how the Statue of Liberty comes to take that, take that color. But just with the— we're in America, it's, you know, France's gift to America. And right now, France on the field feels like a gift to Americans with how they're playing. And it's just I think, I think it's just there's no, there's no detail that's not even the inside. We've got this Liberty, our differences unite us on the back. It's just the perfect kit for the perfect moment.

I agree 100%. I purchased this one. It's a beauty for all the reasons and the story behind it. I'm going to hopefully they're wearing these on July 4th. I'm going to that match in Philadelphia, which was supposed to be Germany-France. So no one was more upset about how that PK shootout went than me.

But what if Paraguay wins?

I mean, the—

what—

how—

I'm—

because I'm taking my daughter. The way that I'm selling it to my daughter is Kylian Mbappé is going to just destroy this world— this World Cup record for goals, and I want you to be able to say that you saw him in the flesh. So I hope he either goes nuts, or we, we saw how disruptive that goalkeeper can be in the, in the penalty kick shootout. What if Paraguay wins? It's the single biggest upset in the history of the World Cup. It's a ridiculous question, but they just beat It's the single biggest upset in the history of the World Cup. Nike hasn't had a lot of nice moments. So far, 2 Nike jerseys have come off. I feel like Adidas kind of took their lunch money, but they did really, really spectacularly well with the last 2 that we've discussed. Denk an den 31.

Juli.

Wieso? Last call für deine Steuer. Oh no, ich weiß gar nicht, wo ich anfangen soll. Bei Wieso Steuer? Das ist wie Steuererklärung, nur ohne Stress.

Ist das einfach?

Klar, macht fast alles automatisch. Dauert das lange?

Nö, einfach per App. Na dann.

Hol dir jetzt dein Geld zurück mit Wieso Steuer. Bis zum 31. Juli abgeben.

Hey, bad or badder? Would you rather be a German soccer fan right now, or which would be worse to be, a German soccer fan or a fan of Senegal, given the way they blew it?

Senegal.

Senegal.

That hurts worse.

Yeah. Yeah. I think the talent wasn't up to snuff for Germany going in. They'll always have that.

Oh, I just assumed they're a powerhouse. Yeah.

They, they are.

And look, losing to Paraguay is hugely embarrassing, but Senegal fans are going to need therapy.

Yeah, they're never coming back from it. There's no coming back from a loss like that.

Whoa, too much soccer, too much football. I gotta get back to my comfort zone. I'm getting in the DeLorean and you guys are all in the trunk. We're traveling to the NFL season 2026, a little ahead, a couple of months in between week 1 and week 2. Did you guys see that game down in Houston? The Texans knocked off Josh Allen and the Bills 27-21. Upcoming now, a big one for the Buffalo Bills. Mike Ryan, they host the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football. A big one. The Bills are laying 3 as they unveil the new joint house.

Hey, you, I'm appreciating the platform for me to just brag and say I'm going to this one too. I'm going to the Highmark Stadium debut Thursday Night Football. Lions, Bills. Dave, I'm going to a bachelor party in Portland immediately following this, and that's going to be basically hair of the dog. There is nothing in terms of intake that is going to match this Thursday night. Highmark Stadium. The Bills roll, especially after that disappointing defeat at the hands of CJ Stroud. What a bounce back for the young man.

Well, last week we got to look— the first game obviously is always the reigning Super Bowl champ. And what that Super Bowl champ usually does is win. And so the Seahawks did against the team that they vanquished in the Super Bowl. The Patriots 27-23. Now the Patriots go back to Foxborough to play the 1-0 Pittsburgh Steelers, who barely survived the Atlanta Falcons, on the banks of the Three Rivers. Patriots laying 4.5. Mike Ryan, how say you?

I like the Patriots here. I, I'd like the offseason that they've had.

Nothing—

yeah, the great, great offseason that they had. No distractions.

This is low-key, low-key.

Seems like there's no distractions in that building. The main thing is the main thing. So yeah, yeah, Patriots keep it rolling. Nothing, nothing really to talk about.

You know, I do, and we're right at the halfway point of the calendar year, and at the end of every year when I do the Shecky Awards, the one award no one wants to win is the Sonic Award, so named because it went to the city of Seattle, the sports town, the year that Kevin Durant and the Sonics not only left, but they left to go to Oklahoma. Ugh, such a slap in the face, Seattle. And you know, the Mariners were bad and so on. And now I give the sports town whose fans suffered the most in the past year. I think halfway through 2026, it's Boston sports fans. They lose that Super Bowl, then on the heels of that, the Vrabel stuff, the Red Sox stink, the Celtics disappointed and then traded away Jaylen Brown, and the Bruins are neither here nor there really. Is there a worse sports town right now than that one?

Tougher than the country of Senegal.

All right. Take it away. Round 2. Back to the kit draft.

All right. I'm going to do a potentially controversial move here, and I am taking a jersey that was not worn in the World Cup. It is their away kit, but I'm going to go Curacao away, which we didn't end up getting to see because they only played 3 games. And in all of those matches, they wore the royal blue. However, I mean, I don't know about this.

You're picking the white one.

What?

This is like— all the jerseys are white. What is this? This is not white.

This is not white.

It's a creamy yellow.

Butter.

Buttery. Well, we've got creamy than he is white, but still, you get— you take my point.

This is a buttery jersey.

Butter.

It is buttery. It's got the accents, you know, the bright colors that you see when you go down in the Caribbean. It's just much like the France jersey. It's just clean. It's classy. We've got the accents are perfect. And it's really a big shame that we didn't get to see them wear it. I don't even know if they had advanced, if they would have worn it in the next game. However, it was on the docket and it was— I'm going to back myself up here with they could have wore it. Because it is their away jersey.

All right, Gino Fuentes, you're up next. Also, I know you're still reeling from what happened in Week 1 in Vegas. Um, the, the Dolphins won, which you're kind of rooting against, right? You want them to really be the worst team in the league this year. Am I right about that, or were you happy to see Malik Willis and the boys get out there, move out to Sin— or go out to Sin City and take down Fernando's debut?

I'm happy because it means they won't go winless. And, uh, so you do like possibility looking at this roster that they could be really bad this year. They still might be really bad this year. Um, okay, there's some optimism going, going into it. I mean, the o-line looks like it could be one of the stronger parts of the team, but only because the rest of the team is so bad.

They did a nice job running the ball, that much was clear, but I don't know how stout that Raiders defense is. We'll see what they look like in Week 2.

All right, back to the kit Okay, I am a huge USA fan, and being a huge USA fan means that you hate Mexico. However, giving respect where it is due, this jersey, this home jersey of theirs, particularly in this World Cup with that Piedra del Sol in the background, that design— look at that thing. It's got Aztec roots in it. It's just really, really cool looking. Even their crest looks good on this one. I usually don't like their kit, but this one, this one spoke to me.

Yeah, this Mexican team has just grown on me altogether. I think I hate Canada more as an international rival inside of North America now. This jersey is going to be one that is going to be in vintage shops for decades to come. It is an incredible jersey to go along with a host nation, and the upgrade that they made to their crest— tremendous.

All right, hey batter, batter, Mike Ryan, you've been banned from the United States and you have to live the rest of your days in North America. Batter, batter.. You have to do it in Canada or Mexico?

Wow, that's, that's really tough. I really like Quebec City, and I, I really like Montreal. Uh, Vancouver, I always heard that it was super clean. Wasn't clean.

In fact, no, very dirty. I've been to Vancouver as well.

Drug problem. Uh, drug problem.

Worst of them as well.

Yeah, yeah.

I had to step over a lot of lame bodies when I was in Canada.

You're also having to factor in like weather. I mean, it's going to be probably way hotter for the rest of your life in Mexico, but it's going to be way cooler up in Canada.

I think that's a misnomer.

I think matches that I went to in Mexico, and when I'm there in May, and I was there a couple of weeks ago, nighttime like 60 degrees. It was beautiful. Yeah, around the Yucatán, I got to worry about hurricanes, and sometimes it gets really hot, but no, there's valleys, there's mountain ranges. Ah, give me Mexico. I would love to live in the town of Tequila.

It'd be great if I had to spin a wheel and it had like, it had 12 Mexican cities, uh, locations and 12 randomly ordered. Like, you don't know which one might be Vancouver, but it might also be Hamilton. We don't know. Let's— I'm changing. I might be Moose Jaw.

I'm changing because I'm going quality of life. A huge part of my quality of life is I love NHL hockey, and I've been down in Mexico when the Stanley Cup Finals going on and I couldn't find any place that could show it. I got to be able to watch my hockey, and I know that won't be an issue in Canada.

Yeah, a lot of you'll become steeped in CFL in the blink of an eye. All right, Mike, Mike Ryan, the floor is yours.

All right. So I got a snake pick here, right? I go back to back and look, I was really nervous as this draft snaked back to me that I wasn't going to get the Colombian home jersey. Another jersey. Another jersey that I own. The fine details, the butterfly print that is within the stitching. Adidas.

Incredible.

The caliente pink that is on the stripes. I love these Adidas white stripes that are going— wide stripes that are going down the shoulders. And the pant legs, the piping that Adidas came out with is beautiful. Now there are so many creative things that the full ensemble that Colombia goes. Sometimes a blue short, sometimes a white short, some red socks. There's, there's so many different pairings that go wonderfully with this jersey. It's iconic. The butterfly print is immaculate. The breathability, the wide stripes. I love this Colombian kit. That's why I'm going over, even though I'm a proud American, I'm taking this with my second round pick. And for my third round pick, We're gonna go with the stripes, the Waldo edition, US home kit, the waving flag, which was a big swing, right? A big swing. Usually you have those lines, those horizontal lines stay, stay flat. I think it was a tremendous upgrade to have this appear like a flag in the wind.

I was skeptical going in because I was aware this was the jersey and I didn't know how it would look out there on the field— nay, the pitch. But, uh, consider me won over by it.

I think this is the first one where I disagree with you with, because if, as you can see, I chose the away jersey as my preferred choice.

Another thing that I can see is one of the horrible missteps that Nike made on the shoulder, where they just spent too much money printing this and it has a mistake. You see where it bunches up here on the shoulders? That is not the way that it is supposed to happen. You got like Nightmare Before Christmas shoulders going on over there, and it's because Nike screwed up and they couldn't do a recall. So that's one of the reasons why I don't like it, and it's diluted a little bit by the stripe pattern here. I also love the nameplates and the number font that are on this US jersey, and the fact that the back is wide open for it. The white shorts in particular— I know there are people that are more partial to the navy blues with this pairing. I like the white shorts with this. I think they look great, and also they look fast. Now that may be because we are super fast, probably the fastest we've ever been. But man, we look beautifully quick wearing these things.

I thought because of my empathy, when Mike started talking Gino, I thought the target of his words was about to be your nipples or something. I was like, well, the other problem we have here—

well, that was my issue with the Statue of Liberty jersey. If I'm being completely honest, the nips don't look great in it. I say, stay away from overhead lighting, Randy. Stay away from the overhead.

The Colombia thing is also that, like, what struck me is there are a lot of teams that have that green shorts with the gold jersey thing, right? Or am I—

well, that's not Colombia. They got the blue shorts with the gold jersey thing, so don't disrespect.

Uh, but I was going to take the Colombia jersey because I was basically issued one as part of my family. My, my wife's dad went and got everybody the same Colombia jersey and just— that's what we all wear when Colombia is playing at the house. Um, so you snipe me there. But, uh, am I up? Am I up next?

You're up. Yeah.

Okay. All right, all right. So this one, this is, this is funny because I love it. Argentina's away jersey is beautiful. It's just got this design on it. It's got— and I hear from one of my Argentine friends that this is what a lot of the streets look like, uh, the buses, the, the bicycles, um, the aesthetic of Buenos Aires. What he also said was is that the people hate this jersey because they're the champions and they feel like everyone should just deal with them wearing the Albi Celeste stripes. Like, that is like the only jersey they ever want to wear. They don't like the away jersey. I like it.

I can't believe that their home jersey is still on the board.

Yeah, I like this one better.

I'm a man on that one. It's trying a little bit too hard for Dave. Like, as I always say, Beau Brummell said, noted fashionista from the mid-20th century, the The mark of a well-dressed man is one whose clothes go unnoticed. I noticed that, so therefore I have to reject it. Next up, uh, Randy, Social Randy here, reeling still, I assume, from the Chiefs' home loss to the Broncos. Denver looks like that was not a fluke season last year. Patrick Mahomes, some concerns now and everything else. It didn't look terrible but didn't look great against that, that mighty defense. 24-20, as if I have to tell you that. Sorry for the reminder. Randy, how say you, concern level about these Chiefs?

Um, not very high, not very high. You're always going to have a couple stumbles coming out. You know, we've got to see Patrick Mahomes. He's just going to work his way back into the season. But you know, they've made some nice moves in the offseason, and I think it's just one of those that when you have a guy like that at the helm, you're going to figure things out. And I think he's going to figure things out.

Boy, loaded division though. Once again, the Chargers looked mighty in their debut, a little underwhelming with their home victory against the Cardinals, but that's how Week 1 goes. You survive and advance. France. Anyway, I interrupted. Let's close this thing out, the 3-round kit jersey draft. Take it away, Randy.

Just before I make this pick, I— on the Argentina away, on the photo, on paper, it doesn't look like, you know, maybe doesn't super stand out, but I was at Argentina-Algeria and there were an outrageous amount of people wearing this jersey. And in person, I was blown away and I almost took it in this draft. Left with this next pick that I'm about to have, but it got taken off of the board. And so with the final pick, I'm going to maybe, maybe zig a little bit here and take Morocco home. Now this is the only Puma jersey taken, I think. I don't usually tend to like the Puma jerseys in the end.

Randy should wear a fez. If any of us should wear a fez, it's Randy.

That shirt looks like a fez.

Continue. Sorry.

Sorry. And watching this, I was kind of blown away watching Brazil-Morocco at MetLife Stadium on television. It was one of the most aesthetically pleasing matchups I think I've ever seen with Morocco having this deep red. The shorts are that just like vibrant green. They almost blend in with, blended in with the field and just the detail on the, on the cuffs and the neck. They've got the tile work.. It's super intricate. The badge is right in the center of the jersey, which I don't normally like, but I think it works here. And just the— how vibrant it looks when they're running around on the field. That red on the contrast of the field, the green almost blending in, but it, but it is still its own thing entirely. It just looks incredible when they're out there on the field. And I'm happy that it was still on the board, even though I kind of expected it might be.

I'm surprised some, uh, some kits were left available there, but that's not the drill we're doing here. I have to choose now which of you won this draft, and I have meditated on it as you've unveiled each of your choices. Can't say I love the Columbia choice, but overall I like the other two choices. By, by Mike Ryan, you are the gold medal winner here.

Wow, thank you.

That ugly trophy that—

wow—

for the World Cup champ.

Top drip driller. And let me tell you something, Dave, you can build out a nice little squad of undrafted free agents here because we left the Germans, the Dutch.

I mean, I was like, Argentina, I love— I, I mean, I was like, iconic jerseys on the board still.

Yeah, well, no one took Brazil.

It's incredible.

Well, that's iconic because of, because of Brazil, but I think Argentina would be nice even if they sucked. That would still be a handsome getup that they're running around there in. Um, Spain, a little too busy for me, but Mike Ryan, congratulations on your victory. And Mike Ryan, thank you for making some time for us. Morley, a boring— when's the next episode go up?

I think we're gonna do a preview episode for the, uh, the Monday matchup, so sometime over the weekend. Uh, gotta lock that down. You know, there's so many World Cup games. I'm traveling on Saturday to one and I'm going to see Argentina. Maybe I'll get to see those away, uh, kits on Tuesday. Gotta see Messi, provided he can take care of one of the best stories in this tournament, Cabo Verde.

And then he's off to Buffalo to watch the Lions, um, help the Bills open up that new joint up there that, that, uh, blessedly does not have a dome on it. What are you doing, Browns?

What are you doing?

All right, and, uh, Social Randy, we appreciate you jumping in as well and your great in general, in promoting football America, one of the most patriotic football Americans out there. Thank you both for helping us out with our little, uh, kit draft here.

Thank you, fellas.

Good to talk some pro football as well with those guys. Well, there they go, Gino. Let's wrap it up here. We usually start the episode with the player who wore the episode number best as a jersey number. 71 is it.

How say I feel like we've finally come out of the darkness here with these numbers a little bit now. We're past the offensive league.

Yes.

We got Tony Boselli, if you want to go some lore there for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Fred Dean, pass rush specialist for the Chargers and 49ers. Walter Jones was another one. If you want to go current guys, Trent Williams, one of the more imposing offensive linemen of the modern day. Jason Peters, another one as well. 9-time Pro Bowl tackle, went undrafted, Super Bowl champion. So, and I think Larry Allen at the end of his career wore this number, if I'm not mistaken. He's known for 73, but 71—

he wore it. You mentioned the Cowboys because that reminds me, as we, as we head out here, I think the stunner of the week to a lot of people was the Commies. I told you, man, Daniels is back. People may have forgotten about him because he got hurt, but he was obviously Rookie of the Year and he almost bent history and became the first rookie to get to a Super Bowl. 24-21, 23 in Philly. Now the Eagles need a big bounce back. We're looking forward to the approaching football season. We appreciate, uh, the football talk. Can't wait to talk more and more football with kickoff approaching. In the meantime, enjoy your holiday. Hope you grill up some nice burgers and wieners and burgers and wieners and all the rest of it. And enjoy the US playing Belgium. Red, white, and blue, all the rest of it. We'll talk to you on the other side of the weekend. Until then, Thanks so much, my fellow football Americans. It's been a thin slice of heaven.