Transcript of What Are The Rules? | Local Hour (feat. Flutie & The Big Hurt)

It's so confusing to hear that countdown and then know that there's another countdown following it. Like, that countdown is not real, that's just for the intro.

Also, I don't know whose voice that is on the countdown in the video.

Who was that?

Yeah, I know that guy. I don't know that fool.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1—hey, look at this, we made it to Friday!

Yeah, we did!

Look, we got a great crew here. Have we ever had this crew together before?

No, I don't think so. This is the first.

We got Chris Cody dancing in the back row, we got Jeremy Taschet—

Hey!

How many more days?

This is the last one.

No, it's not.

It's got 3 more weeks, guys.

No, it's not.

It was 2 weeks of show. It doesn't matter when I'm assigned to be on the show. This is it. I'm here, paid off my debt, I'm done with this. My skin is terrible because of this helmet.

Oh, and it's dark.

It should be another week for the F word there.

You know what?

Gratuitous.

We got Mike Ryan and Tony Caladiute and their handcuff together.

Jeremy also chose these handcuffs? I don't know what's going on here.

True story. Years and years ago, I had to have a grit of death punishment where I had to be handcuffed for the entire show, and they tried to stick me with some handcuffs like that, and I said no, went to Amazon, ordered my own. Real handcuffs.

Good on you.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, we ordered these comfortable handcuffs for Mike and Tony.

No.

They look very comfortable. Could you guys hold them up for the audience so they can see?

No, no, no, no, no.

Yeah, they look great.

You've gone too far. We got Roy Bellamy.

What's up?

Me and Roy. Me and Roy and Pablo. And we got on the West Coast, I'm Dave Davisnik!

Habibi, yes, I will

after. You, Roy, and Pablo, and end of list.

Yes, that's it. Sorry.

What's that list?

Everyone else, you got some work to do.

I wasn't even here that day.

That's my favorite one. It's like, what did I do?

He still got to do it. He still has to do it.

Make sure to work.

He sat here wearing a helmet.

Make sure to work the balls, Greg Cody. You imagine my surprise when I'm on Twitter and I'm like, "I got to do what?" What? What? Got a sucking Academy Award winner's dick!

All right, so last night we had a game that I thought was in the bag. I was over here celebrating, happy for my G-man. Remember I said, "You know what, can the Giants win the Super Bowl?" Like, is that crazy? And then literally, literally, when we scored a touchdown to go up 21-17, I tweeted out, or I think it was after the, excuse me, after the INT. After the INT, I tweeted out, or I posted on Threads, "Why not us?" That was it. I was just, "Why not us?" The miracle season begins here. And then we promptly didn't get the first down, and then they scored, and then I said, "Oh, that's why."

Gene Sterritor?

Yes, that's him.

Okay.

Gene Skeletor. Gene Skeletor.

All right.

Because there's some rules last night that I had never heard of before. It's some rules last night that I was like, "I was not aware." And I don't think many people who watch football were aware that these rules existed. So I'm going to turn, you know what, let's start right here. Dave, what is this deal where I can catch it out of bounds off the punt, and then that means it went into a touchback?

Don't put that evil on me. I mean, I was fascinated by what I saw. I thought what was remarkable was, first of all, the broadcast booth completely missed it, so none of us should feel too bad they didn't acknowledge it at all. But yes, Luke McCaffrey, not just understanding the rules, but so lucid instantaneously to do it. I thought that was great stuff, assuming he's right about what the rule is. I think he just did it so definitively. I used to always tell my peer group when we were 19 or 20 trying to get into bars, and you're flashing a fake ID and whatever to get in, you always have to do it with the greatest of confidence, of course.

And a letter.

And like, see the guy, see the, like, when the bouncer's checking your card, start talking to ghosts behind him. Like, just start shouting to nobody in particular behind him. Like, "Yo, be right there! Get me one, man! Yeah, go ahead! Yeah, get me one! I'm coming in right now!" Like, and start talking to them. Put them on the spot. Put the bouncer in the spot. Like, "Hey, what's it? You got some good specials?" Like, I may not come in here if I don't like the cut of your jib there, bouncer kind of vibe. And I think that's what Luke McCaffrey did to the referees.

Right.

But again.

But he's still out of bounds technically. Because his feet are out of bounds, that means he never came back in bounds. But he stopped the ball, thus giving it. I'm still not.

That's a coach's kid, man. He knew the rules. Shout out Larry Izzo, Special Teams Coach. Looked that up five minutes ago.

But also, no, but that's, you know what, unless they were drilling this thing for months, like, because that's something happening real time. So it's not like, "Hey guys, should I go out of, hey, go out of, okay, got it." Like, you got to see where the ball's going. It's like, oh, snap, it's going into that coffin corner. Well, hold on, let me think of this rule that no one's ever talked about before, right? And then execute it perfectly. Because what happens if he tries to do it and then doesn't make the catch, you know, like, because it's unnatural. It's not just I'm trying to catch the ball. I'm trying to catch the ball while keeping my legs this way behind me.

I think he can't fumble because he's out of bounds. So like, no matter what, he's an extension of out of bounds.

So it's a zero.

It's a zero-sum game. This whole thing is triggering.

Oh, what's a catch that's not a catch? Damagek, I found that the best way to act to portray not just confidence, but a nonchalance, right? Because that's what we're really talking about. We're not talking about, "I'm getting into this bar, sir." We're talking about like, "Oh, I don't care any which way," because that's what someone who's 21 and older is. Like, they don't care. They'll just go to another bar.

You can't be right. You can't be like locked in on the bouncer to watch him assessing your ID because that's the tell. You have to be beyond his control. Like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, there you go, there you go." Like, "Hey, hey, hey, hey," that kind of thing.

So here's my move, and I learned this from the great Brad Pitt. Just eat something.

Whoa.

When you're eating, for whatever reason, if you can't act in general, in a situation like this, or in a play or in a movie, whatever, if you're eating, for some reason, it just calms and relaxes you and makes you look very natural. So you got some popcorn or some M&M's, and it's like, "Oh yeah, here's my ID." Like, just, whoop.

You're on the list, so you're good. You don't have to do that.

It's so odd to be eating as you're walking in. You don't think they're onto that? Like, that's such a random thing to be doing while walking into a club.

I'm not talking about eating a souvlaki. I'm talking about like something snackable. Peanuts, Cracker Jacks. I don't care.

A pretzel hot dog.

A pretzel.

Oh no, that's what Skattaboo has pregame. Did you hear that, by the way?

I'd like to hear that.

Skattaboo threw up during the first half, and then he was asked after, "What made you sick there, man?" And he explained himself. Roy, you have that?

You're. You got a little sick between the first and second quarter. Could you talk about that?

Yeah, I just, I had a pretzel, I had a pretzel-wrapped hot dog. Didn't see it right in the stomach. Nothing crazy. Got rid of it. Felt good after.

When did you have it?

Before the game.

So I've been around a lot of pro athletes in my life, and I feel like one of the hallmarks of pro athletes is they love routine. They love to know, "Game day, this is what I do. I get my nap from this time to this time. I get my treatment from this time to this time. And then I get my pregame meal." And my pregame meal is typically something that is accessible everywhere. That's why a lot of chicken tenders is a big one. Chicken tenders basket with fries. That's a big one. In almost every NBA locker room, there's a guy who's going to eat chicken tenders basket before a game.

Is that new? I haven't seen that before.

I haven't seen that one before. You know what? Give me two. It's just, like, this idea that he's going to just experiment with what he's having as his pregame meal is fascinating.

I hope he goes to your town so I can laugh. Because you think he'll make you a contender.

Who's that an impression of?

The sports guy.

Oh, oh, do some more. Let me hear some more.

What part of Massachusetts is that?

Let me hear some more.

Dave Demachik.

I don't do a good cinnamon, but that's what I'm doing right now.

That's maybe the worst cinnamon I've ever heard.

Hey, man.

That's a bad impression.

I need media.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show. The other thing that's fascinating is I don't know how James Winston is not the most popular athlete in America.

Well, there was that one thing.

I didn't tell you.

Actually, there was that second thing.

What was the second thing?

Another one of those things.

Two Uber rides?

And he's not that good.

What? Do we have the sound of him trying to throw him off with the hard count?

You're sad. Hunt one. Hunt two.

That's old school. No, you're right. They're not going to do it.

Who let the dogs out?

Who let the dogs? You got to be kidding.

What is he doing? Who let the dogs out? For 20 years, Dan Le Batard has sat in this seat, and I know because I'm sinking in it, talking about, "Oh, the cathedral of sports and football is the most serious of sports, and everyone's so serious." And here comes this breath of fresh air.

Who let the dogs out?

Who let the dogs out?

This ray of sunshine.

Who let the dogs out?

Who let the dogs out?

Says, "Guys, it doesn't have to be serious. We can have fun here."

Who let the dogs out?

Who let the dogs out?

Is he barking there or saying who?

I think it's a mix.

It's a roof.

He starts with who, but then ends with roof.

Roof.

Who let the dogs out?

Who let the dogs out?

It's like word combo.

Roof, roof, roof. I mean, that's a controversy that goes back many years, right? Like, what are the lyrics to that song? Is it. Is it who let the dogs out, who? Who? Or is it who let the dogs out barking?

It's who.

Is it?

Has to be.

I don't know.

Put it on the pole, Guillermo. Is it who? What say you, David Demachek?

I say that I hate to put myself in the position of being a curmudgeon on this.

No, no.

I didn't find that nearly as charming as you obviously did. You know they lost. It's great that he's having fun. You understand they lost. Also.

Not his fault.

Another just complete swing and a miss, or not even an attempt, by the broadcast booth to acknowledge the fact that the hilarity of who let the dogs out preceded a five-yard delay game penalty. That was very, I mean, like, that was not a small matter at that spot. Obviously, they end up losing the game on the ensuing drive there, and they gave the commies five extra yards there. The other thing I want to point out is, back to the pretzel hot dog.

Who let the dogs out? I don't know. Okay, let's start with the first thing. Absolutely 10 out of 10 with you on the pretzel bun. Wendy's every once in a while has this other pretzel bun pub house burger or whatever, and it always looks amazing. And like you, David Demachek, I convinced myself I like pretzels and I like burgers, so it must be great to have a burger in between pretzels. Then I haven't. It's like, this isn't that great at all.

Such a thick bun. You're eating. It's like the top bun is like the size of the entire burger. You're trying to eat the whole thing. It's like.

Forced.

And it's.

Am I on the list?

Yeah, you're on the list, man. You ain't on the list. You get practicing over there. But what was the other thing you said before tiramisu? The second thing?

Fajitas.

Fajitas. Okay. Fajitas are.

Are fantastic. I don't want to hear a single bad word about fajitas.

Yeah, they're fantastic.

They smell good.

As Dave Demachek points out, it's the embodiment, the epitome of all sizzle, no substance, right? It is literally all sizzle. And by the way, I'll expand this to something bigger. Enough with the DIY food. If I go to your establishment.

Amen.

I don't want to.

You meant DIY.

No. I don't want to make my food. I don't want to construct my food.

Yeah, but if you get three tacos from a restaurant, sometimes by the time you get to that second or third one, it's getting soggy. Whereas with the fajitas, what do you mean? Like the juice at the bottom? You don't ever have like where your third taco in, you're just like, it's like breaking because it's kind of just been sitting there for 10 minutes. That's why you.

10 minutes?

The fajita you get, you're making it.

There's no way a taco is sat 10 minutes untouched by Greg Cote. I mean, Chris Cote.

I mean, yes. I take my time.

There's no chat.

Oh, you take your time.

I'm around other people. I know how to play, like, pace myself. Count to 30 in between bites.

You're doing hut one, hut two. Who let the dogs out? But the tiramisu sir, I cannot follow you down that path. I cannot.

Well, you understand that the tiramisu, there are many, of all the foods out there, I'm trying to think if there's another one that competes with tiramisu. Like if you see it on a menu, you have no idea what it's going to look like when it comes based on the restaurant. Because sometimes it's like, it's presented as like a pudding. And then other times it's like a square kind of cake looking thing. And then other times it looks like a, more like from the pie realm. And all of them taste overrated to me. It seems like it should be good. It's chocolate.

I got a bone to pick with the tiramisu, Dave, in the sense that you talked about the coffee grinds on top. If you take that first spoonful and you're not careful and you go to inhale, the coffee grinds go down the throat. And it never happens with anything else because dusted stuff doesn't really like explode off the spoon.

Practicing.

The way the tiramisu does.

It's like biting into an elephant ear. I hate it. It's a harrowing experience.

I've never had elephant ears.

Really?

Really.

You're not missing out.

It's like a funnel cake.

Oh, is that what it is?

It's just a.

Yeah, it's a circular one instead of like funnel cakey style.

But it's excellent.

Well, I don't think I want to give the internet that given the discourse.

Careful. Back to Dave Demachek Skeletor. Another question for you. The interception that the Giants had that I thought sealed the game because I think it was Washington intercepts it and then runs out the back of the end zone. And I thought, "There it is. Put us up. Hike it. Kill some time. Game over." Instead.

We've decided he will be at the two-yard line.

What is that about?

That was so weird, right?

Yes.

Your momentum can drag you out of the, I mean, since when is it a spot where the player's hands make contact with the ball? Does momentum drag them into the end zone? That typically would have been a touchback. Yeah.

Can I ask the football people in the room? Because in basketball, we have this epidemic of people saying that's a travel. And I'm trying to explain to them, "No, the way the rules are, that's not a travel because he hasn't terminated the dribble. He has not gathered yet." And that rule, because again, all of us of a certain age grew up like as soon as the dribble's over, you get two steps and then pass or lay up or shoot. And now they've decided in the last few years that, "No, the steps start with the gather." And so if my hand is on top of the ball, but I'm taking like Fred Flintstone steps, I can take a hundred of these, even though I haven't dribbled again.

I mean, I feel like the rules completely changed from when I grew up.

For sure.

Even the time from 2010 when I graduated to now. On a hop step, it's almost like you could take an extra step and get away from the defender, right? Or you're here, you can go here, here, back up around.

The step through, right? So it's like the two feet land affords you the ability to leave. Like we kind of think like, "Oh, this is my pivot foot." Like, "No, you can completely leave this area because you take one step."

Since when?

Since, I don't know.

Since when?

In the last six, seven, eight years or so. But I digress. All I'm saying is that's the rule. If you knew the rule, you could adjust. And that's why we see a lot of players doing it. Football, it seems to me like I've listened to everybody from Jamokes like us to the greatest minds in the land. Nobody knows the rule. Nobody can explain these rules, except maybe Luke McCaffrey because he knew a rule that we didn't even know existed.

Fantastic. Unnecessary.

It's a classic coach's son, clubhouse guy right there. Real grinder.

Yeah. Dan Le Batard.

I'll go with this one.

Dave Demachek.

It is come time now.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

So everybody's on a mean side that that was hilarious what James did and worth ignoring the fact that the Giants lost the actual game.

It's not his fault.

I mean, it wasn't, you know, I'm with you that it was funny for him to do that.

Yes.

But I didn't find it necessarily as charming, given, like I say, that they then got a five-yard delay game penalty after all.

Well, that's good. He was in there.

And Herb Street, the cackling Al Michaels, how hilarious that was. And they don't even mention the fact that they just got moved back five yards closer to their own end zone for the perilous punt that was required as a result of it.

He was in there to get them to jump offsides. They did not.

Yeah, I understood why he was out.

So like, I don't know what you're arguing. By the way, the punt was glorious. It was an amazing punt.

Okay, and can we be honest about something?

What's that?

Who let the dogs out? As like a reference to do at the line. Like, what's next? An Austin Powers impression? He's going to get up to the line and be like, "My wife, my wife."

Boring. James, where are you at? There's my camera. There's my camera.

What would be worse, that mic or if he went, "Hut, hut, not."

How about hut, hut one, hut two?

What?

One, two, three, four, five, everybody in the house. So come on, let's ride. That's a reference that nobody would get.

Hut one, hut two. Where's the beef? Am I right?

We're back. We're back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Time to make the donuts.

Hut one, hut two. And your wife's going to love it too.

Hut one, hut two. Why didn't they make the whole plane out of the black box? Dang it. I screwed that up.

Liberty, Bibberdy.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. You've gone too far.

Liberty, Bibberdy.

Would have been funny. That would have been funny.

I mean, like, you think about it, there's a marketing angle there.

Oh, he would have gotten in trouble if he did Liberty, Bibberdy.

Why?

Because it's like injecting an ad.

No.

It would have been a hell.

Oh, no.

How would they know?

It should have been hut one, hut two, and she'll like it too.

It's Steve Martin also.

Yeah. The Nugenix commercials, I find fascinating because it's always older guys. I guess I'm starting to be in that age group, so maybe I should be looking at Nugenix. Older guys in some mild athletic scenario, working out at the gym, at the golf course, whatever, right at the driving range. And then here come Doug Flutie and the big hurt himself, Frank Thomas, and they're telling me, "Hey, it doesn't have to be this way. You could take this and make you feel better, stronger, da da da."

She's led with that.

Hold on. Are you casting aspersions at me being able to handle my business over there? Just because I'm a little tired from lifting weights, doesn't mean I need help over there. Number one. Number two, Nugenix, the name. Suspiciously too close to the word eugenics. I just sound like, I mean, it's right there.

What's not you?

It's new.

We don't worry about you. We worry about new. But it's spelled N-U. It's not new N-E-W, genix. It's N-U. So it literally is replacing the E at the beginning of the word eugenics.

Well, I mean, N-U because that's a cool way of spelling it.

Well, right, but it is suspiciously close.

Just like it doesn't end with a CS, it ends with an X.

And the X is powerful.

Now you know you're cool.

X is powerful at the end.

X is powerful at the end.

Classic early oughts.

X can't give it to you.

This is why bringing this subject up is why I will F with a mean. As far as that goes, yes, I am absolutely with you on the suspiciously close Nugenix, eugenics thing. But we've zaprudered these commercials and continue to do so on Football America.

Oh, really?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I am fascinated by every second, every frame of these Nugenix commercials. Flutie and the big hurt running around town doing their thing. In one of them, Flutie becomes deeply offended by, oh, do we have that ready to go here? As a matter of fact, I love this one. In the pro shop, they talked to the guy, if we can actually roll that.

We can't roll it because we don't own the rights, but we can show the still image. We can describe it.

Well, he goes, the guy goes, the Flutie and the big hurt are in there and they're talking to the fella. And he goes, Flutie's very offended. He goes, "Dude, do you even know who we are?" And the guy goes, "Doug Flutie and Frank Thomas." Oh, the Nugenix guys. Like, how does he know who they are? But then after he identifies them, then two and two is put there. Oh, I know Flutie and Thomas. How do I know? Oh, from Nugenix, of course. But I think before that, Flutie says to the guy, "Dude, do you even know who we are?"

At least.

There's no way anybody has spent their whole life there. Same sort of thing. At what point do we cut off the right to say, "Dude, is it okay to be 60 plus?" If you're Doug Flutie to be running around town, "Dude, do you even know who we are?" Or, "Dude, can I get some tiramisu?" Either way, how say you?

Put it on the poll. Can you still say, "Dude," if you're 60 plus? I'm going to say it depends. If you've been a dude sayer your entire life and you never went through that phase, well, I'm an adult now, so I have to talk like an adult, then you can continue to say, "Dude." You can't come back to dude. In other words, you can continue, dude. You can never return to dude. I mean, like Jeff Bridges, he could say dude for the rest of his life, right? Because he is the dude. But if let me pick someone out there.

Frank Thomas is 58. Doug Flutie is 64.

64.

I mean, it's he's crossed the line, Flutie, in my book. A 64-year-old man can't be out there calling people dude.

Can we throw that still shot back on the screen because, you know, you described him as being very offended. And I was like, "Really?" And then I looked at the picture and he has sassily got his hand on his hip. Like, you could tell that's the moment of immense disrespect. And look at the look on Frank Thomas' face. He's like, "Oh, you don't know what you don't accept it now." He's looking at the guy's like, "This is a hot butt issue with old Doug over here. You don't know." By the way.

Oh, you do now.

Flutie and the big hurt sounds like a, what's it, early 2000s radio show?

For sure.

Yeah.

You're listening to 107.9 with Flutie and the big hurt.

And the big hurt. Like the big voice has.

The big hurt.

There you go. Yeah.

Hey, it's 9:27 in the morning. It's Flutie and the big hurt.

Top of the hour.

That's all what up onlines. We got Dave Demachek in LA. You're on a mobile. Hey, Dave. What's up?

Hey, you know what I did? Speaking of Doug Flutie and his heyday, and then that makes me think of the game around Thanksgiving down in the Orange Bowl.

No, no, no. Stop, stop.

Bad memories, man.

Oh, man.

Bad memories.

You remember that?

I'm not going for it, but it bothers me too.

In the womb?

Yeah. Yeah, stolen trauma, I guess. It bothers me every time I see that highlight, even though I wasn't alive for it.

Is that the one he's got like the mid riff?

Yeah.

What happened to that? Why did it appear? Why did it go away?

They outlawed it.

They outlawed it.

Yeah.

Why was it outlawed?

Just got to guess race.

You know what, Mike Ryan? I might F with you. Hey, also, speaking of that era of time, I thought it would be fun to do this because I'm a weird person. I kind of cobbled together just because I talk about it all the time. This dumb 12 team or 24 team, shame the devil, how ruined it's going to be in football. Yeah, it's just the worst. I have advocated endlessly. It would be better if we just went back to the old way, or it would be just as good at least. January 1 was arguably the single best day on the sports calendar.

What would it be?

UCLA versus Indiana University. That would be sweet. How about if we round out the night just before you put your head on the pillow to face the grim reality that when your eyes pop back open in the morning, it's time to go back to school. The man, you're back on the man's time. But up until that point, you're rounding out the glorious holiday season with bowl game, New Year's Day. How about an Orange Bowl featuring the Georgia Bulldogs and the Miami Hurricanes? Oh, that would be sweet, right? You kick things off in the Cotton Bowl, Texas Tech in Alabama.

Well, I don't think the tournament this season is going to be dumb. I think the tournament this season is going to be pretty fun. I am worried about where we go from here.

You did?

Yeah, last year's college football playoff was amazing. Like those games were bangers, dude. They were awesome games.

This is the last fun one, right?

This is the last fun one. I mean, when you get to the expanded playoff field of 24, yeah, the playoffs are going to be cool. And maybe they're banking on everyone just taking that feeling away. But last week was really cool. Having meaningful regular season games, like having that feeling extend over several months as opposed to just one crazy weekend followed by another less crazy weekend, it's going to hurt the sport.

But Mike, my devil's damnish shit to that is this. Did you feel like, you know, I like Wolf of Wall Street. It's a great funny movie and everything, but I didn't find that it had the same stakes that some of Scorsese's other pictures did. And so therefore it didn't keep up. In my book, watching that game, did you feel like, yeah, we're close enough. We're going to make the playoff now. I would rather win this game and have a buy and all of that. But now the Canes aren't in any jeopardy of missing the playoff because they've kept it close.

No, I left that game mopey. I think that I'm proud that Miami fought in that game. They certainly did not have their best punch in that game, but there were a lot of issues that presented themselves in that game. Miami did get timely stops, but they got carved up through the air yet again. They got pushed around a lot in the scrimmage. And one of the things that I didn't necessarily realize, I knew that losing Malachi Tony would be impactful, but I didn't realize how much Malachi Tony covered up for our offensive line, especially in short-yarded situations where you didn't have to account for him. So my thinking was, we lost that game, and if we lose another game, which I fear might happen this month, you're in real trouble.

That's the danger zone?

I think these next two games are tricky.

13 and a half is the danger zone.

I think Miami is in the danger zone right now if they lose one of the next two games. I think that that's pretty obvious. But I still don't know if we know who we are without Malachi Tony.

Being a 13 and a half point favorite would indicate to me that you're not quite at the danger zone yet. Like overall losing a game.

Yeah. Well, the line is going down for a reason, I think. And people look at Nate Shepherd and they're like, well, they're a run first team. And Miami is elite at stopping the run. I think first in the nation right now. But if you look at Duke and you peel back the layers, Duke's biggest target men are the tight end and the running back. That attacks Miami's active weakness when it comes to coverage linebackers. And frankly, I'm not really thrilled with the defensive play calling right now. We have Marquis Lightfoot in coverage a lot. I don't understand that as a nickel team why we're having him patrol the flats as much as he is.

Can I plead ignorance here and be vulnerable for a second? I still don't know how lines move. I'm torn whether our lines moving because new information is coming out that now handicaps basically, oh, Miami's not as good as we thought, or are lines moving because more people are like, I don't think Miami's as good. And because the money is coming in, now the books are like adjusting as a result.

So in most cases, the money dictates the line movement. The public starts pounding. And that's why you saw the line movement once Malachi Tony went out. Vegas can adjust the line too because Malachi Tony is worth a certain amount of points, but also the public starts hammering one side. And ultimately, the job of every book is to get 50-50 action because they win on the VIG. So they're trying to get a perfect line. And if the marketplace is saying that the line isn't right, they'll adjust. However, there are times that the line steams. I'm not sure what's happening.

What does steam mean?

Steam means when, let's take for example, what I assume. I haven't seen the metrics, but I'm assuming the line for Tennessee Texas A&M that opened at three and a half, it is now down to two and a half. Texas A&M has looked like crap. Tennessee just had an amazing game against Kentucky. They looked really good. I would say that the public is probably on Tennessee, but why is that line shifting backwards? That's what you call steam when the public is taking one side and the line still somehow moves back and not in the favor of the public.

But is that the book sign to like entice more people?

Sometimes they go for a big dub. Yeah. Sometimes they go for a big dub. And if you're a seasoned gambler, you recognize that. That doesn't always mean a win. If it was 100% of the time, I mean, you would see no seeming lines and the secret would be out. So it's buyer beware. But typically when you see something like that, especially with two talented teams, it does give you pause.

Sometimes it's sharp money going the opposite way too, where people are like, oh, wait a second. These guys know what they're doing and they're playing big money on the opposite side.

Yeah, it's not just the money can move the pot even if it's not a percentage increase. You can just have a big whale drop like a huge money bomb. And while the percentages reflect, hey, there's 70-30 action on this, the 30% represents a bigger handle.

Got it. Got it. Because of the who?

A means being vulnerable and I appreciate it.

Thank you.

You know, he's taking some chances here and that's why I got into this line of work. And you know he's a really generous performer. I'd like to go to Mike Ryan now with my vulnerability.

Is it talking?

Hey, what is the realist? I never knew I couldn't say the word vulnerability. Vulnerability. Vulnerability. I never knew I couldn't say that word until this moment. This is an exciting moment. See, talk about being vulnerable, ironic or otherwise. Mike Ryan, what's the realistic path for you to miss the tournament here? I understand that you fear that they might, obviously, if they lose to Duke and Virginia Tech, they would play themselves out of things. But I think you're applying to try to scare yourself.

I don't think they drop both.

A little bit here.

I don't think they drop both. What scares me is a very plausible thing that Miami does drop one of these next two games without their best football player. Okay. And then they make it to an ACC Championship and there are two lost team in the ACC Championship. And whether you have Malachi Tony or not, depending on the opponent, like I'm scared of Jeth Rum. Jeth Rum always coaches a whale of the game against Miami. You're in a scenario in which if you lose that game, I can see them locking you out because I don't see them putting two ACC teams in at that point.

Well, I mean, some of that, what you're going to need to do now is spend a fair amount of your time, obviously, watching the SEC teams cannibalize each other. And that is obviously going to happen.

It hasn't, like in a weird way, Dave, like them cannibalizing one another has kind of helped. Like they don't move all that down.

I agree. That's why it sucks. That's why it makes no sense that UCLA doesn't get any bang out of a win at Minnesota because Minnesota somehow is an afterthought, whereas Tennessee is a credible team. Wisconsin doesn't matter. Northwestern isn't good, but all the middle of the pack SEC teams, doesn't that show you how formidable the SEC is top to bottom? It's so loco and such a double standard. I don't know where exactly the ACC falls on that. A month ago, I was more bullish on what the ACC was than I am right now.

Hot one, hot two. Life is like a box of chocolate. Kurt Cignetti tweeted, bad losses don't count anymore. Six crying laughing emojis. Our first down still 10 yards, three clown face emojis. And I'm like, you want to talk about someone being too old to say, dude, Kurt Cignetti, you're too old to be doing all them emojis, man. Like how old are you? Like that's how I read emojis.

When was the last time somebody was named?

Honey, where's the clown one? How do you get the clown? Get over here. Yeah, sure. I don't think I have it. I don't think my phone came with one. Dad, there it is. Oh, okay. All right. One, two, maybe three just to be safe.

I disagree with you on this one. I think that there's a gap of age, right? So there's like elder millennials down to really, I guess the end of millennials use emojis because we were teenagers or slightly older when emojis were brought into the landscape. Then there's a gap of about 10 to 15 years above that where it's like, you can't be using emojis. This is very cringey from you. But once you get into a certain age, and Kurt Cignetti is 65 years old.

This is what I'm going to say. I'm not anti-emoji. Someone says something funny, throw some laughing crying faces, rolling laughing faces, all good. What I'm against is emojis as punctuation. There's no bigger violator of this than LeBron James. LeBron James loves to do a, I'm going to make a point, hahaha, and then your point is sucks, clown face. Like LeBron does that a lot, right? Where every sentence is punctuated with an emoji. I think it's dumb, no matter what the age, but especially if you have to find your emojis.