Is The NFC North - Football's Best Division?

[00:00:00] But I know this, I'm not shocked one bit that we came out here and played pretty good football out in the elements. I just, that we're built for this man, and it doesn't matter, and just because we play indoors, it doesn't matter. We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow, we can play in the rain, we can play in the mud. That's just us, and we're built to win.

[00:00:19] The following is a presentation of Hobson Media.

[00:00:23] Woohoo!

[00:00:25] We got it better than us!

[00:00:31] This is the Church Pew Sports Podcast, featuring a group of pastors delivering bombastic takes on sports, life and faith.

[00:00:43] Take a knee.

[00:00:44] Man, it's hard to break us now. It's hard to break us. As a matter of fact, you ain't gonna do it.

[00:00:48] Lend an ear.

[00:00:49] These are some of the best questions I've had, I have to tell you that straight up.

[00:00:53] As the Church Pew Sports Podcast begins.

[00:00:56] It's great father-son bonding.

[00:00:58] Kegs and eggs and football, let's go.

[00:01:04] And with that, we launch another episode of the Church Pew Sports Podcast.

[00:01:07] It is so good to have you all with us.

[00:01:09] In fact, we have a special song with which to begin this episode because...

[00:01:15] It's the song we're all singing these days.

[00:01:18] You know it.

[00:01:19] Sing along.

[00:01:20] Forward down the field.

[00:01:21] Gridiron Heroes, the Lions fight song.

[00:01:24] For those of you who are listening in other parts of the country who do not like the Lions, I do not apologize.

[00:01:29] It's good to have you with us.

[00:01:32] Thanks for listening to Church Pew Sports and being part of the conversation as we connect sports to life and faith.

[00:01:37] Bill Hobson here and most all of the time, I am joined by Pastor Paul Miller on the podcast.

[00:01:43] But tonight, Paul's away and I am happy to be joined by the Senior Pastor of Hopevale Church in Saginaw, where Paul used to be and where Josh Pardee is.

[00:01:55] And you know we have this unique opportunity, Josh, because Paul's away.

[00:02:00] It's true.

[00:02:00] We've got conversation coming up about pro football and college football, which might include that team in Columbus a little bit.

[00:02:08] Although we have to be careful these days about our team in Ann Arbor.

[00:02:12] But how you doing?

[00:02:13] Doing great.

[00:02:14] You've been on with us a couple times.

[00:02:15] Yeah, been a while.

[00:02:16] Okay, so our direction for the first part of the conversation tonight is just the two of us, by the way.

[00:02:22] So hopefully, hopefully we can keep you highly entertained.

[00:02:26] We got to talk about our Detroit Lions.

[00:02:28] Let's do it.

[00:02:28] They continue to roll.

[00:02:31] What can stop them?

[00:02:34] Injuries.

[00:02:35] That's really, that's really it.

[00:02:37] I mean, it feels like a Jared Goff injury.

[00:02:40] Oh, stop.

[00:02:41] A running back injury.

[00:02:42] Don't say that out loud.

[00:02:44] Outside of that, I feel pretty good about them.

[00:02:48] I've tried to put myself in the position of a defensive coordinator in the last few weeks.

[00:02:54] When you're getting ready to face this team that has a quarterback.

[00:02:58] Let me make sure I have the stat right.

[00:03:01] Who has thrown more touchdown passes than incompletions over the last six games?

[00:03:07] I think so.

[00:03:08] Folks, let that sink in for just a quick moment.

[00:03:11] More touchdown passes than incompletions.

[00:03:14] And by the way, sometimes the touchdown passes come on first down.

[00:03:18] Sometimes second down.

[00:03:20] Sometimes third down.

[00:03:21] And every once in a while, we'll just have a little fun with you on fourth down.

[00:03:25] Fourth and goal for the Lions from just inside the Green Bay.

[00:03:29] Three golfs got it back looking, throwing left side.

[00:03:32] Once on the.

[00:03:33] Ah, makes the grab.

[00:03:34] Touchdown Detroit Lions.

[00:03:36] Oh, baby.

[00:03:37] What a throw that time by Jared Goff.

[00:03:39] Amin Ross spinning and making the catch.

[00:03:42] Getting two feet down.

[00:03:43] And the Lions take the lead.

[00:03:45] The Dan Campbell gamble pays off.

[00:03:48] The throw and the route.

[00:03:51] I was watching that live with my boys.

[00:03:54] And I was like, what is happening?

[00:03:56] And then it was like executed perfectly.

[00:03:58] I was like, that is amazing.

[00:03:59] You know, one of the things at the professional level, whether it's our, our Lions or any really

[00:04:05] good offensive team, one of the things that always blows my mind is when the balls in the

[00:04:09] air before the move is made.

[00:04:11] Yeah.

[00:04:12] Obviously they've practiced it a million times, but the, the accuracy, the precision, the timing.

[00:04:17] Um, if a defender just happens to accidentally turn to see the ball before he's supposed to, he's going to catch it because it is nearly going to hit him in the head.

[00:04:26] Right.

[00:04:27] To call that on fourth down in a driving rainstorm, which was the case in the Lions against the Packers.

[00:04:34] Uh, I don't know what to do with all that.

[00:04:37] It's crazy.

[00:04:38] It does not feel like I'm watching the Lions that I grew up watching.

[00:04:42] It's amazing.

[00:04:42] They're not the Lions.

[00:04:43] Either one of us grew up watching it.

[00:04:45] I've grown up a few more years than you have.

[00:04:47] Okay.

[00:04:47] So to you about this team, what's more impressive on the offensive side, the passing game or the running game?

[00:04:55] I know they're complimentary.

[00:04:56] Yeah.

[00:04:57] They're so complimentary.

[00:04:58] And it goes to you more confidence.

[00:05:00] Uh, I, I probably would still go the passing game just because it feels like there's so many weapons.

[00:05:08] That can pop.

[00:05:10] And I mean, Gibbs is even one of them out of the backfield and Montgomery is not bad on different screenplays or whatever too.

[00:05:16] So I mean, but narrow margin I'm going passing game, but I could easily be talked into the running game.

[00:05:23] What do you got?

[00:05:23] They're as likely to run the ball on third and eight as they are to throw the ball in third and eight.

[00:05:28] Right.

[00:05:29] So again, a defensive coordinators nightmare.

[00:05:32] You have young boys.

[00:05:33] They play flag football.

[00:05:34] One of them plays quarterback.

[00:05:36] Is he understanding the greatness that he's seeing?

[00:05:39] And I tried to explain to them just how far we've come, but you know, they're kind of, they've been spoiled.

[00:05:45] We had lions have been good the last few years.

[00:05:48] Um, they've only known good lions.

[00:05:51] Michigan won the national championship last year.

[00:05:53] You, these are, these are things that, you know, I'm trying to explain to them.

[00:05:57] There's, there's years in between these, you know, there's your wilderness experiences.

[00:06:03] The absence of scar tissue.

[00:06:05] I, I, well, we can't relate because we have so much scar tissue, but now that, now that you mentioned it, they have seen, even in the college ranks, when Michigan was getting its act together, they saw playoff, playoff, and then national championship.

[00:06:20] They didn't see the heartbreak.

[00:06:22] Right.

[00:06:22] Yeah.

[00:06:23] I mean, they were young enough.

[00:06:24] They weren't really paying attention during COVID year.

[00:06:26] And that was our last down year sort of thing.

[00:06:28] So.

[00:06:29] Okay.

[00:06:29] So are you equally nervous, um, as I am with this growing talk in the national media about Superbowl, the word Superbowl attached to the Detroit lions.

[00:06:41] I know that's what we're aiming for, but it's not what we're accustomed to even considering or, or certainly talking about in, in public.

[00:06:50] Oh yeah.

[00:06:51] I mean, usually it's like, can we get to 500?

[00:06:53] Can, can we sneak into the playoffs?

[00:06:55] Can we win a game in Dallas without the refs taking it away from us in the playoffs?

[00:07:00] And then, but no, I feel very, I mean, I, I, the NFL and football in general is hard.

[00:07:09] And so you show up every week.

[00:07:10] So there's a very good chance they get bounced in the first round of the playoffs that could happen.

[00:07:14] But if you're asking me, I think it's, it is Superbowl or bust.

[00:07:18] If you, um, after we're done in the studio here, if you look on the other side of my studio space, you'll see, I have two front pages of sports sections framed up from the bad boy piston era because they were making annual steps in the right direction.

[00:07:35] So I've got a, a, one of, says from pretender to contender, and it shows lamb beer in full three inch vertical leap greatness man after my own leaping ability.

[00:07:46] And then the one above that is bless you bad boys.

[00:07:49] When they got past the Celtics and in past the Lakers and won the championship.

[00:07:54] If the lions this season, when the division get a one seat or a two seat in the NFC, probably a one seat at this point, and then lose their first playoff game.

[00:08:05] We will go from being lions fans who were thrilled to make the post season.

[00:08:10] Oh yeah.

[00:08:10] To being pretty disappointed across the board.

[00:08:13] Yeah.

[00:08:14] Level setting.

[00:08:15] Yeah.

[00:08:16] I mean, we're at that point level setting for sure.

[00:08:18] I mean, but this is where as a Michigan fan, that's how things progressed to like the first year we made it.

[00:08:26] It was like, all right, we vanquished Ohio state.

[00:08:29] What just feels good to get to the playoffs.

[00:08:31] Plus we have to go up against this behemoth named Georgia.

[00:08:34] And then the next year was TCU.

[00:08:37] And that did feel pretty bad.

[00:08:38] That was bad.

[00:08:39] Especially when you're watching Ohio state and Georgia, the next game.

[00:08:44] And you know that whoever wins that game is winning the national championship.

[00:08:48] Um, so I, yeah, I mean, I think we're kind of like at that point of if, if they were to lose, uh, especially if they just don't show up or something.

[00:08:58] I mean, the NFL is again, you got to show up every week.

[00:09:01] You could get outplayed, but yeah.

[00:09:03] Is the NFC North the strongest division in the NFL?

[00:09:07] I, it certainly seems that way from, I mean, who else are you going to put in there?

[00:09:12] Right.

[00:09:12] Well, I am.

[00:09:12] And I know there are like the AFS or the NFC South has everybody's at four and four.

[00:09:17] I'm not sure I define that as strength.

[00:09:20] I think I define that as mediocrity.

[00:09:22] It's like the AL central.

[00:09:23] Right.

[00:09:24] We're all very excited about the Tigers, but as a division, it's, it's not holding up against the other divisions.

[00:09:29] I think the NFC North, even though the bears seem to have kind of leveled off.

[00:09:35] Um, this is, this is a division that could have three teams in the post season.

[00:09:41] Yeah.

[00:09:42] And three like contending teams.

[00:09:45] I mean, the Vikings, I mean, playing them a couple of weeks ago, they were no small task.

[00:09:51] I mean, it was at their place, fortunately, but I mean, that was, that was quite the game.

[00:09:55] Well, it took everything to get past them.

[00:09:57] It did.

[00:09:57] And you have to ask yourself, was Sam Darnold at a peak or is this the Sam Darnold that's been waiting to emerge after leaving behind franchises that crush dreams and hopes?

[00:10:07] Yeah.

[00:10:08] Well, it helps when Justin Jefferson's lined up on your, on your sidelines.

[00:10:12] Okay.

[00:10:12] So I'll give you your choice of Jefferson or Amon Ross St. Brown.

[00:10:15] Uh, I mean, I'm going to go Jefferson.

[00:10:19] I love, I love Amon Ross on Detroit because he's so much culture.

[00:10:25] And like, I mean, there was one play in the playoffs last year where he literally was carrying three guys on his back to get the first.

[00:10:32] He's not a big guy.

[00:10:33] Yeah.

[00:10:33] I mean, so I love like the grit.

[00:10:36] So that's very Detroit.

[00:10:37] But if you're just going talent, I mean, I don't know.

[00:10:40] Is Jefferson on a fantasy team of yours?

[00:10:42] Uh, he's on one of my fantasy teams.

[00:10:43] Okay.

[00:10:43] So has he been delivering for you?

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:45] Okay.

[00:10:46] I mean, that helps inform your opinion just a little bit.

[00:10:50] I feel like I got put on trial there for a second.

[00:10:52] And is he on one of your fantasy teams?

[00:10:55] I mean, what are you doing?

[00:10:56] Are you, who are you taking in that?

[00:10:58] You know, you could go one for one right now.

[00:11:00] You can take either one and put them on, on your team.

[00:11:03] If they're going to be on, on my lions team, I'll stick with what we have because it works so well.

[00:11:08] And I believe the statistic is 30 straight targets, 30 straight catches and in traffic, by the way, this guy is, is fearless to say the least.

[00:11:19] I saw it was like a 0.0001% chance at the, they went back and graded all of the catches with difficulty afterwards.

[00:11:27] It was something like that.

[00:11:28] It was either two O's or three O's before that.

[00:11:31] Yeah.

[00:11:31] These are not always easy.

[00:11:32] Even the fourth down catch that we played earlier, that was very difficult.

[00:11:36] And, and he stuck the landing and, and, you know, he got up and did his, his unique celebration.

[00:11:41] Um, but you did mention in your right.

[00:11:44] The only thing that seems like could derail them would be if, if injuries happen.

[00:11:49] Here's the wild thing about the tenuous nature of life as a pro football player.

[00:11:55] It doesn't even have to be an opposing player that takes you out.

[00:11:59] It could be a lineman that steps on your foot or rolls up on you because he got shoved back and you never saw it coming at all.

[00:12:05] Right.

[00:12:06] So am I overly sensitive to getting Jared golf off the field as soon as the game is all in, as soon as the margin is wide enough that it's a done deal?

[00:12:15] Uh, I don't think so.

[00:12:16] I think you and I, as I recall, have had text messages going back and forth.

[00:12:21] I'm so nervous.

[00:12:21] When are we getting him out of the game?

[00:12:23] So nervous.

[00:12:23] What are we doing here?

[00:12:24] Against Green Bay, I was a bit premature.

[00:12:26] I think it was during halftime.

[00:12:28] And it turned out to be a, you know, necessary to keep him in.

[00:12:32] So maybe the coaching staff knows what it's doing, but we all have those images of Hutch in her mind.

[00:12:38] Oh yeah.

[00:12:38] Well, it's already happened to us once.

[00:12:41] Right.

[00:12:41] So big time.

[00:12:42] Yeah.

[00:12:42] Are we going to talk about Zedaria Smith?

[00:12:45] Yeah, I want to, because that leads us into the, to the next thought, which is a successful team also has a successful front office.

[00:12:53] And in Brad, we trust.

[00:12:56] Yeah.

[00:12:56] Seriously.

[00:12:57] So he goes to the Cleveland Browns and he says, we would like your most dominant pass rusher.

[00:13:01] And we'd like him for next to nothing.

[00:13:03] And they say, yes, sir.

[00:13:04] Me.

[00:13:04] What, anything else you'd like?

[00:13:06] Yeah.

[00:13:06] We'd like a seventh round draft pick.

[00:13:08] So Zedaria Smith is I think 31 or 32 years old.

[00:13:14] So in NFL terms, he's, he's a little bit far down the road.

[00:13:18] The Browns have already paid all but, you know, for those of you who are new to sports salaries, please understand, we get the context of this.

[00:13:28] I'm not trying to insinuate insinuate that these aren't massive dollars that all of us would be pleased with if we were offered them.

[00:13:36] But the Browns have paid all but $600,000 of his salary for this year.

[00:13:42] The Lions have just acquired one of the best edge pass pass rushers in all of football for the remainder of his salary.

[00:13:53] So $600,000 and a fifth round draft pick next year and a sixth round draft pick, I believe the following year, which is kind of the equivalent of a happy meal.

[00:14:05] Yeah.

[00:14:06] Well, I mean, I don't always, I don't know how the compensation picks work too.

[00:14:13] But is it like if he leaves at some point, we can get a compensation pick for him?

[00:14:17] I know we're getting, I know we're getting a seventh and I believe he might be a free agent at the end of the year.

[00:14:21] This might be an option for next year.

[00:14:24] Wow.

[00:14:24] So we, and it's, it's in our hands of, and it was like 5 million or something like that.

[00:14:29] So it was, if he plays really well and it's a good fit, then it's not that much again, according to NFL standards.

[00:14:35] But if you, if it's a complete flop, they basically can cut ties for $0 next year.

[00:14:41] I know I want to transport everybody into the Cleveland Browns locker room.

[00:14:46] Right.

[00:14:46] So you've still got a half a season to play.

[00:14:49] Theoretically, you've got a desire to win games.

[00:14:52] At the same time, you come in the locker room and here's some empty lockers that weren't empty yesterday because your front office is now selling off your most valuable pieces.

[00:15:03] Yeah.

[00:15:04] I would, I would think it would be very, very difficult to convince myself to put my literal physical health on the line.

[00:15:13] You know, you hear the phrase making business decisions.

[00:15:16] Yep.

[00:15:17] When you're in a game that maybe, you know, a couple of touchdowns difference and you're on the short end of that, you have quarterback issues.

[00:15:25] Now you have no pass rush.

[00:15:26] Now you've got receivers that are going.

[00:15:28] I don't, I don't know how you keep yourself.

[00:15:31] I mean, I get it.

[00:15:32] You're a professional athlete.

[00:15:33] You're paid a lot of money to play the game.

[00:15:34] I don't know how you make health related decisions for the benefit of the team when the team has given up on you.

[00:15:42] That's gotta be a really tough time.

[00:15:44] Yeah.

[00:15:44] I mean, way different than what we're used to seeing in baseball, right?

[00:15:49] Yes.

[00:15:49] When you have buyers and sellers every year and they can move the trade line in the NFL, right?

[00:15:53] So we're, we're kind of moving more towards the baseball model, but the difference is you don't have 300 pound physical specimen that are trying to kill you every play.

[00:16:04] Yeah.

[00:16:05] The career track is a little bit longer than baseball.

[00:16:08] I was just reading, um, we had Armin Kataian on this podcast a few weeks ago in his book.

[00:16:13] It's fantastic.

[00:16:14] I'm, I don't know, two thirds of the way through it, but I just got to a chapter about an NIL collective conference where the cream of the NIL leadership crop, agency crop brought in like the top 100 high school athletes and their families and all these things.

[00:16:33] And one of the presenters was Kirk Herbstreit.

[00:16:36] Mm-hmm .

[00:16:37] And he came in to talk to them about dropping their ego, doing the hard work and realizing that every, he says, every one of you in this room is nowhere near as good as you think you are at the next level.

[00:16:51] Mm-hmm .

[00:16:52] Absolutely true.

[00:16:53] They're in high school.

[00:16:54] Right.

[00:16:54] How could they possibly know the difference in speed and physicality?

[00:16:58] And that's, that's for college.

[00:17:00] That's not even looking to the next, next level.

[00:17:02] And then he said, you need to understand that the career life expectancy of a football player is 3.5 years with 2.5 years being your most productive.

[00:17:16] And then you need a job or you need a purpose in your life.

[00:17:21] Bring this back to the NFL conversation we're having.

[00:17:24] I would have to think that in the, in the Browns locker room or in a locker room where a team is terrible, they're not going anywhere.

[00:17:30] It would be tough to drag yourself to the training room, to the weight room, but more than anything into the middle of the field where guys are flying at your knees from all different directions and your team is not going anywhere.

[00:17:46] Right.

[00:17:46] I don't know how you flip the switch to become the aggressive, no limits athlete you need to be in those situations.

[00:17:56] Yeah.

[00:17:56] Well, I mean, you have all of those parts of it.

[00:18:01] And then you have the Cleveland Browns front office with bringing in Deshaun Watson and what are people's feelings about that and all of the guarantee that he got compared to what you're getting.

[00:18:10] And I mean, you have all of your own ego that fits into that part of that conversation too.

[00:18:17] Do you remember when we used to be the recipient of those conversations as Detroit Lions fans, you know, and I think about aggressiveness and I think about going all out.

[00:18:26] I think about Brian Branch and getting ejected from the Green Bay game and turning my thoughts to kind of officiating and the kind of the bizarre variances from one game that we're watching at the same time as another game where there's a crystal lava as literally knocked out and put on a stretcher.

[00:18:46] Yeah.

[00:18:47] No ejection from that hit, which was directly to the head.

[00:18:51] And back in the Brian Branch world, I think the flag was justified, but the ejection has been universally criticized for being.

[00:19:01] Even by Tom Brady, who's not allowed to criticize the refs.

[00:19:04] It's a very interesting thing.

[00:19:05] Yeah, we'll talk about that in a moment.

[00:19:07] I don't, I think this Lions defense plays with a level of aggression that I don't know that they're as bothered by 15 yard flags as a lot of teams would be.

[00:19:15] I agree.

[00:19:16] To go back to the point of how officiating is happening at different levels or not consistently, did you see what happened with Puka?

[00:19:28] Like he responded, he got pushed or shoved or whatever and responded and he threw a punch or whatever, which deserves a flag.

[00:19:35] But then he got kicked out and the other guy didn't.

[00:19:38] So it was like the other guy instigated it.

[00:19:40] It wasn't that egregious of a thing.

[00:19:42] And then immediately he's gone too.

[00:19:45] Yeah, the retaliator.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:46] And so we live in the age of replay.

[00:19:49] Don't get me on my replay rant again, but we live in the age of replay, but only for certain things.

[00:19:54] Right.

[00:19:54] And I don't know how you don't broaden that when it comes to ejection related offenses.

[00:20:01] Right.

[00:20:01] And when they look at the Brian Branch thing, they go back and, you know, the referee analyst on the broadcast even said, this is not an ejectionable hit.

[00:20:15] Doesn't matter.

[00:20:16] There's no overriding it.

[00:20:17] You can't challenge that kind of thing.

[00:20:19] Yeah.

[00:20:20] Now, Lions played well enough, overcame it and other players stepped up and Branch will be fine.

[00:20:24] And we don't have to take up an offering to pay his fine.

[00:20:27] He'll get past that.

[00:20:29] But these are the kinds of things that in the past would have been the focal point of the post game conversation for us Lions fans, because we're always on edge waiting for the next.

[00:20:42] Or would have cost us the game somehow.

[00:20:45] Correct.

[00:20:45] Yeah, exactly.

[00:20:46] Yeah, they would have taken that 15 yard penalty and turned it into a game winning touchdown.

[00:20:50] Right.

[00:20:51] Yep.

[00:20:53] Okay.

[00:20:54] Tom Brady in the booth.

[00:20:55] Thumbs up or thumbs down?

[00:20:57] I don't have an opinion on.

[00:20:59] I haven't listened to him that much.

[00:21:02] Because the games that he's been on that I've listened to, I have little kids in my house.

[00:21:05] And so it is lots of commotion.

[00:21:08] So I have not heard much commentary.

[00:21:09] So I would acquiesce to you.

[00:21:13] What is your take on him?

[00:21:15] I mean, you're in broadcasting.

[00:21:16] You got strong opinions on all this stuff, I would imagine.

[00:21:19] 30 mil a year is crazy for an announcer.

[00:21:22] I mean, I thought that's what you all got.

[00:21:24] Unless he's doing a golf show on a regional cable network, in which case it's perfectly justified.

[00:21:31] That would be a little pink for me.

[00:21:33] But I can see how Tom could sneak by.

[00:21:36] I think he's gotten a lot better.

[00:21:38] I enjoy knowing that I'm hearing from the greatest quarterback that's ever played the game.

[00:21:44] I don't know how he could continue to do it with his hands tied when it comes to pregame preparation, criticizing of the officials, talking about the organizations involved.

[00:21:59] And for those of you who are kind of new to this conversation, Tom Brady has been approved as a part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

[00:22:08] Which is the first time ever there's been somebody in the broadcast booth who is also a team owner.

[00:22:14] So the league, in order to approve his share of ownership, put these restrictions around him.

[00:22:22] And, you know, the league and Tom Brady have never been best of friends.

[00:22:26] There's a history.

[00:22:27] Yeah, there's a considerable history.

[00:22:30] So he can't talk about the officials.

[00:22:32] He can't talk about the other teams.

[00:22:34] And during the week, he's not allowed to go to the production meetings, which are traditional in football prep, to go sit down with the opposing coach and a couple of players.

[00:22:42] But in this case, he did criticize the officials over that ejection of Brian Branch.

[00:22:48] You can tell the Lions are playing well because they're getting the A broadcast team from the Fox Broadcast Network and the same thing on CBS.

[00:22:57] When Brady brings that point out, I tend to listen a bit more.

[00:23:01] Sure.

[00:23:02] I don't know why.

[00:23:03] I mean, why do I put more credibility in Brady saying it than Tony Romo saying it?

[00:23:09] I don't know.

[00:23:10] I have no idea.

[00:23:11] Maybe because Brady won.

[00:23:12] Yeah.

[00:23:13] I mean, it could just be the greatest of all time here.

[00:23:16] You're thinking he's got a different angle, a different way of seeing, want to know how he's processing it?

[00:23:21] I will say this.

[00:23:22] Last note on Brady.

[00:23:23] I have not yet come in contact with a football fan anywhere who says, I cannot wait to get home and watch the game with Brady calling it.

[00:23:36] We're all more connected to the matchups.

[00:23:39] We're all more connected to the teams.

[00:23:41] Yeah.

[00:23:41] The broadcasters, unless it is an incredibly annoying broadcast team, it's kind of white noise, especially if you have other factors in the house.

[00:23:52] Plus the broadcast game.

[00:23:54] I feel like, I don't know if you'd say this.

[00:23:56] It feels like it's elevated too.

[00:23:59] I feel like there used to be more, there used to be just like one or two groups that I was like, oh, I do like them.

[00:24:05] And now it's like, no, every network kind of has a couple of different teams that are pretty good.

[00:24:09] And, you know, like I don't mind them, you know, whereas I feel like before it was a little bit of the opposite.

[00:24:14] Like, you know, there was Al Michaels or John Madden.

[00:24:18] Right.

[00:24:18] And then it was like kind of everybody else after that.

[00:24:20] And we're getting more of those top tier matchups that happen frequently during the week.

[00:24:27] It used to just be on Sunday.

[00:24:29] You knew you had Madden and Summerall at four o'clock.

[00:24:32] And then whatever happened before that, which is when the Lions were usually playing, you didn't live in Michigan probably at all during this time.

[00:24:39] But we had to also deal with the blackout rules.

[00:24:42] Oh, yeah.

[00:24:43] So the Silverdome and 83,000 seats, if it didn't sell out, anybody within, it's either 60 or 90 miles of the Silverdome didn't get to watch the game.

[00:24:54] That was a nightmare.

[00:24:55] Yeah, that's brutal.

[00:24:56] That was awful.

[00:24:57] So as all of that has changed, then I listened to guys like Greg Olson, who Brady just was brought in to boot out of the booth.

[00:25:06] Greg Olson's really good.

[00:25:07] He is.

[00:25:08] Really entertaining.

[00:25:09] Handled it like a champ.

[00:25:11] So I don't mind it when we get him either.

[00:25:13] I like listening to Tariqo and Collinsworth.

[00:25:15] Yep.

[00:25:16] I don't mind Nance and Romo.

[00:25:18] We're almost a little grading at times, but Nance is among the best that's ever done it.

[00:25:22] Right.

[00:25:22] And so we're living in a golden age of broadcasting.

[00:25:26] Yeah.

[00:25:26] And 30 mil a year for Brady means he's got to step it up big time.

[00:25:31] Okay.

[00:25:31] Let's go to college here for a minute.

[00:25:34] The college playoff picture, right?

[00:25:36] So we're now in the brackets.

[00:25:39] We're now in the 12 team.

[00:25:41] I noticed there was a noticeable absence of Maize and Blue team in the early rankings.

[00:25:50] Is that just an oversight or what am I missing here?

[00:25:54] Well, I have a new theory.

[00:25:57] Every week I come out with a new theory for college football.

[00:26:00] And my most recent is that after the sport has become very diluted is actually part of my concern.

[00:26:08] And I don't think that having 12 teams is going to provide us with the best champion.

[00:26:15] I think the last real champion, whoever we had, that one out of four teams, that would probably be the team that I would point to as the greatest team of all time.

[00:26:23] I would too.

[00:26:24] I can't argue with that.

[00:26:24] And hang on, let's just ask Paul if he has any objection to that.

[00:26:28] No?

[00:26:29] All right.

[00:26:30] Okay, I guess not.

[00:26:31] Yeah.

[00:26:31] I guess we'll take that win too.

[00:26:36] Okay, so the Buckeyes are a really, really good team.

[00:26:42] They are.

[00:26:42] But are they national championship level dominant?

[00:26:45] Or have they been kind of escape magicians to this point in the season?

[00:26:51] They've had some good games and some relatively close calls.

[00:26:56] Yeah.

[00:26:56] Where is this team from Columbus right now?

[00:27:00] I mean, I think they're pretty good.

[00:27:01] I think they're, I mean, they have a legitimate chance.

[00:27:05] I feel like it would have been, I would have loved to have seen the last couple of Michigan teams play against them just to see where they would stack up.

[00:27:14] I tend to think, especially, I don't know, pro and college, I think we forget every year teams have close games with other ranked teams or even teams that they should handle.

[00:27:26] Because you're just dealing with 18 to 22-year-olds most of the time.

[00:27:30] I know some of them are 25 now or 26 or whatever.

[00:27:32] Yeah, whatever.

[00:27:33] But, I mean, even if you go back in, if I think of Michigan over the years, like they had close games against different teams or whatever.

[00:27:41] And then there'd be all this reaction or whatever.

[00:27:44] So, I mean, I still tend to think Ohio State's really good and going to be in the, you know, the final four they should be.

[00:27:52] And then, again, once you get to that point, it's like who shows up the day of the game.

[00:27:58] Was Oregon as good as you thought they would be as a number one coming into the big house?

[00:28:03] I mean, I think Oregon's pretty good.

[00:28:05] I mean, they handled Ohio State.

[00:28:07] Again, I would take the whole picture as I'm looking at it.

[00:28:11] I mean, you've got to go game by game too.

[00:28:13] But I thought Michigan played their best game probably of the year and had a legitimate chance to be in that game at the end.

[00:28:23] Is she going to have a quarterback now?

[00:28:26] I mean, we're better off than we were at the beginning of the year.

[00:28:31] That is a low bar to clear.

[00:28:34] But you're right.

[00:28:35] Well, yeah.

[00:28:36] When you put in a quarterback who can't throw and then you don't let him run.

[00:28:41] And I mean, to me, Michigan has lost, what was it, 18 starters or something like that?

[00:28:49] And both coordinators, a head coach, you know, like all of the, I mean, the one coordinator moved up into the head coach, obviously.

[00:28:54] But so you knew there was going to be some step backs.

[00:28:59] I think as a Michigan fan, the frustrating part this season has been, I've not felt that the coaches have set us up for success on a week in, week out basis.

[00:29:10] And that that's, there's enough talent on that team that this season still could have looked different than it has.

[00:29:18] It seems like it's starting to click.

[00:29:19] It's just would have been nice if it had been clicking a few weeks earlier.

[00:29:23] Yeah.

[00:29:24] And yeah, on the winnables game registrar registry, we've got Northwestern still.

[00:29:33] Yep.

[00:29:33] Yep.

[00:29:34] I don't think we go to Bloomington and beat Indiana.

[00:29:37] We're significant underdog in that game.

[00:29:39] Should be.

[00:29:40] Yeah.

[00:29:41] Indiana is pretty, pretty stinking good.

[00:29:42] Yeah.

[00:29:43] Okay.

[00:29:44] So which is.

[00:29:45] Shouldn't Indiana be ranked in the top four or five?

[00:29:48] Yes.

[00:29:49] If they were, if they had any other logo on their helmet, wouldn't they be ranked?

[00:29:53] Strength in the top four or five right now?

[00:29:54] Yeah.

[00:29:55] Strength of schedule, probably not helping them as much because they keep beating up on.

[00:30:00] Sure.

[00:30:01] Well, yeah.

[00:30:02] So they got what?

[00:30:03] Two quality wins, perhaps.

[00:30:06] They'll climb.

[00:30:07] They'll keep, well, they have the Buckeyes coming in.

[00:30:09] Yeah.

[00:30:09] I mean, that's game's going to tell us a lot.

[00:30:11] Yeah.

[00:30:11] That'll be fun one to watch.

[00:30:12] Yeah.

[00:30:12] Michigan get to a bowl game.

[00:30:14] And if so, is it one hosted in Detroit?

[00:30:16] Or can we go somewhere on a, on a plane?

[00:30:18] It sounds probably like Detroit from what I understand of the bowl games.

[00:30:21] What do you think?

[00:30:22] They're not going to go there.

[00:30:23] They can't go to, they cannot go to Ford Field.

[00:30:26] However, I will say this, and I think I've mentioned this on the podcast a couple of

[00:30:30] weeks ago after another Michigan loss.

[00:30:33] I don't care.

[00:30:34] Yeah.

[00:30:35] Oh yeah.

[00:30:36] I've, I've not lost any sleep over any of it.

[00:30:40] No.

[00:30:40] Um, I, I try not to live in the, what have you done for me lately world?

[00:30:47] So my definition though, for them is what have you done for me lately?

[00:30:50] You've won a national championship.

[00:30:52] Yeah.

[00:30:52] I do have one bone to pick however, and I'd like your help on this.

[00:30:54] Okay.

[00:30:54] Perhaps not only as a Michigan fan and not only as a sports fan and a football fan, but

[00:30:59] maybe even as a pastor.

[00:31:02] I'm having, uh, I need some help.

[00:31:05] I'm having some major wink Martindale issues.

[00:31:08] Um, some of you are thinking, why is he having issues with a game show host?

[00:31:14] No, no, not in this case.

[00:31:16] This is actually the name of Michigan's defensive coordinator.

[00:31:19] And this is his exact quote from yesterday's press conference.

[00:31:24] Uh, Josh and I are recording this on Wednesday, November 6th and Tuesday, November 5th.

[00:31:29] This is what wink Martindale had to say about his defense.

[00:31:35] Talking about their tackling, which has been abysmal.

[00:31:38] His quote, I don't think it's been an issue throughout the year.

[00:31:42] I don't see the missed tackles as some other people see it.

[00:31:46] I think that we've done a nice job of playing hard unquote.

[00:31:52] All right.

[00:31:52] So you want me to give a defense?

[00:31:53] I need a lot of help.

[00:31:54] I don't need a defense.

[00:31:55] I need you to counsel me as to why that's okay.

[00:31:58] Okay.

[00:31:59] Uh, if I'm going to try and paint this in the best way that I possibly can wait to hear

[00:32:04] this, uh, he's not saying that he's not seeing the missed tackles.

[00:32:08] It's just that he's not seeing them the same way that we are.

[00:32:11] He's seeing effort that just hasn't fully been, you know, maximized yet.

[00:32:17] Like the, they're building and they're getting there, you know, maybe, maybe that's what

[00:32:21] he's going for.

[00:32:22] That's, that's literally the best.

[00:32:24] So hermeneutic.

[00:32:26] You know how, you know how they decorate the helmets with the little football.

[00:32:28] Yeah.

[00:32:29] Do you think they're handing out little footballs for three really high effort missed

[00:32:35] tackles?

[00:32:36] Because if so, we've got to reset the standard here just a little bit.

[00:32:41] That could be how we see it differently than winked us.

[00:32:44] I suppose.

[00:32:45] Okay.

[00:32:45] So I'm not crazy.

[00:32:46] No, I, I, I'm, I'm kind of with you on that.

[00:32:49] I, I don't love the defensive coordinator saying that he's not seeing missed tackles.

[00:32:55] I, um, I don't see the missed tackles as some other people see it.

[00:33:00] I think that we've done a nice job of playing hard.

[00:33:04] Uh, refresh my memory.

[00:33:05] I believe before the season started in any media interaction that, uh, coach Moore had

[00:33:11] with a microphone near him, they would ask, he was asked, you know, what's your philosophy

[00:33:15] for this year?

[00:33:16] One word smash, smash.

[00:33:20] I, I, I don't think he, I ever heard him say, we'd just like to do a nice job of playing.

[00:33:26] All right.

[00:33:27] Here.

[00:33:28] Can I ask a question?

[00:33:28] Yeah.

[00:33:29] If you could change one thing about Michigan season from the beginning to give us more

[00:33:33] success, what would you change?

[00:33:35] Um, I probably would have stuck with Davis Warren at quarterback or allowed a true spread offense

[00:33:42] with Alex Orji at the quarterback.

[00:33:44] Yeah.

[00:33:45] Knowing he's not going to throw the ball, but at least not throw it more than six yards.

[00:33:49] Right.

[00:33:49] But they could have done a lot more with this very, very athletic young man.

[00:33:54] Right.

[00:33:54] Um, who could run people over.

[00:33:56] He's a big, big guy.

[00:33:57] That would be my, my two things.

[00:33:59] We lost a bunch of players to the pros again.

[00:34:02] That's fine.

[00:34:03] I get it.

[00:34:03] But the losses to Washington and Illinois should not have been.

[00:34:09] I agree.

[00:34:10] They were strategy and coaching losses.

[00:34:12] And to a degree, the Oregon game could have been a one possession game.

[00:34:20] Had we, at least, I mean, we were, Hey, we did a nice job of playing hard.

[00:34:30] All right.

[00:34:30] Let me give you, let me give you the one thing I agree with your assessment.

[00:34:33] I think either of those would be good.

[00:34:34] I think the one way you solve both of those problems is I wish from the beginning, Sharon

[00:34:39] Moore had been the one calling plays.

[00:34:41] It's good.

[00:34:41] That's a good point.

[00:34:42] And, and just being offensive coordinator and then hiring, you know, like he could have

[00:34:46] taken over the whole offense.

[00:34:48] And then, I mean, I, I don't know that I have a lot of confidence in wink after the quote

[00:34:53] from this week that he could have just handled the defense.

[00:34:55] Well, you know, there are teams that who's, who's HC is also the OC.

[00:35:00] Right.

[00:35:01] And it can work, especially if you have a staff that's trusted and you have somebody that

[00:35:05] kind of acts as a bench coach and is handling things like the timeouts and the awareness

[00:35:09] of situations and the challenges and that kind of thing.

[00:35:11] Not the direction they chose to go.

[00:35:13] I do believe the staff was kind of thrown together a little bit late in the game.

[00:35:17] Yeah.

[00:35:18] We do have to keep in mind that, um, that coach Harbaugh not only left after the championship

[00:35:24] emptied the covers, emptied the covers, not just of players going to the pros, but of

[00:35:29] the entire coaching staff.

[00:35:31] So in defense of Sharon Moore, one would like to hope year two would have a bit more continuity

[00:35:36] to it.

[00:35:37] Yeah.

[00:35:37] I mean, bad hand to get dealt to start things off.

[00:35:41] And in that sense, and just, he's a new coach.

[00:35:43] Like, it's not like, it's not like he's Ryan day and has a relationship with Chip Kelly

[00:35:48] from years ago.

[00:35:49] And, you know, like he can even rely on all of these previous relationships from coaching

[00:35:55] in other places.

[00:35:56] And, you know, so he's just, it's just the hand he was.

[00:35:59] Yeah.

[00:36:01] All right.

[00:36:02] Let's get it.

[00:36:04] Do we need, can we clarify?

[00:36:05] I mean, I wish Paul was here, but the, the do Ohio state fans understand what that

[00:36:11] comment means.

[00:36:13] Cause it's not that he was born on third base.

[00:36:16] It's, it's the whole idea is born on third base and acts like he hits a triple.

[00:36:22] That's the issue.

[00:36:23] Right.

[00:36:23] Right.

[00:36:24] It's not that you're born on different bases that that's part of life.

[00:36:28] It's, it's how you act.

[00:36:30] We could probably do a tight 31 minutes on that concept because it is real.

[00:36:37] And it's, it's, uh, what am I trying to say?

[00:36:40] Let me take the Buckeyes out of the equation just for this illustration.

[00:36:47] There's, uh, every once in a while in coaching, especially, um, Brian Kelly would be a name

[00:36:55] that comes to mind.

[00:36:56] Uh, Dabo Sweeney comes to mind.

[00:36:58] Uh, Steve Spurrier used to come to mind.

[00:37:01] There was the mindset of, uh, I am the be all and end all of this program.

[00:37:08] And without me, this program goes away.

[00:37:11] Right.

[00:37:12] Um, to the point where you have an assumption that everything is going to just flow through

[00:37:20] your will, through your desire that no kid could ever say, I'm not going to come here.

[00:37:25] I'm going to go to another school.

[00:37:26] How dare you?

[00:37:27] Saban would have that same kind of approach.

[00:37:29] You know, they are the upper echelon of their profession.

[00:37:33] And then along comes this little thing called NIL and a transfer portal.

[00:37:39] And now we see teams like Vanderbilt beating Alabama and hanging in tight with some really

[00:37:47] good teams.

[00:37:48] Well, that's, that's unheard of.

[00:37:50] How can that be?

[00:37:51] Well, then Vanderbilt brings onto its staff, not as its head coach, but as a supporting

[00:37:57] coach, um, Jerry Kill, who used to be at Saginaw Valley State legend in the game, beloved

[00:38:05] killer told me once that Harbaugh called him and said, well, you just come be on my staff

[00:38:08] as a mentor to players.

[00:38:10] That's the kind of character that killer is.

[00:38:12] And now filling in this underneath the head coach who does all the media interactions,

[00:38:17] gets all the attention and most of the money, you have character building and you're, you're

[00:38:23] welcoming in players who may have been recruited to go to Alabama, to Ohio State, to Clemson,

[00:38:30] to Texas, to wherever.

[00:38:32] And when they got there, they found that they were fourth on the two deep.

[00:38:36] Right.

[00:38:37] Well, that's not what they signed up for.

[00:38:39] Right.

[00:38:39] And all of a sudden they're looking for a new home.

[00:38:42] So it's a long winded way of saying the, the age of the czar as coach.

[00:38:49] It's, it's diminishing.

[00:38:51] I think it's one of the reasons that Saban retired.

[00:38:53] Yeah.

[00:38:54] Um, I think it's one of the reasons among many that Harbaugh went to the NFL.

[00:38:58] Yeah.

[00:38:58] Um, I think it's one of the reasons that at some point in the next two or three years,

[00:39:04] Ryan Day will probably go to the NFL in some capacity because now you're playing this game

[00:39:08] of begging kids to take your money.

[00:39:11] Yeah.

[00:39:13] And then when they say yes, and then they still leave.

[00:39:15] Right.

[00:39:15] I don't, I don't know what the joy is in that for these coaches.

[00:39:19] Right.

[00:39:20] I mean, you get like, I mean, Quinn Ewers did that where he went to Ohio State for a year,

[00:39:24] took some money.

[00:39:25] It sounds like, and then transferred to Texas.

[00:39:28] And yeah, I mean, I, it's the wild west in so many ways.

[00:39:34] It's unfortunate at the moment.

[00:39:35] I do think if we could get a good, like commissioner, a system where we can make it fair and equitable,

[00:39:44] it is making the game more exciting because we are going to have more regularly the Vandy's

[00:39:50] beating the Bamas and you know, it's going to bring parody across the sport that we've seen in other sports.

[00:39:57] That's true.

[00:39:57] That's what we love about the NFL is, I mean, if your team is out of it already this year,

[00:40:03] oh, bummer, but there's a decent chance they're going to be back next year or in two years.

[00:40:07] Right.

[00:40:07] It's a league of parody.

[00:40:09] Right.

[00:40:09] If only the big 10 could get some more teams in it.

[00:40:12] Yeah.

[00:40:13] That would help out quite a bit.

[00:40:14] All right.

[00:40:15] We're going to go into our say what segment and give Josh a little challenge here.

[00:40:19] Say what?

[00:40:21] Kid, you tried your best and you failed miserably.

[00:40:24] The lesson is never try.

[00:40:27] Mattel or something.

[00:40:28] Car.

[00:40:29] Huh?

[00:40:29] What?

[00:40:30] Car.

[00:40:31] Huh?

[00:40:31] I mean, listen, we're talking about practice.

[00:40:34] Weaseling out of things is important to learn.

[00:40:36] It's what separates us from the animals.

[00:40:39] Except the weasels.

[00:40:40] I'm sorry about this afternoon.

[00:40:42] That's what he said.

[00:40:43] Say what?

[00:40:44] Say what?

[00:40:45] We're going to share a couple of quotes with Josh.

[00:40:47] You get to pick the winner.

[00:40:48] That's really all it is.

[00:40:49] Okay.

[00:40:49] And it's a huge responsibility.

[00:40:51] Just the winner is my favorite?

[00:40:52] Yeah.

[00:40:52] Favorite quote.

[00:40:53] So the first one comes from Coach Mike Elko.

[00:40:56] Okay.

[00:40:56] Texas A&M.

[00:40:57] Trying to fire up the team a little bit, especially in the face of opposition that is also a rival.

[00:41:03] 11 months ago, we sat in a room together and we talked about this moment.

[00:41:08] That when you get into this moment, you can't just want it.

[00:41:11] You've got to pay a price to earn it.

[00:41:14] You've got to pay a price to get on this stage.

[00:41:17] When you walk down the tunnel, think about everything you've done to prepare for this moment.

[00:41:23] They have not done what you have done.

[00:41:26] They are not ready to take this thing where you're willing to take it.

[00:41:29] Your togetherness is better.

[00:41:31] Your effort is better.

[00:41:32] Your culture is better.

[00:41:34] Go put it on display.

[00:41:35] For three and a half hours and go get it.

[00:41:40] Interestingly enough, a great speech to get you charging out of the locker room.

[00:41:45] Same speech you gave to the worship team Sunday morning at about 830.

[00:41:51] So, I mean, it probably sounded very familiar.

[00:41:53] I don't know who copied whom.

[00:41:55] Well, he was on Saturday.

[00:41:56] I was on Sunday.

[00:41:58] Fair.

[00:41:59] So that's choice number one.

[00:42:01] Okay.

[00:42:01] Did they win?

[00:42:02] Did they win?

[00:42:03] Yes.

[00:42:03] Okay.

[00:42:04] That helps too.

[00:42:05] Choice number two, a very familiar voice that you will hear from 2015, however, Coach Harbaugh

[00:42:14] discussing his Halloween trick-or-treating strategy.

[00:42:19] Yeah, they've been working on them.

[00:42:21] I've tried to advise them to get two costumes.

[00:42:24] There's to be go-getters.

[00:42:27] Hit the neighborhood in one costume and better to jog and to run from house to house.

[00:42:33] Then you can get more candy than anybody else.

[00:42:37] Then you can come home, make a quick change into a second costume and go hit those same houses again.

[00:42:42] Is that what you did?

[00:42:44] I did, yes.

[00:42:44] Come on.

[00:42:46] Hustle.

[00:42:46] Constant hustle.

[00:42:47] Hustling at all times.

[00:42:50] Does anybody doubt that he would have done that as a kid?

[00:42:53] I mean, I think there's a chance he's still doing it at the trailer park with his RV.

[00:42:59] What's the party boy's strategy for maximum candy acquisition?

[00:43:04] This year, they did run the neighborhood.

[00:43:07] And they were tired at the end.

[00:43:09] I have a picture of them.

[00:43:09] I saw them laying on the wall.

[00:43:11] Yeah, with all their buddies.

[00:43:12] They're like just spent at the end of the night.

[00:43:14] But they were very proud of that they made the entire neighborhood.

[00:43:18] And pillowcases full of candy.

[00:43:20] Yeah, way more candy than they need, for sure.

[00:43:22] So what's the party policy on when trick-or-treaters come to your door, but it's the adults and

[00:43:28] there's no kids in sight.

[00:43:29] And they say, oh, I'm just here for, the kids are back.

[00:43:31] Yeah, we didn't hand out candy this year because we were out with our kids.

[00:43:37] So we did have a little pit stop back at our house.

[00:43:40] We had a, I don't know, we had a bunch of people over.

[00:43:43] There's like 25 people over for dinner and then we all went out afterwards.

[00:43:46] And we stopped back.

[00:43:48] And so some kids came up to the house in that like two minutes that we stopped back.

[00:43:52] So I pointed them to the neighbor's house and I was like, we gave out candy with them.

[00:43:59] Is this what you mean by get to know your neighbor by name and by need?

[00:44:04] Because the need is more trick-or-treaters coming over to their house.

[00:44:07] It's my in-laws.

[00:44:09] So, you know, it's not like I'm just sending them to a random stranger's house or anything.

[00:44:13] We were here and my wife took care of the first several groups that stopped at the door.

[00:44:19] And then it's kind of my turn.

[00:44:20] And I try to make small talk because obviously these small children really want to hear from me.

[00:44:25] I just want to hear them punch the ticket of saying the words trick-or-treat.

[00:44:30] That's all I'm asking.

[00:44:31] I'm not asking you to sing a song, although I did ask one person and they didn't do it.

[00:44:35] But then somewhere near the tail end, two boys came to the porch.

[00:44:42] One of them had a beard and the other had kind of a starter kit mustache.

[00:44:48] And I said, hey, boys, just curious.

[00:44:51] I'm going to give you the candy either way.

[00:44:53] Which one of you drove here?

[00:44:56] And they kind of laughed.

[00:44:57] And I said, my general policy is if you can drive yourself to trick-or-treat,

[00:45:02] might be time to move to the next level.

[00:45:05] They didn't really know what to say.

[00:45:07] So I gave them candy.

[00:45:09] It'd be interesting to do a whole conversation on Halloween policy protocol.

[00:45:16] All right, let's go into our That Guy segment.

[00:45:17] I've got a good one for this.

[00:45:20] Right now, this minute, today, this week, I am.

[00:45:26] This is where we shout out somebody who's kind of doing it right, having some fun.

[00:45:31] And there was a moment last week.

[00:45:34] Sylvester Stallone is back in Philadelphia making an appearance somewhere.

[00:45:39] I think they were dedicating another Rocky statue because the big one at the top of the steps,

[00:45:43] I believe, has been moved or something.

[00:45:44] Anyways, he was outside.

[00:45:45] It was obviously a celebrity appearance.

[00:45:49] And fans were taking pictures.

[00:45:51] And this little boy comes up to him, probably seven years old.

[00:45:56] And he uncorks a full Rocky I monologue, word for word.

[00:46:05] And Sly joins in with him.

[00:46:07] And it's the sweetest thing I've seen in quite some time.

[00:46:10] You'll be able to get the gist of it.

[00:46:15] Sunshine and rainbow.

[00:46:17] It's a very mean and nasty place.

[00:46:19] And I don't care how tough you are.

[00:46:22] It will beat you to your knees.

[00:46:24] It can be there permanently if you like it.

[00:46:33] Get it.

[00:46:34] It can't move forward.

[00:46:35] How much you get taxed?

[00:46:42] Crowd's going wild.

[00:46:43] Kid's killing it.

[00:46:44] Take you anywhere you want.

[00:46:45] And so he ends it and he's like, I love you, Rocco.

[00:46:54] And he gives him a big hug.

[00:46:55] I just thought it was the best.

[00:46:57] I don't know if the kid understands the difference between fiction and reality.

[00:47:00] But it was a very sweet moment.

[00:47:03] You know, give me your sports movie actor you'd love to meet.

[00:47:10] Ooh.

[00:47:12] Sports movie actor.

[00:47:13] Yeah.

[00:47:15] I mean, Rocco's not a bad movie.

[00:47:17] Yeah.

[00:47:17] I mean, I do love the Rocky movies.

[00:47:20] That would be a good one.

[00:47:21] One of the last in-theater movies I've seen with my father.

[00:47:26] I mean, Dad's still with us, but we don't go to movies a lot since he's 85.

[00:47:30] Was Rocky IV.

[00:47:31] Okay.

[00:47:33] One of the reasons...

[00:47:34] I'm sorry, Rocky III was Cleber Lang, Mr. T.

[00:47:36] So it's a long time ago.

[00:47:38] I think the only other movie we've ever seen together after that was Saving Private Ryan.

[00:47:42] So as you can tell, the gap is wide.

[00:47:44] But in that movie, my dad was standing up and yelling at the screen, which is one of the reasons.

[00:47:51] It was one of the last movies we saw together.

[00:47:54] But he grew up watching boxing and it was very real for him.

[00:47:58] He was like, Kill on Rocco, get out of the way.

[00:48:00] And my dad's like shadow boxing with him as he goes.

[00:48:02] People are looking around.

[00:48:03] I'm like, I don't know this guy.

[00:48:05] I have no idea who this is.

[00:48:06] So I'm especially partial to all things Rocco.

[00:48:10] So I'd take a little Stallone launch conversation.

[00:48:13] Yeah, that'd be awesome.

[00:48:14] All right.

[00:48:15] That'd be awesome.

[00:48:16] All right.

[00:48:16] Let me wrap things up with a little bit of a three-minute message and we'll get you all out of here.

[00:48:22] Homer, I'd like you to remember Matthew 7, 26.

[00:48:26] The foolish man who built his house on sand.

[00:48:29] And you remember Matthew 21, 17.

[00:48:36] And he left them and went out of the city into Bethany and he lodged there.

[00:48:41] Yeah.

[00:48:42] Think about it.

[00:48:44] Words of wisdom.

[00:48:45] Think about it.

[00:48:45] Our three-minute message as we wind things down.

[00:48:48] You know, Josh was giving me some pastorly advice earlier on the Wink Martindale issues.

[00:48:53] Here we are recording a day after an election has taken place and we aren't going to get into it.

[00:48:59] You'll notice, by the way, that for 49 minutes, I have not touched on any of that stuff.

[00:49:03] And that's by design.

[00:49:04] You did not come here for that.

[00:49:06] I just want to wrap up by saying this.

[00:49:09] The word peace seems to be appropriate just to discuss here at the end of the program.

[00:49:16] Peace.

[00:49:17] What does peace look like in your life?

[00:49:19] What does peace look like in the context of the national event that's just taken place called an election?

[00:49:26] And then the local side of all of that.

[00:49:28] And then favorites, right?

[00:49:30] And for those of you who are not part of the body at Hopevale, Josh has just finished an incredibly powerful message series called Voter Guide,

[00:49:42] which has nothing to do with the candidates, but everything to do with us as voters.

[00:49:48] And realizing that our peace and our hope as a people, as followers of Christ, does not come from an elephant or a donkey,

[00:50:01] but it comes from the Lamb, from the Son of God.

[00:50:05] John 14, 27.

[00:50:07] Peace I leave with you.

[00:50:09] My peace I give you.

[00:50:10] I do not give to you as the world gives.

[00:50:13] Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

[00:50:18] Whatever it is right now, right now as you're listening to this, that threatens your peace,

[00:50:26] that threatens to disrupt your connection with Christ, your vertical connection with the Almighty,

[00:50:34] I would pray that you would set that aside or hand that over to him and realize that whether it's related to politics,

[00:50:42] maybe it's related to something completely outside that realm,

[00:50:46] we are offered a peace that passes really all logical understanding.

[00:50:52] But that peace only comes through our Heavenly Father.

[00:50:55] So my encouragement to you would be that if you're not at peace with the results of Tuesday,

[00:51:00] or even if you are,

[00:51:03] remember that you have an opportunity to share with others the real hope,

[00:51:07] the real source of peace,

[00:51:09] and the real answer for all of life's problems.

[00:51:11] And believe it or not, those answers aren't coming through an election.

[00:51:15] They're coming through the one who created us, the one who loves us,

[00:51:19] and the one who gives us our true worth and our identity.

[00:51:23] I have watched enough videos in the last few hours of people

[00:51:29] melting down in screaming tears that I feel bad for them

[00:51:36] because clearly they have attached their definition of peace to an elephant or a donkey.

[00:51:43] That's sad because that is not what our calling is.

[00:51:46] So my hope and prayer for you is that you realize the true source of peace.

[00:51:50] And I didn't want to put Josh on the spot to re-preach all the messages.

[00:51:55] But now if you could just do all five of them,

[00:51:57] we'll just wait here for the next seven hours.

[00:51:59] You can go to hopeale.org.

[00:52:01] All the sermons are loaded up there for you.

[00:52:03] I do recommend that.

[00:52:04] I really do.

[00:52:05] Thanks for coming in.

[00:52:06] It's good to see you.

[00:52:07] Good to have you on the podcast with us.

[00:52:08] Thanks for having me.

[00:52:09] Fun stuff.

[00:52:09] Good to be with you.

[00:52:10] And I think we gave the Buckeyes fair treatment.

[00:52:13] Yeah.

[00:52:14] You said they could be the final four.

[00:52:15] Oh, I think they could win it all for sure.

[00:52:18] All right.

[00:52:18] So Paul can't get too upset with that.

[00:52:20] Yeah.

[00:52:20] And he'll find some other things to get upset about.

[00:52:23] Yeah.

[00:52:24] Well, next time.

[00:52:24] Then we'll get to banter back and forth.

[00:52:26] That's right.

[00:52:27] Appreciate you all joining us.

[00:52:28] Make sure you check out churchpewsports.com.

[00:52:30] Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter.

[00:52:33] And we'll continue the conversation with you next time here on Church Pew Sports.

[00:52:37] Bye-bye.

[00:52:37] Bye-bye.

[00:52:37] Bye-bye.

[00:52:37] Bye-bye.