Making Sense of the CFP Playoff Picture

[00:00:00] The only joke I know is why we're six afraid of seven because seven eight nine.

[00:00:04] The following is a presentation of Hobson Media.

[00:00:08] Woo hoo!

[00:00:16] This is the Church Pew Sports Podcast featuring a group of pastors delivering bombastic takes on sports, life and faith.

[00:00:28] Take a knee.

[00:00:29] 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.

[00:00:33] Lend an ear.

[00:00:34] These are some of the best questions I've had. I have to tell you that straight up.

[00:00:38] As the Church Pew Sports Podcast begins.

[00:00:40] It's great father son bonding.

[00:00:43] Kegs and eggs in football. Let's go.

[00:00:46] It is great father son bonding for sure. Welcome into another episode of Church Pew Sports.

[00:00:51] It's great to have you with us. Bill Hobson here along with Pastor Paul Miller who checks in from his Minneapolis headquarters.

[00:00:58] And Paul I don't know if you picked up on that little teaser clip. It was only five seconds long, but it's the grandpa joke of the year.

[00:01:06] Let me give it to you just one more time to make sure you got it.

[00:01:09] The only joke I know is why we're six afraid of seven because seven eight nine.

[00:01:13] Now, first of all, who is that joke teller Paul?

[00:01:16] It's gotta be Jim Harbaugh.

[00:01:17] It is James Harbaugh.

[00:01:19] And the setting of course is during an actual news conference with the Chargers where he is trying to tell some tell the assembled masses about the importance of games six, seven, eight, nine on the schedule.

[00:01:30] And you know, I can't let a week go by without some sort of a Harbaugh intrusion.

[00:01:35] So that was it. Good to have you all with us.

[00:01:37] Please hit that subscribe button.

[00:01:39] However it is you are listening to the podcast and spread the word, share the link with some other sports fans in your world.

[00:01:45] And today, one of the things we're hoping to accomplish is to help make some sense, some order out of the college football playoff rankings, brackets, TV specials, and this whole new 12 team world.

[00:02:03] And we've also got a special guest with us for the week.

[00:02:07] So I'm going to let you, Paul, take it from here and bring him on in.

[00:02:11] Yes. So I was at like, I'm up in Minneapolis now, as you said, Bill, and, and, uh, when was it last week?

[00:02:18] I was at the university of Northwestern St. Paul, not the big 10 Northwestern, the university of Northwestern at St. Paul.

[00:02:28] They had, we're having a career slash intern fair for their students.

[00:02:33] And you ever have one of those things where you're kind of repping at your booth and people are coming up to you and you realize that they're, they're,

[00:02:40] they're only there because they need a signature so they can get class credit for, for showing up and chatting with you.

[00:02:48] And so I was having a lot of those kinds of conversations.

[00:02:51] And then I met this guy, his name is Holter Robinson.

[00:02:55] And he's a communications major at the university of Northwestern St. Paul.

[00:03:00] And we got to talking and one of us said something about sports and all of a sudden he lit up. Right.

[00:03:04] So I'm like, well, I need to introduce you to my friend, Bill. He and I do this podcast.

[00:03:11] And, um, Bill, I think could be a good resource for you. And we would love for you to guest on the show. So Holter, welcome.

[00:03:17] Yeah. Thank you guys for having me. It was sort of funny. Um, talking about the career fair.

[00:03:21] I didn't even have the paper to get signed. Actually, I had it, but I wasn't worried about getting it signed or anything.

[00:03:27] I was just looking to talk to people and me and Paul got to talking about sports and he said something about the Packers and LeBron James.

[00:03:36] And we, we sort of bonded over that. So I thought that was pretty cool.

[00:03:39] You bonded over your, you bonded over your mutual admiration for both of those items or your mutual dislike for both of those.

[00:03:47] Dislike for sure.

[00:03:49] That's what I thought. Yeah.

[00:03:49] It's shot in Florida. Hey, okay. So Holter, we do have a little hazing ritual that we take every first time guests through on the show.

[00:03:57] It's not that bad, really. It's just a question that we ask every first time guests so that our listeners can get to know you a little bit better.

[00:04:06] So the question is, who are the sports teams, any sport, any level that you follow at irrational levels that make other sports fans or people that know you look at you and say things like, you need to relax a little bit on your fandom.

[00:04:24] So who, who would those teams be for you again? Any sport, any level.

[00:04:28] I'd have to go with the Timberwolves. I was just at the game yesterday and we finally have a good team.

[00:04:33] So I've been paying a lot of attention to them, following every game, watching every game I can.

[00:04:39] And second to them is definitely the Vikings.

[00:04:42] So you're a Minnesota guy.

[00:04:44] Was that the T-Wolves game where Julius Randle hit the buzzer beater?

[00:04:47] Yeah, that was awesome. He hit, he hit two buzzer beaters. Actually, he had one at halftime as well.

[00:04:52] And then the game winner. That's cool.

[00:04:55] So, so your Viking love has seen a considerable change at quarterback and now here's Sam Darnold in and he's been playing pretty well.

[00:05:05] But do you have the same level of confidence in Darnold that you did have in Kirk Cousins?

[00:05:12] I do not. Darnold, I feel like he's a little more, he throws actually cousins through a lot of interceptions as well.

[00:05:19] So they kind of have that in common, but I like Darnold. I think he's fine.

[00:05:24] I don't think he'll be starting for us next year, but I think this year he's, he's what we got him for and he's doing the job.

[00:05:31] So here we are, you know, I'm a Lions fan. Paul's a Bears fan. You've got the Vikings covered. We have a strict no Packer fan policy on Church Pew Sports.

[00:05:41] So we've got basically all that's allowed from the division covered. So Holter at this point in the season, do you hold out any hope for your Vikings to catch my Lions?

[00:05:52] A little bit, a little bit. Really?

[00:05:54] You guys are pretty good. You guys are pretty good. So pretty good. We just put up 700 points on the Jaguars.

[00:06:01] Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't think the Vikings, we, we don't really put up points like that.

[00:06:06] The Lions definitely do. So it's a little bit scary, but I think we could catch you guys.

[00:06:10] There should be some kind of reverse multiplier when the points are on the Jaguars. So just, just saying.

[00:06:17] Aren't you, isn't Minnesota just like a game back right now?

[00:06:20] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:21] They do keep winning. I mean, every time you look up, you're like, oh, they would just, you know, somebody would just catch them.

[00:06:26] We could get that little more comfortable two game lead. Plus we have the first of the head to head matchups.

[00:06:32] But they are, they are playing some pretty good football.

[00:06:34] Meanwhile, at the college level, Paul, we're in a new era. We knew this. We've talked NIL.

[00:06:40] We talked briefly back at the beginning of the season about the expansion to, to a 12 team playoff.

[00:06:46] And here, now we're there. Now we're doing selection shows. Now we're seeing brackets come out that are bigger than ever.

[00:06:56] And we're having more questions than ever because there are more variables in all of this equation.

[00:07:02] Are you a, are you a watcher of this ESPN every week show that breaks out the brackets?

[00:07:09] Well, I think I'm probably more likely to watch than some of my friends who team is not in the rankings.

[00:07:17] I'm not watching.

[00:07:19] 25 currently. We'll just leave it at that. But no, I don't watch. I watched the first one because I'm like, oh, it'll tell us some things about how the committee is viewing, you know, relative strength of conferences and different things like that.

[00:07:34] And I thought it would be interesting to see what Ward Manuel had to say.

[00:07:38] Cause it's just the most ironic of ironic things to me that the AD from the University of Michigan is in charge or leading the CFP committee the year after Michigan wins the natty.

[00:07:52] So now I don't watch too much. I kind of, kind of think they're meaningless or a little bit pointless at this point in the, in the season.

[00:08:03] Everything's going to change. Like everyone's the big 10 is going to cannibalize each other here, especially starting this weekend. Right.

[00:08:10] Indiana is going to Columbus to play the Buckeyes. Same thing's going to happen in the sec.

[00:08:15] Um, what is good though, about the show is they do this really in depth explanation of how the seedings and the rankings work for the college football playoff.

[00:08:31] And Bill, I'm going to completely put you on the spot and ask, see if you can explain it to Holter in a way that he can understand because he's a self confessed, not huge follower of NCAA football.

[00:08:45] So here's your, here's your chance.

[00:08:47] Best way that I can explain it is that normally we're all looking at the national rankings that are a compilation of coaches, polls and media polls.

[00:08:56] And so you'll see the top 25 and you'll get irritated that your team is ranked 11th instead of 10th.

[00:09:03] But for the most part, if you're in the top 12, you're like, Hey, we're in the top 12.

[00:09:06] So we'll get in there and all we need is a chance, but that's not how the college football playoffs work.

[00:09:13] There are 12 slots, but it doesn't mean they go to the teams ranked one through 12 because there's a block of them reserved for the champions of various conferences.

[00:09:26] So you, I guess, I mean, Paul, I guess theoretically you could be a team that's ranked 16th, but you win one of the conferences that has a guaranteed spot.

[00:09:39] Now, granted, they're the power five conferences, so it's unlikely that you'd be ranked that low, but you're not just filling in one through 12.

[00:09:46] And so part of the, part of the drama is, you know, what are they going to do with Notre Dame?

[00:09:52] Where are they going to go?

[00:09:53] They're not in a conference, so do they get a spot?

[00:09:55] What happens to Army?

[00:09:57] Army, who we all would love nothing more than to see get a spot in the playoffs.

[00:10:02] And they've got, you know, they've got some stiff competition coming up.

[00:10:06] So there's these variables where when you see the rankings on one screen and they say one through 25,

[00:10:14] you can't just copy and paste one through 12 over into the brackets.

[00:10:19] How's that explanation?

[00:10:20] Holter, did that make any sense?

[00:10:22] No doubt.

[00:10:23] The playoffs are a little different this year, so if you win your conference, you get an automatic bid.

[00:10:29] Is that how it works?

[00:10:30] Depends on your conference.

[00:10:32] The top, yeah, the top five ranked conference champions make it in.

[00:10:38] So that's where it's going to get a little wonky.

[00:10:40] Like, let's say, who is it that like Boise State and some of those schools are like the Mountain West or something like that.

[00:10:47] There's going to be, after the Big Ten, the SEC, the ACC, and the Big 12, there's going to be a lesser ranked or a less strong conference whose conference champion is guaranteed a spot in the top five seeds in the playoff.

[00:11:08] Which means that somebody, probably most likely an SEC team that has two losses is going to get bumped.

[00:11:15] So that a team like Boise State can be in.

[00:11:19] Well, right?

[00:11:21] Or Tulane maybe, or Army, or however it plays out.

[00:11:24] Yeah, so we bring all this back around to this discussion of strength of schedule.

[00:11:27] And, Holter, if I could assign to you one phrase to just remember throughout the podcast.

[00:11:35] And if I ever say to you, tell everybody your phrase.

[00:11:38] Here's your phrase.

[00:11:39] It's all about the money.

[00:11:41] Okay, just tuck that away.

[00:11:43] It's all about the money.

[00:11:44] All right, so I'm going to, I'll point to you.

[00:11:46] I'll be like, Holter, what is it?

[00:11:47] It's all about the money.

[00:11:48] Let's just remember that at all times.

[00:11:52] Because we then have the lobbying that takes place.

[00:11:55] We have the talk about strength of schedules that take place.

[00:11:59] The Georgia Bulldogs are a really, really good football team.

[00:12:02] They've lost twice.

[00:12:04] They play in a very competitive conference.

[00:12:07] Their head coach is not above the idea of lobbying and trying to make the case.

[00:12:13] Here was Kirby Saturday after a win.

[00:12:17] What do you think you showed the committee tonight?

[00:12:19] Well, I don't know.

[00:12:20] Because I don't know what they look for.

[00:12:22] I really don't know what they look for anymore.

[00:12:24] So I would welcome anybody in that committee to come down to this league and play in this environment.

[00:12:28] It's a tough place to play.

[00:12:31] I'd welcome anybody to come down and play in this environment.

[00:12:34] It's a tough place to play with the Battle Hymn of the Republic playing in the background.

[00:12:38] I mean, it was right on cue.

[00:12:39] The choir was all assembled.

[00:12:41] And so, Paul, we are going to see the lobbying.

[00:12:44] I mean, even though we did see it before with four teams getting in, and we saw it before that when only two teams would get in,

[00:12:53] we're still going to see it, whether it's 12 teams, whether it's 48 teams, or whether it's everybody gets a ribbon,

[00:13:01] and you can all come along and play.

[00:13:03] So that's not going to stop, is it?

[00:13:05] No.

[00:13:06] It's just moved from the number five team not getting in to now theoretically the number 13 team.

[00:13:13] But because of the complexity of the way they have the format set up, it's going to be worse than that.

[00:13:19] Like I heard someone saying, I think it was on college game day, I heard somebody, maybe it was Des.

[00:13:24] Maybe Des in a moment of clarity.

[00:13:27] You still listen to Des?

[00:13:28] Which doesn't come often for Des.

[00:13:31] But, you know, like what would happen if we just took the 12 best teams?

[00:13:36] Well, I can tell you what would happen if we took the 12 best teams.

[00:13:38] It would be like the Big Ten SEC Invitational and everybody else would be left to the wayside.

[00:13:43] And that's what they're trying to avoid.

[00:13:46] They want everyone across the country to have a reason to be interested in the playoff,

[00:13:51] not just in Big Ten country and SEC land and everything else.

[00:13:56] So I get it, but it's a weird kind of clunky process.

[00:14:01] And somebody's going to be disappointed.

[00:14:04] Someone's going to pay the price for not playing a tough schedule.

[00:14:08] And everything else.

[00:14:09] Like how about Indiana, right?

[00:14:11] They're undefeated.

[00:14:12] But they're like the number, I think it was like the number 106 ranked strength of schedule out of 130,

[00:14:20] I think it is, or something like that.

[00:14:22] They haven't played anybody.

[00:14:24] Their only tough opponent this year is going to be this weekend against Ohio State.

[00:14:28] So what if they lose?

[00:14:29] Are they out with one loss?

[00:14:31] Are they done?

[00:14:32] Maybe.

[00:14:32] And can you imagine a world in which in that 12-team final bracket, a two-loss team gets in over a one-loss Indiana?

[00:14:43] Now, you could look at the Hoosiers and say, yeah, they're undefeated.

[00:14:47] They've played the schedule that was dealt to them.

[00:14:49] Yes, they have.

[00:14:50] And, you know, Michigan gave them a decent run and probably should have beat them, but we won't go there.

[00:14:56] They're going to get the brakes beaten off of them in Columbus this weekend.

[00:15:00] I don't even think it's – I think it'll be like the Lions and the Jaguars kind of a beating.

[00:15:05] And that will probably take Indiana way, way down this whole list.

[00:15:12] Unless, Paul, they get into a situation where they're – are they going to end up in the Big Ten championship game?

[00:15:19] I can't remember divisions and how it's all broken up.

[00:15:21] I'm in a bit of a flu fog, but do they still – are they done or do they get to play again for something of meaning?

[00:15:27] And we come around to the question of are conference championship games working against these teams in general across the country?

[00:15:39] Yeah, I think they're losing their relevance.

[00:15:42] In Indiana's case, if they lose to Ohio State, then they have to hope that Michigan beats Ohio State the next week.

[00:15:53] And that would be their only ticket to the conference championship, which would give them a chance to play Oregon and prove that they can be the top team.

[00:16:01] And then if they won the Big Ten championship, they'd be in.

[00:16:04] They'd be a much higher-ranked conference champ.

[00:16:08] So that's why it's so weird.

[00:16:09] You mentioned Notre Dame earlier, Bill.

[00:16:11] You know, when I was talking to Holter, when I was talking to you about coming on the podcast and I was telling you about it, I told you, yeah, LeBron and the Packers.

[00:16:23] I should have also said Notre Dame if I was in a disclosure.

[00:16:27] Because Notre Dame refuses to join a conference, and you know the reason.

[00:16:33] Holter?

[00:16:33] I don't know.

[00:16:34] I don't know the reason.

[00:16:36] Holter, what's your one phrase to remember throughout the day today?

[00:16:38] Oh, it's all about the money?

[00:16:40] Thank you.

[00:16:40] It is all about the money.

[00:16:42] Thank you very much.

[00:16:44] So Notre Dame, because of the way the thing is set up, the highest seed they can get is six.

[00:16:52] They can't ever make the top five.

[00:16:53] But that's why everybody and their brother is rooting for Army and USC these next couple weeks, because we want Notre Dame to take another loss in addition to their loss to...

[00:17:06] And was it Northern Illinois?

[00:17:07] I think they lost two.

[00:17:09] Yeah.

[00:17:09] And then we could tell them to stay home, which I would be okay with.

[00:17:13] Yeah, we'd all be okay with that.

[00:17:15] By the way, Holter, since you're at Northwestern University of St. Paul, does that make you a Wildcat?

[00:17:22] I mean, is it connected to the Chicago main mothership campus or is it not even related at all?

[00:17:28] They're not related at all.

[00:17:30] I'm an eagle.

[00:17:31] Okay.

[00:17:32] You're an eagle up there.

[00:17:33] Yep.

[00:17:33] So when you're not really directly attached as a fan or as a student of any of these universities that are in a lot of the conversations, do you just tune them all out?

[00:17:42] Or do you find yourself gravitating towards a particular program?

[00:17:46] How do you treat this as a guy who likes sports but doesn't have a direct connection?

[00:17:52] I definitely like the Gophers just because of proximity.

[00:17:57] I don't know if you guys know Daryl Thompson.

[00:17:59] Yeah.

[00:18:00] He was the Gophers running back.

[00:18:01] I know him pretty well, so the Gophers.

[00:18:05] Marcus Sherrills, he went to my high school.

[00:18:07] He played for the Gophers.

[00:18:09] Michael Hurt, he went to my high school.

[00:18:11] He played for the Gophers.

[00:18:12] So I have a lot of connections to the Gophers.

[00:18:14] Are you rowing the boat?

[00:18:17] Yeah, I'm rowing the boat.

[00:18:18] You're rowing the boat with PJ?

[00:18:20] Yeah.

[00:18:20] I'm not too sure.

[00:18:22] I don't follow the – I honestly follow basketball more than football.

[00:18:28] We'll let you get away with that.

[00:18:29] I was telling Holter off-air some of my animus towards the University of Minnesota because of the treatment of a couple of my friends there.

[00:18:37] So we'll let you go basketball ways.

[00:18:39] That's as close as we're going to let you get.

[00:18:41] Well, we do have to ask you this, though.

[00:18:43] There's an ongoing conversation that happens on this podcast about college football helmets.

[00:18:49] Yeah.

[00:18:50] What do you think of that, like, Nickelodeon-looking gopher helmet logo thing that they wear?

[00:18:56] Not all the time, but sometimes.

[00:18:58] Yeah.

[00:18:58] I didn't think about it looking like a Nickelodeon character, but I guess you're kind of right.

[00:19:03] I don't know.

[00:19:04] I think that – I like the Gophers uniforms.

[00:19:05] I don't think they're bad.

[00:19:06] I know the Ravens had a similar Raven logo that was a cartoon and people were making fun of it.

[00:19:13] But I think they're kind of fun.

[00:19:16] Okay.

[00:19:17] Speaking of fun, whether or not you are directly attached and fully immersed in the world of college football,

[00:19:23] if you have happened across any of the college game day pregame show on ESPN –

[00:19:29] Paul briefly mentioned Des.

[00:19:31] He was referring to Desmond Howard, who was part of that panel.

[00:19:34] Well, I thought Paul had an automatic mute installed on his TV whenever Des began speaking because he gets quickly irritated by him.

[00:19:42] But there is a regular feature now on game day that takes place every week somewhere around 11 a.m. on Saturdays

[00:19:52] with this random student picked out of a drawing to kick a 35-yard field goal to win incredible amounts of money.

[00:20:05] And it's Pat McAfee's moment.

[00:20:08] I don't think Pat's writing the check, but he is awfully quick to raise the stakes of pretty much every one of these kicking moments.

[00:20:19] I'm going to take you all into it.

[00:20:20] It's going to last about a minute.

[00:20:21] But you'll understand the electric nature of what's about to happen.

[00:20:26] Just remember this.

[00:20:27] Every week as students arrive and they get there at like 3 in the morning to line up to be part of the throng at the college game day setup,

[00:20:37] if they want to be eligible to kick this field goal, they just literally put their name in a bin and they draw out a name.

[00:20:46] And in the case of this last week, a young lady's name was drawn.

[00:20:52] She wanted nothing to do with kicking.

[00:20:54] So she asked if the kid she's never met standing next to her could do it instead and they would split the money.

[00:21:02] Henry, 33 yards, $100,000 for you, $100,000 for her, $200,000 to hurricane relief, $400,000 on the line.

[00:21:10] Henry, are you ready?

[00:21:11] Of course.

[00:21:12] Have you ever said anything bad about kickers?

[00:21:14] Of course.

[00:21:15] Shut up.

[00:21:15] Let's go.

[00:21:16] Are his shoes tied?

[00:21:17] Are you sure his shoes are tied?

[00:21:19] Bell, I'm pulling for you.

[00:21:21] I'm pulling for Henry.

[00:21:23] Now here in Athens, Georgia, it would be beautiful if $400,000 would be up for grabs.

[00:21:29] Why don't we double it because the Georgia Bulldogs.

[00:21:36] So $800,000 kick right here, Henry.

[00:21:40] But what I want to let you know is you're not getting a second opportunity.

[00:21:43] I don't care if this entire play starts chanting for a second kick.

[00:21:47] One kick, $800,000 racks, $400,000 to hurricane relief, $400,000 to you two split, $200,000 each.

[00:21:57] Henry Silver from Indiana for Bell Sessions.

[00:22:01] Let's go, Henry.

[00:22:10] He didn't just make it.

[00:22:11] He smoked it.

[00:22:13] It looked like a kick that would have been good from 50.

[00:22:15] And most of the time, these kids are hitting clunkers that almost endanger the lives of the people lining the little kicking alleyway.

[00:22:24] Holter, if that was you, how would you have done?

[00:22:26] What's your kicking game like just on the spot, cold, without warming up?

[00:22:30] He's a soccer-style kicker, just saying.

[00:22:33] Yeah.

[00:22:33] I'm a soccer-style kicker, but I think I could do it.

[00:22:36] Really?

[00:22:37] I want to say, though, $800,000 is pretty impressive.

[00:22:41] That's a lot of pressure.

[00:22:42] And we see NFL kickers miss extra points.

[00:22:46] So that kid just drilled it.

[00:22:48] That was an awesome kick.

[00:22:50] Yeah.

[00:22:50] There was a little meme on social media.

[00:22:54] Somebody took a screen cap of the moment when the young lady was smiling at the kid who made the kick.

[00:23:02] And the caption was, someday I'll tell our kids this is how I met your mother.

[00:23:08] Because they didn't know each other.

[00:23:10] She just came away with $200,000 in her own pocket.

[00:23:13] And it's really good stuff.

[00:23:15] And, Paul, in the broadcast sense, I don't know that they could have come up with a bigger win than that segment every week.

[00:23:23] I think it's awesome.

[00:23:24] Because there is this kind of anticipation of, is McAfee going to give away more money?

[00:23:29] Yeah.

[00:23:30] That's the impression.

[00:23:31] And who's paying more?

[00:23:33] I'm sure he's told he can't go over this amount.

[00:23:36] But he's like a master at drumming up the drama.

[00:23:39] It is pretty fun.

[00:23:40] One last note here on college football before we get into kind of walking through the brackets and predictions for it.

[00:23:47] How sad have you been, Paul, at the plight of the LSU Tigers and Brian Kelly and the difficulties that they've encountered now at 6-4 in a season where they were planning to compete for a national title?

[00:24:05] Yeah, not so much.

[00:24:07] Brian Kelly carries with him like residual Notre Dame hatred from me.

[00:24:15] So, the fact that they lost three in a row, like they were 6-1, I think.

[00:24:19] And then they lost to A&M and Bama and then just to Florida this past week.

[00:24:26] And he pounds the table and he does the thing and he tries to, Brian Kelly tries to act like he's above all of it.

[00:24:33] I think it's hilarious that Marcus Freeman now has Notre Dame in a better position to make the playoff than LSU is.

[00:24:41] Well, even more fittingly, at the end of October, Brian Kelly had a little locker room moment with his team where he made the following proclamation.

[00:24:54] October is for pretenders.

[00:25:00] November is for contenders!

[00:25:04] They're 0-3 in November.

[00:25:06] Yeah.

[00:25:10] Don't say it unless you can back it up.

[00:25:12] I mean, come on.

[00:25:12] I mean, come on.

[00:25:13] You can't ask for a better bit of scripting than that.

[00:25:18] So, okay, Holter, on game day, I understand you're not watching all the games, but whenever you're locked in, are you a texting kind of guy during games?

[00:25:29] Are you and your buddies in the text threads and is it nonstop during the games?

[00:25:34] Because Paul and I have a little different approach to this.

[00:25:36] So, what's your approach like during a big game that you're watching?

[00:25:39] Vikings game, Vikings-Lions.

[00:25:42] Are you geared up and are you firing off text to all sorts of different people?

[00:25:46] Yeah, it definitely depends on the game.

[00:25:49] When I'm back home watching the Vikings with my family, we kind of have a tradition.

[00:25:54] My dad records the game, so we start watching it about an hour later so he can skip the commercials.

[00:26:00] So, then I have a policy, do not check my phone because I'll get the score leaked or something.

[00:26:07] But the Timberwolves, me and my cousin especially, we're always texting.

[00:26:12] He'll be like, Anthony Edwards is going off or just updating me on the game.

[00:26:16] So, it's definitely fun to do that.

[00:26:19] Paul does not care for that approach.

[00:26:22] Well, yeah, that's because I'm a Bears fan, right?

[00:26:25] And I'm not making this up every single time one of my friends, especially Pete Carlson.

[00:26:32] Pete, if you're listening, yeah, you.

[00:26:35] Anytime one of my friends, or Rob Garpeel, my neighbor back in Michigan, anytime one of those guys will send me a text,

[00:26:42] say, hey, way to go, man, your Bears came through.

[00:26:44] If the game isn't at zeros when that text comes through, it's over.

[00:26:48] Like, it happened again this past Sunday.

[00:26:51] Pete is sending me texts.

[00:26:52] He's sending me gifts.

[00:26:53] He's doing all the things, right?

[00:26:56] And so, what I need to do is just turn my phone off.

[00:26:59] You mean you're, let me make sure I understand.

[00:27:01] You're watching the game, but they're declaring the outcome even though nobody knows the outcome?

[00:27:07] Is that what you're saying?

[00:27:08] Like, this game is over.

[00:27:08] People are congratulating me before, congratulating ourselves as Bears fans before the game is over,

[00:27:15] which is like the kiss of death for a Bears fan.

[00:27:17] It doesn't matter.

[00:27:18] They find ways to lose games, like against the Commanders or the Packers over and over and over.

[00:27:25] So, I just get frustrated.

[00:27:28] And then I have to, you know, if I turn my phone off and I turn it back on and I have to,

[00:27:31] I feel this obligation to reply to everybody, which I should probably just leave the group text.

[00:27:36] It's probably what I should do.

[00:27:37] So, that's, but that's purely a product of the fact that the sports teams that I follow are way too fragile to survive people texting each other during the game.

[00:27:49] Yeah, we are a texting factory in this world.

[00:27:52] And probably Holter like you when you're texting in regards to the Timberwolves.

[00:27:58] To me, it even adds more interest and excitement to the game.

[00:28:03] You know, your buddies are watching with you.

[00:28:04] However, there have been a couple times when one of my friends would say, you're like 30 seconds ahead of me.

[00:28:10] And I don't know how that can be.

[00:28:11] We're all watching it live.

[00:28:12] And so, you just have to, you got to respect that because the last thing I want to do is get tipped off to a big play that's about to happen and I don't know the outcome.

[00:28:22] So, you know, what are the, we have to figure out what the rules of the road are for in-game texting.

[00:28:29] And Holter, maybe you and your boys can help put together a little outline for best practices for all of this.

[00:28:37] That would be definitely interesting.

[00:28:39] That made me think, actually, I was at a restaurant yesterday and we had the Chiefs and the Bills game on.

[00:28:46] And we noticed that the people on the other side of the restaurant, they were about 15 seconds behind us.

[00:28:52] And they were having loud reactions to every play.

[00:28:56] But I told my buddy, I was like, they're lucky that we're not reacting as much as they are because they would know something big happened.

[00:29:03] And then it would be before they actually saw what happened.

[00:29:05] You're talking about same game in the same restaurant with that big of a...

[00:29:09] Yeah, like 20 feet away.

[00:29:10] Wow, that's weird.

[00:29:12] It's crazy.

[00:29:13] That could really mess things up.

[00:29:17] Okay, so Paul, when do you start paying attention to the CFP rankings for real?

[00:29:22] Like right now they're out there.

[00:29:24] We kind of laugh at them.

[00:29:25] We don't really care because like you said, everything's going to shake up.

[00:29:28] When does it kick in?

[00:29:29] When does it matter?

[00:29:30] I don't think it matters until the end of the regular season.

[00:29:33] And you're looking at conference championship games.

[00:29:36] Because then you can start to play scenarios.

[00:29:38] And then you have scenarios in front of you.

[00:29:41] Everything's going to change.

[00:29:42] Like the current rankings, they're all going to completely change between now and what is it?

[00:29:48] Three weeks from...

[00:29:49] Two weeks from now?

[00:29:50] Two weeks.

[00:29:51] Regular season?

[00:29:51] Yep.

[00:29:52] Two more weeks.

[00:29:52] And then going into conference championship games, that's when I feel like it's worth it.

[00:29:57] I understand it generates buzz and excitement and Holter.

[00:30:04] It's all about the money.

[00:30:05] Yeah, so I get it.

[00:30:07] As an Ohio State fan, it ought to be fun for me to watch because Ohio State keeps getting love on those shows and everything else.

[00:30:17] But I don't think they matter until we get to championship week.

[00:30:21] How do you guys feel about Colorado?

[00:30:23] Because I know they're getting a lot of hype.

[00:30:26] Do you guys think the hype's worth it or not?

[00:30:29] You know what?

[00:30:29] They have outperformed expectations in some decent matchups.

[00:30:36] And granted, they haven't had the most strenuous of schedules.

[00:30:40] They're playing well.

[00:30:42] And I guarantee you, because Holter, it's all about the money.

[00:30:46] It's all about the money.

[00:30:46] Yeah.

[00:30:46] I can guarantee you that if there's any, I mean, like just a sliver of a logical case to be made by the committee for getting Colorado slash Dion slash Shadour slash Hunter into this thing, they're going to be in it.

[00:31:02] Whether it's a 12 seed or whatever, they will get in if they win out.

[00:31:06] There's no chance they could keep them out of there.

[00:31:08] Yeah.

[00:31:08] Well, I think they're on track to be big 12 champs if they win out, right?

[00:31:12] So they would have to be, and they'd be in at a four seed, and actually they could potentially play Oregon or Ohio State in that second round of class.

[00:31:24] That would actually be fascinating if that happened.

[00:31:27] Could you imagine Colorado playing Ohio State?

[00:31:31] That'd be fascinating.

[00:31:33] Well, I can't because, and here's part of the because, we're still talking home games, right?

[00:31:39] So we're still talking.

[00:31:40] It would be in Columbus, yeah.

[00:31:42] In Columbus.

[00:31:42] Now we're talking Columbus in December.

[00:31:45] This is different than the bowl game season we've all come to know and love where with a four team playoff, you're not playing until early January, and then they're always in neutral, warm weather cities.

[00:31:57] I understand it's not like Denver is tropical, but an outdoor, potentially blizzardy kind of a game.

[00:32:07] I don't know if it gives you the best look at any team, other than teams that can run the ball really well.

[00:32:13] So that's one of those variables that I will be very interested to watch play out in this 12-team playoff as we get into December.

[00:32:21] What's it going to look like when one school is playing in Columbus and another school is playing in some beautiful tropical setting?

[00:32:32] You're really going to want to look at the seeding thing because you may be in the playoffs and heading towards a tundra that you never prepared for, never played in at any other time.

[00:32:44] I almost made a Buckeye joke about playing in the snow.

[00:32:49] I'm not going to do it.

[00:32:51] I'm not in a position this year to make any jokes about the Buckeyes.

[00:32:55] No, I'm just watching with interest.

[00:32:56] That's all.

[00:32:57] All right, let's go to –

[00:32:58] Okay, so to answer your question, Alter, I think my answer would be I think Colorado's for real, but I don't think Dion's for real.

[00:33:06] Like, can that be a thing?

[00:33:07] Like, can that be an answer to that question?

[00:33:10] How can he not be for real?

[00:33:13] I don't know.

[00:33:14] It's just kind of how I feel.

[00:33:15] They're talking about him coaching the Cowboys, which would –

[00:33:19] That would be crazy too.

[00:33:20] Hilarious.

[00:33:21] Him and Jerry Jones, that would be great.

[00:33:24] That would be a football marriage made in heaven.

[00:33:27] They kind of deserve each other.

[00:33:29] All right, let's roll into our holy discontent.

[00:33:36] It's time to blow off some steam.

[00:33:39] Get it off your chest.

[00:33:40] Rant about what's most bothering you.

[00:33:42] I got a lot of problems with you people.

[00:33:44] No?

[00:33:45] You're going to hear about it.

[00:33:46] It's time for Holy Discontent.

[00:33:50] Yeah, this is where we get to do a little complaining about things that are bothering us.

[00:33:54] And, Holter, you're new to the program, so I'm going to let Paul go first.

[00:33:57] And then if you have second, we'll let you go second.

[00:34:00] All right, so my holy discontent this week is with the NFL's Thanksgiving Day schedule.

[00:34:08] Now, I need you to listen to this through the lens of a Chicago Bears fan, okay?

[00:34:14] That's me.

[00:34:16] Game number one, the Chicago Bears playing the Detroit Lions.

[00:34:23] I think we know how that game is going to turn out, right?

[00:34:26] Not on Thanksgiving.

[00:34:27] Thanksgiving.

[00:34:28] I'm not looking forward to watching that game.

[00:34:31] I don't doubt my Bears, but I kind of do.

[00:34:33] All right, second game is New York at Dallas.

[00:34:35] So now we're going to get Cooper Rush and Tommy DeVito at quarterback.

[00:34:40] Did you see they're going to bench Daniel Jones?

[00:34:43] And they're skipping over their backup guy, I don't even remember his name, to go to the third string guy.

[00:34:48] So we got Cooper Rush and Tommy DeVito when the Giants play Dallas.

[00:34:55] And then our third game is Miami at Green Bay, and I'm just anticipating now that Green Bay is going to do something to win that game.

[00:35:02] So I'm 0 for 3 as far as games I want to watch on Thanksgiving Day, which is not okay.

[00:35:09] Like Thanksgiving Day football should be a part of what you do as a family, and I'm not looking forward to watching any of those games.

[00:35:17] I'm not happy about it.

[00:35:18] Can I tell you, I just confirmed this yesterday with my lovely wife.

[00:35:24] Our kids are coming here Friday and Saturday.

[00:35:28] We're not going anywhere Thursday.

[00:35:31] It is just the two of us.

[00:35:32] I don't even care what we're going to eat.

[00:35:35] We've got three games to watch.

[00:35:37] Oh, man, it is just going to be locked down.

[00:35:40] I've been sick for about a week now.

[00:35:42] I have hardly left the house.

[00:35:44] I see no reason to break that streak.

[00:35:46] And pajama pants, here we come.

[00:35:48] Let's go Lions.

[00:35:50] That's good.

[00:35:51] Holter, what's your holy discontent?

[00:35:54] My holy discontent?

[00:35:55] It's got to be Rob Dillingham.

[00:35:58] I believe he should be getting many more minutes on the Timberwolves.

[00:36:02] Mike Conley is not scoring at a good enough rate.

[00:36:06] Dante DiVincenzo finally had a good game yesterday, but I don't know how you can expect a rookie to succeed when you put him in like yesterday for three crucial minutes.

[00:36:16] So he's basically out there just trying not to make a mistake.

[00:36:19] Doesn't want to do anything too risky.

[00:36:21] I don't think it puts him at a good position.

[00:36:24] So I'd love to see him get some more minutes and be able to actually grow as a player.

[00:36:29] Paul, in the 163 episodes now of Church Pew Sports, how many times have we had a Dillingham holy discontent?

[00:36:37] I mean, this has got to be a dozen.

[00:36:40] What's that?

[00:36:40] A dozen, maybe?

[00:36:42] Yeah, something like that.

[00:36:43] I just think it's good.

[00:36:44] Like I was having lunch with a guy today and I was like, I'm trying to figure out, I have to adopt one Minnesota sports team since we live up here now, right?

[00:36:54] And so I'm like, okay, I don't think it's going to, it's not the Twins.

[00:36:58] It could be the T-Wolves because I think Anthony Edwards is the closest.

[00:37:02] He's good.

[00:37:03] He's just good.

[00:37:04] They're fun to watch, even if they picked up Julius Randall.

[00:37:09] Trying to figure out who that team's going to be.

[00:37:11] And I've got it narrowed down to, it's either going to be the Wild or the Loons, like the MLS soccer team who are in like the semis now.

[00:37:21] Semis finals, yeah.

[00:37:22] Yeah, so there's a reason to root for the Minnesota Loons.

[00:37:26] And the logos or the team name is a little wacky, but the gear, the swag, the logo is actually pretty sharp.

[00:37:32] So trying to figure out where it's going to be.

[00:37:34] So I'm digging the insider info on the T-Wolves for sure.

[00:37:37] Yeah, man.

[00:37:38] Just so you guys both know, I get a data report on the regions that download this podcast.

[00:37:45] And if we don't see a spike in the Minneapolis area region, we will never again have this level of conversation about the loons, the wild, and the Timberwolves.

[00:37:55] The gophers, any of it.

[00:37:57] My holy discontent, you've all heard the phrase fight or flight, right?

[00:38:02] So how you handle stressful moments, it's fight or flight.

[00:38:06] But have you ever heard about fight and flight or fight during a flight?

[00:38:12] Well, last week, the Auburn basketball team within itself, this is not like they were flying with their arch rivals to a neutral site game.

[00:38:21] This was the Auburn men's basketball team had a brawl on their own chartered flight.

[00:38:29] And it sounded like this from the pilot's report.

[00:38:32] Yes, sir.

[00:38:32] We have got an altercation on board.

[00:38:35] We've talked to the player at emergency and land.

[00:38:38] We've got a bunch of basketball players fighting.

[00:38:41] The flight deck is secure.

[00:38:42] The threat level is contained for the moment.

[00:38:45] We just had, well, police on the ground.

[00:38:48] And we had two players that got into physical altercation.

[00:38:52] Clothes were ripped and one-blooded player.

[00:38:56] And my holy discontent isn't that they were fighting.

[00:38:59] It's that they put up a better fight than Tyson did against Jake Paul.

[00:39:02] That's my holy discontent.

[00:39:04] That's, you're not wrong.

[00:39:06] Because that was one of the epic letdowns in modern hyperbole world.

[00:39:11] And that's really what it was.

[00:39:13] It was just...

[00:39:14] And they got the flight grounded.

[00:39:15] And then if I'm remembering right, they ended up taking another flight and they made their game and they won.

[00:39:21] So nothing brings a team together like a good brawl.

[00:39:25] Yeah.

[00:39:26] On an airplane.

[00:39:28] Say what?

[00:39:30] Kid, you tried your best and you failed miserably.

[00:39:33] The lesson is never try.

[00:39:36] But tell us something.

[00:39:38] Car.

[00:39:38] Huh?

[00:39:39] What?

[00:39:39] Car.

[00:39:40] I mean, listen, we're talking about practice.

[00:39:43] Weaseling out of things is important to learn.

[00:39:45] It's what separates us from the animals.

[00:39:48] Except the weasel.

[00:39:49] I'm sorry about this afternoon.

[00:39:51] That's what he said.

[00:39:52] Say what?

[00:39:54] Okay.

[00:39:55] So Holter, this is our say what feature.

[00:39:57] And here's how this works.

[00:39:58] Every week on Church Pew Sports, I kind of scour the headlines.

[00:40:02] There's always somebody saying something or doing something on microphone that kind of catches my attention.

[00:40:08] And so I make a list of three.

[00:40:10] And when we have a guest on the podcast, we're going to play these three audio clips for you.

[00:40:16] And then you get to decide who this week's winner is.

[00:40:19] Completely subjective.

[00:40:21] No rules.

[00:40:22] You just get to decide who this week's winner is.

[00:40:24] So we have three clips for you.

[00:40:26] The first one is from the CFL, the Canadian Football League, right?

[00:40:31] They just had their gray cup, I think is what they call their Super Bowl or whatever.

[00:40:35] Yep.

[00:40:35] And the ref is out there for the coin flip.

[00:40:38] And he makes a critical error.

[00:40:41] And here's how that played out.

[00:40:43] Right.

[00:40:43] Lucas, come up here.

[00:40:45] Please do us the honors.

[00:40:47] Check, check, check.

[00:40:48] I have to ask, right?

[00:40:49] Who, what do you want?

[00:40:53] All right.

[00:40:54] Toronto.

[00:40:55] Toronto.

[00:40:56] You're the visiting team.

[00:40:57] What's your choice?

[00:40:59] Heads is called.

[00:41:00] Okay.

[00:41:00] Lucas, take two.

[00:41:01] Now you can do it.

[00:41:02] Heads is a call.

[00:41:04] All right.

[00:41:05] So he didn't catch that.

[00:41:08] It's like the episode from Friends where Ross forgets to say somebody called a coin flip

[00:41:12] before we, whatever.

[00:41:15] You remember where that all goes back to, right?

[00:41:18] That the whole change of calling it before the toss is a Thanksgiving Day game.

[00:41:25] The Lions and Steelers.

[00:41:27] And Jerome Bettis calls heads, but the ref doesn't hear him.

[00:41:32] He flips it.

[00:41:33] Right.

[00:41:34] And he says, you called tails.

[00:41:35] And the Lions got the ball, won the game.

[00:41:37] And he's like, I called heads.

[00:41:40] So that's when they changed all of that, including in the CFL.

[00:41:44] Yeah.

[00:41:44] I just think it was cool that the guy, the ref could laugh at himself.

[00:41:47] He did.

[00:41:47] He chuckled a little bit.

[00:41:48] Sorry.

[00:41:49] I blew that one.

[00:41:50] Okay.

[00:41:50] So that's our first, first clip.

[00:41:52] Our second clip is from Justin Tucker, the kicker for the Ravens.

[00:41:54] Who didn't have a good day.

[00:41:57] Never mind the fact that the kicker for the Steelers went six for six on his kicks.

[00:42:03] But this was Justin Tucker being asked about the conditions after the game.

[00:42:08] I wouldn't say the surface was an issue, but it wasn't ideal.

[00:42:13] You know, that's something that we make it a point to account for by going out there and

[00:42:16] pregame warmups and, you know, getting our feet under us.

[00:42:20] You know, figuring out what the wind may be doing.

[00:42:22] But we've dealt with that plenty of times here, elsewhere, at home.

[00:42:30] You know, and then throughout the course of the game, the most action takes place in

[00:42:34] between the ashes and it naturally just gets chewed up.

[00:42:38] Okay.

[00:42:38] So basically he says, well, I'm not making any excuses.

[00:42:43] And then here's 27 excuses for why I might have missed the kid.

[00:42:47] The other guy went six for six.

[00:42:48] I'm not making any excuses.

[00:42:49] The other guy went six for six.

[00:42:51] Yeah.

[00:42:52] So there you go.

[00:42:53] Okay.

[00:42:53] And our third one is the most difficult to hear.

[00:42:55] This is Chris Collingsworth on Sunday night football last night.

[00:42:59] The chargers are ahead of the Bengals and JK Dobbins.

[00:43:05] They're, they're trying to run out the clock to win the game.

[00:43:07] And JK Dobbins gets around the corner and he's headed towards the end zone.

[00:43:11] And if you listen closely, you can hear Collinsworth in the background.

[00:43:15] A fullback in front of JK Dobbins runs left.

[00:43:19] Dobbins takes off.

[00:43:20] Dobbins inside the 10.

[00:43:22] Dobbins to the end zone.

[00:43:26] Touchdown.

[00:43:27] And the chargers take the lead.

[00:43:29] You just think it's hilarious that Collinsworth said out loud,

[00:43:32] what the coach was probably thinking and what every fantasy football player

[00:43:38] was hoping he wouldn't do was the correct play would have been for Dobbins to

[00:43:42] slide and run out the clock because the fact that he scored meant that the

[00:43:45] Bengals were going to get the ball back with a chance to maybe go back down

[00:43:49] and tie the game.

[00:43:50] All right.

[00:43:50] So Holter, you got three.

[00:43:51] You got the CFL ref saying, oops, blew that.

[00:43:54] Forgot to ask what your call is.

[00:43:55] You got Justin Tucker making excuses, not making excuses.

[00:43:58] And you got Chris Collinsworth telling JK Dobbins to go down, go down.

[00:44:02] Who is this week's winner?

[00:44:05] It's a tough choice.

[00:44:06] They're all pretty good.

[00:44:07] I think I'm going to go with the first one,

[00:44:11] especially because he said it was the championship game.

[00:44:13] I think that just makes it even funnier that the ref ref kind of laughed about it.

[00:44:18] Very good.

[00:44:19] Very good call.

[00:44:20] Yeah, he did.

[00:44:21] He kind of, he kind of looked kind of goofy and he was probably nervous as well.

[00:44:25] It's his version of a Superbowl.

[00:44:26] So yeah, good call.

[00:44:27] Yeah.

[00:44:28] All right.

[00:44:28] Time for that guy.

[00:44:30] Right now, this minute today, this week.

[00:44:34] I am the guy.

[00:44:38] Paul, before we get into our that guys, I'm just going to say,

[00:44:41] I can hardly wait to see which Timberwolf Holter chooses for his that guy this week.

[00:44:46] So early money is on Anthony Edwards.

[00:44:49] Okay.

[00:44:50] So my that guy this week, this is again,

[00:44:52] this is where we give a shout out to somebody in the world of sports.

[00:44:55] Who's doing it right.

[00:44:56] Bill, you know, I love it when you go on X or Twitter and you find accounts that regularly

[00:45:04] are dragging other people, other sports people, sports figures effectively.

[00:45:10] So my shout out this week goes to lasik.com because they are in the middle of a campaign

[00:45:17] called better vision, better calls, and they are offering free lasik surgery to NFL officials.

[00:45:24] And so every time there's a controversial play call or non-call for a penalty or whatever,

[00:45:30] they will post it on their, uh, on their Twitter account and hashtag better vision, better calls.

[00:45:38] They've been offering free lasik surgery to officials.

[00:45:43] They've been offering discounts to anybody that can, uh, convince an NFL official to, uh,

[00:45:50] committing a lasik surgery.

[00:45:51] I just think that's brilliant.

[00:45:52] Better vision, better calls.

[00:45:53] I don't know how much longer it's going to last, but the end, but the officials continue

[00:45:57] to give them material for this campaign.

[00:45:59] So I think it's genius.

[00:46:00] Yeah.

[00:46:00] It's really good.

[00:46:01] Holter.

[00:46:02] Do you have anybody you want to call out for your, that guy?

[00:46:05] Can I go with Jake Paul?

[00:46:06] Is that allowed?

[00:46:07] Sure.

[00:46:08] Yeah.

[00:46:09] I think, I don't know.

[00:46:10] I heard a lot of people saying he was going to get knocked out.

[00:46:13] It was Mike Tyson.

[00:46:15] It was going to destroy him.

[00:46:16] I didn't, I didn't see that happening.

[00:46:17] He was fighting Tyson's about 60 years old.

[00:46:22] 58.

[00:46:22] Yeah.

[00:46:23] Yeah.

[00:46:23] The fight was about what I expected, but I have to give props to Jake for, he's been

[00:46:29] winning a lot of fights now and hopefully he fights someone younger next, next match, but

[00:46:33] yeah.

[00:46:34] You can't fight somebody older.

[00:46:35] It's still entertaining.

[00:46:36] You can't fight someone older.

[00:46:38] He's making good money too.

[00:46:40] So he's knows what he's doing.

[00:46:42] I'm going to go out on a limb and, and just make everybody well aware that that was an

[00:46:47] exhibition and it was scripted and it ended how it was supposed to end.

[00:46:51] There's exactly.

[00:46:53] There's that's just, that's both got paid.

[00:46:55] It's all about the money.

[00:46:56] As you said, there you go.

[00:46:58] Look at that.

[00:46:58] It all comes back to that.

[00:46:59] Okay.

[00:46:59] My, that guy might be my favorite soundbite that we have had this year on church pew sports.

[00:47:06] And it's from a coach.

[00:47:07] I know nothing about Syracuse, Syracuse football coach, Fran Brown holds himself to a very unique

[00:47:18] and high standard, especially after a loss.

[00:47:23] Honestly, I got like a ritual.

[00:47:24] Like when we lose, I ain't even getting a shower till early this morning.

[00:47:28] I just be mad.

[00:47:29] I just brush my teeth, but it's like, I don't deserve soap.

[00:47:31] I don't deserve to do all that.

[00:47:33] I just, I'm just focused on like trying to get back and trying to make sure that our players

[00:47:37] mentally understand and know that I let them down, that they didn't do it.

[00:47:41] You know, I just wake up all night, especially when you lose, you like wake up like, damn,

[00:47:45] it really happened.

[00:47:46] You know, it really happened that way.

[00:47:47] So it's just different pieces.

[00:47:49] And then I just move on.

[00:47:51] There's a process that I follow every week.

[00:47:53] One lose or draw.

[00:47:54] Only thing is like my wife, I can't sleep in the bed if we lose because I ain't going to

[00:47:59] get in the shower for that day, I'm just mad and I just sit there.

[00:48:03] I just brush my teeth.

[00:48:04] That's what I have to do.

[00:48:05] So y'all won't say my breath stink, but I'm just, just kind of locked in on certain things,

[00:48:10] certain ways.

[00:48:11] I think you gotta, you gotta earn the right to do certain things.

[00:48:14] So, you know, winners get washed.

[00:48:16] Winners get washed.

[00:48:19] And I don't deserve soap is one of my favorite assessments post game.

[00:48:25] And, um, and they had just lost the course.

[00:48:28] So you could tell he was down, but apparently he's not down enough that he's going to jump

[00:48:31] in the shower.

[00:48:32] That, that cracks me up.

[00:48:33] I'm sure I would share that with anybody.

[00:48:36] That's a good, that's a good call.

[00:48:38] All right, let's wrap it up with our three minute message.

[00:48:42] Homer, I'd like you to remember Matthew 7, 26, the foolish man who built his house on

[00:48:48] sand.

[00:48:49] And you remember Matthew 21, 17.

[00:48:56] And he left them and went out of the city into Bethany and he lodged there.

[00:49:01] Yeah.

[00:49:02] Think about it.

[00:49:05] Think about it.

[00:49:06] Okay.

[00:49:06] So every week on church pew sports, we try to take the last two to three minutes and somehow

[00:49:12] connect what we've been talking about to faith and life.

[00:49:16] And this week, um, forgive me the Ohio state indulgence, just a little bit.

[00:49:22] There's a player on the Ohio state book guys.

[00:49:24] His name's Carnell Tate.

[00:49:25] He's from Chicago and he's a five-star wide receiver.

[00:49:30] He's been having a great season.

[00:49:31] But, uh, last year during the off season, his mother, he's from the, he's from Chicago.

[00:49:36] His mom was killed tragically in a drive-by gang related shooting.

[00:49:43] She just was caught in the crossfire and she was killed.

[00:49:48] So here's Carnell in Ohio training with the Buckeyes and his mom gets killed.

[00:49:54] And so it's been a story on how the team has rallied around him and everything else.

[00:49:59] And then when they're going back to Northwestern, um, it was not lost on anybody that the Buckeyes

[00:50:04] were probably going to game plan to try to get that guy a touchdown when he was back in

[00:50:08] Chicago because he had, who knows how many dozens of friends and family that were there

[00:50:12] at the game, et cetera.

[00:50:14] So of course, Tate scores two touchdowns and gets interviewed about it afterwards.

[00:50:20] But when they asked Ryan day about Carnell Tate, he gave this great quote.

[00:50:25] And I just going to grab one little phrase that he used.

[00:50:27] He was talking about how the game doesn't care about what's going on in your personal life.

[00:50:32] And the phrase he used was, he said, the game doesn't care, but we do.

[00:50:36] And he talked about how the team rallied around this guy and, uh, the brotherhood that they,

[00:50:42] um, have experiences.

[00:50:44] They walked with Carnell Tate through his grieving process and they were there for him.

[00:50:49] And that's why the celebrations were so huge when he scored his two touchdowns back at home

[00:50:54] playing in Wrigley field, um, against Northwestern.

[00:50:57] This reminded me of Proverbs 17, 17, a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for

[00:51:04] times of adversity.

[00:51:06] So all of us have friends, right?

[00:51:08] And if you're like me, um, sometimes a friendship, a friend that you've had for a while can kind

[00:51:16] of cross that threshold from friend to brother.

[00:51:19] And the difference, according to this verse is a brother is there for the bad times, that

[00:51:25] times of adversity, as well as the good times.

[00:51:27] Now you might say a friend is as well, but I just love that verse.

[00:51:31] A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for the times of adversity.

[00:51:37] So as we go into our week, I just want to challenge all of us to think about who among your circle

[00:51:44] of friends might be someone who's becoming or has become a brother or a sister.

[00:51:51] And as we enter into Thanksgiving week, next week, I just encourage you, uh, to tell that

[00:51:59] person the role that they play in your life and the significance of that relationship to

[00:52:04] you and thank them.

[00:52:06] Thank them for not only being a friend at all times, but also being a brother or sister who

[00:52:11] can be born for adversity.

[00:52:12] Let's take that with us into our week.

[00:52:14] Yeah, that's so good.

[00:52:15] So good.

[00:52:16] And here we are in the season of thankfulness.

[00:52:19] So go ahead and express that to somebody, right?

[00:52:22] Holter, we're thankful that you joined us today, man.

[00:52:24] It's good to have a young voice on the podcast.

[00:52:26] Thanks for doing it.

[00:52:27] You, you did sign the little form that said you're solely responsible for 5,000 downloads,

[00:52:32] right?

[00:52:34] I did.

[00:52:34] Thank you guys for having me on though.

[00:52:36] We'll be looking for that.

[00:52:37] And, uh, we'd love to have you on again sometime.

[00:52:40] And, um, we wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.

[00:52:43] By the way, we will have one more episode before Thanksgiving.

[00:52:47] And in fact, next week, we have a very special guest joining us.

[00:52:52] We won't mention the name now, but it's somebody we've been after here for a few months.

[00:52:57] And, uh, Paul and I are looking forward to connecting with him and digging into his love

[00:53:01] of sports and his love of the Lord and ministry and all of those different things.

[00:53:05] So it'll be a really cool pre-Thanksgiving episode of Church Pew Sports.

[00:53:09] Subscribe if you would.

[00:53:11] Help spread the word.

[00:53:12] Share the link and we'll talk to you again next week.