Sixers Playoff Push Analysis

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Twenty-one plus select states, 18 plus DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit CCPG.org slash chat in Connecticut. I have created the most advanced AI soldier. The wait is over. Tron Aries now streaming on Disney Plus. We are looking for something. Something you've discovered. And some of us will stop at nothing to get it. Ready? The countdown is complete. There's no going back. Doc directive is clear. Hang on! Tron Aries now streaming on Disney Plus, rated PG-1 3. Hungry dogs run fast! Welcome to the Ringers Philly Special Sheel Capadia here with Zach Berman of the Athletic. You know what we do on this weekly episode. We do the ZB3. Zach giving us three thoughts on whatever is going on with the Philadelphia Eagles. And then, of course, we will do the mailbag in between. Maybe we get ZB' s Phillies prediction for the season. Maybe we see if Cliff is excited that the Sixers are ready to just drop 150 on any opponent that comes into their house at the first Union Center. Yeah, I'm going to keep calling it that. Uh, ZB, how are we doing, my friend? Doing great. Happy opening day. Looking forward to uh baseball season. Fun time of year. Got the regionals, which I which I I I love. I probably enjoy regional weekend more than Final Four weekend, right? There's there's more high-quality basketball. And then got the owners meetings next week. So this is uh this is always a like this is a fun week, the last week of March into April. Now would you call this the ZB Equinox? Because we have the Debundo Equinox is uh we got fall baseball, we got the US Open, he loves tennis, and then we have the start of NFL. So right around the you know first uh week of September, we call that the Debundo Equinox. What is the ZB Equinox? It's good, good, good question there. Probably s I I would probably still go like mid April. I'm sorry, mid-October rather, when you got uh baseball winding down, you got MBA, NHL starting up, probably more MBA than NHL if, I'm being honest. College Hoops. A big college hoops guy. And then NFL and college football in full swing. As much as I like this time of year, there's not really a college football component unless you consider like the draft, the NFL draft, which I obviously love and look forward to talking on the show. But uh yeah, so I would I would say mid I would say mid-October once the NBA and college basketball are picking up. All right. There you go, the ZB Equinox. We'll put that on your uh Google calendars and wish him a happy ZB Equinox in October. All right. Little housekeeping, real quick. Tony Bunts traveling for work today. So we're not going to do a pod after the Phillies Opener. If you're saying, why am I getting an Eagles episode when it's the Phillies opener? We're gonna let a few games pass and then we will do a pod with Tony Bunns. However, the social videos continue. So Sheel Capati on Instagram and TikTok, Ringers Philly Special on Instagram and TikTok. You know what? I'm gonna watch the game. I might just pop on there from the from the couch, from the chair, and just say, here's a quick analysis of what I saw from the Phillies on opening day. So make sure you're following us there. All right. So ZB set it up where we are in the Eagles calendar here. We are about a month away from the draft. We're going to kick into draft coverage here very soon on the Ringers Philly Special, but we have the owners' meetings, which kind of breaks up the offseason next week, where ZB will be at a posh resort rubbing elbows with owners, GMs, coaches, high profile media members, anybody who's anybody in the NFL will be at that resort? He'll probably hear from Howie Roseman, Nick Siriani, Jeffrey Lurry. Maybe he's doing some off-the-record work, you know, where he can't tell us something, but then he can kind of hint at something. He's gonna get all that information. Maybe he's talking to people from other teams and say, you know what, the Eagles are saying this, but I kind of think this is happening. So ZB is going to be back with us next week to have all that covered. So I'm interested to hear what the ZB3 is today. I told him if you want to get into draft today, let's get into draft. I've been diving into the draft this week, but he said, I got some other stuff on my mind, and we'll have plenty of time to cover the draft. So ZB, get us started. What do you got? So the first one here is Michael Carter, is an important player, is a fascinating player for the Eagles this offseason. And let me get into why. Since we last spoke, you might remember on Friday the, Eagles had a flurry of activity, Friday afternoon, as Cliff was ready to go outside. Uh the Eagles were uh The Eagles were Cliff's gonna be outside today. Beautiful then. I I would be disappointed if he's not outside later today. The Eagles were were uh rolling through some some Friday news dump activity at safety. They trade Sydney Brown in a package to move up in the fourth and sixth round. So not a significant trade, but move on from Sydney Brown. Then they they signed two safeties, including Marcus Epps. Uh but but the the key here though is you look at this like there's a hole at safety next to Drew McCuba, who's starting. And I would tell Eagles fans, pay attention to Michael Carter for a few reasons. Number one, I think behind the scenes, he's someone that the Eagles are interested in. For those who who don't know, Michael Carter was uh a high uh like I I don't want to say high profile, but uh an impressive slot corner with the Jets. Earned a big contract. Yeah, the highest paid slot corner in the league, or they're or close to it, I believe. And the Eagles, uh, there was a coaching change, obviously, with the Jets uh and the regime change. He gets traded to the Eagles mid-season. Doesn't really have much of a role for the E agles. The Eagles could have cut him this offse ason and did not. What they did is they renegotiated his deal. And I think this is an important distinction to make for fans because whenever that these things happen, you don't just look at it from the team side, you look at it from the player side. Why would Michael Carter want to renegotiate a deal to stay in Philly when he knows that Cooper the Gene is one of the top slot corners in the NFL? He saw the way last season went. Um he presumably could have had options for a clearer path at slot corner had he gone elsewhere, had he not restructured his deal because the Eagles were not going to keep him on the contract from last season. So he restructured he he he restructures the deal to stay in Philly. The Eagles then sign Reek Wollen, and Reek Wollen becomes your solidified outside corner. Cooper the Jean is not moving from the slot. We know that. Okay? So where does Michael Carter fit in? Reed Blanketship leaves. Now Sidney Brown gets traded. The Eagles are going to they consider Michael Carter a slot safety hybrid, but uh I would consider this almost like Walter Thurman, if you recall that from the 2015 season when the Eagles missed Walter Thurman from corner to safety. And I would venture, yeah, now there's a lot of time right now between now and the start of the season. We'll see what happens in the draft. If you remember the Eagles acquired CJ Gardner Johnson uh a week before the season, right? A cut down day in in in 2022. There's always moves you can make. You know, they they once signed um James Bradbury after the draft. They've you know, they traded for Ronald Darby during training camp. So there's always moves to be made. But if you said, Zach, who is your prediction to start at safety, week one, next to Drew McCuba, my answer would be Michael Carter. And I don't think Michael Carter is someone who might be on the radar of a lot of Eagles fans. So pay attention to Michael Carter. That's the first one here. All right. First of all, you love a pay attention. I feel like if I had to Google who has used pay attention the most, uh, both on podcasts, social media, that is I I don't want to call it a crutch. It's just kind of one of your go-tos. Pay attention. And sometimes you say pay attention on social media and it's something I don't want to pay attention to and I wanna fire back. I don't want to. Don't tell me what to do, but I don't do that and I'm not gonna do that here. Okay, so you think Michael, all right, so rank these for me. Starting safety next to Drew McCuba. We already know who your one is. So uh Michael Carter's your one. Rank these other three options in order, most likely to least likely. Marcus Epp s, draft pick to be named l ater, free agency slash trade target to be named later. Number two, I I would go free agency slash trade target. Number three, I would go Marcus Epps. Number four, I would go draft pick. Now I don't think they're gonna draft a safety high enough to really push for the starting job unless that guy looks terrific in camp, uh, or there are injuries, right? I mean, you never know how the how the board falls, but they took Drew McCuba in the second round last year. The Eagles, as we've discussed and we will discuss quite a bit, I I saw the Reddit forum talking about uh, you know, they would they want some draft talk. I promise you, I'm a draft nerd. We'll have a lot of draft talk here. Um, but the the uh uh it would surprise me if the Eagles take a safety in the first two rounds two years in a row. The Eagles are gonna focus on offense quite a bit in the draft. Offense and edge rusher, I would say. So um in that case, unless you're talking about like a fourth or fifth round pick or even someone thereafter who has a Kurt Coleman like rookie training camp and really emerges into like this. I mean, these name drops. Well, we're 10 minutes in, and we've gone Walter Thurman and Kurt Coleman so far. CB. It's unbelievable. Uh so in that case there, I think Marcus Epps is the fail safe option. I think Marcus Epps is like, all right, he's you're he' s been a starter in the league. He filled in fine last year. I don't think you're throwing a parade up or down Broad Street, if Marcus Epps is like your starting safety. It's like I don't think my my son's running to buy the Marcus Epps jersey. Although I I I do really like Marcus Epps personally. Um But uh I think Marcus Epps is is there like competent veteran who can step in if nothing else is there. I think Michael Carter's the intriguing one. Michael Carter, still like twenty-six, twenty-seven years old. Okay. Um he's played at a decent level in the NFL. He's played meaningful time. He I mean he's been a $10 million a year player in the NFL. Um the Eagles wanted to keep him around, like I said. I would say Michael Carter is the favorite right now for that reason. But I think that there's always the chance that another safety becomes available, especially after the draft. If a team were to draft, you know, there's some there are probably three safeties who are going to go in the top 40 picks. Okay. So team takes takes one of those guys. Someone's Doddman Al, someone's in the last year of their deal. I think in the in that case, Howie could go bargain shopping then. I don't really love the safeties that are still on the market, although you you got I believe Taylor Rapp's still on the market, Jabril Peppers is still on the market. I could see a trade as a possibility, but my guess is they're gonna look at what Michael Carter offers them during the offseason program and that going in the training game. I'm surprised you're this confident Michael Carter's in a different tier than Marcus Epps for the starting safety job. He's never played there before, uh, you know, uh consistently, regularly. And Marcus Epps has, and he, I'm not telling you, like you said, Marcus Epps wasn't all pro last year, but he certainly didn't kill you when he had to play. I would put them in the same tier, even if the team maybe is messaging that, hey, don't forget about uh Michael Carter here. But I could be wrong. Maybe. And I also think that even if they don't spend a high pick on a saf ety, we've kind of learned with Vic Fangio that he might just spot someone and it might be a day three guy. And he's saying, Howie, I'm telling you, I like this guy a lot. Uh, if you draft him, I actually think he has a great chance of playing for me. Um, I mean, you know, they started rookies his first year, they started Cooper Dejean and Quinyan Mitchell. I know those were high picks. Uh their rookie season. Second season, they're starting Drew Makuba. Uh, and he was the 64th overall pick. He's identifying guys like Jelix Hunt. I mean he's got a pretty good track record here. Uh, this guy can play for me, I'll make it work. He's made it work. I mean, I don't is there an example of a guy we think Vic Fiangio has had a real influence on them bringing into the building who hasn't worked out? You know, Zach Bond is another success story. I guess, you know, I don't know what the what led to the jihad campbell pick. And I like that it's not like that one didn't work out. I mean he was starting and playing fine for them uh as a rookie there. So I'm not discounting the fat, the the idea that maybe they could not spend high draft capital, but and I know you have some concerns about all right, do we want to start two young safeties? But this is like like Fangio looks at the person, sees what they can actually figure out. Can they get up to speed? Are they gonna kill us or not are they gonna grow on the job and it has a good track record of identifying those people now to your point they've had Michael Carter in the building so maybe he's seen him talk to him watched him practice and he's the he might be the one driving this, saying, guys I, keep Michael Carter because I actually think he can be a starting safety uh for us here. So I don't am I am I giving him too much credit for his influence on these personnel decisions? You bring up a valid point and the the Vic Fangio ang les it can't be dismissed. And Vic Fangio looks at things, you know, he he's he's he's considering how do I win this week, right? Howie Roseman has a variety of other factors to consider. So I don't think you're overstating it. But my pushback to you, and I know this isn't a Vic Fangio thing, this is more of a Halle Roseman thing, but in these cases, follow the money, right? Michael Carter signed a deal with the Eagles that guarantee that that's a a a one-year two point seven uh six five million dollar deal with one point four five guaranteed. Marcus Epps signed a deal, one year one point five five million with one hundred twenty-five thousand guaranteed. I read that as Marcus Epps is our safety net, and Michael Carter is someone we have designs for, if I were Howie Roseman, right? Well, it could also just be telling us the market that it, you know, like this is what it's going to take to keep Michael Carter here. Marcus Epps doesn't have any other options. That's fair, but but why are you keeping Michael you're you're keep you're not keeping Michael Carter on that contract as your backup slot, in my op inion. Yeah, but if he's your yeah, I I would say if he's like your sixth defensive back, and hey, if our if Cooper DeGin goes down, if our if a safety goes down, I don't think that's uh necessarily a bad use of resources. All right, I'm mostly just trying to play devil's advocate here. I like it with the Michael Carter thing. Because yeah, who knows? There's a lot of time to go between now and week one. I don't necessarily disagree with you. Uh I think there's a lot to be determined still. Let's see what they do in the draft. Let's see what they do with the rest of free agency. Let's see what they do in the trade market before we get to week one. But maybe you're right that Michael Carter is the favorite. Now, I'm zooming out. I'm looking at this defense. The spots where they could draft a defensive pla yer who would start if they earn it right away, it's really only safety and maybe if they used a first round pick on edge rusher, right? Those are the only two spending. Even edge rusher, like that would actually be looking at the edge rusher, edge rushers available to them at that point or even with a trade-up, it would actually be surprising, even if that player were someone who came in and started ahead of Nolan Smith and Jalex Hunt. So it's like their defense is mostly intact, other than this this first uh thing we're talking about here with the one safety spot. Precisely so. I mean, even if they drafted an edge rusher, you're looking at a guy in the rotation who's probably pushing A.K. Ebeketty more so than is gonna usurp Nolan Smith or J Alex Hunt. Uh so now if they were to trade for an edge rusher, that'd be different. But in terms of drafting an edge rusher, you're absolutely correct. I think safety is the only spot where they could draft someone who could plug in as a starter. And frankly, I don't think they're going to draft a safety early enough where that conversation occurs until training camp where you're like, ooh, this this guy's catching eyes, or Michael Carter and Marcus Apps aren't the ans wers. All right, let's take a break. That was the first I mean, eighteen minutes on Michael Carter. Think about that. I mean, Cliff's shaking his head. Cliff saying, we got the Sixers. We got the Phillies. We got, and we're doing 18 minutes on Michael Carter. But then Cliff also knows. He's like, man, I grew up in EP and they're talking Eagles on June 8th on the playground. You know, I'm trying to get some other stuff going. And they're talking about who's the seventh uh offensive lineman gonna be. So he he knows where the bread bread is butter, cause Z B. He's got the access to the number. See, I don't. So he knows he's looking at all right. You know, as much as I might not want to talk about this much eagles on uh March 26th, I know what the people want, so it's okay. I'm not gonna tell them to do something different. All right, let's take a break, we'll come back, we'll get to the rest of the ZB 3. The Ringers Philly Special is brought to you by FanDuel. Baseball fans. America's pastime is a game of decisions, and FanDuel is bringing that same strategy to you for opening week with choose your own reward. Now you get to pick the promo you want to use and play how you wanna play. Make your choice and the reward will be ready to use instantly on your next MLB bet. I already told you, I'm taking Phillies over and I'm taking Schwarber over, I think it was 41 and a half home runs. You can do that. You can do whatever you want. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app now to choose your reward for MLB's opening week. And FanDuel is now live in Arkansas. Play ball with the home for home runs on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB. 21 plus select states or 18 plus DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming, opt-in required, minimum three leg parlay required, bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit boost tokens, restrictions apply, including any token expiration, and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fanle.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER, call 1-888-789-7777, or visit ccpg.org/slash chat in Connec ticut. The world moves fast. Your workday? Even faster. Pitching products. Drafting reports. Analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work, built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize. So you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more at Microsoft.com slash M365 Co-P ilot. Alright, we're back here on the ringers. Philly special. All right, Z B. What do you got? What's number two? Number two, and I know that she was talking about this on WIP, is that uh the Eagles make another move at wide receiver. Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore comes in uh since we l we last spoke. But there's a lot of speculation and shatter that this could be connected to AJ Brown. And I am here to th that like this this this could be done to try to persuade AJ Brown or make AJ Brown want to stay in Philly. And my view here, and this isn't something the team's telling me, this is just my opinion, is that this is overstated. This part of it. I I I can see why that connection is made. AJ Brown and my and Elijah Moore are incredibly close. AJ Brown credits Elijah Moore for you know being an important resource for him during a challenging time. They obviously uh went to college together. They're like brothers. That's that's that that's been clear. I don't think that bringing in Elijah Mo ore is going to convince AJ Brown to change his view on Philly, number one. If and then and then number two, I don't think that's why the Eagles made this signing. I I th I I think that this is a lottery ticket signing, no different than signing Damian Pierce, where you have a receiver who's had who's still kind of in that age bracket you like has had some success in the NFL. You know, he averaged 60 catches in two years in Cleveland. He was a former high draft pick, someone that they studied closely out of Ole Miss. Joe Douglas drafted him, also traded him, but someone, you know, there's the they know him in the building. Uh, and he's not guaranteed to make the team either, right? So I this is to me, um, like the AJ Brown decision is not being made off of a wide receiver that you sign on March 23rd or 24th, whatever it was. Uh and it's a it's a good story, and I totally get why that that connection's made and I could be wrong, but I view those two things independently and I I'm still expecting AJ Brown to be traded. And if AJ Brown were not traded, I don't think it's because he they signed A they signed Elijah Moore. That's just my personal view. Elijah Moore is fighting for a roster spot, right? Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, I mean for those who don't know the background, I mean he he was a nice college player. Did you like him out of college, C B? I liked him a little bit coming out of college. I did didn't love him as much as like consensus, but did like him. Yeah. Some of the film heads really loved him, right? I remember they were casting him up quite a bit. Yeah. Um that draft period with the Jets, traded to the Browns, bounces around, went to the Bills, right? Last year, I mean barely played last year, ended up on the Broncos practice squad, I believe, for the uh playoffs, and now is signed. So this is a player that is, you know, kind of I don't want to say fighting for his NFL life. That sounds very dramatic, but he's trying to stay in the league. He's trying to find a spot where he can stay in the league. Um, Eagles obviously have some depth spots open. Uh their wide receiver room is uncertain. And so he's looking at it saying, all right, let me go there um and try to see if I can earn a actual roster spot. I mean, that's what we're talking about with Elijah Moore. I think I think it's very different than the h I think the Hollywood Brown signing I would put in another tier where Hollywood Brown's going to be on the team. Hollywood Brown's probably going to play a lot of snaps. Hollywood Brown might play like a ton of snaps if they trade, you know, AJ Brown, depending on if they replace that uh position like we talked about last week on the show. So I think he's in a different tier than a guy like Hollywood Brown. So we'll see with Elijah Moore. But yeah, what you know, just to kind of, you know, what's he be saying is there's this thought that hey, they bring in Elijah Moore, he's like bet been best friends with AJ Brown. This is going to appease A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown's going to change his mind and now he's going to want to stay with the Philadelphia Eagles. This is a huge move. It's kind of like, you know, if you think that Jordan Davis or N'Kobe Dean is keeping Jalen Carter in check. This is the this is the offensive version of that. And I'm with CP. I think it's just a matter of coincidence. I will say the first two players you talked about, I haven't thought about this and we haven't talked about this. Joe Douglas back with the organization. Uh it seems like it's got how he's ear, at least a little bit, you know. Michael Carter they trade for last year. That's a Joe Douglas guy from the Jets. And now Elijah Moore. I don't want to overstate it. They're not signing like, you know, $25 million per year free agents, but um it seems like he's at least a little bit of a confidant for Howie at uh at this point in time. Is that is that fair to say? I'm not really that familiar of what Douglass' actual role is with the Eagles right now? Yeah, good question. So actually Joe Douglas was on the sideline last year. I I I think he he worked with the coaching staff more than people might have realized. Uh was working quite a bit with the offensive line. He wa he was on the sideline, but his his role is officially in the front office. And to your point, I know that uh how used this this phrase actually when Joe was here that fans were kind of laughing about or or maybe just some media members were, which was cohabitation Matrix, right? But I think in defense of Powell, one thing that he's talked about is when you sign someone in free agency or you trade for someone, you you you you haven't lived with them. It's like an arranged marriage, right? Uh so that's that's that's the challenge. You don't know how they're gonna fit in your building. So what they try to to search for is people who have connections with them. And and if you're the GM who drafts a player, then or you're the position coach of a player, which they've had in some cases, then you've you've lived with them. You know how they would fit in your building. You know how they how they'd accept the role that they have. So it's it's it's sometimes not the evaluation of the player as as much as all right, how will he handle the locker room? How will he practice? Will he listen to coaching? Like things like that are things that they look for. Um now to the Elijah Moore point that I would just add is if I can play devil's advoc ate, perhaps Elijah Moore is so close to A.J. Brown that he's like, man, there's gonna be a spot that opens up here in June. You know? This is what Lehmer just said on the group chat this morning. He said he if he AJ Brown's probably telling him, I'm gone, man. Go to Philadelphia. There's gonna be playing time available. Yeah. So I I think people look at it like he's he's really gonna appease AJ Brown. And my pushback to that was Elijah Moore was quite available last year. Um the Eagles had excess practice squad spots, excess roster spots, and it's not like A.J. Brown was the happiest camper during the season last year. If if if they viewed it as simple as sign Elijah Moore and AJ Brown's happy, then um then I think they probably would have done that. Number one. Number two, there's this thought that like they're so close that AJ Brown, if AJ Brown was truly unhappy here or not or didn't like the offense or didn't like the situation, then AJ Brown would tell him not to come. And to Shield's point before, I don't think Elijah Brown has oh I'm sorry. I don't think E Elijah Moore has this like wealth of options at this point where he can say, I'm turning down a contract from the Philadelphia Eagles because AJ Brown uh wasn't getting uh you know 100 catches and 1500 yards there. Um so I I I think that's a bit of a stretch. Again, I could be wrong on all of these, but um I I I certainly don't mean to be getting um cynical or skeptical in my old age, but I don't view these two things as as r as as related events. Now is your third point AJ Brown related or not? It is not, but it involves some age of bounds. We can talk about it in the in the third point. Third point. Okay. All right. Go ahead then. What do what do we got? What's your third point? The third point is next week, the owners meetings. This is a huge event for Eagles fans on the NFL calendar. Um, and there's a variety of reasons for it. And so I bring this up because I don't think fans fully grasped like the significance of this. There in I'll kind of out outline it for fans. Howie Roseman's gonna speak for the first time since free agency, since the draft. Uh oh or I'm sorry, since um since the combine, uh but since like things have actually happened. So all this AJ Brown speculation, now AJ I I don't think Howie's gonna say anything declarative, but you get Howie Roseman on the record here. Nick Siriani speaks for thirty minutes. His his his longest period of to it used to be an hour. Now it's thirty minutes. Used to be an hour. But the longest period of time that you know he'll speak, frankly, until training camp. And you kind of get his his thoughts on things and it's a different atmosphere than like a press conference with Nick in that you know sometimes pref press conferences are more performative this you're at a round table and you you kind of get more questions in, you get a variety of different topics. Um so and then the th ird thing is Jeffrey Laurie speaks. And this is the only time of year that Jeffrey Lurie uh unless they're in the Super Bowl or something like that, this is the only time of year that Jeffrey Lurie has his annual press conference. And there's a lot of things fans are going to want to hear from Jeffrey Lurie. Obviously, all the topical stuff with the Eagles, such as AJ Brown, which we'll get to in a minute. Um, the evaluation of Nick Siriani is obviously gonna come up after Nick replaced the O S uh the O C job. I I would imagine his his view on a disappointing season that the Eagles had. The thing that and I r I wrote about this on the athletic today, I think the biggest story surrounding the Eagles during the next, let's say twelve to eighteen months, outside of what happens on the field is the future of the stadium. This is a big, this is a huge topic that deserves more attention. The Eagles have seven seasons remaining in their lease with the city, Lincoln Financial Fi eld. They sent a survey out in July to season ticket holders about rebuilding or renovating a stadium. Um their naming rights deal goes through twenty uh thirty-two, like um so it's kind of aligned with the a the expiration of the lease. And you might say this is a long period of time, seven years. Um, but uh I would push back on that and say that uh seven years ago at the same resort, the same post resort where Shields spent quite a bit of time um the uh the you know out in out in Phoenix uh Shield's gone to quite a few owners meetings. Um seven years ago the Buffalo Bills ownership met with uh reporters there. And a few months earlier they had sent a survey out to season ticket holders to fans about what those fans might want in a in a new stadium. Okay. And their comments there, where is we in' there exploratory stages right now. We're just kind of getting feedback. We're exploring things. All right. This year coming up, this September, they're gonna kick off in a state of the art stadium, right? So from survey to stadium, took seven years in that case. And that's kind of the time period that the Eagles are in right now. So uh it's why I I think this is this is a a huge story surrounding the Eagles. But I obviously AJ Brown last year the tush push was a big deal at at the owners' meetings. I I think this is a the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday of next week will be important times for Eagles fans monitoring the ne ws. All right, I have like four hundred follow-ups to you. I mean, you you just gave us a lot there, Z B uh to chew on. The stadium stuff, I like this because see ZB's trying to get ahead of a story, you know, journalism 101. This I saw it come across. I didn't get to read his story yet. I will later today. Check that out on the athletic because I don't think there's been a lot of r other reporting about this stadium situation yet. So I really want to check that out. And you know, ZB, you I know you read all the comments how many athletic articles do we see in the comments hashtag Philly special bump is that a thing or we we don't see that very often we do we okay yeah we but not enough I I could tell by your own we gotta get a little more of that. We got it more on social than anything else. Yeah. Okay. So I want you to first of all, you should be subscribing to the athletic. I mean, just uh wealth of information there. Uh I'm on it every single day doing both this job, uh reading Z B, but also for my national job, reading all the beat writers there. It's invaluable. Where else can I get all that information? And our Phillies coverage as as as you and Anthony talked about.. Unbelievable Yeah. The Phil. I mean, I don't go anywhere else. Just the athletic.com, what is it slash Phillies, whatever it is. Before, you know, it would be the athlet. I would just go to Matt Gelb's author page. But now Charlotte's doing a great job. I don't wanna miss what Jason Stark has to say. Uh you got other people doing national stuff. I wanna get mad about where they have the Phillies ranked in certain categories. So yes, that has everything I need there. But on ZB's articles, you should all be subscribing. And I need you to start really flooding those comments with hashtag Philly SpecialBop. I want uh his bosses, his editors to say, man, the engagement on Zach's articles every, it's weird. It's picked up in late March. You wouldn't expect it, but let's flood those comments. I want his articles to be the most commented on beat writer stories on the entire site. And I want to see Phil hashtag Philly Special bump on all of those. All right. That wasn't the most important thing I had to ask you about. This datum situation. I haven't been able to read your article yet. So give me the lay of the land here. What I know I know we can't predict what's going to happen seven years. What are the things sort of in the ether being considered is this a renovate Lincoln financial field is this a build a new stadium is this a definitely gonna stay in South Philly is this uh cliff's gonna be talking to us about Sherelle got the bag and they're moving it somewhere else. What are we, what are we talking about here? What are the options being uh maybe considered or just hey, these are things that if they've got a whiteboard somewhere there um in their offices and they're just brainstorming different things about maybe what a new stadium situation could look like. I don't even know what's being considered with this situation. So fill us in for kind of the the uh the the zoom out zoom out view. Sure. And prefacing of course saying this is all ex exploratory, but if you said Zach, you have to predict here. My prediction is there will be a new stadium. Uh with with Wow with a roof uh with a roof of some variety. Uh well and I say some variety because I think five of these six stadiums uh oh there are s m uh five of the six stadiums that are under construction or like in the construction process have roofs on them. Four of them, I believe, have translucent roofs. One has a retractable roof. And I bring this up because central to this, and I know this isn't the biggest deal to Eagles fans, but this I think this matters to the organization. And it matters to the city is hosting the Super Bowl, hosting the Final Four. Neither of which can occur without a roof on the stadium or a roof option on the stadium. And uh and so I I I think this is this is something that Jeffrey Laurie's spoken about that he thinks Philadelphia deserves uh have these major events. The challenge here is that um the elements, the Philadelphia Northeast Elements, the Philly elements, is part of the fan experience, I think a lot of fans would say. No, I would push back on like the idea of snow being a part of this because I'm going in the year fifteen covering the Eagles. There have only been two games during my fourteen years covering the Eagles where it's it's been like a snow globe and so this idea that like how can you give up the snow? Detroit and the LA Rams playoff games are the only two games where like snow was a real thing. Like, wait, you were there for the Tuesday Joe Webb? I that was before me, but they actually uh what did Randell say? Nation of Wusses? What was this sentence? Yes. That was unbelievable. What a time that was. Um but certainly the cold weather is a factor in the northeast, right? And and um so that's something that I I I know is a hot button issue with fans. And that's why I think like the idea of a retractable roof is intriguing, but there are certain rules about like, you know, when you can open the roof, when you can close the roof, you can't just use it for your team advantage. Um the well you know, in in Washington, they're building a stadium with a translucent roof. And part of that is so they can host these major events. And so you shook your head. I saw you shaking your head. Yeah. Um that this is this is something that that is very real that I spoke to Jeffrey Laurie about this at the Super B owl and it's kind of the push pull of of of this thing. Um the the Phillies are uh from what I understand are committed to renovating, not rebuilding. The Phillies want to be in Citizens Bank Park for the next century, for all I know. What are they what's wrong with what do they need to do? It's a great ballpark. I don't even know what needs to be renovated there. Yeah, I mean, in stadium architecture, uh 20 years, twenty-five years is a long time. Um so there are, you know, I I know they unveiled some changes to was it the Hall of Fame Club, uh this this this week and they're continuing. Um I know you and Anthony talked about it. I I I have kind of a different I'm I'm I'm not as outraged by the Harry the Case thing as some other fans are. Okay. If you want to call it that, call it that. You know? Like the team doesn't have to call it that. But that's that's that's besides. I guess that's it. All right. That's the take. All right. So uh I will call it that. It's real money for the team. So like I totally get why they would want to do that. Okay. Um but that's besides the point. Owners worth four billion dollars, just pointing that out. Okay. That's for Cliff. I know Cliff. We gotta make sure we get and for me. All right. Go ahead. So uh that that's all besides the point. Uh yeah. So this is this is something that's uh the if you kind of look at the stadiums that were built in the previous decade of Lincoln Financial Field, I think six of them are being renovated or replaced already. So this is this is kind of the life cycle that they're in. Um as far as location, I can't I can't tell you that. I can say that the Eagles were, I would imagine purposely they sat out of the whole debate with the Sixers, the Flyers, the Phillies. There's more to that story, I feel like. Yeah. They the Phillies The Phillies got into it in that the Phillies sided with with Comcast Spectacore and uh like they were gonna team up to build a multi-use complex and as it worked out that the Sixers and Flyers are now building an arena together. But the the the Eagles notably sat out. And I bring this up because if you just look at the NFL landscape, like if you broaden your lens in Philly and look at the NFL landscape, what is happening? Teams are using location as leverage. The Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Kansas City across state lines to Kansas. The Bears are like holding two states hostage, basically how it's like' theyre having Illinois bid against Indiana. Yeah. Um within Illinois, they're having like the city bid against the suburbs, right? There's three different sites at at play there. The um the uh in Cleveland, they're moving from the lake where they've always been to the suburbs to build a huge entertainment complex. If you're if fans are familiar, and I personally haven't been there, but all the rage, if you talk to different executives in sports, is what the Atlanta Braves have built down in I don't even want to say Atlanta 'cause it's outside of Atlanta, in Georgia, um, where they have all the you know, they own the complex around it. So it's this mixed use fit like where you have entertainment, you have hotels, you have re you know, you have retail, you have all that surrounding the stadium. So it's a stadium district, but it's kind of owned by the team. And so there's a there's additional revenue source. Okay. Um now if you said the easy. I'm getting filled with rage here, but I'm biting my tongue and the Eagles belong in South Philly from my perspective, but um I I can't speak for them, but I think they would probably sit these arguments out or not like plant a flag right now because uh you know they're an they're they're they're an organization that knows the value of leverage quite well um and their their leverage is that they're the most popular team in town this this if they were to build it and I I'm'm not saying they're gonna build a new stadium, they might decide let's let's renovate Lincoln Financial Field or you know, let's let's do some things there. Um but if they were to build a new stadium, then it would behoove them to have different uh m either be either be uh whether it's it's the mini municipalities or states uh kind of um trying to get their uh trying to get their stadi um. Okay. I don't even know. I don't know where to first of all, the Atlanta Braves, give me a break. Like anyone's make it a frickin' pilgrimage to go to suburban Georgia because they got a they got a couple chain restaurants and uh urban outfitters or whatever the heck that uh whatever they have there. I mean the stop it. That's not the model. Foxboro's another one. Oh my god. No, who's going to Foxboro? Because they got a couple restaurants and them all there. I'm so no, you don't need that. That's pathetic. Who cares? Uh hosting the final four in the Super B owl. Why would any Eagles fan possibly care about that? That you're saying you are going there for eight games a year that you build your entire calendar around, that you spend so much money around, that you pay a PSL around, that you go, you don't care about the weathers, you're tailgating before, you don't care about how good the team is, you don't care about who the opponent is. You are that you are meeting with your friends and family and you're going there and you're spending money on concessions. You're not gonna get tickets to the final four. You're not gonna get tickets to the Super Bowl. Why would you possibly care if the stadium has a roof and the city can host a Final Four or a Super Bowl? That's not affecting you at all, and it might make your um your attendance to games more miserable. I fo I this should be in this has to be outdoors. I cannot fathom the thought of the Philadelphia Eagles playing indoors. It should be an outdoor stadium. Now if we want to talk about retractable roof. Maybe we can have a conversation about that. But I will be leading the charge against uh against any type of indoor stadium. I just feel like weather is a part of football, has been a part of football since the beginning of time and should continue to be a part of football. I understand the games might not be um played as well. It adds intrigue to the games. I mean, some of those playoffs game playoff games we watched, it adds intrigue, it adds strategy. What are you going to be able to do? How are you going to adjust to the elements here? Um, and I'm somebody who I don't like, you know, now easy for me to say because I have turned into this person who now weather affects me more than it did when I was younger. I understand that. But if it's listen, if it's so cold, if the weather's so bad, you could sell your tickets. Somebody's gonna buy your tickets to an Eagles game. So that's where I stand with those things. Now, when you mentioned the location there, I'm very interested because let's say it is a new stadium. I don't even know. Like, is there space? You would you would you rip down Lincoln Financial Field? No, right? Well if that's if you were to be distant, then then you would probably if you just look at kinda what's done elsewhere, yeah, you would if they were to stay in the stadium complex, which I imagine would would be the top choice. Right. There's you build in a parking lot and then you eventually turn you eventually tear down the stadium. Wow. Like the Buffalo Pipo. It seems too new to tear down. Like when the vet was torn down, it was like, all right, we understand. I gotta tell you, Shield. The vet, that how old the vet was is how old basically Lincoln Financial Field will be when the lease expires. Oh my gosh. Wow. That's I don't even think about it. I don't think about it the same way at all. When the vet was torn down, I was like, this is long overdue. And I was, you know, we watched it. I was in college. We watched the demolition. We were getting a little emotional. I wrote a column in the Daily Collegian you can read about the vet being torn down. Yeah. That's a joke. Wait, what'd you say? I said you went to Penn State? Oh no, that was for the Colorado State Advocate. Yeah, that was school, uh there. No. Veterans Stadium opened in nineteen seventy one okay uh and it was demolished in two thousand and four okay blink and financial field opened in in two thousand and three and so we're talking about timeline here of twenty thirty three. So really the the you know plus or my you know plus two years basically. Ye ah. Okay. Very interesting. All right. Very interesting stuff with the stadium from Z B. I look forward to reading his article. It's up on the athletics and following uh his coverage of that. I do I will say this. You know, I have childhood memories of Norman Brayman threatening to move the, you know, team to Phoenix and me listening to WIP outraged uh about it. And we know the stump that the Sixers pulled about we're gonna move to Delaware, we're gonna move to New Jersey, we're gonna move to Idaho, we're gonna move to Canada, whatever we need, whatever leverage. Yeah. I know they're not moving, but even if it were something like um, you know, let's say moving to South Jersey, let's say. I actually think Jeffrey Lurie is too savvy, cares about his reputation to, and I know there's a dollar amount on everything, but I think he will be more careful than maybe the typical own er in the leverage plays that go public. I will say now maybe I'll be wrong.' Well follow this going forward, but I do think he's savvy enough and again cares about his reputation and kind of his standing with the fans too much. And I don't, I I don't know how much leverage you're like you said, the Eagles are the most popular team in town. I feel like they're gonna get uh what they want. And also the sitting out of the Sixers thing, maybe publicly, I'm sure there were some in some rooms in speakeasies in Philadelphia that we are not even able, we don't even know exist or not are not even able to get into. I wonder what conversations uh the Eagles had. I don't know that they, you know, I wonder if they just kept their mouth shut or if they said, well, no, this might be a good idea for you. This might not be a good idea for you. Type thing. I don't know. I just feel like they're too powerful to totally sit out uh that entire conversation. But you know more than I do. I'm just speaking, you know, uh gener ally. Yeah, I mean I think and again, I don't want to say like this is I'm I I'm not saying this this happened, but but to your point, I think the Eagles probably look at it like, wait, we're the biggest fish in town here. Why are we partnering with you guys? You know, like like like why are we joining in for a complex you know led soon you know we can put our own thing we can put our logo on something and everyone's gonna want to come to our place right I I think there is there's probably that thought there and my prediction for next week, when Jeffrey speaks, is that there'll be nothing definitive, but that I don't think the organization's gonna mind this line of questioning because I think that they kind of want this conversation starting, is my guess. Okay. Very, very interesting. See, this is why Z B didn't say we can wait on draft talk. He said, I got some juice, I got some juicy nuggets. I might, you know, now if I I might say ZB, maybe we should have started with the stadium stuff and then got to Michael Carter eventually, but I'm okay with a little bit of a lead up. You know, that's okay. You know, in terms of you gotta listen. You don't know what's gonna you might listen and say, oh my god, they're doing 20 minutes on Michael Carter. Do I need to but then eventually we get to a very juicy topic there with the stadium stuff. So we'll be looking to see what Jeffrey Lurry says about that next week. Now I had a few other things there on the owners' meetings. Number one, my biggest questi on to take the people behind the cur tain. It's a breakfast, correct? Still with Nick Siriani? Okay. So here's what happ ens: You're a repor ter. You cover the Philadelphia Eagles. There are these round tables. And you are the only market in the NFL where you know it's going to be standing room only for certain reporters at that breakfast table. So there is a rush to get there very early, because here's the other thing. They generally will identify the head coach's seat on the table. And if you get there early, you get the seat right next to the head coach. Guess what? Now you're getting the most questions in. You're getting the first question in. You're making maybe make a little small talk with the coach before it starts. After it's over. Very valuable real estate. This doesn't happen for any other team in the NFL. So back in the day, I'm saying we're leaving at this time. I don't care if we're on no sleep. I don't care if they haven't put the name tag out there. We got to get a good seat at that table. So ZB, how ear ly? Now, I don't know if you want to put this out there publicly. Because I know other writers on the beat, other people who are, you know, will be there, will be listening to this. So if you want to lie and then, you know, come back next week and tell us what your plan was, but what is your plan to get that valuable piece of real estate? We know you're not going to be sleeping anyway. I mean, this should be pretty easy for you, I feel like. Yeah, I'm like Abraham Lincoln. I cannot tell a lie. Um so I Okay. Is that an expression? Didn't I guess Lincoln or J or J Honest Abe? I yeah that was a good one. I remember that growing up. So I'll tell I'll take the the listeners behind the scenes even more. Yeah. Every year in the past, the NFC coaches have gone on Tuesday. And the what's relevant about that is Monday night, they have this this function where the reporters go, the owners go, the coaches go, the GMs go, and and so there's a quick turn, you know, the breakfast is at like 7 a.m. And so you get out of the phone, you know, and you get and we're not staying where the owners and coaches and GMs are staying. We're staying off site, right? Um so you don't stay in in that resort. So by the time you leave, you get back, you you get a few hours of sleep, you're typically getting to the coach an hour before and you're on a few hours of sleep. Little different this year. First time in my 13, 14 years of owner, I uh they they did they did they didn't for two years because of COVID. So 13 owners meetings. Um is the NFC coaches are going Monday. So there's no function the night before. And also I will still be on East Coast time. Right? I get in on Sunday. So uh that three hour time difference is actually gonna be advantageous here. I'll probably wake up there at four or five AM. I I don't sleep, right? Because that's that's that's seven eight. I mean, sleeping in for me is seven AM. All right. And so uh I'll probably be you know, four or five AM. So so let's cut the difference. Let's say four thirty. Okay. You know, you you're you're getting ready, you're reading the headlines, you put some you put your story out from the day before. Probably get to the hotel where the thing's at at five thirty, six o'clock. But uh where I'll push back is I don't want to sit next to the coach. Okay. Really? Um, no, I want to sit with an eye. Uh I want to be able to make eye contact. When you're sitting next to someone at a round table and they're talking to you, they have to kind of turn. It's just weird. I I I kind of take pride in eye contact, right? So I I want to be in the line of vision of the coach. We're all c we're all gonna get our our our questions in. Also , there are some really experienced reporters on the beat who are outstanding, and their method is isn't to get there before everyone else. But they what what I know one person tends to do is he'll just take the chair from another table and plop it right next to where the coach is sitting. Oh come on he'll create his own C I don't like that. You can't be doing that. So there's there's there's there's one guy who who does that fairly often and it and and it's effective and he gets his question to you? I think I know who it is, but you guys can get here and camp out. I'm just gonna create my own I got the gravitas. Okay. Well yeah, I don't know. Maybe if you've covered the team for a certain amount of time, maybe you are allowed to do that. Also, the one thing I'll add too, and you guys will appreciate this, is uh, and so the fo you know some people take photos or videos of this round table and if you're sitting next to the coach, you're in that shot. And Jimmy Kemski famously uh goes to town with this breakfast sometimes. So it's the first thing I thought of when you mentioned it. He make he makes his own breakfast concoction with I know it includes sausage. I forget what else is on there. But yeah, that's made many a photo over the years, right? Exactly. So every photo includes Jimmy's full breakfast right now that's great for his brand Z V. I don't think that's a bad thing. Yeah. That's a nice thing. Um yeah, I d I do remember uh when I my first year covering the Seahawks and I went there and you know, I'm looking at the Eagles table and then I'm going to get some coffee or something and Chip Kelly walks in. I say hello. I say, you know, your t your table looks a lot more full than the one I'm gonna go ahead where Pete Carroll sitting there was basically be Pete and uh you know two other people. He's like, I don't know why, Pete, Pete's a really interesting guy. I I I didn't know years later they would work together and then Pete Carroll would fire him. But uh, you know, that those are the things you find out. I will also credit you mentioned the eye contact thing. I will actually credit Chip Kelly really, I feel like improved my eye contact as a reporter. Do you remember? I rec all that he's just staring at you the entire like we're going eye to eye the entire time. You know, normally with a normal conversation, you make eye contact, you break eye contact. You make eye contact, you break eye contact. You're not just staring right at each other's eyes. But I noticed very early on that this is his method. And so I feel like there were some reporters who would get a little nervous or you know, they start looking down or writing, and I'm like, no, you're like you're not bullying me with that. Yeah. I'll look you right in the eyes. And I feel like that helped me throughout the rest of my career. I'm just like, listen, you want to go eye to eye this entire time? I'm not afraid of you. I'll go eye to eye with anybody. Thousand percent. Jalen Hurts does the same thing. Really? Oh, you okay. He lo okay. So maybe I don't know if it's a power move or not. It's different than a typical interaction, I would say, uh, with the eye contact. All right. So we covered the breakfast. We covered the stadium. AJ, you want to talk about? Yeah. I'm just making sure there's nothing like behind the scenes that I well, the other thing that you you know, sometimes, you know, if you're a reporter who likes to maybe have a couple of drinks with some of the people in the NFL, you know, and some of the coaches show up to that thing, and you're like, man, they had looks like they had a night last night. And so that's the other thing. You're taking a look at like, now I know that won't be a problem uh with ZB at the most. He's having one old fashioned and then he's hydrating and he's going to bed. But with some other people, you know, they might be that that makes it difficult for them to appear early as well. All right. So I can't wait for next week the analysis, C B. I want to know. Make sure you take notes. When did you wake up? When did you get there? Who was there? What seat did you get? The rest of the ballroom were any other reporters for any other teams there that early. Okay. Can you do that homework for us next week before you come back. Hundred percent.. Hundred percent Happy to go for Toby special. We're doing a full hour on the Eagles here on March twenty sixth. Oh, okay. All right. I don't know. I see Club shaking his head. Um so I'm just shaking my head because y'all really trolling right now. Y'all got no trolling? What are you talking about? I feel like this has been a good conversation. It's been a great conversation. Yo, that that dome situation is a great conversation. You know why? Because they don't they don't gotta go through Sherelle and give her any bread. So therefore she w the funds won't be mistaken. They got the leverage over Sherelle on this one. Kidding me. The city has to kiss the break to the Eagles. Eagles matter more than anything to this like legit. They might matter more to they might matter more than anything else in the city the eagles like they the Sherelle got to kiss the ring Sherelle yeah we can't let her handle any more funds anyway too so that that's that's a a discussion for where are you Cliff on that indoor versus outdoor you, you attending at least one Eagles game per year? Yeah, I um I like the retractable situation. I think that makes the most sense. Um the elements thing, like in most recent years, the two games that I went to was that Bears game on Black Friday and that uh Rams game, that playoff game. Not the Rams game during the regular season last year, the playoff game with the snow and all that. That Rams game was crazy, man. It was dope to like be in the snow and be in that environment. But I'm telling them elements hit you dog like i'm one of the people where like yeah yo they really do hit you like when you out that bears game was freezing cold bro like i came back home had to just defrost myself we had to come back and pie. Like I didn't feel normal until the next, like, the middle of the next day. So I say that to say I'm kind of cool with it, but I think a retractable roof probably makes the most sense when it comes to these things. I don't care about the corporateness of uh, you know, five Yeah posting like that means you think for attending Eagles games maybe there's a benefit to having a retraction. For sure, for sure, for sure. Let's say like, all right, you want to get the field prepared for a game, you can at least retract the roof and then you can open it up if there's some inclement weather in the area, you know, maybe on a Saturday or you know Friday before that, and then you could open up the roof on a Sunday and have the field not be hard as a rock so players can play on there and you know won't get hurt or whatever. But yeah, I I like the idea. I have one thing I will add. Yeah as Clip was saying that. And this isn't a popular thing to say, and the organization would wouldnn't't wouldn't would never say this. But when you talk about like the final four in the Super Bowl, they already have you. Right? The fans who are going to Eagles games, yeah. They're going, right? Like like like they don't need to appeal to those fans. It's how can you get more people to come into your building? And so when so that's that's the conversation with with these other events is like it's not about Eagles fans. Eagles fans are going to come to games. They're not going to have any trouble selling tickets, the Eagles. They know that. Um, now you can price yourself out, you can do that type of thing. But it's how can you get more people to come to your facilities or the property around your facilities throughout the year? And that's where stuff like the Super Bowl and the Final Four and major concerts and things like that are factors in this. For sure. And there are major concerts. Yeah, but if you have a Beyonce concert, you don't want it, you don't want it flooded, right? Like you don't want to be out there. You don't the cowboy carters to be makeup all down. This would be so funny if this was their explanation for a retractable roof. They just clip right there. You don't want the you don't want the Swifties You don't want the Swifties running to State Side live trying to find cover you know, trying to find cover on the Yeah no. I mean like with Z like you what you're saying makes you know complete and total sense. But as far as like just the Eagles dynamic of it, I think it makes sense to have a retractable roof. I mean, it's the jerry world of everything, right? Like everybody's trying to take that model and then kind of go from there. All right, I don't want to be a hypocrite because at this point in my life, if you said, Sheil, do you want to go outside and watch a football game for three and a half hours when it's freezing and raining? The answer would be no. Uh, I do think there's an age element to this. I when I when I was younger, I would take so much pride and you know, oh, it's gonna be freezing. I'd be like, we're just gonna bundle up, this is gonna be awesome, let's go. And I actually enjoyed the freezing cold weather, or at least in my head, I'm remembering, but I was a kid then,. It's different when you're a kid. T ashen you get older, uh, the weather I feel like starts to affect you a little bit more, and it doesn't seem as appealing. So all right, I can get behind that retractable roof, maybe. Let's see. But I again, I still do as a view. See it',s different. There's 70,000 in the stadium, and then there's the rest of Eagles fans watching it or that are fans of it. And I I would say those fans would probably be like, we like watching in the elements. It's fun. It adds something different to the game versus the 70,000. We're actually there. They might be like, Sheo, what are you talking about? We would love a retractable roof. Uh, it would just be a much more comfortable experience. All this money we're paying, we don't want to go there and be freezing or be miserable for three and a half hours. So I do get that side of it as well. I will say that Rams game was popping. Like that was see? It was popping. Eagles Lions game back in the day, uh Z V, come on. What was better than that? That's one of my most memorable experiences, uh, memorable games uh I've covered. I mean, it was unbelievable. LaShawn McCoy, man. I'll never forget. Somehow the snow did not affect one person on the field, and his name was Lashawn McCoy uh that day. I don't know what he was doing with his cleats or you know, shout out to Greg D in the equipment room. Great that yeah, there you go. Yeah, that was a great D Limitros production. Yep. They had it, they had him all set up. All right, AJ Brown. Last thing we wanted to get to here. Yeah. Only because there has been a new report. We're not just rehashing old stuff here. This was this came across my uh the algorithm got me here. Uh Albert Breer on the Rich Eisen Show ZB this week had a few couple nuggets, I would say. One nugget was he kind of just came out and said, Agent, what we've said we think this is the case, but I don't know. I've never had the guy, I've never had the reporting or background or confidence to just say this is definitely the case that AJ Brown's iss ue with the Eagles is the quarterback, uh, is what he said versus um anything else having to do with the coaching staff or the scheme or whatever. So that was one nugget that he had there. And then the other nugget he had where people think, oh my God, you guys are making such a big thing about this AJ Brown. They're keeping him that AJ Brown's camp went to the Eagles with four destinations that they wanted to go to. Those were the Chiefs, the Bills , the Chargers, and the Patriots. Those four teams, he came to the Eagles and said, these are my preferred, this is where I prefer to play next year. Now other teams got involved. It doesn't mean they have to trade him to one of those places. But I think that should just give you some clarity if you're somebody who's just been in denial about this isn't a real thing, why isn't the Philadelphia media, all that stuff? Um, Albert Breer is telling you definitively that those were four teams he wanted to play for. So I don't know if you had anything to add, if you had reaction to that, ZB, but that's kind of the latest update here as we just sit and wait and see how this thing plays out. Yeah, Albert's a good reporter. He put it out there. Um and I think uh and I'll raise my hand here, there's been a lot of you know people like me talking around these things, like saying, you know, AJ, it's you know, he's Well you're in a different spot as a beat you know, a beat reporter. I think you're being responsible that you can't just come out and say it unless it's a hundred percent sure I know this to be the fact and I'm able to say it. Uh versus that. Yeah. AJ you know loves uh loves Phil who doesn't have an issue with the Eagles, but like, you know, he has to decide if his best football can come in this offense with this personnel around him, right? And I think uh so I think that's that's where I've I I kind of said this was all this was yeah the the thought is like can he be the the best receiver in the NFL in this offense with this personnel um and then we've talked about, you know, New England and Buffalo and Kansas City and the Chargers. Something yeah, um I think I I I I had mentioned Baltimore, uh, although Baltimore's offense kind of functions the way the Eagles offense does in in terms of how much they run the ball and and you know uh so yeah to that point uh I'll let Albert's rapport kind of um stand on his own but I I'm not gonna push back on on what he said there. And I would say that my expectation is still that AJ Brown gets traded and that AJ Brown gets traded to to the New England Patriots and that my guess is it happens after June first, Diana Rossini, my outstanding colleague at the athletic insider of the year, uh from WIP. I should point that out because my father in law who's an avid WIP listener is like uh you know, he he's he's kind of all over me. Like you sh I I I need you to get in this mix, man. Um actual story. I was at a Phillies game last year, and they won the game, and I'm walk- you know, we're walking up the stairs to exit, and uh a woman stops me and I'm like, oh, hello. And she goes, You should have won insider of the year. And I'm like, oh, okay. Thank you, man. Oh, man, it's funny. Yeah, no, my father in law was more like like not uh he's like he's like they need to consider you more. My father in law's on on my side. So he's in the other room there. So I I gotta make sure that I yeah that is back here. But no, but Diana said that that that she doesn't expect this to happen before June first. I I I would uh not push back on that either. I I kinda believe in what Diana's saying uh on on everything on the AJ Brown topic. And so uh yeah, I I I don't you know I I I hope that fans realize now that this is like a very real thing that like this isn't manufactured that um and that uh my guess is there's not imminent resolution but there's eventual resolution. I mean, the tricky thing here is if the Patriots use their first round pick on a wide receiver. And now they look at it and they go, we got Romeo Dobbs, we got Casey Concepcion, we got, you know, somebody else that we don't need to make this trade. Um, and then what do the Eagles do there? Can they get anybody else uh involved or how does this play out? So um there's still a lot of uncertainty, obviously. By the way, the Chiefs, I me an, shouldn't they make shouldn't they have tried to trade for AJ Brown? You know, I I don't know. You're signing Kennedy. Yeah, I'm still expecting them to sign Tyreek Hill, is my guess. Really? I thought Andy Roode kind of Andy Reid kind of poo-pooed that when he was asked about it. Maybe not. Well, yeah, he he basically said without saying it, like it was it's kind of like how he used to answer the Deshaun questions when it was clear, like he's like, I'm not Deshaun's not we're not doing that uh anymore. But he didn't come out and say it. He was kind of like, you know, I don't even know if Ty you know Tyreek's working out or whatever. But maybe they would. You might be right about that. But when he was asked about it, it sort of felt like an indie answer: like, we're not going to get back into the Tyree Kill business. But um, I could be wrong there. The bills, you know, you're trading a second for DJ Moore. I don't know if the asking price would have been for AJ Brown, but I would have been more excited about that if I were the Bills. Even the Chargers, I had mentioned the Chargers, you know, a couple months ago. Like I think all those teams that he's wanted to play for, I would have been very interested to add AJ Brown. You know, you talked about yeah, you get Mike McDaniel as your OC. You add AJ Brown. Now you have Brown, Ladd McConkey. You've got two good tackles, maybe you address uh the interior O-line. I thought that would have been a very interesting move for them as well. So we will see what happens there, but just you know a a definitive report um that just kind of confirms well I I hadn't heard the part about he he gave them those four teams before. So that was really the new part about it. Everything else I think we were familiar with. And to what you just said, uh, you know, I I know there's this thought that like if it's just the Patriots, the Eagles don't have leverage. The Eagles leverage is that they have the player, right? I I mean, um, you know, is it and like that's that's ultimately what your leverage is. He's under contract, yeah. Yeah. You want more than one team bidding for it. But ultimately, like if if you have the asset that the other that somebody else wants, then that's ultimately what your leverage is. You know, I was trading for Ronald O'Cuna in my fantasy baseball league and like I'm like, you don't have anyone else paying for his salary and it's like, yeah, but I can I can just keep him, right? And I'm like, all right, fair. And so I ended up training for Ronald Akuna. Um training for Ronald Cuna. So like the leverage, the the leverage is that you have the asset. Acuna,? Z B A tilde? Did you ever take Spanish? Did I take I took Latin actually, not Spanish. Oh. Flex. Okay. All right. I don't think that's I would yeah. The tilde over the end. I've been saying I'm working hard on this for six years. So eventually, like the the proof has to be in the pudding. I can't just say I'm working on pronunciations, but okay. I'm genuinely working on pronunciations. All-star break, I'll ask you to say Ronald Acunia and we'll see if we can improve at that point. All right. A lot of Eagles talk there. Over an hour of Eagles talk. Good stuff from ZB with the ZB3. Let's take a break. We come back and it's mailbag time. LinkedIn is pretty amazing at helping you grow your small business. We cannot make your email response time faster . We can help you sell, market, and hire in one place. We cannot help you find space for your three desk drinks. Why do you have three? And while we can't help you find the perfect volume for your presentation video. LinkedIn can help you find the perfect audience for your business. Grow your small business on LinkedIn. Learn more at LinkedIn.com slash small business . All right, we are back here on the Ringers Philly special. Before we get to the mailbag Z Babe, by the time people listen to this, I feel like the Phillies will have already played their home open their opener, or maybe we'll be uh playing their opener. We need your official prediction for the twenty twenty six Philli es. Uh so I I I like this team better the most too um although I said that about the Sixers as well. Yeah, I was gonna say you've said that before, but I I I don't think they're winning the World Series. Um I think it really depends. It really depends when they s if or when they see the Dodgers. If I'm being honest with you, if you could I can see them getting to the NLCS if they can avoid the Dodgers in the NLDS. Um, but if they see the Dodgers in the N the in the NLTS, I think they're finished there. I think they're a playoff team. I know that the NO East is better. I like what the Mets did this offseason, obviously. Uh but I I still think that the Phillies are in the N I think they're one of the final four teams in the National League, but it really depends when you see the Dodgers. The Dodgers are just unreal. It's that simple. The Dodgers are that good. Um but I I will say that um yeah even though they lost Ranger, I like the pitching this year because I think I I think I I think Painter is going to be legit. I'm expecting a productive season from from Wheeler despite the injury. Like the fact that he's already, you know, in in rehab is a positive sign. Uh and I think Crawford gives them some juice at the bottom of the of the lineup in terms of in t in terms of getting on on base. I still don't love the middle of the I like the top of the order. I don't love the middle of the order. I really don't like, you know, four, five, six. And or I think they they could have improved there. But with their pitching, I mean, I think Lazardo is going to be an absolute stud. I think Lazardo is going to be I'm this is a bold thing. I think Lazardo is gonna be better than Sanchez this year. I think Lazardo is gonna be their best pitcher this season. I can see him uh leading the NL in strikeouts, uh, but I don't think anyone's getting past the Dodgers. And I'm expecting there to be close to a work stoppage this time next year. And I think the Dodgers are going to be a big reason for it. Win total. What do we got? And do they win the division? All right. That's what me and Bunsey had. Do they win the division? Yes or no? I don't need to hear a lot of disclaimers. I see where your head was going there. You're gonna give me excuses. Just yes. Who wins it? No. Mets? Mets . On these airways. Unbelievable. We might have to bleep that out. All right. Pronto's really good, man. Peralta was a good pickup. All right. All right. That's ZB's baseball prediction. And then Cliff was all fired up about the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel MP'd back. Dunking on people. The scoring has never left him. PG coming back. Heartfelt apology. And just draining threes and playing D and celebrating with his teammates. 157 points. I believe they're both since like 1970 or something like that. They have 51 points in the third quarter against the Chicago Bulls. I think that's by the way. The Bulls are disgraced today. I was going to say, are they in it? I don't know an NBA team still or not. There's there's there's a legit like ten teams in NBA that are that are just disgraceful right now. Well I was looking at the Eagles I was looking at the six years schedule. So um remaining games Wizards you're playing a tank job uhh Pacers is a tank job and Bucks are a tank job. So they got the T-Wolves are good, but they don't have Anthony Edwards right now. So that that game next Friday. But they did win last night, too. In overtime. Yeah. All right. So nine remaining games, three against Tankers. Right now, the Sixers are in the seventh seed, which would mean the play in game. Yeah. They're game back. Game back behind uh half a game, it looks like behind the Raptors for six, and we have one game behind the Hawks for number five. So I would imagine best case scenario would be you jump up to five, right? And you're playing Cleveland there uh in the locked in the the Cavs are pretty locked in at that spot as well uh yes they are three games behind the Knicks or you could finish sixth and you're gonna play the Knicks or you're seventh and you're in the play-in. I will say, uh this isn't me being like, oh my gosh, we're so back, I'm sucked back in. At least it listen, at least it adds a little intrigue to cause I listen, VJ was great when nobody else was playing. It was like, all right, VJ came. He was great yesterday too.. He was great yesterday But now it at least adds a little intrigue that these guys are back to gives you a reason to watch. What's our maxi situation, Cliff? Uh they said his finger is going to be reevaluated at some point this week. So he could be back. You know, he should be not definitive. Yeah, nothing definitive. He was on Fallon, though. You see you made an appearance on uh with Jim Fallon? I did I did see that. Yeah, him and Cardi B on the same show. So that looked pretty that looked pretty cool. But yeah, he should be back uh apparently sometime next week. That's from what I'm hearing. But you know I you know, we'll see what happens, man. Sixers Cavs in the first round if they somehow jump up to those. All right, you're gonna but the Hawks are hot though. The Hawks are they can playing.? They Yeah, not only that, they they had a great win in um Detroit in overtime last night too. And they've been playing some bad teams, but hey man, that that Detroit win has been solid. Without K, Detroit still looks like a regular, a regular, regul daggaror team and you know the hawks look good, man. So maybe if the Sixers jump up the fifth, be able to play the Cavs in the first round. That'd be fun and interesting to see James Harden uh play the Sixers. Yeah, I would all right. Let's let's C Z B how these next two games go at Charlotte. Uh bombed on by Charlotte last time they lost by like seventy. They were down by right? That was that MLK day? What was that? I think it was an afternoon game. It was like a Saturday, random Saturday. Yeah, they lost by like they were down by seventy at halftime. Yeah, they got smoked. Con Kipple was going crazy. Yeah. So they got at Charlotte on Saturday, at Miami on Monday. Uh, so there you go. Two teams. Um be man, plus thirty-three in the box sc ore. I mean, it it it was it I don't want to say shocking, but just it made me think. Can he will he be like 42 and he can still when he actually plays get you 30? You know, when he's 42 years old. He could he adapts. He adapts. Uh how he can score. I don't know what he's gonna give you defensively, but uh certainly still has it offensively. So George is refreshed and he said he needed those twenty five games off. Listen, maybe yeah. I mean he had celebration. He was getting buckets. It's too bad the Bulls don't know. Be ready for April March. Well, well, Z V, I think the next suspension, you get it it's a way heftier uh time now. Oh yeah. So you start that one in October and then you're ready for the playoffs, yeah. I forget what the second one is for um in MBA, but yeah, 25. How about this? Just next season, you know, if this is gonna be his third season here, right? Just sit thirty games. Just straight just sit thirty games. Say you're ready for the playoffs and then get to the playoffs and then we'll see what happens. Maybe. Maybe that'll be a new thing, you know? Just sit out and then yeah, get ready, play the final ten, twelve games, and then it's playoff time. There you go. All right . Yeah, we'll go much well good. No, yeah. So we'll see what happens uh with the Sixers here. At least a little more relevant than they've been here for the last uh two three weeks whatever the case may be all right it is mailbag time ringerphilly at gmail.com get your emails and we start off with Joelel. Or is this Jo? Is this Joel and B emailing us? I don't know. Who's to say? I didn't know for me to confirm with the email address. Says Sheel Cliff and ZB. Love the pod and love the mailbag. I'm writing today to share some break room nonsense I recently observed. I walked into the office break room the other day and noticed that someone had carved out a little corner of the shared space to set up a little barista station. That's nice, I thought. A milk frothing device and some flavored syrups to make our crappy coffee a little bit better. As I approached, I noticed handwritten labels on the syrups and for author that read property of name redacted, do not use. See photo below. And he sent us the photos. I was gobsmacked by the absolute gall of this individual. Who leaves out these giant syrup bottles in a shared space and doesn't think anyone else should use them? Upon looking up the individual on our company's internal messaging platform, I was not surprised to learn this person is a member of Generation Z, a Zoomer. As I mentioned in the story caption, when I posted a pic of the scene on Instagram. I don't want to sound like some back in my day old man, but leaving these out and demanding that no one touch them in the pin is the pinnacle of obliviousness and entitlement. The break room is a shared communal space where people often leave out homemade snacks and treats to share with everyone. If you don't want your precious cookie butter syrup used by the team, keep it at your desk. The pick I posted on Instagram was met with an overwhelmingly negative response to the person's actions. Most people who responded, who were mostly my fellow millennials, to be fair, couldn't believe that someone would be so selfish, especially over a ten to twenty dollar investment in coffee syrups. But a few folks said it should go without saying that if you didn't bring it in, you shouldn't use it. I think that's a fair point, but applies more to people's lunches left in the break room fridge not commercial sized coffee syrups left out on the counter. What does the Philly special crew think? Is this extreme entitlement or someone rightly protecting their investment. And does the fact that this individual is potentially fresh out of college and likely doesn't have much experience working in a professional office environment factor into your verdict at all here? Thank you for all the great off-season content. Shout out, Sizza, and shout out Bucks County's very own Sabrina Carpenter. So there you go. That is from Jo el ZB. I actually want to start with you because I feel like you are probably the one of the three of us. I you've never really have you ever really worked in an office job befor e? Uh my two years at uh PHLY, I was going that was the first time going into like a late screen. Yeah. So no, I've never been in like a cubicle. I've I when I was at the Washington Post uh during the offseason I would have to go in uh to the you know I would I would go in each day. So uh but that was half the year basically. Okay. So you're kind of an objective. This hasn't happened to me, observer. So before we get to being Cliff, let's start with you. What do you think here? Um is this person committing a violation by setting up the fruit frothing milk station and two big bottles of syrup. And he sent us the photo in the communal space, but with a note that says do not use. I don't think the issue is keeping it in the communal space. I I think if you want to keep food and and drink and I guess syrup uh for I'm I'm I'm not a coffee s uh a creamer guy, but um keeping that in the break room, that's that's that's fine as opposed to keeping it on your desk. Keeping creamer on your on your desk, you don't need to do that. Where I will push back is I think that a creamer or a condiment or something like that is okay to have for communal use. You don't need to share your meal. If you're bringing in your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, that's not fair game for everyone. But if you're bringing it funny if it was but if you're bringing it if if you have something that's like commercial size creamer that's okay for people to use in my view uh and I would say if you have an objection to that, just keep your creamer at home. Have your coffee in the morning. And don't I I think creamer in the office is like an acceptable thing for people to share. Now uh,, if you're using it every day, if you're using someone else's creamer every day, then it's incumbent upon you to bring in the next creamer, right? It's just like uh, you know, that's that's paying it forward. But you can have an expectation that creamer in the coff or syrup or however we want to frame it, uh in the break room is exclusively yours. Cause I think that's that's just, you know, you get how many uses out of that? Yeah, what fifty? Fifty pores? It's a these are big bottles. There's a big pumpkin syrup and another one that says cookie butter. I mean, these are the kind like if you go to a coffee shop and you see where they've got all this, it's like that size uh bottle. So there you go. All right, Cliff, you have off you were at ESPN, you know, you're going to Bristol, going in the office. I'm sure there was a whole kitchen area there. Aside from that, you know, great cafeteria that they had there. But I'm sure you had to get the the the place I missed the most about uh ESP is the cafeteria. Everybody in the cafeteria I was cool with because they was all from like the area or whatever. Yeah from TT but you know you know me I'm cool with everybody so I got cool with them and they used to just look out even though it was already cheap, like they used to just hook me up with anything in there, but all right. So what do you think about the communal space here? Uh and this and Joel's uh I call him Joel. His name might be Joel. Let's call him Joel. Joel's predicament. Yeah. I mean, in the world where we become less and less about community, more and more about self. This is a complete selfish act right here. Wow. Of bringing in a syrup syrup of all things. Like the how much some Jones even costs? I don't know. I've never thought I don't I drink, you know me, I drink straight black coffee, so I don't really use syrups and pores and all that stuff. And I might put some Splendor or something in there. I don't know much some drones cost, but they can't be more than like ten dollars. I would assume. He said ten to twenty dollars, maybe the two of them, yeah. So now you're gonna put a label on top of this syrup and be like, oh, only I can use it. Only what like what's going on that we can't even share some simple syrup for coffee? Is this where we've gotten in society, yo? Like it's like no one is everybody's dehumanizing people. It's like, how selfish of an act is this that you bring in a 10 $10 bottle or $20? Hell, let it be twenty dollars a twenty dollar bottle of syrup for your coffee and you put a label on it saying hey nah nobody can use this this is strictly mine like what yeah come on dog that's a violation if you want it and if you want to keep that syrup put it at your desk or something or that's the you know yes wherever like a a space only you know restricted for you I don't know how like some office spaces obviously people like share desk because you know come in come out like the next cycle of people will share uh you know shared spaces nobody really has their own office or cubicle you know in a lot of these places so I get it if he doesn't have that but even then it's just like bro that's syrup like no one's a they're not about nobody's about to bomb your syrup and completely use your syrup in one day to the point to where you have to label it like I don't know. It's just a selfish act in my opinion. You know me, I'm not a selfish person. If I got it, we got it. We all got it. We ball out. You know what I'm saying? So I'm with you guys. Yeah, this is I mean it's quite odd. It's in the communal space. Like you're setting up a station in the communal space uh and then you're telling people not to use your thing. That's that is quite strange. It's very different than like you guys said, bring in your own food or whatever, obviously. You can't be taking other people's food in the fridge or whatever. If you want it to yourself, keep it at your desk. If you're gonna take up space in the communal space, here's what I like, here's what I like to think would have happened is that you set it up there. People are using it. It gets a little low. Someone else says, you know what? I've been using it. Joanna, I got it. I got the next one here. Don't wow. I'm gonna bring in some syrups uh next week. And that I got the next one. You kind of take turns and you go that way. Now, let's say that that didn't happen, and she's gone a whole year of she's providing this, no one else is chipping in, and now she's saying, Man, I I thought this was gonna be a nice thing to do for the office, but no one else is doing anything. At that point, if you wanna make a move, you know, send a mess age. You can. I'm not saying you should, but you can uh do that. But this seems like it was the first time the first time you're bringing it there, you're saying, do not use uh, yeah, I don't like that. Now, to Cliff's point, you should just be drinking black coffee. You know, let's all those syrups and stuff, man. Too much sugar, that's not gonna be good for you. Just one cat, one cup of black coffee. That's how you start the day. Uh, don't be putting all those syrups in there. But listen, I know people like some of the syrups and the creamer ZB's talking about. That's not for me. And don't you'll get used to it. Don't say, Oh, she liked it. You'll get used to it, you'll enjoy it. I enjoy it. That's what I look forward to when I wake up every morning. So the only thing I can I was thinking about this. Hey, have I ever been in this situation? When I worked at Philly.com, my my colleagues there actually remember this very vividly because now when I see them, uh, we joke about it. I brought in a box of special K and I would put a half gallon of milk in the fridge and I would eat, no wonder no one was probably taking me seriously. I would eat a bowl of cereal at my desk every because you're getting in there 7 a.m. shifting. As soon as it starts, you're going. You know, you're updating stuff. All right, what stories right? And so you're going there. And so I would bring that. Then I get a break around 10 o'clock. I'd go get my milk, get my cereal, and I would be eating cereal at my desk, wash my bowl, and I would do that pretty much every day. Now, no one ever touched my milk in the fridge, but I never had a note that said, like, this is Sheel's milk. Don't touch it. And the special K I kept at my desk. So I don't think I committed a violation there. A little weird now that I look back on it. But you know what? In your 20s, you're gonna be a little weird. Even in my in your forties. Yeah. You're gonna be a little weird. I think you just embrace it more in your 40s, yeah. You embrace it more more, yeah. You're comfortable with it there. All right. Josh sa ys, I am Josh from Las Cruces, New Mexico. You ever been in New Mexico, Z B ay? That's one of the states I have not been. Me too. Claire, you've been to New Mexico. All right. Feeling special on the road. You know, I do have to start checking off some of these states that I haven't been to. He says, I'm a lifelong birds fan, and while they are not my team, uh I have grown a liking to the Phils and Sixers from the pot. I have a bracket pool ethical dilemma that I would like you all to weigh in on. This is right down ZB's alley. I I feel like yes. run a Survivor March Madness Pool, which is in its fourth year. This year I noticed that ESPN was running a Survivor Challenge. So I decided uh sorry, he said, yeah. So I decided to put it on there, which is more familiar and easier to work on my end. Survivor challenges are great, but you kind of have to be a sicko for it. You have to make a pick every day before any game begins, and people commonly forget to do that. Other platforms would allow me to go in and make changes in case anybody makes mistakes or forgot to make their pick, but ESPN does not allow me to do that. Now to the dilemma. I remember picking Arkansas for round one and I was pleased to see them easily defeat Hawaii. But when I went to check the pool, it said I was eliminated because I did not make a pick. I look forward to this pool all year, so I was pissed. I did know that one of my buddies' wives was in the pool and was pretty sure he would just use her as a loophole to have two entries. Knowing this, I texted him to buy his wife's entry. Little indecent proposal thing going on. He knows how much I care about this and obliged. Am I in the wrong for doing this? Most circumstances I would say this shouldn't be allowed for other people to buy others' entries. But because I was certain that I made a pick and there's nothing to be done for it, I felt that it was acceptable for me to buy this person's entry who does not really care about the pool. As the commissioner of this survivor pool, I'm aware that I should be held to a higher standard. So please let me know if this is out of line. If I do win with this bid, what should I do with the money? Currently, nine people are still alive with mine being one of them, and the top three get money. Love the pod. Shout out to Sheeell, Cliffy Dose, ZBurm, Sean, BLG, and Sizza. Just grateful to say I was alive for the grant Calcutera era. We finished that. Had to get it in there. All right, TB, what do you think? Did he commit a violation as the commissioner of this league buying his buddy's wife's survivor entry after either the site made a mistake or he made a mistake, more likely in getting his pick in. No, I I don't believe he committed a a violation here and I I don't know what the wife's buddy uh picked for the first team if but the tax you're paying is you didn't get to use your first unless the wife's buddy picked Arkansas, right? A team you wanted might be off the table here. But the reality is that uh it doesn't sound like your wife's uh well I'm I said your wife's buddy, your your your buddy's wife. Doesn't matter. I don't think I don't think your buddy's wife is it doesn't sound like she's that into it. Um even if your thing even if if your uh survivor pool was still going, I wouldn't think it's unethical to buy your buddy's wife's bracket or entry here. Uh the that to me it's like um it's kind of resourceful for lack of a better term. Now for a survivor thing, I wouldn't want more than one in there, right? I mean I think it almost kind of defeats the spirit of it. But in this case, especially, you look forward to it. You made a clerical error or you know, a l uh however you want to frame it, um, and that you didn't submit uh uh officially submit. You're getting in round one. It's not like you're getting in round three here. So I'm okay with it. I wouldn't make a habit of doing this every year, but in the in this case is your first year switching over to the ESPN system. I'm cool with it. Dose if it's not play here. Yeah, if it's an honest mistake, I don't mind it. Um I will say you should probably take like a group vote though, because we did have an issue like this similar in my fantasy football group. I believe um one of my homies uh in the group I think Murray was out in I want to say France or something like that and tried to make a pick. He said his internet was bad and he didn't not take a not make a pick but he tried to um switch his lineup and he said the lineup didn't switch over and it actually went from him losing because there was an empty roster spot, you know, in the play there. And then it actually took him from losing the game to winning the game. And uh we did the whole group vote and everything and we accepted it. And he was like, yo, I swear man, like I I thought put it in the internet out here is janky like I you know my bad like and the the person who lost was Matt right like rightfully so because you know you take the L so I think like in this scenario you should take a group vote like you should always just you know have everybody in here be like yo is it okay that I buy you know such and such wife's uh pool bracket pool or whatever because I made a clerical error on this and they should be able to vote on it whether it's okay or not because let's say he does end up winning the uh pool with his buddies wife's bracket then people probably be like mm I don't know Doug like that sound kinda shady you know the system's kinda weird but as long as they vote on it they improved it, then I think it's fine. I like that democracy in these situations. Take a vote, then no one can be mad at you. If they voted, majority rules. If they vote one way, you gotta accept the consequences and wait till next year. If they vote the other way, you're good there. So it soundss like it' legit. It doesn't sound like there was any uh foul play, but I'm with Cliff to as the commissioner, you can't just be doing that without getting anybody's input. You have to make sure that they're uh okay with it. So there you go. I think that's the uh that's the answer here for uh our friend Josh from New Mexico. All right. Now we got some follow-ups on some previous issues here. You remember Uncle Schmohawk? Yeah. You remember Henry? All right. So Jeremy says Shield Z B and C2S, Jay from PA here in an effort to close the loop on the saga of Uncle Schmohawk's birthday. I am writing to you after returning from the rescheduled party. A quick recap: In January, my wife's 94-year-old grandmother asked her to help plan a birthday party for her hedonistic Uncle Schmohawk in his mid-60s. The timing of which threatened my viewing of the Eagles wildcard round game. But the party was first delayed by a significant snowstorm and then postponed indefinitely after we learned that Uncle Schmohawk was banned from the nearby local establishment where my wife wanted to host the party. Fast forward to March, we made the six-hour journey to Grandma's house, and a decision was made to keep the celebration low-key. A nice dinner at grandma's house with her, my family, Uncle Schmohawk's family, and his brother, my wife's other uncle, and his family. After a few drinks, being the hero that she is, my wife pressed her uncle on why he was banned from the local establishment. And his story was that while he's quote buddies with the manager, the head bartender is insert a derogatory phrase and she quote doesn't appreciate his foul mouth. The latter of which was met with agreement from my daughter who was counting the F-bombs with eyes wide in shock throughout the day? We can all assume there's more to that story, but we moved on. When we left grandmas, everyone seemed to be in good spirits, and we went back to our Airbnbight for the n. It wasn't until the next morning that we learned that later after we left, Uncle Schmohawk and his brother got into a physical altercation with each other for reasons lost in the haze of what turned out to be the night's excessive libations. The brothers refused to be in the same room with each other for the rest of our visit Well I told y'all dude is a problem, dog. I see I knew it, dog. I knew it. Well her uncle earned the nickname Uncle Schmohawk for his love of ladies of the night and crude language, we can also add drunken brawling to the list of shmohawk charges. In the end, I'm glad that my wife this is crazy. In the end, I'm glad that my wife was able to spend time with her beloved grandma, see her extended family, and I know she appreciates that I made the trip with her. However, I cannot express how glad I am that this adventure is over and that I've returned to a life of decency and relatively low drama. My wife even acknowledges the absurd debauchery that comes with her uncle. Thus, the saga of Uncle Schmohawks's birthday comes to a close. On the drive home, I asked my daughter to describe Uncle Schmohawk in three words. She said, loud, crazy, and potty mouthed. Thanks for the laughs and shout out Sizza. So there you go. We closed the loop on Uncle Schmohawk. You did you did a nice thing for grandma, you did a nice thing for your wife, but uh all due respect, I think that might have to be it for interactions with Uncle Schmohawk Cliff. I don't know that we need to write that's it. How did the hit the archetype just fit? I told you local town bar in there, always cursing, causing fights, causing the scene. I mean, get a couple get a couple bears in them and it's it's a rat. You know what I'm saying? You know, I know y'all seen them type of people before, man. All right, listen. Z B, I know you have. Even before 11 PM, you see that. You're gonna be judged by the company you keep eventually. So speaking of which, good segue to our next one here. You remember the email from last week? Quarry, friend broke bro code. Oh yeah. This one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Violation. Yep. For those who need a refresher, Corey had a bunch of buddies for a long time. One buddy was dating a girl for a long time. Second buddy then starts dating the girl. There's overlap. Second buddy stays with the girl for a long time. Corey's friend stays friends with them. So he's close friends with the couple, but he's still friends with the first guy who was wronged. Now he's trying to have a 40th birthday party. He doesn't know who to invite because the friend who was wronged doesn't want to be in the same room with the couple, understandably. So he sent a follow- up. Corey says, She'll C2S and ZB Wanted to send a quick thanks for the advice and a couple follow-ups from my email regarding the friend who broke the brocode. First, it was hilarious listening to you all ask talk about New Hampshire. Sounded like 200 conversations I had when I went to Temple. I'm just glad none of you asked what state is New Hampshire in, like so many people did while I was there . Our town is definitely big enough to meet other baddies as we are sandwiched between the two biggest cities of Manchester and Nashua and have thirty thousand people of our own as well. Shout out to ZB for his Manchester knowledge. I think I missed a critical part. The original friend has a new girlfriend. They have been together for almost two years and lived together. And he still can't be in the same place as the other couple. He skipped a close friend's fortieth last weekend because the couple was going to be there. I'm going to take your advice and invite them all. And I'm hoping my buddy doesn't just dead me. I've never heard that used before. I don't know if that's before. No, that's a thing. Okay. Yeah. All right. I'm hoping my buddy doesn't just dead me for still being friends with them. It sounds drastic, but it's in play with how stubborn he is. I'll circle back with an update once these balls get rolling. Appreciate the insight. All right, ZB, does this change your stance at all that the friend who was wrong actually has met someone else who he is living with, they've been together for two years, or does nothing change because of that specific detail? Well, I I believe from the beginning that they both should be at the party, right? Okay. So yeah, I mean I think this this further enforces it, right? There's if you're the the friend who's who's who's moved on it's it's you know I mean I don't want to say you're you're flexing or proud to show off your uh your your new significant other but Patty yeah I know there were listeners who enjoyed C I heard from listeners who enjoyed Z B talking about baddies last year. Yeah. So all right, so they weren't on the record, but they said they enjoyed that segment. Yeah, so you got y you got your new baddie here, you're bringing her and and like, you know, you're you're uh yeah you're in a good spot. You're thriving right now. There's no reason why there should be residual jealousy or animosity or still what do you mean? There's still residual jealousy and animosity. You've he violated he violated Broco and she um she violated him just being a spouse. So like I totally understand his like st his ill will be towards him. I I get it. Like he it sounds like he's rebounded well. He's been going out with this girl for two years. Two years ain't a short time, you know, for a relationship. So it sounds like that's been going pretty well too. But at the same time, bro violated Bro code to like the umph degree, and she violated just being a good girlfriend to the degree. So I could a hundred percent see why there is still be animosity towards that couple for sure. Alright, my pushback here is first off, you're celebrating your friend's 40th, right? So you're there for your friend, number one. And number two, it's not like you're going stag at this point. And you know, you're you're you've moved on. You've you've you've had this new uh baddie with you and you know, you're in a spot where you're like, yeah, you know, you you sho shoulduld have your chance feeling good about your life. I think what we're saying, what we're saying, I think we would all maybe be in agreement here, maybe I'm wrong, that it's okay to still hold uh ill will, animosity, still be upset about the situation, but given the situation you're in, maybe you try to put not put that behind you, but make the most of your buddies uh 40th birthday, who he had nothing to do with that. Cliff, what what do you think? Is that the right way to approach this? It is, but you know, human nature tells us otherwise. You know, the feelings are the feel- the feelings are gonna come out, man. Like you gonna see them and he's just gonna turn red. Yeah. It sounds like you know, it sounds like he really hasn't seen him, talked to him, really spoken to him, had any interaction to him. It's crazy though, because in New Hampshire, I feel like you probably run into the same people. Claire. No, I'm not trying this. I'm not trying this New Hampshire, but like I feel like I lived up in Connecticut, bro. I swear I felt I felt like I saw the same people all the time anywhere I went. Like I go to a club, I see the same people, go to the or bars or whatever, see the same people, go to the gym, see the same like bro. I felt like I ran into everybody all the time. So I'm s kind of shocked that they haven't really seen each other since New Hampshire's population is b approximately one point four million residents. The entire state? Yeah. Yeah, so what I mean it's still like that ain't the biggest like what do you mean that's like the size the city like Philly five the city of Philadelphia's population is like one and a half million. Yeah. I had so so like the city of Philly alone, it's the size the size of an entire state. Stick with what he's doing and not go to he could just you know he has a girlfriend, he's doing well, he's uh he could just not go to events that they're gonna be at. I have no issue with that. If that you know, but if that's his man, if that's his man, like his homie homie, listen, he can take him out for another drink, or you he's not like he's never gonna see him. I think he's you know he can still see him. But it's his fortieth birthday party, bro. Like that's that's a milestone. Zach, you just had the forty, right? Remember? I was supposed to be there, but then like you know That's on me. I do need some advice though for my advice for the guy who feels he was wrong. Hold on. Okay. I'm gonna read this email and then give it to me. Because this is another perspective on the same topic. All right. Then you give me the advice for him. RD says, Sheel Cliff Augustine and Z B. That's how you know he's a loyal listener. He gave you the full name. I am absolutely beside myself at the cheating friend situation from emailer Corey. I'm loath to impugn the character of a fellow listener, but the nicest thing Corey can do would be to cut off friend one completely so he can find a new group of friends that's not rotten to the core. In fact, friend one may have eschewed all the recent birthday parties because he's already done just that. And God bless him for it. Cliff said that friend two violated bro code. This goes way beyond bro code or even heathenist behavior. Friend 2 revealed himself to be a full-on scumbag. And I can't imagine being friends with someone like that, let alone feeling put upon by my other friend still still being upset about it. We know they were 35 when this happened as well. So this isn't some ancient history from college or even young adult shenanigans where you can use immaturity as an excuse. I should note that the girlfriend had agency as well, but she's still in the picture with friend two, so that's even more reason they should have kicked both of their slimy butts to the curb. If for some reason friend one hasn't yet found new friends who aren't crumb creeps, feel free to pass on my contact info. My friends and I are all turning forty this year as well. And if he golfs, that's even better. I mean I I mean I golf. I could I know he's in New Hampshire, but it's not the biggest state after all. So he might have to pull a reverse Walter White and flee the state altogether to escape the stink of this friend group. Justice for friend one and shout out Sisa. All right, CP. I wanted to get that perspective out there before we got to your advice. Go ahead. Yeah, so my advice is at the is is go to this party stuff su topport your friend who's having his forty. And then when you see the guy who wronged you and the girl who wronged you as well, go right up to them. Go right up. Don't avoid them. Go right up to them and say hello and show that you're the bigger person and that the that that they don't occupy this space in your head. I I feel strongly about this. I don't even think about you at all, Don Draper style. I've had this conversation with people I'm close with who Yeah about like times when there might be beef with someone and they're like avoiding them and I say don't avoid them go right up to them go right up to them and and that way you you're you're making it clear that they don't they don't own this real estate in your head um so i'm not i i agree with the emailer you don't have to be friends with the person you I mean they they they they wronged you you can kind of cut them off but don't allow them the I don't want to say the satisfaction or like the feeling that like the they got something up on on on you. Have a baseline that you of the way you treat people that you do not deviate even if you feel wrong. Always, you know, uh always be able to kind of keep your your head up so to speak. So that's that's my advice is go right up to them. It don't let it be an elephant in the room. Don't let it affect your time at the party. Go right up and and take that band-aid off the first day, the first minute in there. That's interesting, Cliff. He does. Here's the other thing, Cliff, that could potentially work in his favor. Yeah. If the new baddie's really likable, you know, like she shows up and everyone's like, she can move around the room. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they like're it. She can move around the room. She's so cool. We love Colleen. Then I mean now you're looking to I do feel like you might be on to something 'cause then it's not a bad it wasn't bad advice. I was into it as he was saying. Yeah. Cause then 'cause then they might become the new couple with being like like oh we hanging out with you feel me and then yeah like like homie said in the email the second email he he could be like well that couple could get just from the group and then this could become the new couple if this girl is actually like really again they've been going on for two years so I'm assuming that she's somewhat cool and kind of maneuvered through this friend group anyway and I'm assuming she's probably invited to this party on. Yeah. Yeah no you Z you might be onto something. I think Z B might be onto something. I think in my in my in my Philly brain and how people act over here and how uncivilized we can be sometimes as Philadelphia. People people I think he might see red and then like if he go up to Yeah, like that's that's in my this is my brain though. This is my Philadelphia like northeast centric brain. little bit more like that based on what Corey You think he's a crash out? Well I mean he hasn't like you know Corey's saying that there's a legit chance that if I invite both of them he's never gonna talk to me again because he's stubborn. Yeah. So it doesn't it sounds like he may is and which is you know I he holds grudges, he holds grudges and look, look and not for nothing. I look I'm on his side though. Absolutely I'm remaining in his corner. He did not do a single thing wrong. He was completely wrong by his so-called friend and his girl at the time. Yeah. Yeah. So like he he's not wrong. But Z V, like that it that I've you wanted something with that one. That is a good little yeah, yeah, yeah. That is a good one. That is a good one. Corey, pass that on. Uh, that would be real interesting. And you know, that might be some content if he's actually, you know, let's see how that goes. Take notes if you don't, you know, record it. I would like to know how that confrontation goes. But I yeah, I don't really disagree with the listener here, you know, by R D. You know, I don't I don't really think he's going over I just told Leela, you lay down with dogs, you get you're gonna get fleas. I forget what the I don't even know what the context was. But that saying is true. And so dogs you would catch fleet. That maybe you know the friend number one, maybe he's at a higher moral ground and a more upstanding citizen and has a higher character, where all of a sudden you show up, and one's like, you know, they're the it couple. These other two, look at the circumstances with which they got together. Now I don't know them. All right, I don't, but I don't disagree with what the listener uh is saying here. So a very tricky situation, a very intriguing subplot on the Ringers Philly special that I definitely want more updates on, uh, Corey. So keep those coming. All right, we'll get to a couple more here. Then we'll wrap it up. Elizabeth says, Hi, Ringer Philly, Sheel, Cliffy2, NC B. My name is Elizabeth, and I'm a huge fan of all of you and the birds. I'll first say that I literally didn't care at all about football until a few years ago. I'm talking, I genuinely thought in college that people who cared about sports were stupid. But then I moved to Detroit for a can't miss job opportunity and saw how much pride the Lions brought to that city and how they really brought the community together. And I saw the meaning of cheering for a team. This happens to coincide with Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, which spawned many a conversation about colored outfits and surprise songs, otherwise known as trick plays. And it struck me, and probably the country witnessing Taylor and Travis's relationship develop in real time that the Venn diagram of football fans and Swifties has a ton of overlap. Everyone wants to have something to talk about that feels high stakes, but actually is low stakes. Everyone wants to connect. Sports and amazing music gives that to us, and how lucky are we. Despite this realization happening in Detroit and admiration for the Lions, being from South Jersey and being related to several diehard Eagles fans, including my charismatic charismatic father and amazing brother, who brought me to a snowy Eagles game when I was a toddler. I knew I couldn't jump ship. Notice she said snowy. If you have a roof, that would not be in there. I'm just saying. I knew I couldn't jump ship and so took an interest in my hometown birds. I kept in steady touch with my family through the stunning 11 in one collapse. I admit that my pain paled in comparison to longtime fans and that relatively twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four was a very convenient time to become an Eagles fan. To this I say, better late than never. It has become an amazing way to keep in touch with my brother and dad. Even when we go a few weeks without talking, I know I can send my brother an AJ meme and get an immediate laugh react. I subsequently moved back to DC where I connected with an old pal from the chair from the Cherry Hill area who told me about the DC Eagles Bar called Boundary Stone and an Eagles podcast called Philly Special. We watched a few games there, including Saquon's Punishing of the Giants, and got literally the last few seats for the NFC Championship, for which we were an enemy territory. I still remember jumping up during Saquon's first run of the first drive and saying, oh my God, oh my God, my friend and I got free drinks and saying Fly Eagles fly with our DC transplant pals seven times for all seven touchdowns. He's in Chicago now, but we routinely discuss how he's moves and literally nothing else about our lives. We also watched the Super Bowl there with my spry, 65 parents, picks attached, and had a transcendent memory I will carry the rest of my life. Especially in DC, I get a little jolt of joy whenever I pass someone on the sidewalk with my Eagles hat or sweatshirt and hear a go birds. Despite my decades-long skepticism, I've learned how sports can bring people together, give people common ground, and are a way to bond with people, both our loved ones and complete strang ers. Over the last year, I went through an intense breakup and started training for a half marathon. Your podcast was my soundtrack to my long runs along the CNO Canal. I laughed at the mailbags and debated my answers. I'd give the bike back, pay for my friends at the rental home, and deplaying like a normal person because my time simply isn't more valuable than anyone else's. I crossed the finish line wearing my brother's Super Bowl 52 hat, listening to your Super Bowl pod for the vibes, and then Queens Don't Stop Me Now. I'm so grateful. I'm writing because I'm still listening and still cheering. My family has been through a lot these few years, and you all are a constant source of discussion and humor. I've attached pictures of my injured dog wearing an Eagle's outfit a week after he was hit by a car. He's found fine now and DC's favorite tripod Eagle stalk. My family watching the Super Bowl in D.C., the Rams game at the link. You can literally see my shocked reaction to Jordan Davis' touchdown. I'm so grateful that the birds bring us together. And even in my short time as a fan, I know the sport comes with the highs and the lows, but if you're watching for the right reasons and with the right people, the lows are just as important. I was never less excited to see a new episode of the Philly special after they lost. If anything, I was more eager to hear some smart dudes talk about how we can improve and more eager to be a part of the broader Eagles community wherever we are. Thanks for everything. Also, I'm writing because I'm an attorney and would specifically love to sponsor some of ZB's books. Going to prison, let me know how I can help for a potentially fun mailbag. What home game should my family and I go to next season? And what do you all think is the best tailgate etiquette? We like to have fun, but don't have a set spot. Again, thanks for everything. Love from DC. Go, birds. And of course, shout out, Sizzle. So there you go. Beautifully written from Elizabeth. Nice job. That was there. That was beautiful. Yeah, I like that. We appreciate it. Inspiring. Now her question was about the home games, which I just realized. I don't think I've closely looked at the opponents, CB until I got this mail-bag question. They've got the Cowboys, Giants, Commanders, of course, in division, and then they've got the Rams, Seahawks, Panthers, Steelers, Colts, and Texans. What do you think? If they're picking a home game, which home game do you look at? So I would actually push back on like picking base on the opponent and I would uh I would pick based on like the time and time of year. Time of the year is always, yeah. Uh and so that's that's where the schedule comes out next month in May. Uh so uh or in a month and a half rather. So I I would I would see is there a prime time game. Like, you know, Cliff was mentioning that that Black Friday game I thought was the coolest one this year. Standalone game afternoon at three o'clock on a Friday. So is there so uh now now maybe there's like a big time opponent at four thirty on a Sunday afternoon. Um but especially because you mentioned tailgating and I'll I'll defer to Cliff there. If you're tailgating, you probably don't want the one o'clock game, right? You're you're probably thinking of a prime time game or an afternoon game. So I I would wait to see what the what what the schedule is, and I'd find the best combination for uh to me, like mid-f all prime time is the best. You know, if you have like if there's like an October game where it's not gonna be too cold and um it's a good time of year to come to Philly, you can tailgate all day, that's what I would recomm end. All right. Yeah. So so you're saying you gotta hold off, I guess. Look at the schedule, see what's out there. Cliff, any of though, you you agree? Definitely, definitely agree with ZB there. Um, hold off on to anything that like because you know that final game they could get that final home game trip to where they play uh either the commanders or the giants I would suspect to be that final game of the season. Definitely don't do that game. Um just completely eliminate that from your from your mind. Uh I would say like like Z V said, the fall, like a crisp fall, sept September, October, not like early September, but like middle to late September, October, all of October's pretty good, early November's pretty good. Prime time games for sure. Like you don't wanna the the games at one o'clock, the tailgate just ends so quick that you just like you get up, you know, unless you get up there like, you know, five in the morning or something like that, and then you're ready to go, those tailgates end like pretty quickly. The four those four o'clock kickoffs are perfect. You get there, I don't know, noon, kick it, chill with everybody, throw the football around, you know what I mean? Get some food. Get into the stadium on time though, Cliff. We gotta it do. I get I bro I get I'm not saying you I'm just giving general advice don't you definitely get into the especially if you get upper road tickets because you gotta walk up the ramp. See because you there's no el there's no elevator to get up there. You gotta walk up that ramp. So definitely get in on time for sure. Get in there for the pregame festivities. Diamond DJ Diamond Cuts be going crazy before the game. Warm-ups is fun. Get you, get you a drink, you know, V. Get you some crab fries, get you some pretzels. But yeah, I I think ZB's right. Time of the year's definitely like uh middle to late September, all of October is pretty good, early November's pretty good. That I will say that Black Friday game was freezing. So if it gets to like late November, like damn near December, you gonna be out there freezing. So pick that time to use. But it was I'm I'm saying like I was layered up, dog, and it was still brick. Like it was so cold that you take the three shots of honey? No, I was trying to get it. Well, there you go. That's gonna warm you up then. So that's your fault. Three shots of hiddies of advance. Your boy's advice. Who was it? Uh three shots of Hiddies of Jet. My man Keem. Still one of the great lines in ringers Philly Spe special. Uh the key. Shout out to Keem. I was just talking to him the other day. But yeah. Yeah, definitely pick a pick, you know, that time. We'll revisit this one when the once the schedule comes out. We'll look at it. And try to get up. Yeah, and like ZB said, try to make sure it's prime time game for eight o'clock kick. Okay. There you go. All right. Thank you, Elizabeth, for the wonderful email. All right. We're over two hours. I had more emails, but you know what? We got more shows to do this offseason, so I'm just gonna leave them at the bottom of this document and we'll get them uh in weeks ahead. She did mention the uh books thing, and so uh we had a couple things here, we had uh tree house books in Philadelphia. That was the one that uh Judge Wilson uh recommended when he brought up the idea of buying ZB's books and donating them to nonprofits, schools, libraries, prisons. We had another listener right in, and they have done this. They have donated books, books through bars. org, and they sent me the back and forth, uh, and the place was very appreciative to have those. People would absolutely love these. And then said where you can have them shipped in Philadelphia. That was the librarian there. So those are a couple of organizations. There are obviously many more organizations. And again, if you do donate ZB's books, email us at ringerphilly at gmail.com. We want to keep a little running tally of how many people are doing that. Uh, who's doing that, why they're doing that, maybe gives the whole idea a little bit of pop, you know, with the media down the road. Who knows? You never know what story ideas are out there. All right. And uh and and Jalen Hurts actually mentioned to me this this organization that that he thought was really cool. Flex called barbershop books. That um and at barbershops they give out books, you know, you you get a cut and you give it and you get a book for now now my book isn't necessarily It could be Yeah, it could be. And it's it's um uh uh Jalen went to a barber shop in North Philly as part of this and like the next day when I spoke to him, he brought this up unprompted. And he said that was a he said it was like the coolest thing that he had seen. Um and so uh because he he said he if he grew up and and got like a cut and then a book that you know he would love that. And so um it's supposed it it promotes literacy with kids and I thought I've since researched it and it seems like a really cool organization. I love that. There you go. Those are three different places and there are many more. Send them in if you have other places uh, and, we'll certainly mention them on the show here as well. All right. Very fun show. Once again, ZB from the Athletic Checkout, all of his work now, but also next week when he's at the owner's meetings. We'll figure out the schedule. We got to decide. Do we need to do them after, you know, every do we just wait till all those people talk and then have ZB on for a big recap? We got other stuff going on as well. Uh, with the Phillies with the Sixers. So I'll figure out a schedule here in the next twenty-four hours, but ZB will be there helping us get a recap of what's happening at the owners' meetings. Cliffy Dose, what do you got? Real quick, Sixers forty-five wins or Phillies 91 w ins? Let me look at the Sixers. Hold on. What's the Sixers record right now? Four. I think they got 40 wins right now. And they got nine games left. So do they go five and four? And they're playing three tanking teams. Yeah. There's a better chance the Sixers going five and four than the Fifth Four. Damn. Y'all think so? Yeah. I think they can't go five and four with three teams that are playing like me out there? No, that's No, no, my th my thing, my thing is like you don't know who gonna play for the Sixers. That's true. Somebody might lose, yeah, Foys could lose two arms and be a seventy-one team, right? Yeah, you never you just never do. All right. Okay. So yeah, I would say sixers. But we'll say fun time in Philadelphia Sports. We will have it all covered on the Ringers Philly special. I mean we did, you know, we just gave you two hours. You know, wouldn't be a bad time, but you know, you're two hours in, so maybe you don't have uh the energy to do that right now. So I'll just harass you about doing it in the future. All right. Thank you to Cliff Augustine. Ace Brucer. Cliff Augustine. Say his name. Remember his name. You got that right? All right. Thank you to Zach Berman of the Athletic. I'm Chil Capati. We'll talk to you next time on The Ringers. Billy S pecial. Twenty one plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or eighteen plus and present in DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem c,all 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MYRESET. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg. org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. 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