From the King of sports Books comes the Key sports podcast Unleashed, presented by MGM. Here's your host, Jerry Ferrara and Olivia Arlen Decker. Welcome to Unleashed. Coming off another great week of sports. I can't wait to dive into all of this. You know, we got to give congratulations to the Houston Astros on winning the World Series. I saw a mattress Mac had that big bet. Jerry, did you see that? I did. I was watching him. They had a camera on him for for some of it at not. Yeah, I would not want to watch a game with that dude. It's very stressful. Yeah. God, he bets the house and for him, it's not just any house. Yeah, he's one of the most prolific bettors in the country. Right, many houses he had on the many houses. Yeah. And also I was laughing. I thought of you because the l A f C won the MLS Cup And do you remember, just a couple of weeks ago we were kind of ranking l A Sports teams and we totally left them out. What was wrong with us? I think that that's on me. Olivia. I gotta I love soccer. I love football, soccer, whatever you want to call it, you know, as we lose time being parents, the things that slipped through the cracks, Like, yeah, my love of soccer football slipped through the cracks. That's on me, that's on me. Yeah. I like how you're trying to be so politically correct soccer football. Why. I just I don't want to. I don't want to piss someone off. I think we already have. Yeah, we even brought up the l A Galaxy, so shame on us. And then, oh my gosh, we cannot go any further into this episode without paying homage to the amazing college football weekend that was last weekend. Jerry holy Cow. Number one Tennessee got crushed at you g a the new number one they never should have left, and Bama really might be out of the playoff hunt as they lose their second straight not straight, but in conference two SEC games they've dropped to L s U and Brian Kelly and then of course they lost a Tennessee a couple of weeks ago. I mean, it's so bizarre. I mentioned last week, I'm working the SEC championship game less than a month and it's so bizarre that Bama is not going to be there. Yeah, that's just you know, there's things that you just always kind of count on. And but I do think it's good. I think it's good that we get some I don't want to say new blood, but just different blood in there, because look, respect Obama obviously incredible, but yeah I could I could do without for one year. That's fine. I'll be will survived, We'll be okay. I like that, And just for an kind of updated look, now, so the tide according to you know, the Playoff Predictor, which is all because really the playoff committee, it's humans, you know, making the decision to pick the top four. So it's not as cut and dry as maybe some people would like it to be. Obviously, we've talked on this podcast about expanding the college football playoff and how that's gonna be a whole new scenario. I can't wait to see that in a couple of years. But so now, Alabama has a sixteen percent chance to make that top four. And I mean you look at Michigan, U, g A, t c U, Ohio State, they're all nine and oh in TCU also has a sixteen percent chance to make the top four. Like, think about that. Alabama's lost two games TCU hasn't lost any They both have the same amount of opportunity to make this top four. Now, yeah, I think this is what everyone had in mind when they first expanded into a playoff system, and I think expanding it further will be great because you really get some excitement as we enter into the high I mean this holiday season. And we'll talk about this when we get into the NFL too. You know, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas, it all falls on the weekend pretty much, so we're gonna be watching lots of sports over this holiday season. And college football is gonna be a pretty big component of that. Oh yeah, no, it's it's gonna be very exciting. Yes, now it's looking like l s U in Georgia in the SEC Championship. That's gonna be awesome. Okay, NFL weekend another doozy to stay the least. And I know our Peter Andrew lost a little bit. I'm gonna assume that I was being nice. It was nice, but the Jets. The Jets kind of ruined a lot of people's weekend. Yeah, and there's at least one of these every week. I thought it might be the Texans as we spoke about last week. There's at least one big money line like underdog every single week, so if you could start sniffing that out, you're doing a little I stayed away from the Bill's Jets game. I didn't. I just didn't. I did. I did okay. This weekend, I snuck out. I just kept my head above water. It wasn't terrible. Peter Andrew, on the other hand, is going to be joining us. He might need to go get like do it already renew his vows with his wife because when he came out of the wedding he was hot, and that wedding juice is wearing off. Oh my gosh, I know. I can't believe the Jets are six and three. They're actually the first team in the NFL to hit the over on their win total. So yeah, oddsmakers had that at five and a half. I want to offer a big congratulations to anyone who has cashed in on that. Please tweet us if that was you, because I'd like to know what else you have cooking for the rest of the season, what other futures you have, because something tells me you were onto something. You're gonna get a lot of tweets from a lot of undisciplined Jet fans who put money on the Jets over because you know Jet fans, they always thick their team, like this is the year we're gonna break through. So now your tweet is gonna get your tweets gonna get flooded with unreasonable Jet fans. The Jets are fun to watch. I like cheering for Robert Sala. I covered him when he was a defensive coordinator in San Francisco. Great guy. No one has a bad thing to say about Robert Sala. He's such a good one, you know. No, I think we kind of it's very memorable now everyone talking about the receipts and all that. It was a great quote. We all ran with it first is like a yeah, yeah, yeah, I keep those receipts. I think that really was a defining moment for the team in their relationship with their coach, where their coach showed went out in public, didn't just say like we're getting better every week, like he actually said something there and the team really responded. And speaking of the Jets, we got to talk later about the a f C and NFC playoffs for that matter, because I am looking at these A f C, Like what you know, seven teams got to make it. The a f C is a big jigsaw puzzle of who's going to get in and who's not. And it is going to be amazing coming down the stretch. I mean, I'm looking right now at the standings. I see five teams with six wins already. I mean, it's yeah, the top is thick. It is gonna be it's almost gonna like hannibalize itself. It's sad that some really good teams are going to miss the playoffs. Yeah, and I think I found one that is gonna miss. And so we should maybe just go through some of these odds and you know, do you think they get in? Do you think they not? Because it's tough, The NFC is a little more clear, I think, a little not much slightly clearer. Your packer stinking has certainly helped um well, it helped who It's just made everything more interesting. I mean because now and speaking of the NFC North, because I know we we focus a lot on the teams that we love and the divisions that those teams are in. But the Bears and Miami and I'm not talking about Bears making the playoffs playoffs or anything, but the Bears looked I and that was a shootout and Justin Fields was a monster and something is starting to come together that we should see the fruit of. I think next season. I know I'm going off track here a little bit, but no, no, no, I'm with you, and I listened to a lot. I love Mike Lombardi. I think we're gonna get him on this podcast in the next couple of weeks, so if you really want the deep dive stuff, and you know, he made some great points about Justin Fields and how the cater the offense to him, which was kind of like opposite of what the Titans did with Malie Willis. They didn't really run anything for him. The passing is still it's better, but it's still wild. But either way, that run that he had like just building around that guy. And you really look back at that draft class we always talk who's the beast. Justin Fields at one point would probably say he was fourth or fifth on that list of quarterbacks coming out. Now I think he vaulted to number one. The Bears got something going and I like the Claypool edition and uh yeah, they really got something going there. They got a good coach. I think I think they have a good coach and I would love to know all the nuances because that was one of the big storylines the whole trade deadline week. Where was Claypool going to go? And I know green Bay was I guess close. I don't know. That whole story was weird, but I think Green Bay was going to be a destination. Yeah, I'm looking at to like the Bears are favored at home against the Lions, who somehow, you know, beat your pack. I mean, I'm sorry, Lydia, and I mean, I I don't know what to say. At this point. It's over. Yeah, it's over. It's over. But maybe maybe not this season. Maybe like the team like it might be time to hit the you know, pressing case of emergency button. And I think the Rogers trade is like imminent. I don't know what else do you do if you're there, what else do you do? You're gonna have a great draft pick, you drapp another quarterback? Or do you pack it in focus this offseason on getting him some weapons. I think your only other option is to sit him for you know, maybe not this week. I don't know, but he could be on the I R he has lingering injuries. God knows, but I don't. I don't know that brings a big problem though. What happens if Jordan's Love comes in and does Aaron Rodgers? You know, Aaron, go take the rest of the year off, go play some golf like we tried, And what if he comes in and slightly lights it up? Slightly lights it up? Then like this great? Then you're going into a tumultuous off season. The whole off season will be about trade. No trade. Do you trade Jordan's love now and get something for him? Do you trade at like it's gonna be insane? Insane? No? I think it's if anything, If Jordan's Love comes in and does all right, they win a couple of games, get good reps for him. But you know you're not fighting with your starting job with Aaron Rodgers. You know that's that's a given. So it's not a quarterback controversy ever, if he's in the room. So I like that. I like that plan, but you know, you have to be careful. You don't look like you're tanking and all that. But I think it's pretty obvious Aaron's got that thumb injury. Put him on I are, and let's uh, let's pack it in. I've had friends and family who have we're going to be going to some Packer games coming up, and they've like sold their tickets. They're like, I'm not going. I'm not going to watch this team. I don't support this team. Sorrible. The Green Bay packeting, Oh, hey Bay packeting. Okay, wait, let's stay in the NFC with some teams here. Let's look at how about Atlanta Falcons. There four and five to make the playoff plus miss it minus two. Now, keep in mind they're still tied with Tampa Bay. Of a, Tampa Bay holds the tiebreak, and I don't know. Atlanta is confusing because they're kind of like flucky. I think it's a good word for them. They have a good rushing attack. I like some of their players, but they're inconsistent at quarterback Mariota. Their defense isn't good. What do you think, Jerry, I'm gonna say they miss it. So yeah, I I leaned toward the miss and I was looking at bet MGM. They have it at minus two to not make the playoffs. That's a little high. I don't know if I would be comfortable laying that plus for them to make it. So it's almost a stay away from a betting perspective unless you really are willing to lay to it's a little heavy. But to me, yeah, I just they've been fun and definitely bet them the rest of the year in game. But yeah, I think that they're just gonna be a little short because we're all planning on the Bucks really just making their run now after what Brady did. So I think if you're gonna bet, I think you maybe throw a little on the on the yes, they'll make it, but that's just like a flaw fire because I think the minus two a little heavy for the no. But at Lee, I think it's him. Now, speaking of my minus two, that's Tampa Bay's odds to make the playoff and to miss his PLU. Like I mentioned earlier, they're also four and five tied with the Falcons, and as Tom Brady put it so eloquently, that was sucking awesome. Last week, I that that got me excited. It was awesome. I'm still very worried like the drops. I've been complaining about the drops from weeks ago because I stupidly in the one last high Stakes Fantasy league I stayed in, which I sware I wasn't gonna do. I have a Brady Evans connection, which has always worked well for me. Evans even was dropping touchdown passes a few weeks ago. The Scottie Miller. Who's walking through that door? That's my big concern with Tampa. The defense I think will be fine. They can't really run the ball. You're really seeing what Antonio Brown and Grounk met like. Who's walking through that door to to fill this void? Because I think the Rams just flat out fell asleep on defense in that last year, or they were just pissed that they shouldn't have been back on the field. I know Jalen Ramsey said, you know, we shouldn't have even had to go back on the field. But I think you gotta just ride Tampa now for the division, for the playoffs. I think they win the division, but it's not gonna be fun. No. I think they're asking too much of Tom Att years old. Like you mentioned, they have no run game and there's too much expected of him and he has he doesn't have the weapons to do it like he has. Okay, Giants six and two minus two fifty to make the playoff plus two hundred to miss Yeah for me, and you know my heart is at stake here, so I'm gonna be very very careful. I think from a betting perspective, the minus to fifty, I would not lay for them to make it because there still is some talent questions, especially at wide receiver. There's some injury problems now as we saw what players getting hurt on vacation. Giants players need to stay off going on vacation because Javery McKinney broke his hand on the a t V or something. He does seem like Giants were getting back in a few weeks. So betting perspective, just for the value, I think the plus two h for not making the playoffs is the best value, like because that can actually happen. The Giants do have talent issues, but I do think they get in and they get in the playoffs. Be hard for me to lay to fifty, but I think they're the seventh team that gets in. Yeah, I don't know, Jerry, I'm gonna go against you. I'm kind of more supporting your team than you are right now. I think they make the playoffs. The minus two fifty doesn't scare me. I know it's deep, but they've been a Cenderella story. They've been outperforming all expectations. I see no reason why it'll stop now. Their past game has to be a little concerned. But I like everything else, I'm seen. Oh and they just you know, right quick before we move. You see, I'm nervous right now. We've got the Lions on the schedule. We've got the Texans on the schedule. So like the two, I'm always scared of the Texans, you know me, I don't like I'm scared of them. I'm sorry. It's the scariest one win team we've ever had in the NFL. I mean, it's crazy. They're six and two and they've based teams like Titans, Cowboy Bays, Packers, Ravens. They've faced I think the meat of their schedule. Yeah, I mean, they still got Philly twice. They got Dallas on Thanksgiving. This is gonna be the first time and we're hosting Thanksgiving this year as a family, with like forty of my wife's family coming over. So I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna be watching on my phone. I don't even know how I'm gonna get this done. And that hasn't been a game on Thanksgiving that's actually mattered to me. And I don't know how long so I know my birthday the next day. It's the time. But yeah, they still got Philly twice. They got the Cowboys. That's going to be the real hard part. But yeah, like beating the Texans, being the Lions will go a long way for the Giants securing their playoff bit. I also like how you said, because you host, you can have the TV on whenever, wherever, whatever game you want, so I know how it goes down in your house. Okay, the Rams to make it plus two hundred to miss it minus two fifty Rams are three and five after losing to TV twelve last week. What do you think, Look, there's still a lot of games left that I think. I think TV twelve might have just put the finishing touches on that Rams team gracefully too, because that was one they needed, that was one they had. Their schedule doesn't get any easier. And also a kind of look at that team, like who's walking through that door. There's just too many holes Without Cooper Cup this team is nowhere. Stafford's on the run for his life. The defense is always going to be good. But to me, it's a no, no, no, all all the way home. So I'm looking at real quick who they played this weekend? Um Arizona at home? Yeah, no, there's some wind. There's there's some winds coming for sure. But you know they got to go to New Orleans. That's not that's not an easy one that you know, then to Kansas City. Yeah, that's why the schedule doesn't line up. I just at Chargers at Seahawks. They got some tuff. He's coming. It's tough for them. I don't think they get it. I think they miss out and I think they might be listening to McVeigh calls some games next year somewhere else. Yeah, he looked a little over it. Don't you think they pushed all in for last year and this year's sort of They got the super Bowl, so you can't say like it's a success. They did what they needed to do. They got their super Bowl and again, look, there's a lot of games left. You can't ever count out a champ, but three and five, with the way the Seahawks are looking and the way to not in the moves that the Niners have made, it's gonna be really really tough. Okay, San Francisco to make it minus three fifty, minus three really to miss it plus two seventy five their four and four, I think they make it. I mean, I still like Seattle to win the NFC West, but I think because the NFC is weaker, they should make it in there. So well coached, they've got all these stars, added Christian McCaffrey. Jimmy g always gives you a chance. Yeah, it's a it's a make for me. The only thing that could say this is all pending, no or minimal injuries. That's always going to be the four Niners issue. If they're healthy or relatively how healthy I think this is. You got a late to three fifty. I think they're a shoeing for the playoffs and there it's gonna be a real fun shootout for that division. But it's all healthy for them. They're healthy, they're good. Oh look at this. Their next five weeks are at home. That's crazy. Their next five weeks coming off to buy so they've literally will be home and they'll be on the whole holiday season they get to spend in San Francisco. Damn, that's like a month and a half at home that's pretty great. And then at Seattle home against Washington. I just see wins here. I mean, I think they're in it. Stay healthy there. I like it. I like it. Okay, a f C Baltimore Ravens are six and three. What a great Monday night football victory over New Orleans. I think they win the a f C North. The problem has been letting these big double digit leads just slip away. We saw that first Miami, we saw that first Buffalo Giants, and they got real Kland Smith. I think he's a great edition. One game, you know, test sample here, But the defense looked great on Monday night. First New Orleans in a week spot on that Ravens team has been against good passing teams, so you know they can pick them apart. They have the fifth worst past defense, but when you look at the remaining schedule, they don't face any elite passers coming up, so I think they could even finish six and two or five and three or something like that. I think their schedules really soft. So, as I mentioned in our open Olivia, this, I started off this little exercise that we're doing here looking at and I started with the a f C. That's why the NFC have been given some quick short answers. The a f C playoffs in general is going to be the It was like a Russell Crowe in a beautiful mind the way I was writing notes on my board trying to figure out which seven teams are going to make this playoff? Right, So if you look at the divisions for now, if you want to even assume, and we'll ask, you know, Ariel Hawani, who's a big Bills fan, are the Bills in after that loss? Let's just assume for a second that it was a momentary, just bad Josh Allen game. Hopefully the injury is not bad. If the Bills are in the Chiefs, I think we could say are in with the division, right the Titans, you look at that game defensively, I know they lost the Chiefs, but I don't want to face times that division is absolutely terrible. Titans walk away. I personally, then you look, okay, so those three we have four teams left to make it. Now, I'm gonna throw teams at you as we do this exercise. You mentioned the Ravens. I'm with you. I think the Ravens are in. I look at their schedule Panthers, Jaguars, Broncos, Steelers, Browns, Falcons, Steelers again and in the last season, the last game matchup with the Bengals, that Browns team is still without Deshaun Watson when they face them, because I remember I said that they're bad past defense. Deshaun Watson might come in and light some things up. But either way, I just don't I don't. I don't see a way the Ravens don't get in as long as they stay healthy, right, Okay, So assume that those are the four division winners, Bills, Chiefs, Titans, Ravens. We have three spots left, and I'm gonna name you five teams Chargers, Dolphins, Bengals, Jets, Patriots. Is it currently stands, it's the Dolphins and the Jets that are kind of holding on to two of those seats, so we can go through it. I have all the schedules. This is insane because all these teams are gonna play each other. Three of them are in the a f C. I mean, I told you it's going to cannibalize like this is this it's so crazy. With the Patriots, I mean, they're five and four from a betting perspective to miss the playoff minus two hundreds make plus one. I think they miss. I think the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins are all better, and I know it looks tighter in that division just looking at records, but the fans doing Mac Jones, I think says everything you need to know about where that offense is headed. I mean, it's it's ugly. I do think it's a miss too. I'm very uncomfortable ever picking against Bill Belichick. We know this, but m you know, they're five and four. Their schedule obviously, now they're at home versus the Jets. Their next game, that's no longer a pushover. They go into Minnesota. They still got the Bills twice, and then they got some you know at Cardinals at Raiders. That should be fine. You know, their home against the Bengals that's a tough one, and they play the Dolphins again. So I just I think they barely miss. I wouldn't be shocked if they get in, but I think it's a barely miss. Although terrifies me to go against Bill Belijack. Okay, so are the Bengals one of your fringe teams? The Bengals were the tough decision because I really do enjoy that team. Their run last year was Seahawks esk almost. Let's say that kind of came out of nowhere. The guys together at the right time. They are five and four. They've had some misses and games that they should have won. Jamaar Chase is out. That definitely hurt. Now they're still loaded offensively. I have them as a miss. Pull it right now. It's plus one twenty to get in, and it's even money plus a hundred really to get out. I have that as a miss. And here's the number one. They're oh and three in their division and three in the division A. Right, they still got some games left, but that's that's a tough that's a tough start, alright. The best they could do is five division. Now they go at Pittsburgh, find at the Titans, that's a who knows, chiefs, chiefs, browns, browns. They went at Tampa at New England on Christmas Eve, that Christmas Eve game we just spoke about the Patriots in Foxborough Bengals Patriots on Christmas Eve. Massive playoff implications in that game. Massive. It could be decided in that game potentially, and then they finish up Bill's Ravens. It's a really tough schedule, it is. So I have the missing I have it as a miss. Do you have a missing So then what about the Jets? Is that your last fringe team? I mean, I think they're all fringe teams as of right and hell, because it's like you said, they're all gonna just They're all just gonna hurt each other. Yeah. So I have the Jets, shockingly enough, I can't believe it, and I have them in. You had the Giants out and the Jets making well. I know I have the Giants in, but I just don't like the odds of Like, I don't like what you have to lay for them to be in. I think that's very, very expensive. I have the Jets in. They still got the Lions, they got the Jaguars, they you know, they got the Bears, which I know the Bears are playing better. There's some winnable games. They're definitely they go in to Buffalo still and Buffalo owes them one. I have the Jets sneaking in. I do have the Dolphins sneaking in. Dolphins still got Texans. They have to go at Niners, at Chargers Packer game really is going to help the Dolphins out a lot because that was one of their tougher games left on the schedule, and I think that they win that one. And I have the Charges getting in because also their schedule, you know they have Niners, Chiefs coming up. That's gonna be rough. Then they go Cardinals, Raiders, Dolphins, Titans, Cults, Rams, Broncos. So there's a lot of I think there's a lot of wins. So I have those teams, I have the playoffs, the three wild card teams, Jets, Dolphins, Chargers. I like the Charges a lot. I like Justin Herbert a lot. He's so tough. You know he's playing through this fractured rib. It's crazy. Their defense is horrible. They have thirty rank defense. I don't know when you look at what is such a tight, tight division, tight conference, I don't know. And and both are in second place of what was supposed to be the best division in football heading into this year. So I don't know. I like Charges. I can see him making it. But we could sit here for hours during dissecting the AFN and you know what ends up happening. It will be like the three wild card teams will be like the Broncos, the Calls and the Browns. That's what Jeff Saturday, You're gonna make it. Oh god, that's yeah. I love Jeff Saturday, but yeah, what was this quote? Like, I think if you asked Jeff Saturday on this news as as an analyst, you can be shocked. Yep, I think you're right. It's all right, Olivia. Listen, I've been given a lot of thought. I didn't have like a clear cut unleashed this week. But then it's just it's just kind of hit me today. Maybe it's because we had my good buddy Max Greenfield on the show last week, who was laying out the beautiful case for Micah Parsons as like first half m v P Tyreek Hill. Now, look, Tyreek Hill is not gonna win NFL m v P. I get it, I do, Dick. It's time to re examine the award as a whole and not just give it to a quarterback. Maybe have a separate awar. I know we have Offensive Player of the Year that usually goes to a position player. Tyreek Hill is going to have two thousand yards this year. Barring any injuries. He may break the Cooper cut record from last year. We all heard when he left Mahomes like, what is it gonna mean he's going to play with tah Two has been great this year, McDaniel. They've used him perfectly. Tyreek Kill is so open he has to literally wait for the ball. He actually could have probably another hunter and fifty yards statistically this year if two was able just to lead him. Remember he didn't have to uh for a few games. It's just remarkable what he does to an offense. I think he should receive at least one m VP vote, just one, as a sign of like, hey, we see you. We know you're not just like a weapon. You are a game changer. Of all the receivers I've watched in my watching experience as a fan, the three best receivers I've ever seen in my own eyes, I'm not gonna say Jerry Rice because I saw him at on the tail end of his career as I was a kid. But obviously Jerry Rice is the goat. Take that out of play for a second. It's Randy Moss, It's Calvin Johnson, and this Tyreek Hill scariest receiver. I think he should get one m v P award as just a vote as just a sign of like, we see you and what you have done this year, because it is InCred what he is doing for the Dolphins. And what's really incredible is his back hand spring after his touchdown. I mean he should get a vote for that. Yeah, and look, it's it's kind of nice because we thought, well, we'll see who's better. Mahomes are Hill, who's gonna survive without the other guests what they both are surviving and thriving. They're both amazing. The fact that they were on the same team is kind of insane, and I'm bummed that that got broken up. I know, I know, but yeah, my homes is showing he didn't really need him. He's he's a done well with these new receivers, which kind of leads me to my unleashed because no, I'm not going to unleash on the Packers doing absolutely nothing at the trade deadline. I'm going to unleash on Tennessee volunteer fans again. So not even a team, not a player again, I'm unleashing on fans because remember a couple of weeks ago when I unleashed on their celebration in the victory over Alabama, they threw the goal post in the river, etcetera. Well, now they just got whooped by my Georgia Bulldogs and what they did before the game is horrible. That's right. These fans try to take matters into their own hands. Someone got Georgia quarterbacks that's in Bennett's phone number, Jerry, like, this is how this is where we're at, and they shared it across ball nations. So all night long, fans were ringing him up right, trying to wake him up and disturb his night of sleep before the game. So we saw after he scored the first touchdown, he did the call me hands signal to the crowd and it was electric. People went crazy. I saw like the decipel ranking in Nathans Georgia at Sanford Stadium, like broken new record. So in honor of an entrepreneurial spirit and in the new age of n i L deals for college athletes, Stetson has decided to make a profit off of this nonsense and he's now selling T shirts with the logo on of him doing the call me sign. It's genius, it's it's so good. To my question, Jerry, doesn't everyone turn their phone on? Do not disturb at night, Like, is that the most weird thing about that whole story? Yeah, I just turned my phone off. In general, you know what I do love about doing the show at Olivia, especially on least segments, as you're sort of threshold for fans, like you hold fans to a high standard, which I think is great. No, I think it's awesome. You know, we saw with the World series, you know, pizza places and Philly not wanting to feed the Ashal, So I think it's great. Wow, it looked fifteen years ago it was really bad when they would get like a house phone number. I think today it's a little ridiculous that they got his cell phone number. He's gonna have to you know, send out the whole change it, the whole text of like new number, lock me in. He's have to do that to his defense. But capitalizing on the n I L part I think is is the is the rub here that I love? Yeah? I love someone making a dollar off of it? Pretty good. Okay, Well that's a good place to end. Like I said, we could talk forever about it, but let's switch gears because Jerry, we've got a really really good guest today. It's m m, a expert and really just a big overall sports fan and personality to his millions of followers on Twitter and Instagram. Ariel Helwani, he's going to join us. I'm so excited. He's been with bet MGM about a year now, so he's in the family. And as the UFC returns to Madison Square Garden this weekend with UFC twenty eight, that's a huge card. We'll talk to him all about it. He is the guy. I can't wait. I've never met him in person. I've never talked to him in person, but you've done his podcast. Yeah. Yeah, I've been going on pods and talking with him for a lot of years now. He's fantastic just also just all around fantastic sports fan. And it's not just UFC with him, although for me we mentioned last week, you're like sports emergency contact list, right, Yeah, anything in the UFC. I'm just I'm like waiting for him to off day if he does great stuff on like Spotify Live during these events, like he's he's a machine and a big Bills fan, so it'll be fun to talk to him. I love it. Let's get to the interview. Okay, you do such a great job covering m m A. We'll get to all that, But what else are you following right now? Which teams or players are you a fan of? Because I know there's a Buffalo connection there. Yes, there's a few connections there. Let me just say that I am a huge first of all, huge fan of yours, Olivia and Jerry. Of course, Jerry was on my show long time ago. Do you remember that. Yeah, we've been talking for a long time. We got some history you and I. All right, all right, I just you know, you talked to a lot of people. I wasn't sure if I was just a blip on the radar. So much love to you both, And if I'm being honest, I was kind of sitting back in wondering what am I going to be invite it to this great show. I mean, I'm part of the family. I haven't been invited, and I was sort of starting to feel like I was on the outside looking in of the cool kids club. So it feels good. My ego feels a lot better now that I'm here. Anyway, back to the question, I'm a massive Buffalo Bills fan and I'm a massive New York Knicks fan. Obviously, the Bills are a lot closer than the Knicks right now. I was a huge Montreal Expos fan. Unfortunately they are no longer with us in eighteen long years. I've sort of adopted the Blue Jays. Once I became a dad, I was like, all right, I can't be like this bitter, cynical fan. I need to have a team so that my kids aren't rooting for a team that no longer exists. That would be very strange and selfish of me. So yeah, those are my three main teams. And I'm not sure when this is going to come out, but I am. I am petrified right now because there's all these reports about Josh Allen's elbow. I asked my kids to say a prayer last night for his elbow. They said that was very weird. I said, just trust me on this one. He needs all the prayers. Will donate our own elbow to him if we have to. So it's a bit of a tense time right now, but I'm still feeling good about our chances. Well, if we assume that the Bills are locked in for the playoff and your prayers work on Josh Allen's elbow. If they had to play in the first round. Who do you want to face the least I know Jets come to mind right away because they just stole a win from you. But a screw the damn Jets, Screw those stupid fans, all those people who texted me and d m me over the past few days, all of you, congratulations on your Super Bowl win in November. You're not gonna be playing in January, your pathetic loser franchise with the ugliest jerseys in the league, and I hope you all lose the rest of your games. Screw all of your Jets fans. All right, I hate you guys. Great job you beat an injured Josh Allen. Way to go. We didn't have Jordan Ployer Matt Milano either, all right, bravo. Anyway, I'm sorry to break the news. We're actually not gonna play in the first round. We're gonna get the by, all right, So I know that was a trick question. We're getting the by. We're gonna be the number one seed, and it's all gonna be good. I'm not nervous. I'm not nervous at all. It's all gonna be good. Here's the thing, guys, Jerry you know this as a Knixpan like, I just want one. I just want to know what it feels like. That's it. I'm not going to be one of these greedy Yankee fans, these greedy Warrior fans. I want a dynasty. I want to I just want to know what it feels like on that final day, that final game, to sit back and be like, holy crap, my team did it. That's all I want. And I've never experienced that in my life with any of my teams, and I just I don't know what that feels like. And as a dad now with two boys who are starting to get into it as well, I want to give that to them. And last year I will never forget it. The second round game against the Chiefs, thirteen seconds gave Davis Scores his fourth touchdown. My son, Walter is sitting next to me. He's eight years old, and I gave him a hug and I started crying, and I said, they are going to win. They are finally going to win. Because I thought we would host the Bengals in the a f C Championship and then we would smoke the Rams or whomever it was in the Super Bowl. And I thought that was the closest that we have been in over twenty years. And then, of course you all know what happened next. I just want one you know, brings to mind too, because I'm I'm a Knicks fan like you, so I do know. I know the exact feeling you're talking about. That my whole life of basketball and basketball is up there for me in sports. Obviously I've had success with the Giants, but then also to you know, you mentioned the Montreal Expos earlier and like your fandom of that, like they were there that strike ended year, like they even did the fake like yeah, and they're supposed to be the Yankees too, was like the Yankees excellent they were. They were on like this collision course and it just never happened. Do I remember it? August two was the day the strike happened. Do I remember it? I I freaking hold a vigil every single August twelve. It's a it's a horrible thing. You know. There was this knock against the Expos that we didn't have fans. We did have fans, it was just that our stadium was in the middle of nowhere. It was built for the nineteen seventy six summer games. It wasn't a real baseball stadium. And as you may know, there's only like two nice months in the summertime in Montreal, and no one wants to go in the middle of nowhere and sit in a domed stadium and watch baseball. They want to be downtown. They want to be having a good time. So that team was incredible. In yes, I know, the Mattingly season, everyone thought he'd get his ring. It was gonna be magical. And then was the following year. We had to get rid of all our players, John Wetland, Marquis Christom, ken Hill, Jeff Ficero, all these guys were gone, and then we were able to restock, and you know, Pedro makes his run, and then we get Vladdie a couple of years later, and then we had another run. But then, of course Major League Baseball screwed us, and uh, you know, Jeffrey Lauria, New Yorker buys the team and then he tries to, you know, get the Marlins and that whole thing. So, yes, it's been a very tough I would argue with anyone that I have had some of the worst luck of any sportsman out there. Between the expos that don't exist. I will never see them win a championship. The Knicks have been unfortunately a bit of a laughing stock for the last two decades. And then the Bills. People forget the Bills were the last team to make the playoffs in the twenty one century. It took them seventeen years to make the playoffs in the twenty one century. They were the last team. So you know, crimea River, Brown's fans, Lions fans, all of you guys. It's been a rough go. Okay, So I just won't one. We just had Andre Reid on the podcast. He was talking about all those years and you've got to listen to that one because he gives credit to Oh see, Jerry, I knew like this guy the loyal listener. So before we but please continue. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. You tell us what he said because I need that. I need that positivity right now just about the bill that Brandon being did and how exciting the future is. And I mean nothing but good things for the future of the Bills. And I will be joining your prayers because the league is better with the healthy job. Thank you appreciate that, Olivia. It's very kind of you. All right, before we get into like amazing UFC two eighty one stuff, I got two more things. One I always think, like what championship would you would I trade for a Knicks championship if they could win in ninety four, I would have easily probably traded like the Yankees. Oh nine World Series. I don't really care about that one, Okay, So for you, you you get one wish the Bills could win the Super bowlers year, the Knicks could win the championship this year, or you go back to the little kid version of you and the expos would have won the World Series, in which one of those times I love it. I love it. It's pretty much the same as asking me which of my three kids do I like the most? That's pretty much That's what I'm gonna ask. Yeah, I can't wait for that one. Hopefully they're not listening to this. It's so tough because right now I think you would agree like the Knicks are pretty far right, and so right now I feel like the closest for a very long time, because who knows when the Knicks are gonna be able to turn this around. The closest I have been in quite some time. Are the Bills right? And I feel this emotional attachment to those guys like I I love. I've never met Josh Allen, I've never talked to him, but I freaking would run through a wall for that guy. Like the way he handled that loss on Sunday, putting it all on his shoulders. Seems like such a great guy. Seems like you see him with kids, you see what he does for the community. I mean, I freaking love this man. I think I have as close to a crush on him as like socially acceptable. So I want to see him succeed. I want to see him win, and I want that for the city of Buffalo, because, uh, you know, let's be honest. New York has had some championships over the last two decades and Buffalo doesn't have much. They have the Sabers, they have the Bills. And I got to actually go to my first ever Bills game just a month ago. I never been to a home game before. Yeah, and this was like, it was like a spiritual experience. I've heard so much about it, but I went to Orchard Park, I saw what it meant. I was able to show my kids, my wife what this means to these people because they laugh at me sometimes when I'm going crazy, I'm like, no, this is religion. This is like it reminded me a lot of the Montreal Canadians back home. This is religion. This stadium is their cathedral. And I think I got that point across. And so because I'm in the moment right now, I would say the Bills, but I would tell you this. In the nineties, my number one all time were the Knicks. Like the nineties, Knicks are my favorite team of all time. Patrick Ewing is my favorite athlete of all time. I cried my eyes out in ninety four. I cried my eyes out with the finger roll in. I despised Michael Jordan with all my heart. I hate the Miami Heat with all my heart. I hate the India. I hate Reggie Miller. The site of his face makes me sick to my stomach. I mean, I in ninety four, when I was in the sixth grade, I wore a Youing jersey and a Stark jersey every every day, and I would rotate for the entire playoff front. It was Youing starts, doing starts, doing starts, and I had the Spreewald Jersey and I or that almost every day as well. I mean, I I adored that team. It makes me very sad to see what has become of them. I'm hoping for good things. You know, they're doing pretty well. Nice one on Monday Night, Jalen Brunson, great pickup. I kind of wish they did the Donovan Mitchell deal, but right now, in short, you agree, thank you, it would be the bills. Well, that's a tough question. Arry asked questions, and Ariel, you asked tough questions, and you're not scared to either, even of Dana White, I've seen that. Were you ever nervous asking an m M, a fighter, or anyone a question because of how they might respond? That is a good question. There have been a couple of times where it felt a little uncomfortable. I never felt like someone was gonna punch me or do anything physical, But I would be lying if there were a couple of times. You know, there's a famous one in two thousand and eleven. There's a fighter named Nick Diaz, the older brother of Nathan Diaz. He's a very famous fighter. He wasn't really a fan of mine at the time. He sort of marches to the beat of his own drum. He's a different kind of cat. And he didn't want to interview do an interview with me before his fight against Paul Daily and San Diego, and it was a bit tense off camera. And then once we did the interview and he said yes, I asked them on camera, like, do not like me, Nick, And he's like, now, you know, I don't like your questions sometimes. And you know where I come from, people like you get slapped. And he like looked into the camera when he said that with a bit of a smile on his face. And he's from a rough part of town Stockton, California. So in that moment, I was like, is he gonna slap me or what's gonna happen? But for the most part, you know, I don't know how many mm A fighters you guys have met, Like these are sweethearts. They truly are salt of the earth individuals. They're they're very very kind, very thoughtful, they're not divas. They understand the power that they possess, and they don't go around just like punching people all the time. So it's been a couple of instances here there, but for the most part, not really. Yeah, they carry a great responsibility with the powers that they have. Similar to you, you know then that you mentioned the nineties Knicks, That's kind of was my life too. But you mentioned to Madison Square Guard, right, So I've been to I think three or four UFC events. I think I went to like one at Staple, I went to one at the Garden, one of the GSP one. So I think obviously I'm always partial to Madison Square Garden because it's just where I'm from. But you have seen so many fights and covered so many as well, What in your mind is like even though, is there a top three arena? Because UFC is different, right, It's not just like a basketball game like some people don't maybe not. They don't love to set up as much as m MSG as they would somewhere else. So is they What arena stick out to your mind for a great UFC event? Oh man, that is a good question as well. I would say number one is the three Arena in Dublin. They are unbelievable. You're not too far away from them, Olivia and that crowd. I mean, I saw Connor McGregor fight there back in two thousand fourteen and there were ten thousand people. It legit sounded like there were a hundred thousand people there. It was unbelievable, deafening, truly deafening. So I would say the three arenas up there. I don't want to be so partial to Europe, but man, the O two in London is I mean, the European fans are just different, Like there's a different kind of passion that they possess, and the way they back their own and the way they fight for their own and chant for their own. It's much like a you know, a European soccer game. So I would put the O two up there, and if you want like a truly different kind of experience. The Saitama Super Arena and Sitama, Japan is so unique because they have hosted some of the biggest fights in m A history, particularly the ones from an organization that is no longer a round called Pride, which back in the day used to be the number one organization and m m A. And when they like, when the fans go to those events, they don't treat it like us or even like the European fans. Where there's chanting, there's music, there's all this stuff. They treated like we would treat going to the theater. They are so quiet during the fights and they do like little clapping things in appreciation, and then when the fights are over then they'll like show true love. But you can truly hear pin drop in there because it is just so quiet. The respect that they have for the gladiators, the warriors, it's just very different. So if you're looking for like the loud, boisterous crowd O two three Arena and Dublin, but if you're looking for something that almost feels like a religious experience, I would suggest these Hi Thomas Super Arena. Oh those are great answers. I bet that's kind of eerie, the quietness, but it makes it feel like heightened, right, It makes it feel so much more important. And they just have a great you know, birthplace of Martial Arts Asia, all that stuff. And there was a time where those events the prime time. It's amazing we don't have this in our country. But New Year's Eve was always the biggest night for fighting in Japan, and there was a period in the early two thousands where they would get no joke, like sixty seventy million viewers on television for these fights. It was that big of a deal. It was bigger than you know. It was like akin to the super Bowl here in America. And I never went to those particular ones because it was a little bit before my time. But I've been since and it's just, you know, unlike anything we have here in North America. Well, MSG did not make your top three lists, but it is a damn good ven you two and Saturday night it'll be rocking. The main event Israel Atisania Alex Pereira. Who are you betting here? Atrisania is at minor plus? Okay? So can I be honest with you guys? Just you know us us friends M M A fighters. As tough and as great as they are, they are incredibly sensitive. They are the most sensitive. And I learned early on when I would come on shows and my own show and make picks, they'd be like, oh, yeah, I you, I'm not going to talk to you anymore because you picked against me. I was like, jeez, I was just making it wasn't personal. So for the you know, sake of my career and you know, my relationship with these guys, I have abstained from making picks because I don't want to fracture a relationship. You may say that I'm a woss for doing that. I would just say I'm being a business savvy. If you will, um, I will say this. The backstory is unbelievable in this fight. These two guys, in case you don't know, have fought twice before, but not in m m A. They have fought in kickboxing. Is Hedsonia started off as a kickboxer. He's a pretty good kickboxer, but Peheta had an actually better kickboxing career than he did. And the last time they met. So the first time they met, Alex beat him via a decision. It was a controversial decision. Alright, all well and good. Then they meet for a second time in two thousand and seventeen, and is he actually was doing better than him. He was this close to finishing him in the second round, but then in the third round got brutally knocked out, like knocked out, bad head hits the mat like falls down. It was bad. Is He hasn't fought in kickboxing since. He then transitioned over to m m A and he's had this legendary career. He's now the middleweight champion of the UFC. Alex stayed in in kickboxing and actually became a two division champion. But then it became clear, like, yo, there's a money fight here between him and is He Because is he's steamrolling through everyone, Let's try to make this fight happen. So he switched over to M M A a a couple of years ago, and he's looked like a killer his first fight back. He had a couple of fights very early in his career, but his first fight, after a long layoff, I legit thought he killed the guy like the guy was on the mat after he knocked him out for no joke, like five six minutes, and it got uncomfortable. They're usually not on the mat for that long. He has a left hand that is like straight out of a cannon, and so he has been signed by the UFC. He looked good in his first few fights, and so they make this fight. And the thing is with Izzy, like people are intimidated by him. He's such a good striker, He's such a high level striker. There's that intimidation factor where a lot of these guys are actually losing the fight before the fight. Here you have Alex who isn't intimidated by anything. Is he brings to the table. He beat him twice, he knocked him out. He's the only meant to knock him out in m m A or kickboxing. And you could tell there's tension there, and you could tell this a rivalry there. And I had Iszzy on my show yesterday and he admitted, because some fighters wouldn't say this, it is personal. He wants to right this wrong. He wants to end this guy for his legacy so that people can't hang this over his head. So it's fascinating stuff. And to answer your question in a roundabout way, I do believe that Izzy should be the favorite. And just between us, I'll break my rule up. Do you think is he wins the fight? Don't tell Alex. Okay, yeah, no, no one's gonna hear this. Don't worry about it. I I can't wait for it because also too, I just think that, like you said, like these two styles, like it's the kind of fight to me where you really just can't turn your eyes for one second. Not that you did you ever turn your eyes in the fight, but there's some of those fights, you know, when it's on the ground. All right, let me just grab a handful of pocket. This one I just I'm gonna be watching the whole entire time, not missing a second of it. What are some This is such a great card. Let's just talk about fights that you are most excited for. Also, obviously this one, the main event is going to be great, but there's a co main event. So walk us through a little bit, you know, just you sitting there, we were watching, What are you like? Oh, this is the one, and maybe it's all of them who knows. Well, the main event is fantastic, like I said, But honestly, I'm just as much looking forward to another fight on this card, and it involves Dustin Pouria and Michael Chandler. This is something else. I mean, you know, there's so much M M A on these days. It's it's on every week, and there's a bit of you know, I think an oversaturation if I'm being honest, This is the type of fight that gives me like chills. This is the type of fight that gives me goose bumps that I get all sweaty in my palms for. Because dust to Pourier is an o G. He's a legend. He is a guy who has fought them all. He has beat a lot of them, including Connor McGregor twice as recently as and Michael Chandler is this guy who has been in m m A for a very long time. He was in Bellatore, which was, you know, the number two organization in the United States, and then finally in twenty twenty he gets signed by the UFC, and he was like kind of viewed as the best guy to never fight in the UFC's former wrestler from University of Missouri. He's jack, He's freaking tough, he's a former champion in Belltore. But we all wanted to know, like, just how good is this guy? Right? So he comes over to the UFC and he has been outstanding. Now, he did win a couple and then lose the title shot, but he has been all action and none of his fights have been boring. There seems to be this sort of tension between them, this sort of professional tension, if you will. They cross passed once at an event, and you can just tell like, these are two alpha males who don't really like each other and would rather not be in the same space, but at some point they're probably going to have to get it on. And now they're getting it on and the build up has been great, and the rivalry has been great. The back and forth stuff has been great. So Poorrier Chandler is fantastic. The co main event, as you mentioned, involves Carlos Barza, who's the straw Way champion going up against Jong Way Lee, who from China. Who's unbelievable. It was a former champion who lost her belt and now I was trying to get it back. She is jack. She picked up Frances and got into the heavyweight champion. She's a hundred fifteen pounds and she's picking up a two d eighty pound man like it's me picking up a banana. It's unbelievable. Got Meatball Molly on the card. You've got the return of dominic grace. I mean I could sit here like like I said, over saturation, But when it comes to the big events, the UFC tends to deliver. And when they come to MSG, in particular, because you know, New York for so long didn't legalize m m A. It's only been since two thousand sixteen, they usually bring the big dogs, they bring the big events, and this one is no different. Okay, Meatball Molly mccan has got to be one of the better nicknames and sports tell our listeners how that nickname came to be. It's really good. She used to work at a subway and when she was done working at the subway, like I said, all humble beginnings, all downtarth people. Her training partners said that she smelled like, you know, meatball sandwiches, and so they there were things to smell like. Although like you're wrong with someone on the ground and you're like, oh god, you smell like meatballs. So yeah, but she is so lovable. She is, Yeah, that is true. She is a very She's from Liverpool. She is just a sort of working class type of fighter, someone that everyone loved and gets behind. And she has had a resurgence this year. She's had two fights in London where she wanted bea spinning back elbow and so putting her on this card with a ton of European fans expected to show up is a very smart move. She's very good friends with Patty Pimblett, who everyone loves now their training partners. He's not on this card, he's fighting in December. But she's had a breakout year this year, so it's cool to see her on this card. Yeah, this card is amazing. But I also you know, I did this whole bit last week of like my sports emergency contacts, like the people you call when some stuff happens. You would definitely be mine for what I mean, Well, I would love to call you and ask you a text you and ask you, and I'll ask you here on the show. Maybe I was just saving it for the show. Okay, what's the fight that you think should happen or will happen that we want to see that hasn't yet or the rematch? Like what do you want to see? There's a lot of them, was a lot so like you know, but if you really, if you had the power to pick one a frame it that way, doesn't mean it's not twelve Sure, sure, sure, I'll tell you the one that just popped into my mind first, because that's usually the most honest answer. It's the heavyweight debut of John Jones. John Jones is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time, if not the greatest of all time, and he has always fought a light heavyweight. He's the greatest light heavyweight champion of all time. He hasn't fought since February and he has been teasing a move up to heavyweight for the last two or so years. And there's a guy named Francis and Gun who's out there whose contract is about to expire, but if he resigns with the UFC, as we all expect him to as of next month, when he's a free agent, John Jones versus Francis and ghan who would be incredible theater John, the greatest light heavyweight champion moving up the heavyweight to fight the current king of the heavyweights, who is the scariest man on the planet, who can knock you out with a pinky. I mean, this guy is like straight out of a comic book. I would love to see that happen. So a lot come to mind, but they've been sort of circling each other for a long time. To me, it would be a true travesty if we never see John fight at heavyweight, because he's been hinting and teasing this for so long, and who better than Frances and Ghana to welcome him. So that's the fight that I would, you know, I would make and I would love to see happened come next year. When you talk about any past or upcoming fight, I feel like the individual storylines so much dictate how we look forward to some of these or how we remember some of these. When you look at who could make a great movie or maybe a great book, or maybe it's already a book and should be a movie. Who is a fighter that comes to mind? Really? I mean again it's uh, it's a testament to their stories and their their backgrounds. But again, I'll give you the first one that comes to mind. It's Francis. Francis and Ghanu grew up in Cameroon with nothing. I mean, he has shown us pictures of his home, his childhood home. To say it's a hut would be nice. And this guy had to escaped Cameroon. He was on a boat for days on end with no food, no water, almost I had multiple times. Makes it to France, sleeping in a parking lot in a garage, homeless, completely homeless, has nothing to his name. Meets a guy who tells him that he's, you know, a coach, wants to be a boxer, doesn't know how to start, doesn't know where to start. Brings him to his gym. There's m A at the gym, and the guys like, forget this boxing stuff, you should do this mm A thing because you're such a beast. And this guy has nothing to his name, truly nothing. I mean, he's training and then he's going back to sleep in the parking garage and now he's the heavyweight champion of the world. And so you know, I mean that's one of a million. I mean, the easiest answer is Connor McGregor, who was, you know, on welfare when he made his UFC debut. He didn't have anything to his name. He was, you know, he was working to become a plumber before he started his mm A career. And now look at him. You know, he is rich beyond his wildest dreams and he's got all this money and all this stuff. So that's what I love. I love the stories at the end of the day, like the fights. Like I said, there's so many and they all kind of blend together. But these characters, the stories. Israel is another guy. He grows up in Nigeria, his family moves to New Zealand. He's bullied as a kid. He's skinny, he's the only black kid in his school, and all of a sudden, he you know, starts to fall in love with fighting and he becomes one of the most beard strikers in the world. Like these stories of these people who had to overcome all these things and are now on top of the world. I mean, is he was telling me yesterday the first time he fought Alex, he was staying in a seven dollar motel. That was his fight week hotel. He's now staying this week in some insane look at his Instagram, like some insane mansion in New Jersey with an indoor pool with a tennis court, Like it looks like something out of the X Men, and you know, like he's paying for it, you know what I mean. So, like the things like that are incredibly inspiring. And that's why I love these guys so much, because they truly had to scratch cloth and bet on themselves. Right, it's not a team sport. You don't rely on others, you don't need others, and there's no knock on those guys. But it's like, man, this can go you know, you can get knocked out, it can all end, or you can continue to claw him and build and bet on yourself and pray and uh. And here they are headlining MSG. A kid from Nigeria who moved to New Zealand is now headlining MSG like this is insanity, you know, since we're talking about like what would make a good movie and good storylines, because I agree with you, I think some of it's countless stories to tell. And sports movies are like a funny thing for me. They like stick out, there's something that are really good, and then when sports movies go wrong, they could be really bad. Especially actually the physical acts of sport. I came close. I almost had the chance to play a fighter. I was deep into looking into the Eternal Gaddy story. I had some of the rights and I started to train. Yeah, I was training that wild card and really feeling the pressure of when you were around real fighters and you were maybe going to play a fighter. You know, it's honestly, give me any other sport because those fires are looking at you like you're not a fighter. So I guess now sticking with sports movies and fighting movies for instance, I don't know if you're a big movie guy or not, are there fight movies that stand out? Like if you could say, like who kind of did it right? Or who's your favorite on screen fighter? Obviously Rocky is the easier one for example, but if you look at Warrior I think like Tom Hardy a warrior, was dope, Like I bought him as a fighter completely. Uh do you get to watch many? Is there anything that's stuck with you? Maybe because we'll start making movies now, well I would love that. And by the way, we start with the Gotti won Gott he was my favorite boxer of all time from Montreal. So so what happened? What happened. What happened was I was taking a long time to get some of the deal done and he has a great manager, Pat Lynch, who was like his brother, and he really wanted to see the story done. He shared like all their stories with me, and I was training and it took long, and I had a scheduling thing, and you look back, it's like four years agoe By. I was twenty nine, thirty years old, and we started got down. I'm now thirty four. I'm like one sixty and a little older will slower. I got gray, you know, because we wanted to really take him from you know, his journey from Montreal and then he became like this back you know Jersey guy. You know he had he had the weirdest accent of all time and Montreal it was like Italian. It was Jersey, So I just got old. At the end of the day, I I kind of aged out of it. And you're not that unfortunate because I saw Mickey War a few weeks ago and I talked to him about and he's like, yeah, that's like the thing that's missing from The Fighter. The movie. The Fighter was like a turtle side of that. That was a great movie as well. By the way, I don't think you're that old. I would love to see it happened. I would love to see him immortalized like that. He deserves it. What happened to him was obviously heartbreaking. I see his son sometimes on social media. Have you seen him? Oh my god, crazy, absolutely crazy to see how much he resembles him. But to answer the question, Tom Hardy was gonna be my answer, there haven't been a lot of great m m A movies. Here Comes the Boom was fun with Kevin Patrick, was Kevin James. Kevin James. Yeah, that was actually kind of fun. I mean, obviously not the same. I don't know if you guys saw Here Comes to Boom, but it was. It was a good time. M m A hasn't been used boxing. You'd use boxing. Yes, so look, I know it's probably an easy one. I I do think Michael B. Jordan's does a great job with the Creed movies. Those are tremendous. I think Wahlberg did a great job. Ali was okay, I've seen most of them, you know, Will Smith Ali Um. I'm still waiting for the you guys are forgetting like the Oscar winners. Wait, Rocky do Oh. Yeah, that was tremendous. That was tremendous. Yes, that's my bad. I will say I'm waiting for the Jamie Fox Tyson movie. I always see that clip of him talk. You never see that clip of him talking about the opening scene he's I'm like, man, he sounds like him. And where's that movie? I don't know. They did the Hulu movie about him, which I guess Tyson wasn't happy with. So I'm not gonna Yeah, I don't know whether Jamie Fox went is it? And I continue to be marvel and another one who's part of the bat MGM family, Jamie Fox. That's I said. I continue to marvel at He to me is the most talented person on the face even when he's like doing like a Trump personation on Instagram like it's like, oh my god, he's got it. Bet So if anyone and we've seen a lot of Mike Tyson stuff before, right, but if anyone could maybe with a new light on it and actually make us by it, I think it's Jamie Fox. I'm waiting for that one too. But you sparked another idea. Maybe we get a Truro son in a few years to play his dad. You just sparked it. You might just right now? Did I just right now? You just sparked that idea in my head? Why not just wait it out until he, you know, is ready, and you just like like, I mean, who knows? That might be too painful. I don't know if he would view that as a painful thing, because I'm sure there's a lot of pain with that he lost his dad. But you know, I wonder that what they did with the Gandelfini. Yes, his Gafini's son Michael, who have gotten to know a little bit, played young Tony soprano in the Sopranos movies. So maybe maybe you might have just opened the doors again. I just wanted like a special shout out in the credit. That's all I don't need. Thanks, just like something at the end. Special for making this all happen, you know, well bigger thanks, thank you for coming on here and talking to him and some buffalo. But I think everyone knows obviously how big of an mm A got you. I love list and to you even on Simmons talk about the Bill. Thanks. I appreciate it. Thank you. Just one. I just want one. Can I just have one? Can I just be happy once in February. That's all I want is one? So sad, It's good. Thank you so much, guys. You guys are doing a great job. I'm so happy that we finally kind of broke the ice here. I was feeling some sort of way about it as I mentioned any to get into it again. So thank you for having me continued success and really appreciate you guys inviting me, and I hope you could do it again soon. Maybe when the Bills win the super Bowl, we can have a big party. I will definitely yeah, And if I come to eight one, I'm I'm going to reach out if I come to any perfect Thanks guys, take care, Thank you well, I'm not even four. Episode ten. I made some good progress this week. It was rainy and London, Jerry, I got a lot of entourage and so just as shook as I was with the Lisa Rennet episode a while back, I was so excited about that one and laughed my ass off. I was laughing my ass off in this Furry episode. I put it on my Instagram story, I tagged you, and I had so many people say I love that episode. Oh my god, I'm dying, Like everyone knows that episode. Who has watched the show? Now, for those who don't know, according to the Internet, a furry is someone interested in anthropomorphic animals. This can be sexual or not sexual. And yes I did look this up. So it's really just folks who are into animals talking and stuff. But entreage fans know that that's not what this episode is about. So tell me when you first read the script for this episode, what did you think. I remember exactly what I thought. I thought what I thought many times reading the scripts? Are you kidding me? Like? I read it and I would say, you get like, what are we doing here, guys? And I think, like, at first we referenced like a furry, and then it was like a plushy, which was like another name used for it, and I'm like, God, well, look, let's go to the table reading, and you know, maybe they'll rethink this once they hear it out loud. And of course, the person who always makes this stuff work is Kevin Dillon, who plays Johnny Drama. He takes all these storylines that are kind of just sort of unbelievable and he just grounds them in a way and makes it hilarious. And uh yeah, So I think the picture that I put up on Instagram and Twitter every year that gets the most traffic of all time is on Easter Sunday. I always put up a picture of me in the pink bunny suit and I wish everyone a happy Easter. I do every year for like five years running, and it always gets hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets and reposts and comments. It is people some of people's favorite episodes. And that was another one, and it's just kind of the common habit, the ones I'm always like, God, what are we doing? Who's going to watch this? People's favorite episodes, which adds to the rhyme and reason like you just don't know, you don't know what's gonna capture people's attention and their interests. But yes, a lot of people have that in their top three, like most funniest Entourage episode. I just I was so hooked because you go on Craig's liist, I believe, wasn't it Craigslist? Yeah, back then I to look up what craigslist was. What is this Craigslist? This is a real thing. What is this? Oh? I love anything like that that dates the show. There's so much, there's so much, there's a lot. Oh, it's great. And because it's so of the time, Like I wish I had watched this in real time because I bet it would have just I mean, I know from people saying it. It just it was the culture kind of like you talked about sneaker culture, like that was like a new thing. In this episode. There's just a lot like in the furry stuff at the time, you know, like not people didn't even know that was a thing. No, and Entourage has done that a lot things that people didn't know we're a thing. And we do an episode and then they go do some research like oh wow, there's a whole community of these people who this is how they roll, you know. Yeah, that's and another one put that one another one on the list of tough ones to watch with the grandma. So I want to watch and yeah, it's a tough one. I was like, you know, mom, grandma, you guys could skip this week's episode if you want. And they're like, no, we're not skipping anything now any episode that you do something like, it's really just anything sexual and like they probably don't care about you, like cussing or smoking weed or anything like that, and like anyone that's just sexual and like, oh, his grandma, his grandma had to watch that. Yeah, my grandmother likes the cursing. She was into that, Like it didn't bother her at all. But that's what I'm just like, God, And they were good sports. They never made me feel weird about it, but I always just felt weird. Okay. Something else i'd ask you about season four is you had a couple of scenes with Gary Busey. What was that like the bucy Uh, listen, we we go back to like season one with him. I remember the first time we worked with him, he was kind of making the script his own, changing his words and he's playing himself so fine. And then uh, I think Doug Ellen or someone tried to give him a note and he said, no one could write Gary Busey like Gary buce and basically like kicked off the producers. And it was always a little scary with Gary because he was very You just didn't know where he was gonna go. You just and you didn't. The script kind of goes out the window and you just don't. One moment in season one, we're doing a scene on the beach, he said, you ever play the game tickle P? And I'm like, what what is tickle P? That's where I so wh I hold you down? I tickle you to pe your pants. I'm like, Gary, I'm a grown man. Don't touch me. And he's like chasing me on the beach, trying to tickle me. No, but you know, he was kind of like the mascot in a way. It was Yeah, I hadn't loved those days with the bucy. Oh my god. Well it did well on camera. I'm telling you it was. It's gold and he is he's such a random recurring guest. Yeah, it's again that the Entourage world, which it once you become a fan of the show, like you buy in and like, yeah, there's some of people's favorite cameos was all the Gary Abusa, we were all afraid of him on the show and that they in real life a little bit again. And then one more person who's been an episode for a lot I've got to ask about or sorry season four is Anna Ferris on Affairs. What was she like? She was amazing. It was a great storyline. I wish that storyline kind of lasted even longer. And also another good storyline of just like putting a movie together and you know, getting an actor who is interested and what they mean to like the budget and getting everyone excited and stuff like that. I thought it was pretty cool, like the inside look of how putting together a movie works. And she's just so quick, you know what I mean by that is just whatever you throw at her, she doesn't even need a second to like process it. Like whatever notes or direction or line changes, she's like, god, good, let's go. Like she was just in a few moments I got to work with her. She's super quick and hilarious and makes your job easy. You just gotta stand there and just don't just say your lines correctly. She makes your job really easy. Oh love, I'm loving Season bore alright. Time for one of my favorite parts of the show, although we always talk about betting. Here, we're gonna talk some week ten wagering with bet MGM analyst Peter Andrew. He's our odds on favorite Peter. Listen, buddy. Now we're not gonna talk about last week all that much. I'm just gonna say one thing. Maybe you should already start planning, you know, renewing your vows with your lovely wife, because when you came out of the wedding, you were hot. You had all that wedding juice on you. You know, I think it's starting to wear off you. Maybe you should consider renewing your vows. After a tough week last week, Yeah, call me, you're on the hat set. Jeff Saturday is looking at your job. But look you you didn't miss by much. We loved your parlay. Damian Pierce, you had for any time TV. He got down to the one, he was right there. Everything else hit as planned. Tried to sort of talk you off the Eagles minus thirteen and a half, but it was all right. There a few different swings and you easily hit that parlay. Yeah it's tough. I mean, between that with the one game parlay, just missing the bills let me down. Big time on the teaser, everything else fell into plan. I mean, would I say Titans plus nineteen plus that under in the Vikings game, and then of course the late touchdown by the Bears had Dolphins minus five and let me down so close only counts and horseshoes and hand grenades, I guess. So before we get into your picks real quick, can we almost expect you know, we watched the Bills, a lot of people got lost on teasers and stuff like that. Could we almost expect a heavy underdog money line winner every week because it's feeling like it's starting to become every week. Yeah, from a book point of view, we're having a great season so far, and it's a lot to do with that. It's that one big result each week that's really really carrying us. Bills was the great example this week, and we've seen a couple of them throughout the first seven eight weeks of the year. So really interesting. So a really fascinating tweet by one of my favorite follows, John Ewing that I shared actually when a lot of people bet MGM has seen sharp action on the Jets, Bears, and Seahawks in Week nine. The Rams are one of our biggest liabilities putting the sports book in the rare position of needing Tom Brady to win. I just thought that was incredible because I imagine as a sports book you're constantly always rooting against Tom Brady, and they actually needed Brady to win and he did. That's awesome. So John didn't talk about it too much. But same thing with Aaron Rodgers, Like, how many years have we been talking about needing Aaron Rodgers to lose the game? And then this year is just wildly different. So we're in a new era now. It's uh. I think a couple of these older quarterbacks are kind of sad finally on the downfall it is. It's really sad, especially because you look at I mean, believe you know this. The Packers are obviously a little bit more expected because the team law is quite a bit, especially with Davonte, but the Bucks are still on paper decent teams, so for them to be in this position, it's kind of crazy. Oh man, Okay, let's look ahead to this weekend. First of all, you have a two unit, one game parlay walk us through this one? Is this for Thursday night? This for Thursday Night? Not the best game in the world. But we got Falcons at the Panthers, the worst division in football. Yeah, so, um, listen to the Panthers look bad last week. P J Walker three of nine or three of ten for nine yards in the first half, and I think as of right now he might be starting on Thursday, because all the props are leading towards that. If that's the case, I like the Falcons big here. So with that said, I've took nothing that is Carolina focused because we just don't know what's going to happen. I think they even activated Sam Donald back, so there's a chance he's playing the next couple of all three available. That's how you know things are not good in Carolina right now. Cor Daryl Patterson over thirty four and a half rushing yards. He's back and healthy. Thirty four and a half is one of the lower props that we offered in terms of his yardage. I think it's a safe assumption, especially if he goes back to some sort of form like he was last year. I think we're in good shape there. Mariota only over a twenty five passing yards, So this isn't this isn't to s this is just do the bare minimum. Get me back in the green, get me out of the red, get over a hundred twenty five yards um. I changed the line to an online of Falcons min six and a half. Again with what we said about Carolina just not being a good team. Instead of the two and a half, I pushed it up the six and a half, so get plus money there. And then the last thing is something I haven't done this year yet, but I really like this, especially in soccer. It's a halftime, full time bet, so a specific team to lead at the end of the half and obviously at the end of the game. So I like Falcons to be leading at a half and then obviously win the game out right. So added all four of those two units, So twenty dollars at plus four fifty two win one ten including that steak. So right then and there, that hits seems pretty manageable. That puts you in the green. And then we focus on rest of the bets for the weekend. Yeah, you gotta imagine the Falcons are gonna want to get this one, and I'm sure the Panthers too. They might as well just roll out maybe PJ for the first quarter, Baker for the second, Donald for the third, and whoever's playing better, you could play the fourth. It's almost like preseason rules, I think at this point, because they're like an assessment territory at this point, like what do we have a god, that's a good you know what that's I like the lead at half and at end of game, and um, you would think too with the Falcons weapons like Mariota, I meane like two screens to Patterson and like a Kyle Pitts steam route that and it should be done in Atlanta. It's in Carolina, Carolina. But I don't think. I don't know how much of an impact that has on that base, right, you know, they they were having issues with the fan base. I think if we talked about that, I think back in like the week one in the preseason. So all right, well with you there, do you have another teaser for us this week? Because you know I love the teasers. I do have a teaser year So three teamer again, moving everything six points again. So we mentioned Frank Wright in the Colts. Jeff Saturday being head coach right now makes absolutely no sense to me. I think that's a very weird game for them this week, especially since Jeff Saturday I think one of the last things he said over media is how bad the Raiders are. And guess who they're playing this week, the Las Vegas Raiders. So Raiders just to win. So it's minus point five, so all they need to do is win that covers the spread. So I've teased that down from that six and a half. I will be in San Francisco repping my Niners this weekend home against the Chargers. I've teased that down to seven. Seven seems like a weird line there, given the Chargers are obviously a solid team, So Niners down to minus one. I love the Niners at home. I think they figured out obviously how to be using McCaffrey here and having the week off by week to get healthy, I think super important for them. And then last one is just keep on rolling with the Eagles. I've listened to Jerry here a little bit the thirteen and a half of last week. I've learned my lesson, so the eleven this week against the Commanders at home at Lincoln, tease that down to minus five. Again. Eagles best team in football right now. I don't think anybody can can argue that one No, So plus one sixty right there, So you're getting really good value just to teasing those points down fifty so five units to win one thirty. Again, I think this is a say this every week, but I feel like this is a good one right here. Where playing to a lot of strengths, and I think the Raiders want is just the interesting one. They've looked awful. But but so of the Colts, and Jonathan Teller is clearly not right, not healthy. I think he's played in maybe three games this year, so I think you have an auto fade with the Colts. So we're looking for your big bounce back. Here you have I think three units left, so very curious to see where you go here. Yeah, so Vikings Bills probably one of the games of the week, if not the game of the week. But you have Josh Allen with potentially u c L injury. You saw at the end of the Jets game. He just did not look right somehow, is still playing the ball seventy yards. Clearly that arms Bob and him. I think he's do to have m R I today or tomorrow. So I've faded them right now. So Vikings plus six and a half Vikings are obviously a really good team. They are a top five team in the league anyway, I think six and a half seemed like a lot of points there. So with the injury, I think Vikings were a good on the road victory last week. I think they're riding into this week pretty strong. And everybody saw that the video of the plane with Kirk Cousins with all the jewelry on. I mean, there the chemistry with those Vikings. I you know, I I like to look for chemistry at this point in the year. They are all the games that the Vikings typically lost, they could have easily been six and one, seven and one last year, all the games and the injuries and the weird like they blew a seventeen point lead to the Lions and lost. Like they're just not doing that this year. They're closing the door. It's still getting a little weird, you know something with them. You can never quite count any team out, as we even saw last week. But yeah, the Vikings at this point, I like what you're doing because if Alan is not right, that's a heavy that's a plus six and a half, so a big number to cover with with a quarterback that might only be at what you know, Yeah, and I think back to the Vikings. They've done this without a lot of production from Justin Jefferson. From a touchdown point of view, I think there was a point he might not have a touchdown since week one. He's obviously getting his yards and getting his catches. But when he gets hot, you know, a good team turns great. So it's gonna be really interesting to see second half of the the year. Yeah, you can't underestimate the Hockinson trade. I thought that's gonna when we look back on this year, if the Vikings really do make a deep run, that trade might have been the sneaky little interdivision move which we never really see, that puts them over. He had nine targets for nine catches, like instant impact, and it's just an upgrade a visition I loved IRV Smitchy, but it's just an upgrade at the position. So all right, Pete, the big bounce back for you, buddy, I feel I feel good about it. Though. Well, Peter, I'm gonna make one tiny suggestion too. Right before the game's kick off this weekend, maybe just have a look at the wedding photo album or maybe watch the VI just gets get some of those fields back I'm telling you because I want to make sure that you have that that wedding swag coming in. But Peter, thank you as always. You're gonna make up for last week right here. It's a big bounce back for the kid. I might bring the photo of the wedding book to Leavi Stadium. So just good vibes and with all my buddies, so it looks so weird a half time. What's Pete doing? Pete? You want to be her num. I'm really into this wedding album right now. Got the Bible and the wedding album. Just which one do I go to? No one will know, all while wearing a McCaffrey jersey. Thanks, Enjoy, Enjoy san Fran, enjoy the game. Yeah, maybe see you this week. Okay, another week in the books. That was a lot of fun. Remember to tweet me or Jerry if you cashed in on jets over five and a half total wins. Because I want to know who you are. You are a special, special better. But make sure everyone you subscribe to the bet mgm Unleashed podcast YouTube page. Yep, you can watch all of these interviews. You can see our beautiful faces. That will be a lot of fun and the full Max screenfield interview that was just last week. That's a lot of fun. To Kevin Garnett, Andre read J Glazer. We've had some great guests and guess what still coming, so we'll be sure to join us. Next week we've got soccer legend Tim Howard stopping by to talk all things World Cup. Who that'll be fun, good stuff then