Hour 4 - Howard looks forward to the Bills season and the latest Helle-blurbs

0:00Hey, this is Richard Ditch, the host of the Sports Media Podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the Sports Media Podcast has you covered. I've been turning down interviews all week. A coat of coffee, reached out, Oprah, Georgetown Phenopolis. So I said no. I was booked on the Ditch Podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Texas Bills in Houston has all the makings of the overreaction game. Whoever wins this game, it's going to be Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday. This is it. The AFC runs through them and it doesn't matter which one wins. The AFC is going to run through one of them. And the other way, oh, the loser isn't a little bit of trouble here. Right. They're scheduled. We're going over the loser schedule. No question about it, son. Bill Simmons of the ringer, I totally agree with that point.

1:01Maybe not for the loser, but for the winner, yes. Bill's Texans has the most on the line for like the narrative bowl for the winner. Howard Simon's in studio with me, Jeremy White, Sneaky Joe's off this week. It's football season here. It is football season. When is it start? You've stepped away, of course. I have. Are you going to watch games in the bunker? No. Or you socially watch them? Yep. Oh, my bunker days are done. Wow, out on the town, just watching the games, having a good time. Gonna watch the opener. We're going to be in Denver. So I already picked the Bill's Backers bar in Denver, downtown Denver. And I will be watching with the Denver Bill's Backers. The bar's called Loto or something like that. Look, it's, um, I'm a Venda one. It's, I don't know. I have it in my phone. Got a reservation ready to go. Denver Bill's Backers. I think it's downtown Denver. Yeah, yeah. Cool thing. Guess what? 11 a.m. kickoff. That's nice. A little bit early for drinking, but never too early for wings.

2:03It's going to bother me to not know the name of this. Loto, I think it's called Loto, but it could be wrong. Loto's the district though, right? Loto's the area that that's right. That's right. I thought it was a bar called Loto and that, don't test my memory. Jackson's Loto. Nope. No. Anyway, someone will write it in. Someone will text it and someone in the chat. Somebody will know it. Stony's uptown tavern. Okay. The primary official home bar for Denver Bill's Backers. Stony's uptown tavern. All right. That's what you're, you're going to be. I'll be hanging out with the mask at this. The Howard Simon World Tour. How about this? I'm going to make you proud. Third game of the season. We're gone for the first two. Third game of the season. Put the TV on the back deck. Have the neighbors over. Watching over. I'm watching outside. Outside Bill's watching. I mean, it's one, once you do that, you know, I've heard you're allowed to actually watch Bill's games with family and friends. Yeah. Like socialize when the game is on. It's a good time. I have no idea what that concept is like. You'll find that it's not that social.

3:04People are watching the game. And if you try to talk to them, they'll say, shot up. I'm watching this game. How ironic would it be if I'm the person trying to initiate conversations? Right. WGR Sports Radio 550 powered by Tim Hortons, the official coffee the morning show, and game day tailgates. Jeremy and Joe, Joe out Howard's in. Now Houston Week 1. Something about people who work with you take a lot of vacation. They do. I was just on vacation too. He's taken more paternity leave, taking a while he can. But I mean, working with you does take a toll on people. It can. From what I'm told it can. By the way, I'm sorry. Remember Houston Week 1, I don't want to get you on topic. But you're, uh, you're lying with Joe B the other day about how you're still on the air here after all these years. And then there's in no way pathetic. That was very funny. Yeah. I'm glad you're still on the air. It's been a long time. It had very long time. It's been a very long time. When you get to 30 punt, I was thinking about it recently. What was the thing? I was on the air. We're talking years. We're talking to young guys here, own and joke Kelly. And I'm like, oh, I was on the air when that happened. And they're like, two. How cool is that? You're that guy now.

4:06How many years have been here? 25? Sure. Yeah. Right? Yeah. 25 at the station mornings for 22. November of 04. So November of 22 years. In this chair. You are a pro team. Did we go watch Territory? Did we ever sit in different chairs? Did you start in this one? No. I was always on this side. I don't think so either. I think I always sat in this. I think it's actually a different chair. Yeah. I get the same spot. Carpet's new. If this chair was 22 years old, we'd have something to talk about. So you said you've been here 25 years total? I think so. Oh, and I are 24. That's crazy. I just love references that make you old. I mean, that's just really funny to me. Honestly, I've learned a lot from you and my time that I spent with you. Because when I, if I do something that I think is cool and they tell me they also think it's cool, I think they're doing to me what I used to do to you. And be like, yeah, yeah. Oh, very cool. Yeah. Keep doing it. Just trying to make it feel good. Right. Humor the old guy. That's what I think they're doing now. This is so cool.

5:06I just like to turn this way. Don't do that. You got to be honest. Don't pretend. Guys, don't hurt his feelings. Make him feel like he's still cool even though he's out of touch. We'll do our best. Thank you, fellas. Yeah. And they've had some fun. And a couple days I come in and I'm wearing my shirt inside out. That's happening. Yeah. We had an open almost ready to go in the third hour. And I get that. Well, I don't think so. The double sunglasses. That's awesome. Double sunglasses happens a lot where I'm wearing my glasses and my sunglasses on top of my head. The YouTube stream is how I catch that. Now I pop on this stream. See how I look and like, oh, I'm wearing my sunglasses on top of my glasses. If you say that didn't happen as much this, this summer, I didn't notice it. You've been locked in on that. I'm pretty good at it. I texted you the other day. Glasses on the hat. You're complaining you can't find your glasses anywhere. Yeah. I lose everything. Yeah. Well, you lost everything when you were younger. True. So that's not really a big difference. No, that's right. It's all right. I'm sorry. So Houston, week one. Are we raising money to send all one on the road trip? Jackson's. No, okay. Loto was the old location. Anthony Ritzon from Denver.

6:07Loto was the old location. It's Jackson's now. The bill's backer bar in Denver. I watched a, I watched a Sabers game there. It's okay to wear a bills gear in Denver and actually. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. I don't think I get chirped at because of the playoff game. The playoff game. Maybe they should have lost. Denver should have lost. I should yell at Denver losing to New England. Idiots. Well, Denver, don't think about Denver is. We could sit here and say how we are cursed in this and that. I mean, imagine if the bills had won the Denver game in Josh Hale and breaks his ankle. Yeah, that would basically in the kneel down process. Right. Yeah. How would we feel cursed? We are cursed. More cursed. Cursed year. Well, week one Houston. I bring this up because it's the top of close to my heart that I like to talk about quite a bit. The last two games they played in Houston. You remember those, right? Not good. Yeah. Losses, Josh Hale and getting thrown around. In one game, he had eight sacks and the other game,

7:08he had nine completions. Yeah. Last year's receivers that were available. I put the dates wrong on this. I'm going to have to redo this because I'm an idiot. Last year, the receivers that played in the Houston loss. Carlisio Kiergab, Davis, Josh Palmer, Elijah Moore. Okay. Two years ago, Keon Coleman, Matt Collins, MBS Curtis Samuel. Those who are receiving scores, the last two seasons in losses in Houston. Yeah. And this year, it's very different, right? DJ Moore and then that other stuff. Yeah. But still deeper on the back end. DJ Moore, Carlisio Kier, Josh Palmer, Skyler Bell, Keon Coleman. Yeah. It's better. I hope. I hope. It better, B. It should be better. Needs to be. Yeah. So they can bail out the defense while the defense figures out how to play. I am of the belief like you sound like you are too. People should temper the expectations on the defense early. Yeah. How do you not do that? Because they're going to be aggressive, Howard.

8:10Okay. I know. I'm with you, though. I'm eager to see it come together, but anticipating it will take time to come together. How wouldn't it? We've gone through this before and this was without having a new defensive coordinator in a change of scheme. We've had other bills seasons before you and I went into the season. Well, the defense is going to be working progress, folks. I think they'll be better at the end of the season. Let's be patient. Now there's a new coordinator, a new scheme. Half the starters are gone. Yeah. Like how do you not think they're going to go through? What's Detroit putting up in the home opener? The bills are going to win 5148. Jameer Gibbs is going to have a big day. I mean, it's just it has to be a work in progress. There's, you know, I told you before we went on the air. I listened to your segment last Friday with Joe Biscale. And you guys, you guys hit it. Who are the inside linebackers? Where's the stud pass Russia? Who is cornerback two? Those are really important questions. Let alone learning the new scheme.

9:11Maybe if you're going to be aggressive, maybe there's going to be, maybe this team is going to go from sit back and keep everything in front of you to maybe gambling, creating some plays, but giving plays up. I can't, I mean, I have no idea what to expect from the bills defense. I think if you have high expectations from day one for the bills defense, I think you're going to be very disappointed. They could be good when all is said and done. But there are some big holes on that side of the ball. You would need someone to be great. Who's great? Like, well, that's the thing. It can Ed be a game changer over there. Ed was great in limited action last year. Is Dion Walker ready to be great? Is Bradley Chubb going to return to a form that he was a couple years ago? Like, on that side of the ball, who do you anticipate being great? Well, there's a result turned into like, take another step up. I feel like we're so, I'm going to bank on him being exactly what he was. Yeah, right? Right. Exactly what he was. Well, then where else is it coming from? We know Benford's a top notch corner. I loved, I was very interested in listening to Joe. Joe actually this, I think, was on the channel seven show.

10:12He was raven about Cole Bishop. And what Bishop could turn out to be now, if Cole Bishop turns out to be a playmaking safety, that's great. But that's not going to mean the defense right off the bat in Houston on day one is going to be a killer. I think they're going to go through some issues. And I think the offense is going to have to get back into what we usually expect from them. Score over 30 points. And then parade the defense, make some stops every now and then. Protect Josh. Oh, Mike. Run the ball. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, what's the passing game going to be? Are we now seeing that they're going to go away from throw behind the line of scrimmage yards after catch and actually throw down field? I'd like to see that with DJ Moore. You should be throwing the ball down field more, right? I'd like to see that return. So I'm confident in the offense. I, you know, I know they're down to starting offensive lineman. There's always issues about whether can Cade can stay healthy. Who knows if, if, you know,

11:14Keon will turn into anything. But I'm fairly confident that the bills will still have a top five scoring offense in the NFL as long as the guy quarterback is there. They could have the number one scoring offense with one small change. And that's not necessarily DJ Moore. They could have the number one scoring offense if they just decided to have more plays. If they up their tempo, if they passed more, that's it. They're a team that runs all the time and scores a lot of points. And if they passed it more often, they probably score more points. Especially now that like we just went over those, those receiver groups, they had in Houston. Houston has been a house of horse in part because their meager receiving cores have gone in. They're depleted in games like they were without Shakir in one without concade last year. This year I've got concade Shakir and DJ Moore already go all healthy in the Houston game coming up on Sunday. So like I can lean on them healthy. And if I lean on the passing game more, then I just will score more points.

12:17The only thing that I would bring up here, this is this is a flashback to 30 something years ago. Is the if you do that, if you go up tempo, yeah, you can score, you can score fast. And then if you're worried about your defense, if you go three and out, your defense is on the field very quickly. Is it putting, if you're going to play tempo and not score, you're putting a lot of stress on your defense. And if the defense isn't ready for the challenge, that could be an issue. But honestly, if you asked me which way I would go, I would lean towards your way because I have faith in Josh Allen. I have faith in him to lead the offense and do the things they need to do. And I get like I said, I think when they play the talented offense, I'm not sure what Houston's going to be offensively this year. And David Montgomery a bunch. I love David Montgomery, but you played Detroit. You play the Rams. You play even the chargers. Like teams that can actually put up points in bunches. That's a very interesting dilemma for Joe Brady. Montgomery, I just love as a as a player. He's been a fun. Like I don't think he's all that dangerous for the bills to try to stop. But the way he plays like a total Dan Campbell running

13:23back who has been awesome for the Lions. And finally gets out of there. You know Gibbs taken over full time. K. Sean Booty. I don't know how I like him. Me too. I don't know how much of a role he'll have in that offense. I think he's good. They need to get him open. I mean, he can be a downfield playmaker. He consistently burned by consistently. I mean more than anybody else in football. Like he was the Stevie to Revis on Derek Stingley who's on the Texans. Booty beat him for two touchdowns deep. Nobody else like three other guys have beaten Stingley ever. He's beaten him twice, including in the playoffs. So Houston not only got Booty to help their receiver core, they got the one guy that beat Derek Stingley with some success. Yeah, I think he can be a game breaking receiver. The little bit we saw him against the bills again to go and Nico Collins. It's a nice pair. Yeah. C. J. Stroud would think of him. The other thing about the bills and you know, we spent so much time talking about them and their expectations is who got better in the AFC. Well, that's a good question. New England get better. Yes. Did Cincinnati get better? Yes.

14:25Well, they get Joe Burrow back makes it. They do. But they also got a lot of pieces on their defense. Some bigger pieces. Like they went hunting for bigger pieces than the bills did. Dexter Lawrence and boy, I'm off air both bigger pieces than the bills got. So that's a part of it. Did Baltimore get better? Maybe that's a coaching change. Well, that's not about the one that changed. That's a rookie head coach. The discussion the bills are having about Joe Brady. So rookie OC and Declan Doyle who comes out of the Ben Johnson treat did Kansas City get better. I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know. They lost. They who were their corners? Man sort of lane and night on a well. I mean, they're kind of doing I wouldn't say retooling the defense, but they've took some hits there. Yeah. Did the chargers get better? Yes. Try to remember what the chargers did and they changed their offensive coordinators. Oh, that's right. They brought in mechanical. Yeah. They got their tackles back. Yeah. Well, that's huge for them. Right. They're offensive because Herbert gets killed. Did the Broncos get better? They lost a couple pieces on defense, but they had a jail and a bottle. Yeah. So, you know, to only evaluate your own team based on do we look

15:27better than we were at this last year's league? You might have been, but how how's the conference looking? So, but to your point, at least with Denver and New England, you are talking about teams that are rivals of the bills for conference supremacy, bringing in really good weapons to help their passing game, right? The leagues about scoring. The leagues about having a franchise quarterback and putting up points and two of the big rivals in the conference added huge weapons for their passing games. Yeah. I mean, as much as they hate the Patriots, it's a great pick up. Both might be more in and dobs and waddle. Yeah. That's right. I forgot about him. And I love waddle. I think, you know, I'm not a huge bow next guy, but I think waddle is a terrific player. Dan and Jersey Dan. Good morning. Hey, boys. Good morning. Listen, I had a question about expectations. And I was thinking back to you were talking about draft fees in, but I don't want to look ahead to you yet. But I feel like a lot of like the demands around the draft are based on where you

16:30finish this year. And so just thinking about expectations, like, what is a good season look like for you guys both on the defensive side of the ball and on the offensive side? Because for me, I think the offense has to be top three. And if it's not, you got to keep investing in that. And if the defense is top 15, to me, like that's that's a good season. So I'm just curious what you guys think about that. Thanks, Dan. I think there's a glad you said like, what's a good season? Because there's a difference between good season and good outcome. I could have a good season for my defense. They finished 10. How we made your mother is a rewatch podcast that looks back episode by episode at the hit TV show How I Met Your Mother. It's hosted by me, Josh Radner, along with series co creator Craig Thomas. In seasons one and two, we were joined by Neil Patrick Harris, Kobe Smolders, Brian Cranston, Ashley Williams, Wayne Brady, Jennifer Rana Angel, McKenzie Joe Manganello, and my brilliant co creator Carter Bayes. And now we are diving into season three. So whether it's your 50th rewatch or your first time through, follow how we made your mother

17:32wherever you get your podcasts. It's a league. That's a good season. They go to the playoffs and lose to Joe Burrow. That's not a good outcome. But did I get a good defense? You know, where am I in evaluating Jim Leonard and evaluating the last couple drafts where they go so heavy on the defensive line? Just TJ Parker looked like a future star. You know, like there are things they could happen this year. There could be without a doubt good. And the ultimate outcome is not good. Right. Last year, how is the outcome? Not good. They lost in Denver. They fired their coach. What good things happened along the way? Plenty. You know, your offensive line look good. Osiris Torrance. You decided it's good enough to lock into his spot. James Cook led the league in rushing. That's a good season for him. So what's a good season look like for the defense? For me, I would say for me, a good season from the defense is two players on the defense look like certified top of their position guys. And that can be cold bishop and he unwark. Sure. If those two, I think those honestly, that's why I was going to go. It's less about for me

18:32about team stats and rankings. Although I think you've got to be in the top half. If you're not in the top half, that's bad. But it's more about building. Do they have guys that turn out to be huge pieces, cornerstone pieces like Christian Benford has turned out to be a cornerstone piece. You need to identify by the end of this season, you have cornerstone studs on the defensive side of the ball. And I want to say right or wrong, better than Benford, whoever these players that pop are better than Benford. Benford, I saw someone today pointing out that since Christian Gonzalez got paid big, big money. You know, can you believe being got Benford for so much cheaper? And part of that's the passage of time. The other part of it is Benford for whatever reason, underrated or whatever. He doesn't rate. Executives coaches scouts were asked to rank the top corners in football. He didn't make the top 24. Now they might all just be wronged on some level. But I want guys on this defense that it is impossible to miss. And Benford is good. His job might

19:33get tougher this season with a lot more man press. And behind him. And behind him, who knows? So not saying Benford is not good, but I want guys that are unavoidable. I can't possibly say, you know, this guy's underrated. I've had a little too much for my taste of us thinking the bills have all these bargain contracts. Why do they have all these bargain contracts? It's impossible because we think the player is a little better than the league thinks they are. And that's if that's Benford, that's Benford. Whatever. When we talk about it with Joe Marino, Lockdown, Bill's like, he thinks he's the top five corner league. Great. I want him to get a new number because he needs a marketing campaign. I need Bill's players that are undeniably great defensively. I have that on offense with Alan. But I have it with Cook. I have had it with Dawkins. I have had it with you know, Dave. When Diggs was here, that's right. Right. And King Cade is another like what's a good season, but not a good outcome. A good season might be adult and King Cade.

20:34We're not checking the injury report every week. And he puts up 1200 yards and like, Oh, turns out he is a top three tight in the league. I really don't spend much time talking about the offense and like, what's a good season because standard operating procedure for the offense for, I don't know, five, six, seven years now is top five or top three. I fully anticipate that'll happen. I really, what's your concern? What concern would you have about the offensive side of the ball? They did lose one starting offensive lineman. And that's been a very stable unit for a couple of years. What would be your concern over there? Outside of injuries. Yeah. Still receiver depth is a question. Yes. I still, I mean, if we were getting right down to it, I would ask you the biggest weaknesses receiver two might be, but is that okay? Enough weakness to take this team out of a top five scoring spot. Shouldn't be right. Shouldn't be because the quarterback overcomes everything. Yes. So it's really what's happening on the defensive side of the ball. And I think back to the caller's point. Yes. If you could look at it and go man, Colbechup has

21:39turned into one of the top safeties in the league. Hey, Deon Walker's a record on the defensive line. Like if that stuff happens this season, that would be tremendous. Another playmaking line back would be nice too. Yeah. 8030550 is our phone number. And tomorrow Seattle and New England. And then the game in Australia. And did you watch the Michigan outcome last night with or whatever Saturday? I did not. I'm aware of what happened. I did not. I could not bring myself to watching the clip because I can't stand Michigan. And I knew what happened. Did they get screwed? Weston Michigan. Yeah. So as I again, I did not. This is one of those moments where I try and stay away from sports that will stress me out. So I was on Twitter, X whatever. And I saw the tweet that hey, here's this what just happened. Tough break for Weston Michigan. And I watched the video of the incomplete pass. So I knew, okay, there was another down and they won the game. And I really

22:40didn't want to watch it. And I didn't look for the explanation. Guy was out of bounds. Touch the ball or something. Okay. You don't know the whole explanation. Let me give it to you because this blended clock thing is close to blended clock. So but a western Michigan it was a Hail Mary. A western Michigan player was out of bounds. Went up. Touch the ball. Yes. So that they rule a legal touching or something or no, no, the. And the clock ran out. The rules analyst upon review because the game ends. Yeah. We all watched the game end. And then they said the previous play is under review. Okay. Now me watching I thought for what? What's to watch? You can't overturn. Okay. Why they review it was the quarterback ball across the line that would even matter. It's incomplete. Right. They go back and they see that the ball was first touched by a western Michigan player that had jumped while standing out of bounds. Okay. Which would mean as soon as he touches the ball, the balls out of bounds. The clock stops. Oh, right. Problem. He hadn't touched the ball yet. You can see the ball in the air with zero seconds on the clock. And he's jumping for it. Zero's not

23:43touching the ball. Then they put one second back on the clock. No one can understand why. And their explanation after hours later, the big 10 releases a separate video that shows the other clock that no one sees that only the officials have access to. That's not in the stadium. That's not on the broadcast. A different clock. There's a mystery clock. There's a different clock that shows when the player did touch the ball as they said it had there was one second left. Where's this other clock? Secret. Only six people have it. Officials. The officials have that clock. They have their own clock. When did this happen? Turns out the clock you're watching, not the clock. They have their own clock. Oh, and on our clock, there was a second left. Can they put the officials clock on the screen so the rest of us can actually see what the time is? They've all thought that's what's happening the whole time. Turns out now they have their own clock. Oh, no. And it's just the perfect amount of time off to allow you went into the real kick in the T. Wow. You went into the real kick in the T. The real kick in the T is on the prior

24:44play. Michigan got a first down and it was clocked with eight seconds left and they added a second of the clock to go from eight to nine. And then they threw a Hail Mary. We're time expired. And then they added another second to go to one second left and gave West Michigan another Hail Mary. This is why I don't watch sports anymore. Good thing they reviewed it, right? Sunday Sunday, you'll have me back in for my thoughts on replay. Well, then Michigan stormed the field. So if you hate Michigan, the good news is you get to make fun of that forever. They storm the field because they beat Western Michigan. Yes. Come on. They should not get a home game the rest of the season. That should be the penalty. No more home games. The rest, it's and I love the Mac. Western Michigan. Bo Shembeck would be turning over in his grave. I can't believe they stole these guys. The best part of the best part was they had Kyle Wittingham on the field after like right away in the pandemic. Yeah. And the reporter asks him, you know, about the moment. He's he's very much like

25:49we should and then the question is, would you learn about your team? And he goes like this. That we got a lot of work to do. Yes, they do. No offense, but man. All right. Anything else? We're all good. We're all good. Up. I should go back and watch those Hail Mary's one more time. Don't do that to yourself. Just free, free memo to every coach in the world. Blitz on a Hail Mary. Send someone. Did they rush two or three? Rush like four. Yeah. Go get him. Lord knows we have no experience with Hail Mary's burning a team around here. I mean twice, but we're any of consequence. I guess the Arizona game. Helmery one. Yeah. Yeah. Well, have a great season. Thank you. Thank you. What's your official prediction? Did you do that yet? My official prediction is this. I have a narrative prediction. The defense takes a step back. And because of that, the offense will have to do more,

26:52we'll play faster, we'll have more passes, they will score more points. Alan will have his best statistical season in like three or four years. And it'll be ironic because people will say that's because McDermott stopped controlling the offense when in reality is because McDermott stopped controlling the defense. Yeah. I liked your question the other day. Four points from the offense are four fewer points by the defense. I'd go with four more points. Where they coming from. It's all it's I mean, that's why I've always wanted them to get a receipt here this morning. Again, I fully anticipate the defense in January will look better than the defense we see Sunday. But right now I would tell you they need four more points from the offense. You going any of these games? New high mark? You got plans? No, I can't afford the ticket. I'm going me. I'll take you to a game. Is it free? Are you going to charge me like you did for the Carolina playoff game? What about face value? Something on what is face value? It's not secondary market value. I went on the secondary market the other day. The only game was it was the Jets game in January was the cheapest ticket on the secondary market. And that was still I don't know, 200 something.

27:58Just wait. Just wait. Right now the cheapest. Right now the cheapest ticket to Detroit is back up. Oh, I'm not even thinking about that. But it went again, like is it 400 or 500 about the price of tickets that's using secondary tickets is just a lie of a story. Yes, it is. I do that does what for me four months ago. The price was $680. Two weeks ago it was $350. Right now it's 412. Yeah. Well, if you invite me, I would consider going face value. Okay. I got to check and see if my limited income account can afford that. Can you make it all the way up to the upper deck? Because I'm way up there. Yesterday. So I, you know, I do tours in the falls. They just opened up a new thing called the cataract stairs. It goes from the bottom at the boat level all the way up to the top of prospect point. Set of stairs. Over 300 steps. Wow. Did that yesterday? I wasn't suggesting it like you couldn't do it. I mean the height. You were? No, like the heights. We got up to my our seats and my wife looked down and I thought

28:59like her face went wedge like whoa. It is that steep. It's pretty steep. I will tell you in the old odd, you were never in the odd. Where are you? No, but I've been in the carrier dome. In the old. Okay. So in the old odd, the oranges were the top seats. I was always scared to walk down to my row in the oranges because I thought if I tumble, I will collapse down the steps go flying over the railing and hit down below and die. It was scary walking in the, so if it's that steep, the stadiums pretty steep walking down to your seat would be just kind of be careful. But I can handle steps. You let me know. All right. Thanks for coming in. Nice to see you. Nice see you too. Always a pleasure. Go bills. Go bills. We're picking the bills. I think someday this week with all of your recorded voice version of it. So you know, 17 and oh, I'll be picking them just using your voice. Okay. So actually your pick. Yeah, but in my pick, I would like people to know that it's your pick. So when the complaints come in, please send them to Jeremy. I'm still going to call it Howard picks the bills. I'm just going to guess what you would pick.

30:02Is that copyright infringement trademark packing anything? Can I get money from that? I think no, because I invented it. No, that's a very good point. Dolly noted. Thank you. All right. Thanks for coming in. All right. Howard Simon here. Jeremy and Joe back in a moment here. What haven't we got to? Oh, let's get the quick little hell of a update. Insiders are talking about a little bit more and talks of a three team trade. Three teams may be getting involved to make it happen and the Sabers goalie going out. Notice a rattle in your ducks or rise in your heating and cooling bills. If you do give bell mapper ring with 0% financing, the cost of upgrading to a high efficiency dual fuel heating system is a breeze. Learn more bell map heating dot com that's bell map heating dot com. Go green save energy and money with bell map schedule a free estimate on your new installation. Give bell map ring at six eight eight seventeen twenty eight for more comfort and less catching give bell map or ring. Just saw coming down the NHL wire that

31:02took Frazier Minton of the Boston Bruins has signed a seven year seven million dollar contract that seven per for seven years. He has played one full season in the NHL and scored 17 goals. He is 21 years old and he just signed the Tage contract. Yeah. And Zeev Buium over the weekend signed a monster deal with Vancouver over nine million, which is also crazy early. But this is like hockey fans have to get ready for the NFL model. This is the passage of time. Yeah, I think I think teams might think that the cap is going to go up more than even we expect and they're trying to just get this all done now because it's going to get crazier and crazier. This is another great example of if you're not trading, you will lose. Yeah. You will not ever find a young player in free agency. Here's a 21 year old who scored 17 goals locked up for seven years. Yeah. He's good, but he's I mean, you said it. You're just never going to find it. Very little. He was as rookie

32:05season. He's 10th in the call. Yeah. And he might be very, very good, but you will just never get a young player. No. And just too hard, which the flip side of that is, you know, like what's consta Helen is going to get in his first contract. Yeah. Seriously, Yarmul might want to think about this. We can all sit here and talk about how much you love. Kool-Eak, Oslin, Helen, you're am I missing one in there? Who's the other one? Kool-Eak. Oslin, that's the three. Yeah, that's the three. Okay. If all three of them become who you think they're going to be, that's massive gobs and gobs of money. And maybe you're going to think, I am only going to want to pay two of the three. And then I'm going to want to have one that I've drafted or developed. So, you know, young players are worth a lot because you have not yet paid them a lot. And the flip side is you soon will. Yeah, they absolutely. And that's part of I think why I think it might have been smart to burn a year off of consta's deal last year. For sure. Get burn that. Get that done. It was you can get closer to

33:05assigning him long term. It's earlier. It's been something to see for a while. Wow, burning a year. It's been quite obvious. There's a good reason to do it. Yep. To get a guy to sign quicker because you can't sign them until they get to a certain, it's not like football. You can just sign them tomorrow. Right. You have to wait. Couldn't do the Christian Gonzalez thing. Right. Like get the deal. I need the deal now. Even though I'm under team control for another three years. Right. Right. We've got to do it. We've got to play it out. And, you know, you get one year out. So they're closer to that consta extension than they would be had they waited. And I think that's going to end up benefiting them if the cap does do what I think everybody thinks it's going to do. And that's that's good smart business, I think. NHL training camps open in a week. Yes, they do. Pretty much one week from tomorrow. The preseason begins the 19th. We're 11 days from the start of the NHL preseason sneaking up. Yeah. And I'd mentioned.

34:06Hey, it's Jen Hatmaker. Here's what I've learned in midlife. Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done. Joy is the work. That's what this new series on for the love is all about. The sacred. Yes. It's choosing delight, rest and pleasure on purpose because saying yes to yourself, that's the thing that finally lets you fill your table with everybody else. Come find your sacred. Yes, with me. Follow and listen to For the Love wherever you get your podcasts. The latest on Connor, hellabuck. I would imagine the sabers are still very much courting. That's the that's the buzz. The insiders have it as they're still doing that. So a few pieces over the weekend, one from Elliott Friedman, one from Jeff Merrick. Friedman long weekend. So this might have been Friday or Saturday said the Jets have Stuart Skinner. They're going to need another goalie. Is there another goalie? They're willing to say, hey, that gives us an acceptable tandem for what we're about to lose. Carolina Buffalo have extra

35:08goalies speculated to be available. Jeff Merrick said as part of the Securus and Price show. He has a wide frame of teams he can be traded to. We're all wonder wondering, okay, how does he get to Buffalo? Is there a three way deal here? New Jersey involved. Carolina, do they come in San Jose? The idea that I saw most recently suggested was that Alex Lion would be on the move. Yeah. And that's how they would make this happen. Now, if the sabers were to do that, now they have a cap crunch and they have to do something because I don't think they can. They're not going to you're not going to want to have Luke and Anne. Right. And and hellabuck's deals. It's not a deal breaker that it would be that you'd have both of them. But I just I don't think that I don't think they coexist as goal tenders, let alone the contracts. Right. So I think that that would come with a corresponding move. I would assume. I think no matter what, if the

36:10sabers trade for hellabuck, Luke and Anne is no longer on the same. Whether he's in the deal or not. It's a matter of time. It's he's done. It's that you would job as Phil. He would ask out. Yeah. He's got a he'd want to leave. It's just not a spot where you want to be behind that guy. As a goalie that thinks you can play 50 plus games. And so the three team deal, I brought this up I like before the draft as an ideal with Carolina because part of the deal with Winnipeg is they want a young guy that could potentially be a long-term starter. Buffalo doesn't other than Luke and in who it doesn't sound like wants to go have that to offer unless they really think highly of Colt Nellis. But I don't think that's going to be in a deal for hellabuck that just doesn't feel like it's a piece that they'd be interested enough in. And my my thought was trade lion to to Carolina and get them to send Kachakov up to Winnipeg because they Carolina's very comfortable with a rotating set of goalies. And lion I think would fit very well what they do. He's

37:14very consistent. He plays a style that I think would be a really good fit with Carolina. And I think it would make sense. They would be willing to do it because that's a that's the kind of thing they do. Freddie Anderson, they've got all kinds of guys that are I think of the lion archetype. Yeah. And that I think could solve one of the issues that Winnipeg is facing that there's not what they want out there. That could be a way around that problem with Buffalo. And because I don't think Carolina or New Jersey, two of the teams that Merrick mentioned as possibilities in a three team trade would be that interested in hellabuck himself. Those are two. I've said I've made this point about Sonny Mata and and Eric Tulski and Caroline is the same way. Hyper analytically focused general managers and a 33 year old goalie that had a down year is not a hyper analytical guy move. It's just not. The analytics will tell you you can get by with anybody in net and those guys are more likely to follow that philosophy than anybody. And so therefore I think it makes sense for them to

38:20say, well, if we could add a piece we think might be 20% better or more consistent for us in net by getting a veteran and moving out a young guy that's been hurt for us a lot. Could check off. I think that would make sense. And so I think there's a real possibility of a three way deal getting done here if the sabers do end up acquiring hellabuck. Extend those sports coming up. We'll keep you up there in hellabuck if anything changes there. But yeah, training camps pretty much a week from tomorrow Thursday. And the NHL's preseason begins next weekend. Not this one. Not this coming weekend. The weekend after this coming weekend. That's next weekend. Feel like maybe we should argue about that. Anyway, Extend those sports in the North Town automotive extra point show.

39:23This is Buffalo Bill's gear jerseys hats, T's hoodies, sideline gear and more. Check out their exclusive tailgate club collection made for Buffalo tailgate season featuring Buffalo theme T's, hoodies hats and accessories, including the popular nobody tailgates like us styles, whether you're tailgating, heading to the game or watching from home, the BFL store has you covered shop four locations at BFL shop.com, the BFL store, the official retail destination of west to New York. I went to an MLS game this weekend. I went to see the Columbus crew. And it was awesome. Beautiful 20,000 person stadium stadium. Just man. You know, there's an old proverb. Is it a proverb? The best time to plant a tree is now? No, sorry. It's the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago. The second best time is now, right? Columbus, the crew are 30 years old, 1996. Wow. 30 years ago they planted a tree and man, I am jealous. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful,

40:26beautiful soccer stadium, great seats, great sight lines, food, breweries, beers, pizza, bustling scene, like Columbus is a cool city. And I mean, I've been to the football stadium to a block ice game, bit into the blue jackets, where the savers opened the season by the way in like three weeks. Yep. One, two, three weeks and two days. It's come a quick. Three weeks and two days, the savers have a game that counts. And the crew. And we walk right by the baseball stadium all down there as well with a clippers play. But man, it made me jealous. So anyway, very cool, very cool. What else happened? Yeah, I don't know. How do Arsenal do? No one. Arsenal beat Chelsea. Big win, big win. United absolutely blue. One goalied twice in the last 20 minutes of the game. Again, saverson against Everton. It's not good. They're new center back. Absolutely screamed one

41:27in the 95th minute to get it to a draw. It was a heck of a shot. It was really something. It was like a, it was like a, a defenseman coming off the bench, like walking into a one-timer full speed from the blue line and just like hammering it through the, through the net. Yeah, Arsenal beat Chelsea. They were down one nothing at two minutes in and came back to win two one. Check out the second goal. There's a beautiful like, what looks cooler than when there's a dummy, right? Where the pass goes, you pretend to take it. Yeah, you dummy out. Howard, man, it was pretty nice to get stuff. They won. All they do is win. Champions League games today and tomorrow, by the way. All right, we're back tomorrow with Joe Marino among others. John Harris, too, Texan Southern reporting. The podcast campus files is back with more stories of scandal, crime, and intrigue on college campuses. Campus files available now wherever you get your podcasts.