00:00:07
Speaker 1: Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is... I'm Will Pelagic.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: Ah, jeez.
00:00:18
Speaker 3: We're having fun off the air, too. Slightly different discussion, but having fun off the air. We're going to have fun on the air right now. The P-Man is in the house. He is in the building, literally in the building. He's going to fill in again for Colin. Are you doing Charlotte sports today, every day, the rest of the week?
00:00:34
Speaker 1: Just tomorrow. I think he's back Friday. Okay, so today and tomorrow. All right, sweet, man. That is cool. I tried to compliment. Did you hear when I tried to compliment you earlier? Which time?
00:00:44
Speaker 3: And it backfired. I was saying, basically, we're stalling because Westy was late. His alarm clock had a problem with his alarm clock in Columbus.
00:00:51
Speaker 1: You know what that means? Westy's going to score tonight because he was late for y'all. Got a little extra rest. I like that.
00:00:56
Speaker 3: But I brought up your comment. You said people say, man, those boys are giving you a hard time. They must not like you. And I was explaining it's the complete opposite. We can have fun with you, even though we get mad at each other. We can have fun on the air. And I like that. And then I started, how did I get into this? Somehow, it led to Bone.
00:01:14
Speaker 2: Me and Fitty are tied as his number one co-workers.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
00:01:16
Speaker 3: I still said my guys are my two favorite co-workers, and Bone was upset he didn't rank number one.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: I just thought after two decades, I'd have a... solidified number one ranking. No offense to Finney, I just thought, just based off all we've done together in this two.
00:01:30
Speaker 1: Decades, that would be number one. In Mac's attempt for diplomacy, he has now caused consternation.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: I know.
00:01:34
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. I tried to be Switzerland on it, man. It backfired on me.
00:01:38
Speaker 2: I respect the effort, but I thought even Finney would say Bones is probably number one.
00:01:41
Speaker 1: He did. Finney didn't want that stuff. This is not knowing your personnel, Mac. You have to know your personnel. You have to know that... One of them is very sensitive. Exactly. And needs adulation. And you know that 50 probably just doesn't care. He doesn't have to be here. Exactly. Wait, wait, wait. I'm the sensitive one? I just want, I just, I thought I earned that ranking. You've looked yourself in the mirror. Yes, Bone. I earned that ranking.
00:02:03
Speaker 3: And then Bone spits out that Willie ranks sixth on his co-worker rankings.
00:02:07
Speaker 1: Or fifth? Where did you rank Willie? No, he's top five. You're not top five.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: No. I have you as co-number one. I never said you were my top five. I can't even be in the top five. Oh, man.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: All right, P-Man.
00:02:19
Speaker 2: I've got Mark with a C, James, number three. Before we get into Charlotte FC... Oh, the only one there.
00:02:24
Speaker 3: Oh, there are so many questions about where Mark James ranked among our co-workers all time.
00:02:30
Speaker 1: That list is sponsored by Orange Julius.
00:02:32
Speaker 3: All right, before we get into Charlotte FC, because it is a match day today against Columbus, I do want to ask you about something we talked about last hour.
00:02:40
Speaker 1: The panther fan kind of paranoia about.
00:02:42
Speaker 3: This game and i do get it it's like when you look at a matchup and say like they're wounded we're starting to get some guys back we're the better team we should win it's going to lead to some panther fans feeling like oh no we're going to mess this up how do you do you feel that kind of worry about the eagles could rise up in this game well.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: Last time i was confident about a game going uh into the panthers and the eagles it was lock city and uh I don't want to relive what happened when I did that. So much for that 3-0 start that year, bro. Anytime I see the Eagles, I get a little scar tissue there. But at the same point in time, I do think there's reason to have optimism. I'm not very in love with their skill position talent right now because of all the injuries, not having Bigsby, not having Shipley. Their wide receiver room is also depleted a little bit as well. I mean, they still have Dallas Gardner, which is– somebody who can really punish the Panther defense, although You think about what Devin Lloyd has done. He's really changed the way that they play defense at the linebacker position. That could help the Panthers as well, along with Bobby Okereke. And I think they'll be able to score a little bit. I know that Pavel won't score as much as they did say against the Lions or even the Bears, but I do think there's a situation where you have to at least like the Panthers a lot more going into this game than I think you would have thought going into the year. I don't think it's an automatic winnable game, but I don't think it's one where you look at it and say the Panthers don't have an opportunity to come and upset the apple cart here.
00:04:09
Speaker 2: How sustainable do you think the offensive start is with Bryce and the fellas?
00:04:13
Speaker 1: I think because of so much that so much that's happened against Bryce has given them the ability to have it be sustainable. Like, The fact that he is completing all these passes against a significant amount of pressure, the offensive line not being as stout as you would have liked it to be, and also just having the wide receiver unit also be a little bit depleted. Schrappe and I were talking about this yesterday, and he says part of the reason he thinks that Bryce, number one, deserves the money and it can be sustainable is that you're going to have to make cuts somewhere. And you know you have high-priced guards. You have high-priced pieces across the offensive part of it. They're probably going to have to take the hit somewhere in order to pay Bryce. As a result of that, you know that Bryce, because of what he's done over the first four weeks with a deficient offensive line, And with really two of his three wide receivers, top wide receivers out of the lineup, he's still doing this and putting up these kind of numbers. That, I think, is the most encouraging part of what Bryce has done and part of the reason why I think the offensive numbers can be sustainable. Think about also the fact that outside of two halves, we really haven't seen a sustained running game either. So I think there's a lot of reason to think that this can not only sustain where it's been, but even also improve once they get pieces back. I like it. I like it, P-Man. Well said. Maybe we ought to move him up in the rankings, Bo. Four. He's on the four now.
00:05:31
Speaker 2: Four.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: Someone asked a great question for P-Man. Great question.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: No one has asked P-Man this. Who is his favorite co-worker? I answered it for you.
00:05:38
Speaker 1: Anna Witte.
00:05:40
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:05:40
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Okay. Okay. Anna, I mean, obviously, Fitty. Fitty's my dude. You know, I'm a Shambi pal. Always seems like it. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's interesting. Fitty's my Shambi pal. So what is.
00:05:51
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:05:53
Speaker 3: So y'all are kind of like that couple that is love or hate. Because when you guys have fallouts, it gets ugly.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: I mean, we have our disagreements. We have our consternation. But I think at the end of the day, we hug it out and we're happy with each other.
00:06:08
Speaker 2: Can I tell you what it is? Fitty's got an ability to bother and pester and annoy people. But Fiddy also has the ability to also suck up like no other also. He's got this dual threat ability. He will get in the muck with you and annoy you. But then when he comes in in the morning, hey, Travis, how are you? What's going on, man? You see it downstairs when he comes in.
00:06:28
Speaker 1: Fiddy's greatest deficiency, if I can call it a deficiency, is that he feels the need to know everything. And he needs to make you know that he knows everything. And sometimes the things that he knows come out in inopportune times. That's all it is. And they come out of his backside.
00:06:44
Speaker 3: I love the way we're talking about Finney like he's not in the room right now.
00:06:47
Speaker 1: I always pretend like he's not. Hey, guys.
00:06:51
Speaker 3: Fit does have a heart of gold. He just doesn't show it all the time.
00:06:54
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Sometimes he shows his ass. I think... Other times he shows his heart. I think Matty Patty has softened him a little bit. Oh, how about that? It might be happening. It might be happening. All right. Let's see. Where were we?
00:07:07
Speaker 2: Anna probably has to be first just because I work on her on the most close-up issues. Yeah, plus she is 50 times more likable than all of us. You know what I mean?
00:07:14
Speaker 1: Let's call it what it is.
00:07:15
Speaker 3: She was number one on our list. I got no problem with that. All right, so let's talk about FC. Tonight they got Columbus. There are some permutations, right, where they win and they get a couple results and they get into playoffs.
00:07:26
Speaker 1: There's like three different things that have to happen. It's always the first time it comes up. It's usually one of those things where it's like, You got to have 50,000. It's just a matter of time, but we need seating. We need a, we need home playoff advantage. Again, we need to advance. Like, let's start there.
00:07:43
Speaker 3: I said this to Westy and Westy said, I agree with you, but he also said, you know, I want a trophy. He says, I'm not really happy until I get the, get a trophy. So I will ask you like, to me as an FC fan, win a round in the playoffs like i'm not even asking for anything huge it's just they can't it's going to be seen as an astronomical disappointment if they bow.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: Out in round one again they have to get beyond the first round i think but i also believe that when you get past the first round it becomes a singular knockout tournament then i think everything's on the table i mean i i wouldn't Maybe this is me sounding selfish. I want to win two rounds. I want to get to a conference final. I want to get deep in this postseason because I think the biggest part of this, from my perspective, is that Charlotte FC has got a lot of guys who are on expiring contracts right now. This core, I'm not going to sit here and say it's going to get broken up, but this core is probably playing one of its last rounds together. when you think about a lot of these guys who are aging and those kinds of things, they're going to have to make some tough decisions on some guys. And you might have to take a step back in order to replenish a lot of those assets in the sprint season and even beyond. So my whole thing is this, the reason they go out and get a guy like an Abdullahi Decore is because they think they can win now. And while we've talked about Nashville being kind of far and away the best team in the East, I don't think they're unbeatable. I don't think any team, in the path of Charlotte FC is unbeatable. So I think they feel like they can have a genuine opportunity to go and do something special with this team. And I think also they've proven since the World Cup break they've beaten everybody except Chicago. I know. Who I don't want to play in the playoffs. I'm not as scared of Chicago as I normally would be in a situation where Charlotte's lost to them twice because I think that last game is very much an outlier. Even though they were missing more players, we were missing more attacking threats. And that's a hard, hard thing to not have with you when you're not– When you're playing short and deficient, all those guys. So you saw how important Aloka was off the bench. He was missing in that contest. He's got a start tonight, doesn't he? He deserves a start after that. I don't know if you take him out of the bench role, though. Yeah, he is a super sub. That's the thing. Dean Smith has put forth a team now that can change. games from the bench. I don't know if you want to mess that up. And I think that's something that they did not have last year. Him against tired defenders. They didn't have that last year. They didn't have it the first year because of the depth. They missed Pep Biel as well. So I think this is one of the things where you look at it and you say— This is a team that's perfectly positioned to do something special. Hell of a point. Hell of a point. Brilliant. That's just brilliant. Hey, did I move up the rankings? I didn't rank you yet.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: I know.
00:10:25
Speaker 1: I don't even think I appeared on the rankings, Bone, for Willie's favorite co-workers. Still receiving votes.
00:10:30
Speaker 2: Ishmael from the text line says.
00:10:34
Speaker 1: It's not a heart of gold for Fitty. It's a heart full of plaque. Oh, my God. Plaque. Oh, that is lovely. That's not nice. That is lovely. That's not right. Oh, my God. Big Pain says Fitty's quads are undeniable. I agree. Quads fueled by Jersey Mike's. There you go, baby. We named him yesterday, Quadsworth Shortfellow. Henry Quadsworth Shortfellow.
00:10:59
Speaker 3: That's his poetry writing name. Quadsworth.
00:11:03
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. All right, so we wanted to ask you about this Wegmans thing.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Sure.
00:11:07
Speaker 1: There's a big to-do in Ballantyne. This Wegmans— I'm familiar.
00:11:10
Speaker 3: is opening up, and, I mean, people are losing their minds, and it definitely seems like it's a lot of people from upstate New York, which we have many of here.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
00:11:18
Speaker 3: Going crazy, probably in their Bill Zubaz pants over there right now.
00:11:22
Speaker 2: They're wearing giant buffalo heads. Oh, my God. You have been to Wegmans. Is it all that?
00:11:30
Speaker 3: A lot of people on the text line are saying, Mac, you can poo-poo it, but it's just amazing.
00:11:34
Speaker 1: What is it all about? I think the hype for Wegmans is similar for the hype around something like Buc-ee's, where They take something that appears ordinary, like a gas station or a grocery store, and they elevate it. Now, the thing about Wegmans, the footprint is larger than any grocery store you've ever been in, maybe short of a Costco, so to speak. The outer edges of the restaurant or the– Grocery store is basically like a restaurant. It's like a buffet there, right? Not quite a buffet, but they have very prepared meals and those kind of things. So you can sit and eat in the Wegmans. It's almost one of those things. So that's, I think, the big attraction. And the other part of it is the prepared meals, like the gold plate meals they have. It's what they call it, or a gold pan, whatever it's called. That's the real, I think, differentiator. Now, every grocery store does this now, but they do it to a level and a breadth of options that- I don't think many other grocery stores have. So I think those are the big attractions that differentiate it from another grocery store. Is it going to keep me from going to Teeter or Publix? No, because those things are more convenient for me where I live. But if I'm riding home from Matthews and I'm passing Ballantyne, I need something, a little quick dinner on the way home. Yeah, I'll probably stop at Wegmans. Or if I need a little lunch key, I'll go and stop at Wegmans. So you're saying it is worth the hype, though.
00:12:46
Speaker 3: Because a lot of people are kind of rolling their eyes at the hype today.
00:12:52
Speaker 1: Again, it's kind of how you rolled your eyes at the hype for Buc-ee's. It's not for everybody, apparently.
00:12:57
Speaker 2: What's been your favorite Joe Bruno tweet today about the people tailgating, the people chanting, the cheering for the produce, or the running to the meat counter?
00:13:06
Speaker 1: The... People getting all up in their arms about the Taste of Buffalo counter thing, they have a lot of those things at Teeter and Publix. Like, they have the Hoffman hot dogs and the Salem hot dogs at Teeter. I mean, I know there's, like, some buffalo dip. Somebody was tweeting me about this boss sauce or whatever. I've never heard of that before. That's weird. You're the sauce boss, and you don't know about the boss sauce. Apparently, we have a rivalry now between me and somebody in upstate New York. But again, all it is is personifying how many upstate New Yorkers we have here, which is a lot. Yeah, that's true. I mean, it seems like every one of them is in Ballantyne. Joe tweeted out, if you wanted to kind of round them all up and deport them back to Buffalo. Is that the plan here? Maybe that's a sting operation. Could be a bait and switch scenario.
00:13:49
Speaker 3: Bone, I think it's a salesman sting operation to gather all the Buffalonians together and then just get them out. All at the same time.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: Are the Buffalonians worse than the Ohioans?
00:13:58
Speaker 2: Bruno tweeted out 684 parking spots all filled in 20 minutes today.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: I don't find the Buffalonians that annoying until we play the Bills.
00:14:11
Speaker 3: I'm not bothered by Bills fans. I know some people on the text line are going to get mad at me. I think the Bills fans are a fun group. I think they're regular Joes, regular people. The Ohio thing, I'm not even saying y'all are bad people. It's the Buckeye thing for me. I just can't stand your football team. And man, when you talk about your football team, holy obnoxiousness.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: You see a car on the side of the road in 77, it's Better than even odds that it's an Ohio plate. There is a pipeline. No doubt about it. Will you have a swine today? I'm angry at the L.A. Rams for cutting my guy Muddy Mevis. I know he missed one kick during the game on Monday Night Football, but when the game was blocked, how is that his fault? Didn't get it up enough. Didn't get enough elevation on it. The guy came through the line. Questions on his focus are also there. Oh, stop it. But he focused on the buffet instead or something?
00:15:03
Speaker 2: A lot of ladies on Instagram, they've been looking at all his likes.
00:15:09
Speaker 3: I'm surprised he wasn't liking all the restaurant Instagram accounts.
00:15:13
Speaker 1: He's in Los Angeles. He's not allowed to window shop. He's not a married man. He's fine.
00:15:16
Speaker 2: He's not the person that Trump called fat, right, the other day. That's someone different. I don't think that's correct. But yeah, I'm angry at the Rams. I like my guy, Money Mivas. Yeah, I figured that would hurt you, man. I think maybe he's the fall guy just for special teams that is horrible.
00:15:30
Speaker 1: Just in general, right? It's okay. Sean McPhail will find something else. That's all right. Your Mizzou Tigers are flying high, baby. They're flying. Now, here's the thing.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: I have done a mea culpa. I have said that I underestimated Mizzou. I am humbly asking for your forgiveness. We're going to lose to Ole Miss now this week.
00:15:46
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say, though. This is what's happening.
00:15:48
Speaker 3: Do you fear that now that everybody has finally said, okay, we're off your back, you guys are legit, do you fear that this is where you trip up?
00:15:55
Speaker 1: They're no shame if they do. They've got like four tough games left. This is probably the fourth toughest. They have to host Oklahoma. They've got to play Texas and Georgia still as well, so It's going to end at some point. I hope it doesn't end in Oxford, Mississippi, amongst the Grove and all the scenery there. But outside of that, I don't fear this game as much as I feared others on their schedule. But at the same point in time, there's still a lot to fear for me, and I still have to get proven that they can be more consistent than they've been over the course of this season. And also the Florida victory is looking less and less impressive by the week because even South Carolina can beat Florida. Oh, my God. Move him down to about 10th bone on the rankings.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: I was going to ask you what's coming up at 10 today, but I no longer care.
Speaker 1: Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is... I'm Will Pelagic.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: Ah, jeez.
00:00:18
Speaker 3: We're having fun off the air, too. Slightly different discussion, but having fun off the air. We're going to have fun on the air right now. The P-Man is in the house. He is in the building, literally in the building. He's going to fill in again for Colin. Are you doing Charlotte sports today, every day, the rest of the week?
00:00:34
Speaker 1: Just tomorrow. I think he's back Friday. Okay, so today and tomorrow. All right, sweet, man. That is cool. I tried to compliment. Did you hear when I tried to compliment you earlier? Which time?
00:00:44
Speaker 3: And it backfired. I was saying, basically, we're stalling because Westy was late. His alarm clock had a problem with his alarm clock in Columbus.
00:00:51
Speaker 1: You know what that means? Westy's going to score tonight because he was late for y'all. Got a little extra rest. I like that.
00:00:56
Speaker 3: But I brought up your comment. You said people say, man, those boys are giving you a hard time. They must not like you. And I was explaining it's the complete opposite. We can have fun with you, even though we get mad at each other. We can have fun on the air. And I like that. And then I started, how did I get into this? Somehow, it led to Bone.
00:01:14
Speaker 2: Me and Fitty are tied as his number one co-workers.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
00:01:16
Speaker 3: I still said my guys are my two favorite co-workers, and Bone was upset he didn't rank number one.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: I just thought after two decades, I'd have a... solidified number one ranking. No offense to Finney, I just thought, just based off all we've done together in this two.
00:01:30
Speaker 1: Decades, that would be number one. In Mac's attempt for diplomacy, he has now caused consternation.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: I know.
00:01:34
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. I tried to be Switzerland on it, man. It backfired on me.
00:01:38
Speaker 2: I respect the effort, but I thought even Finney would say Bones is probably number one.
00:01:41
Speaker 1: He did. Finney didn't want that stuff. This is not knowing your personnel, Mac. You have to know your personnel. You have to know that... One of them is very sensitive. Exactly. And needs adulation. And you know that 50 probably just doesn't care. He doesn't have to be here. Exactly. Wait, wait, wait. I'm the sensitive one? I just want, I just, I thought I earned that ranking. You've looked yourself in the mirror. Yes, Bone. I earned that ranking.
00:02:03
Speaker 3: And then Bone spits out that Willie ranks sixth on his co-worker rankings.
00:02:07
Speaker 1: Or fifth? Where did you rank Willie? No, he's top five. You're not top five.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: No. I have you as co-number one. I never said you were my top five. I can't even be in the top five. Oh, man.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: All right, P-Man.
00:02:19
Speaker 2: I've got Mark with a C, James, number three. Before we get into Charlotte FC... Oh, the only one there.
00:02:24
Speaker 3: Oh, there are so many questions about where Mark James ranked among our co-workers all time.
00:02:30
Speaker 1: That list is sponsored by Orange Julius.
00:02:32
Speaker 3: All right, before we get into Charlotte FC, because it is a match day today against Columbus, I do want to ask you about something we talked about last hour.
00:02:40
Speaker 1: The panther fan kind of paranoia about.
00:02:42
Speaker 3: This game and i do get it it's like when you look at a matchup and say like they're wounded we're starting to get some guys back we're the better team we should win it's going to lead to some panther fans feeling like oh no we're going to mess this up how do you do you feel that kind of worry about the eagles could rise up in this game well.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: Last time i was confident about a game going uh into the panthers and the eagles it was lock city and uh I don't want to relive what happened when I did that. So much for that 3-0 start that year, bro. Anytime I see the Eagles, I get a little scar tissue there. But at the same point in time, I do think there's reason to have optimism. I'm not very in love with their skill position talent right now because of all the injuries, not having Bigsby, not having Shipley. Their wide receiver room is also depleted a little bit as well. I mean, they still have Dallas Gardner, which is– somebody who can really punish the Panther defense, although You think about what Devin Lloyd has done. He's really changed the way that they play defense at the linebacker position. That could help the Panthers as well, along with Bobby Okereke. And I think they'll be able to score a little bit. I know that Pavel won't score as much as they did say against the Lions or even the Bears, but I do think there's a situation where you have to at least like the Panthers a lot more going into this game than I think you would have thought going into the year. I don't think it's an automatic winnable game, but I don't think it's one where you look at it and say the Panthers don't have an opportunity to come and upset the apple cart here.
00:04:09
Speaker 2: How sustainable do you think the offensive start is with Bryce and the fellas?
00:04:13
Speaker 1: I think because of so much that so much that's happened against Bryce has given them the ability to have it be sustainable. Like, The fact that he is completing all these passes against a significant amount of pressure, the offensive line not being as stout as you would have liked it to be, and also just having the wide receiver unit also be a little bit depleted. Schrappe and I were talking about this yesterday, and he says part of the reason he thinks that Bryce, number one, deserves the money and it can be sustainable is that you're going to have to make cuts somewhere. And you know you have high-priced guards. You have high-priced pieces across the offensive part of it. They're probably going to have to take the hit somewhere in order to pay Bryce. As a result of that, you know that Bryce, because of what he's done over the first four weeks with a deficient offensive line, And with really two of his three wide receivers, top wide receivers out of the lineup, he's still doing this and putting up these kind of numbers. That, I think, is the most encouraging part of what Bryce has done and part of the reason why I think the offensive numbers can be sustainable. Think about also the fact that outside of two halves, we really haven't seen a sustained running game either. So I think there's a lot of reason to think that this can not only sustain where it's been, but even also improve once they get pieces back. I like it. I like it, P-Man. Well said. Maybe we ought to move him up in the rankings, Bo. Four. He's on the four now.
00:05:31
Speaker 2: Four.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: Someone asked a great question for P-Man. Great question.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: No one has asked P-Man this. Who is his favorite co-worker? I answered it for you.
00:05:38
Speaker 1: Anna Witte.
00:05:40
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:05:40
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Okay. Okay. Anna, I mean, obviously, Fitty. Fitty's my dude. You know, I'm a Shambi pal. Always seems like it. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's interesting. Fitty's my Shambi pal. So what is.
00:05:51
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:05:53
Speaker 3: So y'all are kind of like that couple that is love or hate. Because when you guys have fallouts, it gets ugly.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: I mean, we have our disagreements. We have our consternation. But I think at the end of the day, we hug it out and we're happy with each other.
00:06:08
Speaker 2: Can I tell you what it is? Fitty's got an ability to bother and pester and annoy people. But Fiddy also has the ability to also suck up like no other also. He's got this dual threat ability. He will get in the muck with you and annoy you. But then when he comes in in the morning, hey, Travis, how are you? What's going on, man? You see it downstairs when he comes in.
00:06:28
Speaker 1: Fiddy's greatest deficiency, if I can call it a deficiency, is that he feels the need to know everything. And he needs to make you know that he knows everything. And sometimes the things that he knows come out in inopportune times. That's all it is. And they come out of his backside.
00:06:44
Speaker 3: I love the way we're talking about Finney like he's not in the room right now.
00:06:47
Speaker 1: I always pretend like he's not. Hey, guys.
00:06:51
Speaker 3: Fit does have a heart of gold. He just doesn't show it all the time.
00:06:54
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Sometimes he shows his ass. I think... Other times he shows his heart. I think Matty Patty has softened him a little bit. Oh, how about that? It might be happening. It might be happening. All right. Let's see. Where were we?
00:07:07
Speaker 2: Anna probably has to be first just because I work on her on the most close-up issues. Yeah, plus she is 50 times more likable than all of us. You know what I mean?
00:07:14
Speaker 1: Let's call it what it is.
00:07:15
Speaker 3: She was number one on our list. I got no problem with that. All right, so let's talk about FC. Tonight they got Columbus. There are some permutations, right, where they win and they get a couple results and they get into playoffs.
00:07:26
Speaker 1: There's like three different things that have to happen. It's always the first time it comes up. It's usually one of those things where it's like, You got to have 50,000. It's just a matter of time, but we need seating. We need a, we need home playoff advantage. Again, we need to advance. Like, let's start there.
00:07:43
Speaker 3: I said this to Westy and Westy said, I agree with you, but he also said, you know, I want a trophy. He says, I'm not really happy until I get the, get a trophy. So I will ask you like, to me as an FC fan, win a round in the playoffs like i'm not even asking for anything huge it's just they can't it's going to be seen as an astronomical disappointment if they bow.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: Out in round one again they have to get beyond the first round i think but i also believe that when you get past the first round it becomes a singular knockout tournament then i think everything's on the table i mean i i wouldn't Maybe this is me sounding selfish. I want to win two rounds. I want to get to a conference final. I want to get deep in this postseason because I think the biggest part of this, from my perspective, is that Charlotte FC has got a lot of guys who are on expiring contracts right now. This core, I'm not going to sit here and say it's going to get broken up, but this core is probably playing one of its last rounds together. when you think about a lot of these guys who are aging and those kinds of things, they're going to have to make some tough decisions on some guys. And you might have to take a step back in order to replenish a lot of those assets in the sprint season and even beyond. So my whole thing is this, the reason they go out and get a guy like an Abdullahi Decore is because they think they can win now. And while we've talked about Nashville being kind of far and away the best team in the East, I don't think they're unbeatable. I don't think any team, in the path of Charlotte FC is unbeatable. So I think they feel like they can have a genuine opportunity to go and do something special with this team. And I think also they've proven since the World Cup break they've beaten everybody except Chicago. I know. Who I don't want to play in the playoffs. I'm not as scared of Chicago as I normally would be in a situation where Charlotte's lost to them twice because I think that last game is very much an outlier. Even though they were missing more players, we were missing more attacking threats. And that's a hard, hard thing to not have with you when you're not– When you're playing short and deficient, all those guys. So you saw how important Aloka was off the bench. He was missing in that contest. He's got a start tonight, doesn't he? He deserves a start after that. I don't know if you take him out of the bench role, though. Yeah, he is a super sub. That's the thing. Dean Smith has put forth a team now that can change. games from the bench. I don't know if you want to mess that up. And I think that's something that they did not have last year. Him against tired defenders. They didn't have that last year. They didn't have it the first year because of the depth. They missed Pep Biel as well. So I think this is one of the things where you look at it and you say— This is a team that's perfectly positioned to do something special. Hell of a point. Hell of a point. Brilliant. That's just brilliant. Hey, did I move up the rankings? I didn't rank you yet.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: I know.
00:10:25
Speaker 1: I don't even think I appeared on the rankings, Bone, for Willie's favorite co-workers. Still receiving votes.
00:10:30
Speaker 2: Ishmael from the text line says.
00:10:34
Speaker 1: It's not a heart of gold for Fitty. It's a heart full of plaque. Oh, my God. Plaque. Oh, that is lovely. That's not nice. That is lovely. That's not right. Oh, my God. Big Pain says Fitty's quads are undeniable. I agree. Quads fueled by Jersey Mike's. There you go, baby. We named him yesterday, Quadsworth Shortfellow. Henry Quadsworth Shortfellow.
00:10:59
Speaker 3: That's his poetry writing name. Quadsworth.
00:11:03
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. All right, so we wanted to ask you about this Wegmans thing.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Sure.
00:11:07
Speaker 1: There's a big to-do in Ballantyne. This Wegmans— I'm familiar.
00:11:10
Speaker 3: is opening up, and, I mean, people are losing their minds, and it definitely seems like it's a lot of people from upstate New York, which we have many of here.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
00:11:18
Speaker 3: Going crazy, probably in their Bill Zubaz pants over there right now.
00:11:22
Speaker 2: They're wearing giant buffalo heads. Oh, my God. You have been to Wegmans. Is it all that?
00:11:30
Speaker 3: A lot of people on the text line are saying, Mac, you can poo-poo it, but it's just amazing.
00:11:34
Speaker 1: What is it all about? I think the hype for Wegmans is similar for the hype around something like Buc-ee's, where They take something that appears ordinary, like a gas station or a grocery store, and they elevate it. Now, the thing about Wegmans, the footprint is larger than any grocery store you've ever been in, maybe short of a Costco, so to speak. The outer edges of the restaurant or the– Grocery store is basically like a restaurant. It's like a buffet there, right? Not quite a buffet, but they have very prepared meals and those kind of things. So you can sit and eat in the Wegmans. It's almost one of those things. So that's, I think, the big attraction. And the other part of it is the prepared meals, like the gold plate meals they have. It's what they call it, or a gold pan, whatever it's called. That's the real, I think, differentiator. Now, every grocery store does this now, but they do it to a level and a breadth of options that- I don't think many other grocery stores have. So I think those are the big attractions that differentiate it from another grocery store. Is it going to keep me from going to Teeter or Publix? No, because those things are more convenient for me where I live. But if I'm riding home from Matthews and I'm passing Ballantyne, I need something, a little quick dinner on the way home. Yeah, I'll probably stop at Wegmans. Or if I need a little lunch key, I'll go and stop at Wegmans. So you're saying it is worth the hype, though.
00:12:46
Speaker 3: Because a lot of people are kind of rolling their eyes at the hype today.
00:12:52
Speaker 1: Again, it's kind of how you rolled your eyes at the hype for Buc-ee's. It's not for everybody, apparently.
00:12:57
Speaker 2: What's been your favorite Joe Bruno tweet today about the people tailgating, the people chanting, the cheering for the produce, or the running to the meat counter?
00:13:06
Speaker 1: The... People getting all up in their arms about the Taste of Buffalo counter thing, they have a lot of those things at Teeter and Publix. Like, they have the Hoffman hot dogs and the Salem hot dogs at Teeter. I mean, I know there's, like, some buffalo dip. Somebody was tweeting me about this boss sauce or whatever. I've never heard of that before. That's weird. You're the sauce boss, and you don't know about the boss sauce. Apparently, we have a rivalry now between me and somebody in upstate New York. But again, all it is is personifying how many upstate New Yorkers we have here, which is a lot. Yeah, that's true. I mean, it seems like every one of them is in Ballantyne. Joe tweeted out, if you wanted to kind of round them all up and deport them back to Buffalo. Is that the plan here? Maybe that's a sting operation. Could be a bait and switch scenario.
00:13:49
Speaker 3: Bone, I think it's a salesman sting operation to gather all the Buffalonians together and then just get them out. All at the same time.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: Are the Buffalonians worse than the Ohioans?
00:13:58
Speaker 2: Bruno tweeted out 684 parking spots all filled in 20 minutes today.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: I don't find the Buffalonians that annoying until we play the Bills.
00:14:11
Speaker 3: I'm not bothered by Bills fans. I know some people on the text line are going to get mad at me. I think the Bills fans are a fun group. I think they're regular Joes, regular people. The Ohio thing, I'm not even saying y'all are bad people. It's the Buckeye thing for me. I just can't stand your football team. And man, when you talk about your football team, holy obnoxiousness.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: You see a car on the side of the road in 77, it's Better than even odds that it's an Ohio plate. There is a pipeline. No doubt about it. Will you have a swine today? I'm angry at the L.A. Rams for cutting my guy Muddy Mevis. I know he missed one kick during the game on Monday Night Football, but when the game was blocked, how is that his fault? Didn't get it up enough. Didn't get enough elevation on it. The guy came through the line. Questions on his focus are also there. Oh, stop it. But he focused on the buffet instead or something?
00:15:03
Speaker 2: A lot of ladies on Instagram, they've been looking at all his likes.
00:15:09
Speaker 3: I'm surprised he wasn't liking all the restaurant Instagram accounts.
00:15:13
Speaker 1: He's in Los Angeles. He's not allowed to window shop. He's not a married man. He's fine.
00:15:16
Speaker 2: He's not the person that Trump called fat, right, the other day. That's someone different. I don't think that's correct. But yeah, I'm angry at the Rams. I like my guy, Money Mivas. Yeah, I figured that would hurt you, man. I think maybe he's the fall guy just for special teams that is horrible.
00:15:30
Speaker 1: Just in general, right? It's okay. Sean McPhail will find something else. That's all right. Your Mizzou Tigers are flying high, baby. They're flying. Now, here's the thing.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: I have done a mea culpa. I have said that I underestimated Mizzou. I am humbly asking for your forgiveness. We're going to lose to Ole Miss now this week.
00:15:46
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say, though. This is what's happening.
00:15:48
Speaker 3: Do you fear that now that everybody has finally said, okay, we're off your back, you guys are legit, do you fear that this is where you trip up?
00:15:55
Speaker 1: They're no shame if they do. They've got like four tough games left. This is probably the fourth toughest. They have to host Oklahoma. They've got to play Texas and Georgia still as well, so It's going to end at some point. I hope it doesn't end in Oxford, Mississippi, amongst the Grove and all the scenery there. But outside of that, I don't fear this game as much as I feared others on their schedule. But at the same point in time, there's still a lot to fear for me, and I still have to get proven that they can be more consistent than they've been over the course of this season. And also the Florida victory is looking less and less impressive by the week because even South Carolina can beat Florida. Oh, my God. Move him down to about 10th bone on the rankings.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: I was going to ask you what's coming up at 10 today, but I no longer care.
