LIVE: How to Cope with the NFL Offseason - Part 2 | HWLYP S5E46

🧀 PACKERS OFFSEASON DEPRESSION 🧀

Tonight we’re breaking down EVERYTHING we do to keep our sanity during the summer as we wait for football to return.

💚🤍💚 Welcome to Hey, We Like Your Pod! — your go-to weekly podcast where we celebrate content creators, highlight the best NFL, Green Bay Packers, and football coverage we’ve personally consumed, and dive deep into the online sports community you love.

Join Dawn Dacquisto and Matt Pickett — girl dad, musician, trombonist, and Packers superfan — every week for a fun, insightful, and jam-packed show that blends sports commentary, creator spotlights, and plenty of laughs. Whether you’re here for the hard-hitting football talk, the Super Superlatives segment where we crown the week’s best takes, or the Origin Stories where we chat with your favorite creators about how they got started, you’ll leave feeling entertained, informed, and connected.

Each Saturday morning, Dawn and Matt bring you a curated roundup of the best NFL, Packers, and football-related content from podcasts, BlueSky, Twitter/X feeds, YouTube channels, blogs and podcasts. They also sprinkle in conversations about other loosely related interests, so you never know when you might discover a new passion or perspective. This is more than just football talk — it’s about building a beloved community where you feel like you’re part of the conversation.

Don’t miss this fun, insightful, and hype-filled conversation to get you ready for kickoff!

📅 Live Show Date (YouTube): Thursdays at 6:30 pm Lambeau Time , or Halftime ...

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Hello and welcome to.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Hey, we like your pod.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

And we're gonna tell you why. Hi, it's Don here with Sneaky Matt. I thought you weren't gonna say we're gonna tell you why there for a sec. You had a little pause. I panicked. I thought my flame was off or something. How are you doing, Maddie? It's good to see you.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

It's good to see you too. I'm happy to be here. I know it's been a while since we've uh done an episode, so happy to be back here. Um, despite the the seeming lack of content to talk about, there's been a lot of really interesting stuff people are doing. I think it's how we we get through the off season is people do weird stuff, which is cool. So um, yeah, just really happy to be here and enjoying the summer and about to go on a couple little trips. So I'm doing great. How about you, Don?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yay, I'm doing great too. Um we're having our heat wave, it's 75, and everyone's fainting. But uh sadly, we're having what up in Wisconsin where you're heading. There's uh my my mom and my sister said they had to stay inside because of smoke.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah, the air quality is awful because Canada's burning, I guess, or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Right, which it has been for a couple years. Um, it's been an issue. I don't ever remember that being an issue until a few years ago. Usually it's out here that's burning. Of course, it is burning out here. We're but I think San Diego might have finally I I shouldn't say it out loud, but um gotten a handle on how to handle fires so they don't burn down 600 people's houses. Um because we have a lot of fires, but they're putting them out right away. I mean, it's been really good. I mean, not right away. Sometimes people have to evacuate and stuff, but before before it's a big tragedy. So so that's I'm thankful for that. It's hot in the desert, of course, but here on the coast we're really, really, really, really lucky. Because I heard it was super hot and super smoky. And then I looked at the fire, because my sister told me about the fires, and so I looked at the map and I saw there were even a bunch of fires in what appears to be South Dakota where our Katie lives. Oh no, South Dakota.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Yeah, I didn't know that. I thought it was just like the border of Canada and the US. So likes thoughts and prayers to all the people affected. My goodness. My sister lives in Chicago, she works downtown, and she sent me a picture this morning from like outside her window. It looks like just fog, is what it looks like.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Right, yeah. I've lived through so many of those, and I'm just like as soon as my sister sent me the same thing, I was like, I uh stay inside, don't breathe it. Because I think a lot of my respiratory issues are from having to deal with smoke, some pretty serious smoke over the years, yeah. So, anywho, I'm kind of excited, Matt, about it's July 16th, Matt. And that means family night. Family night is I think I said two weeks, but I think it's more like three weeks, right? Three weeks for family night, and that means then we're gonna start. I think it's August 7th. For some reason I thought it was earlier, but anyway, um, when I did the post. But see, it's almost here, it's almost here, and I'm getting really, really psyched. I played um, I played uh somebody had like best of skymore um returns, yeah, and um yeah, that's all I needed really, but I I listened to a lot of content today, but um, yeah. But I I think um last our last show in this show, I mean at least my focus is to share what I'm doing during the off season to keep myself entertained with football, even though there's not football going on in so football adjacent. So um I don't know what you have on your plans tonight, but tell me how your week is going. What's up in your in your world before we get going on our superlatives?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, I think just really fast I could say that um the summer, you know, despite there being uh no football games, school being after weeks, and it's too hot to go outside. I don't have time to decorate, true North Packers saying, because I uh work a staff job at university, so it's year-round in the summer. When I used to be an academic advisor, it's extremely busy because that is like summer orientation season, but now working in retention, it's more this tedium, Don, this tedium of like calling all the students from my college who haven't enrolled in classes yet. So it's just like one call after another, which and it's a grind, but then you know, every three or four calls, a kid picks up the phone, and you have like these delightful little conversations, it's really nice.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

So nice.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Um, though though it's like you kind of get into like you know, machine mode kind of going through them. Um you get to talk to some cool people at the same time. Uh, but apart from that, we I grilled out tonight, I did a mixed grill. We had a couple pork chops, a couple burgers, and some salmon for my kid who's trying out Pescatarianism. Um, grilled some peaches too, and uh we have new new neighbors who moved into the house next door, and they're from Wisconsin. Oh, they're not Packers fans, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

What are they thinking of?

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Uh they're from Milwaukee, they're like Milwaukee City kids. So um, they do not like sports, so not football people. Okay, yeah. So uh the one of the guys though was cutting down some some hanging vines from the trees in his backyard, and I was out out there like doing the grilling. He's like, Hey, um, you want me to do yours while I'm here? I was like, Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks. So when he was done, I was like, hey, I bet you like spotted cow, huh? Turns out he did. So and got him one from the fridge, and he was appreciative. We had a nice little moment.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Oh Wisconsin moment in Ohio.

unknown 6:30

Indeed.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Nice darling. That was nice. I love that, Maddie. Well, I know we have a lot to talk about tonight, so let's get to it. It's time for this week's superlatives. I have so many superlatives.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

You didn't catch me by surprise that time. Obviously, you telegraphed is coming, but I still love it. Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm glad you love the superlatives. Um, okay, so all right, so I have like eight. I know we're supposed to only have three, but but six of them are like one.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

So it's three.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I'm gonna start. Let's do our ping pong, but I'm gonna give you my first two, and you'll see how quick I can do this. Quick, quick, quick, snappy. If I can find them. Okay. Worst. Okay, we usually keep it positive, but I'm gonna start out with with the negatory. You're gonna love it though. It's kind of funny. Worst word to describe an NFL player goes to Saturday morning inspection podcast, who I love.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

I love that one, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Um, describing Sky more as convicted.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Oh, oh, yeah, nope.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

No, yes, he has conviction, but he didn't just once say it, he did not just say it once, he said it over and over and over, and I think he was trying to get me to react. I really do. And he kept repeating it, and um, of course, he meant he has conviction, but yeah, I thought it was pretty, and so that's kind of my segue because I did look into this because I do talk about crime a lot, especially as and legal matters relating to the NFL and L NFL adjacent. So I did do a little research, and I'm not gonna give you all the references or anything, unless you're interested, just contact me. But the best available research does not, and this was a relief to me, support the idea that NFL players are arrested for violent crimes at a dramatically or even a higher rate than comparable young men. So overall arrest rates are actually lower, and um, of course, findings on violent offenses are a little more nuanced, but that was kind of a relief to hear because we hear about all the bad things that NFL and former NFL players do. I shouldn't laugh, but um, but it's because we hear much more about them. So they're not thankfully happening at a higher rate. Because I had that question. I was like, what is happening? Why is this happening so much? It's not really so there. That's my first superlative. It's one and two.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

So the like the research that you found that showed that number one, I totally leave you, but like uh, who are we like shouting out for doing that research?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Well, okay, so we've got the Journal of Criminal Justice, Leal Gertsden Picaro. I think they are um they wrote an article called, and I remembered this from way back, the National Felon League was the name of their article, and it was a comparison of NFL arrests to the general population arrests. Um, and that's like peer-reviewed. Um, I won't go into all the findings, but that's one. One of them was 538, uh, Neil Payne. Um, and his article was the rate of domestic violence arrests against NFL players, basically finding that NFL players were arrested far less often overall. And then Boston University did a review in 2019, and their review was titled Homicide Homicide. I don't know why I'm laughing at this tonight, but Homicidal Violence Among National Football League athletes. And although the paper focuses on homicide, it summarizes prior research, so it goes back and references other um uh articles and notes that NFL players have lower arrest rates than similarly aged men for several violent offenses, not just homicide.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

That is really better about that. So, yeah, it's like reassuring because of course we look up to these people, you know, to varying degrees, but I think that's why it's so shocking when it does happen because we want to hold these people in high regard and you know, see those being role models. So when when one person steps outside and does one terrible thing, it it you know casts a poor light on the rest of the league, of course. But to know that it's less common then for the general populace of uh that sort of whatever demographic group that you know, the age uh that those uh players belong to, that's I'm really glad to hear that, and especially you know, right now when we're waiting to hear about the Josh Jacobs situation. Uh I don't know what's gonna happen with it. We're all kind of hoping it just kind of wasn't a big deal and goes away, but even still it's like I don't know, it wasn't a good look for our guy, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Right, and it reflects on the whole team, which then tends to reflect on the community, you know, not really, but you know, the community reflects on it. And so, you know, uh the Packers, for example, I'm sure many teams boast about this, but high character is very important to them, and um you know, for all players, and you know, I just for me it's more it's not so much that I look to athletes or whomever, you know, of note for um you know, for moral guidance or anything, but sure my thing is like look, you're making thirty million dollars a year. Can you not find something better to do with your time so that you're not risking your life? You know, your life, your career, you know, most of these guys are taking care of family members too, that type of thing. And it's just kind of like what's wrong with you that you can't know that you're successful and be happy and you have to do stupid things. Yeah, that's more my take.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

But fortune is less common than the general population. That's good. Yes, thankfully. What do you have, man? What's your first one? Before I do my first one, I was gonna say a quick shout-out to uh I would for being here, and of course, for true north, we mentioned already. Uh, true north checks in the mail, buddy. All right, so my first superlative for the evening. Um, this is a best interview, which is a lot of fun. This one, um, it was on a podcast that I was not familiar with that I'll be checking out more and more because I really enjoyed it. It was the Pack Reacts podcast. They were um interviewing our friend Dusty Eli, who, by the way, happy birthday to Dusty. He is 40 something. Um, so I was uh watching this interview. I love that they took the sort of time to go through different sort of um facets of Dusty's life and his career and his work and stuff like that. There's really it's a very thorough interview. Put it through, it's very thorough, and I I enjoyed that about it.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Oh just a ton of fun, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Um, it seemed like they're all having a good time, just like it was just a you know, conversation, which is what we want from our podcasts. So highly recommend that. Uh pack reacts, guys. I'll be checking out more. Uh, probably be mentioned on the show a few times in the future. I wouldn't be surprised because uh you do good work there. I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

That's really cool, Matt. I'm trying to remember if I've ever heard of them before or not. I was definitely, I will definitely check that out. Good reminder, good reminder. Okay, here's my second through sixth or seventh. It's a theme, okay. Let's just start. I just want to mention this one because this is partly how I spent my off season, you know, not going crazy because there's no football. I want I I focus on legal things. So this one is sad, it's the most gut-wrenching, but I wanted to mention it because this is about Blaze Taylor. He was that NFL Titans uh scout. Oh, yeah, yeah. Son of yes, okay, son of a famous football coach uh for college. Okay, so whose name is Trooper, Trooper Taylor. So um he had a history of he played defend defensive back, a return specialist at Arkansas, Arkansas State. Um, he worked as a grad assistant for Duke football. He later joined the Titans. I believe this is when um Brabell was coach as a pro scout and subsequently served as a defensive analyst at Utah State at Aegis, which um is where Jordan Love is from, right? So he was indicted in 2024 on charges related to the deaths of his pregnant girlfriend. Shall we just say someone he was dating, not his he made that very clear. Uh her name is Jade Benning. Um but also their unborn child. And the prosecutors were alleging that he intentionally poisoned Benning with cocaine in February of 2023, causing her death and the death of the baby. And he pled not guilty. I watched the trial, and boy, I watched trials a lot. This was, and I'm I think I'm gonna watch less in the future. This one killed me. It was so sad, so gut-wrenching. Um, but it would took the jury three hours to deliberate and find him guilty. And then they in this case, it depends on state-to-state kind of thing. This is done in um Nashville, Tennessee, I believe, where the trial was. And in in this case, the jury is the one who does the sentencing. It's not, you know, it just depends. And so they came back after several hours, they listened to the victim impact statements, and then and then Blaze's mother spoke um on his behalf, and lawyers argued and all that, and they had you know sentencing guidelines, and they came back, they could have given him life without parole, like done. They could they took death penalty off the table, it wasn't on the table, but it was life without parole or life basically with parole, and it was just it was for two people, not one, and some other stuff. So um they came back with for life with parole, and so his first chance at parole is gonna be in 51 years, so he'll be like 80 something. Um, but yeah, I don't think if his mother would not have given the statement that she had given, I I think he would have gotten life without parole. Um, you could see that they're really a close family and he had no history of this kind of thing. He just but here's the here's the thing that happened that was just so gut-wrenching. Um Blaze called 911 when she got really sick, right? But only after Jade called her best friend who had just been at their home with them like a half hour earlier, and and allowed her to hear what was going on. Her friend was like, What is happening? She thought she was talking to her, and and Jade was saying to Blaze, What did you put in my drink? I mean, this was some incredible evidence. I can't feel my legs. I feel really awful. You did this because you didn't want this baby. It was so awful. And then um the the friend is like, Are you talking to me? Like, what is happening anyway? She got over there, but once Blaze realized the friend knew, he then called, not 911, but he called his father and then called 911, right? So she she ultimately died a few. She was already she was in a coma pretty much. It was awful. It was a just terrible kind of death. It was nasty, and so that happened, and that's NFL adjacent. So I just wanted to mention that because it's very this is a football family. The the mother described them as such. So I'll go on.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

It's dark. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yeah, I know. I wanted to get out of the way. I'm gonna go on to most impressive. We talked about the um situation with um Terry and Arnold like a few weeks ago. Well, I watched the hearing. I have never in my life, and I watch a lot of trials, been more impressed by lawyering in a hearing than the bond hearing for Terry and Arnold. My gosh, this dude is good. So he got out on bond, okay, so he can work for the Lions without aid an ankle monitor because of this lawyering. And um, but of course, five minutes later he was released by the Lions, and so the prosecutors are back in court saying, um, excuse me, can we have that ankle bracelet back?

SPEAKER_04 20:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

But now he's trying to get a now he's trying to get a position. But you know, if anyone signs him, you just have to wonder um if they're gonna do it as a favor type of thing, just to keep I I don't know. The whole thing is kind of weird, but he has a he has a legal team. The guy I was so so impressed with, his name is Har Harvey Steinberg. He came out of Denver like the night before. He just hired him. And um, he's got history of um representing athletes. He also has a lawyer whom I know who's in Tallahassee, which is where he lives. Terry Arnold lives in Tallahassee, Florida, when he's not in there. Um, and maybe that's where he's from. And then the crime though, he's being charged in Tampa Bay. So he also has a Tampa Bay lawyer. So he's got somebody in Tampa, he's got somebody in um Tallahassee, and then he's got this hot shot. All I want to say is I started watching the hearing, and I'm like, is this guy drunk? The lawyer. I'm like, Wow, who is this guy? I didn't, and then he just did his stuff, and wow, it was like jujitsu type thing. He did so well, but also it was a little amusing. Um, he's a very a lawyer who's really easy to like, kind of, you know, he's not abrasive or you know, hot shoddy or anything like that, but he did football analogies four days, and it was pretty funny, like with the judge, and it was it was pretty funny. He had the judge just wrapped around his finger by the time the thing was done. So anyway, most most impressive. That's why he that's why he got out on bond. He I didn't expect him to with those charges. I have a feeling with that kind of lawyering, those charges are going to be um changed. There's gonna be a But anyway. So, and that'll save everybody a lot of trouble. Um, by the way, oh yeah, yeah, sorry to interrupt.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Um, did you ever watch the show Angel, the the Buffy the Vampire um spinoff? You ever watch that? No, would recommend, I like even better than Buffy, but I will say real fast, the reason why I asked is because there is a uh law firm run by demons basically called uh Wolfram and Heart, the Wolf, the Ram, and the Heart. Um, and I was like, man, this is like some Wolfram and Heart lawyer, and you're talking about like charming the judge and like getting a guy off of something that he seemingly really did. So yeah, I would yeah, for those who know, that's some Wolfram Heart stuff right there.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Yeah, yeah. It I was just like, this guy is something else. He I was just this is great, but I can't wait for this trial. Um, if there is a trial, but it's a horrible thing to say, but it you know, it might be, it might not be a trial. I have a feeling this lawyer is good enough. There's not gonna be a trial, there's gonna be a plea deal. I don't think Terry and Arnold is gonna be able to play in the NFL, even with a plea deal. Yeah, I hope not. But that's a whole nother conversation. I just wanted to mention um July 13th, Mark Sanchez's trial was supposed to start, and so I was gonna be talking about that. Do you are you familiar with Mark Sanchez that he was a former quarterback and then he became a Fox News sports and he beat up that old guy? You know, Allen. Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

That was a while ago, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Yeah, that was supposed to happen, it's been delayed five times, but to be honest, it's we only uh the incident was in 2025, so it's not unusual to have those kind of delays. I mean years of delays, but um it's supposed to go ahead. Um I forgot I wrote it down, but it's gonna go ahead. It's not it's not over, if anyone wants to know. It's not over, it's just been delayed. And if you want to take the flip side of things, I I ran across just because I was looking things up an article uh from sports scroll.com and it's was called 26 Most Notorious Lawbreakers in the NFL history. So again, there's plenty to do during the off season.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

And just the last on this is John Gruden's trial, is still also planning to go ahead in May of 27. I haven't said much about Gruden lately, but he's been in the news lately because he wants a job. He wants a coaching job. So that came up, and I think not a head coaching necessarily, but um which might mean there might be some agree um some deals going on with NFL. You know, Gruden and um Flores both the NFL lost both of those fights that went to the highest levels uh Supreme Court um to to to arbitrate because the NFL's arbitration is really sketchy anyway, but they've lost. So I think that's that's a sign of things to come too with players' rights and things like that. So yeah, so that is my second superlative. Matt, what do you have next?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

I love that. It was it was a multifaceted superlative.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Well, my next one is best. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

A lot to do a lot to do in the off season, in other words.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

You start researching, you go down some rabbit holes. Absolutely. All right, well, my second superlative is best quote unquote new podcast. I say new because it's not actually new, it's just been kind of like revamped and um I don't I don't know if it's gonna be a full-on reboot. I hope it does continue. What I'm saying is that there's actually fan duel has it's like sort of uh series of podcasts, one of which is called uh Believe in fill in the the the team name. So there's a believe in Packers podcast that only had like I think four or five or six episodes, but it's with Amon Green. Thing is, they just restarted it, and you know who's doing it with Amon Green? Do you know who this is? Do you know about this?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Can I guess? Bactiari.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

No, no, no, it's one of our friends, it's Joey, Joey Van Zarin.

unknown 26:25

Joey!

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Oh my gosh, yeah, doing a podcast with Amon Green for FanDuel. What the heck? So they have one episode out. I listened to it today, and um it's so it's so funny because we you know have listened to Joey's voice on um underage packers podcast, you know, we did it for years, and and you know, on our show and stuff like that. He's grown up, darn, he's got like a like a man voice now. It's hilarious to hear it.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

We're not gonna recognize him.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

I was like, wait, huh? That's not Joey's. I was like, no, wait, let me just kind of listen to it and think what that would what would his teenage Joey voice sound like as an adult. But I don't mean to fix it on that because it was really good. You know, uh Joey was a good podcaster back in the day, and he's going to journalism school, you know, at Mizzou, so he's only getting better and better. And the fact that he could hold down a whole entire conversation, uh, like a pro. I mean, like literally, he sounds like a pro with with the Mark Green. Oh, I can't wait. It was awesome. And so it sounds like that's like a new you know, podcast duo. I think they'll be, you know, probably weekly, uh, doing podcasts or something like that. So we'll have to get Joey in the show again, catch up with him, hear about how he got this this gig and stuff. But people gotta check out.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Or I was just I know I was thinking about him.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

You came up recently talking about it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yeah, because I you know, he's been in school. Did he graduate or is that next year?

SPEAKER_00 27:48

I don't think he's graduated yet, but I'm not positive.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

It's coming up. Oh, good one, Maddie. Very good one.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

What's your next one?

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Well, um, a palette cleanse um after all that crimey stuff. And I really liked this episode. There's a whole series of this type of thing on the athletic football show. And this episode I really loved was called What Do NFL GMs Actually Do? Um, and they had on a former Yeah. Okay, you did it. I loved that episode so much. Uh great title too, because it was like, okay, I'm in. So yeah, so recommend that. So there's a lot to talk about. And and and again, this with with the theme of how to cope with the off season, I think just, you know, we've talked about this before, but learning more about either the business side or the coaching side of NFL or crime, whatever. Um it's something to do to help you appreciate what's going on a little bit more. You know, I've learned certainly a lot more about how the NFL does business. I would have never known if I hadn't kind of di dove into some of these things. So I just feel like it makes my relationship to the team and to the game more dimensional and fun, um, even when they are not playing.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

Yeah. Here, here.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

And or when they're losing. Because you know, there's still more to learn about and talk about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

All right. So uh who are we on? Is it you? It is me. Okay, you're true. Um, yeah, it's got knocked off my work for a second.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Sorry, I didn't hand it off. I didn't hand it off. I thought you were gonna say something, so I shut it up.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

I was fresh on the comments for that. So, all right, my next one best metric. Now, the thing is, I don't actually know how the metric is composed, but I can say the concept behind this metric was um on a series of two episodes on the uh father sonpeckers podcast. They're looking at the NFC North defensive and then the offensive projections. And so the way they did this is they compiled different sorts of rankings and metrics and all these other things, and they're very careful to not have redundancies, like something that incorporated like a passor or quarterback rating, you know, uh pass rating incorporates a couple different like things into it. So don't use that because you get that same data from other sources and other you know, ways you look at it. So comparing all the different things they could for each position, um, for the Packers and the other NFC North teams to this to really say, like, definitively, you know, who has the best corners, who has the best wide receivers, and you know, and I'm down the line. It was a really cool way to approach it, very, very data thick, you know. But at the same time, it's not like they got bogged on in talking about the data. They just kind of said, Well, you know, we we ran numbers, you know, hit go in the spreadsheet, and here is what we saw for first, second, third, and fourth for each of these different categories. It was a really, really interesting uh couple of episodes, but interesting uh process. Uh, interesting to hear them talk about it and break it down. Um, I really enjoyed it. I mean, that that show, I listen to them every week, of course. Um, but extra, extra good work from them on these.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

I love it. I I will definitely check it out. I was listening to a lot of different podcasters today. I got a lot of people like a lot of these QA's where it's like, are the Packers going to win the division this year? You know, that type of thing. So the we can oh, and I have a new doctor, another Lions fan doctor. I've now have two, I have accumulated two doctors. So I I really need to I really need to be careful about what I say publicly about Dan Campbell.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

I think anything you say about Dan Campbell publicly has already been said by other people because yeah, he's not not because you're not original down, I don't mean that, but because he's such a he's such a meathead. I think that's the word you use for him, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:00

It really is, it really is. Um, yeah, it I feel bad. Now I'm not gonna use any more. Well, maybe I could because I used to use the Rob Reiner um when he played beathead on the figures, but I guess I could still do that, even though Rob's no longer with us. Another crime, uh anyway, yeah. But um, how are you feeling about the division? I don't know if I I feel like even thinking about that, but it is going to be what it's going to be, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

How feel the division, Don? I don't know, because I feel like there are so many unknown things. You know, how will our new uh you know DC and special teams, you know, coordinator, how will how will they do? How will the team take to them? Will will be better? You know, how how fast can our injured players get back? Uh is is Caleb, you know, uh with the Bears, is he a huge regression candidate, or is he actually have the goods? Uh is their defense just a mirage last year? Uh, do the Lions actually still have any juice and they just had like some bad years with injuries? Do the Vikings stand a chance of doing anything? Um, you know, there's just so many things we we can't know yet. So I don't know how I feel with the division. And because of that, Don, because of that, I'm gonna try to go back to the mindset this season of being like, you know what? It's all vibes. We're gonna if we do great, that's fun. And I don't necessarily expect it because I know that we have three really good teams in the Vikings in the division right now. So, you know, whatever happens, happens. I'm just gonna enjoy the games and hope we beat hope we at least beat the Bears. Ideally, all our division opponents as well. So, yeah, I don't know what the division's gonna be like. It's gonna be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Yeah, uh yeah, most people have to forgive Matt LaFleur losly to the players. Yeah, that was pretty unforgivable, but yeah, same, same, same. I'm glad the division is is strong. Um, that's what one of my um interesting, both of my I just thought of this, both of my Lions doctors uh replaced doc doctors who retired. So or m one moved away. He didn't really retire, but he moved away and then the other one retired. But anyway, there so they they I didn't pick them, but they're nice and I really like them and I'm sure they're really good doctors. I just I just I'm just like I've got two lions fans talked, I don't have any Packer fans talked about. Although I don't talk to my I don't talk to my doctors about football very much. They asked me Well the one the one was like, oh I guess I don't know how he knew I was from Wisconsin, but it was the day that Micah Parson got picked up by the Packers. So he was like Yeah, he was on yeah. So and then this other guy was introducing himself and saying he was from Michigan and that kind of thing. So I guess we started with that. But I feel like both of them sort of initiated that because they knew I was from Wisconsin. It's hard to be on top, you know, you're always getting picked up punching up anywho. Yeah, so yeah, I feel the same way. Enjoy the season, watch as many games as possible. Try not definitely I am enjoying not being on social media very much. I will be more during the season, of course, but I didn't get into all that vitriol. I didn't look at a lot of comments last year about you know, fire this person, all that. I'm just not letting that into my conscience.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

I can't, yeah, you can't. That's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

We don't need that. All right, Andy.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Well, anyway, oh yeah, I know I still have another superlative left and a moment of appreciation. Yeah, so a little bit of stuff left to to uh empty out here. So, um, but I've been kind of quick with it though. So my last actual superlative is most mind-blowing. Dawn, did you see this? Bill Huber wrote an article with the top 250 Packers players in Packers history. 250. He had write-ups on 250 different players, and I sat there going, What? It took me like you know, over the course of a couple of different uh lunch periods just to like because I wasn't like reading the whole time, but like read a chunk, read a chunk, read a chunk. Fascinating. Some of the write-ups are like two lines long, but still, like Bill Huber, 250 Packers. Holy cow! And I like because he started off like here are like the the very best, the most notable. Then here are ones from like the Lombardy, you know, um championship era. Here is from like their their uh lull they had, you know, for decades with not very much you know, championships or anything like that, even playoffs uh appearances. But here were good players from that era, you know, that kind of thing. Um spectacular, just uh mind-boggling how much work Bill must have put into this. So huge hats off to him. Do you see that? It was it was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

I didn't, I didn't, I did not see it. Um, I just want to acknowledge also a moment of appreciation for our chat, which is so fun. Um, okay, true north. Joey is finally finally able to rent a car. Congrats. Um, Iowa Joe says, Don may have another case with NFL ties. This is true, Matt Miller. He got in a car accident and lost part of his arm, which is really sad. But then there's a lot of things that have been brewing about some sketchy things. So, yeah, there's gonna be more about Matt Miller for sure. That's really sad to be dealing with that. But also have your whole life now, you have to deal with something you might have done. Um, and also True North mentions soccer. Um, FIFA has been great. I haven't had a chance to watch hardly any of it because I don't like when it's football season, I have that time blocked. It's like, okay, I'm going to be watching football a lot. But like in summer and other times of the year, yeah, I just don't sit and watch things. But I did try and watch some games, some soccer matches, and oh, it's been really fun. Yeah. And I will watch it. I'm like a little bit of it here and there.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

It is hard to argue what you were saying.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Oh, I was just saying I will watch the finals tomorrow and Sunday. No, fry Sunday and Saturday. Yeah, Saturday and Sunday. Yeah. So yeah, it's it's it's hard though too because it's during the day, so that the Europeans can see it at the same time. And yeah, so that's why. Although, you know, they make us get up at 5 a.m. for football when they're playing in Europe. So hey you know that's part of the reason I I mean if it were at night, I would have probably watched more games if it were at night at my time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

It's like in the middle of the day on a you know, weekday. There's just stuff. So yeah, soccer's been great. It's been great. I do watch soccer here and there anyway, you know, not just because it's here. So yeah, and Iowa Joe says on Matt Miller, there have been allegations for years, and it is bad timing for them to come back out, but they they do need to be investigated. Yeah, just can't imagine being flat on your back with that kind of an accident, losing a limb, and then having to deal with all of that was like he really got he's really getting slapped in a large way. So yeah. Okay, so was that your last bonus, superlative?

SPEAKER_00 39:44

Yeah, that was my last superlit, but I have one more thing. It was the uh the moment of appreciation. So, you know, I've been doing these lately. That's our third episode in a row where I've uh, you know, instead of like just doing a superlative about a specific um you know content creator or team, uh, trying to recognize people who have been doing consistently good work, especially in the in the offseason when it's hard to do consistently good work, you know. Um, so this week I just want to highlight uh the excellent work that the Monday Packaday crew is doing. We're talking about Dan Kotnik, Camille Monet, and Monty Moore, friends of the show, all three. Um, and I say this because you know, every every packaday crew is doing great, but the thing about them that really sets them apart in what I'm talking about here is that like they'll find funny little approaches to talking about stuff. Like they did uh um various kinds of drafts over over the course of the summer, some really fun, weird ones. I'm trying to think what they did this week that was like interesting, but like they always find a way to like bring out like a fun twist to what they're talking about, and not just like all right, we're talking about these guys. Here's a breakdown of these guys. It's like, no, let's do some like a game show, you know, with it or something. So uh yeah, the work that the Monday Pack a Day crew has been doing has been fantastic. Um, they have definitely vaulted into like put them at the top of the queue on Monday mornings, you know, for my podcasts for listening to while I'm making breakfast and on my way to work. So uh keep up with the good work, guys. It's been really great.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Nice, nice, and congratulations for making breakfast. I was just gonna say congratulations for me. I am not a breakfast person, I don't eat before noon. I just so it's a super rare. I will go out for like a breakfast breakfast, but it's usually like two in the afternoon.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

Yeah, I've been uh eating a lot of oatmeal lately. Try to heart help my heart health, get some some oatmeal going on.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Yeah, I was gonna ask, are you doing a new workout?

SPEAKER_00 41:39

I actually, since you asked, started doing a a morning set of calisthenics and an afternoon workout as well, like just short stuff that I can do with like a uh an app on my phone, basically. But Don, it's been helping a lot, like my cardiopulmonary health, my ability to like walk up a hill and not be gasping, walk up the stairs to say goodnight to my kids, you know, and not be like all right, good night, kids. I get to the top, I'm just like just normal. So it's it's been great. And like, you know, I have a lot of belly here that doesn't always show up on camera. Um, but I don't I'm not doing this to like reduce that. I don't that's not here for I'm here to try to like help my you know ability to function and like have some strength and some endurance, and so that's been coming along, which has been really cool. So um it's really low commitment in terms of how much of my day it takes up, but as long as it's just like being consistent and doing the stuff every day. So between that and trying to eat a little bit better, you know, like it's mentioned, having oatmeal for breakfast. Um, yeah, I'm feeling great lately.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Yeah, I need to, I've never been able to do birth. I don't know what it is, but that is awesome. And so and so, um sorry, I'm giggling at the chat. So, how long have you been doing this? And so you're already seeing results.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

I uh started the calisthenics about three weeks ago. Um we're giggling because true north said uh Matt is 100% in training for his next prison escape. That's good, that's good. Um, about three three weeks for the calisthenics, I think.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Yeah, yeah. Now on the true north, uh I'm sorry, I would do on the vegetable situation. It's mostly leafy greens and it's mostly salad kits. Like if you just buy your lettuce, like a head of lettuce and wash it well, you're fine. And I guess raspberries are bacteria collectors, so stay away from raspberries. Of course, I just had a bunch of raspberries when this happens.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Oh no, don't.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

But uh, I wash my things really well. But if you buy your own lettuce or even grow your own, is your is your daughter growing lettuce, Maddie?

SPEAKER_00 43:44

No, not this year. Not yet.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Not lettuce, okay. So, in any case, yeah, so maybe skip salads for just a little while until this passes. But yeah, you don't want to get that. That's great. So three weeks. weeks and you're already feeling results. That's yeah, after two weeks I was actually that's quite wild. Yeah, our bodies can really recover from a lot. It's crazy. Um yeah I'm doing physical therapy for some of my injuries that kind of just started like bothering you know chronically bothering me. But then um I don't know if I mentioned but for me I started hula hooping again and and trampolining, yes. But um you know you gotta start slow especially with the tramp because now it's like my knees all taped up but oh yeah yeah you know it takes a minute to get going again. But yeah it's the same reasons and I'm walking more you know I used to be avidly active and then I went for a couple years of like just doing nothing. So it's kind of feels good to get moving again if you can really tell like it just feels different right right away pretty like in a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

I'm glad yeah glad you're having those results that's awesome because it's it's so easy to do nothing you know it's so easy to do nothing but once you you know get get active get moving around around just doing something like it does feel really good and it's worth it's worth the time and the you know getting off the couch and like actually doing the thing is like kind of you know at first but like do it man do something move around live longer I it was never it was my whole life was never easy to do nothing.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

I was super like I had to be moving all the time and then like a couple years ago I just went ugh because I was just dealing with a lot of things. But part of my issue was because of the stomachs the surgery I had with my stomach and all that stuff that happened and then the I had another procedure less than a week ago well no it was about a week ago um but I couldn't eat right like I couldn't swallow things and I couldn't eat the kind of nutrition I needed in order to be fueled. You know it was like a big so now I'm able to get a few things down so it's great.

unknown 46:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

So I'm like energy it's amazing what happens when you can eat food all righty we need oh packers trampoline episode so you could just be jumping on the trampoline while you do your podcast. Yeah if you do it enough you can do it without like gasping for air so but start slowly start slowly don't like flipping it and stuff like that just bounce.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Yeah but you know it's really it's so good for your circulation and your lymphatic movement and all that it's really just and and hula hoop too it's just super I could do a whole podcast hula hooping I could I mean I can just hula hoop forever and then we'd have the Ohana packers ER episode no we don't want that we don't want that all right Maddie well any final thoughts because you're gonna go on vacation you're going on a couple of different trips coming up so we'll be gone for a couple weeks right well uh we'll figure it out but like we could do one next week you're gonna be gone for the two weeks after that so yeah we we we can we should do otherwise we'll wait in three weeks for another episode so yeah let's do one next week okay sorry okay we'll be back next week and then um you'll be back in time for family night right I believe that's because that's true yeah cool it's the future I don't know we should know whatever it is so yes I'll be getting back thinking about the Packers just as uh training camp is getting going so right excited about right it's very exciting all right well thanks again chat for being here and everyone who's replaying or listening on our podcast we love you very much we appreciate your listening let's bring her home Maddie sure thing so friends we'd love to have a chance to interview you and shot you but if you're a subscriber and a football fan if you'd like to nominate someone to be a guest on our podcast please let us know our DMs are open on all the social platforms and folks when you subscribe to our podcast you help us to keep spreading the love in our community and the best way to help this podcast grow is by sharing it with your friends and family yes Maddie that's right because we love you we're so glad to know you to be fans of you and have the luxury of being fans of the most storied team in the NFL we appreciate your support your subscriptions and sharing our pod and we look forward to seeing you next week on hey we like your podcast