Random Fandom: Fantasy Football (NFL) with Ian Harries & Graham Jones (The Podcast Nobody Asked For)

[00:00:14] Hello and welcome to Fandomentals, the podcast that explores pop culture one conversation at a time. I am your host, Harley. Every episode I interview different people from around the world to discuss a variety of topics within the world of pop culture. Thanks for joining me on this journey, and I hope you enjoy the episode.

[00:00:41] Hello and welcome to the third episode of Random Fandom 2024. In this episode, I'm joined by two of my favorite returning guests to the podcast. They are the hosts of the podcast Nobody Asked For, Ian Harries and Graham Jones. Ian and Graham are good enough to come back onto the podcast and share a sporting topic which they have become borderline obsessed with, as you will hear in this episode. It was a real joy to chat with the guys again and to learn more about a subject

[00:01:10] that I've always been intrigued by. Fantasy Football is something that I've heard a lot about, but as someone who's not really into sports, I've never really looked at it very closely. So it was nice to chat with the guys and learn all about the variety of games that you can play, the way that it draws you together with your friends, what you learn about the sports, this being NFL in this case, and so much more. We do, of course, indulge in a few tangents as well as some jingles because it wouldn't be an episode with these guys.

[00:01:40] If that didn't happen. Right, that's enough from me. Let's get on with the episode. This is Fantasy Football with Ian Harries and Graham Jones.

[00:01:58] Welcome back, Ian and Graham, to the Fundamentals podcast.

[00:02:03] Hello, sir.

[00:02:03] Hey!

[00:02:05] Or should I say welcome back, pod dads? That feels more fitting.

[00:02:10] I'm done with...

[00:02:10] Good to be back, pod son.

[00:02:12] I've had enough of my real son this evening.

[00:02:15] Hey!

[00:02:15] Hey!

[00:02:16] Hey!

[00:02:18] You're a pleasant switch, Harley.

[00:02:22] I'll take that. Thank you.

[00:02:25] 30-year-old man is significantly easier to get along with than a small child who's, what, one years old now?

[00:02:31] Yeah, 18 months-ish.

[00:02:33] 18 months, there you go.

[00:02:34] Yeah.

[00:02:35] I think...

[00:02:37] No, I'm not even going to go there.

[00:02:39] I'm going to say it's easier to put a 30-year-old man to bed than a 20-year-old man to bed, but that could be misconstrued.

[00:02:50] It kind of sounds like either threatening or sexual.

[00:02:56] I'm not sure which one it is most.

[00:02:59] Maybe both.

[00:02:59] Yeah.

[00:03:01] It's easy to put a 30-year-old man to bed.

[00:03:05] But to be fair, and we're getting way off topic here already, but dealing with a toddler is very similar to dealing with a drunk friend.

[00:03:15] Right.

[00:03:16] They don't want to go to bed.

[00:03:18] They want more to drink.

[00:03:19] Yeah.

[00:03:19] Yeah.

[00:03:20] They want to read a story.

[00:03:22] Like, yeah.

[00:03:24] And there's no reasoning with them.

[00:03:25] That's very true.

[00:03:26] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:27] Exactly.

[00:03:29] Anyway.

[00:03:29] Just placate them with more drink.

[00:03:31] Exactly that.

[00:03:32] I digress.

[00:03:33] Yeah.

[00:03:34] They also occasionally get us mixed up because we both have beards and were wearing the same t-shirt that one time.

[00:03:41] Very true.

[00:03:42] Yeah, he did spend a whole Sunday calling Ian daddy, which...

[00:03:49] Well, I can relate to that.

[00:03:52] This is the drunk guy, obviously.

[00:03:56] Incredible.

[00:03:57] Incredible.

[00:03:57] Well, believe it or not, folks, we're not here to talk about parenting.

[00:04:01] But we are here to talk about something that's very close to your heart.

[00:04:04] So much so that you guys did an episode on it recently, which inspired me to want to reach out and talk about fantasy football.

[00:04:12] So I'm going to throw it over to you guys.

[00:04:14] I'd love to know, what was your introduction to this?

[00:04:16] How did you get started in this world?

[00:04:20] I mean, I think we both started the same year separately.

[00:04:27] Okay.

[00:04:29] I was a year before that, the NFL UK one.

[00:04:34] I did a year of that.

[00:04:35] Then I went into the, like, quote unquote, proper fantasy.

[00:04:38] And I think you were maybe NFL fantasy, the UK one then, proper fantasy.

[00:04:43] Is that right?

[00:04:44] Yeah.

[00:04:45] Yes.

[00:04:45] Yeah.

[00:04:46] So basically the same time.

[00:04:47] I would say 2011, around that time.

[00:04:54] Wow.

[00:04:55] Okay.

[00:04:56] Yeah.

[00:04:57] I mean, like, what got me into it is as a British person who likes sport, American football is really, really inaccessible.

[00:05:11] Yeah.

[00:05:12] Yeah.

[00:05:12] Like, right.

[00:05:13] It's very difficult to latch onto something with it.

[00:05:18] If you, and we didn't, I didn't really know anyone outside of like two friends who were really, really into it.

[00:05:26] So what happened with me was through uni, you would kind of watch the Super Bowl because there would be food and beer.

[00:05:35] And that's, that's a good, as good a reason as any to go to an event.

[00:05:39] And then like the first time I was there to eat chicken wings, the next, next year, I kind of half watched the game.

[00:05:47] Yeah.

[00:05:47] Next year I was there for the game.

[00:05:49] And then it was like, right, let's actually, who wants to play fantasy football?

[00:05:53] I hear that's a thing.

[00:05:55] Amazing.

[00:05:56] Yeah.

[00:05:56] I think the, the accessibility bits is true, right?

[00:06:01] So I think I first watched the Super Bowl 2010, I want to say Steelers Packers had a level of interest, but it is like for a game that is in theory, the ball is like the, the gameplay time is 60 minutes, right?

[00:06:15] Four 15 minute quarters, but a game takes three hours to complete.

[00:06:20] And there, I think I saw a video recently that looked at the breakdown of a play and I think of a game.

[00:06:28] And I think something like maybe 20 minutes of the actual game, the ball was like doing something.

[00:06:34] So like, I think it's less.

[00:06:36] It may, it could be less.

[00:06:37] It's between 10 and 15, I think.

[00:06:39] But basically like, and essentially it's like, it's like chess with big freakish Americans.

[00:06:48] And yeah, it's really hard to kind of understand, get into, et cetera.

[00:06:53] So I went two routes.

[00:06:55] I went Super Bowl.

[00:06:56] This is interesting.

[00:06:57] I want to kind of give this a bit more time.

[00:06:59] I went down the Madden route.

[00:07:01] So got the video game because that was a way of kind of understanding it more.

[00:07:06] And then yeah, the fantasy football route.

[00:07:09] So I previously played like fantasy Premier League and it's quite different because there's a lot more nuances and a lot more ways of scoring points and things like that.

[00:07:18] But I always knew that that also kind of gives you, by doing that, you become a little bit more interested in the wider league and the wider sport rather than the narrow view of like, I'm going to support this team and that's it.

[00:07:32] So yeah.

[00:07:33] And then it just become, it did the NFL UK version, which was kind of weird because you could change all your players every week and like, it was fine, but it wasn't great.

[00:07:42] But then got into the like, quote unquote, proper fantasy where you draft your team at the beginning of the year and you play head to head every week.

[00:07:51] And there's lots of rivalries and lots of different ways of playing as well.

[00:07:55] So it went from quickly from like Ian and I both run leagues.

[00:08:02] So I think we both started with one league each, as you would.

[00:08:05] And ours went through an evolution of like eight players, 10 players, 12 players, and then a few different rule changes.

[00:08:13] And now I'm in both that league with 12 players, Ian's league with 12 players, and then four other leagues.

[00:08:22] Wow.

[00:08:23] So it's, yeah, it's, it's addictive.

[00:08:27] It is so, I'm in eight.

[00:08:31] Eight?

[00:08:32] Eight.

[00:08:32] Yes, I'm in eight, which is, some would say, too much.

[00:08:36] And also, I would say four more than my wife thinks I'm in.

[00:08:43] Wildly, wildly addictive.

[00:08:45] Because if people, if people don't, don't know how it works.

[00:08:51] So there's a load of different like formats and types of league you can go into, which I'm sure we'll be talking about later.

[00:09:02] But predominantly, it comes down to, so you'll have a draft at the beginning of the season where you're picking your team.

[00:09:13] Okay.

[00:09:13] So nobody else can, you can't double up on players or anything like that.

[00:09:18] You literally go like the NFL draft where everyone is picking, right, I want this guy.

[00:09:25] And you get your roster.

[00:09:27] And then each week, you're matched up against another team in the league.

[00:09:32] Yep.

[00:09:33] And then it goes through like, it tries to ape the NFL.

[00:09:38] So that has some benefits in that you get really, really involved.

[00:09:44] The negatives are, you could be the second highest scoring team in the league one week and lose.

[00:09:52] Because you're matched up against the highest scoring team in the league and they win that week.

[00:09:59] So they have a win and you have a loss.

[00:10:01] So, not that I'm bitter and I'm very aware this is a clean podcast, so I'm going to try really, really hard here.

[00:10:07] I am the third highest scoring team in a league where I have a losing record.

[00:10:15] Because everybody scores higher than me on the weeks that I'm matched up against them.

[00:10:20] And that's fine, Harley.

[00:10:22] That's fine.

[00:10:24] But Ian, should we tell the other half of that story?

[00:10:28] Yes.

[00:10:31] I sense there was more.

[00:10:33] Yes, continue.

[00:10:34] That's one league, which is a redraft league, which we will come to definitions in a minute.

[00:10:39] Okay.

[00:10:40] The other redraft league I'm in, which is run by our friend Graham here.

[00:10:45] I have scored in that league, my total points are 200 less.

[00:10:52] And I have the same win-lose record.

[00:10:55] Right.

[00:10:56] Okay.

[00:10:57] Because the exact opposite happens.

[00:10:59] That I have the 11th highest score that week.

[00:11:03] And I matched up against the person with the worst.

[00:11:06] Oh, there you go.

[00:11:07] It's fun.

[00:11:08] It's fun.

[00:11:09] And it's fine.

[00:11:10] And it's great for your mental well-being.

[00:11:12] I'm sure.

[00:11:14] I'm going to do something that I've never done in four and a half years of podcasting.

[00:11:19] And that is, I'm going to grab a notebook.

[00:11:23] Yes.

[00:11:25] I just don't know.

[00:11:25] I may have blocked my mic when I did that, but yes.

[00:11:28] That is how fantasy football gets you.

[00:11:31] I'm genuinely fascinated.

[00:11:32] I feel like I have to actually, this is genuinely a first for people.

[00:11:36] I've never done this before on a podcast.

[00:11:37] I might actually have to write things down as we go, just to try and make sure I don't confuse

[00:11:43] myself.

[00:11:44] And listener, it's an A4 sized pad.

[00:11:47] We're not messing about here.

[00:11:48] Yes.

[00:11:48] Absolutely.

[00:11:49] Yeah.

[00:11:50] Yeah.

[00:11:50] Look at those margins, sir.

[00:11:53] Yeah.

[00:11:53] This is my actual journal.

[00:11:55] So, you know, it's dedicated, sacred ground.

[00:11:59] Dear diary.

[00:12:00] This is Harley again.

[00:12:02] Ian really confused me.

[00:12:05] What is this?

[00:12:06] Redraft?

[00:12:07] Question mark?

[00:12:09] So starting, I may or may not use it.

[00:12:11] We'll see how we go.

[00:12:12] But I've genuinely, right.

[00:12:14] So starting from the beginning, my understanding is, and from listening to your podcast that you did

[00:12:19] on it recently is, yeah, the idea is, as the name was suggested, you basically pick out

[00:12:25] a fantasy team.

[00:12:26] Yeah.

[00:12:26] So you go for like all of the players, you look at the teams and you go, well, I want

[00:12:30] to have this person, this person, this person, this person from any of the actual teams

[00:12:35] and they are my fantasy team.

[00:12:37] Yes.

[00:12:38] That's where you start.

[00:12:39] Yeah.

[00:12:40] From the teams, not from like Lord of the Rings.

[00:12:43] Yeah.

[00:12:43] Different game.

[00:12:44] Different game.

[00:12:44] Different game.

[00:12:45] Yeah.

[00:12:46] In which case.

[00:12:47] Yeah.

[00:12:48] Gandalf.

[00:12:49] Oh, Gandalf.

[00:12:50] He would definitely be my quarterback.

[00:12:52] Be fair.

[00:12:53] Oh yeah, exactly.

[00:12:53] Yeah.

[00:12:54] You shall not pass.

[00:12:56] So you've got your fantasy team, which you'll have like a starting lineup, which will be usually

[00:13:04] a quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, which you can cover

[00:13:13] on an NFL episode.

[00:13:14] We don't have time to go through what that position is now.

[00:13:17] I may have done and I can't remember.

[00:13:20] That episode was a long time ago.

[00:13:21] Please continue.

[00:13:22] You generally, you will pick an entire team's defense.

[00:13:28] Okay.

[00:13:30] So their defense and special teams and then a kicker.

[00:13:35] But there's a debate over whether that should be part of the fantasy team.

[00:13:38] I am very pro kicker.

[00:13:40] Same.

[00:13:41] Oh, okay.

[00:13:41] That's your standards.

[00:13:43] I'd say that's your standard.

[00:13:45] Yeah.

[00:13:45] Standard.

[00:13:46] And then you've got five bench spots, six bench spots.

[00:13:50] Well, it's you have bench spots.

[00:13:53] Yeah.

[00:13:53] Basically.

[00:13:54] Typically six, I think is the average.

[00:13:57] Typically.

[00:13:57] Because you usually have a draft of 15 typically.

[00:14:00] And you would have what's called a flex spot in your starting lineup, which can be either

[00:14:05] a running back or a wide receiver.

[00:14:08] Okay.

[00:14:09] So also a tight end sometimes.

[00:14:12] Yeah.

[00:14:13] Or also a quarterback.

[00:14:14] But we could come on to those rules later.

[00:14:16] Okay.

[00:14:17] So that's your roster, basically.

[00:14:21] And at the draft, you are filling up what that team is.

[00:14:25] But like we said, you go through the league.

[00:14:30] So however you decide to arrange it, someone picks first and they get to pick whichever player

[00:14:36] they want.

[00:14:37] And then of who's left, the second player then picks who they want.

[00:14:41] And you keep going one player at a time, like backwards and forwards through the league

[00:14:47] through like 15 rounds until you all end up with your roster.

[00:14:51] Then each week you set the starting lineup that you want to play and you're matched up.

[00:14:58] You've basically got fixtures.

[00:15:00] Yeah.

[00:15:01] So you then are just managing it like a team.

[00:15:04] And the important part of the draft, typically, again, you do a snake draft.

[00:15:09] So if you're picking first overall, round one you pick first, but round two you'll pick

[00:15:14] 12.

[00:15:16] Right.

[00:15:17] So it comes back around to you.

[00:15:19] Yeah.

[00:15:19] So if for some reason we're in a three man fantasy team league, which you shouldn't be,

[00:15:24] like it would go to like, as the newbie, we would give you the first pick because we're

[00:15:31] nice people.

[00:15:32] So you would pick a player first, then I would pick one, then Graham would pick one, then

[00:15:37] Graham would pick again, then I would pick, then you would pick, and then you would pick

[00:15:41] and it keeps going until we've all got the team.

[00:15:44] Everyone who isn't drafted, then drops to basically just becomes available.

[00:15:51] And you can drop a player to pick one of them up.

[00:15:55] So you'll always have players who you didn't think were going to do anything and then suddenly

[00:16:03] are really important.

[00:16:03] So you aren't stuck with the team you've drafted the whole year.

[00:16:07] You can drop players, pick people up.

[00:16:10] You can trade with other people in the league as well, which is fun because this is the only

[00:16:16] podcast I've done where I feel that I can say I'm currently openly messaging a friend of

[00:16:23] mine trying to get a running back from him.

[00:16:25] So who knows, we maybe have an in episode trade going, which will be nice.

[00:16:32] But it's a lot.

[00:16:34] And then obviously, when it comes to trades, there's a lot of what I would like to call

[00:16:37] social dynamics at play.

[00:16:41] Social dynamics and also people misunderstanding economics.

[00:16:45] I read a really interesting article about applying economic theories to fantasy football.

[00:16:52] And sunk cost stuff.

[00:16:55] Sunk cost, yeah.

[00:16:55] Or people will overvalue players that they hold versus ones on the waiver wire, even if

[00:17:01] there is no real basis for that.

[00:17:05] And just so with the players that are in the pool that you can pick up, that's called the

[00:17:10] waiver wire.

[00:17:11] And there's a couple of ways you can do it.

[00:17:13] In some leagues, you can have like a priority.

[00:17:16] So if you are the last, if you haven't, if everyone else has picked someone up that you

[00:17:22] haven't, then you get the top priority, which some kind of works, but most people go towards

[00:17:29] a fab system, which is basically where you have fake money and you can bid on a player.

[00:17:34] So everyone has equal access to get player X.

[00:17:37] It's just how much do you want him?

[00:17:39] Do you want to spend 100% of your budget on him or do you want to spend 5%?

[00:17:43] Right.

[00:17:44] Like, so what often will happen is, again, to use this fake three-person league as an

[00:17:49] example, a player will just go off and we would all want to pick him up.

[00:17:55] So I would bid, well, Graham would bid like four, like four fake dollars on it.

[00:18:02] Harley might go, you know what?

[00:18:03] I think Graham's going to pick four.

[00:18:05] I'll bid six.

[00:18:06] And then I will bid 75 because I'm a moron.

[00:18:08] That's generally how it seems to go.

[00:18:12] So again, a lot of double guessing, but it's a lot of fun.

[00:18:18] Oh, and you get a lot of mind.

[00:18:19] Wave is clear on a Wednesday afternoon.

[00:18:21] So sort of anywhere between three and 5pm on a Wednesday, a lot of mind games are going

[00:18:26] on in the fantasy chats about how much people are going to draw.

[00:18:32] Okay.

[00:18:34] Yeah.

[00:18:34] Interesting.

[00:18:36] That's like...

[00:18:37] Go on.

[00:18:38] I was going to say, so that's like the core of what a fantasy team looks like.

[00:18:42] And then there's a load of different scoring systems you could use or formats of league.

[00:18:52] Yeah.

[00:18:53] So the main thing...

[00:18:55] And even drafts as well, right?

[00:18:56] Because you can go for an auction draft instead of a snake draft.

[00:18:59] Yeah.

[00:19:00] So if we were to, again, like our fake three person league, first of all, we would need

[00:19:08] to get some friends and hit this league out to generally...

[00:19:13] And there'll be people out there in like eight person leagues.

[00:19:16] That's fine.

[00:19:17] But generally, you're looking like 10 or 12, I think is kind of the ideal number.

[00:19:22] Sweet spot, isn't it?

[00:19:23] Okay.

[00:19:24] Yeah.

[00:19:25] We would need to decide the scoring system we're going to use, which...

[00:19:31] There's standard...

[00:19:33] Like, well, standard's the wrong word.

[00:19:35] Generally speaking...

[00:19:36] They do, which is a bad explanation for what I was going to say.

[00:19:41] So like...

[00:19:42] Okay.

[00:19:43] Usually the scoring is exactly the same from league to league, apart from one difference,

[00:19:48] which is how they score receptions.

[00:19:53] So receptions is when someone catches the ball.

[00:19:56] Right.

[00:19:57] In a standard league, you get nothing for that.

[00:20:00] So the act of catching a ball, you don't get points for.

[00:20:03] Nothing.

[00:20:04] It's the distance you cover with it.

[00:20:06] You have half PPR, which is half a point per reception, where you get half a point just

[00:20:15] catching the ball.

[00:20:17] And then there's PPR, which is one point per reception.

[00:20:22] So catching the ball will get you a point.

[00:20:25] And that is basically what the debate that has been going through fantasy football since fantasy

[00:20:31] football started, is which of these is the right way to do it.

[00:20:35] I'd say...

[00:20:36] I think it generally...

[00:20:38] The general consensus, I think, falls in the middle, right?

[00:20:41] Is the 0.5 PPR.

[00:20:44] And the reason...

[00:20:45] Every league we're in bar one is part one.

[00:20:48] Yeah.

[00:20:49] And the reason being is that because for wide receivers who tend to benefit from that, it

[00:20:57] kind of evens the playing field with them and running backs.

[00:20:59] Whereas running backs are slightly more overvalued if you don't have the reception in there.

[00:21:04] So it kind of...

[00:21:06] Yeah.

[00:21:06] It makes it a more well-rounded game.

[00:21:09] And it certainly...

[00:21:10] And I've...

[00:21:11] You know, I spoke earlier about how we went through the evolution of our league.

[00:21:15] I started...

[00:21:16] First year of the league that I run was an eight-man standard.

[00:21:20] We're now a 12-man half PPR.

[00:21:23] And it's kind of evolved there.

[00:21:25] And we have had a few other rule changes here and there.

[00:21:27] But they're the kind of fundamentals.

[00:21:30] Yeah.

[00:21:31] We would then need to pick the type of league we're in.

[00:21:38] So there are...

[00:21:40] Like, we could talk...

[00:21:41] You could just leave the room if you want, Harley.

[00:21:43] And we'll just...

[00:21:45] We'll just go through it.

[00:21:47] So the type...

[00:21:48] So predominantly when someone says fantasy football, they're talking about what's called a redraft league.

[00:21:54] So again, to use our fundamentals league here,

[00:21:57] with our seven fictional friends we've invited,

[00:22:01] every single year you start from scratch.

[00:22:04] So you have your draft, you pick your players, you have your team, you generally lose.

[00:22:11] Sure.

[00:22:12] You then have what's called a keeper league,

[00:22:16] where at the end of the season you get to...

[00:22:20] And it will vary from league to league,

[00:22:22] but you'll get to pick someone to carry over to the next year.

[00:22:27] You then have a dynasty league,

[00:22:30] which I think is my favorite type of fantasy football, you know?

[00:22:33] Right.

[00:22:34] No idea why I phrased it like that.

[00:22:36] But a dynasty league, you keep everyone.

[00:22:40] So the team you have is the team you have,

[00:22:43] and that's it.

[00:22:44] And every year you just draft new rookies that have joined the NFL that year.

[00:22:52] So it's a very different game,

[00:22:55] and you can trade future draft picks and things like that.

[00:22:58] And it's a lot of fun.

[00:23:01] Yeah.

[00:23:02] You have an empire league,

[00:23:04] which is the same as a dynasty league,

[00:23:07] but if you win it two years back to back,

[00:23:12] you get a payout, basically.

[00:23:15] Right.

[00:23:18] IDP?

[00:23:19] Graham, you want to go through IDP?

[00:23:21] Yeah.

[00:23:22] IDP is the same as your kind of basic one,

[00:23:26] but instead of a full...

[00:23:29] Where Ian said you normally pick a team's full defense,

[00:23:32] IDP stands for individual defensive player.

[00:23:35] So you might pick one or two defensive players,

[00:23:39] and they are scored on the kind of things that they do.

[00:23:42] That becomes a lot more involved,

[00:23:45] because typically you're very aware of what you call the skill position players

[00:23:50] on the offensive side of the ball.

[00:23:53] Right.

[00:23:54] It's a lot trickier to kind of keep up with who's getting the most tackles,

[00:24:00] half tackles, sacks, half sacks, interceptions.

[00:24:07] And tackles for loss, all that kind of stuff,

[00:24:09] which comes into that kind of scoring.

[00:24:11] So that's one of the leagues we don't have,

[00:24:16] that none of us are in,

[00:24:18] but I'm kind of intrigued to give it a go,

[00:24:22] because I do quite like the...

[00:24:25] As a Ravens fan,

[00:24:26] less so this year,

[00:24:27] because we're pretty terrible on defense,

[00:24:29] but historically I've enjoyed the defensive side of football.

[00:24:34] Yeah.

[00:24:35] Interesting.

[00:24:36] Talking of leagues we're not in.

[00:24:38] Right.

[00:24:39] And these are ones I knew about,

[00:24:41] but hadn't read properly until I researched for this.

[00:24:45] There's a pirate league.

[00:24:47] Right.

[00:24:48] Where exactly the same rules,

[00:24:50] but if you beat someone,

[00:24:52] you can take a player from them.

[00:24:54] I see.

[00:24:55] There's a vampire league where one of the players doesn't draft.

[00:25:03] Right.

[00:25:04] And they build their team solely from the waiver wire,

[00:25:08] and then if they beat someone,

[00:25:10] they can take players from them.

[00:25:13] Right.

[00:25:14] It's slightly different to what we've talked about before,

[00:25:20] more of kind of like the head-to-head matchup.

[00:25:24] There's a guillotine league,

[00:25:25] which Graham and I are still in,

[00:25:28] and still being the key word.

[00:25:31] Right.

[00:25:31] A guillotine league,

[00:25:33] the lowest scoring team each week gets cut from the league.

[00:25:39] And the idea is the team,

[00:25:41] the league runs until there's one team left.

[00:25:44] So if your team gets cut,

[00:25:47] all of your players drop to the waiver wire,

[00:25:49] and everyone else can pick them up.

[00:25:52] Wow.

[00:25:53] So that's fun.

[00:25:55] The website you have to play it on is awful,

[00:25:57] but it's fun.

[00:25:58] Yeah, I've been enjoying it a lot.

[00:26:00] Yeah.

[00:26:01] Our teams are stacked.

[00:26:03] I can imagine.

[00:26:04] Yeah, yeah.

[00:26:05] And then there's the only other one really,

[00:26:09] I think is,

[00:26:11] or the only other one that people actually play

[00:26:13] that isn't like really, really niche and weird

[00:26:15] is Best Ball,

[00:26:18] where each week you draft a huge roster

[00:26:23] and then it will automatically set your lineup

[00:26:26] after the fact

[00:26:27] to your highest possible scoring team.

[00:26:33] So it is interesting.

[00:26:34] And you can't pick up players in that

[00:26:36] and you can't trade players in that either.

[00:26:38] So it's kind of,

[00:26:39] it's good for,

[00:26:41] it's the thing I would say Best Ball is really good for

[00:26:44] is if like Ian and I have a bit of an addiction

[00:26:47] to drafting players,

[00:26:48] but don't want another league

[00:26:50] that you have to pay loads of attention to

[00:26:52] during the season.

[00:26:53] You kind of get the dopamine hit from the draft

[00:26:56] and then you can kind of just let it be.

[00:26:59] I can,

[00:27:00] I cannot stress enough how addictive drafting is.

[00:27:03] It's really weird.

[00:27:04] Well, I mean,

[00:27:04] our whole,

[00:27:05] it's really weird.

[00:27:06] We have a whole Patreon sub series

[00:27:09] based off of draft.

[00:27:10] Our undrafted series is basically

[00:27:12] a way of drafting every month.

[00:27:15] We just draft things rather than NFL players.

[00:27:19] Yeah.

[00:27:20] Right.

[00:27:21] Interesting.

[00:27:21] Interesting.

[00:27:23] Is it the analysis then of like,

[00:27:25] just being able to go through and like,

[00:27:26] try and pick and choose and weigh things up

[00:27:29] based on sort of,

[00:27:30] I guess your,

[00:27:31] your knowledge and your passion for the,

[00:27:33] for the sport.

[00:27:34] Is that what it's sort of part of it?

[00:27:35] It's that with a time limit.

[00:27:37] Ah,

[00:27:38] okay.

[00:27:38] It's that with a time,

[00:27:39] with,

[00:27:40] with a time limit and trying to,

[00:27:44] so,

[00:27:45] and we're,

[00:27:46] we're back to fantasy football,

[00:27:47] not our Patreon bonus episode.

[00:27:49] That's you.

[00:27:49] But,

[00:27:50] but a similar mindset really,

[00:27:52] because like,

[00:27:52] it is.

[00:27:53] if,

[00:27:54] if I'm,

[00:27:56] because of how the draft set up,

[00:27:57] like I could have a pick and then in four picks time or six picks time,

[00:28:03] I could have another one.

[00:28:06] So it's about thinking like,

[00:28:08] right,

[00:28:08] I really want this player.

[00:28:10] Are they going to be there the next round?

[00:28:12] Like,

[00:28:13] do I think the players between now and then are going to pick him up?

[00:28:17] Do I reach for him early just to make sure I've got him?

[00:28:21] Or do I hope he's still,

[00:28:23] and like,

[00:28:24] you can go in with a plan,

[00:28:25] but it takes one person and it's always Phil.

[00:28:31] To do something really weird,

[00:28:33] really early that then just throws off your entire plan.

[00:28:37] Yeah.

[00:28:38] That's,

[00:28:38] I think that's also kind of the,

[00:28:40] the really interesting part of it.

[00:28:42] Cause you're right.

[00:28:43] It's all of the analysis.

[00:28:44] It's all of the kind of,

[00:28:45] yeah,

[00:28:45] your knowledge you have to take.

[00:28:47] Like,

[00:28:48] so typically all of the experts will have their rounds.

[00:28:51] Rankings and stuff,

[00:28:52] which is called ADP average draft position for each player.

[00:28:56] Right.

[00:28:56] So where a player should go,

[00:28:58] but then you obviously can put your own spin on that.

[00:29:01] You can,

[00:29:01] you need to think about that in the context of the rules of your league and

[00:29:05] the positions in your league and things like that.

[00:29:07] Um,

[00:29:09] and then also,

[00:29:10] you know,

[00:29:11] things like gut feeling come into it.

[00:29:12] Right.

[00:29:12] As well.

[00:29:13] So like last year I had the first overall pick and I didn't take the

[00:29:19] consensus first overall pick player because he's very injury prone.

[00:29:23] Um,

[00:29:23] okay.

[00:29:24] I took the,

[00:29:25] uh,

[00:29:26] player who was highly ranked,

[00:29:28] but not as highly ranked as this first overall pick.

[00:29:31] Um,

[00:29:32] turns out that was the wrong decision because for the first time in forever,

[00:29:35] he didn't get injured.

[00:29:37] He was the best fantasy player that you could have.

[00:29:39] Fast forward to this year.

[00:29:41] Ian had the first overall pick.

[00:29:43] The same consensus.

[00:29:45] Number one pick was there guy called Christian McCaffrey,

[00:29:47] the guy that I didn't pick last year.

[00:29:50] Ian with all of his faith in Christian McCaffrey and how well he performed

[00:29:53] last year said,

[00:29:54] I am going to take Christian McCaffrey at number one.

[00:29:57] Ian,

[00:29:57] how many games has Christian McCaffrey played this year?

[00:29:59] Two.

[00:30:01] Two.

[00:30:01] Sorry.

[00:30:01] Sorry.

[00:30:01] I thought you asked how many Achilles did he have tendinitis in?

[00:30:08] He's,

[00:30:09] he's yet to play a game.

[00:30:11] Um,

[00:30:12] if you want the timing on this,

[00:30:14] on the episode Harley mentioned at the beginning where we talked about

[00:30:18] fantasy football,

[00:30:19] the cold open is me drafting Christian McCaffrey.

[00:30:24] So I,

[00:30:25] I recorded myself drafting him to put on the,

[00:30:29] podcast and he hasn't played tendinitis.

[00:30:33] Wow.

[00:30:33] Both of his Achilles.

[00:30:34] Yeah.

[00:30:35] So it turns out I was right just a year,

[00:30:37] year too early.

[00:30:39] Yeah.

[00:30:39] Due to play this weekend though.

[00:30:41] Hopefully.

[00:30:44] That's wild.

[00:30:46] Yeah.

[00:30:46] So you could,

[00:30:47] you could get that in both.

[00:30:49] That's yeah.

[00:30:50] At the same time.

[00:30:52] Yep.

[00:30:52] Could have told us.

[00:30:54] How,

[00:30:55] how does that happen?

[00:30:56] By being too good at sport.

[00:30:59] I think,

[00:31:00] I think that's where it comes from.

[00:31:02] Or is it not being good at sport?

[00:31:04] Is that what it is?

[00:31:05] Cause he's getting injured.

[00:31:06] It's definitely not that with him.

[00:31:08] No,

[00:31:09] I think it's basically.

[00:31:10] It is credit,

[00:31:11] credit to the man.

[00:31:12] Yeah.

[00:31:13] Awful,

[00:31:13] awful durability,

[00:31:14] but damn,

[00:31:15] he's good.

[00:31:16] Yeah.

[00:31:16] Yeah.

[00:31:17] He basically does everything.

[00:31:18] Cause he's a running back,

[00:31:19] but he also does the catching part as well.

[00:31:21] And,

[00:31:21] um,

[00:31:22] I would say over the years,

[00:31:25] particularly at the team he was at previously,

[00:31:27] he's been like properly run into the ground in terms of like,

[00:31:31] if he was a,

[00:31:33] if he was a,

[00:31:34] like Nissan micro,

[00:31:36] he'd have about 120,000 miles on the clock.

[00:31:38] I'd say.

[00:31:39] Right.

[00:31:39] Okay.

[00:31:40] Gotcha.

[00:31:40] Gotcha.

[00:31:41] Yeah.

[00:31:42] He he's,

[00:31:42] he is surprisingly nippy on the a 30.

[00:31:45] Oh yeah.

[00:31:46] Yeah.

[00:31:46] Yeah.

[00:31:48] He's got that sixth gear.

[00:31:49] He could go into exactly.

[00:31:52] It's,

[00:31:52] I think that's another part of,

[00:31:55] okay.

[00:31:55] If you're,

[00:31:56] if you're listening to this and like us,

[00:31:59] you were like NFL,

[00:32:03] something I want to get into,

[00:32:04] but I don't know a way in fantasy football is incredible for it.

[00:32:09] We,

[00:32:09] uh,

[00:32:09] we have a guy and Ollie,

[00:32:10] a guy and basically all of the leagues we're in,

[00:32:13] uh,

[00:32:13] called Dan,

[00:32:14] who,

[00:32:14] um,

[00:32:15] clean podcast.

[00:32:15] So I won't describe him to you,

[00:32:17] um,

[00:32:20] but,

[00:32:21] um,

[00:32:23] I can't even remember what I was going to say.

[00:32:25] I just wanted to rip on Dan.

[00:32:26] If I'm being honest,

[00:32:27] no,

[00:32:27] Dan,

[00:32:28] uh,

[00:32:28] Dan likes sport and we needed an extra person in the league.

[00:32:33] So I told him,

[00:32:34] look,

[00:32:36] it's trash talk.

[00:32:38] There'll be chicken wings at the draft.

[00:32:40] You'll have a good time.

[00:32:41] His first,

[00:32:42] um,

[00:32:43] first team name was not real football.

[00:32:45] Because he's funny.

[00:32:48] And then before next year's draft,

[00:32:51] he started reeling off statistics about players.

[00:32:54] Wow.

[00:32:55] Like it is such a,

[00:32:56] because you,

[00:32:56] you end up watching it in a different way because of how all the scoring is done.

[00:33:01] You,

[00:33:01] it kind of gives you that in and you also then get really obsessed with certain players,

[00:33:07] which is wild.

[00:33:08] Um,

[00:33:09] that's interesting.

[00:33:11] Yeah.

[00:33:11] During the,

[00:33:12] uh,

[00:33:12] during the season,

[00:33:13] your screen time increases exponentially.

[00:33:17] I can only imagine.

[00:33:18] Yeah.

[00:33:19] Yeah.

[00:33:20] That was something actually I was wondering,

[00:33:21] because I'm pretty sure I discussed this,

[00:33:23] uh,

[00:33:24] way back when I had Lynn Hanson on to talk about NFL,

[00:33:27] about sort of time zones and stuff like that for being in the UK of like trying to keep up with sports like this.

[00:33:33] So yeah,

[00:33:33] how do you guys kind of manage that?

[00:33:35] Well,

[00:33:36] my team,

[00:33:37] the Ravens are playing tonight.

[00:33:38] So I'm going to go to bed at 10 ish.

[00:33:41] And then I'm going to wake up at quarter past one,

[00:33:43] watch the game,

[00:33:44] go back to bed,

[00:33:46] wake up at six and,

[00:33:47] uh,

[00:33:48] go on a work training course at 7am tomorrow.

[00:33:51] So,

[00:33:51] uh,

[00:33:52] wow.

[00:33:52] I don't tend to,

[00:33:54] it's only if it's the,

[00:33:55] only if the Ravens are playing,

[00:33:57] do I tend to watch the late games?

[00:33:59] Um,

[00:34:01] but what I would also say is if you're in a particular situation,

[00:34:05] particularly tight fantasy matchup in a league that you really care about,

[00:34:10] um,

[00:34:10] you will not sleep well through the evening games.

[00:34:14] So like the week before last,

[00:34:16] I,

[00:34:17] uh,

[00:34:18] so you have,

[00:34:19] there's always a Thursday night game.

[00:34:22] There's the bulk of the games are on a Sunday and then you get a Monday night games.

[00:34:25] But typically sometimes that changes around Christmas and things like that.

[00:34:28] So for,

[00:34:29] for,

[00:34:29] for UK listeners,

[00:34:31] the Thursday night game is quarter past one in the morning on Friday.

[00:34:36] Nice.

[00:34:37] Um,

[00:34:37] the Sunday games,

[00:34:38] the bulk are at 6pm.

[00:34:40] There's a handful at half nine and then there's one.

[00:34:44] And now sometimes two,

[00:34:46] right?

[00:34:46] On like that.

[00:34:47] Quarter past one.

[00:34:48] Quarter past one.

[00:34:49] And then there's one.

[00:34:50] And now sometimes two.

[00:34:52] At quarter past one on a Tuesday morning.

[00:34:55] It is the Monday night football.

[00:34:56] But so what happens a lot of time in fantasy,

[00:34:59] sometimes your,

[00:35:00] your games are all wrapped up on a Sunday,

[00:35:02] which is nice.

[00:35:03] And you can go to bed and not worry about things.

[00:35:06] But oftentimes there'll be one player across the two teams that is playing on the Monday night game.

[00:35:13] And if the game is close enough,

[00:35:16] that could be swung on whatever that player does.

[00:35:18] So you'll tend to go to bed as normal.

[00:35:21] And then you'll wake up at about two o'clock and then you'll check your phone because you're wondering what's going on with that game.

[00:35:26] And then you'll see that,

[00:35:27] Oh,

[00:35:27] they've actually had a couple of points,

[00:35:28] but not enough to kind of take them.

[00:35:30] You're still winning.

[00:35:31] So it's okay.

[00:35:32] You can go back to sleep.

[00:35:33] And then you wake up again 20 minutes later.

[00:35:34] And then you check your phone again.

[00:35:35] And they've scored another few points.

[00:35:37] You're like,

[00:35:37] Oh,

[00:35:37] this is getting a bit tight for my liking.

[00:35:39] And then you go back to sleep and then you wake up again.

[00:35:41] And then you just stare at your phone for the last 30 minutes of the game until it finishes.

[00:35:46] And you win by like 0.5 points.

[00:35:50] So yeah,

[00:35:50] it's not great for,

[00:35:51] I've got better at it.

[00:35:53] I used to be terrible.

[00:35:54] I used to be checking it all through the night.

[00:35:55] And,

[00:35:56] you know,

[00:35:56] I've had,

[00:35:57] you've probably had the same Ian,

[00:35:58] but I've gone to sleep.

[00:36:00] I've had dreams about what has happened in the fantasy game.

[00:36:03] Woken up to check my phone.

[00:36:06] And it's not been that.

[00:36:07] Invariably it hasn't happened.

[00:36:10] But yeah,

[00:36:11] there's a level of,

[00:36:12] there is a 17 week period that is intense when it comes to fantasy football.

[00:36:22] Don't judge.

[00:36:24] Okay.

[00:36:25] Oh,

[00:36:25] I don't judge at all.

[00:36:28] Yeah.

[00:36:28] I think there's something to that.

[00:36:30] And I don't know.

[00:36:32] It's someone who doesn't really follow any sports team.

[00:36:35] I would,

[00:36:36] I got something.

[00:36:37] I feel like,

[00:36:37] is it missing from my life?

[00:36:39] I don't know.

[00:36:39] It just feels like it would be nice to have that kind of interest.

[00:36:42] And I get that.

[00:36:44] I get that thing of being so in it that you're like,

[00:36:46] I have to know,

[00:36:47] I have to know what's going on.

[00:36:48] And I also imagine in a group chat,

[00:36:50] it says one other person in that group chat who is going to stay up all night.

[00:36:55] Yeah.

[00:36:55] We've got a couple of in not in,

[00:36:59] actually,

[00:36:59] yeah.

[00:37:00] In your,

[00:37:00] in your forfeit league,

[00:37:02] we've got one guy in Canada,

[00:37:03] but he's a bit useless.

[00:37:04] And then one guy in Australia now.

[00:37:07] And then that's what you need.

[00:37:09] Diversify.

[00:37:09] Yeah.

[00:37:10] The sun,

[00:37:11] the sun never sets.

[00:37:13] Yeah.

[00:37:14] We have a follow the sun model in the forfeit league.

[00:37:17] Exactly.

[00:37:17] And then in the money league,

[00:37:19] which I run,

[00:37:20] we've got three in North America.

[00:37:24] So two in Canada,

[00:37:25] one in one in the States.

[00:37:27] Nice.

[00:37:27] So you tend to wake up to about 200 odd messages anyway.

[00:37:32] Amazing.

[00:37:32] But that's a really good point because setting football,

[00:37:36] setting the kind of NFL stuff aside,

[00:37:38] setting the fantasy aside,

[00:37:39] setting the competitiveness aside,

[00:37:42] there are people that I would probably either not be in touch with anymore

[00:37:48] or would have never met if it wasn't for fantasy football.

[00:37:52] There you go.

[00:37:53] So there's people in my league that I went to school with,

[00:37:57] and this is kind of the main,

[00:37:59] like we still see each other from time to time,

[00:38:01] but I'd say the bulk of contact comes through this.

[00:38:03] And then there are people in Ian's league that I'd say,

[00:38:10] what,

[00:38:11] 30% of your league I've become good friends with purely as that as the basis,

[00:38:18] like Nate and weirdly Ryan.

[00:38:22] Yeah.

[00:38:23] Yeah.

[00:38:23] There's a lot,

[00:38:24] a lot of people in that league,

[00:38:25] which you wouldn't have known or you might have like bumped into people.

[00:38:30] Met at parties or gigs.

[00:38:32] Yeah.

[00:38:32] Yeah.

[00:38:34] But it is,

[00:38:35] it is a good,

[00:38:37] a very good,

[00:38:39] because as you know,

[00:38:41] you know,

[00:38:42] men of a certain age,

[00:38:44] being friends with people is hard,

[00:38:46] man.

[00:38:48] We need that central thing that we can talk around and fantasy football is really good for that.

[00:38:56] Yeah,

[00:38:56] I can imagine.

[00:38:57] And as you say,

[00:38:57] it makes something that can seem quite inaccessible,

[00:39:01] accessible.

[00:39:02] And now it sounds to me as well,

[00:39:04] like you're also probably paying more attention to it than the average person.

[00:39:09] Right.

[00:39:09] Because you're looking in very intently at what players are doing specifically.

[00:39:13] Whereas I imagine there's perhaps a culture of people who are just more like,

[00:39:18] if you've grown up with it,

[00:39:19] it's just kind of like casual fans,

[00:39:20] you know?

[00:39:21] Yeah.

[00:39:22] Which is nothing wrong with,

[00:39:23] by the way.

[00:39:23] I'd say like for me particularly,

[00:39:25] if I,

[00:39:26] if I compare my NFL fandom with my football fandom,

[00:39:31] right?

[00:39:31] So I'm a Watford fan for my sins.

[00:39:34] Yeah.

[00:39:34] I'm a season ticket holder.

[00:39:36] I've been going for 15 odd years.

[00:39:39] Actually,

[00:39:39] if not,

[00:39:39] no,

[00:39:40] God,

[00:39:41] I'm old,

[00:39:41] aren't I?

[00:39:42] I've been going for 20.

[00:39:44] No,

[00:39:50] no,

[00:39:50] probably about 25 years.

[00:39:52] God,

[00:39:52] that's depressing.

[00:39:56] Just having a midlife crisis,

[00:39:58] mid episode.

[00:39:59] I'll just,

[00:39:59] I'll,

[00:40:00] I'll just add some like bleak music.

[00:40:04] Oh God.

[00:40:06] So there was a thing completely unrelated,

[00:40:09] but I saw a thing this week,

[00:40:11] a couple of weeks ago with on the run up to Halloween,

[00:40:14] knowing you're old when they start doing your childhood eras as Halloween

[00:40:19] costumes and they were doing nineties costumes.

[00:40:22] Did you see time cut?

[00:40:24] Ooh,

[00:40:25] no time,

[00:40:26] time cut as a whole.

[00:40:27] Yeah.

[00:40:27] You send it to me.

[00:40:28] Yeah.

[00:40:28] Yeah.

[00:40:29] Where the main character's sister got murdered at school,

[00:40:32] 20 years ago.

[00:40:33] And she goes back in time to 2003.

[00:40:38] Sorry,

[00:40:39] what?

[00:40:39] Yeah.

[00:40:40] So she goes back in time,

[00:40:41] 20 years to when I was at secondary school.

[00:40:45] Oh,

[00:40:46] wow.

[00:40:46] I was doing my GCSEs.

[00:40:48] The most depressing part of that.

[00:40:50] Yeah.

[00:40:50] The most depressing part of that is being able to watch it and going,

[00:40:53] that's not what I remember 2003 being like.

[00:40:58] It was,

[00:40:59] that was the true horror of Halloween this year.

[00:41:01] Yeah.

[00:41:02] We didn't have Motorola flip phones then.

[00:41:05] Why is everyone wearing pastels?

[00:41:09] Midlife crises aside,

[00:41:12] I,

[00:41:12] I,

[00:41:13] I follow Watford for all my life.

[00:41:16] I've been a season cold in games for 25 years.

[00:41:19] I,

[00:41:19] my focus in football,

[00:41:21] whilst I watch other games and have a basic knowledge of kind of what's going on,

[00:41:26] like,

[00:41:27] yeah,

[00:41:28] everything is Watford to me.

[00:41:30] And I don't really care too much about anyone else or what anyone else is doing unless we're playing them and we need to beat them.

[00:41:36] Gotcha.

[00:41:38] I am a,

[00:41:39] from the NFL point of view,

[00:41:41] I'm a Ravens fan and I will spend a lot more time with the Ravens.

[00:41:46] Well,

[00:41:46] not with them,

[00:41:46] but you know what I mean?

[00:41:48] Um,

[00:41:48] but because of the level of like input and,

[00:41:54] um,

[00:41:55] kind of obsession with fantasy football,

[00:41:57] I am much more au fait with the other 31 teams in the league and like the rookie undrafted running back that might break out for the,

[00:42:08] like,

[00:42:08] you know,

[00:42:09] Carolina Panthers or something that no one cares about,

[00:42:12] but there's an off chance that he might be a league winner.

[00:42:15] That's it.

[00:42:15] That's,

[00:42:15] that's who I was trying to trade for,

[00:42:17] but Ed shot me down.

[00:42:25] There's no punchline to that.

[00:42:26] That's,

[00:42:26] that's,

[00:42:26] that's what happened.

[00:42:27] Yeah.

[00:42:28] Yeah.

[00:42:28] No,

[00:42:28] I believe you.

[00:42:29] I believe you.

[00:42:30] Um,

[00:42:31] I'm curious.

[00:42:31] How did you come about choosing your teams?

[00:42:34] So I'll go.

[00:42:36] So 2010,

[00:42:38] I believe it was 2010.

[00:42:39] Let me just double check.

[00:42:40] Superbowl.

[00:42:42] Sorry.

[00:42:42] Google invoke the Google jingle.

[00:42:44] Yes.

[00:42:50] It's time to go.

[00:42:55] Superbowl 2010.

[00:42:56] 10.

[00:42:58] You guys have been incredibly restrained,

[00:43:00] uh,

[00:43:00] regards invoking jingles,

[00:43:02] considering we're like over half an hour in.

[00:43:05] Yeah.

[00:43:06] Good point.

[00:43:06] Well,

[00:43:06] you need your dog to come in for,

[00:43:08] for one game.

[00:43:09] I do,

[00:43:09] but my wife's home,

[00:43:10] so she's not interested in me.

[00:43:13] Do you want to write a new jingle for Bowie?

[00:43:15] Or,

[00:43:16] I will take you up on that.

[00:43:20] There's got,

[00:43:20] there's got to be a whipping out the notebook jingle.

[00:43:23] Well,

[00:43:24] whipping out the notebook.

[00:43:24] Oh,

[00:43:25] yes,

[00:43:26] there does.

[00:43:28] Okay.

[00:43:29] I'm going to need to write this down.

[00:43:31] Ow.

[00:43:31] Hand cramp.

[00:43:32] Wait,

[00:43:32] go back.

[00:43:33] Huh?

[00:43:33] Interesting.

[00:43:35] I had no idea.

[00:43:36] What's that got to do with,

[00:43:38] right?

[00:43:38] I see.

[00:43:39] Uh,

[00:43:39] wait,

[00:43:40] slow down.

[00:43:41] It looks like a toddler wrote this.

[00:43:43] So it was the 2010 season.

[00:43:45] I'll get distracted.

[00:43:46] Go on.

[00:43:46] 2010 season,

[00:43:48] but the Superbowl happens in the February after.

[00:43:51] So the February,

[00:43:51] it was 2011,

[00:43:53] but it was 2010 season.

[00:43:54] So the Packers played the Steelers and,

[00:43:57] um,

[00:43:58] that was the first Superbowl I watched.

[00:44:00] But so the Packers,

[00:44:02] so the Steelers won.

[00:44:04] And then the following season,

[00:44:06] the way that it tends to,

[00:44:09] the season tends to open up is the,

[00:44:11] on the first Thursday night game,

[00:44:13] the defending Superbowl champions.

[00:44:15] So in this case,

[00:44:15] the Steelers will play a game and it's typically against like a divisional rival.

[00:44:21] And their biggest rival is the Ravens.

[00:44:24] So the first proper regular season game I watched was the Steelers Ravens.

[00:44:28] And,

[00:44:28] uh,

[00:44:29] just decided that from watching that,

[00:44:31] and I spoke earlier about the defensive side of the game.

[00:44:35] Um,

[00:44:35] the Ravens back then were one of the best defenses in the league,

[00:44:39] really hard hitting,

[00:44:40] um,

[00:44:41] very famous players like Ray Lewis,

[00:44:43] Ed Reed,

[00:44:44] um,

[00:44:45] just love watching it and fell in love with them.

[00:44:47] and then decided,

[00:44:49] uh,

[00:44:49] I was a Ravens fan.

[00:44:50] Um,

[00:44:51] and just,

[00:44:52] yeah,

[00:44:52] kind of went from there basically.

[00:44:55] Saw us.

[00:44:56] I've seen us live three times,

[00:44:58] twice in London,

[00:44:58] once in New York.

[00:45:00] Um,

[00:45:00] haven't been to the beautiful city of Baltimore yet,

[00:45:03] but I would like to,

[00:45:05] at some point,

[00:45:06] I think that's very much an in and out job because I have watched the wire.

[00:45:12] That's,

[00:45:12] that's fair.

[00:45:13] Um,

[00:45:14] I,

[00:45:15] uh,

[00:45:16] wanted to get into it.

[00:45:17] So I thought I'd pick a team.

[00:45:18] I had a look at the teams and one of them is called the Vikings.

[00:45:22] Hmm.

[00:45:23] A lot less involved in brain story,

[00:45:26] but no,

[00:45:26] I,

[00:45:26] um,

[00:45:27] was like,

[00:45:27] Oh,

[00:45:28] the Vikings sound interesting.

[00:45:29] And then kind of read into them a bit.

[00:45:31] And they had two players at the time.

[00:45:33] One of them who's still there weirdly,

[00:45:36] um,

[00:45:37] who as a rugby man,

[00:45:41] they played like rugby players.

[00:45:43] So you had Adrian Peterson,

[00:45:45] who was like the,

[00:45:46] like feels like the last of the old school running backs.

[00:45:50] Right.

[00:45:51] Right.

[00:45:52] Like you wouldn't expect him to catch a ball or anything,

[00:45:55] but he would run like 200 yards a game.

[00:45:57] Like he was phenomenal and really liked that style of play.

[00:46:02] And then they had a guy called on the defense called Harrison Smith,

[00:46:05] who very much felt like a rugby player.

[00:46:09] They're playing.

[00:46:10] Um,

[00:46:11] so he's a safety and he,

[00:46:12] he,

[00:46:14] his read of the game of being able to figure out what's happening and then

[00:46:19] follow it up with like one of the hardest hits you've seen was just

[00:46:23] like,

[00:46:24] yeah,

[00:46:24] I like,

[00:46:25] I can't watch highlights of these guys and then not follow.

[00:46:31] You're missing out a crucial piece of the puzzle here as well.

[00:46:35] Yeah.

[00:46:36] Purple brings out my eyes.

[00:46:37] No,

[00:46:38] no,

[00:46:38] the big horn.

[00:46:40] Oh,

[00:46:41] and they have a big horn in the stadium that they blow before a game.

[00:46:44] It's great.

[00:46:45] yeah,

[00:46:45] I'm sold.

[00:46:46] What else could you want?

[00:46:47] Absolutely.

[00:46:48] Totally agree.

[00:46:49] I have to give this a look.

[00:46:51] Yeah.

[00:46:51] They're also,

[00:46:52] but also it means that I've picked.

[00:46:53] So my,

[00:46:54] um,

[00:46:56] uh,

[00:46:57] brother-in-law is getting into American football as well.

[00:47:00] And he was like,

[00:47:01] okay,

[00:47:01] so I want to support a team.

[00:47:02] Which team is the most like the Welsh rugby team?

[00:47:06] Is that right?

[00:47:07] It's the Vikings.

[00:47:09] Because if you go through,

[00:47:11] like there was a year where our record was like,

[00:47:13] I think we had only had six wins,

[00:47:15] but if you took out the last two minutes of each half,

[00:47:19] we would have won 13.

[00:47:20] Like that kind of stuff.

[00:47:23] Yeah.

[00:47:23] Where it's relatable.

[00:47:24] Yeah.

[00:47:25] Like incredible roster on paper,

[00:47:27] but not able to close it out.

[00:47:28] Winning really close games.

[00:47:30] It's like,

[00:47:30] yeah,

[00:47:30] no,

[00:47:30] this is just,

[00:47:31] I'm,

[00:47:31] I'm accidentally supporting Wales again,

[00:47:34] but in,

[00:47:35] but in purple and in Minnesota.

[00:47:38] And with a giant horn,

[00:47:39] which I've just Googled,

[00:47:40] which reminds me second Google.

[00:47:43] It's time to Google again.

[00:47:47] That is truly wild.

[00:47:49] Uh,

[00:47:49] it is a proper horn.

[00:47:51] This is something I did look into a bit,

[00:47:53] actually,

[00:47:53] when we did the NFL episode a while back.

[00:47:55] Go listen to it,

[00:47:56] please.

[00:47:57] Um,

[00:47:57] it was the sort of pageantry that comes with NFL sports.

[00:48:01] I thought was fascinating.

[00:48:04] And I don't know,

[00:48:05] but you guys are something I think would be quite fun here.

[00:48:08] You know,

[00:48:09] in some sports,

[00:48:09] it doesn't feel very English though.

[00:48:11] I think it's very American thing.

[00:48:13] I think we're far too cynical.

[00:48:14] Certainly like you can,

[00:48:16] like I remember one.

[00:48:18] Okay.

[00:48:19] So going back to being a Watford season ticket holder to,

[00:48:22] two occasions.

[00:48:23] Once,

[00:48:23] um,

[00:48:24] when the NFL was in town,

[00:48:26] when they were doing some of their early London games,

[00:48:29] we had some of the cheerleaders came along to like a Tuesday night game at Watford.

[00:48:33] And it was,

[00:48:35] it was like received like a fart and a lift.

[00:48:38] Like no one,

[00:48:39] no one was interested at all.

[00:48:41] Um,

[00:48:43] and then fast forward to about,

[00:48:46] I want to say about four years ago,

[00:48:49] uh,

[00:48:50] maybe slightly longer.

[00:48:51] Um,

[00:48:52] we were playing at home again on a,

[00:48:56] it was like a Monday or Tuesday night game.

[00:48:57] We were playing Man United and,

[00:49:00] um,

[00:49:01] it was freezing cold.

[00:49:03] We were three nil down at halftime.

[00:49:05] so everyone's miserable anyway.

[00:49:07] And then they bring out onto the field,

[00:49:10] um,

[00:49:11] someone from Britain's Got Talent or the X Factor or something,

[00:49:15] because basically they were originally from Watford.

[00:49:18] I think they're called like rack,

[00:49:21] rack.

[00:49:21] they're not called rack through you,

[00:49:24] but something like that.

[00:49:25] I remember you telling me about this.

[00:49:27] Um,

[00:49:28] anyway,

[00:49:28] come out,

[00:49:29] they do their performance.

[00:49:30] Everyone's like not interested,

[00:49:32] booing,

[00:49:33] whatever.

[00:49:34] Um,

[00:49:35] fast forward to that next Saturday.

[00:49:38] I don't watch X Factor or whatever it was on,

[00:49:44] but it's like eight o'clock on a Saturday and I start getting texts from loads and loads of people.

[00:49:49] Hmm.

[00:49:49] So why on earth?

[00:49:51] Anyway,

[00:49:52] turns out that there was a crowd shot midway through where I am very prominently there looking really, really bored.

[00:49:59] Just like arms folded,

[00:50:02] like staring.

[00:50:03] Um,

[00:50:04] so yeah,

[00:50:05] but my point being is that I just don't think English,

[00:50:10] certainly football fans have enough time for,

[00:50:14] yeah,

[00:50:14] everyone's too,

[00:50:15] too cynical and too moody.

[00:50:17] I think at a football game,

[00:50:18] which is a shame,

[00:50:19] but we're also getting all the loads of the American football over here.

[00:50:22] So we can kind of experience it through that.

[00:50:24] That's flip side of that.

[00:50:26] Welsh rugby is all choirs and goats.

[00:50:29] So,

[00:50:29] there you go.

[00:50:31] You know,

[00:50:31] entire,

[00:50:32] entirely different sporting pedigree for us.

[00:50:34] Yeah.

[00:50:35] Oh,

[00:50:35] it was.

[00:50:36] They're called Rack Sue.

[00:50:37] I was close.

[00:50:38] Rack Sue.

[00:50:39] Rack Sue.

[00:50:40] Yeah.

[00:50:42] There you go.

[00:50:43] 2017.

[00:50:43] I've never.

[00:50:45] 2017.

[00:50:46] Yeah,

[00:50:47] that just,

[00:50:47] hmm.

[00:50:48] I kind of know what you mean about that.

[00:50:49] Actually,

[00:50:49] it's true.

[00:50:50] It was a cultural,

[00:50:51] definitely a cultural divide there,

[00:50:53] but yeah,

[00:50:54] I'm going to have to look into this a bit more to choose a team of my own.

[00:50:57] Well,

[00:50:58] if you want things in the stadium,

[00:50:59] the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a massive pirate ship that they fire cannonballs from.

[00:51:04] I mean,

[00:51:05] that's,

[00:51:05] that's pretty hard.

[00:51:06] Your eyes literally lit up there.

[00:51:10] Which,

[00:51:10] to be fair,

[00:51:12] they bought over.

[00:51:12] I'm just,

[00:51:13] I'm just a big kid,

[00:51:14] Ian.

[00:51:14] I'm just a big kid.

[00:51:15] They flew it.

[00:51:16] They flew over to the U.S.

[00:51:18] They flew over when they play here.

[00:51:19] Yeah.

[00:51:19] Oh,

[00:51:20] that's so cool.

[00:51:21] Vikings.

[00:51:22] I love it.

[00:51:23] For want of a better word,

[00:51:24] Vikings bought the horn with them.

[00:51:29] I'm definitely adding in a sound effect for that.

[00:51:31] But yeah,

[00:51:32] cool.

[00:51:32] American stadiums in general are mental.

[00:51:36] Yeah.

[00:51:37] Yeah.

[00:51:37] I know,

[00:51:41] different sport,

[00:51:42] but I'll mention it anyway.

[00:51:43] I know baseball has,

[00:51:45] is the only sport that has stadium specific rules.

[00:51:50] Right.

[00:51:51] Okay.

[00:51:51] Because there's no set definitions of a baseball stadium.

[00:51:56] A home run is different in each one.

[00:51:59] So it has to be quantified.

[00:52:04] What counts in different stadiums.

[00:52:06] I find that fascinating because you'll have these baseball fields that have been there for like a hundred years.

[00:52:13] Yeah.

[00:52:14] And then you'll have other ones which are purpose built and really fancy.

[00:52:17] It's kind of like,

[00:52:18] you know,

[00:52:19] those like league one stadiums here where you have to walk through like someone's living room to get to the pitch.

[00:52:27] Right.

[00:52:27] It's kind of like that kind of vibe.

[00:52:30] you say,

[00:52:30] I mean,

[00:52:32] weirdly,

[00:52:33] they were in the,

[00:52:34] you're thinking of who,

[00:52:36] yes,

[00:52:36] I am Watford's rivals.

[00:52:38] So we don't,

[00:52:39] we don't say their name.

[00:52:40] You can bleep that out.

[00:52:41] You can bleep.

[00:52:42] Okay.

[00:52:43] It's basically a swear word.

[00:52:45] Sure.

[00:52:46] And yeah,

[00:52:48] they were weirdly in the premier league last year and they still had a,

[00:52:52] I think maybe 10,000 seat,

[00:52:54] a stadium where the away end literally goes through someone's back garden.

[00:52:57] Yeah.

[00:52:59] But it would be like a goal there.

[00:53:01] You can get a goal for hitting the ball against a wall because they weren't able to fit a full goal there.

[00:53:09] Like that kind of thing.

[00:53:10] But then with the NFL,

[00:53:12] there is so much money in those stadiums and tax breaks because they bribe the city they're in to let them stay.

[00:53:19] And free entertainment because they don't pay any of the acts that come and do it for some reason.

[00:53:24] Exposure,

[00:53:24] Harley.

[00:53:26] Yeah.

[00:53:26] Because,

[00:53:26] you know,

[00:53:27] Beyonce and Creed and Taylor Swift and whoever else they get at the height of their powers definitely needed it.

[00:53:34] Listen,

[00:53:35] I'm a huge fan of Creed.

[00:53:36] I will not apologize.

[00:53:39] Mark Tremonti is my boy.

[00:53:42] That was a good viral meme.

[00:53:45] Yeah,

[00:53:45] it was a good viral meme.

[00:53:47] Absolutely.

[00:53:47] I love it.

[00:53:48] I'm here for it.

[00:53:48] And genuinely text my,

[00:53:50] because my guitarist in our band,

[00:53:52] he's sending memes to me all the time on Instagram.

[00:53:55] And he sent me one of that the other day of Creed.

[00:53:58] And I said,

[00:53:58] I would genuinely love to cover a Creed song.

[00:54:01] Not even joking.

[00:54:03] I will,

[00:54:04] I will do it.

[00:54:05] Speaking of music.

[00:54:06] I've seen any other Creed songs other than.

[00:54:08] Oh,

[00:54:08] go on.

[00:54:09] But speaking.

[00:54:10] Human Clay,

[00:54:11] great album.

[00:54:12] Go on.

[00:54:12] Speaking of music and weird memes is something that has nothing to do with the NFL.

[00:54:17] Have you seen Gary Barlow's massive son?

[00:54:20] No.

[00:54:22] Third Google.

[00:54:26] So Google wants more.

[00:54:29] It is exactly what the world needs right now,

[00:54:32] given everything that's going on.

[00:54:33] It is,

[00:54:34] it is a meme that has come out of nowhere.

[00:54:37] Like part of it.

[00:54:38] He's not actually that tall.

[00:54:40] Just turns out Gary Barlow's a lot shorter than you think he is.

[00:54:43] But it makes,

[00:54:44] it makes it exactly Harley.

[00:54:46] Exactly.

[00:54:48] Is this one of the Nephilim of old?

[00:54:50] What's going on?

[00:54:52] There are so many memes of.

[00:54:55] I think you were the same,

[00:54:57] Ian.

[00:54:57] We just started receiving lots of memes about it without knowing the source photo.

[00:55:03] So we were really confused with everyone going on about Gary Barlow's massive son.

[00:55:07] The most out of the loop I have ever felt was when my dad sent me one.

[00:55:13] And it was like,

[00:55:14] okay,

[00:55:15] right.

[00:55:16] So this isn't just a,

[00:55:17] because sometimes people will reference something that you don't get.

[00:55:20] Right.

[00:55:21] And it's like,

[00:55:21] yeah,

[00:55:22] that's fine.

[00:55:23] But then it came from such a broad spectrum of people that it was like,

[00:55:27] okay,

[00:55:28] no,

[00:55:28] I have actually,

[00:55:29] I am just missing out here.

[00:55:30] This is,

[00:55:31] this is official now.

[00:55:32] I didn't get like whatever newsletter I'm assuming everyone was signed up to.

[00:55:36] You know what I love about this?

[00:55:38] So many of the newspapers that I'm looking at here have phrased it like,

[00:55:42] his,

[00:55:42] his son's height was revealed.

[00:55:45] Yeah.

[00:55:46] It was a secret that Gary Barlow has been keeping for years.

[00:55:49] Someone's edited his Wikipedia page.

[00:55:51] So it says,

[00:55:52] yeah.

[00:55:52] Children three brackets one giant.

[00:55:58] I mean,

[00:55:59] six foot seven.

[00:56:00] I'm six three.

[00:56:01] And you know,

[00:56:02] I,

[00:56:02] I feel out of place.

[00:56:03] Most places six,

[00:56:04] seven is like next level.

[00:56:05] So yeah.

[00:56:07] Fair play.

[00:56:07] Fair play.

[00:56:08] Just casually dropping that you're six three.

[00:56:10] Yeah.

[00:56:11] Yeah.

[00:56:11] Well,

[00:56:11] you know,

[00:56:12] I could be six three.

[00:56:13] You don't know.

[00:56:13] Oh,

[00:56:13] that's sorry.

[00:56:14] I found the photo.

[00:56:15] Let me,

[00:56:19] anyway,

[00:56:20] fantasy football.

[00:56:21] Yeah.

[00:56:24] So strongly recommend it.

[00:56:25] It is,

[00:56:27] it is a great in for the game.

[00:56:30] I think there's also a big,

[00:56:32] so like we said,

[00:56:33] we started in a redraft league.

[00:56:35] We're now in like dynasty leagues.

[00:56:37] We're in guillotine leagues.

[00:56:39] We're in best.

[00:56:40] Like it is just,

[00:56:42] it,

[00:56:42] you get out of it,

[00:56:44] what you put in and it is a lot of fun.

[00:56:45] Yeah.

[00:56:46] I want to pick up actually on money league.

[00:56:48] I heard that dropped earlier.

[00:56:49] Am I right?

[00:56:50] And assuming that's where you're just adding.

[00:56:51] So actual money into it.

[00:56:53] That is just what we.

[00:56:56] So,

[00:56:56] I mean,

[00:56:57] that's a fair point.

[00:56:58] Why do you do this?

[00:56:59] So in your league,

[00:57:01] generally you will figure out something.

[00:57:06] So a lot of people will have like a buy-in.

[00:57:09] Yeah.

[00:57:09] And then the winner gets the pot.

[00:57:13] There's also then usually a punishment for last place.

[00:57:18] Yeah.

[00:57:19] So in a lot.

[00:57:21] Go on.

[00:57:22] Sorry.

[00:57:22] So this is,

[00:57:22] sorry,

[00:57:23] just,

[00:57:23] just to,

[00:57:23] just to interrupt you there in just one sec.

[00:57:26] So Graham has sent the photo.

[00:57:32] That's incredible.

[00:57:35] That's going up on stories.

[00:57:38] Also,

[00:57:39] that's another first.

[00:57:40] You're the first person to ever share an image during one of these podcast records.

[00:57:44] There we go.

[00:57:45] Podcast first.

[00:57:47] Podcast first.

[00:57:48] That is the face of a man that just,

[00:57:53] you are just desperate for this to be over.

[00:57:55] Absolutely.

[00:57:56] Not just the performance for,

[00:57:58] from Raxxu.

[00:58:00] Just for life in general.

[00:58:01] We were three nil down.

[00:58:02] It was freezing.

[00:58:04] Yeah.

[00:58:05] Yeah.

[00:58:06] Yeah.

[00:58:07] Incredible.

[00:58:09] So yeah.

[00:58:10] Money league.

[00:58:11] So I've,

[00:58:11] we call,

[00:58:13] ours is called,

[00:58:14] my,

[00:58:14] my league is with the money league because there is a buy-in.

[00:58:17] So we have a,

[00:58:18] right.

[00:58:18] Right.

[00:58:18] And it's a 25 pound buy-in per person.

[00:58:22] Okay.

[00:58:23] Winner takes it all bar 25 pounds.

[00:58:27] Runner up gets their money back.

[00:58:28] No one else gets anything.

[00:58:30] Okay.

[00:58:31] All right.

[00:58:31] And then if you finish last,

[00:58:35] which he ended last year,

[00:58:37] well actually first place,

[00:58:38] you also get a trophy.

[00:58:39] Um,

[00:58:40] nice.

[00:58:41] If you finish last,

[00:58:42] uh,

[00:58:43] you also get a trophy.

[00:58:44] The trophy is going to be modeled here by Ian,

[00:58:48] which is the toilet seat.

[00:58:52] Uh,

[00:58:53] so the toilet seat,

[00:58:54] uh,

[00:58:56] is amazing.

[00:58:57] Has got all of the names of the,

[00:58:59] um,

[00:59:00] team names of everyone that's won it.

[00:59:03] Um,

[00:59:03] amazing.

[00:59:04] And so you get the toilet seat and then also at next year's draft,

[00:59:08] you have to buy pizza and beer for everyone.

[00:59:11] That makes sense.

[00:59:12] So that's,

[00:59:13] that's the kind of winning structure in,

[00:59:16] in our league.

[00:59:17] And then Ian's league is,

[00:59:18] I love that.

[00:59:19] Forfeit leagues and less money orientated,

[00:59:22] more shame or orientated.

[00:59:24] So the other league that,

[00:59:26] uh,

[00:59:26] what we call the forfeit league is the overall winner picks a forfeit,

[00:59:31] the overall loser.

[00:59:33] And over the years that has ranged from thoroughly anticlimactic to really,

[00:59:40] really funny.

[00:59:40] So the first ever forfeit was for the aforementioned Dan Ray,

[00:59:45] who had to,

[00:59:47] whenever he was out with someone from the league,

[00:59:49] had to drink his drinks through a straw and had to specifically ask for the

[00:59:57] straw.

[00:59:58] So I don't know if you've ever seen a man drink a pint of Guinness through a

[01:00:01] straw before,

[01:00:01] but it's an image that never leaves you.

[01:00:04] And we were,

[01:00:05] we were,

[01:00:05] so this would,

[01:00:06] this would have literally,

[01:00:07] literally have been 10 years ago.

[01:00:09] So we were of an age where that was funny and not just like criminal.

[01:00:13] Um,

[01:00:14] because if someone asked me to do that now,

[01:00:16] every time I went out,

[01:00:19] no.

[01:00:20] Like if you may,

[01:00:21] if you do that in Dublin,

[01:00:22] you get your knees capped.

[01:00:23] That's I don't drink as much anymore.

[01:00:25] Or what I am drinking.

[01:00:26] I'm going to want to enjoy.

[01:00:28] Um,

[01:00:28] yeah,

[01:00:29] we also had,

[01:00:30] um,

[01:00:33] I've just put the link to,

[01:00:34] uh,

[01:00:35] he,

[01:00:36] he,

[01:00:37] Dan,

[01:00:38] their one year actually won.

[01:00:40] So he got to pick a forfeit.

[01:00:42] And that year the loser was,

[01:00:44] um,

[01:00:45] you can beep out his name because we beep out on our podcast for reasons.

[01:00:48] I can't remember why.

[01:00:49] It's just funny.

[01:00:50] I think,

[01:00:51] and they recreated hot ones.

[01:00:56] So a friend of ours has a,

[01:00:59] uh,

[01:00:59] media company filmed it,

[01:01:01] edited it.

[01:01:02] And it is Nate getting interviewed about his fantasy season while eating

[01:01:08] increasingly hotter and hotter chicken wings.

[01:01:11] Incredible.

[01:01:11] And it ends up with him shivering and sweating,

[01:01:17] um,

[01:01:18] just,

[01:01:18] and it is so,

[01:01:19] I,

[01:01:20] I've,

[01:01:20] I've watched it so many times.

[01:01:23] Um,

[01:01:24] but like we've,

[01:01:26] we're going to have,

[01:01:27] and this was,

[01:01:27] this was one where we were like,

[01:01:30] it was his idea for one.

[01:01:34] And he,

[01:01:35] he could say no if he wants,

[01:01:36] but there is going to be a tattoo at some point.

[01:01:39] Yes.

[01:01:40] So I love the sign of that.

[01:01:42] Also,

[01:01:43] I found the video cause you've sent me one.

[01:01:45] Um,

[01:01:46] which now means,

[01:01:48] uh,

[01:01:48] Ian,

[01:01:49] this is spectacular.

[01:01:51] Oh yeah.

[01:01:52] Strongly.

[01:01:53] Is that the full thing?

[01:01:54] Was that just the trailer?

[01:01:55] I've just done the trailer.

[01:01:56] Yeah.

[01:01:56] It's the trailer.

[01:01:58] Yeah.

[01:01:58] It is.

[01:02:00] Oh,

[01:02:01] bless him.

[01:02:01] And so that's that pink shirt that he,

[01:02:04] that he's wearing.

[01:02:05] I think he's got it at the moment.

[01:02:07] Cause our current,

[01:02:08] um,

[01:02:10] it's technically vacated.

[01:02:12] Yes.

[01:02:13] The loser of that league is called the butt fumble,

[01:02:16] which is after there was a famous NFL play called the butt fumble,

[01:02:20] where a quarterback called Mark Sanchez ran into the ass of his own player and dropped the ball.

[01:02:27] Yep.

[01:02:27] Yeah.

[01:02:27] And that's just funny.

[01:02:29] Um,

[01:02:29] and yes,

[01:02:29] I,

[01:02:30] I did say ass then to see if you bleep it out because I had the same issue when we were bleeping out swear words.

[01:02:37] So,

[01:02:37] okay.

[01:02:37] Interested to see what happens.

[01:02:39] Um,

[01:02:39] where's my threshold?

[01:02:40] The deria.

[01:02:40] To find out folks.

[01:02:44] You massive.

[01:02:45] No,

[01:02:45] um,

[01:02:47] so the idea is there's then a bright pink t-shirt.

[01:02:50] I am massive,

[01:02:51] not as massive as Gary Barlow's son.

[01:02:54] So yeah.

[01:02:56] So there's then also a pink t-shirt that whenever they're,

[01:02:58] whenever we're out as like a league thing,

[01:03:01] they have to wear.

[01:03:03] Incredible.

[01:03:04] It is just,

[01:03:05] there's a lot of like,

[01:03:06] well,

[01:03:07] there's a good chance that someone might be wearing it in my wedding next year because there's enough people from the league going.

[01:03:14] And if one of them is the loser,

[01:03:16] they'll have to wear that.

[01:03:17] Yeah.

[01:03:18] And I like it.

[01:03:19] I'm fine with that.

[01:03:20] I,

[01:03:21] I'm actively encouraged to wear that rather than anything smart.

[01:03:25] Of course.

[01:03:26] I like it.

[01:03:27] I like it.

[01:03:27] I like it.

[01:03:28] There's a lot of like fantasy football forfeits will always go viral each year as well.

[01:03:35] So yeah,

[01:03:36] the famous one that always annoys me because it seems easy,

[01:03:39] but it's always picked up.

[01:03:40] It's like spending 24 hours in,

[01:03:43] is it like IHOP or like the pancake waffle?

[01:03:47] place in America.

[01:03:49] Yeah.

[01:03:49] And every,

[01:03:51] for every pancake you eat,

[01:03:53] you take an hour off of the time you have to be there.

[01:03:56] Or there was one which was similar with a McDonald's and each menu had like a time equivalent to it.

[01:04:03] And you,

[01:04:04] yeah,

[01:04:04] you,

[01:04:05] you could like take time off.

[01:04:07] And again,

[01:04:07] like watch that.

[01:04:08] And it's just like,

[01:04:09] I could like,

[01:04:10] give me an hour and 15,

[01:04:11] mate,

[01:04:12] hour 15,

[01:04:13] keep the chicken nuggets coming and I'm out.

[01:04:16] But it is just amazing.

[01:04:19] It's just,

[01:04:20] it's just,

[01:04:20] just a bit of fun in it.

[01:04:22] I was very simply,

[01:04:24] but I once,

[01:04:25] there was an article about,

[01:04:26] there was a investigative journalist that was looking into how bottomless the TGI Fridays,

[01:04:31] bottomless appetizers actually were.

[01:04:33] And basically sat in a TGI Fridays eating fried mozzarella sticks.

[01:04:39] And the,

[01:04:40] um,

[01:04:41] it turned out that they would keep bringing them forever for like $5 at a time.

[01:04:46] But the reading of how painful eating this like claggy,

[01:04:51] hardening,

[01:04:52] cold mozzarella,

[01:04:54] deep fried mozzarella is,

[01:04:55] is quite a,

[01:04:56] just harrowing tale.

[01:04:58] There's a legal,

[01:04:59] there is a legal precedent to it now.

[01:05:01] I think,

[01:05:01] or all you could eat specifically,

[01:05:03] perfectly phrased,

[01:05:04] all you can eat buffets.

[01:05:05] There's an actual court case you could go to.

[01:05:09] Incredible.

[01:05:10] Absolutely incredible.

[01:05:12] Yeah.

[01:05:13] Trying to think of,

[01:05:13] trying to think of forfeits for this year.

[01:05:15] There's a couple.

[01:05:16] There's also a good forfeit has to be tailored to the person.

[01:05:20] Yes,

[01:05:20] absolutely.

[01:05:21] Yeah.

[01:05:22] I guess that's where the element of psychological warfare comes back in.

[01:05:25] Right.

[01:05:26] Absolutely.

[01:05:27] Yeah.

[01:05:27] Which I can get behind.

[01:05:29] So I like the sound of this genuinely.

[01:05:31] It's one of those things that the more we've talked about,

[01:05:33] the more I'm like,

[01:05:34] I would like to get involved with this somehow.

[01:05:36] I'm going to see if anyone I know is doing this.

[01:05:39] I think,

[01:05:39] well,

[01:05:40] why don't we do,

[01:05:41] we've got a year to prepare.

[01:05:42] We could go for like a,

[01:05:44] a pod,

[01:05:46] indie pods,

[01:05:47] like mini league,

[01:05:49] eight teams,

[01:05:49] keep it nice and easy.

[01:05:50] We can get,

[01:05:51] we know Scott from Tarantino plays.

[01:05:56] I'm sure we could get maybe Petros and a few others on board if we try.

[01:06:00] So,

[01:06:01] yeah,

[01:06:02] we could get people.

[01:06:03] We get people.

[01:06:04] Okay.

[01:06:04] We'll cajole.

[01:06:05] I like the sound of this.

[01:06:06] Easy content,

[01:06:07] Harley.

[01:06:08] Easy content.

[01:06:08] It is.

[01:06:09] It's all stuff to go back to.

[01:06:10] It'll be great.

[01:06:11] Yeah.

[01:06:11] You're planning an episode for me a year in advance.

[01:06:13] I like it.

[01:06:15] Amazing.

[01:06:16] Well,

[01:06:17] guys,

[01:06:17] it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you as always.

[01:06:22] I could talk for hours and hours and hours,

[01:06:24] but it is time for me to head off as I'm sure it's for both of you.

[01:06:27] So,

[01:06:28] cause you know,

[01:06:28] Graham,

[01:06:29] you've got a game to watch in a few hours.

[01:06:31] I've got a game to watch in a few hours.

[01:06:32] He's got a nap first.

[01:06:34] Yeah,

[01:06:34] exactly.

[01:06:35] Yeah.

[01:06:35] And yeah,

[01:06:37] thankfully my,

[01:06:38] my son has stayed asleep the entire recording.

[01:06:41] There we go.

[01:06:42] Yeah.

[01:06:42] Apologies.

[01:06:44] No,

[01:06:45] don't apologize.

[01:06:45] It's fine.

[01:06:46] It's fine.

[01:06:46] It's just how these things go.

[01:06:48] And you know,

[01:06:49] if you want to put your son ahead of a podcast,

[01:06:51] well,

[01:06:52] you know,

[01:06:52] I won't judge you for it.

[01:06:54] I tell him that every week.

[01:06:56] Some people just aren't that committed.

[01:06:58] Are they?

[01:06:58] but you know,

[01:06:59] sibling rivalry.

[01:06:59] Work with what you have.

[01:07:01] Yeah.

[01:07:01] Exactly.

[01:07:03] I was here first.

[01:07:07] Yeah.

[01:07:08] Your son,

[01:07:08] your son can come back here when he's six foot three.

[01:07:11] Yeah.

[01:07:13] I hope I have a massive son like Gary Barlow.

[01:07:17] I think that's what we all aspire to.

[01:07:21] And on that,

[01:07:22] on that note,

[01:07:23] where can the good people find you?

[01:07:24] They should already know by now,

[01:07:25] but if they don't.

[01:07:27] So you could find us on Instagram at the podcast.

[01:07:30] Nobody asked for,

[01:07:31] uh,

[01:07:32] I think it automatically can send you to threads on there.

[01:07:37] Cause we're on,

[01:07:38] we're on threads now as well.

[01:07:40] Because I think that's how that works.

[01:07:42] Yeah.

[01:07:42] As with a lot of people,

[01:07:43] we're trying to transition off of Twitter,

[01:07:46] the handle of which Graham could tell you now.

[01:07:48] Nobody asked for pod with the number four,

[01:07:50] same on Facebook.

[01:07:52] And we have a website,

[01:07:53] podcast.

[01:07:54] No,

[01:07:54] be asked for the code at UK,

[01:07:55] which has links to all of those things and more,

[01:07:57] or just Google us.

[01:07:58] And obviously Spotify and search out the Godzilla episode,

[01:08:02] because your boy,

[01:08:04] and our boy Harley's on that one.

[01:08:06] Indeed.

[01:08:07] One could argue,

[01:08:08] I've been on pretty much almost every episode this year.

[01:08:10] The amount of times you've played jingles for me,

[01:08:12] which I do appreciate.

[01:08:14] And to be fair,

[01:08:16] Harley,

[01:08:16] it was,

[01:08:16] it was an incredible jingle that you wrote for that.

[01:08:20] It was.

[01:08:20] It is.

[01:08:21] I think if anything,

[01:08:23] like,

[01:08:23] it's not that we don't,

[01:08:25] it's not that we don't love your son,

[01:08:29] but I think we mentioned your name as much as an excuse to play the jingle.

[01:08:36] Then my plan worked.

[01:08:39] Viral marketing at its finest.

[01:08:42] One podcast at a time.

[01:08:45] Brilliant guys.

[01:08:46] Thank you so much as always.

[01:08:47] And yeah,

[01:08:47] I'll make sure there are links in the show notes.

[01:08:49] They should go and listen to it anyway,

[01:08:50] but I'll make sure I link it in there for them.

[01:08:52] Thanks again for coming on.

[01:08:54] Thank you.

[01:08:56] A massive thank you to Ian and Graham for coming back onto the podcast and sharing such a fascinating topic with me.

[01:09:03] I really enjoyed the conversation as I'm sure you guys did at home.

[01:09:07] Make sure you go and give the podcast.

[01:09:09] Nobody asked for a follow.

[01:09:11] It's a brilliant show.

[01:09:12] And I'm not just saying that because they were nice enough to have me on the podcast.

[01:09:15] Although it is an added bonus.

[01:09:17] I won't lie.

[01:09:18] I would definitely recommend you check it out,

[01:09:19] especially the run of recent episodes they've done.

[01:09:22] They've done an incredible job highlighting what sounds like an incredibly heartwarming documentary

[01:09:27] all about a sporting team called the Brentford Penguins.

[01:09:31] So make sure you go and check out those episodes and just work your way through the back catalogue.

[01:09:36] You would have heard them enough by now.

[01:09:37] I mean,

[01:09:37] this is their third shout out this year.

[01:09:39] So clearly,

[01:09:40] I think it's worth your time.

[01:09:42] So make sure you check out the links in the show notes and give them a follow on the socials.

[01:09:46] I promise you,

[01:09:46] you won't regret it.

[01:09:48] Thank you so much for listening to this episode.

[01:09:50] If you enjoyed the podcast,

[01:09:51] then please do me a favor and consider just doing a few simple things to help me out as an independent podcaster.

[01:09:57] First and foremost,

[01:09:58] just tell somebody.

[01:09:59] I don't mind who you tell or how you tell them.

[01:10:02] Word of mouth,

[01:10:02] social media,

[01:10:03] or a message into your NFL fantasy football group chat would not go amiss.

[01:10:08] Really,

[01:10:09] anything you can do to help goes a long way.

[01:10:11] As I said,

[01:10:12] I'm an independent podcaster.

[01:10:13] I do everything here except the artwork.

[01:10:15] That's Alex Jenkins.

[01:10:16] His details are also in the show notes,

[01:10:18] by the way.

[01:10:19] But yes,

[01:10:19] everything else is me.

[01:10:21] So if you can help spread the word,

[01:10:23] it really helps the podcast to grow so I can reach out to more people,

[01:10:26] cover more topics and bring you guys more episodes.

[01:10:29] It's that simple.

[01:10:31] You can also leave me a lovely five star review or

[01:10:33] rating on your favorite podcatcher of choice.

[01:10:35] If you do,

[01:10:36] please let me know because I'd love to give you a massive thank you on an episode of the podcast,

[01:10:40] because it really is the least that I can do.

[01:10:43] You can also donate to the cost of running the show by heading over to the TeePublic merch store,

[01:10:48] or donate directly to the podcast via the links in the show notes.

[01:10:53] Also,

[01:10:53] don't forget you get 25% off from styleupyourpet.com.

[01:10:58] So if you want to get yourself some pet accessories,

[01:11:00] make sure you check out the affiliate link where Richard has very kindly,

[01:11:03] offered 25% off to my listeners.

[01:11:06] Grab yourself a bargain just by clicking the link in the show notes.

[01:11:09] It's that simple.

[01:11:10] Thanks again for giving this a listen.

[01:11:12] Make sure you follow the podcast on your favorite social media platforms.

[01:11:15] We're on threads,

[01:11:16] blue sky,

[01:11:17] Instagram,

[01:11:18] and discord.

[01:11:19] So if you have any thoughts about the topics,

[01:11:21] or you just want to stay up to date with what's happening with the podcast,

[01:11:23] then make sure you give me a follow.

[01:11:25] Links are in the show notes for that as well.

[01:11:27] Thanks again for listening to this episode.

[01:11:29] I will be back on Monday the 25th with another episode featuring two brand new guests of the podcast

[01:11:35] with a topic that is frankly overdue.

[01:11:38] So make sure you are here for that.

[01:11:40] Until then,

[01:11:41] well,

[01:11:42] there's only one way I can end this episode,

[01:11:44] right?

[01:11:45] It has to be done.

[01:11:46] And I'm not mad about it.

[01:11:49] Take it away,

[01:11:50] boys.