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The Coug (sponsored by River Ridge CPA)
30 Plays1 year ago
The coug joins and discusses the state of the league, his matchup this week against Rob, and much much more
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Transcript
Introduction & Sponsorship Opening
00:00:28
Speaker
Maybe the sun is shining, but it's definitely not shining on Rob. This is episode nine of Stoned by Cornbread. I'm Blake. We're heading into week nine, coming off of a bi-week, well rested, healthy. Actually, I'm a little under of the weather.
00:00:44
Speaker
but That is from a weekend in Lexington and spending some time in Keeneland, which took a toll. Regardless, we got a great show tonight. We got the Coug joining us. We have the Coug joining us for a shame off watch and really exciting news. This episode is officially brought to you by River Ridge, who is back on as this shows official sponsor, at least for this episode, maybe in the longterm.
00:01:11
Speaker
Time will tell. Opening track tonight is a tribute to Phil Lesch of the Grateful Dead who passed away this past week. Jumping on in.
00:01:51
Speaker
Oh Wait, he's back Big J League of hard knocks big J checking in It's been a minute.
Return & League Standings Discussion
00:02:01
Speaker
It's been a little bit of a hiatus for the podcast taking a little half-time break and But we are back and reporting live on Episode 9 of Stone by Cornbread. We got a lot to break down here. Things have been moving and shaking in the standings. Let's address the top first before we get to the absolute rubbish at the bottom. The cream is beginning to rise. We've got three teams at six and two. ah A team who has no name is
00:02:32
Speaker
Number one in the standings, most points for in the in the league. Larry is rolling right now. Two game win streak. Team is looking good. He's got all the pieces that he needs right now. Also near the top, the West Hillbillies preserved by pilot who had a chance to separate from the pack but could not lost last week, still in good shape.
00:02:58
Speaker
The Hillbillies are an interesting squad right now. They're full of confidence. They're calling ballgame early, fighting the injury bug a little bit right now. And I don't love the Hillbillies squad. They feel, dare I say, fraudish with this six and two record. And maybe fraud is not the right word, but potentially peaking too early yet yeah ESPN says 87% chance of making the playoffs. Speaking of frauds, one of these is not like the other.
Team Analysis: Smooth Moves & White Rhino
00:03:36
Speaker
The smooth moves, yours truly, 772.58 points scored. That is good enough to be below the middle of the pack in terms of points scored in the league of hard knocks. But yet, so much reason for hope right now. The smooth moves, one last week,
00:03:56
Speaker
six and two, incredibly healthy, not a single cue on the entire roster right now. Healthy, moving, followed, as Will would say. The White Rhino coming in at number four. Right now, the Rhino was on a ah real big heater coming into last week and ah Couldn't keep the momentum going also a little bit fraudish with the seven eighty two point five points four and What do we think about the rhino pulling up his roster right now? He's starting bow nicks this week that is a fucking problem. Okay bow nicks Does not deserve to be rostered At all
00:04:51
Speaker
And Blake, he used to be the quarterback for ah for Auburn. So give me your thoughts on both. OK, well, first off, ah the top four is very interesting. And we could talk about the top four all night long, all day long. Larry and Will definitely, definitely deserve to be there. I think it's interesting with you, Rhino, and and your points for ah you know you're You're actually closer to to sixth place in points four, James, despite being third in the standings. The rhino though, the rhino has played pretty well. And and in defense of Bo Nix, he's currently the number nine ranked quarterback in the league. But after the last four weeks, he's actually the number three ranked quarterback in the league the past four weeks.
Player Performance & Fantasy Strategy
00:05:44
Speaker
Uh, Bo Nix has actually been putting up points. Uh, week five is when he really launched against Vegas and he put up 23. He put up 20 against the chargers 14 on a Thursday night game. That's pretty solid. And then last week he put up 30 points against Carolina. Granted, those are all pretty teams.
00:06:07
Speaker
No, he's got the Ravens and the Chiefs. We'll see what Bonix is made of, but Bonix is a gamer. He's a trader for going to Oregon, but he's a gamer. I don't i don't hate i don't hate the Bonix play at all.
00:06:18
Speaker
ah i don't want i I got speared by the charging Rhino. I don't i want no piece of the Rhino right now. That's fair. Traditionally, ah I've kind of owned Rhino in the League of Hard Knocks, um but I do see your point. I had no clue he was the number nine ranked quarterback. And as we all know in fantasy football.
00:06:43
Speaker
You can be a really shitty quarterback and be ah coming from behind and getting a lot of points in the fourth quarter. He he scrambles a lot too. I think that's another thing you got to realize that those those little 10, 15 yard scrambles, those add up, especially when you're not getting past your first read, which Bo does struggle to do. So he's got his first read double covered. Cool. I'm going to run it.
00:07:09
Speaker
Rookie quarterback, that's what they do. They rack up points. That was Richardson last year. Just like Jayden Daniels this year. Jayden Daniels this year. Ah, he's getting through two reads sometimes. Anyways, jumping in. Next on the list at number five, a team who's really feeling himself right now, ah the Marsh Cats loves his points for metric. He's also near metric. It's a pretty good metric. I would say if all the metrics, it's, it's a pretty good one. Yeah. And it's funny, Blake, because you know, who also loves that metric? Rob. but until this Nobody, nobody loves points for more than Rob. Rob wants a league that is only about points for, and you know what counts, Blake? Winning. And so congrats on your congrats on your four wins.
00:08:04
Speaker
and 912 points. I think you're peaking a little bit too early. Am I about to eat crow after some of these comments because we are playing each other this week potentially, but Blake, I still do love your squad and there's a little bit more reason to love your squad right now. I'm going to give you the floor to talk about your trade that went down over this past week and what went into that.
00:08:33
Speaker
Who were the other potential trade partners? Give us the backstory. I mean, there's not much of a backstory. ah You know, I floated out of trade to Andrew. I was interested. And it's always interesting with Andrew, because what Andrew does, if anyone's ever traded with Andrew, which I do almost on a yearly basis now is I send him a trade, he immediately rejects the trade.
00:09:01
Speaker
Then what he'll do is he'll send me back either the same trade or a counter trade. And then by the time I go to open it up, he'll have already deleted it. So it's like a little, it's a little like kind of cock tease maneuver. He does where he just, he just slips it in for a second and then disappears and goes limp. So I just sent him back the same trade.
00:09:24
Speaker
and decided to leave it on his desk. And then he texted me, I believe it was Thursday night. I would i was in Lexington, that was my first night in Lexington. And I'll read the text from from Andrew.
00:09:36
Speaker
um It said, ah what did it say here? Oh yeah, this is great. I'm a couple Burbins in and I'm very close to pulling the trigger on this trade. I sent him back a thumbs up emoji and I woke up and the trade was done.
00:09:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah that was that was pretty much it. Interesting. So you weren't really fishing off the pier searching for trade partners. You just knew, you knew the trade market. You knew Andrew was probably drinking bourbon and, uh,
00:10:11
Speaker
That's what got the deal done. Yeah. Well, yeah I mean, you got to leave it on his desk. You you got to hit him with it mid day, leave it on his desk, count on Andrew to get a couple millers deep. And this night, you know, the bourbon was in my favor, but I think it was a good trade for both of us. You know, we're both middle of the middle of the table, if you will, middle of the pack.
00:10:28
Speaker
um We'll see how it shakes out. We're both four and four after this week. He had a big win too and my old boys helped him. So I guess we can, we can jump down to Andrew cause he's, he's four and four too. We're right there. We're still in the hunt, especially with the locks on the right. Yeah. Sorry, phone died. I didn't realize a video podcast. Yeah. Not really prepared.
00:10:55
Speaker
Well, I mean, we can, we can go camera off if he makes you feel uncomfortable. We don't actually record the video. We just well no i'm saying like to see each other. I didn't charge my phone is all I was, I was getting out there. So we're back. I'm charged in. I'm ready to go. must You know, AJ, all that tells me is that the sponsorship is working. If your phone is dead enough from working all day.
00:11:21
Speaker
clearly stoned by cornbread is driving up business for you. So you're welcome for your phone. You could say my seven-year-old phone needs to be replaced and I need to get some need to get some more business to be able to pay for that. So it can go either way, right? so You could go either way with that, but I'll i'll choose to to take the positive narrative on that one. Oh yeah, by the way, AJ, tonight's episode is is
Sponsorship Acknowledgement & Team Struggles
00:11:47
Speaker
officially brought to you by River Ridge, episode nine of this season. Oh, that is great. We just thought we would feature you as like sponsored by this whole show. So we're we're probably going to bring up River Ridge as frequently as possible. We know you're coming off a busy tax season. I was out two weeks ago. Speaking of busy seasons, James, I know we're breaking through the standings here. Uh,
00:12:10
Speaker
Where are we at? Were we at number six in the standings? Yeah. AJ, but before you cut out there, we had, we were talking about the bandwagoner and Blake and the bandwagoners trade and what went into that. Um, and apparently it had to do a lot with, uh, you know, only one party that Blake was targeting. He he knows Andrew's playbook ah and send him the offer early in the day.
00:12:39
Speaker
And waited for the whiskey to ensue. And that's when the deal got done. So that's about all you missed there. What was the trade? What was the trade? I missed it. The trade, the trade was, uh, it was Breece Hall for, for two of my players. I traded him away, David Montgomery and Kareem Hunt. So one running back for two. yeah I don't know. There's a breeze. All has been doing pretty bad, right? I don't know if I, uh, if I liked that on your end, boy but I don't know. No, I'm not wanting to talk though, cause I'm two and six. So I can't really say anything. It's a, it's a humbling year for me. So yeah, we're working our way down towards you. We're on the team. beyond yeah Yeah. We haven't quite made our way that far yet. AJ next on the list is a, a team who has made.
00:13:27
Speaker
Uh, a few moves this season, only six, and also has a 3% chance of making the playoffs per ESPN. And we've entered the shame offs. We've entered the shame offs because we're, we're in the bottom four now, right? Yes, we have entered the bottom four and. Bami is ah again, as I stated at the beginning of the year, I listed Bami as a shame off, uh, candidate.
00:13:56
Speaker
and it's playing out how I envisioned. Bobby's team is a little bit banged up. I really hope because I love watching ah the Packers right now. I'm kind of becoming a Packers fan that Jordan Love is not an injury prone quarterback because he keeps getting banged up. But right now we got Jordan Love with the cue by his name.
00:14:20
Speaker
Bommie's starting Raheem Mostert, who is clearly behind Devin A. Chain in the Miami backfield. Tyron Tracy had a concussion last week. I doubt he'll play this week, but Bommie's got him in the starting lineup. Deebo on a bye. It doesn't even look... Yeah, it doesn't even look like Bommie... I was not dialed into the waivers this week because I didn't need to pick anyone up because my team is healthy and good top to bottom, but. Bonnie hasn't even looked at his lineup, apparently. I mean, he's just got. He's got trash all over the place and hadn't hadn't touched anything so. Well, Tyrone Tracy hasn't cleared the concussion protocol. He's got him in the starting lineup. Jordan Love did not practice today and Jordan Love was out for most of the second half and in the previous game.
00:15:17
Speaker
I mean, I don't want to say it, but Bommie's projected total. He's projected right now to lose to Rhino by 30 points. Could Bommie be throwing the match? I mean, this would be a new level of mac match fixing. i'm good This looks like a 35.3 lineup right now. He might want to keep me and Andrew out of the playoffs so badly that he's willing to give the White Rhino a victory. I guess we'll get to that later in our our week nine preview. but Yeah, I wouldn't put it past Bommie, especially this season, to ah to tank, to keep Andrew and I out of the top four. Yeah, it's it's really not looking good for Bommie. He was full of hope before this two-game slide, and you never want to see single digits next to your playoff chances.
00:16:06
Speaker
Um, a team who is in double digits for their playoff chances yet below bombing in the standings. Yes. Chef with a 10% chance to make the playoffs. We never hear very much from the chef, uh, on the signal app, but right now.
00:16:27
Speaker
There's a lot of reason for hope when you look at this lineup. Uh, they're very, well, we did, we did hear from him recently to say that I got trade rate, but then he went back into his, and back into his hole after that. Maybe, maybe he was fixing his plumbing. Let's, let's not count that out, but Jake's team is looking good. I mean, this is the, the Bijon Robinson season that Blake.
00:16:54
Speaker
was hoping for when he drafted him. Bijon is the number six overall running back in fantasy football. Puka is back. And Jake's got some good pieces here on the squad. I can see why he is not single digit ah percentage points to make the playoffs right now. So, Jake, I know you're not listening, but fuck you anyways.
00:17:23
Speaker
so
00:17:26
Speaker
Let's keep moving down. AJ. Yeah, we made it down to AJ. AJ. We finally made it.
Draft Reflections & Season Outlook
00:17:31
Speaker
So and are these your power rankings or are these the standings? Because I'm very. these These are the actual standings. You jumped in a little late. These are the actual. We're just we're just recapping. confused how you have bombing how to Yeah, these are the actual standings. Got it. And the numbers really don't lie in this bottom four, I got to tell you, because. Hmm.
00:17:53
Speaker
I disagree. Everyone in the bottom four is narrowly above 700 points for the season or below. And we'll get to that below team in a minute. But AJ, I'm just going to give you the floor to talk about your squad right now. All right. So first things first, I'll give it to Blake. I made some bad draft picks.
00:18:19
Speaker
Right, Blake called me out on, most Anthony Richardson, who also called me out on Blake, Ramadre, he's been pretty good. My Bears players, they've they've actually done they've actually been doing well the last couple of weeks. I actually think, if you look at my lineup, I kind of think I'm poised to maybe get into that five or six matchup and avoid the the norm offs. I mean, look at look at my team right now. I mean, I'm not saying i'm I'm a good team, but now that Tua is back, Kirk Cousins starting to come into his own. I got rid of my dead weight. Drop Anthony Richardson. Etienne might as well get a waivers because he sucks, but I found a replacement for him, right?
00:19:05
Speaker
So I mean, if you look look at my lineup this week, I mean, it is pretty stacked. I mean, projected for 105, you know, 30 points higher than Bobby. So I mean, I really actually like where my team is at. I definitely don't think I'm going to come away with the norm. If I was going to do power rankings, which You know, I don't know if y'all are going to do that later, but I would probably put myself sixth, to be honest with you all. I like my team. I'm two and six. Things have not gone my way, but I was always the second half, second half guy. So. Yeah. AJ. I see it. I see it. i Have you ever been in the bottom four in the shame offs before? Because I'm not sure if you've never been in the shame offs, never been the norm.
00:19:56
Speaker
I'm a man of championships. So 10 years ago, the but the pedigree. Yeah. I disagree with the man of championships because you got to have a lot of those to claim that, but I do, I do believe in your, your pedigree, AJ. It's, it's not nothing, yeah but right now it is a little bleak, but I do see the reasons for optimism.
00:20:24
Speaker
And I'll list them out here. Like you said about Tua. I'm on team Tua as well. any Anyone who's got a dolphin right now is loving Tua back in the lineup. When I watched on Red Zone last week, it was almost like Tua was getting sympathy soft tackles. ah If you watched when he rolled out and scrambled on ah on a run, guys were like afraid to hit him almost.
00:20:52
Speaker
And I think that's going to work in the Dolphins offense favor. And a huge thing for you, AJ, is Tank Del right now. I think Tank Del is going to be a top five fantasy wide receiver the rest of the year. Why? If you're paying attention, Diggs ACL league, Diggs and Niko are out for the year. So,
00:21:18
Speaker
Great for you and me, AJ. I've got Joe Mixon. You've got Tank Dell. Is Niko up for the year? I thought it was just like a hamstring, or he was on the IR, because that's news to me. I'm thrilled if that's the case. Yeah, I didn't know Niko was out for the whole year either. I think that's bad info. But Diggs is done for sure.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's poor reporting on big J's. But I think- Tank Del, Tank Del Skyrock. He goes on the IR for sure, but I thought they were just letting them get over a hamstring or something like that. Regardless though, I mean, I agree with you. I mean, if he can come in as the number two guy, I mean, that's that's great for me. So even though the last two weeks, he's honestly done terrible. That's what
Surprising Trades & Roster Strategy
00:22:05
Speaker
that's really big. And AJ, another major reason for optimism Deontay Johnson gets traded to the Baltimore Ravens. but Give me your thoughts on that Well, you're breaking the news to me. I did not know that that happened today. It must happen today or yesterday So that is huge It's it's yeah, it's pretty recent. Is he gonna be the number two? So maybe you're gonna have wide receiver room What your wide receiver major is looking stacked. I mean Tyreke is back since to his back DJ more
00:22:41
Speaker
I mean, DJ morning all of a sudden might be the one, the the man out. You got, you got stack receivers. I'm not here to just ask you up, but I mean, AJ, the last seven and six, I get fourth place. Or I guess we got an extra game now. So eight and six, you better watch out. So from a,
00:23:03
Speaker
From a roster perspective, AJ, can you enlighten us on your decision to roster three quarterbacks right now? Because that's kind of going against the grain of the League of Hard Knocks as I see it. I just want to hear your your thought process. Well, it's called desperation, right? When things are very, very desperate for a quarterback, you will do whatever it takes. So basically my thought for rostering three quarterbacks is one of these guys is going to turn into my QB but every single week I start one and he puts up 12 points put him on the bench start someone else that guy put on the bench puts up 20 points so then I gotta to start him the next week and I can't figure out who to drop
00:23:50
Speaker
so It is, I'm not saying it's a good roster management move, but it's purely, I screwed myself over by taking Anthony Richardson and Caleb Williams. So now I just, I'm playing the QB roulette game every single week and I have lost every single week. I know you you haven't taken the time to probably look at my starting quarterback versus my bench points for my quarterbacks, but I haven't hit it right once this entire season.
00:24:19
Speaker
so So, yeah they make I actually have, if if we want to break it down really quick, because it is it is shockingly good, terrible picking. Like if you go into week eight, which is our most recent week, AJ had a couple options. He could have started Tua, he could have started Kirk.
00:24:39
Speaker
Kirk puts up 29 points, two of puts up 14. Gets it wrong in week eight. ah Week seven was even worse. Let's see here. So a j AJ jumped into it. AJ only put up 55 points in week seven, by the way. AJ starts Kirk, Kirk puts up seven.
00:25:00
Speaker
Uh, he benches Donald and Donald goes off. I think Donald put up like 26 points. it's every single We can continue going back. Yeah. So if anyone wants to keep scrolling back, it's actually hilarious. AJ has successfully, unsuccessfully picked the right quarterback to start. It's completely in my head right now too. That's why I can't draw. Yeah. it's I would, I would say it's, it's safe to say.
00:25:30
Speaker
and fantasy football, if you have three quarterbacks, you don't have a quarterback. Because you're never going to get it. Let's get let's get to the 10th place team. We've we've been doing enough. He's our official sponsor of tonight's show. Yeah. So let's let's get to Rob. Let's get to Rob. So broken down wagon. Six sixty nine point nine. Nice, Rob.
00:25:56
Speaker
points for off of an abysmal week against me where my team could have shit the bed and still won. It was a perfect get right spot for my squad. And I even fielded a call from Rob this week.
Fantasy Performance & Personal Updates
00:26:12
Speaker
ah Maybe yesterday it was. And Rob didn't mention fantasy football once, which is out of the ordinary. All we did talk about
00:26:26
Speaker
Uh, about Rob's decision to potentially buy a Toyota Highlander and how much he hates his, uh, Subaru. So it, it's a tough, tough time for Rob right now. He loves talking about fantasy football, but he's quiet on the group me. And he's in a very, very dark place. Extremely dark place. Seven games. He talked to me too, James. Like he, he, but he didn't bring up fantasy. folk he He sent me a picture of me from 13 years ago.
00:26:57
Speaker
dressed up like a clown baby. He's like 13 years ago, we were about to go rage. I was like, all right, so, you know, I think he's just figured out about it. But Rob, today, you're on a seven game losing streak. So, I kind of win, Rob. You don't want to get to get to 13 years back. I mean, I'm in a dark place as well. It's hard when you get to the bottom of the rankings like this. Like, it's hard to like even open the fantasy app. Like, I don't even want to look at it after I put up 55 points one week.
00:27:27
Speaker
Rob, I'm with you. It's hard right now for people like us. So you just got to overcome hard. I mean, I may be the only one with this sentiment, but when I lose a lot in fantasy football, literally food does not even taste good anymore. It just sucks so bad. And Rob, this is completely uncharacteristic for Rob.
00:27:56
Speaker
It's Wednesday, my dudes. And Rob is currently starting a guy on bye. That just tells me Rob is so checked out and depressed over fantasy football that he can't even open the app like you were talking about. No, he doesn't even have a healthy running back to put in that slot. And he doesn't want to drop like Rob doesn't even have a healthy running back. He's got Pacheco and IR. He's got McCaffrey, of course, who's also an IR and by and dressing up like the 10 man for Halloween.
00:28:25
Speaker
He's got, he's got, he got Isaac Rindo cause he had to pick up another 49ers running back. Who's on by Rob can't even field a team right now. He's projected for 73 points. Yeah. And before we close out these standings, uh, I would love to shit on Rob for another 10 minutes, but I can't even believe that ESPN has him at a 1% playoff chance. That is egregious. I am.
00:28:56
Speaker
I'm going to contact ESPN tomorrow and ask them to institute the decimal system for the playoff chances. So we can see what Rob's real, real chance of making playoffs. I'm pretty happy I'm playing Rob this week. I'll be honest about that. Oh man, that was a great standings update. Big J, thank you for that.
00:29:18
Speaker
I threw it out in the group chat. I did open up a mailbox for people to leave voicemails.
Listener Engagement & Predictions
00:29:25
Speaker
I got a couple late night FU blakes, and this is stupid, but I did get one really good voicemail I wanted to highlight today. It was actually from a non-league member. I'm gonna go ahead and play it just for the league to hear. To start off, this is the Stone by Cornbread mailbox section, and we're gonna jump into this one.
00:29:47
Speaker
League of hard knocks. Hello, it's Emily. I hope you all are doing great. I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Bonnie, who is clearly the best commissioner in all the land. Twenty twenty four has been alive for years for me, a year for me, boys. I have my husband back. I don't know what's happened. I don't know how Bonnie got a hold of the NFL and told him to stop games early, but he calls ball game at around two fifteen every Sunday. And then it's like, all eyes on heat. So anyway, I'm incredibly thankful. um It's crazy to have Sunday's with my husband. So anyway.
00:30:16
Speaker
So that will change. It's amazing. He's not even on his phone, not even looking at the app. So anyway, I just want to say a huge shout out to Bonnie, the commissioner. You know, we haven't been fans. um all year of Bommie. We support Bommie as commissioner. I think Bommie's appearance on the podcast was interesting and we haven't been able to to quite get him back since. But some praise for Bommie from a league member's wife. It's good to know we have another wife listener. I know Kellan's a weekly listener and Caroline's a weekly listener. it seems like It seems like Emily's jumping on the wife train. What's what's your take here, AJ, on this voicemail?
00:31:00
Speaker
I didn't really follow what was going on in the voicemail. we We're thanking Bommie for being a great commissioner. I agree with Bommie on that. And she was thanking Bommie for giving the rule change passing because now Will calls ball game at two o'clock and she gets Sundays back with Will. yeah What was the rule change? The whole lot wide receiver tied in. Oh, yeah.
00:31:24
Speaker
Yeah. I like being able to call ball game, but I haven't been able to do it this year. I mean, I don't really like that rule. Are we are we trying to debate the rules? Is that where we're going here? i Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Does Cam ever listen to the podcast? No. No, she doesn't. I don't know if she knows how to find the podcast. I haven't really listened much to the podcast, I'll be honest. It's been a hard year for me. and i Kind of in Rob's shoes, haven't really been diverted to the league. Don't really want to open the app. It's ah it's been tough. so But no, cameron Cameron does not listen to the podcast, but I'll i'll send it to her, see if she listens to it. so Yeah, I'm sure she'll be excited to hear you on it. Yeah, absolutely. Such a great star on the podcast here. Great guest.
00:32:14
Speaker
AJ, I am curious. We've talked about your team a little bit. I'd love to to ask you some some interview questions sponsored by River Ridge. So I feel like you're you you have set yourself up for a big second half of the year. We've we've talked about Rob a lot. who's Who's your norm pick right now? Because Rob has finagled his way out of this before. He could potentially get McCaffrey back.
00:32:40
Speaker
Who's your norm? I was just looking at Bomby's team. I had to put money on it. When you all were doing the standings update, I was just looking at Bomby's team and I was pretty mortified. Like, it is... It is bad. It is really bad. Let me scroll over to Jake's real quick. I want to check something bad. Let me check out Rob's. I would probably go with Rob. I mean, how can you pass on? Oh, this is bad. Yeah.
00:33:09
Speaker
I mean, I guess if you get C-Mac back, that would make a big difference. And I heard, what, is he warming up or something? Or he's coming back? I'd probably have to go with a robber bombie. And if I was to have to put money between those two, I'd probably go with Rob. So, you know, what about you? Oh, you got Caleb Williams. I didn't even know rob Rob has my old QB. Probably should have kept him. Yeah.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah, he's picking picking up the pieces of your scraps. I'm sure ah someone is going to be foolish enough to also pick up Anthony Richardson, who I saw today is benched indefinitely.
Team Success & Business Growth
00:33:52
Speaker
But someone as desperate as Rob might just pull the trigger on that. Maybe he'll he'll roster four quarterbacks and go a little bit beyond you there, AJ. Three quarterbacks is the move. I would advise him to pick up a running back.
00:34:07
Speaker
Yeah. AJ, i'd love to I'd love to do a little trivia here. Year to date, I know you haven't since been super up to date with the league. um Off the top of your head, do you know do you know which team? You can't look at the app. Do you know which team has the most points in the league? You got five seconds. No No clue. It's Larry. I know who has the most points against, though. Who's that? Five seconds, Blake. Nope, don't look. It's probably you. It's you. You're getting shelled, AJ.
00:34:39
Speaker
I just noticed that when we were doing the standings update and I wanted to bring it up, but I didn't want to interrupt James. So that was a good point for me to bring it up. No, I don't know her yeah most point no i do okay do you know who has the lowest lowest score of the season so far. I might be up there with 55, but I feel like I would have heard about it. So I'm going to go with a Rob. No, it's you. You're right. 55.
00:35:07
Speaker
55 which is still Still 20 points above mr. 35.3. So i' There's there's reason for optin. I've had worse weeks than 55 so It's I mean i'm embarrassed by that but uh, you know you learn You make corrections and you come out and you win the league in the second half of the season so takes time I've got a question for you From the optimism that is, uh, springing from you right now, saying that you might end up in the five, six matchup. It sounds like you've already hit rock bottom. Yep. Who is a team you see in the standings right now who has not hit rock bottom yet? Bobby. Bobby's team is, it can go. I mean, he's somehow ahead of me. I mean, I guess he has an extra win, but I mean,
00:36:02
Speaker
His team, yeah, is garbage. Yeah, I think we're going to see Bomby vs. Rob in the, uh, in the shame offs. It's going to be an epic battle. Um, but yeah, I would probably say, uh, Bomby. I mean, James, your team, you're only sitting at 772 points. I wouldn't be really, you know, chipper if I was you, you could be on your way down as well. So I'd have to say. Interesting. So.
00:36:29
Speaker
to to be in the middle of the standings in terms of points four but also six and two would you not say i have grabbed a hold of my tough part of the schedule and come out on top uh no i would actually say you have gotten lucky right and you're gonna have a regress you're gonna have a regression to the mean here in the second half of the season and you're probably gonna end up uh Seven and seven missed the playoffs. That's my prediction for you. Interesting. Wow. So, so what would you say, what would you say to this right now, AJ? My team, uh, yes, they are six and two, not a ton of points for, but also extremely healthy coming out of an absolute bloodbath of my skill position group. So.
00:37:28
Speaker
how How can you correlate rock bottom to my healthy squad right now who is absolutely loaded? Well, I mean, you're a torn ACL away this week from losing Jade Daniels. So, I mean, you know you you can't say that. you With an injury curse.
00:37:48
Speaker
And I don't wish that above. done Not even a sprained ankle. He went straight for the torn ACL. Oh man. he He tried to just take that man's career away. what Wow. Wow. I got one more trivia question for you. AJ, while we're on it, um we're talking about the norm. We'll talk about worst teams ever. What is the lowest ever regular season win total in league of hard knocks history? Oh,
00:38:16
Speaker
including playoffs or like including, including shame offs ray your sin ray or susan not yeah regular regular season in the league of hard knocks. I bet we've had a one, one win season.
00:38:29
Speaker
We actually have not, we have not. The lowest win totals and in league of hard knocks history, the only one win team, ah I guess technically was a league member was in 2012, Turner over in jammer, ah managed by Sean Hemsi, did go one win. and win so' right alright So you get it right. ah We haven't had any current league members with less than three, less than three wins. ah So Rob, Rob could potentially, uh, and, and, and, I mean, I guess, you know, while, while we're on that, I mean, I guess some other teams potentially could still break the record for. Viewest wins, including yourself. Well, we know that's not happening, right? and but Right. yeah Right. So definitely not happening. Definitely not happening.
00:39:25
Speaker
AJ, I'm curious, um River Ridge, this show is brought to you by River Ridge, one stop shop for all your small business accounting needs. How's how's business been? but you You seem like you've been busy. Yeah, business is good. Yeah, I've been real busy. been This week's been slow, luckily last week's been slow. But yeah, I would say September, October were very busy months for me unfortunately. So River Ridge is going to have to make some drastic changes next year.
00:39:52
Speaker
so Which is a good sign, you know it means business businesses businesses rocking. you know so it's a It's going well, can't complain. so yeah I need more sponsorships like this one. you know I really want to grow the brand, get the brand name out. I'd love to become a worldwide company and I think this a podcast is one great way to get my name out there. so I just want to thank our gracious host here for allowing me to sponsor this podcast.
00:40:23
Speaker
Well, we're we're thrilled to have you as a sponsor, AJ. You're a title sponsor and we are a global podcast. I haven't gotten the recent data, but we are...
00:40:35
Speaker
We're very strong in Germany right now. So we're hoping that spreads across Europe and and maybe beyond. So yeah, I did have one exciting update there while we're on that note. So I was running the analytics this last week. We have 72 active subscribers worldwide, which I don't really know what that means, but the 72 people, they might be bots or AI generated characters are are listening, but we have our first download in Ireland. So a shout out.
00:41:04
Speaker
Shout out Ireland, if you're listening, maybe from Cork or, or, or maybe from Dublin ah with, with the the one download, they, they downloaded the last episode. So yeah, just shout out to our Irish subscriber. I'd like to jump in here. I'd love to get to the Irish market. So if you need any accounting and tax services, please feel free to reach out. We'd be happy to help with all your small business needs.
00:41:32
Speaker
Incredible. I love that. AJ, I, I'm taking river Ridge to the moon, just like I took them at Keeneland. So I got a ah lot of flack for my $2 bet on the river Ridge horse that one, by the way, cause river Ridge wins always. That's the end of the ad read, but yeah, I love that for you, AJ. Let's we're, we're kind of getting into the back half of our.
00:42:02
Speaker
Outlying here for the pod AJ we're gonna treat this like a College football pick segment on college game day and I would love Do you have the fantasy app pulled up? I do because we're gonna go we So AJ I would love to get your insight on a few matchups here The first one is between the stone by cornbread podcast hosts here. We've got the six and two smooth moves versus the I love how many points I've scored in this league marsh cats. And, uh, I'm curious if you can break this matchup down for us. All right. So let's kind of start at the top here or quarterback play. Um,
00:43:00
Speaker
Blake's definitely got the edge here because Jane Daniels is unfortunately going to go down the first quarter. I mean, I wish him nothing but the best, but that's just kind of my prediction there. I would say I really, I guess Breece Hall has done pretty well this year, Blake. I don't know what I'm talking about there. I would say Blake definitely has the edge at running back with the Derek Henry, who but Titans decided to trade for some reason so okay, so Blake's got that let's go down our receivers, ooh James has got a pretty good stack here.
Matchup Evaluations & Speculations
00:43:38
Speaker
Well with me well neighbors. I've done that well lately has he What do you think of that James? What's your thoughts? Is he well? I'll give you my thoughts on neighbors. It's I
00:43:52
Speaker
It's a guy who, if he's going to have a good week, he's got to just have a ton of yards. He gets targeted all the time. And Daniel Jones is absolute trash. I still believe in the Giants franchise as a whole. I like Brian day ball as a coach, but they've got to do something at quarterback. And obviously that's not going to help me this year, but Neighbors, he is a high floor guy. He's not gonna just bust bust but he's gonna have some weeks where he gets like 12 targets and 50 yards, so yeah Not a ton of touchdown potential for my guy in the league. I Kind of CD and scary Terry for Blake. I kind of like the edge there, too
00:44:42
Speaker
Well, not if Jaden Daniels tears his ACL. That's true, but yeah it's really gonna hurt the scary stuff. Marietta looked good. Marietta. Yeah, but boy, he'll still come out ahead, though, because, you know, his quarterback's out. um Let's see. Oh, James going with D-hop. thats I feel like that's risky. Tank, Bigsby. I mean, Etienne sucks, so. You know, at the end of the day, I probably have to give the edge to Blake.
00:45:13
Speaker
to be honest with you. I feel like you know with Jay and Daniel's going down this week, I just feel like Blake's team is a little bit deeper. I'm going to go with Blake 112, James 67.
00:45:30
Speaker
Yeah, all right injury curse hold strong. Yep next matchup bomb squad at three and five who you hate his team right now First the white rhino at five and three currently sitting in a playoff spot. How do you see this playing? You know, there's a casual 29-point line um Is Bobby's line has been said i then I can't really tell let's see Do you think Bobby could be throwing the game, AJ? That's what we're going to ask you. you know He hasn't really liked Andrew or myself much of this year. So he's trying to put Rhino in the box over one of you all. I could see it. I mean i don't blame him. If I keep tanking, you know there might be some stuff going on. Or if I keep losing, I'm about to say, there might be a little bit of stuff going on behind the scenes you know later this season. But that's neither here nor there. Yeah, you should expand on that.
00:46:25
Speaker
You know, got to do what you got to do. I mean, I hate mommy's team. Rhino's going to destroy him here. um I don't even see it being close. I don't even really want to go position group by position group because it's like maybe quarterback. Rhino going with Bo Nix. I didn't even know. but Oh, wow. He's ninth rated overall quarterback. I didn't know that. So yeah, I would say Rhino has every position group. but ah Nailed down here. Yeah, definitely going rhino. I'd call it him. I'd say this lines about right 30 point win for the white right now Wow an absolute bloodbath on Bonnie's hands there. So next matchup Larry verse Jake a team who has no name verse the chef Okay, so Jake has set his line up. It looks like
00:47:17
Speaker
Let's see here. Oh man, Larry's team. Don't sleep on the chef here. um Don't sleep on the chef. Larry's team is is just pretty stacked, I would say. I don't really like zay flowers and maconkey though. It's got daubins. I'm going, Jake. Right? I mean, B-Zon, Orange, I mean, Pooka's back. Olave's back.
00:47:44
Speaker
Well, you do realize that the the Jim Harbaugh today in a press conference compared lad McConkie to, uh, to an NFL legend, uh, Steve Smith. but It's a pretty high praise. I guess from Mr. Harbaugh. I did not see that. I didn't see... I have McConkey in another league and I never start. I never really look at it. But yeah, I didn't realize he put up 23 points last week. So maybe I'm wrong about that. But every time you have one of these middling wide receivers go off, I feel like the next week they put up like 4.6 or something like that. So not putting much stock in last week. So... Yeah. I mean, I got to go with Jake. I mean, I really do like Larry's team, but yeah, I'm going to give the edge to a yes, chef this week. Okay. A regression to the mean from a true numbers guy at River Ridge there. Um, next matchup. This is my favorite matchup of the week. The West Hillbillies preserved by pilot versus the four and four bandwagon.
00:48:53
Speaker
classic West Hills rivalry back in the day. Yeah, this is this is quite the matchup here. Let's see. A guy who is a self-proclaimed bootyhole licker, or maybe he's getting his own bootyhole lick. I can't ever figure out what Andrew's actually talking about. I think he was talking about his own bootyhole. I mean, the way I read that, so. He might've been talking about mine. Yeah. I mean, maybe that's what it was back in the day. I don't know.
00:49:21
Speaker
so He's got a little weird in the Westman parking lot.
00:49:28
Speaker
Let's see. I would probably have to go with ah Will's team. I don't really love the row. He doesn't make this year. not can too has't either but I I don't think so. Pretty stacked receiver though. You know what? Changing course. Going with the bandwagoner.
00:49:51
Speaker
and right and upset wow We need to come down off his little pedestal where he just, you know, gloats about, uh, he just gloats about the common ball game as early as he can. You know, we need, we need something to be in here. So I'm going to go with the last connection with the Cougar. Uh, you know, the show must go on. His phone probably died again.
00:50:15
Speaker
Um, and only has about 10 minutes of battery life. But yeah, I think he was in the process of picking Andrew over will. Yeah. So maybe, Andrew celebrates, celebrates the wind by, uh, going to a parking lot, maybe the lumber yard with Caroline and, um, getting parts of his body licked. We'll see. I'm sure he'll tell us about it either way.
00:50:44
Speaker
Yeah, the last match up and I hate that AJ is not here for this, but he is playing. the o yeah He's back. Oh, you're back. Yeah. AJ. um was um I guess that was my friend. I got full bars out here. Sorry. what Where were we? Oh, well, we were just, we were just finishing up the Andrew versus Will match up and saying that maybe Andrew is going to celebrate by going to the lumber yard and having a good time with this old lady, yeah maybe getting things licked. But now we're on to your matchup, AJ. It's a seller-dweller matchup. I can't even call it loser leaves town because the Amish are are leaving town regardless, but I know you're going to pick yourself in this matchup because
00:51:41
Speaker
the Amish are absolutely dreadful.
Future Predictions & Personal Anecdotes
00:51:43
Speaker
They have zero hope. They haven't even opened the fantasy app this week. Just give me your thoughts on how big of a win this is for you and are you going to shit talk Rob afterwards? Well, I'll start on your first question. I mean, I would say this is a going to be a huge win for me. I think it's going to propel me.
00:52:07
Speaker
into potentially making of the playoffs. So I think it's possible to get in the playoffs at eight and six. All I got to do is win out. We all know that it's possible, given that I reeled off 10 wins in a row last year, no big deal. But so I would say it's going to really change my season. Kirk Cousins is going to come in, lead Blake's Falcons into the playoffs, lead them to the Super Bowl. At the same time, he's going to lead the old men.
00:52:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's big. I have big, bold predictions going on. on I'm actually going to be at the the Cowboys game if you want me to shot anything at Kurt. Oh, yes, please do. He's starting this week. He's big. Yeah, I just felt Tua coming in. I mean, the Dolphins are desperate. People, like you said, James, they're scared to they're scared to touch Tua. They don't want to hurt him, which rightfully so. They shouldn't. But that's only going to help out my boy Tyreek. He's playing pissed off right now. I really think this is going to completely change my season. I would predict I'm going to wax-rob by 50 or 60 points. I'm going to put up 140.
00:53:08
Speaker
that's just kind yeah That's just kind of my prediction for this week. I'm very, very optimistic. So all I have to say is you at the top better watch out. so and then and Wow. So you're you're claiming that Rob is going to score between 80 and 90, is what you're saying? Well, no. Actually, I guess I'm actually going to beat him by 90 points. He's probably going to get 60. Yeah. so Then I'm not very good at math. Guy in Ireland, I am good at math. But um don't worry. That was just a little, you know, wasn't great. But I... Yeah. To our listener in Ireland, he's very good at math. He just needs a spreadsheet. um that's why so That's why he'll do your taxes. Yeah. So, AJ, as a um a very confident man all of a sudden, despite so much indecision over your quarterback play, would you advise me to start Kyle Pitts this week?
00:54:07
Speaker
o Let me see here. Let me check out your lineup. I mean... Oh, over D-hop. Oh, that's... a Yeah, absolutely absolutely, I would start with Pitts. Absolutely. You got, you got Kurt Cousin thrown to him who's going to put up 35 to 40 points this week. I mean, you would think at least one to two of those touchdowns is going to go to Pitts. D-Hoff just isn't acclimated on the Chiefs offense. Mahomes has kind of been sucking this year. I would just say that, yeah, Pitts is definitely the better move there. As a fantasy champion,
00:54:50
Speaker
two or three or four times over, I would say that you should take my advice. So. That sounds like a really confident man who's ready to drop one of his three quarterbacks. That's all I have to say. I will say, if Kurt puts up 20 points or more this week, one of my quarterbacks will be dropped next week. And that is breaking news. I would like to. I'd like to leave now. Wow. Yeah. So. Big, big Ray J.
00:55:20
Speaker
yeah breaking news
00:55:24
Speaker
and let me let me address your second question about rob i will not be trashaling rob after i demolish him this week you know i just know he's in the dark place His fantasy team is just down in the dumps. He's not even looking at his app. I just, you know, you just don't really want to stick it to a guy while he's down. So I'll be, you know, I'll be winning humbly, you know, I'll send Robert private text, you know, wishing him luck. And I just hope that he has a great rest of his season. So. Great, great AJ. You know, we've had a few guests on now and we've given
00:56:03
Speaker
every guest a floor to Discuss whatever they wanted to uh, do you have thoughts on the league? Do you have you've stated you're not a continual pod listener? Um, but do you have criticisms of criticisms of the pod? Do you have? Anything you just want to get off your chest and talk to the league about because this is your time hmm I don't really have any criticisms of the pod. I mean, I will say the pod likes to gang up on people occasionally from what we've seen. You know, in the past, you know, the pod will kind of come together and try to create drama in order to facilitate entertainment. I will say that. That would be my only criticism of the pod.
00:56:54
Speaker
But at the same time, you know, you are the media of the league. What is it? What is the role of media? Right to create drama and to create entertainment, right? So I'm not necessarily coming at you from a critical Standpoint, but I will say that's that would be my biggest Takeaway of the podcast so far this year. So I think James coming on coming off like great edition but I think it uh you know, definitely fueled that fire, you know, that, that I think Blake does better with a, uh, you know, with kind of a, uh, what am I looking for here? Someone else to kind of sounding sounding board to kind of, you know, push his drama on to the league and pushes conspiracy. So I think it's good. I think it's good for the pod. I'm not necessarily, uh, I have nothing against the pod. I've just, when I have a bad fantasy season,
00:57:51
Speaker
I don't do well. I don't do well with fantasy football. i if i was If I was sitting 4 and 4 right now, I would be dialed into the pod. I'll be honest with you. So so that's on me. That's obviously not on you too. Well, we appreciate your sponsorship regarding Sajay. We really do. And we're going to keep featuring you week over week and and spreading you to Europe and to the ah the greater US. I think we even had a listener in Canada. That's big. so Yeah, I mean, big.
00:58:22
Speaker
Uh, this episode's sponsored by river Ridge, just in case you didn't mention that. No, we, and all your yeah AJ to wrap up the pod tonight. Uh, I just want to share with you an experience that I had today. I i went for a and nice five mile run today, as I often do during the work day. And, um, I was running up Kingston Pike and, uh,
00:58:48
Speaker
I'm running very slow at this point, you know, sweating out the toxins. And I see a white forerunner heading towards me. And all of a sudden, I see a blonde haired woman in the car. And I was like, wait a second. I know that car. That's Cameron. And she was looking at me like, who is this fucking psychopath running on Kingston Pike in the middle of the day? And so I did like a And then I texted Cameron afterward. I said, who is that psychopath running on Kingston Pike? She said, and this is not that important, but it helps get to the end of the story here. I said, well, I wish I could still be running, but in my current condition, I can't. And I said, well, you know, I did a quick ah Google search and pregnant women can actually actually go for jogs. So maybe you should try it.
00:59:48
Speaker
And then she followed up with a picture from her recent ultrasound. And she said, look at this. And I gotta say, AJ, oh I saw the biggest penis I have ever seen in an ultrasound in my entire life. And I said, wow, look at the size of that thing.
01:00:14
Speaker
And I just want to get your thoughts on your impending newborn son who has a massive dong. You know, I'm honored. Congratulations, by the way. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, you know, I'm honored. You know, I mean, he takes after his old man, you know, we just, we just, you know, are blessed with a very long, beautiful penises. So I'm just very happy that you know He's gonna take on the family tradition. you know we
01:00:49
Speaker
We're definitely gonna flaunt that, let him run around naked in the yard, you know come over to the Higgs household, playing the backyard naked just so everyone can really see the glory. you know so But yeah, I'm honored. I'm very honored, very happy that my yet to be born son is blessed with a large beautiful ah penis. So that's that's all I have to say about that.
01:01:11
Speaker
so yeah That's wonderful. i'm I'm happy for you and it just brought great joy to my day to see a penis, which is very weird to say out loud. The picture is impressive. Andrew and I can relate. please make oh there yeah yeah Well, thanks so much for joining AJ. I know we're we're hitting bedtime here. Again, this episode is sponsored by River Ridge CPA. That's RiverRidgeCPA.com. About AJ. AJ is a CPA. He's licensed in the state of Tennessee where he was born and raised. He grew up in Knoxville and attended the University of Tennessee where he obtained a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance and a master's degree in accounting. Before starting River Ridge CPA and Business Solutions, AJ worked for two large public accounting firms and helped start an alternative investment firm.
01:02:01
Speaker
AJ's motivation in starting Riverage CPA and Business Solutions was to create an environment where experienced CPAs can continue to work directly with clients as a trusted advisor and avoid the common practice of transferring clients to the less experienced members of their team. In his free time, AJ enjoys spending time outdoors. He's passionate about fly fishing, camping, hiking, biking, and kayaking. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Cameron, their children, and their two dogs. He also enjoys watching and attending University of Tennessee sporting events. Go Vols.
01:02:30
Speaker
at riveragecpa dot.com. Oh, that's great. that yeah and he loved He loves having a unborn son with a massive dog. You can contact him at 615-549-6536 or 865-660-6202, which we all still have memorized from when you didn't store numbers on your phone. There's some information on there that's so dated. we need we need to get If there's any people that do websites listening to this podcast, I think I need some help there as well. um I don't know how to change anything on it. So but yeah Thank you. I what an incredible platform to reach out globally to ah to find a great website creator for you AJ Hopefully we can get some fish pictures on the website. Yeah, that's important. Yep Compare it to that dong I want to get a picture of the dong on the website, too
01:03:21
Speaker
Yeah, so if anyone wants to yeah reach out, do my website, you know I'd be'd be honored. I might even do some accounting and tax work for you, a little swap of services there. so Whether in Ireland, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia, you know we are worldwide. so yeah so Just like the pie, this has been Stoned by Cornbread. Thanks for joining, AJ. I appreciate you all. Thanks for having me. All right. Talk to you later. All right.