S&P’s Why Not Us?!: Episode #14

0:00 I saw a clip with Jason Alexander on a talk show on, social media this week that was just freaking hilarious. He told a story for 15 minutes about the funniest moment he had ever participated in on the Seinfeld show. It was the episode where they were looking for the car in the, uh, mall. Yeah. And towards the end, and he starts giving, like, little inside tips. He's like, "If you see, like, me and Jerry in the car, we're actually hitting each other like school children." The director was cursing them out, and they c- it was one of those things, they couldn't stop laughing.

0:31 I recommend everyone go find it. It reminded me, this one time I was in a meeting at work. With my buddy Ross. And I don't know, there was some inside joke between the two of us we were presenting to my boss and we just started laughing, laughing, and then it was like trying to control ourselves to get started and like I started biting through my lip trying to stop laughing, and then Ross tried to stop laughing, and then Like one of us let out the, the briefest snort, and then- and then it was over.

1:00 So I excused myself first. Like I just, I had to leave the room because I was dying, when you, when you get that pain in the stomach because of all of that, it really take- It was terrible because- It takes a minute to be able to get past that right. It's one thing when you're like with your family and you're like, "Oh, I'm making-" Yes like there's no downside. It's like, okay, it hurts a little, whatever. This was truly awkward. We're actually wasting business people's time, and there was not a darn thing we could do about it.

1:27 Yeah. Probably good to only have that happen once. Welcome to S&P's Why Not Us?, the podcast that begins its first ever title defense Tuesday night. Okay, technically the Knicks won it, but 53 years nothing, one season of this podcast, a banner. You do the math. I'm your co-host Scott Greenhut, and on the other side of the mic, my good friend Peter Olczyk. Hello, hello. It's great to be back. It's funny that you brought up the NBA there right off the top, 'cause I too have a little something, something NBA wise I wanted to run by you.

2:02 Okay. Listen. I always enjoy a good acronym, and I came across one the other day. I'm wondering whether you heard about it. It's, it's NBA flopping driven. Have you heard about this new acronym that's across the NBA? No. No. And if, also my initial reaction is why isn't it a soccer acronym? But, but please speak more. Here we go. STEM. No, it's not science, technology, engineering, and math. Here's what it is. Se- secondary theatrical exaggerated movements. Yes. This is what we're gonna be looking for in the NBA season.

2:41 It is wonderful video. Check it out, nba.com. There are five video examples. Kyle Filipowski, Steph Curry, Darius Garland, Rudy Gobert, and our guy, Jose Alvarado, in terms of what's okay and not okay in terms of flopping. Uh-oh. It is amazing. Oh. Is this going to be a point of emphasis? It is absolutely a point of emphasis as the video goes through in about five or six minutes. Uh-huh. And yes, you can have an offensive foul and a flopping violation on the same play. It will not be an unsportsmanlike technical foul.

3:18 Oh, interesting. That last part is a nice wrinkle. You would think it would be the definition of unsportsmanlike. So- But anyway, wow so keep, keep your eyes out for that as we do get into this new NBA season, and we'll talk a little bit more NBA later. All right. So with that, let's get into today's episode. In today's episode, we'll talk NBA playoffs, including an added wrinkle to Brewers ball Get ready for an, uh, new NBA season, and as promised way back in our second episode, chat more about a beloved beagle.

3:52 But we need to begin with the NFL and the first place New York Giants. So your New York Giants have had two more wild finishes. They've sort of been the cardiac Giants. Where do you wanna, where do you wanna start with that? I tell you what, it's, uh, no dart, no burns, and the first place Giants at 3-1-1. Some crazy stuff. It- they're supposed to be the raise the floor year, uh, with Brian Daboll as a, as coach and, and so far so good. Um, let's like look at how the last three games ended. We had an end zone INT against Tennessee, which I was at, four, thank God.

4:36 It was raining, and that needed to happen, otherwise what a waste of four hours. Uh, we had, uh, Banks' 98-yard pick six against- Yes Arizona, and then we had who knows what we'll call... We can call it a sack on the final play in Washington, but we'll also just call it, just a, a cluster of time management. But really every G- Giants game this year seems to end with the defense on the field and somebody on the other sideline holding their head. Um, Right. Right. Some k- takeaways, just, perspectives, for year to date, Jameis Winston experience.

5:11 you get the whole menu. In game four against, the Cardinals, he had three touchdowns, two picks game five, really more spectacular from a statistical standpoint. Jameis finishing 33 of 54 for 326 yards, three TDs, 27 rushing yards. No Giant had done 300 yards passing, three TDs, and 25 rushing yards in the same game since at least 1950. Also- Wow 54 attempts, the most by a Giants quarterback since Eli threw 57- against the Eagles in 2017. So for now, JJ is likely to stay on the bench. A couple other takeaways for the season so far.

6:03 I was on the Isaiah likely train early- 100% asked and answered. Game five likely had a career high 11 catches for 94 yards, two TDs. 33 catches through five games, most by any tight end in the first five games for a Giant. Yeah. So he's doing everything that we needed him to do. And we certainly have a, a tight end rich history. B- Brian Burns with the season-ending injury so far going better than expected in terms of the def- defense holding up. They, sacked, uh, Jayden Daniels five times. Reese has 42 tackles, the only Giant in 30 years with 40 plus in his first five career games.

6:44 So defense holding in here. And then Malik Nabers. Mm-hmm. We are just looking for this guy to stay on the field, and when he does, he can do amazing things. Washington, 11 catches, 121 yards, TD, 20 targets, Finally, we look forward to the Saints this weekend. The one in four Saints coming into the Meadowlands all eyes on Cam Scatabo, who has- Yeah had the fumbles, um, the Saints, however, very weak against the run defense, so this might be his chance. If that doesn't work, uh, Harbaugh could pull a Coughlin and tape the ball to his chest, uh, during practice.

7:24 That's what he did to Tiki Barber back in the day to, Right to great effect. So lot thi- a lot of things going on with the G-Men, but overall, as a fan, we, uh, couldn't ask for more. Can I just say for the division, for the NFC East, it's feeling like to me, nine, seven and one with the tie that just happened. That feels like that would do it for this year's NFC East. You know what you'd have to go for the rest of the year? Six and six to make the playoffs. Does that not sound reasonable? So reasonable.

7:56 Lock it in. Okay, let's keep an eye on, uh, nine, seven, and one. All right, my Jets. Yeah. Uh, weeks four and five, we'll go back. Let's see. We went from a brutal, pretty unwatchable performance in Chicago to a nearly crushing loss turned big exhale win last week at home versus Cleveland. Yes, there was a little help from the football gods on a few big drops from the Browns, and a late game-changing botched snap on a punt. Again, very bad weather, persistent rain. But a few positives from last week.

8:30 First of all, on the defense, credit to Aaron Glenn scheming ways to get a much more consistent pass rush, and David Bailey, who we've been talking a lot about on the pod, complete standout game, three sacks, eight pressures, seven tackles. He got better and better as the game went along. I'm gonna give a game ball to the fourth round defensive tackle Daryl Jackson He had two back-to-back tip balls. I don't recall the last time I've seen one tip ball by a defensive tackle for the New York Jets. Uh-huh.

9:01 And he pushed the, and he had a, a push the pocket sack. This was a guy that actually started to pop in the preseason. He's getting some time with injuries, so he's one to watch. And let's get to week six. We're at the Pats, and I gotta tell you- I'm pretty fired up. This is legitimately the first big game in what feels like forever. Yep. Uh, New England, the past two weeks, it's been right back to Drake Yay for Patriot- For Patriots fans. How about Drake Maybe Yes? Uh, who's looked every bit- like last year's MVP runner-up.

9:37 The Pats also get back consensus top three corner in Christian Gonzalez. He's been out two games with a shoulder injury. Maybe they get back A.J. Brown. Uh, we've been hearing about that he started practicing this week. He's been out since week one with a high ankle sprain. On the Jets' side of things, we most certainly need another pretty big pass rush, uh, to try to keep Drake May and, uh, and his team in check. I am looking forward to the return and possible spark from our rook- rookie wide receiver, Omar Cooper Jr. He's been out since, uh, five plays into week one with that one catch.

10:12 He also had the high ankle. I'm gonna double down on more touches for running back Isiah Davis. Third year, fifth rounder, he can actually be a very helpful for weapon for Geno, screens and dump-offs. We need to get him in the game more often. And let me just say for this particular game. Yeah. Can we just maybe call it from New England's perspective a trap game? Is there any chance they could look past the Jets? This has not been a rivalry in a very long time. No. So- Can I help you on that? Sure.

10:45 So that- Just- That's where I'm at just some math. Just some math, um, because it's, there's nice round numbers. Of the last 50 regular season meetings between these franchises, New England has won, you wanna guess? Out of the last 50? Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, we're in the single digits for sure. 40 and 10. Okay. I was gonna say eight or nine. So you made it. Congratulations. Uh, what it, you know, one thing we've talked about Drake, maybe a few times. The guy does throw picks, and the Jets are pick hungry, so I'd say, you know, what about that?

11:20 What about getting a couple off of him? See, see that really speaks to what I said before. We schemed so well last week to actually have a pretty consistent pass rush that was an impact. The week before it was nonexistent, so that is our real chance. Because yeah, I mean, even two weeks ago in that brutal game, we had our first pick- Right which I k- which I kind of threw out there. You, you very much did. You called it. To the actual player that it made happen. Of course, that was the second pick in the game because the first one was called back to a penalty.

11:50 Of course it was. And then two more were called back. So this of course is the team that I think is not really a stat, but had three- Right of four interceptions- Yeah called back in the same game. Yeah, yeah. But I, I digress. Right. Uh, so yeah, I think it is possible, and I would love to just see, of course, a competitive game in New England. This team is really making some progress. The games are relevant. It's, it's watchable other than, again, two weeks ago, so let's see how we do. Yeah. Let's pull back a little bit on the NFL.

12:20 What else do you got in terms of, uh, at the league level? I'm looking at the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah. They're 4 and 0. Nobody's really talking about the Chiefs. One of three unbeaten teams. Mahomes back from the knee injury last year, from last December. 10 months later, he's playing at extremely high level. Knee does not seem to be an issue. Yep. They brought in Kenneth Walker III from the Seahawks, and he has done everything and more for help them with the running game. They're coming off of a bye.

12:56 Fun fact, Andy Reid after a bye, 22 and five- Wow In the regular season, going back to Philadelphia. And oh, look, they're playing the Chargers at Arrowhead, uh, who are, you know, still winless. And last thing Travis Kelce chasing history on Sunday. Oh. 88 yards passes Tony Gonzalez for the most receiving yards ever by a tight end, playoffs included. Seven catches passes Marvin Harrison for fifth all time. Wow. Taylor Swift's husband is about to pass Marvin Harrison, and the Cardinals just traded Marvin Harrison Jr. Bad week for the Harrisons.

13:40 What do you got? Well, yeah, no, I, uh- I love that stat about Kelce, and I was such a Tony Gonzalez fan, you know, from afar, so that is, that's extremely impressive. I am, I got my eyes on one game this week, the Dallas Cowboys at the Green Bay Packers. Mm. This feels like a big swing game. Uh, it's a Sunday nighter. Dallas has just, you know, they're coming off of the players-only meeting. Yeah. That has been a f- a media frenzy all week. Yeah. Understandably. It's only been five games. Yeah.

14:12 Everybody's been saying nothing ever good comes from a players-only meeting. And then on the Green Bay side of things, they come off of a big win against their heated rivals against Chicago. So it could be a, sort of a shootout with Dak Prescott and Jordan Love, much like the Monday nighter that we just witnessed with Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford. Yeah. So it just feels like whichever team wins this one and whichever team loses, there's gonna be, uh, a lot of conversation on, on Monday with all of the early morning sports shows.

14:44 So with that, let's work into a little bit of the baseball and the playoffs. Uh, I think we've both been kind of watching and rooting for, for one of these teams yeah. So congratulations to, uh, the Milwaukee Brewers who swept the Los Angeles Dodgers, um, last Thursday night. First team ever to sweep the same team that swept it the postseason before. Also, the first team to sweep a best of seven while trailing at some point in every game, including game four, where Otani got on the board, making it four-nothing in the second.

15:27 Brewers coming back, winning it, six to four. Yeah, so, uh, the small ball team out-homers the Dodgers seven to one in the series. Yep. Um, let's talk a little bit about, uh, Jake Bowers, the, MVP. We talked about him last episode a little bit and, boy did he have a series. Uh, game two, a 12-pitch walk that helped knock out yamamoto, last year's, World Series MVP. Game three, two, two-run homer, go ahead, homer in, in the seventh at the end of an 11-pitch at bat. Game four, two-run ground rule double that, uh, cut the lead to four to two.

16:06 Also, fun fact here, first League Championship Series MVP in Brewers history. Yes, you heard that right. Uh, we know they played the Cardinals in the World Series in 1982, so what happened? Well, Fred Lynn of the California Angels, back then? Sounds right. Right. Uh, he won the MVP that year. Just one quick last thing on, on Bowers. Did you know that after hitting 199 in 2024, he almost quit Uh, not, not only did I know it, there is a great article on MLB.com right now about- Okay about his whole baseball journey.

16:49 He was really close to retiring after the '24 season. Right. And he stayed in the quote I heard is his wife was having another baby, and he was like, "Oh, shoot, we need healthcare." That did, that did come up. This, the second child did come up. We'll see if that was really true. But, um- But guess what? Free agent this winter, so, uh, good move by him. He's actually been talked a little bit about on the local Met show- Yeah, yeah as a possible solution at first base. Absolutely. The, let me talk about a couple more of the Brewers since you did Jake Bowers, which, which is great.

17:19 I mean, first of all, that, that follow-up from the dominant at-bat against Blake Snell, where he nearly pulls the 10th pitch for a home run and then crushes the 11th one to flip the game was, was amazing. Here's another player, Garrett Mitchell Various injuries since being the 20th overall pick in 2020. Has gotten a lot of tough love from his manager, which he's spoken about. He hit two huge home runs. The second one put 'em up 5-4 in the, in the fourth game. Uh, and speaking of the manager, I cannot get enough of Pat Murphy.

17:53 Self-deprecating, prickly, sometimes stern, yet no doubt players manager, who preaches fundamentals and really seems to have a great feel for in-game relief pitcher management. And to that end, a couple of his quotes after the game, somebody asked him about his pitching plan against LA. So he started with this, "Left-handed velocity." Well, that's, that's pretty clear. Uh, and as you saw the game- Andy Ashby just dominated, I think it was three innings. D.L. Hall, JoJo Romero as well. And then of course on the podium, this one is fantastic.

18:28 Speaking of the Dodgers, "They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we got a bunch of gamers, and the gamers won this week." Oh, yeah. So that's, that's fantastic. Moneyball Brewers. We, uh, you know, we have actually, on this pod, been rooting pretty hard, uh, for the Brewers. So let's see who they match up against, and then in the American League Championship Series. Yeah. Yeah. Here we are. Uh, Cleveland's up 2-1. There was the, uh, game four postponement due to weather. So much more baseball to go.

18:57 Yeah. So, uh, a timeout last night. Now, of course, there's gonna be no off days if it goes seven. Yeah. So that will be really interesting in terms of, uh- Yeah relief pitcher management. Yeah. And just one thing on Tampa. You know, we've talked about it, I think, a couple of pods ago. They had the lowest strikeout team in the majors, but it spiked during the first three games. I expect a better approach, less chase, more contact, especially from Junior Caminero, who had the golden sombrero last time in game three.

19:28 Thanks, Keith. Four strikeouts. Uh, so yeah. I think we're gonna see a different Rays team. Last night, trying to play that game in that weather, and I looked at the field, that would've been bad for everybody, the fans, the players, the whole thing, so I think that was a good decision. Uh, yeah, any- anything else on, on the AL side of things? No, you hit on it. It's just gonna be the, the week off for Milwaukee, you know, the whole, rust versus rest, uh- Rust versus rest debate, uh, you know, 'cause they'll have the opportunity to set up their pitching as they want, but, like, that's a lot of time off for a team that's super, super hot.

20:03 It is what it is, and time will tell. Yeah, I think that's one thing we're probably having, you know, Pat Murphy at the helm. He's probably got a pretty good feel with how they're gonna go through those days. There's no perfect answer to that. No. But I like their chances to not look, you know, flat and as if that that was a problem. So we're gonna get into a little bit of lightning. We're gonna kick off the NBA, uh, season- Yeah 26-27. Thought we would try a little fill-in-the-blank game this week.

20:32 So here's the, here's the question. Other than Philly, so you don't get to pick the Sixers. Yeah. The biggest threat to the New York Knicks in the East will be blank. The Boston Celtics. Okay. Yeah. They won 56 games last year. Tatum missed the first 62 of them while coming back from the Achilles. He then played 16, and they still finished second in the East. Um, ahead of the Knicks, by the way, who finished third. Yeah, yeah. Top five in both offense and defense four years in a row. Also, the Brown trade, maybe it makes them better.

21:11 They sent Jaylen Brown to Philly for Paul George and picks. That ends the two stars, one ball problem. Offense is clearly Tatum's now. Two more points. Um, the new system and their buying in with- Yeah uh, Coach Mazzulla, he's speeding up the pace. Brad Stevens admitted the offense sometimes stalled under pressure, and, uh, and The Globe pointed to Brown's isolation-heavy style. So they're gonna be moving this year, and that's part of the plan. They actually held a boot camp at The Citadel, a military college.

21:45 Oh, boy. Read into that what you will, but they, you know, maybe they're not messing around. Again, Tatum as the sole leader. And then, um, they got our guy, Mitchell Robinson, on a three-year deal, so he'll certainly help from the defensive side- Yeah of the ball, Um, it'll be painful to watch Mitch in a Celtics jersey, but, uh, that's my call. Yeah, I think Boston is probably odds-wise right now, you know, maybe that next slot or maybe one back a- after Detroit- They're, they're actually- something like that I did look to see if I was doing consensus or not, and just odds-wise they are, um, they're, they're next.

22:24 Close, right? Yeah. All right. So I'm gonna go off the board a little bit on this one. Good. I figured you would. I'm gonna go with Toronto. Uh- Oh, okay. I would not have figured you'd go there. Yeah. So purely from the basketball side of things, I think the addition and the return of Kawhi Leonard, uh, at age 34 last year, by the way, second team all NBA. I think he played 65 games for the Clippers. So I think him going to Toronto gives them a really strong starting five with a top 20 and a rising player in Scottie Barnes and the former Knicks duo, of course, of Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett.

23:02 This identity of the Toronto team is definitely as a top defense, so that's what they're gonna hang their hat on for a while. I could definitely see them adding perimeter shooting at the trade deadline. So it'll just be an interesting team to watch. I think the vibes are gonna be just strong in Toronto. Yeah. Again, a little bit off the board, but- Yeah but that's what I got. I feel like it's interesting neither of us touched Cleveland. Talk about, about vibes. I think they have, the anti-vibes.

23:30 Um, yeah. Atlanta was certainly an easy one to pick. Of course, we had that series last year, which, you know, thank God we got through it, but that's not the team we wanted to face. Yeah. They're gonna be strong but- And, and Indiana, has Haliburton coming back. Um- Right so, you know- Yeah, yeah we'll see, uh- Listen, the East- how it all unfolds the East is stronger than it's ever been. This is not the East is least. This is gonna be a really, uh, tough path for the Knicks to get through. Yeah, yeah, and we obviously skipped over, that team in Philly for a reason.

23:59 But they get to watch us raise the banner on Tuesday. I hope LeBron enjoys every minute of it. And, and speaking of the Knicks, so here's the second fill in the blank. The Knicks will return to the NBA finals if blank. If the team concept they unlocked late last year stays intact. I say this because the Knicks didn't win on talent, right? Like, I think if you look at, like, just you add up the amount of talent on the team, eh, I don't know if they come out on top, but they certainly won as a team.

24:37 The Nova Knicks bit was real. The cohesiveness beyond all those guys was real. The in it together thing was real. And so look, they had a ridiculous run- Oh my God through the playoffs. Like, and, and, you know, I'd say it's a lot easier to stay together during such a tight window. Pressure's on. You weren't really expected to be doing all that stuff, and then you're kind of playing like, "Ah, nothing to lose," and it's kinda working, and let's keep playing this, n- unselfish type of basketball.

25:12 Team first, and all of that. Now you gotta trudge through the regular season. You got two guys who want contract extensions in Josh Hart and Kat. Not necessarily gonna get them early. Are they gonna continue to buy in? Um, we'll see. And then the only other, you know, X factor is supposed to be one fill in the blank, and I think it mostly has been. But then- you know, no, I mean, mostly it's, you know, it- which is team chemistry. Um, also team health at the end, you know- Yeah will, will be critical.

25:44 But that, you know, we'll worry about that when we get, when we get closer to the playoffs. For now, my eye is on how they all stay together and try to bottle this, this magic from last year and, and make it sort of part of their DNA. Yep, 100%. All right, so mine's gonna be pretty specific. The Knicks will return to the NBA finals if OG Anunoby is an All-Star for the first time in his career He went from 41 to 34 on ESPN's recent top 100. I think that's actually probably pretty fair as to where he's at right now.

26:19 Mm. I could easily see him breaking into the top 20, and I think he sees himself as one of the top two-way players in the game. And I look for his expanded offensive arsenal, um, in the paint, off the dribble. He's not just a standup three-point shooter from the corner anymore. I think that's gonna continue to grow this season. So that's where I'm at. If he's an actual all-star and, of course, stays healthy heading into the playoffs- Yeah he is the glue and the player that elevates this team to potentially its highest level.

26:53 Yep. I've got his, uh, well I can't say it's his jersey, but the, the T-shirt I'm wearing right now has got his name on the back. So let's go, OG. One more time. All right. So we're gonna transfer into a little PS. We're gonna shift gears. Now, this one, as I mentioned at the top, goes back to our second episode, and we're gonna do a little bit of an ode to Snoopy. Why? Well, it's the, it's to honor the Peanuts October 1950 debut. A couple of fun facts. Did you know that Snoopy debuted in the third strip, not the first one?

27:34 And he walked on all fours, so he was not a sort of the Snoopy that we know in later years. Right. Also, his first thought balloon wasn't until May of 1952. So that's, a year and a half plus of, um, of not really hearing what Snoopy- That actually tracks with most dogs that I know, you know? There are no thoughts for a year and one half, but But so Charles Schulz really, really nailed it on that one. Yeah. He ha- he understood the dog. All right. So we're gonna get into a little of the details. We're gonna talk about the origin of our fandom with Snoopy.

28:08 I'll start. I think for me it was really all the TV specials, and especially Snoopy Comes Home. I can tell you that, um, the pull-on-the-heartstrings song, "Come Home, Snoopy, Come Home," is- Come home still gets me. Uh, I saw it the o- I watched it the other day. The, the Snoopy push-button phone, which came up when we talked in episode two when we were talking about National Telephone Day. So of course, I had the push-button phone at a young age. I have held onto it. It remains a prized possession and then of course, there's the still ongoing slew of birthday and/or Father's Day cards from my family.

28:50 So my Snoopy fandom has continued for many, many years. Let's, let's talk about yours. How, how did you come onto Snoopy? Yep. So same answer to, to begin with, which is, the TV specials, It was such a big thing. For the kids out there, uh, there were three broadcast networks- Mm-hmm and there was no such thing as YouTube, and so when the Peanuts special came on, it was like, "Oh my God, the Peanuts are on," and you had to watch it, like, right then and there, and it was, it was a big deal. They'd air, you know, maybe each of these specials once a year, something like this.

29:28 Uh- Yeah, it was annual appointment viewing. Annual appointment viewing. The other vivid memory I have is I was a big, Macy's Thanksgiving Day- Oh, yeah Parade attendee. I mean, every year when I was a little kid, the Snoopy float, always a highlight. The first float that I remember was Snoopy as pilot. Yeah. Which takes me to- Okay alter ego number one. If you wanna tee it up, that's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we wanted to talk a little bit about the alter egos, first on the non-sports side of things, and then the sports.

30:01 So I heard where you were leaning, so let's go. Your non-alter sports ego for Snoopy. Yeah, it's the World War I flying ace. He flies his doghouse against the Red Baron. It first appeared in The Great Pumpkin. It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. And so Snoopy crash lands behind enemy lines and crawls through the French countryside. It's considered one of the most cinematic and emotionally powerful sequences in all of Peanuts animation. Fun fact, because of that, NASA adopted Snoopy as an official safety mascot after the Apollo 1 tragedy.

30:41 I heard that, yeah. And, um, to this day, NASA gives the Silver Snoopy Award to employees and contractors who make outstanding contributions to flight safety. So I- That's, that is awesome I love Snoopy flying the doghouse around. That's mine. Yep. No, that's great. Um, my criteria for this one- You have criteria? Just one, was that it had to include Snoopy and his buddy Woodstock. Ah. Which kind of led me to the world-famous Beagle Scout. Uh, it's just quite amusing seeing Snoopy trying to lead and teach Woodstock and Woodscott's, and Woodstock's scout troop pals- generally unsuccessfully, about the great outdoors.

31:30 So yeah, and then reading a few of those comic strips, um, have been, have been priceless. So world beagle, world-famous Beagle Scout for me. Let's get into the sports stuff. We got one more alter ego. Did you want to, uh, tell me your, your s- Uh- There's so many options in terms of Snoopy as an athlete so many options, although I feel like there really is only one the option, and that's Snoopy the ballplayer. So playing shortstop on Charlie Brown's team, he doesn't throw the b- I was looking for footage.

32:02 He kinda spits it, which by the way, reminds me very much of a certain, uh, dog named Toby. For the listeners out there, that's mine, who he likes to enjoy wiffle ball games. Really, really good at the fielding part, getting that ball quick, kinda a la Snoopy, uh, but, you know, never really figured out the, uh, throwing part, but then again, neither did Snoopy. By the way, I looked up Snoopy on baseballreference.com and came up with some of the following. Oh, boy. Uh- Just- Just, just for the listeners, so we both went ballplayer?

32:36 Yeah, of course. Uh, sorry. I th- I actually thought you were gonna go hockey or tennis. Well, hockey, yeah, 'cause, uh, 'cause he does play with Woodstock, but- Keep going um, yeah. Let me just throw this out there. Uh, career highlights, he was Rookie of the Year, uh, when he first started playing the game. Um, the record chase. In the last game of 1973, he was one home run away from breaking Babe Ruth's 714, ahead of Hank Aaron, who was sitting at 713. And then Charlie Brown got picked off first base during Snoopy's at-bat.

33:10 Season over, record gone. You know, this is one of those times- where we probably should have had a conversation about the sport, uh, since we got a lot of the same good stuff. But let me, let me try to fill in a little bit to, to all of that- Sure since we both, since we both did baseball. Uh, first of all, on Charles Schulz, did you know that about 10% of his nearly 18,000 Peanuts strips used baseball as the subject? Now, Charles Schulz became a huge San Francisco Giants fan, especially Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, upon moving to Northern California in 1958.

33:49 You s- you talked about the 713 home runs- and getting picked off second, which is amazing. A little bit more on the Hank Aaron piece of that. Yeah. So Charles Schulz created a series of comic strips in 1973- Yeah which was driven by the incessant hate mail that- That's right Hank Aaron received as he approached Babe Ruth's all-time record. Um, and then as you said, when he was, Charlie Brown was picked off, Snoopy was on deck, and that ended the '73 season. Uh, you talked about shortstop. Let me just chime in a little bit.

34:18 So in the field, when he wasn't napping, Snoopy was a slick-fielding shortstop who snatched grounders and pop flies in his mouth, and as you said, would f- would s- uh, spit balls to Linus at second for force outs or to start double plays. And of course, on account of his paws, he couldn't throw the ball. Yeah. So I guess maybe Charles Schulz, because he was, Snoopy was the best player on the team- Yeah so I don't think he really wanted to try to see him paw unsuccessfully to first base and get errors and things of that nature.

34:51 I agree. Although I will say this, as I did my, my dive on this- Yeah I was like, "Come on, YouTube, just show me it." And I, I did see Snoopy as pitcher once or twice, and he did in that case throw the ball, but I never saw him throw the ball as a shortstop. Yeah. And I also looked to see if there were ever any pictures where he actually had a glove on his paw. Doesn't need a glove. Right. But on the- Just like Toby but on the other T-shirt that I'm not wearing today, my other S- Snoopy T-shirt, he actually is wearing a glove with his baseball hat and with Woodstock on his side, but that just makes for a good shirt.

35:28 Um, so there you go. We both went baseball with, with Snoopy. Let me, let me just, yeah, close, uh, just one parting thought on Snoopy, which is I have the, Apple TV, and one of the no-brainer choices you could make is to use, um, Snoopy and Woodstock as a screensaver. Right. Emily and I will just watch the screensaver, and it's just Snoopy and Woodstock and a lot of it's chilling, like he's just, like, on the doghouse and his ear flops down, and then Woodstock gets him dialed up, and it's just fun, great stuff.

36:03 And I'm always like, "Hey, Toby," this is my dog, "he's got a little energy to him." I'm like, "Look at Snoopy. He's just chilling on the doghouse. Maybe you could get some inspiration there every so often, like, just, just relax." So using the, so using the screensaver as a potential teaching moment for your dog. I'm trying. It's not working, but, you know, I think it would be great for Toby to emulate a little bit of Snoopy. Well, that, that, that's a great effort. I, I wish you more success as you continue to, to try that- in, in your dog parenting.

36:33 Well, that's it for today. Yeah. Thank you for listening. Until the next time, I'm Peter Olche. And I'm Scott Greenhut. Please be sure to listen to S&P's Why Not Us? on your favorite podcast player. And until next time, Peter and I are gonna put this episode in the books.