What is your current pulse check and level of belief in the team, and would it have been higher if the Marlins had not hung an off-street pitch to Corbin Carroll in the bottom of the ninth on Monday for some reason?

Yes, it would be.

It's like the one guy who can consistently hurt you in that lineup, and you hung a breaking ball to him just to see what could happen.

I think they're making the playoffs.

I do think they're going to make a run to the end.

I think they've been playing really well, especially for the whole second half, but especially lately.

I think there are some potential landmines, though.

Um, as if the pete alonzo thing couldn't get any weirder we had a bunch of mets fans with jonah tong and the man cheering his attempts to homer off them steve cohen telling him this is your home when it's definitively not anymore largely because of steve cohen and then last night they'd cheer his game-tying ninth inning home run off their new closer kodai second you had sean mania sanga said the right thing but i actually think it was the wrong thing saying i understand this team in a special relationship with him or whatever i don't think that's the right angle to take i respect mania saying this is weird you know i know you love p but we're working hard over here and we are in fact the team in the uniforms that you like you root for the new york mets do you not uh i respect mania i would say that is weirdly the right thing um ryan have we seen a weirder charade in mlb in years and to me this makes the mets and their fans look semi-delusional and terrible um but you just i mean the mets have to own the decision steve cohen has to own the decision the fans can do what they want but this is a bizarre look all

Okay, Wall of Fame, what does it mean to you to, uh, get the club's highest honor?

honor?Man, it's tremendous.

Uh, you know, you don't ever know when something like this is gonna happen.

And despite the fact of, you know, you feel like statistically you might be up there with the best, you know, I've always looked at that honor as, you know, the best guys in the league.

You know, not just even for our organization.

You know, when I think about the guys that I came in with, um, you know, those guys are at a, you know, very high regard.

You know, a lot of those guys are Hall of Famers.

W- what happened? Why did this transformed from a unit that looked like it was having all sorts of problems to a unit that's been a little closer to a lockdown you in the heyday that both of you remember?

Okay, Wall of Fame, what does it mean to you to, uh, get the club's highest honor?

Man, it's tremendous.

Uh, you know, you don't ever know when something like this is gonna happen.

And despite the fact of, you know, you feel like statistically you might be up there with the best, you know, I've always looked at that honor as, you know, the best guys in the league.

You know, not just even for our organization.

You know, when I think about the guys that I came in with, um, you know, those guys are at a, you know, very high regard.

You know, a lot of those guys are Hall of Famers.

W- what happened? Why did this transform from a unit that looked like it was having all sorts of problems to a unit that's been a little closer to, uh, Lock Down You in the heyday that both of you remember?

So when did playing professionally start to, you know, get into reality for you? When did you realize that you had a shot, whether it was CFL or NFL? What, like what was the kind of the turning point for you there?

You know what I would say, uh, you know, that junior year.

Um, like, even when I came in, um, and I came in late at that time, um, you know, I was a two-way guy.

And, you know, I make fun of guys on our team about it.

I be like, "Hey, I'm the only, you know, one of the best two-way guys ever," you know? And I kind of mess with them about that.

And I had to come in, you know, late in the season based off of that timeframe.

So I came in, I was playing corner, I was playing running back, I was still kick returning, doing all those things.

Take us back to that from that perspective, uh, being in the same defensive meeting room and secondary, uh, as some of those legends.

And yeah, that has not been the case.

Well, and I think, you know, you take a guy and you thrust him into a playoff race on a new team.

I mean, that's hard for pitchers to adjust.

It really is new catcher, new philosophy, new whatever, new pitching coach who's going to ask you to do certain things and not do others.

And some guys handle it really well.

And some guys, I think, have high-level guys get the benefit of the doubt and they can do whatever they want.

Casey Mize is not that guy.

And so, of course, nobody's immune to it.

And then after that, we're going to tie it into how this affects IU football specifically.

Yeah, I think that I tweeted it the other day.

And we're going to have a free-for-all if we don't put some guardrails in.

And again, I'm very pro player.

I'm very, you know, these kids should get the time they deserve in college and all of that.

And there's they've been treated unfairly in a lot of ways.

but i think if you sign a professional contract that should end your collegiate eligibility i don't you know the draft thing is interesting because there are some guys who just run out of eligibility or automatically you know sort of put in the draft so how does that affect them i think that will be an argument that will come about especially now as the five-year uh situation has kind of you know, popped up in several places.

And the NCAA doesn't really have a lot of power on a state by state basis to be able to mandate such a thing.

over you to ask, am I overrating how dangerous they are in the grand scheme of things? Or is that 32 and five stretch pretty indicative of, again, true talent level? Not so much, but ability to rise to the moment over and over again kind of feels like they could get there again.

First of all, elite transition with the momentum thing.

I'm in awe of you right now, my friend.

I also, I do sort of, because I've been listening, I do sort of feel this is a bit of a reverse Jinx Yankees fan thing from you.

A little bit.

But I mean, yeah, that turnaround started on, I think it was June 19th when they won 5-2 over the Mariners.

And since then, they're top 10 in virtually every offensive category.

Are you surprised he went for it again? I feel like no, but are you glad that he did?

So how do we change that? What's the value proposition, and how do we sell outdoor audio?

Well, I think what's really changed a whole lot in the last 10 or 11 years is the way that people approach outdoor living just in general as a total category.

I think historically the outdoor, the green industry has been hyper segmented based on like trade discipline, right? So you've got hardscape guy, you've got a landscape guy, you've got a lighting guy, you've got an outdoor kitchen guy, you've got a...

a pergola or patio cover guy.

And I think in the last 10 years, you've started to see a lot more growth in that design build, kind of turnkey outfit, which is just capitalizing on where the market's headed.

One of the perspectives that I think I share often when we talk to folks in the industry is to kind of do a short history lesson and think back to 10 years ago, outdoor living was kind of a destination type experience, right? you know, the pool was out away from the house.

And when we went out to the pool as a family, it was, we're going to go there like we were, you know, going to the beach for a day or whatever.

Do you, do you need a demo kit? Like does someone need that to sell outdoor audio?

But how was it jumping back in the studio with him, and why?

Dude, it was cool 'cause starting this record, I mean, it felt like the next day after, after Tear Me To Pieces, like, for me anyway.

Um, yeah, I think we originally went with him because he was a fan growing up, right? So, you know, w- the first meeting him, he's like, "Dude, I gotta tell you guys, I started producing music because of Page Avenue," you know? So he had, like, this really clear vision of what he wanted us to sound like, right? So he's like, "You know, I, I, I think you guys maybe have, like, lost your way a little bit, and I can help you kinda tap back into what makes your band special," you know? And that first meeting, we're like, "Oh, yeah, this is, this is the guy," you know?

Yeah.

And w- I mean, it's like whether...

Well, it doesn't matter what job you're doing, but, like, especially doing what we do, there's can be so much ego involved, and people get so precious about something they create.

I mean, you create it.

You're gonna be precious about it.