Players Vs. Media: We’re Not So Different | The Ryen Russillo Podcast

Russillo talks about the trends in sports media involving former pro athlete media personalities that deliver takes directly to the sports fan audience, why athletes can sometimes be just as wrong as pundits who've never played professionally, and what the future of sports media could look like.
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[@Yueoy01]

"I don't need to have 20,000 points to say something just as dumb as you" is a perfect way to sum up some of the issues with players doing media lmao

[@limitedbom2206]

Yup. 100%. Players getting into media (usually podcasts) gets worse and worse. At least with media, if I disagree with your opinion, we go back and forth with why I think I'm right or why I disagree with your point and vise versa. But with PLAYERS getting into the media, if they disagree with your point, it's literally always "I played pro ball and you didn't so you don't know shit". It's bad. These players say the dudes in the media talking about sports are bad and need to go, but they have 0 idea how that content form even works. Players when talking to literally anyone who isn't a professional athlete turn into a child plugging their ears and going lalalalalalaala.

[@MikeWillis-si7lr]

No it’s not the same thing and that’s literally the problem. Players a lot of times are talking from experience. Russillo has to have the number of the guy whose experience. It’s never the same thing with the media it’s like telephone. Russillo doesn’t know the GM but he knows someone who used to be a GM. Like it’s never him actually experiencing these things even though he may be correct about something. I rather have the athletes perspective. Also don’t think for a second these guys aren’t threatened that athletes are taking over the media.

[@prod.snqwfall1347]

Russillo, like Jokic and the Nuggets, is hitting his stride at the right time in the season

[@michaelturley3457]

Him outshining Bill on his pod is his version of sweeping the Celtics lol

[@kam_12_]

😂😂

[@andrewrowaan5780]

He's always on his A game. It's appreciate

[@ilovewithcaution]

Pat Bev calling KAT the best player in the league is the craziest active player take

[@logandykhouse]

truly one of the greatest russillo segments i’ve heard. this is why he is the goat, thank you ringer for making a channel for ryen

[@Coach_13]

Agreed

[@chrissaxton7085]

So glad he’s calling out these absurd takes I have been seeing

[@Coach_13]

Nice to see this pop off Ryen has been one of the 🐐’s in this industry for 10+ years dating back to his ESPN days w/ SVP Super down to earth & relatable Love this dude & miss the days of, “Here Comes The Jerk” & Outsider Mike’s “Donkey Story” Such a Legend

[@TheBlueDude71]

The lesson is players are alot dumber than we thought they were when they didn't have a voice.

[@THE_BEAR_JEW]

Lmao! Too damn true.

[@michaelturley3457]

It really make you realize how dumb, just low IQ dumb, a lot of players are because you can tell they BARELY understand a sport they spent their life learning. Like Pat Beverly saying the Clippers should have been starting Crawford over Redick, as if you want another ball dominant player that doesn’t pass, play defense or score efficiently or shoot from 3 to be sharing the court with CP and Blake. I know he was in his feelings but I can never take him seriously after that because he clearly doesn’t take what he says seriously enough to think about it, or he’s too emotional to tell the truth. Either way, Pat is a wildly immature child.

[@tj-23]

The media and fans are dumb too tho

[@BoardEntity]

​@@tj-23thats the point bro. Everyone is dumb. The players included

[@wesmantooth32]

Nah. People never thought athletes were smart before they had a mic. Now at least we get to see a range of intelligence instead of just generalizing all of them as stupid.

[@patcoghlan3852]

One thing that is interesting to note is that the reasons players have good or bad content is the same reason nonplayers do. Guys like Raja Bell and JJ Redick obviously prepare and have cogent, well thought out positions for their takes. Perkins and Arena do not. Skip Bayless similarly just has a narrative and makes the events stick in it, theres no hint of analysis. And much like media people, you can be entertaining and wrong. Draymond is very entertaining, thats why his stuff works. Stephen A Smith is super entertaining, and often wrong. You cant be lazy and wrong, though

[@BD-zg7is]

You are the best Ryen. Your NBA podcast back in the day got me into the NBA and I've been a hardcore fan ever since. Thanks man!

[@20marvelman]

You came out swinging on this love it

[@superphi]

former players say the dumbest shit

[@michaelturley3457]

What annoys me even more than the lack of homework, is the way they evaluate and rank players. If you are someone that makes difficult shots, you are automatically viewed like an all star. Jamal Crawford who couldn’t even shoot 40% in the playoffs being the ultimate example. Had one skill, scoring, and was absolutely atrocious at scoring efficiently. I think it plays under 40 ranked their top 100 players of all time he makes the list. Players are not to be taken seriously.

[@cajxii1]

Gil, draymond, the up in smoke pod, and even Jeff Teague now and Redick, have ruined all media consumption as it pertains to NBA coverage

[@Sbock86]

That's why I've always listened to Ryen - all the way back to, can't remember what it was called now - NBA Today? NBA Daily? Sometimes I disagree with him, sometimes I agree with him - but, it's always just his opinion and what he sees as a basketball fan and not some crazy stupid take to generate views and an article.

[@stanleyrizzo]

Ryen, you're one of the good ones

[@chrisdakilla3173]

Great takes as usual

[@nicholaspu]

Here’s one for you man, Last year when I started getting back into basketball- I didn’t watch highlights and I didn’t watch games until the playoffs. But I would tune in to yours and bills and love the stuff you guys do together- every week been loving the stuff you guys drop. I used to love first take. I watched Jaylen wreck skip for an hour and a half live(or when it aired) really miss Jay Crawford- in fact I can’t think of a host in any show as good as Dana or Jay since they left. Then the Tebow shit every day The the waves of Lebron v MJ When Sherman tore the show wide open that was it for me. What you guys do so well is have a big picture look, but it’s rooted in play. You’re also a great interviewer man. Keep doin what you do keep bein you!

[@conorcassidy7112]

This was great. Loved it!

[@urmom9276]

Kendrick Perkins reads books out loud when he's by himself

[@ldmb1966]

lmao

[@chrisalfano589]

Perkins reads?

[@Chalk89]

He may know the difference between load and loud though.

[@colbydonnelly6515]

Actually funny

[@AndrewWright1998]

Lmao 😂

[@LazyGrilling52]

This segment was pretty epic. He’s right, some of these guys say some wild & outta pocket shit these days. But then they wanna be the 1st ones to say “we played, y’all didn’t so your opinions don’t matter”

[@v4r14ble]

Kudos! Been waiting for someone to call out this craziness that has been normalized.

[@Theiliteritesbian]

Lol hearing Ryen say that podcasting isn't exactly what he was dreaming about when he was a younger man is a funny fresh take - i would run with that Ryen - no one has that take, but we can all relate (and suspect this is how 95% of people working in the sports world feel because its.. just entertainment). I'm a fucking doctor and I feel this way some days.

[@michaelturley3457]

I wanted to be a sports writer. As soon as I started to do it where it became forced and not for fun I immediately hated it and realized passion jobs are a myth haha

[@ryananderson59]

This was amazing thank you Ryen

[@semi6544]

No way would you ever get phased out. People in media were stars among their peers. Ryen you were a star and a segment of the fans followed you wherever you went. Fans found Mina Kimes and couldn't wait until she got a bigger role. Stars are stars. You can be a sports star as well as a media star. It is especially true if we feel like we found you when no one else knew you existed. Stars are stars. We resonated with your style early and rode with you since. You can't be phased out.

[@danagmeadiii]

Thoughtful piece 👏🏼

[@elemenop718]

Oh snap! That last part

[@Slapyomama88]

Bosh being the most important player on the Heatles was a statement initially made by Spo.

[@heritagelandinggolfcountry568]

That last line is a BAR🔥

[@jethrojacinto2798]

Players think just because they played or are currently playing think they can just say whatever "thoughtful insight" they think they might have and they know it can pander to fans because they know people will cling more to the players than talking heads/sports media but they can be just as wrong, obnoxious and delusional too.

[@joeg2258]

All the Smoke is good. As well as Richardson/Miles pod. At least they interview---it's especially watching them reminisce with their peers.

[@schneedsb]

Finally a solo channel

[@sisepuede5612]

Definitely calling out Teague too with his take about jokic/murray not being a top 5 duo

[@bobbyw711]

NBA players who do these espn hot take shows and podcasts are the kind of guys that say they read the book but really they watched the movie… they try so hard to be an intellectual but they’re retarded

[@Theiliteritesbian]

No they heard a podcast where someone they think other people think are cool talks about the book - immediately makes the book a personal all time favorite - subsequently becomes something they talk about because they want to be cool too. This is why Ryen likes the Hunger Games.

[@Chalk89]

I know this firsthand, it's embarrassing how little homework majority of these guys do. They'll just walk on set with a stack of papers and ad lib it with the most asinine takes then fall back on...'did you play!'

[@michaelturley3457]

@@Chalk89there’s really only 3-4 players off the top of my head in media that say anything worth taking seriously, JJ, Legler, Chuck and Kenny every now and then when he’s actually engaged. Chuck and Kenny aren’t even like super knowledgeable about the league, like they couldn’t name 7 guys on the Hornets, but they at least have a high Bball IQ.

[@adame52]

Still hoping you guys take out the streaming border around the video. It doesn't add anything. Love everything else! 😁 Thanks to the production teams for making Ringer videos happen on YT!

[@jacksoningram6823]

the pillow guy i died lmao

[@tomf3379]

Name the American MVP after the Pillow Guy 😂😂

[@richborn6700]

As a Wolves fan I can't stand that any praise on Anthony Edwards always ends with "but what if he was in LA or New York"? Like there are 30 teams and the media is obsessed with maybe 5-6 teams total while shitting on the other 24 teams

[@MrOneanddone91]

The 2000's was the most physical and toughest defensive era and I'm willing to argue that with anybody.

[@kwilliams1958]

Thanks for being "the signal" amongst the noise. And the noise is quite deafening.

[@georgiosyiannakou5537]

someone finally said the truth about Arenas. He is a joke!

[@Chalk89]

We've all had a friend like Gilbert - he says things for reaction, void of reality, then others rush to his defense and say, 'oh, that's just Gil!'

[@michaelturley3457]

@@Chalk89hes more disappointing than Perkins, because he occasionally has these moments where I think he is insightful, and notices things people aren’t talking about or says things people are afraid to say. But he throws it away with how stupid and egotistical his takes can be. Perk is just genuinely someone that I think would need to use his fingers to multiple 4x3.

[@siniister710]

He fr a generational hater. Swear he speaks like someone who doesn’t actually watch the games anymore lol

[@damion1011]

Gil’s arena is very entertaining , but I do have to turn it off after awhile because of the absurd ness

[@georgiosyiannakou5537]

@@damion1011 He can be extremely annoying and superficial in his analysis. After all, he was an All star player only 3 times...I simply don't understand why he's so opinionated.

[@james45478]

I appreciate that this has to be somewhat short and even tackling it is to be applauded. Maybe in future shows, the motivations and reasons can be expounded upon. You have your homers that can't ever see past their bias, your completely unqualified because they never had anything to do with team sports either as someone around a team or part of even the basic team, your completely uneducated and ignorant meat heads, etc, etc.

[@michaelcollins3384]

Perk et al provide good analysis, insofar as you know that every time he speaks, the EXACT OPPOSITE IS THE TRUTH Huge fan Ryen, easy insta-subscribe. But now that you have the video component popping off, I do wanna see a video where you cash gym towels into laundry baskets from across a room at Olympic levels!

[@RC-ro4gq]

that wemby segment from ESPN was wild

[@untexan]

Regular media is conniving and looking to start trouble for ratings. Former players are just shooting from the hip based on grudges and slights from when they played.

[@ryanburke9262]

I still have ptsd flashbacks to the Perk Jokic/Westbrook argument and it's been years

[@BD-zg7is]

that place is so beautiful look at that view omg

[@TheMan750]

This is why I don’t watch sports talk because I’m a sports fan

[@RGarcia007]

Going back and watch 80/90s ball with the lenses of 2024 is moronic. It would be like comparing Atari’s graphics to a PS5.

[@OreoMilkshake00]

I think players go into their media careers confident their experience in a sport will result in success. Unfortunately, if you're a player on a major TV network and not an independent platform, you soon realize your expertise doesn't exactly translate over. Whereas I feel some players truly believe what they say, the ones who want to get ahead quickly realize having the most ludicrous takes results in the most clicks.

[@LiamborninDC]

It is crazy how the top 5 players right now are international, but I don't know if I'd have Tatum 6th or even as the best US born player. There are a few players with rings on their resumes that are having statistically comparable seasons.

[@xDonJuanx]

Perfect take. And the pretentiousness of some of the athletes is just as annoying as the outlandishness of the traditional media.

[@jaysoncarter3171]

The reason that the heat Didn’t win a playoff series after 06 ring is because one year wade was injured only played 15 games. Then they got high Draft pick and got Michael Beasley who was trash so the next two years wade 2nd best player was Haslam because they were making cap space for that summer they got Bron and Bosh wade was still first team nba the 2 cap space years and lead the league in scoring. So lets not act like he had a stacked team and was not getting out first round and i love Ryan been a fan since SVP Days but you have said this numerous times.

[@theramilavipodcast]

Kinda like Igudala saying he’s more afraid of SGA with the ball in his hands than Luka, Jokic, etc? Lol

[@iandawson9606]

What body of water is in the background? Why have I never seen a boat?

[@user-lt5dg1ix6u]

He might be on a boat

[@johnnycash8567]

He stays in Manhattan beach or Huntington Beach in LA I forget which one but I think it’s Manhattan

[@Jayhawk92]

Another stupid former player comment was after LeBron led in all 5 statistical categories for both teams in one of the Cavs finals losses against the Warriors Paul Pierce before the elimination game keep saying LeBron could do more to win than he was already doing

[@kobedellers5879]

The bacon neck tee in style now???

[@sirjer73]

It be like that sometimes

[@aaronthibodeaux3558]

The Webmy thing isn't a record. It happened draft night with Zion.

[@jacksonbox40027]

Russilo got a Brian griffin tone

[@jeffersontugboat8115]

Its clearly a race thing. And its incredible that you tip toe around it. Even with the Kendrick Perkins example which is incredible because Kendrick exclusively made the issue about race.

[@ScottyFranchyze]

If UD was in the locker room, how can you say that his opinion of CB being the most important player is wrong? He didn’t say best player, he said most important player. Being on a team day to day trumps all of our outsider opinions.

[@josh0253]

Gilbert arenas show single handedly showed us theres just as many dumb nba players as media members and probably more if we're being honest

[@k_hack9441]

The best was when Richard Jefferson, Arenas’ college teammate and friend, broke down how Gilbert thinks on a pod.

[@AA-ci9mh]

Content is good but can we get rid of the moving background? Thanks!

[@johnworld27]

All TV / Podcast heads = Entertainment

[@adkinsisaac79]

High % of these hot 🔥 takes come from the "Defund the Police" crowd. That was a real winner....

[@ajbianchi85]

Tbh some players have some decent takes but theyre completely biased and not nuanced. Its like id rather read a film critics review of a film than an actors take on it.

[@WhelmedButReady]

ESPN is frustrating with who they put on television. So many of those guys make foolish takes on the daily and they get paid millions to be considered "experts" really makes you appreciate people in the media who aren't driven by ego or making headlines. It's why PTI wins Emmys, it's all business. No BS I miss the peak NBA media days of Michelle Beadle, Paul Pierce, Jalen Rose, Chauncey Billups, and occasionally T-Mac. Great chemistry, but was also legit about the game.

[@alanmcivor2005]

Ok, you didn’t mention this but it basically comes down to this fact. Professional athletes aren’t that smart

[@rafikz77]

we done with the 90s

[@callmeaclassic]

Makes me miss the Worst Take of the Week segments.

[@YungFlyWest]

Still rather hear players be wrong over fat dudes who never played. Not slighting Russillo cause he’s one of the goats in this space.

[@joeg2258]

The Ringer content is far superior to anything else out there. Anything on TV---especially ESPN. Pretty terrible. Barstool is ok---some of the content is terrible. But Ringer(especially Russillo and Simmons's content driven shows)---is superior.

[@aron.gortman]

It's insane when you watch Big 3 games and realise how horribly unskilled these black former NBA players are without their athleticism.

[@Skyfall22]

You don’t need skills when you have a tremendous amount of athleticism. You must be white.

[@tracystevenpeal5005]

You mean like Skip saying LeBron is 9th best player ever 🙄🧐

[@keithrochester4671]

Some of what player saying can be true

[@Kindafu]

Being good at basketball is a different skillset from being good at analyzing basketball…

[@Jsch23]

hes talking about basically anything gilbert arenas or kendrick perkins say. there's plenty of former pro athletes who arent smart people. just cause you played in the league and know how to run a pick and roll doesnt mean you can come to intelligent conclusions about the sport. draymond green will say five smart things and then in the next sentence insult the media for not thinking jason tatum is the mvp this year.

[@jaredgarrison333]

I’m a huge nba fan but over the last few years I’ve started realizing nba players are completely unlikeable. From the stuff you hear on podcasts, the words and actions of people like Kyrie, draymond, Ben Simmons, and Kevin Durant, load management, the all star game, guys in the bubble posting photos of their free food saying look at the crap the league is feeding us while others are standing in food lines, lack of research and facts when giving opinions, whenever says something stupid ( earth may be flat) they all defend each other, having fans ejected, only wanting to play 55 games to get their all nba bonuses, etc. the nba is just an unlikeable league to me

[@El_TigreNegro]

Multiple players from that Miami Heat team has said that Chris Bosh was the most important player on that team, idk why it's such a problem. None of them have said that LeBron wasn't the best player, just that Bosh was most important to winning those championships

[@yovirg]

Gilbert Arenas: 1 for 1265 on his takes...

[@jimstevenson424]

Ryen's approach is perfect for me. SAS - the hot take is a total turnoff, worst development in sports. Colin Cowherd - unapologetic biased, will talk like he absolutely knows the answer and double down when incorrect (passive aggressive hot take). Rich Eisen - vanilla nice guy, creates safe space for athletes, gets them to reveal info without passing judgment but offers little insight of his own. Ryen has enough self awareness to over come personal biases and also tempers theories with a assessment of probability of being right. I get why Ryen gravitated to Bill. They pick out nuances that I never though about but usually don't force it on you. The direct line to the athlete is not going to replace him. Nobody should trust a guy who has branded himself to hide the fact that he is an as*hole and has an advantage of controlling narratives, because he is quicker and has no regard for journalistic integrity. There will always be a need for someone to cut through the BS that players and owners spew.

[@casualobserver4773]

I’m not saying the media is perfect, but some of these athlete podcasts are off the rails

[@SchulzEricT]

Ryen does this thing were he grossly exaggerates claims people are making and then destroys his grossly exaggerated argument for being stupid and outrageous. Like... yeah, Ryen, nobody is claiming that people were being put in arms bars and had their arms broken or skulls cracked while going to the rim back in the mid-'80s and '90s. What people ARE saying is that you used to be allowed to not just play defense (unlike today) but be physical. You could bump guys and it was okay; now, if you're bumped you fall down and get FTs. Back in the day, if you fell down the other team would take the ball and go the other way with it for an easy bucket. You were punished, organically, for flopping. Now you get rewarded for it. It's not just one level better if you go back to the '90s, but at least two levels better of defense and how it was called. Ryen even went back to that era during the Re-watchaBulls thing with Bill and talked about how much better the flow of the game was and how players didn't whine about calls for long stretches. Now, that's not directly an element of defense being physical, but it's indirectly related because players focused on basketball and weren't nearly as focused on the gamesmanship bullshit, it was about beating the other team at basketball. Refs just weren't fooled by all the bullshit that we have now as they were then (probably why it's so prevalent now, because it works) and there were actually rules in place *that were enforced* to keep the game entertaining and competitive, offensively and defensively, like how traveling was enforced (the rule is still on the books, you can look it up) whereas nowadays we call traveling "eurosteps" and it's just allowed. The game isn't worse on every level now, and we have some all-time great players, all-time FUN players... but I'm sorry, the game was better in the '90s. (The NFL is going that way too, legislating defense out of the game, but at least in the NFL there's a safety element to it that makes it justifiable. In the NBA... I don't know why refs continue to fall for the worst flops with no consequences and no corrective action taken.)

[@cajxii1]

Why aren’t we allowed to say out loud that it could be that maybe some of the American based former/current players, WNBA included, are just slightly racist? A lot of their motivation to say out loud what goes thru their head has to come from somewhere I’ve enjoyed Ryens pod for years, and he is known to not pull too many punches. He may have done the right thing about asking why Perkins/swoopes said what they said, but it has to be an open secret, right?

[@dimitrythomas4158]

If you want to hear some wrong sports takes, just listen any Gilbert Arenas podcast. Those guys are all over the place.

[@beaker8111]

Ryen, I watch you and not ESPN for a reason. Skip Bayless and Screaming A Smith ruined ESPN in the early 2000s. It's now unwatchable. Thank you for not selling out.

[@jamesmiller5331]

As usual it's probably more about race than anything else.

[@IknowMoreThanYou]

You guys at the ringer are always upset at egregious jokic takes but never Giannis ones🙃

[@SharpwithanE]

For the algo

[@JP-jd8wr]

You're definitely talking about Colin Cowherd type guys 😂 he just says dumb stuff to get clicks. Doesn't matter if he's wrong or not.

[@Dont-Ask-Me-My-Name]

Joker, Giannis, Luka & SGA so who is the other foreign born player? O I got it Embiid...I totally forgot about the guy &he's not in my top-5. Can't be top-5 and suck in the playoffs, never been to the Conference-Finals; hell Westbrook has more postseason success than Embiid &everyone says he's a bum now. I'd take Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Jaylon Brown & Don Mitchell over Embiid any day &that's just the EC

[@rafikz77]

Perkins and Arenas are basketball racists 😂

[@michaelstover6778]

I can’t even watch ESPN anymore… Perkins is a dope and an idiot. Arenas is a fool and even worse that mccants is on that podcasts.

[@danreynolds2628]

You forgot Steven A (for asshole) Smith. How can he even dare to sit at a table with Wilson?

[@NickMachado]

Everyday athletes prove to us why "shut up and dribble" was the correct take.

[@uberhikari]

Russilo is an ignoramus. He's exactly right, Haslem did play in the NBA, so why would he assume he knows more than Haslem? Haslem is right. Spoelstra created the space-and-pace offense and Bosh was the most important piece of that offense because they moved him to the 5 to drag the opposing team's center out of the paint creating driving lanes for Wade and Bosh. Bosh was also the Heat's most important defender as well. The Heat played a hyper-aggressive trap defense which wouldn't have been possible without Bosh's mobility. He was forced to use his mobility to constantly rotate out on the perimeter; that wouldn't have been possible with a traditional big. Haslem is right: Bosh wasn't the best or most valuable player on the Heat but he was the most important.

[@sirjer73]

Exactly he was the key to the spacing element that they did on both sides of the floor. Now there is no excuse that Bosh scored 0 points in a finals game 7, at home. NONE!!!!

[@hardwoodthought1213]

@@sirjer73How did they win that game 7 with their most important player scoring 0 points? I’ve never heard of that happening in any game ever

[@sirjer73]

@@hardwoodthought1213 Hey I agree no one said he was the first or second best player on the team. The context was most important and he allowed them to perform their max scheme on both sides of the court. Hey I'm glad they won that game I think LeBron had 37 pts and 13 rebs, and maybe 5or6 assist. Also maybe the Spurs maybe was still reeling on how they lost game 6. To the Spurs credit they was in the game all the way.

[@BigginsInAmerica]

All the least intelligent takes on sports media are black athletes making their opinion based on skin color. Whether it's Ryan Clark, Marcellus Wiley, Kendrick Perkins, Jalen Rose, the list goes on. Justin Fields is elite, he passes for 170 yards per game over 3 seasons. Trust me bro I played in the league!

[@siniister710]

Gil is a legitimate bad take machine. All he does is say incredibly stupid shit about basketball every day.

[@atlantanthony7256]

sick dude but you’re not the cool kid in the room anymore and nobody wants to hang out with you

[@Bdot1588]

It’s just black former players hating on current white players with Perkins and Swoopes lol

[@pd_333]

I get it. He’s a media member so he’s being defensive..but listening to buddy call out players for what HE perceives are bad takes when he has countless terrible takes is comical. Sit this one out chief.

[@onthesnap4606]

they just dont like white players. its not that hard

[@jamessisson1186]

Ur a dweeb