This one starts with pain—literal pain. Marshall takes a tumble down the stairs, and suddenly he has first-hand empathy for what NFL players wake up with every Monday. David follows with his own Hall of Fame wipeouts, including a Ring-doorbell-captured slide that deserves its own blooper reel.

What begins as two grown men comparing battle scars quickly turns from the strange comedy inside the things that hurt us, to the Lions. With Brian Branch out for the season, and the offensive line struggling to play at a consistently high level, Marshall and David wrestle honestly with the question every fan is afraid to ask:

Are we playing out the string, or is there still something real left to salvage?

They break down what injuries do to a team’s psyche, what “next man up” actually means when the next man isn’t Branch or Ragnow, and why this coaching staff may be the only reason all hope isn’t lost. And yet, there’s real optimism here. Because somehow, even bruised and bandaged, this team still punches back.

There’s humor. There’s heart. And there's a philosophical detour into the wisdom of an ancient parable: "Maybe. We'll see."

Because that’s the truth of football—and life. You don’t know which falls are just falls, and which ones make you get back up again with newfound strength.

Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, “Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)”

⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault in the context of a jury trial. Listener discretion advised.

David picks up where his story left off: when the jury room door closes and twelve strangers must decide another human’s fate. David walks us through what it felt like to volunteer to be foreperson, not out of ambition, but because of silence, a silence he broke with a raised hand and three words that changed everything: “I’ll do it.”

What follows is a study in interpersonal communication, as David calmly and vulnerably guides a fractured room toward truth. What began as a 9–3 split ends with unanimous justice, and a transformation he never saw coming.

It’s a story about what happens when you raise your hand, even when your heart’s pounding. David stepped up when no one else would—and created something no one else could.

Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, “Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)”

⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault in the context of a jury trial. Listener discretion advised.

We start with football: the Lions taking down the Baltimore Ravens—and with them, the last shred of doubt about who this team really is. Touchdowns traded, gutsy fourth downs, Jared Goff dropping dimes into buckets…it was a game that reminded us why we love this team.

Then the episode shifts. Because if you listened last time, you know David was going through something heavy. Here, he begins to unpack it: he served as jury foreperson on a trial involving kidnapping and sexual assault.

We don’t finish the story here; we set the stage. We describe what the case is about, and get David’s impressions of the perpetrator and the victim. The miracle of what happened next—how David led a divided jury room through an extraordinary transformation—that’s for the next chapter.

It’s part one of a bigger story, but it’s already a testament to conviction, composure, and the unexpected ways friendship can prepare us for life’s hardest arenas.

Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "… Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"

Note: David's traumatic experience in the pet store is chronicled in the episode "It's possible, yeah…but not likely" (August 19, 2023)