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)

This episode’s different: David isn’t on the mic. He’s preoccupied with something heavy, something consuming. So Marshall does the show to him instead of with him.

It starts with joy: Marshall’s enduring memory from the Lions’ mauling of the Chicago Bears will not be trick plays, or even the many skill-player highlights. It will be the willpower moment: the inspiring third- and fourth-down stand that, to Marshall, defines real football.

Then (03:45) it shifts into something deeper: a message for David (and maybe for all of us) about stepping up when no one else will, holding the line on civility, and letting reason, not rage, be the guiding light.

It’s football. It’s friendship. It’s leadership. And it’s proof that sometimes the most important plays happen off the field.

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

The Lions came out flat. And for the first time in the Dan Campbell era, so did our hope.

For Marshall, the Lions' lackluster loss to the Green Bay Packers hit so hard he did what he’s never done under Dan Campbell: he shut the game off. And as he reached for the remote, he heard his father’s old refrain from childhood Sundays—“That’s enough.” To Marshall, this didn't feel like just sloppy football. It felt like the end of something.

David pushes back, pointing to new guards adjusting, penalties that can be cleaned up, and Campbell’s own postgame promise that things can be fixed. Together, they debate whether this was just one game’s collapse or the first crack in a dream we’ve waited decades for.

From the offensive line looking like a sieve, to contract decisions that raise more dread than excitement, to one jaw-dropping catch that did just enough to rope you in for next week, this is the conversation that every scarred Lions fan knows too well. Was this just one bad Sunday? Or is this who we are now?

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

New Green Bay Packers All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons says trick plays are for cowards. The Lions say: see you at the line of scrimmage.

In this episode, we dig into the Lions’ evolving identity now that Ben Johnson’s razzle-dazzle is gone and John Morton is calling plays. Are the Lions really the “trick play” team Parsons thinks they are—or are they about to unleash a season of straight-up smashmouth football?

We revisit the unforgettable theater of Ben Johnson’s gadget plays, ask whether they ever truly fit Dan Campbell’s DNA, and wonder aloud if the magic of those Lions can possibly travel with Johnson to Chicago. Spoiler: we don’t think so.

From Hector “Macho” Camacho and Sugar Ray Leonard, to the Hogs of the ’80s then-Redskins and John Riggins passing out in his soup (seriously), this conversation ranges wide…but lands right where it matters: what it means to win by brute will instead of trickery—and why Micah Parsons might be living in the past.

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

Young Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris went down in a preseason game, and 67,500 people went silent, while rival players became an instant brotherhood. We start there: the moment both sidelines chose humanity over the scoreboard. From there, we wrestle with the myth of “the show must go on” and what it actually asks of the 21 men who have to play the next snap after seeing something they can’t unsee.

Then we go big-picture: is tackle football headed for a flag future? We make the case (rules trending safer, the Pro Bowl test run, the NFL logo on elementary-school flag-football flyers) and ask the real fan question: would we still watch? Also: if the NFL ever does flip to flags, Marshall has a prediction of who the prototype player would be—and it's one Detroit Lions fans know well.. After all, you can’t grab what you can’t touch.

We get personal about dads in the stands and our own anger. And we land on a confession only long-suffering Lions fans will understand: if Detroit wins one Lombardi before the flags fly, we could make peace with whatever comes next.

Because on that day, the headline writes itself.

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

We’ve got ten minutes and one big question: what does this Detroit Lions offense look like without the trickery?

In this episode, we ponder what offensive life will like post-Ben Johnson. We say goodbye to the razzle-dazzle of the former Lions offensive coordinator's bag of tricks—and ask if maybe we ought to be saying good riddance. We recall the joys of watching wide receivers block like stunt doubles and plays that felt like heists…but we also long for a grit-aligned "run it up the gut" mentality.

And we wonder: now that Johnson's gone, will they Lions be content to just win straight up? No misdirection. Just willpower.

Will the team miss the creativity? Or is this season about something deeper?

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