What is up you guys welcome back to another one if you are new to the channel I am Gold Pony and today we are in the new 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe courtesy of Jack T. Ambalvo Hyundai in York PA and so I am in this one today guys may already know I do own a Santa Fe It has been rock solid for me so far. It's got around 22,000 miles But a couple fun facts though Santa Fe has been in production since 2001 and it is actually named after the city in New Mexico Santa Fe Santa Fe New Mexico Of course and so today we will be going over everything about this one. I'm gonna start with the test drive We're gonna go over the exterior interior safety all that stuff And I'm shooting this all on my new camera shot in 4k So I do hope you guys enjoy you guys want to see more new car reviews Feel free to hit the subscribe button that of course is what this channel is all about And what do you say? Let's go ahead and jump right into it And as always let's start with pricing and so to start trim levels have been adjusted ever so slightly for the 2020 Santa Fe there are now three trim levels only first one being the SE starting at $26,995 SEL for $28,745 and lastly the limited starting at $36,745 and by the way that was pricing for the front-wheel drive variant If you wanted to add all-wheel drive to any of those trim levels simply add $1,700 to any of those prices But when it comes to the power plant there is one standard set up across the board and then there is also going to be one Optional setup for the SEL and limited trim levels But so the standard power plant is going to come from a 2.4 liter naturally aspirated inline 4-cylinder Putting out 185 horsepower at 6,000 rpm 178 pound-feet of torque available at 4,000 rpm again sent to front wheels or all wheels through an 8-speed automatic Giving you the MPG numbers 22 in the city 29 highway for the front-wheel drive 21 city 27 highway for the all-wheel drive But then there is the optional engine setup being a 2-liter turbocharged inline 4-cylinder This one puts out 235 horsepower at 6,000 rpm 260 pound-feet of torque available at 1,400 rpm front wheels or all wheels through an 8-speed automatic once again giving you MPG numbers 20 in the city 25 highway for the front-wheel drive 19 city 24 highway for the all-wheel drive, but so now having said all of that I did want to mention before we do any kind of accelerations in the Santa Fe There is a drive mode button directly behind the shifter that is going to give you three different drive mode options Including comfort eco in sport can tell you I did just put it in that sport driving mode I figured we had a little hill here might as well It did immediately downshift for me So it is going to adjust things like the shift points the throttle response and actually to my surprise the steering Sensitivity as well, so it does give it a little more heavier of a weight to it within in that sport driving mode So I am definitely appreciative of that steering feel actually feels really good in that sport driving mode Anyhow since I have now said all of that Let's go ahead and do a quick little acceleration test here in this Santa Fe and let's see how quickly we can get this New 2020 Santa Fe here up to speed Actually not too bad. I don't think I've mentioned it yet We do have the 2.4 liter naturally aspirated four cylinder So it's not like we even have the turbocharged engine, but it's not bad You're definitely gonna have a little bit more fun with the turbocharged engine But shouldn't have any issues with merging on to the hardware or anything like that But so then to go along with that is always braking is equally important Why did the windshield? Oh, okay I'm sorry guys the windshield wipers just came on there was a little sprinkle of rain And of course we have rain sensing windshield wipers. I'll get more into that later But braking feel is definitely fine. No issues with coming to a stop in the Santa Fe and even in mine I can tell you the braking feel is definitely on point one of the best things about the Santa Fe There's no spongy or squishy braking feel brings the Santa Fe to quite a quick stop there But touching on suspension and handling a little bit up front You're gonna find a McPherson strut front suspension with gas-filled dampers and a stabilizer bar in the back of multi-link rear Suspension with gas-filled shock absorbers and a stabilizer bar once again And like I previously mentioned when it comes to the steering feel there actually is quite a noticeable difference between the driving mode So for me I would personally leave it in that sport driving mode Just simply a loan for the steering feel because it is a much heavier weight to it It just feels better to me You might have a different opinion But if you take it out of that sport driving mode the steering feel is relaxed a bit more So if that feels better for you have at it and as far as ride quality goes definitely no issues there The Santa Fe has been soaking up Pennsylvania's road imperfections quite nicely so far been touching on cabin noise a little bit very very quiet Right the only thing I have been hearing is the floor mats wrapped in plastic in the back a little bit But other than that it is an extremely quiet cabin partly due in part because it does have an acoustic laminated front windshield So that is gonna absorb a lot of the sound coming from the exterior into the cabin So definitely quite nice when it comes to cabin noise and then touching on visibility here I can see perfectly fine out the back honestly definitely no issues there and in this size SUV You're really not gonna have any issues when it comes to visibility But but the Santa Fe doesn't stop there It goes one better with a head-up display so forward visibility is equally on point and looking at my speed right now as well Some safety information up there and it also displays the speed limit of any given road If you were actually on a road as I am not right now in a parking lot and again also contributing to visibility Is those rain-sensing windshield wipers? I've been mentioning so cool thing about them They may scare you at first if you're not used to them But when it starts to drizzle even the windshield wipers will automatically turn on so you don't ever have to worry about turning them on Manually that is kind of a cool thing. It's kind of like automatic headlights. It's something that I think should be standard on most vehicles out there It's quite nice and so but anyways that is about it for the driving portion of this review Let's make our way into what's new now on the 2020 Santa Fe and then move on to the exterior interior and then go to safety And so touching on what's new in the 2020 Santa Fe the entry-level SE actually loses a few safety features Including the blind spot monitoring system and rear cross traffic alert both of which though are now standard on the SEL and limited sliding second-row seat is also dropped for the SE trim level and SEL plus and ultimate trims no longer exist Obviously because I already went over the trim levels But SE also gains a blind spot mirror I guess because of the loss of the blind spot information system possibly and the limited trim actually adds a blind view monitor This is probably one of the coolest features I first noticed when I started driving this one when you turn on the turn signal whether left or right turn signal and actually displays a Blind view monitor I guess you'd say Directly in the middle of the digital gauge cluster That is pretty cool because it does let you see very clearly if somebody is in your blind spot If you were to try to merge lanes on the highway or something like that You would be able to easily see if somebody was beside you so it kind of prevents accidents that little feature there So gotta love that but now let's make our way to the exterior on this one All right, so starting up front in my personal opinion the Santa Fe does have a very aggressive looking front end Accented by these LED daytime running lights, which actually do come standard on all trim levels Definitely more of a aggressive appearance with this very narrow lighting setup there So got to be a fan of that just below that for the SE and SE L trim levels. You will find Projector headlights and this will be jumped up to the current LEDs that you're looking at right now If you do go with the limited trim level those LEDs are actually optional on the SE L if you wanted to go that route However automatic future will come standard on every single trim level meaning when it starts to get dark out those headlights will turn on automatically for you there and fog lights going back a little bit here fog lights just below will come standard on the SE L and limited trim levels and you will actually get LED fog lights that you're looking at right now again If you go with the limited trim level so overall definitely a very nice look to it Hyundai signature front grille that you find and all of their vehicles now definitely looks good up there And one more thing I wanted to mention just beside the headlights here You do have some air pockets if you guys could see that actually helps direct air around these side wheels here So kind of an aerodynamic cue to get a little more efficient aerodynamics there But now let's make our way to the side a little bit first thing you are going to notice up top there You do have some roof rails see if I can zoom in on that there So roof rails are actually gonna come standard on the SE L and limited trim levels You will get rear privacy glass for all trim levels and chrome windows surrounds once again for all trim levels and also one dimension Let me go to the back here. There is a Shark fin antenna that will also come standard on every single trim level So that is going to be found up top of course and when it comes to those side mirrors They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors They will come heated for the SE L and limited trim levels And if you go with the limited that we have today here, you will find LED integrated turn signals as well Continuing the LED theme for the limited trim level. I got to love that but zooming out a little bit Let's take a look at the wheel setup here 17 inch alloy wheels will come standard with the SE and SE L trim levels However, if you want with the limited that we have today, you are looking at 18 inch alloy wheels And actually there are going to be 19 inch alloy wheels if you went with the turbocharged engine And that's regardless whether it be the turbocharged engine with the SE L or the limited But the wheel setup definitely looks very nice with the Santa Fe that we have today here But but then another thing I wanted to mention is all of the satin chrome finishes found on the Santa Fe here Let me show you guys. Let me get a little closer here So you guys can see kind of the satin chrome on the door handle that actually continues down below here That is satin chrome on the side there as well Definitely a nice little accent there another little accent to those door handles though is at night At least you're not gonna be able to see it now is there are door handle welcome lights So it's kind of gonna illuminate that door handle So if you are in a pitched black atmosphere, you will be able to actually see where the door handle is You can get into the Santa Fe But now let's make our way to the back you will find a rear spoiler with an integrated brake light as you guys can see right there Rear window wiper can be found just below zooming out a little bit LED tail lights They're actually going to be found on the limited trim level That is the only trim that is going to give you LED tail lights standard So they definitely have a nice design to them almost a 3d effect So definitely like the way they look back there and just below let's zoom out a little bit here Just below you will find a single exhaust outlet with a chrome tip So I think you guys know what we have to do next as we always do Here is that exhaust clip It's open now since we are round back to actually open that rear hatch There is a button on the key fob You can simply press that if you like but there is a hands-free lift gate if you want with the limited trim level that We have today that is going to be optional on the SEL But but hands-free is definitely a plus if you have your hands full of groceries or whatever That is going to allow that rear lift gate to open up without you actually having to do anything So that's a quite nice feature But once opened up cargo capacity is going to come in at 35.9 cubic feet If you wanted to fold down that second row that bumps it up to 71.3 cubic feet And it's able to also mention there is some rear floor storage in that cargo area as well There is also rear grocery hooks back there. There's a 12 volt power outlet and actually there's some buttons As well to fold down that second row seats and if you do fold down the second row seats Cubit feetness comes in at 71.3. Yes, I know that's not a word. I'm just joking there But it's definitely always nice to have buttons to actually fold down this rear seats But making our way to the rear legroom 40.9 inches is what the rear legroom comes in at for reference. I'm an even six feet tall This is how much space I have back there definitely plenty of room for me So no issues there if the rear passengers look forward they will find rear air vents Also, there's going to be a rear center armrest with cup holders also want to mention since we have them today The rear sunshades that you're currently looking at they are Optional for the Santa Fe and that is one thing I wish I had in my own Santa Fe because if you have a newborn That is definitely going to help protecting them from the sun gleaming into their eyes Your newborn is not squinting when the sun is not the best angle. So rear window sunshades are definitely a plus Also want to mention the speaker design it kind of has a 3d effect to it So gotta love the speaker design and I'll get more into that later But make your way to the front seats cloth services will come with the se and se l trim levels You will find leather surfaces with the limited however There's leather surfaces will be optional on the se l if you wanted to go that route Se l trim level actually is going to add an eight-way power adjustable driver seat And we'll give you heated front seats as well up there Then if you want with the limited you will find ventilated front seats that will be added as well as thigh Extensions that is something usually find in luxury vehicles like Mercedes Benz and BMW But you do have thigh extensions actually for a little added comfort on the 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe limited that is definitely Pretty sweet, but looking forward there is a tilt and telescoping steering wheel will come leather wrapped for the limited that leather wrap Steering wheel is going to be optional on the se l also if you want with the limited You will find a heated steering wheel for the super cold days in Pennsylvania Then make our way to the startup let me first start by showing you guys the key here You do have your Hyundai logo on the one side end when you flip it over lock unlock and again that button to pop the rear hatch But it is actually all keyless entry with a push button start if you want with the se l We're limited trim level at least but since we do have that today All I am going to do is simply put my fun on the brake here and press that engine start button It's open then once started up tachometers all the way on your left fuel gauge It's going to be on your right and in the center front and center. There will be a digital display I love the digital display in the Santa Fe here So this digital display is going to give you a bunch of different things you can actually look at including the drive modes That's the probably the coolest thing because it actually changes the color of the digital display That sport mode is going to give you a red hue smart mode is going to give you blue and actually smart and comfort They're going to be the same but still the sport mode gives you a nice red hue So that's pretty cool Also, it's going to tell you if you're in drive or park or whatever But you can actually control what is on that digital display by using the steering wheel mounting controls on the right side there It's going to give you different things like safety features You can display a digital speedometer up there if you wanted to which is what I have it on right now It's also going to tell you how many miles you have left until you hit empty and it's going to be a compass up there And plenty of other things as well actually that you can scroll through so quite a very nice digital display up there Not quite as nice as the full digital display found in the Palisade now But definitely a fan of what we have here in the Santa Fe, but now let's make our way to overall interior quality There is dual-zone climate control here wireless phone charger actually just in front of the shifter That's definitely nice. Homeland controls can actually be found on the rear view mirror That is up to three different garage doors if you have three garage doors So that's definitely pretty cool panoramic sunroof is going to come with the limited that is what you were looking at Right now, so that fully extends into the rear seats So those rear passengers have a nice view of the sky as well But I got to be honest perhaps my favorite part about the interior quality the interior trim really on the Santa Fe I have never ever seen this on any other vehicle even luxury vehicles a lot of times They'll have black anthracite headliners that is pretty cool, but black is black. That's kind of boring It's getting boring in my opinion, but the texture and the color of the headliner in this Santa Fe It's kind of a mixed mixed color of browns and tans So it's a little bit of everything, but I love that is not one single flat color. It's a little bit of a mixture I've never seen this in a vehicle. I was very extremely excited. That was a very first thing I noticed when I got into Santa Fe because it's the little details that mean so much and again I've never seen that on any other vehicle. I've reviewed to this date and I've reviewed nearly 400 cars So that is definitely quite nice, but continuing on up top here. You will find an overhead sunglass holder There is some LED lighting up there as well And I do like how the trim kind of continues from the dash into the doors There is a nice line there and yes, I do know that it is plastic, but it does look good So very nice finish there just above the passenger side glovebox there There's actually a little cubby with a rubberized bottom So those passengers may be able to put maybe a cell phone in there and again since it has a rubberized bottom It's not going to slide around too much as far as the glovebox goes. It is a decent size It would be kind of cool to see maybe an aluminum trim on the handle To kind of tie in with the aluminum trim around the infinity speakers I'll get into that in a second, but just in front of the shifter there You also will find plenty of hookups for any kind of device really you got your 12-volt power outlet USB oxport another USB port for the passenger I suppose Again that wireless phone charger you have two cup holders just behind that And there is actually an electronic parking brake that comes with the Santa Fe as well as well as a auto hold button So if you are stuck in traffic and you didn't feel like holding your foot on the brake Simply press that auto hold button and you won't have to worry about that anymore Just behind that there is a little bit of a storage area just behind the cup holders And again that has a rubberized bottom so things don't slide around And just underneath the armrest there is a pretty deep display You got a little tray there as well so that is definitely nice So overall a very nice setup when it comes to the interior of the Santa Fe But now let's touch on the tech display a little bit when it comes to Hyundai's tech displays They're always on point and they are very easy to use 7-inch color touchscreen display is going to come with the SE and SEL trim levels You will get an 8-inch color touchscreen display however if you want the limited So that is actually what you're looking at right now Of course Bluetooth and audio streaming will come standard either way As well as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay even with the base trim level It's definitely nice because Android Auto and Apple CarPlay That is going to give you free navigation through your smart phone All you need to do is simply hook your phone up to the Santa Fe via USB cable And then you can have free navigation again You can also actually stream Pandora You can like and dislike your Pandora songs up on that screen That's always pretty nice You can also check out your climate control up there as well as your radio settings And by the way when it comes to the sound system You will find six speakers with the SE and SEL trim levels If you want with the limited you will find a 12-speaker Infinity sound system So that is actually the one we have today So you guys know what we have to do next as always Let's go ahead and turn on the radio See we got playing today and let's test out the clarity of this one Yes there is a ton of bass in the Infinity sound system Crystal clear Definitely more than enough of a sound system for the Santa Fe without a doubt But so the last thing I wanted to mention on that tech display at least Is when you do put the Santa Fe in reverse Every single trim level will give you a rear view camera However, if you went with the limited trim level that we have today Again you will get a 360 degree view surround view camera That is going to give you several different camera angles as well So you can see directly behind you Kind of the rear quarter the left rear corner Also just below you So you can see that you don't run over maybe a kid's bicycle or something like that And overall the 360 degree camera works very well Also wanted to mention is when I did just put it in reverse The side view mirrors did tilt down Once again so you could see what is beside you You can make sure maybe you're in between the lines in a parking lot That is definitely quite nice as well But as always that is going to lead us into safety And so there will be front side and side curtain airbags Also latch a.k.a lower anchors to have this for children for the rear car seats Tire pressure monitoring system will also come standard But for every single trim level you will also get plenty of advanced safety features Including forward collision avoidance assist with pedestrian detection Lane keep assist driver attention warning and adaptive cruise control Even on the base trim level that is amazing SEL trim level is also going to give you a blind spot monitor With rear cross traffic alert And lastly the limited is going to add that blind view monitor With rain sensing windshield wipers which we have been using all day today On this lovely weekend here in Pennsylvania And so but anyways that is about it for this one you guys Thank you so much for watching Apologize for all the rain sounds in this video I can't help mother nature what can I say But anyways feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen there If you enjoy car reviews be sure to hit the subscribe button As well as the bell button So you can be notified when the next car review comes out Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know And I will see you all in the next video Stay Gold


This is Shepherd Humphries with the Jackson Hole shooting experience and Stoker here to talk to you today about front sight The importance of a front sight when you're shooting a pistol You want to have your eye aligned with a front sight and the reason for this is that if we align our Eye with a rear sight or the target, we're just not going to be as accurate Whereas if our eye is focused on the front sight, perhaps the rear sight's a little bit blurry Perhaps the target's a little bit blurry. That's okay. All we care about is having that front sight crisp and clear Here's how I like to remember it. Imagine your name is inscribed on the front sight in very fine font And if you're thinking about that and you're really focusing on it You'd be surprised how magically your shots start getting closer to center There are other factors obviously and we'll talk about those in other episodes, but getting that front sight crisp and clear in your view Kind of a big deal This is Shepherd Humphries with the Jackson Hole shooting experience and Stoker hoping you hit your target every time right on


For three decades I've thought that this is something that everybody did all of the time, that it was normal to have your brain running beyond its maximum capacity, taking in every possible piece of information, reading people's body language, predicting what they're thinking, what they're saying before they're saying it, reviewing every possible bit that I know about that human and trying to properly form my words, to edit myself before I've even said anything, to have seven different versions of the same conversation at the same time to make sure I am choosing the best course, the one that makes the most sense, the one that is safest, the one that makes people most comfortable and is exhausting. I've recently realized that maybe everybody doesn't do that. Weird. Hello there, my beautiful internet friends. Welcome back to my channel. Thank you so much for joining me here today. I wanted to expose myself a little bit in this video. I talk about a lot of vulnerable real things on this channel. I've always made a point of that. I've always tried to be authentic and real, which we'll be talking about, but I think that comes a lot easier to me on camera than it does in real life. Because when I am talking to you, you're watching me on your phone, you're watching me on your TV, what you're seeing is me. This is who I actually am, but it is me edited. And when I talk to people in real life, I am editing everything I say in my head before I say it, after I've said it, before I've even thought it, 24 seven. It's something that is such an ingrained, natural part of me that I don't think I've been aware of it up until this year. Growing up as a kid, I had two very loving parents, but there was a lot of conflict in my household. And I learned from a very young age how uncomfortable and emotionally unsafe that was. I observed what was happening and I became incredibly talented at keeping the peace. I took on the role of peacekeeper and trying to diffuse situations before they even started knowing and being so dialed into everyone's breath and tone and movement and being able to predict exactly what was gonna happen around me based on one person's movement or sentence. And then how do I like, how do I get in there to diffuse it before it goes any further? For the record, I wasn't raised in like a horribly abusive household or anything like that. It was just, there were times that were filled with a lot of conflict. And so I developed these skills at mitigating that so well, but unfortunately, I think they just never stopped functioning all the time. And being able to read people, being able to read social situations, have a good idea of what's going on, be able to bring people back to peace, to fuse conflict, those are all good skills to have in your tool bag. But I'm coming to realize that they are not good skills to utilize all of the time. I recently had a conversation with my therapist where she surprised me by saying, you know, you've been coming here for two and a half years now. I know you pretty well, but I actually don't think that I know you pretty well.  I wonder how much you are editing every word that you say before you say it. And I wonder if there's anywhere that you can truly be yourself with people. I wonder if you even know how to do that. And it really took me back because I was like, no, I'm an authentic genuine real person. People tell me that all the time. But as I'm forming these words, I am running them through like four or five different tones in my head. I'm being very observant of my facial expression, like, should I keep eye contact while I'm saying this? Would that convey better the message or should I not? What am I doing with my body language? How am I using these words to answer this question? And in that moment, I realized I do this all the time. Like all, all the time, all the time when I have another person around me. If my brain was a computer, it would be running hot. It would be running on overdrive. You'd hear all those fans kick in because I am not having a conversation with someone. I'm having six or seven or eight different versions of that conversation. I am so aware of facial expressions and how I look and how I present myself and what I'm saying and what they're saying, how they're receiving it. Halfway through the sentence, I'm monitoring their reactions and their facial expressions to it and what I know about them and if that's gonna click well and should I say this in a different way? And as I'm putting this into words, it sounds exhausting because it is. In the middle of and before I'm forming words and I'm listening to people, it's something that goes on all of the time and I think more than anything, this isn't just something that happens in like new social situations where you might be super aware of like, hey, it's great to meet you. Like I'm supposed to smile, I'm supposed to be pleasant. Okay, cool. It's something that happens with literally everybody, people who are very close to me, people who I've known for decades of my life, people I've known my entire life. I am always running this internal filtering, monitoring computers going at full speed. Just this is the movement that my head feels like when I think about talking. It's trying to filter so much information and simultaneously manage the possible perception of me, of what I'm saying, of how I'm interacting in this conversation. And as I thought about it recently, honestly, one of the biggest consequences of that is that when your brain is trying to run all of these scenarios and adjusting and trying to predict reactions and peace keep before things happen and take all this information consciously in and try to sort through it and manage it and output the proper way and manage my bodily and facial expressions consciously at the same time, there is absolutely no room left for real expression for actually being authentic. And I do try to calm that stuff down to present a version of myself that is actually true, but it is so hard to do that. It is so hard when my brain is so overwhelmed with trying to manage all of these things going on in my brain and trying to edit myself constantly that I have sacrificed knowing who I am and even knowing what I wanna say for the sake of this program that is running in my brain, I am trying so hard, even in relaxed social situations to actively manage a situation or perception or conversation to do the best job I can to make that person as comfortable as possible. And I don't think I need to be putting that much effort into absolutely everything because it doesn't leave any room to just be me. And I think, I hope, I trust that the people who love me and care about me do actually want me to be just me and they've told me as much many times. But it's hard to do when your brain is so focused on everything else that I've completely sacrificed knowing what it's like to just listen to my own voice to listen to what I'm really thinking or really feeling around people because there's so much noise, there's no chance of that genuinely happening. And I think it just comes down to safety and a lot of it has to do with making sure people's perception of me is what I want it to be that I'm a kind person, understanding, compassionate, a good listener, all of which are things that I am, but I'm a lot more than that too, right? Like I'm a full human being but I've suppressed a lot of that sacrificing deeper connections, sacrificing more honest, more real conversations so that I keep things even. I keep it steady, I keep it safe. So I feel like I have some control in a situation where I honestly don't. What I'm realizing now is that I don't necessarily know how to listen to my own voice unless I am alone. But I do think that having your own voice that is real, that is genuine, that is authentic when you're around people who care about you or around people in general is important. So I've begun experimenting with that. As I've talked about what I do that I am on video for a large portion of my job, a lot of people talk about how scary it is to be on camera for them, which I totally respect but for me it's kind of flipped. Being in front of a camera is so much more natural and easy for me than talking to someone in real life because I don't have to worry about all of this constant perception control and the environment of the room and the tone and other people and all of that, it's just me. It's me sitting alone in the camera actually telling a piece of me, actually showing a piece of who I am and knowing that I'm gonna be able to edit that later to be safe, but at the same time it also just comes naturally when I don't have to monitor for all of these other situations. In the past few months as I've become aware that this is something that I do as I have worked through a lot of things through counseling and just self work and reflection. My threshold for being able to do that has started to shrink. My desire to want to do that has begun to dissipate and after so many years of suppressing everything and controlling everything in my brain, I'm just tired of it. I'm just exhausted of doing that. The most powerful things for me has been to find situations where I can completely disconnect. And for me, that does involve right now being alone. And I mean actually alone. I mean away from my phone, not listening to music or an audio book, not being on social media, not having text messages come in, but actually being alone and doing something purely for myself. I found a hobby that fits into this really well and I've been doing it a few times a week where I am completely disconnected from anything that would require perception management. Seeing how it feels to just sit with myself, to not try to think through things, to not try to work on myself, to not take pictures so I can show people later or anything like that, but to just breathe. And that has been really good for me and something that I'm continuing to invest time and energy into and that's begun to spill over into other areas of my life where now that I have a taste of how it feels to just be for a second, now that I have a taste of how it feels to do something for myself where there is no perception management, knowing how I feel in those moments, getting more acquainted with who I am. I started to be aware of what's going on in my brain.  Some of them are good things to have in my toolbox but just not to use 24 seven. So when I noticed that I'm running different scenarios of one just simple conversation I'm having with someone, not judging myself or being like, why are you doing that Joe? But just being like, oh, that's what I'm doing here. Okay, I wonder if I can kind of tone that down a little bit. Instead of five scenarios, let's try to go to two or three, right? Just bit by bit, trying to knock that down and also really investing time with people who I don't feel the need to do that with. There are very few select people in my life that I feel that way with or at least feel that way to some extent with and they are the people that I choose to spend the majority of my time with. One of my biggest fears with unlocking this door, actually being aware of the fact that this is something I do all the time. I've been very afraid that because I've spent so much of my time trying to be a likable person and I feel weird saying that out loud, but I know it is something that I have done or my own personal safety. It feels nice to be liked, feel safe to be liked. I think a lot of the things I've done in my life have revolved around wanting to feel safe in a world that, you know, isn't. And as I've had just a few select, few select moments of some of the walls that I've built up, I'm anticipating of being more honest in conversations and maybe being more assertive than I normally would be or more outspoken about something that I care about still in a respectful way, but instead of backing down immediately, maybe I continue to say my thoughts on it.   And seeing that that doesn't happen, seeing that even if I go too far, even if I get too vehement or if I step over a social boundary or whatever that the people are gonna tell me, they're gonna talk to me about it.  That was kind of weird. Can we talk about that? Like I know that the people that I'm experimenting with this with are people who will have conversations with me if I do something that hurts them, that offends them. If I cross over a line that I did not intend to step on, I know that they'll tell me. So I've continued experimenting with that and I wanted to put this all in video form because A, I don't think I'm the only one who does this who has this constant inner hard drive, all fans running, working so hard in every situation involves another human being to manage every single possible everything. Like going through the pandemic, having to wear masks, obviously not something that's comfortable but just specifically talking about the mass aspect of things. It was kind of nice that in some situations with people and some interactions, I didn't have to worry about how my face looked as I was saying things. Like it was one variable that I could adjust for and be like, okay, I don't have to worry about what this half of my face is doing. Excellent, cool. Now I just have to worry about every other thing but that one thing is off my plate and it was kind of a relief. And realizing that not having to worry about my facial expressions and thinking about those as I'm doing it was a relief was kind of bizarre. As I have continued to mentally work through just different situations and trauma in my life, I've begun to make peace with the fact that I don't have to be liked by everybody all the time and I don't have to make everybody 100% comfortable 24 seven. It's all right if some things are uncomfortable, I don't have to eradicate the possibility of that at every possible turn, I cannot control other people. And that's never been my goal. I've never gone into any conversation being like I'm gonna control this that like grosses me out to think about. But in my own mind, I am definitely super focused on every piece of control I possibly do actually have to make it the best it possibly can be. I've begun dropping that and it's scary and it's uncomfortable but it's also been a huge breath of fresh air and a relief. And I wanted to share this to ask if you do this too or if this sounds totally foreign. It's bizarre to me to think that there might be people out there. I don't know, you might be listening right now who just talk to people who just like have conversations and that's it, right? Like who just talk to people and it's not like this exhausting kind of process. I'm really interested to read the comments on this video in particular. I don't think I'm alone in this. And if you're listening to this now and you feel the same way, you're not alone in it. And it's something that I'm working to harness the good aspects of, right? Like the peacekeeping skills that I have. Like to keep those things, but to maybe begin to let go of doing that all of the time in every situation to let down some of those controls built up in my brain. And it's a journey that I imagine will continue for a very long time because we don't learn new things overnight generally speaking especially when they are habits that have been ingrained for 30 years. And now my dear and darling internet friend, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for listening to this. And also one final thank you to my patrons over on Patreon for keeping this a channel live and running for your generosity and your kindness for believing in me and supporting me, thank you. Tej and everyone of you watching this right now, I really appreciate you being here. You could be anywhere else in the world doing anything else but you chose to hang out with me for a few minutes today. And I really appreciate that. I love you guys, I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video. Bye guys. Bye. 🎵 Hand her from the sky 🎵


Good evening everybody, I think you're getting started. Welcome, welcome everybody to Casa Italiana, Zerilli Marimo, my name is Eugenio Rifini, I'm the chair of the Department of Italian Studies and on behalf of Casa Italiana and the Department of Italian Studies, I'm really delighted to welcome you all tonight for our second event in the Black Italy series which we started a few weeks ago. This is a new series but kind of an ongoing conversation sort of developing out of previous projects which Casa Italiana sponsored in the past few years. The idea is to really broaden up the conversation about what blackness means in Italian culture and history in a very broad trans-historical sense and also in a trans-geographical sense. And tonight we are sort of bringing together two events which were meant to be happening in different days but as you all know Tuesday was a snow day and we were all home instead of being here together. So we will begin with what was supposed to be happening on Tuesday which is a conversation discussion with a fantastic panel of speakers and then we will move on to performance which was supposed to be happening tonight. So I think the evening will be a little longer than expected initially but certainly even more interesting in many ways. I will keep my introduction super short because I want to leave the floor to our fantastic speakers. Our panel discussion is entitled a contemporary theater by Italians of African descent, the playwrights, the stories and the challenges. And the panel features five speakers so I will just follow the order which I have here on my screen. Playwright Nalini Vidula Mutusami who's the author of The Foreigner's Smile and we will get to know her and her work more tonight. Then we have Margarita Laira who's a translator based at the University of Kent. Elena Bellina, a colleague here from our department at NYU. Isabella Livorni and other colleague here from the department. And finally Laura Caparotti, the artistic director of Cairo's Italy Theater who's also kind of the mastermind of all things theatrical happening at Casa Italiana. So and a true force of nature. I'm happy to sort of report on that. I mean I can confirm. So and then after the panel which is gonna last sort of 30 minutes or so we will have a reading of The Foreigner's Smile, the play by Nalini. So let's just welcome our guests and let's get started with the conversation. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Gennio. Thank you everybody here at Casa Italiana. We will be very fast and so we can get them to talk and tell us more about tonight. But I'm going to introduce again Black Italia, this series of events, book discussion, theatrical performances tonight and next week we'll see more film screenings, lectures sponsored by NYU Casa Italiana, Zerilli Marimo in collaboration with the NYU Department of Italian Studies. And these conversations aim to promote the on the intersection of race, identity and migration in contemporary Italy are conceived in connection with courses taught here in the Department of Italian Studies. Black Italia revisits the format launched by Casa Italiana's virtual salons. These courses on Black Italia held virtually during the pandemic by bringing together artists and scholars in order to address questions about race and racialization across Italian history and its multifaceted diasporic geography. And tonight as you can see, we have lots of people, lots of Italian that are really diasporic Italians in different continents in different countries. And I leave the floor to my colleague Isabella Livorni to hear more about the events. Yes, just a little bit of publicity for the other events in the series. Last month was an event with sociologist Ann Mourning who's here at NYU, a conversation about her book, An Ugly Word, Rethinking Race in Italy and the United States. Tuesday, February 20th here there will be the screening of Elia Mutamid's film Taliem. Then on Friday, March 29th, Uba Cristina Lifara and Simone Brioni will discuss Simone's film Oltre Bordi and there will be the screening of the film as well. And then on April 26th, there will be a lecture by Janie Cole on musical encounters between the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia and early modern Europe. So those are just things to put on the calendar. So I start now. The reason I wanted to do these series is for a long time I had this feeling that it was Black History Month and I was thinking, what can we do as Italians about Black History Month? Which as you know is very important here in the United States. And then one year ago, almost exactly one year ago I was talking, I met Marguerita Laira who works, teaches, but really works and is another mastermind in London for everything that is Italian theater. And she was, I cannot express how passionate she was about the fact that there are some playwrights in Italy, there is immigrant playwrights or of descent that are new Italians. Italians that came with the family. There are beautiful playwrights, there is beautiful artist. And she told me not only about this play but about performing in Italy, which is a series that she curated with the Italian, through the Italian Cultural Institute in London about the immigrant artist. And she's going to tell us so much better than me about performing in Italy. And so I came back and I was like, we must do that. We must show what is happening in Italy. When I was a young actress in Italy the only difference is, and we're talking about a long time ago, very long. The only difference was the artist from the south of Italy and artist from the north of Italy. That was the big difference. And so I think it's beautiful and it's important to have this conversation and to discover these artists. So I first, when I start with Margherita, so if you can tell us a little bit about your work and your and performing in Italy and then we'll go to our start of the night. Does this work? Yes. Good evening, everyone. So as Laura said, we met a year ago and I was telling her about my work as a migrant myself. I am a professor of theater at the University of Kent. Of course I'm influenced by discourses in the UK and in British culture, but also Britain is influenced by what's happening in the US.  So black British plays were something that I was very much into when I was studying, teaching them to my students. And then there's quite a lot of African American writers in London that I was exposed to. And then at some point I just thought, but where are the black Italian playwrights? And I realized I didn't know enough about this. So I started researching the field and asked people who worked in Italy, could they tell me who are the writers? And so I spoke to several people and most of them said, well, I don't think there is anybody, in fact. And so I wasn't happy with that answer and I was sure that there would be quite a few. And so I didn't bump into Nalini that way. I had to dig a little bit deeper and I started collaborating with an organization called Fabula Mundi. I also started collaborating with another festival called Souk in Genoa and we curated a series of 15 minute video portraits of Italian theater makers with a global majority or a migrant background. And those videos are online, they're available on Vimeo and on Rye Play. And they, essentially we wanted to highlight all the fantastic work that so-called new Italians are doing in Italy and how they're reinventing, rethinking what it means to be Italian through theater. And after that experience, I hadn't found a writer, I'd found producers, I'd found actors, dancers, directors, but writers I was still looking for and it was this way that I thought I should approach Fabula Mundi to launch a call for Italian playwrights with a migration background. And we launched this call and we received many plays and then that's how we found this play and how we got to know Nalini. Thank you and Fabula Mundi is a very important project that is happening in Europe, was created I believe and maybe wrong by Pav, which is an Italian production, the theater production and it's really a network to exchange plays, to discover new plays by Europeans in the different countries. And so they do this important work and they translate all the plays that they chose every year, right? So and as you can hear, I already made so many mistakes in presenting this because again, it's something that and it's very interesting for me. It's something that is new to me and so I'm always like struggling Italian playwright but African descent, are they the new Italians? Yes, for me, they are the new Italians because again, I was not used and I'm very, I'm being very honest on that. You know, it's like I'm happy to see this kind of a multicultural country finally, even though I don't think we still, we feel so much a multicultural country yet but we are becoming a wonderful multicultural country. And now, so let me ask Nalini, who comes from far away, at least I thought it was very far away, the Mauritius, that we always hear about the Mauritius, the beautiful islands, they're not so far, I discovered and discover so much about these islands but I'm not going to ask her to give us the history of the Mauritius, but more like, so you came to Italy when you were 10, right? Yes. With your family. With my family, yeah. And what is interesting, I'm sorry, if her mother came first, we usually think, if her mother came first and then the family. So how did you start writing theater? How did you discover that you wanted to write theater? And what theater, that there was an urgency, there was just the beauty of theater, there was a white theater. Okay, let's speak. Good evening, everybody. Thank you to be here. Thank you, Lara, for this opportunity. Thank you, Margherita, because without you, nothing would be possible. I will not be here this night. And so the story is really, really long, but I will be faster to resume it. And, okay, I began to write for theater in the past five years. So I, I didn't think I can write for theater. I didn't think I can write in Italian because there are so many writers, so many playwrights who are good. And I always feel that I wasn't, I have the possibility, not only the possibility, but also the capability to express myself in Italian, in such a good Italian. So, but at the certain moment, there was, I approached the theater and then I began to think that I, maybe I can write for theater. Maybe it will not go far, but anyway, I can express myself through theater. So I began to do some workshop with some teachers who teach me how to write for theater actually. And then after, at a certain point of my career, that was not my career at all, but I saw online, it was during the pandemic, the COVID pandemic. And so I was at home, I was all, has everybody closed in my house. And so I began, I saw the call of Margherita, that Margherita was speaking about before. And I was really impressed that they were looking for Italian with the migrant background. So I say, okay, this can be my opportunity, why not? So I wrote the text to participate to the call. And I wrote it in three weeks, really, really rapidly because there was a deadline. And I remember there was so much I want to express in this text. And so I say, okay, I need to do it, even if I will not win, but I know that I have this, all these feelings that are burning me inside. And just I just want to put them away far from me on the paper, on my laptop. Not in the... So I, and then I send it. And after I forgot that I send it, and then I receive, I remember the days that I receive, they made that tell me that I won the call. And so I say, oh, okay, something is happening, but what is happening? And then after all, they explain me that they will translate the text. And then we will have the possibility to work with some actors to test the text. And this, we did it unfortunately online because we were always on pandemic moment. And after that, yes, we tested in English. The first time I listened to my text, it was in English, not in Italian. But it happened so often to me that all my texts are trans, not all, but so often my texts are translated in other languages. And the first time I listened to them, they are in other languages. It's happened in English, in Spanish. So because I don't know why maybe because my way of writing is maybe more, I don't want to say international, but yeah, multi-cultural. So it speaks to a lot of audience. So. And let me ask you, and then we have to wrap up, let me ask you how easy or difficult is to, in Italy right now, you just stage this play that we are going to hear tonight in Italy. So is it a challenge? I know that there are not many artists, black artists, actors, there are not so many. And so it is a challenge. Is it a challenge or how? How is it? It's hard. Yeah, it's really hard because, okay, I put it on stage with my, the director with whom I work with, and Alberto Cavallieri. And we try to find, yeah, of course, actors with not only backgrounds, migratory backgrounds, but also that feel that this history belong also to them. Because I think that this kind of story begin, become powerful where the artist, the actors, feel is connected or connected with this kind of history, of message, of course. Yeah, it's really hard because we are a small reality that don't have so much pocket money too. But we are trying to do our best to put it on stage because we also, we have a lot of response from the audience that are really, really interesting in this kind of history, not only black audience, but also the Italian part, the post-Italian. Now we are different Italian, but we are all Italian, I mean. Yeah. It's not easy, see, it's not easy.  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's difficult for me to express this kind of feeling. But we will find a way. Yeah, I know. The last question is, is it, how this play was, well, it was received well. And by the way, Nalini was one of the finalists with another play of the Premio Riccione, which is like the most important award in Italy for playwrights. So she has some talent, it seems. A little bit. Yeah, yeah. So do you see, and this is for Margherita and for Nalini, do you see that there is a space for this kind of theater talking about these issues and these, you know, families or everything, there is a space. Do you think that there will be more and more space? I think that we are doing history in Italy, not only me and Margherita, but also all the actors, all the participants of performing Italy. We are trying to change, and change is taking a lot of time, we know. But we believe in this kind of change. We know that we will need to fight a lot and we are doing it. I hope that also, yeah, there is space, not so much. There are small realities, yeah, of theater that are concerned on this kind of topics. But I think that if the big one choose, give us not only me an opportunity, it will make the difference. Absolutely. I completely agree. There will be a space. There will be a space. When I read this play, I pictured, I don't know how many years ahead where this play or a play like this or one of your plays will be staged in a very important theater. And that day, I'm waiting for that. I hope that day comes very soon. It will. And the thing that I love most is this change is happening in theater. Because theater is considered the last art, the least important art. Instead, this change is happening in theater. And it is important because it's something that we experience and is live. And so I'm very, very happy that this change is going through theater. So do you have any question or we just wrap up for, and then we have, yes, no, yes. This morning, on Wednesday, they were kind enough to visit our classes and talk to our students who were really thrilled about the play that they read in Italian and in English. They had many questions, but the main point is you'll hear will be the question of language and linguistic contamination between among the many languages Nalini grew up with, Italian, French, French Creole from the Mauritius, English, Hindu, Tamil, you'll see. And they did an enormous effort to make all this wonderful and meaningful linguistic play translate and work in English. So Nalini and then Margherita, do you want to say something about all the way you work in your theater and in your plays and make and convey meanings through these words? Words are meaningful and they change everything.  And when I express myself in Italian, I know that there is one musicality, yeah? And then when I change language, there's another musicality. And so for me, there are a lot of things that I can't express really well, it's just one language. I mean, it's because of the history of the island of Mauritius. Mauritius was an inhabitant island and then first the Dutch came to colonize the island, inhabitant island, and then after the French they bought the slaves from Africa. And then after the French, we have also the British that came with all the slaves from India. And then we have also Chinese and Muslim Arabic that came for commerce.  And this is a good situation because we don't, we have never had a war, nothing like this, no fight. And we grew up with this kind of not only respect but also value of all the culture of the language. When I was a child in Mauritius, I grew up learning at school Hindi or Tamil because it was the language of my ancestor. And so it was important, yes, to give this space for all the people that have different backgrounds to give also an opportunity for the language, not only for the culture of food or maybe of dress code but also of language. So we have a lot of, we give a lot of value to language. And we speak also a lot of language and we switch on and off from French to Creole to Hindi to English because of this. And so when we speak, it depends on what we need to express. So we use all these languages to express ourselves. And I think it's beautiful because there is a rhythm and musicality also for me, language is my music, my old music. And so I can't write without using all this in my writing. Agree, do you want to add anything? Yes, as I say, this is a very, very complex play to perform. So you're going to see actors who've had very little time to come to grips with a multilingual play where the main, one of the main themes is misunderstanding, mispronunciation, broken language, not being able to say what you mean, saying something and actually it coming across completely differently and the inability to code switch, the misunderstandings that come out of multiculturalism. And I just love the humor in the play and I love the co-existence of those languages and the opportunities that there are to explore how languages and cultures come together. So this is the beauty of the play but it's very, very difficult to perform. So you'll be amazed that the actors being able to achieve in such little time. And yes, so we end now the conversation here. Thank you, do you want to say anything? Thank you Isabella, thank you Elena, thank you Annalini, thank you Margarita. We're going, yes, yes, yes, yes. Thank you. We are going to say goodbye to the streaming audience and I wanna thank not only Casa Italiana for the streaming service but also all around the other comment for this streaming service. We are very honored to be part of the platform today. And we will have to set up the stage so we have, you have five, 10 minutes to stretch if you like. And then we go to the foreigner's mile. Yes, no, let's not end it. Yes, Eugenia, yes. I just would like to say something. I mean, we are particularly happy about this series because it's really meant to be in conversation not only with you guys sort of visiting us but also with our classes. I mean, I think, and I would like to thank Isabella and Elena who have been doing an amazing job at really thinking about this series in terms of really combining our sort of academic output with our teaching. And I think that's really part of our mission here. And I forgot to say that earlier so I just wanted to be sure to say it now. So, I'm done. It's not recorded anymore because we stopped the streaming. But it's not recorded anymore because we stopped the streaming. It's not recorded anymore because we stopped the streaming. Okay. You are with us. After, I know we don't have a lot of time but after the reading if you wanna ask a couple of questions to Nalini Margherita, they're going to be here of course. Okay, you have 10 minutes. Five, five ish.


It is pretty clear that the MLB schedule makers are trying not to compete with Thursday night football because if you look at the Slade for today It is scatterbrained is the one way I would say things because we got games starting at noon games starting at 2 games starting at like 5 o'clock and Not a whole lot to choose from so weirdly the main slates not a fan dual locks at 5 p.m We also an early only slated 2 p.m So let's make the best of what we got and make this a split Slade podcast for today Here on the solo show we'll be breaking down both the early only and the main slate as always We'll do the main slate first starting off with that to keep it fresher for those who are listening later on That's a 505 p.m. So you're listening after 5 o'clock. Sorry. We'll see you tomorrow just for games there We'll talk about that first and then we'll talk about the early only slate That is three games locks at 210 We'll do the main slate first if you want to check out where the early only slate breakdown begins Go to the episode description check out the timestamp there I'll put the timestamp in that description go there hit that up get those lineups in then come back for the main slate So again starting off with the main slate a 505 early only slate at 2 p.m Coming up later on we'll break down the main slate here in just one second But first before getting into this week's sleepers I want to let you know that I've read the wrong read there before breaking down the main slate I want to let you know that fangal is giving you the opportunity to get in on the NFL action each week with the NFL Sunday million this week the prize pool is a whopping three million dollars with first place taking home a million dollars All you got to do is head over to handle.com click the NFL Sunday million contest fill out your lineup and go win some cash eligibility restrictions apply go to fangal.com or download the fangal app for more details If we're talking about the main slate as well did want to do a scheduling reminder for today We have our Thursday night football preview that be with myself and Olivia Moody live moods We're gonna break down Thursday at football. We'll be talking betting props. I'll be talking some single-game DFS as well That's at 4 p.m. On the fangal YouTube twitch Facebook and Twitter pages the MLB Q&A So 4 30 so leading right into lock basically which means I'll have like 5 to 10 15 minutes to fill out lineups Which should be fun. Either way, that's from 4 30 to 5 p.m. If you want to talk and they'll be swing by later on today for 30, but also come by 4 p.m For the breakdown of Thursday night football. We have our week 2 NFL DFS preview podcast going up later today as well It's at 10 a.m. On the fangal YouTube page and up on the number fired daily fantasy podcast feed after that So check it out make sure you subscribe to the family YouTube page and also subscribe to the number fired daily fantasy podcast All right, let's do this and talk about the main slate for today again It's four games with lockset for 505 this evening and there are some Potential rain chances. There is a slight chance of rain in Baltimore for the Yankees and the Orioles It should be fine But check back on that one later on similar thing in Philadelphia, which makes sense given the proximity I bet they play but there is least a chance that game is wet So check back on the weather for the Yankees game and for the Villiers game pitching preview for this main slate from braval des Is the highest salary pitcher on Fandal checking in at 10 1 we had Jordan Montgomery at $8,800 and Kyle hundred to 78 Nobody else above 7,000. Oh boy and looking at this let you can tell things are pretty dicey a pitcher I do think though that there is one guy who stands out as being very usable Someone you could consider on larger slates to and that's from braval des Not a big strikeout guy, which makes him tough to get to when it's a tougher slate but like he's a good pitcher and He's in a good matchup. So I think that Valdez is the one super process based guy we can like on this main slate I'll put Valdez thought my list he's facing the Rangers, which is a great matchup for a lefty Their ISO versus lefties is just one twenty two which means this is basically a team of David Fletcher's Which means they also don't strike out that much their strikeout rate is 21 percent and Valdez is not huge strike A huge strikeout guy either but he can get some he has a 23 percent strikeout rate in seven stars with more curveballs He has seven plus strikeouts and three of those seven games as well And that does include a seven strikeout game against Texas back on August 28th. So Closest in proximity but still far enough for we're not super worried about the familiarity here between Texas and Valdez So I think it's it's not enough to push me off, but it's the least worth noting I think that Valdez winds up being the top guy the night by default good pitcher from a bad at ball perspective great pitcher I'm a bad at ball perspective good matchup I think that Valdez a 10-1 is the one guy you can feel good about and as a result that I feel like it's a great Night for single entry, you know, just plop in a single entry line up But Valdez a pitcher try to deviate their stacks, but I do think he is kind of the one guy Who fits the overall process for tonight the second guy is by default? I I can't like there with the list is slim Nobody else is good pitch counts or projects for enough strikeouts. They're bullpen games. They're rough matchups There are guys who just don't pitch that well So by default we went up on Jordan Montgomery being the number two option He's facing the Orioles and that's not a team I like to target with lefties because I think the Orioles are pretty good They have a 108 WRC plus against lefties that got some power to it's actually the highest ISO on the slate The good thing is that Montgomery is well positioned to overcome that specifically He can lower an opposing team's power Because of his bad at ball suppression skills from Montgomery He had a trip on the injured list earlier on this month and his velocity has been down both before he went on The IL and since he came back that could be concerning and it's his marks and center Not great if we include the one star before the Velo is also down He has a 21% strikeout rate, but he's still getting the good bad at ball data He's letting up just a 32% hard hit rate with a 31% fly ball rate He did get six strikeouts twice in this time One of those was against Boston the pitch count should be worked up to see what 97 Two starts ago also against Baltimore and he can get some whiffs and that swinging strike rate The swinging strike of him against the Mets last star was 22.8% So Montgomery is kind of what he always was before we'd have whiffs and have good bad at ball data But didn't always convert those whiffs into strikeouts. I don't expect that to change I don't expect him to suddenly start converting whiffs into strikeouts because this has been a thing that's happened his entire career but I think that Even when we assume that the strikeout rate stays roughly around 21% I do still think he's the number two option for today. Nobody else really stands out So to me it really is all about Valdez like if a multi-entering I would just load up on him and then differentiate with your stacks for single entry I'd go Valdez not going Montgomery there But I think that if you do have to go a second pitcher like if you think the Valdez is bad shock Montgomery's a second option Just not one I feel great about personally as far as stacks go for this main slate It really revolves around the Yankees by a pretty wide margin I do think you can stack the Yankees with Valdez to Valdez is ten one He's not like he's 12 one so that definitely helps the Yankees are a team I prefer versus lefties because like some of their guys get boosts like Luke Voight and stuff like that But they're still fine here the face and Chris Ellis Ellis is up to five outings in the majors Which is a decent sample and he's letting up a 46% hard hit rates with a 48% fly ball ring That is a perfect recipe for home runs his strikeout rate is 20% Which means you know, it's not as low as we'd always like but it does mean lots of balls and play his eRA is 2.08 in the majors So that's been good. He has navigated his way around the hard contact around the lack of strikeouts and he's gotten good results That's good on Chris Ellis for doing that But in triple a is his eRA with 6.32 So I'm expecting regression to hit here pretty soon and it could well be tonight Versus this Yankee seem and the Yankees are the top stack here as a result as far as the Yankees go We've talked a lot about Joey Gallo recently Obviously, he's struggling quite a bit and it makes it tough to go there too often But if we're looking at Gallo the past month his strikeout rate versus righties is about 10 percentage points lower than it is against lefties I'm fine with him against lefties. I love the power. I'm like, I'm okay using guys who are Pretty likely to take a zero because I know that every picture or every batter can do that But I think that it does help that Gallo has a lower strikeout rate here versus right Especially as Ellis can get some strikeouts. He's still hitting the ball really hard We just need to make contact and I think that's a better bet versus a righty than a lefty So Gallo to me $3,100 very fair number and a guy I'm willing to go towards first night. It's a small slate We want guys who have a slate busting upside Gallo despite his issues still hitting home runs So he does have that for sure. So Joey Gallo to me a good play once again for tonight The second stack is one I wouldn't usually go towards because I'm always pretty scared of stacking against Kyle Hendricks because he's a good pitcher He's very smart and he can shut teams down. He just did that to San Francisco last week But both the results and the peripherals indicate the Phillies are in play for tonight Hendricks has not been using his curve balls past 11 starts has been way down as usage has been His skill interactive era in that time is 5.03. He has a 15% strikeout rate He is still suppressing our contact and we can often see guys outperform their peripherals when they do that because hard contact does matter a lot Hendricks hasn't done that though. His era is 5.84 He let up 600 runs to the Pirates two starts ago the Pirates He let up eight to the White Sox nine to the Brewers he's also really struggling with lefties this year the ground ball rate against them is just 36% and When we're looking to stack in the Phillies those are the guys we want to use so I do think we should stack the Phillies here versus Hendricks and see what happens and the same guys In this stack or the same guys we used last night or a couple nights ago We got Harper DD Brad Miller Odebel Herrera The great four-player stack to build around here because Herrera Miller and Gregorius are all low salary Which means you can get nuts of the Yankees stack and get to Rizzo Stanton judge etc etc So I do think that going the combo of Phillies Yankees taking advantage of the lower side guys in the Phillies To get to Harper to get to the Yankees. That's the way I want to play things straight up for tonight. So to me It really is three things, you know Valdez Yankees Phillies If you want to go elsewhere, I do think the Rays are fine against Tyler Alexander. He's gotten better recently That's why I'm not as high on that situation Could go at the Astros facing Glenn Otto as well But to me I do think that the That the Yankees and the Phillies are the top stacks for tonight all things considered that wraps up the main slate So if you're listening to this podcast after Believe it's after 202 feel free to move on to your life. I go, you know set those thurs in a football line whatever it may be because We you will already have the early only slate lock. Let's talk about the early only slate right now Just three games with lock set for 210 for today The pitchers on the early only slate are kevin gaussman at $10,600 Then alex cob right now the Lopez and paul blackburn are the others at seven thousand dollars or higher So it's gaussman massive massive massive gap And then the rest and I have my issue with gaussman He's also not in a great matchup for tonight But I think that he's the top guy on this early slate just because he's the one guy whose skill you can believe in Mose and that's the one thing here that gaussman does have his skill He trimmed his pitch mix down to basically be just a fastball and a splitter 13 starts ago And he's had some bumps in that time But overall the numbers are pretty good. He has a two point or a 3.59 skill interactive eray His strikeout rate is 29 And those are really good marks and he does need those tonight because he's facing the padres The padres don't strike out very much. They have just a 21 strikeout rate versus righties That's the downside The rest of it's fine. As you know, the powders and up and playing the best baseball recently They have a 100 wrc plus against righties with a 162 iso, which means they are less likely to kill you It's more so about the low strikeout number that does Make me not want to use pitchers who are facing them And it's it does help that again from a safety perspective this game is in san francisco Because it is a good part for pitching So I like gaussman a lot relative to the rest of the slate I would not say he is unfaithable, but he's good enough to feel solid about him. So Gaussman to me the number one option the number two on this slate I feel better about than the number two on the main slate So I talked about montgomery kind of using that out of obligation. I can actually see being okay with rinaldo lopez. He is Kind of here by default as well because we've got a bullpen game on this slate We've got cob coming out the il other guys are not super high strikeout pitchers So we wind up on lopez, but I don't think that's terrible His pitch count is fully up now lopez went 90 pitches last time out. So I would think he can go decently deep for tonight and he's facing the angels His strikeout rate against or the angel strike area against right is up to 25 percent They have a 101 wrc plus. So it's not a tough match up. They're striking out a lot recently, especially I think that is a good thing here for lopez and lopez. He's been fine in this longer roll He has seven adding since his pitch count increases or increased. He had a 4.36 skill interactive ERA in that time with a 22 strikeout rate He's letting up just a 37 hard hit rate and we can work with that for sure So lopez seems to be better than he was in his previous stinson rotation. He's also just $7400 So like if we were assigning Probabilities the different pitchers were would be the highest scores for tonight I would say gosman's probably around 55 percent or so just because like they're so few So little competition Lopez is probably about 35 percent So I'd say those two guys account for a grand majority Of the odds to be the highest scoring pitcher of the night I am more than okay with lopez and I feel better about him again than I do about montgomery on the main slate So to me it's gosman one lopez two and I probably will have exposure to both on this early only slate I think that there's enough in lopez to feel okay about that There are enough concerns around gosman and his matchup where I can feel okay having a little less of him So I do think this slate is a little bit better a pitcher than the main slate as far as the stacking goes on the On the early only slate the a's are facing daniel lynch and i've talked about lynch quite a bit recently I love that he is tinkering. I love that he is Changing some things up. I love that he's trying to improve I'm just not sure it's enough for me to jump off the a's Specifically lynch is throwing more sinkers and sliders over his past seven starts He's throwing fewer change ups and the sinkers in theory should improve his bad at ball data The problem is that sliders often negate that sliders I love because they're great for strikeouts But they also do tend to let up a bit more hard contact and something like a sinker would do And we're seeing some of that in the data for lynch He's letting up a 42 hard hit rate with a 43 fly ball right across the seven start sample That's good for home runs. So again, I love that he's tinkering. I love that he's trying to find the right combo He just hasn't found that right combo yet. He's let up two home runs and back to back games His overall year right this time is 4.37. So it's not terrible But I think that we should stack the a's here and take advantage of the bad at ball numbers Which are very good for the long ball here within the a stacks. I am very okay with whoever catches Don't really care. It can be uh, yon gomes. It can be shot murphy. Don't care gomes is a 271 iso against lefties He has great bad at ball data. Love that. Uh, shot murphy 164 iso so lower than gomes, but puts the ball in the air a ton So i'm good with either guy, honestly and I will use whoever winds up being the behind the dish for today as a Catcher slash first baseman on fan duel I think that both gomes and murphy very much viable and I will feel okay with either for today For the second stack. I'm actually starting staying in that same game and going at the royals I do think the giants are fine basing a bullpen game for the padres and I will use them too But I kind of like the royals. They're facing paul blackbird who is a low strikeout guy who lets up a lot of balls in play He is also letting up a 49 hard hit rate. All those things are awesome from a dfs perspective the one downside is that He does get some ground balls blackburn does in the five starts in the big leagues his fly ball rate allowed is 28 It was 22 triple a So that's annoying. Yeah, it's a lot lower than you want to be but I think that The royals put the ball in play and we can see what happens after that Plus the royals Have some stolen base guys on this team So they can generate good games even without home runs Blackburn let up four runs last time out against the rangers that is not a good team either So lesser teams can't get to him and that does make me feel better about using the royals here So the a's in the royals that game my favorite option for stacking for the early only slate The big sourced saver here on the royals if you're trying to get to gaussman is ryan o'hearn He is 2100 dollars. He's not great by any means But he puts the ball in the air a bunch he can hit home runs and that can make it easier to get to the higher sour guys He'll accept our parents if he plays other bar at the mon to see et cetera, et cetera So o'hearn and the a's the the value plays in the a's Should make this slate a bit easier to navigate. So I think you get to gaussman pretty easily But i'm also okay going down to lopez loading up on Mon to see getting pairs et cetera et cetera just basking in the studs on these two respective teams That is all that we have here for today on these solo shots Once again, if you didn't listen to the main slate one go back and check that out get set for that with locket 505 for tonight It's going to be a weird slate. So have some fun with it. Enjoy see what happens, but It'll be uh, it'll feel chaotic filling out lineups for sure as a quicker minor We are back here once again at 10 a.m. On the fandal youtube page Breaking down the week two nfl dfs main slate myself and brandy gedula We will have that up on the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed after that find that by searching for Number fire daily fantasy podcasts wherever you get your podcasts apple podcasts spotify stitcher google podcasts, et cetera We are on all of those platforms If you've got more questions for me I am on twitter at jim sonnis j i m s a n n e s You can also follow the fan dual podcast network at fan dual podcast big Thank you to everyone for tuning in forward today. Good luck to you on both the early only in the main slates We'll talk to you once again on friday to wrap things up. This has been the solo shot right here on the fan dual podcast network


G'day all, I want to provide you with an update on the deployments to the New South Wales and the Queensland fires that have seen personnel from CFA, Forest Fire Management Victoria, MFB, SES, Ambulance Victoria and Emergency Management Victoria to support this emergency event. So far over a thousand people from CFA alone have deployed into state and these deployments will be ongoing for some time as significant fires continue to burn right across these two states. CFA has stood ready to support our New South Wales and our Queensland colleagues with resources including 11 strike teams drawn from right across Victoria with over 70 vehicles. These trucks are then split into two task forces, each task force having its own mechanical maintenance support and people, their own peer support team, communication technicians and of course their own communication vehicles essentially making them fully independent. Additionally we have two New South Wales strike teams being crewed by CFA volunteers and an incident management team working out of Rockhampton in Queensland. So I want to thank everyone, everyone who has contributed to this enormous of effort, it is not gone unrecognised. As it stands it looks to be another challenging week with spike days predicted for later this week in both New South Wales and Queensland. We CFA currently have 510 people in New South Wales and 14 people in Queensland with more CFA people being deployed tomorrow in preparation for those spike days. Many people have asked where can they help those affected by the fires and we ask that you look to the Salvation Army and the Australian Red Cross who have relief and recovery funds already set up. With devastating impact of these fires we need to look to our own fire season and what we can do to be prepared. So once again I urge people to please make sure our properties are prepared, make sure your family has a plan and on a daily basis check your fire danger rating for your area and know your trigger points to leave. That's all from me at the moment, thank you and for most of all stay safe.