Money Moves | September 4, 2026 | Hour 2

**Jonathan Von Tobel** (0:01)
This is Money Moves on VSiN, the SportsBetting Network.

**Jonathan Von Tobel** (0:09)
Welcome to the second hour of Money Moves. Jonathan, hello. Stormy by the Tony out in Tuscaloosa. We'll catch up with her coming up at about 45 minutes. We'll have her thoughts on what's going on out there, if she's learned anything new. If there's an update on the travel, so if you're just joining us, we presented this situation to my palm, and we have to present this once again.
PK Patrick Kelly checks in on social media because Stormy ran into an issue on the way out there to Tuscaloosa. I think there was some delay or something, right, Justin? I don't know. Whenever she complains about the flights, I glaze over. But when you look at the social interactions you have to have on some of these flights, Stormy allegedly stuck next to a person, probably old, who thought their music was playing through their earphones, was actually playing through the phone, and she refused to tap the guy on the shoulder, to tell him that his music was actually playing out loud. I was appalled because it's a simple social interaction, but she is such a cower that she didn't want to do it. Patrick checks in and says, you absolutely have to tap him on the shoulder. Done it twice on a plane, but realized it quickly. That is somewhat embarrassing. Good thing you weren't listening to anything untoward. Also says, don't forget fried Oreos, have a great trip, and the hot weather, which is something that she's been talking about a ton. I'm really curious to see how that manifests with this level of play.
By the way, speaking of the Oreos, we've talked about this all week, did a total scientific poll. I was out at the Dan Mullin Coaches radio show, coaches show, whatever, yesterday, as part of the local gig.
Justin, I'm not kidding you, I went around to every person at that bar with my notebook and asked them what their favorite snack cake was. Twinkies the runaway winner. So I think we're quietly formulating our seeds. Twinkies will probably be the top overall seed. Doesn't mean they're going to win, but I do think that it's pretty clear that Twinkies are probably the most popular of the snack cake genre, and we will see if that is the case. But we have a lot to get to here in the next 10 minutes before we get to the rest of our guests. We have Best Bets, we have Group of Six matchups, we have more, but we want to start in the National Football League because we did get a little bit of news today. It's not quite concrete, but it is still something that is worth noting. As we know, the 49ers and the Rams taking polar opposite approaches to this game out there in Australia.
So we're waiting for Los Angeles to head out there. But we do know one thing, we know that the Rams in terms of those who will make the trip, Aaron Donald is going to be part of the crew that heads out. The real question is, is he going to play? Sean McVay today said he doesn't know if Aaron Donald is going to play in Australia against the 49ers. Quote, this week will be a big week for him. We'll take it one day at a time. End quote. That's from Michael J. Duarte, who covers them out there in Southern California. This speaks to what we've hit on a lot with Donald, and what I think is a pretty decent market overreaction with Los Angeles. When the smoke clears, the Rams are the best team in the National Football League on paper. I don't think there's any question. Again, as we always say on this program, that you can quibble with the degree to which they are favored, and that's where the conversations begin.
But for this return of Donald to have the impact that it's had in the market, I think is too strong because what we have said this entire time, I don't know about other shows, but I think a lot of people would probably share the same sentiment.
It does not matter if Aaron Donald is ready, I think for the Los Angeles Rams at the beginning of the season. What matters to the Los Angeles Rams is that Aaron Donald is ready for the end of the season, for a post-season run, for them getting into that tournament and winning these games. There are, of course, priorities. You want to win the division, you want to top seed, you want to do all of those things. But for them, when it comes to the construction of this team, the way they're built, the guys they rely on, longer in the two veterans, I think the goal is having everybody ready to go for the end of the season. I think that means a slow rollout for Aaron Donald. I don't think we're going to be touching that thousand snap mark and even 900 snaps for him. I think they're definitely going to pitch count this guy as they bring him back. Donald is a freak athlete, but he is also off for the last two years at a sport that is the best amongst his peers in terms of athleticism, strength, speed. You don't just come back immediately and hit the ground running. I think the Rams understand that. I think even Donald understands that to an extent. I think that they are slow rolling them until they get him ready, which leads to this game. We're still sitting at three and a half, total of 48 and a half.