Episode 46: KB and Nick Turani On How They Got Discovered, Plus Dave Portnoy Buys Barstool Back For $1

Barstool Sports

Mark Titus | The Mark Titus Show

Transcript

00:00:00 Today's episode of the Mark Titus show a bit of a departure.

00:00:03 Nick and KB to the two guys, Nick Tarani, Kyle Bauer,

00:00:07 two guys that work at Barstool, absolutely hilarious hosts of TJ's other show.

00:00:12 TJ cheats on me all the time.

00:00:14 Or I'm like, if we're being completely honest, I'm the mistress.

00:00:17 He's married to the yak.

00:00:18 He's married to KB and Nick and the rest of the guys on the yak.

00:00:21 I'm the mistress, but that's OK.

00:00:25 They host the act.

00:00:25 They host a new untold story, a great acronym for

00:00:30 for those of you who don't know that podcast, work that one out in your heads.

00:00:34 But yeah, these guys are creative dudes.

00:00:38 They're they're very, very funny.

00:00:40 And I they have like an energy like we talked about a little bit,

00:00:44 but they have like a dismissive energy that almost I feel like when I'm around

00:00:49 them, TJ, that I'm just their aura is negating me, you know, to where like

00:00:55 I want to I want to win their.

00:00:57 Why is it that I want to win their approval so badly?

00:01:00 You know, like like you walk into the room and they're both like sitting over there

00:01:04 and you're just like, I got to go sit over there and like crack the one joke

00:01:07 that'll get them to laugh and, you know, win their approval.

00:01:10 And there's just something about them.

00:01:12 That's that's that way. I don't know.

00:01:14 I don't know. Homies. Yeah, that's what it is.

00:01:16 But yeah, we're doing so we are doing the

00:01:19 Nick and KB are also involved in this.

00:01:22 TJ, are you bowling? Are you doing this?

00:01:24 I think it depends on if Brandon Walker's health status improves or not.

00:01:28 But it sounds like there might be an open slot.

00:01:30 I don't know. I don't know for sure or not.

00:01:32 Yeah, I'm sure I'm ready to bowl.

00:01:34 So we are we recorded this on Tuesday.

00:01:36 We were all in the office and I grabbed these guys as kind of a,

00:01:40 you know, just a fun episode.

00:01:43 Like I said, I want this show to be me talking to people.

00:01:46 I find interesting about things we all find interesting.

00:01:48 And that's what we did with with Nick and KB.

00:01:50 The whole game.

00:01:51 Kyle, excuse me, is a wrestler at Kent State,

00:01:54 and he and I kind of banter a little bit about our experiences

00:01:59 as guys who are good at sports once upon a time

00:02:01 and then had to deal with the reality of, oh, my God, I kind of suck at this

00:02:06 and just processing with all that's about.

00:02:09 But great dudes had a great conversation with them.

00:02:12 And yeah, I hope you enjoy Nick Tirrani and Kyle Bauer.

00:02:17 All right. I'm here with KB and Nick.

00:02:20 They are they are making their debut appearance on the the Mark Titus show,

00:02:24 which we I have I I don't I haven't talked to you guys a ton.

00:02:28 No office.

00:02:30 I feel like we're all like similarly aligned where I don't know.

00:02:33 I've always felt like KB and I are similarly aligned with like how we maneuver

00:02:37 through the I've observed you maneuvering through the office

00:02:40 and how you interact with people.

00:02:41 And I feel like I see myself in you and like how you're handling.

00:02:44 We are very similar.

00:02:46 You move through the office like a specter, though, like like an apparition

00:02:50 because you will get to that level.

00:02:52 Yeah. Actually, where you just completely avoid.

00:02:55 Yeah. Yeah. I'm like trying to I'm trying to like be a part of everything

00:02:59 while at the same time avoiding everybody.

00:03:01 And I'm right. Like thread that needle.

00:03:02 And I think you've you've mastered it.

00:03:04 And I'm kind of studying the way you're handling it.

00:03:06 But yeah, I've made the mistake of being a bit too social.

00:03:10 I think I have kind eyes.

00:03:11 And so people people vent to me.

00:03:14 Kyle has the he's he is living in the perfect world at Barstool Sports.

00:03:18 Yeah. You guys you guys are both.

00:03:21 Does it weird you out at all that like you you are the the

00:03:24 you're the answer whenever anybody's like, you know, who do you

00:03:28 do you like at Barstool and you guys are always I mean,

00:03:31 that's not it doesn't reflect in the numbers or the followers or the pay.

00:03:35 So I don't know how that's the I don't think that's the case at all.

00:03:38 But do you get uncomfortable with I mean, because that's that would be my answer.

00:03:41 I get asked, like, who do you guys who do you like at Barstool?

00:03:44 Like whose content do you like?

00:03:45 And it's like Nick and KB, Nick and KB, like over and over and over.

00:03:48 Does because you guys feel like you have a personality type where you're like,

00:03:51 we're we're sort of flatter, but also sort of makes us uncomfortable.

00:03:55 Is that fair or no?

00:03:56 Yeah, that's always uncomfortable.

00:03:58 I think it's very much so.

00:04:00 But it's not before people got to know us like in the office.

00:04:03 It was weird.

00:04:04 They're like, oh, like these guys are always lying.

00:04:06 These guys are weird.

00:04:07 But I think it's more of like an intimidation thing.

00:04:09 Like they don't they're afraid to know what we're up to, like what we're doing.

00:04:14 They think we're they give us like more of a more credit than we deserve.

00:04:18 Way more.

00:04:18 Yeah, I get the sense of like people interact with you guys.

00:04:22 They feel like you just ran circles around them.

00:04:24 Right.

00:04:24 We know the case.

00:04:25 I don't have the most normal conversation.

00:04:27 Like you're breaking my brain.

00:04:30 I think we're two pretty like

00:04:32 average, intelligent guys, like like we're not geniuses by any means.

00:04:38 I was so stupid.

00:04:39 Yeah. Many.

00:04:40 Yeah, you're real dumb on.

00:04:41 So how does this happen?

00:04:43 Dude, I don't know.

00:04:44 Like the first video we ever put out, it looks like we dropped

00:04:47 the cell phone that we filmed on in Vaseline.

00:04:50 Like it was just something happened in the upload and it was just like

00:04:53 12 pixels total.

00:04:55 You couldn't hear shit.

00:04:56 And people were just like, fucking Jesus.

00:04:58 Yeah, I think we're like the first people at Barstool to do like a double entendre.

00:05:02 Yeah. So there are people who are like, whoa, these guys,

00:05:05 they think we invented the homonym.

00:05:08 What the fuck?

00:05:10 How did you guys I apologize if you've already talked about this a million times,

00:05:17 but I don't know all the Barstool lore with everybody.

00:05:20 How did you come to be?

00:05:22 How are you? How are you here? Why are you here?

00:05:24 What I mean, the succinct version, if you if you want.

00:05:28 Kyle was here a year and a half before me.

00:05:30 Yeah. So I was tweeting a lot and I was blogging on my own

00:05:34 and like tweeting the blog links.

00:05:36 Yeah. Dave caught wind.

00:05:37 You were doing more than blogging.

00:05:38 You had your own store that not a lot of people know about.

00:05:41 Yeah. What's your what's your because you sold your retainer.

00:05:43 You somehow you did.

00:05:45 You wrestled at Kent State. Yes.

00:05:48 But you somehow downplay this while at the same time not downplaying it.

00:05:52 Like you're not afraid to acknowledge it.

00:05:54 And yet, like, I feel like in an office full of like wannabe athletes,

00:05:57 the fact that you're a Division one wrestler should like shine through.

00:06:00 I agree. Now, I think you know what I mean?

00:06:02 There's a little bit of resentment that I've seen,

00:06:04 like that people don't respect it, but he doesn't want to ask for the respect.

00:06:08 Yeah. And I find that fascinating.

00:06:10 Like so like what was were you using that as you got into the media world?

00:06:14 Were you using your status as like?

00:06:16 I mean, in a similar way, I kind of did where I was like on a basketball team

00:06:20 and I was like, I'm going to use this as leverage to, you know,

00:06:22 build a career out of, you know, whatever the hell it is we do now.

00:06:25 Or was this like something you're like, that was my past life?

00:06:28 Yeah, it was definitely the past life.

00:06:31 And I was doing early childhood special ed, so that didn't really play a factor.

00:06:36 And then like I was tweeting that my tweeting style didn't really like,

00:06:39 yeah, you know, associate with sports at all.

00:06:41 So and by the time I was done with wrestling, I was I wanted it

00:06:46 because in my world I was failing.

00:06:48 I wasn't starting.

00:06:51 I wasn't living up to my goals or expectations.

00:06:54 So I just I was kind of a failure.

00:06:56 You're preaching to the choir.

00:06:58 This is this is my this is my whole identity.

00:07:00 Yeah, it was like I I mean, I'm sure at some point in your life

00:07:03 you were good at wrestling and that's how you.

00:07:05 Right.

00:07:05 Like I was my life for the first 18 years or whatever.

00:07:08 And then it kind of ended like I hate this and I and I'm the worst.

00:07:13 Wow. Yeah.

00:07:16 Shoot me up.

00:07:17 So have you gotten to a point now where now like I'm at a point where like I

00:07:21 wish I would have been more like a proud and appreciative, I guess.

00:07:26 I don't know. Yeah.

00:07:27 Or just what about you?

00:07:28 Yeah, I hear what you're saying, because it was

00:07:31 the whole reason I started my blog and the whole reason I created

00:07:35 like this persona of like a dipshit guy at the end of the bench

00:07:37 is because it was insecurity.

00:07:39 And it was like if I can beat everybody to the punch

00:07:42 and make fun of myself for sucking at basketball,

00:07:44 the no one will ever.

00:07:45 But it's insane how we do.

00:07:46 I'm so sorry you guys had to protect yourselves.

00:07:49 I went to fucking art school boys.

00:07:52 But we thought you guys, we felt so insecure.

00:07:56 Oh, my God.

00:07:57 It is hard to be to be the one of you have like the deal.

00:08:02 I mean, maybe Kyle, you did with wrestling or in school or art

00:08:05 or anything else where you're like in fifth grade and like

00:08:08 the teachers around you or the adults around you, like you guys are fucking

00:08:11 special and you're smart and you're is this something that you dealt with in life?

00:08:15 No, really?

00:08:16 No. Yeah. You feel like candidates for that.

00:08:18 You feel it feels like it was like you were a bad student.

00:08:21 I was like, yeah, some like I would.

00:08:23 I would memories like right.

00:08:25 Get like a three three.

00:08:27 But like just not not a good student.

00:08:30 Never good at school.

00:08:31 He was very gifted in like art in a comedic form.

00:08:35 OK, I guess. Yeah.

00:08:37 But you never had you never had anybody.

00:08:39 There wasn't anybody in your life that was like you're destined for something.

00:08:43 You're you're maybe not like that dramatic, like it's a, you know,

00:08:46 fucking Hollywood movie, but just like like you're bigger than this town.

00:08:50 You're bigger than this.

00:08:51 Like you didn't you didn't have that feeling that you just felt like a very

00:08:54 average person growing up.

00:08:57 Yeah. Yeah. That's why.

00:08:59 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:09:00 You were about to agree that for me, you and me, too.

00:09:04 I guess like it was like, yeah, he's going to go to college and wrestle,

00:09:07 but there's like no career with that.

00:09:09 There's nothing after that.

00:09:10 Yeah, it was is the point of wrestling just to go to school for free.

00:09:13 Is that the end goal?

00:09:15 Well, pre NIL?

00:09:16 Yes, there is. There's no glory in it whatsoever.

00:09:20 So, yeah, they're very proud, like proud.

00:09:24 Like, I don't want the glory. I don't want the money.

00:09:27 I want to suffer.

00:09:28 Wrestling is like a very just yeah, just I run a lot.

00:09:33 That's all I remember about all the wrestlers in high school.

00:09:34 It's just, yeah, like I'm more miserable than you.

00:09:37 Yeah, it's a test of of misery.

00:09:40 So wait, did you get that?

00:09:41 Like, oh, you're you're you're too good for this town.

00:09:44 You're a big fish. No, I didn't get that.

00:09:45 But like I so my kind of my story, I was I was six foot tall in sixth grade.

00:09:50 I was. Were you really?

00:09:52 I was six, four in eighth grade. I'm six, four now.

00:09:54 Six, four. I was six, four.

00:09:55 Right. Yeah. When did you have a beard?

00:09:57 I shaved the first time I shaved a sixth grade.

00:10:00 I had I didn't have like this beard, but I had like stubble on my chin

00:10:03 and I shaved in sixth grade. Yeah.

00:10:05 So I hit I hit puberty before everybody else.

00:10:07 That kind of like like surpasses awesome and kind of is like awkward.

00:10:12 It's awkward. It's very awkward.

00:10:13 Because you're having crushes on girls that look like.

00:10:16 Well, so the one time I ever dunked in a basketball game was in eighth grade.

00:10:21 I did. I never dunked in high school because I was I was in an open gym once

00:10:25 and I got like I went up to dunk and a guy fouled me pretty hard.

00:10:29 I just became a pussy after that.

00:10:30 And like I got scared to like.

00:10:31 So I was like, I'm just going to shoot threes now.

00:10:33 I'm not going to I'm not going to attack. Just throw it all away. Yeah.

00:10:35 But when I was in eighth grade, I on a on a breakaway

00:10:38 like no one on defense, I kind of cherry pick sort of deal.

00:10:41 I went up and dunked.

00:10:43 And I remember a week later, I was at the high school basketball game

00:10:47 and these two senior twin girls smoke like I don't know.

00:10:52 I don't know what they actually look like.

00:10:53 But in eighth grade, they were smoking hot. Yeah.

00:10:54 My version, I remember them. They're smoking hot.

00:10:56 And they're like, you're the kid that dunked in the eighth grade game. Right.

00:10:58 And I was like, this is like a very bizarre reality to be living in. Yeah.

00:11:03 Because I'm like a peak. Yeah.

00:11:05 That's what I mean to be.

00:11:07 But even when I'm in eighth grade, I knew like this is kind of pathetic

00:11:09 that this is probably the best my life will ever be.

00:11:12 When were you able to buy beer for the first time?

00:11:14 Yeah, I mean, honestly, I probably could have in high school. Yeah.

00:11:18 Yeah, I could have in high school.

00:11:19 I was but but the back to the original point was like I

00:11:23 I wasn't told that I was like special and I was going to

00:11:26 but there was like some sort of expectation that like you're going to

00:11:29 I just you guys feel like candidates of like the same sort of thing

00:11:32 that like you because we because that was the other thing in the

00:11:35 the small amount of time we've talked to each other off air.

00:11:38 You kind of we've kind of compared notes about,

00:11:41 you know, growing up in a part of the country that gets overlooked often.

00:11:45 Yeah. And that so that was I just figured that maybe there was

00:11:49 some sort of part of that with you guys that like growing up in West Virginia,

00:11:53 that someone's like not that I'm not putting down your hometown,

00:11:56 but I just feel like it was like a similar thing.

00:11:57 Like in my hometown, put it down in my hometown.

00:12:00 If like somebody could do something above average, they were just like, all right,

00:12:03 you're destined for something.

00:12:06 And it kind of fucked me up when I was growing up

00:12:09 because I was like, I don't I don't necessarily want more than that.

00:12:12 You know, I understand why I need.

00:12:14 Nope. Out of any town in America, I think Wheeling, West Virginia

00:12:18 is the town that cares the least about Kyle and I.

00:12:20 It's pretty insane.

00:12:22 Like, well, I don't care.

00:12:23 Socket, Rhode Island.

00:12:24 They were like, I don't. Yeah.

00:12:27 I guess I shouldn't expect them to. Yeah.

00:12:29 But that is that, you know, like it's such a small town,

00:12:31 like seeing people do something different, whether or not it's, you know,

00:12:36 it's like we had a guy that like got cut from the first round of American Idol

00:12:41 that from our town.

00:12:42 And he's like he got carried back into town, like on everybody's shoulders.

00:12:45 But like, I don't know.

00:12:48 Yeah. I don't know if we shit on it too much or like I could be it.

00:12:51 Yeah. Yeah.

00:12:53 No, you're you're from where I'm from.

00:12:55 Hendricks County, Indiana, Brownsburg is the high school I went to.

00:12:58 It's the West Side. It's not really.

00:13:00 Is that is that Danville is that in Dan?

00:13:02 Oh, holy shit.

00:13:04 That's the town I originally grew up in.

00:13:05 And then Brownsburg is a powerhouse in basketball and all sports.

00:13:09 Yeah. Yeah.

00:13:10 We've become a powerhouse since I graduated, especially.

00:13:14 They've like when I was playing football there.

00:13:16 I remember when I was on the football team, we started like three and oh one

00:13:20 season and we were in the others receiving votes of the Indiana State

00:13:24 High School Poll. It was a big deal.

00:13:26 Yeah. Yeah. We're like receiving some votes.

00:13:28 And then now Brownsburg football's ranked like number one in the state,

00:13:31 like constantly, like all the football, basketball, everything.

00:13:35 So I don't know.

00:13:35 They did. They beat Ben Davis this year.

00:13:37 They look at you.

00:13:38 This is like this is not.

00:13:42 Ben Davis, Ben Davis, Ben Davis went undefeated.

00:13:44 Yeah. But Kokomo. Yeah.

00:13:45 Kokomo. Jennings County.

00:13:47 Mm hmm.

00:13:48 What else?

00:13:52 I remember I kind of I learned like you were doing like Mr.

00:13:55 Mr. Basketball. That was your niche.

00:13:57 And I just learned.

00:13:58 Were you studying this?

00:13:59 I studied it just to see just in case you got a chance to steal.

00:14:02 I was trying to think. I remember Kyle Guy.

00:14:05 He was like Kyle Guy.

00:14:06 2016. Yeah.

00:14:08 He was he was most outstanding player in the final four.

00:14:10 Yeah. He went to Virginia and won a national championship.

00:14:12 So he's he was a good.

00:14:13 He's playing in Greece now, I think.

00:14:15 Yeah. And Eric Gordon.

00:14:17 Yeah. Zeller.

00:14:18 What are what are your guys' sports backgrounds other than wrestling?

00:14:21 Like, do you do because

00:14:24 not playing, just watching like what?

00:14:26 Oh, like when you go back to like like your your sports fandom,

00:14:30 like what are what are memories that stick out?

00:14:32 What is what is. Yeah.

00:14:34 What's like something like the 1998 home run chase?

00:14:37 Did that do it for you?

00:14:39 Was it you know, I was always a football or basketball guy.

00:14:44 So I got really into college basketball

00:14:46 when John Beeline was at WVU and Kevin Pitsnoggle and like Mike Gansey.

00:14:51 Yeah. And then later on with like Deshaun Butler.

00:14:54 OK. And then like I also had like when I was like understanding football,

00:14:58 Pat White was at WVU with Slayton.

00:15:00 Yeah. That was like a good time. Yeah.

00:15:02 Yeah. And then I'm a Steelers guy. OK. Yeah.

00:15:05 That checks out. That all makes a lot. That makes a lot of sense.

00:15:07 You're similar.

00:15:09 Now, like my dad was from Jersey and I was born in New Brunswick.

00:15:14 So I was Jets, Mets and Ruckers.

00:15:18 Yeah. And my best memory was 2007.

00:15:22 Was it TJ? Six.

00:15:25 Louisville, number two.

00:15:28 Yeah, I love Brian Leonard, Ray Rice and Jeremy Etoe

00:15:32 had the game winning field goal.

00:15:34 That was my best memory.

00:15:36 TJ is just beaming right now. Yeah.

00:15:39 So where are we at now with sports?

00:15:43 Do you guys still like because you that's another thing I noticed,

00:15:47 like whenever I watch the Yak is like you both seem to not.

00:15:51 You both seem to have like a persona that's like, well,

00:15:54 you don't really pay attention to all the shit going on.

00:15:56 But then every so often you slip something in there

00:15:57 about Jennings County High School basketball.

00:16:00 Wait a second. Wait a second. What's the deal?

00:16:03 So what like how much how much are you consuming sports?

00:16:06 Do you feel like an old man?

00:16:07 Have you like checked out on some stuff or you like National League Baseball?

00:16:10 He knows a lot about DHS. Come in. I'm out.

00:16:13 Like I watch I watch as much as I can, but I don't want to like

00:16:16 have to like be in the gambling cave. Yeah.

00:16:18 Right. Stream like a lot of it just because I like watching it

00:16:22 like with like my dad or like just alone or going to games.

00:16:25 The thing of like once it becomes your job to watch football,

00:16:28 it'll take away the magic of it.

00:16:30 Is it that like if you have to show up every day and like what's your take

00:16:33 on the Jets last night?

00:16:34 So I hate having a take. Yeah.

00:16:37 Just because no matter what it is, you're going to piss off 50 percent.

00:16:40 Yeah. Yeah.

00:16:41 So I think sports media guys.

00:16:43 Good for you guys. Yeah.

00:16:45 It's just like somebody's always really, really mad at you.

00:16:48 So in your world, what does that look like?

00:16:51 Like what does like if you guys like put out a video?

00:16:53 Because our thing is not funny.

00:16:55 And we just have like a crew that will watch us, but we're not going to upset

00:16:59 anyone because they're just not going to listen in the first place.

00:17:01 Whereas. Yeah, yeah.

00:17:03 But people love to watch and listen to the sports media personalities

00:17:07 they hate because they love that, maybe more so than the ones they like.

00:17:11 Oh, definitely.

00:17:11 And you don't really have an opponent.

00:17:13 So if you you put out something funny or whether people find it not funny

00:17:17 or not, whatever, there's not like an inherent opponent.

00:17:20 Whereas if I say that,

00:17:22 you know, that next year, St.

00:17:24 John's is going to win the Big East.

00:17:26 Now I've pissed off every other school in the Big East.

00:17:28 And there's like an inherent like.

00:17:30 So anytime you have an opinion or whatever, I don't know.

00:17:33 Like it's with a joke.

00:17:34 What do haters look like with within the comedy world?

00:17:37 It's like, I guess, heckling at a stand up show, but like the Internet world,

00:17:40 like how does that?

00:17:41 Yeah, because people aren't really inclined to be like that,

00:17:43 feel the need to comment if like a joke was unfunny.

00:17:46 Yeah. Whereas if you say like a like an opinion based about a sports team,

00:17:50 they they get fired.

00:17:52 There's no freezing cold takes for jokes.

00:17:54 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:17:57 Yeah, that's that's that's a great.

00:17:59 So, yeah, you fucked up like interest wise.

00:18:01 I kind of did. Yeah, I was too.

00:18:04 Because you're a funny guy.

00:18:06 I had I have either of you done stand up or pursued it.

00:18:09 I did it once. That's right.

00:18:11 Yeah, I was I was in New York when you did it. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

00:18:14 Yeah, I was a nervous wreck.

00:18:15 And it just I don't think it was for me.

00:18:17 I had that brief moment of time where I was like, I

00:18:21 I think I want to try stand up.

00:18:24 But then I felt like I almost like did like an ego check where it's like,

00:18:27 what makes you think that you would be good at this?

00:18:29 And I have really bad.

00:18:32 I mean, I don't know if you guys are the same way, but I have like

00:18:35 my self-confidence is in the gut.

00:18:36 It's yeah, I think we're all. Yeah.

00:18:39 It's just like this entire room is just watching me.

00:18:43 Yeah. And just hearing me, they don't get to respond. Right.

00:18:46 And it's that's I'm not saying like the people that do it are like

00:18:50 narcissists or anything, but it's just not for me.

00:18:53 Yeah, that's always been my attitude is like, I don't I don't

00:18:55 I'm never projecting my

00:18:58 self-confidence issues on someone else.

00:18:59 And I'm saying if you do this and it says something about you, it's just like

00:19:02 this is my personal experience with it is

00:19:04 I became drawn to the idea of doing stand up comedy

00:19:07 because I did think I was kind of funny and I thought like I could write funny stuff.

00:19:10 And I enjoyed the art of like, you know, if you if you say this,

00:19:14 you know, this part of the joke and you put it at the end,

00:19:18 then like that's a that'll hit harder.

00:19:20 Like I enjoyed all that when I would write blogs in my book and all that kind of shit.

00:19:23 But then I just I couldn't get over the fact of like if I if I if I step up

00:19:28 and stand on stage, I'm basically saying to the world, I am really fucking funny.

00:19:32 I deserve your attention.

00:19:33 I deserve your attention.

00:19:34 I was like, there's no way that I will ever think that I can get to that point.

00:19:38 So I never actually pursued it.

00:19:40 I know I don't necessarily regret it, but that is.

00:19:42 Yeah, I don't know.

00:19:44 There when I when I graduated college, Jimmy Kimmel.

00:19:48 So Bill Simmons and Jimmy Kimmel both were, I don't know,

00:19:52 like interested in hiring me, I guess. Yeah.

00:19:55 And the first time I ever went to L.A., I Kimmel flew me out there

00:20:00 and he was kicking the tires on, like hiring me to.

00:20:02 I think he was to write for a show because you sure he just wasn't trying to fuck you.

00:20:06 He might have been. He might have been.

00:20:08 Yeah. My first time in L.A.

00:20:11 I by the way, I get Kimmel, I get to the hotel, Kimmel text me,

00:20:15 come to come to my house and we'll go to dinner.

00:20:20 And so I get like an Uber to his house and I couldn't believe like I'm 22 years old.

00:20:24 I haven't even graduated college yet.

00:20:25 Like the basketball season had just ended

00:20:27 and I get to his house and I knock on the door.

00:20:29 I literally just walk up to the front door and knock on the door.

00:20:32 Yeah. I'm just like, and at this point, what is Kimmel doing?

00:20:34 He's the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

00:20:36 Yeah. At this point, he's not only the host, like it had popped off at that point.

00:20:40 Like he's hosting the Oscars.

00:20:42 OK. He's huge. He's huge. Yeah.

00:20:44 Can I ask, I know you had a blog in college.

00:20:47 Yeah. And it got that big and popular, whereas you got the attention.

00:20:52 Well, it's hard to it's hard to like quantify like big.

00:20:55 This was the the this was the dead ball era of the Internet.

00:20:59 You know, like this was like this was

00:21:01 I was just like a Tucker Max era.

00:21:03 This is like Tucker Max here.

00:21:05 This was like were you inspired by Tucker?

00:21:08 I bought Tucker Max's book.

00:21:10 I didn't even get to read the first page because I brought it home.

00:21:13 I made the mistake of like setting it on the island of our house.

00:21:16 My dad like found it and just threw it straight in the garbage.

00:21:19 Yeah. You're not going to read any of this.

00:21:21 And then it doesn't hold up. Yeah.

00:21:23 Just hold up. No.

00:21:25 So I thankfully was not inspired by Tucker Max.

00:21:27 But no, my blog was like, yeah, it was big at the time ish.

00:21:30 I don't know. It was I don't know how you like I was doing.

00:21:33 I think I remember like there were like 70,000.

00:21:37 I get like 70,000 page views for every year.

00:21:40 Every blog that I would.

00:21:43 There was an O2. This was this was oh, eight.

00:21:45 Oh, no. I was I think you said, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:21:47 You're not that I'm not that old.

00:21:49 But still like that.

00:21:50 That's like pre social media or very early.

00:21:52 Yeah. Like Twitter. It just started.

00:21:54 So in order to go, you wouldn't you weren't like going viral.

00:21:56 It was all word of I.

00:21:58 I wouldn't have known if I was going viral.

00:22:00 And in fact, a lot of times I got in trouble because I would write shit

00:22:04 thinking that like I have like a smallish audience and know like the best example

00:22:08 of this was when the Ohio State Tattoo Gate thing was going on.

00:22:11 I got so many people that were reaching out to me.

00:22:15 They're like, Titus, what's going on on campus?

00:22:16 Like, are the guys getting free cars, all this sort of thing?

00:22:19 And I remember writing on my blog like, I don't know if they're getting free cars.

00:22:23 I don't know what's going on.

00:22:24 I will say this every time I drive by the football facility.

00:22:26 These dudes are all driving Dodge Chargers.

00:22:29 And, you know, like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:22:30 They got nicer cars than the basketball team has.

00:22:32 And I'm not really sure how that's that's working.

00:22:34 And I got aggregated by ESPN and they were like put it like

00:22:38 Ohio State athlete colon.

00:22:41 The football players drive nice cars.

00:22:42 They can't afford or something like something like that.

00:22:44 Yeah. And that was how I sort of found out

00:22:47 my reach for lack of like I was like, oh, shit, like people are reading this

00:22:51 and like this can get out of out of hand a little bit.

00:22:53 But I wasn't. But I also wasn't like a viral.

00:22:55 I mean, you know, like if I was, I would be

00:22:58 I would have a lot more money and I would have, you know, like I would have.

00:23:01 So I don't I don't know how to like, you know, like it wasn't like

00:23:04 I was like a sensation, but I definitely had a legitimate take off.

00:23:08 Yeah. And the timing of that is insane, because I don't know if that could happen

00:23:12 today. Like I don't have like a you could an athlete could like have.

00:23:15 Well, that's that's every time I tell my story to like 23 year olds

00:23:19 and they're like, how do I get into sports meet?

00:23:21 I'm like, I like my advice is like kind of worthless

00:23:23 because like my path is the door has been slammed shut.

00:23:26 Yeah. Like the shit that I do, that I did.

00:23:29 Isn't even kind of interesting now.

00:23:31 Like the idea, like if a college basketball player

00:23:35 made a tongue in cheek highlight mixtape and put it out like you guys would just be

00:23:40 like you guys wouldn't even watch like no one no one would watch it.

00:23:42 No, that was all of our that was our content like seven, eight years ago.

00:23:45 It just evolves in like there's so much.

00:23:48 And I put I put that out like in oh eight or nine or no.

00:23:52 January of 2010, I put out like a Mr.

00:23:55 Rainmaker video that yeah, like I don't know.

00:23:58 I know it again. It didn't like explode, but like it was like sort of a thing.

00:24:02 It was weird. But like any of the shit I did, if someone did it now,

00:24:05 like it wouldn't really work.

00:24:06 And that's like a bizarre thing to think like,

00:24:08 was I actually funny and talented or was I just first?

00:24:11 Yeah, like just kind of like the first walk on.

00:24:13 I think about that myself all the time.

00:24:15 All the time. Yeah.

00:24:18 So anyway, my I when when I was doing the blog,

00:24:24 Kimmel plays it close to the to the chess,

00:24:28 but he was a huge college basketball fan

00:24:29 because he grew up in Vegas during the UNLV running Rebels days.

00:24:33 So he loves UNLV.

00:24:35 They kind of suck now.

00:24:36 So he's like not as interested, but he somehow came across my blog.

00:24:39 I don't feel Simmons that showed him or whatever.

00:24:41 And he just like basically was like, I want to meet you.

00:24:44 Do you want to come to L.A.?

00:24:45 And I did. And I was like, yeah, of course, this is crazy.

00:24:47 And so, yeah, like I go to I go to L.A.

00:24:49 The first time I'd ever been to L.A., he text me his address.

00:24:52 I just showed up. I couldn't believe like, yeah, I'm just knocking on his door.

00:24:56 That's really brave of you to do.

00:24:58 It was the funny part about the story is I kind of shoehorned

00:25:03 my brother into the trip.

00:25:05 He so my brother bought a ticket on the same flight at Kimmel flew me first class.

00:25:09 My brother bought a ticket at the back of the plane.

00:25:12 He crashed in my hotel room.

00:25:14 And then when it came time to go to dinner, I tried to like sneakily be like,

00:25:18 oh, by the way, my brother's like in town visiting his friend.

00:25:21 Do you mind if I've done the same?

00:25:23 Do you mind if he comes with us?

00:25:24 Because at dinner, if I remember right at dinner, it was

00:25:27 we went to Soho House in West Hollywood

00:25:31 on the way to dinner.

00:25:35 Kit were Kimmel's we're passing by this billboard of the hills.

00:25:39 And Kimmel just turns to me and he's like, do you want to fuck one of the Hills

00:25:43 girls while you're out here?

00:25:44 And I was like, what?

00:25:45 He's like, he goes, I can make that happen.

00:25:48 And I was like, what?

00:25:49 And then he just starts laughing.

00:25:50 I was like, oh, I was going to say, I was like, dude, I got me.

00:25:55 Well, yeah, I said, yes.

00:25:57 Well, I guess I was about to ask.

00:26:00 So then we, you know, yeah, like twenty two.

00:26:04 Wait, so you knock on his door.

00:26:05 I knock on his door and he answers the door.

00:26:08 He's like, yeah, he's just like, what's up, man?

00:26:10 And I'm like, what is going on?

00:26:11 I remember the Lakers were playing because this must have been May or June ish.

00:26:17 Like I hadn't fully graduated yet, but I was about to graduate college.

00:26:21 There's a there's a Lakers game on his.

00:26:22 He had at the big to this day, still the biggest TV I've ever seen

00:26:26 hung on his wall. It was mounted.

00:26:28 It was like 120 inch TV that was mounted on the wall, just right in his living room.

00:26:32 And he's and I just like, you know, it was one of those deals.

00:26:36 It's like, yeah, of course, you're just a normal dude with a normal house.

00:26:39 But like the way I build up in my head was like his Butler was going to answer.

00:26:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:42 To be, you know.

00:26:43 And yeah. And so I sat there.

00:26:46 I just like he got me like a beer and I'm just like staring at the beer

00:26:49 the whole time, I'm like, what the fuck am I doing out here?

00:26:51 Like, what is going on? What is the point of this?

00:26:54 And then we went to dinner right after and my brother met us.

00:26:57 But the whole reason I wanted my brother to come to dinner is because Kimmel told me

00:27:00 it was it was me, him, Carolla.

00:27:04 She's Simmons was there.

00:27:07 It was Michael Davies, who's one of the men in Blazers now who started.

00:27:12 Yeah, I've heard of him.

00:27:14 Who wants to be a millionaire?

00:27:16 And then I forget who else?

00:27:18 Daniel Kelesin, I think, who's like one Kimmel's production part.

00:27:21 But that's a weak race.

00:27:22 I'm like looking around the yeah, yeah.

00:27:24 Not a lot of women at the at the table.

00:27:26 But he told me like all these people are going to be there.

00:27:28 And I was like, I'm going to shit my pants at this dinner.

00:27:30 And I need my brother there just to like just to every so often look at him,

00:27:33 just be like older or younger brother.

00:27:35 He's older. He's three years older.

00:27:38 So, yeah, I did this whole L.A. trip.

00:27:40 It blew my mind.

00:27:42 The other the other thing I remember is as we were leaving

00:27:46 Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens pass us at Soho House.

00:27:49 They were the couple at the time.

00:27:51 They were kind of the couple.

00:27:53 Zac stops Kimmel and is just like, what's up, man?

00:27:56 What's going on?

00:27:56 And like all this sort of thing.

00:27:57 And they're just like chatting.

00:27:58 I'm just like standing there just like, but not my head.

00:28:01 Like, yeah, I'm here. Kind of in the guys.

00:28:03 And then he Zac Efron was like, I got to come on the show soon.

00:28:09 And it was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll make that happen.

00:28:11 And then they just leave.

00:28:12 And he just turns to me.

00:28:13 He's like, that kid's not coming on my show.

00:28:14 So that is amazing that like that happens.

00:28:17 Yeah, yeah.

00:28:19 And so I'm just like, I'm just like blown away by this whole experience.

00:28:23 I go on a plane back to Ohio and I'm like, I think I'm going to move to Hollywood

00:28:27 and be like a comedy writer.

00:28:28 I got like, I don't know.

00:28:29 I'm going to I guess I'm just like inserting myself.

00:28:31 What answers did you get from him?

00:28:33 Was it an interview?

00:28:34 Not really. It was so weird because like I went to

00:28:37 I went to his beach house with his wife as well.

00:28:40 And we did like I remember I remember sitting.

00:28:43 Yeah, dude, I went to the Kimmel show.

00:28:46 I was in the writers room the whole lead up to the show.

00:28:49 We watched the show. We went to the after party the next day.

00:28:51 We all went to the beach together.

00:28:54 I I remember Julie Louis Dreyfus calls Kimmel and I'm sitting on his couch

00:28:59 at his beach house and he's like, let me take this real quick.

00:29:01 He's like, Julia, what's up?

00:29:02 And again, I'm just having like this moment of like, where the fuck am I?

00:29:05 Yeah.

00:29:06 And then I go back to Ohio and it's like I got to just like

00:29:09 go back into the world I came from.

00:29:11 Wait, so you do like a full bachelor party weekend.

00:29:14 Kind of. Yeah.

00:29:14 And is he like leading you on like, hey, you're probably.

00:29:17 Yeah, he's I think I think what it ultimately was was like a feel out thing

00:29:20 of like you seem funny on the Internet, but are you Internet funny?

00:29:23 Are you real life funny? Yeah. Are you a good hang?

00:29:25 That's that's very important for success here as well. Right.

00:29:29 So I go back to Ohio.

00:29:32 I'm like, I think I'm going to move to L.A.

00:29:33 I think I'm going to be a comedy guy.

00:29:36 And then Simmons calls me one day and he's like,

00:29:39 yes, being given me a dump truck of money to start a website.

00:29:42 I want you to be my college basketball guy.

00:29:44 And then I was like, I kind of want to do the Kimmel thing.

00:29:47 He's like, no, no, no. Trust me, this is better off for you.

00:29:49 And in the end, he's kind of right, because I think if I would have,

00:29:51 you know, like I did carve out a good niche for myself in college,

00:29:53 basketball and all that.

00:29:54 But that was kind of the sliding doors moment for me.

00:29:56 It was like basically I was in a custody battle

00:29:59 between Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Simmons who wanted to pay me twenty five thousand

00:30:03 dollars to work for them.

00:30:04 Yeah. Take that twenty five and move to L.A.

00:30:08 Yeah. And that was my that was like the one moment in time

00:30:11 where I was like, if I wanted to be like, do I think I'm going to be a comedian

00:30:13 or do I want to be the guy that's like, I got these takes on 19 year olds

00:30:17 playing basketball and I chose the 19 year olds playing basketball.

00:30:20 So anyway, I don't know if that's an interesting story.

00:30:22 It is. It really is.

00:30:23 That was the closest I came to like being a quote unquote comedy guy. Sure.

00:30:28 But if those weren't the options, like what was your path going to be?

00:30:31 What were you going to fall back on?

00:30:34 I was I don't know.

00:30:36 I was I went to Ohio State.

00:30:38 I was a math major my first year because I thought I wanted to be a doctor

00:30:42 and I didn't want to do chemistry.

00:30:45 So I was like, I got to do a nerd major.

00:30:46 I did. I picked math.

00:30:48 I remember the specific assignment was a professor said,

00:30:51 go home and draw four dimensions on a piece of paper and bring it back.

00:30:57 You know, you take the week and draw four dimensions and bring it back.

00:31:00 I stared at the paper for like an hour and I was like,

00:31:02 what the fuck is this guy talking about? Yeah.

00:31:05 I decided that in there, like I can't do math.

00:31:08 And then I joined.

00:31:09 This was like kind of after I joined the basketball team

00:31:11 and was becoming a pain in my ass trying to do basketball and like actual,

00:31:15 you know, like when you're over, as you know, I'm sure, Kyle, maybe not.

00:31:18 But like being an athlete, it's a lot easier to just

00:31:22 not major in math.

00:31:24 So, yeah, I couldn't imagine. Yeah.

00:31:26 I didn't know that was a major.

00:31:28 Yeah. Just math in general.

00:31:30 So I went to my the academic advisor, the basketball team.

00:31:33 I said, I don't want to do math anymore.

00:31:35 He goes, what do you want to do? What do you want to be?

00:31:37 I said, I want to be a businessman.

00:31:38 And he's like, that's not a job.

00:31:41 But like math, like business is way more than a job.

00:31:44 Yeah, math is a job.

00:31:46 I was like, I don't know. I kind of want to do business.

00:31:48 I just want to be like a rich, like business dude.

00:31:50 And he's like, that's not really a thing.

00:31:53 You got to declare a major within business.

00:31:54 And I just said, what's the easiest one?

00:31:56 And he said, marketing.

00:31:57 And I was like, Don, let's do marketing.

00:31:59 And then I never like once my blog

00:32:03 kind of, excuse me, like became semi popular.

00:32:06 I thought that makes more sense to kind of see where that will go

00:32:10 rather than trying to take a marketing degree around Columbus, Ohio. Yeah.

00:32:14 So I didn't really have a backup plan.

00:32:16 It was just kind of like, I'm going to keep like tweeting jokes and trying to.

00:32:20 Yeah. You know, I don't know how long I can do this

00:32:24 where people will give a shit about, you know, who I think might win

00:32:27 the Big Ten this year, but I'm going to just keep doing it and see.

00:32:30 And I do remember having thoughts like when I was like twenty nine thinking

00:32:35 if I'm still doing this when I when I'm 40, someone put a bullet in my brain

00:32:39 that like this is insane, that like this would be my job.

00:32:41 And I got I got four years to get out of it.

00:32:45 So, yeah, that's that's pretty much it.

00:32:50 Do you ever look back at your old shit and cringe all the time?

00:32:53 Yeah. I all the time.

00:32:55 What's the what's the timeline for you guys with that?

00:32:58 Like what's the like is it like three weeks?

00:33:01 Because like sometimes sometimes I do that where I'm like,

00:33:03 I think something's very funny.

00:33:04 And then like a month later, I'm like, oh, it's insane.

00:33:07 I think in the late Twitter era, it's how fast things move and become unfunny.

00:33:13 Like things that like were funny for a while,

00:33:16 like will be played out in a month.

00:33:21 I got like things from four years ago are just like I can't even look at what.

00:33:25 Yeah. Yeah.

00:33:25 When I'm like creatively tapped, I try to like scroll back and like

00:33:28 maybe I said something that like I haven't talked about at work.

00:33:31 Yeah. And I'm looking back and it's like I hate myself.

00:33:35 And I used to tweet shit that I didn't even think was funny,

00:33:38 that I knew would go viral.

00:33:40 And that was just the worst version.

00:33:42 We were in the viral ball era of Twitter. Yeah. OK.

00:33:45 Yeah. Once you get the ball rolling, it's super easy to kind of like craft

00:33:51 the right word, figure it out, the algorithm. Yeah.

00:33:54 So the numbers were going crazy, but like we weren't we didn't even care.

00:33:57 Like we didn't even think our product was.

00:34:00 That's why I've got to the point where I'm so disillusioned with Twitter,

00:34:02 because I vividly remember and not only do I remember,

00:34:06 but that was what drew me to Twitter was the exact opposite of trying to go viral.

00:34:10 It was like just being as weird as possible and being just like, you know,

00:34:15 you have this confined medium with which with which to work.

00:34:19 You have so many characters.

00:34:21 There's no videos. There's no pictures.

00:34:22 There's no anything else.

00:34:24 And the way you stand out is by just being bizarre almost.

00:34:28 And somewhere along the line, it got flipped.

00:34:31 And now it's like being weird is actually like not good.

00:34:35 And I don't know. I don't really fully.

00:34:37 And I just like Twitter became scary to me.

00:34:39 So I just like pulled back and don't. Yeah. Yeah.

00:34:42 No, I get that completely. Yeah.

00:34:45 But you guys were you guys cracked the crack, the code.

00:34:48 I'm the same.

00:34:49 Like what will fuck me up now, though, is that you have

00:34:52 you get those like Facebook memory things, which I'm not on Facebook anymore,

00:34:55 but like whatever that concept is of like just something that will remind you

00:34:59 of this tweet you had or this post you had like four years ago.

00:35:02 And without failure, like that was terrible and awful and not funny at all.

00:35:06 But then what makes you think that like it will fuck me up

00:35:11 is like whatever I post right now that I think about all the time.

00:35:15 Oh, I know in the future I'm going to think this is not funny. Yeah.

00:35:18 And I'm almost like neutering myself. Yeah.

00:35:20 I'm just like future Nick is going to hate this pussy.

00:35:24 It's our confidence is so pathetic. Yeah.

00:35:29 Which is like almost.

00:35:31 So how do you how do like so let me be our own therapist here.

00:35:35 Like what why are we in this business?

00:35:36 Why are the three of us in this business where we get in front of a microphone

00:35:40 and, you know, for all the the line of thinking that what makes us think

00:35:44 that we're good enough to do stand up and yet we're kind of

00:35:47 what makes us good enough to think that we could sit down in this chair and talk

00:35:51 and we're still working.

00:35:53 I don't know if we do, but we get to wake up at like noon.

00:35:55 Yeah. You know. Yeah. That's that's the reason.

00:35:58 Yeah. What would you know?

00:35:59 What would you guys have done if not for this?

00:36:02 Do you still want to do this? Is this the long term plan?

00:36:04 Yeah. Yeah. I do love it.

00:36:06 I love doing it. It's fun.

00:36:08 I think the the blogging and like the crafting like

00:36:11 Twitter based Internet based content like in that in like written form

00:36:16 would have got soul sucking once I tried to like force it as a job.

00:36:20 When you have an idea, it's amazing.

00:36:22 And it's just like everything's falling into place.

00:36:24 It's it's the best.

00:36:25 But when you're having to like force an idea, it's horrible.

00:36:28 Yeah. It's like never good.

00:36:30 And people can tell. Yeah.

00:36:32 But now I love this job.

00:36:35 Yeah. Like I'm haunted by like having to go back and like code.

00:36:38 Well, is that what you're doing? Yeah. I was a web designer.

00:36:41 How do you get into that? How do you major?

00:36:44 Yeah. Yeah. I majored in graphic and web design.

00:36:46 Really? And yeah, and I was a web designer at Ohio State.

00:36:50 I knew that I knew that you were you lived in Columbus.

00:36:52 Yeah. Four years.

00:36:53 So you worked for the university? Yeah.

00:36:56 And you did what for the university?

00:36:57 I was a web designer. Like what does that mean?

00:36:59 Like I was like making I was designing new pages.

00:37:01 I was doing the layout of the pages.

00:37:02 So you go to OSU edu. Yeah.

00:37:04 Oh, I was I was the Department of Education of Education.

00:37:07 And that was like I was working under an art director and just coding it.

00:37:12 And like Ohio State or any university is really strict

00:37:15 where it has to be like everything has to be captured.

00:37:18 It was like a lot of mindless stuff.

00:37:19 I didn't it wasn't as creative as you'd think.

00:37:21 Yeah. But, you know, it was fine.

00:37:24 But I think I'm haunted by like having to go back.

00:37:26 And that's when I started tweeting because I was so fucking bored.

00:37:29 And then I got in trouble at work for more focusing more on Twitter than this.

00:37:34 Yeah. Yeah. Did you like Columbus?

00:37:37 You loved it. It's my favorite city in the country.

00:37:39 It's a great city. Not no. Yeah, it's my favorite.

00:37:42 I want to move back German Village. Wow.

00:37:44 I want to move. I want to live by the book loft.

00:37:45 Wow. What do you what do you love about it so much?

00:37:47 It's like the perfect combination of small town and big town.

00:37:51 And it's almost split in half.

00:37:52 Yeah, it has. It is a city that like they figured out

00:37:55 how much of something do you need for it to be like, you know, how many

00:38:01 if how many Italian restaurants do you need that are good and how many state

00:38:06 and then they draw the line right there.

00:38:08 Yeah. Like not not one more than that.

00:38:10 They do exactly what they need to do is get to the point where we're good enough

00:38:13 and then just hit the brakes. Yeah. And keep it right there.

00:38:16 And yeah, I love it.

00:38:19 Yeah. And it does not like that, by the way.

00:38:21 This is an example of just having a normal conversation with the two of you.

00:38:24 And you think you're fucking.

00:38:26 No, not at all. No, I'm like you're like if I if I have to.

00:38:29 If I'm raising a family one day, I would like to do it in Columbus.

00:38:32 Wow. Yeah. How about that?

00:38:33 Yeah. And it doesn't have like that air of Midwest

00:38:36 like grime that other bigger cities.

00:38:39 I feel like Pittsburgh, it's like it still feels like a hidden gem, too,

00:38:44 even though it has like one point one million people. Yeah.

00:38:46 Yeah. It's it's it's. Yeah, you're right.

00:38:49 It doesn't have like the Rust Belt feel to it at all.

00:38:51 No rust belt or like but like like the other Ohio cities

00:38:55 or Midwest cities or Pennsylvania. Yeah.

00:38:57 That's it. That's that's it.

00:38:59 Yeah. You're making me want to move back to Columbus. Great. Yeah.

00:39:01 We're here. We're here now.

00:39:03 And I what what what what what how how was the Chicago decision for you guys?

00:39:07 Pretty easy. It was. Yeah.

00:39:09 What what what goes it like what made it easy?

00:39:11 It's just like that's where that's where the.

00:39:12 Yeah, the yak is like our the biggest thing we do, and it's going there

00:39:16 and getting a crazy office.

00:39:18 Yeah. And like working with Big Cat.

00:39:20 That's fucking great.

00:39:23 Like that's guaranteed success.

00:39:25 You guys move in a couple of weeks. Yeah. Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

00:39:28 Do you think the city itself like do you have reservations about that?

00:39:32 Do you are you worried about like

00:39:33 yeah, the city of Chicago?

00:39:36 Like, I don't know. It has a reputation like.

00:39:41 Yeah. Are you do you guys like New York?

00:39:43 Is that. Yeah. New York was awesome. Yeah.

00:39:45 Yeah. I loved it.

00:39:47 But you can't, you know, you I'm 31

00:39:51 and I don't think I was living like a 31 year old there.

00:39:54 Yeah. You know, tiny apartment kind of gross.

00:39:56 But like, what could I do? Yeah.

00:39:58 Culturally, I fit in more here.

00:40:02 Yeah. Far. Yeah.

00:40:03 I completely agree with that.

00:40:05 That's what I'm.

00:40:06 But it's probably a way bigger culture shock for you going from L.A.

00:40:11 Yeah, it's it's Chicago and L.A. are very different.

00:40:14 Yeah. Yeah. Like the humans.

00:40:17 Every every aspect is Chicago does feel similar to New York.

00:40:20 It just like has nicer people and they're not all on top of you at all.

00:40:23 They're uglier. They are way uglier.

00:40:26 They are uglier.

00:40:29 No, I did. I did a proud pass around the block.

00:40:31 Yeah, that's that.

00:40:32 I mean, L.A., it's there's a lot of beautiful people out there.

00:40:36 That is that so that I won't lie.

00:40:38 I did notice that about Chicago.

00:40:39 What would you put yourself like?

00:40:41 You're you're you're a Chicago 10, Mark.

00:40:43 No, no, no, no, no, no.

00:40:44 But in L.A.

00:40:45 What were you?

00:40:45 How are you?

00:40:46 Eight point five nine in L.A.

00:40:48 So being taller, I have that working for me.

00:40:51 I, you know, like I think that what women say that that adds like a point or two.

00:40:57 Just simply for sure.

00:40:58 L.A. is a shorter city, I would guess.

00:41:00 Yeah, actors, actors, musicians, models.

00:41:04 Yeah. Have you ever looked at the Fall Out Boy lineup?

00:41:07 I think the tallest one's like five four.

00:41:09 Yeah. Yeah. His last name Stump.

00:41:11 But then but then you run into

00:41:14 what will emasculate you real quick is going to like beach volleyball scenes

00:41:19 like the you you just go to like you get invited to a beach volleyball game

00:41:23 and you're like, yeah, you know, I can I've played volleyball.

00:41:25 I'm staying away from that.

00:41:27 Did you show up there?

00:41:28 And it's just like a bunch of like six, seven, six, eight chisel dudes that.

00:41:32 Yeah. And then and then they're like just banging the women that are like.

00:41:35 They're always banging.

00:41:36 They're all like they're always.

00:41:37 I've long said that I'm just standing there like I.

00:41:41 Where did I go wrong in life?

00:41:43 How did I not get this?

00:41:44 I don't understand how men's volleyball players aren't

00:41:47 the American football players of the world.

00:41:50 Men's volleyball, if you watch it on television, is just absolutely insane.

00:41:55 Yeah, they are. So, yeah, they should be super.

00:41:58 It is slam ball.

00:41:59 It's just dudes dunking over and over and over.

00:42:01 And they're they're gods.

00:42:02 They're gods. I not their their faces are good.

00:42:06 Yeah, I want to know what the fuck is that their bodies.

00:42:10 Dude, I remember one time at at Ohio State, the volleyball team was using our.

00:42:16 So they they practiced and played in like a different arena.

00:42:19 But one there every so often they would use like our training room

00:42:23 at at our practice facility.

00:42:26 So they would come like get their ankles taped or do whatever they need to do.

00:42:29 And I remember one time

00:42:32 I went I got to practice like kind of early

00:42:34 and I was going to just like throw some shots up or whatever.

00:42:36 And I go out to the gym, the the the main gym, Florida, Ohio State.

00:42:39 And the volleyball team was just kind of congregating.

00:42:42 Like, I guess some of them are just like waiting for their turn

00:42:44 to get their ankles taped or iced or whatever, whatever the hell they were doing.

00:42:47 They're just kind of lingering.

00:42:48 And I brought my ball out and it was like putting up shots

00:42:51 and the ball bounced down to one of them.

00:42:53 And this is a dude that was like six to and he just scoops it up,

00:42:56 takes one dribble, like touches the back of his head and dunks so easily.

00:42:59 And then like all they start passing around, all these guys are windmill.

00:43:02 And like I was like, like they're all like literally the ten best dunkers

00:43:07 on the campus are the men's volleyball team.

00:43:10 And then whoever the best dunker on the basketball team is, he's number 11.

00:43:13 And my jaw is just on the floor.

00:43:14 I'm like, dude, these guys are insane athletes.

00:43:16 How is this not?

00:43:17 What is the deficiency there?

00:43:18 I think the product is even very entertaining.

00:43:21 I don't.

00:43:21 So one of the things that I've been told about men's volleyball,

00:43:26 like what can sometimes make women's more entertaining

00:43:29 is that men's don't have rallies.

00:43:30 And I think that like so like if you watch it, it's just they do dunk on each other,

00:43:35 but it just over in a snap of the finger.

00:43:37 And I guess what makes volleyball sort of compelling is like the diving saves.

00:43:41 Yeah. Oh, shit.

00:43:41 I thought they were going to spike it there.

00:43:43 But so men are just like too good.

00:43:44 They're almost too good.

00:43:45 They're too good at their own sport.

00:43:47 Yeah. And they just drop the hammer way too quickly to where it's just kind of a.

00:43:51 Yeah. But I don't know.

00:43:53 Humans evolved out of out past volleyball, past volleyball.

00:43:57 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:43:58 That's that's kind of what what what other sports are you guys into that are weird?

00:44:02 Is there anything else that you have like you feel?

00:44:04 I mean, wrestling, are you are you into you're into wrestling, right?

00:44:08 Like you actually watch it and and follow it.

00:44:10 And yeah, I guess I'm a fan of wrestling from a young age.

00:44:15 Now that I look back, I guess I don't want to downplay or trivialize a disorder,

00:44:19 but it had like an autistic obsession with memorizing

00:44:23 and knowing like the towns and schools everyone's from.

00:44:27 I would go through the program and know like the city in Pennsylvania, the school.

00:44:31 You're talking about wrestling the results.

00:44:33 OK, you memorize the results.

00:44:35 The names, the results.

00:44:36 Let me understand.

00:44:37 So you're in high school in West Virginia and you would just like look up

00:44:42 wrestlers in Iowa.

00:44:43 I would spend eight hours.

00:44:45 I would go to the Pennsylvania Youth Wrestling or the Pennsylvania High School.

00:44:48 I'll go to each state's individual website, look at results, brackets.

00:44:52 I would look at brackets for hours.

00:44:54 And then as I got older, I realized I don't even like the actual

00:44:58 watching the sport. It's very boring.

00:45:01 So I love it when I is a great match. OK.

00:45:04 But there's like a 50/50 chance that the great match is just going to be

00:45:07 like a stall fest of two guys who are too good to even like take shots.

00:45:11 Yeah. Like what's the like Floyd Mayweather boxing where it's the same.

00:45:15 So these guys are so good defensively that no one's even going to like

00:45:19 even attempt offense. OK.

00:45:22 So it's just a snooze fest.

00:45:25 Did you do you actually like participating in wrestling when you were doing it?

00:45:28 I absolutely hated it.

00:45:30 You you you're wrestling career.

00:45:32 You look back even when you were good, even when you were.

00:45:34 I hated every practice.

00:45:37 What were you in high school like one fifty and five one fifty and nine.

00:45:41 OK, so like so even as you're kicking everyone's ass, you still were like,

00:45:44 I kind of hate that this is because I got to a point where I go to this

00:45:47 like tournament that no one cares about.

00:45:50 And I beat these guys that I'm supposed to destroy.

00:45:53 Like there's no like I I have to pin or tech fall this guy or it's not a win.

00:45:57 So then these are like small southern West Virginia high school.

00:46:01 We're like they're they're wrestling you back in jeans.

00:46:04 They know it would.

00:46:06 I think I wanted my podium picture of me on the top to be cool.

00:46:09 And like it's just like cheap fuckers and like

00:46:12 where your warm ups on the podium.

00:46:15 So it looks like I had like a decent bracket.

00:46:17 And you have like guys in jeans and boots and like a dip cam.

00:46:21 So I can't even hang up my podium.

00:46:24 How do you how do you get into wrestling then?

00:46:26 Like, did you love it at any point in time?

00:46:28 Like there had to be something that you were pushed into.

00:46:30 I will say like the the feeling of winning in like a one on one combat sport.

00:46:35 And that's pretty cool.

00:46:36 That's like a that's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah.

00:46:39 That would be pretty cool.

00:46:40 I've never I've never experienced that.

00:46:42 The cauliflower has to be worth it.

00:46:45 Yeah. Was it was I would kill to have that to just go into a bar for one.

00:46:50 What's your what's your crowning athletic achievement?

00:46:52 Nick, I was a camp counselor at the Wheeling Park

00:46:57 and one of the kids I was I was talking to a girl by the high dives

00:47:02 and one of the kids in the camp threw a splash ball at her.

00:47:05 And I just like caught it right before it hit her.

00:47:07 That's pretty sick. Yeah, she fucked my best friend.

00:47:10 That night, but

00:47:19 no, I have to have something.

00:47:21 Yeah, like how are I guess it's sort of odd to me.

00:47:26 Just it's foreign to me, I should say.

00:47:28 I should I shouldn't say it's odd, but it'd be foreign to me

00:47:31 for you to be interested in sports, but not necessarily participate in them.

00:47:34 Yeah. My dad's a fanatic.

00:47:35 And so I grew up just watching it and I would it broke his heart.

00:47:39 But I was just I fucking sucked at all sports.

00:47:41 Did you try like you did you did you or were you just like from the baseball

00:47:46 growing up? Never. I've never been good at a sport.

00:47:48 You just never feel like the this generation doesn't have the issue

00:47:53 because they're like they're not as expected as we were,

00:47:56 because like when I was a kid, every kid played like literally baseball.

00:48:00 Even there was a lot of very awkward moments when the kid like

00:48:04 who never got a hit got up to bat. Right.

00:48:06 But but that was like a rite of passage almost when I was like, yeah,

00:48:09 when I was growing up, if you sucked at something, you still it's like

00:48:12 you still did it every year.

00:48:14 It was so painful for the parents, yes, for everyone involved.

00:48:18 Yeah. But Nick wasn't at that level. He was decent.

00:48:20 Yeah, it was just I was I was a late bloomer when it came to any sort of

00:48:25 coordination. Yeah.

00:48:27 Like now I could like, you know, I was just in like the Steelers softball game

00:48:30 and got a hit. But then I ran like a fucking moron.

00:48:34 I was like, so, you know, it's it's it's I'm still not.

00:48:38 I haven't peaked yet.

00:48:40 How I'm sure you guys have sized up the office, though, like you, you know,

00:48:45 like the you.

00:48:46 I was in Barstow versus America, this office.

00:48:48 I was in Barstow versus America two summers ago, and I won every competition.

00:48:52 Everyone. Yeah.

00:48:54 Because I've been I've been trying to like figure I've been sizing everybody up.

00:48:59 I don't even know if you're the best hooper.

00:49:00 That's what I know. I know.

00:49:01 I as we're as we're leading to this new office

00:49:05 where there's just going to be so many things going on,

00:49:07 I'm trying to size up everyone and figure out who's good at what and

00:49:10 all that sort of thing.

00:49:11 And your pet bed is probably number one.

00:49:15 May. Yeah, there's an argument to be made there.

00:49:18 The pet bed is a better basketball player than me.

00:49:20 I think the argument is probably that he's an NBA.

00:49:23 Yeah, and I'm not.

00:49:24 I think that's probably is your goal to like exert competitive energy.

00:49:28 I don't know. I'm trying to.

00:49:29 I'm trying to like, would you ever do any of like the I know you're kind of like,

00:49:32 well, I'm doing it. We're doing the bowling.

00:49:34 Are you guys all doing the yeah, the bowling thing?

00:49:36 And that's what I'm trying to figure out, because I do feel like

00:49:38 not to not to artificially put myself at the cool kids lunch table here.

00:49:44 But like, I do feel like the three of us are similarly aligned and how.

00:49:47 You know, like I said earlier, like you're trying to thread the needle of like,

00:49:51 I don't want to try too hard, but I also don't want to embarrass myself.

00:49:55 So I'm trying to like figure out where I fit in with that,

00:49:57 because I as I've come to barstool, I've never really.

00:50:00 This will be like my first sort of group deal where like,

00:50:04 I don't know if there's an expectation for me to be great at bowling,

00:50:09 but also I don't want White Sox Dave to smoke me.

00:50:12 So what you need to figure out how hard to try and how much to care.

00:50:17 I used to be like I used to forget that it was for entertainment purposes.

00:50:21 And so I would like lose my cool and like fucking trivia or like if I lost

00:50:24 trivia. Yeah. And now I'm just like, let's just let's have one joke for it.

00:50:28 Yeah. But like you're going to be in the bar

00:50:30 barstool ecosystem way, way more now with this new office.

00:50:33 And have you thought about like if you're ever are you going to do like

00:50:36 like any of the reality shows or are you going to do like.

00:50:39 I don't know. What's your advice on this?

00:50:40 Because I my first year I said yes to everything, but I didn't have.

00:50:43 I shouldn't have been hired.

00:50:44 I didn't have like a following by any means.

00:50:46 So, yeah, so I want to be a team player, but I also don't want to do anything.

00:50:52 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

00:50:55 I want to be a team player.

00:50:56 I just don't want to work more than is that I'm contractually obligated to work.

00:51:00 But I think if you think it would be fun.

00:51:02 Yeah. And do it. Then do it. Yeah.

00:51:04 But that's what I'm trying to figure out is I do want to.

00:51:08 I'm going to be in the office every we all are. Right.

00:51:10 Like that's part of the stipulation every day.

00:51:12 So I do want to be in there and I do want to step outside my comfort zone.

00:51:15 That's one of the appeals of working a barstool to me is that

00:51:18 up until I came to this company, I was put in the box of like,

00:51:22 you're the college, but like, you know, every so often,

00:51:24 if I was working at the ringer or Fox, I'd be like, I can I go on some show

00:51:27 and talk about Ohio State football?

00:51:29 And they're like, but wait a second.

00:51:30 I'll say football. Right.

00:51:32 But you're the basketball. Yeah.

00:51:33 Why would you talk about football?

00:51:35 And I'm like, what?

00:51:36 Because I watch every goddamn second of this football team.

00:51:38 And I'm angry about various things.

00:51:40 And I want to I want a platform to go crazy about it.

00:51:43 So that is an appeal of working here,

00:51:45 stepping outside the comfort zone and doing more things.

00:51:48 But also I'm scared that when I actually do step outside, I'll just be like, ah,

00:51:54 this is why we don't do this.

00:51:55 This is why we don't step outside.

00:51:57 Every once in a while you'll get that.

00:51:58 But I think I think there's more positives than negatives, like

00:52:02 everything I've done for the most part, like there's annoying parts of it.

00:52:06 Yeah, but it's been worth it.

00:52:07 And your tolerance for discomfort will skyrocket.

00:52:12 Yeah. Like it'll be forced.

00:52:14 Yeah. So, yeah, you just you have the first like embarrassing picture of yourself.

00:52:19 That is actually a picture where you get over that.

00:52:22 Or you have titties in a picture.

00:52:24 I used to like I still pretty much only wear solid black.

00:52:27 Like just like like if there's like an emblem on the shirt, I'm like,

00:52:30 that's a little much.

00:52:31 You'll have like haunting angles that are captured and talked about on mass.

00:52:36 And then like we went to like Provincetown,

00:52:39 Massachusetts, which is like gay Mecca.

00:52:43 And we were wearing red speedos.

00:52:44 And I'm just like that just happened like like overnight.

00:52:47 Yeah. Like where I just.

00:52:48 Yeah. You just kind of just do it.

00:52:50 You just you lose shame.

00:52:52 You just lose the shame. Yeah. Yeah.

00:52:54 I don't have to worry about.

00:52:54 You got to toss out.

00:52:55 I do have you've you've attached yourself to Brandon Walker.

00:52:57 So that's a really good first.

00:52:59 Yeah, you get a huge mistake.

00:53:02 I mean, there is there is discussions about some doing like duo

00:53:06 competitive type things, right?

00:53:08 Yeah. So I guess the understanding is like we're going to do.

00:53:11 What is this like?

00:53:12 Fucking you're like attached to like your brand now.

00:53:14 So like Kyle would be like my partner in like a competition.

00:53:18 And we're playing like double dare.

00:53:19 I think there's going to be like a technical challenge.

00:53:22 But also there's I think Chef Donnie's gonna be like running chopped.

00:53:25 And you and Brandon just.

00:53:27 Yeah. Brandon and I are making God knows what.

00:53:31 Now he's the best, actually.

00:53:32 I like Brandon a lot.

00:53:35 Well, by the time this comes out, God rest his soul.

00:53:37 I just wish Brandon like his co-workers enough to mask up and stay six feet apart.

00:53:44 Good God. Yeah.

00:53:46 He is too selfish to do that.

00:53:48 And as COVID, I'm so tired of having to vax him another

00:53:51 Photoshop, another vax card for him over and over.

00:53:56 Being West Virginia guys, Bob Huggins.

00:53:59 Yeah.

00:53:59 Dude, he didn't know what city he was.

00:54:01 Yeah. And you know, that has happened.

00:54:04 Bob Huggins loves Columbus as well, because when he got pulled over, he was like,

00:54:07 I'm in Columbus, right? Yeah.

00:54:08 He drank. He drank in Pittsburgh.

00:54:10 And he was just like, I'm going to get so drunk.

00:54:12 I'm going to think I'm in fucking Columbus.

00:54:14 Is that that happened?

00:54:15 Yeah. He got pulled over in Pittsburgh and he thought he was in Columbus.

00:54:17 Is this the same day or night as the incident or.

00:54:20 Yes. The what are you talking about?

00:54:22 The slurs, the slurs.

00:54:23 That was this week prior.

00:54:25 Yeah. The slurs were the slurs.

00:54:27 That was the week prior.

00:54:28 Yeah. The slurs was like a week or two.

00:54:30 10 a.m. Yeah.

00:54:32 And then he got pulled over.

00:54:35 And yeah, it was it was there's a lot of beer cans in his car.

00:54:40 He said he was taking them to be recycled and that he wasn't he hadn't been drinking.

00:54:45 Yeah. But then the crazy part of the story, I mean, there's a lot of crazy parts

00:54:48 of the story, but like the the part that like took it into like

00:54:51 just completely absurd level was that

00:54:55 he gets fired or he's no longer the coach, whatever.

00:54:57 I guess he technically resigns.

00:54:59 Yeah. They accept his resignation, obviously, because they're like,

00:55:02 we're going to fire you anyway.

00:55:04 And then like a few days pass and he's like, I didn't actually resign at all.

00:55:07 I'm still the coach of West Virginia.

00:55:09 And now he's like, I guess, going to sue the school.

00:55:12 Yeah. Or stage a coup or some shit like I could see him like.

00:55:16 Remember when Takero Kobayashi got booted from the hot dog eating contest?

00:55:19 He like rushed to the stage.

00:55:22 He's going to do that.

00:55:24 It's like his first game.

00:55:26 He's just going to show up.

00:55:27 I haven't been hopeful for a team in so long with like these transfers

00:55:30 and everything happening like WV was doing this thing

00:55:33 where they can't really compete financially with some of these bigger schools.

00:55:35 So they've been putting all their NIL towards basketball,

00:55:38 because if you get all aware of that, you get one.

00:55:41 That's what I've heard.

00:55:41 If you get one player that hits in basketball, it's way better than football.

00:55:44 It is true.

00:55:45 But better return on investment. Yeah, sure.

00:55:47 Because one player can change everything in basketball, whereas football,

00:55:49 it's like you get a star quarterback.

00:55:51 Who's going to block still doesn't matter.

00:55:52 Play defense and they can't compete with those schools.

00:55:54 So they were going to try to do it that way.

00:55:57 And now it's just all falling apart.

00:55:59 Like he would have had a fucking statue there. Yeah.

00:56:01 And he overnight, I was going to say, is he the most beloved coach

00:56:04 in West Virginia history?

00:56:06 Not anymore.

00:56:07 Like, you see, is like as far as our kneeling probably now was like be the most

00:56:11 success was he's been to like what?

00:56:15 Just some elite eights. Final four.

00:56:16 He went to final four. Yeah. Yeah.

00:56:18 Twenty ten. Yes. Yeah.

00:56:20 But yeah, he's got to be.

00:56:23 He's got a Morgantown. He went to West Virginia.

00:56:25 Yeah, I think like all of that plays into it as well.

00:56:27 Wade, he would have had a statue in front of the Coliseum.

00:56:31 And now just what what an implosion.

00:56:34 So living in Morgantown, having his money is probably boring.

00:56:37 That's what I'm fascinated like what he's going to do next.

00:56:40 I don't know if he's going to resurface at a I keep saying he should go to a Mac

00:56:43 school that just feels right to. Yeah.

00:56:45 Or Liberty. Yeah. Or Liberty.

00:56:48 I don't know if he had expensive tastes.

00:56:50 I know him and Holgerson live next to each other.

00:56:51 I think they just drink.

00:56:52 Yeah, so I'm saying that's what led to like he pride is binge drinks.

00:56:55 I think he has an actual problem.

00:56:57 Definitely.

00:56:58 Because like when he called into that radio station drunk, it was 10 a.m.

00:57:01 Yeah. Yeah.

00:57:02 Well, that's what that was kind of my commentary on the whole ordeal is like

00:57:05 we all we are we being the college basketball community,

00:57:09 glamorized and romanticized Bob Huggins being the drunk uncle.

00:57:13 But it's like like Bob Huggins was always the guy.

00:57:17 If you go to John Daly of college. Yeah.

00:57:19 Yeah. You go to any final four party when Bob Huggins would walk in,

00:57:22 like everybody that's talking to each other to just like turn their heads.

00:57:25 And we'd all just sort of gravitate towards Huggy Bear.

00:57:28 And he just like post up against the wall, tell stories for hours.

00:57:31 Everybody's laughing at every word.

00:57:33 And we're just like, this guy's on.

00:57:34 And and the reason he was awesome is because he is the guy

00:57:37 you want to grab a beer with. Yeah.

00:57:38 Kind of just like like that whole ethos that he had

00:57:42 was something that we all celebrated and he encapsulated.

00:57:45 And then he was now here we are.

00:57:46 He was what WVU kind of is like the party, the rough, right, fat. Right.

00:57:52 The pullovers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:57:56 Yeah. That's it's it's it sucks.

00:57:59 Yeah, that sucks.

00:58:03 All right. Anything else?

00:58:04 Is that I don't know.

00:58:05 What else, TJ?

00:58:07 What else do we need to talk about?

00:58:09 TJ, what do you got, man?

00:58:10 What do you got? I don't know. What's what's next?

00:58:12 I mean, you're having one of the worst days of your life, right?

00:58:15 I'm going through it right now, dude.

00:58:18 You're like a different shade of human right now.

00:58:20 Yeah, I'm going to. Yeah, dude.

00:58:22 You good? Yeah, we'll be fine. We'll make it through.

00:58:25 We'll go get a drink. Sure. There we go.

00:58:28 Yeah. TJ, you're moving.

00:58:30 You you to Kyle and TJ, you guys are living like the same building.

00:58:34 What is what is this building?

00:58:35 Because everybody just keeps saying like we're living in the dorm.

00:58:37 It's and then it's two apartment buildings adjacent to each other

00:58:42 that like 15 bars full employees.

00:58:44 But you said you've taken R.A.

00:58:47 degrees. I'm going to be the R.A.

00:58:49 Yeah. Is this? Yeah, I'm curious how this is going to work.

00:58:52 No drinking, making sure no girls are staying over. Yeah.

00:58:54 It's going to feel like that.

00:58:58 Like we're all going to be walking to work.

00:59:00 What was your college experience like being an athlete?

00:59:03 We were so bitter that we didn't get any attention.

00:59:08 The rest like the wrestlers as compared to the football players

00:59:12 or the basketball. Right.

00:59:12 Did anybody go to Kent State football games, though?

00:59:15 Not really. But that's how bad it was. Oh, wow.

00:59:18 I remember like sharing a locker room with the women's basketball team.

00:59:22 And like they were like they would like pet us.

00:59:25 Did you go to?

00:59:26 They were so tall, though.

00:59:29 They were like the tallest.

00:59:30 I think they had the record for the tallest women's team in the NCAA.

00:59:34 Is that actually true?

00:59:35 They were so tall.

00:59:36 Yeah, it was like I was there.

00:59:37 Their center was like six one.

00:59:39 I was like a mid range height guy in wrestling.

00:59:42 When Kyle has his friends in town, he walks in and he is.

00:59:46 You look like Snow White, dude.

00:59:48 Like you you are towering over your boy.

00:59:50 Five to five to Alfredo five, three Dell and five four Mac.

00:59:54 Also, Kyle's two best friends were named Mac and Dell.

00:59:58 And he didn't realize.

00:59:59 Never.

01:00:00 We were stronger than that.

01:00:05 And that's silly.

01:00:06 So when a group of wrestlers go out, are you sizing guys up or you?

01:00:10 So are guys sizing you up?

01:00:13 50% of them are going out to fight

01:00:17 to fist a cuffs with a bigger man. Yeah.

01:00:21 And it's always just a sad sight.

01:00:25 Even when they win.

01:00:26 It's that's that's tough.

01:00:28 But when a five, I assume you're a guy.

01:00:31 You're not that way. You're not. I don't know.

01:00:33 When that would happen and you're out with your wrestling buddies

01:00:35 and they just get no bar fight, what are you doing?

01:00:39 Are you just you running for the exit?

01:00:42 Are you like, you got to watch and like act like you were like

01:00:45 you would have helped if you needed you strategically show up

01:00:50 just like 10 seconds late. Yeah.

01:00:52 You wait till like the dust is settled and then it was never just like fighting.

01:00:55 It was like someone he was like going up and like peeing in their shampoo.

01:00:59 If it was at a house party.

01:01:01 Class. So you're were you the funny guy of the group?

01:01:04 A wrestler's funny guys.

01:01:06 I was like I was like the Twitter funny guy,

01:01:10 but weird in real life, weird, funny and real.

01:01:13 Yeah. Like when wrestlers show up at the house party and there's swimmers

01:01:17 there and soccer players there and basketball play like, you know,

01:01:21 like all the sports are there.

01:01:23 Like how are the wrestlers standing out or do they stand?

01:01:25 It's just like by trying to grapple with people.

01:01:27 They get so drunk because it's like year months of sobriety

01:01:31 and like extreme discipline, then like your tolerance is so low

01:01:35 and you're like so ready.

01:01:36 You have all this pent up like aggression and masculinity to let out.

01:01:41 So you just like like break things.

01:01:44 Everyone was I was breaking things out, like just to feel like

01:01:47 I was part of the like the crew.

01:01:49 Did the Kent State have a good party situation?

01:01:52 Did you go to other schools?

01:01:53 It was like the Purdue of Northeast Ohio.

01:01:55 That's where we go.

01:01:57 I know exactly what you're talking about.

01:02:00 It was probably better than Akron, better than Cleveland State.

01:02:03 Yeah. On par with Toledo.

01:02:06 So where did you go if you wanted to?

01:02:09 Did you go to other schools really over to party?

01:02:11 No, it was pretty fun.

01:02:13 OU was a lot more fun.

01:02:14 That was far.

01:02:15 Like we had a decent bar scene, like four bars that were fun

01:02:18 and like some house parties.

01:02:20 We met like remet because we went to the same little school together

01:02:23 at a party in Morgantown, though.

01:02:24 Yeah. And you gave me my old mixtape.

01:02:27 Yeah. I remember like we had an awkward conversation.

01:02:30 And yeah, I was like, yo, your tweets are really funny.

01:02:33 And you said yours are too.

01:02:34 And I didn't have a Twitter account at the time.

01:02:37 But then you did like a year later.

01:02:39 Yeah. Yeah.

01:02:40 Future. Yeah.

01:02:41 Did you called your shot?

01:02:42 You just don't realize it yet.

01:02:43 Yeah, that's what it is.

01:02:46 Yeah. Do you do you like this party?

01:02:48 You look back and say, like, I wish I would have more normal college

01:02:51 experience or are you happy with?

01:02:53 I think post college for a few years.

01:02:56 Yes. But now I'm like glad that, you know, from like a fitness standpoint.

01:03:02 Yeah. I didn't drink so much that I worked out hard for four years.

01:03:06 Yeah. So I guess.

01:03:08 Did you ever get fat after you left college or not?

01:03:10 I got portly.

01:03:12 He was hell really.

01:03:13 I was that happened to me when I was no longer like on a regimen.

01:03:15 I no longer had a guy telling me at 7 a.m.

01:03:18 We're going to show up. Yeah.

01:03:19 We're going to do that.

01:03:20 I'm like, now I'm never going to. Yeah, I never did.

01:03:22 And then I just blew up so fast. Puffy.

01:03:24 Yeah. I drank all the time.

01:03:26 You look great now, though.

01:03:27 I mean, you rock. I'm back into lifting.

01:03:29 I love it now. You lift. Is that what you do?

01:03:32 That's what. Yeah.

01:03:33 It's your fault. OK. Yeah.

01:03:35 I'm I'm too weak to.

01:03:38 Yeah, we're past the what's what's the point?

01:03:40 That's what I said.

01:03:41 It's what a mindset you're giving up like, oh, I'm in my 30s.

01:03:45 So I at this point.

01:03:46 Well, I mean, in all honesty, I'm 36.

01:03:49 So like I'm getting to an age where I would

01:03:51 I would much rather like if if the if the show of masculinity

01:03:56 is, say, throwing a baseball as far as you can.

01:03:59 I would much rather instead of throwing a baseball 100 yards,

01:04:04 I would rather throw the baseball 50 yards and not wake up

01:04:09 the next morning like having to ice my shoulder.

01:04:11 Yeah, like I would like.

01:04:12 So that's my way of saying like I value mobility.

01:04:16 I value like just literally my Instagram feed is just hit mobility exercises.

01:04:22 That's that my algorithm is just like hit mobility and then share mobility.

01:04:26 So I'm far more interested in like I do chick workouts.

01:04:30 I do Pilates. I do yoga.

01:04:32 Well, that's that's better.

01:04:33 Yeah, because I'm lose. I'm going to lose the mobility quick.

01:04:36 The days of like loading up the barbell to like grunt out sets.

01:04:40 Like I just like I dabble every so often, like every every so often

01:04:45 I'll look in the mirror and I'll just go, you pussy, and I'll go to the weight room

01:04:49 and I'll load up the barbell and I'll start, you know, like busting out reps.

01:04:53 And I'll do that for a month.

01:04:54 And then inevitably, I'm just like, what am I doing?

01:04:57 You know, I want to I get to get these spaghetti arms.

01:04:59 Like I'm never going to be like, what am I doing?

01:05:01 And then I go back to like wanting to just like, you know,

01:05:04 be able to touch my toes and yeah, I guess all that kind of what am I doing?

01:05:08 So that's that's where I'm at.

01:05:10 You look good. I think yours is good for your mentals, though, too.

01:05:13 Yeah, it's it is it is.

01:05:16 You listen to music when you lift or you

01:05:19 I got deep into this men's protocol.

01:05:24 I don't even want to start, but I got to a point where I was fasting from music.

01:05:30 I was so upset.

01:05:31 He was a I don't want to speak for you, but you're not going to say it.

01:05:34 He was big into

01:05:35 keep keeping himself from experiencing dopamine.

01:05:39 And so I thought the more that I fasted from dopamine,

01:05:44 like the better my overall this is this is a wrestling mindset.

01:05:49 It's like just torturing yourself.

01:05:50 It's extremist.

01:05:51 Like I heard like, you know, fasting is good for food.

01:05:55 And you wouldn't go sober.

01:06:00 If you were having a coffee in the morning, you wouldn't listen to music.

01:06:03 If you listen to music, you wouldn't have a coffee.

01:06:04 Right. Because that's maxing out dopamine, because I love the feeling of the caffeine

01:06:08 rush and I love the feeling of listening to my favorite song.

01:06:10 And I would always do both.

01:06:12 And like that is that's cloud nine.

01:06:14 Yeah. For like an hour or 30 minutes.

01:06:17 And then it's like, oh, fuck,

01:06:19 the rest of my day is never going to be that good or even close.

01:06:22 OK, so I'm like, if I have coffee, no phone, no, no dopamine boosts

01:06:26 from the phone, from music, from pornography.

01:06:30 If that was a thing,

01:06:31 you gave up q-tipping.

01:06:34 Q-tipping was felt too pleasurable.

01:06:36 Now I do q-tips as a reward.

01:06:39 If I finish all of my hygienic practices to a T, I get to q-tip the ear.

01:06:43 It's not joking.

01:06:44 This was and let me tell you, this might not be ultimately beneficial,

01:06:49 but in the moment I was so obsessed that I was having a blast

01:06:53 and it was the illusion of productivity.

01:06:55 He has a group of guys on the protocol.

01:06:57 You should give it a shot for a week.

01:06:58 Are you are you a clean freak?

01:07:01 My like, oh, I'm a slob, but now I'm like, are there clean?

01:07:05 Are you a clean freak?

01:07:06 Is there anybody at bar still?

01:07:08 I'm worried about this with the office.

01:07:09 I like to be really organized.

01:07:10 I clean my apartments clean always. OK.

01:07:12 That's that's make my bed in the mornings. Yeah.

01:07:14 I clean my sheets. But

01:07:16 but this is this has led me to like now I I have to make my bed.

01:07:20 I have to do the dishes.

01:07:22 So it's helped me with like, what is the what is the end?

01:07:26 What is the there doesn't have to be an end, I guess.

01:07:29 But like, is there are we pursuing like self actualization through these

01:07:33 these methods? Are we is it like if I do this, then maybe I will eventually

01:07:38 reach a point where I feel like I'm a functioning adult,

01:07:42 whereas like before I didn't really feel that way.

01:07:44 And then like maybe I'll reenter normal society to where I can Q-tip every day.

01:07:49 Is there like some sort of to enjoy day to day life

01:07:52 without necessarily anything good happening?

01:07:55 Yeah. Are you working towards this becoming habit?

01:07:58 Is this the idea? Yeah. Yeah.

01:07:59 This is all absolutely habit forming.

01:08:01 And this is just it's helped tremendously as much as I joke about it.

01:08:04 And as stupid as I was with some of the areas.

01:08:07 Yes. Yeah. I'll never knock.

01:08:09 I'll never know your life from the outside looking at has improved tenfold.

01:08:14 Right. But it's it's a slippery.

01:08:18 Waxy ass ears. But you have waxy ears.

01:08:20 Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well,

01:08:22 this was great. How does this go?

01:08:26 Fun. Yeah, this was good.

01:08:28 Do you feel like I do? I even forgot we were recording.

01:08:30 I just thought we were chilling.

01:08:32 That's that's the thing about the show.

01:08:33 I told you guys off air, but it's I'll say it again on air.

01:08:36 Like I'm not like those other shows.

01:08:37 No, our shows like our show has a ton of rules at this show.

01:08:40 You just kind of you just kind of let I notice that it's like more like laid back.

01:08:43 What are you going to do with during basketball season?

01:08:45 Are you going to like button it up?

01:08:47 I think I got to go back to the takes.

01:08:49 I think that's what gets people.

01:08:50 That's what puts butts in seats.

01:08:52 Yes. Takes. Are you going to start talking?

01:08:53 I got to. Yeah. How do we feel about Tick-Tock in general?

01:08:56 We don't I don't have a personal.

01:08:58 I don't think you do. I wouldn't do it.

01:09:00 I'm not against it. No, it's entertaining.

01:09:02 I feel an implicit pressure working at this company.

01:09:04 I think like Brandon, I'm fighting.

01:09:06 You should do like 25 percent of what Brandon does. Yeah.

01:09:10 I kind of want to do the the big cat move of like doing it ironically.

01:09:15 But we all know Dan like works himself into a shoot with everything.

01:09:18 And it takes him like three days to where it's like no longer a bit.

01:09:22 And he's like, actually. Yeah.

01:09:23 Now these operating are like the fifth take.

01:09:25 Has human. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

01:09:27 And it's like, I don't really want to go down that road.

01:09:29 Brandon's Brandon's brand is I

01:09:33 I guess that might be the move, but like I kind of watch Brandon shit.

01:09:37 And it's just kind of sad, pathetic, where he's like top five edge

01:09:40 rushers in the SEC this year. Here we go.

01:09:42 I got him right right here.

01:09:43 I'm like, I don't know if that's I don't know if that's because I. Yeah.

01:09:46 What one of the talking about like having to take being a sports guy,

01:09:49 like one of the things that I am horrendous at is like having the conviction.

01:09:53 I guess it goes back to like the self-confidence issues of like I

01:09:56 I hedge a lot because I

01:09:58 sports to me, if you sit down

01:10:02 in this chair and just say like, here's how it is, here's how it's going to be.

01:10:06 This is the way this works.

01:10:08 This team is better than this team.

01:10:10 I think if you if you actually are correct, then there's no reason to watch sports.

01:10:14 And I think like being surprised by like like, damn, I thought the you know,

01:10:18 I thought the Jets didn't have a good enough defense to go that far this year.

01:10:21 But damn, they really surprised me.

01:10:22 That's the joy of like watching sports.

01:10:25 And so every time I fire off takes, I always

01:10:28 I don't do it because like I'm scared to be the freezing cold take guy.

01:10:33 I do it because I genuinely think that like being 100 percent sure

01:10:35 about something is fucking insane. Yeah.

01:10:38 I think like being able to say, but you have to be you can't be like

01:10:40 you can't pussyfoot it. You can't pussyfoot it.

01:10:43 So I think like so to that point, like doing what Brandon will sit down

01:10:47 and just be like, they're frauds.

01:10:49 They're not, you know. Yeah.

01:10:50 And I can't get to that point because if you told me like to rank

01:10:53 the top five shooters in the Big Ten this year, I would just be like,

01:10:57 I mean, like, I don't know, like because you don't know.

01:11:00 You should make your brand non takes then just like have a tick tock.

01:11:02 And I'm today I'm naming ten basketball players.

01:11:05 Yeah, these are some dudes.

01:11:06 You're starting to name dudes.

01:11:08 Listen. All right.

01:11:09 So today we're naming dudes.

01:11:11 All right. So it can you do that every day.

01:11:13 You guys know that dude, right? Yeah. He's still there.

01:11:15 Ten dudes named ten dudes. Yeah.

01:11:18 That's kind of a funny you guys are talking, man, to maybe start to do.

01:11:20 And you should put out you should put out your first ten dude.

01:11:23 You got to drop your ten dudes.

01:11:25 It's not a bad idea.

01:11:28 You should have ten dudes of the week because that is that is an authentic way

01:11:31 for me to use tick tock.

01:11:32 And then it's a talking point. Just be like, I didn't.

01:11:34 You don't have a I woke up.

01:11:35 These are the ten dudes I thought of that rocks.

01:11:37 And here's why I love people. I love that.

01:11:40 I would. And then people know people still get mad.

01:11:42 He's like, that was your dude six months.

01:11:43 I was that number.

01:11:46 I was Tom Coverdale, your dude.

01:11:47 Every single day.

01:11:49 TJ, can can we execute this?

01:11:51 Is there a way? Yeah.

01:11:52 Is there a way I can do this but not actually download tick tock or ever sign

01:11:55 in once we're in the office together?

01:11:57 Yeah, I'll just walk over to you and hand you a phone.

01:11:59 OK, because that's the other part is like I don't every time

01:12:02 if someone sends me a tick tock link and I click on it,

01:12:05 I feel like I've been handed a bomb and I'm just like, get me out of here real quick.

01:12:08 You could take our guy, Mook, to OK, solid.

01:12:12 Mook. Yeah. Yeah.

01:12:13 All right. Well, this is fun, guys.

01:12:16 Thanks for thanks for doing this.

01:12:17 I'm excited to bowl with you guys.

01:12:19 So what is the verdict on that? What is the approach?

01:12:21 How are you guys handling it?

01:12:24 I'm cool. Very. Oh, I want one.

01:12:26 Straight. What do you what?

01:12:27 What is the perfect score for you guys bowling wise to show that you're good,

01:12:31 but you're not trying too hard?

01:12:32 One fifteen. One fifteen.

01:12:34 Yeah, I think.

01:12:35 But as soon as you start, you're like, I want to get a you want to win.

01:12:39 Yeah, I want to.

01:12:40 I think I'm part of you think you're part of you thinks like this.

01:12:43 I could get a 300 like every time I mini golf.

01:12:46 I could get all hole in one's

01:12:48 and then you get obsessed.

01:12:50 So I'm it's like I I'll say like bowling stupid and you should only be average.

01:12:55 Yeah, but you don't mean it.

01:12:56 But then I'll go and I'll like I want to win.

01:12:59 I used to get I used to be pretty good at ball.

01:13:01 I used to get into it because I in college I would.

01:13:03 That was like the one like

01:13:06 fun thing I would do.

01:13:07 I never went to house parties.

01:13:08 I never really I just go fucking bowl when I would have free time after practice.

01:13:12 And we would go to like the Tuesday night, like, you know, one dollar beer.

01:13:16 Yeah, whatever.

01:13:17 You know, classic bowling promotion.

01:13:20 And my high game all time was I think it was like 260.

01:13:25 That's really that's incredible.

01:13:27 Are you the favorite tomorrow?

01:13:29 But that's the you are.

01:13:29 You're not even a dark.

01:13:31 This is the thing is like I have not touched a bowling ball in like eight years.

01:13:35 Maybe I don't know what to do with it.

01:13:36 Yeah, like I don't know.

01:13:37 Is it all going to come back to me or is it not?

01:13:39 I don't know.

01:13:40 I had the spin down, you know, all that sort of thing.

01:13:42 But also like I don't know.

01:13:44 I'm very, very soon.

01:13:45 As you see how delusionally confident and arrogant

01:13:48 some of these employees get, you'll want to win badly.

01:13:52 Yes, it is. You see, but then you'll be come back.

01:13:55 As soon as you see, like, do like some dorky celebration.

01:13:58 He's going to turn around and do something choreographed.

01:14:00 I'm the oh yeah, I'm the best athlete in the audience.

01:14:03 Chico is just like I'm the best.

01:14:05 She was doing that on the Papa shot.

01:14:06 Like he hit he he made he missed like 11 in a row

01:14:09 and then makes one and turns the man.

01:14:11 He's like, you see that?

01:14:12 You see that? Yeah.

01:14:13 Jump shot. And I was like, yeah, he's the happiest out of all of us, though.

01:14:18 Oh, yeah. Yeah.

01:14:20 All right. Well, KB and Nick.

01:14:22 Yeah. Thank you for having my two favorite guys at a barstool by a long shot.

01:14:26 Oh, fucking funny.

01:14:27 Before you guys go, can you like just do like a just like say

01:14:30 a joke, man? Yeah. Do the funny thing.

01:14:33 Yeah, man. Thank you. I was hoping you'd ask.

01:14:34 Just do it. That should be like your first question.

01:14:37 You guys just like be funny.

01:14:38 Yeah. Say a joke.

01:14:39 Appreciate you guys doing this.

01:14:40 Yeah, man. No, I don't want to do it again.

01:14:42 When you owe us one, you got to hop on our.

01:14:44 Ours. I would love to do that.

01:14:47 Cool. I would.

01:14:48 We'll just put this out on both channels.

01:14:50 Yeah, just do it that way.

01:14:52 Cool. Thanks, guys.

01:14:55 All right. Thank you to Nick and KB.

01:14:58 I yeah, I feel like we all have the same.

01:15:02 They were interviewing me there for a second.

01:15:04 TJ, that was that was interesting how they do that.

01:15:07 They're the way they navigate conversation.

01:15:09 It always fascinate.

01:15:10 You said it in the intro.

01:15:12 Getting a laugh out of them feels like getting like approval from like your dad

01:15:16 for the first time as a kid for some reason.

01:15:17 Well, I mean, Kyle kind of talked about it that like you got you got to learn

01:15:21 to live with the with being uncomfortable or whatever.

01:15:23 He is a they're both really good at this, but especially him.

01:15:27 He can just stare at you and just and he's fine with it.

01:15:29 And he's not trying to like he's it's not like a power move.

01:15:32 And it's not like, you know, he's just kind of like, yeah,

01:15:35 I'll just sit here and stare at you and I'm fine.

01:15:37 I'm not uncomfortable. Are you uncomfortable?

01:15:38 And I'm like, yeah, I kind of I kind of am.

01:15:40 But I want to I want to get you to smile and laugh.

01:15:42 And yeah, there's something about the dynamic that you that

01:15:45 that you want to win them over. But yeah, those if you're not aware.

01:15:49 I don't this is the weird thing about me

01:15:51 stepping into the barstool world is that I genuinely have no idea

01:15:56 what my audience is, TJ.

01:15:57 I don't know if like everybody listening to this is a stoolie

01:16:00 and they're all just like, the only reason I'm here is because of Nick and KB

01:16:03 or if like a lot of people like followed me from other stops in my career.

01:16:09 And they're like, who the hell are these guys?

01:16:10 Which I at this point, I'm sure everyone kind of knows Nick and KB.

01:16:14 But if you don't,

01:16:14 yeah, go watch go watch them on the Yakka watch

01:16:17 anus, as they call it their podcast.

01:16:21 They're just they're creative dudes. They're very funny.

01:16:24 And yeah, I would be very uncomfortable if I was them

01:16:27 having guys like me gas them up all the time, because that's kind of how it works

01:16:32 is like they're the they're the guys who everybody at Barstool's like kind of funny,

01:16:35 but they're the geniuses of the you know, like they're the guys

01:16:38 that are like operating on another level.

01:16:41 And yeah, it was fun having them on the show and talking to them.

01:16:45 But we are doing I said it kind of at the top.

01:16:49 We're doing the bowling thing.

01:16:51 So we're actually recording this on Tuesday, which is not how we

01:16:54 we typically operate for a Thursday release.

01:16:57 We usually do it on Wednesday.

01:16:58 So I want to say that just because

01:17:01 shit happens in the world and if Stanford and Cal join the ACC or the Big Ten

01:17:06 or God knows what the hell is going on in the world of sports.

01:17:09 And I did not talk about it in a way that you may have expected me to.

01:17:14 I apologize. It's because one, I committed to this bowling deal.

01:17:19 It's going to take up every second of my day tomorrow on Wednesday.

01:17:23 And so it was a chaotic day around here

01:17:28 in the world of Barstool because Dave owns the company again.

01:17:32 TJ, is that is that is that what we learned from this meeting?

01:17:35 I will. So those of you watching this on YouTube, I want to my

01:17:39 my my first statement is this.

01:17:41 I swear to God, I had no idea that this was happening.

01:17:44 I had no idea that

01:17:47 that this was going to be we had an all hands on deck meeting at Barstool.

01:17:50 That was called Erica puts out the email.

01:17:53 I ignore it like I do all emails.

01:17:55 I don't ignore Erica.

01:17:56 I just like, you know, I read the emails like all hands on deck.

01:17:59 I'm sure TJ will fill me in on the details after the meeting.

01:18:01 I don't need to go to that.

01:18:03 But then you guys started doing the yak today.

01:18:06 It was a total clusterfuck.

01:18:08 I'm sitting at my house two miles away trying to watch the yak

01:18:11 as I'm having my lunch.

01:18:12 Nothing is working. I'm losing my mind.

01:18:14 So literally, the only reason I came to the office today

01:18:17 was because I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on with the yak.

01:18:21 So I drove in.

01:18:23 Then you were like, yeah, we're having all hands on deck meeting.

01:18:25 I was like, oh, oh, that's right. That is.

01:18:27 Yeah, that is right. I guess I'll stick around for that.

01:18:29 Anyway, when I got ready to come into the office,

01:18:31 I saw my wake up mincy shirt just staring at me in the closet.

01:18:36 And there was something about it.

01:18:38 I have not worn this shirt since May 1st.

01:18:40 I believe that was the date of memory serves

01:18:43 that it was no longer in vogue to wear the wake up mincy shirt.

01:18:46 I've had it. I've kept it.

01:18:48 It is it has been in my closet, but I have not worn it

01:18:51 because I just wasn't sure if the vibes were right, whatever.

01:18:56 I'm getting ready to come in today.

01:18:59 I see the wake up mincy shirt.

01:19:00 I'm like, I think enough time has passed.

01:19:02 I think at this point it's like a vintage thing.

01:19:04 I think like, you know, I think people will respect it.

01:19:07 I think people will like it.

01:19:08 I'm going to do it.

01:19:09 I'm going to step outside the comfort zone.

01:19:11 I'm going to wear the wake up mincy shirt to the office.

01:19:13 We'll see how people react.

01:19:14 I don't know.

01:19:15 I don't know how it's going to go over, but we'll see.

01:19:17 I walk in the very first comment I get from anybody is Fusoli

01:19:22 says to me, you're going to have to blur that shirt out,

01:19:25 by the way, like you can't you can't

01:19:28 Titus nice shirt, but you can't wear that on on camera.

01:19:31 We're going to blur it out because, you know, because mincy's the devil, I guess.

01:19:35 I don't know what his point of view was.

01:19:36 I was like, well,

01:19:37 it's like, don't talk about my king that way, first of all.

01:19:39 But yeah, I wear the shirt.

01:19:43 I wait for the meeting.

01:19:45 The meeting happens.

01:19:46 Dave says that he's bought bar still back

01:19:48 and inevitably the first question everybody had, which I, you know,

01:19:53 I had it, everybody else had it is like, what does this mean for mincy?

01:19:56 And I don't know. I don't have the answer yet.

01:19:58 I'm hoping mincy gets back in the fold.

01:20:00 But I got to say, TJ, what a what an incredible coincidence.

01:20:05 Just an incredible like, did I know like deep down?

01:20:08 Did I know? Did I know that this was happening?

01:20:10 Is that why I wore the shirt today?

01:20:11 In the Viva, the V sometimes the Viva stars aligned in a spectacular

01:20:16 constellation.

01:20:18 I do believe mincy's been contacted and that there is something in the work.

01:20:21 Per per Dave's tweet.

01:20:24 So mincy's the number three trend on Twitter in the world right now.

01:20:28 Yeah, the I wore the shirt.

01:20:30 I swear to God, I wore the shirt before I knew the news.

01:20:33 I'm a mincy hipster.

01:20:34 I was one of the 18 people who bought this shirt.

01:20:36 Now they're going to blow up.

01:20:37 Now they're just going to be flying off the.

01:20:39 I should have sold it when I had the chance.

01:20:40 Maybe I should have cashed in on my, you know, when there was only 18 shirts

01:20:44 out there in circulation.

01:20:45 But yeah, Dave bought the company back.

01:20:48 My thoughts as a guy who has been here,

01:20:51 you know, a very long time brick by brick and part of the pirate ship.

01:20:55 And I'm very excited for the 20 year anniversary

01:20:58 just to kind of reminisce on on all the twists and turns

01:21:01 that barstool has had in the 20 years that I've been here.

01:21:04 It's it's it's been a roller coaster.

01:21:06 TJ really has.

01:21:07 It really has.

01:21:09 And it really is short on time.

01:21:11 No, the time I've been here, it is legitimately been it kind of fucking insane.

01:21:15 But I don't I'm not privy to the business part of all this.

01:21:19 But I'm trying to just connect the dots here.

01:21:21 My understanding of how this all went down for Dave is that he sold the company

01:21:25 to Penn.

01:21:26 They hired me and then Dave bought it back at a discount.

01:21:30 So like my understanding,

01:21:32 my understanding is like Dave sold the company.

01:21:35 He's still involved in the company.

01:21:37 So he's like, we need to drive down the value of the company

01:21:41 so I can then buy it back.

01:21:43 How can anybody have any ideas on how we can drive the value down?

01:21:46 And then he's like, I got it.

01:21:48 Let's hire Titus.

01:21:49 Let's let's get him in the mix.

01:21:52 That happened.

01:21:54 The value gets driven down immensely.

01:21:56 And then he steps back in and he's like, give me that company back.

01:21:59 And now he's got the now he's now we're back on the pirate ship.

01:22:01 And I guess that's how it works.

01:22:02 I don't know.

01:22:03 What are your thoughts, TJ, as someone who first of all, are the BS pin hat?

01:22:08 Is that like, you know?

01:22:09 Yeah, I think we're still chilling for now.

01:22:11 Like, obviously, they provided a huge amount of opportunity

01:22:14 for Barstool to grow to somewhere where we'd never thought they could.

01:22:17 Yeah. But Dave being back in control, I think is good for,

01:22:21 you know, our creative atmosphere.

01:22:24 Yeah, it does feel like there's going to be more of the pirate,

01:22:27 which is why I came here.

01:22:29 This was the this was the point of.

01:22:32 Yeah, I mean, I enjoyed Penn.

01:22:34 I enjoyed the private jet experience that we got to the casino.

01:22:38 That was that was a ton of fun.

01:22:39 But yeah, the idea of working at a place

01:22:43 where just chaos abounds is very enticing to me.

01:22:46 And I'm excited about the future of of where all of this is going

01:22:51 with Dave taking over.

01:22:53 So, yeah, that'll be fun.

01:22:55 Anything else? Do we any other shout outs?

01:22:56 I want to shout out, I guess,

01:22:58 the US team beating Puerto Rico.

01:23:01 You can be completely honest with me, TJ.

01:23:05 How much of the so right now they're doing the tune ups.

01:23:07 It's just like USA.

01:23:09 They play Slovenia.

01:23:11 Luka Doncic team coming up here this weekend, I think, is the next game.

01:23:15 How much of the World Cup itself when when the the the FIBA World Cup

01:23:21 happens in the United States men's basketball team is going to?

01:23:26 I believe it's in Japan and the Philippines is going to try to win the World Cup.

01:23:30 How many seconds of that will you watch?

01:23:33 Depends if it's on.

01:23:37 If there's like a highlight that goes viral or something, maybe

01:23:41 I might stick around to watch it, depending on what players tagged in the caption.

01:23:46 Yeah, that's just being like, I don't it's not on my radar.

01:23:50 Something that's on the radar. Yeah, that's a bummer.

01:23:53 Because I this is this is something that is very much on my radar is that we're

01:23:57 the United I think the United States is in trouble as a basketball country.

01:24:00 And I'm worried.

01:24:02 But then we always have the fallback of like, we're not sending our best players.

01:24:05 So who cares if we lose?

01:24:08 I don't know. I want us to win.

01:24:09 That's a controversial that's a controversial opinion,

01:24:12 especially in these days of our women's soccer team

01:24:15 flaming out in the round of 16. But

01:24:18 I would love to see the United States crush everybody at every sport.

01:24:22 I still am that way and I will continue to be that way.

01:24:25 So I don't.

01:24:26 I'm a little worried, though, they didn't look awesome against Puerto Rico,

01:24:30 but we should still win this thing.

01:24:32 We I don't care. I don't care who we're sending.

01:24:34 We're sending a team full of NBA players.

01:24:36 A lot of them are

01:24:38 very, very good players.

01:24:41 You know, like Jalen Brunson is he's awesome.

01:24:44 Paolo Bencaro is rookie of the year on down the line.

01:24:48 The rest of the crew, like Anthony Edwards is he's

01:24:51 he might be the dude on this team that I'm most excited about.

01:24:53 I think they got to just hand the keys to him and let him cook.

01:24:56 But we got to win this thing.

01:24:59 We have to win this thing.

01:24:59 So I'm going to be glued in on it watching. And

01:25:02 I just don't know how much

01:25:05 I believe that we are going to win the thing.

01:25:07 International basketball, it's just it's it's so insane.

01:25:10 Like if anybody if anybody wonders why sometimes on this show

01:25:14 and other shows and just in life in general, I go crazy about the NBA

01:25:18 and I get like this reputation as being an NBA hater.

01:25:21 Just watch. Just watch the FIBA World Cup.

01:25:24 And you'll understand because like the guys who are dominant in the NBA, just

01:25:28 that was the frustration watching them against Puerto Rico is like dudes

01:25:32 who you expect to be dominant and you've seen like dominate in certain ways

01:25:35 at the NBA level.

01:25:37 Suddenly you're like trying to figure out the international.

01:25:39 It's a completely different sport.

01:25:40 And I guess that's the frustration is like

01:25:41 a guy like Ricky Rubio is so freaking good.

01:25:46 And like Spain has the number one team in the world.

01:25:49 We're actually number two.

01:25:50 And Rubio is not playing, apparently, because he's taking mental

01:25:53 health break or whatever.

01:25:54 But like they have all these dudes on Spain that are like incredible

01:25:58 international players

01:26:00 that aren't necessarily awesome NBA players.

01:26:03 And how can that be?

01:26:04 Well, how that can be is that they're two different sports.

01:26:06 And I guess like you could point the finger at the NBA

01:26:10 or you could point the finger at the rest of the world and say, who got it wrong

01:26:13 when it comes to like deciding what is the real basketball, you know?

01:26:16 And I guess I'm someone who's just not an arrogant American about it.

01:26:20 And I say, I think maybe we should play more like the rest of the world.

01:26:24 That seems like what we should do is that we should.

01:26:26 I've been on this for a while, though.

01:26:27 I think the United States should hire a coach that is.

01:26:29 This is what I want Brad Stevens to do with his life.

01:26:32 I want him to be the permanent United States

01:26:34 men's basketball team coach.

01:26:36 That's his full time job.

01:26:38 I want the United States to get very serious about dominating

01:26:41 international basketball events again.

01:26:42 But unfortunately, the only way that we ever take it very,

01:26:46 very seriously like that is if we lose everything.

01:26:48 So, you know, I get put in an uncomfortable position where it's like,

01:26:52 am I cheering for the US to lose in the World Cup?

01:26:54 So that way,

01:26:55 maybe we take it more seriously moving forward in the interest.

01:26:59 No, I'm still cheering for us to win.

01:27:00 I just wish I wish there was a way we could do both.

01:27:02 I wish there was a way we could dominate everything, but then also

01:27:05 treat this like it's the, you know, FIFA World Cup.

01:27:09 And it's like we have to

01:27:10 we have to be very, very serious about the roster construction

01:27:14 and the coaching philosophies and all that sort of thing.

01:27:17 When the reality is the United States basically just sends out

01:27:19 like a mass email to the top like 100 American players.

01:27:22 And they're just like, anybody want to play in this?

01:27:24 Anybody opt in in?

01:27:25 And then that's kind of how they put the roster together.

01:27:27 And we go from there.

01:27:29 But no, I trust our boys.

01:27:31 I think we're still going to win it.

01:27:33 I just in a weird way, it's going to be more compelling, maybe

01:27:36 because the talent isn't as explosive as it could be for us.

01:27:40 But yeah, I'm slightly worried, but I think

01:27:46 I think we're still going to get the job done.

01:27:47 So there you go.

01:27:48 I'm more focused on the next global jam championship.

01:27:51 The global. Yeah. Why don't we just sing Kentucky?

01:27:53 Why don't we just sing the Kentucky team instead of

01:27:56 this team full of NBA player?

01:27:57 Do you think in a seven game series, Kentucky could be this United States team?

01:28:02 There's a hypothetical for you.

01:28:03 Throw that out there.

01:28:04 Sound off in the comments, as they say.

01:28:07 The cat said, who do you think wins?

01:28:10 The dream team. People forget TJ.

01:28:13 I mean, I said the Kentucky part in jest, but people do forget

01:28:18 that the only game the dream team, the original dream team I'm talking about,

01:28:21 1992, the only game that they lost was against a team full of college all stars.

01:28:26 People forget that. That is a true fact.

01:28:28 They scrimmage the college all stars.

01:28:30 The college all stars beat them.

01:28:32 And then they went on to dominate every other team they played.

01:28:34 So that makes you think, yeah, should pro players even good?

01:28:37 Are pro players even good or college players better?

01:28:40 That that's that's something you have to consider.

01:28:42 Let me know in the comments.

01:28:46 Any any other shout outs?

01:28:48 I was going to shut out the efficiency of the American transportation system.

01:28:53 The my journey to Chicago.

01:28:54 Yeah. What was your journey to Chicago?

01:28:55 What was the I didn't hear the story.

01:28:57 I didn't hear the full story.

01:28:58 I don't know what's going on, but it's like millions of

01:29:01 or thousands of flights around the country have gotten canceled

01:29:04 in the last like three days.

01:29:06 And a lot of those were between New York and Chicago, as it seemed.

01:29:10 Oh, really?

01:29:11 I was supposed to fly to Chicago today from Newark,

01:29:14 which is near where I live in New Jersey.

01:29:16 And that's like I canceled last night.

01:29:18 So and there was zero other seats on any flights out of New York,

01:29:23 LaGuardia or Newark before like one p.m. today.

01:29:27 So I would have missed the Yak.

01:29:28 So we were like, all right, let's do like the the bold thing

01:29:32 and take a train to Philadelphia and fly out at like nine a.m..

01:29:36 No, that's what you did.

01:29:38 Book that flight.

01:29:39 It immediately got canceled.

01:29:41 What? And there was no other flights except for a six a.m.

01:29:44 out of Philadelphia.

01:29:45 So I took a three a.m.

01:29:46 train out of New York to get to Philly by five thirty to get on a plane at six.

01:29:53 Are you serious?

01:29:54 Chicago by breakfast.

01:29:55 Dude, that is that's the act to get to that.

01:29:58 Just for the act to get that is the most Viva should I've ever heard, dude.

01:30:01 Yeah, that's incredible.

01:30:02 Big Cat said if the first flight got canceled, he would have been like,

01:30:04 all right, I guess I'm not coming.

01:30:06 I guess I'll see you guys another day.

01:30:07 But somebody's got to keep the lights on around here.

01:30:10 Oh, my God. Now that we're back on the pirate ship.

01:30:12 And you did all that just for me just to be here to do this show.

01:30:16 Well, I heard Nick and KB were going to come on.

01:30:20 Dude, that's crazy.

01:30:22 Yeah, that's all the flight cancellations.

01:30:25 And it's weird how like.

01:30:28 So it's weird that we that we as a society have gotten to a point

01:30:35 where like we all agree that that the airlines stink,

01:30:38 but then also like complaining about it, like everyone.

01:30:40 It's just like a weird crabs in a bucket mentality, you know, like if

01:30:45 everyone knows how bad it is.

01:30:47 But then if you if you voice your opinion, you're like, dude,

01:30:49 this fucking airline canceling my flight, everyone's like, shut up.

01:30:53 Nobody cares, dude.

01:30:54 You think like I have to deal?

01:30:56 You think that's bad, dude?

01:30:57 I had to fly from San Jose to Tallahassee the other day.

01:31:01 You know how many connections that was?

01:31:03 And and instead, I feel like we should all be banding together

01:31:07 to enact change, you know, like I feel like all of us.

01:31:10 But that's like a one.

01:31:13 That's like an issue that I feel like every American's like in alignment with

01:31:16 is that we need some reform with these airlines. Right.

01:31:19 But then anytime like someone tries to rally the troops and they're like,

01:31:23 enough is enough, I had the worst experience.

01:31:26 Here's the experience.

01:31:27 I'm ready to sign my petition.

01:31:28 Everybody was like, fuck your petition.

01:31:30 Do you think you had a bad here's what?

01:31:32 And I just find that fascinating, TJ.

01:31:33 It's like something we all agree on, but then no one wants to hear it as well.

01:31:37 Like no one wants to hear your your sob.

01:31:39 Shut up with your sob story, dude.

01:31:40 It's like, why?

01:31:42 But if we all share our sob stories, then we all might compare notes here

01:31:45 and realize that this is the worst and we should do something about it.

01:31:48 And we should fight the airline.

01:31:49 We should fight the airlines. Yeah.

01:31:52 I don't know how we do that. Right.

01:31:54 But I'm in. I'll do that.

01:31:56 Yeah. I don't know. But

01:31:59 that's I've actually had good luck with airlines and believe it.

01:32:03 I had a I've had a flight canceled a long time, so I'm

01:32:06 I'm worried that the karma is coming for me or the the law of averages,

01:32:11 I guess I should say is coming for me.

01:32:12 All right. That's the show.

01:32:13 Thank you to Nick and KB.

01:32:15 Thank you to everybody watching and listening.

01:32:18 We are going to be watch.

01:32:20 I'll play one more time. Watch the Bolero.

01:32:22 We're doing are we doing it live on Wednesday?

01:32:24 It'll have already happened by the time this comes out.

01:32:26 Fuck. Go watch the replay.

01:32:31 Go watch the replay. Watch me. I'm going to call my shot.

01:32:34 I am going to bowl.

01:32:37 I'm setting my over under at one fifty.

01:32:41 How many games are we like?

01:32:42 What's the format? Because here's what I'm worried about.

01:32:43 16 person tournament. OK.

01:32:46 It's a one on one.

01:32:47 Do I get a warm up at all?

01:32:48 Because I'm worried about my first few balls going in the gutter

01:32:50 because I'm trying to put spin on them.

01:32:51 And I got to feel out the lane first.

01:32:53 Yeah. You got to research the oil patterns.

01:32:56 Yeah. And I'm worried.

01:32:57 I'm worried like the first five balls I throw are going to be gutter.

01:33:00 But then I'm going to find my groove.

01:33:01 That's what happened to when when part of my take did their bowling challenge

01:33:05 where Max, Billy and Jake tried to bowl like a certain score.

01:33:08 Yeah. Max literally threw like the first 20 balls into the gutter

01:33:11 because he was trying to figure it out.

01:33:12 And then he did. And then he was like, throw it.

01:33:14 And it was awesome. Yeah.

01:33:15 But it's too late. Was it too late or no?

01:33:17 It just it killed. It was just like there was no time cap on it.

01:33:20 So it just like dragged him out for a really long time.

01:33:24 Shit, I'm worried about that.

01:33:26 I think my high game.

01:33:28 I expect to break

01:33:30 over 155.

01:33:33 I expect to have a game over 155 for sure.

01:33:36 But we'll see. I don't know.

01:33:39 I went when I when I was bowling a lot and I was doing well, I was

01:33:43 I had my own ball, which I don't have anymore.

01:33:45 I got rid of I had my own shoes.

01:33:47 That's how serious I was about this, TJ.

01:33:50 So, you know, you start to throw in some of these variables.

01:33:53 I don't know the oil pattern of this thing.

01:33:54 I don't know the density of the pens, how old the pens are, you know, like

01:33:59 I don't know it also.

01:34:02 I need to know what the animation will be.

01:34:05 If you get a strike and you get a turkey and all that sort of thing like.

01:34:08 I need to see that ahead of time because I need to

01:34:13 because some some of those animations will give you a little more juice

01:34:16 and get you more excited about the some of them.

01:34:18 You're just like, what the hell are we doing here?

01:34:19 And then now you're like, you're not thinking about your next throw.

01:34:22 You're thinking about.

01:34:23 What a weird fucking animation that was for the, you know,

01:34:27 the double strike animation, so I don't know.

01:34:30 There's there's a lot of variables that go into it.

01:34:32 That's why I'm suddenly over under at 155.

01:34:34 I expect the ball at least to 155 in one of these games.

01:34:37 We will see, though.

01:34:38 We will we will see how it all.

01:34:41 It all shakes out.

01:34:42 That's it. Goodbye, everybody.

01:34:45 I will see you next week on Tuesday.

01:34:47 Enjoy the weekend.

01:34:48 See ya.

01:34:50 (whooshing)

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended