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Mark Titus | The Mark Titus Show
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00:00:00 Well, today's episode of the Mark Titus Show,
00:00:01 the FIBA World Cup starts on Friday
00:00:03 and our old friend Sam Vecini is here to break it all down.
00:00:07 By my count, there are four teams.
00:00:09 Now, opinions will differ.
00:00:11 You can go listen to other podcasts
00:00:12 and I'm sure some of these other people
00:00:13 will have different opinions,
00:00:15 but in the extensive, extensive scouting
00:00:17 I've done of this thing,
00:00:19 I see four different teams
00:00:20 having a realistic shot at winning.
00:00:22 And now America's obviously,
00:00:23 we're the heavy favorites as we should be,
00:00:24 but I think there are four teams
00:00:27 that could conceivably win this thing.
00:00:29 And Sam checks two of those boxes
00:00:31 because he is an American
00:00:33 who currently lives in Australia.
00:00:35 So I thought he would be the perfect guy to have on
00:00:37 because I do think Australia is the other team.
00:00:38 I guess there's a world
00:00:40 where I could have had on a French Canadian
00:00:42 to talk about this, but I'll be honest,
00:00:45 I don't respect French Canadians.
00:00:47 So I just like, you know, never crossed my mind to have.
00:00:49 So we're going to have Sam on,
00:00:50 we're going to talk about it all.
00:00:51 And look, I get it.
00:00:54 Most of you watching, most of you listening
00:00:56 do not care about the FIBA World Cup.
00:00:57 In fact, I'm guessing a lot of you
00:00:59 didn't even realize it was going on
00:01:00 until you heard me mention that on Friday.
00:01:03 I would like to think that some of you know,
00:01:05 we've talked about it on the show a little bit
00:01:06 and you know, it's out there.
00:01:08 It's being talked about a little bit,
00:01:10 but I get it, football's coming back.
00:01:13 Maybe you're someone who's like,
00:01:14 I don't even care about international basketball
00:01:16 in the first place.
00:01:16 And if I do care, it's only the Olympics.
00:01:19 I certainly am not going to care about a World Cup
00:01:20 where America's not even sending our best players.
00:01:23 I'm not telling you what to like, not like, anything else.
00:01:27 I am just going to continue to bang the drum
00:01:29 louder than anybody else that the gap
00:01:32 between American basketball and the rest of the world
00:01:34 is shrinking quickly.
00:01:35 Now we are still very much on top.
00:01:37 We are still better than everyone.
00:01:40 Don't get me wrong.
00:01:41 I'm just saying, what I'm saying is Europe
00:01:43 is pumping out freaks at an alarming rate.
00:01:46 And I just want to be, I want to get ahead of this
00:01:49 and let everybody know what's on the horizon,
00:01:51 which I believe there will be a time where America
00:01:54 will send, if not like our 12 best players,
00:01:57 then a roster that is very, very good
00:01:59 to one of these international tournaments
00:02:01 where it is like kind of our best team.
00:02:03 We're going to lose, and it's not going to be
00:02:04 that big of an upset.
00:02:05 And I don't know if that's going to be in 20 years
00:02:07 and 50 years, whatever, but that day is coming.
00:02:09 And I just want all of you to know it's your fault
00:02:11 because you don't care about the world
00:02:13 because you as an American basketball fan
00:02:15 are getting complacent.
00:02:16 We have to care about this World Cup
00:02:18 because we're going to beat everyone's ass.
00:02:19 And when we do, we are going to rub it in the face
00:02:21 of the rest of the world and say,
00:02:22 we are still better than you.
00:02:24 That is still important to me.
00:02:25 And for that reason, I'm fired up about this World Cup
00:02:27 because America will win.
00:02:28 We are going to win.
00:02:29 And I'm going to talk about it with Sam Vecini.
00:02:31 So that's what we're going to do today.
00:02:34 And I'm pretty fired up about it.
00:02:36 But we're also, it's a special week here at Barstool.
00:02:40 It is a very significant milestone
00:02:44 has happened at this company.
00:02:46 And I thought it'd be cool if TJ and I look back on,
00:02:52 just kind of pause and reflect on how things started,
00:02:55 where we got to, or like the path to get to where we are now,
00:02:59 laugh at some of the memories,
00:03:01 go through some of like the negative feedback
00:03:03 that makes us laugh.
00:03:04 I'm talking of course,
00:03:05 about this being the 50th Mark Titus Show.
00:03:07 I don't know if there's something else going on.
00:03:11 This is, yeah, it's a huge milestone.
00:03:13 Everybody's going crazy about it here at the company.
00:03:15 And we're going to do that because this is the 50th show.
00:03:18 I can't believe it.
00:03:18 When you told me that the other day, TJ,
00:03:19 I was stunned by that.
00:03:21 I was like this,
00:03:21 in some ways it feels like we've done like 400
00:03:23 and in other ways it feels like
00:03:26 we just started the show like last week.
00:03:28 At the end of the show, TJ and I are going to,
00:03:32 I don't know if we're going to,
00:03:33 we're not going to get sentimental,
00:03:34 but we're going to do some fun stuff
00:03:36 because it's the 50th show,
00:03:37 which the hater said,
00:03:39 the hater said we wouldn't be here, TJ.
00:03:41 I don't know if that's true at all,
00:03:43 but it's just the way,
00:03:43 it's what I tell myself to keep motivating myself.
00:03:45 You just wake up every morning,
00:03:46 like the hater said I'd be dead by now.
00:03:48 And there's, you know,
00:03:49 by the way, as an aside,
00:03:50 we'll start the show soon enough.
00:03:52 There are an alarming amount of guidance counselors
00:03:56 and high school teachers
00:03:57 who are teaching or being counselors
00:04:01 for future professional athletes
00:04:03 that tell these guys they won't amount to shit.
00:04:05 That is just, that is,
00:04:06 I just wanted to call that out,
00:04:07 that like my family is a family of teachers.
00:04:10 I think teachers deserve more money,
00:04:11 but also if all of these teachers are in fact
00:04:14 telling all these future professional athletes
00:04:16 that you won't amount to shit and you'll be dead
00:04:17 and this, that, and the other,
00:04:20 or maybe the athletes are lying.
00:04:21 I don't know, TJ, but it's crazy.
00:04:22 It's crazy how many, yeah.
00:04:24 So the hater said we wouldn't be here
00:04:25 and we're here, 50 episodes.
00:04:27 We're going to have some fun at the end of that.
00:04:28 But for most of the show,
00:04:29 I'm going to talk to Sam about,
00:04:31 this Australia team is a lot of fun.
00:04:33 I'm kind of worried about them,
00:04:34 but we're going to win.
00:04:35 Anthony Edwards is going to lead us to the gold medal.
00:04:37 We're going to win the world cup
00:04:38 and we're going to talk to Sam Vecini about it.
00:04:41 All right, Sam Vecini joins us.
00:04:42 The world cup, the FIBA world cup.
00:04:45 It is the redheaded stepchild of world cups.
00:04:47 It's the world cup that people don't seem
00:04:49 to really care about.
00:04:49 I call it the FIBA world cup,
00:04:50 because if you just call it the normal world cup,
00:04:52 everybody thinks you're talking about soccer.
00:04:54 And maybe there's a branding problem
00:04:55 with the FIBA world cup, Sam,
00:04:56 because it does feel like people generally
00:04:59 do not care about this thing.
00:05:01 I guess that's my first question.
00:05:03 Do you care?
00:05:04 Do we care?
00:05:05 Do we care about the FIBA world cup?
00:05:07 - No, I think the answer is no.
00:05:10 I care way more about, it was great.
00:05:13 We were at, we're going to bars for the Matildas,
00:05:16 like the Australian women's soccer team here.
00:05:18 We were having a great time.
00:05:20 Like, it was fantastic.
00:05:21 The world cup was here too, so that helped.
00:05:23 But like, at the same token, I mean,
00:05:27 ain't nobody going to a bar for the FIBA world cup.
00:05:32 Maybe for the Olympics they might,
00:05:33 but not for the world cup.
00:05:34 - Even in Australia?
00:05:35 'Cause I was gonna, I wanted to ask you about that.
00:05:37 Like, what's the vibe, this Australian team
00:05:39 could conceivably win this thing.
00:05:41 You don't think there's gonna be, yeah.
00:05:44 - I don't think they can win.
00:05:46 First, I'm like a little bit worried
00:05:48 about them getting out of the group, like to be honest.
00:05:51 We'll talk about that maybe at the end,
00:05:52 but like, they could do well.
00:05:54 I think they have a chance to medal,
00:05:56 but I think that the problem is that other teams
00:06:00 don't send their best players.
00:06:02 The US isn't sending their best team.
00:06:05 Serbia, like Nikola Jokic is off, you know, horse betting
00:06:10 and drinking and having a great time.
00:06:12 Like, we're going to see him probably on like one
00:06:14 of those carts that we see him on on the internet sometimes,
00:06:17 just like being drug around.
00:06:19 Christophs Porzingis is hurt for Latvia.
00:06:22 Giannis is not playing for Greece.
00:06:23 Like, there are just a number of players
00:06:27 that say this is just not a best on best tournament.
00:06:29 And I think that ultimately people only care
00:06:31 about best on best tournaments.
00:06:32 - How did we get here?
00:06:33 Is it just the dream team?
00:06:34 Do we blame the dream team for this?
00:06:35 Because I feel like a standalone basketball tournament.
00:06:38 Now, at this time of the year,
00:06:39 if we're talking about just the American sports fans,
00:06:41 it's terrible timing with football coming back.
00:06:43 So there's like that to compete with.
00:06:45 But in general, I feel like the sell
00:06:48 for a FIBA World Cup should be way easier
00:06:51 than like watch our United States men's basketball team
00:06:55 play during the Olympics.
00:06:56 Also, our swimming team is going to be competing.
00:06:59 Watch that.
00:07:00 And also our track team is going to be trying
00:07:01 to beat the Jamaicans and also our women's gymnastics team.
00:07:03 It just feels like it's too much.
00:07:04 It feels like this should be the bigger deal.
00:07:06 And it's not.
00:07:07 And the only thing I can come up with
00:07:08 is the dream team ruined everything in 1992.
00:07:10 And everybody's been chasing that high of the '92 Olympics.
00:07:13 - But so if that's the case,
00:07:17 and I think there's like a reasonable case for that.
00:07:18 Like you look at the redeem team as well.
00:07:20 Like that was a big thing, obviously.
00:07:21 - Yeah.
00:07:22 - I guess that where I'm at on it
00:07:26 is it really does come down to best on best
00:07:28 a lot of the time.
00:07:29 - Yeah.
00:07:30 - People want to see other countries' best
00:07:31 against our best.
00:07:32 And I think that especially your point is really valid
00:07:36 in today's ecosystem, right?
00:07:38 Where there is more international talent
00:07:40 across the world in basketball
00:07:42 than there has ever been before.
00:07:43 - Yeah.
00:07:44 - Point blank.
00:07:44 You would think that people would care about this more.
00:07:47 But if we're not going to see literally
00:07:49 the best player in the world,
00:07:50 Nicole Jokic, play in this tournament,
00:07:53 and the US is going to send,
00:07:54 how many guys do you think would play on the US team?
00:07:57 And like as the best.
00:08:00 - Yeah, if we sent our best team.
00:08:00 - Best players in the US, how many did they send?
00:08:02 - Yeah, how many of these guys would be on the team?
00:08:04 You're saying if we actually sent our best team?
00:08:07 Yeah.
00:08:08 - And the best way I can explain it too
00:08:11 is like think about soccer in the Olympics, right?
00:08:14 Like theoretically we should give a shit
00:08:16 about men's soccer in the Olympics.
00:08:18 'Cause it's a tournament where all these countries
00:08:22 are competing against one another.
00:08:24 We give way more of a shit
00:08:25 about the women's tournament in soccer
00:08:27 because they do send their best players.
00:08:30 But the men's tournament has turned into this like weird
00:08:33 U23 competition with like, you know,
00:08:36 three or four players that are over age
00:08:39 or whatever the fuck the rules are.
00:08:40 And people just don't care.
00:08:42 So I think that that's,
00:08:44 I think it comes down purely to just being best on best
00:08:46 and the players haven't decided
00:08:48 to give a fuck about the makeup yet.
00:08:49 - I just don't know how to explain it
00:08:50 to my non-existent kids, Sam.
00:08:52 That's really it.
00:08:53 Like I'm worried about my kid being eight years old
00:08:56 and I have to sit him down and be like,
00:08:57 so this tournament we care about, this one we don't.
00:08:59 This one we, and I'm glad you brought it up,
00:09:02 the point that I've been sounding the alarm on this forever.
00:09:05 This is probably why I'm invested in this World Cup
00:09:07 because I'm going crazy looking at the talent
00:09:11 around the world.
00:09:11 Not only the talent, but the likability of players
00:09:14 from around the world.
00:09:15 And I think the US is on the verge of a basketball crisis.
00:09:18 And that sounds absurd because we have so much more talent
00:09:21 than everybody else.
00:09:22 But I'm just early on this, Sam.
00:09:24 I'm saying at some point in my life,
00:09:26 there will be a moment where we will go into an Olympics
00:09:28 and the United States might not be favored.
00:09:30 And that seems insane to say right now,
00:09:32 but I'm just reading the tea leaves.
00:09:34 I'm seeing what, if you watch an NBA game
00:09:36 and you pay attention to the people
00:09:37 that are moving the needle that are younger than 25,
00:09:40 I mean, the people that move the gossip
00:09:42 are Zion and John Moran types,
00:09:44 but as far as the actual talent on the floor,
00:09:47 it's not American.
00:09:48 I'm freaking out about this.
00:09:49 So whenever there's a chance for the USA to be on the chest
00:09:52 and we're playing basketball, I want to win the tournament.
00:09:55 And it just feels like the basketball viewing public
00:09:57 in this country is like, we don't care.
00:09:59 If we win, we'll celebrate and we'll be like,
00:10:01 hell yeah, we're America.
00:10:02 If we lose, we'll shrug our shoulders and be like,
00:10:04 we didn't send our best guys anyway,
00:10:05 so that doesn't count.
00:10:07 And that's annoying.
00:10:08 - Well, I guess that like, first and foremost,
00:10:11 how to talk to your non-existent kids about this.
00:10:13 I mean, you know, how can we call Nikola Jokic
00:10:18 the best player in the world
00:10:19 if he didn't go into Manila and beat the United States
00:10:22 and beat the Philippines team, right?
00:10:25 How can we call Giannis Antetokounmpo
00:10:26 the best player in the world?
00:10:27 - It's a great question.
00:10:28 - If he didn't go into there and just win these games.
00:10:31 That's my question.
00:10:32 - Don't forget Kentucky won the Global Jam.
00:10:34 So like really Kentucky is the best team in the globe.
00:10:39 And until Nikola Jokic and Serbia can beat Kentucky,
00:10:44 this Kentucky Wildcats team,
00:10:45 there's questions about how good he actually is, I think.
00:10:50 - I think that's exactly right.
00:10:51 Yeah, I think that's the only way we can think about it.
00:10:53 And, you know, to go back to your point
00:10:56 about like there just being so much more talent
00:10:58 internationally, I think this upcoming Olympics
00:11:01 will be the time where we care
00:11:05 about these competitions most.
00:11:07 - Yeah.
00:11:08 - Like, and we will continue,
00:11:09 I think that will continue to grow
00:11:11 and it will continue to be more and more competitive.
00:11:13 And if the US does not send its best team
00:11:15 in these upcoming Olympics,
00:11:17 there is a very good chance Canada, Australia,
00:11:20 teams like that that have like actual depth of talent now,
00:11:23 in addition to Serbia, who has Nikola Jokic
00:11:25 and Greece who has Giannis like.
00:11:27 - France is hosting it too.
00:11:28 France is hosting it, right?
00:11:30 Aren't they hosting the Olympics?
00:11:31 - France is hosting it.
00:11:32 - Yeah.
00:11:33 - Yeah, I believe that's right.
00:11:33 So that is, it's really, really important.
00:11:37 Like, this is the upcoming cycle.
00:11:38 And I do wonder if the fact the Olympics coming in 2024
00:11:42 does play a role, like we're going to see best on best
00:11:44 within a year for now as well.
00:11:46 So there's probably like a dilution effect there,
00:11:48 but look, I'm excited,
00:11:50 like, I don't want to like shit on this tournament entirely.
00:11:52 Like, I am excited to see these guys play.
00:11:54 Like, if you watch the Germany USA game,
00:11:57 where, you know, Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroeder
00:12:01 just like kind of cut up the United States
00:12:03 for three quarters.
00:12:04 I don't know, like, that's going to be a pretty fun game.
00:12:07 Like, it was a great basketball game
00:12:08 with a lot of really talented players,
00:12:10 but I just, yeah, like it's,
00:12:13 I think it's hard to get the general public engaged
00:12:16 when it's not best on best.
00:12:17 - When you don't have LeBron or stuff in the game,
00:12:20 it's just a hard sell.
00:12:22 It's just like everybody, yeah.
00:12:24 - Yeah, just like think about who the 10 best players
00:12:26 in the world are right now.
00:12:27 Remember, right?
00:12:28 Stephen Curry's not there, Kevin Durant's not there,
00:12:30 Jason Tatum's not there,
00:12:31 MP Giannis Jokic are not there,
00:12:34 LeBron is not there, Anthony Davis is not there.
00:12:37 I'm like going deeper than 10 now.
00:12:39 Like very, very few of the top 10 players in the world
00:12:43 are there and basketball is such an individual sport
00:12:47 that I think that's it.
00:12:49 - Let's talk about the players who are there.
00:12:50 This USA team, when the roster was announced,
00:12:52 I was, you know, I mean, we're talking about it right now.
00:12:56 I was, eh, eh, eh, you know, eh, I don't know.
00:13:00 We'll see, eh, doesn't really make it move that much,
00:13:02 but you know, I like these guys on the team, we'll see.
00:13:05 I was surprised that through the exhibition cycle,
00:13:10 by the time they come back to beat Germany,
00:13:12 how invested I am in this team.
00:13:13 One, that I think they are good
00:13:16 and they are the favorites.
00:13:18 America's gonna be the favorite
00:13:19 in just about any basketball tournament we enter,
00:13:21 but I think that this team has demonstrated
00:13:23 that they should in fact be the favorite
00:13:24 based on their talent, not just the USA on their chest.
00:13:27 But two, they're so likable and fun.
00:13:29 And oftentimes when you have like a USA team
00:13:32 that feels like they could eventually get tripped up
00:13:35 in one of these global tournaments,
00:13:37 frankly, it's a group full of unlikable guys.
00:13:40 And it's like part of why they're frustrated,
00:13:42 part of why they're not gonna win
00:13:43 is 'cause it's frustrating about the egos
00:13:45 or they're a player, like they don't play well together,
00:13:47 that they're traveling their balls off
00:13:49 and looking at the refs and arguing
00:13:50 'cause what they can do in the NBA,
00:13:52 they can't do at the international level.
00:13:55 - You moved to the Midwest and within months
00:13:57 you just go back to old man
00:13:59 yells at a cloud basketball team.
00:14:01 - I'm back baby.
00:14:02 But this team doesn't have that, Sam.
00:14:04 This team is fun.
00:14:05 Do you agree with that?
00:14:06 Do you think that this team by and large,
00:14:08 for what they are, we gotta take them for,
00:14:09 we would prefer if there was more talent obviously,
00:14:11 but this is who we got.
00:14:12 We gotta eat the meal we're served.
00:14:14 Do you like the meal that's been put in front of you
00:14:17 with this USA team?
00:14:18 - I do, I love this team.
00:14:20 I think it's a super fun, unselfish team.
00:14:23 You look at the guys that they have brought in
00:14:26 from the really fun idea of the Villanova duo
00:14:29 of Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart,
00:14:32 to Tyrese Haliburton just like diamond up everybody
00:14:35 all over the court, to Austin Reeves,
00:14:37 who is a really unselfish, great player
00:14:40 that has emerged into being somebody over the last year
00:14:43 that helped the Lakers to the conference finals
00:14:45 and now it looks like he's gonna play a pretty pivotal role
00:14:48 on a team, USA team that can't play without him
00:14:50 a lot of the time it feels like.
00:14:52 Jaren Jackson's a super unselfish player
00:14:54 and you can go, there are so many other guys on this team
00:14:58 that you just love to talk about in that way.
00:15:00 But then there's the guy at the center of it
00:15:03 and that's Anthony Edwards.
00:15:05 And Anthony Edwards just is so joyful
00:15:10 in the way he plays and so has built this level of,
00:15:18 this aura around him, right?
00:15:20 It's gonna sound so fucking stupid when I say this Mark,
00:15:25 but that movie "Hustle" he did,
00:15:29 did you watch that Adam Sandler movie?
00:15:30 - No, I didn't, no.
00:15:31 I heard it was not that bad actually, right?
00:15:33 - No, it's really good, it's actually really good.
00:15:36 And he's in that movie and he's kind of the villain
00:15:39 in that movie.
00:15:40 - Oh really?
00:15:41 - And he's so fucking likable,
00:15:43 he's actually really good.
00:15:46 He is a good actor.
00:15:48 He is a 21 year old.
00:15:50 - I gotta watch it.
00:15:51 - Is like an awesome actor, like talking shit,
00:15:55 being super confident and like all that.
00:15:58 It's why I know people are gonna make fun of me for this,
00:16:01 but that kind of matters to me.
00:16:03 He's so comfortable in his own skin
00:16:06 that he can go into an Adam Sandler movie
00:16:09 that's like a pretty big deal on Netflix,
00:16:11 be the villain, be completely likable as the villain
00:16:16 and like himself and be like a lot of people's favorite part
00:16:21 of that movie.
00:16:22 It just kind of is a microcosm of who he is,
00:16:26 I think as a person in terms of that confidence level.
00:16:28 - My two big data points on Anthony Edwards
00:16:30 before he ever played a second of NBA basketball
00:16:32 were number one, the last second shot he hit in Maui
00:16:36 to beat Shamanad when he was at Georgia
00:16:39 in the seventh place game of the Maui Invitational.
00:16:41 And he didn't really celebrate,
00:16:44 but he just kind of had that like a pose
00:16:47 that you would see if like a guy hit the shot
00:16:49 to win the Maui Invitational.
00:16:51 And I remember watching that and I was like,
00:16:53 oh my God, this kid like, you know,
00:16:55 he wasn't doing Sam Cassell big balls or anything,
00:16:58 but he just kind of like, like in my mind,
00:17:01 you treat that like you just won the NIT
00:17:03 and instead he was just like,
00:17:04 like you might've said I'm him, you know?
00:17:06 And I just remember thinking like,
00:17:07 this is a different dude here.
00:17:09 And then in the pre-draft process,
00:17:12 as I'm sure you remembered Sam,
00:17:13 when he said like, I don't really like basketball.
00:17:16 Like I just, he's like,
00:17:18 I don't really know if I like this to be honest.
00:17:19 I'm just kind of good at it.
00:17:21 - He's a football guy.
00:17:23 - Yeah, and I was so turned off.
00:17:25 I don't know, this is old man Titus basketball fan,
00:17:28 I guess I was like, oh boy,
00:17:29 I don't think this kid's gonna work in the league.
00:17:31 But now looking back on it, it's like,
00:17:33 no, that's just who this dude is.
00:17:34 He's just so likable and just like,
00:17:36 is just going to the beat of his own drum.
00:17:39 - So I guess that brings me to an insane question
00:17:42 I'm going to ask you, and I understand how insane this is,
00:17:43 but I'm ready to go there after watching
00:17:45 just this exhibition cycle.
00:17:46 We haven't even gotten to the real world cup.
00:17:48 Is there a world where Anthony Davis can position himself
00:17:52 as the future face of the NBA?
00:17:54 Based on like, yeah, I'll let you answer, go ahead.
00:17:58 - Yeah, Anthony Edwards, yeah, yeah.
00:18:03 I think there is.
00:18:05 That mantle is up, right?
00:18:09 It's coming up soon, I think.
00:18:12 - So, yeah, go ahead.
00:18:14 - It feels like Nicole Jokic doesn't,
00:18:16 I don't know if Nicole Jokic wants it, frankly.
00:18:18 Giannis with the way that he plays,
00:18:23 his physical, battering Rams style.
00:18:27 If he lasts until he's 32, 33, as opposed to 35, 36,
00:18:32 like many of the great players are,
00:18:34 nowadays, I don't think that would surprise anybody, right?
00:18:38 And then Joel Embiid has his history of injuries.
00:18:41 I think that it's going to be a battle
00:18:44 between Anthony Edwards, Jason Tatum, Luka Doncic,
00:18:48 Jokic, if he ever wants it, frankly.
00:18:51 I do think that this, we could look back at this tournament
00:18:57 and it be the moment where people point to as,
00:19:02 this is when it started for Anthony Edwards, maybe.
00:19:05 - Yeah, I don't think most of this country
00:19:08 is going to care about this tournament,
00:19:09 but there might be a moment in the championship game,
00:19:12 US is down four with five minutes left,
00:19:15 and people just start texting their buddies,
00:19:17 like, "Throw the game on, throw the game on,
00:19:18 throw the game on."
00:19:19 And I'm not saying that 30 million people
00:19:21 are going to be watching,
00:19:22 but enough people will be watching,
00:19:23 Anthony Edwards wins the game.
00:19:26 The same thing that unfolds against Germany
00:19:27 happens in the championship of this.
00:19:30 Yeah, I don't think you hand him the crown
00:19:31 and say you're now the face of the NBA,
00:19:33 but I'm just like, again,
00:19:34 I'm trying to predict the future here, Sam.
00:19:36 And first of all, the conversation of like,
00:19:39 who's going to be the face of the NBA
00:19:40 and who's the best player are two completely different things.
00:19:43 Jokic, Giannis, are going to be the best player
00:19:46 for the foreseeable future.
00:19:48 Luka might work his way in there, whatever.
00:19:51 I think the face, the quote unquote face of the NBA
00:19:54 has to be an American.
00:19:55 I think it has to be an American.
00:19:56 And maybe that's because I'm an American,
00:19:58 but I just, when has it never been an American?
00:20:01 It's like, as much as we like these European guys,
00:20:04 like there is a cultural thing that's off about like,
00:20:08 you know, like Jokic we love,
00:20:10 but we also love him because he's like so different.
00:20:12 And Giannis is like so,
00:20:13 like you can say you love Giannis and Jokic,
00:20:16 but like at the same time,
00:20:17 most Americans do kind of roll their eyes
00:20:19 at the idea of them not caring.
00:20:20 And we want our athletes to like care more.
00:20:22 I don't know, I just think like ultimately
00:20:24 the face of the NBA has to be an American
00:20:27 to the point that like it's only ever been an American.
00:20:29 It was Bird and Magic and Jordan,
00:20:30 and then Kobe and LeBron and like whoever,
00:20:33 like it's always been an American guy, Steph in there.
00:20:36 And then the other point I would make with that, Sam,
00:20:40 is that if it does in fact have to be an American,
00:20:43 most of the young American basketball players
00:20:44 are simply just not likable.
00:20:46 They're just like not,
00:20:47 there aren't a lot of guys that like you point to
00:20:48 and you're like, like Zion was supposed to be the guy
00:20:51 and look where we're at now with him.
00:20:52 And John Morant, same thing.
00:20:53 - John Morant was supposed to be the guy.
00:20:55 - Yeah. - Yeah.
00:20:55 - And it's like, who can--
00:20:57 - John Morant had a signature shoe get released this year.
00:20:59 - Remember that?
00:21:00 Nobody else does.
00:21:02 - Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:21:04 And even Tatum is like not charismatic
00:21:06 and as much as we're trying, we just can't like get him there
00:21:09 and I'm like Anthony Edwards might be the guy.
00:21:10 Like if this guy, you know, it's just one feeble World Cup.
00:21:14 I understand at some point he's gonna have to start
00:21:15 leading the Timberwolves to, you know, deep playoff runs
00:21:18 and doing all this other sort of thing,
00:21:19 but he's got the goods.
00:21:21 He's good enough, he's talented enough, one,
00:21:23 but as you said, the idea that he can star in movies
00:21:27 at 21 years old and just pop into an Adam Sandler movie
00:21:30 and feel comfortable, he's got the charisma.
00:21:32 I'm very excited about the future of Anthony Edwards.
00:21:34 - Yeah, I mean like everyone points to the interviews
00:21:38 he gave when he was like a rookie, right?
00:21:39 Like him just saying that he's the best
00:21:41 at literally every sport.
00:21:42 Like he's never played hockey,
00:21:44 but you better believe he can play in the NHL.
00:21:46 He believes he can play in the NHL.
00:21:48 - Yeah. - And then he finishes it
00:21:49 by saying, "I've been A1 from day one."
00:21:51 - So good, that's so good. - It's perfect.
00:21:54 It's just who he is, right?
00:21:55 Like the other guy will say,
00:21:57 the European player that I think has a real chance
00:21:59 to do this, I mean, like let's remove Victor Wambinyama
00:22:03 from this conversation, 'cause we have no idea
00:22:04 what he's gonna be yet on some level.
00:22:07 I'm pretty sure he's gonna be great,
00:22:08 but like let's remove him.
00:22:10 I think Luka could be it.
00:22:11 And by the way, Luka is the other great player
00:22:13 that is playing within this tournament.
00:22:16 Luka has the playoff performances at this point
00:22:19 to where he clearly has like the confidence
00:22:20 and like doesn't give a fuck
00:22:22 that he'll just go in and play, right?
00:22:25 He has, I think like a real level of charisma.
00:22:28 He has the thing where like he complains to the officials
00:22:31 and a lot of people find that unlikable.
00:22:33 And that is something that he's gonna have to get over.
00:22:37 I think on some level to get past that point
00:22:40 of American audiences accepting him in some way.
00:22:44 But the point here that you're making about it
00:22:47 having to be an American,
00:22:48 I don't know that it has to be an American.
00:22:51 I think it is drastically easier
00:22:54 for Americans to become it basically.
00:22:57 Just because of that connection
00:23:01 that they can have with the audience.
00:23:02 Like Luka has been speaking English
00:23:05 since he was like very, very young.
00:23:08 He essentially has grown up in basketball.
00:23:10 He was an elite player from the time
00:23:12 he was like 16, 15 years old.
00:23:14 I think it could be Luka.
00:23:15 I think there's a chance of that.
00:23:16 - Yeah, and to be fair, like part of,
00:23:19 most of the time the face of the league
00:23:20 is actually the best player
00:23:21 and it's just been an American
00:23:23 because it's been an American.
00:23:25 And I guess you're probably right.
00:23:27 It probably doesn't have to be an American.
00:23:29 It's just worked out that way.
00:23:30 But as I think about it, I'm like,
00:23:32 that's the guy who, but it's Adam Silver's NBA.
00:23:34 And Adam Silver sees things a lot differently
00:23:37 than David Stern did when he banned
00:23:39 Michael Jordan from the NBA.
00:23:40 And then Hakim was the face of the league
00:23:41 and he was like, Jordan, come back, come back.
00:23:43 As great as Hakim was, he was just like,
00:23:45 MJ, we need you back.
00:23:46 We need you back.
00:23:47 We need the face of the league back.
00:23:49 No, but Hakim was American.
00:23:51 I forgot.
00:23:52 Hakim played for USA, did he?
00:23:53 He was on the, I vividly remember Hakim
00:23:57 being in one of the, it was one of the Olympics, right?
00:23:59 He was wearing the USA jersey.
00:24:01 I remember this now.
00:24:02 - Yeah, but like he's, where was he from originally?
00:24:05 He was from, he's from Nigeria.
00:24:07 - Right, but he was, hang on.
00:24:08 - I don't know if Nigeria had like a team at that point.
00:24:11 - That's probably what happened, yeah.
00:24:13 But here he is, wearing USA number 15.
00:24:15 Look at that.
00:24:16 FIBA Hall of Famer, Hakim El Adel.
00:24:17 - 'Cause like the way FIBA has allowed
00:24:19 like a lot of these American players,
00:24:21 I think rightfully to build growth throughout
00:24:24 the African region with basketball,
00:24:26 like allowed a lot of players to get the Nigerian passport
00:24:31 or whatever it is exactly to play for the Nigerian team.
00:24:34 I would venture that there's probably
00:24:38 not a great infrastructure in Nigeria
00:24:40 at that point for basketball.
00:24:41 - Okay, Hakim counts as, he counts as American.
00:24:44 I'm counting it.
00:24:45 He won a 1996 gold medal.
00:24:46 He won a '96 gold medal wearing a USA jersey.
00:24:49 Like how is that not American?
00:24:50 That's the most American thing you can do
00:24:51 is win a gold medal for the USA.
00:24:53 (laughing)
00:24:55 That's number one on my list.
00:24:56 Let's talk about some of these other teams,
00:24:59 teams that you like that could knock us
00:25:04 off of our pedestal that we don't even know.
00:25:06 And Spain, Spain won the last one of these.
00:25:08 Do you like, I don't believe in the Spain team.
00:25:12 Rubio's not playing.
00:25:14 I know that they played us well in the exhibition,
00:25:16 but they don't really have any NBA players.
00:25:18 And that's really where I start with.
00:25:20 I get that there's a world where these dudes
00:25:22 play well together and all that sort of thing,
00:25:24 but this isn't the Spain team of yesteryear
00:25:27 with the Gasols and Rudy Fernandez.
00:25:29 Is Rudy Fernandez actually playing though?
00:25:31 I don't know why he just came.
00:25:32 I was about to say they don't have Rudy Fernandez,
00:25:35 but I think they do actually.
00:25:36 But this isn't the Spain team that used to have
00:25:40 half the roster was in the NBA.
00:25:42 And we had to fear them in the Olympics.
00:25:46 And elsewhere, what do you like Spain or otherwise?
00:25:49 Like who do you think is the biggest contender,
00:25:52 the biggest challenge should the USA get tripped up here?
00:25:56 - Yeah, I think Spain is interesting,
00:25:58 but to me the most talented team
00:26:00 other than the US is Canada.
00:26:02 Canada has Shea Gilchrist Alexander
00:26:03 playing in this tournament.
00:26:04 They have, you know, RJ Barrett,
00:26:07 who has been a killer for team Canada in the past for sure.
00:26:10 Like you go back and you watch the U17 tournament
00:26:13 where he completely destroyed the United States team.
00:26:16 Like he gets up for these Canadian basketball team moments.
00:26:20 You have Dylan Brooks, you have Lou Dort.
00:26:22 Like both those guys can really be shut down defenders
00:26:25 if they really wanna throw them out there.
00:26:26 You have Kelly Olenek and Dwight Powell and Zach Yeedy,
00:26:30 all of whom are real legitimate bigs
00:26:32 that can play against the United States in a real way.
00:26:37 So I do think that Canada
00:26:40 is the second most talented team here.
00:26:43 I think Australia is really talented.
00:26:45 They just got slotted into this group of like absolute death.
00:26:49 - Yeah. - Like if you look at
00:26:50 who they're forced to play against,
00:26:52 like they have both Germany and Finland in their group.
00:26:54 It's crazy that one of those three teams
00:26:57 won't be in the next round that goes to like the final 16.
00:27:02 Finland has, you know, Lowry Markkanen,
00:27:06 but they also have guys like Olivier Kamla, Miro Little,
00:27:09 both of whom will be playing college basketball this season.
00:27:11 They have Jacob Grandison, who was at Duke last year.
00:27:14 You know, they have a bunch of guys
00:27:15 that are really, really good.
00:27:16 And, you know, it's gonna be really interesting
00:27:19 to see if they can play.
00:27:21 And then you have Germany who just gave the US a real game.
00:27:24 I think that German team's good.
00:27:26 Dominican Republic has Karl Towns.
00:27:29 Greece is not terrible.
00:27:32 Like Serbia still has Bogdan Bogdanovich
00:27:34 and like six or seven other guys
00:27:36 that have been drafted at least.
00:27:37 - Yeah. - Like Australia
00:27:39 should win that group, but, you know,
00:27:42 if Lowry Markkanen goes nuts for Finland,
00:27:44 nobody's gonna sit here and be like,
00:27:46 it'd be a stunner if Australia didn't go through.
00:27:49 - Yeah, how did this happen?
00:27:50 Like how did we let the, yeah,
00:27:52 that wouldn't exactly be a shock.
00:27:53 I'm with you with Canada.
00:27:55 I am in love with this Canada roster.
00:27:58 Canada has never won anything ever, ever,
00:28:00 in basketball, ever.
00:28:01 (laughing)
00:28:02 The James Naismith, people forget, is a Canadian guy.
00:28:05 They kind of invented the sport.
00:28:08 And their national team has been,
00:28:12 Jordan Henry came on the show not too long ago,
00:28:14 the man who considers himself the John Rothstein of Canada.
00:28:17 And every time he comes on the show,
00:28:18 he breaks down Canadian college basketball,
00:28:20 which is how I know.
00:28:21 Which is how I know Canadian college basketball legend,
00:28:25 Phil Scrubb, who was on the Canada team,
00:28:28 won five national titles in Canada.
00:28:30 But he, I made the point to him that I think that
00:28:35 the Canadian basketball team is like
00:28:37 the United States soccer team,
00:28:39 where you just like, you look at the roster
00:28:41 and you squint enough and you talk yourself into like,
00:28:42 damn, they got a lot of talent.
00:28:43 They could do something and then they never do.
00:28:45 This is the first time I've looked at
00:28:47 Canada basketball roster and been like,
00:28:48 I don't even need to talk myself into this.
00:28:50 They are actually legitimately a very, very talented team.
00:28:54 They play France the first game.
00:28:56 They open up with France.
00:28:57 They're not only in France's group,
00:28:58 they play France the very first game.
00:29:00 I need to see France lose.
00:29:03 I hate France so much, as I know in a basketball sense.
00:29:05 - Isn't it so nice that Gobert is like
00:29:08 the face of the French team?
00:29:09 Because I feel like it just works out perfectly.
00:29:12 And I'm really worried that Wim Benyama
00:29:14 is going to make France likable,
00:29:15 when Gobert has made them so unlikable.
00:29:17 They beat us in the World Cup last time.
00:29:19 I feel like there's a nice rivalry budding here
00:29:22 with the US and France in basketball.
00:29:24 And I'm worried that Wim Benyama
00:29:25 is gonna be way too likable
00:29:26 and people are not gonna hate France.
00:29:28 But right now, he's not playing in this.
00:29:30 Gobert is, and I hope Canada beats their brains in.
00:29:32 (laughing)
00:29:34 - So there you go.
00:29:35 - Canadian team's like okay this year.
00:29:37 Like it's not crazy.
00:29:38 They're gonna be much more of a contender,
00:29:39 I think like in the Olympics when Wim Benyama plays.
00:29:42 Right, like that feels like the more likely outcome.
00:29:44 Like they have a decent team.
00:29:47 Like Nando DiColo is a really good player,
00:29:49 like in the international game.
00:29:51 And Nicolo Batum is solid and Yabasele was drafted.
00:29:56 And Yvonne Fournier and Gobert are still in the NBA.
00:29:59 But like, it feels like they're a team
00:30:01 that probably will use this as like a tune up
00:30:04 for the Olympics as much as anything.
00:30:06 Like they probably are gonna gear up for that
00:30:08 more than anything else.
00:30:09 - What's the concern with Australia?
00:30:13 I mean Australia has a ton of NBA guys.
00:30:15 I guess I'm like looking at the roster right now.
00:30:16 Giddy, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Josh Gray, Matisse Theibel.
00:30:20 A lot of guards, I guess that's the issue.
00:30:22 We don't have, the Aussies don't have big men.
00:30:25 We can't get Andrew Bogut to--
00:30:27 - Yeah, we can't get Bogut there, yeah.
00:30:29 I mean look, Jock Lawndale got hurt
00:30:31 in one of their two matches.
00:30:32 - Oh! - And that was the guy.
00:30:33 - That's the guy, yeah.
00:30:34 - Supposed to be Lawndale at center
00:30:36 and that was gonna work perfectly,
00:30:37 but then he gets hurt in one of the tune ups
00:30:39 and can't travel with them.
00:30:40 And now it's probably gonna be like Dwap Reeth
00:30:43 who is like a really good player over in Europe.
00:30:45 But I mean look, Australia should meddle on some level.
00:30:50 Like they really should.
00:30:51 They are, to me, probably the third most talented
00:30:54 top to bottom team in the competition.
00:30:56 And then you have Josh Giddy
00:30:57 and the way that Australia is doing this
00:30:59 is they're building the entire scheme around Giddy.
00:31:02 Basically running the show out of ball screens.
00:31:04 It's a really, really fun team, I think.
00:31:08 Like I think that watching Josh Giddy go out
00:31:10 and try and dominate the game
00:31:13 is a really, really fun way to play basketball
00:31:16 because he plays so unselfishly.
00:31:17 He's just a really smart basketball player.
00:31:19 - I think Australia's gonna be the most fun team to watch.
00:31:22 Canada is our biggest threat and we're still gonna win it.
00:31:26 That's my read on it.
00:31:28 The US has a great draw.
00:31:29 I looked at this this morning.
00:31:32 We play, we would not play Spain, France,
00:31:35 Australia, Canada, or Germany
00:31:38 until the Final Four at the absolute earliest.
00:31:40 We won't play them one single time
00:31:42 until we are already in the semifinals.
00:31:44 Not to say that there's no other team
00:31:46 that could beat us along the way,
00:31:47 but those are the heavy hitters
00:31:50 and they're all on the different side of the bracket.
00:31:52 So I feel, let them all beat up on each other
00:31:55 and we'll just cruise to the Final Four.
00:31:58 - Who else is in this thing that people need to know?
00:32:01 Luka's in it.
00:32:02 Luka, they're not good enough to,
00:32:04 they're not really good, but Luka is.
00:32:06 - He's good enough.
00:32:07 That's really all that matters.
00:32:09 I think that they can cause problems
00:32:11 for any team that they play because he's good enough.
00:32:14 And I think that Serbia is a pretty,
00:32:18 they play a really solid team-oriented brand of basketball
00:32:22 with Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jovic.
00:32:25 And they have a lot of random dudes
00:32:28 that college basketball fans will know and love,
00:32:30 like Filip Petrichev and Dusan Ristic.
00:32:32 - Yup.
00:32:33 - Like, there are a lot of those random dudes, right?
00:32:35 That have been around the college basketball vibes.
00:32:39 By the way, there are so many,
00:32:40 for people that listen to this show for college basketball,
00:32:43 there are so many college basketball dudes in this tournament.
00:32:47 It's like amazing.
00:32:48 You're gonna be watching this tournament
00:32:49 and you're gonna be like,
00:32:50 "Holy shit, I haven't thought about Eloy Vargas
00:32:53 "for Kentucky in a decade."
00:32:56 - What?
00:32:57 (laughing)
00:32:58 - I haven't thought about David Kubayan from Marquette.
00:33:02 Did you play against Marquette, Mark?
00:33:04 You probably played against him.
00:33:05 - I may have, yeah.
00:33:06 (laughing)
00:33:07 That's incredible.
00:33:08 - Like, it's just gonna be a total college basketball vibe.
00:33:12 We got Josh Hawkinson, former Washington State star,
00:33:16 suitin' up for the Japanese national team.
00:33:18 - Wow.
00:33:19 - Like, let's just go nuts.
00:33:20 - That should be the selling point, dude.
00:33:22 It's just like, yeah, turn on the TV and see what,
00:33:26 see how many times you do the Leonardo DiCaprio meme.
00:33:28 We're like, "What the fuck?"
00:33:30 Wait, is that Melvin Edram on Canada?
00:33:32 (laughing)
00:33:32 - Is that Omari Spellman on Lebanon?
00:33:35 Wait, what happened here?
00:33:36 - Wait, are you serious?
00:33:37 Omari Spellman's on Lebanon?
00:33:39 - Oh, Mark, it gets better.
00:33:40 I have the full dive on how Omari Spellman got to Lebanon.
00:33:44 I read an article today.
00:33:46 So, the Cleveland native has been waiting
00:33:50 for his naturalization file
00:33:51 since it was submitted on January 18th, 2023.
00:33:55 Since the honorary initiation of Lebanese citizenship
00:33:58 is typically reserved for the president of the republic,
00:34:01 he hasn't been able to get it
00:34:03 up until like a couple months ago
00:34:05 because the presidency was vacant
00:34:07 since October 31st, 2022. - Oh my God.
00:34:11 - And then, essentially, with the World Cup approaching,
00:34:14 they like expedited it on April 18th.
00:34:18 They were just like, "Yeah, like, let's just get this done."
00:34:20 - Let's get this guy in.
00:34:21 - So, he can play in the World Cup.
00:34:23 (laughing)
00:34:24 - Omari Spellman, Lebanon.
00:34:26 That's the selling point.
00:34:29 You just sold me on-
00:34:32 - This is what we need.
00:34:33 - Watching all these other games.
00:34:34 'Cause I was just gonna lock in on the best teams,
00:34:36 but now I'm just gonna throw every game on
00:34:38 and see if...
00:34:38 I saw Kyle Anderson's on China, which is-
00:34:41 - He's on China, yeah.
00:34:43 - Wild.
00:34:43 Yeah.
00:34:46 - Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's on Jordan.
00:34:48 Thomas Walkup.
00:34:49 Stephen F. Austin Legend is on Greece.
00:34:53 Thomas Walkup's on...
00:34:53 What the fuck?
00:34:55 - Yeah.
00:34:56 - Dude, what?
00:34:57 - Gonna stick his tongue out
00:34:57 when Greece upsets somebody again.
00:34:59 It's gonna be great.
00:35:00 - The best part about this is you could be just...
00:35:03 You could just be fucking with me
00:35:04 and I would have no way of knowing.
00:35:05 I would have no way of knowing until the games start.
00:35:09 But like, all of this seems plausible
00:35:10 with international basketball.
00:35:11 Hakeem Olajuwon, I will say again,
00:35:13 was on the United States in 1996
00:35:15 and won an Olympic medal for the United States.
00:35:17 Won an Olympic gold medal.
00:35:19 Anything's possible.
00:35:20 So, yeah.
00:35:22 - Austin Reeves is actually on Finland.
00:35:24 He's not on the United States.
00:35:25 (laughing)
00:35:27 - Last thing and then maybe we can do
00:35:31 a little college basketball talk quickly
00:35:32 before I let you go.
00:35:33 But I've been on this idea forever
00:35:35 for Brad Stevens to be the permanent USA coach.
00:35:37 What do you think about this idea?
00:35:40 I have a lot of Brad Stevens ideas, as you know.
00:35:42 I just want to hear someone who is a respected voice
00:35:46 in basketball media tell me that this is a great idea.
00:35:48 That Brad Stevens, his foray back into coaching should be,
00:35:51 he should be the permanent United States
00:35:53 men's national team coach.
00:35:55 And that's the only job he has.
00:35:56 That's the only thing he does.
00:35:58 - Er, sounds great.
00:35:59 - Thank you, Sam.
00:36:00 - It's not the only thing he'll do.
00:36:01 - Stop right there, stop right, stop.
00:36:02 - He's making millions.
00:36:03 - No, Sam, shut up, shut up.
00:36:05 Shut up.
00:36:06 You said that was great.
00:36:07 We'll just leave it at that.
00:36:08 (laughing)
00:36:10 Damn it.
00:36:11 - I'm for it.
00:36:12 I'm here for it.
00:36:12 - All right, all right.
00:36:14 Yeah.
00:36:14 - Look, Steve Kerr is the head coach
00:36:15 of the Golden State Warriors and he's--
00:36:18 - But that's what I'm saying.
00:36:19 Why can't Brad Stevens keep his front office job
00:36:22 and do this?
00:36:23 - I want him to, I want him to be the full-time,
00:36:27 that's all he does.
00:36:28 I want him to eat, sleep, breathe
00:36:30 United States basketball, that's it.
00:36:31 But, you know, whatever.
00:36:34 You said it was great.
00:36:35 That's all we need.
00:36:36 We'll cut the rest of the part.
00:36:37 - It is.
00:36:37 - You said it's a great idea.
00:36:38 You texted me right before we sat down.
00:36:40 You're working on your top 25 college basketball teams
00:36:43 and boy, you have some big swings here, Sam.
00:36:47 Can we talk about this at all?
00:36:48 - No.
00:36:49 - Yeah.
00:36:50 - I mean, number two.
00:36:53 - Yeah, go ahead.
00:36:53 - Number two, out of the gate, Marquette, who I like.
00:36:57 I've been singing Marquette's praises all off season,
00:37:00 but just seeing a number two next to Marquette
00:37:03 is a little shocking, just in general.
00:37:05 Just in general, no matter what,
00:37:06 how much talent they have, anything else,
00:37:08 just seeing a two next to Marquette.
00:37:10 You like Marquette?
00:37:12 Yeah.
00:37:13 - I love Marquette.
00:37:14 Marquette is the team that won both the Big East title
00:37:18 and the Big East regular season title last year.
00:37:20 - Yep.
00:37:21 - They returned everybody except Olivier Maxens Prosper,
00:37:24 but oh wait, their sixth man of the year
00:37:28 in the Big East last year is David Joplin,
00:37:31 who is a six foot seven NBA prospect,
00:37:34 in my opinion, in his own right.
00:37:36 And he just steps into the starting lineup immediately
00:37:38 and actually makes them even more potent offensively
00:37:42 than what they were.
00:37:43 I think they're gonna be the best offense
00:37:44 in college basketball this season.
00:37:46 Whether or not they defend, we'll figure it out,
00:37:48 but they have a ton of continuity
00:37:50 and Chaka Smart's a pretty good defensive coach.
00:37:52 So best offense in the country,
00:37:54 plus good defensive coach, plus continuity.
00:37:56 I'll take a fire on it.
00:37:58 - Yeah, this just smells like a man
00:38:01 who's been in the business for a while
00:38:02 and knows putting Marquette at two is a great way
00:38:04 to get the Marquette fans foaming at the mouth.
00:38:07 This is, they're gonna love it.
00:38:09 They're gonna love this.
00:38:11 They're gonna absolutely love this.
00:38:13 I agree with you.
00:38:14 I think Marquette's gonna be very good
00:38:15 and very fun to watch.
00:38:16 I just, I don't know.
00:38:18 Number two feels, I don't think a Marquette fan
00:38:20 should wanna be number two.
00:38:21 I think Marquette's better suited
00:38:22 to be number seven all year and just hover
00:38:25 and not have a target on their back.
00:38:27 But unfortunately, they're gonna have a target on their back.
00:38:29 Another thing that stood out to me,
00:38:30 Florida Atlantic at 12.
00:38:31 You hate mid-majors?
00:38:32 Or what's the story there?
00:38:35 Did you not see them in the Final Four last year?
00:38:36 They almost beat the team that almost came back
00:38:39 to beat UConn in the National Championship, kind of.
00:38:42 So they kind of almost won a National Championship.
00:38:44 - So I'm, I mean, on Florida Atlantic, CJ's a lot more.
00:38:47 I'll give CJ, CJ Moore, who I did this with.
00:38:51 CJ wanted to put them higher even.
00:38:54 And I was the one that pushed them down.
00:38:56 So when Florida Atlantic fans are upset
00:38:59 about where they're ranked, come at me, please.
00:39:01 - Okay. - This is on me.
00:39:02 - Okay.
00:39:03 - Yeah, I mean, they're moving to the AAC this year
00:39:07 and they're a really good team, but they return everybody.
00:39:11 They're a little bit small outside of Golden,
00:39:14 the big seven-footer that they have,
00:39:16 who plays like 20 to 25 minutes a night.
00:39:19 And I just, I don't know, like,
00:39:23 I'm worried that the teams that they played
00:39:27 in the tournament, they played Memphis,
00:39:29 they beat them by one.
00:39:30 Memphis is now the team that they're gonna have to play
00:39:32 in the AAC and probably compete with for the title.
00:39:36 They beat a Kansas State team that I thought was solid,
00:39:39 not great last year.
00:39:41 They beat a Tennessee team that I thought
00:39:42 was genuinely really good,
00:39:43 but the second round team they beat was Fairleigh Dickinson.
00:39:45 So they got a little bit lucky there
00:39:47 in terms of the draw as well.
00:39:49 So I don't know, man, like, I like the team.
00:39:52 I think they're a top 15 team.
00:39:53 I think they're gonna be really good again.
00:39:55 I'm glad for college basketball that they kept everybody.
00:39:58 It's such a great story to me
00:39:59 that they kept that entire team together
00:40:01 when Elijah Martin had a ton of potential offers
00:40:06 to go elsewhere.
00:40:08 Janelle Davis had a ton of potential offers
00:40:09 to go elsewhere and they stayed.
00:40:11 It's amazing to me.
00:40:12 Dusty Mace stayed as well, which is,
00:40:14 I mean, I don't know what offers he actually had,
00:40:16 but yeah, great point.
00:40:17 Wasn't there a controversial call
00:40:18 at the end of Memphis FAU game, if I remember right,
00:40:22 that, maybe not.
00:40:23 Boy, there was a lot of NCAA tournament games this year.
00:40:27 - There were in fact 67 of them, if I remember correctly.
00:40:29 - Yeah.
00:40:30 I remember there being like something controversial,
00:40:34 but even if there wasn't, to your point,
00:40:36 like the ball bounces differently one way
00:40:38 in the first round game and what are we talking,
00:40:40 how highly are people thinking of Florida Atlantic
00:40:43 going into this season if they lose to Memphis by one
00:40:45 in the first round last year?
00:40:47 Probably not super high. - I think they'd be
00:40:48 a top 25 team if that was the case.
00:40:50 - All right, well, this is great, Sam.
00:40:52 We gotta get you back on
00:40:53 when college basketball season rolls around 'cause--
00:40:56 - And when my dog is not going nuts.
00:40:58 She's having a time right now. - What kind of dog you got?
00:41:00 - I have a Chihuahua, a little toy fox terrier.
00:41:03 (laughing)
00:41:04 Have you met my dog?
00:41:05 - I thought I had, yeah, but it's been a while.
00:41:07 It's been a--
00:41:08 - It's just--
00:41:10 How does the dog like Australia?
00:41:12 - Loves it, yeah.
00:41:13 She gets to walk around in the bushland
00:41:15 where there are definitely not squirrels
00:41:17 that are bigger than she is.
00:41:19 - Are dingoes a real threat in Australia?
00:41:22 - I've not seen a dingo.
00:41:23 There are kangaroos that walk everywhere here, though.
00:41:26 Like, I'll just be golfing and there will be like a family
00:41:30 of kangaroos that walk across the fairway.
00:41:32 Like, it's nothing.
00:41:32 - Wow.
00:41:35 - It's a wild ride.
00:41:36 This is where we're at here.
00:41:38 - Sam Vecini, thanks so much for making time, dude.
00:41:40 Appreciate it.
00:41:41 USA is winning and I need everybody to care about this.
00:41:44 If nothing else, just at least,
00:41:46 I want people to just like check the scores.
00:41:48 You don't even have to watch.
00:41:49 Just like check the scores and make sure we win.
00:41:51 And then when we do win, I just want to make sure,
00:41:53 I just want to make sure the US basketball fan
00:41:55 does not get complacent, Sam.
00:41:56 That's all I want.
00:41:57 I just want people to make sure we're still like
00:41:59 reminding everybody that we're a top dog.
00:42:01 So Anthony Edwards is going to get it done for us.
00:42:04 Thanks, buddy.
00:42:05 - Of course, man, anytime.
00:42:07 Quick break to talk about our friends at cars.com.
00:42:09 Wherever life takes you next and whoever you're looking
00:42:11 to be, there's a car for that on cars.com.
00:42:12 Whether you're moving to the suburbs,
00:42:14 whether you're moving from the suburbs to the city,
00:42:16 so you want a smaller, sportier car,
00:42:18 or you're expanding your family and want a safer option,
00:42:20 or you've taken up snowboarding and need more cargo space
00:42:24 for the gear, or you're someone like Brandon Walker
00:42:27 who got a house like on the other side of the world
00:42:30 and has a long commute and maybe you need to be
00:42:32 a little more conscious of the gas guzzler
00:42:35 you've been driving.
00:42:36 You need to trade in for a hybrid or an EV
00:42:38 or something like that.
00:42:38 Whatever situation you find yourself in,
00:42:41 I do know this, that cars.com has deal badges
00:42:44 that identify the best deals and they even have
00:42:46 a quick and easy way to sell or trade in your car.
00:42:49 Over two million cars for two million possibilities
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00:42:53 Up to 50,000 cars are added daily.
00:42:56 I'll say that again, 50,000 cars are added daily
00:42:58 to cars.com.
00:42:59 So even if you're someone who's like Titus,
00:43:01 you've been talking about cars.com for a while,
00:43:03 I'll be honest, I went to cars.com the other day.
00:43:05 They didn't really have what I wanted.
00:43:07 There are 50,000 cars added every day.
00:43:08 So try again tomorrow and there's gonna be something
00:43:11 you're gonna want.
00:43:12 Go to cars.com, find a car that you will love
00:43:15 and find your next possibility on cars.com.
00:43:17 Where to next?
00:43:19 All right, thank you to Sam Vecini.
00:43:21 Before we get out of here, let's do some reflecting, TJ.
00:43:25 And part of this is, obviously it's our 50th show,
00:43:30 but it aligned well.
00:43:32 We're recording this on Wednesday
00:43:34 before the award show has taken place,
00:43:37 the Barstool 20th Anniversary Award Show,
00:43:40 which I didn't even realize it was an award show
00:43:42 until like three days ago.
00:43:43 I thought it was just like a celebration.
00:43:45 But now, is that what we're calling it, an award show?
00:43:47 Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of confusion
00:43:49 over exactly what the details of the show are
00:43:51 in every aspect, who's presenting, who's nominated,
00:43:54 who's going.
00:43:55 What it is?
00:43:56 It is a celebration of 20 years of Barstool Sports,
00:43:59 newly re-owned by Dave Portnoy.
00:44:03 Everyone's here except for you and soon-to-be me,
00:44:08 because I'm in one of the side rooms
00:44:10 of the House of Blues in Boston right now,
00:44:12 but I'm not going to the show.
00:44:14 I'm catching a 5 p.m. train back to New York
00:44:16 so I can keep recording the podcast
00:44:18 and then move out of my apartment in 12 hours later.
00:44:21 But yeah, it's a big day for the company.
00:44:24 You at least showed face there today doing the yak,
00:44:27 and then you're gonna get out.
00:44:28 I don't know if anyone will notice
00:44:31 because you showed face.
00:44:33 I did not.
00:44:34 So here's my story.
00:44:37 Here's what happened from my perspective.
00:44:41 I got sent the information about it.
00:44:44 I read through it, and my interpretation
00:44:46 of what was taking place, now this was like a month ago
00:44:49 when they first put out the, maybe it was longer than that,
00:44:51 but when they first put out the thing,
00:44:54 they sent it to all the employees,
00:44:55 and they're like, "This is going on.
00:44:57 "Feel free to come if you want, whatever."
00:44:59 There was something in there that was like,
00:45:01 one, it's not mandatory.
00:45:03 This is not a mandatory deal.
00:45:04 This is just kind of like a side thing.
00:45:07 So I was like, not that I'm trying to get out of it,
00:45:09 because, but it was just like, all right,
00:45:11 so now I have to make a decision.
00:45:13 Now the decision falls on me.
00:45:14 Do I go or do I not go?
00:45:16 And then as I was reading through
00:45:17 what it felt like it was, TJ,
00:45:19 I thought it was like,
00:45:20 I thought it was just going to be like the OG guys.
00:45:24 I thought it was gonna be like all the guys
00:45:26 that launched the company.
00:45:27 I interpreted it as like a live podcast
00:45:30 from like the five or six guys
00:45:32 that were most pivotal to the early days of the company,
00:45:35 sitting around telling war stories.
00:45:38 And I genuinely thought I should not go to this,
00:45:41 because I thought if I show up to this
00:45:44 as like a guy who was hired like three months ago,
00:45:47 I would look like an asshole
00:45:48 for a celebration of like how far this company,
00:45:51 like remember when this company was a baby
00:45:53 and now it's exploded and this,
00:45:55 and then the guy who you just hired the other day
00:45:58 shows up and tries to like co-opt all the success
00:46:02 and say like this was, you know,
00:46:04 man, it's been a fun ride, Dave.
00:46:06 I remember when I was getting coffee for you back in Milton
00:46:08 and you used to ask me, you used to ask me,
00:46:11 "Titus, do you think we got a chance of being anything?"
00:46:13 And I remember I looked you in the eye, Dave,
00:46:14 and I said, "As long as you believe in yourself
00:46:16 "and follow your heart, David Portnoy,
00:46:18 "I think someday you just might have a company
00:46:20 "that you'll be able to buy back for $1."
00:46:22 You know, like I thought like if I was there
00:46:24 doing all that shit, he would,
00:46:26 he and everyone else would be like,
00:46:27 "What is Titus doing here?"
00:46:29 So my strategy to this was don't stand out
00:46:34 and if you go, you're going to stand out, so don't go.
00:46:37 This has completely backfired, TJ.
00:46:39 I am standing out in a big way,
00:46:40 but in fact, when I walked into the Chicago studio
00:46:42 to do the show, everyone in this office was like,
00:46:44 "What are you doing here?"
00:46:45 - Yeah, it seems like everybody in the company
00:46:47 somehow is here.
00:46:49 I don't really know how they decided
00:46:52 who got that invite or whatever,
00:46:53 'cause like Jack Mack was never told to come to this
00:46:58 and he gets more views than anybody else
00:47:00 in the company does, but in your defense,
00:47:03 you are working, so it's like--
00:47:05 - Yeah, yeah, sorry I couldn't go to Boston for a night
00:47:08 and just sit around and jerk everyone off
00:47:11 as we hand awards to each other
00:47:12 and pat each other on the back for how awesome we are.
00:47:15 I have to do my fucking job, TJ.
00:47:18 - Somebody's got to preview the FIFA World Cup.
00:47:21 - Yeah, yeah, sorry, I might be keeping the lights on
00:47:24 at this company by doing podcasts
00:47:26 about the Little League World Series
00:47:27 and the FIFA World Cup and Indiana High School basketball,
00:47:29 so thank you for the opportunity to go,
00:47:34 but unfortunately, I have to carry this company on my back
00:47:37 and talk about the basketball tournament
00:47:39 nobody cares about.
00:47:40 - You'll go to the 25th year award show.
00:47:44 - I will, yeah.
00:47:46 I'll go to the, restart the clock,
00:47:48 'cause yeah, Dave just bought the company back,
00:47:50 so really, we can, yeah, I was here from the beginning.
00:47:55 I can say that at least, so for the next one, I will go,
00:47:57 because I was there at the beginning when.
00:47:59 - Yeah.
00:48:00 - Anyway, it is the 50th show for,
00:48:04 like yeah, we were getting,
00:48:05 the whole company seems to be getting sentimental
00:48:06 and reflective on all that sort of thing,
00:48:09 and then TJ pointed out to me the other day,
00:48:10 he's like, "We've done 50 shows."
00:48:11 I was like, "That's pretty crazy."
00:48:13 It's not that crazy.
00:48:14 A lot of shows out there have done a lot more episodes,
00:48:15 but that's something, and the craziest part to me, TJ,
00:48:19 is we haven't even really figured out
00:48:20 what this show is yet.
00:48:21 We're getting closer.
00:48:22 I think it's going really well.
00:48:23 You're not even in Chicago.
00:48:24 How many shows have you and I done
00:48:25 where we're sitting in the same room?
00:48:27 Like eight of the 50, maybe?
00:48:28 - Yeah, probably, yeah.
00:48:29 - You know?
00:48:30 So I'm fired up about that.
00:48:32 I think what this show will eventually become
00:48:35 is going to be a lot more fun, a lot more entertaining,
00:48:38 but yeah, it's been a fun ride so far,
00:48:40 so I thought it'd be fun to look,
00:48:42 because there have been a lot of ebbs and flows.
00:48:45 I mean, there have been,
00:48:47 I would say, in June and July,
00:48:51 when I'm doing shows out of my apartment in LA,
00:48:55 and you're in New York,
00:48:56 and it's like 3 a.m. Eastern,
00:48:59 (laughing)
00:49:01 and I'm going a little crazy,
00:49:02 'cause I'm just talking into a microphone by myself.
00:49:07 Yeah, kind of like I'm doing now, by the way.
00:49:10 It feels very similar right now.
00:49:11 I'm sweating my fucking balls off here,
00:49:13 'cause this studio is 1,000 degrees.
00:49:15 It reminds me of being back in the apartment in LA,
00:49:17 but yeah, I'm glad we're here now.
00:49:21 I think the show's going well,
00:49:22 but I thought it'd be fun to look back on stuff,
00:49:25 and I thought it'd be interesting to read reviews.
00:49:29 I don't know.
00:49:30 How do the people think we're doing?
00:49:33 So I had--
00:49:33 I think pretty good.
00:49:34 I had you poll, just yeah,
00:49:38 what did I have you poll,
00:49:38 like reviews and feedback and comments?
00:49:41 So I went through the first 10 episodes,
00:49:46 specifically,
00:49:47 and then some of our Apple podcast reviews
00:49:50 to see how people felt about the show
00:49:53 when it was first announced,
00:49:54 and what they thought it would be,
00:49:56 and as they sort of saw it come to light,
00:49:58 how they felt about it.
00:49:59 Yeah.
00:50:00 Some nice, some not so nice.
00:50:02 Yeah, I was curious about the not nice ones,
00:50:03 'cause I think the not nice ones are funnier.
00:50:06 I don't need to be told I'm good.
00:50:09 It's better when I'm a little upset and a little grieved.
00:50:12 So, but we can read some nice ones,
00:50:15 'cause I do appreciate--
00:50:16 I also don't want to,
00:50:17 I don't want to encourage people
00:50:19 to just talk shit about me either.
00:50:20 Right, yeah.
00:50:21 I don't want it to be like,
00:50:22 the only way Titus will acknowledge me
00:50:24 is if I shit all over him.
00:50:25 I don't want to do that either.
00:50:27 So we can read some nice things,
00:50:29 but I just, I don't do well with praise.
00:50:30 So I thought it'd be funnier to read mean ones,
00:50:33 but yeah, have at it.
00:50:35 I haven't read any of these.
00:50:36 You sent me the list,
00:50:36 and then I tried to log into my Barstool email
00:50:40 to read them, and I couldn't do it.
00:50:41 So I said just save it for the show,
00:50:43 and here we are now.
00:50:43 (laughing)
00:50:46 These are from episode zero.
00:50:48 So the announcement with Big Cat and PFT.
00:50:52 Which by the way, I lost my mind.
00:50:56 Someone pointed that out.
00:50:56 I lost my mind about college football having a week zero.
00:50:59 Why don't they just call it week one,
00:51:00 and then someone would be like,
00:51:01 you literally did episode zero on your show.
00:51:04 Which is fair, but go ahead.
00:51:06 Nick P said, "Mark, I've listened to you since day one.
00:51:09 "I've part of my take.
00:51:10 "Never once listened to your own shows.
00:51:12 "You're always great, but I always question
00:51:14 "whether you got it or not.
00:51:15 "After listening to you on the Yak the last few days,
00:51:17 "I can't really believe you get it.
00:51:18 "Looking forward to listening to your own show
00:51:20 "for the first time."
00:51:22 Hell yeah.
00:51:23 That's important to me, TJ.
00:51:24 You know that.
00:51:25 I wanna be a guy who gets it.
00:51:26 That was a trend in these first comments,
00:51:28 I guess, when you went on the Yak.
00:51:30 That was the--
00:51:32 Yeah, if I remember right, I went on the Yak,
00:51:34 and Dan asked if I wanted to do the Wet Wheel,
00:51:36 and I didn't really fully understand what it was.
00:51:38 And then I said, I don't wanna come across like a tryhard.
00:51:42 'Cause I think if I go in there and I'm like,
00:51:43 hell yeah, let's do that.
00:51:44 I would love to get wet.
00:51:45 That would be so cool.
00:51:46 Then everyone can see right through it
00:51:48 that I'm just being a little bit of a tryhard.
00:51:50 But also, I didn't wanna be a pussy about it.
00:51:54 So I just said, whatever makes people think
00:51:57 that I'm a guy who gets it, Dan, is what I wanna,
00:51:59 and I think people ran with that.
00:52:00 Yeah, so.
00:52:01 But I think me saying that kinda makes me,
00:52:04 kinda ruins my--
00:52:06 The mystique, yeah.
00:52:07 The mystique of a guy's being a guy who gets it.
00:52:10 I think when you're begging for respect.
00:52:12 More respect than a negative reaction,
00:52:14 if you fuck that up.
00:52:15 Yeah.
00:52:16 Michael Maboy said,
00:52:19 best sports podcast I've ever heard, easy.
00:52:22 That can't be true.
00:52:23 It was episode zero of a new show
00:52:25 that had never been around before.
00:52:25 That can't be true, yeah.
00:52:26 (laughing)
00:52:29 Yeah, we launched the podcast feed,
00:52:33 and we haven't even put any content out,
00:52:34 and people are just like,
00:52:35 damn dude, this is the best shit I've ever listened to,
00:52:37 I've ever watched.
00:52:39 (laughing)
00:52:40 I'll take it, I'll take it.
00:52:42 Benjamin Rivard said,
00:52:45 why are you wearing woman's pants, Mark?
00:52:47 (laughing)
00:52:50 I'm trying to think of what that would have been.
00:52:53 Was I wearing joggers?
00:52:54 I don't know.
00:52:55 Probably wearing,
00:52:56 are joggers, what are your thoughts on joggers, TJ?
00:53:00 I love a good pair of rowback joggers.
00:53:02 Right?
00:53:03 I think that they're,
00:53:05 make you feel good.
00:53:06 Yeah, I thought joggers were,
00:53:08 but maybe, I do have long legs,
00:53:10 so maybe the joggers were looking like capris more.
00:53:13 I don't know, I'd have to go back.
00:53:15 I think that there was,
00:53:15 I'd have to go back and look at the tape.
00:53:16 That was probably the first time they had seen you,
00:53:18 like the angles that we have at our podcast studios
00:53:20 are not exactly the most flattering in the world,
00:53:22 because there's like nothing in front of you,
00:53:25 and the cameras are kind of low,
00:53:26 so they're shooting upward into you.
00:53:28 Yeah.
00:53:28 So that might have played,
00:53:30 like that happens to a lot of people
00:53:31 when they go on the yak for the first time,
00:53:32 when they're wearing shorts,
00:53:33 because their pants are--
00:53:34 Oh yeah, and then you get the crotch shot.
00:53:36 Yeah.
00:53:37 Yeah.
00:53:38 Yeah, that's probably what that was.
00:53:40 Bree commented, "Just here for TJ."
00:53:45 (laughing)
00:53:47 Don't say I never did anything for you.
00:53:50 Awesome.
00:53:53 And then Jabroni said, "Sincere post,
00:53:58 "Titus is clearly a thoughtful, smart, and talented person.
00:54:01 "I'm confident his content,
00:54:02 "with respect to other sports,
00:54:04 "football would be interesting.
00:54:05 "Hope to see that come through."
00:54:08 I actually wrote that one, that was me.
00:54:10 I sprinkled that one in there.
00:54:14 No, I think we're going to do,
00:54:17 I don't know.
00:54:17 Hmm.
00:54:19 I want to, so this is the dilemma I have, TJ,
00:54:23 is like I am very much interested in other sports.
00:54:25 Football season coming up, obviously,
00:54:26 like we just had Brandon on,
00:54:28 I want to talk, I'm going to,
00:54:30 the show I'm going to do with Brandon,
00:54:31 we're going to talk about every sport,
00:54:33 just kind of whatever is,
00:54:35 whatever shit people are talking about
00:54:36 around the country, that's what we're going to talk about.
00:54:40 I want to do other sports,
00:54:41 I want to have guests on that are football players
00:54:44 that played, like just whoever's interesting to me,
00:54:46 I want to come on this show,
00:54:47 and I want to talk to them.
00:54:48 But at the same time, I've carved out
00:54:51 a nice little niche for myself as a college basketball guy,
00:54:54 and I think I have to be true to that as well.
00:54:57 So we still have to hone in on that,
00:54:59 'cause I want to talk about the NBA
00:55:02 throughout the regular season,
00:55:03 which I give myself like two weeks
00:55:05 before I'm like, all right, nevermind.
00:55:07 I changed my mind.
00:55:09 I'm out on this.
00:55:10 But yeah, that's what I think I want the show to be,
00:55:13 but I don't know, 'cause I think,
00:55:17 I imagine like once college basketball season
00:55:19 comes back and gets rolling,
00:55:20 I will just divert right back into my old ways
00:55:23 of just like caring immensely about who's overrated
00:55:26 and who looks like a fraud in college basketball,
00:55:28 like in the first week.
00:55:29 You know, I'm going to go to the Champions Classic
00:55:31 in Chicago, and I will throw out every plan I had
00:55:34 about like, you know, talking about the week
00:55:38 that was in the NFL on the show,
00:55:39 and like, should we get an NFL guest
00:55:41 to break down that big AFC East game last night?
00:55:45 As soon as I go to the Champions Classic,
00:55:47 and I come away thinking that,
00:55:50 that's going to be a great Champions Classic, by the way.
00:55:53 It's going to be, I mean, it's supposed to be every year,
00:55:56 but I think this year is going to be awesome.
00:55:58 I think we're going to, I'm going to go to it,
00:55:59 and then I'm just going to immediately be like,
00:56:01 all right, forget every other sport.
00:56:02 I'm locked in on college basketball again.
00:56:03 But we got to figure that out, so, and we will.
00:56:06 But yeah, I will definitely, at this company,
00:56:09 be talking about more than college basketball.
00:56:10 That's why I came to work here.
00:56:12 - Yep.
00:56:13 This was after the first episode, so we had Fran Ferschella,
00:56:18 we had Mike Rutherford and Brandon's first appearance.
00:56:22 Charlie Wooding said, "First podcast review.
00:56:25 "Fran A, Mike A, Brandon Walker F.
00:56:29 "Wishing you the best, Mark.
00:56:30 "Excited for you and your new chapter."
00:56:32 (laughing)
00:56:35 - That's awesome.
00:56:36 - Yeah.
00:56:37 - That's great.
00:56:38 I love that.
00:56:40 - No, Hanson, great show.
00:56:42 Everything besides Brandon Walker.
00:56:44 Don't let that negative energy guy sully your show.
00:56:46 Hopefully he's never on again.
00:56:48 - Oh, shit.
00:56:49 Oh, shit, so we probably lost that guy along the way.
00:56:51 That guy was listening, he probably has given up by now.
00:56:54 If I remember right, those first shows we did
00:56:57 were like four and a half hours long.
00:56:59 - Yeah, 'cause we had like three interviews per show.
00:57:02 - Yeah, I don't know why I did that.
00:57:04 I just like, dude, I was so in my head about,
00:57:08 that was such a fucking war win for me.
00:57:09 That was like--
00:57:11 - Oh, yeah.
00:57:12 - It was a million different things.
00:57:14 The number one thing was that I was just being killed
00:57:17 for breaking up with Tate.
00:57:19 I was just being, and that fucked me up, I won't lie.
00:57:21 I would like to pretend like I'm above that
00:57:24 and I don't read comments and I don't feel that,
00:57:27 but I 100% felt that.
00:57:30 And at the same time, it's like I'm a new kid at school
00:57:33 stepping into the barstool office.
00:57:35 I'm trying to launch a show that I don't really know,
00:57:39 what I don't, I should probably at some point
00:57:41 stop saying that I don't know what the show is.
00:57:42 I know what, we're figuring it out, it's a good show.
00:57:46 I like where we're at now since I've gotten to Chicago.
00:57:48 I think the show's gotten a lot better
00:57:50 and the numbers reflect that and it seems that people
00:57:53 have enjoyed the shows from Chicago a lot more.
00:57:54 But when we were starting, I was like,
00:57:56 I don't even know what the fuck this is.
00:57:58 I don't even know, I remember meeting with the sales team
00:58:01 and the bookers and everything and they were like,
00:58:03 so what is your show?
00:58:03 And I was like, I don't know,
00:58:04 I'm just gonna talk about shit.
00:58:06 I was like, I've never done a show solo
00:58:08 and I don't know how this is going to go
00:58:10 or what this is going to be.
00:58:11 And then on top of it, the whirlwind of getting thrown
00:58:15 into the barstool world where I'd dip my toes,
00:58:17 but I have never cannonballed in
00:58:19 where I'm doing live streams and I'm doing out and about,
00:58:23 which I absolutely love.
00:58:24 Joey and Pat rule and I love doing that show,
00:58:26 but I just walked out of that room after that show
00:58:29 and I was like, I'm not at Fox anymore.
00:58:31 This is not Fox Sports.
00:58:33 So I don't know why I did that,
00:58:36 but apologies to everybody.
00:58:37 Shout out to anybody that sat through all three hours
00:58:39 of those initial shows.
00:58:42 I don't know, I felt like if I got an array,
00:58:45 I was throwing a lot of darts at the board
00:58:47 and I knew Mike really well.
00:58:48 Fran I knew in a professional capacity,
00:58:51 but I don't like, Fran's not a guy
00:58:53 that I'm grabbing a beer with.
00:58:54 And then Brandon I was kind of new to,
00:58:56 but I was like, I'm gonna throw one barstool guy in there,
00:58:58 so at least the barstool crowd will come.
00:59:00 But then I had three guests on the first show
00:59:02 and it ended up being an absolute marathon of a show.
00:59:05 - Yeah.
00:59:06 - That by the time everybody listened to it,
00:59:08 all the stuff we talked about was irrelevant probably.
00:59:12 - Right, 'cause it was all conference reviews
00:59:14 that were starting the next day.
00:59:16 - It was, looking back, dude,
00:59:22 in some ways launching during college basketball,
00:59:26 during March Madness, the lead up to March Madness,
00:59:30 it was March Madness, we launched in March,
00:59:33 was great, it obviously, we got a huge boost.
00:59:36 A lot of people that are interested in March Madness
00:59:39 joined right away, subscribed right away.
00:59:41 But man, that fucking sucked for me.
00:59:45 That was like trying to start something new
00:59:49 when all the eyeballs are on you.
00:59:51 You know that this is the three weeks
00:59:52 that people care about.
00:59:53 These are the three weeks that I get measured by
00:59:56 and I'm starting something new
00:59:57 and I don't even know what it is
00:59:58 and I've never done this before on my own
01:00:00 and I'm at a new company where,
01:00:01 yeah, it was insane, but we're here now.
01:00:06 - They also, there is a negative aspect
01:00:12 to starting at a peak because right after March Madness
01:00:17 is the college basketball off-season,
01:00:19 so there was going to be an assumed regression
01:00:23 and that might not have looked the greatest
01:00:25 on the charts or whatever,
01:00:26 what we started here and then we're down here.
01:00:28 I think we're, as far as I can tell,
01:00:32 going back up on that, which is--
01:00:35 - It was, nevermind, I try to not care too much.
01:00:39 I know you do and everyone at Bar still has
01:00:40 to care about the, I'm not blind
01:00:42 to the business side of this, but it'll drive me,
01:00:45 I'm someone that'll be driven crazy by it,
01:00:47 so I just try to do the best shows I can do.
01:00:51 And yeah, those, during the off-season,
01:00:54 and especially once the NBA Finals ended
01:00:57 and all there was was the draft,
01:01:00 I was definitely like, these shows fucking suck.
01:01:04 I would go get to the third show
01:01:05 and I'd be like, this was horrendous.
01:01:08 So I haven't felt that way since I got to Chicago.
01:01:12 Maybe I'll feel that way after this show, I don't know.
01:01:14 I feel like this is going well.
01:01:16 Maybe a little too much navel-gazing for us at 50 episodes.
01:01:19 Maybe this is something you're supposed
01:01:21 to do at 500 episodes.
01:01:22 But yeah, I haven't really felt that in Chicago
01:01:27 and I think we got a good thing going.
01:01:28 And that's what's really exciting me
01:01:30 is that you're not even here yet
01:01:32 and we don't even have the studio yet.
01:01:34 We don't even have the real setup yet.
01:01:35 We don't even have the real office vibe
01:01:37 of everybody being around each other
01:01:38 and being creatively inspired by being in the same space
01:01:43 as other people that are here that are funny and interesting
01:01:46 so I think that's gonna be great for us
01:01:48 and I'm really fired up for that.
01:01:50 But yeah, it's crazy that we launched this thing
01:01:55 and didn't really know anything
01:01:57 and here we are now having some fun.
01:01:59 So anything else?
01:02:00 Are there any other, are there bad,
01:02:01 what are like the worst ones?
01:02:02 Give me the worst ones.
01:02:03 I can think of.
01:02:04 - Yeah, hold on.
01:02:05 There was a lot of, I had a huge screenshot.
01:02:08 When we had NIT Stew and Coleman Crawley
01:02:11 on the same episode, the comments were overwhelmingly
01:02:14 positive about those guys.
01:02:16 - Oh really?
01:02:17 - Yeah, like these are the reasons
01:02:19 why we like college basketball,
01:02:21 that sort of line of commenting which was cool.
01:02:24 - Hell yeah.
01:02:25 - Somebody says, "Titus, it's the best thing
01:02:27 to happen to Barstool since Big Cat."
01:02:30 - That's not true at all.
01:02:31 (laughing)
01:02:32 That's not true.
01:02:33 This is why I don't like praise is because like,
01:02:35 I mean like I'm thankful that people say nice things.
01:02:39 Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it
01:02:41 but also it's like, I mean, that's not true.
01:02:44 It's just like patently false so but,
01:02:46 but thank you nonetheless.
01:02:50 - We had a one star Apple podcast review
01:02:53 from when the podcast got announced and marched.
01:02:57 Barstool is trash and unfortunately now is Titus.
01:03:00 Why Titus, why?
01:03:01 Three exclamation marks.
01:03:02 - Oh no.
01:03:03 - One star.
01:03:04 - Oh no.
01:03:06 An asterisk guy.
01:03:07 - Yeah.
01:03:08 - A Barstool guy.
01:03:10 - Oh man, that stinks.
01:03:12 Do you think that guy's listened to any shows
01:03:14 since we started the--
01:03:15 - Probably all of them if I understand our haters correctly.
01:03:18 - Probably all of them, yeah.
01:03:19 Probably like waiting for me to just slip up
01:03:23 and drop like five slurs and then say I knew it.
01:03:25 (laughing)
01:03:28 - I knew it.
01:03:28 - This one was from this month.
01:03:31 Nice to know talent.
01:03:32 I don't think Titus actually realizes what a moron he is.
01:03:36 He deflects a lot of jokes about it
01:03:38 but deep down I think he doesn't realize
01:03:39 how stupid he is in actuality.
01:03:42 He carries himself like he thinks he's smart
01:03:44 but just is the dumbest MF-er ever.
01:03:46 (laughing)
01:03:48 - Is that Brandon?
01:03:49 - Dots?
01:03:50 (laughing)
01:03:52 - People hate, so I've found,
01:03:54 I'm obviously, I'm someone who will be very self-deprecating.
01:03:58 I'm not afraid to, you know,
01:03:59 when I say something very stupid,
01:04:01 acknowledge that I said something very stupid
01:04:03 and yeah, I like to think that that's part of my brand
01:04:07 and I think that that's how I've become a little successful
01:04:10 'cause I think in a sea of sports media takes men
01:04:15 who take themselves super seriously,
01:04:17 I just saw Colin Coward hire Shannon Sharp to the volume
01:04:20 and they were doing like a little promo video
01:04:22 and Colin said something about like,
01:04:25 "One of the things I really respect about you
01:04:27 "is that you just fucking grinded, man.
01:04:28 "And this job is such a grind.
01:04:30 "It's a grind."
01:04:31 And Shannon's like, "It's a fucking grind."
01:04:34 And whenever I watch guys like that,
01:04:36 I'm like, "This is not a grind."
01:04:37 This is not, I'm like,
01:04:39 did you see the video of Steven Adams,
01:04:41 the juxtaposition, LeBron talking about the bubble
01:04:44 and then Steven Adams and LeBron was like,
01:04:46 this was, I was like in a Russian prison
01:04:48 having to play basketball.
01:04:50 And then Steven Adams was like, "It wasn't that bad.
01:04:52 "It wasn't Syria, mate."
01:04:55 That's how I feel about sports media.
01:04:57 So like, I think that that has served me well
01:04:58 that like, I don't take myself super seriously.
01:05:00 But what I will say, TJ, is that the haters,
01:05:05 that kind of disarms them.
01:05:06 And if you beat them to the punch,
01:05:07 they get really fucking mad.
01:05:09 If you're someone that like,
01:05:10 so I think that's what this guy's got going on,
01:05:11 is that like, I'll laugh at how I'm a moron.
01:05:13 And this guy doesn't like that
01:05:14 because he wants to be able to tell me I'm the moron.
01:05:17 You know what I mean?
01:05:18 Like I'm shooting myself before he can shoot me.
01:05:21 And I don't think he likes that at all.
01:05:23 But yeah, I do know what a moron I am.
01:05:25 Yes, I am an absolute moron.
01:05:26 I went to Ohio State as a freshman.
01:05:28 I wanted to be a doctor.
01:05:29 I majored in math for my first semester.
01:05:32 And now I work at fucking Barstool Sports
01:05:35 talking about the Little League World Series
01:05:36 with Rico Bosco.
01:05:37 Yes, I'm fully aware of how my life turned out.
01:05:40 You know, like I'm not blind to these realities.
01:05:43 Like I get it.
01:05:44 Somewhere along the line, something went haywire
01:05:48 and here we are now.
01:05:50 But no, that's not too bad of criticism.
01:05:53 I'll take that, whatever.
01:05:54 - Yeah, there wasn't too many overtly bad ones.
01:05:57 Like maybe if anything was over the line,
01:06:00 it got auto flagged or something.
01:06:02 There was a lot at the beginning criticizing the move
01:06:05 and criticizing, I guess, the split
01:06:07 from the last spot that you worked at.
01:06:10 But I think that people have started to figure out
01:06:14 if they like you or not.
01:06:16 - Yeah, I think at this point.
01:06:17 Well, I was in like the middle ground too
01:06:19 where I felt like the Stoolies, I like the Stoolies.
01:06:24 But it also, I'm setting this up for the butt, as you know.
01:06:27 I like the Stoolies.
01:06:29 The Barstool fans are incredible.
01:06:31 Especially since I moved to Chicago
01:06:33 and like bumping into people on the street
01:06:34 has just been so freaking fun.
01:06:36 And I very much love that part.
01:06:38 But I will say there is like a faction of Stoolies
01:06:40 that I don't know if it's jealousy or what,
01:06:42 but it's not just me.
01:06:43 I've seen them do this to other people.
01:06:44 When you get hired at Barstool,
01:06:46 it feels like you're under a huge microscope
01:06:50 'cause it's like, why did they hire that guy and not me?
01:06:52 Like is this guy, if this guy's not actually good,
01:06:55 then I'm gonna let them know that they fucked up
01:06:56 and they should have hired.
01:06:57 I should be in his seat.
01:06:58 I should be, you know.
01:07:00 And so when I got hired here and I started,
01:07:02 like this was just the perception.
01:07:04 It's definitely not, and not anymore at all.
01:07:06 But I don't even think it was ever,
01:07:09 but this is what it felt like, TJ.
01:07:10 It was like I was in the middle ground
01:07:11 of like all the people that followed me along the way
01:07:14 at the Ringer and Fox and whatever else.
01:07:17 We're now at like one of those reviews you read.
01:07:19 Like, oh no, man, I can't believe you went to Bar.
01:07:21 I gotta say goodbye here.
01:07:23 Now I'm done with you, goodbye.
01:07:24 But then I also felt like there were a lot of Stoolies
01:07:28 that were like, let's wait and see with this guy.
01:07:29 Is this a guy who gets it or not?
01:07:31 Is this a guy who, and I was like stuck
01:07:33 in the middle ground where like I didn't have
01:07:34 like the Bar Stool.
01:07:35 I wasn't like folded into the Bar Stool world yet,
01:07:38 but I also had like stabbed everyone else
01:07:40 in the back seemingly.
01:07:42 And that was a weird spot to be in.
01:07:44 But I think all that's died down.
01:07:45 I think you're right.
01:07:46 Like I think the, and I know what,
01:07:48 PFT was great with that, by the way.
01:07:50 Like PFT, I remember early on,
01:07:52 like he pulled me aside and talked to me about it all
01:07:54 and was just like, this is how this is going to go.
01:07:57 People are going to say you're a scumbag
01:07:59 and yada, yada, yada.
01:08:02 And then all those same people are going to listen
01:08:03 to your show and follow your shit.
01:08:04 And they're going to, you know,
01:08:06 and then you're going to,
01:08:07 hopefully if everything goes right,
01:08:08 you'll be added to the list of,
01:08:09 I hate Bar Stool, but I like blank, blank, blank, blank.
01:08:12 (laughing)
01:08:15 - I think it's funny too.
01:08:16 Like you're probably, and this is not, you know,
01:08:20 pumping air into your sales,
01:08:21 but people will probably see you coming to Bar Stool
01:08:24 and every place you've worked at before,
01:08:27 like you were like the disruptive, like.
01:08:29 - Yeah.
01:08:30 - Counterculture, like, oh, this guy's like different
01:08:32 'cause he wears a Hawaiian shirt.
01:08:33 - Yeah, yeah.
01:08:35 - But at Bar Stool, you're like the straight man.
01:08:37 - I'm the straight man, well that's right.
01:08:37 - Like you're like the traditional media type,
01:08:40 which is interesting.
01:08:41 And I think a lot of people were like,
01:08:42 oh, this guy like talks X's and O's,
01:08:44 which is different for us.
01:08:45 - Yeah. (laughing)
01:08:47 Dude, that's another thing.
01:08:48 I felt like I was in like the middle ground.
01:08:49 It was like, I always felt when I worked at Fox,
01:08:52 not that I didn't fit in, I love Fox, all that sort of,
01:08:54 but I was like trying to get on TV a little more.
01:08:56 And I was trying to, I was like poking to like,
01:08:59 you know, throw me on the desk for a halftime
01:09:01 of a FS2 DePaul versus Butler game.
01:09:05 Like, why am I not, you know,
01:09:06 like just throw me a bone here.
01:09:08 And I always felt like the Fox people,
01:09:12 they all like, I had great relations to those people
01:09:13 and I always will.
01:09:14 But I felt like they always looked at me like,
01:09:16 nah, man, that's not your thing.
01:09:17 You're the guy who tells dick jokes on the internet.
01:09:19 Like, you're just kind of a, you're kind of a buffoon.
01:09:22 And then, yeah, when I came here,
01:09:23 it's like, I have felt that as well,
01:09:25 where it's like, even people that seem to like me
01:09:28 are like, I like him, but like,
01:09:30 I don't know if he's like really barstool material.
01:09:32 Is he like a guy that's gonna take his shirt off
01:09:35 and, you know, shotgun a beer during a case race?
01:09:38 Like, I don't know.
01:09:39 Is he, is he?
01:09:40 And somehow I've, the whole time I'm just like,
01:09:45 I'm just sort of me, just kind of going through the world.
01:09:48 Like, I somehow have a reputation as way too bro-y
01:09:51 in some circles.
01:09:52 And then a reputation as like boring as shit,
01:09:55 buttoned up man in other circles.
01:09:57 And I don't know how any of this happened, but here we are.
01:09:59 I think we got a good thing going.
01:10:00 I think that's nice.
01:10:01 I think I can code switch.
01:10:02 You know what I mean?
01:10:03 Like, I think, I think we get like straight laced guys
01:10:06 on this show and I can button it up
01:10:08 and talk to them like professionals.
01:10:11 And then we get jackasses on this show
01:10:12 and I can dumb it down.
01:10:13 And I think that's what I'm gonna try to make this show
01:10:15 is just like put anybody else in that chair over there
01:10:18 and I can talk to them, but we'll see.
01:10:20 I don't know.
01:10:21 That was nice.
01:10:23 That was, that was, that was fun.
01:10:26 What, what, what for you as you've worked on the show,
01:10:28 what would you say is like your favorite memory
01:10:31 from the show so far?
01:10:32 The long, the long, the long story history
01:10:36 of the Mark Dyer Show.
01:10:37 - I think the times that you've had your dad on
01:10:41 is pretty cool.
01:10:42 And obviously that's not a new thing for you.
01:10:44 You've had your dad on everything you've done,
01:10:46 but to me that's, I always like,
01:10:49 I think those interviews like are more important
01:10:53 for bigger reasons, if you understand what I'm saying.
01:10:56 Like to do stuff like that, it's cool.
01:10:58 My dad came to the office this week for the first time
01:11:01 and I sort of like saw that sort of,
01:11:02 the same sort of side of it was like,
01:11:04 he wants to get involved and giving him that chance.
01:11:07 I think stuff like that is cool to do.
01:11:08 - My dad always apologizes.
01:11:10 I always call him every time he comes on
01:11:13 when I'm driving back home and I'm like,
01:11:15 "Dad, you killed it."
01:11:16 Both at Barstool, Fox and everywhere else,
01:11:18 every time he comes on one of my shows,
01:11:19 I call him on the way home and I'm like,
01:11:20 "That was awesome.
01:11:21 "That was so good."
01:11:22 I mean it, I'm like, "That was exactly what I wanted to be."
01:11:24 And he's like, "I'm so sorry."
01:11:26 He goes, "That's," and then he points out,
01:11:29 he's like, "That's not, no one's going to listen to that
01:11:31 "or like that."
01:11:31 And he's not entirely like,
01:11:33 (laughing)
01:11:34 he like notices the numbers are like never great
01:11:36 when he comes on.
01:11:37 But I tried to tell him, I was like,
01:11:38 "Dad, I think it's like an indie movie almost.
01:11:43 "It's like the, I think like the,
01:11:44 "like yeah, there's not a mass appeal to my father
01:11:47 "coming on to talk about Indiana high school basketball.
01:11:49 "I understood that when I asked him to come on.
01:11:51 "But I think the people that did enjoy it,
01:11:53 "that's super important to me that like those people,
01:11:56 "yeah, that those people are like,
01:11:59 "holy shit, I never thought I'd listen
01:12:00 "to a national sports podcast at Barstool
01:12:03 "talk about Kokomo's basketball team in Kokomo, Indiana
01:12:07 "and the good old days of the North Central Conference
01:12:10 "in Indiana high school."
01:12:10 You know, like, so I think like there's value in that.
01:12:13 And I guess like that's something I want to do more of,
01:12:16 by the way, not to have my dad on,
01:12:17 but like try to figure,
01:12:19 I'm glad you said NIT's Stu and Coleman's was well received
01:12:21 because I want to have guys like that on
01:12:23 who are not necessarily like the biggest names
01:12:26 in college basketball media,
01:12:27 but are passionate and a little oddballish,
01:12:31 a little, I say that affectionately to both of them.
01:12:33 I like them both a lot,
01:12:34 but I'm a little oddballish too, we all are.
01:12:36 - They talk about the NIT and you know,
01:12:38 Cinderella story too.
01:12:39 - Yeah, yeah.
01:12:40 - Piece it's courtside at like Colgate.
01:12:42 Like yeah, that's obviously not mainstream stuff.
01:12:45 - Yeah, I don't want to.
01:12:46 - But it is important to shine a light on.
01:12:47 - Yeah, I would love to have more guys like that on.
01:12:50 So, all right, I think that's enough.
01:12:52 I'll say this though,
01:12:55 'cause I don't do this well enough or often enough,
01:12:59 but thank you to everybody.
01:13:00 I genuinely mean that,
01:13:01 that I know it's moronic to do this at 50 episodes.
01:13:04 Like we're still a very brand new show
01:13:06 and I shouldn't be looking back reflecting,
01:13:08 but I thought with the bar still 20th anniversary,
01:13:10 I just, I don't know, it was funny to me.
01:13:12 It was a funny idea to me.
01:13:14 But thank you to everybody that's been along for the ride.
01:13:17 I do think the Chicago show has been a lot better.
01:13:19 And it does mean the world to me
01:13:23 that I do now feel very comfortable working at this company
01:13:28 and I feel very secure with what this show is.
01:13:30 And even though I keep saying
01:13:31 I don't really know what the show is,
01:13:32 I kind of have an idea of what the show is.
01:13:34 And I think we got a good thing going.
01:13:36 So the best way,
01:13:38 I don't want to harp on it too much,
01:13:42 but like if you do want to continue to support the show,
01:13:44 the best way you could do that is help out our sponsors.
01:13:47 Like that does, that is a very big deal.
01:13:49 If it's all the same to you,
01:13:51 like I know the realities of the world,
01:13:53 like some of the sponsors, some of the ads we might read,
01:13:56 you're like, that does not apply to me.
01:13:57 I'm not interested in that.
01:13:58 I get that.
01:13:59 But if it's all the same to you
01:14:01 and you're someone who's like in the market
01:14:02 for some of these things, that helps us out immensely.
01:14:05 That is one way that you can make a big difference.
01:14:08 Another thing, and I've said this before,
01:14:09 if you're someone who watches us on YouTube,
01:14:12 subscribe on the Apple feed, subscribe on Spotify,
01:14:14 even if you have no intention of ever listening,
01:14:17 'cause you're like, I want to watch it on YouTube.
01:14:19 And vice versa, if you're someone that always listens
01:14:20 and you're like, I'm never going to watch a podcast,
01:14:22 I can't believe people actually do that.
01:14:24 If you subscribe on YouTube, that's still,
01:14:26 as dumb as it sounds, that makes a massive difference for us
01:14:29 that would help us immensely.
01:14:30 So I would ask for people to help us out in that way too.
01:14:34 And then, yeah, I guess like the other way people can help
01:14:37 is pitch me guests, man.
01:14:40 Like let me know on Twitter who you want to come on the show.
01:14:42 We'll try to get them.
01:14:44 What you think works, what you think doesn't,
01:14:46 all that sort of stuff.
01:14:47 I am generally pretty good at getting negative feedback,
01:14:51 even like I've had people say like, you know,
01:14:53 like some of the interviews I talk too much
01:14:55 and I should let the guests talk more.
01:14:57 And I consume that feedback and I'm like,
01:15:00 yeah, I probably should.
01:15:01 I should talk, I should let the guests talk more.
01:15:04 I'm not the best interview in the world.
01:15:05 I understand that.
01:15:06 We'll work on that.
01:15:07 But yeah, give me some, you know,
01:15:10 there's someone out there that's,
01:15:11 I want this show to, I do want to go after LeBron James.
01:15:15 I would love to have LeBron James on this show
01:15:17 and talk to him about everything in his life
01:15:19 and his career and all that.
01:15:20 I would love for this show to someday
01:15:22 have LeBron James on it.
01:15:23 But I also want to continue to give guys like Coleman Crawley
01:15:28 and guys like NIT Stu, I want guys like that
01:15:31 to come on the show who are passionate
01:15:34 about what they're doing and I think are interesting
01:15:37 and all that sort of thing.
01:15:37 So if there's somebody that you think,
01:15:39 or like if there's just people in sports media
01:15:40 that you're like, dude, I can't believe,
01:15:42 like I think you would vibe well with this guy, whatever.
01:15:44 I want to have him on, well, him or her.
01:15:47 Nicole Auerbach was great, by the way.
01:15:50 Was that the first woman we had on the show?
01:15:52 Was she the first woman?
01:15:53 - Yeah, I think so.
01:15:56 - I think she was.
01:15:57 Yeah, yeah, she was fucking, I thought we vibed great.
01:16:00 I'm going to bring her back for sure.
01:16:03 But yeah, if there's somebody out there
01:16:05 that you think would be great on the show,
01:16:06 let me know and I'll try to get them on
01:16:08 and we'll have some fun talking about whatever it is
01:16:09 they're interested in.
01:16:10 So enough of that, let's do some shout outs
01:16:14 and get the hell out of here, TJ.
01:16:15 Do you have anything?
01:16:17 - I just wanted to, again,
01:16:18 shout out the Barstool 20th Anniversary Awards.
01:16:20 This podcast comes out on Thursday,
01:16:22 but if you go to barstool.tv/payperview,
01:16:24 you can still watch the replay of it.
01:16:26 They're not going to do a ton of social clipping for it
01:16:29 because they want to push people
01:16:30 towards watching on the pay-per-view.
01:16:32 And that way they could play it a little bit fast and loose,
01:16:35 if you know what I'm saying, now that Dave's back in charge.
01:16:37 But it's going to be a big event
01:16:40 and there's a million people here
01:16:42 at this building running around.
01:16:43 I'm in some sort of weird, like,
01:16:45 dungeonous cave with quilts on the walls.
01:16:47 And I don't know where, what this room is meant to be,
01:16:50 but it does feel like a real event.
01:16:52 We're steps away from Fenway Park, which is pretty cool.
01:16:56 - Oh, really?
01:16:57 - Yeah, like there's a balcony that's literally on the street.
01:17:01 - I should have come.
01:17:02 I haven't spent a lot of time in Boston.
01:17:03 I've been to Boston twice in my life and did basically,
01:17:07 I remember very little about it.
01:17:08 Like, I didn't do really anything of note.
01:17:11 I probably just sat in the hotel the two times I was there.
01:17:15 - My dad grew up like 30 minutes here,
01:17:17 but I didn't go until I was in freshman year in college.
01:17:21 And we went shopping around Christmas break
01:17:24 and we walked into the Ralph Lauren store
01:17:26 and nobody was in there except for David Ortiz
01:17:29 and his friend who were just doing
01:17:31 a little bit of browsing.
01:17:33 So I just got to very casually meet David Ortiz in Boston,
01:17:38 just shopping.
01:17:39 - That's awesome.
01:17:40 - Saturday shopping, which was crazy.
01:17:42 - That's awesome.
01:17:43 - But yeah, watch the award show if you haven't already.
01:17:45 - Watch the award show, yeah.
01:17:46 Yeah, we're recording this before
01:17:48 so we don't really know what happened.
01:17:50 Maybe one of us got fired in the award show.
01:17:52 Wouldn't that be something if we were?
01:17:54 Yeah.
01:17:55 - Probably.
01:17:56 - I think me not being there helps with that though.
01:17:58 I feel like if Dave's going to fire somebody,
01:18:00 it's going to be somebody he can look in the eyes.
01:18:03 So me not being there is actually kind of a smart move
01:18:05 in that regard.
01:18:06 It might hurt me down the line, but as far as like,
01:18:09 and I could see like Dan pitching the idea
01:18:12 of spinning the wheel,
01:18:13 put everyone's name on the wheel as it's there.
01:18:15 (laughing)
01:18:16 Spin it and fire that one person.
01:18:18 So I'm not there, that's actually going to help me maybe.
01:18:20 But yeah, go watch the Barstool Awards.
01:18:25 Speaking of, I guess I got,
01:18:27 Cody's not on this show, is he?
01:18:30 Our junior editor, Cody.
01:18:31 Yeah, 'cause I, maybe you can shed some light on this.
01:18:34 I keep getting tweets about how I said
01:18:40 I'm only going to do the bare minimum.
01:18:42 And this got brought to my attention 'cause Cody,
01:18:45 Cody sent me a text that was like, you got clipped.
01:18:49 - Yeah.
01:18:50 - I'm very confused as to what happened, TJ.
01:18:52 But like, anytime,
01:18:57 and I don't know, I've gotten a lot of tweets
01:19:00 just from people that are just like, is that in your,
01:19:03 I don't, when we announced Mostly Sports with Brandon,
01:19:05 I had like a bunch of people that were like,
01:19:07 is this in your contract?
01:19:08 'Cause I know you don't do anything
01:19:09 that's not in your contract.
01:19:10 And I was like, what the fuck is going,
01:19:12 why are people saying this?
01:19:13 I don't want to overreact
01:19:15 and start chirping back at people,
01:19:18 but I also, I'm a little confused.
01:19:20 - You had KB and Nick on,
01:19:22 there was a conversation about Barstool reality shows,
01:19:26 and if you would ever want to do
01:19:27 the Barstool reality shows.
01:19:29 - Oh yeah, yeah.
01:19:30 - And you, in what I took as kind of a joking way,
01:19:34 were like, yeah, I'm sticking to my contract.
01:19:37 Like I don't do things that I'm not specifically told to do.
01:19:41 And that was like a social clip that went out
01:19:43 and did pretty well.
01:19:45 And on Barstool radio with KFC Fights and Tommy,
01:19:49 I forget who else was on the couch that day,
01:19:51 but they like brought that up for some reason,
01:19:55 I guess 'cause people were seeing it and tweeting about it.
01:19:58 I didn't think anybody was taking it seriously,
01:20:00 but they had like kind of an extended conversation
01:20:03 about like people doing stuff.
01:20:06 (laughing)
01:20:08 Without being asked to.
01:20:09 I'm like, I'm pretty sure he was joking, but.
01:20:13 - Yeah.
01:20:14 - You're pretty much down to clown, like you're not.
01:20:16 - 'Cause Cody sent me a link,
01:20:17 it was just like, KFC's killing you or something.
01:20:19 And I was confused by what,
01:20:23 I was just like, what the hell is going on?
01:20:26 I don't even remember saying that.
01:20:27 But yes, I was joking when I said that to KB and Nick.
01:20:31 I've already done at least three things
01:20:33 since I've been hired here that were not in my contract.
01:20:35 So obviously I'm a team player, obviously.
01:20:40 No, dude, that's crazy.
01:20:42 That's crazy.
01:20:44 - Context is important and sometimes clips
01:20:48 make things look certain ways, but.
01:20:51 - Yeah, maybe KFC knew I was joking.
01:20:53 I like to think that KFC knew I was joking.
01:20:55 I mean, the GM of comedy at Barstool surely knew
01:20:59 when a guy was making a joke, right?
01:21:00 Like that would be wild if he didn't know
01:21:03 that a very obvious joke was being made.
01:21:06 - This clip is already getting played
01:21:09 on tomorrow's Barstool radio.
01:21:10 So I just want to say, what's up guys?
01:21:12 - What's up everybody?
01:21:14 I mean, right, that's like.
01:21:18 - Yeah, no, yeah.
01:21:20 I think it was a nothing burger
01:21:22 that was blown out of proportion.
01:21:24 - I keep forgetting I work at Barstool Sports
01:21:26 and that this isn't a comedy.
01:21:27 This is not a place for comedy.
01:21:29 This is a place for sports takes.
01:21:31 - Well, the Chicago office is the sports office.
01:21:32 - Yeah, if I'm at the Chicago office,
01:21:34 I'm not allowed to make any sort of joke,
01:21:36 sarcastic or otherwise.
01:21:38 All right, well, that clears it up.
01:21:43 I was a little confused 'cause it was just,
01:21:46 my Twitter feed was just full of people saying,
01:21:48 "Is that in your contract?"
01:21:50 And I was like, I know a joke's being made,
01:21:52 but is it a joke?
01:21:53 I'm just confused by what's going on here.
01:21:55 Another thing I wanted to call out,
01:21:59 I want to call you out.
01:22:01 I want to call out Brandon as well.
01:22:03 The Joel Clatt list was fake, TJ.
01:22:06 - Oh, really?
01:22:07 - It was fake, yeah.
01:22:08 I knew it was fake.
01:22:09 (laughing)
01:22:10 When Brandon, yeah, TJ's like, "I don't care."
01:22:13 It's more embarrassing for Brandon, honestly.
01:22:16 Yeah, when Brandon came on the show
01:22:18 and he's like, "Joel Clatt is J.J. McCarthy
01:22:19 "at quarterback one, he's the number one quarterback
01:22:22 "in the country coming into the season."
01:22:24 And I said, "There's no way that's true.
01:22:27 "Don't pull the tape unless this is actually
01:22:29 "what I did say."
01:22:31 And if it is, then make sure everyone knows
01:22:33 I didn't ever believe this for a second.
01:22:36 I said, "There's no way that's true.
01:22:37 "Joel Clatt's way too smart of a guy.
01:22:39 "There's no way."
01:22:40 Brandon just kept insisting.
01:22:41 He's like, "No, no, it happened.
01:22:43 "I tried to look it up, couldn't find it.
01:22:45 "You send me a text of a tweet,
01:22:48 "and I look down, I see it."
01:22:50 And at that point, I'm like, "Well, TJ must've edited this.
01:22:52 "Brandon is insisting.
01:22:54 "I guess I'll just roll with it,
01:22:55 "and we'll work under the assumption
01:22:56 "that Joel Clatt had J.J. McCarthy at number one
01:22:59 "on his quarterbacks entering this college football season
01:23:02 "in a world where Caleb Williams won the Heisman last year
01:23:05 "and is coming back to USC this year,
01:23:07 "and Drake Mays is going to be a top five pick."
01:23:10 Yeah, it just never registered as ever being real to me
01:23:15 until Brandon just insisted it was.
01:23:17 So then I went along with it,
01:23:18 and then people are killing us both for,
01:23:20 and I just want to say that was a Brandon thing.
01:23:22 I'll remove you from it, too.
01:23:24 You were just trying to find the tweet
01:23:25 Brandon was talking about.
01:23:26 You never said this is 100% real.
01:23:28 You were just like, "For reference, here's the tweet."
01:23:31 Yeah.
01:23:32 - Somebody has said that he said that he was number one.
01:23:35 He didn't say it, but.
01:23:36 (laughing)
01:23:38 - Someone said that Joel Clatt said.
01:23:42 No, as it turns out, that report is false,
01:23:44 but someone did in fact say that Joel Clatt said that.
01:23:47 What else?
01:23:50 Shout-outs.
01:23:50 I didn't do the Rambus deal this week.
01:23:53 I feel like that bit's dead on arrival.
01:23:58 We're three episodes into winning time.
01:23:59 Kurt Rambus has made one very brief appearance.
01:24:02 Now at some point, he is going to get
01:24:04 closed-lined on the show.
01:24:06 Will the show be canceled before that?
01:24:08 I don't know.
01:24:09 Jeff Pearlman, the guy who wrote the book
01:24:12 that they're basing this whole show off of,
01:24:14 I saw was on Twitter asking people to watch it
01:24:16 'cause the actors and everyone involved in the show
01:24:19 can't promote it, and he's worried that it's not going to
01:24:21 get another season, which is fair.
01:24:24 I don't blame him one bit for that,
01:24:26 but I was just like, damn, that must be bleak times
01:24:30 for winning time.
01:24:31 So I don't know.
01:24:33 We'll see.
01:24:33 I'll see if, for the three people that were sitting around,
01:24:37 they were like, "Great idea, Titus.
01:24:38 "Love that bit of you acting out Rambus scenes."
01:24:41 I'm sorry to say, there's just no Kurt Rambus in this show,
01:24:45 and I don't know if they rewrote the part
01:24:47 because I wasn't cast or what, but that's,
01:24:52 yeah, I had this idea going into this season
01:24:54 of winning time.
01:24:54 Rambus is going to be heavily featured,
01:24:57 and I'll just act out some shit on the show,
01:24:58 and that'll be fun, and then here we are now.
01:25:00 No Rambus scenes.
01:25:01 So two more shout-outs.
01:25:03 One, Sister Jean, 104 years old.
01:25:07 She just had her birthday.
01:25:09 She has five birthdays a year, I swear.
01:25:12 I don't know how she does it,
01:25:13 but I feel like every three months,
01:25:17 there's a tweet that's like,
01:25:19 "Happy birthday to Sister Jean.
01:25:20 "She did it again.
01:25:21 "I can't believe it.
01:25:22 "It's another year for everyone's favorite
01:25:26 "college basketball fan."
01:25:27 I don't know how she keeps doing it,
01:25:28 but Sister Jean turned, oh, hold on a second.
01:25:31 There's a cardboard cutout of her.
01:25:32 Let me hold it.
01:25:33 Let me go grab it real quick.
01:25:34 Mark is running off screen.
01:25:38 Oh, and there it is.
01:25:51 What the hell?
01:25:53 There we go.
01:25:54 Yeah, there we go.
01:25:56 There's this cardboard cutout
01:25:57 in the Chicago studio of Sister Jean.
01:25:59 How about that?
01:26:01 Yeah, that's gotta be a COVID era cutout.
01:26:03 Yeah.
01:26:04 I have one of those in my cell phone.
01:26:06 She looks like she's like 101 in this picture,
01:26:10 so I think this was a few years ago.
01:26:13 She's gotten a little older since then,
01:26:14 but Sister Jean, 104 years old.
01:26:17 Yeah, there's really nothing else to be said about that,
01:26:21 because as it turns out,
01:26:22 there's kind of never really been anything to say
01:26:24 about Sister Jean other than just like,
01:26:26 damn, that lady's old.
01:26:28 Yeah.
01:26:29 That seems to be the story.
01:26:30 Every time anybody talks about Sister Jean,
01:26:33 that's the reason they keep talking about her birthday
01:26:34 is 'cause it's literally the only thing people talk about.
01:26:36 It's just like, damn, that's an old lady
01:26:39 and she watches basketball.
01:26:41 An old lady can watch basketball?
01:26:44 That doesn't seem right.
01:26:45 Anything else?
01:26:47 I was just gonna say,
01:26:48 shout out to the New York office era of my life ending.
01:26:52 Next time I'm doing a show, I'll be at my parents' house,
01:26:55 but I'll be out of my apartment
01:26:57 and the following show, I will be in Chicago.
01:27:01 So, it's all happening.
01:27:03 What's your move looking like?
01:27:05 You're doing a one day drive?
01:27:07 My movers come tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
01:27:10 I'm sleeping on my roommate's couch Thursday and Friday.
01:27:16 Then I'm going back to my parents' house in Central Jersey
01:27:18 and then flying out on Monday or Tuesday.
01:27:22 Oh, you're flying?
01:27:24 Probably Tuesday.
01:27:25 And then you're meeting, God, you're so smart, TJ.
01:27:27 You're so smart.
01:27:28 I should've done that.
01:27:29 I should've done that.
01:27:30 I'm trying not to have moving issues like you,
01:27:32 but I did in a panic not sleep last night
01:27:36 because I realized I was behind on packing,
01:27:38 so I spent the entire overnight shift
01:27:41 packing every piece of clothing and a bunch of random shit.
01:27:45 I was like, I gotta do this now
01:27:46 or else it's never getting done.
01:27:48 You should do a thread like a handful of other
01:27:51 Barstool people moving from New York to Chicago are doing,
01:27:54 which I am getting very triggered by, by the way.
01:27:56 As a man who moved from Los Angeles, which I don't,
01:28:00 yeah, you said it.
01:28:01 As a man who moved from L.A.,
01:28:03 I don't think I deserve an award.
01:28:05 I don't deserve a pat on the back, whatever,
01:28:07 but it is very much triggering me
01:28:09 that Chase, like, big drive ahead tomorrow.
01:28:12 I was sure to get the 10 hours of sleep
01:28:14 to drive six hours.
01:28:16 - Yeah. - Six hours?
01:28:17 Dude, it took me six hours to get out of L.A.
01:28:19 when I was driving my U-Haul.
01:28:21 - I'm traveling eight and a half hours today
01:28:23 to do two podcasts.
01:28:25 - Yeah, I'm very, like, you can't,
01:28:28 you have to be in the car for at least 12 hours
01:28:30 if you're going to the internet to say, like,
01:28:32 I got a marathon drive ahead today.
01:28:34 It's gotta be at least a 12-hour drive.
01:28:36 But yeah, you should do a thread where you're like,
01:28:39 big moving day, I'm moving all,
01:28:41 and say all the way across the country
01:28:43 just to really drive it home.
01:28:44 Like, I'm moving all the way across the country
01:28:45 from New York to Chicago.
01:28:48 Follow me along, follow along with me on my journey,
01:28:51 and then just tweet something from the airport,
01:28:54 and then tweet something when you land.
01:28:55 (laughing)
01:28:56 - Thread ends, thread ends.
01:28:59 - Yeah, yeah.
01:28:59 (laughing)
01:29:00 You're like, I got some Garrett's popcorn
01:29:02 at the Chicago, at O'Hare,
01:29:03 and now I'm getting in the Uber to my new place.
01:29:06 All right, that was it.
01:29:06 (laughing)
01:29:08 Grueling move.
01:29:09 - Oh, I haven't been here for forever,
01:29:11 and now I'm not gonna be here anymore.
01:29:13 So it's crazy.
01:29:14 - I had one more.
01:29:16 - I'm excited for the future.
01:29:16 - I had one more shout out.
01:29:18 You mentioned my father earlier.
01:29:20 I wanna shout out my doofus dad,
01:29:21 because I found out on the phone yesterday, TJ.
01:29:25 I cannot believe this, man.
01:29:28 So my dad told me yesterday that,
01:29:33 have I talked about the,
01:29:35 I've mentioned how he lacerated his kidney, right?
01:29:37 I told that story on the show, or did I not?
01:29:40 This happened within the last year.
01:29:42 He, I was playing pickleball with him,
01:29:46 and I dropped a, I thought I told it on the show,
01:29:49 but if not, apologies if I've told this a million times,
01:29:51 but yeah, not too long ago, dad,
01:29:55 my mom has gotten really into pickleball
01:29:56 like a lot of people have,
01:29:58 and there's like, they live in this community
01:30:02 that's not a retired, not like an old folks community,
01:30:05 but also the way I describe it
01:30:07 sounds like an old folks community.
01:30:08 It's basically just like a housing development
01:30:10 that's like all for people that are a little older,
01:30:13 but at the same time, I think I just described like a--
01:30:16 - It's like a 55 and up neighborhood or something.
01:30:18 - 55 and up neighborhood.
01:30:20 And they have a clubhouse, and at the clubhouse,
01:30:22 there are a bunch of pickleball courts,
01:30:23 and they are just a hot item at this community.
01:30:25 It's just like, what all the, you know,
01:30:27 the pool is untouched, everything else is,
01:30:30 every amenity is untouched,
01:30:31 but the pickleball, you gotta sit there and wait.
01:30:33 It's like Rucker Park in its heyday, you know?
01:30:34 Like everyone's waiting to get the next run in
01:30:36 at this pickleball court.
01:30:37 So I'm visiting my parents,
01:30:38 and my mom has really gotten into it.
01:30:40 My mom's an athlete, she's a Purdue legend,
01:30:42 loves being competitive.
01:30:43 My mom's really gotten into pickleball.
01:30:45 She's schooling all the old dudes
01:30:46 in her community at pickleball.
01:30:47 She's really fucking good at it, unsurprisingly.
01:30:50 My dad, as is most things, if my mom is good at something,
01:30:54 my dad doesn't wanna do it.
01:30:55 My dad's like, "I don't want my wife
01:30:56 "to be better than me at this,
01:30:57 "so I'm just not gonna do it."
01:30:58 My dad plays zero pickleball,
01:31:00 has no interest in it whatsoever.
01:31:01 But my girlfriend and I were visiting,
01:31:04 this was in November, last November.
01:31:07 We're visiting my parents.
01:31:08 My mom wants to teach us how to play pickleball.
01:31:11 She's like, "Have you guys ever played?"
01:31:12 I was like, "No."
01:31:13 She's like, "You gotta get in on this, it's so fun."
01:31:15 So we obviously, she needs a fourth.
01:31:18 It's the two of us and my mom,
01:31:20 and then my mom turns to my dad and is like,
01:31:22 "Bill, you're gonna have to play with us
01:31:24 "because we need a fourth."
01:31:25 So dad's like, "Fine, I'll play this stupid game."
01:31:28 And because so many old people play pickleball, TJ,
01:31:31 I thought that this was a game that like athleticism
01:31:34 and agility doesn't really benefit you that much.
01:31:37 It's more of a skill-based game.
01:31:38 It's more of like a, just like ping pong,
01:31:41 standing on the court, you know?
01:31:42 So I was going a little hard just in terms of like,
01:31:46 trying to like place the ball down the line
01:31:49 and trying to like, you know,
01:31:51 instead of just hitting it over the net,
01:31:52 I was like trying to be a little cute
01:31:55 with where I was putting the ball
01:31:56 because I was like, this is not a game where,
01:32:00 surely a man's not gonna slip and fall
01:32:01 and lacerate his kidney playing this game.
01:32:03 That's not gonna happen.
01:32:05 Boy, to my surprise, not too long after we started,
01:32:08 I put a little drop shot over the net,
01:32:11 a little backspin on it, you know,
01:32:13 drop it right over the net.
01:32:15 Dad goes to plant to like go attack the ball.
01:32:17 His foot slips out from under him and just falls.
01:32:20 He hits it like just the right angle
01:32:22 that his kidney basically like just fucking explodes.
01:32:25 We have to rush him to the emergency room.
01:32:27 It's like this horrifying thing.
01:32:28 Like he's like an old school Midwest,
01:32:31 as everyone who listens to this show knows.
01:32:33 He's just like a, he's a dude
01:32:34 that doesn't go to the hospital.
01:32:36 His head could be hanging halfway off his neck
01:32:38 and he'd be like, I'm fine.
01:32:39 Just put a little dirt on it.
01:32:40 This man is like screaming in agony
01:32:43 and like get me to the hospital now.
01:32:45 It was that serious and long story short,
01:32:48 he's on the mend for like seven or eight months.
01:32:51 Can't do much of anything.
01:32:54 Can't lift his grandkids.
01:32:55 Can't do, like he cannot do anything.
01:32:57 He's just, the doctor said do not do a damn thing.
01:33:03 You can walk around the neighborhood and that's it, right?
01:33:05 So Father's Day, he gets cleared to do activities again,
01:33:09 which is basically just like golf.
01:33:10 Like the doctor's just basically like,
01:33:12 let's take it easy, let's just golf.
01:33:14 Don't get crazy with this.
01:33:16 But yeah, you can now start introducing
01:33:18 some more physical activity into your life.
01:33:21 So he starts golfing a little bit more.
01:33:23 I'll get to the point now, TJ.
01:33:25 This man, I talked to him on the phone yesterday.
01:33:27 He said, I go, what are you doing?
01:33:29 He goes, I'm just sitting here icing my knee.
01:33:30 And I said, what are you icing your,
01:33:32 like what happened?
01:33:32 Did you like hurt it golfing or what?
01:33:33 And he goes, oh, I didn't tell you.
01:33:35 And I go, no.
01:33:36 And he goes, yeah, I tore my meniscus two weeks ago.
01:33:39 And I said, what?
01:33:39 I go, how did you tell, I was like, golfing?
01:33:42 'Cause again, I'm working under the assumption
01:33:43 the only thing he's really doing is golfing.
01:33:45 He loves to golf.
01:33:45 I was like, or is it fishing?
01:33:47 Were you golfing or fishing?
01:33:48 Those are the only things that I know that you do.
01:33:49 And he goes, well, I took your niece, his granddaughter.
01:33:54 He goes, I took your niece to a trampoline park.
01:33:58 - Oh my God.
01:34:00 - And I go, no, no, you didn't.
01:34:02 And he goes, yeah.
01:34:04 And so she's out there bouncing around.
01:34:05 She goes, Pat ball, come bounce on the trampoline with me.
01:34:08 And I was like, dad, you did not do this.
01:34:09 And he goes, no, he goes, I was fine.
01:34:12 And I was like, you were fine?
01:34:13 He goes, yeah, yeah, I was fine.
01:34:14 He's like, I was out there bouncing.
01:34:16 Everything's fine.
01:34:17 I'm getting a good bounce in, you know,
01:34:18 we're bouncing around and she's doing flips
01:34:21 and I'm bouncing with her and everything's fine.
01:34:23 And I was like, oh, okay, so what's the problem?
01:34:24 And he goes, well, the problem is I'm walking
01:34:26 to the restroom and I see that they have
01:34:30 a basketball goal and a basketball
01:34:32 laying on one of the trampolines.
01:34:34 And I just go, you've gotta be fucking kidding me.
01:34:38 I go, no.
01:34:39 And I'm just like, I'm like horrified.
01:34:41 I just keep going, no.
01:34:42 Like as he tells the rest of the story,
01:34:44 I'm just going, no, no, no, no, no.
01:34:47 And he goes, Mark, it was the same trampoline
01:34:49 I was just jumping on.
01:34:50 I looked at it.
01:34:51 It looked to be the exact same trampoline.
01:34:53 When I was jumping with your niece,
01:34:54 I was getting some air.
01:34:55 I looked at the ball.
01:34:56 I looked at the rim.
01:34:57 I thought, I have to do this.
01:34:59 (laughing)
01:35:01 - He tried to go slam ball on him?
01:35:04 - This man literally just like almost died
01:35:07 playing pickleball of all things.
01:35:09 Gets cleared by the doctors.
01:35:11 And the first thing he does, goes to a trampoline park
01:35:15 and tries to slam ball at 66 years old.
01:35:19 - That's insane.
01:35:21 - So now he's got a torn meniscus
01:35:23 and I'm at the point I don't even feel bad for him anymore.
01:35:25 I was just laughing at his face.
01:35:26 I was like, I felt bad for the pickleball thing
01:35:27 'cause I was kind of responsible.
01:35:29 I put the shot over the net and kind of made him fall.
01:35:31 I don't feel bad at all for this thing.
01:35:33 Like this is insane.
01:35:34 So shout out to my doofus dad.
01:35:37 I'm not gonna have him on the show for a while,
01:35:39 but when he comes back,
01:35:40 I'll make a note to be sure to bring that up.
01:35:44 - Trampoline park should have a max age of like 15.
01:35:48 Once you get over that,
01:35:50 like Jabba Chamberlain destroyed his ankle
01:35:53 while he was a pitcher on the Yankees.
01:35:56 A professional athlete,
01:35:57 he blew his ankle through the skin out of his leg
01:36:01 in front of his kids.
01:36:01 Like the adults just shouldn't be on trampoline.
01:36:04 - You're absolutely right.
01:36:05 Especially not adults that just recovered
01:36:07 from a lacerated kidney
01:36:09 or a little on the older side.
01:36:12 So anyway, shout out my doofus dad.
01:36:14 I think that's it.
01:36:15 I don't have anything else.
01:36:16 Do you have anything else?
01:36:17 - My doofus dad as well.
01:36:18 - My doofus dad, shout out to--
01:36:20 - If you're watching this on Thursday,
01:36:22 he's drinking root beer on the Mac right now.
01:36:25 - That's right, yeah.
01:36:26 Go watch TJ's dad drink root beer on the YAC.
01:36:29 I'm excited to see it.
01:36:31 I haven't seen it yet.
01:36:31 So I'm gonna be doing that.
01:36:32 - He was very, as I am about things, extremely nervous.
01:36:37 He probably texted me 500 times the week leading up
01:36:40 about every possible bad outcome
01:36:43 or situation that he could prepare for.
01:36:45 So he was very happy to make his office debut.
01:36:49 - That's awesome.
01:36:51 Good stuff.
01:36:52 All right, thank you to Sam Vecini.
01:36:53 Thank you guys watching, listening, everything else.
01:36:55 Everybody have a great week
01:36:56 and go watch the FIBA World Cup.
01:36:57 We have to watch it.
01:36:58 We have to cheer on America when we win this thing.
01:37:01 Just have some goddamn pride.
01:37:03 That's all I'm asking of people.
01:37:05 Just have some pride.
01:37:06 And I know it's falling on deaf ears.
01:37:08 No one's gonna watch this thing.
01:37:09 Nobody cares.
01:37:10 Damn it.
01:37:11 See you guys.
01:37:12 - Here's to another 50.
01:37:13 (upbeat music)
01:37:16 (upbeat music)
01:37:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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