Latest / The Regulars / Caitlin Clark Controversy Erupts: Whining, Politics & WNBA Chaos

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Caitlin Clark Controversy Erupts: Whining, Politics & WNBA Chaos · The Regulars

• 0:00
  Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen. Caitlin Clark drama. The NBA,
• 0:04
  uh, commissioner suddenly thinks he's the WNBA commissioner.
• 0:08
  And of course, everybody in sports media just wants to fight with athletes
• 0:12
  for some reason. Dear God, what a nightmare. Tanya, it's great to
• 0:16
  see you. We're in different parts of the country. Welcome to The Regulars. I'm Cody
• 0:20
  Decker. I'm Tanya Rae Fox. Cheers, let's do this.
• 0:31
  Welcome, Tanya Ray Fox. We're in different parts of the country right
• 0:35
  now. This is actually, I think, the first time we've ever done The Regulars
• 0:39
  on Zoom with each other, and I'm not gonna lie,
• 0:43
  I'm interested to see how it goes. We've actually done it before,
• 0:47
  one time. We have? The Regulars? I thought we only did, uh, the other show.
• 0:50
  I thought we did Bieland Decker one time like that. Nope, we did,
• 0:54
  we did The Regulars. It was Maybe in May when
• 0:59
  I went to Disney. I think we did, yeah. Oh man, never mind, this is
• 1:02
  like old hat to us. This is gonna be a fantastic show. Tanya Ray
• 1:07
  Fox, how is it being back home over there in the lovely
• 1:10
  city of Boston? It's, um, it's been interesting.
• 1:14
  So, you know, I, I'm still recovering from my, uh, lung infection,
• 1:18
  and I arrived to a city covered
• 1:22
  in ash. And cloud from
• 1:26
  the fires in Canada. So when we flew in, it was orange
• 1:30
  skies, like bad air quality for the first 2 days that we
• 1:34
  were here. That's tough. I was like, oh, not a great time
• 1:38
  to be flying in, let alone to be sick. So there's that.
• 1:41
  But on the bright side, it cleared up. Was out on the boat today.
• 1:45
  I'm in my mom's witch den. Um,
• 1:48
  if you want to see kind of what we've got working with here, we've got
• 1:51
  Something here. Oh no, no, I'm well aware of what that
• 1:55
  bad boy is. Go ahead. Can you do it though? Can I do what?
• 1:59
  Can you do it? Yeah, the thing my mom does. No, I cannot. You gotta
• 2:02
  hit it and you gotta find the right, right, like,
• 2:05
  frequency and keep it going. And I will tell you this,
• 2:08
  I can't fucking do it. I've tried so many times. I'm so fucking uncoordinated with
• 2:12
  it. There's a crystal ball. Naturally, you know, your mom is a witch. There's a
• 2:15
  pedestal, but I didn't get it. And then there's, there's this.
• 2:19
  Naturally. Well, you know, the sands of time. This is the— this is the best
• 2:23
  one though. The witch book.
• 2:27
  I don't know what's in here, but based
• 2:32
  on the fact that that book looks like it was from Salem, I'm starting to
• 2:35
  actually understand why maybe it is my father is haunting your mother. What the
• 2:39
  hell? Like, and I don't know what it is, like, you're kind of witchy,
• 2:42
  your mom's very clearly a witch. My girlfriend's a
• 2:46
  witch. I'm like surrounded by witches all of a sudden. I don't know how this
• 2:49
  all happened in my life, but next thing you know, I'm apparently just friends with
• 2:52
  witches, but dating witches. My life is surrounded by witches. My mom's probably
• 2:56
  a witch too, now I think about it. And honestly, all happened at the same
• 2:58
  time too, because you had like just met your girlfriend when
• 3:02
  we met. That's actually true. That is wild, wild, wild times.
• 3:05
  But Tanya, we got a lot to talk about today, and quite frankly,
• 3:09
  only so many nerves
• 3:13
  left in both of our system to tolerate what is on today's
• 3:17
  rundown. I'm not gonna lie to you, right out the gate
• 3:21
  on headline number 1, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ.
• 3:25
  Tanya, go ahead. Uh, so Caitlin Clark has,
• 3:28
  I don't know, I would say quintupled down on being one of the more insufferable,
• 3:33
  uh, topics in all of sports media. My God. Um,
• 3:38
  There, there's a lot going on here. We'll start with kind of the
• 3:41
  latest drama that she's involved in, which is that she had this
• 3:45
  very weird whiny post-game press conference
• 3:49
  where she argued about a phantom quad contusion.
• 3:54
  Yes. Um, do we have that video that we can play for people?
• 3:58
  Oh, it's funny you say that, we do. Let's go to the video. Let's do
• 4:02
  it. Mocha Do it. Play with Stokes that
• 4:06
  made you upset? Yeah, I got kneed right in the quad. Like, that hurts.
• 4:09
  Like, the ref can't miss that. And then I have to play with a contusion
• 4:11
  in my leg the rest of the game. Like, it's ridiculous. Can't miss calls like
• 4:15
  that. Did they give you an explanation right after when you— She said I initiated
• 4:20
  the contact, which is fine. You can't knee me in the, in the leg,
• 4:23
  knock me over. Kaylee, can you take me through that
• 4:27
  second quarter play with Stokes that I— how do
• 4:33
  I put this? I, I looked at the freeze frame. I looked at the,
• 4:36
  uh, I, I wouldn't even as far as doing what the WNBA
• 4:40
  decided to do last week. I basically paused it and freeze
• 4:43
  framed everything so I can, you know, find my official
• 4:47
  decision on who should be fucking suspended this time. And it turns out Caitlin
• 4:52
  Clark should be suspended. What the fuck? Yeah, it's really
• 4:56
  bad. And I think that like, it is one thing to flop,
• 5:00
  it's a— it's one thing even to consistently get in the ref's faces,
• 5:04
  which she should be, be getting called for techs where she's not. She should have
• 5:08
  been called by first. The fact that she didn't get a tech for that was
• 5:10
  baffling to me. I'm like, she is screaming in this dude's face. And by the
• 5:14
  way, we're already dealing with the narratives that are like, well, these WNBA referees just
• 5:18
  aren't very good, we need to get some better referees in the WNBA.
• 5:21
  And And you got shit like this. You got Caitlin Clark trying to take advantage
• 5:24
  of the situation, not to mention take advantage of the other situation considering that Congress
• 5:29
  is trying to legislate the WNBA for her.
• 5:32
  Fuck, I, I just became a fucking Caitlin
• 5:35
  Clark hater in the last 24 hours. I actually was defending
• 5:39
  her. Fuck that, I'm out. Yeah, I think she's lost
• 5:43
  a lot of people, and I think this is the biggest reason why. I think
• 5:46
  the biggest reason she's lost started losing people is because of the
• 5:50
  post-game whining and the entitlement. Like, this is what
• 5:54
  everybody's been talking about, is like there's this weird entitlement that she
• 5:58
  has for whatever reason that people are not willing
• 6:02
  to— for a long time were not willing to admit was there. It was like,
• 6:05
  no, no, she just whatever. And to get up
• 6:09
  there and be like, it has to be better, to call out the officials,
• 6:12
  to call out the the refereeing when
• 6:16
  this— nothing even happened. That to me is
• 6:20
  too much. It's too much. You are, like you said,
• 6:23
  like, you've got Congress lobbying on behalf of you. It is very
• 6:27
  clearly racially motivated. Everything that comes out of this administration is
• 6:31
  very clearly racially motivated. And then you go and pull this.
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  Everything that I've— that me and every other fucking person
• 6:39
  on the planet who's been warning people about Caitlin Clark has been saying is She
• 6:42
  seems to endorse all of the, uh, racism that her fans engage in.
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  And when you go and pull this shit right after Congress
• 6:51
  is doing what they're doing, what are we supposed to think? You clearly
• 6:55
  want special treatment. You clearly cannot handle the physicality of
• 6:59
  this league. And I have to be honest, I don't think anybody's—
• 7:02
  anybody's ever been more right in the history of being a—
• 7:06
  of sports takes. Than when Diana Taurasi said, as Caitlin Clark
• 7:11
  was getting drafted into this league, she's going to have to rise to it.
• 7:14
  Like, there's a level of physicality in the WNBA that she's not used to,
• 7:17
  and it's going to be a learning curve. And everybody said that she was a
• 7:21
  hater at the time. Everybody said Diana Taurasi was being a hater. Everybody said
• 7:24
  Sheryl Swoopes was being a hater. And everybody was right.
• 7:28
  She is not fucking equipped for this, man. I've never seen— Cody,
• 7:32
  I really can't I understand that she has been put
• 7:36
  in a very unique position, but I also cannot remember
• 7:41
  a time that someone has mishandled their superstardom in this way
• 7:45
  in such a short amount of time. It's been pretty wild. And those of you
• 7:48
  like— it's just— and now obviously her teammate's a UFC ring girl now.
• 7:51
  Like, I'm just, I'm just so fucking over it. I'm like, this is
• 7:55
  on it. Like, the WNBA was— has been doing like such
• 7:58
  great shit over the years. And by the way, it's been getting good,
• 8:01
  but before Caitlyn even got there. And yeah, I was really excited for Caitlyn to
• 8:05
  get in there and all this influx of these very new stars that would have
• 8:08
  been very much promoted to us. And like, I was excited for this. And I
• 8:12
  guess I should have known better. I really should have known better that this was
• 8:15
  going to be fucking ruined because everybody is using this for political theater.
• 8:19
  And, and that's what sports is now. It's officially a part
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  of the political theater narratives, and I fucking hate it. This was
• 8:26
  the escape, and I, and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm really tired of everybody else
• 8:30
  coming in, he's like, I thought this was supposed to be my escape. You're all
• 8:33
  doing it. All of you. Every single one of you have politicized
• 8:38
  sports in such a fucking way that we
• 8:42
  can't escape this. You know what I'd like to do? I'd love to talk about
• 8:45
  how good Caitlin Clark is playing basketball. I am not doing that. One,
• 8:49
  she's not playing unbelievable basketball. She's playing fine. And 2,
• 8:52
  she's injured all the time in a more physical league that she's not used to.
• 8:56
  And 3, this, just this. Like, I,
• 9:00
  I was on board with the throat thing. Like, I, I thought
• 9:03
  the suspension was a bit much, and I thought we made a lot out of
• 9:06
  a freeze frame for a whole play that was just a physical play and maybe
• 9:09
  deserved a foul at most, maybe. But this is just
• 9:14
  off the charts now. Like, yeah, we're going in there with the full act.
• 9:17
  You can't just sit there, now I'm playing with a shit, a contusion. What contusion?
• 9:21
  What contact? The ref was actually wrong. I, I want
• 9:25
  to specify that Caitlin Clark is right about one thing. The ref was wrong
• 9:29
  because she didn't initiate contact, because there wasn't any fucking contact.
• 9:33
  No one contacted anyone. And you're sitting here
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  with this full act. And I feel so bad for her head coach
• 9:40
  Stephanie White, who's had to defend this all year. She had to go out there
• 9:44
  and defend her player and said, just embarrassing that she doesn't get these calls.
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  Just embarrassing, all these refs. I bet she saw that, that replay going
• 9:51
  Fuck, man, I hate this job. It's,
• 9:55
  it's not ideal. And to the point of, you know, um,
• 9:59
  the involvement of the league at this point,
• 10:03
  Adam Silver is the one who actually called
• 10:07
  the, the report from— I think it was Sports Business Journal that originally reported it—
• 10:12
  said that Adam Silver was the one who basically forced the suspension down
• 10:15
  on Alyssa Thomas. Uh, Cathy Engelbert was not going to suspend
• 10:19
  Alyssa Thomas for that. She's— she saw it as kind of like, okay, we know
• 10:22
  what we can do, we can call it a flagrant after the fact, like whatever,
• 10:25
  but she wasn't looking for a suspension. Adam Silver sees Caitlin
• 10:29
  Clark as this golden goose that needs to be protected. Apparently he forces her.
• 10:32
  She's already fighting for her job. He won't commit to signing
• 10:35
  her long term, so it really feels like she might be out. Um,
• 10:39
  the letter from, you know, from GOP lawmakers
• 10:43
  doesn't help Kathy Engelbert's case with Adam Silver, who seems
• 10:47
  to be pandering to the conservative right more and more,
• 10:50
  which is weird to me, by the way. Are you finding that really strange
• 10:54
  in today? Like, and I mean, like, I actually would have understood this one
• 10:58
  year ago. Like, one year ago, right when the election happened and
• 11:02
  things were changing, like changing hands, I almost would have understood.
• 11:06
  But at this point, considering the fact all the political theater that has been bastardized
• 11:10
  in all of sports, all of the embarrassment that has taken place, of the wars
• 11:13
  that have taken place, and the fact that the approval rating is lower than any
• 11:16
  president of our lifetime, Truly, I wonder why
• 11:20
  any of these guys are pandering to any administration currently in
• 11:24
  power. I really— I'm actually confused by this.
• 11:27
  I honestly sometimes, like, in this particular case,
• 11:31
  I really feel like some of these guys are just finally
• 11:35
  allowing their misogyny and some of their biases to
• 11:40
  just come out because they're allowed to now. Like, it just very much feels like
• 11:43
  These guys have been playing political correctness for a long time. Someone like Adam Silver
• 11:48
  has had to deal with player empowerment, the whole player empowerment era,
• 11:51
  and I feel like they're, they're becoming empowered.
• 11:54
  I mean, I think you've seen it across— I'm sure you've seen it more than
• 11:57
  I have— when guys, especially white men, get a little bit of like
• 12:01
  power, a little bit of leeway to show exactly who they are, you're like,
• 12:04
  oh, this guy was always really chill until he suddenly had the pass to
• 12:08
  be a little more racist, a little more sexist. So you two
• 12:12
  have been watching JD Vance's, uh, weird-ass tour that
• 12:16
  he's doing all over the place where he seemingly just fails miserably of
• 12:20
  acting like a human being. Well, I mean, I don't think he was
• 12:24
  ever good at it, to be honest. Me neither. But he did fool people early
• 12:27
  on when he wrote some shitty book. True, true. That's a good
• 12:32
  point. Yeah, the Hillbilly Elegy days were— yeah, that was something else. But like,
• 12:35
  I do think that that's what's starting to happen and Now the
• 12:39
  zeitgeist has been brought into the Caitlin Clark thing. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• 12:44
  has called out the whole— not only Caitlin Clark's behavior,
• 12:47
  but he's also called out just the idea that she is somehow the face
• 12:51
  of a league that she simply is not equipped to be the face of,
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  nor should she be the face of it with as little accomplishment
• 12:58
  as she's had in the league. She's been a great player. She's been an All-Star.
• 13:00
  Congratulations. But Kareem said it's a slap
• 13:04
  in the face to like the league and the players to say that she— like,
• 13:06
  while A'ja Wilson is still there, while these other players— like, that's insane.
• 13:09
  So she's on Kareem's bad side now. Now that we've got bloggers
• 13:13
  on the internet coming after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar— oh,
• 13:17
  you're wrong on this one, Kareem— people who will defend her till the end.
• 13:20
  And so it started this like insane fucking culture war that is
• 13:24
  just not— it's— this is— it
• 13:28
  all started because Caitlin Clark became a
• 13:32
  household name when Angel Reese pointed at her ring finger and you can't
• 13:35
  see me in the, you know, in the 2023 national
• 13:39
  championships. And, and then that skyrocketed
• 13:44
  everything. Middle white America attached to her, and she did not know how to handle
• 13:47
  it. And it very much appears like she has gotten very used to being treated
• 13:52
  like a superstar, being very used to being told that she's the best in the
• 13:55
  room, that she's the most important person in the room. She bought her own hype
• 13:58
  and she's not living up to it. And does
• 14:01
  that surprise me? Honestly, Cody, not even a fucking little bit.
• 14:05
  No, no. You know what it reminds me of a little bit? Just a little
• 14:08
  bit. Not in the same exact form, but a little bit. Um,
• 14:12
  Ronda Rousey. Uh, and I'll give you the example on why. Uh, I'll never—
• 14:16
  I'll never forget when— remember when Ronda lost her— for her first match?
• 14:20
  She lost it to, uh, Holly Holm. Got kicked in the head.
• 14:23
  Because over time, Ronda's fighting style started
• 14:27
  shifting and changing. She started believing the hype of Ronda Rousey as
• 14:31
  opposed to what she was— maybe the very best judo fighter
• 14:35
  that exists. Grab— she grabs you, you're dead.
• 14:38
  She's going to break your arm. But then all of a sudden, she didn't want
• 14:42
  to break arms anymore. She thought she was a stand-up fighter and was going to
• 14:45
  knock people out. So what happens when she goes up against a real class kickboxer?
• 14:49
  She got her ass handed to her very, very quickly, as opposed to doing what
• 14:53
  she always does— go and grab her and break her arm. She stopped doing that.
• 14:56
  She tried to become something else because she believed she was the baddest woman on
• 15:00
  the planet. She's the toughest fighter on the planet. And I'll never forget it.
• 15:03
  I think it was, uh, it was some MMA fighter, one of the talking head
• 15:07
  MMA who was a former MMA— oh, it was Chael Sonnen. And I remember Chael
• 15:11
  Sonnen said he watched an interview with Ronda, and Ronda was talking about how she
• 15:14
  was very sad and very depressed and even suicidal because she— if
• 15:19
  I'm not this, then what am I? And Chael's like, oh, oh no, oh no,
• 15:23
  you believed you were what we were marketing you as.
• 15:27
  We were marketing you as something, but you're not that. And it's not
• 15:31
  your fault. No one in that position is that. But if you start believing
• 15:34
  that, you're fucked. And when you do have the fall,
• 15:38
  it's going to be bad. And I feel like we're watching the same thing with
• 15:42
  Caitlin Clark, only times fucking a billion.
• 15:46
  I think that's a really, really good comparison. And I think it's
• 15:49
  interesting that in both situations they are
• 15:53
  white women who are supposed to be the sort of like, uh,
• 15:56
  savior of the women's division of, of a, a male-dominated
• 16:00
  sport. You know, it's like a very specific thing that we do. It's like,
• 16:03
  okay, you're gonna get equality, but we're gonna launch this white woman into the
• 16:08
  stratosphere as the like totem, you know, as the
• 16:11
  like token for everything that, you know, is equality or whatever.
• 16:16
  And it's very easy for us to buy our own hype. Oh my
• 16:20
  gosh, the first woman to ever be a UFC superstar! Oh, the first woman to
• 16:24
  get the, you know, to have this much attention in the WNBA! And it— you're
• 16:28
  right, that's a— it's a great comparison. And I— and, you know, unlike Ronda
• 16:32
  Rousey, um, Caitlin Clark there
• 16:35
  is stuff in her tool belt that she actually does.
• 16:39
  You know, she— there's— she's straying away from what she's good at,
• 16:42
  certainly, but she's also not improving the things that she needs to improve on
• 16:46
  that she's not good at. The turnovers are bad, the defense is bad, you know,
• 16:50
  and that stuff that was always going to need to be worked on once she
• 16:54
  got into the W, and she's just not doing it. Yeah. And that might be,
• 16:57
  to your point, because she didn't think she fucking had to.
• 17:01
  She's Caitlin Clark. And that's just— no, I don't
• 17:05
  care what— that, that works if you're, if you're a tennis superstar, if you're an
• 17:08
  individual sports star, if you're a golfer, if you're a fucking gymnast.
• 17:12
  You're— you play team sports, babe, you know? Like, what the fuck?
• 17:16
  Sorry, you're not Djokovic. Like, you don't get to go out there being a
• 17:20
  dick, dude. It's just frustrating to see because you see the flashes.
• 17:24
  We know what she can do. Um, but you
• 17:28
  know what I liked about her in college? Remember when her dad was in the
• 17:31
  crowd always yelling at her to stop acting like a petulant one child.
• 17:35
  Where the fuck did that guy go? I think he's still there asking
• 17:38
  the same fucking question. I just— I think she's always been like this, man.
• 17:42
  But like, she did kind of listen to him a little bit back
• 17:46
  then, didn't she? Like, he would get really mad that she would act like this.
• 17:50
  Shit, I can't believe I'm saying this, but can we get her dad out there?
• 17:53
  Well, that was before she was worth like $20 million, right? Fair point, fair point.
• 17:57
  Yeah, but she got that $20 million when she was yelling— but getting
• 18:00
  yelled at by her dad. I hear you, I hear you.
• 18:04
  So yeah, this is the, um, this is the story that's not gonna quit.
• 18:07
  And I, I don't know where we go from here with Caitlin Clark, but,
• 18:10
  um, I think that you are among a new swath of people
• 18:14
  who spent enough time defending and are just kind of out and just have kind
• 18:18
  of seen some stuff that is just a little bit beyond the pale at this
• 18:21
  point. But here's the thing, like, part of my defense had nothing— listen,
• 18:24
  she probably is very much the person that
• 18:28
  though that group of people like are clamoring to. She, you know,
• 18:32
  you've seen her out with fucking Morgan Wallen and shit. Her good friend Sophie
• 18:36
  Cunningham's fucking the ring girl at fucking UFC matches. I have no doubt that's
• 18:40
  where her mind is. That being said, I'm not gonna just attack her for blatantly
• 18:44
  being this because seemingly she has been used as a political tool by
• 18:48
  other people, and she, to her credit, hasn't really dipped into any
• 18:52
  of it. That being said, I'm exhausted.
• 18:57
  I'm exhausted. Are you not exhausted? Are it— like, I, I want to just
• 19:01
  enjoy the W. I don't know why we have
• 19:05
  like no choice but to turn every single sport
• 19:09
  into the Real Housewives. And by the way, if you think that I'm saying that
• 19:12
  about only the WNBA, no, no, I'm, I'm definitely talking about the NFL.
• 19:15
  I'm definitely talking about the NBA. I'm definitely talking about Major League Baseball.
• 19:18
  It's all of it, all sports. And, and I, I'm mad that we're
• 19:23
  actually dragging the WNBA into the Real Housewives
• 19:27
  of the male sports because this is becoming batshit.
• 19:31
  I, I just like— this whole industry is truly,
• 19:34
  and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, fucking broken.
• 19:38
  Yeah, yeah, it is. And we're going to talk more about,
• 19:42
  um, some of the stuff that's, that's broken across sports media and sports in general,
• 19:46
  uh, later on in the show in Media Corner. Uh, getting to headline
• 19:50
  number 2, we have, we have a couple quick hitters here from
• 19:54
  2 through, uh, 2 through 4, just kind of get to us
• 19:57
  to Media Corner. The NFL, uh, has confirmed
• 20:01
  the indefinite suspension of Cardinals personnel executive Ryan Gold
• 20:05
  for violating the league's gambling policy.
• 20:08
  And this is something that's kind of in our wheelhouse. You and I, Cody,
• 20:12
  are talking a lot about how gambling has infiltrated sports and where it's going to
• 20:15
  go, um, what the, you know, the sort of Kelshies
• 20:19
  of the world are going to end up doing in the sports gambling world.
• 20:23
  Um, and this is kind of like tied in at the same time to this
• 20:26
  teleprompter scandal. Do you know about the teleprompter operator scandal?
• 20:30
  Yes, I do. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, for anybody who
• 20:34
  doesn't know, um, Gabriel Perez, President Trump's teleprompter
• 20:38
  operator, uh, uh, operator was allegedly using his knowledge
• 20:42
  of the contents of speeches to make prediction market wagers on Calshi.
• 20:46
  Um, and This is something that you and I
• 20:50
  have talked about, like, just feels like it's like, uh,
• 20:54
  not surprising that these things are happening. And, uh,
• 20:57
  an executive in the NFL having an indefinite suspension—
• 21:02
  he was sharing draft information,
• 21:07
  inside draft info for gambling
• 21:11
  purposes. This is ex— of course this fucking happened,
• 21:14
  Cody. Of course this fucking happened. And they're like, oh my God,
• 21:17
  indefinite suspension. Does anybody— do
• 21:21
  you or I— does anybody on the planet think these executives, think even
• 21:25
  the owners aren't doing this shit? These people have
• 21:29
  already been insider trading. You're making it easier to insider trade.
• 21:33
  This is going to continue to be an absolute nightmare.
• 21:38
  I hate that I'm going to be this bleak. But it's just true.
• 21:42
  Um, nothing's gonna change. It's only gonna keep getting worse.
• 21:46
  Um, and I mean this on every aspect of the sports gambling world and the
• 21:49
  gambling world that exists that we are currently living in. Um, in the sports gambling
• 21:53
  side, this is what I truly think is going to happen. And I mean this,
• 21:56
  and I'm not saying this to be like doom and
• 22:00
  gloom— someone's going to get killed. Yeah. Um, someone is legitimately
• 22:04
  going to get killed. Uh, there is going to be an athlete at some point
• 22:08
  that will get killed because they ruined a bettor's
• 22:12
  fucking bet or parlay. It's going to happen. Nothing will change,
• 22:16
  sadly, until that happens. And that really irks
• 22:20
  me in a way that I think this— I don't want to think this,
• 22:24
  but I think this because I truly believe that's what
• 22:28
  it takes for us to actually act. We're only reactive in nature,
• 22:32
  and that really bugs me, like, a lot.
• 22:35
  I feel like this can be reined in. This can be reined in right now.
• 22:39
  Everyone has the actual ability. I had said in the past, well, you can't get
• 22:42
  the toothpaste back in the tube, but I'm like, you know what? Yeah, you fucking
• 22:45
  can. You fucking can get the toothpaste back in the tube.
• 22:49
  Toothpaste companies have been doing it for over a century.
• 22:52
  So fuck, man. I just don't want it to get
• 22:56
  to that. And it's going to get to that. We've seen It
• 23:00
  in Major League Baseball. Blake, uh, we saw it with, um, Tanner Scott,
• 23:04
  pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He gave up his first blown save like a
• 23:07
  month and a half ago, and his wife and kids got death threats from,
• 23:11
  from bettors. And by the way, Tanner Scott at that point, and still
• 23:15
  is, was having a phenomenal season out of the bullpen for the Dodgers, and he
• 23:19
  was closing games at a really phenomenal clip, and he just blew one save,
• 23:22
  and now he's dealing with death threats. We see members of the WNBA talking about
• 23:26
  the outrageous racism that they're dealing with, the sexism that they're dealing with. Someone's going
• 23:30
  to get hurt, and that is criminal.
• 23:35
  Like, it literally— but it's criminal now. I feel
• 23:39
  like, I feel like this is Minority Report, and, and, and precog-wise,
• 23:43
  this is already a crime that hasn't actually taken place yet, but I can see
• 23:47
  it. I'm like watching a slow train wreck happen, and no one will
• 23:50
  fucking do anything to stop the slow train wreck, even though everybody has a
• 23:54
  lever to pull to stop the slow train wreck. Because just too
• 23:58
  much money is being made all over the place. And the fact that none
• 24:02
  of it's really regulated is bothering me.
• 24:05
  Like, I was actually really on board with all the gambling companies like the
• 24:09
  DraftKings and the BetMGMs, and because I thought, well, it's going to be more regulated
• 24:13
  now, that's a good thing. And I, I really think this has gotten so far
• 24:18
  out of hand that I'm legitimately concerned. I'm like
• 24:21
  legit concerned for, for people now. It's a good point.
• 24:24
  And I don't think that— I don't think that there's much that we can
• 24:29
  say that's an overreaction in this day and age. Like, and I, I don't even
• 24:33
  mean that just in sports and predictive markets and all that stuff. I mean,
• 24:35
  just in general. Like, everything is on the table. All the worst-case
• 24:39
  scenarios seem to possibly be on the table. And even if it's
• 24:43
  not someone getting hurt or killed,
• 24:47
  we are definitely going down the road of Super
• 24:51
  Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals being completely
• 24:55
  compromised. Um, like, we're looking at, like,
• 24:58
  titles being completely compromised. Like, look, like,
• 25:02
  we're, we're talking about rings being stripped. We're talking
• 25:05
  about that. That's where we're fucking going. Yeah, it's where we're going,
• 25:09
  because some of these people can make more money throwing
• 25:14
  a game, leaking play calls,
• 25:17
  doing whatever. Can I give you an example? Can I give you a very specific
• 25:21
  example where— remember, like, like, I, I think it's weird that athletes have
• 25:25
  any deals with any gambling companies. I think it— I think that shouldn't
• 25:29
  be a thing. I don't think teams should have it. I don't think leagues should
• 25:32
  have it. I've made that abundantly clear from the get-go. But here's
• 25:36
  the other thing, like, like Giannis— like, remember when Giannis signed a deal with,
• 25:40
  with, with Kalshi and like all of a sudden like Giannis is doing the— and
• 25:43
  but Giannis was already in trade rumors at the time. I'm like sitting there going
• 25:47
  like, is that not a conflict of interest? Because couldn't he easily
• 25:51
  make like an anonymous thing on there? I'm just— I mean,
• 25:55
  like, yeah, obviously you're talking about getting caught. These people never think that
• 25:58
  they're going to get caught, and that's where it starts getting really compromised. And I,
• 26:02
  I really don't know, but I'm just waiting. I'm waiting for the day
• 26:05
  in the next, you know, couple of years. I don't know how this works anymore.
• 26:09
  I know, and it's just, it's all convoluted,
• 26:12
  it's all confusing. Everybody— and this is the worst part— everybody
• 26:16
  gets to play dumb no matter what. No matter what the
• 26:20
  consequences happen, everyone's just gonna say, oh, I never knew that this was
• 26:24
  super duper dangerous. Like, we literally just watched this happen last week,
• 26:27
  specifically with Bryce Harper, when he got conned into doing a Cameo video
• 26:32
  for a degenerate gambler who had already lost a million dollars.
• 26:35
  Somebody at FanDuel got Bryce Harper to send a Cameo to this guy,
• 26:39
  more or less to get him to keep gambling, and they use it as a
• 26:42
  promo video and the guy lost even more. Like, that is— and Bryce Harper
• 26:47
  had to put out a statement before. He said, I had no idea that this
• 26:49
  was being used for this purpose. I had no clue what I was into.
• 26:52
  And I actually do believe Bryce really didn't know this because honestly,
• 26:56
  how would he? Motherfucker. Like, Jesus Christ, dude.
• 26:59
  Like, this is fucking dark-ass shit. Like, real dark
• 27:04
  shit. And it should be at the front of every single headline. Like,
• 27:07
  we made movies about the 1919 Black Sox. The 1919
• 27:11
  Black Sox wouldn't even fucking make a headline today.
• 27:14
  Yeah, I know, I know. I mean, Pete Rose—
• 27:19
  like, I, I— Pete Rose did worse things than the gambling, um,
• 27:22
  and the betting on his team. But like, that— this is— that used to be
• 27:26
  the thing that was like, oh my God, we can't believe it. And this guy,
• 27:29
  listen, We're acting like it's some, oh my God,
• 27:33
  you know, they're going to give him the indefinite suspension. They're going to make it
• 27:36
  sound so crazy. There you can— there's no convincing me that this isn't an obviously
• 27:39
  systemic issue. This guy was not some random scouting personnel dude.
• 27:44
  He was high up in their personnel department. He's been there for 13
• 27:48
  years. This is a long-tenured member,
• 27:52
  member of the Cardinals front office. So you know,
• 27:55
  we're not talking this— you— they're gonna act like it's isolated.
• 28:00
  Cody, you and I know it's not, you know? No. And that's the thing,
• 28:03
  it's just not. I, I— and I don't worry, they won't uncover more because
• 28:08
  they won't, because they'll purposely not. And it's just the way it is,
• 28:12
  dude. And this is— I hate that the fact is things
• 28:15
  have to get so much worse before they can remotely get better.
• 28:19
  And what's amazing is somehow this isn't enough. This isn't
• 28:23
  even close to enough. Like, I'm fucking exhausted,
• 28:27
  dude. This, this fucking industry. What a place. What a place. What a
• 28:32
  place. Hey, but you know what? Don't worry. I really love headline number 3 because
• 28:35
  I was gonna say, I, I'll tell you this, Tanya. If you're looking for a
• 28:39
  character witness, if you just truly need someone to back
• 28:42
  your character, make sure you got a guy with
• 28:46
  a squeaky clean background like Robert Kraft.
• 28:50
  Please take it away. Yeah, Robert Kraft is,
• 28:53
  uh, standing by his man, uh, on,
• 28:56
  uh, the Mike Vrabel front. He was on First Take appearing
• 29:00
  with his BFF Michael Rubin, the CEO of Fanatics,
• 29:04
  asked about, um, about his, you know, his situation with
• 29:09
  Mike Vrabel as head coach. He said there's been a little bit of a tumultuous
• 29:12
  offseason, we can call that Uh, for your head coach
• 29:16
  Mike Vrabel. What's it been like navigating that during the offseason? And,
• 29:20
  uh, Robert Kraft said, well, we're privileged to have Mike as our head coach.
• 29:24
  You know, no one is infallible, and what's great about Mike is he has great
• 29:28
  intellectual knowledge about football, all of the technical skills. He really relates to the players
• 29:32
  beautifully, and he's the only one— by the way, he's the only one that has
• 29:35
  that, so I'm glad he mentioned that. And I hope he's going to be our
• 29:37
  head coach for many years to come. Yeah, of course. He, he basically was like,
• 29:40
  he's an incredibly qualified, um, uh, NFL head coach,
• 29:43
  and, uh, we just went to the Super Bowl, you dumb fuck, so of course
• 29:45
  we're going to fire him. You— and I want to
• 29:48
  give you and I credit on this, Cody, because there was a time during this
• 29:52
  whole thing where people were like, there's no way, he has to get fired,
• 29:54
  he has to get fired, blah blah. And you and I were like, there's no
• 29:58
  chance in hell they're firing Mike Vrabel.
• 30:01
  Like, it's, it's Robert Kraft. What leg does he have to stand on? Like,
• 30:04
  what are we talking about? Is Robert Kraft also gonna sell the team
• 30:07
  after he fires— like, what the fuck are you guys talking about? This was never
• 30:11
  gonna happen. We've been yelling from the mountaintops and rooftops for
• 30:15
  what, fucking 6 months or whatever it's been since this ridiculous scandal came
• 30:18
  out, that the only person that will be fired will be
• 30:23
  Diana Rossini because she did something wrong.
• 30:27
  Waiting to find out exactly what that wrong thing was. Oh, a conflict of interest?
• 30:30
  Okay, explain. Go ahead, I'm listening.
• 30:35
  What is the conflict of interest? Well, she's sleeping with him.
• 30:38
  Okay, what's the conflict of interest? What exact story did she break?
• 30:42
  Well, AJ Brown wanted to be traded.
• 30:46
  Yeah, yeah, no shit.
• 30:49
  Yep, yep. And the, uh, the other part about
• 30:53
  this is really interesting is there— they have not— The Athletic has not finished doing
• 30:56
  their, um, investigation into the whole situation. I don't know
• 31:00
  what they're gonna report, uh, when they do do that. I mean,
• 31:04
  they are a journalistic institution, so who knows. And also,
• 31:07
  Diana still has the opportunity at some point in
• 31:11
  time to tell her story, to make her money, to do whatever she's
• 31:15
  gonna do with the tell-all situation if she'd been a takeout.
• 31:18
  Take down the league, take them all fucking down, you know?
• 31:22
  So there's still— she knows where bodies are,
• 31:25
  dude. Oh yeah, you know she knows. I know she knows. Like, I don't
• 31:29
  know what the— I don't know what they are, but I really hope I get
• 31:32
  to find out. So I, I feel like
• 31:37
  this is something that's like cooled off, we're not talking about it. But mark my
• 31:40
  words, this is not the last we've heard of this situation.
• 31:43
  And if somebody like those leakers, whoever it is,
• 31:46
  is— some people want to be petty. I'm, I'm thinking like a Week
• 31:50
  12 postseason push news dump.
• 31:55
  I would not be surprised if that happened. Would you? Nope, nope,
• 31:58
  not at all, not at all. I'm, I'm waiting, I'm waiting
• 32:02
  with bated breath. Yeah, uh, before we get to Media Corner,
• 32:05
  we'll do a quick, uh, World Cup check-in. Yes,
• 32:09
  the, uh, England-Argentina game.
• 32:13
  Um, did you watch it? Yes, I did.
• 32:16
  And not how basically all of the free world wanted
• 32:21
  it to go. No, not a single person outside of the nation
• 32:25
  of Argentina wanted that to happen. It did. It did not go the way of
• 32:29
  the free world. So we are getting an Argentina-Spain final. I know
• 32:32
  you picked Spain in your work pool to win the whole thing, but it was
• 32:35
  a blind pool. Don't give me credit for that. Yeah, but you got—
• 32:39
  yeah, your lucky pick isn't— I mean, yeah, not a surprise that Spain is
• 32:43
  there. Not a surprise that Argentina is there. No, I mean, 1 and 2,
• 32:45
  I mean, going all the way to the final is pretty impressive. And listen,
• 32:48
  I've given Argentina a lot of shit to this point, justifiably so,
• 32:52
  especially that England match, that Egypt match. I will,
• 32:55
  I will go to the grave about that Egypt match. There's some— there was some
• 32:59
  Cabo Verde stuff in that Cabo Verde match too. That— yeah, you're not
• 33:03
  right. You're not wrong about that. But the Egypt match I found like particularly
• 33:06
  just fucking egregious. Like, it was egregious.
• 33:10
  Um, England, however, um, I,
• 33:14
  I don't think as egregious. Um, a couple of
• 33:17
  little things, but for the most part, England should have won
• 33:21
  that and they didn't because of their own stupidity.
• 33:24
  Yeah, that was a— that was the— a coaching meltdown, man. I thought Tuchel had
• 33:28
  been doing a really good job up until that point, but the The decision on
• 33:31
  the subs, um, like, you know, you can only hold
• 33:35
  up against shooters like that for so long, and Pickford had held up for as
• 33:38
  long as he possibly could. Spot, man, you really did. An awful
• 33:42
  situation. Um, I don't know what that Argentinian said that caused
• 33:46
  Jude Bellingham to slap him, but you know I'm on Jude Bellingham's side, so I'm
• 33:50
  not— you'd have to do a lot to get me to turn
• 33:53
  on Jude. I don't know what he did to smack him in the back of
• 33:56
  the head, but Team Jude. Um, I'm not particularly invested
• 34:00
  in the final. I obviously want Spain to win. I want— I like— I
• 34:04
  really like, um, Lamine Yamal, and so I,
• 34:08
  I'm all in on him, just like his future. I love a young star who
• 34:12
  we can watch for the next 15 years that we know is going to be
• 34:14
  great. So I'm excited about that. And there's plenty— I mean, they're, they're a gorgeous
• 34:18
  football team to watch. So go Spain. Um,
• 34:21
  I think— oh, the other thing I want to talk about before we move on
• 34:24
  as far as World Cup stuff is that Um,
• 34:28
  they— the, the USMNT has officially offered, uh,
• 34:31
  Pochettino, uh, the opportunity to stay on as USMNT
• 34:35
  head coach, which I don't think is really surprising anybody.
• 34:38
  And here's the thing, I think you and I both would like Poch to stay
• 34:41
  on, correct? Yes, 100%. Can— but here's the honest guy question: can
• 34:47
  they keep him? I don't think so. I have to assume this guy,
• 34:50
  after what he's accomplished— and I had Charlie Davies on the show today, again today,
• 34:52
  because I— oh, did you? Okay. So I asked him, because I did ask him
• 34:55
  this question, I thought this was really pertinent and very important. Like, all right,
• 34:58
  enough time has passed now since the drama of it all,
• 35:01
  the nonsense of it all, the, the, the going out with
• 35:05
  a whimper of all— what's, after all said and done, what's your overall takeaway
• 35:10
  from Team USA? And he honestly said, like, listen, how it ended,
• 35:14
  not just, just not right. The political theater that took place
• 35:18
  around it, the Trump thing, the, the The Belligan thing, just a lot of things
• 35:21
  were just so ugly. We went from the darlings to the villains just seemingly
• 35:25
  overnight. The vibes changed. But I, you know, and they flat
• 35:28
  out didn't show up for the final match, but they got to the group of
• 35:31
  16. That win against Bosnia was huge. We were, were in a place to really
• 35:35
  kind of keep growing. And I thought that was really great to hear that.
• 35:38
  And it was nice to hear that. It was just, I kept thinking in my
• 35:42
  head, and I didn't get to ask this follow-up question because we had it,
• 35:43
  we ran out of time, but it was just But can we keep Potch?
• 35:47
  Because it was a positive run for Team USA,
• 35:51
  arguably the most positive run we've kind of like ever had in a World
• 35:55
  Cup. And this was his first go at the
• 35:59
  World Cup. He's gonna get paid so much money to
• 36:02
  take a huge job, and I don't see a world where he stays with us.
• 36:05
  I hope I'm wrong. No, I mean, he's actually—
• 36:09
  and the thing is, he's been very clear about the fact that he wants a
• 36:11
  Premier League job bad, and there's jobs that are open. And he said like,
• 36:15
  that's the, you know, I watched the league all the time,
• 36:18
  I want to be back in the best football in the world, blah blah blah.
• 36:21
  And so I think it's highly unlikely. I don't disagree on the,
• 36:25
  on the take that I think that the team is poised to continue moving
• 36:29
  forward. I, I do genuinely, and I know, I know other people disagree,
• 36:33
  I don't. I think that that team, that game
• 36:37
  could have gone very differently without the really intense drama around the
• 36:41
  Bellegarde situation. I really think it threw people off.
• 36:44
  I do think that the whole vibe of, of both the Belgium teams
• 36:48
  and the US teams were like really dictated
• 36:51
  by that entire drama. And so I, I have no reason to
• 36:56
  not want Poch back. If they don't go with him, I don't even know who's
• 37:00
  on the table in terms of like who they might bring in otherwise. But they
• 37:02
  have a— I'm optimistic. So it's
• 37:06
  a bummer, it's a bummer to interrupt that. I would love to see him come
• 37:09
  back for another World Cup, but you're right, like I I think he did too
• 37:11
  good of a job and he has too much of a resume and too much
• 37:15
  of a, of a pedigree. And if there's one thing we can all agree,
• 37:18
  he, he came out of this looking so good. Like, no matter what, like,
• 37:21
  all the way around came out looking so good. He, he, he— like,
• 37:25
  right now he's the name that has now
• 37:28
  officially legitimized American soccer, of which
• 37:32
  in my lifetime it's never been that. So that's— I,
• 37:36
  I Thank you. Thank you, Potch.
• 37:39
  Yeah, well, enjoy your next job. He'll have a— anywhere,
• 37:42
  you know, free, free drink wherever you are if I'm there, Potch. I appreciate that.
• 37:46
  I'm gonna buy you a drink and say thank you so, so much. Sad that
• 37:50
  you're gonna fucking go on, but congratulations on whatever this, uh, job you're gonna get
• 37:54
  whenever you take over Manchester U or whatever. Well,
• 37:57
  you, you know, you're, you're committed to maybe watching a little
• 38:00
  bit more, uh, Premier League, a little bit more European soccer. So wherever
• 38:04
  Potch goes, if he gets a job you know, maybe you can root for that
• 38:07
  team. I'm not, because I have to— you know I have to root for Man
• 38:11
  U. You know that. Oh yeah, because of, um, because of O'Brien's. Yeah, it's simply
• 38:14
  the case that's my team. It's not fair. I know it's lazy.
• 38:18
  I know everybody chooses Man U when they jump over.
• 38:21
  I'm aware. All right, but I'm stuck with a crazy Irishman
• 38:25
  who simply will not let me wear an Everton jersey, so I'm not gonna even
• 38:28
  try. Well, I'm gonna wear an Everton jersey there. You're more attractive than me.
• 38:31
  He will allow it. Fair enough.
• 38:35
  All right, so we're going to Media Corner. Uh,
• 38:38
  this— are you familiar with this story, Cody?
• 38:41
  Uh, I am actually. Okay, so this is not— I'm not— until
• 38:46
  I read the story, I was not aware of this at all. It's crazy.
• 38:49
  So Matt Miller, um, has been like a draft
• 38:53
  analyst for a long time. He's been with ESPN since 2021,
• 38:57
  um, key figure in the network's NFL Draft coverage. Uh,
• 39:01
  you know, just one of those guys that's been around forever. I've been reading Matt
• 39:05
  Miller, uh, whether I liked them or not, reading his, um, scouting reports going into
• 39:08
  drafts for years and years. And, uh,
• 39:12
  I'm gonna kind of go through the process of this scandal because it's
• 39:16
  something that I think that you— that is pretty wild and kind of again
• 39:21
  goes back into where are we drawing the line between media and
• 39:25
  what we're doing in these online spaces— gambling, fantasy,
• 39:29
  whatever. Um, so he's
• 39:33
  always been kind of like in the charitable endeavors space,
• 39:37
  whatever. But over the past 2 months, um, this is
• 39:40
  according to The Athletic article that reported on this, dozens of
• 39:44
  social media posts started accusing him of stiffing the winners of fantasy
• 39:48
  football leagues he ran, uh, where he was, uh,
• 39:51
  billing the benefit— like, he— they were billed as benefiting charities.
• 39:55
  Commenters also questioned the legitimacy of the charity fundraisers he routinely
• 39:58
  held. The public outcry prompted an investigation by the
• 40:02
  Missouri Attorney General's Office, which has received more than 2 dozen complaints.
• 40:06
  Miller was hosting— get this— 91 fantasy football
• 40:11
  leagues in 2025 on Sleeper, a fantasy sports platform.
• 40:15
  According to various league manager search tools, based on the standard entry
• 40:19
  fee that the league, uh, and the league size, he would have given This
• 40:23
  would have given Miller access to around $100,000 in entry fees
• 40:27
  just for the 2025 season. And Miller
• 40:30
  said that the number did not seem accurate to him, but he couldn't verify because
• 40:34
  he does not have access to his accounts anymore. Um, he was banned
• 40:38
  on May 7th for stealing buy-ins from managers and not paying out
• 40:41
  league winners, according to messages, um, in the Sleepers customer support
• 40:45
  that was sent to The Athletic. The Athletic spoke with a dozen people who
• 40:49
  said Miller failed to deliver on his promises dating from 2017.
• 40:53
  Now that is bad enough. Okay,
• 40:57
  here's where it gets crazy. The complaints reach ESPN
• 41:00
  directly, public criticism is amplified, Miller starts
• 41:05
  trying to pay people back, and then on June 17th, just before 4
• 41:08
  PM, he drifted over the double yellow dividing line of a
• 41:13
  2-lane Missouri Route 96 highway and smashed into a semi-truck.
• 41:18
  The force of the crash sheared the seat belt Miller was wearing
• 41:21
  and he was thrown from the vehicle He was airlifted to the hospital where he
• 41:25
  underwent life-saving operation that he said included the amputation
• 41:29
  of his left arm. And on his X account,
• 41:33
  he shared a link to a GoFundMe page to raise money for
• 41:36
  his recovery. And the responses included the normal well
• 41:40
  wishes. And then also people
• 41:44
  started noticing that, you know, this guy
• 41:48
  was under all of this scrutiny for stealing money from other
• 41:51
  people. Um, I think it got up to like $51,000
• 41:57
  from hundreds of donations before it was paused. And, uh,
• 42:00
  yeah, uh, this is being— the GoFundMe is not
• 42:03
  part of the investigation, but the Attorney General has, uh,
• 42:07
  started investigating Miller at this point.
• 42:10
  So this story, I've never heard
• 42:14
  anything like it. I've never— I've never heard anything like it. I want
• 42:18
  to hear your initial thoughts. Can I ask you a question though? Like, in reading
• 42:21
  the story, and I try to do— like, the accident is all legit and all
• 42:25
  of that did happen, correct? Like, it's not like he didn't like con some
• 42:29
  sort of massive scheme to get more money so he can pay off his like
• 42:32
  people that he owed money to? No, he definitely, as far as we
• 42:36
  know, is like genuinely did have to have the amputation.
• 42:40
  I— what we can't say, and again, like, I don't want to speculate
• 42:44
  too much I think it could completely
• 42:48
  just be coincidence. And also, when somebody
• 42:52
  is in a lot of scandal, in a lot of hot water, we don't know
• 42:55
  what decisions they're making. We don't know what kind of— yes, I am well aware
• 42:58
  of it. Who knows, right? I'm well aware of exactly what you're insinuating.
• 43:03
  Yes. So first thing that came to my mind, obviously. Yeah.
• 43:06
  Um, and it's, you know, like, obviously don't want— don't
• 43:10
  do that, right? Like, that's not— I, I You know, that's not
• 43:14
  what you want for anybody. No, even my worst enemy, I don't want that
• 43:18
  either. Like, it's just— I seek help if you can,
• 43:21
  always, 100%. As somebody that has been very depressed myself,
• 43:25
  yes, in the past, I can't stress that enough. I, I know what
• 43:29
  that can be like. I just— I'm also a guy that works.
• 43:33
  Uh, when I retired, I retired from playing professional baseball for
• 43:37
  11 years, and I was a guy I'm going to paint a little picture here.
• 43:40
  I was a guy that made like no money playing professional baseball.
• 43:44
  I started making a real realistic living when I got to the big leagues and,
• 43:47
  you know, I was getting major league minimum. That's prorated for the days that I
• 43:50
  was up and then I got sent back down. You know, I made a decent
• 43:53
  living every season from that point on. I think the highest I made in a
• 43:56
  full season was I was being paid like $125,000 for a season
• 44:00
  of professional baseball stuck in AAA. But that was after, you know,
• 44:04
  7 years of making you know, $900 every 2
• 44:07
  weeks. It was, you know, very, very difficult career, uh,
• 44:11
  despite how long I played and the heights that I got to.
• 44:15
  When I retired, I retired immediately into a sports media job,
• 44:19
  a show, radio and TV show, which again is not
• 44:23
  a normal thing. But I also got to retire having a secondary job as well.
• 44:27
  And that was to be an executive director of a nonprofit dedicated
• 44:31
  to getting underprivileged youth into college through baseball and softball.
• 44:35
  And I worked really hard, and I say really,
• 44:39
  really hard on that 501 job. Charity work
• 44:43
  is ungodly difficult. Raising money specifically for
• 44:48
  poor kids that are not poor white kids is really hard to do in
• 44:52
  this country. And I worked really hard to do it, and I was very passionate
• 44:56
  about it, and I still am very, very passionate about it.
• 45:01
  Seeing people take advantage of charity is
• 45:05
  a very specific irk to me.
• 45:08
  It's because I know how hard those people work for very little to
• 45:13
  try to make other people's lives better, whose lives desperately
• 45:17
  need it. And to see people grift that is—
• 45:22
  there are depths of hell that are reserved for you.
• 45:25
  And period, stop. Yeah,
• 45:29
  I, I— that's a great point. And that,
• 45:32
  that part of it, I think, is my angle,
• 45:36
  is also kind of— it piggybacks off of that, which is I
• 45:40
  don't think— I think we get— we let people get away with
• 45:44
  too many conflicts of interest in the name of philanthropy and
• 45:48
  charity. And oh my God, he's doing it out of the goodness of his heart.
• 45:52
  Because Cody, you know, I have
• 45:56
  to wonder, why is a draft analyst
• 45:59
  for ESPN allowed to host nearly
• 46:04
  100 fantasy football leagues?
• 46:09
  What— like, we're talking about somebody who has insider
• 46:13
  draft scouting information, who has all access
• 46:18
  to all kinds of intel conversations with front offices,
• 46:21
  scouts, GMs, whatever else, has fingers likely and,
• 46:25
  and ears and, and contacts in every single NFL
• 46:30
  team. And now he's going to run 100—
• 46:36
  first of all, you can't be managing that many fantasy football
• 46:41
  leagues. It's just impossible to do and not like— and keep up with, number one.
• 46:45
  And also, even if he is just a name on it and it's like,
• 46:47
  oh, I'm one of Matt Miller's blah blah blah, At the end of the day,
• 46:52
  you also are attaching your name as
• 46:56
  the, like, league commissioner while also
• 47:00
  being a draft analyst for a major network.
• 47:05
  And then the— like, fine, I don't like
• 47:09
  it. I, I don't actually think that that needs to be happening.
• 47:12
  I actually don't think that that's the best way for you as Matt
• 47:16
  to be as Matt Miller to raise money. First of all, raising money through
• 47:20
  something that is fantasy— fantasy football is gambling. It is a scratch
• 47:24
  ticket. It is a lottery ticket, right? Like, it is— like, come on. Like,
• 47:27
  it— this is— that's not the best way to be raising money.
• 47:32
  Like, you know, I understand a good raffle or whatever else,
• 47:37
  but I also just— is that not weird to you? Is that not a
• 47:40
  red flag that this draft analyst is,
• 47:44
  is like hosting a number of leagues
• 47:48
  that like no human being could possibly manage and then
• 47:51
  saying like, oh, it's all going to go to charity with no— like,
• 47:55
  no one has told me what affiliated charity it's for.
• 47:58
  Nobody has told me what— like, that's not even included in The Athletic article.
• 48:03
  Yeah, it's bizarre. Sure is. Almost like,
• 48:07
  almost like There wasn't a charity. It's almost like there
• 48:11
  wasn't a charity. And it's almost like this is probably why when these
• 48:15
  people are doing these things and they're completely unaffiliated,
• 48:20
  like, again, I do think that there's a way for people to,
• 48:27
  um, if you're a draft analyst, let's say, like, if you're—
• 48:32
  your charitable contributions should not involve you
• 48:35
  doing something that is adjacent to your work
• 48:40
  as a side hustle. Like, that just— it, it seems like it's like undermining
• 48:43
  his whole job. It's just fucking weird. It's weird that ESPN
• 48:47
  even allowed him to do that, to be honest. Maybe, maybe they didn't know he
• 48:50
  was doing it. I don't know. I don't know. Slow down. ESPN let,
• 48:53
  let all those clowns do that fucking one— like,
• 48:58
  what was it, a solitaire? Like, oh yeah, like, let's be real clear,
• 49:02
  like ESPN. Yeah, Mina had to like apologize.
• 49:05
  It's a fucking clown show. Like, I, I worked— I barely worked for
• 49:09
  ESPN, and I'm, I'm really— I have no— I truly have no
• 49:13
  goal to ever work for them. They're never gonna fucking hire me anyway, so who
• 49:15
  gives a shit? Fuck ESPN. I'm not gonna hire me
• 49:19
  either. Fuck them. I fucking hate that channel. I really do. It's fucking worthless.
• 49:23
  It's funny because our next, uh, media corner is about their competitor,
• 49:27
  who we both work for. Yeah,
• 49:30
  listen, We were just for— just as worthless.
• 49:33
  I mean, let's be real clear. I mean, it's just this— I'm not gonna lie,
• 49:36
  this, this shit made me laugh so hard. It made me laugh too, but it's
• 49:40
  also annoying the shit out of me. I know, and I'm gonna let you vent
• 49:43
  it out. So, um, so Nick Wright responded to
• 49:47
  Kevin Durant, uh, after being called out on social media. So Kevin
• 49:51
  Durant did one of those— we've done this on the show before, um,
• 49:55
  you know, which one has to— one of these people has to go, you know,
• 49:59
  and it's 9 people in sports media.
• 50:00
  It's It's, it's Charles Barkley and Shaq
• 50:04
  and Stephen A. and, and Shannon Sharpe, Skip Bayless,
• 50:08
  Nick Wright, Colin Cowherd, Max Kellerman,
• 50:11
  and, uh, Kendrick Perkins. And it's
• 50:15
  like, which one— if one has to go, who are you picking? And obviously KD,
• 50:20
  being the troll that he is, yes, posted it to his Instagram
• 50:23
  story and said, pack that lame Colin Cowherd up. And then
• 50:27
  the next one said, basketball would actually move forward if Nick Wright wasn't
• 50:31
  involved. Hold up. That's funny. I'm sorry, that's fine. Real quick,
• 50:34
  I'm a little surprised that he chose Coward. Um, actually, no,
• 50:38
  no, I'm not. I'm looking at the list right now. I think a
• 50:41
  lot of Cowards talked a lot of crap about Katie this past season.
• 50:45
  Also, like, Coward's like gotten a lot worse out
• 50:50
  of nowhere for this last year, to be fair. Like, in fairness,
• 50:54
  I'm a little blind to this because I, I don't watch— I want to make
• 50:57
  this I don't watch any of these fucking people. I, I,
• 51:00
  I don't, I don't, I don't want any of them. I just want, I just
• 51:04
  wanted on record, I just wanted on record, it's been exactly a calendar
• 51:08
  year since your girl was let go. So I'm just gonna
• 51:12
  say part of the layoffs and the shows have got, you know,
• 51:16
  listen, Coward has gotten noticeably
• 51:19
  worse since somebody's exit because somebody might have kept
• 51:24
  somebody in line. Um, but like,
• 51:28
  I guess no, don't pick Skip Bayless. He's already kind of out of the industry
• 51:31
  anyways. Give a fuck about Skip Bayless. Um, Stephen A is as worthless
• 51:35
  as anything on planet Earth. Truly the lowest of the low.
• 51:38
  Would— if he was hit by a truck, my first question is, is the truck
• 51:41
  okay? Um, okay. Kendrick Perkins. Uh,
• 51:45
  I like Perk. I actually like Kendrick Perkins. I like Max Kellerman.
• 51:49
  Me too. I, I don't dislike Shannon Sharp for
• 51:53
  what he does. That being said, I don't, I don't know enough about him and
• 51:56
  what he does. And yeah, aren't there like weird allegations about him? I don't
• 52:00
  know. I don't know the validity of them, and I don't, I just don't know
• 52:03
  enough. But okay, I will fight anyone that comes after Charles
• 52:07
  and Shaq. I will fucking fight anybody. Fucking fight anybody that comes for Charles
• 52:11
  and Shaq. No chance I'm allowing that. So I guess it does kind
• 52:15
  of leave Colin out there. So of the people on the list, I guess I'll
• 52:18
  go ahead and pick Colin too. I wouldn't have picked Nick Wright because I don't
• 52:20
  really have an issue with Nick Wright. I've always got along
• 52:23
  with Nick Wright, but I, I don't love his work either. Yeah,
• 52:27
  no, I think, you know, Nick just rubs certain people the wrong way, especially athletes.
• 52:30
  And that's the thing is like, you know, the athlete— so he's just a nerd
• 52:34
  that thinks he's a cool kid. That's— yeah. And he admitted that he had come
• 52:38
  at, um, Durant. He kind of like low-blowed him a little bit about some,
• 52:41
  some stuff that had been going on with, uh, the Rockets and had actually,
• 52:45
  um, apologized to him. He was like, yeah, that's probably out of line before.
• 52:48
  And so he thought he was cool with Durant. So after he
• 52:52
  saw this, he, he Instagram DMs Kevin Durant
• 52:56
  and says, I thought we were cool now, hate to see it.
• 52:59
  And here's where— there's where I fucking laughed. Durant responded,
• 53:02
  what made you think that?
• 53:07
  Which I think is so funny. What made you think that?
• 53:10
  That's, that's really funny. Uh, and even Nick Wright admitted, he was like,
• 53:14
  that was actually actually really funny. That's, um, that's a really funny comeback.
• 53:18
  And a really— actually, this is— I take back what I'm saying. This is actually
• 53:21
  a really funny exchange. So they
• 53:25
  went back and forth a little bit, and like he said, he was basically—
• 53:29
  Durant was like, I just don't think you're that skilled. And he was like,
• 53:32
  well, I don't know. Um, he was like, if anything, you know,
• 53:37
  I, I feel like I'm quite skilled. You just don't like my takes. And I
• 53:40
  guess Durant joked back and was like, well, you have the opportunity to move up
• 53:43
  in my all-time list of great sports hosts. So like
• 53:47
  basically just like Razzed and being like, yeah, just, uh, keep doing work and
• 53:51
  maybe you'll move up in my all-time list. The same way that these guys always
• 53:53
  talk about athletes, right? That's funny shit. Listen, here's the deal.
• 53:57
  Like, again, I have no respect
• 54:01
  for almost everybody in this industry. None of them deserve an ounce of it.
• 54:05
  I, I don't know why anyone thinks they do. And I
• 54:08
  honestly don't know why Nick Wright is taking this so personally. You talk
• 54:12
  for a living. You talk about other people's accomplishments for a living.
• 54:15
  By the way, that's not in any way a knock on you. You're actually quite
• 54:19
  good at it. It's just, can we all fucking get some perspective
• 54:24
  here? The people that are talking about the story are never
• 54:27
  the fucking story, yet they're very desperate to make themselves a story.
• 54:31
  Always. And that's fucking— you're not— I,
• 54:35
  I don't know how else to tell you this. You're not one of the cool
• 54:38
  kids. You're the nerd. We're the nerds.
• 54:42
  The people who are talking about the sports are the nerds.
• 54:46
  Nerds. And by the way, I, I was a cool kid. Now I'm a fucking
• 54:50
  nerd, and I'm not part of the cool kids anymore. So I don't
• 54:54
  think I'm labeling myself a cool kid. No, but you sure as fuck
• 54:58
  are not one. So you gotta fucking look in a mirror and
• 55:02
  understand what you are. And I feel like people in this industry really don't fucking
• 55:06
  know what they are. They think they're superstars, and no,
• 55:09
  you're not. You're, you're a mouthpiece that is easily replaceable and
• 55:13
  a cog on a wheel of a machine that is owned by 2 fucking companies,
• 55:17
  Disney and fucking Fox. Understand, you're all replaceable.
• 55:21
  I'm replaceable. You're replaceable. This industry is a fucking shit
• 55:25
  show, and none of you are stars because you'll be fired
• 55:29
  tomorrow and replaced by somebody else that they will call a star that will believe
• 55:33
  the same nonsensical shit you currently believe.
• 55:36
  Knock it off, move on, and just continue being
• 55:40
  the nerd that you are. Tanya's gonna be the nerd she is. I'm gonna be
• 55:44
  the nerd that I am. But stop thinking you're a cool kid. None of
• 55:48
  you are cool. You're fucking the antithesis of cool. Well, and like,
• 55:52
  here's— it's so hypocritical. You guys
• 55:56
  are constantly— we're all constantly, hey, it's our job
• 56:00
  to critique. To analyze, to commentate.
• 56:03
  We are all out here doing our— you know, these, these players
• 56:06
  put themselves out there, they get paid millions, and we get to critique them.
• 56:09
  We get to talk about them on television, on radio, on podcasts,
• 56:13
  on whatever. And they have to— a lot of them can't take
• 56:17
  it. They can't take it. And then we're like, hey, you got to be able
• 56:19
  to take it. You got to be able to take the heat. Now Kevin Durant
• 56:23
  does exactly to you what you do to him, and you suddenly
• 56:27
  can't take it. You suddenly— now wait, I thought
• 56:31
  we were cool. You are Nick Wright.
• 56:34
  You've talked shit about Kevin Durant. You've talked shit about him. He's talking
• 56:37
  shit back. Now everybody is constantly like,
• 56:41
  like, from Nick Wright, Stephen A. Smith, all these people have been like,
• 56:44
  it's my job to critique you. It's my job to critique you.
• 56:47
  Well, guess what? It's also viewers' jobs to critique somebody
• 56:51
  who is doing our job. Oh no,
• 56:55
  someone is on the same page as me because
• 56:59
  it's eating its own tail. Uh-huh. Because you have to understand,
• 57:02
  guess what Kevin Durant is? A viewer.
• 57:05
  And guess what a viewer gets to do? Critique your shitty
• 57:09
  work. You don't like it? Too fucking bad.
• 57:12
  He's a part of a club you're not in. The end.
• 57:17
  And he did the thing that you were supposed to do. That was put out
• 57:20
  there as a little, uh, for the fans, for viewers to
• 57:24
  weigh in on. And he weighed in as a fan and a viewer, right?
• 57:27
  That's what he's doing. And the reality is,
• 57:30
  if— I will say this— if Nick Wright had always gone to KD's
• 57:34
  defense, always gone to bat for him, always been, you know, really kind of like
• 57:38
  pro-KD and like really, really fair, I do think
• 57:42
  that that would be like— if I were, if I were in that situation,
• 57:45
  like if Lamar Jackson ever was like, yeah, get rid of Tonya
• 57:48
  Rae Fox, I would throw him a DM and be like, hey,
• 57:51
  hey dude, what the fuck? Like, that's kind of fucked
• 57:55
  up. I would, I really would, just because I'd be like,
• 57:58
  there are only so many athletes that I really go out on a limb for,
• 58:02
  that I really ride for, and I would be hurt personally. And I would privately—
• 58:05
  I would never tell people I did that, I would never get on air and
• 58:08
  admit that, but between you and I, I'd be like, oh, I DM'd Lamar.
• 58:13
  Other than that, if I've critiqued you, right, if, if Justin Herbert ever
• 58:18
  wants to talk shit about me, guess what? Godspeed,
• 58:21
  go for it. Because I've had plenty to say about you.
• 58:25
  I've had plenty to say about you, and I'll probably have more to say about
• 58:28
  you. So if he ever gets onto anything and says, oh yeah, that chick on,
• 58:31
  on, uh, Instagram, fuck her, I'm gonna be like,
• 58:34
  yeah, no, I absolutely understood. Yeah,
• 58:38
  mutual. Yeah, dude, like, here's the deal. Like,
• 58:42
  like, I guess I'm lucky and I have this perspective. I don't give
• 58:46
  a fuck. Like, if I critique you and you have something to say to me,
• 58:48
  that's perfectly fine. My job— I will admit my job is to critique,
• 58:52
  but you get to be a listener and critique me, and that's perfectly fair game.
• 58:56
  All cool, we're fine. If— but if it's an actual problem, we could
• 59:01
  always go to the side and handle it like, like people. Or if we have
• 59:03
  to handle it like archaic men, sure, we could do that too.
• 59:07
  Like, I don't think that's necessary ever. No, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do
• 59:10
  that with Justin Herbert. I'm gonna beat up that 6'5 quarterback. I don't think you're
• 59:14
  gonna beat up that 6'5 quarterback, but you might force
• 59:17
  me to do it for you, and that's fine. No, I'm just saying,
• 59:21
  like, listen, it's, it's like all— like, this is where shit
• 59:25
  gets so fucking stupid. It's all fucking fair game.
• 59:29
  And the fact that, that Nick thought wasn't is fucking—
• 59:34
  Nick Wright's smarter than this, and, and that's where it's
• 59:38
  kind of losing me. Like, it's the— I— hey man, I thought we were cool—
• 59:42
  is like, buddy, like, have you,
• 59:46
  have you lost all sense of perspective on what this all is?
• 59:50
  None of this shit is real. Like, what you do is not real.
• 59:55
  What Katie does on the court is actually real.
• 59:58
  This whole sports media shit, this is all fake.
• 1:00:02
  And I don't know why you don't know that.
• 1:00:05
  You've been doing this a long time. You're not— you're Caitlin Clark.
• 1:00:09
  You're buying your own fucking hype now, and you gotta fucking stop.
• 1:00:13
  And also, I know Kevin Durant, when he works with people
• 1:00:17
  he respects in the media space who are making— whether they're doing documentaries
• 1:00:21
  or, you know, the stuff that he does with Netflix or whatever— when he's doing
• 1:00:24
  that stuff He's incredibly respectful, incredibly well-liked
• 1:00:29
  in those spaces. He is not one of those divas. He is not one of
• 1:00:32
  those people. So, you know, when you— when someone comes at you like Kevin Durant,
• 1:00:36
  who has a reputation for handling media
• 1:00:39
  he respects with a lot of care and grace and, and kindness,
• 1:00:43
  works hard, takes all the notes, doesn't give anybody any shit—
• 1:00:47
  like, that's the stuff that I know about Kevin Durant, and I'm not even in
• 1:00:50
  NBA media. Like, so if you don't know that about him,
• 1:00:53
  Nick Wright, then you're not as close to NBA media as you think. And if
• 1:00:57
  you do know that about him, then like maybe you've rubbed him the wrong way
• 1:01:00
  and shut the fuck up. This is where everybody rubs me the wrong way in
• 1:01:04
  this industry altogether. Like, the— and this
• 1:01:08
  is where I've talked to you about this a few times. I've hit on it,
• 1:01:10
  but I've never really gotten into depth about this. And I've, I've said
• 1:01:13
  this over and over and over, that I don't have any respect for this industry.
• 1:01:17
  I don't. I really don't. And it's not because of
• 1:01:21
  individual people. It's because of what the industry is. And it's because
• 1:01:24
  the industry has convinced itself that it's not a circus. And that is
• 1:01:27
  actually a very big problem for me because the sacrifices
• 1:01:31
  that we've all made in the sports media industry is one thing, but having
• 1:01:35
  been that guy that has made plenty of sacrifices, like an outrageous amount of sacrifices
• 1:01:39
  in the sports media industry in the last decade specifically,
• 1:01:43
  It's nothing compared, nothing compared to the
• 1:01:47
  trials and tribulations that I went through for 20-plus years
• 1:01:51
  to become a pro athlete, to get to the very top of what I got
• 1:01:53
  to. The physical pain, like truly the physical pain,
• 1:01:57
  the outrageous isolation and loneliness that I went through, the divorces
• 1:02:02
  that it caused, the, or at least paid a part of, the,
• 1:02:06
  the no having no home for over a
• 1:02:10
  decade and living out of a suitcase, living a nomadic lifestyle while also
• 1:02:14
  having to scrounge for money to try to pay for my training to
• 1:02:18
  get ready for my actual career. I mean this from the bottom of my heart.
• 1:02:21
  I have respect for every athlete that is out there because
• 1:02:26
  I lived that life and I understand what the sacrifice that life actually
• 1:02:30
  entails. The people in the sports media industry that have never
• 1:02:34
  played, Make no mistake, it doesn't mean they can't talk about it, but there is
• 1:02:38
  a perspective that a lot of them lack. And the lacking
• 1:02:42
  of that perspective pisses me off and pisses off
• 1:02:46
  every single athlete that a lot of you sons of bitches sit
• 1:02:50
  around criticizing in ways and worlds that you don't know how to live. This is
• 1:02:53
  why you're not one of the fucking cool kids, because you don't have the perspective.
• 1:02:58
  You won't understand the perspective. You physically physically
• 1:03:01
  and mentally cannot handle the perspective. So much so that one
• 1:03:06
  of them criticized you and it fucking freaked you out. Yeah, like, buddy,
• 1:03:10
  you gotta fucking learn what this industry is.
• 1:03:14
  We are all clowns in a circus.
• 1:03:17
  They are the performers, the actual performers right
• 1:03:20
  now. I was one of those performers even at the lowest levels, but I
• 1:03:25
  respect everyone. Like, I make fun of Justin Herbert. Of course I make fun of
• 1:03:27
  Justin Herbert. I'm a Raider fan and that's what I do. But if you think
• 1:03:30
  for one second I don't respect Justin Herbert's talent and everything that he has
• 1:03:34
  accomplished to get to where he is and what he does on the field,
• 1:03:36
  then you're fucking insane. Like, and I'm not going to criticize that
• 1:03:40
  ever. I'll criticize the performance on the field when it's necessary, but I'm
• 1:03:44
  not going to criticize the guy. The guy has worked so hard to get to
• 1:03:48
  where he is his entire life, and I know what that sacrifice is.
• 1:03:52
  And I wish more people in the sports media industry also
• 1:03:55
  did. And that's where it irks me with the sports media industry.
• 1:03:59
  That's why I don't have respect for a lot of people in this industry,
• 1:04:02
  because they don't have a perspective, yet they claim that
• 1:04:06
  they do because they grinded it out in the sports media industry. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 1:04:09
  I've grinded them both out. The sports media industry is
• 1:04:13
  a fucking cakewalk compared to being a professional athlete.
• 1:04:17
  Yeah, I mean, I will say you didn't grind it out
• 1:04:21
  the way I grinded it out. Like, you walked into some
• 1:04:25
  opportunities that it took me a lot longer to try really hard
• 1:04:28
  to get. So I will— I'm gonna, I'm gonna like hold you up a little
• 1:04:32
  bit there. That's fine, you're free to do that. But I will say I also
• 1:04:36
  went to theater school. I also went to broadcasting
• 1:04:40
  school. I was also on the radio from the age of 16 through 20 through
• 1:04:44
  25. I also— right, but I— while you But
• 1:04:47
  ever while you wanted to be a baseball player, I had one thing that I
• 1:04:51
  was working on since I was 16, right? Like,
• 1:04:54
  you know what I mean? So it's like, I, I do think, I do think
• 1:04:58
  that there's a little bit of like— but can I give
• 1:05:02
  you— no, no, you're right, you're right. I'm not saying you didn't grind, and I'm
• 1:05:05
  not saying that perspectives outside of the sports media industry— I
• 1:05:09
  agree, I do agree with, I do agree with you. And that's why I do
• 1:05:12
  think that in some ways, like we— that we have to do a better job
• 1:05:16
  of, of the balance between former athletes
• 1:05:20
  being in media, because there's a perspective you just can't have if you weren't a
• 1:05:23
  former athlete. Like, they're just— it's just factual. That being said,
• 1:05:27
  that doesn't mean that wasn't a grind to be in this industry. It is.
• 1:05:30
  But you have to understand, there is, there is a
• 1:05:34
  lot to being— yeah, that's fine, Cody. I mean, listen, and that's
• 1:05:38
  fine, and I, I completely agree. And also, you have
• 1:05:44
  I've walked into contracts I've never sniffed in my entire life. That is true.
• 1:05:45
  That is awesome. And I have worked my ass off, and I'm equally
• 1:05:49
  as talented as you, and I've never done anything. I agree. I agree.
• 1:05:53
  Right here, hear me out. I also wasn't a star. I'm a very unique case
• 1:05:57
  in this scenario. I'm not a person that somebody would clamor. I understand that.
• 1:06:00
  I understand that, Cody. But like, at the end of the day, you did have—
• 1:06:03
  first of all, you had male privilege and you had former athlete privilege, and that
• 1:06:06
  definitely had both of those. Definitely had both of those, right? And so
• 1:06:10
  for, you know, on the flip side, I think that's why a lot of women
• 1:06:13
  in this industry are a lot more empathetic and a lot better at this job.
• 1:06:17
  I would actually agree with that, right? Because— oh no, no, I would absolutely
• 1:06:21
  agree with that. There is a— and I mean from, I mean from just pure
• 1:06:24
  broadcasting perspective, because we don't do the thing where
• 1:06:27
  we're in a pissing contest with male athletes. Like, we don't want to be you,
• 1:06:31
  right? No, I, I completely agree. We wanted to do this.
• 1:06:35
  Our whole lives. We never wanted to be pro ballplayers,
• 1:06:39
  for the most part. Can I give you my example of why I'm irked by
• 1:06:42
  certain people? And it— I mean, and I actually agree with this take completely.
• 1:06:45
  I think the women in this industry are far superior to the men in this
• 1:06:49
  industry because of that stupid pissing contest that always comes out to play.
• 1:06:53
  The, the thing that drives me, irks me on the— on some of these guys'
• 1:06:56
  side is they, they were, they were journalists.
• 1:07:00
  They aren't anymore. And now they think they're fucking athletes.
• 1:07:04
  They think they are stars. Motherfucker, you're not.
• 1:07:08
  You— and that's where you've lost me entirely on these facts.
• 1:07:11
  That's not something that you look to do. That's not something that a lot of
• 1:07:15
  people in this industry don't look to do. I'm using more of a very specific
• 1:07:18
  example, so I do apologize if I haven't made that abundantly clear,
• 1:07:21
  because I'm not sitting here saying that people in the sports media industry haven't grinded.
• 1:07:25
  There are so many fucking talented people in the sports media industry that have
• 1:07:29
  grinded to a degree that is off the charts
• 1:07:33
  and have not gotten a sniff of what they deserve. Like, a sniff
• 1:07:37
  of what they deserve. Tanya being one of them. I have another guy that I
• 1:07:40
  worked with out of— out of Florida, uh, lives in Florida. This guy
• 1:07:44
  is one of— no, I'm sorry, North— uh, South Carolina. One of the most talented
• 1:07:47
  guys I've ever worked with in my life, but he has a slight
• 1:07:51
  southern drawl, so he can't get a fucking job. And he's one of the most
• 1:07:55
  talented guys in this industry. Uh, our good friend like Tyrone Johnson. You're telling
• 1:07:59
  me right now Tyrone Johnson doesn't belong fucking
• 1:08:02
  on ESPN right now? He fucking should host
• 1:08:07
  a fucking television show for 3 hours every day.
• 1:08:10
  Yeah, I like— it's just there are so many talented people
• 1:08:14
  with perspectives that are phenomenal and that grinded, that truly
• 1:08:18
  grinded. But instead we don't have that. We have grifters.
• 1:08:22
  Yeah, no, and that— you're not wrong. I mean, that's, that's why we do
• 1:08:26
  this Media Corner. I mean, so much of this is exactly talking about exactly that,
• 1:08:31
  you know. I mean, you know I agree with you completely in so
• 1:08:35
  much of that. And so much of the— so many of the people with the
• 1:08:38
  biggest platforms are the ones who deserve it the least for all the reasons that
• 1:08:41
  you just said. You— like, Stephen A. Smith wants to be LeBron James. That's pathetic.
• 1:08:46
  And like, and to your point Like, as if,
• 1:08:49
  as if LeBron, you know, yeah, LeBron James has lived a blessed life,
• 1:08:53
  you know, he absolutely has. He has been blessed through his talent,
• 1:08:57
  no question. He's also not had— his body has been,
• 1:09:00
  been put through the wringer for, for 30
• 1:09:05
  years, you know, like,
• 1:09:08
  like, like, I— how about, like, Tanya, I am currently,
• 1:09:12
  as I sit here right now talking to you in horrible
• 1:09:16
  physical pain. Yeah, I know. Like, like every— like,
• 1:09:19
  my body hurts from years of— I have a fucked up hip, my hands
• 1:09:23
  hurt, my feet hurt from wearing— for wearing years of
• 1:09:27
  spikes, my knees are banged up. Like, I'm banged up, and I
• 1:09:31
  keep myself in very good condition. I work out non-stop, I do corrective
• 1:09:35
  work, I work on it. And I was a fucking
• 1:09:39
  nobody Like a nobody. Think about what
• 1:09:43
  the pain that LeBron James feels now and is gonna feel for the
• 1:09:48
  rest of his life. Now thank God he's got a billion dollars. I sadly don't
• 1:09:51
  have that. I would— trust me, I'll go through more pain for a billion dollars.
• 1:09:54
  I'll do some. And he also has— and but that's the thing is like,
• 1:09:58
  and he's, you know, it— I don't think anyone is ever worth
• 1:10:02
  a billion dollars, but if you're gonna be, uh, you know,
• 1:10:05
  making the playoffs year after year for 20-whatever years,
• 1:10:09
  right, like having to put your body through that. Okay, fine.
• 1:10:13
  And to your point, you know, the more people— more money from people making broadcasting,
• 1:10:17
  the more out of touch that they become. Oh, and by the way, you think
• 1:10:20
  you're working hard, Stephen A.? I'm sure you fucking do. No one cares. No one
• 1:10:24
  cares. No one gives a shit. But like, here's a great— Chance is in the
• 1:10:26
  chat right now. It makes a great— like, like, Chenee,
• 1:10:30
  fucking phenomenal what she does. Uh, Hannah Storm,
• 1:10:33
  I really like Hannah Storm. Laura Rutledge, absolutely fantastic.
• 1:10:37
  Malika, fucking killer good. Like,
• 1:10:41
  Mina Kimes is the only football analyst I fucking like.
• 1:10:44
  Mina Kimes is great. Like, these are— there are talented people in
• 1:10:48
  this fucking industry, like really talented people who have
• 1:10:52
  amazing perspectives, and I don't feel like we get nearly enough of
• 1:10:56
  them. Instead, we get the grifters. Someone asked, uh, oh, he also
• 1:11:00
  asked what happened to Ryan Clark. Ryan Clark saw where he can
• 1:11:04
  make money. That's like— yeah. And Ryan Clark gets— also gets
• 1:11:07
  put in a really tough position a lot on ESPN. They do— like,
• 1:11:11
  he'll go out on a limb and he'll say the thing that
• 1:11:14
  no one else is going to say, especially when it comes to race,
• 1:11:17
  and then he gets a ton of pushback from the offices down.
• 1:11:22
  And he has a lot of— he has 2 options, right?
• 1:11:26
  Uh, he gets Jemele Hilda out of there, right? Because we know,
• 1:11:29
  we know what happens. Or he starts to toe the line. And,
• 1:11:33
  you know, he's also a former NFL player who played a very physical
• 1:11:37
  position. Very much so. And all
• 1:11:42
  that comes with— all that comes with— yeah, um, you know,
• 1:11:46
  so it's like, it's— they want
• 1:11:50
  Dan Orlovsky, you know, and that's who they want. They want the dudes
• 1:11:54
  who are going to say the thing that they want him to say. And Ryan
• 1:11:58
  Clark is gonna, you know, he— I've seen him, I've watched him start to fall
• 1:12:01
  in line. I've also watched him still push back occasionally. So I have occasionally watched
• 1:12:05
  him push back, which I have enjoyed. But like, yeah, I've been in this
• 1:12:09
  job, I've been in that, that job. Like, I know they put you in a
• 1:12:12
  position where you gotta fucking fall in line. Yeah, it's like you want your paycheck,
• 1:12:15
  you want us, you want to keep having a job, and it fucking sucks.
• 1:12:18
  And it's like every once in a while they're able to break through and say
• 1:12:22
  the things that they want to say, and you and you talk yourself into— that
• 1:12:25
  was me on the Cartoon Show. Like, that was flat out— like, I had to
• 1:12:28
  do the role they put me in, and I fucking hated it. I was appreciative
• 1:12:32
  of the job. It was a huge opportunity. But at the end of the day,
• 1:12:35
  I would look around like, this is fucking terrible.
• 1:12:38
  Like, and it's not because everyone involved is not talented.
• 1:12:42
  It's just because this is what we're kind of— we're just kind of doing a
• 1:12:45
  run-of-the-mill show. And like, everyone here can do
• 1:12:49
  something new. Like, you got Craig Cardon,
• 1:12:52
  use Craig Cardon. And instead we're just doing the run-of-the-mill
• 1:12:57
  sports talk show. And I'm like,
• 1:13:02
  ah, it was like, why bring Craig? I like— personally, I like, you know,
• 1:13:06
  I know you're not even a fan of Craig, right? But like, why bring Craig
• 1:13:10
  on your network if you're not gonna let him do the thing he
• 1:13:14
  does? Again, I don't even like the thing he does.
• 1:13:17
  I know, but like, I like the thing Ty does. I like
• 1:13:21
  what, you know, I like what Ty does. So by the way, that, that was
• 1:13:24
  what I was trying to do. I was trying to do what Ty did.
• 1:13:27
  Like, like, because Craig will give this crazy opinion and I'm like, oh,
• 1:13:30
  come on, Craig, you don't fucking believe that. And, and, and we'd have—
• 1:13:34
  that was what like the discussions would be. But then it would just turn into
• 1:13:38
  like, you know, like, all right, let's— we gotta hit Cowboys now for the next
• 1:13:42
  30 minutes. We gotta hit fucking Now we have the Lakers because everybody really needs
• 1:13:46
  to know what Craig's thinking about the fucking Cowboys. Because yeah, like,
• 1:13:50
  instead, why don't you just let Craig talk about what Craig wants to talk about,
• 1:13:54
  you know? Yeah, let Craig be a weird sexist about the WNBA for a half
• 1:13:58
  an hour. That's what people want. That is what people want to see. It's what
• 1:14:01
  they want to see. Like, so like, I have— by the way, I had Craig
• 1:14:04
  on the show yesterday and he ended the show with something I immediately thought of
• 1:14:08
  you. Immediately thought of you. He comes on and he finishes like, hey,
• 1:14:12
  I don't want to put you guys on the spot, but we got to do
• 1:14:14
  better with Miss America, right? I'm like, Craig! And I'd be like,
• 1:14:17
  Craig, oh my God, your, your feed's not working. We'll see you later. And I
• 1:14:21
  hung up. He's the best. I love him. I know you don't love—
• 1:14:25
  I know you don't like him. Oh my God, I love him. I don't mean—
• 1:14:28
  I don't hate him. He's like one— he's a dime a dozen as far as
• 1:14:31
  like those types of dudes. But he's— he is good at it if he's very
• 1:14:35
  good, dude. He's the best at that thing.
• 1:14:38
  And I find him to be like pretty obviously like
• 1:14:42
  a— there's a charisma there that I do. Obviously he actually,
• 1:14:45
  he funnily even joked about it going like, yeah, you know,
• 1:14:49
  we're in the sport and I'm often credited for, uh, being the one that ruined
• 1:14:52
  all of this. You are.
• 1:14:57
  Whatever, man, you know, whatever. But see, he kind of like— it's,
• 1:15:01
  it's nice when people are on the joke a little bit. Yeah, no, he's self-aware.
• 1:15:04
  That's all I do ask, some self-awareness of people. And so I'll always
• 1:15:08
  give credit where credit is due on that front. Yeah, so I mean
• 1:15:12
  this from the bottom of my heart. Now, this industry is a mess,
• 1:15:15
  let's just say the least. Um, I clear—
• 1:15:19
  by the way, I apologize for touching a nerve. I wasn't trying to say that
• 1:15:23
  your grind wasn't that. I know you're right. We have— we are on
• 1:15:27
  a— we're on a podcast where occasionally we are going to like you know,
• 1:15:30
  have those moments. I, I don't take that shit personally. Like, no,
• 1:15:33
  no, no, but I'm like, I push back because that's what I do
• 1:15:37
  and that's where— what we're here to do. But it's— no,
• 1:15:40
  there's no nerve touch. That's— that, that doesn't— I would—
• 1:15:44
  if you actually were like genuinely offensive,
• 1:15:47
  I'd be like, yo, yo, yo, you stepped out of line there, you know?
• 1:15:50
  You weren't. I was, I was kind of presenting my— and you're right— interpretation
• 1:15:54
  of the situation. But no, but you are not wrong. Like, the, the— like,
• 1:15:58
  I'll give you a great great, like, thing here, like, which I totally agree.
• 1:16:02
  I never should have been put in the positions that I've been put in.
• 1:16:05
  I still look back these last, like, decade going like,
• 1:16:09
  how the fuck did any of this happen? Like, truly, like, it makes no
• 1:16:13
  goddamn sense. I mean, obviously I think you're qualified
• 1:16:17
  to be doing what you're doing. I started a podcast with you. No, no,
• 1:16:19
  I agree. No, no, no, no, no, you don't know what you're doing. No,
• 1:16:22
  no, no, no, slow down. I'm fucking phenomenal.
• 1:16:26
  That's not the point. The point is phenomenal
• 1:16:30
  people in this industry don't ever get opportunities.
• 1:16:33
  In fact, it's quite the opposite. They just want people that'll
• 1:16:37
  fucking yes and do what they want. And I, I'm just,
• 1:16:41
  I'm just not that fucking guy. I tried it and I
• 1:16:45
  couldn't, I couldn't last long in that spot, dude. I do what I do and
• 1:16:48
  that's it. And whether it's, whether it's up to people whether or not they
• 1:16:52
  like it or not. But it's just,
• 1:16:56
  I do and you do what we think is right,
• 1:17:00
  and that's, that's empty in this organization,
• 1:17:03
  in this industry. Yeah, and our organization, our organization
• 1:17:08
  of, of sports media. This, which it is, franchise sucks.
• 1:17:13
  It, it is. It's a, it's a franchise of all of them. It's just,
• 1:17:16
  it's a fucking phenomenal place. Of hellscape,
• 1:17:20
  uh, theatrics. I, I— it just is. By the way,
• 1:17:23
  this is completely off topic, but can I talk to you about something really quick?
• 1:17:28
  I, I, I, I know we have a Pop Culture Corner planned, but can I
• 1:17:32
  just like fully left turn you real quick? Yeah, we don't even need to hit
• 1:17:35
  Pop Culture Corner. Let's go to left turn.
• 1:17:38
  Um, I, um, I saw, I saw The Odyssey
• 1:17:43
  yesterday. Okay. Are you a
• 1:17:46
  fan of Christopher Nolan's work? Yes, I'm, I'm, I would say I'm a
• 1:17:50
  fairly large fan. Me too, love his work. What's your favorite
• 1:17:55
  Christopher Nolan film? Uh, you, I've told you this, I'm an, I'm an Interstellar
• 1:17:59
  guy. I, I, I, by the way, you want a movie that's gotten better with
• 1:18:03
  as time's gone forward, it's Interstellar. Like, yeah, I, I really liked
• 1:18:07
  Interstellar the first time I saw it. As time's gone forward it's in my top
• 1:18:11
  3 or 2 of Christopher Nolan movies. Like, yeah, I'm a big Interstellar guy.
• 1:18:14
  Truly love it. Um, still The Dark Knight is at the very top of
• 1:18:18
  the list for me because that's just a— what an accomplishment that is.
• 1:18:21
  Inception is just a masterpiece. The Prestige is a
• 1:18:25
  masterpiece. Obviously Memento is where it all started,
• 1:18:29
  like really started.
• 1:18:35
  Yeah, I can't, I can't believe I'm saying this. I think this is his best
• 1:18:38
  work, the very best he's ever done. I've been hearing there's— I've
• 1:18:42
  seen, I've seen some people who won't put it above Oppenheimer,
• 1:18:46
  people who loved Oppenheimer who won't put it above Oppenheimer.
• 1:18:50
  I've seen some people who are saying it's better. I've seen— but I've—
• 1:18:54
  for the most part, people are liking it. I'm seeing the same thing that people
• 1:18:57
  are saying, that they really think this is great work from Christopher Nolan. The work
• 1:19:01
  that was done on this film And there's one particular thing,
• 1:19:04
  because like, have you read the Odyssey?
• 1:19:08
  It was required school reading. Yeah, I mean, I think back,
• 1:19:11
  back in the day. Yeah. No, no, a lot of people
• 1:19:15
  are very confused and I, let me just solve this for all of you.
• 1:19:18
  Um, the Trojan War likely never fucking happened.
• 1:19:21
  You dumb fucks. No. And yeah, Helen of Troy is not real. She's,
• 1:19:25
  she's a mythical figure. None of this fucking happened.
• 1:19:29
  You dumb stupid fucks. Yeah, uh, the Iliad and
• 1:19:33
  the Odyssey were written nearly 500 years after the supposed
• 1:19:38
  Trojan Wars. Uh, also no, Poseidon did not come
• 1:19:41
  down to Greece and physically fight in the Trojan War. Athena wasn't
• 1:19:46
  there. Fucking none of these things happened. They were stories,
• 1:19:50
  folktales, and lore that was passed down from generation
• 1:19:54
  to generation. Now our generational life is like every 20 years.
• 1:19:58
  And that's with digital fucking narratives that we have. Like,
• 1:20:01
  we have video of 20 years ago. We have digital video
• 1:20:05
  of 20 years. We have video of 100 years ago. Can you imagine with no
• 1:20:08
  digital technology of any kind or really any books of any kind of that
• 1:20:13
  are really of what modern technology is, of how long ago 400
• 1:20:17
  or 500 years ago really is to your civilization? That's like honestly
• 1:20:22
  talking about BC now. By the way, this was all
• 1:20:26
  written in BC. Um, I don't know what to say other than none of this
• 1:20:29
  happened. They are just pieces of literature and
• 1:20:33
  folk tales. So the fact that anyone's gotten mad that Helen of Troy is played
• 1:20:37
  by an African-American woman is fucking so stupid I
• 1:20:40
  don't know what to do with myself. Helen of Troy never existed.
• 1:20:43
  Um, the Trojan Wars didn't happen. Troy was likely destroyed by
• 1:20:47
  an earthquake, and that is based on also as flimsy of
• 1:20:51
  evidence that Troy even ever existed. Anyways, let's continue to the original point.
• 1:20:56
  What was done in this film with the gods specifically—
• 1:21:00
  and I want to really solo out, uh, the character Athena.
• 1:21:04
  She's the only god that is shown, like, shown. You see,
• 1:21:08
  by the way, no spoilers. We're doing spoiler-free. I will, I will not get— well,
• 1:21:11
  you know, The Odyssey has been around for about 4,000 years.
• 1:21:15
  Yeah, what I'm saying is like, as far as like the,
• 1:21:19
  like certain stuff, and that would— I won't, I won't, no, I will, I won't
• 1:21:22
  give you anything. I'm just gonna tell you how Athena was used
• 1:21:25
  in this film. Yeah, was truly like
• 1:21:30
  a really inspired choice by, by Christopher Nolan.
• 1:21:34
  Like, like I, I watched that film and it was really just,
• 1:21:38
  oh my goodness, like I, I cannot wait to
• 1:21:42
  go watch it again. Did you see it in IMAX,
• 1:21:46
  or— No, I saw it in 70mm over at
• 1:21:50
  the Arrow Theater. That's right. Oh, that's right. Yeah, your, your tattoo.
• 1:21:54
  Yes, the Arrow Theater is my personal favorite theater in, uh, the world.
• 1:21:57
  It's where I grew up watching movies. And you have it tattooed on your body?
• 1:22:01
  I do have it tattooed on my body. And I went and saw it at
• 1:22:04
  the Arrow Theater yesterday because they show movies in 70mm, and that's sometimes— and that's
• 1:22:07
  just amazing to me because you're a nerd. Because I'm a fucking nerd.
• 1:22:11
  Uh, but I will tell you, the way Athena was used in this film is
• 1:22:16
  something that I just— I can't get past. I need to go back and rewatch
• 1:22:20
  and how that was done. I really— I forgot I— that because we
• 1:22:23
  were talking about going to the movies and I'm like, how did I not remember?
• 1:22:25
  We should go. Well, I'll see The Odyssey this week. I'll see it this week.
• 1:22:29
  By the way, uh, Chance writes, uh, Helen of Troy did exist though, at least
• 1:22:33
  theoretically. Like, countries have gone to a war over one woman before. Um,
• 1:22:36
  theoretically, as a concept, is like kind
• 1:22:40
  of not the point though. Like, she was like— in the mythology,
• 1:22:43
  she was like born from a swan or something, wasn't she? Yeah, like, let's be
• 1:22:46
  real clear, like, no, none of this shit happened. Uh, also Achilles
• 1:22:50
  is— I— which I didn't know, Achilles is actually not in this movie, which is
• 1:22:55
  fine because he's really not a real part in the Odyssey anyways. But I
• 1:22:59
  will tell you how they— how he did this movie of a
• 1:23:03
  world of gods and monsters. Um,
• 1:23:06
  now hold on, I have a question. Yes?
• 1:23:10
  How was— and don't, don't go too far in. I won't. Again,
• 1:23:13
  I'm gonna watch. I promise I will keep you in the dark. How was Matt
• 1:23:17
  Damon for real? Do you want my honest opinion? Yeah.
• 1:23:20
  Do you want my honest opinion? And I'm, I'm not saying
• 1:23:23
  this is hyperbole, okay? He's gonna win an Oscar for this.
• 1:23:28
  Okay. It's the best performance I've ever seen Matt Damon give. Did he say,
• 1:23:33
  let's go home? Probably 5 times.
• 1:23:37
  Probably 5 times. In the Boston accent? No, not in the Boston accent. Thank God
• 1:23:41
  he did. He did a normal American accent. Because I— in one
• 1:23:45
  of the trailers, in one of the trailers, he says, let's go home,
• 1:23:49
  in a Boston accent. And I was like, this is gonna be a disaster.
• 1:23:52
  I promise you. But it sounds like that's not— didn't happen. No, I, I mean
• 1:23:55
  this from the bottom of my heart. Matt Damon is super superb in this film.
• 1:23:58
  Okay, um, I'll go a step further.
• 1:24:01
  Everyone is fucking superb in this
• 1:24:05
  film. Um, the visuals— and I do— what's funny,
• 1:24:08
  Robert Stock, if you guys don't know, right, he's a former Major League pitcher.
• 1:24:11
  Robert Stock texted me and asked me what my biggest takeaway
• 1:24:15
  was, and I, I'm still mulling that over.
• 1:24:18
  And I actually was thinking about that question over and over and over again.
• 1:24:22
  I can't believe I'm saying this, my takeaway was the sound design.
• 1:24:27
  Okay, the sound of this film— like, Chris is a big sound design guy,
• 1:24:30
  so I'll have— I'm sure he'll have an ear for it.
• 1:24:33
  Boy, there is some— there is sound in this film that
• 1:24:37
  fucking is gonna live in my head rent-free
• 1:24:42
  for like a month. Like, this movie, I, I actually, like, I want to go
• 1:24:45
  back and watch it again right now. That's how much I enjoyed this movie.
• 1:24:49
  Okay, um, I, I really can't wait for you to watch it. I'm actually
• 1:24:52
  really excited. You got me excited. You've you've built it, you've hyped it
• 1:24:56
  just enough that I'm like genuinely really excited. I think we'll
• 1:25:00
  probably— we're talking about The Odyssey right now. Go see The Odyssey. Go see The
• 1:25:03
  Odyssey. Go see The Odyssey. I, I watched it yesterday and I mean that from
• 1:25:06
  the very— Cody is a like— and Cody's a film buff, like for real.
• 1:25:10
  Like this isn't not like— he's like grew up in Los Angeles, big film
• 1:25:14
  guy. His, his, uh, opinion on this is
• 1:25:17
  definitely worth taking. Worth it. By the way, I, I hope you all love
• 1:25:22
  it. You might hate it, I don't know. No, but I mean, people know it's
• 1:25:25
  a Christopher Nolan film. Like, so it's like, okay, you, you know what you're gonna
• 1:25:28
  get from a Christopher Nolan film, whatever. And also, you're good— you're— you have good
• 1:25:31
  taste in movies. You, you're very familiar with Matt Damon and
• 1:25:35
  his work. You've met him, hung out with him a bit. I have photo evidence.
• 1:25:39
  You have photo evidence of it. You're saying it's a great Matt Damon, an all-time
• 1:25:42
  Matt Damon performance. I believe you. So, you know, all right,
• 1:25:45
  fantastic. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. And I, I truly— I
• 1:25:48
  want you to see it so you can call me and tell me what your
• 1:25:51
  takeaway of what Athena really is. No, I'm okay. I'm,
• 1:25:54
  I'm super excited. You've, you've sold me. I was always gonna see it, but I
• 1:25:58
  kind of like hadn't prioritized it while I was on vacay. But I think I'm
• 1:26:01
  gonna. Yeah, there's, there's something about the use of that particular
• 1:26:05
  character that is like very— because like, this is not a spoiler,
• 1:26:09
  like in the book The Odyssey, like there's like, there are
• 1:26:12
  physical gods, like, right? And in the movie, you know, the Cyclops
• 1:26:16
  thing is there, the witch Circe is there. Yeah, the The, the giants are
• 1:26:20
  there. All of that is there. Like, there is mystical, mythical shit, but there
• 1:26:24
  are not— the gods are not physical actors, characters that
• 1:26:28
  are playing roles in this movie. Doesn't exist in the movie except Athena.
• 1:26:32
  And I'm really looking forward to— I might be
• 1:26:35
  wrong of what they're— what they were portraying Athena as,
• 1:26:39
  but my takeaway of what Athena was is just like,
• 1:26:43
  boy, please watch this movie and call me immediately.
• 1:26:47
  I would love to have this discussion with you. Okay, done deal.
• 1:26:50
  We'll shake on it. Shake. I love it, I love it,
• 1:26:54
  I love it. I hope everybody goes and sees it, by the way. I hope
• 1:26:57
  everybody goes and sees every movie. Uh, I, I, I want movies
• 1:27:00
  to come back a little bit. Uh, Obsession is an
• 1:27:06
  amazing piece of work. The Odyssey is an amazing piece of work.
• 1:27:09
  Like, like, there are really good filmmakers out there right now making really
• 1:27:14
  good work. Go to the movies. Go, go in the air conditioning in the hot
• 1:27:18
  summer months. Grab some popcorn, go to the movies, support your local theaters.
• 1:27:21
  If there's a small theater, go do that. Um, make sure that you,
• 1:27:25
  um, check in on— while you're there,
• 1:27:28
  or in the meantime, pop into your MLB standings
• 1:27:33
  and check in on the fact that the Red Sox have won 10 games in
• 1:27:37
  a row. I don't— I, I'm not ready to have this conversation yet. 10 games
• 1:27:41
  in a row. They have, they have. I mean, it's fucking wild. The fuck is
• 1:27:44
  going on? They just beat the shit out of the Rays,
• 1:27:48
  dude. Dude, the American League is wide fucking
• 1:27:52
  open right now. Wide open, baby. I mean, the AL East is
• 1:27:55
  tough to, to make way in that, in that division, and they're doing it 10,
• 1:27:59
  10 games in a row is nuts, Cody. I don't know what's going on.
• 1:28:01
  Can I convince you to root for another American League team? You absolutely
• 1:28:05
  cannot. It's the Diamondbacks. And what— well, hold on, what team are you talking about?
• 1:28:11
  Can you throw out your hatred of Jerry Reinsdorf for a second and root for
• 1:28:15
  the South Side Chicago White Sox? Because this team is— no,
• 1:28:19
  you know what, I just, I just realized I can't. I can't.
• 1:28:23
  But it's only because I remember the only other team I can root
• 1:28:27
  for in the AL is the Mariners. I accept.
• 1:28:31
  Yeah, I accept. I accept your retort.
• 1:28:34
  Yeah, and I respect you more. Thank you, I appreciate that.
• 1:28:38
  Well, uh, do I have you in a good enough mood to admit that the
• 1:28:41
  bloody sock was real? Not real. Full of shit. Sorry, you got
• 1:28:45
  me in a better mood, but not that type of mood. Fuck off. Bloody sock
• 1:28:48
  was not real. And I can't stress this enough, but you can convince
• 1:28:52
  me of, and convince everybody of hopefully, is, uh, what they
• 1:28:56
  should do is like, share, and subscribe to the Regulars Pod, uh,
• 1:29:00
  not only here on YouTube but over there on Instagram. And of course,
• 1:29:04
  follow Tanya Ray Fox on her social media, as if she needs your fucking
• 1:29:07
  help. You can follow me, Antihero Baseball. She's Tanya Ray
• 1:29:11
  Fox, I'm Cody Decker, and we're the Regulars. And Tanya?
• 1:29:17
  I'm Tanya Ray Fox, I'm a Regular, and fuck you,
• 1:29:21
  Curt Schilling. Wow, we're throwing a you in there. Sure, fuck you,
• 1:29:24
  Curt Schilling. Cheers.