Latest / State of Play / Football? Right Wing Coded??

Transcript

Football? Right Wing Coded?? · State of Play

0:01
SPEAKER_03: Is it time to rebrand football as Freedom Ball?
0:04
SPEAKER_03: Benny Johnson thinks so.
0:06
SPEAKER_03: Also, who the hell is Benny Johnson?
0:08
SPEAKER_03: It's Stay to Play.
0:15
SPEAKER_03: All right, welcome to Stay to Play.
0:17
SPEAKER_03: Today we have on my baby bro, my brother from another mother.
0:22
SPEAKER_03: Actually, we're twins.
0:24
SPEAKER_03: Eric, my bro.
0:27
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and uh I have on, as always, my guy Henry here.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, thanks for joining us, Henry.
0:34
SPEAKER_03: What's up?
0:35
SPEAKER_03: Oh, of course.
0:35
SPEAKER_03: It's always a pleasure.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: It's been a while.
0:37
SPEAKER_03: I s I just noticed that you're uh you're not paying full attention because you're checking your your fantasy football uh situation.
0:46
SPEAKER_03: What what's going on with that?
0:47
SPEAKER_03: What's going on?
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Well, well, this is true.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's still early in the season.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: I'll say my mindset towards fantasy has evolved where basically um if I don't win the championship, I don't care if I'm not if I'm in last place.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: So I have more of an all-or-nothing view.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: So I've come to realize that the team that's the best in the beginning of the season almost never is the team that wins the championship.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: And I'm trying to adapt my thinking, my okay.
1:14
SPEAKER_03: Let me rephrase the question.
1:15
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm not asking the 30,000-foot question.
1:19
SPEAKER_03: He's a he's got greener, he's like, I'm seeing things with the glass half full.
1:23
SPEAKER_03: Like Ethereum.
1:25
SPEAKER_03: What is how are you doing?
1:27
SPEAKER_03: Are you one and oh are you 0-1?
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, I have three leagues, and I am 0-1 in all three of the leagues.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: God damn!
1:38
SPEAKER_03: Damn! Did you pick the same people in all three?
1:45
SPEAKER_03: Like, what's going on?
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I made a lot of overthinking where in one league I um and we discussed this.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: It was crazy in hindsight.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: I sat Josh Allen against the Texans because he was terrible against them last year.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, he actually ended up being um being awesome.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: You sat Josh Allen?
2:06
SPEAKER_01: I sat Josh Allen for um I think it was Baker Mayfield, and then he didn't have a good game either, so a lot of escalating problems.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm and the other thing is I'm very um heavily invested in Jamison Williams.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: So that'll be an investment that we have to see how it plays out over the uh the course of the year.
2:30
SPEAKER_03: Did you make these what did you say on eight?
2:36
SPEAKER_03: Oh Josh, Josh, you sat Josh Allen?
2:40
SPEAKER_01: I did he was terrible last year both times against the Texans, though.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: So it's one of those things where every season is a new, a new season, and you never know really what's gonna happen.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: I guess that's what it comes down to.
2:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I will say, in in all fairness, I saw in survival leagues, they were saying there were people saying to sit Josh Allen for the survival league.
3:02
SPEAKER_03: Like, don't use Josh Allen because you'll you'll you might lose your survival league matchup and get booted.
3:08
SPEAKER_03: Josh Allen has a DJ Moore this year, though.
3:11
SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, like I think that's such a huge difference.
3:14
SPEAKER_03: Like he's he hasn't for a couple of years had a true go-to receiver, and they thought Keon keon Coleman uh would be that person, and he just hasn't shaped up to be a number one.
3:31
SPEAKER_03: So now that they have now he's hurt, and we'll see how his shoulder is, but like you know, now that they have you know more uh you know, I think it really scares defenses uh and and defenses are now having to make adjustments because of all these extra weapons.
3:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the guys underneath the the tight ends were open the whole game last week against the the Detroit or Thursday against Detroit.
3:58
SPEAKER_03: It was just, I mean, DJ would go over the top, and the he'd throw underneath, and it was like yards after catching.
4:05
SPEAKER_03: Safeties would follow, throw underneath.
4:08
SPEAKER_03: Yards after catch like crazy the whole game.
4:10
SPEAKER_03: But I'm still like, okay, well, okay.
4:12
SPEAKER_03: Who are your quarterbacks in your other two leagues?
4:14
SPEAKER_03: In our league, in our league.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, in our league, I have um Caleb Williams, and that's worked out fairly well so far.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: So I'm pleased with um pleased with that overall.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: But you still lost.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Did you lost?
4:27
SPEAKER_01: But you lost.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: Caleb had like 40 points the first game.
4:30
SPEAKER_03: He did, I can't know.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: Caleb was great, but um I'm trying to see who there was somebody else that was obviously greater, you know.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: I guess for me to end up on um the downside of the um of the matchup.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: But um, but we'll see.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it's still early in the season, so I'm inclined to just let my roster cook and see where we end up.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I um I played against Josh Allen on week one.
5:03
SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, it was a wash, bro.
5:06
SPEAKER_03: I was like, I'm good.
5:07
SPEAKER_03: I'll just uh next time, can't win them all.
5:11
SPEAKER_03: I'm good.
5:12
SPEAKER_03: Eric, what about what it what how how have you done?
5:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh well I'm one and oh.
5:22
SPEAKER_03: Um who's your most notable why are you one and oh, who who's who's killing it for you?
5:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, let's see.
5:32
SPEAKER_03: Um in both in both instances.
5:36
SPEAKER_03: Crap, forgot my fucking uh well in week one, uh who I I got a lot of productivity from Ashton Genty and a surprising amount from uh Travis Etienne, uh, and a not so surprising amount of productivity from Amon Ross St.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: Brown.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: The guy's just a monster.
5:58
SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, bro.
5:59
SPEAKER_03: Uh so and he's off to a good start this this week.
6:03
SPEAKER_03: Um very good start.
6:05
SPEAKER_03: I got him this week.
6:06
SPEAKER_03: He he had five points in my other league.
6:11
SPEAKER_03: He had five points in the first half, and I thought, oh, uh, here we go.
6:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
6:15
SPEAKER_03: This isn't gonna be a good week.
6:16
SPEAKER_03: And then they decided to throw him the ball the rest of the game.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: So uh I've I've I'm off to a good start.
6:25
SPEAKER_03: My team is very strong and pending any injuries because injuries can change everything for any team, uh, then I'll probably be okay this year.
6:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
6:38
SPEAKER_03: I uh I started off uh even though I'm trolling Henry, I started off 0-1 after getting destroyed by I got destroyed by Josh Allen, I had Puka Nakua because the the Rams don't know how to get to the other side of the world and in the southern hemisphere on time for a football game.
7:04
SPEAKER_03: And that's a lot to ask.
7:07
SPEAKER_03: It's not a lot to ask.
7:08
SPEAKER_03: I mean, the 49ers did it.
7:12
SPEAKER_03: And they look crispy.
7:15
SPEAKER_03: Fair.
7:15
SPEAKER_03: Did they not there shouldn't be any excuses for their preparation?
7:21
SPEAKER_03: No.
7:21
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and I mean, the as you as everyone saw, the Rams looked like they were sleepwalking the entire game.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: They did not look good at all.
7:33
SPEAKER_03: Practically yawning.
7:35
SPEAKER_03: I mean, they didn't look good.
7:37
SPEAKER_03: I expect it to be different.
7:38
SPEAKER_03: I need him to have, I need to have him to match Amon Ra St.
7:43
SPEAKER_03: Brown.
7:43
SPEAKER_03: At least, at least, I don't look, he probably not gonna get 30.
7:48
SPEAKER_03: But you can give me 20.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: But you know, Puka is hurt.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: It's not clear he's even gonna play.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: I heard him on the radio.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: He's not practiced even today.
7:56
SPEAKER_03: He's not on my injury report like whatsoever.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's uh it's tricky because I think it's a Monday game.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh no, so it's a Monday game and you have to make the decision with incomplete information.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, I might be changing that rule.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: Where so we've been uh chat, we've been discussing whether the um hold on, whether to let I I forgot how it's described, but if a player is questionable and you start him because he's like you've heard a rumor that he's expected to play, you know?
8:35
SPEAKER_03: And let's just say, let's just, for example, take Puka.
8:38
SPEAKER_03: If Puka is questionable, and then uh you have to wait till Monday to see, so you start him, but he ends up not playing by this rule that we're going in, uh thinking of implementing.
8:53
SPEAKER_03: We can change if Puka doesn't play, even though he's listed as questionable and he ends up not playing, we can change him out for the starter that you would have started him for it if he would have been out.
9:06
SPEAKER_03: But the trick is you have to declare who the player is that you start in his place before you just like if someone's on your bench and he scores like 30 points, you can't just say, I want to put him in a place of Puka.
9:25
SPEAKER_03: Like he you I have to declare immediately, like I have like lose a burden, I don't know, um, that he's gonna play, like I'm gonna, he's my replacement if Puka doesn't play, and then I can put him in.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: I follow, and I disagree, I think, with that proposal.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: I feel like injury risk is kind of an inherent part of fantasy, and trying to, I think it introduces um scenarios that you can't fully account for.
9:52
SPEAKER_03: I think of the drama.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's Well, I I think the backdrop is to roster another player from the same team on Monday or the other team that they're playing as your fallback in the event that they don't play.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like that's the if you want to try to reserve Puka or another player in that scenario, you have somebody else that's gonna play, and then if he doesn't play, then you go with that person.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh god, bro.
10:18
SPEAKER_03: I'm just looking now.
10:19
SPEAKER_03: He's out.
10:20
SPEAKER_03: He's well, he's not he's not listed as out, but he's listed as questionable.
10:23
SPEAKER_03: Did not practice yesterday or today.
10:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh my freaking goodness, bro.
10:28
SPEAKER_03: I can't.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: I cannot.
10:30
SPEAKER_03: But he's Puka Nokua, you know, he they may just say, you know, and and on top of that, he was on the other side of the world.
10:38
SPEAKER_03: So that this just may be hey, you get a couple of things.
10:41
SPEAKER_03: At this point, she's been back for a while.
10:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I I I'm actually I actually like the rule, although what Henry's saying is you know, it it it changes the risk of the of the game, but in real life, they would sub and you know, sub an actual another person into the game.
11:02
SPEAKER_03: Um we're just introducing or potentially introducing the idea of subbing someone into the game, but with the stated change of if my player doesn't play, then this is my designated player off my bench.
11:19
SPEAKER_03: Um I don't even know if that's even allowed in in our fantasy setup.
11:25
SPEAKER_03: Well you you can.
11:26
SPEAKER_03: I can I can as a as a league manager, I can go and change anytime I want, I can go and put I can go and change a lineup.
11:36
SPEAKER_03: Even mid-game.
11:38
SPEAKER_03: Like it don't it don't matter.
11:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think that raises the bigger question where I think as a general matter, I don't think you should change any rules during season.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: I think discussions about rules are off-season discussions rules are once you're actually into the season.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: That's a good point.
11:57
SPEAKER_03: Off-season only.
11:58
SPEAKER_03: Um, because you can't retro change the the the you know win-loss column if someone had that option two or three games prior to when that rule was made.
12:12
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, kind of like when what happened with Michigan and Western Michigan.
12:19
SPEAKER_03: Right.
12:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
12:20
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: They can't record, they can't go back and forth.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: And more directly related to fantasy, I remember when there was a situation with the guy on the Buffalo Bills, I think it was.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, this was in fantasy, where the you remember it got thrown into disarray where they stopped a game and they were wondering about whether they were going to reschedule it, and there was a lot of question about how they were gonna do scoring.
12:42
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: I recall that being very controversial because there was no good way to resolve how to act other than just to let it ride with whatever the system was saying.
12:52
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
12:52
SPEAKER_03: Um the scoring was uh to my recollection it was a just let it ride situation, and it was like I know that people who had the players, because it was a cancellation or something like that.
13:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:02
SPEAKER_03: Like you were cooked.
13:03
SPEAKER_03: You're but that's part of the that's part of the the whole thing.
13:08
SPEAKER_03: Like I can't go back and like retroactively add half your team.
13:12
SPEAKER_03: But now, wait, now.
13:13
SPEAKER_03: I I understand what y'all are saying.
13:15
SPEAKER_03: Like, okay, we're not gonna like start this new rule in mid, like, begin after the season has already begun.
13:23
SPEAKER_03: But you know, ideally, in my situation, I already have Lad McConkey, who is questionable because he got hurt like in the second or third quarter.
13:34
SPEAKER_03: And um he's questionable, he might not play, and then Puka Nakun might not play.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: So now I gotta be like, okay.
13:42
SPEAKER_03: Now I gotta be like, I gotta it's a real conundrum.
13:47
SPEAKER_03: Cause now it's like, do I play?
13:48
SPEAKER_03: Do I set both of them?
13:51
SPEAKER_03: Do I I can't it's gonna be really terrible to wait out until Monday night, even though that extra Monday, even though that extra day of rest will help, I think.
14:00
SPEAKER_03: That helps spook his case.
14:03
SPEAKER_03: Like, I just I like the rule for me.
14:05
SPEAKER_03: I'm kidding.
14:06
SPEAKER_03: I like the rule.
14:08
SPEAKER_03: I just I think it's a worthwhile worthwhile thought.
14:14
SPEAKER_03: Um it's worthwhile thought.
14:16
SPEAKER_03: I just I like what I like about it is the tension it can create, the arguments and and such that it can actually like you know create.
14:24
SPEAKER_03: Because you there's no way you're gonna be like, this is fair or this is unfair, depending on the situation.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I find it exciting having to wait, because I think it was in it might have been in our league.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Um I can't recall if I have Malik Neighbors, but it was the same thing with Malik Neighbors last week, where people didn't know for sure if he was gonna play, and you sort of had to figure out.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: I figured that he was going to, yes, but they weren't making it official up until the last minute.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: You knew.
14:50
SPEAKER_03: Ain't no way he's gonna miss that game.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: Um so it remains to be seen.
14:55
SPEAKER_03: I I I won my other league game really.
14:58
SPEAKER_03: I have three leagues.
14:59
SPEAKER_03: I won my other two real big.
15:02
SPEAKER_03: Um but I'm 0-1 in our league because again, I had I got victimized by Josh Allen.
15:10
SPEAKER_03: And believe me, the text messages from from uh Glover, we call him that.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if I can tell y'all who he is because he's got like a secret job or something, bro.
15:21
SPEAKER_03: Um he's in the music industry.
15:25
SPEAKER_03: Um now everyone's gonna know.
15:27
SPEAKER_03: Um but he has Josh Allen and old man the text messages he sent.
15:34
SPEAKER_03: I can't even read them over the air.
15:36
SPEAKER_03: They were so bad.
15:37
SPEAKER_03: They were so bad.
15:39
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it is what it is.
15:42
SPEAKER_03: But uh I mean on to the next one.
15:45
SPEAKER_03: That's what that's why we play the games.
15:47
SPEAKER_03: That's why we play.
15:48
SPEAKER_03: That's why we play the games.
15:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he could have a great game with Josh and his receivers do poorly.
15:56
SPEAKER_03: Bro, I just never know.
15:58
SPEAKER_03: Keep going on it, but I spent two years getting caught Dalton Kincaid thinking he was gonna be the next Travis Kelsey.
16:06
SPEAKER_03: And then like two years straight trash.
16:09
SPEAKER_03: Not trash, but trash.
16:12
SPEAKER_03: And then all of a sudden, in two games, bro has got averaging 20 plus a game now.
16:19
SPEAKER_03: That's I didn't I pick I didn't pick him up on purpose because of that one reason.
16:23
SPEAKER_03: Uh as fools go, and then here he comes.
16:26
SPEAKER_03: So we'll see if if uh DJ Moore is still hurt, you'll see how he performs.
16:31
SPEAKER_03: Because he won't be able to, you know, take the top off.
16:34
SPEAKER_03: People like DJ Moore won't be able to take the top off, and people will just sit back and play zone or whatever against their tight ends.
16:43
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, we'll see.
16:51
SPEAKER_03: Have you guys heard of Benny Johnson?
16:52
SPEAKER_03: You know who Benny Johnson is?
16:54
SPEAKER_03: Um, yes, I do.
16:55
SPEAKER_03: Eric, you you know Benny Johnson is, right?
16:58
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
16:59
SPEAKER_03: So just for the audience, he's um for those who don't know really who he is, um, millions of followers, billions of views on his uh across all of his social media.
17:12
SPEAKER_03: The the the best way to describe um Benny Johnson is that he's a right-wing political influencer, podcaster, turning point USA guy.
17:27
SPEAKER_03: Um he's a provocateur on culture war issues on behalf of the far right nationalists, Christian nationalists, you know, that kind of, you know, that's his whole brand.
17:39
SPEAKER_03: Um and so honestly, I we could cover a whole episode on him by himself.
17:46
SPEAKER_03: Uh maybe I'll bring him up in some of the discussion because I have a little bit of beef with him on some of these things, because you know, we live in DC and he used to live in DC and he makes some outrageous claims.
17:58
SPEAKER_03: Outrageous claims.
17:59
SPEAKER_03: Talk about that later.
18:01
SPEAKER_03: But uh reason why we're bringing him up is because I'm gonna read this quote.
18:04
SPEAKER_03: He said the other day, quote, football is a right wing, is right wing coded.
18:10
SPEAKER_03: Lip tards hate football and will ban it when they get the power back.
18:14
SPEAKER_03: Like what I don't know what he means by that.
18:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh all third worlders, whatever that means, and communists are scared of football because it is violent and masculine and built by patriots.
18:26
SPEAKER_03: We must protect football nationalism at all costs.
18:29
SPEAKER_03: Football nationalism.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: Football nationalism.
18:33
SPEAKER_02: What is football nationalism?
18:38
SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
18:39
SPEAKER_03: Um we're creating football nationalism now.
18:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like Christian nationalism, we're creating football nationalism.
18:48
SPEAKER_03: I love, I mean, it is a it is a cleverly worded like tweet though.
18:53
SPEAKER_03: Like he tweeted this out, and I'm like, I see what you're doing on some of these things.
18:58
SPEAKER_03: But in the name of just like, you know, it just brought a question to my mind.
19:05
SPEAKER_03: Is it?
19:07
SPEAKER_03: Like, is football right-wing coded?
19:10
SPEAKER_03: What do you what do you think?
19:14
SPEAKER_03: Well, I think what defines right-wing coding.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's the that's a big, a big question.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, I will say, I guess too, maybe a slightly different point, is um, I do agree that football is militaristic, perhaps.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: It kind of is a throwback to, you know, the gladiator games and those kinds of um of things.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: So separate from the the political divide, I do believe that's true.
19:41
SPEAKER_01: And that's why the the main audience for football is within the United States.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, um, it's not as globally popular as things like soccer or even um even basketball.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Um with respect, I guess, to the political divide in the United States, what I would say is I feel like it um it kind of goes to the fact that um progressives it it takes effort, I think, to be a progressive because you're thinking about issues in more nuanced sorts of ways.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Whereas um, of course it's an a broad generalization, but I think on the conservative side, the I'll say the major political advantage that the conservatives have is that they appeal to people's base emotions and feelings, and people feel very strongly about gender roles and those sorts of things.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's perhaps an observation that I would um would make.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: So the sport itself is one thing, but I think what it says about masculinity and things along those lines, that's a separate conversation.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: So what you're saying is because it tilts overtly masculine, its testosterone field, um, and because of its militaristic nature, which are all sort of like you know, um, ideals that are being co-opted by the right, like because of that, it has like a little bit of a right wing tilt.
21:16
SPEAKER_03: Um I can I mean I can I can I can sort of see that.
21:21
SPEAKER_03: Eric, what do you think?
21:23
SPEAKER_03: It's also the fact that from a cultural standpoint, um it's an American sport.
21:30
SPEAKER_03: It is.
21:31
SPEAKER_03: And we're you know, when you think about what the right wing currently is trying to promote is make, you know, MAGA make America great again.
21:41
SPEAKER_03: It's this America first agenda.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: Uh and so football being an an American sport.
21:49
SPEAKER_03: Uniquely American sport.
21:51
SPEAKER_03: A uniquely American sport.
21:53
SPEAKER_03: Right.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: It's not soccer, it's not food ball, food.
21:58
SPEAKER_03: It's not food ball.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we we took the term football and you know now we're using it as a term for men who throw a ball around.
22:12
SPEAKER_03: They throw a ball with their hands.
22:14
SPEAKER_03: We you know, so with America owning the sport uh and with its contemptual history uh, you know, of it being only played by, you know, white male Americans uh up until a certain point.
22:37
SPEAKER_03: Up until a certain point, and then it integrated um, you know, with you know the that the that Washington team being the last to integrate, but I digress.
22:49
SPEAKER_03: Um then then yeah, people in then in people's heads who you know remember all of this, have it for old Dixie, all right, sorry, go ahead.
23:03
SPEAKER_03: Football Americana nostalgia America like it is so American and we're American because of conservatives, right?
23:13
SPEAKER_03: So that wait, wait.
23:16
SPEAKER_03: You said both of you went this way, and I find it interesting that you said this is American, but you automatically there was a we're just trying to to see it from well, is it the main sport that was actually established in the United States?
23:34
SPEAKER_01: So basketball comes from Canada, right?
23:36
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know Indiana.
23:38
SPEAKER_03: It it came it came from a Canadian, but it was birthed in Indiana.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes.
23:46
SPEAKER_03: Okay, yes.
23:47
SPEAKER_03: But it is James was built and made in America, yes, for sure.
23:52
SPEAKER_03: But I mean, obviously football was here and was a thing.
23:56
SPEAKER_03: It's ingrained deeply into the culture, the same way that like American baseball started.
24:01
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
24:03
SPEAKER_03: Like that was America's past I mean, it's America's pastime.
24:06
SPEAKER_03: Baseball is considered Yeah.
24:07
SPEAKER_03: I mean, one could argue that America that then that baseball is you know right wing coded according to the that the I guess the definition, which we haven't necessarily we've been talking around the definition.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: Well that's what I'm saying, like like the right wing coded, and even if you look at his like tweet, like bas I'm thinking of this part specifically based on something you said, Eric, he said you said it's uniquely American, and he said all third worlders and communists, but I want to focus on the third worlders part because it's it's cleverly written.
24:45
SPEAKER_03: He's saying basic he's trying to establish a hard line between you know, first world American exceptional footballism and every other sport that exists.
25:01
SPEAKER_03: That is a world sport, like even like baseball, because that's a world sport, soccer um is and we just had the World Cup, so you're coming we're coming fresh off the of the of a global game and now we're going into football and he's establishing here a distinction between or at least it seems here, not to like go too deep into it, but he's establishing a difference between he's calling those backwater, backwood countries who play soccer, like that's what y'all do.
25:38
SPEAKER_03: What we do is they're too unsophisticated to play.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: Uncivilized America's football.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it's cleverly written, but like, but to your point, like what is considered like right-wing coded?
25:56
SPEAKER_03: When I think about it, I think about like if you guys remember the the oh um the Hank Williams Jr., which again, country artists.
26:06
SPEAKER_03: Oh, you're ready for some football, Sunday night party, a Monday night party, you know, the old Monday night football song.
26:14
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
26:14
SPEAKER_03: And then and then when it went to which I enjoyed separate from the politics.
26:20
SPEAKER_03: Everyone, everyone enjoys this song.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: I don't care who you are.
26:23
SPEAKER_03: You can say you hate country music, you like that song.
26:27
SPEAKER_03: You like that song.
26:28
SPEAKER_03: And don't tell me you didn't sing along to it.
26:30
SPEAKER_03: I sang along, you sang along.
26:33
SPEAKER_03: Like, and you sang, and you made the accent too.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: And then there's like, so they they went away from that, and when it was bought by um NBC, it became Sunday night football.
26:44
SPEAKER_03: And then um uh didn't Faith Hill was it Faith Hill who did it?
26:49
SPEAKER_03: I believe so.
26:49
SPEAKER_03: Faith Hill and now uh the the uh the the oh my god, why am I forgetting her name?
26:56
SPEAKER_03: The American Idol winner.
26:59
SPEAKER_03: Um I know her name.
27:01
SPEAKER_03: Anyway, the oh I've been waiting all day for a Sunday night.
27:05
SPEAKER_03: So there's this country singer, you know, country in Western vibe that that that's in there, and then you have the do you know every commercial is a beer and a truck commercial and F150, and you know I mean even college football, right?
27:24
SPEAKER_03: Uh very common.
27:26
SPEAKER_03: And he said, by the way, yeah, to you that's a great point.
27:29
SPEAKER_03: He wasn't talking about the animal, he said football.
27:31
SPEAKER_03: Football is right wing coded.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: So it's not really clear to me what he means by football being right wing coded, and maybe that's part of the point for it to be nonsensical and to be more an emotional appeal.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: I do agree, though, that the presentation surrounding football has a lot of right-wing coded um elements, you know, a lot of the commercials, the products that they're marketing and fifty senses, completely intentional, yes.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the choices of commentators and how they um how they're positioned.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: So it it does appear as though they they're actively courting a politically conservative audience.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that that's anything inherent to the the sport itself, though necessarily.
28:17
SPEAKER_03: I don't I mean, I think that's some of what we notice, right?
28:23
SPEAKER_03: Um but plenty of people from lots of different cultures and political backgrounds drive trucks and drink beer.
28:33
SPEAKER_03: It's just that it's been again, like it's been sort of swallowed up like by right-wing culture of of again, you know, country and western, you know, that kind of thing where you drive your F-150 to go deer hunting and fishing and all that kind of stuff, and then you go do a tailgate.
28:55
SPEAKER_03: Which is also right-wing coded, like all that imagery is all that, yes.
29:00
SPEAKER_03: But I wouldn't say that that's true for like like I've heard people, even in the arguments I was looking at when I was looking at the tweet, like they're like saying that tailgating is like a like right-wing phenomenon.
29:10
SPEAKER_03: I was like, What since when?
29:13
SPEAKER_03: Right, but it it it's like they're trying, it's like Benny Johnson is trying to own you know, they he he sees it and he's like, we're gonna own this as a right-wing phenomenon.
29:28
SPEAKER_03: Right.
29:29
SPEAKER_03: Um as as opposed to it just being part of the the cultural football phenomenon.
29:38
SPEAKER_03: And he said, right, and he said again, he said that football, not the NFL, was right wing coded.
29:46
SPEAKER_03: So all of football.
29:47
SPEAKER_03: You know, I don't know about you, Henry, but Eric and I grew up playing football in the street.
29:54
SPEAKER_03: You know, just like a lot of other young African Americans and different people from different backgrounds.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: Yes, and by the way, diverse backgrounds together went out and played football in the street with no political context to boot.
30:11
SPEAKER_03: Like, so there was there was no you know, cultural phenomenon that was being expressed with the football that we were playing, um even in school when we played.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: There were it wasn't coded at all.
30:33
SPEAKER_03: I I don't think it was coded, but I do agree, like there's this air, um, there's this brand uh around like the way f the the types of items that are promoted around football.
30:48
SPEAKER_03: My problem with the statement itself is there there's a lot I have a problem with when he says like I can give you the the hyper masculine sort of vibe and tilt of football.
31:05
SPEAKER_03: It's a tough man's gladiator type of sport that attracts other tough men to watch, but clearly football is extremely popular and everyone from different backgrounds watches it.
31:17
SPEAKER_03: So saying, quote, like Lip Tards, um like alright, define Lip Tard and which one you're talking about, who who actually hates it and who's tried to ban football.
31:27
SPEAKER_03: Like, did he say that and I need to look it up?
31:29
SPEAKER_03: Like, is he saying this in response to like the CTE stuff?
31:33
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I've I've thought of as we've been engaged in this conversation.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: The the efforts to kind of um, I guess, impose safety restrictions on football or even some conversations amongst families, discouraging people from allowing their children to participate in football.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, I do believe those to be more broadly associated right or wrong with um progressives as opposed to conservatives.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: So the perception surrounding all of that conversation, I think a cynical perception could be that progressives are so concerned about safety that they're going to ruin all of the fun that we're having with football.
32:18
SPEAKER_03: They're gonna put on bureaucracy and legislation and lots lots of different laws and rules that limit how much how a fun and effective the game actually is.
32:28
SPEAKER_03: And I think that there is uh take it or leave it, there's a little bit of truth to that, but that doesn't make it a bad thing.
32:35
SPEAKER_03: Well, and and and folks like Benny Johnson will take that as uh leverage to build you know a cultural touch point and use that as a cultural touch point to build his audience.
32:49
SPEAKER_03: Like so, why are we against you know why are we against uh you know young men banging their heads together and being um exposed to CTE?
33:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this is America.
33:05
SPEAKER_03: This is America, you can do whatever you want, Jack.
33:07
SPEAKER_03: And and so like he'll gather people who agree to some level with that, and then they find themselves you know starting to get coded into that.
33:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, that's that's what he's doing even in this Eric, that's what he's doing even in this one tweet.
33:24
SPEAKER_03: He's like, he's he's he's already painting like this junks of position between us and them.
33:32
SPEAKER_03: He's like, they're the Lib Tards and they hate football.
33:36
SPEAKER_03: Um we're not, we love football.
33:39
SPEAKER_03: Third worlders hate football.
33:42
SPEAKER_03: They're they like soccer.
33:44
SPEAKER_03: We like patriotism and freedom and football.
33:48
SPEAKER_03: Because all third worlders are are evil zombies, you know.
33:54
SPEAKER_03: Like, oh my god.
33:55
SPEAKER_03: And like, you know, the the the left wing tilts feminine and weak, you know, thin skinned male, slimy little, skinny little, you know, men.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: So we're on the right wing and we work out and we lift, bro.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, maybe that's the clearest way to state it is that um concerns about safety are more broadly associated with the um with the left than the um the right, and the conversation on the right is almost is always what are we willing to really pay for these for these safety games?
34:41
SPEAKER_01: And it just inflames those tensions.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Where it goes to the the heart of that back and forth conversation that people have views about more broadly, and football is just a specific focus to kind of incite those tensions.
34:55
SPEAKER_03: It's very true.
34:56
SPEAKER_03: Like, I mean, with the whole argument around AI right now, um the like you know, uh the CEOs of these AI companies are coming out and saying, hey, this is dangerous.
35:07
SPEAKER_03: The president is going, hey, no, it's not.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, oh, this is literally the same thing.
35:12
SPEAKER_03: Just that you know, this is just a hoax.
35:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's a hoax.
35:17
SPEAKER_03: You don't need there's nothing to worry about.
35:20
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, the safety regulations that they're taking off of, you know, the environmental protections.
35:27
SPEAKER_03: Uh we don't need to be worried about that.
35:29
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it's it's it's a broader argument that that often we see from right-wing commentary.
35:37
SPEAKER_03: Uh oh, yeah.
35:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
35:39
SPEAKER_03: That's a really good point.
35:41
SPEAKER_03: Um, it's definitely a pattern.
35:43
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I think, you know, what Benny part of what he's trying to accomplish in trying to say is that, you know, we're all for just you know unabashed freedom for you to do, you know, whatever you want, however you want, as much as you want, no rules, no limits, no guardrails on anything.
36:12
SPEAKER_03: And like you say it's you know, same thing with the AI stuff.
36:16
SPEAKER_03: There are by the way, there are experts who are in it who are like, uh, as a matter of fact, yes, we do need rules and laws and regulations to keep us from like blowing up the world with k killer robots.
36:29
SPEAKER_03: And then you have the other side saying, well, well, no, you don't.
36:33
SPEAKER_03: The only one you need is me.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: Like, so yeah, it just goes to the broader sentiment that we're not going to be told what to do, especially by people with whom we disagree politically.
36:45
SPEAKER_03: Which is, by the way, I would like to point out, anyone who's ever played any any any real sport, any sport, organized sport, on a high level, college or high school, or in this case the NFL, it is rigid.
37:02
SPEAKER_03: The NFL, and by the way, the military is rigid with rules and laws that govern whether you get to play or not.
37:12
SPEAKER_03: So for for them to sort of like again try to co-opt football for the right wing, I would argue the same thing that they're doing, trying to do with AI, like you said, Eric, and the same thing that they've done with Christianity, which is another thing.
37:27
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, there it seems to me that this is evidence uh, not he's trying to do it here, but there's evidence of a longgoing thing of trying to co-opt uh or appropriate football for nationalism and patriots and all this kind of stuff.
37:50
SPEAKER_03: But I mean, I mean, look at the number.
37:52
SPEAKER_03: I honestly I'll I we should look at the numbers.
37:55
SPEAKER_03: Like I'm gonna look them up real so while you're doing that.
37:59
SPEAKER_03: I'm really curious.
38:01
SPEAKER_03: While you're doing while you're looking up the numbers, I want to do um sorry that shouldn't have been there.
38:07
SPEAKER_03: I'll edit that out.
38:09
SPEAKER_03: Um I'm curious of the percentages of like Dems to Republicans in the uh in in the NFL.
38:20
SPEAKER_03: Like because there's there's also we should also establish there's a dichotomy.
38:25
SPEAKER_03: There's players who play the game and then there's fans.
38:32
SPEAKER_03: So I was I'm curious of like what the breakdown is of players versus like not players, but just players in the NFL.
38:41
SPEAKER_03: I should google I'll ask chat GPT.
38:44
SPEAKER_03: Or Eric, if you can get it to get to it quicker than me.
38:48
SPEAKER_03: What's the percentage of um let's see, according to uh vote hub study?
38:57
SPEAKER_03: Um uh publicly available voter registration data, the NFL features 44% independent, 34% Democrat, and 20% Republican.
39:08
SPEAKER_01: Twenty Well, I mean I think the the independent the independent category is the cop-out for people who basically don't want to reveal their actual political leaning.
39:18
SPEAKER_03: No, I'm not giving you that.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm not giving you that.
39:22
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure no no no I'm sure that there are a lot of people that's the numbers, though.
39:27
SPEAKER_03: Uh okay.
39:28
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there are a lot of people in the game, and those are the numbers, by the way, those are the numbers of people who vote, not uh who vote.
39:37
SPEAKER_03: The like Curb um what's his name?
39:41
SPEAKER_03: Herb Street.
39:42
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you guys saw this, but he um he was on he was giving an interview to someone other network after the game, after the Texas thing, fiasco, where uh Ted Cruz was invited on and was like booed relentlessly on game day last week when Texas played.
39:59
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, hater love it, he was on there to talk about um the whole NIL situation because he's one of the like writers slash sponsors of the bill.
40:09
SPEAKER_03: And um, but he was on there and was booed relentlessly.
40:14
SPEAKER_03: And he got on TV and was like, Yeah, I don't know about any of this stuff.
40:18
SPEAKER_03: I don't follow uh, you know, I don't really follow um politics.
40:25
SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm independent, I'm sort of right down the middle of the road, and you know, I don't know.
40:30
SPEAKER_03: I d you know, I don't know what Ted Cruz does, and and I'm like, oh he seems authentic when he says that, but that feels coded to like yeah, I vote I vote I voted for Trump.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm I'm a you don't know how you vote.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm of the view fair or not, if you are not affirmatively saying that you voted against Trump, then I assume you voted for Trump.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of my take on it, right or wrong.
41:00
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, I made political I do I do think that there is a universe that we you know, because again, we Eric and I grew up in this sort of culture, like you almost have your head in the sand when it comes to sports, when you're in it, in it.
41:20
SPEAKER_03: It is it is all you know and think about.
41:24
SPEAKER_03: Like, it is a constant, constant thing in your in your life.
41:29
SPEAKER_03: It is everywhere, it's on all the time, it's on your video games, it's on your television.
41:34
SPEAKER_03: You go outside and you play, you go to school, and everybody's it's like every it's everything.
41:40
SPEAKER_03: So I do understand, and by the way, some of these guys, when they're not playing football who were registered, by the way, just to remind everyone again, it's a 20%.
41:52
SPEAKER_03: So think about this.
41:54
SPEAKER_03: Most of the vast majority, even though Henry disagrees, of the vast majority of the people on that list, only 20% of the players are Republicans.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but but again, I think I think that kind of that kind of scrambles.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that you can ascribe any conclusions to the data when the largest group is independent.
42:17
SPEAKER_03: True indeed.
42:19
SPEAKER_03: But I can definitely say that uh for the most part isn't by and large, Henry, um like it it's it's more of a microcosm of the bigger picture, too.
42:30
SPEAKER_03: Like most people are described to be independent, if I'm not mistaken.
42:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:36
SPEAKER_03: Um I mean in the United States, it's like four.
42:38
SPEAKER_03: The data does what it does, but like, you know, it it also we've also been we've also seen the data be wrong on a number of occasions, especially recently, right?
42:50
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, so yeah, that independent is such a wild card.
42:54
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
42:55
SPEAKER_03: So I'm I just wrote I looked this up for fans.
42:59
SPEAKER_03: 2023, so this is relatively recent, just three years ago.
43:03
SPEAKER_03: A 2023 poll from New Mass said this is for fans.
43:07
SPEAKER_03: So we have already established that most players are not Republicans.
43:14
SPEAKER_03: We're saying 20% fair fair foul.
43:17
SPEAKER_01: They're not willing to acknowledge that they're Republican.
43:23
SPEAKER_03: Okay, all right, all right, all right.
43:25
SPEAKER_03: So what about this?
43:26
SPEAKER_03: So this is more split down the middle of fans.
43:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, a national poll found professional football fandom was actually was was slightly higher among Democrats.
43:39
SPEAKER_03: Fans 43% to 37% Republican.
43:44
SPEAKER_03: They say virtually identical to liberals versus conservatives, 39 38.
43:49
SPEAKER_03: So there's there's that distinction you were sort of talking about in that other poll.
43:53
SPEAKER_03: I don't I want to know who is a who is a liberal versus a progressive.
43:55
SPEAKER_03: I think some people were floating right down the middle in that, and so it it it sort of changed.
44:00
SPEAKER_03: Channels that description there.
44:01
SPEAKER_03: But but again, forty-three percent of football fans are Democrat.
44:12
SPEAKER_03: So when you say that with it with a like a full throated statement saying that football is right wing coded, be that as it may, most of the fans are not.
44:26
SPEAKER_03: You may say that it's right wing coded, that it has this like tent like uh right wing crossover with the way that the game is marketed.
44:37
SPEAKER_03: That is portrayed and branded to the public, yeah.
44:40
SPEAKER_03: Right.
44:40
SPEAKER_03: But that is also like the the labeling of stuff that like Republicans like to do, but I'd argue Democrats do it more.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: The I think that goes to a point I would make where it it kind of maybe exposes some of our biases as being like inside the beltway people.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: So it's like we're kind of labeling like drinking Bud Light and driving around in a truck.
45:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's something we might associate more with conservative people, but I'm saying there these things are of broad interest to people.
45:10
SPEAKER_01: Like not everybody is just, you know, using charcuterie boards and those kinds of things.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: That's not the contrast.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not whatever in the privacy of your home with charcuterie boards.
45:25
SPEAKER_03: So I wanted to uh you know, because Vince, you you just said this about you know, Democrats like, and you you're kind of pinning on this anyway, where there's a lot of left wing coded stuff, right?
45:38
SPEAKER_03: We I mean left wing left wing people code things all the time.
45:42
SPEAKER_03: So we do as looking at culture, we like labels.
45:47
SPEAKER_03: People on the left do it more way freaking too bro, too much.
45:52
SPEAKER_03: But the right wing does it because the left wing wants to do it because they want like they have both have different motives.
45:58
SPEAKER_03: It seems like the left wing wants to do it because they got like a bunch of mo like they want freedom and fairness for all and all this kind of stuff, and they want to raise up the the bottom by trying to acknowledge the existence of these like different people groups and entities that that don't seem to have um uh the same level of visibility.
46:17
SPEAKER_03: Um so they label things, they spread things out.
46:20
SPEAKER_03: By the way, in political marketing, they market to them different, they market to different demographics, you know, based on like what they look like and how they label them.
46:32
SPEAKER_03: And then the right wing does it too, but they do it for like a lot of other, like I'd say a little bit different reasons, but they do it in general.
46:39
SPEAKER_03: Well, I wanted to show like Henry uh and Henry can see it, but I wanted to show you like someone in Japan made this uh graph.
46:49
SPEAKER_03: Eric and if you want to look it up, just look up um right wing versus left wing Japanese graph graphic, and and basically it's an image diagram, like almost like an infographic with like a bunch of different pictures.
47:05
SPEAKER_03: So it has like you know, at the top it has a woman in the blue hat and a guy having a talk a discussion and it's just like talking equally, and on the right with the red uh on, it's like this, you know, very conservative looking woman with this conservative guy in a suit.
47:24
SPEAKER_03: And then like if you go down and look at the list uh down the list, um it's got like a pickup truck on the right, and it's got this this uh electric car on the left.
47:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, then there's the basketball and rap, basketball, and rap music, it's like the baggy baggy pant rapper on the left and country music person on the on the right.
47:48
SPEAKER_03: Country music person on the right with baseball and fried chicken.
47:51
SPEAKER_01: Um what is that?
47:52
SPEAKER_01: Is that an LGBT rainbow on the left and then church on the right?
47:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean that distinction.
47:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they go to they go to church on the right, and on the left, they go to they go to gay church.
48:03
SPEAKER_03: Like what?
48:05
SPEAKER_01: So that's how they like.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: If Apple Apple versus PC, Apple is liberal and PC.
48:13
SPEAKER_03: Apple is liberal, PC.
48:14
SPEAKER_03: Super liberal Apple.
48:15
SPEAKER_03: What'd you say?
48:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, so that that that leads me to the next thing, because I mean it we see this in in brands too.
48:25
SPEAKER_03: Like uh according to like the New York Times, uh, I believe I saw uh they they tracked like what modern lifestyle traits are frequently sorted into right wing coded versus left wing coded, and you know, I can just rattle off and you might you you and you can tell me uh you know Chick-fil-A.
48:48
SPEAKER_03: Right wing.
48:51
SPEAKER_03: Home Depot.
48:52
SPEAKER_03: Right wing.
48:53
SPEAKER_03: Trader Joe's.
48:55
SPEAKER_03: Left wing.
48:55
SPEAKER_03: Easy.
48:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's easy.
48:57
SPEAKER_03: Patagonia.
49:00
SPEAKER_03: But when when I think of, okay, round bringing back to football though.
49:04
SPEAKER_03: When I think of football, I don't I don't think right wing, it just never I mean I feel like it presents differently, I guess, to different people.
49:12
SPEAKER_01: Like I grew up in the inner city, and many of my friends, they were like, it was cool to be on the football team.
49:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but inner city football is different as I am than I as I imagine Friday night lights in Texas would look like, for example, but they're still both tremendously popular in different ways.
49:28
SPEAKER_03: As a Friday night Texan, there it depends on where you're at.
49:35
SPEAKER_03: Like where we were at, it was freaking Crips and Bloods.
49:41
SPEAKER_03: It was more like bring your own polit politic to me.
49:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was bring your own culture.
49:47
SPEAKER_03: It was like uh bring your own culture.
49:49
SPEAKER_03: Everyone from different spectrums.
49:51
SPEAKER_03: But then I also think like, okay, to to almost to your point, you guys, so you have like there's the the marketing market of football or people around things around football with the trucks and the beer and the like yada yada yada yada.
50:07
SPEAKER_03: By the way, that's all we can think of is trucks and beer.
50:09
SPEAKER_03: If there's other stuff.
50:11
SPEAKER_03: But if you've ever Eric, have you ever seen ballers on uh HBO?
50:16
SPEAKER_03: You've yeah, a little bit truck.
50:19
SPEAKER_03: Is there any of that in that?
50:20
SPEAKER_03: Any of that in that show?
50:22
SPEAKER_03: No, no, it's all it's all sports cars and girls, half-naked girls in swimming pools and big houses and rap music, like it is hip hop, high life culture, full stop.
50:42
SPEAKER_03: And by the way, the show is all NFL, it's all about the NFL, and it's all about football and following the lives of football players and agents, by the way.
50:51
SPEAKER_03: And there's I So I'm saying, like, I don't, and we know we all know that that's the way that they live.
51:00
SPEAKER_03: Half of them.
51:02
SPEAKER_03: There are definitely some guys who are like, oh, I'm of the faith and freedom, you know, not that's not that they're right wing, but they're very family, traditional, family-oriented people who you know go to church every week and you know, raise their kids in a con sort of semi-conservative, like, you know, way that isn't like the other party hard lifestyle of the rest of the NFL.
51:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah I mean to avoid, I guess, um wading into you know these murky circumstances.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: I know we discussed um last week uh there was a player on the um the 49ers who made I think um explicitly right-wing coded statements following their game.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh, right.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: Was it Bosa?
51:51
SPEAKER_01: As well, yeah, Nick Bosa.
51:52
SPEAKER_01: Um his commentary, such as it such as it is well, you know.
52:00
SPEAKER_01: In any event, that that would lend itself to an entirely different conversation.
52:03
SPEAKER_01: But I say that to say that I certainly picture that there are people in the NFL, they're very affluent, they live on ranches, and they intentionally distance themselves from the city influences.
52:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
52:18
SPEAKER_03: But I mean there are some guys in the M NBA who I would argue sort of fit that same people that we wouldn't think they don't have ranches or nothing like that.
52:28
SPEAKER_03: I'm just saying that they are family people who Yes.
52:32
SPEAKER_01: And even separate from the family distinction, I read an article not too long ago that said a lot more guys in the NBA vote Republican than people might expect.
52:42
SPEAKER_03: But it is overtly Democrat.
52:44
SPEAKER_03: I I remember actually looking up the numbers on that one time out of curiosity.
52:48
SPEAKER_03: I think the NHL was the only league that was like skewed Republican.
52:53
SPEAKER_03: Every other every other sport skewed Democrat way more.
52:57
SPEAKER_03: I I was wrong in the NFL.
52:58
SPEAKER_03: I thought the NFL would be even from like other demographics like African Americans or or wh wherever you come from from the BIPOC BIPOC community, like I thought that a lot of those guys didn't want to deal or acknowledge any of sort of like the cultural war nonsense that the left sort of is, I would say, pushed on um and that they sort of like don't like that and they would vote.
53:25
SPEAKER_03: I thought that was the case, that they were all Republicans and I was.
53:28
SPEAKER_01: Well what what I would say of black people who have are very affluent and they've shared with me that they voted Republican almost without exception.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: They frame it as a purely financial decision.
53:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: And attempt to bracket it off that way.
53:46
SPEAKER_01: I don't agree with the social aspects, but um it's the the financial.
53:53
SPEAKER_01: So I'll say many of these people are people who you would never suspect voted Republican based on their discussion of these social issues.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: I know that to be the case.
54:03
SPEAKER_01: Are you saying so you're saying they do it because I'm saying I'm aware of black people who actually vote Republican because it serves their monetary interests, but if you were talking to them about social issues, you would assume they voted Democrat because they might agree with you on those particular points.
54:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm fiscally conservative, but socially like like you know that phrase that they they say all the time.
54:25
SPEAKER_01: Like And they're typically skillful to not even make that statement.
54:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
54:30
SPEAKER_03: I know.
54:33
SPEAKER_03: I'm still and that swings um that those are the type of uh voters, uh Henry, that are probably likely independent uh who will vote their financial interest whether left or right wing.
54:53
SPEAKER_03: So if they see that it's you know that that their vote isn't producing you know dividends uh for their financial portfolio uh and they voted you know right, they're probably not gonna do that again.
55:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
55:12
SPEAKER_03: In the next uh midterm or the next you know primary.
55:16
SPEAKER_03: So honestly, to your point, Henry, like I bet a lot of them are like would vote Republican or Skew Republican, except for Trump.
55:26
SPEAKER_03: Like they will they will vote up and down the ballot for everything, especially in their state, because some of their taxes, some of the taxes, I I'm a I'm a tax the rich guy, but some of this stuff is crazy the amount of money they lose.
55:40
SPEAKER_03: Like it's crazy, bro.
55:42
SPEAKER_03: But I so I you know I understand it, but like, you know, going back to the beginning, does it the numbers don't bear out in terms of what Benny Johnson is saying?
55:57
SPEAKER_03: Um it doesn't bear out like what he's saying.
56:06
SPEAKER_03: Um but that last sentence of we must protect protect football nationalism at all costs.
56:14
SPEAKER_03: Here's the other I'll end it with this.
56:17
SPEAKER_03: The other calculation when he when he said this, I'm like, the NFL obviously doesn't care about Benny Johnson.
56:23
SPEAKER_03: Like the NFL is a money-making machine and they will do whatever they want to make more money.
56:28
SPEAKER_03: But we just played a game in Australia last week.
56:33
SPEAKER_03: We we play games in London and Brazil and Germany and all over the Mexico City.
56:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
56:41
SPEAKER_03: So like they're trying to expand football to be a global sport because it is financially beneficial to do so.
56:50
SPEAKER_03: So um or in Ben in Benny Johnson's uh uh definition, we're not maybe we're not or maybe we're not trying to expand as we're as much as we're trying to colonize.
57:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I didn't give you a guess.
57:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
57:06
SPEAKER_01: I think there's a lot of truth to that.
57:07
SPEAKER_01: I get the sense when I when I watch the international games, it appears to be mainly expats as opposed to people from other countries.
57:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it seems like it's at least a lot of people that were from the United States and they're there to support the NFL as opposed to actually trying to get inroads in the local community.
57:26
SPEAKER_03: Well, wait, no, you think they're going there to support expats?
57:28
SPEAKER_03: That'd be crazy.
57:29
SPEAKER_03: They're not no.
57:30
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm saying I feel like they know that there's enough of an architect population to support a handful of games every season.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: Because you look at the games, the people have on jerseys from every team.
57:42
SPEAKER_01: It's like they're supporting the NFL generally, not necessarily just the teams that happen to be playing.
57:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think there are global fans, but I mean they're looking at moving teams to London at this point.
57:52
SPEAKER_03: Jacksonville's been brought up rumored a lot to be being moved to um to London.
57:57
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, if that happened, I would I would I think I'll believe it when I see it as it relates to football.
58:02
SPEAKER_01: I can visualize it maybe with basketball.
58:04
SPEAKER_01: I think football's a harder sell in an international market.
58:09
SPEAKER_01: Um but we'll see.
58:11
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I would that that's why they're playing the long game.
58:14
SPEAKER_03: They're not they're not playing games every single week.
58:17
SPEAKER_03: They're they're just they're sort of ramping up over time to build the sort of excitement about the game.
58:23
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, you know, again to to use.
58:26
SPEAKER_03: And I haven't seen that movement in the NBA.
58:29
SPEAKER_03: Um I've heard Mexico City.
58:32
SPEAKER_03: I've heard Mexico City for NBA for sure.
58:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, but not just not Europe.
58:37
SPEAKER_03: Uh and maybe maybe it's the Europe, maybe it's Europe doesn't need to do something.
58:42
SPEAKER_03: They got basketball.
58:43
SPEAKER_03: Right, it's the Euro League.
58:44
SPEAKER_03: Like, but I would love to see a NBA team from you know, Italy or Spain.
58:52
SPEAKER_03: I mean, LeBron's been trying to make he's trying to globalize the game a little bit more for the NBA.
58:57
SPEAKER_03: Um there's there's already a footprint for basketball.
59:03
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're kind of ignoring the Raptors, you know.
59:06
SPEAKER_01: They don't make um because they're in a a major market, you know, themselves for um.
59:12
SPEAKER_03: I mean we lost another Canadian team already, though.
59:16
SPEAKER_03: We have Vancouver Grizzlies and they didn't last very long.
59:22
SPEAKER_03: So I think Toronto will stay around, right?
59:25
SPEAKER_03: Nah, yeah, they're they're fine.
59:27
SPEAKER_03: They're they have a they have a fan base and they have a chance.
59:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, as long as Drake is cheering for them, they're not going anywhere.
59:34
SPEAKER_03: That's true at this point.
59:36
SPEAKER_03: That's true at this point.
59:37
SPEAKER_03: I think that's a good place to stop.
59:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh we'll end it here.
59:40
SPEAKER_03: Man, we that was a really great conversation.
59:43
SPEAKER_03: Um so I I don't feel like we answered the question, per se.
59:51
SPEAKER_03: I think we examined the question.
59:52
SPEAKER_03: I mean, is football right wing coded?
59:56
SPEAKER_03: Maybe.
59:57
SPEAKER_03: Maybe it's brand people want to brand that way.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_03: And people can try and they have.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_03: And people can try and they have.
1:00:04
SPEAKER_03: Uh do I think it is more d more like diversity coded?
1:00:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_03: I think it has a very diverse uh and what I mean by diverse, I I mean there are so many things that could that are coded into football culture that have nothing to do with rather w right wing culture.
1:00:29
SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm saying.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_03: Whether you see them or not is an entirely different story.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_03: If you have if you have MAGA-colored glasses on, then that's all you'll do.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_03: Then it is right wing coated.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_03: It is right wing coded.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_03: If you don't have any glasses on and you just want to watch the day, that's it.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_03: That's what it is.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and in that context, I I wasn't even thinking about football in in the right or left politically coded context.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_03: Um up until you know the comments by by Johnson.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_03: So someone said uh I I saw uh someone respond to it with like, by right wing coded, you mean all the misogyny and the men that get in trouble for domestic violence?
1:01:29
SPEAKER_03: Oh like damn.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_03: You have a point there.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_03: You have a point.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_03: You have a point.
1:01:36
SPEAKER_03: So so yeah.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_03: Uh alright, Eric, thanks for thanks for joining us.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_03: Uh Henry, thanks for joining us.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_03: If you enjoyed this conversation, please uh uh share it with the general population.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_03: Um we're bigger and bigger every week, uh, and we're trying to keep the momentum going.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_03: Um, so thank you for listening to State of Play, and we'll see you next time.