← Bloomberg This Weekend
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- [00:00]
Narrator/Announcer
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Christina Raffini
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Bones
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Bones
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Narrator/Announcer
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News welcome to the Bloomberg this Weekend podcast with David Gura, Christina Raffini and Lisa Mateo.
- [02:06]
Christina Raffini
Thanks for joining us for today's selection of conversations from the show.
- [02:09]
David Gura
You can listen to our favorite discussions
- [02:11]
Harvey Levin
right here on the podcast, but also
- [02:13]
David Gura
make sure to join us live every Saturday and Sunday morning starting at 7am Eastern.
- [02:17]
Lisa Mateo
We're on Bloomberg Television Radio and the Bloomberg Business App, bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle and culture.
- [02:30]
Christina Raffini
President Trump announced it on social media that the second missing airman has been rescued safely from Iran. He also had an exclusive text message exchange with NBC's Kristen Welker in that the president called the rescue, quote, an Easter miracle. He went on to say, according to NBC, the enemy was large and violent. The rescuers were were brilliant, strong devices, divisive, as cool as anyone can be. The Iranians thought they had him, but it wasn't even close. And remember, we got two but couldn't talk about the first one. It would have highlighted that there was a second. Such a rescue has never happened before and it goes on from there, finishing with such a great military like no other. Happy Easter.
- [03:11]
David Gura
That was on Truth Social. To be clear, he just posted this at the top of the hour now promising a news conference at 1pm tomorrow and he says it'll be with the military. Christina, presumably the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, maybe the secretary of defense Pete Hegseth will be there with him. But a news conference that could be a wide ranging or that will be only hours away from the ultimatum that he has given Iran to open the strait.
- [03:35]
Christina Raffini
Still a bit surprising we're not hearing from the president today, but obviously he's got to hustle back to Washington to make this joint news conference happen and have those military leaders behind him. As the president who is very aware of visuals and that's certainly the message he wants to send as he wants to be doing this, I'm assuming back in Washington as we get the information and he will likely have an update on the condition of that pilot. He said in his true social post he was injured, not seriously, we don't think so he's being treated. But maybe he'll have an update on his condition.
- [04:03]
David Gura
It is interesting at the top of this post he says we have rescued this seriously wounded and really brave F15 crew member officer from deep inside the
- [04:11]
Christina Raffini
mountains of oh, this is the newest
- [04:12]
David Gura
post that just came out suggesting that because in the earlier post he said no lives were lost and no one was wounded seriously and now we're saying seriously, seriously wounded. Remembering this individual punched out, actually ejected from an F15 fighter jet and may have been wounded before even getting to the ground.
- [04:25]
Christina Raffini
If nothing else, you know your body is taking a beating. He as we were mentioning, hikes up a mountain, thousands of feet. You don't have. We don't know what he had for water. He you don't. You're not carrying food supplies with you. He's probably dehydrated, a little bit malnourished and I would imagine his body and his adrenal glands have just had it. Exactly.
- [04:42]
David Gura
It's very common to have broken bones, a burst spleen. These are all pretty common things that come from. And two black eyes when you eject, when you inject because you hit the air so hard it's like crashing into a wall. That's when you begin trying to avoid a manhunt it's truly remarkable what this person went through.
- [04:59]
Christina Raffini
All right. We want to go to our guests to break this all down for us. Back with us, our Bloomberg's White House correspondent, Jeff Mason, and our Jerusalem reporter, Dan Williams. Jeff, we're going to start with you as Jeff, just as Joe just mentioned, excuse me, President clarifying the condition of that pilot a little bit and the fact that we're going to have a press conference, but not today. Excuse me, a statement unclear if it's a press conference, but not today.
- [05:21]
Jeff Mason
Yeah. First of all, happy to be confused with Joe at any time. And second of all, yeah, at least that clarifies when we're going to see the president in person to talk about some of these things or make the statement from the Oval Office. The listen, this is a major success for him. It, it's an extraordinary military operation and it, it covers up well, cover is the wrong way to say it, but it makes up for what was otherwise a huge political risk after that aircraft went down in Iranian territory on Friday. The president had already started off last week by saying that the president that he intended to pull the United States out of this war within two to three weeks. He's been very frustrated by the increase in oil prices and the subsequent increase in gasoline prices. And so the reporting was beginning to show broadly that he was just over this war. Then this happens on Friday and really ups the political risk for him in terms of potential casualties and really broadly questioning whether or not the United States was really ready to go into this war, that it started, all of that comes with for the United States a happy ending because this man was rescued. And I'm sure that the president is going to emphasize that when he speaks to the press and the public tomorrow.
- [06:42]
David Gura
Well, just quickly, Jeff, do we expect an announcement that if he holds forth at 1pm Eastern time, that'll be less than eight hours, if I remember correctly as to when the ultimatum would hit for Iran to open the strait, is that going to be the final warning or might he have a change in strategy?
- [07:01]
Jeff Mason
It's just really hard to say, Joe. The president has changed his strategy so often over the last five plus plus weeks that I think people are just always ready for a potential additional shift. My guess is that tomorrow he's going to want to focus on the military success that we've just been talking about. But it's also you'll certainly be asked about that ultimatum and the and the latest on that and whether or not he's sticking to it or, or giving them a Little bit more time.
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Christina Raffini
I also want to flag, although I can't read on television due to the profanity in it, there is another tweet that has posted less than 4 minutes ago. I'm sorry, Truth social from the President. To your point, Joe, about this deadline that says Tuesday will be power plant and bridge day all wrapped into one Iran. It says there will be nothing like it. Open the effing straight, you crazy. Word I can't say on TV or you'll be living in word I can't say on tv. Just watch. Praise be to Allah. Signed President Donald J. Trump.
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David Gura
Praise be to Allah.
- [08:02]
Christina Raffini
Dan, your reaction to that and I know you do have information. We want to remind folks, Israel it seems like may have been involved in helping find this pilot. What have you reported out? What have you heard on involvement from Tel Aviv in this rescue?
- [08:17]
Dan Williams
Well, I promise to keep it all PG13 as fitting for this broadcast. Yes, the Israelis say they had a part in this rescue operation. It would appear a supporting role, mainly in suppressing fire, suppressing fire against those Iranian troops, Iranian forces, militiamen who tried to reach that downed airman. And also in the supply of intelligence, presumably real time tactical intelligence, given that there would have been several moving elements here, not just the movement of this airman trying to avoid capture and link up with the rescue party, but the rescue party and the Iranian forces. And of course, in all this, when you have close mesh allies working in a busy tactical environment, they have to make sure not to clash with one another inadvertently. So yes, the Israelis say they were part of this, although they'll certainly leave the heavy lifting. The credit taking appropriately to the US President to the Americans, there have been statements of congratulation by a number of senior Israeli ministers and the like. As for Trump's strong words around Iran, as Jeff noted, we're nearing that deadline that he set for a threatened resumption or a certain embarking on energy attacks. Attacks on energy sites in Iran, which would definitely upset what remains of the apple cart here because the Iranians have shown already that they're very capable of hitting energy assets in neighboring Arab countries, countries they see as being in cahoots with the Americans. Presumably they're capable stepping this up to hit power stations and the like and plunging the region into darkness, I think was one threat issued by Tehran just a couple of weeks ago. So yes, we'll see that. All the while we should remember there's another ticking clock on this. We're now in week six of this war. At the outset, Israel and The US Said there'd be a four to six week envelope. They estimated at a time until this war would be concluded or carried. So we're really running against the upper edge of that timeline though. Again, we've already had statements from Washington suggesting it could go on into eight weeks. But I think the questions and skepticism that have been swirling around this war from the outset are definitely going to harden the closer we get to the edge of that six week timeline.
- [10:28]
David Gura
The threats against the civilian infrastructure in Iran would run counter to the President who said help is on its way in an effort to protect people who had been protesting their government. But Dan, I just want to ask you about the way some of the President's rhetoric is landing in Israel. There have been two posts in the last 24 hours that made references to God, I.e. holy war. If you're reading into this, the first was time is running out, 48 hours before all hell will rain down on them. Glory be to God and on this Easter morning now, praise be to Allah. How is that interpretive in Israel?
- [11:05]
Dan Williams
Well, this Israeli government, a government that was democratically elected, doesn't lack for its own religious elements. It's religious nationalists, fundamentalists, and indeed the prime Minister, though to all appearances a secular man, has very much invoked religion, especially since October 7, which was in miniature a genocidal attack on Israelis that for many shook their faith in a country that was meant to give them security in their personal security. And many of them re injected that fear into, into a new zeal which we've seen in the way that this war has been prosecuted. Keep in mind that it's a conscript military people who really aren't being paid and haven't freely signed up. They're doing it because it's their duty to the country. And the losses have been steep for the Israelis. Obviously they've been extremely steep in Gaza. But at a per capita level, the number of soldiers Israel lost from that conscript military in these two and a half years is more than four times the number of soldiers that the United States lost in the entirety of the Afghanistan and Iraq operations. Those ran into 20, 20 years in the case of Afghanistan, 8 to 12 years Iraq, depending who you ask. So a major, major sacrifice here. The polls show that while there has been a diminution to a degree of the support for this war, it still has majority support. Many Israelis see it as a support against a millenarian regime in Iran that wants their destruction and are responding in kind. So I don't think that those quotes will be seen as anything amiss in this part of the world, at least.
- [12:33]
Christina Raffini
Jeff, I mean, I hate to ask a political question, given that there are lives on the line here, but I have to ask a political question. How are Republicans feeling about this conflict, especially going into the midterms? Because if, as we're talking about, if you're going by the president's rhetoric this morning, it doesn't seem like this is ramping down. And we've actually got a tweet from a strong presidential ally, Lindsey Graham, saying that he had a call with Trump from Saturday after our show last week, saying after speaking with President Trump, I'm completely convinced that he will use overwhelming military force against the regime if they continue to impede the Strait of Hormuz and refuse a diplomatic solution to achieve our military objectives. Choose wisely. Apologies. I was off the show yesterday, not last week. Is this a liability? Is it enough of a liability that you think Republicans could say, let's dial it back, or is everybody in his, in his fold staying on board for the time being?
- [13:28]
Jeff Mason
It is absolutely a liability. And it's a liability because the majority of Americans are opposed to this war. And with the midterm elections coming in November, you're not just thinking about your political base and you're not just thinking about hawkish Republicans. You're thinking about the other independents, some Democrats, and, and Republicans who you need to vote for your party members in an effort to try to hold on to control of Congress. And right now the House looks very vulner and the Senate's a little bit vulnerable, too, a little bit less so. So, yeah, it's absolutely a liability. That said, to sort of tie in with Joe's question to Dan. I think you see the president using various sales pitch strategies here last week, certainly talking on Wednesday night about the fact that this war has not been as long as other U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, World War I, World War II. But also just the religious language that he, that he used in the social media post today, I think that is also an, an attempt to gin up support among the evangelical right, which is a good chunk of his base, and sort of create a religious angle to this war to influence how people are thinking about it. That's not going to work with a big chunk of the electorate, but it may work with his base because that is a, that's a really important element for them.
- [15:00]
David Gura
President has long fancied wrapping events around Easter. Jeff, remember in Covid when we were going to reopen on Easter weekend and that was long before anyone was ready to reopen anything. Here we are again on an Easter Sunday when he's trying to seize on the holiday to deliver a message. We've seen this before.
- [15:19]
Jeff Mason
We absolutely have seen this before. And I'm glad you mentioned Covid. I remember being in the press room in the days before Easter in 2020 and asking his then press secretary about his, his statement that everything would be opened up again for Easter and, and her making a comment about, well, there clearly there are people in the press room who are, who don't believe in God or don't want to go to church or some kind of flippant remark about that. And my response to that was this is not about what we would believe. It's about wanting to know if it's safe. I share that anecdote just to, to tie into your broader point, Joe, which is that the President ab he ties things to today's like this and wants to gin up emotions connected to religion because that is a huge, huge issue for lots of Americans, but particularly Republicans and people in the MAGA base.
- [16:11]
Christina Raffini
All right, we're gonna have to leave it there for now. Jeff Mason, Dan Williams, thank you both so much for joining us again on this holiday. We appreciate you both. Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend right after this
- [16:26]
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- [18:43]
Christina Raffini
Joe, you've been around D.C. for a while. You've chased lawmakers through hallways and on stakeouts and all those things. Well, now Capitol Hill reporters are going to have new company hunting down those lawmakers.
- [18:55]
David Gura
And that is, well, it's TMZ 100% to up their game. And it's interesting because Congress members know this. They found it out the hard way a couple of days ago. Ask Lindsey Graham. And now others are like mugging for the camera so they can just get it out there first. This is what are you doing on your recess?
- [19:13]
Christina Raffini
So we interviewed the founder of TMZ about why they've decided to take this new approach. Thank you so much for coming on and taking the time. Why did you guys want to do this? This is not something that I normally associate TMZ with, but it seems to be blowing up.
- [19:28]
Harvey Levin
Well, we've been doing politics for years, so it's not anything new to us. Honestly, this was very spontaneous. We were interviewing a TSA agent last week and she was telling us what she is going through. And it's not just worrying about losing her apartment, not being able to feed her kids, being in food lines, but her mental and physical health were just deteriorating. And to listen to her and then know that these members of Congress, we're just going to bail and leave town and not fund a bill that would give them something that's life saving was just enraging. And we spontaneously just said, look, if anybody's watching this, who cares enough, Send us pictures, send us videos of these members of Congress who are vacationing and living their lives as people like this woman are suffering the way she is. And we got a big response.
- [20:38]
Christina Raffini
That's what I was going to ask you how the response has been. I mean, I've seen the codel, which is the congressional trip to Scotland. You had A bunch of pictures from that. I saw Cory Booker in la, Lindsey Graham with a bubble wand in Disney World, Ted Cruz. I mean, you seem to be getting a lot of pictures. Are you, are you paying for these? Are you getting more than your publishing talk?
- [20:57]
Harvey Levin
They're giving us, people are giving us pictures. They're, they're mad. I mean, that's the other thing. It's, it's, it's amazing to me how insulated people are, you know, in the Beltway where they don't seem. I don't think they really understood what they were doing when they did it. I don't think they knew the outrage people felt that they were leaving town.
- [21:22]
Christina Raffini
You mean going on vacation while dhf.
- [21:24]
Harvey Levin
Because we were calling their offices. When we got a picture, we would call their offices and they would almost be shocked that why are people so upset about this? I mean, they, they just couldn't process it.
- [21:37]
Christina Raffini
Is there any concern that this could backfire and make being a reporter on Capitol Hill even harder? Press access? Getting these guys to talk about anything substantive is difficult. We do chase them down hallways frequently. Is there any concern that this will make them hide from us even more?
- [21:56]
Harvey Levin
Okay, so let me tell you something. We are going to increase our presence in D.C. we're going to have full time people there. And especially in the last week or so, I cannot tell you how many people, in some cases members of Congress and in other cases their staffs who have called us and said, this is great, we're going to give you stories. We are excited.
- [22:25]
Christina Raffini
You're going to these, like, policy stories, or is this like dirt on the guy they're fighting with down the hall?
- [22:29]
Harvey Levin
It's not dirt. I mean, look, we're going to do two things because we've already been doing, you know, this idea of pop culture meeting politics, and we've had, frankly, a lot of success with that. And it's fun. There's not dirt. It's just fun. And we're going to be doing a mix of that with real important stories. And people are actually more willing to give us stories because of this. I mean, this is not just, you know, people on the outside. There are members of Congress who feel they were kind of roped into this recess because they really didn't have a voice because it was the leadership that made the decision. So don't think that, you know, 535 members are going to scurry away from reporters. In a way, it's the opposite.
- [23:17]
Christina Raffini
I was a D.C. reporter for most of my career, covered the White House covered, State Department, Congress. Part of me thinks exactly what you're thinking. It could use a shakeup. We could use fresh blood. We could always use accountability. The more the merrier. But part of me is worried about, you know, there's an argument that beat reporting kind of broke Congress because all these little sound bites and all these little, like, incremental scoops lost sight of the bigger issues, and they made the conversation so myopic that big things can't get done. And I guess I am concerned about that. Does that worry you at all?
- [23:50]
Harvey Levin
You know, it's funny you say that. I think it's the exact opposite. That what we've noticed is I think you're right, that they have gotten involved in looking at small things and thinking that that's the story. And when you look at what we're doing with these photographs and videos, it's really the big thing we're doing, because what we're doing is we're showing how the public feels about them. And I think they've lost that big view of it and started looking at it, you know, the blame game that the Republicans didn't vote on this or the Democrats didn't do that, and they're not stepping back and looking at Congress as a whole.
- [24:29]
Christina Raffini
Before I let you go, I just want to ask you, you're. You seem so passionate about this, and I'm wondering if this is. Is this a legacy issue for you? Is this something that you want to make part of your brand, or is it just that you got really pissed off and wanted to do something about it in the moment?
- [24:44]
Harvey Levin
Well, first of all, when you ask, is it a legacy issue, I think what you're saying is, I'm going to die soon. So thank you.
- [24:50]
Christina Raffini
I'm not. And I realized it came out that way, but I was already committed at that point, so I joked, that's okay.
- [24:56]
Harvey Levin
I know the reality. I'll be honest with you. Two years into TMZ, and this was 18 years ago, when we were with Warner Brothers, we were going to launch TMZ DC way back then. And I went back to Washington numerous times, hired a staff. The night we had our dinner before, the next day, when we were going to launch, I got a call from Warner Brothers saying we're killing it because they just got cold feet and they were scared. And so it's not something we just thought of. This is something, at least for me, even in one I brought up for many, many years. And we've covered it kind of, you know, piecemeal. But we're going to jump in now. And yeah, I mean, I have a personal passion for it because I've always been into politics, but I also think it's important. And frankly, I also think this is a part of pop culture. And you know, even before Trump, I mean, Obama was a rock star. And you know, for many years, you know, politicians have kind of captured the imagination of a lot of people in various different ways. I mean, John Fetterman is just an interesting figure. So, you know, what is a celebrity? What is somebody who is in the middle of pop culture? That's a very broad thing in this country.
- [26:18]
Christina Raffini
Harvey Levin, founder of tmz. Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend, right after this
- [26:29]
Advertiser/Voiceover
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- [28:02]
Narrator/Announcer
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- [29:13]
Christina Raffini
This year's 90th Masters tournament is going to be like no other in recent memory. For the first time in more than 30 years, two of the biggest names in golf won't be present. Tiger woods and Phil Mickelson are going to be absent from the green in Augusta. In addition to those noticeable absences, IBM and the Masters tournament are using AI to give fans a way to experience the game and the course like never before.
- [29:34]
David Gura
Yeah. Joining us now is Bones, the famous caddy. Jim Mackay, golf commentator, golf caddy for Phil Mickelson. He was on Mickelson's back for 25 years and he's with us on Bloomberg this weekend along with Jonathan Adeschek, senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM, coming together for this super cool piece of technology that's essentially an AI powered immersion experience. Jonathan, tell us about this. It almost seems like you don't have to go to Augusta anymore.
- [30:03]
Bones
More first, it's a thrill to be here with you. And what we're doing this year in partnership with Augusta. We've been partners for 30 years is we're bringing the fairway to every fan. Not everybody gets to go to the Masters and people follow it in different ways. People love to camp out and watch on one hole or people like to watch their group. And what we're doing is providing new ways to do that. And we're also providing a new historical view. The Masters has had this vault for many years. Vault, video vault that gives footage from the various rounds. This year you can look at the final round of every tournament since broadcast has been there over 50 years. And you can use natural language to go find the shot that you want to see. If that was Rory hitting his shot of a lifetime to win his first green jacket last year or that was Larry Mize in his bump and run or Jack Nicklaus Bertie on 17 and 1986. Those are all there very easily with natural language. The other thing we're doing this year is providing whole insights and whole insights is giving a new version of probability. The AI is developing probability on what somebody will score based on where that shot lands. So they take the exact coordinates. They marry that against historical data, over 20,000 shots a tournament, and predict whether or not you'll score. The player will score an eagle or a birdie or par or bogey or otherwise on the shot.
- [31:29]
Christina Raffini
Bones, I'm wondering how you feel about all this, because you've. You've played the screen, you've walked it as a caddie. How many miles do you think or steps you've walked around Augusta? And then the team at IBM used some of your insights to kind of build out some of these experiences. I'm curious how that went.
- [31:48]
Jim Mackay
It was an incredible honor to team with IBM to do this. And certainly the Masters app, which is powered by IBM, is renowned amongst the players and the caddies out there at Augusta national for being the best app, probably in sports.
- [32:01]
Christina Raffini
It's all right, all right, all right.
- [32:04]
Bones
Don't stop the man.
- [32:05]
Christina Raffini
Tell us about how that experience was. How did you partner with them and how did this work, and how were you able to bring all of your knowledge to this app that we. We will put out there and agree on is excellent.
- [32:17]
Jim Mackay
Yeah, so it was just. It was really cool for me. We were talking about past experiences and things that have gone on in holes over the course of the years, and. And certainly through their whole insights, they've been able to develop over 180,000 pass shots for you to basically key in on and see how. What the historical data has relative to those shots and what you can ultimately expect for the player to do from that point on. But it's. It's been an amazing experience for me, and for someone like me, this walk to Augusta national, probably close to 200 times, it's. It's just a real pleasure to bring that experience to. To everybody else.
- [32:52]
David Gura
You know, Jim, I was just going to ask, how many times do you think you've walked Augusta or played Augusta 200 times as amazing, to what extent could you bring that experience to bear in this project with IBM?
- [33:05]
Jim Mackay
Yeah, it's a fascinating question. You know, having been around it as much as I have, and certainly I wish I got to play it as much as I've caddied it. That certainly isn't the case. It's a hard course to get on as you know, but it's been just a wonderful experience. And I have, you know, really taken the context of what we've done over the years, brought it to IBM and help helped them out in terms of creating the Masters app and ultimately what goes on with whole. Whole insights and ultimately the Masters vault.
- [33:37]
Christina Raffini
Jonathan, you guys used Watson as part of this. Is that the name of the new AI is that. I mean, Watson is a legendary IBM computer. How does that factor in. And what does that computing power get you? Is that. Who's calculating all those shots and everything else like that?
- [33:52]
Bones
Watson X is what we're using for this. It's our AI.
- [33:56]
Advertiser/Voiceover
Yeah.
- [33:56]
Christina Raffini
Okay. I didn't realize you guys are calling it Watson Watson.
- [33:59]
Bones
It's a reinvention of where we were in the past, and it is bringing that. That compute power, that AI to the table and bringing in the insights you get from somebody like Bones. Nobody knows the course like he does, and it's bringing all of the data together to give this new experience for people.
- [34:16]
Christina Raffini
I mean, do you worry at all, though? Golf is so much about getting outside the grass. The experience, the leisure activity, where there's a big discussion right now about sports and betting and quantifying this all to the numbers and percentages. Do you realize it's going to take. Do you. Are you at all free? It's going to take any of the spirit out of it, or do you think it's just going to add to the game?
- [34:35]
Bones
We think it's just going to add to the game. And we think the opportunity for people to get a new experience like this as they're watching a tournament and engaging with a tournament like the Masters is unique. We're going to bring some of it also to Madison Square park this weekend. I mean, this week with Thursday, Sunday. We're really excited, excited for that. Where you're even going to have an opportunity for the first time to, in a simulator, play one of the Augusta holes in Madison Square Park. So it's going to be. It's all these things, I think, just drive more fans and more people to be passionate about the sport and engage and try and play it themselves.
- [35:07]
David Gura
I don't know if everyone's seeing Jonathan's socks and sneakers this morning, but you're very on brand.
- [35:12]
Christina Raffini
I think we get them. The greens are. The greens are on the grass.
- [35:16]
Bones
To be a master.
- [35:17]
David Gura
I can hear the piano music swelling up right now. You made a reference, I think, to natural language. Yeah, that's the AI component that we're talking about here. Right.
- [35:26]
Bones
What you're allowed to do when it comes to search. Yeah, you can use natural language. Search. The AI behind it is looking across as you're looking at the vault it's using optical character recognition. It's using speech to text. It's using scene recognition, so all sorts of AI technology that sits underneath it. But you don't have to know that. Yeah, you have to know. I want to see Larry Myers bump and run.
- [35:47]
Jim Mackay
Yeah.
- [35:48]
Bones
I want to see Jose Maria Olathobal shot to win the tournament. I want to see John Rahm. Like, you can just type those things in, and there it is for you.
- [35:56]
Dan Williams
Right.
- [35:57]
Christina Raffini
Jim, as somebody who clearly loves the game and has loved the game for a very long time, I want you to tell me who struggles with golf. First of all, I'm just terrible at it. I've tried. I'm really. I'm a really bad golf golfer, but it's not. It's not a game. It's not a game that's experienced from home a lot. So what is your pitch to someone about why golf is so magical, and how do you think having more ways to experience it with this app is going to help someone like me come around on this game that I really. I do want to like it. I promise I do.
- [36:28]
Jim Mackay
Well, it's just. It's a game for the ages. And the thing about golf that I love is that it takes you places. You know, whether it's ultimately, you know, going to the Masters as a patron potentially, or just going out and playing nine holes with your spouse one afternoon and, you know, before dark, it's. It's the most special game. And the thing that I found in my 37 years around the sport is who it ultimately, you know, you meet through it. It's just a wonderful experience. And certainly I was lucky to get to caddy for 25 years on the PGA Tour, and it took me all around the world and. And it's some fabulous experiences, but it's. It's just. It's just absolutely wonderful and relative to. To the. To this Masters app, it's just. It brings you closer to the game, and that's what it is. You know, not a lot of people get to ultimately attend the Masters as a patron, but to be able to see every shot virtually as it's played on the app and keep up with the game and of course, through the Masters vault search and the whole insights is just. It brings you closer to what is considered to be the most iconic golf tournament anywhere in the world and just creates that kind of love for the game that we. That so many of us feel, you
- [37:37]
David Gura
know, as you refer to the relationships that come with the game. Jim, I'd love to hear about the relationship between the caddie and the golfer and what you experienced in those 25 years with Mickelson and with many others. I'm really fascinated by that, that partnership and the extent to which you're helping each other. It's not unlike a producer and a broadcaster. Christina, it really revolves around trust. And I think about you in 2010 in the trees with Phil Mickelson on the 13th hole disagreeing about maybe what strategy to take here. Talk about that push and pull and the trust that you experience with your player.
- [38:17]
Jim Mackay
Yeah, it's such a great question. It's ultimately, what's the most important thing that goes on between players and caddies is that trust, as you mentioned. And certainly, you know, it's fascinating to be out there as a caddy with these players, especially at a tournament like the Masters, because ultimately these players are potentially living out their dreams. This is what they've dreamed about since they were a small child in terms of, you know, ultimately getting to the finish line and putting their arms into that green jacket. So so many big decisions are made out there on the golf course between the player and the caddy. And certainly as a caddy, you need to be right 99% of the time. And you referenced that shot from the pine straw there in 2010. Certainly when I spoke to Phil initially about it, he just let me know, hey, I'm going for this green and shoe. No matter what you say, this is going to happen. And I pushed back a little bit just to see if he was 80% in or 100% in. And I realized very quickly it was 100. And so we just basically talked over the order, which was 204 yards. And he hit the most, you know, the career defining shot for him, particularly at the Masters. And it was a wonderful thing to witness and hopefully a testament to the kind of working relationship we had.
- [39:23]
David Gura
Legendary.
- [39:24]
Christina Raffini
Jonathan, you're svp. You make big decisions. Do you have a caddy in your life? Is it important for leaders to have caddies? Someone who's going to tell them and fight with them about big decisions?
- [39:32]
Bones
I've got a great team. I'm really fortunate. And I like to say I like to be the. I like to be the dumbest person in the room. I like to be surrounded by people who are a lot smarter than me and it allows us to get to a better place as an organization.
- [39:44]
Christina Raffini
Who are you most looking forward to watching this weekend?
- [39:46]
Bones
I just love the tournament end to end. But what I am excited about.
- [39:51]
Lisa Mateo
Yeah.
- [39:52]
Bones
Is what I know you two are going to do during break getting on the app and looking at 20, 2010 at looking at that shot once again through the boat right away to be able to look at the shot you see.
- [40:02]
Christina Raffini
I mean I'm not going to lie, I am pretty curious. You also said you can like it out at like what specific spot and just watch everybody go by.
- [40:07]
Bones
You can watch every hole. Just say I'm going to watch the 12th or I'm going to watch the 10th and just watch every player to come through.
- [40:14]
Christina Raffini
I mean that's pretty cool.
- [40:15]
David Gura
Absolutely amazing. We only have for 30 seconds. Even less. Jim, who are you watching this weekend knowing who's not going to be there?
- [40:22]
Jim Mackay
I certainly what I would hope to see, love to see, would be the ultimate, which is the Scheffler McElroy showdown. Yeah, certainly. You know, Scotty's won the tournament twice before. I'm a big believer in the fact that if you've won the tournament previously, you play with a whole lot less pressure on you. Rory of course got it done last year, so I'm looking for a big head to head battle.
- [40:41]
David Gura
Jim MacKay Jonathan Attishek Great conversation. Looking forward to the Masters with the help of AI here on Bloomberg this weekend.
- [40:49]
Lisa Mateo
Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend. Right after this
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- [43:39]
Christina Raffini
Now for the segment that I call btw. David Gura insists on saying btw. So as the sub host, which, which of those would you like to say?
- [43:47]
David Gura
I guess I'd go W. But now, like I know that. Well, I mean it sounds like a radio station coming up on btw.
- [43:54]
Christina Raffini
Well, that's true.
- [43:55]
Lisa Mateo
All right, I'm just.
- [43:56]
David Gura
Do you guys call the show. Is that shorthand for the show, like off the air?
- [43:59]
Christina Raffini
Yeah, this weekend.
- [44:00]
David Gura
And it's bt it takes me sometimes by the a little while to catch up.
- [44:04]
Christina Raffini
We were very proud of ourselves and we figured that out.
- [44:05]
David Gura
Good job.
- [44:06]
Christina Raffini
At least what you got for us today.
- [44:07]
Lisa Mateo
Okay, we talk a lot about I. Right. Okay, so this one is a story from Bloomberg News. Want to read you the headline. Okay, so meet the new AI coworker who won't stop snitching to your boss. Okay, so this is a company. It's called Q's AI. So they created this AI employee, okay? They call it Junior. It's entirely virtual. Okay, so he companies buy this, okay? And this, this Junior can access company data. It knows who does what, knows what. Colleagues are connected to each other. Okay? It can join every zoom call it drafts, marketing campaigns. It does all this. But you know what it also does? It snitches. It goes on slack and it starts to point out different co workers who are not keeping up and following up on their duties. And it starts to call them out on it, on Slack, in front of the boss, in front of everybody. Who else is on Slack?
- [44:56]
David Gura
This is the AI that's going to improve our lives.
- [44:58]
Jeff Mason
Yes.
- [44:59]
Christina Raffini
This is another reason for me to dislike Slack.
- [45:01]
David Gura
Have something like that in the terminal. They can tell when we come and when we go and.
- [45:05]
Christina Raffini
Well, yeah, when we kind of. When I started here, they said, well, when you scan in, it goes on your email and everyone can see when you're in the office. I find that terrifying.
- [45:12]
David Gura
Yeah. You can't hide here.
- [45:15]
Christina Raffini
That's an internal function. External users. You can't look us up and find out if we're in the building.
- [45:20]
Lisa Mateo
It's about 2,000 in a month. So companies are paying, though. They're trying to test it out and see if they like it and if the. The employees like it. But we'll see.
- [45:28]
Christina Raffini
It don't feel like it's just like squeezing, you know, juice from a rock. I don't feel like they're getting more productivity out of people who are being bombarded with apps that they're not in the app.
- [45:38]
Advertiser/Voiceover
That's for sure.
- [45:39]
Lisa Mateo
It's a lot. It's a lot.
- [45:40]
Christina Raffini
All right, what else?
- [45:41]
Lisa Mateo
Question. Are you a workout guy, Joe? Do you go to the gym?
- [45:44]
David Gura
Do you not by looking at me have an answer to that?
- [45:48]
Lisa Mateo
She had to ask Christina, you know, you kind of. You work out. I know she does.
- [45:54]
Christina Raffini
We know you do because you posted at 4am on your Instagram like a lunatic. But yes.
- [45:58]
Lisa Mateo
This is a new one for you, Jo. Okay. So stay tuned. This is from the Wall Street Journal. It says, muscles by electricity, the latest fitness craze. Okay. This is electrical muscle stimulation, or ems.
- [46:10]
Harvey Levin
Yes.
- [46:10]
Lisa Mateo
So people are using it to boost your workout. So basically what is that? It's this suit that you put on, right. And it has these electrodes in it and so it zaps your muscles. So basically it's helping them contract so that you don't have to work out for as long.
- [46:23]
David Gura
Yes.
- [46:24]
Advertiser/Voiceover
Right.
- [46:24]
Lisa Mateo
So they're saying that maybe about 20 minutes equals about an hour in the gym. So it lessens your gym time, but you're getting zapped.
- [46:33]
Christina Raffini
Is it proven?
- [46:34]
Advertiser/Voiceover
Has someone studied this?
- [46:35]
David Gura
This is real, by the way.
- [46:36]
Lisa Mateo
Really? The product is real.
- [46:37]
David Gura
I have actually tried something like this. My wife runs like a biohacking studio. And they put these paddles on you and it sort of like shocks you and you feel like you did 200,000 sit ups in five minutes or something like that.
- [46:50]
Christina Raffini
You notice the difference?
- [46:51]
David Gura
Yeah. I mean, you feel sort of like Feel.
- [46:53]
Lisa Mateo
It's like when your phone kind of vibrates on vibrate and you.
- [46:56]
David Gura
That's actually pretty good.
- [46:58]
Lisa Mateo
That's how they analogy explain it. So. But it can.
- [47:00]
David Gura
That's why you knew I work out. You just didn't realize how easy it was.
- [47:07]
Christina Raffini
I guess so. I had a spinal cord injury and they had to like stick electrodes in the muscles to get them to like wake back up.
- [47:12]
David Gura
Yeah.
- [47:12]
Christina Raffini
And I guess that did work. So if that theory works, it does contract the muscles.
- [47:17]
David Gura
I just didn't think, plug me in, I don't even have to go.
- [47:19]
Christina Raffini
Does this mean I don't have to do planks anymore?
- [47:21]
David Gura
That would be great.
- [47:22]
Christina Raffini
Okay. All right. Well then, yay, technology.
- [47:25]
Lisa Mateo
See, it's certain in your workout. This one I want to point to to the weekend. This is from Bloomberg. It says for China's rich, the new must have is a luxury home in Zimbabwe. Okay, so this is a really interesting story. So the luxury homes cost about 500,000 to $2 million there. This is in Harare. That's Zimbabwe's capital. So they have their own solar power supplies, big real estate agents, agencies hiring Mandarin speakers. They say, why Zimbabwe? And you're saying, why? Because the country has higher literacy, established industries, a well trained workforce. And the Chinese are really starting to take over. They're making money there. You see different restaurants too, popping up there in the region because of it. That's really cool. So it is. It is. So they're developing it and this is an up and coming sector too.
- [48:10]
Christina Raffini
Amazing.
- [48:11]
Lisa Mateo
This one I want to get to before we run out of time.
- [48:13]
Christina Raffini
I know.
- [48:13]
Lisa Mateo
I'm watching the clock. Boston Globe. Okay, so let me break down the story first. Okay, this is Beverly Mansion. Burglar likely had inside knowledge. This is what experts say. Okay, so. So the basic rundown, okay, a home invasion in Beverly. The intruder broke into this $18 million waterfront mansion in Pride's Crossing, right? One of the wealthiest neighborhoods. The caretaker was home. She was a family friend. She was assaulted, tied up. The reporter. This is the story. Her name is Emily Sweeney. She was interviewed. She interviewed the homeowner on social media. And it's the video that was posted to the Boston Globe telling the story that's really getting some attention. Listen up.
- [48:49]
Christina Raffini
Several valuables were stolen, including a Porsche that was used to escape from the property.
- [48:54]
Lisa Mateo
The car has since been recovered, but
- [48:56]
Bones
the suspect remains at large.
- [48:58]
Christina Raffini
The caretaker, who was tied up, managed to escape and go to a neighbor's house for help.
- [49:03]
Lisa Mateo
Shout out to Emily Sweeney. She's getting up because of her Boston accent telling the story. If you're watching on tv, she's actually wearing an Adidas tracksuit too.
- [49:12]
Christina Raffini
So she's done another one since in another tracksuit and and looks iconic.
- [49:15]
David Gura
She does a lot of the Emily and I know Emily sweetie pretty well actually spent a lot of years doing news in Boston. That's home for me. She's the pride of Dorchester and she has been cranking out videos like these for years. I don't how did this really come A viral session really?
- [49:27]
Christina Raffini
She came up in my feed and the comments are like can she read me bedtime stories? Like I want her. She's the only person allowed to do the news from now in perpetuity. Like caretaker. Like Emily, I love you.
- [49:39]
David Gura
You're such a nice no one deserves to be famous more than Emily Sweeney today. I love that. Happy Easter egg.
- [49:44]
Christina Raffini
I will say also the Boston Globe social media team has been really great. They've been doing a great job across the park. So come on set Emily. You can talk to us about whatever you want for as long as you want. Thanks Lisa. That was a great mix today. Thanks for joining us on today's Bloomberg this Weekend podcast. Don't forget to tune in live for the show every Saturday and Sunday morning. Start starting at 7am Eastern.
- [50:07]
Harvey Levin
We're on Bloomberg Television Radio and the
- [50:09]
Advertiser/Voiceover
Bloomberg Business app bringing you unique takes
- [50:11]
Harvey Levin
and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle and culture.
- [50:21]
Narrator/Announcer
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