← Casuals with Katie Nolan
Casuals with Katie Nolan
Enhanced Games, English Spygate, and Jalen Brunson’s Playoff Heroics
01:33:13
Hello! It’s the podcast that knows not to anger Hello Kitty. Today, Katie and the Casualties get into this weekend’s inaugural “Enhanced Games” in Las Vegas, where elite athletes will compete and every drug is legal (except apparently cocaine), discussing the funding and structure of it, the dubious ethics of it, the obvious purpose of it, and even the broadcast team and their Human Enhancement Analyst. How is this allowed to exist? Who thinks it’s a good idea? And who is the best looking non-enhanced older gentleman on the planet today? Then, the team breaks down Pablo Torre’s investigation into Oz the Mentalist, the Trailblazers owner’s latest embarrassment, Aaron Rodgers’ return and the false reports about his wife, the Knicks’ epic comeback against the Cavs, whether Danhausen or Hello Kitty has been better luck, and whether Mitchell Robinson should shoot his free throws underhand, Victor Wembanyama’s incredible performance in the Western Conference Finals, the latest on the roa...
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- [00:00]
A
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- [00:58]
A
Hey, Isabella, did you see your arch nemesis was named to the 2026 class of the Radio hall of Fame this week. And that is, of course, Boomer Assize. Yeah.
- [01:13]
C
That's so unfair.
- [01:14]
A
Get me in there. I know. Well, soon. And I don't know if podcasts count, actually, but you did speak on mic during fan service this week for the first time.
- [01:23]
C
I also laugh really well on that show.
- [01:25]
A
Yeah, you do. Nicely in the background. It helps me. It's my favorite part.
- [01:28]
C
I get really great ambient, no?
- [01:30]
A
Yeah. And they must give away, Brady, you must know inside and out what could be won at the Radio hall of Fame. They honor people who do ambient noise stuff.
- [01:37]
B
Yeah. There's the andy Richter Ed McMahon Award for just ambient laughs.
- [01:40]
A
Exactly. And Isabelle is obviously a shoe in for that.
- [01:44]
C
You also get some of my size
- [01:47]
A
sighs S I G H s. And also sometimes we get some of her yawns. That's my favorite. I'll be in the middle of an ad read and she'll go like. Like you're in a radio studio that live on the air. I haven't done it since that one time. And her face always to her credit is like, oh. Like, she's just like, oh, my God, I forgot. The other day we started the show and she looked at me with her bag of chips as if to ask, cool if I do this right now? And God damn it, Katie, that was the privacy of our safety. My face went, no, I wouldn't. I don't think I would do it right now. But then we did. We did. And those were delicious chips. They were.
- [02:28]
C
And I offered them to you.
- [02:29]
B
You did?
- [02:30]
A
Hall of fame. Put her in it. Hello and welcome to Casuals, a sports podcast that doesn't care what you know. We think sports are for everybody. And so we talk to you about them and we try to be pretty fun about it. We're back home. We're back home in our studio. I feel good. I'm kicking off my shoes. I feel much more at ease and relaxed, although it was. I thought we did a great job in that other studio when we were displaced earlier this week. Good job, everybody. To the casualties and all. Also kind of a wonky week. We did our guest episode earlier on our Tuesday episode and today is just gonna be me and the Casualties. Now, who are the casualties? They are the production crew here at SiriusXM. We have Isabella, our sports newbie.
- [03:20]
C
Hello.
- [03:20]
A
Our master editor, Chris.
- [03:22]
D
What's up?
- [03:23]
A
And I believe the lobbying that's being done for your title. Brady is episode duration manager. Brady,
- [03:32]
B
I'm your regular EDM over there.
- [03:34]
A
I was gonna say if that is your title, you're doing a very bad job because we are regularly pushing it to two hours on these things. Not today though. Running a tight ship and boy, do we have a lot to get to. First of all, if you want to reach out to us, you always can and we encourage it. Casuals with katienolanmail.com 646-801-0043 is our voicemail on IG and TikTok. We are Casual as the podcast. I know I asked you guys to send in questions for a mailbag episode that we're going to be dropping around Memorial Day. But also, we just, I feel like should at some point make an announcement about one of those pre tapes, Brady, because people are going to want to send in stuff for that. I'm speaking in code to try to read your eyes to see if I should do it now or. Or go for it.
- [04:17]
B
We're starting down this road.
- [04:18]
A
Not gonna timeline wise, it would make sense to mention it next week instead, in which case we would edit this out.
- [04:24]
B
We should do it multiple times.
- [04:25]
A
Okay, so Ashley's coming in. Ashley Braband, a former co host of a podcast. I used to do that. You may know, I know a lot of people may have started their journey with me with this podcast and if you don't know of Ashley, to know her is to love her and you will know her soon. But we finally figured out a date that we can do that works with her. So I figured if we surprised people with that, that they might be like, I wish I had a chance to ask a question. And so anyway, I'm just saying it here so that if you have something you want to ask, you can call in and leave that. But anyway, that's coming in the future. I can't even process what day that is, but it's soon. Ish. Right. So we'll see you then. Today, what we have to talk about, Boy, we got to talk about that Knicks win. Isabella, hold on to it. But we. I got it. I want to hear all about your feelings. We also have a lot of incredible playoff games. We're basically at the same spot again in the NBA and the NHL postseason. So we' kind of reset the table for you on that and talk about the goings on over there. We also have a story that ties together Romanian soccer in the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. Only on casuals, folks. Only on casuals. And then there is a new Premier League champ and also an English soccer team that's doing a Spygate. So we're going to hopefully get to all of that. But first we start with the Yap, which is usually where I just get my feelings out about stuff. I got a lot of thoughts and I usually say them around here. And now this week I was kind of circling the drain on the. The Enhanced Games. Does everybody. We've talked about them here before. Yes, because we were fascinated by the fact we were doing Steroid Olympics basically. But that's what it is. They're. It's the. Let me just give you the official from their website. Enhanced Games is a new global sports competition designed to push the boundaries of human performance. The Games challenge traditional models of sport by embracing science, innovation and measurable performance enhancement under regulated conditions. So that's so many words to say. It's the Steroid Olympics. They're letting people compete in a bunch of areas like swimming, track, weightlifting, and they're gonna let em use like steroids, testosterone, peptides, stimulants, and this is on Sunday. This Sunday. So we've been kind of talking about it in the grander sense of like, okay, we're doing that, I guess, but here we are. It is actually happening. It happens this upcoming Sunday, May 24, in front of an invite only crowd of 2,500 people. That makes me feel wrong, literally. Of all the years of covering sport, I don't feel like I've ever heard that. Come watch it live.
- [07:05]
B
We were invited. Were we we were invited.
- [07:08]
A
Wait, we Gent. We really were.
- [07:10]
B
We were months ago. But it was under the guise of do you want to do live shows from the. From the Enhanced Games and. Hell no.
- [07:19]
A
Yeah, but you know what? That also then makes me think of all my colleagues who'd say yes. And now I'm worried that I got to look ahead to. You don't think nobody said yes to this, right? Nobody's.
- [07:30]
B
I don't think anybody you like said yes.
- [07:31]
A
Well, I've thought that before, Brady, and you'd be surprised. Yeah, it. So it's really happening. 25 lucky people who have been invited to this sporting event will get to watch live at Resorts World in Las Vegas. Has anyone here ever stayed at Resorts World?
- [07:48]
B
I've been to Resorts World.
- [07:49]
A
I watched.
- [07:50]
B
We did. It's. We did WrestleMania post game last year from. It's kind of like caddy corner to the. To the Wynn. It's up in that end of the strip. It's not far away and it's fairly nice inside, but it's unremarkable.
- [08:02]
A
Yeah. I was going to ask because it. I couldn't tell. I've never been. And I don't want to speak on it, but it sounds like it's named, like it sucks. It probably can be great. But if you're like, what should we name our hotel? And you're like, ah, you know, it's like a hotel. A palooza. I don't know. It's Resorts World. It's just like a. Such a. That's what I would call Vegas Resorts World.
- [08:21]
B
I wouldn't name myself that than Fontainebleau. So like, it really stands out as being mundane in the middle.
- [08:27]
A
Yeah. And so anyway, shout out to the mundane. They're having the steroid Olympics there, so they're allowed to do like Ozempic. They're allowed to Peptides. I feel like I've been hearing a lot about peptides lately, and it made me go like, what is this then? If it's this. And just so that people sort of understand it as. As surface level as possible. They are short chains of amino acids and amino acids we all know are the building blocks of proteins. So basically a peptide acts as a biological messenger in your body that can instruct cells to perform specific tasks such as repairing tissue, regulating hormones, burning fat. And so they're the reason they're. You're hearing peptide, peptide, peptide everywhere he's. Because it's like medically a targeted thing. So you can. You're hearing it in skincare. You're hearing it in, you know, hair stuff. And it's just targeted stuff that can instruct your cells on how to be better at being cells.
- [09:19]
D
There was a big story in the Mid 2010s about an Australian football team getting suspended for an entire year because their team, most of their team, was taking peptides. It was a huge story, probably the biggest story out of the AFL this century. And so I think most of our Australian listeners at least would absolutely know what, what peptides are. Because of the Essendon Football Club, I was gonna say.
- [09:43]
A
And that befell the Wallabies or the Underoos. Who was it that got in trouble for the.
- [09:47]
D
The bombers.
- [09:48]
A
The bombers. Got it. Of course.
- [09:50]
D
The bombers. Yep.
- [09:51]
C
Is it, Is it. Are you saying bummers or bombers?
- [09:54]
D
Bombers.
- [09:55]
A
Imagine if he was saying bummers.
- [09:57]
C
I was gonna say, I was like, they named a team after this.
- [10:00]
A
It was like the peptide scandal happened. And they were like, well, now we've got to.
- [10:04]
D
Yep.
- [10:04]
A
Yeah, you can, you can be on stimulants. You can't be. And I love the way they specify this. Now this isn't a place where you can just be on cocaine. Okay, so we'll let you do some, some drugs. But don't come in here yacked out of your mind. Okay? No geeked out swimmers at the, at the Enhanced Games. We are an official institution. Scares the shit out of me. Can I be honest? It's just like, what are the rules and what are the laws? Because none of this seems like it should be legal now. It's 40 athletes. Correct. And they have all been training for the last 12 weeks with supervised PED usage at a five star resort in the UAE. Now I, I do believe a lot of them came home given what was going on in that area. So I think in the Vanity Fair article they talk about somebody that like the training spot had to move because it was supposed to be in the uae and things started to pop off. So I think they are training under supervised. Again. I go like, what doctor? All the response I've been hearing from doctors involved with sports are like, you know, like WADA and all these other whatever are like, this is. This goes against what we strive for, which is to provide a healthy competition between human body. This is unsafe. And so the thought of it being supervised, I'm like, who would agree to supervise it other than doctors that maybe would agree to do other things that maybe didn't align with an ethical code. It feels like, how are we? But then I'm also trying to read the room and see if there's other people out there who are like, yeah, it's time for us to see what the human body can do when we use all available tools to enhance the human body. Like, is that, do other people think this rules?
- [11:54]
B
Or there's a reason that we don't do that. No one's ever thought of this. Yeah, there's a reason that we're like steroids. We shouldn't do those. Yeah, we shouldn't do those. This isn't something, something. Kevin Nealon was joking about this 40 years ago about the all drug Olympics. Like, there's a reason these things are banned. They're dangerous, they're bad precedent. Like should not be pushing to the limit like this.
- [12:18]
A
It doesn't mean you should do it. Yeah, I think I'm with you on that. I also feel like, what's it going to take? Somebody going to have to D word. I don't know what kids are allowed to say with these algos anymore. It just feels like, don't. Someone's gonna. Someone's heart's gonna pop. It's also the payment structure is heavily incentivized to set world records, isn't it? Every world record that they set in a sprint is a million bucks.
- [12:46]
B
Million dollars for sprints and swimming over anything over 50 meters. I think they're giving you a million dollars if you set a world record. Now if you break the world record of the person who did it without steroids, while you're doing steroids, they're giving you $1 million.
- [13:01]
A
And record book wise it wouldn't count. So it's like, are they going to start their own book?
- [13:09]
B
Pretty much. I mean there are, there are records for. If you go to like a record, you know, any place you would find track and field records, it's like the official records. And then you'll see like metal records
- [13:21]
A
off the books records. The sick ass to too legit to quit record on a separate page under the FAQs, I guess notable athletes doing this. We've got the Mountain from Game of Thrones who we saw. Sorry. No, it's. I just didn't expect it. You're not wrong. We got Fred.
- [13:49]
C
I'm more of a hound kind of guy.
- [13:55]
A
Wait, who did win? I don't remember.
- [13:58]
B
They. They. Spoiler.
- [14:00]
A
Yeah, spoiler for Game of thrones.
- [14:02]
B
But today, eight years, 10 years. It's been a while.
- [14:06]
A
Whatever.
- [14:07]
B
They threw each other off a cliff.
- [14:08]
A
I don't know if anybody won. I forgot. And then they reanimated a dead body. Was that that guy or that was a different.
- [14:15]
B
He got reanimated. The zombie hound and the zombie mountain.
- [14:18]
A
The hound was the zombie, but the mountain wasn't a hound and wasn't a
- [14:21]
B
zombie Mountain was a zombie Mountain was a zombie Hound was just a guy.
- [14:27]
A
A big guy.
- [14:27]
B
Was just a dude.
- [14:28]
A
Yeah, big guy. Isabella's dude. Importantly, Fred Curley, the. He's a United States sprinter. He won the silver in the 2021. 2020, the Tokyo Games and bronze in 2024. Like an Olympic medalist who is I believe 30. He's not like. By the way, the world athletics president Sebastian Co has said that track and field athletes who compete at the Enhanced Games would be banned, quote, for a long time, end quote. So that's not really.
- [15:03]
B
They know this.
- [15:04]
A
Yeah, they must.
- [15:05]
B
They know this is a no turning back kind of thing.
- [15:07]
A
British swimmer Ben Proud, who got silver in 2024 in the Olympics. He's a freestyle swimmer. He's doing it. So that's a notable athlete. Isabella, does that pass your smell test?
- [15:19]
C
Yeah, I'm proud of him.
- [15:20]
A
Who's paying for it? Good question. Venture capitalist we got.
- [15:23]
C
Thank you.
- [15:24]
A
Peter Thiel. Peter, sorry, I'm trying to get into who's funding the Steroid Olympics. What billionaire is responsible for the human testing on athletes we've got.
- [15:35]
B
The more I dug into it, it was exactly who I found.
- [15:37]
A
I know it's Peter Thiel and I think it's Ongermeyer. Is that how you say Christian's last name? Ongermeyer. And then Aaron d'. Souza. Aaron d', Souza, who you may have heard recently in the news. He's the founder and CEO of that new AI tribunal company. Objection. They like market themselves like anti cancellation tool that it forms a tribunal. Chris is. Chris has tilted his head in dog curiosity. It's like a tribunal of AI bots that are supposed to objectively decide your fate in the public consciousness if you've been canceled. It's fucking bleak. All of this is very. I don't know why everybody seems so willing to let incredibly rich people get richer off of the sale of us to robots. It's like, what the fuck is going on? Kind of. Do you know what I mean? It's like very crazy making, if you know what I'm saying. But anyway, this is on Sunday and it's backed by these venture capitalists and also Donald Trump Jr. S firm. Shout out to 1789 Capital. That's an investor. We also have, of course, if I. If you had to guess, Isabella of who else's money might be involved in this. Not to put you on the spot. Do you have any guesses, Tom Brady? I actually. I don't want to say. I don't want to say no definitively, but I will say that's not who I was looking for. It's the Saudi royal family. You just the. The. I'm sure the. Is it the pif. I'm sure that's somewhere in there. So that's pretty cool. $25 million in total prizes plus bonuses for every. Already said that. The world record thing. Wada, the World Anti Drug Administration and the ioc, that's the Olympic Committee said that It's a betrayal of everything we stand for. Promoting performance enhancing substances and methods sends a dangerous message especially to current and future generations of athletes. Such substances can lead to serious long term consequences like death. Blah blah, blah, blah, blah blah blah. So obviously everybody's unhappy with it except studio analysts Abby Labar and Emmanuel Acho who are gonna gonna cover it in the studio. For who? Roku, I assume Roku. So you can find it all on Roku. And Acho is gonna be there in the studio with Abby Labar and Brian Johnson, a name that you may have heard if you spent any time online of like this weird guy who's trying to look not old. He's trying to cure aging by last I checked injecting like younger person's blood into him and also tweeting about his wife's vaginal microbiome. I don't know. This guy is so strange. Everything he does is to try to make him be less old. And I'm just looking at a picture of him and going, He's 48. He looks 48, but wet. He looks like shiny.
- [18:34]
B
48 is the best way to describe it.
- [18:36]
A
He just looks. Looks like a 48 that maybe I took too long to eat. Between the ice cream truck and the baseball field, he's just like a melting 48 year old. In fact, when I was mentioning that he's gonna be on the coverage also he's credited as the first ever human enhancement analyst. Okay, but when I mentioned that he was gonna be on it, Brady, you seemed very excited to tell me all the men you thought were older and more handsome than the guy who's clear his hardest to be younger and more handsome. And I just wanted to give you a space. It seemed like something maybe a pet project you'd been working on for a while.
- [19:15]
D
He jumped at the chance.
- [19:17]
A
Keep a list of men you find sexy that aren't Brian Johnson entire part of My cortex.
- [19:22]
B
As I get older, as I'm 40 years old, you know, you start looking at me like, how do I want to age? How do I want to take this next step? You know, I find myself ogling, ogling older men way more often. I mean, I look out and I'm like, Pierce Brosnan.
- [19:40]
A
Yeah.
- [19:41]
B
73 years old. Yeah, he's good looking, man.
- [19:44]
A
I know. He looks really good.
- [19:44]
B
I kind of want to get there.
- [19:46]
A
73. What about this scene in Dante's Peak where he wraps his arm in a T shirt and plunges it into the acid lake to try to push the boat closer to the shore? I'm like, your hand would be gone. I don't know what T shirt that is.
- [20:02]
B
To be fair, it didn't work because acid grandma had to get into the
- [20:06]
D
water and chew it.
- [20:06]
A
The acid lake eats grandma. Oh, that movie recently revisited. Who else is hot to you, Brady, Go ahead.
- [20:14]
B
John Slattery, 63 years old. Roger Sterling from Mad.
- [20:17]
A
Oh my God.
- [20:18]
B
Silver fox forever aging further into silver fox territory. Looks like a good looking 63 year old man. As he should. Not trying to be.
- [20:26]
E
Anything else?
- [20:26]
A
He was on, wasn't he? A plot line on Desperate Housewives. He was running for mayor.
- [20:29]
C
He was a weird mayor.
- [20:30]
A
And he slept with Eva Longoria in
- [20:32]
C
Sex in the City. And he had his kink was that he liked to be peed on. And Carrie was like, no, thank you.
- [20:38]
A
Isabella just came. She came right out with the water sports. Okay, I know. That's all I know of him. Sorry. I guess he's pretty hot. I'm just not into that. Okay. All right.
- [20:50]
B
Good looking men who look their age. You got Pierce Brosnan, John Slattery, Keanu Reeves, age 61.
- [20:57]
A
Yeah, of course.
- [20:58]
B
Keanu Reeves has not aged in 30 years. He's looking pretty much like Keanu Reeves with a beard.
- [21:03]
F
They are.
- [21:03]
A
I know.
- [21:03]
B
61 years old and looks natural. Does not look like he's been jabbing himself with needles. This looks like just a fantastic looking 61 year old man.
- [21:11]
A
Yeah, he's just aging and I'm sure he probably is jabbing himself with some needles.
- [21:15]
B
It's, you know what, Doing it, well, doing it conservatively.
- [21:17]
A
Sure. Right.
- [21:18]
B
Twins manager, Derek Shelton.
- [21:20]
A
Okay, now we're getting a little specific. I need to see a picture. Can we please put a picture up of. It's just not immediately coming to mind. Twins manager Derek Shelton. Although I feel like we recently discussed Derek Shelton. What did we talk about with him recently? When did he come up?
- [21:37]
B
He got thrown out on Opening day.
- [21:38]
A
I think maybe that's what it was.
- [21:40]
C
Let me see.
- [21:40]
A
Relation to Blake or.
- [21:42]
B
No, no.
- [21:43]
A
Good. That's good.
- [21:44]
B
Although, like, if you ask my mom.
- [21:46]
A
Okay.
- [21:46]
B
Two celebrity crushes. It's like Blake Shelton. Derek Shelton.
- [21:49]
A
Yeah. And that's. And one of those is Right.
- [21:51]
C
And we all have a type.
- [21:52]
A
That's right.
- [21:53]
C
That's right.
- [21:54]
A
And we don't hold that against people. Some of us like to be peed on. I don't know why I said us. That's getting clipped.
- [21:59]
B
What are we, the coup de gr. 20? 26 older gentleman? The one that we all need to aspire to. I don't know how he's doing it. What kind of devil magic this is, but if I can look at 80 years old, like Ernie Hudson. Ernie Hudson, the Ghostbuster? I'm pretty sure did men's fitness last year at 79.
- [22:16]
A
Just pull me up, let me see the men's fitness. Isabella, please. Ernie Hudson on men's fitness, please. Just for research. For research. And he's got all of his clothes on. And I assumed at least no shirt.
- [22:28]
B
No, he's got the shirt on.
- [22:30]
A
Oh, well, you can't just throw the
- [22:31]
B
shirtless one up on the COVID Why not?
- [22:33]
A
Oh, you gotta buy the mag. Nobody wants the. Oh, my God. 80 years old, handsome. Look at you. Hello. Yeah, this is a good list. Brady. Brady likes old naturals is what we're finding. That's his category.
- [22:47]
B
To be in my life. That's what catches my eye.
- [22:49]
A
Well, so I guess Brian Johnson. Sorry. Maybe next time. Maybe next time you'll be good enough to be included in this list of. It's just like, here's the. Here's the part about the enhanced games that really sticks in my craw. Here's what really gets my goat. Enhanced dot com. So, like, it's like if Olympics dot com. Right. That would be the website of the thing. So enhanced.com directly sells many of the drugs that the athletes are using. I. It takes one click on get enhanced in the upper right of their website to get testosterone treatment, anti aging, weight loss, etc, just, I assume, mailed to you so that you could be watching theoretically, these games and hearing them talk about it in the Vanity Fair article was as if aspirationally. Obviously, they're just getting this thing off the ground. They're planning into the future of how the enhanced games will grow. And the plan is that you'd be watching it and they'd be able to put on the screen what this particular cocktail of drugs, this specific athlete is Using to let's say break this world record. And you could just like click order and it would. And then you'd get it. Literally selling the idea that you can be this elite athlete. As if A training doesn't come into play. As if B monitored training. Because every average person can't just take this cocktail of drugs and wake up up an award winning record breaking athlete. That's obviously not how it works. But. But that's exactly how it would be sold to a population that is not.
- [24:30]
D
It's just, oh, we're gonna get a grant. He'll drink Sprite ad. But for like Fred Curley do drugs peptides do testosterone.
- [24:39]
A
I mean I don't know man, it makes me kind of go like, well I guess those, I guess those big hurt steroids commercials weren't so bad after all. I guess the commercial for what's that thing called? It sounds like Eugenics New Genics. I guess at the end of the day New Genics was just the tip of the iceberg. It could have gotten so much worse. And did on the verge of this
- [25:02]
B
also like exploding because Currently there are 19 restricted peptides and one of Robert Kennedy, one of our juniors, Robert Kasey Jr. RFK. One of his big movements is to eliminate the restrictions on 12 of those. Make them available to be just be sold by domestic distributors like enhanced.com.
- [25:24]
A
what is keeping them from being like what is the thing they're going to eliminate the like it's bad. What how are they proving? Normally I would think you'd have to prove that they're not dangerous before you could remove the restrictions put on them.
- [25:37]
B
The rhetoric and it's crazy because it's the exact. They're doing the weed discussion in other directions. The rhetoric around it is that by banning it you've just created a black market for it. And people are going to China to get their peptides. They're getting these things shipped in from China. They have less regulation on the creation of it. There was one study where someone was they, they took these Chinese ship peptides and one of them had MDMA in it.
- [26:01]
A
Hell yeah. Let's party. Lose weight, but also party. You know.
- [26:08]
D
So it's like the sports gambling angle. Like a big reason why they wanted to introduce sports gambling legally is because
- [26:13]
A
when they go like if you ban guns, criminals are gonna find them anyway. It's the rhetoric we use for everything. So okay, great. You know what? One of these days I really do think I might just wake up and go sounds awesome. I might just start becoming that Lady, I might go. Great. And be sure to tune in to the Enhanced Games Ol on Roku because
- [26:37]
B
it fuck had MDMA in it this morning.
- [26:39]
A
I'm so tired. I wish everybody was as scared of needles as me. Cause then they wouldn't have to worry so much. Injecting random stuff into their bodies in the hopes of. This just feels so transparently evil. And so I just. It scares me. Speaking of transparently evil, did anybody get a chance to watch Pablo talking about Dr. Oz the mentalist, who I'm gonna go back to?
- [27:04]
B
I don't think he's a doctor.
- [27:05]
A
I'm gonna be calling him Oz. Oh, he's not. I thought he went by Dr. Oz.
- [27:09]
B
No, he doesn't. Doctor.
- [27:10]
A
I'm thinking of Dr. Oz, who's a different guy. Great. Same guy here.
- [27:15]
B
He's a doctor anymore.
- [27:16]
A
Both charlatans. Pablo did a takedown of Oz the Mentalist. Oz. I thought it was Oz. First time I heard somebody say Oz, it was Pat McAfee. And you never know what that guy, he says everything weird, says everything weird on purpose. So I thought he was just doing a bit and then I heard, no, that's what he wants us to call him, Oz. Which. Great. So Oz the Mentalist Pablo did. He had on amateur magician Stevie Baskin to sort of, I guess Stevie put out this five hour magnum opus of like, hey, y', all, here's what's going on with Ohs the Mentalist. Isabella, had you heard or interacted with or seen anything of this O's guy anywhere in like. Because he's been popping up across sports media.
- [27:59]
C
I have not.
- [27:59]
A
He was also at the White House Correspondents Dinner that went awry. He didn't mentalize that, I guess. Didn't see that coming.
- [28:09]
B
Oh God. If I'm in the room and I'm like, oh, little heads up, man, maybe
- [28:13]
A
you could have seen this one and let me know. Well, basically, this amateur magician, I don't want to spend too much time unpacking a video that unpacks a video. But this guy comes out and says that Oz's stuff is basically fraudulent in a way. Now, Oz always says he's not a magician, he's a mentalist. And that what he's doing is analyzing minor adjustments you make in your body language, in your speech patterns, in where your eyes move, and by analyzing, analyzing you so deeply, he can suss out what you're thinking out of thin air. And he's been on like inside the NBA, he's been on Kay Adams had him on her show at Super Bowl Media Row. He's been across a bunch of busing with the boys, a podcast I hope you still don't know anything about, but that we have mentioned a couple.
- [29:05]
C
I don't know.
- [29:06]
A
Perfect. Exactly right. And he's just, just shown up on a bunch of the. Pat McAfee had him at his big night at or whatever the fuck that is. And he just does these little things where he'll basically tell you your ATM pin or he'll tell you that you think of a player and he'll pull it seemingly out of thin air. Well, this amateur magician, Stevie Baskin was like, listen, he violates a lot of rules of magic. Now listen, I know that sounds silly, but in any sort of art there are usually codes of conduct, unspoken rules. And one of them is that all of the aspects of a trick that are happening on camera for an audience and going out to a mass produced audience, all of the elements of the trick have to occur on camera. You're not supposed to have a pre show meeting in which anything is discussed or decided because that sort of violates the magic of the trick. You're also not supposed to edit out anything that could hide part of the, you know, from the thing. And so basically they go bit by bit using video evidence. And he points out all the ways in which the manipulation happens. And once you see it, it's obvious. It's so obvious. It's so obvious that you're like, how did I not notice before that like for example, Kay Adams is going, oh no, we lost the thing on the phone because the phone was locked. A phone that we were being told was being scrolled through had been locked by Oz the mentalist, so that it would remain on the same thing it was on when he looked at, at it. So it's like a trick that even the sus. Like the subjects are kind of giving away the game once you know the game. And, and this, I liked this magician's angle because he was basically like. And Pablo pointed this out too, is that like O is using the fact that magicians do not speak on other magicians. You never reveal another magician's trick, even if you know it, you don't give it away. O was kind of relying on that from other magicians. He was going out and doing all this press promote. He wrote a book, he used this to sell his book. He was again, he's with the president, he's on all of sports media. He's like doing well for himself with this trick that he's doing these tricks that are. I know this sounds weird when talking about magic, but are deceptive in the way they're being presented to an audience. And so this guy was being like, hey, the. The rule doesn't apply to you cuz you don't follow the rules. So actually magic's coming for your ass and what you're doing is fraud. And it was sick. It was like an hour long episode. I got to go back and watch this whole five hour thing. But yeah, Pablo had him on and it was. Was eye opening. Eye opening that Will Compton being too dumb to Google the name. He was supposed to google someone's name and because he doesn't know how to spell, he googled it wrong and it ended up being the name of another player. So you watch this play out once you know that he used this Google thing to capture.
- [31:57]
B
It's a fake Google site.
- [31:59]
A
He like. So when Will Compton typed in a name O somewhere somehow received what was typed. But then Will Compton corrected his mistake and O's prepped on another player that has a name similar Breece hall and Bryce hall was the distinction. And so Oz is trying to get him to say Bryce hall and. And Will Compton keeps going like you're not describing the guy I'm thinking of. And then when he goes breeze Bryce hall and Will Compton goes, yeah, Breece Hall. And these are two different players. And so once you see that you go like I get it. This is. So anyway, that's fraud and there's just a lot of.
- [32:38]
D
Hopefully he gets kicked out of the Magicians alliance for that.
- [32:41]
A
It's not a real thing, right? Yeah, it is. Stop. I don't know.
- [32:45]
D
I just don't. For arrested development.
- [32:47]
B
No, there's a whole. Magicians have a whole bunch of. I mean they're guilds and professional organizations.
- [32:50]
A
Brady, are you in the magician's?
- [32:54]
B
I wish. My carpal tunnel hand feeding.
- [32:56]
A
I can see that too. And I actually the only thing that would make me upset is that you didn't disclose. I thought legally that you guys had to let us know when one of you was in the room, but I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah, I bet.
- [33:07]
B
I have a extremely high track record of being pulled onto stage for magic shows and nothing makes me giggle more.
- [33:13]
A
Yeah, I love that. I bet then actually while we're doing this, it's not fraud. So I will distinguish the difference here. But we've talked a lot about Tom Dundon. Dunda Dundon, the owner of the Blazers. Now he's being cheap and he's you know, doing a lot of bad stuff. He. He laid off 35% of the team's business side staff. That was reported by longtime Blazers reporter Sean Hyken on Tuesday said 70 over 70 employees from the business operations of the team have been laid off. This is in the wake of the a recent Game over podcast episode that featured Dundon speaking about his perceived frugality. Remember, Isabella, we talked about how the Blazers weren't going to bring their two way players to San Antonio for the first round series against the Spurs. This is. I just want to play. What Tom Dundon said as his excuse, his reasoning, his explanation for why some
- [34:07]
B
of the stuff that was blamed on money is actually not 100% true. That I thought about the money like on traveling players, you know, I just made a mistake. I just don't understand the league and hockey. We don't travel extra people because it's. We're not on vacation. We're here to win. So we don't want the distraction. The NBA seems to live with those distractions. It's not how I think about it. So you sort of got to learn, you know, what's the differences between the two leagues?
- [34:34]
A
Yeah, you sorta gotta
- [34:38]
D
make a pretty big investment into that team. You should probably know what's going on.
- [34:42]
A
What hockey team does he own again?
- [34:44]
B
Hurricanes.
- [34:44]
A
Yeah, and look, they seem to be fine with it. I to go out and say, you know, actually it wasn't a money thing. It was. I'm a dumbass. It wasn't a money thing. It's that I didn't think that hockey and basketball were different. And who's never found themselves in that position to own a hockey team and a basketball team and to. And to be expected to know that they're different is kind of crazy. So actually I'm not cheap. I'm just unprepared and stupid.
- [35:15]
B
You know, I figured if we invited all these two way players, they were just gonna put on inner tubes and go do cannonballs in the pool. What do you think? They're on vacation.
- [35:22]
A
What do you mean?
- [35:23]
B
Distraction for everyone?
- [35:25]
A
How could you possibly. So congrats to him or good luck or whatever. Let's. Let's do this. Let's take a break so I can renew my faith in humanity. I know it's there, okay? I know it's. I just have to take a break and think about happy thoughts, which I'm gonna do. And then when we come back, Isabel is now Nicks. We get to talk. Isabella's Nicks and we get to talk to Chris about Wemby because I finally I'm on. I'm on the train. I'm on board. What the hell? That guy's crazy. It was crazy. Game one was nuts. And we're going to talk about it right after a quick break. This is Casuals. We'll be right back. Ladies. Tired of sunglasses ripping your hair out? I know I am. Meet Shady Ray's Tangle Free Sunglasses because once the weather warms up and you're outside for those park days and beach trips and the last thing you want is your sunglasses ruining your hair. These are designed with smooth no snag nose pieces that glide through your hair, not yank, not pull, and definitely not ruin your fresh blowout. They're lightweight, polarized, so you're not squinting in the bright sun and cute enough to wear with everything. Plus, every pair is backed by lost and broken protection. Leave them at the beach, drop them in a parking lot after a long day out, or sit on them in the car. They'll replace them. So as you're getting into spring and summer, plans upgrade your sunglasses. Today we've teamed up with Shady Rays to bring you a limited time offer. Head to shadyrays.com and use code CASUALS for 50% off two or more polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Shadyrays.com use code CASUALS the road to the playoffs is here. Catch every NBA matchup on ESPN and every NHL showdown on ESPN and TNT with with Sling. Sling is great. You customize a channel lineup and only pay for what actually gets watched. So no more wondering why random channels are there. No contracts, just flexibility. Choose a one day pass starting at 4.99 for a big game, a seven day pass for playoff series, or you can go monthly for more. Pause anytime with no penalties and still enjoy over 600 free channels. You can even stream instantly on all devices at home or on the go with Sling. I know for me what I love about Sling is that on my phone when I'm on the road, maybe in like a green room that doesn't have any tv, I can watch on my phone and easily go between a hockey game that's on ESPN and then I can switch over to an NBA matchup. So choose and customize your channel lineup or pause and watch for free. Sling lets you do that. Visit sling.com to learn more. You know that feeling when there's a spark building inside of you that you were meant for more? That's your own drive pushing you towards what's next. Capella University gets that with their flex path learning format. You can set the pace and earn your degree without putting life on pause. You've built experience and know what you're capable of. Now this is your time to turn that momentum into more. The only real question is is what can't you do. Learn more at Capella Edu if you're trying to be more intentional about what you wear day to day, Quints can help with that. They've got pieces that feel easy, comfortable and yet still put together. Quince uses premium materials like 100 European linen, organic cotton and ultra soft denim. Everything at quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories. They cut out the middlemen. So you are paying for quality and craftsmanship, not brand markup. I just recently got some jeans. Quint has all of the cuts that I was looking for from wide leg to like a more boot cut and they're all so affordable the price on them cannot be beat. So refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com Casuals for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com Casuals, free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince. Okay. Hi. Welcome back. The playoffs, ain't they something? You know people, don't people forget the playoffs are the best part of the season. We're in the pointy end. The the schedules have aligned again. So we are down to two teams in the east and two teams in the west in both the NBA and the NHL. So let's reset the table. Let's get everybody reacquainted with what we've got left going on what the action is and how we got here. We will start with the NBA and we will start with the Eastern Conference finals because that is between Isabella's beloved Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now the Cavaliers have gone to seven both series prior to this one. They are exhausted and that showed up last night in game one of the Eastern Conference finals. It's last night to us because it is Wednesday here. I know. I'm sorry. But I want to capture Isabella's excitement. This happened last night. The Knicks came back from down 22.
- [40:34]
C
Yeah.
- [40:35]
A
In the fourth quarter to take the game to overtime to ultimately win it 114 to 104. They ended the game on a 44 to 11 run. Largest comeback win in New York Knicks franchise history. The second largest fourth quarter playoff comeback in the play by play era. What's the beginning of the play by play era? Was it the 98s?
- [41:00]
B
It's usually the. Usually gets determined by like 80. 81, I think was one of the three.
- [41:05]
D
96.97.
- [41:06]
A
Is the play later than we thought? That's why I ask Brady, while we're. While we're asking questions, your video's off to the races. You are three minutes behind your audio. So I don't know if you want to like, refresh or anything or if you just want to roll with it. It looks crazy, but funny. So, Isabella, did you stay up and watch this whole game?
- [41:27]
B
I did.
- [41:27]
A
Oh, yes. Our little sports fan. How was it? How was the experience?
- [41:32]
C
It was lovely. I had. Listen, the hello Kitty Knicks thing that you gave me. It's magic. It's magic. I have it set up a very particular way and it seems to be working for the Knicks.
- [41:43]
A
Okay, that just reminded me of something.
- [41:46]
C
What?
- [41:47]
A
That there's another. There's another hidden hello Kitty in that room with you. But I don't know if this Feel. If that. So you saying hello Kitty made me want to send you to find it, but then I was like, I don't want to bump into the other to. Any luck? There's another hello Kitty in there with you in that room for you somewhere. Kitty has just been in here the whole time? The whole time? Yeah. Did you want to take a look for it? Do you want to take. This is so fun. I know, I know. Isn't it crazy?
- [42:15]
C
Wait, I don't know.
- [42:17]
A
Do you remember where Kitty was hiding last? I do.
- [42:19]
C
Is she there? Is the other one there?
- [42:20]
A
It's where I'd start if I were a person that had a kitty I had to find.
- [42:24]
B
Wait, why find it now?
- [42:25]
C
Keeping kitties in here.
- [42:26]
A
I don't know. Crazier things have happened. She had a good day, so I just wanted to. I like to capture these moments. Bring your face to the camera. And we're back. Back. Hi. So apparently hello Kitty wreaked havoc on our studio. I thought that she was hidden somewhere safe. Turns out she was hidden next to some important wires, so. But, Isabella, why don't you go ahead and describe for everybody what it is that caused such a ruckus just now in the studio.
- [43:00]
C
It's a cute ruckus. Hello Kitty bobblehead. A mets. Hello Kitty bobblehead.
- [43:05]
A
So cute. It's a light up one too, I think. Oh, cute. I think it's its little Bow lights up.
- [43:12]
C
Yeah. Super cute.
- [43:13]
A
And it has.
- [43:13]
C
It's on its little, like, platform that says hello Kitty on it.
- [43:16]
A
Nice.
- [43:16]
C
I don't love the pin strip, you know.
- [43:18]
A
Whoa. Okay. Notes on the gift. Interesting. Really interesting stuff. Guess I'll see if I could get you another one. Here's my thing. Isabella, I'm just hoping cuz what you were saying, and I want you to. To dive into how this works, that the hello Kitty Nyx thing you have is bringing them a lot of luck. So I just figured now would be a good time for you to have also a hello Kitty Mets thing, since I don't know if you saw, but the Mets did allow an inside the park grand slam the other day. The ball didn't leave the field, and all the two outs and every runner on base plus the guy who hit it, scored.
- [43:56]
C
I didn't watch that game because I was watching the Knicks.
- [43:58]
A
Right. And. And good choice. Now talk to me about the hello Kitty luck that's happened for the Knicks. What's the.
- [44:04]
C
Yeah. So I always keep hello Kitty right on the back of my couch, standing up.
- [44:08]
A
Cute.
- [44:08]
C
And I know it works because my boyfriend believes it. Because every time the Knicks do well and come back or something like last night, he'll. He'll pick up and go, you, Kitty.
- [44:18]
A
I hate you, Kitty. Wait, so even in the postseason run, he's not rooting for the Knicks? For you? No.
- [44:25]
C
He hates the Knicks so much, Katie, and it makes the viewing experience so annoying. Yeah.
- [44:31]
A
He's not even at all. He doesn't think it's adorable when you're happy.
- [44:35]
C
He likes the nuts and.
- [44:36]
A
I know, but that's. They're not gonna be a factor. So it's maybe, you know, I don't know. He's had this.
- [44:42]
C
This Nick's hatred.
- [44:44]
A
Yeah.
- [44:44]
C
And I'm just like, well, it's got
- [44:46]
A
to be like a chip on his shoulder because the Nets are the less beloved franchise. And so he would never root for the popular kid because he's a fan of the underground loser. So he's a fan of the ndt. Yeah, totally. But, man, I thought he would have at least been like, you know, into you being into basketball and like, such a comeback like that.
- [45:07]
C
I know.
- [45:07]
A
Are you being obnoxious in his face? Please say yes.
- [45:10]
C
Yeah, I would like go to the screen.
- [45:12]
B
I'll be like, let's.
- [45:14]
A
Yeah. I mean, what a comeback. And alternatively. And maybe we make Chris speak to this. What a collapse by Cleveland. What the was the plan there. There was no. They had plenty of Timeouts and they just didn't want to use them.
- [45:31]
D
Yeah. So I, I, I don't know how to feel about this because on the one hand, it was clearly not the right decision from a coaching perspective to not call any timeouts. I think he called one throughout their entire.
- [45:44]
A
Yeah, but it was at the point where it was, it was like a, it was too late. It was way too late.
- [45:49]
B
The run was at that point.
- [45:50]
D
Yeah, but man, I love watching a game when there's not a whole lot of time outs. Cold especially that last five minutes of the game went so quickly because neither team were really calling timeouts even on the last few possessions.
- [46:03]
A
Viewing experience. It helps.
- [46:06]
D
Viewing experience wise, it was awesome. And that's the, Whenever I'm watching a game, I hate that teams, coaches don't trust their team to just go and play and to make the right decisions. You've trained all year for these specific moments. You shouldn't need to stop and have a timeout to call a set play. You should trust your team. I think a lot of that is because I grew up watching afl and there is no timeouts in afl, so you just play until the end. There's no stopping whatsoever. And so I think a lot of it is that. And so I hate the fact that the Cavs lost because they didn't call the timeout, because now there's just more,
- [46:48]
A
you know, support for calling more timeouts.
- [46:51]
D
Exactly.
- [46:52]
A
Which I actually ultimately hate. And I get that. But when a team is going on a run, when they get hot, when they are just everything's falling for them. You're in their building. You gotta maintain. You gotta just, like, stop. Especially after going seven games in two series. They just need, in general, a little break. You just got to give them a little break, a little refresh. And it felt like their offense was not running through the proper. They needed to switch stuff up and they didn't. It's like Harden was very involved. And I don't think Donovan Mitchell, like, made a shot in the, towards the end of the fourth quarter.
- [47:29]
B
And then Harden on defense. Harden on defense, man.
- [47:32]
A
Yeah.
- [47:32]
B
Jalen Brunson was just attacking him play after play. And I was like, all right, let's put old Jalen Brunson and slower.
- [47:38]
A
Jalen Brunson has got to be towards the top of the list of guy you want on your team late in a fourth quarter in like, like, he's so much fun to watch. You go, like, he'll get that in too. He'll, he'll be being pushed Out. No foul called, pushed off the court. And he'll find the angle to get the ball into the net because he's like, he has to, and he knows that. And that's my. One of my favorite kinds of players to. To root for, but that was absolutely wild. Brady, I know you love the WWE angle on this. I gotta be honest. It has not hit my timeline as much as probably yours. But you seem to think Isabella's. Isabella's kitty. Isabella's hello Kitty doll had nothing to do with the luck. You think it was Danhausen again?
- [48:24]
B
Well, you made it weird. Now.
- [48:25]
A
I'm sorry.
- [48:28]
B
Danhausen was on ESPN before Gay.
- [48:31]
C
And remind me who that is.
- [48:33]
B
He is the demon character from wwe. And he had.
- [48:37]
A
Does he wrestle?
- [48:39]
B
He wrestles occasionally, but barely.
- [48:41]
A
He's more of, like a comedic relief character in the wwe. Isabella. Oh, right. She doesn't find it funny at all. She's looking at a picture. That is mean, saying, ooh, sorry. In that order. In that inflection is the clip. It's the clip for me. I need it. I need it. Ah. Ew. Sorry.
- [49:04]
B
Sorry.
- [49:06]
A
I realize now you're a guy.
- [49:09]
B
He's on your team's side.
- [49:10]
A
He put a curse on the Cal, tell the story. She's sorry. Okay. She's sorry.
- [49:15]
B
He put a curse on the calves.
- [49:18]
A
A new one or a.
- [49:19]
B
A new one. The first one was the anti. It was the uncursing of the Knicks. Of the Knicks for Stephen A. Smith. He went on ESPN Tuesday morning, put a curse on the Cavs. The Knicks come back with a historic.
- [49:32]
A
I mean, historic comeback against the squad. Should we listen to him on and what he said? Let's play the housing post game.
- [49:39]
B
Danhausen told you the curse was real.
- [49:41]
A
We did it.
- [49:42]
B
Danhausen has cursed the Cavaliers. The Knicks have won, and Danhausen has won. And now he's owed courtside seats in between Timothy Chamalais and Kylie Jackson.
- [49:54]
A
Yes, that's right.
- [49:55]
B
And then the curse will continue.
- [49:56]
A
Okay. Isabella knows his worth, and he is negotiating. Isabella does not like this. She. I'm watching her face go from like, the voice didn't help. The voice made it worse. I think the fact that he calls himself Danhausen. I don't think she likes that either. I just. She's not into this, but thanks for
- [50:16]
B
the love, but if it works, it works.
- [50:18]
C
Yeah.
- [50:20]
A
All right. Hack a. Mitch.
- [50:22]
C
Oh, my God. So lame.
- [50:24]
A
Okay. Speak on it.
- [50:26]
C
So lame. That's just like when it was happening last night. I was just like, all right, whatever. I get it. But also, at the same time. Mitchell Robinson, I need you to practice your free throws, man.
- [50:37]
A
It is like a, it's as a non listen casual basketball viewer here, but it is the thing where I go like what do you mean the free ones, they're bad at. They're. You got to get them in. They're the same every time. You got to get them in. Now Chris, at what point actually can you explain like the hack a Mitch hack a shack. Like what the. To a person who maybe isn't watching a lot of basketball, what that is?
- [50:58]
D
Sure. So teams will actively seek out players on the opposition who have bad free throw percentages to put them at the line. Because if they shoot 50% from the free throw line, for instance, they're only getting one point per possession or sometimes less than that if they're really bad free throw shooting rather than giving the team an opportunity to have a proper possession where they can score two or three points in a possession. And so it's just a way of like eliminating the amount that the opposition can score.
- [51:24]
A
And Mitchell Robinson from the free throw
- [51:26]
D
line is 40% this season, 50% for his career. I think so. A little bit higher, but yeah, not good whatsoever.
- [51:34]
A
And so what. At what point do you start to consider the grandma the diaper three years ago? Right. So it's like it really.
- [51:43]
D
There's no reason.
- [51:44]
C
The only reason, if you really wanted to.
- [51:47]
D
Yeah. Well, the player that pioneered it was Rick Barry many, many years ago. He had a fantastic free throw percentage. I think he shot like 90% from the free throw line throughout his career. Rick Barry doing the underhand bucket shot. And then maybe I not a lot
- [52:03]
C
of players because you know that position.
- [52:05]
A
I love watching where her thoughts go because I was like, I wonder where she's gonn go with this. And then when she goes, well, then I gotta get my together. I should be out there. I can shoot like that.
- [52:16]
D
But you should like if, if you are struggling from the free throw line and Hacker Mitch isn't just something, by the way, that has started in this postseason. This has been going on for quite a while.
- [52:26]
A
Sure.
- [52:27]
D
You have to do whatever you can possibly do as a player to win games for your team. If you are not willing to attempt the, the, the underhand free throw because you think it looks silly, then that's. I, I don't accept that as an answer. It does look a little bit silly,
- [52:43]
A
but no, it else looks silly is being called to the line over and over and not being able to hit a single shot.
- [52:48]
C
So it looks straight like his, his. I don't know what you call that,
- [52:52]
A
but, like, there's just, like, less arc to the shot.
- [52:54]
C
There's less arc. It looks so straight. And I'm like, maybe flick the wrist a little bit or something.
- [52:59]
A
That was always, that was the key for Papa Shot to me. Not to teach you how to do your job, Mitchell Robinson, but I, the key to Papa Shot was when I learned that to push it and let it roll. Let it, like, roll off your fingertips because that benefit, the back spin you put on it benefits the shot. And, but it, it does just seem like he's too far in his own head. I just, you know, would the crowd, I feel like the crowd would go nuts if he went up to the line and set up to do it under. I feel like people would be like, let's go.
- [53:25]
D
People get around it.
- [53:26]
C
As long as he makes it, though, they're very supportive. Now when he doesn't make it.
- [53:29]
A
Yeah, that's where it's just kind of doing your best. At a certain point, the support is enabling. You have to go, like, try other things, and then we'll support you if it. But switch it up, my guy. They're not gonna stop sending you to the line.
- [53:45]
D
So, like, it is, like, scientifically, it is an easier shot to do a bucket shot, right. Because they've seen less movements that are required. Whereas if you're trying to shoot, you know, the traditional way, there are so many different, you know, ways that your arm and your wrist and your fingers can move. There's just a lot of variables. You're eliminating the variables with that.
- [54:07]
A
If he made a switch during the playoffs, I feel like that would be huge, momentous. It would be a. So maybe he's keeping that card in his pocket so that he can, like, play it should they need it. I, I, I don't know.
- [54:19]
D
Should bring it out soon, then.
- [54:20]
A
Maybe it's like a timeout that you can't hold on to it for forever. We learned that from Kenny Atkinson, who, by the way, after the game said, I like to hold my timeouts. I mean, you know, I didn't want to get one timeout at the end of the game. One or two point game. I try to hold. Yeah. All right, Kenny. Well, there's diminishing returns on that.
- [54:36]
B
He still has those timeouts to this day.
- [54:37]
A
To this day. And I hope they age well in your pocket. Okay. In the west, we saw game one between the spurs and the Thunder. Also, we haven't, I think, said this yet, that we got our MVP for the season. And it's SGA from the Thunder. So congrats to him then immediately. This was during the game where I think they named the night they named him mvp.
- [55:00]
F
He got.
- [55:00]
A
I mean, Wemby just made his life hell that he. Victor Wembanyama, a man we've talked to you about so much about how thrilling and exciting he is to watch. And even still with all that context, watching that game the other night, I still found myself going, like, how's this guy real? He's. He can do everything. He's. And it's with ease. And he's so good. That picture of him when he goes over the video where he goes over to his team and. And he's like. And they're all like, you're the man. It's sick. It, like, it made me. It's like electrifying. That three that he took.
- [55:37]
D
Yeah. From the.
- [55:38]
A
Everybody. It was like a must hit.3, basically from center court. And as he pulled up to shoot it, Dan goes, oh. And I was like, no, but watch. I literally was like, no, but wait. And it went in. It was like a must hit. And he did. It was is absurd. Double overtime. The game went to 122, 115. The spurs ultimately won. That was in Oklahoma City. So they stole one. By the time this is out, they will have played their second game. Right. So we're not going to be able to fully recap that. I just wanted to make sure people are paying attention to Wemby and, you know, and that whole series. It should be a really good. I mean, what a game that was. Chris. You love that game.
- [56:20]
D
I didn't watch that game because I was watching the hockey and I was doing some work at the same time. So I only had my one screen in front of me, but I knew it was game seven. It was the Canadiens and the Sabres. You were talking about how exciting that series was. So I'm like, all right, you know what? It's game one of the NBA. It's game seven in the NHL. I'm gonna prioritize the NHL tonight, so
- [56:39]
A
watch
- [56:42]
D
the Wemby game.
- [56:42]
A
Really sorry.
- [56:43]
D
Because it was a good game as well, though. NHL Game 7.
- [56:47]
A
Yeah, it was. And let's use that as our pivot to the NHL. So the. In the east for the NHL, we have Carolina, who hasn't played a game in three years. And up against the Canadians, who did, of course, beat the Buffalo Sabers in Game 7. Alex New Hook scored the overtime winner against the Sabers. This was Monday night to give his team a 32 victory in an Eastern Conference finals matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes. A bummer. We were root. I think as a podcast we were rooting for the Sabers. Yes. I think we all kind of agreed. We were. We were hoping for that. And you know me, I hate the Habs and I'm sorry to haves fans. It's nothing personal. It's literally. I was taught this from birth and I can't abandon that.
- [57:30]
C
It's just Montreal seems like a cool city though.
- [57:32]
A
Okay. And who asked you? I guess would be my next question.
- [57:35]
B
I don't know.
- [57:36]
A
You know, like who even. Okay. Asked you. So. No, it is. It is a cool city and it's a good. They're a good team. They're a good young team. It's an exciting. It's an exciting matchup.
- [57:48]
C
Bills, Buffalo Sabers.
- [57:51]
A
But Montreal was who you were talking about. I know, but you could see how things got a little. And then that's. And I. And that's my fault. And that's. And I apologize. Yeah. I am so sorry. Let's now. So again, Josh Allen, Buffalo Bill's Sabers out. No more dead. Dead in the water. Bye to them.
- [58:09]
C
Like that segue.
- [58:10]
A
Best of luck to everybody. Sorry to everybody in Buffalo. A tough way for it to end. Tage Thompson looked like shit. He looked horrendous in that game and I was eating it up.
- [58:22]
C
I.
- [58:22]
A
He looked. There was like multiple turnovers. Bad. There was a. He should have put a shot on net that could have won the game. Doesn't then the ball. The puck goes the other way and they score and it's over. Love to see Tage Thompson have a bad game. Unfortunately was rooting for the Sabers in spite of that. But to see them go down and him be a huge part of the reason why I guess would be the silver lining. Carolina the favorite to win this Eastern Conference final. But it could go either way. The Canadians are young, they're exciting, they thrive in chaos. So this is going to be a fun series to watch. I. I don't want to make Christmas any more basketball games, but I will say I do think this will be a fun high powered series to watch.
- [59:02]
D
And Carolina are my second favorite team. So I feel like I should.
- [59:05]
A
Yeah. And they got Rod Brindamore. Who. That's a fun story. Everybody loves Rob Brindamore, former player, now coach. He's been a part of this Carolina team, you know, for a while. So exciting stuff. And then in the west it is the Vegas Golden Knights. But don't say anything. You know, it's the Vegas Golden Knights, but we're not talking about it. No, no met, no media, no press. Okay. Please, no questions, no pictures. Facing off against the the Colorado Avalanche, who are the favorite in that series? A lot of people's favorites to win the Cup. The games are Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. That's games one, two, three for that series. So difficult to talk about as we were recording before it's happened, but just putting it back on your radar that that's who we've got. It's a lot of goalie talk around that series because Vegas is goalie who I'm on the record of not being a huge fan of. Carter Hart is actually playing well now after not so great of a start to the postseason and the end of his season I think was bad as well. And then in Colorado they have the two the the. The lumber yard they call them the two goalies Blackwood and Wetwood. No water. Wedgwood. Wedgwood. Good. Isabella, I listen to your radio show. Isabella.
- [60:15]
B
Excuse me.
- [60:16]
C
I don't just yawn.
- [60:19]
A
I'm tired but I'm not asleep. So that's exciting. Also in hockey now this series has been extra difficult to talk about in the pwhl they are in their, you know, their equivalent of the Stanley cup final. They are in the Walter cup final. It's a five game series in the PWHL between the Montreal Victoire, Isabella's favorite city I guess up against the Ottawa charge. Now of course in a five game series you just got to win three. And Montreal won game one in overtime. They won three two. They won game two in overtime two to one. And then game three looked like it was about to go to overtime until Ottawa scored a game winning goal. They won that game and staved off their. They kept their season alive for at least one more game. They won that game two one. Game four is happening to it will have happened. So it's possible that Montreal has won at this point. It's also possible that Ottawa is still alive. What I think is most important out of the PWHL is I've got an update on that merch that I ordered that is nowhere to be found. I did order it. I told you last time that the email I couldn't it like said thanks for your order but then nothing in there was about that. I think I ended up googling track my order from this company with my order number and it like let me. It took me to a thing where it Said unfulfilled. It showed me the order and that the order has been placed. And then it says track. So I clicked, yeah, I'd love to track. And it just said unfulfilled. And the tracker showed my address. And I was like, yeah, that's tracking me. I'd like to track the package. I want to know where the package is. And then I googled it, found a subreddit where everybody was like, yeah, this place takes months to randomly fulfill your order, so it will just show as unfulfilled until they feel like it, I guess. So I'll let you know when it arrives. I have. I'm not holding out hope for the quality of the items, although that same subreddit people were like, actually the stuff was pretty nice. It just had no rhyme or reason when it was shipped. New update in sad merch. My French away kit for the World cup is showing as delivered. Nowhere to be found in my building. So I believe. I believe it was a hot. A hot item. And I believe it was just taken. Not by I. I imagine somebody along the chain of command was like, this is a France cup jersey. I want it. And they took it and I. And I get it. Actually, you know, I'm gonna write it off on my taxes as a donation, but it's gone.
- [62:55]
B
Business expense.
- [62:56]
A
Pretty upsetting as I will be in France this summer and was really looking forward to.
- [63:01]
B
All told, if you see somebody in New York City in a French away kit, please, no vigilante justice.
- [63:06]
A
Yeah, it's gonna be a men's small, so I can take them and I might on the street.
- [63:14]
B
My piece now.
- [63:15]
A
We got a voicemail from somebody about the Walter Cup. I believe. I have not heard it, but I heard that it was incredible and that we need to play it. So can we please do that now? Hi, Katie and the casuals.
- [63:25]
F
This is Kara. Shout out to my favorite, Isabella. Anyway, I'm calling to spread the word about the PWHL playoff. Absolute cinema. I hope everyone tunes in. But I want to tell you about Game 1. That was in Montreal. Ottawa was up two to one late in the game in the third period. Montreal has this top line that they're known for. Abbey Rock, Laura Stacy Marie Coulee Poulain. The greatest women's hockey player alive. Plot twist here is that Stacey and Poulain are married. They call it the wife line. Abbey Rock is an honorable member of the wife line. Anyway, it's late in the game. Montreal is down 2:1 at home. Stacy gets checked against the boards legally but her leg gets caught up under her. She goes down, huge injury. She's, like, writhing in pain. Poulin, her teammate and wife, comes over and is, like, obviously distraught, Very concerned about her. She's down for a long time. Eventually, Poulin helps her off the ice, down the tunnel to the bench, and things are dire. Montreal is on the ropes. They just lost one of their best players. They have less than two minutes left in the game. They're down at home. Game one, this is the final round. And so the crazy thing is that they pull their goalie and Montreal scores with 2 seconds left in the game to tie the game and head to overtime. And everyone's like, okay, like, this is it. It's going to happen. And then at the beginning of overtime, Stacy comes out on the ice. You're thinking she's not coming back. She shows up, the crowd goes nuts. Momentum is all on their side. And Montreal scored a game winner. Three minutes into overtime. Abby, rock on that white line, puts it away. And Montreal comes back from down with two seconds left to win game one. It was absolutely electric. And every game has been electric. Most of them have gone to overtime. Anyway, just a moment for the pwhl. Love the pod. So much. Love you all, especially Isabella.
- [65:21]
C
Oh, my God, I love that double.
- [65:24]
D
Shout out to Isabella.
- [65:26]
A
So cute. Yeah, Shout out. Abbey Rock, former guest of casuals. Esteemed guest. We got her hot off a trip to Disneyland. World. Where were they just coming back from World?
- [65:38]
B
I think it was Florida.
- [65:39]
A
Yeah, I think so, too. So shout out.
- [65:42]
B
They were drinking at Epcot.
- [65:43]
A
Yeah, that's right. And shout out to the wifeline. I think I saw. And you never know what's misinformation now, but I think I saw that they have, like, friendship bracelets that say wifeline. So cute. So electric. Shout out to the pwhl. Hey, didn't they just announced they're getting a new team?
- [66:00]
B
Four new teams.
- [66:01]
A
Four new teams, but no four new teams next year.
- [66:03]
B
They announced the fourth one yesterday. So on Tuesday, they announced that San Jose is going to be the fourth team? Hell, yeah. Adding to the PWHL, they're to expand to 12 teams for the 2026, 2027 season.
- [66:15]
A
Okay, Chris, so does that mean. Because you're a Sharks fan.
- [66:18]
D
Yes.
- [66:19]
A
So does that mean that you're going to be a San Jose PWHL fan?
- [66:23]
D
Yes.
- [66:24]
A
Oh. Just.
- [66:24]
D
Even though it's harder to watch.
- [66:25]
A
Yeah.
- [66:26]
D
And I'm not going to be able to go to many games, and I've already seen how tough it is to Follow my teams on the West Coast. But I gotta do it. Yeah, I gotta do it.
- [66:33]
A
And I do think that they're at least putting their full games on YouTube for a while longer, so at least it might be a little easier to watch. It's just the getting the recaps of the games that's actually difficult. But I've seen people starting to make a lot of noise about that, so hopefully it'll be fixed. What do you think they should name them then? Because you got the Sharks. What do we think? The. What's. Any ideas for the. Make sure it has an S. So break ladies head stays on his. What was that?
- [66:58]
D
The Dolphins.
- [66:59]
A
Oh, okay. Yeah.
- [67:01]
D
Because Dolphins are girls. Sharks of boys. Everyone knows that.
- [67:05]
A
The way that cats are girls and dogs or boys. Yeah.
- [67:09]
D
This is just science.
- [67:10]
A
Yeah. And Dolphins are really smart and Sharks are dumb. That's also science. So fast, but dumb.
- [67:17]
C
Yeah, but isn't there. Don't. Can't Dolphins be a little scary also?
- [67:20]
A
Are you. Are you talking about the fact that sometimes they rape that article? Yeah. Yeah. Well. And that's. And that's. We don't have time to get into unpacking that, so maybe. Great job, Isabelle. Now they're not going to be called the San Jose Dolphins. Now we got to come up with something with no S. And now Brady's going to lose his mind. So congratulations to them. Brandon Sorsby. Brady. We've been keeping an eye on this because he was the number one, what, transfer Portal Transfer. Quarterback. Yeah. In this post off season for college football. And he got in trouble for gambling. And one of the things we talked about on this podcast was how strange it was that they were talking about it as if it might affect his season, not that it was immediately like he will not be playing. You have an update for us on this story. Where are we at?
- [68:10]
B
So he filed a suit that they filed an injunction on Monday. I believe it was Monday day to have his eligibility reinstated and they wanted an expedited ruling on it because if he is ineligible, then he can apply for the NFL's supplemental draft being basically he can try to go to the NFL and hope that someone will spend a draft pick on him and hope that they don't care about a quarterback who gambles, which. That's its own thing. Filed this lawsuit on Monday, had a whole bunch of details in it. The first one was that when he was at Indiana in 2022, he was red shirting and not playing in any game. So he was red shirting, kind of taking his off year, only practicing, placed bets on Indiana football, which is absolutely a no go. Said that he did it only so that he could feel close to the team, so that he could feel like he had a stake in the action, you know, because he wasn't suiting up on game day. He felt like, I only did it.
- [69:07]
A
I owe it, so that I could
- [69:08]
B
feel like I had a real stake in the games that was not involved.
- [69:11]
A
Yeah, they're sacrificing their. But so the least I could do is sacrifice my bread. I gotta put some money on the line. So I also care. Cause without that, I don't care. So I had to. I had to do it, you see,
- [69:26]
B
in addition to betting on his own team. So he only bet on them to win. He said he bet on them to win, but then he also said he bet on, like, the quarterback to go over a yardage number and to, like, certain players to have rushing touchdowns. And that is its own problem as well, because then you have inside information on game plan, which he claimed he didn't. But come on, man.
- [69:46]
A
I'm on the team, but they don't tell me anything.
- [69:49]
B
He said he also admitted that he bet on Major League Baseball. Also admitted that he bet on ufc.
- [69:55]
C
Okay.
- [69:56]
B
Doubles tennis, Romanian soccer.
- [69:58]
A
Okay, What?
- [69:59]
B
Turkish basketball, WNBA games, and the Nathan's hot dog eating contest.
- [70:04]
A
Wait a second. You can gamble real human dollars money on the Nathan's hot dog eating. Is it like. Is it over under? Is that what the.
- [70:14]
B
You can do over unders? And then there's betting odds on the winner. Like Joey Chestnut would have. They'd say he's like a minus 200 favorite or whatnot.
- [70:23]
A
And Romanian soccer is that league popping off. What sort of a.
- [70:28]
B
That is like, man, I'm down 50 bucks for the day. I got to go put some action on. Whatever is on.
- [70:34]
A
Yeah, that is like a step above time zone. That's like a step above. Have you ever seen those, like, sport farms? This is really bleak, and we don't have time, but I think they're Russian in nature, where it's just like a. An overhead shot of two guys or people sitting in chairs, but their feet are playing soccer. And you can gamble on, like, that video feed of if the ball will go. It's like the crate. The kind of gambling where you go, like, you've got a real issue. We got to. We got to pull you out of this. This is like Romanian soccer is, I believe, the. The trigger, the canary in the coal mine that makes you stop before somebody goes into Gambling on that. But okay, what else did we learn?
- [71:16]
B
And then this one actually righted itself. The originally the judge that was assigned to his lawsuit because everything's just. Nothing's crooked in the ncaa. Everything.
- [71:24]
A
No.
- [71:24]
B
All of a judge that was assigned to his lawsuit on Monday that was going to rule on whether he would be eligible to play for the Texas Tech football team in 2026 was judge Philip Hayes, a Lubbock, Texas native and double graduate of Texas Tech University.
- [71:40]
A
So we can't have that. And so they did. They fixed it.
- [71:43]
B
He recused himself today. According to On3 as of Wednesday, he did recuse himself from the case and they don't have a replacement yet.
- [71:49]
A
But maybe we just don't assign this guy chivalry. Not dead. Okay. He stood up and said, guys, listen, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm about out of this one because I have a vested interest interest in what happens here. So. Okay, that gives me a little bit of faith. I don't, I don't see the source.
- [72:07]
B
We also had a 50 bet on whether or not he would recruit himself. So I shouldn't even joke about that
- [72:11]
A
because I'm definitely cashed in. Okay. And then let's talk about the NFL. Remember Isabella, around the super bowl when they gave away the. The awards for best everything in the NFL and. And what's his name? The comedian mispronounced JSN's name at the. Yeah. Drew Ski went out to the ceremony and like made an off color joke about Jackson Smith in Jigba's name. He like pretended he didn't know how to pronounce it and called him something else. He has now received his Offensive Player of the Year trophy. Now, I thought when I saw this story originally reported, it said that he got that. It said Defensive Player of the Year on it. So.
- [72:57]
D
So that's what it looks like on the trophy. But a league spokesperson said, no, actually we didn't put a D at the front. It's an O. So it's closer to offensive player, but it's O E, F, E, N. Oh,
- [73:09]
C
that's not a valid.
- [73:10]
A
Horrifically. Okay, so instead of an. The second letter being in an F, we made it an E. But we did not make the first letter a D and the second letter an E. It's an O. So it's technically just one keystroke off. But it obviously reads like it says defensive player.
- [73:30]
D
It did look like defensive. When you have a look at the video that Jackson Smith and Jigba posted, it does look like it says, let's.
- [73:36]
A
Let's play that clip and take a listen to what he says. No, I really want to expose them though. This is, it's getting disrespectful guys. Defense. Come on, bro. It is getting. It is, it is getting a little. It is.
- [73:51]
B
Can I say though, Jackson, Smith and Jigma, if you're gonna bitch about this on you on Instagram. Instagram, mute your goddamn TV in the background.
- [73:57]
A
Yeah, okay. This is very tv. If you want to make a statement of the specific note for the guy whose phone vibrates every single episode we make of this podcast, but fair enough. Yeah. It's just. I feel I. I don't know. It's not a big story, but it is. It's not crazy, but it is weird. It's happened twice to the guy or every time he keeps trying to get this honor. He's supposed to feel. He keeps feeling dishonored by it.
- [74:20]
C
Yeah.
- [74:20]
A
But you know, it is what it is. Speaking of dishonor, Aaron Rodgers, this one just came through. I just got the notification. He has announced he will be retiring after this upcoming 2026 season which he has. Last week we. Or earlier this week we told you he signed with the Steelers, reunited with his coach Mike McCarthy. They played together for the Packers. He is retiring after that. So we're going to. That basically sets us up for the year of Aaron Rodgers where he goes on his little retirement tour and does DMT with every team. I don't know what he's got planned, but he's got to, you know, go around and get all of his little chachkes from all of his little.
- [74:59]
B
Unless he doesn't want the attention which
- [75:02]
A
I guess we should reserve space for that being a possibility. Did some people were getting misinformed by something with his wife this week there
- [75:11]
B
was a, there, there was a in AI post on social media going around that you know, they had released their first picture of Aaron Rodgers and his wife Brittany with an eye and it's him and a very alt looking woman with dreadlocks and seashell necklace and tattoos all over her and like a tattoo on her forehead and it's not your guys but everyone. I mean it was one of those things where it's like oh, of course she's with someone who looks to different. It's not real and I don't blame anyone for getting. Getting got by it because you don't. It looks real. Like there is no difference.
- [75:49]
A
Forehead tattoo.
- [75:52]
B
Yeah, I mean it looks like there's nothing.
- [75:55]
F
It.
- [75:56]
B
There's Nothing that makes you think this is not realistic. Yes. Very few people.
- [76:00]
A
Forehead tattoo. You think Aaron Rodgers married somebody with a. It just does.
- [76:06]
B
That's where Aaron Rodgers is, though. Like, it. It's not out of the realm of possibility.
- [76:10]
A
And I, I don't mean to besmirch the idea of tattoos. I just. If you're trying. If you're saying nothing, maybe flagged this as a fake image. I would have started with. Well, the forehead tattoo does call into question the validity of. I would need to see a second photo of this. Whatever you just called her. Alt looking woman who's got. What gauges did she get big gauges in her ears?
- [76:33]
B
No, I don't think she does. Which actually may have been the biggest red flag because, you know, she would if she were real.
- [76:37]
A
Yeah, sure. So welcome back and goodbye.
- [76:41]
B
I assaulted this woman who doesn't exist.
- [76:42]
A
No, that's. She ain't real. So from football to football. Arsenal. Congratulations to Arsenal. They won the English Premier League. They've. They.
- [76:54]
C
They.
- [76:54]
A
Manchester City is a. Is the post tense of a tie. They drew.
- [76:59]
F
No.
- [77:00]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [77:01]
A
You really would say they drew at. At Bournemouth. Okay. Short. They did that. It was a tie, you guys. They tied. This is Arsenal's first title in 22 years. They still have one game left to play. But that's sort of how it works in the Premier League. They can. It's. They don't do the post season, Isabella. They do just like whoever's at the top of the table at the end of the season, they win. So that's sort of how that works. Then whoever's at the bottom of the table, they get kicked out right down to the. And do we have any update on anybody being relegated or. No, probably not. I keep putting you guys in this tough spot to know.
- [77:38]
B
Tia, we have the update on who's not getting promoted and.
- [77:42]
A
Oh, and that would be this scandal that we have. Yeah, but wait, I want to play with some. Didn't we get a voicemail from a Gunners fan? I want to make sure we give him his time to shine.
- [77:53]
D
Yes, we got a voicemail from Anthony from Michigan.
- [77:56]
A
Let's listen.
- [77:57]
F
Hey, Katie. Hey, Casualties. It's Anthony from Michigan. A 11 draw on a Tuesday night between Bournemouth and Man City gives the title to my beloved Arsenal Gunners. I am over the moon. It is difficult, however, to not see your team celebrating on the pitch. It would be really nice if this wasn't like a math nerd thing to figure out that now I have a championship in my back Pocket it. Let's go, Arsenal. I love you guys.
- [78:25]
A
I mean it.
- [78:26]
F
Arsenal is the champion of England. North London is red forever.
- [78:32]
B
Yay.
- [78:33]
A
So exciting. But it is a funny situation where you're like, so we've won without being there. We didn't do it. There's no triumph. There's no. Game is over and we win. And I'm sure they'll celebrate after their last game. But it just is a funny way that it works. Congrats to Anne Hathaway. Who must be having a great month. Isn't she? I think she's a fan.
- [78:53]
B
Comes down to the final weekend. The big thing is that it'll. There's a scenario where Tottenham gets relegated and there's.
- [78:59]
A
It's still possible.
- [79:00]
B
I think it's still possible.
- [79:01]
A
I thought we were in the clear.
- [79:03]
D
I'm looking at the table.
- [79:05]
B
It looks like it's more likely that West Ham. Because west ham is in 18th on the table. Wolves and Burnley are both being relegated. But I believe there's a. I think spurs is safe.
- [79:14]
D
According to what I'm looking at. I think the spurs are safe.
- [79:16]
F
Well.
- [79:16]
A
And who could know for sure? So look it up from a different podcast. You know what I'm saying? That's the best that we can do.
- [79:22]
B
Some men in blazers somewhere.
- [79:24]
A
I'm sure that they could tell you. But what we can tell you about is Spygate. Brady. We've got British Spygate. It sounds like.
- [79:33]
C
So what's American spy?
- [79:35]
A
And we don't have time.
- [79:36]
D
Unfortunately.
- [79:38]
A
Unfortunately. I just don't think we're gonna have time to explain. The Patriots scandal called Spike where it was alleged that they were filming from an undisclosed and not allowed location on a field practices of other teams.
- [79:56]
B
Generally in sports you cannot spy on your opponents while they're generally. You know. You can't record with video. You can't just watch them practice because they're doing secret tactic stuff. Southampton Football Club, very old historical one, has been expelled from the final of the second league of English soccer Champion.
- [80:18]
A
Right. Isn't it Championship.
- [80:20]
B
Championship. The English football championship. They were going to be able to play to be promoted. They have been just expelled from that game. They've been kicked out of being of playing it because they were found guilty of spying on the training sessions of multiple opponents during the season.
- [80:37]
D
Um.
- [80:37]
B
It's like 200 million at a minimum that they will miss out on because they are not going to get the money from the national broadcast contracts of the Premier League. Uh. It affects what they can pay the players. It affects Stadium renovations, bringing in new players. It affects so much. The fact that they are just being booted out with no chance to be promoted is insane.
- [80:58]
A
Does it affect Rob McElhenny and. And Ryan Reynolds in any way? Are they.
- [81:03]
B
No, it's not going to make them get promoted or anything. They're not there.
- [81:06]
A
Okay.
- [81:08]
B
But it was basically. So this all happens over like a week. Two days before Middlesbrough's home leg against. Of their playoff semi against Southampton, those players were training at the club's home turf when a member of Middlesbrough staff spotted a figure hiding behind a tree filming their session. Like, they got caught because somebody was like, who is that guy?
- [81:30]
C
Guy?
- [81:31]
A
And it's just like, Spice Adams.
- [81:33]
B
It looks like Spice Adams rubbing his hands. There is a guy behind a tree with binoculars and a camera and there are photos of him circulating.
- [81:40]
A
That is a car.
- [81:44]
B
The English League opens up an investigation, they just dig in. They have other photographs. They have other. It's like if you're on camera, just your lead analyst. It was like their. Their first team analyst intern was the one just leaning out from behind a tree. And basically their only defense was like, look, I guess we did it, guys, but at least we didn't win the games where we cheated. And that's not a good enough excuse.
- [82:11]
A
No, it's like, I didn't even enjoy it. Yeah, yeah, we had. I had sex with that person. But we didn't mean anything. I didn't even enjoy it, so it doesn't count.
- [82:19]
B
It was just cheating.
- [82:20]
A
Just. We didn't even. It didn't work. She didn't fall in love with me, so it doesn't count, you know?
- [82:26]
B
So now the players are threatening to sue the team. Like, the players of Southampton are going to file suit against their own team because they are missing out on this money that's coming.
- [82:34]
A
So the money of their. That they would.
- [82:36]
B
The money of being promoted. They have the right to get promoted.
- [82:38]
A
Yeah, that's.
- [82:39]
C
Well, I would be annoyed if, like, I obviously, like, don't know anything about this and then now this is affecting me.
- [82:44]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [82:45]
B
You're sitting around like you didn't give us any intel to use.
- [82:48]
A
Yeah, right. What were you spying for? What was the point of hiding behind the tree? Can you imagine being that guy? And you're like, I think they see me. I'm gonna not. I'm gonna not move.
- [83:01]
D
By the way, Brady's right. The spurs can still be eliminated.
- [83:05]
B
Oh, don't you dare say this first.
- [83:06]
A
Yeah, also we gotta save you for that Spurs.
- [83:09]
D
Sorry, Isabella.
- [83:10]
A
While we're here.
- [83:11]
D
If they lose at home to Everton and West Ham win, then.
- [83:16]
A
Yeah. Isabella, while we're here, Tottenham Hotspur. Okay. Is the name of this team they go by. You can call them Spurs. You cannot call them the Spurs. You can call them Hotspur. You can call them Spurs. You could call them Tottenham. You can call them Tottenham Hotspur.
- [83:37]
C
What about Hot Toddy?
- [83:39]
A
Let's ask. Let's ask them and they'll let us know. Know. All right. So then they can't play for their. They can't. What's it called on Drag Race. They can't lip sync for their life. They're not allowed to do that anymore. They got kicked out of the possibility of moving up into the champion. Champions. No, into the Premier League. And that's unfortunate. So spying is bad. And I guess we'll keep an eye on if they sue their team. That seems crazy to me, but we'll see. Hey. Hey. Speaking of crazy stuff happening in soccer. Thank you. Perfect. Without. Didn't miss a beat. It's the World cup date. Lowe's. The. The place with the helpful hardware folks is selling a.
- [84:25]
B
That's Ace.
- [84:30]
A
Brady had that immediately.
- [84:32]
B
I'm sorry, I'm defensive of local hardware.
- [84:35]
A
I completely was like, yeah. It's just in my mind.
- [84:37]
D
Sounds right to me.
- [84:38]
A
Dan butchers people's slogans. He thinks that it's all this chicken is Popeyes. Like all this chicken. This is all. All this chicken is Popeye. He also says Ace is the place. It's a helpful hardware store. And that's not it. That's not what it is. So anyway, neither of those lows the other way is selling a 10 foot lows.
- [85:02]
D
The other one.
- [85:03]
A
The other one is selling a 10 foot inflatable Messi. They've created a 10 foot light up inflatable effigy of Lionel Messi, soccer star. Who has he confirmed he's playing? Because I saw a lot of articles about Cristiano Ronaldo goes for a record sixth World cup and I'm like, it would be Messi's as well. There's gotta be a reason they're not specifically also mentioning Messi. Messi. And. And maybe it's because he hasn't confirmed
- [85:31]
B
he's on the preliminary squad. We don't have most final rosters yet.
- [85:34]
A
Right.
- [85:34]
B
But us is not till next week.
- [85:36]
A
Right. So anyway, they made a 10 foot light up effigy of Lionel Messi which fans can proudly display on their lawn for the duration of the tournament. The inflatable is roughly twice the size of Messi himself and includes. Well, damn, that feels like a slight 10ft tall. And you're like twice the size two Messi's. And includes Messi standing, holding a football while dressed in a Lowe's kit.
- [86:00]
C
Oh, thank God. I've been waiting for this.
- [86:02]
A
Yeah, I need my lows jersey. The. He plays for Lowe's. They're. They're taking on the highs. The likeness not entirely accurate is what I'm reading in this doc, but I'm not looking at a picture, so if somebody could please pull up for me a photo of inflatable Messy. Because we like to do on this podcast, if somebody has. Has a statue, we like to say how realistic it is. We did Tom. We showed Isabella Tom Brady's old courtroom sketch to see how accurate that was, which is again, about 12% accurate, ironically enough.
- [86:35]
B
And so you got the jagged lines right, though.
- [86:36]
A
Let's take a look. I'm truly. They were ahead of their time with what Tom Brady's face was going to look like. Let's take a look at what the ten foot again, twice the size of real. Oh, my God. What do you mean? Zoom in for me? Can we give a pinch to that? I am him. You're kidding me. Nothing like him. Nothing like him. All right, they. Well, he's got facial hair, which is correct. The part is wrong. They've got him part in his hair, almost like a middle part, like a side middle. And that's not right.
- [87:11]
C
They also made his hair. I mean, I don't know Messi's hair like that, but, like, it looks kind of longer.
- [87:16]
A
Yeah, it's too long. And also, I gotta be honest, something like that. If you're not gonna put a lot of effort into creating like a photorealistic face, the jersey would help. So we need the jersey. I know there's a 10 on his leg, but him playing for Lowe's really does not help your case here.
- [87:36]
D
The omtets, at least.
- [87:38]
A
Yeah, all right. You're right.
- [87:39]
B
I get a lot of Desmond from Lost. I don't get Lionel Mess Messy.
- [87:44]
A
What an old poll. That was Desmond from Lost. Yeah, I. It doesn't look like anybody I've ever seen. It kind of looks like Michael Phelps with a full beard. I'm not. I'm not seeing Messi at all.
- [88:01]
B
So I might buy an inflatable Michael Phelps.
- [88:04]
A
Yeah. Why would you want that on your lawn? Like, I'm just not understanding. Just not understanding the. But listen, if it's that or Ronaldo, I'm team. Get me that thing and put it in the studio with me. I'm team messy all day. I'm a messy girl. Hit me with the fart noise. Because we've got the FIFA vice president facing ethics complaint. Alejandro Dominguez, the leader of Are we saying Con Mabol?
- [88:31]
B
I think so.
- [88:32]
A
And that stands for the Confederation of North American Soccer. I thought it was like Mexican. Yeah, The South American soccer organization at the center of the sprawling FIFA scandal in 2015. This guy is the head of that and he's facing an ethics complaint that he received millions of dollars from the funds that had been recovered from that case. The complaint was made by a whistleblower who claims to have direct knowledge of the payments. Mr. Dominguez, one of the biggest power brokers in the sport, also serves as one of the eight vice presidents of FIFA. So you could see how that might be a. Okay. And then the complaint accuses him, along with another senior Conme ball official, of receiving more than $5 million from the money recovered by the soccer federation after it secured the return of millions of dollars lost to corruption schemes. So what it sounds like they're accusing him of is being corrupt in the resolution of a corruption agreement or whatever.
- [89:30]
B
He was used by money that wasn't going into a corruption scheme. He's like, well, this needs a new corruption scheme.
- [89:35]
A
He was like, well, this is labeled corruption, so I should take it. That's on the check. They wrote four and it said corruption scandal. And he said, sounds good to me and took it. Let's take a quick break. Not caused by hello Kitty. And when we come back on the other side, we'll do a couple of checks into our mailbag, which is just really a preview for next week's full blown Mailblag Mailblag extravaganza. But we'll, we'll dip our toe in to get us ready. Right after a quick break. This is casuals. We'll be be right back. This show is sponsored by Better Help. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, anxious, or unsure, it's okay. Those feelings are more common than we think. May is mental health awareness month. A good reminder that you don't have to go through those feelings alone. Having someone with you to listen to, understand, to support you can make all the difference. Whatever it is that's keeping you up, the in at night therapy with Better Help can help you check in with yourself and gain support from experienced professionals. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. Just take a short questionnaire to identify your needs and preferences. And Better Help will handle the initial therapist matching work for you. Feel confident knowing Better Help Therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the us. It is a resource that's available to you. You don't have to be on this journey alone. Find support and have someone with you you in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com Katie Nolan that's better h lp.com Katie Nolan
- [91:11]
E
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- [91:42]
B
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- [92:11]
E
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- [92:41]
A
Okay, let's go to our mailbag now. We got an email. I heard from Sean in Alaska. Is this our first email from Alaska?
- [92:51]
D
No, because Sean from Alaska emailed us a few weeks ago about whether he should go to the Steph Tollev show or the Portland Fire game.
- [93:01]
A
But I don't think we knew he was from Alaska because I remember we were struggling to figure out who he was rooting for or where he was going. Okay, interesting. Let's hear what he had to say in his email.
- [93:09]
D
Sean says thought I'd give a quick update on me and Rhonda seeing Steph or the Portland Fire game. After listening to the podcast, I went to get tickets to see Steph tolave and unfortunately for us the show was sold out. So we did get tickets to the PDX Fire against New York Liberty game. Unfortunately for us, again it was not the Fire last second put back victory game, but the second game they played which was a trouncing of a win for the Liberty. We both still had A great time. And you were so right about the atmosphere of the WNBA games. I even overheard staff mentioning how much more chill the crowd was for these games. Games compared to the mnba. I really appreciate you all taking the time to read and answer our email. Love you. Mean it.
- [93:49]
A
Okay. And how are the Portland Fire doing this season so far?
- [93:53]
D
They're two and two.
- [93:54]
C
Okay.
- [93:55]
D
They're not bad. They're playing tonight against the Fever, so we'll see if they can get above.500.
- [93:59]
A
Okay. What about the other new team, the Tor. The Toronto Tempo?
- [94:03]
D
They are 3 and 2 at the moment. They had a 9890 win over Mercury. Mercury on Tuesday night.
- [94:09]
A
Now you're afraid to say the before anything. Now you're just.
- [94:12]
D
Now I am.
- [94:12]
A
Now you're like, they won over Mercury. I don't come for me. Please, please, please don't yell. All right, so I'm. Damn. This sold out. I feel like if this. If only the lines of communication were more instant, we could have. I could. We could have reached out to Steph and seen if there was something we could. But that's the issue with an email.
- [94:32]
D
Yeah.
- [94:32]
A
We tried to help, and instead I think we made it worse. But good. I'm glad they ended up getting to one of those things and that they had fun at the wnba. I love it. Love that.
- [94:39]
B
What about Portland are saying on the PDX for the score bug that Portlanders have PDX on everything they. They said. You know, we put it. It's our airport. We put it on all kinds of stuff. It's on the highway.
- [94:49]
A
They're Frank's Redhawk, if you will.
- [94:51]
B
Still doesn't make enough sense to me.
- [94:53]
A
Yeah. Okay. Brady. And that's. And Brady seems to think that is some sort of a. A metric that anyone else cares about. I don't know. It comes up a lot where Brady goes, not enough for me, and I
- [95:03]
C
go, okay, keep trying, Paul.
- [95:05]
A
You don't live there, so I don't. Better luck next time. Pdx. Let's. Do we have any voicemails? I like hearing the voices. What do we got?
- [95:14]
F
Hey, Katie and the Casualties. This is Dorota calling from Boise, Idaho, where we have a new professional men's soccer team this year and a new women's team coming next year. It's all been very exciting. So my husband and I got season tickets, and while we were at the most recent game, I got to thinking about how a team fan culture gets established because we're a new team. It feels like we as fans are making it up. As we go trying out different cheers. Following the lead of the loudest supporter section, I'm wondering what wisdom or advice you have regarding how new fan bases find their identity. With so many expansion teams popping up across the country for lots of different sports, I'm sure I'm not the only one curious about the creation of fan culture. Thanks for all you do for us casual fans. Love you, mean it.
- [96:07]
A
Oh, love you mean it. I love that. I wish I had a really good answer. I think it's a delicate balance. You don't want to push too much, if that makes sense. You don't want to force like, oh, this is very us. This is. We're the team that always does this. We're these people. You don't want it to feel too, like, sticky. You want it to sort of come organically through the experience. I would imagine that there are like, especially in soccer, supporters groups are such a big part of the culture. I assume that the newer teams have those and that they do such a good job of coordinating with chants and songs. And what are those big flags called that soccer uses a lot?
- [96:49]
B
Oh, those big flags. I don't know if they have a name.
- [96:51]
A
I thought they were called something like tributes or something. They have like a name of what they are. But I would imagine like getting involved in any sort of fan supporters group or coalition. I assume there's like a subreddit or some sort of a fan club that'll often get you some sort of discount on maybe merch, but also tickets or also get you connected with people like minded individuals who also love and support this team. And then I think just like organically from that these things would start to sprout. It's one of the more fascinating things about fandom because you look at a team like, I don't know, I just think of hockey and the fact that the, you know, Bruins were of the original six and like how long that that team has been around and what a storied history they have. But like when it was happening, that was the beginning for them. So they didn't know they had to start at zero. And I like seeing it happen now in, in real time where you see teams start at zero with all these new technologies available to them that older teams didn't have back then and how they use that to sort of create their identity. And one thing I really like is that fans kind of have a say. If, like, if you find your team supporters are being toxic in some sort of way, you can speak up and go, we're not going to be the type of fan base that tolerates this. We're not going to be this type of a fan base. And I know that there's been a lot of that sort of self governance within new fan bases. So it's an exciting time. I think it's just you go, you have fun, meet people and whatever sprouts from that organically makes the most sense to me. But I don't know if any of the casualties have like a better answer
- [98:16]
B
for this takes a long time. Like the I've been to my share of Washington Nationals games. I'm been in this, you know, they've been in the city, been in and around where I live for 21 years now. I think it, they don't it doesn't feel like the Nationals have the strongest fan identity yet in 20 years. And that's not to say there aren't fans. It's just they, it takes more than 20 years to develop that. Like what is, what are the quirks of our fan base? What are the ways we cheer? What are the things we cheer for? That stuff just takes a long time. And when you mentioned the Bruins being an original six team, like the, you know, the Red Sox have been at fenway for over 100 years. That stuff develops very slowly and a lot of it is generation to generation because of the way we view sports and we pass these fan culture things to our kids and to their kids and it takes a while.
- [99:06]
A
Yeah. So I guess overall we would say it takes time. So be patient. Try not to force anything. Let it come to you, but use the early days of the team as like a chance to figure out out who you are as a fan. It's kind of half of the fun of it and make friends and have fun. Okay, that's it. We gotta go. It's as usual, Brady, the episode duration manager, has let this thing go off the rails. We're in hour six. Thank you for listening. Thanks for all your emails and we love you. We mean it. Go Isabella's Nicks. Thank you. And go Metz. Metz. Sure.
- [99:43]
C
Thank you.
- [99:44]
A
And hello Kitty's gonna take care of that though.
- [99:47]
C
I hope so.
- [99:48]
A
And she will be. She gets a producer credit on this episode because she certainly caused something. And we will see you back here next week with Digging Through a Mailbag, a real fun one at the beginning of next week. Enjoy your It's Memorial Day weekend right now. Or that's next week about to begin. It is this weekend. It feels early to me.
- [100:08]
C
I know.
- [100:08]
A
So enjoy your Memorial Day, everybody. We love you. We mean it. It. We'll see you later. Bye. Can you grab one more thing?
- [100:14]
B
I'll come back up for you.
- [100:15]
E
At Amica Insurance, we know you'll always find ways to look out for the people you love. And with Amica Life Insurance, we'll help build a plan to make sure you always can. We're here to help protect the life you've built.
- [100:30]
B
Really?
- [100:31]
F
I'm gonna have another one.
- [100:33]
E
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- [100:43]
B
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- [100:55]
A
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- [100:57]
B
We were made for this.