Lebron to Philly, WNBA All-Star Tea, and Making Up Facts About Babe Ruth

Summary

Casuals with Katie Nolan – July 28, 2026

Episode: LeBron to Philly, WNBA All-Star Tea, and Making Up Facts About Babe Ruth

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Episode Overview

On this lively episode of Casuals, Katie Nolan and her panel of friends (Isabella, Brady, Chris) break down a packed week in sports with their signature mix of banter, skepticism, and genuine curiosity. They cover LeBron James’ big move to the Philadelphia 76ers, dissect the drama and highlights from the WNBA All-Star weekend in Chicago, react to a wave of headline-grabbing moments (including Trump’s weird foray into sports punditry and some truly questionable sports talk radio behavior), and school newcomer Isabella on the infamous Manti Te'o catfishing saga. As always, the show straddles the line between sports-obsessive and sports-casual, serving up recaps, irreverent jokes, and a healthy dose of sports tea.

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Meet the Casualties (Production Crew Introduction)

• Katie Nolan: Host, noted sports nerd, ringmaster of the chaos
• Isabella: Self-proclaimed sports newbie with sassy comebacks
• Chris: Master editor and Celtic diehard
• Brady: Voice of generational sports wisdom and field hockey proud dad

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[06:55] HR Training… Patriots’ Puppies and Boomer Esiason Shade

Key Points:

• The crew reacts to Patriots’ new head coach Mike Vrabel bringing a puppy to his first training camp media session. Katie and Isabella appreciate the cuteness but call out Vrabel for “weaponizing” animals for a good PR shield.
  • “They say this is part of the Patriots program...that's certainly, could be true and...admirable. We love charity. We love adorable animals. This is great. Adopt, don’t shop. But now your first media availability, and you walk in [with a puppy]?” – Katie ([01:33])

Boomer Esiason Montage:
New SiriusXM local sports radio access means Isabella is now “coworkers” with her arch-nemesis, Boomer Esiason.
Katie puts Isabella through an “HR training,” playing back a series of misogynistic, outdated, or cringeworthy Boomer clips.

Highlights:

• Dismissing Olympian Eileen Gu:
  • “She is…insufferable. It's hard to listen to.” ([07:19])
• Another clip: “Everybody should just pipe down and just do their sport.”
• On-air joke about “Vagisil” for a female broadcaster ([09:55])
• Criticizing Daniel Murphy for taking paternity leave:
  • “I would have said C-section before the season starts…This is what makes our money.” ([11:12])

Panel Reactions:

• Isabella, deadpan: “That’s my new coworker.” ([10:46])
• Katie: “Somebody should have at least given you a heads up.” ([11:50])
• The crew role plays a “company holiday party” with an awkward Boomer intro.

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[13:05] LeBron James Signs with the Philadelphia 76ers

Theme: LeBron’s blockbuster move and its ripple effects.

Key Points & Discussion:

• LeBron signs a 2-year/$8m deal with the 76ers (his 24th season, announced on 7/24—a deliberate move?).
• It’s not about the money, but about chasing one last title.
• Twitter quote:
  • “I thought I was done when the season ended...but I was pretty sure I played my last game.” – LeBron (read by Katie, [13:56])
• Both Celtics (Katie & Chris) and Knicks (Isabella) fans are surprisingly positive on LeBron-to-Philly—a rare moment!
  • “If it weren’t…the Celtics, I think I like him on the Sixers. I do too.” – Katie ([14:41])
  • Chris: “It’s a team full of guys that I like. If they succeed, I’ll be excited for them. If they fail, that’s great, 'cause I’m a Celtics fan.” ([15:39])
• Reflecting on Kelly’s drive to “be the guy to finally bring a title back” (Philly last won in 1983), the impact of sports energy in long-suffering cities (Knicks) ([16:33]).
• Katie reports LeBron will actually live in New York and commute to Philly—possibly by train, not copter:
  • “I want rich people to start buying their own trains…how come they never have their own trains?” – Katie ([17:53])
• The shocking part: The news wasn’t “broken” by a major reporter, but by the Topps trading card Twitter, which is now owned by Fanatics—cue anti-monopoly banter ([18:31])
• Pie Chart Segment: Chris gives probabilities on why the Sixers might NOT win the 2027 championship.
  • LeBron's age: 8.16%
  • Embiid injury: 41% (!!)
  • Chemistry issues: 20.5%
  • Knicks being better: 16.4%
  • “No, it’s probably gonna work” (i.e., it will succeed): 12.3%

Memorable Quotes:

• “A cutie with a dog can excuse a whole manner of sins.” – Katie on Vrabel ([02:21])
• “We don't need to see LeBron in a helicopter all the time…let's get him on Amtrak.” – Isabella ([17:48])

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[31:33] WNBA All-Star Weekend Recap – Chicago & the “Threads” Tea

WNBA All-Star Takeaways:

• Chicago did a solid job as host city, but their own team (the Sky) didn’t maximize the event. The practice facility wasn’t ready.
• Obama met with players at his presidential center, leading to both “super cool” moments and online drama when Caitlin Clark took a photo—prompting backlash by some of her own fans ([34:09]).

Three-Point Contest:

• Azzi Fudd wins as a rookie! There was drama over how players were invited (“half-assed” invites via agent text), and last-minute scrambling on event logistics/branding.
  • “Why are we texting people, like—you up, want a three-point [contest]?” – Brady ([35:18])

All-Star Game:

• Team Spoon beats Team Coop 129–122.
• Jonquel Jones achieves a four-category sweep: All-Star MVP, regular season MVP, Finals MVP, and Commissioner's Cup MVP.
• Dominique Malanga dunks (“Let the dunk come, don’t force it,” says Katie, [39:13])

Gossip/“The Tea” Segment:

• Former Baylor, now Chicago Sky player Djanae Carrington outs ex Nalissa Smith (Aces) for cheating, dropping names and “plus plus plus many more” in a viral Threads post.
• Smith’s response: “Whether she cheated on me or I cheated on her, why are we bringing that to the internet a year later?” ([43:27])
• The Aces and Sky play this coming Saturday, “must-see TV.”
• Panel stands for “embracing the gay mess” as part of women's sports culture, and bristles at awkward straight male commentary:
  • “Gay mess is an important pillar of women’s sports culture that will never be eradicated, no matter how hard the powers that be may try.” – tweet cited by Katie ([46:49])

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[47:27] Other Women’s Sports Headlines

• The Utah Talons go back-to-back in the AUSL, winning their second straight national softball championship.
• Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) kickoff preview: all games to be streamed for free via YouTube ([101:07], see below for more).

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[48:25] Rapid Fire: Weird Headlines, Big Trades, Trump on Sports

• Barstool loses on Celebrity Family Feud 543–0—almost impossible to be that bad. ([48:54])
• Celtics’ coach Joe Mazzulla has gotten “sneaky jacked” and it’s “terrifying”—the crew spirals into Google Image rabbit holes ([50:28]).
• Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan had a serious accident, “stitches in the face…could be kind of cool” ([52:08])
• Tony Romo busted for operating while intoxicated (OWI) in Wisconsin; Katie rants about his “cringe” pharmaceutical ad and his habit of putting “thoughts in the heads” of QBs on broadcasts ([53:31])
• UNC’s Mike Lombardi put on administrative leave—HR investigation, social media reveals he’s a “butt guy” ([57:41])

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[58:24] MLB – Trades, Injuries, Trump’s Sports “Analysis” & The Babe Ruth Fable

Red Sox–Nationals Trade:

• Curtis Mead (infielder, Australia) to Red Sox for pitching prospect.
• Chris’ Australian pride is on display: “Represent!” ([59:27])
• Discussion delves briefly into baseball strategy and switched-up positions.

Shohei Ohtani Segment:

• Ohtani narrowly avoids injury after being spiked in the elbow by a teammate in a celebration gone wrong.
  • Chris: “That’s what we call a close call.” ([63:09])

Trump’s Sports Commentary (“Making Up Facts About Babe Ruth”)

• Trump riffs on Ohtani/Babe Ruth:
  • “They drafted Babe Ruth…as a pitcher but he did something very unusual…he led the league in home runs as a pitcher…” ([64:17])
• Every fact is wrong. Brady corrects: Ruth was never drafted, not 19, not for a 3B, did not lead the league in HRs as a pitcher, etc.
  • “The sound of his mouth is starting to really…just, get that out of there.” – Katie ([64:56])

Trump Rips Mets, Picks MJ over LeBron—For Petty Reasons:

• Trump: “The Mets have the highest salary in baseball and they lose all the time on Friday!” ([67:24])
• On GOAT debate:
  • “Michael Jordan’s a guy that’s a friend of mine…I only like people that like me, so I would say Michael Jordan all the way.” ([70:09])
• Katie: “You know we can hear you, right? That’s such an embarrassing…‘I only like people who like me.’ You’re the President.” ([70:15])

Mookie Betts’ podcast—Bryce Harper throws shade:

• “The Mets are the Mets…once they got rid of Pete and all those guys…it’s a different team.” ([72:21])
• Isabella defends her Mets: “We’ll find our footing, OK?…What, you’ve never had to trade people away and rebuild your identity?” ([72:40])

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[73:06] Tell It to Isabella: Manti Te’o Catfish Saga Explained

Story Summary:

• Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o’s storybook “tragedy” (losing his girlfriend and grandmother same day) fuels an inspiring Heisman run—until Deadspin exposes in January 2013 that “Lennay Kekua” never existed and Te’o was being catfished for years.
• Katie: “It was like the first—really propelled…the concept of ‘catfishing’ into the mainstream.” ([82:47])
• Confusion over how Te’o never met the “girlfriend.”
• “His biggest crime was being dumb and naïve and not running all the proper checks against your own emotions. Probably something you can’t do now that we’ve all been on social media…but at the time, it was kind of fresh…” – Brady ([87:30])

Notable Moment:

• Katie Couric (cringe throwback):
  • “One of the theories making the rounds is somehow you created this whole scenario to cover up your sexual orientation…Are you gay?” ([85:54])
• Manti: “Far from it.” ([86:02])
• The panel reflects on the cruelty of the news cycle and the ickiness of love-based deception.

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[95:05] What to Watch This Week: Chris’ Sports Viewing Guide

Listener Follow-Up:

• Kieran writes in: After 75 years, Mayo (Irish football team) finally breaks their “curse” and wins the All-Ireland. Voicemail from listener Zach confirms “proof of concept”—they heard about it on Casuals and then saw it on TikTok ([95:54], [96:36]).

Sports Recap:

1. Tour de France Femme
   • August 1–9, most stages on Peacock at 7:30/8:00/8:30am ET
2. Women’s Lacrosse World Championships
   • USA crushing it, streaming live on World Lacrosse TV ([99:11])
3. Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL)
   • Inaugural season begins August 1 at Robin Roberts Stadium, Springfield, IL. Four teams, free stream on YouTube ([101:07])

Women’s Team Names Banter:

• They deride the “Vixen” and “Passion” names as outdated, wish more leagues would use plural, less “sexy”/patronizing names ([102:09]).

Jersey Reveal—Thirst Alert:

• Unveiling WPBL uniforms causes “thirst” in the comments:
  • “There was a lot of people were really into whoever they had modeling the New York one. A lot of girls were like, yeah, I got nothing straight to say about this.” – Katie ([103:33])

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Memorable Quotes & Banter (Select Timestamped Highlights)

• [13:56] LeBron: “I thought I was done when the season ended…” (as read by Katie)
• [14:41] Katie: “I think I like him on the Sixers. I do too.”
• [34:09] Katie: “I saw a lot of Caitlin Clark fans get really upset with her for…I think taking a picture with Barack Obama.”
• [35:18] Brady: “Why are we texting people, like—you up, want a three-point [contest]?”
• [43:27] Nalissa Smith (via Twitch): “Whether she cheated on me or I cheated on her, why are we bringing that to the internet a year later?”
• [64:56] Katie: “The sound of his mouth is starting to really…just, get that out of there.”
• [70:15] Katie: “You know we can hear you. That’s such an embarrassing…‘I only like people who like me.’ You’re the president.”
• [82:47] Katie: “It was like, the first…and it really propelled…the concept of ‘catfishing’ into the mainstream.”
• [85:54] Katie Couric: “One of the theories…is somehow you created this to cover up your sexual orientation. Are you gay?”
• [87:30] Brady: “His biggest crime was being dumb and naïve and not running all the proper checks against your own emotions.”

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Final Notes/Wrap-Up

• The show closes with reminders for listeners: email, voicemail, IG/TikTok handles.
• “We love you, mean it—we’ll see you Thursday. Bye!” – Katie ([104:25])

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For more:

• Instagram/TikTok: @CasualsthePodcast
• Voicemail: 646-801-0043
• Email: [e-mail]

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Summary by: PodcastGPT
(Covering all key topics, memorable banter, and the signature “for everyone” spirit of the show—no gatekeeping, just fun.)

Transcript

[Katie Nolan]

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, what can't you do? Learn more at Capella Edu Adventures don't always go as planned. One minute you're cruising in your rv.

[Chris]

The next, your tire hits a massive pothole.

[Katie Nolan]

Progressive is ready for you when the unexpected hits. With excellent claim service for your boat,

[Chris]

RV and motorcycle, plus optional coverage like

[Brady]

roadside assistance and on the water towing.

[Katie Nolan]

Visit progressive.com and make sure your next

[Brady]

adventure is unforgettable for the right reasons.

[Chris]

Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates not

[Katie Nolan]

available in all states or situations. Coverage is subject to policy terms and hey, Isabella, did you see? Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel showed up to his first media session at Patriots training camp and brought to the podium with him a puppy.

[Isabella]

Oh, I know.

[Katie Nolan]

It's so cute.

[Isabella]

It's cute.

[Katie Nolan]

And that's fair. And that's fair. It's just that he's weaponizing. That's what pisses me off. It's not. You're not wrong to see the picture and go, oh, the tiny German shepherd. But.

[Isabella]

But, like, he's just blatantly doing it.

[Katie Nolan]

I mean, come on. Now.

[Isabella]

They.

[Katie Nolan]

They say that this is part of the Patriots program where the Patriots partner with local animal shelters to promote and host pet adoption events. And that is certainly could be true. And. And. And. And is admirable, you know, commendable. We love charity. We love adorable animals. This is great. Adopt, don't shop.

[Isabella]

But.

[Katie Nolan]

But now your first media availability, and you walk in.

[Isabella]

I love the lack of shame.

[Katie Nolan]

It's just so obvious. It's so obvious. No one wants to grill you when you're holding a tiny little puppy.

[Isabella]

Yeah. And I think he has to know, and his team knows that some people out there think he's a little cutie, like Mike Raybull himself.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, yeah.

[Isabella]

So they're like, oh, that with a puppy.

[Katie Nolan]

A cutie with a dog can excuse a whole manner of sins. Exactly. Again, we still don't really have an update from Vrabel on what's going on with any of that. And at this point, I don't think we're ever gonna get it. So you know what? Somebody Hand me a puppy. Let's start a podcast. This episode is presented by Xfinity. What's up? What's up?

[Isabella]

What's up?

[Katie Nolan]

It's different. It's different. I didn't say it again because I don't want you guys to get too complacent and too comfortable. It can be different. The intro to this podcast can be different every single episode. Hi. Welcome to Casuals, a sports podcast for literally anybody. Maybe you've never listened to a sports podcast before. That's okay. This is the sports podcast for you. We get you caught up on everything going on, or we try to across sports today. That consists of a lot of things. We got WNBA All Star, LeBron to Philadelphia. We have trade news in Major League Baseball. Trump is trying his hand as a sports talker. Said a lot of stuff about sports and we'll see how that is. If Stephen A. Can be president, maybe Trump could be a pundit. I don't know. We'll take a listen and we'll see. And we're also gonna tell a Isabella about Manti Teo. But first, you've gotta meet the casualties. The production crew here at SiriusXM who helped me make this thing. We have our sports newbie, Isabella.

[Isabella]

Hello.

[Katie Nolan]

We've got our master editor, Chris.

[Chris]

Hello. See you steal my WhatsApp. I steal your hello.

[Isabella]

Whoa.

[Katie Nolan]

I didn't realize the what's up? Was yours.

[Chris]

I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't repeat the what's up?

[Katie Nolan]

No, totally. I mean, I did. I said it three times. And then we have ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. Brady. Hey, good Brady. I heard you that you had a voice. You had something you wanted to say about the buh, buh, buh.

[Brady]

We had people with thoughts.

[Katie Nolan]

Great.

[Brady]

Why don't you play Gabe from Cincinnati?

[Katie Nolan]

That was Isabella. That was Isabella.

[Isabella]

By the way, I don't have a pig in here.

[Katie Nolan]

No, it wasn't me.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Hey, Katie's in casualties.

[Katie Nolan]

It's Gabe from Cincinnati. Just curious if any of you heard the song Baby Steps by Olivia Dean. There's a part that goes B B baby step and just reminds me of Brady's intro and just makes me smile and think about the podcast every time I hear it. So just wanted to share that. Love you, mean it.

[Chris]

Who day.

[Katie Nolan]

Bye. Oh, Gabe. Love you mean it. Can we now is it feels like it might be a short enough clip of the song that we could get away with playing it.

[Brady]

Can we just. Short enough.

[Katie Nolan]

Can we hear Olivia Dean Say ba ba ba. Baby steps. That's beautiful. I think we should start going. Ba ba ba. Brady's here. I think that's perfect. Thank you Gabe for bringing that to our attention. What's up, casualties? How are you feeling everybody? Good?

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Great. Fantastic.

[Brady]

Three day field hockey tournament in Virginia beach this weekend. Shout out.

[Katie Nolan]

This upcoming weekend or the past weekend?

[Brady]

This past weekend.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Brady]

Shout out the Warhawks for of Howard County, Maryland, undefeated champions of Bash at the Beach 2026.

[Katie Nolan]

And that's your child?

[Brady]

That's my youngest. That's my youngest.

[Katie Nolan]

Congratulations. So exciting. War Hawks for a young girls team is crazy.

[Brady]

The Most aggressively named 8 year old field hockey team.

[Katie Nolan]

I love that. God, that terrifies me. Congrats to them. Don't forget guys, you can email us casuals with [e-mail]. our voicemail is 646-800-010043 and on IG and TikTok we are CasualsThePodcast. All that stuff to talk about today, I've already told you. But the first thing we have to start with is very important. Isabella, what did you see that? Late last week Sirius XM announced that on 9-1-23 of the country's top local sports stations. So all these like smaller local stations will be available on satellite. So that includes New York's WFAN. Which means that starting on September 1st, you and your arch nemesis are going to be co workers.

[Isabella]

That seems a little unfair.

[Katie Nolan]

Now of course we're referring to Boomer Esiason. Isabella, not a huge fan. Now HR has asked me to make sure that you will not act out in violence if Boomer to say any of the following dumb things that he said again. So we have all the things he said on air in the past and this will be our test of whether you're it's going to be a safe workplace environment for him. We need to just put you through sort of a bit of a test, you know, just to make sure that you're cool with being Now I can test.

[Isabella]

I can't make promises though.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, sure. We'll just, we'll try. We're going to see what we could get out of you because originally this stemmed from I believe Isabella's original issue was from the Eileen Goo stuff. So let's just go ahead and start there. Let's take a listen to Boomerasias and discussing Olympian Eileen Goo.

[Brady]

She's a very, very attractive woman and she's extremely bright. She went to Stanford. But if you listen to her post, I guess participation interviews she's insufferable. She is. It's. It's. It's. It's hard to listen to, but then again, it's an individual sport by an individual person talking about herself as opposed to talking about her teammates or the support.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Didn't even finish the clip.

[Isabella]

That's my new coworker.

[Katie Nolan]

And that's. And, And.

[Isabella]

And let me. I'll end it right there.

[Katie Nolan]

That's it? That's all you have to say about that clip? I forgot about that squeaky fart noise and the fact that he, like. He, like, talks funny. What? Brady just.

[Brady]

Just wrestling his microphone arm and then

[Katie Nolan]

whoever that is laughing. It's like, all right.

[Isabella]

It's like, wasn't that funny, really?

[Katie Nolan]

Not that funny to call a woman insufferable, but hey. All right, so then let's go back a little bit. February 10, 2026. This was before that last. This was reacting to winter Olympians who spoke out against ice violence and the Trump administration. We play this clip, okay?

[Brady]

You know, everybody should just pipe down and just do their sport and play for our country and respect the flag and respect everything that's going on.

[Katie Nolan]

Respect everything that's going on.

[Isabella]

Isabella, who is this person that he's on air with that keeps laughing at Liz? Chill, bro.

[Katie Nolan]

I was going to ask question. I was going to say, how come you guys don't laugh nearly as much as Boomer Esiason's co host, who's like, boomer is killing in the room. Meanwhile, I can't squeeze a laugh out of you guys telling literal jokes.

[Chris]

I feel like that's the number one thing I bring to the table on this show, to be honest, for three

[Katie Nolan]

weeks at a time, I'm a laughless room. Isabella.

[Brady]

Greg Gianni.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay. And shout out to Boomer's co host.

[Brady]

There's a running theme here of Boomer saying some asinine shit and constantly having a laugh track behind.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

And instead, it sounds like a horror movie.

[Katie Nolan]

So pipe down and respect everything that's going on. You okay with that, Isabella, from your co worker?

[Isabella]

Do I have to answer?

[Katie Nolan]

October 8, 2025. We're going back even further. This is Boomer Esiason reacting to Yankees broadcaster Dave Sims doing an ad for Dude Wipes and then suggesting ads for his broadcast partner, Susan Waldman.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Brady]

She could use, like, Vagisol.

[Isabella]

Okay, buddy. This is a person on air.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

They allow him to have a job. I'm sorry, it's not over.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Brady]

I couldn't even say that with a straight Face. I could.

[Isabella]

I could. His co host.

[Brady]

I mean, there's all sorts of feminine wipes.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Yes. Boomer, that's the. That's the issue is that you chose Vagisil when you could have chosen Summer's Eve. It's the. It's the. It's. The idea of vagina is so funny to them. So I. I feel bad for their wives.

[Isabella]

That's my new co worker. Next.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, and then we've got one more. This is from April 2, 2014. This is Isabella's new co worker, Boomer Esiason, in response to Daniel Murphy from the Mets missing the first two games of the season due to paternity leave as his wife recovered from a C section. Let's take a listen.

[Brady]

Quite frankly, I would have gone. I would have said C section before the season starts.

[Katie Nolan]

I need to be.

[Brady]

I need to be at opening day. I'm sorry. This is what makes our money. This is how we're going to live our life. This is going to give my child every opportunity to be a success in life.

[Katie Nolan]

So he's.

[Isabella]

I'm sorry.

[Katie Nolan]

He was unhappy with it and said that he should have been an opening day. Your co worker, Boomer Esiason.

[Isabella]

Isabella thought, that's my co worker.

[Katie Nolan]

Is it getting more believable every time she says it here? But let's do this, Isabella. No, no. Say what you're gonna say.

[Isabella]

No, I'm just offended that I wasn't asked first if he could be my co worker. That's all I'm saying.

[Katie Nolan]

Totally.

[Isabella]

You know what I mean?

[Katie Nolan]

Somebody should have at least given you a heads up.

[Isabella]

And it's just like, I hate that I'm blindsided.

[Katie Nolan]

But whatever she found out when we all found out in the news, and honestly, kind of crazy, I think that a special accommodation should have been made. Here's one last thing. HR has just asked me to kind of role play with you.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

And that's. I'm gonna play the role of Boomera Siacid. And you're gonna be you. And we're gonna be at the company holiday party. Now I'm gonna walk up to you and introduce myself. And we would. HR Just wants to get a sense of, like, what you would. How you're gonna handle this interaction. Okay.

[Brady]

Chris and I be Greg.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, sure.

[Brady]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

I'm walking up to you in an annoying way. Hi, I'm Boomer. Hi. Okay, great. And we'll clip that and send that over to hr and they should love that. I think they're really gonna love that.

[Isabella]

Oh, wait, I think I got a fart in here too. Hold on.

[Katie Nolan]

We gotta move on. We gotta move on before Isabella accidentally poops her pants during the podcast trying to find a fart for Boomer Assassins. Hey, Boomer. Welcome to the team, big dog. Clean it up, you know, and bring your little laughing friend. We appreciate that, you know. Okay, the actual big news, the big lead story of this week. LeBron James has finally told us where he's going to play basketball next season. The news broke on Friday, the 24th day of the month. Well, it's his 24th season in basketball. Mind blown, you know. 41 year old LeBron James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. If you haven't heard this by now, where have you been? Two year contract, $8 million. There's a, I think a player option to leave after a year, it's low money. If it sounds low, it's because it wasn't about the money. We always knew he was going to take the veteran minimum and that he just wanted to go to a team that was going to possibly help him secure one last championship. On Twitter, he said, quote, I thought I was done when the season ended. I wasn't ready to announce it and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game. Do we believe that?

[Brady]

I do. Because he didn't announce it at Fanatics Fest and I was like locked in that he was going to announce it at Fanatics Fest.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay. He called this his last decision. So take him at his word. This is it. This is what we're going to see. I think after having the weekend to kind of sit with it, I think if it weren't, if I were removing my own rooting interests from this, which obviously are the Celtics, this, it complicates things because we're going to see them a lot. I think I like him on the Sixers. I do too.

[Isabella]

Is that weird to say?

[Katie Nolan]

No, it's not cool for a Celtics and a Knicks fan to say. I don't think. But I think in general, I don't know, Philly gets a lot of shit and, you know, they give people a lot of shit as well. But I think basketball wise, the Sixers took a lot of shit this year. People were like, you know, Josh Hart was like, they're not a sports city. They don't show up. The. When the Knicks play the Sixers, it's like a home game. And, And I think LeBron, a name like LeBron coming to the city could, like, reinvigorate. I saw people get so excited. I was telling Isabella on the radio. I saw a guy tell a wawa full of people that LeBron was coming to the Sixers, and, like, the place went nuts. Like, I think it's something that can get even casual fans really engaged with the Sixers. And. I don't know, I think in general, this could be, like, a cool final chapter for LeBron. But I, as always, when it comes to basketball stuff, I default to Chris's thoughts. Chris, after having the weekend to think about it, what do you. Where are you at on this?

[Chris]

At the risk of sounding like a copycat, I'm right in the same camp as you. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. The 76s, as a franchise, I don't particularly love, but LeBron I've been a fan of for many years. I like Tyrese Maxey. I love Jalen Brown. Big fan of Vijay Edgecombe. I don't hate Joel Embiid. So there. It's. It's a team full of guys that I like to see succeed, even if I don't want to see the 76ers as a franchise succeed. So it's just going to be a lot of fun. And because it's a lot of guys that I like all in one spot, if they succeed together, then I'm going to be excited for them. If they fail, that's great, because I'm a Celtics fan. So either way, I'm going to have a lot of fun watching them.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Brady]

And if they gotta think the Knicks had something to do with this, because the appeal here has to be that the Sixers haven't won in 43 years. It's been since 1983. They won.

[Isabella]

The energy of, like, a team that hasn't won so long.

[Brady]

Yeah. So seeing what New York did for the Knicks, kind of, it's got to make you want to be a part. He was a part of that for when Cleveland won their championship.

[Isabella]

Guys, it is fun.

[Brady]

What New York, how New York reacted. I think, you know, it's kind of the allure of being a part of that energy for Philly had to be strong.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Well, speaking of New York, rumor has it that is where LeBron's going to live, and he will commute from New York to Philly. As far as commutes go, that's not crazy. I think a lot of people do a similar commute, just like regular people that have jobs, live in New York and commute to Philly. It's. It's a. Or. Or the other way around. Live in Philly and commute to New York, so it's not impossible. I also don't think LeBron's gonna own one place to live. I don't. With all that money, you can have a lot of houses. Are you okay?

[Isabella]

I just. It just burped. I'm sorry.

[Katie Nolan]

That's okay.

[Isabella]

Yeah, it was some leftover for Boomer. I'm so sorry.

[Katie Nolan]

It was meant to be a fart, but you wouldn't let me get it out, so it came upstairs and just

[Isabella]

sort of ventilation in here. I didn't wanna.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, yeah, no, totally. No. Great.45 helicopter ride for LeBron. I don't know that I would recommend taking a helicopter all the time. Helicopters are scarier than you guys.

[Isabella]

I know.

[Katie Nolan]

I don't.

[Isabella]

I would never.

[Katie Nolan]

A constant commute in a helicopter. I don't know. I don't.

[Isabella]

Let's get LeBron on an Amtrak.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

That's what I want to see. Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

You know what I want? I want to see. Forget PJs. I want pts. I want rich people to start buying their own trains. How come they never have their own trains? No, no, no, no.

[Isabella]

You're gonna mess up the trains for me. Actually, don't do that, because they'll definitely prioritize your train over my NJ train.

[Katie Nolan]

Cool. Everything's broken. That's so cool. So, yes, the news was not broken at Fanatics Fest. It was broken by the Tops Twitter account on Friday. I thought it got broken by Choms.

[Brady]

The first. The first tweet came from Tops.

[Katie Nolan]

And what did Tops say?

[Brady]

They were promoting their one of one. They had a LeBron card ready to go. So it didn't come from Fanatics Fest. It came from a fanatics company in Tops.

[Katie Nolan]

So Fanatics owns Topps?

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

And they also, like, own the marketplace for cards.

[Brady]

Yeah, they own all the stuff.

[Katie Nolan]

That doesn't feel like a contrast to anybody. This is. Can we just do whatever we want now?

[Brady]

Is that how this works? That's.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

Crazy. Okay, whatever. None of my business. Way above my pay grade. But that feels like something somebody finds out.

[Brady]

A bunch of trading card companies. I think it is actually miserable when you dig. It's like sunglasses where you realize they're all owned by the same. The same guy.

[Katie Nolan]

What?

[Brady]

Oh, like every major sunglass company is owned by the same person.

[Chris]

Who,

[Katie Nolan]

me?

[Isabella]

We.

[Katie Nolan]

Who owns this? Everybody. Like, you mean like Sunglass Hut or

[Brady]

you mean, like, Luxottica is the name of the company they Own Ray Ban, Oakley, Costa del Mar, Arnett, Chanel, Prada, Armani. All of their sunglasses, Wings. And they own Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, Pearl Vision, and Target.

[Isabella]

What?

[Brady]

Yeah. All your sunglasses come from the same company.

[Isabella]

Cool.

[Katie Nolan]

Not all for the same price.

[Isabella]

Okay, that's insane. Anyway.

[Katie Nolan]

Anyway, we already said this, but the Sixers have not won an NBA championship since 1983. Chris, I saw you had a little bit here. What's this?

[Chris]

What's this?

[Katie Nolan]

A little bit.

[Chris]

What we wanted to do is go through specific reasons why the 76ers won't win the 2027 NBA championship.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Chris]

And I would assign different percentages, like a pie chart, on the likelihood that that was the reason why they wouldn't.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay? So I'll give you a reason why the Sixers might not work out, that this might not all work out, why they won't win the championship, and then you'll tell me what percent you assign that to the greater pie of the. That's a little. A little convoluted, but I believe in you listeners, and I think you'll get it. I think you'll love it. Okay. Number one reason that the 76ers won't win the 2027 NBA championship. Old age catches up to LeBron, and he's just not LeBron anymore.

[Chris]

I'd give this an 8.16% chance as being the reason why they don't win the NBA championship. Mainly because I don't think LeBron needs to be LeBron in order for them to win the championship. And if he isn't LeBron, I think it's because other things have gone wrong rather than the fact that he hasn't lived up to expectations. I still think he's going to be good. He was still very good last year. He's shown that he can be a really good number two option. He can take that, you know, step back and let the other players around him do the majority of, you know, scoring and things like that. So he's fine in that role. I just don't think that's going to be the make or break for the 76ers this season.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, Beautiful. All right, what about this? Joel Embiid gets hurt again and still doesn't play 40 games, and they have no center.

[Chris]

41%.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay?

[Chris]

I think this is probably the most likely scenario as to why they don't succeed. He has been perennially injured throughout his career. He is fantastic when he is playing, but it's just about keeping him healthy. They always say the best Ability is availability, and unfortunately, Joel Embiid don't have much of that.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, my goodness.

[Brady]

Yikes.

[Katie Nolan]

Ouch. All right, how about this? Too many players who want to be the number one option. The team chemistry never gets quite right.

[Chris]

I'd say 20.5%. Jalen Brown came out and mentioned how this year, a year in which the Celtics didn't, or I guess last season, the 25, 26 season, he came out and said that that was his favorite season of his career, despite the fact that the Celtics did not win an NBA championship. Keeping in mind they won the championship two years prior, and he is still saying that this season was his favorite season, and that was because he was the number one option. He was playing second fiddle to Jason Tatum for many years, and now he's sort of back in this position where he's not going to be the number one guy. I don't think it's either going to be Joel Embiid. It's either going to be Tyrese Maxey. We'll see how Vijay Edgecombe comes along. There's a lot of guys over there who can do a lot of damage, and it's hard to know in the final seconds of a game who that ball is going to go to, who is going to be the guy that wants to take that last shot. I feel like there's going to be a lot of them, but I don't know who's actually going to be able to get them. So I feel like that's going to be a big reason why the 76ers wouldn't win.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, what about this? We're doing reasons why the 76ers won't win the 2027 NBA championship. What about shooting some B ball outside of the school? LeBron gets in one little fight, and then his mom gets scared, and then he moves him back to LA.

[Chris]

1.64%, I think.

[Katie Nolan]

This is not zero.

[Chris]

It's not zero. There's. There's a chance, but I don't put much hope into this.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Brady]

The 1 in 60 chance that LeBron has to go back to Bel Air.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. And what about Jalen Brunson and the Knicks just are still better?

[Chris]

I'd say 16.4%. I think they probably are a little bit better, but I don't think that they're going to be the only team that the 76ers are going to have to defeat. Right. There's still going to be. The spurs are going to be really good. The Thunder are going to be really good. There are going to be other teams that they're still going to have to compete against. It's not just the Knicks that are going to be in their way, which is why I haven't got that number higher. But I do feel like there's still a great chance that the Knicks are going to be better than the 76 is this season.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, thanks, Chris.

[Chris]

No worries.

[Isabella]

I needed to hear that.

[Katie Nolan]

And then the last one that you have here, pretty crazy is the reason that they won't win the championship is. No, it's probably going to work. 12.3%, 3%.

[Chris]

Yeah. I think I like. It's realistic. I can absolutely see it happening. There's a lot that has to go right though. It's hard to win a championship. You have to stay healthy. All the pieces have to click together. When you're playing with a lot of new guys in an offense for the very first time, it takes a while to gel. And so I don't know how it's going to go for the first half of the season. And then if they end up being, you know, third, fourth, even fifth seed because it takes a while for them to gel, then that's going to make their job in the postseason a lot harder. You saw when LeBron first moved to the Heat with the big three, it still took them a little bit of time to gel as well. And this isn't that. This is not quite to that level. Right. LeBron's just nowhere near as good as he was back then. So I, I do see it happening and I wouldn't mind it happen.

[Katie Nolan]

He's older.

[Chris]

Yeah. I just, I. It's hard to win NBA championship.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. That's the overall overarching point. But Isabella doesn't know that. To her, it's easy.

[Isabella]

It's easy.

[Chris]

NBA championships are easy. Fantasy football championships, easy.

[Katie Nolan]

She just, they come naturally to her. There's nothing we can do to stop this woman.

[Isabella]

Feel it and believe it.

[Brady]

The Larry o' Brien shows up where you work, you kiss the trophy and

[Isabella]

put some good that doesn't everybody experience that.

[Chris]

Stick some post it notes around the house.

[Katie Nolan]

If I may real quick and respectfully. No, not everybody ever gets this.

[Isabella]

Doesn't everybody get to put a posted on the Larry, I mean, come on guys.

[Katie Nolan]

Hey, whatever. It works for you and it has worked. So we'll see. I'm just glad he announced it. I'm glad we know now and that we can all move forward with our lives. Thank you, LeBron for. And I think this could be cool. It'll Be something we'll keep an eye on, I'm sure. And I'm sure we'll be watching a lot of Jaylen Brown live streams to see how he really feels or what he really thinks.

[Brady]

Sports are best when you have villains like that year that the lake 20 some years ago, but the year that the Lakers had Shaq and Kobe and Karl Malone and Gary Payton went ring chasing with the Lakers. Not saying this is exactly that, but it became very easy to have like someone on top of the mountain that you have to just that everybody wants to knock off. So either if you're on LeBron's side or you're against LeBron's side. The sport is way more fun when there is somebody that you are absolutely trying to stop. When there is somebody that's absolutely on the other end of the ball that you want to take down.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Yeah. The thing that I'm most excited about is LeBron's back on the East Coast. So we get some 7 o' clock tip offs because when he's playing out west, few and far between, at least not only is he on the east coast, he's in the Celtics division. So I'm going to be watching a lot of 76ers games this year.

[Brady]

Do we know when we get LeBron vs Bronny?

[Katie Nolan]

Interesting. Good question. I don't know. I would also say, do we know yet if LeBron has made the special request to keep those black AI era Sixers jerseys that they wore? They're very nice. And I think having a LeBron jersey in that would be a huge seller for the team and the league. I don't know how that money gets split up, but it just feels like a. It would obviously have to be bending a rule a little bit for the NBA to let them use that jersey again, but I think they should. And I think LeBron should be able to go, hey, can we keep this around for another season? Because everybody wants the jersey with my name on it that looks like this. So just something.

[Chris]

And that's an Allen Iverson jersey, not an artificial intelligence.

[Katie Nolan]

Sorry. Yes, absolutely. Important to say not AI. Which Isabella did you see? Did I see Jalen Brunson do like an AI ad? Did he Some sort of an AD endorsing AI?

[Isabella]

I didn't see it.

[Katie Nolan]

Didn't know how you felt about that.

[Isabella]

You know what I did feel I have some feelings about is that in this doc, someone spelled Jalen Brunson's name wrong with a Y like Jalen Brown. And I just want to make sure, sure. To call that out.

[Brady]

And there's too many Jalens in the NBA.

[Isabella]

Okay. One person's one Jalen that you must remember for the sake of me is James.

[Katie Nolan]

And just for the sake of me, the host of this thing, if we could stop getting stuff wrong in the doc in general would be awesome. I don't know. Be very helpful to me. Okay.

[Brady]

No one has to see the spellings.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, sure, that part. Look, 30 minutes in and we're ready to take a break. I don't know, you guys. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it feels like we could actually keep this thing to a normal amount of time. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we got to talk about. I mean, these are heavy. A lot of topics. We got NBA All Star. A lot happened. We got Trump talking sports. There's a lot there, believe it or not. And then we got to tell Isabella about Manti Tejo. So let me not get ahead of myself. This is still going to be a three hour podcast, but we're taking a quick break. We're casuals and we'll be right back. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Even in 2026, stigma can get in the way of a lot of things, like getting support for your mental health. Maybe you've encouraged friends to consider therapy while avoiding taking the first step yourself because you're busy, worried what others would think, or telling yourself you should handle it alone. But therapy with BetterHelp, the world's largest online therapy platform, can be a space to slow down and talk through what's been building before it feels unmanageable. Just take a short questionnaire to identify your needs and preferences. And BetterHelp will handle the initial therapist matching work for you. Their industry leading match fulfillment rate means BetterHelp typically gets it right the first time. Feel confident knowing better help? Therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the United States. Don't let stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with better help. Sign up and get 10% [e-mail] Katie Nolan that's better. H E L P.com Katie Nolan the best summer pieces are the ones you end up wearing on repeat. Comfortable, versatile, and somehow right for almost any occasion. Quint's makes it easy to create a summer wardrobe you'll love with elevated essentials made from premium materials like European linen, organic cotton and washable silk. Without the traditional retail markup. Quince's 100% European linen pants, dresses and tops are the pieces you'll reach for all summer long. And it's not just apparel that Quince sells. Quince also offers elevated essentials for your home, from bedding and bath to kitchen essentials furniture. I've ordered a duvet cover from Quint that I love, but one of my favorite things they have are those European linen shorts and shirts and pants so you can kind of mix and match your own set. They come in all of the summer colors that you want, make your summer wardrobe feel easier. Go to quint.comcasuals for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N C E.comcasuals for free Shipping and 365 day returns. Quint.com/casuals do you remember in school when your teacher had a favorite of everything? A favorite marker, a favorite element, and yes, even a favorite student who wasn't me. So let's move on. I want to talk about their real favorite thing. Kleenex tissues. According to teacher lists, Kleenex is the number one facial tissue trusted by teachers. They're silky soft, help prevent skin irritation. And now with Kleenex, Snap and go, you can take them anywhere. Stock up on the ultimate classroom favorite for whatever happens next. Grab Kleenex. Hear that?

[Brady]

That's now crispy and McCrispy strips meeting creamy Caesar sauce. Sounds extra Crispy caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.

[Katie Nolan]

And we're back. Oh my God, I missed you. Where have you been? Where did you go? Why did you leave? I missed you so much.

[Isabella]

They gotta take a poop for a second.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, okay, Fair enough. WNBA All Star in Chicago this past weekend. And as always, what a weekend that was. I can't say enough about going to. I didn't. But you should. WNBA All Star. Because as of right now at least, it really seems like we're in this sweet spot with the WNBA where like if you go to All Star weekend, you can kind of have access to all of the stars in the wnba. They are out and about. They are at their fan fests and stuff just like available to you. I saw so many Tiktoks and Instagrams or whatever over the weekend from people being like, I'm in Chicago for All Star and I was just grabbing a coffee and I bumped into this person and this person and this person. It just seems like such a cool, fun cultural weekend. WNBA All Star.

[Isabella]

I know I was having fomo. I know I was like, wait, I want to be invited.

[Katie Nolan]

I know. Maybe we'll go when it's. Where is it next year. Brady or whoever's got Google ability right now while we're on this podcast, because Chicago, I heard mixed reviews. I heard Chicago as a city did a pretty good job. I also hasn't been announced.

[Brady]

Oh, that's a problem.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. Kathy put it on the list of stuff to get to her. Cathy, you know. Yeah. But you'd like to be able to promote it. You know what I mean?

[Isabella]

True.

[Katie Nolan]

And while Chicago did a good job with it as a city, I will also say the sky. I didn't necessarily do a great job with it because a. They didn't have any All Stars, did they? Was Dijonay Carrington an All Star? I don't.

[Brady]

She was there.

[Katie Nolan]

She certainly was there. And we'll get into that in a second. But they also the practice facility that they were supposed to be unveiling during this, it wasn't ready. They pushed it back because of construction. So it just didn't seem like the sky had a lot going on to sort of use All Star to help them as a team. But I digress. Let's go through some of the stuff from the weekend that we saw at WNBA All Star. First thing I saw this must have been Friday, was Obama meeting with the All Stars. He visited them at the Presidential center, the Obama Presidential Center's indoor basketball court, which again is what I think they used because the practice facility wasn't ready. So Obama stepped in and said, you can use my basketball court. And they were like, hell yeah.

[Brady]

Thanks, Obama.

[Isabella]

Super cool.

[Katie Nolan]

I got to see Coach Jackie, one of my favorite women sports creators, like interviewing Barack Obama, which is so crazy. And then. And I also got to see a lot of Caitlin Clark fans get really upset with her for I think taking a picture with Barack Obama.

[Isabella]

Really.

[Katie Nolan]

Which I thought was kind of.

[Isabella]

Ooh, I didn't see that.

[Katie Nolan]

Interesting.

[Brady]

She didn't match the projection they create

[Katie Nolan]

upon her, I guess. I guess. I don't know what the hell. I can't touch any discussion involving that lady with a ten foot pole. I don't know what the hell is going on there. But. Interesting, interesting. We're noticing and we're. And we're moving on. Shout out Obama though. That was pretty neat. Saturday was the three point contest. Three point contest. Az Fudd won that. She's the first rookie, right. To win the three point contest, which is great. It's also not her first three point contest. She's won. She's done this throughout her career. Wasn't there a year she got hurt. She like hurt her knee or her ankle or something at the, I think it was Steph Curry's basketball camp. But she still came out and did the three point contest and she won it. I also saw a picture of her as a child with her arm taped behind her body by her family. That's how they had her practicing her shooting. She's like filthy. And she won the three point contest. It was awesome. I think she tied the second highest score in the event overall. Just very cool and very sick. What was this controversy, Brady?

[Brady]

So Bleacher Report reported Thursday, I guess that Caitlin Clark, Kayla McBride and Sabrina Unescu had all declined an invitation to the three point contest. Sabrina first came out and immediately said I can't decline an offer I never officially got invited to. And then Kayla came out on her IG story and said, I received a half ass invite to the three point contest through my agent in a text randomly, 48 hours ago. Not officially. Whoa, why are we texting people like you up want a three point, like, why are we texting people? Why can't we get our shit together, Kathy, and send out official invites so we're not left hanging like this?

[Katie Nolan]

You know why? After thing I know, I saw a woman online say so a little insider tea is that she's got a friend who does the giant decals that they put on the court. And she said like 48 hours before the All Star Game, they placed a rush order for the decal for on the court. 48 might be wrong. It might be a little like an extra day. I don't know. Just it was very short within when the game was gonna be, they were reaching out and being like, can we get this made? And so they had to overpay like 200% because they waited so long.

[Brady]

It's.

[Katie Nolan]

It just what's going on? Why does it feel those are the

[Brady]

little things with like the, with not having a city announced for next year's All Star Game is that you don't have a logo announced, which means you don't have graphic treatments for all of these things. And so many balls have to get rolling to take over an entire city and put logos at the airports and, you know, up and down the streets and have an actual All Star presence is these things need to be done a year in advance and we don't even know where it's going to be.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, that's crazy.

[Brady]

Kathy.

[Katie Nolan]

Let's have it at Brady's house.

[Isabella]

They deserve better.

[Katie Nolan]

WNBA All Star 2027 at Brady's house.

[Isabella]

House.

[Katie Nolan]

Is that cool?

[Brady]

I'm in.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Brady]

I want to smoke a pork shoulder.

[Isabella]

I thought you were saying, I'm gonna smoke a blunt. I was like, why?

[Katie Nolan]

Get to work. I don't think that's normally. Like, I got a lot of work to do. Let me smoke a little weed first. Okay. And then on Sunday was the actual All Star game. Team Spoon defeated team Coop 129 to 122. I'll just say double vowels in both team names. Makes it a little confusing. I know that's silly, but it's just. It makes you go like, coop, spoon, they sound too. So come on with that. John Quell Jones became the first player in WNBA history to become an All Star. Mvp, regular season mvp, finals MVP and Commissioner's cup mvp. That's very impressive. That is the most valuable person we got a dunk from. Dominique Malanga.

[Isabella]

Fun.

[Katie Nolan]

That was cool. I didn't appreciate. I didn't really appreciate all the lob passes to try to get her the dunk before she did get the dunk. I felt like maybe we didn't need all of that, but, you know, still cool.

[Brady]

WNBA dunks feel weird to me. Like, I. I don't know.

[Katie Nolan]

Brady, what's that? That feels problematic. Go ahead.

[Brady]

Because it's. I think they feel problematic in their own. Like, the celebration of them feel problematic, like they're an incredible athletic achievement. But then the reaction always seems to be like, finally they did what the men do. You know, like, it becomes a problematic celebration that she dunked, where, like, people celebrate that. All right, One of them can finally make this look like men's basketball, where I don't. I don't think that needs to be treated like the be all, end all. And maybe I'm straw manning this a bit.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. I don't think of a dunk as, like, a men's basketball thing. I think of it as, like, an athletic achievement. I think of a dunk as just cool in general. I don't care who's doing it. It's obviously harder for women, but it. But to me, it doesn't make me go, like, finally, they're playing like the men. I just go like, that was cool. But again, I don't need. I don't need a ton of, like, lob passes trying to get it. I don't need. It does feel a little. Pick me to want the dunk so badly that you try so hard to get it when it's, like, just Let the dunk come. If the moment is there, go for it. But we don't have to. Let's not force it. You know, it's.

[Chris]

It's the combination of the rarity of it happening and the surprise when it finally does happen. Not in that obvious instance where, you know, they kept trying to get it to her, but like in 2012 in the Olympics, when Liz Cambridge dunked for Australia. That was awesome. That took everyone off guard. We weren't expecting it. Then all of a sudden, she dunked and it was sick. And I still remember that. And that was 15 years ago. So I love dunks in the W and in women's international basketball as well.

[Katie Nolan]

And if you're gonna drink it out of a cup, dunks.

[Isabella]

Love that.

[Katie Nolan]

It's Dunkin Donuts cup, you guys. And they didn't pay for this, so just be cool about it, okay? Maybe they can pay us after the fact. Anybody else wanna say anything about the actual basketball before we get into, just for a second, the tea?

[Brady]

From coffee to tea from coffee.

[Isabella]

Nope. Get to the tea.

[Chris]

Get to the tea.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, so the tea. Now, this unfolded on Threads, which. This has to be one of the first big moments on threads. I saw somebody go, could we just do this on Twitter so I don't have to make a Threads account? And I to. To that I say, unfortunately, I don't have a Threads account. But I get why a league like this, it would old. I wish we could go back to old Twitter and have it happen there. But the way that Twitter is now, this wouldn't have worked as much. And I believe even, like Sidney Coulson agrees with me because this is what finally got her to make a Threads account. So let me just start at the beginning here. So Djanae Carrington, Dj' Nay Carrington, used to date Melissa Smith.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Isabella.

[Isabella]

They were.

[Katie Nolan]

They were teammates together at Baylor.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Under head coach that. Head coach that you know. Women's basketball head coach that.

[Isabella]

You know, Dawn Staley.

[Katie Nolan]

No, but I love that. But no. Lsu.

[Isabella]

Oh, Kim Mulkey.

[Katie Nolan]

Right. So they were on Kim Mulkey's Baylor team. They started dating in 2020, and then they were briefly teammates on the wings during the 2025 season. And then Melissa Smith was traded to the Aces in June, and then in November of that year, 2025. Last year, Dijonay Carrington announced that they had ended things. It was sort of alluded to being amicable, that they just grew apart and weren't together anymore. So Melissa Smith shows up on to a Stud buds party on Saturday night. And Dijonay Carrington was there. And during this party, we see through the live stream that Melissa was escorted out. Now, we don't know why, but we just know that Dijonay Carrington and Melissa Smith were both at this party. And Nalissa Smith ended up getting escorted out so late at night. Do you know what time it was that she posted this? I believe this was like Sun. They're calling it Sunday morning, so it had to be like 3am or something like that. Dijonay logs on to threads and she threaded posted. What are they threading? What are they? And she sewed this since. Motherfuckers want to be funny today. Oh, I'mma be hilarious. Yes. Melissa cheated on me with Deja Kelly and Aaliyah Nye. Plus plus plus many more.

[Isabella]

And are these. Are these women people that we know?

[Katie Nolan]

Yes. So Deja Kelly and Aaliyah Nye were both Smith's teammates on the Aces. So again, Melissa and Dijonay played together on the Wings. Then Smith gets traded to the Aces, where she's teammates at the time with Deja Kelly and Aliyah Nye. And so the she's alleging Dijonay is that her girlfriend cheated on her with two of her teammates. Plus plus plus I can't emphasize that enough. Three plus signs plus plus plus Many more. And many more. Huh. So then.

[Isabella]

So that's t. And wait, did Melissa. Do we know if Melissa has responded yet?

[Katie Nolan]

So I guess she went on a Twitch live stream that same night. Oh, wow.

[Isabella]

Love this.

[Katie Nolan]

This is what I mean. It's like, I don't know how anybody was waking up in the morning and doing anything they had to do because they were up so late. So she said, quote, whether she cheated on me or I cheated on her, which is already an interesting place to start. Whether she cheated on me or I cheated on her. Why are we bringing that to the Internet a year later when nobody did anything to anybody? Whether she cheated on me or I cheated on her. That has nothing to do with anybody. Like that doesn't even make sense. And to bring it back to the Internet a year later is crazy. Just for fun. That's ridiculous. Especially when you're in a happy, healthy relationship. I would never do that to anybody. So important note here is that while Smith was claiming Carrington's in a. In a relationship, there are no confirmed reports about who her partner is. Now, I know I've heard a lot of rumors that maybe she's now dating Jackie Young, but we have nothing confirmed they showed up to a stud bud stream together on Friday, but nothing officially confirmed as of now.

[Brady]

Jackie Young, who is Nalissa Smith's teammate with the Aces.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, fun. Okay, so I want more.

[Isabella]

Is there more?

[Katie Nolan]

Well, I will say the Aces play the sky on Saturday at 1pm so there's that. There's the two of them on the Aces against Dijonay Carrington's sky on Saturday. So there's that part. And like I said, Sidney Coulson made a threads account so that she could respond to this with a gif of it just being pretty ridiculous and pretty piping hot tea. Just very interesting. I want to know who the plus plus plus many more are.

[Isabella]

I know. Me too. I do get the perspective, though, where it's like, wait, who was it that said it? Was it Melissa who was just like, why are you posting?

[Katie Nolan]

Why are we putting this on the Internet?

[Isabella]

Yeah, like, you know, I get it. It's like, yeah, cheating's bad, but, like, you don't necessarily need to.

[Katie Nolan]

Have you ever been drunk, though? You ever been shitfaced and been like, not enough People are mad at my ex, and I see a lot of people being nice to my ex, but they don't know that that person cheated on me. Maybe I should tell everybody in your brain. You're like, this is a brilliant idea. Now they'll finally know who that person really is. But I just.

[Brady]

Plus plus plus many more.

[Katie Nolan]

Plus plus plus many more. You know, very interesting. Also, I mean, made me want to die watching people. Look, this is. The issue with the W is like, as it grows in popularity, more people will be talking about it, but I should not have to watch in my. In my TikTok algorithm, somebody from barstool straight to camera, try to explain this to me without pronouncing anyone's name right or knowing who plays on what team. And also, just like, get out of lesbian drama. What are you doing here? Get this has nothing. This doesn't pertain to you. I don't trust you. You can't speak about this in a way. So on that note, neither can we. But I do just want to say I saw a tweet from 30morgan that said, the end of the day, gay mess is an important pillar of women's sports culture that will never be eradicated, no matter how hard the powers that be may try to sanitize things. And I think that's an important thing to know, and it's part of why we love the W. So we embrace the gay mess. And Isabella we'll stay tuned into this and keep you posted if we find out any more information about the plus plus plus plus Many more. Okay. You know. Amen.

[Isabella]

Thank you.

[Brady]

One o' clock Saturday. Ace of Sky.

[Katie Nolan]

I really can they lean into it. Then I go. I don't know if people are responsible enough to handle them leaning into it. So I don't know. I'll just be watching for any microaggression.

[Brady]

Right. Just don't lean into it. Don't say anything. Just give me lingering camera shots on.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Make sure that people in the truck know who we want to see long close ups of facial reactions to certain things. And they should bring. They should bring it. It should be a. An intense game.

[Brady]

Fucking rules.

[Katie Nolan]

I know. Shout out the W. Shout out All Star Weekend. Speaking of women's sports though, let's also talk the Ausl had their championship. This is their second year of existence. Their inaugural championship last year was won by the Talons, a team we chose as a podcast. And ladies and gentlemen, your Utah Talons, once again national champions. In the ausl, they won back to back champions. They swept the Chicago Bandits in two games. It was actually a rematch of last year's championship game where the Talons won one nothing this year this at least in the second game the bats showed up. I think they're outfield combined for like 10 hits. The talents. Usually it's a pitchers duel and Montana Fouts did take a shutout into the seventh inning and pitched a complete game. And so the. The pitching was. Was great. But the bats showed up for the Talons in that second game and so shout out to them. Incredible stuff. And I believe now that the Ausl season has wrapped up, isn't it time for base for women's baseball?

[Chris]

Yep.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay. And I imagine maybe Chris will tell us a little bit about where we can watch that if we wanted to watch it at the end of our show. I just saw in here that we have. I know I just mentioned Barstool and I really don't like to do that more than once per year. But this in here, it says that they lost on Family Feud543 to nothing.

[Isabella]

That's crazy.

[Katie Nolan]

Is that, is that true?

[Brady]

It's history like that. We have to respect historic performance like that, good or bad.

[Katie Nolan]

Right. Okay. And so it was who it was

[Brady]

Barstool, Celebrity Family Feud, Team Barstool going up against Team Flag. It was the family of Dallas Mavericks star Cooper flag. Five of the barstoolers, Cooper flag and four dudes and 543 to nothing.

[Katie Nolan]

They didn't get a single. They couldn't get a single point.

[Brady]

No. Which almost seems hard to do if you Even if you're trying to get zero points.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, yeah, it almost does. It's just Mina Kimes won Celebrity Jeopardy alone and then. And Barstool, who is very critical of Mina Kimes, couldn't score a single point in Family Feud.

[Brady]

When you put it like that, it makes sense.

[Katie Nolan]

All right, so biggest blowout in sports history probably, right?

[Chris]

Pretty close. There have been some pretty hilarious one sided affairs throughout history.

[Katie Nolan]

What about when the. When the Celtics didn't the media play the coaches?

[Chris]

Yeah, that was 57 to 4. The media lost against the coaches and that was like.

[Katie Nolan]

It was the media that got four and the coaches that got 57.

[Chris]

Again, this was not a full game. This was in like eight minutes or something like that. In a very small amount of time. Yeah, 57, 4. What about when Australia beat American Samoa?

[Brady]

Photos of Joe Mazoola.

[Chris]

Oh, no. What happened?

[Brady]

Joe Missoula got like sneaky jacked and it's very terrifying.

[Katie Nolan]

What do you mean terrifying?

[Brady]

Like very. Joe Missoula is a very intense man. But when that very intense man with the stern look also is like. Has massive rippling muscles, it becomes.

[Katie Nolan]

It becomes a massive rippling.

[Isabella]

All these photos of him have wearing long sleeves. So I can't really tell Joe Missoula.

[Katie Nolan]

I guess I'm gonna have to search new or muscles.

[Isabella]

Joe Missoula muscles. Let me see what comes up.

[Katie Nolan]

Like, where are you?

[Chris]

I feel like he's been working on this for a while, though.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. I don't think it came out of nowhere. I think he's always been kind of.

[Isabella]

You just haven't been appreciating it. Yeah, it's been there all along.

[Brady]

I'm sorry, Joe Missoula. I was unfamiliar with your game.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. This isn't too crazy to me,

[Brady]

you

[Katie Nolan]

know, I know you love a hunky man. I know you're really into a hunky guy.

[Brady]

Yeah. But he needs to have a sense of humor, and Joe Missoula is not.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, well, when you said what happened to Joe Missoula, it made me go like, same thing with Kyle. Did you see the Kyle Shanahan thing? Head coach of the 49ers got into a pretty serious accident in his gated community, I believe is all we really know at this time. It was like weeks ago. A couple weeks ago. And we're just finding out about it. I saw. I haven't followed up on. But I saw a thing that said reporters kept it quiet at the. At the request of the team, which always makes me go, what are we doing there? But he, like, broke his hand, broke a couple ribs, got 40, I think stitches in his face, had a concussion, and I think he's gonna miss the beginning of camp or whatever, so thought

[Brady]

stitches in the face is pretty. Like, that's scary.

[Katie Nolan]

I know. And depending where they are, kind of badass. Not saying to go get in a crash, you know?

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

But just saying, given the circumstances, could be kind of cool. If he just has it, like. Yeah. Across his face would be like, whoa, I'm not messing with the Niners. While we're doing. While we're doing legal beat, Tony Romo got an OWI in. In. Where was that? Wisconsin.

[Brady]

Yeah. And when you see owi, immediately I'm like, ooh, does that mean he's in some sort of fancy vehicle? But no, it's just what they call it there.

[Katie Nolan]

Why would you be in a.

[Brady]

Well, that means immediately goes to like, was he on. Was he driving a boat?

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, he has a cdl.

[Brady]

Was he on a Vespa?

[Isabella]

My first thought was Owie.

[Brady]

If you're not calling it driving, why aren't you calling it driving?

[Katie Nolan]

And now, Isabella, sorry, say it again in case anybody didn't hear you. Your first thought was owie. Great. Yeah. He got operating while intoxicated. Every state has their own, whether it's dui, dwi, and I think OW allows for. If you were behind the wheel but not technically moving. I don't know. I can't keep up.

[Isabella]

Maybe, like, the engine has to be on, but you're not actually driving.

[Katie Nolan]

Maybe. Maybe Isabelle's not a cop. Don't ask her to know these things. But all we do know is that mugshot. He looks pretty wi. You know, he looks pretty.

[Brady]

The hat hair did not do him any favors.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, I turned on Tony Romo recently for something so minor, but it was an ad that kept coming up as I was scrolling Reddit, and it was for a prescription medication, which I already don't love. When already rich and successful, successful people do paid advertisements for a medication. But I know that sometimes, like, I think Lady Gaga did a migraine medication one, because she deals with migraines, and it probably really helped her. I do think we are the only country that allows celebrities to do that. Australia might be the other one if there's two, but I think it's just us. That being said, this was Tony Romo for some medication for I believe it was for, like, prostate cancer, which Tony Romo does not have. And the ad was just him pretending he didn't know how to pronounce the name of the medication. So he kept saying it wrong ways. Then somebody off camera informs him of the right way to say it. He says it the right way, and then he says, like, Rebecca, and that's the end of the fucking ad. And it made me so annoyed because it's like, you can't even. Under this premise. He's getting paid to advertise this, but he doesn't even know how to pronounce it properly. How could you possibly get to the point of filming an ad? And also, his acting in it is so, so brutal that when someone tells him the right way to say it, he goes like, ah, says it right. And it's. You're like, this is. I know it's stupid. I have it recorded and saved in my phone so that if anyone goes, I bet it can't be that bad. I go, watch this. So I'm sure we're not going to just play a pharmaceutical ad here, but I will show you casualties so that you can cringe. Because as I just. It was coming up all the time, and I was like, tony. And then the other thing is, you start to notice that Tony puts words into the thoughts of the players when he's calling games where he'll do like. And. And. And Patrick Mahomes was like, I don't think so, buddy. And you're like, no, he didn't say that. You don't know that. That's what he was thinking. Maybe just tell me what's actually happening on the field. Anyway, this has been. Katie nitpicks Tony Romo as he deals with an owi. And then. And then just a quick update while we're doing stuff like this. It's not technically legal issues yet, but. Isabella, remember when we told you about Mike Lombardi? He still uses a key. What's the typewriter? Typewriter. Thank you. And. And Is like. Is Bill Belichick's longtime friend. He's the GM over at unc. Well, it was announced today, Monday, that or so yesterday to listeners that he was placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is carried out. And then I saw Pete Thammel report that that the. The investigation is like an HR complaint from a. A former staff member at unc. Now look how surprised I am. This wouldn't be the first. We don't know what it is, but it's not the first time that such Issues have seemed to plague, I guess.

[Isabella]

Oh, is that what happened the last time we. We talked about it?

[Katie Nolan]

It may have been what happened in past jobs of his. I don't know that we have enough to go. We're not. Let's just stay away. But I will just say, cool. We'll see what happens there. Oh, no. How would you. In addition to that.

[Brady]

In addition to that, UNC's entire program is also being investigated right now by the College Sports Commission, which handles compliance and enforcement of NCAA and nil rules.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, and so what could that mean nowadays? Because back in the day, it used to mean like somebody on the basketball team went and got. Got seconds from the buffet and they're not allowed to do that now. There's no rules about that. So what. What does that mean?

[Brady]

They found a way somehow to break the rules in 2026, which also seems difficult to do when you have 40

[Katie Nolan]

year olds declaring another year of eligibility. It's hard to imagine that there's a lot of rules of stuff you can't do, but that's okay.

[Brady]

Also, people are using this opportunity to just dig up Mike Lombardi's very questionable Instagram.

[Katie Nolan]

Like, what. What does that mean? You go to his page and butts and boots.

[Brady]

It's a lot of butts. It's a lot of butts. You're correct.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, more butts or more boobs? Here's the question we're answering today. Is Mike Lombardi a boobs guy or a butt guy?

[Brady]

Oh, he's definitely more of a butt guy.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, I would not have guessed that. Huh?

[Brady]

But being a butt guy, not against NCAA rules. So he had to have also done something else.

[Katie Nolan]

I just feel like guys who use typewriters are boob guys. You know, they're from a bygone era when it's all about the massive honk and titties. But I guess, I guess he likes. I guess he likes a. Okay, let's move on. Fuck Michael Lombardi. Is that how you end that? Do you just go like, we don't like you? Or we just leave it?

[Chris]

Say what you want. It's your show.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, so though, let the man be a bucko. Let's talk about baseball. There was a trade. The Sox had a trade. The trade deadline is coming up. When I ask you this every week, it's not sticking in my mind. The 7th, the 6th?

[Brady]

August 3rd. Oh, man, that's just nothing but butt.

[Katie Nolan]

What do you mean?

[Brady]

Yeah, August. I still have.

[Katie Nolan]

How are you still on his Instagram? What are you Talking about that's how they get you.

[Brady]

August 3rd trade deadline.

[Katie Nolan]

August 3rd is the trade deadline. Nothing but bullet and, and the Red Sox kind of made a big move first. I feel like this is one of the first close to the deadline trades. They got Curtis Mead from the Washington Nationals in exchange for left for Rockies, I mean for rookie left handed pitcher Connolly early. Chris is saying represent because Curtis Meade, if you might be confused, Curtis Mead is Australian. And so Chris felt the need to. Not that he's a Washington Nationals fan, not that he's a, an infielder. It's that, that Curtis Mead is Australian. So represent. He represents Chris. He's having a good year. Me. Correct.

[Chris]

Yeah. Bit of a breakout year.

[Brady]

Good year. Breakout. He's a, he's a hit first guy doesn't play def. He can play like a bad third base and an okay first base Sick. But it does like I remember when he was a minor leaguer. Eric Lonenhagen wrote up his scouting report as he plays third base like David Byrne dancing.

[Katie Nolan]

Whoa.

[Brady]

From Talking Heads.

[Katie Nolan]

Right. It's just, it's like technically dancing. Yeah, yeah, technically.

[Brady]

But what it does is if you want to play him at third base, you can sit Durbin on the bench. But you can which I doubt they'll do for a better third baseman. Dhm. DH Contreras gives you a little bit of flexibility to also make a second move with me.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

So we'll see, I guess what happens. The socks are at the time of recording 54 and 50. They have a one and a half game lead in the AL wild card. I'm not getting ahead of myself there. I saw people say this is a good trade. I liked Connolly early, but I, I, I get it that I think we've got a lot going on pitching wise. And so I, I get it. I, but fine, you know, we'll see what happens.

[Brady]

Million hurt pitchers. Yeah, he's just one of them.

[Katie Nolan]

He's pretty cool, you know, it's pretty cool to have a bunch of arms that can't be.

[Brady]

Suarez came back. Suarez looked great.

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Brady]

Things are looking God forbid you be optimistic about this.

[Katie Nolan]

And, and so I'm not going to, you know, I'm just going to go. I see you Keep, keep it up. Keep it up, y'. All. Okay, let's move on to. Oh, we got a couple Shohei Ohtani things here. So. Isabella. The Dodgers beat the Phillies 95 in Philly last Wednesday.

[Isabella]

Nice.

[Katie Nolan]

And, and, and after they won, the team rushed to join the on field handshake. Line. And you see Alex call, outfielder for the Dodgers, jump over the dugout railing to join his teammates. But as he does that, he accidentally spikes Shohei Ohtani in the arm. Elbow area with his cleat. Like, kicked him in the. And you see Shohei react with a. Like, ah, you got me in my elbow. Oh. And you see Alex call, like, freeze. Of like, oh, no. The more expensive and important. One of the most expensive and important arms in the world. I just kicked it with my shoe.

[Isabella]

That's crazy. And how is that. How's that arm doing?

[Katie Nolan]

I think he's okay. It was a brief scare for fans and staff, but Ohtani avoided any injury from the contact and was able to. To laugh it off.

[Isabella]

Okay, cool.

[Katie Nolan]

You're lucky he laughed it off. Alex, call. Can you imagine being that guy who's like, oh, I just was trying to celebrate with my team, and instead I. That reminds me of when I worked in for Apple TV plus and I did the season of baseball. And at one point during warmups, we were down on the field, like, talking to the players. I say we were talking to the players. My colleagues were. I spent most of my time in baseball with my hands behind my back, not avoiding eye contact and going, hello. Hello, Hello. I'm sorry, I'm here. Hello. And at one point, a ball came over to me while they were warming up, and I, like, threw it back to be like, hey, guys, here's your ball. But the ball was on the ground behind somebody who was backing up, and they almost stepped directly on it. In which case, I would have been like, I'll quit. I quit. I don't work this job anymore. I'm really sorry. I tried it. I seem to be nothing but a net negative for the sport, so I'm out of here. My heart was in life. My. My throat. So, Alex, call.

[Isabella]

Gulp.

[Katie Nolan]

I know how you felt in that moment. It wasn't Shohei. But, you know, I'm not a baseball player, so I think that it evens out.

[Chris]

That's what we call a close call.

[Brady]

Screw this, man.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, Alex, call. I was like, why? What would you. Okay. The other thing the Dodgers did, other than almost hurting Shohei Ohtani, is Ohtani went. They went to the White House to celebrate the winning the world Championship. Not Mookie Betts. He said, I prefer to spend my days off with my family, which is fair, you know? Yeah, but Shohei went to the White House. I saw a picture of him with Trump, which was cool. And then I think we got sound from Trump of Him talking about Shohei Ohtani to preserve the integrity of the podcast. I have not listened to this yet, and I'm very excited to listen to it for the first time with you. What's up?

[Brady]

I have to. I will lead it with. With. It is goddamn impressive. It's almost like scoring zero points in Family Feud. Impressive. How many things about baseball this man can get wrong in 30 seconds while using the phrase, I tend to know a little. I know a few things about baseball.

[Katie Nolan]

Fantastic. All right, let's play the clip and then Brady can clear up all the mistakes that were made.

[Brady]

And if you would have told me you can be the best pitcher and the best hitter at the same time. You know, Babe Ruth was pretty close to that. That they drafted Babe ruth. He was 19 years old. I know something about baseball. Babe was 19 years old. They considered it the worst trade in the history of sports. I would say Babe will always take that.

[Katie Nolan]

He was 19.

[Brady]

And they got a 36 year old third baseman and $100,000. So I would rate that pretty bad. They drafted him as a pitcher, but he did something very unusual. He led the league in home runs as a pitcher. That one you have to do. He's pretty close to doing it, I think. I think you're pretty close to doing it. Jesus Christ.

[Katie Nolan]

The sound of his mouth is starting

[Isabella]

to really swallow this a lot.

[Katie Nolan]

Just like, get that out of there. Like, that's a. Come on. So Brady, what did he get? How much of that was wrong? Was he drafted in 19?

[Brady]

Babe Ruth was never drafted.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, sick.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Good start.

[Brady]

Babe Ruth.

[Katie Nolan]

Good start.

[Brady]

When he was traded was 24.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Brady]

There was no third baseman involved in this trade, let alone how old he is. It was just Babe Ruth for $100,000. That is completely made up. But he knows a few things about baseball. It was, you know, probably the worst trade because it was Babe Ruth for $100,000 at the time because the Red Sox owner was out of money.

[Katie Nolan]

He needed to fund a musical, I believe. Right.

[Brady]

That is still debated because the timeline doesn't quite line up on Funny the musical, sure. But he was in debt regardless. And then Baber did lead the league in home runs while pitching. That was just 11 because no one hit home runs.

[Katie Nolan]

Wait, really?

[Brady]

Yes.

[Katie Nolan]

It's funny.

[Brady]

And he said, you know, you're. You're pretty close to hitting the. Leading the league in home runs. Otani has done that. He has led the. He has in the past led the league in home runs while pitching. So it's up there with a Rod making up shit to Justin Verlander's face. More impressive.

[Chris]

But he was just kidding. Brady. A Rod was just kidding?

[Katie Nolan]

Is that what he said? He was just kidding? Oh, yeah.

[Chris]

He said, remember in the clip, he's like, I'm kidding. What? No, what?

[Katie Nolan]

It's like, also, as with most things, when Trump goes, you go. You didn't even have to say any of that. You could have just not said any of that. So why did you. 38 seconds and none of it right. Is maybe. Okay, maybe one or two. Let me be fair. One or two things were right. I also saw the Dodgers gave him a. What looked to be a replica of the World Series ring, and he said, wow, do I have to report this? I don't want to report this. Before slipping the ring into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Okay, okay. What? Even while we're doing Trump on sports, Isabella, this one might get you going. This is like when we played your Boomer. Stuff, stuff. He took aim at your Mets. He was in Georgia at a rally last week, and he was introducing the president of the Braves, Mike Plant, and he took this opportunity to say some mean stuff about Isabella's baseball team. Let's play the clip.

[Brady]

I like baseball. This guy's done such a great job. You know, the Mets have the highest salary in baseball, and they lose all the time on Friday. And I say, maybe we could steal this guy. But the team, the way the Atlanta Braves has been managed for years,

[Katie Nolan]

he

[Brady]

constantly sounds like he just fucking finished climbing Everest.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, also just like the crowd clapping at Braves and booing at Mets, it's like no one's really. It seems like listening. And then also, is Trump a Mets fan? I would have have assumed he was a Yankee.

[Brady]

He was a Yankees, very famously a Yankees fan.

[Katie Nolan]

Well, he said we. Maybe we could. Maybe we could steal this guy. I don't. Does he just think, okay,

[Isabella]

all right, I. Yeah. Every time I listen to a clip of him, sometimes it feels like I just went under a spell and was like, what just happened?

[Katie Nolan]

Right. We go like, this is. And this is real. You're saying this is. This is happening right now. Lock. Okay. All right. So you got. You want to say anything back to him about. About the Mets?

[Isabella]

Yeah. No, because in a way, it's like, yeah, we do spend a lot of money and.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, so you're saying he's right. So you're saying he's making a good. He's kind of making a good point. I could just say it quiet. I know, but you could just Say it quiet.

[Isabella]

Just we can move on.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, you know, a broken clock type of a situation.

[Brady]

There's going to be at least 5 or 6 Mets gone this week, so I would say my goodbyes.

[Katie Nolan]

Five or six?

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Who do you know who?

[Brady]

Well, Freddie Peralta is going to go because he's a free agent coming up, right? The relief pitchers. Everybody trades the relief pitchers. So like AJ mentor Brooks Rayleigh.

[Isabella]

I hope it's not Luke Weaver. They keep talking about him and I

[Brady]

like him, Luke Weaver very much. Might get traded and then Luis Robert probably gets traded.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, I keep forgetting you guys have him now.

[Isabella]

I think we should keep him and we should get rid of Polanco. Not really doing much for me.

[Brady]

Probably stays though. Cause they signed him to a multi year deal, so he's gonna stick around. Nobody wants to pay him tonight.

[Katie Nolan]

Damn, Isabella, we gotta get you in that front office. Okay. Put that on the list of stuff we gotta do for Isabella's. Get her in that front office. And then just real quick, let's wrap up this Trump. Cause I wanna never talk about it again. But since we've done two clips of him. Rule of threes. Once LeBron announced he was going to the Sixers, a reporter asked Trump to weigh in on one of the greatest debates in sports. Let's, let's play the clip and hear what Trump had to say. Where do you stand on LeBron vs. Michael Jordan as the best ever?

[Brady]

Well, Michael Jordan's a guy that's a friend of mine. Play golf with him. He's a really good guy and I think LeBron is. Maybe he's a racist, but maybe he doesn't like Trump.

[Chris]

I don't know.

[Brady]

But I only like people that like me. So I would say Michael Jordan all the way.

[Katie Nolan]

Ah, you know, we can hear you. That's like such an embarrassing. I only like people who like me. You're the president.

[Isabella]

The way he referred to himself in third person the first time he said it, he's like, we don't know if he likes Trump and I don't know

[Katie Nolan]

if maybe he's a racist.

[Chris]

Maybe he's.

[Katie Nolan]

Maybe he doesn't like Trump. Usually that's not the. It's one or the other. You know what I'm saying? Usually if he's a racist, he loves Trump. Is just allegedly what some might say. Where did that come. It's just like. You know what scares me at this point is like my brain feels fried a lot of days. Sometimes I'll start a sentence and I won't Finish it. I'll interrupt myself with another thought. And he just does that so much that I go, is that what I sound like? And then I go, he's president. You're just a lady with a podcast. It doesn't. It's not as scary if that is what I sound like. It's like a lot less harmful. But it's like, does anyone ever go, like, what do you mean? Maybe he's a racist? What did LeBron do that would make you say, maybe he's. Where did that come from?

[Brady]

Also, Michael Jordan famously has distanced himself from political stance his entire life. You can hear him just going, no, get me out of this.

[Katie Nolan]

He's a friend of mine. I play golf with him. I only like people who like me. So I'd say Michael Jordan all the way. Okay, okay. So now I think I'm coming off on my Jordan stance. I think I'm LeBron now. It's like all that took was just him taking a side. Okay. And then now that's it for the Trump, but that's not it for people talking shit about the Mets. We don't need to see.

[Brady]

No.

[Katie Nolan]

One more thing.

[Isabella]

Just one more.

[Katie Nolan]

Isabelle, did you see the Mets catch astray?

[Isabella]

Yes, I did.

[Katie Nolan]

On Mookie Betts podcast, he had. He had Bryce Harper on from the Phillies, and he asked Bryce Harper to think of who the Phillies biggest rival is. Let's listen to what Bryce Harper had to say.

[Chris]

The Mets are the Mets.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Chris]

You know. Yeah, yeah, the Mets are the Mets.

[Katie Nolan]

But once they kind of got rid

[Chris]

of, you know, Pete and all those guys, I mean, it's just.

[Katie Nolan]

It's a different team. Like, they had a identity or. Or a nucleus or whatever. And now it's.

[Brady]

I'm not gonna say it's all over

[Chris]

the place, but it's.

[Katie Nolan]

It's just different.

[Isabella]

It's just different, and it is different. And you know what? We'll find our footing. Okay? Yeah. So.

[Katie Nolan]

So what do you two know about baseball exactly? Isabella knows. They're gonna find their footing.

[Isabella]

They will. They will. What, you've never had to have trade people away and rebuild your identity?

[Katie Nolan]

That's right. Let it out, girl.

[Isabella]

No, not you. Because you just buy all your players, but it's fine.

[Katie Nolan]

Who are you talking to?

[Isabella]

Talking to the Dodger.

[Katie Nolan]

Thank you. I just wanted to make sure we were clear.

[Brady]

The team with the second highest payroll.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay. And you know what that means. It's time for let's Tell It Isabella. It's the segment where we get to delight in Telling Isabella about something crazy that happened in sports before maybe she started paying attention, before her budding sports fandom began to blossom. And so we teased this one last week, and it was too good not to jump on it immediately. Isabella.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Do you know the name Manti Tea?

[Isabella]

Nope.

[Katie Nolan]

Fantastic. So the year is 2012. Think about where young Isabella was in 2012. Don't say first grade. Where were you?

[Isabella]

I was an eighth grader.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, that's almost. That's almost an adult. It's only okay to say in this situation. Don't you say what I just said in any other situation. But in this one, she's basically a big girl. And it's 2012, and Manti Teo plays for Notre Dame. He is, without a doubt, the best defensive player in all of college football. Okay. He was 6 1, 240 pounds. He was a linebacker, a tackling machine. He had speed to make plays from sideline to sideline. He's a senior at Notre Dame and a great defensive player.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

He won a bunch of the awards that they give to the best defensive players in the country. He was a runner up for the Heisman Trophy, which, you know, they give to the best overall player in the country in college football. And Notre Dame was having its best season in 20 years, in part because of Mantay Teo, this star story that they had. So on September 12, 2012, Manti Teo tragically lost both his grandmother and his girlfriend on the same day. Oh, he talked about it in the ESPN ESPN post game interview after Notre Dame beat Michigan State three days later. Let's take a listen to that clip. Mantai, this must be a bittersweet night, emotional week, losing your grandmother and your girlfriend on Tuesday. How would you describe your emotions on the field tonight?

[Chris]

I mean, they were with me, you know, so I mean, I couldn't do it without them. I couldn't do it without the support of my family and my girlfriend's family. And I'm just. I'm so grateful for, you know, all the love and the support that all the fans, both Michigan State and Notre Dame and, you know, fans around the world for just supporting me and my family and my girlfriend's family.

[Katie Nolan]

And

[Chris]

I miss him. I miss him, but I know that I'll see him again one day.

[Katie Nolan]

So three days after losing his grandma and his girlfriend on the same day they win that game, he gives that interview. And of course, I mean, what a story for sports to have suffered such a tragedy and to be able to come back and fight and still Be, you know, having such a good season. So he went on to talk about that tragic story throughout the season. His girlfriend, who we learned was named Lynae Kakua, was a Stanford student who had recently been in a car crash and then had woken from a coma and learned that she had leukemia and died immediately after leaving a lengthy hospital stay.

[Isabella]

Oh, wow.

[Katie Nolan]

So Sports Illustrated reported how that used to be a magazine. Sports Illustrated, have you ever heard of it?

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay. Just want to make sure. We gotta keep it alive. I don't think the kids necessarily know that is, other than the swimsuit issue,

[Isabella]

you know what I mean? Oh, okay. It's still a magazine though, right?

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, I think, but I think they mostly fired a lot of their reporters, so it's not really. They fired a lot of their photographers as well, so that was sort of what they were known for. Anyway, I digress. Sports Illustrated reported that Manti would call her in her hospital room and would stay on the line with her as he slept through the night.

[Isabella]

It's very.

[Katie Nolan]

It's. You can picture the story, right? A young love story, a tragedy. Teo would appear on ESPN's College Game Day to talk about the letters that Kokua had written him during her illness. The South Bend Tribune wrote an article describing the young couple's fairytale meeting. She was a Stanford student, he was a Notre Dame star. They met after a football game outside of Palo Alto. Everybody was like, wow, this is. This was such a beautiful story of young love. On January 7th of 2013, Notre Dame lost to Alabama 42 to 14 in the national championship game.

[Isabella]

Okay, they lost.

[Katie Nolan]

They lost six days later. Deadspin, the blog we were telling you about. When this first came up, Deadspin reported that Lyna Kakua did not exist.

[Isabella]

What?

[Katie Nolan]

There was no police report of a car crash involving Linne Kakua. No obituary, no background check, no information with the Stanford registrar. The photos of Lana Kakua that appeared on news reports turned out to be photos of a 22 year old California woman not named Lynae Kakua.

[Isabella]

Okay, who was it?

[Katie Nolan]

Mantay Teo talked to ESPN five days later off camera and denied that he was involved in any part of a hoax, but that he did tailor his stories a little bit so that people would think he, quote, met her before she passed away. So it turns out that they never met face to face. The relationship started via a Facebook request. Okay, so his freshman year at Notre Dame, he got a Facebook request from her and he accepted it. And they. That was three Years before this all happening in his senior year, he says he tried to speak with her via Skype and FaceTime on several occasions, but the person at the other end of the line was in what he called a, quote, black box and wasn't seen. Which I picture is just him trying to explain that they didn't have their camera on that. On a Skype. It's just a. Their box is just a black box.

[Isabella]

He just heard her.

[Chris]

Mm.

[Isabella]

But he'd never seen her.

[Katie Nolan]

And where have you heard that before? Um, perhaps the Show Catfish on MTV. Yes, it's like the number one indicator. They go, and have you ever FaceTimed or Skyped at all? And they go, I've tried to, but they said their camera just isn't working.

[Chris]

What?

[Katie Nolan]

And you go, mm, interesting. Okay, okay. So when asked why he didn't go in to see her in the hospital after her car crash or when she awoke from her coma or while she was receiving cancer treatment, he said, it never really crossed my mind. I don't know. I was in school.

[Isabella]

What? Okay, I'm like so confused over this story's going. Wait, so he never met her at all? So he doesn't even know if the whole coma or anything was real.

[Katie Nolan]

Right.

[Isabella]

Just based off what this woman is saying.

[Katie Nolan]

So he got. So he got catfished.

[Isabella]

That's crazy. And then the picture is just another woman.

[Katie Nolan]

It's just somebody. It's like with any catfishing, they find pictures of a woman and use that as the picture. What was crazy?

[Isabella]

There's no pictures of them together.

[Katie Nolan]

No, what was crazy is that the. All these, like, outlets that were covering it, like, just, I don't know, trusted that he wouldn't make it up, which he wasn't doing. But they were like, this is his girlfriend, he says. So they put her picture out there. Meanwhile, some other girl was like, that's me and I'm not dating him and that's not my name.

[Isabella]

Holy shit. And then did he address it?

[Katie Nolan]

Well, it turns out the voice on the other end of the phone was Ronaya tuiasa Sopo, a 22 year old man who now identifies as a transgender woman that was catfishing him. And Manti Te' o did an interview with Katie Couric. Was that the first thing he did to address?

[Brady]

No, no, he did. He did espn. Then he did one other thing. Then he did Katie Couric.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, so when he did Katie Couric, they. He played for Katie some of the voicemails that he had received from who he thought was Lanae Kakua at the time. Let's take a listen to that. And I'm getting ready for my first session. Just want to call you, keep you posted. I miss you. I love you.

[Isabella]

Bye.

[Katie Nolan]

I'd buy that. I buy that.

[Isabella]

I just can't believe that, like, he never saw her at any. Like, never requested to see her at any point. Never. Okay. Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

Do you buy that?

[Isabella]

Would you have.

[Katie Nolan]

If you heard that voicemail, would you go, I don't know about this.

[Isabella]

I would. I mean, if I haven't seen her at all, I don't think I could continue.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, I do think. I think what you're struggling with, which is what I struggled with at the time, is like, how could I have spoken about you publicly if I especially.

[Isabella]

How could I have even continued having some kind of relationship without having knowing for sure?

[Katie Nolan]

Right. It's like you're risking your own, like, name that you're building for yourself on a person that, like, you've never even.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Seen before. Just never did the thought cross his mind. It's almost kind of, like, beautifully naive that, like, somebody might be lying to you or.

[Isabella]

Yeah. And I'm. Oh, my God.

[Katie Nolan]

Just try to imagine, though, the day that after all of this conversation about this being his story, when Deadspin was like, hey, by the way, Lyne, Kakua doesn't exist. And every that day in sports media, everybody was like, what?

[Isabella]

That's crazy.

[Katie Nolan]

And it was like, the first. I mean, it really propelled.

[Isabella]

Meanwhile, I'm, like, sitting at recess, like, drawing, like, I wish so and so liked me. Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

You and your horse girlfriends were just trotting around out there. You know, we were going through it.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

I'm, like, trying to. Trying to beat people in Four Square, you know what I mean? While this guy is struggling.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Oh, my God, that sucks. I feel. I don't even know. I feel queasy.

[Brady]

I know.

[Katie Nolan]

It's a lot.

[Brady]

He finally got tipped off. He had gone to Notre Dame before the Deadspin article came out. By a couple days, she had come back to life and. And contacted him and said that she had to fake her own death for certain reasons. And eventually he was like, all right, then I need some kind of proof that this is actually you. And again, the video didn't work. And now, finally, this is when he tipped off the Notre Dame ad.

[Katie Nolan]

I mean, but that. To hang your head and tuck your tail between your legs and go to your ad and have to go, hey, so I think I was catfished is so embarrassing.

[Brady]

You Guys put a lot of effort into this for my Heisman campaign. This was the lead story with me. I'm sorry.

[Katie Nolan]

I'm sorry. While technically not mine, I see where I could have multiple times checked this down before taking it at face value. Also, and this is just a side note, I feel bad for his grandmother who, like, died. Was the only person that died that day.

[Brady]

She actually died.

[Katie Nolan]

And the story became about his grandmother and his girlfriend.

[Isabella]

Do you know how he knew his girlfriend died? Like, how he got that notice?

[Katie Nolan]

I think somebody told him. I assume it was the person pretending to be his girlfriend the whole time, but they probably pretended to be his girlfriend's family member and said, like. Like, she's dead. I also, just. As a person who's watched way too much catfish on mtv, the, like, car crash to leukemia to. Is very red flag of, like, these big tragedies keep befalling me. Every time I try to. Maybe anytime I watch catfish, they're like, well, I was. We were gonna FaceTime, but then her. She murdered.

[Brady]

She.

[Katie Nolan]

She was murdered. And then she had to go to the hospital for six weeks, and then I had to send her money for a cell phone. And you're, like, all huge red flags. What was this, Brady? I don't remember this. That something happened with Katie Couric in that interview.

[Brady]

Katie Couric at the same time, like, did this interview. And, like, I think this is the part of it that for all the things that we. These red flags jump out to us now with all of our own digital experience of what would be a catfish. This feels like the conversation that aged the worst. You want to just play the clip from Katie Couric?

[Isabella]

One of the theories, many theories. Mantine making the rounds is somehow you

[Katie Nolan]

created this whole scenario to cover up your sexual orientation.

[Isabella]

Oh, are you gay?

[Chris]

No, far from it. Far from that.

[Katie Nolan]

I. Okay, I had forgotten about that. I had forgotten. Katie, Katie, Katie.

[Isabella]

From Katie to Katie.

[Katie Nolan]

From one Katie to another. What are we doing? One of the theories is that you covered this. You use this to cover up that you're gay. And also, gotta love the nervous laughter from the audience. It's like, tee hee hee.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

What are we doing? There's a lot here.

[Brady]

Far from it.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, for real. Far from it. I love girls so much, even if they don't exist. I'll date them even if they don't exist. Didn't that guy go on doctor? I'm sorry. They identify as a transgender woman now. So didn't the person who catfished mantaytao go on Dr. Phil.

[Brady]

Yeah. Which is, like, the perfect platform.

[Katie Nolan]

I mean, I just. Are we done with this guy? I'm so done with Dr. Phil. I truly am. Like, Dr. It where. But later, I think he. They. They went on the show and said that they actually fell in love with Mantay Teo. During this whole process, they never asked

[Brady]

Manti Teo for money once in three years.

[Katie Nolan]

Right. Like, which I guess credit where it's due, but not a ton.

[Chris]

It's.

[Katie Nolan]

No, they could have been worse. It's still not great if you're looking

[Brady]

for a motive or, like, one of the strangest bits of fraud that never really seemed to have an end game or a purpose. There was no attempt to get anything from Manta Teo. It was just perpetuating a fake relationship for three years out of nothing.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, I think there's a lot there.

[Isabella]

Story kind of depresses me.

[Katie Nolan]

I know. I know.

[Brady]

Insane, us all trying to figure this out because it became like, well, initially it was, well, how could Mantay Teo defraud us, Right? Defraud us all. Like, he all led us to believe he had some incredible story, and then, you know, he had to, you know, eat crow and he had to swallow his pride and go tell his side of the story. And just the longer he spoke and the more he talked about, it became like his biggest crime here was being dumb and naive and not running all the proper checks against your own emotions. I mean, probably something you can't do now that we've all been on social media for 15 years, 20 years, but it's something that was kind of fresh, kind of new at the time. And he just was just young and young and dumb, and I feel bad for him, but at the same time, he fucked up.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, it sucked because, like, in any instance of catfishing, there's a lot of, like. Like, shame associated with. You know, I was vulnerable, and I opened myself up to, how could I not have seen that this was happening? And I think when everybody found out that it was fake, the way it was originally presented was like, how fucking stupid would you have to be to not catch these red flags? Which, as you're also learning that that's the case, having to deal with a bunch of people shaming you for being stupid.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Is like, a really tough spot to have put Manti Teo in. And so, yeah, it was a. It was a. It just was like, wow. As it happened, one of the weirder things that's happened, I think, in sports.

[Brady]

It was so far beyond Sports too, because like Katie Couric's doing this interview, like it's leading the Today show as this is happening. Like this is. This story was.

[Isabella]

Damn, I haven't got her. I.

[Brady]

You had social studies to worry about.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

You really had to pass that test. Test. I really did, you know, so I'm glad 8th grade was. Was good for you. It wasn't Mant. I mean, it was a good year for Mantayo outside of the fact that he, that this happened. You know, he ended up getting drafted, what, 38th overall. He was 28th. Where was. When did he get drafted?

[Brady]

I don't remember his draft. He had a good career.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah.

[Brady]

And he's still working. He's still at NFL Network.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. Played eight seasons in the NFL and so, yeah, he, it, it, it's. It ended up okay. But it was his name as a punchline.

[Isabella]

Yeah, that was a.

[Katie Nolan]

Was for a real long time. I will say to Brady's point of they didn't ask for any money. Why would they have done this? I, I think there's been enough instances of catfishing in this new era of the Internet in the digital age that like, there is something there for people that they, that whether it's they're coping with the way they feel about themselves, their own insecurities, by pretending to be somebody else and receiving love that somebody else would be able to get, but that they have deemed themselves unworthy of, I think there's like a lot of mental health stuff that goes into catfishing. Cuz again, I know it's just a TV show, but from watching a lot of that TV show where they confront people who do this, they tend to have similar reactions when confronted with their own deception of people. And then just the fact that you're deceiving them through love always makes me, you know, gives me of like, that's so icky. It's so how could you, you know. But like Brady said, he's now an analyst with NFL Network and it's. And it's all good.

[Brady]

Okay, Can I read the bonus follow up?

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure.

[Brady]

I wanted to end this on a high note. What could that possibly be on January 17th. So after this story dropped from Deadspin, Donald Trump tweeted, congratulations to Tom Skoka and Timothy Burke of Edspin for exposing the Mantay Teo fiasco. Fourteen minutes later, the official Deadspin account responded. Ealdonaldtrump. Go fuck yourself. Trump replied the next day. Edspin's disgusting response will teach me and others not to be Nice. Anymore. A sad lesson. And with that, we realize that this story may have destroyed the world.

[Katie Nolan]

It's all Deadspin's fault.

[Brady]

Damn, it's all deadpin'.

[Katie Nolan]

And then Gawker fueled Peter Thiel, didn't it? So it's like, this is the blogs got us in this spot in the first place. What's up, blogs? So, Isabella, that is the story of when Mantay Teo got catfished.

[Isabella]

Okay.

[Katie Nolan]

And now you know.

[Isabella]

Now I. Now I know. Now I have this information.

[Katie Nolan]

I know it's heavy. I know it's not, like, funny funny, but kind of. Kind of interesting.

[Isabella]

Interesting.

[Katie Nolan]

Are you glad you know it?

[Isabella]

I'm gonna, like, spend the rest of the day just staring and zoning off because I'm be like Mantay Teo scrolling through her phone.

[Brady]

Like, do I know? Do I actually know?

[Isabella]

Now I'm gonna go down a rabbit hole. I'm go down a rabbit hole. On TikTok about Manti Teo.

[Katie Nolan]

You can find it. We were all making content. Probably some of the first stuff I ever did on TV was about Manti Teo. Okay, that's the end of this, right? We put a little button on it. We put a nice little. We tied it in a nice little bow. So let's take a quick break, and then when we come back, our dear editor, Chris, can tell us what we can watch. If we wanted to watch some sports this week, it's casuals. We'll be right back. Hey, there. It's Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio.

[Brady]

And we have just made a new

[Katie Nolan]

show, a TV talk show. It's called better in Person. We have the kind of guests you don't see on every other show, and we have the kind of conversations you don't hear anywhere. I'm like, yes, chef.

[Brady]

Be one with the pork. You have the opportunity to make this

[Katie Nolan]

little corner of the world into your

[Brady]

ideal world, your dream world.

[Katie Nolan]

You can watch better in person on the Freakonomics YouTube channel. You'll find a new episode there every week. This is how a conversation works at Amica Insurance. We know it's not just what's inside your home that matters. It's who you share it with. That's why we work even harder to protect it. And as a mutual insurance company, we're built for our customers. We prioritize your needs and are here for you when you need us. Amica, empathy is our best policy. Visit ameca.com and get a quote. Today, Stuart fails to save the universe is about Stuart Bloom.

[Isabella]

Who ran the comic book shop on

[Katie Nolan]

the Big Bang theory and now has

[Isabella]

to restore reality after he accidentally causes a multiverse Armageddon.

[Katie Nolan]

On the Stewart Fails to Save the Universe podcast.

[Isabella]

Hear from the creators, cast and crew

[Katie Nolan]

as they unpack each episode after it

[Isabella]

airs on HBO Max. Watch the Stewart Fails to save the

[Katie Nolan]

universe official podcast on HBO Max, YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

[Chris]

The Colonels cooked up a new $10 bucket of the day just for you. Monday, 24 nuggets for ten dollars. Tuesday, eight piece fried chicken for ten dollars. Wednesday, ten wings for ten dollars. Thursday, eight tenders for ten dollars. Friday, 24 nuggets for.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, you guessed it, didn't you?

[Chris]

Ten dollars. The ten dollar bucket of the day deal.

[Katie Nolan]

Every weekday only at KFC.

[Chris]

It's finger licking goo prices and participation

[Brady]

variable supplies last night available on third party ordering platforms.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, welcome back everybody. It's. It's the end of the show. So this is where Chris usually tells us what you can watch if you want to watch some sports this week. But before we do that, Chris, you said you got an update that you wanted to share with us?

[Chris]

Yeah, we got an email from Kieran. Remember last week Kieran wrote in to tell us about the. Exactly. Kieran. All Ireland football final between Mayo and Kerry and how Mayo were going for the championship and they hadn't won in many, many years because. Because of a curse that a priest put on the team for driving past a funeral and not showing enough respect. And they hadn't won since then. And as Kieran explained, Mayo wouldn't win another championship until every member of that team had died.

[Isabella]

Right.

[Katie Nolan]

And that had happened at this point.

[Chris]

That had happened as of a few years ago.

[Brady]

Finally.

[Chris]

So Kieran wanted to write in to give us an update about what happened over the weekend. Hey, Katie. And the casualties, Kieran from Coke island. Again, just updating you on whether Mayo broke the 75 year curse in the all island football final. Well, they did.

[Brady]

Wow.

[Chris]

Curse finally broken. Love you mean it. Mayo defeated Kerry 23:20.

[Katie Nolan]

Now, as a white, I try not to get too excited about Mayo, but I do. That's very exciting stuff. Very exciting stuff.

[Brady]

There's joy on Cock Island. Finally.

[Katie Nolan]

Finally. Cock Island. That's Cork, Ireland with Chris's accent.

[Chris]

Okay, we also had someone call in. We have a voicemail from someone talking about this very thing. Can we play that real quick as well?

[Katie Nolan]

Let's hear it. Hey guys, it's Zach from Cleveland.

[Chris]

Love y' all mean it.

[Katie Nolan]

Get that out of the way ahead of time.

[Chris]

I just came across a TikTok that said May 1, the Irish Rugby thing

[Katie Nolan]

that Chris was talking about.

[Chris]

And it caught me so off guard

[Katie Nolan]

because I was like, why do I know what this is? Oh, because Chris told me to watch it. I didn't watch it live, but TikTok told me that after.

[Chris]

Anyway, appreciate it, Love you, mean it.

[Katie Nolan]

Bye. Yes, Zach, love you, mean it. That's proof of concept, Chris. You tell people what to watch and then they run into it in the wild and they go, what do I know about this? And it's because of Chris. So without further ado, let's get into it for this week. What can people watch? If they want to watch some sports

[Chris]

this week, the first thing is the Tour de France Femme that is the women's Tour de France that begins August 1st through August 9th. Most stages will begin at 7:30am Eastern and 8:30am Eastern on Peacock. So certain days starts at 7:30, some states, some days starts at 8, other days 8:30. So just check your local listings to find out exactly when. On the men's side, by the way,

[Katie Nolan]

women's sports, it does. That's right.

[Chris]

On the men's side, Tajay Pogota won A record equaling 5th Tour de France title. So we mentioned him when we were previewing the men's Tour de France and he has successfully claimed his fifth title, which puts him in illustrious company. So great job by him.

[Katie Nolan]

While we're talking about Tour de France, if I may, I saw a clip this week that was crazy. This guy. Do you see the Colombian cyclist? His last name's Rubio Einer. Rubio had to abandon the railroad after he crashed into the back of a UAE Team Emirates car. I guess a fan watching because, you know, Tour de France, they'll let them stand like right along the route. And a fan jumped out into. In front of the car. The car had to slam on its brakes. And then in this video, you just hear a cyclist in the Tour de France smash into the back of the car and just. He was like, what the fuck? Which of course he was. And he had to. It was. You should just go look it up. It was crazy. And that's me.

[Chris]

Tour de France's wild with fan interactions and how close they get and how annoying some of them are. It seems very scary.

[Katie Nolan]

Somebody should trust a lot of people, be doing something about it, but I guess it's part of the charm. I don't know. But hopefully no more of that. It's really scary to be in a cycling Race and a car stopping abruptly in front of you. I can't think of anything I'm not expecting, but okay. What else can we watch, Chris?

[Chris]

The Women's Lacrosse World Championships are on as we speak. Pool play began on Friday. Team USA have already clinched a playoff spot. They already defeated Ireland 18 to 5.

[Katie Nolan]

Take. Suck it, Ireland.

[Chris]

And they defeated Hortonasoni 22. 5. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly, but Houdinosaunee are an alliance of Native American nations.

[Katie Nolan]

Oh, wow.

[Chris]

Made up of like six different.

[Katie Nolan]

And that's where lacrosse comes from, correct?

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. And we and the United states beat them 22. Okay. I feel bad.

[Brady]

If you love watching sports where USA beats that ass, then. Women's Lacrosse World Championships.

[Katie Nolan]

Damn. Damn. Okay. Pretty.

[Brady]

All right. Jeez.

[Isabella]

Jesus.

[Katie Nolan]

I can like, enjoy watching. I don't need the United States beating that ass of an alliance of Native American nations. Makes me go.

[Brady]

Anybody in front of us?

[Katie Nolan]

You dicey. Okay, great.

[Chris]

So the quarterfinals, by the way of that will be on Wednesday. It's still TBD who the USA will be facing. The semifinals will be on Friday and the medal round will be on Sunday. All games can be streamed live via the official World Lacrosse TV platform.

[Katie Nolan]

Is that free and.

[Chris]

I think so.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, nice.

[Chris]

And then, Tim, USA aiming for a fifth consecutive gold medal, they.

[Katie Nolan]

Damn. So just nobody touches us at women's lacrosse, okay? I don't know. I'm not tuned into the community like that. Do we have a women's lacrosse pro league yet?

[Brady]

Oh, the Wll. That's where I was. I was at the All Star Game last weekend.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Isabella]

He said you don't know.

[Katie Nolan]

I didn't. I'm sorry.

[Isabella]

I don't.

[Katie Nolan]

You guys don't put it in the rundown.

[Chris]

I have run up before.

[Katie Nolan]

Chris, stop.

[Chris]

When the season began.

[Isabella]

Stop it.

[Brady]

Even with Team USA's best attacker, Charlotte north is healing in a torn Achilles right now. They are still just rolling up double digit victories.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay, and then what is. That's two things, right? So we need one more. Chris. What else we got that they can watch this week?

[Chris]

The Women's Pro Baseball League.

[Katie Nolan]

Let's go. Let's go.

[Chris]

The inaugural season of the new league will Start on Saturday, August 1, 2026 with the opening day game featuring the LA Queens and the New York Heights at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. The other teams in the competition are the Boston Hunters and the San Francisco Fire Bells. And the season will run from August 1st through September 6th. You can stream every single game of the 2026 inaugural season live and for free on the League's official WPBL YouTube channel.

[Katie Nolan]

Love that, love that, Love that. Their season starts right after AUSL wraps up. I think that's really smart. Smart, Brady. All teams have an S at the end.

[Brady]

I know. I watched the women's. The final of the women's, like, pro football league was on over the weekend. It was in the afternoon on espn. I was like, I'll give this a shot. Teams were the Vixen and the Passion, and it's like, I couldn't hate this more.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah, it sounds like late night TV programming. I don't.

[Brady]

Also Vixen. You could put an S on that.

[Katie Nolan]

The Vixen.

[Brady]

Yeah, I would still hate Melbourne.

[Chris]

Vixens are a nipple team.

[Katie Nolan]

Can someone give me the official definition of vixen? What is the official. Is it inherently sexual or not?

[Brady]

Vixen literally refers to a female fox.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Brady]

Like, I think that's the name for a female fox.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay.

[Brady]

A shrewish, ill tempered woman.

[Katie Nolan]

Ill tempered.

[Brady]

I mean, if they're shrewish, they're probably not happy about it.

[Isabella]

It.

[Brady]

Or informal. A sexually attractive woman.

[Katie Nolan]

Okay. See that I don't like. I don't like naming a team the Vixen. I feel like if you named it the Vixens, we could go, it's a bunch of foxes at least. But if you name it the Vix, I don't know, it's. And the passion could mean you really care about a sport. But I don't. I. Passion, Vixen passion. But you know what? I just love that the league exists. Exists. And I'll fight for it.

[Brady]

Quality football.

[Katie Nolan]

Yeah. Also, did you see when they unveiled the jerseys for the wpbl and to evoke what we were talking about with the W when they said gay mass is just an inherent part of women's sports and it's just something we'll have to always embrace.

[Isabella]

The.

[Katie Nolan]

The amount of thirst in the comments for the. For the uniform unveiling was a sight to see of just women barking in the comments section of like, ooh, I like this. I like this look.

[Brady]

Mike Lombardi might have liked the video of the pants.

[Katie Nolan]

I see what you're trying to say. It makes me uncomfortable to say it, so I'll just say there was a lot of people were really into whoever they had modeling the. I believe it was the New York one. I saw a lot of girls were like, yeah, I got nothing straight to say about this. So shout out to the WPBL you said this season runs it's 30 games and it runs through September 6th. So something to watch this summer. Very exciting stuff, and I can't wait to see what happens there. Anyone else have anything before we go?

[Chris]

I'll go to mine.

[Isabella]

Bye.

[Katie Nolan]

Whoa. Okay, so that's it for the podcast. Don't forget to send us emails. Casuals with Katie nolanmail.com. isabelle is going to tell you the number you can call if you want to leave us a voicemail.

[Chris]

It's.

[Isabella]

Oh, yeah. So it's totally. 646-801-0043.

[Katie Nolan]

Perfect. On IG and TikTok, we are at Casuals, the podcast. We love you, we mean it, and we'll see you on on Thursday. Bye.

[Isabella]

Bye.

[Katie Nolan]

Bye. This episode has been presented by Xfinity. You're more than just one thing. And your vehicle should have more, too. More connectivity when you're the boss.

[Isabella]

Hey, Google, when's my next meeting?

[Katie Nolan]

More space when you're the ringleader

[Isabella]

and we're good.

[Katie Nolan]

And when you're the mom.

[Isabella]

Everyone in the all new Mazda CX5 more to move every side of you.

[Katie Nolan]

Learn [e-mail] Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequences shortened and simulated. Hey there. It's Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio.

[Brady]

And we have just made a new

[Katie Nolan]

show, a TV talk show. It's called Better in Person. We have the kind of guests you don't see on every other show, and we have the kind of conversations you don't hear anywhere.

[Brady]

Frank.

[Katie Nolan]

I'm like, yes, chef.

[Brady]

Be one with the pork. You have the opportunity to make this little corner of the world into your ideal world, your dream world.

[Katie Nolan]

You can watch Better in Person on the Freakonomics YouTube channel. You'll find a new episode there every week. This is how a conversation works.