
Hello! It's the podcast that can hold it in through an entire Nate Bargatze set. On today's episode, Katie breaks down the NFL Draft's inexplicably high spot in the sporting event hierarchy, then American sports uncle Kenny Mayne [13:22] joins the show to talk about his NYC comedy show, his documentary on besting Ken Griffey Jr at Wiffle Ball, the errors on his Wikipedia page, his Sportscenter history, his ESPN exit, his deleted scenes with Amy Schumer, his history of sports injuries, his work with veterans, WHY SPORTS ARE THE BEST, Sigur Ros, life as a garbageman, the Seahawks' draft needs, comedy show etiquette, the Golden Bachelor, the Departed Volunteer, the Zombie SuperSonics, Instagram, Mina Kimes, the Spice Girls, and a final invite to the Peoples Improv Theater in NYC. It's a lot, and you're going to LOVE IT.
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Katie Nolan
Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because Multicare has been here guided by a single making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more@mycare.org.
Kenny Maine
If you've been having your McDonald's sausage McMuffin with an iced coffee from somewhere else, now is a great time to reconsider.
Katie Nolan
In the Pacific Northwest, it's never too cold for an iced coffee in the morning. Grab yourself a medium caramel, French vanilla, or classic iced coffee for just $2.29. Beverage may cause craving for McMuffin or hash browns. Prices and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other od. Offer a combo meal. Hey, Isabella, did you end up watching any hockey?
Isabella
I watched a Devil's game the other night.
Katie Nolan
You did?
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Isabella
Two things. One, the penalty box is really tiny. Is there more than like one or two people that go in there?
Katie Nolan
Sometimes, not often, but it's very funny when they do.
Isabella
And then the second thing is the puck is really tiny.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Isabella
Brady mentioned that there was a moment in time where there was like a glow around the puck.
Katie Nolan
Mm.
Isabella
I think we should reintegrate that.
Katie Nolan
You hear that, guys? Bring back the fox tail. When I saw the jersey, they scored, the Devil scored a goal. And at first I was like, oh, my God, maybe they're going to win. And I should have let Isabella root for them. When I saw that it was scored by Brat Jesper Brat, I was like, man, I should have let Isabella be a Devils fan because we'll get you a Brat Devils jersey.
Isabella
I would love that.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, I think we should do that.
Isabella
And I'll wear it to every single recording. Yeah, but I have to wash it.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. What are we talking about now? What is this at this point?
Isabella
And cue the theme song.
Katie Nolan
Hello. Hi. Hello. Hi. Welcome to Casuals, the. The sports podcast. That. That doesn't have an expert, just a fan. I'm Katie Nolan. Great guest today. The. The crew is here. The casualties are here, but they're gonna mostly not talk because Kenny Maine's coming in. I should start with the email, right? I gotta tell them the email. It's Casuals with katienolinmail.com Voicemail is 646-801-0043. The On IG and TikTok, we are at Casuals, the podcast Quick Yap today. Quick Yap. Because it's draft day. The NFL draft. Everybody gets so hyped for this. It's all over everything. The NFL draft, NFL draft, NFL draft. And I respect the draft, okay? I do. And I respect people who work on the draft and the work that they put in, because, my goodness, constant mock drafts and scouting and. And, like, I know Mina, like, knows everything about who might get drafted. And I, again, I want to be clear. I respect that. And I respect people who love the draft who are, like, super into college, and then they also want to see what their team's gonna do. I love all of that. I'm so happy for you. But I think if the goal of this podcast for me is to bring in a casual fan and speak to them, the draft is kind of like a PowerPoint, you know, it's kind of like a school assembly, and somehow they keep selling tickets and people keep buying them. Right? Brady told me there was, like, 250 something thousand people going to the draft tonight in Green Bay. And. And I'm happy for them, but it's almost kind of rude of the NFL, I think, because I know they want to be top of mind all the time. But two of the four major sports, that's the thing. We always say four major sports. I don't mean to be excluding anybody. It's just a known thing. The four major sports, two of them are, like, peaking. They're in their playoffs. We are in the playoffs. Hockey playoffs. We got basketball playoffs. To sacrifice a TV for the draft, for me, it's just not gonna happen. I can just Google the list. I can just go, who got who? And. And look at it there now. I don't. Again, I don't judge you if you love the draft, but I want to just. This is. I'm kind of doing this to absolve the sports fan listening to this, who Maybe doesn't have eight TVs in a setup on a wall, and they're just like, how am I supposed to. It's okay to not watch the draft. That sports not in season, so you don't have to, like, care about it right now if you don't want to. It's already hard for me to figure out, like, am I gonna watch the basketball game or the hockey game? Like, and then when I transition to the part of the night where I'm playing video games and I have one, I got my little laptop open. I have to pick one. And so, like, I don't. The draft's just not gonna. Gonna get it from me. I hope everybody does well. And I kind of Hope. I mean, my favorite is when a guy who gets drafted way late ends up being fantastic. So, like, I don't know, I'm kind of rooting for that. And we won't know. You don't get the payoff from who you picked in the draft until, like, their career happens. So I'll just wait until it. The sports happen. And until then, I'm gonna be watching hockey with my friend Isabella, who loves hockey now. Is that what they do? I guess.
Isabella
And I'll bring catfish to. Okay, not to a Predators one. That's the right team, right?
Katie Nolan
Yeah, that's it.
Isabella
I'll bring it to a Devil's game.
Katie Nolan
You're going to bring stadium?
Isabella
No, it's not that. Prudential Center.
Katie Nolan
Great. I don't think you should bring a catfish to that. Just so we're clear. I just want to make sure I'm not giving you bad intel. I don't think you should bring a catfish to the Prudential Center. No, I don't think you should sneak anything into the Prudential Center. I think they'll kick you right out. Okay. You could maybe, but I don't. Are they. Are you allowed to bring outside food sometimes? You know, people bring outside food to the movies and they get really mad. I don't think you can just like bring food to a game, can you? It's America. It's supposed to be a free country.
Kenny Maine
Depends how much they're paying the usher. Movie theater ushers aren't stopping anybody.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, well, they work hard.
Isabella
I pack like a whole lunch in my. My purse when I go to a movie is like, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Get some Popeyes, put it in your bag.
Katie Nolan
Right. And then eat it.
Isabella
Yeah. And then eat it in the theater. It's like, well, you guys paid like $20 for your food. I only paid like 10.
Katie Nolan
Well, it's still like 15. With shame or without shame. Are you trying to hide, like, are you sneaking the Popeyes into your mouth or are you just like, loud and proud? Yeah. Chicken jockey.
Isabella
Once I'm in the theater.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Isabella
I don't care. I don't have any shame.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Isabella
But when I need to show my ticket to get in. Yeah. I get a little nervous.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. You don't show them.
Isabella
Show my bag.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Chris, you were going to say something.
Chris
Last year, we took my family to the Ringing Brothers Circus with my nieces and my brother and sister in law and my parents in law and my father in law tried to sneak in an entire sleeve of crackers with cheese and Salami.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Chris
And got caught. But that was just what he had assumed you were allowed to bring into the Greensboro Coliseum.
Katie Nolan
Now, did he take a sleeve of crackers and assemble cheese and salami in it and then put them back into their sleeve, or are they sold this way?
Chris
Yeah, he was going to assemble it in seat.
Katie Nolan
Oh, he brought the cheese, he brought the salami, and he brought the crackers. Wow, that's. Yes, that's great. And he was just. He thought he'd have the next.
Chris
This wasn't like a plan where I was like, I'm gonna try to. Try to sneak this through. He just thought that you could bring it.
Katie Nolan
It's pretty funny. And then what happened? How did this resolve?
Chris
He was not able to bring it in.
Katie Nolan
Damn. He had to throw it away. Or did he eat it fast?
Chris
I think he. I think he went back to the car and put it back in the car.
Katie Nolan
Oh, my dad would have eaten it all fast and been really annoying about it the whole time. Would have been like, oh, well, I'm sorry. I wanted to eat it while I watched the tightrope routine. Speaking of movies again, really quick before we get to our guest today, Chris, did you see this Oscars thing? Now they're required to watch the movies.
Chris
Yeah. It seems it's. It's ridiculous that they weren't required to watch them in the first place, but that's what a lot of members of the Academy would do. They would watch one or two movies. They would get a general sense of the movies that the public is interested in. The front runners, the ones with a lot of hype. Watch those ones and then sort of. It's called, like, coattail voting. Like, just sort of go with the flow of what everyone else is doing. Now you actually. Absolutely. Now it is illegal.
Katie Nolan
Well, well, illegal to them.
Chris
To the Academy with their law. Yes. So now you have to watch every single film nominated for that specific category. If you want to actually nominate a movie in that category. This is only for the final round of voting, by the way. This isn't for early stages of voting. This is for the final round of voting. Once you have the nominations in place, you have to make sure you watch every single film. Which, of course, makes sense.
Katie Nolan
Makes perfect sense. I also think we should go so far, we should institute this across sports television. You have to watch the game before you talk about it. You can't just go to bed early, wake up, read what happened in the game and then talk about it. I think you should have to watch it, keep your eyes on the screen, watch it for yourself, then talk about it. Call me crazy, but that's what I think. Okay, let's go ahead and get into this podcast because I'm going to tell you right now, Kenny Maine. I love Kenny Maine. If you don't know Kenny Maine, like, if you're a newer sports fan, Kenny, to a generation of people is synonymous with, with sports. He was a SportsCenter anchor during SportsCenter's Heyday with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. And he it was in the, like the early 90s. And what I love about Kenny is he always brought humor with your sports news. He's a funny guy, a dry sense of humor, a sports fan. And I call him Uncle Ken because we've done some stuff together. He's always been very supportive of me and he's just, I can't. If you don't know him, I can't explain it to you, but you will figure it out through the course of the episode. He is such a unique individual. He is so passionate about so many things. He's actually here to promote. He's doing tonight a live show at the People's Improv Theater in New York City at the pit. It's at 10:30pm Eastern. He has done no other press for this show. So if you're in New York and this interests you in any way, you gotta buy a ticket and come see it because he's done nothing to promote it. And this is all we've got. So we're basically kind of showing him that we've got a passionate fan base. Tonight at 10:30 if you're in New York, where he's going to screen his comedy documentary Wiffle Ball and he's going to tell some jokes. But he joined us for a little over an hour and we talked about. I couldn't even tell you what. But it's just two people who love sports with great respect for each other talking about whatever comes to mind. So please enjoy my conversation with the legendary, the incredible Kenny Main. At Hotels.com, we know some travelers crave sand between their toes. Others want to be poolside with a drink on the way. And more often than not, those two people end up in a relationship. With the Hotels.com app, compare properties side by side across amenities like pool and ocean view. Compromise isn't so bad when you're holding a Mai Tai by a pool with an ocean view. Agreeing that, yeah, this is better than finding sand in awkward places for three days. Book now in the hotels.com app and find your perfect somewhere. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required int 3 months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com hey, it's Katie Nolan and I'm excited to tell you about a show from my friends Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe. It's called A Touch More. What started as a talk show on Instagram to connect with friends and discuss the issues they care about has now turned into a full podcast every episode. Sue and Megan again, my friends deep dive into what's happening on and off the basketball court and soccer field. From the week's biggest games to the latest player moves, they break down how women's sports intersects with everything. Pop culture, politics, fashion, you name it, and how it's all connected. Plus, you never know who's going to join them on the show to share some very hot takes to get insight into the world of sports and beyond. Follow A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. New episodes drop every Thursday. Okay, we have a fantastic guest today.
Kenny Maine
Who?
Katie Nolan
My uncle. It's like somebody's coming in later. Uncle Ken, Kenny Main is here. First of all, Kenny, hi. How you doing?
Kenny Maine
Why do as everybody who's what are you like, how old are you?
Katie Nolan
I don't know. Why do you care?
Kenny Maine
Well, you're catching up. But all the girls like you always do the uncle thing or dad like, does that make you feel younger just to make fun of my age?
Katie Nolan
No, it makes it feel established. Like I look up to you. But you are old and I'm not as old as you, Uncle Ken.
Kenny Maine
True.
Katie Nolan
Also, a lot of people believed it. People on the Internet now just hear what they hear and they believe. They were like, that's how Katie got her job because Kenny Main is her uncle.
Kenny Maine
I remember that.
Katie Nolan
I was like, that's so true. So true. How did they figure it out? You're in town for something.
Kenny Maine
Damn right I am.
Katie Nolan
And what is it?
Kenny Maine
This is. And thank you for bringing it up so early in the program. Instead of the Mets infield problems or whatever.
Katie Nolan
Who cares?
Kenny Maine
They're on their own Mets. I don't know if they have infield problems, but that was our running joke. We're going to do another home cook at ESPN about the Mets infield rudimentary stuff. I made a movie called Wiffle Ball. It's about a day with Ken Griffey where we threw wiffle balls. He was 19. I was about 28 because I'm old and I held onto that tape for all these years. I ran into him and he brought it up. So I'm like, wait a minute. If the. Arguably the. One of the greatest players ever. He's the Willie Mays of our generation. Is thinking about the stupid day throwing wiffle balls from 1989. There's got to be something there. So I found the tape, made my silly movie. Then over the holiday I made up 30 minutes I hope is funny. That kind of sets the table to watch the movie. So it's sort of. It's a stand up followed by a film festival. Stand up, sit down. I'll sit, I'll stand.
Katie Nolan
No, stand.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. So I did. I've done it once, this is twice. And my goal. You ever see Waiting for Guffman? Christopher Guest?
Katie Nolan
Yes.
Kenny Maine
I want Guffman to fucking show up at some point. Or a woman. I don't care what the name. Yeah. And say, wow, that whole hour is something.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And then we shoot it and it's a thing. That's the goal.
Katie Nolan
It's a beautiful vision.
Kenny Maine
So I'm at the People's Improv Theater. This is. This is key because this is our number one promotion, this show.
Katie Nolan
No other press for this except our podcast.
Kenny Maine
And we waited till late.
Katie Nolan
So also you're going to probably get. You have to go now. You have to go buy the tickets now.
Kenny Maine
No, this is. What time is it right now?
Katie Nolan
It's probably going to be like 4:00, 3 or 4:00.
Kenny Maine
The show's not till 10:30.
Katie Nolan
If they listen to it, the second the podcast comes out, well, they're going to.
Kenny Maine
All of those New York people who follow you and want to know what's happening in New York.
Katie Nolan
I'm here for the haps.
Kenny Maine
I'm telling. I just walk up to strangers. Hey, I'm doing. I don't tell them the whole Griffey thing. I just say I'm doing a show tonight. People's Improv Theater. And the way I got in there, John Glazer, gifted comic. He played video cowboy in Main Street. If you remember that little show. He's. He knows the people there. I told him my vision. He made a phone call. They hired me or gave me a slot. You know, they didn't know who the hell it was. They've never seen the movie.
Katie Nolan
I think they do.
Kenny Maine
I don't know if they did.
Katie Nolan
I think if you Google you, they get a quick sense.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. Wikipedia has some errors. Errors of fact.
Katie Nolan
We can actually talk about them. Because I had a couple questions about.
Kenny Maine
Yeah, wrong wife. Let's go there.
Katie Nolan
Immediate wrong wife.
Kenny Maine
Okay. And then people can go to Wikipedia and just put whatever they want. My friend Matt Doyle once went in there and said that Candyman invented the sun.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
And that stayed up for like, three days.
Katie Nolan
Crazy.
Kenny Maine
Somebody else went in there and said I was a long snapper in college at New Mexico State, which I just was amused by. Also, what else they have that's wrong?
Katie Nolan
You're.
Kenny Maine
It's shows tonight at 10:30 at where people's improv theater in the lower 20s. Well, high 20s, lower west side.
Katie Nolan
My first issue with it is that it says for is a former sports personality.
Kenny Maine
It's probably right.
Katie Nolan
No, it isn't. You're still here.
Kenny Maine
I'm here. You're still a good point. And I can talk some sports that I care about, but since I left espn, there was no requirement to care about the Mets infield. And I didn't know if I cared about it as much then, but I was able to pull off a show and.
Katie Nolan
That's right.
Kenny Maine
It could be assumed, like in a hockey highlight. And I love hockey. I just don't know much about it and grow up with it. If there's like nine people with Russian names and that's too many on the ice. I know, but a lot of passing, you don't name every name. You just say, great passing by the Canuck score by. Yeah, fill in the blanks. Now, if it's Steph Curry and the Warrior, that's kind of easy. You don't need a shot sheet, so. And pro football, same thing. But you don't know everything. At least I didn't. I still don't. And I know less now because we're watching Netflix or clicking on the show that I just described.
Katie Nolan
This is exactly why I wanted to have you here.
Kenny Maine
Bring it on.
Katie Nolan
The concept of casuals is that I wanted to make a podcast for people who are curious about sports or who want to know about sports, but who feel like everything that's talking to them about sports knows everything. And it almost like, feels a. Like too difficult. Like a barrier of entry. Is that like you need to know everything.
Kenny Maine
I'm not sports fan, I'm not stupid. I mean I grew up.
Katie Nolan
Me neither.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. I grew up playing sports, loving sports. Didn't want to be a sportscaster. I wanted to be like serious news guy. I took political science and journalism and broadcasting and I started a job, local news. Had no ambition to be on sports. But they. We had a Monday through Friday show. It was if there's news on the weekends, it's news to us. That was her motto. But Jack Eddy, the news director, they hired a couple people to bring in and they did a weekend show and they said, well, you're doing sports, you played football. So I suddenly am now. Yeah. But it kind of worked out because I quickly found that going to Seahawk and Husky games was way more fun than city council meeting on sludge waste or covering the Green River Killer, whatever. Even though I'd say otherwise. I pay more attention all the while. Even though I could do a sports show.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And love some sports and knew about some things, but not an expert by any means. But I knew how to do a TV show that you didn't have to know every last detail.
Katie Nolan
Right. Your sports center. What were the year. What was the year of like when you and Dan Patrick Ron. What was. What year was that?
Kenny Maine
Like 97 to 99.
Katie Nolan
10. But I remember. But I was 10 because I'm so young. That was I think for a lot.
Kenny Maine
Of people the golden era.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, I mean, yes. But it was also. It was the thing that I'm trying to do with this show that I feel like is gone from that four letter network which is the. It's like approachable, it's interesting, it's funny, it has personality and it gets you all the sports that you need. Do you feel like that's gone too?
Kenny Maine
I don't know. I think people ask that or say it's gone downhill or I don't know. There's a lot of great people doing great shows every day. And in fact you could argue in some ways it's a better show. Right. It's technology has gotten better. We used to have to do fixes. People know what fixes are, where you have to clean up the errors of fact so that when it re airs the next day it's clean. Right. For Norby to watch. And we would take forever. They were using 2 inch tape in the back room and we're trying to meet an edit point with a nanosecond of space. Now dud again. Do it again. It would be 4:30 in the morning, you're just like, now you make fixes during commercial breaks. They'll just say, say, krivo. Krav. Krivo Krasov. Or, you know, some. Some foreign name. So I don't know. The shows are worse. The only thing that I've noticed is there's more. The argument shows or opinion shows, hot opinions. That was never for me. No problem with the people who are doing it. There's an audience for it, for sure. But I was more like, what happened tonight? Let's talk about it and do it in a fun way and make jokes and be silly and laugh at ourselves and whatever. Right? Like the immediacy of no hitter just happened. Steph Curry just hit the three and you're on the air like, two minutes later. It's like you have adrenaline for that. Where I can't fake it to. Let's, you know, let's talk about the Seahawk draft needs. They. I mean, I hope they get some big fat guys that block for a new quarterback. Just the lovable lineman. They still have baby fat and they block and they. They go to dinner together and bowling, and I want those guys.
Katie Nolan
2010, you were in a movie called Kung Fu Magoo.
Kenny Maine
That's a fact. It was.
Katie Nolan
What is that?
Kenny Maine
It was animated. Yeah, I think I just did voiceover. Somebody called and said, hey, do you want to do voiceover?
Katie Nolan
But you voiced over Kenny Maine. You were yourself. You played yourself.
Kenny Maine
Yeah, it was an odd. I remember it was in New York, I believe. I came down here, got to stay in a hotel. That was cool. Fancy, you know? Yeah, I did that. I was cut out of Train Wreck. That's the one I was most proud of. Oh, they. Judd Apato is the director. There's no script. Amy Schumer and Bill Hader, they're the ones who have the love interest, right?
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And she's being ignored at the Doctors Without Borders banquet where he's getting an award. Right. She's in the back milling around. Just go up to her and be kind of a jerk. Hit on her and be kind of a jerk, I said. Just say anything, like. So I said, so are you a doctor's wife or a prostitute or is there really a difference? And I don't mean any disrespect to prostitutes or doctor's wives. Wives, either one. They just said, be a jerk and that was it. Yeah.
Katie Nolan
And it got cut.
Kenny Maine
It's bullshit.
Katie Nolan
Do you think it's because you weren't enough of a jerk, or do you think it's because it was too accurate and they didn't like it.
Kenny Maine
I don't know. I apologized to her after. I said I'm sorry if I was, you know. No, no, no. That's what you're supposed to do. Then there was another scene with Tony. Tony Romo and Amari Stoudemire.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Said some other stupid. And it all got cut. But I'm on the extras and I get these tiny checks every quarter.
Katie Nolan
You do? You're still getting residuals.
Kenny Maine
Right now, that's our main source of income. Why do you think I made up the stupid show I'm doing tonight?
Katie Nolan
Because you believe in it.
Kenny Maine
I do believe it.
Katie Nolan
Because it's funny.
Kenny Maine
It will be funny.
Katie Nolan
I'm going to go.
Kenny Maine
I hope you do. I ran out of free tickets. I'm gonna give you $12 and you buy your own.
Katie Nolan
I'm not even on the list.
Kenny Maine
I got it.
Katie Nolan
This is your only press you're doing.
Kenny Maine
Take a 20. No, I have to do. I have to do, like.
Katie Nolan
Can't you have two? I'll take two.
Kenny Maine
No, just.
Katie Nolan
I gotta cover my train to get there.
Kenny Maine
That's most of the money I have to my name.
Katie Nolan
I will. Thank you, Ken.
Kenny Maine
But if you're on the list, you have to give me that money back.
Katie Nolan
Okay, but I won't be. You just said no. No.
Kenny Maine
I think they're gonna let me do an addendum.
Katie Nolan
Am I going to get a plus one? Yeah, I think he has spots anyway. I don't think he can bring them in. Oh, here's one. I have a question that I have. Your Wikipedia says you left ESPN in 2021, quote, declining a 60% pay cut. Why? Why does mine get reported? That I got fired when the exact same thing happened to me. How'd you get that in there so accurately that they tried to cut your money and you said, I don't want to work here anymore. That's what I did. But everybody says I got fired.
Kenny Maine
It was 61% actually.
Katie Nolan
Damn.
Kenny Maine
No, they said they previewed it too. Said, hey, you're not going to love the offer. We're cutting back.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Meanwhile, they're often skip Bayless $40 billion to come and argue about the Mets infield.
Katie Nolan
But I don't think the Mets infield comes up.
Kenny Maine
You know what I'm saying? It's an example. So, yeah. Surely there's no malice, though. I mean, it's been four years. It's like, here's our offer. They devalued me, right? And I said, I think I can go do better than what you offered.
Katie Nolan
You know, I think the problem. I think the problem was that I said I hate this, but okay, because I had a podcast with a co host and I didn't want to abandon her. And then right after I said yes and signed it, they. They laid her off. And then they made me another offer after a year and I was like, you've got to be kidding. So I left. But that's not what my Wikipedia says.
Kenny Maine
You need to update your wikipedia. Get an 18 year old. They know what to do. What else is factually inaccurate in there?
Katie Nolan
I just. Nothing. I think that's mostly it. That's mostly it. I was just curious about your. I see you as like our. Our fun uncle in sports or like wider world of sports. You were like our Bourdain.
Kenny Maine
Oh, that was. That's a high compliment. And he. He was doing that show about the same time we didn't copy it. We were always.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
What happened was I was doing the show called Main street and that was Aubrey Plaza and Elsa Becker and John Glazer and Ben Schwartz. All these. Mulaney was in one show.
Katie Nolan
Oh, yeah.
Kenny Maine
Lenny Jacobs and Chris Smith.
Katie Nolan
Is that street? Do you stream that anywhere?
Kenny Maine
I think it got purged in the. In the. And I think Musk took it out. I don't know.
Katie Nolan
You should find it.
Kenny Maine
You can try to find it. Might be on somebody's Vimeo. No, you can. My favorite one was the first one. I mean, I loved them all, but the very first one was Scott Van Pelt, Allison Becker, me and Video Cowboy. And it was called Fixes. And it was what we were just talking about where you have to clean up a show where there's a couple errors. And I sucked that night. And Van Pelt is almost in tears talking about his marriage counselor Vikram. And just. It just is so dumb. But it was so true to life. That really happened. We really did have those insane nights where you just can barely say words. You're so tired you're just punch drunk. And I would always say something really dumb on the goodbye that would cause us to stay longer usually. I used to love giving out. Hey, one final note. The Charlotte such and suches have brought up middle reliever. You know, it was fun to give out real sports facts, but kind of weird ones, you know, just to be stupid. Because that was your moment to be as stupid as you can be.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. And you always seize that moment.
Kenny Maine
Absolutely. I ended up doing for a career what got me sent out in the hall in fifth Grade, right?
Katie Nolan
I mean, yeah, same.
Kenny Maine
What is the dumbest thing to kind of try to own the room? Something absurd. Say it fast. Mr. Bill's in the hall. He should have never sent me to sixth grade. I didn't have enough days. I was in the hall, literally third of the year.
Katie Nolan
I missed a lot.
Kenny Maine
I brought my desk out there at one point, just self report, you know, like a NCAA violation. But he sent me to Mr. Russick. Sixth grade. This is my whole act tonight, actually telling about my childhood.
Katie Nolan
Oh, perfect. A little preview. Don't come.
Kenny Maine
No, no, no, no, no. I won't tell everything now. Sixth grade. I broke my femur in tackle football. Yeah, that was fun.
Katie Nolan
Which leg?
Kenny Maine
I broke my left femur. Left ankle, right ankle. Right ankle was the worst, strangely, of the three, because I was at college. And that's why I'm wearing this device.
Katie Nolan
Device.
Kenny Maine
Which we'll talk about. Yeah. So I'm on the ground in sixth grade with my leg over my head like this.
Katie Nolan
Sick.
Kenny Maine
Like my leg is asking a question. And the question was, where the fuck is the ambulance? Because they didn't call an ambulance.
Katie Nolan
Wait, what? They just brought you to the nurse?
Kenny Maine
Nope. They waited for my dad to come.
Katie Nolan
Oh, no.
Kenny Maine
Hour later, I'm in the back of Lyle Fultz's truck on a wooden board, Giant cheese board. They're throwing coats. You know how little kids wear coats to practice when they're. You see them walking down the street?
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
So everybody threw their coats on me to keep me from going into shock. I'm. A guy's already in shock. Broken femur.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
How about you get me to.
Katie Nolan
That hurts. That's a big. That's the. That's the biggest one that hurts to break. I've never broken it, but I'm guessing it wasn't great.
Kenny Maine
It was bad form.
Katie Nolan
It was your fault.
Kenny Maine
Yeah, I was playing. It was just a drill. And I was defensive back, and I tried to tackle a kid, and it was on my heels. And then I was on my back.
Katie Nolan
And no ambulance.
Kenny Maine
Never. My dad picked me up in a 63. Comment, I believe. And he doesn't take me to the real hospital. He takes me to the local doctor guy. The guy where you get your physicals and flu shots. Yeah, Next to the IGA store, in the pharmacy. And that guy, he puts me on the board and. Yeah, you broke your femur. I said no. I've known that for two hours.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, do something.
Kenny Maine
Waiting for an adult.
Katie Nolan
Fix it.
Kenny Maine
Take charge.
Katie Nolan
And what'd he do?
Kenny Maine
They. That my dad Drove me to the real hospital at that point.
Katie Nolan
Stressful. Yeah, stressful. Football.
Kenny Maine
Make her shake talking about it.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Hey, want to talk about this one instead, though?
Katie Nolan
Yeah, sure.
Kenny Maine
It's a good story here.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, talk to me about it.
Kenny Maine
For those watching on the Internet clips to advertise the show, we're in this thing called an exosm. So I wrecked my ankle last play of the game at Oregon. I played at unlv, not very much. And then I play one more year, actually. And then, you know, then I got old, as you keep pointing out, just.
Katie Nolan
A little bit older than me each.
Kenny Maine
Year, more arthritis, you know, a lot of surge, whatever. It doesn't work very well. So my ankle has, like, almost no flex, whereas my left can, you know, like yours. Right. Talus, I think it's called. So this man in Gig Harbor, Washington, makes these crazy devices for people with different disabilities, and he made this for veterans who need it because their ankle sucks like mine. So it doesn't fix anything, but what it does is let you do stuff that you can't do otherwise with no pain. And we started a foundation called run freely. Run freely.org that's ruin far e l y.org and tonight at the Pit at 10:30, but different story. But we raise money, a dollar at a time. Every time we get enough money, I call this guy in Gig harbor, hey, we got enough money. Next guy or girl on the list. And it's pretty cool.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Like, really changing lives. Like, they are now pain free.
Katie Nolan
Amazing.
Kenny Maine
And they're not. But the day before. Yeah.
Katie Nolan
And you're. And you wore this today because you had to walk around the city?
Kenny Maine
Yeah, I need it. Well, my guy's mad at me because he wants me to wear it every day.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Because then I'll walk more normally and I'll. It might even help my ankle, the mobility. I usually go flip flops. Barefoot or brace. I don't. I don't wear regular shoes. If I go to a funeral or a wedding, I might wear those. But the kind that you slip in, you know, like black tennis shoes that.
Katie Nolan
Sure.
Kenny Maine
Borderline go with the suit.
Katie Nolan
Only at a funeral or a wedding.
Kenny Maine
Yeah, I'm not doing that for a dinner out.
Katie Nolan
But you wore sneakers today.
Kenny Maine
That's a device. They don't like to call it a brace. It's a device.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
You get a brace at Costco, but not this. No offense to Costco. We like what Costco's doing.
Katie Nolan
Of course. We love it. Buying in.
Kenny Maine
Go Costco.
Katie Nolan
Go Costco. I haven't been to a Costco. And do they have them here? I don't think they do.
Kenny Maine
The first one started in Kirkland, Washington.
Katie Nolan
Oh, wow.
Kenny Maine
That's why when you're golfing and you see a Kirkland golf ball, that's what that is, huh?
Katie Nolan
Who knew?
Kenny Maine
Well, I did.
Katie Nolan
You've already made friends with our producer, Isabella. And you guys are best friends with code words and everything.
Isabella
Love you back.
Katie Nolan
If you had to give her a pitch of why sports are the best, what would you say?
Kenny Maine
It brings peoples together, even with different otherwise political opinions. Whatever. Like for that three hours, you can all be Seahawk fans or you can all be Sonic. Wait, they got stolen. That's why I don't go to Starbucks, because I know little. You're driving down the freeway.
Katie Nolan
Oh, I wanted to get off.
Kenny Maine
I've done that before. No, Howard Schultz was the biggest percentage owner of the Sonics when they sold it to people who don't live in Seattle, who live in Oklahoma. And a couple years later they take the team away. So I used to go into Starbucks. I liked Starbucks coffee. I like coffee. And I'd say, give me two shots and the tears of Fred Brown. Famous Seattle Sonic. And my daughter Annie was like eight and she just. Dad, that's the dumbest protest. Either go or don't go. You can't go and berate a 16 year old barista, you know, and then.
Katie Nolan
Give your money to Howard Schultz.
Kenny Maine
Ultimately, I stopped and I like, you know, they do other good things and I like that they employ people, but I can't. I feel like it's such a violation of the trust I have with Sonic fans. No, I'm being dead serious.
Katie Nolan
I know. I believe you.
Kenny Maine
I've wanted coffee so bad at certain airports and all they have. It's like the Simpsons episode where there's Starbucks, you know, across the street from each other. And yeah, so I go elsewhere.
Katie Nolan
It's very chic right now to ban Starbucks.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. For other reasons, but this principally.
Katie Nolan
No, you don't have to say why you stand with those people.
Kenny Maine
With the people. So that's what was the earlier question.
Katie Nolan
Why you should love sports.
Kenny Maine
Oh, yeah. Because you care about your teams as passionately as I just described for a team that doesn't even exist.
Katie Nolan
True.
Kenny Maine
There was something so cool when I was a little kid. Lenny Wilkins, hall of Fame three times. He was a player right before he was a coach later. And he was also a player coach, by the way, but he got traded for Butch Beard and he goes to Cleveland. It doesn't matter. A long time ago, this early 70s, you weren't born. And me and my friends go to the game. We live like 20 miles south of Seattle. So one parent drops you off, the other one picks you up at 11:15 on Mercer. Right. And we have $10. Tickets are 350. We're sitting at the top of the gym. Right. But that game, when he came back with Cleveland, got sold out. And we didn't have $10. Wasn't going to get us in the door. So instead we went to the top of the Space Needle and I threw a T shirt off the Space Needle.
Katie Nolan
What?
Kenny Maine
To try to convey my displeasure with the trade of Lenny Wilkins. I thought that would come through. And people.
Katie Nolan
That sounds illegal.
Kenny Maine
I know they put up a bigger fence later.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, I don't think you're supposed to throw anything off the top.
Kenny Maine
A T shirt is harmless.
Katie Nolan
But don't they say if you drop like a penny off the top of a Space Needle, it'll gain enough speed that it could, like, penetrate somebody's head.
Kenny Maine
But not a T shirt. There penny in the T shirt.
Katie Nolan
Like, I don't know.
Kenny Maine
There's no pockets in the T shirt.
Katie Nolan
The T shirt could really do some damage once it gains.
Kenny Maine
Anyway.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
Lenny comes back to place. Goes crazy for Lenny Wilkins. And again, this is my cell of why sports matter. Our passion for one individual and what he meant to the city and what he would later mean to the city. He was the coach of our championship. And again, just the whole thing. Like, I like going out in public to buy coffee or to go to bread. I like community. I like, you know, the. No. Instead of just sitting at home eating cereal or making eggs again, it's fun to be with other people. And you make new bonds. And you're there for one interest.
Katie Nolan
And it's lies.
Kenny Maine
It's healthy. Except for some of the sports are less healthy. But what does that mean they have to do? Jumping Jackson. You know, push ups.
Katie Nolan
Who are you talking about? But not talking. You're like talking around saying something offensive.
Kenny Maine
Football's dangerous.
Katie Nolan
Oh, yes, of course.
Kenny Maine
Why else? Because it gives you something to do with your friends or make new friends. Like there's just all these things and the community of it and the pride people have when their team does something, whatever, whether it's high school or college or pro. How good you feel at the parade, you know, like, yeah, that's why. That's why you should care about sports. But you don't have to go full nerd. No, you don't have to care about all these new letters they've made up to that mean you're not into war. I pay little attention to most. In fact, when I would do Sports center, the running joke is, what is ops? What is this? What is. And some of them. I've forgotten what they even are. And I don't care. I just. The eye test usually is enough. You know, Willie Mays was good at baseball. I don't care what his WAR was. And it was probably good.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Or like. Yeah. You can just, like, watching it. You can just enjoy watching.
Kenny Maine
There you go.
Katie Nolan
An incredible athlete. Do an incredible feat of athleticism or just to spend.
Kenny Maine
Get away from all the other mess that's going on. I went. I was in Seattle just recently working on a Seahawk project. That's one other thing we can talk about.
Katie Nolan
Exciting.
Kenny Maine
We're talking about it now, in fact. And there was a Mariner Day game.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And I just went on my own. Just went to the park and. And walked her. I bought good seats, but the brace wasn't fitting in the seats very well. So I walk. It's not a brace. It's a device. And so I just kind of took laps.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And the Mariners were down. It was terrible game. They had errors. It was one of those bad games. Right. They're down, like, five to one or whatever.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
I stayed. I. I wouldn't give up. They came back and win and.
Katie Nolan
Amazing.
Kenny Maine
Yeah, it was. And it was so fun.
Katie Nolan
Yes.
Kenny Maine
To be around other people from my town. We all had this little thrill.
Katie Nolan
We're all hoping for the same thing to happen. And it happened.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. Or you can just sit and chill, Bring the newspaper, you know. Have you ever gone to cricket?
Katie Nolan
No.
Kenny Maine
People will bring a book to cricket because that can go on for a long while. It's kind of a cousin of baseball.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. I've never been.
Kenny Maine
I want to be a bowler. That's what they call their pitchers. Oh, it's pretty fun.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Did you ever try it?
Kenny Maine
Yeah. We went in Wide World of Sports. Wider world, of course.
Katie Nolan
Yes.
Kenny Maine
We went to Lord's Cricket in England.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. We did a lot of weird stuff.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, you did. You went to the Highland Games. Right. In Scott.
Kenny Maine
In Scotland, two favorites would be the Paleo. In Italy, that's a horse race, three laps around this town square going on since medieval days.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And then Irish road bowling.
Katie Nolan
Amazing.
Kenny Maine
There's an iron ball a little smaller than the baseball, weighs about pound and a half, I think. And you get two villages come together and two of their big guys or they could do it with women as well. But it was guys this day. One guy was wearing a really cheap sweatsuit that we kept making fun of. Had like a pinstripe down the side. The other guy wore jeans. He wore mom jeans. But they had good arms and they were beefy guys like the fat linemen. I want the Seahawks to draft. Yeah. And they got to throw this ball a mile and a quarter. Not at once, but, you know, after several throws. And so it's like golf. They throw. They throw.
Katie Nolan
Who's ever away with their hands, they just throw.
Kenny Maine
Not overhand.
Katie Nolan
Underhand.
Kenny Maine
That will ruin your arm.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
Because it's too heavy. Yeah. You gotta go underhand and whip it. They have a road shower. They have a road shower. Who. Who looks at the road and says, if you throw it here, it will turn the corner here? Google it.
Katie Nolan
This sounds insane.
Kenny Maine
Google it.
Katie Nolan
It. I will.
Kenny Maine
Right now.
Katie Nolan
I won't do it right now.
Kenny Maine
Do it after going tonight to the pit. That's The People's Improv.
Katie Nolan
10 o'clock.
Kenny Maine
10:30. Get there at 10.
Katie Nolan
Get there 10.
Kenny Maine
You don't know.
Katie Nolan
Got to get a seat.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
Might be sold out.
Kenny Maine
I got a good playlist.
Katie Nolan
For what? For when people are filing in.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
My own playlist. You want to hear about it?
Katie Nolan
Sure.
Kenny Maine
Okay. Opens with.
Katie Nolan
You know it by heart.
Kenny Maine
Everything in its right place.
Katie Nolan
Great.
Kenny Maine
Okay. Radiohead.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Then one I can't even pronounce. But it's a really cool song. And we played it. It's like syrup. It's like that. Those guys, they're doing good work.
Katie Nolan
Good.
Kenny Maine
But it's very thematic and motivational. Really long. It'll get people in. They'll be in a vibe.
Katie Nolan
Right.
Kenny Maine
And we played it on the bungee jumping thing we did in New Zealand. So when I jumped off the bridge, this music kicked up.
Katie Nolan
Okay. I can picture it.
Kenny Maine
Then I go to higher ground. Stevie Wonder, Wonderful Visions. And then my walk on song is I Wish. Also Stevie Wonder. Because the whole show was about my childhood and.
Katie Nolan
Huh.
Kenny Maine
Loving sports at a young age.
Katie Nolan
It's really beautiful. It's really beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Kenny Maine
What if I change?
Katie Nolan
I think I feel like there's no way four songs is going to be enough for everybody to file in during.
Kenny Maine
No, they said 15 minutes worth and it's on the nose. 15. Because that middle song, the name of which I can't pronounce.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
It's like seven, eight. You know, it's long.
Katie Nolan
Disappointed. There's no Fiona Apple.
Kenny Maine
I. We bonded over Fiona Big Fan.
Katie Nolan
We did bond over a few and a half.
Kenny Maine
You know what she does?
Katie Nolan
What's that?
Kenny Maine
She monitors court cases to make sure people are getting fair trials. That's the thing. She. She's dedicated some time to that.
Katie Nolan
Really? That's great.
Kenny Maine
I want to say Maryland. I can't swear to, but I feel like Virginia, Maryland, somewhere like that.
Katie Nolan
She just monitors them and makes sure people given.
Kenny Maine
That's her thing. She said, I care. Our justice system is not as equal as it should be, and she's going to help be an advocate for those who need advocacy.
Katie Nolan
Shout out Fiona Apple.
Kenny Maine
Free shout out Fiona Apple. You know who I love and I sent you the picture.
Katie Nolan
So texting. I need to make this clear to our listeners. Texting with Kenny Maine is an honor, a privilege, but a chaotic kind of nightmare. Sometimes Journey. The way he communicates is just whatever's in his head. It's out now. And it comes out in little bursts, but groups of bursts.
Kenny Maine
But here's what I sent you. We talked about this show. And then. And then I reminded you, hey, make sure to go.
Katie Nolan
I said, is your email the same? You said, yeah, but better here. And then sent me a screen grab of your Blue sky account. And I was like, I don't know what that means. I'm still gonna email you at your email address. And then you sent me a screen grab of this woman and said, check her out.
Kenny Maine
Anybody know how to say her name? I don't. It's either Joy Oladokin or a lot of kin. Okay.
Katie Nolan
You've only seen it. You've never heard.
Kenny Maine
Yes.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And. But she's amazing. She's like a modern day Tracy Chapman.
Katie Nolan
I was gonna say it seems Tracy Chapman esque.
Kenny Maine
That's her model, I think. And she. I was flipping around on Sirius Radio.
Katie Nolan
Shout out.
Kenny Maine
Free shout out. Serious channel 22. Pearl Jam.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
I guess I've hosted Pearl Jam radio.
Katie Nolan
Congrats.
Kenny Maine
That was a thrill.
Katie Nolan
Amazing. This is bigger. This is a bigger deal at serious.
Kenny Maine
For sure. Because this is live and what was the question? So I'm looking around for whatever and stumbled on yacht rock or something, you know, like, I don't know. Shout out might have been Coffee House Cafe.
Katie Nolan
That sounds more right for what you're.
Kenny Maine
And then I hear this. This girl. And I'm like, wow, who is that? Yeah, I screenshotted it, of course.
Katie Nolan
Just sent it to me.
Kenny Maine
No, to tell you to check her out.
Katie Nolan
I said, yeah, you did. But it was just a. I feel like whoever is communicating with you at any given time I wrote, check this girl. Just guess.
Kenny Maine
And when I say girl, I mean woman. You know what I mean?
Katie Nolan
They're not offended. They're trying to understand. Your whole deal, just like me, is just a constant. I'm looking to see if I still have old Kenny Maine voicemails sent.
Kenny Maine
Oh, I should read you some Bill Waltons.
Katie Nolan
Oh, yeah, go ahead.
Kenny Maine
So Bill Walton, lovely man, rest in peace. He. We went to his house for dinner the day or two after I left espn. We were in San Diego and it's just like you think it would be. It's exact. It's the door is Herman Munster nine feet tall. And you go in. He has three houses on the property right next to the zoo in San Diego. His teepees. A lot of dead. You know, just. It's Bill Walton, right. Incense, everything. So I would send Bill Walton a note occasionally. Just checking in and. Or I had something to pitch him or whatever the case. And he was always. Would write back these just incredible messages back. Right. Then I would read it to the newsroom like an hour before the show. Bill Walton just texted. Then we would find a way to use it in the show.
Katie Nolan
Perfect.
Kenny Maine
So here. I love you, Kenny. I miss you. I salute. I love you, Kenny. I miss you. I salute you. I thank you. Shine on. Carry on. With eternal gratitude and boundless everything. I thank you for my life. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. From the bright side of the road.
Katie Nolan
Bill Walton, so cute and sweet.
Kenny Maine
He. He said the same thing a few times. I miss you. Shine on. Yeah, just a good guy. I wish I knew him better. We hung out.
Katie Nolan
You didn't know him that well.
Kenny Maine
That's a. Oh, no, I knew. I said I wish I knew him even more. Like I wish I would have done more things in his presence.
Katie Nolan
Okay. Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Neil Everett would go to dead shows with them. Yeah, they went hard. I saw Dead with John Mayer.
Katie Nolan
Right.
Kenny Maine
He's joined the new when he did.
Katie Nolan
The dead and company.
Kenny Maine
And by the way, Joy, John Mayer also.
Katie Nolan
SiriusXM, right. Isn't he like.
Kenny Maine
Free shout out, John.
Katie Nolan
Free shout out, John Mayer.
Kenny Maine
John Mayer was in one of my so called main events, the football stories.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And then about three weeks later, I'm in New York. My niece used to live here and I have my back, you know, behind me, where your back is. And I'm looking this way and he comes from my back.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
He's got a cap on it. I have no idea that it's John Mayer. And he's coming up to me. Hey, man, that was really fun, you know, And I'm. No, yeah, it was that thing, and I'm. No clue.
Katie Nolan
No clue.
Kenny Maine
I quickly deposed him, and I realized who it was. It took a minute.
Katie Nolan
What did you do to get his name out of him?
Kenny Maine
I don't remember. No, I didn't get his name. I just kind of stared and. And, yeah, that was the deal, that thing. And then he said, what?
Katie Nolan
Yeah, and then he was like, your body's a wonderland. And you were like, oh, my God, it's John.
Kenny Maine
That's John Mayer. Yeah. I mean, when I was freelancing in tv, trying to get to espn, I would, like, make up jobs. I would call every TV station in Kansas City if the Chiefs were coming. Are you sending a crew? Are you sending a crew? And sometimes one of them wasn't. And for a certain amount of money, I'd hire a camera. We'd be their crew. Put it on a satellite. They'd look like they were at the game. Right.
Katie Nolan
That's crazy.
Kenny Maine
But you go in the locker room after the game, most places, the visitors don't have nameplates. Almost. All right. And so, I mean, like, if it was the Raider, you know, I know Marcus Allen. All right. I'm good with. I knew Al Davis, but I don't know.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
So you would have to sew. You guys. How'd you like your things on your side of the ball? You know, our defense was. You know, and then you.
Katie Nolan
Okay, cool.
Kenny Maine
You might be a safety. He's pretty built, you know? Yeah. So you had to fake it or just ask such generic questions that just served who. Whoever the hell this guy is. He said that?
Katie Nolan
Yeah. It's not like that anymore. You can't just call a TV station and be like, you guys, send in a crew. It's not like that.
Kenny Maine
Why? I. I say that all the time. I just did a college class last night giving tips, and I gave that story. I said a. Don't give up on yourself. I mean, I. The jobs I had right before espn, I assembled garbage cans.
Katie Nolan
I sold prepaid leases, assembled garbage cans. Like, put them together.
Kenny Maine
Yes, ma'am. I was a garbage man during college. That was my summer job, okay? And blew a lot of it at the racetrack, but it was a good job. And then I work out for football, and I go back to Vegas. Whatever. So years later, when I quit my TV job in Seattle, I called the garbage guy, hey, I just quit my job. Any chance I could come down a day or two a week just to pay some bills till I figure out what I'm doing. He said, I don't have any of those jobs because we're down to one man Cruise. They got the claw now. They don't need the guy hanging on the back. That was me. I was the swamper. The industry had passed me by, essentially.
Katie Nolan
Right, sure.
Kenny Maine
And he said, I do need some garbage cans made. You gotta put the lids on, put the wheels on.
Katie Nolan
You can do that.
Kenny Maine
And I work so zealously that I ran myself out of a job. There were no more cans left. So then I looked in the paper and there was an article or not article, like a want ad for a marketing company, TV or radio experience a bonus. They're talking to me, right?
Katie Nolan
That's right.
Kenny Maine
Turns out it was telemarketing.
Katie Nolan
Oh, no.
Kenny Maine
And now I'm selling prepaid legal insurance, which actually is a real thing. You know, people. It's not a. It's not a joke product. But wasn't what I was shooting for right then. I was turning back back on tv. Then I started working for mci.
Katie Nolan
I feel like I've heard of mci.
Kenny Maine
Sprint Telecom.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
It's back when you used to sign up for long distance, right?
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
While I kept pitching. ESPN or Kansas City or who else? Prime Sports was a thing. TSN in Canada, NBA entertainment. I was just a horror for anyone who would give me whatever they would give me to go keep staying in the business I wanted to be in.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And I did ESPN a ton. But, you know, took a while to beat down the doors.
Katie Nolan
And you gave this advice to college kids today?
Kenny Maine
I told them, I said it. I synthesized.
Katie Nolan
You call mcl.
Kenny Maine
No, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't tell them to do all that stuff.
Katie Nolan
Build garbage cans.
Kenny Maine
Nope. I left that part out. The thrust of it was perseverance matters more than talent half the time.
Katie Nolan
That is true.
Kenny Maine
And a little bit of luck sometimes. But, you know, if you get 20 no's, maybe 21 says yes. Ultimately, for whatever you want to do, whether it's this business or anything relationship, you need to impress one person. One person in a chair.
Katie Nolan
That's true.
Kenny Maine
I like Katie Nolan. Let's hire her. You know, that's it.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. And then you have to placate everybody who comes after that one person sometimes for the rest of your career and hope that they like you enough.
Kenny Maine
We're only just getting started here on the Katie Nolan part podcast.
Katie Nolan
That's not what it's called. It's called casuals. It says it right there. It says it right here.
Kenny Maine
I know. I was getting to that. I thought your name should be more prominent.
Katie Nolan
I want to ask you, Juicy Goss, but I don't think you're going to give me any. Did you hate anybody at espn? Did any of you Sports center anchors really not get along?
Kenny Maine
There were certain people you didn't get along with as well as other people. Isn't that true?
Katie Nolan
Of course.
Kenny Maine
Anywhere you go, you have more commonality with certain people.
Katie Nolan
Totally.
Kenny Maine
Where you get each other. Like the key thing was without naming names, I always, I thought a good team play, like you and I barely know each other. We seem like we get each other. We always have. And I would stick up for you or save you or you'd save me. Like if there were, right?
Katie Nolan
Yeah, you did. Like when we did the dog show.
Kenny Maine
The dog show was fun as hell.
Katie Nolan
So fun.
Kenny Maine
We need to be doing it more. No, like some people weren't the teammate you wanted. That's the best way to put it.
Katie Nolan
I think we're both picturing the same guy.
Kenny Maine
They're kind of just into what they're doing. But. But most of the time, I'd say 90 of the time. It did. It was just rare. It was a rare thing. Now and then you didn't feel comfy out there like you wanted to with your friends. You know, Stuart Scott was great. He'd write literally in the la. Remember the tease that, you know, coming up on Sports Center. People know what a tease is.
Katie Nolan
Anyway, thanks for telling just in case they did.
Kenny Maine
But in the old days, they were different than they are now. So there is a difference. You used to write, used to write like a minute long. Will the Cubs come back? You know, that kind of thing. And, and Stuart, two seconds before on the air, he'd be like, let's get stupid. Or you just say something silly and it would make me giggle. And then boom, you're on TV and you're happy. You know, I always say that when you speak anywhere, don't have the first words be your first words. Even if you have to say something as you're walking up to the podium, blah, blah, blah. You know, Alabama, Alaska, you know, say some words so that the first time you speak isn't the first word you haven't. You haven't said in a while. Right. You haven't said anything. Thing. Yeah, because it might come out like, ah, you know, like, yeah, that happens. You want it to be.
Katie Nolan
This is all good advice.
Kenny Maine
Just here, let's take, let's go to the calls. No, let's take calls about life advice.
Katie Nolan
I mean, we could.
Kenny Maine
Let's go.
Katie Nolan
I don't know how to take a. We don't have the technology. Isabella could call in.
Isabella
Hi.
Kenny Maine
Hi.
Katie Nolan
What's your name? Where are you calling from?
Isabella
I'm Isabella. I'm calling from the opposite side of the window.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
What are your problems, Kenny?
Isabella
What's your zodiac sign?
Kenny Maine
Do you know Virgo?
Isabella
Oh, love that you knew that right away.
Kenny Maine
Well, I only know it because Gretchen follows all that.
Katie Nolan
Gretchen's his lovely wife that Wikipedia refuses.
Kenny Maine
To acknowledge some what is your life advice. You're looking for. What's going on in your life? What's the problem?
Isabella
Let's see. Let's see. Oh, this is something I've mentioned on the pod previously a couple times. How would you suggest as someone who's not that interested in football to get into football?
Kenny Maine
Well, that's similar to an earlier question that we discussed, but you gotta have one aim.
Katie Nolan
Specifically. It's specifically football.
Kenny Maine
This. How about learn how to throw it and have fun feeling the ball and knowing what it feels like to throw a 10 yard out or little swing pass or whatever. Start small. Okay. Just some screens and. And then because you know, when you look at someone who's never thrown a ball, as an example, like we had this foreign kid named Victorio who was staying at our friend's house. Ended up being Brin's boyfriend. Our youngest daughter.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Good athlete, good at soccer, high jumper, but throwing.
Katie Nolan
Had never thrown a football.
Kenny Maine
Was comical. But I taught him in one day. I was like, no, no, no, you got to have your. Like he started throwing spirals and it's fun. You know, I'm. I was terrible baseball hitter, but I still love hitting a wiffle wall. I'm not very good at golf, but I love hitting golf. So go do the sport that you're trying to get attracted to and feel it and. And feel what it feels like. Then when you see the real players do these incredible things right, then you have more appreciation for it.
Isabella
I actually really like that. Katie, you want to play catch sometimes?
Katie Nolan
Sure, I'll have a catch with you.
Kenny Maine
Do we have a ball?
Katie Nolan
Not a football?
Isabella
No, but we should.
Katie Nolan
We'll get. I'm sure we can get.
Kenny Maine
And don't. It has to be a real ball. I have a thing about that. Like sometimes on the sets you'll see people with the ball as a little backgroundy thing and it's some stupid void official size and weight plastic.
Katie Nolan
You don't want that.
Kenny Maine
It has to have the commissioner's signature on It. Of course. Or a real college balls. Fine. But they use a lot of different kind.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Okay, good advice.
Kenny Maine
You know what we used to do a lot of?
Katie Nolan
What?
Kenny Maine
Fake phone calls. Yeah, I got a lot of my communication skills from doing that as a kid.
Katie Nolan
As in you would?
Kenny Maine
I would. There was a radio station called kjr. Still is. And they used to have a cash call jackpot.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
And back in the 60s, and I'm like 8, 9, 10 years old, whatever. You know, $100, 200. A lot of money still is, you know, that's not nothing, but it wasn't a million dollar thing. So there. If you listen to kgr, you know what's in the cash call jackpot. Then when it's time to call, you know the number. Right? Because you're listening. So we would call people pretending that it's your turn, you're up, you know, guess the number. And I'd say. And I'd even say it's between 300 and $400. And I put on my big man voice. And they'd say 365. And I'd say. Did you say 385? And they'd always say yes, because human nature. Nope, it was 365. Oh, I'm sorry. We also did a lot of fake hole in ones or holes in one. So my friend would have a name in the paper the next day that he had a hole in one. Totally fraudulent, but what great skill set.
Katie Nolan
Wait, you were prank calling people, making them think they won a bunch of money and then they didn't win the money?
Kenny Maine
Only did that once or twice. That was me.
Katie Nolan
Sure. That's brutal.
Kenny Maine
We were nine and ten. We were experimenting. It was our exploration period. The fact I could fake out an old person with a fake big man voice was pretty good.
Katie Nolan
It's pretty funny, but still pretty brutal.
Kenny Maine
Would you like to buy prepaid legal insurance?
Katie Nolan
No, thank you.
Kenny Maine
This is Katie Nolan.
Katie Nolan
What is prepaid legal insurance?
Kenny Maine
Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm not interrupting your dinner, am I?
Katie Nolan
No, thanks. It's 11:00.
Kenny Maine
So here's what we're gonna do. I'm just going to give you a quick explanation how prepaid legal Insurance works for 9.95amonth. We'll put that direct to your manufacturer's handover trust credit card. And you will have an attorney at disposal in the event, God forbid, you need an attorney. Okay, can I put my super.
Katie Nolan
So it's keeping an attorney on retainer? Basically.
Kenny Maine
Vague retainer, but for Cheap. Yeah. So you know, six months later you get a divorce or you call.
Katie Nolan
Excuse me.
Kenny Maine
So excuse me.
Katie Nolan
We'd have to get married first.
Kenny Maine
Good point. So, yeah. And then. And then you always go, can I bring my supervisor on the line? And that's when the sale is done.
Katie Nolan
Is the supervisor just you in a different voice? Hello, I'm Kenny's boss. All right, well, wait a minute. What?
Kenny Maine
You just did a well, like, we're done. That sounded like a Gretchen well. No, she gives me a well sometimes.
Katie Nolan
Well, is. It's time to move on to a segment that has a structure because we've wandered the podcast. The draft is happening tonight.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
Day one of the draft. Now, my theory about garbage.
Kenny Maine
You keep saying it's garbage field. That's the only thing I've been reading that.
Katie Nolan
What? That there's nobody.
Kenny Maine
The talent scouts are unimpressed that this is a weaker crop of athletes. I don't. I think it's like when they say that about the Kentucky Derby field. You don't know until you know exactly. May turn out to be great.
Katie Nolan
They could be. You don't know anything.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
I also think they're adjusting to the new era of nil athletes. I saw Jake Laser had a report where he was like. One thing I'm hearing across the league as I talk to them about the draft is a lot of the complaints about players are that they don't love football enough. It's like a new category of negative feedback from teams is like, this guy's moving down their draft board because he doesn't love the game enough.
Kenny Maine
I think some of those psychological things.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, right.
Kenny Maine
Haven't you read, years later the report on so and so and the report on so and so and they had it dead wrong. I think the people to do all the analysis aren't as good at analysis as they think they are.
Katie Nolan
Square up, Mel Kuiper.
Kenny Maine
In your face, Mel Kuiper Jr. Except for Mel Kuiper Jr. Awesome.
Katie Nolan
Who's the greatest?
Kenny Maine
I mean, they have voluminous information.
Katie Nolan
100.
Kenny Maine
You know, Berman used to make the joke. He's like, after two rounds on Mel, what do you have? You know, like. Like it takes a lot to consume all that. You know, they use notes, some of them. I just think too much is made right now of where this person is.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And not enough of what is his potential or her potential in women's sports. I mean, it's like I. I have a strong opinion about youth sports where they tell 8 year olds or 9 year olds, you're not good enough for the local travel team and the kid is left. Well, I'm gonna play on a shit rec league team, you know what I mean? Like, it ruins people's chances because some people will give up on themselves or they don't wait to be developed. And I think the same thing kind of applies even at this elite level of athletes.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Especially with youth. It's like sometimes you just want them to have the team experience.
Kenny Maine
Right.
Katie Nolan
They can suck and still learn about teamwork and, you know, stay physically fit and active.
Kenny Maine
I told this last night on my little college thing. Not that I needed to preface it with that.
Katie Nolan
No. But I like that you hold it. That's okay.
Kenny Maine
I'm just honest, man, in case any of them are listening. Yeah, a lot of college kids, same story. Yeah, he's doing that same. No, I ended and I was not that good. I could throw. I wasn't great, but I got to go to school for free at Division 1A in ninth grade. That's not very many years before I played in fifth quarter, they would hold the four lawful quarters of football. Then they had the crappy players come out and have some fun for eight minutes.
Katie Nolan
Ouch.
Kenny Maine
Get out there, Ken.
Katie Nolan
Toss the ball around.
Kenny Maine
Practice throwing. Yeah, exactly. Get the feel for it. So my point is, I didn't give up because I had confidence in myself and I knew, you know, just get bigger and stay with it. But there are a lot of people who don't have that confidence. And getting a hard rejection at a young age is a difficult thing.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. My theory is that the draft is the amount of coverage we put towards the draft. And there are people who love it.
Kenny Maine
Agreed. I already know what you're gonna say, and I agree.
Katie Nolan
We are in the post season of two major sports.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
The NHL and the NBA are like, peaking in their most excitingness. It's wild to me to think that we would devote a bunch of time on this podcast to Talking about a PowerPoint presentation, basically of players that might play later.
Kenny Maine
It just shows football is king, especially the NFL. And it's just the way it is. It fills the whole year with television and radio and pods and everything else. I could list some other media, such as newspapers and magazines.
Katie Nolan
Keep going, please.
Kenny Maine
Quarterly periodicals, of course. Book all those things. And it's just football's football. Right. That's just the way it is. So. But I agree, honestly, I've always been kind of bored by the draft. I won't lie. Hot take.
Katie Nolan
Speak it, say it. Speak your truth.
Kenny Maine
For what you just said, like, I love football still, and I follow the NFL pretty well. College, a little less.
Katie Nolan
Well, same.
Kenny Maine
But I. You know, I still like the game. And the draft comes around, there's like, all this talk, and you have no fucking idea who's going to do what. And there could be a free agent. How about Steve Largent for you? Was he. Thought highly of. Was he. They used to have, like, 18 rounds. Johnny Unitis, I think, was taken in the 17th round.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, a lot of rounds.
Kenny Maine
I know.
Katie Nolan
And also, like, I'm a Patriots fan, so the draft was never. We got Tom Brady way late, so that's like. To me, it kind of disproved the concept of the draft, and we would always trade away our picks. So, like, I. It never mattered to me, so I just don't.
Kenny Maine
Speaking of the Patriots.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. What's that?
Kenny Maine
I just tasted wine made by the Bledsoe family.
Katie Nolan
I've heard it's tasty.
Kenny Maine
Walla Walla. Washington good? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Drew was very funny in the Tom Brady roast.
Katie Nolan
I was gonna say he had a little bit of that wine on his way out there.
Kenny Maine
I saw him the next day. He was proud of himself, but he should have been. He. He was funny, you know, Very much in command.
Katie Nolan
If there's ever a place you can get a little bit soused before you go out, that's it.
Kenny Maine
I think that was the only thing I thought was about that whole program was how many. I don't like bringing it up. They brought up Aaron Hernandez several times.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
It became a punch. It's like, that wasn't that funny. Yeah, the whole thing was terrible and sad, but he was super funny. And Ms. Glazer, she's.
Katie Nolan
Nikki.
Kenny Maine
Ridiculous.
Katie Nolan
She's very funny.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. So, yeah, those are fun. I. I just went and saw Nate Bergazzi in Las Vegas.
Katie Nolan
Did you.
Kenny Maine
Speaking of funny people.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
So I had to pee with, like, 35 minutes to go. We know he's gonna go hour, maybe hour. 15, 20.
Katie Nolan
Sure.
Kenny Maine
And I'm looking at my clock, which, you know, he's funny as hell. Like, everything he says is funny, but I'm not having as much fun anymore.
Katie Nolan
Cause you have to pee.
Kenny Maine
You can't be that guy, though. You. I mean, it's not a huge.
Katie Nolan
I mean, isn't he in a. What's the venue?
Kenny Maine
It was the Wynn. Whatever their big theater is.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. It's a huge tv.
Kenny Maine
Yeah. But we were, like, eight rows on the mic. Oh, no.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
I would. Had to cross with my brace on.
Katie Nolan
Oh, no.
Kenny Maine
I would have devised, I would have had to cross like nine people. Sorry, I keep telling jokes. I gotta peel right now. So I did. I just squirmed. And I'm sorry. I was too personal.
Katie Nolan
But no, but now you don't remember any of those jokes, I'm sure because you're so focused on my favorite one.
Kenny Maine
He didn't do in this one, but it just sticks with me because it's so stupid. Is about how many bathrooms now are made with the glass only halfway. Like I. And he's like, that's the future. That's what we're doing. We're flooding floors. But he was really funny. He didn't swear one time. Not that you have to clean.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, he's a clean comic.
Kenny Maine
You don't have to swear to be funny. But sometimes big power word just kind of takes it home, I think.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, I think so too.
Kenny Maine
He doesn't think that. And that's fine. He does it his way.
Katie Nolan
It's also very profitable. So you can. Your family friendly.
Kenny Maine
Ray Romano used to make that joke.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
You know, actually Chris Rock made it about Ray Romano know. He's like, oh, yeah, his garage is bigger than my house because he plays to all these people. And you know. Yeah.
Katie Nolan
And then Eminem famously said to Will Smith doesn't have to curse to sell records, but I do. So him and you too.
Kenny Maine
You know, if they call for martial law, it'll be spelled like Marshall Mathers. They'll have the two L's like Eminem.
Katie Nolan
The point of the draft rant. The point of the draft rant is that we do technically have to. Oh, wait, what?
Kenny Maine
I'll give you another one. The lead up on, say, the big sports channels before the baseball awards. Who's gonna win the Cy Young? Who's gonna do the mv? They talk about that for three weeks.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
The announcement comes like on a Tuesday at 4:00. It makes one or two shows, right? That's same. Same thing you're talking about.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
That's why I keep going back to what I always loved about sports and it ties it all back about, you know, wanting to love sports and finding a way is just the immediacy of the unknown. We have no idea what's going to happen in any game tonight. And then you get to come on and say this crazy thing happened and, and, and, and watching a game. The back and forth. There was that insane NBA game. Was it Chicago, like six weeks ago, a month ago, they scored like, oh.
Katie Nolan
At the end of the game, like.
Kenny Maine
It was like the Reggie Miller, you know, thing against the Knicks. Yeah, that and then one, I think.
Katie Nolan
Which is funny because Isabella watched that and she said. She was like, this is. This seems crazy.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. And it is. And that's the greatness of sports. They've announced the next Golden Bachelor.
Kenny Maine
Seahawks need three fat guys.
Katie Nolan
It's going to be Mel Owens. He's a former Rams linebacker.
Kenny Maine
You talking about the Bachelor?
Katie Nolan
The show where they do the Golden Bachelor? It's for olds. How old are you?
Kenny Maine
65.
Katie Nolan
Well, this guy's 66. So if anything ever happened, God forbid.
Kenny Maine
With Gretchen, she would have the prepaid.
Katie Nolan
Legal insurance and you could go on the Golden Bachelor.
Kenny Maine
Can I take a stand against those shows?
Katie Nolan
Yeah, if you want to. You can do anything you want.
Kenny Maine
I just didn't. They never did it for me. No reality show ever did it for me. Because they were not real. The thing where they do the confessional interviews.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Obvious. The producer put words in their mouth to say the sentences that they say.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
I like real documentaries.
Katie Nolan
Sure.
Kenny Maine
Ken Burns documentaries. Those kind.
Katie Nolan
Yes.
Kenny Maine
I mean, is that a little sleepy for you?
Katie Nolan
It's just like Ken Burns is like, okay, he's in my movie. And that's great. Very incredibly talented. There's a whole move of a camera in editing named after Ken Burns. He's a legend.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
I don't think the young audience is. Is. Well, I don't think Ken Burns is necessarily resonating.
Kenny Maine
That's their problem.
Katie Nolan
You're so right.
Kenny Maine
I mean, you could pick other old historical.
Katie Nolan
So your take here was you don't like the Golden Bachelor. You're more of a. I didn't know there was.
Kenny Maine
Yeah, I didn't know there was a Golden Bachelor until just now.
Katie Nolan
Right.
Kenny Maine
Had been on the air for a while.
Katie Nolan
This is the second season.
Kenny Maine
Never heard of it. So I was on Dancing with the Stars, though, which you could argue was a real.
Katie Nolan
Voted the worst dancer.
Kenny Maine
No, the best worst.
Katie Nolan
Right. They gave you an award for being the best. For being the worst dancer. The best worst dancer they've ever had.
Kenny Maine
I was so bad that they never had my dancing partner back. I ruined her career.
Katie Nolan
Additionally, you took her down with the ship.
Kenny Maine
I didn't try to. I. Her name is Andrea. Nice girl from Utah. And I said, hey, can we just see this rug we're working on here? Can we just stay right around here? And I. I bet I can pull that off. Right. I got the ankle problem. It was. My ankle wasn't as bad then. This is like 2006 or something. She's oh, no. We're going to be super ambitious. We're going to touch every corner of the floor.
Katie Nolan
Why?
Kenny Maine
They're going to reward you for your ambition. Instead. I'm like, I. One point I had to run after her to get to my next thing. And a couple moves I just threw away on purpose, thinking that would be funny if. Threw it away. Spin back. They didn't think it was funny at all. But then it created a new thing. Jerry Rice, Len Goodman, God rest. We did this little show called Dance center, like a takeoff on Sports Center. And. And I came back for, like eight years. So I was constantly. But again, I consider that more of a talent show.
Katie Nolan
Okay. Than a reality competition series.
Kenny Maine
At the same time, I didn't like their fake interviews either, because they would clearly tell. Put it this way. Yeah, I just like real. Unless it's fiction. That's really funny.
Katie Nolan
Well, the Golden Bachelor that I think people like is that it's. It's older folks. Whereas the Bachelor and the Bachelorette, it's always these, like, 22 year olds who are talking about how, like, I've never had love in my life. It's like. Well, because you're 22, this is a little bit of a spin on it. I watched the first season. I didn't watch Golden Bachelorette, but it's older folks.
Kenny Maine
Did you watch the Ken Burns documentary on the Dust Bowl?
Katie Nolan
I did it. I must have missed that one.
Kenny Maine
Have you ever seen his National Parks one?
Katie Nolan
No, I watched the baseball one.
Kenny Maine
Baseball's good. Jackie Robinson was good. Vietnam, Ali, you know, you name it.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. So fair enough.
Kenny Maine
What was that one show? Sort of like the thing you're talking about. But they had to get married. Right. Wasn't there a show?
Katie Nolan
Yeah, there's been a couple. I think the Bachelor. You do have to get engaged. But there was like a. There was one where you married a guy, and I feel like that was a. Was that the Joe. The one where the guy pretended to be poor but he actually was rich?
Kenny Maine
Maybe.
Katie Nolan
I don't know.
Kenny Maine
It just seems like it's the kind of show you watch while eating ice cream out of a carton.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. And what's wrong with depression is my question to you? You ever been depressed? You ever just want to watch some garbage like Temptation Island?
Kenny Maine
I was depressed about my ankle. That's why I got my.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, your device. Keep calling it a brace.
Kenny Maine
No. So, yeah, the show's tonight. People's improv theater. 10:30 for you new Yorkers.
Katie Nolan
Let's go. Have you followed this story About Nico Ayama Leava, maybe the former Tennessee quarterback who's now going to transfer to ucla.
Kenny Maine
Oh, I only the top line of the controversy but I know no details to give you.
Katie Nolan
Oh, you don't have any opinion on it?
Kenny Maine
Well, it's a free for all about who can do what at this point. I mean you get who's the coach they were just talking to. Might have been Hurley talking about, you know, trying, trying to come back and do well again and he's like hell, I'm just trying to hang on to, you know, half my team because even a school as vaunted as that, right. Somebody else has a better offer. It's kind of a free country now. I was all for the wild wild west of it because coaches come and go whenever the heck they want.
Katie Nolan
They do.
Kenny Maine
And so why can't players have their freedom? So it's going to take a while to get adjusted to it because it's almost like they're going to switch teams at halftime. Like you know, we're, it's going to get out of control. But aren't they coming up. There's supposedly some kind of ruling soon that allegedly will put it, you know, like a court finding that will say this is how it's going to be. Because a lot of the schools now want it to be more like all right, fine, we'll pay him but let's have it be like certain amount of money in the salary cap like the pros, I think the players and their agency like screw that. We kind of like the way that it is dollar deals for car. The thing that I don't like is it became a true pay for play when I thought the premise of it was name, image and likeness. Hey, I'm here for the Washington Huskies and I love Seattle Boat. Seattle boat with the 26 foot cobalt.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. The ability to profit off of their name, image and likeness.
Kenny Maine
Instead it was like go block people. Here's 50 grand.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, it does feel like that part.
Kenny Maine
Kind of give me more detail on that because I truly, I only saw that there was a controversy, but I know zero.
Katie Nolan
He was a highly regarded recruit who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season. He was number one in ESPN's transfer portal rankings and he immediately gives UCLA one of the best known players in the sport. Upon his arrival, The Bruins were 57 with their new coach DeShawn Foster last season. He's a five star prospect. Ayama Leava from Long Beach, California has a younger brother named Madden.
Kenny Maine
That's really secondary information.
Katie Nolan
No I think that's important. He committed to ucla, but then he changed his mind, and now he's gonna sign with Arkansas. Ayama Leava was slated to make $2.2 million this year on his nai nil deal with Tennessee. He wanted a deal closer to the 4.2 million that Carson Beck got when he transferred from Georgia to Miami. He's rumored now to be getting around 1.5 million from UCLA. So basically, he bet on himself and lost a little bit.
Kenny Maine
But that's still a lot of money.
Katie Nolan
A ton of money.
Kenny Maine
In our day, we got, I think, 480 stipend. You got school for free, books for free. Yeah, I'm old, as you pointed out. No, we're talking about 79 was my first year, red shirt. Then 80, I broke my leg. 81, I played. And I think we got buying, you know, 500 bucks a month. And back in 1980, you could. My apartment all in was like 200.
Katie Nolan
The expenses were quite different back then.
Kenny Maine
300.
Katie Nolan
You said you went to a ball game for 350.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
And you didn't mean $353. It's very different than it is.
Kenny Maine
And then you'd spend the whole game scouting, see if the rich people didn't show up and move to their seats at halftime. Everybody's done that.
Katie Nolan
A Mike Nolan classic.
Kenny Maine
I love that. Yeah, but. Yeah, but I'm saying, you know, obviously all the economics are different, but we seem to get by. We go to $99 buffets.
Katie Nolan
Who does?
Kenny Maine
In my day, oh, we would go on the Las Vegas Strip.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Stardust. Excuse me. Got the hiccups. And go to, like, $99 buffets. We'd get by.
Katie Nolan
Yeah, that's. But that's different than now.
Kenny Maine
We're talking about then. Right. Then we were talking about then.
Katie Nolan
You're right.
Kenny Maine
I'll go back to now. Yeah. Now you need a million five for the buffet, for sure.
Katie Nolan
But it's all you can eat.
Kenny Maine
Egg prices.
Katie Nolan
So it's all worth it. NHL playoffs. You're rooting for anybody? No, no, no.
Kenny Maine
I just hope everyone plays to their.
Katie Nolan
Best, has a good time, and achieves. Geez, we've really lost Kenny Maine.
Kenny Maine
No, I'm NBA playoffs for anybody I'm rooting for. I want the Sonics to come back.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
I'm not rooting for Oklahoma.
Katie Nolan
No.
Kenny Maine
The funny thing is, a lot of Seattle people despise the Thunder. Right, right. And they stole our identity to some degree because they get to pretend that they won the 79 championship, which was really won by the Sonics, but it's the franchise, Right? Right.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. And thunder is kind of your thing. You guys love rain.
Kenny Maine
I'm not rooting for them, you know, and I. I think all the hate on LeBron I think is weird. If you want to just talk general.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Basketball.
Katie Nolan
Sure.
Kenny Maine
What's. He's had a glorious career. Seems like an upstanding guy. It's just funny that. Why. Why is he the attack point for so many people? I don't. I don't get that.
Katie Nolan
Well, because anybody who's the most famous is going to be the one everybody wants to have opinions about. Out. Also his son, I think that was the main.
Kenny Maine
That was a thing.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. He brought his son.
Kenny Maine
I'm more of a Jamal Crawford guy. Play with the Knicks here, by the way.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Okay. What is that? You're just a. Just a Jamal throwing out people. People are like, naming athletes that, you.
Kenny Maine
Know, I like feeling an apple. She never played in the NBA.
Katie Nolan
She never played the game.
Kenny Maine
And right now, you know what she's doing?
Katie Nolan
Mostly court stuff.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
All that.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Kenny, as always, I have no idea what we talked about.
Kenny Maine
Wait, I'm not done.
Katie Nolan
Okay, what else you got?
Kenny Maine
Let me think.
Katie Nolan
I also forgot to turn on a timer, so I have no idea how long we've been talking, but I assume it's been about an hour. Yep. Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Is there a limit?
Katie Nolan
No, we just usually go an hour.
Kenny Maine
It's the Internet.
Katie Nolan
Listen, if you have always got.
Kenny Maine
You did Blue sky something.
Katie Nolan
Oh, yeah, I did.
Kenny Maine
That was my first. You know what? I meant to thank you at the start. So she. I moved to Blue Sky.
Katie Nolan
I kind of did. I have an account.
Kenny Maine
Her. Her thing was I'm here kinda or whatever you said. And then you did nothing more. No, but I. I begged of you. Can you. I didn't ask you to do it. I just sent it to you. Like, hey, I did this joke.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
And then you re.
Katie Nolan
And now. What's that called? Re Sky. I reskyed it. I posted it on. Yeah.
Kenny Maine
What does it mean? I need to learn how the. The Instagram works. I just don't get it. I get there.
Katie Nolan
What do you mean? It's easy.
Kenny Maine
Well, maybe younger people. It's. It's like Twitter. I mastered. I knew exactly. Put up a video, say a joke or say a line or whatever.
Katie Nolan
I miss it.
Kenny Maine
But Instagram?
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
I can barely find my last post. Like, I don't even know. What did I do last? Did anybody react?
Katie Nolan
I'm actually gonna go look at Your Instagram.
Kenny Maine
It's terrible. It's garbage. My daughter called me, said, dad, I'm taking over your Instagram. It sucks. I tried to put up.
Katie Nolan
Former garbage can assembler.
Kenny Maine
I tried to put up. You did the thing about my show, right?
Katie Nolan
Yeah, you did.
Kenny Maine
But you can't click on it.
Katie Nolan
No, of course not. It's a picture.
Kenny Maine
It's a picture. But I wanted it to be the kind that you could click on. So you can't.
Katie Nolan
They don't do that. You have to write link in bio and then in your bio, you put the link you want them to click.
Kenny Maine
Can you do that for me?
Katie Nolan
I can. I can figure it out. I can help you figure it out.
Kenny Maine
I don't know my password.
Katie Nolan
Also, people know enough to know that they can.
Kenny Maine
That's what I told Riley.
Katie Nolan
Just Google it.
Kenny Maine
I said, riley, they're gonna see my poster. The picture of my poster. And if they are interested. Yeah, they will then go to the website.
Katie Nolan
It does. It does cut off.
Kenny Maine
I know.
Katie Nolan
Oh, now I'm looking at it. Some of the verbiage, it cuts off so you can't really see it. So it's. That part's not ideal.
Kenny Maine
Great. But you know, it is great. What is this show? Casuals?
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
Katie Nolan.
Katie Nolan
This one right here.
Kenny Maine
The show we're doing now and the show in general.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. You. Big fan. You listen to it.
Kenny Maine
I have heard clips of it. When you post them.
Katie Nolan
I do have.
Kenny Maine
I sat down and hit the button and listened the whole thing. I will.
Katie Nolan
Thanks, Ken.
Kenny Maine
I mean, did you see my video on miniature golf?
Katie Nolan
No. And I haven't even seen your Wiffle ball movie yet.
Kenny Maine
That's terrible. I thought I sent it to you.
Katie Nolan
But I'll beat you did.
Kenny Maine
You didn't look at it.
Katie Nolan
I've been busy. I've been busy. New season of the Golden Bachelor is out. I just have a lot to.
Kenny Maine
Plus that transfer situation.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. I gotta follow Tennessee.
Kenny Maine
Ucla. Who hasn't been talking about that?
Katie Nolan
I have to. Unlike you, I have to know everything about sports. Or they say I don't like them or else they go, girls don't like sports because she doesn't know everything. So I spend all of my time.
Kenny Maine
Studying the whole thing. I mean, you look at like Mina.
Katie Nolan
Kimes, the greatest human alive.
Kenny Maine
She's amazing. And she's like so nerdy about football. Like, it's just. Okay, we get it. You love football. Oh, cool.
Katie Nolan
You can just name.
Kenny Maine
She's like, I got the all 22. You know? Yeah. The whole thing. But she's really good. My point is there will still be guys who know like, a tenth as much as her. Like, she never played football constantly. And I said she had an excellent career in the cfl. Clamped down corner, like, trying to defend her. Yeah, no, she's really good. It's stupid. There's all sorts of men.
Katie Nolan
Yes.
Kenny Maine
Who cover professional sports or college sports who never played.
Katie Nolan
Well, you couldn't. But.
Kenny Maine
No, but I'm saying.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
I don't think that's a requirement that you had to be really, really good at football to now talk about football. You could have just observed it.
Katie Nolan
Right.
Kenny Maine
There's other things I observe. Coffee. I've never made coffee.
Katie Nolan
You've never made coffee?
Kenny Maine
I've made coffee in the kitchen. I mean, I've never grown the crop in Peru and shipped it on a ferry or whatever. No.
Katie Nolan
I get. I think I get what you're trying to say.
Kenny Maine
I have no expertise. You could. He does not know Wanda Valdez Jr. You know.
Katie Nolan
You don't.
Kenny Maine
No, but I can make opinions about wine or about coffee and not having any expertise in the field.
Katie Nolan
Yeah. And also, girls like sports. It just feels like a thing that people are immediately like. Well, they just say they do.
Kenny Maine
Girl power.
Katie Nolan
Be a huge waste of my time. Just say I like spice.
Kenny Maine
We just want girl power here.
Katie Nolan
Which Spice Girl would you be? I think you're like a Ginger.
Kenny Maine
Would I be?
Katie Nolan
Yeah. Which Spice Girl are you? I was always sporty when I was younger because nobody wanted to be here, which I thought was crazy.
Kenny Maine
What are all their names?
Katie Nolan
Sporty, Scary. Ginger, Baby. Posh.
Kenny Maine
I'll go posh.
Katie Nolan
No, you wouldn't.
Kenny Maine
No.
Katie Nolan
No, you wouldn't.
Kenny Maine
That's like asking, which Kardashian do you want to be?
Katie Nolan
No, it isn't. No, it isn't. Has much more prestige to it. Oh, you could be, baby. She was the star. You're Ginger. You're.
Kenny Maine
If you want me to be Ginger, you're Ginger. We have a ginger quarterback now out there in Seattle. Kind of ginger. Ish. That was. There was a lot of changes. You want to talk real sports? I'll talk Seahawks. They total overhaul. And by the way, Coach. Coach Mike, he almost got out of football to be an accountant. He'd kind of like. I tried. I ain't getting the deal that, you know, he's not getting the notice he thinks he deserves. Was applying for a job to be an accountant, and then John Harbaugh said, come on in here and help some coaching. He ends up being their D coordinator. Now he's you know, 12 years old, running.
Katie Nolan
Anything can happen. Don't be an accountant.
Kenny Maine
But see, they tried to give Gino the money. They ended up getting Darnold.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
You know, people didn't come back. They wanted more.
Katie Nolan
Is Darnold a redhead?
Kenny Maine
Isn't he?
Katie Nolan
I think he's blonde.
Kenny Maine
I would call him reddish.
Katie Nolan
Reddish.
Kenny Maine
Trending. Red. Red. Curious.
Katie Nolan
He's red. Adjacent.
Kenny Maine
Adjacent. That's the word. And DK on Tyler. We. There are a lot of changes.
Katie Nolan
A lot of changes in Seattle.
Kenny Maine
Yeah.
Katie Nolan
And Pete Carroll's back coaching.
Kenny Maine
I'm happy for him. Yeah, I was always a Pete Carroll fan. I thought he did great things. Obviously, for us out there. Every year, playoff team are close to it.
Katie Nolan
Yeah.
Kenny Maine
He didn't want to quit. They just pretended that it was mutual. And I'm glad he's getting his chance. Okay, Good for him.
Katie Nolan
And Bill Belichick has a 20 year.
Kenny Maine
Old girlfriend who loves sports.
Katie Nolan
Girl power.
Kenny Maine
She's. Baby.
Katie Nolan
Thank you. Kenny, tell them again about the show.
Kenny Maine
I'm not done.
Katie Nolan
Okay.
Kenny Maine
We have a show for you New York listeners. I beseech you, tell everyone you've ever met. We want. We want to have. We want so many people to come. We have to transfer the event to Madison Square Garden. That's our goal. It's not funny. The show is at the Pit, the People's Improv Theater. 10:30pm New York time. And tickets are probably available. Hotcakes, the pit-nyc.com Anyone in the Tri.
Katie Nolan
State area, not just New York, come on out. It's a Thursday night.
Kenny Maine
It is Thursday.
Katie Nolan
What else are you gonna do?
Kenny Maine
Yeah, that's what I said at the end of my promotion.
Katie Nolan
Thirsty Thursday.
Kenny Maine
What the hell else are you doing on the pitch?
Katie Nolan
Come hang out with Kenny Maine. Saying jokes, 30 minutes, talk about his childhood. Then he's gonna show you a little movie he made.
Kenny Maine
I'm going to talk about Mrs. Loomis when I was eight years old.
Katie Nolan
Don't. No. Spoiler alert.
Kenny Maine
Fell in love with her.
Katie Nolan
Oh.
Kenny Maine
I was like, Mrs. Loomis, let's just run away to Mexico. We're better than the Featherway school district. Okay, you'll have to drive, cuz we're.
Katie Nolan
Just going to have to cut his mic. I think in order for the interview to end, we're just going to have to cut his mic.
Kenny Maine
Fair enough. Thanks for having me.
Katie Nolan
Thank you for being here. All right, everybody, that's it for the podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Don't Forget, we are CasualsWithKatienolanmail.com Our voicemail 646-801-0043 we are at CasualsThePodcast on IG and TikTok 10:30pm tonight. I don't know if we said it enough if Chris edited out every time that Kenny said it in the interview, but 10:30pm tonight at the Pit NYC if you want to see Kenny Maine jokes in a movie. And big thanks to him for coming here. Big thanks to you guys for listening and we will see you next week.
Podcast Title: Casuals with Katie Nolan
Host: Katie Nolan (SiriusXM)
Guest: Kenny Mayne
Episode Release Date: April 24, 2025
Duration: Approximately 80 minutes
Key Topics: NFL Draft, Kenny Mayne's Career and Projects, Personal Anecdotes, Sports Coverage Philosophies, Social Media Challenges, Advice for Casual Sports Fans
In this engaging episode of Casuals with Katie Nolan, host Katie Nolan invites former SportsCenter anchor Kenny Mayne as her guest. The conversation delves into a variety of topics, blending sports insights with personal stories and humor, aimed at both casual listeners and sports enthusiasts.
The episode begins with brief sponsorship messages promoting Multicare and McDonald's iced coffee deals, which Katie quickly transitions past to dive into more substantive discussions:
Katie Nolan [00:32]: "Hey, Isabella, did you end up watching any hockey?"
The initial segment features casual conversations about hockey games, highlighting the fun and quirks of the sport. Isabella shares her humorous observations:
Isabella [01:06]: "I watched a Devil's game the other night."
Katie and Kenny laugh over the small penalty boxes and puck sizes, setting a relaxed and relatable tone for the episode.
Kenny introduces his latest project—a comedy documentary titled Wiffle Ball. He is promoting a live show at the People's Improv Theater in New York City, emphasizing the unique blend of stand-up and film festival formats:
Kenny Mayne [14:58]: "It's sort of a stand up followed by a film festival. Stand up, sit down. I'll sit, I'll stand."
Katie passionately endorses the event, urging New Yorkers to attend and support Kenny's creative endeavors.
Kenny shares a pivotal moment from his youth when he broke his femur during a tackle football game in sixth grade. His storytelling is both humorous and heartfelt:
Kenny Mayne [27:23]: "Where the fuck is the ambulance? Because they didn't call an ambulance."
This story transitions into a discussion about his current ankle issues and the specialized device he uses, underscoring his resilience:
Kenny Mayne [29:46]: "I didn't give up because I had confidence in myself and I knew just to get bigger and stay with it."
Kenny reminisces about his time at ESPN from 1997 to 1999, highlighting the camaraderie and lighter moments that made sports broadcasting enjoyable:
Kenny Mayne [19:47]: "I quickly found that going to Seahawk and Husky games was way more fun than city council meeting on sludge waste or covering the Green River Killer."
He contrasts the past's approachable, humorous sports coverage with today's opinion-heavy shows, advocating for a return to more engaging and personality-driven broadcasting.
Katie expresses her ambivalence towards the NFL Draft, comparing it to a tedious school assembly:
Katie Nolan [04:00]: "The NFL draft, NFL draft, NFL draft. It's almost kind of rude of the NFL..."
Kenny agrees, criticizing the extensive focus on the draft despite other major sports being in their playoffs:
Kenny Mayne [58:26]: "Football is king, especially the NFL. It fills the whole year with television and radio and pods and everything else."
They both lament how the draft overshadows other sports events, making it challenging for casual fans to engage fully.
The conversation shifts to Kenny's struggles with modern social media platforms like Instagram. He humorously admits his difficulties:
Kenny Mayne [73:06]: "I need to learn how the Instagram works. I just don't get it."
Katie offers to help him navigate these platforms, highlighting the generational gap in digital literacy.
Kenny emphasizes the importance of actively engaging with sports to foster appreciation:
Kenny Mayne [50:17]: "Go do the sport that you're trying to get attracted to and feel it. Feel what it feels like to throw a 10-yard pass or a little swing pass or whatever."
He encourages casual fans to participate physically in sports activities, fostering a deeper connection and understanding.
Kenny shares amusing stories from his broadcasting days, including his brief appearance in the movie Trainwreck where his lines were cut:
Kenny Mayne [21:20]: "I said, 'So are you a doctor's wife or a prostitute or is there really a difference?' And they said, 'Be a jerk and that was it.'"
These anecdotes illustrate his knack for injecting humor into various situations, even in professional settings.
As the episode winds down, Kenny reiterates the importance of attending his live show and promotes his foundation Run Freely:
Kenny Mayne [29:49]: "We started a foundation called run freely.org that's run freely.org and tonight at the Pit at 10:30..."
Katie wraps up the conversation by thanking Kenny for his insights and encouraging listeners to support his projects.
This episode of Casuals with Katie Nolan offers a rich tapestry of sports discussions, personal anecdotes, and humorous insights from Kenny Mayne. The dialogue underscores the podcast's mission to make sports accessible and enjoyable for everyone, breaking down barriers and fostering a relaxed atmosphere for both hosts and listeners. Whether it's critiquing the overemphasis on the NFL Draft or sharing heartfelt stories of overcoming injuries, Katie and Kenny create a compelling narrative that resonates with casual fans and sports aficionados alike.
Listeners are encouraged to support Kenny Mayne's upcoming live show and his foundation, embracing the spirit of community and passion that sports uniquely provide.