The Knicks or Whatever, the Right WNBA Reactions, and Tito's #WinForPigeon

Summary

Casuals with Katie Nolan: Episode Summary Release Date: May 20, 2025

Introduction In this vibrant episode of Casuals with Katie Nolan, host Katie Nolan teams up with her recurring cast—Chris, Brady, and Isabella—to delve into a whirlwind of sports discussions ranging from the NBA playoffs to pressing issues in the WNBA. The episode, aptly titled "The Knicks or Whatever, the Right WNBA Reactions, and Tito's #WinForPigeon," offers listeners an engaging blend of analysis, humor, and candid conversations.

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1. NBA Playoffs: Knicks vs. Pacers The episode kicks off with an in-depth discussion about the New York Knicks' remarkable journey to their first conference final since 2000. Isabella provides a nostalgic rundown of the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, highlighting iconic moments such as Reggie Miller's confrontations with John Starks and Larry Johnson's game-winning plays.

• Notable Quote:
  Isabella (03:09): "The Knicks are through to their first conference final since 2000."

Brady, despite identifying as a Celtics fan, shares his frustration watching Knicks fans celebrate amid the Celtics' struggles. The conversation underscores the emotional rollercoaster fans experience during high-stakes games.

• Notable Quote:
  Brady (03:23): "Watching a bunch of people experience collective joy at the expense of my team and my city... I turned it off in the third quarter."

2. OKC Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets The hosts transition to the Western Conference finals, focusing on the Oklahoma City Thunder's victory over the Denver Nuggets. They dissect the Nuggets' defensive strategies against Nikola Jokić and commend the Thunder's adaptability and teamwork.

• Notable Quote:
  Ryan Reynolds (05:40): "So there's still some residual feelings left of... this team has given me what I wanted to see in the not so distant past."

3. Special Segment: "Did He Say the Right Thing?" Introducing a recurring segment, Brady presents Nikola Jokić's post-game remarks after the Nuggets' elimination. The hosts humorously critique Jokić's comments, blending sports analysis with lighthearted banter.

• Notable Quote:
  Brady (21:14): "Today's recurring bit is a segment called 'Did He Say the Right Thing?'"

4. WNBA Reactions and Issues A significant portion of the episode delves into recent controversies in the WNBA, particularly focusing on an incident involving Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. Isabella expresses concern over the negative discourse surrounding the league, emphasizing the impact of toxic online conversations on casual fans.

• Notable Quote:
  Isabella (54:20): "I think what they're doing is letting haters program the coverage."

Brady and Chris echo these sentiments, discussing the broader implications of racism and sexism in sports media coverage. They advocate for the WNBA to lead with positive stories and support its athletes against unfounded criticisms.

• Notable Quote:
  Brady (52:55): "I think a lot of this is that we're letting haters program the coverage."

5. Hockey: Florida Panthers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs The conversation shifts to hockey, highlighting the Florida Panthers' impressive upset over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Seven of their series. The hosts analyze Brad Marchand's comments post-game and the intense pressure Maple Leafs fans place on their team.

• Notable Quote:
  Brady (28:56): "I love Tito. You won't ever see me saying a bad thing about Terry Francona."

6. Baseball Highlights The episode covers several baseball stories, including Jose Alvarado's suspension for violating MLB's drug policy and the unexpected sweep of the Dodgers by the Angels. The hosts express disappointment over the Orioles' performance and the challenges faced by the Phillies' bullpen.

• Notable Quote:
  Brady (58:48): "He led the Phillies with seven saves this season. He's 4-1 with a 2.7 ERA in 20 appearances."

7. MLB Player Movements: Juan Soto's Transition A spotlight is cast on Juan Soto's move from the Yankees to the Mets, discussing the backlash from Yankees fans and media misinterpretations of Soto's commitment and enthusiasm.

• Notable Quote:
  Brady (63:57): "This is such an interesting... [discussion about Soto's performance and fan reactions]."

8. Unique Sports Anecdotes: Tito's #WinForPigeon Adding a quirky twist, the hosts recount the story of a Cincinnati Reds player who accidentally struck a pigeon with a line drive during batting practice. The Reds' humorous response, featuring a sentiment of "#WinForPigeon," adds levity to the episode.

• Notable Quote:
  Brady (78:23): "And Isabella is also sorry to have brought you into a tradition that I don't think you realize just is so dangerous and harmful to birds."

9. Upcoming Sports Events Towards the end, the hosts provide viewers with a rundown of upcoming sports events, including women's college softball super regionals, the Indy 500, and the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race. They also tease the inaugural "Weenie 500," a playful race featuring Oscar Mayer's wiener mobiles.

• Notable Quote:
  Ryan Reynolds (85:03): "Starting at 11am Eastern on ESPN2 with Georgia versus number three."

10. Concluding Thoughts In wrapping up, Katie Nolan summarizes the episode's key points, encouraging listeners to engage with the podcast on various platforms. The hosts share personal anecdotes, reinforcing the community feel of the show.

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Conclusion This episode of Casuals with Katie Nolan masterfully intertwines serious sports analysis with humorous and relatable discussions. From dissecting playoff performances to addressing significant social issues within sports, the hosts provide a comprehensive and engaging narrative. Notable moments, such as the "Did He Say the Right Thing?" segment and the unique tale of Tito's #WinForPigeon, highlight the show's ability to balance depth with entertainment. Whether you're a die-hard fan or a casual observer, this episode offers valuable insights and delightful banter that enhance the sports-watching experience.

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Notable Quotes:

• Isabella (03:09): "The Knicks are through to their first conference final since 2000."
• Brady (03:23): "Watching a bunch of people experience collective joy at the expense of my team and my city... I turned it off in the third quarter."
• Ryan Reynolds (05:40): "So there's still some residual feelings left of... this team has given me what I wanted to see in the not so distant past."
• Brady (21:14): "Today's recurring bit is a segment called 'Did He Say the Right Thing?'"
• Isabella (54:20): "I think what they're doing is letting haters program the coverage."
• Brady (52:55): "I think a lot of this is that we're letting haters program the coverage."
• Brady (58:48): "He led the Phillies with seven saves this season. He's 4-1 with a 2.7 ERA in 20 appearances."
• Brady (63:57): "This is such an interesting... [discussion about Soto's performance and fan reactions]."
• Brady (78:23): "And Isabella is also sorry to have brought you into a tradition that I don't think you realize just is so dangerous and harmful to birds."
• Ryan Reynolds (85:03): "Starting at 11am Eastern on ESPN2 with Georgia versus number three."

Transcript

[Katie Nolan]

This Memorial Day.

[Brady]

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[Katie Nolan]

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[Brady]

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[Katie Nolan]

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[Brady]

Now on special buy for just $499 with free delivery. Take your Memorial Day cookout to the.

[Katie Nolan]

Next level all summer long with the Home Depot.

[Brady]

See homedepot.com delivery for more details. 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 [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] hey Isabella, did you see that last night they did that thing where they took away a no hitter by a stat correction again.

[Chris]

Was it Max Freed?

[Brady]

No, it wasn't Max Freed. It was Chris Boobich.

[Chris]

Oh, that's kind of funny. Sorry.

[Brady]

Did you need me to say it again? It's Chris Boobich.

[Chris]

Yes, they're two O's.

[Brady]

Nope, it's B U B I C. Boobits.

[Chris]

That's no fun.

[Brady]

And his brother John Tit Scratch. Hello. Hi. Hi. Welcome to Casuals, the sports podcast that doesn't take itself too seriously and has to hurry up because it has a lot of stuff to get to today. I'm Katie Nolan. I'm the host, joined today by the lovely Casualties. We have Chris, we have Brady, we have Isabella. If you want to reach us, you can email us Casuals with Katie nolan gmail.com our voicemail 646-810-0043 on IG and Tik Tok we are at Casualsthepodcast. We're skipping the app today because I have a feeling a couple of these topics are gonna get a little yappy when we get there and we have a lot to talk about. Like I said, I think the first thing we're gonna start with involves a one of those voicemails. The aforementioned voicemail. Chris, you want to give that a play? Here's one we got.

[Isabella]

Congratulations to Isabella's News.

[Brady]

Thank You. And that's it. That's the entirety of that message. No idea who it's from or where they're calling from. So they disobeyed all the rules of the prompt.

[Chris]

It wasn't bro.

[Brady]

I don't think we decided bro would have said it was bro. I think bro would have identified himself.

[Chris]

I would have been like, hey, babe.

[Brady]

He has a hard time. Roe has a hard time anonymously donating. Yeah. Okay. Isabella's Knicks one. They're through to their first conference final since 2000.

[Chris]

See, isn't that exciting, though, is it? Yeah, I mean, like, I know, but, like, take yourself, pretend you're not a Celtics fan.

[Brady]

Tough to do.

[Chris]

Pretend it's tough to do. Try to be. Try to be neutral in this.

[Brady]

Look, as I've said many times, I hate basketball. I think it's dumb. Um, but I. This year was really trying to get into it in a way that was constructive. It was hard to watch that last game as a Boston fan who likes a lot of those people that are Knicks fans, watching them celebrate when our team is injured and is down by a ton and they're acting like every single bucket was, like, a game changing. Just watching a lot of people experience.

[Chris]

Joy about bringing up energy. You know what I mean?

[Brady]

Let me finish and then you can go. Let me finish and then you can go. Watching a bunch of people experience collective joy at the expense of my team and my city. I. I believe in self care, and so I turned it off in the third quarter. It's just not something I felt like I needed to subject myself to. I love Jon Stewart. I want to see Jon Stewart happy. I don't want to see him happy at the fact that my team stinks and is getting walloped, Trolloped, trounced, you know? And then. And then here's what I'll say. You don't think that maybe the level of celebration outside was a little. I mean, it's just the next round. It's not even the last round. Yeah, but it's just the next round.

[Chris]

Yeah, but it's a very meaningful win.

[Brady]

In what way?

[Chris]

Well, isn't this. Haven't they not been to the Eastern Conference finals in, like, 20 years or some shit?

[Brady]

Like 25. Yeah.

[Chris]

So that's exciting.

[Brady]

Yeah, totally. That's right. But I don't think it's, like, burned down your city already exciting.

[Chris]

Well, no, they weren't burning.

[Brady]

They were just burning the Dunkin Donuts bags, which, by the way, what's Dunkin Donuts ever done to you?

[Chris]

I know that one. It's like. Well, I kind of. Even in my mind, I don't even associate Dunkin Donuts with Massachusetts solely personally, just because Dunkin Donuts, it exists everywhere else.

[Brady]

Chris, you're the true, true, like die hard here. How are you feeling?

[Ryan Reynolds]

It wasn't great. It wasn't a great Friday. I managed to make it through to the end of the game, but I will admit, it was on split screen with the hockey once it got to three quarter times, so I didn't really have to pay 100% of attention to it. Yeah, it's just not the way that you want to end the season. I think it helps somewhat that we won the championship last year. So you still got. You know, that was less than 12 months ago that we experienced that ultimate euphoria.

[Brady]

Right.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So there's still some residual feelings left of. Okay, this team has given me what I wanted to see in the not so distant past. But it just goes to show how you could have all the talent in the world. But you need a lot of luck as well. Winning an NBA championship is all about luck. You have to get the right matchups. You have to make sure everyone stays healthy. You have to make sure your players are playing their best when it matters. And unfortunately for the Celtics, they just ran into a couple of unlucky situations. And the Knicks, to their credit, were fantastic. They really came each game. Defensively, they were fantastic. Offensively, they brought was. It was strange because the entire sample size of the season would suggest that the Celtics would have ran away with this very easily. But the Knicks, they just. They put in the work they needed to do and they got the job done. So. Congratulations, Isabella.

[Brady]

Thank you.

[Chris]

See, didn't they put in the work? You know, everyone keeps saying they're like, oh, my God, you beat an INJ team.

[Brady]

Which, to be fair, like, yes. But it also did seem, even before that injury, like things could not. Might end up not falling. The Celtics, it would have been the same. I think it would still have lost in six. Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Even with the. Even if Tatum didn't go down with an injury, Chris Staps obviously wasn't playing at 100. But that's Chris Steps his entire career. You cannot use an unavailable Chris Steps as an excuse for losing. Because the reason why we got him at such a cheap price is because he has been perennially injured. And the only other injury that we had was Sam Houser. Didn't really play the first couple of games, and he was like the seventh or eighth guy in the Rotation. And then Jaylen Brown was dealing with a knee injury, but he was out there. And if you're out there and you're playing minutes and you're playing well, you can't really use as an excuse.

[Brady]

So Isabella wins. You're the biggest celebrity fan in my eyes.

[Chris]

Thank you, guys. By the way, I'm wearing. I don't know if you remember from last episode, I said I wasn't going to wear the Josh Hart shirt because they lost the day before, but I am today.

[Brady]

Great. I can't see it.

[Chris]

You can't see it. Well, I was actually telling the listeners.

[Brady]

Right, but what if you move so we could clip it? Show the nice.

[Chris]

I heart New York.

[Brady]

Very nice.

[Chris]

Xoxo.

[Isabella]

Did you have a classier shirt than. Than Carl Anthony Towns showed up to you Stadium Boston.

[Brady]

What was it? I didn't.

[Chris]

It was. It was a clip of the guy, one of the guys in one of the side talk videos. And he just goes. It's a. He's like, fuck Boston with a loser sign.

[Brady]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll stop, I'll stop.

[Chris]

We can move on.

[Brady]

Knicks fans throwing trash at the Pacers fan. You proud of that?

[Chris]

Oh, I didn't see that.

[Brady]

No, no.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Brady]

Don't do that. Harassing him and throwing a bag of trash at him.

[Isabella]

That guy. That guy, though. Tyrese Halliburton.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Giving that guy tickets.

[Brady]

And Ben Stiller said, I like that. Ben Stiller was like, we don't. We shouldn't be acting that way. Dad spoke up and said, hey, get it together.

[Chris]

Yeah. No, I don't condone that.

[Brady]

You can light all the Boston cream donuts that you want on fire. Donut. Donut. Throw trash at other fans. It's not cool.

[Chris]

That was funny.

[Brady]

Yeah. The Knicks thanks. The Knicks go on to play. The Knicks go on to play the Pacers in the next round. Game one's tomorrow at 8:00pm Eastern. Where is it? TNT? Yeah. In Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are favored. This is a storied rivalry. Isabella, I don't know if you were around for this, you know, like, mentally, like paying attention to the Knicks in this fashion, but I can guarantee that Brady and Chris are well versed in the Knicks Pacers rivalry. If you want to give casuals a little bit of a rundown. One or both of you know the.

[Isabella]

Last time that Nixon Pacers played in the Eastern Conference finals, like, Isabelle was trying to, like, find her feet and like, like, what are these things attached to my legs?

[Brady]

That was three weeks ago.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

So it's like nostalgia to my entire entire childhood. Like the Knicks Pacers rivalry goes from 93 through 2000. It's the classic Pacers teams with Reggie Miller who is going to be on the call for TNT at Madison Square Garden. That's going to be its own thing. But Reggie Miller getting forearm shoved by John Starks like multiple hard fouls in like game one of the 93 Eastern Conference finals. And Miller says it, that the classic story. Miller says Starks told him it's going to be like that all se, all series. And Reggie wrote in his book, he's like. Then it dawned on me, he can't call me. I'm supposed to call him bitch. And it just ends up headbutting him. There's this, they're, they're scrapping the whole, the whole game. Reggie has the big comeback in the 94 finals where he score scores. There's a 94 quarters where he scores 20. No, it's the finals. It's 25 in the fourth quarter. The year after that was the big comeback at Madison Square Garden where Reggie scores eight points in nine seconds. The whole time he's jawing at Spike Lee. There's that famous photo of him going up the court doing the choke sign on his throat. They met again 99 and again 2000. 99 was like Larry Johnson having the big four point play, putting the L up with his arms. 2000 ended up being like the last of Patrick Ewing's career. Pacers beat the Knicks in six. It was like every year through the 90s, there was always something new. You had like Antonio Davis and Dale Davis with the Pacers throwing elbows against everybody. Charles Oakley being like, I will fight any of you every year. Like say, I, I'm not one to.

[Chris]

Say there will be fighting. Is it kind of toxic of me to kind of want to see it?

[Isabella]

No, no, it's, it's totally cool. You can totally want to see this. Like they make a joke of it now because like yes, Knicks Pacers, they played last year in the playoffs. Tyrese Halliburton and Jalen Brunson legitimately like went to WWE after that and did a, did a thing at WWE where they squared off in the ring. So maybe they're a little too self aware of it now, but there's always a chance that they scrap. Like this goes.

[Brady]

I think they should let, I think they should let Halliburton's dad come back now. I think it should be like, okay, you, we said you couldn't come to the last series, but now you can now because now in the true nature of this rivalry, a fan against a player has happened and like, could happen again. Maybe that'll make it memorable and great. So I think. Mr. Halliburton, come on back.

[Isabella]

Tyrese Halberton's dad versus Spike Lee, who you got? Genetically, I don't know how tall Tyrese's dad is, but if his son is six' eight, I'm gonna guess the dad is significantly larger than Spike Lee.

[Brady]

I mean, we've seen him. I don't know. I don't remember. I never notice height.

[Chris]

I don't think I know what his dad looks like.

[Isabella]

I know Spike le's not large.

[Brady]

No, he's not. I bet he's. He's probably taller than Spike Lee. I don't know that that's saying much, but I think they should let him back into the. I don't see why not. Clearly. That's fine. Interesting across the the NBA Finals here with Minnesota and OKC being the other. The Western Conference finals. That's tonight. Tuesday night, it's in OKC. It's at 8:30pm on ESPN. The OKC is favored by kind of a bunch. Just interesting that, you know, of the four teams that are left, only one of them has ever won the NBA Finals, and that's the Knicks. And as we've mentioned, it was so, so, so long ago. So it's certainly.

[Chris]

I should throw trash.

[Brady]

1973, I think. 1973, you weren't even a thought at that point. So, yeah, listen, OKC eliminated Denver and it wasn't pretty. It just wasn't a pretty basketball weekend in the Soder Nolan household. We didn't really enjoy ourselves watching that afternoon basketball game when the Nuggets just got absolutely beat up on. Injured or not, as you mentioned. Chris, if you're out there. No, excuse me.

[Isabella]

What was Dan. Okay, so what was Dan's take? It was a. I hate making you speak for somebody else, but he's the Nugget super fan here. It was like a 40 point loss. This game was never close. The Thunder completely switched up the way they played Jokic, who is like the most talented basketballer on the planet. He does everything he doesn't look at, but maybe the most subtly athletic guy you'll ever see. They. He's 7ft tall or 6 11, whatever, it's tall. They Oklahoma put just a small annoying 6 foot 5 bald guy on him. And it just drove Jokic crazy and he just. He just couldn't get around him. It's like, you're so much taller than this man. Dunk on him.

[Brady]

Here's where this podcast. I struggle with it because if I were to be honest with you about the things that were said about Alex Caruso in our home, it wouldn't be responsible as a member of the technically sports media. So I won't actually be able to share with you the honest feelings and thoughts and phrases used to describe Alex Caruso in our home. Let's just say guy pissed us off pretty badly. Dan, not a huge fan. Um, before the game, I always try to maintain positivity. I say, look, anything can happen. You guys have yic. You're a great team. I know that Gordon was hurt. I was surprised that he was playing, and clearly OKC took advantage of that. And we're like, anytime they know he's not going to be able to move in a dynamic way, and so they just sort of used that to their advantage. But I said to Dan, I'm like, listen, it could. This could go either way. You never know. And Dan's like, I think it's going to be a blowout. And I was like, you can't think like that. It's not going to be a blowout. So then it kind of gave him. Once it seemed likely to be a blowout, it gave him something he could continuously say to me, which was, I told you this was going to happen. I told you this was going to happen. This is exactly what I said would happen. And, yeah, he was right. I was just trying to be. Yeah, I gave him a person to be. To be mad at. His friends were texting me going, he good? I was like, he's fine. I would maybe leave him alone for the day, but I have him in the room with the $5 Ikea tables, so if any furniture breaks, it's, like, easily replaceable.

[Isabella]

Did you build Dan a rage room for sports?

[Brady]

Basically, yes.

[Chris]

Why is Dan a Nuggets fan and not, like, a Warriors fan? Where does he decide that he's.

[Brady]

Dan grew up in Denver. Dan's dad was from the Bay Area, so he had a connection with his dad through football and the Niners.

[Chris]

Gotcha.

[Brady]

He had a connection with Denver and where he's from with the Nuggets. He's also a Giants fan, so San Francisco Giants. So his baseball team is on the west coast. And then the Bruins. He was going to. He just. Yeah, he. Because our family's a big Bruins fan. So he chose you. Yeah. And it has. It hasn't worked out well. It would have been great, but unfortunately, it has not worked out well for him, but he's sticking by us, so we appreciate that. Okay, so Minnesota okc. OKC is the quick check. Yeah, go ahead.

[Isabella]

I did a quick check for celebrity fans. I was like, I don't know.

[Brady]

That's smart.

[Isabella]

Like, everyone. We have all the New York celebrity fans. Like, those are obvious. They're everywhere. I was like, I have no idea. Minnesota is a rod. Because he owns part of the team.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

And music producer Jimmy Jamie, who. That's literally it.

[Brady]

What's. Should I know him from?

[Isabella]

No, no. I had to work to find a number two.

[Brady]

Okay.

[Isabella]

Oklahoma City, surprisingly strong bench. Bill Hader, Oklahoma City Thunder mega fan.

[Brady]

Okay.

[Isabella]

Olivia Munn. Great big Oklahoma City Thunder fan. James Marsden. Everyone loved 27 dresses.

[Brady]

And jury duty.

[Isabella]

And jury duty. And Kristin Chenoweth, big Oklahoma City Thunder fan. Yeah, I can work with that. I thought Oklahoma City Thunder were gonna give me nothing.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Timberwolves, kind of, like, since Prince died, have nothing. It's just, you know, it's just. It's just a rod.

[Brady]

And that's such a bummer.

[Isabella]

I don't know if somebody's gonna email us and be like, here's a Timberwolves fan that you didn't know about. But, like.

[Brady]

And then Brady's gonna lose his job. Isn't that crazy?

[Isabella]

I know. Isn't that razor thin margin around here?

[Brady]

I know. It's just like, get your shit together. If a person who emailed us could figure it out, if bro could figure it out, Brady's got to be able to figure it out. All right, what else? What else on this? Anything?

[Isabella]

Jalen Williams getting fined $25,000 for his T shirt at the Post. Gamer.

[Brady]

Do you care? I don't care.

[Isabella]

I care because, like, the NBA is fine. That's a lot of money.

[Brady]

$25,000.

[Isabella]

I mean, it's expensive.

[Brady]

What did he wear?

[Isabella]

He wore a T shirt. It's just a T shirt, like, under a jacket that says, fuck art, let's dance.

[Brady]

And what is that a reference to?

[Isabella]

I don't know. I think it's like a. There's an Instagram account. Like, maybe like an EDM group or something. Or a band. Again, I'll get fired when someone tells me I'm wrong about this. It definitely doesn't. It's not like he's making a political statement.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

There'S. This is a lot of money just for a T shirt. Maybe if Adam Silver was like, hey, man, button your jacket.

[Brady]

Was the.

[Isabella]

I don't know if we have to charge this guy 25 grand for a shirt.

[Brady]

Not too rich, people. Was the fuck on the shirt?

[Isabella]

Yes.

[Brady]

Or was it the fuck was on the shirt? Was it like F star, ck?

[Isabella]

No fuck on the shirt.

[Brady]

Okay. You have to know you can't wear a shirt that says fuck. I had a shirt once that said fuck. I think it said classy as fuck. And I remember buying it to be like, this is so funny. And then I was too much of a pussy to ever wear it because I was like, where can I go in this? I don't want to be waiting in line at CVS and have some lady with her daughter look at me and go, really, really classy as fuck. And so I never wore it. And that's just how it goes shirts.

[Isabella]

I find that to be classier than Buck Foston T shirts.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

Like, I would rather your shirt just say fuck on it.

[Brady]

Right.

[Isabella]

Than to, like, think that you're so clever. Like, I skirted it around. I skirted around it. The F and the B. You're transposed. I'm clever as hell.

[Brady]

I also have like an OG piece of ringer merch that says, I just did your podcast and I can't ever wear that either because it says right on it. And so I would accept the fine. You know, you just have to accept you're going to a press conference. Right. That happened in a press.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Brady]

Right. So you can't show up.

[Isabella]

He was still at work.

[Brady]

Yeah. There's no way he didn't know. He knew. Had to know that was. That fine was coming. Which Jalen was this?

[Isabella]

This was J, L, E, N. This is the. Is it the taller one or the shorter one? This is the shorter one.

[Brady]

It's because I just. There are two Jalen Williams.

[Isabella]

They have two Jalen Williams.

[Brady]

It's kind of. Kind of wild.

[Isabella]

Parents in the year 2000. Name your kids better.

[Brady]

Yeah. A lot of Jalen's, which I think somebody has done the math and traced it all back to Jalen Rose. Correct. It's like he really did because when he was named that it was the combination of, I want to say his two grandfathers names and. And then after that there was just a boom of Jalen's.

[Isabella]

Is he really Jalen Prime?

[Brady]

I believe.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think he claims it.

[Brady]

Patient Zero. He certainly claims it.

[Isabella]

Good for him. Own it.

[Brady]

Brady has a bit here that I'm hoping he'll get to if you want.

[Isabella]

Ah, here we go. Today's recurring bit is a segment called. Did I say the right thing?

[Brady]

Okay. And It's a recurring bit. So this is going to happen throughout the podcast.

[Isabella]

This will pop up today. Did he say the right thing? This would be the post game press conference for Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Tall, athletic man after the Nuggets were eliminated from the playoffs by said Oklahoma City Thunder. Tell me, did he say the right thing? But from now, like, next couple days, there's gonna be a lot of beer, probably.

[Brady]

Okay, but for now, in the next couple days, there's gonna be a lot of beer, probably. Yeah, of course he said the right thing. I don't. Do you want him to be sad? Okay, you can have sad beer. Do you want him to be pensive? You could have pensive beer. Um, that's kind of what you've earned. You've earned the right to get to drink. Uh, you don't have to play any more basketball. You're probably not going to win MVP during a season where you are, correct me if I'm wrong, Chris, statistically better than your MVP season, your previous MVP season. So it's like, I. I would. I would drink a bunch of beer.

[Chris]

I would, too. I don't think there was anything wrong with that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, this can do whatever he wants in the off season. He's been doing what he wants in the off season for a long time, and it's brought him quite a lot of success. So if he wants to drink and just hang around his horses and whatever else he wants to do, let him do it.

[Brady]

It seems like he's got. He's got work life, balance figured out and we don't know how to deal with it. We're all like, what do you mean? What do you mean? You don't want to go to the parade? But remember when they had the parade and he said, like, I was wrong. I like parade or something like that. Very funny.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Because you drink a lot of beers.

[Isabella]

Some people were too shocked by this. I was more shocked. They didn't just show up to the presser double fisting already.

[Brady]

Yeah, like, as soon as the season.

[Isabella]

Ends, right away, just beer time.

[Brady]

They should have the. You know how they, like, wheel in the. I think about this mostly with baseball, but, like, they bring in all the beer to get ready for the celebration. They should also bring in sad beer for the other team. They should wheel that in and go, you guys. You guys want a sad beer? You want a. Take the edge off.

[Isabella]

So they just. There's like a. There's a. There's a Miller High Life cart that they just put in right behind the.

[Brady]

Champagne, someone should be the sad beer sponsor of the losing team.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm pretty sure that when the Australian cricket team played the English cricket team in a thing called the Ashes, they meet every couple of years. It's called the Ashes.

[Brady]

We know.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Whoever at the end of that series, they both drink together. Like, as soon as that's over, they crack open the beers. Whether you've won or you lost.

[Brady]

Huh?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Everyone gets together and they just.

[Brady]

Now that I'm not into. I don't like that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No.

[Brady]

No. Because if you're gonna get drunk with the team that just beat you, I would think there'd be a fight. I'd want there to be a. I want there to be a little animosity still. I want you to be, like, kind of mad at these. I don't want you to, like, you know, seek them out and be mad at them. But if you were put into right after that happening, if you were to put everybody in a room, I would want there to be a little bit of, like a don't look at me like that type situation. You know, Respect me. Yeah. Which beer doesn't usually help when you put a bunch of people who are emotional, especially men, no offense. Who are emotional. Yeah. And not coping with it properly.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Maybe the losers just get light beer or something like that.

[Brady]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe hockey also. We're also into the conference finals for hockey. Do I even say hockey? Isabella's Florida Panthers, question mark. They did it, you guys. They beat Toronto. And I should say, Toronto did it, you guys. They were up 20 in the series and they ended up losing in seven games. Game seven was a six to one loss at home. Potentially their worst game seven lost. I mean, this is a team known for choking in Game Sevens and this might be their worst game seven loss. They have lost seven straight Game Sevens with one goal scored in the last five. Is really bad. It was really bad. If you were watching the game because a ref took a stick to the face. Now don't look it up. I can't endorse looking it up because I was watching it live and I had just partaken in a little bit of something social. And what happens when I do that and watch sports is if somebody gets hurt, I cannot see it because I'll, like, feel it. It. Like it. I don't know, whatever. I turned my back on the replay. I did not watch the replay, but there was a lot of blood and there was a lot of conversation about whether or not that guy was going to lose an Eyeball. So I just. I know that there are a lot of, like, newer hockey fans that are tuning in because we're promoting how great this sport is. And I just want to say. Sorry. If you watched that ref take a stick to the eyeball, that was wild.

[Isabella]

I just watched Isabella Google this. Just completely deadpan, really.

[Katie Nolan]

Stone face.

[Isabella]

I just see the glow off her face.

[Brady]

It.

[Chris]

No, I was trying to find it and I was like, oh, can't find it. I want to pay attention to Katie.

[Brady]

Oh, thank you. That would be wild.

[Chris]

Wait, what's his name?

[Brady]

Actually, I have no idea. He was just a referee. Referee. Florida. Toronto. Stick in the face.

[Chris]

Rev. Florida.

[Isabella]

Chris Rooney is the name after is the name of the ref.

[Brady]

Shout out Chris Rooney. We hope you're okay.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Only a cut above the eye in the end.

[Brady]

Wow, that is so lucky. It went underneath his visor and cut above his eye is crazy lucky.

[Isabella]

Yeah, he's going to come like they're thinking he's going to come back for the playoffs. Wow.

[Brady]

And like we talked about the other day with who was it that bled all over their pants during a basketball game? And I said, cuts to the head.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Josh Hart.

[Chris]

This guy right here?

[Brady]

Yeah, yeah, Josh Hart. Cuts to the head. Bleed a lot right there. But I mean, on the ice, it's crazy. We see him. Thank you. And you can have a seat. And you can have a seat. And you can get that out of my face and let's go ahead and all have a seat. It's crazy when they bleed on the ice because somebody has to come out and basically like Rita's shaved ice, he has to come out and scrape the ice up so you have this bloody ice water ice. And then they have to. Oh, my God, it's nasty. It was truly, truly nasty. Still, I think less hard to watch than Toronto doing what it does. Yet again. They've got their core and they just do not show up in the playoffs. Auston, Matthews, Nylander, Marner. I mean, Mitch Marner. Everybody's very mad at Mitch Marner. It's just a tough. It was just a tough loss. They matched the NHL record for largest margin of defeat by a home team in a game seven. It feels like the end of an era. This is something that the, you know, the Shanna plan, they call it, it has been the plan for this team that they have stuck with even when it seems like it hasn't been working. And just the temperature I've taken from the fan base, the videos I've watched, Shout Out, Steve Dangle, the One video a year that I'll watch of a Toronto Maple Leafs fan reacting is just him after a playoff loss. Every year it just seems like this is it now they have to move on. Now there's no way that they can keep trying to do this. At some point you do have to bail on your plan and I think they missed their chance to bail. But at at this point you have to. The good news is that Marshand trade, that's a first round pick. Now as long as he puts on a jersey and hits the ice in this next series, he that's a first round pick. So I got what I needed. As of Katie, I got to ask you what.

[Isabella]

So Brad Marchand took to the microphone after the game.

[Brady]

Oh, is this your segment? You have to say the name of the segment.

[Isabella]

Brad Marchand took to the, to the microphone after the Panthers Leaf series wrapped up. Let me ask you, did Brad Marchand say the right thing? So when you actually look at that and then when you see the pressure that Toronto faces and, and you know everyone's talking about whatever the 20, 30 year buildup, I don't even know what it is but you see the fans and the way they're talked, like they just beat the pressure into this team and it's got to be tough on those guys to walk to the rink every day and not feel that because I mean you see the way the fans treat them at the end. Like how do you not feel that every single day?

[Brady]

So on its face this sounds like a player treating the team they just eliminated and beat in embarrassing fashion with grace and saying, you really gotta feel for the Maple Leafs. Their fans put a lot of pressure on them. It's gotta be hard. They're trying their best with the context that this is. Brad Marchand is 50 versus Toronto in game Sevens. He has beat this team in game Sevens over and over and over. I think yes, he said the right thing. I do think it's. He didn't say what it sounds like he said. And he wasn't the only one to, to do this. But to give the pity to the Maple Leaf fans, which is it? They reacted to it exactly how you think they would. They were like, don't pity, shut up, we hate you. Get out of our lives. Um, I mean the fan loyalty in that fan base is crazy. The way they pack that place out, they crowd outside into the square or whatever that is where they all stand around and just to every single year get kicked in the dick and they keep showing up and then the Media's like, oh, it's pressure. It's too much pressure. Like, I don't know, fucking figure it out. You have to figure it out. Justin Bieber was there. I guess while we're doing celebrity fans of teams, Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber were there. I, I, I think, I, I think warm thoughts about Justin Bieber often. I feel as though we don't do a good job as like a public of, like, reckoning with our effect on people's lives and the way that we treat famous people and the effect that that may have on them. We don't do a good job of dealing with that in real time. We're very good at years after looking back and going like, oh, we drove Britney Spears to that and then made fun of her for breaking. We're good at that. We're not very good in the moment going like, it's, we might have created this, we might have made this the way that this is. And I don't know what's going on with Justin Bieber. I can't imagine that this loss helped him feel good. But it just, I will say it did seem like Haley Bieber was really wishing they could just be super into basketball. She was clearly looking around like, we are the only famous people here and nobody cares. Whereas we just came from all these basketball games where it's like celebrity row. Look who's sitting on the court, courtside seats, and she's just freezing, looking around, being like, nobody even cares that we're here.

[Isabella]

You said Drake would be here. Where's Drake?

[Brady]

Oh, and also Drake, didn't Drake put money on. Tell me what happened with that, because I saw Drake posted that it was a Bieber curse when he lost money, I assume on the Maple Leafs.

[Chris]

Drake apparently bet a million dollars on.

[Brady]

This game, which, I mean, my God, a million dollars on a hockey game. And to put it, and to put it on the Maple Leafs is like. Did you read anything at all before you put this bet in? That's crazy. But then he posted on his story. I think it was just the words Bieber curse. And that's just him trying to deflect. The Drake curse is well known, documented, a lot of L's, a lot of, like, gave a pre game locker room speech to somebody. I feel like Duke was one of them.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Kentucky Wildcats.

[Brady]

Kentucky, yeah. A lot of these. He does this quite a bit. And so we're on to you, Drake. No, it's not the Bieber curse. It's probably because you put a million dollars on them.

[Isabella]

Can we be. You want me to. You want me to pull that a little farther back? Drake put a million dollars on the Maple Leafs, but it was not at a gambling house you have heard of. It was at something called.

[Brady]

Oh, no, it's one I've heard of. Because it doesn't. Drake has signed a deal with. Yes, Drake has, like a partnership with.

[Isabella]

So this is a very expensive ad.

[Brady]

Yeah. And it wasn't until you said. Literally wasn't until you.

[Isabella]

No. On his Instagram account. They're tagged on his Instagram account.

[Brady]

We didn't mention it here and then you brought it up. So BLEEP out. Leave this all in. Chris, bleep out when he says the company. Okay, stop. Brady works for them.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Five minutes to the edit and now it's not going to be up until after three and everyone's going to be upset at me.

[Brady]

They get upset at you?

[Ryan Reynolds]

They're generally pretty good. Yeah, for the most part.

[Brady]

Oh, I see that. We got an email from John. Let me just peruse this really quick. Hi, Katie and crew. As a very casual Toronto Maple Leafs fan watching us blow another game seven playoff game, it had me wondering what's with teams seeming to have ongoing identities even through players and coaches fully cycle over the years? Brad Marchand has five. No. In Game 7 versus the Leafs. Congrats, Katie. I guess. Yeah, I guess I find that fascinating too, where it's like a. They can't shake this off of their back, even when players. But I mean, most of the same players have been around for a lot of this disappointment in Toronto. I just like, man, I feel bad for him, but it is funny.

[Isabella]

It is.

[Brady]

It is funny. As a team that's been on the other side of this, handing it to them before, it is funny.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I would have liked the opportunity to see our Scottish queen come to Carolina for.

[Brady]

Yeah, me too. And here's the thing. I think she would have replied to our emails if they had won. I think we lost her. We had her booked with her massive fecking tatts. We were going to talk to her for a little bit and as soon as the loss, I was like, there's no way she responds to us now. And she has every right not to. So what now? Florida goes on to play Carolina. Chris's ostensibly Chris's hockey team. Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, they play tonight, 8:00pm that's another.

[Brady]

Isabella versus Chris matchup.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. Although less tickets are $130. It might be a little bit too steep for me to pop around to Raleigh just for. Just for Tonight, but we'll see. Maybe I change my mind.

[Brady]

Florida, obviously the defending champions. These two teams met in the 2023 conference final. Florida swept Carolina, but all of those games were by one goal. I believe the first game of that series went to quadruple overtime. So I think that everybody's kind of just hoping that doesn't happen again because that's incredibly stressful. Carolina's got a lot of depth, Chris. Stuff to look forward to. Through 10 postseason games, 15 players have scored at least once. They also had the top ranked penalty kill in the regular season, and they also have the top ranked penalty kill in the postseason. I get the sense that Kane's fans weren't expecting them to do this well this year. So this is one of those kind of just fun runs for them. They look great. They're very hot. Also just kind of worth noting at as a casual Florida, a state known for its Hurricanes, and Carolina, a state known for having the Panthers. So this is an interesting point, isn't it?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Great point.

[Brady]

Really something to zoom in on.

[Isabella]

Really makes you think.

[Brady]

It sure does make you think. Then the other in the Western Conference final, It's Edmonton Oilers versus the Dallas Stars. That's Wednesday at 8pm on ESPN. That's a rematch from last year. The Oilers won in six and then went on to lose the Stanley Cup. Dallas got here by beating Winnipeg in six games. That went to overtime on Saturday. Uh, Edmonton got here by beating the Golden Knights in five. They went to overtime on Wednesday. This is Dallas's third straight Western Conference finals. And Edmonton has. This is three of the last four seasons they've made it this far. So these are teams that know what they're doing. This should be a really good matchup. A reminder of who you know. Names we've mentioned throughout the podcast. If you're tuning in. Miko Rantanen is on the Dallas stars. He's got 19 points in the postseason, nine goals, 10 assists. And Connor McDavid is on the Edmonton Oilers. He has 17 points in the postseason, three goals and 14 assists. The biggest story out of that series to me is that game one, which again is Wednesday at 8pm bumped Katy Perry out of the venue for her tour. She was supposed to have her what's her lifetimes tour, which is just like, okay, so we're all doing eras now, I guess.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think that also happened to her last week. Right. For the one of the Nuggets and Thunder game.

[Brady]

Damn.

[Ryan Reynolds]

On May 15th.

[Brady]

Take the hint, lady.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Call it off in two weeks.

[Brady]

Go to space. So Sorry to hear, sorry to hear that, Katy Perry not having a great year. Still plenty of time to turn it all around in Q3.

[Isabella]

She has no more frontiers to explore. What is she supposed to do?

[Brady]

I don't know. Just try exploring solitude, try exploring a vacation. You know, all that good stuff. The WNBA season has tipped off. We had Sue Bird on last episode. She walked us through what she thought the storylines of the season were going to be. A little bit of a breakdown, um, immediate payoff. It seems she was right about Paige Beckers. As a reminder, Sue Bird told us that she thinks Paige Beckers is going to take a little while to get situated and oriented into the league and then she's going to show us what she can do. And it did it. That was pretty much the read for her first game. I saw people overreacting and I said, you don't listen to casuals, do you? I tweeted each of them individually and I said, you should really be listening to casuals. And they said, who is this? What else happened in the WNBA? Kelsey Plum went off 37.6 assists and five steals on 11 of 19 from the field. That's the first player in WNBA history with at least 35 points, five assists and five steals in a game. I love a specific station. I love a stat that's like this is the first player whose name starts with a K who on a Friday shot from the. So great. Good for her.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And who did she do that against?

[Brady]

It was the Valkyries. Okay. And nobody asked. It was against my Golden State Isabella Valkyries and Isabella because we got T shirts.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Because Isabella clearly hasn't done her post it notes yet for the Valkyries. I have writing your affirmative messages to the team yet.

[Chris]

I haven't.

[Brady]

Why have you?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Let's save women.

[Chris]

Okay? I'll put some fucking post its.

[Brady]

All right.

[Chris]

So you guys admit. You admit that my post its have magic?

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes, of course. How else would the Knicks have won?

[Brady]

Thank you. We've been upset about it for quite some time. Thank you. The girls need you, okay? According to Sue Bird, they need you really badly.

[Isabella]

Notable like.

[Brady]

Yeah, I'm gonna regret Kelsey though. The Valkyries.

[Isabella]

Notable for Kelsey Plum that, I mean this was her first game with la. She had been with Vegas. She had been the, you know, second, third fiddle after being like the, you know, early in her career and in college she was the all time leading scorer in women's college basketball. And finally she's back to like she is running the show. She is the star of this squad again. And, like, dropping 37, being like, I still have this. Do you forget who I am? Like, dropping a PD Weber. You know who. What do you think? Who do you think you are? I am. Like, just. She is 37.

[Brady]

It's a bowler. Isabella Brady just quoted a bowler.

[Chris]

Like the ball you. You roll down an aisle to hit pins.

[Brady]

Who do you think you are? I am.

[Isabella]

I am talker Petey Weber.

[Chris]

I'm gonna write that on my mirror.

[Brady]

Can we show her that clip for the first time?

[Ryan Reynolds]

All right. Are you ready, Isabella?

[Chris]

Yeah, I am.

[Brady]

Oh, that's right. Strike to claim it.

[Isabella]

A strike to claim it.

[Chris]

Oh, sick.

[Brady]

That is why I did it at number five. Are you kidding me? That's right. Who do you think you are? I am.

[Chris]

Oh, my God. I love him.

[Brady]

That's right. That's right. I did it. I did it.

[Isabella]

I'm so excited for you to experience Pete Webber in real time.

[Brady]

Such pure joy.

[Chris]

Such pure joy. Oh, my God, I love him so much.

[Brady]

Brady, you were. You were talking about the Mystics.

[Isabella]

Mystics. By the way, speaking of the Valkyries. Yeah, Mystics have the Valkyries. Tomorrow. We could be looking at.

[Brady]

I think we need to look ahead and say your team's already gonna beat my team. I don't think that's necessary. Felt like that's what you're about to do. Not to cut you off.

[Isabella]

The Mystics were expected to finish towards the bottom of the standings. Came out the gate, big win over Atlanta in the season opener. And then Connecticut Mystics are sitting there two zero, and that's without top draft pick Georgia Amore, who our short queen tore her ACL and, you know, is out for the year. But, like, the Mystics look fantastic. Have a chance to run it up to 3. 0, and I mean, three games in the WNBA season, that's like 7% of the season.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So.

[Isabella]

Hell yeah. Mystics right out the gate. Brittany Sykes and that backcourt, like, they looked amazing.

[Brady]

And then, Chris, I don't know if you saw, but your boy Wemby was at the Storm Wings game. I almost said Storms. Sue wouldn't.

[Isabella]

Storms.

[Brady]

Yeah, he was at the Storm Wings game. I think he was supporting Dominique Malonga and Gabby Williams are both on the French national team, but that's cool. Love to see an NBA player supporting the wood.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, it seems like the last couple of years, you see more and more NBA players supporting the women and getting down to games and tweeting about them and giving them the publicity they deserve because most NBA players are basketball fans, and WNBA is an incredible brand of basketball. So it makes sense that these guys want to go and support, especially if you're, if you know either certain players from, from playing nationally or whether you know them from the city that you play for. If, like Dirk Nowitzki for instance, he was at the Dallas game watching Paige Beckers and had comments on how good she's going to be for the city of Dallas, things like that. So it's good to see past and present NBA players come down and support the women.

[Isabella]

Jaden Daniels at the Mystics home opener did their, did their hype video for him.

[Brady]

Oh sick. That's great. Love that. We love to see that. And then that's it for the wnba, right?

[Isabella]

No, no more things happen that we.

[Brady]

Could possibly have to talk about with the wnba. There was more the the fever blew out the sky. Caitlin Clark had a triple double on Saturday. She also now ties Candace Parker for second place on the WNBA's career triple double list. Dewana Bonner improved to number three on the WNBA all time scoring list. But the story that everybody is talking about Caitlin Clark fouled Angel Reese hard with a flagrant, Reese got in Caitlin Clark's face, etc. Etc. The WNBA has announced they're now investigating hateful fan comments that happened during that game. I guess we should just read what the WNBA said before I get into my yapping. The WNBA said Sunday it's investigating allegations of, quote, hateful fan comments directed in Angel Reese during Saturday's game between the Chicago sky and the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis after an incident involving Caitlin Clark and Reese, who, quote, the WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate and discrimination in all forms. They have no place in our league or in society. We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter. Okay? So just to put that part of it to rest, I saw people bristling at the idea of an investigation and that's ridiculous on a number of levels to me. Number one, this happens all the time in sports. There are constantly investigations. If there's an allegation of something, especially racism, being directed at a fan, it's investigated. It should be that way. As a sports fan, you should not want racism hurled in the direction of any athlete. On top of that, the WNBA had just announced this season that that's like a thing they're working on. It's like an initiative for them. It's like a fan behavior initiative. So it makes absolute perfect sense to me that the WNBA would investigate. What doesn't make any sense to me is people trying to guess what they think was the thing that caused the investigation and then trying to disprove that it ever even happened happened, and then being mad at the WNBA for investigating it, it's just like, let them do the thing. That's their job as the league. So it's weird. I'm comfortable saying it's weird. If you are upset by that, let them investigate. Now as for this whole foul situation and the beast that the conversation about Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has become, people are exhausted with this discourse. It's frustrating because I'm seeing a lot of new WNBA fans get frustrated and almost like, I can't do this anymore if this is what this league is like. I was listening to Bomani talk about this and he was like, I want to get into this league. But if this is what it is, if every conversation that's going to dominate this every week is this like racially charged debate, I just can't do that. That's not fun, that's not entertaining, that's not interesting. And I just wanted to say that so that you know, it would be reflected that this is not something that I think a lot of people are enjoying taking part in. But it does seem that it's always the story that takes over when it talks about the wnba. And if you're a casual fan and you're just trying to absorb the stories everybody's talking about, this is the one that's always being served to you. And so it is almost like a self perpetuating issue where because everybody's talking about it, it's the only thing that gets talked about. That's the WNBA story that breaks through. It's the one obviously that leads to the most hot takes online. Because we are at a time right now socially, especially on the Internet, especially since certain social media sites have turned have exchanged hands of who's in charge. It's just a very racially charged environment. And so the conversation around the W has been polluted by this. I think that what's happening is, and this is just my opinion, but I think a lot of this is that we're letting haters program the coverage. We're letting haters dictate what the conversation is. Because look, a couple years ago with the wnba, right, Any online content you tried to interact with as a fan of the wnba, the comment section was always filled with a bunch of people who don't watch the WNBA telling you that they don't watch the WNBA or telling WNBA players to that amazing original joke that everyone always thinks is so funny. Get back in the kitchen, make me a sandwich. There was a ton of sexism directed at the wnba. And the number one thing everybody was saying, all these haters, was that nobody watches the wnba. And now that the WNBA is picking up in popularity and it has a moment that it's experiencing, those people aren't going to just go, yeah, sports can exist without me. A sport can be popular that a lot of people like and talk about, and I'll just bow out. That was never going to happen. And I think my theory is that what they did was found a way in to still be antagonistic to the league, to still be antagonistic to everything the league was before this Caitlin Clark era. I think by no fault of Caitlin Clark's, just because of how good she is and certain facts about her appearance, she kind of. It. It gave. Not her personally, but it gave these people a way to support the wnba, quote, unquote, participate in the conversation, but also still stand against the WNBA the way that they wanted to, back when it wasn't as popular. That's my theory. And I think those people are the ones that aren't watching games. I just literally think they're here to argue. And I think that it's sick the way that they use a very talented player who has given statements to say that she wants nothing to do with this, who has said herself it was a basketball play. Angel Reese said the same thing. It's a basketball play. It just. This narrative won't die because it's the only conversation that any of them can have. They're not watching the basketball. They're not. They're not realizing that that same foul happened in, like, three different games this weekend. And no one's talking about those, because it's not about the foul. It's about what this all represents to them in a conversation that they feel they can participate in. So I think, to be very clear, I do not think all Caitlin Clark fans are racist, bad people. I do not think Caitlin Clark isn't an incredible basketball player who is changing the wnba. I think there are some people who claim to be Caitlin Clark fans that are actually just something else. That's my thought. And I think those people are very loud. I think those people are very hateful. And I think those people know exactly what they're doing. And I think that it's on the media that cover the WNBA to lead with those other stories, talk about those other stories. And to a fan, I. I would say, I guess stay offline. It's a shame because, like, with the WNBA growing the way that it is. I think a lot of people, Bamani mentioned this as well. A lot of people get into the game on social media, interacting with it on the Internet. That's how a lot of us are like, well, I'm not a huge lacrosse fan, but let me see what lacrosse fans are saying about this game. I just watched and unfortunately, the conversation around the W is dominated on social media by this, by this, by this like yucky, nasty, heated, hurtful, vitriolic conversation. I think we see this a lot in women's sports with people reacting to women and violence or women in competition. I think people don't realize their subconscious bias and they bristle at women being competitive and being violent. I saw it when I first started watching ufc. When I tried to get into ufc, the way people talk about women fighting, they're always like, no.

[Chris]

Oh, oh, oh.

[Brady]

That was so it's like, well, that's the game. They're supposed to be like that. It's a physical game. And I think there's a, a shade of that in this conversation about a hard foul and then being like, oh my God, women are being violent. It's not cool, it's not the way they're supposed to be. But like, I just think I don't know how that conversation dies, but boy, I can't wait until that part of it is over. I do want to give a quick shout out in in trying to find WNBA coverage that I that wasn't this that would help me avoid this and instead get into the rest of it. I found this woman, quita, who on YouTube is Quida Love Sports. She talks about the W. I think she does like a live morning show I haven't like fully investigated into, but Quida loves sports. If you're trying to get into the I at least now I don't know. Tell me if it's I always hate endorsing someone like you never know what's going to happen. But this woman quit of Love Sports is like very informed and tries not to delve into that. So I recommend her Quida Love Sports Q U I T A Netcredit is here to say yes to a personal.

[Katie Nolan]

Loan or line of credit when other.

[Isabella]

Lenders say no, apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day.

[Brady]

Loans offered by NetCredit or lending partner.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Banks and serviced by Netcredit Applications subject.

[Isabella]

To review and approval.

[Brady]

Learn [e-mail] partners NetCredit credit to the.

[Katie Nolan]

People Comcast business helps retailers become seamlessly restocking Frictionless paying favorite shopping destinations. It's how nationwide restaurants become touchscreen ordering, quick serving eateries and how hospitals become the patient scanning data managing healthcare facilities that we all depend on. With leading networking and connectivity, advanced cybersecurity and expert partnership, Comcast business is powering the engine of modern business powering possibilities. Restrictions apply. Everybody sleeps, but no two people sleep alike. At Coop Sleepgoods we celebrate the way you sleep differently. We believe everyone deserves a great night's sleep with their own pillow. And the adjustable, customizable Coop pillow makes it easy. Whether you're a side sleeper, back sleeper, or even a starfish, we've got the perfect pillow for you. Crafted with our innovative memory foam and microfiber fill, our hypoallergenic pillows adjust to you, not the other way around. Just tailor the fill for the perfect fit. Add some in, take some out until your pillow's just right for you. See why luxury hotels and spas worldwide feature coop sleep goods? And why we have tens of thousands of 5 star reviews. With our 100 night risk free trial, you've got nothing to lose except those sleepless nights. Get 25% off your first order when you visit coopsleepgoods.com comedy that's coopsleepgoods.com Comedy.

[Brady]

Okay, let's talk about Claude, the if you know, you know AI assistant that's got everyone buzzing. Claude is like having a super smart, emotionally intelligent buddy in your pocket that responds like a real person would. Claude can help with just about anything, whether you need advice, inspiration, or even someone to help craft that perfect text to your crush. Claude can switch from being your life coach to your personal stylist to your side hustle strategist all in one conversation. Head to clawd.com that's C L-A-U--E.com and start chatting with Claude for free. Okay, let's move on to baseball. Starting with Just because it's my podcast and I say so. The Red Sox city connects rule Ace. I mean they were rumored for a while that they were going to be. I remember when we the first thing we heard was they were going to be green and people were like, oh God, what are they going to do? And then we saw these, this leaked picture of like, oh, they look like the monster. So it's like a faded green with the painted lettering. And that turned out to be what it is. They rule. I want them. Let me look down barrel and say what do I gotta do? What do I gotta do? I want one. You know I can just Buy one. But I want one. You know, so let me just say it. Maybe saying it gets nothing. I'm saying it. Everyone agree? Everyone agree. Those city connects rule.

[Isabella]

They're perfect in every way. Like, it's the exact shade of the Green Monster. It's the font of the scoreboard. Yeah, I've told you this a million times. I met my wife on top of the Green Monster. Oh, so like intrinsic value there.

[Brady]

You know what wasn't perfect about it was the day they debuted them back to back home runs into the Green Monster seats. That part of it, I wasn't thrilled. I'm like, today of all days. But it was. They're great. I love them. They look cool. Great. Jose Alvarado. Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado suspended 80 games by major League Baseball because he tested positive for. He violated the drug policy. Suspended 80 games without pay. Also not going to be eligible for the postseason if they make it. And Philly's president of baseball operations, the pobo Dave Dombrowski Shout out said that this was caused by a weight loss drug that Alvarado took during the off season. He said, quote, it's not something he did knowingly. I believe that. The way he talked to me, I also saw that he said, quote, he's always been self conscious of his weight. And I don't, I'm not. I don't want to body shame anybody. I just do want to say you are a professional athlete who works for an organization that has access to nutritionists and, and like personal trainers. That if you. I feel. Am I crazy? I feel like you could go like, hey, I'd like to lose this many pounds. Put me on a program for free to get you out of this.

[Isabella]

Even if you did need to take a weight loss drug like your Jose Alvarado, like he said, I didn't take this knowingly. You didn't, like, trip and fall and land on Ozempic? Like you knowingly took a drug here. Like, have somebody look at this and.

[Brady]

Be like, right, go.

[Isabella]

Will I get banned for this?

[Brady]

Yeah. Hey, I'm thinking about taking Ozempic. Is that gonna mess anything up? We don't know if it's Ozempic. We're just saying that. We're just saying that because it's, you know, because we know the theme song.

[Isabella]

And now you can't segue because you're thinking of the theme song.

[Brady]

I know.

[Isabella]

Damn catchy.

[Brady]

But I also, I do want to be a little bit. I want to offer a little bit of grace. It must be Very difficult to be a professional athlete and struggling with your weight. Because of the assumption that you're a professional athlete. You're supposed to be in peak physical shape. And I don't think a reliever is necessarily always going to be in peak physical shape. I'm just saying I feel like I. I wish that the. That you felt more comfortable using the resources that were available to you because now you are suspended for 80 games. When it's a reliever, Brady, is it just 80 consecutive games?

[Isabella]

It's. It's games on the schedule no matter what. So if you're a starting pitcher, It's. It's not 80 turns through the rotation. It's just 80 games on the calendar no matter what.

[Brady]

And it's. But also no postseason. If that were to happen, he cannot appear in the postseason. So now it's just something that they have to plan for, which I imagine is very frustrating. He leads the Phillies with seven saves this season. He's 4. 1 with a 27 ERA in 20 appearances. What else in baseball? The Angels swept the Dodgers. I didn't see that coming at all.

[Chris]

Poor Shohei.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, I think he'll be fine.

[Brady]

Ironic. Do you know specifically what do you. Did you know that Shohei used to play for the Angels?

[Chris]

Oh, yeah, he did.

[Brady]

Yeah. So.

[Chris]

Oh, that hurts more.

[Brady]

I know, right? Clayton Kershaw is back. That's kind of the takeaway that I had. But that was the Angels first three game sweep of the Dodgers since 2010. And the Dodgers hadn't been swept in a series since last July with the Phillies.

[Isabella]

That's wild because the Orioles just got swept in like three straight series.

[Brady]

Yeah. And you fired your manager.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Brady]

It's tough.

[Isabella]

We suck again.

[Brady]

Yeah. How'd that happen so quickly?

[Isabella]

I know, right?

[Brady]

I felt like you guys were on the come up.

[Isabella]

So they had Corbin Burns last year, who's their best pitcher. He left. And they're like, we can just replace him with the 40 year old guy. Turns out that 40 year old guy wasn't good. And then their other three best pitchers are all hurt. And when no one is there to pitch, things go poorly. There's also just a different vibe. Like they don't seem as much fun. And maybe it's chicken or the egg. Like you don't have fun when you're losing, but you also don't win when you're not having fun. Like these were the same group of idiots that made the postseason two years in a row when they were, they were, you know, bonging bottles of water. When they'd hit a home run. And like now that's not fun anymore. When you're 15 and 30, you're also not hitting that many home runs, so it doesn't come up in conversation as much. I remember the good old days, 2024.

[Brady]

The good old days. Yesterday. The big baseball story for me this week was Juan Soto famously last year on a one year deal with the New York Yankees, made it to the World Series. They didn't win. He then in the off season, signed, remember, famously with the Mets, $765 million. They had a subway series this weekend. It was rivalry weekend in baseball, which was like fun to watch them try to make that a thing. Because a couple of the games you were like, yeah, I see it. And then a couple of the, you were like, what rivalry is this? I've never. Not familiar with this, but this one obviously was a big one. So Juan Soto made his return to Yankee Stadium. And, and if I may, obviously not an unbiased source here, but the Yankees have not handled this well at all. So first there was the bleacher creatures. Isabella, are you familiar with the bleacher creatures?

[Chris]

No. Are they like little monsters in the crowd?

[Brady]

Yeah, kind of. It's just people. It's people who sit out in the outfield, fans of the Yankees and they do a lot of things. One of the things, they like, do a roll call where they'll like name everybody on the field and do a little cheer for them and they'll turn around, whatever. When Juan Soto took the field as a met, they, they all turned around and turned their back to him again. In case anybody was unaware and missed what I had just said. One year. Juan Soto was with the Yankees for one year.

[Chris]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Brady]

It wasn't like he was their big guy for, you know, seven seasons and he. One year, and this is his first year with the Mets. It won. He signed a one year deal with your team.

[Chris]

I saw that they were like booing him too when he was at bat.

[Brady]

Yeah, they didn't, they didn't handle his return well. They wanted him to know that they were mad at him. And then the media, I don't know what's going on with them, but they have, I mean, one broadcaster said that people in the know say that Juan Soto wanted to be a Yankee and he chose the Yankees, but his family wanted him to be the Mets. And so then I saw a bunch of Twitter heroes being like, oh, this man can't even choose his own career. He needs to listen to his family. Okay. What a weird take. Call your wife. Just kidding. She left. Then I saw somebody else say that, you know, the Mets hierarchy are concerned about Juan Soto's lack of enthusiasm. How long is this contract?

[Isabella]

10 years? 12 years? 15 years. 15 years.

[Brady]

15 years. This is a 15 year contract. You're in the first year of it. I just. This is such an interesting. It's just such a. It's just a. And then there was a report that has been debunked that like, multiple known baseball reporters have had to come out and be like. Contrary to previously reported information. No, Juan Soto does not fly his own. Have his own private plane that takes him to games. He gets on the Mets team plane just like everybody else, and it just feels like the Yankees are upset that he left, and now they're trying to throw all these little wrenches into the. It's like, just get over it. Get over it.

[Isabella]

There's a. There's a sprinkling of, like, incel energy here.

[Brady]

There's a sprinkle of incel energy everywhere. Unfortunately, Brady, like, they.

[Isabella]

They asked the girl out. They got the courage and asked a girl out, and she politely said no. And like, you're ugly anyway. They don't want to go out with you.

[Chris]

I didn't even fucking like you anyway.

[Isabella]

We didn't like you anyway, Juan Soto.

[Brady]

Ew. You thought I did. Ew. What a loser. Never. Ew. I was asking you out as a joke, actually, Brady. Didn't you have a. Isn't your little.

[Isabella]

Oh, you know what? Juan Soto, let me tell you this. After Monday's game, the Mets made their way up to Fenway Park. Juan Soto had himself a moment at the plate. He had a long fly ball to left field off the said Green Monster, which many places would be a home run. It's a very tall wall. The ball hit the wall.

[Brady]

Shout out, Paul Wall.

[Isabella]

The ball was sat sideways back into second base, where Juan Soto did not hustle out of the batter's box and only got a single. Whereas most times a ball hits the wall and it is a double. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza after the game said that they are concerned about Juan Soto's hustle and they're going to go ahead and talk to him about how much he's hustling for the team currently. Juan responded to reporters after this. Tell me, did he say the right thing? Couple of nights you've had a couple of plays where you were slow getting out of the box. Is that something you have to be more aware of? No, I think being hustling pretty hard. If you see it today, you could tell. I think I hustle pretty hard.

[Brady]

If you, if you saw it today, I think you can tell. Is that what he said?

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Brady]

Well, listen, I think a lot of is made of hustle. I think there's a lot of, like, is this guy hustling enough? Is he trying hard enough? And it's like, you know, the player that you're signing. I would hope when you sign somebody to a 765 million dollar deal for 15 years, maybe I'm crazy. Juan Soto has never struck me as somebody who's like, grinding out to get every base that he can't. He's just like, he hits, he mashes. He doesn't have to hustle as much because it's normally not really, like an issue. So I don't know. I. Did he say the right thing? What else was he supposed to say? No, I didn't hustle. I actually hate being here.

[Isabella]

You know, if David Ortiz would have hustled out of the box every time, like, it would have been like Forrest Gump learning to run, and his legs would have just fallen apart.

[Brady]

Right? You don't want him hurt.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I just, again, it's the Vinnie Pesquantine. I was just gonna say Vinnie hustle.

[Brady]

To first, who, by the way, hits, injured, hit a home run last night, beat the, Beat the Giants. Yeah, it was nice. We watched that. And I will say to his credit, Dan never, ever roots against his own team, but he was happy for Vinnie because that's our friend. So big moment in, in our house. But yes, to your point, Chris, Vinnie showed us that if you hustle and you really try, when you're not known to be a guy who's quite speedy, you can hurt yourself. And then if you're hurt, well, now the fans are mad at you for something else. So I just think in general, New York, you're such a great sports market. You know, you've got the Knicks doing it right? You've got two great baseball teams. The fact that you are handling this so poorly that, like, Mets fans are worried that they aren't going to get their monies. You have so much time left on this deal. Like, chill out. Baseball is a very long season, okay? I have to give this speech to myself every week, especially with these goddamn red socks. It's just, you just have to remind yourself of, like, okay, even if you watch every game, you cannot be reactionary. Every single game. You have to take a nice deep breath and go what can we build on from here? What's gonna be a problem down the road? And then try to keep it sorta in house and figure it out instead of coming out here and being like, I heard he takes his old plane. Like everybody fucking relax, okay? And Yankees you. He didn't. He barely even went there. He doesn't know you. You're not. Get over it.

[Chris]

She doesn't even go here.

[Brady]

Exactly.

[Isabella]

It's a grind. You can't react to every seven game losing streak that your team has.

[Brady]

You're going to give yourself some sort of a disease. You cannot emotionally go up and down every time because you. That will be. I believe as a scientist, since health is kind of up in the air now and we can kind of say whatever we want. I think if you live and die by every win and loss of your baseball team, you're gonna give yourself some sort of a chronic condition. That's where disease comes from. It's from caring too much about baseball too early in the season.

[Isabella]

A White Sox fan just became pope.

[Brady]

So it's so true. I mean, proof that God exists is that you can continue to root for a baseball team that let you down in a historic way. Okay, we're running out of time. We've been running out of time. What else do we have? Scotty Scheffler won the PGA Championship and immediately JD Vances it, which could mean a lot of things. But the Pope is still alive. So it doesn't mean that. It does mean that he picked up the trophy and it fell apart. It was the lid. Brady.

[Isabella]

Yeah. Third guy in 11 years to drop the lid off this trophy while hoisting it after winning it. It's like it's a jug with two handles. The wanna make a jug. It's just this lid is not secured on it. Rory dropped the lid on it in 2014. Colin Morikawa dropped the lid in 2020. Let's just like. Let's put. Let's here.

[Brady]

If I may offer a suggestion. If I may offer a suggestion, because I get it. Maybe you want them to be able to open it to, I don't know, put stuff inside of it.

[Isabella]

Just like half iced tea limited.

[Brady]

Sure. Just two little pieces of tape. You know the way that they would if you bought it at a toy store. It's like close it and then if they want to open it, slide their fingers under it, pop those pieces of tape. But like what a number of. Does it clang when you drop it? I imagine it's a big loud clang.

[Isabella]

Yeah.

[Brady]

Yeah, that's awful. Stop setting these people up for failure. Just tape the lid to your trophy. This one I put in here and I don't even know that much about it, but Crystal palace won the FA Cup. It's their first major trophy in their entire 120 year history. They beat Manchester City 1 nil in the FA cup final on Saturday. If you are even just like a incredibly casual Premier League soccer fan in the United States, you're familiar with Rebecca Lowe. She's the host of their. The NBC whatever it's even called Premier League Sundays, Premier League mornings. It's called something Rebecca Lowe. It's called the Rebecca Lowe Show. We love her and she is a Crystal palace fan and I think she said that if they won this it would be like the third best day of her life behind I think the birth of her kids or like her wedding or something. The things you have to say.

[Isabella]

She has four kids too, so.

[Brady]

And so this was she somewhere. She's happy and that's our queen, so she deserves that. So I wanted to make sure it got a shout out. Shout out. Crystal Palace. I also think I once drunkenly had a long conversation with the owner of that team at a men in blazers eventually. So shout out to him if he remembers that. I half remember it and I remember being like, crystal Palace. I don't know, I don't think I've ever like bumped into you guys as a team and he was like, you wouldn't have. That does make sense. So I'm very happy for them. I saw a lot of. If you're the kind of person who likes Internet content of people experiencing joy after long periods of frustration with their team, there's great Crystal palace content out there on the Internet today. So search that up and you can watch, you know, older men hugging their children and crying about how happy they are about this game. So always want to make sure I alert you to the existence of that since the rest of this podcast is usually alerting you to the existence of horrendous discourse that nobody wants to bump into at all on the Internet. Eurovision is sports, so I feel we should mention that. Austria, Austrian singer. Sorry, Chris, I almost gave it to you. Austrian singer JJ has won the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland, and after a nail biting finish that saw him topple Israel from Pole Position at the very last minute. He's 24 years old. JJ is. He's a counter tenor at the Vienna State Opera and he took the title with the song Wasted Love, a tempestuous electro ballad about unrequited love. He scored 436points, Israel scored 357and Estonia was in third with 356. The UK's act, remember Monday, placed 19th with 88 points. That's not good. Nobody wants to react. That's not good.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No. For the second year in a row, they got zero votes from the public. So no one really, like, in the uk.

[Brady]

Oh, no, wait. The public, like, even including the British public?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, they can't vote for themselves.

[Brady]

Oh, they can't?

[Ryan Reynolds]

No.

[Brady]

Why not?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Of course not. You're not allowed to vote for yourself in Eurovision.

[Brady]

You're allowed to vote for yourself in the presidential election.

[Isabella]

As many times as you want.

[Brady]

Yeah. Over and over and over again. The. The Austrian government and national broadcaster RF are grappling with where to host. Oh, that's what happens. They get to now host the next one.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. Whoever wins then hosts the next year. But they're now like, hey, we won. This is great. Oh, shit. Wait, how do we. How do we do this and now afford it?

[Brady]

Help me out on this, Chris, because I'm new to Eurovision, because they don't let us compete Eurovision. Right. So you think Europe. Israel's not in Europe.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. They seem to be pretty liberal with their definition of Europe, considering you guys.

[Brady]

You guys get to compete.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We competed for a while. We. I don't know if we're still competing. We didn't make the finals this year, so I don't know if we just toppled out in the semis or if we thankfully got booted back to Australasia, but.

[Brady]

Whoa.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, we were part of it for a solid five, ten years or so, which is ridiculous because we watched it to make fun of all the European countries and all of a sudden we're into it and we're like, well, no, we. I. No, this isn't why we like it. We want to make fun of you. We don't want to be a part of it. So that wasn't. And I think we came second the first year that we competed.

[Isabella]

You almost won it, ironically.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. But it is a lot of fun.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Eurovision. Haven't watched it in a couple of years. I feel like it's. It's tougher to watch over here, but we used to have big Eurovision parties at home. We'd get all of my family over and we'd get different types of cheeses relating to the different countries that are going to be competing. Different types of, you know, cured meats.

[Brady]

Sure. A charcuterie board. If it. If you were.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's exactly fun. Yeah. Like Spanish cheese, a lot of Maltese dishes. Because Malta is not very good at a lot of things. In fact, most things in the world we're not quite good at. But Eurovision, we've had a couple of, like, top five, top ten finishes, so that's.

[Brady]

What about the dogs? Capital of Malta.

[Chris]

What about the dogs?

[Brady]

Valletta.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Valletta. Hey, look at you. I like it. Um, so how high does she have.

[Isabella]

To place in Celebrity Jeopardy for you to not be surprised by that?

[Brady]

No, I. I forget most of them. Please. I forget most is a good one. What I remember.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's a tough one.

[Brady]

What is this the capital of Malta.

[Chris]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Brady]

Now you do. V A L L E T T T E T T A Valletta.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I've been there.

[Brady]

Oh, is it nice? But I don't know anything about Malta. Is it mountainous? Is it beach? Is it. What is it?

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, it's three small islands. We spoke about this.

[Brady]

I know, but, like, what is it just, like, it's all, like, beachy. Is it like Ibiza?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I've never been to Ibiza, so I can't really tell you.

[Brady]

Should I go on vacation there, Chris, is what I'm asking.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, I think you should Absolutely.

[Brady]

To Malta.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's a great. It's great vacation spot and it's right by Sicily, so you can stop by. Where's your family from in Italy?

[Brady]

We're like. We're Roman. We're from San Donato, which is like, oh, nice. Above.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, you can pop in while you. While you check out Valetta.

[Brady]

Yeah, sure. Why not?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Look at it.

[Brady]

Okay. All right. Brady wants. Really wanted to get this in, so I'm going to let him tell us a tragic story out of Pittsburgh. Brady, you have the floor.

[Isabella]

It's, you know, both tragedy and triumph. According to Cincinnati sports reporter Charlie Goldsmith, before Monday's game against the Pirates at PNC Park, a Cincinnati Reds player who was not identified, probably to for his own protection, accidentally struck a pigeon with a line drive during batting practice.

[Brady]

Oh, no.

[Isabella]

After initially reporting the pigeon was killed instantly, Goldsmith corrected his report and said the pigeon was alive but was on life support. And then we're all choosing not to get any updates after. After that, the Cincinnati Reds won the game 7 to 1. And after the game, posted a photo of a different pigeon with just hashtag, hashtag winfor pigeon.

[Brady]

What? This would be for pigeon.

[Isabella]

Win for pigeon. This would be not even just, like.

[Brady]

Rip, name the pigeon. No pigeon.

[Isabella]

You can't name it after it dies. If it didn't have a name before. It doesn't get one after it dies.

[Brady]

If it's on life support.

[Isabella]

2023 Zach Gallon, Diamondbacks pitcher, hit a pigeon mid flight during his pre game warm up throws. And then the famous one 2001 Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson famously exploded. What we can only assume. We don't know what that was because by the time it landed it could have been anything.

[Brady]

It was beaks and feet and feathers.

[Isabella]

That's basically feathers.

[Chris]

Be creative.

[Brady]

Oh my God. Well, Rip hard out here for birds, Rip. Probably to that pigeon. Isabella, I'm also sorry to have brought you into a tradition that I don't think you realize just is so dangerous and harmful to birds.

[Chris]

Yeah, I've been trying to get into baseball. This is kind of scaring me. That and the. The bleachers creatures.

[Brady]

Well, don't worry about them.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Not mess about that.

[Brady]

Don't worry about them. I will say I don't know if this is relevant, but I've never gotten to tell this story before. When I was doing baseball before the game, we would go down to the field, we would interview each of the managers, but sometimes there'd be time in between and so you'd like watch them from the field taking batting practice. And my number one thing during that period was to stay out of the way. I was obviously new to being covering baseball. I was just trying not to F anything up. And at one game, I don't even remember where I have suppressed this memory, but I bet I could text Stephen Nelson and he would tell me because he was with me and was like, holy shit. At some point a ball came and rolled over to my feet. As I was talking to somebody, I like picked up the ball and I didn't want to go like, here's your ball again. I'm trying to be a part of the scenery. And so I just sort of rolled it back over where it came from. Horrifyingly, I see it roll and stop and a player is walking backwards and the ball is right at his feet. And my. I was like, I'm going to cause and everybody, we all went, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Isabella]

It's literally the plot of Rookie of the Year.

[Brady]

I know. And luckily he did not step on it. But I. My career flashed before my eyes. I was like, I am going to. In trying to not be in the way. I may have just broken an ankle of a player, but thankfully I didn't. Okay, so it was fine. But yeah, that's.

[Chris]

You're here now.

[Brady]

Thank you Thanks. I made it. I survived. I somehow feel like we've missed. Even though we've talked about literally everything that exists, I feel like we've missed some stuff. This is how I feel every time we wrap this podcast, but we do.

[Isabella]

We missed the most important piece of audio of the week.

[Brady]

What's that?

[Isabella]

Well, let me tell you. Reds manager Terry Francona talked to reporters after Sunday's game. Terry Francona had just used his closer, Emilio Pagan. Three straight games, which is a lot of usage. You know, guys resting their arm, getting back up, resting their arm, getting back up. Three straight games, three saves for Emilio Pagan. And Tito after the game, telling reporters, well, let's play the audio. And then you tell me, did he say the right thing? Well, we're probably gonna get raided here. I told him I'd go get him some wipes because probably not gonna be able to wipe his ass for a day or two. I mean, that was. You know what? That was one of the funner games to be a part of. Couldn't even breathe teeth. But it was like our guys were competing like crazy. We had Pagan and Santillane three days in a row. Night game, day game. That. That. That's a lot of fun.

[Brady]

I love Tito. You won't ever see me saying a bad thing about Terry Francona. When I met him, I just said hi. I just have to say thank you so much for the World Series. I love that man. What the is he talking about? He said he was gonna have to get him some wipes because he's not gonna be able to wipe. He'll be able to wipe his ass. Here's the thing, Terry. I don't mean to poke holes. You still need to wipe. With a wipe, you still. It. Just because it's called that doesn't mean it does it on its own. You still have to take it and then wipe with it. So maybe he meant that he'll get him a bidet. That would have probably been the move. If we're doing a rating of the segment here, I gotta give you, like, a six, a seven. Good concept of this segment, but it. I feel like you forgot a couple times to jump in and let us. There were a couple that you were like, whoops, I was supposed to do my segment here. I think the listeners will appreciate it, but I just think for the sake of transparency, we should give that a seven, which means there's room for growth, there's room to grow. I think it's repeatable, but I do think you need to put, like, a Post it. Note to remind yourself.

[Chris]

I know I was looking at the rundown. I was like, I think that was Brady's bit we just passed.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I had the audio bolded in the rundown as well to make sure it was as easy as possible for Brady to see.

[Brady]

Very funny. But we got second.

[Isabella]

Most important thing is speaking. The most important thing is just remembering that you are supposed to do it.

[Brady]

And. But truly, I was saying I feel like I forget something every podcast. So I relate to this. I usually go home from this pod and I go, oh my God, I wanted to say this and I didn't say it. So at least you got yours in, Brady. You're better than me. Chris, we've now arrived at your segment of the podcast. It's Tuesday, so we let you casual fans at home know what you can watch on TV this week if you want to watch some sports. What do we have first, Chris?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, can I ask you all a question first?

[Brady]

Sure. It's a little unorthodox, but we'll allow it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Are you all ready to pop some Friday nooners?

[Isabella]

Nooners?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Cause guess what we have coming up on Friday. We've got women's college softball, the super regionals.

[Brady]

Let's go.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Starting at 11am Eastern on ESPN2 with Georgia verse number three. I wrote Glorida. That's supposed to be Florida.

[Isabella]

They're like Brown Florida.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So we get some. We get some 11am Eastern beers, which is fantastic. So you can roll that game into UCLA, South Carolina at 1:00pm Eastern on ESPN2, which rolls into Alabama and Oklahoma at 5:00pm eastern on ESPN2, which rolls into Nebraska and Tennessee at 7:00pm eastern On ESPN2, which you can dual screen with Ole Miss in Arkansas, which starts at 8pm Eastern on ESPNU. And then you can roll that one into Liberty versus Oregon. Shout out to Liberty Eastern on ESPN.

[Brady]

You a full day for shout out to Liberty because they eliminated number one seed Texas A and M. But less of a shout out to Liberty for a lot of other reasons. I just want that for literally every other thing. Their college liberty for literally just this. But yes, Chris, please continue.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes. And a shout out to Taylor from who emailed in and let us know that she's very excited about that. Or he.

[Brady]

Yeah, that's true. Taylor. You never know.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Taylor is very excited about the women's college softball this Friday. There is a whole lot of action.

[Brady]

So it has been fun. It's. I haven't. I don't. I like, haven't followed women's college softball that closely. So the regionals and then the super regionals. I wasn't, I was just kind of watching softball to watch softball this weekend and my God, was it fun. The games are intense. The, these women are incredible. There was that one girl who is like the leader in home runs and they didn't want to pitch to her and then when they finally gave her a pitch to hit, she hit a game winning grand slam. It was, it's, the action is there. It's clearly across the ESPN networks. So absolutely. Even if you don't know or care anything about softball, check out one of those games because they are intense. What else, Chris? What else we got?

[Ryan Reynolds]

So the second and third thing a somewhat related but the second thing is the Indy 500 will be taking place this Sunday, May 25th, 12:45pm Eastern on Fox. We got rookie Robert Schwartzman who took out the pole position in this race so he'll be starting at first on the grid. We got my Shank Racing's Felix Rosenquist, who qualified fifth. That is the Sirius XM car. You'll see a lot of SiriusXM branding on that car. So that's fun. Alex Rossi, who hosts a podcast for SiriusXM called Off Track with Hinch and Rossi, he qualified 12th. And then a couple of fun names in the field. STINGRAY Rob qualified 17th. That's not a nickname, that's his actual name. Stingray is his first name. Rob is his last name.

[Brady]

What?

[Isabella]

And then he sounds like he went to Gloria.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And then our guy, Will Power, who I brought up on the show at the start of the season, he qualified dead last, 33rd, don't know full powers. He's gonna need a lot of willpower to get through.

[Brady]

My willpower also finishes dead last lately.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Exactly. And another important name to bring up is NASCAR's Kyle Larson, who qualified 19th. He's attempting for the second year in a row to do the memorial day double that is the Indy 500 followed by the Coca Cola 600, which is the NASCAR series, NASCAR Cup Series race in Charlotte. That will be our third thing to watch, which is on Sunday night at 6pm Eastern. And you can watch that on Prime Video. Only five drivers in the history of racing have attempted the feat, starting with John Andretti in 1994. And no driver has won either race while attempting the feat. So, you know, I don't know how good of an idea it is, but it's, it's sort of a fun thing to say. You've attempted it. Tony Stewart's 2001 effort stands as the best combined result, he finished sixth in Indy and third in Charlotte. And Kyle Larson made the most recent attempt. That was last year. He finished 18th at a rain delayed Indianapolis, then fell to make it to Charlotte for the start of the race. But that was a big story. If you were watching the Indy 500 last year. One of the biggest, one of the, you know, the biggest disappointments, I guess with the rain delay was that you weren't going to be able to see Kyle Larson race in that. But I think from what I have been reading, if there is another rain delay like this in the Indy 500, I think Kyle's gonna focus on the Coca Cola 600. So he'll leave that race early and then Tony Canaan, the great Tony Canam will take his place as the driver in that, in that car for the Indy 500.

[Isabella]

So can say that's an insane amount of driving for like one day. Like, I think it's like a dad who drives to vacations. Like Kyle Larson is a lady who.

[Brady]

Drives across the country for a holiday. It's a lot of driving.

[Isabella]

Kyle Larson's basically driving from D.C. to Omaha in six hours.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Oh, that's crazy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And then has to get from Indy to Charlotte in between that. So he'll have a helicopter right at the Indianapolis Speedway. So as soon as, just like Ponsoto, as soon as he finishes that race, he'll sprint over to the helicopter and try to make it to Charlotte in time for the race. So it's going to be a fascinating thing to watch.

[Brady]

He's going to hustle over to the helicopter and all of that. Sounds great. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing. You didn't say anything about Weenie 500, which was what I was waiting for. Talk to me about that a little bit.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So as part of the Indy 500 celebrations, we have the inaugural Weenie 500, which will be streamed live on Friday, May 23rd at 2pm Eastern on the Fox Sports app. This will be. What's, what's the brand called?

[Brady]

Oscar Mayer.

[Isabella]

Oscar Mayer.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oscar Mayer Weenies. They have their wiener mobiles. There'll be six of them that will actually race.

[Brady]

What you have a specific which ones? Because they have different leg. Oh, for sure.

[Isabella]

Oh, yeah.

[Brady]

I mean they all taste the same. Guys, what's going on?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay, well, here's another question. Do you prefer your hot dogs boiled off or on the grill?

[Chris]

Grill. But I, since I don't have a grill, I make, I make it in the broiler, so it has a similar effect.

[Brady]

Who prefers boil broiled Boiled. I like them. I don't like. I don't hate them. Boiled. I like. If you do them right. Hey, if you do them right, that's how they're supposed to be. But also Australians. I don't trust your opinion on hot dogs at all, because I went over there and wanted a hot dog. Because sometimes you just want a hot dog at a sporting event, and yours are, like, red on the outside and white on the inside. And I didn't know what the that was.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That might have been a spit. Like, I, I. They're more like Frankfurt. Right. That's probably that specific place, though, because most places, like, if you go to an AFL game and you ask for a hot dog, you're gonna get a boiled version of what you would call a hot dog.

[Chris]

Oh, listen, Nathan's are like a Hebrew National.

[Brady]

Hebrew National.

[Isabella]

Hebrew national Beef frank.

[Brady]

That's Fenway franks.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Chris]

I don't think I've ever had that one.

[Brady]

This is some hot.

[Ryan Reynolds]

As long as it's boiled. I don't care.

[Brady]

As long as it's boiled. Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, so hitting us in the mood for the. The Weenie 500. It's gonna be.

[Isabella]

So you got, you got, you got Chicago dog, New York dog, Slaw dog, Sonoran dog, chili dog, and Seattle dog. That's the dog of the southwest.

[Brady]

I'm guessing it'll be some sort of tortilla strips. I love a spice to it, like a.

[Isabella]

That's your six. That's your six. Racing wieners.

[Brady]

Okay.

[Isabella]

Well, I wonder what top speed is.

[Brady]

I was gonna say, how fast are they go. Are they're going around the Indy 500. That's what they're doing. They're just racing each other.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes.

[Isabella]

So, so, so pullback curtain off track as a live broadcast at Indy during this event. Like, they just announced this, and it's going to be the window where Rossi and Hinch are doing their podcast.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Alexander Rossi. The aforementioned Alexander Rossi, of course.

[Brady]

We're coming here.

[Isabella]

And we're on the tech. On the tech call this morning, and someone's asking, like, is the noise going to be an issue? Because when the cars are whipping around on the track, it gets loud.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Isabella]

I don't think the wieners are doing disruptive amounts of sound.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I don't think it would be incredible, though, if they were.

[Brady]

I think, don't think it's going to be like, I think it's more like just puttering along.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That would make it fascinating, though, if they were going flat out.

[Brady]

I mean, I hate Toa horn. I truly hate to even ask, but is that a. Is it eligible to gamble upon for informing Is this elongated ad in collaboration.

[Isabella]

With Fans can predict the outcome of the unforgettable race by answering a series of race related questions fans can head to.

[Brady]

No, no, no, no, don't read it. No, don't push them. Don't push them to that website.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'll bleep that out too.

[Brady]

That's somebody else's bullshit.

[Isabella]

Bleep what?

[Brady]

Yes. Stop saying things. Guys.

[Ryan Reynolds]

330 now is now the release time. They're gonna be real pissed off in the discord.

[Brady]

Yeah, this is it. That's it. That's a podcast. Thank you for listening, guys. Hopefully we got you all caught up and now you have everything you need to talk about sports. If you want to email us casualswithkatienolanmail.com you can leave us a voicemail 646-810-0043 on IG and tick tock we are at Casuals, the podcast. You know, sometimes I like rant a little here. I leave a little bit of content towards the tail end. I just need to say that I'm going back to Pablo's show today. He apparently has more journalism regarding Jordan Hudson to tell me and I'm so anxious I need him to stop doing this to me. I can't describe anywhere except here in the safety of my own podcast where nobody will clip this how anxiety inducing it is when someone tells you they have developments and updates to a story and you don't know them until you're being told on camera. This could be going any which way. I'm having deep anxiety about it and I'll at least he gave you a.

[Isabella]

Heads up this time that he's going to be doing Deep Dive Journey.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You handled pot one very well last time.

[Brady]

He was like, I have stuff to tell you, but I thought we were just goofing and then now I know we're not goofing. So don't do drugs before you show up. But yes, I am walking into. It's just like what a good friend you know, I am to trust that you're gonna do this in a way that doesn't get us all in trouble when I have nothing to do with it. I'm just curious. So you know, keep your eyes peeled for that and. And that's it. I'll see you guys on Thursday. Bye. Love you. Mean it.

[Katie Nolan]

McCrispy strips are now at McDonald's. Tender juicy and its own sauce.

[Brady]

Would you look at that?

[Isabella]

Well, you can't see it, but trust.

[Brady]

Me, it looks delicious.

[Isabella]

New McCrispy strips now at McDonald's.