WNBA Draft, Vrabel, Jorginho, and Another World Cup Shakedown

Summary

Casuals with Katie Nolan – Episode Summary

Episode: "WNBA Draft, Vrabel, Jorginho, and Another World Cup Shakedown"

Date: April 16, 2026
Host: Katie Nolan
Guests: Casuals regular cast (Isabella, Chris, Bubba/Brady)
Producer: SiriusXM Podcasts

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Overview

This episode of Casuals with Katie Nolan delivers a mix of sports culture and conversation for both die-hard fans and newcomers. The crew covers one of the busiest WNBA weeks ever—including the bombshell draft, free agency chaos, and nail-polished draft-night fits—hot-button sports controversies (Jorginho, Guy Fieri, Diana Russini, and Mike Vrabel), baseball mishaps, mental health in sports, and gives a running commentary on the ongoing World Cup shakedown in the US.

Katie and her Casuals co-hosts keep the tone irreverent, fun, and deeply empathetic—balancing their expertise and inside jokes with patient explanations for less obsessive listeners.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dodger Stadium Tales & Ballpark Fandoms (04:00)

• Isabella returns from LA and shares her first experience at Dodger Stadium as a Mets fan on Hello Kitty Night.
• Key moments:
  • Hello Kitty’s ceremonial pitch ("maybe the worst first pitch I've ever seen" – Katie, 05:38) sparks debate about fandom, mascots, and bad sporting moments.
  • Isabella braves it in Mets gear ("I wore the City Connect jersey you gave me" – Isabella, 07:31), gets the cold shoulder from Dodgers fans.
• Quote: "Girl, we don't want to talk about that spin." – Katie on Hello Kitty’s post-pitch distraction (06:06)

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2. Fan Identity and Gatekeeping (08:07)

• Listener email from Jake: Should Isabella be allowed to root for Shohei and the Dodgers?
  • The group riffs on the toxicity and performative villainy of some sports branding ("Maybe it's not so bad being the best. Shut up. Yes. I was like, you're so corny for that." – Isabella, 08:59).
  • Isabella resists switching allegiances, reinforcing the importance of organic fandom.

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3. Pop Culture Interlude: BieberChella and Celebrity Perfumes (10:04)

• Discussion of the "Biebercella" headlining set at Coachella. The crew pokes fun at his performance ("He was just, like, scrolling through YouTube videos…" – Isabella, 10:26).
• Nostalgia and consumer culture: Justin Bieber's perfume line.
  • Memorable story: Isabella realizing she found her Christmas gift early (11:54-12:30).

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4. Jorginho & Chapel Roan-Gate Update (14:34)

• Katie breaks down the latest statement in the Jorginho/Chapel Roan security-guard incident.
  • Critiques the performative "fatherly protection" response and social media-inflamed outrage ("You weren't even there, bro." – Katie, 14:58).
  • Emphasizes dangers of using massive platforms for vague, accusatory statements, especially in sports with passionate fans.
  • Quote: "That’s wild to write that in the heat of the moment, just being a father..." (17:01)

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5. Guy Fieri x The Tate Brothers Mini-Scandal (19:03)

• Guy Fieri explains away a viral UFC handshake with the Tate brothers, claiming ignorance of their controversial status.
  • Panel is skeptical about public figures pleading cluelessness ("Can you imagine the peace...of not knowing who the Tate brothers are?" – Katie, 20:12).

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6. Sports Media & Women: Diana Russini and Vrabel (22:53)

• The exit of Diana Russini from The Athletic following tabloid-fueled ethics questions about her relationship with coach Mike Vrabel.
  • Katie brings a nuanced take, discussing misogyny in sports coverage and the 'insider game' ("...it’s always seemed to me next to impossible for a woman to engage in this line of work in a way that anybody would see as above board." – Katie, 26:30).
  • Noted that media firestorms disproportionately target women ("I don't really see anybody talking about Mike Vrabel's role in this at all, if any." – Isabella, 29:29).

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7. Trump, Riley Gaines, and Image Politics (31:39)

• Ridiculousness of Trump’s self-Jesus imagery and subsequent conservative outrage.
  • "I didn't listen to Riley Gaines. I'm not a big fan of Riley, actually." – Trump, as relayed by Katie (34:55)
• The show's trademark: balancing hard sports with absurd sports-adjacent news.

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8. WNBA Draft: A Massive Moment for the League (39:19)

Draft Headlines

• Azzi Fudd goes #1 overall.
  • The group debunks claims her selection was due to her relationship with Paige Bueckers rather than her talent ("Are you guys so dumb? She's Azzi Fudd—an incredibly talented basketball player, but, like, endlessly marketable." – Katie, 40:30).
  • Spike in casual fans leads to uninformed hot takes—"growing pains" of league popularity.

Fashion & Culture

• Azzi’s draft night: Multiple outfits, custom press-on nails ("I just love that. I would never have thought to accessorize like that...she's so endlessly cool." – Katie, 43:59)
  • Emphasizes personalization and WNBA’s evolving brand power.
• UCLA sets record for most first-round draft picks.
• Flau’Jae Johnson’s draft night and WNBA’s first major “trade drama,” including the crowd’s in-person reaction (49:00).
• Social media and queer relationships: “Hmm, they are both same gender. Okay. Huh.” – Web3 Wizard comment on People magazine, mocking cluelessness in sports social discourse (45:04).

Free Agency

• NY Liberty re-signing key stars; major moves across the league.
  • Notable gaffe: Minnesota balloon company leaks NEka Ogwumike visit, preempting any announcement (58:40).

Commissioner Critique

• Kathy Engelbert’s uncomfortable press conference, sidestepping questions about her future and deflecting with vague “women supporting women” lines (53:53).
  • Katie asserts: Critique isn’t always sexism, but the league must guard against dismissing all criticism as such.

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9. Baseball Odds & Ends (61:00)

• Orioles manager Craig Albernaz returns after a brutal foul ball to the face ("seven fractures and doing that 'through the wire'” – 62:11).
• Red Sox outfielder Jaren Duran responds to fan heckling about his past mental health struggle.
  • Quote: "Honestly, it’s my fault for talking about my mental health. I kind of brought in the haters." – Duran, 63:41
  • Katie disagrees, underlining the importance of vulnerability and condemning cruel fans.

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10. World Cup Date: The American Shakedown (80:41)

• US-hosted World Cup turning into a logistical and financial nightmare:
  • No tailgating at several venues (incl. Boston/Gillette Stadium).
  • Ridiculous shuttle ($95) and train ($75-100) prices to reach suburban venues; $1,000+ hotel nights for games.
  • Penn Station closure for ticket holders only during match windows.
  • Ticket price creeping—front-row “Category 1” seats now relabeled even higher.
  • Executive churn: US Soccer sporting director bolts for Saudi Arabia mid-cycle.
• Memorable Sound Bite: "Put a gun in my back and rob me, just don’t—just…” – (89:25)

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11. Listener Emails & Lightning Round (95:44)

1. Hockey Fighting (Madge):
   • Is it necessary? Katie explains its roots as a player-governance deterrent—but gets that it’s jarring for casual/new fans.
2. What counts as fair jersey etiquette? (104:20–109:51):
   • "No jersey of a player younger than you" (Rich Eisen's rule)—the crew finds this unnecessarily restrictive: "Some of you guys need to be freed." (107:51)
3. Blouse Origin (Jeopardy appearance):
   • Katie reveals her Oula Johnson “Aurelia” top was a rental (103:12), laments blouse as a word.

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Notable Quotes & Segment Timestamps

• Hello Kitty’s “horrendous” first pitch: 05:38 – "Hello Kitty threw out maybe the worst first pitch I've ever seen."
• Jorginho critiques: 14:58 – "You weren’t even there, bro."
• On women in sports media: 26:30 – "...next to impossible for a woman to engage in this line of work in a way that anybody would see as above board..."
• WNBA draft & fan confusion: 40:30 – "Are you guys so dumb? [...] She's Azzi Fudd."
• WNBA culture moment: 43:59 – "I just love that. I would never have thought to accessorize like that...she's so endlessly cool."
• World Cup outrage: 89:25 – "Put a gun in my back and rob me, just don’t..."
• On sports jersey “rules”: 107:51 – "Some of you guys need to be freed."

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Timestamps of Important Segments

| Timecode | Segment / Topic | |---------------|------------------------------------------------| | 04:00 | Isabella’s Dodger Stadium & Hello Kitty Night | | 08:07 | Listener email: Dodgers, Fandom, & Shohei | | 10:04 | Coachella, Biebercella, Perfume talk | | 14:34 | Jorginho & Chapel Roan-gate | | 19:03 | Guy Fieri & Tate brothers handshake | | 22:53 | Diana Russini, media scrutiny, Vrabel | | 31:39 | Trump/Jesus image, Riley Gaines | | 39:19 | WNBA Draft, Azzi Fudd, fashion, trade drama | | 58:40 | Free agency gaffe, Nneka Ogwumike balloon leak | | 61:00 | Baseball: injuries, Jaren Duran, empathy | | 80:41 | World Cup logistics, shakedown, ticket prices | | 95:44 | Listener emails: fighting, jerseys, Jeopardy | | 104:20 | Jersey etiquette, rules, freedom for fans |

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Tone & Style

• Language: Conversational, candid, inclusive ("There are no dumb questions" energy).
• Humor: Playful, self-aware, but never mean-spirited (“put a gun in my back and rob me…” on ticket prices).
• Empathy: Strong on discussing mental health, misogyny, and the emotional realities of fandom and sports work.

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Final Thoughts

Even without a guest, this episode covers a huge range of timely sports stories with intelligence, wit, and approachability. The team deftly ties together controversies and culture, outlining the growing pains of women’s sports, the perils of unchecked online outrage, and the frustration of fans trapped in a system that prioritizes profit over people. Listeners walk away informed, entertained, and—probably—ready to defend their right to root for whichever team, and wear whichever jersey, they damn well please.

Transcript

[A]

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[A]

Hey, Isabella, did you see that? The company Allbirds. Have you ever heard of Allbirds?

[C]

No.

[A]

Okay. They were a shoot. They are a shoe. We'll see. Let's get to it. They announced a change to their business model this morning and are officially pivoting from making comfortable, sustainable shoes to artificial intelligence infrastructure. What? They've also sold their IP to a third party company that will continue selling the branded shoes. They just are now. Map out that pipeline. I don't understand. How does that work? It's not as direct as you'd like it to be. I will say Allbirds is the only company I've ever had complain about an ad read I did for them on a podcast. They were like, you can't run that. And now that they barely even make shoes anymore. Let me just say it was funny, okay? It was funny. You didn't get it and that's why you're out of the game. Bye, Allbirds. This episode is presented by gmc. We are professional grade. Hello and welcome to Casuals, the sport sports podcast. For people that maybe don't necessarily listen to a lot of sports podcasts, our goal is to keep it light, keep it fun, keep it entertaining, but get you caught up on everything happening in the big wide world of sports. I'm Katie Nolan, here to help you along on this journey, joined today by my casualties. No guests. I know. Usually we have a guest for the Thursday episode. Look, things fell through. A lot of moving parts. We do. Brady does a great job getting us these guests and sometimes it just. It doesn't work out. And we're not holding any ill will towards anybody who was maybe supposed to be here and isn't here. Right, gang? We're just letting that go. We're all taking a deep, cleansing breath and we're hanging out with the casualties. And luckily we got a lot to get to. So let's introduce them to you. We have Isabella, who's finally back from vacation. Hi. Hi. Welcome back. We'll get to you in a second. Our master editor, Chris.

[D]

G'. Day.

[A]

And Bubba. Bubba. Bubba Brady.

[E]

Hey. No ill will to anyone except their agents.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And that's. And that's what the agents are for really, I believe, to absorb that sort of frustration we're not feeling towards anybody who was supposed to be here as a guest today. If you want to reach us, don't forget, you can always do that. Casualswithkatianolanmail.com Our voicemail is 646-801-0043. On IG and tick tock. We are CasualsThePodcast. Like I said, a lot to talk about today. We got Jorginho coming out with a an update on Chapel Roan Gate. We've got the busiest week in WNBA history. The NHL playoffs are set. So we'll get to that. We have a manager in baseball with a broken face who is continuing to go to work. And a piping hot World cup date for you guys. I mean, just a big pile of absolute shit coming out of the World Cup. Just a worse headline on top of worse headlines. But first we gotta get to Isabella's experience. Isabella, welcome home, our sports newbie here at Casuals. You just got back from a nice vacation in la and one of the stops on your LA trip was to a baseball game. You went to Dodger Stadium to watch the Mets, right?

[C]

I did. It was really fun.

[A]

Which game was this? This was Monday night.

[C]

It's the one where the Mets didn't get any points.

[A]

Yeah, well, that's a lot of. Actually, that's not even specific enough. I know there's a lot of Mets games lately where that's kind of been the case, but this was Monday night. Dodgers win four. Nothing just to run through for before you talk about your experience for the listener, some of the things that happened in this game. Ohtani went 0 for 4. Andy Pahes hit a three run home run for the Dodgers. The Mets had three total hits in the entire game. And hello Kitty throughout the first pitch. It was first. It was. Hello. I was gonna say it was first pitch night. It wasn't. It was hello Kitty night at the ballpark, which was part of the reason that you were going. Did you manage to get any of the hello Kitty merch?

[C]

Nothing. I did get. Okay. I did get. I ordered a chicken tenders and fries bucket. And the bucket was kitty.

[A]

But that's garbage, right? So you threw that away? No, no, no.

[C]

I kept it.

[A]

Was it like, a reusable plastic?

[C]

Yeah, it was like plastic.

[A]

How'd you get a bucket home?

[C]

I shoved that shit in my duffel bag.

[A]

Nice. I was like. Wore it as a hat. I don't know. Maybe you have to get creative with it.

[E]

So it holds all her spatulas in the kitchen.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I was gonna say. Oh, I could probably put, like, my cleaning supplies in here under the cabinet, you know?

[A]

Yeah. It's a good bucket.

[C]

O.

[A]

That's all you got? That's all I got. Did you get the giveaway hoodie?

[C]

No. There were so many people there, and I got there, like, an hour beforehand before the first pitch, and they're like, sorry, we have no more.

[A]

No. I was like, all right, that sucks.

[C]

Whatever. It was fine. But I saw hello Kitty pitch, which was cool.

[A]

Okay. It was horrendous.

[C]

Honestly, it looked better than mine.

[A]

No, it didn't at all.

[C]

Really.

[A]

Not even close to better than yours. Hello Kitty threw out maybe the worst first pitch I've ever seen. And nobody wants to say it because hello Kitty's so cute and adorable, you know, doing their best, but she was cheeks. It went, like, immediately into the grass. And then Isabella. What I didn't like is I felt like she did your spin after throwing a horrendous pitch. She did, like, a little.

[C]

She tried to distract from the horrendousness.

[A]

Girl, we don't want to talk about that spin.

[C]

Also, did you copy me? Where's my royalties?

[A]

And so I'm giving away Isabella sweatshirts at my next game, and there will be one for every single seat, so everyone can have them because I don't know hello Kitty. That ball was nowhere near crossing the plate. Really a brutal first pitch.

[C]

Well, she does what she can. Did you have a.

[A]

Did you try a Dodger Dog?

[C]

No, I didn't. I didn't, because I wasn't in the mood for a hot dog. And I was like, you can't make me.

[A]

Damn.

[C]

I was like, I'm sorry. I was in line. The lines were so long because everybody wanted the hello Kitty cups and everything. And I was just like, I'm not gonna make myself eat a hot dog when I don't want it right now. So I had the chicken tenders.

[A]

Huh?

[C]

And it Was good.

[A]

They were fine.

[C]

Yeah, they were fine.

[A]

It was fine. Weather was nice. How was it getting into the stadium?

[C]

It actually wasn't that bad at all. We, like, found a way to get to the stadium without having to park there or anything.

[A]

Huh.

[C]

Which was nice. Yeah. You could, like. You could park at, like, the. The train station, and then they have a. What's called a Dodger Express shuttle.

[A]

Nice.

[C]

And you could just take the shuttle for free.

[A]

So for free is nice.

[C]

Yeah, that was really nice. And the parking there was like $8, whereas, like, Dodger Stadium, it was like 50. I was like, why am I gonna do that?

[A]

Really smart. What did you end up wearing? Because we had discussed before you left, you're like, I don't. Somebody had written in about their experience of going to a game. They were like, I don't know if I should wear, like, represent my team and wear gear or just dress neutral. What did you end up wearing?

[C]

I wore the City Connect jersey that you gave me. Hell, yeah. Which is cute. And I did see a couple people wearing them, so that was fun. But I was in a sea of Dodgers fan, which was really.

[A]

Did anyone say anything to you?

[C]

No, I just got stairs.

[A]

Oh, ew. I'll bring them out here. I'll fight them.

[C]

I was like, damn, guys, don't look at our girl.

[A]

She's doing her best.

[C]

I know, but I had.

[D]

They were all thinking, wait, is that Isabella?

[C]

Yeah, right.

[A]

They were going, hey, Isabella. That's what they were doing.

[C]

Oh, okay. Yeah, Yeah, I bet that's what they were doing.

[A]

Hey, Isabella.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, we got an email. Do you have this pulled up? Chris, I'm sorry to bring this up right away, but from Jake about this game. Can you read that for us?

[D]

Yeah. Jake writes it in, says, katie, let Isabella live. If she wants to root for Shohei and the Dodgers, let her join us. Why all the resistance?

[A]

I love it.

[C]

I don't.

[F]

I love it.

[D]

The funniest part of the whole Dodgers discourse this last year is how fast the narrative flips before shohei chokers before 2020, haven't won in 30 years. Now it's. They're ruining baseball because we finally stopped participating in misery. What's with the hate, Katie? You guys didn't want Mookie, so we gave him a home. Let Isabella rock the hello Kitty Dodgers gear.

[A]

She couldn't even get any.

[C]

Yeah, and I don't want to. You know, I was going to give it to my cousin if I did get it. Okay. Also, one thing that really annoyed me, that really made me like, oh, fuck.

[A]

The Dodgers was.

[C]

I was sitting there and they had, like, a trailer before the game. And, like, their whole theme is the bad guys. Everybody wants to be the bad guys. Maybe it's not so bad being the best.

[A]

Shut up. Yes. I was like, you're so corny for that.

[C]

And then I think they had another one with, like, Edwin Diaz. And I was like, you're so annoying. Whatever.

[A]

Yeah. How dare they. The Edwin Diaz of it all.

[C]

It's like, I know.

[A]

Be nice. Leave him out of it.

[C]

I know. And then I forgot his name. Kyle Tucker. I think he was in, like, the outfield. And where I was sitting, he was near. And so every single time someone at bat, like, hit something, I'd be like, kyle, what if you just didn't catch it?

[A]

Just don't catch it.

[C]

Like, what if heckling.

[A]

Just leave it. Just leave it. I was like, no, what if you just didn't. They can't make you catch that ball, Kyle. You don't have to do this. Like, he's going held against his wing.

[D]

I think it's a bad sign for Jake that we couldn't get through the entire email before.

[A]

Yeah, that email's done.

[C]

Good job.

[E]

Whatever.

[D]

I'm so sorry.

[A]

Thank you for your email. Goodbye to you. I love that.

[C]

I was.

[A]

Cause I was nervous to check in that once you go to Dodger Stadium, maybe you were gonna be like, yeah, that's it. I'm a Dodgers fan. But to hear that, it flipped you even harder the other way.

[C]

It's beautiful. It's a really beautiful stadium. The energy was great. But no, I just wasn't.

[A]

No, sure, that's fine.

[E]

It's a stadium.

[A]

Let me also ask you this, because you were gone and I had to talk to these two about Coachella and Chris isn't on social media and Brady is, but not like me. And so there was like, nobody. Did you see all of the talk about Biebercella?

[C]

I did. And a lot of people were saying that, like, they were. They were disappointed with what he was doing, right? Because he was just, like, scrolling through

[A]

YouTube videos for part of his set. He was like, hey, guys, you ever see this one? You know, which was a little weird for $10 million. Are you a Bieber? Are you a Belieber?

[C]

I wouldn't say I'm a Belieber. I mean, I liked his popular songs and stuff when they would come out, but I wasn't never, like, a hardcore Bieber fan. I did have his perfume, though.

[A]

All right, Bieber Made a per.

[C]

Well, yeah, it was like a. I forgot what it was called, but it was like this round bottle and it had like flowers on the top.

[A]

I would assume it's called like baby

[C]

or something like that.

[A]

One of those. One less lonely girl or whatever. I'm sure Chris will look it up and let us know because it's really important. All right. And you have any other. You didn't have any other Coachella hot Coachella takes you needed to get?

[C]

No, my only hot take was that I don't care. You guys have fun with your expensive hot ass like festival that I can't afford.

[A]

It's. No, it's crazy, huh?

[C]

I don't want to pay thousands of dollars to frickin shower in like a little like tarp. And I don't know, I just. Yeah, I can't.

[A]

And watch Justin BIEBER Pull up YouTube videos. Yeah. Chris, breaking news. What do you got?

[D]

Some of the key scents of Justin Bieber's perfume line. Maple Someday, which is pear berries, Vanilla Girlfriend, which is BlackBerry pear. And then the key, which is vanilla and musk.

[A]

I don't think you went vanilla musk, did you?

[C]

Oh, I did Someday. Yeah, the one with like the rose heart on top. That was cute. I remember I actually. Oh my God. Quick story. I remember I saw my sister come home with like an Ulta bag and I was like, oh, I wonder what's in there. And I low key knew it was my Christmas gift, but I. I knew I shouldn't have looked in there, but I was like, what if I just like happened to look through it and I look through it and I see and I was like. And I like mentioned it later on. I was like, oh, wouldn't it be so cool if I got the Someday, like Justin Bieber? I'm so dumb.

[A]

I'm so you said the exact thing she got. Wouldn't it be so neat if I got that bottle of someday? Maybe like 12 fluid ounces. She wasn't happy. She wasn't happy.

[C]

And she was just like, what if I just didn't give it to you?

[A]

Yeah. As she should. That's wild.

[C]

I know. But anyways, she gave it to you

[A]

and you got it and you smelled delicious.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Sick. All right, well, Beaver Chella. Weekend two coming up. And I guess we'll see.

[C]

He's doing it again.

[A]

They do the whole. This is. Everybody learned this this week. Is that you? They just run it back. Weekend two is exact same. They just run it back again. And that's this upcoming weekend.

[D]

So Drinking. Any of the artists watch tape and go back and be like, all right, I gotta, gotta get better at that this next weekend.

[A]

I wonder.

[D]

Gotta fix this. Bieber's probably like, maybe don't put as many YouTube videos.

[A]

Maybe don't sit down with my laptop and scroll through. I mean, I, I like, I would.

[D]

But then again, what if he plays a YouTube video of his weekend one performance.

[E]

Whoa.

[A]

Then we're getting into like Bo Burnham inside levels of Inception.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I guess we'll have to keep an eye on.

[E]

Sell that to the same people. Right? Like it's the second. You gotta have.

[A]

You have to remember a lot of people loved it. A lot of the 6pm show has

[E]

to be different from the 9pm Show.

[A]

Yeah, that's not.

[E]

Can't imagine he's running it right back. This seems like a cash grab about a cash grab.

[A]

Dan runs his hour right back when he has a 6pm show and a 9pm show. Brady, did you want to say something mean to Dan, who we love so much?

[E]

No. No, I don't.

[A]

I think you did. You might be tall and I always forget, but you're not as tall as Dan, are you? I actually don't remember.

[E]

Probably about the same height.

[A]

I've seen you in person three times in my life. Speaking of barely ever seeing someone in person and having a strong opinion, Jorginho, we. We broke down this drama really, really deeply. On casuals. I tried to give you guys all of the angles. Also tried to make it clear that as a self identified Chapel Ron fan, I probably am biased and not coming to this completely, you know, neutrally the way some were. So it was take with a grain of salt. But I believe what I said was like, this kind of feels interesting the way it's playing out. And what would you. What would you know? When did he actually come out with this? Was this on Tuesday of this week or.

[E]

Or I believe this was Monday.

[A]

Monday or Tuesday. Jorginho puts out a new statement regarding what happened March Laa Paloa, Brazil, in Sao Paulo. This new statement, he says, I made my initial statement in the heat of the moment after hearing that my child and wife had been approached by an adult male security guard. In an intimidating way. I reacted as any father would. I don't put a pin in that, as any father would. My priority is and always will be protecting my family. And that is exactly what I did. Again, a little pin. Because it's. It is interesting to say that. It's like you weren't even there, bro. We're making it sound like I. I stood up for my fam. You weren't even there, bro. Since then, I have become aware of new information that's changed my understanding of parts of what happened. Chapel Roan made a public statement, reached out privately to Catherine, that's his wife, who made her own video six minutes long. And our teams also spoke directly. It became clear she had no knowledge of what took place at breakfast, had not asked anyone to approach them. The security guard himself has since confirmed that he was representing another artist at the hotel at the time. He said, thank you for the support we received in this moment. Thank you for the support we received during this sensitive moment. I do, however, want to make one thing very clear. I do not support or encourage hate speech or online attacks from any side. Respect, empathy and humility are values I carry and teach my family every single day. As far as I'm concerned, this matter is closed. Not so fast, big dog. Listen, you big pup. Part of the reason this bothered me so much is because they have teams that can reach out to each other to clear up this matter. So the fact that what he's saying is new information came to light, and that information came to light when he got a hold. She got a hold of their team. She spoke directly to his wife. She addressed it head on. Imagine if you had done that. Couldn't you have thought of that? You, at your big age, who's been famous for these soccer teams for so long, he's not like a new, young, fresh talent on the scene. He's been around this. He mentioned that in his first statement. He is no stranger to being around famous people and fame. And so how did you not know? You're not allowed to feign ignorance. That, like, oops, I posted it on my Instagram story to my millions and millions of followers. And hey, I don't support anybody being mean. Okay, guys, that's what happens. That's what happens when you specifically write. And if I may quote from his last statement, it's sad to see this kind of treatment coming from those who should understand the importance of fans. At the end of the day, they're the ones who build all of this. That's such. That's so like a. They're the prettiest girl in the room. I don't know. Me, I just really have a crush on fans. Obviously getting their attention. Then he writes, at Chapel, Roan, without your fans, you would be nothing. And to the fans, she does not deserve your affection. Pretty wild to write that in the heat of the Moment, just being a father, reacting how any father would. Calling direct attention to his fans, many of whom are Brazilian soccer fans. And if you look them up in a dictionary, they're, like, ranked one or two in most passionate active fan bases. He said, hey, fans, she doesn't deserve to be loved by you. And then now, in a little whimper, weeks later, amongst a bunch of other stuff going on, he's like, hey, I had different information, and I probably. Now it's been cleared up. We were wrong. No, sorry. No sorry. Just. Just a. Hey, it's different. And hey, don't. Don't be mean to her. Okay? To be clear, I would never tell anyone to be mean to her. Grow up, Georginio. Boo. Boo. Everybody do it. Yeah. You stink.

[E]

I love the. Our team spoke directly. So great. You directly conversed. Your publicist talked to her publicist directly.

[A]

But it is possible. But it is possible. Without going through the. I had to post on my Instagram story. How else would I reach her? Chapel found a way. Just ridiculous. But good. So I guess, you know, we all knew, and now it's confirmed. Other things we've got to update. We got a couple stories that we've dipped our toes in that we have to update. This one, Guy Fieri. Guy Fieri, I believe, is what we're supposed to be doing, right?

[E]

It didn't come out and say Mayor Guy Fieri.

[A]

Is that you saying that, or. He wants us to say that.

[E]

That's his name on his Twitter account where he posted this statement from. It is from Mayor Guy Fieri.

[A]

Oh, damn. How many?

[E]

The elected official of Flavortown.

[A]

How many representatives come from Flavortown? How many seats does Flavortown get?

[E]

I believe it's far more authoritarian than they would need you to believe.

[A]

It's probably something like 20, 24 flavors. How many flavors does Dr. Okay, let's just get into this. So Guy Fieri, we told you, was spotted at UFC 327, the convention. Everyone's calling him that. It's catching on in Miami. And that he was seen shaking hands and talking to the Tate brothers, who have a number of allegations. And some, I'm sure, didn't they get actually caught doing some stuff? You know who the Tate brothers are. Look them up. If you don't, there's more than one. Oh, yeah, it's. Yeah. Anyway, he. A lot of people were like, guy Fieri.

[C]

I didn't.

[A]

I didn't think this was, like, your bag. I didn't think you were in the manosphere. He said, I'm seeing all your comments about the photo from Saturday's UFC event, and all I can say is that I'm devastated. I was there to see the fights, and when I was walking through the venue, the Tate brothers stood up and said hello, and that's when the exchange happened. I did not know them them or about them before that moment. Can you imagine the peace, the peace and quiet up here of not being aware of the existence of the Tate brothers. I'll never pretend to be a perfect person, but let me be crystal clear. I do not know the Tate brothers, nor do I support them in any way. All right? Is that enough? That's not enough for Brady.

[C]

I mean, listen, mayors shake everybody's hand.

[A]

That's kind of part of the gig, so. And if maybe they recently were looking at property and Flavor Town down. We don't know.

[E]

Bro hug. Every. In sunglasses.

[A]

I couldn't bring myself to watch the clip. I'm not.

[E]

Oh, there was a. There was a bro fist and an embrace and then a lean in and a whisper, and there were jokes told. This was. This was not a random stranger being like, flavortown, I love you. This was. There. There was.

[A]

You think they've met before? You're alleging I.

[E]

They have to have. Even if this is the first meeting, they definitely knew who each other were.

[A]

It didn't look like a. Oh, hi, I'm Guy Fieri. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I hope nobody said. Big fan. Honestly, in either direction. I'm offended. All right.

[E]

I'm not offended if Tate's a fan of Fieri.

[A]

No, I think I am, actually. I just think. What do you love? Divers. Dry Divers. Dry. Ins and doves.

[D]

Yep.

[A]

What do you love? Doves. Drive ins and.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Detours. Not me.

[C]

It's the best show to watch at

[A]

2:00am Yeah, I mean, it does play on. It's like saying you're a huge fan of what's the Rob Deerdeck show? It's like, oh, I just really love ridiculousness. Ridiculousness. It's like, oh, I just really love impractical jokers. It's like. So you just like TV being on? Oh, I love Catfish, the TV show.

[E]

You know, I stopped by a. I stopped by a place in North Carolina last year. It was a diner, and they had multiple signs up that showed that they had appeared on. On the Triple D in 2012. Multiple signs, nothing. No publicity. No press since then.

[A]

Yeah, that's not even a good thing to brag about.

[E]

No. And the quality matched.

[A]

I was gonna say, probably an entirely turned over staff. Nobody that was there for that championship is still playing for the team. So it's like you guys can't really claim take the banner down, you know, while we're updating things of people that they're friends with. Diana Rossini NFL reporter Diana Rossini has resigned from the Athletic less than a week after published photos of her and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort prompted an internal investigation. She sent a letter to the executive editor, Steven Ginsberg of the Athletic, which he then re she reposted to socials.

[E]

She reposted her socials, okay, because when

[A]

I saw it, it came from Associated Press that had gotten it from whatever it is Diana wrote. I've covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career. I stand by every story I've ever published. When Page Six first appeared, the Page Six item first appeared. The athletics supported me, unequivocally expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journey journalism. For that I'm grateful. In the days that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts. Moreover, this media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process the Athletic is trying to complete. It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks, and I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I'm willing to accept. Rather than allowing this to continue, I've decided to step aside now before my current, current contract expires on June 30th. We kn that her contract was coming up over the summer. I do so not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career. So Diana Rossini, who was the top NFL insider at the Athletic, is now out of the Athletic. And to me, the worst part is that some of us were waiting on the results of that investment investigation because I know everyone's got opinions. I know I should stay here. In case this is your very first episode of Casuals. We've had Diana on as a guest before. Diana and I work together at ESPN and maintain a friendship. I, I love Diana. So, you know, when I first saw the pictures, it's funny to me the way people act like they don't have a friend in their lives where if you saw something that seemed pretty incriminating, you wouldn't go like, I'm gonna wait to hear from. I want to see. This isn't the smoking gun. It's being Treated as. Does it look bad? Yeah. But everybody was acting like need statements from everyone who knows her right now about. And it's like, that's just not how the world works. I am too close to this story and the audience of people that are waiting to hear comments on it with their forks and knives and their napkins tucked into their shirts that are like, this is proof that all women in sports have sex at work. Say something. It's like, why would I? I'm in no rush to give some sort statement on my friend who is experiencing most likely one of the lower parts of her life right now. She has. Is married and has children. There will be repercussions there if this is turning out to be true, which again, I do just have to say we don't really know yet. I know everybody wants to and you can have your opinions. We don't actually know yet. The photos, again, while compromising, not to me immediately fully. They're not like making out in the pictures. And so what has stood out to me about the discussion of this, my two big takeaways is number one, I've never understood really how the insider game works. And this is all just kind of highlighting that for me. Like, sports journalism is in a weird place. I think we can all acknowledge we've been talking about this for a while now. You know, Pablo got it nominated for two of the four nominees that are in a category for best sports journalism of the year for the sports Emmys. And it's just like there isn't really anybody doing it like that anymore because the investment in that area of the business has been lacking from all of the top companies. And so I've always been confused by the insider game. It's dating back to. I know people keep pulling up the example of when Adam Schefter asked somebody, do you have any, Mr. Editor, any. Any notes on this? It's always been a weirdly blurred line in sports coverage. The way the insider relationship works. This is if you're, if you pay attention to sports, this isn't something new. And so I just feel like it's always seemed to me next to impossible for a woman to engage in this line of work in a way that anybody would see as above board, because I don't think anybody's really moving above board in that industry. So number one is like the lack of understanding publicly about how the insider game works. I feel like we don't know anything. And a lot of people are out here talking wildly like they understand it it and it's it's not that. Whatever it is, it's not that. The other thing, and I've said this before, this has come up in a. In our old studio. So it was a long time ago, an old episode of this show where I talked about how I wish we were better at sniffing out misogyny when we're being critical of a woman. Because online, like, you can think that she did this. You can think that whatever you want about this situation. I wish we were better at recognizing when somebody that. That is just being misogynistic and is jumping in at the opportunity of, like, oh, we're ripping on a woman. And they jump in and not saying, this is everybody. I'm saying there are a lot of people who have their legitimate gripes and actual reasons and frustrations with this specific situation, but there are people who then come in and are misogynistic. And the way that we don't do a good job of going, well, hey, we're not doing that here. You know what I mean? We talked about this with something else before. I don't even want to say the proper nouns of who it was that we were talking about, but, like, maybe it's because when it happens to somebody, you know, it's easier to spot. And I can look at things. I can look at people going through old clips of Diana, Diana, who has always been one of our more personable and entertaining personality reporters, and they're going through old jokes that she has made that were clearly at the time jokes, and pulling them out of context text and showing them and going, whoa. Can you believe she was, like, this open about this? And you're like, these are jokes. You're not. And so it just is. I wish that in these moments when people are legitimately angry with a woman for something they perceive as a shortcoming of them, that we were better at noticing the ready swarm of people who swoop in and actually don't care what woman it is we're on. They're just here because they heard we were over here on women. Women. Because at best, it goes unnoticed by a bunch of people who are justifiably angry, but at worst, it, like, gets people caught up in it. And then they turn into these spaces where people are, like, obsessed over a lady they're never gonna meet. So I don't know. Obviously, I don't have a ton of stuff to say.

[C]

And also, generally, I feel like in instances like this where there's, like, potentially infidelity, it's like, people usually just talk about the Woman, like, I haven't. I mean, at least from what I've seen, I don't really see anybody talking about Mike Vable's role in this at all, if any. So unfortunate.

[A]

Yeah, agreed. So I guess we'll just keep an eye on that and where it goes and how it works out. But listen, I just. You gotta allow people to not, you know, be thrilled to jump in on a dog pile of their friend. I don't know. I was really hoping they would investigate, that we could get more information, but what are you gonna do?

[E]

I would imagine they still will. You think that there'll still be a completion to this? Because a lot of it, a lot of it rests on the integrity of the athletic itself. Like they want to know whether or not they have something to clear of themselves. Also, like these headlines are running across espn, across multiple outlets. Like this is a story that's gone just beyond the athletics internal investigation.

[A]

Sure. But I feel like if they did find what they needed as proof that it did happen, then putting that out there wouldn't help their reputation, it would only hurt it. So they're probably just letting her be the sacrificial lamb and cutting it off and then just going about their business. Not like the athletic was deep in the insider game anyway.

[E]

They. They did say in their internal memo, they did say that she resigned before we could complete this. She was not being forced out. That she terminated her contract two months early.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Which you know, was going to end before football season anyway. So. I mean, after the NFL draft, I get it. There was going to be kind of a dearth of content and it makes sense for her to just kind of step away anyway. I think we get some sort of conclusion in that time.

[A]

Yeah, well, we'll see eventually. Mike Rabel's got to have to talk. I know he's been not talking, but at some point he's going to have to talk. So we'll see what happens there. Can we end this block on a high note before we take a quick break? Because this is a very quick story.

[C]

You want to smoke in the studio?

[A]

Yeah. So if we could just roll that up and maybe get a lighter in here. Wait till Peyton and run the shower so that nobody will notice. It'll get caught in the steam. There's a little trick for you. I guess nobody in this room knew

[E]

what the dryer sheet.

[A]

No.

[E]

In the paper towel.

[A]

When asked by CBS's Nora O' Donnell if. Okay, so let's start at the beginning of this story, actually. Remember when earlier this weekend Trump or this week Trump Weekend. What day is it to me? Trump tweeted Truth Socialed a picture of him as maybe Jesus. I'll read you the description of the image that was tweeted. This is from the Hill article on this. The image Trump shared on Truth Social Sunday night was rendered to look like a painting as it depicted the President wearing a long white robe with a red shawl over his shoulders and pressing his hand on the forehead of a man who lay in what resembled a hospital bed. A nurse, a soldier, a bearded man, and a young woman surrounded Trump in the image. The young woman held her hands together in prayer. Two bald eagles flew near the corners of the image, and the American flag and fighter jets appeared across the sky. Ghostly figures depicting service members also appeared to emerge from the sky. As sunlight pierced through clouded skies, fireworks were displayed over the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial.

[E]

So can I add in lots going on there since we've started putting this story together? Since you sat down at work today, I haven't even mentioned this.

[A]

This.

[E]

He posted another photo of himself with Jesus.

[A]

What do you mean?

[E]

It's him standing over a microphone and Jesus, like, leaning in forehead to forehead with his arm around Trump.

[A]

Wait, what?

[E]

No, today is Wednesday. That was done within the last couple of hours. So if you're curious at the scoreboard for lessons learned from this, we are still at zero.

[A]

Oh, my God. Okay, so he. He tweeted that, right? It sparked outcry from several conservatives and Christians calling it blasphemous. This, from this article, is really funny. Trump later said he, quote, thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross. As a Red Cross worker there, which we support. Only the fake news could come up with that one. I just heard about it and I said, how did they come up with that? It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better. What are you talking about? My guy? He also later said, I thought it was me as a doctor. That's what most people thought. That's not true. That isn't true. And we know that because a lot of people came out and said, like, hello, please don't post yourself as Jesus. One of those people, conservative activist Riley Gaines, who was upset, she said, God shall not be mocked. A little humility would serve him well. So then later in the week, Trump is doing some sort of a press event where a lady who works doordash shows up at the or. No, Mike, I'm getting my stupid stories mixed up. Later, he was asked to comment on this and they said, did you take us down because people criticized you? Conservative voices like Riley Gaines and I just. The whole reason we're covering this story is so I can read you this next line. President Trump said, I didn't listen to Riley Gaines. I'm not a big fan of Riley, actually.

[E]

This guy may not be all that bad. He's kind of onto something here.

[A]

Easy, easy. The doordash thing I was getting confused is that this poor woman comes to do the doordash no taxes on tips event where she delivers McDonald's to the White House in one of the bleaker images you've ever seen. And he turns to her and goes, you got thoughts on men playing women's sports? And she says, no, I don't have any thoughts on that. Actually, I'm here to promote no taxes on tips. What are we doing? So anyway, Riley Gaines, Donald Trump doesn't like you at all. Can you imagine after all that? So, okay, ending on a high note. Let's take a quick break, and then when we come back, we gotta get into the wnba. A lot happened in free agency and in the draft, and it all happened, like, at the same time. Lots of moving parts. And the season's about to start, so we'll get caught up on WNBA and a bunch of other stuff on the other side of a break. We'll be right back. Hey. I don't know what it is about the world now, but finding clothes that look good and actually also feel good is such a challenge. And that is where Viori comes in. They make incredibly versatile, insanely comfortable clothes that move with you from lounging at home to layering up for a chilly commute. It's effortless, elevated style that you will actually want to live in. The performance jogger and Halo essential wide leg pant are made with Vori's signature Dream knit fabric. It is their softest premium stretch material. Lightweight, it's moisture wicking, and it's effortless to wear anywhere. Add the Restore oversized hoodie for an easy, pulled together look. I wore my Restore oversized hoodie to work the other day and everybody was like, I love that hoodie. It's an investment in your happiness. For our listeners, they're offering 20% off of your first first purchase. So get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the [e-mail] Casuals v u O-R-I.com Casuals exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Ladies, tired of Sunglasses Ripping your hair out? I know I am. Meet Shady Ray's Tangle Free Sunglasses because once the weather warms up and you're outside for those park days and beach trips, the last thing you want is your sunglasses ruining your hair. These are designed with smooth no snag nose pieces that glide through your hair, not yank, not pull, and definitely not ruin your fresh blowout. They're lightweight, polarized, so you're not squinting in the bright sun, and cute enough to wear with everything. Plus, every pair is backed by lost and broken protection. Leave them at the beach, drop them in a parking lot after a long day out, or sit on them in the car. They'll replace them. So as you're getting into spring and summer, plans, upgrade your sunglasses. Today we've teamed up with Shady Rays to bring you a limited time offer. Head to shadyrays.com and use code CASUITS for 50 off two or more polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself The Shades rated 5 stars by over 300, 000 people shadyrays.com use code CASUALS the road to the playoffs is here. Catch every NBA matchup on ESPN and every NHL showdown on ESPN and TNT with Sling. Sling is great. You customize a channel lineup and only pay for what actually gets watched. So no more wondering why random channels are there. No contracts, just flexibility. Choose a one day pass starting at 4.99 for a big game, a seven day pass for playoff series, or you can go monthly for more. Pause anytime with no penalties and still enjoy over 600 free channels. You can even stream instantly on all devices at home or on the go with Sling. I know for me what I love about Sling is that on my phone when I'm on the road, maybe in like a green room that doesn't have any tv, I can watch on my phone and easily go between a hockey game that's on ESP and then I can switch over to an NBA matchup. So choose and customize your channel lineup or pause and watch for free. Sling lets you do that. Visit sling.com to learn more.

[B]

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[A]

Hi. We got so much to get to the WNBA draft. We Were talking about it before it started. We were going to maybe talk about it with somebody today. Again, we're not holding any sort of a grudge. We're just saying that that was sort of the plan. Still plenty of stuff to talk about. Heading into the draft, we had said we don't know for sure who's going to be. Be the number one pick. There were a couple of people that it could be. It ended up being Az Fudd. Now, it felt like some people reacted to that as if we hadn't spent up until the last few weeks calling Az Fud like the presumptive number one overall pick all year since last year. It's something that had been long discussed for a number of different reasons. However, she didn't have the greatest NCAA tournament. Her March wasn't fantastic this year. And I feel like a lot of people only used that as their only operating knowledge of Az Fudd. And so reactions I saw online, I was like, what's going on? Did you see this? That a lot of people were like, they only picked her because she's dating Paige Beckers. And that calls the whole thing into qu. Are you guys so dumb? She's Az Fudd, not only an incredibly talented basketball player, but, like, endlessly marketable. She's incredibly popular.

[D]

Like, she's one of the best shooters in the draft, and she's going to a team that needs shooting.

[A]

Yeah, it's, It's. It was kind of interesting.

[C]

Also, do you think the team's first priority is keeping this woman? Like, oh, like, let's keep the couple together.

[A]

Right. Also, do you guys think that this is the first time in the W that there's been a romantic relationship that exists on a team or on different teams or there's been, like, that is a dynamic that the W is familiar with and. And knows how to work with. I know the MNBA is a little behind in that regard, but, like, this isn't this shocking? I don't know. It was really weird watching. But I think what we have to do is accept the fact. What I think this is proof of is that a lot more people than ever probably watched the women's men's tournament. And that ultimately is a good thing. So it's like you have to have that extra level of patience with the discourse where you go like, okay, well, these people obviously don't know what they're talking about, but they're talking about the W, and they're talking about the W in a way that's at least informed from watching something Whether that be, you know, a small sample size of this last tournament. Obviously I wish that they had more information, but I think this is like growing pains of a league that's getting attention.

[E]

We said in the past like you got to give people the. You have to allow them to fail rather than gatekeep the entire.

[A]

I know. I just wish they'd also be more inclined to shut the up when they don't know what they're talking about. I wish that something in their brain would go, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. But instead we got that anyway. Fudd. When she got picked first, Isabella, did you see any of her looks by any chance? You were on vacation, so I'm not.

[C]

I did see one of her on like the red carpet or something.

[A]

Okay, so red carpet she had. I believe she's a coach. She's sponsored by coach. So I think all of her stuff was coach. But it was a, a silver sparkly dress that had like black almost tuxedo like satin elements to it. Gorgeous floor length gown and these black and silver nails that went with it. Then when she walks across the stage, outfit change already. She was in a low cut with a really low dramatic back in these like red earthy tones. It was still sequins, but they weren't as sparkly. They were more. More sleek. And her nails were different. She had another manicure. So I looked this up because I know we had talked about your fantasy team you were going to be. I don't. Did you end up being Caleb's nail salon?

[C]

No.

[A]

Oh, but you thought about it for somebody was. We just. I know that the nail thing is. So I looked, I looked this up. She used a Brooklyn area nail artist. She's got, she's done a lot with this woman. They've done a of lot lot together. Her name is Gnail. Her Instagram is gmail.com. the most annoying username for me to read out loud. But she.

[C]

And also look up.

[A]

She's sick. She's in New York City. She has a private studio in Brooklyn. And they're press ons. They're custom press ons.

[C]

Oh, that's nice.

[A]

So she just popped off the ones she wore on the carpet. Popped on these other nails.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

This woman has made her nails for. When she did her slam cover for New York Fashion Week. She had a Celsius ad campaign. I saw she had a custom Jordan brand set. It was sick. I just love that. I would never have thought to accessorize like that. And you get Picked first in a draft and you get to show off that you're.

[C]

She's so cool.

[A]

I know. She's so endlessly cool. And what a cool. I watched the draft. What an awesome experience. It was really nice. Nice because they got that CBA done, obviously, which is something we're all nervous about. It just felt like the energy at the draft was a lot of people being like, hell yeah, dude, we did it. All that work and now we get to watch a's gonna make $500,000 in her first year. That's crazy. I saw a quote and a stat about that that, like, it took Sue Bird a decade to make that much from the W. And like, crazy. Whoa. That's crazy. That's what progress looks like. It like rocked me. I got really emotional watching this draft. It was just awesome. I will also say pop culture is getting into the W, which we love. We love to see it. People magazine tweeted, Number one WNBA draft pick Az Fudd headed the Dallas Wings. Same team as girlfriend Paige Becker's. The first reply to that. Web3 wizard says, hmm, they are both same gender. Okay. Huh.

[C]

Get out of here. Web3Wizard.

[E]

Anybody looking into this?

[A]

What do you think they meant by that? What do you.

[E]

What's going on in Dallas?

[A]

Well, wait a sec. Maybe nobody's noticed this, but those two

[C]

dude article comments always have the most random.

[A]

So funny when you're just going like, hello, have I any of you ever been outside? What is this?

[C]

I don't even know how to comment on an article.

[A]

Shout out, Web3Wizard. Thank you for your. Thank you for what?

[E]

You give them the room to fail rather than show.

[A]

Exactly. Welcome to the party. You got W's in your name, so you're welcome. Come on in. We should also mention ucla. What an incredible draft for them. The Bruins, who obviously just won the championship. They set a new WNBA record for most first round selections from a single school. Five players off the board in the first round. Three of them in a row. Lauren Betts. Isabella. How old is she? I mean, how tall is she? She's 67.

[C]

Yeah, like, damn, she's good.

[A]

She went fourth overall and she's 67 years old. And that's the progress we're making in the W? No, she's six. Seven. She went to the Mystics at four, then at five, the sky took Gabriella Hawke at and at six, the tempo. The new expansion team drafted Kiki Rice. Angela Dugalic went to the Mystics as well at 9. And at 15, the Connecticut sun in their Last season as the Connecticut son, which I guess isn't official yet, is what they said. We'll get to all the Kathy stuff in a second. The Connecticut sun drafted Gianna Neepkins, and then in the second round, Charlize Ledger Walker got taken, so. So they are the first program in WNBA history to have six draftees in a single draft. All the seniors from that team got drafted, and we absolutely love that. So shout out to UCLA for that. Can we talk about Flaw J? This is. I'm a Valkyries fan. I don't know if people know this. Natalie Nicase came and did casual. She was awesome. To Isabella and I. It was one of our first things we recorded for this show. She gave us merch. She said, listen, listen. You can get in at the ground level. You can say you rooted for this team for. Since day one so that even if you were admittedly late to the W for having a team to, like, really invest in and root for, you can get in at ground level with this team. And so Isabella and I were like, yeah, okay. Isabella's maybe still a Liberty. I don't know where you stand. I'm not gonna make you say, you can be whatever you want to do.

[C]

I think I fully chose Liberty.

[A]

Yeah. So I'll take that shirt back whenever you get a second.

[C]

No, but I like.

[A]

No, Right. But I'll take it whenever you get a second. Second. I even gave her. She gave us a white one and a black one, and I was like, the black one's cooler. I'm gonna let Isabella have that so that it's like. And she's. And it didn't work. So again, whenever you're ready.

[C]

But it's really cute.

[A]

Right? And so I'll be taking that back. Point is, then, they had a great first season. They sold out. They had this huge turnout for their games. They brought out that adorable mascot. They've got that purple little owl with the big glass. Obsessed. And they made it to the postseason. First expansion team in their first year to make it to the postseason. So I'm all in on the Valkyrie Valkyries. I'm. I also like Flaw J. She was coming from LSU in 2023. She was on that national championship team. I'm watching the draft at 8. The Valkyries are up, making their pick flage still on the board, and they announce they're taking Flaw J Johnson. I at home, am like, let's go, dude. I didn't think they were gonna get Flaw J. This rules, like, it's gonna be so cool. This is gonna be really fun. Oh, my goodness.

[E]

ESPN had her the number six overall player, I think. I think it was a surprise when like Toronto didn't take her at six, right.

[A]

So when she dropped, I was excited. And then like less than an hour later at this draft, Kathy comes out in her. What are we calling that color? Chartreuse. She was wearing top to bottom, a gown of sparkles, sequins. It was like a green. It was a bold color choice, but it actually looked very nice on her. Kathy, I will say that she comes out, she goes, we actually have a trade. This my favorite part of all this is the way the crowd reacted. Again, a fresher audience. One of the newer, more expanded drafts where people are in person, not the production of like a men's league draft that has been turned into a thing. It's still in its infancy, sort of. And. And the crowd reacting to there's been a trade. There was a full gasp, like. And then people saw what it was, that the draft rights to Flauge had been traded to the Seattle. Seattle had just taken Marta Suarez and they were trading with the Storm for Marta SUAREZ Plus a 2028 second round pick. And everybody was so shocked that when Kathy went to go announce what the next pick was going to be, people went, no, because it was like, we need space to process this. I know this happens in dragons graphs. I understand this isn't like a brand new thing. I didn't like it. I didn't like that I got ahead of myself and thought that we were getting flaw j and then I'm sure it could work out. I'm sure it's good. They have explanations for why it happened. Brady can tell you about all that. I'm just more upset. I'm actually just kind of more upset about it.

[E]

You think you're upset? I had already gone ahead and emailed the Valkyries about something down the road.

[A]

It's very funny. It's very funny that she got drafted. And you were like, so here's what we were thinking.

[E]

She got drafted. I could have waited, I don't know, 10 more picks was like, ah, let's go ahead and write this email. And then, then later that night, just replying all before even any of them replied to me, just hitting a reply. I'll be like, sorry, guys. I could have waited on this. I never mind.

[A]

Did they get back? Were they like, yeah, it was tough. No, nothing.

[E]

No, they have not yet replied with a yes. Dip. Wait until the end of the draft.

[A]

Have you ever sports before?

[E]

I told you my MLB draft story, right?

[A]

I don't think so. That thing's like a thousand rounds. I can't.

[E]

A thousand rounds.

[A]

But I bothered to look.

[E]

I produce radio coverage for it for a day, decade, whatever year this was. This must been like, 2014, Clemson first baseman Richie Schaer gets drafted by the rays. It's like, 23rd overall. And this is my favorite, like, premature draft call. And the way it would work is, you know, a guy would get drafted, and the guys who aren't there on site, like, we want to get them on the radio show. You wait a couple minutes and you give them a call and be like, hey, you know, hey, can you come on the radio with us now? Like, after. You let it sink in a little bit, but you let it sink in. You know, they have calls to make. Take. They have, you know, people to talk to. I didn't wait long enough with Richie Schaefer. He got drafted. Maybe this is like, we had talked the day before. I was like, hey, after you get drafted, I'm gonna call you. But maybe I waited like, one or two picks. No one from the Rays had called him yet.

[A]

What?

[E]

So Richie got drafted, and I called Richie, and I'm standing in control room, and he picks up the phone before I say anything thing, he says,

[A]

you

[E]

don't know how excited this is for me. You're never going to have a player work harder for you. You're never going to have anybody put more work in.

[A]

Surprise party that walked in. They blew. The real surprise on you.

[E]

I was Richie Shaver's first call at the biggest day of his baseball life.

[A]

He blew his speech to you. I called. He probably was like, hello?

[E]

Hello? Is this another radio producer that.

[A]

Oh, my God. Oh, that's brutal. Brady.

[E]

When you draft him, you call him.

[D]

You just hung up straight away, right? Brady, you.

[E]

I. No, I took a beat and I was like, I can't just hang up. Like, actually, Richie, this is Brady. We talked yesterday, and Richie hung up on me.

[A]

No, I don't know what I would have done. I. What the hell, man? I think I would have gone like. And we're so, so excited to have

[C]

you

[A]

be from the Rays.

[C]

Just commit.

[A]

Yes. Some guy asked me the other day as I was leaving, something that I did this weekend. He was like, hey, could I interview you on camera? I wanted to say no, but I'm trying to, you know. And I was like, yeah, sure, dude, totally. And he's like, I'm here with Katie Nelson and did this interview, and I didn't say, I just went like, that's right. Happy to be here. Katie Nelson, ESPN Crazy. Let's really quick address Kathy Engelbert. She gave a press conference around the draft, as she has to. Otherwise, if it were optional, I think she probably would have chosen not to do it because people had a lot of questions for Kathy Engelbert. She didn't do a very good job responding to any of them, but one specifically stood out. She was asked by Madeleine Kenney of the New York Post, basically, how much longer do you see yourself being commissioner? There'd been a lot of conversation about whether she was going to be in this role for much longer, but she asked it, not pointedly. It was just like, what do you think? You gonna be doing this for a while? You got any thoughts on the future of your job in this position? And here's what Kathy Engelbert had to say. I do crack up how everybody's focused on me. And you should be focused on the hundreds of amazing women and thousands of women who run this league outside of myself. Our women owners, our women board of governors, our women gms and women head coaches and. And my whole team of, you know, diverse women and men who are working hard every day to get the 30th season tipped off by May 8. But I appreciate that you're focused on me as well. I wonder whether you would ask that of a man, by the way. But I realize as women, we. We get asked different questions than men do. I would. The way she goes, I would.

[C]

I would, actually.

[A]

So it's such a strange answer because you're like, she's saying that they're being sexist to me. They're only asking me this because I'm a woman. But then instead of answering the future of her job, she says, we should be focused on the hundreds of other women. There are women Board of governors you could be sexist to. There's women GMs. You could be sexist, too. You could be asking sexist questions of women head coaches. It's like, why are women we. If you're saying that they're only asking you this because you're a woman, why would you then point out all the other women? It feels very like, go do this to them. It's like she's. It doesn't make sense. What I think I've been sitting with it for a while. What I think happened. I think Kathy Engelbert resents that the conversation around the CBA became support of the players, which was mirrored by support as supporting women. And I Think Kathy's like, I'm a woman, too, and I'm seen as on the other side, but I'm also a woman. And I think that leaked over into every answer she gave in a way that was like, Kathy, it. Now is not. This is not the time to air that grievance. We just want to know if you're going to be commissioner again for a while because it kind of sounds like nobody likes you. I don't know what that has to do with the other stuff. Stuff. You know, I realize we as women get asked different questions. I do crack up. I do crack up. I appreciate that you're focused on me. You don't mean any of that. You're not cracking up and you don't appreciate it. But, yeah, that's my. That's my giving her too much credit. Probably read into why this would possibly have gone down this road.

[E]

You wouldn't ask that question of Gary Bettman or Adam Silver.

[A]

Right?

[E]

Those guys get it so easy.

[A]

Here's my thing that shocked me about watching this draft. And again, it's growing pains of a newer league that's getting used to putting on these big events for the draft. Like, because during the broadcast, Holly Row interviewed the first WNBA draft e ever. And her talking about the night and going like they did. We didn't gather like this before. This is a whole thing now. This is so cool to see. Nobody booed Kathy Engelbert. There was no boo when she came out. That is a thing that we do across the board. A commissioner comes out and starts to talk boo, even if they're like, your team just won a championship, they'll boo a commissioner. We don't like commissioners. Kathy, it doesn't have to do necessarily with you being a woman. Now, again, I did make a point earlier that there will be people who will hate her because she's a woman. And it's our job to root those people out and. And hold them accountable. But it. To make it seem like that was the only criticism that anybody could have of her. I don't know. I don't like it.

[D]

She's.

[E]

She's not just a woman. She's the principal. Like, she's crashing the party. Like, she's the authority figure. No one's going to like her. It's part of the jobs, right?

[A]

It is literally the 90 of the job. It is like, absorb. That is your gig.

[E]

So Roger Goodell takes all the slings and arrows and goes home to his giant pile of money. And that's how the job, job Works.

[A]

It's also worth mentioning free agency because again, a lot happened in the W because of how long everything took to figure out. And now we're trying to get all of this in before the season starts. I think the main headline for me is the Liberty resigning, everyone. So Brianna Stewart, Sabrina Unescu, John Quell Jones, and then also bringing in Satu Sabali and Rebecca Allen. Shout out Chris. Because she's Australian.

[D]

Hell yeah.

[G]

Yeah.

[A]

So the liberty just seemed like dangerous. Isabella's liberty, I should say.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

As soon as I get that T shirt, I will say that. So give me back that T shirt and I'll say that. Well, then just the liberty then, not Isabella's. Were there any other big free agency moves that stood out to.

[E]

To anybody for where people actually went or for where they may have had their. Their arrivals spoiled by leaks of displays?

[A]

Okay, so that I was gonna get to that one last Neca Gulmike. Isabel, do you see this at all? Very funny.

[C]

No, I don't think so.

[A]

When they're trying to do these free agency, people are waiting, reading the tea leaves, trying to see, like, who's going where, who's gonna move. A Minnesota based balloon company posted on their social media that they're like so excited to work with the link on this special project. And it is a big video that said, did it say welcome Neca?

[E]

I think so.

[A]

And you know, Neca isn't a name like Michelle, where like really that could be anybody. When you see welcome Neca, you go, okay. So Neca Agwumake appears to be going to the links. So they posted it on their social media and all the W fans were like, whoa, what's going on? To the point where Neca said she checked her phone later and she posted some meme where everybody was. Was going, like, the balloon. She was like, people were screaming at the balloon company to give them more information.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Because they were like, why would you post this? And the balloon company was like, we didn't realize that this was something. It turns out she didn't end up going there. Oh, it was just something that she visited. It was a potential place she was gonna go. And when you get a big name like that to visit, you make a big balloon display. And so it turned out to really be nothing, which I appreciated. We found out where Neca was gonna go from Chin A. I like that. Her own sister was like, sources say, and so she didn't end up going there. But that was, I think the funniest

[E]

headline from would have been Nasty if she went to the link, so. Yeah, because just thinking like a team that was already that good, picking number two, they end up with Olivia Miles to add Neca guma would be sick. The. Did you take part in any of the. The funeral for the stud buds splitting up?

[A]

No. I saw though. What a bummer. It is a real bummer. I mean, I'm sure they'll still be at it.

[E]

Content will survive.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

They'll find a way to Seattle.

[A]

The all Star content's gonna be great. Like you know, the same way it was before, but now it's, you know, bringing them back together. So. Yeah, a lot of. Kelsey Plum signed a team friendly deal with the Sparks. It's just the W. May. What is it, 8th?

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Starting back up. Is that Mother's Day? That's usually right around Mother's Day.

[C]

No, Mother's Day is the like 12th, I want to say.

[A]

Or like Isabella is mother. That's why she knows.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[D]

10th.

[A]

The 10th. Damn. Never mind. I was close. Kind of my mom's birthday, May 9th. So that's a real one. Two to my wallet. Figuring out what she's gonna want. We're running long, but we've got a little bit of baseball. Is it worth getting into the baseball? Brady? I know your manager's playing with a broken feet face.

[E]

Yeah, cuz my manager rules.

[A]

Baltimore Orioles manager. That is who that is. Craig Albernaz. He was part of the dugout. He was at the part of the dugout that's closest to the on deck circle. So Isabelle, you can picture this, right? The plate is here, the guy who's on deck is here, and the dugout is here. So the manager was standing basically like at the stairs where you go to leave the dugout. And there was a foul ball from Jeremiah Jackson in the fifth inning on Monday night's game that went directly into the manager's face.

[E]

Ow.

[A]

He returned to the dugout and inning later, Jackson hit a grand slam which was like, you better. You better do something to make up for what you've done here.

[E]

Yeah. Huge comeback in that game.

[A]

And then he went to the hospital and found out that he's got. Where are the numbers? He's got fractures in his face and a broken jaw and he's dead.

[E]

I think it's like seven fractures.

[A]

I think so too. Do his like cheek bolt, like right here. And he said that he's. For six weeks he can only eat like baby food, soft foods and he can't do anything strenuous. But we all know, managing a baseball team, really not strenuous at all. So he can do that and he is doing that. Brady, does it feel cool to have a manager that's gotta like manage through the wire because he fractured his jaw?

[D]

I want to say cuss out an umpire with that.

[E]

I mean, if you're, you're a brand new manager 16 games in, if you're gonna endear yourself to a fan base, that's the way to do it. Tough guy.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, they love them. Jaron Duran and the Minnesota fan. We've talked about this before. On Tuesday, the Sox, who can we not. I really don't want to have to talk about them. They lost six nothing to, to Minnesota. And Jaren Duran was caught on camera raising his left hand towards the stands with his middle finger up. I don't know why that's written so dramatically. He flipped off a guy in the crowd, raising his left hand in the direction of the stands and isolating his center digit in the direction of a crowd of people.

[E]

It's the most Dan Brown written description of a middle finger the audience off.

[A]

He claimed post game that he heard a fan tell him to take his own life. Now this is something that we've seen repeatedly with Jaron Duran because Isabella. Jaron Duran in that Red Sox documentary, at some point, was it last?

[C]

I vaguely remember you telling me about

[A]

this, but he came out and was like really like starkly honest about how he had had some struggles in like the 2021, 2022 time frame and that in that time he actually did try to take his own life. Tuesday's incident was not the first. First time, I think like about a year ago this happened. The same thing in Cleveland. Somebody heckled him with that same piece of information and I think he cursed back at them. Listen, my issue, I, I want to, I want to highlight what he said because this is what jumps out to me as the, as a, as the problem here. On Tuesday night, Duran blamed himself for opening up in the first place. Quote, quote. Honestly, it's my fault for talking about my mental health. I kind of brought in the haters. So just something I've got to get used to. I, I don't agree with that at all. And I, I hope that's not the takeaway for a lot of people. I think it was really important that he talked about his mental health. I think it was really scary. I think it was really hard to read. I think it was really. Listen, it was really descriptive. It was just very specific in a way that Stayed with a lot of people. And I know no one's really coming to a game and yelling like, you saved my life. And even if they are, you're not able to turn to them and make some sort of hand gesture that makes it immediately known how that makes you feel. But I do think him talking about it like that was good. I think it was important and I think these people are. And I don't think you should let tell you a lesson I don't think you should learn from these people. I think, like, you know now that it's something. Something that people are going to do, but it doesn't mean you have to accept or excuse that. And I think it's our job as fans to go like, yeah, we're not accepting or excusing that. So, like, cut the absolute. It's a disgusting thing to say to somebody. And I know Jaren Duran isn't a perfect guy. Trust me. I know he's got his own stuff from before all of this interactions with fans that were less than ideal. But I just would like us to not torment a guy with the lowest point in of his life that he was, like, open enough to share with us. Is that too much to ask? I don't think that it is. And it also reminds me just to quickly mention this whole Tyrese Halliburton situation. So Tyrese Halliburton, star from the Pacers, who's been out for a while, people have had a lot to say about him. I've seen a lot of comments online about maybe his weight fluctuating and. And whatever. Statements about him as a guy. We'll come to find out. He told us on. On Monday that he's battling shingles, which is one of those ones that sounds like nothing. It's one of those ones you're like, what are shingles? I don't even know what that is, but it's like, sneaky. Very scary. Because isn't it related to chickenpox? It is somehow like a. A dormant virus in all of us.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

I believe if you get shingles, it's. You had to have had chickenpox at

[A]

some point and we all had chickenpox because if you don't get chickenpox till you're an adult, it like, makes. Can kill you. Right? So, like, we used to have. I don't know if they're still doing this nowadays. I know thoughts on vaccines and science in general are very different than when I was a kid, but we used to have chickenpox parties where you would all get together. When a kid would have chickenpox so that all the kids could get chickenpox from that kid and it would be sort of taken care of. It would be a pretty miserable week or whatever for everybody. But then at least it was out of the way. Tyrese Halberton opened up and said he's been battling with shingles at. It's been awful. He's lost part of his eyebrow. He's still feeling the effects. He has gained a bunch of weight. It's been a two month battle with this disease. And that his medication has led to this weight gain. And it just reminds me of these, like, athletes are people. They are going through their lives different than you and I, probably with a lot more money than you and I. But they are also still people who have to deal with the realities of the human experience. And so just like, if we could all ex. Just in general exercise a little bit more empathy when it comes to, like, he's probably not just not playing and getting lazy. It's like that doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it? So just consider before you go commenting publicly on somebody's body or harassing them that, like, they are a human and there's no way this is going to be reflecting positively on you. Understood.

[C]

Why don't we start empathy maxing?

[A]

Would. Wouldn't that be nice? And didn't he. What's going on with him, by the way?

[E]

That's. By the time this comes out.

[A]

I know. Can you check right now just to make sure he's not dead? I think clavicular. May have overdosed. That was to the hospital.

[E]

He spoke. So he is alive.

[A]

Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. So fine. So, Isabella, you can make your joke. You can own him. That he sucks. What were you saying?

[C]

Is that where it comes from?

[A]

I know. I just think that's where pop. When I think of maxing anything maxing. I think of.

[C]

I was like, clavicular started maxing.

[A]

No. And you're right. It's not his fault. I just pin it on him because he's part of that whole thing. But, yes, empathy in general. I think we could. Max. Why not? Should we talk about the NHL playoffs? They're mostly set, I think. The East. Is this correct? The east at the time of recording is entirely set. We know the matchups, and I can tell them to you the west, we know who's in, but we don't know who's playing who yet. They're still shuffling around for those last few seats. Yes.

[D]

Yes. There's still some. Some. Yeah. Seating to be confirmed.

[A]

Okay. And in the pwhl, it's not time to talk about the postseason yet. Three teams are confirmed. I think four make it in. So there's still a bunch of people vying for that last spot. A bunch of teams.

[D]

Yeah. Only one team has been eliminated so far. So there's still four teams battling for that final playoff and that.

[A]

And that season ends April 25th. So we will get to the PWHL postseason when it is time. But as of right now, here's what we've got for the NHL playoffs. And I gotta text DJ and Pete and see if they want to come and run us through this postseason because it should be a good one. These first round matchups, the only ones we know are in the East. It's the Carolina Hurricanes against the Ottawa Senators. We've got the Buffalo Sabres against the Boston Bruins.

[E]

Hold on. Are we doing this the same way we did the NBA? I would take a hurricane against a senator any day.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, Ted Cruz showed that when the hurricane comes to town, you leave. So Hurricanes have beat the Senators before, repeatedly. Sabers versus Bruins. A saber is a sword. Yes.

[E]

Yeah, I would take the bear over the sword.

[A]

That would be a saber tooth. And I believe their teeth are like swords, you know, But I think. Can we. Can we cut that? Not that part, no. Actually, actually, can we loop that? Can we make sure her saying that gets played repeatedly as a drop. So swords against bears. Now that's a close matchup in the fight of a sword versus a bear. Taking the bear, taking the bear, taking the bear. Because I don't think it says nothing about who's wielding that saber.

[D]

Yeah, you have to know how to use the sword.

[A]

You sure do. And I think a saber is a two handed one.

[E]

No, I believe it's a fairly brittle blade, though, so I think you even get a sentence.

[A]

Where's that coming? I believe the saber did be a fairly brittle blade.

[E]

I don't know. This is one of those scenarios where I feel like I've watched way more metalsmithing workshops than the rest of this room.

[A]

For sure. The rest of the room, yes, I do feel comfortable. Unless. Isabella, you watching a lot of swordsmithing? No. No. All right, so sabers against Bruins. That's scary because the sabers are rolling. And the Bruins. I don't know, I just. I. I hate my teams right now. I'm not feeling good about it, but let's go be okay. Tampa Bay Lightning versus Montreal Canadiens. And then we got The Pittsburgh Penguins up against the Philadelphia Flyers. I'm very excited for that. The Battle of Pennsylvania. They are Gritty was already smashing a cake into a the face of a Penguins fan at their last game. I saw. And it was not against the Penguins. It was against somebody else entirely. They had a guy in a Penguins jersey and Gritty was just going to town on him with a cake. The rest of the playoff field. In the west, you've got the Avalanche, the Golden Knights, the Stars, the Oilers, Steelers, the Minnesota Wild, the Anaheim Ducks, the LA Kings, and the Utah Mammoth. This is the first of Zamoth fame. You weren't here for the update, Isabella, but does it change your opinion of the Zameth when I tell you it does not Zamboni the ice.

[C]

What?

[A]

I know.

[D]

Our reaction exactly.

[A]

Lame. The tusks make it so that it can't get like right up against the boards. So it's like non functional.

[C]

That's okay. Whatever. Move on. I'm sorry.

[A]

I know it's upsetting. Thank you.

[E]

Every time I hear the name now, it didn't matter.

[A]

Brady didn't care.

[E]

I guess because like I hear this thing now and I hear half Mammoth, half zaddy, and I'm like, all right. Kind of impressed.

[A]

That's not why they named it that. But it can't be half Zamboni because it's not one. This is the first postseason birth for the Utah Mammoth. We got a voicemail about this from Amanda. Chris, can you play this? That.

[F]

Hi, Katie and the Casuals. This is Amanda in Phoenix. I have a hockey fandom dilemma. I am a lifelong die hard Arizona Coyote fan. Yes, I know. There are dozens of us. And when they moved to Utah last year or got moved to Utah last year, I was pretty bitter. I had a hard time. I couldn't watch the games. I had a hard time watching my boys played another spot. I just didn't. I took a year off of hockey and I kind of took most of this year off of hockey as well. They've been getting me back in. I've been trying to watch a few more games. Of course, at the end of the day, those are my boys. But now the Utah Mammoths are in the playoffs and I kind of feel like a bandwagon fan. But I'm also a lifelong fan. I don't really know how to deal with this. Am I allowed to to root for the Utah Mammoths as an Arizona Coyotes fan as they enter the playoffs? Please let me know. Love you, mean it. Hi.

[A]

Whoa. Amanda. Love you, mean it. What a fascinating dynamic to feel like a bandwagon in a fan base that technically you were there before they were even where they are now. So that's very interesting to me. Do you guys have immediate thoughts on this that jump out to you?

[C]

Well, what else are you going to do? You know? So I would say great, great.

[E]

I think it's. When you were a Coyotes fan, if you formed relationships with those players, I think it's complete, like, you know, not like, you know, parasocial, you know, relationships as fans. I think it's entirely normal to follow them to Utah and want to see them succeed, to want to root for them. Otherwise, you're just rooting for laundry. So when these players move to a new city, like, hell, yeah, go ahead and root for these players. It's not your fault that they left Phoenix.

[A]

Now, speaking of laundry, I would say on top of that, I. I don't. You don't buy merch. I don't. I. That would be. For me, as a fan, my protest is like, yeah, okay, I support this team, but this team was kind of ripped away from us. So I'm not trying to fund the Utah Mammoth. I'm not trying to buy tickets and, like, make them seem like they're a popular. Like, I would be a fan, but I would be a fan of, like, watching the games. And I probably wouldn't, like, you know, go out and buy a Mammoth jersey of my favorite player just because, like, I would want to gesture my hand towards the crowd, remove four of my five fingers, leaving one in the direction of the Utah Mammoth. You know what I mean?

[D]

But it's also. That's exactly why you also get a grace period of not rooting for that team as they transition to Utah. So you shouldn't feel like a bandwagoner just because you jumped off, because you have every right to have jumped off when you did.

[A]

Right? It's your team. And I will say, for me, the rule is, like, you can root for that team for as long as you want to and abandon that team whenever you want to. There is no judgment on you as a fan. It was out of your control. The team moved. So whatever you feel comfortable doing, girl, you do, because you were the one who was wronged. They wronged you, and so you can do whatever you want. And I hope they win for you. And if they don't win, then I hope you pick a different team. And that team is nice to you, because I hate that. Coyotes was the first time I knew that we could take a team that doesn't have a home arena yet and move it to, like an in between. An in between arena. And I think that should be illegal. I think that should absolutely be illegal. If you have nowhere to put it, you can't take it. Those are my thoughts.

[E]

Say hi.

[A]

Exactly. Watching them do it for three, maybe more seasons should be illegal long enough

[E]

that they now have jerseys that say Sacramento on the front.

[A]

It's like, well, we can't just keep calling them, especially because you were already the Athletics, but we shortened you to the A's. So then if you weren't gonna have a city in front of it, it's just like two letter A s and that looks too much like ass. It's just like, very confusing. It's sack and ass, and none of it's good. Okay. One team that was eliminated from playoff contention just recently for us, God knows what's happening when you're watching or listening to this is the Washington Capitals. And the reason I bring that up is because people are being weird about Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin's old. He has played 21 seasons. This was his 21st, I think, season in the NHL. 15 over 1500 regular season games led the Capitals to the Stanley cup in 2018. We don't know if he's retiring or not. His contract is up at the end of this year. But there have been a couple things here at the end of the season where it seems like he's not leaving. I think everybody assumed that he would retire after this season, and now it's feeling like we don't know. I saw there was a game, I think it was against the Penguins the other day, where they waited on the ice after the game to shake his hand and he was, like, waving them off of the ice. ESPN ran a package that was basically saying, goodbye Alexander Ovechkin. And again, he hasn't made any sort of announcement. So it's this weird thing where, like, the networks and the league and the teams want to make sure they're honoring this guy because of what a huge, like, transcendent career he's had in the NHL, what he has meant to the league and to the sport and to fans. And yet I feel like they're kind of pushing him out because he hasn't said what he wants to do yet. And so you shouldn't really be allowed to air the retirement package until the retirement is announced. What do we think is gonna happen? I know. So what do we think is gonna happen with ovi?

[E]

I think that the Networks are all, they want to have the big content because he's the greatest goal scorer in history. And I think they're pissed that he won't give him an answer because I don't think he knows. I think the man just wants to go home and drink a couple beers and be like

[C]

a couple, just a modest two.

[A]

Yeah. A couple six packs of.

[E]

Couple Stanley Cups full of beer. I think he wants to just think about it for a little bit and be like, do I feel like coming back next year? I feel like coming back next year. But they wouldn't do this.

[D]

Kobe retirement. Yeah.

[A]

Everybody wants to do the tour. They want to stop the game. They want to tell him what he meant.

[E]

Mariano Rivera exchange.

[A]

And I look, I get it. I like that stuff sometimes. And I do think it's important to like, make memorable moments memorable. Although I will say, when he scored that goal last year to break Gretzky's record and like, they stopped the whole game and brought out his family, I

[D]

was like, they did that with LeBron as well.

[C]

When LeBron break in the middle of the game, please.

[A]

Yes. But I, I, Cal Ripken took the

[E]

victory lap at 21, 31 different.

[A]

I think that's a little.

[E]

Should be different.

[A]

That one should be allow thought that was possibly ever going to happen. And I guess this too. Nobody ever thought Gretzky's record was going to get broken, but it's just stopping the game and having like the team standing around being like, and then we're going to play hockey again in on the other side of this. So I don't know, it just feels like I think everybody needs to get off of Ovechkin and let him make a decision. And if he decides to retire and it's in the off season and you don't get to send him off, that was his choice. He got to choose that it's what he wanted. So I'm not going to be saying one way or another because I don't know if he's retiring or not. We're going to wait till we hear from him.

[E]

I think he's the last hockey player older than me.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So for that reason, please stay so that we don't have to suddenly notice the average age drop a bunch and go like, shoot, we're old. He is the fifth player age 40 or older in NHL history to play in all 82 regular season games. So pretty cool. He also led his team this season 32 goals, 64 points. So it's only the fifth time they failed to reach the Stanley cup playoffs since he was their top pick in 2004. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. We have to get to this World cup date. There is so much terrible. I forgot about that. I also, also there, our dear listeners were like, hey, when I'm driving. And that. That World cup date hits. And that's the vuvuzela. The vuvuzela. That's the vuvuzela there that we have. It means it's time for our World cup date. First story, no tailgating. It says in the dock here in Boston, but I've heard it in multiple cities that they're not going to allow any. Any tailgating.

[D]

Boston was the most recent one where it became official.

[A]

Yeah. So officially, no tailgating at Gillette. According to the official rules posted on the website. The rule reads that, quote, traditional tailgating, eating and drinking around parked cars is not permitted for these events. It does.

[E]

When you, when you define it like

[A]

that, you make us sound crazy. Like, hey, so there will be no eating or drinking standing in the parking lot near a car. Okay. You guys, There'll be no throwing a

[E]

sack full of sand into a hole in a wooden board.

[A]

Right? But this is our culture. It's like telling the.

[C]

The.

[A]

The Nashville Predators they can't throw a catfish on the ice. Like, this is we. This is my God given, right? The American World Cup. We're supposed to be celebrating the freedoms of being an American. American America.

[C]

I've never been to a tailgate.

[A]

I can't tailgate.

[E]

Isabella's never been to a tailgate.

[A]

This is. Now let's. Okay, so here's an idea. Should we unsanctioned tailgate the World cup with Isabella? Her first world. Her first tailgate is us getting arrested. Hell yeah.

[E]

In a parking lot somewhere.

[A]

I'm gonna get to that MetLife parking lot. The reason they say you can't do it, what I saw at MetLife at least was like, we have a lot of foreign dignitaries coming in and the security needs to be heightened so we won't have access to the parking lots. Oh.

[E]

And just it so happens they'll make a lot of money off of it because you can't put a good base coat on in before you go into the stadium and get $28 beers.

[A]

Yeah. So you can't get drunk before you go inside. You can't party at your car. You can't even drive to the. To a lot of these games. Boston, we talked about this before. A second World cup story here. If you want to Hit that loud fart noise. We talked, I think, last week about how Boston was increasing the price for the train from Boston proper, Greater Boston, into Gillette. Because a lot of people are going to be coming from out of the United States and are going to think the games in Boston because it's called the Boston World Cup Stadium. And then they're going to find out, oh, it's really not close. And then they're going to have to take a trip. We said that train. They're charging $75 for a round trip ticket, which is an increase of something crazy. No, have no fear. There is another option. They just announced the Boston World cup officials just announced Tuesday morning that they are going to have a direct shuttle bus service to Gillette Stadium from the Greater Boston area for the World cup matches. Now, Isabella, you were talking about a shuttle bus before that you took to the Dodgers game. How much did that cost?

[C]

That was free.

[A]

Free. Free. Let's compare that to this bus, which is going to cost $95. How are you gonna charge more for the bus than the train?

[C]

That's crazy.

[A]

If the train's 80 bucks, you're gonna charge me 95 bucks to take the bus.

[D]

At least you get a seat, you're guaranteed a seat on the bus.

[A]

They're gonna have to put that bus in the breakdown lane because the way to get into Gillette is like one road and it blows. It is like sitting in traffic. And so a bus is just gonna also sit in that traffic. They're gonna have to come up with some sort of infrastructure solution for that. So that's another update. How about this? The train to Katie.

[E]

On. On. So you're talking about the. The road to get into Foxborough. And you know how, like when you're going through Foxborough on your way to Gillette, it's not a big town, not a big city, not terribly incorporated. There are just little, like, motels dotting the sides. And that's where a lot of people tailgate for Patriots games because you can take the long walk. One night at the first one, I pulled up the Red Fox Motel.

[A]

Shout out the Red Fox. Hell yeah.

[E]

Right. I have tailgated. What do you think they're charging for a room? The night of the England Ghana game

[A]

at July, Gillette, Is that like any. A prelim game? Is that like.

[E]

Yeah, I think that's the first one or maybe the second one. I just picked a random date in

[A]

June where they have a game in June. I would say for one night at that place, I'd say like 190.

[E]

Like $190.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

$1039 on all of the booking.

[A]

I really feel like we're gonna. You need to pull up a picture of what the place looks like. I feel it's got to really sell the. That's wild. That's absolutely absurd. But, hey, get yours, I guess. How about this? Hit the fart. Because the train to MetLife. Oh, you want is.

[E]

She says hit the fart is going

[A]

to be maybe $100. $100. So you can't drive to MetLife. No access to the parking lots, no tailgating. Obviously, if you wanted to drive, you can buy a parking space from the mall that's nearby. And that's going to cost you about 200. Over $200 to park your car. So really not ideal. So you're going to have to probably take the train. That's New Jersey Transit. And a report came out in the New York Times that said they might charge 100 for that ticket to get to MetLife Stadium. Again, barely an option because you don't have any real other way to get there. Hundred dollars to go. Mikey Sherrill, the governor of New Jersey, has since come out and said, that's not set in stone. We're still working through it. That was just one of the models we tested. I think it's safe to just budget for the fact that that's gonna be what it is. And if not, they'll make it 80 bucks and go. See, it wasn't a hundred. It's more. It usually costs 1290. $12.90. And now it's going to cost probably a hundred. So that's crazy. Very sick. Not the worst part. Hit the fart noise, please. They're going to shut down Penn Station. Crazy. Penn Sylvania Station in Manhattan proper. A transportation hub. How? I don't have the numbers, but I would guess hundreds of thousands of people get to and from work every day. Yeah, for four hours before every World cup match at MetLife Stadium, of which there are eight. The four hours before kickoff, Pennsylvania Station, Penn Station. It feels weird calling it that. Is going to be closed to anybody but ticket holders to the World cup matches for four hours now. Now, four of these games are on weekends. Three of them are weekday matches in the early afternoon. But one of them is at 8pm, which means on Monday, June 22, from 4pm to 8pm on a Monday, no one can use Penn Station unless you're going to a. To a soccer match.

[C]

That's great.

[D]

Work's gonna give You a half day for that. Wherever you work, you have to be allowed to leave it.

[A]

Oh, so say you're giving that Monday, June 22nd. That is us leaving here at like 4 or 4:30. Not going to be able to get home.

[C]

I know. I gotta figure that out.

[A]

And on June 30, on Tuesday, June 30, 5pm that cuts it a little close for me. That's from what, 1 to 5pm that could technically be rush hour if the

[E]

Knicks are in the NBA Finals.

[A]

Oh, my God. God. Oh, my God.

[E]

And Tuesday game would be game six.

[A]

I live close enough to Penn Station. This is a nightmare.

[C]

That's crazy.

[A]

This is a nightmare. But I think everything's gonna be just fine. Just. Just crazy. And also, even if it is a weekend or an afternoon, it's not like Penn Station's dead ever. It is like a major. It's how the Long Island Railroad comes into the city. It's how New Jersey transit comes in. There's Amtrak that goes to Penn Station. Like. Yeah, it's shutting down. No, sorry. No, the tickets I think we kind of talked about. Right, Brady, what's the update on the tickets? Fart noise. Sorry, go ahead.

[E]

So people had paid for Category 1 tickets to games, and that was giving you a block of seats. And then they suddenly made some category two sections into one. Now they have taken out the entirety of the front rows of the best sections for category one one. Calling that now front category one, which you now have to pay a tier above one, which just effing call it zero. Just. Just man up and call it zero. Just. Now those are front category one. And somehow they'll make a more elite plus version of that inevitably. I. I just. People are not the people who paid for category one. They're rightfully pissed because they are no longer have access to the best tickets. Tickets just put a gun in my back and rob me. Just don't. Just.

[A]

The top price for category one, when people initially signed up for it, they could charge up to $2,735 for a ticket. When they announced this new front category one out of literally nowhere, the top asking price, 4,105. It's almost like they found out enough people were willing to spend that other amount that they were like, we could go probably even higher. Higher. And I can't stress enough. I understand that's capitalism. I understand this is the hellscape we've built for ourself. That can't be how it works. You can't just go, somebody will Pay this. So I have to screw over the people who were already paying what is way too much money for a ticket to a game.

[E]

If you ever hear a sports franchise talk about dynamic pricing, this is what they're talking about. And it's a bad.

[A]

Tickets are nightmare. Tickets to anything are a kind of a nightmare. And I don't see the end in sight. I'm like, scanning my brain to go, how can we put this on a positive note? There isn't one. So let me just get one more really negative note out there and then

[C]

we'll take a break.

[D]

Minor league baseball would be the best one. Rather than going to the big leagues, just got a lot of minor league baseball games.

[A]

I actually saw a really funny tik tok the other day of a lady say, come with me to Gaslight, my child. He was like, one or something or two. Two into thinking we're at a Dodgers game. And then in it she goes like, hey, we wanted to take. My son's a huge Dodgers fan. He was covered head to toe in Dodger stuff. And we wanted to take him to a Dodgers game. We couldn't afford tickets. We couldn't get tickets to that game. So we took him to a minor league baseball game instead and just rooted for the Dodgers the whole time we were there. He didn't notice. He had a great time. People around us were a little confused, but he thinks we went to a Dodgers game.

[E]

Go Rachel Cucamonga.

[A]

It was so, so funny. Okay, last fart noise. Isabella, hit me because this one's brutal. Matt Crocker, the sporting director of the U.S. soccer Federation. So a guy who's high up in U.S. soccer, the governing body of our soccer team, on Tuesday, quit. Quit that job two months ahead of the World cup so that he could take a similar role with Saudi Arabia's soccer field federation. He said, gotta go. Gotta take this job. A source indicated that the move to Saudi Arabia is one that Crocker, quote, can't pass up. Who was the source? Bill Burr. Okay, so that's the Saudi Arabia. That's great. That's all. That's your World cup date. Sorry. Sorry for all of it. No clue what's going to happen here. An absolute nightmare. I did buy myself two kits last night, though. Two kits. Neither of them the United States. More for. Remember I told you my new thing is going to be like sports fashion. And so I just picked the ones I liked. Aesthetically cute, which were. I've got the Japan Away jersey coming in an oversized. That's a. It's like a white base but with really thin, light multicolored stripes. I don't know. I really liked it. And then I've got the away kit for France, which is that light blue. It's made to look like the Statue of Liberty blue. And then it has the little rooster, but the rooster is bronze, like what the Statue of Liberty was when they originally gave it to us. It's like American themed France. And so I love it. I think it's really cute.

[E]

So I got that big fan of the Japan one.

[A]

Yeah, the France one. It's.

[E]

Yes. I looked up the France one. It kind of just looks like the, the. The Gotham fc. He just.

[A]

It's a hater, so.

[C]

Damn.

[A]

Just being a hater.

[C]

Oh, it is cute.

[E]

I saw a lot of hullabaloo about the Cape Verde kids when. Sorry, maybe they were just blue.

[A]

What was that? You hate. You hate Cape Verde. Is that. No, no. Isabella's noise. She like burped at it. I don't know what. She was like. Crazy.

[C]

I'm sorry.

[A]

Sorry. All right, should we take a break? Take a break and then the other side. We'll come back with emails. We've been yapping so much. I don't care. Can we keep going? I want to get of these emails. There's good ones. We'll get to your questions and stuff. On the other side of a break. We'll be right back. It's casuals.

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[A]

Okay, we're back. I gotta point out at this point, if you're still watching on YouTube, I might. Sometimes I get an itchy nose. I don't know what causes it. It's just out of nowhere and I can feel that it's developing into a red situation. I can't see cuz I'm so tiny on the monitor. But just if you're watching this going e, what's going on? I don't know. I think a pimple's coming in. I can't stop.

[C]

Doesn't look red.

[A]

The tip of my nose, it's so itchy. My eyes are watering. So loving that. Let's get to. Let's get in the studio. I don't think no pollen follows me everywhere. Believe it or not, these trees, these plants, not real. Chris, let's hit the emails. Let's get some questions from our dear listeners who we love so much. What do we got today?

[D]

First one is from Maj. Emails in and says, I just started listening to the pod about three weeks ago. I love it and it's now in my regular rotation. Thanks, Madge. I'd say I'm an advanced amateur sports fan. I know a little about a lot of sports. Anyway, I went to my first pro hockey game in December, Bruins versus Canadians. Oh, there was a lot of fighting. I know. And there was a lot of fighting among the players. I was at the game with my best friend who said these two teams have a particularly aggressive history and she and the rest of the crowd were cheering on the fights. I did not appreciate that the fighting was being cheered. And in general, I just don't think grown men or women who are being paid to play should be resolving their differences by fighting. I'm interested in your take on fighting in sports and what it contributes to the games as I'm open to being moved by an argument that justifies it.

[A]

Oh, I like that, Madge. I like you coming in and going I could. If you. I could be convinced. It's like that meme of the like, prove me wrong. Yeah, I will say. I gotta say where I'm coming from. I grew up in hockey rinks. My God, the amount of photos I have of me in a giant puffer jacket at a hockey game, I don't want to be at sulking in the corner. So I come from a hockey family. We are. We love hockey. It's something we do that, like, brings us all together. And so as a lifelong hockey fan, fighting is kind of like, you know, it's part of hockey culture and I like it. Now I also understand why somebody who came a little later to it or is new to it might not have that same feeling. I could see if I came to it late, I'd go, why are we doing this? What is this? That I. The best argument I can make in support of fighting is that it is sort of a remnant of the players governing the game themselves. So there are players on teams whose like, basically their value to the team is to enforce, is to, like, make sure that their stars don't get hit in a cheap way or aren't getting harassed by their players or aren't getting put in situations where they could be taken off the ice. And that person's job is to basically make you keep your hands off of our best and most expensive players. Also to enact justice if something, an injustice had happened before. And so the fighting, there's like, rules around it. It has to stop once certain things happen. They don't just let these guys, like, take their skates off and use them as weapons against each other. There is a bit of decorum around it as part of the sport. And very rarely are you seeing a fight where like, some. Someone's leaving bloodied or in some sort of a. They're mostly just little scraps to prove a point and they end up getting penalized. They go to the penalty box, they put the other team on power plays, yada yada. It has repercussions. But it, to me, it's so baked into the culture of the sport and the way that it runs that if you were to get rid of it, something would be missing. And then I feel like the pressure and attention that the star players would be get from other teams would be something that would have nothing to balance it back out. So I would say it's part of the ecosystem of hockey and rarely gets to a point where it's brutal. If you're really lucky, you get to see two goalies go at it very, very rare.

[D]

It's happened a couple of times in the past.

[A]

It has happened recently. And one of them was actually used. Have you heard of that band Geese? Is it Geese or Goose? There's a band called either Goose or Geese.

[C]

I think it's Geese.

[A]

I think so, too. And they started their Coachella set with a highlight clip of Shusterkin and whoever it was that he fought fighting a goalie fight. So it's like they're kind of beloved by hockey fans because it is such an anomaly. It is so weird. But it's such a dance battle every

[C]

time they want to fight.

[A]

That would be a good solution. And there's not.

[E]

The winning result for Geese is. Is the fanfare around the band Geese a psyop?

[A]

Yeah. I have seen that. People go like, where'd this band? I don't like. We throw that around too much of, like, industry plant. And you're like, well, well, if everybody is, no one is, you know, and at some point, I mean, let's not get into it. We're already three hours into this podcast. So that's my argument, Madge. I don't know that it's the best one. I should have probably read this email before and prepared an argument, but I. That is. What about you three? Are you anti or are you fine with it? Just very quickly.

[D]

I don't hate them, but because they occur so regularly, they are not as fun to me as watching fights in, say, basketball.

[A]

Well, yeah, when you get a good

[D]

basketball scrap, they're really fun because they are so rare. But I've got nothing against it otherwise.

[C]

They're still pretty new to me. Like, I remember when I first found out that they even do. That was like, a year ago, and I was like, what? Like, that's a part of the game. So I feel like I haven't seen it. It is kind of odd from my perspective because I'm just like, I. I haven't been that exposed to hockey, so I didn't know, like, that was a part of it, but I don't know.

[E]

Yeah, Hockey refs take me out of hockey fights. That. Yes. You see two dudes angry and wailing on each other, and then you have a ref just kind of circling them on ice skates, being like, all right, okay. Five, four, three. Just waiting until he has to go and then break up and be like, all right, Dale Hatcher. Quit punching him. Just it. Just stopping it or not stopping. He's got these weird rules around it.

[A]

Yeah, well, they do. There are Rules. I will say, Madge, if you're not into fighting, you got to check out the pwhl. They do not let them do do that in the pwhl. I think it's an immediate ejection if you drop the gloves. So it's not as much things happen, you know, tempers flare. But it's not like it is allowed but penalized in the NHL. It's not, I don't think, last I checked, allowed in the pwhl. Let's go to an email from Alex. Chris, you got that handy?

[D]

I do. Alex writes in and says, hi, Katie and the casualties. I'm sitting here doing a husbandly duty, waiting for an oil change on my wife's car so I have a chance to do another husbandly duty by sending you this email. The backstory. Katie's recent celebrity Jeopardy. Appearance earned her a new fan. My wife.

[A]

Let's go.

[D]

You earned her affection in three important ways. One, you play Jeopardy. The game of games, the sport of royalty. With strategy, vigor, and raw talent. Jeopardy Is the only thing that my wife watches the way I watch sports. Two, you were playing on behalf of the Trevor project, which made her go, ah, I want her to.

[A]

I love that. Shout out Trevor project.

[D]

And third, and most importantly, she thought the blouse you were wearing was beautiful and wants to know where you got it. There it is. The real reason I'm sending this email from the lobby of a Carlo dealership is because my wife is dying to know anything about that blouse so she can get it or so I can get it for her. Please help me track down this godforsaken blouse. For the love of my life, the mother of my child, and your newest fan, I love her and I mean it. Please help me make her smile. Thanks for all the laughs and smiles I get from the pod. Keep up the great work and love you. Mean it, Alex.

[A]

Love you. Mean it. No name on the wife. We don't know who she is. I can't even say to her directly, hi and love you back. I. I rented this. I rented that blouse. That's such a. I feel like only men use that word still. Isabella, where's the blouse from? I'm like.

[C]

When someone says blouse and I just immediately think of like a chiffon long sleeve.

[A]

Like it has to have shoulder pads. Yeah, it's definitely. It's not a wrong word, Alex. We're just being weird. I rented it. Now, who I rented it from, they don't pay me, so I won't be saying. But on a rental service where you rent clothes, they send them to you, and then you can send them back. But it's made by Oola Johnson. U L L A. Oola Johnson. I went back and I found it. It is the Aurelia floral printed turtleneck from Oola Johnson. She's got a lot of shirts that look like that. They're just like mesh tight shirt, turtleneck things. I loved that look, too.

[C]

It was really cute. Was it a bodysuit or was it a top?

[A]

No, it was just like a very tight top.

[C]

Nice.

[A]

And then very baggy pants, which was nice. Was comfortable. But I did have on, like, a tiny little heel, and I didn't love that. I wish I was wearing sneakers, but I put on sneakers with every outfit. And at some point, my manager goes like, can we put on maybe a nicer shoe? I guess. But no one's really gonna see my feet. And I want to be comfy. I got a lot of knowledge to dig through. Oh, I love that email so much. Can we do one more? Can we do Sean? The email from Sean.

[D]

We can. Sean writes in and says, I was wondering if you subscribe to any jersey rules. For example, Rich Eisen's rule is you can't wear a jersey of someone younger than you. So once you get old, it's throwbacks only. How much should aesthetic matter? Hockey and baseball jersey look sick on the right body type? Not mine. Baker Mayfield's my favorite Bucks QB ever. But I think the number 6 looks stupid. Is that enough to go with a different player?

[A]

Wait, what? So he's a Bucks fan?

[D]

I assume so, yeah.

[A]

And. But he doesn't. Even though he loves Baker Mayfield, he doesn't like the look of the number six is kind of crazy.

[C]

Especially because the number six is so pretty.

[A]

Right.

[E]

It's not like a fat guy with bad posture.

[D]

Well, and if you don't, that's why you don't get.

[A]

There's no way you like it. They're the same. What do you mean you wouldn't get 11?

[D]

Well, there was a. A Carlton player who wore number 11, and when he got a little bit bigger, they called him brackets because the 1111 sort of turned into that.

[C]

That is crazy.

[A]

Bullying is real and it's not okay.

[D]

It's legit.

[A]

His nickname for a while, Rackets because they bent. Oh, that's so high. It's not fair that it's Shout out M. It's not fair.

[D]

Still plays fatal.

[A]

It has no business being that funny. And don't you dare laugh. That's brutal. Look, I Think you don't I. Anyone can have their own rules. I didn't know Rich Eisen's rules were that specific. No jersey of a person younger than you. That's no jersey. You can only do throwbacks. That's a Brady. The men. Let me start with the men. Do you guys have rules over jerseys?

[E]

No, I have a. I have a Jaden Daniels that I wear for commander's game games. I don't see anything wrong with this.

[A]

No, you've got no rule Chris supporting the quarterback.

[D]

I don't really have any rules. The good thing about Australian Guernseys is that they don't have names that you get. They're called Guernsey.

[E]

That's a different type of cow.

[A]

Why? Why are they called Guernseys? For what purpose? There's a universally word for what it is. What makes Guernsey different from a jersey? Tell me now. Now.

[D]

Good question. Couldn't tell you. But they're called Guernsey's. They don't have the players names on them. So you could choose a player, your favorite player and put like number 19 on your back and wouldn't you never

[A]

put everybody's the Yankees. Nobody's putting the name on it.

[D]

No.

[A]

Interesting.

[C]

I want a name.

[A]

Yeah, I would want a name too. I.

[D]

And it makes sense but it's just not like if you wanted it. And I think some like fans do end up putting a player's name on the back but then it's not authentic. But because it's not that players guernsey because you don't actually have names on the back of any of these jerseys.

[A]

Yeah, I've abandoned any rules that I had and the reason is working in sports. I've come into a couple jerseys that I never would have bought. Like the. The San Diego Padres City Connect. That was very divisive. The neon colored one. I got a. All they had left when we called that game was a child's medium I think or a child large. So it's fits very strangely. It has no idea what it's doing in my chest area. It's like what is this? So I can really only wear it open. But it's a cool looking shirt. Same thing with. I got a Diamondbacks jersey that is cool that I could wear. I think at this point in my life, as evidenced by the World cup jerseys I bought. I'm really just kind of looking for cool looking jerseys. That's all I care about. I don't have a rule.

[F]

Rule.

[A]

I know a lot of people are like you shouldn't wear another man's name on Your back if you're a grown man. It's just like, at this point, there's so few joys in the world.

[C]

Some of you guys need to be freed.

[A]

What is this? I know. What are these rules you're making? Rules you're putting on yourself? No reason.

[E]

I do have a rule of never throw away a jersey. Even if you're not. If you're like, I'm not gonna wear this. I haven't worn this in a long time. There's a reason. Like, I can, like, dig to the back of my closet. And there is, like, a Mike Allstot Bucks jersey that of is kind suddenly cool again. I have a digging things out of the house.

[A]

I have a Dennis Rodman Savages jersey in the back of my closet. It was a team he played on either, like, in high school or a travel ball team. Yeah. Never toss a jersey. I also have an old Nuggets jersey that somebody gave Dan that Dan's like, this isn't even going to fit me. I was like, I'll take it. You never know. You never know. I have no qualms about putting on any jersey. As pro roof, I was gifted today. No, no. No notes. No sort of instruction. No like, hello, Katie. Thanks for all that you do to support hockey. All I got was in a bag a size God knows what. It's big A s a big jersey that just says Chipotle. It's got the Chipotle logo on it. If you're watching on video, I am holding it up. Although I'm sure you can close your eyes and picture it at all. Home on the back. I don't know what's going on here, but it's called chipper and it's number 53. I don't know the significance of 53 when it comes to Chipotle. That might be how much they're charging for guac. Now, chipper, I assume, has to do with the chips that you would eat. From there. I will wear this. I'll find a way now that this has made its way into my closet, which is where it's gonna go. Go. It'll get worn. Isabella and I also once were given Taco Bell football jerseys. Yep, we have yet to wear those. But I know we'll find a reason and a way when she runs her first Taco Bell marathon or whatever. So, yeah, I got put a jersey on. You know, if you like the way it looks, wear it. Who cares? Okay.

[D]

I think 53, by the way, relates to how many fresh ingredients they use that's crazy.

[A]

That's crazy for them to call any attention to that, given the history of things that have happened. Reese, don't even make me think about make it the year you guys started being a company.

[C]

That's what I thought it was.

[E]

53 sounds like too many.

[A]

Yeah. What are all those ingredients? Are you counting the individual ingredients inside the pico de gallo?

[D]

Like what being real means? We only use 53 ingredients you can pronounce, and then they list the 53 ingredients that they use.

[A]

And do those include spices, Chris, or are they just talking like green bell pepper, onion?

[D]

Well, they include, like, thyme and salt.

[A]

Yeah. So spices. All told, 53. I'm calling on that. That doesn't feel possible. 53 is one of them properly cooked rice. I don't think it is. It's always crunchy now when I go in there. Hey, is that the podcast? I think it is. I think that's all of it. Sorry for how long it is. Can you imagine if we did have a guest? We wouldn't have been able to. They may have done us a favor. Thank you for listening. Thank you for all your emails and your voicemails. We had amazing ones that we're going to someday get to all of these things, but we just only have so much time in the day. We'll be back with more episodes next week. Anything to tease anything. I always at this part of the podcast. Go. Should I be teasing something? I don't think we've got any.

[E]

You want to tease our guest for next week?

[A]

Who?

[E]

We got Maria Sharapova in the building next week. Tennis icon.

[A]

Yeah, dude. And we're gonna talk to her exclusively about Sugar Pova, her candy. No questions about anything else. Except that. I'm kidding, of course. This has been Casuals. We love you. We mean it. Don't forget to email us if you want to casuals with Kadenolan gmail.com our our phone number 646 for our voicemail. 646-801-0043. On IG and Tik Tok, we are at Casuals, the podcast. I used an iPad instead of paper today. I feel good about it. Yeah, I think this might have been. This might might be stepping into a new era as casuals. We're getting a little technologically advanced here on the show. All right, so stay tuned for stuff like that. And we'll be back with more sports, but in a palatable way for you next week. We love you. We mean it. Bye.

[C]

Bye.

[A]

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