Jon Hamm on Meme Life, Busted Brackets, Masters Dinner Debate & A New Bearcat in Town | Ep 185

Summary

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Episode 183: Jon Hamm on Meme Life, Busted Brackets, Masters Dinner Debate & A New Bearcat in Town

Release Date: April 1, 2026
Podcast Host: Wondery

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Episode Overview

This episode of New Heights welcomes two special guests: Hollywood actor Jon Hamm and newly hired University of Cincinnati basketball coach Jared Calhoun. Jason and Travis dive into the latest sports headlines—including Masters golf preview, March Madness madness, and thoughts on UC’s basketball future—while keeping things on-brand hilarious with bracket drama, Masters dinner debates, and plenty of brotherly banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. News & Announcements (01:59 – 07:17)

• Sponsorship Updates:
  Major sponsors Planet Fitness, American Express, AT&T, Apple, and Allstate get their shoutouts.
• NFL and Personal News:
  • American Express is now the official NFL partner.
  • Jason is a two-time Sports Emmy nominee for Outstanding Sports Personality, Emerging On-Air Talent.
    “The reason I think it’s cool is because there’s a lot of people that put a lot of hard time and work into making all the things that I do. [...] I really don’t do s**t. A lot of other people work their ass off.” (03:37 – 04:27 | Jason)
  • Travis is now “Tommy Boy”: global ambassador and creative collaborator for Tommy Hilfiger.
    “I’ve been trying to figure out where to go in the fashion world...I think this opportunity is like, the next level for me.” (04:52 – 05:46 | Travis)
  • Travis’s nickname “Hoopsie”:
    Travis shares the origin—“Hoopsie”—given to him in Kansas City for wearing earrings and making mistakes in practice.
    “Instead of ‘Oopsie’, they would call me ‘Hoopsie.’ It’s a banger.” (06:32 – 07:07 | Travis)

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2. Masters Golf Preview & Champions Dinner Debate (07:31 – 20:43)

Masters Preview (07:31 – 13:44)

• Jason heads to Augusta:
  Jason will be at the Masters for ESPN’s Par 3 Day broadcast.
  “Just to be able to be there...and to interact with some of the golfers and see that course firsthand...there’s just something so special about being down there.” (08:24 – 09:36 | Jason)
• Favorite Masters Moments:
  The brothers reminisce about attending the tournament, the beauty and traditions of Augusta, and their debate over the best holes to set up a chair.

Champions Dinner Hypotheticals (13:47 – 20:43)

• Voicemail Q: “If you won the Masters, what would your Champions Dinner menu be?”
  • The brothers riff on past (sometimes underwhelming) champion menus.
  • Jason: Jokes about serving “beans and weenies”, PB&J, Dunkaroos, Hamburger Helper—foods they grew up with.
    “My stomach is made to handle beans and weenies. If I’m playing again, I’m going to sabotage the group.” (18:05 | Jason)
  • Travis:
    “I’d do smash burgers, some salty fried chicken, definitely Mac and cheese, key lime pie—definitely an ice cream cake at the end. Why get a regular cake when you can get an ice cream cake?” (19:28 – 20:16)

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3. Jon Hamm: Meme Life, Football, and Acting (23:02 – 54:30)

Jon Hamm on Meme Fame & Social Media (23:29 – 24:57)

• Jon shares how he became a meme, despite having “zero footprint” online.
  • “I have zero footprint, literally. [...] I come home, I get a text from Brian Williams...‘I hope you understand that this has been going around.’” (23:54 – 24:39 | Jon Hamm)
• The meme moment was humorous and positive, even though “you can’t do that stuff on purpose.”

Acting Career & New Projects (25:09 – 33:31)

• Upcoming series: American Hostage (based on a real 1970s hostage event).
• Talks about challenges filming in Winnipeg (“minus 30 is real”).
• Played football in high school; considered playing D3 or Ivy League, but chose acting.

Football vs. Acting (28:25 – 29:05)

• Travis: “What’s harder—playing football or being an actor?”
• Jon Hamm:
  “Play football. No way. No one’s coming at you trying to take your head off in the middle of a scene.”

On “Mad Men,” SNL, and Industry Stories (31:34 – 54:30)

• Behind-the-scenes stories of “weird on set” moments and getting comfortable performing.
• Favorite comedy movies (Fletch, Caddyshack, Bad Times at the El Royale, Big Lebowski).
• Stories from SNL: Hosting four times, favorite sketches with Kristen Wiig and Will Forte.
• “The band is thumping behind that door…and then you’re shot out of a cannon and you hold on for dear life!” (53:13 | Jon Hamm)

Career Lessons & Motivation (55:03 – 57:31)

• Hamm recalls struggling early in LA (rollerblading to auditions), advice from Ted Simmons: “No one’s going to make it happen for you. You got to make it happen for yourself.” (55:56 | Jon Hamm)
• Reflects on being prepared when opportunity comes; first day on Mad Men: “I remember looking at myself in the mirror and going, okay, you got the job. What are you gonna do with it? I’m gonna fucking kill this.” (57:25 – 57:31 | Jon Hamm)

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4. March Madness Bracket Recap & New Heights House Drama (59:51 – 73:45)

• Updates on the men’s and women’s Reese’s March Madness Bracket Challenge.
• Epic debate and bickering over bracket rules, punishments for last place, and “cheating” accusations.
• Travis: “Jason cheated so bad, and you guys are just gonna let it happen.” (72:10)
• Possible punishments discussed: eating waffles at Waffle House, piercings (“We’re not going to pierce you”), and the group’s general bracket calamities.
• Jason, on picking a bracket with his young daughter: “She does know nothing. She is six.” (69:13)

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5. Interview: UC Basketball’s New Coach Jared Calhoun (74:04 – 90:47)

Coach Calhoun’s Cincinnati Roots & Coaching Journey

• Reflections on being back at Cincinnati, campus changes, and his journey from player to coach.
• Calhoun:
  “It’s surreal, right? There’s certain things that happen in your life…this is one of those. Took an unconventional path. But this is a place where you can win a national championship.” (77:06 – 78:16)
• Talk of reinvigorating Bearcats traditions, building a winning culture, and the power of the alumni network.
• Reminisces about coaching/fan stories, Northeast Ohio area coaching pipelines, and running into LeBron James in high school:
  “We were up the whole game…But you know what made LeBron so good…they just know the game, they see the plays before anyone else does.” (88:45 – 89:38)

Basketball vs. Football IQ and Evolution

• Discussion of the evolution of basketball, free-flowing read-based play, and the effect on football success (especially Travis’).
• Coach Calhoun: “At the end of the day, you have to evolve. That’s what we want to do here at UC.”
• Crosstown Shootout rivalry with Xavier: “This one is really special...you gotta defend home turf.” (87:15 – 87:25)
• Invite extended for Jason and Travis to return to campus for games and possible fantasy camp plans.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jason on podcast/TV teamwork:
  “I really don’t do s**t. A lot of other people work their ass off.” (04:27)
• Jon Hamm on acting vs. football:
  “Nobody’s coming at you to try to take your head off in the middle of a scene.” (28:32)
• Travis on Masters Champions Dinner:
  “There’s no way any of these golfers’ systems have seen this many nitrates…You don’t know what’s happening to you.” (18:46)
• Jon Hamm on chasing your dream:
  “No one’s going to make it happen for you. You got to make it happen for yourself.” (55:56)
• Coach Calhoun on being back at UC:
  “This is a place where you can win a national championship and I think it’s the best job in the state of Ohio for basketball.” (78:16)
• Jon Hamm on meme fame:
  “It just happens...you got no control over it. You can’t do that stuff on purpose.” (24:46)

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Timestamps: Important Segments

• 01:59 – 07:17 — News, sponsor updates, Jason’s Sports Emmy nom, Tommy Hilfiger ambassadorship, “Hoopsie” nickname.
• 07:31 – 20:43 — Masters preview, Augusta experiences, Champions Dinner fantasy menus.
• 23:02 – 54:30 — Jon Hamm interview: meme life, acting vs. football, SNL memories, new series.
• 59:51 – 73:45 — March Madness bracket challenge and punishment debates.
• 74:04 – 90:47 — Interview with Coach Calhoun: UC basketball vision, Ohio hoops, LeBron memories, crosstown rivalries.

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Episode Vibe & Tone

This is a classic, wild New Heights ride: full of brotherly jabs, sports nostalgia, bracket debates, and the unique insights only Jason and Travis can offer. The guests—Jon Hamm and Coach Calhoun—fit right in, sharing compelling stories, career lessons, and plenty of Midwest pride. Whether you're tuning in for football, basketball, pop culture, or just a laugh, this episode delivers on all fronts.

Transcript

[Jason Kelsey]

Thank you to our partner, Planet Fitness.

[Travis Kelsey]

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[Jason Kelsey]

And that's why Planet Fitness knows recovery is key. So they created the PF Black Card membership. And it gives you way more than just great equipment.

[Travis Kelsey]

You can get access to their black card, spa or hydro massage chairs, red light recovery, all that good stuff to help your body bounce back.

[Jason Kelsey]

Plus, with the PF Black Card, you can always bring a friend. That's right. No more lonely workouts by yourself. Nope. Now you got a workout buddy to keep you accountable.

[Travis Kelsey]

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[Jason Kelsey]

Get strong and recover stronger at Planet Fitness. Join the club today in person, online or on the free Planet Fitness app. Chief's Kingdom member, certainly. So, yes, perhaps the sexiest member of Chief's Kingdom.

[John Ham]

Maybe. I mean, you know, the rud's in there sense is in there. I mean, come on, there's a lot tough sledded. It's a hot kingdom.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's right.

[Travis Kelsey]

Welcome back to New heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a 1Dre show brought to you by AT&T. Man, we get these big time cellular providers, WI fi, you name it, man. Everything you need right there at AT&T. We're your host. I'm Travis Kelsey. Is my big brother Jason Kelsey out of Cleveland Heights. O shout out to the Tigers but also shout out to the Cats and their new hire coach Calhoun coming over from Utah State that he's finally back uc and I'm sure we'll talk about that in a little bit. But subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcast and follow the show on all social media at new heights show with 1s for fun clips throughout the week. We're gonna have a bunch this week as Jason tells you what we have coming up this week.

[Jason Kelsey]

92%. We got another amazing episode coming up. We're gonna talk a little golf. Haha. The best major of the years coming up with the Masters. We got John Ham Little Friends and Neighbors Season 2 sneak peek. We're going to talk a little March Madness. And for all of our bearcast listeners, the new men's basketball coach, Jared Cal. Big episode. Big, big episode. Let's get into a little bit of

[Travis Kelsey]

that new news coming in high.

[Jason Kelsey]

This week's new news is brought to you by American Express. And we're gonna have some new news of their own. Oh, okay. American Express is now the official partner of the NFL. Big.

[Travis Kelsey]

Ooh, huge news. Damn. Oh, man. American Express.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah. Nothing says America like the NFL.

[Travis Kelsey]

Jason Kelsey is now a two time sports Emmy nominee. That's right. Nominated a second time for outstanding sports personality Emerging on air talent. You are emerging as the greatest sports personality in sports. I could. I've seen it since the first day that you showed your tits on ESPN that you were going to be great. And now you're getting nominated for an award that shows just how great your personality is. Jason, how many years until you're not no longer emerging?

[Jason Kelsey]

No longer emerging?

[Travis Kelsey]

How long is that?

[Jason Kelsey]

I. I don't know. I don't know.

[Travis Kelsey]

How does it feel to be nominated again, Jason?

[Jason Kelsey]

Do you want me to be hon.

[Travis Kelsey]

No. Be kind.

[Jason Kelsey]

Okay. Feels great.

[Travis Kelsey]

Nice.

[Jason Kelsey]

Love every second of it.

[Travis Kelsey]

Your family's proud of you.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'm honored by the men and women who make these decisions. The reason I think it's cool is because there's a lot of people that put a lot of hard time and work into making all the things that I do. This podcast, the Monday night Countdown crew, the desk that I'm on with, I'm on with some incredible experts and people that are actually the best of what they do and the sports analysis realm. You know, I think it's, it's, it's fun to do all this stuff. I love sports. I love to still be involved despite being a retired player and given this platform to communicate with fans. So, yeah, it's an honor, but it's more importantly great to share the fact that I really don't do and a lot of other people work their ass off.

[Travis Kelsey]

Team player.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

You've always been one of the best teammates and you gotta shout out anytime you get an award. You gotta shout out everybody that well or a nominee. Every time you get a nominee, kind of shout out to people that help you get to where you are in life. Well, yeah. Congratulations, Jason.

[Jason Kelsey]

Thanks, Trav. And also congratulations to you. Travis Kelsey is officially a Tommy boy.

[Travis Kelsey]

Tommy.

[Jason Kelsey]

Tommy.

[Travis Kelsey]

No, I. Dude, it's so fun, man. I've signed on to be the global ambassador and creative collaborator with Tommy Hilfiger. I am so pumped, man. I've been such a huge Tommy fan since I was a kid. The 90s. Color blocking and just how, you know, iconic the logo is with the flag. I've just been, I've been trying to figure out where to go in the fashion world because I, I do love, you know, obviously having fun things to wear and creating Fun things to wear and. And expressing that. And I think that, you know, my last one with American Eagle was so much fun, and they were so unbelievable that I wanted to continue doing that. And. And I think this opportunity is like the. The next level for me. It's going to be an amazing, amazing capsule when it comes out. And excited for this year's fall 2026 line as well, which is. Which is what I'll be pushing out first, so.

[Jason Kelsey]

Well, hell yeah. I can't wait to check it out. I love the last collaboration you do.

[Travis Kelsey]

I got it. All right, now there's a little. There's a little Tommy right here for you as well, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

America for you.

[Travis Kelsey]

No, it's comfy, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's the best.

[Travis Kelsey]

You would love this one specific. It's a nice, light knit.

[Jason Kelsey]

Light knit.

[Travis Kelsey]

Nice, light, breathable knit. You love those.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'm a big, heavy knit guy now, though. That's.

[Travis Kelsey]

But you like the drapiness of the heaviness, right? Like, you like how it kind of like. It's got that.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's got that if it gets too light, it shows off my tits too much. I need it to kind of drape over the tits, you know?

[Travis Kelsey]

This will be. This will take care of your tits.

[Jason Kelsey]

We also got a new nickname for the big yeti. What new nickname for the big yeti? Hoopsie. Which we learned from the chiefs, who revealed this during your contract signing. Is this an actual nickname?

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. So my. My OG in the room, Anthony Fasano, shout out to paisan. Fasano is one of my favorites of all time. Him and Mike McGlynn. Big greasy man called me. Yeah, he's struggling coming out of the huddle every day with hoop earrings in and would screw up the play. And so they would call me instead of oopsie. They would call me hoopsie. It's a banger. So that was a young 201314 Travis running around the Kansas City facility screwing up being called hoopsie. Do we need hoopsie merch?

[Jason Kelsey]

Get Tommy Hilfiger on it. Get, get. Get old Tommy boy on it. The hoopsie line.

[Travis Kelsey]

Back the hoops. We're bringing back the earrings. You heard it here, Tommy.

[Jason Kelsey]

Hey, bigger. The hoop. So that's it for new news. That's it for new news. Brought to you by American Express.

[Travis Kelsey]

God damn, you're good, man. That was great.

[Jason Kelsey]

It was. It was. It was sitting there. It was sitting there for the taking for sure.

[Travis Kelsey]

Let's get into a Little Masters preview. Jason, 92 percenters, we got something special for you. Golf majors season is kicking off this month, so for the next couple of episodes, we're gonna, you know, talk some golf.

[Jason Kelsey]

Why not?

[Travis Kelsey]

Everybody loves golf. This Masters preview is brought to you by @t. That's right, your favorite cell phone provider. We gotta start with the new addition to the Masters, Jason Kelsey. Jason Kelsey, come on down.

[Jason Kelsey]

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

[Travis Kelsey]

After making his golf broadcasting debut on tgl, ESPN is sending Jason to Augusta next week.

[Jason Kelsey]

I don't think they're going to let me in with the cut off Hawaiian shirt at Augusta, but. Which is. No, listen, go ahead. Good.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

No, yeah. I'm going down there for the part three ESPN broadcast, the par three day. I think Scott Van Pelt, my man down there, hosts it. You know, we. We love golf, and we've been down to the Masters before, and I think anybody that's been to the Masters just realizes how special and unique of a place it is. And, you know, Augusta national is just. Everything's done to just a ridiculous degree between maintaining the course, the beauty of it, the hospitality of it. Like, I just. Everybody, the way they treat you, the way it's done is just done at a level that's second to none. And then the history of. Of the course, the tournament, there's just something so special about being down there. So I always want to go just as a spectator. So to be able to go down there, to be able to be there for the par three, day one, which I've never been to, and to interact with some of the golfers and to see that course firsthand and then maybe shed some light on some of the people that make Augusta national so special. Right? Like, everybody gets to watch a tournament. They get to see the best golfers in the world compete for probably the most prestigious thing in golf, the green jacket.

[John Ham]

Green jacket.

[Jason Kelsey]

But there's a lot of other people that do a lot of work around that course that make that thing special.

[Travis Kelsey]

Do you think it's frowned upon to go out and. I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. I'm being silly. Go ahead, finish.

[Jason Kelsey]

No, you're good.

[Travis Kelsey]

Should we get matching green jackets?

[Jason Kelsey]

I think that's foul play. What do you mean?

[John Ham]

That's what I'm saying.

[Jason Kelsey]

You can't get a green jacket. You can't, like, imitate a green jacket. Like, I'm going to go get gold medals and go to the Olympics. What are we talking about here?

[Travis Kelsey]

All right, can we do gold jackets?

[Jason Kelsey]

Green jacket. Gold jacket. Who gives you. No, I'm not doing anything.

[Travis Kelsey]

Whenever they Ask us. So it's with the gold jackets, green jacket, gold jacket. Who gives this.

[Jason Kelsey]

Matching jackets? Doesn't sound bad. Yeah, we're outside of working there with espn. We're both actually going to be down at. It'll be fun to just enjoy it, man. It's. It's so special with you. You put your phone down and you're in just this ridiculously beautiful course that feels like that ground was made for one thing, and it was made to be a golf course. And it's just. I don't know, man. There's not really anything quite like it.

[Travis Kelsey]

I had the fortune of going down to the Masters during the COVID year and there were no grandstands, There were like limited amount of people. I got to see that course and how they care about every single blade of grass and every single, you know, garden that they have on the walkways. And it was just such a unique experience. And obviously, you know, it won't be that this time, but I'm equally as excited to get to experience what it's like when the full madness is there and the hype is there and there's that many people breathing down these guys necks on the green. And I'm just excited to get down there and. And experience it a different way than I did last time.

[Jason Kelsey]

Well, I'm excited to be down there with you because it's. You got your. You got your chair. I got. I got my chair. I'm bringing my chair. We're posting up.

[Travis Kelsey]

I.

[Jason Kelsey]

What hole should we push them on?

[Travis Kelsey]

I didn't go chair. I just went grass. I just laid.

[Jason Kelsey]

I got a second chair. I got a second chair. My guy, Tom ny shout out to Tom Nurney, hooked me up with the chair. I got an extra chair. I'll get you.

[Travis Kelsey]

What color chair is it?

[Jason Kelsey]

We'll set it down. It's one of the official Augusta National Masters chair.

[Travis Kelsey]

Okay.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, you set it down in your spot. Post up. What hole should we post up on? What's your favorite hole?

[Travis Kelsey]

I kind of like walking around, obviously. Amen's Corner. Yeah, that's. It's lovely. I kind of like this. When we went. We posted up at the. The second or third day we went. We posted up right around 15 where the. The par 5 where it kind of bends around the trees there. It's like a dog leg left and I know, exactly. Such a cool shot to me because it's kind of like an island green in a sense. It's like you just got that water in front of it and you Got

[Jason Kelsey]

to go over the water.

[Travis Kelsey]

It's a shot. Now, like, you got to kind of place that drive. You get to see how everyone tries to cut the corner or to, you know, play their. Whatever their strategy is. And then that's a. It's a hell of a shot for them to get there in two if they go for it. And it's just fun to kind of see, you know, which guys go for it, where they end up. And. And, yeah, I think that's. That's probably my favorite place. Obviously, the par threes. There's not a bad part three on the course.

[Jason Kelsey]

I mean, it's always fun to post up at a party.

[Travis Kelsey]

You just see everybody watching darts.

[Jason Kelsey]

So I, like, I can't remember if it's the par five. That's two coming down the hill or three.

[Travis Kelsey]

Two coming down the hill is. You got to hit it kind of perfectly or else that thing is flying.

[Jason Kelsey]

I think it's two coming down that hill. It ends in, like, so in the middle of the course. There's a green right there, and I think it's the par 5. If 2 is a par 5, it's 2.

[Travis Kelsey]

I believe you're correct. I believe that is it. I think it's two. Everyone tries to, like, hit it on that left side of that par 5. It kind of goes left as well.

[Jason Kelsey]

So you come down that hill, but you're kind of centrally located, so you can put your chair down there. You're on the green, but then you can also get up and walk to, like, multiple different holes in the area. It's just a good, like, central location. That's one of my favorite spots anyways.

[Travis Kelsey]

I'm not going to lie. I like to kind of walk the course a little bit, be bougie, go to Burkman's place, go back out and walk the course a little bit more at the end.

[Jason Kelsey]

Fair enough.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, I'll be there wearing Tommy.

[Jason Kelsey]

All righty. We have a voicemail from last year from a 92 percenter. Let's take a look at this regarding the Masters.

[Travis Kelsey]

Youngstown, Ohio. First of all, King, Hi. On, baby. Number four. She is. Okay, Youngstown, my. No, dumb question falls around the Masters. That happened on Sunday. And if one of you guys won the Masters, what would your guys's ideal champions dinner be like?

[Jason Kelsey]

Ooh, love this question.

[Travis Kelsey]

Thank you for that question.

[Jason Kelsey]

I think Roy McElroy's championship dinner just got announced. If I'm not.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yes, it did. It came out. Yeah. So the first one is. Rory's here. We got Some peach ricotta flatbread with a little hot honey basil and balsamic rock shrimp.

[Jason Kelsey]

Gotta love rock shrimp.

[Travis Kelsey]

I'm not gonna lie. He's two for two on me right now. Bacon wrapped dates. And now I'm out.

[Jason Kelsey]

Grilled elk sliders. Why would you have elk when you just have beef?

[Travis Kelsey]

Caramelized onion jam. I almost threw up.

[Jason Kelsey]

Caramelized onion. All right. Yellowfin tuna garpachio.

[Travis Kelsey]

Man, there's one thing. There's two things I'm allergic to.

[Jason Kelsey]

Octopus and wagyu filet mignon, seared salmon, sticky toffee pudding. Great dessert. Great dessert.

[Travis Kelsey]

All righty.

[Jason Kelsey]

Not bad, Mr. Macwell. Let's see what Bubba's working with. Much more dated. This is not as pristine of a menu. It looks like 2013 grilled chicken breast. Jesus Christ, Bubba.

[Travis Kelsey]

What's wrong with the grilled chicken breast?

[Jason Kelsey]

I mean, nothing, but it's. I mean, if a special occasion, we can do better than a grilled chicken breast. Green beans, mashed potatoes, corn, macaroni and cheese.

[Travis Kelsey]

These are Southern guys.

[Jason Kelsey]

Caesar salad, chicken breast, and confetti cake. This is fucking hilarious. You can have anything in the world, Bubba. I'll do. I'll do Caesar salad.

[Travis Kelsey]

I bet you this had something to do with Augusta. Like, he went to the chefs, was like, hey, what are you guys known for? And they were probably just like, well, we make a mean grilled chicken Mac and cheese.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'm a fan of actually subverting, subverting. Like, you be traditional, like American dishes, but, like, making them at, like, a high end meal. Like, I think you go beans and weenies, but you have them do it in the Augusta way. Beans and weenies.

[Travis Kelsey]

No chance.

[Jason Kelsey]

Have, like, the fanciest peanut butter and jelly imaginable.

[Travis Kelsey]

Uncalled for in a situation like this, but keep going.

[Jason Kelsey]

What's another Hamburger Helper?

[Travis Kelsey]

What are we doing? What are we doing? When's the last time you.

[Jason Kelsey]

For some reason. But that's my point. I used to love Hamburger Helper. I would go complete nostalgia. PB&J. Beans and Weenies. Hamburger Helper. What else can we throw on this that we used to eat growing up? Get some Dunkaroos in there. I don't even know if they make Dunkaroos anymore. Put those things in there. What? What is. What was another thing in the Kelsey family household that would be hilarious to put in a freaking Masters championship dinner?

[John Ham]

What were those little Nutter Butters?

[Travis Kelsey]

What else, man?

[Jason Kelsey]

Gotta have some key lime pie in honor of Ed Kelsey.

[Travis Kelsey]

I. Missy, I'm in On key lime pie being the dessert.

[John Ham]

That's nice.

[Jason Kelsey]

All right, all right. Key lime pie. Trying to think, oh, casserole. Gotta have a nice casserole in honor of Edgar.

[Travis Kelsey]

Stocked with cottage cheese to the brim. It wasn't. It was ricotta

[John Ham]

cheese.

[Travis Kelsey]

It was thick and it was. It was good in that. But I can't do ricotta very, very often.

[Jason Kelsey]

Very cheesy. Very cheesy. I'm trying to think. What else?

[Travis Kelsey]

Just some Giorgio's pizza, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

Mama Kelsey's dinner roll. It's gotta have some Mama Kelsey dinner rolls.

[Travis Kelsey]

Mama Kelsey dinner rolls. That's got to be the.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yes. Yes.

[Travis Kelsey]

All right, so Mama Kelsey, Mama Kelsey's dinner rolls, to start us off with a little beans and weenies. I'm not doing beans and weenies in mine. There's no chance I would ever force anybody to do talk about mine.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's the best.

[Travis Kelsey]

No, I don't love absolutely my brains out five minutes after I eat. No, I don't. Just leaving a trail of ass juice everywhere I go. Just like. It's the worst.

[Jason Kelsey]

I guess I would also that. Well, that's another thing. You use it to sabotage. My stomach is made to handle beans and weenies. If I'm playing again, I'm going to sabotage the group. I'm going to force all of you into this room this stomach has been in. You all are coming in to eat my beanies and weenies, and you're not going to be able to survive it. You grew up over in Ireland, Rory. You don't know what the fuck you're dealing with. Beans and weenies from bushes and fucking Oscar Mayer. Yeah, you got a clue what you're ready for. This guy's gonna be on that first tee wondering what the hit him.

[Travis Kelsey]

There's no way. Beans and weenies, man. There's no way any of these golfers.

[Jason Kelsey]

Your system's never seen this amount of nitrates. You don't know what's happening to you.

[Travis Kelsey]

Don't wear white pants tomorrow, boys.

[Jason Kelsey]

You better.

[Travis Kelsey]

With dark shades. You better wear some dark shades. Preferably black or brown.

[Jason Kelsey]

This gut bacteria has been hardened through years of Ed Kelsey, making him the cheapest meals possible in a microwave.

[Travis Kelsey]

That shit's hilarious. All right. We gave it our best run, dude. Can't wait to see if Rory will eat beans and weenies. I'm screaming at him on the tee box.

[Jason Kelsey]

What would you honestly do, though, for your menu? What would you put in there?

[Travis Kelsey]

I mean, honestly, I feel like I go universal. I wouldn't make Everybody fudgeing pay. I would make everybody enjoy it. Mama Kelsey's dinner rolls to. Sorry.

[Jason Kelsey]

I feel like you go smash roll.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's the thing. I'm going like a little smash burger. Maybe some like, some super salty fried chicken. I fucking. I love you. I mean, you're in. You're in the south, so I feel like there should be some version of like, Southern hospitality, Southern meal in there.

[Jason Kelsey]

I like what you're selling here.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, I'm a big Mac and cheese guy too. I probably go similar to Bubb. More updated version for sure. Maybe not just as simple as that, but the key lime pie is a nice finish. I've always liked the Dairy Queen ice cream cake too. So maybe, maybe throw that in there. I haven't been to that. I haven't had one in a long time.

[Jason Kelsey]

Kyle and I talk about this all the time. I don't know why people get regular cakes. You know they make ice cream cake, right? Why would you get a regular cake when you get a ice cream cake? What are we even talking about?

[Travis Kelsey]

What are we talking about? I feel like half of the world's lactose intolerant in it anyways.

[Jason Kelsey]

All righty.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, that does it for the Masters preview, brought to you by at&t. I can't wait to step foot down there in Augusta, man, and have some fun with the guys.

[Jason Kelsey]

All right, now, 2%, it's time for maybe the most handsome guest we've ever had on the show. Please welcome our next guest, Mr. John Ham. Also, this conversation is brought to you by Apple. All right, thank you to our sponsor, AT&T.

[Travis Kelsey]

You know what makes the Masters so special?

[Jason Kelsey]

What's that, Trev?

[Travis Kelsey]

It's not just the legendary shots or the roar of the patrons. It's being connected to every single moment as it happens.

[Jason Kelsey]

Whether you're tracking your favorite golfers round or sharing that unbelievable eagle with your buddies, when the connection matters, it has to be AT and T. Oh yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

My favorite. My favorite shot ever at the Masters wasn't even during the actual, like, Masters play. It was like during one of the practice rounds. John Rahm hit a skipper on one of the par threes. I think it was 12. Hit the skipper onto the green. It comes down trickles in Holland, one off the water.

[Jason Kelsey]

Stop. Haha.

[Travis Kelsey]

You haven't seen this. I'm going to go shoot it to you right now on my AT&T phone. As a champion partner of the Masters, AT&T keeps you connected to the game you love.

[Jason Kelsey]

Because when connection matters, it has to be ATT Connecting Changes Everything. Visit att.comconnectochange to learn more. Thank you to our partner, American Express.

[Travis Kelsey]

Ooh. When you're at a live event, some of the best words you can hear are, come this way.

[Jason Kelsey]

Oh, yeah, yeah. At a game concert. Doesn't matter what event it is, The American Express Platinum Card always comes to mind when people think of premium experiences.

[Travis Kelsey]

Elevating your entertainment is where American Express Platinum Card membership really shines, granting you exclusive access to unique experiences worldwide.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's right. It's the kind of thing that makes a regular night out feel like the event of the year.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, a little fomo. Forget about it.

[Jason Kelsey]

And now that American Express is the official payments partner of the NFL card, members around the world can enjoy incredible experiences from the pre to the postseason with access to tickets, perks, and on site activations at select games.

[Travis Kelsey]

From the moment you get to your seats, to every play that follows, you know you're experiencing more than just the game. For me, that's a win.

[Jason Kelsey]

Unlocking access and elevating the fan experience. That's membership at its best.

[Travis Kelsey]

Terms apply. Learn more about premium events collection at Go Amex with Platinum.

[Jason Kelsey]

All right, our guest today is a six foot one actor, director and producer from St. Louis, Missouri. He's got a Critics Choice Award, two Golden Globes, and an Emmy. You know it from his role on the town 30 Rock, Layingman, Mad Men. And now, coming soon, the second season of the Apple original, your friends and neighbors. Yes, sir, 92 percenters. Please welcome Mr. John Hay.

[John Ham]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That is a WWE style intro. I like that.

[Travis Kelsey]

Thanks.

[Jason Kelsey]

Chief's Kingdom member, certainly. So, yes, perhaps the sexiest member of Chief's Kingdom.

[Travis Kelsey]

Maybe.

[John Ham]

I mean, you know, it's Rud's in there.

[Jason Kelsey]

I mean, come on, there's a lot tough sledding.

[John Ham]

It's a hot kingdom.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's right.

[Travis Kelsey]

We got big Rob Rigg.

[John Ham]

Rob. Rob.

[Travis Kelsey]

He had his nice seasoned beard.

[John Ham]

Oh, yeah. He's got a little bit. A little salt in that pepper. He's all right.

[Jason Kelsey]

How does it feel to become a meme? By the way?

[John Ham]

That was the weirdest thing in the world. I am so not on social media. Like, I have. I have zero footprint, literally. Yeah. I think I have a Facebook page from whenever 2002.

[Travis Kelsey]

Those things are dangerous now, man. That's like a loaded gun. For sure.

[John Ham]

Yeah, but I mean, I never, I never engage with it. I just don't. So even when people send me like links to, to Instagram and stuff, I have to Open them on the web.

[Travis Kelsey]

I don't have the app.

[John Ham]

I don't have, I don't, I don't play. The reindeer games are not for me. Yeah, so I came home. I was, I've been shooting up in Canada, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this next series that I'm doing called American Hostage. And I come home and I get a text from Brian Williams. Like, what does Brian Williams want? You know, it's like, okay, I open it up and he goes, I hope you understand that this is a, has been going around. And he was the first guy that

[Jason Kelsey]

said, send me the link.

[John Ham]

I was like, first of all, Bri, why? What's on your algorithm?

[Travis Kelsey]

He's doom scrolling, dude. He's doom scrolling.

[John Ham]

But no, then it blew up like crazy. It was, it was bizarre. It's bizarre. It's just one of those things, you know, you got no control over it. You can't, you can't, you can't do that stuff on purpose. It just happens.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, it has happened.

[John Ham]

And, you know, I guess it was the best way for it to happen is it was positive, it was pleasant, it was funny, it was all the other stuff. So.

[Jason Kelsey]

Absolutely.

[Travis Kelsey]

Hell yeah. Was iconic, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

Tell me, what's this, what's this new series you said you're up in?

[John Ham]

It's called American Hostage. It's about a real thing that happened in the 70s in the States, in, in Indianapolis. It was a hostage situation where a guy took a bank manager hostage, tied a gun around his neck and walked him around for 63 hours straight. And I, I, yeah, it's real. I mean, I was 1977, I was six years old. You guys weren't born yet, but I was like, I vaguely have a recollection of this incident when it happened, but it was kind of the first thing that happened where local story kind of blew up into national news. And I play the radio reporter that he, that the, that the hostage taker. He was his favorite radio guy newsman. So he said, you got to get my story out. You got to tell the people my story. And so he's kind of conflicted. He's going live on the air with this guy who's a loose cannon who also has a dude at the end of a shotgun. It could go sideways at any moment. So it's, it's very tense. It's very exciting. Yeah, it's going to be a good one. It'll come out in the fall at some point.

[Travis Kelsey]

Up in Winnipeg.

[John Ham]

Yeah, we were shooting Winnipeg, which is around right now. I don't Know how cold you guys have been recently, but. But minus 30 is real, man. Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

We got one of our college teammates, Zach Lair. Shout out to Zach. He's. He's the quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

[John Ham]

Yeah, I went to the Gray cup this year, which was super cool. Saskatchewan Rough Riders versus the Montreal Alouettes. Have you guys watched cfl?

[Jason Kelsey]

This.

[John Ham]

It is fun. Three downs.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yep.

[John Ham]

Receivers can move forward before field's bigger. Way bigger. Like, way bigger.

[Travis Kelsey]

It's crazy, dude. I love it, dude. We went up there a few times. Unfortunately, our guy got banged up the one game we went up there to go see him.

[John Ham]

So your bad luck.

[Travis Kelsey]

Well, they won the great cup that year, I believe.

[John Ham]

All right, so they love it up there, man. They go crazy for it. And it's fun to watch. It is fun to watch.

[Jason Kelsey]

You're a football fan?

[John Ham]

I'm a football fan.

[Jason Kelsey]

Played football.

[John Ham]

I played in high school. I got recruited to play, like, D3 Ivy League, and it was like there was a decision. I played middle linebacker. You know, in my high school, we played both ways. So you. I played offensive line and middle linebacker.

[Jason Kelsey]

Office line. Middle linebacker, yeah. Chuck Bednarik.

[John Ham]

Exactly.

[Travis Kelsey]

You're sitting. You guys.

[Jason Kelsey]

I mean, I was a running back, though.

[John Ham]

We all wanted to be running backs, especially in high school football.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's all you did.

[John Ham]

But no, it was. There was a choice. And I was like, I don't think I can. I can. I wanted to go to college and I wanted to not be in the weight room and not be in practice all the time. I hear you. Like, for sure.

[Jason Kelsey]

Can we just touch on this? Look at the. Did you see his.

[John Ham]

Yeah, kid. There he is.

[Jason Kelsey]

The Necro guy.

[John Ham]

Necro.

[Travis Kelsey]

This guy was fucking putting his forehead right on your chin. Let's fucking go.

[John Ham]

Absolutely.

[Travis Kelsey]

And. And arm sleeves. The old forearm shiver.

[Coach Calhoun]

Sure.

[John Ham]

It was not a pad I did not want to wear.

[Travis Kelsey]

I was like, they don't even make hip pads anymore. How crazy is that?

[John Ham]

I don't know. You watch. You guys, like, I'm like, how do you not do that? You had the hip pads and the butt pad.

[Jason Kelsey]

Do a little tailbone pad for six years. I didn't wear any pads on my legs until they change the rule back to be like, hey, you have to wear knee pads and thigh pads.

[John Ham]

So what do they give you now? Like a credit card? And you put it in the thing

[Jason Kelsey]

like it's the thinnest pad. And then you even. Once they give it to you, you cut it. Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

You can't give me enough pads, guys. Are putting their helmet right on my knee.

[John Ham]

Yeah, you got to run across.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. No, I'm. No, give me as big. I just want all my whole leg being a pad.

[John Ham]

Give me a force field.

[Travis Kelsey]

I look at all these receivers, I'm like, dude, you guys are gonna get your get up. Put some goddamn pads.

[John Ham]

For sure. For sure.

[Jason Kelsey]

What is harder, playing football or being an actor?

[Travis Kelsey]

It's a good question.

[John Ham]

Play football. I mean, no way.

[Travis Kelsey]

Seriously, like, no way.

[John Ham]

Nobody's coming at you to try to take your head off in the middle of a scene. You don't have to keep your head on a swivel when you're. When you're in the middle of a scene, it's just not that hard. It takes mental energy. It takes preparedness. Obviously, both. Both of the disciplines do. But. But the funniest thing about. And you've probably had. Both of you probably had. You know, my buddy Glaser worked on your show with.

[Jason Kelsey]

Absolutely.

[John Ham]

You know how it is to be on camera. It's. It. Everything gets a little hyped up a little, little. You get a little nervous and all that stuff. And it takes experience and. And reps to. To get it down to where you feel comfortable doing it. Like anything else.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, exactly.

[John Ham]

I'm sure if you put anybody on an NFL field in a moment, even if they were fit enough to play, the. The grandeur and the largeness of the moment would freak them the out.

[Jason Kelsey]

No doubt.

[John Ham]

Right. And so that's what happens sometimes when you get on stage, when you get on set and the lights are on and things ready and whatever's going. I remember one of the first movies I ever did was called we were Soldiers with Mel Gibson and Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, a bunch of cast of thousands. It was great Vietnam War movie. Really, really cool. And we had this one. This one setup that was the whole day. It was just one thing for the whole day. And at the end of the day, the guy hits the button and the whole place blows the fuck up. And it was crazy. We had all these lines and all these things. We had all these cameras everywhere. We run on 11 cameras, and Mel's in the middle of it. He's calling in the airstrike. Director is basically like, if you forget your line, if you up, just keep going. Because we got one shot at this. And so it goes around and around and around. At the end of the thing, they hit the buttons and the whole forest explodes. And they call it. And they're like, that's a wrap. Like, we're done.

[Travis Kelsey]

Like, okay.

[Jason Kelsey]

We're like, okay, we did it.

[John Ham]

And. And we were all talking to Mel. We're like, don't you get, like, nervous? Like, what would he go? And he goes, yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

No, that's crazy.

[John Ham]

We just. That's just what I do. Yeah. And you think about that, of course, in your line of work, too. Like, Patrick Mahomes is like, He's. This is what I do.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. It's well old. The old Texas gunslinger, right? He's a little different. He's built a little different. I was. I was just at Waste Management. I was on. I was playing in the Pro Am.

[Jason Kelsey]

Right.

[John Ham]

That's a real thing, man.

[Travis Kelsey]

So that's what I'm saying. You're talking about, like, being in a moment where you're like, oh, you walk into that thing and it's like the Thunderdome. Yeah. It's like the Coliseum.

[John Ham]

It's like, how the.

[Travis Kelsey]

Did I get here? Yeah. You have to stand over a ball this size and hit it that you've

[John Ham]

hit a million times that you know you can do. I had that experience. I played Augusta after that, the. After the Masters. The year. The last year that Tiger won, whatever it was 2018, you can do a thing where they keep the pins in the same place and you play the. You don't play from the. From the tips, but, man, so cool. Still, though, and I was standing on the first te. And I literally. I lined up. I'm decent golfer. I was, like, ready to play. And I look down and my knees are doing this. And I was like, wait a minute. No. Yeah. And I. I stepped back. I was like, come on now. And then I stepped up and I striped it. But I mean, I was like, whoa,

[Jason Kelsey]

dude, that was real.

[John Ham]

I was like, having a moment.

[Travis Kelsey]

You kidding me?

[John Ham]

Me?

[Travis Kelsey]

You already know.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

Jason, you. You got a little scoreboard to that.

[Jason Kelsey]

That whole one. It's like sitting right there. Oh, yeah, man. Not good. Not a good start to the day.

[Travis Kelsey]

Not a good start.

[Jason Kelsey]

Wasn't good.

[John Ham]

The numbers are falling down.

[Jason Kelsey]

So your friends and neighbors second season coming out. What do we expect? There's a little twist at the end of the first season. Like, I didn't. I expected. I thought you had gone good again.

[John Ham]

So, you know, most of the second season is kind of dealing with the fallout of the first season. You say about, you know, he.

[Coach Calhoun]

He.

[John Ham]

He kind of dips. Decides not to kind of go on straight and narrow.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

And then there's a massive kind of chaos agent that is introduced in the season, which is James Morrison's character who comes in, who's a new guy in the neighborhood, and it's like, who's this dude? And he's not as he appears to be. There's some shadiness, and there's some stuff in it. And the whole season kind of leads up to, how do we manage that? And it's great. It's super compelling television. It's. It's fun, it's funny, it's sexy. It's. It's. You know, it's really. I'm. I love the show.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's fantastic.

[Travis Kelsey]

I was gonna say this is. It feels like. It's obviously your. Like, your range is crazy, but in terms of this character, it feels a little different. Is this, like, a new experience for you?

[John Ham]

I mean, look, having the majority of my kind of notoriety and fame be invested in Mad Men, period piece, it's a very specific thing. Kind of this very brooding, dark character character to be able to play something contemporary that's funny and real and kind of, you know, someone that you could walk down the street and legitimately recognize. If I walk down the street in Don Draper gear, people are like, what the. What's going on here? It's not Halloween, dude.

[Travis Kelsey]

Like, what are you doing?

[John Ham]

But if I. If I, you know, walked in. In Andrew Cooper gear, it's. This is a normal person. And. And it's. So there's a lot of, like, that familiarity with that kind of character, but also that kind of deal of like the 1%, you know, people that really, really live that crazy life. And for sure, how is that, you know, how does that work out? And is that. Is that all there is? Is that the kind of thing that people really want? You know, it's. It's fun. It's a little bit wish fulfillment and kind of you to those people, too. So for sure, you know, it's fun.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. I'm always here for a good. You.

[John Ham]

It helps, man.

[Travis Kelsey]

Dude. So you mentioned going to ut kind of being football, isn't it? I want to go a different route. Did you know that acting. And I had done a lot of

[John Ham]

acting in high school. I had done it basically since I was a little kid. Never like a child actor or anything like that, but it was just always something I had. I had raised by a single mom. My mom passed away when I was 10. So then I live with my dad. And then, you know, I was always in whatever extracurricular after school activities I could get. You know, whether it was bowling team or Cub Scouts or everything, man, it was literally like, just do that. And so sports was obviously a big part of that. And growing up in Midwest, all you have are empty fields, and whatever season it is, that's the sport you play. You know, it's like baseball in the. In the springtime, football in the fall. You know, the winter time was hockey. But I. I couldn't afford all that gear, so more. It was just like, whatever we could do.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, yeah.

[John Ham]

And it was fun. You know, that was. That was the big part of it. Growing up as a. As a boy especially, all you have is energy. You just want to, like, run through a wall. And so when I got into football in. In seventh and eighth grade, when I. When I went to the school I ended up going to, that was the. That was the saving grace, dude. And they. All this energy. He's like, let's.

[Travis Kelsey]

Let's go hit something, man.

[John Ham]

Like, it was fun and I was decent at at it, but. But I knew that, you know, that's a choice, as you guys well know, that's a commitment, man. You got to be in the weight room, you got to be training, you got to be fit, you got to be ready to go. And I was like, I think I just want to be. I want to do this other thing, which I know I can do at a high level. I'd always gotten good feedback from people that, oh, yeah, we're like, hey, man, you're kind of good at this.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

And then it becomes. It's not. I mean, it is, I guess, a lot like football. Like, you got to get picked. You know what I mean? You can't just go and like, I'm going to be an actor in my room by myself. That's being a crazy.

[Jason Kelsey]

Well, you gotta be a little.

[Travis Kelsey]

A little crazy.

[John Ham]

Yeah, for sure. So then, you know, it was like, you go to either LA or New York, basically, right? It wasn't happening in St. Louis. So I was like, all right. I packed up my shit. I had 150 to my name. My grandfather gave me a check for a hundred dollars and that hell money. And I bailed out. I went. I went west, man. And that was it in 1995. So, you know, I felt like I had to give it a try or I. Or it would have been the two. Saddest word in. In the English language, like, what if? Yeah, dude, you know? So off I went, and it only took three or four years to get it done.

[Travis Kelsey]

I live with that so much because I always say, what if I could have played quarterback in the National Football League. See, I just couldn't put the reefer down, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

You wanted to be a basketball player. You wanted to be a basketball player is what you wanted to be.

[Travis Kelsey]

I did, I did. I really just wanted to play basketball. Basketball in the Big East. I knew I didn't have a chance at the NBA. I couldn't dribble, but I knew I could play college basketball. For sure. I knew I could. I couldn't guard anybody. Exactly. Dude. Throwing bows. I'm going to use all five. That was the one thing playing basketball growing up. My dad came up to his is, you get five of them. If you don't use three, you're not playing the game right. I was just like, got it. That files out before the, like every game. Just getting filed out.

[Jason Kelsey]

So St. Louis, that it is cra. We talked to. We were obviously really connected with Kansas City. Right. Wriggle Rud. Jason Sudeikis. And I think they used to do like this improv thing as kids or something like that.

[Travis Kelsey]

I'm talking to them around the city. Yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

It just. I've never heard of these paths. Out of these, like, small Midwestern, like, markets. Are there like a bunch of like St. Louis people?

[John Ham]

Yeah. You know, because I was a teacher. I went back to my. My old high school and I taught school.

[Travis Kelsey]

This is so cool, man.

[John Ham]

I graduated. I graduated Mizzou at 93. And then I went back and taught at my old high school because I needed a job. Like, I was waiting tables and bartending all the other stuff, but I was like, I need a job. Like, I need a real job with a real paycheck and a real schedule. I can't do this anymore because I was so old at 24. And I pitched myself because the guy that was teaching theater at my high school who had taught me, I said, you, you. You have too many students. Like, you need a. You need a junior teacher. You need a helper.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

And he goes, sounds great. Let's pitch it to the, to the headmaster, the big man. I go, great. And I knew him. He knew me from being a student. I was a really good student. I was a three sport varsity athlete. I was in the theater department. I had good credit quality. Yeah, yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

Qualified.

[John Ham]

And I had a. I had a. A theater scholarship from a zoo. And I'd done a bunch of plays. And I was like, just let me come in for a year, try it out. What's the worst thing that can happen? So I did. It was great. They asked me to come back for another year and I was Like, Like, I'd love to, but I gotta try this out. I gotta go. I'm not getting any.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, yeah.

[John Ham]

But one of my students was Ellie Kemper.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

Who was in Unbreakable, Kimmy Schmidt with me and Bridesmaids with me and other things. So I was like, I got a chance to walk the red carpet twice with one of my students. That's awesome. And, yeah, we had. We had a bunch of kids that were really, really good at it. It's. Sometimes these clusters just kind of happen, you know, that the talented kids find their way and. And I was one of them in my class from my. My graduating class from Burroughs in St. Louis. Sarah Clark was in 24. Like, we had a bunch of kids that made it out. So, you know, it happens.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah. Very cool.

[Travis Kelsey]

St. Louis representing.

[John Ham]

Yes, indeed.

[Travis Kelsey]

I love it, man. I always feel like anytime I'm, like, giving back in that regard, like, I always find a way to, like, say something, and then it gets reiterated in my brain. Like, man, I kind of got away from that. That, like, whatever it is I'm teaching or like, whatever, like the fundamental is or the mindset.

[John Ham]

Yeah, yeah. It reminds you what you're supposed to do.

[Travis Kelsey]

Kind of makes you stay more sharp on your own fundamentals, you know?

[John Ham]

For sure. Yeah, I would imagine. I mean, I'm sure you guys do youth clinics and whatnot and stuff, you know, because little kids look up to you guys. Like, you're hungry.

[Jason Kelsey]

But even not just that, like, every single year, you reinstall a playbook.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

Right. So, like, you'd be sitting in this meeting. It's like, how many more times can I listen to, like, inside zone be installed?

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

Like, it is mind numbing to a point where it's like, yeah, I'm gonna step with my right foot, check my A gap, and yada, yada, yada. Right. But.

[John Ham]

And then you go every once in a while.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, right, right. Every once in a while, like, style would have, like, the guys teach it or something like that.

[Coach Calhoun]

Right.

[Jason Kelsey]

And it does feel like when you're teaching it, or a rookie would ask you a question and in your own way of, like, rediscovering, like, I forgot that I think about it that way. You know what I mean?

[John Ham]

Well, the whole point, I would imagine, because it's the same with us, is is that you do it and you do it and you do it until you essentially forget it and it becomes second nature.

[Coach Calhoun]

Right.

[John Ham]

You know how to do it so well.

[Jason Kelsey]

Are blacking out.

[John Ham]

Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

Y.

[Travis Kelsey]

For me, it's like it's non stop. Football's non stop evolving. Like the plays are non stop evolving. Like the more you. The more coverages you see, because that play works, you're going to see different coverages to try and stop it. So the play is non stop. It's evolving on how I need to run this route, how I need to do this. And then it's like, it gets to the point where it's like, not. I'm thinking about this coverage, this coverage, this coverage, this coverage, how I'm going to run it here. And coach Reed will just come up and he's like, just run the fucking route.

[John Ham]

Get it back down, back down to simple bowl. Yeah, for sure.

[Travis Kelsey]

I will just run it how you. How you teach it. I'll run it how you teach it.

[John Ham]

That happens every year too, right? Yeah. Whoever wins the super bowl, everybody imitates them for the next season, right? That's what basically what happens. Okay, now we're going to run that and that. That defense is going to work against this or not. And they. It's like you said, it's constantly evolving. And that's what's really fun to watch it. If you look, if you love the game and you know the game and you really watch the game, kind of that granular level, for sure, that's what becomes really cool. And I think that's like when Romo first came into the booth and was starting to call all that stuff. You're like, holy shit.

[Jason Kelsey]

Right? Right.

[John Ham]

You still know this?

[Travis Kelsey]

Hell yeah.

[John Ham]

It's like amazing.

[Jason Kelsey]

Absolutely.

[Travis Kelsey]

Obviously, we keep mentioning St. Louis, the Rams. We got to talk about the Rams,

[Jason Kelsey]

because how are you chief's kingdom?

[John Ham]

Here's what happened. Let me give you the history of my football rooting.

[Travis Kelsey]

All right now, please.

[John Ham]

And I bring this up to Roger Goodell every time I see him. And I did it again. 1989, the Cardinals moved from St. Louis to Arizona, so we're fucked. And I go, God damn it. But then they were like, no, you're going to get an expansion franchise. And we had the name picked out, we had the logo picked out. It was the Stallions. It was terrible. But then they go, no, just kidding. It's going to Carolina and Jacksonville. And we were like, really? God damn it. Then it becomes like, well, maybe we. Maybe we can get the Rams to move to St. Louis. And everyone's like, they're not going to move to Saint. There's no way. Of course, they build this half a billion dollar stadium. They, oh, hey. All of a sudden the rams are in St. Louis. 94 the year next year I moved to LA. So the Rams are now in St. Louis, but I'm in LA.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's funny. Swap Rams.

[John Ham]

And they're terrible. Terrible. The first couple years. They're terrible. Rich Brooks, I can't remember who the. Who the coach was, but he came from Oregon. He was not ready for the pro game at all. Like, it was just Tony, who was our quarterback. Oh, my God. Anyway, it was bad until Dick Vermeil shows up. Yeah, baby. Oh, yeah. And then all of a sudden, Kurt Warner shows up, and then Marshall Falk shows up, and then Isaac Bruce shows up, and then Tory Holt shows up. And it was like all of a sudden, sudden this nucleus coalesced and it was the greatest show on turf. And Mike Martz, OC and it was like, oh, my God. Like, then it was. Football became a thing in St. Louis again. People were crazy. I went to one game at the stadium, and I'll never forget it. It was like the place was electric. And I used to go to see football when the Cardinals with my dad in minus 10 degree weather. Aluminum benches weren't even seats. Like, aluminum benches. So cold. So deeply cold. Old. Yeah. And this was like indoors, in the dome. There was a play. I'll never forget it. I got there, like five minutes.

[Travis Kelsey]

Luxury football right here.

[John Ham]

This was St. Louis versus Atlanta. I can't remember what year it was, but I. I got to the game five minutes late or five minutes off, or there was a minute off the clock. Because what had happened was the first kickoff was run back for a touchdown. And then the ensuing kickoff was run back for touchdown. It was seven. Seven before I even got to sit down. That's some action.

[Travis Kelsey]

What is happening?

[John Ham]

So right before the half, it was a fourth and 30 and they were like, well, they might as well. And they didn't even punt. It was like Warner just lines up under center and throws a dart to Tori Holder. Like a deep post to Tori Holder. And they score 4th and 30. Right before the half, you're like, okay, this is. This is a team worth watching.

[Travis Kelsey]

I followed all the time.

[John Ham]

So that was super fun to watch. Then they win the Super bowl in 2000 and they should have beat the Patriots in 2001. I have a theory about that, but. And then they moved back to la. La. And then they. They moved to. Back to la. They win the super bowl in LA with Stafford. Oh, yeah. So that's when I, like, I got nothing left in St. Louis. Then it's like, well, at Least I got the team in Missouri on the other side. And that's the ascendancy of you guys and everybody there. Now they're moving that to Kansas. So I'm like, come on, man.

[Travis Kelsey]

Where do I go from here?

[John Ham]

The Battle Hawks? I mean, I don't know, but it's. No, it's still. It's cool. Great watching, Watching the. The Chiefs come together in the way that they have. Paul and I. Paul Rudd and I have been buddies since high school, since I was 15. He was.

[Travis Kelsey]

Love that dude, man.

[John Ham]

We were at the game when the first super bowl you guys won. He was there with his son, 15 or 16 years old. He was so emotional. He got a bloody nose.

[Travis Kelsey]

He was just like, oh, I remember that.

[Jason Kelsey]

Hell, yeah.

[John Ham]

It was awesome. He got to go down. That was in Miami, I think, right? Yeah. Yeah. That was really, really fun. But it's been great, you know, it's been great to watch your success as well. I mean, couldn't happen to two nicer guys. That's all.

[Travis Kelsey]

Say, there's a man, dude. We too got our team shipped as kids, so we know.

[John Ham]

Yeah. For sure, right?

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. Now I look at the Baltimore Ravens as basically the evil empire. Yes. And what could have been in Cleveland because they ended up going on to like, win a Super Bowl.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah. Just non stop success.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

But so is it favorite football player growing up, either Cardinals or Rams or, I mean, O.J.

[John Ham]

anderson. I loved. Mel Gray. I loved. We're going back to the old Cardinals.

[Travis Kelsey]

Hell yeah.

[John Ham]

Dan Deardorf, who's a lineman I really loved. I got to know him a little bit afterwards. Rest in peace. He's a great guy. Wonderful, wonderful man. And a huge, like, supporter of the city, you know, one of those guys

[Travis Kelsey]

just like, yeah, man.

[John Ham]

Everybody knew Dan. It was like Stan Musial in the Cardinals. It's like everybody knew him. He was around town all the time. You'd see him, he'd say, hey, how you doing? Got a steakhouse. You know, you just show up.

[Travis Kelsey]

He's the best dude.

[John Ham]

That kind of Midwestern thing, like it is in kc I know you guys have the restaurant in kc, A crazy

[Travis Kelsey]

ambassador program around there. When I first got there, the first. The first, like, meeting you have is literally with the ambassadors of the Chiefs. Like the owner, Clark Hunt comes in with. It's called the little rookie meeting. And you're sitting there with the guys that have played and stayed around in the city.

[John Ham]

It's nice.

[Travis Kelsey]

You just hear all the stories. Rip Lynn Dawson, he was like one of the first conversations I had in KC And I'm just like, man, I'm speaking to you.

[John Ham]

Meet those hall of Famers. And you're like, wow. You know, that's. It's real. It's real. And it, and it really enforces the idea that the community is, is huge. It's a huge part of the success of the franchise. That's why it's so devastating when, when the teams, when the teams leave, you're like, come on, man.

[Travis Kelsey]

Like, it's crazy.

[Jason Kelsey]

Did you watch any college football this year? Kurt Signetti, the national championship coach?

[John Ham]

I didn't see the whole national. I saw the highlights of the game, but I was very much paying attention to Indiana the whole season.

[Jason Kelsey]

Have you heard of these calls for you to play Kurt Signetti in a movie? No.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, I.

[Jason Kelsey]

Apparently there's a picture running around.

[John Ham]

I had a lot of friends that went to Irish IU because that was a big destination if you're in St. Louis. It was just about a three hour drive. We had some fun. We had some fun weekends up at iu.

[Travis Kelsey]

He's a character now. He's got that old ball coach feel for sure.

[Jason Kelsey]

High energy.

[Travis Kelsey]

But even like the new high energy, like the McVeighs of the world, you know what I mean? Like, like it's a different world. Like the, he's just got this like old wisdom.

[John Ham]

Well, and he's got the way, he's confidence of just like, you're not going to stop what I'm going to give you.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, sorry. You're about to get a taste of this.

[John Ham]

What's his quote? I win. Google me.

[Travis Kelsey]

Damn. Okay.

[John Ham]

I mean, it's, it's pretty baller. Like the guy is just straight up and he does. I mean, how about that? Indiana running the team.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah. I mean, I know they got a lot of money behind them too, but that's still crazy.

[John Ham]

That's just the new reality. Like Alabama doesn't like.

[Jason Kelsey]

No, that's what it's.

[John Ham]

Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

Seriously. My guy, Pat Mahomes over there at Texas Tech.

[Jason Kelsey]

Right.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oil money down there.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yep.

[Travis Kelsey]

They're.

[John Ham]

They're ready.

[Travis Kelsey]

How did you guys get all these transfers in every sport?

[John Ham]

Tcu, all those, all those kind of places that were historically were kind of second tier things now iu, like now all of a sudden, which is.

[Travis Kelsey]

I. I don't know.

[John Ham]

I think it's kind of great.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, no, I think it's nice.

[Travis Kelsey]

It's a nice refresh. I mean, Alabama was on a run there for a while.

[John Ham]

It was. Yeah. Yeah. You think and it's like, all right, it feels like now the tables are at least a little more even. Yeah, right. Like with you, it's not just the haves and have nots. It's the haves and the haves. Mores. But whatever.

[Travis Kelsey]

No, I'm with you. I love it.

[Jason Kelsey]

We're big fans of comedies. What's your favorite comedy movie?

[John Ham]

Comedy movie?

[Jason Kelsey]

Yes.

[John Ham]

Well, that's a good question. I mean, look, I had the good fortune to be able to remake Fletch,

[Travis Kelsey]

which was one of my absolute favorites.

[John Ham]

And I had the good fortune to meet Chevy. I met him. He kind of. He kind of ambushed me in the. In the LAX airport lounge. Yeah, it was like seven o' clock in the morning and I was actually getting ready to fly to. To Fort Worth to. To do Landman.

[Jason Kelsey]

Okay.

[John Ham]

And I'm scooping out my shitty microwaved eggs or whatever in the lounge. You know exactly what I'm getting ready to eat. You know, you're like, oh, boy, it's too early for anything. But I gotta get something.

[Travis Kelsey]

I gotta get something.

[John Ham]

I hear this guy go, hey, I heard you played Fletch. And I turn around, Chevy Chase. And I was like, oh, my God, that's insane. Yes, I did. Mr. Chase, oh, my God, it's so nice to meet you. I love all your work. I. All I do was. Was watch your movies growing up. I love doing snl. Like, I've just loved Bomb, the guy I like. Yeah. Floored him with the avalanche of like. And I was getting ready to go work with Demi Moore. And my wife's favorite movie. One of my wife's favorite movies is this movie that you probably. If you've seen it, good luck. It's called Nothing But Trouble, directed by Dan Aykroyd. Dan Aykroyd plays, like, this weird, weird, crazy character. It's. It's nuts. Look it up.

[Travis Kelsey]

I gotta watch that one.

[John Ham]

But it's, it's. It's Chevy and Demi Moore. So I said, I'm actually starring with one of your co stars. Yeah, I'll give her my best. This, that and the other. And anyways, so cool. It starts with Fletch, but then I

[Travis Kelsey]

thought he was gonna come in hot with something.

[John Ham]

For the judo love, you know?

[Travis Kelsey]

You already know. That's hilarious.

[John Ham]

That's good, because I felt like there might have been a little. A little shot underneath. Yeah, yeah. But no, all of his movies, I mean, he went on a run, you look at Caddyshack, you look.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's what we grew up on.

[John Ham]

My. Yeah, the 80s. My, my. That was what you did. You rented movies. That was all you did throughout high school. It was just, you rent them. Rent five movies, watch them five times over the weekend, and that was it. But, I mean, Big Lebowski, that's another one that I absolutely, you know, I got a chance to work with Jeff Bridges in my career. So, you know, it's. I'm.

[Travis Kelsey]

Bad times.

[John Ham]

Bad times. The A Royale. Yeah, indeed.

[Travis Kelsey]

I love that movie.

[John Ham]

I mean, it's a great film. I make great movies that nobody sees. That's. That's kind of. I actually got. I made a movie called Million Dollar Arm that was based on the career of this guy, J.B. bernstein, who represents Barry Sanders. And he was at the honors last night, so I was able to say hi to him. And he is funny. He's, you know, he's this tall, and he's just hard worker. He goes, I can't believe you got to play me.

[Travis Kelsey]

I go, I got to play.

[John Ham]

You know, you got me to play you.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

But, you know, having a career, doing it as long as I've been able to do it, it's really nice to be able to look back and be. Be proud of what you. What you've done and to work with the people that you've gotten a chance to work with.

[Travis Kelsey]

Hell, yeah.

[John Ham]

All of that stuff is amazing. You know, it's. It's being in something like Top Gun. Well, that I remember walking on that set, and there's a six story high American flag. Tom Cruise is walking toward me. All I could see is a smile.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

Walking toward me. And I was like, how you doing? I'm all right. Energy ready to go. I'm like, I am now.

[Travis Kelsey]

I am. Thanks for the cup of joe right there.

[John Ham]

But I was like, this must be weird for you. This is the same set that you shot on 25 years ago. Is this weird? He goes, it's crazy. It's crazy. We're doing it again.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'm like, all right, let's go.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's amazing.

[John Ham]

It was fun, man.

[Travis Kelsey]

Well, I share an honor with you of standing on that SNL stage, man, when I tell you still to this day, one of the coolest fucking things I've ever done. Done your time on snl. Do you have a favorite skit? Do you have a couple?

[John Ham]

Yeah, I mean, I have a couple, man. I've hosted four times, and I was. And I was. I've been on the show, like, probably 15 more times, and it's. It's it's such a unique experience, as, you know, there's. There's not a whole lot out there like live television. I also did 2:30 rock lives on that same stage, so it's super fun. But when I first started hosting, I had the home run hitters, man. I had the. The all stars. It was Wig, Forte, Armisen, Sudeikis, Legends. Everybody on that show were just home run hitters. So the ones I did with wig, we had so much fun. The woman, she said, don't make me sing. So fun. I did a sketch with Will Forte that would never get on the air. Now, that was a Halloween sketch where Will comes to the door, rings the bell, I answer the door, and he says, happy Halloween. I said, what are you dressed at? He said, I'm a child molester. Can you sign it? Date these papers. I'm like, wait, what? What's happened? What actually is happening? Look it up. It would never get on the air again, but boy, oh, boy, it was funny. So I know I have. I have tons of great memories like that. And as you well know, man, when you're getting ready to go on that stage and that band is playing and thumping and ready to go behind that

[Travis Kelsey]

door, man, that is.

[John Ham]

No one realizes it, but there's about a foot behind that door. You are up against the wall.

[Travis Kelsey]

Shoulders are touching the door and the wall behind.

[John Ham]

It's the same thing. And then she's screaming out, five, five, four, three. There you go. You shot out of a cannon and you hold on for dear life. But it's fun, man. It's fun.

[Travis Kelsey]

So much fun.

[John Ham]

You looked like you were having a good time on it.

[Travis Kelsey]

I know.

[John Ham]

I noticed that we grew up on

[Travis Kelsey]

the Pharaohs and the Farleys and Sand for sure. So it's like. That was inch heavy. Like my. My mom and dad were huge. Like snl.

[John Ham]

It was a cultural moment. And it's so funny thinking back because I watched it when I was a little kid. I mentioned my, my. My parents split up when I was younger. If I was at my dad's house for the weekend, I got to watch for sure. And, like, super inappropriate. I was five, six years old. Like, you know, whatever. But I was. I was into the land shark and the, you know.

[Jason Kelsey]

Oh, yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

So cool.

[John Ham]

All the stuff, man. It was so good. It was so. Because it was so transgressive. There wasn't anything like it. And if you didn't see it, you didn't see it. There was no dvr. There was no clips on the next

[Travis Kelsey]

Day crazy to even imagine.

[John Ham]

You had to talk to, you know, you had to go to school the next day and not. Or Monday and not had. Have seen SNL be a part of those combos. You were on the back. You were on your back foot, man. It was not great. Absolutely funny as.

[Jason Kelsey]

All right, last one. Welcome to Hollywood moment. Do you have one?

[John Ham]

I remember, I mean, like I said, I had. I had no money when I. When I. When I rolled into Hollywood. And then I remember I'd gone. I had to go back to St. Louis to do a play that got me my equity card, that got me into the union, that got me into this and that. Then I got my car. Car towed because I had like $2,000 worth of parking tickets that I wasn't sniffing being able to pay. Yeah. So then one day I just looked outside, I was like, well, I guess that's gone. So now I'm on the bus.

[Jason Kelsey]

Okay.

[John Ham]

And I was working a restaurant job and trying to audition. And, you know, it's. LA is not a easy place to use public transportation.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

So I remember I had. I had roller blades and I would throw the roller blades over my shoulder, get on the bus, stop it as close as I could get to wherever my audition was, and then blade it out.

[Travis Kelsey]

You were blading it around LA in la.

[John Ham]

I mean, not safe. So I'd show up sweaty as a motherfucker to whatever commercial, audition, Ivory soap or whatever, you know, just being like, I don't think I'm gonna get this. I look like a hundred pounds of dirty laundry right now. But, yeah, I mean, it's. You just do what you can. Ain't nothing to it, but to do it. That was the first lesson I learned, was like, list. No one's going to give you any excuse. You just got to figure it out.

[Travis Kelsey]

You got to send. A man can't live with those what ifs.

[John Ham]

Yeah. And you just. And you got to figure it out. You know, it's like. It's hard. Life is hard. I remember my best friend growing up. He was the best man in my wedding. His dad played professional baseball. Ted Simmons, maybe. You know, maybe you don't. In the hall of Fame. Great guy, wonderful man. Kind of a surrogate dad to me after my dad passed away especially. And when I was going through you know, all my transition difficulties and whatever, trying to figure out, where am I going to go? How am I going to make it? My dad just died, what am I going to do? He goes, look, a lot of sad stories in the World. A lot of sad stories. I played with guys that grew up. Not only did they not have parents, they didn't have a glove, you know, but they were. They were gifted. You know, they grew up in the Dominican. They grew up wherever, and they just made it happen. No one's going to make it happen for you. You got to make it happen for yourself. And I really took that lesson to heart. I still do. Every day, it's like it's on you do to figure it out. And I listen. We're all very, very fortunate in our lives, right? For sure. Not just health, but. But career opportunities, all the other things.

[Travis Kelsey]

Getting picked, like you said, man.

[John Ham]

Getting picked. But it's what you do after you get picked. Do you come. Do you come correct? You do you show up? You know, we can all get in the batter's box and. And no one bats a thousand, right? No one. But if you. If you show up and you prepared and you're ready to go, that's what. That's what it's all about. And I've been really fortunate in my career. Career that I've had those moments. I'll never forget the first day shooting Mad Men. I remember looking at myself in the mirror and going, okay, you got the job. What are you gonna do with it?

[Travis Kelsey]

Hell, yeah, man.

[John Ham]

And it was that moment. It was that moment where I was like, I'm gonna fucking kill this. I'm gonna kill it. That's what I'm gonna do with it.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's so badass, dog.

[John Ham]

It was. It's challenge. It ain't easy.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, no.

[John Ham]

If everybody could do it, everybody would.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. But that's the beauty of it being that challenging those. Because when you fight through and you get to, you know, where you are now.

[John Ham]

You look at Bobby last night. Bobby Wright, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[John Ham]

What a story.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, dude.

[John Ham]

It's those kinds of. Those kinds of stories that you go, all right.

[Travis Kelsey]

You know, I had no idea about Bobby and his. And his story like that. So I. That was another. Like, I've always appreciated his game for sure. And then obviously, you. When you get underneath that face mask, all of a sudden you get to hear, you know, how. How amazing the guy really is.

[John Ham]

Yeah. Crazy.

[Travis Kelsey]

We'll let you get out of here, brother. Thank you for all the. Thank you for the wisdom, man.

[John Ham]

My pleasure.

[Travis Kelsey]

Go, dog. Can't wait to see everything that you got.

[John Ham]

Season two coming out April 3rd. Third, here we go.

[Jason Kelsey]

Thank you to our partner. Apple.

[Travis Kelsey]

There's nothing like your first Mac. I first got mine when my dad brought home a Mac and I felt like I was the coolest kid in the world because I could finally get on a Messenger. It was like the coolest thing ever as a kid because you got to text your friends and I'll be on the same chat.

[Jason Kelsey]

No, it's.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, it definitely felt like a level up.

[Jason Kelsey]

I think everybody felt that way when they got that first Macintosh.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, man. I still feel that way every time I get a iPhone or a new Mac. And it's just like the new technology just makes me already feel smarter. It already makes me feel better. And now the all new MacBook Neo is here, and it comes at a surprising price.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's right. So whether you're in school starting something new or just want to fly through everyday tasks and apps, this is your moment.

[Travis Kelsey]

Check out the all new MacBook Neo. Learn more at apple.com Mac thank you

[Jason Kelsey]

to our sponsor, Allstate.

[Travis Kelsey]

Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's. That's smart. That's right now checking if your cleats still fit before the first day of training camp. Rookie move. Not very smart for your feet, toenails, all that. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check all state first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate.

[Jason Kelsey]

Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Thank you to John Ham once again. That conversation was brought to you by Apple.

[Travis Kelsey]

Last thing before we wrap up. Let's take a look at the old new heights. Reese's March Madness Bracket Challenge guy.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, baby.

[Travis Kelsey]

Having some upsets, some incredible gains. How about that Yukon Duke end?

[Jason Kelsey]

That was insane.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, that was absolutely insane.

[Jason Kelsey]

I was watching that on my iPad because we were on vacation this week and audibly screamed in a. I hadn't.

[Travis Kelsey]

I hadn't jumped out of my seat from a sporting event in a long time. And it was magical. When he hit that three, I was like, in my mind, I'm like, too much time when he threw it up, and I was just like, he drained it.

[Jason Kelsey]

The moment the ball got tipped, you're

[Travis Kelsey]

like, oh, no, they're gonna have a chance to chuck a three. And then they passed it. He caught it, didn't like anything. So he just threw it to the first open. Oh, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

Was so epic.

[Jason Kelsey]

He also said on live television, I believe when he was in his post game. Com talk with the reporter on the court.

[Travis Kelsey]

Freshman. Freshman. Getting used to the whole situation. A lot of emotions. I Get it, man. And also, who didn't say. At some point, even the. Listen, the head coach's like, mom is in the stand saying, Holy.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, right?

[Travis Kelsey]

It was epic, dude.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah. Dan Hurley, obviously, headbutting officials always love to see that.

[Travis Kelsey]

Well, let's get into our bracket. Shout out to the nine tuber centers and the leaders of the women's bracket,

[Jason Kelsey]

Emily and Tarante is in the lead. In second place, we got Amanda Trujillo, who both have. Yukon wins.

[Travis Kelsey]

Winning.

[Jason Kelsey]

And then we have somebody rolling with the Gamecocks, Vanessa Bletcher. I don't know if any of these names are pronounced correctly. Sorry if they're not.

[Travis Kelsey]

But congratulations, That's. You're doing some pretty good job.

[Jason Kelsey]

It does seem like if the Gamecocks win, Vanessa might have a chance. All right, men's leaders, we have Connor, who has got Michigan second place. We have Abby Pierce rolling with the aligner. I. The align. I did not know that the alliance. I have not watched college basketball.

[Travis Kelsey]

One of the highlights I remember seeing. And these. These boys know how to do, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'm enjoying watching them. I mean, they knocked out my team. Houston, God damn it. They forgot how to play offense. But anyways, great job. To the Serbs. The. The. The Balkans, dude. The. The Balkans are killing it, man. They're freaking lighting it up. A lot of itches and witches.

[Travis Kelsey]

New Abby, Pierce, Yakovic's.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, no, they're killing it. James Lewis, Yukon, they got winning. James has UConn, and then Austin Stiller has Arizona. All right, so the top four all have different teams. I do think Arizona is going to win, although I did think Houston was going to win, so what the fuck do I know? I also watched no basketball.

[Travis Kelsey]

I'm not going to lie. I'm jacked up. I'm pumped up right now because this is going to be a hell of a final four, man. These teams, I think, all match up pretty goddamn well. And Michigan's been playing their tail off. I didn't know how big Michigan was, man. Michigan's got, like, a NBA court, man. But it's gonna be. It's gonna be fun to watch these guys go. And it looks like Yukon's got the juice right now after that last win against Duke. Yeah. New Heights staff updates. Currently tied for first in the men's bracket, our intern Brandon and researcher Diana, who both have Arizona winning it all. Jason is in second, but had Houston winning it. Travis is in third. That's me. Also have Arizona winning it. So I can't pass Brandon or Diana, but I can Take over. Jason, you will pass me probably. All right. Jack Shake is in six, but will win it all if Michigan makes the finals. Oh, wow.

[Jason Kelsey]

Wow.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's crazy.

[Jason Kelsey]

This is a tight race.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. In the women's bracket, Brandon and Diana also tied for first. Okay. They watch basketball. And Brandon has Texas winning, and Diana has Yukon winning it. Jason is in second with South Carolina winning. Winning it. And no one from the New Heights production team picked UCLA to win it all. I don't know why that's in there. All right, New Heights staffer that is in trouble. Men's loser, with a whopping 0 points gained after around a 32, our official loser of the men's bracket is our producer, Aaron Loric. Sorry, Aaron. Apologize for throwing you under the bus there. We got to do better, though.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's honestly insane. Insane.

[Travis Kelsey]

I had, like, how do you ever had seen anybody with zero points gained after the round of 32?

[Jason Kelsey]

He missed, like, it. Even if you're flipping a coin and picking. He missed all 16 games.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's crazy.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's wild.

[Travis Kelsey]

It was upset central over there on Aaron's bracket. He definitely just. He definitely just clicked. There's a click that says you can have it automatically filled out. He hit that for sure. Guaranteed. I say that because the women's loser. And finally, with 68 points but no more points remaining, our official loser of the women's bracket is me.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yes, it is. How we feeling, Trav?

[Travis Kelsey]

I feel pretty upset that I let it get to this point, but, you know, just got to do better in life, and you got to understand the circumstances better, and you got to understand that your brother is going to go out and cheat and. And there's nothing you could do about it.

[Jason Kelsey]

What are you so upset about, Travis? Why are you so upset? What are you so upset about?

[Travis Kelsey]

What am I so upset about is that this was just a friendly competition. And then after I submitted my bracket and you hadn't submitted a bracket yet. We decide as a group.

[Jason Kelsey]

This is a false. This is a false time.

[Travis Kelsey]

Let him talk during the show.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yep.

[Travis Kelsey]

You started to fill out a bracket, did you not?

[Jason Kelsey]

No, I did not fill out a bracket. I was talking about. What were we doing? I literally told you guys. I have not even looked at the brackets yet. How am I supposed to do a bracket recap?

[John Ham]

Yes.

[Jason Kelsey]

And I just started bullshitting in the final four. Then we talked about. And then we talked about there being some type of punishment for the loser, but the. The on the show four, because I didn't know that we were doing no,

[Brandon]

you can make bracket adjustments up until it's due. You can make adjustments close because you close. There's, like, injuries that come up there.

[Jason Kelsey]

Submit it. I didn't submit a bracket.

[Travis Kelsey]

I already had submitted it. Because I did.

[Jason Kelsey]

Neither of you had looked at the bracket. Neither of you looked at the bracket.

[Brandon]

We recorded the show under false pretenses. Neither of you didn't looked at the bracket.

[Jason Kelsey]

You are misleading with the timeline.

[Travis Kelsey]

Bull ring, nose piercing. Well, that's a new. Have Howard beating Michigan.

[Jason Kelsey]

No, I wouldn't.

[Brandon]

You thought they were due.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'm just going to throw it out there. Your bracket was not submitted until after we talked about there being a punishment on the show episode.

[Brandon]

Punishments were talked about. Punishments were talked about.

[Jason Kelsey]

That is a true statement.

[Brandon]

We hadn't decided on one, but the idea of their punishments was going to.

[John Ham]

To come up.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yes.

[Brandon]

Nobody's going to have to get pierced. We're not piercing you. We're not going to pierce you.

[Travis Kelsey]

The woman's bracket. You're right. I took a chance on Iowa. That's fair, dude.

[Brandon]

Women's bracket. Just slide the number ones forward. Just slide the number ones forward.

[Jason Kelsey]

What is the. Is there a punishment for both brackets or only for the men's bracket?

[Brandon]

The punishments are for new heights team members only.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yes.

[Brandon]

And I believe we already have our loser of the men's.

[Travis Kelsey]

I trusted the power of Caitlyn Clark, Claire KD and George Kittle.

[Brandon]

Oh, little name drop. I like to work the name drop in there. That's good.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's good, friend.

[Brandon]

George and Caitlyn.

[Jason Kelsey]

I don't know. I don't know if you've heard of them.

[John Ham]

I don't know if you guys heard my friend.

[Brandon]

I. I just call her Kate.

[Jason Kelsey]

I may be a loser in the bracket, but I'm a winner in life.

[Travis Kelsey]

You just feel the energy from.

[John Ham]

You're like, those are good people.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'm going to pick Iowa in the women's bracket. You did pick him in the men's

[Travis Kelsey]

as well, which, Yeah, I didn't have them go into this lead eight, though.

[Jason Kelsey]

So the bet is only for the men's bracket. We're not incorporating the loser.

[Brandon]

Oh, no, I know that. Yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

So how. What is the ratio? How do. How do we figure this? How's. How is it determined who lost? Who is the loser of both brackets?

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah. I'm glad we're figuring this out at the end of it. This is awesome. Give it to me. Brandon, I know you got something.

[Brandon]

No, Travis, you've. You've already lost the women's Tell me what I've lost.

[Travis Kelsey]

Tell me what I've lost. The women's bracket.

[Brandon]

You lost the. You lost the wins bracket.

[Jason Kelsey]

So who has to eat the waffles at the Waffles?

[Brandon]

Well, if that's the punishment we'd like, Travis might be joining.

[John Ham]

Wait, what?

[Travis Kelsey]

How the fuck place.

[Brandon]

So you lost the women's. You lost the women's.

[Jason Kelsey]

So there's gonna be two people that have to do this.

[Brandon]

I feel like we should do two punishments.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, that's only fair.

[Brandon]

Punishments.

[Travis Kelsey]

Do you guys understand how betting works?

[Jason Kelsey]

We talked about there being a punishment, Charles. We all agreed to a punishment.

[Brandon]

We all agreed to this. There was a blood.

[Travis Kelsey]

Everybody agreed to degree to.

[Brandon]

We said it on Mike. We said it on Mike. On Mike is sacred.

[Travis Kelsey]

We also said on Mike, Jason's final four in the men's bracket.

[Jason Kelsey]

You can put anything in there before you hit submit. It's. It doesn't count.

[Brandon]

You can do whatever you want until

[Travis Kelsey]

the ball is snapped.

[Jason Kelsey]

Do you think I'm going to trust Wyatt, Travis?

[Travis Kelsey]

I did. I did. I trusted your daughter. And your daughter has no integrity. She knows fucking nothing.

[Jason Kelsey]

Let me tell you, she does know nothing. She is six.

[Travis Kelsey]

What are you teaching her over there, huh? She doesn't even know who'd win in a fight between Michigan and Howard.

[Jason Kelsey]

She's starting to figure out how to use her numbers to do math above the number 10, Travis.

[Brandon]

Hell yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

That's who you trusted to. To even get 16, we got to

[Travis Kelsey]

get her in the advanced classes.

[Jason Kelsey]

She can barely count to the number of teams in the NCAA tournament.

[Travis Kelsey]

There's no way she's six years old and can't count.

[Jason Kelsey]

She can. She can definitely count. I said,

[Brandon]

takes a second.

[Jason Kelsey]

Once. Once she gets to 100, it starts to get a little dicey, but she's.

[Brandon]

Does she. Does she just do that thing where she just starts counting and just wants you to know how high she can count?

[Jason Kelsey]

Yes, we're in that stage. I was.

[Brandon]

I was hanging out with some. Some children. They're like, you want to see something cool? I was like, sure. And they're like, you want Ohio account? I was like, oh, no, I don't. And then they just went. We got to 45. And I was like, you want to go outside?

[Jason Kelsey]

Welcome to 90, 98, 99 Bottles of Beer on the wall. But we're not going to stop early. We're going to keep it going. Do you want to iron count?

[Brandon]

I'm like, oh, no, that sucks. That's a terrible trick.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, no. I Think you can kind of. You can kind of shut your brain off once they start counting, right? You don't have to, like, keep them honest.

[Jason Kelsey]

You'd be surprised. You'd be surprised.

[Travis Kelsey]

You can just let them go.

[Brandon]

No, they demand attention.

[Jason Kelsey]

Bunch.

[Brandon]

All right, do you want to.

[Travis Kelsey]

All right, let's do.

[Brandon]

Let's maybe podcast.

[Jason Kelsey]

So the men's bracket is still. Oh, there is a loser in the men's bracket. Who's the loser in the men's bracket?

[Brandon]

Aaron? We could do one overall loser of combined worst score.

[Jason Kelsey]

Would you guys rather do that?

[Brandon]

Would you guys rather do that? Yeah.

[John Ham]

Are we.

[Travis Kelsey]

No.

[Brandon]

That intros?

[Travis Kelsey]

No.

[Brandon]

Well, then what do you want to do? You're being fussy.

[Jason Kelsey]

Can we stop acting like. Eating waffles at a Waffle House is that big of a punishment.

[Brandon]

As long as you do it before training camp, you're fine.

[Travis Kelsey]

But how do I. In. Every waffle is an hour.

[Brandon]

Here's Aaron.

[Travis Kelsey]

Here's Aaron.

[Brandon]

Aaron, explain your. Is an hour.

[Travis Kelsey]

You got 24 hours. And every waffle is an hour.

[Jason Kelsey]

Can specialty waffles. Like, if I eat a blueberry waffle,

[Travis Kelsey]

can I add, like, an extra 30 minutes taken off or like. No, you're just straight.

[Jason Kelsey]

No, no, I will not allow it.

[Brandon]

Aaron, I know your. Your work hours. You have nothing but time. Hey, Travis is the one who's got stuff going on.

[Travis Kelsey]

I'd rather do a drinking situation than do a waffle situation like this. I'd rather have to sit at a bar from start to finish.

[John Ham]

Should we go to Chili's?

[Jason Kelsey]

The punishment isn't about what you would rather do, loser. The punishment is a punishment.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, we didn't agree that this.

[Jason Kelsey]

We agreed to a punishment.

[Brandon]

Punishment. We did agree to a punishment that is. That is on record. But he did agree to punishment.

[Jason Kelsey]

A drinking festivities with your buddy Aaron.

[Brandon]

What if we ask one of our guests today, Coach Calhoun, what the punishment should be?

[Jason Kelsey]

No, we're going to do.

[Brandon]

We're going to do Coach Calhoun. I'm going to ask him. That's my one question to Coach Calhoun.

[Jason Kelsey]

Aaron, how did you not get a single sweet 16 team? If I know guy, I don't. I don't watch college basketball.

[Travis Kelsey]

Neither do I, J.C. neither do I.

[Brandon]

None of us did. That's not an excuse.

[Travis Kelsey]

And fucking asked his ESPN colleague that is a professional in sports gambling.

[Jason Kelsey]

I did not. I did not.

[Travis Kelsey]

Who's gonna fucking win? What fucking job? It is so ridiculous. Jason fucking cheated so bad, and you guys are just gonna.

[Brandon]

First of all, here we go now. Here's the real accusation.

[Travis Kelsey]

Let's get into this.

[Jason Kelsey]

I did not ask an ESPN colleague. I asked my best friend, Corey Sims, who used to be an equipment manager for the Cincinnati Bearcats, who is now my financial advisor, and he gave me the slowdown.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yes.

[Brandon]

The money man.

[John Ham]

You're right.

[Jason Kelsey]

You're right.

[Travis Kelsey]

You gave it to you.

[John Ham]

You.

[Travis Kelsey]

You had somebody else fail your bracket, which is my entire. I would have had somebody.

[Jason Kelsey]

We filled it out together.

[Travis Kelsey]

We filled it out together. I could have called Jay Phyllis and told Jay, hey, what's your bracket? Let me copy every answer.

[John Ham]

You cheated, Jason.

[Brandon]

A little name drop there. A little name drop from Travis.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's called teamwork, guys. That's called collusion. That is called collusion.

[John Ham]

Illusion.

[Travis Kelsey]

It's called illusion.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's called teamwork. I'm giving Corey credit. I'm not telling you that I picked the names. I'm saying I went to my buddy who's an expert because I don't know about basketball, and I asked the guy that I used to go.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's the fun of it, Jason.

[Brandon]

First place in both men's and women's ball, right here.

[Travis Kelsey]

You did not. No, you didn't. You didn't even pick Texas. Stop it.

[Jason Kelsey]

I can't believe you guys don't want to go hang out in a wall house.

[Brandon]

We don't have Waffle Houses in California. You gotta find something else.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, I mean, if it's a Waffle

[Jason Kelsey]

House, at least it's like, you know,

[Travis Kelsey]

waffle on a show.

[John Ham]

There might be a fight, so that's a positive.

[Brandon]

If you get in a fight at the Waffle House, you can leave immediately.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, let's do it.

[Jason Kelsey]

Wait, hold on, hold on. If I get a fight at the Waffle House, are you guys.

[Travis Kelsey]

Is the company covering my legal fees?

[Brandon]

I will.

[Travis Kelsey]

No, I'm sorry. What was that?

[Brandon]

No, we do have no lawyers or HR on this staff.

[Jason Kelsey]

Next week, we're also going to announce the winners of our Reese's in New Heights bracket challenge. So tune into that.

[Travis Kelsey]

And the last thing there was another huge basketball story this week, and we had to get this guy on to talk about it. That's right. Let's go ahead and toss it to the old, old University of Cincinnati ball. Coach.

[Coach Calhoun]

What's up, boys?

[Jason Kelsey]

Welcome back, Coach. How we feeling?

[Coach Calhoun]

Oh, man. Exhausted. It's never ends like a never ending cycle. You wake up, you go to sleep for four hours and just deal with chaos from start to finish. But it's good to be back. Man.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, man. I had. This is my favorite Question. Because everybody loves to talk about the old chili down there in Cincinnati. And I'm very curious. What's your, what was your first culinary stop? What was their first, like, go to. I got to get some food. I've missed it so much as I've since I've left.

[Coach Calhoun]

Well, it hasn't been Skyline yet, honestly. It's been the football cafeteria, man. It's the closest thing.

[Travis Kelsey]

There you go.

[Coach Calhoun]

Tell you what, you guys build a heck of a facility, guys. Wow, that thing is a beast.

[Travis Kelsey]

I'm assuming it's been pretty crazy for you because you're, you've been kind of separated from the university longer than we have. How crazy is it seeing how much the campus has grown since you, since you're being back?

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah, man, I told, Hugs, I told all those former players that were there. It's. Can't even recognize it, honestly. You know, when I was here, man, this, this was kind of a school in the, in the inner city and you know, like a commuter type school, to be honest with you. And it's just changed so much, man. It's, it's a phenomenal institution. We have a ton to sell, man. I, I think this thing's going to be great.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, it's remarkable every time I go back, like, you know, obviously the facilities for the sport, for the football team, basketball team are all pretty brand new. But it's not even just that like around campus. The whole area has been built up so much. There's so many restaurants and bars and things that weren't there when we were there. UC used to stand for under construction. That was the whole joke when I was there. Like, we're just constantly trying to build it up.

[Coach Calhoun]

No doubt.

[Jason Kelsey]

But it's remarkable what it's turned into.

[Coach Calhoun]

What was your favorite spots? I know you guys had some spots when you were down here.

[Jason Kelsey]

Oh, Skyline was one of them. Especially at 2 in the morning. Morning. That Skyline over on Ludlow.

[Travis Kelsey]

Now, first of all, Jason's speaking for himself right here. Jason speaking for himself there. Skyline be the last place I go. Shout out to Skyline, though, and Gold star. Much love to you guys. I know you guys built a hell of an establishment, but I'm an Adriatico's pizza guy.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yes, yes, yes. I want to go there. I haven't been there yet, Trev. I gotta hit it.

[Jason Kelsey]

Adriaticos is fantastic. And then I, I got a shot out of Spot Martino's over on shore. Fine.

[Travis Kelsey]

Okay.

[Jason Kelsey]

Good people that run it and they had these, these Pittsburgh style wings and this sparky Pittsburgh steak salad that we used to get there, and we just got to know the people that own that place, and it was. It's an awesome spot. So you get a chance. Martino's is great over there on Short Vine.

[Coach Calhoun]

I'm gonna hit it. Yep. I'll hit it next week.

[Jason Kelsey]

And then, of course, you know, Montgomery Inn. Come on now. Get some of them barbecue ribs.

[Coach Calhoun]

That's where Hugs, his radio show used to be. So I'm looking forward. Radio show will be out there. Yeah.

[Jason Kelsey]

I didn't know this. You actually were a student at Cincinnati as well. So you. You started at Cleveland State as a player.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yep.

[Jason Kelsey]

And then you transferred to uc, finished your degree, and went into coaching right away. What does Cincinnati mean to you? How do you feel being back?

[Coach Calhoun]

To be honest with you, it's kind of crazy. It's surreal, right? You go through life, you know, there's certain things that happen in your life that you're like. Like a wow moment, probably for you guys, whether it was your first start, first super bowl, whatever it was. There's just certain things that happen, and this is kind of one of those. It's been a crazy journey. I took an unconventional path. Took a D2 job from West Virginia, you know, after I didn't get Travis, you know, I had to go a different route. He turned us down, man. He turned us down.

[Jason Kelsey]

I'll tell you who turned you down. Ed Kelsey turned you down. That's the real story of it. Well, we can get into that.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah, we got to get into some of that. If we got time.

[Travis Kelsey]

Are you kidding? We would love to.

[Coach Calhoun]

You know, just been a wild journey, man. I've coached at every level. Obviously, Utah State's one of the best schools in the country. Country. Best student. Student section I've ever seen. We got to get that back here at uc. But this is a place where you can win a national championship, and I think it's the best job in the state of Ohio for basketball. I really do. I've always thought that our alumni here is real. We got a real fan base and this campus we can sell. So I'm excited.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's awesome to hear, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

Everybody, I think, was rooting for Utah State and the attorney just because we were like, hey, we're all hoping that Coach Calhoun comes back home. And, you know, it was. It was fun watching you guys this season and in the tourney.

[Travis Kelsey]

Yeah, it was so cool to see what you guys built over there at Utah, too, man. You could tell. You could tell. So dating Back to old 2007, back when you and Hugs, actually in the entire, like, like, staff went to West Virginia, I believe, Kansas State, maybe before. Before that.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

Going into West Virginia, I was. I had already kind of committed, and I. I was. I was looking around for. At some basketball schools, and old Barry Egan, Coach Egan, Ohio. Ohio basketball coach, coached me my. My junior, senior years, and. And Egan had a really good connection with you guys down in Cincinnati. So I go down to West Virginia. You're my point of contact. You guys treat me like family, like I had never been treated before. I was Jason's little brother, and Cincinnati didn't even give me this much attention.

[Coach Calhoun]

Trav, I'll be honest, man, you could hoop, man. That's what people. You know, obviously, you're going to go down as. As the greatest tight end in my. In my book, but you were a Hooper, man. I mean, you know, all those heights, guys, you were a beast.

[Travis Kelsey]

I appreciate that. I was a. I was a Hooper at heart, for sure. You went to Village St. Joe. You went to Joe's, right?

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah. Joe's guy, man. Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

I wish you would have told my dad that. So I. I came back from the West Virginia trip and I told my dad, man, I was like, dad, I think. Think I want to really, like, give myself a chance at playing Division 1 college basketball and play for, you know, Coach Huggins. He looked at me and said, you are a man of your word. You want to be like kids that are. That commit to us, that commit to a university and then decommit, and then now. And now the integrity of your word doesn't mean anything. You have to be a man of your word. And I look around at everybody nowadays in college, I'm just like, what was I doing?

[Coach Calhoun]

Well, nowadays, you guys would have made a lot of money, I could tell you that. A lot of money.

[Travis Kelsey]

No, man. But you could tell the way you guys ran and. Or the way you guys ran that the ship in West Virginia and just the camaraderie that you saw on the floor and how. And how everybody on the bench was involved in the game, you could tell that's something you kind of took from the. The Hugs regime, correct?

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah. I mean, honestly, guys, Hugs is one of the greatest coaches of all time. But what people don't talk about is he's got three former coaches, assistants that are now in the Final Four. Brad Underw at Illinois, obviously, Frank and Mick Cronin, and Coach Cronin's been unbelievable to me throughout my coaching career. So when this opportunity came he was one of the first guys I called. But yeah, I mean, I've taken some stuff from everybody. Joe Missoula is one of my best friends. I was the best man in his wedding. Coached him at West Virginia. So he's going to be involved in the program.

[Travis Kelsey]

Nice.

[Coach Calhoun]

You know, we want to get you guys back. We're talking about doing a fantasy camp. Camp. We used to run one at West Virginia. So we might have you guys get back as well if we can get your schedules cleared. As I know you guys are, you know, doing a lot.

[Travis Kelsey]

You know, we would love to. That would be a blast.

[Jason Kelsey]

Travis knows this, but I've been trying to dunk for the first time in my life. I think I'm going to get there. I think it's going to. 38 years old. I'm dunking, baby. Where this going to happen?

[Coach Calhoun]

My wife. My wife loves your wife, Jason. She thinks she's awesome. So you, you guys have your personalities and your brand, man. You guys are connecting so many people. And you guys don't know this, but I was very close with Donald Delicio Trav. So we were. Yeah, we, we became die hard Chiefs fans, man. We flew out every year with a group of Youngstown guys and you know, the Phantom fireworks guys and all those guys, that's our. Yeah, that's our crew.

[Jason Kelsey]

Those Youngstown guys, they. They stay together. Wait, so you're from Youngstown or East. East Liverpool basically is Youngstown. I mean, it's.

[Coach Calhoun]

I was born in East Liverpool, but I grew up in Cleveland, man. I'm, I'm a Cleveland guy, but yeah, I spent seven years at Youngstown. Jim Trestle was a huge mentor of mine and, you know, so I've had a lot of good guys help me along the way.

[Travis Kelsey]

There's some good people in that, that Youngstown era, man, or that area. And they, they really, really do lend a helping hand. And Tresses, I mean, I could throw out countless names that have said the exact same thing about Trestle being able to be such a helping hand in, in their journey, man. So that's awesome, big guy. And it's, it's cool to hear that Missoula is even coming back to or coming around uc. That's pretty cool stuff right there.

[Coach Calhoun]

Who do you guys like? Who's your NBA teams, man? You watch any of it or.

[Jason Kelsey]

I live in Philadelphia. I'm connected to the Philly teams.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah, you got to watch what you say, Jason.

[Jason Kelsey]

Well, yeah, I like the Sixers, but we grew up camp fans.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah, yeah, me too. I mean, I love the Cavs. Sam Merrill, Utah State guy. So we become close.

[Travis Kelsey]

I'm a Mark Price guy. The price is always right. We can go down. We can go down the list. Bobby sir was one of my childhood favorites.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah, me too. Oh, my God. I had the jersey.

[Travis Kelsey]

Oh, the three.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah, the three. Yeah. The throwback.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, I'm a big Anderson Vera guy. I like. I like hustle defense, man. I want. I want those hustle plays.

[Travis Kelsey]

Coach, you gotta.

[Jason Kelsey]

I gotta say this, too. While we're on Cleveland, guys, there was a quote of referencing you to another Cleveland guy, Maverick Carter. I've known Jared since we were 11 years old. And the only person that I've met that loves the game is as committed to the game is LeBron. And it's a tie. That's an incredible quote because I think LeBron is renowned for his love of basketball. But I do got to know, are. Do you love the game enough to headbutt an official if you potentially aren't?

[Coach Calhoun]

Maybe a few years back, yeah, that was Danny. Danny's on a whole another level. But hey, he's got two natties, so he can get away with that. Maverick and I grew up together, you know, we're both AU guys, so we would spend the weekend at each other's house. You know, I eat, sleep, drink basketball. I don't golf. You know, I'm constantly trying to evolve, learn. I think one of the things we'll be able to track to Cincinnati is our style, man. We really teach guys to play green, to find, create, keep advantages. We teach space. You know, it's all about reads, right? Like, you got to be able to read the game. And you guys are elite guys that have read the game for a long time. And that's what we do. We try to train their eyes, man. It's. It's a whole progression right from the off season to the preseason. And a lot of this I got from Joe. I'll be honest, man, when I went up to Boston five, six years ago, it changed my trajectory as a coach. And kids don't want to play in our system because we score the ball and at the end of the day, day, man, it's entertainment. People want to pay money to see touchdowns, and they want to see the ball go through the basket. So we're going to sell it, man.

[Travis Kelsey]

You're getting me fired up right now, Coach.

[Jason Kelsey]

I love talking about this stuff, too, because football is.

[Travis Kelsey]

I think I got like one semester left eligibility, Coach.

[Coach Calhoun]

Hey, we'll get you a good nil. Deal, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah.

[Coach Calhoun]

You gotta ask your wife.

[Jason Kelsey]

Good six, man. Off the bench. Yeah. Yeah.

[Travis Kelsey]

Sweetie. I'm going back to school.

[Jason Kelsey]

You are bringing up something, though, that I've thought I've always been fascinated with and I've never understood because I never played Oregon played pickup basketball. And something I've always found fascinating is like, it's a free flowing game. Football is much more rigid in your rules and assignments. Each play you have a very specific responsibility. And one of the things that I think has allowed Travis the ability to excel in football is because he played basketball, because he has the ability to understand what you're talking about with spacing and like to go off schedule and do something because you just know that it's the right move to make. How much has basketball continued to evolve in that regard? Like, you think about like the triangle offense and how innovative that was. And I don't. I don't even know what I'm asking you because I don't know a fucking thing about basketball.

[Coach Calhoun]

I know where you're going with it. I mean, at the end of the day, you have to evolve. You have to change with the times, right? And I think there's not a better guy that's done it than Joe Missoula. I mean, look what he's done since he's gotten to Boston, you know? But it's beyond that. It's relationship ships. You got to have. You got to have the chemistry, right? What. What Travis has done. And, you know, my family teases me. You know, I changed from the Browns. There was only so much I could take from the Cleveland Browns. So I got on the chief's wagon with the Youngstown crew and Rocky.

[Travis Kelsey]

No.

[Coach Calhoun]

And we. We made a lot of trips out there, Trav. Don't even realize I've been in Arrowhead a lot.

[Travis Kelsey]

That's awesome, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

It's a good place to watch a game.

[Coach Calhoun]

Oh, it's unbelievable. I mean, if people haven't seen a game in there, it's.

[Travis Kelsey]

It.

[Coach Calhoun]

Forget the game. The pregame tailgates are. It's like a college atmosphere. It's crazy.

[Travis Kelsey]

I had no idea you were all. You were already on the. The chief's wagon, man. That's awesome.

[Coach Calhoun]

I'm going to send you a picture of me at the game with my boys. I'll send it to you. You'll love it.

[Travis Kelsey]

You got to come back out for another one, man, if you get a chance.

[Jason Kelsey]

Coach, I saw you on Dan Horde earlier this week talking about the crosstown shootout. And the how important is it to dominate Ohio? I. That was a big thing I took away from it.

[Coach Calhoun]

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, man, you know, rivalries, right, we all got them, we all have that team. But this one is really special. You know, I think it's one of the most unique. You know, you got Duke, Carolina, you got Cincinnati, Xavier, right? There's two monster basketball programs within four or five miles. So those are games you got to win, right? You got to defend home turf, you got to rep your city. We're going to take a lot of pride in that, you know, And President Trestle talked about Ohio State, Michigan, with me for years. It's got to be, you know, talked about. It's got to be trained in our guys minds that we got to win this game, you know, and it starts in the recruiting process.

[Travis Kelsey]

It doesn't matter where you are. If you're, if you have the chance to watch UC basketball, you're always going to check that crosstown Shootout, you know, game. And I mean, it's just, it's something that I, I already know you're going to take to heart, man. But I got to get back to some of the, some of the high school days and a little bit more of this Northeast Ohio love, man.

[Jason Kelsey]

Okay.

[Travis Kelsey]

Thing I have to ask you about is the final game of your high school career was against one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Yeah, I had the pleasure of seeing LeBron in high school and he looked like a man amongst boys. How did it feel playing against him in high school?

[Coach Calhoun]

Well, I'll be honest, that's one that haunts you, right? Like you got games that haunt you. That one still haunts me because, yeah, we would have been state champs. I'll never forget Trapp. My high school coach, Ted Quasi Wozniak, just a tremendous person. He went and saw LeBron. He came back, he saw, he saw Clark Kellogg back in the day at Joe's. This is the greatest high school player I've ever seen. And I'm like, I'm a senior. I'm like, you know, who, who's this freshman he's talking about? So boom, fast forward two months later and in this dude is just killing. It was crazy. I mean, we were up the whole game back and forth. Maverick was on that team. So we talk about it a lot, lot. But you know what made LeBron so good is guys like you, Mahomes. I mean, you look at every sport, they just know the game, they see the plays. Before he had A cross court pass, I still think about to this day in transition as a freshman.

[Travis Kelsey]

That was one of the things, obviously his athleticism. I didn't get to see him until he was a senior, so his athleticism was like he was in the NBA already. But his ability to pass the ball anywhere on the dime at any moment was so unique. And it, he made it look so effortless.

[Coach Calhoun]

I mean, at that point he was like six, six. And he grew like from freshman to sophomore. He got like three more inches, you know.

[John Ham]

Crazy.

[Coach Calhoun]

Absolutely crazy.

[Jason Kelsey]

I got one last thing. If you see, if you have. If you happen to see a Super bowl ring lying around some Chili and fifth Third arena, you make sure to let me know because I.

[Coach Calhoun]

You lose it in Cincinnati. Was it a good night?

[Jason Kelsey]

It was a great night. It was a great night.

[Travis Kelsey]

It was an unbelievable night. Yeah.

[Coach Calhoun]

Well, we got to get you guys back.

[Travis Kelsey]

Absolutely love to come back. Definitely coming back for a game to see you rock it out. Hopefully. Hopefully we can even get back for a little crosstown shootout.

[Coach Calhoun]

That'd be great. Yeah. I'm glad Reggie connected us, man. Reggie King, great guy, man. Shout out to Reggie.

[Travis Kelsey]

You're the man, coach. We appreciate you, big guy.

[John Ham]

We're.

[Travis Kelsey]

We're rooting for you. And if you ever need a thing, man, please just reach out.

[Coach Calhoun]

Thanks, guys. Appreciate this.

[Jason Kelsey]

Thank you to Coach Calhoun, baby. Yeah, baby. That's the one and only. Happy to have him back in Cincinnati. That wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you to John Ham and Coach Calhood. Check out Jon Ham on the new season of your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV starting April 3rd. And get your ass to Fifth Third arena for some basketball, baby. Season tickets are on sale now. The Bear Cats are back. Oh, make sure you subscribe to the new edge channel on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast.

[Travis Kelsey]

Once again, new Eyes of Wonder show brought to you by AT&T, the number one cellular service. That and WI fi service and cable service at every T. You know, AT and T. Follow the show on all social media at new height show with 1s. We got a bunch of fun clips throughout the week. And thanks to the New Heights production team for always making us look better but making other jobs so much easier and really doing all the work. We appreciate you for that. And to the 92 percenters, we love you guys too for tuning in to what the New Heights production team does. Love you guys. See you guys next week.

[Brandon]

You want to do top show?

[Jason Kelsey]

Yeah, let me get one more caffeinated beverage, but yes,

[Brandon]

take one second what's fine. Just feel like it's always something.

[Jason Kelsey]

His eyes roll. Oh, you guys aren't ready yet.

[Travis Kelsey]

That actually did sound like Brandon.

[Jason Kelsey]

I got a great impersonation.

[Brandon]

Do it. Do it. How do I sound? Jason, do my. Do an impression of me. How do I sound?

[Jason Kelsey]

Oh, how do I sound? God damn you. Damn you, Jason. Kelsey.