Share & Swear & Tell with Jessica Smetana and Kevin Clark

Summary

Pablo Torre Finds Out: Share & Swear & Tell with Jessica Smetana and Kevin Clark

Release Date: May 2, 2025
Hosts: Pablo Torre, Jessica Smetana, and Kevin Clark
Episode Title: Share & Swear & Tell with Jessica Smetana and Kevin Clark

---

Introduction

In this episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, host Pablo Torre delves into the intersection of sportsmanship, language, and performance with guests Jessica Smetana and Kevin Clark. The discussion spans from unexpected brawls on golf courses to the stringent language regulations in Formula One (F1), and even touches upon the psychological benefits of swearing in high-stress environments.

---

Golf Course Brawls and Sportsmanship

The episode begins with a conversation about recent altercations on golf courses, particularly a notable incident in West Colona, Jacksonville.

• Kevin Clark (00:21): "Jess has me shook because now I don't know whether I can say or not."

• Jess Matana (01:22): "No."

Incident Overview:

• West Colona Golf Course Brawl (01:22): A confrontation starts with shoving and cursing, escalating into physical punches. The tension appears to stem from crowded courses and slow play, leading to frustration among players.

Discussion Highlights:

• Pablo Torre (02:01): "What's the difference between a golf course fight and like a target or airline gate fight?"

• Kevin Clark (03:24): "I'm going to tell you what I did. I came with this idea in the moment... we were just going to stand behind them to be like, you're going to fight all of us, and then we're going to defeat the situation."

Insights:

• The trio explores the etiquette and appropriate responses when witnessing conflicts in sports settings.
• Jess Matana (03:53): "I would pretend I have to go to the bathroom."

---

Formula One: The Language Controversy

Transitioning from golf, the discussion shifts to the world of Formula One, focusing on the FIA's (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) recent efforts to curb profanity among drivers.

• Jess Matana (05:26): "The FIA... have released a collective statement through the Grand Prix Drivers Association calling on Mohammed Ben Sulayem to treat them like adults."

Key Points:

• The FIA aims to eliminate swearing in post-race interviews and general conduct during F1 events.
• Kevin Clark (06:10): Shares anecdotes about profanity in racing, citing examples from NASCAR and World Rally Championships.

Notable Quotes:

• Jess Matana (16:11): "Why are they doing this? ... Lewis Hamilton came forward and said, '...it feels like you're making a pretty, like, obviously racially coded commentary...'"

Implications:

• The regulation is perceived as a marketing strategy to make F1 more palatable to a broader audience.
• Pablo Torre (16:07): "As a marketing problem, what are they worried about?"

Cultural Impact:

• Jess Matana (28:07): "The younger generation... the larger gaming culture may have an impact on the amount of profanity and... desensitization."

---

The Science Behind Swearing and Performance Enhancement

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to exploring the psychological and physiological effects of swearing, featuring insights from cognitive science.

• Dr. Ben Bergen (23:24): "People who are randomly assigned to swear can hold their hands in ice water about 50% longer and report substantially lower pain."

Key Findings:

1. Pain Tolerance: Swearing can increase an individual's ability to withstand pain by releasing adrenaline, which heightens physical responses.

2. Adrenaline Release: Swearing triggers the release of adrenaline, enhancing blood flow and pupil dilation, potentially giving athletes a performance edge.

3. Stress Relief: In high-stress situations, swearing serves as an emotional release, helping individuals manage anxiety and maintain focus.

Experiential Insights:

• Jess Matana (26:05): "After high-stress situations... you have to let the adrenaline burn off."

• Kevin Clark (25:52): Discusses a study where participants exposed to high-stress scenarios (like a first-person shooter game) swore more and performed better under pressure.

---

Kevin Clark’s Experience Hosting the Paul Fine Bomb Show

Kevin Clark shares his personal experience hosting a segment of the Paul Fine Bomb Show in Charlotte, North Carolina, highlighting the challenges and humorous interactions with callers.

Highlights:

• Initial Struggles: Facing negative feedback from callers.

• Adaptation: Embracing his authentic self and passion for college football to connect with the audience.

• Notable Interaction: A caller named Jim from Tuscaloosa initially criticizes Kevin but later compliments him, showcasing the dynamic nature of live broadcasting.

Notable Quotes:

• Kevin Clark (32:09): "It is not to that level... and eventually Jim from Tuscaloosa called back to tell me I was doing a good job."

• Jess Matana (38:52): "Becoming less hated on the show... the reward is getting invited back."

Insights:

• The importance of authenticity in hosting and the ability to adapt to live feedback.
• Kevin Clark (39:03): "If you were horrible to callers, you probably wouldn't be invited back."

---

Concluding Findings

As the episode wraps up, the hosts summarize their key takeaways from the discussions.

• Jess Matana (42:17): "I found out that Daniel Ricardo was saying the C word... he was saying a different C word."

• Pablo Torre (42:30): "What I found out today is that Jess Matana's grandma is more than qualified to be the through line through this episode as either an F1 driver or a caller into Paul Finebaum's radio show."

Final Insights:

• Swearing plays a multifaceted role in sports, serving both as a natural outlet for stress and a potential performance enhancer.
• Regulatory efforts by governing bodies like the FIA may overlook the intrinsic benefits that profanity provides to athletes in high-pressure situations.
• Authenticity and genuine interactions, whether in sports or broadcasting, foster stronger connections and better engagement with audiences.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Kevin Clark (00:21): "Jess has me shook because now I don't know whether I can say or not."
• Pablo Torre (02:01): "What's the difference between a golf course fight and like a target or airline gate fight?"
• Jess Matana (05:26): "The FIA... calling on Mohammed Ben Sulayem to treat them like adults."
• Kevin Clark (06:10): "What they're saying is racing is... sometimes... they drop an F bomb."
• Jess Matana (16:11): "Why are they doing this? ...it feels like you're making a pretty... racially coded commentary..."
• Dr. Ben Bergen (23:24): "People who are randomly assigned to swear can hold their hands in ice water about 50% longer..."
• Kevin Clark (32:09): "It is not to that level... and eventually Jim from Tuscaloosa called back to tell me I was doing a good job."
• Jess Matana (42:17): "I found out that Daniel Ricardo was saying the C word... he was saying a different C word."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out masterfully intertwines discussions on sportsmanship, cultural regulation, and the psychology of language. Through engaging dialogues and expert insights, Pablo, Jessica, and Kevin provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of how swearing is not just a crude habit but a potentially beneficial tool in high-stress athletic environments. The blend of personal anecdotes and scientific research makes for an enlightening and entertaining listen.

---

Stay Connected:

• YouTube: Pablo Torre Finds Out
• Instagram: @pablotorrefindsout
• Twitter/X: @pablofindsout
• Newsletter: Subscribe Here

Transcript

[Pablo Torre]

I'm Pablo Torre and this episode of Pablo Torre Finds out is brought to you by Remy Martin. 1738 Accord Royale. Exceptionally smooth cognac for all your game day festivities. Please drink responsibly because today we're going to find out what this sound is.

[Kevin Clark]

Jess has me shook because now I don't know whether I can say or not.

[Jess Matana]

You should just call yourself a py instead.

[Pablo Torre]

Right after this ad.

[Kevin Clark]

You're listening to DraftKings Network. This memorial Day, turn up the heat with the Home Depot. Find the perfect grill and patio set to keep the cookouts coming all season long. Grill up a feast with the next grill 4 burner gas grill only $229 and complete your space with the stylish Glen Ridge Falls 7 piece dining set now on special buy for just $499 with free. Take your Memorial Day cookout to the next level all summer long with the Home Depot. See homedepot.com delivery for more details. Jess, have you been following the the string of golf course brawls now captured on social media lately?

[Jess Matana]

No.

[Kevin Clark]

But in Canada last week.

[Jess Matana]

Go on.

[Kevin Clark]

And today there was a guy who got arrested in Florida, and essentially golf courses are too packed and people are hitting into other people. And now there's massive brawls and social media is capturing him.

[Pablo Torre]

This is Monday night at a course in West Colona. It starts with some shoving, cursing, and club pointing, then escalates with two men exchanging punches. Audio suggests one of the groups may have been playing too slowly.

[Kevin Clark]

People are more eager to punch on the golf course.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, I was gonna say, what's the difference between a golf course fight and like a target or airline gate flight?

[Kevin Clark]

Well, I'd say the airline gate thing is analogous because you're still gonna be like, you're still gonna see the guy.

[Pablo Torre]

Right. You're both getting around.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah. You're gonna get with a brawl with him and then be like, all right, we'll go back to where we were.

[Jess Matana]

The airline in the golf course, the thing they have in common is that you could be having a really bad day at both.

[Kevin Clark]

Yes.

[Jess Matana]

If you're playing bad on the golf course and then someone hits you in the leg with their shot that went way out of bounds and didn't yell 4. Yeah. You might get in a little bit of a fight over that. If you're playing really well, though, I mean, you got to let that one slide.

[Kevin Clark]

I will say this. I had a thing a couple years ago at Jacksonville Beach Golf Course where I was paired up with my buddy and we were. We were paired up with these two random people we did not know. The other people we do not know hit into the group in front of us. Unbeknownst to us, the sun was coming down. We couldn't see it was downwind. We didn't know the ball was going to go that far. So it either hits the guy, like, in the shoe or almost hits him, gets close enough, but doesn't hurt him. So the guy brings his cart up and is like, we're going to fight with the other guy. And so I look at my buddy and I go, what's the etiquette on if you're in a group with a guy who's about to get in a fight? Do we have to get in a fight with this guy because we were paired up with him? Do we keep our distance?

[Pablo Torre]

I'm going with, get in the golf cart. Drive away, you two. Leave them behind.

[Kevin Clark]

I'm going to tell you what I did. I came with this idea in the moment. It's the only good idea I've ever had. I said, this guy who's about to fight doesn't know. We don't know that guy. So we're just going to go make ourselves big, as if we were fighting a bear, and we're going to stand behind them to be like, you're going to fight all of us, and then we're going to defeat the situation.

[Jess Matana]

I would pretend I. I've never met this person. I don't know this person. And just like Pablo said, drive to the nearest halfway station or whatever, and, like, pretend I have to go to the bathroom.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah, well, yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah.

[Kevin Clark]

Sounds like nobody would want to be paired with you on the golf course. Yes.

[Jess Matana]

I hope they're not. I like playing by myself. It's great.

[Pablo Torre]

I like the idea that Kevin Clark was like, look, if we join forces, this guy is going to be scared to death.

[Kevin Clark]

This is like, the one gorilla versus 100.

[Pablo Torre]

I was gonna say this is. This is, I think, a thing that would definitely fail the gorilla test. And I'm going to infer based on the. What city was this in?

[Kevin Clark]

Jacksonville.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, that is scary. Actually, I'm very glad that both of you are here. Jess Smithana, Kevin Clark. I summoned you because you share a love of the sport that I don't know a lot about, but I've assigned Jess to not only teach me about when it comes to this specific story, but also do a bit of reporting. And I was in Jess immediately when the elevator pitch was F.1 is banning profanity drivers have come together to openly.

[Kevin Clark]

Criticize the head of the world motorsports.

[Pablo Torre]

Governing body, the fia, haven't they? They've released a collective statement through the Grand Prix Drivers association calling on Mohammed Ben Sulayem to treat them like adults.

[Jess Matana]

So the fia, the governing body of Formula One, has decided recently. A battle that they want to pick in Formula One is that they do not want swearing to happen, specifically in post race interviews, but more vaguely in, in general around Formula One races. And they want their drivers to clean up their axe, basically to stop swearing on camera.

[Pablo Torre]

And the question, Kevin, I have fundamentally is why the would they care?

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah, I think they're making a mistake. And when researching this, it was so funny. There was just a thing in NASCAR with Joey Logano and his teammate, I believe, Austin Cindric, who when they were just f bombing each other on the radio over and over again.

[Unknown]

Way to go, Austin.

[Kevin Clark]

Way to go.

[Jess Matana]

You dumb.

[Kevin Clark]

Way to go. What a stupid. He just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota Stage 1. Nice job. Way to go. That is racing to me. You're in these like hundreds of miles per hour rocket ships and everybody like does all these crazy neck exercises to make sure they can handle zero gravity and all this stuff. And sometimes when they get mad at each other because literally life is on the line, they drop an F bomb. That's what racing is. And so there's been, there's a precedent, I guess, in World Rally Championships as well, where there are fines for some, some F bombs over the radio. So I would guess, if I had to guess, Jess, it would be on some sort of like, let's clean this up. It's more marketable, it's better for the sponsors or whatever. But I'm gonna go the other way. The I, I look at F1 and as a travel show, right. And it's very basic. You can experience, you can experience F1 at whatever level you, you want to experience it. If you want it to be purely tech, it can be purely tech. If it's purely competition, it's that if you just want to look at the how Ferrari develops its cars versus McLaren, the science fair. But aspect correct. The biggest point of entry, the one that I'm in, is for dumbasses. And in that regard, this is a travel show where you turn it on and they're in Monaco and you go, I'd love to be in Monaco right now. And as part of that, I have.

[Pablo Torre]

A F1 is also the white Lotus for lots of people.

[Kevin Clark]

Correct. I have a friend who calls F1 Josh Robinson at the Wall Street Journal calls it the Real Housewives of Monaco.

[Pablo Torre]

As we establish how prevalent cursing had been in F1. I also want to establish, of course, Jess Matana as somebody who's on the record, of course, as a subject matter expert, an expert witness in this regard as well. You.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah, More finger pointing.

[Jess Matana]

I don't know if you should call yourself a A in this specific scenario.

[Kevin Clark]

I thought that part was funnier. No, Jess has me shook. Cuz now I don't know whether I can say or not you should just.

[Jess Matana]

Call yourself a inst.

[Pablo Torre]

And that apparently, Jess, is how a lot of the drivers in this sport also are talking.

[Jess Matana]

As Kevin said, swearing seems like it's part of driving. Right. The famous expression is rubbing people the wrong ways racing. That's what you always hear drivers say. So I was really surprised when the faa. Thanks for the chuckle. Kevin. Decided to.

[Kevin Clark]

I. I got what you were doing.

[Pablo Torre]

I just wanted some more. I wanted some more of the Carolina that Rubin is.

[Kevin Clark]

RA Thing is the phrase. She changed the ra. The phrase.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. It feels like it was cleaned up for real gear for the ivory tower. So we can understand it. Yes, thank you, I appreciate that. And it feels like one of the first things that happened is that the young. The young superstar Max Verstappen got into Oppressor. This is in September at the Singapore Grand Prix, another location known for its harsh regulations around appropriate conduct, I suppose Singapore. And did say, quote, when asked about the state of the car he was qualifying in. It was.

[Kevin Clark]

I went into qualifying, I knew the car was. Thank you, Max. Let's watch our language going forward.

[Pablo Torre]

The F1 quote unquote. Stewards. Yes, the stewards have summoned him. What the hell is that about? They summoned him for a conduct hearing. He got punished. And the punishment, and this is crucial, Jess, was not a fine, but rather.

[Jess Matana]

What he had to serve community service. And he ended up serving community service I think in Rwanda around the time of the F1 awards at the end of the season. Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

So all of this now is not merely the white lotus, but also the character on the white Lotus who like is trying to go to a foreign country and be like a better person.

[Kevin Clark]

Correct.

[Pablo Torre]

Hi, Burnet.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

Max.

[Kevin Clark]

No.

[Pablo Torre]

What is happening? Community service. This is a thing like this is not happening in other sports that I am familiar with. Community service.

[Kevin Clark]

I would assume, Jessica, that there's no financial penalty high enough to make a dent in these guys lives. So the only thing you could actually punish them with is taking away their time. That'd be My guess.

[Jess Matana]

And then a month later, Charles Claire, a driver for Ferrari, also drops an F bomb in a post race interview and immediately realizes his mistake.

[Kevin Clark]

I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that, obviously I had.

[Legend]

Another steer from the other side.

[Kevin Clark]

And then I was like. But luckily. Sorry. Oh, no. Oh, no, I don't want to join. Max, you have your wallet here.

[Pablo Torre]

Wow.

[Jess Matana]

Poor shot.

[Pablo Torre]

No, he actually did the. No, no, thanks.

[Kevin Clark]

No.

[Pablo Torre]

So. So these guys. What did he get, by the way? What. What befell him in lieu.

[Jess Matana]

He was. He was buying 10,000.

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Jess Matana]

For Charlotte Claire. Right. Which is like, Kevin can speak to this. Also the FIA and the way that they hand down punishments in races, but also outside of races, it's wildly varied. Like, there's no. There's no chart where you can look up, like, oh, this person is getting a pen, A penalty for overtaking when they weren't supposed to, or this person gets a penalty for this thing or for their, you know, speeding in the pit lane. This is what it equals. Like, it really is wildly varied. And this is just another example of like, you don't really exactly know what your punishment's going to be sometimes.

[Kevin Clark]

There's no chart where they say this is the punishment. They kind of make it up.

[Pablo Torre]

So the assumption was that this meant you can't swear on tv. Right. Or that you couldn't swear in a race. And I should also clarify for those not familiar with the sport, you guys love that when you are racing, you are by definition mic'd up on television. Or how does this work?

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah, the. The radio feed can go on to television. Yes. Or an app or any of the Internet stuff. You can basically listen into anything anybody.

[Pablo Torre]

Saying, which is incredible, by the way. So that is the. That's like the anti NFL. Like, that's the opposite of what the NFL's approach has been, which is. Wasn't it like Sam Darnold said, I'm seeing ghosts out there? And then everyone was like, we can never let anybody be this vulnerable ever again.

[Kevin Clark]

Seeing ghosts. Seeing ghosts. That's not good. So all the NFL films and mic'd up and all that stuff, you can hear the raw audio of it. And then a. And this is every sport. It's not just the NFL.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes. NBA also.

[Kevin Clark]

And then you get like a, you know, midweek, you get a kind of a sanitized version of what was said. And sometimes you learn a lot, sometimes you don't. But I have. I know someone who once heard the full uncut audio or I'd heard it a lot and said that if it ever leaked, actually sort of like the Mets, the Terry Collins thing, if you remember that, where they're just screaming at each other, Harry, listen, I'm telling you, our ass is in the jackpot now.

[Jess Matana]

Okay, okay, that's.

[Kevin Clark]

I'm just telling you a mic'd up game is just so intense and insane because they know that the sanitized version is getting out there, that if it ever leaked and a 60 minute game got onto the Internet, it would, it would maybe change sports forever.

[Pablo Torre]

Right. In other words, to quote the umpire yelling at Terry Collins, everybody's ass would be in the jackpot in that case.

[Kevin Clark]

Yes. But what's funny is that like that leaked and it seems sort of like a medium level argument with the umpire and we've been talking about it for a decade.

[Jess Matana]

To your point, Pablo, the in race audio communications between the drivers and their race engineers is something that to me is so vital as a fan. There have been some extremely memorable moments that have come out of it. Both funny, both like, interesting. There's been things that you've learned throughout the race, like you. If a, if a driver is concerned about their, their tire temperature or they have an issue with their car or famously, a couple weeks ago, Charlotte Clair said to his audio engineer, this the same Ferrari driver we just heard from, there's something wet on my seat. I think there's water on my seat.

[Kevin Clark]

Is there a leakage? A leakage of what? I have the seat full of water.

[Jess Matana]

And his engineer said back, must be the water.

[Kevin Clark]

Must be the water. Let's add that to the words of wisdom.

[Jess Matana]

I don't think he thought he pissed himself, but I guess we won't, we won't really ever know. And then in March, we should clarify, the FIA was like, no, this doesn't include in race communications. But that was already after there had been such a huge reaction to people thinking it was. So it's again like just apparently they're not going to be worried about that right now, but they obviously can change their minds and decide that that's not the case if they feel like it. Which again makes drivers sort of anxious and scared and confused.

[Pablo Torre]

The other thing, all of this makes me think of Jess. The whole ambiguity, the whole why is this even necessary? Why does this feel like this is a top down thing that nobody actually wants? It reminds me of the NBA dress code where there was some aspect of like, this sport is actually like too urban, too black, and we need to make this saleable so that Living rooms across America feel like they can show this to their kids and everybody can have a grand old time. What I don't get about this, though, is that when I am thinking about, like, the spectrum of sports across the world, like, that concern applies to so little of what I imagine F1's issues are. As. Marketing issue.

[Jess Matana]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

As a marketing problem, what are they worried about?

[Jess Matana]

That's, I think, ultimately the question, Right. It's like, why are they doing this? And to your point about the NBA dress code, there were some very pointed comments made by the head of the fia, Mohammed Ben Suayam, about not wanting drivers to be like rappers. And Lewis Hamilton, who is the only black F1 driver, one of the best drivers of all time in Formula one, came forward and said, hey, man, it feels like you're making a pretty, like, obviously racially coded commentary there about not wanting your sport to seem black when you're using the term rapper. So that's ultimately the question. Why are they doing this? And there was also another incident where there was a. An attempted jewelry ban. A few years ago, Lewis came to his press conference at the Miami Grand Prix week with three watches on, tons of rings, and all this jewelry on just to prove a point.

[Kevin Clark]

Jess, was there not a driver who indicated that maybe he had his private parts pierced?

[Jess Matana]

Lewis Hamilton himself.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Jess Matana]

Joked that he had a piercing because he has a nose ring. And he was saying that there was a piercing that he. Other than his nose ring that he couldn't take out that people can't see. And it was a joke. But for a very long time, many of us believed it was not a joke.

[Kevin Clark]

How did he confirm it wasn't a joke?

[Jess Matana]

That's true. I mean, he just. He just.

[Pablo Torre]

This is now a separate, ongoing.

[Jess Matana]

This is a different investigation.

[Pablo Torre]

Is Lewis Hamilton's penis pierced? I am looking at the photo that is available here, and it's an important detail, I think, for those not watching on YouTube. This was 2022, and Lewis Hamilton has three watches. He has a zillion rings. He has so many necklaces and is also wearing a mask.

[Kevin Clark]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

Which is just like, to prove the point about all of the gear that that was.

[Kevin Clark]

Do you know that Jessica and I were supposed to voice the international ABC intro to that race that the Lewis Hamilton was protesting at? And I lost my voice and I couldn't do it. And I got replaced by Chris Whittingham.

[Jess Matana]

I was on it, though. I was. I. I was right there.

[Kevin Clark]

I remember. I remember and I watched it.

[Jess Matana]

I wish I could.

[Kevin Clark]

But, yeah, I didn't say that. I didn't say that I would.

[Pablo Torre]

Where this guy's is pierced, many drivers gather.

[Kevin Clark]

It was a really good intro. I don't know how. How did you hear it? It was really good. It was a horrible day for me.

[Pablo Torre]

Wow.

[Jess Matana]

Instead, it was witty and he was like, in a world where this man's penis is pierced with a ring.

[Kevin Clark]

And then I was, like, watching it with you guys, and you were getting texts from all your family members, and I was just like, oh, I'm so happy for you guys. I'm just so happy.

[Pablo Torre]

I definitely love this. I love that this worked out like this for you.

[Kevin Clark]

Awesome for you guys. It's just so cool to see others succeeded.

[Pablo Torre]

The NBA Finals are almost here, and every second counts. With DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, you are not just watching history, you're betting on it. And now's your shot to get in on the action with player props, game lines, live bets. All of this is playoff betting at its finest. And if you're new to DraftKings, bet just $5. And if your bet hits, you'll cash in with $300 in bonus bets. So what are you waiting for? Go and download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use code Pablo. That is code Pablo for new customers to get $300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours.

[Kevin Clark]

Gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler in New York. Call 877-8-Hopeny or text Hopeny at 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-7897 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Cassino and resort in Kansas, 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void. In Ontario, bet must win to receive reward. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG co Audio.

[Pablo Torre]

So drive to survive, right? Is the showcase in which, by the way, like, it became clear that swearing is key to the sport. Yeah, yeah, like the. The. Who's the character there where it's like, meet this guy and know what it means to be profane.

[Jess Matana]

Daniel Ricardo.

[Kevin Clark]

Daniel Ricardo. Yeah, he's Australian. Does that answer your question?

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that does answer my question.

[Kevin Clark]

Actually, there's a scene. I'm not gonna. There's a scene in three or four where, like, the opening scene is Daniel Ricardo calling Netflix, the entity of Netflix, the C word. Netflix are a real bunch of. Aren't they?

[Pablo Torre]

I'd love for them to.

[Kevin Clark]

I just want to tickle my scrotum and touch my nut sack. People would argue that they're the same thing. Maybe they are, but scrotum is ticklish. Ticklish it is.

[Jess Matana]

I don't even know.

[Legend]

That's a very good one, that ad hoc.

[Kevin Clark]

Are you happy with your hair? I don't know. I haven't seen it, probably. If you've asked me, then it must look right. Testing, 3, 4.

[Jess Matana]

Drive to survive introduced people to so many characters in the world of Formula one and is the reason why a lot of Americans specifically fell in love with Formula one. And part of that is learning people's personalities and getting to know them and understand them and feel with them and laugh with them. And swearing is part of that. Right. Like, not having to censor yourself on camera is a thing that people consider authentic and they connect with, and I think is one of the reasons it's not the only reason why F1 became popular. It's not like people like Daniel Ricardo because he swears, but I think people like Daniel Ricardo because he's funny, and that's a component of his humor. And so these things are all sort of connected, right? Like, you want these athletes to be themselves and you want to feel like you know them. And when you're getting a sanitized version of who they are, it can probably, you know, turn people off and also sort of fly in the face of what's made this sport really interesting in the last five years to. To its newest fans, as there is.

[Pablo Torre]

Now talk, as you're referring to, Jess, of like, this galvanization of a driver strike being threatened. We're reading as the FIA is threatening to take away points as a matter of enforcement. I wanted to get to the reporting around the science of this that you did, which I was a bit surprised to hear would enter the conversation, as we have been fairly legal and profane in our legality. But. But what? What. What did you find out?

[Jess Matana]

Yeah, this show, unlike the rest of America, still believes in science. Pablo we reached out to a. A linguist and a professor of cognitive science at UC San Diego, his name is Dr. Ben Bergen, to talk about the science behind swearing. And so we talked to Dr. Ben Bergen, who is the author of what the F. What Swearing Reveals about Our Language, Our Brains and Ourselves, a great title of a book. And we asked him about swearing's physical impact on the body.

[Unknown]

There aren't A lot of ethical ways to hurt people in laboratory studies, but one way that you can do it is you can have them stick their hand in ice water and hold it there for a long time. And it turns out that the duration that they can hold their hand is a good measure for how a proxy for how painful it is to them. Right. And there have been a bunch of studies like this where you assign people randomly to either swear or say words that are not swear words, just kind of neutral, you know, anodyne words, Brown chair, whatever. And it turns out that the people who are randomly assigned to square can hold their hands in the water about 50% longer and report substantially lower pain subjectively. So you could imagine that in lots of dimensions of athletic performance, you know, where pain is a limiting factor in what you're able to get your body to do, swearing might actually make it easier to push through whatever that limitation is.

[Jess Matana]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

Wait, so. So I'm understanding this clearly. I want to, I want to just ask you, Jess, he's suggesting that swearing is also kind of a performance enhancing drug.

[Jess Matana]

It can increase your pain tolerance. It's like they did like the GOM Jabbar test in Dune and let people swear. And the people that swore were like, we're good. And the people who were like, fear is the mind killer, were. They were actually not so good.

[Pablo Torre]

But now the other part of this, I imagine is, look, it's not even really up to us. Like, this is just a thing we need to do because it's a release. What is, what is our, our professor, author, scientist friend saying about that?

[Jess Matana]

Yeah, he's saying that swearing releases adrenaline. And adrenaline is this hormone that your body releases in these types of situations. And it causes an increase of blood flow it to your extremities, it increases your pupil dilations. These are things that could advantage drivers during races. And the more adrenaline you have in your body, the more you swear.

[Unknown]

There was a fun study that did this, so it wasn't with driving, but they had, they tried to induce a state of, of emotional arousal and physiological arousal by having people, this was with gaming, actually have them play either a golf simulator or a first person shooter. And then they give them a task where they just had to produce profanity, as many profanities as they could within a minute. And the people who were first assigned to the first person shooter simulation, we're able to produce significantly more profane words.

[Jess Matana]

If you've ever been in a high stress situation, you probably are familiar with the feeling of that situation ending but you still have like the same amount of adrenaline coursing through you. You don't just get to flip a switch and all of a sudden you're just not stressed anymore.

[Pablo Torre]

Well, this is the comedy of watching any, certainly any playoff game in the NBA and watching any post game interview in which they are like sweating from every pore and like huffing and puffing. And then they have to answer, you know, questions from. Fill in the blank. Your favorite sideline reporter here, you know, asking them to contemplate their successes, failures, and existential fears.

[Kevin Clark]

What were the Wolves doing on defense in the third quarter? I'm just like, oh, yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

My answer would be, I am, I am exhausted and I just want to puke and I just want to actually curse at you for asking me.

[Jess Matana]

Right in this day, right when I walk out of the Levitard show studio after four hours of stress and adrenaline and anxiety, Pop, blow. I don't immediately take a nap. I go for a walk for a couple hours and let it burn off me. And then I take a nap. This is the same if you're an F1 driver.

[Pablo Torre]

And then it's just like the demographics of this because these guys. Again, when you mentioned Dune, I'm like, yeah, Shalam. Looks like an F1 driver. These are all. Doesn't he? Why am I wrong?

[Kevin Clark]

He's tiny.

[Jess Matana]

He's too tall, though. I think he's too tall. George Russell's the only real tall guy, I think.

[Kevin Clark]

Shalom.

[Jess Matana]

I think he's like 5, 11, 5.

[Pablo Torre]

5, 10, according to an increasingly flawed Google search result.

[Kevin Clark]

Well, George Russell's tall in the one probably like five. Was really, was really tall.

[Jess Matana]

Yes, he is tall. So he would be on the taller end. But from a frame standpoint, like his physical frame, I, I do think he could.

[Kevin Clark]

I took a photo. Let's get this up there in the post show edits of Yuki Soda standing next to Jalen Phillips, the Dolphins defensive.

[Pablo Torre]

Why were they in the same room?

[Kevin Clark]

Because it was the one. Miami and I took a photo and it was unbelievable.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, my God. Yes, it looks like. So it looks like Jalen Phillips is going to hold Yuki Sonoda in the palm of his hand and throw him across the field.

[Jess Matana]

These are mostly young guys in their 20s.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes, they're young dudes is my point. That's the shallow of it all.

[Jess Matana]

The shallow of it all is that they're young dudes and they grew up a lot of them. Sim racing, gaming online, a. A traditional place where you're not really censoring yourself. A lot of the time, like Max Verstappen is a full time sim racer and a part time Formula one driver. So he grew up on the Internet sim racing. The larger gaming culture may have an impact on the amount of profanity and sort of the desensitization. Some people to swear more.

[Unknown]

I've had undergrads who have looked at this so they've, you know, where they survey. This is not peer reviewed research, but, but you know, anecdotally where they ask people how offensive they think words are and separately ask them how much time they've spent on various different sorts of gaming platforms and in certain different specific games. And it turns out that there are specific words that show up a lot in Call of Duty, for example. And if you are a Call of Duty player, then those words you judge to be less offensive than if you are a gamer but not a Call of Duty Duty player.

[Pablo Torre]

That is simultaneously a deeply interesting research finding and also the least surprising research finding imaginable that people who play Call of Duty don't understand why it is that all of you guys are offended when they call someone. Fill in the blank slur wrapped inside five other slurs. I also just think it's. I think it's if I'm just trying to like Power Rank, the least censored places in life. And I do think like video game multiplayer, Call of Duty and the chat.

[Kevin Clark]

Function for any illegal stream for sports.

[Jess Matana]

Oh, God, I was gonna say my grandma's house, my grandma's car, my grandma's phone. She actually was the first person to text me. I love that you called Le Batar to me. So.

[Kevin Clark]

Wow.

[Jess Matana]

To your point about why the FIA is doing this, Pablo? I still don't know. I think that there's a larger conversation at play here between the FIA and the Formula one relationship and how much the FIA is trying to impinge itself upon that relationship and enforce rules and declare its power. And I think there's, you know, a very obvious pushback from Formula 1. There's been some really high profile FIA resignations in the last few months. There's been a lot of scandals around the FIA and things like this, but also things involving racing regulations and the things that actually determine the fairness and the outcomes of races that drivers really don't like. So this is really just one thing in a long string of very unpopular FIA rules that drivers are not happy about.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

Kind of feels like the fia, to quote our resident expert, being a real bunch of.

[Jess Matana]

Mmm. Your words, not mine.

[Kevin Clark]

Put us in a box Go ahead. That just gives us something to break out of the because the next generation 2025 GMC terrain elevation is raising the standard of what comes standard. As far as expectations go, why meet them when you can shatter them? What we choose to challenge, we challenge completely. We are professional grade. Visit gmc.com to learn more.

[Pablo Torre]

Speaking to clinics of the human language. Kevin Clark, you did something that felt like a real make a wish experience for. For everybody in sports. Can you tell us what you did last week?

[Kevin Clark]

I hosted the Paul Fine Bomb show in Charlotte, North Carolina. Like, like Jessica, I know the Carolinas well, so I went down to Charlotte the day before I was supposed to host, or I did host. I was a guest with Paul in the 6pm hour, which is very important because I got to pick his brain. I got to figure it out. I had talked to people who had hosted before, and their advice nearly universally was let the callers talk. That it is. Especially when it's a guest host. It's the caller show.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes.

[Kevin Clark]

It's not. I'm a steward of the callers.

[Pablo Torre]

As, as. As F1 likes to say, you are a student.

[Kevin Clark]

So the idea that I was going to come in and, like, grab the bull by the horns, be like, no, no, you're. This is my world. Welcome to the jungle. You know, I turn into Romy and just start dumping callers. Right. That. That wasn't gonna happen. I was. I'm so respectful of the institution of Fine Bomb because in another world, like somewhere in the multiverse, there's a world in which it's. It's Kevin from Florida on a cell phone. Right? That's. That's. There's a world there.

[Pablo Torre]

You're on a tremendous amount of meth.

[Kevin Clark]

Yes. And I'm an insurance adjuster, and all I want to do is talk about Carson Beck. Okay? That's all I want to do. And I opened up the show by. And by the way, that's not a million miles from where I am now as far as the meth and the one to talk about Carson Beck. But the. Don't roll your eyes. Don't roll your eyes at me, Jessica.

[Jess Matana]

That wasn't an eye roll, though. Yeah, it was an eye roll.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah, it was an eye roll. But no, I had opened up the show by saying, like, I remember driving around Florida and it's hot as hell and it's April and there's literally no college football content. And all I wanted, Paul was syndicated, the right dial, and just listen to him talk about, like, Connor Shaw and how South Carolina is going to do that. You're like, I remember this. And so to be that voice, to be that voice on my side, on my. On. On that side of the desk was incredible.

[Pablo Torre]

Well, well, what's funny though, Jess, about Kevin's sort of description of, of. Of the sickness that you also share, right. Is that to me, it's never more vivid than in the universe of Paul Feinblade.

[Kevin Clark]

Correct.

[Pablo Torre]

Like these callers. And we did an episode about this on our show, talking to some of the. Some of the greats, specifically the greatest legend. Legend. Like legend is this personification of that sickness. For those who missed Kevin Clark playing the role in your playbill tonight of Paul Fine, Bob, my favorite call did sound like this.

[Kevin Clark]

It's legend. Legend. Hello.

[Legend]

How you doing, brother? How you doing, man?

[Kevin Clark]

I'm doing great. So first, first of all, before we start, we have a mutual friend in Mr. Pablo Torre, who did a great episode of his podcast. Pablo Torre finds out about you. Pablo is an amazing person. I love learning about you. So I'm so happy you're calling in right now, man.

[Legend]

I appreciate. Pablo Torre is one of the great journalists today. We all know espn. All they love these days is former players, you know, with seven or eight concussions telling us what's going on in life. But thank God for great journalists like Pablo Torre, man. That dude's off the hook, man. Dude off the hook. One of the best. Great guy, great guy, great guy. But I'm worried about you, dude. I'm worried about you, man. I don't know if you're gonna make it or not, man. You. You look like you got into Mr. Roger neighborhood there and got into his closet. What you wearing there today, man? I mean, I mean, what. What's up with that outfit, man? You on the Paul Fine bomb show.

[Kevin Clark]

You.

[Legend]

You supposed to come in here, man, blazing. What's up with this outfit you got going on?

[Kevin Clark]

Cardigan Legend? I thought this was okay.

[Legend]

I love me some Pablo. But you remember this, right here. You are with the insane. You are with the lame. You are with those that may not have a brain. Protect yourself, brother. Protect yourself.

[Kevin Clark]

Appreciate you.

[Legend]

Legend has left to build it.

[Pablo Torre]

I mean. Yeah, so it was a roller coaster for you. It was so like, you were not embraced.

[Kevin Clark]

No, I was hated. So there were a couple of. So this is the first hour. Let me tell you guys, the journey. So the first hour was calls like that. No, not, not to that level.

[Pablo Torre]

Everybody but me. Centric.

[Kevin Clark]

Yes, of course. Yeah. You didn't send everybody to dog me But Jim from Tuscaloosa, who is a frequent caller.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes.

[Kevin Clark]

Who gets on guest host quite a bit. He called me a horrible host in the first hour.

[Legend]

You need to get your act together. I mean, really.

[Unknown]

No.

[Kevin Clark]

Can I ask you a question, Jim?

[Legend]

Well, go ahead.

[Kevin Clark]

If you could clear up one misconception about you that you think other callers have, what would it be? I don't know.

[Legend]

I'm not, I'm not answering a hypothetical. Ask me a straight question.

[Kevin Clark]

You. I won't assume anything.

[Legend]

I already found out you're a horrible host.

[Kevin Clark]

And then I just hung in there. I did, I embraced the process, did what I wanted to do. And eventually Jim from Tuscaloosa called back to tell me I was doing a good job.

[Legend]

I heard somebody, I, I can't imagine who said that. You did not address. Let me tell you something, Kevin. You have the best looking outfit I've seen on this show, maybe, maybe ever. That's a great looking outfit.

[Kevin Clark]

I appreciate that. Have you, have you. Maybe I don't want to be too forward. Have you backed off your earlier assessment that I'm a horrible host?

[Legend]

Well, at the time you were horrible host because you, you, you bought into some idiot.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah. So at the time I was. He said, yeah, he also, he also spent a good deal of time saying, I'm a good looking guy. So I went from footage not found. But no, it's in there. It was in there. So he went from, I'm a horrible host narrator. I'm no longer a horrible host. And I might be hot.

[Pablo Torre]

Wow. Yeah.

[Kevin Clark]

In one hour. In one hour.

[Pablo Torre]

What a, what a. I mean, I would say that among the things you could do as a college football unhinged maniac. This is, this is, this is up there, man.

[Kevin Clark]

It was like I was a fantasy camp. I was like, let's get four college. I got Mina Kimes on and we talked about draft. But other than that, it was three college football writers and it was just like me. It was Kevin Clark finds out about college football, basically. And I just, I, I loved it. I loved it.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah.

[Jess Matana]

First of all, that's trademarked, so you can't use that. Second of all, legendary turn for you. I mean, I guess it was Jim. So Jim and dairy term for you.

[Kevin Clark]

Oh, Jesus.

[Jess Matana]

Becoming less hated on the show.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah.

[Jess Matana]

I think that it's not just the fact that, you know, it's not, not the dream to sit in the chair. Right. The dream is to sit in the chair, but to get invited back.

[Kevin Clark]

The reward in TV is getting invited back. Like that's. That's the goal. Like that's the. The reward. Like whenever it's like, hey, you get no. You get no feedback in this industry. None. Not ever.

[Pablo Torre]

It is, it is true.

[Kevin Clark]

You get none.

[Jess Matana]

There's some several hundred comment long Reddit threads of feedback that I could show you about my performance.

[Kevin Clark]

I could not imagine. I think the callers have a lot of influence over Fine Bomb because I think that if it wasn't that show specifically, if the finebomb callers were not having a good time with me, I probably would not be invited back, you know, because it just wouldn't be that fun of a show. Like if people don't call or if I was like a jerk to them. I was thinking about this afterwards and I was thinking if I was a jerk, if I wanted to do like, I'm from New York, I went to Miami. I'm not an SEC guy. If I wanted to go full heel, the bar for me to be funny would have to be so high and it would have to be so antagonistic. There would be. End up being so stupid. You'd have to end up being like. Be like the. The corporate era of the rock in the early 2000s where he, like, had a guitar and would sing songs about how much she hates the Sacramento Kings and Sacramento and stuff like that is how you go just full heel. And the. The easiest thing would be to just embrace, first of all, be who you are, which I was, and be like an obsessed college football fan and just explain to them that I have the same affliction that.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, I would recommend anybody who is forced to host a show talking about a sport they don't actually like to find perhaps a profanity scandal that would allow them to spend upwards of 30 minutes discussing it.

[Jess Matana]

That's a really good idea, Pablo. If someone were to do that.

[Pablo Torre]

Pro baller Lonzo ball for buzzballs ready to go. Cocktails take 12.

[Kevin Clark]

Buzzballs just dropped their biggest blue balls. Script says Biggie's Blue balls Lonzo take 13. Blue ball just dropped their biggest buzz balls. Ugh. Let's try a vocal exercise. Buzz balls. Biggies. Blue balls. Buzz balls. Biggies. Blue balls. Big balls just dropped. Get blue balls. This season with Buzz balls, please, you're responsibly.

[Pablo Torre]

Buzz balls. Available in spirit, wine and malt, 15% alcohol by volume.

[Kevin Clark]

Buzz Balls LLC. Carrollton, Texas. Even though it sounds Jessica like Notre Dame's new hotbed is Charlotte, North Carolina. But back. Back in the old days, it was.

[Jess Matana]

Yeah.

[Kevin Clark]

Yeah. So does Miami they should do a little better.

[Jess Matana]

But one of them's not a playoff team.

[Kevin Clark]

Who's. Who's the next game on the calendar for both of us.

[Jess Matana]

Each other. See you there.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, boy. All right, so. So at the end of every episode of Bomb, you don't even live in Miami anymore, which has been.

[Jess Matana]

I know. I don't want to go.

[Pablo Torre]

Hijacked perpetually by the ongoing feud between no one.

[Jess Matana]

I was just there for the Orange Bowl. I don't need to go back.

[Kevin Clark]

No one cares. We're moving on. We've moved on.

[Pablo Torre]

On.

[Kevin Clark]

We.

[Pablo Torre]

We end by saying what it is we found out today. Oh, Jess, what did you find out today? After this journey into the. The profane heart of this sport that you love, and also Kevin's dream.

[Jess Matana]

I found out that Daniel Ricardo was saying the C word. Not because in my notes I had written down on. But he was saying a different C word.

[Pablo Torre]

So. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jess Matana]

It was a good thing to clarify.

[Kevin Clark]

I learned. Great, great nugget. I learned that Jessica has never met an Australian because there's no way. There's no way you didn't know that they overuse the C word.

[Jess Matana]

I was just giving him the benefit of the doubt. I was like. He meant he was saying penises there like it wasn't them. It wasn't the super Aussie C word. That we can't say on camera.

[Pablo Torre]

What I found out today is that Jess Matana's grandma is more than qualified to be the through line through this episode as either an F1 driver or a caller into Paul Finebaum's radio show.

[Unknown]

Jessica, Holy shit. I got the most gorgeous roses. I don't think I ever got that many roses in my whole life. Certainly not from your lovely grandfather, God, may his soul rest in peace. Thank you. Oh, my God. They are beautiful. Beautiful. I'm. I'm flabbergasted. I mean, holy. I don't know what it's for, but I love you for. Thank you. You made my day. I mean, they are gorgeous. I mean, holy crap. Well, I will talk to you later. You're probably working. Whatever. And I hope you got your oranges. I never. I didn't hear whether you got the damn oranges or not. So when you get a chance, you can give me a call back. I'm sitting here looking at those roses, and I cannot believe what the hell you did. Holy. They're gorgeous. And I'm gonna sit and look at them all damn day today. Never had so many roses in my whole life. 85 years. Holy. Okay, dear. Thank you. Love you. Talk to you later. Bye.

[Kevin Clark]

Beautiful, beautiful voice.

[Jess Matana]

Speaking of the orange Bowl, I did get the oranges, so just to close the loop on that.

[Kevin Clark]

Wow.

[Pablo Torre]

There it is.

[Kevin Clark]

Where. Where does your grandmother live? Illinois.

[Jess Matana]

Chicago, if you can.

[Kevin Clark]

Chicago. Chicago suburbs. Skokie.

[Pablo Torre]

Chicago.

[Jess Matana]

The city? Yeah.

[Kevin Clark]

Oh, wow. Where in the city do you want.

[Jess Matana]

Me to dox my grandma?

[Kevin Clark]

Foreign.

[Pablo Torre]

Finds out is produced by Walter Abaroma, Ryan Cortez, Sam Dawig, Juan Galindo, Patrick Kim, neely Loman, Rob McRae, Rachel Miller, Howard Carl Scott, Matt Sullivan, Claire Taylor, Chris Tominiello and Juliet Warren. Our studio engineering by RG Systems. Our sound designed by NGW Post. Our theme song, as always, by John Bravo. We will talk to you next time.