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Pablo Torre
Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre. And today we're gonna find out what this sound is. Right after this ad.
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Pablo Torre
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David Cavucci
I just got asked to join like the Twitter monetization program and it asked for so much information. I was like, I can't do this.
Pablo Torre
Like you're like, I know how records
David Cavucci
can be used against you, like connecting to Twitter through my bank accounts. Like we can see your balances in recent transactions. It's like, no, no please. I don't like that at all.
Pablo Torre
But the downside is that the next time you have a post that has 19 million views on it, it will not be you can make $6.
David Cavucci
I did the math. I think it might have been like 120 had I been able to get it, which is, you know, I'm starting my own business here. I'll take anything I can get, even sort of evil dollars from Elon.
Pablo Torre
Jess Matana did you know of David Cavucci before the Diana Rossini Spotify playlist?
Jess Matana
I did. I've been following his newsletter, subscribing to his newsletter for a long time now.
David Cavucci
Oh, thank you.
Pablo Torre
I mean, Foible is one of the all time great sports newsletter ideas I'd
David Cavucci
been kicking around in my head for a while. And like any good journalist, I got laid off and just figured now was the time to try my own thing. So I was able to hit the ground running because I had a lot of energy behind it. But it's, it's still very new. It's only been publishing for eight months. So I'm very thrilled by the response so far.
Pablo Torre
And was it therefore cruel when the thing that everybody broadly knew you for, who isn't at this table was like, you're the Diana Rossini Spotify playlist guy.
David Cavucci
Not necessarily. Because the last viral foy I did was pretty. I don't think my parents were too happy about that one.
Pablo Torre
Wait a minute, hold on. What, what was the last one that you did?
David Cavucci
Uh, if you just Google David Kavuchi Osama bin Laden, which I do bi weekly.
Jess Matana
Wait a second. The Post called you a quote bro?
David Cavucci
Yes, I. I was working at a place called Pro Bible at the time, which is still somehow one of the
Pablo Torre
only foiaing Osama bin Laden stuff at Bro Bible.
David Cavucci
Yeah, and wait, but we.
Jess Matana
I'll just read the headline now. It does kind of track. It says, a bro ask the CIA about Osama bin Laden's porn stash.
Pablo Torre
The agency answered June 10, 2015.
David Cavucci
So actually I sent that request May 26, so it's almost the 11 year anniversary of that.
Jess Matana
Oh, that's cute. Happy anniversary.
David Cavucci
And eventually I was part of some appeals that were bought and we got. We didn't get the pornography collection. We got the record, so it's sort of on the.
Jess Matana
You didn't get the collection? Interesting.
David Cavucci
No, but they did release a lot of his laptop files where it revealed he was like watching Tom and Jerry during the day and stuff like that. So I have my very first FOIA I ever sent was the CIA and I got like, results. So I think that's a pretty good.
Pablo Torre
Laden was into animals, anime.
David Cavucci
I. I don't know. Is Tom and Jerry anime?
Pablo Torre
I think it's the original.
Jess Matana
Was it easier or harder to foia the CIA than college athletic departments?
David Cavucci
I've only sent one to the CIA and I've had 100 success rate, so I'll go with easier.
Jess Matana
That seems like a tracks.
Pablo Torre
So just to put a button on the Osama bin Laden born stash, we don't know specifically what Osama bin Laden was into as a matter of genre.
David Cavucci
No, he's dead. So you're free to speculate.
Jess Matana
Well, do you want to speculate? Go ahead.
Pablo Torre
I think he's into extensive anime porn.
David Cavucci
I think one of the reasons I heard back so quickly was because of how I asked. I was like, you know, he's the most wanted man in the world. Like, we need to know, like, what was going on in his mind, you know, while he's being hunted by Predator drones and US forces. So, like, what, what got him off? I think I wrote that in my actual request.
Pablo Torre
Hold on, I have, I have another headline. This is from Mother Jones. CIA tells King of the Bros he can't see Bin Laden's porn stache.
Jess Matana
King of the Bros.
David Cavucci
I had put that just in my Twitter bio. Like I'm learning so much. Well, 12 years ago. And you know, when something about you goes viral, you have no control over it. So people are just Putting they like, you know, declaratively stated that I was king of the bros. And you know, who was I to object at the time? I was.
Pablo Torre
Your highness, excuse me for not properly introducing you, but this is, this is the thing that I have been bonding with you about in real life before. You did publish Diana Rossini's Spotify playlist with Mike Frabel called.
Jess Matana
Which feels like a personal violation or
Pablo Torre
great journalism because Freedom of Information act requests. FOIA requests are of course the sort of etymology of FOIA ball.
David Cavucci
Yeah. So it was. The Freedom of Information act was a federal law started by one very cranky senator who was upset about over classification of the Department of Defense. And he spent I think about 10 years trying to get this bill passed. And then every state in the US adopted laws after that federal legislation was passed. And the idea is that governments derive their power from the people in democracy. So they have a right to see everything you do. Now it was sort of written in the 1960s, so the idea was you would just walk to the mayor's office and say, let me see the plans for the new park. Let me see the construction schedule for the next couple of weeks.
Jess Matana
It's very quaint.
David Cavucci
Yeah. In the digital age that's really metastasized. And state institutions have struggled to keep up. Cause they get lots of requests. An average school gets like 1,000 to 2,000 a year. They usually only have one to two to people responding to them. And those are usually great people who are trying to do their best. But the idea is that they can't hide anything from you. So I believe it's. Kentucky even has a clause in its state laws that say we must release records even if they're embarrassing to the officials involved. So the idea is that transparency is extremely important. I think it is one of the most important laws we have.
Pablo Torre
But the idea of there is information out there, deeply invasively personal information out there that has been published. It takes us to this. December 19, 2022.
David Cavucci
Actually, one of your producers hit me up to look into it. He was like, can you see what you can find? And instead of sharing that with you and we're going to get into an actual episode, we tried to hire David.
Pablo Torre
Like a bounty hunter.
David Cavucci
Exactly. And I just fired it out and I felt kind of bad. I was like, I should have passed this along. I should have saved it so we could turn into a whole episode. But it kind of blew up.
Pablo Torre
So there's a four game Titans losing streak. Mike Vrabel was the coach. Diana Rossini Makes a playlist in which it is shared with a user who is named Mike.
Jess Matana
The music here, it's not good songs, which I think was why this took off. If it had been a really good playlist, I'm not sure if 19 million people are invested in it. But also, like, if I made a playlist for someone and it became public, no matter who that person is, I would be deeply embarrassed about it because I have a terrible taste in music as well.
David Cavucci
Cut my life into pieces. This is my last resort. Suffocation.
Pablo Torre
Did you have Papa Roach? Last Resort, which is the tenth song on this.
David Cavucci
No, I did not comment on the quality of the music because a lot of people were instantly just. They were calling it garbage. Terrible. The worst playlist I'd ever seen. And there were songs on there that were on my wedding must playlist, so I just zipped my mouth shut. You can't.
Jess Matana
Yeah, you have.
David Cavucci
I can, but I wasn't going to tweet that out.
Pablo Torre
Then. Was Pump it Louder by Tiesta on the Black Eyed Peas.
David Cavucci
No, no. We played Raise your glass by Pink.
Jess Matana
Oh, God.
David Cavucci
I enjoyed my wedding. I'm sorry. You didn't.
Jess Matana
Well, I wasn't invited, but maybe this is going to go on the do not playlist on my upcoming wedding DJ set list.
David Cavucci
Would any of these songs make it on your wedding?
Pablo Torre
God of Thund.
Jess Matana
Well, I will say, as a Steelers fan, Renegade may be. May be played at the list.
David Cavucci
Okay.
Jess Matana
It's what the Steelers play in the third quarter of every home game.
David Cavucci
Variable played what, a year with the Steelers after he left the Patriots. Okay. Yeah, I think so. People are pointing out that Renegade was on there, but it was shared with the username Mike. And after it went viral, the user Mike changed the name to Tycar, which is a portmanteau of Mike Rabel's two sons. So, you know, a lot of people were like, maybe it's not him. Maybe it's just a random mic that she shared it with. But pretty confident after that.
Jess Matana
I mean, to your point about how. How invasive some of the apps are. Well, no, not you. I mean, Spotify doesn't need to be a public facing social media app. Like, most people are not using it for that. So the fact that, like, someone who is a public figure could have a searchable database of what they listen to, to me, is like, I wonder if these people even knew that someone could find this.
Pablo Torre
Well, one of the great. And this is something we've done on this show separately. We did it with the NBA gambling investigation. That we did. People don't know that their favorite app is being used as a social media platform.
Jess Matana
Right?
Pablo Torre
Venmo.
Jess Matana
Yes.
David Cavucci
Don't. Don't talk about Venmo.
Pablo Torre
That's.
David Cavucci
No, I know.
Pablo Torre
It's too good. It's too good to check everything through the Venmo user base and be like, oh, they forgot.
Jess Matana
Venmo's gotten a lot of college athletes in trouble because they've put, you know, stupid things on Venmo with names and titles that they shouldn't have put on Venmo and been investigated over it. So.
Pablo Torre
And yet I would say that having Cuff it by Beyonce. As the first song on this playlist between Mike Gravel and Daniel, probably more embarrassing than.
Jess Matana
Well, it's a good song, that one. I.
Pablo Torre
But the implication, man.
Jess Matana
Right. I do want to ask you, though, because I.
David Cavucci
So I'm trying to see if I can find your Spotify playlist.
Jess Matana
I deleted it.
David Cavucci
Okay.
Jess Matana
Because I'm so paranoid. People finding out how much I listen to the Les Mis soundtrack. I mean, it would really.
David Cavucci
That's fantastic. I do that all the time.
Jess Matana
It would shock people. That and heated rivalry. Like, it's just going back and forth. But I followed you for a while now, and I saw a lot of people were, like, just accusing you of, you know, engaging in. In smutty. Like, this isn't fair. Why are you doing this? This is, you know, an invasion of privacy. And you had a response to that. So I'm curious if you have any more on that.
David Cavucci
No, I mean, I understand that argument, I think, but especially in this day and age, public figures have sort of lost all right to privacy. You know, they all make so much money. They're very famous. You know, they're part of a social contract where they're supposed to live up to certain standards, even if they don't. So I don't have any sort of issue with it. And, you know, there are. There are probably things I want to publish, but I didn't think that was, like, I don't understand how that could have impacted her. She was already accused of having an affair. It's been going on for a long time.
Pablo Torre
This was the thing. In your defense, and as someone who resembles the. The target of the criticism that you just described, which is a fair point to raise for any journalist, this playlist was both hilarious and also, I think, as close to dispositive as it got in this story. Like, the reason it went viral was not just because this is so funny. It's how the else. Do you Spin a relationship at the very least, that isn't deeply personal in any other way other than man. These people really did have some sort of connection.
David Cavucci
One of the things I'm really fascinated by is sort of the myths of coaches is, you know, omnipotent beings, sort of super hard, dedicated workers who are, you know, always on top of everything. Always, you know, one step ahead.
Jess Matana
Men of integrity.
David Cavucci
Yes.
Pablo Torre
Kings of bros.
David Cavucci
Showing that. Showing that that's not exactly the case. I think there's a lot of illusions built up around a lot of public figures in this world, and it's fun to shatter those as best I can.
Jess Matana
Also, the digital literacy aspect of it that I think is. You could say it's generational, but I do think it impacts anyone in any generation that you don't realize how you're being tracked across these apps.
Pablo Torre
And we should say that for those not familiar with your oeuvre, my liege, Bramble and Rossini. Not the first bit of playlist journalism that you've done.
David Cavucci
Yes. And this was just a couple weeks apart, I think. I was on a Spotify searching kit. Sometimes I'll find sites that I like to sort of dig into and look at a lot of people. But Lane Kiffin, when he was run out of. Well, not run out of Ole Miss, he left Ole Miss and was also run out. A lot of his Pilates instructors and hot yoga teachers were sort of burning him on TikTok after the fact. And I don't know why I started searching this one, but I found a Pilates playlist that he listens to from a studio in Baton Rouge. The Pilates playlist was great. I listened to it, like, three times in a row while I was writing an article about it. So his stuff was much better than. Although he didn't come up with it. He just stole it from an instructor.
Jess Matana
Yeah, and it did seem like the Pilates community coming after him was what really hurt him the most in the midst of that debacle.
Pablo Torre
Well, hold on, just the username here. MLKiffen.
David Cavucci
Yes. We did deduce today that he is
Jess Matana
legally Monty Lane Kiffin, which is not what his Wikipedia page says.
Pablo Torre
No, this is the fact checking phase. Wikipedia says that he is lain Monte Kiffin, and what you're here to report is that that is inaccurate.
David Cavucci
Yes. And as he is going, you know, being persecuted in the media right now, we should note his initials are mlk,
Pablo Torre
Son of Monte Kiffin. Making him, I believe, MLK junior.
David Cavucci
I don't think anyone could quibble with
Jess Matana
that at the very least, he's MK Ultra. The more famous of the MK is the Monty Kiffins.
Pablo Torre
Just on the playlist. Jess, like, you're. Are you a Pilates person? Not to profile you.
Jess Matana
It is spot on. Accurate profiling, though. Yes. I go to Pilates, like, six days a week.
Pablo Torre
And the playlist strikes you as what?
Jess Matana
You know, there's a lot of terrible Pilates playlists out there. I've been subjected to listening to many of them. This one was not bad.
Pablo Torre
I just like the idea that Jess is like, could we get a little more Les Mis?
Jess Matana
I mean, if you did a remix to One Day More in Pilates, I think it would really get the group going.
Pablo Torre
Yeah. I want to stretch out empty chairs at empty tables.
Jess Matana
Oh, no, don't make me cry.
David Cavucci
I had a spin instructor who always played like, techno remix of Defying Gravity as the last song. It was. It was great. I loved it. It came on. I played it a lot, but it always went, yeah.
Jess Matana
Oh, I love that.
David Cavucci
Where does the drop come in when she defies gravity?
Pablo Torre
Are you.
Jess Matana
Are you kidding? There's like. Have you seen the movie? There's like 10 drops in the. They. They stretched that song out so much. They were like, we know the sequel is not going to be that good, so we're going to make Defying Gravity a 20 minute long scene in the first. Wicked. Wow.
David Cavucci
I'll leave the singing to y'. All.
Jess Matana
His Excellency does not partake in such shenanigans.
David Cavucci
I have my court. I have my court jesters here for me.
Jess Matana
Oh, God, we're jester maxing.
Pablo Torre
So the thing that brought us together originally, before I tried to hire you as a bounty hunter to get good information on Diana Rossini and that whole story was, who else but Jordan Hudson?
Jess Matana
Oh, God.
Pablo Torre
That is the appropriate reaction.
David Cavucci
I find her charming.
Jess Matana
I would like to stay. For the record, I had no idea what we were going to talk about when I came into the office today, but so far, two for two on guesses.
David Cavucci
We have some surprises planned, though.
Jess Matana
Oh, I love a surprise.
Pablo Torre
Well, the thing about Jordan as a character in a story of Public Records is that she is not so different from you and I, it turns out.
David Cavucci
No. She has been submitting public records to unc. She sent four in December and two in April trying to track down all the school's communications, basically about her. She's looked for the term girlfriend. She's looked for communications with cbs.
Pablo Torre
Jess, could you please read the first Bullet Point?
Jess Matana
Yes. It's a request and it says Correspondence received or sent. That includes the terms Hudson, Jordan Belichick, girlfriend in the subject or body of the email.
Pablo Torre
Insofar as we are also people who file public records requests of North Carolina, which I have done, which we have done as a show here, and you have done separately at Foible, what happens is you realize as you're getting these requests, the paperwork back, that someone else is also doing the same thing, except she is the girlfriend of the head football coach who is the highest paid employee in the state of North Carolina, which I will dare say is an unprecedented dynamic.
Jess Matana
How many states do, or schools, I guess, do let you see requests?
David Cavucci
So some of them are very easy to see. Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon. But you can request. They're public records themselves.
Jess Matana
You can request the request.
David Cavucci
Yes, you can watch the watchmen.
Pablo Torre
North Carolina receives a public records request or a series of them from not only David Cavucci and Pablo Torre finds out, but Jordan Hudson. How do we understand their response to Jordan to be.
David Cavucci
So I. Then this sort of becomes a Russian nesting doll where I requested all the requests that Jordan had sent to see what she got back.
Jess Matana
She requested your request of her request?
David Cavucci
She did. And then she sent me a little DM just waving, and I was like, that's correct. Turtles all the way down here.
Pablo Torre
But on Instagram, she DM'd you.
David Cavucci
She DM'd me on Twitter. She followed me on Instagram. And she has not watched any of my stories since she followed me, which I.
Pablo Torre
We're offended.
Jess Matana
But do you post good stories?
David Cavucci
I don't post much, but I do have a dog and I post photos of her. So, like, I think she would appreciate it maybe. Do you think she's a dog person?
Jess Matana
Well, I don't know.
David Cavucci
Oh, she's a. She had a parrot. She's a parrot. Oh, she's a bird person.
Pablo Torre
David is the only person who knows more about Jordan Hudson than me.
David Cavucci
Only because I have wanted to impress you and just text you the randomest things.
Pablo Torre
Just the idea that she has a parrot. I'm like, I got scooped on the parrot.
David Cavucci
She's. She was posted in R Birds a long time ago. I'm not.
Pablo Torre
What on the bird subreddit.
David Cavucci
Yes.
Pablo Torre
So she sends you a message basically saying, so that you're aware fully I am watching you.
David Cavucci
That's what I figured it was because I replied and I said, hey, you know, I hope you haven't been hacked or something. That's, you know, I assume this is legit. But then she never wrote back, which is a little sad.
Pablo Torre
And so when you request the requests, of the requests, Carolina response is, I presume, saying, for sake, guys.
David Cavucci
I feel I have probably gotten that response from some colleges. But they did seem to be keeping tabs on the fact that she was sending them. The head of communications for the athletic department was cc'd on them. She then sent that to Brandon Faber, who's like Belichick's PR man, his chief of staff, which I love to imagine poor Belichick's chief of staff having to decide whether to go tell him. Oh, God. Yeah, it went to the AD and the AD in waiting, and it also went to the top communications official. So six people were informed that she was sending FOIAs, which is not standard
Pablo Torre
for all of the FOIAs.
David Cavucci
I don't think so. I haven't requested everyone else's FOIAs to see that. But, like, in communications, I've seen. No, it doesn't seem like they're making it to the highest levels of the school.
Pablo Torre
The particular topics that seem to be animating Jordan Hudson's inquisition, it seems to still go back to the interview on television that broke the story wide open for, like, the mainstream, which is that CBS interview and her interactions with the network. Jordan was a constant presence during our interview.
David Cavucci
How did you guys meet?
Jess Matana
Not talking about this?
David Cavucci
No, no.
Pablo Torre
It's a topic neither one of them is comfortable commenting on. What in the records request sort of indicated the CBS stuff. How obvious was it?
David Cavucci
So Jordan was requesting emails between the university and a producer at cbs, and there's nothing there. You know, most people are just doing their job. They're asking about interviews. There wasn't UNC wasn't, like, emailing surreptitiously, like, please ask about the relationship. Please blow this up. So in all the requests she's gotten back, I haven't found anything that she could use or be interesting. It's just sort of very basic stuff.
Jess Matana
But also just to state the obvious, like, I can put myself in the shoes of a television producer, having done that before. If I was up to some nefarious business with an end goal in sight, I'm not saying CBS was. I wouldn't be putting that over public communication either. So you'd have to be both complicit in wanting to make her look bad, but also careless enough to put it over an email that someone like you could find that out via a FOIA request.
Pablo Torre
It is unlikely that there would be some, again, to borrow the language of our time, some smoking gun, a paper trail. Paper trail that has Aha. Everyone was colluding against us, me and Bill, or at least me, Jordan Hudson. It's unlikely that there would be that sort of evidence. But the attempt to make sure, the attempt to find out, I both relate to and find so fascinating because, okay,
Jess Matana
so we're like the scene in Austin Powers where Dr. Evil's talking to Austin Powers and he's like, we're not so different, you and I.
Pablo Torre
Remember when I told you we're not so different, you and I? We're not so different, you and I. See, I did say that.
Jess Matana
But it's you and Jordan Hudson.
Pablo Torre
That's right.
Jess Matana
Okay, I get where we're going here.
David Cavucci
After stories about her doing. After my stories about her doing public records requests blew up, she responded to, I think Stuart Mandel tweeted about it, and she said, oh, so it's only fantastic when the athletic does it. I replied and said, no, I think it's great that you're doing this. I think it's very interesting. I love it. Yeah. I would love to know why, though. Like, what do you think is out there? And maybe, you know, for a lot of people who are new to it, you do think there's a smoking gun. You know, when I first started my career, I figured I could get everything. And you sort of have to learn how to State employees work, how they communicate, what platforms they use. And so it takes a little learning. But she's. She's getting there. I wouldn't count. I wouldn't count her out.
Pablo Torre
Are you offering to tutor Jordan Hudson in public records requests? Why not? Teacher?
David Cavucci
The problem, why a lot of records offices are overworked is that a lot of corporations use it to get contract info, to get better, make more competitive bids, get information, you know, that can lead to a better profit. Journalists don't use it as much as you would think.
Pablo Torre
Correct.
David Cavucci
But I do believe anyone can send a FOIA request, and I think anyone should. So I sure, if she is listening to this, I will give her my Intro to Public Records seminar. It's about 60 minutes. I can teach her how to get exactly what she wants.
Pablo Torre
And so the question that I have now is, okay, so Jordan Hudson is doing this over here. And is Bill Belichick in on these requests? Does he have a sense that this is even happening? Is he supportive of this? And we don't have the evidence that suggests one way or the other in the records that he would be.
David Cavucci
No.
Pablo Torre
But we do have, from earlier this week, an interview that he gave Bill Belichick, gave Sean Hannity, the king of Fox News. And it sort of expresses a certain level of perhaps media criticism as well, like cbs. I, I was stunned at how horribly you were treated. I couldn't believe it.
Bill Belichick
I couldn't believe it either.
Pablo Torre
I was stunned. I hope you saw him.
Bill Belichick
Well, you know, as we've seen recently, there have been more editing problems and they go back to over a couple years, multiple examples of editing and interview process and all that. You know, I thought that the interview I had with him was done very deceptively. And I've asked for the transcript from him and they won't give it to me. They've done that with other others. I'm not really sure what that policy is.
Pablo Torre
You can have the transcript. I'll give it to you. Well, go ahead. I didn't let you finish. Yeah.
Bill Belichick
So kind of confused about their, some of the things that they say they are, but I don't, I don't really see them living up to the trust that they, that they talk about.
Pablo Torre
And on Tuesday, incidentally, Jordan Hudson promoted this same clip of Bill Belichick talking to Sean Hannity on her Instagram stories.
Jess Matana
Can you imagine listening to an hour of that? Like the two charisma less individuals that I've ever listened to, my God, in
Pablo Torre
a wood paneled billiards hall.
David Cavucci
Yes.
Jess Matana
Like a smoky cigar lounge.
Pablo Torre
And I think it's worth reminding people that the brain trust here, the inner circle of Bill Belichick, part of the reason why I've been again, both like trying to be self aware but also so serious in my embrace of this stupid story, is because he is the highest paid employee in the state of North Carolina. And he has these two advisors that are so, I think essential to understanding how this archetype of how to live in public has been turned inside out. One of them, Jordan Hudson, the other one, if you're wondering like how conspiratorial is this inner circle, the other one happens to be Mike Lombardi, who is,
David Cavucci
I learned, a JFK assassination truther. And I don't mean that in a derogatory sense. He just does not believe the official narrative. And he's gone on the Solving JFK podcast twice. In one appearance, he did talk about how the media is spinning a narrative against the truth, which I think goes to speak a lot to his mindset.
Mike Lombardi
The media creates a narrative and that narrative will never go away because that's what the media wants to create. And part of the attraction for me for this case is this never ending desire by our media to Continue with the narrative when they know it's not true. That's who resonates with me the most. Why I'm fascinated with this because they're a broader issue than just who did it.
Jess Matana
Now I'm Dr. Evil looking at Mike Lombardi. I'm like, we're not so different, you and I.
Pablo Torre
The general, the highest general manager in college football and Jess Matana. Overlapping Venn diagram. When it comes to jfk, JFK assassination,
David Cavucci
conspiracies as the media. Now, why have you been telling us that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone?
Pablo Torre
What I'm finding out today, Jess, is that I killed jfk. Oh, we did it.
Jess Matana
You shouldn't say that on camera.
Pablo Torre
Can we cut that?
David Cavucci
We can clip it.
Jess Matana
My reaction to that is, man, go recruit some high schoolers.
Pablo Torre
Yeah. The suspicious opening you should be obsessed with is the transfer portal.
Bill Belichick
Sir,
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Jess Matana
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Pablo Torre
The other reason Jess I wanted to have David on is because when it comes to the money in college sports, it's been my goal to put a human face on it. And so you've been on the sidelines of college football games and surrounded by all of these boosters of some amount of wealth, I can only presume and I have wondered who the are these people?
Jess Matana
Yeah, there's a level of booster where it is a Person who is maybe well known in their industry, but they're not like a celebrity, famous person. And so everyone will be paying attention to, like the former athlete who will be on the sideline or the celebrity on the sideline. But then there's like the country's richest man over here that no one really recognizes but is secretly the money behind the entire operation.
Pablo Torre
Yes. There's like Matthew McConaughey's plural. They're like T. Boon Pickens is. He's just sort of like, you know, people who live on top of oil wells, I can only presume. But how do we actually find out who is on these sidelines in this era in which Mike Lombardi, by the way. Yes. Was going to Saudi Arabia to consider, can we get money from over there? Who are the people in America that we can actually put a face and a name to?
David Cavucci
So a lot of states have exceptions for donors to public universities. You can't get their names, which I think is a little absurd, because they're funneling wealth into these schools. And with that comes a lot of influence. And these are places that still should be operated for the benefit of the public good. So I think you should know who gives money to that. So I was recently, I got some documents back from Texas covering some communications with their old Nil collective. And they had mentioned that for a million dollars given to the athletic department, you could get sideline passes to all Texas football home games for five years.
Pablo Torre
Doing the math on that. So a million dollars every home game for five years.
David Cavucci
It's actually not that bad. If you have it, it's a good deal.
Jess Matana
Yeah, you just gotta. You know, I like.
Pablo Torre
We're just at the point in college sports where it's like, that's a steal.
David Cavucci
Yeah. So what I wound up requesting recently from the University of Texas was a list of everyone who had gotten sideline passes to the games. And that was not protected under Texas public records law. So I was able to see that at an average Texas game. You know, their last home game against Texas A and M, there's four billionaires there, you know, two people in oil, one in, I believe, real estate, and the guy who married into the Pace Picante family who then salsa again. Yes. He divorced his wife and bought her out for $90 million and then sold the company for a billion a couple years later.
Jess Matana
And like, worth noting, now more than ever, these people do play a more direct hand in the success of their universities that they supported of their football programs than in years past, I would say. And I Would also add to that you're a virgin Virginia Tech alum.
David Cavucci
We have no billionaires.
Jess Matana
James Franklin, though, was the Penn State head coach and part of the shock of him being fired mid season was how much his buyout was going to be. And so these schools say, well, this buyout money will not come from our, our university or from our athletic budget. We'll have these private donors. We won't really say who's doing it. And if you are around the university or, or you know, work in media around the university, maybe you'll know who it is or, or hear who it might be. But like these are not things that they publicly advertise where they'll say this bo paying for the Franklin buyout.
Pablo Torre
Endowed buyout.
Jess Matana
Exactly.
Pablo Torre
It used to be right, like you'd put your name on a library. Now kind of the ultimate mark of like being a mover and shaker is you're one of these people on the sidelines who is funding stuff that enables in this case the University of Texas to be.
David Cavucci
Aidan for.
Pablo Torre
Yes, to be. To be aided for and still claiming we are the cream of the crop in college sports, which Texas does believe about itself and what they sell about themselves.
David Cavucci
And the numbers are pretty astounding. I think AL.com recently just started that the University of Texas brought in $168 million in donations just to its athletic program last year.
Pablo Torre
So who is on the list that gets access to the sidelines at the University of Texas?
Jess Matana
Other than Salsa Air, one of my
David Cavucci
favorites that I found was a the owner of I believe eight car dealerships in the Austin area, which the Austin Business Journal said brought in like $700 million in revenue last year, which is wild. I didn't realize car dealerships were, I knew they were generated a lot of money. I didn't realize it was that much. But he gave a million dollars to the university a couple years ago, not to the athletics department but directly to the school. And he was on the list of people who'd received sideline passes. But he's also currently on trial for allegedly burning down several businesses in the Austin area.
News Reporter (Austin Business Journal)
Four fires in three months. Fire investigators say one man is behind them all. 75 year old Dorsey Brian Hardiman is the owner of Continental Automotive Group, which operates several car dealerships in Texas. During all four fires, Hardiman's Mercedes Benz SUV was seen on the properties. Fire investigators say they were all set by gasoline and striked matches for me
Pablo Torre
to advise how to arson. But leaving allegedly your Mercedes Benz SUV at the scene of Each of those
Jess Matana
stories, especially when you have access to other cars.
David Cavucci
Oh, I didn't even think about that.
Pablo Torre
Wow.
David Cavucci
Wow.
Pablo Torre
There's a burnt orange joke there somewhere. I don't know where it is. Just. Just pretend that like I nailed it.
Jess Matana
Okay.
David Cavucci
I reached out to the University of Texas and they didn't respond. But I. I did find photos of him like on the foundation website at a game recently.
Pablo Torre
And so, yeah, all I can cite, I suppose, is this email from 2024 that Brian Hardiman sent to the Austin Business Journal in which he denied involvement and his attorney for the record, did not respond to requests that you, David, had sent him.
Jess Matana
What's the biggest reason that there's so much privacy granted for these people?
Pablo Torre
Maybe the world shouldn't know that. What I do is I own and operate a hunting lodge in the state of Texas that allows me to facilitate the killing of exotic wildlife.
David Cavucci
Yes, that's another billionaire on the list. And according to Forbes, he is co owner of the Greystone Castle. It's not just a hunting lodge. It is a castle in the middle of nowhere, Texas where you can hunt ibex and impela and springbok.
Pablo Torre
This castle, this Greystone Castle sporting Club. The website Texas hospitality in an extraordinary setting. We are an Orvis endorsed wing shooting lodge which is clearly a thing. And your bird hunting trips can include dove, quail, pheasant, Hungarian partridge, duck and turkey. Combine any of these hunts with our five star rated lodging and you have a hunting trip fit for a king.
Jess Matana
King of the bros.
David Cavucci
If they wanted to chase me for the work I'm doing, you know, like if they want to give me, like
Pablo Torre
if they want to hunt, I've not
David Cavucci
volunteer that turnaround is fair play.
Pablo Torre
What we should be doing.
David Cavucci
I don't know if I'm gonna be allowed in Texas after this, so.
Pablo Torre
Or on R birds.
David Cavucci
I did recently find some messages that former head coaches wrote on bombs to Osama bin Laden. All roads Charlie. Speaking of Notre Dame, Charlie Weiss wrote, you will lose. Go Irish.
Jess Matana
Wait, he like wrote it on a bomb?
Pablo Torre
Yes.
Jess Matana
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand how one.
David Cavucci
So they did a tour like of military bases in the Middle East.
Pablo Torre
Charlie Weis wrote decided schematic advantage on a bomb.
Jess Matana
You guys just love your Patriots head coaches on this show.
David Cavucci
It's.
Pablo Torre
It's. I can't. Patriots coaches in general referring to the New England Patriots coaching.
Jess Matana
He wrote it on a. You can write on bombs.
David Cavucci
Yeah, like when you're you. When you're touring like US military, they let people write like, they don't let. Like they don't let Pablo write.
Jess Matana
They're not gonna let you do it.
Pablo Torre
It's like. It's like a message in a bottle. But the. Also the exact opposite.
Jess Matana
Go, go Irish.
David Cavucci
Yeah, go Irish.
Jess Matana
It's a Catholic school, dude. What are you doing writing on a bottle?
Pablo Torre
You wrote go Irish.
Jess Matana
I don't think Pope Leo would have approved if I didn't go Irish.
Pablo Torre
On a bomb, he wrote go Irish, but really deserved an asterisk that said America.
Jess Matana
Yeah. I was almost like, wait, the Irish have.
David Cavucci
What if he was like, his last thoughts were like, what did I do to the Irish?
Jess Matana
There's so many levels to what rich people do that I have like, no access to. Like, shooting springboks, writing on bombs. I mean, this is just like an unfathomable pastime. Like, I really don't.
Pablo Torre
I have nothing. I got nothing on this. Sound more broke.
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Jess Matana
Hey, everyone. Check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
Pablo Torre
Oh, no.
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David Cavucci
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
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David Cavucci
Liberty.
Jess Matana
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
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Pablo Torre
As Jess wonders, how do these people live behind closed doors? How do these. How do these coaches, what are they doing? And how do they wield their power? It brings us to something that Jess is absolutely in the dark about. And frankly, I am kind of, too. Except that. David, one of the things you have discovered is a phone number that I want us to dial from inside of the studio because I think Jess Matana has the ability to make history.
Jess Matana
Me?
David Cavucci
Yes.
Jess Matana
How so?
Pablo Torre
Because, David, we asked Jess to prepare one thing specifically. Well, 25 things, actually.
Jess Matana
You guys asked me to do a top 25 college football ranking in May.
Pablo Torre
Well, it's because we value your expertise.
David Cavucci
Yeah, I mean, we love to talk, you know, teams here. Beth's futures. Like this is a real deal sports podcast.
Pablo Torre
That's right.
David Cavucci
Who you got this year?
Pablo Torre
We're doing sports, obviously.
Jess Matana
How did you get this phone number?
David Cavucci
This was from some emails ECU's Blake Harrell was sending.
Pablo Torre
This is an actual call we're making right now.
Jess Matana
Who am I talking to?
Pablo Torre
Just channel. Channel. Charlie Weiss.
Charlie Weis
Hello. You have reached the voting line for the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll. This line is for football and men's basketball. Please give your name and school, followed by your top 25 selections in order, beginning with number one. As you read, please check your ballot carefully to make sure you have not duplicated a team. Identify yourself first, please. Thank you for calling. Begin speaking at the tone. Leave your message at the tone. Press pound when finished.
Jess Matana
This is Charlie Weiss from the University of Notre Dame. Number one, Ohio State. Number two, Oregon. Number three, Notre Dame. Number four, Georgia. Number five, Indiana. Number six, Texas. Number seven, Texas Tech. Number eight, Miami. Number nine, Texas A&M. Number 10, LSU. Number 11, Alabama. Number 12, Oklahoma. Number 13, USC. That's Southern California. Number 14. Michigan. 15. Tennessee. 16. Ole Miss 17. Penn State 18. BYU. 19, Florida. 20. Missouri 21, Washington. 22, Iowa. 23, Clemson. 24, South Carolina. 25, Utah.
Pablo Torre
No. UNC.
David Cavucci
No. Virginia Tech.
Jess Matana
UNC. I mean, their wins total is like four and a half right now in the sports books.
Pablo Torre
Really?
Jess Matana
Their schedule's pretty hard.
David Cavucci
Should we end the call or just let them keep listening to us?
Pablo Torre
Oh, yeah. I am also. Charlie Weiss.
David Cavucci
You've made history. I believe you're the first one to history. You're the first woman to ever vote in the coaches pool.
Pablo Torre
We're still voting.
Jess Matana
Oh, hang up the cut.
Pablo Torre
This Go Irish. Pablo torre finds out is produced by walter aoma, maxwell carney, ryan cortez, juan galindo, patrick kim, ne, rob mccrae, matt sullivan, claire taylor and chris tominiello. Studio engineering by rd systems. Sound design by andrew burcic. Digital strategy by bailey carlin and andrew northern. Theme song as always by john bravo. And we'll talk to.
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David Cavucci
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David Cavucci
Learn more about us@aramco.com.
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Jess Matana
Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
Pablo Torre
Oh no.
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David Cavucci
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
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David Cavucci
Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty High interest debt
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Date: May 22, 2026
Host: Pablo Torre (The Athletic)
Guests: David Cavucci (FOIAball), Jess Matana
This episode plunges into the world of public records requests (FOIAs) and their surprisingly pivotal role in college football’s most bizarre, secretive, and revealing stories. With David Cavucci—creator of FOIAball and the infamous “King of the Bros”—and journalist/podcaster Jess Matana, Pablo Torre explores viral FOIA stunts, the legal and ethical lines of transparency, and how college sports power brokers and scandal-magnets get caught in the web of publicly accessible information. From playlist controversies to billionaire boosters and college coach conspiracies, the episode is a talkumentary that exposes both the absurd and consequential layers of America’s favorite collegiate pastime.
FOIA as a Weapon:
“I think one of the most important laws we have [for transparency] is FOIA.” — David (08:51)
Digital Privacy:
“Spotify doesn’t need to be a public-facing social media app... most people are not using it for that.” — Jess (11:46)
Ethics of Public Interest:
“Public figures have sort of lost all right to privacy... I don’t have any issue with it.” — David (13:11)
On Billionaire Boosters:
“There’s a level of booster where… they’re not famous, but secretly the money behind the entire operation.” — Jess (31:32)
“For a million dollars… you get sideline passes to all Texas football home games for five years.” — David (32:55)
FOIA Inception:
“You can request the request.” — Jess (19:55)
“You can watch the Watchmen.” — David (19:57)
On Coaches’ Myths:
“There’s a lot of illusions built up around a lot of public figures in this world, and it’s fun to shatter those.” — David (14:30)
Jess’s Historic Coaches’ Poll “Vote”:
“I believe you’re the first woman to ever vote in the Coaches Poll.” — David (44:09)
For complete context, listen to the full episode—which is equal parts rigor and hilarity.