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Paine
Yeah.
Pendergast
At Carl's Jr.
Paine
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Pendergast
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Paine
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Pendergast
I remember telling my boss it'll be
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Paine
Yeah, it. It wasn't.
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Paine
Sports Radio 610 presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugar Lamb Studios. Here's Paine and Pendergast.
Pendergast
So the World cup is over. Spain is your World cup champion for 2026. And now we wait. We wait four more years for three or four soccer games a day for six weeks.
Paine
Well, the, the big thing would be is if the US makes it past the round of 16, that would be the big thing in any given World Cup.
Pendergast
Yes. Yeah, that would be fun. We'll see how much progress we can.
Paine
Where is it in 2028, 2030?
Cole
It's. I think it's Spain, Portugal and one other country.
Pendergast
I think you're right. I think that sounds.
Paine
Yeah, we're stuck in Olympics mode. Yeah, it's every four years. Except it's every two years.
Pendergast
Winter, summer, winter, summer.
Paine
When's the winter World Cup?
Pendergast
The.
Cole
Spain, Portugal and Morocco are the three.
Pendergast
Oh, okay. So they're doing. Doing a little look at Morocco getting in.
Paine
I know that's gotta be a. That's gotta be hot.
Pendergast
Yes. Yes.
Paine
Well, Byron, how hot is it in Morocco right now? Don't give me any centigrade bs.
Guest or Advertiser Voice
Yeah.
Pendergast
Okay.
Commercial Announcer 2
Yeah.
Paine
They're gonna try to spit a centigrade at you. I don't know what any of it is.
Pendergast
He's looking it up.
Paine
I see these Canadians sometimes being like, it's 37 degrees centigrade. I'm like, I. I don't know what to do.
Pendergast
No.
Paine
I don't know how to respond to that.
Pendergast
Get on our level. Fahrenheit for 96.
Paine
96 degrees in Morocco right now. Okay.
Pendergast
Sounds a little.
Paine
It sounds like Houston. Sounds less humid, actually. Probably delightful.
Pendergast
Do they have roofs on their stadiums? That's the question.
Commercial Announcer 2
Yeah.
Pendergast
I would hope so. I would hope so.
Paine
Well, you know, all these other countries have to build stadiums for the. For the World Cup.
Pendergast
Well, that was the big thing. Okay, so this gets losers. This gets to what I was going to hit here. Now that the World Cup's over, I enjoyed this world. I enjoyed this World Cup a lot more than I thought I would. Not that I'm anti World cup or anti soccer. It became a much bigger part of my routine than I had ever anticipated. We watched a lot of the games, Amy and I did, I think, just casual fan. Because there's a lot of people I know listening out there that didn't watch any of the games. That only watch some of the games.
Paine
But you still were. But you still saw some content.
Commercial Announcer 2
Yeah.
Pendergast
And that's kind of. So the biggest, for me, the biggest casual fan memories of the World Cup, I think, number one, is that there was this period really leading up to Baligan's red card getting overturned where. Where there was this love affair going on with the United States from the rest of the world.
Paine
I think that continued on afterwards because if anything, there was a. There was a. There was a realization by a lot of people visiting the United States that, like, oh, okay, you know what? Just like it is as it is, whenever anything's in the world news, you see nothing but the negative. And a lot of people have this perception in the United States of us, like, all being a certain type of way as people or that there's gun violence everywhere or anything. So having. Having all these people being so, like, pleasantly surprised that it's actually a really fun place to be. Yeah, that. That was really cool. I felt like it was a little bit. A little bit of Kumbaya for the entire world.
Pendergast
I think that way sometimes, too. Like, you see these. These Other countries, you know, like in the other hemisphere.
Paine
Yeah.
Pendergast
And there's, you know, there's stuff going on in those countries, too. And that's all you ever see on the news. And you feel like you still like, I like my. I'm not going to name countries.
Paine
Well, no, I'd say the Middle east in general, like. Yeah, People have a perception of the Middle east is like, you walk out the door and there's nothing but rubble
Pendergast
everywhere off the plane.
Paine
Right, right.
Pendergast
And people are shooting at you. There's bombs going off and everything else. And that may have been, to a degree, the impression people had here. It was really cool to see that. It was really cool to see them appreciate, like, the comforts and the amenities that we like a lot of the cliches about.
Paine
Like, especially in Texas, they do it bigger in Texas.
Pendergast
They're like, it really, really is bigger in Texas. Holy cow. Refillable drinks.
Paine
Yeah.
Pendergast
I can't believe I get refilled. I just walk up to the machine.
Cole
Ranch being a big one, too.
Paine
Ranch.
Pendergast
Ranch dressing, where they had to go
Cole
through TSA and they were getting bags pulled because they were trying to sneak ranch back.
Pendergast
Sneak ranch.
Paine
My favorite thing was this. The whole. You get used to seeing on social media Europeans being like, the Americans do not understand food or cuisine. And then meanwhile, you have all these Europeans coming over and they're like, oh, my gosh, whataburger is so incredible. Oh, they have so many McDonald's here.
Pendergast
Oh, this white cat, white cassette.
Paine
Yeah. Like, wait a second. I was under the impression that you guys are all over there eating seven course meals every night.
Cole
Chips and salsa. That's free at the table.
Pendergast
You speak of free chips and salsa was a big one.
Paine
I knew about the apple pie, but I did not know that it could be deep fried. Yes.
Pendergast
All right. Other casual fan memories from the World Cup. The saga of Freddy Freddie, the German superfan, who, of course, was partially subsidized by J.J. watt on his ship. J.J. got him a nice room at the Post Oak and some other things, but that happened almost everywhere he went. To me, the funniest part of the Freddy story was the very predictable storyline arc that he would have on social
Paine
media, where you realize, like, oh, like a rockumentary, where, like, oh, you see the downside of fame.
Pendergast
We liked you when you were a garage man, Freddy, and now you're this
Cole
big, dark turn down the path of nowhere.
Paine
The funniest part of that about that was people were so eager to claim that he was like, oh, he's a corporate cell sell out or whatever. And you would see people saying, and like this people in media saying, like, I don't know, I thought it was refreshing, but now it just turned into a big corporate thing. And you look down his timeline, it's like he visited NASA.
Guest or Advertiser Voice
Yeah.
Paine
Like, like somebody at a counter at a fast food restaurant gave him a free meal or something. It wasn't like he was accepting ads from places.
Pendergast
No. He was getting offered to go places on private jets. He chose to go to, like, Vermont and walk around a small town and drive a little league baseball game.
Paine
Yeah. Yeah. Like, he really took in the experience and looked like he had no desire at all to actual.
Guest or Advertiser Voice
For.
Paine
For actual fame.
Pendergast
Right.
Paine
You know, like, never showed his face.
Pendergast
He never shows face.
Cole
Yeah, because it was a Cristiano Ronaldo meme, wasn't it? Like, as the logo on his.
Pendergast
Whatever that was his avatar.
Cole
His avatar.
Pendergast
Yeah. But he would put like smiley faces over him and his buddies. Yeah. The Cabo Verde Cinderella story.
Paine
Yeah. That was cool.
Pendergast
Yeah, that was.
Paine
That was cool. But it's also a little bit of same way, like sometimes, sometimes it takes a.
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Paine
bit of the mystique of the Major league pitcher when Cesar Salazar comes in and mows three batters down as a pitcher like. Or Jake Myers, you know, Cesar Alizar was rocking a 0.0.
Pendergast
When I picture Mosin down, I picture like 99 miles an hour heat.
Paine
I don't know, it doesn't seem all that hard or difficult. So I'm like with soccer, I'm kind of like, well, I don't know. Shane Caboville, this guy who's selling insurance comes in and pitches a shutout in the World Cup. How hard is this game?
Pendergast
Everybody's excited about the World cup and Seth's over screaming small sample size.
Paine
Doesn't seem all that difficult to me.
Pendergast
Small sample size. What, blocking three shots.
Paine
Not that chess speaking about though. Impressive things though by pitchers. Yesterday, the pitcher for the Orioles, yesterday's picture.
Cole
Young.
Paine
Yeah. Brandon Young. That little hacky sack thing he did.
Pendergast
Oh, skipped it up to himself.
Commercial Announcer 1
Yes.
Paine
Hit his leg and then he popped there with his foot up and then threw maybe out.
Pendergast
At first I thought I looked at. I didn't see it live. I didn't see that play live. I watched most of the game. I didn't see that play live. But I saw the side view of it that somebody put up of just him. I'm like, hey, he must have just been doing that like during messing around during warm ups or something.
Paine
Like Tiger woods with the little tricks that he does with the ball, you know with the ball on his club.
Pendergast
Turned it through to first base. Yeah, that was crazy. All right. The, the, the Baligan red card overturn will be one of the bigger soccer stories I think of that. And is that a precedent that gets set where if there's enough complaining going on about a guy getting the punitive nature of the red card rules.
Paine
I kind of. You know what, I enjoyed forgetting about that whole thing because the US lost. So thank you for bringing it back up.
Pendergast
Well, it's just, you know, people are going to remember.
Paine
Well that was one of those annoying ones because all of a sudden there was a big controversy. They like to call it in World Cup. Yep. And like, like by the time into it, there's just way too many arguments on both sides for me to give it.
Pendergast
I've always thought I said this the day after it happened that for a guy to get red carded out of a game, the team plays a man down.
Paine
Yeah.
Pendergast
For the rest of the game and then he misses the next game is way too punitive.
Commercial Announcer 2
They were.
Paine
Well, it was one of those. They had all the guys who are forgiven Their red cards to be allowed to play in the World Cup. Like I for one, if you try to take the US out of it and be as objective as possible. I think it was a good precedent because I agree with you. Like it's too punitive in the world elimination. Especially that. That if it ends up being a precedent where more countries do it, then
Cole
whatever to your guys. Say, what do you take in college football in the targeting role where if you get targeted in the second half with the miss the first half of the next game.
Paine
I don't like any suspensions for in game stuff that carry over to the next. Well, especially now that college football players make money just fine
Pendergast
them hit them where it hurts, they'll learn how to wrap up. You're the. You're the college football guy, Cole. Are they. Aren't they changing that rule to some degree? This.
Cole
Not this season. But they're still reviewing it.
Pendergast
They are.
Cole
Yeah. They are reviewing it to where hopefully they won't have a suspension going into the next.
Paine
The NFL added extra things that they're allowed to Booth review and I believe the illegal hits are one of them too. Yeah. So with they're already doing, I felt like. I feel like the NFL has been pushing the envelope on what gets booth reviewed.
Cole
Oh yeah.
Paine
Above and beyond what's actually technically legal. But nobody. Nobody objects to that. Well, please do that.
Cole
College football's gotten better at that. We're targeting like they've really tracked down on what actually is calling illegal.
Pendergast
The other thing, casual fan memories from the World cup. The rituals for the different countries.
Paine
Yeah, the Norway rowing and everything.
Pendergast
Yeah, the Norway rowing and the big one here locally. Because it happened once, almost happened twice, but it happened here. The Netherlands and that.
Cole
The orange walk.
Pendergast
The Orange walk they do to the game. I talked to people who were. Who were part of that and they said it's. It is one of the most incredible experiences they've had as fan.
Cole
It was like I was so close to going. I just couldn't get over there in time that morning.
Pendergast
Yeah.
Paine
The other part of that is that Jameis Winston was involved in partaking in so many of them. Like the Jameis Winston stuff was a lot of fun. James Winston did a good job.
Pendergast
That's good.
Paine
I kept waiting for him to do something with France, but I figured there was some kind of like a Roman Polanski, like we'd have to give him an amnesty or something if we're. If. Because the French are going to be like just this. James Winston is out there. But you do not allow Roman polancia.
Pendergast
Yeah. Yeah. When is it president?
Paine
Yeah.
Pendergast
So there you go. And then my, My other favorite thing is soccer. Seth winning our pool. I've mentioned that multiple times today, but I just.
Paine
Do you know soccer, winning our pool.
Pendergast
Oh, soccer. Seth winning our pool.
Paine
Oh. Oh, yeah. Could I win something for that?
Pendergast
I don't know.
Paine
I thought you said soccer.
Pendergast
It's all good. I. I remember Reggie and John, who were the organizers of this pool.
Paine
Yeah.
Pendergast
Saying that they were like pondering doing something, but it feels like, I don't know now that neither of them won, maybe they ponder their way right out.
Paine
I think probably that because I was the person who participated least and yet won it all. It's kind of like that was my Cesar sale. Is our mowing down three batters in a row? Yeah, like. All right, well, I think that's all
Pendergast
the more reason you should get something. It's hilarious.
Paine
Games not that hard. I won the pool. I just, I. Yeah, it's a.
Pendergast
It's.
Paine
It bores me. Not because it's a boring game, but because it's too easy.
Cole
It's like a Scantron for you, just circling and then see all the time and.
Paine
Yeah. And get 100. It's like, oh, yeah, there's an 85.
Pendergast
J.J. watt was at the World cup final over the weekend. He was also on social media a little bit over the weekend as well. Okay, so is JJ out of bounds for doing this on social media? And he's. Is he the coolest guy ever for doing this other thing on social media over the weekend? We will discuss. We'll find out. So speaking of the guys on in the Loop, find out what they've got going on.
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Cole
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Paine
business days early, depending on when the payer submits the transaction.
Cole
Member fdic.
Paine
As a fan chosen for the halftime
Pendergast
challenge, I love sports for a chance
Paine
to win the big prize.
Pendergast
But when my half court heave only
Paine
goes half the distance, how embarrassing for him.
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I wonder, is sport clips better than sports? Because sport clips haircuts is sports on
Paine
TV plus an expert haircut, hot steam
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Paine
Tear up his comically large check which is better than Sports plus Public embarrassment Sport clips. It's a game changer.
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Date: July 20, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast
Episode Focus: The hosts recap the 2026 FIFA World Cup through the lens of a “casual fan,” highlighting moments, cultural quirks, and underlying themes that made this tournament memorable—even for those not glued to every match.
In this episode, Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast reminisce about the standout “casual fan” moments from the just-concluded 2026 World Cup. They swap stories and insights about what resonated with regular Americans and visitors alike, including international perceptions of the U.S., cuisine culture shocks, the rise of unlikely fan heroes, and iconic moments from the tournament. The discussion strikes a balance between lighthearted banter, sharp cultural observations, and genuine excitement for soccer’s big event—and how it intersected with life in Houston and the broader U.S.
On changing perceptions abroad:
“It was a little bit of Kumbaya for the entire world.” — Paine (04:04)
European food conversion:
“These Europeans coming over and they're like, oh, my gosh, Whataburger is so incredible.” — Paine (05:27)
Freddy’s legend:
“We liked you when you were a garage man, Freddy, and now you're this...big, dark turn down the path of nowhere.” — Cole, joking about Freddy’s fame arc (06:35)
Ritual admiration:
“The Netherlands and that...the Orange walk they do to the game. I talked to people who were part of that and they said it's...one of the most incredible experiences they've had as fan.” — Pendergast (12:32)
True to Payne & Pendergast style, the episode is energetic and irreverent, laced with inside jokes, regional pride, and relatable sports banter. The hosts keep it inviting for casual and hardcore fans alike, regularly poking fun at themselves and highlighting the everyday joys and absurdities that come with a massive international event landing on U.S. soil.
Summary:
This episode offers a breezy, insightful post-mortem on the 2026 World Cup, serving up Houston and American perspectives, culture shock stories, memorable fan feats, and playful critiques of soccer and sports regulations. If you missed the World Cup (or watched only a little), Payne & Pendergast’s rundown ensures you’re culturally caught up—ranch, Whataburger, “Orange Walks,” and all.