Penderpoll results and Mike Vrabel presser

Summary

Episode Overview

Title: Penderpoll results and Mike Vrabel presser
Hosts: Sean Pendergast & Brandon Scott (in for Seth Payne)
Date: July 28, 2026

This episode of Payne & Pendergast focuses on recent press conference antics involving sports figures using children and puppies to shift media attention, and a spirited debate over whether this is acceptable or manipulative. The hosts, Sean Pendergast and Brandon Scott, delve into Mike Vrabel’s and Joel Embiid’s press conference strategies, a related listener poll (“Penderpoll”), and end with a playful but poignant segment on black squirrels as an (almost accidental) life metaphor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mike Vrabel’s Press Conference Tactics

Timestamps: 01:00–04:41

• Background: Mike Vrabel, during his first New England Patriots training camp media session, brought a puppy—widely interpreted as a move to deflect difficult questions regarding personal scandal.
• Day Two Twist: Vrabel allowed a 12-year-old reporter’s daughter to ask the traditional first question, which ended up being about Taylor Swift’s wedding.
  • Quote (Vrabel to the girl): “How was Taylor’s wedding? – It was good, thank you. It was a fairy tale or whatever she says in that song. Okay. Thanks for asking.” (02:58)
• Analysis: Both hosts challenge the authenticity of these gestures, suggesting they’re strategic PR shielding.

2. Child & Pet “Shields” at Pressers: A Debate

Timestamps: 04:41–08:28

• Joel Embiid’s Press Conference: After being swept by the Knicks, Embiid brought his young child to the podium—a move some call tacky or unprofessional.
  • Brandon Scott: “He brought his kid to the press conference, which has long been something I have found...tacky at best, which I actually don’t like.” (05:11)
  • Sean Pendergast: “My objection was—I agree that it’s tacky and borderline unprofessional that you just shouldn't do it.” (05:18)
  • Key difference: Brandon sees Embiid’s move as worse; Sean finds Vrabel’s puppy more calculated as PR distraction.
  • Brandon Scott: “I think it’s a human shield situation.” (05:36)
  • Pendergast: “I don't think the kid should be there for that reason. But I don't think that they bring the kid up there necessarily as a human shield. ... I do think that there’s thought given into ‘let’s bring the puppies up there while we’ve got our shameful head coach up there’.” (08:12)
• Charity Angle: There is a charitable element—Patriots promote dog adoption at camp—but context makes this year’s use suspect.

3. Penderpoll Results: Public Agrees

Timestamps: 08:28–08:48

• Poll Recap: Listeners overwhelmingly voted that Vrabel bringing a puppy was worse PR strategy than Embiid bringing his child (74% in agreement).
  • Pendergast: “The Vrabel one was winning by a landslide at that point… You are winning this right now. 74% of the people agree with you that Vrabel bringing the puppy dog is worse.” (07:21–07:44)
  • Brandon Scott: “Evidently I’m the a–hole of the two of us.” (07:45)

4. Squirrels as Life Metaphor: Banter & Accidental Wisdom

Timestamps: 08:48–11:29

• Light-hearted Chat: The hosts riff on black vs. gray squirrels, prompted by a listener’s question and ChatGPT’s answer.

• Deeper Message: Unintentional but earnest, they reflect on diversity and sameness among squirrels as a parallel to humans.

  • B. Scott: “This feels like we’re talking about human beings here.”
    Pendergast: “It’s a metaphor for life… Take note from the squirrels. Yeah, we ain’t all that different.” (09:21–09:23)
  • B. Scott: “We’re basically squirrels when you put it that way.” (10:13)
  • Pendergast: “I bet you we just changed a lot of hearts and minds out there today.” (10:22)
  • B. Scott: “Doing the Lord’s work here on radio.” (10:25)

• Memorable Banter: They joke about how differently black and gray squirrels might be treated on a baseball field, again nodding at real-life parallels.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On PR tactics:
  • Pendergast (re: Vrabel): “I can't wait to see what the tactic is today to make Mike Vrabel soften his Q rating here…” (03:13)
• On professionalism:
  • Pendergast (on kids at pressers): “We do agree that you should just leave the kid wherever he came from… It’s a professional setting.” (07:53)
• Accidental profundity:
  • Pendergast: “It’s a metaphor for life… Take note from the squirrels. Yeah, we ain’t all that different.” (09:21–09:23)
  • B. Scott: “Doing the Lord’s work here on radio.” (10:25)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Mike Vrabel’s puppy & press conference strategies: 01:00–04:41
• Joel Embiid, kids at pressers, and 'human shields': 04:41–08:28
• Listener Penderpoll results: 08:28–08:48
• Black squirrels as life metaphor: 08:48–11:29

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Tone & Style

• Language: Conversational, witty, sometimes irreverent but insightful.
• Dynamics: Strong opinions; Brandon is more cynical towards kid/puppy PR stunts, Sean more pragmatic.
• Humor: Frequent, used to underscore and diffuse tension around sensitive or heavy topics.
• Local Flavor: Continual callbacks to Houston and its sports scene, even when riffing on national stories.

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Summary

In this lively episode, Payne & Pendergast dissect the motives and optics behind sports figures using children and puppies as press conference props—particularly targeting Mike Vrabel's and Joel Embiid's maneuvers. Through spirited debate and engagement with listener opinion (via the “Penderpoll”), they conclude that Vrabel’s calculated use of a puppy was a more blatant and cynical media manipulation than Embiid’s child-at-the-podium. The episode wraps with unexpectedly profound banter about squirrels, which morphs into a metaphor for human equality and diversity. As always, the tone is sharp, relatable, and playfully unfiltered—delivering both sports insight and a surprise dose of radio philosophy.

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For Houston sports fans or anyone interested in the intersection of PR, media, and sports culture, this episode is a blend of sharp analysis, cultural observation, and comic relief.

Transcript

[Susie Welch]

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[Jen Hatmaker]

Hey, it's Jen Hatmaker. Here's what I've learned in midlife. Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done. Joy is the work. That's what this new series on for the Love is all about. The sacred yes. It's choosing delight, rest and pleasure on purpose. Because saying yes to yourself, that's the thing that finally lets you fill your table with everybody else. Come find your sacred yes with me. Follow and listen to for the Love wherever you get your podcasts.

[B. Scott]

Sports Radio 610 presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugar Lamb Studios. Here's Pain and Pendergast. All right, so B. Scott and I got into a bit of a debate yesterday. I did not expect it to be a point of contention between the two of us. We'll tell you what it was in just a second. But let's pay off on the tease of audio here. So Mike Rabel, who, who at his first press conference of training camp brought a cute little puppy dog with him underneath his arm. And as I've had several Patriot fans point out to me, as I and you being among the hundreds of thousands of people that thought it was a disingenuous attempt to deflect having any questions asked about his alleged affair with Diana Rossini, to portray him as, you know, some sort of gentle family man, sympathetic figures. Sympathetic figures. Good way to put it. Yep. So that was day one. Yesterday there was a, I guess a reporter there that brought his daughter with him to the press conference. I don't know, it was bring your kid to work day or something like that. I have no idea.

[Pendergast]

Still, summer things happen.

[B. Scott]

But Vrabel. That's right. That. Yeah, could be something like that. Yeah, it could be something like. Yeah, whoever watches her, you know, had a, had an issue, whatever it was, that there's a 12 year old girl at the press conference and Vrabel, I guess, traditionally allows a woman to ask the first question at his press conferences. So in this case, he allowed this particular reporter's daughter to ask the first question of the press conference. Karen you might get Trump this morning. Olivia, welcome. How you been?

[Pendergast]

Good.

[B. Scott]

It's good to see you. Do you have a question today?

[Pendergast]

Kind of.

[Jen Hatmaker]

Okay.

[Susie Welch]

Kinda.

[B. Scott]

They kind of have questions, too.

[Pendergast]

How was Taylor's wedding?

[B. Scott]

It was good, thank you. It was a fairy tale or whatever she says in that song. Okay. Thanks for asking. How was Taylor's wedding?

[Pendergast]

Yeah, he could have given her a little bit more than that. Give us a little tea on the wedding, my man.

[B. Scott]

Well, I wonder we've not heard a ton about that wedding. I wonder what the marching orders were for people who went to that wedding.

[Pendergast]

Oh.

[B. Scott]

And I'm about what they are allowed and not allowed to share in press conferences and things like that.

[Pendergast]

Yeah. Like if you're big enough to have your wedding at the Garden. And again, not. Not a Garden. The Garden. Madison Square Garden. Are you like our NDAs at the door or at the entryway? Good question.

[B. Scott]

Like, you know, who went to it, Who's a regular guest on this show? Hopefully we're getting him this season, too. Ross Tucker.

[Pendergast]

Ross Tucker went to the wedding.

[B. Scott]

Ross Tucker went to the wedding. Now he's a Philly guy and she's a Philly gal. Taylor is.

[Pendergast]

Whoa.

[B. Scott]

Yeah. Ross Tucker went to Taylor Swift's wedding.

[Pendergast]

I've met Ross Tucker, and I've met somebody that went to the wedding.

[B. Scott]

Absolutely. Wow. Yeah.

[Pendergast]

Yeah.

[B. Scott]

Okay. Yep. That's pretty cool, Tucker. All right, so. So that was. That was Rabel's. You know, I don't know how many more tricks he has up his sleeve to try to soften the beginning of all these press conferences. He's got a puppy dog. Got a little girl asking a Taylor Swift question. I can't wait to see what the tactic is today to make Mike Vrabel soften his Q rating here. You know, get him winning the. The PR battle, if there is one to be won up in New England. I have no idea. But. So you pointed out yesterday that this was that the dog. Specifically the puppy dog. Forget about the girl whose audio we just played that the puppy dog you brought up Joel Embiid.

[Pendergast]

Yeah.

[B. Scott]

Bringing his kid to a press conference after they had just lost. They just got swept by the Knicks. Yeah. And Joel Embiid brings his. His young kid who couldn't have been older than three or four years old, swept and collapsed.

[Pendergast]

Yeah. So, like, not just you lost, but we got real questions to ask you.

[B. Scott]

Absolutely. He brought his kid to the press conference, which has long been something I have found. I don't know if offensive is the right word. I'm not a journalist like you are. Like it just.

[Pendergast]

But you don't like it.

[B. Scott]

It's tacky. Yeah, it's tacky at best, which I actually. And I don't like it.

[Pendergast]

And I actually agree with that part of it.

[B. Scott]

Yeah.

[Pendergast]

So my objection was I agree that it's tacky and borderline unprofessional that you just shouldn't do it. Unfortunately, it is a common thing that they do. I just didn't draw the same conclusion. So I guess I dislike it or think it's tacky for different reasons. I didn't draw the same conclusion that y' all had.

[B. Scott]

I think it's a human shield situation.

[Pendergast]

Right, Right. I just thought it was just flat out tacky, but not necessarily the human shield that this to me clearly was.

[B. Scott]

So you. You definitely think that Vrabel is a human shield, even though there is a charity component to this, to that dog and other dogs, this patriots thing that they do at training camp where they're trying to find homes for several dozen human stray dogs?

[Pendergast]

Yeah. If they did it last year, it wasn't a human shield last year. Doing it now it is.

[B. Scott]

Okay, so even though they did it last year. Correct. Okay. So you.

[Pendergast]

So I doubling down on this, I

[B. Scott]

think the Embiid thing, bringing his kid to the press conference, to me is worse than Vrabel bringing a cute little puppy dog to his press conference. You, on the other hand, feel strongly the other way.

[Pendergast]

Yeah. And maybe for no reason, because we've just seen so much of it before. I might be more conditioned to it, but. Yeah, I thought this was worse.

[B. Scott]

Worse. Who do you think the voting constituency on this Pender poll voted for? I posted this yesterday. A few hundred people have voted.

[Pendergast]

Yeah.

[B. Scott]

So Brandon. Brandon. I'm just gonna read it for the audience. Brandon Scott and I differ greatly on this today. So I'll put it to the people. Which is worse. Joel Embi bringing his kid. Mike Rabel bringing a cute puppy dog to. To. To his presser. So How We Made your Mother is

[Pendergast]

a rewatch podcast that looks back episode by episode at the hit TV show How I Met yout Mother. It's hosted by me, Josh Radner, along with series co creator and my friend, Craig Thomas.

[B. Scott]

Follow How We Made youe Mother wherever you get your podcasts.

[Pendergast]

I. I followed it. Went on and vote. Exercised my right as an American.

[B. Scott]

Yeah, get out and vote.

[Pendergast]

And. And voted.

[B. Scott]

You can still vote. There's six hours left if you're listening.

[Pendergast]

Yeah, many great people fought for that. So I, I went Ahead and. And voted in my Pender poll.

[B. Scott]

Right.

[Pendergast]

And so about 150 votes in is the last time I checked in on your poll. Okay. And the Embiid. I'm sorry, the. The Rabel one was winning by a landslide at that point. It was like percent.

[B. Scott]

You are winning this right now.

[Pendergast]

Okay.

[B. Scott]

74% of the people agree with you.

[Pendergast]

Okay.

[B. Scott]

That Vrabel bringing the puppy dog is worse than Joel Embiid bringing his kid to the press conference.

[Pendergast]

Yeah.

[B. Scott]

So evidently I'm the. A hole of the two of us.

[Pendergast]

I think you're just missing the. It's just. To me, it's just so much more obvious.

[B. Scott]

Yeah. Like.

[Pendergast]

Like I think you can justify or at least explain away bringing your kid up there, even though we do agree that you should just leave the kid wherever he came from. Like wherever the. Whoever brought the kid, let the kid stay with that person until the very least you're done with your press conference. It's a professional setting.

[B. Scott]

Yeah.

[Pendergast]

So I don't think the kid should be there for that reason. But I don't think that they bring the kid up there necessarily. As a human shield. I don't know if there's a lot of thought. Thought given into that. I do think that there's thought given into let's bring the puppies up there while we've got our shameful head coach up there.

[B. Scott]

I just love that it's this lopsided. I. If I had to predict, I. Well, I probably would have predicted Embiid, but I guess I'm com. I'm lacking in some self awareness on that. It is very lopsided, this vote. Interesting people pointing out the various places in the United States that have black squirrels. I had never seen one before.

[Pendergast]

Hey, man, you got to get out and touch grass.

[B. Scott]

I gotta get out. I know you doing. I gotta get out of my gray squirrel neighborhood shelter.

[Pendergast]

Son of a gun.

[B. Scott]

It's funny, I asked. I asked Chatgpt, other than color, how are black squirrels different than regular squirrels? And my Chatgpt bot, Lefty is his name, says, great question, Sean. The short answer is they usually aren't much different at all. A black squirrel is just a color variation of the same species.

[Pendergast]

Huh. You don't see.

[B. Scott]

And I were talking during the break and I'm like, this feels like we're talking about human beings here.

[Pendergast]

It's a metaphor for life.

[B. Scott]

We're not all that different, man.

[Pendergast]

Take note from the squirrels. Yeah, we ain't all that different.

[B. Scott]

That's right. That's right.

[Pendergast]

But it is worth wondering, would that squirrel had been treated differently if it wasn't black with the gray squirrel, Would

[B. Scott]

the gray squirrel have gotten away with running onto Comerica Park?

[Pendergast]

Only a black squirrel could cause a dozen men to have to jump out of his seat to corral him. I'm just telling you the per walk

[B. Scott]

they made that black squirrel do off of the field.

[Pendergast]

This is life. But in all the while, as chat GPT. Or is the. As the AI bot tells you, we ain't all that different. Hey. All right.

[B. Scott]

Fun fact. This is chat GPT. If a black squirrel and a gray squirrel mate.

[Pendergast]

Oh, now we're getting into some really risky spring.

[B. Scott]

Can be black, gray, or even a mix.

[Pendergast]

Oh.

[B. Scott]

Depending on color, genes. That they were basically squirrels. We're basically squirrels when you put it that way. Right? Yeah, man.

[Pendergast]

I bet you we just changed a lot of hearts and minds out there today.

[B. Scott]

I think we did.

[Pendergast]

Doing the Lord's work here on radio.

[B. Scott]

This is no disrespect to Seth. This is the most important episode of Pain and Pender. Look, this is a very special episode.

[Pendergast]

I would know. And Seth, I would predict that he is a little bit upset that he missed this moment in time.

[Susie Welch]

Maybe.

[Pendergast]

Yes.

[B. Scott]

That he. That he wasn't here for all of us through the radio.

[Pendergast]

I'm telling you, this is to hold hands. This is a Hallmark moment.

[B. Scott]

Yes.

[Pendergast]

A seminal moment in history right now.

[B. Scott]

I mean, you can mad lib in humans here.

[Pendergast]

Yeah.

[B. Scott]

Squirrels. And that's how we should feel.

[Pendergast]

I could. I could just imagine your chat bot going. A response to your question going.

[B. Scott]

Oh, yeah.

[Pendergast]

Oh, he wants to know. He wants to let. Well, let me tell you about the difference. There ain't no.

[B. Scott]

It is funny. I've never seen him. I literally. People are commenting on it. I'd never seen one before. Black squirrel.

[Pendergast]

I had neither. And I. And I've been.

[B. Scott]

Apparently there's some up in Huntsville.

[Pendergast]

I've been in the trench. I've been in the trenches with the squirrels. Didn't see any black ones.

[B. Scott]

Yeah, man.

[Pendergast]

But I'll tell you, this. Wouldn't have treated him any different.

[B. Scott]

That's right.

[Pendergast]

Other ones.

[B. Scott]

Hell yeah.

[Pendergast]

Tell you that.

[B. Scott]

That's right. All right. Pain and pender gas. B. Scott in for Seth Payne. Are you ready to get petty, man?

[Pendergast]

I can't wait.

[B. Scott]

In the next segment, I actually have two things I'm petty about, including one thing that I saw this weekend on my staycation with Amy that appalled me. I will have that for you.

[Pendergast]

Let's do it.

[Susie Welch]

I'm Susie Welch, the host of Becoming you, a podcast where I help you

[Pendergast]

stop living by default and start living by design.

[Susie Welch]

Listen to Becoming you wherever you get your podcasts.