Let Kawhai Get Paid and Identity Theft was Easy in the 70s w/ Miles Gray

Summary

Scam Goddess: “Let Kawhi Get Paid and Identity Theft was Easy in the 70s” (w/ Miles Gray)

Podcast: Scam Goddess | Host: Laci Mosley | Guest: Miles Gray
Date: July 8, 2026
Summary by [assistant]

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Episode Overview

This lively, laugh-filled episode of Scam Goddess centers on the world of sports scams—past and present—exploring how schemes, frauds, and good old-fashioned hustles have played out among pro athletes and organizations. Laci Mosley and guest Miles Gray (The Daily Zeitgeist, 420 Day Fiancé) break down three historical and contemporary scams: the LA Clippers’ alleged scheme to pay NBA star Kawhi Leonard under the table, the infamous Deflategate scandal involving the New England Patriots, and the wild exploits of serial scammer William Douglas Street in 1970s sports. Along the way, the pair riff on the scamminess of holiday sales, AI menu photos, and the proliferation of sports betting, offering insights, personal stories, and irreverent social commentary.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Scam, Scheme, or “Real Thing” Warm-Up (03:30–18:00)

• Holiday Sales (05:19)
  Both Laci and Miles agree holiday sales are mostly a scam: companies artificially inflate prices or promote “discounts” that aren’t real savings.

  • Quote [05:47]:
    “It’s all just language. But in honesty, it’s a scam... They’re just selling things at a price they’re still able to profit from. So why isn’t this the price all the time?” — Miles Gray

• AI Photos on Menus (12:04)
  AI-generated food pics on menus are a scam—and often an obvious one, with unrealistic images leading to disappointing real-life meals.

  • Quote [15:24]:
    “Why are there marshmallows on— that’s a hate crime!” — Laci Mosley

• Sports Betting (19:23–27:30)
  The growing prevalence and accessibility of online sports betting is deemed a dangerous, scam-adjacent “life-ruining scheme.” They note tactics used by betting apps to keep users gambling and how the industry preys on desperation.

  • Quote [22:12]:
    “If that spending stops or drops off from the usual that they're taking from you, they'll start sending you coupons or little chips to lure you back in, get the money flowing again. Yeah, it’s wild.” —Miles Gray

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The Main Event: Sports-Related Scams

1. The LA Clippers, Steve Ballmer, and Kawhi Leonard’s Secret Payment (29:15–48:01)

• Story: Clippers owner Steve Ballmer allegedly helped Kawhi Leonard circumvent the NBA salary cap by funneling $28 million through an endorsement deal with a “green bank” called Aspiration. The deal, uncovered by journalist Pablo Torre, involved no actual work from Kawhi.
• Key Points:
  • Salary caps exist to keep leagues competitive; Ballmer tried to "hack the system" to get top talent.
  • Unlike typical endorsement deals, Kawhi never promoted Aspiration, making the deal look suspicious.
  • The scam was flagrant in how closely the payment amounts aligned and how little effort was made to hide the paper trail.
• Memorable Moments:
  • “Kawhi, you couldn't have done one commercial for Aspiration?” — Laci [42:14]
  • “I’m always good with aspiration.” — Miles (mock endorsement) [42:54]
  • Praise for Pablo Torre as a professional “hater” for his investigative work.
  • Debates on whether it’s truly “bad” for a black athlete to get paid more, given systemic exploitation in sports.

2. Deflategate & The New England Patriots (48:24–51:01)

• Story: The infamous 2015 scandal where footballs were allegedly deflated to give Patriots players an unfair advantage. Laci gives a quick rundown, highlighting the blatant nature of the cheating.
• Takeaway: This scam ranks as the most clear-cut cheating, especially due to the Patriots’ dominance at the time.
• Quote [65:09]: “The least scammy to me is Kawhi Leonard’s situation… The only problem is there are rules so that the league can maintain some level of parity… but I can’t fault my guy Kawhi for wanting more money.” — Miles Gray

3. William Douglas Street: 1970s Serial Impersonator (51:22–64:34)

• Story: William faked being a human rights lawyer, a surgeon, a white Yale student, and pro football player Jerry Levias among others. He almost infiltrated MLB’s Detroit Tigers by pretending to be the real Levias and even conned a teammate out of $300.
• Key Details:
  • His athletic impersonations were hampered by an obvious lack of physicality—especially “neck thickness.”
  • He failed basic tryout drills and was exposed as a fraud when he threw with the wrong hand.
  • The “victimless” nature of his scams are debated, with Laci noting he crossed a line by borrowing (and not returning) $300.
• Memorable Moments:
  • The “neck check”: “You come in with that little floppy ass neck—no, they’re gonna know.” — Miles Gray [52:15]
  • Drawing parallels to family using mistaken celebrity identity for perks.
  • Historical note: The pre-internet era made such scams feasible due to relative anonymity.
  • “He is in love with the finesse, and he can’t stop finessing.” —Miles [69:53]

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Scam Rankings & Final Thoughts (64:45–71:46)

• Laci and Miles’ Scam Rankings:
  1. Most Forgivable: Kawhi Leonard/Clippers—Players have short careers and are regularly exploited by billionaire owners.
  2. Middle: William Douglas Street—He was mostly a harmless charlatan but loses points for ripping off a fellow player.
  3. Most Diabolical: Deflategate/Patriots—Blatant, impactful cheating at the highest level.

On Sports Endorsements (68:38–74:26)

• A broader critique of modern celebrities endorsing random products for money, regardless of expertise or credibility—tying back to the Kawhi/Aspiration scheme.

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Notable Quotes & Moments With Timestamps

• [05:47] “It’s all just language...they’re still able to profit. So why isn’t this the price all the time?” — Miles (on holiday sales)
• [15:24] “Why are there marshmallows on— that’s a hate crime!” — Laci (on AI menu photos)
• [22:12] “They'll start sending you coupons...to lure you back in, get the money flowing again. Yeah, it’s wild.” — Miles (on gambling apps)
• [42:14] “Kawhi, you couldn't have done one commercial for Aspiration?” — Laci
• [46:18] “All investigative journalism is is haters with a purpose. I love that for them!”— Laci (on Pablo Torre)
• [52:15] “You come in with that little floppy ass neck—no, they’re gonna know.” — Miles
• [69:53] “He is in love with the finesse, and he can’t stop finessing.” — Miles (on William Douglas Street)

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Listen for:

• Laci’s story of the “animal handler/fist-fighting raccoon/wig-switching sandwich maker” [55:24], a hilarious example of grifter energy outside sports.
• Their candid, comedic advice on surviving scams and schemes in everyday life—always with the refrain, “Don’t leave anything in your car!” [09:51]
• Discussion on how celebrity endorsements have become borderline scams themselves [68:38, 72:04]

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Conclusion & Takeaways

The episode is a sharp, comedic critique of scam culture—past and present—reminding listeners that fraud, schemes, and creative “finesse” touch every corner of society, from pro sports to holiday sales to daily consumer habits. Laci and Miles serve up history, hilarity, and a dose of wise skepticism for the Scam Goddess congregation: stay questioning, stay laughing, and—above all—stay schemin’!

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Find Miles Gray:

• Podcasts: The Daily Zeitgeist, 420 Day Fiancé, Ain’t It Footy
• Social: @yellexofgray
  Follow Scam Goddess:
• @scamgoddesspod on IG/TikTok
• Laci Mosley: @divalaci
• Email your scam stories: [e-mail]

Remember: “If you’re gonna play, play to win. Even if you shouldn’t be playing—‘cause you’re not an athlete!” —Laci Mosley (73:09)

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Episode summarized by [assistant]

Transcript

[A]

Scams, Cuns. Robbery and frauds. Scams ca. Robbery and fraud. Scam Goddess. What's poppin, Congregation? It's your girl, Lacey Mosley, AKA Scam Goddess, back with a podcast all about robbery, fraud and those who practice it. Sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them. One thing for sure, we likely will laugh at them, but never at the victims. Okay. Yes, y'.

[B]

All.

[A]

I'm very excited, elated, thrilled. This is a landmark episode. I don't even know if y' all are gonna be able to tell. You'll be able to tell when I tell y' all for real. But I am now at iheartradio, my home originally. If you're an OG tdz Daily Zeitgeist fan. You know, I used to be up in there like swimwear, honey, back in the 21 or the 20, and then it was a one in front of it. The 20 teens. Yes. But now I'm so graced to have y' all give it up. Get up out your seat, park your car, stand out in the street. Okay? It's that serious. I have the man, one of my podcast godfathers, who literally gave me the name Scam Goddess on an episode of the Daily Zeitgeist. On the show, he is an official member of the Christina Aguilera posse. He's currently the number one Arsenal fan, period. He's the host of the Daily zeitgeist and for 20 Day Fiance. Please give it up. Miles Gray. Miles.

[B]

Oh, thank you. I humble myself. I bow prostrate before you scam.

[A]

Prostrate.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. That's the formal term. No, I didn't say prostate prostrate.

[A]

I was like, you got you. Getting it checked.

[B]

I stand before you for the prostate exam. No. Thank you for having me. I didn't realize you were having me on the first episode, so that feels very appropriate. And I think we've always said we. Look, we. We messed up. We didn't get you the first time.

[A]

I feel sorry for 2004.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But now I. I'm just. I'm just so happy that we get to be label mates, you know?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And kick it off like this.

[A]

Death Row records for life.

[B]

Okay. Yes. Yes.

[A]

No, literally, for life. Because I heard they kill you if you leave.

[B]

That's true. That's true.

[A]

So we. Damn.

[B]

No. I mean, you don't need to send that through Standards and Practices. They will. They know that's.

[A]

No. Yeah, they know that's one of the standards and one of the practices.

[B]

Yes. Y.

[A]

That's why we Got the whole. You know what I mean.

[B]

They took one of my pet turtles.

[A]

Oh yeah. Slowpoke. You never gonna see him again?

[B]

No. And I like to believe that he might have his own show somewhere.

[A]

Okay. I hope he not up there with Franklin. I'm assuming Franklin passed by now. Cause he was 100 when I was a kid.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[A]

So he's probably gone.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So, Myles, on this podcast, we love to talk about scams, fried cons, and we love a little warmup. So I wanna get your opinions about a few different topics and you let me know if you think it's a scam. A sch. Or a real thing. So a scam is something that we under no circumstances should be legal, is legal, or is illegal, what have you. It's a full on scam. We know that a scheme is something that feels scammy, but you know, it is protected by the law, or you know, it isn't protected by the law, but somehow it's just a practice that keeps happening. And then a real thing is something that is a legitimate pillar of society. Like a rule that we need to follow or something that helps us in our lives.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Okay, I'm ready. So my first question for you, Myles Gray, Christina Aguilera's posse, which, wait, I do need.

[B]

Why did that. How did that even come up?

[A]

What have you been doing with Cassidy Aguilera, Miles, recently?

[B]

Nothing recently. I have not seen that person since the year of our Lord 2006 or 7.

[A]

But the fact that you said recently, I don't know, Miles is full of lore. Like we could honestly just do a whole episode on his dad, his grandparents.

[B]

I am like a Forrest Gump type figure. I have realized if I put it all on paper. Yeah, a lot of very weird. I was just talking to. I was telling somebody about how I invited Marc Jacobs to my 22nd birthday party. I love that because I met him at a party with Christina Aguilera. I had access to people back then.

[A]

You was really out here. You're still out here. And I loved out here.

[B]

And I'm still 41. You know what I mean?

[A]

Period.

[B]

Doing it, doing it, doing it, honey.

[A]

Okay, so let's do a real thing. First one up, holiday sales. Do we think that these are like. So for instance, like the fourth of July, you know, like they have the. I remember when I was a kid, my Auntie Alexis would always buy me a 4th of July T shirt because y' all know 4th of July. See, that's my birthday. So she would always Give me a T shirt on sale at Old Navy. You know, like, they used to have, like, little blowout sales for, like, all the holidays. I mean, obviously, Black Friday. Like, all. Yeah. All these holidays.

[B]

Memorial Day, Memorial, whatever. Yeah.

[A]

Which Memorial Day always felt tacky to me. Like, are we celebrating, like, ourselves?

[B]

Who.

[A]

Yeah. Who have passed away giving their lives up for our country? And we like. And we got a sale.

[B]

Yeah, they gave.

[A]

We know your husband didn't come back, but don't you need a frame for that American flag? They got it for 2.99.

[B]

Right, exactly. And for all the added labor you have from being the only parent in a household due to the war, why not get a deep discount on this washing machine? Right.

[A]

We got dices on sale for all

[B]

that's doing work, too.

[A]

Bereaved families. What are we doing?

[B]

And look, that joke could have gone anywhere. But for me, realistically, I believe that it is a scam. It's actually a scheme if we're gonna be real. Because it's all just. It's all language. But in honesty, it's a scam. Like, they're just selling things at a price that still. They are still able to profit from. So I was like, why isn't this the price all the time?

[A]

Yes. And a lot of people were pointing out in recent Black Fridays over the years, because we know Black Friday ain't black no more. I don't know what.

[B]

She is Dolezal Friday.

[A]

Right. She's not giving Black. I don't know what. Okay. It's giving Red Friday because, babes, we're in the red. My bank account is still in the red when we're shopping now, like, what's happening? And some people have gone in the stores and realized that employees have put, like, sales stickers over the original price. And some of those Black Friday sales stickers are actually more expensive than the price was before the Black Friday sale. So I think a lot of stores have started to flip over, just like the airlines did when Spirit pulled up. And all the local, like, low fare, you know, discount airlines, and they started charging for basic amenities that we used to get Delta switched over to doing that, too. And I've talked about that on an episode, and I think that stores might be doing that, too, where it's like, we know we're gonna have a high amount of foot traffic because people come in expecting a deal. So instead of giving them a deal, we might as well just run it up since we're gonna have a store full of people.

[B]

Yes. And that's why people need to be. This is where you have to be. Like how? Like I was when I was a teenager and I wanted something. Like you had to obsess about something for months cause you didn't have the money for it and you just obsessed about the price. So you knew when something was actually priced, you're like, no, that is actually the best price for this insert consumer good here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And if you don't know that, yeah, you're going to walk into it and be like, no, this shit is. It was, it was this price like literally three weeks ago.

[A]

Like what happened to the dad lore? I remember dads used to shop for TVs like they were shopping for cars like before the price went down astronomically. TVs and they became more regular, you know. I remember, you know, my dad being on the website's like, oh, they got this new Samsung and it's about to drop.

[B]

Like oh, it does 720p HD. Wow, that's a good number. This new HD thing I just heard. Yeah, it really was. I remember the first time I thought I could afford a TV that was humbling. Was like probably 2007. And I was like, yeah, I'm gonna get a fucking flat screen tv. And then they did a credit check and I was like, do we have

[A]

to do all this?

[B]

Is it that much? How much is it for this one? And yeah, it's crazy how much cheaper TVs are now, right?

[A]

They really are. Since you know, when we farmed out all the labor and ruined our country's infrastructure, with many industries, things came a lot cheaper. Yes.

[B]

Hey look, that's the trade off. That's the tradeoff. That's the trade off. You don't have health care but you can have a TV the size of your goiter, right?

[A]

Like, who needs clean air, baby? We got Love island on tonight.

[B]

And I put that on there on the flip. Pretend you're breathing that air from the TV show.

[A]

Yes, pretend you're breathing that Fiji air. That's all we can do.

[B]

And if you need to just get an old spice thing of Fiji deodorant and then you can sniff that.

[A]

And you know, obviously we're talking right now about stores and physical things like that, but it's also happening on the Internet. You know, there's fake social media ads, there's non delivery schemes where you purchase an item, they take your money but the product never arrives. Like I always tell y', all, if it's a website that you ain't never heard of some Dat co.

[B]

Some.

[A]

Some dat wish. You really have to be careful and maybe go on a few threads and see if you can find other people who have purchased from there before. Cause there's always a paper trail, even if you don't find it on their website. Cause they scroll. You're not gonna find on the Better Business Bureau.

[B]

No.

[A]

Which I already told you I was a scam. They don't do nothing. They literally have businesses pay them to take down negative reviews. That's how they make money. You ain't doing nothing, telling bb.

[B]

Oh, oh. We're not saying the business will be better. No, we're. We're making better for the businesses that pay us. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

The. The Better Business Bureau is for the businesses strong arming.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Real.

[B]

Oh. To the consumer. Oh, you better mind your own business.

[A]

Yeah. We never said better consumer.

[B]

No, no. What?

[A]

Look at the bbb. Stupid, right? Bitch, get out of here. And you better get out of here right now. That's the last beat.

[B]

Why do you call me bitch?

[A]

That's what better business girl about. Bitch. Okay, gang. Gang. Also, I want to remind y' all that every holiday, the robbery, like, robbery is a real thing, y'. All. Y' all know that from listening to this podcast.

[B]

Robbery is a real thing. Are there people out there who don't think robbery is a real thing? No, no.

[A]

They think it's like a stick up. And they're like, put your hands up and it'. No, it's. Don't leave bags in your car. If you're going into another store and you're in a public parking lot. My mom always said, don't make a thief out of nobody. Which means don't leave anything in your back seat. Don't leave anything in your front seat. Put your shit in the trunk. Because if you got a car full of stuff and you're shopping around and these days with the economy, you could be trying to throw a cookout. One of the few that's gonna happen this summer because they ain't trying to do that without crowdfunding no more.

[B]

Is that steak in that chopping bar?

[A]

Right? Is that. Give me that Oscar Mayer.

[B]

Give me that spark plug.

[A]

Right? I know my wiener got a first name. What's that window? It's O, A C A R and

[B]

Yo, C A R. Yeah, exactly. It's S H A R D S of glass in your passenger seat. Okay. Give me that fucking hot dog.

[A]

I've had my car broken into. And the saddest part was they didn't steal nothing. Which Made me feel very unworthy. Oh, I hadn't broken into twice. The other time it was unlocked, but they just went in and they stole. Like, you know, I'm a girl's girl. And so I'll be out. I'm gonna have my tampons in my glove compartment, my deodorant, my, you know, extra lip gloss liner. You never know where the girl's gonna take you during the day. Especially in la.

[B]

You will not be Kyla.

[A]

They took my toothbrush, my deodorant. They took all my nutrients.

[B]

That's a stock.

[A]

But tell me this, Miles, why did they leave me some armor oil wipes? I said, bitch, not just trying to tell me my car dirty. Like,

[B]

I honestly, I don't even know if it's that. I think it was a stalker who's like, I want her toothbrush.

[A]

Okay, please don't say that, because, you know, I've had stalkers and this was in a building where I actually had to move from.

[B]

Okay, never mind, never mind, never mind. That got too close. No, but I think it was a

[A]

stalker who was unhoused because they didn't take anything else. They took necessities.

[B]

So I just feel bad about it.

[A]

Break my window. They opened the door. They had the courtesy to just. I guess I left the unlocks. I said, you know what? That's fine. Yeah, I did use some of them wipes on my seats. I was like, you know what? They might have a point.

[B]

They left a note. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Sometimes robbers can be a blessing, maybe.

[B]

Well, yeah. And then they painted. They said, carved, wash me from the dirt. Oh, no. Film on the side of your door. Yeah.

[A]

Robbing me and shading me is diabolical, but honestly, I respect it.

[B]

Yeah. Getting robbed and shaded.

[A]

Right. Scams, cards. Next. Scam scheme or real thing AI photos on restaurant menus.

[B]

Oh, fuck that. That is. I mean, that's absolute scam. That's a scam. However.

[A]

Okay? We got a however right here.

[B]

There's. There's something I like about people getting tricked by AI because the shit is so obvious. A lot of the time you look at it, you're like, come to our new barbecue restaurant. I'm like, I've never seen a rib with a. Like a cross section of ribs in it that looks like a crucifix. Like, if you really look, you're like, this AI photo fucking sucks. And people are like, this bar, this place didn't even exist.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I do. Like, there's something. I think AI as a technology is terrible and Obviously, the environmental costs aside, I love how it's supercharged scammers, though, because it allow. It gives them this, like, air of legitimacy when you like, this is our menu. These are my product photos. This is not real. So.

[A]

And then people are going to restaurants and ordering things that they saw on the AI menu. And I will send this to our new producer, Joel, but I'm going to show you right now, Miles. Just like on my phone, it's like

[B]

what you saw on the menu versus

[A]

what you saw versus what you got. And it's alarming.

[B]

And, oh, I can't wait to see this. Okay.

[A]

People are trying to use it everywhere. I'm seeing people making excuses for their homemade jewelry that they're selling, but they're using AI for the photos of the jewelry. And I'm like, why can't you just take a picture on your phone? We all are walking around with a decent size or decent grade camera. Like, what do you mean you're using AI Also, if you're selling me a product, I want to look at the real thing 100%.

[B]

Not your wish list version of how you, if you had your shit together, how this thing would look.

[A]

No, not at all. And so here, I'm going to show you this one, Miles. So this is the AI photo of what looks to be.

[B]

That's like a rack of lamb. A rack of lamb on a bed of sweet potatoes.

[A]

Sweet potato puree.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yep. Yeah. And then we've got one of those edible flowers. I forget the name of this flower, but I used to work with it all the time.

[B]

I feel like it's in every, like, cocktail bar. That's like, the nice bar.

[A]

Yeah. Every cocktail. She had a moment. She had a moment in 2016, 2017, where you could not miss her.

[B]

She was in everybody drink. Yeah. That was definitely even before. Yeah, I definitely remember that. I remember the first time I saw it. I was like, what the fuck is. Wow. And at the time, I was like, this. This cocktail's $11.

[A]

I've ate so many of them.

[B]

Are they good or just, like, for the fucking. Just cause. Just cause you could. You're like, fuck it. Cause I can. I'll eat this edible food.

[A]

Yes. Because also, like, I'm a food snob when it comes to. Everything on the plate should be edible. Like, really?

[B]

Is that how you.

[A]

Yeah. Don't put no decor on my plate. Everything should be edible and it should still be.

[B]

Okay, that makes sense. I'm trying to think of, like, what wouldn't be on there. I Thought in your mind, you're like, man, now let me get down with this plate.

[A]

And like, I used to put, like, a sprig of rosemary on that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know what I mean? I can't eat no sprig.

[B]

I don't like parsley, though. Anyway, so go on. So, yeah, parsley.

[A]

Parsley has devastated the black community. We've actually moved on, though. I'm seeing less and less green flakes on macaroni. Yeah, yeah, so. And on deviled eggs. So black people, we let that strangle that parsley had on us.

[B]

Go.

[A]

Now here's what it actually looks like at the restaurant. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

No, you're fucking around that bad. You're fucking around.

[A]

No, look at that.

[B]

Looks terrible.

[A]

I'm going to put it on the page, y'. All. We are.

[B]

The marshmallow topping.

[A]

Why are there marshmallows on some. That's a hate crime.

[B]

That's a fucking hate crime.

[A]

And it looks like they browned some of them maybe, but not all of them. And then there's, like.

[B]

You know what they were doing? They were using a fucking lighter to try and brown the top. I don't know what that. That looks like. I don't even know what part of this is that.

[A]

Cause this, obviously, this is the greens. And now they done stuck the flower in the greens, the marshmallow yams.

[B]

What's the story with this place? Where is this place at? Do we know?

[A]

This place is in Texas. Oh, Texas. This is in Arlington. This is my hometown. And this girl said she was doing a TikTok experience on her review there, and that's what she saw online, and that's what she actually got in person. I. I personally don't go to a lot of restaurants that have. This is gonna sound so snobby, but I don't go to a lot of restaurants that have, like, pictures of food on the menu at all. But listen, sometimes that's okay.

[B]

Diva Lacey.

[A]

No, but listen, sometimes we be outside, you know, Egg Factory or whatever nearby.

[B]

I'm saying, I was like, yeah, I love the brown bread, too. Good for cheesecake factor. Okay.

[A]

I want extra brown bread. And it's Juneteenth. You better not bring me none of that crunchy white. I want all. You know, we, like, bring it for the white people, too. Everybody likes the brown bread.

[B]

Come on, now, let me see you eat it.

[A]

Yes, it's delicious. One time they were selling it. I think they do still sell it at a store called Ralph's here in la, But I went and they had PK Factory.

[B]

That's so funny. I love. You have such a large audience that you don't want to get too regional about saying the largest supermarket chain in la, there's a store called Ralph's. You might know it as Kroger.

[A]

Right. You might know it as Albertsons.

[B]

That's just how. How the Kroger brand manifests itself in Los Angeles is called Ralph's. Yes. Yes. Okay.

[A]

So you might know it as Aldi. Y' all might got a Marks and Spencer's, but they sell close. That's closer to Target uk. You know, I be living over there.

[B]

Yeah, I know, I know. So shout out, Brucey.

[A]

Big, right? Period. Period. But yes. So I would have known they had Cheesecake Factory bread that you could throw up at your house. That was during COVID That was a rough time for me. I was warming up Cheesecake Factory bread in my home. But it's comforting.

[B]

Yeah, you need that. You need that. I was buying shit from Subway. Like, they were giving away bulk. You could buy bulk ingredients from Subway. I was like, yeah, fuck it. Well, give me cookies. Yeah. And cookies were like. You get like 70 of them for three bucks. It was crazy.

[A]

That's wild as a Crazy. Yeah. So I don't want to see an AI photo of something and not come out looking like the photo. I don't see anything but, like, just take a picture of the food and if you can't do that, then just give us a great description of what's in the dish and don't put a photo on your menu. Nobody's going to be disappointed when they don't see a picture.

[B]

The mushroom topping on those sweet potatoes was diabolical. The quote unquote char. It looked like someone took a lighter.

[A]

It's supposed to be marshmallows.

[B]

Oh, yeah. What did I say? What did I call it?

[A]

Mushroom.

[B]

But it looked like the marshmallow topping. It looks like rather than it being, like, properly, you know, broiled or something, they had a lighter and they're like, get. And they're like, ah, shit's hot. It's too hot. I can only get a couple of them.

[A]

Ah, like.

[B]

And they pulled their hand away.

[A]

They charred a couple. This is somebody's lighter. They was about to go on a smoke break and they was like, hey, Martinez, you ain't toast these marshmallows.

[B]

Do you know how much they charge for that shit?

[A]

Way too much. Oh, and these are the ribs. This black pile in the corner. My God, that's lamb. Chop. It looks like they made my girl crispy.

[B]

Yeah, it looks like a maple syrup candy or something. Like something some old people shit where they're like, I like my maple syrup candy.

[A]

Somebody who never cleans out the bottom of their air fryer. And then.

[B]

Yeah, and then they just formed that and they're like, look, I can make it shape into a lamb chop.

[A]

Right? Y' all clean out the bottom of your air fryer. That's why smoking and smells weird. This isn't from personal experience?

[B]

No, no, no, not at all. I don't know why you didn't bring it up.

[A]

I got a little smoky one day and I was like, what's going on? There were some crumbs down there.

[B]

You got pretty visual with that description. So I'm.

[A]

I'm gonna guess mine didn't look like that.

[B]

Okay, so it was you.

[A]

Oh, you know what? It's okay. Anyways, last scam scheme were real things, sports betting. And, you know, back in the day, we had the bookies where, you know, you had a shady gangsta who you would bet with. And now there's online betting where you can bet on sports games, you can bet on penalties, you can bet on how long a player's gonna play. You can bet on the weather, you can bet on children's games. You can bet on anything.

[B]

Bet on George Santos being at the State of the Union.

[A]

You can bet on who's going to win elections.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, anything. No, you can even do crazier stuff with like, Love Island. Right now they're taking action on Love Island.

[A]

They're like, I got an over under on Kenzie. What? Yeah, yeah, but what do you think about sports betting in particular?

[B]

It's definitely. It's one of these vices that have become so turbocharged in the last few years. That's crazy. I know a lot. I grew up around a lot of people that gambled. So to a certain.

[A]

A lot of people that do a lot of things.

[B]

Yes, yes. Gambling was kind of seen as a normal thing. Knew a lot of people where it turned into degeneracy. And that's like the super fucked up part right now. It's basically a scheme. It's like one of these things that doesn't need more regulation. Yes. And like. But. But it's just. It's sort of. It's like alcohol and like other things that. Like these vices that kill people. You pay enough people in the government and just let it rip. Like, I mean, it's like everything. It's like crypto there's, there's so many forms of like legalized gambling now, but they're just masked in different ways.

[A]

And I think stock market.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, 100%. And now like with prediction markets, it's just kind of crazy because I think it also speaks to like how nihilistic people are about their own future where rather than it feeling possible that like you could go to school or like you could follow a passion and have that, you know, render the kinds of things, results that you saw yourself having like a home or whatever, that, that feels so out of reach that it, it's easier to almost be like it. Man, I'm gonna do this four game parlay, man. If this hits then so many problems. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It doesn't. Kidney.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And it's crazy because you see a lot of people who are like, they're like how do you think I got this Lambo bro? Because I'm just, I'm killing it on blah blah blah.com. so yeah, unfortunately it's like a scheme. It's one of those things that's just there. But yeah. Can you deny what it's doing to people? Absolutely not.

[A]

I would say it's a life ruining scheme and that it is really borderlining on scams because some people who get lucky enough to actually win large sums of money, those apps will then delay your payment, try to find the loophole or try to pay you slowly. Yeah, like if you win like a lot of money, they'll just like give it to you. They'll find a way.

[B]

Interesting. Right, right, right.

[A]

Also if you've lost a bunch and they can clearly tell by the algorithm that you probably have an addiction based on your usage, how often you're checking it and how much you're spending. So if that spending stops or drops off from the usual that they're taking from you, they'll start sending you coupons or like, or little chips like they'll send you like oh, now you have like this many free coins you can use on betting to like lure you

[B]

back in, get the money flowing again. Yeah, it's wild to see like how like I remember when a lot of the gambling sites were coming like having like huge presences in the U.S. like all these people in the UK and Australia, they're like get ready for what this thing is about to do because pretty soon everything is going to be wall to wall gambling stuff.

[A]

Yeah, you can gamble on anything now. And I think the rise up is one the smartphone and it being accessible. We don't have to go to Vegas. We don't have to call a shady booker anymore. You can just download an app on your phone. And also, I think it speaks to the desperation of people in society right now. Is that, like, because we can't make money in an honest way that supports. I don't want to just survive. I don't want a living wage. I want a thriving rage. Okay? I want to be able to go on vacation, have children. Like, what you mean? I got to. We fighting to get enough money to survive, right? Like, you know, like, it should be to thrive. If you're working a job, that job is necessary. All jobs are necessary. And even if you think your job is more important than the others, I'm pretty sure you can't do your job without a lot of the people that you look down on, right? The people who clean, people who do tech, people who do. And I'm not saying that's a job that people look down on, but any job that helps you function at your job is an important job. So they should all be paid fairly. But it's. I think because of that, people are like, fuck it. I'm gonna just gamble and see if I can win big quickly or I'm gonna become an influencer. I saw a woman on TikTok yesterday who had made a about working in tech and being the manager and then figuring out that she realized that people were gonna be off boarded, AKA fired, if she had to start, like, working on their computers or, like, shutting down their addresses and emails or things like that, or their access to company stuff. And so they would never tell her why she was doing it, but she started to realize they were getting fired. So there was this one black woman who she really liked, and she's black as well. She told the lady, like, hey, I just started shutting down your shit, sis. I think they about to get you up out of here. Just wanted to get you a heads up. She talks about this on TikTok, which, I really need y' all to stop doing this. The job eventually finds her. They let her go because the black woman that she peeped like she told the game to then was asking other people about their salaries because she had just gotten hired and I guess was telling people her salary. And so that's why they fired the black woman that the it black woman was helping. But she got on Instagram or TikTok and told everybody, and it went viral. And then that black woman got fired, and now she on TikTok talking about, you know, this is just telling me this was really what I needed to. To start my social media career. Like, I'm gonna keep this going. Oh, girl. It's like everybody says that everyone has one good book in them. You probably got one viral post. Does that mean you need to do it for a living?

[B]

There it is. No, but again, it's just because everything feels so upside down. Like, people don't even chase achievements. Right. It's like just the notoriety is an achievement. It's like. Well, I was popping on Instagram TikTok for like, three days. I did that. I mean, yeah, something happened to. You posted it. And that something happened for sure.

[A]

But, like, if a tree falls in the forest, if I didn't put it on a gram, did it make a sound?

[B]

No. And you're lying because you didn't put it. You didn't post it. So we want text. You weren't even in the forest like that. Shut up.

[A]

When you go to the forest.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You ain't even got miles to go.

[B]

I saw your stories. You were. You were at Ralph's buying Cheesecake Factory bread.

[A]

So I think it is, like, collectively reflecting that too, as it grows in popularity.

[B]

But I think I just have so much nihilism. I think that's what it is. It's just so. Yeah, like I told. It's just one of these vices that people get so into. And again, because, like, there's also so, so much social media that's also telling people, like, this is how you should. This is what you should have at this point in your life. And you live comparatively. And then. So these only things that feel like they can help you make these huge leaps are these, like, big gambles. Like, with. Yeah. Insert any, you know, unpredictable form of gambling here.

[A]

I'm gonna go scam on this one because, like, at the end of the day, the house always wins. Gambling wouldn't exist if the house didn't win, guys.

[B]

So, yeah, there's this. Yeah.

[A]

The only way to be a good gambler is to know when to leave.

[B]

That's. And, you know, I've. I used to play a lot of blackjack, you know, every now and then.

[A]

Craps, baby. If you're a long time listener to this podcast, y' all know I love me some craps, baby. I got Aria chips right now in my credenza.

[B]

I need to run back to Vegas. The house is gonna win, but there is just. I don't. I can't help it. Sometimes I'm like, there's.

[A]

But I gotta go to Vegas to gamble. And I Walk away when I've made my return, you know, like, yeah, yeah, I played with enough money to lose. I treat it like a purchase and then run it up. And then once I got my. Once the table gets cold, I'm out. I'm not trying to revive the heat. I know what's up. It's statistic.

[B]

Oh, good for you.

[A]

But, like, what I'm saying is, like, we used to have to go to a destination or you have to have shady plugs to get involved in getting. Now you just go on the app store and you can ruin your life, your marriage, mortgage your home, you know, spend your kids, college funds, do it all.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In the comfort of your iPhone.

[B]

Braces or Android? Not today.

[A]

Not those. Okay? The clippers lost and daddy owes me.

[B]

And don't worry, those teeth, they got character.

[A]

People notice you a car, you got legs. Yeah, that's very much it. I agree with you. And it's just very scammy to me. But we're seeing the rise of it now, even more so because of the accessibility and also because of the desperation. And again, this is my, what, Once monthly reminder, y'. All. If you got a job, that is not an entertainment, baby, on the weekends, have your fun when you at the job house, I don't need to see no tiktoks of you, okay? Grow your business through word of mouth. Or if it's a business where you can show off the business, that's fine. But I don't wanna see innocent customers, pedestrians anywhere in your feed. I don't wanna see you dancing. And, you know, at the hospice center, you know, like, grandma finna go to glory. Okay?

[B]

Wow. Wow.

[A]

Dancing at the hospice center, your job. And that's cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Dr. Miami, you doing too much. You could give me a before and after picture like they used to do back in the day on the subway in New York. Okay? I don't need to see cutting on people. And they bleed me. He's got tiktoks where he's like, in the operation. What you mean you cutting on me on live.

[B]

You get what I'm telling you is called content, okay?

[A]

Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All of a sudden, the anesthesiologist goes from like, you didn't eat breakfast this morning, right? To like, you didn't eat breakfast this morning, right? Yeah. And you're camera ready.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. And this starts hitting like a Brazilian TikTok dance, right? Literally.

[A]

Literally. Okay? All of a sudden we're like, you never take me to Bangladesh.

[B]

Why is this playing while I'm Operating room.

[A]

Why am I getting put under?

[B]

Come on. Y' all know the choreo.

[A]

I put music in the operating room.

[B]

Let's do the choreo.

[A]

5, 6, 6, 7, 8. Now count backwards from 10 while you hit the yeet.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, shit. I threw the scalpel in the wound. Yeah, yeah. Let me get that out. Fish that out.

[A]

Right?

[B]

I sew them up.

[A]

Sum up like, please be for real. Robbery and fraud. All right, well, that is a perfect segue into historic Hoodwinks today because we are going to be talking a little bit about sports. Historic Hoodwinks is my favorite segment of the podcast. This is where I will regale Miles with the famous con caper group of criminals. A collab of criminals. We don't know. Maybe we love them, maybe we hate them. We'll see along the way. And this time it looks like we have a sports compilation. So we're gonna talk briefly about three little sports scams that have been in the zeitgeist. Some recent, some older. But we're gonna start this off with the LA Clippers. Maybe that's why they were in my head. Superstar Kawhi Leonard, who signed a secret $28 million endorsement deal with a company funded by the team owner, Steve Ballmer, as a way to pay Kawhi more than he should be allowed to get based on the NBA salary cap. We know this thanks to a seven month long investigation by Pablo Ture for his show. Pablo Ture finds out, and he did find out. Now, Kawhi, I mean, honestly, a black man getting more money. I'm not really mad right now. No, no, I see no issues. I have no qualms.

[B]

So I remember when it came out, I was like, so. And I think, yeah, the issue is just like that you circum. It's just the rule breaking. I was definitely like, I'm not going to be mad at Kawhi for being like, get me more fucking money. But.

[A]

And I know that the rule is essentially there to make sure that no sports team can just dominate the league for years and years on end because

[B]

they pay the most. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I totally agree.

[A]

That's what keeps the game interesting in this respect. I understand it was sloppy though.

[B]

This was sloppy. That was a problem. You got so sloppy with it. It's too sloppy.

[A]

Cause it happens so often. We know they're getting these deals. I love that the college students who are very good at their athletic sport are getting something on the side because it's a damn shame that the NCAA is stealing from Those kids because there's such a, you know, risk playing college football and even the or basketball or whatever college sport you're playing that gets a lot of attention. The risk versus reward. They should be getting paid because they are adults. And two, like y' all are making a fuck ton of money off of college sports. And three, if they get injured, then this is no longer a pathway for them to make revenue going forward even though you got your cut. So those I'm not against. And even in the NBA, I don't give a damn if you're getting extra money. Get your money, black man. But I understand it for the NBA of like not creating a dynasty team where no one ever wins again.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Those are the rules. And I think. Are you talking more about this story?

[A]

Yeah. Okay, so some background on Kawhi and why this is a whole big deal. Kawhi is a two time NBA champion and six time all star. Michael Jordan called him the best two way player in the NBA. Meaning playing on offense and defense. Okay. Go both ways, period. Yes. Verse. We love a verse. Verse, top. Yes. Which can't be the same thing, but yes. It's like a. It's like a rectangle and a square. Exactly. You know what I mean? Like a square can be a rectangle, but a rectangle is a rectangle.

[B]

Yeah, but they are parallelograms.

[A]

But they are parallelograms. Okay, we're gonna give you this geometry lesson that they're not giving no more in square. Okay. But so you know he's a great player. The Clippers have famously never won an NBA championship.

[B]

Famously.

[A]

So getting Kawhi was a huge deal for them, Steve. But are you a Clippers fan, Miles?

[B]

Hell no. I'm a Lakers fan. That's how I was like famously.

[A]

Famously. I was like, yes. So Steve Ballmer currently owns the Clippers. He used to be the CEO of Microsoft. You know how you know Microsoft real well and then you own the Clippers? Cause like once you're rich, you're a genius in every field.

[B]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Once you're rich, everybody, even average day citizens, think that you are smarter than them because you have money.

[B]

They're like, you know Bill Gates from the Epstein files.

[A]

Wow. So you must be a Mensa genius. Yeah, because I was seeing that when Spencer Pratt was running a dumbass, his dumbass around la, campaigning in districts that couldn't vote for him. Like a dumb bitch. He's gone. Thank God. But I did notice that when I was like, why Are people going to these polls? And I was laughing at them like, you can't vote for the LAC mayor in Beverly Hills.

[B]

I'm in Santa Monica and Spencer Pratt is not on my ballot. You're not in la.

[A]

You don't live in la, baby.

[B]

That's not true.

[A]

I live in la. You don't. And there were people in the comments who were like, I doubt that people from Beverly Hills would be that stupid. They're rich. Like, they know I'm like, do you think money equals smart? Please stop. It's not an equivalent, but. So Steve Ballmer, this guy right here, who I never understand, this ball community, actually, like, not even bald community. What would I call y'? All? Like, transition balds. Transition balds.

[B]

Transition balds.

[A]

Why are we holding on to that nape of the neck hair ring?

[B]

That's some old white guy shit.

[A]

What does that do for you? Like, when you're combing the back of your bald, how do you feel?

[B]

That's called hanging on. Just cause you keep me hanging on.

[A]

But is it looking better than a full bald? I think that's not having, like.

[B]

It's a generational thing for men that age. They don't have. They didn't have Michael Jordan who was like, bro, you're not leaving that shit on. Fucking.

[A]

You have to have the right kind of head and a little bit of melanin for a good bald. Otherwise you look like Stephen Miller. So I'm just saying, if you're paler in the community, a bald might be hard, but I don't know if this, like, wraparound.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it does.

[A]

It's like if you put a headband on the back of your neck and then just brought it up like, how

[B]

did you get half a headband on? It's really taped off. I had to cut the other half.

[A]

Like, let it go, baby. Like Elsa said, because. What are y' all doing? So this is Steve Ballmer. He looks like he's just a genius, for sure. Um, he's known for being really sweaty. Um, I could see that in this picture. I don't know what action he's doing, but there's a desk and a Microsoft cup. It seems like he's probably one of those rich guy TED talks.

[B]

Very famous clip of him introducing, like, a new Microsoft product. And he's just screaming across the stage, sweating through his shit.

[A]

So he says the word developers a lot, which, you know, I love somebody who just uses, like Silicon Valley, like, just jargon all the time. Okay, give me some of that in the red in the black. Future earnings.

[B]

Synergy, you know what I mean?

[A]

Synergy. Gotta have synergy, babes. Okay.

[B]

Gotta have synergy, you know what I mean?

[A]

Give me all the buzzwords. Okay? Are you disrupting be a disruptor.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. I mean, but a developer is a gig, you know, like that.

[A]

There are legitimate people who do these things. It's just that. People who throw around the words so much. I'm like, you scamming because why are you throwing all these words at me if you can't explain to me like, I'm five? I know, it's a crime.

[B]

Yeah, I'm gonna explain. Like, I believe you have the intellect of a five year old and trying to say all this shit to you.

[A]

I'm just throwing words at you. Are you supposed to be oppressed? Don't ask no questions.

[B]

Yeah, how many teraflops? You know how many teraflops that's running? Come on.

[A]

Yeah, we're synergizing disruption right now. You don't even know there's so much disruption in incinerator. Don't ask questions.

[B]

You better expand that at least 13 terabytes.

[A]

Infinite growth, bitch.

[B]

Again, why do you call me bitch?

[A]

It just adds a little seasoning. We just had it on the Internet. He's also the eighth richest person in the world. And you can tell that by looking at him? For sure.

[B]

Yeah, he don't give up.

[A]

I'm lying, y'. All. When y' all see him, it's giving Cole's dad.

[B]

Yeah, but that's true. Like, you don't give up at that point. You're like, bro, what the fuck do I need to give up?

[A]

And I don't even mind that. You don't have to be a fashion girly just cause you have money. But I just know if you're that rich, I. I promise you these clothes didn't come from a box store. So you telling me you spending like $1,000 on the ugliest T shirt that's like.

[B]

Yeah, ugly button down. You know, Dockers. Well, that's a $3,000 version of them that I'm wearing.

[A]

Oh, like, you look like a server at Longhorn Ranch, my guy. Why do we have this plaid on? What's happening?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

[A]

So when your net worth is like 155 billion. It's gotta be frustrating when people say you can't spend money on something. But the NBA salary cap limits the total amount of money an NB can pay all of their players to a combined 154 million. So Steve actually isn't allowed to pay his players more than that, even if he really wants to. Now we know rich people are famous for wanting to pay people more. No, there's obviously an advantage in it for him to be able to lock down talented players at this bummy ass team. Sorry, Clippers fans. Y' all know what loss feels like. I'm a Cowboys fan. I'm with y'. All. We be losing all the time.

[B]

That's what we do. You have a basketball team? Mavericks.

[A]

I, I fuck no. I fucking hate the Mavericks shit. I'm actually a Lakers fan.

[B]

Wow. Good for you. Good for you.

[A]

And I've been a Lakers fan before I moved to la.

[B]

So there you go. Yeah, let them know. Let them know. Yeah. All the Clippers fans that you just upset with that they're gonna come for your ass.

[A]

Yeah, we was never checking for y'.

[B]

All.

[A]

But I'm a Knicks fan right now. Cause after they won the championship, we're all.

[B]

And you lived out there, so. Yeah, there you go.

[A]

I did. I'm gonna go to Mamadani Stand this weekend and I'm gonna tear it up. Can't wait to be with my mayor, the Republic. Yeah, I'm trying to find him. I know he gonna be at one of them Juneteenth parades.

[B]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Trying to meet my mayor. Y. Kawhi's contract right now guarantees him 50 million per season, which is about a third of the total salary budget for the team. So a third of the budget is going to one guy, Kawhi Leonard. At this point, they're paying him more than anybody. Right. Which made the other guys feel bad, which is what Steve did. So Steve is remember our ex Microsoft sweaty guy who now sweats at the Clippers. So Pablo found that Steve. So Pablo is our nosy, messy investigator who is gonna give us the tea. He found out that Steve made a $50 million personal investment in a green bank. And this company is called Aspiration. You know, I don't know if I want my bank to be talking about aspiration.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Like, let's be achieving things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Are you aspiring to be a financial

[A]

achievement bank is giving that. I'm on red in my bank account. It's giving overdraft fees. I want achievement.

[B]

Yeah. Inspiration. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Success.

[B]

Yeah. Right, right, right, right. I mean, you're a wish sector.

[A]

Yeah. I don't want. I bank at imagination. Imagination bank.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. I make a wish bank is what I'm with.

[A]

And the disclaimer says we Hope we're covered by the fdic. So I don't know if they are. Cause it's like, yeah, hopefully we are.

[B]

It says FDIC insured. Yeah. Hold on, Let me get back to you.

[A]

Yeah, probably. Maybe.

[B]

Wow. And they wrote all that out?

[A]

Maybe. Definitely. So they got a little aspiration ad here. It's very simple. It says with a. With a racially ambiguous man hand, it says, save money, comma, save the planet. Aspiration. And it's got the app up and the little aspiration card. I will never understand why fake banks always have the most bootleg looking card. Just make it look like other bank cards do.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, right?

[A]

I don't want to go in, you know, like, I'm at the doctor's appointment. I got to pull out my gift card looking ass. Bank card.

[B]

Yeah. They're like, what is this? Is this shit from Dave and Busters?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No, no, it's a new bank I'm with. What the. What is it called? It's called Preschool Player Bank. Preschool Player Bank? What the fuck is that?

[A]

Yeah, no, it's called Martha Marlboro Lights.

[B]

They got a bank?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, they got a bank. Now they have planes.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

So why can't Marble have a bank?

[B]

Why can't they sponsor my ATM card?

[A]

Who you bank with? American Spirit.

[B]

Is it a secret?

[A]

Nah, nah.

[B]

They got a bank, too. Washington Mutual. They're like. They don't exist anymore. No. Well, they got, like, one left.

[A]

They got. Yeah, they got a little. It's like more of a pop up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Bank.

[B]

You should look out, check their Twitter. It might be very easy. Yeah, I have to go on their

[A]

Twitter to see when I could get a withdrawal.

[B]

Yeah, sometimes it's in another state. It's kind of inconvenient.

[A]

So he even partnered. This is our Steve. I was gonna call him a scammer, but. Steve our scammer? Steve our. He partnered with a company to build the Inuit dome for the Clippers to play into it. Intuit. Why'd I say Inuit? That's so bad. There's a cursor in the middle. I'mma defend myself. I'mma blame Joelle for that one. Nah, but into a dome. Don't start moving the cursor around now. Joelle, you funny. Okay, so behind the scenes, Aspiration gave Kawhi a $28 million endorsement deal, paying him to market the company, which is interesting because he never did any marketing and certain did not mention the partnership. Aspiration. Employees said it was a no show job for Ballmers that's our Steve guy. To get around the salary cap and play Kawhi an extra 28 million. Aspiration Co founder Joe Sandberg recently pleaded guilty to defrauding investors. And Pablo has evidence that Steve and Joe from Intuit the stadium building, were on good terms. Well, after the fraud took place, Steve quietly donated another 1.875 million to Joe's charity more than a year after the Clippers ended their partnership with aspirations. So. So even though Aspiration went down, he was like, I ain't even know nothing about that. But you still cool, Joe, another 1.8 million. Can you clean some stuff up?

[B]

Can you just slide that to Kawhi real quick? Because it's crazy too. Like, the amounts that Pablo finds out in the investigation, they're like. They're just nearly exact. The exact amounts that were being paid through Aspiration to Kawhi Leonard.

[A]

So they didn't even try to clean up the paper trail.

[B]

Barely.

[A]

Kawhi, you couldn't have done one commercial for Aspiration?

[B]

No, not one. Not one. And the other thing too is like the, like, the act, the lack of work that was being done that, like, on Kawhi's part, like, you couldn't even post something. Like just a lazy post. There's nothing.

[A]

Like, they couldn't even got you for that trash ass little image that they put up with Aspiration. It could have been your black ass hands holding the phone and the bootleg ass gift card. You couldn't do that. You could get on Instagram and be like, I only trust Aspiration with my banking. When it comes to bottle service, I always know my check clears, like, whatever the hell dumb she's.

[B]

I'm always good with aspiration.

[A]

Right?

[B]

No, he couldn't. He could have even done a post, like, where they just have a pat, like his roster photo with just some text on it. Like, here, man, can you just post that shit on your stories, bro? We're giving you millions of dollars. Just. Just do that.

[A]

Right? That's it.

[B]

Aspiration.

[A]

You would have been gone in 24 hours.

[B]

Yeah. And at least you could say you're like, yeah, yeah, I did shit for them. That's what they just paid. That's what I charged. It's crazy too, because his uncle is like, such a big part of his deal making too. Like, his uncle Dennis is. Was like the. Yeah. Finds the one. Like, he's known, like, in the league for always being like, we need to get some more money to Kawhi. And like, always trying to figure out Ways to get more money for his nephew.

[A]

Shit, we all need an uncle Dennis.

[B]

Yeah, 100%.

[A]

Come clock in my job. Hey, my niece needs some more money for her job. Thank you, Uncle Dennis. And now the last time a team tried to do this was in the 90s. It was the Minnesota Timberwolves. And they were doing it on behalf of Joe Smith, that player. And in that instance, the Timberwolves were dealt heavy fines, multiple suspensions, and forfeited first round draft picks. And that may not have been anywhere near the scale of what the Clippers have been alleged to be doing.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

They went above and beyond to make sure that Kawhi was making more money than he legally was supposed to be paid. Right. And still they haven't won a championship after all that.

[B]

Look at you.

[A]

So Kawhi made it a response video. So now he tried to. You know, everybody's gotta do the response videos. I wonder what it must feel like when you're planning your response video and you're like, okay, we gotta do it.

[B]

Especially when they got your ass like that.

[A]

Right. You gotta do this in an environment where you don't look too rich. Let's get like a white wall, maybe one plant in the background.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know, don't wear no nice clothes. If you're a woman or you wear makeup in general. Give yourself a light be so it looks natural, you know, and like you just fresh off a crying.

[B]

Put the eyeglasses on. If you have eyeglasses, put some. Put eyeglasses on. You have to put glasses on.

[A]

You have to put glasses on so that people can't really tell. It's good when you lying.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[A]

You know what I mean? They can't see the eye darts from the glare as well.

[B]

That person wearing glasses. Why would they lie?

[A]

I ain't never seen them in glasses. They got 2030 vision.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or 20 to 20. Oh, God, now I sound like little violence. These people are making me dumber. So. But yeah, he didn't do none of that. So here's his response video. We're gonna watch a little bit of it. I understand that full contract and the services that I had to do. Like I said, I don't do deal with the conspiracies or the clickbait analysts or journalism that's going on. So that's. That's what it is. Well, I think the allegation was that. That you didn't perform any services for them. Do you do. Is that accurate or. Or did you do things for them? I don't know if it's accurate, but it's old. This is all new to you guys. The company went bankrupt a while ago, so we already knew this was gonna happen. So. So Kawhi made this response video and he kind of disses Pablo too, calling this conspiracies and clickbait. So he was saying Pablo made this all up in his head. Honestly, I kind of understand why he came out and dissed Pablo. Because Pablo, this ain't none of your damn business. Like Pablo. Why do you care? But, but, but again, Pablo is. I always say on this show, find a hater job. If you are a hater, channel your hate. Don't use it on your friends, your loved ones, general people in the public. Channel your hate into a profession. So Pablo has done that. He has a hater profession?

[B]

That's crazy. He won a Pulitzer for this investigation.

[A]

Still a hater. All investigative journalism is. Is haters with a purpose. And I love that for them because I do want these things to be accepted. Somebody to get to the point.

[B]

Yeah, but you need that little bit in you to keep doing, to keep going.

[A]

You need a hater.

[B]

Yeah, I get that.

[A]

You have to pray to the altar of 50 Cent and be a true, unmitigated 24. 7 hater. You know what I mean? And you have to have creativity to be a hater. If you're a hater and you just post negative shit about people online, you ain't a real hater. You really need to give it up. Cause you're not in the hater leagues.

[B]

Yeah, you're just upset. Yeah, you're just upset.

[A]

I want people who go through all the social media, including the tagged photos, then go through everybody they follow and

[B]

see what they connect to SEC filings.

[A]

Yes. I want somebody looking at your. I want somebody who somehow got access to your Ralph's store card membership and knows what you're purchasing in that bitch.

[B]

That wine club.

[A]

Yes. Who hates Super Duper Hard.

[B]

Right? Yeah. Like a superhero amount that, like.

[A]

Yeah, like that guy who tracked all of Taylor Swift's private jet flights.

[B]

Right, right, right, right, right, right, right.

[A]

Like, you gotta be really in the game.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

So shout out to Pablo. But obviously Kawhi's trying to deflect.

[B]

Yeah. And also, like, I get it too. Like, what are you gonna say? Like, yeah, we were fucking around. I was getting extra money on the side. Like, what do you want me to do? Yeah, because that would be the version. I'm like, yeah, bro, what the fuck?

[A]

I Mean, honestly, I was just like,

[B]

it's not like Steve Ballmer stealing it from somebody. You know what I mean? But, yeah, it's breaking the rules. And I get that.

[A]

But also, criminal investigation. You ain't gonna catch my black ass online talking about shit if I'm nowhere near it. You're not gonna catch. Because what if you slip up? What if say something that you're not supposed to? Just let it blow over, play dumb? I would have been like, all I know is my checks get cash. I don't know where that money coming from. I just show up to do my job.

[B]

Look, I'm going through a lot right now. You know what I mean? Just leave me the fuck alone.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. That's all you should say.

[A]

It almost doesn't mean anything anymore when people are like, I'm going through so much. I'm like, babes. I think that's just our lives now. Everyone's going through a lot.

[B]

We all are. Welcome to earth.

[A]

And I think we all need to start acting accordingly. Okay, that's true.

[B]

No 100%.

[A]

Don't go straight to anger. Just know that their life is probably worse than yours.

[B]

Everybody's fucking.

[A]

Yeah. So let's keep that in mind. So, you know, we've had other sports stories from the past, Steroid scams, things like that. In 2015, it was a big year for the New England Patriots. Cause Bill Belichick's current girlfriend, Jordan Hudson, turned 14.

[B]

I knew you were gonna say some shit like that. I was like, what the fuck does that have to do with her? She turned 14.

[A]

It's also the year of that famous Deflategate where they deflated the ball. You know, in sports, it's gonna be

[B]

a little bit born after 9, 11 or before 9, 11 by just a couple months. I wonder, ooh, wow.

[A]

If she was 14 in 2015. She.

[B]

She was definitely 2001. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

She definitely doesn't remember it. She never knew a world with the Twin towers. Never knew Mary Kay or Ashley.

[B]

Damn. She didn't know, brother. For sale.

[A]

Nah, nah.

[B]

April 3, 2001. Okay, so she was alive.

[A]

What do you mean, she sensed it? As an info.

[B]

You were five months and eight days old. You knew something was wrong.

[A]

You were here. You were here. So there's been things like this that happen all the time, right? And with the Deflategate, we heard of William Douglas Street. Truly one of the wildest sports scammers to ever do it. This dude pretended to be everyone but himself his whole life. From a human rights Lawyer to a surgeon to a white Yale student. And for one very memorable spring training in 1971, he pretended to be a football player, Jerry Leviathan. So. But moving on from sketchy ass patriots and Tom Brady and deflategate and Kawhi and his lies and Pablo being the best hater ever, we're gonna talk about one more sports betting or sports scheme scam that's been in the zeitgeist and. Cause like, we've all heard of deflategate, right? But none of us have heard of William Douglas street. And he's truly one of the wildest sports scammers to ever do it. This dude pretended to be everyone but himself his whole life. From a human rights lawyer to a surgeon to a white student at Yale. And for one very memorable spring training season in 1971, he pretended to be a football player. Jerry Levias on the Houston Oilers. Now, I wanna point out, Williams, why were you pretending to be a surgeon? And how does that work out for you? Like. Cause don't you put on people.

[B]

I mean, he had to just be doing it to like get through the doors or something, right? There's no way he was.

[A]

He's telling people he's a surgeon. I don't think he's in nobody's hospital. And white Yale student, the white is important because this man is.

[B]

He didn't show up being like, that's me.

[A]

No, no. He couldn't have pretended to show up in person because once we see your

[B]

black ass, we know they're like, hold on now.

[A]

We can't come out as black. Nobody comes out of the black closet. We know when we see that phenotype.

[B]

Strong as hell, 100%.

[A]

You could be light white. You could be having hair that doesn't reflect African American hair textures. I can still tell if it's a little bit black there just by looking at your face.

[B]

And Jerry Levias, though, that name is unbelievable. That feels like such a scammer name. Yeah, I'm Jerry Levias.

[A]

So right now, Miles, we're looking at a photo of the actual Jerry Levias.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And compared to the photo of William pretending to be him, Jerry looks like a football player. Like, he's meaty. He got a thick neck.

[B]

Yeah. Then I was gonna say that when your neck is like. You know how like you can see somebody and the width of their head is not the same as their neck? He's got the thing where he's like a thumb. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah. Like when your earlobes touch your neck, like, when it's all the same. Yeah, it's like he got, like a cylinder from the neck up to the head. It's all the same circumference.

[B]

Right.

[A]

A lot of geometry today, guys.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

But yeah, it's like it goes all the way down. Yeah. He had a big old head and a thick ass neck. I know his neck strong. He probably can lift all types of shit with that neck. I bet you he could tow a car, just put the thing around his neck. And he told his neck.

[B]

I gotta say, when you see somebody like this, you're like, yeah, that's a football player. It's hard to pretend you're a football player because you also need to have your neck as thick. You come in with that little floppy ass neck. No, they're gonna know. They're gonna know.

[A]

And it's so clear in the photos that William ain't done a neck up. He ain't done a chin up. He ain't never put a barbell on the back of that neck and started working that neck out.

[B]

But that strap on his head just lifted. Fucking 45 plate. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

No, he ain't neck maxing.

[B]

No.

[A]

So.

[B]

So neck mini.

[A]

He's neck minute. Oh, thin ass neck. So I don't know how they didn't notice that one man looks like a football player and the other one definitely is a necklace pedestrian.

[B]

I wonder if they're just like, oh, maybe he's sick or something. Yeah, that's where being black helps.

[A]

They were like, he's black, y'. All. So he. He definitely can play football.

[B]

It could have just been the angle. You'd already know. He's probably faster than the daylights, right?

[A]

That's like me showing up looking like Wiz Khalifa. Talking about, I'm about to be a running back. I'm about to be a linebacker. Yeah. Put me at defensive line.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, bro. You will die.

[A]

You will die.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

In practice. Go make it to the Cleo.

[B]

No.

[A]

So. Yes. I don't know how he got away with it so long, but I'm just gonna blame it on the white gays, which for him worked out this time. So, you know, powerful. See, this is why y' all should be. Everybody needs to be tolerant and open and. And maybe hang around more people of color. Cause then you would have known that this was not the Negro you wanted.

[B]

No, these are not. This is not him.

[A]

So William was born in Detroit, and he went to college for two years before beginning his sports specific scamming career. In 1969, when he impersonated his way into tryouts for the Boston Red Sox. And then he spent the next year return. And then the next year he returned impersonating a Time magazine reporter doing a story on the team. So first he came in and he. He pretended that, like, he was gonna be on the Boston Red Sox. He don't got no.

[B]

And then that didn't work out. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Are you wearing the same hat he is in this photo?

[B]

I am wearing a Detroit Tigers hat, which is kind of wild. Yeah. Yeah. But this one has. It's for J. Dilla. Cause he's from Detroit. But. Yeah, I was like. When I was. I'm like, I have a Detroit hat on.

[A]

So I love that he tried out one year, and then he came back the next year and was like, I'm a reporter.

[B]

That's crazy. They're like, bro, ain't that the fucking guy who tried out, who was terrible

[A]

as a different guy?

[B]

No, I remember you.

[A]

We do all look alike.

[B]

You swung the bat and you spun around like a cartoon when you struck out. Everyone remember. Then your pants fell down. That's.

[A]

Yeah, you were hooting and hollering. We know exactly who you are.

[B]

Oh, Time magazine.

[A]

No, I got the papers. Why are you talking like that? It's not the twenties.

[B]

No, yeah, same.

[A]

He was just doing anything and everything, Right? So. The Red Sox even caught William trying to order a World Series ring under Boston PR director Bill Crowley's name with the order to ship it to a resident in Detroit. The Red Sox hadn't won the world series since 19. So he's also trying to get memorabilia from what he's doing. Like, he's just. I don't understand his motivation. This particular sports scammer. Like, I understand with Kawhi, he was trying to get a bag, and he didn't care where that bag came from. And Steve didn't care about making it look legit. So that makes sense. This guy, I don't really know what his motivation is in scamming in sports, but it's interesting.

[B]

He must just get a high from it. Cause it's not like calculating to the point where you're like, oh, that's slick. Like, you tried out for the team, you didn't make it, and then you came back to that team the next

[A]

year pretending as a fake report.

[B]

Like, that's crazy. Why are you going back to the same crime scene like that?

[A]

Yeah. You hit another team. There's plenty of baseball teams to move on.

[B]

It's like you just turned. Oh, I didn't make the team. Hold on. Just puts a different outfit on. He's like, hey, man, my name's Jerry leviathan, and I'm here to try out.

[A]

He threw on a wig and he had a new profession. And honestly, I'm not mad at that.

[B]

You're like, we saw you. You just turned your back.

[A]

I was working on a show once, and we. It was in a place that just started. Their film industry had just started booming, so they didn't really have a lot of professionals in film working there. So a lot of people, you could tell were just lying on their resum. And we had this one lady who was like an animal handler. And one day we walked outside, and she was. I kid you not, Myles. She was fist fighting this raccoon that we were using. She was boxing with this raccoon, giving the raccoon a one and a two, like. And then we were like, hey, are you supposed to be, like, punching in like that? And she was like, yeah, this is a part of the training. We were like, okay, okay, sure. Yeah, for sure. And then, I kid you not, the next day I came in and I went to the, like, little snack cart to get a lettuce. So I go up to make my order, and guess who turns around. The raccoon lady. Now she making sandwiches on set. No. So I feel like whatever entrepreneurial spirit William has, that raccoon lady has the same one. She said, throw a wig on, make him feel like he cheated, Come back to the same job. Now I make sandwiches.

[B]

I heard you there.

[A]

I was like, shh.

[B]

What you want on your sandwich?

[A]

What you want on your sandwich?

[B]

My name's.

[A]

Well, not raccoon. You don't got none of that back there, right?

[B]

No, no, no, no. We all outta here.

[A]

And all this time that William was pretending to be Jerry levias, Right. For the oilers. Jerry levias is a real athlete. He's the first black football player in the southwest conference for college football. Who's now a pro player for. Who's now like, a pro player for the Houston Oilers. Oh, I thought in February.

[B]

Okay, got it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wait, so he was impersonating an actual oilers player?

[A]

I know that name sounded familiar.

[B]

Yeah. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah.

[A]

And so in 1971, in February, Oilers fans were surprised and disappointed to read in local papers that Jerry had decided he was done playing football. He didn't like Houston or the team, and he wanted to try out for the Detroit tie baseball team. So he pulled a Michael Jordan. He Was like, nevermind, I wanna play baseball. So he went to their spring training camp in Florida. The Tigers wrote a press release announcing the football star's presence at their training camp. The team looked at the man who wore dark sunglasses around team facilities and got him a pair of new shoes. They gave him a tiger's cap and invited him to the press to take photos. But that wasn't Jarrett. So he wore sunglasses to pretend that he was Jerry Levias, like, while he's trying to get on this new team.

[B]

So he just puts. So his disguise is just like, okay, what's up with these sunglasses on?

[A]

Yeah, they can't tell black people apart. And, you know, this is the 70s, so we're not chronically online seeing people's faces so much that we can recognize if it's them or not.

[B]

This was such a beautiful time to be a con artist. Ugh.

[A]

If you were a doppelganger of anyone famous, I really hope you had a.

[B]

People thought my grandfather was Bill Cool Cosby.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. And that was during a time where he. That name.

[B]

This was like, in the. This is like the early 70s. And. And my dad used to say they would go out and all these, like, white matri Ds, like, because they would. You know, they would go out sometimes my grandpa was like, hustling, and he wanted to go out for a nice dinner. And these white matri Ds would be like, oh, my God, Mr. Cosby. And he just would. He said, the second time it happened, my grandfather just stopped disagreeing, agreeing. He's like, if these white people think I'm Bill Cosby and they're gonna pay for most of this meal, if not all of it, then, yeah, I'm Bill Cosby.

[A]

And I don't. If they're gonna treat me well.

[B]

And I'll never say. And he always told me. I was like. And you said, you're Bill Cosby's. Like, hell, no. They just were like, hey, Mr. Cosby. And I was just like, yeah, yeah. Hey, it. Yeah.

[A]

Beautiful.

[B]

Gotta send you a picture because, like, it. He looks like an off brand. Like, to a white person, you would be like, that's Bill Cosby. And in the context, you're like, well, the only rich black person who would come in here would have to be Bill Cosby. So therefore, you are Bill Cosby.

[A]

They put all that together, and that's exactly what they do. I've been in first class on the plane and turned around and asked the seat person behind me. Cause I had a Window, aisle. If it was okay if I turned one of the air things off. Cause it was getting a little chilly. And they're like, yeah, you cool. Only thing I spoke to this. Tell me why it was a red eye. Why I go up to get my food. Because I fall asleep while they're doing dinner service. And red eyes, they don't play. They're like, oh, you sleep. We ain't gonna talk to you the whole flight. Cause we prefer it.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

So I go up to get my food, and they're like, oh, my God, I am so sorry. We did not get you your food. You're Jadakiss's girlfriend, right? Cause Jadakiss was sitting behind me, and they were like, you're black. You're in this expensive first class.

[B]

You're Jadakiss.

[A]

Must be Jadakiss's girlfriend.

[B]

Oh, my God. J to the mwah.

[A]

Right? You saw me interact with this man one time. It was very brief. And that's your deduction.

[B]

Wow, that's so funny.

[A]

I didn't even get him out of my seat. I turned around.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, exactly. They're so in love.

[A]

They do that. So they gave him a Tiger's cap and they invited him to take photos. But that wasn't Jerry. It was William. William had called the Tigers outfielder, Gates Brown. And this is where you could also get people's numbers so easily. We still have a book of everybody's cell phone number.

[B]

Couldn't you just tell the operator, you're like, operator, Gates Brown? And they're like, yeah, all right.

[A]

We used to put our addresses in a big ass book.

[B]

That is crazy.

[A]

You used to be able to just look and find where somebody lived at.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And so William had called the Tigers outfielder, Gates Brown, and told him he was coming to spring training. He also asked to borrow $300 from Gates when he said he needed to get married. What? And he would pay him back. Gates bought it, and so did everyone else on the team for at least few days. So he came in and he was like, hey, Gates, I'm getting married. Can you give me $300?

[B]

Wow.

[A]

It was short.

[B]

This guy is living off the thrill. He's like, fuck yeah, bro. I got Gates Brown thinking, I'm somebody else. Yeah, man, let me get $300. I'm getting married.

[A]

70s, $300.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So 70s, $300 could make something shake.

[B]

That's probably like, what, two grand now.

[A]

Yeah. So the Tigers put William and Jerry through a 40 minute spring training workout. And the jig Was up pretty quickly. William didn't know how to grip or throw a baseball.

[B]

No. Hell yeah.

[A]

And he couldn't run sprints. One of the tigers pitchers had seen the oils play in texas and he knew Jerry levias. When it happened, William was throwing with his right hand. William admitted he wasn't Jerry levias because the real identity he gave was also made up. So like, not only is he not jerry, he's saying he not the other guy. Guy he was pretended to be because the jig was up when he was throwing with his right hand. And that's not how Jerry threw.

[B]

It's just even crazy that you're so unathletic too, and you're trying to pretend to be an athlete.

[A]

He behind all the other baseball players, hoofing and throwing up.

[B]

You don't know how to sprint. You don't know how to. You can't even fake it. Like, ah, I think I pulled something.

[A]

Like, you're just like, yeah, give us a pulled hammy. Also, like, look at how he's running. Everybody can run. And I would assume if you are trying to pretend that you're an athlete, you would at least be, you know, working out a little bit.

[B]

That's a crazy sport to pretend too. Like, you gotta like, hitting a baseball is not easy to. This again. This guy is addicted to finessing people and like. And so you end up doing like then. Cause like, he's not. He's not keeping it low. Especially when they're like, well, this guy's throwing with the wrong hand. He can't even throw a ball. He can't even run. This. This man is a usurper.

[A]

He is. And, and, and Mr. Grant, you're not getting that $300 back. I hope. You good?

[B]

No.

[A]

No. So the tigers ended up paying $93 for William to take a first class flight back to detroit. And the real Jerry levias had to get a lawyer involved to help untangle the trouble he was in with the oilers who thought that he was breaking contracts and trying to switch Sports. So $93 for a first class flight.

[B]

Mm, Take me back, man.

[A]

I mean, I wish I was a flat back.

[B]

I was never there.

[A]

Like, I know, like the racism was worse and everything. It's still bad now. You know what I mean? So at least I'll be able to afford a home.

[B]

But at least you'd have your like 2026 mindset. You're like, bro, I can handle your old spooky ass 60s, right?

[A]

You're not bothering me. I got tons of insults. You know how long I've been on TikTok?

[B]

I can hear them all back and forth. I can tell you. Ones you guys haven't even thought up yet.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Just so you know.

[A]

And I'm sorry to Jerry levias. You didn't deserve none of this. In 2016, William was sentenced to three years in federal prison for identity theft and mail fraud. He died shortly after his release in 2020. So this is Jerry in his Detroit baseball uniform, aka Fake Jerry, right? This is our William. I mean, he looks like he could play baseball. He got the outfit on. He's smiling from ear to ear like, I got you, bitches.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, they gave. Gave me the whole fucking uniform. Okay?

[A]

Right. No questions asked.

[B]

What does he have on underneath? It's like, you got a jacket on underneath. I'm like, bro, he layered it with a jacket or something.

[A]

It's the 70s, so his afro sticking out the sides. I love this for him.

[B]

Like, when I see this picture, I'm like, this guy looks like a real cool guy. And then you're like, this man was addicted to the finesse.

[A]

Literally. Now, miles, I want to know, out of the three kind of little scam blips that I told you, I know we didn't spend much time on deflategate, but that's because it's been in the zeitgeist for so long. If you don't know about it, well, I guess it is my job to educate you. But I did. They were deflating the footballs and cheating on the new England Patriots in 2015. And Tom Brady took a huge, like, social capital hit from that, especially because the patriots at that time had been dominating football for so long.

[B]

He's still the goat, bro. He's still the goat.

[A]

Right? But I'm still like, how many of them balls did we not catch? Flaccid.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

Hey, this couldn't have been. It's just like, when people get a dui. That wasn't your first time drunk driving, so I know this wasn't his first time softball.

[B]

First time you got caught, right?

[A]

How many of these softballs have we seen? Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna. The least scammy, to me, is Kawhi Leonard's situation. I mean, they were cheating by paying him more. I don't think Kawhi is that if you offer me more money, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

[B]

I don't think it's immoral for a professional athlete to demand more Money from the billionaire owners. I just don't think. And the nature of being an athlete is already exploited. So go ahead.

[A]

You're selling your body.

[B]

I'm not. I'm not mad. Like. You're not. You're not. Fuck. You're not out here exploiting people as a basketball player. Like you're the attraction. So yeah, get your fuck. I don't give a fuck about that. The only problem is there are rules so that they the league can maintain some level. Level of parity and fairness in terms of how teams are built. So, sure you want to follow that. But I can't fault my guy Kawhi for wanting more money than.

[A]

He gotta put a whole team on his back. People are buying those seats for him.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. So. So.

[A]

And also, the Clippers are such trash that I can understand how you got in a position like this where you were like, I don't know. We gotta give Kawhi more money because he's our only hope.

[B]

He's gonna leave. He's gonna leave.

[A]

Like, we'll give Luke Solo more money. We gonna lose the Force.

[B]

Exactly. Luke Solo. We're gonna lose the Force. And I know every Star wars fan loved that one. Right now. Okay, Luke Solo, hop in. We about to lose the Force.

[A]

Right? It's so accurate. It's so accurate.

[B]

It's the funniest version of Stark. And you know Luke Solo, about to lose the Force.

[A]

He is the Force. So they gotta pay him a bunch of ticket of force elsewhere.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

And that makes sense.

[B]

You can't start on those midichlorians either, period.

[A]

Y' all know I saw Star Wars. All of them. In the galaxy, far, far away. I know exactly.

[B]

I'm about to lose the Force. I can't even.

[A]

It makes sense when you don't think about it.

[B]

No, I 100% know what the fuck you're talking about.

[A]

I just love you thinking too hard.

[B]

No, I'm not at all. I just. You know what you did, you expanded my whole. Whole understanding, my consciousness. That's what happened there. All that to say. Yeah. So, no, I'm the least offended by that.

[A]

Same. And then I feel like, obviously Deflategate. You're trash. I'm gonna say you're the number one scammer.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Y' all were just straight up cheating.

[B]

Yeah, that's intentional. It's diabolical. You're trying to gain an advantage. Steve Ballmer is the bad guy in the Kawhi Leonard story. Not Kawhi Leonard. Right, Kawhi's.

[A]

And every day we take money from corporations that are doing absolute evil every. You know, all them Amazon packages, people getting people dying in them warehouses. It's like the other thing that they say though, too.

[B]

There's so many other teams though too, that do this, except they're like, bro, you do have to pose with the Lexus at least. And they're going to give you five times what someone would normally pay for an endorsement. That's just how we normally do shit.

[A]

That is such a glaring error here. Like, has Steve been doing this for so long that he was like, man, nobody pays attention if they actually endorse it. So they just stop.

[B]

I think is when you're a billionaire, you just so used to doing shit however the fuck you want to. You know what I mean? That you're like, what the fuck are they gonna do, man? I got fuck you money. And it's like, well, they're gonna find me. Okay, whatever. But.

[A]

And also, why am I trusting Kawhi Leonard about banking?

[B]

No, you don't need to. The crazy thing is aspiration. Got all these other celebrities to do endorsements too. But then none of them were like, yeah, I actually don't know what it is. I just showed up in like a video for it.

[A]

Cause this, all the celebs are shilling right now, and people have to realize that they're like, don't they make so much money? Aren't they rich? Once you start adjusting to a rich lifestyle, you know, you'd be surprised how your liquidity can sink. Because it's like you went from buying a commercial flight to chartering jets. One of those, you know, like, that could be an easy 30,000 per flight. So. And that's on the lower end. So it's lifestyle. It's not surprising that they're out here selling their booty holes for anything. And once I saw Sarah Jessica Parker in an in app gaming ad, I was like, oh, we are. We have lost a plot in app

[B]

gaming ad with Sarah Jessica Parker. Oh.

[A]

And I'm like, what does this have to do with Sex and the City babes or anything that you've done in your career? I don't. What, you know, Reese Witherspoon out here champion. AI.

[B]

I said, baby, why is Bethany Frankel doing affiliate links?

[A]

Bethany Frankel ain't never done nothing but be a scam. Okay? Y' all bought her ED book or, you know, I mean, I didn't know that she was scheming that hard back in the day. I Thought skinny girl cocktails were like a cute thing that I saw on Real housewives. And I learned that lady has problems all over.

[B]

Yeah. So deflategate. Thumbs down. Bad. You're cheating. Fuck you. I don't like. Whatever. That's that. But with our boy, what was his name? Scott?

[A]

Steve.

[B]

Steve.

[A]

Wait, which one are you talking about?

[B]

William. William.

[A]

The one who was impersonating everybody?

[B]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Him. I can't get mad at him. Something is wrong with that man. He is in love with the finesse, and he can't stop finessing, so. And you know what it feels like. Aside from Mary, the real Jerry Levias, it felt relatively victim free. But I think at the end of the day, once they realize, oh, this guy was pretending to be you, you actually aren't in any kind of legal trouble then, whatever, man. Get your free Detroit Tigers uniform and your $93 first class fight.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, the only reason that I'm going to rank it least, the one that I am like the most fine with, it's going to be Kawhi. And then second is going to be William and his schemes. William, you could have been first and least harmful, but you took $300 from that baseball player, man. And so, yeah, sir, that, that, that.

[B]

That was the difference. If you're just taking from big teams, that's one thing. Yeah, you're holding your teammate.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

For some. Hey, let me hold $300 for my weight.

[A]

Yeah, the holding 300 puts you at number two.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And at number three, I'm gonna put deflatege because y' all just straight up cheating.

[B]

That's easy. Come on, you. You. You're letting the air out of the ball. No, no, no, no, no, no. Do better.

[A]

And your team was so strong at the time. Or maybe they were strong because of the cheating. I guess we'll never know.

[B]

No idea. And that's why I don't watch the NFL.

[A]

Wait, what'd you say about the NFL?

[B]

So that's why I don't watch the NFL.

[A]

Oh, okay. I do from time to time. Just enough to watch the Cowboys disappoint me.

[B]

That's good. Well, everyone needs some kind of humiliation ritual. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah, that's mine for sure. I like to get my hopes up when they're actually playing well in the main season, and then when they get to playoffs, you know, I love to have hope and then watch them completely destroy it.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's great. That's great. I used to be humble with Arsenal. But we won this year for. So I'm feeling good.

[A]

Yes. Congratulations.

[B]

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

[A]

So, yes. That wraps up an episode of Scam Goddess podcast, y'.

[B]

All.

[A]

I am going to be reading your listener letters. I know it's been a minute, but email scamgoddesspodmail.com and I will be reading them on air, y'. All. We go back and forth and so I know y' all have been missing those. They're coming back. And miles, we always ask on this podcast, where would you like to be found? Anywhere people can hear you. See you. Social media, whatever.

[B]

Sure ain't it. Footy is the soccer podcast. Podcast I do. Which is also super funny. If you like soccer. I do that with Jamel Johnson and Chris Martin and find me on social media like you said. Daily Zeitgeist 420 Day Fiance, where I'm talking about 90 Day Fiance. Social media. YellesOfGray G R A Y everywhere.

[A]

Yes. You guys can find all the photos from today's episodes and converse with me if you like it. Scamgoddesspod on Instagram and TikTok. And if you want to see what I'm up to in my shenanigans. D I V A L A C I divalacy on all platforms. You can watch all episodes of Scam Goddess on Hulu right now. And you can, I don't know, stream God stream stuff I got on there too. As well. In addition to you get my book scam. Gotta say where books are sold, y'. All. Don't forget to leave a five star review on whatever app you listen to. This. That can be your one nice thing you did for a black lady today. We appreciate it. Congregation, I want y' all to get out there and stay winning. Okay? If you're gonna play, play to win. Even if you shouldn't be playing. Cause you're not an athlete.

[B]

Don't let that stop you.

[A]

Even if you gotta deflate a ball.

[B]

Yeah. Don't let that stop you.

[A]

Don't let that stop you. Even if you. Even if you gotta make up a fake endorsement deal.

[B]

If you gotta call yourself Jerry Levias.

[A]

I think about Kawhi automatically. He's the one I think of.

[B]

Yeah, 100%.

[A]

That's why I brought up all the apps selling or the celebrities selling. Random shit is I was like, why are y' all now selling stuff that has nothing to do with your expertise, career or field? Why should I trust you?

[B]

I don't know. These other scammers are paying me for their scam business.

[A]

Reese Williamsport if you don't take your ass back down to the MGM or Fox or Sony and do another movie about a woman who lives in a successful job but she lonely as fuck in New York City and then she go home and then she going to get a Christmas tree with her mama and it falls on her and then her high school boo thang picks it up and then they fall in love and then she move over there. Girl, go do some of those. Stop trying to push AI on us. You know, get your sweet Alabama ass back to what you know.

[B]

Yeah, she loves that shit though. She's always at the cut. She was pushing NFTs too, right?

[A]

Get off this scam train. Reese. I love you. You better throw that blonde wig back on and give us some Liz legally. And on that note.

[B]

Uh huh.

[A]

Congregation, y' all have a wonderful day. Stay Scammin' Scam Goddess Scam Goddess is an iHeartMedia and big money Players production. The show is hosted by me, Lacey Mosley, the SVP of West Coast Productions. Jack o', Brien, vice President of programming Miles Gray and Director of programming, Lindsey Hunter Hoffman oversee production. Our executive producer is Joelle Monique. Our senior producer is Bea Haskins. Ina Burke is SVP of content with additional services provided by Mark Canson, Dylan Unger and the team at Hot Dog Sandwich. Our editor is engineer Justin Smith. Our theme music is composed by me, Lacey Mosley. Cover on photo is Robin von Swank. You can follow the show @scamgottispod on Instagram TikTok. If you've been scammed, pulled a scam, or saw a scam, send us an [e-mail] to tell us all about it. Don't forget to like and subscribe and tell a friend.