Soder Podcast Episode 115: "Babe Ruth Diet with Ryan Sickler"

Host: Dan Soder
Guest: Ryan Sickler
Release Date: January 6, 2026

Episode Overview

Dan Soder welcomes comedian and podcast host Ryan Sickler for a wide-ranging, funny, and nostalgic conversation focused on sports fandom (especially football and Baltimore), old-school athletes and their infamous habits (notably, Babe Ruth’s legendary diet), and how cultural attitudes toward sports, coaching, comedy, and vices have changed over the decades. Jokes and storytelling are abundant as the pair swap memories about growing up around sports, the Baltimore Ravens and Colts, dipping tobacco, childhood pranks, Little League coaches, and the enduring lore of professional wrestling.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

I. The Trauma and Lore of Pro Football in Baltimore

• Baltimore Colts’ Midnight Move to Indianapolis

  • Ryan recounts almost being a ball boy for the '84 Colts, only to watch the team vanish overnight:

    "My dad wakes us up in the middle of the night. He's like, you ain't gonna believe this. We all go downstairs crying, watching the Colts drive out of town." (02:21)

  • The move left a deep wound in Baltimore, which still lingers:

    "Robert Ursay still hated in Baltimore. You can go to bars and there’s still up there about that. It ran deep." (06:02)

• The Ravens Rise and Football’s Baltimore DNA

  • The city’s love for football endures, demonstrated by hosting teams at every level—NFL, USFL, CFL.
  • “Baltimore is the greatest football town in the world. Every team that has come has gone to the pinnacle. Everything.” (13:18)
  • The emotional complexity of losing and regaining a team, and the unique "started from scratch" approach with the Ravens:

    “What I like about that is Modell said, ‘I value this city and this storied franchise enough. I'm going to start a new team.’ Your legacy will live.” (07:49)

• Rivalries and Justification

  • Dan and Ryan riff on Baltimore’s pride, gritty and justified fandom:

    “You’ve got that mid Atlantic attitude of like we’re port, we work at the docks. Everyone’s drunk and fighting each other. We need a team to cheer on…” (09:10)

• Unique Football Culture in Baltimore

  • Marching band lore: “When the Colts moved out of town in the middle of the night, they went and stole their band uniforms and hid them in a funeral parlor for years. And then slowly but surely, the band would still perform around the city.” (06:17)

II. Babe Ruth’s Insane Diet & Athlete Culture

• Babe Ruth’s Daily Menu

  • Dan reads through Babe Ruth’s supposed daily eating and drinking habits, which astound both comics:
    • Pint of whiskey with ginger ale for breakfast, steak, fried eggs, potatoes, pot of coffee
    • Lunch: Two porterhouse steaks, two heads of lettuce with blue cheese, more fried potatoes
    • Snack: Four hot dogs, four cokes (18:32)
  • “The liquid amount alone would make me sick.” (18:32, Ryan)
  • “That was just breakfast. That was at 8am. This is four hours later…” (19:02, Dan)
  • “How much was Babe Ruth pissing?” (20:49, Dan)
  • “That sounds like his blood was like tree sap.” (20:57, Dan)

• Modern Athletes vs. Old School

  • “Babe Ruth ruled. All these guys now are on different kinds of probiotics and all this stuff, baby.” (19:51, Dan)
  • “If that’s real, they should pay one athlete to do that and see what their numbers are at the end of the season.” (19:51, Ryan)
  • Shohei Ohtani's name gets floated: “They should make Shohei do that. He’s the only guy that could do it.” (20:03, Dan)

• Body Size & Nutrition Back in the Day

  • Debates on Babe Ruth's actual weight:

    "Look, that man right there is not 215 pounds." (24:19, Ryan)
    "That's like 250 plus inflation... no way he weighed 215." (21:34, Dan)

III. Disappearing Sports Characters & Comic Nostalgia

• End of the Big Personality in Sports

  • “Where is that, dude? We need funny players.” (27:12, Dan)
  • “There’s no characters anymore.” (27:34, Ryan)
  • Both reminisce about players like Tony Siragusa, Art Donovan—colorful, local guys who would crush beers and still light up the field (25:20–30:49).

• Old School Coaching and Sports Life

  • Tales of Little League coaches smoking during games, and coaching from outside the chain-link fence with a cigarette (40:02–41:51).
  • Discussions of coaching dreams:

    “I want to be a bench coach, a baseball bench coach for like a high school semi-pros... just want to sit there, eat my sunflower seeds, and then yell at an umpire or something.” (31:26, Ryan)

IV. Vices: Dipping, Smoking, and Growing Up Rough

• All About Dip and Chewing Tobacco

  • Detailed stories of trying dip too early, epic vomiting, and the Snapple bottle and Mountain Dew can as spit cups (33:20–35:36).
  • “I got so sick from it, obviously, immediately I'm diarrhea, I'm throwing up, all this. And I'm like, why would you give that to us? And he's like, that's why.” (37:35, Ryan on his father’s approach)

• Childhood Mischief & School Antics

  • Passing the DARE “fake drugs tray” back up with a real joint snuck on it:

    “Somebody put a joint on it. It went back with more drugs. This cop was pissed.” (51:14–51:59, Ryan)

• How Society Treated Smoking

  • “My Aunt Marguerite didn't give a sh*t... She’s lighting up back there [in the car], you don’t ask nothing.” (42:36, Ryan)
  • Smoking sections on planes and in restaurants—“It still blows my mind.” (43:00, Dan)

V. Professional Wrestling, Comedy, and Cultural Change

• Wrestling as Working-Class Entertainment

  • Comparing early wrestling business to early stand-up:

    “There was a time when it wasn’t profitable where you had to do it... It was like a weird thing. You were almost ashamed to tell people.” (47:11, Dan)

  • The protectiveness of “coming up the right way” in both comedy and wrestling, and the tension with social media stars (48:06–48:55).

• Memorable Wrestling Trivia

  • The birth of the Million Dollar Man character:

    “Vince McMahon was on a flight... kept giving money until the guy was like, all right, and just put out a cigarette. ... Everybody’s got a price for the Million Dollar Man.” (43:07–43:36, Dan)

  • Old stories about Bob Backlund, Iron Sheik, Haku, Andre the Giant, and the bruised world of 70s/80s pro wrestling (44:04–46:29).

• Comedians Reminiscing on the “After Prom" Grinds

  • Stories of doing comedy shows for high schoolers at 2:45am “after proms,” drinking and bombing—“All these kids wanted to do was finger and jerk each other off.” (49:44, Dan)

VI. Substance Use and Modern Health

• Revelations About Health and Weed

  • Ryan shares that, after a health scare and on doctor’s instructions, he has to be on blood thinners for life, but:

    "If you're going to take anything, cannabis is the thing that we recommend. Do not vape, do not take any tobacco products.” (55:05, Ryan's doctors)

• Joking About Old Age Appetites

  • Dan and Ryan riff on their end-of-life “plans”—Ryan dreams about eating himself to death instead of experimenting with heroin (56:04–56:31).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Seeing the Colts Drive Away:

  "We all go downstairs crying, watching the Colts drive out of town." —Ryan Sickler (02:21)

• On the Unbeatable Baltimore Football Record:

  “Every team that has come has gone to the pinnacle everything.” —Ryan Sickler (13:18)

• On Babe Ruth’s Breakfast:

  “Breakfast. Pint of whiskey mixed with ginger ale.” —Dan Soder (18:03)
  “The liquid amount alone would make me sick.” —Ryan Sickler (18:32)

• On Smoking and Parenting:

  “My Aunt Marguerite didn’t give a sh*t... lighting up back there. You don’t ask nothing.” —Ryan Sickler (42:36)

• On the Disappearance of Characters:

  "Where is that, dude? We need funny players." —Dan Soder (27:12)
  "There’s no characters anymore." —Ryan Sickler (27:34)

• On “After Prom” Comedy Gigs:

  “All these kids wanted to do was finger and jerk each other off, and then we're sitting there going, like, dating. Am I right?” —Dan Soder (49:44)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Highlight | |--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:06–04:05 | The Baltimore Colts’ midnight move and local trauma | | 06:17–07:02 | The band that wouldn’t die: Baltimore’s hidden marching band | | 11:47–13:18 | Sickler’s argument for Baltimore as football's best city | | 17:11–20:49 | Breakdown and reactions to Babe Ruth’s epic diet | | 24:19–25:20 | Debating Babe Ruth’s true weight and body type | | 27:12–27:39 | Lamenting the loss of funny, big-personality athletes | | 31:26–31:55 | Dreaming about being a bench coach for high school baseball | | 33:26–35:36 | Tobacco stories: dip, spit bottles, and accidental sips | | 51:14–52:01 | The DARE mishap: passing a real joint on the fake drugs tray | | 55:05 | Ryan’s doctors endorse weed but not tobacco | | 56:04–56:31 | Gallows humor: eating and vices as "endgame plans" |

Closing Thoughts

The episode is a laugh-out-loud blend of sports nostalgia, deep Baltimore pride, the myriad changes in sports and society, and a heavy dose of comedic reflection. Soder and Sickler’s rapport brings out wry truths about growing up as misfits obsessed with sports, the loss of innocence (and innocence’s replacements), why Baltimore’s football legacy is underrated, and the crazy, mythic lives of athletes past and present. The discussion closes on a hopeful note for the Ravens, a salute to Sickler’s new special, and sage advice about loyalty and letting things play out to the end.