#4357 Rutabaga #5

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live – Episode #4357 Rutabaga #5

Release Date: December 12, 2024
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh

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1. Nostalgia for Past Technologies

The episode kicks off with Andrew and Luke reminiscing about outdated technologies that once dominated daily life. They humorously lament the complexities and frustrations of past gadgets, juxtaposing them with today’s conveniences.

• Andrew: “[00:05] ...Blackberries and sleeping pills.”
• Luke: “[00:07] ...Walkmans and floppy disks and zip drives, laser discs, answering machines and Nintendo Power Glove.”

Notable Insight: The hosts highlight how technological advancements, while simplifying certain tasks, also introduced new forms of stress and dependency.

2. Struggles with Rapid Shelter Setup

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Luke’s attempt to set up a product called Rapid Shelter purchased from REI. Luke shares his frustrations with the canopy’s complexity and the challenges posed by adverse weather conditions.

• Luke: “[00:16] ...This is how you do better... Why did I buy this funky little purchase?”
• Andrew: “[06:24] ...I kept like. So have you ever tried to set one of these dumb things up?”

Key Points:

• Setup Difficulties: Luke describes the canopy as “substantial” and “beat up” from previous attempts, emphasizing the physical strain and lack of clear instructions.
• Compromised Communication: The necessity to pause the podcast and physically address the setup underscores the unpredictability of live broadcasting.

3. Communication Preferences with Contractors

Luke delves into his preference for phone calls over text messaging when coordinating with contractors like Bo, the tile installer. He explains how Bo prefers direct verbal communication, which contrasts with the modern reliance on texting.

• Luke: “[04:44] All right, bye. Thanks. That was probably very, very did not pay off.”
• Andrew: “[11:40] ...reluctance to use text messaging with Bo and others...”

Notable Quote:
Andrew: “[15:18] …He’s future proofed. His entire communication strategy, like, you can't update what you don't use.”

Insight: The conversation underscores the challenges of integrating traditional communication methods with today’s technology-driven interactions, highlighting generational and professional preferences.

4. Tribute to The Amazing Kreskin

The hosts mourn the passing of The Amazing Kreskin, an American mentalist known for his TV appearances and predictions about UFOs. They analyze his legacy, questioning the sincerity of his UFO predictions and debating whether it was part of his performance persona.

• Luke: “[15:21] The Great Kreskin died yesterday.”
• Andrew: “[20:46] ...was thinking on the way to the alien gig...”

Discussion Points:

• Authenticity vs. Performance: Andrew and Luke speculate whether Kreskin genuinely believed in his predictions or if they were purely for show.
• Cultural Impact: They reflect on Kreskin’s influence on pop culture and his role in entertainment, comparing his approach to modern-day media figures.

Notable Quote:
Luke: “[25:02] ...he probably needed. He was probably trying to gin up some interest in the whole deal.”

5. Top Story: Nigel Richards Dominates Spanish Scrabble

In the "Top Story" segment, Luke announces that Nigel Richards from New Zealand has won the Spanish World Scrabble Championship in Granada, Spain, despite not speaking Spanish fluently.

• Luke: “[34:25] ...Nigel Richards does not speak Spanish, but he won...”
• Andrew: “[38:36] ...Nigel Richards memorized all Spanish words for Scrabble.”

Key Highlights:

• Memorization Over Language Proficiency: Nigel’s strategy involved memorizing every Spanish word eligible for Scrabble, allowing him to outperform native speakers.
• Impact on the Game: The victory raises questions about the balance between memorization and linguistic ability in competitive Scrabble.

Notable Quote:
Luke: “[37:36] ...he just committed them to memory and was able to just go in there and kind of just play these words that he had.”

Insight: The episode explores the intersection of cognitive skills and language in competitive gaming, celebrating Nigel Richards as a Scrabble legend.

6. Donor Acknowledgments and Community Engagement

The hosts take time to thank their listeners and donors, acknowledging support from various individuals across different locations. This segment fosters a sense of community and appreciation among the show's audience.

• Luke: “[34:25] ...thanks to folks like Charlie Trills, Jenny Doll, Darren Boknight, Nathaniel Holtman, Patrick Reddington.”
• Andrew: “[35:18] ...thanks to all of our donors for supporting TBTL.”

Notable Interaction:
Listeners send in "Blur Day" messages celebrating birthdays and personal milestones, adding a personal touch to the show.

7. Personal Anecdotes and Lighthearted Banter

Towards the end, Andrew and Luke engage in casual conversations about various topics, including struggles with text messaging, references to pop culture figures like Hulk Hogan, and discussions about sports, specifically focusing on NFL kicker Justin Tucker’s performance.

• Andrew: “[42:06] ...It's not as sexy as the toothbrush.”
• Luke: “[53:04] ...Michael Dixon, our punter, was really hurt...”

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew: “[60:11] ...they're playing to his strengths.”
• Luke: “[63:36] ...Hulkamania, where... he would get stronger from each blow.”

Insight: The lighthearted exchanges and personal stories provide listeners with relatable content, enhancing the show’s engaging and personable atmosphere.

8. Closing Remarks and Upcoming Segments

In the final minutes, the hosts wrap up the episode by addressing listener messages, sharing birthday wishes, and previewing upcoming content. They maintain a humorous and relaxed tone, reinforcing their camaraderie and connection with the audience.

• Andrew: “[83:17] ...Spin Alley. That's the one. I want to shout him out.”
• Luke: “[83:20] ...thank you all for tuning in.”

Notable Interaction:
Listeners celebrate birthdays and personal achievements, with the hosts responding warmly and humorously.

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Conclusion

Episode #4357 Rutabaga #5 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a blend of nostalgia, personal anecdotes, insightful discussions, and community engagement. Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh navigate through topics ranging from technological reminisces and product struggles to honoring a mentalist legend and celebrating a Scrabble champion. Their dynamic interplay, punctuated with notable quotes and relatable humor, creates an engaging listening experience for both regular fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[A]

I know New York is a great city, but I do not miss that lifestyle at all.

[B]

I mean, it was just stress and.

[A]

Blackberries and sleeping pills.

[B]

I used to drink a triple latte.

[A]

Every morning just to wake up. Well, I see your point, but I kind of value the sleeping pill and the BlackBerry and the latte.

[B]

You know, you can really get trapped.

[A]

In that web of beepers and Zenith televisions and Walkmans and Discmans and floppy disks and zip drives, laser discs, answering machines and Nintendo Power Glove. Wow, you know so much about technology. Tbtl.

[B]

How's it all going? You asking me about my podcast? Yes, still trying to figure it out. Flip a dial, instant entertainment. Dial seven digits, instant communication.

[A]

Turn a key, push a pedal, instant transportation. Flash a card, instant money. Shove in a problem, push a few buttons, instant answers. I have never heard someone say so many wrong things, one after the other, consecutively in a row. Why did I buy this funky little purchase?

[B]

Is that your Fred Schneider?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Why did I buy this funky little purchase?

[A]

We have our own Fritz. If there's a better use for the Internet, I haven't found it.

[B]

All right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

[A]

The vibes will be the illest and.

[B]

The jams gnarly Dick. My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host. I don't know who that is and I don't care to find out. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill Studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it's. It's not a great day, weather wise, folks. Not going to sugarcoat it. It's wet out there. Didn't know you like to get wet, though. Don't like getting wet, though. I was setting up. Of all the products that I've purchased in my life, I don't know if there is one that is more under delivered on its name than a product I bought from REI called Rapid Shelter. There's nothing rapid about this stupid canopy thing, which I was setting up this morning because there's a guy coming over to do some tile work, put some tile in this bathroom, but he needs a kind of a dry area to work and to cut the tile and stuff. And so I said, well, I've got this Rapid Shelter canopy, which. Such a disaster setting up. I got so random, my hands were so numb from the process that I could barely use them. But anyway, that's not important. I'm not a professional Rapid Shelter setter upper. I'm a professional podcaster. And I don't care who knows. It's. This is episode 4357 in a collector's series.

[A]

Let the fun begin.

[B]

I guess professional Scrabble player is also a thing because there's this guy from New Zealand named Nigel Richards who is a master with words.

[A]

All of a sudden, like, I heard, like, numbnut.

[B]

It doesn't even matter if he speaks the language. He just won the Spanish language Scrabble championship. Doesn't speak Spanish. We'll talk about him, hopefully. And we'll talk about this. The fact that It's a Thursday, aka BluRay. So my birthday today, when we do some birthday messages and we never forget to talk to this guy. Longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships.

[A]

Louie, what is that?

[B]

I'm like, I don't know. What is it? It's an Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[A]

Good morning. What's the crowd congratulating me for saying good morning to you? It just sounds like noise, though. I came. Boy, that doesn't really sound like applause. Okay, sorry. Sorry about that. We'll start over. You want to take this from the top?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Tile guy, 2 and 1. This is how you do better. You know what? Yeah.

[B]

I told you.

[A]

This is my.

[B]

Oh, look at this.

[A]

That's my performance. They're booing my performance.

[B]

As if. As if on. Should I take a call live on the air here?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

From Bo the tile guy.

[A]

It.

[B]

All right, let's see here. Hey, Bo. What's that? I just got my truck loaded up here at Home Depot and I'm ready. Okay, great. Yeah, I'm going to be in my office, but I'll come out and kind of get you set up. I'm on a call right now, but I'll see you when you get here.

[A]

Call.

[B]

All right, bye. Thanks. That was probably very, very did not pay off.

[A]

Well, he's loading up his truck at the Home Depot, then heading your way. You referred to.

[B]

Oh, you can hear this.

[A]

I call. Yeah.

[B]

All right, good. Nice. Well, I was telling you before the show that there might be a point where I have to hit pause on the recording and run outside to meet up with this guy because there is, I've noticed this, a kind of a contractor type of guy, at least out here where I live, who is not about that text message life. I don't know why that seems to be commonly the case, but there's at least two or three guys that I. That I have Hired and that I've worked with and dealt with where we're not doing these text messages. It's just, it's all, it's all phone call based and Beau is one of them. So I, yeah, I would normally just text the person and say, hey, I'm going to be in my office doing something, you know, at 10:00am but that, that's not how this communication flows. So he's on his way over here. The rapid shelter is up. I kept like. So have you ever tried to set one of these dumb things up? And do you do this for pop up?

[A]

No.

[B]

Break one of those out?

[A]

No. What is it? Is it like a canopy kind of.

[B]

It's a canopy, but it is, it's like a can of. Oh, it's so that, that, that causes you to imagine the canning process of. With feces in it.

[A]

It's marked as explicit. Okay, go ahead, just take some show.

[B]

It's a very, it's just, it's very difficult to set up because it's, it. Well, first of all, it's pretty substantial. I. What I, as I often do, I went out and I, I bought this on a whim. I can't remember what the motivation was, but I thought, oh, I should maybe it was for me and my dad, like, oh, you know, for. Want to, I don't know, sit by the fire. But it's raining. We could have a shelter. I'm not sure what my motivation was, but.

[A]

But it's one of those things that doesn't really have sides. Am I picturing this? Right?

[B]

Doesn't have sides.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'll take a picture of it later and send it to you.

[A]

Okay. I think I picture it. Yep.

[B]

Yeah. It doesn't have any sides. It's like aluminum poles. It's kind of like a, it's like a big grasshopper. The kind of mechanism, the sort of skeleton of accordions out.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

But the problem is if you have the surprisingly heavy canvas top on it while you're accordioning it out, it's really hard to get it to move because it's kind of being impeded by the, by the, by the tent, the canopy. But if you set it all up and then you try to put the.

[A]

Canopy over it, how do you get up there?

[B]

Well, I was up on a damn gorilla ladder today, Andrew, with two hands that felt like I was like the guy trying to hold back the nothing in the Neverending Story. These look like good hands. Like I was up there on a ladder in the rain trying to like, you Know, get this thing set up and. And I almost gave up a couple of times. I.

[A]

Is what is the recommended way, by the way? Is the recommended way like supposedly or supposedly you put it on and then stretch it out or is.

[B]

I think.

[A]

Yeah, well, first of all, I threw.

[B]

Out the step one. I threw out the directions perfect, which is my kind of typical move. I think what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to. Well, first of all, I think this is kind of a two person process, but I think what you're supposed to do is get it like sort of maybe 50% of the way expanded and then you drape the canopy over it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

While it's actually like not. It hasn't been elevated yet. So you basically like, what you do is you take this thing, you accordion it, you accordion it out to half of its size. And it's also not raised all the way up as high as it's going to go.

[A]

Sure. Okay. Yeah.

[B]

So you. And then you get it set up. And also this is all supposed to be happening like on a sunny day in July next to a flowing river with your Subaru and your attractive family and 2.5 children. You know what I mean? Like, this is supposed to be happening in a whole other context. It's supposed to be a bunch of people helping out. There's a campfire. Like you're not desperately trying to get this done before Beau gets over here in the morning by yourself.

[A]

Are you 100% sure that this isn't supposed to be happening at a street fair? And then once it's set up underneath it, there's going to be a trough with like slow moving floating toy ducks around. And you go in and you grab one of the ducks and you see the number on the bottom and that tells you whether or not you won the big prize.

[B]

That could be the case. Or it could just be someone selling really expensive produce.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Grown on a farm somewhere.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That, you know, I, you know, I buy and. Because I want to be the kind of person who is getting my rutabagas from the source.

[A]

And then you're like, I don't even like rutabaga. You come home from the farmer's market, you got nothing.

[B]

Lubega. Now you're talking. Rutabaga.

[A]

No, than vegetable number nine.

[B]

So the. Anyway, the point is, I think that you probably really are supposed to have two people for this. And there is a system for doing it, which I completely failed at doing it the right way. But this thing has also been beat up over the years because the couple of times that I have set it up for one thing or another, it's also blown over because it's very windy up here, and every time it gets blown over there, it gets destroyed more to the degree that yesterday. So I dragged this thing out of the basement yesterday, and I was looking at it, and it's like, it's pretty tore up from literally the wind. It's like, from it cartwheeling through my yard and over into my neighbor's yard a couple of times. And so you know what, the typical solution for that, if you're Lucas, is, well, what's Amazon.com have in a smaller canopy kind of shelter thing that's easy to set up? And I went on there, and I could have ordered one, but I thought, you know, this thing was like 200 bucks. I don't need to just buy another. Like, I was very close yesterday to just scrapping the whole project. And then I got up this morning. Really what I did was I got on the treadmill this morning, and the whole four miles that I was jogging, I just stared at the rapid shelter lying in tatters on the ground. And I thought, I think this is solvable. I think that if I just really put my back into it and try it and methodically go through this, I think this can be fine. And you know what? It was. Eventually, it was really a pain in the ass. It was not fun. But it's actually up and now, my friend. I wanted to ask Beau to help me with it, but I thought that was a bad start to our collaboration. I didn't want him to. He will figure it out eventually, but I didn't want him to immediately know just how incapable I am of doing anything that takes any kind of physical labor.

[A]

Is this something that you guys had talked about, that you would provide shelter for this job?

[B]

Yes. He had.

[A]

He had sort of told you ahead of time, like, I need this.

[B]

Yeah, he said, like, yeah. He said, is there a dry. I'll. You'll know when I'm doing the impression. He said, yeah. Was there somewhere dry to cut the tile? And I said, oh, I've got this rapid shelter, literally. That's what I thought. Good. Thank God I have that thing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I. It's all set up and ready to go. He's going to get over here. And this is the. What's happening now is that what used to be the kitchen in. In the house is now going to become a kind of a nice newer bathroom. And it's all Ready to go. It just needs tile. And so that's. We're getting close to a big milestone here.

[A]

Nice. You mentioned reluctance to use text messaging with Beau and others of his ilk and it does seem like, why wouldn't you? But I guess, you know, change is hard. And now I'm thinking about how I spent, you know, a decent amount of time after the show yesterday. And I had mentioned, and I'm not even going to get as shallowly into it as I did yesterday, but I mentioned that something's happening behind the scenes, I think on the Apple iPhone side of things to make like text messaging, kind of incorporate with Androids more seamlessly, supposedly, and maybe to bring some of the functionality that iPhone users have, make it more universal with Androids, I think, and I don't know, I don't know exactly why it's happening, I think it's because people are updating their phones to the latest iOS, but it's wreaking havoc on text messages. Like I mentioned to you yesterday, I brought it up because I woke up on Sunday and I note, or at some point on Sunday I noticed that our text message chain about sports, which is officially called the Fun loving Criminals, had reverted back to a nameless group that just listed all 10 people in it or what have you. And so I changed it back to criminals and thought my phone was just glitching out. And then I realized yesterday, talking to you, that that me changing that changed it for everybody, which is not usually the way Androids work. That's more of an iPhone thing. Yesterday I have that conversation with you. I get off the air and then I go to like play wordle and submit my score and it is chaos out there. Luke. I don't know where to submit my score. There is somebody who Genevieve has renamed the group wordle. That's one thread. But then there's another thread that says wordle and then has an emoji of an eagle and an emoji of a brain and it says Kevin Dodrell. Do we use full name, by the way?

[B]

Happy Blur's day today.

[A]

Oh, shit, I need to hop on one of those text chains. Hope he gets it.

[B]

I sent him a claymation of Steven Seagal holding a birthday cake, which is the greatest gift you can give someone named Camaro.

[A]

Kev. Exactly. He always sends a birthday gift out that somebody in a wrestling boxing ring just screaming happy Birthday. It might be John Cena at the top of their lungs. We like John Cena, but it got so complicated yesterday. Like somebody else changed it to wordle. Emoji of a brain, emoji of an eagle. And it said that Kevin did it. Camaro, Kev. And then some people were like, wait, what happened to the old text chain? It's all disappeared. And like, it seemed like there was one side of the river where the Android people and we were on one chain where you could see the history and the iPhone people were on another side. We were all communicating, but the communications were coming in on. Everybody was part of the same conversation, but they were coming in on different threads. And I'm like, well, it looks like Kevin changed the name of it and he put a little brain next to it, which made me think we're smart because we play wordle. And he's like, I've never changed the name of the group of a group in my life. I have no idea.

[B]

It doesn't seem like a thing. He would prioritize in his day.

[A]

And then. And it turns out that it was actually our friend Katie who had changed the name of it years and years and years ago. But for some reason, like, I think what is happening is as various people on Typhoon. Well, I think what's happening as Art Bell predicted. Yes. I think it's probably later on in the thread somebody said, oh, I should update my iOS. And other people were like, oh, the new update sucks. And I'm like, ah, this is what's happening. I think every time somebody on one of these threads updates their iPhone to the new os, it's sort of wreaking havoc. So all of that is to say, Bo, I feel you. I want to say, bo, why would you not text? It's so easy. But you know what, I'm too.

[B]

No, he's actually. He's future proofed.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

His entire communication strategy, like, you can't update what you don't use. And I think that's the big, the big takeaway. What did I hear on the radio? Oh, you know, the Great Kreskin died yesterday. Which, by the way, can you believe the Great Kreskin was still alive?

[A]

I don't know who that is. Is that a wrestling folk?

[B]

No, he was a mentalist and he was like a go to. I mean, I don't think I've ever even. I don't know if I ever even saw the Great Kreskin, like, you know, on television. But it was, it was like a. It was like a sort of a cultural, a pop culture reference point. Like, what are you, Kreskin? You know, like, he was, he was some, you know, kind of Some dude who had styled himself as some kind of, like I said, mentalist, or he could make predictions and then kind of became like a guy who a lot of, like, you know, sort of unimaginative television producers would have on, on, like New Year's Day. Like, what are your predictions for the next. For the next year and stuff. And I was just shocked that he was still alive because, I mean, I feel like the Great Kreskin was like a. Was like an old reference when I was really young. But the thing that was funny is I was driving and I'm listening to his obit on npr, which I would say more, more coverage of the Great Kreskin and less coverage of Donald Trump being Times man of the Year. Can we, can we lean into the Great Kreskin related content, please? Just for me, for my mental and emotional health. But anyway, what I thought was so great that they go. So one of the things is that the Great Kreskin.

[A]

The Amazing Kreskin.

[B]

The Amazing Kreskin.

[A]

I'm just looking it up now.

[B]

He, he had predicted that there would be a UFO, like we would be visited by UFOs and that if we weren't, he was going to donate $50,000 to some cause. And then they all should. Everybody showed up at wherever the UFOs were supposed to be. They never showed up. And then Kreskin refused to pay the $50,000 because he said that the aliens had shown up. But just after everyone else had left, after they had taken all the cameras away, he was like, you guys left too soon. They did show up, and I don't have to pay the $50,000, but they, the tape they had of him defending himself over this was on Coast to coast with Art Bell.

[A]

So it had that really old. Did it have that really old sound.

[B]

From an area near Dreamland? This is Dreamland. I've also been listening to a lot of Art Bell radio again here in my house. Like, when I'm just puttering at night, sometimes I just really would. I was listening to some Richard C. Hoagland the other night. I was just. I sent. Speaking of our friend Camaro, Kev, because he used to be the, like, audio engineer at times for some of this Art Bell stuff. So he's probably the only other person who has gets as much of the dumb, weird Art Bell references as I do. I sent him a video. I was like, if you wonder what it looks like here, what my life looks like here. Art Bell interviewing Richard c. Hogland from 1996 or something.

[A]

Yeah, Just my version.

[B]

Johnny Dollar.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Avoid the news. The man with the action packed checkbook. No, what is it? The man with the action packed expense account. Expense account, Exactly. It's so goddamn great.

[B]

Larry Alardo at CBS Call.

[A]

What do you think?

[B]

The man with the questionable expense account.

[A]

I wonder what Creskin's. This morning I was flipping through Instagram and I was reading somebody's story about how they had to do a TED Talk at one point. And I'll be honest with you, I first started reading and it's like the photo, Was that a photo of them doing a TED Talk somewhere? Maybe a TEDx talk? I don't know. And at first I was a little bit like this, to use the parlance of the Dan LeBatard Show. I was like, this is a little. Look at me, Louie here. I'll just be honest. That was my initial reaction. But a lot of shit on Instagram is like that. And so I'm like, okay. And then I'm reading. But then this person goes on to say, you know, this, this. I've given a lot of talks in my life. I'm very comfortable doing it. But this was particularly hard because I had to memorize it, like every single word down to the word and beat by beat. And it had to match up with my slideshow. I thought I could have notes and I found out like 36 hours ahead of time. I couldn't even have note cards, so I had to like. So those 36 hours, I just, just over and over and over and over again just kept on reciting my, my, my talk and then listen, like recording it and listening to a back as he was. Like, I was as nervous as I've ever, ever been for, for a speaking gig like this. And it was actually a kind of interesting story. I didn't realize that that's sort of the deal, especially for somebody who is kind of, you know, is not a rookie at giving talks in front of people. So all of that is to say that's sort of in my, in my mind this morning. We're talking about the Creskin here, and I'm wondering what the Amazing Kreskin? Well, I mean, in this case, slightly less than Amazing Kreskin. Rest in peace. Was thinking on the way to the alien gig, you know, like, was he truly a true, true, true believer who thought, well, I'm not worried about this because I know the aliens are going to show up when they said they were going to. Like, there's one thing these are not time optimist. Aliens. These are time realist aliens are going to show up when. When they said they were. And so he's showing up very comfortable. Like truly, truly comfortable in his beliefs. I don't think that's the case. I think he knew he was a charlatan. Again, rest in peace. And so is he.

[B]

Does he already charlatan or entertainer?

[A]

Yes. By the way, I think I use charlatan right there. I got to clear the air on something. It's obviously my jokes was supposed to be rutabaga number five, not rutabaga number nine. I was confusing Mambo neighborhood though. But that pisses me off. It wasn't that great of a joke, but it was a real stinker getting the number wrong. It's not the White Album. It's not John Lennon saying number nine. Number nine. It's.

[B]

It's nine.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Andrew, I am giving you credit for your immediate identification of who Lou Bega was.

[A]

I, Well, I appreciate it, but that.

[B]

Is the, I mean that is the.

[A]

Soft tree of lowered expectations.

[B]

No, I mean that's a pretty random poll. And I could, I, I would not, I wouldn't judge you at all if, if the name Lou Bega didn't ring any big bells for you. But it did. You knew that he did a song called Mambo and then there was a number of signs to it.

[A]

I knew it had an I sound in it.

[B]

Yeah. I honestly like that didn't. I mean, you made way bigger errors this week.

[A]

No, that is true. You know what? Here's how I'm going to own it. I'm making the show title Rutabaga number five. That way the record will always be correct on this. And I'll be like, look what I came up with. But all of that to say it's sort of a serious question I have. Was Kreskin kind of like, okay, well the plan is when the aliens don't show up, because obviously aliens don't exist, my plan is to just tell everybody that like I just. How much was he scrambling? How much was the plan? You know?

[B]

Yeah, well, I. The scant research I'm doing as we're talking, one of the things Internet says about him is the Amazing Kreskin, also known as Kreskin was an American mentalist who became popular on TV in the 1970s, inspired to become a mentalist by Lee Falk's comic strip Mandrake the Magician, which features a crime fighting stage magician. Now that to me seems like a person who was inspired to do something performative as opposed to a person who felt like. I mean, he was also apparently a clinical psychologist by training and was a clinical psychologist for a number of years as he was developing his amazing Kreskin act.

[A]

So it would be amazing to sort of get him during the, like, gray area in between the crossover as your therapist.

[B]

Like, I predict.

[A]

Didn't I see you on Ion Springfield last night? Yes, but let's, let's talk about your issues right now.

[B]

But so, but so I'm with you. I don't think that he was somebody who was, you know, believed himself to have special powers of prediction. I think he probably was kind of a sort of a, you know, vaudevillian type of performer who was, you know, this was his thing. So then that, of course raises the question, you know, what was he thinking with the UFO stuff? Because, you know, he's a clinical psychologist from Montclair, New Jersey, if we're getting down to brass tacks here. He doesn't probably. He's not mentally ill. He's not Delulu mentalist. He's a mentalist ill. You know what I mean? Like, so he knows that they're not showing up. He's not predicting it because he thinks it's going to happen. So. Did he always. Yeah, I don't. I don't know the answer to that, Andrew, but it is an interesting question. And I was actually thinking about a version of that yesterday as I was listening to his obit, which was like, how truly did he believe this stuff versus how much of it was schtick? And my thought is it was schtick. It was all shtick.

[A]

Yeah, I do. Yeah, you're absolutely right. By looking at the fact that he didn't seem to come up through conspiracy theories and then found the spotlight, it feels like he was looking for the spotlight for this particular act in this bit. But then why put yourself in that situation? Why put yourself. You know me, I'm just not like a risk taker and I'm certainly not a liar or like, you know, like, you know, I'm certainly not a showman. See Rutabaga number nine. So, like, it's just like, I find it hard to believe that you would. I mean, unless you're like, in the moment, you're talking to a bunch of people and you're like, yeah, sure, I'll put 50 grand on it, like, whatever. But, like, it sounds like this was so orchestrated. Like, why would you orchestrate something that puts such a target on your back?

[B]

I. My guess would be he was at this would have been a point in his career where people were no longer. The TV producers were no longer lining up to book the Amazing Kreskin.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And he probably needed. He was probably trying to gin up some interest in the whole deal, and he had to kind of like, you know, he had to sort of, like, elevate the risk and the monetary amount and whatever. Again, there's just something about hearing the Amazing Kreskin defending himself on coast to coast with Art Bell that just reminds me of a simpler time in this country, Andrew. A time that I'd like to go back to, please.

[A]

The fact that that is the simplest time.

[B]

Yeah, right. Exactly. One quasi conspiracy theorist talking to another charlatan on a grainy AM radio feed is. That's. That's my happy place. And that's all you need to know about me.

[A]

Now, I want to see here. I'm probably going to ruin the show further, but I just want to see what this is. Oh, no. I thought this. Okay. This is called the Amazing Creskin, but it looks like maybe he was a guest on a more modern show. I was hoping this was going to be, like, real, good archival tape. No, this is some sort of. Oh, this might be a song honoring the Amazing Kreskin by a band called Clutch. I think we need to back out of this quickly and efficiently. Moving on. Moving on.

[B]

You were trying to find him on, like, Carson or something.

[A]

I just saw. I typed in Kreskin 50 grand. I just want to see what would happen. And so then I thought I could get some news tape of what happened at the time or what his response was. But really, we should just go to the NPR story you heard about. Well, here. Okay, can we try this? How do you feel about maybe him blowing our mind on the David letterman show in 2019? This looks like. I'm going to say this is the 90s, probably the early 90s. Now, this segment is, like, eight minutes long, so I don't know how much of this we can get through four decades. That's why he is called the Amazing Creskin, ladies and gentlemen.

[B]

Here he is, the Amazing Creskin.

[A]

He's got those big glasses, which I'm already identified as his, like, kind of iconic look.

[B]

Good to see you.

[A]

Great to see you. Thanks for being here.

[B]

You know, it's. It's embarrassing and surprising to me. We've been on the air for eight years.

[A]

You've never been on this show, and.

[B]

Every once in a while, you pass, someone sends a remark, who's going to be on tomorrow they say, chris, can you say to them, where did that come from? And Gar comes on and she says to me before she walks out, how am I going to do tonight?

[A]

I.

[B]

You know, I can't lead a normal life, but it's good to be here.

[A]

You got. So he's on with Terry Gar. He said, Gar says, how my rip. Oh, did Terry Garr pass recently as well? I really thought she'd outlive Kreskin.

[B]

They're in heaven together now. Kreskin and Terry Gar.

[A]

But so apparently she said to him backstage, how am I gonna do tonight? And he's like, I can't get any rest. Being a mental.

[B]

That's a letter from me, too.

[A]

We'd like to have you on once a week. Can you do that? Let me ask you a serious question now.

[B]

Are you. Are you. What did we miss?

[A]

David?

[B]

David, I don't know what we're reading now.

[A]

Are you a psychic?

[B]

Are you a.

[A]

No, a mind reader?

[B]

No, I'm a thought reader. I pursue people's thoughts. So you have extra. Extra sensory, some kind of high sensitivity. And I'm going to try reading you and Paul in a little while. That's going to be an interesting thing. But I mean, it's not what you're doing here.

[A]

It's not magic.

[B]

Not on a sleight of hand.

[A]

No.

[B]

It has to do with concentration. It has to do with psychology. It has to do with perceiving thoughts and what have you.

[A]

So it's all really.

[B]

It's not props, it's not bunnies in hats. No, no bunnies in hats. It might be bunnies in people's minds or haunted houses. Well, my God, you talking. You were doing an interview with me before with that haunted house bit and the reincarnation.

[A]

Yeah, right. Yeah. You're buying a haunted house, huh?

[B]

Well, I'm looking for a house, David. In which a strange.

[A]

Did he just accidentally talk about something that happened Pre interview. The pre interview, David.

[B]

I think he just. For somebody who, you know, presumably was doing a lot of TV at Kreskin, is not really kind of figured out how to focus this for. For, you know, the David Letterman audience. Yeah, it seems like he's referencing probably a conversation he had with a producer. Yes, probably the pre interview.

[A]

David legitimately confused. He's like, what? Oh, yeah, oh, sure, sure. The haunted house. And then he's like remembering his notes. I think there. Yeah.

[B]

I feel like there's also, I mean, the reference he made to Terry Gar, asking him you know, to predict something. I feel like there's such a. It's a lazy joke, but an easier and funnier joke where, you know, Letterman says to him, like, you know, it's. We've been on the air for eight years and we've never had you on. And he goes, yeah. I mean, who could have predicted that? Like, it's just, it's, it's. I'm not saying that's high level comedy, but it's just, it's. It goes down easier than.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Terry Gar backstage. And, you know, it's like Kreskin kind of got to work on his showmanship a little. By the way, in the obit in the Washington Post, it says a film loosely based on Mr. Kreskin's career called the Great Buck Howard, starring John Malkovich as a once celebrated mentalist struggling to make a comeback with audiences that are harder to wow, was written and directed by a guy named Sean McGinley, who for several months worked as Mr. Kreskin's road manager.

[A]

Really?

[B]

That sounds like a good movie.

[A]

It sounds like a shooting star movie. In the parlance of my friends from New Hampshire, they would call them shooting star movies, I believe, because back in the era of Netflix being on DVDs, I think this couple would choose their movies together, like what they wanted sent. And I think if it had a shooting star, it meant it was sort of like a sad movie. And I'm trying to remember who it was. It was one of my friends, like her wife or girlfriend was not into the shooting star movies, but she was into them. And so they would always argue about whether or not they're going to get a shooting star movie. And this sounds.

[B]

If it has three UFOs on it, it's a reference to Kresge.

[A]

Well, this definitely sounds like a real sunset of a career. You know what I mean? It's a very type of movie, the sunset of a career of somebody who had a sort of shallow but maybe at times intense relationship with the public eye or something like that. But now they're living, but the audiences have changed and people are text messaging. And now I'm going to probably say, good. Yeah, the Great Buck Howard.

[B]

Quite a cast. It's got Malcatraz in it. It's got Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn, and also featuring Tom Hanks.

[A]

It's got Colin and Tom.

[B]

Most of the Hankses, you throw in a Chet Hayes and you've got a lawsuit. All of the male.

[A]

All the male Hankses, you throw in a Jet Haze, you have a problem.

[B]

You have a police situation.

[A]

Speaking of ment. Genevieve got. I set it up for her way too perfectly yesterday. I gave her the opportunity to absolutely, absolutely dunk on me with her favorite joke, which she's been trotting out a little bit more lately. And it's starting to. It's starting to, well, a little too get under my skin. She said, I set up some new speakers for my record player and sort of spent. It was a little bit of a project because I wanted my amplifier and speakers in a slightly different part of the room than the record player. So I had to string, like. I had to buy the special case and kind of string it all the way around and kind of hide it the best I could. And I think I did an okay job. I was kind of proud of myself. Bought these special tacks at the hardware store. But anyway, I was doing that project, and I said. And I said something about like, yeah, you know, when I get another record player eventually, or I just referenced at some point, maybe getting another record player. Now, Genevieve got this record player for me as a gift, and I think it was less than a year ago. I think it was Christmas of last year. So I wasn't trying to be rude about it, but I just said, oh, yeah, you know, and if I get another record player. And she said, another record player? Like, why? What's wrong with this one? I'm like, well, nothing's wrong with this one. I just mean, like, sometime before I die, I'll probably get another record player. And she says, you're gonna get another record player in two weeks.

[B]

Oh, yeah, that's.

[A]

Whoo. Yeah. I mean.

[B]

I mean, what makes it dark is how possible it is.

[A]

Well, I know. And I said with a mouthful of summer sausage, don't joke about my health.

[B]

You used the hand sign for Heimlich, but once a week, it comes into play.

[A]

She thought I was making fun of her joke, like, I was choking, but no, I was actually just literally choking on sausage.

[B]

That is a. You know. You know, how you have to interpret that is that she's just trying to create a layer of protection between her and how absolutely devastated she would be if you weren't on this planet.

[A]

Sure, sure. Although.

[B]

And that's. That's her defense mechanism, but it's actually a testament to. To how much she loves you and how much she. She can't even deal with that reality, so she makes very hurtful jokes about it.

[A]

Either that or she already has a list of backup plans, and she's Just trying to figure out, like, how to arrange her post Andrew life.

[B]

She's gonna handle it appropriately but efficiently.

[A]

Yeah, right. Exactly.

[B]

Those are the two kind of. That's her North Star as she's pursuing the next phase of her life.

[A]

Exactly. Dave, thank you for being a tb.

[B]

All right, let's thank some donors who are supporting TBTL with some cash, which has gotten us out of a few jams and allowed us to. I'm not in, like, buy a rapid shelter replacement, you know, territory. That's not the kind of cash we get from this show, but. But we, you know, do this for our job, which is pretty. Pretty cool. Thanks to folks like Charlie Trills, who's in Charleston, South Carolina.

[A]

Thank you, Charlie. Appreciate the support.

[B]

Jenny doll in Burie in Washington. What can you tell me about the city council there, Andrew?

[A]

I was going to say some of my favorite candidate forums happen in Bury in Washington. It's a great place.

[B]

They've got Jenny Dahl moderating them now.

[A]

They should. Jenny would do a great job. Jenny, thank you so much for supporting the show.

[B]

Look at this. We got two South Carolinians checking in today. We've got also Darren Boknight of Case, South Carolina.

[A]

Nice. Now, I don't know the geography there, if they're close together, but I like to picture Darren and Charlie getting together. Maybe even. Maybe even, like, built. Yeah, I'm going to say it. Building, like, a blanket and a pillow fort, sort of. Maybe. And, like. And then gathering and, like, getting a little, like, Bluetooth speaker and listening to TBT together with flashlights in the fort.

[B]

Staying up all night.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I. God, there was a period in my life where all I cared about was blanket forts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It was an obsession.

[A]

Was that a couple? Was that when you were in Bellingham?

[B]

No, it was more like Seattle when I was down in Mount Baker.

[A]

Oh, sure.

[B]

Yes. Kind of my thing.

[A]

Hey.

[B]

Nathaniel Holtman, Tacoma, Washington. It's our pal.

[A]

Thanks, Nate.

[B]

Thanks also to Patrick Reddington of Citrus Heights, California.

[A]

I want to be clear about something here. I'm pretty sure Nathaniel goes by Nate. I do. I don't. Yeah. I think. I don't want people to think that I'm just doing that thing, that I didn't like it when I was a kid, and, like, I would find, like, older men would do this to me, and I'd be like, hi, I'm Andrew. And they'd say, oh, good to meet you, Andy. And I'm like, that's not what I said. I wasn't just shortening Nathaniel's name on a whim. I think he goes by Nate. And I think Patrick probably goes by Patrick.

[B]

Yes. And then Patty goes by Patty Birkinshaw.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Up there in Lake Stevens, Washington. Is this the second day in a row or. We've had some Lake Stevens floating around in the donors, a couple of them. So thanks, Patty. Thank you so much to all of our donors for supporting tbtl, for making this a thing. We really couldn't do this without you.

[A]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[B]

Our top story, a guy named Nigel Richards from New Zealand has. Has won the Spanish World Scrabble championship in Granada, Spain. By the way, one of my favorite places in the world, Granada, Spain. I've only been there one time, but it was one of those places where. And this is typical of me, when I was there, I immediately started trying to plot how I could just live in Granada, Spain. Makes zero sense. I mean, that's even more insane than a lot of the other, you know, kooky plans that I come up with. But, oh, what a place.

[A]

Did you buy Granada one time?

[B]

I did, Andrew. I did. To impress a lady.

[A]

Can you see Granada? Did you see Granada parallel parking one time when you were in New York?

[B]

I was parallel parking in front of Granada, Andrew.

[A]

That's right. Sorry. Okay. I won't continue this litany of insulting.

[B]

This guy Nigel Richards does not speak Spanish, but he won this tournament because he basically just memorized every single Spanish word. Every word in the Spanish language that, you know, is sort of qualifies in the. In the Scrabble game. He just would just stare at these large, large, large lists of words, and he just committed them to memory and was able to just go in there and kind of just play these words that he had. He doesn't speak Spanish. He doesn't. I don't know if he even knew the definition. He just knew they were words in Spanish. And he was so good at this, he beat everyone else, including people who spoke Spanish as their first language. I don't. This is a weird take on this, but this is why I don't really like Scrabble anymore. Like. Like, it's not. It's because if you're. And this was. You remember when Stefan Fatsis wrote Word? Was that Stefan Fatsis who wrote Word Freak. Remember those days? Those days of public radio?

[A]

I don't remember. I'll look it up. It might have been him.

[B]

I think he was doing a lot of immersive journalism. One where he tried to become a place kicker, I think, for the Denver Broncos. And Wrote about it. Real George Plimpton, paper tiger energy. But, yeah, he wrote the kind of definitive, like, book about the. Just the world of obsessive Scrabble players. And I think he was a really good Scrabble player. The thing is, if you're really good at it, you're not playing the word xylophone on triple word score, which is like the dream of. If you're, like a casual Scrabble player, like I am. Were you ever a Scrabble person? Like, you know, in growing up or in college or something? I got really into it for a while.

[A]

I never got really into a Genevieve. Deeply into it, to the point where she. That used to be her thing. She would play it on her phone all the time. People were playing Words with Friends, but she wasn't playing Words with Friends. She was playing, like, that was too bubblegummy for her. She was playing intense Scrabble games on some sort of social game. But then this happens with a lot of name brand sort of apps or apps that are connected to the actual brand of a game. I realized this. I was trying to play Risk on an app recently, but everything has become so cartoony and childlike on these apps that these legacy games, I think they've changed too much so that the hardcore people like Genevieve were just like, I'm not. When the app started to change and get too balloony and cartoony. Yeah, balloony and cartoony. Sorry. I'm just laughing at the fact that I accidentally rhymed. I think she was. She sort of strayed away and then she started learning French. But anyway, yeah, she got really, really, like, hard. She was meeting up with friends, like, once a week and playing, like, intense Scrabble games. I played casually a little bit. I'm not. My brain doesn't work in that way that well. I don't like Scrabble that much, and I definitely don't like crossword puzzles.

[B]

What I hit the wall that I hit with Scrabble is that I'm just. I like playing Scrabble, like, with my family at Thanksgiving or something, like, and. But what I want to do is, like, I want to get, like, a really crazy word. Like, I used xylophone as an example that has, like, a bunch of high value letters in it. And then somehow, Matt, like, play it at the perfect time. Like, that's what makes. That's what makes it fun for me. If I can pull that off, which, by the way, I rarely do. If the real work of the Scrabble game, the real serious word freaks It's a bunch of like little tiny weird ass wor that you didn't even know were a word that are just like technically in the dictionary, but they, they are high value for what they are. You know, I mean, it's the kind of thing that it's sort of like that, that style of debate that there was also another documentary about at some point where debate is now at like, I think at the high level, like forensics, like at the high school level in college, a lot of the debate is. It's about scoring points.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so what's. And the way you score points has to do with the number of like arguments you make or something. So at some point it doesn't sound like we think of a debate as being like, you know, like William Jennings Bryant and whomever else. Like these great orators who were like. But if, you know, who would sort of like basically convince people of why they should be believed or why you should believe their point of view because of their eloquence. And if you like look at high level debate now at the college level, it's just a person micro machining through a whole bunch of shit because of how the points are scored. This feels a little like that of Scrabble, which is like, it's just, it's a lot of like weird obscure words and small words and things that are not as sexy as. What's the thing? It's not as sexy as the.

[A]

Oh, toothbrush. What is that drop we.

[B]

That's one that I have is like. I think that's like Ayesha Roscoe. But isn't there another one that you play that's like 80 miles or someone saying it's not as sexy?

[A]

I thought it was from a cartoon. It's not as sexy as sending astronauts to the moon. I love her love so much.

[B]

All I'm saying is that I feel like if I was watching this thing, I would. I mean, it's impressive what the guy did. Here's what he did. He.

[A]

He.

[B]

He took nine weeks to study and memorize the entire Spanish language. This is sexier than the toothbrush. Thank you. What is that? It's not 80 miles. Who is that?

[A]

I have no idea. I think a listener sent this to me in like 20, 2012 or something like that. Go ahead.

[B]

This is how hard this was for him, though. He. By the way, this article, which doesn't have a byline, it was ap, so thanks to whoever wrote this, this guy has recognized International Scrabble as the greatest Scrabble player of all time. His Spanish language victory was notable even by his standards, other players said, because he was forced to adjust his gameplay to compensate for different tile values in English and Spanish Scrabble. Richards also had to contend with Thousands of additional 7, 8, and 9 letter words in the Spanish language, which demand a different strategy. I mean, so he first of all just memorizes all of these words, and then he has to use them differently. It's like if he was playing football, it's like suddenly a field goal is worth eight points, and you. You can. You know, you can. You can throw four forward passes in the same play. Like. Like the idea that he both committed all these words to memory and learned all the different strategies and then deployed them, and he played 24 games and only lost one of them. This guy is the absolute goat of this thing, and I feel like we're not talking about him enough. I've never heard this guy's name before, by the way, he already did this in France.

[A]

I was gonna say. I was about to say that's the one more dollop of amazement is this is not his first time doing this in a foreign language. He already did. And to me, I don't really have anything intelligent to say about this, but it speaks to two different things. One, the human brain, and two, the difference between memorization and learning a language. Right, because you would. Because he. It's interesting that he memorized, I'm guessing, thousands of French words and Spanish words, doesn't speak either language. And you could just see a simplistic look and saying, well, learning the words is the hardest part of language, but clearly not. Right. But also, brains work differently. Like, he's not. He's not bringing in. He's not inputting this information into his brain in a way that allows for using it to communicate. He's just memorizing it as if it was a string of numbers almost.

[B]

And that's what his mom told a New Zealand newspaper back in 2010. She said he did not excel in English in school, he never went to college, and he took a mathematical approach to the game rather than a linguistic one. His mom says, I don't think he's.

[A]

Ever read a book, not even a book about Scrabble.

[B]

Well, she says, apart from the dictionary. So he's. Which is also the math of it. He's memorizing words. Like this guy is. He's a character. It would seem he impressed the Scrabble community when he arrived at his first Scrabble club meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was 28. So, first of all, it's pretty late to get into this. Two years later, in 1997, he cycled 220 miles from Christchurch, New Zealand, to the city of Dunedin. He won the New Zealand title on his first attempt, and then he rode his bike home. It's like a folk hero of this thing. What motivates Richards, who now lives in Malaysia, is a mystery because he never speaks to reporters. I get lots of requests from journalists wanting to interview him, and he's not interested. Did Ferland said he doesn't understand what all the hoo ha is about?

[A]

That's interesting. Well, he must. I mean, he's worked for the hoo ha. Like, that's. That's sort of interesting, too.

[B]

I don't. I think he. I think he would rather if he could just do all of this in. In private.

[A]

Yeah. Maybe. You know what I mean?

[B]

Like, it.

[A]

He seems.

[B]

Well, look, I don't want to violate any Goldwater rules, but I would be. How do I put this? I'd be unsurprised to find that this guy is neurodivergent.

[A]

Yeah, right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that works in a different way than probably.

[B]

That's extremely. There's some things would. That would lead me to believe he's not neurotypical. And you kind of get the sense that he. If he could just go and win these things and then ride his bike home and have nobody talk about it, that would be his preferred way for it to go down, I guess, which is shocking.

[A]

I was hoping to play a little game with you here, Luke. It's not Scrabble related at all. In fact, you just. By bringing up Stefan Fatsis and reminding me that he wrote that book. I just saw it a second. It was like six seconds of panic or something like that. Or a few seconds of kicking. That's the one.

[B]

The kicking book.

[A]

That's the one where he, like. Yeah, he cosplayed or actually, I guess really went through the process of becoming an NFL kicker.

[B]

Here's where he played soccer in high school. It's actually a really good book, which I read voluntarily. I don't know the last time I voluntarily read a book.

[A]

Now, here's where I'm going with this. And this is more of just a game as to former public radio producers. Okay, I don't know if you know where I'm going with this, but Justin.

[B]

Tucker asking the amazing Crescent. Where is he going with this? Come to me from the beyond, Kreskin. Show yourself.

[A]

Kreskin's. Leaving. Kreskin hates it when I bring this up. That was just for you.

[B]

That's a very good spoon.

[A]

But what I was going to say was, and this is really silly, I'm totally destroying this segment. I'm sorry, but I'm thinking about Justin Tucker right now. Justin Tucker is the kicker for the Baltimore Ravens and has been just historically good his whole career. Like, astounding good.

[B]

Until this season.

[A]

Yeah. To the point where I don't know if you recall this, Luke. I'm sure you do. Like, he went viral because, like, he was basically the hero on some bus trip or plane trip back. And I think, like, didn't they got him to sing something? Like, the team got him to sing?

[B]

Well, he's like a trained opera singer.

[A]

Oh, I didn't remember that, but I.

[B]

Thought he's got a phenomenal singing voice. Like, he performs with, like, the Baltimore.

[A]

Opera, but they also like, kind of draped him in a bunch of gold chains or something. I can't remember. But he became almost like, like a. He rose to this level of fame and sort of acceptance within the. Or maybe. Yeah, like, celebration amongst his football peers that is not usually enjoyed by kickers. Right. Because it was just. I mean, what he did, he became one of the most important players on that team, if not the most important player. And that is, you know, that's really saying something. So all of that is to say he is now having a terrible year. He has the yips. Like, people can't figure it out. People are saying, maybe we should let this guy go. Other people are saying, you never let this go. He will work it out. Like you do not. You are not the team that is going to drop Justin Tucker. He's a generational talent. You and I, if we were working on a talk show, we might think, hey, let's get Stefan Fatsis to talk about Justin Tucker's actually a really good idea. Let us now. And I did not do this in advance. Let us now go to Google News. Stefan.

[B]

I N S T E P S T E F A N F E.

[A]

N. Okay, that's Stefan Fatsis. Okay, here it is. Now let's do a Google News search on anybody. What is the last time? So he looks like. Okay, defector. Talked to him in March, but that would have been before we knew Justin Tucker was flaming out, so that can't be it. I don't think anybody's booked Stefan to talk about rules. I should type in Justin Tucker too, I guess, but go ahead. What were you going to Say.

[B]

Well, it's because this is still only of interest to sports radio or people in Baltimore. But Stefan Fats is. He's culturally, he's deeply public radio. So you'd have to have the public radio station in Baltimore have the.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The balls, Andrew, to. To do a whole segment about how their NFL kicker is doing poorly. That's the, that's the Venn diagram overlap. That's where you get Fatsis on the line. You don't get Fatsis on like, you know, 7:30am the gorilla.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where, you know. Yeah, he's calling in on the Rocino sports line. You know, like, you've got to have a public radio show that is willing to talk about Justin Tucker and then that's when you're going to get a Fatsis.

[A]

You're right. There's no public radio station that cares enough about this except for like maybe the Baltimore station or a bell, which they probably should.

[B]

I mean, I'm sure the Ravens are a big, big deal in Baltimore.

[A]

I'm not seeing anything other than 2021. Stefan Fatsis wrote about Justin Tucker in Slate.com about his record setting game winning field goal. Looked like it was number 66. So that was, you know, obviously. Should we do it several years ago.

[B]

Do we fill the void? I mean, we've got listeners in Baltimore and we've got listeners who are interested in, you know, sports and the business of sports.

[A]

Sports and the business of sports. Exactly.

[B]

I mean, we could just do it. What's stopping us? We got a. We got a phone line. We can bring old Stephanie on. I've interviewed him before.

[A]

We have a phone line and a heart. Yeah, I wasn't sure. I mean, I'm sure that I've booked him before too. Should I see if I have his contact information? I mean, do we want to do that though? I mean, that's the other thing too. Is that. What does it serve our audience? Audience.

[B]

It serves the audience of you and me.

[A]

That's true.

[B]

Because I do think. I actually think that's like a very good. That was a very good idea by you. Like if I was listening to a public radio show and they were like, what is going on with Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker? Well, we have someone online who's actually knows a lot about this. I mean, that was the thing. My takeaway from that book, from the Stefan book was just like how actually physically demanding. You know, they think of the kicker as just being like, you know, it's like the easiest job and you know, it's the Least physical. Like he was what. What Stefan was battling was a tremendous amount of leg and hip fatigue and pain all the time. You know, like it is a. I mean the thing that I think is really funny about most kickers is that my guess is they were probably their high school quarterback. They were probably the most athletic person at their high school school their senior year. You know what I mean? Like they seem so. They just seem so non athletic compared to everyone else. And is there anything worse than when you realize your kicker is what's standing between the returner and the. As happened to the Seahawks against the jets the other day where it's just like their guy is in the clear. And then I just see poor hapless Jason Myers trying to make an open field tackle. I was like, this ain't going to work.

[A]

Yeah, he was kind of injured too, right. I think there was a couple of weeks ago too, and I won't even.

[B]

Get into that was the crazy thing about.

[A]

Right, right. But I. A couple of weeks ago and it wasn't the Seahawks. There were like two games in a row. I think I was watching red zone for some reason I was getting ready like to do my Sunday stuff and there were no games of interest on. So I put on some illegal stream of the red zone.

[B]

I was gonna say, how do you have the red zone? I was like, oh, you're. You're saying dark web.

[A]

And. And so it was just on. But there were two games that I feel like came down to. I might be messing this up, but I feel like in one Sunday block, like in the 10am block on the West coast, there were two games that were incredibly close and relatively important and both of them were lost because a kicker missed a. Otherwise seemingly for their role. Easy field goal. You know, I say that because like no field goal is easy, right?

[B]

Like missed, missed or it was blocked. Because I feel like we are in a golden era of blocked kicks. I don't know what is going on. I should actually just check the date. But I feel like I am seeing a blocked kick every three games now where that used to be maybe once in a season. If that.

[A]

That's interesting. I didn't notice that. And it makes me think, just generally speaking about sports and the business of sports, how I'm going to get a little bit too. Too into the weeds here. But how the game will naturally change. Like there are two ways the games and sports change. Right. It's like by instituting new rules to correct something, you know, in the. And we've seen Baseball doing that or just the game evolving because, well, somebody gets really, really good at X. And so whatever the defensive counterpoint of that, the skills change, like, over time. I mean, literally, like, kind of generationally.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

Sort of. Yeah, like a very slow game of chess. Which is kind of why I was a little reluctant. I was a lot reluctant on some of the baseball changes, the rule changes, and I had varying degrees of. Of fandom regarding some of the changes that baseball has instituted in the past, like, five years or so. And one of them, you know, involved the shift, right? Like players being able to, like defensive players in the field being able to. To move to a place because they have the book on the batter, like, oh, we know this guy is always going to, like, kind of hook it to left field or whatever. And so they instituted these rules to say, well, you can't shift your. Your, you know, your outfield that much anymore. Like, you have to stay within these sort of imaginary boundaries. And I guess I was sort of against that. I don't really care that much, but I was sort of against it in theory, just thinking like, well, won't. Won't it just force matters the opposite way? Yeah, won't the batter position, not even the batters, but the batter position evolve over time to then beat the shift? Like, wouldn't that be more fun? But sometimes, like, if that's just not happening, if it's taking too long, and I guess you're losing viewers, I guess that's when baseball comes in and says, no, no, we're just going to make you follow these new rules. It seemed odd to me. Hasn't really affected my enjoyment of the game, that particular rule, but it did seem odd.

[B]

Well, you know what? I. Back to the Seahawks for a minute, and you were mentioning that. Well, we were talking about the fact that Michael Dixon, our punter, was, like, really hurt in that New Jersey game. Like, he had a back spasm.

[A]

Yeah, I got him confused with the.

[B]

Place he could barely. Like, it was like, is he going to be able to actually, because he holds the ball when Jason Myers kicks it for field goals, it was like, is he even going to be able to do that? And what he really couldn't do was punish. And I think it's why the Seahawks won the game, Andrew. And it's remarkable what happens when you have to just use all four downs. The Seahawks were going for it in scenarios that they would never do that if Dixon was healthy. And I thought maybe we should consider this. I mean, I know these Coach, these coaches are smart and all they do all day long is think about football. So it's like, it's not like they haven't done the research. And yet it is interesting how like if you just. I am of the opinion that, sorry this is getting so sporty, but it's just like I'm of the opinion that if teams just started playing four down football all the time, there would be some sucky moments. But I kind of tend to think it would be better in the long term. I would love to see a coach who's like, our policy is like, unless we're on our five yard line, if we are anywhere north of our 20 yard line, we're going for it. Because then on third down you don't have to get the whole thing back. You don't even have to design a play to get the whole thing back. You know, everything changes when you know you're going to use all four of your downs. And, and I thought that was interesting about now. It almost came back to get us, I thought early on in the game against Arizona because then the roles were reversed, their punter was having trouble and they then were starting to go for it on some downs that they normally wouldn't have and you know, ultimately the Seahawks one. But I was like, maybe we just get rid of the punters, just get rid of the.

[A]

Put them all on an island.

[B]

Luke, we're all saying called punter island.

[A]

Yeah, well, I mean that's interesting too. And that kind of goes back to broadly what I was saying, which is like, well then if the, I mean probably part of the reluctance of coaches and I think we're starting to see it shift a little bit too, like with your Dan Campbell's and what have you. But like coaches are reluctant to do something that is sort of outside the norm, outside of what kind of tradition in the book says, you know, because if do that, if they stick their neck out by going forward on fourth down and it doesn't work, it stands out so much more as a mistake placed on them as opposed to not just winning the game through usual things. So there's a reluctance to do it, a natural human reluctance. But as more and more people, as more and more coaches go for it on fourth down and if it becomes the norm, then that does change the game. Right. That changes how defenses treat third down and second down as well too. So that's kind of what I'm talking about, the evolution here.

[B]

Yeah, I just feel like I've always wondered why, why. And I'm I wonder if we will eventually. I guess Dan Campbell in Detroit is kind of pretty renowned for his. Like, I think that Dan Campbell can get away with going for it in scenarios that might leave him exposed because he could also just kick your ass. Like, who's gonna.

[A]

Really.

[B]

I mean, he seems actually like a pretty sweet dude.

[A]

Like a really sweet guy. You know what I mean?

[B]

Like, I. We. We stand Dan Campbell around here, but he is physically menacing. He does not look like he's that far removed from his playing days.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And, like, I don't. I've never seen. I mean, other than he has described his philosophy as biting off your kneecap, which I do. I do think is a threat of violence, but, like, maybe, you know, people might be.

[A]

But if I get back up. If I get back up, you'll let me keep my other kneecap, though, right?

[B]

Game. Well, Andrew, that's where. That's where you'd be wrong.

[A]

Really.

[B]

You know what if I.

[A]

Up.

[B]

Oh, he's gonna.

[A]

I. What is.

[B]

Do we have that tape?

[A]

We just go to the tape. Yeah. Sorry. Does he.

[B]

Is there nipple biting? What?

[A]

I don't. Nipple bitings. But I'm pretty sure that your other kneecap is also going to get bitten off. And there's.

[B]

I feel like there's mouth punching. It's a. It's a sadistic situation that forecast.

[A]

And this is how he introduced himself to the league, by the way. That. That's the amazing thing about this. He didn't have, like, now we know him as this sort of gentle giant, this lovable guy, this guy who, like, really makes me laugh out loud in an Applebee's commercial. I don't know if you've seen that commercial.

[B]

Oh, I've seen that.

[A]

Oh, it's really good. He comes up to a table, and I like the fact that, like, they're playing to his strengths, Right. They're not, like, overdoing it. There's two young people. It looks like they're probably on a date or something. Let's put him in their, like, very early 20s. And Dan Campbell comes up. He's their server. He's dressed as an Applebee's server. And he tells them about the special. I think it might be, like, some sort of ribbon riblets special or something. Don't get me started on a riblets. Tried those once. Bizarre way to try to eat that meat. But he comes up and he tells him what the special is. And then the young man starts ordering whatever the special is. And Dan Campbell's like, no, no, Cover your mouth. Like, Dan is holding. He's like holding the. Yeah, like the menu thing or the check.

[B]

Holding the way list, whatever you want to call it.

[A]

Over his mouth. He's like, don't cover your mouth. They'll hear you. They'll steal your order. And it's, like, unclear who he's worried about them stealing or who's going to steal this kid's order. But it's very, very funny, and it plays to his strengths. But here's this tape from. Let me ask you a question.

[B]

I'm watching this commercial now. Is it possible Dan Campbell has a dip in his mouth in this?

[A]

Or what do they call him? A zin? Is that what they got?

[B]

Is he a Cincinnati Red right now? Like, I swear to God, when he approaches the table, he definitely has a plug of cha or a zin in for the commercial.

[A]

It's pretty good here. Why don't you. Do you have the audio there? Can you just play the audio before I play?

[B]

Oh, the commercial shirt?

[A]

Yeah, if you have it dialed up.

[B]

I do.

[A]

I know.

[B]

Here we go. Here we go. Welcome to Applebee's. Can I interest you in America's favorite boneless wings for just 50 cents each.

[A]

I have the 50 cent bone.

[B]

Cover your mouth. They could steal your order.

[A]

I'll have the 50 cent boneless wings.

[B]

I'll have the same.

[A]

Perfect.

[B]

They'll never see it coming. That's a very, very. That's also a 30. That's a great 30 second commercial.

[A]

It really is. They leave a lot of space in there. We didn't hear it, but, like, the kids do a good job. I call them kids. The kids do a good job. I think of just like, sort of being uncomfortable in the silence, but then following his lead and covering their mouths as they order. I love the ridiculousness of it, and I love that they don't try again. You and I talked about, like, are they pushing Andy Reid a little bit too far in some of these wacky commercials now? Like, I like that they're. They're not asking.

[B]

I walk around my house saying, Fumble Rooski. I really got muttered to myself more than once a day. So I guess it's working.

[A]

All right, here's this.

[B]

So this team's going to be built on. We're going to kick you in the teeth, all right? And when you punch us back, we're going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we're going to get up. And on the way up, we're going to bite a kneecap Off. All right? And we're going to stand up, and then it's going to take two more shots to knock us down. All right? And on the way up, we're going to take your other kneecap and we're going to get up, and then it's going to take three shots to get us down. And when we do, we're going to take another honk out of you before. Before we're going to be the last one standing. All right, that's going to be the mentality.

[A]

It's not even specified anymore. It's going to be another hunk. There's something about it. We're going to take another hunk. Not shot in the. We're out of kneecaps. We're gonna take another.

[B]

You know, he wanted to say kneecap again, but his familiarity with human anatomy told him we've already. We're 86 on kneecaps. And also, I love. It's like, okay, he's so. Part of it is he gets stronger because it takes more blows to knock them down.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

As you progress through this scenario, which is kind of interesting. Yeah, it's real. Like, you know, Hulk Hogan, Hulkamania, where, like, there used to be a point at which Hulk Hogan would be getting his ass kicked. And then suddenly it would be this weird thing where when the other guy would hit him, when the Iron Chic would hit him, it would, like, give him more power. You start, like, shaking his head, getting stronger from each blow. It was like, you know, that's. I believe that's what Dan Campbell is referencing there.

[A]

Wow. Hulk Hogan. Like, what a specimen.

[B]

Well, what a bummer, too, that he ended up being a MAGA dude.

[A]

Well, just everything. And then also his whole role in essentially.

[B]

Well, well, that was consensual, you mean. Well, yes. I mean, it started with him having a consensual sexual relationship with Bubba the Love Sponge's wife.

[A]

I forgot it was his wife. The fact that you still have to say that name. I mean, just. Okay, here's the. Here's the. Like the headline recap of the story. Internet website is taken down by rich man after Hulk Hogan says N word during intercourse with Bubba the Love Sponge's wife.

[B]

Did he say the N word, too?

[A]

Yeah. So that was the.

[B]

I forgot about that.

[A]

That was the thing. So I don't even want to recap all of them, but that's basically it, I think.

[B]

So my mind erased the heart of it.

[A]

I'm trying to think. I think maybe Hulk Hogan and this woman were. Maybe they Must have been recording themselves for that.

[B]

Yeah, there was a camera in the room, and I think it was.

[A]

And then after they. And then, you know, after they made sweet, sweet adult time love, which is what they call it, then the camera.

[B]

Every time she would slap Hulk Hogan, he would get stronger.

[A]

He would get stronger. No, but then I think it was still rolling because then there was this tape of him, like, kind of in the bedroom using the N word in the afterglow. I believe in the afterglow. Like he's sitting in the bedroom's bed.

[B]

How do you enjoy your post moments? Yeah, no, I say other using the N word.

[A]

Incredibly racist epithets. I just have a different list I'm working from. But no, it's just kind of ridiculous. And. And then what happens is this is on tape, but it's a private tape. Somebody leaks it. I don't know who, but then Gawker is like, well, if we. You know, their mentality was, if we have this, we're gonna. We're gonna run it even, you know, and again, it catches him doing something unseemly and wrong, you know, using this kind of language. But it was also a private tape. And then that. That gave Thiel. What's Thiel's first name? Peter Thom. Peter Thiel. The ammunition to fund a lawsuit against the website that would eventually take it down. Because Peter Thiel had his own agenda against Gawke. They had sort of, I believe, sort of doxed him or maybe outed him as a gay man or something. It's a very. Such a sordid tale. And that's before you remember that there's somebody named Bubba the Love Sponge involved.

[B]

Who I believe, and this is, by the way, a proud, honorable thing to do. I'm not saying this to be, like, dismissive, but I believe that one of the things Bubba the Love Sponge now does is doordash. And I know this because he is good friends with the Howard Stern show folks, and they're always updating what Bubba's up to.

[A]

That's kind of interesting.

[B]

And I believe one of the things that he's doing is, again, and I don't say that to, you know, be dismissive of people that are doing that to make money, but it's definitely a different lifestyle for him from being, you know, the king of Florida morning radio or whatever he was doing, and friends with Hulk Hogan, too, living a very different life.

[A]

Yeah. Because the he. They got pulled off the air down there for some other shenanigans. Right.

[B]

Like, yeah, I think it was actually. I'm sorry, this is like. This is so. So unbelievably layered and only Phyllis Fletcher cares about it. But they have a guy on Stern who does a dead on impression of Bubba the Love Sponge. And he's just always talking about Dr. Diaco, who I think was like a plastic surgeon that ended up being a sidekick on the show that was doing a lot of, like, enhancement of women's breasts and things. He's just always talking about doctor Diabetes. Like the. One of the most genius things that the Howard Stern show does that we. We don't have the staff or the talent for it. But it's unbelievably an entertaining thing, is as soon as somebody becomes kind of a figure on the show, somebody starts working on an impression of that person. So they've got like Ronnie the limo driver, right?

[A]

He's.

[B]

He used to be Howard Stern's actual, like, limo driver for many years, and then he kind of became a character on the show. And he doesn't drive a limo anymore. He just lives in Las Vegas with his wife. But he's a big character on the show. But now they have a guy called Shaky Ronnie, which is another staff were doing an impression of Ronnie and it's so good. And it's like, what. What would you ever think the utility of a guy doing a Ronnie Mund impression would be? It's.

[A]

I.

[B]

It's the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. I cannot turn it off when they're doing it.

[A]

It's just like kind of a throwback to a different era of like, kind of just like corny morning radio. I feel like just impressions. Like when I was in the Kevin and Bean show, like really on the reg when I was down in la. I love that they just still had. I'm blanking on his name, but their. Their buddy Ralph. Exactly. Who would just do like all kinds of celebrity impersonations. And I honestly think the first time I heard it, I'm like, what is this? This is so corny. This is like the stuff I listened to as a kid. But it did not take long for me just to be like, super on board with it as a. A bit.

[B]

I didn't. I realized how kind of immersed in this world of being a Howard Stern listener I was until last week when I was in LA and I was talking to Nikki Glaser. I mean, off air, because she's a big part of the Stern world. She used to have a show on Sirius and there's a particular Plot line where one of the, like, regular. They call them whack packers. But, you know, this guy named Mark the Bagger, who's in Pennsylvania, is obsessed with Nikki Glaser. And. And, like, one of the first things I said to Nikki was I go. I just. You know, I go. A lot of people are really interested in your relationship status and things like that, so I'll just get out of the way, you know, early. Like, what are you. What is going on with you and Mark the Bagger? And she, like, laughed, and this wasn't. We weren't filming. I was just trying to make small talk. And then she goes, oh, man, I've been kind of like, I've been busy. Yeah, you've been busy, like, getting ready to host the Golden Globes. She goes, what's going on with. And then she just was firing a series of questions at me about Stern, and I was like, oh, well, the thing with Benji right now is the last time he was really making a splash is when he claimed that he ran into Woody Allen in New York. And Woody Allen said, benji. And then she's, like, dying laughing. And then it's like, what's going on with this person? And I'm updating her on the minutia of every single person on the show in a way that was like. So it was at the very tip of my brain, and I was like, this is. I should not know this much about this.

[A]

I love that shared language. I love that as a way of getting to know somebody that, like, you don't know this person, but you have this thing in common, and you just have, like, just years and years. You have decades of material that you can bond over. And by the way, and I'm sorry that this is becoming a little bit of a trend on today's show, but I actually have a bit of a correction here. I looked it up. Apparently Stefan Fatsis was on Bubba the Love Sponges show talking about Justin Tucker. I'm just seeing that now. It was sort of. It was sort of. It was below diaco.

[B]

We got Dr. Diaco. We've got Stefan F. How much on.

[A]

The shocker of getting Stefan Fatsis on our show, can we figure out a way to get Bubba the Love Sponge to interview Steven Fatis?

[B]

I think if we were able to. If we were able to prioritize a couple of hundred bucks out of the TBTB budget, I. I feel the other thing is we could probably order a cameo from Bubba.

[A]

Oh, that's a good point. Which.

[B]

Which I don't know how that helps with the Stefan thing. Other than maybe we we could have should we hire Bubba to do a cameo for Stefan? Fats A way to bring it all together.

[A]

Take it out of the billboard money. Take it out of the billboard fund.

[B]

Honestly, like it's got to be less than $8,000.

[A]

There's a right way to rock and a wrong way to roll. You can't just listen to your song. Just remember that life is number one. You can be having so much fun.

[B]

Just remember the day.

[A]

Life is much fun.

[B]

You can be nothing but.

[A]

Luke I did a good thing before starting these blur day messages I said to myself, hey, we should check the old email spam folder, make sure none of them ended up getting rooted into that little section of my email. And I did find one astray that I thought maybe was in there for weeks and weeks. But no, this just came in a few days ago. So thank goodness I think we are not late to read Molly's Blur's day wish to her husband Garrison. I think you mean this. That literally doesn't sound like anything Molly says. I want to wish my husband Garrison a happy blur day despite trying to play TBTL on the way to the hospital to deliver our son. I love you lot. Love Molly. Cute Molly. I marked your messages, not spam, so if you email me any more it should go right to my inbox.

[B]

Good catch.

[A]

Very proud. Jake the Perfect Daddy says December already. I say to myself as I realize it's the Perfect Tens Blur Day. Happy Blur day bud. Come to Chicago sometime soon. I have a home with spare bedrooms now. Power up Jake Perfect Daddy.

[B]

But now is he wishing a blur day to a perfect 10? Meaning our friend Nick?

[A]

Our friend Nick the perfect 10. Exactly. Yes.

[B]

I was tracking that.

[A]

Yes. Thank you. So yeah, he doesn't use the word Nick in here, but it's implied. It's the implication. So Nick, of course is the Perfect 10, has been dubbed the Perfect 10 and celebrated appropriately over the years. And Jake is the person who introduced Nick to the show, making him the perfect daddy. Gotta wait for it. Amy says I have two blurs days. One belated oops. First, please wish a happy birthday to my beautiful wife, Heidi. Heidi's birthday was last Wednesday and she was very sad when she didn't hear her birthday message. She is amazing and I honestly, honestly can't put into words what she means to me. By the way, Amy and Heidi, is this a 20 situation? We were talking recently on the show how usually we have a 10 and then an 11. Who is not as into the show, but I'm thinking that Amy and Heidi might both be listeners and a couple making them a 20. Amy's second message is happy birthday to Brenda. She's the one person who makes work bearable.

[B]

Wow, that's a long applause.

[A]

Yeah, that's pretty good. And it's distinct. You can hear what it is. I like that it doesn't just sound like a ghost in the ocean or something. Whatever. Whatever that is. Steve says my wife. That's what I'm doing out here. My wife bomb on that. Yeah. My wife Mia is a longtime fan. I think she calls me an 11 because she's one of your tens and I'm her plus one. I like to add that she scores 10 out of 10 on many fronts. Beauty, intelligence, parenthood, and of, of course, loving and putting up with me for 27 years.

[B]

Holy smokes.

[A]

Happy birthday, Tamia. From Steve.

[B]

Congratulations.

[A]

Now here's the deal.

[B]

That's 17 marriages for me.

[A]

How's the math work on that? Steve sent that message in. I saw it this morning, but Sammy sent in a message. It sounds there's a little bit of angst. Just a little. Just so you know, there's a little bit of angst surrounding Mia's birthday. Sammy says this is a birthday shout out to my mom, Mia. For the past couple of years, both my sibling and my dad have sent in shout outs because this is her favorite podcast. But she has in all caps other children as well who love her just as much. So, Mom, I wanted to say happy birthday. So those are both for Mia. And I just want to say I love stirring up pot and I love it. I want Sammy to know.

[B]

Yeah, we need more of that. We need, we, we need to create more family drama where the way that the people prove their love to each other is by engaging with tbtl.

[A]

Exactly. And using blur day messages in a sort of passive aggressive or even just aggressive aggressive way. Sammy's communicate with each other. Exactly. Sammy's email did come in first. I just want everybody to know that. Sammy, take your victory lap. Chris says, happy bluray to Angela from Ohio. Great wife, mother and TBTL 10, the perfect trifecta. Happy birthday, Angela. Jan says time again to wish my amazing sister Sharon in Hillsboro, Oregon. Another happy birthday. It's been another exhausting year for her working to take care of our 96 year old mom. Mom is still funny and sarcastic and doing as well as can be expected because of the selfless care from Sharon. Sharon, we want you to know how much we Love and appreciate you and hope nobody does anything on your birthday per your demand.

[B]

Oh, that sounds like an Andrew.

[A]

Me and Sharon should get together sometime and not. Me and Sharon should not get together sometime and not celebrate our birthday.

[B]

Yeah, you could celebrate or not celebrate.

[A]

That's right. For hours. Our pal Jackie says happy blursday to lawyer Danny in Arizona. Hey, Danny. I met Danny when she joined a group of us for the boat show and I instantly knew that she was a real friend. Though it's been a wonderful time getting to know her, seeing her at TBTL events and sharing silly drops that fit into our workdays. Happy Blur's day, Danny. All right. Chris says happy blurs with my sweet girlfriend and original 10, Dr. Aaron. Aaron just had a quick run in with Luke at the Nike store in Portland.

[B]

Hey. Yes, Aaron. Hi there, Aaron. Dr. Aaron, happy blur's day. Or hi there, Chris and Happy Blur's day to Aaron.

[A]

Aaron is amazing friend, partner, educator, and overall human being. Her only slightly less known talent lies in knocking down pins as a competitive league and tournament bowler. Rest assured she can answer any questions you may have about equipment etiquette or lane conditions.

[B]

Intersante.

[A]

This makes Genevieve sad when I say this, but I have been wondering lately if I'll ever play bowling again.

[B]

I think because of the wrist stuff. Because of your.

[A]

Because of the wrist. Ankles and stuff. But, um, I thought you were.

[B]

I thought you were doing better, but not.

[A]

I am doing better, but I don't know if I'm pick up a, you know, 13 pound ball and hurl it better. I like to think that. I like to think it's not over for me. I certainly have been feeling better in the past kind of few weeks or month or so. So maybe, maybe bowling's in my future. Because when I think about. I'm not even joking. When I think like, man, have I bowled my last bowl? It really depresses me. You know what I mean? You never know. You never know when you've bowled your last bowl. Anybody? Nobody knows?

[B]

No. And I was also. It's like I feel like bowling alleys are going the way of the dodo. At least the kind of bowling alleys you and I like.

[A]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Like, you've gotta act fast. I mean, there is just. There are not many left. The only bowling alleys, it seems, that can survive these turbulent financial times are the ones that are basically a nightclub.

[A]

Yeah, right. I mean, there's still pockets. You got Linwood, you got. You do have that one in Ed Edmonds that I went to in the heart of cute Edmonds.

[B]

Oh, Robin Hood Lanes. Or is that.

[A]

We went. We talked about it a lot. When I went, I. It might be the. I'd met the owner. Oh, wow. Lanes. Yeah, I know. No, I think Robin Hood closed.

[B]

Yeah, I think this is a different one. CVS now or something. Depressed.

[A]

Yes, exactly. But in the bowling alley I was at, they had a big poster for Robin Hood and I was like, wait, does that still exist? They're like, no, that's just sort of a tribute that came from the old one. But I can't find Edmond.

[B]

There's still Ranham underneath The Nook in St. Paul, Minnesota.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, and Spin Alley. That's the one. I want to shout him out. It was a really great place to bowl. The layout was a little funky, but good old school bowling alley. Spin Alley. And yeah, you kind of got that spin room kind of mentality there.

[B]

This is a no spin zone, Andrew. I don't know if you know that.

[A]

Can we do one more. Can we do one more blur? See, I wanted to. Lucas, Luke's always saying to me, no more blurays. We're cutting it off there. And I say, no, no, no, no, no, no. We are gonna do. No matter what, no matter how mad Luke gets, we're gonna do one more blurry here. And it's gonna risk.

[B]

You're gonna risk your very career for this.

[A]

Don't. My boss thinks I'm crazy. Wait, that's not it. Kim. Our pal Kim down in Florida says, I like to wish a happy blur to my TBTL daddy and husband Sam. Hey, Sam. Happy blue Thursday. He's a pretty. Pretty great life partner.

[B]

Pretty great.

[A]

I could read that in a couple of ways. I could say he's a pretty great life partner and that sounds pretty good. Or I could say he's a pretty great life partner and I'm happy to be celebrating another birthday together. Happy blur day, Sam. I think you're pretty great too.

[B]

And I'll just throw in a happy bluray to my brother in law.

[A]

I'm sorry, we are out of time. That is all the time we have on the blurs day segment. No, sorry. Go ahead, Luke.

[B]

Josh had a birthday this week and told it's also a like dedicated skier, loves to ski and told me he was catching up on his TBTL and was wishing me well with my eyeball. With my eye problem.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

So happy. Happy blurs. Josh, we love you.

[A]

I don't think I realized Josh listens to the show.

[B]

I was. I guess you would Say pleasantly surprised. I know that there were times, you know, I think it has to do with. Because, you know, he and my sister Sarah run that restaurant, Pollo Bravo. And I think it has to do with what their work schedules are like. And if he's got a lot of like, you know, basically time where he's doing repetitive tasks, I think TV tell my.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Bubble up more in his schedule and then his schedule changes. But I was. Yeah, I was. I'm always heartened when somebody from my real life says, oh, yeah, I was catching up on the show the other day. I just think, wow, that's. That's. That's shocking to me. But pleasantly so.

[A]

Yeah, you earlier, you sort of struggled looking for a word, and you went with pleasantly surprised. And I think I've told you about Genevieve and my favorite expression, pleasantly appalled. Do you remember this? We're on vacation somewhere and it was day one of a vacation, and we went to, like, one of those little beach stores that sells all kinds of things, including booze. And we're like, well, we're gonna get these mixers and like, well, let's get this bottle of vodka. And like, whatever we were buying, it ended up looking like a lot of alcohol. But it was the first day of, like, you know, I don't know, five, ten day vacation or something. And Vive says, wow, this is a lot of booze. I mean, do you think we'll get through it? And I just said, I think you'll be pleasantly appalled by the amount of booze I will be able to go through. Oh, yeah, like, we. I believe we restocked midweek, in fact.

[B]

And so now we always use pleasantly appalled title.

[A]

I think, you know, it might already be, because I think I might have told you that once.

[B]

Frosted Lucky Charms, they're pleasantly appalling.

[A]

Yes, right. All right.

[B]

All right. Well, happy Blur day, everybody.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Okay, that's going to do it for today's show. Thank you all for tuning in. I might see some of you tonight at Revolution hall where we're doing live wire. So come say hi afterwards and pretend like my eyelid isn't deeply upsetting. By the way. More on that in the hey Dummies video in the newsletter this week. So watch this space for that. Anyway, have a great Thursday. We'll see you tomorrow with more imaginary radio. In the meantime, please remember, no mountain too tall.

[A]

And good luck to all. Power out.