Podcast Summary: "🏒 Booty Check" — Heated Rivalry’s $$$ surge. Apple’s AI “iPin”. Dimon vs. Trump. + Soft Partying

Podcast: The Best One Yet
Hosts: Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell
Date: January 23, 2026

Overview

In this rich, fast-paced episode, Nick and Jack break down three major stories shaping pop-business culture: Apple's rumored move into AI-powered wearables, the surprising Taylor Swift-like economic effect of HBO’s hit gay hockey drama "Heated Rivalry", and the escalating feud—via federal lawsuit—between President Trump and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon. They open with a lighthearted discussion on the rise of "soft partying" as the new millennial social trend for 2026.

Episode Highlights

1. The Era of "Soft Partying" (01:31–02:46)

• Main Theme: Millennials are redefining nightlife with less drinking and more meaningful, wellness-oriented hangouts. Book clubs, dance classes, sauna nights, and cold plunges are in; clubbing and overindulgence are out.

• Memorable Quote:

  "Instead of going hard and then having a hangover, you’re going soft."
  — Nick (01:51)

• Key Examples:

  • Book clubs taking over bars (02:04)
  • Cold brew/cold plunge social clubs popping up — “Coffee and Chill Club” (02:19)
  • NYC’s largest sauna, “Othership”, now open until midnight as a new kind of nightlife (02:32)
  • The year “Van Wilder became Van Milder” (02:51)

2. Story 1: Apple’s Leap into AI Wearables—The iPin (04:38–08:57)

• Main Theme: Apple is rumored to drop a groundbreaking new AI device—a wearable “pin” (iPin). Unlike glasses or watches, this small Airtag-sized device pins to your shirt, with two cameras and a mic, offering always-on context for Siri.

• Discussion Points & Insights:

  • This is Apple’s first meaningful hardware launch in a decade since 2016’s AirPods. (05:16)
  • The iPin continually collects sensory data, making Siri a “Super Siri” that knows what you see, hear, and experience during your day.
  • “Wearables as witnesses”—the next evolution will see tech passively recording and understanding all aspects of life, not just what you manually input. (06:19)
  • Competitors (Meta, Google, Amazon, OpenAI) are racing to release similar wearables (cameras in glasses, pins, AirPods with cameras—06:47–07:07).

• Notable Quotes:

  “The iPhone you have in your pocket is passive—it’s like a squatter. But tomorrow, the iPin will be active, absorbing your life 24/7 like some kind of digital unblinking owl.”
  — Jack (07:11)

  "Since context is the moat, the big tech incumbents have a huge advantage in AI."
  — Jack (08:50)

• Key Takeaway:

  • The future “moat” in AI won’t be code but context: whoever knows you best (through years of data) can offer the best personalized assistance.

  "All that context is a moat. It turns Siri into your Super Siri personal assistant—wearables as witnesses."
  — Nick (19:27)

3. Story 2: “Heated Rivalry” — TV Drama Driving Real-Life Hockey Surge (08:57–13:54)

• Main Theme: HBO's "Heated Rivalry", a gay romance centered on hockey, is massively influencing real-life ticket sales, Google searches, and fan engagement in the NHL—akin to the “Taylor Swift Effect” but for hockey.

• Key Findings:

  • Hockey ticket searches rose 75% on StubHub, ticket revenues up 30% on SeatGeek (09:56–10:01).
  • Google searches for hockey-related terms are at all-time highs (10:06).
  • The show’s appeal is broad: of the 8 million viewers, 2/3 are female (13:13).
  • The timing of the show’s release—right before the Winter Olympics and over the holiday break—was a strategic masterstroke (11:34–12:00).

• Memorable Moments:

  • "One out of seven Heated Rivalry viewers rewatched an episode of Heated Rivalry five times. You know why, Nick?" — Jack (12:30)
  • "The extremely explicit sex scenes. People watched it and then rewatched it four more times." — Jack (12:35)

• Strategic Moves:

  • Bell Media built the show using Netflix's "Bridgerton" formula (racy, unknown cast, unique setting) to break out in a crowded streaming environment (11:07–11:16).
  • Purposeful launch over Thanksgiving to exploit social show recommending (11:47–12:00).

• Impact on Sports:

  • “Heated Rivalry” is pulling more women into hockey fandom, similar to Taylor Swift’s effect on NFL viewership (13:06–13:42).

4. Story 3: Trump Sues JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon – Corporate Power Clash (14:41–19:19)

• Main Theme: President Trump sues Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase for $5B over the closure of his accounts post-January 6th—exposing the business world’s political fault lines.

• Key Details:

  • Trump alleges account closure was for "unsubstantiated woke beliefs" and claims backlash against him (15:41).
  • JP Morgan states it closes accounts due to legal/regulatory risk, not political motivation (15:56).
  • Jamie Dimon, often reticent in public commentary, has recently made multiple statements critical of Trump, from Fed policy to interest rate caps and immigration (17:06–17:29).
  • The cap on credit card interest rates (Trump’s policy proposal) would radically change the credit market: banks predict mass cancellation of most cards for subprime consumers (18:10–18:52).

• Notable Quotes:

  “The message to other CEOs: speak negative about me in public and you get sued.”
  — Nick (17:36)

  "If credit cards get capped, they get canceled."
  — Jack (17:56)

• Economic/Political Implications:

  • Dimon's proposal: test credit card caps in progressive states—he predicts banks would pull cards from 80% of consumers there due to risk/reward structure (18:40–18:52).
  • Comparison to rent control: eliminating profit eliminates market activity (19:00–19:06).

5. Lightning Round: Other Pop-Biz Headlines (19:59–21:27)

• Oscar Nominations: "Sinners", a genre-bending vampire movie, earns a record 16 nominations, beating "Titanic" and "La La Land" (20:09).
• M&A: Capital One is buying Brex for $5.5B, following its acquisition of Discover last year (20:40).
• Viral Spats: Ryanair vs. Elon Musk feud over inflight Wi-Fi turns into a "profit puppy" as Ryanair leverages the attention for bookings (21:12–21:27).

6. Best Fact Yet / Corrections (21:37–22:01)

• Hosts issue fun end-of-week corrections, including mix-ups on Canadian politics and Batman/Bane trivia.

Top Quotes by Timestamp

• "Wearables as witnesses. The future will be recorded with microphones and cameras on your clothing." — Nick (06:19)
• "The Taylor Swift effect just jumped sports—from football to hockey." — Jack (12:53)
• "If credit cards get capped, they get canceled." — Jack (17:56)

Important Timestamps

• 01:31 — Soft Partying: new social trend
• 04:38 — Story 1: Apple’s iPin leak
• 08:57 — Story 2: Heated Rivalry’s hockey surge
• 14:41 — Story 3: Trump vs. Dimon lawsuit
• 19:59 — Lightning round: major pop-biz headlines
• 21:37 — Best Fact Yet/corrections

Podcast Tone & Style

Conversational, witty, filled with pop-culture references (“If you know, you know”; “Van Wilder became Van Milder”), and expertly blends hard business analysis with lighthearted, memorable hooks. Each story includes takeaways directly to “buddies”, i.e., listeners.

For New Listeners

This episode is action-packed, traversing cutting-edge tech, global media strategy, financial policy, and millennial culture trends. Nick and Jack offer fresh analogies, pithy insights, and quick laughs—making even heady topics like AI, LGBTQ representation in sports, and financial regulation approachable and entertaining.