← The Bill Simmons Podcast
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- [00:00]
Bill Simmons
You're listening to the Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel. FanDuel Sportsbook is the best place to bet on the NBA. We have these fun little Tuesday Friday player performance stuff. We have same game parlays. We have picks for me sometimes and boosts and all kinds of fun things. Get ready in the playoffs. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app today to get in on the action. And by the way, the Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit theringer.com RG to learn more. Listen to the end of this episode for additional details. Must be 21/president select states gaming problem. Call 100 GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com Coming up, all hell breaks loose in Denver. I'm at the Masters. This podcast is nuts. It's next. This episode is brought to by Intuit TurboTax. Taxes was waiting and wondering and worrying. It's almost like how in the old days of fantasy football we used to have to tally the scores on a Monday and then the commissioner would just mail them out to everybody and you would wait three days to see if you won. Those were the old ways of doing it. Now Taxes is matching with a TurboTax Live full service expert who gives your taxes their undivided attention. They can file your taxes as soon as today and while they do, you get real time updates on their progress, meaning you can get back to what's important the game. Now this is Taxes Intuit turbotax. Get an expert now on turbotax. Com. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. If you liked White Lotus, go check out Prestige tv. Go check out the Watch. Because we covered everything that happened in the season finale. I put up a new rewatchables, the Saint that went up over the weekend because Val Kilmer passed away. So we want to pay homage to him. I am at the Masters right now. I have a bunch of people we did not expect when we were walking off the course and got our phones back today that Denver had cleaned house. So I'm going to talk about that at the top with Joe House. We're going to talk NBA, we're going to talk Western finals odds and a whole bunch of stuff with Sal Endhouse. And then we did a bunch of master stuff. We created a little draft that you can bet on, a FanDuel sportsbook and a whole bunch of other fun props bets. And then last but not least, James Babydoll Dixon. He comes in, we've talked about him on the podcast a bunch and we Talked to him and Chang and Sal about Augusta and smoking and some of the stuff that makes Augusta what it is. So that is all coming up. First, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, we're recording this on Tuesday, early evening in Augusta, Georgia, east coast time. We're here for the Masters. We brought a whole crew, including Nathan Hubbard, your Fairway rolling partner, cousin Sal. He's going to be joining us later. David Chang and baby doll James Dixon, who's still talking. You can't hear him, but we're gonna do a bunch of segments for this pod. We did not expect what happened when we left the Masters, because when you leave the Masters, you have to give your phone. You're not allowed to have your phone on the course. We didn't have our phone for six hours. So literally anything can happen. And we're thinking we leave the course and we're going to find out the market has dropped, like, 150 points or just.
- [03:36]
Joe House
Just another day that ends in, yeah, some sort of.
- [03:38]
Bill Simmons
Some sort of bad tariff news. And instead all these texts about, oh, my God, Nuggets. Can you believe Denver? And they fired their coach and their gm. And we're going to be one of many podcasts who talks about this today, but a true stunner. I don't remember. I have a bunch of thoughts on this, but to fire your coach at GM with a week to go in the season when you have a chance to be, like, a top four playoff seed. This is like the NBA we grew up with. The NBA is like. Like, going nuts again.
- [04:06]
Joe House
Well, I. I mean, it is and it isn't like, there. There is no precedent for teams firing their. Like, we have it now in 10 days, two playoff teams with legit aspirations for getting to the Western Conference finals firing their head coach and Denver, Memphis.
- [04:26]
Bill Simmons
Memphis being the other one.
- [04:27]
Joe House
Yeah, Denver went a whole step further. They're like, we don't like the internal turmoil of this identity crisis fight that we've been having for what feels like, to me, 18 months now, at least, between Calvin Booth and his instinct to try and build a team with young guys, and Mike Malone, who has in front of him most of the pieces of guys that won an NBA championship a couple years ago.
- [04:54]
Bill Simmons
Right.
- [04:55]
Joe House
And this tension has been affecting this team for two years now.
- [04:59]
Bill Simmons
Well, but think back to the 80s, though. I remember, didn't Larry Brown, like, he was coaching the Nets and he just left for Kansas City with. Or for Kansas University with, like, two weeks ago in the season, they fired him. It was the kind of thing that would happen all the time with the league we loved. And the league, even though it still has your Sacramentos and these. But now I feel like, here's my theory. I'm going to throw this theory at you.
- [05:21]
Joe House
I'm listening.
- [05:22]
Bill Simmons
The league is so deep now, and there's so much talent. It ties into something we talked about when we did the over under pods with Marcillo. It was like, shit, there's going to be some unhappy teams. Teams that thought they were going to be really good, teams that have max guys, teams that have this model that used to work of we have three stars, we have two really good stars, and they're going to be like two games under.500 in February, wondering what they'll happen. And I'm looking at the west because the west is a way deeper conference than the East. The east is more like a traditional. You have the really good teams. You have some good playoff teams, some mediocre teams, and then crappy teams, right? That's the motto. We're used to the west, like, everybody's talented and everybody thought they were going to be in the mix. So look at all the teams that were unhappy just this season. Dallas traded their best player, one of the five best guys in the league. They just said, fuck it. We don't like where this is going, they trade them. The Lakers were unhappy, too. There was. They were trying to do all kinds of stuff. Midseason, they make a trade. Memphis fires their coach. Denver just fired their coach at gm. Sacramento fired their coach, traded their best player. Phoenix tried to trade everybody on their team but Devin Booker for four months. They fired their coach last year. They're probably firing him again. That's six teams in the west house.
- [06:42]
Joe House
Oh, you left out Golden State and Golden State, who knew that they needed another piece and went and paid, you know, Jimmy Butler.
- [06:49]
Bill Simmons
But yeah, that's. But at least that's not like, okay, all right, that's not a Hail Mary. This Denver thing is a Hail Mary. This is.
- [06:57]
Joe House
It's a. What the hell is going on?
- [06:59]
Bill Simmons
To me, we're going to the playoffs and we're going to get smoked. And everybody wants to play us. And we're in a situation where in Saturday, Sunday, teams might be tanking to try to get a matchup against us. That's the level Denver was at with the way they were playing lately.
- [07:13]
Joe House
That's true. So what does firing the coach and GM have to do with the performance on the floor?
- [07:19]
Bill Simmons
It's a good question. I'm going to try to answer it.
- [07:21]
Joe House
Good.
- [07:22]
Bill Simmons
I think they thought their season was shot. I think they decided.
- [07:25]
Joe House
I think they're right.
- [07:26]
Bill Simmons
This coach GM situation, they were going to get rid of both of them. They, Josh Kroenke basically said that in the press conference. Like we're going to do something after the season. Why not now? Why not see if we can save it. This is a Hail Mary.
- [07:40]
Joe House
Well, what again, let's do it precedent wise.
- [07:44]
Bill Simmons
Point to a team that's done this with a week to go.
- [07:47]
Joe House
Yeah. In the last 30 years.
- [07:49]
Bill Simmons
Point to a team that's had Jokic as as their best player during like this half decade he's having. That's one of the great half decades anyone's had offensively in the history of the league. One title to show for it.
- [08:01]
Joe House
I don't begrudge the instinct of wanting to do something to change the trajectory. But the problem is it's the players. They're not good enough. They don't have a team that's good enough to compete. To your observation earlier, they have their top five. They don't play defense. They haven't played defense in two months. That's why they have a losing record over their last 25, 30 games. It's why they have a. They're five and nine over their last 14 games. Their last three games.
- [08:34]
Bill Simmons
Five and nine over the last 14. Yeah, yeah I saw their 12 and 13 last 25.
- [08:39]
Joe House
Yeah. They don't play defense.
- [08:41]
Bill Simmons
19Th net rating, 22nd defensive rating in their 25 games. And we like looking at the net rating stuff. It's a nice little snapshot. You know sometimes you can overreact to it one way or the other. Sometimes you have teams that are in the vicinity of where their playoff spots going to be. Maybe they cool the Jets a little bit. Other times it's a real sign either something's going really wrong or really right. Like with the Clippers with Kawhi back. All their net rating stuff is really good here for two solid months now. And it's like let's take this team seriously. Detroit, who I think is going to be a six seed. I'm not taking them 100% seriously but the math is the math and the math says they're a pretty good team. Denver, the Mass said this team can't guard anybody. The on off stats with Jokic, which I mentioned Sunday with Rosillo and are the case. If you're going to talk MVP for him which I think that I think today probably hurt that cause a little bit but the on off for him where they were the best offense in NBA history. When he. When he's on the court and they're 30th in the NBA when he's off the court. That's all you need to know. There's never been a disparity like that in the history of basketball that tells.
- [09:49]
Joe House
You all that you need to know about the team building effort. And look, I think this is.
- [09:57]
Bill Simmons
Well, when you say team building though, do you blame Mike Malone at all for. Because you and I both watch a lot of Denver.
- [10:02]
Joe House
I don't blame him one bit. No. I mean, when you have the best player on earth and you have most of the nucleus of a title winning team, then the appropriate thing to do is try and in the first place defend that title and then in the second place try and win as many as you can while you have the best player in the world playing at the level that he's playing at. That seems like the right kind of decision. And I think that head coach, you know, built a game plan for the season these last two seasons around the, that, that thesis, around the idea of we should try really hard when we have this guy to be as good as we can in this moment. They just. I do think that this new collective bargaining agreement is a real culprit. Is a real.
- [10:47]
Bill Simmons
The apron stuff.
- [10:48]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [10:48]
Bill Simmons
Because they were so. They were like 5 million under the second apron, but next year they're going to get killed by the apron. And I think they seem really scared of it. And you know, there's some real money stuff with this team that has to be mentioned. I think around the league, if you talk to people who know shit or who have a vested interest in it, they're like, thank God Denver's not spending more money. They have this incredible asset and they seem pretty good being middle of the road. It's the same thing people felt about the New England Patriots during the last 10 years of Tom Brady. Thank God they're not spending more than they are. Then you look at the Philadelphia Eagles in your division and they're super aggressive and they're like trying to maximize the moment. I think that's what most fans want. I would not say Denver's doing that.
- [11:32]
Joe House
I wouldn't call Denver middle of the road. I wouldn't characterize.
- [11:36]
Bill Simmons
I'd say middle of the road. They have the best player in the league and they're not even a second apron team.
- [11:41]
Joe House
Well, they're going to be middle of the road this season. They were not middle. They went for it last season. And I think they paid the price. I think that they flamed out the way they did because they saw the one seed as a viable possibility. They played balls to the wall at the end of the regular season, and it took a toll on them because Minnesota ran them out the gym.
- [12:01]
Bill Simmons
I have a couple other theories in this. The play in, I think, puts a crazy amount of pressure on these teams. Not only do you not want to be in the play in, you're in a situation where you could just lose two playing games and then you're not even in the playoffs, which was a real thing for Denver. Right.
- [12:15]
Joe House
True story.
- [12:15]
Bill Simmons
So this is why it's. It's not a panic move, but it's a total panic move where you're like, five days left, everybody wants to play us. Our defense is in shambles. We lost a catastrophic game in overtime to Minnesota. That really feels like that tilted their season in all these different ways. Like, does Malone still have a job if they win that game? Maybe.
- [12:37]
Joe House
Well, they didn't play two of their guys that game. Right.
- [12:40]
Bill Simmons
I mean, I know, but it was just how they lost and how bad Westbrook was.
- [12:43]
Joe House
It was.
- [12:44]
Bill Simmons
And how great Jokic was.
- [12:46]
Joe House
It was agonizing.
- [12:47]
Bill Simmons
So you have that piece. You know, a lot of times when we're hinting at stuff in pods and we're talking about stuff and we're talking about scuttlebutt around the league, and people go, where's that coming from? And shit gets aggregated. But it always seemed hazy, this Booth Malone thing. I mean, I talked about it. Everybody who's had a podcast has alluded to or talked about it. I almost. And I really regret I didn't do it. I had it. You know, you have the tweet lined up and you have the draft. There was something Malone got something for, like, he won the most games in Nuggets history. There was some sort of ceremony, and it was a short video, and it was Calvin Booth giving him something. And I had this really sarcastic tweet, and it was like, rare footage of Calvin Booth and Mike Malone interacting. And I was ready to tweet it out, and I was like, you know what? That's not worth it. That's going to become a thing. People will be mad. And I was just like, I didn't do it. But that's how bad it was. I had this tweet lined up because just that they interacted seemed like it was an amazing event.
- [13:52]
Joe House
I don't like that whole kind of storyline and that dynamic because at the.
- [13:59]
Bill Simmons
End, which part the Media part of it or the coach GM part?
- [14:02]
Joe House
The Coach GM part. The media part of it is perfectly fine.
- [14:05]
Bill Simmons
Well, you know, we're getting the now they tell us piece. Tm, Brian Curtis, you know, that's coming.
- [14:11]
Joe House
It was an open secret. Like, you know, Ramona kind of wrote.
- [14:14]
Bill Simmons
It during beginning of season. I think Zach. If Zach had been writing for espn, I think Zach would have had something pretty major.
- [14:22]
Joe House
Matt Moore at the Action Network, who's a. You know, does a. A pod on. On Denver has been talking about. It's not a secret of. Of that.
- [14:30]
Bill Simmons
No other Denver fans.
- [14:31]
Joe House
Internal tension. They've been observing it, but really, it's really attention.
- [14:34]
Bill Simmons
They didn't talk.
- [14:35]
Joe House
I don't like it because that's on Cronky. That's on Josh Cronky. They're like you. Somebody needs to be the boss.
- [14:42]
Bill Simmons
At least he owned it.
- [14:43]
Joe House
The boss is the boss, right?
- [14:45]
Bill Simmons
You.
- [14:45]
Joe House
You see guys not getting along.
- [14:47]
James Babydoll Dixon
You.
- [14:47]
Joe House
You need to sit in a room and reconcile whatever the differences are, because again, you have the best effing player on the planet on your team playing at his absolute best. So the thing to do is try and capitalize on that. That would be my instincts.
- [15:05]
Bill Simmons
You don't think it's Zeke Najee extension? Reggie Jackson, Peyton Watson, who could be.
- [15:12]
Joe House
Something eventually, maybe someday.
- [15:15]
Bill Simmons
There's some really bad team building. We knew there might be signs for trouble. Kevin O'Connor, when he was writing for the Ringer, did that big piece about the Nuggets and their team building, and Calvin Booth gave all these secrets in the piece.
- [15:27]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [15:28]
Bill Simmons
Which is like, GM101. Don't do that. If. If you're doing stuff that's working, don't talk about it. What is the upside? What's the upside of. Of here? Let me tell this reporter. All of these things we're doing that we think are cutting edge. How are you winning with that? Now you're just giving your secrets to the other 29 teams in the league. And he does this whole link thing. And it was just weird because it felt credit grabby. And anytime something's credit grabby, you know, like, well, why is this guy doing. Obviously he had a thing with Malone and it was already there. Jockeying.
- [15:59]
Joe House
Where's the. From that moment on when that story came out on the ringer, which is what, 18 months ago, 16 months ago.
- [16:05]
Bill Simmons
Remember, he tried to disown it after. He was like, I don't know. I thought I was off the record and.
- [16:10]
Joe House
Oh, right.
- [16:10]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [16:10]
Joe House
He's ludicrous.
- [16:11]
Bill Simmons
And it was Fucking bullshit. Because KFC did a good job with that story. Anyway, so this thing was a problem all year. I think it affected the team, and then they finally acted. I'm gonna throw this at you. The great NBA asset wastes.
- [16:27]
Joe House
Oh, no.
- [16:28]
Bill Simmons
So remember when we were kids and Kareem was just on shitty teams for like seven years?
- [16:32]
Joe House
Yes.
- [16:33]
Bill Simmons
He was on the Bucks forever. They had nobody. Like, basically Bobby Dandridge, and that was it. Oscar was washed up and they were. He was still great. And then finally he's like, I'm going to laugh. Goes to the Lakers, but they trade a lot to get him. Then the Kermit Washington fight happens, and it's just. It felt like there's seven years there where it's like, Jesus is Kareem. He's the best player in the league. He's going to be on a really good team. The Magic shows up and the rest is history. But there's been some good ones over the years. Like even LeBron in the mid 2000s on those Cleveland teams, I was like, oh, man, they're traded for Ben Wallace now. Oh, they're paying that much for anton Jameson. Kobe mid 2000s, partly his fault, because it's your shack out T Mac for basically the entire 2000s.
- [17:17]
Joe House
That makes me sad.
- [17:18]
Bill Simmons
That was a good one. Moses. When we were kids on the Rockets.
- [17:21]
Joe House
T. Mac could have, but Yao broke down on him.
- [17:24]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, yeah, broke down. But tmac for all that Orlando run when Grant Hill was hurt, me sad.
- [17:30]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [17:30]
Bill Simmons
And I don't think this Jokic thing is as bad because Gordon's obviously really good. Christian Brown's been good. Murray when he's healthy.
- [17:37]
Joe House
Christian Brown turned out to be good.
- [17:39]
Bill Simmons
Porter's a good three point shooter. It's not. It's not that bad. But at the same time, their entire. It does hurt.
- [17:44]
Joe House
Their entire fate is tied to Jamal Murray's health. And we said this at the outset of the season. I know. I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I went under on them getting the 51 wins this. This season.
- [17:57]
Bill Simmons
Because you went over on the Sixers.
- [17:59]
Joe House
No, I'm just saying we're talking about the Denver Nuggets.
- [18:02]
Bill Simmons
I didn't want you to applaud yourself because you did go. No, by the way, I went. I went under on the Clippers and under the Lakers.
- [18:09]
Joe House
Why are we going through this?
- [18:10]
Bill Simmons
Nobody cares.
- [18:12]
Joe House
I only. The observation I'm making is that the concern at the outset of the season for me was Jamal Murray. Do you trust that he's going to be able to play at the level that this team requires through the balance of a season for them to get into like the mid-50s and wins. And I didn't trust it at any time that he's not. He has been excellent. Jamal Murray for a good stretch. And they were. They won eight games going into the All Star.
- [18:35]
Bill Simmons
Welcome to the season. Jamal Murray.
- [18:38]
Joe House
It was like, okay, so Denver's legit. So we love Denver at this level, playing at that. That, you know. And then Gordon went out with, with some injuries And Michael Porter Jr. Has been doing Michael Porter Jr. Stuff. And we have too much time and too many high leverage moments where the basketball finds its way into Russell Westbrook's hands.
- [18:57]
Bill Simmons
Well, he just shouldn't play in crunch time.
- [18:59]
James Babydoll Dixon
That's true.
- [18:59]
Bill Simmons
I almost don't blame Russell Westbrook.
- [19:00]
Joe House
I don't either. I don't blame him.
- [19:02]
Bill Simmons
When my son leaves the pantry open and, and the dog, my, my. My beloved dog Murph is just like, cool, I'm gonna eat all the potato chips. Is that Murph's fault or is that Ben's fault?
- [19:13]
Joe House
That's right. That's right, Russ.
- [19:15]
Bill Simmons
Sometimes in crunch time, he's just gonna eat all the potato chips. And it's like you left the pantry open.
- [19:19]
Joe House
He has to be on the floor doing that, though, because they are trying to do this rotating rest thing.
- [19:25]
Bill Simmons
I get it.
- [19:25]
Joe House
With their guys. I get it too. They're just good enough.
- [19:28]
Bill Simmons
Here's. Here's Russ's value. We're giving everyone the night off. Russ, can you do everything and try to keep us close for this game against Charlotte? Who's Tank? Sure. Can we bring a Conspiracy Bill for a second?
- [19:39]
Joe House
Oh, I'm, I'm here. I'm listening. He's terrible. He turned his hat backwards.
- [19:45]
Bill Simmons
It's like an over the top slice alone. Conspiracy Bill. I wonder if Jamal Murray is healthy.
- [19:52]
Joe House
Oh, okay.
- [19:54]
Bill Simmons
And if they feel like they're got teams going the wrong way in the playoffs and Jamal Murray is not 100% healthy and they lose and then that becomes the excuse for why they fell apart down the stretch. And then it becomes harder to clean house and fire everybody. And now you just do it now. So there's no excuse. You 50. 50. Maybe he's going to be where he was in December for the playoffs. Maybe not. But either way, it's a queen. It's a reset button. Either way. It's just. Listen, I'm not saying Conspiracy Bill. I'm still Conspiracy Bill.
- [20:29]
Joe House
You're Feels like I'm back I'm out. That good?
- [20:31]
Bill Simmons
Listen, Conspiracy bill just came in. I'm not saying he's always right. Sometimes he's crazy. But something doesn't pass the sniff test about the timing with this.
- [20:40]
Joe House
I don't. Because it's ludicrous. The timing is.
- [20:43]
Bill Simmons
The timing is ludicrous.
- [20:44]
Joe House
There's nothing. I mean, Josh Crocky said four times, we're going to see what we can squeeze. Squeeze the juice. We're going to see if we can squeeze some juice out of it. There ain't no juice, buddy. Your team ain't good enough.
- [20:55]
Bill Simmons
He needs nothing you can do PD juice out of it. He should be squeezing these all the way around.
- [21:00]
Joe House
He needs to be squeezing the leadership juice. He should have squeeze squo's, you know, before the season started and sat down. He needed it needed to be squeezed. Before the season started, they needed to come up with a game plan and not have this internal turmoil. They got a best case scenario out of Christian Brown this, this, this season.
- [21:19]
Bill Simmons
They got a very good scenario dodging the KCP bullet.
- [21:24]
Joe House
They got a very good scenario out of Jamal Murray. Honestly.
- [21:27]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [21:28]
Joe House
I mean, considering his injury history. They have mat three max contract guys. They can't keep all three. They can't keep Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. And Jamal Murray and stay, you know, where they want to go.
- [21:40]
Bill Simmons
Junior Wizards. Flag Sar.
- [21:43]
Joe House
No, no.
- [21:44]
Bill Simmons
Porter.
- [21:44]
Joe House
No, no, no.
- [21:45]
Bill Simmons
Flag Sar Porter.
- [21:46]
Joe House
No.
- [21:47]
Bill Simmons
The new big Three.
- [21:48]
Joe House
No, no. I still wonder why didn't we hear more about them? And with Miami, why. Why was Miami not interested?
- [21:55]
Bill Simmons
Miami wanted any part of Michael Porter.
- [21:56]
Joe House
It must be. It must be, right.
- [21:58]
Bill Simmons
Would you trade it for Michael Porter Jr. Would you want to pay him 40 million?
- [22:02]
Joe House
He's redundant for that team anyway. He doesn't help them.
- [22:07]
Bill Simmons
We're going to. We're going to take a break and bring a cousin Sal and we're going to do the west where Denver fits in and whether we think there's any chance where Denver fits out or where Denver fits out.
- [22:20]
Joe House
Let's go.
- [22:21]
Bill Simmons
Let's take a break and then Sal's going to come in. Swing it to the biggest golf event of the year with fanduel where every putt and drive can bring you closer to victory or in my case, closer to all the putts and drives. Speaking of fanduel, our friends over there have some amazing offers for the first major this week at Augusta. Check it out. All customers get from FanDue. No sweat. Bet on first round leaders. If your player isn't the leader after the first round, no sweat. You'll get bonus bets back to use on another bet. I like the Shambo to win first round, bet it, go grab the odds if you don't if you don't get it, no sweat. They're also giving everybody a profit boost to use on any Augusta bet every round. Boost your winnings on anything from outright winners to top 20s. And even if there will be a hole in one this week, don't forget to check out our ringer specials on FanDuel sportsbook as well. We made a bunch of bunch of bets and props fanduel your go to for betting on Augusta. Tee off with a variety of bet types and live bet stuff as the tournament drama unfolds. So don't wait. Visit FanDuel.com BS to download FanDuel America's number one sportsbook and swing for some green must be 21 + in President select states or 18 + in President DC. Opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fander.com game prom call 1-800- Gamble or visit rg-help.com this episode is brought to you by Nissan. If you're planning on an adventurous 2025, you're going to need a car that can keep up with you and conquer anything in your path. The Nissan Armada Pro 4X is that car with a twin turbo V6 engine ready to propel your adventures. Up to 8,500 pounds of towing capacity to haul all your favorite toys and space for eight passengers. This unshakable fortress will chew up and spit out anything you throw at it. Learn more at the all new 2025 Nissan Armada at nissanusa.com Towing capacity varies by configuration. See Nissan Towing Guide and Owner's Manual for additional information. Always secure Cargo all right, Cousin Sal is here, our friend. We walked the course today. We're going to talk about that later. The Masters. Your agent, James Babydoll Dixon is here.
- [24:39]
Cousin Sal
What a day. So much fun.
- [24:41]
Bill Simmons
We'll talk about that next segment. We're going to talk about the Denver Nuggets and the west and basketball in the NBA playoffs.
- [24:49]
Cousin Sal
Can I just first thank you guys for giving me some winning futures. In the beginning of the year. I heard you talk about how you bet your own futures and lost. Maybe you should come to me after your podcast so I could tell you who to bet. Houston makes the playoffs yes Pelicans no Playoffs yes Denver Underwinds yes Spurs Underwinds yes Suns Overs A Loss Wizards under yes we did.
- [25:13]
Bill Simmons
We did above average on our locks. I'm really upset about how we handled the Pacific. The LA teams Sacramento and the Lakers, Phoenix and the two LA teams ruined my over unders.
- [25:26]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [25:26]
Cousin Sal
Anyway you just went over those two went to crazy transformation so it's not really.
- [25:32]
Bill Simmons
Anyway, so the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, we have Fanduel. I introduced these to you kind of buried on the FanDuel Sportsbook NBA page where they have to advance each round and I don't remember seeing those last year. I was incredibly fascinated by them. So round two to make round two. That means you're winning in round one and we're taping this before a couple of the Tuesday night games. There's going to be some standing shenanigans. We have five teams that have 32 losses. Denver's one of them who just fired their coach.
- [26:03]
Cousin Sal
Gia is Denver in a post Malone time period right now?
- [26:08]
Joe House
This is good.
- [26:09]
Cousin Sal
Come on.
- [26:11]
Bill Simmons
Where's the drummer? OKC is minus 1300 to make round two house and that jumped out to me immediately because what if they played Minnesota or the Clippers? I think OKC would beat either of those teams but I don't think they're 131 favorites to beat the Clippers if that was the series or Golden State.
- [26:34]
Joe House
What do you think? I don't know because those guys, both the Clippers and Minnesota super short prices as as dogs. It must be that they think Memphis is going to be the 8 because Memphis is plus 3. 50.
- [26:45]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [26:46]
Joe House
And I honestly that does make sense.
- [26:47]
Bill Simmons
I should have actually I should have mentioned that too. So clippers are plus 1. 30 to make round two. Minnesota is plus 1. 54 to make round two. Memphis is plus 350 but OKC is minus 1300.
- [26:59]
Cousin Sal
It feels that doesn't make sense if Memphis is even the 8 at plus 350. FanDuel screwed up. Thanks for sending us out here. But they screwed up. You're not smart.
- [27:08]
Bill Simmons
We let me fan out. But you didn't. You added something wrong here. And then The Lakers are minus 1. 72. Gold State's minus 1. 52. Denver is plus 1,06 and Houston is plus 114 which is another one that jumped out to me because they're going to have. We know they had. We know they're the two seed. They're playing as well as they played all season and it's 27 and I just think they're going to be favored. So if I get them at +1 14 that's great. But I think that whole list what shocked you the most out of those eight teams.
- [27:39]
Cousin Sal
So I mean that's weird now that you bring it up. If Houston is going to be a 2 seed as an underdog. Right. If you're guaranteed. They're not guaranteed, but looking good. Two seed. Has that happened in a while where two seeds and underdog?
- [27:52]
Bill Simmons
I mean that jumped out every once in a while. They're like Memphis had that year where they were the two seed but nobody believed in it and there was good value in that.
- [27:59]
Joe House
Let's price it, cuz. Because let's go Houston against Minnesota.
- [28:04]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [28:05]
Joe House
They won't be an underdog to Minnesota. It'll be like very close to even ons, don't you think?
- [28:10]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [28:10]
Joe House
There'll be a tiny favorite because they're home.
- [28:12]
Cousin Sal
They'll have one four.
- [28:13]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. So right now Minnesota's seven and Memphis is eight.
- [28:17]
James Babydoll Dixon
Mm.
- [28:18]
Bill Simmons
And Houston's too arguably playing one of those. Golden State has two easy games. The next two.
- [28:23]
Cousin Sal
It's bizarre.
- [28:24]
Bill Simmons
Denver just fired their coach. They've lost four in a row and they're going to be playing the Kings, the Grizzlies at home and then at Houston in the last game of the season, which Houston might not care about because they'll have the two seed locked up. So I don't know. I. I think Minnesota versus Houston. Just fundamentally that's a two seven series house. Where would your money be in that series?
- [28:50]
Joe House
I'm definitely betting on Minnesota.
- [28:52]
Cousin Sal
There's no.
- [28:53]
Bill Simmons
That's how I feel about it.
- [28:54]
Joe House
I guarantee you.
- [28:55]
Cousin Sal
Because they've screwed us enough. We have this big parlay that needs Minnesota to run the table, losing wise to pay off. And it actually might be over by now because it's probably over Tuesday night. Yeah. Yeah. So we just want to figure out how much we want our teeth kicked in by Minnesota this year.
- [29:10]
Bill Simmons
What would you set that line at Minnesota?
- [29:13]
Cousin Sal
I think your house is right like Houston, only because their home would home. Yeah.
- [29:16]
Joe House
But It'd be tiny.
- [29:17]
Cousin Sal
Minus 125 or something.
- [29:18]
Bill Simmons
So maybe that that explains these prices. I guess the problem for FanDuel and just trying to set these prices in general is if you have one upset one. Anything happening.
- [29:30]
Cousin Sal
Yeah, you don't want to.
- [29:31]
Bill Simmons
Now all of a sudden I have Denver +1 06. But all of a sudden they're in the seventh spot playing Houston and maybe they'd be favored in that series because.
- [29:41]
Joe House
Jokic, that's a great question. Who would you have favored in Denver? Houston.
- [29:47]
Cousin Sal
Yeah. So now you're talking.
- [29:48]
Bill Simmons
I Think Houston's good? I. I'd be. I'd be a little. I'd bet Minnesota, but I don't think I'd put a lot of money on that.
- [29:54]
Joe House
I saw too many games with Houston where from the eight minute mark in the fourth quarter to the end of the game they turn flaccid.
- [30:03]
Bill Simmons
Did you see anything? What?
- [30:04]
Joe House
They turn limp.
- [30:05]
Bill Simmons
Do you see anything of what men Thompson did to Curry in that game though?
- [30:08]
Joe House
It was awesome. Absolutely.
- [30:09]
Bill Simmons
I thought that was. He just took out now Curry. The problem with Golden State and why they're going to be so hard to figure out is they're an older team. Their best three guys are either old or getting old and they have a situation like they play two really hard Thursday Friday games and then they play Sunday against that young, big, powerful Rockets team and they just looked old. Yeah but at the same time I thought the Rockets, they beat OKC and Golden State in the same weekend. They're good with nothing to play for it and they talk a bunch of shit.
- [30:40]
Joe House
They're good.
- [30:41]
Bill Simmons
He was talking shit to Stephen.
- [30:44]
Cousin Sal
I mean this just shows me that fanduel hates Houston. To make them a plus number as a protect but two seed most likely and then we won't have to go on to the next round but to make the west finals at plus four seventy playing the four or five seed.
- [30:59]
Joe House
Right.
- [31:00]
Cousin Sal
So Houston, sorry the.
- [31:01]
James Babydoll Dixon
The.
- [31:01]
Bill Simmons
The 360 and my. I should have flagged this for you. Houston was plus seven ninety like five days ago to make the western final. Really two seed. They were basically getting eight to one odds and if you just price that out, they're going to be the favorites are close in both series. Right. Houston's +4 70 now I think looking at the odds, the shocking thing to me is how much respect they give the Lakers and how afraid. And I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just saying the Lakers are being treated almost like they're a defending champ type situation. They're minus 172 to win a round. They're plus 168 to win two rounds. And there's a chance they might. You know, maybe they don't even have home court in round two. Right. Potentially they couldn't. But it's to me that, to me.
- [31:52]
Cousin Sal
That was like a lot of people that might be respect that might be different from Houston. There just might be a lot of tickets on the Lakers like right after that Luca trade. Everyone must have just dialed into them and bet them the one so they're.
- [32:02]
Bill Simmons
So scared of that.
- [32:03]
Cousin Sal
Yeah. So there's a lot of liability there. But. But I do think for the west finals. All right. OKC minus 290. Throw that out of there. If you think Denver's done, you got a nice opportunity to make some money here. Picking either the Lakers or Golden State or the Clippers.
- [32:19]
Bill Simmons
Well, the problem is if Denver drops to seven out of nowhere.
- [32:22]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [32:22]
Bill Simmons
And it's Houston versus Denver and a two seven. Right. I think looking at the odds, the best odds to me seem to be Minnesota to make the west finals. I think the odds have adjusted correctly. But Minnesota basically 7 to 1 to make the west finals to win two rounds.
- [32:37]
Joe House
I'm going to. We need to take a break for this podcast so I can go. I'll be right back.
- [32:41]
Cousin Sal
Oh, to make it.
- [32:42]
Joe House
I got to go make a bet.
- [32:43]
Cousin Sal
I thought it was a bathroom thing.
- [32:44]
Joe House
It could be both. I could do it in the bathroom. We did eat a lot of pizza today.
- [32:48]
Bill Simmons
Cuz I really wanted the Clips to have better odds because I thought maybe they would be the sleeper pick. But plus 420 to win two rounds isn't. There's no value at all.
- [32:58]
Joe House
No. No value.
- [32:59]
Bill Simmons
And there. There might be underdogs both rounds. That doesn't make sense. And if you really wanted to get nuts, do Memphis plus 1550 to win two rounds. That's insane.
- [33:08]
Joe House
He's just throwing money.
- [33:09]
Bill Simmons
But there's a chance they could get the seven seed and be in the two seven, right?
- [33:13]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [33:14]
Joe House
That would be the case that Memphis Houston would be awesome. That would be an awesome series.
- [33:19]
Cousin Sal
But that's two series at plus 450 and plus 300. Would that be what they are in the first two series?
- [33:26]
Bill Simmons
So that.
- [33:27]
Cousin Sal
That's basically what 1550 is.
- [33:29]
Bill Simmons
So house for that first round the advanced around two. If somehow the Clippers are the eight seed and OKC is the one seed and you have OKC at minus 1300 to advance to round two. I would be nervous with that one because I think. I think. I don't think the Clips can beat okc, but I think they can make you nervous if you have a lot of OKC money, right?
- [33:54]
Joe House
Absolutely. Positively. I want no part of that. If Kawhi. It seems like we're going to. I want to should knock on wood. There's some wood in this house. Some fine marble. I see. But I'm going to knock on some wood because we want Kawhi healthy for the first round. I don't think they're going to drop though the Clippers are playing too well and their last three games are reasonable for them.
- [34:15]
Bill Simmons
So here's the real value. So to make the finals, this is three rounds. OKC is minus 145, Lakers plus 650. I just don't think that's they're gonna be underdogs. Two of those. It's. You have to win three rounds to win.
- [34:30]
Joe House
The Western Conference is the bet.
- [34:32]
Bill Simmons
You have to. Lakers +650, Golden State 7 to 1, Denver 10 to 1, clip 16 to 1, Minnesota 21 to 1, Houston 24 to 1 and Memphis 70 to 1. So the case for Golden State or the Lakers is this. Other than that they have famous players and a good infrastructure and all that stuff. What does your record have to be? What's the worst possible record you could have to make the Western Finals? Little math question for you guys.
- [35:00]
Cousin Sal
I mean, including the playout, like all.
- [35:02]
Bill Simmons
That first three rounds, what's the worst record you could have and still make the finals?
- [35:07]
Cousin Sal
4. 3. 4.
- [35:08]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, yeah.
- [35:09]
Cousin Sal
12.
- [35:09]
Joe House
9.
- [35:10]
Cousin Sal
12. 12 and 8.
- [35:11]
Bill Simmons
12 and 9. Yeah, yeah. So if you think of it that way, it's like, could a team with Luca and LeBron go 12 and nine over 21 games? It's like, yeah, that seems realistic. Like Golden State. Could Golden State go 12 and nine for three rounds? And it's like, yeah, they're going to have a game like they had Sunday where they look old. Steph has three points. You know, even think of like when they played Memphis a couple years ago in 22.
- [35:36]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [35:36]
Bill Simmons
And they got blown out in game five and they just won in game six. When you think about 12 and nine, it's just not that hard.
- [35:44]
Joe House
I like the way you're going.
- [35:45]
Cousin Sal
It's one of the things we usually look at this at this point of year, like, all right, who's the toughest out? Who's the toughest to beat four times.
- [35:51]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [35:52]
Cousin Sal
If you do it that way, 12 and 9 is doable.
- [35:56]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Well, think about the Lakers like 12 and 9. Let's say there's three incredible Luka games. There's three. Mm. Let's give LeBron two incredible LeBron games. All right, now I have five. Right. Let's give Reeves one awesome game.
- [36:11]
Joe House
Sure.
- [36:11]
Bill Simmons
Where they win just cause Reeves is great. Now I have six of the 12. All right, now let's have a. LeBron and Luca are awesome in the same game. Game. There's two more. You can get to 12 pretty easily.
- [36:21]
Cousin Sal
I think you're right. I think those odds are inflict. It's weird because we. We just said a lot of people might have Lakers tickets. But when we talk about the toughest out. Oklahoma City's the toughest to beat four times, probably. But not six times as tough as the Lakers to beat four times.
- [36:36]
Bill Simmons
Well, so here's the case for OKC.
- [36:37]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [36:38]
Bill Simmons
They're going to finish the season 68 and 14, 67 and 15. And then it becomes math. Right. So over six months, they lost 14 times.
- [36:49]
Joe House
Right.
- [36:50]
Bill Simmons
And now we're going to get to the playoffs and they're going to lose nine times in 21 games.
- [36:53]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [36:54]
Bill Simmons
That's where it gets stupid. This was the case for the Celtics last year. At some point the math takes over. But OKC did get their ass kicked the other night against. The other day against the Lakers. And it's like, why do they get their ass kicked? Were they showing anything? Are they just. Did they cough the dogs or did this actually mean something? Right. I don't know. Houston seems to be, I would say, most disrespected in the West.
- [37:19]
Joe House
I think it's appropriate. But they're fine.
- [37:21]
Bill Simmons
They're going to be the two seed.
- [37:22]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [37:23]
Bill Simmons
And they're going to have home court in the first two rounds.
- [37:25]
Joe House
True story.
- [37:27]
Bill Simmons
24 to 1 is. Is a good price.
- [37:29]
Cousin Sal
The two seed getting the seventh best seat odds is remarkable. It doesn't make any sense. 24 to 1.
- [37:38]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [37:39]
Cousin Sal
Yeah. For all three of those categories. Houston's getting ripped.
- [37:43]
Bill Simmons
All right, so a couple other things for you.
- [37:45]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [37:46]
Bill Simmons
Who do you want Dallas to take with the 12th pick in the draft?
- [37:49]
Cousin Sal
Yeah, I want a lineman. I know there's like two. It's just crazy. I know we're going to screw this.
- [37:54]
Joe House
Up doing football now.
- [37:55]
Cousin Sal
I know. I kind of love it.
- [37:57]
Joe House
Fun.
- [37:57]
Bill Simmons
Moved right to football.
- [37:58]
Cousin Sal
Talking about the Arizona receiver or talking about like, this is a team that needs everything in my head. Like, everybody roots for their team. Like, oh, we need like eight positions. Not you, House. You free agent at every way. You're waiting.
- [38:08]
Joe House
No, we need playoffs again. Eight defensive positions.
- [38:12]
Cousin Sal
Give us a lineman. I don't know exactly which one is drop to us because, you know, we lost one of the best in the game.
- [38:19]
Bill Simmons
So I was looking at the draft odds. Sadly, it seems like the draft has shook out in a way that's not great for the New England Patriots, where Cam Ward's one. Seems like Hunter's going to be two. He's minus 280 now to go to Cleveland. And then Carter is now minus 170 on FanDuel to be the third pick.
- [38:40]
Joe House
Oh, you were really hoping for Shador.
- [38:42]
Bill Simmons
To sneak in there, and I don't think it's happening. And Sanders, he's 4 to 1 to go third. He's 17 to 1 to go second. And I think the odds are probably better that he's going to fall. There's a team to draft Shador Sanders, odds that I thought was pretty fun because you can really take it. I mean, Dallas is 26 to 1.
- [39:05]
Cousin Sal
Sal, you could take a couple of these. This is like a nice roulette thing, right? We put money on a few numbers. I never get it right, though.
- [39:12]
Bill Simmons
Well, if people are right and. And I think it feels like as somebody who's watched a lot of this draft stuff and a couple of people have kind of like, I'm not sure. He might be closer to Andy Dalton than people realize, but nobody really wants to come out and say, I don't think he's top five pick. Yeah, he's not good enough. Nobody has come out strongly, but I think that's coming. And if he does the Aaron Rodgers slide into the late part of round one, right. And we start going into like.
- [39:44]
James Babydoll Dixon
I.
- [39:44]
Cousin Sal
Don'T know.
- [39:49]
Bill Simmons
Miami range 27 to 1.
- [39:52]
Cousin Sal
Sure. Maybe even some before that.
- [39:54]
Bill Simmons
Colts 22 to 1.
- [39:55]
Cousin Sal
Seattle Colts, yeah.
- [39:56]
Bill Simmons
Seattle 22 to 1. Rams 11 to 1.
- [40:00]
Joe House
That makes a lot of sense to me, honestly.
- [40:02]
Bill Simmons
Steelers plus 450. But it seems like there's some sort of value there that we're not seeing. The other thing I was looking at was that the Pats trade back. I think Genty is. Seems like he's going to have some real juice as the draft gets closer. Raiders are minus 145 for him. They're picking sixth. And if they get scared somebody's going to leapfrog them, maybe they just move up two spots with the Pats. If the Pats want to take a left tackle, right. But him going to The Raiders is minus 145, Saints is 9 to 1, and then your team south 15 to 1. I just.
- [40:44]
Cousin Sal
It's so funny because I would even look further down because to me it's still like, all right, if these GMs wisen up a running back that early, just even in the first round, but that early should only go to a team that's one piece away from making the playoffs or making a deep run in the playoffs. I'm sorry, that's not your team. It's not the Raiders, probably not the Bears.
- [41:04]
Bill Simmons
The only case for my team for sure.
- [41:06]
Cousin Sal
But.
- [41:07]
Bill Simmons
Well, the only case for my team is if they're like, this is a Peyton Manning, Edge James situation, we'll have our two guys. We won't be able to block for either of them, but we have with this is an Emmett Smith, Troy Aikman. Like, there's. There's a model here for this. I'm like, I'm pretty consistent with this. Like, if you're picking that high, I need to get somebody that in free agency in four to five years is going to be like a $30 million a year guy. And running backs don't make that much, you know. Yeah, tackles do, cornerbacks do, pass rushers do. And I just feel like if you're picking that high, even if they took Mason Graham, it's like that's a guy that will, if he's good, will be like a 25 to 30 million dollars a year player.
- [41:47]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [41:47]
Bill Simmons
A running back will not. But once you're in the range you're in, it starts to get more interesting. Then you're in that Jameer Gibbs range.
- [41:54]
Cousin Sal
Right? Yeah. I don't think, you know, I think you got your player that everyone needs to be excited about. And that's the coach. Yeah, yeah, it's your coach. So now you don't have to, you know, kowtow to the fans. You could draft smart and go back to drafting smart like you do. I mean, I think like Denver, it's 75 to 1, like kind of 1ish piece away from. From doing that, you know, running back.
- [42:16]
Joe House
When they did running back by committee.
- [42:17]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [42:18]
Joe House
And it was not very successful.
- [42:20]
Cousin Sal
Right, Exactly.
- [42:20]
Joe House
So that makes it. I like that price a lot.
- [42:23]
Bill Simmons
The Dallas Cowboys are 7 to 1 to take a running back, to take.
- [42:27]
Cousin Sal
A running back first, plus to take.
- [42:29]
Bill Simmons
A running back first, plus 2:30 to take a receiver. Yeah, you can do that. Fando has all these positions.
- [42:37]
Cousin Sal
It's a lot of fun.
- [42:38]
Joe House
The kid from North Carolina has been getting a ton of. They're starting to do this thing about, you know, is this a Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs kind of year?
- [42:48]
Bill Simmons
What position do you think Washington will take?
- [42:50]
Joe House
I pray.
- [42:51]
Bill Simmons
Edge.
- [42:52]
Joe House
I pray one of the guys. Edge. Rusher edge.
- [42:54]
Bill Simmons
That's plus one seventy on FanDuel.
- [42:56]
Joe House
Makes perfect sense, right?
- [42:57]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [42:58]
Joe House
That's the lowest odds for. For the position.
- [43:00]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I. The one that they don't have yet that I think they should have is who's going to be the second quarterback drafted.
- [43:09]
Cousin Sal
Yeah, they usually do.
- [43:10]
Bill Simmons
Because dart, dart, dart versus Sanders is a really fun one because couldn't you see the Saints just taking Dart ninth out of nowhere. Like one of those.
- [43:21]
Cousin Sal
Yeah, for sure. Then dart like. It's so funny because now we see how many people show up. Everybody reports on how many Giants showed up for Shador Sanders pro day. You know, it's like 37 giants, over 14 players and three front office guys. It ends up being like ratings for this and that affects the odds like how many. You know. So that's why people think. But yeah, the same thing for what you're saying here. I could see it.
- [43:44]
Bill Simmons
Well, speaking of affecting the ads, you know, FanDuel, they're. They've been an awesome partner to us that they're the reason we're here. The Masters right now. And occasionally I'll. I'll text them and badger them and make them do props and that kind of stuff, including some golf ones that we're going to talk about in one second. But I made them do an exact order bet. This was my dream scenario for the Pats, which was Cam Ward, Sanders Hunter. We get Abdul Carter fourth. So they put that up. They priced it. They had their. They're trading desk price.
- [44:16]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [44:17]
Bill Simmons
And it's plus 750 for that foursome. This was two weeks ago. It's now 17 to 1. No, they're just dropping their.
- [44:27]
Joe House
Their increase of the odds because what happened did they. They sent in some tariffs.
- [44:32]
Bill Simmons
No buyers there was there shouldor Sanders tariff wasn't. Did not turn drop them.
- [44:37]
Joe House
Killed the market.
- [44:38]
Cousin Sal
Wow. What is what happened that made that go up? That aside from the 1.
- [44:42]
Bill Simmons
I think what happened is Sanders. It became clear he wasn't gonna go two or three.
- [44:46]
Cousin Sal
Okay.
- [44:47]
Bill Simmons
But for the. For the top five pick bet was the other one I was looking at. Yeah. And Mason Graham is minus 1:40 and I just don't see how he falls past Jacksonville at five.
- [45:00]
Joe House
Okay.
- [45:01]
Bill Simmons
Either somebody. Either the Pats take them which I'd be fine with because then they would have an awesome D line with hopefully bar more healthy guy they signed from Philly they spent a lot of money on and Graham. That sounds great. Let's have an awesome D line. Or Jacksonville takes him. But that's minus 140. Seems like good odds. It gets a little scarier after that. Like Will Campbell, the left tackle everyone thinks the Pats are going to take. I just don't think they take him.
- [45:26]
Cousin Sal
As far as 135.
- [45:28]
Bill Simmons
I think they trade back a couple spots if they're taking him because nobody else is going to take them.
- [45:32]
Cousin Sal
Is. Is the NFL draft or the mock draft the biggest. All right. We're full of shit. But you have no choice but to follow us.
- [45:40]
Bill Simmons
No, I honestly, I think it's like the Denver, the Malone booth thing. I think there's so much scuttlebutt and I think they talk to so many people and I think these guys get real info.
- [45:49]
Cousin Sal
They end up six out of 32. And if there's one trade, it screws.
- [45:53]
Bill Simmons
No, but I'm saying info about who's kind of.
- [45:55]
Cousin Sal
Who's looking for.
- [45:56]
Bill Simmons
By now we know if Sanders is going to be a top four pick or not, and he's just not. It's not happening.
- [46:02]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [46:02]
Bill Simmons
All right.
- [46:02]
Cousin Sal
So maybe if you.
- [46:03]
Bill Simmons
So we know stuff like that.
- [46:04]
Cousin Sal
You could outline the top three or four, but after that, like.
- [46:06]
Bill Simmons
Like we know Cam Ward, like Tennessee's taking him. Like, we've done that for a little while. Yeah.
- [46:11]
Cousin Sal
No, I'm just saying Joel and art, he goes 67 to 68 and gets death threats. And then everybody else, like Kuiper goes 7 for 32. It's like, yeah, great job.
- [46:20]
Joe House
All right, well, because the NFL has teams like Atlanta who do draft Michael Penix Jr.
- [46:27]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [46:28]
Joe House
Number nine.
- [46:28]
Cousin Sal
Right, right.
- [46:29]
Bill Simmons
Everything gets like, no, like, hey, I'm zagging. Pretty good pick.
- [46:34]
Cousin Sal
No, but that's what I'm saying. You might as well.
- [46:36]
Bill Simmons
Michael Pedex might be the first pick of this draft.
- [46:38]
Joe House
It's a great pick if you.
- [46:39]
Bill Simmons
It's a great pick. If they just care about 90 million on Kirk Cousins.
- [46:42]
Joe House
If you just don't care about money.
- [46:44]
Cousin Sal
I'm just saying don't bet minus 170 on anything. Just like. Because.
- [46:49]
Bill Simmons
Because I think that's great advice, right?
- [46:52]
Joe House
Absolutely.
- [46:53]
Bill Simmons
With that said, Genty +850, I think is a really interesting for.
- [47:01]
Joe House
Where.
- [47:02]
Bill Simmons
For top five pick.
- [47:04]
Joe House
Nah, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. You can't have a. I think if.
- [47:09]
Bill Simmons
He'S Bijan Barkley that level and everybody thinks that and people think the Raiders are going to take him at 6 and they want to leapfrog him and get to 4 or 5 to take him. That's the. That's the path. Plus 850 seems like pretty good odds for that.
- [47:24]
Cousin Sal
That is a Raiders move. That would be fun. Get the hell out of there.
- [47:29]
Bill Simmons
You saw you like that Tom Brady permit that.
- [47:32]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [47:33]
Bill Simmons
Did any of the. Since we did the NFL over under pod and we. So we did the Sal and I did that.
- [47:41]
Joe House
I listened and we told.
- [47:42]
Bill Simmons
We told House.
- [47:44]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [47:44]
Bill Simmons
Here's the Niners prize. And you would have thought I told House Trump's about to do tariffs assume all these short positions. I haven't heard how that excited about a win total probably my late stay the same. No it's down. Oh it's still nap but there's minus 135 juice now that's that's still not a bad price.
- [48:07]
Cousin Sal
I I held you know I. I caught my breath and I thought about it.
- [48:11]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [48:11]
Cousin Sal
And I don't think they're very good and I think they're gonna have with this huge overhaul. It's not going to be the same thing we're looking at and everything but I thought about it and I was like and I still don't think they should be favorite one the division but I said boy if you had your choice of being in any division with any schedule, you would want to play a fourth place schedule and against the AFC south and the NFC south.
- [48:34]
Bill Simmons
And that's what the.
- [48:35]
Cousin Sal
That's what they're doing.
- [48:35]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [48:36]
Joe House
They do have the easiest schedule. As we sit here today we haven't seen what the rest situation and all that is will affect it. But I don't know who's on that team. I don't know who what the skill.
- [48:48]
Cousin Sal
Position you took everybody from their team.
- [48:51]
Joe House
It's Brock Purdy and it's Trent WILLIAMS and it's McCaffrey on how many on half a leg. On one leg. I mean one leg. Yeah.
- [49:00]
Bill Simmons
Does he even have one leg anymore?
- [49:02]
Joe House
Fred Warner plays defense. You know, that's it.
- [49:06]
Bill Simmons
We're going to do some master stuff.
- [49:08]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [49:09]
Bill Simmons
Before we do the draft, we're going to do um. We have a bunch of ringer specials that are on the FanDuel sportsbook right now. Including House's Frog Frenzy region parlay.
- [49:21]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [49:22]
Bill Simmons
Which is Matsuyama top Asian and McElroy top UK plus 4 60.
- [49:30]
Joe House
Those.
- [49:30]
Bill Simmons
Why is it the frog frenzy, House?
- [49:32]
Joe House
Because those guys are teammates. They're teammates on the Boston Common TGL team. The ball Frogs.
- [49:40]
Bill Simmons
And you might be the only person that knows this it Hideki, I think.
- [49:45]
Joe House
Played in like half a. M. I don't. I don't remember seeing him.
- [49:48]
Cousin Sal
Explanation so many different ways.
- [49:51]
Joe House
Frog Frenzy. That's it.
- [49:53]
Bill Simmons
I thought you were going to get canceled for a second. I thought something horrible happened.
- [49:57]
Joe House
Oh, no, no. We.
- [49:58]
Bill Simmons
Why did he frog?
- [49:59]
Joe House
I explained it when. When I put it in there. Get up anytime you have the ball Frogs as a potential parlay, you got to do it.
- [50:06]
Bill Simmons
So House, you have Justin Thomas winning the Masters.
- [50:10]
Joe House
I do. What's the case in the first place, by the way?
- [50:15]
Bill Simmons
22 to 1.
- [50:16]
Joe House
So that's the most important aspect of this. I think it's a great price for where he is in terms of his success this year. His biggest problem over this drought, this winning drought that he's in, he hasn't won in over two years, has been putting. He putted very poorly last season and his putting has greatly improved. And his numbers, he's been competitive. I mean he, he choked down the stretch two weeks ago in Tampa, Florida. He had a three stroke lead going into the final five holes and lost to Victor Holland who birdied two of the last three. So I mean it was, it was a sensible loss. But I love where JT is in terms of his off the tee numbers. I love where he is in terms of approach. And the key thing for me is the price because I don't think you're getting any return on Scotty scheffler or Rory McIlroy. And I will pivot immediately if one of those guys comes out and shoots 66 on Thursday. But JT at 22 to 1 doesn't match up with the caliber and quality of his play thus far this season. So that's why I did it.
- [51:23]
Bill Simmons
And then Sal, you jumped on Morikawa. A bandwagon.
- [51:27]
Cousin Sal
Why is that?
- [51:28]
Bill Simmons
He's a bandwagon. I haven't heard anyone else. So many people really. I love 1616 one on FanDuel. What was your case?
- [51:34]
Cousin Sal
Fourth in the world. Came in third last year. He's came in 10th the year before. Came in fifth in 2022. He's never missed the Masters cut. So you know you're going to see him Saturday, Sunday. He's going to be on the board. I think people are down on him because of that outburst with House. You say that's not even an outburst. When he blew a three stroke lead with five left and the Arnold Palmer. Yeah, last month. And he wouldn't talk to the press. He gives a crap. Don't talk to me, I'll talk.
- [52:00]
Joe House
No, he talked to the press because he was waiting for the winner to finish. And he was waiting and he was waiting and he was waiting and the tour never got him and said come. You know, here's how we're going to sequence this. He just left.
- [52:12]
Cousin Sal
Very misogynied.
- [52:13]
Bill Simmons
All these core apologies.
- [52:14]
Joe House
Joe House, I like I'm a Morakawa stand.
- [52:17]
Cousin Sal
He finished the top 20 in all four majors last year.
- [52:20]
Joe House
I think he's a great bet. I have some more COWA exposure. I just love the price for jt. That's the reason That I. I went with jt.
- [52:27]
Bill Simmons
We did hit one bet already at the Masters that we'd run into Scott Van Pelt and he would take us to the Butler cabin.
- [52:35]
Cousin Sal
Get a group photo.
- [52:36]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Which I put on my Instagram. That was like the Butler cabin. I haven't seen House that excited probably. I'm trying to think of a scenario where you would have the look on your face that you had. And I think it involves the word free massage.
- [52:51]
Joe House
I won't go there. It was stunning. I'm not. I can't overstate how like the set of the sequence of events.
- [52:58]
Bill Simmons
First of all, it happened in eight seconds.
- [53:00]
Joe House
We walked all the way up 10 to get to the top of the hill to where all the social scene is happening, the media, people. All that happens at the putting green where 1 and 10 come together. It's a scene.
- [53:13]
Bill Simmons
By the way, kudos to Nathan Hubbard who's asleep right now because he had 14 pieces of pizza. But he was like, let's go up there. We'll run into someone. He's like, good call. We'll run into somebody.
- [53:23]
Joe House
But we had to stop halfway up because the cousin S has never walked up 10. It's a real walk.
- [53:30]
Bill Simmons
Forgot it was like the Denver Nuggets bench with all the rookies. We forgot that S was a rookie and didn't realize we're just going uphill for an hour.
- [53:38]
Cousin Sal
Ridiculous Walker. By eating pizza and oysters. That's how I drink.
- [53:42]
Joe House
But we went. The sequence of events went from. From that moment. Yeah. And then we're up there and then like, hey, but you know. Yeah, there's usb. Baby doll takes charge. It goes right?
- [53:52]
Cousin Sal
Oh, he knows me.
- [53:53]
Joe House
He knows me.
- [53:54]
Cousin Sal
Gonna love this. Yeah, he. Good job.
- [53:58]
Bill Simmons
Baby doll only got scolded three times for smoking.
- [54:01]
Cousin Sal
For smoking.
- [54:01]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, we ran an svp, saw the Butler cabin, which was about the size of the rumor. And now almost. It's weird, but cool brick fireplace.
- [54:11]
Joe House
Amazing. It's a really. It's a TV studio. It is completely like, you know, floor to ceiling outfit for perfect tv, you know, for video, audio. It's like walking into, you know, any. A proper studio where you guys know how to do TV shows. I was surprised by that aspect.
- [54:31]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [54:31]
Cousin Sal
It's like there'd be a ringer studio right outside Small World Ride in Disneyland. It's like, what the.
- [54:36]
Bill Simmons
Why is this here? You know, it's also always fun to run into Van Pelt because he's gigantic. He's so tall, like six five. You always forget how like, tall. He is.
- [54:43]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [54:43]
Bill Simmons
And just famous.
- [54:44]
Joe House
What a homie.
- [54:45]
Bill Simmons
Great guy. My master's winner is Rory McElroy at +650. It's, it's. I always make fun of you for being sentimental about Rory.
- [54:55]
Joe House
You do.
- [54:58]
Bill Simmons
One, somebody that drove us around a little bit the last two days, Matt, who we've been fortunate enough to get to know a little bit, and he had some Rory intel about Rory, was kind of popping back here to play the course and just making a couple extra trips.
- [55:14]
Joe House
Yeah. Gus the Native Matt.
- [55:16]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [55:16]
Joe House
Keeping his eye on things for just that.
- [55:19]
Bill Simmons
Rory seemed especially focused this year, and I just like the moment. I mean, he's running out of time, you know, from. From a. He's in. In his extended prime now, I would say. I don't think there's a lot more years where he's in the mix like this as a favorite. And it. This feels like, to me, like if it's going to happen, it's going to be like, gotta be like this year or next year.
- [55:42]
Joe House
So that's interesting because we are in this era where we see athletes, you know, extend their career, and he has been very fortunate in terms of avoiding injury. He does seem like with his swing, he's been able to get more out of it. He hits the ball even further than ever in his 30s, and he doesn't have these injuries that pop up that much. So I think there's a window of time that I would say it's at least like, five years. But your point is, right? There is not a long history of Masters winners. You know, once you hit age 35.
- [56:15]
Cousin Sal
If he could avoid injury like he avoided baby doll today.
- [56:18]
Bill Simmons
So 35, four years left, I would.
- [56:22]
Joe House
Give him like six or seven. I mean, remember, when we get in.
- [56:24]
Bill Simmons
Our 40s, are we still in your prime at this point in golf? I mean, so Basically, he's got 20, 19.
- [56:32]
Nathan Hubbard
He's.
- [56:33]
Joe House
He's got some time. I'm not ready. This is just.
- [56:35]
Bill Simmons
This is the moment, though.
- [56:36]
Joe House
This is a crucial moment. It's not going to be any better because he's never come into a Masters having won twice on American soil. And his numbers are through the roof in terms of the quality of his.
- [56:48]
Cousin Sal
Look in our defense House and I bet golf every weekend, and we had money on rory blowing round four a lot. Right. I mean, I just. That's the hesitation.
- [56:57]
Bill Simmons
30, 36 years old, Rory.
- [56:58]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [56:59]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [57:00]
Bill Simmons
So I don't know.
- [57:01]
Cousin Sal
We're.
- [57:02]
Bill Simmons
We're around when it should. It should happen again pretty soon.
- [57:05]
Joe House
It would be great. I'm rooting for it. I just didn't. I'll, I'll, I'll live bet it. If he, if he comes out. His biggest problem has been Thursday.
- [57:13]
Nathan Hubbard
He.
- [57:13]
Joe House
Has he played, scored well on Thursday.
- [57:16]
Bill Simmons
Is he the number one player or team you've live bet the most?
- [57:20]
Joe House
Oh, wow, that's a good.
- [57:22]
Bill Simmons
And then I'll ask Sal. I think for Sal, it's the Chiefs.
- [57:25]
Cousin Sal
It might be Alex Pereira. But it's funny, we discussed this on Against All Odds, like if you had to assign a point value from one to a hundred on guys and teams that you've. You've bet on the Most. So Pereira, McElroy, Chestnut. My three.
- [57:41]
Bill Simmons
I think mine are the Brady Pats. Oh, that's a good like halftime bet, stuff like that.
- [57:45]
Joe House
Yeah.
- [57:45]
Cousin Sal
Oh, yeah.
- [57:46]
Bill Simmons
Just like we're. Yes, we're coming back. Man, I missed those days. Yeah. All right, we're gonna take a break and come back and do a little Master's Draft. This episode is brought to you by Mint Mobile. What's considered normal is always changing. You'll see NBA teams suddenly taking 63 pointers in a game that would have seemed crazy 20 years ago now. Doesn't seem crazy at all. Many people also still think paying an outrageous amount of money in their phone bill is normal. Well, it's not. Especially when you have options like Mint Mobile. Their premium wireless plans start at 15 bucks a month. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can even bring your own phone with your current number and all your existing contacts. No matter what you consider normal, don't overpay for it. Tap now to shop data plans or visit mintmobile.combill that's mintmobile.combill upfront payment of $45 for a 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn. During the season, every baseball team plays 162 games. It's a true test of endurance. It's not enough to have a hot month or two. You need sustained dominance throughout. Well, the same is true for your small business. It's not enough to have a great Q2 or even a great year. You want year over year growth that starts with better hires that'll be there for the long haul. To find Those hires, use LinkedIn. LinkedIn has strong hiring data and Insights that you won't find anywhere else to help pair you with the best candidates, from unique skills and interests to the connections you have in common. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of small businesses say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality talent. LinkedIn also lets you go beyond people who are actively applying in a given week. 171 million LinkedIn members aren't actively seeking jobs, but they are open to new opportunities. That's a big pool to miss out on. If you're not hiring with LinkedIn, find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com Simmons. That's LinkedIn.com Simmons to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. All right, for this last segment, I always make fun of NFL pregame shows when they have too many people on. And we're about to have a six person segment, but we only have four mics, so I think it's going to work well. Dave Chang joined us.
- [60:11]
Cousin Sal
Hello.
- [60:12]
Joe House
Hello.
- [60:12]
Bill Simmons
Nathan Hubbard joined us.
- [60:14]
Cousin Sal
Hello.
- [60:15]
Bill Simmons
And James, Baby Doll Dixon is here.
- [60:17]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yo, baby doll. So glad to be here with you.
- [60:19]
Bill Simmons
We have never been at the Masters together. We have not never been in the Masters with Sal. I've been with Chang. I've been with Nathan. I've been with House, obviously, who no longer has a mic. Maybe, maybe that's a good thing. You guys don't need to share the mic. We're gonna bring Chang in, but I.
- [60:34]
Nathan Hubbard
Want to share them.
- [60:34]
Bill Simmons
But Chang has a bum shoulder.
- [60:35]
Cousin Sal
He's got like a separated show. Like, like they surgically removed his shoulder. Now he's leaning on his left side.
- [60:42]
Nathan Hubbard
Here, but I just want to make you as uncomfortable as possible.
- [60:46]
Bill Simmons
Okay.
- [60:46]
James Babydoll Dixon
And he's also like cooking like a wild man with this really bad shoulder. It's impressive.
- [60:52]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, he's playing hurt. He's an inspiration to all of us and to everybody except Tiger woods, who's not here. But there's a lot of good golfers here. Nathan, we didn't talk about. We both picked Rory to win this Masters. Yeah, we did. What was your case? Quickly.
- [61:07]
David Chang
He ten years ago got 60% of his shots gained from off the tee. Last year, 51%. This year, only 37%. And he is still first in driving, which is to say the rest of his game has gotten way, way better.
- [61:23]
Bill Simmons
See, that was much better and much smarter, more stat driven than my take, which is like more roars now hitting. His mid late 30s are good. If it's ever going to happen, it's happening right now. And Matt Our gu us that he's been here a couple times. That was my case. Plus 650. We're gonna do a draft.
- [61:39]
Cousin Sal
You didn't trust Matt with your. Your phone, but you do with the. The master's pick, huh?
- [61:44]
Bill Simmons
No, I wanted to put my phone. I like getting my phone.
- [61:46]
Cousin Sal
We all left our phones with Matt.
- [61:48]
Bill Simmons
But, Simmons, I don't know where Matt's gonna go. What if his car gets stolen? Okay, we're doing this draft, and fanduel is gonna put odds on it. And we are going to do a Thursday, Friday draft. The 48 hour frenzy, I think we're calling this. Each of us are going to be two golfers. Lowest score wins. And people can bet on this on FanDuel sportsbook. So if you like my pair more than everyone else's pair, put some odds on it. Hustle. You don't have a mic. You can't talk. You talk when I talk to you.
- [62:21]
Cousin Sal
You sound like Alec Baldwin's wife.
- [62:23]
Bill Simmons
You're sharing Baby's mic? If you want. Do you want to share? You have something to say?
- [62:28]
Joe House
No.
- [62:29]
Bill Simmons
The Justin Timberlake Barry Gift Show.
- [62:31]
Cousin Sal
Hold on. Can I just say, we haven't figured out what the booby prize is, but whoever comes in last has to do.
- [62:36]
Bill Simmons
Something stupid, something humiliating.
- [62:40]
Cousin Sal
Friday?
- [62:40]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I think you have to mix all of the sandwiches on the. On the course.
- [62:44]
Cousin Sal
Oh, that's pretty good.
- [62:45]
Bill Simmons
And then eat them. Egg salad, pork.
- [62:47]
James Babydoll Dixon
Great idea.
- [62:48]
Cousin Sal
I think I might have done that anyway today, but that's fine. You guys are in trouble there.
- [62:55]
Bill Simmons
All right, let's do the draft, and then we're going to interrogate Baby on some stuff. Chang, I'm going to give you the first pick of anyone for Thursday. Friday. So it's not to win the tournament. Just who do you think is going to be the leader? Thursday and Friday or have a really good score?
- [63:11]
Nathan Hubbard
Well, I know you guys are choosing Rory, but I'm going to go with Scotty Scheffler, number one pick. I don't. I don't think he's going to win, but for the first, you know, two days. Yes, that's my pick.
- [63:24]
Cousin Sal
Okay, make a case for Sheffield. I don't see where's this guy coming from. All right, that's good. And it's the lowest combined score, right?
- [63:33]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. So you have second pick.
- [63:34]
Cousin Sal
All right, well, I did, you know, the last half hour, I said Colin Morikawa. I've not wavered from that pick. I like him. What are his numbers? Third last year, 10th the year before, fifth in 2022. Never misses a master's cut. We had a buddy who said he had lunch with him yesterday. Delightful fella. Dead set on winning this thing. Welcome to Team Sal. Colin Mower.
- [63:56]
Bill Simmons
Is that like a name drop? But it was like a mystery name.
- [63:59]
Cousin Sal
It's a mystery name drop.
- [64:00]
Bill Simmons
All right, Nathan, you go third.
- [64:03]
David Chang
Give me Rory McElroy. It's his time.
- [64:08]
Bill Simmons
It's his time. That was my terrible take.
- [64:10]
David Chang
It's a bad take because Rory has struggled on Thursday.
- [64:13]
Joe House
Yeah, that's the one.
- [64:14]
David Chang
And that's really the narrative of this tournament. If he plays Thursday well, he's going.
- [64:17]
Joe House
To win this golf Thursday and Friday.
- [64:21]
Bill Simmons
Fair enough, baby. You get to go fourth. Who's your pick?
- [64:25]
James Babydoll Dixon
I'm doing the Swede. Aberg. Lvig. Lvig Aberg.
- [64:31]
Cousin Sal
It's kind of Oberg, isn't it?
- [64:33]
Bill Simmons
It's Oberg. But let's look.
- [64:34]
Cousin Sal
I don't think. If he wins, you shouldn't get credit for that.
- [64:37]
Bill Simmons
Wait.
- [64:38]
James Babydoll Dixon
It's freaking Swedish. Gives you shit.
- [64:43]
Cousin Sal
Starts with an A with that little dot over it when I'm supposed to follow this.
- [64:49]
Bill Simmons
All right, I am. I'm going fifth, and I'm taking Beefy Bryson. Bryson DeChambeau.
- [64:55]
James Babydoll Dixon
Nice.
- [64:55]
Bill Simmons
With my fifth pick. All right, House. You get to hold the mic down. You get two straight picks.
- [65:00]
Joe House
Great. I'll take John Rom. Oh, and I'll take Justin Thomas.
- [65:06]
David Chang
You got the best spot in the draft.
- [65:07]
Bill Simmons
Want to make the case?
- [65:08]
Joe House
Make a case. Yeah. John Rahm is a complete wild card because he plays on the live tour. Now, he hasn't finished worse than six than any of his live events for the most part. But I like him this year, as opposed to last year. He had a tide for 45th last year as the defending champion, and he was in disarray. His game was in disarray. His life was in disarray. He's calm now. Nathan gave me a very fine report of how he conducted himself at the press conference. He is poised. He's ready. He's locked in. I like that. He played Doral last week. Tough golf course. Played well, you know, ready for a major. And then Justin Thomas, my pick to win this golf tournament because I love the odds at 22 to 1. But Thomas has been gaining strokes on approach for about nine months now. And the key with Justin Thomas is that his putting has greatly improved. Now he is playing with a new caddy for the Masters. I hope it's the guy that Ben Crenshaw used. We're on the 30th anniversary of Brent Crenshaw winning in 95. If he has that guy, you might have a chance. But I don't love the idea of a new caddy.
- [66:11]
Cousin Sal
Why is that? Why do people not like a new caddy? Everybody gets the sours on a player who has a new caddy.
- [66:16]
James Babydoll Dixon
I think like he changed doctors dead.
- [66:19]
Cousin Sal
But oh, yeah, yeah.
- [66:22]
Joe House
All right, Rip.
- [66:23]
Cousin Sal
Oh, well, then he had to change caddies.
- [66:25]
Bill Simmons
All right, I'm up. I'm taking Xander.
- [66:27]
David Chang
God.
- [66:28]
Cousin Sal
Wow.
- [66:29]
Bill Simmons
Steady pick. Best guy on the board. Wow. Big year last year for him. Maybe it'll continue at the Masters. So House has Rahman, Thomas, I have Beefy, Bryson and Xander as my two. Baby, you're up.
- [66:42]
James Babydoll Dixon
I'm going with the.
- [66:45]
Cousin Sal
Say it right, always.
- [66:46]
James Babydoll Dixon
This one's easy. I'm going with Koepka as my second pick. A Berg played so Oberg played so impressively last year. Both of them played so impressively.
- [66:59]
Bill Simmons
Just call him Bergey.
- [67:00]
James Babydoll Dixon
Bergie Ludwig. He hits the ball a country mile number one. He's got the short game. He finished, I believe, second last year, if I'm not mistaken. And I think he's one of the absolute future stars of the tour and will win many majors in his career.
- [67:21]
Bill Simmons
Koepka, I listen. I love on this podcast when people suck up to the Swedes.
- [67:27]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah, right.
- [67:28]
Bill Simmons
In general, no. But I think he's doing a great.
- [67:30]
James Babydoll Dixon
Job in the majors. He's had a very good recent history. Koepka in.
- [67:36]
Joe House
In.
- [67:36]
James Babydoll Dixon
In the Masters. I am not sure where his game is because I don't watch live, but.
- [67:43]
Bill Simmons
Is that a political decision or always.
- [67:46]
James Babydoll Dixon
Looming and could be a threat this. This week?
- [67:50]
Cousin Sal
All right, we got a lot of lib guys already. We have two.
- [67:53]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, yeah. Nathan, you're up. You have Rory and who.
- [67:57]
David Chang
God, this is a tough one because the money says you should take Joaquin Neiman here, but I just don't trust him based on the way that he played at live last week. So I'm going to go totally off reservation and go, Shane Lowry. There's a small select group of guys who can actually win this golf tournament. And it's people who come in with great ball striking and Shane Lowry is coming in with great ball striking and he generally starts these tournaments decently well.
- [68:26]
James Babydoll Dixon
So let's.
- [68:26]
David Chang
Let's see how he does.
- [68:27]
Bill Simmons
All right. Speaking of great ball striking, cousins.
- [68:30]
Cousin Sal
Hey, now I'm going with the shaggy dog Cam Smith, taking him right there. Ninth last year. Top 10. Top 10 in five of the last seven Masters and never missed a Masters cut, which means he's going to have a nice score on Friday. By Friday. And. And he shaved the mullet. He shaved the mullet.
- [68:51]
David Chang
That worries me.
- [68:52]
Cousin Sal
Mullet or not, here we come. Welcome to team Sal and Smith.
- [68:56]
Bill Simmons
Dave Chang, you have the last pick.
- [69:01]
Nathan Hubbard
I asked our good friend Chachi PT to help me on this. And I asked, what if you were cousin Sal but successful at betting, especially when it comes to the Masters, and what would be the best long shot? I sort of did. And it also helped me with alliteration. So we got Scotty Scheffler and we're going to sep. Straka, who finished 16th last year.
- [69:28]
James Babydoll Dixon
We saw him today.
- [69:29]
Nathan Hubbard
Great approach shots.
- [69:30]
James Babydoll Dixon
He looked good.
- [69:31]
Nathan Hubbard
And I'm trying to make cousin Sal look good.
- [69:33]
Cousin Sal
Okay, good. Good luck with that. I mean, that might be tougher than actually winning.
- [69:37]
Bill Simmons
All right, so here's who we have. Changa, Scotty and Straka. Sal has Mora, Cow and Cam Smith. Nathan has Rory and Lowry Baby has Bergie and Koepka.
- [69:49]
Cousin Sal
Yes.
- [69:50]
Bill Simmons
I have Bryson and Xander. And House has Rom and Thomas Fanduel. At some point, tomorrow will have odds on all of these pairings with our names.
- [69:59]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [70:00]
Bill Simmons
And people can bet on this for Thursday, Friday, and I'm getting all the info from them. Who got bet on the most? All that. I really want to have the most bets.
- [70:09]
Cousin Sal
You do?
- [70:09]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [70:09]
Cousin Sal
You're gonna, you'll get that. People like you, I think.
- [70:12]
Bill Simmons
No, I, I looking at this, I think House is gonna have the most bets. Rahman, Thomas. Yeah, I think, I think House will have the most action, which makes House public, which means he's not gonna win.
- [70:23]
Cousin Sal
They're a public.
- [70:24]
Bill Simmons
So there we go. That's it for our big draft. Check it out. The. I think we're calling Ringer 48 Hour Frenzy. What do you want to call it?
- [70:31]
Cousin Sal
I think that's good.
- [70:32]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. And then we might do. We were talking about maybe something with the 16th hole. Number of people. That's that hit the water.
- [70:39]
Cousin Sal
Oh, the ring of rinse.
- [70:40]
Bill Simmons
Ring or rinse. Thursday, Friday, something like that.
- [70:43]
Cousin Sal
Good times.
- [70:44]
Bill Simmons
That's what we go. All right, we're going to take one more break and then come back with some more master stories. This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Michelob Ultra. A superior light beer and the ultimate trophy. Win or lose, you're bound to enjoy the ride with a good beer in hand. Michelob Ultra crisp, refreshing, only 95 calories. A superior light beer, no matter the game, sport or season, superior is worth playing for. So sign up for our ultra courtside@michelobultra.com courtside and you can enjoy some of these games with a nice beer in your hand. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2025 Anheuser Busch Michelob Ultra registered light beer, St. Louis, Missouri. Must be 21 plus to order alcohol. Alcohol available only in select markets. This episode is brought to you by VRBO Private Vacation Rentals. With vrbo, you always get the whole house so you and your fellow fans can cheer on your team in peace. What's worse than watching a game with somebody who's not rooting for the same team? You're rooting for nothing. But that's why if you book a vacation house with vrbo, you know all the people in your house, they'll be friends, they'll be family. Ideally, they'll be the ones who also root for my teams. Plan a winning vacation. Make it a vrbo. And now for a special part of today's show, Forward thinkers of the game, brought to you by Workday, in which we discuss the players who brought something fresh to the court. When you're a forward thinker, the only thing you're afraid of is business as usual. And workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage people and money today so you can transform tomorrow Workday, moving business forever forward. You know, they asked me to talk about a player that made me think of what I just said. Steph Curry. If you think 21st century, what NBA player impacted professional basketball and basketball the most? The three point shooting. The skill that Steph brought to it, not only revolutionized how they played basketball in the NBA, but then inspired this whole new generation of players and high school and college. It even affected the women's game players like Caitlin Clark. It all basically starts with Steph, when his career really starts taking off with the warriors in 2013 and 14. And it changed the geometry of basketball. So that's one example. Anyway, you can learn more about how workday is changing everything@workday.com all right, now it's just the four of us. Nathan and House have fairway Rolling. They're taping tomorrow. They're doing their big Masters preview. So I want people to listen to that. What you can't get on Fairway Rolling is what it was like to walk the course with baby today.
- [73:26]
Cousin Sal
What a day. What a day.
- [73:28]
Bill Simmons
So.
- [73:31]
Cousin Sal
It was a lot of fun.
- [73:32]
James Babydoll Dixon
It really was. I had a great time with you guys. I really did.
- [73:35]
Cousin Sal
Yeah, because you wouldn't shut up. You talked about your shot and your shoulder and your strokes and how you were as a 25 year old golfer.
- [73:43]
James Babydoll Dixon
I really was. You're right. I was.
- [73:46]
Cousin Sal
The walking would have been easier, but.
- [73:47]
James Babydoll Dixon
You know, I do like talking golf with House. Yes, we're. We're. We have. I think we have a very similar handicap and also a somewhat similar passion for the games.
- [73:59]
Cousin Sal
He was listening.
- [74:00]
James Babydoll Dixon
He was very intently listening.
- [74:02]
Nathan Hubbard
No, no, I don't think he was intently.
- [74:04]
Bill Simmons
I listen.
- [74:05]
Nathan Hubbard
This is a real highlighter of my day because I didn't know that you were such a golf lunatic.
- [74:09]
James Babydoll Dixon
Oh, I'm number one.
- [74:11]
Nathan Hubbard
And number two, I kept on walking in front of you guys with Sally here, and I kept on telling Sally. I was like, this is insane. Because you spoke nonstop, relentlessly. This is not a complicated golf history of how far you would hit every club in your bag at different ages of your life.
- [74:30]
Bill Simmons
I did.
- [74:31]
James Babydoll Dixon
It was like the evolution, you know, the evolution of my game from age 12 to. To. To 60.
- [74:41]
Bill Simmons
It was like a sports documentary, narrative series that nobody signed up for me.
- [74:47]
James Babydoll Dixon
To annoy you guys with it. I just get so excited when I. No, I'm not upset. I just, I. When I walk those hollowed grounds.
- [74:55]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [74:56]
James Babydoll Dixon
I just. I get like this. This, like, energy about. I just. I can't help myself. I'm, like, obsessed.
- [75:03]
Nathan Hubbard
How do you know that House was. Was enjoying listening to this?
- [75:05]
Bill Simmons
I think House was. I think House really loves listening to anyone talk about.
- [75:09]
Cousin Sal
You got to give him a break tomorrow.
- [75:10]
James Babydoll Dixon
All right, you guys, tomorrow.
- [75:13]
Cousin Sal
Well, here's the thing. Like, he.
- [75:14]
James Babydoll Dixon
And we were here to keep up with Simmons.
- [75:16]
Cousin Sal
You can't keep up with Simmons, so it's gonna have to be someone else. Is very brisk, but he's talking about his golf game and everything. And this would go for 40 minutes, and then we'd get a break from Baby, like, oh, thank God we don't have to listen to the golf talk. He'd go to the bathroom, where you go to smoke somewhere, or he'd go to fucking pro shop for the fourth time in a day and then keep us waiting for four. Like, so half our day was spent waiting for baby, Right?
- [75:37]
James Babydoll Dixon
Well, I only dropped, what, 4k today. That wasn't bad.
- [75:41]
Bill Simmons
It's right around the over under. Well, so Sal, Baby does this thing where he's convinced everybody who's ever met him.
- [75:48]
Cousin Sal
Oh, yeah.
- [75:49]
Bill Simmons
Knows who he is. Most famously when he accosted Oprah Winfrey in Jimmy's dressing room.
- [75:55]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [75:55]
Bill Simmons
And did Oprah, Oprah, you remember me? You remember me? And she didn't. And then he was like, no, Oprah, you remember me, right? And It's a famous story. So we were wondering if he would do that today in the golf course. And you take it from here.
- [76:08]
Cousin Sal
There were a couple, right. It was Cam Smith, who's on my team.
- [76:11]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [76:12]
Cousin Sal
And because it was a Wake Forest connection. Your daughters went to Wake Forest?
- [76:16]
James Babydoll Dixon
My daughters did, yes.
- [76:18]
Cousin Sal
And he was eating a banana after his tee shot. And what'd you do?
- [76:23]
Bill Simmons
Well, so can I. Can I.
- [76:25]
Cousin Sal
Background.
- [76:26]
Bill Simmons
So 17, and he's like, I'm going to get Cam Smith's attention.
- [76:31]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [76:32]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. With the Wake Forest thing.
- [76:34]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes, I do.
- [76:34]
Bill Simmons
And we're like, baby, definitely don't do that. He's doing a practice round. He's trying to figure out distances he's not going to acknowledge. He's like, no, no, no, I think I can get him.
- [76:43]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [76:44]
Bill Simmons
So he's walking by eating a banana. And what happens?
- [76:48]
James Babydoll Dixon
Cam, Weak forest. Wait. Oh, I said first. I said, cam, we're rooting for you. We're rooting for you. Best of luck this week. Didn't look up from peeling.
- [77:00]
Bill Simmons
Working on the banana. Right.
- [77:02]
James Babydoll Dixon
And as I said. As I said, Wake Forest guy. Wake Forest connection. He continued to peel the banana and stick it in his mouth and look the other way.
- [77:13]
Bill Simmons
He seemed like he paused for a split second.
- [77:15]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
- [77:16]
Cousin Sal
But at least might have paused. And then there was a follow up.
- [77:20]
Bill Simmons
Well, so then there was another one that I thought was a better one. So they're Roy McElroy Chang. How dubious were you of this when Baby said, I can get Rory to come over on the 18th?
- [77:33]
Nathan Hubbard
I can't express how I felt, truly, because I didn't know I'd feel embarrassment on that hole because you said you were going to do it. And I didn't think you were going to do it with Cam, but you did. And it was embarrassing, quite frankly, for you.
- [77:46]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [77:47]
Nathan Hubbard
And us, because we were there.
- [77:49]
Bill Simmons
I thought you were. I wasn't embarrassed at all.
- [77:52]
Cousin Sal
I was delighted.
- [77:54]
James Babydoll Dixon
He'd be lucky to know me.
- [77:56]
Nathan Hubbard
Now, I knew you weren't joking, that you were really going to talk to Rory because you have had interactions with him.
- [78:02]
James Babydoll Dixon
I have had multiple interactions with him.
- [78:05]
Cousin Sal
Not today.
- [78:06]
James Babydoll Dixon
I don't want to say we're neighbors at the Bears Club, but we're neighbors at the Bears Club, so you position yourself, and he's been a wonderful guy to me and very kind. He's a gentleman.
- [78:17]
Bill Simmons
Wait, can we all that. Can we unwind that for a second?
- [78:20]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [78:20]
Bill Simmons
I don't want to say I'm neighbors with him at the Bears Club, but I'm neighbors with him at the Bears Club?
- [78:24]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah, because it sounds so ridiculous. His house is so incredible.
- [78:28]
Bill Simmons
But does that mean your neighbors with him at the Bears Club?
- [78:31]
James Babydoll Dixon
I mean, he's around the corner. Yeah, there's only 80 houses.
- [78:34]
Bill Simmons
Sounds like neighbor, but it's kind of a neighbor.
- [78:37]
Cousin Sal
That doesn't mean he knows you.
- [78:38]
James Babydoll Dixon
No, I didn't say he knows me well, but he know. He know. He doesn't know me well, but when he sees me, he knows who I am. How's that?
- [78:45]
Bill Simmons
So that Bears clubhouse, that was like the fourth Colbert extension with, like, when you try to. When you try to sign the Feast.
- [78:53]
James Babydoll Dixon
Of the houses, the Simmons Wing. What are you complaining about? Cousin Sal is my outdoor grill.
- [79:02]
Cousin Sal
You know, that just means you're a shitty agent.
- [79:08]
James Babydoll Dixon
So go ahead.
- [79:10]
Nathan Hubbard
Who is he playing with? I can't remember. Oh, amateur, I believe.
- [79:13]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [79:14]
Nathan Hubbard
And he hits a bomb of a Drive on 18. And, you know, to Bill's credit, he got us to look at how narrow and how stressful it is to actually play 18. The TV doesn't really do it justice.
- [79:26]
Bill Simmons
There's like, five things you kind of have to see at the Masters. And one of them is you have to stand behind the 18T to see.
- [79:32]
James Babydoll Dixon
That was so good.
- [79:33]
Bill Simmons
How hard that is to just thread the needle with the amount of pressure that you might be facing on 18. It's like. Like, it's easy to shoot.
- [79:40]
James Babydoll Dixon
It's like dead uphill.
- [79:42]
Bill Simmons
Giant, giant trap. Only really one spot to hit it. And 19 things can go wrong. Not to mention all the people lined up that you feel like.
- [79:50]
Cousin Sal
And it's 18. Yeah.
- [79:52]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [79:52]
Nathan Hubbard
And Rory bombs his drive right down the middle. 300 plus. And, you know, you say you're going to talk to Rory and you have, like, this prime spot as he's going to walk past.
- [80:06]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [80:06]
Nathan Hubbard
And I had to turn my back to you.
- [80:09]
Cousin Sal
We backed off and gave him. We backed off like it was a.
- [80:12]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yo, mama, let me give you some space, Baby Dog.
- [80:14]
Nathan Hubbard
I just. I just couldn't see this car crash out.
- [80:18]
Bill Simmons
You want to reenact what Baby said?
- [80:21]
James Babydoll Dixon
Imagine if he came over, how great that fucking moment would have been, right? Wouldn't that have been cool? But what did you say?
- [80:27]
Cousin Sal
You said, rory, Rory, baby doll.
- [80:30]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes, I did.
- [80:31]
Bill Simmons
That was it.
- [80:32]
Cousin Sal
There was just three words.
- [80:34]
Bill Simmons
That's exactly what happened.
- [80:36]
Cousin Sal
And he heard real. He didn't. Not only didn't he stop, I think he sped up when he heard Baby Dog.
- [80:42]
James Babydoll Dixon
Cracked a little smile. I don't know, maybe I'm imagining like.
- [80:45]
Cousin Sal
Oh, this is my prison. Cellmate from 7:15.
- [80:48]
James Babydoll Dixon
So you were hoping just in my defense.
- [80:51]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [80:52]
James Babydoll Dixon
He wins the players two weeks ago or three. How many weeks ago was that? Three weeks ago now.
- [80:57]
Bill Simmons
And you guys are neighbors, and I.
- [80:59]
James Babydoll Dixon
Saw him in the men's grill, and I, of course, congratulated him profusely. And like a thousand people sitting with Shane Lowry at the table. And I talked to him for a minute and, you know, did the baby doll thing and.
- [81:14]
Nathan Hubbard
What is the baby doll thing?
- [81:15]
Cousin Sal
I think we saw it today. He calls someone's name and they don't respond.
- [81:23]
James Babydoll Dixon
But I thought maybe it was semi fresh in his mind.
- [81:26]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [81:26]
James Babydoll Dixon
So that's why I had a modicum of confidence that he was going to, like, go, oh, baby Doll. Okay, I'll look. Whatever. Didn't work out that way, but.
- [81:38]
Bill Simmons
Well, as it turns out, these guys are practice rounding and. Yeah. Trying to figure out their shots and the distances on every drive.
- [81:45]
Cousin Sal
You picked Rory.
- [81:45]
Bill Simmons
Baby Doll. Didn't really trigger him at all.
- [81:47]
Cousin Sal
When you have been a little weirded out. You picked Rory. If he, like, was so unfocused that.
- [81:51]
Bill Simmons
He did come over, I would have been concerned.
- [81:53]
James Babydoll Dixon
Feel like they're actually. I know they're. But, like, he's played this tournament, you know, 20 times, 15 times. It's loose out there in these practice rounds.
- [82:04]
Cousin Sal
All right, so he just doesn't like you.
- [82:05]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah, I guess so.
- [82:07]
Bill Simmons
Over 2 is the legacy.
- [82:09]
James Babydoll Dixon
I was 0 for 2.
- [82:10]
Bill Simmons
SAP. Can you tell the origin?
- [82:12]
James Babydoll Dixon
Always tomorrow.
- [82:13]
Bill Simmons
Can you tell the origin of the baby doll story because you named him Baby Doll.
- [82:17]
Cousin Sal
I don't think there's much to it other than he says baby doll. He calls everyone baby doll. And I thought this was funny. And then so I started calling him Baby Doll.
- [82:26]
James Babydoll Dixon
That's exactly right.
- [82:28]
Cousin Sal
I mean, but it's not fair that he gets to call everyone baby doll and we don't call him bad. That was really it. There's not much.
- [82:34]
James Babydoll Dixon
You are the. You are the guy who.
- [82:38]
Cousin Sal
But to me, this is like. I don't know why no one did this. I met him 25 years ago. Someone should have done this 40 years ago. This is like wheels on luggage. Like, luggage always should have had wheels. Right. Not 1978.
- [82:54]
James Babydoll Dixon
81 metaphor.
- [82:56]
Cousin Sal
Well, that's it. You should have been baby.
- [82:58]
Bill Simmons
So you were hoping because everyone calls you Baby doll and you call everybody baby doll.
- [83:02]
James Babydoll Dixon
Correct.
- [83:03]
Bill Simmons
Somewhere in Rory's head, as he's figuring out the course, how his swing is, the distances that the baby doll would trigger, like a Pavlovian response.
- [83:13]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes, I did.
- [83:13]
Bill Simmons
And like, oh, that guy I really like.
- [83:15]
James Babydoll Dixon
Right? Yeah, totally. Isn't that insane of me? But, yes, that was what was going.
- [83:21]
Nathan Hubbard
I have to say, upon reflection, it's. Your performance today was inspirational.
- [83:25]
James Babydoll Dixon
Oh, this is why I love you, Chang.
- [83:27]
Cousin Sal
Thank you.
- [83:28]
Nathan Hubbard
You have to try. Failure is not an option. You just gotta try. You don't know what you're gonna get. And that's what, baby doll magic is. Just not being afraid.
- [83:37]
Bill Simmons
That's it. Is that the Wayne Gretzky quote? You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.
- [83:44]
Nathan Hubbard
That's exactly it.
- [83:47]
James Babydoll Dixon
And I know he's a. He's a really, like, decent guy. When you. When you talk to him, he's a gentleman beyond belief.
- [83:54]
Cousin Sal
And why should we believe you?
- [83:56]
James Babydoll Dixon
No, because he just is. And. And, like, he's not some, you know, disengaged guy. And he's. He's always very polite and engaged. So I thought maybe. And it was relatively recent, that we. We bullshitted and 0 for 2. Can I say, I tried, but that.
- [84:17]
Nathan Hubbard
Wasn'T really the highlight. Sort of the highlight for me was we were talking to a member of Augusta national, and somehow you just let it be known that you were a board member of Wake Forest right off the bat.
- [84:32]
James Babydoll Dixon
Absolutely.
- [84:33]
Nathan Hubbard
Which had nothing to do with the conversation at all.
- [84:35]
Cousin Sal
You were so proud of that.
- [84:36]
James Babydoll Dixon
Why did I bring that up?
- [84:37]
Cousin Sal
Well, because you brought up.
- [84:40]
James Babydoll Dixon
No, I'm like. You're right. I. I did bring it up.
- [84:43]
Cousin Sal
I hate to add context to this, but we're talking about the LPGA and Wake Forest.
- [84:47]
Bill Simmons
Gar.
- [84:47]
Cousin Sal
Gomphard.
- [84:48]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [84:48]
Nathan Hubbard
Yes.
- [84:48]
James Babydoll Dixon
Thank you for the refresher. Yes. And I could. He was talking about the Ladies Amateur being held at Augusta, which is picking.
- [84:58]
Nathan Hubbard
Up steam here, which.
- [84:59]
James Babydoll Dixon
Which.
- [84:59]
Bill Simmons
I think one of the things I learned today is Baby's very proud to be on the board at Wake Forest.
- [85:04]
James Babydoll Dixon
I am. It's an honor. It really is. It's an amazing experience.
- [85:07]
Bill Simmons
We're shy about. You told the person who made us a pimento cheese sandwich. Pretty much everybody.
- [85:15]
Cousin Sal
What is it? Your grandkids, your family, Wake Forest board, John Stewart, and then way, way lower. All of those other clients.
- [85:24]
Bill Simmons
Okay.
- [85:28]
James Babydoll Dixon
Of course. Yeah.
- [85:32]
Cousin Sal
But this Wake Forest thing shot to the top. I mean, you remember when the Bachelor.
- [85:35]
Bill Simmons
Matt James, was in there for, like.
- [85:38]
Cousin Sal
Right, right, right.
- [85:39]
Bill Simmons
A year.
- [85:39]
James Babydoll Dixon
Matt. Them.
- [85:40]
Bill Simmons
No. And he was, like, right there with Stuart.
- [85:41]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [85:42]
Bill Simmons
It's, like, neck and neck.
- [85:43]
James Babydoll Dixon
He was.
- [85:43]
Bill Simmons
You were dropping his name everywhere.
- [85:45]
James Babydoll Dixon
Absolutely. Well, hey, you're only the Bachelor once, right?
- [85:48]
Nathan Hubbard
There's one more. Baby, there's like, so many baby stories. It's so much true joy getting to.
- [85:53]
Bill Simmons
It's only been one day.
- [85:55]
Nathan Hubbard
Three days just is amazing.
- [85:56]
James Babydoll Dixon
It feels like three days. What's this going to be?
- [85:59]
Nathan Hubbard
So you disappeared quite often. You got in trouble for smoking cigarettes. That's what was also a highlight.
- [86:04]
James Babydoll Dixon
Okay, fair enough.
- [86:06]
Nathan Hubbard
But the real highlight was you disappeared. And I think amongst the five of us, we're like, what's going on here? Why are you not here? And you come back and we all had to sort of eat crow because you bought us all hats.
- [86:20]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes, I did. And then it was worth the wait.
- [86:24]
Nathan Hubbard
But funny. Can you describe what happened?
- [86:27]
Cousin Sal
We waited like a half hour for him. Right. And we're like, what the.
- [86:31]
Bill Simmons
Said he needed a hat because the sun was hot, and for some reason, he was scared about skin cancer for once.
- [86:36]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah.
- [86:36]
Cousin Sal
Interesting.
- [86:37]
James Babydoll Dixon
And decided to get a hat this exact.
- [86:39]
Cousin Sal
Is that what it was?
- [86:40]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah, because they didn't have it at the.
- [86:42]
Cousin Sal
This was. He was in the pro shop for like an hour and a half, and then 40 minutes later, has to shop even more. Yes. Than my wife. And then. Yeah. So then he comes out and like, Chang says, he starts throwing, like, gives us all hats. He's like, yeah, take a hat. He spent like 250 on.
- [86:58]
Nathan Hubbard
We're talking to some fans of bills this happening.
- [87:02]
Cousin Sal
Bills. A guy smoking comes up, talks to Bill, says, hi, guy. And baby, and I don't know how you said it, but you had an extra hat because so many of us had bought hats already 20 minutes before. And you throw it at the guy and you're like, here, you're smoking. Take a hat.
- [87:17]
Bill Simmons
Have a hat. You almost stacked a cigarette.
- [87:21]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah.
- [87:21]
Cousin Sal
And he's like, you almost hit me in the head. And you're like, well, you got a free hat. Yeah.
- [87:24]
James Babydoll Dixon
What are you complaining about? I mean, come on, dude. Oh, hat hurt your neck? What happened?
- [87:31]
Bill Simmons
You know, I think one of the. The masters is so polite.
- [87:34]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [87:35]
Bill Simmons
And when people would get mad at baby for smoking in areas that you weren't supposed to smoke in.
- [87:40]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [87:40]
Bill Simmons
It wasn't like, sir, you're gonna have to put that. I was. It was more like a disappointed. Sir, can you please.
- [87:48]
James Babydoll Dixon
They're all.
- [87:48]
Bill Simmons
Can you.
- [87:49]
James Babydoll Dixon
So there are smoking. Yes. There's. There's a designated smoking area over here. I can escort. You do?
- [87:56]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [87:57]
James Babydoll Dixon
It's like, I just put it out already. Okay. You don't need to explore me. I'll be lighting one in about five minutes anyway.
- [88:03]
Bill Simmons
So, baby, what's. What's the worst, most depressing designated smoking area. You've ever smoked in. Have you smoked in those airport ones where it's like almost your.
- [88:14]
James Babydoll Dixon
In Europe where they used to have the, like, it's.
- [88:16]
Bill Simmons
You're almost in like Andy Dufresne, like solitary confidence.
- [88:20]
James Babydoll Dixon
A smoke chain.
- [88:22]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [88:22]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes, I have smoked in there. Of course. I, I used to go like say to myself, why didn't they have this in America? You know, I love that they have this in smoke chambers. Yes, smoke chambers. It's like they all have pet. Pet walking, relief areas. Why not have smoking.
- [88:41]
Bill Simmons
Did you used to smoke like on airplanes, trains, everything?
- [88:44]
Cousin Sal
Just gonna ask.
- [88:45]
James Babydoll Dixon
Absolutely.
- [88:45]
Cousin Sal
Really?
- [88:46]
Bill Simmons
And did people. Did you ever like get in an argument with anybody, you know?
- [88:49]
James Babydoll Dixon
Not really, no. Because it was, it was legal. Legal.
- [88:53]
Cousin Sal
Can you imagine someone lighting up next to you on a plane?
- [88:55]
Bill Simmons
Imagine sitting next to baby on a train. Oh my God, you're taking like the Excela from New York to Boston. He's just like lighting up.
- [89:02]
James Babydoll Dixon
But those.
- [89:02]
Cousin Sal
You're like, oh, this cologne. I can't take this four out. And what the.
- [89:06]
James Babydoll Dixon
What is this?
- [89:06]
Cousin Sal
A cigarette? What is he doing to me?
- [89:08]
James Babydoll Dixon
Those were designated smoking sections. So if you were all the planes.
- [89:12]
Cousin Sal
I don't even understand.
- [89:13]
James Babydoll Dixon
Not, not the planes, but like the trains. If you were in a smoking car, you know, not my problem at that point. Right.
- [89:20]
Bill Simmons
I mean, that was an amazing era where because I would take the train back and forth between my mom and my dad and you're going to walk to the cafe car and you just walk through the smoking car and it's just like lung cancer for.
- [89:32]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [89:33]
James Babydoll Dixon
Well, the 10 seconds were the planes where one row behind was not smoking.
- [89:37]
Bill Simmons
Right.
- [89:38]
James Babydoll Dixon
You could smoke pipes, cigars, cigarettes. And if you won row behind, it was like this.
- [89:43]
Nathan Hubbard
The actual ashtray in the arm.
- [89:45]
James Babydoll Dixon
Absolutely. I love that freaking. I love that ashtray. I really did. They had them on the old cars too, remember? But no, wait.
- [89:55]
Bill Simmons
You were asking me about most depressing smoking places.
- [89:59]
James Babydoll Dixon
Depressing, yeah.
- [90:01]
Bill Simmons
Because sometimes the smokers get relegated to the kids table of life.
- [90:06]
Cousin Sal
Yeah. It's not fair.
- [90:07]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah. I'll tell you this. The idea that I could smoke in the office up until like wasn't even that long by in 2000, you could smoke in the office. So 25 years ago you could even as an assistant sitting in a cubicle in common areas. And I used to run like a fan under my desk to just like spread the smoke. But yeah, that was insane to think that you could do that now in New York City, it's 25ft away from the building. So if you smoke near a building, you often get reprimanded.
- [90:46]
Cousin Sal
You've paid a smoking fee in a rental car like 50 times, right?
- [90:50]
James Babydoll Dixon
Of course I have. And hotels.
- [90:51]
Cousin Sal
Good for you, man.
- [90:52]
Bill Simmons
Baby gets offended if there's some sort of penalty for smoking a rental car. He just assumes I.
- [90:58]
James Babydoll Dixon
For the. For the. The percentage of how many rental cars I've had that I've smoked in. And the times I've been nailed, I've done very, very well.
- [91:07]
Bill Simmons
Chang, what was it like to have a cigarette that your wife probably should know about with Baby Doll last night?
- [91:12]
Nathan Hubbard
You know, every time I see Baby Doll, Baby gives me a cigarette, and it's just a joyous occasion. I sucked that thing down, and it was awesome.
- [91:20]
James Babydoll Dixon
Thank you. And you love that I have Marlboro Reds, right?
- [91:24]
Nathan Hubbard
I mean, listen, the only way you'd be cooler is if you smoke filterless cigarettes.
- [91:28]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah.
- [91:28]
Cousin Sal
When are you.
- [91:29]
Bill Simmons
Oh, like the Italians.
- [91:30]
Cousin Sal
Yeah. Step it up.
- [91:31]
James Babydoll Dixon
They get your yellow.
- [91:33]
Cousin Sal
That's.
- [91:33]
James Babydoll Dixon
That's the problem with them. Otherwise, I. I kind of.
- [91:36]
Bill Simmons
Baby's enough colors. Yellow fingers.
- [91:39]
James Babydoll Dixon
What is it?
- [91:39]
Bill Simmons
You have enough colors going on already?
- [91:41]
Cousin Sal
My orange fingers. Yellow.
- [91:43]
James Babydoll Dixon
They're pretty good. Fresh.
- [91:44]
Bill Simmons
My fingers be orange.
- [91:45]
Nathan Hubbard
No, like, another thing that happened. It's been total joy.
- [91:48]
Cousin Sal
By the way, is he gonna come on Thursday night, too? We'll probably have a thousand dolls.
- [91:53]
Bill Simmons
So it's gonna be the whole podcast.
- [91:55]
Nathan Hubbard
I mean, the Ringer has a great podcast about TV shows and White Lotus.
- [92:01]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [92:01]
Nathan Hubbard
I think last night I almost pissed my pants because before we all went to bed, we were watching the last episode of season three, White Lotus, all over again.
- [92:10]
Joe House
Yes.
- [92:13]
Nathan Hubbard
I just couldn't stop laughing because I think that we need to have a alt cast of you.
- [92:20]
Bill Simmons
A Manning cast. That's the baby cast, not secret work.
- [92:23]
James Babydoll Dixon
It's like Rewatchables, but live.
- [92:28]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [92:28]
Cousin Sal
Because you were the only one saying it live.
- [92:30]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah.
- [92:30]
Bill Simmons
I'm not.
- [92:31]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [92:31]
James Babydoll Dixon
I hadn't seen that episode.
- [92:32]
Bill Simmons
I'm not sure live would be the best idea, but maybe just.
- [92:37]
Cousin Sal
It would need about 16 or 17 hours.
- [92:39]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, so we watched, but.
- [92:40]
Cousin Sal
But I think it would be good.
- [92:41]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, we watched last night. We'd all seen it, but Baby hadn't seen it. So we watched White Lotus with you.
- [92:46]
Joe House
There was a couple wild.
- [92:48]
Bill Simmons
I like what he told the guy to jump at the end.
- [92:51]
Joe House
Tim Ratliff is looking out.
- [92:55]
Cousin Sal
Well, he's gonna make some Them drink that.
- [92:56]
Bill Simmons
What the.
- [92:57]
Cousin Sal
You trying to kill your kids?
- [92:58]
Nathan Hubbard
It's like you forgot you've been trying.
- [92:59]
James Babydoll Dixon
To kill yourself for Nine episodes. Just jump. Get it over with.
- [93:04]
Nathan Hubbard
It's like you forgot that we were in the room with you watching.
- [93:07]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes, I did.
- [93:08]
Nathan Hubbard
You were.
- [93:08]
James Babydoll Dixon
So I had a few glasses of wine. I was tired from the day, and.
- [93:13]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, there's a lot of strays on the White Lotus cast. Yeah, yeah, but guy talk, you put some chest hair in him during the show.
- [93:21]
James Babydoll Dixon
Guy talk.
- [93:21]
Bill Simmons
Told him to grow. Grow a pair.
- [93:25]
James Babydoll Dixon
I mean, I've never seen a bigger pussy hold a gun. You know? It's like, come on.
- [93:36]
Bill Simmons
What. What other TV are you watching, baby?
- [93:38]
Cousin Sal
Before we go, any other favorites he watches on the couch?
- [93:41]
James Babydoll Dixon
Watched the first two episodes of Mobland. I thought it was amazing. Have you seen the Mob Land?
- [93:46]
Bill Simmons
I haven't seen it yet. How about 1923?
- [93:49]
James Babydoll Dixon
Nah, I haven't seen that.
- [93:51]
Bill Simmons
A lot of smoking in that show.
- [93:52]
James Babydoll Dixon
I loved Mobland.
- [93:54]
Bill Simmons
Mobland, okay.
- [93:55]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes. Second episode. You know, a lot of setup in episode one gets. And it's good. Second episode, you see where it's going. It's awesome. Tom Hardy is incredible.
- [94:08]
Cousin Sal
Who. Who for your money, is the best smoker in movies or tv? As an actual smoker?
- [94:13]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [94:14]
James Babydoll Dixon
You mean like in real life?
- [94:15]
Bill Simmons
No, no. Who pulls up smoke in the back best?
- [94:20]
James Babydoll Dixon
I'll tell you, Brad Pitt's pretty good at it. Movies. He's smoking like. Like in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
- [94:27]
Bill Simmons
Like the turns, the hand.
- [94:28]
James Babydoll Dixon
I like the way he smokes.
- [94:30]
Bill Simmons
Damon. We just did Goodwill, hunting for rewatchables. And Damon, really good in that movie.
- [94:35]
James Babydoll Dixon
Okay.
- [94:35]
Bill Simmons
And Cole Hauser in that movie, Chris Ryan did a whole thing about. Oh, really? How he. He gets rid of a cigarette, grabs a beer and waves them for the car all in one motion. It's really good.
- [94:45]
James Babydoll Dixon
Very good.
- [94:45]
Bill Simmons
I got.
- [94:46]
Cousin Sal
But Daero is.
- [94:47]
Bill Simmons
Was Daero to me. Is the goat Daero. Good, fellas. That's the best ever.
- [94:51]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes. Okay, fair enough. I'll go with that.
- [94:53]
Bill Simmons
Remember the scene when he's sizing up Mory when he decides to kill?
- [94:57]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah, he's just kind of staring him down, taking a slow drag.
- [95:01]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, there's been some bad smokers, too.
- [95:04]
James Babydoll Dixon
All right, who would be an ex. Well, who would be an example out.
- [95:07]
Bill Simmons
Of movies we've done in rewatchables? Like, there's a really tough Keanu Reeves hardball scene.
- [95:11]
Cousin Sal
Oh, really?
- [95:12]
Bill Simmons
He's trying to smoke. He's like a degenerate. But it's clear, right, Though. But Tom Cruise is the worst. I mean, you can tell.
- [95:18]
James Babydoll Dixon
Tell who the non. The real non smokers are who have never really smoked in Their life or just smoking? Because the character.
- [95:28]
Nathan Hubbard
I think Keanu is a real smoker, though.
- [95:30]
James Babydoll Dixon
You think?
- [95:30]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, he screwed up the hardball thing.
- [95:33]
Nathan Hubbard
I don't know. He smokes a lot.
- [95:35]
Bill Simmons
The people, like the cruise type of people, are always my favorites.
- [95:39]
Cousin Sal
Could you be brought on as a.
- [95:40]
James Babydoll Dixon
Consultant who's a great smoker?
- [95:42]
Bill Simmons
I.
- [95:43]
James Babydoll Dixon
Smoking consultant.
- [95:43]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [95:44]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [95:45]
Cousin Sal
You sure?
- [95:45]
James Babydoll Dixon
I'd love to.
- [95:46]
Cousin Sal
Like, they have doctors. I think it kind of is.
- [95:49]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah. Leo Leonardo in. In Django Unchained.
- [95:57]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [95:58]
James Babydoll Dixon
Playing Candy. Candy was his last name, but I can't remember. Not a great character, but he smoked with that cigarette holder.
- [96:08]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [96:08]
James Babydoll Dixon
And, man, he was good at it.
- [96:10]
Bill Simmons
It.
- [96:10]
James Babydoll Dixon
He was really. I have tried them when I was a kid. They're ridiculous. I mean, I don't even know what that is.
- [96:18]
Nathan Hubbard
It's like, hey, baby, did you ever go through a phase where you rolled your own cigarettes?
- [96:22]
James Babydoll Dixon
No.
- [96:23]
Nathan Hubbard
Never did.
- [96:23]
James Babydoll Dixon
No. How could you recreate a Marlboro? A work of art, you know. You know my old joke, tearing up there?
- [96:32]
Nathan Hubbard
No.
- [96:33]
James Babydoll Dixon
You know. You know what a joke.
- [96:34]
Bill Simmons
Is it offensive?
- [96:35]
James Babydoll Dixon
No, not at all.
- [96:36]
Bill Simmons
Okay.
- [96:36]
James Babydoll Dixon
Not at all. Baby doll, how much you smoke? I smoke a lot. No, seriously, how much you smoke? I smoke a lot. No, like, seriously, how much do you smoke? Well, let me put it. Let me put it to you this way. I go through two lighters a day.
- [96:53]
Cousin Sal
There you go.
- [96:54]
James Babydoll Dixon
That was a Bill Hicks line that I adopted.
- [96:56]
Cousin Sal
Oh, you just said that's your joke.
- [96:58]
James Babydoll Dixon
And. No. Well, I adopted it, may he rest in peace. But it does get people off when you do that joke, joke, they stop asking how much you smoke. It just diffuses.
- [97:07]
Cousin Sal
I'm not gonna stop.
- [97:08]
Bill Simmons
We asked you yesterday, what joke. What celebrity did you have the most cigarettes with over the last 35 years? And Dennis Leary's name came up.
- [97:16]
James Babydoll Dixon
Bill Hicks was up there. Hicks was up there.
- [97:18]
Bill Simmons
Who's the one we decided? Chappelle.
- [97:20]
Cousin Sal
Yeah.
- [97:20]
James Babydoll Dixon
Tons of cigarettes with Chappelle.
- [97:22]
Bill Simmons
I mean, Chappelle is one, like the.
- [97:23]
James Babydoll Dixon
One of the greatest smoker.
- [97:25]
Cousin Sal
Right.
- [97:26]
James Babydoll Dixon
Of this generation.
- [97:27]
Nathan Hubbard
Better smoker or comedian.
- [97:29]
Bill Simmons
Oh, wow.
- [97:31]
Nathan Hubbard
Right?
- [97:31]
James Babydoll Dixon
I mean, I. I'm gonna go with comedian because that's a real talent. And he's.
- [97:37]
Cousin Sal
He's. Don't sell yourself short.
- [97:38]
James Babydoll Dixon
But he. What I love about Chappelle is he smokes everywhere he goes. It doesn't matter. Hotel rooms, wherever. Lobbies of hotels. Studio 8H on SNL.
- [97:54]
Cousin Sal
He's like, Snoop. It's a fire with cigarettes.
- [97:56]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [97:56]
James Babydoll Dixon
He's always smoking. Comedy clubs. You're not supposed to smoke in there anymore. He's got a cigarette going everywhere. And may God have mercy on the soul of anybody who tells him put that cigarette.
- [98:09]
Bill Simmons
And you've actually spent real time with Chappelle. So if you did the ship. Dave.
- [98:13]
Cousin Sal
Dave.
- [98:13]
Bill Simmons
It's baby dog. That he would actually stop and come over.
- [98:15]
James Babydoll Dixon
Oh, come on. Yo. He come over for I. Yeah. No, Dave, I've known.
- [98:19]
Cousin Sal
I think you should have thrown a hat at Rory like you did that other guy. Maybe he would have gotten as attention that way.
- [98:25]
James Babydoll Dixon
Don't give me ideas. Tomorrow. There's always tomorrow, baby.
- [98:28]
Bill Simmons
Before we go, what. What is your single favorite thing about Augusta? And try to turn toward these guys so you're on the camera at least.
- [98:34]
Cousin Sal
A little bit.
- [98:37]
Bill Simmons
Side of baby business.
- [98:39]
Cousin Sal
I have no idea.
- [98:40]
Bill Simmons
But I don't know.
- [98:41]
James Babydoll Dixon
Hold on, let me think for a second. Because I love so much of it.
- [98:45]
Bill Simmons
Well, I'll. I'll talk to Chang about it as you for some reason. Think of your answer for two minutes. Chang, what's your favorite thing about Augusta? Because you're like a naturally kind of pessimistic guy.
- [98:56]
Nathan Hubbard
Yeah.
- [98:57]
Bill Simmons
We've been friends for a long time.
- [98:58]
Nathan Hubbard
This place really where I'm like happy.
- [99:01]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, this place really.
- [99:02]
James Babydoll Dixon
You said a whole thing in the car on the way to the chorus about how incredible Augusta and the operation and the whole thing. You've kind of been inside the gates.
- [99:14]
Nathan Hubbard
I'm one of the. Maybe the only person that's ever had behind the scenes access. Cause I filmed some stuff in 2019 when Tiger 1 and I think that it's number one, the best sporting event you can go to in America.
- [99:27]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [99:28]
Nathan Hubbard
It's the best run operation, business or anything otherwise maybe out there it's flawless. Everything is done with intention and it's executed at a high level.
- [99:40]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yes.
- [99:41]
Nathan Hubbard
And I think it's just. I'm happy here. I just am. And I'm not normally as Bill know.
- [99:47]
James Babydoll Dixon
I'm right with you. I mean, it's golf heaven when you step on that course. It's like no other golf.
- [99:52]
Nathan Hubbard
But you don't even have to like golf.
- [99:54]
James Babydoll Dixon
No, you appreciate it. You don't. But. But if you love golf, like, like we do. It's just. It's so unique. It's such a different. Everything about it is so. It's like if you died and went to heaven and that was.
- [100:10]
Bill Simmons
That was like Field of Dreams cornfield.
- [100:12]
James Babydoll Dixon
It really. It is that and. And also like I just love being around anything golf. And that is kind of the. This is the. The. The cradle and apex of golf. And golf fans, and it's just my whole vibe, you know? I love it.
- [100:30]
Bill Simmons
I was. I was thinking. Cause I was thinking about it today. Cause I'd been to. I went to the US Open, I went to a couple golf tournaments in the last couple years, and all these other courses, like, basically every other course that has a tournament, they're also. They. The tournament comes in and out. It's. The course isn't built for the tournament. It's built for 52 weeks a year of having members, and then they kind of shoehorn the tournament into it, and there'll be porta Potties and weird cart pass, and the parking's weird, and things are disjointed. All this place cares about is this week. Right? I mean, they have other stuff. They have the members and all that stuff, but it's all, like, a long game for this one week. Every single thing has to be perfect for the moment you show up, up to when you walk toward the thing, you go through the gates. Every single thing you see, they've really put thought into. And I. I just. I appreciate that.
- [101:21]
Cousin Sal
I think it was like a combination. It has an immaculate feel of Disneyland and, like, Central Park. And there's. Like you said. And I think it's because they're not different events moving in and out. There's no wasted space. Forget about the greens. You turn a corner, and you're gonna see a shade of green you've never seen before. That's great, too. But even the pathways and everything, like, you're talking about, like, it doesn't seem like there's any wasted space. It's all beautiful.
- [101:45]
Bill Simmons
Well, and then we talk about this every time we come. But the no phone thing is actually a real advantage. Even Sal. We were worried about Sal.
- [101:51]
Cousin Sal
I think I did okay.
- [101:53]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [101:53]
James Babydoll Dixon
Sal had withdrawal for the first.
- [101:54]
Bill Simmons
Like, you did.
- [101:55]
Cousin Sal
Well, I went to my pocket, like, seven times.
- [101:59]
James Babydoll Dixon
Jonesing for the.
- [102:00]
Bill Simmons
And then I felt like, you know, it was a little. Like a little white lotusy. When Saxon starts reading about halfway through the season, Right? And it's like, maybe there's more interesting. Maybe that. Maybe that's funny. Maybe I can test myself.
- [102:14]
Cousin Sal
Yes.
- [102:15]
Bill Simmons
And it's like you were like, maybe I don't have to try to figure out how to bet on this practice.
- [102:20]
James Babydoll Dixon
Like, just kind of, like, acclimate yourself to where you were and, like, accept it and then go, okay, I'm. I'm.
- [102:27]
Cousin Sal
It helped that we were all talking to each other, making each other laugh. It's like when someone's sick and they're gonna vomit. You're like, all right, if you talk to this person enough, they're not gonna get them out of it. I don't have to focus on it.
- [102:36]
Bill Simmons
But, Chang, were you disappointed? S. And eat more.
- [102:39]
Cousin Sal
What are you talk.
- [102:39]
Bill Simmons
What?
- [102:40]
Nathan Hubbard
Number one on the course.
- [102:43]
Bill Simmons
I mean, on the course.
- [102:44]
Nathan Hubbard
But for those that don't know, Sal is not a big drinker.
- [102:48]
Bill Simmons
Right.
- [102:48]
Nathan Hubbard
And the fact that he started today with the bloody Mar, I was like, right, this is an auspicious sign. It's going to be a good week. Number one two, he ate a lot of food.
- [102:58]
Cousin Sal
Thank you.
- [102:59]
Nathan Hubbard
It was disgusting.
- [103:00]
Cousin Sal
Thank you.
- [103:00]
Nathan Hubbard
And then, of course, you ate a pimento cheese sandwich. And I knew you were full. I knew you were disgustingly full.
- [103:06]
Bill Simmons
Right.
- [103:07]
Nathan Hubbard
But you still wolfed it down. I was like, this guy's bringing.
- [103:11]
James Babydoll Dixon
He's.
- [103:11]
Nathan Hubbard
You're bringing your A game.
- [103:12]
James Babydoll Dixon
Yeah, for about 50. He's not wasting that.
- [103:15]
Nathan Hubbard
People need to know the food here is amazing. It's affordable. You could buy 12 beers for $12. Where could you do that? Anywhere else?
- [103:22]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [103:22]
Cousin Sal
It's only 3,000 to get in. But then they get, you know, for cheese and Wonder Bread, they charge it out.
- [103:26]
James Babydoll Dixon
The master.
- [103:27]
Bill Simmons
So different.
- [103:27]
James Babydoll Dixon
And touch on what you said, Bill, which is, you know, it's the only. Obviously the only major that's always in the same location. Right. So that alone sets it apart from all the other majors. And, like, everyone's just so fucking happy to be there.
- [103:43]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [103:44]
James Babydoll Dixon
Because it is expensive and you have to, you know, get to it. And, like, it's. It's a bucket list place that at least half those people, at least half are there for the first time. And everybody's just like, holy, pinch me. I. I did it.
- [104:01]
Cousin Sal
Well, listen, I. All I'll have to say is, as the great Carrie Coon said in White Lotus, I'm happy to have a seat at the table, but I am going to make a mess at that seat with bread and rice and cheese and everything else when I get up. Thanks for having us.
- [104:16]
James Babydoll Dixon
Sal finishes last in the picks so that we can load down a good chance pulled pork.
- [104:26]
Nathan Hubbard
Egg salad.
- [104:27]
James Babydoll Dixon
Egg salad, chicken biscuit. Chicken biscuit. What else?
- [104:30]
Nathan Hubbard
Blt. It's the Masters Club, which is like a blt.
- [104:33]
Cousin Sal
I mean, that sounds great. I hope I finish last two now. We'll put it that way.
- [104:39]
Bill Simmons
We're going to be back Thursday for more stuff. Chang, you have a beautiful face. Sal, you have a beautiful life, baby. You're just beautiful in general.
- [104:53]
James Babydoll Dixon
So are you, baby.
- [104:55]
Bill Simmons
Thank you. Thank you. To you three. Thanks to House of Nathan as well. Thanks to Gahao and Kyle and Eduardo for helping us out today in the on the pod and we're gonna be back on Thursday. Don't forget to check out the Prestige TV podcast and the Rewatchables as well. If you miss White Lotus. If you missed our rewatchables we did on the Saint with Val Kilmer and and I hope you're checking out Celtic City on Max as well. We will see you on Thursday. Must be 21 plus in President select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + in President D.C. gambling problem call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-help.com, call 1-887-897777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline ma.org or call call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text hopeny in New York this episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra Michelob Ultra A superior Light Beer and the ultimate Trophy. Win or lose, you're bound to enjoy the ride with a good beer in hand. Michelob ultra crisp, refreshing only 95 calories. A superior light beer. No matter the game, sport or season, Superior is worth playing for. So sign up for our ultra courtside@michelobultra.com courtside and you can enjoy some of these games with a nice beer in your hand. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2025 Anheuser Busch Michelob Ultra registered light beer St. Louis, MO must be 21 + to order. Alcohol Alcohol available only in select markets. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn. During the season, every baseball team plays 162 games. It's a true test of endurance. It's not enough to have a hot month or two. You need sustained dominance throughout. Well, the same is true for your small business. It's not enough to have a great Q2 or even a great year. You want year over year growth that starts with better hires that'll be there for the long haul. To find Those hires, use LinkedIn. LinkedIn has strong hiring data and insights that you won't find anywhere else to help pair you with the best candidates, from unique skills and interests to the connections you have in common. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of small businesses say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality talent. LinkedIn also lets you go beyond people who are actively applying in a given week. 171 million LinkedIn members aren't actively seeking jobs, but they are open to new opportunities. That's a big pool to miss out on. If you're not hiring with LinkedIn, find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com Simmons that's LinkedIn.com Simmons. To post your job for free, terms and conditions apply.