SORE LOSERS - Who Needs the Easiest Way to Make Money?

Summary

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The Bobby Bones Show – SORE LOSERS: Who Needs the Easiest Way to Make Money?

Date: June 7, 2026
Hosts: Lunchbox, Ray
Podcast Network: Premiere Networks

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Episode Overview

This episode of SORE LOSERS is a classic blend of sports banter, parenting anxieties, ticket-scalping tales, and behind-the-scenes stories from celebrity interviews. Lunchbox and Ray riff on everything from Little League "All Stars" and the pressure of youth sports to their experiences at major events and thoughts on "easy" money schemes like ticket reselling. There’s a healthy dose of humor, self-deprecation, and candid takes, offering plenty of laughs and some unexpected insight into sports culture at every level.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Youth Baseball: All Stars and Parental Anxiety

Timestamps: [05:13] – [19:09]

• Lunchbox’s son (“Baby Box”) gets selected for Little League All Stars.
  • Runs through the selection process, son’s reaction (“Yeah, I want to play!”), and his own surprise at his son's insight into the other talent picked:

    "He goes, 'I bet it's Chucky.' I'm like, why would you say it’s Chucky? And guess what, other all star was Chucky." – Lunchbox [07:05]

  • Reflects on kids’ attention to talent and questions if all-stars are necessary at the coach-pitch level.
• Parental nerves:
  • After reading a coach’s email stating kids aren’t guaranteed playing time in All Stars, Lunchbox’s worries about whether his son will measure up take center stage:

    “I start having the fear...is baby box good enough? Is he gonna get playing time?...Or are all these kids gonna be so much better than him?” – Lunchbox [11:01]

• Ray offers perspective (with plenty of humor), invoking his own Little League lineup experience and the tactics parents used.
• Discussion about practice, weather delays, and backyards turning into home run territories with wiffle balls and foam bats.
• Cultural Comparison:
  • They contrast American and Dominican approaches to youth baseball, emphasizing love for the game over fancy gear:

    "All these kids in the Dominican Republic are just learning the love of the game." – Ray [17:55] “Travel ball, specialized coaches—they don’t matter...they go outside and play baseball with their friends.” – Lunchbox [18:50]

  • Critique the excessive gear and customization now common in American youth baseball, reminiscing about team-shared helmets and simple fun.

    "Can we get back to the team Shared helmets like our little League balconies when I was growing up?...Now everybody has to bring their own helmet." – Lunchbox [19:30]

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2. SORE LOSERS & Celebrity Interview Recap

Timestamps: [14:44] – [30:36]

• Recapping the experience at the charity softball game/event, including their exclusive interviews with Roger Clemens, Golden Tate, Priscilla Block, and Parker McCollum.
  • Anecdotes about ill-prepared interviews, moments where celebrities chose to hang out with the SORE LOSERS over TV interviews:

    “Roger Clemens comes down there...they say, next up to bat, Roger the Rocket Clemens...and he goes, no, just go to the next batter...I’m down here doing a TV interview.” – Lunchbox [25:00] “He waves off 20,000 fans and his entire team to sit with us in Hawaiian shirts, poorly put together microphones with no show prep whatsoever.” – Ray [25:14]

• Roger Clemens’ down-to-earth interaction is a highlight.
  • The whole encounter left a strong impression, with both hosts describing the “rocket fuel” of his intensity and his willingness to treat them seriously:

    “I felt the rocket fuel, man. I was like, oh my gosh, dude. This is what he used to do to batters. I see why they wilted.” – Lunchbox [28:26] “We were a foot away. Looking into his eyes.” – Ray [28:35]

• Reflections on their own interviewing style:
  • The unscripted, “wing it” approach leads to more authentic conversations, lots of laughs, and viral “clip it” moments.
  • Example of offbeat questions at Parker McCollum (“What size jock strap you wearing?”) [29:41].
• Social Media & Fame:
  • Stories about people encountering their podcasts or interviews on TikTok or Instagram, and how surreal regional “fame” feels.

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3. Smartest Guy in the Room? (Easy Money, Ticket Flipping, and Trivial Pursuit)

Timestamps: [37:17] – [46:19]

• Discussion about people who think they’re smarter than they really are:
  • Ray shares his experience losing badly at Trivial Pursuit, concluding that the “easy trivia” on their main show is nothing compared to the hard stuff.
• Lunchbox’s run-in with a soccer ref who claims reselling tickets for big sporting events is the “easiest way to make money.”
  • The referee boasts that buying Olympics or World Cup tickets and reselling them for massive profits is a goldmine.

    “If you buy opening ceremony tickets for, you know, $8,000 apiece...they’re listed online at $40,000 apiece. You’re making $32,000 for every ticket.” – Soccer Ref (paraphrased by Lunchbox) [41:57]

  • Lunchbox is skeptical, noting the obvious holes in the logic and the ref’s “side hustle” status as a low-paid official:

    "You are reffing Wednesday night coed soccer, and you allegedly make all this money from selling tickets...Don’t tell me you’re making hundreds of thousands selling these damn tickets." – Lunchbox [42:20]

• Ray’s personal cautionary tale:
  • Back in 2007/08, he loses money trying to scalp Cubs tickets after a disastrous season, proving “the easy money” ain’t so easy.

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4. NBA and Fan Behavior

Timestamps: [50:31] – [54:00]

• Fan running on the court with Wimby (NBA):
  • They mock the (in)effectiveness of bans from future games, suggest photo deletion as a better deterrent, and contemplate the social media value of the stunt.
• Lunchbox rails against Knicks fans getting prime seats in San Antonio:

  "It’s gross that Ben Stiller is allowed to sit front row at Frostbank Center...A Knicks fan should not be sitting front row in your home stadium. That’s disgusting." – Lunchbox [53:36]

  • Conversation about ticket allocations and why home fans allow prime seats to rival supporters.
• Superstition and blame:
  • Jokes that if the Spurs lose, the fan who ran on the court will be their “Bartman”—a reference to the infamous Cubs incident.

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5. NBA Takes & Predictions

Timestamps: [52:02] – [58:08]

• Game confidence discussion: Lunchbox, a Spurs fan, vacillates between optimism and worry as the NBA Finals continue and relies on star player “Wimby” turning it around.
  • Quote: "Tonight it ends. Castle’s going to play better...Tonight is our night. We have to win tonight. I will be watching. I cannot wait." – Lunchbox [56:17]
• Ray marvels at the modern NBA’s three-heavy big men, finds it “wild.”

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6. Listener Emails & Closing Banter

Timestamps: [50:31] – [59:59]

• Listener emails:
  • Marco from the Bronx brags about Knicks confidence and bashes Spurs, which Lunchbox mockingly “bans” him for.
  • Vanessa from Austin celebrates the guys’ interviews at the softball game:

    “The softball game coverage was hilarious. I love The Parker interview. So freaking funny. Also, Golden was a good interview. I smiled the entire time and I thought, man, this is an awesome pod. Y'all crushed it.” – Vanessa [57:42]

• Final running gag:
  • Batter's Box sends a cryptic text: “Welp.” The hosts suggest everyone text “welp” to their friends and see what comes back [59:39].

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On parent anxiety:

  “You have that fear, you have that trepidation ... is my kid one of the ones that’s not going to get to play?” – Lunchbox [17:31]

• On American youth sports vs. DR:

  "If your kid doesn’t love the game, if he is not busting it...Dude, you’re never gonna make it." – Ray [17:55]

• On ticket flipping reality:

  “I was giving these things away...I maybe sold the tickets for $4 to a guy and his son. I mean, it was so small.” – Ray [44:19]

• On Cubs fans and blame:

  “…he’s going to be the Bartman. If they don’t win a game after he ran…” – Ray [54:22]

• On regional fame:

  “It is wild, man. Right? Being regionally famous.” – Ray [34:09]

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Memorable, Fun, and Self-Referential Moments

• Roger Clemens interview “rocket fuel” and locker room charisma.
• Golden Tate wearing meta glasses (“He recorded his home run and running.”) [24:31]
• Awkwardly booting one celebrity off-air to make room for another (“I had to boot him in. I was like, hey, hey, Golden Man. It’s been great. It’s been fun. But I got to be honest with you, man. Roger’s coming...”) [25:51]
• Unfiltered reflections on their own show:
  • “We ain’t got much prepared.” – Ray [25:14]
  • “We thought we were stealing content from him. He was contenting us.” – Ray [24:39]

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Conclusion

This episode vacillates between personal, relatable anxiety (parenting, childhood sports memories), wild sports stories (backyard home runs, big league interviews), and keen observations on “get rich quick” schemes and sports fandom. The tone stays light, banter-heavy, and deeply self-aware, appealing to listeners both for the sports talk and the slice-of-life storytelling.

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For Next Time:

• Text a friend “Welp” and see what they say.
• If your kid is playing a game, make sure they love it—and maybe let them carry their own helmet (or not).
• Easy money? Beware “the easiest way to make money” claims from side-hustlers refereeing your rec-league soccer match.

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Contact:
Email the show at [e-mail]

Social:
Find exclusive content and clips on Instagram: @soreloserspodcastshow and YouTube.

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Transcript

[Ray]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Lunchbox]

Guaranteed Human.

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[Lunchbox]

I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Ray]

It's the rage bait.

[Cal Penn]

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

[Lunchbox]

We got clear facts.

[Cal Penn]

Maybe we could calm down a little.

[Land.com Ad Voice]

NBC News brings you clear reporting.

[Cal Penn]

Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.

[Inner Balance Ad Voice]

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[Ray]

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[Land.com Ad Voice]

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[Ray]

We are 208 days away from the Sore Losers convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Our presenting sponsor, Freeland Chevrolet. Appreciate you guys. Right now they're taking care of me with the Blazer. They've helped out. Heather Bazer. If you need an oil change or you just want to talk, go see

[Lunchbox]

Richard and the boys at Freeland Chevrolet

[Ray]

right outside of Nashville. I get there in about five minutes, but I drive fast. You didn't hear that from me. My name's Bennett. I'm not in it. My name is Paul. It's up to y'. All. My name's Wheatie. I don't. Speedy.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, you might want to start the pod Dude. Because everybody likes an intro. Likes it very clean cut right from the beginning.

[Ray]

We're gonna do it live. We are the 1, 2, 3.

[Lunchbox]

Sore losers. What up, everybody? I am Lunchbox. I know the most about sports. So I give you the sports facts, my sports opinions, because I'm pretty much a sports genius, y'.

[Ray]

All. It's Sizzin. I'm from the North. I'm an alpha male. I live on the north side of Nashville with bayser, my wife, 2.3 acres, two kids at Vanderbilt. Probably will die of a heart attack when I'm 72. Justin is supposed to be looking at those kids at Vanderbilt. They are just eggs. They're defrosting. He moved to Michigan. And speaking of Justin, he is at 12 on Beat the Streak. Whoa. He is 45 away from 5.6 million.

[Lunchbox]

So check back in about three days and he'll be back at zero. Congratulations adjusted on that amazing run. I mean, we should probably vote him in.

[Ray]

All Star.

[Lunchbox]

All Star breaks coming up. He should be at the All Star game.

[Ray]

Last night, he lost the golden condom. It saves you when you're in the 10 to 15 range of picking a hitter every day.

[Lunchbox]

So he missed, but he gets to stay in there.

[Ray]

So I messaged him this morning. He only missed one. So he was picking two guys. It keeps you in that area. And I said, hey, you lost the golden chastity belt. So from here on out, he has no safety harness.

[Lunchbox]

Wow, that's. That's dangerous when you're playing with fire with no chastity belt. But best of luck, because, I mean, he. He can pretty much smell the $5.6 billion.

[Ray]

And I said, he goes this morning, 6:00am hey, you're going to want to pick Yellich tonight. Rosters aren't even out and he has no life raft and he's already throwing out hitters at 6am yeah, you need

[Lunchbox]

to see the starting lineup before you can pick someone because what if they're not in the starting lineup? That's a bad pick. That's a really bad pick. What if. Oh, we're going to give him a day off, but he could come off, come in to pinch hit. You don't want the pinch hitter. But hey, man, hey, you do you. You've made it to 12. You do it your way.

[Ray]

I'm going to let my way your way. Our way. I'm going to let you segue do

[Lunchbox]

whatever you want to talk about, man. Because I bet you Yellich, when he was a kid, he was an All Star.

[Ray]

There it is.

[Lunchbox]

And you know, we haven't talked about youth baseball in a long time. We haven't talked about the Little League, what's going on down the street.

[Ray]

And our ratings have never been better.

[Lunchbox]

That's why we need to get back to Little league baseball. And, you know, we thought the season was wrapping up. The Dodgers, their season was coming to an end. Baby Box had been eight batting eighth all season long. The coach never switched the lineup. It was the same every single Saturday. Hey, that's up to you. I'm not the coach. You do what you want to do. Had my boy, Baby Box, sitting down there in the eight hole.

[Ray]

Your name's Paul. It's not my call.

[Lunchbox]

That's right. And he was. He really got that back going at the end of the year. And they had their last game and we hug, we have a team party. And then I get an email.

[Ray]

Hey, oh, sore losers.

[Lunchbox]

We are the sore losersmail.com. that's where the email came.

[Ray]

You have the coach email you there. Yeah, that's not embarrassing.

[Lunchbox]

And it was, hey, man, Baby Box has been selected to be an all Star. Would that be something he's interested in?

[Ray]

Fan voted.

[Lunchbox]

And it looks like it's a couple practices a week for about a month. And I said, man, let me check with him. And I sat him down on the couch.

[Ray]

I said, hey, bud, you email him,

[Lunchbox]

would you like to play All Stars? He goes, what's that, dad? And I said, well, it is a team. They select all from your league, all the kids in your league, they take one or two players from each team and they make a team to play other teams. And they said, you were one of the two on your team. And he was like, yeah, I want to play. No hesitation. He goes, who's the other all Star from my team?

[Ray]

Wow, crazy. Sometimes NBA players elect not to play in it.

[Lunchbox]

And I said, oh, I don't know that. And he goes, I bet it's Chucky. I'm like, what? He goes, yeah, I bet it's Chucky. And I'm like, why would you say it's Chucky? He goes, because he gets some pretty good hits and he catches the ball, you know, pretty well. And guess what other all star was Chucky. Okay?

[Ray]

He can tell who can hit a ball around ball and throw a round ball.

[Lunchbox]

Can I tell you something, Ray?

[Ray]

For him to be able to judge talent, he's already a talent scout. He's not even a talented or a scout.

[Lunchbox]

No, I didn't know that. I didn't really know that. Kids paid attention that much.

[Ray]

Can you turn on swimming and tell who's the best swimmer? Can you turn on.

[Lunchbox]

Yes, swimming. I can tell because whoever gets to

[Ray]

the finish line first, can you tell who's better? Priscilla Block or Taylor Swift? Can you tell if you go downtown on Broadway and you hear Morgan Wallen or you hear one of the Broadway players? We can all judge talent. We learn it at a young age. And also one in five Dominican Republic kids make it to the major leagues. It's like 1 in 20 in the States.

[Lunchbox]

I'm not saying he's making it to the major leagues. I am just saying I was impressed that other he pays attention to who the better kids or who he thinks. I just thought that was interesting. I never realized that. And I don't remember that as a kid thinking, oh, I wonder who else is other all Star and being able to nail it. He nailed it. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe kids are more observant than I think. And at seven years old, he nailed it. And here's the thing. I do think it's a little crazy that they have All Stars when we're doing Coach Pitch. Little ridiculous.

[Ray]

And which interview said coach pitch is the most stressful?

[Lunchbox]

Roger Clemens.

[Ray]

Roger Clement. Rocket.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. If you missed that episode live from Folds of Honor, we had Roger Clemens. He said, man, game seven of the World Series, that's a little bit of pressure. But pitching to a six year old when you only have six pitches and the last one's got to be a strike and you got a mom yelling from the stands, you're a major league pitcher. He said, that's pressure. Go listen to it. Sore losers dot com.

[Ray]

I got the audio.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, you do?

[Ray]

Yeah. You want to know what's hard when you're doing coach pitch and you got final pitch and it's got to be a strike. That pales in comparison. Or the World Series pales in comparison to that. I was brought up by three women. Over to you. Thanks, Rocket.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah, thank you, Rocket.

[Ray]

So you can also check out those full interviews on our YouTube.

[Lunchbox]

Yes, YouTube. Sore losers YouTube.

[Ray]

Yeah.

[Lunchbox]

Anyway, so I'm like, all right, little ridiculous. We're having All Stars for Coach Pitch. But hey, he made it. We're going to play it and we're going to love it. Then I get an email from the coaches. Hello everyone. Welcome to All Stars. We will have practices Monday and Thursday from 5:30 to 7 5:30. They need to be on the field ready to go. If they want to warm up, they need to be here a Little early

[Ray]

to warm up in radio. That's called the airtime call time.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, sorry. And I'm like, all right, cool. Yeah. And this is All Stars. This is no longer the regular season, so every kid on this team will not play.

[Ray]

Wow. I like it.

[Lunchbox]

You. We can't guarantee playing time, so just know that going in. If your kid is not up to it, we understand. If you're not up to the required dedicated hours, we understand. Just know we are here to win. We're going to do our best to make your kids better. But please express to your kids. They come to practice, they try hard. That doesn't mean they're getting in the game.

[Ray]

We're here to win. We're here to sin, and we're here to have them home before din dinner.

[Lunchbox]

So here I am. I start having the fear.

[Ray]

What?

[Lunchbox]

You start as a parent, and this is. Maybe I'm the only parent that this happens. I read that email, and I start getting nervous. Is baby box good enough? Is he gonna get playing time? Is he gonna be better than other kids on the team? Or are all these kids gonna be so much better than him?

[Ray]

Time to get out the cowhide.

[Lunchbox]

And I said, hey, you want to go practice?

[Ray]

Grab your mitt.

[Lunchbox]

You want to go practice? And we couldn't practice. Why? Because it's been raining for a month straight.

[Ray]

Because you live in the city and don't have an actual backyard. We do, Ray. Across from the moat.

[Lunchbox]

No, there's a park like a block from our house.

[Ray]

Got it.

[Lunchbox]

Has a big open field.

[Ray]

Wait, you said you got a new fence?

[Lunchbox]

Yeah.

[Ray]

Is it a home run fence?

[Lunchbox]

Oh, they hit it over.

[Ray]

See, the fence is better for the kids than actually the a fevic.

[Lunchbox]

We. We definitely are using wiffle balls in the backyard. We can't be using. Can't be using baseballs. Now. It translates because they hit it too far and they use their metal bat with the wiffle balls.

[Ray]

Yeah.

[Lunchbox]

But then they discovered the little foam bat makes it go farther. And so now they're using the foam bat and they're jacking them. They were hitting a couple with the metal bat, but not with the foam bat. It's like every other pitch. Home run, home run. Even the four year old hitting home runs.

[Ray]

Well, and I know your kids don't know physics. That must be a massive backyard, first of all. Second of all, if the four year old's going Babe Ruth on us. Third of all, the foam, they're learning physics. It's bat speed. So it doesn't matter if you have the biggest bat. Because they just prove that to themselves. With the Wiffle ball bat.

[Lunchbox]

I try to explain that to him. I try to explain to Baby Box a lighter bat would be better because his swing would be faster. He doesn't listen to me, so I just let it go. But anyway, after this email, I go to my wife and I'm like, man, what if. What if he doesn't get playing time? What if he's one of the worst ones? She goes, it's okay. I said, yeah. And so I'm freaking out. I'm freaking out. Like, nervous.

[Ray]

I don't know why you're freaking out. He was already eighth batter in the lineup.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. But that's misleading because he should have been one or two, three. He should have been up there at the top. In my opinion. And also in All Stars opinion. He got selected for an All Star. Do you really think the All Star is batting eighth in the lineup?

[Ray]

My dad put me nine. It was like an alter or not an altered. It was a backdoor type thing. It was.

[Lunchbox]

That's how you like it.

[Ray]

It was. What is it called? Alternate thinking.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah, Ray.

[Ray]

Alternate lifestyle month. Alternate thinking. He would put me nine because it always seemed to fall where the ninth hitter started the inning and we'd always started with a hit. He's like. And also they think you suck every time. I was getting absolute meatballs.

[Lunchbox]

Oh.

[Ray]

So my dad did that as kind of like a little trickeration back in the day.

[Lunchbox]

He was playing chess, they were playing checkers.

[Ray]

Yeah. Pops was playing. He was playing Minecraft. They were playing Words with Friends.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. So I'm like, all right, you know, maybe he's going to be one of the worst. He's not going to get playing time. And they were supposed to have practice on Monday. Rain, rain, rain. So they did a little batting cage session. And he comes home. I was like, how'd it go? And he goes, terrible, dad, Terrible.

[Ray]

What did he. Just. 40 years old. All of a sudden, after we come

[Lunchbox]

home from work, I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, it didn't go well. Didn't go well. I'm like, how? Really?

[Ray]

How did you not go?

[Lunchbox]

Because we were interviewing Roger Clemens. We were interviewing Golden Tate. We were interviewing Parker McCollum, Priscilla Block

[Ray]

about milk and cows.

[Lunchbox]

Yes.

[Ray]

I ran out of crap to talk to her about.

[Lunchbox]

It was great.

[Ray]

When do you write a song? So, like, you got goats and stuff?

[Lunchbox]

No, no. You nailed it. You so much funnier than. I was. Like, I was too uptight. I don't know. I need to ask the funnier questions, too.

[Ray]

I do like that, though, going into those interviews totally unprepared.

[Lunchbox]

It's great.

[Ray]

It makes your pucker a little bit. Because, like, when I was talking to Priscilla Block, first of all, I didn't even know it was her until she sat down. Still didn't really know it was her. I know she has some semi hits. But then I just started getting talking into goats and the farm and country. I had nothing.

[Lunchbox]

No, it was great. I mean, the questions you asked. Do you have a question? Do you have a house or an apartment?

[Ray]

I go, Kelsey Ballerini saying that song about Penthouse. It's all about a place in the country, right, Coach?

[Lunchbox]

I had nothing. But it transitions so well. Like, here's the thing. I will say I like Priscilla Block because she can talk. She's so fun. She's open, and she's like. I mean, she has a personality. Some people be like, I have a house. That's it. Well.

[Ray]

And you know what I realized after the fact because I saw some videos from Fox News, we never did get Tommy Lahren. She never came our way. But Fox News had the video and we were the exclusive audio. But she was doing an interview. There were boxes of booze in the background in the dugout. Oh, yeah, I kind of forgot about that.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, dude, there's booze, everyone. Dude, that's where Bradshaw fell off the freaking dugout. Top step.

[Ray]

So maybe that's why people were a little bit more open. And I thought our interviews, I thought we got good clips. They say clip it now is the term. I thought we get good clip it.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, we did clip it. We did. We're going to be posting them just throughout the weekend, next week, whenever, through Christmas, you're just going to see a random clip pop up. But anyway, so I'm. Now I'm real discouraged after. After the batting cage sesh and he's telling me it didn't go so well. I'm like, oh, man. So then practice Wednesday night. I'm like, here we go. First one at the field. We go to the field and there's kids out there already. And we get there, we're there like 12 minutes early. And he gets out there and he starts warming up and they start playing catch. My fears have subsided. He can catch better than 90% of the kids. Okay. He should be able to get some playing time. He should be able to, you know, get out there on the field and represent the little league with his red and white. And I Don't know, Maybe blue jersey. I don't know what color they're going to be.

[Ray]

Don't know if we wear the colors anymore, Ray.

[Lunchbox]

But I am feeling better about myself, okay. I'm feeling better about him, and I'm feeling better about All Stars.

[Ray]

I mean, is he taller than all the kids?

[Lunchbox]

Some of them.

[Ray]

There you go. That's half the battle.

[Lunchbox]

I'm just telling you, as a parent, you have that fear, you have that trepidation of, oh, my gosh, when you get an email like that, you automatically have to think, is my kid one of the ones that's not going to get to play? Right.

[Ray]

Is he going to be as good as the inner city kids? Well, let's be real. He grew up with a silver spoon and a moat, so they say.

[Lunchbox]

No, no, he didn't grow up with a silver spoon.

[Ray]

I saw an amazing thing on Instagram. That's where I got the Dominican Republic stat. It said it was like, all these kids now, you know, they travel ball, they got all their colorful jerseys, they're going to these talent scout things. They're going to. They're going and doing team dinners, hotels, they're doing colorful, they're all doing dances. All these kids in the Dominican Republic are just learning the love of the game. And it's like, it's so obvious. If your kid doesn't love the game, if he is not busting it. Like, the Rocket told us that he was always running, always. Moms made him work hard. Dude, you're never gonna make it. These kids. Hey, mom, can I get the colorful armband and then the batting gloves that are pink? That's not how you're hitting the ball. It's playing ball until you can't see the ball anymore and it hits you in the teeth because you love the game that much. And the American kids don't know that. They learn in the Dominican Republican. So I would ask you, you ship

[Lunchbox]

him down there for a month, you're 100% accurate. Yeah. Travel ball, having these specialized coaches, they don't matter. Do you think in the Dominican Republic they have these specialized coaches for every single kid and lessons and. No. You know what they do? They go outside and play baseball with their friends. That's what they do.

[Ray]

Yeah. If your kid isn't playing baseball outside of those games, probably not going to make it very far. They got to love the game.

[Lunchbox]

Do you think the Dominican Republic, they have sliding gloves to protect their fingers.

[Ray]

That's hilarious. Boomer has these ones that are cupcakes.

[Lunchbox]

It's so stupid.

[Ray]

You put on your hands so you don't scrape them up.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah, they have them in their back pocket and they're, like, smacking them in the back of the head because the kid is so small. Those things are so big. It looks ridiculous. Every single person has a brand new bat bag, two bats, glove, helmet. And also the most frustrating part is, can we get back to the team Shared helmets like our little League balconies when I was growing up. At the beginning of the year, you got like, five helmets for your team.

[Ray]

Same.

[Lunchbox]

And now everybody has to bring their own helmet.

[Ray]

Are you serious?

[Lunchbox]

It is so annoying.

[Ray]

But practical. I can't tell you the times I was always searching for a helmet and I couldn't find it due to my dad was literally about to put one of those bats right up my rear end, and I would just put on one that didn't fit. I'm like, I'd rather put a helmet on that doesn't fit than my dad kill me. And I'm up there trying to swing. It's flying all over the place.

[Lunchbox]

It's bopping up and down. But it is so annoying because the kid. My kid has no bag, so he carries his bat glove, water bottle helmet, and he's just fumbling and bumbling all over the place.

[Ray]

Get the kid a bag. No, they make the ones that go like a backpack.

[Lunchbox]

That's what I'm just saying. Every kid has one, and it looks ridiculous.

[Ray]

Boomer had one. He's going to play college ball. It's not total silver spoon. It's.

[Lunchbox]

No, no. When you get older, I get it. When you're freaking seven, you don't need that.

[Ray]

We got to take a break.

[Lunchbox]

We'll take a break. We'll be right back.

[Cal Penn]

Hey, everyone, it's Cal Penn, host of Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I'm sitting down with Wil Wheaton, who played Gordie Lachance in stand by me 40 years ago and now narrates Stephen King's the Body, the novella that inspired it all. We talk about what it's like to return to a story that shaped his life, channeling his memories of River Phoenix in the recording booth and why the friendships you have at 12 might be the most important ones you'll ever have. I know Gordie Lachance. I am Gordie Lachance. Like, I mean, even when I was a little kid, I was Gordy Lachance when I didn't know it. Listen to Earsay the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Inner Balance Ad Voice]

If you're feeling off fatigue, mood changes, skin shifts, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance, the first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop, 10 seconds a day. Oestra replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's innerbalance.com you ever get the feeling

[Land.com Ad Voice]

the city walls closing in the concrete jungle suffocating your soul? You crave wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe chase some elk, fish a private stream. Well, listen up. There's a whole world out there, and finding your own piece of it just got easier. Head over to land.com they've got ranches, forests, mountains, you name it. Search by acreage, location, the kind of hunting or fishing you dream of. Land.com it's where the adventure begins.

[Inner Balance Ad Voice]

I turned off news altogether.

[Lunchbox]

I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Ray]

It's the rage bait.

[Cal Penn]

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

[Lunchbox]

We got clear facts.

[Cal Penn]

Maybe we could calm down a little.

[Land.com Ad Voice]

NBC News brings you clear reporting.

[Cal Penn]

Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.

[Ray]

And there's no way you program those commercials incorrectly for the podcast.

[Lunchbox]

100% nailed them every point.

[Ray]

Props except for I'll do some game tape this weekend after Priscilla Block.

[Lunchbox]

I said we'll take a break. And then I didn't put a break because we already had too many breaks. I didn't know because I didn't have a timer, so I didn't know where we were at in the pod. And so I was like, man, that would be way too many breaks.

[Ray]

What about the time it was proud to be an American and we were like talking and Rocket goes, hey, you boys, stand up. We're going to stop right here.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, I thought you added that part out.

[Ray]

I did, but I think he still said it.

[Lunchbox]

Oh.

[Ray]

He was like, hey, get your asses up. What are you guys doing?

[Lunchbox]

Stand up.

[Ray]

I had headphones on. I didn't really hear the emotion.

[Lunchbox]

I was too, too into the Roger Clemens conversation that I had no idea Roger stood.

[Ray]

You got to see the picture on our Instagram Sore losers podcast show. It's you and Roger next To each other. Hand over your heart for God Bless America.

[Lunchbox]

Didn't. I didn't know we went hand over heart for that one. I was just. I was copying the lead man. Like, I. We were playing Simon says, but we were playing Roger says. Whatever Roger does. Lunchbox does.

[Ray]

And Golden Tate. Did you know he was wearing the. What are those glasses that record everything?

[Lunchbox]

Meta glasses.

[Ray]

He was wearing meta glasses.

[Lunchbox]

No way.

[Ray]

He recorded his home run and running.

[Lunchbox]

That's cool.

[Ray]

So the whole time we thought we were stealing content from him. He was contenting us. He had meta glasses on.

[Lunchbox]

Can I tell you the absolute. My. My absolute most favorite part of the whole thing?

[Ray]

And we haven't posted that clip about the Hennessy yet with Marshawn Lynch. That's a banger.

[Lunchbox]

That's a banger.

[Ray]

I can't post two in a day. Don't blow or load.

[Lunchbox]

I'm going to say my favorite part was Roger Clemens comes down there. He's sitting there and they say, next up to bat, Roger the Rocket Clemens. Anyways, and he goes, no, just go to the next batter. Go to the next batter. I'm down here doing a TV interview.

[Ray]

He waves off 20,000 fans and his entire team to sit with us in Hawaiian shirts, poorly put together microphones with no show prep whatsoever. Rocket, we ain't got much prepared.

[Lunchbox]

No, he said, I'm doing a TV interview.

[Ray]

Rocket, this isn't broadcast. No, no, no. We're just doing these random YouTube clips. I get like 60 views. Rocket. No, no, no, seriously, go ahead, dude, you're good.

[Lunchbox]

Hey, Rocky. Dude. Like, we. And then you were.

[Ray]

You're like, is he gonna come back? He actually comes back. Didn't Golden Day come back?

[Lunchbox]

Yes. We didn't think Elton Tate. We were like, I. Dude, thanks. Golden date. We didn't ever say golden Day. Will you come back? And he came. He came. And then the most awkward part is Golden Day. To come back, to wave him off. I had. I had to boot him in. I was like, hey, hey, Golden Man. It's been great. It's been fun. But I got to be honest with you, man. Roger's coming. He goes, no, I get it, I get it. He's got a big deal.

[Ray]

And then you get an ego. I don't really. You don't realize. I get it. Truckers. I mean, maybe on the highway.

[Lunchbox]

No. You know who has egos? Firefighters.

[Ray]

True. They do a little bit. There you go, Crackling fire. But the egos. And I hope you guys heard. Was it Priscilla Blocker who did the shout out to the truckers. It might have been her Priscilla. She gave it. So you truckers better listen to that. I guess her dad's a trucker, but ego. All of a sudden, we were cocky, and I whispered to the girl, I was like, hey, no Scrubs. We only want the stars, bro. We didn't even know if we were going to get interviews. And we landed Golden Tate, rocket, and Parker McCollum. And I was like, hey, none of the Scrubs, only stars.

[Lunchbox]

And we got Ashley Cook. I mean, we landed an Ashley Cook interview.

[Ray]

She kind of big dogged us. Yeah.

[Lunchbox]

It was like three seconds.

[Ray]

But also, we had a person, a handler, asking those people, so maybe they never even told her. And she just thought we were just people on the sideline with microphones.

[Lunchbox]

She for sure had no idea who we were.

[Ray]

That's what I'm saying.

[Lunchbox]

And she was like, what? These idiots are. Keep yelling at me. Like, what?

[Ray]

I will say, though, maybe we keep Bobby Boneshaw on the sidelines, because that was the biggest crowd they've ever had.

[Lunchbox]

Okay.

[Ray]

I mean, like, we've played in a dude, and I'm told you there's a lot of empty seats. That place was sold out. It was crazy.

[Lunchbox]

It was crazy. It was fun.

[Ray]

I did a picture of you with the fans, and it looked like a major league baseball game, you reaching up into the stands.

[Lunchbox]

I will say that one of my friends, he was at the game, and they were in a suite, and he's the one that. He texted me. He said, hey, did you talk to Roger? And I said, yeah, we did. And I saw him yesterday at the pool. And he's like, dude, I mean, it's like you guys kidnapped Roger. He goes, I saw you guys out there, and he looked like he was having the best time ever. He just sat down there with you guys forever.

[Ray]

He's all leaned back in the camp chair.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. He was like, dude, I saw you guys. And he just looked. He goes, I mean, I watch. He was down there for at least 10 minutes, just having the time of his life. He goes, I even saw him wave off the. No, no, I'm good. Like, he wanted to hang out with you guys more because he didn't go back.

[Ray]

Not to get like. But, like, we're looking at each other's eyes. When you ask him a question and talk to him, he actually looks in your eyes.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. I mean, dude, I felt the rocket fuel, man. I was like, oh, my gosh, dude. This is what he used to do to batters. I. I see why they Wilted, Right.

[Ray]

We were a foot away. Looking into his eyes.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. And he would stare. I mean, he'd stare. And I was like, oh, sorry.

[Ray]

Yeah. Rocket. My question, Pedro Martinez, do you run before games? I need to tell Boomer that he needs to run 2 miles on non pitching days.

[Lunchbox]

And then it's the All Star break. Cut it in half.

[Ray]

And then he goes, yeah, I was raised by three women. You know what? You tell you what? They tell me I was a hard ass. He said, they tell us a hard ass. I was raised by. I mean, then he got. Then he was coming out. Oh, I didn't say you were mean.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, that's where I got that intensity out of mound. But if we keep telling him, everybody what he said, they're not going to go listen to the pod.

[Ray]

Got it.

[Lunchbox]

So we shouldn't exactly tell everybody what they said.

[Ray]

I know. And then I went on a limb with Parker. I was like, what's up, dude? You listen your own music at a golf cart?

[Lunchbox]

Turned out funny.

[Ray]

I was kind of ripping on him.

[Lunchbox]

Can I tell you?

[Ray]

Because, like, I don't think more. I don't know. Everybody's really nice in interviews now. Like, dude, what's up, man? When you're at a golf cart, you listen to your own music. And he actually answered it.

[Lunchbox]

It was actually funny.

[Ray]

I mean, he honestly could have been like, you, dude. What are you? You're not even an interviewer. You're like a producer.

[Lunchbox]

You know, it's funny is when you said, hey, man, what kind of jock strap? What size jock strap you wearing? That was the funniest question of the day.

[Ray]

I don't know why all of a sudden I got so comfortable in those camp chairs. We had the microphones. We had a team around us that was handling stuff.

[Lunchbox]

We had black rifle, water. I mean, we were pounding them.

[Ray]

Well, no, then I started getting cocky. And that's when I was like, parker, what's up? What's your jock strap size? I mean, that's when I was in my bag, dude. I wasn't. I was like, chilling.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah, I was impressed.

[Ray]

I mean, it's like. And then Priscilla Block. I mean, she was. Dude, I was just talking.

[Lunchbox]

I was just an observer. I was a fan. Just watching you two go back and forth because that one mike, we had to get rid of the mic, dude. There was one mic that was so bad. So me and Ray handing each other mics was kind of awkward because he was to my left in the. The. Whoever we were interviewing was to my right. So I'D had to turn back to him to get the mic to turn to them. It was bad.

[Ray]

Do you think that. But can I say this before we go to break or something like that?

[Lunchbox]

Go ahead, man. You say whatever you want.

[Ray]

Ok. Do you know how we got the gig over. Over other people? You know, we were the exclusive audio.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah.

[Ray]

Do you think we just, like, didn't know what was happening? The wool was pulled over our eyes. What I'm trying to say is, do you think that was political? Was that a political event?

[Lunchbox]

No, Ray.

[Ray]

We were totally down the middle.

[Lunchbox]

I don't understand what you mean.

[Ray]

Because Fox News was there videoing it. It was a definitely pro America thing, which every party is pro America.

[Lunchbox]

But then, like, no, I don't think it was. I don't think so. But I mean, I could.

[Ray]

I didn't know. I was like, are we part of a political movement and we didn't know?

[Lunchbox]

No, I really don't. I don't think so. But, I mean, I could be totally wrong. I didn't see any voting booths. I didn't.

[Ray]

We were wearing red.

[Lunchbox]

I didn't see anybody saying, hey, will you register to vote? Or anything like that. I mean, I saw nothing of that sort. So I don't think it was.

[Ray]

But just supporting the country.

[Lunchbox]

That's right.

[Ray]

And the military.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah, it was great. It was a great night. And let me tell you, it ran smoothly.

[Ray]

Yeah, that's maybe the key. Just rip on something. I was like, oh, we're not going to get any interviews. I thought we were going to be right field. Sure. But behind the wall and nobody even see us. Nope. We were on the field and we got every A list star and it couldn't have been more chill. And we're sitting in camp chairs and people. Roger Clemens came over and sat in a camp chair and talked to us. It wasn't even a padded chair. It was a camp chair you would sit on with your parents. And it's the person that gets the crappiest chair. That's what Roger Clemens added.

[Lunchbox]

I really thought Roger Clemens was going to be too big because that dude was. He was a big dude. Yes, big dude.

[Ray]

Thighs, calves. You can tell why he pitches as fast as he does. Yeah, he has so much momentum in that body that he creates.

[Lunchbox]

And also, I talked to my dad after the. The interview and I was like, yeah, dude. I talked to Roger about signing the baseball glove and he goes, what did you tell? He goes, did you talk to him about what he used to do the first pitch at The Alumni game for three straight years. I was like, I don't remember the first pitch. Three straight years. He goes, oh, first pitch. Every. Every time he'd throw behind the batter. Funny. Funny because that was his thing. The UT Longhorn would get in the box facing Roger Clemens, and he'd whip one behind his back.

[Ray]

Rocket. So your dad believed the interview. My mom texted me. I sent her the interview, like us. She goes, is that AI? This is what I'm dealing with, dude.

[Lunchbox]

Who was it yesterday? Oh, someone at the pool said, man, I saw you were hanging out with Roger Clemens. I was like, yeah. And he goes, that's crazy. He goes, that's crazy. He goes, you know, it's weird. He goes, what's weird is I talk to you in person, and then sometimes you'll pop up on my TikTok or my Instagram feed. And he goes, that's really weird. And I'm like, yeah. He goes. Because I'm like, what? Like, wait, that sounds like, oh, that is you. Oh. He goes. And yesterday it popped up and it was you and Roger Clemens. He goes, that's pretty cool. Oh, my gosh.

[Ray]

Between the parent circles that are a generation behind us and the random neighbor circles, it's wild out there.

[Lunchbox]

It is wild, man. Right?

[Ray]

Being regionally famous.

[Lunchbox]

So we're going to replay the Wednesday one, right? No, we'll take a break. We'll be right back.

[Cal Penn]

Hey, everyone, it's Cal Penn, host of Irsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I'm sitting down with Divergent author Veronica Roth to talk about her sprawling new novel, Seek the Traitor's Son. It's a sci fi fantasy epic about two protagonists on. On opposite sides of a war and a prophecy neither of them wanted.

[Inner Balance Ad Voice]

My first book was Divergent, and when that came out, like, because it was so popular, I think it attracted, like, mostly positivity, but the negativity I sucked in like a sponge. And I think it was, like, critiques of things I liked when I was like. You know, I was 23 and I wrote this book and it had all my, like, dorky little cheesy or maybe unrealistic loves in it. And I started to feel a lot of shame about those things. And so for the rest of my career, I steered away from those little things that, like, make you feel pleasure when you read. But I also was, like, saying no to these parts of myself that I then was like, screw it.

[Ray]

Yeah. So that's this book.

[Cal Penn]

Listen to Earsay the Audible. And iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Inner Balance Ad Voice]

If you're feeling off fatigue, mood changes, skin shifts, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance, the first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop, 10 seconds a day. Oester replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's innerbalance.com you ever get the feeling

[Land.com Ad Voice]

the city walls closing in the concrete jungle suffocating your soul? You crave wide open spaces, the chance to connect with nature, maybe chase some elk, fish a private stream. Well, listen up. There's a whole world out there, and finding your own piece of it just got easier. Head over to land.com. they've got ranches, forest, mountains, you name it. Search by acreage, location, the kind of hunting or fishing you dream of. Land.com. it's where the adventure begins.

[Inner Balance Ad Voice]

I turned off news altogether.

[Lunchbox]

I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Ray]

It's the rage bait.

[Cal Penn]

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

[Lunchbox]

We got clear facts.

[Cal Penn]

Maybe we can come calm down a little.

[Land.com Ad Voice]

NBC News brings you clear reporting.

[Cal Penn]

Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News, reporting for America.

[Ray]

Unless you know something that I don't know.

[Lunchbox]

No, I gotta say, there's no reason

[Ray]

to replay that one.

[Lunchbox]

I gotta say something. You know, people think they're really smart. There's a lot of people that think they're really, really smart. Right?

[Ray]

Do you want my input?

[Lunchbox]

Yeah.

[Ray]

Yeah. You guys on the Bobby Bone show, the big show, do this game called easy trivia. And every single one of you thinks your crap don't stink after the questions. But they're all geograph geography. They're all, who made the first flag? Martha or what was that? Who wrote who made the flag?

[Lunchbox]

Betsy Ross.

[Ray]

Okay, you guys. See, you guys know those things. It's just like, that's your superheroes. Morgan watches superheroes every night before she goes to bed.

[Lunchbox]

Correct.

[Ray]

I played, like, Pictionary or what was it? What's the game? Strategies Scattergories with my niece.

[Lunchbox]

That's a great game, bro.

[Ray]

It was so freaking hard. These questions were insane. And I was like, oh, we're just lobbying these questions up to the Bobby Bone show people. They're not actually that smart. They Just for the most part, are able to handle these type of questions. I think I got one right. In like an hour of playing Trivial Pursuit. Trivial Pursuit. It was insane. My niece won. The whole thing killed us. She.

[Lunchbox]

Trivial Pursuit is the most impossible game in the world.

[Ray]

And then we went to the kid questions and we could do decent on those.

[Lunchbox]

But I can do those.

[Ray]

The adult questions. Who was the 19th emperor in Rome before the ancient Romans? What? I just had a white claw. I don't know. Count Dracula, dude. And then I realized they were really not that smart. And people think they're smarter than they are. Continue.

[Lunchbox]

My parents used to play Trivial Pursuit all the time. Family gatherings. They'd have people over and they'd play men versus women. And they'd sit there and they would. It would be a pie question.

[Ray]

Strip Trivial Pursuit.

[Lunchbox]

No, no, they didn't play that.

[Ray]

Your dad loses every time. Careful, don't go out there after 10.

[Lunchbox]

Hey, neighbor. Nancy, I missed another question. Underwear's coming off. No, they would sit there and. I mean, I will never get them saying, how much time are you going to take? Well, this is a pie question. We got to be serious. We got. You got to give us a little longer on this one. All right? And they're talking and talking and talking, and they're like, are we even close? And then the dudes would be like, no, you're not close. All right, we give up. Or they would be like, yeah, you're getting close. But they would give them hints. But I remember pie questions. They would want 15 minutes to discuss the question. I'll never forget that.

[Ray]

What was pie?

[Lunchbox]

It's like when. When you fill, like the big ones, the big color squares. Yeah. And you get the pies and you fill up your whole little round disc.

[Ray]

Yes.

[Lunchbox]

With the pies.

[Ray]

Correct. It's like literature, geography, sports.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. Current events, news, something like that. Did you write. Did you say literature? I guess. I don't know. And so once you get all your pies, you go to the middle for one final question. But when it's the final question, the other team gets to pick the category.

[Ray]

Oh, we weren't playing like that.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah.

[Ray]

So you guys were probably playing like, for sure, like a bar league.

[Lunchbox]

No, they were playing at the house family gatherings. They were playing by the rules. Yeah. And the guys would always try to go to the sports.

[Ray]

Well, who thinks they're smarter than they are?

[Lunchbox]

The referee at my co ed soccer

[Ray]

game, Ray, I got lost in the side road.

[Lunchbox]

This dude. I mean, listen, I understand. Maybe he's the smartest person in the world. Well, sitting there, you know, drinking some water, subbed out. And he's like, got his phone, his hand. I'm like, what are you looking at? He's like, oh, man. Just making money. Just making money. What the. My. Oh, tell me more. I like making money. He goes, oh, if you're not buying as many World cup tickets and as many Olympic tickets as you can, then you're not doing it right.

[Ray]

Interesting.

[Lunchbox]

I'm like, oh, really? All right, tell me more. He's like, dude, you buy all these World cup tickets and you resell them, you're going to be making a boatload of money.

[Ray]

Dangerous. Especially when they're not in this city.

[Lunchbox]

And I'm like, really? Because they're not sold out, and they're very expensive, and now the prices are dropping. He goes, and then the Olympics. Oh. He goes, you got to be buying those Olympic tickets. He goes, I don't care if I had to fly to LA to sell them to hand them off. This is where I'm going to make so much money. Really? Yeah. He goes, look, if you buy opening ceremony tickets for, you know, 8,000 apiece, he goes, they're listed online at 40,000 a piece. He goes, you're making 32,000 for every ticket.

[Ray]

What?

[Lunchbox]

And in my head, I'm like, well, just because it's listed doesn't mean it's selling for that, right? You know? And he's like, so I'm on there trying to get him. He goes, closing ceremonies. He goes, those are the hot items. He goes, oh, I mean, I'm going to buy as me. I'm going to do the max. I'm going to max out.

[Ray]

Careful. Here's my thing that I got my thing.

[Lunchbox]

I'm looking at this dude. I'm like, you are reffing Wednesday night coed soccer, and you allegedly make all this money from selling tickets. I think you like to talk a big game, and you don't make crap. You don't sell crap for tickets. So you buying all these tickets. He's like, I don't know why more people don't do this because you ain't making any money, dude. You're getting paid $12 an hour to ref. Us over the age. Think we're still good. Like to argue with the referee. Soccer players on Wednesday night, and I guarantee you, you ref on Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night. So don't tell me that you're making hundreds of thousands of dollars selling these damn tickets.

[Ray]

Do you want my Thing.

[Lunchbox]

Go for it.

[Ray]

I loved that. Great diatribe. Mine is this 2007, 2008. Look it up. One of those years, the White Sox went to the playoffs. I was running at a gym in Chicago, at school, at college, and I saw White Sox tickets go on sale. Buy some. I did. I bought one because that's all I could afford. Made 20, $30, and I thought that was amazing. I should do that for Cubs games. So there's some time when Cubs tickets go on sale. Maybe it's in, like, February or something. Look it up. 2007 or 2008. I bought $2,000 worth of cubs tickets. It's a crazy day when they go on sale because you just have to reach for stuff. Boom, you want to get the inner city rivalry, crosstown rivalry. Boom, you want to get Cardinals games. Boom, you want to get. I don't know, if the Yankees come to town. I don't know.

[Lunchbox]

I.

[Ray]

$2,000. I did a credit card. I was doing real money, and I had $2,000 worth of cubs tickets. And I'm like, all right, now we sell them. We wait a little bit. Maybe we sell some here. And they were selling that. Did some initial ones. I was like, oh, hold on to the White Sox ones. Hold on to a little bit of these. Look it up. 2007 or 2008. It was the worst season of Cubs baseball since the goat was walking with Harry Carey. Okay? I'm telling you. And from about June till the rest of the season, I was giving these things away. I maybe made 800 of my A back of the 2000, but it was a losing endeavor because I never thought, hey, what if the Cubs sucked this year? I mean, the demand went down. The prices were plummeting. I'll never forget it. They played the Giants one series. I. I maybe sold the tickets for $4 to a guy and his son. I mean, it was so small. I was like, I don't even know if ebay is going to allow this transaction to go through. It was brutal. And I was so confident. I did the credit card thing. Well, that's where the credit card debt started. Who knew? Sammy Sosa and who else? It was probably Moises Alou. Fricking idiots. The worst season in Cubs history was 2007 or 2008. They blue freaking. You couldn't even sell Cardinals games. The crosstown rivalry, that was clearance. That was rock bottom. You guys ready for a blue light special? Dude.

[Lunchbox]

Dude. That's what I'm saying. And then I'm looking at this guy he's like, yeah, they're $8,000 a piece. I'm like, you are reffing soccer games for $12 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights. You're telling me you just have extra 8,000 extra 16,000, extra $32,000 just laying around so you can buy these tickets that the Olympics didn't Till like, what, 28? It's like two years away. So you're going to hold on to these tickets for all these years and you're going to become amazingly rich and shut up.

[Ray]

It feels good. Just like a bet up until the minute that you place it. The minute that he has that $8,000 ticket, you think, oh, I have an 8,000 ticket dollar ticket that right now is worthless until I sell it or I have to go to this event.

[Lunchbox]

No, he's gonna buy more. He's maxing out the number of tickets. Dude, there's gonna be a whole row empty. Dude, they're listed for 40,000. Do you know how much money you're gonna make, bro, no one's paying you $40,000. You're not going to make that much money. The reason it's listed there, because no one wants it for $40,000. Nobody.

[Ray]

And I was wondering, I mean, I guess a pandemic. They would still have the events. You'd probably get a refund. But say, say there's some huge thing with new policy where you can't bring your wife to a game.

[Lunchbox]

Okay.

[Ray]

People ain't gonna buy tickets as couples.

[Lunchbox]

You're right.

[Ray]

They're like, oh, there's too much sex at these games. You can no longer bring a person of the opposite sex. Then your tickets plummet. You're not making anywhere near $8,000. Oh. New rule in America. You can't bring your kids to the games because too many kids are running

[Lunchbox]

out on the court peeing.

[Ray]

Yeah. Or going selfies with Wemby. No kids allowed at games. Ticket price for sure is going to plummet. So there's policies and regulations that could be implemented that are going to hurt those ticket sales.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. So, hey, soccer referee. Thanks for the tip. I'll pass. We'll take a break. We'll be right back.

[Cal Penn]

Hey, everyone, it's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay the Audible and Iheart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project, Hail Mary, massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth.

[Lunchbox]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections and it's like, okay, yo yo,

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yo, is this indulgent?

[Lunchbox]

And I really thought about it.

[Land.com Ad Voice]

I was like, no. At this point, it would kind of

[Lunchbox]

be betraying the trust the author and

[Land.com Ad Voice]

the listener have in telling this story

[Lunchbox]

if I don't go through it.

[Land.com Ad Voice]

There's places in this book that deeply, emotionally affected me and I left it on the mic.

[Lunchbox]

That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah dude, me too.

[Cal Penn]

Listen to Hearsay, the Audible and iHeart audiobook club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Lunchbox]

I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Ray]

It's the rage bait.

[Cal Penn]

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

[Lunchbox]

We got clear facts.

[Cal Penn]

Maybe we can calm down a little.

[Land.com Ad Voice]

NBC News brings you clear reporting.

[Cal Penn]

Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.

[Lunchbox]

Got a couple emails. And speaking of the guy running on the court with Wimby, we were here at the National SC game a couple weeks ago and some dude ran out there because he wanted a picture with son from lafc. Here's my thing. You want to discourage people. Yes, you tackle them. But you know what you do? You make them delete the photo. You go on their phone and make them delete the photo. So they get arrested and they have to delete the photo. It ain't going to happen because then they have no picture proof that they got to do it. They don't have the picture and ban

[Ray]

from every NBA game ever.

[Lunchbox]

How is that going to work? They're never going to know who he is.

[Ray]

I'm guarantee you can get into a game in Memphis.

[Lunchbox]

I'm guaranteeing he could walk up to the San Antonio Spurs Stadium tomorrow and get a ticket. Because they don't know who he is if he puts it on someone else's credit card.

[Ray]

Right, because the tickets don't have to match your id, Right?

[Lunchbox]

You grow your hair out or you get a haircut, you put on a hat, they're not going to know who you are. Stop.

[Ray]

But it could be the threat of jail.

[Lunchbox]

Yo, coachers, it's Marco from the Bronx. Let's go Knicks. Look, the spurs have a giant in Wimby, but that's literally all they got going for them. The Knicks are about to run the whole series. All I'm saying is do not sleep on my boy Josh Hart. If you leave them open, it's over. San Antonio is lucky they even survived the get game seven. But the luck stops here. Time for the fall. Marco out. Marco, you've been banned.

[Ray]

And how nervous are you for tonight's game?

[Lunchbox]

I'm pretty nervous. Well, here's the thing.

[Ray]

I got it in five, right? I told you. Now you go not being a gambler, you remove yourself from the situation. And I said I wouldn't be shocked if Knicks win game one. Now you're puckered.

[Lunchbox]

No, no, the game one I felt like we didn't play. We didn't play very well. And I read we missed something like 18 wide open threes. Wide open.

[Ray]

Oh, that was a step.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. And so I'm not. But I felt like we were. We got a 14 point lead and then we brought Luke Cornett in and it was just like an avalanche hit us. And I thought we got tired. I think the emotional winning game seven, the first half of playing great in the game one of the NBA Finals. The third quarter I felt like the spurs just gassed. Everybody started standing around. We just started settling for threes. It was bad. Jalen Brunson is amazing. He's really, really freaking good. But I still am confident in my Spurs. Now it is a must win tonight. We go down oh two. I do believe the series is over. So we have to win tonight. And another disappointing thing is is how many Knicks fans are in the building in San Antonio. Like, it's gross that Ben Stiller is allowed to sit front row at Frostbank center. Like the Spurs. Someone should not sell their ticket to freaking Ben Stiller. A Knicks fan should not be sitting front row in your home stadium. That's disgusting. It's disgusting.

[Ray]

Oh, so, I mean, so in theory, you should have it all. The tickets, they don't give any tickets to the opposing fans.

[Lunchbox]

I don't know. But they shouldn't get front row tickets.

[Ray]

So I know. Like at schools, like, let's say a national championship, they give half to each school. So could it be all spurs if nobody sells their tickets?

[Lunchbox]

Yes.

[Ray]

Wow.

[Lunchbox]

100%.

[Ray]

So if you're hearing some Knicks fans, those are people that are a sellout.

[Lunchbox]

Yes. Yeah. And for them to get front row, not a good look for the Spurs.

[Ray]

If you are the kid, there has

[Lunchbox]

to be some rich spurs fans that would be able to buy those tickets and not allow Ben Stiller to get them. I mean, what are we doing?

[Ray]

The kid that snuck on the court, I hope this for him that the spurs win. If they don't win a game after he ran.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, he's going to be the Bartman.

[Ray]

He's the Bartman. I hope for the kid that was a good kid. He made one mistake.

[Lunchbox]

And was he a kid?

[Ray]

Were they winning when he ran on the court?

[Lunchbox]

I don't remember when he ran on the court.

[Ray]

Oh, my gosh.

[Lunchbox]

Like, I don't know if it was the third quarter, fourth quarter. I don't remember when that kid ran on the court. And was he a kid? Is he like 18, 19? Is he or was he like 12?

[Ray]

It was a streamer. Probably on kick. What I told you we should be on.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, yeah. And we haven't been doing the cameras, guys, because they don't work anymore. There's a lot of adjustments that need to be made according to the engineer. So we haven't been doing them.

[Ray]

The last email we got was, what time on a Friday afternoon? Do you want to come up and we can all fix the cameras together? And my response, never, not on a Friday afternoon.

[Lunchbox]

Man, we out. And I do have to say that I didn't watch the game live. I had soccer on Wednesday night. So I. When I got to my soccer game, the phone was turned off. And so I had no idea got home. I didn't watch the game till late. So, yes, I did not watch it live. So I was depressed as we just started falling apart. And then when this guy on the Knicks, he's In the corner. And he banks in a three from the corner. I don't know how you even do that. I was like, it's not our night. When you're banking in a three from the corner. It's not our night. But I expect Wimby to come out with a vengeance with threes. No. God, if he.

[Ray]

Dude, if he does, like, they did start out for 15. Oh, that one night, I turn on the game, a big guy. I think, oh, this is going to be a Shaq guy down there. Posted, bro. Top of the key, between the legs, shoots a three. I'm like, what is this new mpa? I didn't even know that he shoots threes then.

[Lunchbox]

It drives me nuts.

[Ray]

I mean, like an and one mixtape that they used to film on the top of the key and then drain to three. I was like, this new NBA is wild.

[Lunchbox]

Like, I get it. I get him shooting a couple threes and you know, like, pull. You know, someone hits him right there in stride. But when he gets the ball, does this razzle dazzle, tries to dribble and then shoot. Step back. I hate it. And I think the coach should punch himself in the nuts every time when he shoots a three. That way he realizes, you know what? I got to yell at Wimby more so he'll get down low. You. I mean, he is 7 foot 100. All they do is throw it towards the rim. And he gets fouled almost every time. It is so frustrating. And tonight it ends. Castle's going to play better. His legs retired. His. All his shots were short, dear. And Fox is not going to miss that many easy shots. He had so many, like, plays that were going to be wide open assists, and people just didn't make the shots. Tonight is our night. We have to win tonight. I will be watching. I cannot wait. And we got one more email before we go.

[Ray]

Did you see that? We do it. We do good interviews. That one interviewer to Aaron Fox, he goes, hey, man, your teammate did this or that? He goes, are you gonna punish him? And Darren's like, am I gonna punish him? What the bro, like, spank him.

[Lunchbox]

Like, what in the world? Did I say that?

[Ray]

Yeah, he did. And Darren's like, am I gonna punish him? What the bro?

[Lunchbox]

That's funny. That's really funny.

[Ray]

I'm gonna go in the locker room and spank him.

[Lunchbox]

Oh, my gosh. People are hilarious.

[Ray]

You guys gotta listen to good interviewers like us. You get out there, there's some wild questions.

[Lunchbox]

Ye. The softball game coverage was hilarious. I love The Parker interview. So freaking funny. Also, golden was a good interview. I smiled the entire time and I thought, man, this is an awesome pod. Y' all crushed it. Vanessa in Austin, Texas. Next time, I'll have my husband find you at tea time. Lunch. Sorry, we were just out of town that week.

[Ray]

Boom.

[Lunchbox]

All right, everybody, have a good weekend. And say it with me.

[Ray]

Go, spurs, go. They have to win. I said they're going to win it,

[Lunchbox]

and they got to win tonight. They have six. They have to win tonight. They have to.

[Ray]

I'm watching the whole game. Unabridged.

[Lunchbox]

I'm watching the whole game.

[Ray]

Bazer can watch whatever drama she wants by herself. I'm watching the entire thing.

[Lunchbox]

I'm like. I was like, hey, kids, you guys want to stay up tonight? They can stay up. I mean, I don't care.

[Ray]

And guys, if Yellich doesn't get a hit tonight, like, obviously Justin's on watch and it's not going to be good. So please root for Yellich as well.

[Lunchbox]

All right, you guys have a great weekend. This is us saying goodbye. Signing off. Tell your friends about us. Tell one person today. Hey, listen to Sore Loser spot. Email us, we are the sore losers. Gmail.com. we're out. Bye. Let's go.

[Ray]

Come on.

[Lunchbox]

Golly. We gotta win. We gotta win. And Batter's Box with his cryptic text. Last night, he texted me, welp,

[Ray]

thanks, Batter's box.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. Yesterday at 10:33pm he texted me, welp, what up, everybody? It's Batter's Box here with the Welp. What? And he didn't respond, so hopefully he's okay.

[Ray]

It was about the game, obviously, right?

[Lunchbox]

No, this was last night or just

[Ray]

in life in general.

[Lunchbox]

This was on Thursday night at 10:33pm Welp.

[Ray]

Well, that's a little open ended. Welp. What?

[Lunchbox]

Are you okay? Hopefully he's alive, man.

[Ray]

Everybody do that today. Actually, instead of telling friends about our show, just text somebody whelp and see what their response is. I mean, it has to be like, wtf? Dub, are you.

[Lunchbox]

What?

[Ray]

Are you good, bro?

[Lunchbox]

Yeah. What are we talking about, man?

[Ray]

Text a friend today, whelp.

[Lunchbox]

Like, what? What? What? Oh, man.

[Cal Penn]

Hey, everyone, it's Kel Penn. I'm inviting you to join the best sounding book club you've ever heard with my podcast, Hearsay, the Audible, and Iheart Audiobook Club. Every episode, I nerd out with amazing guests and dive into the best new audiobooks available on Audible. It's the book club for your ears. Listen to Earsay, the Audible and Iheart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Ray]

You could literally be adored by everyone and then come home and still get completely ignored by your own cat.

[Lunchbox]

It's classic cat behavior. But new Shiba Premium Puree is a

[Ray]

lickable treat that changes all that. They're protein rich, made with bone broth, and have the smooth, creamy texture cats go crazy for, especially when it's hand fed. Yeah, it's more than a treat. It's a fast pass to favorite human status. So feed your cat Sheba and go from totally ignored to truly adored in just 12 days. Guaranteed or your money back. Learn more at sheba.com Ever get the feeling?

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The city walls closing in the concrete jungle suffocating your soul? You crave wide open spaces. The chance to connect with nature may Chase some elk, fish a private stream. Well, listen up. There's a whole world out there, and finding your own piece of it just got easier. Head over to land.com they've got ranches, forest, mountains, you name it. Search by acreage, location, the kind of hunting or fishing you dream of. Land.com it's where the adventure begins.

[Ray]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Lunchbox]

Guaranteed Human.