What's Going On Today in Romper Room? - Episode 36

Summary

The Musers The Podcast

Episode 36: "What's Going On Today in Romper Room?"

Date: March 25, 2026
Hosts: George Dunham, Craig “Junior” Miller, Gordon Keith
Theme: A hilarious, thoughtful exploration of fandom—from sports and music to politics and beyond, full of stories, self-deprecating humor, and sharp insights on why we care so much about “our” group.

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Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, The Musers return after spring break and dive deep into the strangely powerful phenomenon of fandom. They compare sports loyalty to music stanning, swap stories of youthful misadventures, and dissect why tribalism runs so deep in our culture—not shying away from the dark side (like college football meltdowns or political tribalism) while reveling in the good, the bad, and the absurd. The ever-present Musers banter ties it all together with nostalgia and sharp observational humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spring Break Stories and Humble Beginnings

• The trio reminisce about spring break experiences, including underwhelming high-school beach trips and awkward attempts to fit in as older spring breakers (“We looked like narcs. We bought kind of nautical...beach shirts that had fish on them”—Craig, 04:15).
• The recurring saga of “David” and his inability to use the restroom near his girlfriend adds a layer of typical Musers absurdity (02:39).

2. Listener Mail: Why No Video Podcast?

• The Musers read a letter from Keith, a longtime fan, who wonders why they don’t film the podcast (06:05).
• Their answer is honest—mostly “laziness” (George, 07:17) and deep-rooted preference for the “theater of the mind.”

  “Any time we’ve had cameras, it’s made all of us uncomfortable...we’ve done this for 32 years without cameras trained on us.” —Craig, 07:33
  “People only want to talk about what I’m wearing, not the bit I just did.” —Gordon, 08:17

• Some discussion over the appeal (or lack thereof) of video podcasts versus audio-only formats.

3. Fandom: The Core of Tribalism

• The main discussion explores why people become fans, covering sports, bands, celebrities, authors, and eventually even political figures (13:31).
• Craig defines fandom as rooted in tribalism:

  "From the time we exit the womb, we're looking for our tribe... Sports has offered that. For most of us, that's probably the easiest tribe to jump into." (13:31)

• George and Craig share early fan experiences, like George following the White Sox as a lone fan in a family of football lovers, and Craig finding the San Antonio Spurs on AM radio as a kid in Oklahoma (20:38).
• Both discuss how working in sports media transformed their experiences as fans, seeing once-beloved teams as "business" (21:47).

4. Changing and Surviving Fandom

• The hosts reflect how winning, age, or major life events (like Landry’s firing for George) can change the depth of one’s fandom (16:36, 22:57).
• Gordon confesses he never fully connected with sports fandom, despite family influence; sometimes, "people either just have that gene or they don't" (23:10).

5. Fan Rivalries and the Psychology of Hatred

• A sharp section examines how fans mainly hate rival fans, sometimes more than rival teams or even the game itself:

  "They don't hate that other team. They hate that other team's fans...They want their fans to be miserable." —Craig, 27:23

• Classic examples: Mavericks vs. Spurs, OU vs. Texas, Yankees vs. Red Sox.
• Gordon teases that the phenomenon is even worse in music fandom.

6. Craziest and Best Fandoms: College Football and Beyond

• The Musers declare college football fans are “the worst” in terms of intensity, delusion, and unwillingness to accept criticism (28:49).
• Memorable examples include Alabama fan Harvey Updike poisoning Auburn’s oak trees (32:20) and their own producer “Daddy” tweeting 93 times after Texas beat A&M (33:00).
• They also recognize the positive side—lifelong friendships, tradition, tailgates (“these two guys in Oregon...at every home game for 30 years”—George, 31:00).

7. The Ethics and Theater of Heckling

• A hilarious segment details George and Craig’s days heckling college baseball opponents at North Texas, toeing the line between funny and cruel (35:16–41:10).

  “It was almost like the visiting baseball team was playing at a comedy club because everybody could hear us...we thought we were funny.” —George, 38:12

• The story culminates with a confrontation by Oklahoma State’s legendary coach and a near-beating by angry players.

  “He put his arms around us and said, ‘Look, you can rag me all you want, but when you start ragging my players, that's...’ And we said, ‘Yes, sir.’” —Craig, 39:01

8. Music Fandom: Beyond Rationality

• Gordon emphatically argues music fans are “off the charts” insane in their devotion—especially with social media and K-pop/Taylor Swift/Beyoncé fandoms (42:48–44:49).
• Social media has turned stan culture toxic:

  “If you cross those fans, they come after you with more vitriol than even college sports fans.” —Gordon, 44:00
  “For 20 years I’ve said I think Taylor Swift is fantastic. Then I get the number of songs wrong on her latest album and I’m shouted down like I just ragged on the Spurs.” —George, 44:26

9. Debates, Identity, and Growing Out of It

• The guys recall heated but (now) silly debates, like Kiss vs. Beatles or ‘70s vs. ‘80s music (45:35–48:00).

  “Music is so subjective and it moves you in different ways…looking back, that was the dumbest thing I’ve ever argued in my life.” —George, 48:00

• Gordon: “It’s no fun being part of an in-group if there’s not a definable out-group.” (47:06)
• They also note how the need to defend one’s taste is strongest when young, when we “start slapping stickers on ourselves...the collection of banners that you carry is what your identity is.” (50:07)

10. Beyond Sports & Music: Fandom in Politics

• All agree: politics has become the most intense and polarized fandom, surpassing even college football (53:31–54:45).

  “When we were kids, I don’t remember flags being flown for your favorite senator or president...but now it’s like the fans of these politicians, they’re like college football fans.” —Craig, 54:03
  “Now it’s all about making the other side try to make them feel as bad as possible.” —Gordon, 54:16

• They reflect on merch, rallies, and how social media has fused sports, music, and politics into pure tribal theater.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• On What Fandom Means:

  “Sports has offered that...just pick a team and you’ve got millions of built-in friends.” —Craig, 13:31

• On Graduation from Fandom:

  “After [the White Sox] won the World Series in 2005, I remember leaving...thinking, I think I’m good now.” —George, 16:36

• On Rival Fans:

  “Isn’t it amazing that the fans dictate how you feel about a team?” —Craig, 27:23

• On College Football Fan Intensity:

  “You have a hot sports opinion about Texas or Texas A&M or Texas Tech, better be ready to fight...they don’t want to hear it.” —Craig, 28:49

• On Producer Daddy’s Twitter Match:

  “He tweeted or retweeted 93 times. One game. Right after that game ended, 93 times.” —Craig, 33:00

• On Their Own Heckling Days:

  “At one point, Pete Incaviglia crushed a home run...he steps on home plate, claps, points at the two of us and said, ‘That’s for you two motherfuckers.’” —Craig, 38:12

• On Social Media Music Fandom:

  “If you cross those fans, they come after you with more vitriol than...college sports fans.” —Gordon, 44:00

• On the Importance of In-Groups/Out-Groups:

  “It’s no fun being part of an in-group if there’s not a definable out-group.” —Gordon, 47:06

• On Political Fandom:

  “That is the craziest fandom...over college football or anything.” —George, 54:32
  “It’s all about making the other side try to make them feel as bad as possible.” —Gordon, 54:16

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Breakdown of Important Segments (with Timestamps)

• Spring Break Reminiscences & Early Fandom: 00:30–06:05
• Video Podcast Discussion: 06:05–11:08
• The Nature of Fandom: 13:31–24:48
• Fan Rivalries & Changing Loyalties: 24:48–28:01
• The Ethics of Heckling (North Texas Baseball): 35:16–41:10
• Music Fandom and Its Extremes: 42:48–48:49
• Debates & Identity in Taste: 47:06–52:53
• Politics as Fandom: 53:31–55:12

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Overall Tone and Takeaways

Playful, candid, and self-deprecating as always, this episode merges personal nostalgia with sharp takes on the universality of the human drive for “tribe.” Whether rooting for sports teams, music icons, or politicians, The Musers show that being a fan is as much about finding belonging—and a good target for your energy—as it is about wins, losses, or musical greatness. The hosts are not above laughing at their own former fanaticism, or calling out society for its ever-more-ridiculous obsessions.

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Recommended for:

• Anyone curious about why sports, music, and politics stir such passionate feelings
• Longtime Musers fans who love vintage stories, banter, and honest reflection
• Listeners new to the show, interested in a broad, humorous take on identity and tribalism

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For questions, thoughts, or your own tales of fandom: themuserspodmail.com

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Transcript

[Craig]

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[Gordon]

We'll just call him David.

[George]

Okay.

[Gordon]

He didn't want to do any number two activity anywhere near his girlfriend, so.

[George]

Man, I thought we were going to make it through this episode without talking about number two. I really did.

[Gordon]

Hello, it's the Musers, the podcast. And episode 36, what's going on today in Romper Room?

[Craig]

Welcome to another edition of the the podcast. We are the Mus. I'm Craig.

[George]

I'm George.

[Gordon]

Hell yeah, Gordo here.

[Craig]

And we are back from a week away from the podcast for spring break vacation. Everybody have a good time?

[George]

I did, but Gordon's saying, hell yeah, just way too much.

[Gordon]

That's my new catchphrase. I'm trying to make it happen.

[George]

Okay. All right.

[Craig]

Anybody do any generic spring break thing like go to Daytona beach or South Padre or something like that?

[Gordon]

I did Padre.

[George]

No.

[Gordon]

Yeah, for about a week leading up to it, I was like, hey, dude, let's Padre. And I just said that to everyone and it was really hip.

[George]

And do you know, I never did the. I never did the beach trip. The only real spring break trip I took was when we were in college, Craig. And we went and stayed at your folks house and snow skied.

[Craig]

Yeah. In Colorado.

[George]

In Colorado. That's the only time I've ever really taken a spring break trip. I mean, I'm taking with my kids

[Gordon]

and stuff, but yeah, I went to the beach. Galveston, my senior year in high school.

[Craig]

Wow.

[Gordon]

Went down there with my high school girlfriend and her best friend that was going out with my best friend in high school.

[George]

But there was no drama that trip.

[Gordon]

So we all four went down there now. So it sounds like a kick ass, really happening party in time. Until you realize we stayed with her, my girlfriend's grandmother, so.

[Craig]

Oh, yeah. Not quite the party.

[Gordon]

Yeah, not quite the party.

[George]

The grandmas go to bed early, though.

[Gordon]

Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

[George]

Hell yeah.

[Gordon]

I budgeted for that. And. And my friend, we'll just call him David.

[George]

Okay.

[Gordon]

He didn't want to do any number two activity anywhere near his girlfriend, so he went a whole weekend.

[George]

He made it the whole weekend?

[Gordon]

Yeah. Wow. So, yeah. And I was always, hey, let's go for a big meal tonight. So I was always trying to pilot on him. Yeah.

[Craig]

He couldn't have made an excuse to go down to the convenience store and use their bathroom?

[Gordon]

No. He had a thing where he always had to just go at home.

[George]

I thought we were going to make it through this episode without talking about number two. I really did. Did he have to stop at a Stuckey's on the way home?

[Gordon]

Yes. And destroyed it.

[Craig]

That's actually pretty cool though, that you went to.

[Gordon]

As we drove away, they were putting police tape around.

[Craig]

That's cool though, that you went to a beach. It wasn't South Padre, it was Galveston. But still for spring break. Because in high school I always envied the kids that went to South Padre or was also big in our high school, especially the one I grew up going to in Oklahoma City. They would go skiing on spring break vacation. A lot of kids would go to Breckenridge. I think there was always a big school, maybe even school sponsored ski trip up there. And I've never felt like I was in the cool crowd because I never went to South Padre, never went skiing, anything like that. Early adulthood. To try to correct that, our neighbor Tom, our old college roommate, and I went to South Padre for spring break. But we were out of school at this point. We were 24, probably.

[George]

Yeah.

[Craig]

But we went down there to hang out with all the college kids and see what it was like. Because neither of us had ever experienced was so ridiculous. Because we went to, I remember Dillard's before the trip and we thought we had to buy beach gear. So we each bought like these silk beach shirts that were collared shirts that had fish on them or something. Nautical narcs. Yeah, we looked like narcs. We bought kind of nautical to get some cool clothes. That's exactly what it was. And then we get down there and we go out to this bar. What was the real famous. Was it Louis Backyard? Louis Backyard, Yeah. We went to Louie's backyard, South Padre Island. And we get there like at 5 and nobody is there. Nobody shows up till 9.

[George]

No.

[Craig]

So we're just hanging out and finally the crowd kind of starts to show up and all the guys there are wearing just their swimsuit, maybe a tank top and flip flops.

[George]

Yeah, they're shirtless. Half of them were wearing something they'd wear to the gym probably.

[Craig]

And they're getting all the chicks. And there we are. In our silk fish, our cool collared shirts and our dress shoes.

[George]

Nice shirts, and no one's looking at us.

[Craig]

It was humiliating. I don't know what we were thinking.

[George]

I never brought it up in high school. There's no way my parents would have let me go in high school unless we stayed at, like, grandma's house or something. Maybe. But, no, I didn't bring it up.

[Gordon]

Yeah, I was really surprised, my parents, because my parents were kind of strict. They tried to be strict, but I would just say, that's all right. Just walk out the door anyway. But I think that that one of the selling points was the, hey, it's staying with a grandmother. So, yeah, she needs care. And I really would like to, you know, help a volunteer, those who have given so much to us.

[Craig]

Well, before we get to our topic for this week, how about the letter of the week? And this comes to us from Keith. And Keith has some really nice things to say about the three of us. He says thanks for 32 years of insightful sports talk mixed with hilarious comical bits. You're welcome. You are truly legends. Well, thank you, Keith. The contrast in style, personality, voice, and demeanor is truly remarkable. The way you guys flow and play off one another is art. Wow. I've never heard what we do described as art, but thank you. Then he asks, why did you choose not to video the conversations you have each episode on the podcast? Plenty of highly successful pods have three guys on a couch or four guys at a long table. You get the idea. Yet you've chosen not to do that. Is it as simple as you've done radio so long and think it's the right formula? Please explain, and thanks for three decades of greatness.

[Gordon]

Ooh. That's the question. $64,000 question. Because that's about how much it would cost for us to buy all the video equipment. Yeah, build a set expense.

[George]

I would chalk it up the laziness habit, too. We're just used to doing a show like this. Maybe we should jump out of our comfort zone and do that. Maybe someday we will, but there's layers to it that we just didn't want to take on.

[Craig]

Yeah, I think all three of us agree. And it's because we've done radio for 32 years without cameras trained on us that whenever, say, a TV station comes up or we have a bit, say at the super bowl where someone has sponsored the webcam and it shows all of us at the table talking, it makes all of us uncomfortable. None of us like being on camera. And so since we've done it, talked amongst ourselves in front of a microphone for 32 years without it. Adding the element of video, I think would be very strange. Not that we won't do it at some point here for the podcast. It would just be very weird and none of us right now are comfortable with it.

[Gordon]

Well, I'm sure we will do it at some point. Yeah. Like you said, because that's the way, for whatever reason, people like watching what is essentially a radio show, or now we just call them podcasts, you know, an audio only product. But people like to add video to it and you can do some added value to the video, you know, show what you're talking about and things like that. But. But yeah, it just changes what you do. Because I remember the few times that when I started doing TV and people would start responding to the bits, they would just talk about what they had, you know, why are you wearing that shirt? It's like you didn't have any comment on the whole bit that I just did. No, just the shirt. Just the shirt. Why? You look stupid. And that kind of soured me on the video thing. I was like, I kind of like this, the audio only business more than I liked the TV business. But I think we're supposed to be wanting to be on tv. I guess I'm trying to muster that desire.

[Craig]

I think I'm the outlier. But of the podcasts that I consume, almost all of them offer the video element. I never watch the video.

[Gordon]

I do watch the video.

[Craig]

I only listen. I don't like watching the video. I just like listening. And maybe that's because I've been such a fan of radio over the years, going back to when I was a little kid listening to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I love the theater of the mind and I like imagining what these guys look like and what they're doing.

[Gordon]

You can do a lot more stuff with theater of the mind than you can on video. And that was why my stint with TV was so short. It was just so much more work to have to provide the visuals to

[Craig]

do a radio bit.

[Gordon]

You could just, if you had a funny voice, you could paint the picture with words and it could be the most extravagant scene or setting possible.

[George]

Didn't have to worry about lighting.

[Gordon]

No. When I was doing tv, it was like, like it was impressive. Impossible to get anything to look right.

[George]

I'm sure you can have awesome conversations with the video component, but I think you have better conversations when it's just voices. You think at least I think I operate better that way. Just like when we did our show on screen a couple of weeks ago. I was very self conscious about it. Yes, would lose my train of thought. Not that I can't lose my train of thought even when we don't have the video component. But yeah, at least for me I think I can with you guys have a better conversation.

[Gordon]

It sounds like George didn't get any sleep last night. Look at those bags on his sleep.

[George]

There's plenty to talk about there.

[Craig]

Yeah, so that's the answer. Keith, thanks for the letter. At some point, yes, we will probably add the video element, but no plans to do it anytime soon once we

[Gordon]

make our first $64,000.

[Craig]

Yes, yeah. If you would like to send us a letter you can email [e-mail]. The George W. Bush Presidential center invites you to explore how sports unite, Challenge and inspire Change beyond the Game Experience Game Changer United by Sports presented by Gary Weber A special exhibit at the Busch center where history and our nation take the field. See more than 50 legendary sports memorabilia items, including two of Jesse Owens gold medals from the 1936 Olympics, gear worn by Jackie Robinson and other iconic items from athletes who changed history. Now through the end of April, get up close with legendary pieces from Texas Rangers icons like Nolan Ryan and Kenny Rogers, plus unforgettable memorabilia from the 2023 World Series team. Don't miss it. Plan your [e-mail] musers that's bushcenter.org musers

[George]

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[Craig]

Okay, this week on the Musers, the podcast, we're going to dive into a topic that we've kicked around a bit doing sports radio over the last 30 years, and that is the topic of fandom. Being a fan. And today we're going to talk about being a fan of not only a sports team or a school, but maybe a band or a performer, a state or a country, an author, et cetera. And at the heart of this, at the heart of being a fan. And we'll start with the sports fandom, since that's what we're most familiar with. And that's probably where you find the craziest people. Although I do think we can debate that here later in this episode. But at the heart of it is tribalism. Humans have always had a need for social belonging, shared identity, rituals, symbols, shared loyalty, creating this emotional bond with other human beings. And you bond against rival groups. It's us versus them. And this behavior provides a sense of community. So from the time we exit the womb, we are looking for our tribe. We are looking for this shared bond. And especially in America, but really around the world, sports has offered that. For most of us, that's probably the easiest tribe to jump into. You just pick a team and you've got a set of thousands or millions of built in friends that you can go to an arena or a stadium with and you can cheer us versus them. So it's in our DNA. We need this. We need to be fans. We need that sense of belonging. Yeah.

[George]

And I think it was, you know, I think back to when I became a fan of teams, I felt like I was following a bit of a tribe in my family. They would tune into cowboy games, so I would tune in with them. I did discover some teams on my own. Like my dad hated baseball, did not like to watch baseball, didn't like to talk baseball. And I fell in love with the game as a kid and at the time I lived in Chicago. Now maybe I'm trying to be a part of a tribe there because either you're a Sox fan or a Cubs fan. I just was fascinated by the red and white pinstripes that the White Sox wore in the early 70s. And I like the look of the uniform and I started following them. I think winning helps too, especially when you're a kid. You like it when you have Good outcomes. Man, the White Sox were terrible. And I was there every year. I just. I had that dream of, hey, maybe someday they'll be good. But I think of that was kind of. I felt like I was branching out on my own a little bit because nobody I knew was a White Sox fan around my home, not at school. Some kids were. It seemed like most were Cubs fans. But, yeah, I like the.

[Craig]

The socks.

[George]

And that's another thing we can talk about, too, is how your fandom goes back and forth. When I became an adult, I was still a White Sox fan, but after they won the World Series in 2005, for some reason, I remember leaving the stadium that night in Houston thinking, I think I'm good now. As a White Sox fan, I saw them win it all. And since I really don't. I don't watch their games, and it really doesn't matter to me what happened. That's a weird thing.

[Craig]

That is one of the weirdest.

[George]

I know.

[Gordon]

Fandom is stories completed.

[George]

Yeah, maybe that was it. Maybe all those years they were bad and terrible, and finally they won it all. And I, in. I don't know. And I'm just not as invested in baseball as I used to be. That may be part of it, too. But then I just. I kind of swung my allegiance to the local team, the Texas Rangers, But I don't wish ill will on them. But I also don't tune in and go over their lineup and wonder who's starting that day. It's a very strange thing.

[Craig]

You know, that's also interesting because I heard Bob Costas once say, the teams that you root for as a kid are the teams that are in your blood forever. And that's how I, George Dunham, that's how I've always been. The teams that I latched onto as a kid are still the teams that I root for today. And that's never changed. But some people have no problem midlife, just going from being a Dolphins fan to a Steelers fan.

[George]

They get fed up maybe with, hey, this is. Nothing good ever happens with this team. I'm just going to switch my allegiance. But that is strange. I still want the White Sox to do well. It just doesn't mean what it meant. You know, when I was 8 years

[Craig]

old, for me growing up, I was a Dallas Cowboys fan. Growing up in Oklahoma City, that was. Everybody rooted for the Cowboys in Oklahoma. I was an OU Sooners fan. Of course, I was a Texas Rangers fan. That was the first baseball team that I knew of. And. And I always tried to adopt whatever teams were closest to me. And I was born in Texas, so I had a natural bent towards Texas teams. But growing up in Oklahoma City, you were an OU fan. I had a couple friends that were Oklahoma State fans. But for the most part, your college rooting interest was ou and it was so big in that state. They were like the Cowboys in Dallas. Sure. Or the Yankees in New York. And growing up in Oklahoma city in the 70s, there was no NBA anywhere close. The Mavericks didn't have a team. The question I get asked so much is how did you become a San Antonio spurs fan? And it's because growing up in Oklahoma city in the 70s, tuning around my radio, I could pick up San Antonio Woai Radio, a 50,000 watt station. And one night, it was 1974, 75. I'm just tuning around the dial. And I knew of the aba, the American Basketball association, but I didn't really know that much about it. And I heard this basketball game on the radio on 1200 and it was, it was this exciting game and it was a pro game, but I wasn't really familiar with the players or the teams. And I'm hearing the Iceman and Artis Gilmore and it was a Spurs, Kentucky Colonels, ABA game and it was this incredible game. And Terry Stembridge was the play by play man. He did a great job painting the picture and, you know, kind of sucked me in. And I listened to the game and I listened to the post game show because I thought, wow, I've discovered something here. I found a whole new league. This isn't the NBA, it's not college, it's another pro league. And at the end of the broadcast he said, join us tomorrow night we'll be in New York as the spurs take on Dr. J and the New York Nets.

[George]

And I thought, wow, that sounds big.

[Craig]

I have got to listen to that. So I listened the next night and I got hooked and I became a Spurs fan. And this was six years before the Mavericks even existed. And it was what, 50 years before the Oklahoma City Thunder even existed. I couldn't dream of Oklahoma City having an NBA team. So that's how I became a Spurs fan. I started listening to the games every night and I would order their media guides and bumper stickers and pennants and I just became hooked. So those teams, the spurs, the Sooners, the Rangers in particular, you know, once we got these jobs in Dallas, Fort Worth, covering the Cowboys and that's all we talk about, it did become harder to be a fan over the years of that team. Because we go so deep into talking Cowboys football day in and day out, which we haven't really done with OU football or spurs basketball, that I've been able to keep those loyalties more than Cowboys football. Cowboys football. Now it's weird. I went from being the biggest Cowboys fan as a kid to now I look at them more almost as a business.

[George]

Right.

[Craig]

You know, it's part of our business. And they're a business that I critique. And I'm not really a huge fan anymore. I just. They exist to me as something to talk about for work.

[George]

Yes. And they consumed just about every minute of my childhood. As much as I love the White Sox and the first hockey game I remember watching was the North Stars when we lived in Minnesota for a couple of years. That was cool when they moved to Dallas because I felt like, okay, that's my old team, that is back again. But the Cowboys consumed every minute of every day with me. Even in the off season, during baseball season when I was watching the White Sox. I was also looking forward to training camp or something to do with the Cowboys. And that did change for me when I started working in Dallas. And it also changed for me in February of 89 when Landry was fired. That was. It was just different. It was just. I still want the Cowboys to win or root for him, but it's not. It's not what it was when I was a kid. And it meant everything then.

[Gordon]

Yeah, I didn't. I guess I. The whole sports fandom just escaped me. I mean, I liked the Cowboys because I liked my dad and I liked my brother and they watched Cowboys games.

[George]

Why did you like the Dolphins? That was a weird thing.

[Gordon]

I like uniforms. Yeah, I like the uniform and I like that mascot, the cute dolphin. And he's wearing a football helmet and he's jumping. I thought that was kind of cool. So when I was six years old, Santa brought me a very off brand Miami Dolphins uniform.

[George]

It's okay. Mine's off brand.

[Gordon]

Yeah, it was very off brand with a single bar across the helmet and it was just really cheap. But I love that uniform. But I never got into the sports thing of it. And I don't know why. You know, I think people either just have that gene or they don't. Because sports fans can come from any family. Like, I'll know the most unathletic family, but just one of their kids is a huge sports fan and nobody else in the family even cares about it.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

And it's strange. I came from a family where all the guys were huge sports fans. And I just didn't really didn't do it for me. Whatever it was doing for them, it didn't resonate with me.

[Craig]

See, I came from that other family because my dad wasn't a huge sports fan, neither was my mom. They would talk about the big games and we would watch the super bowl. And my mom liked to root for Notre Dame football because she was a good Catholic. But really the two of them and my sister, not until she really got into went to college and got into their basketball team, she really wasn't a big sports fan either. I was the outlier in our family. I was the one that wanted to watch every single sporting event on tv. So I don't know why I got that gene because I don't think I got it from my mom or dad. Must have been my grandma or the mailman or the milkman or I don't know.

[George]

Yeah, with us it was. Football was always on. My dad was a huge football fan. I showed you guys the picture of him playing service football in World War II. That was really cool. And he played against some guys in the NFL and I remember that fascinated me as a kid. All right, so tell me, who did you play against? Who are these guys that you played against? And of course they weren't playing anymore. But that really, it added to my interest in the game. And I look back on it now, man, my dad would watch two college football games on a Saturday and the NFL was on every Sunday in golf. And as a kid, I could not understand, how can this man sit here for three hours and watch golf? And then I eventually became a golf fan and rooted for Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw. But as a kid, when you're first exposed to that, it's like, oh my gosh, I can't think of anything more boring than watching golf.

[Gordon]

Boring to me, my dad and brother, the TV was just tied up all the time with sports going on. And when we visited my grandparents house, my grandfather was a baseball fan. And that was the biggest. Oh, I would go out to the garage and open up a can of Benjamin Moore and slap it on a wall and I just watch that instead.

[George]

Yeah, the pace of baseball is so slow, so boring.

[Gordon]

And then why not watch something funny or fun? No, no, we gotta watch baseball.

[Craig]

So I have this question about sports fans. Are they the best or are they the worst? A little bit of both, because we have extreme examples of both. And I always find it funny listening to a fan group of one team talk about a Fan group of the other team. For example, we're doing this show in Dallas. You hear Mavericks fans and they all say spurs fans are the worst. You go down to San Antonio and they all say Mavericks fans are the worst. Well, which is it? They can't each be the worst.

[George]

But in your mind, that's the way you see it because you hate them, right?

[Craig]

Yeah, but that's what Celtics fans say about Knicks fans and Knicks fans say about Celtics fans. And every fan group just is convinced that the other fan group is the absolute worst.

[George]

The.

[Craig]

The fan group of their rival. Ask an Oklahoma F. Texas fans are the worst.

[George]

Sure.

[Craig]

They're intolerable. Ask Texas fans. Sooner fans are the worst. I would. Don't even want to talk to any of them. Don't even want to look at any of them. Isn't that funny how. And this is the case for a lot of my friends, they don't hate that other team. They hate that other team's fans. That is why they root against that team, because they want their fans to be miserable. They kind of actually like some of the players on that rival team and they kind of respect the coach, but they hate the fans so much. Isn't it amazing that the fans dictate how you feel about a team?

[Gordon]

Sure. And believe me, that's going to come up when we start talking about music. Because so many bands are hated because of their fans.

[Craig]

Yes.

[George]

Yes, absolutely. And it's funny how people get triggered. It may be the fan, if you're a Texas fan. It may be the Oklahoma fan is on the front row at the Cotton bowl giving horns down after an OU touchdown. Or it may be the guy at your office that, you know, talks a big game going into it. Oh, man. All I know is I want Jim's team to lose because he drives me crazy. Yeah. With the way he talks about the Sooners or the way he talks about the Longhorns. That's a big part of it.

[Craig]

That.

[George]

That's definitely the tribal thing. No, this is my tribe, and I know I don't want to be a part of that tribe because you insult my tribe.

[Craig]

Right.

[George]

Can't handle that.

[Craig]

And the three of us have been doing a radio show on an all sports station for 32 years. And so we have seen this up close and personal. And I am 100% convinced the worst fans in any sport are college football fans. They are the most insane, delusional, out of their minds over their school. And I. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but we can Have a hot sports opinion about the Cowboys and we'll get some feedback. We can have hot sports opinion about a basketball team, baseball team, hockey team. Get some feedback. You have a hot sports opinion about Texas or Texas A and M or Texas Tech better be ready to fight or ou. You will get so much negative feedback.

[Gordon]

Where Kevlar?

[Craig]

Where Kevlar. Because that college football fan does not want to hear one negative thing about their program. Even if it's true and even if they know it.

[George]

Yeah, they don't want to hear it. And if you get one thing wrong, because in our position, we're trying to keep up with, I don't know, 60 teams. And you, mate, it's true, you may not know the squad as well as they do, but man, you better not make a mistake about who plays what position or what they did, because that's proof that you don't know what you're talking about. And my team's better and blah, blah, blah. That is true. It brings out the worst in people. But at the same time, in all my years traveling with North Texas, I met some of the, the nicest people and the most interesting people that I always talk about these guys. I did the games at North Texas with a guy named Hank, and we always reference these guys when anything happens to the school. We played Oregon State and a lot of times we would. If we traveled to the PAC 10 or the Big 10 or the SEC, we would get there so early, we would walk through the parking lot, talk to people. A lot of times when they see having North Texas gear, they'd invite you to their tailgate party. You've seen that too. When you've gone on the road with ou and it's really interesting. Tell me about your school. What's. What's going on. But these two guys in Oregon, I don't know their names, they had an old beaten down camper and they had been at every home game. This is back in the 90s. They had been at every home game for the last 30 years. I don't know if these guys are still alive anymore, but we always wonder about these guys. And you talk about bad football.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[George]

And they were there Saturday after Saturday. They had a great spread of food. They had cold beer and they, hey, sit down. And we just kind of talked about. We shared our misery of what it's like to be a North Texas fan and what it's like to be an Oregon State fan. Some of the people that cooked for us and shared their food in Louisiana, Louisiana, Lafayette, those people that go Saturday after Saturday. And they go with their family and their friends and they, you know, they interact with the other side. Hey, come on over. Where are you from? And all that. I love that about it. But yeah, you. And I've seen it, too. I've seen fights at college football games that are really ugly and around the stadium, inside the stadium. And you're right, it's. It's. Our most passionate fan group in America is the college football fan.

[Craig]

Yeah. There's a lot of good that comes with that. Like that story you just told. There's so many stories I've heard over the years of father, son bonding over a team. You know, they've gone to every game together for 50 years. And there's a real beauty in that. The dark side is the weird stories that we get from time to time. Like back in 2011 when Alabama fan Harvey Updike poisoned the iconic Auburn University oaks at Toomer's Corner. He killed all those beautiful trees so terrible just ahead of the Iron bowl because he was an Alabama fan and he didn't like Auburn. Now that is insane.

[George]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And you get those stories that fans are just so beside themselves with hatred for their rival that they are going to do something like that.

[George]

Yeah. That's where it gets twisted. And there's a number of stories like that. I would like to think that that number of people is really small. But then I see, I look at social media and go, yeah, there's a lot of people that are on the verge of doing something like that that would go and do something that wheels off.

[Craig]

You know, our. I'm going to call this guy out, but he'll be okay with it because I'll make sure he's okay with it. But our radio producer, Daddy, he's a huge Texas Longhorns fan. Yeah. After Texas beat Texas A and M this year, I was scrolling on Twitter and I noticed, wow, all these tweets are from Daddy. And I went back and I counted them. He tweeted or retweeted 93 times. One game right after that game ended, 93 times. So he might be one of those guys that would poison some oaks of his rival. You are that into your college and their football win over the rival that he just went berserk on social media.

[Gordon]

Okay, is there any defense of this if it's just good fun? Obviously, if you're not poisoning oaks, I'm talking about the people. I'm talking about the non poisoners.

[Craig]

Right.

[Gordon]

You know, is it okay, Is it harmless fun and Psychologically beneficial to do a little gloating or is it psychologically beneficial in any way to feel down about the loss afterwards? I don't know. Is that anyway purging of negative emotion? I wouldn't think so on the second one. You know the idea that you're going to go into work depressed on Monday morning because your team lost so many people do. I know it. I know it. They say productivity goes down after the local NFL franchise loses the Monday after a Sunday game.

[George]

Yeah. Maybe the one tweet about, hey, here's a good Aggie joke and you put the final score but 93. I think we all need to. I think we need to talk to Daddy about that. Yeah.

[Craig]

What do you guys think about the guy who goes to a game, sits in the stands and just berates the coaches, the players, the official, and then tells everybody, hey, I paid for my ticket, I can do what I want.

[George]

I guess he's technically right, but I hate that fan.

[Gordon]

Yeah, you guys were that fan.

[Craig]

We were in college. We were.

[George]

We were doing our own theater, I think is what we were doing. We would.

[Gordon]

You were doing it ironically, but yet the, the guy that's on the receiving end of these barbs doesn't hate it.

[George]

And I see why we were hated. There's no doubt.

[Craig]

George and I at North Texas in college, we started going. North Texas finally got a college baseball team. So we thought, well, they need some fans. They played at Mack Park. It was a little league field is what it was.

[George]

Metal stands, capacity 100.

[Craig]

Yes, it probably sat 100 and they didn't fill it up. But we thought, we know a couple guys on the baseball team. We don't have anything to do. We should be studying. Let's go to these baseball games. So we would go sit on the front row and we would just rag the opponent.

[Gordon]

See, why is it that? Why isn't it? You're going there and you're really cheering on your guys.

[Craig]

Great question.

[Gordon]

Why does it have to be the other team who. Look, these guys are trying really hard too. And they're, they're young guys. Why do they have to take it in the shorts?

[George]

Two things we were trying to make each other laugh at, insulting these guys. And number two, we were encouraged by the North Texas baseball players. Hey, when we go on the road, they dog cuss us. We get all sorts of profanity. And we didn't use any profanity.

[Craig]

Right.

[Gordon]

We just used a cycle of violence. Hey, I've been a victim. So let me make sure that we can victimize other people.

[Craig]

Exactly.

[George]

We were funny, though, weren't we?

[Craig]

I thought we were funny.

[George]

I thought our cut downs were funny. We didn't use profanity.

[Gordon]

If you went back and listened to you guys doing that, you'd go, yeah. You know, I just really wish I kind of didn't.

[Craig]

Oh, yeah. Oh, I would definitely say that.

[George]

Yes. Yeah.

[Craig]

But we were. Yeah, we weren't cruel. We were more funny.

[George]

Yeah, we were. We read fake news articles. Hey, you know, Billy Johnson's up to bat right now. Says he hasn't had a hit in four weeks. Craig.

[Gordon]

And.

[George]

Oh, really? You know, just hilarious.

[Gordon]

I'll give you that. I'll give you that.

[Craig]

But we were relentless. We never stopped.

[George]

Never ended.

[Craig]

We never stopped. So one day, Oklahoma State comes in and they were nationally ranked. Longtime baseball power Pete and Cavillia was their star all American. Ended up playing for the Rangers. Inky. Inky. And their. Their manager, their coach was Gary Ward. Legendary guy. Big guy.

[George]

Yeah.

[Craig]

So we are just going after Oklahoma State. Just relentless. And at one point, Pete and Cavilla crushed a home run off some North Texas pitcher. He circles the bases, he steps on home plate, claps points at the two of us and said, that's for you two motherfuckers.

[George]

We got in his head and it was almost like the visiting baseball team was playing at a comedy club because everybody could hear us and people would laugh behind us. There was like a laugh track throughout the game. And yeah, I thought we were gonna die that day. I really did. I thought after he hit the home run, he was gonna bring a baseball bat around the backstop and just beat us both to death. And I wouldn't have blamed him.

[Craig]

And at one point, we started ragging Gary Ward, the manager, and he came over to us, he came up into the stands and he sat between us and he was probably 6, 4, 2, 30, just built like, you know, a checker cab.

[George]

Didn't he say something like, hey, what's going on today in Romper Room over here? Yes, he had a couple much coach.

[Craig]

He had a couple cut downs for us. And then he put his arms around us and he said, look, you can rag my. You can rag me all you want. He goes, but when you start ragging my players, that's. And we said, yes, sir.

[Gordon]

Yes, sir. I was thinking the same name. I was just telling George that I

[George]

don't want to hear one of my players names for the rest of this game. Okay, Absolutely. Yeah, we're good. We were done.

[Gordon]

We were done already.

[Craig]

Well, and to George's point, when he thought Pete and Cavillia was going to kill us, we sensed that the players. We had no defense. There was a very small crowd. There was no separation between us and the Oklahoma State players. We knew that we were in physical peril, and so we left around the eighth inning.

[George]

But you remember, though, after he said no names, all we did was just say numbers. Hey, 13. Does your girlfriend know you sucked this bad?

[Craig]

But we knew that they were going to kick our ass and that the North Texas team couldn't defend us.

[Gordon]

Yeah,

[Craig]

they were getting drilled. 213 or something.

[George]

We left before they boarded the buses. Absolutely.

[Craig]

And Gordo, when we left, before the game ended, the entire Oklahoma State dugout. Where are you guys going?

[George]

Hey.

[Craig]

Hey.

[George]

Where are you all going early?

[Gordon]

We just got a Bible study.

[George]

We got.

[Craig]

Hey, we want to talk to you.

[George]

I don't want to die.

[Craig]

They would have beaten the hell out of us. I think.

[George]

I think. I really do think there would have been a brawl and it would not have gone well.

[Craig]

No.

[Gordon]

Y' all didn't roll tape on that?

[George]

No, we didn't think about it, man. It's too bad, because our material was pretty good.

[Gordon]

You remember it as good?

[George]

I do. Especially Craig. I thought he was really funny.

[Craig]

No, I thought you killed it every game then. The players loved us. They would see us around the campus. Hey, we got a game today. You guys got to be there.

[George]

One guy called a Stain for some reason.

[Gordon]

Stain?

[George]

Yeah, he called us both Stain. Hey, Stain. Hey, where's the other Stain?

[Gordon]

Huh?

[Craig]

We never figured that out.

[George]

Okay, not much, man. What's going on? Stains coming to the game today.

[Gordon]

You, Stains coming to the game?

[George]

Yeah. Yeah, we're going.

[Gordon]

That should have been the name of our radio show.

[George]

Stain.

[Gordon]

Stains.

[Craig]

That guy was genius in his own.

[George]

He was genius. Yeah, there was something about. And then we started calling him Stain. Yeah. Hey, Stain, you starting today,

[Craig]

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[George]

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[Gordon]

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[George]

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[Craig]

The world moves fast. Your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize so you can Cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn [e-mail] M365 copilot All right, so we know that in the world of sports, the fans are just insane. Are they as insane or maybe more insane in the world of music?

[Gordon]

Yes, that's my answer. Now, obviously I'm biased because this is your wheelhouse. This is more my wheelhouse. You guys are know the sports angle of things, but the ridiculousness of music fandom has reached an all time crazy level. I mean, the craziness is off the charts now because you have the Internet and with like K Pop stands go crazy. They know everything. I mean, you study sports and you know rosters and you know all that kind of stuff and stats and trends, but I doubt you guys get into the personal life of every single player. And you got to know who he's dating and who he's. He's going out her and everything. And you hear what that. Yeah. This person they posted, this is his ex girlfriend. She posted this and it's kind of a. She's throwing shade. It's not real. Y' all don't get into any of that stuff of it.

[George]

The DAC breakup was kind of big. I don't know what's going on there. Yeah, we'll talk about that another time.

[Craig]

Luca also broke his girlfriend.

[Gordon]

Wait, this happened just within the past few weeks.

[George]

Their wedding was supposed to be in April in Italy. And.

[Craig]

No, spill the tea.

[George]

I don't know. I don't know what's going on.

[Craig]

So there's a little bit of that in sports.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

Very little, though, compared to music.

[Gordon]

Yes. And in music, that's, you know, it's. It's really become that in these big fan communities. Look at the Taylor Swift fandom or the Bey hive. Is that how you pronounce it? I always get self conscious. Yeah. You know, if you cross those fans, they come after you. They come at you after you with more vitriol than I think even the college sports fans maybe do.

[George]

Yeah. For 20 years I've said I think Taylor Swift is fantastic. Then I get the number of songs wrong on her latest album and I'm shouted down like I just ragged on San Antonio Spurs.

[Gordon]

That's right.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

And you didn't even say anything negative about her.

[Craig]

No.

[Gordon]

You just gave.

[George]

I said the wrong amount of songs.

[Gordon]

Yeah. You were off by one song and you've crossed them.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

So, yeah. I think that music fandom has gone to a new level now that there is social media, because you always have a community that you can go in. And when you have an online 24 hour community that you can go in and start crap in, then it just gets worse. The toxicity can ramp up. Yeah, and back in the old days, you didn't have that. You know, at some point your family would turn to you and say, hey, shut up about Neil Diamond. We're done listening to you talk about it. We know you're a fan or whoever the artist is, you know. Now you can always seek out your fan, your fandom and talk and get the latest gossip and then divide up into camps and war with each other.

[George]

Now, the bands see this and the artists see this on social media where they didn't hear all the lunchroom arguments that I was in. Right? And in school, elementary, junior high and high school. And Gordo, I can't tell you how many Kiss vs Beatles debates I was in.

[Gordon]

Okay, I want to comment on this.

[George]

And finally had to give up and just say, man, look, if you like Kiss, that's great. I don't get it. But you're not better than the Beatles. Sorry.

[Gordon]

Well, at least you had that, that stance, which I think is a reasonable stance. I obviously think the Beatles are much better than Kiss, but. And if someone wants to be a Kiss fan, that's fine. I never ever understood. And I was a fan of musical artists. I was a huge Beatles fan. And even in the Beatle fandom, it's like I became a Beatles fan and loved this. Started talking about the Beatles with people, and then they immediately needed to know, okay, Paul Guy or John Guy?

[George]

See, I never heard that until I met you. Oh my God, I never went through that.

[Gordon]

That's all I heard. And I was like, I don't know. They both seem to be talented in the musical department to me.

[George]

No, you gotta be against one of them.

[Gordon]

Why do I have to be against one of them? I'm not understanding why. And that just drives me crazy why we have to have these ridiculous arguments. Why can't both Kiss and the Beatles be enjoyable to someone? I don't know. But for some reason, fandom makes us have to have. It's no fun being part of an in group if there's not a definable out group.

[George]

Right?

[Gordon]

And we got to get that out group going and make sure we can wag our finger at them.

[George]

Yeah. Y' all remember the debate we had on the show? He's now the lead guitarist in my band. But Steve Percari used to run our board on our show and we Had a. We took maybe three segments one time. Music of the 70s, which he was supporting against music of the 80s.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

And for some reason that debate was important to me. And I want to go. And Steve and I still don't see eye to eye on a lot of artists, but I have grown musically just listening to some of the stuff that he has sent me. Okay, yeah, I can see the value in that.

[Gordon]

Where were you on that?

[George]

I was 80s.

[Gordon]

Okay.

[George]

I thought the 80s were more dynamic. I thought 70s was just a lot of spillover from the 60s and nothing real dynamic. There was disco, there were some different sounds. There's some pretty good funk.

[Gordon]

See, I would give you dynamic in the 80s. The 80s were more dynamic and brand new sound. And yes, the 70s sound to me clearly grew out of the 60s. You can hear the lineage there.

[George]

And we had a second British invasion in the 80s that was, I thought, similar than to the 60s.

[Gordon]

Yeah. But the 70s had some fantastic.

[George]

Absolutely. Yeah. And looking back on it, that was the dumbest thing I've ever argued in my life. I mean, because music is so subjective and it moves you in different ways, moves, you know, different people different ways. And that's just a silly debate. I. I do think it's funny. One of our favorite bands, U2, man, they take worse band ever see there. It's amazing. I would say comments about you two online are more negative than positive now.

[Gordon]

Yeah, yeah, they've. They've not aged well.

[George]

You know what I think the culture,

[Craig]

what I think did it for them is when they auto downloaded that album onto everybody's.

[George]

I kicked everybody off.

[Craig]

That's where it turned. And it's like the world turned against them at that moment. Because before that, free music, before that, they were the band of the quarter century. And everybody seemed to love U2. And from that moment on, they've been taking it in the shorts.

[George]

Yeah. And I guess they did the terrible thing of getting older. And in rock and roll, once you're older, man, you are a target for. Well, you're not cool anymore.

[Gordon]

Yeah. But if you're older long enough, it comes back around.

[George]

It does.

[Gordon]

Like, and I've been surprised at how many older acts now are appreciated by young people. You know, they've come back around to being cool again, even though they're older people that are getting up there and doing it because those songs are still popular.

[Craig]

It is funny, if you say something negative though, about somebody's favorite band or performer, they will take it worse than if you said something negative about their Mother. Yeah, it's just amazing how people get. It's same thing with a sports team or an athlete. They just so identify. It is their identity.

[Gordon]

For a lot of people, that parasocial thing that happens. And I think that when we're teenagers in particular, that's when music is really, really important to us.

[George]

You're very protective of it.

[Gordon]

You're very protective of it and you're trying to find your identity. And the way we find an identity when we're teenagers and we really got nothing in our bag, we start slapping stickers on ourselves. You know, this band and then this artist or this model that we like, whatever it is part of culture, pop culture that we like, we start carrying their banners because the collection of banners that you carry is what your identity is. And so that's why we get so protective and territorial over our bands because they mean so much to us at that time, when our own identity is so bereft of actual content that's self generated. And so we have to defend that psychological territory so violently towards others.

[Craig]

Were you guys ever a fan of something outside of music or sports, like an actor or an actress? Some people are just the biggest fans of Margot Robbie or they can't see straight outside of that world, or they're huge Brad Pitt fans or whatever it happens to be, or an author in particular. And they will die on that hill defending that book that that author wrote or that movie that that artist made.

[Gordon]

Yeah, I was thinking about this because I was trying to come up with something that I'm college footbally about and I don't think I have one. And I feel like I've been robbed of one of the great human experiences, peak human experiences, of being so invested in something that I feel very. That I want to defend them against any criticism whatsoever.

[Craig]

I'm kind of like that. I mean, I have my favorite teams and athletes and bands, but I don't want to die on a hill for them, you know, like I'm. It's not that important to me. Like, I'm a huge spurs fan, a YouTube fan, but if somebody says something awful about them, I don't mind a

[Gordon]

good conversation about them.

[Craig]

You know, I'll have that conversation. But I'm not dying on a hill for anything that I'm a fan of.

[George]

Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of past that too. Where I would have. I don't know if I would have died on the hill, but I would have argued for 45 minutes, you know.

[Gordon]

Oh, I can do that for even things I Don't really believe in just

[George]

for the sake of.

[Gordon]

Just for the sake of it. That was my big sport and certainly in my 20s, was going to a party and just. All right, what's your opinion on. Just give them. Throw out an issue. You take a stance, I'll take the other one. Let's go.

[Craig]

Oh, man.

[Gordon]

And I'll argue it as if I believed it through and through. I love it.

[George]

You have a few bands that I think you still defend or artists. Cyndi Lauper. You defend her?

[Gordon]

Yeah, I'll defend them.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

Like if someone said, hey, Cyndi Lauper is not talented, or she's never done anything worthwhile. No, I think like Time After Time. She wrote that. Co Wrote that on the first album. Good song.

[George]

She always drove me crazy in the 80s, which I can get.

[Gordon]

I can't stand when she does all the hiccup, voice and girls just want to have fun stuff. Yeah.

[George]

It's funny how one song can ruin it for you with an artist. That song right there, it drowned out Time After Time for me. That girls just want to have fun.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Oh. You know, it's become oddly fandomized, if that's a word. Politics.

[Gordon]

Oh, my gosh. Yes. That's the new.

[George]

That is the one.

[Gordon]

That's the new. You know, that's religion. That's college football. That's your favorite band. It's all of that wrapped up into one. Yeah. It's become the thing.

[Craig]

And when we were kids, I don't remember, you know, flags being flown for your favorite senator or president.

[George]

No, I had a Reagan Frisbee.

[Craig]

Did you?

[George]

But I did not have a hat or a flag.

[Craig]

But now it's like the fans of these certain politicians are. They're like college football fans. You know, instead of putting the Longhorn flag in the front yard, you put a Trump flag or something like that, and it's just.

[Gordon]

And now that politics has just gone over into memes. It's like, let's not even pretend like it's serious anymore. Let's just troll. The other side is what's fun, you know, now we've just gotten to that point of it to where now it's all about making the other side try to make them feel as bad as possible.

[Craig]

That's the right.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

That was.

[George]

That is the craziest fandom.

[Craig]

Yes, I think so.

[George]

Over college football or anything.

[Craig]

In the sports world, it's college football fans, but in the world, it's political fans.

[George]

Yeah. I think you can. An Aggie and a Longhorn can Be friends, Sooners and Longhorns and all that. But it's getting tougher and tougher for those on opposite sides of the political

[Craig]

spectrum to be friends and talk about the tribal roots in our DNA and the need for that. Man, this, for some reason, this touches it as deeply as anything. More deeply than sports or music. It's politics that really taps into that

[Gordon]

because it has real world implications. And you can always point to that to say you're not allowed to not be a strong fan or supporter of one side or the other, because you have to pick a side. You have to pick a side and you have to use as much air as possible at all times, defending your side and getting your good word out because of the other side's trying to destroy everything that is holy.

[George]

Boy, I can already see the email. So what if I fly a flag and wear a hat? What's it to you? I don't know.

[Gordon]

We're not commenting. We're saying this for any universe, aren't we?

[George]

Yes, absolutely.

[Craig]

I mean, this last election, there were Trump flags flying and there were Biden flags, but the political flag, Trump made that a thing for sure. You know, he's kind of taken the fandom thing to the next level, for good or bad, however you view that. But it's just. It's different now. And I know people have always chosen sides when it comes to politics, but it's. Maybe it's social media, maybe it's the Trump influence because he's unlike anything we'd ever seen before, but it's just different now.

[George]

And it is a page out of the sports book, isn't it? The house flags and the uniforms.

[Gordon]

He knows the value of merch and he absolutely, you know, it's oddly enough to be such a Luddite, which Trump kind of is. You know, I don't even think he ever answers email. He gets someone else to do it for him, you know, but he has been the most technologically savvy for someone who doesn't use a lot of technology himself and learns how to make it relatable, give us something kicky and quick and that everyone will go crazy, all caps and everyone go crazy responding to. And, yeah, it's been something to behold at how much. And I know that that leaves people like probably the three of us in the dust where we're like, you know, I just already know who I'm going to vote for. I don't want to hear these two family members, you know, politic me for the next hour and a half. At this family get together. I just. I don't need to hear it. I've already decided. And I don't need you on this side to change mine or you on this side to change my mind.

[George]

So.

[Gordon]

Okay, can we talk about Aggies and Longhorns now?

[Craig]

Yeah. That's a much more enjoyable conversation these days than left versus right. Let's go over here and listen to these two insane people talk about this game on Friday night.

[George]

Tweet 93 times.

[Craig]

All right. There's a lot of good and a lot of bad when it comes to being a fan of whatever sports, music, politics. We touched on a little bit of that today and hope we did it a good service and got to. Yeah, I'd leave anything out. I don't want to if you guys

[Gordon]

had just George's personal email address to anyone who has an opinion about something they've heard here today needs to send it to George. I thought you really went hard against Trump.

[George]

No, this is not the episode where I did that. No.

[Craig]

All right, thanks to our producer, Peter Welbton. Don't forget to follow us, subscribe or like us on Apple or Spotify. Leave a review if you are so moved. And check out our entire back catalog of now 35 if you include this 36 episodes. And join us next time on the Musers the podcast.

[Gordon]

Yes, all that Junior just told you. Plus don't forget, forget Cowboys Weekly with Jub and Bob also returns this week. Thanks for listening. The the podcast is a tired head production. Toogood Co. Coffee creamers are made with farm fresh cream, real milk and contain 3 grams of sugar per serving. That's 40% less than the 5 grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich, delicious experience. Whether you enjoy your coffee hot, cold, bold or frothy, two good Coffee Creamers make every sip a good one. Two Good Coffee Creamers Real goodness in every sip. Find them at your local Kroger in the creamer aisle.