For the Love of Baseball & Mario Kart

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Nightly — “For the Love of Baseball & Mario Kart”

Host: Hatch Podcasts
Date: January 16, 2026
Guests: Josh (A), Jacques (C)

Episode Overview

This episode of “The Nightly” is a cozy, late-night unwind in the Hatch Pillow Fort, where hosts Josh and Jacques chat about the joys and quirks of pop culture—specifically night reading habits, sports fandoms, and favorite Nintendo games. With mellow banter, the duo reflect on personal stories, friendly debates ("Spoon, Snore, Shove on the Floor"), and nostalgic moments, making it a perfect bedtime listen for insomniac pop culture lovers.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Nighttime Reading Rituals (00:30–04:05)

• Josh’s Reading Habits:

  • Wishes to be a more habitual nighttime reader, last engrossed by “Trees” by Percival Everett. Enjoys getting hooked by a good book.
  • “I'm always really excited when I have a book that I'm like, oh, I don't want to put this down…” (01:05, Josh)

• Jacques’s Background with Reading:

  • Not much of a pre-bed novel reader; prefers scripts, plays, and non-fiction research.
  • Childhood marked by mandatory summer book reports by his mom, leading to a lasting aversion to leisure reading (01:27–02:30).
  • “When I got old enough to say, like, leave me alone, then I was like, I'm never doing this again. I'm never reading for, like, leisure again because everybody else was outside playing and I'm in the house reading books.” (01:45, Jacques)

• Family Influences:

  • Josh’s wife and mom are voracious readers; his wife even works in publishing and “books straight to the dome three times a week.” (02:30)
  • Jacques’s mother is an avid reader who tried to instill that love.

• Admitting Attention Issues:

  • Jacques brings up attention challenges with reading novels but finds scripts intuitive due to their practical structure (03:04).

2. TV vs. Books — No Shame Anymore (03:53–05:41)

• Jacques laments the cultural stigma around TV being “less valuable” than reading and stresses the creativity and emotion in visual storytelling.

  • “We gotta stop looking down on people who enjoy television more than books…seeing human emotion and all these things is also just as valuable, in my opinion.” (04:05, Jacques)

• Both agree the “I don’t even own a TV” pseudo-intellectual phase should be over. TV, film, and stage offer their own forms of engagement and inspiration (04:47–05:41).

3. Live Theatre in Their Lives (05:41–07:44)

• Both hosts appreciate live theater, sharing experiences seeing “Hadestown,” “Groundhog Day: The Musical,” and “Chess.”
• Jacques hasn’t performed a play in over 13 years but has a yearning to return to the stage.
• “My soul needs it. I would love to do it back in Chicago.” (06:06, Jacques)

---

4. Spoon, Snore, Shove on the Floor: Sports Edition (07:44–13:49)

The Game’s Premise (07:44–08:16)

• "Spoon" = your comfort pick, "Snore" = long-term companionship, "Shove on the Floor" = cut from your life.

Jacques (Chicago Sports Fan):

• Follows: Bears (football), Bulls (basketball), Cubs (baseball).
• Shove on the Floor: Football (“I hope you land softly… I’m gonna go ahead and have to kick you out of the bed.” – 09:44)
• Spoon: Basketball—first sports love but now less attached due to fandom shifting from teams to individual stars (10:34).
• Snore: Baseball—“my love.” Recalls near-violent reactions to Cubs playoff heartbreak (“I almost punched my grandma over the Cubs.” – 10:38) and the deep feelings sports evoke.

Josh (Boston Sports Loyalist):

• Also chooses to Shove football (“much to everyone’s anger… A Patriots fan, of course…” – 12:05).
• Spoon: Baseball, for the daily rhythm and long season.
• Snore: Basketball, finds it enjoyable to play casually, though admits not playing baseball much recently.
• Both hosts reflect on the “parasocial” relationships fans form with teams and the difference between football (less player visibility) and other sports (12:47–13:11).

---

5. Sports Fandom Pet Peeves & Loyalty (13:49–16:44)

• Team Hopping:

  • Both disdain fans who “trade up” when moving cities, especially abandoning long-time loyalties for famed franchises like the Lakers or Yankees.

• Notable Quote — Jacques:

  • “I think Dodger fans, Yankees fans, Lakers fans, and Knicks fans are the worst fans in sports. And throw in the Cowboys in there too. … Can't stand them.” (14:53)

• Knicks Fans:

  • Josh finds their emotional volatility oddly endearing, recalling moments from his time on “Desus and Mero” (15:23).
  • Jacques: “Knicks fans are funny… Like always think, like, we gonna do it this year. But like, they're not as worse. They're in the bottom of the worst.” (16:00)

• Legendary Quote/Moment (Kristaps Porziņģis draft):

  • Jacques retells the “Tingus Pingus” viral Knicks fan rant:
    • “Who is Tingus Pingus? What did you do?” (16:44, Jacques)
    • Both agree the fan’s outrage achieves comedic genius.

---

6. Spoon, Snore, Shove on the Floor: Mario Edition (17:26–19:58)

Choices:

• Super Smash Brothers, Mario Party, Mario Kart.

Josh:

• Shove: Mario Party — “I just kind of missed it, maybe. I wasn’t playing a lot of video games.” (17:37)
• Spoon: Super Smash Brothers — loves the fighting game, especially with friends.
• Snore: Mario Kart — “that’s great with other people, but it’s also very fun and kind of relaxing to play alone. … a nice meditative video game experience.” (17:53)

Jacques:

• Admits not being a “Nintendo kid”—more of a sports game and GoldenEye player (18:27).
• Shove: Mario Kart — finds it fun but ultimately “more annoyed with” the item-throwing dynamic.
• Spoon: Super Smash Brothers — likes fighting games.
• Snore: Mario Party — appreciates party mini-games in groups, “that’s gonna be my boo that I take to every Mario party.” (19:58)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On reading and TV:
  “The creativity and the effort and the work that goes into film and…seeing human emotion…is also just as valuable…as people who read in a book.” (04:05, Jacques)

• On sports heartbreak:
  “I almost punched my grandma over the Cubs. Oh my gosh. Not really. Like it was 2003 and the famous Steve Bartman incident…” (10:38, Jacques)

• On sports fandom loyalty:
  “I cannot stand it. Especially people who…actually are a fan of the team from your city. Like, have some loyalty.” (14:13, Jacques)

• On Knicks fans’ comic frustration:
  “Who is Tingus Pingus? What did you do?” (16:44, Jacques about viral Knicks draft reaction)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Nighttime Reading Rituals: 00:30–04:05
• TV vs. Books: 03:53–05:41
• Live Theatre: 05:41–07:44
• Spoon, Snore, Shove (Sports): 07:44–13:49
• Fandom Pet Peeves: 13:49–16:44
• Knicks Fans/Laughter: 16:44–17:17
• Spoon, Snore, Shove (Mario): 17:26–19:58

---

Tone and Style

True to the show’s “pillow fort” vibe, the chat is friendly, laid-back, and laced with pop culture references, personal anecdotes, and candid confidences. The banter alternates between gentle teasing and heartfelt sharing, perfectly suited for late-night unwinding.

---

In summary:
This episode invites you into an affectionate and funny night-time conversation about the joys—and occasional frustrations—of favorite books, sports allegiances, and Mario games. It’s a pop culture slumber party with plenty of nostalgia, relatable rants, and endearing vulnerability about the little things that keep us up at night.

Transcript

[A]

Hello.

[B]

You're about to drift into an episode of the Nightly, a podcast designed to help you unwind and relax. For the full phone free immersive light experience. Visit Hatch Co. Enjoy.

[A]

Good evening, everyone. Josh. I'm Josh.

[C]

And I'm Jacques. Welcome to the Nightly on Hatch, a slumber party for pop culture lovers. Lovers everywhere. How we doing? How we doing, Josh?

[A]

I'm feeling good, thanks. How are you tonight?

[C]

I'm doing great. I'm doing great. It's a beautiful night here in a pillow fort. It's cozy, it's warm, but just cool enough. Are you a nighttime reader?

[A]

I wish I were more of a nighttime reader.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I love to read at night, but I'm like, not in the habit lately. And I always feel happier when I am. I'm always really excited when I have a book that I'm like, oh, I don't want to put this down. I think the last time I really had that was, like, last summer I read Trees by Percival Everett, who wrote Erasure, which was the basis for American Fiction, the movie with Jeffrey Wright. What about you?

[C]

No, I don't. I don't read before bed. I'm not much of a reader as it comes to books. I'll read a script, sure. I like to be well read as far as doing, like, research and trying to learn about things that I'm interested in or things that I don't know about and stuff like that. But I'm not like a novel reader. Yeah, I used to be. And then I think, like, while I was in school a lot, my mom would always make me do, like, two book reports in the summer. So I would have to read a book and then do a book report for her. For her. Yeah. And when I got old enough to say, like, leave me alone, then I was like, I'm never doing this again. I'm never reading for, like, leisure again because everybody else was outside playing and I'm in the house reading books. And like, she's an avid reader, so, like, she tried to instill that in me, but it didn't take. Didn't take.

[A]

My wife is, like a huge. And she works in books, so she's always, like, every week she will read at least one book, sometimes two, and then listen to another book as an audiobook while she's, like, doing, you know, doing stuff around the house or walking the dog. And so she's like. She just books straight to the dome three times a week. And so I feel like, well, I'll never catch up with that. And my mom also a reader, and she's been in the same book club for, like, 25 years.

[C]

That's nice.

[A]

It's really sweet.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. I also just. I. I'm not going to diagnose myself because I've never been diagnosed, but I do have attention problems when it comes to, like, reading. And eventually my eyes just start to, like, blur and I get bored. But not with scripts. Like, I can read a script, like, for. Or play. I can read play, but, like, that's set up in dialogue, so that is better for my brain.

[A]

Reading a script. Script is, like, so intuitive because. Right. Because, like, the way that it looks on the page is not always, like, an artistic choice. It's, like a practical choice. You know what I mean? Or when you read a novel, you're like, oh, this is exactly how the writer wants the reader to see it. Or with the script, it's like, it has to be broken up in certain ways so that people understand it for production purposes.

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. Unpopular opinion, probably. But I think we gotta stop, like, looking down on people who enjoy television more than books.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, this notion that, like, they are not as educated or anything. I'm like, I have degrees. I'm doing okay from an intellectual and, like, personal standpoint. And, like, the creativity and the effort and the work that goes into film and, like, enjoying that and picking up on that and, like, seeing human emotion and all these things is also just as valuable, in my opinion, as people who read in a book. And, like, I will never, like, bag on someone who, like, I just read books. But, like, I do think it is interesting when people say, like, I don't.

[A]

Watch TV at all. I was gonna say, I'm glad we've gotten away. It feels like, a little bit from the. Like, I don't even own a tv as kind of like a hipster badge of honor or, like a pseudo intellectual thing. Because, like, of course it's great to read books, and there's lots of wonderful books, and it, like, stimulates your mind in certain ways or whatever. But it's like, what do you mean you don't own a tv? Everything happens on tv.

[C]

Yeah, man. Watch tv, bro. Watch tv. Go watch a story.

[A]

You're gonna love it.

[C]

You're gonna love it.

[A]

You should get a tv. And then I've got, like, a list of things that are gonna blow your mind. Yeah.

[C]

Or go to the theater. Like, the stage theater. I'm even saying, like, go watch a play or something. But, like, go see. Go see a craft at work, which is Just as valuable as the artistic expression of a person writing a book, I think.

[A]

I think it is just as valuable artistically. I think that's a great point.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you go see a lot of live theater in la? I know you're, like, always at live performances and doing live performances, but, like, I have playwright friends that live on the west coast and they, like, really invest in the theater scene there, which I think is so cool.

[C]

Yeah. I would really love to, like, do another show really soon. It's been over 13 years since I've done, like, an actual play.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[C]

My soul needs it. I would love to do it back in Chicago. So if anybody on the Hash VI listening. That's in Chicago. Hit me up. But I do. I see maybe three shows a year, so not as much as I would have been when I was, like, in the theater world, living in Chicago and stuff like that. You know, I would see way more shows than that, but I'll see about three or so shows. I just saw Hadestown, which was really great. How about you?

[A]

We saw When Groundhog Day, when they turned that into a musical. We went to that.

[C]

That's funny.

[A]

And I was, like, very curious to see how they would stage the COMED special effects elements of it. And it was awesome. I really loved it. We similarly go. My wife and I will go see probably three of the bigger shows on Broadway a year, maybe one or two little ones. But we saw. The last one we went to see was Chess, the musical about US, Soviet Union, Cold War tensions as played out through international chess masters.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[A]

Yeah. The music was done by two of the members of ABBA, which. The music is great. It's like 1980s. Like, the United States and Russia are locked in these diplomatic tensions. And then that's kind of the backdrop for an American chess master and a Russian chess master. Like, in chess, conflict and romantic conflict and stuff. And it's like, it doesn't quite all connect in the way that you'd like, really want it to. But we had a good time. The lead performances were really good.

[C]

That's cool.

[A]

Well, let's take it easy a little bit tonight and play a little game of. We used to call it Kiss, Marry, Kill. But now on the Nightly. We call it Spoon, Snore, Shove on the Floor.

[C]

Love it.

[A]

Spoon is like who you'd like to snuggle with or which you'd like to snuggle with. Snore is who you want. Want snoring next to you for the rest of your life. And shove on the floor is. Get him out of there.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

All right. This is. I think this is a big one. Spoon, snore, shove on the floor. Football, baseball, basketball.

[C]

You know, that is a big one because those are the three sports that I watch. But, like, it's kind. It's going to be relatively easy, actually, for me. I do watch all sports. I am a Chicago fan. I'm a Chicago Bears fan, unfortunately. I am a Chicago Bulls fan, unfortunately. And I am a Chicago Cubs fan, depending on the year, but mostly unfortunately. But I grew up in a Michael Jordan era, so basketball was my first love as a sport.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

However, baseball has become.

[A]

And you play, right? You play baseball?

[C]

Well, I currently play baseball in adult rec league, fast pitch baseball. I am a Bears fan. I do love football. I do love the super bowl, but I also play baseball and basketball, so, like football as much as I love you. I'm gonna give you a kiss. I'll give you a kiss. I'll give you a kiss. You know what I'm saying? I'll rub your back for a little bit and I'm gonna go ahead and shove you on the floor, you know, Go ahead. I hope you land softly, you know, I hope I got carpet.

[A]

Yeah. Put down some blankets.

[C]

Maybe a sleeping bag of blankets. Yeah. You know, But I'm going to go ahead and have to kick you out of the bed. I am going to spoon basketball because while I do love basketball, still, I still play it as well. Basketball has become a little bit more of a sport for most people nowadays where you kind of follow stars instead of follow team. So, like, nobody is a Cleveland Cavaliers fan. They're a LeBron James fan. So when he left there, they became a Miami fan or they became a Lakers fan or things like that. And I don't love that about basketball fandom. And just there are so many debates in basketball that it gets on my nerves. Like the NBA fan gets on my nerves.

[A]

Yeah, I get it.

[C]

So, like, it's harder for me to attach to that every day. I'm a spoon basketball. And we can switch off. It could be the big spoon. I could be the little spoon. We could switch off, but we gonna spoon. And I'm a snore next to baseball. Baseball is my love. I love the beauty of it. I love playing it. I almost punched my grandma over the Cubs. Oh, my gosh. Not really. Not really. Like it was 2003 and the famous Steve Baartman incident, for anybody who doesn't remember that. And then we lost that nlcs and my grandma Came in, like, just laughing. Cause I was sitting in the dark in a single chair in front of my te, just sad. And she came in laughing. And I was like, listen, if you don't get the hell out of this room right now.

[A]

I had a baseball experience that same playoffs in 2003. It was my freshman year in college, and the Red Sox lost to the Yankees. There's that famous Aaron Boone home run.

[C]

The home run. Yeah.

[A]

Another Boston friend of mine. Cause I'm similar to you. I'm like Boston sports across the board and like, very loyal, despite not having lived there for a long time. And my friend Matt was like, you could see the steam coming out of his ears because you're hanging out with a bunch of Yankees fans. And I had to be like, hey, bud, let's take a walk. You are. You are perhaps too heated over this. And I'm right there with you. But we can't get in trouble over this.

[C]

Yeah, we can't get in trouble. We can't get in trouble. Yeah, I had to. I just had to be like, grandma, like, I need a. Like, give me a minute.

[A]

Yeah. So spoon basketball, snore baseball, Shove on the floor. Football, I'm very similar. Shove football on the floor. I grew up much to everyone's anger at me all the time. A Patriots fan. A Patriots fan, of course, which people don't like. They don't like that about you, but it's not at the top of the list for me. And I also think as big as 17 football games and, you know, plus or minus playoffs every year or I guess just plus. They don't take away the playoffs. I think there's something really beautiful about basketball and especially baseball where you're like, this is every night for six months. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. You live with them more.

[A]

You.

[C]

You almost become more parasocial with it. Like, you know, because you're like. And also with football, unlike basketball and unlike baseball, like, you don't see the players faces as readily and as easily as you do. So, like, you also attach to the players a lot more and their actual faces. Right. So. Yeah.

[A]

But I think personally I will spoon baseball, snore basketball, I think I play more like it's. I like to go out when it's warm enough. I would like to go and get some jump shots up in my neighborhood, like just, you know, to get outside and move around a little bit. And I have not played. Played baseball in a long time, but I do still love it. And like, this year's playoffs were incredible. Like, the World Series was unbelievable.

[C]

It was a good playoff. I'm sad how it ended because my cops didn't make it all the way. But it was a very good baseball, like, playoff for the fan.

[A]

I saw you were talking about. It was. You were talking about people who move to LA and then take up for the Dodgers over.

[C]

Stop. I hate it. I hate it.

[A]

I think that, like, gets my adrenaline going. Is especially people from Boston moving to New York and becoming Yankees fans or moving to LA and becoming Lakers fans. And I'm just like, oh, it was close. It's cool.

[C]

The LeBron's there. I. I cannot stand it. Especially people who I'm like, you actually are a fan of the team from your city. Like, have some loyalty. Like, who cares if you live close? Like, have some loyalty.

[A]

I don't think I'll get mad if. If someone moved to Kansas City and was like, hey, the Royals are where I live now. So I like the Royals, but it's specifically like teams that were rivals or teams that are just like national and global brands.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Yeah, it's like, it's. It's not like moving to Atlanta and going, I love the Hawks. It's like moving to Atlanta and going like, I'm a Coca Cola fan now.

[C]

Yeah, stop it. Stop. And at the risk. At the risk. And I know I'm from Chicago, but at the risk of having people turn their hatch devices off. I think Dodger fans, Yankees fans, Lakers fans, and Knicks fans are the worst fans in sports. And throw in the Cowboys in there too. Cows, really bad fans and sports fans. I can't stand them.

[A]

I do have like a weird affection for Knicks fans because they, they suck. They're just like, emotions are so volatile. Like night to night where I used to. I worked for Desus and Mero and they. The Knicks, this is like 2021. The Knicks beat the Celtics in the first game of the season, double overtime. And they were like, the Knicks are back. Bing, bong. It's all happening. And then the Celtics went to the finals and the Knicks did not make the playoffs. And I was like, you just the ups and downs of Knicks fans are so volatile that I almost find it charming.

[C]

I mean, Knicks fans are funny. I will give them that. I think more with Nick fans. Like, a lot of those fans are entitled, but Nick fans are funny and they're just like, like always think, like, we gonna do it this year. But like, they're not as worse. They're in the bottom of the worst. There are other fans that are worse.

[A]

Yankees Fans truly feel like we deserve to win the World Series every year. And if we don't, then something is wrong with baseball.

[C]

Yeah. Like, and. And. And don't get me started. We could talk about this all night, but have you ever seen that video of when Kristaps Porzingis, who's a. Who got drafted to the New York Knicks when he came into the league years ago? And there's a video of a Knicks fan at the draft, mad, and he.

[A]

Was like, who is Tingus Pingus? What did you do?

[C]

And, like, Tingus Pingus all the time. Tingus Fingus is funny. The funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. He was so genuinely mad that it was charming.

[A]

Yeah, I. I love that. I do love that about Nick fans. Is that, like, they have, like, lizard blood, where it's like you're in the sun and your blood is boiling, and then you have to get under a rock and cool it down.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny.

[A]

It's so funny.

[C]

We've done enough sports. Let's do this one real quick.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

I got one for you as well. Do you wanna spoon, snore, or shove? Super Mario Brothers Mario Party or Mario Kart?

[A]

Okay, this is a great question. I was never a Big Mario Party person, so I think that's a quick shove on the floor.

[C]

That's the fighting one, right?

[A]

No, that's Smash Bros. The Fighting One. Mario Party is like a bunch of different little mini games, and it's made to be a party game. Yeah.

[C]

Okay. Okay, okay.

[A]

It was never really my. I just kind of missed it, maybe. I wasn't playing a lot of video games, and those are big. Smash Brothers and Mario Kart were huge for me when I was younger. And I think I am going to spoon Super Smash Brothers the Fighting One, because that's really fun with other people especially. And then I will snore Mario Kart because I feel like that's great with other people, but it's also very fun and kind of relaxing to play alone. And that's a nice meditative, a video game experience. What about you?

[C]

Okay, I. I'm gonna be real with you. I was never a real big Nintendo guy in general. And like, my friends, we were more like, let's get together and play Madden or NBA Live or 2K and stuff like that. Or like, GoldenEye back in the day, which is Nintendo. But, like, I never really grew up playing Mario. I kind of missed that. I wasn't hanging out with that group in college. And, you know, So I don't have an affinity to really, any of these. Oh, wow. But, like, just based on what I know my sensibilities are, I think Mario Kart I would probably shove on the floor because it's like, I have played all of these. Mario Kart is the hardest one for me because it's racing, it's fun, but it's also just like, okay, whatever. It's all like, people's like, all right, I'm gonna go get that little turtle and throw it at you. And I'm like, man, like, what? So, like, that one I get more annoyed with. I think I would spoon Super Smash Brothers because I do, like, a fighting game, and I think that's fun with, like, fun characters, so that's fun for me. And I am a party game fan, so, like, I do love, like, jackpot games or stuff like that. And so a bunch of mini games are fun for me, and I think I would have more fun with that as long as I'm in a group. So that's gonna be my boo that I take to every Mario party. Mario Party is who I'm gonna snore with.

[A]

I love it. Yeah. Well, this is great. I'm glad we got through both of these spoon, snore, shovel on the floor topics. I feel like we really got into it. I loved it.

[C]

We did. We did.

[A]

Oh, I am so sleepy tonight after this great conversation. So I think I'm gonna have to turn in. You know what, Josh?

[C]

Think it's time for me to do the same name. So I will bid to you Ado. Good night, Josh.

[A]

Good night, Jackies. Sam.

[B]

To learn more about our phone free light and audio experience, head to Hatch co. You can also follow us at HatchPodcasts.