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Julian Bezavali
The first thing I said when you walked in today was, I cannot believe what we just watched.
Patrick Hines
I know.
Julian Bezavali
This is mind boggling.
Patrick Hines
I hate him.
Julian Bezavali
I hate him.
Patrick Hines
I hate him.
Julian Bezavali
Not since Malice at the palace have I been so worked up.
Patrick Hines
And he knows it. I know, and he loves it. But I hate him. Hi.
Julian Bezavali
Julian Bezavali. Hello.
Patrick Hines
Patrick Hines.
Julian Bezavali
Hey, fam, do us a favor. Do yourself a favor. Go join the Facebook group. It is so freaking fun in there. We're at like 59,000 members or whatever the number is, and it's just like, it's really fun. We wanted to also details to follow. We don't have a lot to say in this yet, but we are also working on a Facebook alternative for those who are looking for another place to hang, more to come.
Patrick Hines
Yes, yes. We hear you. We see you. We agree. Yeah, we're doing it.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. But we're gonna keep the Facebook group. But there's more to come on, like, other places where we're gonna hang out with you. And also the book club. So we have over 400 people signed up for the book club.
Patrick Hines
I love the book club.
Julian Bezavali
Me too. If you wanna join the book club, go to the Facebook group. There's a pinned post where you just fill out a quick little Google form. Sasha will be in touch with you. You'll get all the details. But basically the book club meets once a month. This month they're doing the Damien Echols book After Death. Yep. And next month we're doing Zodiac.
Patrick Hines
Oh, wow.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. The Graysmith Zodiac. So there's lots of fun stuff going on in the TCO universe, right? Yes. What are we talking about today, girl?
Patrick Hines
Okay, we are talking about BS High. It's on hbo, Max.
Julian Bezavali
Every, like. I'm sorry, but just bs.
Patrick Hines
It's Bishop Sycamore, and it's like he knew what he was doing.
Julian Bezavali
I know, I know. This guy is the worst.
Patrick Hines
He's an insecure, insufferable man child, and.
Julian Bezavali
He'Ll tell you that over and over again.
Patrick Hines
He can't wait to tell you that.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
I hate him. He thinks he's great. He's the worst. And he, like, actually ruined lives 100%. And he's a danger to society.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
How this happens got a lot of.
Julian Bezavali
People scratching their head. Bishop Sycamore is not even a real high school. They did not have teachers.
Ben Ferry
We really was pretty much on our own.
Julian Bezavali
We didn't have any trainers.
Ben Ferry
People were sharing helmets.
Patrick Hines
It was disgusting. I was literally sick to my stomach.
Julian Bezavali
I can't believe this happened.
Ben Ferry
Again, my philosophy in business is do what the people who have the money do. Even if you don't have the money.
Julian Bezavali
Roy will tell you he's a liar. He knew what, what to say, how to say it. He's like, oh, man, you gotta let that go. I said, I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna let go. I'm gonna let go of his net after I grab it.
Ben Ferry
I think I'm the most honest liar that I know.
Julian Bezavali
How can you coach kids and you know it's not a school? Roy would tell people, you're gonna be playing in Alabama. He was just telling me a dream. Ohio was embarrassed by this. They called the thing explicitly a scam and then said they couldn't do a damn thing about it. We open, we're sitting down with coach Roy Johnson. He's the like, oh, he's not a coach. He's not a coach. The lower third says founder, COF Academy and BS High, which I'm going to laugh every time. He is getting ready for his interview, his big interview for this documentary, and he wants us to know he took a crash course in body language. He took a nut, but, like, he still wants to know what they want from his body language.
Patrick Hines
He thinks he's running the show and he's not. I know because Andrew the journalist is here. He wrote Friday Night Lies, the Bishop Sycamore Story.
Julian Bezavali
I don't want to spend too long on this, but the orange, bright blue eyes combo, it is so stunning to look at on this person. He has that dream orange hair. It's just such a beautiful color. And his eye, I was just like, whoa, whoa. Striking, like, absolutely striking.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. But he's also funny because he says Roy goes. Roy's loving every second of this.
Julian Bezavali
He says, Roy could absolutely be the next in a long line of people to fall on their own sword on a national scale. Because he talks too much in a documentary.
Patrick Hines
Because he talks too much in the documentary.
Julian Bezavali
I know, Andrew, girl, that's how we make our living. So don't go too high.
Patrick Hines
And I just love. I love that. Like, I'm like, finally someone said it totally. Because we're at the point in documentary content now where we're very self aware about the perpetrator, the this, the that, and Andrew's clock. This guy, I mean, he literally wrote the book on the guy.
Julian Bezavali
He did. He's been following this guy from the beginning, like, before anybody else. We're going to learn later at the press day for this, like, bullshit school. The guy opens Andrew's the only one to show up. So Andrew's had this guy's number for a long time. Andrew is thrilled that this documentary is getting made. He's like, finally the being told, yes.
Patrick Hines
And also now Roy is talking in the third person. We have. This hasn't happened to me in a long time. Having to deal with someone who speaks about themselves in the third person only go worse.
Julian Bezavali
GP if. What would happen if he got in an elevator? Like, what's the sin he could commit there?
Patrick Hines
Oh, he'd say, if it takes a lot of stops, you'd be like, looks like we're on the local. It's so harmless.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
There are better jokes to me.
Julian Bezavali
Finally.
Patrick Hines
You must make a joke in an elevator.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. Finally, as he's getting like, on a break, as he's getting up to walk to lunch, what's he doing as he's walking away whistling.
Patrick Hines
The worst. And he knows I hate it. So he's loud and like, literally in my ear.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. Yeah.
Patrick Hines
I don't understand, but I'll never. I'll never understand people who make being an their entire personality.
Julian Bezavali
The thing about it, he thinks he's charming. He does that. I took a storytelling class once where they said, if you ever get stuck in a storytelling situation, just admit to something. Just admit to something and then like, the audience will be with you. He thinks that it by admitting to being a bad guy over and over and over again, admitting to being a liar, that we're on his side. He thinks we're charmed by him.
Patrick Hines
And then I'm here to say we most certainly are not. But he also didn't do anything wrong.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
So he's a liar. And he'll say, I lie about absolutely everything. But that's a quote. I lie about everything. But then he'll be like, I didn't do anything wrong. I saved these kids lives.
Julian Bezavali
You know who agrees with him? The justice system. And that is like the most infuriating thing about this whole thing.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. So the question is, like, who is Roy Johnson and what's his connection to football?
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Ben Ferry
I tried to walk on at Ohio State. That didn't work out. Then I ended up getting an internship with the New York Jets. And when I got that and got to around Coach Belichick, Bill Parcells, Leon Hess, I wanted to be a gm. Like, I wanted to be a general manager. I was fascinated with that.
Julian Bezavali
The hell does that mean? Can we remember there is a gay person in the booth.
Patrick Hines
Well, I got you back.
Julian Bezavali
Okay, like, what does it mean? To walk on.
Patrick Hines
It's a player who's not recruited or doesn't have any backing or support. So it's basically just going to an open call audition.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, go. Thank you so much.
Patrick Hines
You just like walk into Ripley Greer, try to get on the non necklace.
Julian Bezavali
Got it. Okay, great.
Patrick Hines
That's what a walk on this.
Julian Bezavali
You sign in, you go to the Howard Johnson's for breakfast, you get yourself a dunke, you come back, I got it.
Patrick Hines
And then you fight over, are they taking the non necklace? What number are you? What number did it start?
Julian Bezavali
Right. Oh, my God.
Patrick Hines
It's like. Oh, yeah. It's like open tryouts without anyone support, without having like a school backing you or any money behind you.
Julian Bezavali
But that didn't work.
Patrick Hines
Of course it didn't work. And then. But he claims he was an intern for the New York Jets.
Julian Bezavali
I promise you actors, you're going to. It's going to happen for you. We're not talking about it's going to happen. You're going to get that part in Wicked. It's going to happen.
Patrick Hines
That's fine, right?
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, that's good.
Patrick Hines
Congratulations.
Julian Bezavali
Great. Yep.
Patrick Hines
I'll buy you flowers opening night.
Julian Bezavali
Totally travel down the road.
Patrick Hines
Back again, girl.
Julian Bezavali
Quip is back. We got to talk about this new Quip360 girl.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, it's the new Quip360 oscillating toothbrush. It literally revolves around you.
Julian Bezavali
Can I tell you, I never used to, like, look forward to brushing my teeth. It's such a chore. But now with this oscillating 360 toothbrush, it's a whole new experience. It feels very like the fancy dentist toothbrush. And it, like, massages your mouth.
Patrick Hines
And sometimes I'm like, I don't need to overcomplicate something that I'm already not really interested.
Julian Bezavali
Totally.
Patrick Hines
But the Quip 360 is a bold, simple design. It comes in multiple colors. It's super quiet.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
It's not annoying. It doesn't feel like this machine in your mouth. No.
Julian Bezavali
It's very quiet. It's also accepted by the American Dental Association.
Patrick Hines
Ooh. Kevin McAllister will be happy about that. Remember when he asked in Home Alone?
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
And if you don't absolutely love your Quip360, return it for free within 30 days so you can use it. Really? See if you get a feel of it.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. But also if you do love it, brush easy knowing you get a free lifetime warranty for purchasing on getquip q u I p.com and the opportunity to subscribe to refill heads by mail every three months so you never have to go to the store.
Patrick Hines
Oh, I didn't even think of that.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
Going to the store. No, thank you.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
Roy he wants to be the guy in charge and he's like, amazed at all these, like, old white guys controlling the young, talented, mostly black athletes. And he's like, I want to do that.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
I mean, that's what he says.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And we'll get into the race of it all later because he is a black man. And yes, he's abusing and taking advantage of young black men and kids.
Julian Bezavali
And the thing about it is, like, early in his career, he did well. When that walk on thing didn't work in Ohio, he went and got an internship with some big team in New York.
Patrick Hines
You have to remember that he's telling you this, right?
Julian Bezavali
Did not happen. I don't know, because he's, he's saying he was like, he was an internship with like, the New York jets or whatever.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
And like, and he's dropping all these names of people that he worked with that, like, really inspired. I believe that guy. I'm such an idiot.
Patrick Hines
I mean, the first thing I said to you.
Julian Bezavali
I know the first thing I said to you when you walked in was like, we got to get this guy off the streets. Because he's. I think that he could be. He can play charming and I'm the kind of person who would be charmed by a person.
Patrick Hines
I think once we learn about him, it's more than just like, it's not a scam or two here and there. I mean, he's, he's. I don't want to diagnose anyone, but he's at the very least a sociopath, maybe even a psychopath. Yeah, I mean, he's not. He's not.
Julian Bezavali
Okay, well, Another story that he tells us, sort of his, like, his origin story is his brother. His brother's name is Matt Johnson. And he, like, this is one of those stories that, like, his brother isn't in the documentary, which I think is so interesting.
Patrick Hines
Well, according to Roy, he made his brother successful, not his brother doing actual work and actually playing on the field.
Julian Bezavali
And what's interesting about this is that he's saying that he did. He recognized the talent in his brother at a young age.
Ben Ferry
I'm telling a little kid, undersized kid in New York, you want to play for Ohio State one day? Are you sure, Roy? Follow me. How many times I went to talk to teachers because they failed him. And then when he couldn't play football, I had to go beg teachers to get his grades up. So when my brother went to Ohio State, I saw that high school. Football changes lives.
Julian Bezavali
Roy somehow doesn't discuss whether or not he has any talent as a football player, but he just, like, has a talent for sort of like making things happen for other people.
Patrick Hines
He says he got his brother into.
Julian Bezavali
College, right into Ohio State, which is.
Patrick Hines
Where he wanted to go, remember, as a walk on. And it didn't happen. But he repeats that a lot. Like, he's always taking credit for his brother's success.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And he's telling us now that he was so inspired by his brother. Football changes lives. I want to be a part of that. I'm like, two seconds ago you were fawning all over the guys in power. This isn't about. You don't give a shit about. About young athletes. You only care about yourself.
Julian Bezavali
And that's his story, that's his pitch, I think, to investors, to anybody that like. And. But this is true. Football can change lives, you know, and that he wants to be a part of that system.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, but he's an asshole.
Julian Bezavali
He's an asshole. And he'd been working for a church, according to him. Now, I have to say, allegedly for everything I said.
Patrick Hines
It's a blanket. Allegedly.
Julian Bezavali
Blanket. Allegedly.
Patrick Hines
It's called BS High. No context clues. Dear listener, put it together.
Julian Bezavali
But he says he'd been working for this African Methodist Episcopal Church, doing projects, and they came to him with the idea of opening a school called Christians of Faith to get, like, to help young men get an education, to go to college. And so.
Patrick Hines
Which is cof. You'll hear that a lot. COF Academy. That's what that is.
Julian Bezavali
And Roy is saying, like, that's great, but the way that I know how to connect with young men Young students and how to get them into colleges through football. So I will open the school for you if you will let me attach a football program to it. According to Roy.
Patrick Hines
Right? That's his whole thing. And he's like, you know, I got my brother into college, so I'm perfect for this.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly.
Patrick Hines
So John Branham senior is here. He's the co founder of the CoF Academy, and he has a lot of experience, experience coaching, and he's super into this. And Roy says, well, I want to make this a Christian school powerhouse, and the best place to do it is Ohio. The one who got away.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Patrick Hines
Couldn't make it in Ohio. His brother made it in Ohio.
Julian Bezavali
My favorite part of the story is John says that, like, he and Roy became so obsessed with making the school happen. We talked about this. I mean, every single day. I mean, to two at night sometimes. And my wife is over there and.
Ben Ferry
She'S like, hey, man, look, just let.
Julian Bezavali
Me know you and Roy got something going on.
Ben Ferry
What's going on?
Julian Bezavali
Is it. Is it Roy or is it Regina? John's wife thinks that Roy and John are having an affair. She literally says it's either Roy or Regina.
Patrick Hines
Well, here's also where we learn that Roy is a terrible actor because they ask him about John Branham senior and he pretends he doesn't know who he is. He acts like he's never heard that name before. Now, I thought he was going to be like, oh, ha ha. I thought he was going to be a little wink, wink.
Julian Bezavali
He's my boyfriend. Just ask his wife, whatever.
Patrick Hines
But he's like. He's literally like, john, you said the J.
Julian Bezavali
How do you say that name?
Patrick Hines
I think we met like, once or twice and doesn't give the wink about it.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Patrick Hines
And it's like, oh, if that's how you operate, how did you do this?
Julian Bezavali
Right?
Patrick Hines
That's how you're scamming people. You're the worst actor in the world.
Julian Bezavali
There's also a moment later that feels staged, but also maybe not where he catches himself, like, calling, like, the kids that he was mentoring and tutoring and loving. Like, the little assholes, essentially.
Patrick Hines
Oh, I think he did that on purpose.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. But you can never tell with this guy.
Patrick Hines
He has to villainize it because he's the hero.
Julian Bezavali
Right?
Patrick Hines
So he needs to be like, they aren't grateful. They're like, they have to become the problem so he could sleep at night.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, we get a hot mic later.
Patrick Hines
Oh, yeah, that's my favor. So. But John, they Tell John. They're like, john, we asked him about you and he acted like he didn't know who you were. And he was like, oh, of course he did. Because I was there the whole time and I know the truth from the very beginning. So of course he's gonna distance himself from me.
Julian Bezavali
I mean, it's just crazy. We learned their plan for making the school happen. Tell me if this sounds just insane, cuz everyone's like, well, to make this school happen, it's gonna be years and years and like hundreds of millions of dollars and their plan is just to get people in the community to sign up for life insurance and when they die, leave some of that money to the school.
Patrick Hines
That makes no sense.
Julian Bezavali
Makes no sense. Like even I could come up with a way to raise money for than that. Yeah, you know what I mean?
Patrick Hines
I don't. I mean, I don't. I just don't.
Julian Bezavali
What? And he's talking about it like that's just what happens. Like that's just how you open a school.
Patrick Hines
That's how these people operate. Yeah, he just acts like that's normal.
Julian Bezavali
Because the truth of the matter is we're going to learn. And it took me too long to figure this out. He never had any intention of opening a school ever, because.
Patrick Hines
Okay, so it's in Ohio, right? And he has this rendering of like Disney World, only it's for high school athletes. Rooftop basketball courts, fishing ponds, two baseball fields, a track, a football field, gyms, pools.
Julian Bezavali
The pond specifically for fishing. I'm like, who's fishing?
Patrick Hines
I don't know.
Julian Bezavali
Are we a football school? Like, can we psi?
Patrick Hines
It's this like enormous state of the art facility, like hundreds of millions of dollars. It's like Disney World for football.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Patrick Hines
And it's like, oh, if you just sign over your life insurance policy.
Julian Bezavali
We've been so screwed by life insurance policies on this podcast. It's like, at least on the up and up, like, I just want you to take out a life insurance policy and die so I can get that fishing pond for the boys, 10 of.
Patrick Hines
Them, out on you. Like, what? So Roy is taking this rendering, which looks amazing.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, it does.
Patrick Hines
Because it's a figment of everyone's fucking imagination. It's not real. Right, but he's like promising kids the world. Yes, this is what we're going to have. And again, even if you did have the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to do that, that takes like five years to build. Yeah, but what he's saying to these kids who like want to go to college to play football tomorrow.
Julian Bezavali
Right. And to be clear, this is a high school to get you into college. That's what's going on here. So he's for those of us who aren't familiar with the system, but it's.
Patrick Hines
Just like this pretty drawing on a piece of paper and then going to the kids who like want to pack their bags and go to school tomorrow.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
Like it's, it's. Even if it's real, it doesn't take. You can't do that. So he's taking these kids to this like random gym.
Julian Bezavali
Hang on a second. Because this took such a left turn for me. Because right now in the documentary, this school is just a hypothetical. Like, it's not happening. It's like we gotta get 100 people to die first. You know what I mean?
Patrick Hines
I mean at least like $50 million to build that thing. I've never built Disney World, but I think it's expensive.
Julian Bezavali
Everyone in town has to take out a life insurance policy and then die.
Patrick Hines
Next year three times over.
Julian Bezavali
Right. But. So the school is just a hypothetical. But then all of a sudden I.
Ben Ferry
Up to Superkick indoor facility.
Julian Bezavali
There was a bus, like a tour bus with kids getting off the bus, coming to practice. And I'm sitting there like, what the hell? This is not what we were supposed to create.
Ben Ferry
I was gonna choke his ass.
Julian Bezavali
Roy has like a busload of kids that he's unloading into a soccer gym. And I'm like, wait, what?
Patrick Hines
Yeah, it's just some random gym. So he's taking this image.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Promising everyone the world and we'll get into how and why and what he's doing.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
But he is like, the scam is taking off.
Julian Bezavali
He's recruited the unbeknownst to his business partners and everybody, like the church that is supposedly involved in this with him. Unbeknownst to all of these people, he's recruited these kids from all across the country, got them on a bus and now they're working out at a soccer.
Patrick Hines
Gym that is not affiliated with this fictional facility that's never going to exist. It's just like a gym.
Julian Bezavali
And oh God, these kids are just like everyone. Everyone fell for it hook, line and sinker. It's so awful and sad. It's just the worst.
Patrick Hines
Except for Ben Ferry. So Ben Ferry is the investigator? Yes, he works Ohio High School Athletic Association. Ben is excellent at his job. He loves it. He's friends with the journalists.
Julian Bezavali
The little orange headed journalist. They went to college together.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, they're besties. And he's like, let me tell you something.
Julian Bezavali
I'm shipping them, okay? I want them to be together.
Patrick Hines
Did you just learn that word? And you want to use it? In a sense.
Julian Bezavali
But I want to ship the two nerds. I love it.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, they love each other.
Julian Bezavali
They're kissing.
Patrick Hines
Ben loves rules.
Julian Bezavali
Ben loves rules.
Patrick Hines
He loves details. He loves following rules. He loves when something is a little weird because then he's going to turn his whole life upside down figuring out why is that weird.
Julian Bezavali
Does it feel like Ben doesn't have a boss and he just gets to do whatever he wants?
Patrick Hines
I think Ben is so good. There's no one. He just.
Julian Bezavali
He doesn't need a boss.
Patrick Hines
Just whatever. However long it takes Ben. Because Andrew the journalist goes. He's like a puppy who finds something and then digs and digs and digs and digs. And I'm like, I know exactly what you mean by that.
Julian Bezavali
Sometimes it's on your brand new couch.
Patrick Hines
Or your brand new rug and suddenly there's fuzz everywhere.
Julian Bezavali
And you're like, there's nothing under there golden. It's just the floor that you're about to destroy.
Patrick Hines
Little blue pieces of plastic from the squeak that's everywhere. Do you have a safiona?
Julian Bezavali
Drop it.
Patrick Hines
She's like, what? I want the thing that's gonna choke me.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God.
Patrick Hines
And I' always have the thing.
Julian Bezavali
Always.
Patrick Hines
She can't have the thing that's controlled.
Julian Bezavali
No.
Patrick Hines
So Ben hears about Roy's school and is instantly obsessed with it. He clocks it. I mean, he's like, I'm sorry, what this thing? That's what this fake facility. But like, what?
Julian Bezavali
I have a note here. Oh, my God. Andrew and Ben are in a group chat and I want in. Yeah, they mentioned their group chat. I know that must be on fire.
Patrick Hines
I mean, I think it's just the two of them.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, it's just a text. Well, then I. Then I definitely want to become a group chat. I want into there. I went into their relationship.
Patrick Hines
Ben goes, roy taught me the depths of fraud. He's like, I didn't know how fucked up I. Not only a person could be, but, like, how screwed up the legal system actually is.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, yeah.
Patrick Hines
Until he started, this guy has been like, will be investigating this for years to come. Like, this isn't something I worked six months on because I was. It was like my hyper fixation. Yeah, Three years at least, right? By the time some major bad thing happens, Ben's like, hi, I've been here for Three years.
Julian Bezavali
Yes, yes. And it's just that thing where all these people who are really on the inside are watching it all happen and they can't believe that nobody cares.
Patrick Hines
Right.
Julian Bezavali
Because it's so obvious to them.
Patrick Hines
Right. And then like Andrew the journalist goes for media day. So it's that super kick, which is the indoor soccer training facility that Roya somehow convinced people to let him use.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And Andrew goes.
Julian Bezavali
And I get there and it's all just sort of like chaos. There's like kids running around, people with clipboards and stuff. But there wasn't any organization or anything and there was basically no other media there at all. It was pretty much just me and someone that they had hired to do video for them. There's like other people that look like they might be coaches but nobody's doing anything.
Patrick Hines
There's no structure holding clipboards if that's anything. But no order at all. Like when you're like TR training right to be an athlete, it's like, it's like choreography almost, you know, it's like everyone is like they're counting and there's numbers and they're being times like this. It should be a well oiled machine. And it was chaos down there, Tom.
Julian Bezavali
Even I like back in the day played on sports teams. Like I remember what practices are like, you know what I mean, for like the JV soccer team. Like this is meant to be a high school that's going to get you into a Division 1 college.
Patrick Hines
The best of the best.
Julian Bezavali
Yes. And I'm like, if I'm those clipboards.
Patrick Hines
With paper not even attached to it, right? Holding a clipboard is a prop.
Julian Bezavali
I mean it truly like if I'm these kids and I'm like away from my family now and I'm doing this like all of these kids are here to like better their lives, better their family's lives and like. But they're just like doing cartwheels and there's nothing to do, right?
Patrick Hines
But they're being told like, just hold tight. Like, yeah, I'm going to make all your dreams come true.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
Well, we don't need them anymore.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
Yeah. And they have this virtual try on so you can find your perfect frame shape with this virtual try on. They have like durable frames. They have sleek metal.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
And they have these collabs. They have like Disney princesses, they have Disney, Mickey and friends, the Met, Marvel, Star wars, NBA, NHL. And what lenses did you order? Because I know they have prescriptions including progressives and readers, blue light filtering, all this.
Julian Bezavali
Okay. Grandpa had to order his progressives. It was so easy. I filled in my prescription on the website. It's all part of the first order that you do. It takes two minutes.
Patrick Hines
They have it all is what you're saying.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
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Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
I might get them. You know that's coming. Both my parents wear glasses, so this is imminent.
Julian Bezavali
I cannot wait.
Patrick Hines
So enter Mike and Anthony. They're videographers. Roy hired them for media day, which is like, okay, you want to get like B roll for your hype video. Like that part isn't shady that like you would want this to be filmed?
Julian Bezavali
No.
Patrick Hines
But if you had a real media day, everybody.
Julian Bezavali
The thing that like dear listener, as you go hence in life, as you go forward, as you move on from, from this episode, when things feel too good to be true, can we kind of decide that they probably are?
Patrick Hines
Yeah. Or when you walk in and say this is a shit show. Yeah. Because part two.
Julian Bezavali
Well, these media Guys, first of all, they take their meeting at Panera. Is there a better place to have a meeting? If so, I've never heard of that. Green tea, I don't know. But they do make the bread bowls.
Patrick Hines
For the chowder, like passion fruit, which I'm sure is filled with sugar and stuff I shouldn't eat, but God damn it, I love it.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, let yourself have the green tea every now and then. You know what I mean?
Patrick Hines
Like, I think I'm gonna get the green tea.
Julian Bezavali
Should we order it now while we're sitting here?
Patrick Hines
No, but you have to get it with no ice because then it comes in all water. It's like, what's the fucking point?
Julian Bezavali
Well, but this is the thing. They're at Panera, they get hired for the media day, but then they go back to Roy with a proposal.
Patrick Hines
It seemed like we were gonna kind.
Julian Bezavali
Of build, you know, you don't want to say the communications department of the school, but it kind of was that. Kind of be the creative directors of.
Patrick Hines
The school that's about to start. That's supposed to be an IMG Academy.
Julian Bezavali
Of Columbus, Ohio, to be like the media people at the school.
Patrick Hines
Because he pitches them. It's Disney World for football. It's amazing. So he's presenting himself as this guy with a shit ton of money in very deep pockets. So Mike and Anthony are like, okay, right, how about this?
Julian Bezavali
Hire us to be the literal creative directors of your new school.
Patrick Hines
And he's like, yes. And then he promises them the world. Netflix, hbo, name your price. Money's no obvious.
Julian Bezavali
Except they're sitting down with HBO right now. Sometimes he delivers.
Patrick Hines
Sometimes in that weird way. That's the thing, you never know.
Julian Bezavali
But these guys are both like. They go to the parking lot, they do the high five. Cuz they're like, we just closed the big. These are just videographer guys. And they just closed the biggest deal of their lives.
Patrick Hines
They like quoted Roy, like really high. He didn't even counter. He was. He just said yes. And they were like, fudgeing. Great.
Julian Bezavali
I made the note that went from zero to creative director pretty fast.
Patrick Hines
And they're like, great, perfect. This is incredible.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly. Seize the day now, as they say in news.
Patrick Hines
As they say in newsies, the movie the only newsies.
Julian Bezavali
Listen, it's the only time that we're ever going to be like, the movie's better than the show. You know what I mean?
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
But the movie is undeniably better than the show.
Patrick Hines
Undeniably.
Julian Bezavali
Undeniably. We. I mean, we've been over this ad nauseam.
Patrick Hines
Ad nauseam.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And I'll say it again. Now, we learned about IMG Academy and we're here with Bomani Jones. He's a sports journalist and TV host.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And he. The thing. IMG Academy is the real deal.
Julian Bezavali
Right?
Patrick Hines
It is a multimillion dollar facility. It is the stuff of legend. It does make people come true. It's the most famous school in the country for what they do. The best facilities, the best trainers. They're always top ranked. Kids are going into college. Kids are getting into the NFL like it's a high school, by the way, which stopped me in my tracks. I'm like, oh, shit.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
But, like, nothing about it feels like a high school. No, insane.
Ben Ferry
They are probably the most known school.
Julian Bezavali
In the country when it comes to athletics. They have the best facilities, the best schedule, the best trainers. Always one of the top ranked teams, gets kids to college, gets kids to the NFL. Nothing about IMG seems like a high school. It seems like a professional team.
Ben Ferry
Like, you look at the facilities they have, they're as good as any college or pro team.
Julian Bezavali
Imagine loving something that much at like 14, that you're like, I'm just gonna go do that.
Patrick Hines
It's unbelievable. And it's so top of the line.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
It really is like a state of the art facility.
Julian Bezavali
The only parallel to this is like, performing arts school. You know what I mean? I feel like there are football school, like, football high schools and performing arts high schools, and that's kind of it.
Patrick Hines
But the performing arts are never state of the art.
Julian Bezavali
I know, I know.
Patrick Hines
There's never any money for the music class.
Julian Bezavali
I'm thinking of, like, LaGuardia High School, like the Faith School, like down the.
Patrick Hines
Street from the 50s. Ripped. Oh, be careful, be careful, be careful.
Julian Bezavali
Use puzzle. Use puzzle. You gotta turn it back in.
Patrick Hines
Oh, my God.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God. God.
Patrick Hines
So. But IMG already exists. They are perfection across the board.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And there are a lot of other schools like this, but they're. None of them are, like, to the level of img.
Julian Bezavali
Can I just tell you, I keep chuckling because I keep. Like, eventually we're going to see these kids that go to, like, the not good school, playing this school, like, the best school in the world on espn.
Patrick Hines
It really is, like, very unsettling. And it should make yourself.
Julian Bezavali
But, like, to see the disparity of, like, what was promised versus, like, what. I mean, it is laughable.
Patrick Hines
It's laughable.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
But all of these schools, football comes first, the kids come second. Like, well being, mental health, that all takes a back seat to football.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And this is what Roy Johnson is trying to do. He wants, like, that's the thing. It's like, girl, it already exists.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
Like, you can't, like, win over img. They already have it.
Julian Bezavali
But, but the thing about it is that, like. Because what Ben, the investigator is saying is that what Roy, the bad guy here was trying to do was like, with COF Academy, their target demo was athletes who were good at football or thought they were good at football, but we're not going on to play at the next level. Be that because they didn't have the grades to get into college or didn't have the grades to academically qualify, or be that maybe they didn't have any offers to play at the next level.
Ben Ferry
But felt that they should.
Julian Bezavali
And that's really the dream that they sold them on, was, we will get you into a D1 school. This is the school for those kids. We're going to help them get their grades up. We're going to help them, like, they don't need the money necessarily. We're going to take them in and we're going to turn them into the same kind of student from img because.
Patrick Hines
They have the talent, but they don't have the opportunity or the money to go to img. This is all bullshit. What he's doing is preying on vulnerable families.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly. Yes.
Patrick Hines
With a lot of hope. Promising them the world, saying, I see you. Nobody else sees you, but I do. I know what you can do. You want to be with img. I'm going to be better than that because I see you and I respect you and I know what you can do on that field. Meanwhile, he's going to destroy their lives.
Julian Bezavali
Well, right, because we're back at the press day and John, the co founder of the school, is walking around telling anybody who listen, you understand there is no school. Yeah, there's no school. Like, I don't know what we're talking about. There is no school.
Patrick Hines
And no one listens to him. And he's like, fine, fucking fine. And leaves. And then he's like, that's probably about.
Julian Bezavali
How I would handle it.
Patrick Hines
Like, whatever. If no one is going to listen to me, I'm leaving. That's it. And people follow John. People do follow him. And now, because John, remember, was the one where Roy was like, I've never met that person. I've never heard that name before in my life.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And John was like, well, here's why. He's going to act like that because I saw right through him from the very beginning. And he took other people with him. So now it's like Roy and these teenage athletes and their parents. And that's it.
Julian Bezavali
And that's it.
Patrick Hines
And so there's like, no oversight with Roy.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, and also the church that was backing the school issues a statement saying they have no involvement with the school.
Patrick Hines
Now, remember, Roy claims he was working for the church. They approached him. He's like, yeah, sure, but you have to add football.
Julian Bezavali
And we have Ohio.
Patrick Hines
That's all.
Julian Bezavali
That's not what's happening at all.
Patrick Hines
They're like, we have no connection to this weird fake school.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
That has nothing to do with us. What is going on here? And I mean, keep our names out of your mouth.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly. And the fact that that must have either not made any news at all, or it was just a. Nobody sees it. Like. And I think the other thing too here is, like, the parents of these kids, all they want is for their kids to succeed. They just want the best for their kids. So, like, they're going to believe this guy if he's saying, I can't deliver this.
Patrick Hines
And what Ben, the investigator says is he's like, I didn't even consider that Roy was lying about the church. But when I realized he was lying about the church, that's when I realized, oh, there's nothing he won't lie about.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly.
Patrick Hines
And that's when Ben's like, I love this. I love my job. I love it.
Julian Bezavali
Take him down.
Patrick Hines
He loves him.
Julian Bezavali
So I get to be at the group chat with that. Yeah.
Patrick Hines
So, like, everyone leaves Roy, business partner, gone. All the associates, gone. The church, gone. And so Roy, when. When he's asked about, like, so why didn't you just end cof.
Julian Bezavali
Because the church that was backing you backed out. You have no money, you have no affiliation. Why didn't you just end it?
Patrick Hines
And he tries to say, like, well, won't someone think of the children? Which we know is bullshit. Yeah, but, like, you can. Here's the thing that I. It's like, oh, wait, I'm not a scammer. I keep forgetting. Like, I keep trying to put myself in this.
Julian Bezavali
It's.
Patrick Hines
I'm like, I know, I know. My therapist is like, julian, we talked about this for 45 minutes. Literally did before I got here. But, like, you can do right by the kids without lying to them. You know what I mean?
Julian Bezavali
Doing right by the kids would have been closing this school down and let it. Helping them find a school that could actually do what you're promising.
Patrick Hines
Right, but that's why he doesn't give a shit about the kids.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly.
Patrick Hines
So Roy is able to scam COF Academy into actually playing 11 football games.
Julian Bezavali
Like, they play the games and they're playing these games. They're traveling all over the country. They've got no money, they've got no financial backing. The church is pulled out. I'm like, how is this guy pulling this off? We're about to find out.
Patrick Hines
Well, he does a rebrand.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
He changes the name to Bishop Sycamore High. Bishop B. Sycamore S. B. S High.
Julian Bezavali
He did that on purpose.
Patrick Hines
100%.
Julian Bezavali
Right there in plain sight.
Patrick Hines
Yes.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. You can't convince me.
Julian Bezavali
Jasidi.
Patrick Hines
He thinks it's hilarious.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Patrick Hines
I hate him.
Julian Bezavali
I.
Patrick Hines
With my bare hands, I could strangle him.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
Like, I know. So me. It's so cruel. It's cruel.
Julian Bezavali
It really. And it just gets worse and worse and worse.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
But, like, they're playing these 11 games. They're flying all over the country. Like, how is he affording any of this, is my question.
Patrick Hines
And so this is where we start to meet these young athletes. Because they are talented.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
But they also come from what we're told, not great circumstances, and then promise the world. And the kids are victims in this. And we meet them all and they're all here, and they're super honest. And what they're all saying.
Ben Ferry
When he called my mom, he was telling her, oh, we supposed to be.
Julian Bezavali
Playing a big time school called img.
Ben Ferry
I took the phone, I was like, yo, IMG is dream school.
Julian Bezavali
I always wanted to play against him or play with them. So I went to learn to better myself and to play football, to get.
Ben Ferry
A scholarship to go D1.
Patrick Hines
All we wanted to do was work hard and make something of ourselves. We were given this opportunity. We were focused. We were ready. Like, this is where some of them felt like there was a family. Yes. The school and the team. And this opportunity meant everything to these guys. And they're like, oh, we're. We're like, potentially handed this. We're not screwing this up.
Julian Bezavali
And because Roy is doing that thing that, like, he's finding these players all over the country and he's flying them first class and he's taking them to fancy dinner. He's doing the things that. That is it. Bmi, bmg. Omg. Imf.
Patrick Hines
Img.
Julian Bezavali
You are G. Img.
Patrick Hines
Oh, my God.
Julian Bezavali
But he's doing all of those things that. That. That real school actually would have done. So they have no reason not to believe him, at least at this point.
Patrick Hines
So here, connect A to B here. Yeah, he's like, tagging them on Twitter and Insta. Out of the blue.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
He's literally recruiting kids off the street. Like, he'd see someone playing catch on the street and be like, hey, do I have an opportunity for you?
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And making all these promises, promises of scholarships. I'm going to make all your dreams come true. And, like, I heard you sneak in.
Julian Bezavali
The promises, promises reference.
Patrick Hines
Of course, our investigator friend is like, this is the golden ticket for these kids.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Maybe you're not great at school. Maybe you are, but you can't afford it. And what Roy is offering them is the dream. And then when the kids meet him, it looks real.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
It is the first class. You are like, you are in the fancy cars. There is a trace.
Julian Bezavali
He's showing them facilities that he doesn't actually own. He's taking them to schools that aren't real.
Patrick Hines
It's not like a cardboard box in the alleyway with this way to your dreams written on it in crayon.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. No, he's a good scammer.
Patrick Hines
Like, you're sitting in first class.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
These kids have never done that before.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly.
Patrick Hines
And also, like, this is a world they don't know about. So if something seems weird, I'm a fish out of water here. I'm an outsider here. This shouldn't make sense to me. Yeah, I've. I don't have this opportunity.
Julian Bezavali
And you don't want to question it. You just want to believe that it's real. You just want to believe that it's real.
Patrick Hines
And so Christy Ferguson is here. She's Trillian's mom. Trillian's the quarterback?
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And they told her the same thing. He's got Trillion. He's going to get set up. He's going to have an apartment. Everything's going to be taken care of. Mom, don't you worry about this kid.
Julian Bezavali
Trillion has two credits left to graduate high school.
Patrick Hines
I know.
Julian Bezavali
And that is going to come back to fudge him so bad.
Patrick Hines
And it's like, I hate that. How could you do this to these kids?
Julian Bezavali
So horrifying.
Patrick Hines
And it's not just the mental anguish, the financial anguish that, like, the physical anguish. It's horrifying. It is travel down the road.
Julian Bezavali
Back again, girl. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack sponsor.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. Okay, so they have tons of stuff, and we love them.
Julian Bezavali
All. We love them all.
Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
Yes. I gotta tell you, so I said this last time. The mint chocolate IQ bar is a staple in our house. Steve orders it by the box. I love the hydration mixes because I'm kind of a coffee in the morning person, but I make myself have a glass of water first.
Patrick Hines
Oh, yes. You're talking about the IQ mix.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, the IQ hydration mix. Yes.
Patrick Hines
That's a zero sugar drink that hydrates.
Julian Bezavali
It is a dare. Delicious. And it makes me want to drink water in the morning, which is honestly the last thing I ever want to do. Yeah.
Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
Well, can I talk about the ultimate sampler pack? Look, it's a great way to try all the IQ Bar products and flavors. You get seven IQ bars, four IQ Mix sticks, and four IQ Joe sticks. That's the coffee bar.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, that's the coffee. And all IQ Bar products are entirely free from gluten, dairy, soy GMOs, and artificial sweeteners.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. Can I throw some flavors at ya?
Patrick Hines
For what? The bars. I'll do the mixes. You do the bars. I'll do the mixes.
Julian Bezavali
All right, the bars. Mint chocolate chips, staple in my house. Chocolate sea salt, banana nut, toasted coconut chip, lemon blueberry, peanut butter chip. So many more. Yeah.
Patrick Hines
The IQ mix that Mike loves after his runs. Passion fruit pina colada. Lemon lime, peach, mango, blueberry, pomegranate.
Julian Bezavali
You gotta start your morning every day with a pina colada.
Patrick Hines
Of course.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
Text TCO to 64,000.
Patrick Hines
That's TCO to 64,000.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
Yes.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
Yes.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
Oh, I love that.
Julian Bezavali
I love it too.
Patrick Hines
Sample pack is all I'm saying.
Julian Bezavali
Girl. Haya is back. These are the vitamins for the kiddos and they are like another staple of our house.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, usually kids, vitamins are like candy in disguise. Yes, but no.
Julian Bezavali
I remember those from my youth, by the way. I was obsessed.
Patrick Hines
Of course.
Julian Bezavali
A bottle in a day.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, they have like all this sugar and unhealthy chemicals and these like gummy additives like come on.
Julian Bezavali
No. Well that's the whole reason why it was created as a superpower chewable vitamin. So they still taste good but you're not giving your kid a Snickers for a vitamin in the morning. Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Because high is made with zero sugar and zero gummy additives.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
However, it also tastes great and is good for picky eaters like one Daisy.
Julian Bezavali
I was going to say. We know who we talking about.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
Haya fills in the most common gaps in most children's diets to provide the full body nourishment our kids need with a yummy taste they love. Now it was when we added Haya to like the daily routine that we actually felt like decent parents. Cuz we really, really struggle with the healthy food with her though. We try. Haya is sort of the happy medium for us. Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Well it tastes like candy in disguise. It isn't candy in disguise but it tastes really good.
Julian Bezavali
It's really good. They also in the first order they send you a bottle with like stickers and Daisy got to decorate it so it like makes it personal to her. She feels like it's like her grownup thing that she does. Yeah, she loves it.
Patrick Hines
And then it's like her bottle. So you get this really cool bottle with your first order.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
You decorate it with all the stickers and then you get these eco friendly refills so it feels like the bottle's hers is what I'm saying. It's like her little routine.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
And so we've worked out a special deal with Haya for their best selling children's vitamin. Receive 50 off your first order 50 fam to claim this you must go to hiahealth.com tco this deal is not.
Julian Bezavali
Available on their regular website. Go to h I y a h E-A-L-T dash.com tco and get your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow into healthy adults.
Patrick Hines
And the stickers. Okay, the stickers I would love, I.
Julian Bezavali
Would be all over That I know. It's very cute. She loves it.
Patrick Hines
I still am.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
So when they ask the kids. Because we get like, we have, like, 10 of the players here.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And when they ask him, like, what kind of a coach was Roy? They can't answer.
Julian Bezavali
No.
Patrick Hines
If you ask him, he's an amazing coach.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Ben Ferry
I've done yelled, scream, motivate, pulled, tugged, hugged, made fun of kids, made fun of their situations.
Patrick Hines
And he basically continues to explain that he would verbally abuse these kids.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
He would make fun of them. He goes, I'd make fun of their situations. I'm like, I'm sorry, you. You would make fun of them?
Julian Bezavali
Exactly. And he's thinking. He's seeing it as motivation. Like, all that bullshit, the toxic masculinity bullshit that we know about.
Patrick Hines
Right. And I'm like, why? But why are you. Like, I just also don't subscribe to negative reinforcement. Like, it doesn't work on me. I don't believe in it. Like, with other in my life. I just don't do that.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And I just don't think it's healthy. If it works for you. Great. I think that's wrong.
Julian Bezavali
Sorry.
Patrick Hines
Well, so.
Julian Bezavali
But Ben also tells us, Ben, the investigators, like, look, to coach interscholastic activities in Ohio, you have to have what's called a pupil activity permit number one. It ensures that you're safe to be around. K requires a background.
Patrick Hines
You got to be vetted, but also.
Julian Bezavali
Just that you know what the hell you're doing. Roy doesn't have this permit.
Patrick Hines
Right. To be a coach.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Now let me ask you something, though. Like, did anyone else know that he needed one? Like, how many parents are demanding to see these permits? Like, Daisy goes to gymnastics, when you ask you for a piece of paper, not once. You just trust that if you're dropping her off at the gym or wherever.
Julian Bezavali
Chelsea peers, that these people are vetted. And. Yeah, but, like, I mean, it's every parent's worst nightmare. But, like, you kind of just assume that it's true.
Patrick Hines
But who's asking for this permit?
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
And Roy knew that.
Julian Bezavali
Right. And it's also like, I guess we're going to learn, too, that these regulations, that this, like, Ohio administration that oversees sport, it's all just like a handshake. Like, you agree to be in this association, it's not actually a law. Like, Roy will say 100 times, I never broke any laws, because otherwise he'd be in prison.
Patrick Hines
Right. You know, so not only was he not vetted or officially a Coach.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
But this guy has no idea what he's doing in terms of actually coaching football.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Ben Ferry
One of them stupid kids said, one of those young men that I like. Who they was like, we got it off Madden. I was like, well, one, I wasn't the offensive coordinator. So, no, I didn't get off Madden.
Patrick Hines
He was getting his plays from that video game, Madden.
Julian Bezavali
This is where the kids start to understand, like, oh, my God, what have we got ourselves into? And this guy has no idea what he's doing.
Patrick Hines
And then they're like, shit. Well, I asked my mom, my parents, if I could do it. Like, they feel trapped. And I'm sure he's berating them and telling them as much.
Julian Bezavali
Right. And so my big question this whole time is like, how is he feeding these kids? How is he putting them up? We learn. Ben tells us, as he digs into the case, he sees that Roy has unpaid tax liens, parking tickets, business loans.
Patrick Hines
He doesn' Anything ever, which is like.
Julian Bezavali
How do you get away with that?
Patrick Hines
He never remember the video guys that were going to be the creative directors. Over six months, they got paid 30 bucks.
Julian Bezavali
Yes. Yes. I go to bed every night afraid that I, like, missed $15 on my tax bill and I'm going to jail.
Patrick Hines
Oh, my God.
Julian Bezavali
This guy's got hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid tax bills and tax liens and, like. And he's not worried. He will say to the camera, I just didn't feel like paying it. I didn't think it was important. He doesn't care.
Patrick Hines
He doesn't give a shit. He doesn't care at all about anybody but himself.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And he thinks it's funny and cute and it's fucking not right. And it's the excuses never. That's the thing. It's like he owns it in one breath and makes excuses for it and the next. And that makes me crazy.
Julian Bezavali
Just like, acknowledging that you're a murderer, you're still a fucking murderer. You know what I mean?
Patrick Hines
She is, by the way. We'll get to that.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, yeah.
Patrick Hines
So Roy also has over 30 lawsuits against him.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And he's like, oh, really? That seems like a lot. Is that a lot? And it's all because they're all because he doesn't pay his bills.
Julian Bezavali
We get this story about, like, he takes the kids paintballing one day and he, like, gives the guy a. It's this guy's small business, the paintball guy. He gives a guy a fake credit card, then they skip out on the bill. The guy Tries to track him down for weeks. And Roy just doesn't pay it because he doesn't care. He doesn't think $300 is that much money. And the paintball guy is here in the documentary just to flip him two birds that say, it's actually $800, asshole.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
And anybody who's ever owned a small business can tell you that's a lot of money, of course.
Patrick Hines
And it's your whole day. Like, that could have been a day that paying customers could have been there.
Julian Bezavali
Just shows you everything you need to know. He's the kind of guy who, like, runs out on a bill at a.
Patrick Hines
Restaurant, tips $0, 100%, writes a stupid fucking note instead.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
But, like, this is also starting to affect the kids because he promised them the world, and part of that world is basic human needs, like being fed. Oh, he wasn't feeding them. This is abuse.
Julian Bezavali
Like, the food situation is insane. He tells these stories that, once again, he wants us to think is charming.
Ben Ferry
I will call a grocery store in the morning and say, hey, I need to order 25 rotisserie chickens. And they will order the 25 rotisserie chickens and cook them. And then I wouldn't pick them up. And then I would show up when the Deli closed, like, 6, 7 o'clock, because I knew at night they would mark them down to $2 a piece.
Julian Bezavali
Because he knows they would sell them for, like, $2. These kids are saying they're living on pizza and pasta. When they get that stuff. When they get it, we see pictures of the, quote, macaroni and cheese, like, slop that. No, the kids are not eating because the food is not edible.
Patrick Hines
They're sending photos to their moms.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. And they even.
Patrick Hines
There's video of them. There's like, cell phone footage because this happened, like, not that long ago. There's like, all the cell phone footage. They're complaining how hungry they are.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
So not only are they physically being worked to the bone, you need calories.
Julian Bezavali
Of course.
Patrick Hines
That's why, like, you hear, like, Michael Phelps, like, what he was eating when he was. They're growing.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
It's just abusive. And when you're not sleeping and you're not eating, like, this is disgusting. And also about the food. Now, these kids, remember, they were promised a better life. They had not great circumstances. Maybe a parent was in prison. Maybe this, which is what we were told, now these kids are being forced to steal TV dinners from Walmart because they're starving. I thought you were trying to give them A better life. Now you're gonna force them to steal dinner.
Julian Bezavali
They're like, they're all being 86 from Walmart, Walmart. Because they have to steal food for dinner. Come on.
Patrick Hines
You don't give a shit about these kids.
Julian Bezavali
It's unreal. And then, and then I'm like, where are they sleeping? Like, there's there. I can't. In my notes, 800 times. There's no school. The school is not real. There is no school.
Patrick Hines
Well, that's the other thing. There's also not a single teacher on staff. There's no education.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so the kids are all staying at these hotels. And he tells this story. Now, I worked at hotels for like 10 years, so I don't know how this is true, but he, he says.
Ben Ferry
They say, all right, if you need 10 to 15 rooms, you could pay it in either net 30, 60, or 90. So I was like, I can get this hotel room and pay it in 90 days.
Julian Bezavali
What would you think I was going to do?
Ben Ferry
They offered me credit and I took it.
Julian Bezavali
He would say the 90 day option, then not pay at all. Then they would get evicted and then they would just go do that at another hotel.
Patrick Hines
Right? That's over and over again, like across the country.
Julian Bezavali
You're just thinking, like, isn't the holiday in. In like the west side of town? Calling the holiday on the east side of town.
Patrick Hines
Well, then he'll go to La Quinta or some other one. La Quinta in its sweets or whatever.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God, it's like, I cannot believe this man is getting away with it.
Patrick Hines
What kind of life is it? I know, like, what is missing in him that this is feeding him in some way to constantly be on the run and lie and cheat and steal your way through life. Like, what is that?
Julian Bezavali
I know. Well, and the thing is, like, and now they're making a documentary about. This was the goal, this is the prize.
Patrick Hines
And on attention, you know, and now.
Julian Bezavali
We'Re talking about him. So now we're part of the problem.
Patrick Hines
Well, I'm not saying a nice word about them. So what about their education? What education? That's not provided to them at all. Wasn't a single teacher on staff. So BS High latches onto youth build. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God, you're right. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Patrick Hines
Exactly. So Roy latches onto this and claims to be the athletic arm of YouthBuild. Yes, because YouthBuild is a school for kids who either got in trouble in high school or they got kicked out or they didn't finish high school for whatever reason and they want to get a ged.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
So then Roy's like, that's me. I'm part of that. We're just the athletic arm of it. So it's all the same thing. Don't worry, mom, he's going to get the ged.
Julian Bezavali
But like this deal gets crushed in like weeks because now we running up bills and youth builds name. They're like, what the hell is going on here?
Patrick Hines
They can't do.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
They're getting phone calls like it's been 91 days, you need to pay us. And they're like, pay you for what?
Julian Bezavali
Pay you for what?
Patrick Hines
So he's just using writing their names on checks.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
With no affiliation.
Julian Bezavali
But what also is happening is that like, like think about these kids that are actually now like some of them in their sophomore, junior, senior years of high school that are getting no credit for that because they're not actually in school.
Patrick Hines
20, 19. 0 graduates. 20, 20. 0 graduates. 20, 21. 0 graduates. And the kids, it's like it's not on that. They were told to be taken care of. All the adults in the room are telling them that it's okay. They're 17 year old kids. It's not his responsibility.
Julian Bezavali
No, the talking head that says like they just thought the adults were on top of it. Like he's not good. Roy's not going to tell them like, oh, by the way, you're not going to graduate high school now. He's not telling them.
Patrick Hines
They also no one wants to call their mom and say, mom, I don't have to go to school anymore. Because that's kind of fun when you're 17 years old and you don't want your mom to take this opportunity away from you.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
And also, are they 17? I don't know. Some of them are like 20.
Julian Bezavali
Well and that's the whole like this is where it gets so confused, confusing because it's like, how are they playing? He will tell some people that he has no kids over the age of 19 on the team. But then he'll tell other kids that like, no, you, you're 20, come and play like that. That's no problem with like he's talking out of both sides of his mouth. There's like definitely a violent. He says at one point, like, well, where's the manual that says the age that these kids have to be?
Patrick Hines
There's a literal manual.
Julian Bezavali
They throw the manual down on the table.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
And like they say that you can be 19 years old and play high school football. The day that you turn 20, you are disqualified. You cannot play anymore.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. And Ben the investigator is like, I don't know how this happens because he's just making things up. He' Things exist that don't exist. Like, Roy is saying that this BS High is like a hybrid high school and post high school team, and that's not a thing. Not now, not ever will be. So he's inventing things out of thin air, and everyone's like, okay, cool. And then Roy is sitting here in front of the camera, like, rules are meaningless. They don't apply to him. But, like, things that are provably false, he's just like, there's no rule about that. Yes, there is.
Julian Bezavali
But people also keep saying, how is it that not one person was like, hey, we need to put a law in here to say that you can't make up a school? And the answer is very simple. Nobody thought anybody would make up a school who would do such a thing, because we never thought that you would need that. And people say it with a chuckle. And I'm like, okay, but can we make that law now, though? But we, like, but because it's like, there's no plan to actually make that law. Why can't we. We should make that law now that we know that we need it. You know what I mean?
Patrick Hines
Yeah, yeah. It's the same. I'm sorry. It's the same thing of. Of making it like, oh, it's a church. Have to Pay taxes.
Julian Bezavali
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Patrick Hines
Yeah. Okay. So if you're an employer who can relate to that? Y. I have one question for you.
Julian Bezavali
Lay it on me, girl.
Patrick Hines
Have you even tried ZipRecruiter?
Julian Bezavali
I have.
Patrick Hines
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Julian Bezavali
This very problem, and they solved, solved it for us. In fact, four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter like us, get a quality candidate within the first day. That was totally our experience.
Patrick Hines
And right now you can try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com TCO so fam.
Julian Bezavali
ZipRecruiter is the hiring site employers prefer the Most based on G2.
Patrick Hines
ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology works fast. To find top talent. So you're not wasting your time and you're not wasting your money.
Julian Bezavali
They literally send them directly to you. It's incredible.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. And if you see a candidate who'd be perfect for your job, you can use ZipRecruiter's pre written invite to apply message.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And then you personally reach out to your favorite candidates, and it helps everything go a little bit faster.
Julian Bezavali
It used to be so hard. Days and days spent reading resumes. No longer.
Patrick Hines
I don't know anything about that. I have ZipRecruiter in my life.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly. So relax, employers, and let Zip Recruiter speed up your hiring.
Patrick Hines
See for yourself. Just go to ZipRecruiter.com TCO right now to try it for free.
Julian Bezavali
That's the same price as a genuine smile from a stranger, a picture perfect sunset, or a cute dog running up to you and licking your hands.
Patrick Hines
I can tell you that because Fiona did that to me this morning.
Julian Bezavali
Oh.
Patrick Hines
Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com TCO ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire.
Julian Bezavali
We're a bunch of geniuses.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, well, Zip Recruiter is. So Joe Maimon's a matchmaker. Not the fun kind of matchmaker. No, but even a fun kind of matchmaker, being a matchmaker for relationships.
Julian Bezavali
Listen, I had a friend, we had a mutual friend who did a matchmaking service, and it didn't go great, but it was very rulesy. Did a matchmaking service.
Patrick Hines
Oh, wait. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Julian Bezavali
And the thing about these matchmakers making.
Patrick Hines
Services, they're crazy expensive.
Julian Bezavali
They're very. Oh, my God. He told me how much it was. It was out. It was out of control. It was insanely expensive. But he also. This very rulesy. Like, you're not allowed to kiss on the first date. Like, you are allowed to offer one hug at the end of the date.
Patrick Hines
Was this the Mormon matchmaking company?
Julian Bezavali
I know, I know. And I was like, oh, my God. And then you're not allowed to exchange numbers. You have to go back to the matchmaker and say, whether that's all for.
Patrick Hines
That's all to. To make it seem like, oh, you're really getting your money's worth. Just throw a bunch of rules at you. Hey, guess what? Did it work out?
Julian Bezavali
No.
Patrick Hines
Where's the ref for that?
Julian Bezavali
I know. And you.
Patrick Hines
That's. That would be my rule.
Julian Bezavali
Your. Your several thousand dollars only gets you six matches, by the way.
Patrick Hines
Oh, my God.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
And do you have a say? And if you want it. What if you're like, I wasn't really interested in that person. And they're like, yes, you were.
Julian Bezavali
Like, you have free will over, like, not going back out with the person.
Patrick Hines
I couldn't switch them if I wanted to.
Julian Bezavali
That's true. There's something about, like, you can give, like, your number one or number two, like, most important things, but you're not really allowed to give, like, looks. Like, you're not allowed to be like, I want somebody really tall. I want somebody really skinny or whatever. Like, you're not allowed to give that.
Patrick Hines
Which is just, like, that I care less about than.
Julian Bezavali
But I'm allowed to be attracted to the person.
Patrick Hines
But I think what the matchmaker would say if I'm trying to play devil's advocate, which I don't even know if I believe in any of this shit, but it's probably, like, you got to get out of your own way, because you might maybe if. I guess maybe if you're here talking to me. A matchmaker. Maybe you're stuck on all the wrong kind of details.
Julian Bezavali
A matchmaker, like, I just, like, is her life a musical? Like, that's what it seems like, you know?
Patrick Hines
That's not what Joe does.
Julian Bezavali
No.
Patrick Hines
Joe sets the schedule.
Julian Bezavali
Yes. I'm a matchmaker to the top teams in America in the world of high school football. Roy called me. We started talking. He told me, I want to assemble the best schedule in the history of high school football.
Patrick Hines
They didn't care about winning or losing. They just wanted to experience playing the.
Julian Bezavali
Best, play against good teams. That gives you good varsity film.
Patrick Hines
He's matching up teams to play against each other for the schedule.
Julian Bezavali
And that's what the schedule. I did not know what the schedule meant. Once again, a homosexual in the room. I was like, can we please dumb it down just a little bit? But I thought when I saw Joe, I was like, wait, do we actually have an adult in the room for a second?
Patrick Hines
Well, because even in the face of all this shit, Bishop Sycamore is still actually playing football against very real teams.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And so Joe put together the schedule, and he's like, I got to tell you, it was the best schedule I ever did. And I got something.
Julian Bezavali
Joe could not have been cheap because Joe is the one that has the relationships with all the teams, and he's putting the teams together. And the thing about who is on your schedule, you gain status if you're playing teams that are better than you, and you either play well or beat them. And that's what Rory is trying to do here.
Patrick Hines
And so what happens is that Bishop. Bishop Sycamore is scheduled to play IMG Academy.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
On espn.
Julian Bezavali
So, like, the IMG Academy you remember from earlier, they're like the real deal. They're the thing that they're the ultimate. And these kids that are. That are going to play them are not training. They don't have a real coach.
Patrick Hines
No. You know, so Roy is loving this because it's going to get attention.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
Everyone's going to watch the IMG game because everyone's obsessed with IMG and it's on espn. So the fact that Joe finagled this is kind of. I don't know how he did it or. But he fell for it, too.
Julian Bezavali
Well, one of the talking head says, like, exposure is only good if you have nothing to h. Otherwise, if you're not that good, exposure gets you exposed.
Patrick Hines
Because they asked at the beginning, are you a good con man?
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
And this is, to me, proof that he's not. Because he should stay under the radar a little bit. He shouldn't. You shouldn't want to be on espn. Even though he technically got away with so much of this stuff. Like, now he's a pariah.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
Like, if you were a really good con man, you'd be like, I don't want the ESPN game, man.
Julian Bezavali
Right. And it's like, I think either in his delusion, he thinks, like, my team might actually win this. And if we win, then everything that I've said is proven to be true.
Patrick Hines
And here's proof that he's not a coach.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Because the IMG game was on Sunday. Roy scheduled another game for the Friday before.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God.
Patrick Hines
You just don't do that. Is it illegal? No. But is it stupid and unhealthy and dangerous for the players? Absolutely.
Julian Bezavali
It's funny because everyone is saying, like, the reason you don't do this, especially, like, they're playing, like, the less good team on Friday. They're playing, like, the IMG team on Sunday. Your body can't take it. Somebody says, like, go ram yourself into a wall 100 times, then come back and ram yourself into another, much sturdier wall 100 times. 40, 48 hours later.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
Roy saying, show me the law. There's no law saying, I can't do it. Ben. The investigator says, there's no law saying you can't play football games within 48 hours of each other. There's no law saying you can't, you know, drive a nail into your leg. People just don't do it because it's Stupid and unhealthy. But people just don't do it because it's stupid, stupid and disastrous.
Patrick Hines
And Joey the matchmaker is like, I just want to make it totally clear. I did not know that Roy did that. He's like, he went behind my back.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Patrick Hines
If I was there, I would have talked him out of it. Like, it's really not good to do.
Julian Bezavali
And even the players know they shouldn't.
Patrick Hines
Be doing this, but this is what. This honestly should make your stomach hurt. It is so sad to watch because it's like you're watching abuse in real time because the equipment is literally falling off of them as they're playing. Their helmets, their helmets, I know, I know, are flying off of them.
Julian Bezavali
The quarterback's helmet is flying. Like, you hear the commentators being like, the helmet just came off again. Like, Jim, should the helmet be coming off like that?
Patrick Hines
Right? Like, Roy doesn't care if these kids get hurt, get paralyzed or die. He doesn't give a shit. He's so fucking smug. But now they're going to play IMG Academy on ESPN.
Julian Bezavali
You guys, it's August 29, 2021, and it is like, this is so bananas. And the players on espn, it is, this is it.
Patrick Hines
And now the players are like, this is it. Like, this is my chance. Everyone's going to see what I can do. And this proves that, like, yeah, we weren't being fed, but it has to be real. We're playing the best team ever on.
Julian Bezavali
Espn and they're talking about like the fact that it's on TV confers its own own sort of like regality. These kids are.
Patrick Hines
Their dreams will come true right now.
Julian Bezavali
Their dreams are coming true right now. This is the biggest day of any of their lives. This is their biggest opportunity. Cuz again, they're saying if we win.
Ben Ferry
Sponsors are different, Signing day is different. People congratulating us.
Patrick Hines
Fourth and one from inside its own 30. Bishop Sycamore will go for it.
Julian Bezavali
If you hear Roy Johnson, just be IMG Academy. Now my school automatically is a top school. Even if we lose, if one or two of us play, play really well, that could still end up in a scholarship for us right here.
Patrick Hines
The however, one major issue.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
BS High hasn't won a single game.
Julian Bezavali
In two years, like, ever. Like, not just like, not like they've been in existence for four years and they haven't won a game in two. They've never won a game.
Patrick Hines
So there's no way they're going to beat the best team in history according to Everyone in this documentary. So of course.
Julian Bezavali
And the thing about it is that, like, if you watching the clips of the game, you see the bodies in comparison. Right?
Patrick Hines
And like, this game never should have happened.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
For many reasons. But, like, once you were on the field, there were plenty of red flags. Flags that the other adults on the other team or on ESPN should have clocked. This because one of the players gets seriously hurt in the first 10 minutes.
Julian Bezavali
Yes, he tears his ACL.
Patrick Hines
It's major, major injury. But when that happens, it's in the first 10 minutes and he. He like limps over to the sidelines. They don't have any trainers or medical staff. Christie, who's Trillian's mother, the quarterback's mom is like, tending to this poor.
Julian Bezavali
And the staff at the game is like, where are your trainers? Where is your staff? And like, there are so many different times that this game should have been called off. Like when, like, I think that they buy. Buy, like, rul game needed to have trainers on the sidelines.
Patrick Hines
This game never should have happened. They also, number 54 who got hurt. He's not here with us today. He isn't officially on the roster that the officials were given. There were so many glaring, loud, screaming red flags and everyone just let these poor kids play.
Julian Bezavali
You can hear the commentators being like, what is happening? Like that. Like, at one point, Trillian gets hurt. He gets taken out of the game. Yeah, he's listed as a receiver or.
Patrick Hines
A defensive back right now, even listed as a quarterback. But we are seeing Isaiah Booker here. He is under pressure and gobbled up.
Julian Bezavali
The inherent danger right now.
Patrick Hines
That looked like a young man not prepared to face this kind of a defense.
Julian Bezavali
You can hear the commentators are nervous for this new guy. They're like, I don't even think he is a quarterback his size compared to the other team. Like, they are worried about it, but yet nobody calls the game off.
Patrick Hines
And like, you really, I mean, really just like, take care when watching it because I really upset me watching it. And like. But the thing that's so sad is that the kids are here saying, we continue to play because this is our big chance.
Julian Bezavali
Right?
Patrick Hines
Like, I don't want to throw it away and give up. The Games just started 10 minutes ago. I can't stop now. And Roy is encouraging them to keep playing.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly.
Patrick Hines
This can ruin your list. It's a miracle that no one got paralyzed or died.
Julian Bezavali
Right. If Trillian's mother wasn't there. So he tears his ACL at one point. He wants to get Back out there. Roy is saying, get back out there. He wants to get back out there. His mother happens to be there on the sidelines and she's the one saying, you're absolutely not there. She's there.
Patrick Hines
Quote, medical staff.
Julian Bezavali
Yes, exactly.
Patrick Hines
She's just like, oh, are you okay?
Julian Bezavali
But if she wasn't there, he would have gone back out and maybe like ruined his leg for the rest of his life.
Patrick Hines
Right now I'm sitting here screaming like, why didn't anyone do anything? And Ben the investigator is like, jillian, I tried.
Julian Bezavali
I.
Patrick Hines
He told major media outlets about this for three years. And he's like, it took this like medieval display on espn, like this fucking cruel torture for people to be like, whoa. But no one stopped the game. God forbid we stop a fucking football game.
Julian Bezavali
And the players come into the locker room. Is what you call it, I guess an intermission.
Patrick Hines
Yep.
Julian Bezavali
They go into the locker room, trending on Twitter and seeing my name, you know, it hurt.
Patrick Hines
Grown men tweeting, my son that he should go kill himself. He's never going to be shit.
Julian Bezavali
People are excoriating these guys on the.
Patrick Hines
Internet, telling them to go kill themselves.
Julian Bezavali
Like, like, obviously that behavior, there's no excuse for that behavior. That's horrible. But can you imagine being like a regular spectator watching this game on espn being like, what the fuck is going on here?
Patrick Hines
You know what I would say to the, to the world that has very much changed and no one has any compari. Passion for anyone anymore. Maybe it's not the 17 year old players fault or responsibility to stop the game. Maybe everyone else, maybe ESPN should say, hold on a second.
Julian Bezavali
Right?
Patrick Hines
Just me.
Julian Bezavali
I know, I know. I'm just trying to imagine the experience of like you're expecting like IMG versus some other great team and you're watching, you must be like, is this a joke?
Patrick Hines
Yeah, it's a, it's like a message. Like we're, we're only so horrified because we know the truth about what's happening.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
But it really does look like the fucking Bad News Bears. Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
I mean they all, like, all I'm trying to say is all these kids on the BS high school team look like what I look like in high school.
Patrick Hines
Right.
Julian Bezavali
And like, which was like not fit and in shape. And then the other team looks terrifying. They look like soldiers.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. It's really, it's the ultimate.
Julian Bezavali
It's like the drama club versus the football team.
Patrick Hines
It's like in every other. It's like in the Mighty Ducks when the, the mean Russian team is There. And you're like, oh, my God, What? How do I do this?
Julian Bezavali
But then. But at the same time, a lot of the kids on the BS team are, like, in their 20s.
Patrick Hines
You know what I mean? Like, this is just proof that, like, oh, we weren't being trained at all. He can't. He can't coach. He doesn't know shit. Shit.
Julian Bezavali
No. These kids almost died. They got away with their lives.
Patrick Hines
They lost 58 to 0. It's like.
Julian Bezavali
But the only. I know.
Patrick Hines
Only good thing maybe, is that, like, this horrifying display. Now everyone's like, hey, who's Roy?
Julian Bezavali
Right. Yeah.
Patrick Hines
How did this happen exactly?
Julian Bezavali
And we see. I mean, the Internet is blowing up. We're seeing, like, all the news coverage is like, what the hell is going on here?
Patrick Hines
And everyone's doing all the digging that our best friend Ben has been doing for three years. But, like, we're learning slowly but surely that this guy's been lying, cheating, and stealing his way through life.
Julian Bezavali
The hotel are coming out of the woodwork. In one hotel alone, he had a bill he didn't pay of $110,000.
Patrick Hines
Like. And what he would do is, whether it's the hotel or even, like, these little apartments.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
He would set up shop somewhere, get evicted immediately. Which meant Ben explains it. He would get evicted, like, the first day you could get evicted. Which means that he never paid a single penny. Not once.
Julian Bezavali
Exactly.
Patrick Hines
And it's like, you know how hard it is to get evicted?
Julian Bezavali
Oh, totally. And I mean, like, from a hotel. I mean, like, it's really hard to get people out. And Trillian's mother explains, once they get in the car, the.
Patrick Hines
The IMG and Bishop Sycamore game. Roy asked me to pick him up. He needed to go get a check. Which in my mind is like, okay, you're gonna go to the bank. He's like, no, let's stop over at Kinko's.
Julian Bezavali
I'm like, that's weird.
Patrick Hines
Cause that's just printing. And he told me in my ear when he did this that it was a hot check. He's making fake checks at Kinko's. Frank Abagnale, he is not at Kinko's.
Julian Bezavali
Don't you besmirch the name of Kinko's.
Patrick Hines
And knowing full well they're gonna bounce, knowing 100% ye. Also, this is really bad, too. He was putting this shit in the kids names.
Julian Bezavali
I know.
Patrick Hines
On paper, zy. Shawn Johnson is being evicted. That shit follows you around forever. He's destroying their credit and the Kids don't know. He's taking loans out in their names.
Julian Bezavali
PPP loans from COVID He's taking. He's. The parents come and drop the kids off. We get this horrifying story. The parents leave five minutes after the parents are at the door. He's putting paperwork in front of these kids, getting their full names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. He's taking out PPP loans in their names. These are loans meant for small businesses that were suffering during COVID He takes. Tells one kid in real time, did you know that you have, like, over $40,000 in PPP loans? Like, the kid had no idea.
Patrick Hines
Like, the document. Like, the filmmaker asked him, did you know about this?
Julian Bezavali
He's like, what, two people loans for over $20,000 that follows you around forever?
Patrick Hines
And, like, of course, this BS high wasn't free. You had to pay $12,000 to go there.
Julian Bezavali
Which is like, this is the first time we're hearing about any of this.
Patrick Hines
And so as we learned, the reason a lot of these kids were there in the first place is because they didn't have that kind of money. But never fear, because Roy was encouraging them, just take out a loan.
Julian Bezavali
And now we're learning the scam. This is where I'm like, what is he actually getting out of this?
Patrick Hines
Because he's like, it's not going to be fine because you're going to be a zillionaire anyway. What's 12 grand?
Julian Bezavali
It's an investment in you trillions mothers. Like, we're still getting invoices for, like, $150 a month from this Roy fucking guy. Right?
Patrick Hines
So Roy was getting these loans, getting the paperwork, stealing their Social Security numbers, taking out other loans in their names, which has to, please God, be illegal.
Julian Bezavali
Which I guess we'll never know, like, because he never gets prosecuted for that.
Patrick Hines
And now we're getting to like, oh, this person is a psychopath. Yeah. Going to go through this quickly, but he is harming other living creatures.
Julian Bezavali
There's five geese in a row. This man goes full speed.
Patrick Hines
And run.
Julian Bezavali
The geese over with no remorse. It ain't nothing like the smell of fresh blood in the morning.
Patrick Hines
This is what it's like to go to war. And, like, you should apply the smell of blood.
Julian Bezavali
Nothing like the smell of fresh blood in the morning, he says.
Patrick Hines
Torturing and killing animals. He also beats up a person on the street who was trying to, like, he claims, trying to break into Roy's car.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
He's, like, destroying this guy's bike. Like. Like, laughing and making Fun of him.
Julian Bezavali
Getting the.
Patrick Hines
Out of him.
Julian Bezavali
Players to beat this guy up to.
Patrick Hines
Get this man off the street.
Julian Bezavali
I know, he's.
Patrick Hines
He's. Now he's harming people. He's being violent. He's killing animals. Like, I'm sorry, how many documentaries have we done? Isn't this how it fudgeing stars?
Julian Bezavali
I know. Well, he literally says to the camera, by the way, there's a ton of anger and aggression in me.
Patrick Hines
Well, you know what? That's a good point. Let's talk about the domestic violence charge.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. Which we now learn about because Roy's.
Patrick Hines
Like, I've never once been viol. Now, one of the athletes confirms that this is a lie.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And he sits there and he says, I lived with Roy for four months. I saw him get violent with his girlfriend on a weekly basis. The verbal abuse was daily. And then he'd go laugh about it. The players, look at that bitch made me do.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. Yes.
Patrick Hines
So get him off the streets. He goes to court about this. We see him in court.
Julian Bezavali
We see him in court. He's. He has this on his record during that IMG game on espn.
Patrick Hines
The thing about the athletes is that they're all really suffering. They just want to go home. They're hungry, they're depressed, they're having thoughts of suicide, they're anxious, they're. They're dealing with some awful injuries, by.
Julian Bezavali
The way, because this was their shot. This was. They were told that this was going to be the thing that was going to turn their lives around, get them into a Division 1 college. This was going to be able to help their families. They had a bright future. And they're seeing that all of it is a lie.
Patrick Hines
And they're saying one of the kids is like, he's evil. He's just a monumental piece of shit. And they're all being really honest and vulnerable.
Julian Bezavali
Well, what's amazing is they're just really calling him out. And then, like, the camera zooms out and we see that the filmmakers are showing Roy all of this on an iPad.
Patrick Hines
And so some of these kids are crying.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Some of they're asking, like, how could you do this? They're saying, he's evil. Like, they're not just ranting and raving and talking shit. They're really opening up and being super, super vulnerable. Some of them is like, I don't think I've ever cried in front of someone before. Like, their lives are destroyed. Some of those injuries. I know the loans, like, these are things that will follow you around forever.
Julian Bezavali
But what's wild is Roy watches this on the iPad for like a minute, then he asks for a break, forgets to take his mic off, like a fucking idiot. Storms out, storms out.
Patrick Hines
Hot mic throws a tantrum.
Ben Ferry
So now that you're fucked up and you come in here, you need an opportunity.
Julian Bezavali
You get it?
Ben Ferry
Yeah, The ESPN shit messed. So that's why you didn't get it. All right, Pogi, I get it. But, Pogi, all I care about is self. If all I cared about myself, why did I spend all that money on clothes and food and flying them all over the place, sending them to camps, all this paying for attorneys and all that. I only care about myself.
Julian Bezavali
What else?
Ben Ferry
I wouldn't benefit from that. And you got scored on in img.
Patrick Hines
Why did I spend all that money doing everything I did for them? The hotels, the food? Excuse me, bro, you didn't pay for anything. You were practically on the run all around the country. These kids barely ate. What are you talking about? I know, but then I realized you can't reason with these people. Like, it's like running into a brick wall over and over again. You can't reason with them. So, like, I can't. Me can't get mad about it. I can be mad about it, but I can't change his mind. He's never gonna see what we see.
Julian Bezavali
Ever, ever, ever, ever.
Patrick Hines
And, like, I have to let go of that.
Julian Bezavali
Okay, well, we're doing some real work in 2025. I'm really working on ourselves.
Patrick Hines
But, like, I think I told you this, but there was a time where I was having a conversation with someone and it wasn't gonna go great. I thought it was gonn. And it didn't go very well, but it was kind of. It was like a clear the air kind of thing.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. And.
Patrick Hines
Or so I thought. It turned out to not be that the person had very different intentions, but I thought it was going to be like, let's. Oh, what a misunderstanding.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, so this.
Patrick Hines
But it was not that.
Julian Bezavali
It wasn't that.
Patrick Hines
I learned it the hard way. And so. But someone, they said something to me and I was like, oh, no. Now. I thought what I was going to show them on my phone, which I had with me would be like, oh, wow, what a misunderstanding. This person was like, oh, I said this. And I was like, well, actually, I have the. Pulled up my phone and showed the person exactly, exactly what they said. And that didn't work, you guys. It made them matter. So this is sort of what we're living in, right? Now when you're like, you said, you said that thing. No, here's what you actually said. And then it's like, well, it. Another thing. And I'm like, that's when I was like, oh, I'm not dealing with this person in reality.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah.
Patrick Hines
That's how I feel. Watching Roy, it's like, oh, you've created your own world and now you're gonna be mad at the 17 year old kid you starved for a week.
Julian Bezavali
So many similarities.
Patrick Hines
Like, we're not doing that.
Julian Bezavali
No, no, no, no.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, but what are these players supposed to do now, right? Like, where does this leave them? With a bunch of loans and a torn acl.
Julian Bezavali
Then Trillian, by some stroke of God, he gets this great opportunity. He gets recruited by Grambling State, which is a historically black college. And it turns out the coach, his guy, this guy named Hugh Jackson, he's a former head. I'm going to say some words that I don't know what they mean, but I'm going to string them together.
Patrick Hines
Say like you mean it.
Julian Bezavali
Former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns. Has a great reputation in the NFL for working with quarterbacks.
Patrick Hines
There you go.
Julian Bezavali
So I did it.
Patrick Hines
And Trillian's the quarterback.
Julian Bezavali
And Trillian's the quarterback. And this guy, this Hugh Jack, this Hugh Jackson, not Hugh Jackman, you know what I'm saying? Wasn't Hugh Jackman, which, much to my chagrin, Hugh Jackson really likes Trillian and really likes his style and really wants to work with him. And we see the moment where Trillian is offered a spot at the school. Like it's recorded on video and he's jumping up and down, he's crying. It's his second chance. And then it all gets taken away. I found out my grandmother offer got taken away because I went to Bishop Sycamore.
Patrick Hines
He basically said, you know that we are not gonna be able to enroll you in into Grandland because it wasn't even a real school.
Julian Bezavali
Because he didn't graduate high school because he was two credits away from graduating. Went to quote Bishop Sycamore, which is not a real thing.
Patrick Hines
Yeah, I know. I thought this is where my naivete came in because I was like, oh, this guy's going to save the day and recruit all of them. He's going to pull strings and just like kind of help them get back on their feet because they didn't know they weren't. This was all happening behind their back. And so I was like, I thought they were going to be A bunch of schools.
Julian Bezavali
How unlike you to assume a happy ending.
Patrick Hines
I thought that maybe because we have, like 15 minutes left. And I was like. I thought that maybe a bunch of schools were like, no.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
This cannot stand.
Julian Bezavali
We're going to pull out. We're going to be by all of their pools. Yes. You know. I know. Which is how it should have gone.
Patrick Hines
How it should have got. That's what they were told was going to happen.
Julian Bezavali
Truly.
Patrick Hines
And so I thought because these players didn't do anything wrong.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
That they were going to get the second chances. And we'll get. We got a lot of better than.
Julian Bezavali
To assume because people didn't do anything wrong. The good things are going to happen for anybody ever do that here in.
Patrick Hines
A weird state today.
Julian Bezavali
I guess.
Patrick Hines
But Bomani Jones is back and he's been with us throughout.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And he's a sports journalist and TV host. And he says he's like, we got to talk about the role of race in this.
Julian Bezavali
He really lays it out. And. And very concisely. It makes perfect sense what he says.
Patrick Hines
Because like we said, Roy is black. And almost all of these kids were black. I think all of them were. And he says, Roy did this to his people because that's who you can do it to. Black players are the commodity in athletics. They're the players everyone wants, but they're also the least respected people in the whole process.
Julian Bezavali
Right. Because what he's saying is that people who defend Roy are saying, he didn't do this knowingly. He would never do this to his own people, meaning other black people. And Bomani is saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This guy's sick. He did this to his own people because he knows those are the people. That situation proves that this is true.
Patrick Hines
Right. So I'm like, okay, are there going to be any repercussions for this piece of shit?
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God. Because you were. You're thinking everything that he did is legal. Like, how was the Holiday Inn not coming after him? How is. You know what I mean?
Patrick Hines
Domestic violence, perhaps?
Julian Bezavali
Exactly.
Patrick Hines
Abuse on the street. Like, not feeding children that are in your care. I know some of them are 22, but some of them were 17.
Julian Bezavali
Right. But, like, as it turns out, no, there's no. There's absolutely no repercussions to this.
Patrick Hines
Well, the Ohio is pretty embarrassed. As they should be, because this happened under their watch and the investigator told them about it years ago. No one gave a shit.
Julian Bezavali
Right.
Patrick Hines
So Mike DeWine is the governor of Ohio, and he finally launches an Investigation into Bishop Sycamore. And basically they just come up with this 79 page document telling us what we already know, that it's all a scam, Right? They use the word scam.
Julian Bezavali
They say it's a scam, but they also say it turns out there's no law that says you can't run a fake school.
Patrick Hines
And Bishop Sycamore registered as a religious school, leaving Ohio with no authority to regulate it.
Julian Bezavali
Right? So, like, there's literally, there's no oversight over this school that doesn't exist. And so also DeWine, the governor of Ohio, agreed to be in this documentary until this report. And he was like, you know what? Never mind.
Patrick Hines
It's all up there.
Julian Bezavali
Why isn't the Holiday Inn coming after this guy for the money? You know what I mean? Why isn't American Airlines coming after this guy?
Patrick Hines
I know, but, like, nothing happens. The school is allowed to continue.
Julian Bezavali
Why?
Patrick Hines
Keeps doing whatever the fuck he wants. And I'm just like, cue Jesse Pinkman. He can't keep getting away with it.
Julian Bezavali
It's just in the end, he's like, you didn't think this was going to end with me, like, leaving with my tail between my legs, Right?
Ben Ferry
Now we got a platform to raise funds. Talk about what happened, talk about what this program's about. But you thought Bishop's Sycamore was going anywhere. You thought the stories that we made, you thought the names that we called, this was going to go somewhere. You didn't think we were going to climb that tree. I can see it now, just the apologies.
Julian Bezavali
This documentary is going to blow up my profile. And no matter what any of you think, there's always going to be kids who are going to want to play for me.
Patrick Hines
And Balmani is back to say, and Andrew, the journalists are like, okay, Roy sucks. There's no question.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
But he's also a symptom of a bigger problem. Why are we making so much money off kids, right? Why are we promising them the world? Why are we sort of like, supporting the sports and not really the education? And then you could be the best trained athlete in the world and still something tragic can happen and your career could be over before it even starts. And then what?
Julian Bezavali
And I do think that one of the biggest problems and they address this sort of quickly is that, like, this system is built on not paying the players. This system is built on, like, that guy, the matchmaker. It's built on paying people like him. It's built on paying the universities to find people to find, like. And I do think Something changed in the last couple of years where now you can pay college level athletes, like, they can get endorsement deals. They can get stuff like that now. But like, that. That's the whole problem is that, like, these kids, mostly black kids, are just commodities that are not reaping any of the financial rewards of their. Of their gifts.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. And like that, like, IMG that academy, like, when you look at the footage, you're like, oh, this is a high school.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
I mean, state of the art facility.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
And so they're saying, like, we're exploiting athletes. We're monetizing kids. And if we hold Roy accountable, then we need to be honest about the culture of these young athletes.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
And how they're being used and just, like, sort of spit out when they're not good enough anymore, which can be at any moment.
Julian Bezavali
But we can't just let him off the hook. We do need to, like, hold him accountable.
Patrick Hines
So we get a lot of Updates now. So IMG Academy reported $79 million in revenue in 2020.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
Which is like. I mean, that's the button, right?
Julian Bezavali
Yeah.
Patrick Hines
So Roy Johnson's domestic abuse case ended with a plea deal admitting to the charge of, quote, menacing. He currently owes $300,000 in fines from cases associated with Bishop Sycamore and Christians of faith, which is basically the same thing. Rebrand. In December 2022, Roy was arrested for stealing from an Ohio Best Buy under the fake name Tristan Herschel. Hours after his release, he tweeted, we are coming back next year. A bigger schedule, more players, more TV exposure. We will never quit. We will never listen to anything you fools have to say.
Julian Bezavali
Oh.
Patrick Hines
In the spring of 2023, a private equity firm agreed to purchase IMG Academy for, guess what? 1.25 billion with a b. Dollars.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God.
Patrick Hines
And now we learn about the kids. I want to give updates on these kids.
Julian Bezavali
Okay.
Patrick Hines
Mario is an honor roll student at the University of Louisville, where he joined the football team as a walk on running back.
Julian Bezavali
Yes. He got. He auditioned in me. He got the part of a walk on.
Patrick Hines
Walk on. Props to Mario. Michi is also at the University of Louisville and is still chasing his dream of playing in the NFL. Isaiah works at a meat market in the Bronx, still searching for his next football opportunity. Zeishon. He's the one that there's, like, loans out in his name.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, yeah.
Patrick Hines
He quit football altogether and is considering becoming a f. Firefighter.
Julian Bezavali
Great.
Patrick Hines
Quincy gave up football and is focusing on college and starting his own business.
Julian Bezavali
Yes.
Patrick Hines
Quincy Mikos is In Florida, working for Pepsi while waiting for his next football opportunity. Pahoki volunteers at youth games while continuing to pursue his football dreams because he's seen it happen. So he's, like, working with the kids. Trillian is still training every day and hoping to attend an HBCU in 2023. And now the kicker, JD is rapping full time, recently releasing an album called Life After Bishop Sycamore. More. The song playing right now in the end credits is his song.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, my God.
Patrick Hines
It's called Back on Our bs.
Julian Bezavali
Oh.
Patrick Hines
And it's really good. And he's not holding back at all. So, like, while we're getting all of these updates, which was so many. Sorry, I just read so much on screen text. But that is the song.
Julian Bezavali
So he's like, so good, taking all.
Patrick Hines
Of his feelings and putting it into his music. And I love it. Also, Ben Ferry, he wrote Another article.
Julian Bezavali
In 2023 about Bishop Sycamore.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. Ben. The investigator Roy filed for bankruptcy in 2023. According to the paperwork, which had to be resubmitted due to errors Roy made, Johnson estimates he has 17 creditors to whom he owes money. But there are others that he has not listed that are, like, common knowledge. So this guy is just going to be chased around and, like, fucking fire.
Julian Bezavali
Fraud of it all. You know what I mean? Honestly, somebody finally makes that comparison at the end here because they're made.
Patrick Hines
They're, like, showing all the memes.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Patrick Hines
But it's like, he's. He's a danger if you ever come in contact. He's dangerous, he's violent. Like, get this guy off the street.
Julian Bezavali
It's like a picture of Billy McFarlane and Jerul being like. It's like the. The headmaster and the CEO of. Of BS Academy.
Patrick Hines
Oh, my. They actually fed them more than Fire Fraud did.
Julian Bezavali
Ja Rule.
Patrick Hines
It's Ja Rule as ever. That's an old joke. Everyone from Fire Fraud, get into it.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, girl. We did BS Academy. I mean, it's a great. It's a great title.
Patrick Hines
And now, you know, he totally did that on purpose.
Julian Bezavali
I mean, no question. 100%. 100%, fam. Join the Facebook group. Come make your friends. Come. You know, find the announcements and just be in the group. It's so fun.
Patrick Hines
There's so much be in the group. If you're not into Facebook anymore, don't you worry about that. We have your back. And all of the things about, like, where to sign up for Drag Bingo and the book club, that is all going to be on this new platform. We're just trying to get our act together. We're doing.
Julian Bezavali
But I want to be clear. We're keeping the Facebook group, but we are also offering an alternative. We're Sash. Our Facebook mod is on top of it, and we're so excited. I can't wait. What are we doing next? Girl?
Patrick Hines
We are doing. This is on Hulu. It's the Elizabeth Thomas story with Elizabeth Smart. So Elizabeth Smart sits down with Elizabeth Thomas, who survived being groomed and kidnapped. Okay, so these women are together, like, telling their stories. Very victim focused. But it's like Elizabeth Smart, who, if you don't know.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, I mean, I know.
Patrick Hines
Yeah. So it's like another.
Julian Bezavali
I think about her all the time. She was in the supermarket near her mother under that disguise and, like, couldn't, like, say, mom, I'm right here.
Patrick Hines
So it's these, like, two badass women telling their story, and we get the guy at the end. Thank God.
Julian Bezavali
Oh, great.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
Well, that's a good one.
Patrick Hines
Yeah.
Julian Bezavali
All right, well, stay tuned for the trailer for that family. We love you.
Patrick Hines
We love you.
Julian Bezavali
All right, bye.
Patrick Hines
Be careful out there.
Julian Bezavali
Yeah. Bye.
Patrick Hines
Bye. Sorry.
Julian Bezavali
A predator can come in all shapes and forms. It can be that teacher. The public looks at it as well. I can't believe he would do that.
Patrick Hines
It started with someone who I thought just cared about me, and then someone who started sexually abusing me.
Julian Bezavali
I ain't done nothing wrong.
Ben Ferry
Just because someone on face value looks like that, they're, you know, Mr. Clean, doesn't necessarily mean they are.
Julian Bezavali
I'm more free than I've ever been in my life.
Patrick Hines
Elizabeth Thomas has been missing for well over a week now. Investigators believe she was abducted by her former Murray county teacher, 50 year old Tad Cummins.
Ben Ferry
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. There was no doubt in my mind.
Patrick Hines
That they were together the first days of captivity. I was sexually assaulted multiple times a day.
Julian Bezavali
He's believed to be armed, and now his wife is asking him to come out of hiding.
Patrick Hines
Please do the right thing and turn yourself into the police and bring. Bring Beth home.
Ben Ferry
He took those guns. I mean, what's he going to do with the guns? Is it for protection, or does he have something else in mind?
Patrick Hines
I am headed to meet Elizabeth Thomas.
Julian Bezavali
I've been wanting to talk about my.
Patrick Hines
Story for a while, and I'm tired of being quiet about it.
True Crime Obsessed Podcast - Episode 413: "BS High" Summary
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Introduction
In episode 413 of True Crime Obsessed, host Julian Bezavali and co-host Patrick Hines delve deep into the harrowing story of BS High, a fraudulent high school athletic program depicted in the HBO documentary BS High. This episode dissects the intricate web spun by Roy Johnson, the mastermind behind Bishop Sycamore High, exploring how he exploited young athletes and their families under the guise of advancing their sports careers.
Unmasking Roy Johnson and Bishop Sycamore High
The episode opens with Julian and Patrick expressing their disdain for Roy Johnson, characterizing him as "the worst" and "a danger to society" (00:04). Johnson, who falsely posed as a high school coach, promised young athletes scholarships and elite training opportunities. However, Bishop Sycamore High was not a legitimate educational institution. As Julian notes, “Bishop Sycamore is not even a real high school. They did not have teachers” (00:39).
Operational Tactics and Deception
Roy Johnson employed deceptive practices to lure students and secure funding. He falsely claimed affiliations with reputable organizations like the African Methodist Episcopal Church and fabricated partnerships to legitimize his program. Julian highlights Johnson’s manipulative charm: “He thinks he's charming. He does that” (05:16). The hosts discuss how Johnson exploited the trust of vulnerable families, especially targeting African American athletes, promising them a pathway to Division 1 colleges and professional careers.
Financial Exploitation and Legal Troubles
Throughout the episode, Julian and Patrick expose Johnson's financial deceit. They reveal that Johnson accrued significant unpaid tax liens, parking tickets, and business loans by defrauding multiple entities. Patrick points out, “He never [paid his bills], which is like, you can't even remember the video guys that were going to be the creative directors. Over six months, they got paid 30 bucks” (40:32). Additionally, Johnson took out PPP loans using the students' personal information, leaving them with crippling debt. Julian emphasizes the severity of these actions: “He's taking out loans in their names. These are loans meant for small businesses that were suffering during COVID” (62:22).
Impact on Students and Families
The fraudulent activities had devastating effects on the students and their families. Promised scholarships and elite training turned into financial ruin and academic stagnation. Students were forced to steal food to survive, as they were not provided adequate nourishment by Johnson. Patrick reflects on the emotional toll: “These kids are here saying, we continue to play because this is our big chance” (31:34), underscoring the betrayal and loss of hope experienced by the athletes.
Investigation and Exposé
Ben Ferry, an investigator with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, plays a pivotal role in unraveling the scam. As Julian notes, “Ben tells us, I didn't even consider that Roy was lying about the church. But when I realized he was lying about the church, that's when I realized, oh, there's nothing he won't lie about” (27:49). Despite Ferry's efforts and revelations by journalist Andrew (from "Friday Night Lies"), systemic failures allowed Johnson to continue his deceit for years. The hosts critique the lack of regulatory oversight, questioning why no laws exist to prevent such scams: “Nobody thought anybody would make up a school who would do such a thing” (47:41).
Legal Repercussions and Public Outcry
The podcast outlines the legal consequences faced by Johnson, including a domestic abuse charge and multiple lawsuits. However, Julian and Patrick express frustration over the minimal repercussions: “He filed for bankruptcy in 2023. According to the paperwork… he has 17 creditors” (76:00). The public and affected families demand accountability, but systemic hurdles impede meaningful punishment. The hosts argue for stricter regulations to prevent future occurrences.
Broader Implications and Racial Exploitation
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the racial dynamics at play. Bomani Jones, a sports journalist featured in the documentary, articulates how Johnson specifically targeted Black athletes, treating them as commodities: “Roy did this to his people because that's who you can do it to” (70:15). Patrick and Julian emphasize the exploitation inherent in the system, highlighting how Black athletes are often undervalued and overexploited for their talents without fair compensation or support.
Conclusion and Call to Action
In wrapping up, Julian and Patrick reflect on the urgent need for accountability and systemic change to protect vulnerable youth from similar exploitation. They stress the importance of awareness and advocacy to dismantle the structures that enable such fraudulent schemes. Julian poignantly states, “A predator can come in all shapes and forms” (78:07), urging listeners to remain vigilant against potential predators in various guises.
Notable Quotes
Final Thoughts
Episode 413 of True Crime Obsessed masterfully unpacks the complexities of Roy Johnson’s deceitful operations with Bishop Sycamore High. Through detailed analysis, emotional testimonials, and critical insights, Julian and Patrick provide a comprehensive exploration of the dark intersection between athletics, exploitation, and systemic failure. This episode serves as a stark reminder of the importance of scrutiny and protection for vulnerable populations in educational and athletic settings.