World Cup Chaos & the Weight of Melanin - Ep. 48 (Bonus)

World Cup Chaos, Colonial Ghosts, and the Weight of Melanin

The fellas dive headfirst into World Cup madness — a suspicious red card reversal, questions of who really "counts" as French, and the quiet power of watching Black players from Texas to Sweden claim the pitch. From Azteca Stadium heartbreak to a deep cut on Belgium's colonial body count in the Congo, brotherhood meets the breakdown on identity, empire, and who gets to belong. Plus: Cabo vibes, a Gloucester sailing trip gone charmingly white, and three hours stuck on the Logan tarmac watching Mexico fall to the colonizers all over again.

Listen at your own risk of becoming woke.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I can't wait to see what you did, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Terry listened to it when he was in the pool, and I didn't even know he was listening to it. He's like, that shit was fire. What?

SPEAKER_03 0:15

We're brothers. We're happy and we're singing and we're colored.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Give me a high five. Alright, cut and print.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Beautiful guys. Dino Mike. That Welcome to Three for the Founders, where brotherhood meets the breakdown. We've been having these conversations for years, and now you are invited to join us. We'll say the things you are afraid to say and ask the questions you've always wanted to ask. Three brothers, all truth, no filters. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

That's that's probably it. Hey, Shuguko. It's a good way to be. Oh, salute. We look we're looking at something dark and frothy. This is this is some oats. You got some oats there, bro. Drinking some breakfast. I know there are certain things that are cliched, like, oh man, you haven't had pasta till you've had pasta in Rome. True. You haven't had Guinness till you've had a fresh pour in Ireland. Also true.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

I I believe that in all senses of the word, and I want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Oh, it's so viva! Viva Belgium! Viva Belgium!

SPEAKER_01 1:36

This is the only day in my life I'm gonna be. Why are you pro-Belgium? Go Belt because they played the United States. We're talking about why.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

You sound like uh Nelson Mandela when he was talking about living on Robin Island and how uh all of the prisoners would cheer for everybody who was playing the Springbox. He was like, I don't like you. I like that you're gonna beat us on the Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I was going to be a good one.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

I mean, I gotta admit until when?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

No, until until Trump reversed the dude with the red card and start cheating. I'm like, you know, ain't no cheating, ain't no cheating in World Cup soccer.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Wait, you're saying Trump reversed the dude with the red card?

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Ain't no cheating in World Cup soccer. Where do we start with that sentence?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Oh, seriously. I mean on the field.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Oh, okay, because FIFA's a criminal organization just allowed out to be open.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

So yeah. Well, they gave Trump the FIFA World Peace Award or something, right? A minute ago? Yeah, the FIFA Peace Prize. Yeah, the FIFA Peace Prize, which was in and of itself hilarious. And so now you are positing, Mr. Mathman, that because of that relationship, that he somehow influenced the reversal of the red card for our guy. He did. Really? He did.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Yeah. Publicly. He called on Friday. He called, he called, uh, I don't know, what is I look like a penis' name. I can't say that as a bald-headed dude, but yes, I can. The guy who runs FIFA looks like a penis. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Of all the penises I've seen, he is one of the worst.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

You're welcome. Yeah. Um, anyway, uh he Trump called, and then I guess some US lawyers called, some people from the like they all tried to get in. And I'm like, I hate that so much. It shouldn't have been a red card. Let's let's let's be clear. It shouldn't have been a red card in the first place. Okay. FIFA reversing the suspension is not unprecedented. Ronaldo, who lost today uh against Spain, uh had his three-game suspension suspended so that he could play in the first two games, Portugal's first two games in the group group stage. So it's not unprecedented, and anything he touches is shit. And Balogun played okay, but the whole team played okay. I haven't been this frustrated with a sports franchise since the Lakers stopped playing on KKL 9 and watching UCLA football. Like this was depressing in so many ways. And um, you know, I knew it when I ordered it. You know, Instagram be doing your feeds, and so all the soccer stuff was happening, and they had this really nice United States light blue sweatshirt. United States is in gold, and it's got a flag on it and everything. I was like, I'll be I'm Patriot, I'll be a patriot. It's gonna be 4th of July, I could wear it, and then it still hasn't gotten here yet. I think because China was holding it up on purpose. If I'd had it, we'd have won.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

And um that's clearly the truth. So I got the female that it was right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

I I got the the email saying, okay, 10 to 15 days from right now, and I was like, thanks, straight of whore moves. Trump f more shit. Like it's not just oil that comes through there, like, where's my sweatshirt? There you go.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

I was uh I got into this squad because of the Netflix series, I think I told you all about.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

You did, which I watched because you recommended it and it was it was good.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yeah, man. I like I like knowing the stories of the individuals. I like seeing how diverse the team was in in every way. Um I still I still can't get my head around people who aren't from a country representing that country in this type of man. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Yes. But it happens, I mean, first of all, he's all the time. Yeah, all of them are from the United States, right? Natural citizens, their parents served in the military, what have you, natural-born citizens. None of them are naturalized citizens, but if they were naturalized citizens, then they're from the country too. Like, yeah, so they are here. I had this, I was having this conversation with my father-in-law. He's like, How many of the French players do you think are actually French? And I was like, Why? Because they're black or because French is a colonizer. Like, there was one team in the 48-team draw for the World Cup that had no black players, that's Argentina. Yes. Every other team found a way to have some black people be attached to their country, whether go out and, you know, rape the country and take the goods and take the people, or go and hire somebody and to be like, oh, have your children here, and then oh, yeah, no, they're eligible to play on our U.S. team. I mean, sorry, our French team. I mean, sorry, our Spanish team, or our Portuguese team, or our Mexican team. Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Holland. Netherlands. All of them.

unknown 7:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

The Negroes. The Netherlands looked like the last year's Lakers team. Last year, mind you, last year's last year.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

And Argentina, and Argentina looks like this year's Lakers team.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah. I liked in uh in the story of the American team, the U.S. Against the World series. I liked it when two or three of the players were black and they were just from Texas or Michigan or California, and every one of them was like, yeah, I was young and athletic and black, and so I was supposed to play basketball or I was supposed to play football, but for whatever reason I chose soccer, which made me an outlier in more ways than one. And then that became my ticket. And I like those stories because it's just a further display of black excellence. You're like, it's just a matter of time before every sport. We're still holding out LeBron for hockey, but uh every sport curling including.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I can't wait till we stop doing these slave things like sports and start doing stuff like technology, less into tech and science and bioengineering. But you know, they they don't keep a slave labor to some kind of sport. But LeBron, I like how you're you're propped up.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

You're looking like a someone, like a uh back surgery patient just got out of the OR. Like, don't move his neck, don't move, make sure his neck is supported because dudes down in Mexico shaking it, doing who knows what. Icing that back. Oh man. Are you in Cabo? Is that where you are? I'm in Cabo, yeah. Dude, I was more sad about Mexico losing to England in Mexico. That makes me really sad because I was.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Man, we went, we went downtown. We like, okay, it's gonna be Mexicans everywhere. It was like a ghost town. We like, uh Art y'all coming to watch the game, but I guess Mexico at the end they didn't have a chance.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

They were at the end.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

No, no. They had a chance in Mexico City, but I'm talking about here in Cabo.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

I know they all got in the they all got in the cars and they went to Mexico City.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

This is a little drive from Cabo to Mexico City.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

They went to watch Man, oh man. Everybody who's playing not to lose is losing. Yes, everybody who's playing not to lose is losing.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

What? It just shows you there's so many elements and that you know, including cheating that it takes to win. But like I just had this narrative built up in my in my mind of here you are at Azteca Stadium, you know, in the turf that represents colonization from ever like all of Europe, not just well, obviously Spain primarily, but all around. Yeah, and then here comes you know, the colonizer of colonizers onto your turf that's named Azteca Stadium, and what a what a time to plant a flag in the soil and say, get the fuck out of here once and for all. Like that was the that was the energy that I had watching the game, and I was just like so, so, so sad that they couldn't pull it off, man. England, the colonizers win again. Hey, come on, man. As does as Belgium also.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

I mean Belgium. Man, oh man. They're gonna be the cultural looking like uh Walt Disney, what Belgium was doing.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

On the soccer pitch or in Africa?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

No, man. Well, in Africa, man, he killed like 15, 20 million Congolese because he walked and said, I'm gonna take this land, I'm gonna kill everybody. I was like, God dog. And then they all I hear about is Hitler and I didn't even learn about the dude in Belgium Leopold.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Leopold.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Leopold. Never heard nothing about him, but they're crying over Hitler like you know, like he ended the world. I'm like, but Leopold did three, four times more murder and stilling. How come nobody cares about the murderer?

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah. Have you met a Leopold ever? No, I know some Leos.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Quite a few Leopolds. Yeah, that's probably Leonard. They're probably still in Belly.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Go ahead, I'll wait. I'll wait. Go ahead. I'll wait.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah, he just needs he just needs a reason to sip his Guinness. Speaking of those who've been colonized, poor one out for the Irish. Hey.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

So you made me think when we we're yeah, no, right? You made me think though, uh, there's a trend on TikTok and it's black Irish folks. Have you seen it?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

I saw I saw the Scottish ones, like the black Scottish ones.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Is it it was a Scottish? Yeah. And they were like, yeah, we live here, but they had Scottish accents. Like it was.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

I was like, I mean, I know we're all over the world, but yeah, it was just never seen that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

It's great. So it's great.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

I texted y'all. Uh John, you're back from Massachusetts. Uh I am. Uncle Matt. Welcome back. Uncle Matt looked like he was handling those. Uh those look like big ass lobster. Lobsters.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Sorry. So we gotta go next time, John. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Oh, dude. Well, if you do, you will increase the black population in Gloucester by 200%. Just so you know. We were used to that. We went on a sailing trip with uh it was an extended family member who arranged to go like just sail the harbor and outside of the harbor in a boat that this this old older fisherman who he actually built this boat. And we're not, I'm not talking about like a little dinghy, I'm talking about a big old like looks like a pirate. The one you sent the video of? Did I send a video of us on the boat? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, she was right. One one dude had a shirt on and said, I'm not drunk, I'm American. What does that even mean, dude? What's that even? But as we were gathering, what as we're gathering on the dock, my daughter Sophia comes up to me and she goes, This is the whitest group I've ever seen in my life. And it wasn't just just the group itself, but she's like, so it's just gonna be white people on the boat. I'm like, besides you, little Mexican girl, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

That's that's about all of a sudden she's dark skinned compared to everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Oh man. My girl tans. My girl looked Hawaiian after 12 hours. Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Tell me one more time. Who whose cousin play play baby is Angelique? Um I know who she is. Yes. I I she just always there. I I just don't remember the relationship.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

I mean, you get to a point in some families, everybody's just a cousin. You just say cousin.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Right, that's why I started. I was like, she's somebody cousin. There you go. Um, so we didn't have a topic. The U.S. didn't win, so we're not talking about how great they are. Never stopped us right before. Trump still sucks.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Uh I'm in such a fog, gentlemen. I got in, I shouldn't even say last night, I got in at three this morning because we were on the tarmac at Logan Airport.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

You said you were waiting for jet fuel.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah, it was a it was an operational problem at the airport. It wasn't just our airplane. It was like, you know, speaking of speaking of pilots, speaking of Rogers, the dude with the with the with that voice gets on, uh, I hate to share some bad news for you, but uh apparently there's an issue with with the uh refueling system at the entire airport, and flights are being canceled, and uh we don't quite know the details, but we can't leave quite yet, so I'll let you know and uh as soon as I know something. And every 20 or 30 minutes he'd come back on and be like, don't have any news yet. We might have to cancel three hours sitting there in the air. Three hours, and the only thing that got me through was watching Mexico and England in the World Cup. I was like, you know, I sat in, I was like, all right, I got my thing, we're gonna take off. This is gonna give me, you know, halfway home. I watched the whole World Cup match. You watched the whole game, and then started watching more things.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

No, what I was gonna say is LeBron, you on vacation. John, you need to sleep. I have a paper to finish writing. If we ain't really got a topic, you know, I love you both.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Love you too. Get that paper done, you get some sleep. I'll get drunk. Happy to see you. We'll do. I mean, you know, so I could check that box. Straight up.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

I miss you guys. So what I'll say is Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Thank you for joining us. Still got questions? Other things you want to say? Well, hit us up at threeforthefounders.com on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok, or send us a text through Buzz Sprout. Remember to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcast and share the pod with someone you think can benefit from it or add to the conversation. Till the next time, Left on Founders. We out.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Thank you for listening to the Three for the Founders podcast. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of any professional or academic institution. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. Listen at your own risk of becoming woke.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

You put them together, and I'll throw it into Claude since Claude knows the our voice and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

And I'll wait, but what's the black AI that just came out? What's his name? Oh, yeah. Aisha.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Aisha! Aisha were the girl that I never done.