Sports! (Not the Huey Lewis Kind)

Sports can mean so much to so many.  Sometimes a sport is deeply ingrained in our persona, sometimes it's just on in the background.  

How has sport changed?  What is ring culture?  Can sport bring us together?

- J & T

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I have no problem with that. Check one through. Many problems, just not with that one. So we're skipping the celebration of world football that is the World Cup. It's just the second half of the Canadian game. What can I say? We watched the first half.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Maybe. We'll see. We're we're shooting for a shorter show today because it is full transparency. Afternoon on a Friday in the summer. And it's according to my computer here, it's 90 degrees outside. That's crazy. And sunny. So also I'm probably gonna get some text messages about swimming, swimming time for the kids. And I'm whatever. They could just they'll figure it out. Alright. So let's get we haven't been together in like a month. So let's do the thing. That makes sense. You want to do the intro? You did one so good.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well Do you have any any idea what you did? I mean, it's been a month.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

No, yeah, I know, right? It feels a lot longer than that. But no, welcome back everybody to No Plan, No Problem. Uh sorry we've been gone for a while, but you know, life happens. And at the end of the day, we don't get paid for this, so it's not like we have uh No, but we do pay to do it, so we do have skin in the game. That's true. That's uh that is true. Um but anyway, uh if you are missed us and you're coming back, we do definitely appreciate that. Um for our regular viewers, uh all two or three of you for now.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Oh, there's way more than that.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

There's more than that. Um Yeah, so we're we're back together. We're doing a quick, like you said, doing a quick. Um I don't have a topic in mind, but I did want to kind of start out with uh the World Cup because you mentioned it. I did uh that was the topic that I wanted to bring.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

It wasn't the World Cup specifically, but it was sport in general.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

So uh yeah, I wanted to let's talk sports just for a little bit. And not not specifically. Yeah. But more like not like the technical stuff, but just kind of like like a meta uh I hate that the company has co-opted the word meta. But like in a meta uh uh approach to sport, because we've also got the NBA finals going on that have been incredibly exciting, the New York mix. Some history was made with the largest comeback in finals history the other night.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Um did you see someone interview Jerry Springer? Or Jerry Seinfeld? Or Seinfeld about the uh Palestine? Oh no, I didn't see that. Yeah, you had a you had a you had some kid, he's like, uh, hey, can I get a free Palestine from you? And he just laughed and he's like, it doesn't exist, and then just kept walking away. Uh I was like, whoo!

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Jerry also by BD BT dub, uh Jerry's of course Jewish. Right. So uh what an interesting what a what a dickhead thing to say to somebody. Anyway. Uh it's the city of New York is uh trying to the New York Knicks, they're they are officially that team's that that city's the the biggest city in the United States. That is their their team. Right. Like the Yankees have had all the success. The Giants have won multiple Super Bowls. Um even the Mets have won a couple World Series, but the team in New York City is the is the Knicks. Right. It's like the Lakers.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Um to a lesser degree, the Rangers are up there too. It's the two teams that play in Madison Square Garden, yeah, which is right in the heart of uh Manhattan. They love this team, and it and they haven't won the title since uh 1974, I think it was it after the 74 season. It's been a while. So we're we're over 50 years. So that's that's awesome to see. Yeah. The Stanley Cup playoffs are our finals are going on right now, too. And it's even though it's two teams that didn't exist 30 years ago, yeah. Uh the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes, the the games have been unreal. I have not caught any of those. Game three went three overtimes. Oh wow. Uh so what we're seeing, and now we're just starting the World Cup, it just kicked off yesterday. We had the first game was in Mexico. Uh I thought that the the presentation on the first game was absolutely stunning. Yeah. It was gorgeous. That's a great stadium. Uh so I wanted to talk about sports because sports is one of the very few things in this world, and it's been this way forever, yeah, that people have a tendency to set aside all of their differences and focus on this thing. You know, and we as young fellows probably got into sports early, I know I did.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Uh be through our families who were like, watch this. Like, okay, I'm into that. Yeah. Uh and you become you get dipped into fandom. Sometimes it's specific fandom, sometimes it's general fandom. But I wanted to know what your thoughts were on how we grow into sports fandom and what does it mean to us even as adults. Because it doesn't necessarily go away as a as a kid, you know, or or when your quote unquote playing days are done.

unknown 5:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Well, I mean, I think you can just look at the the phenomenon of uh fake fans, as you would call them, right? Like bandwagoners? Well, yeah, people who go to events because it's something to do, right? And it's they're there because of the beer, or they're there because of the friends, the family, they get together. They didn't they could care less about the actual game. You you have those people who go around interviewing people, and like they were like uh they were interviewing Dodger fans, right? And they're just like, well, who's your favorite all-time Dodger fan? Uh Erling Holland or Killing Mbappe? Right? And then some people some people will make a choice, right? And the the two fans will be like, What are you talking about? Who the heck are those people?

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Those are those are just people the the people doing that interview are are just looking for clickbait. Yeah, of course. And it works because that's funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

But, you know, at the end of the day, it's one of those things where you have a tradition of like you were saying, it's a coming together. That's what the whole Olympics is about, right? It's literally like, let's put things aside, let's not approach things from a violent standpoint, per se, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

And in the original Olympics, there was still some violence, but well, yeah, but it wasn't like they weren't competing to the death. It wasn't like the Coliseum. Right. Um the Olympic Games were meant f they were tests of of of camaraderie and and things like it. It was it was a really cool like idea. Yeah. And it was brought back at the end of the 19th century. Uh I want to say it was 1896, was the first Olympics. First of the modern Olympiad. Right. And uh the Olympics in particular are really interesting because it's it's one of these things where we're bringing the whole world together. And unlike the um uh the World Cup, which is cool, uh you don't to qualify for the Olympics, the bar is a hell of a lot lower. Yeah. It is. You know, every every country gets to be represented in some way. Uh so yeah, it's it's not a matter of which country, it's a matter of who from that country. Right. Usually uh it's we don't want people like embarrassing themselves usually, but you know, hey, Jamaica has a bobsled team. And now they're pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah, I mean Guatemala's won gold medals now, right? Like because they have so many different activities and events. And the thing about the Olympics, right, is we keep introducing different aspects of what we consider to be a more and more quote unquote sports, competitive athletic event, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Like shot put. It's just like, sure. Shot puts a shot put's a throwback. It's the ones that I that blow my mind are like all the shooting, like rifle uh pistol shooting. Yeah. And I'm I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, that's what Watemala has. We won golds for that, so I'm like, I'm okay with it now.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yes, sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Uh yeah, it's like what what actually requires you to be athletic versus I mean, a skill set is fine for me, but yeah. It's like where do we start? Because like the dance-off stuff, you know? Oh yeah, breakdancing is is an Olympic sport, which is just it's interesting. Yeah. And I'm not I'm not trying to undermine it, but is it's like where I I think we should have like boundaries and like what we consider to be Olympic. If not, if we're just allowing everything, then what's the point, I guess? But maybe maybe there's an argument for that.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Maybe the point is to allow everything.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Right. No, I mean, look, I I think that lots of people have that shared value, right? Like you have lots of people who have their teams, and you know, the Super Bowl means so much to them, um, and they follow their team all year round, and it's fun, you know. Like we we have our like Liverpool stuff that we follow around, and it's it's fun because you you become part of the you're engaged in the culture, you're engaged in all the the drama, even you're engaged in you know, all the things that happen to your team, injuries, uh people getting sold off, all those types of stuff, you know, and like you know, we American sports fans traded. Right, traded, exactly, you know. And in certain sports you get used to it, so it's more like it's about the team and all that type of stuff. And some people like they sit there and they really watch a game because they want to know everything that's going on with it. And other people just kind of enjoy the ambiance of it, you know. Uh for most sports, I just kind of enjoy the ambiance. The sports for sports sake. Yeah. Um I get that. Except for the two, like, you know, footy and uh and basketball for me, where I can get really into it.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Those are the two that I'm into these years.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah, and like and I really hone in on what's going on. Uh at least for for basketball, it's it's the playoffs, and if my teams are in it, but I think I want to get to this in just a minute.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

I'd get to the ring culture in just a minute. But as a as a youth, as a kid, I grew up in small town Oklahoma. Uh American football and baseball were like what we did. And it those were the games we played. We we would if we had enough people together, we'd play baseball. But we very rarely did. Usually it was like, you know, we well, we got six, eight people. Yeah, usually you need like football. You need like 18 people, right? Like at least 15. Probably at least we could probably squeak by with like 12. We're playing with only one outfielder. So don't hit it too hard.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Unless you did sandlot style, and then you just need the nine, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

And we would do that from time to time too. But I grew up like playing the sports, baseball and and football, and I was like obsessed with them. And that was what we did when we went outside. We would get as many people together as we could, boys, girls, didn't matter how old you were. Just if you want to play, let's go. Let's go. Yeah. Uh nobody in our cul-de-sac had a basketball hoop until I was like 10. And we got our first basketball hoop down at the end of the cul-de-sac. And then we started playing basketball too. We added basketball to the repertoire.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

But it was in a driveway that was kind of sloped, so it was like super difficult. Yeah, that's how we played too. But um, yeah, we I grew up playing and watching on TV was also super cool, especially when you consider rural Oklahoma. Going to games. Especially we weren't exactly I was about to say we weren't exactly rich. We we were pretty close to exactly poor. Yeah. Uh going like, hey, you guys want to go to Dallas to watch the Cowboys play? Well, sure, we would love to. Yeah. Can't afford it, so we're not gonna go. Uh I didn't get to go to my first pro game since I was in high school, and I had my own job, and I I could like set aside money and do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Uh excuse me. Bless you. For the record, I didn't either, even though I lived out here, but that was more because my dad was he just loved the couch and he was never gonna go to a live game.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Wait.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

He okay. Someone, you know how the European teams would sometimes come down here. So it was Barcelona versus someone. And this is when Ronaldinho was on Barcelona. Oh, wow. Right? So you had Ronaldinho, you had um all those big players. It's been a minute. He got free tickets to go to the game. Oh. And he gave them away. Oh. And then he decides to tell me about it. Oh. And I'm like, why would you tell me that? And he's like, Well, I don't know if you'd want to go. I'm like, are you kidding? We literally sit there and watch the games together every week. What are you talking about? I wouldn't want if you don't want to go, that's fine. I'll go. I was so mad. Um, but yeah, I I just we never went, even though we could have. And now that I gotten older, I've gone to a few games, but they're so expensive now. They're very expensive now. To go to things, it's just it's it's ridiculous. Um and now like the the European tour games are just they're not they're not the same.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

They never bring their A squads, they may bring one or two guys, but it's Yeah, and even if they do, and then they're doing a lot of East Coast now, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

It's yeah. It's hard to blame them. The United States is a big place. Uh Well, you know, I mean, that's an interesting thing. I mean, you bring this up though, in terms of a time for the world to come together. Uh-huh. Especially the Olympics, and especially the World Cup. I think this is what makes the World Cup different and special. For those of you who don't know the history, the the World Cup didn't exist. It was actually the Olympics. So it was soccer in the Olympics. Those were the that's how it was played, right? And um, was it World War I or World War II? I believe it was World War II. World War II put a disruption on things because of what was happening, right? But people just wanted to play soccer.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Right? And you know, people couldn't settle their differences, so they said, screw it, we're just gonna do our own tournament. And it was really the giants, right? We knew we had Brazil, Argentina, and South America, and we had the two uh European Giants, which was Germany, France, Italy, right? And the UK. And the UK, right. Yeah. Right, England. And then so they were like, we're just basically gonna have the competition between us, right? And and that way it was always in South America, and then it would go to Europe, then South America and Europe. And funny enough, if it was in South America, South American teams usually won. Almost always. European, European teams won, all that type of stuff. And so that's how kind of the World Cup was born, right? And so then when they finally brought it back to the Olympics, the World Cup had gotten so big, you know, that's why now in the Olympics it's really the youth that play, and they can bring maybe three players that are older, uh, and stuff like that. But for the most part, it's now stayed separately, you know, and the World Cup has basically become the Olympics of soccer, literally, but it's just soccer by itself. It's and it's the tournament, right? Tournaments, and it's and it's the only sport that has gotten that big to that degree that is actually a world competition outside of the Olympics, but the Olympics is different because it's has so many different sports going on or events. But World Cup is so unique in that sense, right? Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

It's a standalone tournament that is so special because the game is so widespread. Right. It really is a world event.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Right. And then yeah, and there's just so much history there, so many things that have happened.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Um it's it's an incredible tournament, it's a lot of fun to watch. Uh, this is the equivalent of the Olympics, only bigger somehow to these players.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Like when you're young and you know that you're probably gonna go into professional soccer. Yeah. This is the dream. That's the dream. To play for your international squad. Even though you know you don't get paid a whole lot of money for that.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Um, just like for some people, the Olympics is the dream, even though you don't, if anything, you put your own money into that.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

But same can be said for for football.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah. You know, and so it's it's interesting, right? And I think there's a reason why America hasn't adopted the sport as much. Um because of the the of what it means to people in different countries, is that idea of like I can come from the poorest of towns and make it all the way big. Um, but it's not about making money. It's about living that dream. And I think in America we've gotten to the point where it's it's become both. Right? It's like I'm gonna make the dream, but it's it better come with the money. Otherwise it's the dream isn't fulfilled.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

The uh the reason that football here this is my take on it, the reason football is not as as expansive here as it is in other parts of the world, is because this is the birthplace of baseball. Oh yeah, we have too many things going on, which was you know, created in the 1800s shortly after the Civil War, became unbelievably popular. Yeah. Um, and then we had our own version of football, which became popular in the twenties, the pre-depression. Uh and and basketball hooks on right after World War II.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

And by the time we we had full we had basketball, we had football, we had baseball, it was like there weren't enough athletes to do the worldwide football too.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

And we just believe the size of the sports.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

We don't dedicate it. You know, I mean, if you look at where we do dedicate it is women's soccer, and the US women's national team has dominated the the world stage on soccer, and so there's an argument that's like if we put our best athletes in soccer, we would dominate the World Cup almost every single World Cup. Almost surely.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

And what we did to the way we treated football, football, soccer, um, the rest of the world treated baseball and uh and basketball. Right. And now those are secondary sports in these other places, but they're getting really good at them. Yeah, yeah. You know, so it's sport to me, it's the last great Americ uh it's the last great human drama. It's real. When you watch it, it's real. It's legitimate. Yeah. I mean, it's modern day Coliseum, right? It's yeah, you don't know the originally the Coliseum the Coliseum games were to to um there come the pool text then. Yeah, there's the first of the pool text. Uh originally the Coliseum games were to distract the poor people from the fact that they were poor by giving them entertainment.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah, yeah. Which I think is still there's still an argument for that.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

There's still an argument that that's why they exist. But really, today sports is about making money. Yeah. And it's become a huge business because again, we're we're lean on my theory for a second. It is the great human drama. It is the last it's the last authentic entertainment that we can watch in real time. Yeah. You know, I love TV. Best friends can be rivals too. I love TV. I love movies. But I know that there's an editor behind those cutting out all the garbage and giving us just the best of the best. Yeah. Sports. Sports could be a true poop show. Yeah. And you get to watch it all. You get to watch the Spurs melt down in the fourth quarter and blow a 20-point lead to the Knicks as they just forget how to play the game.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Yeah. And I think the bigger events are just there's they're so much fun. They're so well orchestrated, they're so well done that even people who are not into sports and they don't watch sports all years around, they'll watch the bigger events. The production value is so good now. Yeah. Like most people who watch Super Bowl, they watch it for the halftime show. I'm one of those people, right? Um, especially this has been fantastic. Especially this last one with Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Kids BR was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

I mean, they've they've done some good ones in recent years.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

There's a theory that uh Shakira, it wasn't actually Shakira in this halftime show in Mexico, but I think that's funny. All these like uh conspiracy theories already going around. I didn't even know. Because she wore to see this because she wore sunglasses. Yeah. So Fox Sports decided to like continue on with their commentating without informing people that they were gonna so the the this World Cup is unique because it's the first time they're combining different countries. So it's more like a continental World Cup. Is it the first time? Um I think well, I think they've done uh they've done it like years ago where they had two. Oh, yeah, no, they did have to do Korea-Japan one time too. Um so it's not the first time, but it's like it's first time at this level, because usually the US can carry it by itself. Yeah. Oh yeah. Right? Mexico's hosted several times. Mexico's is their third time. Yeah. So, you know, they're basically combining now instead of just giving the bid to one for multiple reasons. I like it. Um I like it. So what they did was they decided was how each country will have. Their own opening ceremony, which is also different and unique, right? Um, but yeah, Fox Sports decides to just not air the opening ceremony for whatever the reason. Um and I'm not sure if they aired the one for Canada or not today. They may have, they may have not. I wasn't watching.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

I didn't see it, I wasn't watching. The girls had turned on Goldbergs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

But yeah, anyway, that they got slammed for that. They're getting slammed for that. So there's a lot of interesting controversies already happening, you know, players and referees not being allowed in because they didn't accept their visas. Uh, you know, Kevin De Bruiner was like being like monitored and scanned. And this if you don't know who Kevin De Bruiner is, he's one of the biggest soccer stars, and he's this total white guy. He's a total white deal. Right? He's from Belgium, and he's a huge star, and like they're questioning him. Like, it's a little ridiculous. Um, it's a bit beyond that.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

I we were awarded this uh World Cup long before the return of Donald Trump to believe us.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

And actually, the the the whole leading up to getting the bid was really shady from the United States.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Well, it's uh if you look at all of the people who have hosted the World Cup in Alaska, Qatar was pretty bad. Russia was pretty bad. Yeah. I mean, come on. Yeah. Uh it's been pretty shady for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yeah. Uh but America was so interesting because I don't know if you remember, but basically the FBI went on this huge hunt against FIFA for all their corruption. Yes. And they were filing stuff. There was like a whole press about this. They weren't the only ones. They had an Interpol on it too. And then out of nowhere, they just stopped all the investigating. And then guess who gets the bid? The United States. So, and and and the investigation started after we lost the bid. You know? So it comes it comes to say a lot about FIFA. Um FIFA's dirty as hell. Uh UEFA's better, but Yeah. FIFA. And that's the problem. That's the almost the moral dilemma.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Well, there is again, we've since it's all about money now, yeah. We've added a an option for corruption in in that. But uh again, it is it's all human drama. Even if it's corrupt, that's human drama. It is. Yeah. It's a bad kind. Uh but then there's also this new this new thing. I want to step aside from the footing for a second and talk about ring culture. Ring culture. Ring culture started I I think it started probably in the in the 90s. Uh Jordan. Jordan was so dominant that people forget this. He won three titles in a row with the with the Bull. The Bulls won three titles in a row, 91, 92, 93. And then he went and played baseball for two years. Yeah. And then he came back, and the next year, 96, 97, 98, they won those three too. Yeah. Uh and it was it was like you couldn't if you were Jordan, the only option was win the title, or anything was a failure.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Everything else was a failure. Right. And it be that became like this pervasive attitude around start, I think it started in the NBA, but it is bled out into everything. So you're just saying ring culture is like get the ring? Ring culture is get the ring or and anything else is failure. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

And so So for those who don't play sports, getting the ring like usually when you win a championship, you get like a championship ring and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

To win the title. When when when winning is all the only thing that matters. Right. And everything else is a failure. Yeah. And modern is modern NBA, the NFL, it's it's all like that now.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Even even football. And the best players are always like that, right? But that's the players. I'm talking about fandom. Yeah. And if you if you are tied to your team in such a way that the only way I'm going to be happy as a basketball fan is if my fan if my team wins the title, 29 out of 30 fan bases are going to be pissed off at their team as a fan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Every year.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Yeah. Well, yeah, I think that's why it's about like the charisma, the energy, the culture. So, you know, back in the day, I used to follow the best teams, you know, Barcelona, Messi's Barcelona, all those types of things, you know. But I remember watching like South American club soccer where there was no big stars on there, and it was some of the most fun, amazing soccer to watch. And then a lot of those guys would go on to become bigger stars, but it was really cool to watch that because those guys were just playing their hearts out game after game. They didn't think in their mind, like I need to save my body just in case, you know, I can make it to the next thing. They're like, no, I'm just playing my heart out today, and that's that. There is no tomorrow. Um, one of my favorite movies uh is the replacements. Oh, yeah. With Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman. And anybody who's ever been an athlete just gets that movie 100% because it's like, and it's this like melodrama comedy movie, right? But it's it's about second chances. It it is, but is it is also about just like what why we play the game. Yeah, you know, love the game. And yeah, I think that I'm with you on that, right? In terms of there are a lot of us who get stuck in that mindset of like we just need to win, win, win, win, win in. If we don't, we suck. But I it's interesting you mentioned that. I just saw this thing about uh Jurgen Klopp, uh, who was the former Liverpool coach that we loved. Um and he was just there, he was just talking about all the times he lost. And I was like, holy crap, man, yeah, you lost a lot. Yeah, and and not not just like games, I'm talking about you lost a lot of finals, a lot of championship opportunities, a lot of trophy opportunities. Had you won half of those, a lot of second places, you would have been, you know, and yeah, and he's made those comments before, like, I'm the best at being second, you know. But he was talking about uh a totally in a totally different context, and it really hit home with me right now with just a lot of things going on. He's just like, look, uh you can't give up. If you're gonna go to a final and you can't embrace the fact that you're going to lose, stay home. If you can't handle rejection, don't show up. Right? So you can't just go and think like, oh, I'm gonna win. Obviously, that's the the the goal, that's what you want to do. You also have to have the mindset that like someone's gotta lose, and there's a 50-50 chance it's gonna be us, you know, and I just thought that was very powerful because it's like look, you don't you don't go for it thinking that there's no way you can lose because you have to step away from the loss and be able to deal with it, you know, and then come back and do it again. And by the way, he came back and still won everything there is to win. So, you know, and then Jordan Jordan talked about this too, right? I failed more times than I succeeded, right? Anybody who's had any types of huge success has failed way more than they succeeded, and those are always powerful stories, even if you step outside of sports.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

I forgot who explained that baseball, American baseball, is the sport of failure.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Because you strike out if you succeed three times out of every ten that you step up to the plate, you go to the Hall of Fame. But if you only succeed two times out of every ten that you go to the plate, you're never gonna stay in the show. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

You're you're you're well, baseball's interesting too. And like we forget that they're team sports a lot of times. It's like you can do your part, but if your team doesn't, you're not getting anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Baseball is is actually one of the most unique sports in the world. You know, the defense is the ones that control the ball. Yeah. And it's really one play of the pitch. Yeah, you actually play one-on-one to put the ball in play. Right. And then it becomes a team sport. Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

But so if the pitcher does a great job, you're okay. If you do a bad job, you have a bad day. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Uh I have disc I have dis decided as a Clippers fan, LA Clippers, the the the 40, uh, whatever it is, we just had our anniversary, 60th anniversary. This team, originally from Buffalo, New York, has never won a title in its entire franchise history.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Not once. Um, it's always been the shadow of the Lakers, you know. Never made it to the to the finals. Well, they were in San Diego until they went from Buffalo to San Diego in the 70s to uh LA in the 80s. Yeah. And how we shared a freaking arena with the Lakers for 25 years. Yeah. That's at what was Staples Center and is now crypto.com arena. So uh but I embraced them in '94 when I moved out here in '94. I hated the Lakers already. So when I moved out here, I was like, I'm not rooting for the Lakers. And and somebody mentioned, don't you don't forget that the Clippers are done. I was like, yeah. Yeah, they're here. I want to go see them play. There you go. And the tickets were dirt ass cheap because the team was terrible. Yeah. But I watched and I loved it. And I enjoyed it. And I found things that I loved about it. Even though there were years where the team won, you know, 18 uh games out of 82. Right. You know, where they couldn't break 20 wins. Right. Where they they get to 24 wins and you'd be like, whoo, success, baby.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

You know.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

There were some dreadful times. Yeah. This year they finished 42 and 40, two games over 500, and it was the 15th consecutive winning season for the LA Clippers. Nice. Which is the third longest stretch in NBA history. Which is really saying something. Yeah. When you consider that before that, since the team left Buffalo, they had two winning seasons. Right in like 30 years.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

And they're not they're not like the the big Mohemoths that you people invest a lot of money into.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

So and so as a fan of them since 94, 30 plus years as a as a Clippers fan, I decided a long time ago that there were going to be different versions of success than just winning rings, even though Michael Jordan had had temporarily retired to play baseball. I just wanted to have fun. And in the process, I learned more about the game. I appreciated more facets of the game. It just made me a better fan. Yeah. And I get more out of it. The last few years we have been tipped to the clippers have been tipped to be a see the pronoun use right there? When you really love your team, it's part of you. We. Right. We like you play. Like I'm the 16th guy on the bench. Yeah, exactly. Then I'm just waiting for the coach to turn around and go, man, we got nothing going.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Well, yeah, true fans know exactly what to do better than the coach, right? Like We think we do, for sure. You know, I I think it's interesting though, because it's one of those things that when you do become a true fan and you attach yourself, it it is more than just the wins and the trophies and all that. You want that. But you know, the reason I became a Liverpool fan was because I saw the the the charisma, the culture, the energy, not just of the the the the players and the and the coach, the fans, the city, right, the history behind it, the history behind the city, right? Like all of these things mean something, you know, and it was really cool to find that, which is why I was so against slot, the the most recent former Liverpool coach. It wasn't that he was losing games, right? It was because Klopp lost a lot of games. Uh Klopp had bad seasons as well. But we were with our team 100% because there was a clear picture of what we were trying to do and we were just failing at it, versus not knowing what you're doing, and like there's no reason to be this way, and then kind of destroying the culture. Like you could easily destroy a culture unintentionally if you don't have that as one of your core principles driving you. If you are too focused on just that mission of like, I'm just here to win, right? Uh, and you forget that these are human beings. You mentioned Michael Jordan taking some time off, right? Growing up hearing that story, it was like there were turns out there were lots of reasons. Right. There was but for me, everyone was like, that was weird, okay, good for you, buddy. Whatever you want to do. Didn't you know? I guess. I don't know, right? But then you you hear the real story, right? And that he lost his dad and the manner in which he's lost his dad, and what his dad actually meant to him, right? And it was just like, dude, yeah, like you lost yourself and you went to go figure out how to find yourself, and then you came back.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

And he was also um pretty much addicted to gambling, yeah. And not not like betting on sports, yeah, but like going to Atlantic City and Vegas and just like spending money.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Right. Like just going cray cray. And but baseball wasn't random. Baseball was chosen because of his dad, right? Because that's what his dad was his first love. Right. And so when you hear stories like that, it is inspiring, right? And it turns out that when you're 6'6, it's really hard to protect the stripes on. Yeah. You're not you're not always meant. Not all like most, it's very rare to find an athlete that you can just put in almost any sport.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Yeah. Bo Jackson came along one time.

unknown 36:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Bo Jackson could literally do anything. Yeah. Frank Thomas. Uh Hall of Famer, Chicago White Sox, Toronto. He played uh he played tight end at the University of Auburn. Yeah. And was apparently an all-star power forward when he was in high school, too. Yeah. Dominating athlete. Uh LeBron James, I think, was playing. Tony Gwynn was was drafted in both the NFA I'm sorry, Major League Baseball and the NBA.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Uh Dave Winfield was drafted in multiple sports. I mean, there are some like legit stories of crazy athletes out there. Just all around. John Elway was drafted by the the uh Yankees as a pitcher. Really? Yeah. Well, I think it makes sense. You got an arm. Because he played he he played baseball and football at uh at Stanford. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Yeah, and usually most athletes will play more than one sport when they're younger, when they're in high school and their bodies can handle it, you know. So these days a lot of people get recruited early. But no, it's really cool to watch, you know, like legit athletes that just play. Yeah, and then or or like you hear the the the stories of you know, people who are just from like super poor towns, and everything they sacrifice to try to get to their their dream, and it's just a one in a billion shot. Yeah, and they and they take it and it works out, you know? Yeah, you only hear the one story, you don't hear the others, you just hear the one. But yeah, and you know, we were I think we were privileged with Liverpool who had a few of those stories and that ended up being really big stars.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Well, if sometimes a team, a f a franchise, a a club, whatever you want to call them, has that ticks off enough of your boxes that you fall in love. Yeah. And it's just like it's just like it's almost like choosing a mate. Yeah. Uh you know, a partner. You want to click off so or check off certain boxes, and and you know, for me, switching to Liverpool, I I my first Premier League squad that I was like trying to get into was Swansea. Um because I have family from South Wales uh who were originally from that area. So I'm like, I'm like, okay, well, and it's cool that they're a Welsh team playing in the Premier League. It was a big deal that they were there. They wore these beautiful white uniform, uh, white kits, uh, their stadium. It was awesome. Liberty Stadium was awesome. Uh, but they got relegated and they sold all the players and were just like, well, yeah. And so I'm just like, and then I had just finally found a way to watch the Premier League. And I was like, well, you know, the other team that I really like watching is Liverpool. That Jurgen Klopp guy has got them flying all over the pitch, and they're fun to watch. Yeah. You know, most solid Sadi Obani, Rob Bobby Fermino. Like for me, Bobby Fermino was like, oh, I love that guy. And then the midfield with Adam Lalana and and Hendo and and later a little a little bit later, James Milner. Like, man, I like these guys. Yeah. They they played with passion and fire, and and Klopp was over there on the sideline, just living and dying with every damn turnover or missed shot.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

It draws you in, and then you're into it, and then your your your emotions are are going with it as well. You know, if your team loses, you have a bad weekend. If they win, you have a great weekend, you know. And it says something that I chose the Clippers out of spite.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

I think I probably deserve what what's happened to me since then, but I still love them. Yeah. I I you know, with Liverpool, it it became a like a bigger thing too because they started winning more. Like the instant I got on board, I was like, holy cow, not only are are they fun to watch, now they're getting results all the time. It's like, oh, this is this is different. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Yeah, it's always more fun, right? Like you the the the fruits of their labor pays off for us, you know.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

But yeah, I think the entertainment value it rises.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

But but for me, I love watching just a good game. Yeah, and it can be any sport. That's why I love the Olympics. Like things I'll never ever watch, and then I'm watching gymnastics, I'm watching swimming, I'm watching diving, I'm watching all these things that I'm like never into, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Like I was this last winter Olympics, the ones in uh in Italy in turn. I was obsessed with one and two-person bobsledding. Oh, really? That's the one monobob as they call it, the one-person bobsledding. I was like, this is nuts.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

I love it. Yeah. It's one of those things too, like growing up, like it was you sat down and you watched it. It was an experience. It you didn't need advertisements to pull you in. You know, these days now you have ads, right? Where it's like the nostalgic ads and like why we love it, and like I'm just like, yeah, okay, you're ruining it. Like, like, don't force it, right? Just let it be. Like this new generation, if they don't want to be part of that, don't force them, you know? Like, it's okay. Like, and yeah, I think it's newer generations don't understand that as much because there's so much more now, but I do I do believe that sports is where we can come together. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

It's we've mentioned that a couple times. This is a real fragmented world right now. Yeah. Um there's a a wave of I'm I'm just gonna come out and say it. I'll I say whatever the fuck I want on Trent Takes on. So it's there's a a wave of conservatism that has been polluted with xenophobia. Yeah. With this nationalism that anyone from outside is a threat to our way of life. And really it's wrapped, it's racism wrapped in that. It's it's it's fear of the other. It's xenophobia. It's it's I'm scared of people who aren't like me. Right. It's propaganda too, right? Right. It's being driven by small amounts of people who can use that to amass and maintain power.

unknown 43:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

That's what it boils down to.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

Why, ironically, they're the ones creating the problems that they're really experiencing.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Yeah. Yeah. Um But I see I see sport as a way for us to break down the differences, especially world sport. The differences in our races and in our you know, our religions and in a it basically to say, look, we're just all we're all people playing this game.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

Are you saying like we take a pause in in in life and do that, or do you think sports has actually fixed issues? Uh I don't think sports has fixed issues yet?

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Yeah. But I think it uh the proof is in the pudding that we pause these things. Yeah. That we hit, okay, well, we're just gonna kind of set that aside. There's all kinds of crazy shit going on in the United States right now, and people from outside the United States absolutely hate what we're doing. We are the villains for the first time in history. Congratulations, U.S. We did it. Yeah. We're the villains. But that doesn't take that doesn't mean the you know the Ivory Coast, the fans of that nation, that international squad aren't gonna try their damnedest to come here and cheer on their beloved team, even though we turned them away for reasons. They still want to. They still want to try. The people are still these foreign constituencies are still coming, even though they shouldn't. And we are still supporting the World Cup, even though we probably shouldn't. It is what it is. The only way we come together is by embracing each other, and that includes the the faulty humans who are messing all of this stuff up. Like I I miss a bit of nationalism and pay like Well, patriotism is different.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Yeah. I I miss a little bit of that. Like right now for the World Cup, like I want to sit down and root for the USA team. I want them to win. I want them to do well, right? Um, you know, people are not their governments. Um but the other teams aren't our enemies.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

They're just competitors. Exactly. And that there's a big difference between enemy and competitor. Right. Uh and we've lost we've lost that thread just in frickin' politics. Here we go. We we got Brown to politics again, everybody. Oh, well, sports is completely polluted with politics. Yeah, it's been it's been just Donald Trump went to game three and the Knicks lost. Yeah. At home. And what who do the Knicks fans blame? Donald Trump. We messed up their vibe, man. They got they got it back in the fourth quarter of game four. So I just uh I think that sports is the key to unlocking better camaraderie. And I I think it starts with the closest thing we as humans have to superheroes, yeah, which are these megastar athletes. You're Lionel Messies and King Mbappes and you know uh Mohammed Salah, even the even the other, uh, even the domestic guys like LeBron James and and foreign players like Nikola Jokic and uh and Gianna Satagupo and Luka Doncic, like they can go, they can be ambassadors, not necessarily for their sport, not necessarily for their country, but for compassion and acceptance and embrace.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

But see, that that's that's where like this whole exceptionalism comes in. Because what you have is you have a whole lot of people in this country, for instance, who they don't like the foreigner, they don't like the other, unless they're the superstar, unless they're winning us stuff.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

And that's why they could get the door open.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

You know, and then like so it it's it's a whole concept, right? Like you get the golden ticket because you are exceptional. Outside of sec uh of that, we don't want you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

And but this is I'm talking about the Spider-Man of it all, you know what I mean? With great res with great power comes great responsibility. Yeah. You know, with great fame comes responsibility to treat that fame appropriately. And I stay, I say that the appropriateness of the of the fame is to embrace the world because you're famous because the world embraced you.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

Right. Yeah, you're you're not gonna have that level of success without the fans.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Correct. Um fans build this. Right. Uh you know, y we may not be the ones that are signing the checks that these athletes athletes cash, but we're the ones giving all the money that the owner uses to then pay those checks, be it at a ticket, at a at a for the ticket to see them live to to watch on the game, our eyeballs are worth money to advertisers and so on and so forth. Right. You know, I I just we all owe here you go. This is me jumping on a soapbox. We all owe the rest of the world our place in it. We do. Yeah. Whatever it is, even if it's not high.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

You know, sometimes the world owes you. But it's it's about appreciation and acceptance, man. I just I wanna I'd like to give the world a coke. Go back and watch those 1970s Coca-Cola commercials, yeah, where they all it was just a chorus of people getting together and singing these songs. Watch these commercials again. Yeah. And they were they they basically tried to squeeze in every possible minority, every diverse person they could that got into these shots. Yeah. And you know why? They would use that one ad in every country where they sold Coca-Cola, which was worldwide. Right. So they were using one ad to sell Coke to the world. Yeah. And they they got an ad campaign that worked to do that. And we all do. I mean, aside from the fact that Coke gives you diabetes because it's horribly over-sugared.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

And cancer because it has caramel color.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Ugh, yeah, that too.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

Uh but it tastes good, right? In moderation. In moderation, it would be okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Yeah. We just we gotta get together. Uh, I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony with a beautiful fucking phrase. Whoever wrote that goddamn jingle, I like to buy the world coke and keep it company.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

Yeah, look, I mean, I think I think we're sports. Yeah, we we we we dream of peace on earth type thing, you know, and I think sports does give you that, even if it's temporary.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

Yeah, I mean, we're we are um we are constantly in danger of the 80 years of general peace. Uh, we have multiple wars going on at any time, right? Like right now, for example. But general peace we have had since World War II. Right.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

And most countries want to avoid something like that.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

Like this this war in Iran has done so much damage to the to the energy supplies of the world that it is being uh it is being felt worldwide, which is this is the this is the first in a while. Yeah. Uh the same thing happened when Russia invaded Ukraine. There were some some energy supply chain disruptions that caused a whole bunch of prices to skyrocket, including gasoline. Yeah. Uh it just it feels like we could stop this shit if we could drop the xenophobia and this this weird embrace of authoritarianism. Because it's it's really easy for one guy to wake up in the middle of the night and say, you know, I want Taco Bell, uh and he just goes and gets Taco Bell. You could this is the same thing as an authoritarian waking up in the middle of the night and going, I'm gonna bomb Iran. If he's the only one that's making that decision, the only one wants to go to Taco Bell, well, Bro's gonna get Taco Bell. Yeah. Or Broad's gonna bomb Iran. But if you if you have to take 30 people with you, you have to agree on a restaurant now. And and if it's like one guy's like, I want to bomb Iran, but there's 30 people going, I don't think that's wise. I don't think we should bomb Iran, you're not gonna bomb Iran. Right. You know what I mean? If we we go away from authoritarianism and really give democracy back to the people, the people don't want this shit. You know what we want? We're gonna be able to watch soccer in peace. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

But you know, I mean Yeah, without going into the fabric of how most people probably view politics and treat politics. There there is a there's a parallelism there because a lot of people treat politics like a sports team. Like a sport. Yeah. You know, and then that's problematic. But yeah, I mean, I'm I'm I'm with you in terms of like the the reason I really love sports is more because of all of those things rather than the sport itself. Like I'm an athlete and I like playing it, and so there's a drive in me as well. So that that competitiveness, the winning, all that's fun. But if there's a story and there's a culture and there's all these things behind it, you also love getting behind that. There's a there's a great clip that I love that comes on my algorithm from time to time, and it was um a clip where um I need to sneeze really bad. You've been holding that one for a while. Um That's what happens when you do it in a garage, right?

SPEAKER_01 53:05

It is very dusty right now.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

Um, and so there was a game where Cristiano Ronaldo had just lost uh one of his childs during um that the I think it's still birth or something like that. Um and they were at Liverpool, they were at Anfield. And during the seventh minute, the entire stadium started to applause in all it's his kit number because he was playing there, you know. And we hate that team where there are rivals, men united, you know, and they don't like him especially because they took the time to do that. They started to sing their song, our song, You Never Walk Alone, which we usually reserve it for very special occasions, and it was a powerful moment, and um let's see the the commentator's name, uh Peter You know, they all run together in my brain. Yeah, the famous one, the guy who sounds like Jarvis. Peter Drury, is that his name?

SPEAKER_01 54:06

Um I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

Um yeah, it was just his comments were were were just phenomenal. He just wrapped up what sports is about, you know, just for for one minute, you know, the these two rivals came together showing this, this is what sports is really all about. Respect for one of their brothers, even though even though we are competitors, even though we're not rivals. Yeah. Even even though Cristano Ronaldo will then go later on to kick one of our players in the head and be a total douchebag about it.

SPEAKER_01 54:35

He's just gonna be who he is.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

Yeah, but but we showed humanity in the moment regardless of that, you know, and those are the types of things that we enjoy, you know, and when we experienced it uh when Luis Diaz, one of our players, his parents were kidnapped, you know. Um it was insane to just kind of watch that happening, and then Diogo Giotta, you know, passing away in a car accident over the summer, and we saw the grief that it had with our team. Um, I'm still convinced that that was also a huge part of the reason why we just didn't play at the levels we were at. We didn't prep right in the summer because of that that that happened. And you know, grief is a powerful thing, you know, and the players felt it, the fans felt it. Uh, we felt it all the way across from here, you know. And yeah, it's just one of those things where, like, you know, when when Kobe Bryant died, the effect that that had on everybody. Yeah, that was crazy, you know, and in one sense, sometimes I always think like, yeah, you know, it's interesting because these things happen all the time to everyday people, and we don't stop to think about them, and we don't even know that it happens. So fame, right, does bring uh a different element to things, but I wish we could find those moments more often and day-to-day, instead of waiting for an Olympic event, instead of waiting for a championship, instead of waiting for those things to happen, if we could find a way to embrace those things more often on day-to-day, everyday level, you know, on a community. Working on appreciation. That's why we started this podcast, because we we just we felt we're losing community. We're losing people just talking to each other about the things that matter without getting so upset about it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

Yeah. Living in the moment, appreciating where you are, working toward common goals, you know, society, the greatest invention of humankind. Yeah. Uh which, you know, so ironically, social networking is destroying. Uh, but anyway, I digress. Sport. I th I think you really nailed it with the sum up there. That was great. So let's let's let's cut it there. We did make it through the whole hour, and I'm only a little bit sweaty. Yeah, I'm wearing a beanie too. I don't know what you're thinking wearing the beanie. That's that's crazy talk. I couldn't even like put my hat on. I had a I had a baseball cap and I picked it up and went, nope.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

I hate I hate my hair getting in my face so much. I would do the beanie. Oh, that's nuts. I know.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

I well, we appreciate you all. We'll we'll try not to leave this quite so long. Again, we're working on reprioritizing, and the summer has hit us, and all kinds of crazy stuff has happened in the last month. Yeah. Like I like I got my dog fixed, and that went like awry, and I ended up having to take her to the emergency room afterwards, and it was like, Whoa. She's fine, by the way. Yeah. Listeners. Uh but it's and then kids got out of school and we had to do all the you know we last week of school stuff, and then the first week of I don't know about you, but my kids, the instant that they're out of school, they don't know what to do with themselves.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:49

They're like retirees, only they have energy.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:53

You have to tell them what to do.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

And you have to like all the time. Luckily, my kid has like his band in Taekwondo at the very least, but even with that, it's that's still not enough. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:07

I'm trying to teach mine how to bowl. That's what that's what we're doing. That's fine. It is not it's only been two sessions and it is not going well. No.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

Are they like just over it? They don't they're not interested.

SPEAKER_01 58:18

They are not uh I'm beginning to wonder if they're mine. I grew up in a bowling alley. Oh, yeah. That's okay. That was that was a bit too much. They're definitely mine. When you look at them next to me, you're like, those are your kids. Absolutely. I know they are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:34

I've been there through the whole thing. Uh well, I I can tell you the oldest one is definitely yours. So it's the young one is the one that's like me.

SPEAKER_01 58:44

Well, I think the older one is more lucky than you think. Yeah, they both are. Sorry, world. Uh it is what it is. Fatherhood is our next episode. Again. We've done fatherhood before. We keep doing it. Uh we will be back before you know it. Hopefully, uh we we will make a uh more uh more of an effort. Yeah. We are we we've we're dialing it in, as they say.

SPEAKER_00 59:11

I'm sure our emotions will be high with the games that we invest in coming up with all the things going on.

SPEAKER_01 59:16

So the knockout stages.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:20

We got three, what, three weeks a group?

SPEAKER_00 59:22

Yeah, two weeks a group. My partner did a bracket for her work. And uh in her fairness, she did like call me and I didn't answer because she wanted my help with it. Oh, okay. And then she just did it on her own. Oh, okay. And uh she has Ecuador going to the final. I'm gonna say that's unlikely. She had no clue. She was just like, well, you know, they're South American, so I figured they're good. I'm like, it doesn't work that way. But that's cute. Ecuador in the final. That would be the that would be something that'd be something to cheer for. That would be cool. That would be the underdog story of history.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

That's the thing about these these giant tourneys, because crazy things do happen. Not all the time, otherwise that would make them not crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

Last World Cup was Morocco. I'll be interested to see if they can come back.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:11

Yeah. And they were they were fantastic that whole tournaments.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

Semis, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:16

Was it the semis?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

I think it's they ended up fourth place, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:19

Yeah, it was the semis because they played in that they played in the third place.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:22

Yeah, they were kind of like Croatia four World Cups ago when Croatia came out of nowhere, and everybody was like, Who are these guys? Um four.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:31

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

Yeah, because I remember they made a showing in the in the Euros. I think they won the Euros. Yeah, they won the Euros.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:38

So it was a huge deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:40

And then it was like, who are they? Okay. Croatia's a country now that's has good players. And yes, they are. And the Czech Republic was also good for a long time, and then they just kind of dwindled that out. But uh they still have a lot of players in in big places, so we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:58

Since we're only on day two, we've seen two and a half games. Yeah, US plays today. Who do you got to win? The whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:04

Uh most likely Spain. I think that's what everyone's voting for, though. Um, if not Spain, Argentina's up there. France is always in the mix. If Germany can lose who's your who's your like cohesive. I don't have one this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:22

Who's your who's your your guest? You gotta give me a guess. Oh no, I put Spain.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:28

Yeah, I put Spain to win it all. Um again, these tournaments are always tough, right? Because it's like so many all it takes is one one thing to go wrong and then you're out, right? But true, true. Um I think Argentina will still be in it. Um Scaloni did decide to just to go with the same team he did four years ago, including Lionel Messi. Yeah. So that'll be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:50

Um it's not a bad thing, but it's it's just I picked Messi as my top scorer for the group phase because the Argent the group that Argentina's in is terrible.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:01

Yeah, but they also lost their first game last time to Saudi Arabia.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:05

So fair that.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:08

And then I thought that was funny because Saudi Arabia celebrated like they had just won the entire World Cup. Yes, they did. And then they went on to not win another game.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:17

I don't even think they scored a goal the rest of the tournament.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

And the two goals they had against Argentina were brilliant. Yeah. There were just two brilliant plays out of nowhere, and then after that, Argentina just couldn't put their heads together.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:33

Put it together. I went with Germany this year, which not a surprise. I it seems like every time out I pick either Jordan. You're such a jarman. Uh Brazil. Uh I think Brazil did well here. I like the Brazilian team this year because they did take any of the hot dogs. It's it's way more like jerks and workmen-like guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:53

I think Brazilians, though, were like, well, I haven't paid attention to the team, but normally they're a bunch of divas lately, and so that's what's kind of their coach. That's what's holding them back. But I think Spain will be Spain.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

Spain will be Spain. They're always good.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

So skilled. And right now they just have big players right now that are just in their peak. Skilled at every position, too. Yeah, like Rodri, La Mignon, everything is just crazy. Um England.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

Tuchel has taken a strange team to the World Cup. Like he didn't take a lot of the big names. Um, real, like it's just it like a vibes-based team.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:37

A lot of people have like Portugal as a favorite too this year, and I don't know why. I think that's more of a they want Ronaldo to do something. Yeah, I don't know. But that's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

Like 41? Still playing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:52

The dude the dude is not playing at the same level anywhere near it. Yeah, but his abs are eternal. Yeah, but beefy.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:00

All right. All right, we'll put push the button. Go ahead.