Big Things Podcast

WAGS, Football Drama, and Meta Updates (E16)

• Mitzi Payne & Mike Payne • Episode 16

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0:00 | 43:46

What a weird week it has been online. TikTok was banned.. And then it wasn’t. Meta got rid of fact-checking (we dive into that) and things heat up in the football world. Let’s dive in. 

More from us:

  • Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi 
  • Mike Payne @mmmiiike

Timestamps: 

  • 01:00 – TikTok was banned in the US… and then it wasn’t.
  • 09:00 – While it was going down with TikTok, Meta launched a ton of updates (including a new grid, editing app, and more). 
  • 18:00 – Meanwhile, Meta is getting rid of fact-checking. Why it isn’t as bad as you might think. 
  • 24:20 – Drama from recent football games. 
  • 39:00 – Updates from the WAGs of the NFL. 
  • 42:00 – Check out our 2025 Trend Report! Linked in the show notes below. 

Show notes:

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike). 

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/

Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard. 

Speaker 1

Welcome to Big Things. I'm Mitzi. This is Mike.

Speaker 2

And this is our show where we talk about the big things we're watching in marketing, social media, pop culture and sports. We'll also talk through the signals that we're seeing that could influence the future of digital marketing.

Speaker 1

You can catch the show every week on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts and, of course, be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok for updates on every episode.

Speaker 2

Got a quick summary of what we're going to cover today. First, of course, we've got to talk about TikTok and the ban in the US, what Meta's up to and the NFL playoffs and WAGs updates.

Speaker 1

I love hearing you talk about WAGs updates.

Speaker 2

Can't miss the WAGs.

Speaker 1

I know it's an important piece of it, to be honest.

Speaker 2

It's true.

Speaker 1

Okay, should we start with the first one, the big news of the weekend.

Speaker 2

Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 1

Okay, tiktok was banned. For what was it? 14 hours? Or at least it went down for US users. So late on January 18th, users in the US started getting a notification that TikTok was no longer available, in compliance with the US law banning TikTok in the US. 14 hours later it was back. The statement from TikTok about it coming back were available for US users. It said, in agreement with our service providers, tiktok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties, providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive. It's a strong stand for the first amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with president trump on a long-term solution that keeps tiktok in the united states yeah, it's a high drama weekend man, we've been talking about tiktok getting banned for like a year or more.

Speaker 1

It isn't, it is yeah it's been such a roller coaster so to see it actually like get, I mean, it wasn't it's hard to say banned, because it wasn't actually banned for us. We were in Canada so we got to actually still be on TikTok, but it was crazy to watch people share the screenshots. That's like TikTok is no longer available because the US has banned it longer available because the US has banned it.

Speaker 2

I know, and just to see all the reactions and the alarm, the how alarmed people were that it was no longer available. Totally Like we saw a lot of lead up to it with like creators who make a living from TikTok being concerned, and we even saw a TV commercial about TikTok and it was like a testimonial of a small business that had gone viral on tiktok and like grew astronomically because of it.

Speaker 2

I was surprised to see a tv commercial I know they're really like leaning in and trying to play the offense yeah, but it seemed like two like parts of america were were surprised when it happened, like it's almost like some people just don't track with the news enough to even have been privy to the fact that this was looming.

Speaker 1

Yeah, so I haven't been on TikTok for like a week and I downloaded it back on my phone on Saturday just to kind of see, like what's going on, what's the vibe, and it was so interesting the mix of TikToks that I saw. There were some people literally bawling, crying, like being so sad, because they had posted every day, several times a day, for the last six years or something. Then there were some people who were like using this opportunity to like confess like something about themselves that nobody knew. And then there were some people who were just like thanking their community and doing mashups of like where they were in 2020 when they started their TikTok and where they were now, and so it was super like interesting to see all that, like the the various levels of people accepting that it was going to go away.

Speaker 1

But then it was really confusing because the next day I didn't realize it was going to be back, or I don't know if anyone knew it would be back, because the next day I like watch all that that night. The next morning I went on to TikTok and people were it was just like full of people like in their beds, like turning on their camera, being like can you see me, can you see me? And then I'm like huh, and so I was going through and it was so many people like being like we're back, we're back, like just so back, like just so happy. It was such an odd experience.

Speaker 2

Like it feels like.

Speaker 1

It's like a weird episode of like.

Speaker 2

And in that short period of time, also like tons of TikTok creators, decided to join that other Chinese social platform, red Note. I was reading up on it a little bit and it seemed like there's a lot of kind of like what seems to be heartwarming interactions between the like Chinese base of users on the platform and these new Americans that called themselves TikTok refugees.

Speaker 2

Apparently a lot of them were saying that they had to pay a cat tax to join the platform, which was that they had to post videos of like cats and dogs, like heartwarming videos.

Speaker 1

Is that real?

Speaker 2

of, like cats and dogs, like heartwarming videos is that real. No that they didn't. They didn't actually have to, but that was kind of like a trend that happened, where it's like I'm a tiktok refugee. Here's a heartwarming cat video. Can I hang, you know?

Speaker 1

imagine the legislators who've been telling americans for over a year that this is a national security threat, learning chinese and going over to this like random chinese app where they've signed off to like terms that are in chinese. They don't even know what they say and they're like take all my data. Here we are like, obviously the like we got to get tiktok back because seeing people go to red note, like there are worse things that could happen right, yeah, it's interesting and they're all like trying to learn Chinese too, didn't?

Speaker 2

Yeah, there's a crazy spike on Duolingo, like millions of people suddenly like trying to learn Chinese, and I'm sure it's just because of Red Note. But a bit of a hot take and this isn't a political show. But I feel like, as it's kind of unraveled, I think that TikTok didn't have to go dark. I think it was something they did on purpose for this short period of time, to just like make Americans feel the pain of the absence of TikTok. And I don't know if it was strategic by TikTok, because I know ByteDance would obviously lose a decent amount of money from the outage, from losing all those users, but I kind of feel like it was strategic on the part of the Trump administration.

Speaker 1

To show.

Speaker 2

I feel like there's been backroom dealings between the Trump administration and ByteDance to get an extension, and even just based on the notices that were on people's apps when they tried to log on. It wasn't just a simple like boilerplate business notice like TikTok's, no longer available in your area it was like. We thank president Trump for being willing to work with us and we're confident we'll be back online soon, you know.

Speaker 1

So I think there's.

Speaker 2

I don't know who is pulling the strings. It's probably, if we're honest, it's probably the Trump administration, but I think they're going to end up getting the credit for an extension and then, I think, bigger than that for the Trump administration. I feel like there's going to be some sort of divestiture that does happen in the next 90 days that ends up really benefiting the US.

Speaker 1

Beyond just a private US buyer.

Speaker 2

I kind of wonder if there's going to be some level of, like government ownership or something like that.

Speaker 1

For sure of like government ownership or something like that for sure. And also all all the tech like heads of tech are at are like really coming to trump's side. So I feel like it's they're all in cahoots and like if they were to sell, like I'm sure that would just further support all the like tech monopoly monopolies that exist too. So like yeah, it's super interesting, I if I like it's actually pretty smart for trump, because gen z, the way they were crying like as if someone was dying because tiktok was being banned, like they were on live until the very last second. And then there's like all these screen recordings of like canadians screen recording, these like influencers like crying.

Speaker 1

They're on live, they're like I think it's gone, no one can see me, and they're just like not okay and the Instagram algorithm is trash no, but the other thing I liked about those 14 hours where people like couldn't access TikTok is on Instagram people were posting the most unhinged content. They like needed an outlet for this.

Speaker 1

Like, like other personality that like lives on TikTok and they brought it to Instagram. And Instagram was so interesting that night because people were starting to post reels as if they were TikToks. So I don't know, it's an interesting few days, I think. Also, I'm sure it was intentional, like to be out for a little bit, because in this week where TikTok was going to be banned and people knew it was going to be banned and the the amount of people that went to red note I'm sure was also a bit of a move. Like if I were part of those negotiations, you'd want to see like look what could happen, like the alternative is worse than people being on TikTok, you know.

Speaker 2

Yeah, there's layers to it, for sure.

Speaker 1

For sure. Okay, not to be outdone.

Instagram's Latest Updates and Features

Speaker 2

Take us there.

Speaker 1

While all this was happening, on TikTok, meta launched a new editing app plus a few other new Instagram features, so it's been a busy week. We're going to walk you through all the changes and also some background to them. So first, you might have noticed that instagram rolled out a new grid format. So instead of a one by one square, they rolled out a four by three portrait of the grid, which is really throwing people for a loop. People are not driving me nuts, really.

Speaker 2

Yeah, just because, like all the real covers and stuff that people did like, or even just the way that like a photo was cropped square now like someone's half their face is cut off, or like half the headline is cropped out. You know, it's just. And 4-3, isn't that like visually appealing of a shape? You know?

Speaker 1

like.

Speaker 2

I think the square made sense, or the 9-16 orientation of reels makes sense, like the 916 one is more of like the golden triangle or whatever, like the that rule, that visual rule that's like most appealing to the eye, that's like what the shape of the iphone is I lost you, okay?

Speaker 1

yeah, anyways, all right so I don't know. Four three is just this, like awkward in between right, yeah, I mean I feel bad for people who've like made you know those like grids that you can make with your one by one square that like all come into like a bigger picture yeah, like those people are not okay.

Speaker 2

All those brands that were like we're gonna do this amazing nine grid to launch yeah, it just looks crazy I know it looks insane um.

Speaker 1

Instagram's also announcing that they'll be simplifying the Instagram profile.

Speaker 2

And they'll be simplifying the instagram profile and they'll be grouping instagram story highlights into the grid somehow that one I saw in our notes before we got on this show and I was like how is that gonna work? I don't know? That one is confusing, I don't like that one.

Speaker 1

That one I'm I'm not okay with. I love my instagram highlights and I like going to people's instagram highlights, so we'll see. Um, they also announced that you'll be able to rearrange your grid, which is nice.

Speaker 2

I like that yeah, so you can like you can semi do that right now just by pinning certain ones, but the ability to like fully customize what's like at the top, like nine or whatever it ends up being, is interesting yeah, I'm into it.

Speaker 1

And they also announced you can post reels up to three minutes long rather than two minutes long, which is the TikTokification of Instagram, because on TikTok you can post a video up to 10 minutes long, so they're not going that far out, but most videos are three minutes or under, so I think this was like a no brainer.

Speaker 2

I wonder what the data is. I wish I knew, like, the difference, the potential difference in viewership between a two minute video and a three minute video.

Speaker 1

Or is it just?

Speaker 2

kind of like a perceived freedom and flexibility for the user that doesn't really make a difference. No idea you know like very rarely do you watch a full two minute reel I feel like I do two minutes 120 seconds how long.

Speaker 1

The last long video I watched was mark zuckerberg's announcement, which we're going to talk about.

Speaker 2

That was five minutes wow I know you watched mark zuckerberg for five minutes.

Speaker 1

I watched him for five minutes and the whole time I was thinking about his hair.

Speaker 2

His hair is better now.

Speaker 1

You think?

Speaker 2

You think you were watching it in like a bad way.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I didn't like it.

Speaker 2

Do you remember what he looked like before?

Speaker 1

I need to see what he did to his hair for the inauguration, because I hope.

Speaker 2

It's curly, is it yeah?

Speaker 1

I mean, I like curly hair, I just don't like how he styled it. Anyways, moving on, also, instagram introduced a Reels tab where you can see the Reels that your friends like, and I know people hate this because, like, it's like kind of embarrassing if, like, someone is watching a Reel that you liked, like it's just, even if it's like a funny Reel or like an insightful reel, it's like they're getting in your head a little bit and you're like, oh, this person likes this reel. Like I know it's weird, but I personally love watching that tab.

Speaker 2

Can you see your own likes, like. Is it kind of like TikTok, where you can like, like something and then revisit it later? It's a way to kind of you can do that.

Speaker 1

But you have to like go through like layers of like screens. But this if you're in the reels tab and you're watching a reel at the top right hand corner, it's like has your friends like profile pics and like reels your friends have liked, so you can click that and then watch just the reels that your friends liked and see who's liked them do you like posts very often, or reels like I feel like I don't.

Speaker 2

If I'm watching reels, I'll save something that I want to go back to or. I'll send it to a friend if I think it's funny and then they'll like it. But I feel like I pretty much only use the like feature now when I it's like one of my friends or someone or a brand I like and I just want to like boost it a little in the algorithm. It's not so much like I'm reacting to it. Yeah, I like this. It's more just like a sign of support.

Speaker 1

No, I like it because I think it's just a habit and I also know that if I like something I'll get more of that stuff. So all my likes are Bad Bunny videos. It's like Bad Bunny in Puerto Rico, bad Bunny people reacting to Bad Bunny's album, bad Bunny surprising someone at their door with a band it's all Bad Bunny stuff.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

But then I love seeing other people reacting to Bad Bunny stuff.

Speaker 2

But do you think the like actually makes that much of a difference for what you get more of in your algorithm, or is it just what you spend time watching?

Speaker 1

I think it's both the like I don't know if a like is more than time spent but they also apparently look at what accounts you follow. The accounts you follow also. But then I guess there's in this new tab where you're just watching reels your friends have liked. None of that matters, you know right but I think it's really fun to watch.

Speaker 2

I don't mind all this new stuff. Like I. I find sometimes you know the the new feature rollout, especially when it has to do with the algorithm. And then monseri has this like heartwarming video where he's just trying to be really authentic and like let you know that he sees you. Like that stuff is annoying. But I feel like lately they've just been like rocking with new ideas and like putting stuff out there and trying it and some of it will stick and some of it won't. But I kind of like that approach.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I mean, that's all you can do like it's not that deep.

Speaker 2

Yeah, exactly, give us new features and we'll tell you.

Speaker 1

I think the thing that's it's funny. This is my position. It's like I kind of get annoyed when TikTok and Instagram like they try to make it so deep, like we are supporting thousands of small businesses, which is not untrue, like I do believe, and this is our business like we literally do this for other businesses, but all the changes that they're doing isn't really to support those businesses. It's like now you can see what your friends like like is that supporting a small business?

Speaker 2

I don't think so, you know yeah, but I feel like a feature like that is probably more like along the the lines of what we know about how more is happening in the dms, and it's more about, like, sharing content with your like, becoming like a more social platform, right, so it's probably leaning into that, but I see what you're saying the other thing.

Speaker 1

Oh, speaking of adamassari before I move on, according to the rumors on threads, people think that he's gonna resign.

Speaker 2

Adam Aseri, because of all the the vibe changes at meta yeah, and that he just looks tired.

Speaker 1

You know, it's been a. It's been a long year, even though the year just started yeah, interesting.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I feel like there's more of a widening dissonance between his vibe and Zuckerberg's vibe.

Speaker 1

For sure, zuckerberg is really, really transformed.

Speaker 2

He seems like he's. He's on a journey. Yeah for sure.

Speaker 1

Okay, so the last Instagram update we wanted to share is that they announced a new editing app called Edits, which will allow for better editing tools and likely a response to ByteDance's CapCut, and the app will be available on March 13th, but you can pre-download it now, whatever that means.

Speaker 2

Yeah, always, they're always good at the strategic timely moves.

Speaker 1

Yeah, this makes sense to me, like actually when, when all the TikTok talk was like going on about it being banned and not available and like people won't be able to post and stuff. I actually was really concerned about CapCut because I use it quite often for editing and I just I know it's owned by ByteDance so I was like, how am I gonna edit? And I don't like the other editing platforms as much. So I'm excited about what this new editing app will be like and I hope it's good.

Speaker 2

I've always kind of wondered too if if there's like algorithmic implications on Instagram if it's a video edited in CapCut probably, you know like. I wouldn't put it past meta to recognize metadata from a CapCut video and like deprioritize it just because it's from a competitor. Yeah, they're so silly okay, not anymore with the edits app let's get into something controversial.

Speaker 1

You ready?

Speaker 2

I guess we are a political podcast. Now let's go.

Meta's Shift to Community Moderation

Speaker 1

No, this is not a political podcast. Everyone calm down. So the most controversial update it just wouldn't be right to not talk about this. You know, mark Zuckerberg announced they will be shifting away from third-party fact-checkers and will be relying on community notes for moderation.

Speaker 1

So, just to give you some context, meta first introduced fact-checking in 2016 as an effort to curb misinformation. If you remember, misinformation was like the word of the year, like it was really hard to know what was true, what wasn't, and it was a lot of political news just being shared at wherever on Facebook, instagram, and it was a really confusing time. The initiative was launched in response to criticism over Facebook's role in spreading false claims during the 2016 US presidential election, and a 2023 statement from Meta said that fact-checking program has expanded to nearly 100 organizations working in more than 60 languages globally. So this was a huge effort.

Speaker 1

Fast forward to two weeks ago, zuckerberg, in a video that was five minutes long, he cited that they were going to be changing their fact checkers, and he cited a cultural tipping point that the fact checkers have made mistakes and too many mistakes, and so they're going to change the program in general. So, instead of fact checking, they're moving to community notes system, which is the same system adopted by x, and one thing that he said in his video that I wanted to quote. He said the recent election has signaled a tipping point for allowing more free expression on the platform. He also cited that fact checkers have been too politically biased and destroyed more trust than they created, and so they're getting rid of their program entirely. So this is a big deal yeah, it is to be honest.

Speaker 2

I think it makes sense yeah um, I think it makes sense for meta from a in a business decision, but I also think it makes sense in more of like a social context as well. And this is why, first the business side of things, I think if they have that many organizations 100 organizations across 60 languages globally think about how much that costs meta. To pay these organizations to do that so proactively and then to go to more of a crowdsourced community approach is like cutting massive costs for them. So obviously, from a business standpoint, there's logic there. From a social standpoint, I think it actually is better to even just for like people and like mental health and like relationships, but also just like rights and freedoms, cause I think the fact-checking approach feels a little more dystopian in the sense of like if you say the wrong thing according to an anonymous fact checker, you get shut down, you know your content disappears or you get suspended or whatever might happen.

Speaker 2

But with the community approach there's real people still, but it's like more public facing you know, someone can add a community note with a reference to like an article or whatever that that negates whatever the false claim was, and it's public. So the content remains up, but everyone can see that there's facts or evidence that say that this is untrue. It just adds more like social pressure to say the truth you know and to own if you don't. And rather than the content just disappearing, it's still there for everyone to see.

Speaker 2

And then not only is it corrected through community notes, but then people understand if something that has been kind of perpetuated is untrue. So I kind of like it and I think it's worked well on X. So there's precedent for it. So I'm interested to see how it rolls out. But all that to say, I think I'm in favor.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I think it's super interesting because in the video he also talked about like so many mistakes happening.

Speaker 1

So people are getting flagged for like being by a fact checker and a nominous fact checker and then it taking months for their profile to get manually reviewed and approved and then getting their account back up and it's just like too many of those mistakes have been happening.

Speaker 1

So I feel like this is just like a correction of something that they they were so fast and loose with this decision to employ fact checkers. I just feel like even at the time although it was like a confusing time, it didn't it felt too fast and too like intense to go that far to say, like anyone who posts anything that could be in the realm of politics which is like life, you know, challenges, whatever like even even people, people who were talking about their experiences as like someone with a disability or someone with like a different lifestyle, like they were getting their content was getting banned because it didn't meet the necessary requirements. So I I'm in favor of some of these changes happening because their fact checkers were too biased, because I think if everything on Meta and Instagram has to be approved by these biased fact checkers, like what's the point of being on that platform? So I feel like they're overcorrecting something that they went too far in.

Speaker 2

Right, yeah. And I don't think it's to say that all the fact checkers were biased. No, yeah. And I don't think it's to say that all the fact checkers were biased.

Speaker 1

But he said even if 1% were, if there was a 1% margin of error or something that's millions of posts.

Speaker 2

For sure which is true, and there's no accountability.

Speaker 1

There was no accountability Because the content is just removed. Yeah, and it depends on what you think should be removed or not as a fact checker.

Speaker 2

But the community notes approach allows for like public discourse around what's true or what isn't, and like evidence based sharing and stuff like that and to be fair.

Speaker 1

he did say that there are some things and subjects that will be like banned or moderated, which is just the stuff you would imagine should be, so that's good.

Speaker 2

Yeah, being a content moderator on a social platform like that would be really hard, like mentally. You'd see a lot of crazy stuff.

Speaker 1

I know yeah.

Speaker 2

Should we get to thing three?

NFL Playoff Storylines

Speaker 1

Yeah, on a lighter note.

Speaker 2

It's the playoffs for the NFL.

Speaker 1

Woo.

Speaker 2

Our favorite sport.

Speaker 1

Our favorite sport, our favorite league.

Speaker 2

Yeah, this is the best time to watch football because it's do or die. You win or you go home. So far we've seen Kansas City advance. They beat the Houston Texans. Unfortunately. I think everyone truthfully wanted to see the Texans win because we're all just tired.

Speaker 1

We're tired of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. He walks funny. He does, yeah, he does.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

He does walk funny.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and there naturally was high drama from that game around some controversial calls, and I think now it's just evident to everybody except Kansas City fans that Patrick Mahomes is like kind of taking advantage of the system and doing everything he can to draw calls from the refs and it's influencing the outcome of the game instead of just leaving it to good old-fashioned competition between two teams.

Speaker 1

So you think the refs are in his favor?

Speaker 2

I'm sure that the refs aren't incentivized to be in their favor, but things happen fast and they're doing their best, but they're from the observer standpoint. You can tell that it's being manipulated.

Speaker 1

I think he's playing football like a soccer player, like he's being so dramatic and making it seem like like that one play where he was like going out of bounds. He just like fell into like the grass and like he didn't need to do that. He would have just like walked off. But I feel like he's trying to get more of a reaction and like call attention to things so that there's gets.

Speaker 2

They get penalties yeah, and it's hard because the NFL wants to protect their most valuable assets and so like a quarterback is some of the highest paid and most like notable players on the teams and mahomes isn't like a big physical quarterback either.

Speaker 2

So when he gets hit they like snap to attention and want to want to like call a penalty to protect them right but then you got other quarterbacks like josh allen and lamar jackson, who are they run a lot, they're more physical and they take hits. That would get called every single time if it was on my homes. But they don't get the calls, so it's hard to. It feels pretty clear as a fan to see that there's a lack of consistency in the way that penalties are called on quarterback hits.

Speaker 1

But yeah, it's tough Well hopefully, like I've even seen a lot of talk about that stuff and I haven't paid attention to any of that. So it's like I'm sure, with all that pressure, the next game the refs will have to be a bit more even.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and then some of the Houston players were pretty even the coach were pretty clear about what they thought about the game in the press conference afterwards it was us against everybody and they're like do you mean the refs?

Speaker 1

and he's like I mean everybody.

Speaker 2

Yeah and then even one of the chiefs players tweeted afterwards that he misses the old days when players would just own their losses like a man and then everyone kind of like got after that guy too.

Speaker 1

He said that about the coach.

Speaker 2

And some of the players that had made similar comments. But it's funny because earlier in the season I think the Chiefs only lost this year. The whole Chiefs team, especially Patrick Mahomes, were so upset about the refs in that game when they lost to the Bills and felt that it was such a ridiculous call. And even when Patrick Mahomes at the end of the game went to shake Josh Allen's hand he didn't even say good game, he was just like that was the craziest call I've ever seen and he was just obviously so upset it's just I'm sportsman, like yeah, so that just makes it worse, like not only are you typically getting what feels to be favoritism from officiating, but when you suddenly lose one game on what you think is a bad call, now you're a victim, it's just yeah I can see why fans are just up in arms against we're over him.

Speaker 1

Yeah, okay, I was trying to figure out like I've been watching games with you and I've been paying. I've've been a good student this season.

Speaker 2

For sure.

Speaker 1

One thing I can't figure out is like who, like I need like a graph of like where we're at with the teams that are left and like who's going to the Super Bowl. Yeah, you just Google NFL playoff bracket I looked, I did, and they just have like AFC North, and what's that one?

Speaker 2

NFC.

Speaker 1

NFC. And then I had like one, two, three, four. It was like two columns, but the but the bill or detroit was in there.

Speaker 1

Still, I'm like didn't they lose well, because it kind of cascades, like it starts on the outside with all the teams that made the playoffs right and it comes in towards that's what I, I can visually see it's like a bracket right, but like what the nflcom site is showing, it's like two columns and it's like a bracket Right, but like what the NFLcom site is showing, it's like two columns and it's like I understand. The winner of each division will go to the Super Bowl, to the playoffs, to the playoffs and then the Super Bowl. The winner of the AFC North goes to the Super Bowl. The AFC oh, sorry.

Speaker 2

AFC North is a division in the A afc, but the afc is the conference and then the nfc is a conference. They're all split in, so that's the two columns, and then within the afc there's multiple divisions and with it in the nfc there's multiple divisions yeah but that only matters up to the point when playoffs begin, and then from there the teams in this column and the teams in that column compete, and then the ones that win move on.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I'm just trying to see, like, who do the Bills play next to go to the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2

The Bills play the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 1

To go to the Super Bowl, yeah.

Speaker 2

They play in their conference championship, and then the commanders play the Eagles in their conference championship.

Speaker 1

So it's Haley Steinfeld versus Taylor Swift.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and Brittany Mahomes Right, and apparently Kaitlyn Clark, she was in the booth in the suite with Taylor.

Speaker 1

You know that's the one thing about watching a Kansas City game. I agree, I'm so over Patrick Mahomes. I don't want them to go to the Super Bowl, but I do like seeing all the hype around Taylor being there. I feel like she's such a good wag. She's so good for the game. And then she was in her little like suite with Caitlin Clark next to her, which was so cool.

Speaker 2

It all plays a factor. I was thinking about this because obviously the NFL is an entertainment business.

Speaker 1

So you got to think there's.

Speaker 2

I don't think it's fully scripted, but I think there's influences and there's strings that can be pulled to like try to favor a storyline if we're honest. And so I was trying to think of, like, what are the, what are the storylines that we can kind of extract here that could be on the NFL's radar and what's left to tell of this playoff story? And I think there's three. One is the Kansas City Chiefs. This if they win this year, that would be the a three-peat.

Speaker 2

They would win three in a row, which is the first time in NFL history wow and obviously along that storyline used you have kind of some of the star power like Taylor Swift and her relationship with Travis and Travis is probably close to retiring and even some of these other fans and wags that kind of revolve around Kansas City. Obviously, Andy Reid is really one of the best coaches of all time, so that would add to his accolades. So that's one storyline. Another storyline is more of the underdog story, which is the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen, who have been one of the few teams that felt like a contender against Kansas City over the last three or four years. They've come close to beating them in the playoffs. They've beaten them in the regular season. He's another talented young quarterback.

Speaker 2

It's a really solid program with with great fans and a great wag yes, right, and so the more of the underdog story of the buffalo bills, stopping the three pete and stopping the kansas city dynasty. That could be another core storyline. The third one, which I'm getting increasingly invested in, is the idea of a rookie quarterback in his first year with a team that had a losing record last year coming in and winning a Superbowl in his first season.

Speaker 1

Who's?

Speaker 2

that that would be the commanders with Jaden Daniels. So Washington's had a hard time. They went through a whole rebrand. They used to be the Washington Redskins. Now they're the Washington commanders. For a whole season they were just the nameless Washington football team. They just got rid of a really toxic, um unethical owner and now have a new ownership group. So they're kind of rebuilding the whole organization. They had gone through some lawsuits with that previous owner around like like sexual misconduct and like even just harassment in general in the workplace okay and then they draft.

Speaker 2

They get a new ownership group, they draft a new rookie quarterback in the this most recent draft and suddenly he comes in and just turns the organization around. So I really like that story and they just, I know you're a Lions fan and they just beat the Lions, so it's hard to get on that bandwagon. But um yeah, if it's going to be anyone, it may as well be them. Yeah, okay, I like it, so it'd be the first time in history, to my knowledge, that a rookie quarterback wins the Superbowl.

Speaker 1

That's crazy. So he was just drafted.

Football Playoffs and WAGs Update

Speaker 2

That means he's like 20 yeah, he's young, he's really young. Yeah, early 20s, I want to say well, actually I think he's 24 that's still so young yeah, because he played a full four years of college. Wow, yeah okay.

Speaker 1

Well, I don't mind that story, although I'm really sad about, um, detroit losing the Detroit Lions. Um, if you, if you like, why are you sad about Detroit losing? It's because Detroit Lions has the most wholesome, precious head coach named Dan Campbell and he's just like good dad, energy, sweet man, who like really cares with his whole heart about his team and he does the most amazing post-game locker speeches and he like wears his heart on his sleeve. And he's also a former player, so you can tell like he's got, like he's got the like that dog in him. He's like ready to go out on the field with the boys, like he doesn't expect them to do anything that he wouldn't do. He just seems like an honorable, good guy definitely I'm with you and I wanted him to win and they hit.

Speaker 1

They have a really good team this year, but they just really did not do a good job on Sunday and they lost to the commanders even though they were the number one seed and and had a great season, they came into this round of the playoffs with a ton of injuries.

Speaker 2

I'm pretty sure I think it was around like 22 players on injured reserve, wow, and most of them were on defense, so their defense was decimated. So we we saw like it was a shootout. They obviously still had the ability to put up a lot of points, but because of the lack of health on their defensive side, they couldn't stop yeah, their defense from scoring points, yeah, okay, so you talked about three storylines like who would you?

Speaker 1

would you like you have to pick one? Who do you want to win the Super Bowl? Well, I guess, go to the Super Bowl and win.

Speaker 2

Yeah Well, I want it to be Buffalo against Washington in the Super Bowl and I think if that was the case I would probably cheer for the rookie quarterback with Washington. But I mean, I'd be happy with either outcome. I just don't. I don't want it to be the Eagles or the chiefs Chiefs. I've already said why the Eagles. I just don't like them. I've had a couple of their players on my fantasy teams and they're great. They've got some stars. But their coach, nick Sirianni, is such a baby. He's got a huge ego. You can see him often like yelling at fans during the game.

Speaker 1

Like that's not like you should be focused on the game. Yeah, coach behavior.

Speaker 2

And he just is similar to Patrick Mahomes in his attitude where, like, he's very quickly the victim if everything isn't in his favor, and you can see him just like sometimes his assistant coaches are holding him back from like altercations with the refs and stuff like that it just he just lacks judgment from what I can see, and I also just don't think, jalen Hurts, their quarterback is as good as people think he is.

Speaker 1

Really.

Speaker 2

I feel like he's Justin Fields with a better, with better wide receivers.

Speaker 1

The girlies on TikTok love him.

Speaker 2

He's a handsome man, but yeah, I'm just not about it okay, so say um the bills to buffalo.

Speaker 1

Yeah, buffalo bills go to the super bowl playing against the washington commanders. That'll be tricky, because I want the bills to win, and here's why okay, tell me.

Speaker 2

I know you know this, but I'll tell the audience.

Speaker 1

Okay, so I the Bills, because they play in crazy weather, like huge snowstorms, like full on blizzard. They still play and they play with like short sleeves. It's like almost like a rite of passage to be a Buffalo Bills player, to like play in the snow and like it. They're like playing with the smell on their face and I feel like it. They're like playing with the smell on their face and I feel like it's an intimidation move against the other team because sometimes they'll play like miami or like la, and like obviously weather is a factor in those, in those games, right.

Speaker 1

But I just love the like, the stance of being like this has like a backyard brawler kind of yeah I'm a bills player, like I can handle this, so I love that.

Speaker 1

But then the other layer to that is the Buffalo Bills fans. So their stadium is outdoors and when they get those crazy snow storms they have to shovel their the seats like all the stands out like and it's like four feet of snow, like I've seen videos of people going to their seat and it's like this huge stadium and they're like plowing through, wearing snow pants, plowing through three feet of snow to sit in their seat and they're like sitting in snow for the whole game and they're happy about it, like they're stoked Like a snow day game. The whole city is like excited and they also ask their fans to come to the stadium to shovel the snow out for the games and there's like hundreds of fans that show up for like $20 an hour and like free food to shovel the stand.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's like a brand decision, like they could easily just hire a snow removal company, but instead they choose every time to put out a call to fans, and fans can volunteer to do a shift and they'll pay them $20 an hour.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I feel like and I saw at the game that they played this weekend. It was snowing, it was a classic Bills game and they were happy about it, they were stoked about it and their fans in the stands like with ski goggles on and no shirt and they're just like pumped to be there, like their team was in the playoffs and they won, like I just love that energy, like with a town like that, like you can't, you can't lose it's true, it's true, I'm with you and I think if it was the commanders against the Bills in the Super Bowl and you were cheering for the Bills, I'd happily cheer for the Bills with you yeah, the other thing I do like is Josh Allen.

Speaker 1

Their quarterback just got engaged to Haley Steinfeld, who's so like beautiful and gorgeous and a great support to the team, and there's been interviews with other teammates on the team about the engagement and they're all talking about how like he's just a happy man, who's like in the prime of his life, and I just think that's so sweet. It's like. This is why, you know, for some players, some people think it's like really frivolous and unimportant to think about or talk about the wags, but I feel like it matters, because if you have a good home life and you're happy and you're like romantic life, like it makes a difference on the field. And Josh Allen is a perfect example of that. So is Travis Kelsey.

Speaker 2

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1

So we'd love to see it.

Speaker 2

Yeah, if the Chiefs win, I'll be happy for Travis Kelsey.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I'll be happy for Travis Kelsey too.

Speaker 2

And he might retire.

Speaker 1

He said that Taylor's encouraging him to keep playing.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Okay, according to New Heights, which we listened to the other day.

Speaker 2

That's why I don't like the Eagles is because Jason Kelsey is there?

Speaker 1

No, I love Jason Kelsey, I know.

Speaker 2

I like him too, but he was like the bright spot of the eagles yeah, yeah, true, um, okay.

Speaker 1

But speaking of wags, before we move on to that, I want to give an update. Kristen uschek, one of my favorite wags in the whole league. She launched a sports apparel brand called off season and she launched it with emma greed who's the ceo of skims, ceo of good american. She's basically like the business person behind all the successful kardashian brands.

Speaker 1

I'm so excited for her because, if you, if you don't know, kristen uschak is married to kyle uschak kyle uschak of the san francisco 49ers and all last season she would make she's like a self-taught designer and she would take old jerseys and merch and create like really cool outfits and jackets and vests and stuff like that. And she had a bunch of celebrities start wearing her stuff and the fact that she's like formalized this like passion and self-taught skill and partnered with like the most amazing business brain in the game, I'm just so excited for her. It's such a cool brand. I feel like it's going to be really successful.

Speaker 2

And they have an official partnership with the NFL right.

Speaker 1

Yeah, so I love to see it.

Speaker 2

It's about to pop off.

Speaker 1

Yes, and then the other thing we haven't talked about was Beyonce Bowl, which feels like it was forever ago, but Like her performing at the halftime show yeah at the christmas game. Yeah, yeah, that was cool it was amazing, it is unparalleled it sounds like they're going to be doing that now.

Speaker 2

Every year at christmas they're they're going to have like big halftime performers like that.

Speaker 1

So it's like the second super bowl the second super bowl, which I'd love to see. Beyonce bowl was so good I I rewatched it so many times. It's the first time she performed any of the Cowboy Carter tracks, first time she ever performed Texas Hold'em.

Speaker 2

Has she made her announcement yet?

Speaker 1

No. So after the performance, she posted something on her Instagram saying that there was an announcement coming out on January 15th. Lots of people think it's going to be a tour which we're going to go. Do, let's go um, but then she delayed the announcement because of the fires.

Speaker 2

Got it okay, so coming soon, so yeah, who knows?

Speaker 1

so save your pennies save your little pennies.

Speaker 2

Well, that's all we have for today, am I right? It's true, okay? Well, thanks for watching. One important thing we need to note is that yesterday we dropped our 2025 trend reports via ScanClub, so head to scanclubsubstackcom. We'll drop the link in the show notes if that's easier for you. And yesterday we also dropped an episode with Alyssa, our creative director and resident futurist. So if you haven't watched that yet, make sure you check it out, because we break down all the trends in the trend report and also what the process looks like, to kind of group the signals that we're tracking throughout the year and articulate what these trends are. So it pulls up, pulls back the curtain a little bit more on the process and how we think about these things and why they might matter to you. So check it out, let us know what you think. Um, find us on Instagram or Tik TOK, cause it's banned. And, yeah, send us a message. Is that all?

Speaker 1

That's it. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week.

Speaker 2

Time to smack the gong.

Speaker 1

Make it a good one.

Speaker 2

See you next week. That was beautiful, thank you.